of Heaven which are infinite always protect our Religious and Gracious KING his Dearest BROTHER and every Branc of that ROYAL FAMILY and may all the Treasonable Conspiracies of those Rebellious Schischmaticks be always thus happily prevented That the continued Care of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of DEVON for the Safety of His Majesties Sacred Person the preservation of the Publick Peace and advancement of true Religion may be fuller known and have a better Effect I do hereby Order and Require all the CLERGY of my Diocess within the County of Devon deliberately to publish this Order the next Sunday after it shall be tendred to them THO. EXON Hugo Vaughan Cler. Pacis Com praed My LORD GENTLEMEN YOu have taken the right measure for securing our Peace and rendring unto Caesar the things that are Caesars by rendring unto God the things that are Gods in the first place We all owe it to your Piety R. R. Father who have loved our Nation and built us another Synagogue which with all thankfulness we acknowledge and may it ever re-remain a House of Prayer for those ends to which you have designed and reconsecrated it by your presence and Devotion When I saw the Heads of our County following the Guide of their Souls and like Moses and Aaron on the Mount stretching out their hands with their hearts unto God in Prayer it seemed to me a good Omen of Success and Victory against those Amalekites that are still conspiring against us in the Vallies For such as you who make it your business to serve God and the King are the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof In you we may see Righteousness and Peace embracing and kissing each other and may they never prosper that attempt to put them or you asunder And now I beseech you R. R. Father and worthy Gentlemen suffer a word of Exhortation which is that you would bend your united Force against that Profaneness and Debauchery which as it is an effect of our former Divisions and War so it will be the cause of new Confusions and drawing down the Wrath of God on the Land For if such men of Belial as are still fighting against God blaspheming his Holy Name by accursed Oaths and damnable Imprecations that own no other Deity but the Lusts of their upper nether bellies and sacrifice more of their time and Estates to Bacchus and Venus than to their God and Saviour and Leviathan like sport themselves n the waters of the Sanctuary scoffing at all things that are Sacred and think themselves so great that no man durst put a hook in their nostrils or reprove them though never so friendly and in the Name of God be permitted to riot it in the day-time we may expect an approaching night of as much blackness and darkness as violent storms and tempests as hitherto God be thanked hath past over our heads And because Tipling and Brothel-houses and the Nurseries of these mischievous vices where men sacrifice more of their time and Estates to their ungodly Lusts than to their God and Saviour let those Nests and Receptacles of unclean Locusts and devouring Caterpillars which do even cover the Land and though they have the faces of men yet under them they carry the hearts of beasts and the stings of fiery Serpents be suppressed I know there may be some Silver-smiths that will plead for these Shrines of the great Goddess Diana which bring no small gain to the Crafts-men But certainly if the time and Treasure which is spent and spilt by these Debaucheries in Idleness and upon their Lusts were employed in their dayly Labours and honest Callings the King would have a far greater as well as a better Revenue and Aid than from all those Augean Stables These are those Devils Chappels which in many places he set up for himself at the very entrance into God's House where his Chaplains daily attend his Service but especially on those Holy-days which are set apart for God's Worship and from hence there are as many Oaths and Imprecations for Vengeance and Damnation sent up against Heaven as there are Prayers and Supplications for Pardon and Salvation in the Churches of God And how great Provocations these are to our Holy God your own experience of the great and dayly trouble occasioned by such Riots may inform you for from hence proceed Thefts Whoredoms Bastardies Brauls and Quarrels which are prosecuted by expensive and ruining Law-suits maiming of Limbs and shedding of innocent Bloud These are the Sanctuaries of Vagabonds and Robbers the Hospitals of incurable Fools and Madmen where men are besotted bereaved of reason and strength and made uncapable of any good Employment The very Pesthouses of the Nation where Diseases are propagated and Infirmities intailed on succeeding Generations By these Circean Cups men are transformed into beasts and by their looks and their language you may know them for Vix hominem sonant These were the Apollyons that destroyed the late Kings Armies his Forts and Garrisons and reduced him to more straights than the Armies of his Adversaries who when they should be fighting against the Kings Enemies were fighting against God and discharging Vollies of Oaths against Heaven when they should have been praying for mercy and forgiveness from thence These hardned the hearts of the Kings Enemies and alienated the affections of his Subjects as if the Cause could not be good that was defended by such Instruments for they brought an evil Report on a righteous Cause as if their Prince were like that Party or Gallio like cared for none of those things It was doubtless by and for the wickedness of these men that so good a Prince and so just a Cause was overthrown and if we still do wickedly though as yet we have no visible Enemies the Mouth of the Lord which is able to do it hath said Ye shall be destroyed both you and your King Wherefore I beseech you who have Power and Authority from God and the King vigorously and unanimously to endeavour the Suppression of those Seminaries of sin and uncleanness which provoke God and bring the Government into Contempt and then we may hope that God will still suppress our Enemies and establish us on the sure Foundations of Peace and Righteousness which is and shall be the hearty Prayer of Exon Jan. 21. 1683. My Lord and Gentlemen Your most humble and hearty Servant for God his Church and the King THO. LONG St. JAMES 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts which war in your members BEing to speak to so solemn an Audience I could not think of a more seasonable and proper Subject than to commend unto you especially R. R. Father in God and worthy Gentlemen who are in Commission for the PEACE and Enquiry into the Causes of WAR And the Text seems to be a Writ of Enquiry From whence come wars In the due execution whereof
