persecutes the Church or disturbs the peace of Christians or is an Heretick or Schismatick or is a favourer or a defender of Hereticks and Schismaticks then saith he that Prince must down and if you read Histories you will finde that it has been a common thing for Kings to be dethroned And he instanceth in the Scots that have been Rebels and Traytors from the beginning In uno Scotiae regno multos Reges legimus Lib. 11. c. 5. Nobilium Populi communi consensu è regno pulsos that is In that one Kingdom of Scotland we read of many Kings whose Crowns have been pulled off their heads by the Nobles and Commonalty Ergo the thing is very lawful And truly this is De jure regni pag. 53. Buchanan's own Argument Possum annumerare duodecem aut etiam amplius Reges c. I could says he reckon up twelve Kings of Scotland or more who have been either imprisoned or banisht or slain out-right by their Subjects for their Crimes Truly 't is a fine Honour for that Nation and though it be a most pitiful and scandalous Argument yet 't is remarkable how these two men did jump in their way of arguing there is such an Harmonia Evangelica such a sweet Harmony between these two great Evangelists that it may be questioned whether Buchanan was not a Jesuit or Azorius a Presbyterian 6. The King-killing Doctrine is justly laid at the Jesuits door for 't is his own dear Brat onely some have modestly doubted whether a Prince who is counted a Tyrant may be executed by any private hand till he has been heard and condemned by the judicial Sentence of the Nation But never let this Doctrine be laid at the Jesuits door onely For hath it not been held hath it not been put in practice by many pretended Anti papists in this Island Give me Buchanan for my money who scorns to mince the matter as others do till they have the Power in their hands for speaking of Tyrants and any Prince that pleaseth not them shall be esteem'd a Tyrant If I saith he were to make a Law I would have such men carried De Jure Reg. away into Deserts or drowned in the Sea and I would have such as kill them to be lustily rewarded not by single men but by the whole Commonwealth even as they are publickly rewarded that kill Wolves or Bears or take their Whelps There 's a man to be a Prince's Tutor but the Jesuits were his Tutors first For what brave fellows were Clement and Ravaillac in their estimation and had they liv'd would have been made Cardinals For what is more meritorious with them than to dispatch a King that is their Enemy Did not Ehud kill King Eglon saith Aquinas Did not the Captains kill Queen Athalia saith Bellarmine Yes surely they did but these instances do not reach the Case However some King-killing Protestants have urged these very Examples which were urged by the King-killing Romanists and by this we See Dang Posit B. 2. c. 1. may know what hands they were which cut off K. Charles's head and by whom they were influenced and set on work 7. But how will men answer God for these horrid Villanies Doth not our Saviour say Resist not evil Doth not St. Paul say He that resisteth shall receive to himself damnation And did not the good old Christians in the Primitive times quietly submit to the Emperours though they were Infidels Hereticks Persecutors O saith Buchanan and his Loyal De Jure Reg. p. 50 51. Brethren of the new cut you must consider the condition of those times the Church then was in its Infancy and Christians were low in Fortunes and few in number and void of Arms yet the ancient Fathers tell us the contrary and therefore 't was necessary for St. Paul to advise them to be quiet as if saith he one should now write to the poor Christians under the Turk he would advise them to be quiet because they cannot help it though the Apostle said Ye must needs be subject not onely for Wrath but also for Conscience sake But saith Buchanan if St. Paul lived now in these times he would say otherwise From this shift the Magistrate may observe how dangerous it is to indulge men of these Principles till they grow numerous strong opulent and heady for then Conscience will hang at the hilts of their Swords but that which I observe is that this Evasion is down-right Jesuitism So Cardinal Bellarmine affirm'd That the reason why Christians De Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 7. did not depose Nero or Diocletian or Julian or Valens and the like wicked Emperours was quia deerant vires Temporales Christianis because they wanted strength And the same Evasion Parsons the Jesuit used in Q. Elizabeth's days but 't was such a pitiful Evasion that Father Watson who then hated the Jesuits was asham'd of it and did largely confute it Quodlibet 9. Art 4. I might take notice of several more Principles yet which have been entertain'd by our Sectaries and as like unto Jesuitical Principles as one Apple is like another As that when they please they can dispense with Oaths though never so lawful and lawfully impos'd such as the Oath of Allegiance Supremacy Canonical Obedience c. these have been swallowed and gone down glib when an unlawful Oath like a Jesuits Vow sticks and is ready to choak them Likewise that they make Obedience to the Civil Magistrate due with certain limitations and conditions viz. if he stick to that Religion which they suppose to be true This is a Jesuitical Principle and so Bellarmine tells us That Princes are received Vbi sup into the Church upon an Express or tacit Compact that they will submit their Scepters unto Christ and defend and preserve the Faith but if once they warp their Subjects are free from their Oaths of Obedience Exactly answerable hereunto was the Tenor of the Scotch Covenant wherein they Solemn League and Covenant Art 3. swore to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties Person and Authority not absolutely but with this limitation and restriction in the preservation and defence they are Bellarmine's very words of the true Religion Let a Prince please them and he shall be their King and so far the rankest Jesuit will be a good Subject but if he be not of their Opinion or for their Interest farewel Loyalty and let the poor Prince look to himself Moreover they thought as the Jesuits do that any Arts of Dissimulation and Equivocation were lawful Of which the late times have afforded us so many pregnant Instances that for twenty years together Hypocrisie seem'd God be merciful unto us to have ran through all proceedings like an Anima Mundi to give life and spirit to every Action But I cannot well omit one very memorable Instance when the House of Commons did solemnly declare on April 9. 1642. That they intended onely a due and necessary Reformation
though inconsiderable Piece to your Patronage Every Creature would lay its young in a secure place and so would I mine And though that be enough to excuse me in point of prudence for seeking the best shelter yet my obligations to your Lorship do moreover require me in point of Duty to express my Gratitude in some little measure though I confess 't is much more easie to contract a new debt to your Lordship then to make any tollerable acknowledgement of an old one That God would preserve your Lordship in honor and safety and make your great cares and indeavours successful to the good of this poor Church that is to your Lordships own hearts desire as it ought to be the Prayer of every honest and sincere Protestant so it is especially of him who is Particularly bound to your Lordship in all Observance and Duty EDWARD PELLING Octob. 