into joy and gladness We ought to love the Truth and Peace Thirdly That upon our doing this sincerely all the sad effects of that which we now mourn for shall be so entirely removed that our days of Fasting shall be turned into cheerful or solemn Feasts To the First There is a temper to be observed in publique as well as in private mournings that they be neither so short as that it may thence appear we have a slight sense of matters of such great consequence nor so long as that either our sorrows rise out of measure high or by the too frequent returns of those days the object of our griefs grows too flat There is a mean between these extremes There is a time to mourn as well as a time to rejoice and every thing is beautiful in its season I shall therefore offer two rules by which it may be reasonably determined how long such solemn mournings ought to be continued and apply them to the present occasion One is As long as the sad effects of that which originally caused them continue we ought to keep up our Fasts for so long God seems to continue his displeasure against us and therefore we should be still renewing our intercessions to turn it away As long as the Captivity lasted the people of the Iews did not doubt continuing the observation of their Fasts but when they were brought back again to their Land it seemed then more proper to put this Question A second is When the same or the like sins which procured those Judgments that are so much lamented do continue and when the circumstances of a Nation seem to be almost the same that they were on the occasion that at first called for their mourning then it is fit either to continue or to renew their observation of those set Fasts This was the case at this time of the Jews they were beginning to contract alliances with the Idolatrous Heathens round about them which had let in the former Idolatry that had been the cause of their former Captivity they became guilty of the same immoralities and therefore they are commanded to love the Truth and Peace that so they being delivered from the Wrath of God might serve him without fear And now to apply this to our present Occasion There were two very ill effects that followed upon the Crime acted this day which still continue The one was the advantage that many weak and prejudiced persons took against the appearances of Religion Prayer and the motions of Gods Spirit all these having been so much pretended to at that time Many that were assured the fact was Barbarous and against all Law Divine and Humane came upon that to infer that Religion the addressing to God in Prayer and the being guided by the inward motions of Grace and Gods holy Spirit were at best but the illusions of fancy if not the contrivances of designing Men. The Inference was as unjust as could be yet so it was that this falling upon young and raw persons who were by the heat of their tempers much inclined to entertain those prejudices and that being wrought on by so great an Agent of Hell as the Author of Leviathan was many were upon this corrupted in their Principles about Religion in general And for all the sleights of Wit the shews of Reason and softness of Stile that were in that Book it could never have been so mischievously successeful as it then was if it had not been for the scandals which were given by the impudent pretensions of many of that time Their unintelligible way of talking about Religion their crumbling into so many Sects the aspirings of many under all the shews of Humility and Mortification tended to make the Seeds of Atheism grow up plentifully And to this I speak it knowingly we owe the beginnings of all those impious and immoral Maxims which have since overrun the Land And do not these effects continue still Is not Devotion accounted by many to be either a matter of Form or a piece of Enthusiasm for earnestness in Prayer and depending on the inward assistances of Gods holy Spirit how have men who know or value these things little themselves taken occasion from thence to disparage them with much Impudence and Scorn Some have thought they could not be esteemed Loyal if they appeared devout and therefore to purchase the one Character were willing not only to throw off but openly to reproach the other all they could What ill effects this has had how the Nation has been much corrupted by these Maxims and God highly offended is so obvious to every Mans observation that I need dwell no longer on it The other ill effect that still continues is the prejudice that the Enemies of our Church have cast on the Reformed Religion as holding that very Doctrine of killing Kings for which they had been so justly charged And perhaps that which at present is the ground of all our fears had its rise in a great measure from the Jealousies which upon this occasion were infused against the Protestant Religion It will be therefore no improper thing to shew you how justly the Church of Rome is accused of this and how unjustly it is cast on those of the Reformed Religion That this charge is truly fastned on the Church of Rome will appear in these particulars The power of deposing Kings is certainly a Doctrine of their Church as appears in the universal agreement to it and the Tradition of it for above five Ages in a more uninterrupted