begon cry'd he ye leud spirits wrapt up in debauch't Exhalations ye impiously adorn the Shrine whilst ye traiterously invade the Throne and in vain do ye invoke the Name of the Saint whilst ye rebell against the Majesty of the King but * Sir Edmundbury Godfrey mine shall remain a lasting Monument of such infamous principles when these Massy ruines are sunk into the Earth or quite swept away from the face of it At these words the Monks vanisht and all the Vision fled away but the Ghost of Sir E. B. G. who turning to me said Could I as easily defeat all those Legions of new Rebels who distinguish between the Person and Authority of the Prince as I have conjured down those old ones who did it between the Martyr and the King my fate which hath been made use of by precipitated fears and tumults to destroy the Government might by orderly Counsels have establisht the safety of the Kingdom and that Reformation which brought such benefit to the Nation by the dissolution of Abbies should not have been an occasion of ruining Church and State by erecting Conventicles Oh Reformation Reformation cry'd he and then he was pleased to bestow a little Latin upon his mouth Corruptio optimi est pessima O thou latitudinarian word Oh thou word of endless comprehension it has wheadled it self into all the variety of actions under the Sun it signifies Repenting Repairing Renewing Rebuilding Reducing Redressing and eke Rebelling as also Killing Plundering Sequestring Libelling Canting Purging and Fluxing and sometimes is graciously pleased to signifie nothing Reade in all Histories sacred and prophane and you shall find that all mankind both Black White and Mulattoes lay claim to this great and glorious title of Reformation this is the pretence of violent Thieves and Murtherers as well as of good Princes and just Lawyers of Absalon and Jeroboam as well as of David and Josiah of Nero that Burnt Rome as well as of Constantine who became more glorious by the Church than by the Name he gave his City which he built This is the pretence of Enthusiasts as well as of Pious and Learned Divines this was the gay excuse of Cataline and Messer Anello of Jack Straw Wat Tyler and Colonel * Who defaced Canterbury Sandys this came by the Honourable Title of Inspiration to Mahomet and Sergius to Simon Magus Ignatius Loyola and Hugh Peters to St. Francis St. Benedict St. Smectymnus St. Sol in Cancro c. This is the pretended Property of all Mortality from Hercules that slew the Lyon and the Bear and the Hydra and the Lord knows what to the good old Puritanical Gentlewoman who killed her Cock for treading the Hens on the Sabbath-day this has occasioned the great Revolutions in Empires Kingdoms and Commonwealths has been the Prologue to the great Tragedies of the World whose Scenes never change without a deluge of Blood This with Rebellion seems the very Original guilt of Bodies politick makes them subject to fatal changes and turns them from a flourishing Paradise into a ruin'd Wilderness this accompanies all Plots Conspiracies Confederacies Associations Massacres holy Leagues solemn Covenants but when it appears in the World in its genuine purity and excellency free from hypocrisie secular interests and designs which it seldom does by how few is it regarded or known or how long does it remain before 't is invaded by disorders or involved in the confusions of a giddy and unsetled world Men still pretending the very same thing they are destroying When Noah by the Building of the Ark which was a Type of the Church preach't to the World a Reformation how few of the hunting Nimrods left the pursuit of their pleasures to hear him Nay when 't was thus reform'd after a manner which Boccalin bespeaks in the person of Cato the Earth no sooner appear'd but C ham uncovered his Father's nakedness began to break his seven Precepts for which he receiv'd a Brand of black Infamy which shall remain as a testimony to all posterities that there are a sort of men in the World that can never be Reform'd or made white no sooner was the Law of the Two Tables delivered with all the astonishing Magnificency that might make a lasting impression but the Soveraign multitude made Aaron their Protector and worship't the Golden Calf which flow'd from the melted Rings taken off their itching Ears the whole body of the Law was not delivered before Corah Dathan and Abiram with their Levellers took men made a tumult invaded the Priesthood under pretence that the whole Rabble was holy for which unparallel'd Rebellion they led the way to those who resist the higher Powers which were now testified to be ordained of God because they were punish'd by a death not common to men No sooner was the Gospel that great and glorious Reformation of the World delivered but we find it opposed by Scribes and Pharisees by Herod and Pontius Pilate by Jews and Gentiles who though differing in Interests and Opinions engag'd in the same Association to make Coesar a glorious King by killing him who gave him his Authority And although the Gospel planted in the world by our Saviour and his Apostles continued three Centuries in its Purity strugling with Persecutions and Tribulations yet the damages it receiv'd by Heresies which are the tares among the wheat were of more fatal consequence being reckon'd 80 by Epiphanius which afterward multiplied into such infinite Innovations and Superadditions taken either from Jewish or Heathen Customs and found beneficial to the ambitious projects of sinful men that then Chiristian Piety began to decay and give way to gaudy superstition and a policy worse than devilish because pretended to be heavenly was set on foot which has made a great part of the world slaves and not a few Atheists Thus truth was cloathed with golden Fetters and Chains Obedience inverted and Religion in fardingals so dilated that it lookt like a fair well proportioned face in a Magnifying-glass distorted into vast deformities and thus Popery became exceedingly Popish Now although the Truth of Religion appear'd in every Century in some little Mr. Bircber Protest Evidence Mr. Shaw Origo Protest glances as several Authors testifie if it be lawfull for a Ghost to quote Authors yet it never broke out to any purpose untill the Resolute Luther made way for it through thick and thin provok'd to it by the Impious Indulgences of Pope Leo the 10th and the loud Immoralities of the Spiritual Court who soon found some Princes of Germany of the same mind or easily perswaded them to it but none more considerable than King Henry the Eighth of England who though he writ against Luther found greater Irregularities and Abuses in the Consistory which moved him being of a fierce disposition and fit for so great a work to deny and abolish the Pope's Supremacy to reassume his own to vindicate the Authority of National Synods and so made way for his Pious Son
above those who design mischief when they are awake and dream of nothing that is good when they are asleep above Popish Priests up to the Ears in Legends Fanaticks in Pulpits or Witches upon Bromstaves for his fancies are for the real good of others as well as for to please himself Parables are lively Pictures of significant truths and Morality was excellently described in Fables by a Heathen but it does not a little trouble me that the Beasts in Aesop should shame some men now a days who will not be convinc'd of the Errors and Mischiefs they are engaged in when they have the opportunity of being better taught by the truly ancient and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England but her Adversaries the Jesuits and Fanaticks who deny the King to be Head of the Church do likewise reject the Reformation by his Authority the Papists Sham it and would make it a ridiculous Schism the Presbyterians though they renounce the Pope yet retain to themselves that Usurpation which was above 500 years a gaining by the Popes finding that such a Discipline was not consistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England Preach't up a Reformation more pure and primitive as they pretended the reasons we shall know afterwards Therefore the Emblem of the Church we saw in the last Vision having vanquish't and discovered the unjust Stratagems both of the Council of Trent and of the Assembly of Divines ordered her own Convocation of Orthodox and Learned Church-men to defend her for the future against