Stamp Sometimes God may happen to say to those who are so fond of those Will-worship Ceremonies who hath required this at your hands Isaiah 1.12 And to uphold this Practice they must pull it over Head and Shoulders out of the Text of the Epistle to the Philippians 6.2 10. I do not so much wonder that Papists who seldom make use of Scriptures but to wrest them would make use of the place But for Protestants who pretend and ought to know better I admire they would make use of it It is plain the Text is not literally to be understood or else Men should bow at the Name of Jesus Son of Nun or of the Son of Sirach or of Jesus called Justus then 't is said the Knee not the Head Then there is no Knees in Heaven nor none that can bow under the Earth 'T is there spoken of an Honour due to the Divinity Person Attributes and Works especially as he is our Redeemer and Saviour which is signified by the name of Jesus and if we must kneel or bow when we hear that name the like must be done when we see it written The Apostle doth not mean the Letters of the name but a most humble Submission and Obedience with a giving Praise and Glory to the Person and Commands of the Lord Jesus As to kneeling at the Sacrament I know there must be a Posture that of the time of Institution or as near it as may be must be used several Protestant Churches have different Postures when they receive it and a Care ought to be had of avoiding Superstition and keeping as far as we can from Appearances of Idolatry I confess I would not for all the World if ever beyond Seas where Papists are in a full Liberty and where Protestants receive it not on their Knees I say I would not because my Conscience would not give me leave receive it kneeling which is a Posture of Adoration for fear it were thought I partake of their Idolatry in worshipping a piece of Bread for the true natural Body now sitting at the Right Hand of the Father which thing I abhor more than Death it self But here though with a safe and even Conscience I could receive it kneeling yet may be another could not Must my Will and Practice be the Rule of another Man's Will and Practice Every one is bound to seek for the best Information he can have but when all is done every ones Conscience must be the Judge of what he doth in indifferent things that is which are neithe commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God And the true Christian Prudence is to leave such things at liberty and administer it to those sitting or standing who make scruple to receive it kneeling for 't is no Rule of Charity or Christianity for the sake of Uniformity to break Unity and the Bond of Peace And Ministers ought to have a great care not to become Instruments of Damnation to any for they who receive kneeling Rom. 14.23 and doubting as St. Paul saith are Damned Such Practices must be left for the Wicked Communion of Rome which with Fears Threatnings Sword Fire and every violent way forces People to do things contrary to their Conscience as of late in an high degree it was practised in a Neighbouring Nation and for what they did they gave this reason We know they must be Damned and as good they should be so within our Church as out of it Let them come in and believe what they please Indeed a great Evil there is amongst us That the Posture of receiving the Holy Sacrament an Ordnance of God to Seal the Pardon of our Sins and strengthen our Faith is made use of for a Trial of those who are qualified for Worldly Employments to turn it to Temporal Ends is an unaccountable Prophaneness of that Holy Institution And though without such a by Consideration I could receive it kneeling I declare if I should receive in that manner upon the account of such a Trial I could not avoid believing I had eaten and drank my Damnation All foresaid Lets and Hindrances being laid aside and a Blessed Reformation of all Abuses set a-foot and by every one in their several Stations carried on then upon good Grounds we might hope for Peace grounded upon Truth and for an Happy Success especially if in our different Capacities we would propose to our selves the Glory of God the Salvation of Souls and the Good and Advantage of Church and Country The good Laws we have to encourage Piety and Virtue and to discountenance and punish Ungodliness Vice and every unjust and sinful Practise being renewed put in execution and if any thing therein wanting supplied with new ones good Instructions good Examples good Rules in Families and Care taken by Parents and Masters to see them well observed this would take away Evil and Cursed things from amongst us The Prudence of Officers in Church and State should remedy old Inconveniencies and as much as 't is possible endeavour to prevent new ones Amongst the old ones I shall name a very palpable one which concerns both Church and State and hath been and is every day cause of Grievance and great Inconveniencies and as much as any Destructive of common Society 't is Clandestine Marriages stealing and trappanning young People into Marriages without Advice or Consent of Friends which as yet the