their practise and designs are contain'd in these Verses Sedes Summa Petri quae Pastoralis honoris Facta caput Mundi quicquid non possidet armis Religione tenet That is the Pope like the Presbyterian does his business with the word or the Sword if one will not do the other shall or they 'le fill the Nations with Blood and Wounds Yet God be thank't the Devil and those Roaring Lyons roaring out their Anathema's their Curses and Excommunications are not always Rampant nor does more harm than the Curse of Pope Julius the second did the French-men who rooted his Army at the Battle of Ravenna Fran à vitoriá a Popish Fryar de â—…ot Eccles â—…elict Sect. â—… p. 39. See Occuâ—…nen in Rom. in Rom. ep â—…ap 1. Theophyâ—…ct â—…id Blasp â—…n glossâ â—…e majoriâ—…ate oâ—…edientiâ The news whereof coming to his Holiness whilst at his Beads by the Fire-side made him in a passion to conclude his Prayers with a Curse in these very words Sit ergo gallus in nomine Diabolorum All the Devils in Hell take the Frenchman I met with one honest Fryar Francis à Victoriâ who confesses that Popes were not always so ambitious and that their pretended Supremacy over all persons and in all causes was but of late usurp't Glossatores hoc dominum dedêrunt Papae cum ipfi essent Pauperes rebus Doctrinâ That this Supremacy and Sovereignty was given to the Pope by Expositors that were as poor as proud with Purses as empty as their Pates and who were as bare of Crowns as their Crowns were bare and Shaven Hence we have cause to think that Pope Pius the Fifth who Excommunicated our Queen Elizabeth Anno 1569. was in Earnest when he said Cum essem Religiosus sperabam benè de salute meâ Cardinalis factus extimui Pontifex creatus paenè despero Which I 'le English thus When I was first made Priest my Soul did well But How when Cardinal I cannot tell Now I am Pope surly my Rome is Hell Optimi putantur Pontifices saith Papyrius Massonius who was a Popish Priest si vel leniter mali vel minus boni quam caeteri Mortales esse solent Methinks saith he we speed well if our Popes be but indifferently bad or but a little worse than other Mortals And the same say I of all that are of the said Antichristian Spirit that trouble and disquiet the Magistrate and their Neighbors putting them in Fears with their Numbers and their darings their Petitions Subscriptions like Muster Rolls Methinks we speed well if they be but indifferently bad or but a little worse than Pagans Indians Turks and Jews if they were as harmless as Indians and Insidels would tell no more Lyes nor carry on no more Bloody Designs than Pagans truly for my part I think we should be very happy in them to what we now are An Indian or Pagan for his Life could not think of such Pride and Insolence as that wherewith Pope Paul the Fifth Treated Dandalus the Venetian Ambassador when he made him Crouch under the Board and eat with the Dogs the Crums that fell from their Masters Table And yet this Bravery though more Insolent yet was less Impious then that Blasphemous Salutation which His Holyness gladly accepted from the Sicilian Ambassador that came to beg his Peace with Domine Deus Papa miserere Nostrum Lord have Mercy upon us Lord God Pope And again Oh Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World Grant us thy Peace Thus Christoper Marcellus Complemented the Pope in the Second Councel of Lateran Tu es alter Deus in terris And with like Religion did the Old Romanists Erect an Altar in Rome to Simon Magus with this Inscription Simoni Sancto Deo In honor of Simon the Hely God Not more Atheistical than these was the Painters Motto under the Effigies of Alexander the Great Jupiter assere tibi coelum ego mihi asserui terram But enough of these Insolencies and Blasphemies yet not a jot too much in these days when such Designs are on Foot to make the Crown stoop to the Mitre But for the Crown to Vaile and Lowre to the Stool of Repentance Oh abominable and Vile Forasmuch as 't is much more Honor to be foyl'd by a Lyon than to be baffled by an Ass This is nothing else but to be Persecuted with Vermine and run the Fate of that German Bishop that was devoured and Hunted to Death with Rats and Mice This is to undergo the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians that were put in Bears-skins and Baited to Death with Dogs The Pope how bad soever his Designs be yet he is a Temporal Prince of great Territories and Dominions if you reckon only the Countries called the St. Peters Patrimony whether he has got them per fas or nefas whether by Dint of the Sword or Cheat of the Word it comes all to one Reckoning yet still he is a Prince of Ancient Grandeur and the less dishonor to be Subject to him But for a Prince to stoop to Geneva-Upstarts that have nothing Eminent but Ears and Mouth is the vilest of Subjection and sets a value upon Turkish Slavery in Comparison of this Forasmuch as we expect better things from them