Accusation of Herisie which they may easily do because they are the Judges of it and may call every thing they please so yet they will be sure to do it with the charge of unprofitableness he is no longer useful to the Church that is his Holiness is weary of him and that with them is a Just and Sufficient cause of Deposition and when they pronounce that Sentence upon him they only take from him the Name or Title of King because they had Rob'd him of all the Power and Authority before for how can he be a King that doth not Rule and Govern his People and if the Pope Commands the Clergy and they Rule the People for Gods Sake who doth the Prince Govern or what Authority hath he none none at all his Empire is but Imaginary a meer Chimera or faigned thing I appeal then to all the Wise and Rational World whether the Romish Clergy deserve the Name of Subjects much less of Loyal Subjects that neither Obey the Prince themselves if he refuse to be a Subject to the Pope nor suffer the People to do it any longer than he is constant to be their fellow Subject to the Pope his Throne must needs totter and his Authority be a poor and precarious trifle that is sure of the Obedience neither of the Clergy nor People And if it be a Princes Happiness to have a Loyal Obedient People as undoubtedly it is 't is against the Dukes Interest to leave our Church all the true Members of which are eminently so and to join himself to the Papists who are Notoriously known not to be so this being to exchange Sheep for Wolves Doves for Vultures and consequently to underdo and make himself miserable if he come to the Crown I confess indeed there is a Generation of Men amongst us that call themselves Protestants and would be thought the best and purest part of the Reformation that have equal'd if not outvy'd the Jesuits themselves in their Treasons Seditions and Rebellions against Kings these were they that took Arms against and Murder'd that Incomparable Prince King Charles the First of Glorious and never Dying Memory These abjured and exiled our Present most Gracious Soveraign and since his Happy Restauration have Created him so great Vexation Trouble and Disturbance These too with the new Converts and Proselites they have gain'd from the Church and poyson'd with their Seditibus Principles Headed by some of the Great Men that either had cast off Religion or being Male-content because they had not all the Honours and great Offices they desired or being promoted to them did not injoy them as long as they would have done but for their Misdemeanours were justly deprived of them that they might be confer'd upon more deserving Persons with others Alarum'd by the late Popish Plot and Excited by their hatred of the Romish Religion are the Enemies of the Royal Family known Authors and Promoters of the Bill and the late more damnable and accursed intended Exclusion But then I desire it may be consider'd that these are not of the Church of England but Fugitives and Runnagates that have withdrawn and separated themselves from it they renounce the Church and the Church renounceth them they will not own her for their Mother nor she them for her Children they are so far from being Members that they are the Sores and Ulcers the pest of the Church as well as of the Crown and that they are equally hateful to them is Evident because they destroy'd the King and the Church together or rather the Church first that this being taken away which was the support of it they might more easily and readily overthrow the Monarchy and verifie that which King James in his great Wisdom foresaw would certainly be No Bishop No King And therefore none can with any appearance of Justice charge the Insolencies Mutinies Seditions Teasons and Misdemeanours of that Stubborn Generation upon our Church this being to blame it for the Crimes and Offences of those that are profess'd Enemies to and open Dissenters and Separatists from it nor in Reason expect Loyalty and true Obedience from them so long as they continue such for how should they Learn to Reverence and Obey their Prince that refuse to come into our Assemblies where such great and useful and concerning Duties are Preach'd to and press'd upon the Hearers Or if at any time they vouchsafe to be present at our Churches 't is never till the Loyal as well as most Pious Prayers of our Liturgy are over and then too if either the Text or the Sermon have any smatch of malignancy so they called Loyalty in the Days of old or as the new Word is Toryism away they run as if they were frighted out of their Wits or the Preacher had vented some damnable Heresy which their Ears tingle and their Souls are astonish'd at These are Duties that are never taught in their Conventicles if they had any mind to it the Apostles of the Separate Churches have not the face to put their Hearers in mind of Obeying their Prince because their Preaching and the People coming to hear in those Places are Acts of great Scandalous and Sinful