written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him 2 Kings 22 23. Chapters Now therefore my Lord the King arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee And command all your Children your Confederates and Allies your Nobles and your Commons and all the people of your Kingdoms to help you saying Is not the Lord your God with you And hath he not given you rest on every side for he hath given your enemies into your hands and the Land is subdued before the Lord and before his people Now set your heart and your soul to seeke the Lord your God arise therefore and build ye the Sanctuary of the Lord God establish Religion in its purity according to Gods Word settle the Church government compose the differences and heal the distempers that our sins have made repair ye the breaches and build up the waste places in the Church and State and doe you Judgement and Justice throughout all my Dominions And comand all the people to gather themselves together as one man and to make confession saying O Lord the great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant and mercie to them that love him and to them that keepe his Comandements We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even hy departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Neither have we harkned unto thy servants the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word and Ordinances which spake in thy name to our King our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face because we have sinned against thee To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him O Lord we have been disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behinde our backs have slain thy servants which testified against us to turn us unto thee and we have wrought great provocations therefore thou deliverest us into the hands of our enemies who vexed us in the time of our trouble when we cryed unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest us Saviours who saved us out of the hands of our enemies But after we had rest we did evill again before thee therefore leftest thou us in the hand of our enemies so that they had the dominion over us yet when we returned and cried unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and many times didst thou deliver us according to thy mercies Thou didst not utterly consume us nor forsake us for thou art a gracious and a mercifull God Now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest Covenant and mercie Let not all the trouble seeme little before thee that hath come upon us on our King on our Princes and Nobles and on our Ministers and Elders on our fathers on all thy people since the time of the Kings departing from his Parliaments and people unto this day Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Neither have our King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of thy Word nor our Fathers kept thy Law nor hearkned unto thy Commandements and thy Testimonies wherewith thou didst testifie against them For they have not served thee in their Kingdom in thy great goodness that thou gavest them and in the large and fatland which thou gavest before them neither turned they from their wicked works Behold we are servants this day and for the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it And it yieldeth much increase unto them whom thou hast set over us because of our sins also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattell at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this let us make a sure Covenant and write it and let the King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of Gods Word and Ordinances our Fathers and all the people of your Majesties Dominions seal unto it And finally may it please your Excellent Majesty to attend unto the doctrine and exhortations of the Apostle 1 Thes Chap. 5. and Hebrews 13.20 21. Quench not the spirit despise not prophesyings prove all things hold fast that which is good abstain from all appearance of evill And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blameless unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will do it Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen I have not omitted for many yeares together my Sovereign Lord daily and constantly to pray for the temporall and eternall happiness of the King the Queen your Consort and Royall Progeny with that integrity of heart zeal and devout affection as I pray for the Church of God and the salvation of my own soul Thus rejoyceth evermore to pray without ceasing Royall Sir Your Majesties humbly devoted Oratour most dutifull loyall and faithfull Subject and Servant in the Lord Thomas de la More Cornet to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight Generall of England c. From my Quarters at Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire Feb. 22. 1646. Note * Mistakes in the imprinting may be thus amended Page 1. line 7. read unrighteousness p. 4. line 23. blot out neither p. 5. l. 3. read weed p. 7. l. 11. blot out so p. 17. l. 13. read conveying p. 20. l. 10. read butt line 12. blot out the second but. p. 24. l. 8. read we are sold we were sold Imprimatur Iohn Downame A Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of ENGLAND Composed 1641 By Thomas de la More of Graies-Inne Esq revised and published in the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1648. The first Part. SECT I. JOSVAH'S Resolution IEHOVAH our King who ruleth the Hoast of Heaven and scepters the hearts of Princes and great Potentates on earth with the powerfull Arme of his Justice mightily defendeth and with the sovereigne hand of his mercy graciously preserveth these our Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland from desolation and miserable confusion Satan rageth and his ministers fight against Christ they take the weapons of righteousnesse and smite their Reprovers like the mad Prophet with obloquie and murtherous intentions They maligne revile and
