they use the best and most pious methods to that purpose Princes and Magistrates 't is certain may ought to do every thing that is just and innocent for the safety of the true Religion but if they use any wicked or forbidden means to protect and defend it these by the just Judgments of God increase the danger both hasten and render the fall of it more ruinous and shameful it dies certainly because God hath determin'd it shall and that with reproach and consequently leaves an ill name behind it not by its own Demerit but by the Errours and evil Practices of its lovers and admirers Now whatever Errours either of Judgement or Practice this Device of yours leads any of the People into and whatever Ruin or Miseries they thereby bring upon themselves either in this World or in the other all these you are answerable and will be called to a sad reckoning for if not before yet in that great day when the Righteous God shall bring every work into Judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evil if you do not prevent it in time by rectifying their mistakes and changing their opinions of it which you may easily do by representing to them faithfully and plainly the great Jnjustice and Impiety of it that Religion Condemns Right Reason and common Honesty Forbids it that it is Evil in it self Dangerous to the King and Mischievous to the People and therefore to be abhor'd not admired rejected not chosen Such a Declaration as this from you will recover the People out of the Errour and Snare into which you have drawn them and reclaim them from doting on it but if you do it not so long as they have your Persons in Admiration and cry up your Opinions as Orracles they will be very difficultly if at all convinced of the Injustice of it and you omit that which is necessary to compleat your Repentance and consequently to obtain your Pardon from all whom you have thereby injured and offended If you do the other God will be merciful his Anoynted forgive and his Royal Highness be reconcil'd to you then it will be well with you and happy shall you be Well but you will say if we lay aside Subsect 6. this Expedient will not the Romans come and take away our Place and Nation must our Religion our King and all that is Dear to us be endanger'd by the Papists and shall we do nothing for our Defence and Security This is an hard saying who can bear it As for the Romans there is no doubt but they will recover their lost Soveraignty and set up their Religion here if they can though it be a great question whether they can do it and we should be very much to blame and perish cheaply if we do not use all fair and lawful means to preserve our selves But as for those that are unjust and sinful as I have proved this Project of yours to be as they will do us no good so we have no need to use them For first Is there no God nor Providence doth not he that made Govern the World Hath he no care of nor concern for them that profess his Truth and reverence or obey his Laws That he is you do not Question and you have no Reason to doubt the other because St. Peter expresly affirms it calling upon us to cast our care upon him because he careth for us Hath 1 Epist 5. 7. our Lord who when he was upon Earth did with so much Labour and so many Sufferings purchase to himself a Church and People who loved and gave himself to Death the cruel and reproachful Death of the Cross for it hath he I say no kindness for his Church no care at all of it now he is in Heaven Doth the Glory in which he shines on the right hand of his Father the Rapturous Joys and unconceivable Felicities he is there possess'd of divert his thoughts or render him unmindful of his faithful Servants and devout Worshippers upon Earth so that he cares not what becomes of them or if he bears them good will loves and is kindly affected to them is he so poor so impotent a Prince that he is not able to protect them What Shame and Folly and Impiety is it to think so meanly and unworthily of him He that when he was upon Earth healed the Sick raised the Dead and did so many wonderful works must needs now all Power is given him both in Heaven and Earth be a most mighty Saviour and Deliverer of his abillity then to help and defend us there can be no question or doubt at all all the dispute is whether he will do it And to my apprehension those words which St. Mathew relates as the last he speaks upon Earth have a favourable aspect this way Loe I am with you alway even to the end of the Chap. 28 20. world I am going from you returning to the glorious place from whence I came to take possession of the Throne prepared for me in Heaven but assure your selves that when I am there I will be careful of you though you have not my Bodily presence yet I will afford you my Protection and Assistance for those words I will be with you signifie commonly will deliver you as in that promise to the Prophet Jeremy be not affraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord and Chap 1. 8. St. Stephen speaking of Joseph saith God was with him that is as he explains it in the following Acts 7. 9 10. words deliver'd him out of all his afflictions 'T is true indeed this as all other temporal promises are must be understood cum exceptione crucis that Christ will be with protect and deliver his Church and People from all dangers and sufferings so far as is consistent with his Honour and Glory and the Interest of his Religion when their Sufferings are necessary to do him Honour in the world to recommend his Religion to others and gain Converts to it then he is With those he makes choice of to be his Martyrs and Confessors to strengthen and comfort or inable them to bear their Sufferings with Joy and Patience with a thankful and quiet Submission to his good will and pleasure And when his Sufferings can either do honour to Christ or Service to his Religion he is unworthy of the name of a Christian and can expect no portion in his Kingdom that repines at or seeks to decline them by Sinful means This was the case of the Apostles Christ was with them in the first sense to deliver them from many Dangers and all their Enemies till they had accomplish'd their Ministry preach'd the Gospel to the World appointed others to succeed them in their great holy Office left his Religion in such a condition that by his blessing and protection it was able not only to keep its ground but to make new conquests and
spread it self farther in the World but when this was done and the time come for them to confirm or seal the truth of that and to glorifie him by their Death then he was with them in the other manner to strengthen and support them in their Sufferings to give them courage patience and resolution to lay down their Lives to give Testimony to his Truth And I see no reason why this promise should be restrain'd only to the Apostles because all true Christians have great need of this presence of Christ that he should be with them hoth to protect and defend them from their Enemies and to help or support them in their Sufferings and also because the time mentioned in it reaches farther than the Age the Apostles Lived in Loe saith he I am with you alway to the end of the world which if it be understood in the narrowest sense those words the end of the World are capable of which is the destruction of the Jewish Nation by the Roman Army yet none of the Apostles but St. John lived to see that dreadful period and therefore it is most reasonably to understand it of the Apostles and the then Christians whilst they lived and of all true Christians in all Ages of the World till time shall be no more And if we of this Nation will but call to mind the former mercies and kindness of our Lord in what an eminent manner he hath been with us ever since the Reformation how graciously and wonderfully he hath guarded us from our cruel Enemies of the Romish Church we can have no cause at all to distrust him for the future How were the Romish Faction enraged at our Ancestours because renouncing their Errours Superstitions and Innovations they returned to the Pure and Primitive Christianity and yet notwithstanding all their rage fury and restless endeavours to destroy it it still continues and I hope will do to the last period of the World 'T is true indeed Queen Mary's coming to the Crown which she obtain'd notwithstanding all the Arts and Methods that were used to Exclude her obscured and removed it for a time so that it was publickly own'd only by the Martyrs and Confessors but that as was said of the Julian Persecution was but a cloud and soon vanished away for her Reign was short and Popery in England died with her For Queen Elizabeth succeeding her Restored Establish'd or most firmly Setled the Reformed Religion to the great Joy of the Nation and the indignation of Rome for that Faction were so incens'd and provoked as to try all ways to destroy that glorious Princess and with her our Religion hence proceeded frequent Treasons and Conspiracies to Poyson and Assassinate her several Bulls from Rome to forbid the Catholicks to come to our Churches to Excommunicate the Queen declare her fallen from all Dominion to Absolve her Subjects from their Allegiance and Excite them to take Arms against and depose her And such was the rage of Pope Pius Quintus against her that he declared he would be ready to aid in person to spend all St. Peters Patrimony all the Chalices and Crosses of the Church nay his very Cloaths to promote so good a work as he thought her destruction to be And when no clandestine or secret means succeeded the King of Spain sent his Invincible Armado as it was arrogantly and as appeared by the event falsly called to invade and take her Kingdom from her but all in vain for the gracious and watchful providence of God preserv'd her discover'd all the Treasons defeated all the Attempts that were made against her so that she died in peace and full of years The same good providence did also protect her most excellent Successor King James and the Parliament from the Destruction intended for them they being all by Romish Treachery and Cruelty appointed as sheep for the slaughter and the Conspirators took all possible care to prevent discovery so that it was little less than a Miracle that it was detected and thereby disappointed But I need not look so far back our present most gracious Soveraign being an Illustrious Instance or Proof of the certainty of those words of the Royal Prophet Great deliverance Psal 18. 50. giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his Anoynted For hath not a tender providence shrowded him under its Wings and confer'd the most Eminent blessings and deliverances upon him How many dangers hath he been in was he safe in Scotland when in the hands of those Men that Rebelled against and ruin'd his glorious Father Was it not possible for him to have fell at Worcester by a murdering Bullet or to be taken as he went off from that unfortunate Battell Were there no searchings for no rewards offer'd to them that could give information where the Royal Wanderer was Was the Oake such an Invincible fortress such a sure defence so safe an hiding place as to afford him protection if the power and providence of the most high had not guarded and overshadowed him And hath not the same providence that protected him then placed him upon the Throne of his Fathers and preserv'd him from those two horrid Conspiracies that of the Romish and this of the Fanatick or Common-wealth Faction By all which you may know and see if you do not wilfully shut your Eyes that the Lord helpeth or saveth his Anoynted that the Kings life is most dear and precious to him That besides those you see and so unjustly murmur at he hath an invisible guard the Angels of God to be a Security and Defence to him How then can the King be safer than under the Protection of the Almighty and why should you doubt of his Future care of him having such experience of the past deliverances he hath blessed him with That God who hath been with and so miraculously preserv'd him all his life will not withdraw his defence from him unless the sins of his People provoke him to it And your pressing His Majesty to so unjust an Act as the passing your Bill gives the World just cause to suspect that you do not really desire his safety for that cannot be had without the protection of God which is to be obtain'd only by the use of just and lawful means And therefore if you sincerely desire it as in duty and gratitude you are obliged be not faithless but trust in God and depend upon his Providence you see he hath saved his Anoynted and therefore have reason to believe he will do it still especially if you and all his People make it their frequent and earnest petition to him For Secondly is there no Efficacy in Prayer Do the pious and devout Supplications of holy and good men Prevail nothing with God Do they Call down no blessings from Heaven Conduce nothing to the safety and welfare of those that use them upon Earth If not mankind have been sadly deceiv'd for in all Ages and Places of the World the
apprehended to be endanger'd they hope God will not be extream to mark what they do amiss for the safegard and defence of them These seem to be the sentiments or opinions of the Authors and Promoters of the Bill of Exclusion otherwise they would never have fix'd upon this as the only Expedient to obviate and disappoint the black and bloody design of the Church of Rome An Expedient so highly and apparently unjust so dishonourable and reproachful to our Religion that tended to blast and brand it with eternal infamy and make it the scorn of all the wise and honest world Blessed God! Whither do pale and gastly fears and blind or furious zeal hurry Men Had not our Nation incurr'd shame and contempt enough from Men as well as the dreadful displeasure of God by the barbarous murder and untimely fall of that incomparable Prince King Charles the First who was deposed and murdered and hurryed to an hasty grave by the Fears Jealousies and Suspicions of Popery which the Enemies of his Royal Vertues and Greatness buzz'd into the ears and minds of his People For what moved them to leave their quiet dwellings to loath the peace and plenty they injoy'd What drew them into the field of War but Fear of and Zeal against Popery They were told by those who they thought would not deceive them that the King was turning Papist that the Queen ruled all that most of the Ministers of State and the great Men at Court were Popishly affected and waited for a change and if they let them alone the Romans would come and take away their Place and Nation An accusation though as false as the Devil and such as had nothing to colour or make it seem probable yet all that wise and good Prince could do to confute the slander to wipe off such an odious and lying imputation all his excellent declarations shewing his High Esteem his Royal Affection his Prudent Zeal for the Protestant Religion his frequent and learned disputations with some of the most Eminent Papists who to their astonishment found themselves silenced and confuted by him and unable to defend their Church against the mighty and convincing Arguments with which this incomparable disputant shattered and beat it down not his solemn protestation before a great concourse of People at his receiving the most Blessed Sacrament nor any thing else he could either say or do could clear him from the suspicion of Popery or satisfie Multitudes of his People that he was not gone off from the Reformed Religion but so deep root had the calumny took in their hearts that they persisted in the belief of it and that excited their rage and so inflamed their zeal that in defiance to God and his Law they offer'd themselves as freely to fight for the Faith as the Christians did in the Primitive times to suffer Martyrdom for it and would not lay down their Rebellious and Unchristian Arms till they had beat him in the Field seiz'd his Royal Person and by the Mockery of Justice condemned him to die But when they heard him in his last words and dying speech profess and declare himself a Protestant that being no time to dissemble either with God or the World then tho too late all of them that had any remains of honesty or fear of God perceiv'd their errour and said in the bitterness of their Souls what have we done How have we been cheated into Rebellion by Fears Jealousies and Rumours of Popery stain'd our impious hands with Royal and Innocent Bloud Wicked men Sons of Belial have blasphemed and slandered the Lords Anointed accused him to us as a Papist and an enemy of the true Religion and we were so wicked and credulous as to believe them and contribute our accursed endeavours to depose and destroy him After such an horrid crime and tremendous wickedness as this had rendred our Nation and Religion odious and contemptible to the World and we had endeavoured to make some reparation for it by our impatient desires and longings for the return of our present most Gracious Soveraign by Congratulating his arrival with the loudest acclamations and expressions of joy by doing justice upon those execrable wretches that were the prime actors in that black Tragedy and with solemn penitence beg'd Pardon of and reconcil'd our selves to God so that hereby we began to recover our lost honour and the good opinion of our neighbour Nations After all this I say to return to our vomit again to be so frighted out of our Wits and our Religion by the news of Popery and the discovery of the Cursed and Cruel design of the Papists to destroy our King and Church as to overlook and despise all lawful means of safety and to resolve upon a wicked and barbarous Bill of Exclusion as the only Preservative or Expedient to save them What is this but to rave and be mad again To brand our selves with new Infamy and Reproach To proclaim the Injustice and Impiety of our Nation To draw the eyes and curses and Arms of all the Christian World upon us Nay to defie Heaven it self and all the Thunder Bolts of the Almighty or as the unjust judg confess'd of himself neither to fear God nor regard Man Sure this Popery is some horrible monster a dreadful bugbear that it can at every turn thus fright our English People out of their Wits prompt them to the wildest and most unreasonable practices That the very suspicion of it could exasperate and inrage them so against their lawful King who had the Devotion of an Angel the Piety and Innocence of a Saint and more then humane Mercy and Goodness as to bring them to that Impious Resolution which the Jews took up against our Blessed Lord and Saviour we will not have this man rule over us And if not that yet a probability of his being a Convert to the Romish Church should provoke our Commons and some few of our Peers in so high a degree as to put them upon disinheriting and excluding a Son of such a Father and forgetting all the Vertues and Glories of his Renowned Ancestours treat him as a publick Enemy and take from him all possibility as far as a Law could do it of wearing the Crown that encircled and adorn'd their Wise and Royal Heads Such premises as these must needs infer one or or both of these conclusions That Popery is a vile thing or they exceeding wicked men that seek to prevent and block up its passage to us with such Rampires and Bulwarks of Injustice with the greatest Wrong and Robbery and Oppression For my part I am no advocate either for Popery or them that make such wicked and unchristian use of it but renounce and abominate them both That 't is certain is an evil and impious thing but yet the fears and apprehensions of it must not ought not to provoke or instigate our People to do any unjust or sinful thing to keep it out because this
Regions above for his most faithful Servants So that a Popish King cannot be safe unless he sets up that Religion he must be a Zealous Assertor Promoter and Maintainer of it or else his own Party will depose and lay his Honour in the Dust down he must come unless a special Providence Guard him descend into his Grave by a violent and untimely Fate if he do not Imploy all his Power and skill to advance or set up that if he refuse to do this he Ruins and undoes himself for being of that Religion he must have some of its Priests to perform the Sacred Offices of it which gives them access to his Person and consequently Oppertunity to Dispatch him And therefore if his Royal Highness be a Papist and as such comes to the Crown by refusing to set up that Religion he will expose himself to the fiercest Rage of that party and Consequently to the greatest Danger though that rage of theirs will be most unreasonable because unprofitable to them all the rest of the Royal Family being known and professed Protestants so that no advantage can accrue to them by his Deposition or Death Besides 't is very probable that he may have no fear or Apprehension at all of it for if he be a Convert to that Church to be sure he hath a good Oppinion of it and thinks them honest Men or else he would never have joyn'd himself to them and being so Perswaded how can he apprehend any danger from them if he do not set up that Religion which he agrees with them in their Profession of He may think he doth the Romish Faith Honour enough by the open owning of it and sufficient Service as his Example is a great allurement to invite others to imbrace it and he may Consider that to set it up by force will produce such Cruelty and Oppressions let in so many Miseries that his Clemency and Goodness may oblige him to abhor the thoughts of doing it If it be said that every Man desires to Propagate and Advance his own Religion and therefore the Duke if he be King will have the same desire to Promote his I grant it but then I say every Man will not make use of unjust and cruel Methods for that purpose but endeavour to win Men to it by Arguments and Perswasions he will do the Religion he is of all the Right and Service he can without wronging others he will by fair and lawful ways gain all the Converts he can to it but he will not make Sacrifices of those that refuse it and no Man knows but this may be the Dukes Resolution if he come to be King and be a Papist To say he will think that God requires him to set it up and that he cannot be Saved unless he do it is to say that he will think God requires him to make three Kingdoms Miserable to commit many Oppressions Cruelties and Murders and that such Horrid things as these which God forbids and declares to be Damnable are necessary to his Salvation which are most Unreasonable for any man that is truly Religious to think If the Duke think the Roman to be the true Religion he will think God requires him to beleive and profess it and to Endeavour by all Lawful means to Convert his People to it but if those do not Prevail he must in reason think himself Obliged no farther because the using cruel and unlawful means to that Purpose is Apparently Destructive of that Salvation which he designs to obtain by Imbracing that Religion And being assured God will not be Displeased with him if he do not set it up because it cannot be done without doing those things against which his Wrath is revealed from Heaven he may either Apprehend no danger from the Professors of it or if he do despise it relying upon the Divine Protection which his Consulting the safety and welfare of the People is a great Endearment of For if he set up the Romish Religion the People must either become its Proselytes or not If they do they lose Heaven If they do not they are sure to be Miserable upon Earth For Men to profess known Errours and to Practise Gross and known Sins must needs be Damnable but all Protestants know and are Convinced in their Consciences that the Romish Church is guilty of many and great Errours Sins and Impietys Errours in Doctrine Impieties Hainous Impieties in Worship such are the Images they make of God and the Divine Honour or Worship they give unto them as also their Praying to Saints Adoring their Images and Reliques and the Elements in the Eucharist with divers other Abominations which they are Guilty of and therefore for them that are convinced of the Sinfulness of these things to turn to that Church must needs be to shut themselves out of the Kingdome of Heaven But if that be too great a good to be so parted with then to secure it they must resolve to undergo all the Miseries and Cruelties and Sad things which upon their refusing the Romish Religion will break in upon them for either they must fly from the Storm become voluntary Exiles leave their Native Country their dearest Friends and Enjoyments go seek their safety and some of them their Maintainance in other Nations which is a great and sad Calamity or else stay and be Executed as Hereticks at home And seeing these will be the Lamentable consequences of his setting up the Romish Religion I desire those that are so forward to believe he will do it to consider what advantages can accrue to his Royal Highness by such violent and Tragical actions can it be any Pleasure to him to hear the Groans of Dying Men or to see the Funeral Piles of them that are Sacrifiz'd for the Faith of Christ Blaze before him Or can it be for his safety to destroy many of his best and most Loyal Subjects and by the Terrour and Severity of their Sufferings to force others to turn Papists this is to drive them from a Loyal to a Trayterous Church and how can he expect they should be true to him whom he Compells to be Unfaithful to their God Is it for his Honour to Execute the Bloody and Inhumane Sentences of Rome upon his good Subjects to be the Popes Instrument to commit what Cruelties he pleaseth in these our Brittish Islands Is not Murder an Hainous Sin and will not Innocent Blood the Blood of those that will be Slain if Popery be set up for professing the true Faith and Holy Religion of Christ cry aloud to the Righteous God for Vengeance and Provoke him to punish him here with a short Reign with the Terrours of a guilty Conscience with one Plague and Judgment after another till he pass from Hence to the other World and instead of the Glorious Crown the Pope and his Priests flatterd him with the hopes of he find an Horrid and Intolerable Ruin Search all Histories Examine all the Annals of the
and patient people that are not easily Provoked not Revengful Turbulent nor Seditious but of a Gentle Pleasing and Complying Temper these saith Christ shall Inherit the Earth spend their days in great tranquillity be happy in the friendship of their Equals the favour of their Superiours and the protection of their Governours every man is or may be ashamed to injure those that are of such a sweet and obliging temper not that this meekness gives them a Right to any part of the Earth or any of the possessions of it that belong to others but preserves them from many dangers miseries which they that have it not betray expose themselves to renders them patient and contented in all conditions and will if conjoyn'd with all other Christian Vertues secure to them a blessed portion in the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan of which the Earthly which God promised to the People of Israel was but a Type or poor Resemblance for of that our Lord here speaks it being the happy Country which every true Christian desires and seeks after an Inheritance as Saint Peter calls it incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserv'd in Heaven for him And so far was our Lord from saying any thing in favour of this Principle that he utterly declin'd or refused to intermeddle with mens Temporal Rights at all unless it was to secure them to the owners of which we have two remarkable instances one in the man that came and said to him Master speak to my Brother that St. Luke 12. 13. he divide the Inheritance with me the man was modest you see he did not desire the whole but would have been contented with half the Inheritance To this Proposal Christ answers by way of Reproof Man who made me a Judg Verse 14. or a Divider over you Thou art mistaken I am not come as a Temporal Prince or Judg to give Estates or Possessions to any in this World but to propose an Heavenly Kingdome and Immortal Happiness to all mankind and to tell them upon what Terms or Conditions they may obtain them This is the great concern I am imploy'd in and if thou wilt consult me herein I will soon give thee full Satisfaction That the Man who made this Motion had no Right to the Inheritance seems Evident to me both by the smart Reprehension Christ gives him in these words Man who made me a Judg or a Divider over you I will not meddle in so Unjust a thing as to bid thy Brother divide his Inheritance with thee and also by the Admonition he gives him in the following words Take heed Verse 15. and Beware of Covetousness for a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Thy desire of wealth and endeavour to encrease thy own by lessening thy Brothers Possession is a great Sin in thee and of such mighty danger that it ought to be avoided with the highest Care and Caution for though Estates and Possessions are useful to sustain Life yet no Man can prolong his Life nor make it really the more happy by possessing Superfluous Wealth The other Instance is the Question proposed to him by the Herodians What thinkest thou Is it Lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar To St. Mat. 22. 17. which having first reproved them for their Treachery and Hypocrisy he Answers Render Verse 21. unto Caesar the things which are Caesars Pay your Prince the Tribute that is due to him do not defraud or wrong him of any thing that belongs to him far be it from me to Advise or Counsel any to detain the Emperours Right from him If our Lord had design'd to found Dominion in Grace here had been a fit Oppertunity to have done it for when they said Tell us is it Lawful to give Tribute unto Gaesar He might have reply'd no it is not Caesar is an Infidel or Heathen or Wicked Man and as such is fallen from all Dominion and therefore hath no Right to Demand Tribute of the People nor they any Obligation upon them to Pay him any But so far was Christ from giving them such an Answer that he Acknowledg'd Tribute to be Caesars Right and Commanded it to be pay'd unto him and though he was the Son of that God from whom Caesar receiv'd his Imperial Power and Authority yet when the Officers Demanded it of him rather than he would deprive him of his Right he wrought a Miracle that he might have wherewith to pay it which shews the admirable Justice and Integrity of our Lord in that he was careful to secure and preserve all Mens Rights and Properties If any Man refused to Submit unto his Excellent Laws and to come over to his Religion he told him he should have no part nor portion in his Kingdom but then to avoid mistakes he declared that his Kingdom was not of this World not an Earthly but an Heavenly Kingdom and all Right to this he affirms is founded in Grace that it is the Free and Royal Gift of God and the Purchase of his Meritorious Holiness and Sufferings there being nothing in Men to Merit so great a Good the things he requires of them being necessary Dispositions to qualifie or fit them for the Injoyment of it not the Cause moving God to confer it upon them So that though a Pious and Holy Conversation be the great Condition of a Crown hereafter and so absolutely necessary that it cannot be obtain'd without it And though it be an Ornament and Security to him that hath one upon Earth an Ornament as it Gives an admirable Lustre to his Greatness and Renders him Excellent in his Person as well as upon the Account of his Royal Office A security as it Indears the Providence of God and Ingages his tender care of him as it Discourages Wicked and Trayterous Men from attempting or enterprising any thing against him whose Piety makes him Dear to Heaven renders him so highly the Joy and Delight of the Blessed Angels that they are Ready to offer themselves as a Guard and Defence to him and as it procures him the Love Honour and Admiration of all good Men yet the highest Piety or Holiness gives no Man a Title to that Dominion or Soveraignty upon Earth to which he had not an Antecedent Right nor doth the Want of it deprive him that hath it of that Right Christ offers Indeed an Heavenly Kingdom upon Condition of a good Life but an ill one Forfeits no Mans Right to an Earthly And seeing our Lord hath said nothing in Favour of this Tenure but on their contrary that which overthrows and destroys it It cannot be true that Dominion is founded in Grace for he having not founded it so who is the great Law giver to his Church no humane Authority can do it without invading his Prerogative nay as I observ'd before without destroying his Religion because Experience shews us most Men are mightily byassed or led by their
