vvich hee feared Heb. 5. 7. Our Blessed Lords Practice is the best warrant for ours hee himselfe being the Architype of all righteousnesse whose life ought to bee the Canon Rule of his Disciples These two Ioined in CHRIST JESUS our Grand Exemplar who is the VVay the Truth and the Life serve as tvvo stars to direct his followers unto him Feare stirres us up to seek all possible meanes for the prevention of Evills Faith keeps us from dispaire Feare is linked with the beginning of vvisdom without which your best actions are but as thâ—se Apples of Sodome which being toucht vanish into smoake or as Trees without fruit or shells without kernell As an ignorant Carelesse Marriner without his Compas wee should be driven upon all the shoales and rocks of temptation were not this feare placed in our Hearts as a watchman to forewarne our drowsy soules of approaching danger And as Gideon on Zeba and Salmunna Iudg. 3. 11. Sathan would surprise us unawares and rob us of our very Hearts Consciences while wee sleep in security But where the Heart is well fraught with feare there is no roome for Sathan and his traine It quickly espies prevents his most cunning Plotts putting to flight those armies of temptations with which hee useth to beseige mans wounded Conscience The holy Psalmist doth well informe us of the Povver and Force of Feare when hee tells us that it fights with Angells strength Ps 34. 7. The Angell of the Lord saith David standeth round about them that feare him delivereth them So that wee may here without crime presume to crosse our Saviours speech in another Case of servile feare understand mee of an holy feare O men of little faith vvhy are yee not afraid VVhensoever the Grace of God shall begin to increase in thee Feare VVhen it shall depart from thee Feare And vvhen it shall returne to thee Feare Saith S. Bernard When thou first feelest Gods holy Spirit to move within thee feare thine ovvn unvvor thinesse that thou receive it not in vain A Gift not used at all or not well imployed is a dishonour to the Donour When thou feelest any decay or suspension of the Operation of Grace within thee feare Gods displeasure who for some Cause or other suffers thee thus to fall But most of all must thou feare when Gods Grace is revived vvithin thee for the relapse is worse than the former disease Therefore thy Feare must increase with thy danger least being made cleane thou shouldst sin againe and a vvorse thing happen unto thee In adversity let us humbly acknowledge with Iob the punishment of God is fearefull In prosperity with David there is mercy vvith God that hee may be feared In all estates let his Essentiall presence beget an awfull Feare and Reverence in all our Actions since there is nothing more fearefull in the Saints and Servants of God than not to feare Jer. 32. 40. However scruple not hence yee sincere tho imperfect Christians â—ver subject sometimes to despondency the certainty of your Salvation An holy feare doth not make us more scrupulous but more certain saith S. Bernard in his 15 Sermon upon the Psalmes For this Feare as Hope is the fruit of an holy Faith and S. Paul joynes it with Faith. Rom. 11. 20. as an Antidote to a high Mind thou standest by faith be not high-minded but feare and indecd is the ground of our assurance of Salvation which wee cannot have but by faith I say by faith not as if that were not certaine but to exclude that certainty of Evidence sense which requires an absolute assent both in respect of the truth of the thing of our knowledge because it is so because wee can demonstrate it to be so As when wee say 4. is more than 2. the whole is greater than part perfect knowledge of sense Experience absolutely conclude it most certain The certainty of our Salvation is a faithfull cleaving to the sure promises of CHRIST JESUS Tho this in respect of it selfe be more absolute than that of sense as faith is more certain than any science yet mans mind not throughly purged from the foggy Mists of Original pollution cannot clearly determine CHRIST indeed hath broken downe the Partition VVall between God his people yet hath hee set the Register of his Elect beyond the ken of any mortall eye Neither can wee assure our selves any otherwise of our Salvation than by trusting in him by applying particularly what hee that cannot lye hath spoken in Generall VVhosoever believeth in mee shall be saved And this is in no man so perfect but that the best may still pray adjuva me Domine Lord helpe my unbeleife Hee that doth not thus feare hath no faith and then no certainty As the Spirit of God vvitnesseth vvee are the sons of God so Feare testifieth wee have the Spirit No man more surely relyes on his Saviour than hee that most feares