fifth Commandment taught that it is their Duty to Honour and Obey the King and all that are in Authority under him Every time they come to Prayers the Loyal Supplications Intercessions and upon special occasions Thanksgivings of our excellent Liturgy for the King and the Royal Family and the Inferiour Magistrates remind the People of the true Obedience and Subjection they owe and must pay to them and humbly beseech Almighty God to give them Grace to do it If they read the Pious and Venerable Homilies of our Church there theâ— Divine Original and Institution of Kings is fully proved the necessity of Obedience demonstrated the horrid guilt the dreadful mischiefs the woful Calamities of Rebellion explicated and detected the heavy Wrath and Vengeance of God upon Rebels and Traytors in this World and the horrible Damnation that attends them when they pass from hence Faithfully represented and described in a most Lively manner that all who Read them may Heartily abhor and carefully avoid so execrable a wickedness Nor doth the Loyalty of our Church lye Dead in the Books and Writings of it but Lives and Reigns in the Hearts of all the true Members of it and exerts or shews its Life and Vigour in their undaunted Courage Resolution and readiness to stand by and defend the Sacred Person Honour and Authority of their Prince against all that dare be so impudent and wicked as to assault the first to impair the second or to infringe the third I challenge all the World to shew me one true Member of our Church that so long as he continued so was found guilty of any Disloyal Practices No so far are they from that that the numbers cannot soon nor easily be told that have Sacrifiz'd their Lives Estates every thing that was dear to them in the Cause and Service of their Prince His and their Enemies could and did in the late times Deprive them of their Liberty Plunder them of their Goods Sequester their Estates strip them of all things else but their Loyalty they could not take from them this they preserv'd pure and untainted in the midst of all the Oppressions Cruelties and ill Usage they endured and when they were permitted to Live no longer to give any farther Testimonies of it bequeath'd it as the Choicest and Richest Legacy to their Off-spring Descendents nay by their true Christian Patience and Undaunted Courage at their Death a Glorious Death to them to which they were Condemn'd for serving their Prince did Recommend it to many that came to see them Dye A Loyalty not Limited or Conditional that Dyes if it be not cherish'd and kept alive by the Princes peculiar Favour and Bounty and continues no longer then he Pleases and Humours them but absolute and inconditional that cannot be shaken nor removed by any wrongs or ill usage but is the same when he Frowns upon as when he Favours them If he Oppress them in their Estates they Submit if he cause the Sentence of Death to be unjustly pass'd upon them they refuse not to Dye nay do it with the Meekness Patience and Charity of the Primitive Martyrs they will not lift up their Hands nor open their Mouths against him let him use them as he pleaseth The Fires of Queen Mary could not consume nor burn up their Loyalty nor scare them from their Allegiance she had never gain'd the Crown if the Loyal Protestants had not assisted her and the great Opposer of her Advancement to the Royal throne was the Duke of Northumberland who though he pretended to be a Protestant yet was really a Papist for so he declared himself to be upon the Scaffold at his Death Such a People make a Prince happy are his greatest Safety and Security and nothing but a guard of Angels from Heaven can be a better defence to him which by their Pious and Holy Prayers they are careful to call down to Protect him that no harm nor danger may happen to him And being sure by continuing in our Church to have such a Loyal Obedient People if the Crown should descend to him what Reason Motive or Inducement could his Royal Highness have to forsake it and joyn himself to the Papists People that are Infamous all the World over for Killing Kings Plotting Treasons Raising Seditions and Rebellions against them That are Obedient to their Prince no longer then he is a Slave to the Pope for how often did they Mutiny make Insurrections and Rebellions against King Henry the Eighth for renouncing and casting off the Popes Usurped Authority and resuming the Supremacy which belong'd to him by Divine Right as a Soveraign Prince Though he was a Zealous Professor and maintainer of the Romish Religion yet he was Alarum'd by frequent Tumults and Seditions and his owning that could not keep the Catholicks so they call themselves in Obedience to him unless he would be altogether a Slave to him that pretended to be the prime Minister of it And though a Prince Study to Please and Humour them all he can yet their Loyalty must needs be very fickle and precarious because the People of the Romish Communion have a mighty Dependence upon and are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy and the Clergy are exempted from the Princes Jurisdiction and Sworn Subjects to the Pope The People are wholly at the Devotion of the Clergy who manage and govern them at their Pleasure and they must needs be so because they believe they can forgive their Sins absolutely whilst they Live and pray them out of Purgatory when they are Dead by forcing them to come to Confession they have Opportunity to know all their Errours Sins and Follies nay all their Thoughts Purposes and Intentions which renders them very Subject and Dependent Their Power also of Inflicting Penances and denying them Absolution if they do not please humour them keeps the People in great Slavery to their Priests because they think God will not if they do not forgive them so that the People are absolute