Not that I commend our King John of England for profering himself and his Kingdom Vassels to the King of Morocco an Infidel rather than endure the Tyranny of Religious Men and the Pope forc't by Pandolphus the Popes Legate to resign his Crown to the Papal Chair which the proud Prelate kept it from him several days and then disdainfully setting his Foot upon it and the Money with which he bought his peace restor'd upon heavy terms the Crown yet certainly such Barbarous usage from Christians pretended Christians makes a great though not a sufficient Apology for him Grass they say never grows where the great Turk sets his Foot I 'me sure Math. Paris an Historian of good credit says that King John us'd to say that when he became the Pope's Footstool he never throve after to use his own words Postquam ut dixi me mea Regna Romanae subjeci Ecclesiae nulla mihi prospera omnia contraria advenêrunt Anno 1213. de Regione liberâ Ancellam fecit per chartum lugubrem saith Mathew Paris by a lamentable Charter King John made England a Bond-slave to the Pope that before was Free But his Son King Hen. 3. had it shortly after repeal'd even in times of Popery by Act of Parliament Read all our Chronicles since William the Conqueror and tell me if ever there were Wars in England but the Clergy had a great hand in them Odo Bishop of Bayeux furnished William the Conqueror with Forty Tall Ships to invade England and the Pope to encourage him sent him a Banner of the Church an Agnus of Gold and one of the Hairs of St. Peter such another Present as that Phoenix Feather which the Pope sent to the
Men And as true Religion is the best thing so it is facile and easie to learn and practice Fear God and Honor the King Love thy Neighbor includes the whole duty of Man But the Hypocrisie of Religion the Face without the Heart of Religion it requires such a deal of dresses and paintings controversies disputes dissimulations frauds and pretences that it had been much better for the good and Peace of Mankind to have had no Religion then such a perplext tragical troublesome and fatal thing as some have made it and still endeavor to make it The first Quarrel and Bloodshed that ever was in the World was about Religion therefore Cain slew his Brother Abel and became the great Example of Murthering our Brethren upon a Religious score to all Holy and Solemn Leaguers and Covenanters both of Papists in France and Protestants in great Britain We have then here a clear Evidence who is the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition namely every Spirit that sits in the Temple of God and opposes and exalts it self above the Magistrate who is called God And that Spirit that Devillish Anti-christian Spirit divides it self like two lines drawn from the circumference to the center that seem to oppose one another yet both aime at the Center into the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery The Former under pretence of Religion exalts the Mitre above the Crown and the Crosier above the Scepter the latter plumes himself in his Almighty Pulpit whilst the Magistrate truckles under him upon the Stool of Repentance both of them oppose and exalt themselves above all that is called God both of them will without scruple do evil that good may come thereof Equivocate Lye Plunder Sequester and Behead for Gods-sake and the causes-sake both of them agree in that Jesuitical tenent that Dominion is founded in grace both of them Plot and contrive Mischief where and when they have sway but always Mischief as much as in them lyes both of them have for many years been the great Disturbers of the Peace of all Christendome as well as of the Peace of England and tell me but of any Massacre or Bloody Wars and Stratagem 's against the Magistrate any Treason 's and Rebellions but what was carried on either by Papists and Jesuits or by Presbyterians and Fanaticks in the Memory of Man and I 'le be content to abide the Bloody Inquisition of the one and undergo the Fates of the Arch-Bishops and Metropolitan's of England and Scotland Canterbury and St. Andrews Murther'd by the other Both are Bejesuited and Breath nothing but Blood and Ruin for Gods-sake and Gods-cause and yet they are severally distinguish't and disguiz'd one wears a Fryars weed the other a short synodical Jump Jam. 4.1 one wear's his Crown shaven the other only crop't So that whence comes wars and Fightings amongst us From the Church the Temple of God And such as sit in the Temple of God Comes it from the conclave the Synod or the Pulpit Yes it did God knows when Men Men of Sin and Sons of Perdition with such a Text as this did make the Sacred Pulpit a Pulpit Drum to beat a Call thereon and an Alarum to Arms and War to Rebellion and Blood But such wild expositions and Harangues to bejuggle and beguile the silly Rabble came from the Lusts that Warr'd in their Members the Lust of Ambition the Lust of Covetousness