all of us may be found in Love and Charity and in doing of Good Works that we may be placed amongst that little Flock which standeth at Christs right hand at the last day and hear that blessed Sentence which is spoken in the Gospel of S. Matthew Chap. 25. Verses 32 33 34. and so on Before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd separateth his Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit ye the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World for I was hungry and you gave me meat thirsty and you gave me drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me sick and ye visited me in prison and ye came unto me Then shall the righteous answer him saying when saw we thee hungry and fed thee naked and clothed thee thirsty and gave thee drink when saw we thee a Stranger and took thee in or when saw we thee sick and in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer them inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me You hear my Beloved Brethren from our Saviour Jesus Christs own words that Charity which is the cause of Good Works is the chief cause why our Saviour pronounceth us blessed and of our inheriting of the Kingdom of Heaven Charity is the cause of blessings in this World and of our happiness in the world to come Then shall he say also to them on his left hand Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a Stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in Prison and ye visited me not Then shall they answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred and thirsty or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Then shall he answer them saying Verily verily I say unto you in as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these ye did it not to me And these shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal O my beloved you may see that the want of Good Works is the cause of that sad Sentence pronounced against the wicked if they had done Good Works they might have obtained the Joys of Heaven and there to have lived with the Saints and Angels for evermore and for want of Good Works they are sentenced into Hell there to remain in torments for evermore world without end O my beloved Brethren seeing that Faith Hope and Charity are all linked together and that Love and Charity are the perfection of our Faith without which Faith is dead the Lord grant that every one of us may unite together in love as well Dissenters as others who went out from us the Lord grant they may come in to us again and that we may unite together in love and serve God together in love without which we shall never come into the Kingdom of Heaven that the Lord may send his blessings amongst us and delight to do us good that our light may shine like Stars in the Firmament for this Church Militant is to fit us for the Church Triumphant where there is no division nor dissention but all are of one heart and of one mind The Lord grant that every one of us be found in Love and Good Works that we may all meet in the Heavenly Jerusalem together there with the Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Heavenly Host to sing Hallelujahs and Gloria Pater to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who hath made us redeemed us sanctified us and justified us to whom be attributed all Might Majesty and Dominion both now and evermore Amen A word of Use and Application to our selves and of the Benefits we shall receive by this great Grace of Charity And first It will cover a multitude of sins as saith S. James Chap. 2. Ver. 17. Secondly It makes our Faith perfect without which it is dead The Lord grant that every one of us may understand his Faith so well that he may not deceive himself for without Good Works Faith is dead Charity is the Band that ties all our Graces together without which they are all as nothing Thirdly Charity makes God to dwell in us and we in him it makes us to be at peace with all men it overcomes the malice of wicked men and makes them to be our Friends Charity with the Good Works which spring from it is the cause why Christ calls us Blessed of his Father in that glorious Sentence at the last day It is one of the chief causes that we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven which was prepared for us from the Foundation of the World Christ tells us that he was hungry and we fed him thirsty and we gave him Drink naked and we clothed him and so on as you may read in the 25th Chapter of S. Matthews Gospel from the 34th Verse to the end of the Chapter Again the want of Charity and Good Works was the cause why Christ pronounced that cursed Sentence to those wicked men on his left hand Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was hungry and ye fed me not thirsty and ye gave me no drink naked and ye clothed me not sick and prison and ye visited me not And they shall ask him when saw we thee in this condition And he shall answer them In as much as ye have not done it to one of the least of these ye have not done it unto me And these shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Now I beseech you Brethren to take good notice and to lay it to heart that the want of Good Works was the chief cause that the Wicked went into everlasting Punishment And I beseech you Brethren in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that every one of us both Ministers and People strive to be found in such a measure of Good Works as that we may be accepted of by Christ that so we may obtain life eternal The Lord grant that every one of us may follow Charity in all our lives and Conversations it being the whole perfection of our Salvation without which we shall never go to Heaven although we have heard a thousand Sermons and practised the Doctrines of them all yet if this Doctrine of Charity be wanting all profiteth nothing Now all good Christian People I beseech you in the Lord as well Dissenters as others to come in to the unity of the Episcopal Church of England from which you went out and there to serve God in Unity Love and Charity for this Church Militant is to fit us for the Church Triumphant where there is no division nor dissention and there to sing Hallelujah with the Heavenly Host for evermore Which the Lord of his Mercy grant for Jesus Christs sake our blessed Redeemer Amen FINIS