THE ORIGINAL of WAR OR THE Causes of Rebellion A SERMON Preached in the Castle of Exon On the 15th of January 1683. BEFORE The Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Bishop of Exon And other His Majesties JUSTICES of the Peace For the County of DEVON By THO. LONG Prebendary of St. Peters Exon. Rebuke the company of spearmen the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the people till every one submit himself with pieces of silver Scatter thou the people that delight in war Psal 68.30 Quem discordiae quem caedes Civium quem bellum Civile delectat eum ex finibus humanae naturae exterminandum puto Cicero Philip. 13. LONDON Printed by J. C. and F. Collins for Daniel Brown at the black Swan and Bible without Temple-bar and are to be sold by Walter Davies in Amen-corner 1684. TO The Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Bishop of Exon And other His Majesties JUSTICES of the Peace For the County of DEVON My LORD GENTLEMEN I Have the more readily complied with your Desires for Printing this Sermon that I may acquaint the Nation with an Exemplary instance of Religion and Loyalty which I beg your pardon for Reprinting in your Own words as followeth Devon ss Ad General Quarterial Session Pacis Dom. Regis tent apud Castr Exon. in pro Comitat. praed Secundo die Octobris Anno Regni Dom. nostri Caroli Secundi Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regis Fidei Defensor c. Tricessimo quinto Annoque Dom. 1683. WE have been so abundantly convinced of the Seditious and Rebellious Practices of the Sectaries and Phanaticks who through the Course of above One hundred years since we were first infested with 'em have scarce afforded this unhappy Kingdom any interval of rest from their Horrid Treasons as that we must esteem 'em not onely the open Enemies of our Established Government but to all the common Principles of Society and Humanity it self Wherefore that we may prevent their Horrid Conspiracies for the time to come and secure as much as in us lies our most Gracious KING and the GOVERNMENT from the Fury-and Malice of 'em we resolve to put the Severest of the Laws which we find too Easie and Gentle unless enlivened by a vigorous Execution in force against ' em 1. We Agree and Resolve in every Division of this County to require sufficient Sureties for the good Abearing and peaceable Behaviour of all such as we may justly suspect or that we can receive any credible Information against that they have been at any Conventicles and Unlawful Meetings or at any Factious or Seditious Clubs or that have by any Discourses discovered themselves to be disaffected to the present Established Government either in Church or State or that have been the Authors or Publishers of any Seditious Libels or that shall not in all things duely conform themselves to the present Established Government 2. Because we have a sort of False Men and more perfidious than professed Phanaticks who either wanting Courage to appear in their own shape or the better to bring about their Treasonable Designs privately associate with and encourage the Seditious Clubs of the Sectaries and with them Plot heartily against the Government and yet that they may pass unsuspected sometime appear in the Church with a false shew of Conformity onely to save their Money and the better to serve their Faction that we may if possible distinguish and know all such dangerous Enemies we will strictly require all Church-wardens and Constables at all our Monthly Meetings to give us a full account of all such as do not every Sunday resort to their own Parish-Churches and are not at the beginning of Divine Service and do not behave themselves Orderly and Soberly there observing all such decent Ceremonies as the Laws enjoyn And that they likewise Present unto us the Names of all such as have not received the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper in their own Parish-Churches Thrice in the Year 3. Being fully satisfied as well by the clear Evidence of the late Horrid PLOT as by our own long and sad Experience That the Nonconformist Preachers are the Authors and Fomenters of this Pestilent Faction and the implacable Enemies of the Established Government and to whom the late Execrable Treasons which have had such dismal effects in this Kingdom are principally to be imputed and who by their present obstinate refusing to Take and Subscribe an Oath and Declaration That they do not hold it lawful to take up ARMS against the KING and that they will not endeavour any Alteration of Government either in Church or State do necessarily enforce us to conclude that they are still ready to engage themselves if not actually engaged in some Rebellious Conspiracy against the KING and to Invade and Subvert his GOVERNMENT Wherefore we resolve in every Parish of this County to leave strict Warrants in the hands of all Constables for the seizing of such persons And as an encouragement to all Officers and others that shall be instrumental in the apprehending of any of them so as they may be brought to Justice we will give and allow Forty shillings as a Reward for every Nonconformist-Preacher that shall be so secured And we Resolve to prosecute them and all other such Dangerous Enemies of the Government and common Absenters from Church and frequenters of CONVENTICLES according to the Directions of a Law made in the Five and Thirtieth Year of the Reign of Queen ELIZABETH