the Stabbing and Poysoning of Princes that stood in their way which the Jesuits teach their Disciples SECT IX The Reformed Religion is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom AS the Protestant or Reformed Religion is the true Primitive Christianity so it is the stable and permanent Interest of England and the sure Foundation of its Prosperity The King of England is the most Mighty Prince of this Profession and becomes the more Potent over Christendom by being the Head and Chief of the whole Protestant Party And it is well known That by the Support and Defence of this Cause the Nation hath encreased in Honour and Wealth and Power The Peoples rooted Aversness from Popery is most apparent and their Jealousies work upon any more then usual Insolence or Confidence of the Papists The Royallists as well as others have been Allarm'd and manifested their Zeal against it And His Majesties Aversness from it is so fully declared by His Constancy amidst Temptations in the time of His Exile and now since His Return that for His Honours sake it is made very penal for any to suggest that He would introduce it the Law presuming That such suggestion must needs proceed from an evil mind And what Prince that hath cast off the Popes yoke would willingly come under it again A Foreign Statesman of the Roman Profession hath observed it as a Barr against the projected Reconciliation between England and Rome That it could not be effected without Concessions on both sides contrary to the Maxims of both parties This Realm saith he is perversly addicted to maintain its own resolute Opinion of Excluding the Popes Authority And the Court of Rome is more sollicitous to remove whatsoever is contrary to its Temporal Grandure then to extirpate such Heresies as this Realm is infected with To instance in that one point of the Approbation or Toleration of the Oath of Allegiance though some Catholick Doctors had with their Tongues and Pens maintained the lawfulness of that Oath yet thereby and by opening some other points of high consequence they had so displeased the Pope that could they have been catch't they were sure to have been burn'd or strangled for it But what allurement is there to dispose the Monarchs of the Earth to subject themselves to the Sacerdotal Empire of Rome or to endeavour an Accommodation with it Hath Popery its advantages to dispose Subjects to security and blind obedience So it hath its advantages to loosen the Bonds of Allegiance and foment Rebellion in Subjects when Protestancy seasons them with principles of unstained Loyalty A people nuzled in ignorance and superstition are more easily seduced from their obedience to Magistrates and carried headlong by those that have dominion over their Consciences But Understanding and Knowledg makes men considerate and more easily manageable by a just and prudent Government As for the Clergy's Interest though the Protestant Religion doth not affect that excessive Pomp and Splendor of Church-men which the Popish doth yet it is taken for granted That neither Conscience nor Interest will permit the Bishops and Clergy of England to unite to the See of Rome Their Doctrine is too pure and their Judgment too clear for a full compliance with Popery And they know what it is to come under the Papal Yoke to divest themselves and receive new Orders from Rome and to be displaced and set behind the Veteran Soldiers of the Roman Camp whose turns must be first served SECT X. It is for the behoof of Religion and true Piety and for the Interest of this State That Reformed Christianity be setled in its full Extent IF it be resolved That Protestancy is the truth of Christianity and also the stability of England it follows That this Profession must not be streightned and lessened but inlarged and cherished according to its true Extent and the Rule and Square of the Ecclesiastical State must be commensurate thereunto It should be the measure of all mens Zeal and Activity in Rites and Opinions whatsoever is necessary to its support and advancement is constantly to be asserted and about things impertinent thereunto contention should utterly cease This is to advance the Kingdom of God among men and to encrease the Church's glory upon earth But by needless Schisms and Factions to weaken the common Interest of Reformed Christianity is to dissipate the Church of God and to defeat the great Ends of the Christian Religion which are Sound and strong Faith in Christ and his Promises unfeigned devotion purity of heart innocence and integrity of life common charity brotherly love humility mutual forbearance and condescention unshaken peace and concord As this Latitude promotes the great Designs of Christs Gospel so it settles this Nation and is for matter of Religion its right and sure Basis. Every good Foundation lyes adequate to the Building to be laid thereon So any Polity Civil or Ecclesiastical should be proportionate to the people to be governed thereby The people that are of moment in the Ballance of this Nation are though not universally yet more generally rooted in Protestantism as it is taken in its due latitude and not as unduly restrained by the passions and interests of men For in this they are one though divided about lesser things There hath been much discord between men of several Perswasions that throughly accord with each other in the same common Faith as almost to expunge one another out of the List of Protestants Surely this is a great error and a disadvantage on all hands as well to those that stand on the Vantage-ground as to others For they that carry it after this sort do weaken the Common Interest of true Religion and strengthen the Common Adversary that is irreconcilable and disparage themselves as a narrow Party or Faction That all those who heartily embrace the English Reformation established by Law are Protestants will not be questioned by men of temperate spirits And concerning the residue let the sober-minded judge Whether they that assent to the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Articles of the Church of England and do worship God according to that Faith have right to be esteemed Protestants Now if Protestancy taken in its due Extent doth sway the Nation and is able to settle its Peace against the Competition of any Rival should it not be encompassed according to that Extent as much as is possible in the Polity of this State SECT XI How momentous in the Ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Polity VVHether cogent Reason speaks for this Latitude be it now considered How momentous in the Ballance of this Nation those Protestants are which are dissatisfied in the present Ecclesiastical Polity They are every where spred through City and Countrey they make no small part of all ranks and sorts of men by Relations and Commerce they are so woven into the Nations Interest that it is not easie to sever them without unravelling the whole
