Thou art God from everlasting that is without beginning and thou art God to everlasting that is without end And so also is Religion Eternal both from everlasting and to everlasting from everlasting in the reason of it because it is a service or reverence due to God by vertue of his excellent Majesty and consequently that due is Eternal with his very Being but onely to everlasting in the practise of it because there was no creature from everlasting to practise it how then should we exceedingly desire to know Religion how to love it how to practise it whereby alone our souls are prepared to believe Eternity and to enjoy it and to employ it an irreligious soul could it possibly get to heaven would not know what to do there for there is nothing but the practise of Religion or praising God Rev. 19. 1 5 7. Again as God in that he is Eternal oweth his Beginning and Continuance to none but onely to himself and as Eternity because it is from it self is therefore without a Beginning and because it is of it self is therefore without an end so true Religiō hath in some sort its Being from it self for it is bonum in se it is good in and by it self and therefore hath its subsistence in and by it self let the whole world turn Atheist as it is turning apace yet the true Religion will still be the true Religion there may be in the practise of Religion many things good because they are commanded but in the substance of Religion the internal goodness is the reason of the external command so that Religion is indeed a beam of that light which proceedeth from the Father of Lights shewing unto Angels men what they are to know love and do and so leading them both to the Light everlasting for as God himself is so is his service and therefore I could not better explain the properties of Religion then from the properties of God Onely God hath his properties immediately flowing from his own essence but Religion partakes of these mediately from God as it is his service God hath these properties not onely Formally in himself but also Originally from himself Religion hath them Formally in it self but Originally from God Thus hath Religion all those properties of God which are incommunicable to the Creature and thereby appears to have in it self more of Divinity then any Creature whatsoever either in Heaven or in Earth for these being the properties of the true Religion in it self shew it to be spiritual far above the nature of all created spirits whereby themselves draw nearer to the God of Spirits in their affections then in their natures If therefore thou O man desire to be truly Religious thou must desire to be spiritually minded and the way to be so is to have a kinde of Simplicity or Incomposition that is a sincerity of the soul in the love of God To have a kinde of Immutability that is a Constancy to have an Immensity that is a servent Zeal and Alacritie which will not endure to be straitned or confined and to have an Eternity that is an unwearied perseverance in the Faith and Fear and Love of God Nay indeed these same properties are already in thy soul if thou be truly Religious for then thou art spiritually minded and thou canst not but have an uncompounded soul by sincerity of its service not dividing thy affection betwixt God and Baal betwixt Christ and Belial Thou canst not but have a constancy in his service which will let thee be no Changeling a thing as monstrous and abominable in the second as in the first birth thou canst not but have an alacrity and fervency of spirit which will not be circumscribed or confined either to or by time or place neither to a Conclave at Rome nor to a Consistory at Geneva nor to a Conventicle in England for as Christianity it self is not confined so neither the soul as 't is Christian but joyns in Communion with all Christians that ever were or that are or that shall be in the honour and love of Christ thy house is too little thou wilt to the Church nay the Church is too little thou wilt to the Catholick Church the whole Church Militant thy spirit shall be with theirs when theirs is with Christ nay the Catholick Church is too little here on Earth thou wilt up to that part of it which is triumphant in Heaven for Christian duties as they are practised here will cease with our lives therefore the Christian soul will look after such duties as she may practise in Heaven and at least in habit if not in act will even here be eternally Religious as we are divinely taught by our own Church saying with a most Catholick spirit It is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father Almighty everlasting God thereby shewing us the Immensity of Religion That it is not to be circumscribed to or by any place for it is meet that we give thanks in all places and also the eternity of Religion that it is not to be confined to or by any time for it is meet that we give thanks at all times Eternity being the blessedness we look for the means whereby we compass it must needs be eternal not onely in the efficient cause God himself but also in the instrumental cause that is Religion And since Omnipotency All sufficiency and Omnisciency are but three branches of Eternity It is necessary before I come to the Communicable Properties that I speak of them for God in that he is Eternal is Omnipotent since there could be no other fountain of power unless we would make two Eternals and the same God as he is Eternal is All-sufficient for having his being of himself he must needs also have it perfectly in himself and lastly the same God as he is Eternal is also Omniscient for it is the Property of Eternity to have all things present to it as to be always present to it self wherefore it will be worth our while briefly to consider these Properties as they are in God and as they are also in Religion the service of God and first of the Omnipotency Gods Omnipotency or Almighty Power appears especially in two things First that he hath power to do all that he will Secondly that he hath power over all when he will had he not the First he could not be Almighty in himself had he not the second he could not be Almighty in our esteem the first tends to the Execution the second to the Declaration of his Almighty power The text doth ordinarily prove them both together as 1 Tim 6. 