by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the Prophet Esay to direct him in the puâ—ging of the Temple and Râ—formation of those abuses that had crepâ—â—â— into the Service of God To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in Sol. and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3. c. 51. iis divinâ—tùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil noâ— only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have referâ—nce to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands and submitt themselves in all obedience That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands directions of their Kings civil Governours to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot And I would the Pope would Exod 32. 22. do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duâ—ies and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the Obj. things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitâ—tes praestantiores â—sse secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1. 16. Rom. 13 12. And though thâ— light of the Church be the greater yet that proves not but that the King should be the prime and chief Governoâ— of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secâ—lar State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pâ—llar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and Sol. similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Isidorus in â—lâ—ssa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiastiâ—ae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular you must not so understand it Balsamon in Sextâ— Synodo Canonâ— 7. as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be
made him like John Baptist to be Magnus coram Domino Great in the sight of the Lord as for his Potency that made him Great among men And Eusebius that wrote the Life of Constantine and sets down his Piety saith The Court of the Emperour Valerian was so replenished with godly men and religious Christians that it seemed to be the Church of God rather than the Kings Court So great a care had he of Religion and the Service of God that as the Prophet David saith none should be his servants that served not God Psal 101. 9. but whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant said this good Emperdu◠as good King David said before him And the Emperour Jovinian that succeeded Julian the Apostate who withdrew very many from the Christian Religion to imbrace the idolatrous service and superstitions of the Heathens when he attained unto the Empire said to the people That he would be a King of Christians or he would be no King at all And Alphonsus King of Arragon is made Famous in all Chronicles for the great love he bare to Learning and especially for the great zeal he had to the Christian Religion and the great care he took to promote the Gospel of Christ and to provide for his servants and when some other King said unto him That it was too base an office for a King to trouble himself with such affairs Alphonsus answered Vox bovis ista est potius quà m regis That voice seemed to him to be the voice of an Oxe rather than of a King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the vassals of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as these pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine hath not That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane and King Canutus Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Common-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth are most excellent for the execution Speed quo supra pag. 384. of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that alle honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be
now in the time of grace more intolerable then they were in the time of nature therefore Tythes ought not to be required as a duty To this I answer 1. That although in those Primitive times the Tythes Sol. 1 were not demanded nor by any Positive Law commanded by God and therefore not paid until Abraham and Jacob had paid them yet this proveth not that it was not due because it was not paid as it is no consequent that because God commanded not Gain and Abel to offer Sacrifice nor the sons of Sheth To call upon the name of the Lord therefore it was not their duty to do it for it is our duty to do many things that we do not And so I have proved It was their duty to pay Tythes though they paid them not 2. I say that before the Law was given the Fathers of the first age Sol. 2 had many things in use which were not answerable to that Perfection which Christ requireth in his followers and therefore he in joyned us to do many things that they did not and so did the Law it self both inhibite them to do some things that they did amiss and commanded many things to be observed which they neglected and therefore that first age of the World being but the Infancy of Gods Church and the daies of Initiation they are not to be alleadged as examples for our imitation For whâ—n I was a Child I did as a Child but when I was a man I put away childish things saith the Apostle 3. I say there was no such need nor reason for the payment of Tythes Sol. 3 then though they were due to maintain the Priests and Ministers of God as afterwards and especially as now in our times because then the first born of every family was the Priest and he by the prerogative of his Birth-right was to have a double part and portion of inheritance and therefore 4. And lastly I say that if the Patriarchs in those times when there Sol. 4 was no Positive commandment to pay Tythes did notwithstanding pay them even to those Priâ—sts that had meant enough of their own to live by it and had no need of Tythes to sustain them then much rather should we now pay them to those Ministers of Christ that have no other maintenance and therefore can not labour in Gods Vine-yard and discharge the duties of their calling without them especially considering how often and how earnestly Christ and his Apostles do command us and exhort us to do it and with such promises of Blessings if we do it and Cursings if we refuse it 4. They do Object That the Commandment for paying Tythes is not Obj. 4 Moral but either Judicial or Ceremonial and we that are Christians are not obliged to observe either the Ceremonial or the Judicial Laws of the Jews because all the Ceremonial Laws were but shadows types and predictions shewing the coming doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ and when the true light and substance of those shadows the Sun of Righteousness was come all those shadows were at an end and vanished away and the Judicial Laws of the Jews were only proper and peculiar to that people and do not oblige other Nations to observe them And therefore the Christians are no wayes obliged to the payment of Tythes To this Objection which some of our opposers think to be invincible I Sol. answer and it may be contrary to the opinion of many Divines of no mean or usual