harden his heart and speak thus unto him in the fiercenesse of his wrath Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth Thinkest thou ô man that doest these things that thou shalt escape the judgement of God or despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance But after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God who will tender to every man according to his deeds for there is no respect of persons with God O that wee knew the time of our visitation and that wee could see in this our day the things that belong unto our peace least the Lord withdraw the light of his countenance from us and least the mercie and loving kiâ—â—ness of our God be hid from our eyes Thus saith the Lord to Israel I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face that sacrificeth in Gardens c. And our most holy Redeemer and blessed Saviour Jesus Christ thus compassionately bemoaneth a stif-necked disobedient hard-harted gain-saying people O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not Behold your house is left unto you desolate and the Apostle exhorteth us Whilst it is said To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evill heart of beliefe in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily whilst it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3. Let us therefore provoke the Lord to wrath no more by our sins but let us enter into a holy Covenant with God to walke uprightly before the Lord as Noah Abraham Moses Joshua Job Daniel King David and all the Prophets Apostles and servants of the Lord have done before us and let us resolve to serve the Lord our God with all our hearts with all our souls and withall our might Then shall our captivity and all our sufferings and afflictions worke together for the best for the Lord will set his eyes upon us for good and he will bring us again unto our Lands and to our huoses and he wil build us and not pull us down he will plant us and not pluck us up and he will give us an heart to know him that he is the Lord and we shall be his people and he will be our God for we shall return unto him with our whole hearts and we shall be like Trees planted by the Rivers of water that will bring forth fruit in season our leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever we doe shall prosper The ungodly are not so but are like the chaffe which the winde driveth away The Lord will deliver them to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the earth for their hurt to be a reproach and a proverb a taunt and a curse in all places whether he shall drive them And he will send the Sword the Famine and the Pestilence among them till they be consumed from the Land that he gave unto them and their Fathers For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish Your Majesty may read in the Chronicles of holy Writ That King Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his Father and he tooke away the Sodomites out of the Land and removed all the Idols that Abijam his Father had made and also Maachah his mother even her he removed from being Queen because she made an Idol in a Grove and Asa destroyed her Idol and burnt it by the Brooke Kidron but the high places were not removed neverthelesse Asa his heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes Also King Azariah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his Father Amaziah had done save that the high places were not removed the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places And the Lord smote the King so that hee was a Leaper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a severall house and Jothan the Kings son was over the house judging the people of the Land And King Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his Father did He removed the high places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves c. he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that went before him For he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his Comandements which the Lord comanded Moses And the Lord was with him and he prospered whither soever he went forth and he rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him not And King Josiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the wayes of David his Father and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left And the King sent and they gathered unto him all the Elders of Judah and of Jerusalem and the King went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem with them and the Priests and the Prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. And the King stood by a pillar and made a Covenant before the Lord to walke before the Lord and to keep his Comandments and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all their heart and all their soule to perform the words of this Covenant that were written in this book and all the people stood to the Covenant And the King comanded all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the Grove and for the Hoast of heaven to be brought forth out of the Temple of the Lord and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carryed the Ashes of them unto Bethel And he put down the Idolatrous Priests whom the Kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places c. Moreover the workers with familiar Spirits and the Wizards and the Images and the Idols and all the abominations that were spyed in the Land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put away that he might performe the words of the Law which were