both Papists and Presbyterians They were no sooner fat but in came Harding and boldly told them That they were a small obscure meeting of Calvinists that reformed the Church As soon as Bishop Jewel espied him That is very false said he I will tell you the truth and tell you otherwise in the Epistle I wrote concerning the Council of Trent to a Venetian Noble man my words relating to our Reformation are these For our selves we have done nothing but with very good reason nothing but what we saw to be lawfull and to have been practised by the Ancient Fathers without any reprehension at all wherefore we called a full Synod of Bishops and by common consent of all estates purged our Church as it were Augeas 's Stable of all superfluities which either the negligence or malice of men had brought in this was justly in our power to doe and because we could doe it we did it faithfully At this I was so encouraged as to ask Harding whether or no they were Calvinists or a small obscure meeting that signed the Judgment of the Convocation that the Pope cannot call them without the King's consent in the year 1536 there being present the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London 13 Bishops 49 Abbots c. Now the fatal blow was given to the Papal Authority in England and yet these could not be Calvinists nor were they few or contemptible indeed you Popish Writers are great adversaries to National Councils because they will look after the Civil Rights that the Court of Rome do not encroach upon them which a General Council wherein the Pope is what he pleases cannot therefore Cardinal Palavicini profoundly tells Lib. 14. cap. 12. us that Concilio Nazionale sempre abhorrito dà Pontifici That the Pope did always abhor a National Council and good reason because it sometimes stops that Torrent of Money which he says is so necessary to maintain the carnal felicity of the Church therefore we know why you stickle so much against the Methods of our Reformation which Mr. Shaw has well justified and Origo Protest which Dr. Burnet says was advanced with such deliberation in King Henry the Eight and King Edward the Sixth's time as is as great an evidence of the ripeness Part 1. Pag. 289. of their proceedings as can be shewed in any Church in any Age So that we were Reformed without that violence the German Divines were as the Letters between Osiander and Cranmer testifie or without Rebellion which is always the consequence of Popish Reformations At this he march't off and made room for Raynolds a Rhemish Renegado who came Busling up And although said he ye have fob'd off Mr. Harding yet I suppose I shall prove your Reformation to be a wicked Separation from the Roman Communion which the irreconcilable divisions among you testifie for hear what I say to Whitaker Pag. 481. Have you not at this present among you a great murmuring even amongst the Protestants against the Communion-Book and State of Religion which in the beginning of her Majesties Reign was Queen Elizabeth brought in If the Catholicks said nothing have you not the Puritans detesting your Faith and were it not for the Prince's Sword ready to dispossess you of Chairs and Churches I was mightily amazed to hear this for 't is 99 years ago since these words were Printed which a Gentleman observing See you not said he what a scandal these rascally Schismaticks are to our Reformation indeed the man foretold what too certainly came to pass but he must know that we do not acknowledge that any of their Principles had any share or part in it any more than they had in bringing in the King for in the days of Queen Mary Knox that peevish Puritan was as malicious towards the Orthodox in Francfurt as the Papists were to them in England And moreover 't is no wonder that they agree not with us for they disagree among themselves and are not the same they were Those in King Edward's time scrupled only some Ceremonies as Bucer Rogers and Hooper those in Queen Elizabeths time excepted against some Prayers Canons and Articles but now they are for Abolishing Supremacy and Episcopacy they have lay'd the Ax to the root and are gone so far from the Church of England that they are come round about to the Church of Rome and are worse Papists than any before the Reformation We perceive by Raynolds that the Jesuits very well knew this and therefore whilst the Presbyterians were busie to advance their Discipline they thought them fit tools to carry on their Fifth Monarchy their Principles being both alike destructive both of Church and State in order to which they quarrel with our Reformation and as the Pope and the Devil would have it Cry up a thorough one of their own Of which I will give you such a full sight if you will go along with me that you shall never forget it untill you are in heaven Pray Sir said I before you doe that let me know by what methods they brought their Discipline to that perfection in 48. I will not trouble you said he with a long relation of their several Cabals they had all King James his Reign he himself was sufficiently sensible of their restless humour and said What his Son King Charles found by experience that there were not greater thieves and cut-throats among the Highlanders and Borderers for as soon
that there is more of the Old City than of the Ancient Church in Rome Lastly If the Papal Supremacy be so absolutely necessary to Christ's Kingdom here on Earth Whether the Cardinals be not strange Men that they by their long Janglings and Disputes upon a Vacancy and at an Election should so long debar him from the Administration of that Power by his Vicar And whether it be not more suitable to a Monarchy that suffers no Interregnum And consequently since Rex Angliae non moritur The King of England is said not to dye according to our Law whether the King be not according to the 37th Article the Supreme Governour in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil in all his Dominions and whether the Bishop of Rome hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction in any of them At this a Jesuit stood up and looking earnestly upon some newly proselyted Papists Regard not said he what any prating Heretick of them all says Have we not made you sufficiently sensible that all the Protestant Religion is an Innovation that King Henry the 8th a mere Julian was the first that apostatiz'd from the Holy Catholick Faith the first that arrogated to himself the Pope's incommunicable Dignity of being Head of the Church 'T is false replyed one of the Church of England King Henry the 8th onely reassum'd what some of his Predecessours own'd what none of them ever could or any of his Successours ever can give away from the Crown of England But the Papal Supremacy is an Usurpation and an Innovation too 't was never heard of in the World untill above 600 Years after Christ nay Pope Boniface the 3 d was the first that ever pretended to be the Vniversal Bishop The Christians in * Tertull. ad Scap. cap. 2. Tertullians's time acknowledg'd the Emperour to be Hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem And †Opt. Lib. 3. Optatus has the same Strain Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem What need I mention what Cyril and Chrysostome and Gregory the Great and Pope Agatho have clearly and plainly said and written upon this Point you have been told often enough nay in that Council which you call the Eighth General Council the Emperour Basilius publickly professeth none of the Bishops contradicting him * Epag Basilii in Conc. quod vocat Act. 8. 