Learning and I say for Tythes 1. That they are due to Christ as he is a Priest for ever by a Divine Natural and Moral right as I hope I have sufficiently proved to you before And if they do Object and say that if the precept of paying Tythes be of a Natural right and a Moral precept then the payment thereof is or ought to be commanded within one of the ten Commandments of the Moral Law because all Moral precepts are comprehended within those ten Commandments but the precept of paying Tythes is not in any one of the ten Commandments of the Moral Law and therefore it is no Moral precept I answer That the payment of Tythes is commanded in four special Commandments of the Moral Law as in the first the fourth the sixth the eighth For as the Prophet David saith Thy Commandments O Lord are exceeding broad and do comprehend abundance of things more then you see prima facie in the outward letter of the Commandment as when the Commandment sayeth Honor thy Father and thy Mother it injoyneth thee to feed him and to maintain him as Joseph did his Father Jacob when he wants and is not able to maintain himself and when it saith Thou shalt do no murder it forbids us to hate or to be angry with our neighbour So when the Lord saith Thou shalt have none other gods but me he commands us to render unto God what is God's as well to maintain his outward service by tythes and offerings unto his Priests and alms unto his poor members as by serving him with our inward service of faith hope love fear and the like So when he commands us To keep Holy the Sabbath day he commands us to do all things that do further and do appertain to the Sanctifying of the Sabbath and Who can deny but that the payment of our Tythes to the Preacher and Minister of Christ is one of the most principal means to further and cause the Sanctifying of the Lords day When as the Artist cannot work without his tools so the Minister cannot discharge Many things are included that are not so clearly expressed in the ten Commandments his service on the Sabbath unless he is maintained all the week And so when he bidâ— us to Honor our Father and Mother he means that we should as well or rather in the first place Reverence and with our Tythes anâ— Offerings relieve and maintain our spiritual Fathers the Ministers of Christ and the Church our Mother as our natural Father and Mother and so likewise when he saith Thou shalt not steal he commands us not to detain and keep back the Tythes and Offerings from Gods Ministers Whereby you may see that this commandment of paying our Tythes is a Moral precept and implicitely contained and comprehended in the Moral Law And if you say The maintenance of the Ministers may be included in those Obj. Moral commandments to be commanded for the performance of Gods outward service and to uphold and further the Sanctifying of his Sabbath yet there is no proof that that maintenance which is implied in those precepts must be the Tenth part rather then the eleventh fifteenth or the twentyeth part of our goods I answer That I have proved already That the very Tythe or tenth part Sol. is the continual due that belongs to Christ as he is a continual Priest for ever and all the precepts of Christ and commandments of God being Brevia levia utilia very
non successit aliâ aggrediâ—mur viâ Seeing we failed herein we will attempt another way And to that end they frame a Bill of Attainder against him and this if it passe by the major part of both Houses and have the Royal assent will bring him to his just deserved death And herein I will not say they shewed themselves worse than the Jews because that when their malice was at the highest pitch against Christ they said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die and these haters of the Earl seeing they had no Law will have a Law to be made that shall bring him unto his death because the House might have reasons which my sense cannot conceive Yet some of his friends have said that after a former prosecution according to Law to make a new Law where there was none before to take away The rubs of â—e Bill how taken away a mans life is almost as bad as the Romancy-Law that I read of to hang him first and then judge him afterward to which I assent not and not many lesse than 60. worthy Members of the House of Commons would never yield to passe that Bill and it had a greater rub among the Lords where it is thought not upon any slight conjectures it had never passed but that this rub must be taken away by a new device for that the Faction judging some of them might be more timorous than malicious and remembring that primus in orbe deos fecit timor Fear is a powerful passion that produceth many strange effects the Apprentices and Porters Water-men and Car-men and all the rascal rout of the ragged Regiment were gathered together by some Chedorlaomer and came as they did against Christ with swords and staves without order with great impudency to awe them and to cry for Justice against him and this was done and done again and again until the business that they came for was done A course not prevented that may undo all Justice and bring us all to be undone And yet all this will not do this deed until the King passeth His assent for as yet the new Law of Orders and Ordinances without the King was The Kings great pains to search out the truth not hatched And the good King having so graciously so indefatigably taken such care and such pains in his own Person every day to hear and see all that could be laid unto his charge and how he had answered each particular was so just and of such tender and religious conscience that he was not satisfied as men conceived with the weight of those reasons that were produced to passe the same Therefore here I find another Stratagem used such as Hannibal could not invent to effect this hard task â— What To perswade mildness to become severe or to cause a just and most clement Prince so full of mercy so proue to pardon where there is a fault and so loth to punish but where he must by the Law of Justice the greatest fault to yield to put him to death that was in many things so excellent in his life The task was to procure his assent to passe this Bill and how shall this be done As the Man of God could not be perswaded by any man but by a Man of God a Prophet by a Prophet so now the Bishops that were good men men of conscience and set apart by God to resolve and satisfie weak and tender consciences are thought fit to be sent unto this good King to perswade him as men supposed that to prevent a greater mischief he might justly passe this Bill and either 6. or 4. of the prime Prelates are requested by the Lords to go unto the King to assay how far they can prevail with him herein And so they went and how they dealt with His Majesty I do not fully understand but am informed by some that went that they assured Him he ought to satisfie himself in point of Law by his Judges and of State by his Council And how they did any otherwise in any other