Disoobedience And if the seeds of Obedience be not sowed in their Hearts by Learned and Constant Preaching how should Loyalty as the precious Fruit thereof grow up in their Lives and Actions They that prefer the Opinion of that Scotch Villain David Blake who said all Arch-Bishop Spots Woods Hist Church of Scotland pa. 423. Kings were the Devils Bearns before that Affirmative of God I have said ye are Gods and you are all the Children of the most High and that assertion of St. Paul who writ by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost There is no Power but of God the Powers Kings that be are Ordain'd of God and neither desire to be nor care to come where they may be better inform'd and Preach'd out of such Damnable Principles cannot possibly be good Subjects Do Men gather Grapes of Thrones or Figs of Thistles As unreasonable is it to expect Loyalty from these People who have not hitherto been Taught and have still no mind or desire to Learn any and do therefore cast off all Obedience to the King and do all they can to tear or rend the Government from him because like the Bramble they would fain be so that is Govern all themselves 'T is then apparently the Interest and consequently ought to be the Care of the Government to reduce or bring back to the Church these People that are gone from it because whilst they continue separated or divided from it they are open and profess'd Enemies to the Government and there is no other way to make them good Subjects To grant them Toleration is a sure way for the Government to Ruin and undo it self because it is to give them not only opportunity but Licence and Commission to Preach Treason and dissiminate their Seditious Principles with Impunity to strengthen
Royal Throne without a Rival a Rival did I say nay a most imperious Master that is very hard to please and yet if he be not pleased and humour'd in all things 't is a thousand to one but he will jostle him out of it and lay his Honour in the dust A Church in which he can Exercise but a part and that the meanest and most ignoble part of his Authority that only which concerns the Civil Polity and Rights for he may not meddle with Religion nor the Ministers of it who are exempt from his Jurisdiction and Sworn Vassals to his Superiour and as such ready to revenge the Injuries and Affronts the Prince offers to their great Masters if he dares be so rash and unadvised as to be guilty of any but of that afterwards A Church in which he that is Gods Image and Representative less only then God must sneak and truckle Meanly to an Upstart and Usurper a meteor drawn from the Earth and raised on high by Pride Avarice and Cruelty What Temptation then could his Royal Highness who is a wise Prince of a brave and generous Spirit and so exceeding tender of his Honour that he must needs in the highest manner resent the least Violation of his Right all diminution or lessening of his Power all invasion and usurpation of the Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to it both by Divine and Humane Right if the Crown should descend to him What Temptation I say could such a Prince have to joyn himself to a Church in which he shall be so degraded and dishonour'd be a Vassal Underling to one that unjustly insolently and prophanely exalts himself above all that is called God that is all the Kings of the Earth Especially if we consider that the Church he forsakes or goes from Courts his stay by giving her Kings their full Authority all the Priviledges Prerogatives and Preheminences belonging to them in this that is the Church of England the King is declared Supream not only in Temporal but in all Causes Ecclesiastical superintends Religion as well as Civil Rights governs the Clergy chuses the Bishops convenes them when he sees cause to make Canons Constitutions Authorises Impowers them to consult debate to order conduct the Circumstances of Religion the Essentials of it being determined by God in Scripture what they agree upon he doth at their humble Petition if he approve of them by his Royal Edict confirm or pass into Laws Ecclesiastical and when they have effected what he called them together for he dismisses or dissolves the assembly Here the Kings Power within his Realms and Dominions is affirm'd and declared to be the Highest Power under God Canon 1 of the Canons Anno 1603. to whom all Men as well Inhabitants as born within the same do by Gods Laws owe most Loyalty and Obedience And whosoever shall deny or oppose the Royal Supremacy is to be Excommunicated Canon 2. ipso facto and not to be restored but only by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of those his Wicked Errours So that they must be blind or wilfully shut their Eyes that do not see a vast difference in this great affair between ours and the Church of Rome in this the Pope is Supream Governour in all causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical nay in Temporal too so far as they concern Religion in