Courtesie be so soon forgotten to deny him or his the free Exercise of their own Religion whilst we are so warm in ours under his Gracious Protection and Royal Bounty and Provisions is beyond all Shame and Reason Princes have an happy time of it to serve such Humours as if he reign'd over us by Courtesie and had no more but the Name of a King Does this express our Duty or Gratitude to God or Him We need not debauch the present Generation who are too bad already by teaching them to make spightful and peevish Reflections on our Prince's Actions Shall the Privileges which he and his Royal Predecessors have granted us be us'd as Weapons to fight and rebel against him Shall we deprive him of his Prerogative which the Law of God as well as of the Land has given him Is not the Church of Rome a true Church both in it self and in our Judgment too And why should you deny your own Prince who is a Member of it the same Liberty which you daily see without murmuring granted to the Embassadors of Foreign Princes and their Followers Is it not by his Piety and Juftice that we have the free Exercise of our own Religion as by Law establish'd and the advantages of publick Assemblies and the encouragement of such liberal Maintenance And have not the Ministers of Religion always obey'd the Imperial Laws even when they liked them not not upon prudential Considerations and Necessity but by divine Appointment declaring with the Sixth Council of Toledo That it was impiety to call in question his Power to whom the Government of all things was certainly deputed by the divine Judgment and that as well Bishops as Curates and Ecclesiasticks as Laicks must be subject to them and that the supreme Power may determine whatsoever is left undetermined by God Nay that he can derogate by his Power from an ordinary Right by changing his Will and making the contrary Law that he has the judgment of Discretion and knows best when 't is fittest for him to govern himself by Zeal and when by gentler Counsels Is he not Head of the Church and must his Members teach him how to govern it It is by the Tyes of Religion and not of Power that he is bound to keep the Churches Laws and the very Conâ—â—ssions and Privileges made to them by him and his Royal Predecessors are as revocable as their Duty is alterable for Princes are so far from being oblig'd to perpetuate such Rights that themselves have indulg'd that 't is a rul'd Case among the Greek Fathers That a King may recal his Gift in case the Beneficiary prove ungrateful I wish our Brethren who are now so stubbornly resolv'd not to join with their respective Bishops in an Address of Thanks to his Majesty for his Morgaging of his Honour under the Broad-Seal of England in his late Royal Declaration in the first place To protect and maintain them in the free Exercise of their Religion as by Law established and in the quiet and full enjoyment of all their Possessions without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever would study this Case a little better than they seem to have done and then they would highly approve it as some of our Fathers have done as prudently penn'd and such an acknowledgment of his Majesty's signal Favours to the Church of England and all her Members as our Gratitude and Duty indispensibly oblige us to pay Can you have any better Precedents than those of the Kings of Judah Look throughout the sacred History of the Old Testament and you will every where find that the King's Religion though often Heathenish had the privilege to be publickly us'd and though the High-Priest and Sanhedrim had a Power which Moses called The Judgment of God yet these did not think it either their Duty or Right to suppress the Exercise of Idolatry whilst the King was contented with it though it was so manifestly contrary to God's own Law given them by Moses and when a King who Worshipped according to Moses's Prescriptions succeeded neither the Great Council nor People desired the false Worship to be suppressed till the King himself self commanded it which is an Argument that it proceeded from his High Prerogative which the Kings of Judah laid equal claim to with the Eastern Monarchs as the Israelues desired a King according to the Nations round about them upon which Samuel recites a large rightful Power which would belong to their Sovereign Did not Solomon put Abâ—aâ—her from the Priesthood and put Zadock in his room and though the High-Priesthood came to be put out of its due Channel of Primogeniture establish'd by Moses and was sold in our Saviour's time so that sometimes the High-Priest was but annual yet Christ acknowledged Caiphas to be High-Priest and for the inferior Priests David divided them into Twenty four Orders so that the applying of the priestly Power to such a time was wholly the Act of the civil Government Jehosophat named a President for the Sanhedrim as well for matters of the Lord as for those of the King and both Ezra though not the High-Priest and Nehemiah though not at all a Priest acted by a Commission from Artaxerxes to execute the Laws ' of God and the King by which Authority Nehemiah turned out one of the Priests so that though the priestly Office was a divine Institution yet the applying and suspending that Authority was a part of the civil Power Christian Emperors made also penal Laws with relation to Church-men the pains of which were Suspension or Deprivation of which there are so many instances both in the Old Roman Laws and in the Capitulars that it is needless to insist on the proof of it to justifie his Majesty's late Proceedings by his High Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs against an eminent Prelate of our Church which proves them Lawful without committing Sacrilege or incroaching on the spiritual Power of the Church I need not tell you that it was declared in the Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy of this Kingdom which make the representative Body of the Church of England Art 37. Anno Dom. 1562. That whereas they have attributed to the Queen's Majesty the chief Government of all the Estates of this Realm whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases they did not give unto their Princes the ministring of either God's Word or Sacraments but that only Prerogative which was known to have been given always to all Godly Princes in Holy Scripture by God himself that is to say That they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the civil Sword the Stubborn and Evil-doers Less Power than this as good Subjects could not give unto their Kings so more than this there has not been exercis'd nor I believe ever will be by our Gracious Sovereign Such Power as was vouchsafed by God to the Godly Kings