Slaves to them and do every thing they require of them And the Clergy that thus Govern the People are wholly at the Popes Devotion they own him for their Lord and Master Swear Obedience to and depend upon him as their great Patron and Benefactor all their Preferments being if not in his Donation yet such as depend upon his Approbation and Confirmation so that if they do not receive them from his Bounty yet they Injoy them by his Favour which is Tantamount This makes them flatter and adore him as the chief if not sole Monarch and despise their Prince as an underling or meer Cypher that signifies nothing And at every little quarrel or disgust between his Holiness and him the Prince is sure to feel the sad effects of their Power with the People either in the Disturbance they cause in the State or the attempts they make upon his Person for if they cannot run him down with the pretence and
them to Rejoyce and be exceeding glad of them Blessed are they St. Mat. 5. 10. saith our Lord that are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when Men shall Revile you Verse 11. and Persecute you and shall say all manner of Evil against you falsly for my Sake Rejoyce and be Verse 12. exceeding Glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so Persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Behold saith St. James we count Ch. 5th 11. 1 Epist 3. 14. them happy which endure And if ye suffer for Righteousness sake happy are ye saith St. Peter and be not affraid of their Terrour neither be troubled Beloved think it not strange concerning Ch. 4th 12 13 14. the Fiery Tryal which is to Try you as though some strange thing hapned unto you But Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory shall be Revealed ye may be Glad also with exceeding Joy If ye be Reproached for the Name of Christ Happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God Resteth upon you These words had such Influence upon the Primitive Christians that they Courted Martyrdom with as Vehement and Longing desires as ever the Ambitious did the Honours or the Covetous the Riches of the World When the most Cruel Edicts were Publish'd against them they did not care to Fly or Hide themselves from the Fury of their Persecutors when the to others Dreadful Sentence of Death was pass'd upon them they gave their Judges Thanks in the midst of the most exquisite Torments they did nothing but Sing and give Thanks and Expired with Praises and Adorations of God St. Babylas Bishop of Antioch as he was led to Martyrdom broke out into these words of Joy and Triumph Return unto thy Rest Oh my Soul for the Lord Dr Patricks Witnesses to Christianity part 2d Page 646 hath dealt Bountifully with thee When Liberatus and his Monks who Defended the Christian Faith against the Heresy of Arrius were Condemn'd to be thrown bound into a Ship full of Faggots and there to be burnt in the midst of the Sea they Sung aloud this Hymn Glory be to God in the highest Behold now is the acceptable time behold now is the Day of Salvation in which we Suffer Punishment for the Faith of our God St. Ignatius as he was going to Rome to be Devour'd by Wild Beasts that being the Death he was Condemn'd to because he would not Renounce the Faith of Christ thought the time long and the way tedious and express'd his passionate desire after it Oh said he that I might come to those wild beasts that are prepared for me I heartily wish that I may D Cave Primitive Christian part 2d pa. 182 presently meet with them I would invite and encourage them speedily to devour me and not be affraid to set upon me as they have been to others nay should they refuse it I would even force them to it I am concerned for nothing either seen or unseen more than to Enjoy Jesus Christ Let Fire and the Cross and the rage of wild Beasts the breaking of Bones distortion of Members bruising of the whole Body yea all the punishments which the Devil can invent come upon me so I may but Enjoy Jesus Christ When Laurentius the Deacon espied Sixtus the Bishop of Rome going to his Id. part 2d page 183 Martyrdom he burst out into tears and passionately call'd to him saying Whither Oh my Father art thou going without thy Son Whither so fast O Holy Bishop without thy Deacon Never didst thou use to offer Spiritual Sacrifice without thy Minister to attend thee what have I done that might displease thee hast thou ever found me degenerous and fearful make Triall at least whether thou hast chosen a fit Minister to wait upon thee By this their admirable courage patience and constancy they did the highest Honour to our Lord and his Religion Shamed and Confuted all the Clamours Reproaches and false Accusations that were brought against it Convinced the wise or intelligent that Christianity was a Divine and Holy Doctrine because it inspired the Professors of it with such undaunted courage and greatness of mind as made them despise not only the pleasures and delight but the terrours and miseries of the World render'd them not only content to Dye but desirous of and in love with Death caused them not only patiently to bear but to Triumph and Rejoyce in those horrid Torments which those that stood by trembled and were affrighted to see them Endure This conduced mightily to the increasing the Church brought in Numerous or rather Innumerable Converts to it till the greatest part of the World became Christian and humbly adored the Crucified Jesus The care and concern of Christians then consisted but of these two parts to live without Sin and to Dye without Murmours or Complaints their Religion was composed of these two admirable ingredients Innocence patience this was their study to let their Conversation be as became the Gospel of Christ and to be conformed as much as they could both to the Life and Sufferings of Jesus They were