and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie the unlimited Desires of the greatest Monarch in Christendom and therefore how unpardonable are we to deny our King that Power which is inseparably annext to his Royal Diadem and without which he would be no King but a Royal Slave in Golden Chains for the King 's the Church's and our own if not for the Cause's sake let us not grudge Men of his own Perswasion in Religion the free enjoyment of any Favours which he is graciously pleased to afford them and that especially considering that the occasion upon which such Privileges were formerly denied them viz. the Jealousie the Government had of their Sincerity and Obedience now ceases and this brings me to say something more particularly 5 ly To your self and your fellow Members of this Loyal Parliament whom I find to be concern'd in this Case also 'T would be presumption in me to offer to direct your Votes otherwise than as a Divine by reciting the advice of our Blessed Saviour Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them and be ye wise as Serpents but harmless as Doves and such like general Sentences the particular application of which I must in good Manners leave to your own Christian Discretion nor can they fail of making a good application of them who consider that our Blessed Saviour by these Hicroglyphicks taught his Disciples Innocence as well as Prudence in times of greatest danger that they may be able to say with St. Paul That they are pure from the Blood of all Men and that the Church of England by appointing the former Sentence to be read at the Offertory on the 5th of November and 30th of January does thereby teach us whether we have escaped a Danger or suffered Affliction not to be revengeful but be rather ready to return Good for Evil. That some severe Laws which might have Reason when they were made should by common consent of all any ways interested cease when the Reason does universally cease was I think never denied by good Casuists or good Statesmen Now the chief Reason alledged and the only justifiable one for these severe Laws against Romanists was the Jealousie the Government conceived of their Affections and the Apprehensions that their private Zeal for their Catholick Religion would make them cool in their services to the Publick which their imployments would oft require should be against their Principles and that they relying on an external Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their natural Sovereign and rightful Monarchs Kings Proclamation 12th of Fevruary 1686 7 But who now can plausibly suspect their Faithfulness to the present King or that they will be backward in his Service And whilst the Case stands thus what need will there be of sanguinary Laws for Imprisonment during Life or Consiscation of Goods Or for those Tests which exclude the Peers of the Romish Religion from sitting in the House of Lords according to their Birth-right Especially seeing these Latter were made upon a mistake of Matur of Fact whereas it has since appeared to all discreet Men of the most unquestionable Loyalty That the Popish Plot was of that perjur'd Villain Oates and other subtiler Heads making to serve their Faction and Revenge against the Government And as it is the noblest Ingenuity to own any sort of mistake so methinks it touches a Man's Reputation but softly to retract what he had formerly believed and acted upon a charitable Perswasion that Men would not be Perjur'd who after were legally convicted for being notoriously such and besides this 't is no safe matter to alter the Foundations of Government and deface the Original of a Right which in the case of all Privileges of Peerage hath been taken to be either Writt or Patent for if these must give place in any one instance no man knows where it will end or whose course to turn or be turned out of that Highest Court of National Justice may next come In the Parliament of 41. when the old Loyal Assurances were laid aside and instead of the former the Presbyterians Tested Men with their Covenant they were not aware that they made a President against themselves for an Ingagement and the Ingagâ—rs did not longè prospicere neither they little thought that they furnished their Masters of the Army with a countenancing Example to break them all in pieces and to vote them all Vseless And therefore 't is a rule of Wisdom as well as of Justice a point of Prudence as well as Consience not to remove the ancient Land-marks and 't is as useful to the State as to the Church what the first general Council decreed Let the old Vsages prevail suitable to which was the establishing Saying of the Peers long ago Nolumnus matare Leges Angliae We will not that the Laws of England be changed and certainly pursuant to this Resolution if by any cross chance or accident a change have surpriz'd the Government a Restitution to the former fettlement should soon be made and that the rather because we may say of those sanguinary Laws as his Majesty in his Royal Proclamation in Scotland does 12th February 1686 7 of the like made in the Minority of his Royal Grandfather That they have been continued of course without any design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only and sure we are that our severest Laws did not proceed from Ill-nature any otherwise than the best do ex malis moribus And 't is obvious to remark that the True Sons of the Church of England have always been better natur'd than to press or countenance the execution of them in