Interest for though some have been such generous Lovers of him as to forsake all to follow him Houses and Lands and Possessions nay and what were more precious to them their dearest Lives too yet to make every Sin a Christian Commits whilst he endeavours to Obey his Laws and to Imitate his Holy Life through Weakness Ignorance Surprise or Inadvertency to forfeit all his Temporal Rights and Possessions is to deter or drive all Men from his Religion to scare them from putting their Necks into such a Cruel Yoke to make them suspect that under pretence of Saving them hereafter it intends to Begger and Ruin them here offers them great things in Reversion on purpose to cheat them of all they have in Possession But thanks be to God though some Men for their own Ends are so Impious as to teach such Knavish Doctrines yet our Lord is more Just and Reasonable than to Render Mens Temporal Rights so Precarious and Uncertain as the Assertors of this Wild Principle would make them Besides If we suppose this Principle to be true as it is most certainly false yet upon divers Accounts it is not Practicable For either it must be left to every Mans private Judgment or Opinion who hath Grace and who hath not who is a Child of God and who is not who is a Saint and who a Reprobate and consequently he must have Power to seize the Rights and Properties of those he believes to be Sinners and Wicked Persons Or else there must be some publick Judg to Conduct this great Affair and to Determine or Decide all the Controversies about it To assert the first to make every Man a Judg in the Case is Intolerable the Mother of all mischief and confusion 't is to set all Mankind together by the Ears or to put them into a State of War For will not every Man think himself a Saint when it is so much for his Gain and Advantage to be so perswaded of himself and his Neighbour that hath a better Estate and a fairer Fortune a Sinner Titius suppose hath large Possessions and a goodly Heritage Sempronius is Poor but highly conceited of his Sanctity thinks himself very Pious Religious and dear to God but his Neighbour Titius to be a Reprobate and Gods Enemy and upon that Presumption seizes or possesses himself of his Estate Valerius seeing what Sempronius had done and Judging it a ready way to get Wealth Entertains the same Thoughts of him and Treats him as he did Titius Fabius being a Spectator of these Practices smiles and takes the next turn sets upon Valerius and forces the Rich Booty out of his hands And so they run on in an endless Circle of Cheating and Robbing one another and turn the World into a Den of Holy and Religious Theeves A place so miserable that no good Man could have any Temptation to stay in it or else because he cannot Dye Innocently when he will be forced to exchange Cities for Woods and Deserts and the Society of Men for the Company of Beasts as the better more Innocent Creatures So mischievous to Humane Society so Destructive of all Justice and Honesty so Productive of all Confusion and Disorder is it to make every Man a Judg in the Case and to invest him with Power to seize the Rights and Properties of those he thinks to be void of Grace and Godliness To say there must be a publick Judg to Manage this great Affair and to Determine all the Controversies about it is to talk Idly for seeing Christ hath appointed no such Judg or Officer who shall chuse or give him Commission so to be The People Alas the Major part of them have no Grace themselves and therefore if they had any Right to chuse such an Officer their being fallen from Grace and Sinners in many Instances Forfeits that Right But suppose all the People to be Holy though they never were never will be so how shall they know which of all the numerous Competitors that stand for so great and gainful an Office hath Grace and is a Child of God he whom they think a Sheep may be a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing the Man they suppose to be a Dove may be a Vulture and he whom they take for an Angel of Light may prove a Devil The Hearts of Men are known to none but God the People therefore if they were allowed to chuse this great Officer can only Judg of him according to Appearance by the Profession of Religion and Holiness he makes and by his outward Actions and Behaviour which may be wholly Feigned and Hypocritical for will not the greatest Rogue in the World look as Demure talk as Godly seem as Holy as ever he can whilst he stands Candidate for so profitable an Imploy if he do it not he is a very silly Wretch Suppose then this great Judg or Officer to be chosen Being invested he is either a Gracious and Holy Person or not If not his Election is Null or Void because he holds his new imploy by Grace which being destitute of as soon as it appears by any Evil or Sinful Action his Office is void and the Persons concern'd must proceed to a new Election But if on the other side the Person Elected be really Holy and Religious when this Office is confer'd upon him though that cannot be certainly known yet there is no assurance that he will continue so for he may either fall into Personal Sins or abuse his Trust by passing wrong Judgment by a False or Erroneus Sentence he may Condemn them as Graceless and Wicked Men that are truly Holy and Religious and so deprive them of their Rights and Properties wrongfully or call them Gracious and Pious Persons that only seem so and adjudg those Possessions to them which they have no Right to For doth he pronounce them Saints and the Children of God whose outward Actions and Demeaner appear to be agreeable to the Laws of Christ This may be a great mistake because those may be pure Dissimulation meer Hypocritical paint and varnish for a cunning and wary Hypocrite will so Personate or Act the part of a Saint especially when it will be so Beneficial to him as this Principle makes it that the most watchful and strict observer shall not be able at least of a considerable time to discover or find him out And how Abominable is it to Rob one Sinner to Inrich Another to take from him that Misbehaved himself or did an Evil Action that Estate and those Possessions which he either acquired by his Labour and Industry or descended to him by Inheritance and give them to a dissembling Knave that is careful only to seem but desires not to be Holy and Religious He may Err too in the Sentence he passes upon Offenders for those he takes to be Reprobates may be the Children of God and the Evil Actions he supposes to be Mortal and Hainous Sins may be the Spots of Sons and proceed
Murderers from entring their Dominions who came upon the most Bloudy and Mischievous designs either to Assassinate their sacred Persons or to Seduce their People from their Allegiance and Animate them to Rebell or take Arms against them And therefore if the Romish Priests and Jesuites who have nothing to do here will venture to come they can blame none but them-themselves if they suffer for it they receive the Reward of their Sin and Folly but have no Injustice done them If they stay away they are safe but if they will Run into Danger when they need not they Destroy themselves fall into the Pit are taken in the Snare which they came to dig and lay for their Prince whose Natural Subjects they are though they become Voluntary Vassals to a Forreign Power that imploys them against their own Prince for whose Safety and Preservation they ought by all Laws both Divine and Humane to expose themselves to the greatest Dangers freely Venture their own Lives to save his And seeing the Excluders attempt and would do that to his Royal Highness which our Laws do to no Ordinary Subject meerly for his Religion and which they would not have done to themselves that attempt must needs be a manifest Affront to and Violation of this Law of Christ and therefore most Wicked and Unjust To say they are of the true and the Duke as a Papist of the false Religion makes no difference in the Case because Christ excepts no Man but Commands us to do to Men Indefinitely that is to all Men whether they be Orthodox or otherwise believe Aright or Err from the Truth Christians or Heathens All things whatsoever we would that they should do unto us And also because no Man that owns the Principles of Natural Religion that believes there is a God Eternal Rewards Punishments after this Life will be a Disciple of that which he is perswaded is a false Religion and Renders the Salvation of them that are of it hazardous and doubtful and seeing he thinks the Church and Religion he is of to be true and the best though he be deceiv'd and thinks amiss 't is to lay aside both the Justice and Mercy our Lord Requires of us to Treat such a Person with the Rigour and Severity which the Excluders offer to his Royal Highness because he follows the best Light he hath his Conscience duly instructed by Scripture explain'd and apply'd as he apprehends by Right Reason for 't is certain a Man can use but his best care in the choice of his Religion that is he can but Pray and Read and Meditate and Obey as far as he understands and Consult the Learned or Advise with those he thinks best able to direct him but because all the Learned of the World are not of one Opinion he must imploy his Reason to Judg which of them is in the Right and if he do it sincerely though he chuses amiss mistakes his way yet he is to be Pitied not Ruin'd to be Restored in the Spirit of Meekness not Degraded nor Undone for following his Conscience God t is certain will be Merciful to a Christian so Erring and therefore if Men be extreme to Mark what such an one doth amiss they Treat him as they would not be used themselves and so bid Defiance to this great Law of Christ all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so unto them Compare it Secondly with that Noble Precept of our Lord which requires all Christians to Love their Enemies and you will soon see the Impiety of it I say unto you Love your Enemies St. Mat. 5. 44. Bless them that Curse you do Good to them that Hate you and Pray for them which Despitefully use you Persecute you this is my Will and Pleasure this I enjoyn you that you Love not only your Friends or those that Love you as the practice of the Jews and Heathens is but your Enemies what are our Enemies is fully declared in this Law even they that Curse and Hate that Despitefully use and Persecute us Every Man thinks him his Enemy that offers any of these things to him but he that doth them all is the worst most Cruel and bitter Enemy any Man can have and yet how bravely every Christian is to behave himself towards such an Enemy our Lord tells us he must Love or bear him good Will desire his Welfare or Happiness do him all the Good and Charitable Offices he can Pray to God to give or bestow all manner of Blessings upon him and to Forgive all the Wrongs he hath done him This because it is a Duty that hath some Difficulty in it he presseth us to the Performance of with the most weighty and perswasive Arguments Love your Enemies That ye may be the Children Vers 45. of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to Rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Unjust hereby you will prove your selves be the Children of God shew that you resemble or are like that most excellent Being who is kind and bountiful to all Men even the most Prophane and Wicked that are his Enemies and Discover themselves so to be by their wilful and open contempt of his Laws who though they received their Being and all their Injoyments from his Bounty will hardly give him a good Word or pay him any Respect at all but Blaspheme oftner than they Praise him Curse him more than they Pray unto him Affront him oftner than they Adore him and yet so admirable is his Goodness that he not only lets such Vile and Ungrateful Wretches as these Live and Injoy the Light though they are Unworthy of it but showers down his Blessings upon them gives them an equal share at least if not greater Plenty of these outward Injoyments than he Communicates to the Good and Righteous Propose therefore his great example to your selves think it your Glory to Love and do Good to your Enemies because the God you Worship is pleased to Treat his so and cannot but take great Delight in those brave and generous Souls that Imitate him therein own them for his Children and give them a Blessed Portion in his Heavenly Kingdom but if you refuse to do this saith Christ you Dishonour me and Degrade your selves For if ye Love them which Love you what Reward have ye Do not even the Publicans the same If you confine all your Love and Kindness to your Friends to them that bear you good Will and do you good Offices you can expect but a small Reward from my Father Me for such Love as this it being that to which Nature it self inclines and Common Gratitude prompts you Besides this Low and Abject Charity which is produced and preserved by Mutual Offices of Friendship and Respect Ranks you amongst the Worst and most Impious Men the very Publicans whom all the Pious Men of your
us be at any time Removed and the Bloody Laws in Favour of the Romish Church Restored we must be content as the Ancient and Modern Martyrs have done before us to Suffer for the Truth not doubting but he that calls us to them will support us under our Sufferings not let us be tempted above what he will make us able to bear and Reward us abundantly for them in his Heavenly Kingdom And how can we Murmur or Repine to bear that Cross that will procure an Immortal Crown or think that a sad and cruel Death that will be our Conduct to a Blessed and Eternal Life Besides this may be a means to restore our Nation to its ancient Piety to recover it out of that deplorable Prophaness and Debauchery into which it is lapsed for the hypocrisy of the last Age hath produced open Atheism and Irreligion in this and the merciful God having try'd to reclaim us by other means and those very Sharp and Calamitous as War and Plague and Fire which effecting no cure or amendment upon the major part of the Nation it may be his pleasure before he utterly forsake or cast us off to see what the patience and sufferings of Martyrs will do towards our Reformation for this was the great instrument of converting the World from Heathenism to Christianity and therefore may be very effectual to reduce Christians by Profession from Heathen to Christian Practise to ingage them to live up to the excellent rules of their Religion for when lewd and vicious Persons see wise and good Men chuse rather to dye than to do wicked and unlawful things prefer their happiness in the other before all their enioyments in this World chearefully leave all that is dear to them upon Earth in hopes to reign with their Lord and Saviour in Heaven though they do at first like those fools the wise Man speaks of account their life Madness and their end to be without Honour yet when they come to consider better of it they will conclude there is great danger in Sin because such wise persons would not commit it to save so precious Jewels as their lives but chose rather to dye innocent than to live prophane and wicked be convinced there are great rewards provided for the Righteous after this Life because Men so intelligent would not but upon good grounds and the most rational evidence be perswaded to do so great and suffer so dreadful things in hope of obtaining them And when they see with what admirable courage invincible patience undaunted resolution perceive with what transports of joy they go to their Death kissing the stake and courting the flames prepared to consume their Bodies because they look for a blessed Resurrection and believe their souls will ascend by them like Elijah in his fiery Chariot to the Mansions of Glory This produces in them an high esteem and admiration of true Piety and Holiness because they effect such admirable things and from admireing them in these they proceed to love and practise them themselves that being holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy they may be fit to Suffer for and to Reign with him in Heavenly bliss and happiness So that the sufferings of the just are Instruments to convert the Wicked and from the Piety they practised in their Life and the patience they shew'd at their Death they learn to lead a good and Christian Life the casting them into the Fire though contrary to the mind or intention of the barbarous Persecutors is a means to inlighten others and they that came to see the blessed Martyr Dye go away confirmd or setled in the Faith nay resolv'd to dye for it Thus the Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church bringing forth by the blessing of God a plentiful Harvest of new Converts and therefore as it is a most wicked so it is a most imprudent attempt to endeavour to destroy the true Religion by Persecuting and putting the most eminent professors of it to Death because their Sufferings invite and allure others to it and drive none but Hypocrites and weak or foolish People from it 'T is your Wisdom then as well as duty to suffer Innocently rather than to decline it sinfully to bear the Cross your selves rather than lay it so unjustly upon his Royal Highness because our Lord pronounceth that blessed and promiseth a great Reward to them that do it but this hath a curse denounc'd against it will bring the most fearful punishment upon them that are guilty of it by that you will shew your selves Christians this will prove you Persecutors for they that oppress and wrong others upon what colour or pretence soever they do it are any thing rather than Christians instead of being number'd amongst the Righteous shall have their Portion amongst the Cruel and Unjust be the objects of his wrath displeasure Who ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutors Ps 7 14 Compare it Lastly with that Assertion of St. Paul that no Evil must be done that good may come and both the Sinfulness and Danger of Rom 3 8 your Project of Exclusion will be very Evident for of them that do Evil that good may come the Apostle saith Their Damnation is Just They shall without Repentance be Punish'd Eternally for it and it is Just they be so Punish'd By Evil the Apostle means Moral Evil the Evil of Sin any thing that is absolutely or in its own Nature Sinful and Wicked no such Evil as this may ever be done for the attaining any good whatsoever if it be the Apostle tells them that do it what they are to expect from God as their Recompence even Just Damnation We know not any greater good saith that excellent Casuist Bishop Sanderson than the Sermon 2d pa 30 Glory of God we scarce know a lesser Sin if any Sin may be accounted little than an Harmless Officious lye yet may not this be done no not for that will you speak Wickedly for God and talk Deceitfully Job 13 7 for him If not for the Glory of God then certainly not for any Inferiour end not for the saving of a Life not for the Conversion of a Soul not for the Peace of a Church and if even that were possible too not for the Redemption of a World no Intention of any end can warrant the choice of Sinful means to compass it But your attempt to Exclude his Royal Highness from Succeeding his present Majesty is the committing great and manifest Oppression and Injustice the Robbing an Innocent person of his Right the Doing that to him which you would not have Done to your selves and therefore absolutely or in its own Nature Sinful Wicked and Unlawful and it is intended for a good end to preserve the King and the Establish'd Religion from the Impious Attempts of the Church of Rome to Destroy both So that you do Evil a great Evil an Evil Aggravated as I said
him which if he please to do you will never more provoke or injure but love honour and treat him as the Son and Brother of a King and Heir apparent to these three Kingdoms This is all the reparation you can make the best satisfaction you can give him for your past offence and if you do this there is no doubt but he will forgive you Princes resemble their glorious Founder both in their Power to punish and their proneness to forgive the injuries and indignities that are committed against them and as Repentance renders him Merciful and Propitious turns away his Displeasure so it excites their Compassion and pacifies their Wrath but as God will not so they have no obligation to Pardon those that against all Reason and Religion Sin against them and when they have done it refuse to Repent That you have done the first highly injured his Royal Highness is as evident as any thing can be Be sure then to make your Repentance as publick as your crime hath been and do not doubt but it will be effectual to obtain your pardon The Duke can and will forgive you upon your hearty sorrow for and humble confession of your offence and you reproach and injure him more if you think he hath or will shew no mercy than you have done by your past misbehaviour towards him though your Sin against him be high and hainous yet do not say with Cain it is greater than can be forgiven for this apprehension I believe prompted the Zealots of your Party whom their guilt made desperate to conspire his Death according to the known Maxim of the wicked Politicians who say That bad Actions must be seconded with worse and lesser injuries pursued with greater the injurious person not thinking himself safe till he hath taken from the injur'd all possibility of revenge What barbarous nay devilish methods are these without any povocation or cause at all to wrong an Innocent Prince and then for fear they should at one time or other be called to account for it seek to secure themselves by doing him a greater First against all the Rules of Justice the Dictates of right Reason and the Laws of Religion attempt to rob him of his Birth-right and when that wicked imagination did not prosper or take effect instead of Repenting of it consult or agree together to take away his Life because the dead cannot revenge the injuries that are done them But is there then no God that judgeth in the Earth Or if there be doth not he behold ungodliness and wrong that he may take the matter into his hand punish the accursed Authors of them with dreadful inflictions here or if for reasons unknown to us he forbear them now with the most horrible damnation hereafter Such men as these are so far from making the high and noble Precepts of Christ the measures of their Actions that they fall short of the lower Justice Mercy and Integrity of the Heathens nay proceed according to the wild Villanous and Atheistical Principles of the Leviathan and instead of reproving their detestable practices by producing the words of Christ or any of his Apostles I may bespeak them in those of that wise and honest Heathen Diphilus the Comoedian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look to it you that think there is no God! there is there is If any man do ill as you have done a great evil let him think time is gain for he shall certainly suffer for what he hath done amiss The punishment of such men lingers is defer'd for a time but it will be sure to come and that the heavier at last and by its greatness make amends for the slowness of its approach And therefore that neither the horrour of your Offence nor your fears of Punishment make you desperate and push you on to such dreadful crimes as they prompted the Conspirators to take the first opportunity to reconcile your selves to his Royal Highness by confessing the injuries you have done him and begging his pardon for them but then you must not only confess but renounce and forsake them meddle no more I mean with the Succession but cast your Bill out of Doors as a monstrous and abominable Brat conceiv'd by Fear nurs'd by Faction born to do mischief and bring forth Treasons Murders and all manner of Miseries Be you its Judges to pass Sentence and see Execution done upon it for nothing can be more just than to cast that into the fire which tended so apparently to put the Kingdom into a Combustion Be careful to undeceive the People too whom by your mighty Zeal for and resolute Adherence to it you have drawn to an high esteem and admiration of your Projects of Exclusion and thereby prepared for Tumults Seditions and all manner of violent and unlawful Practises Your Votes are of such Authority with all the factious and discontented people that they think them if not equal to Holy Scripture yet the best Commentary upon it and will follow your Marginal Notes rather than the sacred Text Consider then what a dangerous thing it is to instil bad Principles into the People who are of themselves too prone to run into Errours and Extravagancies and therefore instead of Goads to excite they need Bridles to restrain them from them That they who are apt to think justice or honesty a superfluous or needless vertue now under the Gospel and perswade themselves that Christ fulfil'd all Righteousness on purpose to free those that believe in him from the practice of it will be Confirm'd in their pernicious Errour when they see iniquity establish'd by Law and a most unjust thing done for the Defence and Security of Reformed Christianity Nay which is more horrid some will think that which Men call Religion no Divine Institution but meer Humane Invention because if it come from God the professors of it may safely commend or commit it to his Protection his Care and Keeping it being most reasonable to suppose that he loves his own Institutions and is concern'd in honour to preserve them from the attempts of those that seek to destroy them But when Men are so busy and forward to support and secure their Religion by unjust and evil Arts think it so weak and helpless a thing that it is not able to shift for it self to maintain or keep its ground without the assistance of sinful and unlawful succours This tempts the suspicious to think it a meer humane invention for if it be of God it needs no sin to uphold it and they who do evil in defence of it incur his wrath as Uzzah did who put forth his hand to stay the tottering Ark which he apprehended to be falling Nothing of divine institution can possibly fall or perish so long as the Almighty Author of it is pleas'd to uphold and protect it but when he withdraws his support and it is his pleasure that it fall all the power and policy of Men cannot keep it up though
