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
Souls Let the Powers set over us be what they will we must suffer them and not attempt to right our selves And therefore Tertullian boasts with Confidence that when Pescenius Niger in Syria and Clodius Albinus in France and Brittany rebell'd against Septimius Severus a Bloody and Cruel Emperor and pretended Piety and Publick Good yet none of the Christians joyn'd with either The Thebaean Legion in the Eighteenth Year of Dioclesian suffered themselves to be cut in Pieces every Man 6666. in number by Maximianus the Emperor No Man in that great advantage of Number Order and provocation listing up their Hands except it were in Prayers And the Christians under Julian tho an Apostate from his Religion had Arms for him but none against him though he brought the Commonwealth it self as Well as the Church in danger The only diversion they gave to his damnable Counsels and Deligns was their Prayers and Tears which as it was St. Paul's Faith is still an Article of the Christian Religion to which great Truth and Duty none hath born or ever will bear gâ—â—â—â—â—â— â—â—stâ—mony than the Church of England No Man of any Learning or Religion in her Communion will ever say or do any thing against the Honour or Interest of his Prince for it is God's Power in the Supreme Magistrate be it good or bad And therefore whosoever rebels against him rebels against the Power and Dispensation of God if he use the Power for Destruction which was given him for Edification I have nothing to do but something to suffer let God take care if he please We had better suffer Inconveniencies from one than from every one Religion without mixaures of Ambition and Interest works no violent effects on the State and therefore when the Jewish Empire was destroyed and they were carried captive into Babylon God commanded them to seek the Peace of the City whither he had caused them to be carried Captives and to pray unto the Lord forit for in the Peace thereof shall ye have Peace i. e. they Were to minister to the publick peace as Subjects and Servants by paying a chearful Obedience to the Commands of the king of Babylon and observing his Laws though Contrary to their own There was no Law of the Romans by which Christ could have been put to Death and yet He suffered patiently and threatned not leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps And accordingly the Primitive Christians took their Lives in their Hands to Fight the battles of Pagan and Tyrannical Emperors and patiently laid them down at last rather than make or countenance any Resistance against them and if ever we learn Purity of Doctrine or Innocency of Life it must be from them and from the Councils of the Church who for Twelve hundred Years taught no other Doctrine Tertullian prayed for Domitian as great a Tyrant as he was That God would give him a long Life secure Empire stout Armies faithful Senators and all that his Heart could wish They were subject to their Temporal Lords and honoured them for his sake who was their Eternal And he who hath read Cardamus's Encomium Neronis will find that the worst of Princes do much more good than harm and that none of them ever endeavoured the Destruction of their own Subjects and yet if they did and the People should be vex'd into the Sin of Rebellion by such a temptation bigger than their strength it may be God would cut him off and yet punish the People for their Rebellion too As the Prince does not get his Authority over us by his vertue so neither can he lose it by his Vice he does not Rule precariously over us but by the Gift und Grace of God God alone is the Supreme Lord and Governor of our Consciences in all cases and to pretend his Authority for disobeying our Governors when we have it not is like counterfeiting the King 's broad Seal to justifie a Rebellion Nor is it any sign of a good Conscience to censure others especially our Superiors for a bad one But alas we have too much reason to complain that Christian Religion is fallen from this its Primitive Purity and made to favour that which it formerly look'd upon as Capital and to deserve no better Wages than Death its Sacred Name is now applyed to every Humour is not to every Sin which will be a Crime more unpardonable in us than in any People under the Sun for God hath given our King an Imperial Crown and a Head sit to wear it a Sword and Scepter and an Hand sit to manage them and which is the greatest Blessing of all a gracious Heart inclinable to do his Subjects all the Good they will suffer him to do his Piety and Pity are equal to his Power and his Throne is established in Righteonsuess He hath been long Afflicted himself and is not now to learn how to pity his Afflicted Subjects he know what it was to bear the Cross before ever he came to wear the Crown he hath selt the smart of the Rod upon his own back and the more he hath been injured and oppressed himself the readier is he to pardon others and the more unwilling to punish them with Severities whom he judges to be of truly tender Consciences and why should we like his Throne the worse for being the Seat of Mercy God to his own Glory and our Comfort hath miraculously preserv'd him from his and our Enemies let him not complain that he is