13th 1679. The General Contents Pag. Â THe Occasion and Scope of this discourse 1. Reasons for observing the Old Way 8. and Objections answered 17. Advantages to be gotten by observing the Old Way 22. The Conformity of the Church of England to the Old Way shewed in its Government 26. The Antiquity of Episcopacy in the Primitive Time cleared and vindicated 27. The Government of Episcopacy in the Apostles Times 33. Objections against it removed 41. The Conformity of our Church in her way of Worship the Antiquity of Set Forms in General 49. among the Jews 50. among the Old Christians 54. and in the Apostles days 62. The Antiquity of the English Liturgy in particular 73. and of its parts 74. The Antiquity of our Rites and Customes 88. of the Cross c. 89. Mischiefs occasioned by forsaking the Old Way 102. It has hindred the Gospel 103. bred Schisms 105. occasioned Atheism 106. served the Interest of Papists 108. Innovators poysoned with Jesuitical Principles 111. and Acted by Jesuites in their Practices 122. The Conclusion 127. The Good Old Way OR A Discourse offered to the Consideration of all True-hearted Protestants c. SInce these fresh Confusions and Distractions have broke in upon us by occasion whereof this our poor Nation like a distemper'd Body is all on a Ferment several bad humours striving to be predominant and all conspiring to stifle that which is indeed the life and safety of the whole I have often thought upon the dangerous condition which the Jews were in under the Reign of good Josiah and upon that excellent Advice which was given them for the prevention of their Ruine Now thus it was For many years backward there had been an unhappy division and breach among the Of-spring of Jacob the Nation was divided into two Bodies the People became two distinct Houses and the Twelve Tribes that came peaceably together out of Egypt were now broken into two great Parties and so srael was against Judah Throne against Throne and Altar against Altar This Rent began under Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who was the Head of the Ten Tribes and caused them to revolt from Rehoboam the Son of Solomon During which unhappy Breach neither party Prospered yet Israel that made the Breach first prosper'd least and was undone first Of twenty Kings that reigned over Israel successively there was scarce one I think we may say not so much as one that served God with an upright and sincere heart and of these Hoshea was the last in whose days Israel for their Transgressions were captivated and brought in subjection to a forein Power Now what was done to the House of Israel was threatned to be done also to the House of Judah because that unnatural Breach had occasioned the growth of Idolatry throughout the whole Land Lo said God I will call all the families of the Kingdoms of the North and they shall come and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem c. Jer. 1. 15 16. To prevent which great evil if it were possible good Jostah setteth himself withall his heart to reform Religion and to set the Worship of God to rights He burneth all the vessels of Baal pulleth down the Idolatrous Priests breaketh inpieces the Idol which was in the Temple defileth Tophet and the like Acts he did as we read at large in 2 Kings 23. And God was so well pleased with the King 's Zele even when the Reformation of Religion was in his intention and purpose onely that he promis'd him that because his Heart was tender and he humbled himself before him the evils threatned should not befall Jerusalem in his days Thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace saith the Lord to his Anointed and thine eyes shall not see the evil which I will bring upon this place 2 Kings 22. 20. Thus far God was gracious to the People of Judah that for good Josiah's sake he determined to defer at least their destruction for a time the King's Life was yet between them and ruin as long as Josiah should live no alteration was to be but things should go with them after a tolerable good sort but when once their King should be taken away they were then to expect nothing but Desolation and a Curse unless they did repent themselves seriously and in time according to Josiah's Example It was at this time that the Prophet Jeremy was inspir'd and sent by Almighty God to tell all the People their Transgressions and to call them to repentance and to acquaint them before hand with their certain doom if they continued in obstinacy and hardness Return saith he ye backsliding children and if ye will return and put away your abominations then shall you not remove out of the Land Circumcise your selves therefore to the Lord and take away the fore-skin of your hearts ye men of Judah wash your hearts from wickedness thar ye may be saved Be instructed O Jerusalem lest the Soul of God depart from thee lest he make thee desolate a land not inhabited These and such as these were the general Lectures which Jeremy preached in the ears of the people But then he goes on to give them more particular Directions he shews them the steps of their Forefathers he bids them tread as the Saints and Servants of God did tread in the days of old he requires them to lay aside their love of Novelty and new-fangled Devices and to go hand in hand all of them unanimously and together in that ancient way which did lead men to Heaven when Religion was in its purity Nothing but this could prevent Jerusalem's Downfall and the whole Nation 's ruin for all those by-paths which their Fancies had hitherto found out or made did lead onely unto Mischief and Destruction there was no way of setting things to rights or of giving them security but to return to that sound good and holy Religion which had been established in the beginning Thus saith the Lord Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good
way is and walk therein Which words were spoken to the Jews by way of special direction but they were left to the Church of God for perpetual use and may be very profitable to us for particular application especially when the Judgments of God threaten us and two great Clouds hang over us each laden with thunder and each ready to discharge it self upon our heads And when the days of our Peace seem to be numbered when for the divisions among us great are the thoughts of heart and those Divisions have hastened that evil which our other sins have deserved Then surely if ever is the time for us also to stand in our ways and see whether 't is that we are going or to ask for the old paths before we take a further step and fall into perdition For all our present Calamities are come upon us by reason that men have forsaken the old and the good way as I shall shew anon those private Avenues and unbeaten Paths which the Singularity of some fond people hath sought out have served onely to shelter a sort of Hedg-birds and Banditi to make a spoil of us and of them also And therefore before we enter irrevocably into Ruin before we see this once glorious Church to fall being betrayed by those who have been nursed up in her Bosom and have eaten of her Bread before we preach her Funerals and lament at her Obsequies while others laugh and sing Ah Ah so would we have it If we have the least sense of any thing that is honourable wise or just we cannot but look back upon our Declensions and be grieved for our Folly and at last enquire after the old good and safe way that we may find rest for our Souls before Trouble cometh upon our Loins or the Harrow upon our Backs So that I shall take occasion to discourse of this matter with immediate respect unto our selves and in these times of degeneracy and danger when things are in an unsettled condition with us and Religion is off the hooks or at least turneth upon a very uncertain hinge I shall direct my Brethren as Jeremy did the Jews to the days of old as the best and perhaps the onely Expedient to gain sure Footing And in the prosecution of this matter I shall shew 1. What a reasonable just and safe Proposal this is that we should ask and seek for the old paths and walk constantly therein notwithstanding their desires of Alteration and Novelty who are given to changes 2. What an useful and advantageous thing it would be unto us if we would but be so wise as to walk unanimously according to this Rule 3. And how mischievous and hurtful the Practices of those have been and are who have declined from this good way who have left the old paths to walk in Paths of their own tracing out 1. That this is a reasonable just and safe Proposal that we should ask for the old paths and walk uniformly and constantly therein notwithstanding their desires of Alteration and Novelty who are given to changes Antiquity is that which most people are fond of for it gives a marvellous Credit to all manner of Constitutions and no Nations were ever yet so rude and barbarous but that they have held those things to be of most venerable and sacred use which have been of the most primitive and ancient Institution We see it in all Humane Societies that they gain a mighty esteem from the Date of their Foundation the further they go to derive their Original the more Fame and Veneration they acquire and then