neither so base nor timerous as to endeavour to shift the Cross from themselves and lay it upon others they scorn'd to do any unjust thing to decline suffering never attempted to deprive any Prince because they knew him to be an Heathen and feared he would be a Persecutor of them This this was their great care to live and dye in the Lord to Glorify him by a pure and unspotted Life by a Pious or Godly Death Hereby also they gain'd great Honour to themselves render'd their names and memories precious and immortal for the Church was careful to do all Lawfull honour to the Saints or Martyrs to those brave and worthy Persons who living shin'd as lights in the World by their Exemplary vertues and dying sealed the truth of Christianity with their Blood had that ardent love for our Lord that no dangers nor sufferings nor torments nor miseries could lessen or overcome that Zeal for his Religion which no Injuries Reproaches nor Persecutions could Extinguish The Christians used to meet at the place where such eminent Persons Suffer'd for the Faith or where their Bodies that were Slain for the Testimony of Jesus were Interr'd and make Orations in praise of them commemorate their piety and sufferings praise God for the excellent gifts and graces he confer'd upon them and Exhort one another to transcribe or imitate their Faith and Piety and Patience But this was the least and meanest Part of their Reward for as by Sufferings for Christ they gain'd Honour in this so a brighter Crown and greater Rewards in the other World for it is Evident that our Lord in the Words I mentioned before declares that they which are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake shall not only have a Reward but a great Reward in
the Kingdom of Heaven which must in Reason signifie something more than other Christians have otherwise they that are not would be as Blessed as they that are Persecuted nay more Happy because they would without being Miserable in this obtain Crowns as Glorious and Rewards as great as they in the other World the Apostle also Affirms It is a Faithful saying if we be 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Dead with him we shall also Live with him if we Suffer we shall also Reign with him if we Deny him he also will Deny us And if they that Suffer with or for shall Reign with him and they that deny him to escape Suffering shall be disown'd or deny'd by him every Man that believes he Reigns in Heaven and considers what a Blessed Desirable thing it is to Reign be Glorifi'd there with him instead of being Affrighted at it will think it most Prudent and Reasonable to deny himself take up his Cross and follow him to part with every thing that is Dear to Suffer every thing that is Dreadful to him here when he cannot keep the one nor avoid the other without Sin that he may obtain such a transcendent Reward and so admirable or illustrious an Exaltation This will Teach him to Reckon with St. Paul That the Sufferings of this present time are not Worthy to be compared Rom. 6. 18. with the Glory that shall be Revealed in him the present Suffering or Affliction as he tells us elsewhere being Light and but for a Moment but the Glory Great and Durable a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory And as the Holy Scriptures make such High and Noble Offers to all that Suffer for Christ so 't is certain the Primitive Church which was the best Expounder of Scripture thought the Martyrs had a greater Reward than other Pious Christians an Additional Coronet over and above the great Crown of Righteousness and accordingly St. Cyprian speaks of two Epist Martyribus Confes Christ ad finem Crowns the one white as the Gracious Recompence of good Works of their pure and unspotted Lives the other purple as the Glorious Reward of their Dying for the Faith of Christ But however that is the Apostle puts it out of doubt that there are Degrees of Glory and Different Rewards in Heaven There is one Glory of 1 Cor 15 41. 42. the Sun and another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also is the Resurrection of the Dead And if there be different Rewards after this Life it is Reasonable to believe the Blessed Martyrs have the most sparkling Crowns and the biggest Recompence in the Glorious Regions above because they gave the highest Testimony of their Love and Zeal for Christ by Dying for him 'T is not then so Miserable and Despicable a thing as the Excluders think it to take up the Cross and follow Jesus to suffer all manner of Injuries Oppressions Miseries nay Death it self for his Sake because he hath Promis'd great Rewards to them that do it and having all Power both in Heaven and Earth he must needs be able to accomplish or make good that Promise 'T is true indeed no Man ought to part with his Life or Estate when he can keep them Innocently He Suffers as a Fool that doth it when there is no Danger of Sinning if he Suffer not But to use any Unjust or Sinful Arts to free our selves from Suffering such as the Project of Exclusion is must needs be highly Impious and Unchristian For Gods Sake let us keep to the same Laws of Christ do the thing that is Right and leave the rest to his Watchful and Gracious Providence then if we Suffer our Innocence will be our Comfort and Support and we shall have the Blessed hope of passing by Death to the Rich and most Happy Inheritance provided for us in Heaven Let us Labour to be good to lead the Pure and Pious Lives our Religion requires of us and then we can have no Just Cause to Tremble or be Affraid to Dye The Living saith Solomon know that they must Dye and that they can by no Art or Means avoid it And seeing we must do it can we ever Dye more Honourably Bravely and Christianly than for owning the Holy Faith and Religion of our Dear Redeemer who gave himself to Death the most