wounded in his Honour even in the House of his Friends It will not legitimate an ill Word or Action though it should happen to be spoken or committed in defence of the Truth Christ would not suffer St. Peter to violate the Magistrate's Authority in wounding one of his Officers no not to guard him who was Truth it self he applauds not his Zeal but reprehends his Rashness God needs not our Sins to serve his Concerns I wish those who profess themselves the Churches greatest Votaries would frequent her Prayers daily and study her Articles and Doctrines as much as some of your Fellow Members do the Journals of their House and then they would soon be satisfied That though the King should invade our Rights of which he hath given us no Jealousie yet would it be no ground for us to invade his in whom the Publick Happiness of these his Kingdoms does consist let us therefore never dispense with our Loyalty to serve our worldly Ends for if Honesty and Integrity be the best Policy as all good Men believe it our best and most Christian Course will be to prefer our Duty and Conscience before any Earthly advantage what soever in Prospect or Possession Let the Roman Catholick Religion be represented to you under any frightful Circumstances whatsoever let me request you to consider nevertheless that it is not impossible for a good conscienious and well-meaning Man to turn Papist Men of good Understanding and of great
They are not Christians of a sound Constitution who labour under such Fits of unnatural Zeal nor have they their Conversation in Heaven For this is not to Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which none shall see God who searches the Secrets of the Hearts and loves weak Sincerity better than strong Hypocrisy which is the Original of all such Vnchristian Heats Every Man as well the Prince as the Subject is bound to stand up in his own way for the defence of that Religion which he verily believes to be True And when the Foundations of Faith are shaken either by Superstition or Prosaneness he who puts not out his Hand as firmly as he can with Justice and Charity to support it is too wary and may come to be condemn'd at the last Day for his Neutrality and for having more care of himself than of the Cause of Christ and it may prove a wariness which in the end will bring more danger than it shuns We think our selves therefore oblig'd to lay aside the Rule of a late Philosopher of our own Country That every Prince is God's Interpreter and so consequently That His Religion ought to be Ours For except Contradictions could at the same time be true it would make God the Author of all the Religions in the World of which there are many so called which are neither Pure nor Vndesiled But the Enquiry is saving our own Integrity and walking Humbly and Vprightly with God who hates Juggling and playing Fast and Loose concerning a sort of Brotherly Forbearance and good Manners to which Christ was never thought to be an Enemy Let us seriously consider what shall be done to that Religion which the King desires to honour and which He embraces as the best in his Judgment To which I answer 2 dly That the True Sons of the Church of England of what Quality or Degree soever ought not to have a less Respect for the King for being of another Church or Religion because as Dominion is not founded in Grace so neither is our Duty grounded upon having a Religion common both to the King and his Subjects Neither will it suffice to say That though we cannot pay him the same high Respect that we would if he were of our Church and Faith yet we will still be Loyal For this High Respect is a main part of the Thing and as fast as this lessens and cools the remainder of Loyalty will proportionably grow fainter as to its outward Exercise And if Religion be once set up against Loyalty they will both be spoil'd Though the Prince be of one Religion and the People of another yet he will be Gracious if they are Loyal and they may live very quietly together if they do their Duty to God and Him The Elector of Brandenburgh is himself a strict Calvinist and most of his Subjects Lutherans and a late Duke of Zell was a Papist and his Subjects of the Reform'd Religion and yet liv'd in all Love and Concord as we may do I am sure in this Kingdom better than any People in the World if we are not wanting to our selves And therefore he is neither a Good Christian nor Subject who does not do all things that are Lawful and Honest which his Sovereign expects or requires with all Alacrity and Respect without Murmuring Disputing or Repining Or who would limit his Prince's Pleasure where God hath not done it 'T is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any Duty of Religion or give any Disturbance to the Government or alienate the Hearts of his Subjects from the Supreme Governor Ours I am sure will not suffer it nor matters it what Religion any Man is of that is a Rebel The Opinion of his Sect will neither satisfie the State nor save his Soul Whatsoever is Peevish Disrespectful Vnthankful or Dispising of Dignities is against the Form of Sound Doctrine which Christ and his Apostles have taught us Lex Christiana neminem suo jure aut dominio privat non eripit mortalia qui regna dat coelestia And our Law is as clear as God's in