so many and great expressions of his Goodness proved himself a Father and a Friend to or Lover of mankind takes no notice or care of them is to say the falsest and most unreasonable of all things because it is either to deny Wisdom Power and Goodness or to make them Superfluous or of no use at all And if he protect or take care of any 't is most reasonable to suppose the just and pious persons are those he extends that favour to because they do in some measure resemble him and are the only Persons he delights in for The Eyes of the Lord saith the Prophet are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers that is he loves and favours them highly hears them graciously and therefore guards or defends them carefully This is so certain that it is a very hard if not impossible thing to find any Nation or People professing his Truth and obeying his Laws whilst they continue in that profession and obedience so forsaken by God as to be given up to the will of their Enemies to be Ruin'd that is and destroy'd by them Their Zeal for his Glory their Reverence for his Laws their Piety and Holiness must decline and degenerate before he will cast them off particular persons though of great Innocence and Vertues may and do frequently suffer in this World but then their Crowns are brighter and their Reward greater for it in that which is to come but as for Societies of pious and good People if they be not rewarded upon Earth they cannot be rewarded at all their present Peace Safety and Prosperity being all the recompence they can receive from God as a Nation And it is a truth attested by the observation and experience of all the World that Judgments seldom if ever come Calamity and Ruin rarely fall upon a People till their great and general contempt of his Laws provokes the Almighty to inflict them Let it be our earnest care and endeavour therefore to become a righteous Nation and an holy People make it appear that we truly love our Religion by leading the pure and blameless Lives it requires of us then we shall be as safe and happy as we can possibly be in this World for the tender Providence of God will watch over and preserve our King and Us either make our Enemies to be at Peace with or deprive them of all Power to hurt us then the Truth shall flourish in this our Earth and our excellent Religion take such deep root in the Nation that no power nor policy either of Devils or Men shall be able to hurt or destroy it These as they are innocent so they are sure preservatives which every Man may and ought to make use of And besides these we have excellent Laws which are a mighty safe-guard and defence both to the King and the Establish'd Religion so that we want nothing for our security having the gracious Providence of God to guard and protect us if we commend our selves to it by devout Prayer and holy Living and such Laws to be a preservative to us that it is a vain thing to attempt either to mend or multiply them because if these cannot secure us none can All that can be done more is to remove the Subsect 7. Scandals or whatever may give his Royal Highness supposing him to be a Papist any cause to be offended at our Church for though it be not just to blame that for the Errours and Misdemeanours of them that either are or pretend to be of it because it gives no countenance nor encouragement to them yet seeing our adversaries take every occasion to asperse it 't is both prudent and necessary to take out of the way whatever may have any colour or appearance of a just objection against it create in him an ill Opinion either of Us or the Religion we profess These may be reduced to Three Heads The lamentable Schisms or Divisions that are amongst us The open Prophaneness and Wickedness into which the Nation is lapsed The great Injustice and Indignities that have been offer'd to the Duke himself First The lamentable Schisms or Divisions amongst us there being no where more sharp and bitter contentions more implacable feuds and quarrels such numerous and peevish Sects as amongst us that profess the most Pure and Primitive Christianity for by the just judgment of God our Adversaries say ever since we departed from the Catholick Church so they call the Roman like the Dove that went out of the Ark we can find no rest for the Soles of our Feet cannot agree amongst our selves nor follow that Peace without which and holiness the Apostle affirms no Man shall see the Lord but divide and subdivide separate or run from one another and are become a very Babel or Confusion This they object against and think a mighty reproach to us nay take it for a sure Prognostick of the approaching fall and ruin of our Church because our Lord affirms that an House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand which they use as an Artifice to draw People from us To this I answer that it is true indeed our Schisms or Divisions are great and deplorable that we are broken into Sects and Factions are a distracted and divided Nation But then the Question is how we came to be so and what the causes are from which they spring That the guilt of them doth not ly upon our Church is certain because it gives no just provocation to any to Separate from the Communion of it it teaches no False nor Erroneous Doctrines makes no new Articles of Faith nor any other Conditions of Salvation but those propounded and requir'd as such in Scripture It sets up no forbidden Way of Worship presumes not to inlarge the Essentials of it or to make any thing a part of Gods Worship which he hath not injoyn'd as such 'T is true indeed our Church determins the modes and circumstances of it because all Churches do it and they are not determin'd in Scripture and are so necessary to be determin'd that unless it be done the Essentials or Moral part of Gods Worship cannot be perform'd and because the leaving them Arbitrary would produce endless disorders and confusions But then these Ceremonies are not culpable as to their number unlawful in themselves as contrary to the word of God sinful in their use as being made means of grace or having any holiness ascribed to them or so highly esteemed as to be thought necessary to recommend or render the worship it self acceptable or pleasing to God nor made of perpetual obligation but are declared to be mutable Constitutions or such as may be changed or varyed as occasion serves nay quite abolish'd or taken away upon just causes by the same Authority that Instituted or Ordained them The Government also of our Church by the Right Reverend Bishops is that which is Commended in Scripture was Instituted by Christ Setled by his Apostles
provoking God to cast us off In former Ages they that were so unreasonable as to deny the Author of their being and the great Creator of the World were yet so cautious as to conceal their impious unbelief of his Existence with their mouths they did not durst not though in their hearts they said with the fool There is no God but now such an one is laugh'd at as a timerous and sneaking Atheist as a modest ungentile Infidel that dares not set his mouth against Heaven and tell all the wise and religious part of Mankind they ly if they say there is a God This is such brazen and impudent wickedness that the very Heathens abhor'd and severely punish'd it What a shame is it then that such monsters of men should dare in a Christian State openly to deny the God it Worships of whose Existence there is so much rational Evidence so many mighty Arguments and convincing Proofs as hath been shew'd by many learned Writers of our Church that can permit no man to be an Atheist but he whose horrid contempt of Him and violation of his Laws cause to despair of finding mercy from him and to think his crimes so great that he will not forgive them 'T is certain that all wicked men wish with all their hearts there were no God to call them to account for their lewd and filthy living but their wishing of it will not make him cease to be who is as certainly as they deny him he whom they now renounce and scoff at will one day recken with them for all the affronts they have put upon him who will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh and we might leave them to be punish'd by his vengeance and their own debaucheries but that they are so mischievous to the state For setting the provocation it gives to God aside this open Atheism ought not to be suffer'd because it is most pernicious to the Government For is not this the Foundation of all that Honour and Obedience which men pay to Soveraign Princes that they are Gods Vicegerents derive their Power and Authority from him and Govern the World in his stead are his Representatives and Commissioners but they that say there is no God deny all this make Empire or Dominion a meer humane creature and so free men from the strongest and most effectual obligations to obedience which Religion lays upon them and put those weak ones which are easily broaken in their stead Interest want of Oppertunity fear of temporal Punishment For such men will obey the Prince no longer than he heaps his Royal favours and benefits upon them than he advances and inriches them when he turns the streams of his bounty from them they are disobliged and watch for an Opportunity to depose him and when ever they think it safe to make head against him or can find a Powerful Faction to lead they will be sure to Rebel because then they fear nothing from the Prince in this and believe nothing that Religion speaks of the Punishments of the other World But he that believes there is a God and Princes to Reign by Him by his Order and Appointment that he requires all their Subjects to Reverence and obey them and that he will inflict Eternal Punishments upon all that for any cause whatsoever Rebel or take Arms against them this Man cannot dares not so long as he believes these things refuse to pay them all due honour and obedience And therefore for their own Sakes as well as for the honour of their Glorious Founder it is the great Interest and Concern of Princes to punish open and profess'd Atheists as his and their most dangerous Enemies especially those that make it their Common practice to expose and render every thing ridiculous that is believed by others to bear his Name and Inscription laugh at his Laws which he hath given us to direct our Lives and Actions as injurious and unreasonable impositions that require Men to deny themselves the Pleasures and Delights of the World to part with every thing that is dear to them to endure Poverty and Death and all the miseries of the World and all this to obtain Rewards and avoid Punishments which are to commence after this Life These and all their other Blasphemies against God and his Son Christ Jesus and his most Wise Holy and Excellent Religion would be severely and exemplarily punish'd and one such Decree as King Nebuchadnezzar made in honour of God would effectually stop the mouths of these bold Sinners and Mischievous as well as Impudent Blasphemers Therefore I make a decree that every People Dan. 3. 29. Nation and Language which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in peces and their houses shall be made a dunghill because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort Such a Bill of Exclusion as this to shut Atheism Blasphemy and Prophaneness out of the Nation and the strict Execution of the good Laws already in being upon all the Reigning Sins that are amongst us would conduce mightily to the security and preservation of our Religion both as it would prevail with God to continue it amongst us and discourage our Enemies from attempting the subversion and destruction of it First prevail with God to continue it amongst us for when he sees a Nation or People have that high honour and esteem for his Laws as to obey them heartily make it their chief study and endeavour to live up to them prise them above all Earthly Injoyments and admire them as the most precious Treasure his goodness will not permit him to take them from such a People because they answer all the ends he proposed to himself in the donation of them which are his Honour and their Salvation His honour that he might be glorify'd by their Piety and Holyness by all those vertuous Actions and good Works which they perform in obedience to them Their Salvation that his bounty and goodness in rewarding them with the Immortal Felicities of his Heavenly Kingdom might appear great and illustrious and be the Subject of their eternal Praises and Thanksgivings And if these be the ends of his giving of them as no doubt they are 't is reasonable to believe that by obeying the Laws of Christ by leading the pure and holy Lives his Religion requires of us we oblige and invite the Divine Goodness to preserve or continue it amongst us because we put it to the excellent use he intended it for But if we prophane and dishonour it by lewd and impure living if we call our selves Christians and live like Heathens the worst and most brutish sort of Heathens as we deserve so sad a punishment so it is most just for God to take his Gospel from us it being as our Saviour speaks Casting pearls before swine to continue a divine and holy Law to People lapsed into all Impurity and Sensual living for
Distracted about it I perceiv'd it to be a bone of Contention because there was so much snarling about it and was very apprehensive of the dreadful consequences of it and therefore I thought my self obliged to contribute my endeavours to undeceive the People by shewing them the Evil and Injustice of it it being the duty of every good Subject to bring Water to quench the Flames of Sedition and Contention which this Device had kindled And I had as I apprehended great encouragement and weighty reasons to prompt me to undertake this Subject The first because The Right Honourable the House of Lords cast out the Bill as an abominable thing and all the Loyal Gentry had publickly protested against and declared their abhorrence of it and indeed all of the Church of England that I converse with though they heartily abhor and pray against Popery did freely own their great dislike and hatred of it which satisfi'd me that it was not my singular Opinion that it is unjust but that I had therein the suffrages and consent of all good men The reasons too that moved me to it were weighty which are these To vindicate the Justice of my Soveraign by shewing he had the highest reason to reject this Bill and consequently to stop the mouths of those that are so prophane as to blame his Sacred Majesty for refusing it To assert and defend the Right of an Injured Prince to shew them that were so unjust and unchristian as to Treat him so despitefully and to offer him such hard measure the evil of their doings that they may repent and humbly beg pardon both of God and Him To do honour to the Church of England both by protesting in its name against this Project and by proving it teacheth the right way to Heaven which will certainly lead all that follow it to the Immortal Joys and Felicities of that blessed place to reprove the folly wickedness of those fugitives that run from the Communion of it either into Popery or Fanaticism To caution or warn all that love the Establsh'd Religion not only to have no hand in but to abhor and oppose the Bill of Exclusion as that which will be an indelible stain or blemish to it make it if it should expire at any time goe out in a snuff leave an ill savour behind it and hinder its happy Resurrection To allay the heats and calm the passions it hath put men into and to let them see if they please to open their eyes what an evil and wicked thing it is they admire so much and therefore unworthy of the value they put upon it These are the reasons that moved me to undertake this Subject and are sufficient in my apprehension to justifie the doing of it so that if any blame me for it I shall answer them in the words of David to his peevish Brethren VVhat have I now done Is there not a cause wherein have I transgress'd or offended VVhat have I done unbecoming a Christian or a Protestant in writing upon this Subject Had I not great cause just and cogent Reasons for it But I hope I have given no offence thereby to any honest Man I am sure I did not intend it And as for the censures of all that are otherwise I scorn and think them below my notice or observation let them censure me as they please I shall never trouble my self about them All that can require an Apology is that which I am very apprehensive of that I have wrong'd this great Argument by my low and unskilful manage of it I wish with all my heart I could have done it better it being in my apprehension a Case of very great moment and concern though I must say it was my endeavour to speak reason in the case and I hope what I have done will find acceptance with all good men and conduce to the great ends I design'd it for And seeing we all call our selves Christs Servants and Disciples I thought it the fairest and most equal way to compare this so much admired Expedient with some of the prime Laws of Christianity by which we shall all be judged at the last day and have made it appear I think to be an open defiance and contradiction to them and therefore not to be done by a Nation professing his most just and merciful Religion which commands us to do good to all men and injury to none That which may be thought by some a great omission is that I have not consider'd that which is alledg'd in the beginning of the Bill as the prime Reason ef their Resolve to Exclude his Royal Highness That by his turning Papist great encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to conspire the Destruction of the King and Government and the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religion This indeed I said nothing to not because it is unanswerable but in truth because I thought it deserv'd no Answer for unless they can prove he turned Papist with that intention their taking encouragement from it to conspire against the King doth not involve the Duke in their guilt nor make him justly punishable because Wicked and Trayterous People are glad of any occasion to do mischief and encourage themselves to attempt it when no motive or inducement is offer'd them and it is most unreasonable as well as uncharitable to believe he had any such intention unreasonable because no Prince will be a Proselite to that which he believes to be a Trayterous Church This being to put himself into the hands of his Enemies and to run wilfully upon his own Destruction If his Royal Highness be of the Romish Communion which I do not believe to be sure he thinks it an holy and a loyal Church and upon that perswasion joyn'd himself to it If so he could not possibly intend to encourage that Faction to attempt the Kings Life because he believed them honest and loyal People that heartily abhor'd such wicked and cruel practices but if he was deceiv'd in his Opinion of them and those whom he thought to be Sheep be Wolves ravening and blood-thirsty People and those whom he took to be Saints be really Devils this is their crime not his and therefore he is not answerable for it and to punish him with the severity the Excluders design'd upon this supposal is the most execrable Injustice because it is to punish him for other mens Crimes to deprive him of his Birth-right because the Zealots of the Church he is of are though he neither knew nor believed them so to be Trayterous and Cruel This will appear more plainly and convincingly to some if we put the case thus suppose the next Heir to the Crown thinking theirs to be the best and purest Religion and such as would conduct him most safely to eternal Glory and Happiness should turn Fanatick and that Faction Encouraged by his being their Proselyte should Conspire the Death of the King and the Destruction of the Church
which horrid Conspiracy being by the goodness of God discover'd the Church party to preserve the King their Religion their Lives and Estates from the Rapine Oppression and Cruelty of that Faction slighting all other means of safety should resolve upon this as the only sure Expedient for that end to Exclude the Fanatick Successor In this Case he by becoming their Convert intended only to save his Soul or go the right way to Heaven but the wicked Faction thinking they should never have such an opportunity again to set up their Discipline and way of Worship took encouragement though he meant to give them none from his joyning himself to them to Plot the Death of the King and the Destruction of the Church I demand then if it would be just for this reason to Exclude this Prince How would the Faction take it Would not their mouthes be Open'd and their pens Sharpen'd against the Authors and Promoters of such a Bill of Exclusion Would they not Fill Heaven and Earth with complaints and cries against such Injustice and Injury done to a Prince of their Perswasion no doubt they would why then do they offer that hard measure to a Prince of another that they would not have done to one of their own Church For if it be unjust to Exclude the Fanatick it must be equally so to Disinherit the Popish Successor because he no more intended by turning Papist to encourage his Party to Conspire against the King than the other by turning Fanatick design'd to animate his Party to the like wicked attempt So that to Exclude his Royal Highness for this reason because his being as they suppose a Papist hath encouraged the Papists to conspire the destruction of our King and Church is most unjust because as I observ'd before it is to punish and that most severely the Innocent for the Guilty to ruin one man for the Sins of others For that he intended by turning Papist if he be so to encourage that Faction to attempt such execrable things as it cannot be proved because 't is known to none but the great searcher of Hearts so it is the highest and most horrid uncharitableness to suppose that the Duke in defiance to God common Honesty natural Affection every thing that is Great Good and Just should turn Papist on purpose to prompt and exite that Faction to murder his Royal Brother that he might Fill his Throne They that harbour such black thoughts of a Prince so Just in all his other actions and so great a lover of the King as he is known to be must needs be odious to God his Angels and Saints in Heaven and to all good Men upon Earth and without such a purpose or intention their taking Encouragement from his being a Convert to their Church to conspire the Destruction of the King and our Religion doth not cannot make him justly punishable Their other Pleas and Arguments for this Project of Exclusion I have Consider'd in the Discourse it self and given I suppose full and rational answers to them If any where my pen hath slipt I hope Reader thou wilt be either so ingenious as to pass it by or so charitable as to shew me my mistake that I may reform it for I am none of those stiff and obstinate people that resolve to adhere pertinaciously to their own Sentiments or Opinions be they right or wrong but shall ever account it a greater glory to amend an Errour than to be able to defend it One favour more I beg of all my Readers which they cannot well deny me that they will please to read the whole Discourse before they pass Sentence upon it because that which may look like an Objection in one place may be answer'd or taken off in another I have no more to add but my hearty Prayers to Allmighty God that he will graciously please to lead us all into the Pathes of Peace Piety and Loyalty that we may be happy now and blessed for ever Amen The Grand Expedient FOR Suppressing POPERY Examined OR The PROJECT of EXCLUSION Proved to be contrary to Reason and Religion WHen great and extraordinary dangers steal upon People and give them no notice or warning at all of their approach they produce in them strange Disorder and Confusion of Mind a mighty Tumult or Hurry of Thoughts then as the Psalmist speaks of men tossed in an angry and tempestuous Sea they are at their Wits ends and know not what to do fain they would according to the dictate and inclination of nature preserve themselves decline the impending evil and the danger which approacheth them with an Aspect so menacing or full of terrour and thâ— first Act of their mind upon the apprehension of it is to decree and determine that it must be avoided this is so great an evil that we cannot bear it if it comes we are undone it doth certainly bring ruine and destruction along with it therefore we must and will if it be possible prevent or stay its approach block up all the avenues and ways by which it may make its passage to us Whilst they thus resolve every thing that offers it self as a means of safety and comes with fair pretences of security is welcome and receiv'd with all expressions of love and joy they applaud and hug it as their Friend and Deliverer and their minds are so pleased transported with it that they are not at leisure to consider whether it be just and lawful whether God and his law allow them to preserve themselves by such means to enquire whether the safety it offers them at present be not attended with more and greater dangers hereafter Whether that which they resolve upon as a means to save them now be not inconsistent with their eternal happiness and such as will ruine or destroy them for ever For if either Reason or Religion might be heard they would satisfie and convince men what a wild attempt it is to decline temporal dangers by such ways as lead to eternal miseries to make use of such Arts to save them from suffering here as will expose them to the wrath and vengeance of God hereafter that no evil unjust or wicked thing is to be done though according to the rules of humane policy it might preserve and secure us at present because it is of infinite hazard to our Souls and will be their eternal undoing When we can by fair and innocent ways provide for our safety we are unjust to our selves if we do it not but when these fail and we are reduced to a sad necessity either to Sin or Suffer if we chuse rather to sin then suffer we are prophane and wicked have no Religion nor Fear of God But in great dangers there is no room for such thoughts or considerations as these but every thing by some People is accounted good and lawful or however excusable that promiseth safety and security and when their Religion their Lives and Estates either are or are
go to the dreadful Regions of eternal misery and ruin And however some may delude themselves they that let their fears of and zeal against Popery incite them to any Trayterous or Unjust Actions have really no Religion or fear of God And yet those Fears and that wild Zeal have had such direful influence upon our People in former times and what a fright hurry and fury the discovery of the late Popish Plot put them into to what violent counsels it prompted some I believe well meaning persons and how it animated the Seditious to attempt against the Government are as manifest as any thing can be This also put the House of Commons upon Excluding his Royal Highness as the only Expedient for suppressing Popery an Expedient so much admired and applauded by them that one or two Dissolutions could not oblige them to desist or give it over but the more it was opposed the fonder they were of it and adhered to it with a most firm and immoveable resolution And though the King like a most wise and just Prince told them the mischiefs shewed them the evil of it and let them know how impossible it was he should ever give his Royal assent to so unjust a Bill and to divert them from it Graciously proposed other Expedients and offer'd to do any thing that was just they should desire to remove their fears of Popery and secure the Establish'd Religion yet nothing else would satisfie them but with great Importunity and Resolution they urged and stood for their Bill of Exclusion thinking to tire out the Royal Patience by their obstinate adherence to it and presuming his necessities at long run would force him to yield to it not caring how they dishonour'd so they could by any means oblige him to pass it And so high an esteem had it obtain'd so great an Idol was this Bill become that to question the Justice and dispute the Lawfulness of it to say any thing to stop its growing fame to represent though never so modestly how reproachful it would be to our Religion and how mischievous to our Nation and to speak civilly and respectfully of the Duke exposed a man to the rage and scorn of the People brought upon him the hateful name of a Papist if not of a Jesuite Thus the Prophets words were inverted and the woe he denounceth against them that call evil good became the doom of them that would not do it they that express'd any dislike of it were reproach'd and run down with clamours and calumnies but the Bill was cryed up as an Act of Heroical zeal for the Protestant Religion the only expedient to save the King the Nation and the Admirers of it threw down the gantlet and offer'd to maintain against all comers that his Royal Highness by turning Papist hath made himself uncapable of the Government and that there is no other way to preserve the King and to secure our Religion from the dangerous attempts that Faction are incouraged to make against them by the Duke's becoming a proselyte to the Church of Rome but by excluding or disabling him to succeed the King This is the great case I have undertook to consider and shall do it impartially that if it be unjust as I doubt not to prove it the Authours and Promoters of it may see their errour and repent of so impious a project and undertaking SECT II. First Then I affirm that to deprive any innocent person of his Right and Property is unjust and inconsistent both with the Laws of our Religion and the Rules of common Honesty and every man is to be so accounted till he hath committed such a crime or offence as forfeits his Right This is so execrable an injury that God forbids right reason condemns and all civiliz'd Nations have and do and will so long as they continue such abhor detest and shew their hatred of it by severe and exemplary Punishments This if it be done by private persons is Theft and Robbery if by Magistrates it is Oppression or perverting of Justice In those the crime is so great that these must punish it otherwise they do not answer the end of their Institution which is to preserve the Society over which they preside to protect and defend all the Regular and Obedient Members of it and by inflicting exemplary punishments upon them to be a terrour to the injurious and unjust and the evil doers In these the Magistrates that is the offence is so abominable as to draw down the horrible curse and vengance of God upon their guilty heads 't is to violate the trust to abuse the power the great Governour of the World hath committed to them and consequently to affront Heaven it self and set it at defyance Instead of Patriots this declares them to be Pyrates and Robbers Men of no conscience nor honesty who are so far from taking the fair and equal rules of Justice for the measures of their Government that they proceed Arbitrarily and make their will their Law And the injustice is the more Criminal and Flagitious because it is without remedy or helps for every man by the dictate of Nature and the Law of self preservation is sufficiently Authoris'd to defend himself as far as he can from private violence or wrong if Thieves will venture to assault or rob him on the Road or attempt to break and rifle his House he needs no Warrant to seize or Kill them in his own defence the violence and injury they offer is a sufficient commission to justify his repelling or resisting of it But there is no place for this in publick injury and violence for if the Magistrate forgetting God and himself will oppress those whom he should protect and instead of guarding and securing invade their Rights and Properties they may not must not defend themselves by force Rom. 13. 1 2. because God hath forbidden it There is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordain'd of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation In this case Prayers and Tears those now so much scorn'd and derided Weapons of Christians are their only Remedy They may complain to God and shew him what wrongs they receive from his Deputies and Vicegerents and beseech him to convert or turn them from unrighteousness and oppression they may bewail their Sins that provoked him to set an unjust Ruler over them and reconcile themselves to him by repentance but they may not take Arms nor use any violent methods to right themselves or cast off that Load of oppression they groan under this being to contract at least an equal guilt with that they complain of and suffer by and to lose all the reward they would obtain by innocent and patient Suffering But though they may not right themselves yet God will do it for Vengeance is mine saith he I will repay it and mighty men men in Power