cases of meer Religion and they have accordingly blessed be God been very sparingly executed unless when the byt-blows of a powerful Faction and no True Sons of the Church of England or some violent attempt of the Enemies thereof have forc'd it so sparingly have they been executed that 't is an old Proverb of Reproach upon the Legislators that their Laws were only made in Terrorem for Mormoes and Scare-crows And if they will serve for that purpose and to preserve the good Seed or hinder the Enemies of our Church and State from sowing rebellious and treasonable Tares among us whilst we are asleep we desire no more The Holy Church which so passionately desires the saving of Mens Souls never thirsts after the destruction of their Bodies Some Laws indeed there are made since our Reformation from Popery which threaten death to the Romish Clergy who are Natives of it if they be found in this Kingdom But though the Wisdom of the Nation thought fit to enact them at that time for the security of those Protestant Princes to whom the Romish deposing Doctrine is not Propitious yet was it Treason and not Heresie which those Laws made Capital And since there is no question but that a Prince of their Communion dare trust himself in their
have not the Faith of the Church of England In a good Cause the fairest Language is most advantageous a modest and friendly Stile suits best with the Truth which like its Author usually resides not in the blustering Wind the shaking Earthquake or the rangeing Fire but in a soft and still Voice III Language is doubtless a very preposterous Method of Perswasion being likely to raise such Clouds of Passion as will obsâ—ure the clearest Arguments and render their force unperceptible to the provoked Reader or Hearer on which account I cannot but appland that saying of the Jews That we ought not to blaspheme any thing which others venerate for a God Railing therefore against Popery cannot produce any good Effect and at this time it may easily produce many bad ones among which none can be worse than the Contempt which it will throw upon the King himself on whom all III Language against his Religion does ultimately redound to the debasing of him in the esteem of his Subjects When the Powers of the World were Heathen the Christians in their Apologies do not presume to cxpose the Religion of their Emperors to Contempt but only with great Modesty and Deference to vindicate their own from the unjust Criminations of their Adversaries as may be seen in both the Apologies of Justin Martyr and of Tertullian And as I think it would be a Comandly deserting of a very good Cause if the Learned Men of our Church should suffer the busie Romanists to charge her with Schism Heresie or other Misrepresentation without appearing in her just and necessary Vindication and cannot but applaud some of the late modest and strenuous Apologies which their Provocations have extorted from the Press So I must confess that I cannot see any present Necessity of troubling our Pulpits with these Controversies the Mysteries of our Faith would be best held in a pure Conseience which is peaceable and by Practical Discourses we may best preserve our People from those Vices which only can provoke God to give them up to strong Delusions And if we perceive any of them warping towards Popery there will be more hopes of reducing and confirming than by personal Conferences applyed to their particular Scruples than by shooting at random at so great a distance in general Harangues which tends not so much to arm the Hearers against Popery as to possess them with an hatred of their Sovereign for professing it Since then we are bound in Duty to abâ—â—ain from every thing which without a Sin may be omitted that tends to the Dishonour and Contempt of him whom God and our Religion oblige us to honour I doubt not to conclude That as Railing against Popery was never lawful so Preaching against it farther than by the Canons and his Majesty 's own Gracious Directions we are obliged to do is at this time unseasonable and so far as it is prejudical to the Government utterly unlawful too We least of all fear the Seduction of those Members of our Church who practise strictly that excellent Religion which they and we profess The best Service then we can do to prevent the Growth of Popery will be to perswade Men all we can to become better Livers and better Subjects upon which account Practical Preachers will do the Church more Service than Polemical and the Government no Disservice nor the King no Dishonour 'T is below them who think themselves in the highest form of Christians to sit down in the seat of the scornful they are of their Father the Devil wheresoever such Changelings are found 'Pray' tell me and tell me no more nor no less than your own Consciences will tell you Is this Fooling the effect of that Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints Or is it not rather a wounding of Christianity it self to the very Heart Who of this Rank if he were at Constantinople would make it his Business to tell the Great Turk that his Prophet Mahomet were an Impostor or as some Oppressed Greeks think him Antichrist or to ridicule the Alcoran And why will they make more bold with a Christian Prince and their Lawful Sovereign than with an Insided This certainly is a foul Offence and as much against a good Conscience as Christian Prudence Why are Men more inrag'd against those who agree with them in most things than with them who different from them in all Christ will