nor should we stick now to obey your commands did not the laws of Christianity forbid us to worship devils and to approach the polluted Altars of your gods We see you are resolved either to defile us with Idolatry or to terrifie us with a decimation go on Sir as you have begun Know we are all Christians our bodies we subject to your power but we reserve our souls intire for Christ our Saviour Nor is it despair that makes us thus resolute against you we have armes you see and yet make no resistance choosing rather to dye than to overcome and to perish innocent than to live rebellious and revengeful Exasperated with this invincible resolution the Emperour orders a second decimation which doing no good upon them he commanded the whole Army Horse and Foot to break in who cut them off as in a moment And thus they died with their swords in their hands when being so many and so advantageously posted they might have preserved their lives by force of armes or to be sure have sold them at the dearest rate But alas the rising up against their Emperour the propagating the faith by fire and sword the deposing and assassinating Princes for the sake of God and holy Church were practices not more expresly condemned by the doctrine of the Gospel than they were strangers to those innocent and happy times And this brings me to the third thing I propounded to enquire into and that is III. Whether any part of the Christian Church at this day be justly guilty of this charge And here without further preface I lay down the charge at the door of the Church of Rome which in this great instance of Religion has so wofully debaucht the purity and simplicity of the Christian faith that it 's become now quite another thing than what it was when it first came from under the hands of its Author A Church that in this regard looks more like a Council of War or a School of the arts of Treason than the Court of the Prince of peace or the house of the God of order A Church the principles of whose Religion as they have now modelled it if heartily embraced and duly improv'd to their just and natural tendences are plainly inconsistent with the majesty and security of Soveraign Powers the happy government of the Civil State and indeed with the quietness and good order of mankind So true is the determination which the wise King James makes in this matter Speech to both Houses of Parl. p. 11. that as on the one part many-honest men seduc't with some errours of Popery may yet remain good and faithful subjects so on the other part none of those that truly know and believe the whole grounds and School-conclusions of their doctrine can ever prove either good Christians or faithful subjects But that I may not seem without just reason to fasten so heavy a charge upon them I shall as briefly as I can shew these two things First That the principles taught and belived in the Church of Rome are immediately destructive of the safety and authority of Princes and the peace of humane society Secondly That the practices of the men of that Church have been all along agreeable to their principles I. The principles taught and believ'd in the Church of Rome are immediately destructive of the safety and authority of Princes and the peace of humane society And here not to insist upon their doctrine of the Popes absolute Infallibility of the punishment of hereticks whom they devote to the most horrid penalties both in this and the other world their cancelling the most solemn oaths and that they bind no longer if dispenc't with by the Pope or than 't is for the interest of the Catholic cause and declaring that no faith is to be kept with heretics their doctrine of auricular Confession whereby they screw themselves into the secrets of Princes and that the most enormous villanies are to be concealed if delivered under the Seal of Confession Binet Jesuit ap Casaub Epist clxx ad Front Duc. p. 209. vid. p. 206. c. which is not to be broken up say some of them tho the lives of all the Kings in the World lay at stake their exempting the Clergy from the jurisdiction of the Secular Powers whereby infinite frauds murders and villainies are securely committed their doctrine of aequivocation and mental reservation in the most serious and important cases their vows of obedience to their Superiours whereby they are oblig'd to attempt the most horrid and unnatural actions without enquiring into the reason or boggling at the barbarity of them all which and abundant more instances that might be given strike at the very vitals of peace and order among men To pass by also the blasphemous titles and exorbitant preheminences which their Schoolmen and Canonists ascribe to the Pope as that Kings and Emperours are his Slaves and Vassals See multitudes of testimonies to this purpose cited by Dr. Crakanthorp in his Treatise of the Popes temporal Monarchy chap. 1. whom he may command cast down at pleasure that they are inferior to the meanest Priest who is as much above a King as a man