most of all when their Original is like the Head of Nilus that cannot be discover'd We see it in all Humane Laws that the longer they hold the deeper root they take till at last they become fundamental and immoveable We see it in all Human Customs that when Antiquity hath worn them into Prescriptions they are like the Laws of the Medes and Persians unalterable that you were as good stemm a Torrent as strive against a very silly Custom which has been handed down to men from their Forefathers Now since Religion is derived from him who is the Ancient of days since it is of the most Divine Descent and the most perfect Constitution it is strange if Religious Ordinances and Customs should not have at least the same Advantages which all things in the world besides have that is become the more lovely and venerable for being ancient It is strange that men should most affect Singularity there where they have the least plea and reason to be singular Before I proceed 't is necessary for me to lay down these three Cautions following to prevent uncharitable mistakes 1. That I do not take upon me to defend the Validity of all Church Traditions at large or to maintain the Sufficiency thereof to determine all Controversies concerning Faith or Manners Every man knows to how many just Exceptions that Pretence is liable and I do not intend to do the Church of England that great disservice as to say or intimate that in these distracted times of ours it would be enough for us to have recourse unto former Ages and to stick to that which we find practised then No our Establishments do not stand upon the Practice of the Church alone there is a superiour Rule of Scripture to which they are agreeable all of them at least none are contradictory and therefore we do not look upon the Sense and Practice of Primitive Times as the sole or the main thing to be regarded 2. Nor do I intend to urge the Authority of Antiquity as if every particular thing were to be observed religiously by us which we find to have been instituted by the Apostles or to have been observed in the Ages following For several Rites were grounded in the beginning of Christianity upon certain special Reasons which Reasons failing and ceasing in after times those Rites too have been thought fit to be laid aside Such was the Anointing of the sick with oyl which S. James required chap. 5. ver 14. and such were the Agapae or Love-feasts mention'd by S. Jude ver 12. and such was the Veiling of women in publick Assemblies which S. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 11. 6. and such was the Abstinence from things strangled and from bloud which was enjoyned by the first Council at Jerusalem Acts 15. 29. And some other things there were very anciently observed in the Church which yet this and other Reformed Churches saw reason to abolish or discontinue as being useless now or unsuitable to our Times 'T is not my purpose therefore out See the Preface to our Liturgy Of Ceremonies why some are abolish'd c. of a fond regard unto Antiquity to oblige men to revive those Customs though never so ancient which the wisdom of our Forefathers thought convenient to bury 3. Much less would I persuade the World to have any the least Veneration for Antiquity in opposition to Christianity if
any thing can be found among us that is either in genere fidei untrue or in genere morum unlawful For Custom though never so gray-headed cannot be any Prescription in Bar of Truth Cypr. ep 73 74. and without Truth it is nothing else but an inveterate Error But God be blessed this reacheth not to the prejudice of the Church of England because as nothing can be found in our Doctrine which is really false so nothing can be found in our Discipline which is really and in the nature of the thing evil Instead of those many whiffling Pretensions which peevish and ignorant men have used against our Government our Rites and our Way of Worship if they could shew us but one Masculine Reason to prove our Establishments to be contrary to God's Word the Debate would soon be at an end and we would give up our Cause and our Lives also as well as our Livings to please them But this Advantage we have that many great and famous Divines in the Reformed Churches abroad who have searched into our Constitutions with more Impartiality that is with better Eyes and Judgments and Spirits than our own Brethren could never yet discover any thing in them that is repugnant to the Scriptures In former Ages Bucer and Peter Martyr and Zanchius and Melanchthon and several excellent Writers more have delivered their Sence much in favour of our side Nay the Learned Calvin himself though he was constrain'd by the necessities of Times to erect a New Discipline at Geneva yet was he far from condemning the way of this Church In an Epistle to the Duke of Somerset he did acknowledge that God had made him an especial Instrument of restoring purum sincerum suum cultum in regno Angliae his pure and sincere Worship in the Kingdom of England and he severely condemned those Seditious and Brain-sick People for so he call'd them who under colour of the Gospel would have brought in Disorder and Confusion In an Epistle to those Englishmen at Frankfurt who would have alter'd our Settlements he intimates that there was no manifest Impiety in them and therefore advised them not to be stiff and capricious above measure And in an Epistle to Bullinger he doth confess that he himself persuaded Bishop Hooper to Conformity And in this last Age the great H. Grotius who for Learning and Moderation Grot. ep ad Gedeon à Boeâ—sel was the Phoenix almost of his time look'd upon the way of the Church of England with admiration as that which came nearest to the Primitive Simplicity And among the present Dissenters if such as are more sober and judicious than the rest would but please to speak out they must needs do us right too and confess that however some of our Usages are not point-vise just as they would have them and suitable to their humours and who can tell what will or can be so yet none of them are indeed naturally and intrinsecally unlawful Nay it is much to be suspected that those wayward and hot Spirits among us who are profest Patrons of Separation would not find much fault neither if their former Declamations against our way were but forgotten and their Books burnt and their Interest and Credit in the world were but secure at least if their own Hands had but been concern'd in settling this way They would have been well pleas'd could they but have said Lo this is the Bethel that we have built But because this beautiful Fabrick was erected by other Hands now nothing will serve their turn unless it be said Lo this is the Babel that we have helped to pull down The summe is this that though the Plea of Antiquity be not sufficient to justifie those Ecclesiastical Constitutions which either tend not to Edification or are used after a Superstitious manner and to Superstitious ends or are bad and sinful in themselves yet if the Constitutions be such as have been originally occasioned by some Scripture-hints and intimations if they be such as are retained and used for some solid lasting and perpetual Reasons if they be such as serve to Decency in God's Worship to Order Peace and Unity among Christians and if they be such too as are not offensive scandalous or evil in their own nature then I say the Plea and Súffrage of Antiquity doth add that gloss and advantage unto them that they ought not to be laid aside for mens Humour 's sake but should be esteemed venerable safe and worthy of all acceptation Now this we conceive to be our Case in every particular and therefore supposing the usefulness reasonableness and lawfulness of our Constitutions which many Learned Divines have abundantly proved if it be further made to appear and I shall endeavour to shew it in the Process of this Discourse that these our Constitutions were observed in the Ancient Church of Christ and that this was the old path wherein Millions of blessed Saints walked while Religion continued fresh and fair within its Inclosure then more will not be needful to convince any rational serious and sober man that this is a good as well as old way wherein we also may and ought to walk notwithstanding the Pretences of those who love to walk irregularly and by themselves 1. For it is