not give his Spouse a Bill of Divorce upon every Error and Mistake much less should we deny her to be our Mother because she is not of our Mind this will justly bring our Christianity as well as our Prudence in Question These are not the Sons of the Church of England but the Standard-Bearers of Sedition who take no care to govern their Tongues nor Pens who have no regard to the King or his Ministers to Truth or Charity Justice or Honesty which whether they intend it or not hath a derect tendency to the defaming of our yet untainted Religion They who will not offer up a Peace-Offering to the Magistrate are none of our Communion and 't is to be hoped That the Fathers of our Church will correct those Ill nurtur'd Children who are of such surly peevish and insolent Tempers that others may not grow immodest by their uncontrol'd Extravagancies Authority must at any rate be redeemed from Contempt since the very Life of Government is Reputation and if you teach the Rabble to scorn the Religion of the Supreme Magistrate they will not continue long to reverence his Person or Authority If you will prove him to be an Idolater they will soon reply that St. John reckons such with Murderers Dogs Sorcerers and Whoremongers which love and make Lyes Rev. 22.15 And St. Paul ranks them with Sodomites and Thieves 1 Cor. 6 9 10. That they hate God Exod. 20.5 Desile the Sanctuary Ezekiel 5.11 Commit Adultery with Stocks and Stones Jer. 3.9 Isa 16.17 Worship Devils Rev. 9.20 and that as they shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor 6.10 so we are not to come among them Josh 23.7 but they are to be utterly destroy'd by Commission from God Exod. 22 20. that they are Sons of Belial whom we are to smite with the Edge of the Sword till they be utterly destroy'd Deut. 13.13 14 15. What is all this but Sedition under disguise of Zeal Let the Men look never so honestly they drive on an Interest against Peace and Charity and though Truth may be justified of her Children so it be done with Moderation and Judgment when Necessity compels us or Authority calls us to it yet they who can find no better treatment for their Auditors than to prove all Papists to be Idolaters as if they had no saving Truths to Preach them but such as are full of disgraceful sawcy and insolent Reflections upon their Prince which hath already cost this Nation so many Millions of Money and such Rivers of Blood to the shame of Christianity
whom all Kings Reign who are not the Peoples Creatures but his Vicegerents not intrusted with theirs but invested with his Authority The Powers that be are ordain'd of God and as he that resists them resists the Ordinance of God so he that dishonours them dishonours God's Ordinance and by consequence God himself And as respect for the King's sake is to be paid to all such Persons as he deputes to sustain his Authority and represent his Person so much more for God's sake is honour to be paid to the King whom God hath commission'd to be his Deputy on Earth and invested with the largest share of his Authority Besides God hath expresly commanded us to honour the King and twice joyn'd it with a Precept to Fear Him to denote that none can deny the King Honour but such as have no fear of God before their Eyes and that without Disobedience to God we cannot refuse to honour the King both as a Christian and a King And here once for all let it be observ'd That when St. Peter wrote his first Epistle and therein gave Christians that Precept of Honouring the King he who then govern'd them was none of the best but perhaps one of the worst in the World who ever wore an Imperial Grown a profest Enemy not to Christianity alone but to Morality too Nero was at that time the Roman Emperor who was not only an Heathen and of a different Religion from them but also as Tertullian stiles him Dictator Damnationisâ—nostrae the first Persecutor of the Christian Religion which shews him to be of none at all And yet such a King they are commanded to honour which may assure us That 't is the King's Authority abstracted from his personal Qualifications which we are to honour be his Religion what it will be it any or none at all if he be our King God requires us to consult his Honour in all things and without Disobedience to God I hope I have sufficiently prov'd that we cannot do otherwise Every True Son therefore of the Church of England who acknowledges his Majesty's Title to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms to be unquestionable must conclude it to be an indispensible Duty which he owes to Almighty God to say and do all that he lawfully may for the King's Honour 2 dly 'T is a Duty which we owe to the King and that not only because God hath by the divine Law given him a Right thereunto but also because the Benefits which we enjoy under his Government deserve if Do we not enjoy publick Peace and Preferments and the free and publick Exercise of our Religion which is a blessing infinitely more valuable than any of which we can be ambitious on this side Heaven He hath not only indulg'd that to us but by many most gracious solemn and reiterated Promises engaged his Honour and Fidelity to protect us in it which we must honour for the Church's Magnâ Chartâ the more transcendent act of Grace because not extorted by Rebellion and a security more firm than any Law which cannot tye a King who is declared the supreme Judge of the Law and above it so fast as the Obligations of his own Royal Word and Honour do it And is there nothing due for so high