Wisdom of our Law-givers hath found no effectual Course to prevent though daily Complaints have at several times put them upon consulting about it He who steals my Goods shall be Hang'd and he who steals my Child shall go Free And if once they be Married according to the Practice of the Church though by reason of young Age and other Considerations unable to bind themselves with such a Tie What is in part or chiefly the cause of this is the Abuse of selling Bonds of Matrimony the Dishonesty and Covetousness of a Minister to get some few Guinea's And Privileged Places by Law or Custom whereof there are too many in and about the City there People are Married in Secret let the Disparity Inconveniency Tricks and Cheats be never so great so visible or so many which to prevent it requires the Prudence Study and Authority of both Civil and Ecclesiastical Powers FINIS
comes to that though palliated under another Notion to Pray to the Dead for the Dead or in such occasion as this to mention the Dead is contrary to the Word of God which commands us * 1 Thess 3.22 to abstain from all Appearance of Evil. Wherefore let that Thirtieth of January go out of doors and if we keep a day let it be to God and not to Man let upon occasion days of Humiliation be kept very often too to mourn and be humbled for Personal as for the great many and Epidemical Sins of the Nation whereof I named some before and some are mentioned in * Jer. 6.2 3 10. Jeremiah but no constant set day for any Man whatever whether they be Humiliation or Thanksgiving days The Gun-powder-Treason-day we keep it only to God for such a Deliverance no mention of Man in it This did the Church of the Jews after their Deliverance from the Wicked Designs of Haman but not to the Praise and Honour of Esther or Mordecai though they had been God's Instruments to prevent it To return to King Charles's Death to mourn for it once had been enough When Joseph's Coat was brought to Jacob he might unblameably have expressed as he did a great Sorrow and Grief thereupon even to have kissed it to lament the Death of so dear a Son but if he had hanged it about his Bed or any where else in his Chamber there every Evening and Morning or at every Meal given it such Salutations and done the like as at the first time thereby he might have countenanced many Branches of Superstition once and no more is Diseretion about those things whose continual use degenerates into Abuse Now here we have been so unhappy as to take wrong Measures not only in keeping a day of Humiliation as I shewed already but also a Thanksgiving-day such as that of the Birth and Restoration of King Charles II. the 29th of May for the which we have also a set day once a Year to hear a Sermon preached a Collect an Epistle and a Gospel upon the occasion * Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you This clearly shews the Humour of those Times when some People almost distracted kept no Moderation but went from one Extream into another After his Death in King James's days they thought fit to continue keeping the day but to put a new Face and under another Notion but the thing was the same in Substance So the Children of Israel kept a Feast to the Golden Calf which was proclaimed before and the * Exod. 32.5 6. People sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play For such a Restoration we must be very glad and make God concerned in our Joy his House must be the place hitherto 't is well if we bring no Idol into it I mean nothing of Man's Merits Worth and Perfection no Inventions devised of our own Heart and things which God hath not commanded We read how after the Rebellion and Death of Absalom the * 2 Sam. 9.14 Men of Judah sent unto David Return thou and all thy Servants But though he was as good a King as any I do not find there was any set day appointed yearly to be kept in any place of God's Worship by way of Thanksgiving for his Birth or Restoration our Religion now is more Courtly and Flattering I do not deny but that upon such an occasion a moderate Joy may be expressed for a while but to entail it upon Posterity is such a piece of Flattery Popery and Pageantry as cannot be warranted by any Laws of God or reasonable Christians * Defence of Perkins p. 886. Dr. Abbot saith That Offerings yearly made for the Dead and for birth-Birth-days were first brought in by the Heretick Montanus who thereby made gain of them Now this reacheth our Case for an Anniversary or every Year keeping a set day for a dead Man is a kind of Offering made for the Dead and keeping the 29th of May in the same manner is keeping a Birth-day as a restoration-Restoration-day for upon this day Charles II. was born Now let us see how great a Cause we had to fall into so high and exceeding Demonstration of Joy Let the Event shew how great a Blessing this Restoration proved to the Nation Hos 13.11 We know sometimes God gives Kings in his Anger and takes them away in his Wrath Plague War and Fire came in with King Charles but all little enough in comparison of that Flood of Vice and Corruption in the way of Prophaneness