Entituled An Act for the keeping Her Majesties Subjects in due OBEDIENCE Lastly That we may never forget the infinite Mercies of Almighty God in the late Wonderful Deliverance of our Gracious KING and His Dearest BROTHER and all His Loyal Subjects who were designed for a Massacre from the Horrid Conspiracy of the Phanaticks and their Accomplices and that we may perpetuate as well our own Thankfulness as their Infamy that the Generations to come may know their Treachery and avoid and never trust men of such Principles more and also that we our selves may perform our publick Duty to Almighty God before we enter upon the publick Service of our Country We Order Resolve and Agree with the Advice and Concurrence of the Right Reverend Father in God our much Honoured and Worthy Lord BISHOP to give and bestow for the Beautifying of the Chappel in the Castle of EXON and for the erecting of decent Seats there Ten pounds And we will likewise give continue Six pounds to be paid yearly to any one of the Church of Exon whom the said Lord BISHOP shall appoint to read the DIVINE SERVICE with the Prayers lately appointed for the day of Thanksgiving on the Ninth of September last and to Preach a Sermon exhorting to OBEDIENCE in the said Chappel on the first day of every General Quarter-Sessions of the Peace held in the said Castle to begin precisely at Eight of the Clock in the Morning And may the Mercies
the like method forewarning us of false Prophets and Separatists or Sect-makers as St. Jude calls them Beware saith our Saviour of false prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves Mat. 7.15 And Acts 20.30 I know that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter among you not sparing the flock St. Peter also 2 Epist 2.1 says There were false prophets among the people as there shall also be among you who privily shall bring in damnable Doctrines denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and many shall follow their pernitious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you Now that these men served their own bellies and not the Laws of Christ St. Paul assures us Rom. 16.17 18. I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences and avoid them for such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies And in the second to Tim. 3.1 2 3. he tells us that in the last days some that had a form of Godliness Schemes and Systems Confessions and Sermons of purer Divinity should cause perilous times for they should be covetous boasters proud blasphemers Traytors heady and high minded From such he adviseth us to turn away St. Jude also in his Epistle gives the like character of some that made great pretences to the Spirit as if they did preach and pray and do all things by the Spirit yet they did walk after their own ungodly lusts despised Dominions and spake evil of Dignities against whom St. Jude denounceth a woe Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain who was a Murtherer and run greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core who brought such railing accusations against Moses and Aaron as the Devil himself durst not do These are they saith the Apostle who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit v. 19. These Scriptures are sufficient to remove the prejudice which some people conceive against their Superiours for suppressing of such false Prophets as they find seducing the People The onely difficulty is how we may discern false Prophets seeing our Saviour says they shall come in Sheeps clothing and transform themselves into Angels of light Yet our Saviour's rule is infallible By their fruits ye shall know them for first they shall come to you come privily creep into your houses come with fair words and feigned speeches come without a Call or Commission from God or Man come against the established Laws and severest penalties of Fines and Imprisonment and Death it self Thus the Romish Wolves come clothed with the Name of the immaculate Lamb of God Jesuits they call themselves but grievous Wolves the Scripture terms such who assassinate the chief Shepherds in Church and State and massacre whole Flocks that with Elymas the Sorcerer seek to turn our Deputies from the Faith and as the Pharisees compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes and to make them twofold more the children of wrath and malice than themselves These perswade their Disciples that they are of that holy Church in which alone Salvation is to be had that all others out of their Communion are Hereticks and Schismaticks fit onely for a fiery Purgatory but if they return to the Lap of their Mother they are as sure of Salvation as if they were in Abraham's Bosome But as our Saviour says By their fruits i. e. their Doctrines and their Practices ye shall know them One General Rule we have in Deut. 13.1 That if a prophet should arise that should shew signes and wonders that should come to pass yet if that prophet should entice the people to idolatry and by consequence to any iniquity thou shalt not hearken to that prophet When therefore these Emissaries of Rome shall teach contrary to what we have received from Christ and his Apostles when they perswade us to worship the Creature with that Worship which is due onely to the Creator be they Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary who all abhor to have God robbed of his Honour of which he is a jealous God when they adde new Articles of Faith and Rules of Obedience besides and contrary to what God in his Word hath required and prefer their own Traditions and Inventions above his express Commands and Institutions when they sow Tares in Christs field and seek to divide his Flock when they seek to advance the Interest of the Pope above the Supremacy of the King and withdraw that Obedience and Subjection from him which every Soul is required to yield unto him when they teach the Doctrine of Infallibility in the Pope though he decree things contrary to Christ as in taking the Cup from the Laity with a Non Obstante that Christ said Drink ye all of this when they decree