that our Church I mean she Supremacy is given intirely to our Kings whose Power is expresly declared to be the highest under God and their Authority extended to all Persons as well Clergy as People and to all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal In the Church of Rome if the Prince claim the Supremacy which belongs to him by Divine Right he is Reputed and Treated as an Heretick that is Excommunicated and Deposed and if any of his Subjects dare to assert and openly maintain his Supremacy as in Duty and Conscience they are bound to do because it is their Princes undoubted Right they are Condemn'd to Dye and Adjudg'd Guilty of such a Crime as cannot be purged but by casting them into the Fire In our Church all the Clergy are requir'd to the uttermost of Canon 1. their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any colour or dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times at least every Year That all Usurped and Forreign Power forasmuch as the same hath no Establishment nor Ground by the Law of God is for most just Causes taken away and abolish'd and that therefore no manner of Obedience and Subjection within His Majesties Realms and Dominions is due unto any such Forreign Power but that the King is Supream Governour Canon 55. in all his Realms and Dominions in all causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Or as it is express'd in the excellent Canons of the Year 1640 A Supream Power is Canon 1. given to this most excellent Order that is of Kings by God himself in Scripture which is that Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what Ranks or Estates soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should restrain and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers The Care of Gods Church is so committed to Kings in Scripture that they are commended when the Church keeps the right way and taxed when it runs amiss and therefore her Government belongs in chief unto Kings for otherwise one Man would be commended for anothers Care and taxed for anothers Negligence which is not Gods way And if any of our Clergy or Laity dare to impugn or oppose the Royal Supremacy they are Anathematiz'd or decreed to be Excommunicated which is the greatest Punishment the Church can inflict and the most dreadful one any Man can suffer in this World 'T is most apparent then that our Church gives and secures to the Crown that great and most precious Jewel the Supremacy which is the chief Glory and Ornament of it which the Church of Rome so unjustly steals from and Robs it of Here the Prince hath no Rival nor Competitor none to insult or Domineer over him as in the Romish Communion no Lord at all over him but the great Governour of all the World God Almighty to whom it is his Glory as well as Duty to be Subject and submit himself in all things And as our Church doth not diminish or lessen the Power of her Kings so it is so far from pretending any Jurisdiction or coercive Authority over them that it abhors and detests it declares it to be Treason both against God and the King for any to claim or challenge such Authority over them For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or a vow in any their said Realms or Territories Canons of 1640. Canon 1. respectively under any pretence whatsoever any Independent Coactive Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to
The Grand Expedient FOR Suppressing POPERY EXAMINED OR The PROJECT of EXCLUSION Proved to be contrary to Reason and Religion By Robert Clipsham Canon of Chichester To the Excluders Are your minds set upon Righteousness O ye Congregation and do ye judg the thing that is Right O ye Sons of Men Ps 58. 1. LONDON Printed for William Freeman over against the Devil-Tavern by Temple-Bar in Fleetstreet 1685. To the Honourable Sir John Farrington Knight one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex SIR THat I have prefix'd your Honour'd Name to this Discourse will not I am confident be displeasing to you for as much as in it I plead that Cause for which you have express'd so great a Concern When the Enemies of the Royal Family were at the highest puff't up with the vain hopes of gaining their so much desired Point the Exclusion of his Royal Highness When they reviled and treated the Opposers of that wicked Project at their pleasure even then as became a Person of Eminent Courage and Loyalty you declared your just Indignation against and condemn'd it as a most impious Device And seeing one great design of this Discourse is to prove the Bill of Exclusion to be as unjust as you have always thought it to whom with greater Reason can this that I have writ address it self for protection than to a Person of such known and unquestion'd Loyalty you being One of those Brave and Loyal Persons that truly honour and heartily desire the Felicity of the King and his most Glorious Family and this in so high a degree that you have suffer'd for it been most unjustly deprived of