to Offend him so is it no paradox at the same time to tremble and rejoyce in the Lord. The frailty of our nature the subtilty of the Divell conspire for our Ruine here is good Cause to fear But JESUS CHRIST is our Castle Defence here is greater Cause to rejoyce A man on the top of an high tower looking downe considering the danger of a fall trembles to thinke thereon but looking back on his feet seeing himselfe environned on every side with battlements rejoyceth that hee is so secure of the danger So the most steddy beleiver tho hee know that under the protection of the Allmighty hee cannot miscarry yet hee sometimes trembles to reflect on the deplorable Estate of Falling away Allbeit his principle bee true the Word of God cannot faile in any tittle VVhosoever beleiveth shall bee saved yet is hee Iealous of misapplying it to himselfe Tho hee thinketh hee standeth hee must take heed least hee fall For it is the Condition of Grace Faith as of Nature still to desire encrease perfection which necessatily requires earnest prayer and this implies a sollicitous Feare So then wee may say of a Christian as scipio sometimes spake of Rome it was more secure when it stood in awe of Cartbage The Church was never freer from Herisies than in the time of Persecution and the End of Persecution was the beginning of Herisy Wee are most certain when wee are most tempted When Sathan desires to vvinnovv S. Peter as vvheat then Christs prayer assures him of Salvation Christs Intercessions are more prevalent than any temptation and unlesse wee render them ineffectuall by impenitency they are never in vain Neverthelesse his Prayer may not hinder ours nor his Allsufficiency exclude our labours Wee must pray to him hee will pray for us Let us fullfill his Commandements hee will fullfill his Promises If wee Love him let us feare to offend him If wee have Confidence of our Election in him then let us use all diligence to make
Wait on his Lordhip hee in his Lords name confined mee to my House during his stay in that Citty On Thursday follovving the Lord Lumly vvithout any Opposition read the Prince of Oranges declaration at the Castle in the Presence of most of the Deputy Lieutenants Justices Gentry vvho flock'd into his Lordship and by their Compliance encouraged him to send to the Magistrates of Nevvcastle to demand Reception there but being refused Admittance the Saturday after hastily vvith some precipitation returned hee and his Company to Yorke after having read Publickly at the Market Crosse the Prince of Oranges declaration attended on by a great Number of Gentry the Country Troop but I thanke God there were no horses nor men of mine tho the Deane at other times sent four to encrease the number honour that Cerimony vvhich hinderd severall of the Clergy at that tyme to send in theirs to the lessenning of the Appearance Hereupon I did Judge it meet the next day after being sunday to Preach againe tho I had done it lately in my ovvne Proper Person in the Cathedrall Pulpit à seasonable Loyall Sermon sutable to my past life and Actions in that Country to persvvade the members of that Church all the Auditory to stand firme to their Allegiance in that day of Temptation never to Joyne in the least vvayes vvith that Horrid Rebellion vvhich vvas at that tyme Set on foot in the Nation Which Sermons I have Printed to Justifye mee to all the vvorld if the publication of these do not do it from being accessary to the Defection vvhich then began to the Intollerable vexation of my mind in that Conformable County vvhich had till the Summer past by it 's forvvard Obedience Dutifull Respects stuck so close to the Crovvne that his late Majestie vvas vvont to stile it his Loyall County of Durham Thus was God pleased to assist a Poor vveak inconsiderable member Exalted beyond his merit to a high Station of the Church of England vvith fidelity Courage to maintaine his Post against the Abettors of that unnaturall Invasion vvhich it vvas Easy to foresee vvould bee as it hath been attended on by an intollerable Usurpation of the Crovvne violation of the Lavves and finally if God should not of his Mercy by some kind of miracle Prevent by the utter Ruine of the Church of England and consequently of those vvho had at first invited the svvord into the Land betook themselves to a desperate Remedy a thousand times vvorse than the Disease Complained off And here before I proceed in my intended Relation of some other passages I desire permission to insert a fevv lines to Obviate some censures vvhich I Expect to meet vvith To such there fore as shall endeavour to destroy the Reputation of my sincerity zeale in sticking to the Cause of a Roman Catholick Soveraigne by the Greatness of the