thing rectifie his Conscience in point of Divinity which belonged unto themselves I cannot tell But though I think no man can justly lay the least tittle of blame upon the just King no not the Earl himself as himself professed for yielding to such and so earnest perswasions of I know not how many reverend Bishops wise Counsellours grave Judges and the flower of all his people to passe that Bill whatsoever it was Yet to say what I conceive with their favour of my Brethren the Bishops The Bishops right to vote in any cause in the prosecution of this cause I am perswaded that they had no reason to withdraw themselves from the House and to desert their own Right when the Bill or the Judgement was to passe against the Earl upon this slight pretence alledged against them by the baters of the Earl and no lovers of the Bishops That a Clergy-man ought not to have any Vote or to be present at the handling of the cause of blood or death for they might know full well when my Lords grace of York did most cleerly manifest this truth that the first inhibition of the Clergy to be present and assistant in causâ— sanguinis or judicio mortis in the Canon of Innocent the third as I remember for I am driven to fly without my Books was most unjust only to tie the Bishops to his blind obedience to the apparent prejudice of all Christian Princes by denying this their service unto them and it is no wayes obligatory to bind us that are by the Laws of our Land not only freed but also injoyned to abandon all the unjust Canons that are repugnant to our Laws and derogatory to our Kings and to renounce all the usurped authority of the Pope For I would fain know what Scripture or what reason Pope Innocent can alleadge to exclude them from doing that good service both to God and their King which in all reason they can or should be better able to do than most others And I am sure that neither in the old nor in the new Testament nor yet in the Primitive Church until these subtile Popes began thus to incroach upon the Rights of Princes to take away the Prerogatives of Kings and to domineer over the consciences of men this exclusion of them from the highest act of Justice was never found For did not Moses Joshua Samuel Eliah Elizâ—us Jeâ—oida and others of The Prophets and Apostles judged in the case of life and death the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament and S. Peter also the Prince of the Apostles in the new Testament judge in the case of blood and pronounced the sentence of death against Malefactors As when Ananias and Sapphira were suddenly brought unto their end by the judgement of the Apostle and if they be able and fit to judge of any thing then why not of this If you say because
do admire that the wisdom of the Kings Counsel but that they which as the Apostle saith are not ignorant of the devices of Satan are not permitted by these men to be of His Councel could not espy what mischief might lurk under this fair shade or what might be the Consequences of such a Parliament that is inconsistent with a Monarchy and therefore must in a convenient time be ended or else will make an end of all Monarchical Government Why then might not a year or two or three or more so the years were limited suffice to determine all businesses but that the life of this Parliament should be endless and the continuance thereof undetermined This is beyond the age of the Counsel of Trent that they say lasted above forty years for I presume if some of What the faction could be contented with Complaint p. 19. the contrivers of this Design might have their desires the youngest of us should hardly see the Dissolution of this Parliament Til the earthly Houses of our Tabernacles be dissolved for it is likely they could be well contented as one saith to make an Ordinance that both Houses should be a Corporation to take our Lands and Goods to themselves and their successours and when any of that Corporation dieth â—oties quoties the surviver and none else should choose a successour to perpetuity so they should be Masters of our Estates and disposers of all we have as they are now for ever And therefore this was a Plot beyond the Powder-plot and beyond the device of Semiramis that with a lovely face desired her husband she The plot of Semiramis might rule but three daies to see how well she could mannage the State and obtaining her request in the first thereof she removed all the Kings Officers in the second she placed her own minions in all the places of Power and Authority as now the faction would do such as they confide in in all places of strength and in the third day she cut off the Kings head and assumed the Government of all the Kings Dominions into her own hands for not three daies nor three years will serve their turn for fear they shall not have ability in so short a space to finish all their strange intended projects and therefore that they might not be hindered their request is unlimited that the Parliament should not be dissolved till both Houses gave consent which they were contented should 〈◊〉 Gracas Calendas Yet God that knew best what punishments were due to be inflicted for their former Actions and for all the subtle Devices of their hard heâ—rts gave way for this also that this third Impediment of their projects might be removed that so at last their sins like the sins of the Amorites by little and little growing unto the full might undergo the fulness of Gods vengeance which as yet I fear was not fully come to pass for till the Parliament was made perpetual the things that they have done since were absolutely unimaginable because that while it How the faction hath strengthened it self was a dissolvable body they durst not so palpably invade the known rights either of King or Subjects whereas now their Body being made indissoluble they need not have the same apprehension of either having strengthened themselves by a Bill against the one and by an Army against the other and therefore all the dissolutions of Parliaments from the beginning of them to this time have not done half that mischief as the continuance of this one hath done hitherto and God only knowes what is to succeed hereafter But seeing themselves have publickly acknowledged in their Declarations that they were too blame if they undertook any thing now which they would not undertake if it were in His Majesties power to dissolve them the next day and they have since used this means which was given them to disburthen the Common-Wealth of that debt which was thought insupportable to plunge it irrevocably into a far greater What many wise men do say debt to the ruine of the whole Kingdom to change the whole frame of our Government and subjecting us to so unlimited an arbitrary power that no man knows at the sitting of the House what he shall be worth at the rising or whether he shall have his liberty the next day or imprisonment Many wise men do say they see no Reason that this trust being forfeited and the faith reposed in them betrayed the King may not immediatly re-assume that power of dissolving them into his own hands again and both our unjustly abused King and our much injured people declare this Act to be voyd when as contrary to their own Faith and the trust of the King they abuse it to overthrow the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom though I could heartily wish that because it still carrieth the Countenance of a Law the faction would be so Wise to yield it to be presently dissolved by a Law CHAP. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature THere was one stop more that might hinder or at least hardly suffer The fourth impediment of their design their plots to succeed according to their hearts desire and that is the Bishops Votes in the Vpper House nay they cannot endure to call it so but in the House of the Lords for they rightly considered therein these two special things Which are two main things to stop and hinder many evils For 1. Their Number 2. Their Abilities 1. They had Twenty six Voyces which was a very considerable number and might stop a great gap and stay the stream or at least moderate the violence of any unjust prosecution 2. They were men of great Learning men of Profound knowledge both in Divine and Humane Affairs and men well educated à â—unabulis that spent all their time in Books and were Conversant with the dead that feared not to speak the truth and have wearied themselves in reading Histories comparing Laws and considering the Affairs of all Common-wealths The abilities of the Bishops and so were able if their modesty did not silence them to discourse de quolibet ente to untie every knot and to explain every riddle and being the immediate servants of the living God set apart as the Apostle speaketh to offer Sacrifice and to administer the Sacraments of God to prepare a people for the Kingdom of Heaven it ought not and it cannot be otherwise imagined by any child of the Church that is a true believer but that they are men of Conscience to speak the truth and to do justice in any cause and betwixt any parties more then most others especially those young Pardon me good Lords for so plainly speaking truth Lords and Gentlemen whose years do want experience and the course of their lives some in Hawking and Hunting and others in Dâ—cing and
might be possest of that fear qui cadit in fortem constantem virum for mine eyes did see them and mine ears did hear it said What Bishop soever they met they would be his death and I thanked God they knew not me to be a Bishop Then they set upon Saint Peters Church of Westminster Their furious assault upon Saint Peters Church in Westminster burst part of the door to pieces and had they not been most manfully withstood by the Arch-Bishop of York his Gentlemen and the Prebends Servants together with the Officers of the Church they had entred and likely ransacked spoyled and defaced all the Monuments of the Ancient Kings broken down the Organs and committed such Sacriledge and prophanation of that Holy place as their fellow Rebels have done since in Canterbury Winchester Worcester and other places whereof I shall speak hereafter the like was never seen among the Turks and Pagans and after these things what rage cruelty and barbarity they would have shewed to the Dean and Prebends we might well fear but not easily judge I am sure the Dean was forced to hire Armed Souldiers to preserve the Church for many daies after for seeing these riotous Tumults could not as yet obtain their ends they came nay they were brought again and again and they justled and offered some violence unto the Arch-Bishop's Grace as he went with the Earl of Dover into the Parliament House which made him and the rest of his brethren justly to fear what might be the issue of these sad beginnings which they conceived must needs be very lamentable if timely remedy were not applied to prevent these untimely frights and unchristian tumults Therefore when no Complaints either to the House of Lords or Commons could produce any safe effects but rather a frivolous excuse than a serious redress that they came to petition against the Government and not to seek the destruction of the Governours the Bishops were inforced and in my judgment flesh and blood could take no better course in such a case in such distress and I believe it will be found wisdom hereafter to make their Petition for their security and Protestation against all Acts as null they might have added to them and whom they represented that should be enacted in their unwilling absence while they were so violently hindered from the House and it may be some word might pass in this Protestation that might be bettered or explained by another word yet on such a suddain in such a fright when they scarce had time to take Counsel of their pillows or to advise with their second thoughts quae semper sunt saniores To watch for iniquity to turn aside the Esay 29. 20 21. just for a thing of nought to take advantage of a word or to catch men for one syllable to charge them with High Treason to bring them unto death so many Reverend Bishops to such a shameful end was more heavy than ever I find the Jews were to the old Prophets or the Pagan Tyrants unto the Primitive Fathers nor do I believe you can Parallel the same charge in any History yet 3. For this one necessitated Act of the Bishops the House of Commons 3. How they were committed to Prison do suddainly upon the first sight thereof charge twelv of them with High Treason they were not so long Condemning it as the Bishops in Composing it and accordingly the Lords commit them unto Prison And if this was Treason I demand why could they not prove it so to be Or if it was not why should such an House Flos Medulla regni the greatest and the Highest Court of Justice from which the King consenting with them there lieth none appeal but only to the Court of Heaven accuse them of High Treason I would not have that Court to charge a man with any thing that were not most true for certainly whosoever unjustly compasseth my death is justly guilty of death himself when as the Poet saith Lex non justior ulla Quà m necis artifices arte perire suâ It may be they would have us to believe this Treason was not proved nor the charge so fully followed as they intended out of some mercy to save their lives but I could sooner believe they rejâ—yced to see them fear and were glad of their mistake that they might charge them and by such a charge cast them into prison that so they might the more easily work their Design to cast them out of the Parliament which now they have soon effected and procured an Act for their exclusion And you must know that to cast out from doing good or serving God is a work of the Divel and not of God so the wicked Husbandmen did cast out the right Heir of the Vine-yard out of his own inheritance so the The consquentes of this Act. Jews did cast out the blind man and all that professed Christ out of their Synagogue But you may better judge