what is contrary to Sense as well as the Scriptures in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and other things contrary to Reason as in Prayers in an unknown Tongue and denying the use of the Scriptures to the People whom God commands to search the Scriptures because in them we have eternal life In a word when they practise Rebellion and Cruelty and stir up Strife and foment Divisions and plot for Wars and Fightings amongst us let them boast of Miracles and Revelations of Tradition and Succession of Grandeur and Prosperity let them appear not onely as Jesuits but Angels of Light yet if their Doctrine and Practices be such as these we must resist them stedfast in the Faith unless we will exchange our Faith and Knowledge for a blind Obedience our Scripture for Traditions our Liturgie for Legends our Loyalty for Rebellion and our Peace for War and Fightings or Fire and Faggot There is another sort of pernicious Creatures among our selves but of a soreign breed whose clothing is a Cloak of Zeal for Religion with broad Phylacteries and sentences of Scripture their discourse is of soft Murmurings and Complaints against the Government and loud Outcries against the Romish Wolves that we may not suspect danger from any other quarter And the better to draw away Disciples after them they come with demure looks and dejected Countenances and as the Gnosticks pretend to great Mysteries and Revelations extraordinary and immediate assistances of the Spirit and purer Ordinances that with them is the Scepter of Christs holy Discipline to which all Kings and People must bow or shall be broken in pieces for God will reprove even Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm But by their fruits we shall know these men also for how opposite soever they seem to be to the Romish Wolves in their Professions they are coupled as Sampson's foxes with fire-brands in their tails by destructive Principles and Practices against the established Church and Government As Herod the Jew and Pontius Pilate the
do they consider how short and troublesome their reign may be and how for three transgressions and for four i. e. the manifold iniquities whereby they threshed their Country with instruments of iron what a fire God sent into the house of Hazael Amos 1.4 I therefore beseech those that delight in making Divisions and War among our selves to consider first how many things are necessarily required to make a War lawful It is not every Offence or Oppression of our Governours can warrant it but there must be a sufficient Authority and after all possible endeavours overtures and condescentions for Peace none but lawful means must be used and those prosecuted with Equity and Moderation and all intended to a good end which circumstances cannot meet to justifie such as endeavour Wars and Fightings among us and therefore as Grotius doth determine it lib. 3. cap. 10. de Jure belli All the Plunder and Rapine all the Cries and Tears of Widows and Orphans and the louder Cries of Innocent Bloud will God require at their hands who have been the Contrivers and Actors in unlawful Wars So that whether they are Conquerors or conquered whether they survive the Rebellion or die in it they are like to be utterly undone if they live and prosper in their Rebellion they live in impenitence and never think of making that restitution and satisfaction for all the Plunder and Rapine committed by them without which there is no remission and if they die they die in those sins to which the Scriptures have threatned Damnation From which and all the causes thereof especially From all Sedition privy Conspiracy and Rebellion from all false Doctrine Heresie and Schism from hardness of heart and contempt of Gods Word and Commandments let us joyntly and heartily pray The Lord to deliver us And now I shall not adde any thing to your own Religious and Loyal Resolutions for the preservation of your Country from Wars and Confusions Onely give me leave to mind you of a Saying of the Lord Verulam We have many good Laws but there wants one great one more to enforce the execution of all the rest And it is certain that many go to Hell with good intentions for want of executing them in due season Let us therefore beware lest while we are folding our hands in security or are but putting on our Harness our Confusions come upon us as an armed man And though we have a prospect of Peace and Settlement let us also look back on the Causes of War and while others are united and industrious to destroy us let us unanimously and vigorously pursue the things that belong to our peace And first let us suppress those lusts that war in our own members against God and our own Souls All Intemperance and Vncleanness Profaneness and Hypocrisie Covetousness and Ambition all Envy Pride and Malice and whatever Lusts may separate between God and us or divide us from one another and readily sacrifice all our private Animosities and Interests to the publick Religion Peace and Prosperity of the Nation It after all that hath been said there be any that still delight in War let them war that good warfare in which they have been engaged from their Baptism Tanquam Sacramento Militari to fight under their Saviours Banner against sin the world and the devil Here we want not Enemies that are constantly assaulting us nor if we behave our selves manfully can we want a compleat Victory over them 't is but to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and though the Devil himself lead them on we may by a stout resistance put them to flight and shall be more than Conquerors In these Conflicts we may outdo Alexander himself who having subdued many Kingdoms was overcome by his own lusts Fortior est qui se Every one that fights the good fight of faith overcometh the world and shall receive a kingdom that cannot be moved as the Kingdoms of this World may and a crown that fadeth not away reserved for us in heaven and ready to be revealed for Behold saith our Saviour I come quickly and my reward is with me Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly FINIS