1. Gubernacula Ecclesiasticae navis sibi a Deo commissa That the Government of the Church was committed to him by God There was no reply made of a long time for a great bustle that was among the Papists at last three or four lusty Fellows came dragging in a mighty tall Statua almost resembling the old Image of St. Christopher in Nostre Dame in Paris he held in his Hand a long Scroll which was a Catalogue of all the Popes and was hung from Head to Foot with all manner of old fashion'd Trumpery Before it march'd an aged Hermit with a Scyth in his Hand and looking upon the Protestants as if he would have mowed them down at once Ye base Innovatours cryed he that have troubled the World with new Doctrines where was your Religion before Luther See here the ancient and undeniable Records of ours see here the infallible Traditions of many Ages by which we clearly know that we profess the same Fundamental Truths the first Martyrs asserted who were so very old that their Beards help'd to burn them and which none but a Company of new fangled Hereticks in the last Century ever denyed Good Father grey-Beard replyed Bishop Montague don 't think to afright us out of our Senses with an old Worm-eaten Idol over-run with Cobwebs you might as well have brought a Tom of Bedlam with the Luggage of the Gibeonites to prove the Antiquity of your Doctrines as this old wither'd Hercules for assure your self we cannot onely prove them the spurious Inventions of your Cabalistical Innovatours but we can tell you the very Time and Occasions of the introducing every one of them into the Christian Church we have not onely the Scriptures Fathers and Councils maintaining all the grounds of the Protestant Religion according to the Reformation of our Church of England but before it even in the darkest days of Popery we meet with many the learned'st Men that those Ages afforded inveighing against the Corruptions both in Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of Rome as Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln William Occham John Gerson Picus Mirandula Hierom Saveranola Hus and Hierom the Followers of Waldo and in the Year 1260 Nicholas Gallique wrote a Book upon that Subject entituled the Fiery Dart But since we cannot convince you of the Antiquity of Protestantism we will be so complemental for this once as to allow Popery to be older than Christianity it self it is no difficult thing to prove several of your Legends out of Livie and Valerius Maximus what a dull Theologue was Lipsius not to remember that several of the fine Stories he tells concerning our * Just â—ips de Virg. Hallu cap 6. Lady at Hall were long before recorded of the †Val. Max. lib. 1. cap 8. Statua of Claudia plac'd in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods the speaking and Miracles of Images are all Ethnick Illusions and the friskings of Monkish Puppets the Artificial Contrivances of Heathenish Oracle-mongers many of your Saints are slipt into places of Trust held by the old Deities but I wonder that since Diana had so noble an Office as to hunt the Stag and the Wild-Bore that St. Gertrude should get no better Preferment in your Legends than that of a paltry Rat-catcher But we will talk no more of the Antiquity of your Religion As for that Jesuit who boasts so much of it although he is the greatest Innovatour amongst you yet rather than fail upon occasion he can learnedly prove his own Order to be the eldest as well as the richest in the World nay contemporary with the very Hivites and Perizzites for Numb 26. 44. we reade Of Jesui the Family of the Jesuits He had a great deal more to say to them but that he was interrupted with a great Crowd and Noise of Clergy-men coming in from all parts of the Kingdom who made great Complaints against the Presbyterians and other Dissenters for that they in a time when the Government both in Church and State was in such danger by reason of the Papists were then more ungovernable restless and insolent than at any other time and indeed so it plainly appeared for those there present began to be troublesome and mutinous pretending great Fears of Popery but levelling all their Invectives against Persons the most remarkable for Loyalty and Conformity and clamouring for a speedy Reformation of I do not know what holding a great many Seditious Pamphlets in their Hands complaining railing petitioning threatning which when the Papists observed they very cunningly slipt away well knowing that they had too much alarm'd
the Apostle saith It is a shame to speak therefore I never valued the doctrine of Stage-Players but I may say with Lactantius Quid de mimis loquor Corruptelarum praeferentibus disciplinam qui docent adulteria dum fingunt simulatis erudiunt ad vera Perhaps if you be my acquaintance you will wonder that these Papers have been so long in the Press why truly I have been in Purgatory it was the glory of the Famous Monsieur Scarron that he could write so very well although the Gout had got him both by his hands and feet I will not pretend ever to equal him but I say 't was well for him that his pain was neither in his head nor at his heart To be short I met with some private misfortunes which hindred me some time from writing but I hope you will candidly reade what I have honestly endeavour'd for the Publick good THE First VISION OF THE REFORMATION The INTRODUCTION A Discourse about Reformation in General by the Ghost of Sir E. B. G. How all the Troubles of Christendom have for 148 years last past arose from Pretences of thorough Reformations beginning with the Reformation of Rome in the days of Pope Paul the Third What it came to Parallel the strict Presbyterian Reformation IT was a brave Calm and bright Moon-light night which invited me to take a solitary walk in the Ruines of the once flourishing and magnificent Monastery dedicated to the Honour of St. Edmund the first King and Martyr from whom the Town of St. Edmunds-Bury takes its name I was used to be pleased with the gratefull horrour of that melancholy Retirement wherein I might Contemplate the various Fates of all the Glories under the Moon and my Walk was advantag'd with the ragged shaddows which to speak in the Romantick phrase fell from the tops of broken Turrets and decay'd Walls How high Madam Cynthia had clambred towards the Zenith to peep over them is not my business to tell nor had I much time to observe for on a sudden all the Sky was darkned and a strong Wind blew such a Volly of Rain on my face that it forc'd me to take shelter under the remains of a roof which half covered a decay'd Chapel I sate down upon the Pedestal of a Pillar and leaning my head against it there was such a dreadfull noise all about me as if not the Monastery only but the whole World also were dissolving all my faculties were presently hush'd and my thoughts jumbled into a confusion of fears and my spirits slow'd too fast with the Idea's of things to take any particular notice of them how long I remain'd in that state of insensibility I cannot well tell but the first thing I took notice of was that the Scene was strangely altered and from a heap of Ruines chang'd to a stately and magnificent Cathedral at the East-end of which was a large Antick Tomb which by the many Lamps that in a moment enlightned all the Church seem'd to have been lately plundred for the Ornaments were thrown about and they had drop't some of the They had several falsified Relicts vid. His Reformation bones for haste among which one was of a Horse of a large size Lord thought I to my self was St. Bucephalus buried here Indeed I was so amazed that I could not tell whether I was asleep or awake in the land of the living or among the dead so that I began to feel for my self to know whether I was Fish or Flesh or good Red-herring when as my thoughts were diverted with a long Entrada of Benedictine Monks who went in Procession up to the Shrine and standing around it with Tapers in their hands which I observ'd did not grow shorter or consume they all sung as followeth Look down Bright Saint look down from high See how thy scattered Ashes lye The Hereticks more cruel than the Dane With Pagan hands thy Relicts do Prophane St. Edmund shot with Arrows Thou art now in thy Tomb a Martyr more Than in thy Body when 't was stuck all o're With Darts which piercing through thy Royal Breast Let out thy Soul more swift than Arrows fly to rest Those joys above which do for ever flow May make thee Blest But not forgetfull of thy Fame below If Plots and Prayers and lifted eyes and hands Shall e're re-conquer these thy holy Lands Then shall new Vows to thee be made Then to thy Shrine shall Pilgrims trade The Gifts which to thy Altar they shall bring Will make thee a Rich Saint and Glorious King After this a Chorus of an innumerable Company which Sung all together Wee 'l slay all the Hereticks that none shall remain And the Pope shall enjoy his own again Lord thought I to my self I shall certainly be siz'led for an Heretick until my Crackle comes off if ever Popery return any more and therefore was ready to vanish for fear but that my curiosity stay'd me for a Gentleman in modern habit with a Crevat about his neck which had been tied so strait that his face was black and swoll'n