be able to root it out there will then be no Tnchantment against Jacob nor Divination against Israel The King thinks his own to be the True Religion and that God requires him indispensibly to believe and profess it and to indeavour the Propagation of it too by all Lawful means among his Subjects but not to make Sacrifices of them that refuse it because the using of such cruel and unlawful Means to that purpose were apparently destructive of that Salvation which he hopes to obtain by embracing the Roman Catholick Religion to which if he can win Men by Arguments and Perswasions or any other Allurements of his own Promotions he does that Religion all the Right and Service he can without wronging ours to which his Priests may modestly tempt him without any the least violation of his own Sacred Ingagements to us which his innate Clemency and Goodness abhors in so high a degree that he is found to be Temptation Proof against it To conclude this Point therefore I say The Common Lay-man whose Education Assection and Practice may denominate him a True Son of the Church of England as he hath learn'd in his Catechism to Honour and Obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him so he has been taught by the Ministers of this Church that this is his Duty what soever Religion the King be of And though he hears his present Majesty be of another Communion he thanks God and the King for the liberty he hath to Communicate with the Church of England He takes care of himself and his Family that they may serve God after this way which some call Heresie But he is it seems well assured and satisfied of the Truth and Safety of it He pities and prays for them that are in Error but will not revile affront or abuse them nor will he assist in Riots or Tumults to disturb even the Publick Exercise of any Religion where-ever his Majesty things sit to appoint it Where the King's Religion is publickly exercis'd he has neither Wit nor Religion who does not abstain from all rude and indâ—cent Disturbance or Assronts I am no Apologist for the Roman Worship But since the King is pleas'd in some places to protect those of his Communion in the Publick Excercise of it as he justly may for any Private Persons to disturb them is a piece of Rudeness to him inconsistent with that Honour which upon so many accompts we are to pay him Besides that it is a piece of Prophaneness for any without Authority to interrupt Men whilst they are Worshiping God after that manner which they think the best Nor can his Zeal against a false Worship justifie him in any such unwarrantable Attempts whilst he hath no Authority to reform or correct them that being the work of Publick Power and not of Private Spirits Whilst therefore the King is so Gracious as to protect us in our Churches and Offices of Worship let us not be so rude and ungrateful as to assault or disturb those of his Communion in their Private Oratories least we provoke him to deprive us of our greater Privileges for envying him and those of his Communion Alass no True Son of the Church of England will be guilty of this he will neither be so unthankful nor so unholy nor will he go about with Lyes and frightful Stories and false News to disquiet his Neighbours or disturb the Government nor make Scandalous Reflections upon those that are in Authority He will leave the Government of the World to God and the King and be careful to do his Duty to both in that State of Life to which he is call'd And if more Respect than this be requir'd of them that have more and better Breeding and are of an higher Quality I do not think that the Roman Catholicks themselves will complain for want of it but will rather gratefully acknowledge the Respect and Kindness shew'd them in worse Times than these by the Gentlemen of the Church of England even in the late Bloody days of Trial which has been so visible and observable that another sort of Men if it be not a Scandal of Humanity to give them the Name of Men have objected it to them as a Crime and for that Reason reckon'd them Papists at least in Masquerade as they were then wont to speak This Respect indeed has been and is shew'd rather to their Persons and Conditions c. than to their Religion and It is a Respect much becoming those who would shew themselves True Sons of the Church of England For their Religion as well as their Breeding teaches them To maintain a civil and amicable Conversation with those of the King's Religion I know no Reason to be angry with any Man because he sees not with my Eyes or determines not with my Judgment and so consequently cannot be altogether of my Opinion especially since as they differ from us so we differ as much from them Sure I am our Religion obliges us to a Catholick Charity as well as Faith and an Vniversal Civility to distinguish between the Person and his Errors or Vices so as to love and behave our selves Civilly towards him where we cannot affectionately embrace his Opinion Christianity is doubtless the best natur'd Institution in the World At its first appearance it taught the most barbarous Nations to depose their Feâ—ity and become tractable and courteous and where it was once heartily entertain'd the World admir'd to see how civil and obliging those Men were become who before their Conversion were morose and inhospitable Pagans or Jews It was a great fault of tho Jews for which they are severely branded by Juvenal and Tacitus That they were peevish and inhospitable to all that were not of their own Religion so as to refuse them the most common Courtesies of telling them their Way or directing them to the Refreshment of a common Spring Nec monstare vias â—adem nisi sacra colenti We ought then to make it appear to the World that ours is a better Religion by being better natur'd our selves and that we are the best Catholicks by expressing and practising a Catholick Charity which of all other is the surest Note of a True Church We ought to shew our selves quiet and obliging Neighbours to those Romanists who dwell among us especially since both the Honour of our Religion and of our King requires it from us Incivility upon the account of their differing from us in Religion being inconsistent with the Obligations of Christianity or Gentility and a Rudeness to the King's Majesty of whose Communion they are and whom we are so far to Honour as to pay all the Respects him and to all such as he esteems that our Religion will indeed permit much more all that it so strictly injoyns To speak next of the Cergy-men as concerned in this Case to whom indeed it is so much a Case of Conscience that it leaves them less Room than