a considerable part of your Birth-right for no other cause at all but your Devotion to your Prince and Zeal for his Service But hereby you will be no looser in the end because God Almighty I am sure will bless and prosper you and all good men do and will love and honour you Besides your good opinion of this Discourse that it will be serviceable to the Great Ends I writ it for encouraged me to make it publick and to put it into the World under your Patronage not doubting but you will accept that which you were pleased to entertain such favourable thoughts of Hereby also I have an opportunity openly to acknowledg my great obligations to you and beseech you to receive this as a Testimony of my Gratitude for the many and undeserved civilities with which you have treated me which if you please to do I shall ever own it an high favour to him that hath the greatest reason to Subscribe himself Sir Your most humble and devoted Servant Robert Clipsham To the READER WHat Entertainment the following Discourse will find with Two sorts of Men is no hard matter to foretell They will Cast all the Contempt and Reproach they can upon It and the Author Muster up all the Calumnies and Slanders Attaque me with all the Wrath Bitterness Clamours and rude Language which they that reprove Mens Errours though for no other end but that they may be perswaded to reform them are commonly assaulted with One of the Factions will call me Heretick the Other Jesuite or Papist at the least That will be angry and revile me for declaring against the Errours of the Church of Rome This will be inraged and rail at me for charging some of the same crimes upon it especially for Condemning that they admire and are so fond of their beloved Bill of Exclusion But the great Searcher of hearts will I am sure acquit me from both those hateful Imputations because he knows me to be neither Heretick nor Papist though I confess indeed with St. Paul that after the way which they of the Church of Rome call Heresy and those of the Seperation as falsly call Popery so Worship I the God of my Fathers I am that is of the Excellent Religion by Law Establish'd amongst us and by the help of God resolve to live and die in it and therefore can be neither Heretick nor Papist and shall laugh rather than be troubled at them that call me either Though I have given neither of the Factions just cause to call me so because I have done them no wrong but fairely represented their Opinions and faithfully shew'd them their Errours that as becomes men calling themselves Catholicks and Christians they may reform them and therefore they ought rather to thank me for my charity than be angry with me They are to be blamed for running into such Errours and doing such evil things not I for proving them so to be If Rome be a dangerous Church for men to venture such a Treasure as their Souls in I did not make it so but only call upon all that please to read me to chuse a safer that they may be sure to obtain that Immortal glory and happiness the hope of which is the great joy of our Life and our only comfort and support when we are to dye and the enjoyment of it so desireable and unspeakable a good that none but the most foolish and the most faithless men can be careless and unconcern'd about it And if the Bill of Exclusion be unjust therefore contrary to the Excellent Laws of Christ the Authors Promoters and Admirers of it are to be blamed for fixing upon such a sinful Expedient not I for proving it so to be That God who hath done it hitherto is still able to protect our Gracious King and Excellent Religion from the designes of all their Enemies and it is mine and every good mans daily Prayers he will be pleased to do it Why then should any so far distrust his goodness as to do an unworthy thing to secure them which are as safe already under the shadow of his protection as they can possibly be And if this Project of Excluding his Royal Highness be unjust as I suppose I have proved it if it were put in practise it would rather deprive them of the safety they have already than procure them any more this being to renounce the Providence and the Defence of the Almighty which are endear'd and assured by Righteousness and to make Sin our Refuge which as he forbids so it must needs highly provoke him For my part I bear no hatred nor ill will to the persons in either of the Factions but wish them all happiness and shew them the way to obtain it that is by renouncing their Errours and all those Practises that are therefore Dangerous because Contrary to sound Doctrine and common Honesty Nor was it an itch after vain glory or a desire to be in Print that prompted me to write this Discourse I had no such mean inducements in my thoughts when I resolv'd upon this Subject for if that had been my design I could have chose one less obnoxious to censure and misunderstanding The Truth is I saw the King endanger'd for refusing to pass this unjust Bill the Kingdom miserably divided and