that every Candlestick may have a Candle and that every flock may have a faithfull sheepheard to guide them And I am perswaded that this work done would prove a Catholike remedy for all our evils and the greatest means for the lengthning out our tranquility and the healing of all our distempers O Eternall and most gracious God send forth Labourers into the harvest of our Nation that may boldly and faithfully dispense thy Word and duly administer thy holy Sacraments and grant that in singleness of heart without grudging we may give them their hire O shed abroad thy holy Spirit into our hearts that we may love as brethren and be of one minde in Christ Jesus as thou our heavenly Father art one SECT II. Of the Common Law of ENGLAND NOw to this discourse of Religion I will onely adde a line or two concerning the Common Law of England which I have undertaken for my profession and calling And by Gods assistance I shall propose this as the main end in all my studies and endevours the honour of God the service of my Prince the profit of my Country and the good of the Church England hath been inhabited always with a vertuous and wise people who ever embraced honest and good customes full of reason and conveniency which being confirm'd by common use and practise and continued time out of mind became the Common Law of the Land And though this Law be the peculiar invention of this Nation and delivered over from age to age by Tradition as well as by Books yet may we truly say That no humane Law written or unwritten hath more certainty in the Rules or Maximes more coherence in the parts thereof or more harmony of reason in it nay we confidently aver that it doth excell all other Laws in upholding of a free Monarchie which is the most excellent form of Government exalting the Prerogative Royall and being very tender and watchfull to preserve it and yet maintaining with all the ingenuous liberty of the subject Moreover all men at all times and in all places doe stand in need of Justice and of Law which is the rule of Justice and of the Interpreters and Ministers of the Law which give life and motion unto Justice for Cassaneus well observeth that Justitia periret si deesset qui justitiam allegaret Our Counsellors and Advocates are the language of the Law Our Judges are the eare of the Law For the Law it self is dumbe and speaks not but by the tongue of a learned Lawyer she is blinde and seeth no enormities but by the eye of a watchful and diligent Officers and she is deafe and heareth no complaints but by the eare of a grave and patient Judge Those Honourable persons whose true minde hath advanced them to the most transcendent places of honour that can possibly be attained in our profession that is to be Hearers Judges and Determiners of causes in Courts of Justice let them take heed diligently unto themselves that no favour nor whatsoever respects move them from the right And let them remember that they sit not in judgement for rewarding of friends or servants for crossing of contemners but only for doing of Justice Plato in Pol. Arist 1. Rhetor. I purposely forbeare either to rub upon the sores or to lay open the issues and infectious maladies that have tainted some great Sages of the Law in our times for that the Lord Viscount Falkland in his learned speech of the Judges hath plainly described certain symptomes of their diseases and manifested them to the eye of the Kingdom the high Court of Parliament And I hope that great Counsel of Physicians will either purge them of their noxious and pestilent humours or prescribe them a more certain and present cure It is joy to the just to do judgment but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity Prov. 21.15 29.4 The King by judgment stablisheth the land but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it Memorable is that speech of Moses to the children of Israel Deut. 1.16 17. And I charged your Judges at that time saying Hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him Ye shall not respect persons in judgment but you shall heare the small as well as the great you shaâ—â— not be affraid of the face of man for the judgment is Gods and the cause that is to hard for you bring it unto me and I will heare it See Levit. 