be thought to be for the Church of England they ought not in Point of Honour to take every advantage against her Enemies nor to put every thrust so home as they do but restore them in the Spirit of Meekness nor to throw dirt in their Faces to disgrace them which as the Purity of our Church abhors so the more they handle the more it will defile them This is not to walk in Wisdom to them that are without nor to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace There is yet another thing worse than barely calumniating the King's Religion and that is disturbing of the solemn Exercise of it by Routs and Riots which would be so high an indecency and so opposite to the gentleness of Christian Religion that about the time of the first general Council of Nice under Constantine the Great it was made a Canon in the Council of Illiberis That if any one should out of any immoderate transports of Zeal deface demolish or break down Idols or Images and be thereupon slain because it is not commanded in the Gospel nor practis'd by the Apostles that they should not be reckon'd in the number of Martyrs Nor need I remind you that the Idols were of the Heathens and that Christian Religion was not only the private Religion of the Emperor but publickly established by him throughout the Empire and yet while the other had but a bare Toleration from the Emperor and Christianity had the Law of the Land on its side yet the Holy Church discouraged her Sons from injuring it by violence The prevention of railing against the Emperor's Religion by the Lutherans was the wise care of the Diet of Ratisbone Anno Dom. 1532. which was in part made up of Protestants Electors Free-Princes and Hans-Towns 't was their final Accord That the Ausburg Confession should be allow'd so that nothing was taught or written but what was contained in that Confession As to raillery upon the Religion professed by our Prince as it is bad Manners and worse Religion so it can never be good Wit which though it be allowed its Seasons yet this is none of them 't is as much as a Man can well bear to see it practis'd upon Virgil the Prince of Poets 4 ly The Church of England Men ought not to grudge the Privileges allowed by the King to those of his own Communion he does not desire that they should stand upon equal Terms of publick Privileges and Advantages of the tasting of the Sweet of the Church Revenues but only that they should lift up their Heads above the danger of the Laws and he be able to make life of their Services in the State He neither takes away our Rights nor with-holds his Favours from any Men of our Perswasion who cannot pretend to deserve them without blushing None ever found discouragement from our Gracious Sovereign upon the score of their Religion but have been advanc'd and esteem'd according to their several Capacities and Qualifications so long as he found Charity and Vnity maintain'd amongst them and why then should our Eye be evil because he is also good to some of his own A Christian Magistrate owes something more than Protection to the Religion which he sincerely professes and to them that profess it with him they may reasonably expect his Countenance and fair quarter if not hope to enjoy some Provision under him for certainly he may and ought to do all that he is able and hath opportunity to do on this side of force and injustice to help them a Nursing-Father he is to them as well as us and oblig'd to the Protection and Tuition of all his Children and not to suffer them to fare the worse for their Zeal either toward God or himself And methinks we should have more Wit Honesty and Charity more Modesty Equity Honour and Justice more good Breeding and ingenuous Education if not more Religion than to repine at it for this implies such a want of them all as any ingenuous Man must needs be ashamed of Is it not as fit the King should choose his Ministers as we our Servants Whatsoever a Prince does he is to be presum'd to do it with great Reason his Actions are manifest but his Thoughts secret and 't is our Duty to tolerate the one and not murmur against the other The Results of his Councils are like the current of a great River we see their Streams but not the Fountain from whence they flow Reason of State is Reason of Law though we see but the plain side of that great Watch within which all the Springs and Wheels are inclos'd and hid yet we find their Motions regular The King is our Law-giver and his Conscience is his and if it dictate these things to be necessary though he be deceiv'd they are become so to him and by no means to be declin'd by him but he must follow his own Conscience and if he mean it for good he has no reason to doubt but God will take it so and all good Subjects will pay him an Obedience of Acqutescence if not of Conformity we have reason to believe he will do nothing beneath his own Honour and the just Interest of his People And therefore St. Augustine in his Book against Faustus the Manichee says That a Christian Souldier fighting under an Heathen Prince may lawfully pursue the War or execute the Commands of his immediate or superior Officers in the course of his Service though he be not absolutely â—assured of the Justice of the one or the the Expediency of the other And in the case in question 't is no less evident for Sovereign Princes have Power to change the external Regiment of the Church A Christian Magistrate as such is a Governor in the Church The Prerogatives and Preheminencies of Power and Greatness which are