And what was more strange with a Sword run through his body Went boldly up to them and with a ghastly Visage Ye devout Villains and solemn Rascals quoth he think not that ye shall be ever able to play the old game over again or impose upon the World any more at the same rate ye did for 500 years This Age is too learned to be cheated with your lying Legends and too wise to be deluded with your profitable superstitions This Nation is sufficiently taught what a grievance ye were to our Forefathers and the Kings of England have better Maxims of Ecclesiastical Policy than to suffer Lord-Abbots in Parliaments who with their Tribes are the Pope's sworn Subjects to execute his Lusts against their Soveraigns by a Vassalage which Cancels all other Oaths and Obligations whatever Oh happy Princes cry'd he lifting up his eyes who have thrown off the Roman Yoke not forced to pay Pensions to Cardinals or to maintain a chargeable Correspondence with Rome as Cromwell did not troubled with an Army of Seculars in their own Bowels Think not therefore that these Popish Garrisons will ever be Man'd again or that these Colonies of Ecclesiasticks will ever flourish for the future ye in vain seek to shelter your selves in these Seraglio's of Iniquity and pompous Kennels of Darkness which tottered for a long time before they fell but so fell at last as never to rise any more Ye grew odious to the world even in the times of darkest Ignorance nor were the Rival Oracles among the Heathens more infamous for their Falshoods and Equivotions before they were silenc'd of old and that the Writings of all Pious Learned and Witty men ever since the Conquest can testifie by undeniable Evidence who might as well have gone about to puff out the Moon as Reform you by their Writings for nothing but dissolution or annihilation could doe it Therefore
and devour one another Or lastly a Generation that will either curse them or laugh at them who will fill all their Stages with one anothers Grandsires and to convince them of this show them only what has been done by ours that were before us both by true Papists and true Protestants as they call themselves either under the pretence or notion of a thorow Reformation you will find that though they have two faces that look different ways yet they have both the same Lineaments the same Principles the same Practices and both impudently deny them like the two men that stole the piece of Flesh from the Butcher in the Fable He that took it swore he had it not he that had it swore he did not take it who took it or who has it I do not know quoth the Butcher but by Jove ye are a couple of Knaves this was one of the first Associations but now the Mystery of Iniquity is compleat because they both make it a Mystery and untill the time to come discover fully the truth of things present pray give the World an Impartial Account of what has been done by the Papists first and then by the Presbyterians and then ye may guess for the future why they are so like one another who they are that Reform Murther it self that can stab men without spilling a drop of Blood or secretly rejoyce at it when 't is done without being guilty that can Rebell without Plotting and Plot without Rebelling by observing what has past in the last Age you will know what a great and glorious Reformation they are endeavouring now With that he put his hand to my head and I expected that he would have clapt a face to the nape of my neck and have made a Janus of me but he only stroak'd me o're the forehead and then vanish'd Right Worshipfully His hand was so very cold and put my head into such a dizziness that I could not tell where I was for the first thing I stumbled at was the Threshold of St. Peter's Church in Rome and I fell backward into the year 1534 it was on St. Peter's day Pope Clement was seated in his Throne in his Pontificalibus and all the Cardinals with Generals of Orders Bishops Abbots c. which made a very splendid show the Anthems then sung were excellent Composures and the Musick extraordinary to carry on the Solemnity of the day when on a sudden a great Groan was heard as if some Infernal spirit had howl'd in Disdiapason and as well as I could distinguish it cryed Reform At this the Eunuchs could not sing one Note more but made noises like hoarse Cuckows the Cardinals Hats began to flag and the Gems in the Triple Crown were in an Eclipse and there was so great an Earth-quake that the Church had like to have fallen on their heads had not a lame fellow whom no body then knew but afterwards proved to be Ignatius Loyola stept out and like another St. Dominick * Who slew 120000 of the Albigenses and therefore the Pope fancied he saw him uphold the Lateran Church upheld it At this they hasted in great amazement to the Consistory in Monte Cavallo as soon as I got in there entred several Nuncio's from England and Germany that lookt as if they had been affrighted and sent home with Bottles tied to their tails for one brought the sad Message that there was no more Peterpence to be Coyn'd in Histor Con. Trid. England that that King denied the payment of Annales that a Comedy had been acted before him to the disgrace of the Pope and his Court who had used too great precipitation in the Case of the Divorce not out of Conscience for those Dispensations were very usual and found advantageous to the Old Vicar but to keep on the profitable debate Another brought the News of the Liberty of the Augustan Confession And a third of the Victory of Wittenberg A fourth related how solicitous Charles the Fifth was for a General Council These things so troubled Clement the Seventh that calling him a great He Emperour he fell sick and dyed and was succeeded by Cardinal Farnese named Paul the Third The first business he took in hand was to stop those spreading alterations which threatned Rome it self for in Faenza a Town belonging to the Pope there was Preaching against the Church of Rome Anno 1528 and therefore as soon as the Consistory met a Cardinal who seemed much dejected stood up and said The holy City of Rome which has been famous for Prodigies ever since the days of Livie the Recorder was never more threatned with them than now for 't is certain that the Statua of the Blessed Virgin in Sancta Maria Magior wept Icicles for the Revolt of the frigid Zone and not knowing what those German Hereticks who threatned to eat the Pope might doe she had got the holy Wafer in her Armes to protect the Corporal Presence Her Ladyship of Loretto was packing up for Damascus and if she had once gone your Holiness might have whistled long enough in St. Peter's Keys for her several Images have had a Quartan Ague and what is more than all several souls come chattering their Teeth out of Purgatory and complain that they have had a very deep Snow lately therefore we ought to take a speedy course to prevent our ruine and I know no better way than Fryar James Hogostrate's a Dominican Inquisitor who advised Leo the Tenth to prosecute Luther with Chains and Gibbets For since Piety and Miracles ceased all great Actions are to be done with Fire and Sword by these we consumed the Hussits Lollards and Waldenses and all other Modern Goths and Vandals have been so far kept from sacking Rome that they have been buried from time to time in their own Country for rather than they should damn their souls and we lose our money I think your Holiness should thunder out Excommunications overturn all set the World on fire kindle the North-pole with Piles of flaming Hereticks make the frozen Seas boil over with heat untill sodden Whales make them greasie with their fat and swim for coolness under the Aequator He strain'd so fiercely that Leeches crept out at his Eyes and Nose which was taken for a Miracle to confirm the truth of what he said but Pope Paul the Third whose chief vertue was dissimulation being a subtile Fox and not willing to bark loud untill he could bite having composed his Whiskers that his mouth became a solemn Parenthesis was pleased most Infallibly to say We in vain cut off the member that is Gangreen'd if we neglect to take care of the head which is fatally ill The splendour of our Church cannot hide the extravagancy of our lives and not only bold Hereticks will be peeping into our Transgressions but even the Sons of the Church will be seeing what their Fathers doe with so much money as they drein from the veins of the living