15. the Son of God is called the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords The onely Potentate that hath power to do all that he will and hath also power to do all when he will as King of kings
to the earth with them 't is because they have not yet seen the light of Christ nor heard his voice saying I am Jesus whom thou persecutest Act. 9. But we shall the more clearly see the splendour of this Omnipotency if we do seriously consider how suddenly the light of the Gospel notwithstanding all oppositions and persecutions did shine to the remotest corners of the earth insomuch that Polidore Virgil saith lib. 2. Hist. Ab initio orti Evangelii Britanniam fidem recepisse That Great Britain received the Faith from the first preaching of the Gospel and yet Britain was looked upon as divided from all the habitable world penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos many years after Christ. But Gildas saith more expresly De excidio Britan. in Biblioth Patrum Tom. 5 Tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris c. We know that Britain received the faith towards the latter time of Tiberius now the very last year of Tiberius was the year of our Lord 38 in Baronius his account so that it is evident if Gildas say true and he was worse then mad if he produced his scimus to broach a lie That Britain received the Christian Faith within five years after the resurrection of Christ and therefore sure not from the Church of Rome for that Church did not it self receive that faith till the 45 year of the Lord that is at least ten years after the resurrection of Christ as saith the same Baronius that in the year of Christ 45 on the 15 of the Calends of Febr. that is the 17 of our January the Church of Rome was instituted by S. Peter and the Popes chair erected there and on that day this prayer was used in ancient rituals Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui ineffabili sacramento Apostolo tuo Petro principatum Romae urbis tribuisti unde se Evangelica Veritas per tota mundi regna diffunderet Praesta quaesumus ut quod in orbem terrarum ejus praedicatione manavit Universitas Christiana Devotione sequatur Bar. Anti-Christ 45. nu 1. And surely if the truth of the Gospel did go into all the world from Rome and came not to Rome till the 45 year of Christ there were at least ten whole years from the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ wherein the truth of the Gospel did lie as it were hid in a corner but this was certainly far otherwise and Baronius his old prayer must therefore be accounted a new invention and might easily from the very stile of it be so proved for sure very few parts of the now Christian world did stay so many years for the Christian Faith And if the Church of Rome were so unhappy to stay so long for Christianity that she might get Supremacy she may still be so unhappy for ought we know as to keep the Supremacy and lose the Christianity however certain it is that innumerable other Churches and amongst the rest this of Britain received the Christian Faith long before that time the Sun of Righteousness breaking forth like the Sun in the firmament not unto any one place or people alone but unto all What providence brought Joseph of Arimathea or any other Apostolical man to England before St. Peter came to Rome might perchance be accounted a curious but would certainly be a vain dispute 't is enough for the proof of the Omnipotency of the Christian Religion That the Saviour of the world who died for all did not suffer the distance of place to keep or intercept from any the speedy knowledge of his salvation The second branch of Eternity is All-sufficiency and therefore God as he is eternal is likewise all-sufficient as he is eternal of himself so he is all-sufficient in himself which all-sufficiency consists of these three parts 1. That he hath an absolute perfection 2. That he hath this perfection in and from himself 3. That this perfection is not onely sufficient for himself but also for all things besides himself First God hath an absolute perfection not onely of essence or being but also of operation or working for even in that grand Objection That the wicked do flourish and the righteous are oppressed appears a three-fold perfection of Gods operation First in the variety of his providence that he dispenseth both prosperity and adversity Secondly in the justice of his providence that he punisheth sinne in his own servants who though they can say their adversities are greater then other mens yet can they not say they are so great as are their own sins Thirdly in the mercy of his providence that he punisheth them onely temporally therein shewing his mercy to be greater then either their adversities or their sins And so also true Religion hath an absolute perfection both in its being and in its working that is both in its substance and in its exercise and what defects or faults are to be found in the exercise of it among any sort of Christians belong to the men not to the Religion Some will needs kneel to Images that were of their own making others will not kneel to God their Maker the one may go for the exercise of Superstition the other for the exercise of profaneness but neither can go for the exercise of Religion Secondly God hath his perfection in and from himself For who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed unto him again Rom. 11. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath given first unto him We may and do and must give unto God O give thanks unto the Lord saith the Psalmist there 's our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our giving unto him but even in this is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his giving first to us for he gives us the grace before we give him the praise we give but he gives first for he hath his perfection in and from himself we have ours in and from him And so hath Religion its perfection in and from it self whence it is called the beauty of Holiness Psal. 96. 9. The Christian Religion is the Beauty of earth even as Christ the Authour of it is the Beauty of Heaven And the Beauty of Holiness which is in Religion consists not in our adorning of Churches or in outward pomp and Ceremonies but in its own internal harmony and congruity to and conformity with him who is the very Beauty of Heaven the proper place of Holiness as being the habitation of the Holy One If thou come to worship thou receivest beauty from the holiness not the holiness beauty from thee thy soul is beautified thereby and made the Love of God and Angels but Religion was so of it self ever before as it is said Psal. 93. 6. Holiness becometh thy house for ever the holiness of Gods House is a becoming holiness and it is a holiness for ever a holiness that was before the creation of the world and a holiness that shall be after the end thereof Therefore outward ornament may not be pleaded for as matter
Ipse omnibus major est dum solo Deo minor est 1 Sam. 26. 6. Fear God and Honour the King CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Field Printer to the University MDCLXII TO THE READER Whether Christian Un-Christian or Anti-Christian ALlegiance and Conscience are both joyned together in the Title of this Book because they are both joyned together in the true Christians heart nor is that man able to lay fast hold on conscience who is ready to shake hands with his allegiance whether he be a Jesuited Papist or a Jesuited Protestant it matters not if he hath bid farewell to his Allegiance he cannot keep company with his Conscience tell me not of your Communion with me against Anti-Christ if you will not keep my communion with Christ I desire not to be your fellow-Protestant in those things wherein I cannot be your Fellow-Christian If Rebellion be in your Reformation though it be never so pure in other things yet it still needs to be reformed in this that Rebellion is in it as therefore you say in that your Reformation hath Reformed Religion to the Creed you have a pure faith so I say must Religion reform your Reformation to the Commandments that you may have an unspotted life and give me leave to tell you that though in pretence you may be a brother of the second perhaps in time of the third or fourth Reformation yet in purity you come far short of the first as much as a Rebel comes short of a good Christian your Reformation hath thrown you out of your Religion you do not embrace the Gospel unless it be such a Gospel as the Cainites heretofore embraced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan haer 18. such a Gospel as was taught by Judas that betrayed his master that Christian Religion which was taught by all the rest of Christs Apostles teacheth Allegiance unto Kings Christ in his own example practised it and by paying tribute would rather part with his own right then seem to oppose or question theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Athanasius de Incarn Christi most divinely how can you then look to be thought or called good Christians if you neither regard the word of Christ for your instruction nor the works of Christ for your imitation and the same Father in his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tels us what manner of Church-men they are which run this way saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are Spies to look into other mens livings and patrimonies and beleeve it many of them amongst us have in this kind used most exact prospectives not Bishops to look over their life and doctrine for they cared not saith he in their Ordinations to hear S. Pauls words to Timothy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop must be blameless which words the Church still retaineth in ordination of Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely think and speak high against Christ and no matter then for thy Christianity I know he speaks the words of Christ our Saviour and against the Arrians yet since the Lords anointed is rendred by the 70 Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Christ and that Translation is justified by the Apostles Act. 4. 26. 