involv'd in the fundamental conception of Sovereignty are the essential Rights and inseparably annexed to the Sovereign for which he is accountable to God alone and all Bishops are subject to the Imperial Power who is to determine what Doctrines are to be Preached and what not least any should be licens'd to barangue to the People in Seditious Libels His Power is by the Law of God and so can have no Inferior Power to limit it The Father of the Family governs not by the Law and Will of his Sons or Servants but by God's and his own nor were the best Kings of Judah or Israel tyed to any Laws nor is it the municipal Law of the Land but the natural Law of a Father which binds him to preserve the Lives and Fortunes of his Sons or Subjects The Church is always a Minor and Vnder-age and the King its Guardian how then can she expect to be back'd or countenanc'd any longer as she has hitherto been thanks be to God and the King by his civil Authority or enjoy the Revenues and Privileges she has any longer if the King's
Courtesie be so soon forgotten to deny him or his the free Exercise of their own Religion whilst we are so warm in ours under his Gracious Protection and Royal Bounty and Provisions is beyond all Shame and Reason Princes have an happy time of it to serve such Humours as if he reign'd over us by Courtesie and had no more but the Name of a King Does this express our Duty or Gratitude to God or Him We need not debauch the present Generation who are too bad already by teaching them to make spightful and peevish Reflections on our Prince's Actions Shall the Privileges which he and his Royal Predecessors have granted us be us'd as Weapons to fight and rebel against him Shall we deprive him of his Prerogative which the Law of God as well as of the Land has given him Is not the Church of Rome a true Church both in it self and in our Judgment too And why should you deny your own Prince who is a Member of it the same Liberty which you daily see without murmuring granted to the Embassadors of Foreign Princes and their Followers Is it not by his Piety and Juftice that we have the free Exercise of our own Religion as by Law establish'd and the advantages of publick Assemblies and the encouragement of such liberal Maintenance And have not the Ministers of Religion always obey'd the Imperial Laws even when they liked them not not upon prudential Considerations and Necessity but by divine Appointment declaring with the Sixth Council of Toledo That it was impiety to call in question his Power to whom the Government of all things was certainly deputed by the divine Judgment and that as well Bishops as Curates and Ecclesiasticks as Laicks must be subject to them and that the supreme Power may determine whatsoever is left undetermined by God Nay that he can derogate by his Power from an ordinary Right by changing his Will and making the contrary Law that he has the judgment of Discretion and knows best when 't is fittest for him to govern himself by Zeal and when by gentler Counsels Is he not Head of the Church and must his Members teach him how to govern it It is by the Tyes of Religion and not of Power that he is bound to keep the Churches Laws and the very Conâ—â—ssions and Privileges made to them by him and his Royal Predecessors are as revocable as their Duty is alterable for Princes are so far from being oblig'd to perpetuate such Rights that themselves have indulg'd that 't is a rul'd Case among the Greek Fathers That a King may recal his Gift in case the Beneficiary prove ungrateful I wish our Brethren who are now so stubbornly resolv'd not to join with their respective Bishops in an Address of Thanks to his Majesty for his Morgaging of his Honour under the Broad-Seal of England in his late Royal Declaration in the first place To protect and maintain them in the free Exercise of their Religion as by Law established and in the quiet and full enjoyment of all their Possessions without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever would study this Case a little better than they seem to have done and then they would highly approve it as some of our Fathers have done as prudently penn'd and such an acknowledgment of his Majesty's signal Favours to the Church of England and all her Members as our Gratitude and Duty indispensibly oblige us to pay Can you have any better Precedents than those of the Kings of Judah Look throughout the sacred History of the Old Testament and you will every where find that the King's Religion though often Heathenish had the privilege to be publickly us'd and though the High-Priest and Sanhedrim had a Power which Moses called The Judgment of God yet these did not think it either their Duty or Right to suppress the Exercise of Idolatry whilst the King was contented with it though it was so manifestly contrary to God's own Law given them by Moses and when a King who Worshipped according to Moses's Prescriptions succeeded neither the Great Council nor People desired the false Worship to be suppressed till the King himself self commanded it which is an Argument that it proceeded from his High Prerogative which the Kings of Judah laid equal claim to with the Eastern Monarchs as the Israelues desired a King according to the Nations round about them upon which Samuel recites a large rightful Power which would belong to their Sovereign Did not Solomon put Abâ—aâ—her from the Priesthood and put Zadock in his room and though the High-Priesthood came to be put out of its due Channel of Primogeniture establish'd by Moses and was sold in our Saviour's time so that sometimes the High-Priest was but annual yet Christ acknowledged Caiphas to be High-Priest and for the inferior Priests David divided them into Twenty four Orders so that the applying of the priestly Power to such a time was wholly the Act of the civil Government Jehosophat named a President for the Sanhedrim as well for matters of the Lord as for those of the King and both Ezra though not the High-Priest and Nehemiah though not at all a Priest acted by a Commission from Artaxerxes to