that he cannot Err in the doing of it is to say that which all the World can never Prove for how doth it appear that God hath Constituted or Commission'd him to be the Sole Expounder of Scripture more than any other Bishop or Doctor of the Church Doth not our Lord say to all the Apostles nay to the seventy Disciples He that heareth you heareth me Did not he speak to them all when he said Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature How then came his Holyness to have the Monopoly or Sole power of Interpreting Scripture Did it descend to him from St. Peter that cannot be because he never claim'd never pretended to it never had it Solely himself and the Successor cannot without Usurpation chalenge a greater Power nor plead a larger Commission than he had whom he pretends to Succeed 'T is certain that all the Apostles received an equal Authority and the same Commission from Christ and therefore all Bishops now being the undoubted Successors of the Apostles have an equal Power and Right to Interpret Scripture and there is by Divine Right no difference at all between them what is is either by Humane Constitution or by Usurpation and Incroachment And if he connot shew a Patent from God to prove him to be the only Authoritative Interpreter of his Laws how will he make good the other proud Word which he prefixes before it That he is the only and Infallible Expounder of Scripture He knows very well that a great and the wisest part of the World deny his Infallibility and Laugh at him for pretending to it How then will he convince them that he hath it by Reason no no! that gives no Testimony to such a gross and palpable Absurdity Reason says to be a Man and to be Exempt from all Possibility of Errour are Inconsistent Will he prove it by Scripture some Texts are brought from thence for fashion sake to colour the business as those that contain the promise of our Lord to his Apostles to send them the Holy Ghost to guide or St. John 16. 13. lead them into all Truth but this promise either proves too little or too much to do the feat for either it is a Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only who needed an Extraordinary Assistance from Christ that they might Transmit his Doctrine full and intire to Succeeding Ages and then was Personal and Expired with them and so doth not concern his Holyness for though the Holy Ghost guided them into all Truth yet he either not having the Holy Ghost or Refusing to follow his guidances may run into all Errour Or if it was not a Personal or Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only but Equally to their Successors then it proves more than he would have it That all the Bishops in the World are Infallible for the promise was made not to St. Peter only but to all the Apostles and therefore what nonsense and Ridiculous Partiallity is it to Restrain a general promise made to the whole Colledg of Apostles to the Successours of one of them for if they that Succeed St. Peter be Fully and Perfectly lead into all Truth then the Successors of all the Apostles are so and consequently all the Bishops in the World are Infallible and then his Holiness will have but a bad Market for his Expositions of Scripture for few People will be at the trouble to go to Rome for them because they may have them from their own Bishops Well but doth not our Lord say to St. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will Build my Church and the Gates St. Mat. 16. 18. of Hell shall not Prevail against it These are certainly the Words of Christ but they confer no peculiar Priviledg or Prerogative upon St. Peter nothing but what was equally given to all the Apostles for the Rock Signifies either his Confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God which is the Rock the great and Vers 16. Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith upon which the Church is Built or if it concern his Person that he should be an Excellent Instrument as the other Apostles were and therefore are also called Foundation Stones to bring in Converts and Disciples unto Christ and to raise or Build him up a Church in the World which the Gates of Hell all the Power and Policy of the Devil should never be able Totally to ruin or destroy These Words then speak nothing for the pretended Infallibility And indeed the greatest Champions for it are so far from thinking it fully proved in Scripture that they are not agreed about it To fix it in the Popes Person they dare not because the many and gross Errours of his Life would confute and shame them and therefore as a Man they confess he can and may and doth Err To ascribe it to his Chair either to his Office or Dignity as Bishop or to him as Bishop of Rome and Successor to St. Peter in that Patriarchal See is silly for if he could Err before he can do so still because his being made Bishop doth not change his Nature but his Office and being the same Man why may he not be the same falliable or erring Man he was before The place he is Bishop of can make no Difference in the case because no reason can be given why the Bishop of Rome should be more Exempt from Errour than the Bishop of Munster To place the Infallibility in the Pope and a general Council is as unreasonable because if they can Err apart they