A DISCOURSE OF THE RELIGION OF ENGLAND ASSERTING That REFORMED CHRISTIANITY setled in its Due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of this KINGDOM LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC LX. VII THE PREFACE REligion being deeply imprinted in Humane Nature and having a great Power over it and being more notably displayed in the present Age is become the Grand Interest of States and almost of all men though not after the same manner nor upon the same Grounds and Motives For this cause whether it comes in Truth or in Shew only it is found to rule and turn about the great Affairs of the World And though many things of different nature may have great influence on the State of this Kingdom yet Religion and Matters of Conscience evidently appear to have the greatest The distinguishing of Persons for the favour or disfavour of the Times yea the very Names of Discrimination pass upon the account of Religious Differences The Active part of all sorts and ranks of men is hereby chiefly swayed in their Motions and their Affections move more importunately in this One then in all their other Concernments Wherefore if a Settlement may be found out which may accommodate all those Parties or Perswasions in which the Peace of the Nation is bound up it will prove the undoubted Interest of this State And if such a Settlement be likewise found to be the true and sound state of Religion it must needs be acceptable to the faithful Servants of Christ and the true Lovers of their Country Now the Adventure of this Discourse is to Assert That Reformed Christianity rightly stated and setled in its due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of the Kingdom of England Nothing is here suggested for Politick Ends to corrupt the Purity or enervate the Power of Religion or to lessen Charity but the Fatherly Compassion of Rulers and the mutual Brotherly Condescention of all Christians required by the Law of Christ and some Connivence in case of insuperable Necessities and that for the Truth 's sake is here propounded Episcopacy is not undermined nor any other Form of Government here insinuated only a Relaxation of the Prescribed Uniformity and some Indulgence to Dissenters of Sound Faith and Good Life is submissively offered to the Consideration of our Superiors All Pragmatical Arrogance presuming to give Rules to Governours and to teach them what to do is carefully avoided only the Possibility Expediency and Necessity of Moderation is represented And it is humbly desired That this Honest Intention in pursuance of Peace may find a favourable Reception The Contents SEct. 1. The Religion of this Realm and Three different parties of most important consideration The Protestants of the Church of England the Protestant Nonconformists and the Papists Sect. 2. The Behaviour and Pretension of the Popish Party in these times Sect. 3. That Popery disposeth Subjects to Rebellion Sect. 4. That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach Sect. 5. That where soever it finds Encouragement it is restless till it bears down all before it or hath put all in disorder Sect. 6. The Papists Pretension of Loyalty and Merit in the Kings Cause examined Sect. 7. The result of the whole Discourse touching the Popish Party Sect. 8. That the Reformed Religion makes good Christians and good Subjects Sect. 9. The Reformed Religion is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom Sect. 10. It is for the behoof of Religion and true Piety and for the Interest of this State That Reformed Christianity be setled in its full Extent Sect. 11. How momentous in the Ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Polity Sect. 12. The Extirpation of the Dissenters is both difficult anaunprofitable Sect. 13. The Representation of this Difficulty is no threatning to Rulers or intimation of Rebellion Sect. 14. The setling of the Nation by an Established Order a Toleration and a Connivence Sect. 15. Of the Established Order in Religion and the Moderation therein required Sect. 16. Whether the Dissenters are capable of being brought into such a Comprehension Sect. 17. Acquiescence in the widened Establishment is the safety of Religion Sect. 18. Of Toleration and Connivence Sect. 19. Dissenters of narrow and rigid Principles advised to Moderation Sect. 20. This comprehensive state of Religion further considered with respect to Three Important Interests First To that of the King Sect. 21. Secondly To the Interest of the Church and Clergy Sect. 22. Thirdly To the Interest of the Nobility and Gentry Sect. 23. The general Security that comes by this Latitude ERRATA Page 9. line 2. read in King James his time p. 5. l. 18. r. Arts of Rome p. 31. l. 31. r. exacted A DISCOURSE OF THE RELIGION of ENGLAND SECT I. The Religion of this Realm and three different Parties of most important consideration The Protestants of the Church of England the Protestant Nonconformists and the Papists THE Religion of England considered not only as established by Law but as rooted in the Nation and generally embraced is that which is called Protestant and is no other then Christianity recovered out of the Antichristian Apostacy and reformed from the Corruptions of later Ages after the Primitive Purity receiving the holy Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Christian Faith and Life How beit in this Realm there be three different Parties of most important consideration The first consists of those Protestants that zealously adhere to the English Ecclesiastical Polity and call themselves the Church of England The second sort is of those Protestants that receive the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Articles of Religion but are dissatisfied in the form of Ecclesiastical Polity These by their Adversaries have been usually called Puritans The third is of those that utterly reject