of this good Act by these consequences which are like to be the fruits thereof 1. Hereby they are all made incapable to do any good either for Gods 1. Made incapable of doing any good honour or their neighbours benefit by executing justice or pronouncing judgment in any cause in any temporal Court and justice which long agon hath fled to Heaven and wanders as a stranger here on earth must be countenanced and entertained only by the sons of men by secular Lords and Gentlemen and the Spiritual Lords the Servants of God and messengers of Heaven must have nothing to do with her not because they are not as well able as any other to do justice but because the others cannot endure to let them see it for fear they should hinder their injustice and therefore justice and judgment are like to speed well on earth when their chiefest friends are banished from them and it may be worldlings oppressours or most ignorant youths rather than any just understanders of their natures must be their Judges 2. Hereby they are made unable to defend themselves or their calling 2. Made unable to defend themselves from any wrong their respect was little enough before and their indignities were great enough and yet now we are exposed to far greater miseries and to 〈◊〉 injuries when a Bishop hath not so much Authority as a Constable â—â— withstand his greatest affronts But hoc Ithacus est this is that which the Devil and his great Atreides's his prime Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope
twentieth part and they may for ought we know set down the tenth for the twentieth and if they may legally do this we can see no reason why by the same Rule they may not take the fifteenth tenth or half our goods for the same purpose and so they avouch they may but most untruly For it was never known till this present Parliament that an Ordinance of both Houses without the consent nay against the Command of the King can bind the free Subjects of England which do not then renounce their lâ—yalty to their King when they make choice of them to be their Procurators in the Parliament in their lives liberties or estates and yet these men not only bestow our monies as they please as they did six thousand pound to their own Speaker and the places of Command and great Profit more than all the Revenues of their lands come to upon themselves and upon their children and friends as upon Sir John Hotham the Lord Rochford Lord Say Lord Brook Hampden Brereton Fine the Earl of Essex and abundance more but they do also seize upon our estates and thus take our goods under the colour of maintaining this War to inrich themselves and their children And for the levying of this or what other part they please they ordain their friends and appoint their Collectors to distrain for the sum assessed and to sell the distress and if no distress can be found then the persons of these notable offenders that deny their goods thus illegally to be taken from them are to be imprisoned and their families to be banished from their habitations And to make the World believe how justly and sufficiently legal they could do this they made another Ordinance for the inhabitants of the Counties of Northampton Rutland Derby c. to pay the twentieth part and to be assessed by the Assessors that they name in imitation of the Statute lately made for the four hundred thousand pound and it is more than probable that this proceeding is but the praeludium of the like exaction to be extended when their need requireth to all the other parts of the Kingdom which is a most miserable course and injustice not to be paralleld to cast themselves into a necessity of getting money to maintain an impious War against their King and then out of that necessity to compel their fellow-Subjects and those peaceable men that do abominate this War to maintain the same yea and to fight in the same to kill men against their consciences in despite of their teeth or if they resuse to do it to send or at least to permit a party of Horse Dragooneers and other strength to go to fetch their Money Plate or other goods as if they were the goods of the deadly enemies of the Common-wealth and this for none other reason but for that the owners thereof are good Subjects to the King and not well-affected to their unjust and ungodly proceedings But let me perswade all men that do fear God still to suffer any thing which they cannot avoid from the violence of these wicked men rather than to contribute any thing unto them to further such abominable courses as they prosecute against the Law of God and man Because the Lord commandeth us to fear none of those things that we shall suffer but to stand in Rev. 2. 10. our integrity unto death and we shall be crowned with the crown of life 3. They have discharged the Apprentices and servants from their Masters 3. How they discharged the Apprentices compelledthem to fight services and have either compelled or perswaded them to serve in their Army against the King and that without the consent and against the will of their Masters and Dames yea sometimes against the commands of their own Parents which I speak from their own mouths 4. They have imprisoned very many hundreds of most able and most 4. How they imprisoned our men without cause honest men even so many that the Prisons are not able to contain them but they are fain to consecrate the greatest houses in London to become Prisons as the Bishop of London's house Eâ—y-house Winâ—hester-house Lambeth-house Crosby-house the Savoy and the like And this they do for none other cause but either for performing the duties of their places and discharging their obedience to his Majesty as the last Lord Maior Gurney which deserved rather to be commended than committed if we believe many that were present at his Tryal or petitioning unto them as Sir George Bynion and Captain Richard Lovelace and Sir William Boteler of Kent because they did not therein flatter and approve their present Complaint p. â— wicked courses or intending to petition unto the King for relief of these lamentable distresses as those Gentlemen of Hertford-shire and Westminster or for being as they conceived disaffected unto their disloyall Orders A strange thing and injustice beyond prehdent not the like to found among the Pagans That where no Law can condemn a man for his affections when no action is committed against Law men shall be robbed of their estates and adjudged for Malignants which is also a crime most general and without the compasse of any Statute and then for this new-created sin to be condemned and imprisoned and therein to remain without Tryal of his offence perhaps as long as the Archbishop of Canterbury And this wonder is the rather to be wondered at because it is the sense of both Houses if we may believe Master Pym That it is against the M Pym in his Speech at the Gaild hall Rules of Justice that any man should be imprisoned upon a general Charge when no particulars are proved against him For never Charge can be