I leave it to the Consciences of the Excluders to determine what high and horrid Injustice it is to deprive or take it from him if he have not forfeited this Right which is now to be Examin'd or enquir'd into All I know that is pleaded for the affirmative is his changing his Religion or turning Papist and the Dangers thence proceeding to our most Gracious King and excellent Religion here then two things are to be enquired into First Whether the Duke be a Papist Secondly If he be whether that forfeits his Right SECT IV. First Whether His Royal Highness be a Papist revolted from ours to the Romish Church and Religion I may have leave I hope to put the Question and no good Man will be offended at me if I have that honour for a Grand-Child of our English Solomon King James who was so zealous an Opposer of the Romish Superstition for a Son of the Royal Martyr who Lived and Died in the Holy Apostolical Faith professed in our Church for a Brother the only Brother of our present most Gracious Soveraign who is the Great Patron and Protector of the Reformed Religion as not rashly to conclude him guilty of such a change a change so reproachful to them and Injurious to himself The Excluders I know will laugh at nay be angry with me for putting the Question it being as they affirm Notorious that he is a Papist and they believe him so to be as verily as they believe any Article of the Creed but I confess I do not think it so notorious as is pretended but look upon it as a doubtful Case because his Royal Highness hath so much reason to disswade him from such a change and because the Arguments for the Affirmative that he is a Papist do not as I apprehend prove him so to be There is nothing which they that are serious in it use to adhere to with a more firm stable and immoveable Resolution than the Religion in which they have been educated this if it have nothing else to endear and recommend it ingages their constancy and fixes them firmly to it like the magnetick needle to the North even a false Religion having the advantage of prepossession will keep its ground against the true though it comes with the clearest reason the most convincing Arguments and such unanswerable Proofs of its Divine Original and Authority as may justly not only perswade but Command Admittance and Reception This detain'd the Heathens in their Abominable Idolatry and Superstition it was the Religion they had been brought up in which they suck'd in as we say with their Mothers Milk and they were resolv'd to follow their Ancestours in it as they had happily done those that went before them and they pleaded in defence of their refusing Christianity that it was a new Doctrine and an upstart Sect not known nor heard of in the Days of their Fore-Fathers and they asked the Christians in the greatest scorn where was your Religion before Jesus Christ And it hath ever been accounted a mighty Dishonour and Reproach to any Nation or Persons to change their Religion but upon the greatest most weighty and pressing Reasons and Motives and therefore God upbraids his People with it Hath a Nation Jeremiah 2d 11. changed their Gods which are yet no Gods but my People have changed their Glory for that which doth not Profit Never any Nation was so absurd and unreasonable as to change their Gods though false and but supposed ones till they were fully or throughly convinced that they were not what they took them for As wild an Errour and oversight is it for Men to change their Religion unless there be the biggest reason and the greatest necessity for it It argues great Lightness Ignorance and instability of Mind to be of an Ambulatory and gadding Humour in a matter of such moment and concern as Religion shews the Persons guilty of it to be of a weak and Childish temper Like Children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every Wind of Doctrine It reproaches their Wisdom Arraigns their discretion that they should imbrace a Faith or Religion they dare not be constant to such considerations as these do commonly keep Men firm stedfast in the Religion they first imbraced though a better be offer'd and proposed to them But this is Foolish and Wicked Obstinacy a blind and dishonourable Constancy it being as St. Ambrose well observes nullus pudor ad meliora tranfire no shame no reproach at all to change for the better to quit errours for the truth a corrupt for a Pure Church a dangerous and sinful for a safe and holy Religion but to turn from the truth to errour from a pure to a corrupt Church to exchange a safe and holy for a lewd and dangerous Religion is a great shame and such a Sin as without Repentance must needs be Damnable if any Man thus draw back my Soul saith God shall have no Pleasure in him They therefore that say the Duke hath changed his Religion reconciled himself as they call it to the Church of Rome must say he did it either with Reason or without that he had great and considerable motives to induce him to it or he had not If they say he had not but did it without Reason they put the greatest slur and abuse upon him imaginable charge him with the highest imprudence make him a Child not a Man cast a greater Calumny or Reproach upon him than that base slander for which he brought his Scandalum Magnatum against the impious impairer of his Honour this being to say that he would in a sullen and unaccountable humour Create his Royal Brother a Brother so tender of his Honour and Interest so great danger Vexation and Trouble put the Nation into such horrid Tumults Disorders and Confusion bring upon himself so many Dangers incur the Clamours Obloquies Hatred and contempt of all the Factious People without any cause or inducement at all If they say his Royal Highness had reason for this change considerable motives to induce him to it these must be either his Interest and Advantage in this World or his Salvation in the other because these are the greatest and most momentous reasons that could be offered to move him to such a change but to turn Papist I shall prove is neither for his Interest and Advantage here nor his Happiness and Salvation hereafter both these being better secured and provided for by his stay in ours then they can be by joyning himself to the Church of Rome His interest and advantage in this World for what can a Prince whom Heaven is pleas'd shall Reign desire more then all the Authority Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to the Royal Dignity a Loyal and Obedient People their Welfare and Felicity with all that Honour and Renown Fame and Glory that these are always attended with Every wise Prince if he was permitted to chuse his happiness would have it Compounded or
made up of such excellent and desireable Ingredients as these First I say he would injoy his full Authority Subsect 1. all the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to his Royal Place and Dignity all the Rights that God hath annex'd to it he would be a King not an Image of one exercise his Regal Power in the full latitude or extent of it not have it restrain'd or limited to a few things and those the meanest and most inglorious parts of his sacred Office This he cannot have in the Church of Rome for there the Mitre Perks up above the Crown the Pope I mean is Lord over the Prince claims a Superiority pretends to a Power and Jurisdiction over all Kings or Soveraign Princes by Divine Right a Power to Excommunicate and depose them to declare them fallen from all Dominion and Rule to dispose of their Kingdoms and give them to whom he pleaseth to unty the bonds of Obedience or absolve and discharge their Subjects from their Allegiance The first that is the Popes pretended Superiority over him impairs and lessens the Princes Honour makes him a Subject instead of a Soveraign Prince degrades him from the high Station thrusts him lower than Heaven hath placed him renders him not Gods but the Popes Vicegerent or Deputy makes him a Servant to him who is but a Fellow Servant with all the Bishops of Christ and is as strictly and indispensably bound as they are by the express Command of St. Paul to be Subject to the higher Powers that is Kings and Soveraign Princes Let every Soul be Subject to the higher Powers every Man that is whether he be of the Clergy or Laity if of the Clergy tho' a Prophet an Apostle an Evangelist a Patriarch a Metropolitan a Bishop all are included in it and must be Subject to the higher Powers so was St. Paul nay St. Peter himself from whom his Holiness claims Superiority over Kings unto that Cruel Emperour Nero both of them suffering Martyrdom under him and so far was St. Peter from claiming that Supremacy which his pretended Successors have so proudly challeng'd so unjustly usurped since that he gives it to Kings Commanding the Christians to whom he writ to submit themselves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake to the King as Supream as the chief or highest Minister of God upon Earth And if every Soveraign Prince be Supream or the highest Minister of God within his own Dominions as St. Peter calls him how can he have any Superiour To make two such as they of the Church of Rome do in every Kingdom one to superintend the Affairs of Religion the other Civil Rights or Matters of State besides that it is impudently and faucily to divide and separate the Powers that God hath joyn'd together Kings and inferiour Magistrates as the Apostle exhorts being to be pray'd for That we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty but how absurd is it that we should pray to God they may do that which according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church they have no Commission nor Authority from him to meddle in that is to provide that their Subjects may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness as well as Honesty to take care that their People not only deal Justly one with another but also Worship God aright profess the true Faith and the Holy Religion of Christ and be taught to lead their Lives according to it Besides I say the guilt of dividing the Powers that God hath conjoyn'd or united it is the very dregs of contradiction to make two Supreams in one Kingdom for how can one be Summus or Supremus the chief or highest if the other be equal to him 't is as evident as the Sun when it shines brightest that these are inconsistent one cannot be the greatest if the other be as great nor one the highest if the other be as high and therefore to give the Pope a Supream Power in all the concerns of Religion is however it may be colour'd or guilded over to make the Prince his Slave to give him not an equal but a subordinate and dependent Authority for he that Rules Religion must needs Rule all and therefore the Assertors of the Popes Supremacy as they give him a direct and absolute Power in Spirituals so they give him an indirect and relative Power in Temporals in order to Spiritual and Religious concerns when the Interest of Religion requires it he may Exercise a Temporal Power or Jurisdiction over Princes Excommunicate or Depose them give their Kingdoms to others absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance give them Commission or Warrant to take Arms against them nay to Murder or Destroy them So that the Pope where he hath the Supremacy is really the Kings Master and absolute Lord over him his Dominion is but precarious during the pleasure of his Holiness for so long as he behaves himself humbly and dutifully towards his Holy or Spiritual Father Executes all his orders observes all his injunctions though never so barbarous bloudy and inhumane so long he shall have his Blessing and injoy his Favour and being so dependent he must needs have a tottering Throne and an uncertain Authority the Crown sits loosly on his Royal Head ready at every turn to drop or fall off If he dispute the Commands of his great Master the Pope complain of his Exactions remonstrate against any of his proceedings though never so modestly if he express any sorrow for the intolerable oppressions of his People if he be unwilling to Butcher and Cut their Throats like Sacrificed Beasts or to make Bonefires of Innocent and harmless Men meerly for professing the True Faith and obeying the Holy Religion of Christ If the Divine Goodness be pleas'd to inlighten his Royal Soul with the knowledg of the Truth and by the splendour of that Light he see and condemn the errours and corruptions of the Romish Church then he is an Heretick and they say of him as the Jewish Zealots did concerning St. Paul Away with such a Prince from the Earth for it is not fit that he should Live Excommunicate curse him with Bell Book and Candle then it is meritorious to kill him and his Holiness hath a Ravilliack or a Jaques Clement or some such Villain to assassinate or murder him wholf he effect the execrable Parricide shall be well rewarded upon Earth or if he Perish in the attempt be made as far as the Pope can do it a Saint in Heaven Consider then what Charms or Allurements such a Church can have to invite a Prince into its Communion These certainly are so far from being attractives that they are the strongest disswasives imaginable and instead of drawing him to must needs deter and drive him from it A Prince that knows and hath had Communion with a better must first run out of his Wits before he can joyn himself to such a Church A Church in which he cannot ascend his
Royal Throne without a Rival a Rival did I say nay a most imperious Master that is very hard to please and yet if he be not pleased and humour'd in all things 't is a thousand to one but he will jostle him out of it and lay his Honour in the dust A Church in which he can Exercise but a part and that the meanest and most ignoble part of his Authority that only which concerns the Civil Polity and Rights for he may not meddle with Religion nor the Ministers of it who are exempt from his Jurisdiction and Sworn Vassals to his Superiour and as such ready to revenge the Injuries and Affronts the Prince offers to their great Masters if he dares be so rash and unadvised as to be guilty of any but of that afterwards A Church in which he that is Gods Image and Representative less only then God must sneak and truckle Meanly to an Upstart and Usurper a meteor drawn from the Earth and raised on high by Pride Avarice and Cruelty What Temptation then could his Royal Highness who is a wise Prince of a brave and generous Spirit and so exceeding tender of his Honour that he must needs in the highest manner resent the least Violation of his Right all diminution or lessening of his Power all invasion and usurpation of the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to it both by Divine and Humane Right if the Crown should descend to him What Temptation I say could such a Prince have to joyn himself to a Church in which he shall be so degraded and dishonour'd be a Vassal Underling to one that unjustly insolently and prophanely exalts himself above all that is called God that is all the Kings of the Earth Especially if we consider that the Church he forsakes or goes from Courts his stay by giving her Kings their full Authority all the Priviledges Prerogatives and Preheminences belonging to them in this that is the Church of England the King is declared Supream not only in Temporal but in all Causes Ecclesiastical superintends Religion as well as Civil Rights governs the Clergy chuses the Bishops convenes them when he sees cause to make Canons Constitutions Authorises Impowers them to consult debate to order conduct the Circumstances of Religion the Essentials of it being determined by God in Scripture what they agree upon he doth at their humble Petition if he approve of them by his Royal Edict confirm or pass into Laws Ecclesiastical and when they have effected what he called them together for he dismisses or dissolves the assembly Here the Kings Power within his Realms and Dominions is affirm'd and declared to be the Highest Power under God Canon 1 of the Canons Anno 1603. to whom all Men as well Inhabitants as born within the same do by Gods Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience And whosoever shall deny or oppose the Royal Supremacy is to be Excommunicated Canon 2. ipso facto and not to be restored but only by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of those his Wicked Errours So that they must be blind or wilfully shut their Eyes that do not see a vast difference in this great affair between ours and the Church of Rome in this the Pope is Supream Governour in all causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical nay in Temporal too so far as they concern Religion in that our Church I mean she Supremacy is given intirely to our Kings whose Power is expresly declared to be the highest under God and their Authority extended to all Persons as well Clergy as People and to all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal In the Church of Rome if the Prince claim the Supremacy which belongs to him by Divine Right he is Reputed and Treated as an Heretick that is Excommunicated and Deposed and if any of his Subjects dare to assert and openly maintain his Supremacy as in Duty and Conscience they are bound to do because it is their Princes undoubted Right they are Condemn'd to Dye and Adjudg'd Guilty of such a Crime as cannot be purged but by casting them into the Fire In our Church all the Clergy are requir'd to the uttermost of Canon 1. their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any colour or dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times at least every Year That all Usurped and Forreign Power forasmuch as the same hath no Establishment nor Ground by the Law of God is for most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that therefore no manner of Obedience and Subjection within His Majesties Realms and Dominions is due unto any such Forreign Power but that the King is Supream Governour Canon 55. in all his Realms and Dominions in all causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Or as it is express'd in the excellent Canons of the Year 1640 A Supream Power is Canon 1. given to this most excellent Order that is of Kings by God himself in Scripture which is that Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what Ranks or Estates soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should restrain and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers The Care of Gods Church is so committed to Kings in Scripture that they are commended when the Church keeps the right way and taxed when it runs amiss and therefore her Government belongs in chief unto Kings for otherwise one Man would be commended for anothers Care and taxed for anothers Negligence which is not Gods way And if any of our Clergy or Laity dare to impugn or oppose the Royal Supremacy they are Anathematiz'd or decreed to be Excommunicated which is the greatest Punishment the Church can inflict and the most dreadful one any Man can suffer in this World 'T is most apparent then that our Church gives and secures to the Crown that great and most precious Jewel the Supremacy which is the chief Glory and Ornament of it which the Church of Rome so unjustly steals from and Robs it of Here the Prince hath no Rival nor Competitor none to insult or Domineer over him as in the Romish Communion no Lord at all over him but the great Governour of all the World God Almighty to whom it is his Glory as well as Duty to be Subject and submit himself in all things And as our Church doth not diminish or lessen the Power of her Kings so it is so far from pretending any Jurisdiction or coercive Authority over them that it abhors and detests it declares it to be Treason both against God and the King for any to claim or challenge such Authority over them For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or a vow in any their said Realms or Territories Canons of 1640. Canon 1. respectively under any pretence whatsoever any Independent Coactive Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to
undermine their great Royal Office and cunningly to overthrow that most sacred Ordinance which God himself hath Established and so is Treasonable against God as well as against the King In the Oath of Allegiance which all our Clergy take the Superiour at their Consecration the Inferiour at their Ordination and Institution they do profess testifie and declare that the King is Lawful and Rightful King of this Kingdom and of all other his Dominions and Countrys That the Pope neither by his own nor any other Authority can depose him dispose of his Kingdoms nor give Authority to any Forreign Prince to invade his Dominions That he cannot discharge his Subjects from their Allegiance nor give Licence to any of them to bear Arms against or to offer any Violence to his Person State or Government By this Oath they bind themselves notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation or Absolution that they will bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King His Heirs and Successors and defend him and them to the uttermost of their Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity and will do their best endeavour to disclose and make known to the King his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and Trayterous Conspiracies they shall know or hear of to be against him or any of them That they do abhor detest and abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine or Position that Princes which be Excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or murder'd by their Subjects or any other whatsoever Lastly they declare also that they believe and are in Conscience resolv'd that neither the Pope nor any Person whatsoever hath Power to absolve them of this Oath or any part of it So that our Princes have all the Honour and security they can desire What Motives or Inducements then could his Royal Highness have to forsake such a Church as this A Church that is so tender of the Honour of her Princes so zealously asserts maintains and defends their Royal Authority all their Rights Priviledges and Prerogatives gives them no offence at all is in nothing injurious to them but next to the great Giver of Crowns the Glorious Founder of their Order Honours Reveres and Obeys them 'T is apparently the Dukes Interest to stay in this Holy and Loyal Church to lend his helping hand to preserve support and defend it from all its Enemies as his Renowned Grand-Father his Immortal and most Glorious Father did so carefully in their Days and his brave and Royal Brother doth with such admirable Courage Wisdom Watchfulness and Diligence in this Stubborn Factious and Schismatical Age. 'T is no wonder if a Prince that knows no better truckles to the Church of Rome bears all the burthens injuries and oppressions it lays upon him is content the Pope should Domineer or Lord it over him sneaks and behaves himself as submisly to him as if he was the meanest of his Domestick Servants his Groom or Stirrup-holder as some Princes have been his ignorance is the Mother of this Spanish slavish Obedience and Devotion but there is no place for this in his Royal Highness he hath heard enough of the Insolencies Incroachments and Misdemeanours the Treasons Cruelties and Outrages which the Pope and those of his Faction have committed against Kings he was Born and Educated in a Church that abominates detests and declaims against such Impious and Unchristian Practices that Teaches all its Members and People to Fear God and the King and not meddle with them that are given to change and therefore cannot be so unmindful of his Honour and Interest as to make so unreasonable a change to quit the Brave and Glorious Freedom of ours for the base and reproachful Vassalage or Slavery of the Church of Rome This is the first part of a Princes happiness in this World to injoy all the Authority Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to his Royal Dignity which I have proved he may do in this but cannot do in the Church of Rome and therefore can have no Reason nor Temptation upon this account to run from ours to joyn himself to that The next great branch of a Princes Happiness upon Earth is a Loyal and Obedient People Subsect 2. The Crown sits easie on his Head the Government is a Pleasure rather then a burthen to him when his Subjects have an high Esteem and Veneration for him in their Hearts Love and Reverence his Person Rejoyce in and are pleased with his Government Pray for his Life willingly Obey his Laws cheerfully Pay him the Subsidies and Tribute due unto him Afford him such supplies as will support his Royal State and Dignity inable him to defend himself and them from all the attempts of his and their Enemies and are ready to guard his Sacred Person with their Lives as well as Estates Such a People are the chief Jewels of the Crown the Treasure of the Prince and the prime part of his Happiness without such a People he is broken with Cares distracted with Fears disturbed with frequent Tumults Seditions indanger'd by Conspiracies doth not sit safe nor sure upon his Throne and therefore must needs be miserable Such a Loyal and Obedient People are all the true Members of the Church of England all those Christians I mean of this Nation both Clergy and People agreeing in that Faith Government and Dean of St. Pauls Vnreas Separ pa. 299. Worship which are Establish'd by the Laws of this Realm There is not in all the World such a Society of Loyal Souls of Brave Faithful Subjects to be found that do so highly Honour so Heartily Love so Chearfully Obey and Serve their Prince They have got such an habit of Loyalty 't is so endear'd to and so deeply rooted in their Hearts that it cannot without great difficulty be pluck'd up 't is built upon a Rock the sure Foundation of Christs most Just and Holy Religion they therefore Love Honour Obey and are Faithful to their Prince because God requires all this of them and Commands them so to be and because he is Gods Minister Governs for and receives his Royal Power and Authority immediately from him And till they have unlearnt these Grounds and Reasons of it they cannot be other then Loyal and Faithful to their Prince which they can never do so long as they continue in the Church of England because they are a prime part of the Doctrine of it which is constantly press'd inculcated and urg'd upon them no Church in all the Christian World doth so strictly and carefully and sincerely observe that great and weighty Charge of St. Paul in both the parts of it Put them in Titus 3. 〈◊〉 Church Catechism Mind to be Subject to Principalities and Powers to Obey Magistrates to be ready unto every good work They are put in Mind of it in their Childhood in the explication of the
Accusation of Herisie which they may easily do because they are the Judges of it and may call every thing they please so yet they will be sure to do it with the charge of unprofitableness he is no longer useful to the Church that is his Holiness is weary of him and that with them is a Just and Sufficient cause of Deposition and when they pronounce that Sentence upon him they only take from him the Name or Title of King because they had Rob'd him of all the Power and Authority before for how can he be a King that doth not Rule and Govern his People and if the Pope Commands the Clergy and they Rule the People for Gods Sake who doth the Prince Govern or what Authority hath he none none at all his Empire is but Imaginary a meer Chimera or faigned thing I appeal then to all the Wise and Rational World whether the Romish Clergy deserve the Name of Subjects much less of Loyal Subjects that neither Obey the Prince themselves if he refuse to be a Subject to the Pope nor suffer the People to do it any longer than he is constant to be their fellow Subject to the Pope his Throne must needs totter and his Authority be a poor and precarious trifle that is sure of the Obedience neither of the Clergy nor People And if it be a Princes Happiness to have a Loyal Obedient People as undoubtedly it is 't is against the Dukes Interest to leave our Church all the true Members of which are eminently so and to join himself to the Papists who are Notoriously known not to be so this being to exchange Sheep for Wolves Doves for Vultures and consequently to underdo and make himself miserable if he come to the Crown I confess indeed there is a Generation of Men amongst us that call themselves Protestants and would be thought the best and purest part of the Reformation that have equal'd if not outvy'd the Jesuits themselves in their Treasons Seditions and Rebellions against Kings these were they that took Arms against and Murder'd that Incomparable Prince King Charles the First of Glorious and never Dying Memory These abjured and exiled our Present most Gracious Soveraign and since his Happy Restauration have Created him so great Vexation Trouble and Disturbance These too with the new Converts and Proselites they have gain'd from the Church and poyson'd with their Seditibus Principles Headed by some of the Great Men that either had cast off Religion or being Male-content because they had not all the Honours and great Offices they desired or being promoted to them did not injoy them as long as they would have done but for their Misdemeanours were justly deprived of them that they might be confer'd upon more deserving Persons with others Alarum'd by the late Popish Plot and Excited by their hatred of the Romish Religion are the Enemies of the Royal Family known Authors and Promoters of the Bill and the late more damnable and accursed intended Exclusion But then I desire it may be consider'd that these are not of the Church of England but Fugitives and Runnagates that have withdrawn and separated themselves from it they renounce the Church and the Church renounceth them they will not own her for their Mother nor she them for her Children they are so far from being Members that they are the Sores and Ulcers the pest of the Church as well as of the Crown and that they are equally hateful to them is Evident because they destroy'd the King and the Church together or rather the Church first that this being taken away which was the support of it they might more easily and readily overthrow the Monarchy and verifie that which King James in his great Wisdom foresaw would certainly be No Bishop No King And therefore none can with any appearance of Justice charge the Insolencies Mutinies Seditions Teasons and Misdemeanours of that Stubborn Generation upon our Church this being to blame it for the Crimes and Offences of those that are profess'd Enemies to and open Dissenters and Separatists from it nor in Reason expect Loyalty and true Obedience from them so long as they continue such for how should they Learn to Reverence and Obey their Prince that refuse to come into our Assemblies where such great and useful and concerning Duties are Preach'd to and press'd upon the Hearers Or if at any time they vouchsafe to be present at our Churches 't is never till the Loyal as well as most Pious Prayers of our Liturgy are over and then too if either the Text or the Sermon have any smatch of malignancy so they called Loyalty in the Days of old or as the new Word is Toryism away they run as if they were frighted out of their Wits or the Preacher had vented some damnable Heresy which their Ears tingle and their Souls are astonish'd at These are Duties that are never taught in their Conventicles if they had any mind to it the Apostles of the Separate Churches have not the face to put their Hearers in mind of Obeying their Prince because their Preaching and the People coming to hear in those Places are Acts of great Scandalous and Sinful Disoobedience And if the seeds of Obedience be not sowed in their Hearts by Learned and Constant Preaching how should Loyalty as the precious Fruit thereof grow up in their Lives and Actions They that prefer the Opinion of that Scotch Villain David Blake who said all Arch-Bishop Spots Woods Hist Church of Scotland pa. 423. Kings were the Devils Bearns before that Affirmative of God I have said ye are Gods and you are all the Children of the most High and that assertion of St. Paul who writ by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost There is no Power but of God the Powers Kings that be are Ordain'd of God and neither desire to be nor care to come where they may be better inform'd and Preach'd out of such Damnable Principles cannot possibly be good Subjects Do Men gather Grapes of Thrones or Figs of Thistles As unreasonable is it to expect Loyalty from these People who have not hitherto been Taught and have still no mind or desire to Learn any and do therefore cast off all Obedience to the King and do all they can to tear or rend the Government from him because like the Bramble they would fain be so that is Govern all themselves 'T is then apparently the Interest and consequently ought to be the Care of the Government to reduce or bring back to the Church these People that are gone from it because whilst they continue separated or divided from it they are open and profess'd Enemies to the Government and there is no other way to make them good Subjects To grant them Toleration is a sure way for the Government to Ruin and undo it self because it is to give them not only opportunity but Licence and Commission to Preach Treason and dissiminate their Seditious Principles with Impunity to strengthen