to be considered that if there be any safe and good way certainly it must be found among the Ancient Christians and the Stream of Religion must needs be still purer and purer the nearer we come to the Fountain Ex ipso ordine manifestatur id esse Dominicum verum quod sit priùs traditum id autem extraneum falsum quod sit posteriùs immissum Tertul. de Praescript adv Haeret. Head I speak now of things concerning the Government and Discipline of the Church And questionless those things could not but be in a very good posture in the first Ages when the Minds of Christians were full of Simplicity when their Quando Domini nostri adhuc calebat cruor fervebat recens in credentibus fides Hieron ep ad Demetriad Spirits were holy their Designs honest and their Factions few and their Interests united When the Bloud of Christ was yet warm in their hearts and their Faith was so fresh and sprightly that they chose to die rather than they would depart from the Rule that had been fix'd by the Apostles When Persecutions were so rife that Christians had other things to do than to study or think of Innovations in Religion and let me add also when they had such an account as was clear and certain in comparison of that which later Ages have had touching the Original and Institution of things which came so lately to their hands We indeed cannot certainly tell what were Apostolical Traditions but such as we find in Scripture because we want many good Records which were written in the early days of Christianity Nay in S. Jerom's time they were posed to tell certainly what Vnaquaeque
Provincia abundet in sensu suo praecepta majorum leges Apostolicas arbitretur Hieron ad Lucian Rites were of Apostolical Appointment and they did generally call the Customs of the Church and the Injunctions of their Ancestors by the name of Apostolical Traditions But yet 't is reasonable to believe that Christians of the second and third Century who gave diligence to search into and had means to find out the Original of many Ecclesiastical Observations were able to give a very fair and satisfactory account what had been transmitted to them from the Apostles and what not For some of them conversed with the Apostles themselves or with some of them as Polycarp Ignatius and S. Clement of Rome Others again as Irenaeus and Justin Martyr were acquainted with Apostolical men And others were so near to these as Clemens of Alexandria Origen Tertullian Cyril c. that it was not very hard for them to know whether the Ordinances and Customs then used in the Church did owe their birth to the first Preachers of Religion or whether they were postnate to the Age of the Apostles Do not we know by the Acts and Monuments of former times what the Governours of our Church did and appointed in the beginning of the Reformation under King Henry the Eighth Why it is very probable then that what the Apostles did and instituted at the Planting of Religion under Nero Vespasian and Domitian might be easily known to those Fathers of the Church who lived and flourished some ten some thirty years after them and others onward to an hundred or say two hundred years successively So that if it shall hereafter appear that the outward Frame of Religion which is establish'd in the present Church of England was the very same Model for the most part which was used anciently in other Churches in the days of those primitive Writers and the very Model which they professed to have received from Christ's immediate Successors then I cannot imagine what just reason any man can have against the asking for and the walking in a way so ancient so laudable and so safe If he will not grant that our Establishments were instituted by the holy Apostles which yet in probability is true that they were appointed by them as things useful decent and convenient though not as necessary in every particular he must needs grant that they were appointed by due Authority that is by Apostolical Persons and so may claim veneration and observance at our hands Besides it is to be consider'd that not to the Apostles onely but to their lawful Successors also was that Promise of our blessed Saviour made that he would be with them always even unto the end of the world Matth. 28. 20. and that other Promise that he would send his Spirit to guide them into all truth John 16. 13. Now though that Promise requireth certain conditions of us and extends it self chiefly to the necessaria fidei matters of faith and necessary matters too yet 't is altogether improbable that Christ and his Spirit should take so little care of his Church in reference to its Polity and Discipline as to forsake her in the very next age or to leave her to be abused by the Fancies of Dreamers and to be imposed upon by men of foolish and degenerous Spirits and to be defaced and spoiled of her pristine Beauty by the frothy Conceptions of men of corrupt minds I pray whither went the Spirit of Christ from the old Christians to speak unto us after the space of Fifteen hundred years How came he to suspend his Influences from those who lived Saints and died Martyrs and at last came to breathe afresh into dry bones and to restore Religion which had been lost in a long interval of Time and succession of Ages Can any but Franticks conceive that the Church was never pure till an hundred years ago Or that for so many Centuries she needed to be swept and yet a Besom could never be found till the DIsciplinarian started up and made one and swept at such a rate that with us Order Decency and Religion were quite flung out of doors and Hypocrisie and Oppression were set up in its room 2. Zanchius profest that he had rather drink old Wine than Vorst ad Theolog Heidelb in Epist Ecclesiasticis new meaning that he preferred the Sense of the Ancients above that of Modern Divines in all Points not determined in Scripture He said like a wise man and 't would be much for the Peace of Christendom if all Christians would resolve in matters of Opinion to follow the Judgment and in matters of Discipline to observe the Practice of the ancient Church But some Palats are for new Wine onely not because it is so good for the old is better but because it is new And I am not likely to persuade such to conform to the Establishments of our Church by this Argument because they are ancient Establishments Yet I would beseech them to consider in the second place that the way we plead for is not onely an old but a good way also We must not think that the Contrivers of our Constitutions and Usages were so many Fools how low soever they may lie in the esteem of men who have less Wisdom and worse Manners and value a little Serpentine Craft above the Dove's Innocence A Church being gather'd it was impossible that without Laws that Society should hold together or answer the ends of its Foundation and therefore Government was necessary and of all sorts of Government that by Bishops was thought most convenient and fitting because presumed to be the best Defensative against Faction Schism and Disorder and the Experience of all Ages hath found it to be so Again since the Church is a Collection of men learned and unlearned who are set apart to worship God and do hold their Title unto Christ by their Faith in him it was judg'd very expedient that Set Forms of Publick Prayer should be prescrib'd both as a Repository of wholsom and sound Doctrines and likewise as a Provision for the necessities of the ignorant and moreover as a Preservative of Order Unity and Peace among Christians Lastly considering that the Worship of God is to be celebrated with solemn Decency and Comliness suitable in some degree to the Greatness of that Majesty which is to be adored certain outward Rites and Ceremonies were appointed as good means to conduct 1 Cor. 14. 40. men to a sense of Religion and to the exercise of Godliness and to create and stir up the Devotion of the Mind and the Reverence of the Heart For by the Judgment and Practice of the whole World it doth appear that an external Solemnity and Observance of Circumstances such as Habits Ornaments Gestures c. do bring a mighty respect to all secular Transactions and the Grandeur of Princes Courts of Courts of Judicature and of Civil Corporations is much upheld and Government becomes venerable
