th year of Nero's Region who first of the Roman Emperours began open Persecution against Christians and put to death St. Peter and St. Paul In this time I say of Toleration under the Roman Empire which continued the space of 36 years the blessed Apostles and Disciples had preached one uniform Gospel and Faith throughout all the World as may appear by their Acts recorded and by the peculiar Testimony of St. Paul to the Romans Rom. 1. which thing being most miraculously done by the Divine Power and Virtue of Christ Bishops Pastors and Governours being ordained in every Country and Church for guiding and directing the same by themselves and their Successors in perpetuum this I say being once brought to pass then the blessed Apostles for preventing of new false Doctrines that might afterward arise most earnestly exhorted and with all vehemency called upon the people to stand fast in the Doctrine Documents and Traditions then received to hold firmly the Faith and Doctrine already delivered as a Depositum or Treasure committed to them to be safely kept till the last day And above all other things they forewarned them to beware of new fangled Teachers whom they called Hereticks who should break from the Unity of the Universal Body already made and knit together and should devise new Glosses Expositions and Interpretations of Scripture bringing in new Sences Doctrines Opinions and damnable Divisions to the utter renting of Christ's Church Kingdom City already builded and all this to the perdition of infinite Souls Hence it is that St. Paul Tim. 1. pronounceth peremptorily of a contentious and heretical Man that he is damned by the testimony of his own Judgment or Conscience for that he abandoned the common direct publick way which all Men might see devising particular Paths and pernicious Turnings to himself and the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church disputing against the same kind of People defended always that their Error was of Malice and wilful Blindness and not at all of Ignorance for they will not behold the plain direct sure safe unerring and infallible way among Christians wherein no man can err tho' never so simple but only of blind wilful and obstinate malice Yet by promises of Christ himself in the Gospel we are absolutely ascertained that the same visible Congegation Body Common-wealth Church Kingdom and Government which was established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles shall endure and continue by Succession of Followers in perpetuum and that no new Teacher of later Doctrines dissenting from the first shall ever prevail against it albeit divers Errors and Heresies have sprung up and made great blustering and disturbance for a time yet have they been repress'd and condemn'd by the same Church and her visible Pastors and Doctors in the end For Example-sake in the first Age there arose up certain seditious fellows among the Iews as Simon Magus Nicolaus Cerinthus Ebion Meander c. that were Hereticks against these stood in defence St. Peter who broke the Neck and Black Art of Simon Magus even by his Prayer And after him St. Martialis St. Dionysius Areopagita St. Ignatius Policarpus and others In the second Age rose up Basilides Cerdon Marchion Valentinus Tacianus Apelles Montanus and divers others against these stood in battel Iustin Martyr Dionysius Bishop of Corinth St. Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian with many others their equals And so all along downward from Age to Age unto cursed Luther's days whatsoever Heresie or new false Opinions hath been raised contrary to the general consent of Christ's universal Church it hath been check'd controul'd silenc'd and condemn'd by vigilant Pastors and Doctors chief Governours of the same Body by general Assemblies and Councils gathered from time to time as occasion serv'd in all Parts of the World Whereby it 's evidently most manifest that he who relieth upon this general consent of Christ's Church and the judgment thereof cannot err in matters of Belief but walketh in that sure secure and infallible Path wherein 't is said in Isaiah 35.8 That a very Fool cannot go amiss Hence one may be persuaded of the Churches perspicuity and infallibility in her Traditions and Doctrines through God's Divine Providence which did and will always preserve it from corruption having a warrant for it out of Scripture Isa. 59.21 My Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seed's Seed from henceforth for ever And St. Austin said Ep. 118. That to dispute against a living multitude of the whole Church is insolent madness And to say she may err through ignorance wilfulness or negligence is most absurd and blasphemous she having Christ for her Head and the holy Ghost for her Guide and Spirit who was sent by our Saviour to teach it all Truth wherefore to tax that heavenly Government with errors in Faith is either to tax the holy Ghost with them or to blaspheme against Christ our blessed Redeemer by saying He has not kept his word and promise in sending the holy Ghost to teach his Church all truth for ever King IAMES