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
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
beginning of the world And this is true humility when we presume nothing upon our owne strength or worthinesse but depend wholly upon the truth of Gods promises Moreover marke the Comandement of the Apostle to the Cor. Prove your selves whether you are in faith examine your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ dwelleth in you except ye be reprobates 1 Cor. 3.5 Know yâ— not saith the Apostle know ye not that is assuredly and certainly without doubting c. The Prophet Nathan said to David 1 Sam. 12. Thy sin is done away And our Saviour Christ said Son be of good cheere thy sinnes are forgiven thee Mat. 9. And thy faith hath made thee whole hath hath not shall shall it is done doubt not c. Therefore we justly conclude out of the stable Word of God That faith is a knowledge firme and certaine But Popery doth crosse this plaine truth That knowledge ought to go with faith There is nothing more hatefull in that Kingdome of darknesse than to heare of knowledge and in this particular most they abide it not For Nic Cusanus Epist 2. ad Baron a great pillar of their Church is not ashamed to write that Obedientia irrationalis est consummata obedientia perfectissima quando obeditur sine inquisitione rationis sicut iâ—mentum obedit Domino suo Obedience without reason is a full and most perfect obedience when thou obeyest without asking any reason as the horse doth his Master Upon these words Bishop Babington in his Exposition upon the first Article of the Creed saith thus A most strange speech and fitter for a horse or Baalams Asse than for a man surely most ill beseeming a Cardinall but that errour will often be most grosse Yet he stayeth not here but again in the same Epistle answering to this Objection What if the Church comand contrary to Christ whom must we obey with as great grosnesse he saith againe Ab hoc est omnium praesumptionum initium c. This is the beginning of all presumption when particular men thinke their own judgement to be more agreeable to Gods Comandements than the judgement of the Universall Church Whereby you see that he utterly disliketh the people should any way seeke to know what they believe or what they obey unto but simply and sillily to follow blind guides whithersoever they please to lead them The very selfe same darknesse doth Doctor Smith and other of their Catholick teachers againe deliver in one of his Books where he saith That albeit a man do by the comandement of his Bishop or Priest a wicked thing yet this very cloak of his simple obedience shall excuse him But the blessed Apostles knew no such obedience when they answered Whether it is better to obey God or man judge you c. Sir Thomas Moore and other of that side not unlearned boldly avoucheth that If ten should preach in a day and every one contrary to another yet shall he never thrive that will search who saith true directly contrary to the Commandement of our Saviour Christ John 5. Search the Scriptures and to that notable example of the men of Berea so comended and liked by the Holy Ghost that believed not even Saint Paul himselfe without triall but searched the Scriptures whether those things were so Acts 17. And we further read in the Scriptures 1 Thes 5. and 1 John 4.1 and 1 Cor. 11.1 Prove all things hold fast that which is good believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God or no be ye followers of me but how even as I am of Christ Mark this example well and consider in your own heart whether any Priest or Prelate under heaven may challenge more obedience of Gods people than the blessed Apostle might but the Apostles will be obeyed no further than he obeyeth and followeth Christ which he leaveth us ever to try him in As this Doctrine of Proving all things now in question doth reprove the palpable ignorance and blinde zeale of the Papists so it doth comend the activity and diligence of many of the Laity as of the Clergy in those last times that have attained unto a great measure of knowledge of Gods revealed Will by an industrious and frequent reading of the Scriptures joyned with prayer and hearing of the Word not omitting conference with the learned and using other good means for the right understanding of them This Doctrine I say doth approve the labours of some that in humility of heart sâ—eke the Lord but withall it condemneth the arrogancy and over-boldnesse of others that have a zeale of God but not according to knowledge Rom. 10.2 That boast much of the spirit but can they shew the fruits thereof in their words and actions If we live in the spirit let us also walke in the spirit Let us not be desirous of vaine glory provoking one another The Apostle telleth us The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance against such there is no law Galat. 5.22 23. Moreover the Papists are more blinde in their beliefe than they are grosly idolatrous in their worship and service of God It shall be worth our time and paines to consider the worshipping of Images whether it be lawfull for a Christian man or woman cringing kneeling creeping crossing kissing lighting up candles to it and such like as we see done in the Church of Rome with great observation In the Scriptures of God we have a plaine Comandement Thou shalt not make any graven image c. Read the 4.5.6 and 7 Chapters of Deut. Neither shalt thou set thee up any graven image which the Lord thy God hateth Deut. 16. Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination unto the Lord the workes of the hands of the craftsman and putteth it in a secret place Deut. 27. See Exod. 23.24 Levit. 26.30 and Isai 41.29 and 44.10 and Jer. 43.13 and Psalm 97. Let it fall then even in the feare of God what mans head inventeth against the Lord in his own duty and at the last let us see it to be a vain mocks to think we can worship God in an Image and by it or under it Our Adversaries have a shift for defence of Images in the Church but it is a very ill favoured one They are say they Lay-mens books and stand in very good stead to put us in mind of God Now that they are no good Books but very dangerous and deceiving sights for lay-men or other whatsoever let the Word of the Lord himself be Judge The Prophet Jeremie in Zeal of Spirit detesteth such books and refuseth to be put in minde of God by any such deceitfull means For the Stock saith he is a doctrine of vanity yea they are vanity and the work of errours and in the time of their visitation they shall perish Jer. 10. The Prophet Habakuk againe saith That the image is a teacher
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