and increase their party to gain every Day new and numerous Converts and Prosselites the ignorant People being exceeding fond of and greatly delighted with their impudent and Enthusiastical way of Praying and Preaching and when the Terrour of the Laws doth not restrain run after them with as much an eagerness as they do the most pleasing pastimes and entertainments till they grow strong enough to overmaster and depose the Prince and therefore they that advise him to grant them Toleration do neither better nor worse then perswade him to be Felo de se to Ruin and Destroy himself But the Mischiefs and Dangers of Toleration are so fully proved by the excellent Author of the late Eccesiastical Dr. parker Polity that I need say no more against it but only desire all that Love the King and have any Authority under him and wish the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation to Read that Learned Eloquent and most Rational Discourse which will convince them if Reason can do it that the Government cannot stand if these People be Tolerated As for those kind and good humour'd Gentlemen that propose Terms of Accomodation and would Unite or bring them to us by removing some of those things which they dislike in our Church This I must tell them is rash and erring Charity for they do not consider the surly peevish and insolent temper of the Dissenters nor mind what their Designs and Perswasions are For is it probable they who believe their Discipline to be the Scepter of Jesus Christ and say all the Kings and Rulers of the Earth must and ought to Obey and Submit to it and if they do not are the Enemies of the Lord Jesus and will not let him Rule over them And that their way of Worship only is agreeable to the Purity and simplicity of the Gospel and are so stiff and peremptory in the belief of these things that no Arguments not all the Reason in the World can perswade them from it Is it probable I may say possible that Men who believe these things with such immovable Resolution will ever be gain'd to our Church which explodes and condemns them as impudent Errours and Lying Pretences by removing a Ceremony Abolishing suppose the use of the Sign of the Cross after Baptism kneeling at the receiving of the Lords Supper the Surplice or any other harmless Rite which the Grandees of the separation are convinc'd to be Innocent things No no this will not do the work they are for a through Reformation the Common Prayer is an Idol an Abominable Idol The Order of Bishops not only a Superfluous or needless thing not only an unprofitable burthen of the Earth but Antichristian and an unlawful Government in the Church which they have solemnly Covenanted or Sworn to Abolish and extirpate and will the shaking off a few Leaves casting away two or three harmless Ceremonies either satisfie or divert them that have laid the Axe to the Root of the Tree because they think it Cumbers the Ground They have the same thoughts of our Church Government as that Famous Scotch Presbyter Mr. Andrew Melvill had of theirs who affirmed That Arch Bishop Spots His Church of Scotland pa. 275. the Corruptions crept into the State of Bishops were so great that unless the same were removed it could not go well with the Church nor could Religion be long preserved in Purity And therefore amongst other things which the Presbyters of that Nation proposed to the Bishops for Reforming the Corruptions of their Order they urged according to their wonted Modesty That the Bishops should be content to be Pastors or Ministers of a Idem pa 303. Flock that is of one particular Congregation and that they should not Empire over Presbyters but be Subject to the same Very good this is it they would have either no Bishops for to confine them to one Congregation is to make them not Bishops but Parish Priests or if any such as will truckle be Subjects and Underlings to them A Blessed Reformation indeed to make the Fathers Submit or be Subject to their Sons them that stand in the Place of St. Paul and possess the degree of St. Peter are that is the undoubted Successors of the Apostles do homage to them that succeed the Seventy Disciples Which is to invert or turn the Ordinance of our Lord upside down You are deceiv'd ye Charitable Souls that think to bring the Dissenters into the Church by casting the Ceremonies they except against out of it 't is not that but the Preheminence and Superiority they contend for they would be uppermost Rule all both in Church and State this is the point they would gain for this they whine and wrangle stir up strife and Sedition Plot Treason from Age to Age from Generation to Generation for this they make Schisms and set up new Churches and scare the People from the Old by declaiming against the Ceremonies and crying cut of Popish Prayers Vestments Rites and Bishops and bawling upon every Occasion as if they would tear their Throats Popery Popery 'T is not Conscience but Interest that puts them upon these extravagant courses they are not so silly I mean the leading Men amongst them as to believe it a Sin to Communicate with our Church in all the parts of its Worship though they are such Knaves as to tell the People so that they may draw them from it and having got a party strong enough destroy the Church and with it the Monarchy that they may Reign as Kings and injoy their so much courted Empire and Soveraignity Wipe off the Paint and Varnish the Colours and pretences with which they endeavour to cover and conceal it till a fit Opportunity and every Eye that is willing to see may discern this to be the great Design they are Ingaged in Another Expedient I find tender'd by a Charitable hand for reducing the straglers to the Church is Instruction that they be shew'd the Innocent and Lawfulness of the things they scruple in our Church and that they be fully Explicated as also the Sinfulness of their Schism or Separation from it together with the mischievous and dangerous consequences of it This is a good way indeed but then the question is how it shall be put in Practice I know but these three ways Preaching Writing and Conferences Preaching cannot do it because they will not hear our Clergy 't is a rare thing to see any of the Dissenters come to our Parish Churches when they may safely go to their own Meeting Houses or if any of them be pleas'd at any time to come if the Sermon tend to justifie the Constitutions of the Church to refute the Cavils and Objections that are made against them to reprove though with all Gentleness and the softest words the Sin and Errour of those that separate from it they are sad nay angry at such sayings go away highly provoked and offended and will not be so civil as to hear
the Preacher out And as Preaching cannot unless they be forced to hear and the just Correction of the Laws drive them from their Conventicles to our Assemblies so Writing hath done no good upon them all the excellent Books that have been written both formerly and of late Years by the excellent Divines of our Church in which all their exceptions against it have been fully answer'd all their scruples satisfi'd all their Pleas and Apologies for their Separation throughly confuted and the Authors of them put to all the shame and silence Men of their Confidence are capable of yet they are never the better but persist stubbornly in their wicked Schism and prove to all the World that they are such as hate to be Reformed the crafty seducers tell their Credulous followers that such are Lewd and ungodly Books and that frights them so that they dare not upon any Terms give them the Reading all that their guides think fit to do in the case is to imploy some Pragmatical Fellow to write an Answer which how silly or impertinent soever is admired and applauded by the whole Faction as an Incomparable piece and the Author hugd and caress'd by the Brethren and Holy Sisters as a very precious Man Nor can any better success be reasonably expected from the other way that of Conference because if they will not hear our Clergy Preach nor Read the excellent Books they have writ in defence of the Church they will be as averse especially when they have their Liberty to private Conference be with great difficulty brought to admit the Charitable Person that comes to undeceive them or if they do they are generally so ignorant and so conceited that it is very hard to make them understand the nature of the things disputed what Schism is and how exceeding Sinful and if this be done they are so highly conceited of their own Gifts and Godliness as to think themselves Wiser and Holyer than he that offers them Instruction Besides they are such Slaves to so wholly at the Command of their own Guides and Teachers that if they tell them their separate Meetings are Innocent and Holy Assemblies and those of the Church so impure or defiled with Popish Prayers Ceremonies and other Humane Inventions that it is not safe for them to venture their precious Souls in them they believe such lying words as firmly as if they were Divine Truths and adhere to them in spight of all the Scripture and Reason that can be brought against them These therefore and all other vain projects laid aside the Government if it will be safe and happy must with great and earnest care endeavour to reduce them to the Church which can be effected no other way but by a strict Executing the Laws upon all Dissenters an unwearied persisting in it letting them see that if they dare be so impudent as to Affront Transgress the Laws and defie Authority that both will and dares do Justice upon such bold Offendors This in time will make them leave their Fooling to give it no worse Title Teach the People to shun the Meeting-Houses with the same caution and waryness as they do the Dreadful and Disconsolate Places where Misery and Ruin dwell This will put them upon serious Thoughts and Considerations Oblige them strictly to Examine the Cause for which they Suffer prompt them to ask themselves such questions as these what harm or venom is there in the Ceremonies of the Church that we should be so affraid of them as to run from the Communion of it Do not our own Guides and Teachers confess the Doctrine of it to be pure or agreeable to the Scriptures Are there not abundance of Learned Pious and Holy Men that Live and Dye in the Communion of it and can we think that such Men are not Saved And if they be Why will not the same Faith the same Doctrine the same Prayers and Holyness carry us to Heaven Are not the Doctrine Government and Worship the same that were Taught exercis'd and used by those brave and Holy Men that with such admirable zeal and courage suffer'd Martyrdom in the Reign of Queen Mary How can that be Popery now which was practic'd by them who would rather burn at a Stake then turn Papist and are we Wiser or more Conscientious than they The Wise Merciful Correction of the Laws will by degrees bring the Offendors to a sight and abhorring of their Errours and produce in them such good Thoughts as these and consequently ingage them to return from whence they are fallen I mean to our Holy and Excellent Church which will put an Happy end to all our Schisms and Divisions and the People by coming constantly to our Pious Loyal Assemblies will in a little time Learn to Fear God and the King and meddle no more with them that are given to change But if this great means of reducing them be waved or neglected or coldly prosecuted such a Blessed and desirable Revolution can never be attained but our fewds and contentions will be Immortal and we shall be as the scorn of so the most Miserable and Distracted Nation in the World Without this nothing can reduce them but in Conjunction with and Subordination to it there are other things that will contribute very much to it as the Exemplary Piety and strict Conformity of the Clergy and the putting them into such a Condition that they may not depend upon the Benevolence of the People for their Maintenance Their Exemplary Piety that none be suffer'd to Dishonour our most pure and holy Church by their Evil and unsuitable Lives for though 't is certain we have the most Learned Pious Unblamable and therefore Excellent Clergy in the World yet if there be any irregular Persons amongst them as 't is possible there may in such a great Body of Men be here and there one that forgets himself that care be taken and means used to Reform them that they give no Offence Minister no Occasion to any to Reproach the Church or to speak Evil of our most Holy and Undefiled Religion We see how cautious and careful the Schismatical Preachers are to seem Holy that they may gain the Esteem and Veneration of the People and lead them by the Noses whether and to what they please and if the shadow in them to be sure the Substance of Holiness a Vertuous and unblamable Life in all our Clergy will gain them great Authority with the People and convince them that must needs be an Holy Church that hath so Pious Regular and Excellent a Clergy The next is their strict Conformity that all of them be compell'd to observe all the Orders and Constitutions of the Church Unless this be done the People can never be drawn off from their prejudices against and misperswasions concerning them but will think them unlawful Impositions because some of the Clergy do not observe them and they will admire applaud and follow those that do not observe them as
sure it must needs be sinful and unlawful for him to do it To Execute Thieves and Murderers and yet be Unjust and Cruel himself 'T is true if he be so his People may not must not revenge the wrongs nor resist the Violence he offers to them because the Apostle tells them what the dreadful Punishment of that resistance will be They that resist shall recieve to themselves Damnation And because God is the only Judg of Kings and he so Righteous a Judg that he will be sure to Punish them if they abuse their Power When David was unjustly pursued Injuriously dealt with by King Saul he did not study Revenge but abhor'd it saying God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anoynted 1 Sam. 26. 11. He remitted or left him to his proper Judg. David said furthermore As the Lord Liveth the Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to Vers 10. Dye or he shall descend into Battel and Perish But as for me I have no Commission nor Authority to cut him off and therefore God Almighty keep me from committing so Audacious and Execrable a Crime or Wickedness But the Peoples having no Power from God to Revenge the wrongs done them by their Prince is no encouragement for him to do them because as they are contrary to his Duty and the abusing his Authority he is answerable and accountable to God for them and must expect from him a Punishment equal to them And that they may Faithfully perform this Duty consult and provide for the good and welfare of their People the Apostle requires that Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions be made for them for Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty This as it is the Princes Duty so his Honour and Glory when according to the Ancient Title of Kings he is a Common Father to his People hath a Paternal care of and Affection for them Loves them and is tender of their Lives and Properties is so far from Destroying the Innocent that he is unwilling to Condemn and Execute the Guilty and would not do it but that those cannot be safe unless these be cut off had rather save one Subject than Destroy a Thousand Enemies and thinks himself Rich enough if his Loyal Subjects be so and instead of Impoverishing them by needless Wars encourages Trade and Studies to keep them in Peace and Plenty 'T is as impossible for wise and good People not to Love such a Prince as it is for them to hate themselves or not to be concern'd for their own Interest They look upon him as their chief Patron and Benefactor upon Earth and the Sun it self is not dearer to them than he is They Love and hate as he doth they that are his Friends they account theirs and those that are his Enemies they abhor as if they were their own They have the highest esteem and Admiration for him in their Hearts which they express in their words and Actions In their words by filling all Places with his Praises and speaking nothing but Panegyricks and Encomiums of him In their Actions by treating him with the greatest reverence and respect receiving him in Triumph and with all possible expressions of Joy whereever he comes as if some Glorious Angel was descended from the Heavenly Regions and come to Bless them with his presence By obeying his Laws and observing all his Royal Injunctions doing every thing he Commands with a ready cheerful and willing Mind Such a Prince as he is admir'd and belov'd in his Life so he is truly Lamented at his Death and his Subjects pay their Tributary Tears at his Royal Sepulchre weep over him and say as Elisha did at the departure of Elijah my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and Horsemen thereof And though he be gone to take possession of a better Kingdom and to receive a brighter Crown yet amongst all his Glorys above they cannot forget to Praise and Honour him upon Earth not only think but call him Blessed raise the fairest Monuments to his Memory inscribe his Royal Vertues and Glorious Actions in never Dying Records that his Fame and Renown descend to after Ages and all Generations may admire and call him Blessed So that the providing or taking care for the welfare of his People is a considerable part of the Princes happiness Let us enquire then if this be not also lost by the Dukes being a Papist if the Crown should descend to him If he come to be King and be of the Romish Religion he must set up that or not if he do it not he Frustrates their Expectation disobliges that Party and thereby incurs their Rage and Displeasure which must needs be very Fierce and Cruel because ever since Queen Mary left the World it hath been their study and endeavour to get a Catholick into the Throne This hath cost them so much Labour put them upon so many Conspiracies for this so many of their Zealots have been Executed found a worse Purgatory here than that they talk so much of after this Life And having gain'd their point as they thought got a King of their Religion for him to be content with Mass in his own Chappel and let his People openly profess and enjoy the Reformed Religion which they call Heresy and hate worse than they do the Devil What an unpardonable Injury Affront and Disappointment is this This is to rouse and irritate the Angry Lyons to deny the hungry Wolfes the Prey they have been so long hunting after his Holiness though he be Indulgent enough to other Sinners and sells them Pardons at as Cheap and Reasonable Rates as they can well desire hath no Mercy in store for such a Transgressor Sons will sooner pardon those that Kill their Fathers Fathers those that Murder their Innocent Children inraged Husbands them that Ravish their beloved Wives than he will forgive such a crime as this A crime that robs him of his so much admired Soveraignty of his dear and most desired Profit of his first Fruits Tenths Peter-pence Fees for Investing Bishops Indulgence Mony and all his other ways of getting Wealth by which as our Histories relate he drain'd a mighty Treasure out of this Kingdome and which if the Prince deny him his Reign will be short and his days few for if the Traiterous Priests and Jesuits that are about him do not Poyson or Stab him before their great Master hath declared him Unprofitable Consequently unworthy of the Royal Throne to be sure he having first for Fashion sake Admonished and Exhorted him to be Zealous of and mind the good of the Catholick Cause will proceed to Sentence Declare him Uncapable of faln from all Dominion and Rule then every one that Kills him thinks he doth God the most acceptable Service such as Merits from him the bigest reward and the brightest Crown provided inthe
World and you will find that of the Philosopher to be a great truth That Tyrants seldome live to be Old the Saints pray their Blood and Sufferings cry to Heaven against them and God Abhors and the Earth Groans under the burthen of their Crimes and Hell is ready for them How then can it be for the Dukes Honour or Felicity to be one of them to live and that but for a little time Abhor'd by God dreaded and forsaken by all good Men to die Unpityed and Unlamented to depart this World not with the Tears and Praises but with the Joy and Thanksgivings of his Subjects that by his Death they are deliver'd from the Miseries and Oppressions his Reign was attended with to have the story of his Life there being some that delight to Record the Actions of Princes transmitted to future Ages stain'd with so many Executions Cruelties and Oppressions which his setting up the Romish Religion will occasion and to be remembred no otherwise when he is Dead and gone than Plagues and Wars and the most dreadful Calamities are that is with Horrour and Amazment How unreasonable is it then to believe his Royal Highness if he come to the Crown will thus ruin and undo himself for no Reason or Inducement at all Common Prudence will not suffer him to be so much his own Enemy And therefore they that upon idle Rumours or meer Suspicions entertain such unbecoming thoughts of him do great Injury to and extremely wrong so brave a Prince who is confessed by his very Enemies to be Highly just and hath ventured his Life in defence of his Country and therefore in reason and justice ought neither to be accounted nor treated as its Enemy that hath any intention to Ruin if it be the will of Heaven that he Reign over it 'T is certain then that it is not for the Duke Interest in this World to turn Papist and therefore if he be so that cannot be the Reason of it The only Motive therefore he could have to Subsect 4. perswade him to such a change must be his Happiness and Salvation in that which is to come This indeed is the great End the Highest reason any Person can propose to himself in the Choyce of his Religion that it be such as will conduct him safely to Eternal Happiness Now if I can prove that there is no danger of missing this in the Communion of the Church of England and that there is great and apparent Hazard of losing it in the Communion of the Church of Rome then this can be no Reason for nor Inducement to such a change it being most Absur'd and Imprudent to Exchange a safe for a dangerous Church a Church wherein there is a certainty for one wherein there is at most but a bare possibility of Salvation The enquiry then must be if the case be not thus between ours and the Church of Rome whether in that there be not a Certainty in this at most but a meer Possibility of Salvation God the Supream Lord of Men as he made them to Serve and Glorify him here and to injoy or live with him in Immortal Glory and Happiness hereafter so it must needs belong to him alone to appoint what Service they shall Perform to him to declare how and in what instances he will be Honour'd and Glorifi'd by them to prescribe measures of Obedience and the terms or conditions upon which he will admit them to the Participation of that Supream and Soveraign Happiness for being the greatest good that God can give or they desire 't is most unreasonable to believe it Inconditional promised absolutely either to all or a select part of Mankind so that they shall be sure to have it though they do nothing towards the Obtaining of it And if it be proposed upon certain Terms or Conditions as it evidently is God alone must determine and propose these determine them because that transcendent Felicity being his Kind and Bountiful offer none hath any Right but he to appoint the things that must be done by Men for the acquiring of it Propose them because 'till he hath Revealed them none can know what they are To leave Mankind to their own Fancies and Conjectures in a matter of such Moment and Concern to offer them Eternal Happiness and not tell them how to Obtain it would have been a disparagement to the Divine Goodness because it would have been to Mock and Delude them with the discovery of a Treasure more precious then all the World whch they knew not how to possess themselves of if they guess'd at the way of doing of it it would be great odds but they would mistake and guess wrong leave the true Pathes or means leading to so lovely and desireable a good and follow false ones as we see all the Heathen World did in that prime part of Religion the Worship of God So that one of these two things must necessarily follow either that God had no Purpose or Intention to save or make Mankind Eternally Happy or if that be Inconsistent with his Mercy and the Benignity of his Nature that he did reveal or declare not only that he would do it but also upon what Terms or Conditions he would be pleased to do it which Revelation of his Royal Pleasure in both the parts of it being of the greatest Moment or Concern both that Men might know and admire the Transcendent kindness of the Gracious Author of their being towards them and be sufficiently Instructed how to Express or Declare their Gratitude for it in fit and acceptable returns of Obedience and Duty to him ought in Reason to be kept as the most precious Treasure and carefully preserv'd from all Change and Injury that it might descend safe and Intire to all Ages and Generations of Men and so afford them full and Perfect Instruction what they must believe and do how they must live or behave themselves in this that they may obtain the Eternal Felicity of the other World To transmit or hand down this Revelation from Age to Age from Generation to Generation through all Succeeding time from the first Publishing of it to the end of the World by Oral Tradition or word of Mouth was not possible without continual Miracles both to Preserve it intire in the Minds and Memories of the Relators and to aslure those that receiv'd it from them that they had neither by fraud nor forgetfulness Corrupted or changed it any way added nothing to it nor kept back any part of it and seeing this might be secured another way by his common Providence why should God multiply Miracles continually to no purpose for without these such a Treasure could not be safely committed to such a way of Conveyance Oral Tradition being a very hazardous and uncertain way of delivering things to others especially at any great distance of time and therefore the greater Moment the things are of the more dangerous is it to trust them to
go about to satisfie Men that will never be satisfied A time may come and I hope it is approaching when such a Declaration will not only be believ'd but receiv'd with the joyful Acclamations and grateful Acknowledgments of both Houses and if it be thy Blessed will Oh God let such a time a time so much desired by all good Men come and that quickly But for my part I do not think it civil or decent for those that are unacquainted with the greatest affairs of State to take upon them to prescribe to his Royal Highness or to tell him when or in what manner he should declare himself because this would Savour of Rudeness and Presumption and therefore they must leave it to his own Prudence and the Wise Determinations of those Great and Honourable Personages that understand and conduct the weighty concerns of the Government it being for Them to know the times and seasons of so important an Action and not for Men of privacy and low degree Stay a while then and consider what you are doing be not too confident Oh ye Excluders make not so much hast nor such a stir to shut the door upon a Prince that you are not sure is gone from you believe it possible for you to Err or be Mistaken in your Opinions of him you see he hath no Reason to be a Papist and the Arguments for it are insufficient do not prove it therefore be not too confident he is so SECT IV. So far I have consider'd the first Question Whether his Royal Highness be a Papist The next and great Enquiry is Whether if he be so that Forfeits his Right That it doth not I assert and am now to prove In order to which I affirm That it is possible for a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man one that desires to go the Right way to Heaven to turn Papist Errour may look so like Truth and Superstition be so adorn'd with the paint and fair colours of true Piety that Men of good understanding and great integrity may be deceived and deluded by it Thus the excellent Chillingworth a Pious and Learned Man was seduced to the Romish Church though by the Grace of God he saw his errour return'd to our Church and lived and died in the Holy and Apostolical Faith which it professeth and not long after his return to it mindful of that sacred precept of our Lord to St. Peter when thou art converted strengthen by Brethren writ his excellent Book St. Luke 22. 32. in which he fully and unanswerably proves that which is the Subject or Title of it That the Religion of Protestants is a safe way to Salvation a Book highly meriting the perusal of all that either need or desire satisfaction in that Great and most weighty point In the Preface to it he tells his Readers the Motives that perswaded him to turn Papist which though they were as he truly calls them and to which he there gives full and satisfactory answers silly Sophisms and false Suppositions yet they so abused that good Man as to Proselyte him to the Church of Rome And why may not others as Pious Prudent and Conscientious as he be deceiv'd and misled into Popery by these or such fallacious Arguments or Reasons 'T is very well known that the Jesuits and Missionaries of the Roman Church are Persons Learned and Subtile trained up by the most expert Masters and not suffer'd to go abroad till they are thoroughly skil'd and instructed in the controversies between them and us and furnish'd with all manner of Arts and Abilities to seduce and deceive People And cannot Persons so prepared and fitted for it make gross errours and the foulest practices look fair and plausible varnish them over so with Apologies or Excuses extenuate their guilt pare off the Absurdities adhereing to them with Distinctions and set them out to such advantage that an honest Man shall not only think them Innocent things such as have no harm nor venome in them but be very much enamour'd of or taken with them They that read their Books must acknowledg if they will speak the truth that nothing is wanting in them that either Wit or Zeal can invent to defend or put a fair gloss upon the errours of their Church though what they plead in Justification of them be false or deceitful Argumentations poor idle Sophisms meer Paint Varnish no better than Gilding a Rotten Post or Cloathing Errour in the dress and vestments of Truth yet they seem so plausible look so fair and inviting that a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man as I said before may be so abus'd and deluded by them as to become a Proselyte to the Roman Church And being so is he not a Christian A Papist I suppose cannot truly be deny'd to be a Christian because the Church of which he is a Member is a Christian Church though lapsed into great Errours and Impieties a Christian Church it must needs be because it makes Profession of the Faith and Religion of Christ ascribes enough to him to secure to it self the Glorious Title and Denomination of Christian for the Council of Trent in the Explication of the Article of Justification gives this account of it Hujus Justificationis causae sunt c. Session 6. cap. 7. page 35. The Causes of this Justification are these The Final Cause is the Glory of God and of Christ and Eternal Life The Efficient Cause is the Merciful God who freely washeth aod sanctifieth signing and anoynting with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the the earnest of our Inheritance The Meritorious cause is the most beloved and only begotten Son of God who when we were Enemies for his great Love wherewith he Loved us did by his most holy passion upon the Cross Merit Justification and give Satisfaction to God his Father for us By which it is Evident that the Church of Rome holds That the Merits of Christ are the moving or procuring Cause of our Justification so absolutely necessary to it that as that Council speaks a little after Nemo possit esse justus nisi cui page 36. merita Passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi Communicantur no Man can be Just or Righteous but He to whom the Merits of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are Communicated Now they that acknowledg or own this Great and Fundamental Truth that we are justified by the Merits of Christ and consequently that he is our only Saviour and do adore him as the Christ or Son of God which they cannot be deny'd to do though that Acknowledgment this Worship of theirs be mixt and accompany'd with many and those very dangerous Errours must be acknowledg'd to be a Christian Church And if the collective Body be such the particular Members must be so too I suppose then it will be easily granted me by the greatest Zealots against Popery it being but a reasonable concession and such as I shall not