in a publick Speech made in his Parliament acknowledged the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church saying I acknowledge the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church This you may find in Stow pag. 840. Sure the Sacred Blood of his glorious Mother Queen Mary the ever blessed Martyr ran in the Veins of this her Royal Son King Iames who would do wonderful things in favour of the Roman Catholick Church if it were not for the black contriving of the Gun-powder Plot by the Matchevilian Policy of crooked Cicil only for to hinder King Iames from favouring the Church of Christ Sanguis mantirum semen Ecclesiae See Osburn Sure there is no other certain Testimony to any prudent considering Man no firm Ground or Motive to believe that the Primitive Church received her Doctrine from the blessed Apostles these from Christ Christ from God the Father nor any way to bring it down from those times to these our days but only the Tradition of the Church from hand to hand For we may observe three properties of the Doctrine of Divine Faith to be true to be revealed of God to be preached and delivered by the Apostles The highest ground by which a Man is perswaded that his Faith is true is the Authority of God speaking and revealing it the highest proof by which a Man is assured that his Faith is revealed is the Authority of Christ and his blessed Apostles who delivered the same as descending from God but the highest ground that moveth a Man to believe that his Faith was preached by the blessed Apostles is the perpetual constant Tradition of the Church succeeding the blessed Apostles unto this day assuring him so much according to the saying of Tertul. depraes c. 21. 37. who made his Ladder
relieving even in the dead of Winter and to the hazarding your life with extraordinary speed the City of Waterford when besieged eighteen days by the Vsurper Cromwell he having assured all his Adherents that that City was most extremely his These my Lord your Heroick Vndertakings to promote Loyalty the same Loyalty which now stands the top and most visible of your Grace's most Illustrious Titles and Characters which rendred you all along a great Favourite of our late deceased Sovereign and makes you now most dear unto his present Majesty King JAMES the Second These I say are so notoriously known both at home and abroad that even base Envy and Detraction have but rendred them to be the more acknowledged and most illustriously conspicuous These my Lord not common actings are patterns of your unbounded Merits these Heroick Efforts Vndertakings and brave never-to-be-forgotten Performances proceeded sure from that your Noble Genius or natural propension to Monarchy in detestation of Democracy and Anarchy Now my Lord you are to apply that your clear Eagle-ey'd Iudgment and great Wisdom in owning and honouring that great Monarchy which Christ established here on Earth governed by one Visible Head the Vniversal Pastor Vicegerent of Christ and Successor to St. Peter to whom he gave special warrant to govern his Flock And it 's an undoubted truth my Lord that the Interest and Conservation of Kingly Government is twisted with true ancient Christian Religion that it seems animated with one and the same Soul for like to Hippocrates's Twins they smile and weep together and live and die together For even as Rebellion is the bane of Civil Kingdoms and Peace and Concord the preservation of them even so Schism is the utter ruine of the Church of Christ Peace Vnity Vniformity the special gift of God therein and in the true Church above all Kingdoms or Common-wealths because it 's in all points a glorious conspicuous Monarchy tending every way to Vnity there being but one God one Christ one Flock one Pastor one Hope one Faith one Body one Head as the Apostle assures us To this heavenly Monarchy my Lord you are invited all Sects or false new-fangled Churches cannot pretend to be a Monarchy having no Head nor united Body but a confused Chaos I am confident that your Grace is a Master of more solid reason than to ground your Faith upon an uncertain Foundation or to pin the Salvation of your Soul on the bare sleeves of any Sect whose Guides are failable and fallible in all mens Opinions when you may enquire and find out a secure Infallible Guide leading to that Eternity of Glory you were created for The great reason my Lord the great motive that excited Dr. Vane Dr. Cressey Dr. King Bishop of London the Bishop of Glocester with very many more to separate from the Protestant blind Sect was because they found no safe secure certain human infallible unerring warrantable Iudge to interpret Scriptures and define questions of Faith without errour with any promise and privilege from Christ among the Protestants And consider my Lord that it 's very probable that the last Verdict and Sentence of the forlorn Protestant Sect is already written in Heaven that it must soon yield and fall to nothing as all other damn'd Heresies have done for it 's but folly to pretend to secure by human arts that which God is resolved to destroy Are you peradventure afraid or asham'd that Sectaries will blame you of inconstancy in changing or removing to the Roman Communion Sure we Mortals have above bruit Beasts the Resurrection of our Bodies we have above Devils to repent reclaim and flie from sin especially that most heinous sin of Schism and Heresie for Sectae non possi debunt Regnum Dei Galat. 