Royal Throne without a Rival a Rival did I say nay a most imperious Master that is very hard to please and yet if he be not pleased and humour'd in all things 't is a thousand to one but he will jostle him out of it and lay his Honour in the dust A Church in which he can Exercise but a part and that the meanest and most ignoble part of his Authority that only which concerns the Civil Polity and Rights for he may not meddle with Religion nor the Ministers of it who are exempt from his Jurisdiction and Sworn Vassals to his Superiour and as such ready to revenge the Injuries and Affronts the Prince offers to their great Masters if he dares be so rash and unadvised as to be guilty of any but of that afterwards A Church in which he that is Gods Image and Representative less only then God must sneak and truckle Meanly to an Upstart and Usurper a meteor drawn from the Earth and raised on high by Pride Avarice and Cruelty What Temptation then could his Royal Highness who is a wise Prince of a brave and generous Spirit and so exceeding tender of his Honour that he must needs in the highest manner resent the least Violation of his Right all diminution or lessening of his Power all invasion and usurpation of the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to it both by Divine and Humane Right if the Crown should descend to him What Temptation I say could such a Prince have to joyn himself to a Church in which he shall be so degraded and dishonour'd be a Vassal Underling to one that unjustly insolently and prophanely exalts himself above all that is called God that is all the Kings of the Earth Especially if we consider that the Church he forsakes or goes from Courts his stay by giving her Kings their full Authority all the Priviledges Prerogatives and Preheminences belonging to them in this that is the Church of England the King is declared Supream not only in Temporal but in all Causes Ecclesiastical superintends Religion as well as Civil Rights governs the Clergy chuses the Bishops convenes them when he sees cause to make Canons Constitutions Authorises Impowers them to consult debate to order conduct the Circumstances of Religion the Essentials of it being determined by God in Scripture what they agree upon he doth at their humble Petition if he approve of them by his Royal Edict confirm or pass into Laws Ecclesiastical and when they have effected what he called them together for he dismisses or dissolves the assembly Here the Kings Power within his Realms and Dominions is affirm'd and declared to be the Highest Power under God Canon 1 of the Canons Anno 1603. to whom all Men as well Inhabitants as born within the same do by Gods Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience And whosoever shall deny or oppose the Royal Supremacy is to be Excommunicated Canon 2. ipso facto and not to be restored but only by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of those his Wicked Errours So that they must be blind or wilfully shut their Eyes that do not see a vast difference in this great affair between ours and the Church of Rome in this the Pope is Supream Governour in all causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical nay in Temporal too so far as they concern Religion in that our Church I mean she Supremacy is given intirely to our Kings whose Power is expresly declared to be the highest under God and their Authority extended to all Persons as well Clergy as People and to all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal In the Church of Rome if the Prince claim the Supremacy which belongs to him by Divine Right he is Reputed and Treated as an Heretick that is Excommunicated and Deposed and if any of his Subjects dare to assert and openly maintain his Supremacy as in Duty and Conscience they are bound to do because it is their Princes undoubted Right they are Condemn'd to Dye and Adjudg'd Guilty of such a Crime as cannot be purged but by casting them into the Fire In our Church all the Clergy are requir'd to the uttermost of Canon 1. their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any colour or dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times at least every Year That all Usurped and Forreign Power forasmuch as the same hath no Establishment nor Ground by the Law of God is for most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that therefore no manner of Obedience and Subjection within His Majesties Realms and Dominions is due unto any such Forreign Power but that the King is Supream Governour Canon 55. in all his Realms and Dominions in all causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Or as it is express'd in the excellent Canons of the Year 1640 A Supream Power is Canon 1. given to this most excellent Order that is of Kings by God himself in Scripture which is that Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what Ranks or Estates soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should restrain and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers The Care of Gods Church is so committed to Kings in Scripture that they are commended when the Church keeps the right way and taxed when it runs amiss and therefore her Government belongs in chief unto Kings for otherwise one Man would be commended for anothers Care and taxed for anothers Negligence which is not Gods way And if any of our Clergy or Laity dare to impugn or oppose the Royal Supremacy they are Anathematiz'd or decreed to be Excommunicated which is the greatest Punishment the Church can inflict and the most dreadful one any Man can suffer in this World 'T is most apparent then that our Church gives and secures to the Crown that great and most precious Jewel the Supremacy which is the chief Glory and Ornament of it which the Church of Rome so unjustly steals from and Robs it of Here the Prince hath no Rival nor Competitor none to insult or Domineer over him as in the Romish Communion no Lord at all over him but the great Governour of all the World God Almighty to whom it is his Glory as well as Duty to be Subject and submit himself in all things And as our Church doth not diminish or lessen the Power of her Kings so it is so far from pretending any Jurisdiction or coercive Authority over them that it abhors and detests it declares it to be Treason both against God and the King for any to claim or challenge such Authority over them For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or a vow in any their said Realms or Territories Canons of 1640. Canon 1. respectively under any pretence whatsoever any Independent Coactive Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to