is above a beast and that as much as God Almighty excels a Priest so much does a Priest excel a King Besides these they directly maintain and teach that the Government of the whole world both in temporals and spirituals is at least in order to the good of souls committed to the Pope all Regal authority depending on him that he may not only punish but deprive Kings of their Countries and bestow their Kingdoms upon others that if a King be an heretic he forfeits his title to his Crown and dignity yea though he be but negligent to extirpate heresie or to execute justice whereupon the Pope may absolve his Subjects from all duty and allegiance to him in which case they are bound not to obey that this Papal sentence once pass'd he may be expell'd or kill'd by any yea any one of his own sworn subjects may take away his life nay that in some cases the people are not bound to stay for the Popes decree and declaration but may of themselves rise up and dethrone such Princes and that they are obliged to do so in point of conscience and upon pain of their souls and that such proceedings as these are agreeable to Nature Law Scripture and the practices and precepts of holy men and that he that doubts of it wants common sence All which scandalous and damnable propositions and there are infinitely more and some worse perhaps than what I have mentioned are one or more of them in terminis maintained by a Defenssid Cath. l. 3. c. 23. n. 1 16 21. l. 6. c. 4. n. 14 18 19. Suarez b De rep Eccles l. 3. c. 4. § 48 49. Controv Angl. p. 115 133 135. alib saepe Becanus c Comment in 1.2 Aqu. dist 152.
Ward Mayor Martis nono die Novemb. 1680. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli secundi Angliae c. xxxii UPon the motion of Sr. Thomas Aleyn Knight and Baronet and Alderman now made unto this Court This Court doth desire Dr. Cave to print his Sermon preached at Bow-Church on the Fifth instant being the Anniversary day of Thanksgiving for Deliverance from the Gun-Powder-Treason Plot before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this City Wagstaffe A SERMON Preached before the Right HONOURABLE THE Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of LONDON At S. MARY-LE-BOW on the Fifth of November MDCLXXX By William Cave D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty and Rector of Great Allhallows London Origen contra Cels lib. 3. p. 115. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by M. White for R. Chiswel at the Sign of the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard 1680. TO THE Right Honourable Sr. Patience VVard LORD MAYOR of the City of LONDON And to the Court of ALDERMEN Right Honourable VVHen I first engaged in this service I did it with some reluctancy not out of any unwillingness to the thing it self but the consciousness of mine own unfitness for it And when I receiv'd the commands of your Court for the Publication I found in my self a greater reluctancy not that I knew any thing in the Sermon that fear'd the light but because I had seldom seen printing of Sermons attain the desired effect being generally thrown aside and the most useful and innocent discourses oftner entertain'd with spiteful and disingenuous reflections than improved to the real purposes of Religion But in this I over-rul'd my self lest I should seem to contemn Authority while I am professedly pleading for obedience to it If any thing herein may minister to public use confirm men the more in the Protestant Religion and awaken an honest and prudent care against those whose principles and practices as well as their interests naturally tend to destroy our Religion and to disturb our quiet especially that of this great and honourable City so intolerable an eyesore to them if it may attain these ends 't is the utmost that can be hoped for from the mean endeavours of Right Honourable Your most Faithful and Obedient Servant William Cave ACT. xvii 6. These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also SO inveterate are the prejudices of Education so prevalent and uncontroulable the force of a long prescription that tho' there had been nothing else to encounter Christianity was sure at its first setting out to meet with a vigorous opposition both from Jews and Gentiles The Gentile-world combin'd their whole power against it and set themselves to run it down as a novel and an upstart Sect that came to undermine their ancient Religion that had so long govern'd the minds of men But none pursued it with so fierce and implacable a malice as the Jews who having been for several ages trained up in an unmeasurable reverence and veneration for the Mosaic institutions thought themselves deeply concern'd to make head against that Doctrine whose avow'd design it was to abrogate their whole Temple-ministration and to change the customes that Moses delivered Upon this account having imbrued their hands in the blood of its Founder and treated him with all the instances of contempt and cruelty they