5. So as that you must want constancy only to sin Sapientis est mutare consilium nullus pudor est ad meliora convertie Sure it was no blemish to St. Paul to turn to Christ from a Persecutor it was no shame to Constantine the Great of a Heathen to become a Roman Catholick Converted and Baptized by Pope Sylvester and it was no blemish to Louis I. King of France to be drawn to Christ's Faith by a Woman Then what shame can it be to your Grace to forsake Schism and come to the true Mother-Church the which King James I. of Blessed Memory did acknowledge in open Parliament to be the only Mother-Church of all Churches I hope my Lord you are none of those who say to God Job 21. Depart from us we will not have the knowledge of thy ways I hope you are none of those which abhor to hear good Inspirations flie and detest good Company and Books lest by such occasions they might be touched in conscience and so be converted and saved I hope you are none of those most unfortunate hard-hearted men whereof the Prophet Isa. 28. speaketh We have strucken a league with Death and made a bargain with Hell it self which is in effect as much as if they had said Trouble us not molest us not with thy persuasions spend not thy words and labour in vain talk to others who are not yet settled let them take Heaven that will we for our parts are resolved we are at a point we have made a league that must be kept we have made a bargain that must be performed yea though it be with Hell and Death everlasting O what a wonderful fury and obduration of an unrelenting heart is this My Lord when men are byass'd or prepossess'd they lie open to be imposed upon to the belief of a down-right Lye or to the disbelief of a manifest demonstration of an infallible Truth and so to be mis-led to a plausible Errour The great reason why there are few in comparison who now-adays come to a right understanding and a well-grounded persuasion in matters of Faith is because they are not many who make a due enquiry with sincerity and unbyassed disposition sure such who wilfully remain under the power of the false Principles which were instill'd in them in their Education or who blindly following failable and fallible Guides whose persons they have in admiration and veneration resolving never to trouble themselves with a free and impartial use of their own Iudgment concerning those Doctrines which they have in their own Opinion wisely and safely as they imagine taken upon trust led away by lofty conceits and opinion of their own Reason and Capacity will not suffer them to attempt any sincere ingenuous Examination of such things as imply a possibility of being deceived in points of Faith whence it comes to pass that they weigh only what is offered in favour of their own side and make it the great end of their search not to follow what shall appear to be true upon enquiry but rather to be confirmed in their present erroneous Persuasion it 's no wonder then that such as do enquire thus are rather hardned in Errour than convinced of the
that such Persons should resolve by a voluntary Banishment to dye to their Country and Friends and to the whole World by a Religious Profession and to bury themselves alive in a Cloyster than if they had restored Life to others and banish'd death from Graves and Monuments 7. Now after that our Protestant Gentleman hath considered our Catholick Monasteries let him examine whether in his own Church there hath been or now is any thing resembling so much Religion and super-natural Virtue as that which amongst us is not admired though admirable because so ordinary This kind of Life is as far from Protestants Practice and Doctrine as it is from natural Inclination Yet I have heard that Master Laud of Canterbury was once inclined to erect some Protestant Nunneries in England I believe it would occasion as great stirs as his Reformation did in England because nothing is more opposite to the Tenets of the reformed Gospel and first Reformers than to make Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Protestancy begun and is founded upon the dissolving of Monasteries and Religious Vows and is not compatible with their observance if things must be carried on by the same means that acquired them a being 8. The Conversion of Nations to Christianity is not only a sign of the true Church but also the end of its Institution This is so proper to the Roman Catholick even at this present that none who heard the names of America Angola China Monomotappa India or Iaponia can be ignorant of our pious endeavours and miraculous success in preaching the Gospel to so remote Nations where nothing that is coveted in this World could be aimed at or expected by our Apostolical Preachers I will not say any more concerning the Signs of the true