Example of those who have deserted it in complying with the Prince of Orange alledging that it is not likely that the single Deane of Durham should bee in the right so many Eminent Persons of Greater Learning Wisdome Piety in the Wrong who have given notable Testimonies of their Loyalty by their Sufferings Confessions in the Great Rebellion of England During the Banishment of King Ch. 2. To such I declare that I have nothing to say for my selfe but must returne with a non nobis Domine all the Glory to God who is some times pleased to make use of the vveake things of the vvorld to confound the Things vvhich are Mighty to Revcale unto Babes vvhat hee hidâ—s from the VVise Prudent assisting with in Tymes of Persecution poor Illiterate Men Women when many Great Phylosophers mighty Clerks have quitted a Righteous Cause and shamefully deserted the Truth I do with all humility acknoledge it to be purely the Grace of God the wind of whose Spirit Bloâ—eth where it listeth which hath supported and carryed mee through all those Blasts of temptation which have Thrown downe divers strong Pillars of the Temple Preserving mee from the Contagion of the Age the Spirit of Popularity Republicanisme Whereby Sathan transforming himselfe into an Angell of Light hath tainted the Generality of the English nation of all sorts Degrées which hath in the Upshot as is too visible to all the World proved their Overthrow the Fall never enough to bee lamented of many Noble Personages who had as well as their Ancestors suck'd in Loyalty with their Milk shed their Bloud to uphold the Monarchy seemed to bee the surest supporters of the crowne And thus much I have been obliged to insert here tho I could more willingly have left it unsaid if it had not been forced from mee by the Malitious Objections of my Enimies Common Justice to my selfe the cause I maintaine It being impossible for mee to persevere in the Kings Quarrell which I have espowsed without holding fast with great Resolution my Integrity Bearing witness to the Truth Besides I am not ashamed nay thinke it my Duty to owne that I am firmely strongly perswaded without doubt or scruple that my present Principles Practices of Loyalty to my Soveraigne Past Obedience to the Church of Englands Rules how singular soever by some menit may howe been termed thought are sound Orthodox being founded upon so cleare Scripture Reason as sets a man in this particular aboue any Example upon Earth Nay I am not afraid to proclame to all the World that I Dare Rebuke by my Actions tho not other wise the Greatest Man alive who Dares transgress those plaine precepts of God which I shall ever deeme à great sin to separate to wit. FEARE GOD HONOUR the KING Tho I have so great veneration Respect for hundreds of Eminent Persons spirituall temporall who have to the admiration of all men lately been imposed on by what kind of Magick it is hard to understand to Court Complement their owne Misery that in Dubious matters I am not so bold as to Resist the Power of their Examples which in such things I ackowledge a conductor safe enough to guide their inferiours who ought to suspect their own Judgements sentiments when they have no cleare lightto lead them rather than those of their Governous in Church state whom they owne to bee Wiser Better men But to stick close to the service Interest of my Lawfull Soveraigne who is a Soveraigne never the lesse lawfull for his Afflictions or for his Religion and to OBEY him too as I am resolved in all things which are not Malum in se if hee absolutely requires it what ever may bee the Consequences is a POINT wherein I am so wel satisfied that I am ambitious to be instrumental in Convincing all who depend on mee or my Jurisdictions if I cannot Others of a Truth so necessary seasonable for the consideration of Subjects in a
more 〈◊〉 Regard would had been had to the Penning Composure But since I am reduced to such hard circumstances whereto in conformity to my own Doctrine I Heartily submit that the ensuing Discourses how sleight soever little worth in themselves are abundantly sufficient to demonstrate that both my Religion Loyaâ—â—y are not of the New Cutt but of the old Royall stamp carry whith them I trust the true Touch of the Tower Providence invites me to exposes them to publick view being ambitious of nothing in â—â—e world more than to approve my selfe in this Day of Rebuke to my Soveraigne his rigth Loyal subjects for one who thinks that hee obliged to be as Faithfull to a Roman-Catholick as a Protestant Prince as true to him in Adversity as Prosperity As far any Censures of vanity arising from my Title-Page as if I did there set forth my selfe à Patterne of humility Loyalty they ought not to sway with