resolved to follow home the blow and if possible to banish his Disciples and Followers out of the world whom therefore they sought in all places partly by open violence partly by arts of falshood and insinuation to expose to the severity of the laws and the rage of the multitude And such was the case of Paul and Silas in this Chapter who being engaged in their Evangelical travels were come down to Thessalonica the Metropolis of that part of Macedonia where in the Jewish Synagogue S. Paul managed the cause of Christ with so much eloquence and strength of reason ver 2 3. that not a few of the Jews themselves but especially vast numbers of the Greek proselytes who were not enslaved to opinions and principles to parties and interests came over to him ver 4. But the Sun that melts the wax hardens clay his Sermons having a quite contrary effect upon the obstinate unbelieving Jews who not being able to resist the clearness of his arguments betook themselves to force and clamour the last refuges of an impotent and a baffled cause So gathering to themselves the refuse of the common people v. 5. they blew up the City into a tumult and uproar and assaulted the house where the Apostles lodg'd but missing them who had prudently withdrawn themselves they seiz'd Jason the Landlord and as many of the Christians as they could meet with and dragging them before the Magistrates of the City loaded them with no less than conspiracy and treason crying out with a rude noise and clamour Here are the men that are the common incendiaries of all Countreys that whereever they come undermine the peace and prosperity of humane society that erect imperium in imperio a Kingdom contrary to the Laws and constitutions of the Roman Empire and not content to have filled other places with confusion and disorder are come here amongst us to violate our peace and embroil us in intestine feuds and quarrels These are the men that having turn'd the world upside down are come hither also A heavy charge and if true enough to disparage the credit of any Religion in the world But thanks be to God the charge in this case was as false and groundless as the design of it was spiteful and malicious the behaviour of these holy men having in all places been as harmless and inoffensive as the Doctrine they preacht was peaceable and beneficial to the world however some have since for very bad ends drest it up with another face and made it look more like the fiery Doctrine of Mahomet than that of our meek humble Saviour the Doctrine of the Prince of peace In speaking to these words I shall do these three things First Shew that this has been an old charge upon Religion and the Professors of it to be disturbers of the publick peace Secondly That Christianity is so far from being justly obnoxious to this charge that of all Religions it best secures the interests of civil Authority and the peace of the world Thirdly I shall enquire whether there be any part of the Christian Church at this day justly guilty of this charge I. It has been an old charge upon true Religion and the professours of it to be disturbers of the publick peace For the enemy of all righteousness knows no better way to render them obnoxious to Soveraign powers than by representing them as enemies to Government and inconsistent with the prosperity of the Civil State Princes are exquisitely tender and jealous of their Crowns and the blessings of public peace are infinitely dear and valuable to every honest and sober man so that it 's no wonder if
§. 8. alibi Vasquez d Examen praef monit R. Jac. p. 49 55 103 142 143. Coquaeus e Aphorism Confess in verb. Clericus princeps Tyrannus Emanuel Sa f De Haeres c. 30. p. 293 296. Santarellus g De Reg. Reg. instit l. 1. c. 6. p. 58 c. c. 7. p. 63 c. Mariana h Defens Bell. T. 2. col 1153 c. adv Reg. Brit. c. 6 7. def Apol. Gall. p. 591. Gretser i Tom. 3. disp 5. q. 8. punct 3. Valentia by Cardinal k Letter about Devent p. 27 28 30. in Resp pro Cathol adv persecut Angl. passim vid. c. 2 4 5. ext in concert Eccl. Cath. in Anglia Allen l Controv 3. q. 5. artic 2. p. 710 711. Stapleton m De Visib Monarch l. 2. c. 4. de clave David l. 1. c. 6. p. 26. c. 9. p. 57. l. 2. c. 10. p. 99. Saunders n Quiet sob reck p. 80. Letter of the Oath of Alleg. p. 18 19 80 85. Philopat sive ejus sit sive Creswelli p. 106 107. it §. 