Church these being sufficient to convince any Person that desires to be saved that out of the Roman Church there is no Salvation seeing it alone hath supernatural and visible Signs whereby God doth declare sufficiently that it is an infallible guide to inform men of his Mysteries and direct them in the way he hath prescribed for his Divine Service commanding all men to hear and obey it as they would hear and obey God himself Now let us see what Luther the Apostate Apostle of Protestants says Velit nolit in praise of the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick in his Book against the Anabaptists who in hatred of the Pope of Rome did reject Infant Baptism Nos We confess sub papatu plurimum esse boni Christiani imo omne bonum Christianismum atque illinc ad nos devenisse quippe fatemur in papatu veram Scripturam Sacram esse verum Baptismum verum Sacramentum Altaris veras claves ad remissionem peccatorum verum praedicandi officium verum Catechismum ut sunt articuli fidei decem praecepta c. Dico insuper sub papatu esse veram Christianitatem imo verum nucleum Christianitatis esse O magna est veritas praevalet Mark what Calvin says Instit. c. 10. § 17. That St. Bernard was a godly and pious Writer Adding Et certe Papista fuit Bernardus nemo est Pius sine vera fide salutem veritatem ab inimicis habemus Mark lastly what Melancthon one of the first Followers of Luther said to his dying Mother whom he perverted from the old Religion to his new one Mother send for a Priest confess your sins before you die Illa securior haec plausibilior via ad salutem She did so and died in the Communion of the old Roman Catholick Faith in which she was born and bred This you will find in Florimundus de Ortu Haeresis lib. 1. cap. 9. What can be said more of the advantage of the Roman Catholick Church than what her mortal Enemies proclaim to the World for to undeceive men and guide them to the secure Ark of Sanctification and Salvation Now to deny this Infallibility so evidently demonstrated is the great crime Protestant pretended Reformers are charged with in this Infallibility is founded all the Power of Christ's Church obliging to believe the inviolableness of her Government the unjustifiableness of any Schism the firm security that Faith is certain and whatever in the Church is Sacred But Protestants never clear themselves from Schism upon any other grounds that those which if admitted would prove all Malefactors in the World innocent and make it lawful nay an obligation in conscience to dissolve the whole Fabrick of the Worlds Government whereas the very posture of a Fallibility of Faith first lays and in time hatches the Cockatrice Eggs of Anarchy and Atheism What Man ever arrived to that height of mistake as to endeavour to manifest his Innocency by the voluntary confession of a crime which implies the objected sin of Schism Now Protestants are accused of Schism they lay for the ground of their excuse that they acknowledge not Christs Churches Infallibility which is charged on them to be both Schism and Heresie and as the very sink of Infidelity Sure they clearing themselves by denying the Infallibility of the Church does the self-same as if some Male-contented Subject having first out-lawed himself by denying the Laws and rejecting the Government of the Land and afterwards this man becoming obnoxious to those Laws by Robbing or Murthering should endeavour to plead not Guilty by alledging that though indeed the Subjects who accept the Laws and allow the Government of England are liable to punishment if they offend against them Yet I quoth he who suppose this Government Tyrannical and the Laws unjust especially having a perswasion and thinking in my Conscience they are so cannot be obliged to obey them and therefore I must not be accounted a Factious Man nor liable to punishment if I break them Pray what will become of this Malefactor Sure Protestants will clear him in favorem Schismatis But I am perswaded wiser Judgments will think him more highly deserving the Gallows for refusing subjection to the install'd Government then it is manifest that Protestants do more deeply merit Excommunication for denying and rejecting Church-Government and her Infallibility CHAP. V. A Paraenetical Admonition to the People of England PRotestants regard the antient Faith of Christ whose Purity Ministers seek to blacken by insufferable Injuries Lyes Invectives and Calumnies of the deepest Dye They full well knowing that its Purity cannot be attacqu'd with solid evident Reasons nor Arguments they found out by experience that their Arguments to prove their new fangled false Doctrine makes but slight Impression in the Peoples minds And they daily see that when they but faithfully represent the Sentiments and real Doctrine of the Catholick Church they can neither justifie their Fatal Separation nor excuse the Extravagancies and Impudencies of their first Reformers they finding it impossible by these means to maintain the ground of their cursed Schism they have a recourse to a most unjust pernicious and hellish Artifice viz. to impute to the Roman Catholick Church an