The Grand Expedient FOR Suppressing POPERY EXAMINED OR The PROJECT of EXCLUSION Proved to be contrary to Reason and Religion By Robert Clipsham Canon of Chichester To the Excluders Are your minds set upon Righteousness O ye Congregation and do ye judg the thing that is Right O ye Sons of Men Ps 58. 1. LONDON Printed for William Freeman over against the Devil-Tavern by Temple-Bar in Fleetstreet 1685. To the Honourable Sir John Farrington Knight one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex SIR THat I have prefix'd your Honour'd Name to this Discourse will not I am confident be displeasing to you for as much as in it I plead that Cause for which you have express'd so great a Concern When the Enemies of the Royal Family were at the highest puff't up with the vain hopes of gaining their so much desired Point the Exclusion of his Royal Highness When they reviled and treated the Opposers of that wicked Project at their pleasure even then as became a Person of Eminent Courage and Loyalty you declared your just Indignation against and condemn'd it as a most impious Device And seeing one great design of this Discourse is to prove the Bill of Exclusion to be as unjust as you have always thought it to whom with greater Reason can this that I have writ address it self for protection than to a Person of such known and unquestion'd Loyalty you being One of those Brave and Loyal Persons that truly honour and heartily desire the Felicity of the King and his most Glorious Family and this in so high a degree that you have suffer'd for it been most unjustly deprived of a considerable part of your Birth-right for no other cause at all but your Devotion to your Prince and Zeal for his Service But hereby you will be no looser in the end because God Almighty I am sure will bless and prosper you and all good men do and will love and honour you Besides your good opinion of this Discourse that it will be serviceable to the Great Ends I writ it for encouraged me to make it publick and to put it into the World under your Patronage not doubting but you will accept that which you were pleased to entertain such favourable thoughts of Hereby also I have an opportunity openly to acknowledg my great obligations to you and beseech you to receive this as a Testimony of my Gratitude for the many and undeserved civilities with which you have treated me which if you please to do I shall ever own it an high favour to him that hath the greatest reason to Subscribe himself Sir Your most humble and devoted Servant Robert Clipsham To the READER WHat Entertainment the following Discourse will find with Two sorts of Men is no hard matter to foretell They will Cast all the Contempt and Reproach they can upon It and the Author Muster up all the Calumnies and Slanders Attaque me with all the Wrath Bitterness Clamours and rude Language which they that reprove Mens Errours though for no other end but that they may be perswaded to reform them are commonly assaulted with One of the Factions will call me Heretick the Other Jesuite or Papist at the least That will be angry and revile me for declaring against the Errours of the Church of Rome This will be inraged and rail at me for charging some of the same crimes upon it especially for Condemning that they admire and are so fond of their beloved Bill of Exclusion But the great Searcher of hearts will I am sure acquit me from both those hateful Imputations because he knows me to be neither Heretick nor Papist though I confess indeed with St. Paul that after the way which they of the Church of Rome call Heresy and those of the Seperation as falsly call Popery so Worship I the God of my Fathers I am that is of the Excellent Religion by Law Establish'd amongst us and by the help of God resolve to live and die in it and therefore can be neither Heretick nor Papist and shall laugh rather than be troubled at them that call me either Though I have given neither of the Factions just cause to call me so because I have done them no wrong but fairely represented their Opinions and faithfully shew'd them their Errours that as becomes men calling themselves Catholicks and Christians they may reform them and therefore they ought rather to thank me for my charity than be angry with me They are to be blamed for running into such Errours and doing such evil things not I for proving them so to be If Rome be a dangerous Church for men to venture such a Treasure as their Souls in I did not make it so but only call upon all that please to read me to chuse a safer that they may be sure to obtain that Immortal glory and happiness the hope of which is the great joy of our Life and our only comfort and support when we are to dye and the enjoyment of it so desireable and unspeakable a good that none but the most foolish and the most faithless men can be careless and unconcern'd about it And if the Bill of Exclusion be unjust therefore contrary to the Excellent Laws of Christ the