this Point Nemo de factis suis praesumat disquirere multò minus contra sactum suum venire saith the Learned Bracton who was Lord-Chief-Justice Twenty Years under Henry III. And therefore 't is no new Law of new Judges of a Popish Prince's putting in but the old Law of England Nullus est qui ab eo factorum aut rationes exigere possit aut poenas 'T is not Tyranny Infidelity Heresy or Apostacy that can discharge the Subject's Duty to his Prince as we are truly instructed in that Excellent Book which was formerly and ought still to be read in our publick Schools called Deus Rex Neither Priest nor People must lessen their Respects to the king upon these or any other Pretences whatsoever The deportment of the Saints of God towards the persons of Princes was always Humble and their Behaviour Respectful Nathan the Prophet bow'd his Face to the Ground before David the Mitre always stoop'd to the Crown And when the Prince sits on his Throne the Prophet himself must lie at his Footstool Nay when Princes were themselves Vnholy the Saints of God shew'd them all Respects imaginable not as Sinners but as Sovereigns Saul was none of the best of Princes to any especially to David to whom he could never afford a good Word and yet David calls him My Lord the King and that not out of Flattery and Courtship but of Loyalty and Duty Nor had he behav'd himself like a Saint nor a Man after God's own Heart if not like a Subject and been afraid to speak evil of Dignities the worst of which even Pharaoh himself was of God's raising up and ought to be to his Subjects as an Angel of God in Mephibosheth's Judgment Nay the Immortal King calls them Mortal Gods I have said ye are Gods tho Devils in Practice they are Fountains and Objects of Honour Nero as well as Augustus Julian as well as Constantine not as Holy for Dominion is not founded in Grace but as Supreme not for their Goodness but for their Greatness for they are at worst more worth than Ten thousand of us They are the Lord-Treasurers of Heaven put in Places of more Trust and Honour than other Men they arc intrusted with our Estates liberties and Lives with our Religion and Souls they are the Churches Nursing-Fathers and God's Vicegerents his Prime Ministers And who may say to them What do'st thou 'T is not who dares say but who may lawfully or ought to do it with Impunity For so Elihu Interprets it Is it sit to say to a King Thou art Wicked and to Princes Ye are Vngodly It is not only unsafe in respect of the danger but it is an unsanctified and sinful Saying it is damnable and next to Blasphemy 't is a Wickedness against God and a Wound to our own
Integrity may as well be deceived as Mr. Chilling worth was who once thought that our Religion of the Church of England was not a safe way to Salvation though he died of another and better Judgment And why may not others as Prudent Pious and Consciencious Men as he be deceived and misled into Popery by Men better skill'd and instructed in the Controversies than they are They are Christians still though crring ones and Members of the Catholick Church as well as we and can their errors in Judgment which are injurious to none but themselves forfeit their Civil Rights Or those in Practice except they be such as are destructive of humane Society Would not the Primitive Christians do you think have been well contented that their Emperors if they had been of the same Communion of Rome should with all of the same Communion have injoyed an uncensur'd use of their Religion and been ready to make Addresses of Thanks for the peaceable Enjoyment of their own Let the same mind be in you as was in them and that will adorn your Christian Profession We cannot but bewail it as our great Calamity and a just Punishment of the last Age's Disloyalty which most horridly Murder'd the best of Kings at Noon-day before the Gates of his own Royal Palace and banish'd his Royal Progeny and drove them into Foreign Parts to seek for that safety from others which their own Unnatural and Blood-thirsty Subjects would not afford them That our Gracious King was then tempted above measure and hath since joyn'd himself to the Roman Church and lives in the Practice of a different Worship from us But since God in his infinite Wisdom hath permitted it to be so it is our Duty to acquiesce therein and behave our selves towards him so as may be most consistent with his Honour and our Duty in the present Circumstances and that the rather because we may be well assured that our Gracious Sovereign had no Design nor Interest to serve in the changing of his Religion but an eternal one in the saving of his Soul To embrace a Religion when it was decry'd and kept down by Penal Laws is in the Judgment of Charity a great Argument of Sincerity and Christian Resolution when it was sâ—culi reatus the greatest National Crime of which he could have been guilty To embrace a Religion when it was every where spoken against out of Fashion and decry'd When a Man follows Christ to Hierusalem in Triumph he may be an Hypocrite but certainly if he follow him to Golgotha as he is going to the Cross you have reason to believe him a Sincere Disciple Our Gracious Sovereign's joyning himself at such a time to the Church of Rome when it brought his very Tule to the Crown in