Impiety Debauchery c. which being encouraged by Example and Impunity followed him and like a mighty Stream have so overflow'd the Nation that in all likelihood it will require more Judgments and many Years to come to purge the Land of it 't is over-spread almost from the Child in the Cradle to the Old Man going down to his Grave But I must break off for it defiles my Thoughts my Tongue and my Pen therefore no wonder if this took away our Hearts for * Hos 4.11 Whoredom and Wine take away the Heart and our Understanding too which made us grow an effeminate Nation Contemptible to our Neighbours and made us cast away the Honour and Interest of the Country and become Tools of the Ambition and Greatness of those whose growing Power we ought to have opposed and which since made Europe groan and labour to be delivered from that Bondage or Danger we helped to bring it under We slighted the Suits and Offers of many Princes and States and Addresses of Parliaments who offered their Lives and Fortunes to stop the growing Power of France which had her Emissaries of both Sexes in our Bosom By whose Councils Parliaments were Adjourned Prorogued and Dissolved whilst on the other side in our most Solemn Assemblies the Fidelity of some was Corrupted to Betray their Trust and Country In one we have seen a List of no less than 212 Pensioners to find Monies to satisfie the unsatiable Desires and Idle Expences of Whores Pimps Bawds and Bastards whilst in less than two Years time above 100000 Souls for Religion sake forsook the Kingdom to go into the Plantations Holland and Germany These things and many more which I omit are known to the whole Nation only I must take notice how the Design of ruining Laws Liberty and Religion was driving on and whilst Popery enjoyed Favour and Advantages 't was Treason to say the King was a Papist or Popishly affected though during the whole Course of his Reign he appeared and there are grounds to believe he died such All these things are so recent and late that it were in vain to enlarge upon it only I ask Whether one who set some of the worst of Men upon the Benches in Westminster took away Charters caused Innocent Blood to be shed under pretence of Justice and had some Men to frame Mischief by a Law * Psal 94.20
rather no Martyr amongst true Christians except it be made to appear that he suffered for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus though otherwise never so unjustly Let those who took away his Life be as Wicked as can be imagined yet they were not professed Infidels his being a Christian was not the Cause or Pretence of his being put to Death the Pretence was how true or false I dive not into it his following Evil Council encroaching upon the Liberties carrying on Designs for Arbitrariness casting into Prison Men for refusing to lend him Mony raising Mony without Parliament as in the case of Ship-Mony for designing to bring in Popery and such other things as the whole Nation knows which the last excepted were all of a Worldly Concernment and no ways fit to qualifie a Martyr him who suffers for them As to this last I must say in his time whether or not of his own Contrivance I cannot tell a Design was carrying on to reconcile us to the Church of Rome whose Interest here did much thrive through the Queens Favour the Persecution of Puritans the Prayer-book sent into Scotland bringing in Arminianism setting up Crucifixes upon the Communion-Tables by them called Altars as Ministers were and are still by the name of Priests thus promiscuously bringing in Names and Things those and many more were Evidences of the Project then in hand which though it had been true and carried on by the King yet can never justifie the putting him to Death no more than his being put to Death can prove him a Martyr Suppose they were Murderers must we be Blasphemers If they were Villains must we be Idolaters or Superstitious Is it a Warrant for us to do Evil because they did so 'T is very bad Logick for after this we must follow evil Examples After the Light of the Gospel hath since the Reformation so clearly shined amongst us 't is very strange that some who might know better have as to the matter in hand carried things so far on in the way of Superstition A Medal of Bishop Laud a Man so noted in his days soon after King Charles's Restoration was coined in the Tower and consequently by publick Authority of which here are several and many beyond Sea with this Inscription Sancti Caroli Praecursor the fore-runner of St. Charles Here the business is not minced we speak it out plainly in England we have our St. Charles as Italians have theirs his name is entred into the List of Saints he hath his day only we have not builded him a Church as is done for Charles Borromeo in Rome But instead of that he is owned as such in every Church we have let Men honour his Memory but not to such a length as to run into Superstition if not worse for there is no less than Blasphemy in the case in the Medal Bishop Laud is compared to John the Baptist and consequently King Charles is parallelled with Christ for John