impartiality could they doe any thing being limited and confined if not over-awed to doe and declare what they did How did the Cabals of Presbyterians and the Consistory jump in the methods of their Consultations And as the Pope either made or found Bishops enough in Italy to prevail in that Council so likewise did they by the same ways gain enough to compose their Decrees of Faith and Discipline and to silence all opposition With what a glorious Reformation did they a long time amuse the world as the Pope did in his Council and what did it come to Why as the Jesuits a small party at first which pretended to live by begging have got the start of them and do now threaten to overthrow the whole Hierarchy of the Romish Church so the Independents broke in upon them and routed their Discipline Did they not compose a solemn Covenant which is sufficiently shown to be exactly parallel with the Holy League And as the pretence of that in France was to destroy the Hugonots when as indeed it more immediately tended to the pulling down the Kingly Authority and the Liberty of the Gallican Church so this in England was pretended against the Papists under which notion they ruined Monarchy and Episcopacy Did not the Council of Trent tax Charles the Ninth as Hist Con. Trid. pag. 726. a favourer of Hugonots and did not our Assembly accuse the King as a Defender of Papists how did they Libel all honest Divines The Authour Mr. White Nov. 17. 1643. which opposed their wickedness as the Courtiers of Rome did the honest Fathers in the Council of Trent The Assembly ordered publick Thanksgivings when their Forces were beaten by the Kings So the Fathers assembled in Trent made Processions sung Mass and the Archbishop of Metz made an Oration for the Victory as they called it which the Duke of Guise had over the Hugonots when as there was 5000 Catholicks and but 3000 Protestants Hist Coun. Trent p. 606. slain The Assembly to make the good Old Cause look big vaunted that all foreign Churches of Protestants View of the late Troubles p. 564. sided with them but when they sent to know their opinions and expected that they would assent to and encourage them in their Proceedings Verdict upon Mel. Inquirendum they all condemned them So Cardinal Amulius brought Letters concerning the Oriental Christians that they did own the Pope and his Religion but the Portugal Ambassador confuted Hist Counc Trent 535. them as forgeries If they thus agree in their Plots certainly the issue will be almost alike replyed the French man Just as I was going to answer him I was interrupted with such a noise of sighing groaning and sobbing that I thought the wild Irish had got under a Tub at their Funeral Lamentations whenas a Scene opened and discovered a great number of men who looked so devout and so Saint-like that I fancied the very Flies about their heads ready to turn into Seraphims their hands were lifted up to catch their eyes that were ready to fly out of their heads and their faces with white Caps turned up made them look as if they were sick of the world But that which amazed me most of all was to see Salmasius and Grotius come stumbling in at a back door and as soon as Salmasius saw them Was there ever such a pack of hypocritical fools said he since the invention of Nonsense as this Assembly of Divines Good Lord how was Grotius amazed when he understood that they came from Trent for he always fancied that they came from Geneva Whence soever they come cry'd Salmasius they are plotting some Villany for now they are busie about a Fast that they may the more greedily devour the flesh of Kings and mighty men as they strain it these are the sober godly party that occasioned the Civil Wars of England Is the Authour of Melius Inquirendum among them replyed Grotius No Myn Heer said I he is busie in procuring another to succeed this Who is that said Salmasius Another Milton Sir said I I hope the King of England will thank him according to Law one of these days for the great and timely pains he took in his Book in which he says that yours which you wrote de Jure Belli Pacis has occasioned all the Civil Wars that have been in Europe ever since He may as well say replyed Grotius that Mare Liberum is Latin for Liberty of Conscience for why should my Book which was written in Latin move the Rabble the chief instruments of that Rebellion to those unparallell'd Exorbitancies who understood not a word of it therefore 't is their fault For there Aug. de Util. Cred. Tom. 6. cap. 1. will ever be a difference between an Heretick and a plain well meaning man that believes an Heretick saith St. Austin who taught them as many Treasonable Doctrines in English as ever Lucifer could invent in Hell And although he seems very tender of Hurting Loyal Ears upon the account of my Writings yet he prosesses the same Loyalty his Predecessors did in the late Rebellion which he lays at my door that he may with the more impudence proceed in those very practices which directly tend to the same end But since he is for sprinkling in a sentence or two of my Writings to justifie his own pray let him take this along with him too wherein I clearly show my opinion concerning the Causes of Rebellion Circumferamus oculos per omnem Historiam quod unquam vidit soeculum tot subditorum in principes Grot. de Antich bella sub Religionis titulo Et horum Concitores nunc reperiuntur Ministri Evangelii uti se vocant Let us look through all History what Age ever saw so many Rebellions against Princes and those that raise them are now found to be Ministers of the Gospel as they stile themselves Such as himself now is such as were this Blessed Assembly of Divines and that holy Council of Trent which first shew them the way to suppress Episcopacy and Monarchy who first taught them the sanctified methods of Reforming Princes and Prelates wherein they have infinitely out-done their Masters for the Fathers in Trent were forced to disguise themselves under many Stratagems before they could get those Decrees pass which was the end and scope of that most Popish Council but our Assembly-men fell upon them first with the greatest impudence and violence imaginable deluding the Nation with a fair pretence of thorough Reformation and the Suppression of Popery The Devil always provides a Vizard for his Agents and Murtherers can cry A Race a Race when they are running quite away Murtherers quoth Salmasius I think this Assembly will not own that they were guilty of the Murther of the King no more were the Jesuits of the Death of the King of France that fell by the hands of Raviliac they in the Council of Trent procured the King-killing Decrees they
fomented the fatal divisions of that Kingdom to establish the Throne of Christ's Vicar upon the Ruines of the Monarchy they instructed and encouraged the Assassins and yet they did not kill him 't is easie to apply it but 't is hard to make them believe it I believe so too Sir said I for with the same confidence that the Jesuits could splendidly embalm the heart of that * Henry 4. Prince whom they had traiterously Murthered do our Presbyterians seem to lament for the Death of King Charles the First and who but they restored King Charles the Second who now such Defenders of the Regalia of France as the Jesuits and Father Maimbourg writes against the Usurpations of the Pope who but Presbyterians are Loyal Subjects who but they the Preservers of their Country and of the true Protestant Religion Hiccius Doxius of Colchester writes his Black Nonconformist and Dedicates it to the Archbishop of Canterbury just as * Answered by Dr. Durel Philanax Anglicus a Jesuit did before him these are the men that are so irreconcilable to Popery that every honest Orthodox Church-man is a Jesuitical Tory and is mark't out in Libels and Pamphlets to the Rabble who have a fair occasion to complement him when they Cart the Whore of Babylon through the streets of London These are your true Protestant Processions wherein they burn the Pope in Effigie that they may establish his Authority for the multitude are as ready to change Crucifie him into Hosanna's as Hosanna's into Crucifie him they are but as Dogs to Perk that fair game the Jesuits never want a consecrated Gun to shoot at this is the old game of 41 but they will neither acknowledge their former guilt nor fear that punishment which attended it which King Charles