bitter and shameful Death of the Cross for us So that we have his Example to invite the Noble Army of Martyrs to animate or encourage and the great Rewards they are possess'd of to ingage us patiently to bear the Cross when our Lord is pleased to send it 'T is certain that as the Laws now are no Man can be deprived either of his Life or Estate meerly for professing the Reform'd Religion therefore whilst they continue we are as safe and secure as we can desire to be So that till they are changed no Man can Suffer for that and it will be a very difficult undertaking to change them because the Laws in Favour of our Religion cannot be Abolish'd or taken Off but by consent of Parliament and it will be no easie thing for a Popish Prince if at any time such an one comes to the Crown to get a Parliament that will do it because the Knights and Burgesses that serve in Parliament without whose consent according to our present Constitution no Laws can be either Made or Abolish'd are not chose by the Prince but by the People who are so far from Electing Papists that they are too prone to Chuse Men of the other Dangerous extreme and so Ruin us that way But if either the Prince should by his writ Summon or the People so forget themselves as to Elect any Papists yet when they are so Call'd and Elected they cannot Sit as the Laws now are till they have openly and in the most solemn manner Renounced their Religion which no Men of any Honour or Conscience will do If it be said they may have Dispensations from his Holiness to take any Oaths and make any Declarations to Capacitate them to Sit in Parliament I Demand of them that say so why the Popish Lords who left the House upon that Act did not make use of that Expedient to evade the Law there is no question but they might have had Dispensations to do it and therefore their leaving the House satisfies me that they thought no Dispensations could Warrant or make it Lawful for them so to Renounce and Abjure their Religion We are as safe then already as Laws can make us and they that are so busie to get new ones trouble themselves to no purpose for if those we have at present cannot secure our Religion no other can do it Whilst the Laws then continue as they are and for my part I do not apprehend how they can be changed we cannot Suffer but if these that are a Safe-guard and Defence to
Vertues they are fitter for our silent Admiration than our imperfect and unequal Praises never any Mortal approach'd nearer to Him who was more than Man even God manifest in the Flesh whilst he Lived he was a Saint upon Earth and dying was number'd amongst the prime Saints in Heaven His Enemies were such as are always Enemies to God and all goodness that is the Devil and his Agents and they that deposed and took away his precious Life would have done the same execrable Violence and Injury to the Son of God himself if he had fallen into their Barbarous and Bloody Hands And our present most Gracious Soveraign is equal to any of his Renowned Ancestors in the Princely Vertues of Wisdom Fortitude Justice Mercy Peacefulness and the admirable sweetness and goodness of his Temper So that I may Challenge all the World to shew me four such Princes one after another in any Elective Monarchy so Zealous Defenders of the true Religion so Tender of their Subjects Welfare such Bountiful Patrons and Benefactors to them that they did what they could to preserve them in Peace Piety and Plenty And if in any of their Reigns any of the People Suffer'd and were Miserable it was not the Princes Injustice that made them so but either their own or their fellow Subjects Stubbornness Disobedience and Turbulent or Ungovernable Temper that brought Calamity and Ruin upon them And seeing Elective Princes have more and greater Temptations to Oppress and Injure their Subjects than those that are Successive the Elective must needs be the worst sort of Monarchy And it is so Secondly because exposed to manifold Factions Discontents Quarrels and Dangers We see to what Heats Factions and Disorders far inferiour Elections are subject that they who are to chuse a Parliament Man for a County or a Burgess for a Corporation cannot all Agtee or Fix upon a Person but Run into Parties and Factions one side being fierce and eager for one Man and the other for another till they grow angry and inraged hate and revile one another proceed from words to blows and would break out into open Hostility were there not a Superiour Authority to which they are accountable for such disorders and therefore stand in awe of How much more apt to Feuds and Quarrels to Factions and Discontents may they be reasonably supposed to be that have the Disposal of such a Jewel as a Crown and whose Votes are of that moment and concern as to confer so precious and by all admired a Treasure as a Kingdom and have none to awe or pacifie them the Electors during the Interregnum being the chief and most courted Persons of the Kingdom and may unless limited by Law Protract or Spin out the Election as long as they please and accordingly as they are Byassed by Affection or Interest which may be of Dangerous Consequence to the Kingdom For if any Neighbouring Prince prompted either by his Ambition or provoked by Injuries formerly receiv'd take that Opportunity to Invade them whilst they are debating and quarrelling amongst themselves who shall be King they are in all probability surpris'd and ruin'd for either they must agree and finish the Election presently which the Prince that invades may easily prevent by bribing some of the Electors or else they must imploy some great Person to defend the Kingdom till they have done it He if he succeeds in his Expedition and beats the Invader out if he be not Elected King calls them Ungrateful thinks himself affronted his good Service slighted or