Baptist both in his Birth and Death was fore-runner of the Lord Jesus This Comparison is come not only out of a Stamp but from Pulpits too a place very improper for such Doctrines some now alive have carried on the Parallel much beyond bounds others have been heard to preach that the Guilt of King Charles's Blood lies upon the Nation never to be washed off What upon Childrens Children and from Generation to Generation to the Worlds end yet God saith by two of his Prophets the Proverb shall no more be used Jer. 31.29 Ezek. 18.2 3. The Fathers have eaten a Soure Grape and the Childrens Teeth are set on edge To see the Blood of the Son of God lie as a Curse upon the Generality of the Jews is no wonder they all cried Crucifie Crucifie they all said Matt. 27.25 Let his Blood be upon us and our Children I hope our thorough-paced Papists in this Point will not have the Face to say that the Blood of Charles I. though never so Innocent can be compared with that of our Lord and Saviour though alas about the time of that Death some were possessed with such extravagant Fits of Superstition as to dye Handkerchiefs in the Blood to keep and use it to Cure Diseases work Miracles and such other things as made an Impression upon the Spirits of Credulous and Ignorant People which true Christians who make Profession of the Purity of the Gospel ought to be ashamed of Others upon the occasion of the day and that lately said Dr. Sherlock's Sermon The Evils and Calamities which we have now more than Forty Years in some degree or other and sometimes very severely suffered under are the natural Effects or just Punishment of that Sin which we this day lament Herein is a great Exaggeration but as to Cursing Swearing Perjury Covenant-breaking Injustice Shedding of Innocent Blood as of late there was too much Drunkenness Uncleanness these are but trifling Sins not worth God's taking notice of let such Preachers as much as they please exalt and commend their Martyrs for such Vertues as are rarely found in mean Persons which in my weak Apprehension is no great Commendation for a King to say he had those Virtues that are rarely found in mean Persons as indeed 't is rare for mean Persons to be Conspicuous in great Virtues to find such Virtues we must go into an Hermit's Cell we must needs be at a great loss not to have where to search for them but those dark Holes or Places of Darkness this is to have a great Opinion of Hermits Lives as well as of King Charles's great Virtues we must not be wanting also to attribute great Merits to Hermits in their Cells However one could bear with such Stuff if the Preaching of the Gospel of Peace was not turned into the sound of an Alarm What mean these Expressions There is a Spirit of Zeal and Faction the Principles of which if not restrained will ruine the best Princes and overturn the best Governments Again The horrid Fact committed on this Day hath poisoned the very Springs of Government and so deeply tinctured the Minds of Men that I pray God we may not still live to see and feel the miserable effects of it These are Doctrines of a New Gospel to work Differences and Cause and keep up Division But to make our selves the more acceptable we must promise That those who under the late Reigns were for Passive Obedience will be so under this Another in a late Sermon of his doth screw up all his Wits and spend his whole Strength in making an unnecessary and improper Panegyrick I doubt very much whether upon our Saviours Passion-day he ever used Expressions so pathetical and delivered them with so much Zeal as he did upon this last Occasion I confess I never heard before a Prince's though never so good being called a Tyrant to be Blasphemy I thought to Blaspheme was against God and not against Man Then he proceeds to unhandsome and uncharitable
to remember the Death of the young Prince our Reformer Edward the Sixth with Grief and Sorrow though Heylin was of another mind the Death of so Pious a Prince not without Suspicion of Poison was a great loss to Religion and the Nation but yet such set days as the Thirtieth of January and Circumstances must be avoided such a Memory may to this day be well continued by lawful Means as his very Funeral Sermons Epitaphs and such things remaining as were published in or about that time as Jeremiah's Lamentation upon that Subject might be read and sung in after-Ages The Memory of good Princes and other pious Men ought to be precious and dear to Posterity but we must not bestow any thing of Religious Relation upon them but strictly avoid every appearance of it Saul's Death was a Judgment upon him but Josiah's Death was a Mercy to him Because thine heart was tender 2 Chron. 