yet by their notorious and unparallell'd wickedness brought a reproach upon Religion and caused the Name of Christ to be blasphemed by the Gentiles But the Apostles have taken most particular notice of their separation from the Church of Christ These are they saith S. Paul which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins 2 Tim. 3. 6. They went out from us but were not of us saith S. John 1 Joh. 2. 19. These be they who separate themselves saith S. Jude ver 19. which have forsaken the right way saith S. Peter and are gone astray following the 2 Pet. 2. 15. way of Balaam By which plain Testimonies it doth appear that the Schismaticks of that Age are they which S. Paul meant by the Mystery of Iniquity the high-flown stubborn seditious and contentious Gnosticks they that forsook the Regular Assemblies that spurn'd at Government they that were set against the Hierarchy and lifted up their unholy Claws to pull down the Constitutions of the Church These were that Mystery of Iniquity which was then working and factoring for Antichrist And what is this to the true Church For there was no evil then working within the Church there was no preparing of Materials for the Kingdom of the Devil within the Church there was no Idolatry in the Mint nor Superstition upon the Anvil within the Church but indeed without there was hard working sweating and toiling so that after the death of the Apostles many Errors were scatter'd by these Preachers of Hegesippus in Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 3. c. 32. Knowledge falsly so called who counterfeited themselves Christians and lurked among those who were Christians in truth and reality But shall we be unjust and wicked like the Pagans reviling the whole ancient Church for the sake of these old villanous Sectaries Shall our Ecclesiastical Constitutions be depraved by reason of the Schismatical and Diabolical Practices of the Gnosticks If Samaria doth transgress there is no reason that Judah should suffer for it unless she be a Confederate Now it would be to the purpose if it could be proved that the Gnosticks that Mystery of Iniquity were the founders of our Prelacy or the Authors of our Discipline and Ceremonies But it is obvious that they were the first though not the last the hated and oppos'd Episcopal Authority and that they used quite different and most monstrous Rites in their filthy Assemblies and as soon it may be proved that their and our Faith is the same whereas it is known that they denied the Reality of Christ's Incarnation and Passion and for that reason came not to the Christian Communion and that their Creed was a confused Mess of Heathen Mythology concerning S. Ignat. ep ad Smyr 1 Tim. 1. 4. Aeones and Genealogies of Gods which afterwards Valentinus the Heretick digested into some kind of Form Briefly then If the way Establish'd in this Church of England be the old Christian way if it be so excellently contrived that no other Constitution can be better or so well framed to answer the ends of Christianity if it be that way which for the greatest if not in every part thereof is that which was universally observed for very many Centuries all along from the Pure and Primitive Times of Christiantiy then have we reason to believe that it was originally laid out not by the Invention of a Private Person or two or by the Confederacy of crafty Impostors but by the wisdom of just and competent Authority whose business it was to set things in order in the 1 Cor. 11. 34. Churches of Christ To be sure we have then great Reason to ask for this old Path where the good Way is and to walk therein notwithstanding the desires and endeavours of those which are given to changes And thus the first thing is dispatch'd which I propounded to discourse of 2. The second Consideration now followeth that it would be a thing greatly useful and advantageous unto us as well as just in it self if we would but unanimously agree to walk steddily in this Good old way And truly many excellent ends there are to which the Practice of this thing would be highly serviceable 1. As first it would put that Lustre and Beauty upon Religion which by our Distractions and Innovations is manifestly and in an high degree defaced it would restore it to that Decorum and Order which made it venerable and lovely in the days of Old Among other things which St. Paul rejoiced to see in the Collossians this was one that he beheld their Order Col. 2. 9. For this very much helpeth to bring Religion into Request and extorteth a Confession from its very Enemies that of a truth God is in them that do profess it whereas Confusion and Disorders in a Church either for want of a sixt Rule or by the neglect of it doth but expose Religion to Reproach and its Professors to Scorn If there come in into irregular Congregations those that are unlearned or unbelievers will they not say that ye are mad As the Apostle speaks pertinently to my purpose 1 Cor. 14. 23. 2. To walk together in the good Old Path would be an excellent means as to put an Outward Gloss upon Religion so also to recover that Inward Life of it which consisteth in Charity and brotherly Love Scarcely is any thing so much wanting among us as Charity though the Holy Ghost doth up and down command us to be rooted and grounded to walk and to be knit together to abound and continue in and to provoke one another unto Love Mens forsaking of the good Old Way has been the Occasion and Rise of all that uncharitableness which is the Monstrous Sin and the Characteristical note of this Age when instead of being Lambs and Doves some count it a piece of Religion to be worse than wolves and Vultures ready to devour one another For in the Primitive Times when Christians could dispute well and live better the very Heathens could not but observe with Admiration how they loved one another Men have ceased to be our Friends since they refused to go the usual way with us into the House of God and parted from us into different and by-roads And that ill-natur'd Sect which first divided from us is justly rewarded with Ishmaels doom Gen. 16. 12. That his hand is against every man and every mans hand against him And as far as I can see things are likely to go on still at this rate 'till men will be so kind to themselves and so just to us as to quit those Novel courses and uncouth paths in which Pride and Singularity and a Spirit of Contradiction together with base respects to their Secular Interest have caused them to wander hitherto 3. A thing which is the more desirable especially at this juncture and nick of time because thirdly it would infinitely serve to the general Quiet and Safety of us All. It would unite our Interests as well as our
tells it us as a Sign and Ingredient of perilous times that in the last days some great Professors of Religion would be disobedient to Parents without 2 Tim. 3. natural Affection and unthankful But in former Ages this Custom was justly accounted a good security to Religion And we finde it not onely in the Canon Vniversalis but even in Tertullian himself Habemus per benedictionem eosdem Arbitros fidei quos Sponsores salutis Tert. de Bapt. Quid necesse est Sponsores etiam periculo ingeri qui ipsi per mortalitatem destituere promissiones suas possint Id. ibid. Inde suscepti c. Id. de Cor. milit who frequently mentions it And so doth the pretended Dionysius Areopagita and the Author of the Questions and Answers ascribed to Justin Martyr And though it be acknowledged that those Books were not written by those men yet none doubts but they are ancient Records And 't is as certain that this Custom is much elder than those Authors Plat. in vita Hygini Magd. cent 2. c. 6. whosoever they were for it is confest that it prevailed in the time of Hyginus who was Justin Martyr's Co-temporary and lived within sixty years after S. John's decease 9. And so for baptismal Interrogatories and Stipulations and Vows of renouncing the Devil and all his works c. they Tertul. Cyril Just Mart. cum multis aliis are so manifestly ancient by the joynt Consent of all the most Primitive Writers that I dare say They bear date from the Apostles times And generally learned men do conceive that St. Peter alludes to that Custom 1 Pet. 3. 