19.15 Deut. 16.19 1 Sam. 16.7 Prov. 24.23 The properties noted by Jethro to be in Magistrates and Governours are worthy much observation Provide men saith he of courage fearing God men dealing truly and hating covetousness Ex. 18.21 and read Ex. 23. Observe the great pains of Moses in sitting to judg the controversies of the people even from morning unto even Exod. 18. What a coÌ„mendation it is of him What an example unto al those whom God in mercy hath raised to any like government over their brethren Surely diligence in the charge committed to us is ever sweet unto God and good for our selves He that is diligent in his worke shall stand before Princes Prov. 22.29 Lâ—â—râ— to do well seek iudgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Isai 1.17 Ye shall not do unjustly in judgment Who can be safe in lift or limbe in lands or goods if affection be Judge Booteth it to be honest or just or blamelesse if not truth but sancietry me No no. And therefore blessed be God for Law and Justice and wo to the Land where affection ruleth Honestius est cum judicaveris amare quà m cum amaveris judicare It is far better to love when thou hast judged than to judg when thou lovest The poore cryeth and no man heareth the rich man cryeth and every man praiseth smootheth O heavy Countries case where thus it is Do the thing that is just to the rich and poore and that shall give thee peace at the last If Judges wil be free from respect of persons then needs must they be free from gifts for gifts will lead their affections wil they nill they the old saying being true Beneficium accepisti libertatem amisisti Hast thou received a gift then hast thou lost thy liberty and freedom Thou shalt not take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous Exod. 23 8. And 〈◊〉 all Judges followed this course Hesiodus should not need to fain that Astrea hath left the society of men and is flown up to Heaven But it is to be feared that as Ulysses servant when he was asleep opened a Bottle which Aeolus had given him wherein the Winds were all inclosed and so let the Winds out they thinking there was treasure in the Bottle which as well at Sea as at Land they loved so some Judges opening mens purses whilest they looke for gain let truth escape from
to doe justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord then Sacrifice A wise King scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheele over them Take away the drosse from the silver and there shall come forth a vessell for the Finer Take away the wicked from before the King and his Throne shall be established in righteousnesse Prov. 21.1 2 3. Chap. 20.26 Chap. 25. 4 5. What a blessing Justice is to the people and what a praise to the carefull Executor of it who knoweth not Heathen Aristotle could say Nec Hesperus nec Lucifer formofier justitia that no star is so beautifull in the Skie as Justice on the Earth Mens wisdome may make them reverenced and their power may make them feared but justice justice is that which winneth mens hearts and maketh them beloved and the more faithfull and painfull they are in doing thereof the more honoured alive and dead And as justice is a blessing so are good Laws and Ordinances in a Kingdome in the praise whereof much more then I have already written might be said as not a little against idle superfluous and hurtfull Laws against obscure and deceitfull penning of them leaving holes and gaps in them for all the good intended by them to run out at and never be seen but I leave it to the pious meditation and the discreet consideration of the great Councell of this Kingdome men of learning wisdome and godlinesse into whose hands the faithfull disposing and ordering those weighty affairs and concernments are put Read Sir John Fortescus Knight and Chancellour of England his commendable Book de laudibus legum Angliae and Sir Edward Coke Chiefe Justice of England and Sir John Davis Knight who have treated very learnedly of the Common Laws of England in their prefaces to their Reports SECT III. Of the Profession of PHYSICK THus having lightly touched some few points in that sacred Science and profession of Divinity and having briefly run over some considerable things in that noble profession of the Common-Law of the Realm It remains that I should write somwhat of that facultie and profession of Physick honourable for the use and necessity thereof amongst men But for as much as I have been a meer stranger in a manner to that Art and Science for in truth I have employed but very little time in the study thereof only for that I would quit and shift my selfe of the vulgar imputation and that Ignoramus leaden conceit of those who very fain would have it that others should 〈◊〉 thought to be as egregious dotards and very fools as themselves that have turned it into a Proverb That every one of necessity must either be a Fool a Physician I will therefore with as much perspicuity in brevity as I may speake a word or two of that profession 1 The Wise man tels us That we ought to honour a Physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which we may have of him For the Lord hath created him for of the most high commeth healing and he shall receive honour of the King The skill of the Physician shall lift up his head and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration The Lord hath created Medicines out of the earth and he that is wise will not abhor them Was not the water made sweet with wooâ— that they 〈◊〉 thereof might be known Exod. 15.25 And he hath giveâ— men skill that he might be honoured in his marvellous works with such doâ—â— he heal men and take away their pains Of such doth the Apothecary make a Confection and of his works there is no end and from him is peace over