execute the Laws ' of God and the King by which Authority Nehemiah turned out one of the Priests so that though the priestly Office was a divine Institution yet the applying and suspending that Authority was a part of the civil Power Christian Emperors made also penal Laws with relation to Church-men the pains of which were Suspension or Deprivation of which there are so many instances both in the Old Roman Laws and in the Capitulars that it is needless to insist on the proof of it to justifie his Majesty's late Proceedings by his High Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs against an eminent Prelate of our Church which proves them Lawful without committing Sacrilege or incroaching on the spiritual Power of the Church I need not tell you that it was declared in the Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy of this Kingdom which make the representative Body of the Church of England Art 37. Anno Dom. 1562. That whereas they have attributed to the Queen's Majesty the chief Government of all the Estates of this Realm whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases they did not give unto their Princes the ministring of either God's Word or Sacraments but that only Prerogative which was known to have been given always to all Godly Princes in Holy Scripture by God himself that is to say That they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the civil Sword the Stubborn and Evil-doers Less Power than this as good Subjects could not give unto their Kings so more than this there has not been exercis'd nor I believe ever will be by our Gracious Sovereign Such Power as was vouchsafed by God to the Godly Kings
and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie the unlimited Desires of the greatest Monarch in Christendom and therefore how unpardonable are we to deny our King that Power which is inseparably annext to his Royal Diadem and without which he would be no King but a Royal Slave in Golden Chains for the King 's the Church's and our own if not for the Cause's sake let us not grudge Men of his own Perswasion in Religion the free enjoyment of any Favours which he is graciously pleased to afford them and that especially considering that the occasion upon which such Privileges were formerly denied them viz. the Jealousie the Government had of their Sincerity and Obedience now ceases and this brings me to say something more particularly 5 ly To your self and your fellow Members of this Loyal Parliament whom I find to be concern'd in this Case also 'T would be presumption in me to offer to direct your Votes otherwise than as a Divine by reciting the advice of our Blessed Saviour Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them and be ye wise as Serpents but harmless as Doves and such like general Sentences the particular application of which I must in good Manners leave to your own Christian Discretion nor can they fail of making a good application of them who consider that our Blessed Saviour by these Hicroglyphicks taught his Disciples Innocence as well as Prudence in times of greatest danger that they may be able to say with St. Paul That they are pure from the Blood of all Men and that the Church of England by appointing the former Sentence to be read at the Offertory on the 5th of November and 30th of January does thereby teach us whether we have escaped a Danger or suffered Affliction not to be revengeful but be rather ready to return Good for Evil. That some severe Laws which might have Reason when they were made should by common consent of all any ways interested cease when the Reason does universally cease was I think never denied by good Casuists or good Statesmen Now the chief Reason alledged and the only justifiable one for these severe Laws against Romanists was the Jealousie the Government conceived of their Affections and the Apprehensions that their private Zeal for their Catholick Religion would make them cool in their services to the Publick which their imployments would oft require should be against their Principles and that they relying on an external Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their natural Sovereign and rightful Monarchs Kings Proclamation 12th of Fevruary 1686 7 But who now can plausibly suspect their Faithfulness to the present King or that they will be backward in his Service And whilst the Case stands thus what need will there be of sanguinary Laws for Imprisonment during Life or Consiscation of Goods Or for those Tests which exclude the Peers of the Romish Religion from sitting in the House of Lords according to their Birth-right Especially seeing these Latter were made upon a mistake of Matur of Fact whereas it has since appeared to all discreet Men of the most unquestionable Loyalty That the Popish Plot was of that perjur'd Villain Oates and other subtiler Heads making to serve their Faction and Revenge against the Government And as it is the noblest Ingenuity to own any sort of mistake so methinks it touches a Man's Reputation but softly to retract what he had formerly believed and acted upon a charitable Perswasion that Men would not be Perjur'd who after were legally convicted for being notoriously such and besides this 't is no safe matter to alter the Foundations of Government and deface the Original of a Right which in the case of all Privileges of Peerage hath been taken to be either Writt or Patent for if these must give place in any one instance no man knows where it will end or whose course to turn or be turned out of that Highest Court of National Justice may next come In the Parliament of 41. when the old Loyal Assurances were laid aside and instead of the former the Presbyterians Tested Men with their Covenant they were not aware that they made a President against themselves for an Ingagement and the Ingagâ—rs did not longè prospicere neither they little thought that they furnished their Masters of the Army with a countenancing Example to break them all in pieces and to vote them all Vseless And therefore 't is a rule of Wisdom as well