Strafford there was not one Roman Catholick who suffered Death or Imprisonment or so much as a pecuniary Mulct of Twelve Pence for his Religion upon any penal Statute and yet he was as True a Son of the Church of England and as Wise and the Lord Lieutenant as great a Martyr for his Religion and Loyalty and both of them as sit to be our Guides in this Point as the best Men now living Stay till they have offended and done things worthy of Punishment and then spare them not Men as wise and as good as we thought we might be safe without their king in danger and it seems highly reasonable that their having done amiss and not our Fears and Jealousus of it that they will do so should make them punishable The Laws made against Roman Catholicks are either as Rebels or Papists If as Rebels what need of particular Laws for them more than others Why not the same Law to punish them and others guilty of the same Treason If any Papist be found guilty let that Law act against him which is thought sufficient not only to Punish but to prevent Treason in all Men of Antimonarchical Principles and therefore they cannot be made against them in that sence viz. as Rebels Nor as Papists for then it will follow That he is liable to most severer Punishments who acts according to his Conscience which is the Rule and internal Law which God obliges us to follow and observe under pain of Sin right or wrong if our Conscience after a serious Examination dictates so therefore all huâ— ane Laws which punish a sincere Obedience to this internal Law viz. Conference are hard in case that is of an Invincible Error Besides we must acknowledge them to be a True Church though Infected with some Errors and to have things necessary to Salvation why then such a severe Animadversion upon them Do not Turks and Jews and some Sectaries who are worse than either live quietly among us and why then must our Brethren of Rome be molested And why may not either Church or State alter many things concerning their own Constitutions upon prudent consideration as the Reason and Circumstance of thingâ— very upon new and better Reasons No Law purely Humane can be made perpetual and when it is made it must be interpreted according to the mind of the Lawgiver and when he interprets his own Law he does not take off but suspends the Obligation and he may intervene between the Equity and Strictness for the Intention more than the Letter of the Law is to be ragarded And certainly Mens stiffness in keeping what they have got though not upon such Grounds as themselves now approve of is rather a Point of mistaken Honour than of Conscience a Contention of Spirit rather than a Debate of Truth and Equity And if this be the Case I am sure all wise and good Men will censure your Obstinacy and Frowardness if you persist though the Mobile perhaps may reproach you with Levity and Cowardice if you retreat To change our Minds upon mature Deliberation and better Experience and the evidence of new and better Reason is a great piece of Christian Generosity and such as will speak you honest though not crafty Men. And if the honour of your Religion be of equal value to you with that of your personal Reputation 't were well you studied how much that were concern'd in the peaceable and obedient Temper of such as pretend to have espous'd it as becomes the True Sons of the Church of England Nothing can stain the Reputation of the glorious Religion we profess more than your turbulent stiff and ungovernable Tempers who are the chief Patriots and Professors of it Shall we who have hitherto endeavoured to strengthen the hands of the Magistrate now strive to weaken them Shall we who pretend to inact his Laws in the very Consciences of his Subjects now endeavour to put other Limitations and Conditions upon them than God has done or pretend the Revocation of the Broad-Seal of the King 's civil Authority by the Privy-Signet of Religion Where-ever this is done that Prince or Magistrate had need be a very devout Man indeed who casts a benign aspect upon the profession of that Religion which has so malignant an influence upon his Government And all considering Men will with great Reason doubt whether that Religion be of God which gives such disturbance and trouble to his Vicegerent and whether that will carry Men to Heaven hereafter which makes such Tumults and Confusions as will be an Hell upon Earth I hope 't is no 13 th Article of your Creed or mine That whatsoever a Parliament does is rightly done for that were to bring Rome home to our own doors by giving them that Infallibility which they give the Pope Men are not bound to build their Consciences upon Acts of Parliament I have heard That to dissolve a Parliament in discontent is to pick a quarrel with the whole Nation and I am of Opinion That for them to fly in the Face of the King's Religion would be the ready way to pick a quarrel with him and whether it be a conscientious or prudent thing so to do or that a design to prevent a remote and contingent Inconvenience can atone for a Disobedience at present which may possibly dissolve the frame of Government I leave to you to jâ—dge of There may arise a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph and then you may come to be whip'd with your own Rods. These violent Opposers of the regal Prerogative know not what Spirit they are of Do they meet the same Measure they would have meeted to themselves again Is this their brotherly Kindness Meekness or good Manners Does not the Prince of Peace oblige his Disciples If it be possible and as much as in them lies to live peaceably with all Men The Wisdom which is from above is pure and peaceable it consults the publick good and 't is a true Testimony of a religious and generous Mind in his most retired thoughts to look out of himself and be mindful of the Publick Welfare of the whole in all his private Meditations 't was this made the Fabii and Fabricii and other Roman Worthies so renown'd in those times that they were content to expose themselves to the greatest dangers and to venture the losing of the good Opinion of the Mobile for the Prosperity and Safety of the Commonwealth Lord how rare a thing is it in out age to find a private Man who cordially devotes himself to the good of the Community which is of so much the nearer concernment than the privete as it is of larger Extension Consider before it be too late that the Religion you are so justly inamoured with will rather be prejudic'd than promoted by this peevishness of her Professors Hast thou the Faith of the Chruch of England have it to thy self and take the Kingdome of Heaven by an Holy violence but do
whom all Kings Reign who are not the Peoples Creatures but his Vicegerents not intrusted with theirs but invested with his Authority The Powers that be are ordain'd of God and as he that resists them resists the Ordinance of God so he that dishonours them dishonours God's Ordinance and by consequence God himself And as respect for the King's sake is to be paid to all such Persons as he deputes to sustain his Authority and represent his Person so much more for God's sake is honour to be paid to the King whom God hath commission'd to be his Deputy on Earth and invested with the largest share of his Authority Besides God hath expresly commanded us to honour the King and twice joyn'd it with a Precept to Fear Him to denote that none can deny the King Honour but such as have no fear of God before their Eyes and that without Disobedience to God we cannot refuse to honour the King both as a Christian and a King And here once for all let it be observ'd That when St. Peter wrote his first Epistle and therein gave Christians that Precept of Honouring the King he who then govern'd them was none of the best but perhaps one of the worst in the World who ever wore an Imperial Grown a profest Enemy not to Christianity alone but to Morality too Nero was at that time the Roman Emperor who was not only an Heathen and of a different Religion from them but also as Tertullian stiles him Dictator Damnationisâ—nostrae the first Persecutor of the Christian Religion which shews him to be of none at all And yet such a King they are commanded to honour which may assure us That 't is the King's Authority abstracted from his personal Qualifications which we are to honour be his Religion what it will be it any or none at all if he be our King God requires us to consult his Honour in all things and without Disobedience to God I hope I have sufficiently prov'd that we cannot do otherwise Every True Son therefore of the Church of England who acknowledges his Majesty's Title to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms to be unquestionable must conclude it to be an indispensible Duty