the Reformation and remain united to the Pope as their Spiritual Head and call themselves Roman-Catholicks Hereupon an impartial serious Observer respecting the Common Good may be induced to make inquiry How agreeable or dis-harmonious each of these Three are to the Publick Weal as also What proportion they bear to each other and whether those under the Legal Establishment or the Dissenters preponderate in the Ballance of the Nation or whether the Established preponderate in that degree which is requisite in true reason of Government SECT II. The Behaviour and Pretensions of the POPISH Party in these Times THE Roman-Catholicks in England considered not barely in their Number but in their Rank and Quality being Rich and Powerful and Strong in Alliances are very momentous and seem to be capable of great Designs especially in conjunction with Foreign Interests In these times they have taken much Liberty and Boldness with an undisturbed Security and lately have been observed to be more then ordinarily active jocund and confident of the effect of their Mutual Correspondencies and manifold passages of dangerous appearance have been every where spoken of in so much that the Nation hath taken an Alarm and
the PARLIAMENT judged the Matter worthy of their Search and appointed a Committee to receive Informations This Party hath high pretensions of Merit towards the King and all that are called Royallists and they seek apparently more then Indulgence and Safety even High Power and Trust as if they were the true and sure Confidents of this State Such Claims as these challenge a serious Debate For a Charge of a high nature as themselves have taken notice hath been of a long time prosecuted against Popery viz. That it disposeth Subjects to Rebellion That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach That wheresoever it finds incouragement it is restless till it bear down all or hath put all in Disorder Till they make a better Defence then the world hath yet seen we take the just liberty of insisting upon this Charge and examining first How benign or safe the influence of Popery is upon any State or Kingdom whatsoever and then how it doth comport with the State of England whose Basis is the Protestant Religion setled by Law and by length of time generally spred and deeply rooted in the Nation and solemnly and constantly avowed by Prince and People SECT III. That POPERY disposeth Subjects to Rebellion VVHat hath been the constant practice of the Popes who are the Head of the Roman Faith the Universal consent of History bears record What continual thundering of Excommunications hath sounded throughout the Christian world in all Ages since the beginning of the Papal Reign against Kings Emperors and other Princes and States that presumed to dispute their Dictates or cross their Designs to the loosing of Subjects from the Bonds of Allegiance and the deposing of Soveraigns What unexampled Abasements hath the Imperial Majesty suffered in the Persons of sundry Emperors by prodigious instances of Papal Pride which though enough to stir up the indignation of mankind are applauded by famous Writers Champions of the Court of Rome The Popes Temporal Dominions began and grew up in Rebellion and Usurpation for which cause they have nourished Factions and filled the world with Warrs and Tumults and maintained most outragious and tedious Conflicts with many Emperors even till they had crippled and broke the back of the Empire it self And these practices are justified by their Decretals and Canons and Divines of greatest Authority and some of their Councils ascribing to the Pope a Power of Deposing Princes that are Heretical or favourers of Hereticks The Jesuits Doctrine of KING-KILLING hath made them odious and if some passages can be alledged out of their Writings against taking away the Lives of Princes their declared meaning is That a King deposed by the Pope becomes Tirannus titulo and is no more a Lawful King and then what follows is easily understood Those of the Church of Rome that disavow these things should mind their contradiction to the Faith they own in leaving their Popes Divines and Canonists in a point of such importance But how potent the influence of the Court of Rome and the Agency of the Jesuits is for the diffusing of those Principles into the most and chiefest of the Roman-Catholicks is not unknown If the undisturbed Government of the Emperor and of the King of Spain in later times be brought forth as an instance of the Loyalty of Popish Subjects or an argument of the soundness of Popish Principles it must be considered That the House of Austria have made their devotion to the See of Rome their grand and appropriate Interest and that See hath a main dependance on those Princes and both it and they have the same active Votaries throughout Christendom the Jesuits and their Adherents As for the Kingdom of France the State of Venice and others acknowledging the Popes Headship they have had enough to do and they would have more if either themselves were weak and less formidable to the Pope or the Popes lightning and thunder were now as dreadful as in former Ages Even in Popish Countreys the abuses of Papal Power and the Intrigues and Interests of the Court of Rome are a little better discerned therefore those Princes and States can make the better terms for themselves yet if either the former degree of ignorance and stupid devotion to that See shall return upon their people or the like occasions of embroiling or breaking States shall revive they must accept the Popes conditions and submit to the former yoke But if the Princes of that Profession can in this our more knowing Age with much ado hold their Subjects in obedience against the Acts of Rome yet the question concerning England remains intire Whether a Protestant Prince can with good reason confide or repose himself in the Loyalty of his Popish Subjects and more especially Whether the fore-mentioned Popish Claims do in any wise comport with the State of England whose Basis is the Protestant Religion No other Religion gives the Priests such an Empire over the Conscience as the Popish doth The Principles of that Belief and the Order and Frame of that Church are directed to this end and the people are miserably inthralled to the will of their Clergy By Auricular Confession the Priests have a constant inlet into the hearts of men by