says was like that of Corah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 261. and his Complices at once mutining both against Prince and Priest in such a method of divine Justice as is not ordinary the earth of the lowest and meanest people opening upon them and swallowing them up in just disdain of their ill-gotten and worse-used Authority upon whose support and strength they chiefly depended for their building and establishing their designs against me the Church and State As soon as I had spoken these words the roof was in a moment uncovered and there descended the most glorious object that ever I beheld it was in the shape of a Virgin Beautifull as the Sun and which had all the Charms of Heaven and Earth her garments were not very rich but decent and comly her eyes piercing as lightning and on her face was enthron'd all the glories of modesty and innocency her feet which were bare seemed torn and bloody with Thorns and Briars on her right hand sat Kings and Princes and immediately next her King Charles the First with a Crown of light upon his head her left was guarded with a long row of Reverend Prelates in garments white as Snow she no sooner descended with a quickning light all about her but both the Trent Fathers and Assembly of Divines were so strangely Metamorphosed that I could not distinguish them from Devils or from one another for the Fucus and Paint of Hypocrisie upon their faces with which they had deluded and bewitch'd such multitudes of people melted off with the warmth of her Rays and she no sooner espied them but with an angry grief she threatned to make them in a short time as contemptible and odious to future Ages as the worst Hereticks in the world ever were I have said she turning and looking around her travelled through the Wilderness of this World now more than Sixteen hundred years and never yet could find any long-continued abode or resting-place But when the Defenders of the Faith like true Christian Champions had set me free from my long and dark imprisonment and had restored me to my Primitive purity and just Authority the Honour the Peace the Plenty I brought to these Kingdoms made me reflect not only upon their gratitude but their interest too for my security But wo is me I still like the Sun must pass through Clouds of various shapes which are every where drawn from the combined humours of a feculent world yet never was I so much darkned with sorrow and lamentations as in these Islands for the unparallell'd Indignities inflicted upon my head and my members by the most ungratefull men upon the most unjust accusation that ever was lay'd to my charge by Heathens or Infidels I who freed them from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities was condemned and torn in pieces as guilty of Popish Superstitions So my great Bridegrome was accused as instrumental to the bringing the old Romans to take away the Place and Nation of the Jews but their destruction followed his Crucifixion and the Rebellious divisions of those very Jews provok't the Roman Emperours and lay'd them open to that final vengeance that they left that Land delug'd with blood which they found overflown with Milk and Honey Oh my people of England whom I love and pity with the tenderest compassion and with an unlimited charity Oh that ye weeping said she would know in this your day the things that belong unto your peace that ye would open your eyes and see and consider who they are that will by undiscreet zeal preposterous fears or an ambitious policy subject you to a more intollerable bondage than ever this Nation yet felt Are they not those Pharisaical Hypocrites which strain at a Gnat but swallow a Camel who Pray against Popery in the Church but Preach Jesuitism in the Conventicle who fight against me under a form of Godliness who for a pretence make long Prayers and thorough Reformations that they may destroy Widows houses and God's too Certainly ye have been sufficiently taught from the Calamities ye have lately felt without comparing them to others of a farther distance of time and place not to trust to any change of that Government which was restored with so Universal satisfaction and has still preserved you in peace but by an union of Loyal and truly Christian Resolutions to maintain it against all opposition upon what pretence soever which thing if ye doe then shall ye be delivered from the Presbyterianism of the Council of Trent and from the Jesuitism of the Assembly of Divines from Popish Leagues and Protestant Covenants from the Good Old Cause with a new name to it from establishing Christ's Throne upon the Blood Of Pious Prelates and of Christian Kings From Killing God's Anointed to his Glory From Prayers in unknown words for unknown things And from the Mass and from the Directory THE Third VISION OF THE REFORMATION A short Vindication of the Reformation of the Church of England The Methods the Presbyterians used to ruine it A full Description of their thorough Reformation Parallel desideratur IT is a great and lawfull conveniency that a well-meaning man has in Visions
against him and this was a Loyal and Rich Reformation Secondly You turned the most eminent Men for Letters and Honesty out of both Vniversities then filled up their Places with grave Dunces and formal Block-heads and afterwards their whole Revenues had like to have been sold to maintain the Army so that instead of Professours of the several Sciences we should have had a sort of Turkish Timariots who should have held these Lands in Capite of the Rump this was a Learned Reformation Thirdly You were mighty zealous for the Liberty and Property of the Subject insomuch that ye set the People above the King and afterwards an High Court of Justice is mounted above them all taking away the Lives of King Lords and Commons without Law or Reason And if the People may deal thus with their King where he is Supreme why not with all other Supremes whatsoever and consequently by Succession and with success for ought we know why not rise against their Magistrates till the last Resurrection and put them to Death till Death it self shall be swallowed up This was a righteous and peaceable Reformation Fourthly My Friends You declaimed against Popery mightily and yet did whatever the Papists desired or prompted you to doe time will shew that you and your Proselytes were Factours for the Pope and the Devil in every particular of that whole Rebellion all the Aspersions cast upon the King and the Church were of Romish Invention which your Malice knew how to improve the Rebel-Parliament * Parliament's Declaration to the King March 9 1641. entertain'd Advertisements from Rome Venice and Paris of the Pope's Nuncio soliciting France and Spain for 4000 Men a-piece but when came they over And was it not Popish Intelligence which ye greedily catch'd to inflame the People The Irish Rebels bragged that the King would come among them and assist them that they did but maintain his Cause against the Puritans that they had his Commission and those very Scandals you made use of lay'd that Rebellion to his Charge wherein they set up the Pope's Standard in Opposition onely to his Supremacy Cardinal Richlieu fomented all those unhappy Divisions by your means your Solemn League and Covenant proves most Jesuitically Popish The Jesuits had their Spies and Agents in all your Committees and how far they helped you in your Blessed Reformation Dr. * Vindication of the Protestants p. 57. Du Moulin will tell you and although the Person is not known that gave the Fatal Blow yet you brought the King to the Block and he was a Popish Priest and Confessour who then brandish'd his Sword saying Now our greatest Enemy we have in the World is gone And this was your true sober Protestant thorough Reformation Lastly At this they all sneak'd away and the Gentleman taking me by the Hand led me up to the top of an high Hill from whence I might view the Miseries of three Kingdoms raging in an unconquerable War and looking wistly upon the various and innumberable Evils which almost twenty Years Rebellion had brought upon us and wondring with my self when and how these troubles should end I was startled by a Jesuit who flourishing a bloudy Sword in his Hand spake as followeth So the Work 's done those Men are now cut down Which standing did oppose the Triple Crown The silly Hereticks themselves defeat And with their