before by the Dignity of the Person against whom it is committed and by the Transcendent Worth or Value of the Right or Property you would so Unjustly Rob or spoyl him of This great evil you do that good may come therefore if you will believe the Apostle without Repentance your Doom is Damnation the Dreadful but yet as he calls it Just Sentence which you are to expect from the Righteous Judg who is no respecter of Persons but perfectly hates and will severely Punish all Wilful and Presumptuous Sin in all the Actors of it be they Publick or Private Persons in Authority or not whatever they be if they do Unjustly the Vengeance of God will be sure to pursue and overtake them The Distinction of Papist and Protestant make no difference in the Case if a Papist do any Wicked or Unjust thing invade the Estate Assasinate or take away the Life of any Protestant as an Heretick though it be done with an Intention that good may come or accrue to the Catholick cause by it still he is a Thief and a Murderer and therefore the Just God will Inflict the most Dreadful Punishment or Damnation upon him And if on the other side any Protestant or Company of Protestants for the preventing of Popery do Injury to or Unjustly deprive any Papist of his Right and Property as an Idolater that or those Protestants notwithstanding the good end they propound to themselves in it are Injurious and Oppressors and must look that the Vengeance of God will come upon them here and that without Repentance their Portion will be amongst the Unjust hereafter And if there be any odds in the guilt it is on the Protestants side such an one thus offending being more inexcusable than a Papist because he hath better means of Instruction for he hath the Holy Scriptures in a Language he understands to shew him the Right Pathes the ways of Justice and Honesty and he acknowledges them to be the sole Rule by which he is to order and conduct his Life and Actions and therefore if he do any Unjust thing he hath no Apology nor Excuse for it But most Papists are deprived of this advantage they have not the Scriptures in a Language they understand and therefore are not so well Instructed in the Duty that God requires of them neither do they own them to be their Rule without Traditions or the Unwritten Word of God which their Guides have both the Keeping and Expounding of and therefore they may easily be Impos'd upon told that is Just or a Part of their Duty which is quite contrary to it and so offend Ignorantly which doth something extenuate or lessen their Guilt Supposing then what you take for granted that your Bill to set aside the Duke would be for the good of the Nation yet it being absolutely Unjust and Sinful it is to do evil that good may come and therefore if St. Paul say true justly Damnable But what if you be mistaken What if it be not for the good but the injury and hurt the mischief and Ruin of the Nation If thus then you do Evil no good comes of it commit a great Sin to your own Eternal and the Peoples Temporal Ruin and Destruction so that instead of Blessing Praising they will have Just Cause to Revile and Curse you for it For let us suppose your Bill of Exclusion passed into a Law and his Royal Highness thereby deprived as far as that can do it of his Right Will he sit down patiently under so great an Injury I believe him so Brave and Just a Prince that such a Wrong though it would be a mighty Temptation could not provoke him to cast off either his Affection or Allegiance to the King but yet if the Duke be as you suppose him a Papist it would exasperate all the Roman Catholicks against the King excite their Rage prompt them to Revenge the Injury done to a Prince of their Religion make them Desperate watch all Opportunities try all ways to Assasinate and Destroy him We see to our Horrour and Amazement how the Kings most Just Refusal to consent to that Impious Project of Exclusion hath Irritated the Zealous Faction blown up their Rage and Malice to that Damnable height that they had design'd a more Dreadful Exclusion to send the King himself and his Royal Brother out of the World by a most Cruel and Barbarous Death that what their Wicked Votes could not their Murdering Bullets should Effect had not the Watchful Providence and the Adorable Goodness of our God Preserved the Royal Victims appointed for the Slaughter and by a mighty hand Rescued them from the Snare and the Ruin laid for them and I take his Majesties Deliverance from this Hellish Conspiracy as a Remarkable Token of Gods Approbation and Reward of his Royal Justice and Integrity in Refusing the Bill And if the Kings just denying his assent to it could so provoke and inrage the admirers of it against him how would the passing of it have Irritated and Rows'd the Romish Faction Would they not have fill'd Heaven and Earth with Complaints of and Outcries against it Have Publish'd Invectives and Proclaim'd the Wickedness of it to all the Christian World to the perpetual Reproach and Dishonour of our Nation nay have meditated Revenge enter'd into the most Dangerous Confederacies and took Counsel together to Destroy the King for to such Black and Cursed attempts as these they are God knows too Prone and Inclin'd when they have no Just Provocation given them to Instigate or Prompt them thereunto But this in their Apprehension would have Justifi'd all manner of Treasons and Conspiracies made them not only Lawful but in the highest Degree Meritorious they would have thought they did God the best and most acceptable Service when they cut off so Unjust a Prince who was so Cruel and Injurious as to deprive his own nay his only Brother of so great and undoubted a Right 'T is certain this would have put them upon frequent Treasons and Attempts against the King and who knows but it might