injoyning Penances and works of Devotion they exercise a spiritual Dominion over them Hereby they have dayly opportunity and advantage enough to excite them to any notable Exploits for the Catholick Cause unto which kind of services they fix an Opinion of the highest Merit either for discharge from the pains of Purgatory or for the acquest of a greater Reward in Glory Yea dissolute persons may be easily drawn to such Attempts in hope of making compensation for a loose and lewd life and when they suffer for Sedition or Treason they are held to acquire the glory of Martyrs and Confessors Add hereunto their Belluine hatred of Hereticks and vile esteem of their persons And in all this their Church's supposed Infallibility warrants this blind obedience and brutish confidence And to make void all the security that can be given between Prince and people the Pope under pretence of Equity and Necessity undertakes to dispence with Oaths and with all Laws both Civil and Divine Besides all this there is the Jesuits peculiar Discipline most exquisite for blind obedience and resolution and consequently for any great and strange Attempts Things past may afford prognosticks of thing to come May Englands constant Experience be taken for Evidence in the case The Reign of Queen Elizabeth after the Protestant Reformation had gotten the stated possession of this Kingdom was infested with a continued succession and series of Treasons for the re-introducing of Popery carried on by the English Papists with an indefatigable and implacable Spirit proceedings from Causes peculiar to that Religion During the first ten years they conformed to the Church of England but afterwards to testifie their union with the Pope they became a divided party in this State For them the Queen
being found unmoveable the Pope published his Declaratory Sentence against Her by which all Her Subjects were absolved from the Oath of Allengiance and an Anathema denounced against those that thence forth obey Her The Popish Rebellion in the North breaks out Many horrid attempts of Violence upon Her Majesties Person were plotted one after another for many years together as that of Dr. Story of Parry of Arden and Somervile of Throgmorton of Babington and his Complices besides the concurrent Commotion in Ireland In these several Treasons many of the Seminary Priests were forward and active The great and setled Design was the advancing of the Queen of Scots to the Crown of England wherein were ingaged the Pope and Spaniard and French King and Duke of Guise in conjunction with the English Papists making use of her Title to set on foot those many desperate Enterprises against the Queen After the death of the Queen of Scots they raised a new Title to the Crown in the House of Spain The memory of Eighty Eight will be an everlasting Monument of Papistical Cruelty and Treason Cardinal Allen the first founder or procurer of the Foreign Seminaries a person admired as well by the Secular Priests as Jesuits penned a Treatise with all the Rhetorick he had to excite the English Catholicks to joyn with the Spaniards Among the Forces in the Low-Countries prepared for this Invasion were seven hundred English Fugitives After the Spanish Armado was dissipated the Jesuits had not done They would have stirred up the Earl of Derby to assume the Title of the Kingdom they plotted the poysoning of the Queen by Lopez her Physician they excited Villains to dispatch her by bloody hands and they never left soliciting the King of Spain till he twice attempted another Invasion In those times Parsons his Book of Titles was famous wherein he set up divers Competitors for the Crown preferring the Infanta before all others and slighting King James his Title as having but few Favourers and little accounted by Catholicks The Roman party could be provoked to these mischiefs by no other impulse then the impetuous zeal of their Superstition Some of their own did then publsh to the world their important Considerations to move all true Catholicks to acknowledg That the proceedings of Her Majesty and the State with them since the beginning of Her Reign had been mild and merciful In the several times of those mischievous designments though some priests were executed yet those that were found moderate in their Examinations obtained Mercy and a great number of them that by Law were obnoxious to death were spared from that extremity and only banished It is true that certain Secular priests did impute all those Treasons to the Jesuits and their Adherents and fully charged them with all the aforefaid matters of Fact in terms of highest aggravation acquitting all other Catholicks But it must be noted that the Jesuits were in greatest reputation and had the predominant influence upon the English Papists in general and as appears by the Seculars loud Complaints had such a power of disposing the Alms collected for their prisoners and other sufferers that such as complied not with their purposes were debarr'd of relief and pined for want And by their counsels the Foreign Seminaries those Nurseries of Disloyalty were wholly swayed And 't is observable That the agrieved Seculars never published their pretended abhorrency of these Treasons till they were over-past and themselves being driven to despair by the Jesuits potency were forced to take shelter under a great Prelate of the Church of England The same Spirit of Disloyalty was as active and vigorous in that Kings time who at his first entrance found himself excluded from Title to the Crown by two Papal Breves the ground-work of that Infernal Plot of matchless Villany and Cruelty the GUNPOWDER-TREASON After the defeat of which horrid Conspiracy the Projects of Rome proceeded not in such down-right Rebellions which always miscarried but in ways more secretly undermining Religion and as truly destructive to the Interest of King and Kingdom SECT IV. That it Persecutes all other Religions within its reach THE second Branch of the Charge against Popery is That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach In the Church of Rome for many by-past Ages the Meekness of Christ and the Dove-like nature of his Spouse hath not appeared but the Cruelty of that great Whore that was drunken with the Blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus All that cast off her yoke and disown her pretended Infallibility are with her no better