which he owes to Almighty God to say and do all that he lawfully may for the King's Honour 2 dly 'T is a Duty which we owe to the King and that not only because God hath by the divine Law given him a Right thereunto but also because the Benefits which we enjoy under his Government deserve if Do we not enjoy publick Peace and Preferments and the free and publick Exercise of our Religion which is a blessing infinitely more valuable than any of which we can be ambitious on this side Heaven He hath not only indulg'd that to us but by many most gracious solemn and reiterated Promises engaged his Honour and Fidelity to protect us in it which we must honour for the Church's Magnâ Chartâ the more transcendent act of Grace because not extorted by Rebellion and a security more firm than any Law which cannot tye a King who is declared the supreme Judge of the Law and above it so fast as the Obligations of his own Royal Word and Honour do it And is there nothing due for so high a Favour Are not we to be extreamly â—ender of his Honour who is so under of our Happiness as that he may justly be stiled the Defender of our Faith as well by Desert as by Inheritance as not only to protect it from real Dangers but also to protect the Professors of it from their own fears If a Nero be to be honoured much more a Titus or Vespasian If a Tyrant who was a disgrace to Humanity much more an indulgent Father of our Church and Country one whose Clemency makes him the delight of Mankind and one whole Royal Word gives his Subjects the belt Security of which they are capable 3 dly 'T is a Duty we owe to our Country The King is the Light of our Israel as David is stil'd and the more bright and resplendant this Light the more bright powerful and benign Rays and Influences will it diffuse among us He is the breath of our Nostrils and if our undutiful and indecent Behaviour towards him do eclipse his Honour by interposing any thick Body between him and his Peoples Hearts or taint the Nations Breath with an ill Savour it would be a sad Symptom of the decay of its Vitals Who knows not that the usual Methods of Treason and Rebellion have been first to blacken the Prince and make him seem vile to the People and then to tempt them to oppose and resist him First to represent him in some soul shape as the Heathen Persecutors did the Primitive Christians when they cloathed them in Beasts Skins and then expose them first to be derided and at last to be devoure'd And what did any Nation ever get by Rebellion but expence of Treasure and Blood Rapine Misery and Ruine In which Point if we are yet unsatisfied let us lit down and cast up the Accounts of ours from Forty to Sixty the summa totalis of which will be found to be nothing on the Balance but the loss of our Liberties Properties and Religion with the additional Interest of Slavery intailed upon us and ours for so many Years Can we then better consult the Kingdoms good at this time than by maintaining the Kings Honour or take a better course to keep it in Peace and Plenty than by keeping up a good Opinion of our most Gracious Prince among his Subjects or shew our selves greater Patriots or better Friends of our Country than by being zealous for our Prince's Honour and jealoâ— of all those Words or Actions which may secretly undermine it 4 thly Lastly This is a Duty we owe to our Dear Mother the Church of England from whose Breasts we have suck'd an untainted Loyalty and by whom we have been trained up to a most tender Zeal for the Honour and Service of our King without any relation had to his Religion It is well known That no Church under Heaven ever taught her Children more Loyal Principles or more constantly than she has done and therefore no Children on this side Hell would be more unpardonable for acting Distoyally than hers She never allow'd any pretence whatsoever to dising age us from our Loyalty nor did she ever absolve us when we appear'd to want it but upon sound and sincere Repentance The more inexcusable then were we if we should disgrace our Breeding and Education under her most excellent Instructions with any contrary Practices And the more indispensibly are we oblig'd to lay hold of those Opportunities which the Providence of God does now offer us to give the World such a convincing Testimony of our Loyalty as unless the True genuine Sons of the Church of England shew I question whether it will ever see Catholick Loyalty I mean not only bearing patiently but dearly loving and devoutly honouring our Prince though of a different Religion and not speaking ill of any thing of which he hath himself entertain'd a sacred or would have us have a good Opinion And thus far have I in Obedience to your commands expressed as plainly as I could the judgment of my own Mind about this important and seasonable Duty I am so sensible of my own unfitness for an undertaking of this Nature that nothing but Your's or a greater command could have drawn me to make such an essay least so good a Cause should suffer more by my Weakness than gain by my Zeal However such as it is I humbly submit it to your better Judgment not doubting but that whatever you judge to be said amiss will be by your Charity as if it had never been said by me and corrected by your Christian Prudence And if any thing be said that may be capable of doing his Majesty any Service you will conceal the Author least his obscurity prove an Obstacle to the efficacy of his Arguments Who will live and die a True Son of the Church of England a Loyal Subject to his Majesty and Your Humble Servant A. B. FINIS 1 Cor. 1.15 Laâ—ant â— 10. Tertul. ad Ment. 1 Sam. 15 30. 1 Cor. 10.31 1. Smith's Select disc 437. Ibid. 473. Ephes 4.2 Heb. 12.14 Sedulius Hymn Bract. de Leg Cons l. â— 8 n. 5. Ibid. p. â— v. 49 50. 65. ad 78. 1 Kings 1.23 1 Sam. 24.8 2 Sam. 19.27 Ps 82.6 2 Sam. 18.3 Eccl. 8.4 Job 34.18 Jâ—r 29.7 1 Pet. 2.19 20 21. Sherlock of Relig. asserts p. 144 Prov. 25.13 Num. 23.23 Juvenal Joh. 13.35 1 Kings 19.11 12. Josephus Aniq. 1.4 1 Tâ—n 3. â— 1. 2. Q. Mar. cap 9. Col 3.12 14. Can. 60 C. 75 Bramhall Repl. 229. Jer. 20.1 Ductor dub 190 250 Can. 14 Bp. Taylor 's Case of Conf. 1.3.192 Ductor dub 1.3 p. 238 Joh. 11.51 1 Cron. 28.3 2 Cron. 19.11 Ezra 7 25. Neh. 13.8 Samar revis'd 54 55. P. 58. 1 Cor. 5.12 Ductor dub p 143. â— 3.4â—8 R. 400. Jam. 1.7 Acts 20.31 Luke 9.26 Maâ—hia vel p 33â— Bp. Sanderson's 5. Cas p 18. Fergus Inter. of Reas 593. P. 487. Ifa 29.4 â—â— 11 9. Pâ— 8.15 Prov. 24 21. 1 Pet. â— 13 2 Sam. 21.7 Jer. 32.3
be able to root it out there will then be no Tnchantment against Jacob nor Divination against Israel The King thinks his own to be the True Religion and that God requires him indispensibly to believe and profess it and to indeavour the Propagation of it too by all Lawful means among his Subjects but not to make Sacrifices of them that refuse it because the using of such cruel and unlawful Means to that purpose were apparently destructive of that Salvation which he hopes to obtain by embracing the Roman Catholick Religion to which if he can win Men by Arguments and Perswasions or any other Allurements of his own Promotions he does that Religion all the Right and Service he can without wronging ours to which his Priests may modestly tempt him without any the least violation of his own Sacred Ingagements to us which his innate Clemency and Goodness abhors in so high a degree that he is found to be Temptation Proof against it To conclude this Point therefore I say The Common Lay-man whose Education Assection and Practice may denominate him a True Son of the Church of England as he hath learn'd in his Catechism to Honour and Obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him so he has been taught by the