me so farre as to stop me in my Endeavours to be so or to perswade others to become such since thereto Heaven at this tyme loudly summons all the Nation This I can truly say without Pride or Boasting that I have labour'd to practise what I have preached to others that I was never more than at this very instant aspiring towards those Excellent but rare vertues mentionned in the following discourses which I commend to Gods Blessing the Candid Readers Charity desiring all persons in England who have labour'd either by Kind Invitations or Threats of deprivation to prevaile with mâ— to returne submit to the new Government to receive this as my finall Ansver TO WIT If I be DEPRIVED I am DEPRIVED or to approach a little neaver to the Phrase of Good Father Jacob. IF I BE BEREAVED OF MY PREFERMENT I AM BEREAVED D. G. From my study in Roüen Nov. 15. 1689. ADVERTISEMENT THE Authour having been necessitated for the discharge of his Conscience and his own Justification hastily to print these pieces as before mention'd in a Forreign Country where the Printer did not understand the language and was very little acquainted with the character all persons must understand that it was not possible to avoid a multitude of faults in the Orthography Pointing as wel as sundry rules observed by Printers in England thoâ— possibly upon perusall they wil finde the Errours so inconsiderable little hindring the sense that they will rather wonder as doth the Authour how the Printer should all things considered so well succeed in his Undertaking ERRATA SERMONS PAGE 1. Line 2. requisire for requisite p. 2. l. 14. out for our p. 4. l. 5. Hovever for Hovvever l. 21. libetis for liberis l. 22 Englist for English. l. 26. perisch for perish p. 5. l. 5. theve for there l. 36. exptession for expression l. 37. pieus for pious p. 6. l. penult knavv for gnavv p. 7. l. 19. effectts for effects p. 8. l. 21. botomo for botomme p. 9. l. 11. Savioar for Saviour p. 11. l. 27. necessatily for necessarily p. 13. l. 5. familiarily for familiarity l. 16. meâ— for men p. 15. l. ult vvberedome for vvhoredome p. 19. l. 9. svvee for svveet p. 26. l. 30. armed for aimed VISITATION-SPEECH PAge 8. Line 7. that repetition for that that repetition p. 11. l. 27. Stateholder for Stadthouder p. 13. l. 10. danger for dangers l. ult princs for prince p. 14. l. 7. nee for vve l. 18. second remaining for second remaining p. 16. l. 5. dot for doth l. 17. Conscience Excess for Conscience Eccss p. 17. l. 22. Incroacment for Incrochâ—ment p. 18. l. ult dvvdls for dvvels p. 19. l. 2. Horrid vices are usually for Horrid vices usually p. 21. l. 20. Cerent for Count. p. 22. l. 29. vvhich among for among p. 23. l. 12. hardhearted Ievves for hard-hearted Ievves LETTERS IN the Advertisement Page 1. Line 26. 〈◊〉 together for together p. 2. l. 27. on all times for in all places p. 3. l. 2. n 88. for in 88. l. 3. it for is The Date to wit Rouen Nov. 27. 1689. wanting in the conclusion TO THE EARLE OF BATHE PAGE 3. l. 2. 700 for 700 lib. ster p. 4. l. 15. thd for the. l. 16. entere for entred p. 5. l. 34. right So for right so p. 6. l. â—4 vvith in for vvith his Grace in l. 32. hâ—vve for have p. 10. l. â—4 40. for 40. lib. ster l. 35. 40. for 40. sh. p. 29. l. 5. gs for it TO THE BISHOP OF DURHAM c. PAGE 2. l. 18. vvhith for vvith p. 6. l. 16. vvas for vvere p. 14. l. 16. tovvn had for tovvn that had l. 29. so for to p. 31. l. 3. risdiction for Iurisdiction p. 43. l. 1. forgoing pag. 38. for foregoing letter pag. 38. l. 12. bey for they p. 46. marginal note l. 3. Dearn's for Dean's l. 18. the for he The smaller faults vvith may occur they Reader may easily correct in reading FINIS TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY ALLMIGHTY GOD having enabled mee by his grace to resist those temptations which have overcome the greatest number of the members of my own Church and Country and being now incapacitated here a bread to render my Soveraigne and your Majesty better service than to owne your Righteous Cause I think my selfe obliged to give the world a more than ordinary Testimony of my sincere Loyalty and Resolution in all times and Changes to adhere unalterably to the Crowne Having therefore allready sacrificed my Revenue by quitting the Nation rather than submit to the Vsurpation and exposed my selfe to Censure and Obloquy in that part of England wherein I have Lived by Refusing to Head or Ioine with those my dependants there Ecclesiasticall and Secular who have departed from their Allegiance I know of no better and more Convincing Instance yet remaining to bee given by mee of my stedfastness to stick to and serve the Royall familie than to proclame that I dare speake truth here a broad from the Presse