have provoked that God who Loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity or Unjust Dealing if not more yet at least as much in Princes as other Men to withdraw his Watchful Providence and Gracious Protection from him to dismiss that Guard of Angells which have hitherto Defended his Sacred Person and most Precious Life from all those Bloudy Villains of what Sect or Profession soever that have Ventured to Attempt any thing against it So that your Bill of Exclusion instead of Preserving would have Indangered the King instead of being a Safe-guard and Defence to him would have exposed his most Sacred Majesty to Popish Rage and Cruelty nay which is Infinitely more Dreadful to the Divine Anger or Displeasure And being not for the Safety of the King it cannot be for the good of the People Besides as it would be the Mother of Secret Conspiracies so in all Probability
the Kingdom of Heaven which must in Reason signifie something more than other Christians have otherwise they that are not would be as Blessed as they that are Persecuted nay more Happy because they would without being Miserable in this obtain Crowns as Glorious and Rewards as great as they in the other World the Apostle also Affirms It is a Faithful saying if we be 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Dead with him we shall also Live with him if we Suffer we shall also Reign with him if we Deny him he also will Deny us And if they that Suffer with or for shall Reign with him and they that deny him to escape Suffering shall be disown'd or deny'd by him every Man that believes he Reigns in Heaven and considers what a Blessed Desirable thing it is to Reign be Glorifi'd there with him instead of being Affrighted at it will think it most Prudent and Reasonable to deny himself take up his Cross and follow him to part with every thing that is Dear to Suffer every thing that is Dreadful to him here when he cannot keep the one nor avoid the other without Sin that he may obtain such a transcendent Reward and so admirable or illustrious an Exaltation This will Teach him to Reckon with St. Paul That the Sufferings of this present time are not Worthy to be compared Rom. 6. 18. with the Glory that shall be Revealed in him the present Suffering or Affliction as he tells us elsewhere being Light and but for a Moment but the Glory Great and Durable a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory And as the Holy Scriptures make such High and Noble Offers to all that Suffer for Christ so 't is certain the Primitive Church which was the best Expounder of Scripture thought the Martyrs had a greater Reward than other Pious Christians an Additional Coronet over and above the great Crown of Righteousness and accordingly St. Cyprian speaks of two Epist Martyribus Confes Christ ad finem Crowns the one white as the Gracious Recompence of good Works of their pure and unspotted Lives the other purple as the Glorious Reward of their Dying for the Faith of Christ But however that is the Apostle puts it out of doubt that there are Degrees of Glory and Different Rewards in Heaven There is one Glory of 1 Cor 15 41. 42. the Sun and another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also is the Resurrection of the Dead And if there be different Rewards after this Life it is Reasonable to believe the Blessed Martyrs have the most sparkling Crowns and the biggest Recompence in the Glorious Regions above because they gave the highest Testimony of their Love and Zeal for Christ by Dying for him 'T is not then so Miserable and Despicable a thing as the Excluders think it to take up the Cross and follow Jesus to suffer all manner of Injuries Oppressions Miseries nay Death it self for his Sake because he hath Promis'd great Rewards to them that do it and having all Power both in Heaven and Earth he must needs be able to accomplish or make good that Promise 'T is true indeed no Man ought to part with his Life or Estate when he can keep them Innocently He Suffers as a Fool that doth it when there is no Danger of Sinning if he Suffer not But to use any Unjust or Sinful Arts to free our selves from Suffering such as the Project of Exclusion is must needs be highly Impious and Unchristian For Gods Sake let us keep to the same Laws of Christ do the thing that is Right and leave the rest to his Watchful and Gracious Providence then if we Suffer our Innocence will be our Comfort and Support and we shall have the Blessed hope of passing by Death to the Rich and most Happy Inheritance provided for us in Heaven Let us Labour to be good to lead the Pure and Pious Lives our Religion requires of us and then we can have no Just Cause to Tremble or be Affraid to Dye The Living saith Solomon know that they must Dye and that they can by no Art or Means avoid it And seeing we must do it can we ever Dye more Honourably Bravely and Christianly than for owning the Holy Faith and Religion of our Dear Redeemer who gave himself to Death the most bitter and shameful Death of the Cross for us So that we have his Example to invite the Noble Army of Martyrs to animate or encourage and the great Rewards they are possess'd of to ingage us patiently to bear the Cross when our Lord is pleased to send it 'T is certain that as the Laws now are no Man can be deprived either of his Life or Estate meerly for professing the Reform'd Religion therefore whilst they continue we are as safe and secure as we can desire to be So that till they are changed no Man can Suffer for that and it will be a very difficult undertaking to change them because the Laws in Favour of our Religion cannot be Abolish'd or taken Off but by consent of Parliament and it will be no easie thing for a Popish Prince if at any time such an one comes to the Crown to get a Parliament that will do it