34.27 28. I will gather thee to thy Fathers and to thy Grave in Peace neither shall thine eyes see all the Evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the Inhabitants of the same Now Things and Persons being compared in the Reigns of Josiah and Charles to say no more we shall find a vast Difference The third case is that of Gedaliah whom 2 Kings 25.25 and Jer. 41.2 after the taking of Jerusalem the King of Babylon made a Governour of the Cities of Judah which was treacherously killed by Ishmael the Son of Nethaniah This indeed was a sad Blow to the People that was left in the Land but in the two quoted places in the Margin nor in the Book of Chronicles nothing is said of any publick mourning of the People for it yet some would if possible upon the Opinion of the most Judicious Interpreters as he calls them screw something out of Zech. 7.5 as if their Mourning there was an Ordinance for that lasted till the time of their return from their Captivity but 't is easie to find the true cause of it namely Levit. 23.27 29. a positive order from God On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of Atonement it shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls c. And whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day he shall be cut off from amongst his People This is the true cause of the Mourning in the Seventh Month and 't were in vain to fancy any other A very good Use may by present and future Ages be made of such sad Effects of God's Providence as to warn us of our Mortality of the Uncertainty of Life of the Vanity of Honours and to prepare us for Death to shew how our Life is in the Hand of God which he disposeth of how and when he pleases It is good always to be Thankful to God for Mercies always to be humbled and to Mourn for Sins for as we do constantly Sin so we must constantly repent what doth befall others as well as what happeneth to us ought to work upon us And so we have cause enough to keep days of Humiliation both in Publick and Private and this is to make a right use of such Occasions and not to flatter and chuse God's House to make Panegyricks of Dead Men over and over every Year in such a Strain as Papists do for their Pretended Saints and Dead Men. After this way Mr. Newman in his Sermon Page 17 18 19 c. maketh King Charles a great Poet nay a Laureat one a great Orator He saith He was Master of a Sublime Grandure of Language and in Points of Controversie and in Cases of Conscience so great a Divine as he might have challenged the Theological Chair upon the account of meer Worth If he had but attributed some Miracles then we might have said as Jesuits use to speak of their Ignatius Franciscans of their Francis and Dominicans of their Dominick upon their days And all this he affirms upon hear-say and by relation if this be not Flattery 't is too much like it this is a studied Discourse to make a shew of his Parts to flatter the Dead deceive the Living but edifie none To say the setting apart such days is not intended as if thereby they were made Holier than others but only to appoint them to an Holier Use is not enough to excuse the thing we all know 't is not in the power of Man in that kind to make one day better than another that 's the Work of God alone and of all the days of the Week the Seventh his Sabbath-day * Gen. 2.3 and Exod. 20.11 he sanctified it blessed and hallowed it Nay the other Feasts which were but Typical and for a time which we read of in the Book of * Chap. 23. Leviticus were of God's own special Appointment So that to Institute such days is an Act of Religion And though we agree that the Church may make Rules for Order-sake as to Circumstances yet under the Gospel no Man may upon Humane Account Institute days wherein is a Cessation of Work God having commanded Six days to labour and do our work Thus there would be no end one day this Year another or more the next as we see it in the Church of Rome where every new Saint hath a day allowed him every Year By the same reason it is done for one it may be done for an hundred All Orthodox Divines do agree That in the First and Second Commandment not only Idolatry but also Superstition are forbidden whereby the Fixedness of the Minds of Men which ought to be upon God is tossed and distracted here and there upon different Objects Prayers of Mourning Repentance or Thanksgiving must be directed to God for they are part of his Worship without any Collateral regard to the Merits or Sufferings of any Man Dead or Alive And here by the by I must take notice of a Clause which some of our Ministers use in their Prayers to thank God for his Servants deceased which in my opinion is very Improper for those who own we ought not to pray to or for the Dead the Gospel and God's other Mercies is What we ought to thank God for And though a Minister may make mention of those Faithful Servants of his remembred in his Word and exhort us to follow their Example and Divine Rules they were acted by the Faith of Abraham the Patience of Job the Repentance of Peter yet the Case is different when he is in Prayer for then he is the Mouth of the People to God in that Condition of Supplicants no Humane Rule or Example is to be mentioned to God especially now when so gross an Abuse about it is committed by Papists whereof we ought to avoid the very Appearance The Dangers of bringing such things into the Church is very great though at first not perceptible sometimes great Evils had but small beginnings the Devil is