as well as from the Pulpit at home tho every one must fore-know that such an honest Boldness will unavoidably render mee uncapable of the favour and good opinion of all those persons in the Nation High and Low Spirituall and Temporal who have Shipwrackt their Faith and Consciences by ceasing to yeild after often swearing Allegiance and Fidelity to their Soveraigne And it is easy to fore-see that the Printing these and some other Papers at this time in mine ovvn name will thus render mee obnoxious as I am Contented to bee to all those Builders who imploy themselves in Erecting a New Monarchy and Church in England But the Aspersions of them that forsake their Religion as far as they desert their Lavvfull Liege Lord as I hope the follovving sheets will evidence vvill bee no intolerable Load to mee who desire no greater Honour and satisfaction than to share with my King Queen and hope-full young Prince
Operations following 1. They increase our knovvledge both of our Creatour our Selves 2. They increase our Devotion making us allso more conformable to Christ our Head so fitter subjects for his Pitty Compassion First they increase our knovvledge c. While our Outward man is consumed the inner man is renewed For as long as the body triumphes in his strength the soules whole imployment is to furnish the corporeall organs with vigour power for their more base Exercises But those parts disabled by Adversity to receive those Faculties they returne to the soule and united worke more strongly in a weightier matter even in a divine Contemplation There is now no fewel for Lust no shews for Pride every sense failes to bring in those delightsome species which in the time of bodily health overloaded the fainting soule This Prison therefore of the soule thus once broken she becomes active in her businesse runs the vvay of Gods Commandements Whereas before she only heard of God as Job speakes by the hearing of the Eare The Vail of the Temple once rent by sickness or other adversity now her Eyes see him The Eye of her understanding shee more clearely apprehends his Povver The Eye of her Faith shee more confidently relyes on his mercy Secondly This knovvledge inflames her Devotion and renders us fitter subjects for his pitty Wee most Earnestly sue for a Remedy of Danger from him whom wee best know cares most for us While wee are in our Jollity just like the Prodigall in S. Lukes Gospell wee look no further than our selves And that I am afraid hath been one of the sins of this Nation of this Place A litle cross may drive us to our Neighbour but when wee are driven to eat Huskes with the swine in our greatest Extremity then humiliatio in humilitate our minds are humbled with our Bodies then not till then Necessity becomes a vertue I vvill because I must go to the Father God deales with his Children as a Nurse with hers suffers them to stagger now then that they may looke the better to their feet There is a Hand behind which the Child sees not that holds him up Our Heavenly Father indeed plunges us if I may so speake here into the depth of Sorrow that wee may dive into the depth of our own Heart and to make us more sensible punishs us by degrees as hee did Iacob first with the loss of Rachel then of Ioseph aftervvards with famine feare of Benjamin Even as Ioseph dealt with his brethren but as Ioseph also tho hee began in wrath hee ends in Peace Mercy follows Judgement and nothing but impenitency doth make a separation If God at any time be long in punishing it is to teach his people more sensibly the guilt of their sin that so by the better knovvledge of their guilt they may be driven the sooner to repentance the seat of mercy Both which methods of Allmighty Gods dealing vvith his servants have been often experienced by the People of this land Rough hevvn timber and unpolishd stones are unfit for any Princely Building therefore God savves us as it were in pieces by Adversity smoothes our inordinate affections hevvs dovvn our Rebellious lusts before vvee can become a meet Temple of the Holy Ghost God vvell knovvs vvee have lost that image superscription vvhich hee stampt us in and therefore melts us anevv as the Prophet speakes Jer. 9. 7. and purifies us in the fire of Affliction that vvee may bee made fit materialls in that day in the vvhich hee maketh up his Jevvells Mal. 3. 17. In a Christian life then as in the Almond tree vvee must expect a hard shell tho there be a svvee kernell Hardness all knovv by Experience thus many times conteines svveetness and sundry other usefull quallityes as comfortable Health often follovves after an unpleasant Potion Let us approve our selves therefore the servants of God in much Patience as dying but behold vvee live as chastned but not killed as sorrovvfull yet allvvay rejoycing 2. Cor. 6. 