contemned having the Army under his Command may easily work upon them by gifts at present and promises of doing great things for them afterwards to afford him their Assistance to make him King by which means the Kingdom is imbroyl'd stain'd with the Blood made miserable by the Slaughter and Destruction of the Inhabitants by the Ruin of Cities and Vastation or Spoyl of Provinces But if on the other side the Electors chuse him King then the other Grandees are discontented and think they have the greatest injury done them every one of them in his own Opinion esteeming himself at least as deserving or worthy of a Crown as the Prince Elected and therefore to revenge the contempt put upon them either break out into Rebellion or invite the Invader to return with offer of their assistance to possess him of the Kingdom So that between Forreign Force and Domestick Ambition and Discontent the poor People endure all the Calamities of War and linger out a tedious Life made so by frequent Oppressions Terrours and Discontents And as the People are miserable in Elective Monarchies so the Prince is unsafe for there is nothing that great Spirits are more Ambitious of than a Crown and the Cardinals cannot possibly be more weary of a long Lived Pope than most of the Grandees in an Elective Kingdom hate a long lived Prince the reason is plain because the Crown not being peculiar or appropriate to any one Family the more frequent Vacancies there are the greater hopes they have of being Elected which is a mighty Temptation to Ambitious and Designing Men to use all the Villanous and Accursed Arts they can by Poyson and other secret ways to Destroy or Take off the Prince that they may fill his Throne whom they have by the basest and most perfidious cruelty deprived of his Life and Kingdom The last King of Poland lay under great Fears and Apprehensions that he should be Poyson'd and his Suspitions of it were so strong and vehement that all the Arguments his Friends could use could not put them out of his Thoughts what reason he had for those fears I know not nor can I tell whether his Death was procured by such detestable means or no but sure I am that many think such execrable things lawful Regnandi causa to possess themselves of Empire and Soveraignty and there is the greatest temptation to practice them in Elective Monarchies because upon the decease of the Prince Reigning every great Person in the Kingdom flatters himself with hopes of Succeeding him But the Successive Monarchies are freer from all these Evils and Dangers for upon the Death of the Royal Father his Son if he have any or else the next of the Family is King which makes our Law say the King never Dies because upon the Decease of one the next Heir is immediately King the Ceremonies of Crowning and Anoynting do not confer the Royal Dignity upon him but only declare him to be what he was as soon as his Predecessor was dead that is King are no more but signs expressing to the People that he is the person ordain'd by God to Govern or Rule over them and to whom he requires them to pay all due Honour Loyalty and Obedience By this immediate Succession all those Factions are avoided which often prove mischievous and Ruinous to the People so are all the Dangers Miseries which attend an Interregnum that may happen in the
not worse fears suggest and would it not be Egregious Knavery for some of the Mariners to cast the Pilate overboard because they have a wild Suspition that he will run the Ship upon a Rock on purpose to sink himself and them Besides though every man be allow'd to do all that is just and innocent for his own Preservation yet there are some Persons that must not have any injury or violence done them for any cause whatsoever because the great Author of the Law of Nature forbids it saying Touch not mine Anoynted No Provocation can ever make it Lawful for a Son to assault his Father nor for a Subject to resist his Prince because that is contrary to Nature this destructive to Civil Society of which he is born a Member and which he is indispensably obliged by the Law of Nature to preserve The Jews were full of Projects and had their Grand Expedient to save their Nation It is Expedient St. John 11. 50. for us saith Caiaphas that one man should dye for the People and that the whole Nation Perish not The Nation was in no Danger at all no Storm nor Shipwrack approaching no more Fear of the Romans than at other times only a danger feigned that they might have a poor pretence to Destroy an Innocent Person to Murder the Holy Jesus And what was the event of this Politick Expedient did it answer their expectations contribute any thing to their Safety or Security No no! instead of saving it sunk the Ship turn'd their so craftily pretended into a real danger involv'd their whole Nation in the greatest and most deplorable Ruin or Destruction and that by the Romans that ever any People Suffer'd or any History Related thereby warning all Kingdoms and Nations to take heed of such wicked Expedients never to do any unjust thing for the avoiding any danger how great or real soever or to seek the Publick Safety by oppressing or injuring any Innocent Person for God is Righteous and will be sure to Punish the wrong-doers So that the Bill of Exclusion is contrary to the Law of Nature as well as to the Law of Christ and as this forbids so that condemns it and therefore it cannot be agreable to Natural Justice unless they mean that of Mr Hobs who represents the Humane to be as savage and barbarous as the Brutish Nature and affirms that Men have no obligations upon them to do justly but what humane Laws lay upon them but that all Men have a natural Right to do every thing they please and that to all Persons for which and all his other lewd and impious Assertions he hath been sufficiently reproved