infinite number of gross Errors representing them under the hideous Idea of a Society professing most impious Doctrine thus no wonder that Peoples minds under their conduct should be alienated as to feel Horror and Detestation of her Doctrine so as their breach has been all along grounded upon Lyes Calumnies and False Suppositions Not being able to alledge in the behalf of their Schism any thing that can bear weight assuredly such disingenuous proceedings cannot but bring a deserv'd disrepute shame and confusion on the Protestant decaying Sect even from the sober understanding men among them And it is observable that Incredulity is an immortal Disease which hath reign'd from the beginning of the World and which shall never end but with the Worlds Dissolution Dreams Lyes Illusions and Falshood are easily believ'd because they insinuate themselves into the Hearts of men by Charms but glorious Truth which can never bely her self hath much ado to make her self entertain'd and understood yet we must know that there are many things unknown to us wherein God doth exercise our Faith but not satisfie our vain curiosity It is said that heretofore in Smyrna a City in Greece there was a false Mirror kept in the Temple which did represent the most beautiful Faces with notable Deformity and on the contrary gave to ugly and mis-shapen a Lustre of borrow'd and wholly imaginary beauty It is most notorious that the Protestant Ministers in the false Glass of their Preachings and lying printed Panphlets represents the glorious Church of Christ the Spouse of Heaven ever Holy as a Monster composed of Idolatry and Abomination as the Horrid Beast Whore of Babylon c. and on the contrary a Protestant Sect which begun by a revolt from all Obedience to lawful Superiors and by an infinite number of Exorbitances Sacriledge and unparallel'd Cruelties is forsooth represented as celestial holy and beautiful and it is to be wondered to see even Dr. Stillingfleet that Hircules and prime Advocate for Schism and who undertakes like a Goliah to defie the whole Hoast of Israel in the false Glass of his Roman Idolatry p. 8. Velit nolit represents the Roman Catholick Church as Idolatrous and Superstitious and yet makes it out clearly that she is the true Church to whose Communion the purest of all Christians are bound to joyn and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity and must be counted as Schismaticks Now noble Sirs you are intreated seriously to reflect and bear in mind that heavenly Virtue of ready and true filial Obedience to lawfully authorized Superiors as Guides of your Souls in this Valley of Misery and sink of Death this Virtue is of the first magnitude and deserves all imaginable Encomiums Opposita juxta se posita magis clucescunt said the most excellent Philosopher contraries are their best Illustrations Now Schism is Disobedience and a most horrid Vice considered in her own ugly shape being carnality it self so as there is not any crime so hainous as Schism not Sacriledge Idolatry Paracide nor worshipping the Devil it 's an Abridgement of all the most damnable inexcusable unexpiable Vices imaginable it being impossible to receive such an injury or provocation from Church-Governours as may make a Separation excusable for according to St. Austin it is impossible that there should be any just cause for any to separate from the Catholick Roman Church Sirs such expressions as these cannot but strongly incite any understanding unbyass'd man whom a tender care of Eternity invites to seek satisfaction in this Point and seriously to consider that the Decision of no one Controversie is more neerly concerning Salvation than this being the hinge on which the Ocean of particular Disputes and Controversies do hang. This said let us see what Dr. Stillingfleet asserts in his Roman Idolatry p. 8. That a Christian by Virtue of his being so is bound to joyn in some Church or Congregations of Christians and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity by virtue of which they were bound to do it he adds that a Christian by being so is bound to joyn in Communion of some Church and to chuse the Communion of the purest from this his Doctrine any understanding man must gather that he and his Protestant-pretended Church are guilty of Schism for separating themselves and remaining from joyning with the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church notwithstanding the said Stillingfleet strains all his Wits to palliate Schism painting their idle Reformation to advantage and not at all in its true colours proclaiming often Roman Catholicks Idolators superstitious c. which is the chief Rope whereupon he dances the Antick and triumphs O tempora o mores himself and his Proselites being in Schism over head and ears What then I pray are Protestants the better for all the Sermons they hear and Sacraments they receive Living in the cursed state of Schism for sure before Luther there was a glorious Church by the confession even of Adversaries this must be the Roman whose Communion was necessary to Salvation Therefore