because the Knights and Burgesses that serve in Parliament without whose consent according to our present Constitution no Laws can be either Made or Abolish'd are not chose by the Prince but by the People who are so far from Electing Papists that they are too prone to Chuse Men of the other Dangerous extreme and so Ruin us that way But if either the Prince should by his writ Summon or the People so forget themselves as to Elect any Papists yet when they are so Call'd and Elected they cannot Sit as the Laws now are till they have openly and in the most solemn manner Renounced their Religion which no Men of any Honour or Conscience will do If it be said they may have Dispensations from his Holiness to take any Oaths and make any Declarations to Capacitate them to Sit in Parliament I Demand of them that say so why the Popish Lords who left the House upon that Act did not make use of that Expedient to evade the Law there is no question but they might have had Dispensations to do it and therefore their leaving the House satisfies me that they thought no Dispensations could Warrant or make it Lawful for them so to Renounce and Abjure their Religion We are as safe then already as Laws can make us and they that are so busie to get new ones trouble themselves to no purpose for if those we have at present cannot secure our Religion no other can do it Whilst the Laws then continue as they are and for my part I do not apprehend how they can be changed we cannot Suffer but if these that are a Safe-guard and Defence to
sure it must needs be sinful and unlawful for him to do it To Execute Thieves and Murderers and yet be Unjust and Cruel himself 'T is true if he be so his People may not must not revenge the wrongs nor resist the Violence he offers to them because the Apostle tells them what the dreadful Punishment of that resistance will be They that resist shall recieve to themselves Damnation And because God is the only Judg of Kings and he so Righteous a Judg that he will be sure to Punish them if they abuse their Power When David was unjustly pursued Injuriously dealt with by King Saul he did not study Revenge but abhor'd it saying God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords Anoynted 1 Sam. 26. 11. He remitted or left him to his proper Judg. David said furthermore As the Lord Liveth the Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to Vers 10. Dye or he shall descend into Battel and Perish But as for me I have no Commission nor Authority to cut him off and therefore God Almighty keep me from committing so Audacious and Execrable a Crime or Wickedness But the Peoples having no Power from God to Revenge the wrongs done them by their Prince is no encouragement for him to do them because as they are contrary to his Duty and the abusing his Authority he is answerable and accountable to God for them and must expect from him a Punishment equal to them And that they may Faithfully perform this Duty consult and provide for the good and welfare of their People the Apostle requires that Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions be made for them for Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead quiet and Peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty This as it is the Princes Duty so his Honour and Glory when according to the Ancient Title of Kings he is a Common Father to his People hath a Paternal care of and Affection for them Loves them and is tender of their Lives and Properties is so far from Destroying the Innocent that he is unwilling to Condemn and Execute the Guilty and would not do it but that those cannot be safe unless these be cut off had rather save one Subject than Destroy a Thousand Enemies and thinks himself Rich enough if his Loyal Subjects be so and instead of Impoverishing them by needless Wars encourages Trade and Studies to keep them in Peace and Plenty 'T is as impossible for wise and good People not to Love such a Prince as it is for them to hate themselves or not to be concern'd for their own Interest They look upon him as their chief Patron and Benefactor upon Earth and the Sun it self is not dearer to them than he is They Love and hate as he doth they that are his Friends they account theirs and those that are his Enemies they abhor as if they were their own They have the highest esteem and Admiration for him in their Hearts which they express in their words and Actions In their words by filling all Places with his Praises and speaking nothing but Panegyricks and Encomiums of him In their Actions by treating him with the greatest reverence and respect receiving him in Triumph and with all possible expressions of Joy whereever he comes as if some Glorious Angel was descended from the Heavenly Regions and come to Bless them with his presence By obeying his Laws and observing all his Royal Injunctions doing every thing he Commands with a ready cheerful and willing Mind Such a Prince as he is admir'd and belov'd in his Life so he is truly Lamented at his Death and his Subjects pay their Tributary Tears at his Royal Sepulchre weep over him and say as Elisha did at the departure of Elijah my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and Horsemen thereof And though he be gone to take possession of a better Kingdom and to receive a brighter Crown yet amongst all his Glorys above they cannot forget to Praise and Honour him upon Earth not only think but call him Blessed raise the fairest Monuments to his Memory inscribe his Royal Vertues and Glorious Actions in never Dying Records that his Fame and Renown descend to after Ages and all Generations may admire and call him Blessed So that the providing or taking care for the welfare of his People is a considerable part of the Princes happiness Let us enquire then if this be