Ministers of this Church that this is his Duty what soever Religion the King be of And though he hears his present Majesty be of another Communion he thanks God and the King for the liberty he hath to Communicate with the Church of England He takes care of himself and his Family that they may serve God after this way which some call Heresie But he is it seems well assured and satisfied of the Truth and Safety of it He pities and prays for them that are in Error but will not revile affront or abuse them nor will he assist in Riots or Tumults to disturb even the Publick Exercise of any Religion where-ever his Majesty things sit to appoint it Where the King's Religion is publickly exercis'd he has neither Wit nor Religion who does not abstain from all rude and indâ—cent Disturbance or Assronts I am no Apologist for the Roman Worship But since the King is pleas'd in some places to protect those of his Communion in the Publick Excercise of it as he justly may for any Private Persons to disturb them is a piece of Rudeness to him inconsistent with that Honour which upon so many accompts we are to pay him Besides that it is a piece of Prophaneness for any without Authority to interrupt Men whilst they are Worshiping God after that manner which they think the best Nor can his Zeal against a false Worship justifie him in any such unwarrantable Attempts whilst he hath no Authority to reform or correct them that being the work of Publick Power and not of Private Spirits Whilst therefore the King is so Gracious as to protect us in our Churches and Offices of Worship let us not be so rude and ungrateful as to assault or disturb those of his Communion in their Private Oratories least we provoke him to deprive us of our greater Privileges for envying him and those of his Communion Alass no True Son of the Church of England will be guilty of this he will neither be so unthankful nor so unholy nor will he go about with Lyes and frightful Stories and false News to disquiet his Neighbours or disturb the Government nor make Scandalous Reflections upon those that are in Authority He will leave the Government of the World to God and the King and be careful to do his Duty to both in that State of Life to which he is call'd And if more Respect than this be requir'd of them that have more and better Breeding and are of an higher Quality I do not think that the Roman Catholicks themselves will complain for want of it but will rather gratefully acknowledge the Respect and Kindness shew'd them in worse Times than these by the Gentlemen of the Church of England even in the late Bloody days of Trial which has been so visible and observable that another sort of Men if it be not a Scandal of Humanity to give them the Name of Men have objected it to them as a Crime and for that Reason reckon'd them Papists at least in Masquerade as they were then wont to speak This Respect indeed has been and is shew'd rather to their Persons and Conditions c. than to their Religion and It is a Respect much becoming those who would shew themselves True Sons of the Church of England For their Religion as well as their Breeding teaches them To maintain a civil and amicable Conversation with those of the King's Religion I know no Reason to be angry with any Man because he sees not with my Eyes or determines not with my Judgment and so consequently cannot be altogether of my Opinion especially since as they differ from us so we differ as much from them Sure I am our Religion obliges us to a Catholick Charity as well as Faith and an Vniversal Civility to distinguish between the Person and his Errors or Vices so as to love and behave our selves Civilly towards him where we cannot affectionately embrace his Opinion Christianity is doubtless the best natur'd Institution in the World At its first appearance it taught the most barbarous Nations to depose their Feâ—ity and become tractable and courteous and where it was once heartily entertain'd the World admir'd to see how civil and obliging those Men were become who before their Conversion were morose and inhospitable Pagans or Jews It was a great fault of tho Jews for which they are severely branded by Juvenal and Tacitus That they were peevish and inhospitable to all that were not of their own Religion so as to refuse them the most common Courtesies of telling them their Way or directing them to the Refreshment of a common Spring Nec monstare vias â—adem nisi sacra colenti We ought then to make it appear to the World that ours is a better Religion by being better natur'd our selves and that we are the best Catholicks by expressing and practising a Catholick Charity which of all other is the surest Note of a True Church We ought to shew our selves quiet and obliging Neighbours to those Romanists who dwell among us especially since both the Honour of our Religion and of our King requires it from us Incivility upon the account of their differing from us in Religion being inconsistent with the Obligations of Christianity or Gentility and a Rudeness to the King's Majesty of whose Communion they are and whom we are so far to Honour as to pay all the Respects him and to all such as he esteems that our Religion will indeed permit much more all that it so strictly injoyns To speak next of the Cergy-men as concerned in this Case to whom indeed it is so much a Case of Conscience that it leaves them less Room than
other Men for the Exercise even of their Christian Prudence For they who are Priests promis'd at their Ordination all faithful Diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange Doctrines contrary to God's Word and the Bishops at their Consecration in like manner And farther that they will call upon and encourage others to do the same among which our Articles have reckon'd many Doctrines now taught in the Roman Church and every Clergy-man licens'd to Preach has as the 36th Canon requires acknowledged by Subscription under his own Hand that every thing contained in the 39. Articles is agreeable to the Word of God and consequently he must acknowledge that many Romish Doctrines are erroneous and strange Doctrines repugnant to the Word of God as being so declar'd in those Articles those therefore are evidently such Doctrines as he promised at his Ordination to be ready with all faithful Diligence to banish and drive away And is he not then bound in Conscience to do this in his Publick Sermons and Private Discourses as he has a good Occasion and Opportunity Is he not bound in Conscience at convenient Seasons to shew the Error and Danger of such Doctrines without so much as naming those who think more favourably of them saving all Respect due to the King when he has not only Liberty granted him but is required and directed by his Majesty himself so to do For in his Majesty's Directions for Preachers which was sent us by his Command and we accept with all Thankfulness Dir. 3. He bids us assert the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the Cavils and Objections of such as are Adversaries to either This resolves the Case of Conscience and as to Christian Prudence his Majesty hath been graciously pleased to give excellent Directions as to that Case too bidding Preachers thus to vindicate the Church of England when they arc occasion'd by Invitation from the Text they Preach upon or that in regard of the Auditory they Preach to it may seem requisite and expedient so to do Thus to Preach That the Pope or Church of Rome is not infallible and that the Pope has no Authority or Jurisdiction within these Realms is expresly determined by the Church of England Art 19. 