Pope interposes his Authority in Excommunicating or deposing any Protestant Prince whom out of their Catholick Charity they are pleased to call Hereticks they fail not when an Opportunity offers to rise in Rebellion against them and as they did in Queen Elizabeth's Time to joyn with any Foreigner whom the Pope Commissions to invade their Native Countrey and reduce it to an Italian a Spanish or which is worst of all a French Slavery How much their Loyalty is to be relyed on their Principles and their Practices especially in the Reigns of that Glorious Queen and her peaceful Successor do abundantly testifie and I hope while the Spanish Invasion and the Gun-power-Treason continue recorded in our History as undeniable matters of Fact while Papists deservedly lie under an Exclusion from all Offices of Trust and Profit and even from the Privilege of Voting in Parliament as Peers which some Mercenary Time servers in the late Reign were pleased to call their Natural Birth-Right and inseparable from their Persons while I say these things remain as they are and while we remember as I hope we allways shall the great dangers the Church and Nation were lately in by the bigotted zeal of a Popish Prince and the inveterate Malice of the Roman Catholicks then armed with Power I hope we shall not fail on all Occasions but especially at this time to have a watchfull Eye over their Conduct All the Mercies our present King hath extended to them both here and in Ireland Mercies to be paralleled by none but those of the Almighty cannot yet unhinge them from their dependance upon France and their Subjection to Rome nor put an end to their vain Expectations of seeing our present happy settlement wholly unravelled and their own Religion again establish'd and ours utterly extirpated by the the victorious return which they with for and we all deprecate of the late King and his pretended Son Therefore since nothing will make them Friends to this Government Prudence directs us to use the best Caution we can against their Hellish Designs and since there are many good Laws in Force against them there is great Reason that they suffer those Penalties especially such of them as stand out in defyance to the Government that are provided for them And Gentlemen it is your Business to enquire and present all Popish Recusants and I doubt not but you will express your Affection to the Government by doing your Duty in this Particular By Protestant Recusants I mean those Protestant Subjects of England who refuse to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to the present King and Queen It may I confess seem a Paradox that notwithstanding the many Calamities we felt in the Late Reign and those more grievous ones we daily expected when the making and repealing of Laws should have been in the Power of a Pack'd Parliament and when the protection of our Religion the defence of our Rights the disposal of our Lives Liberties and Estates and in a Word the Administration of Justice should have been entirely commmited to a French and Irish Army and to a Cabinet Council of Jesuits notwithstanding this gloomy Prospect which reduced us even to the Brink of Despair notwithstanding the Miraculous deliverance out of these Extremities that the Divine Providence afforded us at the critical Instant notwithstanding those returns of Gratitude which we owe to God the Author and to our present King the successful Instrument of so great a Mercy notwithstanding the late King's refusal to do his Subjects that Justice which his Coronation Oath obliged him to and which the Prince out of great kindness to this Nation at a vast Expence and an inexpressible hazard to his own Person came over to demand notwithstanding the Late King 's Voluntary Desertion his throwing up the Reins of Government and leaving us in a state of Anarchy and Confusion notwithstanding the calm deliberate and free Proceedings in Calling Chusing and Convening our Representatives notwithstanding the Regular and considerate Methods that wise Assembly follow'd in determining the great Point of the Abdication and placing their present Sacred Majesty's in the vacant Throne notwithstanding the manifest Reason all private Men have in such Cases to submit their own Opinions to the Publick Decision of so August a Body notwithstanding the many Dangers and Difficulties Fatigues and Hazards the indefatigable Labour and incessant Diligence and anxious Cares which have ever since that time denyed his Majesty that Ease Repose and Comfort which the meanest Man here enjoys notwithstanding all this was undertaken meerly for our Benifit and Safety Peace and Preservation for excepting our Saviour and the Bl. Martyr K. Charles the 1st never did any Prince wear a Crown so full of Thorns notwithstanding I say the King 's Personal Merits which without Flattery I speak it deserve an Universal Empire upon Earth and doubtless will be rewarded hereafter with one of the brightest Crowns in Heaven notwithstanding all this and much more which I could add would the time permit me it may I say seem Paradox but yet 't is too notorious that there are some Protestant Recusants who will not be perswaded they owe any Allegiance or Duty to this Prince His Royal Endowments and Accomplishments shine