question and made his Life insecure and uneasie was an instance of his Gallant and Great Soul and much resembled on the part of the Person the courage of the First Christians who were well aware that in the very Prosession thereof they bid adieu to worldly interest and Tranquillity This beâ—ing apparently done out of no lower Principle than the Glory of God and the Salvation of his own Soul though not the Deed yet inslead of it the Sincere Will is favourably accepted with God and should be so with all good Men. Seeing it is an Observation of Lactantius and St. Augustin concerning a Religion Infinitely worse that Almighty God was pleased to take kind notice of the honest Meanings of those grosly mistaken Worshippers for though an Erroneous Conscience could not bind to the Act yet if after all possible due Enquiry it act Erroneously it doth not certainly bind to Punishment God winked at the days of Ignorance especially when accompanied with that Integrity of Heart of which God gives such an acquitting Character in the Case of King Abimelech and if this were not so it would go ill with the Men of the highest Intellectual and Moral Vertues who confess themselves to be as truly short of being perfectly free from all Sins of Ignorance as they are from those of Frailty When thus much hath been said concerning his Majesty's Religion it may be added That his Change proceeded not meerly from an easie Well-meaning but from Arguments however they be less weighty to us which had prevail'd with many Wise and Good Men and had an advantage perhaps in his Case from some Early Doubts hardly to be avoided in that Conversation into which the Rebels who had impudence enough to call themselves English Protestants had driven him as I before told you against whom and not against our Gracious Sovereign should the disrespects of all the True Sons of the Church of England be turn'd The King thinks us in the wrong and so pities and prays for us That God would bring us into the right Way and 't is a groundless and uncharitable Jealousie that he will ever hurt us because it would neither be for his Honour nor Happiness to make them miserable who have always been his best Fricâ—ds such mischiefs may be fear'd by some but will never be felt by any Let us rather depend upon God's wise and gracious Providence in the use of Lawful Means and put our Trust and Confidence in his Power and Goodness not doubting but he â—areth for us rather than be jealous of our King without Cause and so far as God sees it conduce to his Glory and our Good he will deliver us from all our Fears Let us commit the care of our Religion Lives and Estates to him And indeed Where is our Faith if we will not trust him with the defence of it but seek to prop it up and support it by base and unwarrantable Arts as if every thing were lawful that tends to keep out Popery This will cast such a Reproach and Insamy upon our Religion as can never be wip'd off it will open the Mouths and sharpen the Pens of our Enemies shall we take more Liberty to our selves than we will allow the King What safety can our Sovereign expect if he cannot be allow'd the free Exercise of his own Religion without his Subjects repining What Reputation can he have abroad or what Reverence at home Is this to provide things honest in the sight of all Men Will this put to Silence the Ignorance of Foolish Men to turn our Religion into a Cloak of Maliciousness to prove our selves Wolves in Sheeps Clothing Cannot we abhor Idols without flying into his Face who is the Image of God upon Earth Is this to keep Innocence and to take heed to the thing that that is Right Is not this rather the ready course to create in him and all the World besides an ill Opinion of us and our Religion We may be just and dutiful to the King without being unfaithful to God and if we be so our Religion will not only keep its Ground but make new Conquest and spread it self further in the World nor shall any Policy of Men or Devils
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
they hold their Principle which is none of the best obtain all yield nothing so far are they from being arm'd with Epaminondas his brave heroick Resolution Totius orbis â—â—â—itias despicere prae patriae charitate to despise private Interests for Love of the publick Peace of Church and State This were such a Self-dental as would adorn a Christian and speak him truly Catholick and if Distempers in the Body Natural and Political are reduc'd by Physicians and Politicians not to what they should be but what they can be then let us not strive to advance our Christian Liberty above the Laws of Sobriety Charity and Government nor endeavour to serue any Peg so high in the Church as to make a discord in the State but endeavour calmly to perswade and convince Men by the Scriptures and Reason for though the Ministry and Service be ours yet the Dominion is his who bears the Sword and whose Friends must be ours or else we are not Chrict's nor our own We may keep our Consciences Tender but not so raw as to kick and wince at all which touches us or which we understand not Remember that of Lactantius Quae ubi aut qualis est Pietas nâ—mirum apud eos qui bella nesciunt qui concordiam cum omnibus servant qui omnes homines pro sratribus diligunt qui