and uncontroverted series in all that time than can be shewed even for Transubstantiation it self Now if a King is deposed by the Pope and after such deposition if he is not so tame as to lay aside his Regal Dignity which it is very likely few Princes will do then they being lawfully deposed are Kings no more and if they pretend to be Kings still they are Usurpers so he that kills them does not kill a King but an Usurper And if the Pope creates a new Prince which by the same Authority is vested in him and is indeed a branch of the deposing power then the new Prince being lawfully vested with the Regal Authority may as justly authorise any to kill the deposed King as a lawful King may set a price upon any Rebels head This was well observed by those who undertook to defend the deposing power Swarez writing against King Iames tells him in plain terms a In Reg. Majest Brit. Lib. 6. c. 4. Sect. 10 That a King who is canonically deposed may be killed by any private man whatsoever Valentia says b In Thom. Tom. 3. Disp. 151. g. 4. p. 2. That an heretical Prince may be by the Popes sentence deprived of life and Becanus though Confessor to an Emperor Ferdinand the II. says c Cont. Ang. p. 115. No man doubts but if Princes are contumacious the Pope may order their lives to be taken away I might name many more
but these may suffice especially since it is visible that this is a certain and necessary consequence of the deposing Doctrine And though Gerson one of the best Men of his Age did at the Council of Constance where the Papal power was troden under foot and the Court of Rome had no influence so vain a thing it is to distinguish between the Court and Church of Rome press much for the obtaining of a Decree That no subject should murder his King or Prince even that could not easily pass and he himself was in danger of his life for solliciting it so earnestly In conclusion it was done but with such a reservation as shews they would only condemn the assassinations of private cut-throats for those were only condemned Who killed their King without waiting for the sentence of any Iudge whatsoever so if sentence is past by any Judge the Ecclesiastical as well as the Civil then this decree notwithstanding it will be lawful for a Subject to kill his King I might here run out into many Instances to shew you how acceptable the killing of Kings has been to those of that Church how Sixtus the V. made a Panegyrique upon Clements murdering Henry the III. of France before a Congregation of Cardinals how Francis Veronno wrote both in defence of that fact and of Chastells attempt on Henry the IV. how Garnet and Hall that suffered for the most desperate attempt that ever was I mean the Gun-powder Treason are reckoned among the Martyrs in the Catalogues set out by the Jesuites and under the pictures and prints made for Garnet he is called the true Martyr of Christ. Legends of miracles have been also made for them which will be reserved till a fit time comes for their Canonization which they deserve full as well as Thomas Becket did who was the greatest Saint in the Church for some Ages the blessed Virgin nay which is more Jesus Christ himself not excepted if we may judge by the devotion that was payed at his Shrine since by the Legier books of Canterbury it appears yet on Record that in some years above 950 l. was offered at his Altar and not a six pence at our Saviours Altar and but a few pounds at the blessed Virgins And to shew how well they approved of the Gunpowder Treason at Rome Gerard and Greenwoll or Tesmond two of the principal Conspirators were so well entertained there that escaping thither from the Justice of this Nation the one was made the Popes Penitentiary and the other lived in the English Colledge there and officiated often in St. Peters in the Vatican After all this evidence in which I have not once named Mariana though they would make us believe he is the only person of their Communion that ever maintained this opinion it is apparent that the killing of Kings has been openly taught and publickly encouraged in that Church and that it is a necessary consequence of the Deposing Doctrine What hand they had in this execrable crime and how far they disguised themselves into all the forms and divisions about Religion that were among us I shall not positively assert It has been done with very much assurance by persons of great worth and credit and there are many probabilities to induce us to believe it Two things were observable in the methods of carrying on this great wickedness clearly borrowed from them The one was the actors pretending to Enthusiasms and inward directions for what they did though it was clearly contrary both to the Laws of God and Man That the person of our Prince is Sacred and exempted from punishment is a constant Maxim of our Government which makes his ill Ministers and Councellors accountable for every thing that is done amiss That the House of Commons cannot set up by their single Authority a Court to judge of the life of the meanest subject that a force put on either House though but a small part were violently excluded makes it to be no more a House of Parliament and that much more when the far greater part was secluded they were certainly no House of Commons That