as of Justice a point of Prudence as well as Consience not to remove the ancient Land-marks and 't is as useful to the State as to the Church what the first general Council decreed Let the old Vsages prevail suitable to which was the establishing Saying of the Peers long ago Nolumnus matare Leges Angliae We will not that the Laws of England be changed and certainly pursuant to this Resolution if by any cross chance or accident a change have surpriz'd the Government a Restitution to the former fettlement should soon be made and that the rather because we may say of those sanguinary Laws as his Majesty in his Royal Proclamation in Scotland does 12th February 1686 7 of the like made in the Minority of his Royal Grandfather That they have been continued of course without any design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only and sure we are that our severest Laws did not proceed from Ill-nature any otherwise than the best do ex malis moribus And 't is obvious to remark that the True Sons of the Church of England have always been better natur'd than to press or countenance the execution of them in cases of meer Religion and they have accordingly blessed be God been very sparingly executed unless when the byt-blows of a powerful Faction and no True Sons of the Church of England or some violent attempt of the Enemies thereof have forc'd it so sparingly have they been executed that 't is an old Proverb of Reproach upon the Legislators that their Laws were only made in Terrorem for Mormoes and Scare-crows And if they will serve for that purpose and to preserve the good Seed or hinder the Enemies of our Church and State from sowing rebellious and treasonable Tares among us whilst we are asleep we desire no more The Holy Church which so passionately desires the saving of Mens Souls never thirsts after the destruction of their Bodies Some Laws indeed there are made since our Reformation from Popery which threaten death to the Romish Clergy who are Natives of it if they be found in this Kingdom But though the Wisdom of the Nation thought fit to enact them at that time for the security of those Protestant Princes to whom the Romish deposing Doctrine is not Propitious yet was it Treason and not Heresie which those Laws made Capital And since there is no question but that a Prince of their Communion dare trust himself in their
not attempt by any wicked violence to impose it upon other will you neither be obedient for Wrath nor yet for conscience sake Did ever Christ and his Apostles who were arm'd and instructed with a greater Power for the vinidicating of the Truth than ever any Persons since either Civil or Ecclesiastical were behave themselves so unseemly Did not St. Paul become all thing to all Men that he might by all means gain some And shall not we interchangably use the duties of common Humanity to them of the Roman Religion Not shew them the way but out of the Land of the Living who are going towards the Land of Promise as well as we and yet think we do God and the King good Service Does not St. Paul command every Soul to be subject to the higher Powers upon pain of Damnation If they are in Errors you may warn them of their danger as he did Night and Day with Tears but you must by no means draw Blood of them not tempt other to dispise them Let your moderation be known unto all Men Christ came not to destroy but save alive we had better be persecuted our selves than become Persecutors of other nothing that in violent or injurious can have any thing Religion in it and why should we tempt the Romanists to combine togather as they will do if they have not more Religion than we shew in this Stubborness to revenge the Injuries that have been offer'd them the Wounds that have been given them in the House of their Friends Of which we are as guilty by being the unconcern'd and silent Spectators as if we were the principal Assassins and whosoever is afraid of being reproach'd for a Papist by Pleading their Cause as far as Justice and Charity favours it or consults his Ease and Reputation more than his Religion at this juncture when such assaults are made upon the Principles of the Church of England even by them who pretend most kindness to it deserves the Punishment either of a Coward in his Religion or a Traytor to it No Man who loves his king or Country can wish for more Liberty or Encouragement than the Church of England Men enjoy and for any of them to grudge the King immunity for them of his own Religion is such a composition of Indiscretion Popularity Ingratitude and Insolence as is little deserv'd by so Good and Gracious a Prince Peace is not the thing we pursue but Popularity which may be the Fool 's Paradise but it is the Wise Man's Scorn He never attempts to keep up a Party against Authority with a Spirit of Contradiction not to make differences more or wider than they are to please the People who love to hear Well of themselves and Ill of their Princes as you cannot but have heard some degraded Courtiers do who being outed of their Employments or disappointed and defeated of their secular Aims never cease to Harangue against what they have lost or miss'd to satisfie not their Reason but their Revenge These are the great Champions for the church whom the Populacy admires Popularity makes these Hectors bold as Lyons now who would fly as fast from danger as any hunted Stag if a Blood-bound were at their Heels according to Tertullian's Observation Novi Pastores eorum in pace leones in praelio cervos He was a Wise Man that told us That to sawn on the People is the lowest degree of Flattery and I think he might have added and the highest degree of Folly for nothing can be more foolish than to esteem their Good Opinion whose Judgments we approve not for a Man to stand in the king's Light on purpose to draw the rowling Eyes of the Crowd upon himself to be look'd at and to be talk'd of as a Man that would sain be thought considerable by being troubleâ—ome this is indeed the Poison of Hypocrisie which destroys many Souls as well as disturbs many States and