Authors Promoters and Admirers of it are to be blamed for fixing upon such a sinful Expedient not I for proving it so to be That God who hath done it hitherto is still able to protect our Gracious King and Excellent Religion from the designes of all their Enemies and it is mine and every good mans daily Prayers he will be pleased to do it Why then should any so far distrust his goodness as to do an unworthy thing to secure them which are as safe already under the shadow of his protection as they can possibly be And if this Project of Excluding his Royal Highness be unjust as I suppose I have proved it if it were put in practise it would rather deprive them of the safety they have already than procure them any more this being to renounce the Providence and the Defence of the Almighty which are endear'd and assured by Righteousness and to make Sin our Refuge which as he forbids so it must needs highly provoke him For my part I bear no hatred nor ill will to the persons in either of the Factions but wish them all happiness and shew them the way to obtain it that is by renouncing their Errours and all those Practises that are therefore Dangerous because Contrary to sound Doctrine and common Honesty Nor was it an itch after vain glory or a desire to be in Print that prompted me to write this Discourse I had no such mean inducements in my thoughts when I resolv'd upon this Subject for if that had been my design I could have chose one less obnoxious to censure and misunderstanding The Truth is I saw the King endanger'd for refusing to pass this unjust Bill the Kingdom miserably divided and
confession that he hath a Right to do it if he survive his Royal Brother otherwise the Law is needless and fights with a meer Chimera or Shadow Besides the Bill of Exclusion is in its own Nature and the Intention of the Authors of it either a Cautionary and Preventive or a Penal Bill or both a Cautionary and Preventive Bill to keep a Papist whether real or supposed I here dispute not from the Crown if so it strongly asserts the Dukes Right because without such a Prevention if he be the longer Liver the Crown will regularly and de jure devolve upon him or else a Penal Bill design'd to punish his revolt from ours to the Roman Church but what sense is it to punish him with the loss of that to which he hath no Right This is as wise as if the Venetians upon some Offence committed by their Duke should make a Law that he should never be King of France 't is brutum fulmen an empty noise and insignificant sound 't is a Law Penal and yet inflicts no Punishment a Diminution and yet the Person is no way lessen'd nor degraded by it His Royal Highness then the Excluders themselves being Judges hath a Right to succeed the King and that the Injustice of their attempt to take it from him may the better appear I shall briefly consider the greatness of this Right or the value of the thing they would deprive him of 'T is an old saying de minimis non curat Lex the Law takes no care about trifles and petty things but overlooks them as below its notice and concern But a Crown sure deserves to be reckon'd inter maxima amongst them that are greatest and most precious and that Law that takes no care to secure it to the Right owner much more that would Rob or deprive him of it ought to be abhorr'd and branded as summa injuria the highest Injury 't is not properly a Law but Impudent Tyranny and Oppression a Conspiracy or Combination of unjust Men to degrade a Prince and devest him of the greatest Right for such the Royal Dignity hath ever been Esteemed by Mankind and their high Value and Admiration of it appear from their Envy at them that have it and their bold attempts to Invade and Usurp it The greatest Enemies of Kings have been are and will be such as are desirous to be so themselves The Rich Orient Jewels that adorn a Crown cast such a tempting Lustre and look so Lovely in the Eyes of Corah and all his Sons that their murmurs and complaints against those that own it do commonly proceed from a Vehement desire to wear it themselves who being misled by their Ambition think it a Glorious Theft to Steal a Crown A prize so Rich and Valuable in their Opinion that they will seize it if they can upon any terms run the greatest hazards expose themselves to the most dreadful Dangers to obtain it attempt it as Jason did the Golden Fleece though watch'd by Dragons and guarded with all the Artillery of Heaven and Earth Bewitch'd and dazled with the splendour of a Royal Throne mad Corah will venture to invade it till oppress'd with the burthen of his Pride and Folly the Earth grows weary of and swallows him up Flatter'd with the delusive hopes of ascending this Foolish Absalon forgetting the Piety and Duty of a Son seduced the mutinous Tribes from their Allegiance to His Royal Father and by their Arms endeavour'd to Depose him whom Heaven it self had invested with the Government and nothing could reclaim the Traytor till he and his Ambition were buried together Search all Histories look out the best the bravest Prince that ever wore a Diadem a Prince adornd with the noblest and most lovely Vertues inrich'd with all those admirable perfections that can endear him to God and men yet these cannot secure him from the Tongues and Conspiracies of Traytors but with Impudent Calumny they will slander him to his People endeavour with cursed Lies to stain his Innocence blemish his vertues and to blast his Glories that they may rob him of the love and esteem of his People bring them by degrees to a dislike both of his Person and Government and so prepare them to take Arms against and depose him What Prince was ever more Merciful and Compassionate then King David as being fashioned and framed wholly according to his Heart who is the God of Mercy and Compassion Yet wicked