21. where he calleth Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Answer or the Promise and Stipulation V. Grotium in loc of a good Conscience towards God 10. The repeating of Psalms and Hymns by turns by Minister Antiphonae and People is a very useful good course to keep peoples minds from rambling and to imprint holy things in their memories And this hath been customary in the ancient Church though as St. Basil tells us there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 variety Basil Ep. 63. ad Cler. Neocaes in singing For sometimes the Minister began one verse and was seconded by the whole Congregation as is the custom still in many of our Parochial Churches and sometimes the Quire was divided into two parts which alternately answered each other from side to side as 't is usual in our Colledges and Cathedrals At the close of each Psalm or Hymn they commonly had some End versicles called by Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De vitâ Contempl Const lib. 2. c. 57. and in Clements Constitutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerable to our Gloria Patri and these were recited by turns too Certain it is that the people were ever wont to bear their part in praising and blessing God which was one reason that Eusebius took those Therapeutae in Egypt for Christians because Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 17. among other Christian Customs they had this And if he was mistaken in his opinion yet it argues that this was a general custom among Christians in his time And so indeed St. Basil assures us that it prevailed universally in the Eastern Churches Cassiodore affirms that Flavianus and Diodorus Tripart Hist l. 5. c. 32. brought in the Alternate singing of Psalms But this certainly is a mistake for this was most usual long before their days Socrates and others fetch it as high as from the holy Martyr Socrat. l. 6. c. 8. Ignatius who was no less than an Apostolical Bishop and this Trip. Hist l. 10. c. 9. is yielded by Cassiodore himself elsewhere But though Ignatius might have introduced this custom at Antioch yet in probability 't was originally borrowed of the Jews and so continued among Christians from the beginning This is evident that Pliny writing to the Emperour Trajan in whose days St. John died saith of the Christians that they were wont early in a morning to meet together which comes near to St. Basil's account and to sing Carmen Christo a Hymn to Christ and that secum invicem by course by turns or one after another 11. As concerning the posture of the body at the receiving Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Holy Sacrament it is clear that the sitting posture was never used unless by the Arrians who denied our Saviour's Divinity All the Catholicks did receive with all imaginable Reverence and in St. Cyril's time they did it in a worshipping Cyril Catech. Myst 5. and adoring gesture the Adoration being directed to God and Christ but not to the Elements 12. 'T is customary with us especially in some places to read the second Service at the Lords Table which some are pleased to look upon as a mighty piece of Superstition though it be nothing else but an innocent usage conformable to the Practice of the most Primitive times which is still preserved not onely in the Eastern parts but in the Lutheran Churches also For as Mr. Mede hath well observed this was the place Christian Sacrifice cap. 5. Ep. 56. to Dr. Twisse alibi where the Ancients offered up all their Prayers unto God and because the Passion of Christ is commemorated and his Death represented there they thought it the most fit and proper place for Divine-Service and so were wont to call upon God at the Altar signifying hereby that they offered up their Prayers in the Name and through the Merits of their crucified Saviour For the Readers further satisfaction I shall refer him to the Observations of that learned man and onely adde That that Phrase in Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be within the Altar is a plain allusion to this Ancient and Primitive custom and signifies to joyn with the Bishop in those Ministrations which were performed and in those Prayers which were offered up at the Altar And the like Phrase we finde in Clements Constitutions Const l. 7. c. 41. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to partake of holy Mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is explained afterwards to communicate in holy Ordinances In fine whosoever will give himself the trouble to search and will do us the right to speak impartially he must needs confess that those Constitutions of ours which are establisht by Law and those Rites which are preserved by Custom have had their Rise and Original from the best and most authentick Antiquity I have instanced in several particulars and a longer account might be given if that would do our business effectually But I hope what hath been already shewed will satisfie all indifferent and sober persons that our Church is free from all charge of Superstition and Novelty I would to God she were as free from danger too danger which is now threatned her not only by those who never were in her bosom but by those also to whom she like an indulgent Mother hath held
out both her Breasts and hath received nothing for all her Milk and Tenderness but a Stab And yet it is not too late to heal her wounds if men would set heartily and soberly about it But in my opinion there is no Method likely to do it but by taking Directions from Antiquity and by observing the Old way that old and good way wherein God be blessed Religion has hitherto flourished among us and for which our Church is at this day the Envy of all Impostors and the Glory of the whole Christian world For that I may now close up my Argument should we deviate and wander from the Primitive Rule our Adversaries will have an unanswerable Plea against us That our Religion is not Catholick but a Mushrome of yesterday and by that pretence they will never want fair opportunities of catching up Sheep that straggle from a secure Fold and making a Prey of all by degrees By what we have found already by sad experience we may easily foresee what advantages they will take hereafter should we alter our way For how many thousand Souls have they ensnared by this pretence That our Religion is a new Device 'T would be a strong Argument against us were not the thing false Now if they have perverted so many by an unjust Allegation what will the consequences be should we do them the kindness to remove our ancient Land-marks and make that an evident Truth which hitherto has been nothing but a groundless Reproach It may be thought a probable way to keep Popery out but 't will be a sure and infallible way to let it in upon us at the last For what have we ever yet gotten by pulling down but Faction and what are our Factions but the Kennels of Jesuits and Jesuited persons We see in part already and when the mystery of Iniquity comes throughly to be laid open we shall see more evidently and fully that 't is by the several Sects among us that the Jesuite gets into our Bowels and hides lurks and shrouds himself under them and men of common Reason will think that 't is but in vain to drive the Papist out at the fore gate if he be let in again at the back-door But should our Church be dismantled and Iniquitie be establisht by a Law instead of one Jesuit we shall have an hundred and in the end the wilde Boar will finde admittance after so many little Foxes 3. I see that I am now fallen upon the third and last part of my Task viz. to shew how infinitely mischievous and hurtful the Practices of those have been already who have declined from the Old way to walk in Paths of their tracing on And this I shall do out of a pure and sincere designe to do the world good and to serve them especially who are apt to go astray in the simplicity of their hearts and have neither the wisdom to make a stand before they go too far nor the sagacity to foresee whither they are going nor the skill to retrive themselves nor eyes to finde out the right way nor perhaps any great desire to revert into the paths they have once forsaken but walk with the Herd non quâ eundum est sed qua itur as Seneca speaks not where they should go but where the Multitude goeth not considering that Argumentum pessimi Turba est that course is many times the worst which hath the most Voices and is carried by the Poll. We read of Absalom 2 Sam. 15. that by traducing his Father the King and his