Bloud the Scarlet Whore looks great In Holy Wars the Pope Triumphs alone And as he lost so now regains a Throne Re-conquers now by Reformation THE Fourth VISION OF THE REFORMATION The King's Return The Factions endeavour to bring about their thorough Reformation again The Methods they have used ever since in order to it A Parallel betwixt the Jesuitical Papists and Fanatical Protestants in several new Remarks They Ridiculously inveigh against one another The Church of England vigorously opposes them both A Conference wherein the four main Arguments of the Papists viz. Universality Antiquity Unity and the Pope's Supremacy are exploded A Convocation of Orthodox Divines before whom the Authours of Melius Inquirendum of Julian the Apostate are summoned c. A Prophecy by the famous Ghost of A. A. C. THE Horrour of past Villainies and the endless prospect of future Calamities had so benumb'd my Spirits with drowsie Grief that I fell into a profound Trance for a considerable time untill at length I was awakened with the loud and joyfull Acclamations of vast Multitudes crying God save King Charles the Second At this I look'd and saw a mighty Train of People so splendid and brave as that the very confused Light of infinite Jewels made them resemble a new Milkie-Way in which Charles his Triumphant Wain was then moving Surely said I although I have not taken so long a Nap as the seven Sleepers yet I have snored out more strange Revolutions what gloomy Days were those I first began to nod in What Confusions in Church and State what cruel Animosities what fatal Divisions and what was worst of all Popery big with a whole Ages Revenge like a Polyphemus ready to devour all but now my waking Senses are saluted with the harmonious Triumphs of universal Joy and Concord Very strange indeed replyed my old Guide who carefully attended me and you might still think your self in a Dream were not our present Happiness as real as were our former Miseries I hope Sir said I they will be as lasting I wish so too said he but do not you see what soure Faces yonder grim Fellows make those cloudy Looks still threaten many a Storm to this Nation At this I saw a great number who seem'd somewhat discontented and were earnestly whispering and talking to one another and as soon as I came up to them I found among them several Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers and some Papists who let fall some mystical words which discovered a great deal of secret dissatisfaction but for what I could not tell for the briskest Cavaliers in the Kingdom did not seem more active in solemnizing his Majestie 's happy Restauration than most of them did So that turning to my Friend certainly Sir said I those People are not Breeding of Common-Wealths again so soon after their Delivery I hope they have no democratical Qualms in their Stomachs and have done longing for thorough Reformations for one while I confess said he one would think what you say and besides at the Solemnities of the King's Coronation they hung out as conspicuous Evidences of their Loyalty as any the most Obdurate Malignant for their Garlands were richly loaden with the glittering Confessions of their former Plunder and Sacrilege but their Loyalty was exactly like the Weather at that time very fair for a little Season and very foul both before and after they know how to temporize with present Difficulties in hopes of future Advantages and can be as impudently Loyal as they were boldly Rebellious think they may talk what Treason they please if they do but wipe their
Greg. Epist lib. 6. cap. 3. know it he detested it as a Symptome of Antichrist and Phocas who bestowed it upon Pope Boniface did not doe it untill he had an occasion to bestow his Master the Emperour Mauritius in the other World But now said he you may plainly see it with your Eyes look you there there is the Globe of the whole Earth of which the Pope is the Lord and Governour 't is true you Hereticks wander in some little bye Places as in England and in some petty Hans-Towns of Germany but his Authority is extended over all the World all the Indies acknowledge him all Italy France Spain Poland Hungaria Transylvania Gallicia Valentia Granada Andalusia Hold Hold Sir cryed he if you should stumble o'er the Straits Mouth you will beat out your Brains against Hercules's Pillars Pray let us examine this Monster 's Noddle what a grievous bruise has Martin Luther given him with his High Dutch Knuckles he has broken I do not know how many Degrees of Longitude and Latitude all Great Britain is quite beat out and the Low-Countries are so sunck in that I believe he must be trepan'd before he can recover in short the Protestants are almost as numerous as the Papists But suppose we grant him that thumping Appellation why did Pope Paul the 5th in his Bull wherein he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth use that sneaking Title of Servant of Servants your Triple Servant He should have sent a good deep-mouth'd Nuncio that should have stretch'd his Muzzle to the uttermost and have roar'd like a crack of Thunder among the Alpes and have cryed Paolo quinto Papa Monarcha di Regno di Vaticano Segnor del mondo supremo santissimo Vmano magistrato c. This would have conjur'd down all the Protestants and have put them into such a trembling Fit that they would have shak'd all their Heresie out of the Knees of their Breeches this would have better suited him who is the most serene and invincible Sultan of Contradictions the Grand-Seignior of all Mental Reservations and Equivocations the Sophi of Legends and Romances the Great Mogul of Indulgences the Czar of Holy Impostures and Pious Cheats the Great Cham of the Inquisition c. Hold Sir cryed one of the Papists this is Railery and Abuse 't is as true replyed he as that the Pope is Vniversal Bishop let him but keep within his own Diocese and not meddle any more with the Rights of Sovereign Kings and Princes and there is no body that I know of will be so ready to complement him from the Artick to the Antartick Pole for the Future But we hope cryed several of them you will allow our Church to be the Catholick Church For this word Catholick there has been much scrambling these many Years replyed he and you have taken much pains to monopolize it to your See of Rome in order to which for the great number of humane Hereticks whom you excommunicate you take all manner of Beasts Fowles and Fishes into the Pale of your Church St. Francis first converted the Birds and then afterwards he fully convinc'd and satisfied a Wolf that had a very tender Conscience nor was he the onely Apostle to the Brutes but the Bishop Book of Conf. p. 114. of Canaglion managed as difficult a Diocess in the Year 1593 for he Catholickly accused the Fishes so that afterwards they without all doubt believed the Doctrine of Holy Water St. Bernard in a Fit of Popery is reported by * Pet. de Nat. in vit Bern. Petrus de Natalibus to have excommunicated the Flies and therefore several Species of Creatures observing that all Regular Orders had put themseves under the Protection of some considerable Saints have likewise listed themselves the Dogs under St. Hubert a Huntsman the Horses under St. Loys their Ostler-General and because the Geese once preserved the Capitol there was an Order from the Vatican that St. Feriol should take care of them And so said he I hope we are all satisfied as to the Vniversality of the Romish Church pray set forth the Antiquity of it Upon this all the Papists desired that they might save that Argument untill the last fancying that it gathered strength every Moment and desired the Assembly to take into their consideration the Vnity of their Church and the Supremacy of the Pope as for the Protestants cryed one of them they are divided into as many Factions as there are days in the Year and make an Anarchy of the Kingdom of Grace but the Roman Catholicks are all united under one Head the Pope so making the true Hierarchy of the Holy Catholick Church Upon this one of the Church of England stood up and said as for our Church it has no more to doe or answer for the Factions among Protestants than yours nor so much neither when did ever any Minister of the Church of England preach the Doctrines of Fanaticks to promote its Interest when did any of them ever preach that which in their Consciences they knew to be a Lye for the sake of