may united and they confess that a general Council may Err if it be not Confirmed by the Pope and t is plain they think the Pope without it may Err or else t is idle to add a general Council to him but the uniting or putting two Erring parties together cannot make them Infallible To say that a General Council Confirm'd by the Pope cannot Err is unanswerably confuted by this argument of a great and excellent person The Pope never Confirms a Council till it be finish'd Arch-Bishop Laud against Fisher pa. 274. when it is finish'd before the Popes Confirmation be put to it either it hath Erred or not Erred if it hath Erred he ought not to confirm it or if he do it is a voyd Act because no power can make Errour or falsehood to be Truth if it hath not Erred then it was True before he Confirmed it and so his Confirmation signifies nothing And not withstanding all the stir they make about the Popes Infallibility they do not believe it themselves for the School-Men and Writers of Controversies as that Author observes put the case whether the Pope coming to be an Heritick Pa. 269. may not be Deposed and the Common Law as he adds says expresly That he may be Deposed for Heresie now if he can fall into Heresie and may be Deposed for it then he cannot be Infallible And
Will is you should do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same First you must have an assured Faith in God and give your selves wholy unto him Love him in Prosperity and Adversity and dread to offend him evermore Then for his Sake Love all Men Friends and Foes because they be his Creation and Image and Redeemed as you are Cast in your Minds how you may do good unto all Men unto your Powers and hurt no Man Obey all your Superiours and Governours Serve your Masters Faithfully and Diligently as well in their absence as in their presence not for dread of Punishment only but for Conscience Sake knowing that you are bound so to do by Gods Commandments Disobey not your Fathers and Mothers but honour them help them and please them to your Power Oppress not Kill not Beat not neither Slander nor Hate any Man but Love all Men speak well of all Men help and Succour every Man as you may yea even your Enemies that hate you that speak Evil of you and that do hurt you Take no Mans Goods nor Covet your Neighbours Goods wrongfully but content your selves with that which ye get truly and also bestow your own Goods Charitably as Need and Case requireth Fly all Idolatry Witchcraft and Perjury Commit no Adultery Fornication or other Unchastness in Will nor Deed And Travelling continually during this Life thus in keeping the Commandments of God wherein standeth the Right Trade and Pathway unto Heaven you shall not fail as Christ hath promised to come to that Blessed and Everlasting Life where you shall Live in Glory and Joy with God for ever 'T is as impossible as any thing can be that they who do these things and continue in them to the end of their Lives should miss of Eternal Glory and Happiness To say that such a Faith such Obedience such a Life as our Church propounds and Teacheth persisted in till they pass out of this World cannot through the Merits of Christ Save Men is to Damn the Blessed Apostles and all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs who if they went to Heaven at all went thither by believing and Living according to the Scriptures and call upon us to follow their Faith their pure or unspotted Lives considering the end of their Conversation the Glories in which they shine in the Blessed mansions above This is the Rock upon which we of the Church of England Build our hopes of a Crown of Glory this is a Guide that cannot deceive but will lead us safely to the Blessed place we aspire after they that walk by this Rule the Rule of the Holy Scripture are in a sure way to Salvation and if they persevere cannot miss of it But if we remove our Thoughts now to the Church of Rome it will be Evident that there is at most but a Possibility of Salvation in the Communion of it because of its disagreement with and repugnancy to the Holy Scriptures So far is this Church from doing them the Right and the Honour as to confess that they comprehend all things necessary to Salvation that it affirms the contrary that they do it not without the help of Traditions which they of that Communion receive and Honour with an equal Devotion and Reverence So saith the Council of Trent expresly Sacrosancta oecumenica generalis Tridentina Synodus in spiritu sancto Session the 4th page 19 Legitimè congregata c. This Holy Oecumenical and general Council of Trent being Lawfully called together in the Holy Ghost having this ever before their Eyes that all Errours being destroyed or taken away the very purity of the Gospel might be preserved in the Church which being promised before by the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God with his own Mouth first publish'd and afterwards Commanded it to be Preach'd to every Creature by his Apostles as the Fountain of all saving Truth and Discipline or Instruction of manners and knowing this Discipline and Truth to be contained in the written Books and in Traditions not written which being received by the Apostles from Christs own Mouth or by the Apostles themselves the Holy