so bright that as much his Enemies as they are they are forc'd to acknowledge that he possesses them in the highest Degree and though they cannot love they must admire him for them But all this while they think him an Intruder on the Rights of another and some of them are so bold as to call his Glorious Reign a Prosperous Usurpation and not a whit more to be justified then that execrable one of Cromwell I have not time nor is it my Business at present nor indeed is there any need of it after so many excellent Treatises have been written upon the Subject to argue in defence of the Revolution and the present Settlement of the Nation Those that are its Friends require no farther Satisfaction and those that are its Enemies are resolved to continue so though its Advocates had the Energy and Eloquence of Angels Some of them indeed but how few are they I am so charitable as to believe cannot comply with this Government out of an Error of their understandings rather than a perverse Obstinacy of their Will and those who are so unhappy as to be under this mistake form no Cabals against the Government encourage no seditious Conventicles send no traiterous Embassies to France offer no incense of Flattery to that proud Tyrant make no publick Assignations for Rioting and Debauchery on such Days as their Majesties appoint for a National Humiliation nor in a Word make it more their Business to incense the People against the Present Government and to involve us in the Calamities of a Civil-War that we may be the easier Prey to the great Leviathan of Europe than to keep a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. This Gentlemen is
in relation to your Inquiries and presentments the Duties you owe to God and to the King to the former Fear and Reverence to the latter Honour and Allegiance I now proceed to discourse to you of the Duties owing to subordinate Magistrates which are these A respect to them on the account of the Character they bear and a due Submission to their Legal Orders for our Laws are so careful to preserve the Chain of subordinate Government entire that 't is Murther to kill the meanest Officer in the Execution of his Office and to abuse him in it or for it is a high Contempt and punishable in this Court as are also all Contempts of the under Officers towards us their Superiors in neglecting to obey our Orders and execute our Warrants and likewise all Disobedient Sawcy and unmannerly Behaviour of any other Person that is brought before us These things Gentlemen you are to enquire and Present In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire and present all Offences against that Civil Justice we owe to our Fellow Subjects and they are these 1. Petty-Treason of which all those are guilty who being Wives Children Servants or private Clergy-Men Murther their Husbands Parents Masters Mistrisses Diocesans or Ordinaries For all these Offenders owe Faith Duty and private Obedience to the party Murthered After Petty-Treason the next Felony you are to present for these and several other Crimes come under the general Denomination of Felony is Murther This when it is committed upon Malice prepense is called willful Murther and the Offender hath no Benefit of his Clergy and within this comes also Malice implyed where a Person suddenly kills another without any Provocation given or stabs a Man who hath no weapon drawn Manslaughter is where a Person kills another upon present heat or a sudden Passion in this Case the Offender is allowed his Clergy The next Crimes to be enquired and presented as ' Felonies are Rapes Burnings of Houses Burglary and all sorts of Robberies whether on the Road or in Houses open or shut stealing of Horses or other Cattel abroad or elsewhere Thefts Petty Larcenaries and the return of any dangerous Rogue into this Realm without License after he hath been Banished is Felony and enquirable in this Coutt as are likewise all manner of Felonies whatsoever You are likewise to enquire and present all Trespasses against the Peace and these are Assaults Batteries Blood-sheds Maihems forcible Entries forcible Detainers Riots Routs and unlawfull Assemblies What these are I doubt not but you all very well know and therefore I shall not spend time in defining them to you but only tell you again that it is your Duty to enquire and present them In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire and present all Libellers Barretors Extortioners Frauds and Deceits the neglect of all Constables Headboroughs and Tything-Men in doing their Duties especially as to all Matters relating to the punishing and repressing of Vice and Debauchery concerning which I have already discoursed to you at large as likewise the neglect of all Overseers of the Poor and Surveighers of the High ways in relation to whom I desire you to take Notice of the Two Acts of Parliament pass'd this last Session concerning the Poor and the High ways of which I would give you the Heads if the Time would allow me You are also to enquire and present all Disorder between Masters and Servants all Fore-stallers Ingrossers Regrators Destroyers of the Game and disordered Victuallers and you are to enquire and present all Annoyances as Disorderly Ale-house-keepers Cottagers Receivers of Inmates