A FURTHER VINDICATION OF THE Church of England WITH Advice to all Emperours and Kings of the Romish Faith Also some Arguments used to prove the Church of Rome no true Church but Antichristian and Bloody By William Chandler LONDON Printed for the Author 1682. To the Kings most Excellent Majesty CHALES the Second by the Grace of God King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Most gracious and dread Soveraign HAving made a most diligent inquiry into the state of the Church of God militant upon Earth I do find that it is not limited to any one Country or Nation as the Donatists held who fondly imagined the Catholick Church of God to be confined to a Corner of Africa in which they dwelt nor yet inclosed within one Bishops Diocess or Jurisdiction as the Roman Catholicks pretend who uncharitably exclude all Christians Heaven putting them into the State of Damnation who are not subject to their Bishop vainly pretending to be truly Catholick or Universal as we do believe in our holy Creed The Apostles preached not to one Country or Nation only but to the whole World according to our Lords Command Go teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost I shall speak something of this persecuted Episcopal Church of England whom the Lord by his Providence hath made Your Majesty Overseer This Church which was first planted by Joseph of Arimathea some years before Rome according to the purest way as he had it from Christ and his Apostles the great Bishop of our Souls and so hath continued a true Church through much Persecution by the Heathen and by the common Enemy the Papists and by the Dissenters As Gamaliel told the Jews take heed if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest you be fighters against God No doubt this Church of England is of God and cannot be overthrown You have heard of the Persecution in Queen Maries days how she burnt twelve Bishops and Doctors who sealed it with their Blood in the Fire and Charles the First who sealed it with his Royal Blood also the Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed and Seal of a true Church We most humbly thank Your Majesty that Your Majesty hath taken such care for this persecuted Church which without doubt God prizes as the Apple of his Eye in preserving it from all these Eminent dangers And we most humbly thank Your Majesty that Your most Royal Majesty hath been pleased to put those good Laws in Execution against those Enemies of the Church of England that many of them have received Justice according to the merit of their Cause The Lord bless Your Majesty for taking such special care over both Church and State for the good of us your unworthy Subjects not doubting but Your Majesty will have the same care so long as Breath shall remain in Your Royal Majesty which the Lord of his Mercy grant for many Years to come that we may receive the Benefit and give God the Glory And all this we beg for the sake of our Blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ A word to his Royal Highness the Duke of York under Grace and Favour O Royal James live for ever Son to one of the best Kings that ever reigned though David were a Man after Gods own Heart and Solomon was a wise Man yet Your Royal Father had less Errors than any of them O Royal James Heir to the Crown of England after Your Royal Brothers Decease as the case now stands the Lord bless Your Lives with all blessings Spiritual and Temporal and if ever Providence ordereth it so that You be Crowned King of England and of the Dominions thereunto belonging that you may come to it in peace and not swim to it in Blood for then it will prove to you a Curse and not a Blessing The Lord grant that you may maintain the true Government both in Church and State as it now standeth as Your Royal Brother doth at this time and your Royal Father of ever blessed memory hath done and as your Royal Grandfather King James hath done especially this Episcopal Church of England which Your Royal Grandfather told Your Royal Father he having studied to find the true Church of God he was very well satisfied that the Church of England was the nearest to the Primitive Church planted by the Apostles I shall add something more concerning the common Enemy the Papists and Nonconformists Our Saviour Christ saith The time shall come when they that kill you shall think they do God good Service So did the Dissenters when they killed one of the best Kings that ever reigned and so would the Papists if they could have killed our King that now is you see how they tollerated Murder Treason Perjury and Rebellion and he that could have killed Gods Vicegerent should have done God good Service yea it was thought he should have been Sainted for his good Service Yea this temporal Man of Sin might as well have Sainted the Spiritual Man of Sin the Devil as to have Sainted these Priests and Jesuits whom Satan had put into their Hearts to do his will let this temporal Man of sin pretend what he will yet this wicked Plot to kill our Soveraign Lord the King came from the Devil who is the original of all sin for they reckoned to have sacrificed His Royal Body to God for the Honour of their Church when God tells them to obey is better than Sacrifice that is thou shalt do no Murder and Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft Our Saviour Christ saith I have chosen twelve and one of them was a Devil but what shall we call these Priests and Jesuits sent by the Man of sin to kill Gods Vicegerent the King We may call them as the Devil said their Name is Legion for they are many Judas betrayed his Lord and Master for thirty pieces of Silver but these Bloody Priests were to murder their Lord and Master for a bigger sum Judas when he had betrayed Christ repented and said I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent Blood but these Men were so far from repenting that they would not confess upon their Tryal though it were proved by two of the Kings Witnesses You see then Judas for all he was counted a Devil yet shewed more of a Christian in repenting and in laying down his Money again than those Jesuitical Devils which would not confess the Fact of their Devilish Designs though it was proved against them The Wise Man saith He that covereth his Sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh his Sin shall find Mercy Yea when the Man of Sin heard of the good success of this wicked Plot going on so well the Conclave of Hell sang te Deum and the Man of Sin gave them his Blessing you see for all they sung to God for Joy and the Man of Sin gave them his Blessing their myrth