not also lost by the Dukes being a Papist if the Crown should descend to him If he come to be King and be of the Romish Religion he must set up that or not if he do it not he Frustrates their Expectation disobliges that Party and thereby incurs their Rage and Displeasure which must needs be very Fierce and Cruel because ever since Queen Mary left the World it hath been their study and endeavour to get a Catholick into the Throne This hath cost them so much Labour put them upon so many Conspiracies for this so many of their Zealots have been Executed found a worse Purgatory here than that they talk so much of after this Life And having gain'd their point as they thought got a King of their Religion for him to be content with Mass in his own Chappel and let his People openly profess and enjoy the Reformed Religion which they call Heresy and hate worse than they do the Devil What an unpardonable Injury Affront and Disappointment is this This is to rouse and irritate the Angry Lyons to deny the hungry Wolfes the Prey they have been so long hunting after his Holiness though he be Indulgent enough to other Sinners and sells them Pardons at as Cheap and Reasonable Rates as they can well desire hath no Mercy in store for such a Transgressor Sons will sooner pardon those that Kill their Fathers Fathers those that Murder their Innocent Children inraged Husbands them that Ravish their beloved Wives than he will forgive such a crime as this A crime that robs him of his so much admired Soveraignty of his dear and most desired Profit of his first Fruits Tenths Peter-pence Fees for Investing Bishops Indulgence Mony and all his other ways of getting Wealth by which as our Histories relate he drain'd a mighty Treasure out of this Kingdome and which if the Prince deny him his Reign will be short and his days few for if the Traiterous Priests and Jesuits that are about him do not Poyson or Stab him before their great Master hath declared him Unprofitable Consequently unworthy of the Royal Throne to be sure he having first for Fashion sake Admonished and Exhorted him to be Zealous of and mind the good of the Catholick Cause will proceed to Sentence Declare him Uncapable of faln from all Dominion and Rule then every one that Kills him thinks he doth God the most acceptable Service such as Merits from him the bigest reward and the brightest Crown provided inthe
and patient people that are not easily Provoked not Revengful Turbulent nor Seditious but of a Gentle Pleasing and Complying Temper these saith Christ shall Inherit the Earth spend their days in great tranquillity be happy in the friendship of their Equals the favour of their Superiours and the protection of their Governours every man is or may be ashamed to injure those that are of such a sweet and obliging temper not that this meekness gives them a Right to any part of the Earth or any of the possessions of it that belong to others but preserves them from many dangers miseries which they that have it not betray expose themselves to renders them patient and contented in all conditions and will if conjoyn'd with all other Christian Vertues secure to them a blessed portion in the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan of which the Earthly which God promised to the People of Israel was but a Type or poor Resemblance for of that our Lord here speaks it being the happy Country which every true Christian desires and seeks after an Inheritance as Saint Peter calls it incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserv'd in Heaven for him And so far was our Lord from saying any thing in favour of this Principle that he utterly declin'd or refused to intermeddle with mens Temporal Rights at all unless it was to secure them to the owners of which we have two remarkable instances one in the man that came and said to him Master speak to my Brother that St. Luke 12. 13. he divide the Inheritance with me the man was modest you see he did not desire the whole but would have been contented with half the Inheritance To this Proposal Christ answers by way of Reproof Man who made me a Judg Verse 14. or a Divider over you Thou art mistaken I am not come as a Temporal Prince or Judg to give Estates or Possessions to any in this World but to propose an Heavenly Kingdome and Immortal Happiness to all mankind and to tell them upon what Terms or Conditions they may obtain them This is the great concern I am imploy'd in and if thou wilt consult me herein I will soon give thee full Satisfaction That the Man who made this Motion had no Right to the Inheritance seems Evident to me both by the smart Reprehension Christ gives him in these words Man who made me a Judg or a Divider over you I will not meddle in so Unjust a thing as to bid thy Brother divide his Inheritance with thee and also by the Admonition he gives him in the following words Take heed Verse 15. and Beware of Covetousness for a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Thy desire of wealth and endeavour to encrease thy own by lessening thy Brothers Possession is a great Sin in thee and of such mighty danger that it ought to be avoided with the highest Care and Caution for though Estates and Possessions are useful to sustain Life yet no Man can prolong his Life nor make it really the more happy by possessing Superfluous Wealth The other Instance is the Question proposed to him by the Herodians What thinkest thou Is it Lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar To St. Mat. 22. 