't is manifest that one who truly loves Christ cannot hate the Lords Anointed whether written in Text or in short-hand whether ruling in his Son or in his servant whether he be Christ in heaven or Christ on earth and therefore I may well take Athanasius his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lords anointed on earth and say they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which poison mens souls with such venemous tenents against Kings they cannot be of the true Church whilest they belch out such impure blasphemies despising dominion and Speaking evil of dignities offering that defiance to their King which S. Michael would not offer to the devil and bringing railing accusations in stead of Arguments and yet S. Michael had not onely a fitter object but also a better ground for railing because his dispute was with the devil and it was about real Idolatry which he would have caused the people to commit in worshipping the body of Moses theirs with their King and Church onely about imaginary Idolatry which was and is not to be found but in their own fears and jealousies it stands not with a true Church no more then it stood with S. Paul since every true Church is but one grand Apostle or Doctor of the Gentiles of that Nation where it is to appeal to the people that 's a way to introduce though not a many-headed yet a many-hearted Religion not a many-headed Religion but rather a no-headed for such as would have no Bishops were anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without heads Niceph. l. 18. c. 45. and the Council of Ments c. 22. gives them monstrous heads if any at all saying they are Hippocentauris similes nec equi nec homines they have too much of the mans understanding to be horses and they have too much of the horses kicking and wincing to be men but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are either such as have no head or as bad as though they had none but surely 't is the way to introduce a many-hearted Religion witness our own late divisions which have produced as many Religions as men our Christian unity and verity being both banished together this is the excellent Divinity you have of late read to your disciples which is able to dash the very venome of Popery out of countenance and throw it in your own faces this is the new way you have taught the people to Truth and Peace by which they shall be sure never to come to either for if they may innovate in Forms of Religion without their King why not in forms of Law If they may change Law without him why not against him if against him why not against his life and consequently why not murther him with the sword of pretended Iustice whom God commands to honour See the High Court of Justice erected in your assembly this is your new way to truth and if the people may deal thus with their King where he is supreme why not with all other supremes whatsoever and consequently by succession and with success for ought we know why not rise against their Magistrates till the last Resurrection and put them to death till death it self shall be swallowed up But I return this placing dominion in the people for appealing to them is no less teacheth them to think they need not Christ in his Kings to rule and govern them they can govern themselves they need him not in his Priests to intercede for them they can pray for themselves they need him not in his Prophets to instruct them they can preach to themselves Was ever Christ so reviled and so opposed in all his three Offices together before Is not this fully to act Anti-Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes. 2. 4. to sit
possess this world as to hazard their interest in the next it being S. Pauls express Maxime they that resist much more if they impenitently persist in that resistance shall receive to themselves damnation here then is a Looking-glass for the good Subject to see his duty the bad his guiltiness the one to receive the comfort of a good the other to feel the burden of a bad Conscience the expressions were at first plain and the method easie upon force because a Countrey-auditour may easier be posed then instructed and they ought to be no other now upon choice because a censorious Reader may sooner be instructed then ashamed The discourse was at first abruptly broken off with the Kings life but 't is since compleated in regard of length though in no other respect would the malice of bloud-guilty and bloud-thirsty men which is already compleat in all other respects were also compleat for the length and duration of it But O my soul come not thou into their secret and God keep them from coming into thine for in their anger they slew a man yea more then a man a King and in their self-will they digged down a wall enough to make an everlasting breach in this distracted Kingdom cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Gen. 49. 6 7. when and where Simeon and Levi Laity and Clergy are partners in such a grand iniquity then and there this is Gods sentence against them and must be his Churches Prayer but I have nothing to say to them onely hope they will not be angry with me if I still pray for their conversion though I may not quietly preach for it This small Tractate speaks to and of those onely who still keep the old true Protestant Religion of the Church of England and with it their Allegiance and their Conscience and the spokes-man verily perswades himself that he is the meanest not of seven but of seventy seven thousands of Israel the true Sons of the Church that have not bowed their knees unto Baal Baal Berith that is Baal for a Covenant in his holy pretensions but since turned into Baal-Peor that is Baal for the mount Peor to over-top all through the pride of his spirit or Peor in the other sence to corrupt all through the Libertinism of his flesh in his unholy performances Baal Peor he is without question though beyond example for all that have joyned themselves to this Baal have not onely eat the offerings of the dead Psa. 106. 