more general than to be ill-affected or a Malignant or a man not to be confided in whereof you find ten thousand in the City of London and many hundred thousands in the Kingdom and therefore when we find so many persons of Honour and Reputation imprisoned only upon this surmise without any other particular Charge so much as once suggested against them as was the Lord of Middlesex the Lord of Portland and abundance more and detained in prison because they were ill-affected in that they have not contributed to the maintenance of this War we see how insensibly they have accused themselves to have laid this insupportable punishment beyond the desert of the transgressors and against the Rules of all Justice and how they have forgotten their Protestation and exceedingly infringed the liberty of the Subjects whereof they promised to be such faithful Procurators CHAP. XIII Sheweth the proceedings of this Faction against the Laws of the Land the Priviledges of Parliament transgressed eleven special wayes 3. FOr the Laws of our Land which are either private as those chiefly 3. Their proceedings against the Laws which belong unto the Parliament and are called the Priviledges of Parliament or Publick which are Inheritance of every Subject you shall find
to have their own wills them but whom themselves will choose and their choice cannot long satisfie their mindes but as the Jews received Christ into Jerusalem with the joyfull acclamation of Hosanna and yet the next day had the malicious cry of Crucifige so the least distaste makes them greedy of a new change such is the nature of the People But though I said before the election of our chiefe Governours may for many respects be approved of God among some States yet I hope by this that I have set down it is most apparent unto all men contrary to the tenet of our Anabaptisticall Sectaries that the hereditary succession of Kings to govern God's People is their indubitable right and the immediate prime principal Ordinance of God therefore it concerns every man as much as his soul is worth to examine seriously whether to fight against their own King be not to resist the Ordinance of God for which God threatneth no less punishment then damnation from which Machiavel cannot preserve us nor any policy of State procure a dispensation CHAP IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themselves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel and how our Kings are of the like institution with the Kings of Israel proved in the chiefest respects at large and therefore to have the like honour and obedience AS every lawfull King is to be truly honoured in regard of God's Ordinance 2. All kings are to be honoured in respect of God's precept considered two wayes 1. What we should not do so likewise in respect of God's precept which commandeth us to honour the King and this duty is so often inculcated and so fully laid upon us in the holy Scripture that I scarce know any duty towards man so much pressed and so plainly expressed as this is 1. Negatively what we should not do to deprive him of his Honour 2. Affirmatively what we should do to manifest and magnifie this Honour towards him for 1. Our very thoughts words and works are imprisoned and chained up in the linkes of God's strictest prohibition that they should no wayes peeep forth to produce the least dishonour unto our King for 1. The Spirit of God by the mouth of the wisest of men commands us 1. To think no ill of the King Curse not the King no not in thy thought Eccles 10. 30. to think no ill of the King let the King be what he will the precept is without restriction you must think no ill that is you must not intend or purpose in your thoughts to do the least ill office or disparagement to the King that ruleth over you be the same King virtuous or vitious milde or cruell good or bad this is the sense of the Holy Ghost For as the childe with Cham shall become accursed if he doth but dishonour and despise his wicked father or his father in his wickedness whom in all duty he ought to reverence so the Subject shall be liable to Gods vengeance if his heaâ—t shall inâ—end the least ill to his most tyrannicall King 2. The same Spirit saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods that is the Judges of 2. To say no ill of the King Exod 22. 28. Act 23. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. To do no hurt to the King Psal 105. 15. 1 Sam. 24 4 5. the Land nor curse that is in â—aint Pauls phrase speak evill of the Ruler of the people and what can be more evill then to bely his Religion to traduce his Government and to make so faithfull a Christian King as faithless as a Cretan which is commonly broached by the Rebels and Preached by their seditious Teachers 3. The great Jehovah gives this peremptory charge to all Subjects saying Touch not mine Anointed which is the least indignity that may be and therefore Davids heart smote him when he did but cut off the lap of Sauls garment What then can be said for them that draw their swords and shoot their Cannons to take away the life of Gods Anointed which is the greatest mischiefe they can do I beleive no distinction can blinde the judgment of Almighty God but his revengefull hand will finde them out that so maliâ—iously transgress 2. What we should do to honour the King Eccles 8. 2. 1. To observe the kings commands his precepts and think by their subtilty to escape his punishments 2. The Scriptures do positively and plainly command us to shew all honour unto our King â—or 1. Solomon saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandment or as the phrase imports to observe the mouth of the King that is not onely his written law but also his verball commands and that in regard of the oath of God that is in respect of thy Religion or the solemne vow which thou madest at thine initiation and incorporation into Gods Church to obey all the precepts of God whereof this is one to honour and obey the King or else that oath of â—â— si religio tollitur nulla no bis cum coelo ratio est Lactant Inst l. 3. c. 10. allegiance and fidelity which thou hast sworn unto thy King in the presence and with the approbation of thy God which certainly will plague all perjurers and take revenge on them that take his name in vain which is the infallible and therefore most miserable condition of all the perjured Rebels of this Kingdom For if moral honesty teacheth us to keep our promises yea though it were to our own hindrance then much more should Christianity teach us to observe our deliberate and solemn oathes whose violation can bear none other fruit then the heavy censure of God's fearful indignation But when the prevalent faction took a solemn Oath and Protestation to defend all the Privileges of Parliament and the Rights of the Subjects and then presently forgetting their oath and forsaking their saith by throwing the Bishops out of the House of Peers which all men knew to be a singular Priviledge How the prevalent Faction of the Parliament forâ—wore themselves 2. To obey the kings commandements Josh 1. 18. * Quia in talibus non obedientes mortaliter peccanâ— nisi foreâ— illud quod praecipitur contra praeceptum Dei vel in sa lutis dispendium Angel summa verb. obedientia 3 To give the king no just cause of anger Prov. 2. 2. The Rebels have given him cause enough to be provoked 4. To speak reverently to the king and of the king Eccles 8. 4. and the House of Lords acknowledged to be the indubitable right of the Bishops and their doctrine being to dispence with all oaths for the furtherance of the cause it is no wonder they falsifie all oaths that they have made unto the King 2. The people said unto Joshua Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment
doth cause them to leave their Parishes and charge unlooked unto and their flock untaught and then the superstitious mendicant Friar cometh to instruct and lead the silly ignorant Irish as he pleaseth And truly to say what I think though I am far enough from Popery and from all Popish errors and superstitions as I hope all the Sermons that I have Preached and the Books that I have Printed can bear witness unto the World yet as Alexander Severus told an unruly Victualler that would not suffer the Christians to erect a Church in a place which he thought more convenient and fit for him to sell Ale in it That it was better God should be served in any place and in any way then that he should have his way and God not served in any place nor any way as I shewed to you before so I conceive it better to be Superstitious then Prophane better to be a Papist then an Atheist and better to have a Popish Priest to give some light to them that sit in darkness and some knowledge of Christ to them that otherwise would know nothing then not to have any Priest at all And therefore if you would abandon Popery and suppress all popish Priests out of Ireland which is my heart's desire then I desire withal that this and all other lewd and wicked customes be taken away the lands houses â—nd possessions of the Church be restored and all impropriations reduced to their first institution that so a sufficient Ministery may be maintained here in Ireland as they are in England and that the poor ignorant Irish may have honest and able Protestant Ministers and as many as may be of And to that end the natives according to the institution of the Colledge should be placed in the Colledge at Dublin the which thing hitherto they say hath been too much neglected their own Nation to live amongst them and to instruct them and then God will blesse this Nation and the true Protestant Religion will prosper and flourish and both we and they shall live happily together which otherwise will very hardly if ever come to pass Because that now we have not our knowledge by inspiration we cannot in an instant understand and speak all Tongues and we cannot work miracles but we must buy many Books to learn Languages and to get knowledge which the Apostles had without any Book and we must spend our time in reading writing studying and praying to God to assist us and to inable us to instruct our people and all this cannot be done without maintenance and means to do it And therefore where there is no sufficient maintenance there can be no sufficient Ministery no instructing of the people no true serving of God as it ought to be And what a heap of unspeakable mischiefs and miseries do these evil customes impropriations and taking away the land houses and pâ—ssessions of the Church bring amongst us And therefore seeing the Souldiers Captains and others of the Military rank that have gotten the lands of the Irish Rebels which for their service they have justly deserved have likewise unjustly seized upon Godâ— part and the lands houses and possessions of the Church and are as fast wedded to these evils as to their wives so that we can more easily overcome Golias or pull the club out of Hercules hands than our lands out of these mens fingers It is high time and I hope no good man will be offended with us for it to implore and most humbly to beg and beseech the help and assistance of our Most gracious King to redress these intolerable abuses and to drive away this three-headed Cerberus or rather this many-headed Hidra the manifold Sacriledge and the great oppression of the Church of Christ that is used in these dayes and especially in this Kingdom of Ireland at this time For I call Heaven and Earth to witness that ever since the monstrous undutiful and unnatural murder of that Most glorious Martyâ— your Majestie 's most dear Father my Most gracious Master Charles the First until the happy Arrival of your gâ—acious Majesty I lived more quietly and contentedly when all my Ecclesiastical Preferments were taken from me and not 20 pound per annum left me in all the world to maintain me than now I do when by your gracious goodnâ—sse all the Church Rights and Inheritances are commanded unresistably to be yielded unto us for your Majesty may be well assured that they which neither for love of Gods favour nor fear of his vengeance will observe Gods Commandments will never regard to obey your commandments And therefore many of our Military men Colonels Captains and others that fought for the Long-Parliament and Crumwell do with some of your Commanders that herein imitate them divide and teare the Revenues and Garment of the Church the Spouse of Christ worse than the Souldiers of Pilate did with the Coat of Christ And therefore now in mine old age well-nigh 80. years I am forced to bestow all my labour and take pains and many journeys which an old man can hardly do and spend all my means in Law which were better bestowed upon the poor to wring the Church-means out of their hands or suffer the same through my remisness to be swallowed down into the belly of Hell and leave my self to be liable to that great account which I must render for my neglect of doing mine uttermost endeavour to recover it at the last Day the which wonderful streight that I am put to doth wonderfully discontent and trouble me continually which makes me oftentimes to think that I were better to resign my Bishoprick if I knew it were no offence to God to some younger man that could better combate with these Golias's than for me to agonize as I do to recover my right who may well cry out with the Poet Impar congressas Achilli But the nearness of the time that I must render mine account of my Stewardship unto God hath strengthned me to write this Treatise against Sacriledge and especially the Sacriledge of this Climate and more particularly of this Diocesse of Ossory where the Irish behind me the English before me the Citizens of the Corporation of Kilkeny and Crumwells Captains on the one hand and your Majestie 's faithful Souldiers and Subjects in Anno 1649. on the other hand do all seem to me to become faithless unto Christ and to fight against God to take away the Inheritance of his Church from us that are his weak servants And it hath imboldned me likewise most humbly to supplicate your Majesty to take notice of these wrongs done unto us which you do not know and to assâ—â—t me to gain that right unto the Church which I without your Majesties assistance cannot do and to pardon me for my boldness and whatsoever else I have done amisse CHAP. XX. The Autheâ—r's supplication to Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause which we his weak servants