17. which having first reproved them for their Treachery and Hypocrisy he Answers Render Verse 21. unto Caesar the things which are Caesars Pay your Prince the Tribute that is due to him do not defraud or wrong him of any thing that belongs to him far be it from me to Advise or Counsel any to detain the Emperours Right from him If our Lord had design'd to found Dominion in Grace here had been a fit Oppertunity to have done it for when they said Tell us is it Lawful to give Tribute unto Gaesar He might have reply'd no it is not Caesar is an Infidel or Heathen or Wicked Man and as such is fallen from all Dominion and therefore hath no Right to Demand Tribute of the People nor they any Obligation upon them to Pay him any But so far was Christ from giving them such an Answer that he Acknowledg'd Tribute to be Caesars Right and Commanded it to be pay'd unto him and though he was the Son of that God from whom Caesar receiv'd his Imperial Power and Authority yet when the Officers Demanded it of him rather than he would deprive him of his Right he wrought a Miracle that he might have wherewith to pay it which shews the admirable Justice and Integrity of our Lord in that he was careful to secure and preserve all Mens Rights and Properties If any Man refused to Submit unto his Excellent Laws and to come over to his Religion he told him he should have no part nor portion in his Kingdom but then to avoid mistakes he declared that his Kingdom was not of this World not an Earthly but an Heavenly Kingdom and all Right to this he affirms is founded in Grace that it is the Free and Royal Gift of God and the Purchase of his Meritorious Holiness and Sufferings there being nothing in Men to Merit so great a Good the things he requires of them being necessary Dispositions to qualifie or fit them for the Injoyment of it not the Cause moving God to confer it upon them So that though a Pious and Holy Conversation be the great Condition of a Crown hereafter and so absolutely necessary that it cannot be obtain'd without it And though it be an Ornament and Security to him that hath one upon Earth an Ornament as it Gives an admirable Lustre to his Greatness and Renders him Excellent in his Person as well as upon the Account of his Royal Office A security as it Indears the Providence of God and Ingages his tender care of him as it Discourages Wicked and Trayterous Men from attempting or enterprising any thing against him whose Piety makes him Dear to Heaven renders him so highly the Joy and Delight of the Blessed Angels that they are Ready to offer themselves as a Guard and Defence to him and as it procures him the Love Honour and Admiration of all good Men yet the highest Piety or Holiness gives no Man a Title to that Dominion or Soveraignty upon Earth to which he had not an Antecedent Right nor doth the Want of it deprive him that hath it of that Right Christ offers Indeed an Heavenly Kingdom upon Condition of a good Life but an ill one Forfeits no Mans Right to an Earthly And seeing our Lord hath said nothing in Favour of this Tenure but on their contrary that which overthrows and destroys it It cannot be true that Dominion is founded in Grace for he having not founded it so who is the great Law giver to his Church no humane Authority can do it without invading his Prerogative nay as I observ'd before without destroying his Religion because Experience shews us most Men are mightily byassed or led by their
not from a Total Destitution or Want but from weakness of Grace they may be Slips and Frailties not wilful or deliberate Crimes though they sometimes ensnare and surprise him yet the Man may heartily Abhor Repent of and Strive against them be earnestly Labouring after that habitual Holiness and proficiency in Piety and Vertue that will in time render him Victorious over all Sin and Wickedness What horrid Injury is it then to such a Child of God as this that heartily Loves his Heavenly Father and sincerely endeavours to do his Will to Condemn him as a Reprobate and as such to deprive him of all the Possessions he hath upon Earth So that if any Sect or Society of Men had Power to Elect such a Judg or Officer unless when they have chose they can make him Infallible or give him Unerring that is Infinite Wisdom still they would be never the better because he could not Execute his Office without committing the grossest most mischievous and pernicious Errours and Mistakes without passing such Sentences as will Condemn and Ruine the Innocent and on the other side Justifie and Enrich the Guilty and the Wicked I know indeed that those two great Rivals who claim a Right of Judging in the Case that is the Pope and Presbytery do both pretend to be Infallible the first Directly or in Express words the other by Consequence As for the Pope he professes to have an Infallible or Unerring Judgment in all Cases and the Presbytery say they have the Spirit which is to say the same thing his Holiness doth though in other Terms Now here being two Parties contending for this Judicature and both of them for the due managing of it pretending to be Infallible and neither of them willing to quit their Claim or Title or to resign it to the other the Question is Which of them must be acknowledged Judg in the Case The Presbytery are Evidently the Younger and but of Yesterday in compare with the other for the Pope will plead that several General Councils have own'd and asserted him to be the supreme Judg upon Earth in all Causes belonging to Religion but the Presbytery can alledg no such thing never had any Council to declare for them unless they will be so Presumptuous as to call the sneaking Synod of Dort so And therefore till one of these Pretenders Renounce his claim there can be no supreme or sole Judg in the Case and to place this Judicature in them both would make mad work because the Pope hath adjudged the Presbytery to be Hereticks and therefore void of Grace and consequently such as have no Right to Judg in the Case And the Presbytery on the other side call the Pope Antichrist and Man of Sin and the Church of Rome over which