Sheba the Son of Bichri lifted up his Hand against him and blew the Trumpet of Schism and Sedition to rent his Kingdom from him That peaceful and moderate Emperour Augustus honour'd by his Enemies for his God and the King Pa. 3d. Princely Vertues was assayled ten several times by Conspirators Vespasian even composed of Mildness and Clemency had daily Treasons against him and his Son Titus for his Pleasing and Amiable vertues termed by Suetonius the Love and Delight of Mankind wanted not a Trayterous Caecina Our Martyr'd Soveraign King Charles the Blessed that Mirrour of all Vertues in whom all the Glory and Perfections of his Illustrious Ancestors met and were United how was he Blasphem'd Dishonour'd Ruin'd by them that envied and aspir'd after his Royal Dignity and said with those Wicked men in the Gospel This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize his Inheritance Were Tyrants only subject to the Clamours and Mutinies of the People their misgovernment might justly be accounted the Sole cause of them but seeing the best the most just and mercyful Princes are equally assaulted by them it can be nothing but Envey or Ambition that prompts the chief Rebels and leading Mutineers to enterprise against them They think the Royal Dignity so Superlative a Glory such a transcendent Felicity that they repine and are grieved any should enjoy it but themselves and do what they can to jostle him that is by wright possessed of it out of the Throne that they may Seat themselves in it For though all Rebels pretend the common good yet they all intend their private Profit Honour and Advancement this is the mark they aim at that is only the Colour or Pretence with which they wheedle the People and draw them to their assistance The People 't is certain cannot be better nor happyer then under the Protection of a wise and good Prince under his Wings they are safe and free from Violence and Oppression Here then all Rebels begin their Base and Wicked attempts against their Prince this is their first work to perswade the People who are not so wise as to know when they are well that their Prince is not the Person they take him for neither Loves nor cares for them seems to be tender of their Rights only to make them secure that when opportunity serves he may seize them into his own Hands and spoyl them of all they have Or if the Princes Justice be so great that it cannot be blasted and no aspersions will stick
fifth Commandment taught that it is their Duty to Honour and Obey the King and all that are in Authority under him Every time they come to Prayers the Loyal Supplications Intercessions and upon special occasions Thanksgivings of our excellent Liturgy for the King and the Royal Family and the Inferiour Magistrates remind the People of the true Obedience and Subjection they owe and must pay to them and humbly beseech Almighty God to give them Grace to do it If they read the Pious and Venerable Homilies of our Church there theâ— Divine Original and Institution of Kings is fully proved the necessity of Obedience demonstrated the horrid guilt the dreadful mischiefs the woful Calamities of Rebellion explicated and detected the heavy Wrath and Vengeance of God upon Rebels and Traytors in this World and the horrible Damnation that attends them when they pass from hence Faithfully represented and described in a most Lively manner that all who Read them may Heartily abhor and carefully avoid so execrable a wickedness Nor doth the Loyalty of our Church lye Dead in the Books and Writings of it but Lives and Reigns in the Hearts of all the true Members of it and exerts or shews its Life and Vigour in their undaunted Courage Resolution and readiness to stand by and defend the Sacred Person Honour and Authority of their Prince against all that dare be so impudent and wicked as to assault the first to impair the second or to infringe the third I challenge all the World to shew me one true Member of our Church that so long as he continued so was found guilty of any Disloyal Practices No so far are they from that that the numbers cannot soon nor easily be told that have Sacrifiz'd their Lives Estates every thing that was dear to them in the Cause and Service of their Prince His and their Enemies could and did in the late times Deprive them of their Liberty Plunder them of their Goods Sequester their Estates strip them of all things else but their Loyalty they could not take from them this they preserv'd pure and untainted in the midst of all the Oppressions Cruelties and ill Usage they endured and when they were permitted to Live no longer to give any farther Testimonies of it bequeath'd it as the Choicest and Richest Legacy to their Off-spring Descendents nay by their true Christian Patience and Undaunted Courage at their Death a Glorious Death to them to which they were Condemn'd for serving their Prince did Recommend it to many that came to see them Dye A Loyalty not Limited or Conditional that Dyes if it be not cherish'd and kept alive by the Princes peculiar Favour and Bounty and continues no longer then he Pleases and Humours them but absolute and inconditional that cannot be shaken nor removed by any wrongs or ill usage but is the same when he Frowns upon as when he Favours them If he Oppress them in their Estates they Submit if he cause the Sentence of Death to be unjustly pass'd upon them they refuse not to Dye nay do it with the Meekness Patience and Charity of the Primitive Martyrs they will not lift up their Hands nor open their Mouths against him let him use them as he pleaseth The Fires of Queen Mary could not consume nor burn up their Loyalty nor scare them from their Allegiance she had never gain'd the Crown if the Loyal Protestants had not assisted her and the great Opposer of her Advancement to the