the Quakers who break the Bands of love and Charity with us of the true Episcopal Church of England I wish their Repentance may be their Punishment Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles when he was brought before Ananias the High-Priest when he commanded him to be smitten Paul reviled him and called him Thou whited wall c. those that stood by told Paul Dost thou revile Gods High-Priest Paul rebuked himself and said I wist not that he was the High-Priest it is written by Moses thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evil of the Ruler of my People I fear and 't is much to be feared that many of these Dissenters have spoke evil and reviled the King and Gods Priests and spoke evil of the Ruler of Gods People Again They break the bond of Love in going out from us because they were not of us If they had been of us they would have kept with us saith Saint John They break the Bond of Charity which cause Divisions as saith S. Paul Mark them which cause Divisions and avoid them contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned for they serve not the Lord Jesus A third sort of men to be reproved are those which neither love God nor their Neighbour nor themselves but covetously and miserably pinch both back and belly to heap up Riches and they know not who shall inherit them and set their hearts upon their Money-bags and as it were make them their Gods The love of Money is the root of all Evil saith the Apostle and hath caused men to run into divers Errours Now the Lord grant that all those that have broken the Bonds of Love and Charity with us may see their Errours and repent the Lord give them Grace that they may with true love and charity come in to us again they they with us and we with them may serve the Lord in true love and sincerity to the Glory of God and the benefit of our Souls at the last day that we may be received into those everlasting Mansions where there shall be no Division but Peace Unity and Love Saint Paul tells us that Charity shall cover a multitude of Sins O my Beloved let us therefore embrace Charity for it will cover a multitude of our sins How ought we therefore to prize this great Grace of Love which is Charity and walk therein for it proceedeth from the Spirit of God and is one of the great Fruits of the Holy Ghost and to make such use of it in our Lives and Conversations as becometh good Christians that our Love may be to God and to our Neighbour in deed and in truth that God may dwell in us and we in him and if we do these things we shall never fall If you would fulfill the Royal Law according to the Scriptures You must love your Neighbour as your self Jam. 2.8 We come now to the next Branch of Charity which is Good Works In this Epistle of St. James Chap. 2. ver 14. and so to the end of the Chapter it is said what doth it profit my Brethren though a man have faith and have not Works can faith save him If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him depart in peace be you warmed and be you filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit Even so Faith if it have not works is dead it being alone Yea a man may say thou hast Faith and I have Works shew me thy Faith without thy works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works Thou believest there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble But wilt thou know O vain man that Faith without Works is dead Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he Offered up his Son Isaac upon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect You see then that by Works a man is justified and not by Faith only As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without works is dead also You see my beloved that 't is the benefit of Good Works which makes our Faith perfect it brings us much into the favour of God He that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and doubtless he will pay us again with blessings Temporal and Spiritual If we lend him our Earthly Treasure he will pay us again with Heavenly Treasure which is far better God loveth us if we give chearfully for God loveth a chearful giver To do good and to communicate to the poor forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased Love and Good Works make our Faith to shine in its lustre like precious Jewels in a Kings Crown Faith Hope and Charity may be compared to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden whereof Faith is the Stock Hope is the Branches and Charity which is Love and Good Works is the Fruit which hangs on the Tree of Life and they that eat of that Fruit shall live for ever in the Kingdom of Heaven Again Good Works which proceed from love will go with us to the Day of Judgment and plead for us for Saint John saith in the Revelations Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labour and their works follow them You see here my beloved that the benefit of our Charity will follow us after death and will not leave us till we come to Heaven It is to be feared the want of Good Works was the Cause why Christ pronounced that Sentence against those that fawned on him as it is said in S. Matthews Gospel the seventh Chapter the two and twentieth and three and twentieth Verses where Christ saith Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wondrous works I shall profess to them I never knew them depart from me ye workers of Iniquity You would think those Ministers to be Saints who have prophesied in Gods Name and in his Name have cast out Devils and in his Name done many wondrous works If those that in Christ's Name work Miracles and in his Name do many wondrous works be called by Christ Workers of Iniquity and bid depart from him he never knew them what will become of such in the end of the World who do no Good Works O all you that are called of God to be Ministers of his Gospel and are of the Church of England the Lord grant you may be found in all Good Works that while you preach to others your selves may not be counted Castaways nor found amongst those whom Christ calls Workers of Iniquity Now the Lord grant every one of us from the King to the Ministers of Gods Word and to all the rest of the People that