he presides the Great Whore the Whore of Babylon and therefore not only fallen from but past all Grace And those whom he declares to be Saints and good Catholicks they pronounce to be Reprobates or Sinners of the first Magnitude Those also whom he calls Hereticks and Anathematizes as the most Flagitious Criminals upon Earth they admire and cry up as the Peculiar People Dear Children of God So that if the Accusations and Indictments they prefer one against another be true they are both such Impious Graceless Persons that they are not capable of being Judges in the Case and the gross and abominable Errours both of them are so Notoriously Guilty of Shame and Prove the Infallibility they both lay claim to to be a most insolent and lying Pretence And being neither taught in Scripture nor Practicable in it self this Principle must needs be false and the Invention of Cheats who say as the Gnosticks did of old That Gain is Godliness If Christ had founded Dominion in Grace he would have inserted this degree amongst his other Laws which his Blessed Apostles have Transmitted to us in their inspired Writings but there is no mention of any such thing and he having not so founded it no Authority upon Earth can do it And because he took Care by his Strict and Excellent precepts of Justice to preserve and secure Mens Rights and Properties as they can be none of his Disciples that Violate and Invade them so upon what Pretence soever they do it they must expect the dreadful Punishment which his Laws Denounce against the Unjust the Oppressours and therefore I conclude That Dominion is not Bp. Taylor Ductor Dubi p. 543. founded in Grace but as a Reverend Person Observes in Law and Labour in Succession and Purchase And if Dominion be not founded in Grace then a Christian may Err in Practice that is do some Evil things and not forfeit his Temporal Right or Property be it Ordinary or Extraordinary a Right to a private Estate or as this under debate to succeed to the Royal Dignity The next Inquiry then must be what Errours in Practice Forfeit a Mans Right These must in Subsect 2. Reason be such as are Repugnant to and open Violation of some great Design or Intention of his Being but no Man was Born for himself alone but for the publick good and to be serviceable to Humane Society of which he is a part or Member which he is obliged to promote with all his Care and Industry and to Contribute his Endeavours to the Preservation of For the Effecting of which these three things as the Learned and Excellent Bishop Sanderson observes are absolutely necessary The Defending our Country against Forreign Force and Invasion The Administration of Distributive Justice that the Good be Protected and Rewarded the Evil and Unjust Punish'd according to the Laws Care of Commutative Justice of Trade Praelectio Quinta Sect 19. or Commerce and all kind of Contracts the welfare and safety of Mankind being so concern'd in these things that unless they be secured they must needs be involved in Misery and Ruin for all places will be fill'd with Thefts Murders Frauds and Injuries and the Lives and Estates of the most Innocent Persons be exposed to the Avarice and Cruelty of the Great or Mighty The Crimes therefore that Forfeit a Mans Right must be such as are Destructive of Humane Society which are Thefts Murders and Treasons But then he that commits these or any of them doth by our Laws Forfeit his Life as well as Estate the Royal Clemency indeed may if it sees Cause Pardon those that Commit these great Offences which Pardon Restores them intirely to all they had Forfeited but without that they are Dead and Deprived of all their Possessions by Law It being Just that he who steals another Mans Goods should loose his own that he who will not let his Neighbour Live to Enjoy his Estate should Forfeit both his Life and Estate and that he or they who attempt any thing against the Sacred and most Precious Life of their Prince be not only Punish'd as the highest Malefactors by a Death peculiar to such execrable Criminals
Diminution and therefore he must offer no Injury to any Man nor attempt to Dispossess or Deprive him of any thing that belongs to him Every Man would have others deal fairly and sincerely keep their word and promise with him not Circumvent nor deceive him with Id. Instit Theol lib. 4 pa. 249. lies fraud or falsehood pay him what is due to him or if he owe another any thing he would not have him be rigorous or severe with him but forbear or allow him some time till he be able to pay him if he be in any Want or Misery he would be Relieved and Assisted by the Counsel Help Comfort and Prayers of others and therefore is obliged to do all these things to others And this Rule extends to all Orders and Degrees of Men Superiours Equals and Inferiours They that have any Superiority over others expect from them the Honour and Obedience due to them and therefore must pay the same Respect and Submission to those that are possess'd of an higher Station Every Man looks for Friendship and Fidelity from his Equals and consequently must be Kind and Faithful to them They that are Inferiour to and have any Dependence upon others would Injoy their Favour Clemency and good Will and Receive from them Help Relief and Counsel in their need and therefore must afford the same to those that are Below and Depend upon them He that is a Magistrate if he were a a Private Person would be protected both in his Life and Estate have no Man suffer'd to do him Wrong or Violence with Impunity and therefore must so discharge his Office and behave himself to all Men that come to him for Justice So that this one Rule gives us full and sufficient Direction how to Order all our Intercourse and Dealings with Men that they may be Just and Equal And if the greatest Zealots