then Hereticks though they intirely own all the Articles of the Christian Faith received by the ancient Church And Hereticks are esteemed more vile then dogs and it is held meritorious to abuse and torment them Her Laws have made their punishment to be the sharpest kind of death Burning alive inexorably inflicted By this Romish Wrath and Fury were Three hundred Martyrs sacrificed in Queen Maries time for not believing the Sacramental Bread to be turned into the Substance of Christs Body against the most clear and distinct perception and reason of all Mankind But can humane Nature hear without horror the report of that direful Consistory called the Holy Inquisition established in those Countries where Popery is in full sway Doubtless that Church whose Religious Orders in a solemn and Sacred Judicatory shall commit such horrid Outrages as are indeed acted by those Infernal Judges upon pretence of Justice and Piety must needs be a School of Universal Cruelty for all her Adherents The Popish hath outgone the Pagan Cruelty What Treachery and Villany hath been acted What barbarous Indignities have been offered in ways as immodest and shameless as outragious and merciless upon pretence of zeal against Hereticks What varieties of strangely-devised Torments have been inflicted upon the Servants of Christ without sparing Age Sex or Condition Nor hath such work been done onely in our Age or Country but in all Ages successively and Countries universally that were imbued with Romish Principles Witness the huge slaughters of the Waldenses the persecutions of the Bohemian Brethren and of many others throughout Christendom in the former Ages And since Protestant-Reformation how have the Romish Zealots filled Europe with the slaughters of Christians within their reach in France Germany Spain Italy England Scotland the Netherlands In Ireland Piedmont and Poland their Cruelty is fresh in memory And the slain cannot be numbred for multitude they were killed by Thousands Ten thousands Hundred thousands at one and the same Persecution And the Tragedies have been acted where the Name of Protestant was well known yea where Protestants were under the shelter of the Law For the Jesuits uncessantly stir up the Princes to fall upon their people against Law and without provocation given and after things have been setled to break their Agreements with them And the Pope himself is the Contriver or Applauder of these Mischiefs and
of the Roman Church for the Interest of the people and the Consent of the Cities and the Peers in Defensive Arms. Which they have written over and above their peculiar Principle of the Popes Universal Power of Deposing Kings that are unfit for Government As for the woful Catastrophe of those Commotions it hath been manifested to the world by such as undertook to justifie it when Authority should require That the year before the Kings death a select number of Jesuits being sent from their whole Party in England consulted both the Faculty of Sorbon and the Conclave at Rome touching the Lawfulness and Expediency of promoting the Change of Government by making away the King whom they despaired to turn from his Heresie It was debated and concluded in both places That for the Advancement of the Catholick Cause it was Lawful and Expedient to carry on that Alteration of State This Determination was effectually pursued by many Jesuits that came over and acted their parts in several Disguises After that execrable Fact was perpetrated on the Person of our Soveraign if we may believe most credible reports there were many Witnesses of the great joy among the English Convents and Seminaries and other companies of Papists beyond Sea as having overcome their great Enemy and done their main work Many of their Chief ones sought the favour of the Usurpers with offers of doing them service One of great note among them in a Book entituled Grounds of Obedience and Government undertook the solution of the Grand Case of those Times That if a People be dissolved into the State of Anarchy their Promise made to their expelled Governour binds no more they are remitted to the force of Nature to provide for themselves That the old Magistrates Right stands upon the Common Peace and that is transferred to his Rival by the Title of Quiet Possession Conformably to these Principles they address their Petition To the Supream Authority the PARLIAMENT of the Commonwealth of England They affirmed They had generally taken and punctually kept the Engagement and promised That if they might enjoy their Religion they would be the most quiet and useful Subjects Of their Actings since His Majesties Restauration and the Jealousies and Rumours about them let men judg as they find by the Evidences that are given SECT VII The Result of the whole Discourse touching the Popish Party AND now let it be duly weighed Whether the Papists of these Dominions have in later times changed their former Principles and Interests or have only taken another method of greater Artifice and Subtilty as the change of times hath given them direction and advantage The scope of the whole preceding Discourse is to call in question those high pretensions of theirs and to cross their Aims at great Power and Trust But it is not directed against the Security of their Persons or Fortunes or any meet Indulgence or Clemency towards them Let them have their Faith to themselves without being vexed with snares or any afflicted the State always providing to obviate the forementioned Principles and Practices of Disloyalty and the diffusing of the leaven of their Superstition The Inference of the whole is this That they be not admitted to a capacity of evil and dangerous influence upon the Affairs of the Kingdom or of interrupting and perplexing the course of things that concern the publike SECT VIII That the Reformed Religion makes good Christians and good Subjects AS true Religion is the most Noble End so it is the best Foundation of all Political Government And it is the felicity of the State of England to rest upon this Basis even Reformed Christianity or the Primitive and Apostolick Religion recovered out of the Apostacy of the later times and severed from that new kind of Paganism or Pagano-Christianism under which it lay much oppressed and overwhelmed but not extinguished It s wholsome Doctrine contained in its publick Confessions makes good Christians and good