in the text is likewise called cleansing and thus thankes be to God our great Nehemiah dealt with the Papists he hath not onely thought them as prickes and thornes in the sides of good Christians but now found them as noy some and infectious weedes in the Common wealth to choake and eate up the sweete Flowers and springing grasse and thus hath the Church of God example enough in Scripture to be an enemy to Gods enemies and fall to reformation with courage and magnanimity Shall such a man as I flye saith Nehemiah shall such a King as I saith King Charles that have been trayned up from my infancy to deny Popery and suffer my Kingdome of great Britaine the very nursery of zealous professors and mirrour of purity and piety to be defiled and contaminated with the poyson of superstition and now I have recollected my self shall I give way to rotten and filthy policy to eat upon the heart of true Religion or suffer private ends to thicken themselves like some obscure and dangerous cloud to stand as an interposition betweene the Sunny splendor of Gods word and the faire progresse of government No No J will now be my selfe and therefore if either the Pope or Spain deride me with Michol for dancing before the Arke and bringing it into Gods house I will answere with David I will yet bee more vile and zealous for the Lord and as he told his wife that therefore God had taken the Kingdome from her Father and invested him with the Diadem so may King Charles answer Spain that therefore God will make him mighty in his Provinces in despight of malignant opposition and great Britain shall not be onely able to stand firme like an impregnable Rock in all honor riches prosperity but of sufficiency to protect distressed neighbours and recover unfortunate and surrepted Provinces Therefore away yee Friests and Iesuites packe hence for your lives and let me not heare any further of your daring impostures and you that will remaine Papists and with the Adder stoppe your eares that charme the Charmer never so cunningly he shall not prevaile to remove you take heed and be warned that you live modestly in your wilfulnesse neither daring to breake our Statutes against those Locusts of Rome nor to insult your selves or be offensive to any civill conversation by thewrong defence and supportation of Romes corrupted Doctrine For I protest unto you by the faith of a Religious King I take a pleasure in hearing what God said to Abraham Genesis 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keepe the way of the Lord to doe justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken unto him And therefore as I am Gods substitute in the supreame royalty so will I be his instrument in the practise of this Reformation neither suffring any Papist whatsoever to have the use of Idolatrous masses nor to bring up their owne children in the Cimmerian darknesse of ignorance and divelish devotion For the Apostle tells us plainely Colos â— that the tormenting of the body worshipping of Angels observing of Dayes and many foolish humiliations likewise denying of lawful marriage and forbidding of meates and celebrating of superstitious times are all the doctrines of the Divell and is not this joy to great Britaine and how are our hearts cheered as you read of the Israelites that in the time of Salomon rejoyced with one another and made merry eating and drinking under their owne Vines Thus shall we see the backes of our adversaries and by Gods speciall favour and grace the banishment of Priests and Iesuites But yee Magistrates of the Common wealth let them not imitate the Israelites in this to rob the Egyptians in their departure out of Egypt Let them not export our treasures nor enrich other Countries with our spoyles Let not your Ladies bestow their jewels and ornaments upon them For though they could be contented to love them with gratuities and presents yet must the Common wealth reserve some secrets of State not to be impoverished by the lavish gifts of those that understand not the Mystery of carying wealth out of the Land or consuming our silver in trifles let none of their houses be furnished with those remnants of gew-gawes wherein the ancient idolaters excelled them in be decking their idols I mean their medales crucifixes relickes of Saints the Wood of the Crosse the milke of our Lady and a thousand such like trumperies fit for nothing but toyes to play with all as Apes doe with Nut shells For as you read how the children of Israel were tainted with the grosse superstition of Egypt so must needs the tender hearts of your women be captivated with the reservation of these things Let your Pursevants and Officers a Gods name be the researchers of suspected places that the very children which as yet know no harm may be sent to the Schooles of the children of the Prophets and by that meanes learne to live in the feare of God and dye in his favour Let the potent men be disarmed a Gods name not to give them cause to thinke the better of themselves as if they were to be feared or reputed dangerous and politicke but as you take knives and other hurtfull things from madde men to prevent mischiefe that they neyther endanger others nor themselves In a word let all good orders be observed and a fashionable body of a religious Common wealth erected that his Majesties person may be secured the Prince and the rest of that Royall issue protected and pleased the honest neighbours sublevated with care and diligence the whole Iland flourishing with prosperity and confidence the poore releeved the trades restored the City repayred the Marchant countenanced the Souldiers esteemed the Clergy-man beloved the well deserving reverence the weake supported the obstinate finner punished the offender through frailty remitted and all justifiable actions practised to the glory of God and comfort of our owne soules Then if there be cause of warre and so successe fallen Moses and Israell shall sing a song of Tryumph to the Lord and Miriam the Prophetesse shall take a Timbrell in her hand and all the women goe after her with Timbrels and Dances Then if there be the flourishes of peace and that Salomon hath finished the Temple of God and his owne house 1 King 3.22.9 he will present himselfe before the Lord and kneele to his prayers spredding forth his hands toward Heaven And then to conclude both in warre and peace shall great Britaine confesse to the Lord. What is man that thou shouldst thinke upon him or the sonne of man that thou wilt remember him And so prayse the Lord in his Sanctuary and in the firmament of his power praise him in his mighty acts and according to the excellency of his greatnesse praise him for thinking vpon vs even in this particular of suppressing Papistry