the Church of England separating and remaining obstinately from joining in Communion with It must be Schismaticks and something more to boot and it 's notoriously evident that the Roman Church hath the strongest warrantable promises prerogatives and motives even given to it by the sacred mouth of glorious Jesus then sure she could not err then sure she could not need any idle pretended Reformation So as that all Stilling fleet 's blind preaching of Reformation is vain his Faith is vain his Sacraments vain all his super-structures of daily printing lying new Books and scurrilous Pamphlets but all vain and by consequence himself no better than a sorry Schismatick So as any unbyass'd understanding man may plainly see all those Arrows which Dr. Still shoots against Roman Catholicks fall directly on his own head Muta fiant labia dolosa quia narraverunt iniqui fabulationes sed non ut lex tua His Objection is That Rome was an Harlot Superstitious the horned Beast c. It 's true that St. Ierome and other holy Fathers avers the same with reason but it was so called then when Rome was Gentile infected with Errours vain Superstitions of all Nations blaspheming God adoring Stocks and Stones and shedding in hatred of Christian Religion the Blood of Saints But after that Rome gave her name to Christ she can no more be stiled the Whore of Babylon but a glorious City faithful City replenished with all Grace and Righteousness which by receiving and confessing the Faith and Religion of Christ purely wip'd and wash'd off all Impurity all Blasphemies and superstitious Observances from that time it 's become the Tabernacle of God in the Sun true Pillar and Ground of Faith no blemish spot or wrinkle doth she carry When I pray is any able to say he saw her brave Sun go down or her fair Moon withdraw she always
return to God who bindeth Nobles in Fetters of Iron and who alone can en-noble the meanest and laugh to scorn the proud that presume on Nobility in contempt of the Almighty for he is noble that in Vertue shines ill Life and Manners are degenerate Signs Earth's Nobles in Heaven's Court unknown Heaven not Gentry but the just doth own should you in power and strength excell all other men Plenty of Massie Gold and Silver what then Injoy'd you Fortune's Wheel to raise thee to the Skie Well ordered Servants that in Duty would outvie all others what then All 's but Folly and distress but God alone to serve is true Glory to possess The want of a serious consideration hereof brought England to the Stage of Confusion Disorder Schism and Sacriledge pray did not your Schism occasion a grievious Civil War which continued for three years soon after a gloomy horrible Comet appear'd in the Air which did usher a most raging Plague soon after Fire and dreadful Flames from Heaven all but warnings and merciful invitations for to bring England to true obedience and re-union to the ancient reveal'd and Soul-saving Faith of Christ yet all proved ineffective What A fiery Comet in the Van What a frightful Plague in the main Body What devouring Flames as horrid Executioners of Gods vengeance in the Rear and yet no moving at all towards the fear of God irritated notwithstanding all such prodigious Judgments and Visitatious sent from a hand more then humane all did but harden the people of Londons hearts in Schism and Heresie But now in a most happy hour Lo our great Royal Iames now displays his white Flag Clemency and Mercy to his Subjects assuring the World out of his Princely Mature Wisdome and Experience that Liberty of Conscience in England cannot but mainly conduce as an Inlet for the reducing of all his Loyal Subjects from Dire Schism and Heresie to the one true Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church of Christ ut fiat unum ovile unus pastor ovium For his most Sacred Majesty by his well ordered Zeal and Dei-form intention labours to promote vigorously the common good Spiritual and Temporal of his Subjects as he like a most good just clement and puissant Prince holds himself bound O brave England do but seriously consider how the World cannot chose but discern you ever since your Revolt overcast with blindness and disingenuity your Nobles and Gentry become altogether most inconstant unsteady wavering and still dissatisfied with any Government Monarchical or Anarchical even as when a Bone is out of joynt the Patient can never be free from his pain till it be not only set but set right again So England it is not only out of joynt but even broken in pieces suffering inexpressible miseries changes and calamities both in Church and State yet even to this day it feels no ease at all because none have had it in hand to cure its distempers but such as instead of healing its wound have inflam'd its maladies and woful distractions O brave Nobility of England joyn with your great Prince according to that Axiom per quascunque causas conponitur res per easdem dissolvetur Henry the Eighth began the dance in bringing in Schism the Nobility followed him Now great King Iames begins to chace away Schism introduce union peace prosperity follow him a