cannot do against so many rich powerful and many-friended adversaries of his Church ANd now sweet Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ having made mine humble addresse according to my bounden duty to thine Annointed thy Livetenant and my Sacred Soveraign to assist thy servants to maintain thy right Thy right I say as thou art a Priest and a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and I know that his Majesty being the son of so pious and so gracious a Father as is now so glorious with thee in Heaven will stretch forth his Royal hand as thou didst unto S. Peter to preserve us from sinking I must now with fear and reverence and in all humility crave leave to return my speech unto thy Sâ—lf and as â—hou hast commanded us to hear thy voice so thou hast promised to hear our prayers And therefore I pray thee let not my Lord be angry but suffer thy servant to speak unto thee And we confess that we are not worthy to â—it with the dogs of thy flock yet thou hast called us to a most high and honourable place to be thine Embassadours to thy chosen people and unto Kings and Princes to be thy Stewards and the Dispensers of thy manifoldgraces And according to our places thou hast commanded us to behave and carry our selves as may be most agreeable for thine Honour to preach thy word to relieve the poor to keep hospitality to build thine House and to do other the like works of piety and charity And we know that thou art not like Pharaoh a cruel Master that taketh Matth. 21 33. Matth. 2â— 14. Luke 19 13. away the straw and yet will require the whole tale of bricks for thou didst deliver thy Vineyard unto the Husbandmen before thou didst expect the fruits of it and thou gavest thy Talents unto thy servants before thou didst look for any gain from them But now O Lord God our straw is kept from us our vineyard is taken away and we have scarce any one talent left unto us for O God the It was all taken from us and now still much is detained from us Heathen have come into thine Inheritance and as of old they made Hierusalem so now of late they have made the famous Church of S. Keny and many other Churches in Ireland an heap â—â— stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the air and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the field And as the Prophet David said The Tabernacles of the Edomites and Ismaelites the Moabites and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalec the Philistines with them that dwell at Tyre Assure also is joyned with them and have holpen the children of Lot to devour Jacob and to lay waste his dwelling place So the Independents the Arminians the Brownists the Anabaptists Luther and Calvin and Cartwright the Hugonots with them that are called Quakers and the Jesuites also have joyned with them and have to the â—ttermost of their power holpen our Grand Opposers the Presbyterians if not to devour the seed of Jacob to destroy the Church and thy Service which they now deny to desire to do it yet I am sure to be confederate against thee and to lay waste thy dwelling place to imagin craftily against thy people the true Royalists and to take counsel against the secret ones the Bishops and Governours of the Church And as Elias said of the children of Israel They 1 Reg. 19. 10. have forsaken thy Covenant they have thrown down thine Altars and they have killed thy Prophets So I may say of the children of Belial they have forsaken the true Protestant Religion they threw down thy Churches they killed many of thy servants and they said Come and let us root out the Bishops that they be no more a people and that the name of Episcopacy may be no more in remembrance and to that end as the Prophet saith They brake down all our carved and curious works with axes and hammers they have set fire upon thy holy places and have defiled the dwelling place of thy Name even to the ground Yea and they said in their hearts Let Psal 74. 7 8. us make havock of them altogether And by taking away all our lands houses and possessions they fed us with the bread of tears and gave us plenteousness Psal 80. 5 of tears to drink and so they made us a very strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laughed us to scorn when they saw us made as the filth of the world and as the â—ff-scouring of all things 1 Cor. 4. 13. And though thou hast brought unto us a most gracious King to our unspeakable joy and comfort yet to this very day they and their â—ssociates and that which troubles us most of all they that come in thy Name and under pretence of thy Service and for service done unto thee and thy Church do by the example of those thine enemies and the haters of thy Church either through ignorance or covetousness labour by all means and with great friends to blind the eyes of our good King that he should not understand the truth of the Churches Right that so they might the easier and the sooner carry away the lands houses and possessions of the Church from thee and from thy servants whereby they shall be made invalid and unable to discharge the duties and the works that thou requirest at their hands if thou dost not help them to their instruments and means wherewith they may do their work And therefore because we are weak and friendless and far unable to deal and to prevail against so many powerful armed men we lift up our eyes and hands to thee O Lord God and pray thee to arise and maintain thine own Cause and let not man have the upper-hand for they have rebelled against thee and have robbed thee as the Prophet testifieth and be not angry with us for ever but be gracious unto thy servants and lay not that to our charge which we cannot help when we have done our very best to preserve thy Right and to uphold thy Service but let the sin lie upon the heads of them that commit it Hear us O Lord our God and grant our request for Jesus Christ's sake thy dear Son and our only Saviour to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit our blessed Comforter be all Glory and Dominion and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen Jehovae Liberatori VINDICIAE REGUM OR THE GRAND REBELLION That is A Looking-Glasse for REBELS Whereby they may see how by ten several degrees they shall ascend to the height of their Design and so throughly rebell and utterly destroy themselves thereby AND Wherein is clearly proved by the holy Scriptures ancient Fathers constant Martyrs and our best modern Writers That it is no ways lawful for any private man or any sort or degree of men inferiour Magistrates Peers of the Kingdom