Ministers of Justice he stole away the hearts of the men of Israel and many followed him and went with him in their simplicity not knowing any thing of the Rebellion he intended when he pretended to go to Hebron to pay his vows And I am verily perswaded that this is the case of many deluded wretches amongst us who have been perswaded to go from Jerusalem to Hebron to worship in the simplicity of their hearts having been imposed upon by the popular and slie insinuations of some Absaloms who designed to abuse their Credulity and to use them as Instruments to promote their unworthy Ends and secular Advantage To such I would address my self beseeching them by the love of God by the bowels of Christ and by the regard we ought to have of our common Salvation to take an Inventory of those sore Evils which have been so hurtful to Mankinde so reproachful to Religion and so prejudicial to our common Safety and all of them occasioned principally by this one radical Evil even mens stragling and deviating from the good old way First It hath been one main thing that hath stopt the Current of Religion and discouraged very many from entertaining the Truth as it is in Jesus And though some may make light of this Consideration now yet in the Judgment of the Great day when the Sins and Scandals of men shall be reckon'd unto them it will be a sad and fearful Charge that they have kept off so many Souls for whom Christ died from coming unto him What multitudes and sholes of Infidels crouded into the Church in the Primitive times when the Creed was entire and the Worship of God was uniform and the Way to Heaven was one and the same over all the World 'T was pleasant and safe drinking of the Waters of Life when they ran in so fair a Channel Religion has been at a great stand since the Streams have been divided Though Infidels of all Nations and Languages be dispersed up and down throughout Christendom yet how rarely do we hear of one hearty Proselyte No instead of admiring Christianity such as are aliens to the true Faith do rather laugh at our follies that we invite others to go along with us when we our selves are not agreed upon the way but refuse to go with one another Did we walk quietly together in the old beaten and straight road such as have taken false steps and wander in ignorance might reasonably be perswaded to submit to our Directions because where Vnity is a fair Argument may be used to perswade men that Truth is to be found there But when the Turk or the Jew or the blinde Papist perceives us to be at variance about the main thing some contending for one way and some for another and every Party condemning all ways but his own he finds that 't is great odds but he may erre still which side soever he takes and thinks it much safer to commit himself to his own conduct or to the management of a Guide that pretends to be infallible than to trust the Directions of men divided in their Judgments who instead of rescuing may chance to draw him on into further danger When Averroës saw the Romanists to devour that which they supposed to be their God he ventured his Soul with the old Philosophers rather than he would embrace such a Savage Religion And when the Indians felt the barbarous usages of the Spaniards
they loath'd the very thoughts of those Celestial Mansions whither they were invited to dwell with those Monsters of Nature who exercised the utmost Cruelties upon them on Earth and yet pretended a designe of saving them from the Torments of Hell And so when unbelieving or erroneous persons observe the Feuds and Divisions which are among us they abhor that way which sets men a wrangling supposing that such can never meet at their Journeys end who take different and contrary courses at their starting It is manifest that thousands have been discouraged upon this account from embracing the Truth and I have known many who have plainly Apostatiz'd to the Impieties of the Romanists having been frightned from all communion with us by our Domestick jarrs 'T is true the Reason is very incompetent and weak yet the Argument is popular especially when 't is managed by a cunning hand and a serpentine wit And 't is a Rule among the Jesuits That the Dissentions among Protestants do serve the Interest of the Roman Dissensiones errantium alet c. Ita enim cum omnes intelligent certi nihil apud eos inveniri facile veritati manus dabunt Adam Contzen Politic l. 2. c. 19. § 6. Cause upon this score among others because when things hang in Controversie and undecided among us people will conclude that we have nothing which is certain and so will readily yield to that which they call Truth I wish that such as foment the unhappy Divisions in our Church would lay this thing seriously to heart and instead of foaming out Invectives against us and our Establishments would sadly consider how scandalous their Practices are and how many Souls by their means may be consigned to eternal Ruine who might have arrived safely at the Gate of Paradise had not they laid a Stumbling-block of Iniquity before them 2. Besides the intolerable mischiefs that have been occasioned abroad vast prejudices have been caused at home by the perverse deflexions of men from the good old way For how many are there who have been provoked hereby to turn aside either into Schism or down-right Atheism 1. That the sin of Schism woundeth the very Vitals of Religion is obvious unto any that shall but consider how destructive it is of Charity which is the Life Spirit and Soul of all For it ever commenceth upon Vncharitableness and it keepeth the flames not of Love but of Contention alive till it hath made a Consumptive Sacrifice of Charity and reduced it into Nothing thereby annihilating Religion instead of refining it Now it is manifest that mens leaving the old Paths hath been the sole cause of this great and ominous Evil among us for every new Sect and Party is but an Off-set and Branch of the first Separation As we say in Logick that if but one false Proposition be granted an hundred more will naturally follow so we see in the Church that when but one Rupture and Schism is made that Faction is prolifick and ingendreth a great Brood which though they are unlike to each other and quarrel with each other yet in this they all resemble their first Parent that they disown and hate their Mother Some moderate Dissenters did ingenuously acknowledge in the late times that upon the pulling down of our Episcopal Government which they decried as Antichristian more Sects and Heresies sprang up within the compass of very few years than were ever known in this Kingdom before 'T was an honest Confession and the thing is true and yet all that Fry which troubleth our Waters are but the Spawn of the first Innovators Reckon on from the Independants to the Ranters to the Familists to the Quakers and the rest and you shall finde that they are so many fresh Editions of Smectymnuus augmented and enlarged but whether corrected and amended or made worse impartial men may consider As when you cast a stone into a pool the water curls into a little circle which in a moment multiplieth it self into several gyres that propagate themselves into more still until all of them are broken upon the bank so when you see a Bone of Strife thrown into a Church whose surface was calm and quiet before the first breach is not all but the mischief increaseth and another Faction makes its way through the bowels of the former and that becomes the Parent of a Third and there is no end of the Evil till all Parties dash upon Ruine 'T is necessary therefore with all possible speed to heal up the breach there where our Calamities began and now we see the sad consequents of Schism to forsake the sin it self and to return into the old Paths For what shall we do in the end but fool away our whole Cause after the rate that we now go it being impossible to hold out against an Enemy long if men stand in small companies at a distance and onely behold the valour of that wing which is most of all beleaguer'd The more an Interest is divided the more it is weakened ever While we kept to our Rule and held hand in hand together in the Old way all the Attempts of the Romanists were frustraneous Our Quarrels have served onely to give our Adversaries hope of sweeping the Stakes at last And yet this is not all 2. For there is another