and bafled by divers learned and excellent Persons The Bill of Exclusion may be acknowledg'd if that be any honour to it to be agreeable to this Wild and Atheistical Justice but Christianity condemns and Right Reason abhors it This is the true Character and real Nature Subsect 5. of your so much admired Project of Exclusion I have done it no injury laid no false colours upon to render it more deformed and odious than it is and deserves to be but have only examin'd it by the just and holy Laws of Christ and the Dictates of Right Reason that seeing what your fears of and Zeal against Popery would not then give you time to consider the high Injustice and great Impiety of it you may be ashamed and repent of it which with all humility I conjure and beseech you to do by all that is dear to you and which you have the greatest Reasons and most pressing Motives to perswade you to The Offence you have commited against God For doth not he love righteousness and hate iniquity and require that all men especially Magistrates do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with him But this Device of yours is a manifest contradiction to all these 'T is to oppress and rob an innocent person of his Right to offer him that hard Measure which you would by no means have done to your selves and therefore to do unjustly 'T is to treat an erring person for such his Royal Highness is if he be a Papist with the greatest rigor or severity to ruin or make him miserable in this because he is become as you believe a Proselyte to that Church which he if he be of it thinks though erroneously will guide him safely to the Eternal Glory and Happiness of the other World and therefore is most unmerciful If any man Err from the truth Charity prompts and obligeth us to endeavour his Conversion and to restore him in the Spirit of meekness with all mildness and gentleness to shew him his mistake and represent to him the evil and dangerous consequences of it that he may hate and forsake it But your attempt to Exclude the Duke doth not design his Conversion but Destruction leaves him no place for Repentance but intends his Ruin and therefore is Cruel not Charitable Amongst the many praises they adorn'd it with some of the Admirers of it I remember commended this Device for the mercy of it An Elogium destitute of all shadow or appearance of Truth because the punishment it would inflict is worse than Death for a brave and valiant Prince as his Royal Highness is had rather dye than survive the loss of a Crown which is his Right by Birth if he survive his present Majesty than to be degraded from and unjustly depriv'd of the highest Dignity and Honour upon Earth to see another leap over his Head get into that Throne wear the Royal Diadem and possess the Kingdoms he was born to must needs be a continual grief trouble and vexation to him and make him weary of his Life Such Iniury and Disgrace would be intolerable and cause him to dye daily to linger out a tedious Life but Death would soon put a period to all his miseries and conduct him to that blessed place where they that suffer wrongfully here shall be greatly rewarded when a Man hath no just claim to any thing that the World admires and calls great or glorious the want of it cannot reasonably create him any trouble or discontent but he is as well pleas'd with and thinks himself as happy in his low condition as others are in the highest and most honourable stations upon Earth but to be deposed or cast down from that Empire or Soveraignty which his Illustrious Ancestors enjoy'd before him and not suffer'd to Inherit the Throne of his Fathers to be laid aside as unworthy to possess the Kingdom he was born to this must needs be an Hell upon Earth the greatest or most perfect misery any Man living can endure that hath nothing to comfort or support to sweeten or ease it and therefore must needs be most rigorous and cruel If this be mercy God deliver every Man from it And being a contradiction to that Justice and Mercy he requires it cannot possibly be consistent with the other great duty the walking humbly
head But this is right Fanatick Practise for that savage and barbarous Faction is both most cruel and base it thirsts after and delights in Blood the Blood of Princes and attempts to shed it by Surprise and Treachery And if enquiry be made what moved them to this execrable Conspiracy what irritated or inraged them thus against the King it will be found to be nothing but pure Malice that they had no ill usage offer'd no provocation given to tempt them to such a wickedness for the King is Inferiour to none of his Renowned Ancestors in Justice Mercy Kindness to and Care of his People the Laws are the measures of his Government he neither exhausts his Subjects by Arbitrary Exactions nor consumes them by Needless Wars but is pleas'd to make it his constant Care and Study to Preserve them in Piety Peace and Plenty What detestable Villany and Ingratitude is it then for any of his People to requite his Love with Hatred the most Cruel and Deadly Hatred to Conspire together not to let him Live under whose Peaceful Mild and Equal Government they are blessed above all the People of the World and happy to the admiration of all their Neighbour Nations 'T is true indeed no Injuries Oppressions or Cruelties from their Prince can ever Warrant or make it Lawful for Subjects to Conspire his Death or to take Arms against him for if they resist much more if they invade or assault him St. Paul tells them they shall receive to themselves Damnation But yet when their Treasons are causless and unprovoked as this was they must needs be most Wicked and Damnable because they have nothing but the Devil and meer Malice to instigate the Impious Wretches to them And if this execrable Treason had succeeded what a deplorable Condition