by denying the Ring such Supplies as are necessary for his and yours and all our preservation Let it be your care also to cover the Pit which the Excluders have dug I mean to make his Royal Highness reparation for the injurious and unworthy Treatment he hath received from them You have abhorr'd it without doors therefore do it within cast out the Bill as a wicked abominable thing shut the door after it that it may never return any more Be pleased to do that which your great Wisdom and Justice cannot but prompt you to Go to the Duke and let him know your deep resentments of the wrongs that have been offer'd him and beseech him not to think the worse either of you or the Establish'd Religion for them because this hath taught you and all the true Members of the Church of England to abominate the Project of Exclusion as a peice of high and execrable Injustice Shew him the difference between the true and the seeming Protestants that those have so much Religion and fear of God that they dare do injury to no man much less to their Princes and had rather suffer themselves than they should whereas these have more Zeal than Honesty and care not whom they injure and oppress so they can but secure and preserve their own dear selves Treat him with all the honour and respect due to his Royall Birth Vertues omit nothing that may testifie your high esteem and veneration for him use all the fair and prudent means you can to gain his favour and good opinion of you and to convince him of the justness and honesty of your intentions towards him Such methods as these are Christian and Noble and fit to be practis'd towards a Prince and may by the Blessing of God work very much upon his great and generous Soul brave Spirits being sometimes courted to that which they will never be hector'd into and if he be a Papist be instrumental to his Conversion which will not only be grateful or pleasing to God his Angels and Saints in Heaven but fill this our English Earth with Joy revive our languishing Happiness restore our Nation to its ancient Glory put a blessed period to all our Distractions and Confusions then we shall live in Peace and Unity amongst our selves and unless we be the most ungrateful People in the World in true Piety Obedience to our God who hath done so great things for us then it will be well with us and happy shall we be Forreigners will call these Kingdoms as they did of old The Fortunate Islands All which the great and Gracious Governour of the World God Almighty in whose hands the Hearts of Princes are Grant for the Merits of our dear Redeemor Amen FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by W. Freeman by Temple-Bar in Fleet-street THE Penitent Pardon'd or a Discourse of the Nature of Sin and Efficacy of Repentance under the Parable of the Prodigal Son By Dr. Goodman Daily Exercise for a Christian By a Person of Exemplary Piety for his own use price 1. s. Holy Devotions with Directions to Pray also a brief Exposition upon the Lords Prayer the Creed Ten Commandments Seven Penitential Psalms and the Seven Psalms of Thanksgiving together with a Litany By the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews late Bishop of Winchester the 7th Edition Means to Preserve Peace in Marriage by the Author of Rules of Civility in Twelves Price 1. s. The Manners of the Israelites in Three Parts First of the Patriarcks Second of the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt to the Captivity of Babylon Third of the Jews after their Return to the Preaching of the Gospel The President of Presidents or one general President for Common Assurances by Deeds Wherein there is an Extract of all the General Learning and Forms of Presidents now extant Out of which you may be fitted for most purposes and cases and be able to find the faults of any Conveiances and so Judg of your Right and Title to your Lands and Goods here being upon the matter the Effect and Quintessence of all Books of this kind Of singular use and Profit to all Men. By W. Sheppard Esq The Third Edition Corrected in Octavo The Clerks Manual or an Exact Collection of the most approved Forms of Declarations Pleas general Issues Judgments Demurrers and most kind of Writs now used in the Court of Kings-Bench with necessary Instructions to all Clerks Attorneys Sollicitors c. In the use of the same The Second Edition Octavo The Practick Part of the Law shewing the Office of an Attorney and a Guid for Solicitors in Octavo An Infallible way to Contentment in the midst of Publick or Personal Calamities Together with the Christians Courage and Encouragement against Evil Tidings and the Fear of Death In Twelves The Court of the Gentiles Part Fourth of Reformed Philosophy Book Third of Divine Predetermination wherein the nature of Divine Predetermination is fully Explained and Demonstrated both in the General as also more Particularly as to the Substract matter or Entitative Act of Sin By Theophylus Gale in Quarto Starrons Novels viz. The fruitless Precaution the Hypocrites the Innocent Adultery the Judg in his own Cause the Rival Brothers the Invisible Mistriss the Chastisement of Avarice the Unexpected Choice Rendred into English with some Additions in Octavo ☞ Xenophons Histroy of the Affairs of Greece in Seven Books Being a Continuation of the Peloponnesian War from the time where Thucydides ends to the Battel at Mantinea To which is Prefixed an Abstract of Thucydides and an Account of the Land and Naval Forces of the Ancient Greeks Translated from the Greek by John Newman This will be Published in few days in Octavo