37. And our Parliaments have in all Ages as well before the Reformation as since expressed their just detestation of the Pope's Pretensions to it as appears by the Stat. of Carlisle and by that of Provisoes made 25. Edv. III. and by many more in King Henry VIII's Reign who was both Parliamentarily and Synodically invested with the Supremacy in all Canses Spiritual as well as Temporal not that he had Power of Mission or Ordination but of Permission and Ordering Men so sent by the Church to Preach the Gospel in his Dominions which was legally and essentially Inherent in the Crown before the Kings of England being Supreme Ordinaries by the ancient common Law of this Land of which those Statutes were not Introductory but Declarative And the very First Canon of our Church does require That all Ecclesiastical Persons Preachers c. shall several times every Year to the utmost of their Wit Knowledge and Learning sincerely without any Colour or Dissimulation teach in their Sermons c. that no manner of Obedience and Subjection within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions is due to any Vsurp'd or Foreign Power but that the King's Power within his Realms is the highest under God to whom all his Subjects do by God's Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience before and above all other Powers and Potentates on Earth Now if a Preacher whilst he is doing the duty of this Canon shall call the Pope Vsurper for claiming or exercising that Jurisdiction here which belongs not to him and should be thought for that Reason not to bear Respect enough to the King's Religion he would indeed but shew so much the more Respect to his Royal Person and Regal just Power as he is obliged to do by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and could be censur'd only for his Fidelity and Loyalty to the King such as becomes a True Son of the Church of England But in Points wherein we are not determined by Authority or other Obligations but at perfect liberty to declare or not to declare our Opinions in these we have the sairest if not the only Opportunities for the Exercise of our Christian Prudence And therefore for a Preacher of the Church of England to affirm positively or go about to prove in a Publick Auditory or Assembly That St. Peter was never at Rome or that the Pope is Antichrist or that no Man in his Right Wit can turn Papist must necessarily under our Circumstances be reckon'd Imprudent if not Impudent These and such like Matters of Private Opinion which when Published are like to give Offence to our Superiors and if forborn could give no Scandal to any Christian Prudence will unquestionably direct such should now be forborn out of Respect to the King and the Roman Catholick Religion because 't is His The daily decay of solid and substantial Piety is the most unhappy effect of Christians foolishly Fighting in a Mist and Scuffling in the Dark among themselves against the Interest of Peace and Charity and scrambling so eagerly and so childishly as they do for Nuts and Cherry Stones or things fit to be put into the same Bag with them as being of no value with Men of Judgment And therefore a Prudent Man will always take care to avoid as much as is possible unnecessary Controversies and in handling such as he thinks necessary I know not how he can give better proof of his Prudence as well as Obedience than by observing his Majesty's Directions to Preachers which give a full Resolution to the Case in hand viz. by doing it with all Modesty Gravity and Candor without Bitterness Railing Jâ—ering or other unnecessary and unseemly Provocation and he who shall transgress these his Royal and Religious Directions will those of the New Testament too He that shsll use the Liberty granted him by his Majesty for a Cloak of Maliciousness and upon such Occasions or indeed any other act the Merry Andrew in the Pulpit deserves not only the Fools Coat but the Rod too upon his Back From whence I inser in the next place 3 ly That those of our Communion especially the Clergy ought neither to rail nor rally upon the Religion which the King owns Religion with a Man of Sense and Affections is a tender Point and the Affronts done it do as doily touch him and wound him more feelingly than any offer'd to his dearest Relations or to his own Honour as a Gentleman and howsoever the one part resents and the other takes it 't is a diseas'd heat of the Mind and not Christian Zeal to make any fort of Religion the sport of our Wits and the triumph of our Drollery They who are guilty of it may have espous'd the Fortune but
be thought to be for the Church of England they ought not in Point of Honour to take every advantage against her Enemies nor to put every thrust so home as they do but restore them in the Spirit of Meekness nor to throw dirt in their Faces to disgrace them which as the Purity of our Church abhors so the more they handle the more it will defile them This is not to walk in Wisdom to them that are without nor to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace There is yet another thing worse than barely calumniating the King's Religion and that is disturbing of the solemn Exercise of it by Routs and Riots which would be so high an indecency and so opposite to the gentleness of Christian Religion that about the time of the first general Council of Nice under Constantine the Great it was made a Canon in the Council of Illiberis That if any one should out of any immoderate transports of Zeal deface demolish or break down Idols or Images and be thereupon slain because it is not commanded in the Gospel nor practis'd by the Apostles that they should not be reckon'd in the number of Martyrs Nor need I remind you that the Idols were of the Heathens and that Christian Religion was not only the private Religion of the Emperor but publickly established by him throughout the Empire and yet while the other had but a bare Toleration from the Emperor and Christianity had the Law of the Land on its side yet the Holy Church discouraged her Sons from injuring it by violence The prevention of railing against the Emperor's Religion by the Lutherans was the wise care of the Diet of Ratisbone Anno Dom. 1532. which was in part made up of Protestants Electors Free-Princes and Hans-Towns 't was their final Accord That the Ausburg Confession should be allow'd so that nothing was taught or written but what was contained in that Confession As to raillery upon the Religion professed by our Prince as it is bad Manners and worse Religion so it can never be good Wit which though it be allowed its Seasons yet this is none of them 't is as much as a Man can well bear to see it practis'd upon Virgil the Prince of Poets 4 ly The Church of England Men ought not to grudge the Privileges allowed by the King to those of his own Communion he does not desire that they should stand upon equal Terms of publick Privileges and Advantages of the tasting of the Sweet of the Church Revenues but only that they should lift up their Heads above the danger of the Laws and he be able to make life of their Services in the State He neither takes away our Rights nor with-holds his Favours from any Men of our Perswasion who cannot pretend to deserve them without blushing None ever found discouragement from our Gracious Sovereign upon the score of their Religion but have been advanc'd and esteem'd according to their several Capacities and Qualifications so long as he found Charity and Vnity maintain'd amongst them and why then should our Eye be evil because he is also good to some of his own A Christian Magistrate owes something more than Protection to the Religion which he sincerely professes and to them that profess it with him they may reasonably expect his Countenance and fair quarter if not hope to enjoy some Provision under him for certainly he may and ought to