monstrous Evil which oweth its Production to this swerving from the Ancient way and that is Atheism Would a man think that when the Gospel hath shined so clear and so long among us any such Creatures should be found as should deny the Being of an Omniscient God presiding over the world or should affirm that there is no Hell but what is created by mens foolish fears or should say that the Scriptures are no better than a Legend or should argue Vertue and Vice to be empty Names and that Good and Evil depends upon the Arbitrary Constitutions of Men Yet it is certain and notorious that many parts of this Kingdom do swarm with these Locusts and whether you call them Atheists or Hobbists it is indifferent to me onely I fear that many Jesuits go under that guise The thing is the sadder because in David's time the Atheist was a Fool and so accounted whereas the most avowed Scepticks among us are those who pretend to Wit and Learning and would be thought the onely Masters of Reason able to prescribe Forms and Laws of Government Now I confess many Causes have unluckily concurr'd to give Birth to these new and unusual Monsters but certainly the great Divisions which are caused originally by mens declining from the Old Paths have had a very great hand in the Midwivery For Schisms in one Age seldom but produce Atheism in the next and differences in Religion are apt to minister especially to men of sensual minds a welcome occasion to suspect that there is no such thing as Religion at all And I wish this Suspition had not been heightned into a positive Opinion by the unheard-of
on the late King Did he say moreover That God himself had eclips'd yea lost the brightest Beam of his Divine Glory that ever shin'd on this lower world if he had not some way or other brought That person to some eminent and preternatural punishment Why to shew by whom those Regicides were acted and whom they gratified and whose Interest they really serv'd we may remember that a Popish Priest mounted on Horse-back at Charing-cross vailed his Hat and flourish'd his Sword saying Now our greatest Enemy is gone And with what joy the news of it was receiv'd by the Romanists abroad and what great hopes they entertain'd of gaining England thereby Dr. Peter du Moulin who was well able to acquaint us hath given Answer to Philanax us a particular Account Have our imprudent Brethren laid all their Irons in the fire to procure a Toleration It was the way which Contzen the Jesuit advis'd That the Romanists in a Protestant Kingdom Subornatio petentium libertatem indulgentiam Contz Pol. 2. c. 18. § 6. Bellarm. in Tort. should suborn some and set them on work to crave Liberty and an Indulgence 'T was that which Cardinal Bellarmine had the confidence to advise K. James That he should grant a Toleration 'T was that which some hundreds of Papists were so greedy of that as Mr. Oates tells us they offered Cromwel that in case he would grant it they would renounce the Interest of the Stuarts such very Loyal good Subjects they were Dedication of his Narrat 'T was that which was once obtain'd by the joynt Interest of some whom our credulous Non-conformists took for their hearty Patrons though it hapned unluckily that one of them at the same time was a Popish Lord. 'T was that which Coleman again laboured for with all imaginable Zeal and by encouragements from the French King's Confessor endeavoured to purchase at any price and with any hazards and which he cajoled our Dissenters whom he plough'd with into fair hopes of In a word 't is that then which nothing can more oblige or gratifie the Romanists and especially the Priests at this juncture and critical point of time Did the Jesuits and their Complices lay a most horrid and devilish Plot here in England And did not an open Rebellion break out in Scotland at the same time And that we may know by whom those Rebels were acted it is notorious that Ireland and other Romish Priests were dispatcht away into the North to prepare them for Tumults and Hamilton a Jesuited Papist was in the Head of the Rebellion and their publick Declaration did smell so strong of Jesuitism for the Act of Supremacy was condemned the Covenants were revived the observation of the 29th of May was disclaimed and the Kings Authority in Ecclesiastical matters was called an Vsurping Power that we have no reason to doubt but that Declaration was drawn by the Jesuits finger Did the Papists here barbarously murder Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey And did not some Kirk-men in Scotland a little after most barbarously murder the Archbishop of St. Andrews Perhaps they themselves did not understand by what hands they were set on work but the Jesuits would greatly triumph were all the Bishops and Episcopal Divines in this Island served after the same manner 'T is endless and I hope unnecessary to reckon up every particular Instance which serveth to shew how the Disciples of Ignatius Loiola have all-along for many years abused our unwary Innovators and employed them as their Tools and unfortunate Instruments to execute those designes of theirs which we are all highly concern'd to oppose And those Instances which I have mentioned already were not intended to exasperate the minds of any Dissenters or to give them offence but rather to do them service as well as our selves For our common Cause and Interest doth lie at the stake and if they will please to consider things without passion and prejudice they will see but little reason for them to account me an Enemy because I have told them the Truth Were not they concern'd as well as others and were not the Interest of the Protestant Religion in open and extream danger I should not have chosen a Subject of this nature because I know how sharp and picquant Truth is especially when it appears in matters of Fact But though I do sincerely profess that for the well-fare of this Church and for the real good of our Dissenters themselves I could be content to offer up my life yet I do not think my self obliged as things stand to conceal my thoughts although I am sure to reap little thanks at the hands of some for divulging them However as I am perswaded that there are many among them who are men of good mindes and honest hearts so I hope that some of them will do themselves and the whole Nation that Right as both to consider that well-meaning men are sometimes easily impos'd upon and also to beware that they be not cheated by Knaves for the future And such I would beseech by all that is sacred and dear unto us that they would lay to heart the perilous condition of the Reformed Religion not in this Kingdom onely but by consequence in all parts of Europe too And have not our unhappy Divisions from the Old way been a sad occasion of this dismal Calamity Could the Jesuits hurt us were we of one minde and unanimous for that good Old way which did lead so many thousands of our Ancestors to Heaven Is it in our establish'd Churches and conformable Congregations that these Hornets do swarm and buzz and threaten us with Death Is it not in separate Meetings that they build their Nests And are they not those deluded people whom they coax and ride and instigate to do their jobs for them besides their own intentions Why since we are not ignorant of the Jesuits wiles methinks Indignation and Scorn and an English Spirit should be enough to keep us from being shamm'd into the Snare and would we but contend for the Ancient Paths it would be impossible for us to be in danger of those Evils which the common Enemy exposeth us unto or to lose that peace which he rifles us of by leading us a side into Avenues which are uncouth and unbeaten My Brethren when first the story of this Jesuitical and damnable Plot found credit in the world it was hoped by charitable and sober persons of the Church of England that you would have taken hold of that opportunity to have laid down your passions and united your selves with us for the common good of the Protestant Religion and when that worthy Magistrate was so basely assassinated there was reason to conclude that one of the Flock being so worried the rest would have ran together presently and been frighted into an Union But since you hold off still since we hear daily from the Press such ugly Reflections upon our Church which is altogether unconcern'd in the Plot onely