Ghost prompting them to it as it were handed down are come to us This Council following the Examples of the Orthodox Fathers doth with equal Devotion and Reverence receive and honour all the Books of the Old and New Testament because the same God is the Authour of them both and the Traditions themselves belonging both to Faith and Manners as deliver'd by Christ by word of mouth or dictated by the Holy Spirit and kept by continual Succession in the Catholick Church So that their Rule of Faith consists of two distinct parts the Scriptures and Traditions the word of God written and the word of God not written but transmitted by word of Mouth from Age to Age from Generation to Genertion Now though it be certain that the word of God be equally true and equally obligatory to all Persons whether it be written or not written which way soever it be propounded or convey'd to them yet how shall it appear or be proved that what they call the Unwritten word of God is really so not a wicked cheat imposture They say it is his word we say it is not the Primitive Church saith nothing at all of it but asserts and maintains the sufficiency or fullness of the Scriptures or written word of God that is that it contains all things necessary to be believed and done to the obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness as is fully proved by many Protestant Writers And when the Ancient and Orthodox Fathers speak of Traditions and call upon any to observe and obey them they either mean by those Traditions the Doctrine of Christ deliver'd to the Christian Church in the Writings of the Apostles or the Ordinances made either by the Apostles themselves or the Bishops that succeeded them in their Apostolical Office for the decent and orderly performance of Gods Worship The first is indeed the Word of God but then it is his written word the other are not the word of God at all but humane Constitutions and no farther Obligatory than they are agreeable to the General Rules the Scriptures give for Conducting the Circumstances of Religion the Church having Power as Ours truly affirms to Decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority Article the 20. in Controversies of Faith though it be not Lawful for the Church to Ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods word written This is all the Ancient Fathers mean by Traditions when they speak of or require the Observation of them but they make no such Distinction as this of the written and unwritten word of God neither do they say that the first is imperfect or doth not sufficiently instruct Mankind to Salvation unless it be supply'd with the other This is a Blasphemy which the Apostate Church only is guilty of but was never heard of in the
the most Moderate Pious and Conscientious Men but despise censure and withdraw from the strict Conformists as violent and Superstitious Persons Popishly Affected but when they all agree or joyn in the Observation of them not only speak the same thing preach the same doctrine profess the same Faith Worship God with the same Prayers the Holy Prayers of our Incomparable Liturgy use the same Rites Gestures Vestments in the Administration of the Blessed Sacraments all their Holy Offices walk all of them by the same Rule This will satisfie the People of their Unity or Agreement and convince them of the Innocency and Lawfulness of the things which so many Learned Grave and Pious Men concur in the Practice of But then all Wise or Intelligent Persons will readily apprehend that this general Conformity will very difficulty if at all be effected unless the Clergy be put into such a Condition as to have no Dependance upon the People for their Maintenance and Support Many of the Clergy by reason of the poorness of their Benefices are greatly tempted if not constrain'd to humour and comply with the People to Preach such things as they Love to hear and to omit such as they dislike that they may not loose their Benevolence and Contributions without which they cannot Live nor is this the Condition of some Country Villages only but also of great and Populous Towns in which there are Swarms of People that Dissent from and are Enemies to the Church of England and such a poor Stipend for the Clergy the Tyths being impropriare and in Lay Hands that they are forced in a manner to turn the Church Assemblies into Conventicles and the poor Vicar or Curate dares not for his Ears Read all the Prayers nor wear the Surplice nor which is abundantly worse reprove the Irreverence and Rude Behaviour they are guilty of in the House and Service of the great God nor shew them the Sinfulness of their Schism nor the Wickedness of their Murmurs Complaints and Tumults against the Government nor Preach up Loyalty put them in mind fully and effectually to be Subject or Obedient to the King and all that are in Authority under him all that the most Couragious Person under such unhappy Circumstances dares venture to do in these great and for the present Age most necessary points is but to touch at them in transitu as he passes to other things as I have heard some do in London it self or as the Dogs at the River Nilus only lap and away for fear of being snap'd by the Crocodiles for if these things be press'd and insisted on the Preacher