9. 10. Our Sorrovv is but Quasi tristitia transitory it seems as there noted by the Apostle a dreame or shaddovv of sorrovv But the Ioy of a true Christian is other vvise there is Ceâ—tum gaudium it is not said as Ioyfull but allvvay rejoycing Hath then God taken avvay our Worldly vvealth from any of us It is vvee may conclude because it should not deprive us of Eternall Happinesse Hath God bereaved any of us of our Children or Freinds It is because vvee should put the more Trust in him Hath hee brought any of us to Dishonour here It is because vvee may bee more fit for Glory hereafter Externall Benefits none can deny are Gods Blessings but so is the vvant of them also All things vvorke together for the best to those vvho Love God. Rom. 8. 28. Christ is to his faithfull servants both in life Death advantage Would not any vvise man vvillingly sovv in teares that hee might reape in â—oy Would not a man be content vvith a vvet spring so that hee might bee certaine of a good harvest And thus much the Holy Prophet David assures us of Ps 120. 6. Hee that goeth on his vvay vveeping bearing forth good seed shall doubtlesse come againe vvith Ioy bring his sheaves vvith him The Keeper of Israell may sometimes seeme to vvink but indeed hee neither slumbers nor sleeps If hee suffer a storm for a tyme vvherevvith vvee are at this instant dreadfully threatned hovvever the ship shall not sink God is most povverfull oftentimes vvhen vvee seem most neglected Mans Extremities are Gods opportunities hath allvvayes ben the observation language of Holy men When ABRAHAMS hand is up for the Stroke then an Angell stops the svvord When MOSES lyes spravvling in the River then hee is most safe from the Egyptian cruelty And our Iacob here most comforted in his sons when hee supposed hee had lost them They are to him as the Red sea threaten destruction but prove safety While hee complains they will bring dovvn his gray haires vvith sorrovv to the Grave they revive his old age with good tidings of Corne Ioseph Let us then in in the name of God without farther inlargement take up Iacobs Resolution in our distresses to perswade which is the cheif design of this and my former sermon and for which wee had never more cause and wee may justly Expect Iacobs Revvard Let us use all meanes with Feare faithfullnesse Diligence and Courage to prevent those evills which threaten us and leave the Event to Gods Good pleasure still ready with Patient Constant Iob in the extremest misery to cry out Though thou Killest mee yet vvill I put my Trust in thee So shall wee approve our selves faithfull servants to God the King. And at last receive that Crovvne of Eternall Bliss vvhich is laid up for all those that feare him But I shall not proceed any further in
the Kingdome even by the Leaders Guides of Christ's Flock are more greater than it is possible for any to conceive or foresee Such a Notorious Contradiction of your own past Preaching Practice must I fear render you very cheap amongst those People which you have drawn into a Snare by a very sinfull Example who have too much sense not to discern the illness thereof tho they want Courage to resist it I am sorry that the necessity which I am put to of delivering my Soule constreins me here to declare thus much and that you have very often in my Presence preach'd false Doctrine if your present Proceedings Compliances are justifiable It 's now a more seasonable time than it was a year agoe for us Ecclesiasticks who cannot swallow implicite Faith to teach our Hearers to beware of implicite Obedience If it were dreadfull dangerous while we liv'd under a gratious Prince of an undoubted Title whose excessive Goodness Forwardness to rely on his Subjects hath prov'd his Ruine is it become otherwise under the Government of a Prince who hath by Violence wrested a Crown from the very Father of his own Princess his own near Relation who by such an act of unparaleld Injustice inexcusable palpable defect of Veracity in having at his first Entrance grossly contradicted his own Declaration gives more just Grounds than both his Uncles or his Grandfather ever did of Jealousy Fear to conclude that he intends to Rule as he Conquer'd the Kingdome proposing to himselfe no other motives in his future Government than he did in his first Invasion And what they were it will be needless to recite to any but those who were during the months of Oct Nov last fast a sleep And what will become then of our Religion Libertyes Lavvs it will be easy enough to devine O Fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint c. The Review of our past Felicity those very Blessings we enjoy'd and sadly