â—ohibere iram sciunt omnemque animi furorem tranquillâ moderatione lenire Such an Evangelium armatum as some warm Disputants would make our Religion favour would better become John Goodwin to publish who was better skill'd in the methods of embroiling Three Kingdoms than any True Sons of the Church of England whose Laws are not like Draco's the Athenian written in Blood Her Heart is not so petresied as to rejoyce in Evil she abhors all living Bonefires she prays for the Conversion of her's and God's Enemies and delights in their Reformation but not in their Ruine her Commands are like her Saviour's with the Sceptre and not with the Sword unless it be of the Spirit which she never suffers to make way to Mens Consciences by cutting through their Flesh Let my Soul never come into such Bloody Councils at these The Greek Church approves not to this day the putting Hereticks to Death and we have great Reason to Bless God and the King that our Writt de Haeretico comburendo is taken away by Act of Parliament and may all other Sanguinary Laws perish and be abolish'd as well as that made in this or any Christian State against Men upon the score of Christian Religion if the most notorious Offenders against it be punished with a civil Death here and an eternal hereafter 't is sufficient Defendenda est Religio non occidendo sed moriendo Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus evangelici fraterna necessitudine cohaeremus quam qui non agnoscit injustus est Christianity binds us to purchase Peace at Interest rather than keep up a Party against it for there is such variety of Education Interest and Custom in the World that he who resolves to yield to no Body can agree with no Body Christ comply'd with the Rites and Customs he found in the World and condeseended to the very Humours of Stubborn People to ingratiate himself and his Doctrine And Erasmus hated discord so much that he lov'd not any Truth that might occasion it Mihi sane adeo invisa est discordia ut veritas eâ—iam displiceat seditiosa Nor can any desire to keep the Wounds of the Church or Kingdom open but such as would he better pleas'd to suck the blood of both and peaceable Princes have a happy time of it to serve the Humours of such Men and receive such Encouragements as they daily give them There was to be no destructive Beast in all God's Holy Mountain the Beasts of prey came down from Mount Seir and not from Mount Sion If the Counsels of any of the Enemies of our Church be of Men or Devils it will come to nought but if it be of God we cannot overthrow if least happily we be sound Fighters against God and if ever we hope upon good Grounds to ride on and prosper it must be because of our Truth and Right â—ousness and Meekness not of Humour and Petulancy for this is a time of healing and not of troubling the Waters There is nothing wanting to make us live quietly one by another though of several Judgments whilst we agree in the Fundamentals of Religion and loyalty but the subduing of our own inordinate Affections Did we take up the Cross to lay it upon other Mens Shoulders or do we fellow Christ as the Jews did to Crucisie him This is to love Christ and the King as Men do one another till they be brought to the Tryal Goodness is the best Note of the True Church and I hope will prove the inseparable Character of Ours for I am sure none are so affable to their Brethren on Earth as they that have their Conversation in Heaven If we will suffer it our Religion is ready to tye the Gordian-knot of Kindness between us and all who deserve the Name of Christians it will breed an harmony in the Affections of all the King's Subjects who receive it it will sublimate and spiritualize their Humanity and draw it off from all the Dreggs of Malice and Uncharitableness and teaches us to love the King for his Goodness as well as others to fear him for his Resolution The Samaritans held it an Abomination to come near a Man of a different Religion or Perswasion from them but we have not so learned Christ may there never any sâ—â—iâ—e be heard amongst us but who shall strive first and most to serve God and the King Unless you loath your present Manna and long for your old AEgyptian Leeks and Garlicks you will not make others look like Devils that you may look the more like Saints but you will join with the Church and the meanest of her Children and say a hearty Amen to this Prayer Domine da pacem in diebus nostris and spend your time in Prayers to the God of Peace that you may prevail to stisle and put out those Dissentions which the Divel has kindled among us and in Tears if you cannot so shall ye be sound in Peace by the Prince of Peace at his coming without spot and blameless and our Hierusalem be built up as a City at Unity in it self Sir I have not martial'd my Thoughts into such a method as I should and would have done if my time and other Accomplishments had born any proportion to your Expectations and the duty of such an undertaking but I hope I have said enough to make it plain to all the True and Well-meaning Sons of the Church of England that what I have press'd you and them to do and resolve by God's Assistance to practise my self Is 1 st A Duty we owe to Almighty God by
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