take for a favour to have yeilded to me That a Papist is a Christian though an Erring one and then all the dispute between the Excluders and me in the great Case before us comes to this Whether an Erring Christian doth by being so Forfeit his Birth-right To say he doth is an hard saying and such as can never be Justified or Defended for a Christian as all other Men may do may Err either in Judgment or Practice or Both. Errour in Judgment if it rests there can forfeit no Mans Right because it is injurious to none but the Erring Person himself and cannot be known to any but the great Searcher of Hearts and therefore no humane Laws can Punish it If any Errour then forfeits a Mans Right it must be Errour in Practice because this is both open or manifest and may be mischievous or hurtful to others but every Errour in practice every Sin that is cannot forfeit a Common or Ordinary Right much less so Great Transcendent and Extraordinary a Right as this to a Crown To say it can or doth is a sure way to deter all Men from being Christians for who will be so if by doing any Evil Action he forfeits all his Happiness in Heaven and all his Injoyments and Expectations upon Earth That indeed is recoverable by Repentance but it is uncertain whether any Repentance can restore a Man to these being once forfeited and as such alienated or taken from him because 't is doubtful whether he that hath them in possession will ever restore them to the first Owner And therefore no Man that considers the Frailty of his nature the great and manifold Temptations to which he is exposed and the necessity and usefulness of that Estate or Property to his comfortable subsistence in this World which he hath either acquir'd by his Labour and Industry or descends to him by Inheritance will ever be a Christian if by being so every Sin he commits doth forfeit that Estate or Property So Injurious to the most Holy and Excellent Religion of Christ and that which tends to the utter Ruin and Destruction of it is that Originally Popish and since by Adoption Presbyterian Principle That all Dominion is founded in Grace that no private Person hath any Right to his Estate or Property nor any Prince or Monarch to bear Rule or Authority over others any longer than he is an Holy and Gracious Person and in the favour of God Upon this Principle the Pope proceeds when he Excommunicates and Deposeth Princes that profess the Reformed Religion that Profession in his Opinion makes them Hereticks and their Persisting in it declares them Obstinate or such as will not be Reformed which are he thinks two great Sins to deny that which he calls the Faith and to continue stubbornly in that denial by which in his Judgment they forfeit their Royal Dignity which being lapsed to him the Supreme Minister of Christ upon Earth is absolutely at his disposal so that he may give it to whom he pleaseth Upon this Principle also the prosperous Rebells in the late times seiz'd the Government and the Revenues of it plunder'd sequester'd deprived the Loyal party of their Estates call'd them Malignants say'd they were great Sinners Persons either void of or fallen from all Grace and being so their Estates were forfeited which they being the Saints and People of God might justly take possession of and convert to their own use So glad are men Knavishly inclin'd of any Religious pretence or colour for their Rapines and Injustice but I shall endeavour to strip them of this covering that it may never more be a Cloak for their Avarice and Oppressions That this is a false as well as wicked and mischievous Principle may be proved divers Subsect 1 ways For first if now under the Christian Religion Dominion be founded in Grace it must be so founded by the Decree and Declaration of Christ himself contained in the new Testament but that gives us no notice nor information at all of any such decree or appointment of his therefore there is there can be no such thing Search all the four Gospels and all the Sacred Writings of the Apostles and there will be nothing found in them to countenance or favour so wild a Principle 'T is true indeed our Lord hath intermix'd some few Temporal promises with his great and noble offers of Eternal rewards and injoyments that our obedience to his excellent Laws might be excited and encouraged with the expectation both of present and future advantages such is that when charging his Disciples not to be too thoughtful or solicitous for the things of the Earth he said seek ye first the Kingdom of God St. Math. 6. 33. and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you never afflict nor trouble your selves about these mean and despicable things let it be your constant study and endeavour to obey my Laws and to lead the pure and vertuous lives they injoyn you and then you may be confident you shall want nothing either necessary or convenient for you in this World he that cloaths the Lillies in such brave and splendid Vestments and feeds the young Ravens that cry unto him will take care of and extend his Royal Bounty to you his devout Worshippers and faithful Servants And to this great promise I suppose the Apostle refers when he saith That Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come but by this promise no man hath any new Right to any Temporal possessions which he had not before but it only assures him of Gods Blessing that he will by his gracious providence and bounty supply him with all things necessary for his present support which may be done by prospering his labour and diligence in an honest Calling or by exciting others to extend their Bounty and Charity to him but Christ doth not say obey my Laws live up exactly to the Rules of my Religion and I will inrich you with the Wealth and Estates of those men that either oppose my Doctrine or if they profess do not observe or act according to it assure your selves that notwithstanding all I have done to convert them many will not believe in me nor all of them that do obey me and the want of Faith in the one and of Obedience exact and intire Obedience in the other will forfeit all their temporal properties and possessions which I bequeath as my Royal Donative to you and to my Saints for ever Such a Declaration as this would have made it clear that Dominion is founded in Grace but he hath said nothing that in the least measure looks like any such thing unless that promise to the meek may seem to some to have an aspect that way Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth The meek are opposed to those that are angry and passionate and they are the mild