Royal throne was the Duke of Northumberland who though he pretended to be a Protestant yet was really a Papist for so he declared himself to be upon the Scaffold at his Death Such a People make a Prince happy are his greatest Safety and Security and nothing but a guard of Angels from Heaven can be a better defence to him which by their Pious and Holy Prayers they are careful to call down to Protect him that no harm nor danger may happen to him And being sure by continuing in our Church to have such a Loyal Obedient People if the Crown should descend to him what Reason Motive or Inducement could his Royal Highness have to forsake it and joyn himself to the Papists People that are Infamous all the World over for Killing Kings Plotting Treasons Raising Seditions and Rebellions against them That are Obedient to their Prince no longer then he is a Slave to the Pope for how often did they Mutiny make Insurrections and Rebellions against King Henry the Eighth for renouncing and casting off the Popes Usurped Authority and resuming the Supremacy which belong'd to him by Divine Right as a Soveraign Prince Though he was a Zealous Professor and maintainer of the Romish Religion yet he was Alarum'd by frequent Tumults and Seditions and his owning that could not keep the Catholicks so they call themselves in Obedience to him unless he would be altogether a Slave to him that pretended to be the prime Minister of it And though a Prince Study to Please and Humour them all he can yet their Loyalty must needs be very fickle and precarious because the People of the Romish Communion have a mighty Dependence upon and are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy and the Clergy are exempted from the Princes Jurisdiction and Sworn Subjects to the Pope The People are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy who manage and govern them at their Pleasure and they must needs be so because they believe they can forgive their Sins absolutely whilst they Live and pray them out of Purgatory when they are Dead by forcing them to come to Confession they have Opportunity to know all their Errours Sins and Follies nay all their Thoughts Purposes and Intentions which renders them very Subject and Dependent Their Power also of Inflicting Penances and denying them Absolution if they do not please humour them keeps the People in great Slavery to their Priests because they think God will not if they do not forgive them so that the People are absolute Slaves to them and do every thing they require of them And the Clergy that thus Govern the People are wholly at the Popes Devotion they own him for their Lord and Master Swear Obedience to and depend upon him as their great Patron and Benefactor all their Preferments being if not in his Donation yet such as depend upon his Approbation and Confirmation so that if they do not receive them from his Bounty yet they Injoy them by his Favour which is Tantamount This makes them flatter and adore him as the chief if not sole Monarch and despise their Prince as an underling or meer Cypher that signifies nothing And at every little quarrel or disgust between his Holiness and him the Prince is sure to feel the sad effects of their Power with the People either in the Disturbance they cause in the State or the attempts they make upon his Person for if they cannot run him down with the pretence and
Nation think such Scandalous Sinners that they will have no Civil Commerce much less any Religious Communion or Society with them Thus our Lord Commands us to Love our Enemies and these are the weighty Arguments with which he urgeth us to the doing of it Suppose then his Royal Highness be a Papist and as such an Enemy to us that profess the Reformed Religion though neither of these is Certain must we not as our Lord here commands us Love and Bless and do him Good and Pray for him yes certainly if we will be Christians obey the Command of our Lord imitate our Heavenly Father and obtain the blessed Portion and Inheritance which he hath provided for all his obedient Children Consider then you that would Exclude him is your Black Bill by which you would degrade him from his Honour deprive him of his Birth-right banish him his Native Country any token of your Love to him If this be your Kindness and Good-will how cruel and implacable is your Enmity or Hatred Christian love or charity as St. Paul tells you suffereth long and is 1 Corinth 13. kind disposeth and obligeth the Soul in which it is to suffer or bear injuries from others especially his superiours with patience and submission will not allow him to think any evil of or do any to them but endeavour to melt and overcome them by kindness and good offices by fair carriage humble deportment respectful behaviour towards them seeketh not his own safety by anothers danger and rather suffer himself than cause another to doe it unjustly is so far from giving any unjust offence to any man that he is slow to wrath and not easily provok'd himself or if he be so at any time he is very placable ready and willing to be reconcil'd But your Charity if it may be so called would make the Duke suffer and that most unjustly that you may not do it your selves would lay the most intolerable Burthen and Oppression upon him that you may bear nothing your selves and therefore is unkind and cruel seeketh your own safety by his ruin your own gain and benefit by his loss and injury is so highly provoked upon bare suspicions and fears as not only to think and imagine but to attempt and indeavour to do him the greatest evil or wrong that can be offer'd to him So that instead of loving you hate him instead of doing him good you do him all the evil you can and would do him more if you could whereby you wilfully transgress and contemn this Noble and Royal Law of Christ prove your selves not to be the Children of God to have none of his Mercy and Goodness in you because he gives the Sun and the Rain temporal Blessings and Injoyments to his Enemys but you if you could bring your purpose about would take from his Royal Highness whom you suppose to be your Enemy that temporal Right and Inheritance which undoubtedly belongs to him if he survive our present most Gracious Soveraign Thereby also you that are by profession the best of Christians rank your selves amongst the Publicans and Sinners for they love their Friends and hate their Enemies and so do you And if ye love them that love St. Luke 6. 