after the Kings Lands the Bishops Lands the Stately Houses and Mannors of the Loyal Lords and Gentlemen And this all this and more came from the Pulpit From this Principle and Spirit of Antichrist or Rebellion under the Cloak of Religion did Pope Boniface exalted in Pride set his insulting Toe upon the Neck of Frederick the Emperor repeating with a surly grace that of the Psalmist Psa 18.40 Thou hast given me the Necks of mine Enemies and Psal 91.13 Psa 91.13 Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the Young Lion and Dragon shalt thou trample under Feet And just so did the Fanaticks who are minor Popes of a later Edition from this Principle wrest another place of the Psalmist to justifie the Murther of our late Sovereign of Blessed Memory namely To bind their Kings with Chains Psa 149 9â—… and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to Execute upon them the Judgment written this Honor of all the Saints Then that of Isa 2.2 has done great Service namely Isa 2.2 The Mountain of the Lords House shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills c. I 'le warrant there has been old quarrelling and scolding disputing and calling names Sons of Whores Sons of the Whore of Babylon Whore of Rome old Fighting and Wrangling Parrying and Fencing Thrusting and Scrambling whose Party should get up on and be this Mountain that shall be exalted upon the top of all other Mountains Ambition and Covetousness are of all Lusts never weary never tyred especially when Pride and Coverousness wears the Vizard of Religion then the Riches of Pluto and Hell cannot glut them and nothing but the ambition of Lucifer to be equal if not above their Maker can satisfie their Insatiable Pride Thus Vid. Alph de Verg. p. 123. Pope Boniface Lesson'd and Tutor'd Phillip Sirnamed the Fair King of France volumus te scire in temporali spirituali nobis subjacere you must know Sir that in Temporals as well as Spirituals you are our Subject Yet the French Army made bold to Plunder Pope Boniface 8th of more Treasure then all the Revenue of the Kings of the whole Earth amounted to in one Year Heildfield Histor a Sum by far exceeding the Sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Tun of Gold which Pope John 22. left to his Heirs All the wealth of the Indies is theirs if the King that owes those golden Mines be Priest-Ridden But the French not only of late through the Sorbonists Doctrine but also in former ages been very dull and unapt to learn the Doctrine of the Popes Supremacy and therefore the said French King Philip the Fair in his Letter to Pope Boniface in answer to his said impudent as well as imprudent claim begins his Letter with Sciat fatuitas vestra instead of Sciat sanctitas vestra that is in English I give your Fop-ship to understand instead of I give your Popeship to understand When Hen. 2. King of England was whipt and went to Tyburn in expiation of Beckets Death Thomas of Canterbury a proud Sawcy Priest and Rebel the King took every blow in Dudgeon and grumbled somewhat to himself in a menacing way whereupon the Popes legate stop't his Mouth presently with these words Domine noli minari c. Sir never threaten us who are Retainers to a Court that Lords it justly over Kings and Emperors 'T is endless to tell Stories of this Nature See Gerson Chancelor of Paâ—…is de poestate Ecles consid â—…2 part 3.
should believe Moses and the Prophets handed to them by Tradition and Humane Authority Ay but the Pharisees the Puritan Party of the Jews they must have a surer Card for their Religion then other Jews and therefore they were not content with Faith though the Prophet Habakkuk had told them that the just should live by it Hab. 2.4 no they must have more Religion and a better ground for Religion then the other Jews or then God required or did expect which was Faith only And would make the World believe that as if they had been as old as the first Mutineers and Ambitious Puritans Corah Dathan and Abiram and had seen Moses Face to shine like the Face of an Angel when he came from speaking with God in the mount they do not only by Tradition of their Fathers believe no but they knew that God spake by Moses Mr. Calvin I confess for him and his followers that he was forc't to give a Definition of Faith contrary to that in Heb. 11.1 for fear the Papists had run him a ground For if he believed Christ and the Gospel upon humane Authority or the Authority of the Popish Church which he renounc't he knew not well how to answer the renouncing the Tradition of that Church without also renouncing Jesus Christ and his Gospel therefore which he should not need he was glad to define Faith to be a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c. and this by a certain witness of the Spirit within a Man By which secret perswasion if he means Gods Grace to make a Man believe Humane Authority Christian and Humane Tradition and Laws whereby