all the earth Eccles 38. But this is to be understood of Archigenists or principall chiefe Physicians such as are learned and skilful in their profession and not of those Medici circum-feranti Physicians that goe aboue the Countrey keepe Fairs haunt Markets and publike meetings and so become juglers of mens purses if not Empiricks and made practisers upon their persons I shall not conceile a mystery which these men have attained unto in their faculty which is this that whereas most men themselves of all other professions doe commonly as we say pay for their learning these men by reason of their preproperous practise doe make others pay very denie somtimes for experiment sake onely and not for any learning of theirs which they never had nor knew what did belong to it Surely the learned professors themselves in that faculty or Science of Physick in one respect have the advantage of the Sages of the Common Law for good Lawyers have not with us that liberty which good Physicians have We know a good Physician may lawfully undertake the cure of a foul and desperate disease but a good Lawyer cannot honestly undertake the defence of a foule and desperate cause Secondly I have observed that the King and the Parliament in the Act of 14 Hen. 8. in making of a Law concerning Phisicians for the more safety and health of men therein pursued the Order of a good Physician for Medicina est duplex removens promovens removensmorbum promovius ad salutem Physick is twofold removing the disease and promoving and furthering health And therefore five manner of persons which more hurt mens bodies then the disease it selfe of whom one said of one of their patients fugiens morbum incidit in medicum are to be removed viz. 1 Improbi 2 Avari qui Medicinaâ— magis avaritia fâ—â—â— causa 〈◊〉 ullius bonâ— conscientia fidâ—era profitentur 3 Malitiosi 4 Teâ—â—◠〈◊〉 5 Inscii That is 1 They that are dishonest wicked Physicians 2 That are covetous who professe Physick more for covetousnesse and for lucre sakâ—â— then by any perswasion or testimony of a good conscience 3 Those that are malicious 4 Those that are unadvised young practisers 5 Those that are ignorant and unskilfull And of the other part five manner of persons were to be promoted as appeareth by the Act viz. 1 Those that were profound 2 Sad. 3 Discreet 4 Groundly learned 5 Profoundly studied And it was well ordained that the professors of Physick should be profound sad discreet c. and not they that are 〈◊〉 which have no gravity and experience for as one saith In juvâ—ne thâ—â—â—â—onscientia dâ—â— inâ—â—tum in juvâ—â—â— legist a bâ—rsa decrementum in juvent medico câ—â—â—â—â—â— inâ—râ—â—â—â—â—um In a young Divine there is Shipwrack and losse of conscience in a young Lawyer a decrease or waining of the purse in a young Physician a Monticulosity or increase of graves in a Churchyard And it ought to be presumed every Doctor of any of the Universities to be within the Statute that is to be profound sad discreet groundly leathed and profoundly studied for no man there is to be Master of Arts who is Doctor of Phylosophy under seven years study there and he may not be Doctor of Physick under seven years more in the study of Physick And let this
suffice to be sâ—id at this time of the faculty and Science of Physick a profession I confesse that is altogether out of the Sphear of my Theory and out of the Verge of my activity and practise SECT IV. Of the Science of THEOLOGY BUt finding my soule in greater need of Physick than my body I shall passe by the other Schools and read my last Lecture in Divinity Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth while the evill dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccles 12.1 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it Vanity of vanities all is vanity And moreover because the Preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth The words of the wise are as the goades and as nailes fastned by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepherd And further by these my son be admonished of making many bookes there is no end and much study is a wearinesse to the flesh Let us heare the conclusion of the whole matter Feare God and keep his Comandements for this the whole duty of mâ—n For God shall bring every work into iudgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12. 8 9 10. c. True Christians endeavour to go forward toward the marke of Christian perfection But if we should returne back into Egypt or desire to live in Babylon we should declare our selves neither studious of perfection nor of Christian Religion nor carefull to maintaine the reputation of our Nation How long shall we waver betwixt two Religions If God be God and his written Word be Truth then we are to follow him and to found our faith upon his Word If the Pope be the supreme God of this world and his determinations true then we are to follow the Pope and his Decretals No man Certes can allow Popery but he must condemne the Apostolicall Religion of Jesus Christ professed in this Church of England What communion saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 6. hath light with darknesse what concord hath Christ with Beliâ—l what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols As many therefore as believe that the Papists walke in darknesse and follow Antichrist living in idolatry â—nd infidelity wound their consciences if they grant any toleration or consent to it The test trust needs runne into the same danger unlesse they can answer the reasons brought to prove the Pope Antichrist and Papists to be false worshippers of God or else plaine Idolaters See 2 Thes 2. and 1 Tim. 4. And the 13.14.17 and 18 Chap. of the Revel we are to pronounce them Anathema which preach beside that which the Apostle preached as himselfe teacheth us Galat. 