disobliges the Fanatick party and drys up all the Streams and Emanations of their Bounty they will not receive him into their Houses nor bid him God Speed and 't is well if he scape so do not feel the weight of their Protestant Flayls This is a great Injury both to the Church and State abates the Honour and Esteem of the Clergy and renders them less Serviceable to the Government than they must would be if they had a Liberal and Honourable maintenance and such as depends not upon the pleasure and Benevolence of the People but such as they may demand of them as their Right not receive as their Almes which they may give them if they please and deny them if they think fit These things in my Judgment which I humbly submit to all those great and wise Persons that are in Authority added to the Just Correction which the Laws inflict upon them would in a short time awaken and reduce those of our People that are gone out from us effect such a Blessed change in them that they would return to their Loyalty to the King and to the Communion of the Church And seeing all the true Members of the Church of England are Eminently Loyal already and those of our People that are otherwise at present may in time by these means be made so 't is against the Dukes Interest and Happiness if the Crown devolve upon him to be a Papist because this would be to exchange good Subjects for bad a Loyal People that own no Prince but him for such as have been guilty of frequent Treasons and are profess'd Subjects to a Forreign Power And next to his own honour safety and happiness Subsect 3. all that a Prince can desire in this World is the Welfare and Felicity of his People And then it is well with any People and they are happy when they Live in Piety and Peace and Safety are encouraged and required to profess and practice the true Religion and to Worship God Aright that is according to the the Scriptures When they are protected in their Estates from Rapine and Oppression and in their Persons from Violence and Cruelty Blessed are the People that are in such a Case And it is both the Duty and Glory of the Prince to provide or take Care that this be the Condition of his People or Subjects His Duty because this is the great end of Government and the prime Reason of Gods Investing him with the Royal Authority When David was Psalm 78 71. chosen by God to be King of Israel it is said That he took him to feed Jacob his People and Israel his Inheritance To seed that is protect and preserve them from mischief and Injury not to Worry or Devour to Destroy or Hurt but to Defend them from harm and violence And because he had been so to them and they hoped he would have Lived long to be so to them still they bitterly lamented the Death of good King Josiah saying The Breath of our Nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord was Lamen 4. 20. taken in their Pits of whom we said under his shadow we shall Live among the Heathen he was a shadow and defence to us under his protection we were safe and guarded from all our Enemies This is also asserted by St. Paul Rulers are not a Terrour to good works but to the Rom 13. 3 4. Evil They are not so in the purpose or intention of God were not instituted or ordain'd by him for such an evil unjust and unworthy end to Injure Punish and Destroy good Men they have no such Power from him and if they do it they abuse their Authority and go beyond their Commission A Terrour they may and must be but it is not to the good but to the Evil-doers Wilt thou then not be affraid of the Power Do that which is good and thou shalt have Praise of the same for he is the Minister of God to thee for good The Prince or Ruler is imploy'd by God to protect and defend the good and this is or ought to be the great Design or Intention of all his Laws that they be a safeguard and security to such and a terrour or restraint to the Evil and Injurious And if the Prince must not suffer others to wrong his People to be
such a Treacherous Precarious way of Communicating them We see how strangely the Ancient History of the World and the greatest Transactions of it whilst they were thus Transmitted were Depraved and Corrupted so intermix'd with Lies and Fables as they passed down the Channel of Time and Ages that the truth of things was either quite lost or very difficultly to be found out being cover'd or in a manner Buried under such an heap of Dirt and Rubbish that the Wisest and most Sagacious minds after all their care and endeavours to search it out were very doubtful and could not come to a full Determination what to believe or what to reject some things they saw had an appearance of Truth but then the Fables mixt therewith disgrac'd and render'd them so Suspicious that they knew not what to think of them And therefore the All-wise and most Merciful God as he was pleased to offer Immortal Happiness to Mankind and to tell them upon what terms or conditions he would admit them to and bless them with it so he took care to have these most weighty things Conveyed down to all Ages and Generations of Men in the safest way requiring those he imploy'd to deliver his Laws to Mankind to commit them to Writing nay delivering some of them the Ten Commandments that is to Moses Inscribed or Written upon two Tables of Stone Exodus 32. 