Tame the Fierceness Restrain the Cruelty of their Enemies and take from them all Power to hurt them this is the New Mode of Loving Enemies or rather themselves Speak the Truth then as the old saying is shame the Devil Why should you dissemble with the World 'T is Evident you have no Kindness for the Duke but as Plain as any thing can be that you Love your selves so unreasonably that you care not what becomes of him can be content that he be Miserable and Ruin'd so your own Dear selves be but Safe and Happy It is indeed both Natural and Lawful for Men to Love themselves but then they must so manage and conduct that Love that it be without Injury or Harm to others that whilst they are Kind to themselves they be not Cruel and Unjust to and thereby Haters of their Neighbour as you prove your selves to be by this Project of Exclusion and therefore call it what it really is not Christian Charity but Injurious Emnity or Hatred You would be asham'd I believe to Love all the other Papists which as such are your Enemies as well as the Duke supposing him to be one in this manner to Love them so as to deprive them of their Birth-Rights If not this would Increase the Number of your Enemies and make them more Desperate and Implacable against you but it would be no Expression or Token of any true kindness to them and if this be the Love which our Lord requires all Christians to shew to their Enemies they would have thought themselves more beholden to him if he had Commanded them to Hate rather than to Love them in this manner Consider it Thirdly in Reference to that great Duty which our Lord makes the Condition of our being his Servants or Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me If any Man will be a Christian he must Renounce or Deny every thing that offers to tempt or disswade him from the Practice of that Piety and Holiness which I require of him and be content to undergo any Sufferings or Afflictions that befal him in my Service to part with every thing that is Dear to him in the World when he cannot keep it without Violating my Laws or any part of them nay to submit to Death it self how shameful Cruel or Accursed soever it be when he cannot Live without Sinning against me This I expect of every one that Imbraceth my Religion and whosoever performs this shall be no Loser by it for I will Reward him with a glorious Crown and perfect Happiness and a never Dying Life in that Blessed place whither I go when I have Finished the Work for which my Father sent me into this World But the Excluders instead of denying themselves Renouncing or Quitting their own Right Safety or Profit seek to secure it by denying the Duke his instead of bearing the Cross they would lay it upon him make him Suffer that they may not Suffer themselves which is plainly to Renounce their Christianity to declare openly that they are none of Christs Disciples for if any Man saith he will come after me be my Servant or Disciple that is a Christian let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Cheerfully and Contentedly undergo any Sufferings or Afflictions even Death it self when he cannot avoid them without Sinning against me But they are so far from doing it that they would shift the Cross from themselves and lay it upon his Royal Highness chuse rather to be Persecutors than the Persecuted and so instead of obtaining the Blessing promised to these incur the Curse denounced against them for all Persecutors all that Oppress Injure and Unjustly punish any Person are cruel and wicked Men no good Man is or can whilst he continues so be a Persecutor It being Impossible to be good and to hurt good Men at the same time and therefore he spoke well and wisely that said Boni viri Episcop Syn Dor. Crudelis Iniquitas p 9 Martyres non faciunt sed fiunt good Men do not make Martyrs but are made so t is the property of Wolves to Hurt Tear Dissipate Destroy and of the Sheep to be Torn Destroy'd and by being hurt themselves to profit and do good to others which is also the property of true Christians to be willing to profit others and not only not to do hurt to any and to preserve others as far as they are able from harm and injury but also to do good to them that hurt them and to overcome that Evil with Good But the Authors and Promoters of the Bill of Exclusion are so loath to be made Martyrs themselves that they would make his Royal Highness so if they could have their Wills he should be the only Sufferer bear all the load of their Injustice and Oppression and so they incur the Woe denounc'd by our Saviour against the Scribes and Pharisees who Oppress'd others to Ease themselves bound heavy Burthens upon Mens Backs which they would not touch so much as with one of their Fingers These Men are so far from being willing to endure hardship as good Souldiers of Christ Jesus that they are for leading a soft and easie Life are continually upon the Watch to observe which way the Wind blows or Danger threatens them that they may by any means Just or Unjust block up all the Avenues by which they have any Suspition it may make its approaches to them No longer than Christ Hugs and Embraceth them Dandles or sets them in his Lap will they be his Disciples if they be not Caress'd and Treated with all possible Expressions of Love and Indearment away they Run from him as if he was their greatest Enemy They Suffer for Christ They Aspire after the Crown of Martyrdom They take up the Cross They may do it that will for them 't is an Honour they are not Ambitious of they are for Sleeping in a whole Skin had rather never go to Heaven than pass thither through much Tribulation are so Scared at the Cross that they think the worse of themselves every time they remember that they were signed with it at their Baptism are affraid lest as it puts them in mind that they ought to bear it when it comes it should also hasten its approach make it come the sooner upon them and so instead of an Imaginary in the Event of things prove a real Cross to them Have not these Men strange Opinions of our Lord Do they believe him able to Reward those that do and suffer his Will that Live Innocently and Suffer patiently No no! they think him such a mean and petty Prince that he cannot Remunerate the Faith and Patience of his Servants and look upon all that He and his Apostles have said in Favour of Suffering as absurd and unreasonable Assertions for 't is certain that they Pronounce the Pious Sufferers Blessed and call upon
them to Rejoyce and be exceeding glad of them Blessed are they St. Mat. 5. 10. saith our Lord that are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when Men shall Revile you Verse 11. and Persecute you and shall say all manner of Evil against you falsly for my Sake Rejoyce and be Verse 12. exceeding Glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so Persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Behold saith St. James we count Ch. 5th 11. 1 Epist 3. 14. them happy which endure And if ye suffer for Righteousness sake happy are ye saith St. Peter and be not affraid of their Terrour neither be troubled Beloved think it not strange concerning Ch. 4th 12 13 14. the Fiery Tryal which is to Try you as though some strange thing hapned unto you But Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory shall be Revealed ye may be Glad also with exceeding Joy If ye be Reproached for the Name of Christ Happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God Resteth upon you These words had such Influence upon the Primitive Christians that they Courted Martyrdom with as Vehement and Longing desires as ever the Ambitious did the Honours or the Covetous the Riches of the World When the most Cruel Edicts were Publish'd against them they did not care to Fly or Hide themselves from the Fury of their Persecutors when the to others Dreadful Sentence of Death was pass'd upon them they gave their Judges Thanks in the midst of the most exquisite Torments they did nothing but Sing and give Thanks and Expired with Praises and Adorations of God St. Babylas Bishop of Antioch as he was led to Martyrdom broke out into these words of Joy and Triumph Return unto thy Rest Oh my Soul for the Lord Dr Patricks Witnesses to Christianity part 2d Page 646 hath dealt Bountifully with thee When Liberatus and his Monks who Defended the Christian Faith against the Heresy of Arrius were Condemn'd to be thrown bound into a Ship full of Faggots and there to be burnt in the midst of the Sea they Sung aloud this Hymn Glory be to God in the highest Behold now is the acceptable time behold now is the Day of Salvation in which we Suffer Punishment for the Faith of our God St. Ignatius as he was going to Rome to be Devour'd by Wild Beasts that being the Death he was Condemn'd to because he would not Renounce the Faith of Christ thought the time long and the way tedious and express'd his passionate desire after it Oh said he that I might come to those wild beasts that are prepared for me I heartily wish that I may D Cave Primitive Christian part 2d pa. 182 presently meet with them I would invite and encourage them speedily to devour me and not be affraid to set upon me as they have been to others nay should they refuse it I would even force them to it I am concerned for nothing either seen or unseen more than to Enjoy Jesus Christ Let Fire and the Cross and the rage of wild Beasts the breaking of Bones distortion of Members bruising of the whole Body yea all the punishments which the Devil can invent come upon me so I may but Enjoy Jesus Christ When Laurentius the Deacon espied Sixtus the Bishop of Rome going to his Id. part 2d page 183 Martyrdom he burst out into tears and passionately call'd to him saying Whither Oh my Father art thou going without thy Son Whither so fast O Holy Bishop without thy Deacon Never didst thou use to offer Spiritual Sacrifice without thy Minister to attend thee what have I done that might displease thee hast thou ever found me degenerous and fearful make Triall at least whether thou hast chosen a fit Minister to wait upon thee By this their admirable courage patience and constancy they did the highest Honour to our Lord and his Religion Shamed and Confuted all the Clamours Reproaches and false Accusations that were brought against it Convinced the wise or intelligent that Christianity was a Divine and Holy Doctrine because it inspired the Professors of it with such undaunted courage and greatness of mind as made them despise not only the pleasures and delight but the terrours and miseries of the World render'd them not only content to Dye but desirous of and in love with Death caused them not only patiently to bear but to Triumph and Rejoyce in those horrid Torments which those that stood by trembled and were affrighted to see them Endure This conduced mightily to the increasing the Church brought in Numerous or rather Innumerable Converts to it till the greatest part of the World became Christian and humbly adored the Crucified Jesus The care and concern of Christians then consisted but of these two parts to live without Sin and to Dye without Murmours or Complaints their Religion was composed of these two admirable ingredients Innocence patience this was their study to let their Conversation be as became the Gospel of Christ and to be conformed as much as they could both to the Life and Sufferings of Jesus They were neither so base nor timerous as to endeavour to shift the Cross from themselves and lay it upon others they scorn'd to do any unjust thing to decline suffering never attempted to deprive any Prince because they knew him to be an Heathen and feared he would be a Persecutor of them This this was their great care to live and dye in the Lord to Glorify him by a pure and unspotted Life by a Pious or Godly Death Hereby also they gain'd great Honour to themselves render'd their names and memories precious and immortal for the Church was careful to do all Lawfull honour to the Saints or Martyrs to those brave and worthy Persons who living shin'd as lights in the World by their Exemplary vertues and dying sealed the truth of Christianity with their Blood had that ardent love for our Lord that no dangers nor sufferings nor torments nor miseries could lessen or overcome that Zeal for his Religion which no Injuries Reproaches nor Persecutions could Extinguish The Christians used to meet at the place where such eminent Persons Suffer'd for the Faith or where their Bodies that were Slain for the Testimony of Jesus were Interr'd and make Orations in praise of them commemorate their piety and sufferings praise God for the excellent gifts and graces he confer'd upon them and Exhort one another to transcribe or imitate their Faith and Piety and Patience But this was the least and meanest Part of their Reward for as by Sufferings for Christ they gain'd Honour in this so a brighter Crown and greater Rewards in the other World for it is Evident that our Lord in the Words I mentioned before declares that they which are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake shall not only have a Reward but a great Reward in
the Kingdom of Heaven which must in Reason signifie something more than other Christians have otherwise they that are not would be as Blessed as they that are Persecuted nay more Happy because they would without being Miserable in this obtain Crowns as Glorious and Rewards as great as they in the other World the Apostle also Affirms It is a Faithful saying if we be 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Dead with him we shall also Live with him if we Suffer we shall also Reign with him if we Deny him he also will Deny us And if they that Suffer with or for shall Reign with him and they that deny him to escape Suffering shall be disown'd or deny'd by him every Man that believes he Reigns in Heaven and considers what a Blessed Desirable thing it is to Reign be Glorifi'd there with him instead of being Affrighted at it will think it most Prudent and Reasonable to deny himself take up his Cross and follow him to part with every thing that is Dear to Suffer every thing that is Dreadful to him here when he cannot keep the one nor avoid the other without Sin that he may obtain such a transcendent Reward and so admirable or illustrious an Exaltation This will Teach him to Reckon with St. Paul That the Sufferings of this present time are not Worthy to be compared Rom. 6. 18. with the Glory that shall be Revealed in him the present Suffering or Affliction as he tells us elsewhere being Light and but for a Moment but the Glory Great and Durable a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory And as the Holy Scriptures make such High and Noble Offers to all that Suffer for Christ so 't is certain the Primitive Church which was the best Expounder of Scripture thought the Martyrs had a greater Reward than other Pious Christians an Additional Coronet over and above the great Crown of Righteousness and accordingly St. Cyprian speaks of two Epist Martyribus Confes Christ ad finem Crowns the one white as the Gracious Recompence of good Works of their pure and unspotted Lives the other purple as the Glorious Reward of their Dying for the Faith of Christ But however that is the Apostle puts it out of doubt that there are Degrees of Glory and Different Rewards in Heaven There is one Glory of 1 Cor 15 41. 42. the Sun and another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also is the Resurrection of the Dead And if there be different Rewards after this Life it is Reasonable to believe the Blessed Martyrs have the most sparkling Crowns and the biggest Recompence in the Glorious Regions above because they gave the highest Testimony of their Love and Zeal for Christ by Dying for him 'T is not then so Miserable and Despicable a thing as the Excluders think it to take up the Cross and follow Jesus to suffer all manner of Injuries Oppressions Miseries nay Death it self for his Sake because he hath Promis'd great Rewards to them that do it and having all Power both in Heaven and Earth he must needs be able to accomplish or make good that Promise 'T is true indeed no Man ought to part with his Life or Estate when he can keep them Innocently He Suffers as a Fool that doth it when there is no Danger of Sinning if he Suffer not But to use any Unjust or Sinful Arts to free our selves from Suffering such as the Project of Exclusion is must needs be highly Impious and Unchristian For Gods Sake let us keep to the same Laws of Christ do the thing that is Right and leave the rest to his Watchful and Gracious Providence then if we Suffer our Innocence will be our Comfort and Support and we shall have the Blessed hope of passing by Death to the Rich and most Happy Inheritance provided for us in Heaven Let us Labour to be good to lead the Pure and Pious Lives our Religion requires of us and then we can have no Just Cause to Tremble or be Affraid to Dye The Living saith Solomon know that they must Dye and that they can by no Art or Means avoid it And seeing we must do it can we ever Dye more Honourably Bravely and Christianly than for owning the Holy Faith and Religion of our Dear Redeemer who gave himself to Death the most bitter and shameful Death of the Cross for us So that we have his Example to invite the Noble Army of Martyrs to animate or encourage and the great Rewards they are possess'd of to ingage us patiently to bear the Cross when our Lord is pleased to send it 'T is certain that as the Laws now are no Man can be deprived either of his Life or Estate meerly for professing the Reform'd Religion therefore whilst they continue we are as safe and secure as we can desire to be So that till they are changed no Man can Suffer for that and it will be a very difficult undertaking to change them because the Laws in Favour of our Religion cannot be Abolish'd or taken Off but by consent of Parliament and it will be no easie thing for a Popish Prince if at any time such an one comes to the Crown to get a Parliament that will do it because the Knights and Burgesses that serve in Parliament without whose consent according to our present Constitution no Laws can be either Made or Abolish'd are not chose by the Prince but by the People who are so far from Electing Papists that they are too prone to Chuse Men of the other Dangerous extreme and so Ruin us that way But if either the Prince should by his writ Summon or the People so forget themselves as to Elect any Papists yet when they are so Call'd and Elected they cannot Sit as the Laws now are till they have openly and in the most solemn manner Renounced their Religion which no Men of any Honour or Conscience will do If it be said they may have Dispensations from his Holiness to take any Oaths and make any Declarations to Capacitate them to Sit in Parliament I Demand of them that say so why the Popish Lords who left the House upon that Act did not make use of that Expedient to evade the Law there is no question but they might have had Dispensations to do it and therefore their leaving the House satisfies me that they thought no Dispensations could Warrant or make it Lawful for them so to Renounce and Abjure their Religion We are as safe then already as Laws can make us and they that are so busie to get new ones trouble themselves to no purpose for if those we have at present cannot secure our Religion no other can do it Whilst the Laws then continue as they are and for my part I do not apprehend how they can be changed we cannot Suffer but if these that are a Safe-guard and Defence to
and if we believe him in Error we ought to Pity and Pray for him not deprive him of his Birth-right because that is Christian and Pious this Unjust and Barbarous and such as is offer'd to none of the Dissenters That which is agreable to Common Prudence is agreeable to the Law of Nature 't is agreeable to Common Prudence for Men weary of a State of War in which according to Mr. Hobs their Nature put them to enter into Civil Society for their Mutual Safety and Security therefore it is agreeable to the Law of Nature for Men to enter into Civil Society That which is Destructive of Civil Society is a Violation of the Law of Nature to deprive Men of their Rights and Properties upon meer Jealousies and Suspicions is Destructive of Civil Society the Bill of Exclusion would deprive his Royal Highness of Birth-right which is founded in the Law of Nature upon meer Jealousies and Suspicions therefore the Bill is a Violation of the Law of Nature The Duke hath de facto done nothing Vissible that is Injurious to the Nation therefore the Authors of the Bill proceed upon meer Jealousies and Suspicions and consequently do Unjustly because they Injure an Innocent Person for every Man is to be presumed so to be till the contrary appears by his Actions But self Preservation they say is the prime dictate of the Law of Nature or that which it prompts all Men to supposing that yet Men must not imagine themselves to be in Danger that they may have a pretence to oppress injure others Violence must be offer'd to Injury done them or at least be threatned before they can reasonably apprehend themselves endanger'd or justly defend themselves but for Antonius only to suspect that the brave Albanius intends to do him a mischief and upon that Suspicion to do him Injury and Mischief by way of Anticipation is most unreasonable and therefore most unjust Besides every private Man is and therefore must be consider'd as a Member of some Civil Society as such he hath no Right in all Cases to provide for his own Safety in Opposition to the Safety and Preservation of the whole Society 'T is more for a Mans Safety to follow his Trade or till the Earth than to bear Arms or go to the Wars two Armies cannot Fight but some of the Combatants will be Slain and though some always Escape yet no particular Person hath any assurance that he shall not Dye in the Battel But notwithstanding the Appendent Danger Men are bound to Fight in defence of their Prince and Country that is to prefer the publick before their private safety that being generous and brave the contrary base and infamous We see in the Natural body the hand will expose it self to danger for the safety of the head and therefore some of the members of the body politick are obliged to expose themselves to danger for the welfare and safety of the whole Society But every Nation or Civil Society hath a Right to preserve it self the Bill of Exclusion they say is for the preservation of this Nation therefore it is a pursuance of that Right The proposition is true if rightly understood the assumption false for the Bill is not for the preservation of the Nation The Duke will either survive the King or not if he do not the Nation is safe without the Bill and then to pass it is to do unjustly to no purpose for no benefit at all nay to our loss and injury because if the Bill be pass'd the injustice of it cannot be defended without a standing Army which would be a vast charge therefore a mighty injury to the Nation But if the Duke survive the King the passing the Bill can be no preservative or security to the Nation because it is disputed by wise and learned men whether such a Law would not be null or void in it self and because 't is certain that no Law can deter him from endeavouring to obtain the Crown and therefore the passing the Bill if the Duke survive the King will certainly produce a War and so be to the Destruction not the Happiness or Preservation of the Nation That Peace is to be pursued and and preserved is one of the prime Dictates of Right Reason and one of the chief Laws of Nature because the safety and felicity of men depend upon it and therefore whatever is Destructive of Peace is a Violation of the Law of Nature the Bill of Exclusion would Destroy our Peace therefore it is a Violation to the Law of Nature That of two evils or calamities the least is to be chosen is a prime Principle of Nature here are two evils a Popish Successour as is supposed a Project to Exclude or keep him out That but feared it being not certain that his Royal Highness is a Papist or if he be so now that he will continue so it being possible if the Nation would treat him with the Honour due unto him that he may be converted or if that happen not that he may leave this World before his Royal Brother The other evil is a device to Exclude or deprive him of his Right which I have proved to be a moral evil and being so is upon no terms to be chosen but utterly abhorr'd and rejected but if we wave the sinfulness of it and consider it in point of prudence this Device if passed into a Law will be a present and a great Calamity because it will heighten the confusions and distractions of the Nation put it to the expence bring upon it as I observ'd before the misery of a standing Army enrage and increase our Enemies abroad exasperate and make those we have at home desperate so that the Project of Exclusion setting aside the Sinfulness of it is a greater temporal Evil or Calamity than a Popish Successour because that is present this only feared and therefore future The miseries feared from a Popish Successour may be only feared or imagin'd not felt he may if he pleases serve God his own way and let us enjoy the Religion Establish'd If not so yet the miseries consequent to the setting up the Romish Religion will not be comparable to the calamities of a War which the Excluding him will produce that way a few in comparison of what a War will destroy may Suffer this way the whole Kingdom nay all the Three Kingdoms will be imbroil'd and ruin'd that way some may fall Martyrs and so dye honourably here and live gloriously in Heaven this way great numbers will be cut off in the damnable Sin of Rebellion and so perish shamefully here and eternally in Hell so that a Popish Successour is a lesser evil a more tolerable calamity than the Bill of Exclusion and therefore this is to be laid aside and that left to Providence But every man 't is said hath a Right to his Plank in a Shipwrack supposing that yet here is no Shipwrack but what mens idle if