1. But the Papists preach the Pope and his decretaline doctrine which is both besides and contrary to the Gospell preached by Paul Christian Religion never called the Pope the foundation the head or the spouse of the Church as Bellarmine in his books de Pontif. Roman and other Papists do It is not therefore safest to retaine Christian Religion built on Christ Jesus and to reject Popery built on the Pope No religion is to be tolerated that leaveth the rule of faith that is the holy Scriptures which of all are called Canonicall and seeketh defence and succour out of other rules as Traditions popish Determinations School-mens Distinctions and such like leaden and Lesbian rules But Papists deny Scriptures to be the onely rule of faith as Bellarmine l. 4. de verbo Dei Cap. 4. and others commonly teach Thus we see how miserably the Papists are deluded and led into vanity by their blinde guides But touching faith and assurance of our salvation we Protestants with a joynt consent hold this Doctrine that True faith is a knowledge firme and certaine of the good will of God towards us which being founded upon the truth of his free promise in Christ is both revealed to our mindes and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost This is Eternall life to know thee to be the only very God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ John 17.3 Againe which mysterie hath been hid saith Saint Paul Col. 1.36 since the world began and from all ages but now is made manifest unto his Saints And Col. 2.2 That their hearts might be comforted and they knit together in love and in all riches of the full assurance of understanding to know the mysterie of God even the Father of Christ And 2 John 3.14 And we know that we are translated c. We know All which places you see evidently prove faith to be a knowledge so doth even reason for how can we believe things which we know not Saint Peter knew it could not be and therefore joyneth faith and knowledge saying And we believe and know that thou art That Christ the Son of the living God For he yeildeth a reason why he and other of the Apostles believed in Christ namely because they knew that he was the Son of God Which being so it necessarily followeth that they believe not to whom those things are unknown that he hath revealed in his Word And therefore that tale of Popery concerning implicita fides an ignorant faith is most foolish for faith and knowledge are so knit together that they cannot be separated Trust perfectly in the grace that is brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Perfectly to trust excludeth doubting 1 John 5.13 14. We know we know c. excluding doubting I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8.38 The knowledge which we have by hope grounded upon Gods promises is so sure that it cannot be deceived as it is plaine Rom. 5.5 The perswasion that the Apostle hath in other places is also grounded upon good Arguments but here Rom. 8. upon the immutable Decree of God And it is good reason to prove that every Christian man which is endued with faith and hope may and ought to be infallibly assured that he is justified and shall be saved because the Word of God and his promise to all that believe in him and in faith call upon him cannot faile but be most infallibly true That we shall also persevere in the favour of God and so consequently that we are predestinated to eternall life the Apostle doth most plainly prove in this Chapter wherefore by the Spirit of Adoption and the effects of Gods grace agreeable we may have certaine knowledge that we shall inherit Gods Kingdome which none shall do but they that continue unto the end and were appointed unto it before the
of lies though he that made it trust in it c. Habak 2.18 Shall then the Book full of lies vanities and errour be so good a book and remembrance to Lay-men Shall that which endangereth the learned nothing hurt think we the unlearned O that we knew not by experience into what fond and wicked opinions of God poore people have been brought by these painted and carved books How many hearts lament their folly and how many tongues to the praise of Gods mercy in visiting them with his light can and do tell what fond conceits they had of the Lord and heavenly matters seduced by the sight of their eyes Therefore since God hath said it and experience found it that they are so dangerous let them be books for Pagans and Heathens Surely for Christians they should not be Which of the Prophets or Apostles went about ever to have Images made either to put themselves in minde of any thing which the Lord had taught them or the people of any thing which they delivered to them from the Lâ—â—d But they used the admonition of their brethren and especially by writing down what they taught they helped this infirmity of ours signifying even by that their practise what means ought now to be to put us in mind of God and heavenly things chiefly his word