one House without the concurrence of the other and the Royal assent joined to both could not do any thing legally and finally That the Officers of the Army had no right to assume the Government into their hands were all things so manifest according to the constitutions of this Kingdom that they who acted so contrary to them knew they could never justifie themselves by either Law or President It was necessary then to fly to somewhat that should seem to be above all the limitations and restraints of Law and that was to pretend secret directions from God A Doctrine that overthrows the main and fundamental principle of the Reformation which is That in all things which relate to God the Scriptures only are to be our Rule And indeed it is hard to determine whether the referring all controversies of Religion to one infallible Judge or the giving up of men to the heats of their own fancies be the most dangerous principle The latter seems worse for the former leaves us to the mercy of one man whereas the other exposes mankind to the fury and humour of every brainsick or designing man It is certain that in the publick actions of our lives and in moral matters Inspiration without a warrant from Scripture or a clear proof of a Divine Mission attested by some publick and supernatural sign or miracle is not only a fallacious but may be a pernicious guide That this was all borrowed from the Writings and the publick and encouraged practices of the Church of Rome from whom that which is true and rank Fanaticism has issued out though perhaps many Dr. Stillingfleet of the Fanaticism of the Church of Rome of those among us are not aware of it has been made out so fully and beyond contradiction by an eminent Writer of our own that I need add nothing in confirmation of what must be universally acknowledged by all who have read his learned Book on this subject A 2d thing that appeared in carrying on the wickedness of this day borrowed from the Doctrines of that Church was a principle that all the rules and constitutions of Government may be broke through by the sounder and better part of the people at their pleasure that Princes and Parliaments and the major part of either House were subject not only to the whole body of the people for this would not have served their turn but to the sounder and better part The resolving all power in the people was first taken up by the assertors of the Popes deposing power for they argued that if it belonged to the people then the Pope representing the Universal Church all their rights did accrew to him so that in their names he was to dispose of Crowns as he pleased But here these maxims were thus varied The power was said to belong to the people in common but was to
be understood the entire complex of their Religion called often by David the way of Gods Truth or by Truth is meant candor and fidelity among men so this applied to us must be understood either of the truth of the Gospel or of sincerity and honesty in our discourses and actions For the first of these we may well call our Religion Truth since we believe nothing but what Jesus Christ and his Apostles delivered to the world in the name of God we have no new Doctrines added to this introduced by false and deceitful men supported by lying wonders or counterfeited Writings Our Doctrine as it is the truth of God so is to be maintained and promoted by means sutable to the being and nature of that God from whom it is derived We found nothing on made stories or forged Records we teach none of the Doctrines of falshood and equivocation breach of faith or vows dispencing with Oathes dissolving of Leagues or Treaties All these we have left to that Church that as she grew up by lies and forgeries so continues that trade still which has been in former ages of such advantage to her I need not insist on the Popes dispensing what the Oathes of Allegiance of Subjects to their Princes breaking and dissolving Treaties though confirmed by Oathes and Sacraments a publick instance of which appeared in the battel of Uarna where the Turk appealed to Jesus Christ whose name those Christians had affronted by breaking what was sealed by the most sacred tie The issue was both fatal and disgraceful to the Christian Army All was done by the Popes Instigation as well as Authority A publicker instance was yet given at Constance which shewed that the Church was no better than the Court of Rome When those who came upon a safe conduct were notwithstanding that condemned to be burnt and a Decree was made That Faith given to Hereticks in Sess. 19. such a sort was not to be kept though they had come to the place of judgment trusting to it and would not have come without it And how far they have since that time carried on the Doctrine of Lying and Swearing falsly may appear by this one clear and undeniable proof In March 79. there were many Propositions complained of at Rome gathered out of the Writings of the Casuists among which these are two A man either alone or before others may when he is Decree of the Pope lately printed in Latine and English Prop. 26 asked or of his own accord or for his diversion or any other end swear that he did not do a thing which he really did having a secret meaning either of some other thing which he did not