16. which way of Transmitting them is most durable or lasting and therefore the safest and they that say the contrary Reproach Disparage the Wisdom of God because he thought fit thus to Convey them to us and when these Writings were compleated by the Addition of the New Testament to the Old nothing could be wanting to instruct Mankind in all the parts of their Duty and to tell them all the terms or Conditions of their Eternall Happiness and Salvation To say they are imperfect and do not give Men sufficient Direction for the attaining this great end is to Blaspheme the Glorious Author of them to Arraign his Wisdom to revile his Goodness and to contradict these Sacred Writings which call upon us to search and study them and invite us to perform the Duties they require of us with the offer of Salvation if we do it and the Denunciation of Damnation if we refuse to do it Now if all those things united or conjoyned cannot bring the observers of them to the Salvation they promise then the Scriptures do not say true and therefore God is not the Author of them This the Church of Rome doth not dares not say but owns the Truth of all they say and confesses them to come from God only it says they are insufficient and obscure that is do not speak enough tell those that consult them all things necessary to Salvation nor speak so plainly and intelligibly as to be understood without an infallible Interpreter to declare the true and full Sense or Meaning of them The first cannot be because if the Scriptures say do these things and thou shalt live be Eternally happy and Blessed As for Instance believe in Christ Repent of thy Sins keep the Commandments of God and tell us what they are as it is apparent they do and promise Salvation to them that so believe Repent and keep the Commandments of God then they speak fully to the purpose tell him or them that Read them enough to save them if they perform it and consequently must be sufficient and then to add I know not what unwritten Verities as they are called as Supplements to them is both a Wicked and a Vain thing 't is Wicked both as it invades Gods Authority will not let him prescribe appoint all the Terms or Conditions upon which he will give Eternal Life and Glory to his Church and People Wicked also as it disgraces his Laws and charges them with defects they are not Guilty of 'T is vain too and altogether needless like Lighting up a Torch or a Candle when the Sun Shines in all his Glory for they that cannot see or find the way to Heaven by the Glorious Light or Direction of the Holy Scriptture will never do it by the help of the dark Lanthern of Oral Tradition this is apter to seduce or draw those that follow it out of the Right way than to guide them into it That cannot deceive any because it gives them a full and perfect Description of it tells them This is the way walk ye in it And as they speak fully to this great point give an exact and perfect Answer to every one that asks them that Important Question What shall I do that I may have Eternal Life So they speak plainly and intelligibly to it and every Reader may if he brings with him an humble and Teachable Mind Learn and understand all his Duty his Duty as the Apostle divides it to God his Neighbour and himself to God in Acts of Piety to his Neighbour in Acts of Justice and Charity to himself in Acts of Temperance or Sobriety 'T is very Foolish as well as Sinful for Men to cry out of the Obscurity or Darkness of the Scriptures only to serve a Worldly Interest by it when those parts of them that describe our Duty are said to be a Light a Light unto our Pathes and a Lantern to our Feet those must needs be Blind that cannot see the Light because it is the Nature or Property of it to be Visible 'T is true indeed there are degrees of Light one Light being greater and more Radiant than another thus the Law was a Light but yet weak and dimm in Compare with the Gospel which is so great and Illustrious a Light that the Apostle saith If it be hid it is hid to them that Perish that are so in Love with their Sins as to resolve to persist though they Perish in them and therefore shut their Eyes against the Gospel which comes as a Light to shew them their Errour They that say the Scriptures are Obscure and unintelligible must say that either God could not or would not declare his Mind so as to be understood by Men If they say the first they degrade him because if he could not do it he hath not the Wisdom or Intelligence of a Man and therefore cannot be God every Man of Common Sense that is able to speak being also able to speak his Mind so as to be understood If they say the other they Vilifie and Disgrace him for if he would not speak so that Men might understand him then it is meer mockery to offer them Eternal Happiness upon such Conditions as they do not cannot understand and hateful Cruelty to threaten them with Everlasting and Intolerable Punishment for Transgressing such Laws and omitting such Duties as are above their apprehension To say as the Papists do that God hath took care to remedy this Obscurity of the Scriptures by appointing an Infallible Guide or Interpreter to explicate or unridle the meaning of them and
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