with God For what is that but to submit unto his will in all things to resign our selves to his disposal to depend upon his wise and gracious providence in the use of lawful means in all dangers to hope in his mercy to put our trust and confidence in his Power and Goodness not doubting but he careth for us and will so far as he sees it conducive to his honour and our good deliver us from all dangers and sufferings This is to walk humbly and religiously and so as all pious and holy Men have in all Ages walked with God But your Project of Exclusion is a Defiance to all this a plain Declaration that you dare not trust God with your Religion your Lives and Estates nor commit them to his care and keeping but prefer your own evil Inventions before his gracious Protection admire your sinful Policy more than his holy Wisdome as if he was either ignorant of or unable to save us from the cruel designs of our Enemies or cared not what becomes of us or as if that which is an open affront to or violation of his righteous Laws could Minister to the safety or defence of the Nation If this be not an high offence against God I know not what is or can be so Nor have you offended onely against God but against his Anoynted too done all you could to draw the King to be a Partner in your Injustice courted him to give his Royal Assent to your Bill with liberal offers and when they prevail'd not attempted to constrain or force him to it by denying him the necessary supplies which his great Affairs requir'd and the danger the Nation was in exacted from you Are not these high and heighnous offences Is it not a great sin to intice or tempt any Man much more your Prince to an unjust action and when no allurement could perswade unmindful of all reverence to God and Him To attempt to necessitate or compel him to do it These things look black and dreadful and I need not tell you whose works they are the Author of them is easily known and no Christian sure can be ambitious to invade his hateful office The trouble vexation and disquiet which you have created the King by your resolute adherance to it deserve to be consider'd too For how many cares fears and sad thoughts hath this your undutiful behaviour towards him produced in his Royal Soul Is this the love you have for the requital you render him for all his Care of and Royal Favours to you and all the Eminent Blessings which God by him hath confer'd upon the Nation to do what in you lies to rob him of all his tranquillity and content and to make him weary of his Life Is this the Honour God commands you to shew the Obedience he bids you pay to his Anoynted to press and urge him in such an unbecoming manner to the most dishonourable Act and to persist Stubbornly in it when he reproved you for and declared his abhorrence of it 'T is as plain then as any thing can be that you neither fear'd God nor the King but sinn'd against both in pressing with such restless importunity this unjust Device 'T is to sin against the Duke too not only as it offers him the highest injury and injustice but also as it confirms him in his Errour if he be a Papist and tempts him to be so though he was none before Confirms him in his Errour if he be really a Proseyte to the Church of Rome for will he not rejoyce that he hath withdrawn himself from Men that walk so disorderly that have so little fear of God as to do the unjust and evil things he hates so little Faith that they dare not trust him with their Religion but seek to preserve it by base and unworthy Arts are so cowardly impatient and unchristian that they will do a great and certain Injury to avoyd an uncertain one ruin him now for fear they should suffer hereafter But if on the otherside his Royal Highness was no Papist the treating him with such cruelty and unjustice must needs be a mighty temptation to make him so for had he not reason to draw this Inference from your attempt to Exclude him If Protestants use their Princes in this manner 't is fafer to be a Papist My glorious Father was Murder'd my Royal Brother made an Exile by them and forced to wander in Forreign Countries and now their malice is grown so virulent and cruel against me without any just cause or provocation at all I having Injured none of them that they would deprive me of my Birthright and proscribe or banish me as an Enemy to my Native Country I have no way then to secure my self from the danger that threaten me but to leave the Protestants and joyn my self to the Papists who 't is possible may treat me as justly and honourably as they have done despitefully and cruelly This Conclusion is natural from your Premises though I hope and believe his Royal Highness is more Pious Just and Prudent than to be either tempted by it to such a change or to impute this Impious Project to all the English Protestants as if they were favourers or approvers of it The Right Honourable the House of Lords and all the Loyal Addressers and Abhorrers have given him full satisfaction to the contrary but as for you it cannot be deny'd but you have given him great Scandal brought Reproach not onely upon your selves but all the Professors of the Reformed Religion in this Nation done enough to make him hate the very name of Protestant for ever and thereby incurr'd the Woe denounc'd by our Lord against them by whom Offences come You have hereby also misled the People or drawn them into dangerous Errours taught them to think all things Lawful that tend to keep out Popery that Zeal for the true Religion will justifie the most unrighteous Actions that for their own safety and defence they may do Injury to Princes Tempted them to entertain ill thoughts of the King because he did not pass your Bill which you admir'd and cryed up as the only Expedient to keep out Popery Made them apt to Mutiny and break out into Tumults and Seditions Oh how dangerous and fearful a thing is it not only to do evil your selves but to corrupt others What Eli said to his Sons deserves to be well consider'd by you Why do ye such things for I hear of your evil dealings by all this People Nay my Sons 1 Sam. 2. 23. 24. or rather Fathers for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lords People to Transgress Besides you have hereby likewise dishonour'd the Reformed Religion brought up an ill report of cast reproach and infamy upon it which can never be wiped off but by your great and publick Repentance For consider I beseech you what can more effectually open the Mouths and sharpen the Pens of all its Enemies
against it than this Device of yours which is so open an affront to and violation of the Principal Laws of Christ Instead of providing things honest in the sight of all Men as the Apostle requires all Christians to do this is to do that which is unjust and dishonest in the sight and judgment of all men your selves excepted Instead of Doing that which St. Peter tells you is the will of God with well doing 1 Epist 2. 15 that is true Loyalty Obedience and just behaviour towards Princes to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men to take from the Adversaries of it that watch for pretences to revile it all just cause or occasion to speak evil of the Truth you by making the safety of Religion the motive to and colour of your injustice have turn'd it into a cloak of maliciousness and so render'd it the scorn and derision of the Papists for how do the Fathers of the Society insult and triumph at it Now they say the mask of holiness is fallen off and the Protestants shew themselves in their true colours prove themselves to be Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing they that forsook our Church under pretence of serving God in greater Purity and said their Consciences were so tender that they durst not Communicate with us in our Errours can commit the highest injustice without any fear or scruple Oh you that abhor Idols and think the Images of Christ and his Saints abominable things do you offer the greatest violence and injury to Princes which are the most lively Images of God upon Earth You that condemn us for Deposing Kings would you make Laws to Disinherit Princes and thereby practice your selves that which you condemn in us what shameful Hypocrisy and impudent Partiality is this This instead of converting Papists will in all probability make many drive more to Rome than all the Arguments we can use can draw from it Now suppose the least that can be reasonably supposed that one Soul who had before a good Opinion of our Church intended to leave the Romish Superstition and joyn it self to us should by a just abhorrence of this Project of yours change his mind resolve to stay in the Roman Communion and so Perish everlastingly Or that one Protestant offended at your injurious proceedings against a Son of the late most Glorious and a Brother the only Brother of our present most Gracious King should turn Papist and thereby fall into eternal misery and ruin What an horrid guilt do you thereby contract which the great Lover and Redeemer of Souls will call you to a sad account for Dreadful I am sure is the doom which he denounceth against them that do it Who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better for him that a Milstone St. Mat. 18. 6. were hanged about his Neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea A Christian had better Suffer any thing undergo the most horrid or fearful Death here than by Offending or causing any man to Sin to bring upon himself and him Eternal Damnation Oh therefore according to St. Pauls Admonition Let no Man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way Put all these sad things together the Offence you have committed against God and his Anoynted the Injury you have offer'd the Scandal and Provocation you have given the Duke the dangerous Errours you have drawn the People into the Reproach also and Dishonour you have brought upon the best and most holy Religion in the World and you will be convinced that you have offended in an high degree and therefore ought to Repent speedily and heartily But before I press you to this I have another most weighty consideration to propound to you which if any thing can do it will make you tremble at and say with the deepest sorrow and remorse What have we done I mean the late most execrable Conspiracy to Subvert the Government and to Assasinate our Gracious Soveraign and his Royal Highness which some of the Zealous Promoters of the Bill of Exclusion with other wicked men of Base Bloudy and Trayterous Principles had enter'd into Thus one Sin draws on another and a lesser produces the greatest and most horrid wickedness These are the known Arts and Wiles of the Devil it was neither wise nor safe for him to prompt them to such an hellish Treason and Murder at first and therefore he began with some preparatory Principles which he knew would by degrees drive them to and ingage them in this which were such as these That the strict Rules of Justice are to be dispens'd with for the defence and security of true Religion That nothing is unlawful that is conducive to so good an end That a Popish Prince ought not upon any terms to be intrusted with the Government of a Protestant Kingdom what ever Right or Title he may have to it These brought on the Bill of Exclusion put you upon that Resolve That there was no way to deliver the Nation from Popery but to Deprive the Duke of the Succession and having come to this determination all your Wit and Zeal were imployed all endeavours used to gain the Royal Assent which not obtaining what murmurs and complaints were every where heard What clamours and outcrys wrath and bitterness and evil speakings filld every corner of the Kingdom These shew'd your indignation and discontent and made all wise men sadly apprehensive that some dreadfull storm was coming From hence proceeded that insolent Vote by which they were declared Enemies to the Sitting of Parliaments that lent the King Money upon any part of his Revenue which was to Proclaim to all the World that as you would raise him none so none of his good Subjects should presume to furnish him with any What was this but to expose the Nation to inevitable Ruin if the watchful providence of God had not diverted and prevented all open Assaults or Attempts against it and to disable the King to defend his People from injury and violence From hence came also your frequent Clubs and Consults in which the violent and eager Men of your Party as is now evident took Councel together against the Lord and against his Anointed These were the steps by which the wicked Contrivers of it descended into this Abysse or Depth of wickedness these were the Arts and Methods that led to this detestable Conspiracy because the King would not consent to the Excluding his Royal Highness the bloody Villains resolved to Exclude or send them both out of the World by a barbarous Assasination I believe divers of you are Innocent of this black and great offence and do heartily abhor it but it cannot be deny'd that this Project of Exclusion hath produced or caused this Treason To say you did not intend it may in some of you be acknowledg'd to be true but then you should have consider'd how dangerous as well as sinful it is
constant custom hath been to invocate or call upon God and in all their dangers and necessities to make addresses to him in hopes to be heard protected and supply'd by his Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness for if this had not been their hope or expectation they would never have done the other for to what purpose should men supplicate such a Being as hath no kindness for and refuses to help them takes no notice of makes no return to the petitions that are put up to him 'T is true indeed most Nations of the World have been so ignorant as to present their Prayers to a wrong Object to invocate false and imaginary Deuties that could neither hear nor help them but they thought them to be wise and powerful and the dispensors of all manner of blessings otherwise they would never have gone to their Temples nor approach'd their Altars nor lifted up their hands and hearts and voices to them But we thanks be to God understand better than to be guilty of such gross and impious Errours we direct our Prayers to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is pleased to be called as by one of his most eminent titles of honour a God hearing Prayer and commands us to make our devout addresses to him nay invites us to do it with great and gracious promises It shall come to pass that before they call I Esa 65. 24. will answer and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear So propense is the Divine Goodness to help all Pious People that it will not stay to be asked but prevents them many times with great and eminent blessings and therefore much more will he do it when they humbly beg such favours of him as their present exigences require Are they in trouble or danger Call upon me saith this most merciful Being in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me And lest any man should think his condition not capable of help suppose his dangers or wants too great to be averted or reliev'd by his Prayers our Lord hath given us that most large and comprehensive promise verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name he will give it you St. Jo. 16. 23. Not every thing indefinitely but whatsoever good thing holy and good men rightly ask of him for a good End he assures us God will give it if the persons praying be pious and holy the things pray'd for just and lawful the end for which they are desired good if they be asked in Faith with submission to his holy will and pleasure with a pious importunity and dependance upon him then the Prayer is within our Saviours promise and of great efficacy with God so St. James affirms The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man Chap. 5. 16. Phil. 4. 6. availeth much is of such mighty Power with God that St. Paul commands us to be careful of nothing not to vex or disquiet trouble or torment our selves with dreadful apprehensions of the dangers that threaten and incompass us not to say how shall we escape what shall we do to decline the rage and cruelty of our Enemies but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with thanks-giving let our requests be made known unto God do but recommend your selves to God in holy and frequent Prayer with thankful acknowledgments of his former Mercies and you need trouble your selves no farther but leave the event to him who will either give you deliverance here or that which is better and more desirable eternal happiness and Salvation hereafter The more and greater our dangers are the more frequent and fervent our Prayers and Devotions ought to be for when all other helps and means have failed these have procured the most eminent blessings and deliverances the Church in all Ages hath experienced the benefit and advantage of them for the Prayers of holy men have saved Cities and Kingdoms from Ruin obtain'd Victories done Miracles shut and opened Heaven By the Prayer of Moses the Amalekites the most malicious Enemies of the People of Israel were vanquish'd by the Prayer of Asa the Ethiopians their most numerous Enemies were discomfited And by the Prayer of Isaiah and Hezekiah the vast Army of Sennacherib was destroy'd by an Angel the Seige of Jerusalem raised and he return'd into his own Land where he fell by the Swords of his own Sons And if the devout Prayers of holy men have been so advantageous and successful in former Ages how come they to have lost their power and efficacy now or to be of such small credit with Christians that they dare not trust to them and other lawful means but seek to secure themselves by those that are sinful and unrighteous May not we expect the same help and benefit by them which they have afforded others in their dangers and distresses yes certainly And therefore let it be our care as it is both our wisdom and duty to make use of these to put up Supplications Prayers and Intercessions First for the King that God will give him along Life a secure happy Reign save or deliver him from all his Enemies hide him from the gathering together of the froward and from the Insurrection of the wicked doers discover and defeat all the Councels and Conspiracies of Traytors that they may fall into the Pit which at any time they dig and be taken in the Snare which they are so Impious as to lay for him For his Royal Highness that God will preserve him from the hands of Violence from the cruel bloudy Zeal of Fanatick Spirits that he will be graciously pleased if he be a Papist to inlighten him with the knowledg of the Truth to convert him to this Pure and Holy Church that he may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus For our Religion humbly beseeching the great and glorious Author of it that he will be pleased to preserve and continue it to us and our posterity for ever that though our sinful and unsuitable lives deserve so sad and fearful a Judgment yet that he will be merciful to us not suffer his Truth to fail amongst nor his Gospel to be taken from us And that he will be pleased to keep us from dishonouring our Religion by using any unjust or unlawful means for the Defence and Preservation of it lest whilst we appear Zealous in such a way for the true we run into such errours extravagancies as will give the World just cause to think that we have really no Religion at all If these things were piously and frequently recommended to the Divine Goodness both in publick and private by all that in this Nation profess the Reformed Religion we should soon see the Blessed effects of and obtain a Gracious answer to such Prayers And therefore before we trouble our selves about any more let us try this most excellent Expedient which hath in all Ages done such wonders in the
and hath Continued in the Catholick Church without any opposition till Aerius first and the Disciples of Calvin since resisted and where they had power cast it out I appeal then to all the wise and sober World whether the Schisms and Divisions amongst us be not causeless and unprovoked there being no just offence given nothing done by our Church to fright or drive the People from the Communion of it or prompt them to set up several Meetings And if the Divisions we are afflicted with cannot be truly charged upon the Church where must the Blamely or who shall father the base and mischievous Brat They that lay it at the Jesuits door charge them to be both the beginners and continuers of the Schisms amongst us have reason for what they say because the Zealots of that Church think every thing lawful that tends to the good and advantage of the Catholick Cause And nothing can be more serviceable to that than our Divisions and Quarrels divide and rule is a Maxim approved by all the Wicked Politicians If they can but set those they would master at strife and variance they conclude they will thereby so weaken and consume one another as to become an easy prey to them Such Divisions Produce deadly feuds and quarrels implacable hatreds and animosities and are the Causes of cruel Wars for Differences in Religion are for the most part managed with such heat and passion that the contenders proceed from words to blows from disputing to fighting for their beloved Opinions or if they forbear that for a time yet in any exigences of State or Publick dangers they will not afford one another that mutual help and assistance which are necessary for their preservation but one party will look on and see the other subdued if not lend their helping hands to destroy them But the more united any people are the better able they must needs be to defend themselves against a common Enemy but being broken into Sects and Factions their strength is Little and not Sufficient to repel the assaults of their Enemies Cyrus as Herodotus relates intending to Conquer Scythia came to a great River that stop'd his march for as it ran in one channel or current it would have Endanger'd his Army Swallowed them up if they had ventured to ford it whereupon he made use of this Stratagem to cut or divide it into many parts rivulets and sluces which so weaken'd its force that they passed over without any danger at all This seems to be the Policy of the Jesuits in dividing us for if all our people kept within their proper Channel our Church the attempts of Rome would signify nothing but like a mighty torrent we should easily bear down all opposition be strong enough to defend ourselves against them but the Sects and Factions they have caused amongst us weaken and give them great advantages against us For hereby many are Scandaliz'd and turn Papists because they think the Contentions we are ingaged in will be sure to ruin us at last and therefore imagin themselves safer in St. Peters boat than in a ship so leaky and full of breaches as our Church is By this means also great numbers are frighted from Religion in general become Atheists concluding that to be a meer Fable about which there are so many and such endless quarrels and bickerings and which the professors of after so long time and so much consideration are not will never be agreed about and it is indifferent to them that believe all Religion a cheat which gets uppermost for they that are really of none can and will seem to be of any Church or Perswasion they can either get or save by if either their safety or profit require it they can creep as devoutly to a Crucifix as they can kneel to God Almighty Lastly by drawing multitudes of People from it the Jesuits have great hopes of gaining their so much desired and so long endeavour'd point The destruction of our Church for we see how Zealous and Industrious the Dissenters have been and are to ruin or pluck it down which shews them to be set on by the Jesuits and their Agents to do their work for them though perhaps they know not do not consider whose servants they are for if our Church be destroy'd Popery will certainly rise out of the ruins of it there being nothing to make head against it when that is gone this is the great Bulwork or Fort Royal which if they can take either by undermining Treachery or open Force the day is theirs So that they who charge our Divisions upon the Jesuits as the Authors of them have reason to justify that charge and the truth of it is so fully proved by the excellent Dean of St. Pauls in the Preface to his unreasonableness of Separation to which I refer the Reader that nothing needs Page 1â— be added to it And being the first Sowers of these Tares the Causers and Fomenters of our Divisions when they broak in upon our Church presently after the Reformation and which they have with their utmost care and diligence propagated and continued ever since with what face can they Upbraid us with or make them an Objection against it for them to set us together by the Ears and then blame us that we do not agree to be the Incendiaries and stir up Strife amongst us from Age to Age from Generation to Generation and then reproach us with our Contentions is worse than Heathen Malice and Knavery this is as barbarous as if a Man should set his Neighbours House on fire and then blame him for letting it burn We had lived in great Peace and Concord and there had been no Schisms amongst us if they had not help'd to disturb the one and promoted the other and our Wounds would be presently closed we should return to our Ancient Unity and live in the happiest Peace if They and their chief Agents the leading Schismaticks that imbroyl and divide us were as upon all accounts they deserve to be Excluded or Driven out of the Nation 'T is certain that not only all Protestants but the Papists themselves at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign came to our Churches and if Pius Quintus had not forbidden the Romish party to Communicate with they had not Separated from us and his Emissaries the Priests and Jesuites did under colour of setting up a more Pure and Spiritual way of Worship seduce many Protestants from the Church and cause woful broyls and dissentions which put that prudent and excellent Queen upon such methods as did effectually suppress and quiet them and it is most Unreasonable and right Jesuitical practice for them to father their base and wicked off-spring upon us to cause divisions amongst us and then reproach us with them Besides they that thus accuse and upbraid us with ours have many differences amongst themselves those of their Religious Orders are notorious and managed with great heat and earnestness
There are many bickerings amongst them about those points in which they differ from us They are not agreed where to place the Infallibility whether in the Pope alone or a General Council alone or in both of them together They differ about his Supremacy for some of them affirm that he hath no Authority over Princes to give take away or alienate their Kingdoms and that he unjustly assumes to himself such Authority others as stifly assert or maintain that extravagant usurped Power cry it up as high as they can hoping thereby to advance themselves Some affirm others deny him to be Universal Bishop They are not agreed about the Latine Service for some of them hold it would be more for the Edification of the People if it were in the Vulgar Tongue They clash about the Worship that is to be given to Images and what the due honour is which the Council of Trent decrees to be given to them They differ about the Power of Priests to remit sin about the necessity and institution of Auricular Confession They do not agree in the Doctrine of Justification nor of Merit nor concerning the Sacrifize of the Mass nor the Communion under one kind nor in divers other things and how is it possible they should for having chosen Opinions that do not cohere or hang together they must needs disagree about them and if their Tyrannical Discipline did not awe and suppress them their differences would be as great and irreconcileable as any are in the World for when they wrangle loudest if his Holyness do but threaten them with the Inquisition they are as quiet as Lambs and dare not mutter at all And if any desire farther satisfaction in the Case they may consult the excellent Dean of St. Pauls in his Learned Discourse of the Divisions of the Church of Rome where their differences and dislentions are fully proved and stated and their false pretences to peace shamed and confuted So that the unity they brag so much of is that of slaves who are forc'd to be quiet for fear of the whip let the holy Inquisitors scourge them not with Rods as peevish Children are corrected but with Scorpions as incorrigible offendors are punish'd And if their Church was not upheld by force and cruelty and the People kept in it like Beasts in a Pound it would soon fall to peices and be the veryest Babel in the World And till they have better peace and agreement amongst themselves they may be ashamed to upbraid us with those divisions they are the mischievous Authors and Promoters of 'T is certain too that our Divisions had never grown so great nor continued so long if the Laws had been duly Executed upon the Schismaticks for the just corrections they decree against the troublers of this our Israel and the disturbers of our Peace if inflicted would have obliged them to give over their wicked and dangerous practices Such disorders and dissentions as I remark'd before by the Instigation of the Romish Emissaries broak out with great Violence in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth but by the just severity of her Laws duly and impartially Executed she soon master'd and subdued them and her Successour King James by the watchful and diligent use of the same means might have suppress'd them and setled the Nation in firm and lasting Peace if he had pleased but the favour that was shew'd them the mild and gentle usage they found in the latter part of his Reign did so multiply and encourage that dangerous and stubborn Faction that they were strong enough to bid Defiance to and Ruin that glorious Prince King Charles the First So lamentable an Errour is it for the Government to shew favour and clemency to these People who when they have power make it appear by their barbarous Actions that they have no mercy and no honesty If they be let alone there is no end of Peoples whimsies and extravagancies in Religion their Ignorance betrays them into the wildest Errours they have such odd notions and apprehensions of it as instead of Civilizing make them Savage and Brutish instead of being Just Merciful Humble Peaceable and Obedient to their Prince prompt them to be Sawcy and Stubborn Traytors Heady High-minded Unjust and Cruel Turbulent and Seditious They have such a mighty admiration for every Factious Fellow that will but Cant and Whine talke Impudently and Sillily and look Demurely that he may govern them as he pleases they are his obsequious Slaves and will venture upon any thing how base execrable and damnable soever that he prompts them to and therefore it is the interest of the Government to keep such Seducers from them to provide that they be duly instructed in their duty as to God so to their Prince and if at any time they dare to transgress the Laws and grow freakish through Religious Zeal that they be punish'd for such dangerous Misdemeanours This is absolutely necessary both for the Safety of the Prince and the Peace of the Kingdom 't is not only doing Justice upon great and wilful Offendors but Charity too as it Keeps them from doing themselves and others the greatest harm and mischief Curbs or Restrains the madness of the People This is the wise and just method the Government now uses to Remedy these Evils to bring the wild Schismaticks to their Wits again to reduce them to better Manners and a more Quiet or Submissive Temper and it will if duly and diligently followed put an end to our Divisions then we shall live as Christians ought to do in Love Peace and Unity with one mind and one mouth glorifie the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ then our united Prayers will call down the choicest Blessings upon us and none can make our discords a pretence to run from our Church because that scandal will be removed then our Differences will be composed our Breaches repaired and the Divisions we have so long labour'd under will be no more an Objection against us then our Ruin will be prevented our Enemies put to silence and we shall be an happy People which that God who is the Author and Lover of Peace mercifully grant for his Sons Sake The next Scandal or Offence that would be taken away is the open Prophaneness or Impiety into which the Nation is lapsed for all that do not wilfully shut their eyes may see how our Ancient Piety and Holiness are decay'd that though we profess the best and purest Religion yet a great part of the Nation are sadly debauched lead very impure and vitious lives which is the more to be admired and lamented because both our Religion and Laws condemn and forbid such vile and unchristian practise The profess'd Atheism and the open Scorning or Deriding all Religion how intolerable are they in a Christian Kingdome and such horrid crimes as are sufficient of themselves if we had no other guilts to ruin the Nation by calling down the most dreadful judgments upon us and