had the People been in Instead of a most just and merciful Prince who Loves and is a Father to them they had been Slaves to and groan'd under the Cruelties and Oppressions of God knows how many merciless Tyrants The City in which Justice used to Reign would have been full of Bloud and Violence The Country where the happy People injoy'd their Estates in peace and safety would have been turned into a Den of Thieves and Murderers When this doleful Tragedy had been noysed abroad all the Loyal and Good People of the Nation would have been seiz'd with Horrour and Amazement drown'd in Tears expres'd their deep and vehement Sorrow with hideous Outcries and Lamentations have filled Heaven and Earth with Complaints and doleful Exclamations Their Ruin too would have been great and inevitable their Lives exposed to the armed Violence their Estates to the insatiable Rapine and Avarice of those bloody Villains that kill'd the King For they that could have the heart to smite the Shepherd would they have took any Pity of or have Spared the Flock No no! The Loyal Party would have tasted the same bitter fate with their Prince their bloudy Swords would have made havock of all that stood in their way Death and Slaughter would have Reign'd every where the whole Nation would have been an Aceldama a great burying place The French and Irish Massacres and all the Cruelties of Ancient and Modern times had been petty things in compare with this black Tragedy a Conspiracy so execrable and villanous that it will exceed the Faith of the next as much as it doth the Expression of the present Age. And if you will according to our Saviours Rule which is the surest way of Judging judg of the Tree by the Fruit it bears you cannot but see how impious your Project of Exclusion is that hath brought forth such fruit prompted some of the Zealots for it with other Wicked Wretches to such a damnable Conspiracy as this which would if not prevented by the Infinite goodness of God have cut off the King and his Royal Highness undone all his good Subjects and ruin'd Three flourishing Kingdoms that would have Excluded or Banish'd all Peace Piety and Happiness and let in Prophaneness Oppression and Misery So that if you will speak the Truth you must acknowledg your crime to be exceeding great in making choice of such a sinful Expedient and if you desire to be forgiven your Repentance must be equal to your Crime that is you must confess and forsake it Confess it to God and beseech him to forgive the great Offence you have committed against him Go to the King and humbly beg his Pardon that you should cause him so much danger bring his most precious Life into so great Peril that you should advise or propose any thing that minister'd occasion or temptation to violent and blood thirsty men to attempt any thing either against his Person or Government or that you should do any thing to create trouble and vexation to his Royal Soul or destroy his quiet and tranquillity Let him know how much you are grieved for these your Errours and Offences and that you should be ashamed to live but that you hope his Royal Clemency will forgive and your unfeigned Loyalty for the future make reparation for what you have done amiss Go to his Royal Highness and confess the horrid injuries the high and shameful injustice you have offer'd him that forgetting the Honour due to him as a Prince you have treated him most rudely and despitefully so that by the Law of Retaliation he might return the same severe measure to you that you have tender'd to him that as you have proudly and disdainfully said of him as the stubborn Jews did of Christ We will not have this Man Rule over us so he if he ever come to be King may say concerning you with the Prince in the Gospel But those mine enemies which would not that I St. Luke 19. 27. should Reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me 'T is certain that by your unjust and unworthy behaviour towards him you have given the Duke great provocation which nothing but Repentance can appease for when nothing else can do it Submission and Sorrowful Acknowledgment of the errour or offence committed will pacifie a brave and generous person as his Royal Highness is Let this then be your method go to him and acknowledg the injuries you have done him and humbly beg his pardon beseech him as Shimei did King David not to impute iniquity to you neither to remember what you did perversly in the days of fear and danger when the rumours of Popery and the discovery of the horrid Conspiracy of the Papists frighted you almost out of your wits tell him that men in a great fright are apt to run into extravagancies neither know nor consider what they do but say and do such things which at other times they would be ashamed of humbly represent to him that some allowances are to be made you upon that account and though nothing can excuse yet his generosity can and you hope will forgive the high offences you have committed against