therefore when you hear Men so zealous in standing up for Goa's Glory take heed that they prove not Chapmen for their own Popularis aurae vilia mancipia That they may be Town talk for opposing the King and attempting to eat them without Salt whom the King honours to which I am sure it is not the Spirit of christiâ—â—ity that provokes them but a much worse Principle I hope there are but a few of these amongst your fellow Members and that most of you are sincerely resolv'd to go on in the peaceable way which you know to be right as counting it your Glory to have the Testimony of your own Consciences bearing witness with you of your Ingegrity If the rest of your Brethren will bear you company in gratifying his Majâ—sty in his just and reasonable Expectation I know you will be the better Pleas'd if not I doubt not but you have courage enough to act Vertuously by your self rather than to do Ill for Company and that you will rather be singular in a Loyal Vote than Soâ—iable in the contrary I am better acquainted with your Courage and Consience than to be jealous of this not is it to hearten you but other Men upon this occasion that I say so much on this Subject as becomes every Man in my Station who am one of them that watch for your Souls and therefore dare not betray them by my silence and coolness in God's or the King's Cause My Crime would be as deep as my silence and my not proclaiming next to my procuring the danger you run your selves into for want of a timely foresight the not discovering any Net in which you may be unhappily ensnared and not breaking it too if we can would be next to the spreding of it if we could And I know full well That cowardice in a Minister is worse than in a Souldier by how much our warsare is more honoâ—â—able than theirs and I reckon them the most prostigate conâ—â—ards in the World who are asraid of opening their Moâ—ths for the King for fear the People sould open their Mouths against them The fear of offending a private Brother is a thing not considerable in comparison of the Duty we owe to the publick Magistrate for this would cut the Sinâ—ws of all Authority and bring the King and his Laws into Contempt by gratifying some Mens causeless Scruples and others groundless Jealousies Do not therefore so consider Roman Catholicks as to forget they are Englishmen and good Christians let Anabaptists or Prosbyterians act this part rather than any True Son of the Church of England Her 's in which you are embarqued is not a Fire-ship designed for Destruction but for Edification she is for winning Men over to her self with Mildness and the Spirit of Meâ—knesâ— and not for inraging them with Violenâ—e and Bitternejâ— and therefore never seck for a loop-hole to creep out of but stand to her Principles trouble not your self to enquire whether the thing which the King expcts be expediâ—nt or not being well satisfied
will look like a giving away your Religion It may look so to some Pur-blind People Who see but little before them and then the Reason is no better than Popularity which is now adays grown amongst Persons of Quality as common and great a fault as Oppression was formerly But how is our Religion given away by your consent to that which your dissent cannot hinder It is our Interest as well as Our Duty not to be wanting to them whom the King esteems and honours in any acts of Friendship which are consistent with a good Conscience and to susser our City Gates to stand wide open for them that they may go in and out at pleasure and partake of all the Benefits and Privileges which we enjoy No Man ever did a good turn of Friendship to another but at one time or other he himself eat the Fruits of it Let it be remembred in what good condition the Protestant Religion is in many Government within the German Empire by allowing Privileges to those of the Church of Rome How well assured the Governments are of their containing entirely Faithful when these People have equal assurances with other Subjects of their remaining safe Waving many Instances which that Empire affords let us look into that of Brandenburg the Religion of which Country is Lutheranism and is so preserv'd by the Elector though he many years ago became a Calvinist nor will this Change seem small to those who are acquainted with the mutual slender Amities of those two Perswasions the Men of Ink and Gall on both sides blackning one another and interchangably representing the opposite Opinions to be sowler than Popery it self in their Eyes But yet in this Electorate such was the Wisdom of his Highness that he freely gave in assurance to keep the publick Relâ—gion as he found it and such has been his Faith and Honour that he has been sacred to his Ingagements On the other part these Graces have been suitably received by his Subjects that as he makes them happy so they and his own Prince-like Vertues have rendred him the most glorious Prince that ever Brandenburgh enjoyed and if we do our part like them ve have no occsion to question his Majesty's doing His. Though he keeps many Calvinist Ministers about him and make use of the Laity who Worship in his way yet the others do not repine at it much less ought we to grudge them he Fruits of the King's Favour who were as Loyal Actors in the late Times of Rebellion and gâ—eater Sufferes than we they who suffer'd with and for him might modestly have expected to have been restored to their Privilegs of True English Subjects before now and to have been rais'd above Contempt and Danger I speak not this to teach our Senators Wisdom but shall pray to God who stands in the congregation of Princes and observes not only all their Ways Acting and Proceedings but even the most secret Designs and Intentions of the Hearts of every one of them from whom alone cometh all Council Wisdom and Vnderstanding that when by the Authority of our Sovereign Lord the King you shall be lawfully gather'd in his Name to Consder Debate and Determine this and other weighty Matters both of Church and State he would send down his Heavenly Wisdom from above to direct and