Subjects It teacheth obedience to Civil Magistrates without the controle of any Superior or Collateral Power Nor is it concerned if dangerous Positions fall from the Pens of some Writers And notwithstanding the Adversaries Cavils the Divines of Authority and solid Reputation in the Protestant Churches do with a general Consent maintain the Rights of Princes and Soveraign Powers against all Disobedience If any aberration in Practice hath been found in its Professors it is not to be charged therewith because it condemns it but the general practice in this point hath been conformable to the Doctrine The Reformation in England for its Legality and Orderliness is unquestionable In Germany it was setled and defended by Princes and free Cities that governed their own Signiories and Territories paying only a respect of Homage to the Emperor In Helvetia it began by the Senates of the Cantons It was received in Geneva by that Republick after the Civil Government had been reformed by strong Papists In the Provinces of the Netherlands it was spread many years before the Union against the Spaniard which Union was not made upon the score of Religion but of State The manner of its beginning in Scotland is by some attributed to a National Disposition the asperity and vehemency thereof is said to be greater in times of Popery and to be much mitigated by the Reformation For France we may take the Testimony of King JAMES who was jealous enough for the Power of Kings He said That he never knew yet that the French Protestants took Arms against their King In the first Troubles they stood only upon their Defence before they took Arms they were burned and Massacred every where The first Quarrel did not begin for Religion but because when King Francis the Second was under Age they had been the refuge of the Princes of the Blood expelled from the Court who knew not else where to take Sanctuary and that it shall not be found that they made any other Warr. It is not for this Discourse to intermeddle with all the Actions of Protestant Subjects towards their Princes that have happened in Christendom Let them stand or fall by the Laws and Polity under which they live Whensoever they have been disloyal they have swerved from the known and received Rules of their Profession Through the corruption of Mankind Subjects of whatsoever perswasion are prone to Murmurings and Mutinies Sometimes Oppression makes them mad Sometimes a Jealousie of Incroachments upon their Legal Rights and Liberties raiseth Distempers and Contests And sometimes an unbridled wanton affecting of inordinate Liberty makes them insolent and licentious But over and above these common Sources of Rebellion Popery hath a peculiar one and that of the greatest Force the Conscience of Religious Obligations and the Zeal of the Catholick Faith Protestants have never disowned their King for difference in Religion as the most of the Roman Catholieks of France dealt with Henry the Fourth by the Popes instigation And in their greatest Enormities they have never attempted
invincibly possess the Judgment in that case Christian Humility and Charity as well as Discretion adviseth such persons to acquiesce in their private Security and Freedom and not to reach after that Liberty that may unsettle the Publick Order and undermine the Common Safety SECT XX. This Comprehensive State of Religion further considered with respect to Three important Interests â—irst to that of the KING FOR the removing of all conâ—â—â—ved Prejudices let this desired Latitude of Religion be considered with respect to the several Interests of the King of the Church and Clergy and of the Nobility and Gentry First let it be examined in reference to the Interest of Regal Majesty The Non-conformists and other inclinable to their way are by some charged with such Principles as detract much from Kingly Power and Dignity and tend to advance Popular Faction It is confessed they have been eager Assertors of Legal Liberties yet herein they were not singular but in almost all PARLIAMENTS have had the concurrence of many good Patriots that were not touch'd with the least tincture of Puritanism They profess much affection to MONARCHY and the Royal Family and think they have made it appear by their hazardous declaring against the designed Death of our late Soveraign and their vigorous Actings for the Restitution of His Majesty that now is They are so well satisfied as none more in the Ancient Fundamental Constitution of this Kingdom This Arraignment of their supposed Principles about Government may haply proceed upon Mistake There is reason enough to think That the many late Disputes about Prerogative and Liberty are Controversiae ortae non primae that they had their rise from something else which lyes at the bottom Both former and present time do shew That the Anti-Puritan Interest when occasion serves and the urgency of Affairs requires can contest with Princes and pretend Conscience too in crossing their Designs Inclinations and Interests more then Speculative Opinions will be found to have born the sway and caused those active motions on the one hand and the other These Dogmata or Problemes about Obedience and Government do but little where mens Affections and Concernments do not give them spirit and vigor The practical Judgment of Inferiors hath a bias in this case according to their Superiors Benignity or Asperity towards them High strains of speech may easily proceed from such as flatter their Governors or know not themselves but they are worthy of credit that speak credible things The wise man saith He that repeateth a matter separateth very friends A looking back to former discords marrs the most hopeful Redintegration Acts of Indempnity are Acts of Oblivion also and must be so observed Let not the way of Peace be barr'd by the framing of such Tests as may perplex the minds of men but add no real security to the Higher Powers For as some set their wits a work in framing so do others in evading the designs of such Engagements And of those that devise how to evade them some may deal seriously and others perhaps may trifle with Conscience but the internal Judgments of both remain what they were before The common Evasions or Violations of such bonds among all parties in our times do shew That they are not the way to root out inveterate Opinions But there is a surer way to obviate the evil tendency of