brave Pole Star Take this Fable to our purpose upon a time the Frogs petition'd Iupiter to grant them a King he condescended and tumbled among them a Log after they had leap'd a while both on it and about it and finding it to be insensible they once more petition'd for a King active and stirring whereupon he sent them a Crane which fell immediately a pecking up The Moral hereof plainly shews that nothing can give any lasting satisfaction to the desire of change to the people of England for whether the Governour be a Frog or a Crane passive or active clement or cruel gracious or grievous they disrelish all unwilling to obey any such are their Principles so as that they leave no stone unmoved to unsettle or alter any Government chosing to be enslaved by a bad rather then endure constantly a good one and all this because they are blind and mad out of all order for want of faith I could not forbear letting fall some tears beholding such a Mockery of Heaven and Sacriligious Villany performed on St. Patriarks day last in contempt of that Apostle of Ireland who by the Sign of the Cross wrought many Miracles whereof one is most notorious viz. That he chased away from that Kingdom all venomous Creatures even to this very day Any considering man may plainly see how that Schism revealed its own turpitud and betray'd it self to the full on the 17 of September last it 's sure then the semblance painted with Hypocrisie and Forgery was pull'd away then it 's Vizard and adulterated colours were quite taken away so as Schism discovered is a face unmasked then sure by Schism the Origine of our holy Reformation the work was done to the full when all the grounds of Christian Religion then were quite pull'd down Root and Branch pray what are all our Protestant Reformations but the taking away the antient Principles of Faith without any positive institution still proceeding by degrees from Schism to Reformation from this to Infidelity and Blasphemy until of the whole Fabrick of Divine Faith there is not left one stone upon another The Sign of the Cross only as a distinctive character between Christian and Pagan left was on St. Patriarks day last villified and exposed to the scorn and laughter of the giddy crowds of Protestants at London when Bulls with Crosses in their Horns Bears and Dogs with Crosses in their Foreheads were seen marching through the Protestant Streets of London and none did appear with any touch of Zeal or Religion to reprove check or punish such a villanous devillism o tempora o mores What! To see the holy Cross pull'd from Churches Altars from the Crown of our Sovereign and even from Baptism then most prophanely translated to the heads of Bears Bulls and Dogs Sure such Heathenish practices suits better with Turks and Moors now then what other can the Permitters Promoters Applauders and Abettors of such prophane ridiculing of the prime Mystery of Christianity expect then a heavy judgment from Heaven Is this the fruit of all the plausible Sermons in Protestant Churches on every Sunday Is this the end of Schism and its deformation now it 's come to the height of shame O plentiful Reformation O Zealous O Blessed O Sober O Godly Protestant thorough Reformation Now the work is done non plus ultra Who sees not how Schism produced Reformation a disorder establish'd by humane Law which bred this confusion thus Protestant Preachers teaching their Proselites to hate Popery they have put them upon the over-acting the work so as to leave their Religion a gasping O London
put on black and warning take FINIS TO THE Most Puissant and most Renown'd JAMES the SECOND KING Of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Long and Prosperous Reign is Wished and Prayed for OUR bright Orient Star King IAMES long may shine With True Faith's Rays most Powerful and Divine Whom the Lustre of Glorious Greatness Crown'd May God his Foes Convert or them Confound Whom all Admire whom all almost Adore Who to his Subjects doth now all good restore Who for Valour Wisdom Piety and Stature Is a wond'rous Master-piece of Nature His Deliverances from Plots a Miracle His rare Judgements Royal word an Oracle He out-brav'd all Perils his Prowess met A calm Spirit amidst main Storms he kept In Heaven's Annals his Royal Acts are Enroll'd His Heroick Feats are still in Flanders told In Spain and France his pure conduct is Renown'd And now through the World doth his Vertue sound Ne'r since the Grecians call'd this World their own Or Romans theirs was greater Valour known Than his if yet new Worlds to Conquer Were Sure Brave IAMES were the fitter Conquerer His Valour and Conduct surpassing far Great Champions that were Thunderbolts of VVar Bravest example of most Heroick worth That ever yet this later Age brought forth VVhat Tongue or Pen is able to express His matchless Gifts Graces and high minds Hapiness Therefore Can Royal IAMES fear the VVhigs those Scare-Crows then Those Bugbear VVretches the meer shades of Men NO NO for He wants no Arms to fit him for the Field His Prayers are his Sword True old Faith his Shield He in sweet Jesus by true Faith confides