do all that he is able and hath opportunity to do on this side of force and injustice to help them a Nursing-Father he is to them as well as us and oblig'd to the Protection and Tuition of all his Children and not to suffer them to fare the worse for their Zeal either toward God or himself And methinks we should have more Wit Honesty and Charity more Modesty Equity Honour and Justice more good Breeding and ingenuous Education if not more Religion than to repine at it for this implies such a want of them all as any ingenuous Man must needs be ashamed of Is it not as fit the King should choose his Ministers as we our Servants Whatsoever a Prince does he is to be presum'd to do it with great Reason his Actions are manifest but his Thoughts secret and 't is our Duty to tolerate the one and not murmur against the other The Results of his Councils are like the current of a great River we see their Streams but not the Fountain from whence they flow Reason of State is Reason of Law though we see but the plain side of that great Watch within which all the Springs and Wheels are inclos'd and hid yet we find their Motions regular The King is our Law-giver and his Conscience is his and if it dictate these things to be necessary though he be deceiv'd they are become so to him and by no means to be declin'd by him but he must follow his own Conscience and if he mean it for good he has no reason to doubt but God will take it so and all good Subjects will pay him an Obedience of Acqutescence if not of Conformity we have reason to believe he will do nothing beneath his own Honour and the just Interest of his People And therefore St. Augustine in his Book against Faustus the Manichee says That a Christian Souldier fighting under an Heathen Prince may lawfully pursue the War or execute the Commands of his immediate or superior Officers in the course of his Service though he be not absolutely â—assured of the Justice of the one or the the Expediency of the other And in the case in question 't is no less evident for Sovereign Princes have Power to change the external Regiment of the Church A Christian Magistrate as such is a Governor in the Church The Prerogatives and Preheminencies of Power and Greatness which are involv'd in the fundamental conception of Sovereignty are the essential Rights and inseparably annexed to the Sovereign for which he is accountable to God alone and all Bishops are subject to the Imperial Power who is to determine what Doctrines are to be Preached and what not least any should be licens'd to barangue to the People in Seditious Libels His Power is by the Law of God and so can have no Inferior Power to limit it The Father of the Family governs not by the Law and Will of his Sons or Servants but by God's and his own nor were the best Kings of Judah or Israel tyed to any Laws nor is it the municipal Law of the Land but the natural Law of a Father which binds him to preserve the Lives and Fortunes of his Sons or Subjects The Church is always a Minor and Vnder-age and the King its Guardian how then can she expect to be back'd or countenanc'd any longer as she has hitherto been thanks be to God and the King by his civil Authority or enjoy the Revenues and Privileges she has any longer if the King's
Hands and neither desires nor needs such Security from them there seems now no need at all of their continuance And as it would shew a great Respect to the King to repeal them so it would be a seasonable Vindication of us from that cruelty which the Romanists have charg'd us with upon the account of them It hath been I am perswaded a real Grief to all tender hearted Protestants whenever the exigency of State Affairs hath occasioned the execution of those sanguinary Laws and it would be the best Evidence we could bring to convince the World that it was not the Religion but Treason of Romish Priests that we detested if we take speedy care that their Religion be no longer Capital now that it may so easily be separated from Treason Perhaps some Inciters to Rebellion do buz in your Ears That the King has no more business for Parliaments and intends to govern by a standing Army of his own Perswasion but you and I know the King loves and honours Parliaments as the best means for the Kingdoms safety and his own satisfaction And I know this of which you are a Member hath so many active and loyal Subjects in it as will oblige him by all that can be desired for acknowledging and the establishing of his just Prerogative and for his own Ease and Satisfaction and the quiet of his Friends of his Religion and that his Majesty will be as ready to secure our national Religion Liberties and Properties The present Parliament Men who are most of them True Sons of the Church of England are so far from envying the RomanCatholicks the advantages they now receive as rewards of their Loyalty that they would with a most respectful humble and dutiful Emulation even strive with his Majesty who should reward them most He having published it to the World in his late Scotch Proclamation That of his own certain Knowledge and long Experience he knows the Catholicks that as it is their Principle to be good Christians so it is to be dutiful Subjects hazzarding and many of them actually losing their Lives in the defence of a Prince though of another Religion ours he means and maintenance of the King's Authority against all Violences and Treasons It were the highest Impudence to deny but that there were a great many noble brave loyal Spirits of the Romish Perswasion who did with the greatest Integrity and without any other design than satisfying their Consciences adventure their Lives in the War and leave their Bodies in the Field for the King's Service There were a great many generous Souls among them whom the greatest Temptations in the World could not have perverted or made to desert their King in the height of all his and their Miseries Among the rest Sr. Arthur Ashion a Romanist being turned out of the King's Army with most if not all of that Communion to please the Rebellious Parliament who charged him for having so many Papists about him This noble Royalist as well as Romanist was sollicited by the Parliament to take a Commission for a Colonel of Horse and to put in what Officers he pleas'd of his own Perswasion he accepted their Commission But to mapifest their villainous Hypocrisie as well as his own intire Loyalty he immediately went upon his Knees and delivered it up to the King upon which he and the rest of that Religion were readmitted into the Royal Army Whence it is evident that they wanted not an Opportunity of joining with the Rebels to their own Advantage had not their innate principle of Loyalty kept them steady in their Allegiance so that they can have nothing laid to their Charge worthy of Death or Bonds Why then should they not have room in his Kingdoms Security for their Persons and Estates and Rewards wards for their Services Why should we grudge his Majesty's Mercy to others which we reckon so great a Blessing to our selves Were they not our fellow Souldiers and Sufferers too And what have they done since to incense the King or the Government or their fellow Subjects against them You wish they were of our Religion and so do I too but Men cannot easily wear off the prejudices of their Education and most of them have suck'd in their Religion with their Milk It were very unjust and unnatural to attempt by force to reduce them to our way of serving God who are in a co-ordination to us this being to assume the Prerogative of the civil Power and against Justice which must be an Ingredient even into the best Religion because it would be a contradiction to build Religion upon the ruins of that which founds all Religion as Tertullian Argues It were unjust for us who are co-ordinate to impose upon others their Faith or Worship Our Prince is not to be reduced to the Rule of our Consciences Into what shameless Straits will this immodesty of ours reduce us Can we have so little Wit and Loyalty who pretend to so much of both It is worse than Barbarous to attack any People meerly upon the account of Religion not repugnant to the light of Nature for otherwise Religion whose chief end is to preserve Mankind in Peace and Justice would turn the World upside down and fill it with incessant Combustions and Massacres for it will be as reasonable that the Insidels and Indians should invade the Christians upon that score as the Christians them and then where will Depredations end To enforce and drag others to the True Religion who are absolutely at their own difposal neither is nor can seem decent nor expedient You will find Lactant. 