the defaults of High-ways and Bridges and the permission of free Passage to Rogues and Vagabonds who ought to be severely punish'd and sent back to the Places of their legal Settlement Gentlemen I am sensible I may have omitted several particulars of your Duty but since you cannot as I suppose be ignorant of them that will not excuse you from presenting these and all other Offences that come to your Knowledge As to those Points that I have so largely insisted on I must tell you plainly that I expect you use your utmost Diligence I had almost forgot to hint to you one Reason as strong as any that can be drawn from Interest why you should punish all Immoralities with the utmost rigour of Law and that is the daily increase of the Poor in almost every Parish so that in some places the Rates for the Poor exceed the publick Taxes assessed by Parliament for câ—rrying on the War Whereas I dare boldly Affirm that if common Swearers prophaners of the Lord's Day Drunkards Tiplers and those Inn-keepers Ale-house-keepers and Victuallers who suffer Disorders in their Houses duly paid the Penalties appointed by Law almost every Parish would be eased of half their Charge or if that continued it would be a light Burthen and a very tolerable Grievance in comparison of the Immoralities and Disorders that have over-spread the Nation You are also to consider that all these Forfeitures do of right belong to die Poor they have as good a Title to them as any Man hath to his Estate and certainly to rob and defraud the Poor is a Crime above the common Level and those who connive at it are undeniably Accessaries to it To Conclude Gentlemen let me once more desire you to remember your Oaths and in order to the discharging your Duty with the greater Sincerity and Diligence let me advise you to fix in your Minds a strong Idea of the general Appearance we must all one day make before the great Tribunal in Comparison of which the most Solemn and August Court of Judicature here upon Earth though it may in some small Measure represent it to our Thoughts is but a piece of formal and vain Pageantry And now Gentlemen without detaining you any longer I dismiss you all to your several Inquiries FINIS ADVERTISEMENT LAtely publish'd a Discourse of Natural and Revealed Religion in several Essays Or a light of Nature a Guide to Divine Truth by Mr. Tim. Nourse and sold by John Newton in Fleet-street Gen. 16.12 Hollinsh 8. Stat. 1. E. 3. c. 16. Isai c. 57. v. 21. Isai c. 9. 7. 6. Luk. c. 2. v. 14. Mat. c. 5. v. 9. Psal 85. v. 10. Hierocles Exod. c. 20. v. 7. St. Mat c. 12. v. 37. Stat. 21. Jac. 1. c. 20. Exod. c. 20. v. 7. v. 16. 1 Kings 21. v. 13. St. Mark c. 15. v. 28. Stat. 5. Eliz. c. 9. Prov. c. 25. v. 18. Psal c. 12. v. 1. Exod. 20.8 9 10 11. v. 7. v. 16. Arch-Bip Sharp's Sermon June 28. 1691. p. 22 23. Exod. 31. v. 15 16. Num. c. 15. v. 36 St. Markc 2. v. 29. Stat. 3. Car. 1. c. 1. Stat. 29. Car. 2. c. 7. Stat. 3 Car. 1. c. 1. Stat. 29. Car. 2. c. 7. Stat. 1. Jac. 1. c. 5. Stat. 1. Jac. 1. c. 9. Stat. 4. Jac. 1. c. 5. Stat. 1. Car. 1. c. 4. Stat. 7. Jac. 1. c. 10. Stat. 21. Jac. 1. c. 7. Stat. 3. Car. 1. c. 3. Exod. c. 20. v. 14. Dalton c. 124. S. 3. St. 7. Jac. 1. c. 4. 1 Cor. c. 10. v. 8. Exod. c. 20. v. 3. Stat. 1. Jac. 1. c. 2. Stat. 1. Ed. 6. c. 1. Stat. 1. Eliz. c. 2. Stat. 14. Car. 2. c. 4. Stat. 5. and 6. Ed. 6. c. 4. Zach. c. 5. v. 4. St. Mat. c. 7. v. 12. Exod. 20. v. 12. v. 15. Stat. 25. Ed. 3. Stat. 1. Mar. c. 6. Stat. 1. and 2. P. and M. c. 11. Stat. 13. Eliz. c. 2. Stat. 18. Eliz. c. 1. Stat. 23. Eliz. c. 1. Stat. 3. Jac. 1. c. 4. Stat. 3. and 4. Guil. and Mar. Stat. 27. Eliz 3. c. 1. Stat. 16. R. 2. c. 5. Stat. 3. and 4. Guil. and Mar. Dalton c. 141. Act 54. v. 16. 1. Cor. c. 13. v. 5. St. Matth. c. 7. v. 20. St. Matth. c. 27. v. 21. St. Mark c. 15. v. 13. St. Matth. c. 26. v. 49. c. 27. v. 5. Genes c. 27. v. 22.
the Character of such a Jacobite for in that Title the whole Party pride themselves as is not dangerous he considers himself as an English-Man and a Christian and though his Conscience being misinformed will not permit him to be actively serviceable for the Government yet he looks on this Scene of Affairs to be much more Eligible than the last and thinks it an unpardonable ingratitude to a Protestant Prince and Princess whom he cannot but highly esteem as the only refuge for all the reformed Churches to Sacrifice not only them and his own Country but also all Europe to an opinion which Nineteen parts in Twenty of the most Learned and Pious Men in the Nation reject and allmost all the Princes and States in Christendom disallow and which if it could universally prevail would only make his Ruine the more tolerable because he should have so many Millions of Companions in his Misfortune To such a Man as this if any such can be found I can truly say as the Roman Orator did of himself upon another Occasion Me natura Misericordem patria severum crudelem nec patria nec natura esse voluit My Nature inclines me to be Compassionate a hearty Zeal for our Religion and Concernment for the publick Welfare of my Country may perhaps have made me a little severe but neither my Natural Disposition nor the temper of the English Nation nor the Genius of the Protestant that is the true Christian Religion