a Favour Are not we to be extreamly â—ender of his Honour who is so under of our Happiness as that he may justly be stiled the Defender of our Faith as well by Desert as by Inheritance as not only to protect it from real Dangers but also to protect the Professors of it from their own fears If a Nero be to be honoured much more a Titus or Vespasian If a Tyrant who was a disgrace to Humanity much more an indulgent Father of our Church and Country one whose Clemency makes him the delight of Mankind and one whole Royal Word gives his Subjects the belt Security of which they are capable 3 dly 'T is a Duty we owe to our Country The King is the Light of our Israel as David is stil'd and the more bright and resplendant this Light the more bright powerful and benign Rays and Influences will it diffuse among us He is the breath of our Nostrils and if our undutiful and indecent Behaviour towards him do eclipse his Honour by interposing any thick Body between him and his Peoples Hearts or taint the Nations Breath with an ill Savour it would be a sad Symptom of the decay of its Vitals Who knows not that the usual Methods of Treason and Rebellion have been first to blacken the Prince and make him seem vile to the People and then to tempt them to oppose and resist him First to represent him in some soul shape as the Heathen Persecutors did the Primitive Christians when they cloathed them in Beasts Skins and then expose them first to be derided and at last to be devoure'd And what did any Nation ever get by Rebellion but expence of Treasure and Blood Rapine Misery and Ruine In which Point if we are yet unsatisfied let us lit down and cast up the Accounts of ours from Forty to Sixty the summa totalis of which will be found to be nothing on the Balance but the loss of our Liberties Properties and Religion with the additional Interest of Slavery intailed upon us and ours for so many Years Can we then better consult the Kingdoms good at this time than by maintaining the Kings Honour or take a better course to keep it in Peace and Plenty than by keeping up a good Opinion of our most Gracious Prince among his Subjects or shew our selves greater Patriots or better Friends of our Country than by being zealous for our Prince's Honour and jealoâ— of all those Words or Actions which may secretly undermine it 4 thly Lastly This is a Duty we owe to our Dear Mother the Church of England from whose Breasts we have suck'd an untainted Loyalty and by whom we have been trained up to a most tender Zeal for the Honour and Service of our King without any relation had to his Religion It is well known That no Church under Heaven ever taught her Children more Loyal Principles or more constantly than she has done and therefore no Children on this side Hell would be more unpardonable for acting Distoyally than hers She never allow'd any pretence whatsoever to dising age us from our Loyalty nor did she ever absolve us when we appear'd to want it but upon sound and sincere Repentance The more inexcusable then were we if we should disgrace our Breeding and Education under her most excellent Instructions with any contrary Practices And the more indispensibly are we oblig'd to lay hold of those Opportunities which the Providence of God does now offer us to give the World such a convincing Testimony of our Loyalty as unless the True genuine Sons of the Church of England shew I question whether it will ever see Catholick Loyalty I mean not only bearing patiently but dearly loving and devoutly honouring our Prince though of a different Religion and not speaking ill of any thing of which he hath himself entertain'd a sacred or would have us have a good Opinion And thus far have I in Obedience to your commands expressed as plainly as I could the judgment of my own Mind about this important and seasonable Duty I am so sensible of my own unfitness for an undertaking of this Nature that nothing but Your's or a greater command could have drawn me to make such an essay least so good a Cause should suffer more by my Weakness than gain by my Zeal However such as it is I humbly submit it to your better Judgment not doubting but that whatever you judge to be said amiss will be by your Charity as if it had never been said by me and corrected by your Christian Prudence And if any thing be said that may be capable of doing his Majesty any Service you will conceal the Author least his obscurity prove an Obstacle to the efficacy of his Arguments Who will live and die a True Son of the Church of England a Loyal Subject to his Majesty and Your Humble Servant A. B. FINIS 1 Cor. 1.15 Laâ—ant â— 10. Tertul. ad Ment. 1 Sam. 15 30. 1 Cor. 10.31 1. Smith's Select disc 437. Ibid. 473. Ephes 4.2 Heb. 12.14 Sedulius Hymn Bract. de Leg Cons l. â— 8 n. 5. Ibid. p. â— v. 49 50. 65. ad 78. 1 Kings 1.23 1 Sam. 24.8 2 Sam. 19.27 Ps 82.6 2 Sam. 18.3 Eccl. 8.4 Job 34.18 Jâ—r 29.7 1 Pet. 2.19 20 21. Sherlock of Relig. asserts p. 144 Prov. 25.13 Num. 23.23 Juvenal Joh. 13.35 1 Kings 19.11 12. Josephus Aniq. 1.4 1 Tâ—n 3. â— 1. 2. Q. Mar. cap 9. Col 3.12 14. Can. 60 C. 75 Bramhall Repl. 229. Jer. 20.1 Ductor dub 190 250 Can. 14 Bp. Taylor 's Case of Conf. 1.3.192 Ductor dub 1.3 p. 238 Joh. 11.51 1 Cron. 28.3 2 Cron. 19.11 Ezra 7 25. Neh. 13.8 Samar revis'd 54 55. P. 58. 1 Cor. 5.12 Ductor dub p 143. â— 3.4â—8 R. 400. Jam. 1.7 Acts 20.31 Luke 9.26 Maâ—hia vel p 33â— Bp. Sanderson's 5. Cas p 18. Fergus Inter. of Reas 593. P. 487. Ifa 29.4 â—â— 11 9. Pâ— 8.15 Prov. 24 21. 1 Pet. â— 13 2 Sam. 21.7 Jer. 32.3