The Lord himself saith Ye saw no Image but heard a voice only therfore make no Image And again You saw that I spake to you from heaven therfore you shall make no Gods of gold nor silver Deut. 4. As if he should have said my practise in speaking to you by voice not by image should teach you that by my Word and not by Image I am to be remembred And it is a notable place in Esay That when the Word shall take place with his then they shall abhor images Isai 30.21 Now hereupon it followeth that we ought to serve the Lord according to that Rule which himselfe hath laid down and prescribed only You shall not do every man what seemeth good in his own eyes for in vaine do men worship me with traditions of men saith the Lord. Deut. 12. Moses did nothing in building the materiall Tabernacle beside that was comanded and shewed him Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron died for presuming of themselves to serve the Lord with strange fire Levit. 10. The very heathenish Romanes had this reason with them that it was better for them to be quite without Christ than to worship him and others with him against his will and liking And ad placandum Deum in opus habent homines quae ille jubet that is To please the Lord saith Lactantius men have need of those things that he himselfe comandeth And a Christian minde doth not finde a sure stay but when it heareth Hoc dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord If Saul breake the course that God doth appoint and of himselfe devise to serve the Lord be his necessity to do so as he thinketh never so great and the intent of his heart never so holy-like certainly Samuel both must and will tell him to his face he hath done foolishly for the Lord hath more pleasure in that his will is obeyed than in all the fatlings of the Amalekites offered up unto him of our own wills and heads 1 Sam. 13. and 1 Sam. 15. Intents will not serve neither voluntary religion stand accepted And therefore let us even weigh and follow the counsell of Solomon and look to our feet when we enter into the house of God being more ready to heare then to offer the sacrifice of fooles Eccles 4. Read Babington upon the second Comandement Thus we see that Popish Religion is grounded upon unwritten Traditions But no man is to follow or admit a Religion whose grounds are either contrary to Scriptures or to themselves or are new and uncertain or else depend on the credit of man as most of their Traditions do Whosoever therefore either regardeth the Laws of God or abhorreth falshood and heresie cannot choose but abhor all the abominations of the Massing Religion and never suffer any such thing within the Realm of England if he can hinder it Those Kings of Israel that together with the Law of God retained Groves and hill Altars and other Reliques of superstition never prospered The mingled Religion of the Samaritans to the ancient Jews was most odious Emanuel Commenus that linked himself with the Turke and cancelled the curses publiquely set out against Turkish Religion became afterward in all his action most unhappy and after his death most infamous If we may have no good Conditions in Spaine and Italy the Papists may do well to forbear to speak of England where Christians are better resolved of their Religion than Papists can be of their new Superstitions especially considering the diversity of our grounds And albeit France doth threaten their Protestants with like measure as is meted unto Papists here in England yet we believe and know that the same God which delivered our Nation from the bondage slavery and the Egyptian darknesse of Popery The Lord which doth continue his mercy unto us and the liberty and light of the Gospell unto this day amongst us is both able to preserve those that are godly and he will deliver his people out of the jaws of the Lion when and wheresoever they do call upon him in truth Me thinks that fatall end of Sennacherib King of Assyria who sent such a reviling Message by Rabshakch unto Hezekiah King of Judah should be a warning unto all proud spirits and vaine boasters of their Arme of flesh 1 King 18. and 19. Chapters Thus having finished this Treatise which I composed in fourteen dayes I 〈◊〉 on the whole discourse for I have laid a side two or three sheets of the Originall Copie not having leisure nor occasion for the present to transcribe them I shall humbly pray thee charitable Reader to interpret favourebly this birth of mine according to the integrity of the Author and not looking for perfection in the Worke it selfe And I hope by this modest and humble profession of my piety and good intentions to the Republique aut laudatus ero aut excusatus I shall either be approved or excused and by thy candide and impartiall judgment of me and thy pious censure of these my labours I shall be held either worthy of praise or not blame worthy or at least if I shall be no gainer let me be no loser by thee For in truth I deeme it far more unseemly and indigne to lose praise than praise-worthy to attaine it This being admitted I may confidently averte under correction and say with Tacitus Verba mea arguuntâ—r adec factorum innocens sum Tacit. l. 4. Annal. I shall onely now in the last place cleere an Objection and so conclude It may be objected thus What have young heads novices in Religion Learning and Knowledge to doe to meddle in the weighty affairs of the