we believe the truth of the Holy Scripture he is in the right but he is evidently out of his Story in calling this Faith an assured Knowledge For alas the best of us except we Lye and Cheat and Vapor as those Puritan Pharisees did we must say with the Apostle we see but in part as in a glass Darkly and not with stedfast and assured knowledge as the Saints Triumphant do and as did the Apostles who saw and knew our Blessed Jesus and Saviour in the Flesh But hence comes all the mischief from this Vapor and Lye in making our Faith just like St. Thomas his whose seeing was believing and the rest of the Apostles what ever was true of the Apostles must be true of us which is an abominable Cheat and Imposture They were Witnesses of Christs Resurrection we only tell what they said or did Witness at the second or third hand said I no at the Thousand'th hand and at long run by the Tradition of the Christian Church and Laws of the Land he that pretends other ground for his Faith either believes he knows not wherefore and is a Fool or Enthusiast or Fanatick which is all one and a Cheat and Impostor or else is a Papist and has an Implicite Faith in the Church of Rome or else by doing Miracles as the Apostles did can and must give a Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power In the Name of God what would these Disturbers of Man-kind be at Here 's ado with their Religion their Religion and there 's not one of them knows where he got it except from the Church of England or the Church of Rome And yet they disclaim both these and consequently can demonstrate nothing nor rationally convince any Man of the Truth of their Faith except by their own secret perswasion which though it may be of God yet they cannot shew and prove but that it may be a Lye a Cheat and from the Father of Lyes Are they Ordain'd to Preach the Gospel Let us see their Commission and Ordination They answer they are Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by those that were Ordain'd by the Papists c. I knew whether they would come at long Run Nor can they justifie to the World that that English Minister of Gods word that is not the Kings Minister Ordain'd according to the Sacred and Christian Laws of England is any other then a Minister of the Pope or the Devil either a Papist or an Enthusiast and possest with the Spirit of Popery or the Spirit of Foppery Religion true Religion our Saviour says like a Tree is known by the Fruits consult all Histories antient and modern view the present posture of Affairs if ever this Hundred Years there ever was any Rebellion Massacre Tumults or Treasons Blood Rapine and Murder but either Papist or Fanatick or both had the great hand in it To look no further back then the Reign of King James who dethron'd his Mother and made a Slave and property of him in his Infancy but that Bloody Knox Buchanan and the rest of that Puritan Presbyterian brood by woful experience he tells his Son our late Martyr'd Sovereign in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That under pretence of Religion he should find Alas alas He did find it by sad experience no such Barbarous and Bloody Villains in the World When King James came into England they still made him weary of his Life and the Papists on the other hand endeavor'd to take away his Life by the Gunpowder-Treason But Blessed be God unsuccessfully all his Reign but what the Plots the Popish Plots could not accomplish against his Son the Presbyterian Plots did perfect Crowning their Villany with the Blood and ruin of the Kingdom bringing the Blessed King to the Bloody Scaffold and our Gracious Sovereign to the more Ignominious Stool of Repentance And is this your Religion where did they learn it not from God from Holy Scripture nor from this Text but from the Devil who was a Murderer from the beginning and a Lyar like these his Children and the Father of Lyes These things are plain and palpable and had not now been remembred but that Men tread the same steps follow the same methods may we not Fast and Pray say they sad oh sad may we not Preach wo be to us if we do not Preach the Gospel and wo be to you good People if we do not Preach as if the Gospel were confin'd and Monopoliz'd to a Crew that can show no Authority no Commission no Call no Warrant for what they do except from the Pope and Jesuits who I fear have a great Influence among them The King and his Laws Ordain and constitutes in England the only true Christian Bishops Priests and Deacons as he does the only true Judges and Justices of the Peace and he may deprive all of them equally And therefore if they cannot justifie there Ordination and Commission their Warrant and their Call in an Ordinary and orderly way nor yet by Miracles in an extraordinary way let them no more so idly so impudently and so vainly apply the Apostle's sayings to themselves but contrarily wo be to them if they Preach the Gospel without sufficient Call Warrant Ordination and Lawful Authority Pilate rationally and honestly subjoyn'd to the