for and Admirers of it will please to Compare their Project of Exclusion with this Excellent Rule or Law of Christ they will soon perceive the High and Horrid Injustice of it Do they Treat or do to his Royal Highness as they themselves would be done to Would any one of them be content to be depriv'd of his Birth-right meerly upon the Account of his Religion No so far are they from being willing to be so used themselves that to prevent or take away all possibility of it they would deprive the Duke of his Inheritance They Love themselves so well that they would not Suffer at all have no Harm nor Danger happen to them their Hatred to his Royal Highness is so Cruel and Implacable that they would make Him Suffer the greatest Wrong and Dammage To make a true Judgment in the Case Mutanda est Persona the Person must be changed Let then the Fiercest and most Zealous of the Excluders suppose himself in the Dukes Place that he was Heir to such a Jewel as a Crown to so Rich and Valuable an Inheritance as three Kingdoms are and that he had done nothing which either by any Divine or Humane Law yet extant made a Forfeiture of that Right and Inheritance and that those whom he had never Injured or offer'd any Just Offence to were Confederate against him and contended with all their Zeal and Industry to have a Law made to Bar his Claim and Deprive him of the Possession of it if it should by course of Nature descend to him how would he take such usage What would he think of them that Treated him so would he not fill Heaven and Earth with his Complaints Cry out that Justice and Honesty had left the World and Appeal to Heaven for Succour saying with the Royal Prophet Help me Lord for there is not one Godly Man left for Ps 12. 1 the Faithful the Just and Honest are minished from among the Children of Men Surely thou hast seen it for thou beholdest Ungodliness and Wrong That thou mayest take the matter into thy Ps 10. 15 16 Hand the Poor committeth himself unto thee for thou art the helper of the Friendless Wilt thou have any thing to do with the stool of Wickedness Ps 94. 20. which imagineth mischief as a Law Suffer me not Oh Lord to be Oppress'd and Ruin'd by the Counsels and Combinations of Wicked Men and Unjust but stir up thy strength and come and help me And if these would be his Thoughts and Resentments of such usage when offer'd to himself how abominably Wicked and Unjust is it for him and his Brethren to offer it to the Duke This is apparently to Contemn and Violate this most equal and therefore excellent Law of Christ to do that to another which they would be most impatient of if done to themselves Our Laws indeed Punish all sorts of Recusants but then the Punishments they Inflict are Moderate intended to Reform not Ruin them they deprive none of them of their Birth-right and all their Possessions but only of some part of them and those Punishments are Just and agreeable to this Rule because they offer that Contempt and Disturbance to the Government which if they were in Authority they would not have others do to them 'T is certain that neither Popery nor Presbytery where they are Establish'd will give Toleration to any that Dissent from them and if they will grant none to others with what Face can they expect it themselves Besides t is Evident that both these Factions both formerly and of late have practis'd against the State been guilty of horrid Treasons and Seditions Murder'd the Glorious Father to go no higher Plotted the Death and Destruction of the most Excellent Son our present most Gracious Soveraign which is the highest Violation of this Sacred Law of Christ for would any of them if he was King of these Nations be content to be so used as they Treat their Prince would he be willing to have his Subjects take Arms against and Conspire his Death when he had given them all manner of Demonstrations of his Love and Care of them sought to Oblige Indear them by a Just Merciful Peaceable Government would he take it well to see them requite his high Affection with deadly Hatred his tender care with contempt his Royal Mercy Justice with Barbarous Cruelty Villany yet these things this hard measure have both the Papists Fanaticks offer'd to their Prince and therefore the Punishments which our Laws inflict upon them are Just they have no Cause of complaint against the Government because it Corrects them with Mercy and Moderation Punishes them less than their Crimes Deserve 't is Death indeed by our Law for any of the Romish Priests and Jesuits to be found in England but that Punishment is not inflicted on them for their Religion but for their Irreligion and Wickedness their frequent and execrable Treasons their restless attempts against their Lives and Government awaken'd and made it necessary for our Kings by Capital Punishments to deter such Traytors
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
and hath Continued in the Catholick Church without any opposition till Aerius first and the Disciples of Calvin since resisted and where they had power cast it out I appeal then to all the wise and sober World whether the Schisms and Divisions amongst us be not causeless and unprovoked there being no just offence given nothing done by our Church to fright or drive the People from the Communion of it or prompt them to set up several Meetings And if the Divisions we are afflicted with cannot be truly charged upon the Church where must the Blamely or who shall father the base and mischievous Brat They that lay it at the Jesuits door charge them to be both the beginners and continuers of the Schisms amongst us have reason for what they say because the Zealots of that Church think every thing lawful that tends to the good and advantage of the Catholick Cause And nothing can be more serviceable to that than