the Truth and if you look into your own you will find those Divisions which never were in our Church as the differences betwixt the Dominicans and Franciscans betwixt the Jansinists and Mollinists which have been continued with the greatest heats imaginable 't is true the Pope hath sometimes interposed his Authority but to no great purpose but where was the Papal Authority in the days of the Anti-Popes or what will become of it if the Jesuits gain their designs will all other Orders acknowledge the Papal Authority if the Jesuits confine it to their own the Church of England can never be subject to such a Fatal Division so long as the King of England is acknowledged to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour As for the Pope's Supremacy that has been so sufficiently pelted with good Greek and Latin by many of these Learned Authours that I will onely humbly drop a few Queries concerning it at this time First then We desire to know Whether our Saviour ever granted it to St. Peter Secondly Whether the present Pope be his Successour Thirdly Suppose it was granted to St. Peter Whether there was any need of forging the Donation of Constantine afterwards Fourthly If it was granted to St. Peter because he first confess'd him to be Christ the Son of the living God Whether Pope Leo the 10th had any right to it for saying to Cardinal Bembo * Crispinus Quantum nobis nostrique ea de Christo fabula prosuerit satis est omnibus secuâ— notum Fifthly we desire to know whether any Bishoprick in Christendom remaining can shew a Succession so disordered and corrupted as that of Rome Not to mention their strange Schisms let any Person but consider the Stratagems and impious Intrigues of the Conclave the Factions of the Nepotism contrary to that Solemn Oath they take enough to make Angels tremble and he will conclude
rather chuse to be non-suited than comply with such determinations which may be to your advantage much good may it doe you Moreover it is generally believed by all natural Philosophers that a man may walk into a Church though it stands East and West if all the doors be open though some Hypocondrical people would fancy they could not and that the door is either too little for their Noses or their Noses too big for the Door Now Sir you will say that Conscience though erroneous is not melancholy and that the cases we talk of are not Civil but Ecclesiastical therefore say you 't is certain that Conscience though false obliges but that 't is uncertain whether such Commands do or no. But that your Conscience may not be erroneous we will prove they certainly do oblige Whig If the Commands of a Father or Master of a Family do not in such Circumstantials for many reasons I have given how then can such Commands of a Supreme Magistrate whose Dominions may be so large that they cannot punctually be observed Suppose a strict Law were made at Paris that every particular Church in the Nation should commence their publick Service on the Lord's day precisely at nine a clock it is Mathematically certain that some would have done and got half through their dinners before others would be half way in their devotions they in the farthest Eastern Parts would have come to their Amen before those on the Calabrian Ocean would be at their Oremus Pamph. They would be pretty well out of the hearing and interrupting one another that 's the comfort of it If the Man in the Almanack though pelted with all the Signs of the Zodiack had not brought a better Argument I would sentence him to be stuck in the Pillory that his Noddle might be influenc'd with rotten Eggs and therefore keep your Mathematical Certainty for your Sunday Pudding But Sir though the Clock of a Family may sometimes go wrong it can't go far and therefore I suppose the Master of a Family may determine a time by that clock for family-duty ay and many other Circumstantials too Nay I fancy that he may enjoyn his Family to abstain from Wine all Lent Whig That would be a Breach of Christian Liberty Pamph. Was not that more a Breach of the Jewish Privileges when the Rechabites were commanded to drink no Wine they nor their sons for ever by their Father Jonadab there lay no such obligation from the Law of Moses yet what says the Text Jerem. 35. 18 19. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Because ye have obeyed the Commandment of Jonadab your Father and kept all his Precepts and done according to all that he hath commanded you Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever Whig But the consequence from the power of a Master of a Family to the Civil Magistrate's Power is not very clear and that by reason of the incapacity and unfitness of the Matter the bulkiness of the Aggregate for as c. Pamph. Away with these rumbling Similitudes you draw but foisty Arguments from such swelling words of vanity I say the Supreme Magistrate particularly the King of England is better qualified to govern in all cases Civil and Ecclesiastical in his Dominions than any Master can be for domestick in his Family God has furnish'd him with means suitable to the greatness and variety of his charge for Ecclesiastical affairs Rex Angliae est persona mixta cum Sacerdote in the same sense that Constantine the Great vouch'd himself to be a Bishop and the Church of Christ acknowledged him He is custos utriusque Tabulae And as he can command you to hold up your hand at the Bar of God's Justice whose Vicegerent he is in case you break any one Commandment so can he command you to kneel before the Throne of Grace in token of your Obedience So that indeed I grant you that the power of a Master of a Family may not be compared with that of the Supreme Magistrate indeed if you look into the late Rebellion the Supreme Magistrate was made low enough but if you look into the Present State of England you will find by Common Civil Canonical Apostolical by all manner of Law that our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second is by the grace of God in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour Look into the late Rebellion and you will find that they were such scrupulous Buffoons as your self that broke the Boundaries of Order and Obedience under the pretence of Reformation and Conscience and turned the Nation Topsy-turvy in Blood and Gore I have formerly shewn what was their Reformation As for their Consciences they were not very tender when they made none you are mightily offended that such a Tender Conscience should be thought a melancholy delusion or a superstitious qualm But with what confidence are you so brisk upon that instance of David's heart smiting him when he cut off Saul's skirt when you are Pag. 375. pleading for the Consciences of those Dissenters that cut off King Charles his Head You are merrily prophane when you say pag. 381. that you wonder that among all the Apocryphal Epistles of our Saviour to Agbarus or Paul to Seneca that we meet with none of the Apostles to Nero That whereas their Lord and Master either through the hurry of business had forgotten or the littleness of the things had neglected to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Imperial Majesty that he would review and revise their Religion and such other mystical Ceremonies significant of Gospel-grace wherewith his well-known Piety could not but be intimately acquainted c. And his Petitioners shall humbly pray c. Sir Had you drawn a Petition according to the strain and humour of those Dissenters you plead for it should have run thus That whereas their Lord and Master whose Kingdom was not of this world had not left them Amunition enough to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Protectorship to grant them the Militia of the Empire the Pretorian Bands and to add such other things significant of Gospel-power wherewith c. And his Petitioners shall heartily fight c. Whig Hark you Sir have you nothing to say to the Authour of Julian the Apostate Pamph. Yes I suppose he is one of your disciples and has learn'd both his Loyalty and his Modesty from you one would think that you had spit into his mouth that very Complement you by the way of Similitude pass upon the Supreme Magistrate Page 361. It was say you a Malicious Artifice of Julian the Apostate to erect the Images of the Heathen gods in the Forum near his own Statue reducing hereby the Christians to this Dilemma either to seem to worship the Images