32. you what thank have ye for Sinners also love those that love them Besides in this Law Christ commands us to Love those that are our Enemies do actually Hate and Curse Dispitefully use and Persecute us but the Duke hath done none of these things hath not yet declared himself your Enemy by doing any of you any Injury and it may be never will so that in Reason and Conscience you are obliged to Love Honour and Treat him as your Friend But instead of that you have most Uncharitably suspected him for your Enemy when he gave you no cause to think him so and upon that suspition behaved your selves so Unjustly and Unhandsomely towards him as is enough to make him your Enemy though he were not never intended so to be Is this just and equal Is this Christian practise first to suspect or suppose a Prince to be your Enemy and then offer him such Injuries and Indignities as are so far from being Expressions of that Love which Christ requires all that profess his Religion to bear to their Enemies that they are Demonstrations of the blackest Malice and most implacable Hatred You should have stay'd till his Royal Highness had declared himself your Enemy made it appear he Hated you by some Injurious or Unjust action and when he had done it you should not have suffered your selves to have been overcome with Evil but have endeavour'd to overcome that Evil with Good You should have remember'd what our Lord here requires of you and seeing you profess your selves his Servants and Disciples have done accordingly for this New Way of loving your Enemy by preferring a Bill of Exclusion against him that is by attempting to ruin him is such a Token or Expression of your Love such a Pledg of your Kindness to him that the Duke hath no reason to thank you for it and is I am sure none of that love which our Lord requires us to bear to our Enemies If this be your behaviour towards a suspected how would you treat a known and open Enemy To say your Project of Exclusion is an act of real Charity to the Duke as it would disable him from doing that injury to himself and others which as a Papist he would do if the Crown should descend to him besides that it is to Reproach him is also to talk Idly because Christ commands us to love our Enemies that is those that bear us ill-will and do us Ill Offices that hate us in their hearts and injure or wrong us in their actions but by attempting to Exclude the Duke instead of loving him as your Enemy which is to all men of common sense a strange way of loving an Enemy to take from him all power or ability so to be and yet this is all the Kindness you have for his Royal Highness that you would tye his hands put the chains and fetters of Law upon him and thereby instead of an Enemy make him your Friend whether he will or no. This Love if the Primitive Christians had been acquainted with it would have saved abundance of their Lives but alas t is New and of Yesterday and therefore was not known nor heard of in their Days The good Men Pray'd for their Enemies Implor'd the Divine Goodness to Convert and Forgive them patiently endured the Wrongs and Cruelties they offer'd them like their Dearest Lord and Master when they were Reviled they Reviled not again when they Suffer'd they Threatned not but Committed themselves to him that Judgeth Righteously or as St Paul describes their behaviour 1 Cor. 4. 12 13. towards their Enemies being Reviled we Bless being Persecuted we Suffer it being Defamed we Intreat Not a word in all this of a Bill of Exclusion to
not worse fears suggest and would it not be Egregious Knavery for some of the Mariners to cast the Pilate overboard because they have a wild Suspition that he will run the Ship upon a Rock on purpose to sink himself and them Besides though every man be allow'd to do all that is just and innocent for his own Preservation yet there are some Persons that must not have any injury or violence done them for any cause whatsoever because the great Author of the Law of Nature forbids it saying Touch not mine Anoynted No Provocation can ever make it Lawful for a Son to assault his Father nor for a Subject to resist his Prince because that is contrary to Nature this destructive to Civil Society of which he is born a Member and which he is indispensably obliged by the Law of Nature to preserve The Jews were full of Projects and had their Grand Expedient to save their Nation It is Expedient St. John 11. 