Curse ye Meroz OR THE FATAL DOOM IN A SERMON Preached in Guild-hall-Chappel LONDON BEFORE The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen May the 9th 1680. By EDMOND HICKERINGILL late Fellow of Gonvil and Cajus Colledge in Cambridge and Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester LONDON Printed by J. R. for J. Williams at the Sign of the Crown in St. Pauls-Church-yard 1680. To the Most Illustrious PRINCESS ELIZABETH DUTCHESS of ALBEMARLE c. May it please your Grace TO take this occasion to Blazon and Publish your Virtues would be an employ as needless as his that Lighted a Candle to the Sun And if I should here declare how much I am Obliged to your Grace and how good an Opinion you have had of my Endeavours in this kind Envy perhaps would Construe it in me Ambition rather than Gratitude And if by the Formality of a Dedication I should thus engage you to Countenance or perhaps blush for my escapes it would not only be a Presumption but a Trappan None of these were Motives to perswade to this address but the Truth is Religion in this Age is so much out of Fashion amongst the Men some of them at least looking upon all Religion but as the needless Parenthesis of Life that if I take all occasions to give your Grace opportunities to encourage any Loyal and Religious attempts 't is the greatest honour I can do you or can be done to you For which cause no doubt St. John Dedicated one of his Epistles to the Elect Lady And with the same or the like methods the Apostles did so Court the great Ladies in the Court of Rome that they Proselyted to Virtue and Christianity of Honourable Women not a few Nor can I better evidence my Devotion to your Grace or more approve my own Judgment to the World than by this Dedication in making Choice of such a Protectoress to favour that Loyalty and Religion that is Retrieved in this Sermon from a Text by the perverse Interpretations of some Men almost lost and forlorn Religion I say and Loyalty I put them together for they are Twins that in our Christian Kingdom are born and Live and Dye together 〈…〉 Man in England at this day can be 〈…〉 Religious that is not truly Loyal nor any Man truly Loyal that is not truly Religious Not only I mean in the Sence of that great and good German Emperour that turned away his Prophane Servants with these words How can he be faithful to me that is not faithful to his God But chiefly because true Loyalty as well as true Religion are nothing else but an Obedience to God and the King in the Observance of the Christian Laws of the Land Any other account of Religion is Superstititious and any other account of Loyalty is Factious or Parasitical In our Age no Rebells ever disturbed the Government and England's Peace 〈…〉 such as marcht in a Religious Dress and â—…y Masquerade and therefore the most dangerous And though I cannot but have great Compassion for misguided Zeal yet I have sometimes in this following Sermon followed St. Paul's advice against my natural tenderness and inclination in reproving them sharply and giving the Devil his due None was so mild and compassionate to Publicans and Sinners as our Blessed Saviour yet when he had to do with Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites he denounc't as many Woo's as Verses against them and called Judas the Traitour plain Devil But to enlarge this Epistle would but aggravate the trouble of this interruption I shall therefore now as I daily do Conclude with my earnest Prayers for the Temporal and Eternal Prosperity of you and yours as the bounden Duty of Illustrious Madam Your Grace's most Humble and obliged Servant and Chaplain Edm. Hickeringill Colchester May 14.1680 Judges 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty I Have chosen a Text very seldom if at all insisted upon in these Times and never before by me at any time But yet about Forty years ago this Text I have heard was the Common Theam in Pulpits and Usher'd in as well as promoted the late Bloody Civil Wars In this Text some sagacious men could find Horse and Armes and hence Raise and Muster Battalia's against Soveraign Majesty nay here they could find Commissions too to vouch the Quarrel And why should this Text of Holy Writ now like a piece of Apocrypha be laid aside Antiquated and out of Date Shall this Portion of Holy Scripture never appear but like those ominous flames call'd Castor and Pollux by Marriners that sometimes precede but always presage a Storm Shall this Text of Curse ye Meroz c. never be handled but as a Sheet Anchor never made use of but in a Stress of Weather I am resolv'd to endeavor whatever be the Consequence to bring again into Reputation this Text Curse ye Meroz c. And because this Text will direct me necessarily to Treat of no vulgar Truths nor every days Discourse I will therefore