him which if he please to do you will never more provoke or injure but love honour and treat him as the Son and Brother of a King and Heir apparent to these three Kingdoms This is all the reparation you can make the best satisfaction you can give him for your past offence and if you do this there is no doubt but he will forgive you Princes resemble their glorious Founder both in their Power to punish and their proneness to forgive the injuries and indignities that are committed against them and as Repentance renders him Merciful and Propitious turns away his Displeasure so it excites their Compassion and pacifies their Wrath but as God will not so they have no obligation to Pardon those that against all Reason and Religion Sin against them and when they have done it refuse to Repent That you have done the first highly injured his Royal Highness is as evident as any thing can be Be sure then to make your Repentance as publick as your crime hath been and do not doubt but it will be effectual to obtain your pardon The Duke can and will forgive you upon your hearty sorrow for and humble confession of your offence and you reproach and injure him more if you think he hath or will shew no mercy than you have done by your past misbehaviour towards him though your Sin against him be high and hainous yet do not say with Cain it is greater than can be forgiven for this apprehension I believe prompted the Zealots of your Party whom their guilt made desperate to conspire his Death according to the known Maxim of the wicked Politicians who say That bad Actions must be seconded with worse and lesser injuries pursued with greater the injurious person not thinking himself safe till he hath taken from the injur'd all possibility of revenge What barbarous nay devilish methods are these without any povocation or cause at all to wrong an Innocent Prince and then for fear they should at one time or other be called to account for it seek to secure themselves by doing him a greater First against all the Rules of Justice the Dictates of right Reason and the Laws of Religion attempt to rob him of his Birth-right and when that wicked imagination did not prosper or take effect instead of Repenting of it consult or agree together to take away his Life because the dead cannot revenge the injuries that are done them But is there then no God that judgeth in the Earth Or if there be doth not he behold ungodliness and wrong that he may take the matter into his hand punish the accursed Authors of them with dreadful inflictions here or if for reasons unknown to us he forbear them now with the most horrible damnation hereafter Such men as these are so far from making the high and noble Precepts of Christ the measures of their Actions that they fall short of the lower Justice Mercy and Integrity of the Heathens nay proceed according to the wild Villanous and Atheistical Principles of the Leviathan and instead of reproving their detestable practices by producing the words of Christ or any of his Apostles I may bespeak them in those of that wise and honest Heathen Diphilus the Comoedian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look to it you that think there is no God! there is there is If any man do ill as you have done a great evil let him think time is gain for he shall certainly suffer for what he hath done amiss The punishment of such men lingers is defer'd for a time but it will be sure to come and that the heavier at last and by its greatness make amends for the slowness of its approach And therefore that neither the horrour of your Offence nor your fears of Punishment make you desperate and push you on to such dreadful crimes as they prompted the Conspirators to take the first opportunity to reconcile your selves to his Royal Highness by confessing the injuries you have done him and begging his pardon for them but then you must not only confess but renounce and forsake them meddle no more I mean with the Succession but cast your Bill out of Doors as a monstrous and abominable Brat conceiv'd by Fear nurs'd by Faction born to do mischief and bring forth Treasons Murders and all manner of Miseries Be you its Judges to pass Sentence and see Execution done upon it for nothing can be more just than to cast that into the fire which tended so apparently to put the Kingdom into a Combustion Be careful to undeceive the People too whom by your mighty Zeal for and resolute Adherence to it you have drawn to an high esteem and admiration of your Projects of Exclusion and thereby prepared for Tumults Seditions and all manner of violent and unlawful Practises Your Votes are of such Authority with all the factious and discontented people that they think them if not equal to Holy Scripture yet the best Commentary upon it and will follow your Marginal Notes rather than the sacred Text Consider then what a dangerous thing it is to instil bad Principles into the People who are of themselves too prone to run into Errours and Extravagancies and therefore instead of Goads to excite they need Bridles to restrain them from them That they who are apt to think justice or honesty a superfluous or needless vertue now under the Gospel and perswade themselves that Christ fulfil'd all Righteousness on purpose to free those that believe in him from the practice of it will be Confirm'd in their pernicious Errour when they see iniquity establish'd by Law and a most unjust thing done for the Defence and Security of Reformed Christianity Nay which is more horrid some will think that which Men call Religion no Divine Institution but meer Humane Invention because if it come from God the professors of it may safely commend or commit it to his Protection his Care and Keeping it being most reasonable to suppose that he loves his own Institutions and is concern'd in honour to preserve them from the attempts of those that seek to destroy them But when Men are so busy and forward to support and secure their Religion by unjust and evil Arts think it so weak and helpless a thing that it is not able to shift for it self to maintain or keep its ground without the assistance of sinful and unlawful succours This tempts the suspicious to think it a meer humane invention for if it be of God it needs no sin to uphold it and they who do evil in defence of it incur his wrath as Uzzah did who put forth his hand to stay the tottering Ark which he apprehended to be falling Nothing of divine institution can possibly fall or perish so long as the Almighty Author of it is pleas'd to uphold and protect it but when he withdraws his support and it is his pleasure that it fall all the power and policy of Men cannot keep it up though