50. for us saith Caiaphas that one man should dye for the People and that the whole Nation Perish not The Nation was in no Danger at all no Storm nor Shipwrack approaching no more Fear of the Romans than at other times only a danger feigned that they might have a poor pretence to Destroy an Innocent Person to Murder the Holy Jesus And what was the event of this Politick Expedient did it answer their expectations contribute any thing to their Safety or Security No no! instead of saving it sunk the Ship turn'd their so craftily pretended into a real danger involv'd their whole Nation in the greatest and most deplorable Ruin or Destruction and that by the Romans that ever any People Suffer'd or any History Related thereby warning all Kingdoms and Nations to take heed of such wicked Expedients never to do any unjust thing for the avoiding any danger how great or real soever or to seek the Publick Safety by oppressing or injuring any Innocent Person for God is Righteous and will be sure to Punish the wrong-doers So that the Bill of Exclusion is contrary to the Law of Nature as well as to the Law of Christ and as this forbids so that condemns it and therefore it cannot be agreable to Natural Justice unless they mean that of Mr Hobs who represents the Humane to be as savage and barbarous as the Brutish Nature and affirms that Men have no obligations upon them to do justly but what humane Laws lay upon them but that all Men have a natural Right to do every thing they please and that to all Persons for which and all his other lewd and impious Assertions he hath been sufficiently reproved and bafled by divers learned and excellent Persons The Bill of Exclusion may be acknowledg'd if that be any honour to it to be agreeable to this Wild and Atheistical Justice but Christianity condemns and Right Reason abhors it This is the true Character and real Nature Subsect 5. of your so much admired Project of Exclusion I have done it no injury laid no false colours upon to render it more deformed and odious than it is and deserves to be but have only examin'd it by the just and holy Laws of Christ and the Dictates of Right Reason that seeing what your fears of and Zeal against Popery would not then give you time to consider the high Injustice and great Impiety of it you may be ashamed and repent of it which with all humility I conjure and beseech you to do by all that is dear to you and which you have the greatest Reasons and most pressing Motives to perswade you to The Offence you have commited against God For doth not he love righteousness and hate iniquity and require that all men especially Magistrates do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with him But this Device of yours is a manifest contradiction to all these 'T is to oppress and rob an innocent person of his Right to offer him that hard Measure which you would by no means have done to your selves and therefore to do unjustly 'T is to treat an erring person for such his Royal Highness is if he be a Papist with the greatest rigor or severity to ruin or make him miserable in this because he is become as you believe a Proselyte to that Church which he if he be of it thinks though erroneously will guide him safely to the Eternal Glory and Happiness of the other World and therefore is most unmerciful If any man Err from the truth Charity prompts and obligeth us to endeavour his Conversion and to restore him in the Spirit of meekness with all mildness and gentleness to shew him his mistake and represent to him the evil and dangerous consequences of it that he may hate and forsake it But your attempt to Exclude the Duke doth not design his Conversion but Destruction leaves him no place for Repentance but intends his Ruin and therefore is Cruel not Charitable Amongst the many praises they adorn'd it with some of the Admirers of it I remember commended this Device for the mercy of it An Elogium destitute of all shadow or appearance of Truth because the punishment it would inflict is worse than Death for a brave and valiant Prince as his Royal Highness is had rather dye than survive the loss of a Crown which is his Right by Birth if he survive his present Majesty than to be degraded from and unjustly depriv'd of the highest Dignity and Honour upon Earth to see another leap over his Head get into that Throne wear the Royal Diadem and possess the Kingdoms he was born to must needs be a continual grief trouble and vexation to him and make him weary of his Life Such Iniury and Disgrace would be intolerable and cause him to dye daily to linger out a tedious Life but Death would soon put a period to all his miseries and conduct him to that blessed place where they that suffer wrongfully here shall be greatly rewarded when a Man hath no just claim to any thing that the World admires and calls great or glorious the want of it cannot reasonably create him any trouble or discontent but he is as well pleas'd with and thinks himself as happy in his low condition as others are in the highest and most honourable stations upon Earth but to be deposed or cast down from that Empire or Soveraignty which his Illustrious Ancestors enjoy'd before him and not suffer'd to Inherit the Throne of his Fathers to be laid aside as unworthy to possess the Kingdom he was born to this must needs be an Hell upon Earth the greatest or most perfect misery any Man living can endure that hath nothing to comfort or support to sweeten or ease it and therefore must needs be most rigorous and cruel If this be mercy God deliver every Man from it And being a contradiction to that Justice and Mercy he requires it cannot possibly be consistent with the other great duty the walking humbly