do or of another way of doing it or of any other Truth which he adds to it in which case he is in Truth neither a Liar nor is he Perjured A just cause of using those secret meanings is as oft as it Prop. 27. is necessary or profitable for the preservation of Life or Honour or saving ones Goods or any other act of Virtue so that the concealment of Truth seems in that case expedient or desirable Upon this a condemnation followed by the Pope and the Congregation de propaganda Fide In it we have a Confession beyond exception that these Tenets have been taught among them But it may be urged that they are now condemned It is true they are so But first though they have been long complained of they were not condemned till within these two years Secondly They were not condemned by the Pope in the Consistory which would have made the Censure more Authoritative but by the Pope and the Cardinals of the Court of the Inquisition upon which a remarkable thing followed The Jesuites who were much provoked at this Censure moved the Procureur de Roy or Attorney General at Paris to put in a complaint against the publishing that Decree since it came from the Court of the Inquisition which not being acknowledged in France nothing flowing from that Authority could be received in that Kingdom upon which the Decree was prohibited and suppressed so ready are they to bear down any thing that strikes against these strong holds of of Satan among them And thirdly This Censure is so penned that it does not import a condemnation but is indeed only a prohibition for these Propositions are not declared to be impious and immoral or contrary to the Laws of God and of Nature That had been more candid and ingenuous dealing They are only condemned as being scandalous and pernicious in practice that is to say of ill consequence and all are required in the vertue of holy obedience and under the pains of Excommunication to teach them no more so if a case happens that these may turn useful in practice then a faculty may be secretly granted for taking off this Censure From this it may appear what a door they have opened for the most disingenuous practices imaginable which is a shrewd presumption that their Doctrine is not the Truth when it is mixed with such arts that savour more of him that was a liar from the beginning than of the God of Truth We then that are of the Truth ought to Love it to reckon it our greatest honour that we are called to the Knowledge and profession of this holy Faith we ought to adhere to it as long as we Live and to be ready to lay down our Lives for it if God should call us to it But our loving it signifies more than barely to speak honorably or passionately concerning it or to like it in opposition to Popery To be a Protestant without being first a Christian can signifie nothing before God To Love it then is inwardly to delight in it to be wrought on by its Precepts so as to conform both our Hearts and Lives to it Then we Love it sincerely when we measure our Belief by the Doctrines it delivers and our Lives by the Rules it gives us And as a particular branch of Truth in the general notion we must be candid and sincere in all our discourses and dealings We are not to advance even the best ends by acts of injustice but to be strict to these Rules of Truth the Gospel prescribes Not to lie or spread lies nor to slander even our greatest Enemies not to deceive or couzen those that deal with us but to do to others as we would have others do to us to do every thing as considering we are under the allseeing Eye of that God who will judge us for all our actions ere long and will bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty If we do thus love the Truth both in the speculations of it and in reducing these to practice then we have made one step towards that here promised in my Text. The other thing enjoined is That we love Peace likewise not Peace in prejudice of or opposition to Truth but that as far as possibly we can we may live
peaceably with all men Where we are in all things agreed there to love Peace is an easie and cheap piece of vertue Of this may be said what our Saviour said of loving them that love us Do not Heathens and Publicans the same It is a sign of a nature strangely corrupted to begin quarrels and contests when there is no cause given for them To avoid this is such a common piece of good nature that it is rather a wonder how a man can do otherwise but then does it appear that we love peace if we can bring our minds to live peaceably with those that differ from us and have perhaps besides the difference of Opinion really wronged us or at least done their endeavours If with such we live peaceably then it appears that we are indeed the Sons and lovers of Peace It is a false Maxim to think we are then the truest Protestants when we have departed the furthest that is possible from every opinion or practice of the Church of Rome for in this we may run into extreams But we are sure we can never run into any extream by receding as far as we can from that ill temper of mind which naturally follows that Religion or rather is become a part of it How little they love Peace is apparent from the conduct of Religion in their Hands from Pope Victors days downwards He condemned the Eastern