guide you in all your Consultations That having his Fear always before your Eyes and endeavouring to lay aside so far as humane Frailty will permit all private Interests Prejudices and partial Affections the result of your councils may tend to the glory of his blessed name the maintenance of True Religion and Justice the Saâ—ety Honour and Happiness of the King the publick Wealth Peace and Tranâ—uillity of this Realm and the uniting and knitting together of the Hearts of all Estates and Persons within the same in true Christian Love and Charity one towards another which will be your greatest Honour here and the way to eternal Glory hereafter But if any in your high Station should say such I mean who sit upon the same Bench with you we are so far from grudging Papists the Power into which his Majesty has been pleas'd to put them that we will leave all to them and we will be ever Loyal but we will not act in the same Commission with them either Civil or Military These Men who are such Neâ—er-passive Loyalists may do well to consider That this their peevish Resolution is disagreeable to their Allegiance at large to their Duty by Law and to the Interest they espouse Their Principle is wholly destructive of Loyalty for to be Loyal and not to serve the King when requir'd is a plain Contradiction since Loyalty is not like a civil Ceremony but an Obligation laid upon us by the highest Law to obey those placed over us against whom he does passively rebel who is unactive in their Service And therefore the Primitive Christians obey'd their Emperors though Heathens with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes and shall We that are the Sons of the Charch of England resuse the lawful Services of a most Christian and Gracious King whom we are obliged to serve without Ifs and And 's as well when he Frowns upon us as when he Favours us for this is the only way to be God's Favourites as well as his and to prove our selves Members of Christ as well as of the Commonwealth 'T is a known Maxim in the civil Law That Subjects ought not only to obey the Government but to be Instruments of it too without which the Government could not be carried on and the greatest Princes would have less effectual Authority than a Centuriom has who says to one Go and he goes to another come and he comes and to a third Souldier do this and he does it And our common Law has therefore establish'd this Sudalternacy of obeying and bearing part in the Government of which Sr. Thomaâ— Overbury's Case and Imprisonment is a pregnant Instance 〈…〉 n it be justly said That it was an over-stretching of 〈◊〉 Prerogative for the like was after practiâ—'d upon Sr Peter Hâ—â—â—â—n who for behaving himself â—â—ke some other mutiâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 â—ons in one of the last Parliaments of King Chaâ—â—◠〈…〉 was sent against his â—iking on â—r E 〈…〉 tinate and though the w 〈…〉 ce in the Parliament of Fâ—ay 〈…〉 at that or any other t 〈…〉 him an illegal No Prince could 〈◊〉 a K 〈…〉 ouâ— this Right of compelâ—ing his Subjects to m 〈…〉 respective Offices under him And as to acting in the Commission of Peace the Great Chancellor in the late King's time in the Case of an Irish Noble Man seated in England and refusing to take the Oath of a Justice of Peace declared That he ought to do it and every Man else nam'd in the King's Commission and therefore they are unpardonable to dispute it now who have already taken their Oaths and acted many years accordingly Nor is it less against your Interest
whom all Kings Reign who are not the Peoples Creatures but his Vicegerents not intrusted with theirs but invested with his Authority The Powers that be are ordain'd of God and as he that resists them resists the Ordinance of God so he that dishonours them dishonours God's Ordinance and by consequence God himself And as respect for the King's sake is to be paid to all such Persons as he deputes to sustain his Authority and represent his Person so much more for God's sake is honour to be paid to the King whom God hath commission'd to be his Deputy on Earth and invested with the largest share of his Authority Besides God hath expresly commanded us to honour the King and twice joyn'd it with a Precept to Fear Him to denote that none can deny the King Honour but such as have no fear of God before their Eyes and that without Disobedience to God we cannot refuse to honour the King both as a Christian and a King And here once for all let it be observ'd That when St. Peter wrote his first Epistle and therein gave Christians that Precept of Honouring the King he who then govern'd them was none of the best but perhaps one of the worst in the World who ever wore an Imperial Grown a profest Enemy not to Christianity alone but to Morality too Nero was at that time the Roman Emperor who was not only an Heathen and of a different Religion from them but also as Tertullian stiles him Dictator Damnationisâ—nostrae the first Persecutor of the Christian Religion which shews him to be of none at all And yet such a King they are commanded to honour which may assure us That 't is the King's Authority abstracted from his personal Qualifications which we are to honour be his Religion what it will be it any or none at all if he be our King God requires us to consult his Honour in all things and without Disobedience to God I hope I have sufficiently prov'd that we cannot do otherwise Every True Son therefore of the Church of England who acknowledges his Majesty's Title to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms to be unquestionable must conclude it to be an indispensible Duty which he owes to Almighty God to say and do all that he lawfully may for the King's Honour 2 dly 'T is a Duty which we owe to the King and that not only because God hath by the divine Law given him a Right thereunto but also because the Benefits which we enjoy under his Government deserve if Do we not enjoy publick Peace and Preferments and the free and publick Exercise of our Religion which is a blessing infinitely more valuable