for your sakes and mine own do what I never did before Read my Sermon upon this Text Curse ye Meroz c. The true and genuine meaning whereof will appear if we enquire 1. What is meant by Meroz 2. What is meant by the help of the Lord 3. Why Meroz was accursed 4. Why a good Angel the Angel of the Lord did Curse Is this the Language of a good Angel or rather the Language of a staring Hector to Curse and Damme The Language of a Popes Bull to Anathematize and Curse is this the Dialect of Heaven or the Dialect of Hell That the Fourth and last Quere why the Angel of the Lord did Curse Q. 1. First What is meant by Meroz Ans 1. Meroz is a Name not found in any part of Scripture except here but by the following words is imply'd that Meroz was one of the Associated Counties the Inhabitants whereof were Israelites Cursed Israelites Cowardly Israelites a pack of Neuters at least Judg 5.18 that whilst Zebulun and Naphtali were a People that being good Subjects Jeoparded their Lives unto the Death in the High Places of the Field to help their Soveraign Magistrate Deborah against the Enemy The Inhabitants of Meroz either out of Cowardize or Disloyalty or both staid at home and would not stir a Foot nor contribute Hand nor Heart nor their Purses neither to Royal Aid therefore Gods Angel does Anathematize and Curse them Q. 2. Secondly What is meant by the help of the Lord Ans 1. By the help of the Lord surely is meant the help of Rebels Aiding and Assisting them against the Soveraign at least men have been taught so and made to believe it and have ventur'd all their Estates nay more Body and Soul upon the truth on 't If this be the true meaning of the Words the Text
their just Title Sacra Vestigia without Scruple and that humble confession of the Prodigal Luke 15.18 Implyes that Heaven was offended with his disobedience to his Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee that is in thy sight but against Heaven against God is the Sin Committed When therefore a Temptation to Rebellion or disloyalty to the King our Sovereign Master does assault thee as Joseph's Mistress did him to disloyalty against his Master quash it in the same Heavenly Language that Joseph did Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great Wickedness and Sin against God Reas 2. The second Reason is because the Punishment of Disloyalty and Rebellion against the King is as horrid and grievous as the Punishment of Disloyalty and Rebellion against God himself Immediately namely Eternall Damnation Rom. 13.2 1. Sam. 26.9 They that resist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in plain English shall be damn'd For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be Guiltless that is no Jury empanell'd on this Inquest can acquit him or however he may escape by an Act of Grace or Oblivion at the Bar in foro civili yet cast he must be in Foro Coeli at God's Tribunal into utter Darkness except he repent unfeignedly of that Hellish deed of Darkness All which Justifies from bold Censures that just decree of the King Ezra 7.26 Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King let Judgment be Executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death or to Banishment or to confiscation of goods or to Imprisonment But in case the Sovereign Happen to be a Child as was King Josiah may some well say or a Mad-man as was Charles the 6. the French King or a Tyrant as was King Rehoboam or an Heretick an Infidel or an Apostate as was Julian to obey and help such a Sovereign Magistrate Is that to help the Lord as the Text Phrases it or is it not rather to Fight against God In such cases how ought Subjects to demean themselves in their Obedience This is a Question and a case of Conscience so naturally arising from the Text that no discourse upon it can be pertinent and home to the purpose that does not give a full and plain answer to the same And yet I am sensible it is a question as carefully as necessarily to be answered nor is he fit to come in a Pulpit that through Ignorance knows not how or through Pusillanimity dares not or through flattery will not or through carelessness neglects to direct the People in their obedience in this Particular As for Arbitrary Government and Popery though we have all the reasons in the World to believe that it is morally impossible that ever any English Magistrate had any such design in our days of setting them up and promoting them yet that 's not material Fears and Jealousies of Popery and Arbitrary Government shall as effectually do the business of those Boutifeau's and Demagogues that love to scare the People out of their Wits till they run a Madding to Tumult Mutiny and Rebellion to their Ruine like those that in danger of having the Ship Founder under them leap Overboard for fear of Drowning Hence come all the mischiefs of Tumults Treason and Rebellion The People are either not taught their due Obedience as