Mark Christ all safety still for him provides VVhigs when they list may for VVar and Storms call They with loud Thunder shall in fury fall In vain they Plot Contrive Conspire Combine They 'll fail by God of their most damn'd design For if by Sedition they his Power contemn For him Christ will dire Vengeance fling on them For God's Transcendent Providence still bear sway Which Plots against Kings doth with sorrow pay Lo VVhen the Rare Arabian Bird doth burn Her Beauties are not lost but doth return For when her Body 's laid on sweet Flames to Death Out of her Cindars a new Bird takes Breath From blest Queen Mary's Ashes and Royal Blood Y'our Sovereign Leige a Lovely Flower did bud For your Deiform Zeal for True Old Faith doth show That her Blood in your Sacred Veins do flow Lo God printed in your Pure Serene Face Mild Majesty Royal Terrour dreadful Grace Live long unpeer'd great Prince I Prayers amain Will daily offer for your most Happy Reign And humbly beg of God's Eternal bounty That Peace Union One Religion Plenty Of all Blessings from his most Potent Hand Be pour'd down upon this thy British Land And on Christ's in thy Kingdoms Faithful Flock Built on St. Peters Rome and St. Peters Rock Reign long great Phaenix now 'mongst Earthly Kings Still prosper Great IAMES for VVits pure managings Now you appear with mild and sweet fervour 'Gainst forlorn Sects Lies Schism and all Errour Y'own St. Ambrose Hierom and St. Austin Before Mad Luther Beza and blind Calvin Your Majesty hates the new Sin-sick Tricks Of deluded deluding Schismaticks Who to new fangled Faiths are so affected That by them Christs Faith is quite rejected Whose curs'd Spawn adventur'd t' expose to Sale The best of Kings their Faith their Souls and all Who to Rent his Church daily do devise And God's pure Spouse still Harlot like despise Lying Pamphlets Pulpits their black Art do try To stop True Faith's most Triumphant Victory In vain they Plot Contrive Conspire Combine They 'll fail by Gods power of their damn'd Design Therefore Let blind VVhigs stoop to serve at Royal IAMES's Feet Where Valour VVisdom Mercy and Justice meet Sure non can frown at King IAMES his gentleness But those that have an apparent Guiltiness Or such as at length to foul Death must run As Monmouth aiming at the Crown have done God bless our KING defend him from his Foes Ill Fate befall those that will him oppose VVe bless his Birth-Day and the Ground he tread FOR His Zeal for True Faith through all VVorld is spread Christ bless King IAMES Queen MARY and then Let all True Real Loyal Subjects say Amen On their Seat their Seed may ever Flourish VVhich may in One Truth Three Kingdoms Nourish God grant that never any other Hand Then Royal Stuarts sway the Scepter of this Land. May it please Your Most Sacred Majesty this is the daily Humble Prayer of J. E. one of Your Majesties most devoted Subjects Who For shew of his True Real Loyal Affection Plain Lines and Life offers to Your High Protection Perge age prosper abi Rex Vince JACOBE Secunde Hostes Armipotens Religione Fide. A Divine Poem Disswasive from Shism IN this vast World none full content can find For tho one may be rich indeed yet his mind Is empty still for still he covets more And is amidst his main heaps of riches poor Lo the Spherick figure cannot suffice Equally to fill what is triangle wise Lay one upon another and you 'll see Always some corner will unfurnish'd be When the Almighty made man's Soul the same Triangular by high Providence did frame To represent his matchless self and be The image of one God in persons three Ordaining man to love fear obey and serve God alone who always doth reward reserve For here beneath sure nothing can be found In this low Orb that 's Spherical and round Can satisfie Man's Soul nor can man rest In Creatures who is ord'red to be blest By Gods sweet fruition who to him gave The sublime being and essence which he have Good Sir Slight not eternal goods and with much pain For blind Schism ev'rlasting torments gain Renounce thy right t'Heaven and purchas Hell Chosing in dungeon fire and chains to dwell Don't forsake Christ ways safe true and immense Pursuing lying false doctrine to please thy Sence Which will debase thy nature and the fruit Will be to leave thee level with the bruit What will enoble you and truly raise Are Visions of those beams which God displays From his reconciled sweet face shall make Your Soul of his bles'd nature to partake Nought Sir can here be offer'd to thy eye That can the glory of Heaven outvie Nought here beneath of comfort doth so thrive As when God pure hearts doth with grace revive Gods light must guide thee how grace must be us'd Mercies proves judgment when they are abus'd Schism breeds blindness and beats reason back Forgets shames blush and doth honour wrack By faith we know immortal Souls to be And that for Souls there 's an Eternity Become what will of all the rest you have Pray Sir mind still thou hast a Soul to save A Soul your only Soul which when you die Is either sav'd or damn'd eternally This only thought will dark Schism controul Saying avant