1.5 C. 19 St. Ambrose in Luc. 1.7 and St. Hillary and all the ancient Fathers of that Judgment against Compulsion in point of Religion and what have we to do to judge them that are without says St. Paul Julian would not suffer Christians to be forc'd to his gentile Altars Epist 52. What if they are displeased for not enjoying as much of the benefit of the King's Restauration as we do The liberty of Repining is a charitable allowance to be indulged them of course whom Providence hath denied what we enjoy 'T is an unmerciful thing not to give Lofers leave to speak and the World will talk of them and us too at their own rate What if some few of them shew more heat than becomes them and grasp at things not sit for their Enjoyment Is it not the same case with us too Why should the indiscretion of a few incense us against the rest If they do not all of them at all times carry thâ— selves prudently let not their Allegiance be buried in Oblivion If we either love the King or the Peace of the Kingdom we must behave our selves as becomes Men of Conscience and Prudence in this tender Point Bishop Bramhall in his Replication to the Bishop of Chalcedon says That in Eight Tearstime in which he had the Government of Ireland committed to him by the Earl of
not attempt by any wicked violence to impose it upon other will you neither be obedient for Wrath nor yet for conscience sake Did ever Christ and his Apostles who were arm'd and instructed with a greater Power for the vinidicating of the Truth than ever any Persons since either Civil or Ecclesiastical were behave themselves so unseemly Did not St. Paul become all thing to all Men that he might by all means gain some And shall not we interchangably use the duties of common Humanity to them of the Roman Religion Not shew them the way but out of the Land of the Living who are going towards the Land of Promise as well as we and yet think we do God and the King good Service Does not St. Paul command every Soul to be subject to the higher Powers upon pain of Damnation If they are in Errors you may warn them of their danger as he did Night and Day with Tears but you must by no means draw Blood of them not tempt other to dispise them Let your moderation be known unto all Men Christ came not to destroy but save alive we had better be persecuted our selves than become Persecutors of other nothing that in violent or injurious can have any thing Religion in it and why should we tempt the Romanists to combine togather as they will do if they have not more Religion than we shew in this Stubborness to revenge the Injuries that have been offer'd them the Wounds that have been given them in the House of their Friends Of which we are as guilty by being the unconcern'd and silent Spectators as if we were the principal Assassins and whosoever is afraid of being reproach'd for a Papist by Pleading their Cause as far as Justice and Charity favours it or consults his Ease and Reputation more than his Religion at this juncture when such assaults are made upon the Principles of the Church of England even by them who pretend most kindness to it deserves the Punishment either of a Coward in his Religion or a Traytor to it No Man who loves his king or Country can wish for more Liberty or Encouragement than the Church of England Men enjoy and for any of them to grudge the King immunity for them of his own Religion is such a composition of Indiscretion Popularity Ingratitude and Insolence as is little deserv'd by so Good and Gracious a Prince Peace is not the thing we pursue but Popularity which may be the Fool 's Paradise but it is the Wise Man's Scorn He never attempts to keep up a Party against Authority with a Spirit of Contradiction not to make differences more or wider than they are to please the People who love to hear Well of themselves and Ill of their Princes as you cannot but have heard some degraded Courtiers do who being outed of their Employments or disappointed and defeated of their secular Aims never cease to Harangue against what they have lost or miss'd to satisfie not their Reason but their Revenge These are the great Champions for the church whom the Populacy admires Popularity makes these Hectors bold as Lyons now who would fly as fast from danger as any hunted Stag if a Blood-bound were at their Heels according to Tertullian's Observation Novi Pastores eorum in pace leones in praelio cervos He was a Wise Man that told us That to sawn on the People is the lowest degree of Flattery and I think he might have added and the highest degree of Folly for nothing can be more foolish than to esteem their Good Opinion whose Judgments we approve not for a Man to stand in the king's Light on purpose to draw the rowling Eyes of the Crowd upon himself to be look'd at and to be talk'd of as a Man that would sain be thought considerable by being troubleâ—ome this is indeed the Poison of Hypocrisie which destroys many Souls as well as disturbs many States and therefore when you hear Men so zealous in standing up for Goa's Glory take heed that they prove not Chapmen for their own Popularis aurae vilia mancipia That they may be Town talk for opposing the King and attempting to eat them without Salt whom the King honours to which I am sure it is not the Spirit of christiâ—â—ity that provokes them but a much worse Principle I hope there are but a few of these amongst your fellow Members and that most of you are sincerely resolv'd to go on in the peaceable way which you know to be right as counting it your Glory to have the Testimony of your own Consciences bearing witness with you of your Ingegrity If the rest of your Brethren will bear you company in gratifying his Majâ—sty in his just and reasonable Expectation I know you will be the better Pleas'd if not I doubt not but you have courage enough to act Vertuously by your self rather than to do Ill for Company and that you will rather be singular in a Loyal Vote than Soâ—iable in the contrary I am better acquainted with your Courage and Consience than to be jealous of this not is it to hearten you but other Men upon this occasion that I say so much on this Subject as becomes every Man in my Station who am one of them that watch for your Souls and therefore dare not betray them by my silence and coolness in God's or the King's Cause My Crime would be as deep as my silence and my not proclaiming next to my procuring the danger you run your selves into for want of a timely foresight the not discovering any Net in which you may be unhappily ensnared and not breaking it too if we can would be next to the spreding of it if we could And I know full well That cowardice in a Minister is worse than in a Souldier by how much our warsare is more honoâ—â—able than theirs and I reckon them the most prostigate conâ—â—ards in the World who are asraid of opening their Moâ—ths for the King for fear the People sould open their Mouths against them The fear of offending a private Brother is a thing not considerable in comparison of the Duty we owe to the publick Magistrate for this would cut the Sinâ—ws of all Authority and bring the King and his Laws into Contempt by gratifying some Mens causeless Scruples and others groundless Jealousies Do not therefore so consider Roman Catholicks as to forget they are Englishmen and good Christians let Anabaptists or Prosbyterians act this part rather than any True Son of the Church of England Her 's in which you are embarqued is not a Fire-ship designed for Destruction but for Edification she is for winning Men over to her self with Mildness and the Spirit of Meâ—knesâ— and not for inraging them with Violenâ—e and Bitternejâ— and therefore never seck for a loop-hole to creep out of but stand to her Principles trouble not your self to enquire whether the thing which the King expcts be expediâ—nt or not being well satisfied