ENGLANDS IOY FOR THE KINGS GRATIous Proclamation for the banishing Papists 1 KING 18.21 How long hault yee betweene two opinions If the Lord be God then follow him if Baall then follow him 2 KING 17.24,25 And the King of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthagh and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim and placed them in the Cities of Samaria in stead of the Children of Israel and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the Cities thereof And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord Therefore the Lord sent Lyons among them which slew some of them Printed M.DC.XL ENGLANDS IOY for the KINGS gratious Proclamation for the banishing of Papists I Confesse that Prayer is so forcible that it openeth the gates of Heaven and as you read how the holy Ghost descended vpon the Apostles in the forme of fiery tongues so through the enforcement of Prayer all blessings spirituall and temporall are let downe amongst the children of God like Peters sheete Who would not then aske to obtaine seeke to finde knocke to have it opened and importune the father of mercy to have no deniall considering the Parable tells us That the wicked Judge who neither feared God nor man granted the widowes Petition to be delivered frō her clamors and her troublesome attendancy and thus are wee beholding to our God But now to make God beholding unto us were a secret out of the Treasure-house of heaven indeed wherein I will be bold to tell you how you may be proficient and invite you to wisedomes schoole to learne a cunning which the heart of the naturall man is uncapable of and that is to retribute thankes to God to give his glorious name the praise to bee gratefull unto him and to rejoyce in hymnes and spirituall Songs when a benefit is imparted and our soules are comforted What a story is the story of the Iewes being delivered from Hamans cruelty and persecution for the purpose in hand The Text saith Hester 9.17,18 That they rested the same day and made it a day of feasting and gladnesse a good day and sent portions and presents one to another but wherefore was all this For saving their lives and prevailing against their enemies But oh thou God of heaven that ridest vpon the wings of the wind and holdest the reynes of the kingdomes of the world in thy hand to let loose or restraine at thy pleasure Thou knowest that we haue more causes to rejoyce and bee glad then the Iewes in their Purim For if wee may compare the lesse with the greater they had but the preservation of their bodies and a slight tryumph against their corporall enemies we are in the way to save our soules and put our spirituall adversaries to flight the Flesh the World and the Devill What Papistry to be suppressed The Priests and Iesuites to be banished And the Gospell of Iesus Christ to flourish Psalme 45. My soule leapes for joy and my heart is enditing a good matter I speake of the things which I haue made touching the King my tongue is the pen of a ready writer Oh blessed be GOD for this alteration Doth not Ieremy tell vs that Ieremy 31. Math. 2. In Ramah there was a voyce heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachell weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Did not al England wring their hands for sorrow and begin to mourne and be affrighted when they saw the Papists so arrogantly mischievous to insult in every towne and shire and mocke us to our faces as if Sandolet and Tobiah were to scoffe and deride the Iewes when Nehemiah came to re-edifie the Temple And hath not God put into the Kings heart to dam vp this inundation and to keepe the raging Sea within limitation that it doe not overflow the lower and fruitfull grounds Marke but the progression of businesse tell it to your Children and write it in the Phylacteries of your garments Did not we determin some 16. years agoe to match with Spaine And did not Spaine resolve to overmatch us in the contract Did he not resemble an unmannerly and impudent guest who invited to some neighbourly meeting would not onely come himself but brought a whole rablement of Cormorants with him so Spain must not only condition for a daughter but the Papists through the kingdome have liberty of Conscience Masse in their houses Priests within their doores penalties remitted and the Pursevants and Officers restrained from their privy searches whereby the Spanish Ambassadour presumed on his meritorious service some Papists triumphed as if the wiser sort knew they were in the right And was not this a fearefull beginning and who knowes with what strength the strong man would have encreased in keeping his possession so have the Papists done within these 2. or 3. yeares and insolently bragged of their great forces and impudently threatned the utter overthrow of us all especially of our renowned City of London But was this all No no the severall shiers of England worse then the Iewes that poysoned the springs of sweet water in these dayes had malitious instruments to corrupt the youth of the Countrey and the Priests Iesuites and Fryers ranne from house to house and made them all amazed with crying out Great is Diana of the Ephesians But now Papistry shall be suppressed and the Priests and Iesuites banished O blessed alteration O blessed King oh blessed Parliament The Ambassadours houses were so many hives to which the drones resorted who not onely fed vpon the hony of the Bees but presumed to kill and beate them away which preserved them Thus these unconstant people not onely despised the Pastors of their own Congregations and under protection of the Prerogative of Kings railed on the Lord his annointed The Streets swarmed with ruffianly apparitions Priests in disguised apparell and Iesuites in Courtly vestments And what did they Not only watch the outward behaviour of men and government of the City but tooke advantage of the weake carnall Gospeller and set upon them with the outward glory of a visible Church The Cathedrall of Paules had her walkes mingled with a number of peremptory and audacious Romanists who not onely branded us for lukewarmnesse and unjustifiable actions but boasted both of and in their disputations that they had put the true and learned servants of God to silence as if Sidchiah should strike Machiah on the face and peremptorily aske him when the Spirit of God departed from him to be infused into such an underling The Court hath not onely every corner but publike walkes filled with Papists and Hispaniolized temporisers And what did they appeare in severall disguised formes and their corrupt hearts taught their tongues to vent forth blasphemy and notorious abuses For as you read how Ieremy was taken by his Enemies and brought before the Princes and Priests for weakning the hands of the men of warre