our Divisions and Quarrels divide and rule is a Maxim approved by all the Wicked Politicians If they can but set those they would master at strife and variance they conclude they will thereby so weaken and consume one another as to become an easy prey to them Such Divisions Produce deadly feuds and quarrels implacable hatreds and animosities and are the Causes of cruel Wars for Differences in Religion are for the most part managed with such heat and passion that the contenders proceed from words to blows from disputing to fighting for their beloved Opinions or if they forbear that for a time yet in any exigences of State or Publick dangers they will not afford one another that mutual help and assistance which are necessary for their preservation but one party will look on and see the other subdued if not lend their helping hands to destroy them But the more united any people are the better able they must needs be to defend themselves against a common Enemy but being broken into Sects and Factions their strength is Little and not Sufficient to repel the assaults of their Enemies Cyrus as Herodotus relates intending to Conquer Scythia came to a great River that stop'd his march for as it ran in one channel or current it would have Endanger'd his Army Swallowed them up if they had ventured to ford it whereupon he made use of this Stratagem to cut or divide it into many parts rivulets and sluces which so weaken'd its force that they passed over without any danger at all This seems to be the Policy of the Jesuits in dividing us for if all our people kept within their proper Channel our Church the attempts of Rome would signify nothing but like a mighty torrent we should easily bear down all opposition be strong enough to defend ourselves against them but the Sects and Factions they have caused amongst us weaken and give them great advantages against us For hereby many are Scandaliz'd and turn Papists because they think the Contentions we are ingaged in will be sure to ruin us at last and therefore imagin themselves safer in St. Peters boat than in a ship so leaky and full of breaches as our Church is By this means also great numbers are frighted from Religion in general become Atheists concluding that to be a meer Fable about which there are so many and such endless quarrels and bickerings and which the professors of after so long time and so much consideration are not will never be agreed about and it is indifferent to them that believe all Religion a cheat which gets uppermost for they that are really of none can and will seem to be of any Church or Perswasion they can either get or save by if either their safety or profit require it they can creep as devoutly to a Crucifix as they can kneel to God Almighty Lastly by drawing multitudes of People from it the Jesuits have great hopes of gaining their so much desired and so long endeavour'd point The destruction of our Church for we see how Zealous and Industrious the Dissenters have been and are to ruin or pluck it down which shews them to be set on by the Jesuits and their Agents to do their work for them though perhaps they know not do not consider whose servants they are for if our Church be destroy'd Popery will certainly rise out of the ruins of it there being nothing to make head against it when that is gone this is the great Bulwork or Fort Royal which if they can take either by undermining Treachery or open Force the day is theirs So that they who charge our Divisions upon the Jesuits as the Authors of them have reason to justify that charge and the truth of it is so fully proved by the excellent Dean of St. Pauls in the Preface to his unreasonableness of Separation to which I refer the Reader that nothing needs Page 1â— be added to it And being the first Sowers of these Tares the Causers and Fomenters of our Divisions when they broak in upon our Church presently after the Reformation and which they have with their utmost care and diligence propagated and continued ever since with what face can they Upbraid us with or make them an Objection against it for them to set us together by the Ears and then blame us that we do not agree to be the Incendiaries and stir up Strife amongst us from Age to Age from Generation to Generation and then reproach us with our Contentions is worse than Heathen Malice and Knavery this is as barbarous as if a Man should set his Neighbours House on fire and then blame him for letting it burn We had lived in great Peace and Concord and there had been no Schisms amongst us if they had not help'd to disturb the one and promoted the other and our Wounds would be presently closed we should return to our Ancient Unity and live in the happiest Peace if They and their chief Agents the leading Schismaticks that imbroyl and divide us were as upon all accounts they deserve to be Excluded or Driven out of the Nation 'T is certain that not only all Protestants but the Papists themselves at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign came to our Churches and if Pius Quintus had not forbidden the Romish party to Communicate with they had not Separated from us and his Emissaries the Priests and Jesuites did under colour of setting up a more Pure and Spiritual way of Worship seduce many Protestants from the Church and cause woful broyls and dissentions which put that prudent and excellent Queen upon such methods as did effectually suppress and quiet them and it is most Unreasonable and right Jesuitical practice for them to father their base and wicked off-spring upon us to cause divisions amongst us and then reproach us with them Besides they that thus accuse and upbraid us with ours have many differences amongst themselves those of their Religious Orders are notorious and managed with great heat and earnestness