such Opinions and to render them ineffectual For it is not this or that narrow conception or notion but some greater thing that rules the actions of humane life The condition of the dissatisfied may without damage or just scandal to any be made such That their far greater number shall not long for changes but gladly embrace present things and then the implacably evil-minded would want matter to work upon and rest without hope of disturbing the Publick Peace Moreover all Loyal Principles are not inclosed in some Positions in which may be much variety and uncertainty of opinion and in which both Theological and Political Casuists and they great Assertors of Monarchical Government have written doubtfully Men of different apprehensions in such things may be indued with the same prudence soberness common charity love of Publick Tranquility reverence of Regal Majesty conscience of Allegiance and an awful regard of Divine and Humane Laws Men of nicer Judgments may have as loyal hearts as those of greater latitude And why should the judgments of such men be rack'd and their spirits vexed with curious scrutinies The ancient Sacred Bonds of Fidelity are not questioned and if they do not what others can oblige and awe the Conscience The extent of Prerogatives Royal of the Priviledges of PARLIAMENTS and of the Peoples Immunities is not matter fit for common disquisition but requires to be kept among the Secrets of Government It might have been far better if these points had been more gently and warily handled on all sides The English in general are an ingenuous and open-hearted people and if unlucky accidents discompose them not they are of themselves disposed to have their Kings in great veneration and doubtless their satisfaction and good estate is their Soveraigns true repose SECT XXI Secondly To the Interest of the Church and Clergy IN the next place let this Comprehensive state be examined with respect to the Interest of the Church of England The Doctrine of Faith and Sacraments by Law established is heartily received by the Non-conformists and it is like to be the Basis of their standing in England as long as Protestant Religion stands How far they approve Episcopacy and Liturgy hath been above declared Their dissent is in some parts of Divine Worship as they say not appointed of God but devised by men also in the frame of the English Hierarchy as it differs from the Ancient Episcopacy and they avow they are under no obligation to extirpate or impeach that ancient Form The Ministers of this Perswasion are Godly and Learned able and apt to teach the people and no small part of the Congregations in England feel the loss of them Doth the Lord of the Harvest command that such Labourers be thrust out of his Service And will the chief Shepherd at his appearing justifie this usage of his faithful Servants The Bishops and dignified Clergy and those of their Perswasion have the advantage of Law and Power But can they believe that the Church of God in these Nations is terminated in them alone It is hoped that Christ hath a larger Interest in these Realms Shall it be said of the English Prelacy That it cannot stand without the ejection of Thousands of Orthodox Pious Ministers Or that it dreads a general diffusion of knowledg in the people Or that this is a Maxime thereof No Ceremony no Bishop as if the Bishop's work were at an end and his office of no force if Ceremonies were left indifferent Is an Ecclesiastical Government that pleads Apostolical Institution and Universal reception so weak and feeble that godly and peaceable men
preaching only the indubitable truths of Christianity would undermine it If any should preach what is Schismatical and Seditious they are liable to Restraints and Censures according to their demerits Why will the established Clergy refuse their Brethren and set them at such a distance Is it their honour strength or safety that such men should be numbred among their opposites The intrinsick and permanent State of Prelacy is not advanced by these present Rigors It is not more rooted in the hearts of people nor are many gained over that would stick close to it in a time of tryal The dread that is of its Censures ariseth from the subsequent temporal Penalties And however it be its Chariot drives but heavily It cannot measure its strength by the number of Conformists among whom there are many that are a reproach unto it and many that are very indifferent men and there are the Latitudinarians that are accounted but luke-warm Conformists and many that submit may not like the imposing and men may think divers Injunctions that are not simply unlawful to be burdensome and inconvenient and would be glad to shake off the yoke A great Prelate before the late Warrs is reported to say That the Conforming Puritan was the Devil of the Times And of those that zealously affect the established Order there are not a few that disgust the behaviour of Church-men and are ready to upbraid them with the known moderation of many whom they have ejected yea the more considerate Sons of the Church do observe and bewail such dangerous miscarriages by Simony Pluralities Non-residency and Profaneness as threaten a second downfall The world takes notice what men are cast out and what is the condition of multitudes that are retained in the Service of the Church There are a sort of men of great Worth and Reputation in the several Orders of this Kingdom that indeed affect Episcopacy but see the inconvenience and danger of this Severity and would have things carried with Discretion and Equity and are ready to do good offices for the depressed Party If the Affairs of the Commonwealth should go backwards can the Clergy alone be at rest in their Honour Power and Wealth Though of later times it hath been said No Bishop no King yet it is not evident That the present frame of Prelacy hath an immutable Interest in the Regal Name and Power The Religion of any State will sink if it be not held up in its venerable Estimation among the people and it cannot be long held in reverence if it hath neither the reality nor appearance of Devotion and Sanctity That which is divested of the Disguises and Impostures of Romish Superstition had need to be spirited with Life and Power Minds touch'd with Devotion will look either to the way of true and real Godliness or to the Popish Bodily Exercise It is here sincerely wish't That