Christians and English-men or mis-taught as they have been Fatally and from this Text. And therefore I answer plainly and with all due Submission that I would sooner have my Tongue pull'd out than perswade the Subjects of England to active Obedience to such a Word as Constantius the Emperor threatned his Bishops with saying quod ego volo pro Canone sit my Will is my Law A King of England whatever Opinion he is of in his Private Sentiments cannot speak but in the Voice of the Law of England and he is therefore called our Liege-Lord and we his Liege People And whoever urges any other obedience but according to Law or payes any other Obedience than according to Law both of them are Criminals and shall be punisht for the same by the Kings Laws and the Kings Ministers and Justices And yet I say in the Words of Tertullian and his odd Latin Tertul. ad Scapul as he usually expresses himself Colimus Imperatorem ut à Deo Secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum solo Deo minorem The King himself is accountable for his Errors to none but God his Personal errors but as King and in his Politick capacity it is impossible he should have any Errors for a King of England can do no wrong why because he cannot speak but in the Voyce of the Law and if any Injunction come out contrary to Law both they that obey and they that promote shall be punish't by the King by the Kings Law And therefore it is impossible as our Laws are that any King of England can be a Popish King for whatever opinion prevails in his private sentiments He speaks and Acts only in and by the Laws of the Land And our Laws and Religion are so incorporated that Prayers and Sacraments and Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons c. are all Divine and all Statute-Law And he that goes to separate and put asunder the same which God and the Law-makers have thus joyn'd together may if he be a Sampson possibly pull down the Fabrick but it will fall upon his own head and bury himself in the Rubbish And therefore that God that preserv'd the Reform'd Religion in France in despight of all the Massacres and Bloody designs of Charles 9. and Hen. 3. the former Brother dying weltring in his own Blood and the latter after one of his Bloody Fryars had given him his Death's Wound and Mortal Stab confessing and saying in his dying Pangs and last words learn of me that Piety is a Duty of man unto God over which worldly force hath no power And shall not the same God more probably defend and protect the Reformed Religion in England already become our established Law as well as our Religion Oh ye of little Faith And note that as the Persecutors of the reformed Religion in France never got any thing thereby but Punishment and mischief so neither did the Protestants there ever get any thing by Arms but Blood and Ruin Tyranny always ruins Tyrants and Rebellion always ruins Rebells read all Histories Sacred and Prophane and you will find that all Rebell 's like Sheba and Absalom come at long run to the Block or the Gallows or to Repentance King Rehoboam had so little wit as to threaten to be a Tyrant and what got he by it He lost Ten of his Twelve Tribes Those Ten Rebell Tribes what got they a new Tyrant and an Usurper a new Religion and a false Fanatical Non-sensical Religion by that wicked Jeroboam that made Israel to sin and then within a little while they were all carried away captive the Lord knows whither
decree and pronounce it altogether necessary for all Mankind to be subject to the Pope of Rome in pain of Damnation Observe by the way the difference betwixt the Popes old and new style For till a Thousand years after Christ no Pope was ever so audacious as to claim or usurp Supremacy over Kings and Emperors So that the Pope in ordine ad spiritualia and the presbyterian ribus Christi hookes in all Dominion Kings will have a good share left between them but Pride and Covetousness taught these Sons of Perdition these Innovations and Usurpations For Priests and Bishops themselves however they pretend the derivation of their Office from Christ yet have the liberty of the open Administration thereof from the Civil Authority alone and Laws of the Land Object But suppose the Civil Authority will not be so civil to us to grant us this liberty is not this Persecution what shall we do in this case Ans In such a Case obey our Saviour's Command and take his advice Mat. 10.23 When they Persecute you in one City Fly to another and in one Country Fly to another Country Every good Christian every tender conscience will do it but the Papists and Fanaticks and Non-conformists scorn the motion flye say they what fly from our dear proselytes fly from our Dayly-bread fly from our flocks and our herds they scorn it they 'le sooner fly in the Magistrates Face they are good Christians the while St. Paul thought himself happy that he could fly though he ventur'd a Limb by Flying being let