overlook'd during the Reigne of our present Soveraigne must needs greivously torment our Hearts give us occasion of pining away with just vexation anger at out selves Since it is not possible now for us in all humane apprehension to swimme back to such our sottishly neglected lost Happiness but through that sea of blood which Tyrants Usurpers commonly shed in prosecuting accomplishing their Machiavellian Designes And it is matter of no small moment for men especially Churchmen to examine thoroughly impartially how much of the Guilt will lye at their own Doores As a great measure thereof must it is without all Dispute rest at the door of every one who hath knovvingly and vvillfully contributed to the Fall Banishment of his Lawfull Prince whereby he is put under a Necessity out of Justice to his son to recover his own by the Sword which by Force Violence as well as the abhorr'd Treachery of his own Subjects were taken from him And I do beseech You to be assur'd that in now recommending to You whom God hath plac'd under my Authority so Seasonable necessary a Task as this sort of SELFE-EXAMINATION I do manifest that I am as I have done often in other matters your faithfull Friend as well as Roüen Aug 15. 1689. Your affectionate Brother DENIS GRANVILLE FINIS To the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Durham REVEREND BRETHREN Among the many applications which upon my withdrawing and leaving the Nation I have been oblig'd out of common decency as well as good conscience considering the publickness of my circumstances to make to my Relations Naturall Spirituall I might without censure or blame omit all Laborious penning down of my thoughts for You the Clergy of my Archdeaconry having for more than twenty years together with the greatest industry best zeal I was able from year to year by word letter sometimes in Print not only incited you at my Visitations faithfully diligently to execute your offices but plainly fully deliver'd my soule at my last more memorable Visitation on the 15 of the never to be forgotten month of Nov 1688 ten dayes after our late Dutch-Protestant Gunpowder-Treason Brotherly advising nay earnestly pressing you to stand the Test in that great day of tryall that you might not have lost either the honour or reward of Confessors for a Righteous Cause in Asserting whereof I am willing and resolve by Gods grace to sacrifice my life as I have done my Revenue if the wise God should thinke fitt to call me to the one as he hath done to the other To demonstrate undeniably to your selves all that hear'd me that day that I was not among all my weaknesses afraid or ashamed to owne my past life Doctrine to compleat the Office of a Visitor as honestly heartily as I began I chose you may remember to lay before you the cheife heads of all the Good Counsell Advice which I had given you at the former Conventions of the Clergy of my Jurisdiction for four years together even the four last extraordinary years that is to say ever since his gratious Majestie our Liege Lord Soverigne King Iames the 2 mounted his Throne tho I had too much reason then to apprehend by your long neglect thereof running counter to the principles practice of your Archdeacon it would badly suite with your palates which at that time to my greife appear'd since without all dispute are found not only vitiated but poison'd by the Leaven Magick of the Age. It was ever my hopes that his Majestie 's Loyall County of Durham the appellation which my gracious Master King Charles the 2 was wont as I have often minded You to afford Us would have resisted longer than any Diocess in England by vertue of the Good Government which was very seasonably more effectually than else where therein set on foot at his joyfull Restauration How little prevalent unsuccessfull soever my poor weak endeavours prov'd towards your establishment I could not imagine that the Clergy of the Bishoprick of Durham could have so soon forgotten much less have frustrated the precepts Example given them by so great a Confessor and stout Champion of the old orthodox Church of England as had happily reviv'd good order conformity to the Churche's Rules among them But since we find by sad experience that it is so that even the very Leaders have apostatiz'd from their Duty to God and the King It becomes me who dare not follow their Example to do all that I can to prevent the People of my Archdeaconry from being seduced thereby You know I have labour'd faithfully with zeale more than ordinary to assert the King's cause from the yeare 1678 through all the Combustions occasion'd by an Infamous Impostor home to the Dutch Invasion at that very time even on the 15 of Nov. 1688 brought all the wholesome advice