him which if he please to do you will never more provoke or injure but love honour and treat him as the Son and Brother of a King and Heir apparent to these three Kingdoms This is all the reparation you can make the best satisfaction you can give him for your past offence and if you do this there is no doubt but he will forgive you Princes resemble their glorious Founder both in their Power to punish and their proneness to forgive the injuries and indignities that are committed against them and as Repentance renders him Merciful and Propitious turns away his Displeasure so it excites their Compassion and pacifies their Wrath but as God will not so they have no obligation to Pardon those that against all Reason and Religion Sin against them and when they have done it refuse to Repent That you have done the first highly injured his Royal Highness is as evident as any thing can be Be sure then to make your Repentance as publick as your crime hath been and do not doubt but it will be effectual to obtain your pardon The Duke can and will forgive you upon your hearty sorrow for and humble confession of your offence and you reproach and injure him more if you think he hath or will shew no mercy than you have done by your past misbehaviour towards him though your Sin against him be high and hainous yet do not say with Cain it is greater than can be forgiven for this apprehension I believe prompted the Zealots of your Party whom their guilt made desperate to conspire his Death according to the known Maxim of the wicked Politicians who say That bad Actions must be seconded with worse and lesser injuries pursued with greater the injurious person not thinking himself safe till he hath taken from the injur'd all possibility of revenge What barbarous nay devilish methods are these without any povocation or cause at all to wrong an Innocent Prince and then for fear they should at one time or other be called to account for it seek to secure themselves by doing him a greater First against all the Rules of Justice the Dictates of right Reason and the Laws of Religion attempt to rob him of his Birth-right and when that wicked imagination did not prosper or take effect instead of Repenting of it consult or agree together to take away his Life because the dead cannot revenge the injuries that are done them But is there then no God that judgeth in the Earth Or if there be doth not he behold ungodliness and wrong that he may take the matter into his hand punish the accursed Authors of them with dreadful inflictions here or if for reasons unknown to us he forbear them now with the most horrible damnation hereafter Such men as these are so far from making the high and noble Precepts of Christ the measures of their Actions that they fall short of the lower Justice Mercy and Integrity of the Heathens nay proceed according to the wild Villanous and Atheistical Principles of the Leviathan and instead of reproving their detestable practices by producing the words of Christ or any of his Apostles I may bespeak them in those of that wise and honest Heathen Diphilus the Comoedian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look to it you that think there is no God! there is there is If any man do ill as you have done a great evil let him think time is gain for he shall certainly suffer for what he hath done amiss The punishment of such men lingers is defer'd for a time but it will be sure to come and that the heavier at last and by its greatness make amends for the slowness of its approach And therefore that neither the horrour of your Offence nor your fears of Punishment make you desperate and push you on to such dreadful crimes as they prompted the Conspirators to take the first opportunity to reconcile your selves to his Royal Highness by confessing the injuries you have done him and begging his pardon for them but then you must not only confess but renounce and forsake them meddle no more I mean with the Succession but cast your Bill out of Doors as a monstrous and abominable Brat conceiv'd by Fear nurs'd by Faction born to do mischief and bring forth Treasons Murders and all manner of Miseries Be you its Judges to pass Sentence and see Execution done upon it for nothing can be more just than to cast that into the fire which tended so apparently to put the Kingdom into a Combustion Be careful to undeceive the People too whom by your mighty Zeal for and resolute Adherence to it you have drawn to an high esteem and admiration of your Projects of Exclusion and thereby prepared for Tumults Seditions and all manner of violent and unlawful Practises Your Votes are of such Authority with all the factious and discontented people that they think them if not equal to Holy Scripture yet the best Commentary upon it and will follow your Marginal Notes rather than the sacred Text Consider then what a dangerous thing it is to instil bad Principles into the People who are of themselves too prone to run into Errours and Extravagancies and therefore instead of Goads to excite they need Bridles to restrain them from them That they who are apt to think justice or honesty a superfluous or needless vertue now under the Gospel and perswade themselves that Christ fulfil'd all Righteousness on purpose to free those that believe in him from the practice of it will be Confirm'd in their pernicious Errour when they see iniquity establish'd by Law and a most unjust thing done for the Defence and Security of Reformed Christianity Nay which is more horrid some will think that which Men call Religion no Divine Institution but meer Humane Invention because if it come from God the professors of it may safely commend or commit it to his Protection his Care and Keeping it being most reasonable to suppose that he loves his own Institutions and is concern'd in honour to preserve them from the attempts of those that seek to destroy them But when Men are so busy and forward to support and secure their Religion by unjust and evil Arts think it so weak and helpless a thing that it is not able to shift for it self to maintain or keep its ground without the assistance of sinful and unlawful succours This tempts the suspicious to think it a meer humane invention for if it be of God it needs no sin to uphold it and they who do evil in defence of it incur his wrath as Uzzah did who put forth his hand to stay the tottering Ark which he apprehended to be falling Nothing of divine institution can possibly fall or perish so long as the Almighty Author of it is pleas'd to uphold and protect it but when he withdraws his support and it is his pleasure that it fall all the power and policy of Men cannot keep it up though