will allow me to be cruel And indeed if the Honour and safety of the Government would allow it for my own part the most impudent and inveterate of the Factious Crew should be quietly permitted to spit their venom and to ruine their own Cause as they will at last by their foolish and indiscreet Management But a Government legally established and regularly administred as ours is must not tamely suffer the insults of a few Pedants and Mechanicks such as those whom neither Prudence nor Modesty will restrain within the Limits of their Duty must be taught it by the severe Discipline of the Law Therefore Gentlemen it is your Business diligently to enquire and duly to present all such disaffected and seditious Persons and we will take care to see them punish'd according to the utmost rigour of the Law But Gentlemen after all that I have said of the Popish Recusants and of the Protestants who are disaffected to this Government and will not take the Oaths both these we may look upon as our Friends and Adherents if we compare their Character with that of those Protestant who swear Allegiance to their Majesty's only that they may worm themselves into places of Trust and Power and so have the better Opportunity to betray us When an Enemy declares he will seek our Ruine Self preservation prompts us to be upon our Guard and to make Preparations for our own Defence But what way is there to keep our selves from being destroyed when the plausible disguise of Friendship hides the snare from our Sight till our Experience tells us it is impossible to recover our Fall It would seem a high Degree of ill Nature to suspect those of Treachery who confirm all their Protestations of Sincerity by the sacred Bond of an Oath and indeed in such a Case one ought not to be too ready to suspect for Christian Charity thinketh no Evil but yet when Men's Discourse Actions and Behaviour shew the secret Inclinations of their Hearts we may then judge of the Tree by its Fruits When Men who have taken the Oaths to the Present King and Queen and perhaps by that means enjoy some Office of Trust under the Government nay perhaps when they stand in Competition with a Man more truly and sincerely Loyal and carry their Point against him either by Force or Fraud Bribery or some other Artifices too mean for the Spirit of an English Gentleman to stoop to When I say such Men as these shall take nay seek all occasions to magnifie the Grandeur and the Power the Courage the Justice and the Policy of the French Monarch to envy the Happiness of his Subject and to applaud the vast extent of his Conquests to rejoyce at every small Advantage he gains over us to wish every Merchant Ship that is outward or homewards Bound may fall into his Hands to aggravate our Losses and detract from our Victories as if the one were irreparable and the other not worth taking Notice of to repine at our Plenty and to mourn at our Taxes which are light Burthens in Comparison of those our Neighbours about this time bear to censure the most justifiable Proceedings of this Reign and to palliate the most enormous excesses of the Last to triumph at Tourville's burning a small Village on the Western Coast and doing some small Damage to our Fleet and to be struck with Melancholy at King William's Victory at the Boyne When I say Men's Actions are so contrary to their Professions what can we think of them but that they are the most egregious Hypocrites in Nature a scandal to Mankind and a reproach to the Religion they Profess And such as these certainly deserve to be uncased that the World may see them in their proper Colours and stamp upon them that Brand of Infamy they so well deserve For whatever Mercy the Government may be so generous as to extend to its Declared Enemies these certainly can't be so impudent as to put in for a Share The Jews openly preferred Barrabas to our Saviour and it is not improbable that some of those very Men who so loudly cryed out Crucifie him came in afterwards and proving Converts to the Christian Faith received their Pardon But Judas that Son of Perdition who betrayed his Lord with a Kiss and the smooth Complement of Hail Master found no place for Repentance but being over-whelmed with Despair became his own Executioner And if the Men I have been speaking of did but seriously consider the guilt of breaking so Solemn an Oath they would either heartily repent of it as the Jews did of their Malice to our Saviour or else follow the steps in his End as well as in his Treachery of their great Apostle Judas In the mean time Gentlemen it is the Duty of all those who wish well to the Government to discover such Villains and bring them to Punishment for else if they go on still in their seditious Practices and pervert the Trusts they have committed to them to the ruine of our present Settlement we shall too late be sensible by sad experience that thô they have the voice of Jacob yet their hands are the hands of Esau hands full of Treachery and Rapine Fraud Deceit and Blood Therefore Gentlemen I hope you will not fail to enquire and present such Men who tho they have Sworn Allegiance to the Government yet boldly express their disaffection to it by Seditious Speeches and malevolent Reflections I have now Gentlemen declared to you at large