not from a Total Destitution or Want but from weakness of Grace they may be Slips and Frailties not wilful or deliberate Crimes though they sometimes ensnare and surprise him yet the Man may heartily Abhor Repent of and Strive against them be earnestly Labouring after that habitual Holiness and proficiency in Piety and Vertue that will in time render him Victorious over all Sin and Wickedness What horrid Injury is it then to such a Child of God as this that heartily Loves his Heavenly Father and sincerely endeavours to do his Will to Condemn him as a Reprobate and as such to deprive him of all the Possessions he hath upon Earth So that if any Sect or Society of Men had Power to Elect such a Judg or Officer unless when they have chose they can make him Infallible or give him Unerring that is Infinite Wisdom still they would be never the better because he could not Execute his Office without committing the grossest most mischievous and pernicious Errours and Mistakes without passing such Sentences as will Condemn and Ruine the Innocent and on the other side Justifie and Enrich the Guilty and the Wicked I know indeed that those two great Rivals who claim a Right of Judging in the Case that is the Pope and Presbytery do both pretend to be Infallible the first Directly or in Express words the other by Consequence As for the Pope he professes to have an Infallible or Unerring Judgment in all Cases and the Presbytery say they have the Spirit which is to say the same thing his Holiness doth though in other Terms Now here being two Parties contending for this Judicature and both of them for the due managing of it pretending to be Infallible and neither of them willing to quit their Claim or Title or to resign it to the other the Question is Which of them must be acknowledged Judg in the Case The Presbytery are Evidently the Younger and but of Yesterday in compare with the other for the Pope will plead that several General Councils have own'd and asserted him to be the supreme Judg upon Earth in all Causes belonging to Religion but the Presbytery can alledg no such thing never had any Council to declare for them unless they will be so Presumptuous as to call the sneaking Synod of Dort so And therefore till one of these Pretenders Renounce his claim there can be no supreme or sole Judg in the Case and to place this Judicature in them both would make mad work because the Pope hath adjudged the Presbytery to be Hereticks and therefore void of Grace and consequently such as have no Right to Judg in the Case And the Presbytery on the other side call the Pope Antichrist and Man of Sin and the Church of Rome over which he presides the Great Whore the Whore of Babylon and therefore not only fallen from but past all Grace And those whom he declares to be Saints and good Catholicks they pronounce to be Reprobates or Sinners of the first Magnitude Those also whom he calls Hereticks and Anathematizes as the most Flagitious Criminals upon Earth they admire and cry up as the Peculiar People Dear Children of God So that if the Accusations and Indictments they prefer one against another be true they are both such Impious Graceless Persons that they are not capable of being Judges in the Case and the gross and abominable Errours both of them are so Notoriously Guilty of Shame and Prove the Infallibility they both lay claim to to be a most insolent and lying Pretence And being neither taught in Scripture nor Practicable in it self this Principle must needs be false and the Invention of Cheats who say as the Gnosticks did of old That Gain is Godliness If Christ had founded Dominion in Grace he would have inserted this degree amongst his other Laws which his Blessed Apostles have Transmitted to us in their inspired Writings but there is no mention of any such thing and he having not so founded it no Authority upon Earth can do it And because he took Care by his Strict and Excellent precepts of Justice to preserve and secure Mens Rights and Properties as they can be none of his Disciples that Violate and Invade them so upon what Pretence soever they do it they must expect the dreadful Punishment which his Laws Denounce against the Unjust the Oppressours and therefore I conclude That Dominion is not Bp. Taylor Ductor Dubi p. 543. founded in Grace but as a Reverend Person Observes in Law and Labour in Succession and Purchase And if Dominion be not founded in Grace then a Christian may Err in Practice that is do some Evil things and not forfeit his Temporal Right or Property be it Ordinary or Extraordinary a Right to a private Estate or as this under debate to succeed to the Royal Dignity The next Inquiry then must be what Errours in Practice Forfeit a Mans Right These must in Subsect 2. Reason be such as are Repugnant to and open Violation of some great Design or Intention of his Being but no Man was Born for himself alone but for the publick good and to be serviceable to Humane Society of which he is a part or Member which he is obliged to promote with all his Care and Industry and to Contribute his Endeavours to the Preservation of For the Effecting of which these three things as the Learned and Excellent Bishop Sanderson observes are absolutely necessary The Defending our Country against Forreign Force and Invasion The Administration of Distributive Justice that the Good be Protected and Rewarded the Evil and Unjust Punish'd according to the Laws Care of Commutative Justice of Trade Praelectio Quinta Sect 19. or Commerce and all kind of Contracts the welfare and safety of Mankind being so concern'd in these things that unless they be secured they must needs be involved in Misery and Ruin for all places will be fill'd with Thefts Murders Frauds and Injuries and the Lives and Estates of the most Innocent Persons be exposed to the Avarice and Cruelty of the Great or Mighty The Crimes therefore that Forfeit a Mans Right must be such as are Destructive of Humane Society which are Thefts Murders and Treasons But then he that commits these or any of them doth by our Laws Forfeit his Life as well as Estate the Royal Clemency indeed may if it sees Cause Pardon those that Commit these great Offences which Pardon Restores them intirely to all they had Forfeited but without that they are Dead and Deprived of all their Possessions by Law It being Just that he who steals another Mans Goods should loose his own that he who will not let his Neighbour Live to Enjoy his Estate should Forfeit both his Life and Estate and that he or they who attempt any thing against the Sacred and most Precious Life of their Prince be not only Punish'd as the highest Malefactors by a Death peculiar to such execrable Criminals