the Alcoran is fitter for such vile people than the Gospel because that allows them to be as vicious as they please but this consists of whatsoever things are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report of all those excellent vertues that can raise and advance our nature make us holy just and merciful as our Heavenly Father is and both requires and with the most perswasive Arguments presseth us to the practise of them which if we refuse to do as we cast contempt and reproach upon our Religion so we provoke God to take it from us unless we prevent so sad and deplorable a loss by our unfeigned Repentance as our Lord admonish'd the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent Revel 2. 5. and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place take my Gospel from thee except thou repent Let it be the care then of all that are in Authority to suppress the great and crying Sins to Exclude the bold and reigning wickedness out of the Nation and there will be no fear but God will be With us and continue his Gospel or the true Religion amongst us Secondly this will be an excellent Expedient to secure our Religion as it will discourage our Enemies from attempting the Subversion and Destruction of it when they see us lead the pure and blameless lives it requires of us behold our good Conversation in Christ they will be ashamed to call us Hereticks being an holy People a Pious and Righteous Nation they will fear that what Balaam said of Israel will be verifi'd in us surely there is no Inchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Numb 23. 23. Israel 'T is in vain they will say for us to Plot or Enterprize against them their Piety makes them dear to God and their Innocence is their protection we may ruin our selves but we cannot hurt them so long as they adhere to God he will not forsake them not suffer them to be cast down nor let any harm happen to them the Arrows we shoot at them will wound our selves and we shall fall into the Destruction we intended for them Nay when they see us add to our pure Faith a Vertuous and Christian Life they will be tempted to admire and think our Church a Lovely Image or Resemblance of Heaven in which Righteousness Reigns and from which Wickedness is Banish'd or Excluded and that admiration will be a powerful inducement to invite or draw them to us urge them to leave their Idols and joyn in the pure Worship we present unto God perswade them to turn from darkness to light from their Sinful and Disconsolate Superstition to our Holy Religion which fills our Souls with Joy and Comfort now and leads them to Eternal Bliss and Pleasures But if we continue in our present Impieties they will scorn us and our Religion for them despise us as humoursome and perverse People that hold the truth in unrighteousness the purity of our Doctrine being cover'd with the filth and rubbish of our Vices will be sullyed and look dim not appear at all lovely or inviting to them they will think they have reason to hate us because our wicked Lives have made us hated of God and will be confident either of his approbation of or connivance at their designs and attempts against us believe God is not for us and therefore that they may safely and successfully be against us They will call us Hypocrites for finding fault with their way of Worship whilst our wilful Sins defile our own With what face they will ask can you charge us with giving too much Honour to the Saints when you account their Lives to be Folly deny them that which all the Christian World confesses to be due to them even the Honour of Imitation refuse to follow their good Examples and have very few Reliques or remains of their Piety amongst you How dare you blame us for the multitude of our Ceremonies when you have turn'd all Religion into a Ceremony or meer Complement saying Lord Lord but do not the will of God If it be unlawful for us to assert the merit how abominable is it in you to deny the necessity of good works as it is evident you do by refusing to perform them If our Church be guilty of some Errours your People are defiled with many Impieties and need another Reformation why then are you such Hypocrites as to take notice of the mote in our eye and not to cast the beam out of your own Thus will they upbraid and reproach us and having so much to object encourage themselves in mischief against us and therefore as it ought to be the great and earnest care of private Persons to reform what is amiss in their Lives so of all that are in Authority both to be Examples of Piety to the People and by Executing the Laws upon them to be a terrour to the evil doers that our Religion may neither be dishonour'd nor endanger'd by the Impieties of the Professors of it that God may not be provoked to take it from us our Enemies encouraged to attempt against it nor any be offended or tempted to run from it because we disgrace it by our unsuitable lives but that every thing be removed that may stain the beauty obscure the glory of it render men fugitives from rather than Converts to it The other great Scandal which I desire may be removed is the high Injustice and Indignities that have been offer'd to the Duke himself 't is certain that he hath had the hardest measure and the greatest injury tender'd him and therefore in Justice ought to have some proprotionable reparation made him which that it may be effected 't is my request to the People that they will make a better choice whensoever the King pleases to call a Parliament Let it be your care my beloved Countrymen to Elect Loyal and Honest Men Men that fear God and hate Iniquity or unjust dealing that dare depend upon God in the use of fair and Innocent means for the security of our Religion and every thing else that is dear to them and will not do a base or unworthy thing to save them You see what irreparable injury and horrid mischief the Fanatick Faction those great admirers of the Bill of Exclusion would have done you took away the breath of your Nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord by a most barbarous and execrable Assasination they had Plotted and if the merciful God had not prevented them would have kil'd your King a King under whose wise and just Government you live in Piety Peace and Plenty injoy all the Blessings you can desire or Heaven can give you in this World a Prince that loves you and consults your welfare and is always Solicitious or thoughtful to secure your quiet and happiness His Royal Brother too
by denying the Ring such Supplies as are necessary for his and yours and all our preservation Let it be your care also to cover the Pit which the Excluders have dug I mean to make his Royal Highness reparation for the injurious and unworthy Treatment he hath received from them You have abhorr'd it without doors therefore do it within cast out the Bill as a wicked abominable thing shut the door after it that it may never return any more Be pleased to do that which your great Wisdom and Justice cannot but prompt you to Go to the Duke and let him know your deep resentments of the wrongs that have been offer'd him and beseech him not to think the worse either of you or the Establish'd Religion for them because this hath taught you and all the true Members of the Church of England to abominate the Project of Exclusion as a peice of high and execrable Injustice Shew him the difference between the true and the seeming Protestants that those have so much Religion and fear of God that they dare do injury to no man much less to their Princes and had rather suffer themselves than they should whereas these have more Zeal than Honesty and care not whom they injure and oppress so they can but secure and preserve their own dear selves Treat him with all the honour and respect due to his Royall Birth Vertues omit nothing that may testifie your high esteem and veneration for him use all the fair and prudent means you can to gain his favour and good opinion of you and to convince him of the justness and honesty of your intentions towards him Such methods as these are Christian and Noble and fit to be practis'd towards a Prince and may by the Blessing of God work very much upon his great and generous Soul brave Spirits being sometimes courted to that which they will never be hector'd into and if he be a Papist be instrumental to his Conversion which will not only be grateful or pleasing to God his Angels and Saints in Heaven but fill this our English Earth with Joy revive our languishing Happiness restore our Nation to its ancient Glory put a blessed period to all our Distractions and Confusions then we shall live in Peace and Unity amongst our selves and unless we be the most ungrateful People in the World in true Piety Obedience to our God who hath done so great things for us then it will be well with us and happy shall we be Forreigners will call these Kingdoms as they did of old The Fortunate Islands All which the great and Gracious Governour of the World God Almighty in whose hands the Hearts of Princes are Grant for the Merits of our dear Redeemor Amen FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by W. Freeman by Temple-Bar in Fleet-street THE Penitent Pardon'd or a Discourse of the Nature of Sin and Efficacy of Repentance under the Parable of the Prodigal Son By Dr. Goodman Daily Exercise for a Christian By a Person of Exemplary Piety for his own use price 1. s. Holy Devotions with Directions to Pray also a brief Exposition upon the Lords Prayer the Creed Ten Commandments Seven Penitential Psalms and the Seven Psalms of Thanksgiving together with a Litany By the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews late Bishop of Winchester the 7th Edition Means to Preserve Peace in Marriage by the Author of Rules of Civility in Twelves Price 1. s. The Manners of the Israelites in Three Parts First of the Patriarcks Second of the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt to the Captivity of Babylon Third of the Jews after their Return to the Preaching of the Gospel The President of Presidents or one general President for Common Assurances by Deeds Wherein there is an Extract of all the General Learning and Forms of Presidents now extant Out of which you may be fitted for most purposes and cases and be able to find the faults of any Conveiances and so Judg of your Right and Title to your Lands and Goods here being upon the matter the Effect and Quintessence of all Books of this kind Of singular use and Profit to all Men. By W. Sheppard Esq The Third Edition Corrected in Octavo The Clerks Manual or an Exact Collection of the most approved Forms of Declarations Pleas general Issues Judgments Demurrers and most kind of Writs now used in the Court of Kings-Bench with necessary Instructions to all Clerks Attorneys Sollicitors c. In the use of the same The Second Edition Octavo The Practick Part of the Law shewing the Office of an Attorney and a Guid for Solicitors in Octavo An Infallible way to Contentment in the midst of Publick or Personal Calamities Together with the Christians Courage and Encouragement against Evil Tidings and the Fear of Death In Twelves The Court of the Gentiles Part Fourth of Reformed Philosophy Book Third of Divine Predetermination wherein the nature of Divine Predetermination is fully Explained and Demonstrated both in the General as also more Particularly as to the Substract matter or Entitative Act of Sin By Theophylus Gale in Quarto Starrons Novels viz. The fruitless Precaution the Hypocrites the Innocent Adultery the Judg in his own Cause the Rival Brothers the Invisible Mistriss the Chastisement of Avarice the Unexpected Choice Rendred into English with some Additions in Octavo ☞ Xenophons Histroy of the Affairs of Greece in Seven Books Being a Continuation of the Peloponnesian War from the time where Thucydides ends to the Battel at Mantinea To which is Prefixed an Abstract of Thucydides and an Account of the Land and Naval Forces of the Ancient Greeks Translated from the Greek by John Newman This will be Published in few days in Octavo
confession that he hath a Right to do it if he survive his Royal Brother otherwise the Law is needless and fights with a meer Chimera or Shadow Besides the Bill of Exclusion is in its own Nature and the Intention of the Authors of it either a Cautionary and Preventive or a Penal Bill or both a Cautionary and Preventive Bill to keep a Papist whether real or supposed I here dispute not from the Crown if so it strongly asserts the Dukes Right because without such a Prevention if he be the longer Liver the Crown will regularly and de jure devolve upon him or else a Penal Bill design'd to punish his revolt from ours to the Roman Church but what sense is it to punish him with the loss of that to which he hath no Right This is as wise as if the Venetians upon some Offence committed by their Duke should make a Law that he should never be King of France 't is brutum fulmen an empty noise and insignificant sound 't is a Law Penal and yet inflicts no Punishment a Diminution and yet the Person is no way lessen'd nor degraded by it His Royal Highness then the Excluders themselves being Judges hath a Right to succeed the King and that the Injustice of their attempt to take it from him may the better appear I shall briefly consider the greatness of this Right or the value of the thing they would deprive him of 'T is an old saying de minimis non curat Lex the Law takes no care about trifles and petty things but overlooks them as below its notice and concern But a Crown sure deserves to be reckon'd inter maxima amongst them that are greatest and most precious and that Law that takes no care to secure it to the Right owner much more that would Rob or deprive him of it ought to be abhorr'd and branded as summa injuria the highest Injury 't is not properly a Law but Impudent Tyranny and Oppression a Conspiracy or Combination of unjust Men to degrade a Prince and devest him of the greatest Right for such the Royal Dignity hath ever been Esteemed by Mankind and their high Value and Admiration of it appear from their Envy at them that have it and their bold attempts to Invade and Usurp it The greatest Enemies of Kings have been are and will be such as are desirous to be so themselves The Rich Orient Jewels that adorn a Crown cast such a tempting Lustre and look so Lovely in the Eyes of Corah and all his Sons that their murmurs and complaints against those that own it do commonly proceed from a Vehement desire to wear it themselves who being misled by their Ambition think it a Glorious Theft to Steal a Crown A prize so Rich and Valuable in their Opinion that they will seize it if they can upon any terms run the greatest hazards expose themselves to the most dreadful Dangers to obtain it attempt it as Jason did the Golden Fleece though watch'd by Dragons and guarded with all the Artillery of Heaven and Earth Bewitch'd and dazled with the splendour of a Royal Throne mad Corah will venture to invade it till oppress'd with the burthen of his Pride and Folly the Earth grows weary of and swallows him up Flatter'd with the delusive hopes of ascending this Foolish Absalon forgetting the Piety and Duty of a Son seduced the mutinous Tribes from their Allegiance to His Royal Father and by their Arms endeavour'd to Depose him whom Heaven it self had invested with the Government and nothing could reclaim the Traytor till he and his Ambition were buried together Search all Histories look out the best the bravest Prince that ever wore a Diadem a Prince adornd with the noblest and most lovely Vertues inrich'd with all those admirable perfections that can endear him to God and men yet these cannot secure him from the Tongues and Conspiracies of Traytors but with Impudent Calumny they will slander him to his People endeavour with cursed Lies to stain his Innocence blemish his vertues and to blast his Glories that they may rob him of the love and esteem of his People bring them by degrees to a dislike both of his Person and Government and so prepare them to take Arms against and depose him What Prince was ever more Merciful and Compassionate then King David as being fashioned and framed wholly according to his Heart who is the God of Mercy and Compassion Yet wicked Sheba the Son of Bichri lifted up his Hand against him and blew the Trumpet of Schism and Sedition to rent his Kingdom from him That peaceful and moderate Emperour Augustus honour'd by his Enemies for his God and the King Pa. 3d. Princely Vertues was assayled ten several times by Conspirators Vespasian even composed of Mildness and Clemency had daily Treasons against him and his Son Titus for his Pleasing and Amiable vertues termed by Suetonius the Love and Delight of Mankind wanted not a Trayterous Caecina Our Martyr'd Soveraign King Charles the Blessed that Mirrour of all Vertues in whom all the Glory and Perfections of his Illustrious Ancestors met and were United how was he Blasphem'd Dishonour'd Ruin'd by them that envied and aspir'd after his Royal Dignity and said with those Wicked men in the Gospel This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize his Inheritance Were Tyrants only subject to the Clamours and Mutinies of the People their misgovernment might justly be accounted the Sole cause of them but seeing the best the most just and mercyful Princes are equally assaulted by them it can be nothing but Envey or Ambition that prompts the chief Rebels and leading Mutineers to enterprise against them They think the Royal Dignity so Superlative a Glory such a transcendent Felicity that they repine and are grieved any should enjoy it but themselves and do what they can to jostle him that is by wright possessed of it out of the Throne that they may Seat themselves in it For though all Rebels pretend the common good yet they all intend their private Profit Honour and Advancement this is the mark they aim at that is only the Colour or Pretence with which they wheedle the People and draw them to their assistance The People 't is certain cannot be better nor happyer then under the Protection of a wise and good Prince under his Wings they are safe and free from Violence and Oppression Here then all Rebels begin their Base and Wicked attempts against their Prince this is their first work to perswade the People who are not so wise as to know when they are well that their Prince is not the Person they take him for neither Loves nor cares for them seems to be tender of their Rights only to make them secure that when opportunity serves he may seize them into his own Hands and spoyl them of all they have Or if the Princes Justice be so great that it cannot be blasted and no aspersions will stick
upon it then they call his Piety in question say he is not Orthodox in Religion but a friend or favourer of the corrupt Church and Popishly affected because they know this will open the Mouths and inrage the minds of all the Zealots against him and consequently expose him to the greatest Dangers So that the transcendent worth value and greatness of this Right appears from the mighty esteem and admiration that Men have for it that which all the ambitious envy the owners for vehemently desire themselves will run all Hazards expose themselves to all Dangers for venture their Lives nay their Souls to obtain must needs be a great thing such is a Crown on Earth which evil Men prefer before one in Heaven and good men think hath nothing which exceeds it but that Consider also the peculiarity and separation of this Right how few there are amongst all Mankind that have any just Claim or Title to the Royal Dignity it is not like the lower honours dispens'd to any great number of Men but impropriate or reserved to a few Persons and Families the commonness of other things abates their value and lessens our esteem of them but a Crown is so great a rarity that it is justly accounted the most Glorious thing upon Earth and therefore it is the highest Injustice to to rob a Prince of such a Jewel It would be remembred also who is the Donour of this Right and we may say of it as our Lord did of St. John's Baptism Is it from Heaven or of Men doth God give Crown 's or the People If they be not in his Donation Daniel was much mistaken who affirms That the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and all the holy Writers Chap. 4. 25. Err strangely who call all Kings Gods Anoynted and Ministers the Sons of God and the Children of the most high and say he sets them on the Throne and that they Reign by him receive their Power and Authority that is Immediately from him that he removeth and setteth up Kings and is wonderful amongst them they tell us also that Saul and David and Solomon were chosen by him to be Kings over and Govern his People and that the Prophets had Commission from him to go and Anoynt such an one King and Ahija spake in the name of God when he said to Jeroboam I will give the Kingdom unto thee Nor doth the Gospel make any change in this great affair for our Lord himself own'd Pilat's power to be from above and St. Paul affirms not only Government it self to be Gods Ordinance but that the Powers that be the Kings and Princes that then Governed the World to be ordained of God that is as the Learned Grotius observes Authoritatem suam a Deo accipere In Rom. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 non minus quam si Reges illi per prophetas Uncti essent to receive their Authority from God no less then if those Kings had been Anoynted by Prophets were equally that is Constituted or Ordained by him as if God had bid a Prophet go and Anoynt them And if they were so then they are and must be so now Nor doth St. Peter contradict his fellow Apostle when he calls upon the Christians to whom he writ To submit themselves to every Ordinance of Man for by submitting to every humane Creature or Ordinance he means saith Grotius the being Subject Ordinationi isti quae inter homines in terris agentes locum habet habere debet to In 1 Pet. 2. 13. that ordinance of God which hath and ought to have place amongst Men that live upon the Earth not which Men have set up but which God hath placed amongst them and the sense of the Apostle is plainly this Submit your selves my Bretheren to every Prince or Ruler whom God hath set over that Kingdom or Province wherein you live you are not and therefore do not think your selves excused from paying all Loyalty and Subjection to such a Prince because he is an Heathen and you are Christians for that God whom you serve hath given him his Authority his Power is from him and therefore you must Submit to him for his sake If this be not the Apostles meaning his argument doth not inforce the Submission he requires for what sense is it to say Submit your selves to every Ruler that Men have set up whether he be Supream or Inferiour a King or a Vice-roy for the Lords sake it should be rather for the Peoples sake that you may please and gratifie them that they may not be angry or offended at you as despisers of that form of Government which they have Ordained or set up but his urging them to Submit for the Lords sake must infer as a Dr. Faulkner Christian Loyalty page 412. learned person observes that those Men who Govern the World do not act only by an humane Right since if Government were not by Gods Authority and Constitution obedience to it could not bear a respect to God himself And as the Holy Scriptures affirm Kingly Government to be Instituted by God so this is the sense of Antiquity as is proved by that Author to whom I refer the Reader and shall only transcribe Christian Loyalty chap. 2d Sect. 5. page 419. out of him those words of Paulus Orosius That all Power and Government is of God is that which they who have not read the Scriptures do think and they who have read them do know And if God be the Donour of Crowns if he gives the Royal Dignity to and takes it from whom he pleaseth we ought to submit to his wise disposal and be content that he should order this great Affair as he thinks fit For when he will have a Prince to Reign it is not in the Power of Men to hinder it though the People struggle and oppose it all they can and come to that Resolution We will not have this Man Rule over us though they make Laws enter into Leagues and Associations bind themselves by Oaths and Ingagements to oppose and keep him from it yet when they have done all they can he shall Ascend the Royal Throne and Injoy the Crown which Heaven hath design'd for him And on the other side when God will not have a Prince Reign all his Friends Counsels Endeavours how numerous Powerful Politick diligent soever shall not profit or avail him any thing the great Disposer of Crowns and Kingdoms opposeth his Exaltation and therefore he must be content with a lower Station In this Case there needs no Bill of Exclusion upon Earth to bar his claim because there is one passed in Heaven that cannot be repeal'd The Duke then hath an undoubted Right to succeed the King and being so great a Right a Right to that which is admir'd and accounted by all Mankind the Richest Jewel and most Glorious thing upon Earth and hath the God of Heaven for the Donour of it
World let us make our devout Addresses to Heaven as constant as we apprehend our dangers either are or may be Let the Houses of God the sacred Places set a part for Prayer or Invocation of his name be more frequented and resorted to Let us go into his Sanctuary and fall low upon our Knees before his footstool lifting up unto him holy hands without wrath and doubting And let our own Houses be Temples or Houses of Prayer in which at morning and evening and at noon day let us be sure to pray and that instantly for the safety of the King and the Royal Family and the preservation of our Excellent Religion as it is now by Law Establish'd that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Let us be so wise as to consecrate large portions of our time to and be frequent in Prayer esteem it an high and eminent expression of Love and Loyalty to your Prince and of Zeal for our Religion to commend them often to the care and protection of the Almighty No Man can have such a multitude or hurry of Affairs but that as Religion obliges him he may spare some time every day to be spent in devotion and it will be no interruption to them if he often present that short but most comprehensive petition of our Liturgy to Heaven Oh Lord save the King But if any think that as the surly and stubborn Devil in the Gospel could not be cast so Popery cannot be kept out by Prayer alone add Fasting to it and see what they will do united for these two together have ever been accounted of great efficacy to remove the Miseries that People lay under and to avert the Dangers and Calamities they feared When that dreadful doom was by Jonah denounc'd against it Yet forty days and Niniveth shall be destroy'd the King Proclaimed a Fast and the People observed it heartily bewail'd their Sins cry'd mightily to God for Mercy And he saw their works and repented of the Evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not And if we take this course humble and afflict our Souls with Fasting Lament or be heartily Sorry for our Sins our Prayers will be very effectual and successful such prevalent Orators in the Court of Heaven that none of them will return empty but bring down the choicest Blessings with them Holy vows too do not only express the earnestness of our desires but enforce or add Efficacy to our Prayers when Jacob was to take his Journy to Padan Aram he made a vow unto Gen. 28. 20. the Lord saying If God will be with me and keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee So may we say but then as he did we must be sure to perform our vow If the Lord will be with us and keep us from the Romish Superstition Cruelties and Oppressions then shall he be our God him will we Love Adore and Magnifie and his Laws shall be so dear to us that we will Reverence Obey or Live according to them all our days and we will express our grateful sence of so high a favour by setting apart liberal portions of our Estates to Pious and Charitable uses there shall be no want as of Churches to Worship him in so of Maintenance for his Priests the Impropriations which Popish Avarice and Sacriledg alienated shall by Protestant Piety and Charity be restored and plentiful provision made all over the Nation if it be not sufficiently done already for the relief of the Poor that our very Enemies seeing our good works may be converted to us For to endear the Providence of God over us and to strengthen or enforce our Prayers our care must be to obey our Religion to lead the most pure and Christian Lives that the admirable purity of our Doctrine may not lye hid in the Books and Monuments of our Church but display its beauties in our Lives and Actions This will be most Acceptable or Pleasing to God render us his Joy and Care Then he will keep us in Peace and Safety delight to do us Good suffer none to do us Harm or Violence but Destroy our Enemies and Plague them that hate us this is to commit our selves to him in well doing and will invite him to be very tender of and watchful over us A Nation of such Livers would be a fair though imperfect resemblance of Heaven both in their purity and safety If there had been but ten such just Men amongst the mighty crow'd of Sinners in Sodom God would have spared them all for their Sakes their Piety would have been a protection and security to that brutish Rabble that not only refused to imitate but hated and derided them for it They that destroy holy and good men do themselves the greatest harm and mischief not only because they shall be fearfully punish'd after this Life for the Cruel and Injurious usage they offer'd them have Judgment without mercy because they shew'd no mercy but also because when they who by their Prayers and Piety kept the heavy Wrath and Vengeance of God from falling on their guilty heads are removed they will descend upon them in the most dreadful manner and with the most destructive fury A good Life setting providence aside is of it self a great preservative as it keeps Men from running into needless dangers from doing injuries and thereby giving provocation to others Some bring misery and ruin upon themselves by the Slanders and Calumnies they are guilty of some by Frauds Rapines and Oppressions many by Violence and Murders multitudes by Treasons and Seditions others by Lust and Intemperance some undo themselves by one Sin and some by another besides the fearful and eternal Punishments they bring upon themselves after this life all which are avoyded by a Pious and Christian Conversation and if all men were truly holy and religious and would continue so they would be perfectly safe or free from danger for all the sufferings and dangers of the good proceed from them that either cast off all Religion and Fear of God or if they profess do not practise it but make it a Cloak of Maliciousness a Cover for all manner of Injustice Oppressions and Cruelties These as they always hate so they are continually plotting against the just and watch all opportunities to do them harm and injury but God is their helper and defender he knows the dangers that threaten and the malice of their Enemies against them and if he take them into his protection they do in vain conspire or attempt against them To say a Being so wise and powerful and merciful as God is that hath by