than any of which we can be ambitious on this side Heaven He hath not only indulg'd that to us but by many most gracious solemn and reiterated Promises engaged his Honour and Fidelity to protect us in it which we must honour for the Church's Magnâ Chartâ the more transcendent act of Grace because not extorted by Rebellion and a security more firm than any Law which cannot tye a King who is declared the supreme Judge of the Law and above it so fast as the Obligations of his own Royal Word and Honour do it And is there nothing due for so high a Favour Are not we to be extreamly â—ender of his Honour who is so under of our Happiness as that he may justly be stiled the Defender of our Faith as well by Desert as by Inheritance as not only to protect it from real Dangers but also to protect the Professors of it from their own fears If a Nero be to be honoured much more a Titus or Vespasian If a Tyrant who was a disgrace to Humanity much more an indulgent Father of our Church and Country one whose Clemency makes him the delight of Mankind and one whole Royal Word gives his Subjects the belt Security of which they are capable 3 dly 'T is a Duty we owe to our Country The King is the Light of our Israel as David is stil'd and the more bright and resplendant this Light the more bright powerful and benign Rays and Influences will it diffuse among us He is the breath of our Nostrils and if our undutiful and indecent Behaviour towards him do eclipse his Honour by interposing any thick Body between him and his Peoples Hearts or taint the Nations Breath with an ill Savour it would be a sad Symptom of the decay of its Vitals Who knows not that the usual Methods of Treason and Rebellion have been first to blacken the Prince and make him seem vile to the People and then to tempt them to oppose and resist him First to represent him in some soul shape as the Heathen Persecutors did the Primitive Christians when they cloathed them in Beasts Skins and then expose them first to be derided and at last to be devoure'd And what did any Nation ever get by Rebellion but expence of Treasure and Blood Rapine Misery and Ruine In which Point if we are yet unsatisfied let us lit down and cast up the Accounts of ours from Forty to Sixty the summa totalis of which will be found to be nothing on the Balance but the loss of our Liberties Properties and Religion with the additional Interest of Slavery intailed upon us and ours for so many Years Can we then better consult the Kingdoms good at this time than by maintaining the Kings Honour or take a better course to keep it in Peace and Plenty than by keeping up a good Opinion of our most Gracious Prince among his Subjects or shew our selves greater Patriots or better Friends of our Country than by being zealous for our Prince's Honour and jealoâ— of all those Words or Actions which may secretly undermine it 4 thly Lastly This is a Duty we owe to our Dear Mother the Church of England from whose Breasts we have suck'd an untainted Loyalty and by whom we have been trained up to a most tender Zeal for the Honour and Service of our King without any relation had to his Religion It is well known That no Church under Heaven ever taught her Children more Loyal Principles or more constantly than she has done and therefore no Children on this side Hell would be more unpardonable for acting Distoyally than hers She never allow'd any pretence whatsoever to dising age us from our Loyalty nor did she ever absolve us when we appear'd to want it but upon sound and sincere Repentance The more inexcusable then were we if we should disgrace our Breeding and Education under her most excellent Instructions with any contrary Practices And the more indispensibly are we oblig'd to lay hold of those Opportunities which the Providence of God does now offer us to give the World such a convincing Testimony of our Loyalty as unless the True genuine Sons of the Church of England shew I question whether it will ever see Catholick Loyalty I mean not only bearing patiently but dearly loving and devoutly honouring our Prince though of a different Religion and not speaking ill of any thing of which he hath himself entertain'd a sacred or would have us have a good Opinion And thus far have I in Obedience to your commands expressed as plainly as I could the judgment of my own Mind about this important and seasonable Duty I am so sensible of my own unfitness for an undertaking of this Nature that nothing but Your's or a greater command could have drawn me to make such an essay least so good a Cause should suffer more by my Weakness than gain by my Zeal However such as it is I humbly submit it to your better Judgment not doubting but that whatever you judge to be said amiss will be by your Charity as if it had never been said by me and corrected by your Christian Prudence And if any thing be said that may be capable of doing his Majesty any Service you will conceal the Author least his obscurity prove an Obstacle to the efficacy of his Arguments Who will live and die a True Son of the Church of England a Loyal Subject to his Majesty and Your Humble Servant A. B. FINIS 1 Cor. 1.15 Laâ—ant â— 10. Tertul. ad Ment. 1 Sam. 15 30. 1 Cor. 10.31 1. Smith's Select disc 437. Ibid. 473. Ephes 4.2 Heb. 12.14 Sedulius Hymn Bract. de Leg Cons l. â— 8 n. 5. Ibid. p. â— v. 49 50. 65. ad 78. 1 Kings 1.23 1 Sam. 24.8 2 Sam. 19.27 Ps 82.6 2 Sam. 18.3 Eccl. 8.4 Job 34.18 Jâ—r 29.7 1 Pet. 2.19 20 21. Sherlock of Relig. asserts p. 144 Prov. 25.13 Num. 23.23 Juvenal Joh. 13.35 1 Kings 19.11 12. Josephus Aniq. 1.4 1 Tâ—n 3. â— 1. 2. Q. Mar. cap 9. Col 3.12 14. Can. 60 C. 75 Bramhall Repl. 229. Jer. 20.1 Ductor dub 190 250 Can. 14 Bp. Taylor 's Case of Conf. 1.3.192 Ductor dub 1.3 p. 238 Joh. 11.51 1 Cron. 28.3 2 Cron. 19.11 Ezra 7 25. Neh. 13.8 Samar revis'd 54 55. P. 58. 1 Cor. 5.12 Ductor dub p 143. â— 3.4â—8 R. 400. Jam. 1.7 Acts 20.31 Luke 9.26 Maâ—hia vel p 33â— Bp. Sanderson's 5. Cas p 18. Fergus Inter. of Reas 593. P. 487. Ifa 29.4 â—â— 11 9. Pâ— 8.15 Prov. 24 21. 1 Pet. â— 13 2 Sam. 21.7 Jer. 32.3