28. but also of the Living and 't is most notorious that those of that unhappy City which first began these troubles and that they might do it with some colourable pretence commonly called the most Orthodox Divines Baals Priests are now themselvs by the just judgement of God made Baals bondslaves and those of the Ministry who were most defamed with that ignominious and false aspersion are by the mercy of God the chiefest if not the onely men of their order who would rather lose all then be Baals Chaplains they were frightned with the consideration of that Text which once made Origen break out with tears and speak rather with his eyes then with his tongue in the Pulpit Psa. 50. 16 17. verses Lord how many dumb Sermons should we have now adays by those who would be thought the onely Preachers if they would as he did lay that Text unto their hearts but unto the ungodly saith God why dost thou preach my Laws and takest my Covenant in thy mouth whereas thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behinde thee when thou sawest a thief thou consentedst unto him c. See who they were that most hated a Reformation amongst us even they who though they did cry it up yet did practise it down they who did see a thief yea such a thief as impudently answered the Prophets question Mal. 3. 8. will a man rob God and put it out of question and yet consented unto him no wonder if such men have let their mouth speak wickedness and with their tongue have set forth deceit no wonder if the next verse also concern many of them thou satest and spakest against thy brother yea and hast slandered thine own mothers son her truest her best her eldest Son and withall most of her true younger Sons but 't is not a slander can frighten them from their Religion who fear God rather then men Illi mors sibilus cui plausus vita they served not God as hypocrites and therefore have not fallen from his service as Apostates such men are still of the same Church though they cannot so publickly profess it and of the same Religion established in that Church and to them this Treatise belongs which though it be not elegant enough to be their Mothers the Churches Apology yet 't is true enough to be the Churches doctrine for that never taught other then true Allegiance to Gods on earth then true Conscience to God in heaven and never thought that the one could be without the other so that the true Church of England may still with Bishop Jewell in his Apology give solemn thanks to Almighty God Quòdin Angliâ Regia Majest as non minuitur but it must be with relation to its Religion not to the men that have pretended it the Religion of the Church of England is for Obedience and Faithfulness to Kings in the highest degree though some outward professours of that Religion have been as highly for disobedience and unfaithfulness much more then we could have imagined because much more then others ever practised but let not any man say that to be an Apostle hath Treason in it because one of the twelve was a Traitour especially since our Defender of the Faith hath also defended the true professours of our Church in that his Seraphical Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most unquestionable image of himself of his Piety of his Patience and of his Charity a book infinitely above the spirit of any man but a King and as much above the Piety of any King but such a Christian King so throughly conversant with Christ not onely in his doings but also in his sufferings not onely in the innocency of his life but also in the persecutions of it Eâ—pectore mult is tribulationibus macerato prodiêre Psalmi saith Musculus The Psalms of David the sweetest of devotions flowed from the bitterest Marah the bitterness of his soul so our David could not have made such Cherubical ditties fitting the best of Angels had he not been persecuted and reviled by the worst of men this discord gave occasion to that heavenly Musick but I shew my defect of Allegiance whiles I thus labour to express it that book is above all the acknowledgements of Allegiance and can stoop no lower then the Conscience Come and see a Miracle here all ye whose eyes are so wide open to see
will not throw away both justice modestie can pretend it to be a work of Religion and righteousness unless there be a Religion and Righteousness without or to speak more plainly and more truly both together against the Text. And as it was before Christs time so ever since till of late years there was the same Supreme in Church and Commonwealth where the Commonwealth was Christian according to that golden rule of Theodosius in the Acts of the first Ephesine Council sacrâ ad Cyrillum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must know that the Church and the Commonwealth are so knit together that both do make but one body and therefore can admit but one head and when the Donatists in S. Augustines time thought much that the Civil magistrate should interpose in matters of Religion the good Father Epist. 50. alledgeth the text against them Psal. 2. 10 11. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings serve the Lord with fear and gives this gloss upon it Aliter Rex Domino servit quia homo est Aliter quia etiam Rex est Quïa homo est ei servit vivendo sideliter quia verò etiam Rex est servit leges justa praecipientes contraria prohiben'es convenienti vigore sanciendo sic servivit Hezekias lucos templa idolorum excelsa destruendo c. A King serves God otherwise as he is a man and otherwise as he is a King as a man he serves him by living faithfully but as a King he serves him by making and executing pious laws to propagate and defend his service so did Hezekias so did Josias serve him nay so did the King of Nineveh serve him in commanding a fast upon Jonahs preaching so did Darius serve him in allowing Daniel to break the image and casting his enemies into the lions den so did Nabuchodonosor serve him forbidding his subjects to blaspheme his Name In hoc ergo serviunt Reges Domino in quantum sunt Reges quum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi Reges Then do Kings serve God as Kings when they do those things for his service which none can lawfully do but Kings This saith he could not be in the Apostles times when the Kings of the earth did stand up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his Christ but now that text is fulfilled all the Kings of the earth shall worship him Quis mente sobrius Regibus dicit nolite curare in regno vestro c. Who but a mad man will say to Kings Do not you look after the Church what is it to you whether the people be Religious or sacrilegious and again Epist. 48. he answers the same objection concerning the Apostles times and since their times till some late centuries of years 'T is most evident that Christian Kings and Emperours did call all the general councils confirm their canons and order the chief matters of Religion Eusebius goes so far as to say that holidays were appointed by the Emperour Constantine Euseb. de vita Const. lib. 4. and that himself did once say to the Bishops when he had invited them to a feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are appointed Bishops or Overseers of Gods service within the Church but without the Church God hath appointed me to be a Bishop you must perform the Divine Service but I must see it performed The like is evident concerning all the ancient Councils The first general Council was called by Constantine and he gives this reason for it because it much concerned him to see that truth and peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be preserved in the Church The second was called by Theodosius the first and the Fathers of that Council in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Emperour do first make this profession that they were gathered together by his writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then make this petition that their decrees might be confirmed by his authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third by Theodosius the second and Valentinian The Monks petition them not to neglect the Church of God adulterated by Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to call a Council to suppress them and the Council it self professeth they were gathered together by the Emperours Edict 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling them for their pains Most Relgious Emperours Lovers of Christ and beloved of God Democratical frensie had not yet so poisoned Religion as to teach Church-men to speak irreverently of Kings much less to act disobediently against them and Pope Celestine in his Epistle to Theodosius tells him plainly Major vobis fidei causa debet esse quà m regni ampliúsque pro pace Ecclesiarum clementia vestra debet esse sollicita quà m pro omnium securitate terrarum You ought 't is not courtesie but duty You ought saith he to set a higher estimation upon your faith then upon your Crown and to be more sollicitous for the peace of the Church then for the peace of your kingdom and he gives an irresistible reason for this undeniable truth Pro vestri enim imperii salute geritur quicquid pro quiete Ecclesiae vel sanctae Religionis reverentiâ laboratur for the same consultations which establish peace and purity in the Church do establish peace and safetie in the Commonwealth The fourth general Council was called by the Emperour Martian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words of the Fathers in the second Action and in the sixth Action they call him plainly a Defender of the Faith a new Constantine a new David nay a new Paul too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They thought a Religious King in some sort equal to an Apostle though not for preaching the Gospel yet for propagating it much like unto that gloss of Aben-Ezra upon Lam. 2. 6. The Priest is to teach the law and the King is to defend the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the law is committed to them both The fifth general Council was called by Justinian and the Bishops with one acclamation say unto him Zizania tu ejecisti Ecclesias tu emendâsti in collat 4. ad sinem 't is you have thrown out the tares 't is you have reformed the Church and himself in his form sent to the Council to be read before they opened the Synod saith he called this Council as his Predecessours had the other before him Constantine that of Nice Theodosius the first that of Constantinople Theodosius the second that of Ephesus and Martian that of Chalcedon and saith that Constantine Theodosius and Martian did very much assist the Bishops in their several Councils for the recovering either of the veritie or unitie of the Church The sixth general Council was called by Constantinus Pogonatus his own Edict directed to Pope Domnus but by reason of his decease delivered to Agatho professeth as much wherein he requires him to send some of his Church not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