158 160 162 221. Parsons and hundreds more I shall a little more particularly instance in Bellarmin because he is the most profest Champion of the Papal cause and being a man of great wit and Learning express'd himself as cautiously as he well could in this matter yea so cautiously that Pope Sixtus V. was once resolv'd to have condemn'd and supprest his writings because attributing too little to the Papal authority as the Cardinals themselves told mine Author o Gu. Barcl de potest Papae edit 1609. c. 13. p. 101. c. 40. p. 329. and yet even he p De Rom. Pontif. l. 5. c. 6. col 889. c. 7. ib. c. sayes roundly that the political Power not only as 't is Christian but as 't is Civil is subject to the Ecclesiastical so that the Pope may in order to the good of souls govern and dispose of temporal Princes alter Kingdoms take them away from one and give them to another that if a King be an Infidel or an Heretic and we know what they mean by that nay he particularly reckons the Kings of England among his instances and seek to draw his Dominions to his sect it is not only lawful but a duty in his subjects to deprive him of his Kingdom And whereas sayes he the primitive Christians attempted not the like on Nero Dioclesian Julian or the rest it was not it seems that they boggled out of a sense of duty but only quia deerant vires temporales because they wanted means and power to effect it A bold piece of falshood Fuligat vit Bell. l. 1. c. 2. p. 17. and a sufficient confutation of what the Writer of his Life affirms that he could not remember that he had ever told a lye in his life or disguised the truth by fraud or sophistry If it be here said as sometimes they do when pincht with these objections that these are but the opinions of their private Doctors and not the public and standing declarations of that Church to this I shall briefly return these three things by way of answer 1. That this is a most gross and senseless evading of the argument for whether their Church publicly declare this or not 't is these private Doctors that steer mens Consciences conduct their practice and that diffuse the venom into all parts of the Christian world and if the mischief be done by vertue of these hellish Principles Princes murdered Kingdoms invaded and the foundations of Government overturned 't is little matter whether it be done by connivence or command as if the family be destroyed by the servants scattering of poyson in every corner 't is but a trifling excuse that the Master of the house did not command but only stand by and see them do it 2. These pernicious doctrines are publicly taught in their Schools and Universities and Books of them printed in all Countries approv'd licenc't and recommended and suffered to pass without controul the very worst of them never censur'd condemn'd or burnt by the supream authority of that Church which in all reason justice and equity they were oblig'd to do did they not allow and own them 3. And which will fully answer this matter Most of these detestable principles are extant in the body of their Canon Law See the Bishop of Lincoln's Book called Principles and positions approved by the Church of Rome which is their public rule and standard at this day are determined in the Breves and Bulls of their several Popes who have solemnly denounc't those things ex Cathedra and what 's higher yet are in effect found in the Decrees of their own General Councils I instance in two Ann. 1215. the Council of Lateran whereat were present the Pope the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem seventy Arch-bishops four hundred and twelve Bishops eight hundred Abbots and Priors besides Embassadors from most Princes in Christendom this Council decreed that Heretical Lords and Rulers should be Excommunicated their Vassals absolved from their obedience their Lands seiz'd and dispos'd of to Catholics In the general Council at Lyons Ann. 1245. the Pope by advice of the Cardinals and Council and by a definitive sentence pronounc't there depos'd and depriv'd the Emperour Frederic discharg'd his sworn Subjects from their Allegiance Excommunicating all such as should obey or favour him commanding the Princes forthwith to proceed to a new Election all which is inserted into the Acts of that Council To be short so evident is the case that some of their greatest Champions more candid and ingenuous than the rest have plainly confest that if the Pope have not such a power of Excommunicating and deposing Princes and absolving Subjects from their Fealty and Allegiance See Card. Perrons Harangue among his Works in French p. 635. Lessius seu Gu. Singletonus Discuss Decret Conc. Later p. 46 90 100 123. but especially the Jesuits Loyalty printed 1677. the first Treatise their Church having all along challeng'd and exercis'd it in her supremest Tribunals must be fallen into a damnable errour both in faith and practice and consequently must cease to be a true Church that therefore the belief of it is an article essential to it and to assert the contrary is an opinion erroneous in faith temerarious and impious But if their Church must needs stand or fall with this principle let them look to that 't is in the mean time evident enough that the principles they believe and teach are in the tendency of them immediately destructive of the safety and authority of Princes and the peace of humane society But alas that 's not all nor the worst of the case These pernicious doctrines are not meer Scholastic subtleties dry and barren speculations but impregnated with life and power and accordingly II. The practices of the men of that Church have been alwayes