Churches for a thing of so little consequence as whether Easter was to be observed on the 14 day of the moneth or on the Sunday following Since that time it were endless to shew you what disquiet they have given to the Christian World They broke with the Greek Churches because they would not become subordinate to them and then pretended other things as that they Consecrated leavened and not unleavened Bread in the Sacrament and that they Taught that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father by the Son and not from the Son as well as from the Father and upon these things not only broke Communion with them but hindred the Princes of the Western Churches to give them any assistance to defend them from the impressions that the Turks were making on them and resolved rather to deliver up those ancient Churches and so many Millions of Souls to Mahometans than that there should be any Christians upon Earth that would not become in all things obedient and subject to the Papacy Shall I add to this their sending so many great Princes with vast Armies to be destroyed in the Wars for recovering Palestine which they called the holy War The many Croisado's that they Proclaimed against Hereticks or even Catholick Princes as they called them upon any imperious demands of theirs when the Emperors or Kings did not tamely deliver up their Prerogatives as well as their Necks to be trampled upon by them It were long to reckon up the Princes they have deposed and the Wars set on by them but it were endless to reckon all the dismal effects of them How was Italy and Germany rent in pieces by their means with the factions of the Guelphes and Gibellines And how often did England and France tremble at their thunders Surely these cannot be the Sons of Peace nor the Head of them the Vicar of the Prince of Peace Those that dare differ from them know what the fruits of their Peace is To be hunted after To be damned first and burnt next are all the effects of their lenity And as a great man expressed it pleasantly Though we L. Faulkland are not sure that all whom they damn are damned yet we are very sure that all whom they burn are burnt It is a vain attempt to hope ever to be at Peace with them for that on which their Church founds all their other Doctrines being her Infallibility it is a foolish thing to endeavour to convince them that they have been in any one error who make this the fundamental Article of their Religion that their Church cannot err So that all such designs shew either the simplicity and weakness or the vanity and the self-conceit of the undertakers There is no peace to be had with them but at the expence of Truth if we will renounce our Religion and believe whatever they shall think fit to prescribe we may hope to purchase their favour on other terms we must dispair of it and I hope we will not buy it so dear But since we cannot have peace with them let us seek to have it among our selves God be thanked none of our differences are such as we may despair of reconciling them or at least of bearing with one anothers infirmities and mistakes When we come to die we will have another sense of these things than we now have Then all those heats and animosities which do now inflame us will yield us no comfort but on the contrary Dr. Lewis au Moulin will beget in us severe challenges Of this I my self was lately an eye witness when called to assist one on his death-bed who had allowed himself to write with as much virulency as he could invent but then he with many tears lamented it It is true he did not retract his opinions nor was it thought seasonable at such a time to disturb him with controversie but he sincerely repented of that bitterness of spirit upon the account of our differences and that censuring and detracting humour to which he had given too much way before He wisht his Soul with the good men of the Church of England He vowed that if he recovered he should never return to that Vomit and because he thought he was to die he signed a retractation of all that was personal in his Writings and exhorted all others to manage their differences with a more meek and Christian temper I mention this in so publick a manner because he authorised the printing of that retractation which he signed on his death-bed and I enlarge the more on this hoping that such an example from so learned and zealous a man will have great influence on others to moderate their heat and to allay their passions Oh! for more of that wisdom that is from above which is first pure then peaceable and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie The circumstances of this day should dispose us all more to this happy temper I cannot say the breach between the late blessed King and his Parliament or the War that followed was begun or carried on meerly upon the account of Religion but certainly the sourness that was on peoples tempers by reason of their differences in Religion set it on much and made it more lasting and end more Tragically Many were transported at first beyond their duties by the extream way of carrying matters before the War by some that were more zealous then prudent and certainly things were driven much further in conclusion than was at first intended by them that took up Arms. There is