down in a Basket over the City Wall and so escaped their Hands Obj. But we live not under Pagan but Christian Magistrates and therefore should expect better things of them Ans I grant it and so we do Blessed be God any man may in England be as good a Christian as he will and instead of Persecution for the same have encouragement from the King and his Laws But woful experience has taught not to trust with too much Power Canters and Hypocrites Juglers and Dissenters no Nation in the World but endeavors to maintain its own being it s own Laws and Constitutions from the Plots and Conspiracies of such as always Watch to defame disparage contemn circumvent and undermine it especially to such as have bid defyance to a good Conscience for a good and conscientious Christian dares not disobey our Saviors Command but if he be persecuted in one Country he will he must he ought to fly to another and in the Interim if he cannot Fly willingly to suffer for Christ and joy and glory therein as the Apostles did and not whine mutiny and complain as Fanaticks do Alas the Men do not believe what they would make others believe that woe be to them if they do not Preach the Gospel if they did they would Preach it in India in Turky in Persia the World is wide and the Converting of a Turk has a better Reward than the perverting of one that is a Christian already Cicero indeed holds it to be Heresie to differ or dissent from the Religion of a Man's Country and the King of Morocco answered the Ambassadors of King John of England requesting to know how His Majesty liked St. Paul's Epistles which he had lately read with a Protestation that were he to chuse a Religion he would be a Christian But he held it abominable not to live and dye in the Religion received from his Fore-fathers and his Country But these were Infidels and to be condemned by us Christians who are taught to call no Man Master nor no Man Father or Rabbi upon Earth that is not jurare in verba Magistri but to give a reason of the Faith and hope that is in us though the said Cicero and the Infidel King spoke like as they were very Wise-men and great States-men But when through Gods great Mercy we are happy in being born in a Country Beautified with the best Religion and the best Laws nothing but the said Spirit of Popery or Foppery can make any Man a Non-conformist Our Blessed Saviour though he was Lord of Heaven and Earth and also poor and penny less yet when tribute was demanded of him rather than he would offend the Law of the Land he liv'd in did a Miracle to get Money to pay his Assessment St. Paul upon his Tryal when he was Indicted before Festus by the Jews who laid many grievance complaints against him he clears himself by Pleading not Guilty not by demurring to the Jurisdiction of the Court and Laws of the Land Acts 25.28 and yet they were Heathen Laws but Pleads not Guilty and Justifies that neither against the Law of the Jews nor against the Temple which yet was Superstitious nor yet against Caesar though their Conqueror and Invader had he offended any thing all And Acts 28.17 In these words clears himself namely I have committed nothing against the People or customes of our Fathers I wonder by what Rule by what Pattern a Non-Conformist walks whilst he will neither coppy after Christ nor St. Paul Surely no opinion is so wild and extravagant but will find some Fools so wicked as to follow it though it ruin them I read of a Sect called Caynites because they praised Cain in Murdering his Brother others that have commended Corah Dathan and Abiram as stout Independents and Libertines that would not be controul'd with never a Moses or Aaron of them all nay I read of one Bruno that writ an Oration in Commendation of the Devil and his Luciferian Pride Oh liberty liberty is a sweet thing say some the very Birds when caged had rather live at all adventure and perhaps starve then be coup't up with never so much Plenty oh say they liberty of Conscience to believe what we list and say what we list and do what we lift is a very precious enjoyment Happy are the People that are in such case like the Guiana-Indians sine Lege sine Rege I can tell you of a time and a Country in Holy Scripture where there was just such a time of Liberty And yet they had a King the good King Asa but of little benefit to the People because they had a great mind to this same liberty and to live as they list and lawless Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God no matter for that saith the Atheist and without a teaching Priest all the better saith the Papist and Fanatick and without Law all the better saith the Libertine Here was a time to some Men's wish and was it not a happy time Read that in the 5. verse And in those times there was no peace to him that went out or to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity And 't is Impossible it should be otherwise for there was no Law no Yoak every