the Clergy may hold their state in safety and honour That they may never be laid low for want of meet Revenue or Dignity That they may always preserve a reverend esteem of their Persons and Office But then the Bishops must not be the Head of such Ministers as for ignorance and lewdness are a scandal and scorn to their Neighbours nor of such as incourage profaneness and deprave seriousness and diligence in Religion and strictness of life under the scandal of Puritanism Fanaticism or such like names of reproach They must so manage their Government that under it the sound knowledg of God may encrease through the Land that holiness and righteousness may flourish that their influence may dispose men to do those things that are honest and pure and comely and vertuous and praise-worthy To this may be added the setling of the Church in a due extent that it may incompass so much as may enable it to vanquish whatsoever is inconsistent with it and to keep within compass whatsoever may be tollerated under it The great danger and damage which may be dreaded to ensue this moderation which nevertheless may possibly not ensue it is but the cutting off some Luxuriances from some in the Highest Order or the sharing among many what was ingrossed by a few And the Church doth not change for the worse if some diminution of greatness in a very few persons makes way for a more general amplitude stability and peace and the Clergy enjoy an Estate of Power Plenty and Honour with less envy and hazard of undermining SECT XXII Thirdly To the Interest of the Nobility and Gentry THere is another Interest that of the Nobility and Gentry which is worthy of regard in this Inquiry The Latitude and Liberty here discoursed is thought to give too great advantage to the Citizens and the Commonalty as also to make all sorts more knowing and less servile and consequently less obsequious to the wills of great men And the doubt is whether the Nobles and Gentlemen of England can maintain their Authority and Splendor with the Freedom of Citizens and the common people Surely in the times of their Ancestors they were in as much splendor and power as they have been in the memory of this Age and yet in those times both Citizens and Yeomanry were rich and free brave and worthy in their own rank And it may be the higher Degrees in England would never be so advanced as some have conceited if the meaner sort were reduced to the condition of the French Peasantry For there is another Spirit in the English People which peradventure may not be vanquished at less charges then dissipation of the strength and riches and all the glory of this Land Besides Trade which is the Life of England must be managed by a people not of a slavish and sordid condition And in a Trading Nation things do so pass to and fro and run from one hand to another that New Men by their Wealth will be always getting up into the rank of Gentlemen and former Gentile Families will be decaying There is a Liberty for every Native to purchase Lands and though some of our Tenures began in the Vassalage of meaner men to great ones yet they are now by custom of later Ages become so far free that they are fit for any ingenuous persons to take them up Moreover the English Gentry are Commons according to the main frame of this Polity and that great Convention where they meet in their chiefest Power is the Commons House of Parliament in which they represent the universality of the Commons of all Counties and Cities and Burroughs And therefore the free Estate of the Commons is the true Interest of Gentlemen And how groundless and fruitless is all evil emulation between the Gentry and Citizens or Traders For they mutually uphold each other or both must fall to the ground Many Gentile Families are the Off-spring of former Citizens and many Citizens are the sons of Gentlemen And when the Estates of ancient Gentry are sinking their Marriage with Citizens is an ordinary means of underpropping them And if Traders fail the Revenue of the Gentry must fail also whose Lands did never bear that Price nor yeeld that Annual Rent that of late they have done till the Nation became great in Foreign Trade If emulation of Gallantry be any matter of grudg between them the Citizens may leave the Gentry to their own Garbs and retain a grave habit to themselves in which they may sufficiently express their Wealth as their Predecessors did before them For it is generous so to do And as for the Nobility and Gentry their Honour lyes in upholding their Families and bearing sway in their Countries and they do the one by discreet and liberal Frugality and the other by having and using greater Abilities then the vulgar for their Countries Service SECT XXIII The general Security that comes by this Latitude THE chief Prejudices have been considered and these three Important Interests being known aright are found not to oppose but to require this Latitude of Religion Furthermore our common Security and Freedom earnestly perswades it For the Severities of Law against Dissenters may at length come home to them or theirs who take themselves to be far out of the reach thereof And the inforcing of those Penalties may need such ways and means as may trouble them who are tender of the Lawful Rights and Liberties of English-men But the Common Peace being once firmly setled in this Comprehensive state all Necessity of Powers and Proceedings extraordinary will disappear and vanish away Finally The more Pacifick we are at home the more Powerful and Formidable shall we be abroad But our Breaches are too well known and make little for our Reputation or Advantage in Foreign parts What can it avail to disturb a People that would settle in peace and whose Peace is accommodated to the Publick Weal and bound up together with it It must needs be fruitless and unfortunate and cause perplexities and miscarriages in the chiefest Affairs of State It is a saying of the wisest of Kings He that troubles his own House shall inherit the wind FINIS * In the Reign of Edward the sixth a formidab'e Rebellion was raised for recovery of the Mass. * Dr. Parry confessed that having promised at Rome to kill the Queen he was troubled in Conscience about it till he had read Dr. Allen's Book which taught That Princes excommunicate for Heresie were to be deprived of Kingdom and Life which Book he said did vehemently excite him to prosecute his Enterprise