than your Duty to withdraw your Services for if you quick-sighted Men who sit higher than your Neighbours spy more Damages and Mischiefs coming on the Country than we can see from those who are newly put into Commission you have the more Reason not to desert your Station There were many Gentlemen in the Rebellious Age before the King's Restauration who acting under the Usurper's Commission told their confiding Friends they indur'd it only in order to the serving the King and the Loyal Party how much rather should Men now serve the King and subalternately those that serve him when they are called to do it by a lawful Authority Let them also consult their Honour as Gentlemen and shew a Courage besitting their Quality like that brave Roman who did not like other mean Spirits sneak out and quit his Post but generously profest he did not despair of the Commonwealth nor would he desert its Service If they to whom this is urg'd say No more do we we acquiesce in the Kin'gs Pleasure but we care not for Acting their laying down thus is an Impeachment of their loyalty for hereby do they raise or increase the groundless Fears and Jealousies of the People who will be over-apt to conclude That if those leading Men in the Country upon whose Conduct they safely relyed Withdraw themselves all is lost Religion and Property are vanish'd whereas you are the only Men who can and should take them off these mistakes by giving them to understand That the current of the Law is as clear as ever and that the King does no more for his own Religion than every Prince in the World does for his nor less for ours than will suffice to make us Happy if we had but Wit enough to know when we were so That as to the mixture of Popish and Protestant Justices Ireland has been long so Govern'd and with good Success and as the greatest number of our present Statute Laws were made by their Ancestors Council and Consent then of the same Religion they now are of so we have no reason to question but they will be as forward to execute as the others were to get them inacted And if after all they confess as all Ingenuous and Considering Men must That they could consent to the repealing and taking off the capital penal and disabling Laws against the Roman Catholicks but they could not answer it to their Counties for which they serve they need not be told who were such apt Scholars in the tender Point of Privileges of Parliament that their Power is more than that of the States General of the United Provinces for they may not only consult but consent without those who sent them and if they dare deny it send a Serjeant at Arms for them as you know they lately did how legally I Dispute not And since those States in the late King's Time concluded with him a Point of mutual Benefit without ever sending to their Principals and were afterward thanked by them for it with more Right and with as good Success may they concur with the King's Motion if it be consider'd That they were not chosen by Men of that Antimonarchical Spirit who generally prevail'd in the Three Elections before this And as to those of the opposite Party who can think their Thoughts are likely to be like Lycurgus his defence of his Laws That though they were not the best they were as good as then could be made and seeing they surmize that some Men endeavour to bring Parliaments into Disesteem as stulborn and intractable and therefore useless in prospect of this and what may probably ensue it will undoubtedly be Prudent to give up many Points formerly contended for with too much Eagerness and too little Justice by which Compliâ—â—ces with the Royal Power and Goodness they may have fresh and larger Assurances of saving the main Staâ—â— Thus have I honestly esiay'd to give you the best Resolâ—uicâ— I can of the Case in Qâ—jâ—ion whether the Thoughts which were to my satisfaction will prove so to your's or others more fearful and jealous in the Communâ—â—â— of our Church I know not but I hope they will and wish they 〈◊〉 not only for the King's Service and Satisfaction but for their own and Peace sake He was a sound Politiciaâ— who told us That for the maintenance of a Religion long in being it is necessary oft times to reduce it to its first Grounds nor do I think it would argue want of Policy or Piety in the Sons of the Church of England to study the Primitive Constitutions of the same and to reâ—ect upon the peaceable Temper of the first Reformers and to conâ—â—der what one of our best Casuists our Church ever bred tests us in the Case of One of our Church Marrying with a Recusant That in Points wherein the Substance of Christianity consists the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion we both agree And that he who rightly understands those Catholick Truths taught in the Catechisms of both Churches and concerning which all Christendom in a manner are at a present accord and will also suffer himself farther to consider That the Church of England does not impose upon the Judgments and Consciences of her Members any thing to be believ'd or receiv'd as of necessity to Salvation but what is truly Catholick and confessed by her Adversaries so to be and consequently that the Differences between her and the Romish Party is wholly about those Additionals or Superstructures may easily rest satisfied in his Judgment and Conscience That the thing desir'd is not simply evil and â—oâ—ogenere unlawful but expedient and as the exigencies and the conjunction of our present Circumstances and the probability of the good and evil Consequences of it prudently laid together and weigh'd one against another require are little less than necessary And in Truth did we live up to the Rules and Canons of the Church the Differences between them and us would not appear so many and so great but that we might hope under so Gracious a Prince who has a kindness for both to become at last if not Men of one Judgment yet at least of one Heart I will allow such a Casuist as Ferguson to repute the Terms of Union with Rome impossible and absurd for so they must needs be to such an Arch-schismatick and Traytor as he is But if we consider that there are a great many Truths of so little value that a wise and good Man would part with them all for a Grain of Charity and how dangerous it is and damnable to rend the Peace of the Catholick Câ—â—â—â—h we shall not be so stiff and inflexible so tenacious and unyielding even in Matters of so small moment as we too familiarly are to so shameful a degree of Obstinacy that we will not stir an hairs breadth to win a Brother no not to gratifie a Prince Intreat perswade or convince them Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris still