hence are justly condemned two sorts of men amongst us 1. Those that dare presume to stile themselves the Godly Party and yet refuse all Loyalty to their Prince That pretend very much to fear the Lord and yet are not afraid to dishonour their King And who are such but only our Pharisaical Puritans and Fanaticks Time was we know when those Godly-gulls and Holy-cheats made the deluded people of this Kingdom to believe that he did fear God the most who did the least honour his King that he was the most godly who would offer the most affronts and indignities to his Prince Nothing was counted with them a greater piece of Piety than to stir up the people against their Soveraign by raising jealousies and casting abroad rude and scandalous Pamphlets almost every day to libel and disgrace him Which as that Holy Martyr King Charles 1. Himself saith in his Divine meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ that Golden Manual like sparks in great conflagrations did fly up and down to set all places on Fire Yea he was thought to be the most Religious who was the best Incendiary to set a well ordered Kingdom in a Flame Hist of Indepen Compleat Part. 1. p. 55. and could cheat the giddy multitude the most into Rebellion no Ambassador to him that was the greatest Herauld of War and like a Geneva Bull could roar out loudest from the Pulpit Up ye Fanaticks Arm Arm ye are the only Godly party who have as much right to Rob the King and his Loyal Subjects as the Israelites had to spoil the Egyptians g Exod. 3.22 all that you can find is your own But only you must not think that you like ravening Wolves can make a prey of their possessions unless you hide the designs of your pride and covetousness under Sheeps clothing h Mat. 7.15 If therefore you have any lingering mind after the wages of unrighteousness i 2 Pet. 2.15 as we know you have as any Balaams of us all then you must deal wisely k Exod. 1.10 imitate our Language and behaviour to the life know no other godliness but your espoused gain l 1 Tim. 6.5 and make Religion but a stalking Horse to Rebellion regard not the voice of Conscience lest it interrupt you but yet be sure to carry it always about you that it may be ready to further your sinister ends and proceedings with its outward shews and varnish Be ye as Hypocritical in raising a Rebellion against your King as ambitious Absalom was when he raised a conspiracy against his Father m 2 Sam. 15. though like David he be a man after Gods own heart yet pretend ye that there are some grievous abuses in Church and State which if you were made Rulers and Judges your integrity would quickly remedy that so your Godly party being strengthned by the stoln hearts of others you may accomplish your ambitious and covetous ends the more assuredly to the temporal ruin and downfal of your King and Country O! Tell this not in Gath nor publish it in the streets of Askalon lest the Daughters of Philistins rejoyce lest the Daughters of the uncircumcised triumph n 2 Sam. 1.20 For time was then too when these cursed Cains and Amalekites did all of them combine together and were not afraid to stretch forth united hands to destroy the Lords anointed o ver 14. And yet forsooth they pretended that it was out of fear to God to promote his Cause and his Glory Yea they thought they did God good service to kill their King and make him a glorious Martyr for God and his Country as Christ our Prince of peace foretold his Disciples of the like that was to happen unto them to make them stable in their persecutions p John 16.1 2 For as these Rebels did this Barbarous Villainous and unparallel'd act because they had no saving knowledge of God the Father and Christ God-man the Son q ver 3. So our Martyred Soveraign like King David in all his troubles though both had their failings demonstrated himself to be a true Disciple of Christ indeed for notwithstanding all the various modes whereby these proud and impudent wretches had him in great derision yet he declined not from Gods Law r Ps 119.51 But the guilty Consciences of these Parricides the true seed of Corah and his Complices two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly all of them Parliament men of their own Election ſ Numb 16. told them that the murder of their Soveraign was not enough to keep those Places Dignities and Power which before they had usurped from him unless they barred all his Heirs from succeeding Therefore though they consisted of two juntoes and were divided into two adverse Factions the one Presbyterians who to use their own distinction murdered the King in his Political Capacity and the other Independents who murdred him in his natural Yet they most firmly agreed in making an Act * Hist Independ Compleat Part 2. p. 140. p. 241. Part 4. p. 22. for the Dethroning of his Highness James Duke of York and all the Royal Family not sparing so much as the Kingly Office it self Especially therein they united themselves together against the next Heir to the Crown our now most gracious Lord and King as unanimously and as solemnly as those two deadly Enemies Herod and Pilate were made friends against Christ t Luk. 23.12 They hunted him from place to place for his life as Saul King David like a Partridge upon the Mountains u 1 Sam. 26.20 most inhumanely saying like the Husbandmen in the Parable w Luk. 20.14 this is the Heir come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours Yet they had the impudence to pretend that all was but expedient for the good and welfare of the whole Nation the Glory of God the safety and liberty of the people Salus populi is the common pretence of all Rebels Caiaphas pretended the same for Crucifying Christ it is expedient saith he that one man die meaning Jesus and that the whole Nation perish not x John 11.50 And Cromwell too pretended the like for the murder of our Soveraign unless he die the whole nation must perish but as that which was pretended to be so much for the safety of the Jews brought a fearful destruction upon them so this which was pretended to be so much for the Glory of God and the Liberty of the People hath been seen by woeful experience for twelve years together to have been the very bane and ruin of the Nation When was there ever more slavery and bondage in the State And when more Anarchy and confusion in the Church Munster it self saw but the Prologue to our Tragedy But to maintain this their Usurpation they still persisted in their old Hypocritical zeal and re-inforced it too with such wonderful shews of godliness that if it were possible they
would have perswaded the very Elect themselves that they were really a Godly Party true fearers of God indeed y Mat. 24.24 the more they had a mind to dishonour the King the more they pretended to fear the Lord How many Pharisaical prayers and superstitious Preachings were made to devour the Possessions of all True Loyalists even to the houses of poor Widows and the Fatherless z Mat. 23.14 How many sad Countenances and Bulrush necks to trumpet out the praise of their Saintship And how many Hypocritical sighs and groans too to blow up all Royalty and Loyalty and cheat the people into Rebellion All which either more or less was evident in most but especially in Cook that Famous or rather Infamous Preacher sigher and groaner and in Cromwell too the Head of their Rebellion * Boscobel or the Compleat History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the Battel of Worcester 3 Sept. 1651. Part. 1. p. 18. who when at Worcester fight he had marched over Powick Bridge a considerable number of his men to fight against his King said in his Hypocritical way The Lord of Hosts be with you That so the poor ignorant and credulous Rabble who knew no other cause but their pay why they were gathered together any more than the followers of Demetrius a Acts 19.40 or those two hundred that followed Absolom out of Jerusalem in their simplicity b 2 Sam. 15.11 thinking that it was Gods cause which they were ingaged in might be the more animated in their Rebellion But it is no wonder that these Rebels and Whetstones of Rebellion should thus dishonour the King when as for all their specious pretences they were not afraid to dishonour the Lord himself not only indirectly through the sides of his Vicegerent but immediately and directly in himself for time was then also when they did most impudently prophane Gods Sanctuary the House of Prayer the place where his honour dwelleth c Ps 26.8 they set up the abomination of desolation in the Holy Place where it ought not to stand d Mat 24.15 Hist Independ Compleat Part. 1. p. 170. Sir William Brereton Colonel General for the Cheshire Forces having given him the Arch-Bishops House and Lands at Croiden with Cashobery and other Lands of the Lord Capels worth 2000 l. per an for service done and to be done against the King and Kingdom reformed the Chapel there into a Kitchin This was a goodly reformation fitting with his Stomach as well as his Religion But O. Cromwell * Hist Independ Compleat Part. 2. p. 34 35. in proportion to his sublimity therein went beyond him when he and his reformed St. Pauls from the Church of God to a Den of Thieves Stable of Horses and Brothel of Whores out of envy I suppose to the King because it was the Head and Royal Church of the Kingdom And to cover his Prophaneness he would most ridiculously say his Prayers amongst his Horses And Lambert and his crue did not come far behind him when he threatened to pluck down Churches for Edification as they actually did the Kings house at Holmby And I may add too what hereafter I shall have better occasion to speak of in their changing that they then also thought it a great piece of Reformation to dishonour God publickly not only by doing their Carnal and Worldly business in his Sanctuary but also by being most irreverently and unmannerly covered even before their betters in his Holy Ordinances And O! that I could not say that even now time is that this sin of Prophaneness is still extant in some too many amongst us which without all doubt plainly declares nothing more than that they are still infected with their old Common-Wealth principles They are apt to complain of the reliques of Popery because they want Wisdom to discern the precious from the vile e Jer. 15.19 But I wish we had not juster cause to complain of the reliques of Fanaticism there be too many dregs of it lye at the bottom of this Nation which if they should be once stirred before they be refined it is much to be feared that they would quickly discover themselves on the top We have Church Fanaticks as well as Church Papists amongst us You therefore that are infected with the gangrene of Fanaticism with the leven or doctrine of these Phanatical Scribes and Pharisees f Mat. 16.6 12. it is behoofeful that you be very careful to purge it out from your Consciences by a timely true and unfeigned repentance that you may not corrupt others with evil manners but become a new Lump your selves g 1 Cor. 5.7 to win and confirm those in the truth that want it h Luk. 22.32 As Doctor Lee Colonel Richard * Boscobel Or the Compleat Hist of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the Battel of Worcester Part. 1. p. 16. Ingolsby who since his Conversion was created Knight of the Bath at his Majesties Coronation and other real Converts have done in the same reformation This is a thing not to be dallied with but to be seriously considered in time and the rather because evil habits are as hardly forsaken as easily taken unless you take it for a thing indifferent as some of your Predecessors have done whether you are for ever happy or miserable Luke-warm Christians partly Fanaticks and partly Loyalists and Conformists that like a trembling Needle between two Loadstones incline to both and neither are as loathsome to God as the Laodiceans i Revel 3.14 15 16. You have sometime taken an Oath to be constant to true Loyalty and Conformity and what will you not fear your Oaths k Ecclesiastes 8.2 O remember therefore from whence you are fallen repent and do the first Works that God may have nothing against you l Revel 2.4 5. You cannot complan of any want of means for your recovery and restauration You have the Scriptures where the same God that hath taught you to fear him hath also in the same breath taught you to fear and honour the King and what will you not believe him who is so much truth it self by nature that he cannot lye m Tit. 1.2 and there he hath also taught you that his worship cannot consist without honour nor the Churches of the Saints without peace and order And what should I mention what means you have also had from the examples of well ordered Churches both Clergy and Laity when as the King himself Gods Minister and Vicegerent your head and Soveraign hath not only established the same according to his Lords commandment but hath also taught you by his own pious example how to reverence Christ your Head by uncovering your heads in his Church Holy House or Sanctuary And what will ye be worse than all the World besides Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis The whole world strives who shall the most follow the example
18.10 With these and such like specious and hypocritical shews of holiness they so blinded the rude multitude that their word was to them of as great authority as Aristotle's ipse dixit among his Scholars and therefore when the Officers were sent to attach Christ though they were convinced by his invincible sayings that they ought to become Christians yet they durst not follow him without the approbation of the Pharisees for that was the rule given to restrain them have any of the Pharisees believed on him i John 7.48 And no marvel for Satan himself when he would bewitch puts on Samuels Mantle k 1 Sam. 28.14 he is transformed into an Angel of light when he would deceive the simple Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness whose end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 11.14 15. But First before God made their end answerable to their own works he used them as a Rod to scourge us for ours We were a sinful Nation a people laden and hardened with iniquity God did strive to win us by all means and mercies no less than he did with the Old Word l 2 Pet. 2.5 but nothing would serve the turn therefore being weary as it were with striving m Gen. 6. he that can bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil seeing that our sins were now fully ripe finished and come to an height by an horrid Regicide and Rebellion made use of these Changers to execute his wrath and Vengeance upon us that so as our martyred Soveraign saith most piously and judiciously in his Divine Meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ he might reap that glory in our calamity which we robbed him of in our prosperity 1. By suffering them to martyr our King as the good King Josiah was taken away by a violent death for the sins of Judah n Lam. 4.20 in the vulgar Latine it is captus est in pec catis nostris compared with 2 Chron. 35.25 that so his servant and Vicegerent being removed who like Moses stood in the Gap between the sins of his people and Gods judgments he might the more freely power out the vials of his wrath upon us Therefore we find that the want of a King especially such a King as ours is threatned by God as a grievous calamity and inflicted for the punishment of a peoples wickedness Now they shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord what then shall a King do to us o Hos 10.3 1 Sam. 12.25 The remotion of our King was but the beginning of our sorrows for 2. Behold then the Lord the Lord of Hosts did also take away from three flourishing Kingdoms the stay and the staff the whole stay of Bread and the whole stay of Water all our Lands and livings our Mighty Men and our Men of War our Judges our Clergy our Prudent and our ancient our honourable men our Counsellers our cunning Artificers and our eloquent Orators And then also he gave Children to be our Princes and Babes to rule over us And then too he suffered us to be oppressed every one by his Neighbour and our childish Rulers to behave themselves proudly against the Ancient and the Base against the Honourable p Isa 3. And what should I say more Our Mount Sion was also then desolate and Foxes walked upon it And finally all our joy too was then turned into mourning so that then well might be renewed that lamentation which the Church made for Josiah the Crown is fallen from our Head Woe unto us that we have sinned Lam. 5.15 16 18. But now Secondly God having for twelve years together suffered them as our Martyred Soveraign prophetically speaketh in his Divine Meditations * ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣ ΙΛΙΚΗ to be deluded with the prosperity of their wickedness made their end according to their own works indeed for blessed be his mercy having for so long time used them as a rod of correction to humble us for our sins in the School of his severe judgments Psa 89.32 Prov. 22.15 that we might be sure to learn Righteousness q Isa 26.29 out of indignation to see his Laws so trampled upon and despised he straight throws the rod into the fire and in despite of all their malice post varios casus post tot discrimina rerum stretches forth his hand of Providence upon our now most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second the same hand which before had preserved him in all his various troubles and misfortunes and brings him in again and that in peace both as a manifesto of his own good pleasure and of his Vicegerents being a Prince of Peace and restores him to his own inheritance his fathers Crown Throne and Scepter That he might execute his wrath upon these rebellious Changers restore us to our antient Laws and Liberties and set all things to rights again both in Church and State All which thanks be to God by his good Government he hath accordingly done And in order to the latter which was the principal end of his Restauration he hath most justly punished some of the chief offenders with Death for example to the rest whom he did not utterly destroy but in obedience to his Lords commandment r Prov. 20.26 most wisely scatter up and down the Nation for a greater Curse ſ Mat. 15.14 Hos 4.17 as Cain for murdering his brother Abel became a Fugitive and a Vagabond in the Earth and driven from the face or presence of God or †Buxtorf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Original words for Vagabond and Fugitive do signifie accurfed or Excommunicated from the society of his Church t Gen. 4.12 14. Or as the Jews who were Typified therein for Crucifying Christ the Lord of Glory are to this day accursed and scattered abroad as so many Vagabonds over the face of the Earth u Mat. 27.25 James 1.1 so these rebellious Changers and Fanaticks e for murdering his Vicegerent King Charles the First our glorious Lord are Accursed and Excommunicated from the society of Gods people or his Church and justly dispersed into several parts of the Nation according to their various Factions Sects and Schisms And 2. As they are thus scattered up and down the Nation for a Curse and a Judgment unto themselves so they are suffered to dwell amongst us no less for a blessing unto us 1. To set us off and make us shine the brighter as the Foil doth the Diamond for the manifestation of the True Loyalist and Conformist there must be heresies among you saith the Apostle that they which are approved may be made manifest among you w 1 Cor. 11.19 2. To try and prove us as the Canaanites were left with Israel in the Land of Promise to be Pricks in their Eyes and Thorns in their Sides to make them stick the closer unto God x
THE True Loyalist Wherein is Discovered First The falshood and deceipt of the Solemn League and Covenant Secondly That there is no Salvation out of Christ Thirdly That the Pope is the Anti-Christ the Man of Sin or the Son of Perdition Cum multis aliis c. By a True Loyalist 1 Pet. 2.17 Fear God and Honour the King 1 Sam. 8.8 12.18 Quisquis Deum timet etiam Regibus honorem habebit Calvin LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by John Crump at the Three Bibles at the Little North-door in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIII THE True Loyalist PROV XXIV 21. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King And meddle not with * Heb. Changers them that are given to change KING Solomon the Wise having by woeful experience seen much folly and vanity in all the passages of this life even in humane wisdom it self a Eccles 1. is thought most fit by the Holy Ghost to become our Master of defence and instructer therein to arm us against all their assaults with many wise Counsels and wholesom instructions in three Books gradually This his Proverbs his Ecclesiastes and his Canticles answerable to the three remarkable Periods of mans Age his Youth his Manhood and his Old age 1. In his Proverbs or wise sayings he hath given us many bitter pills to purge out our amorous and youthful lusts and many love-potions too to allure us unto good works by that Beauty and Lustre that is in vertue and from the reward of well-doing That our new Vessels being seasoned with Wisdom when we are Ephebi and Young may not taste of the cask of folly when we are old b Prov. 22.6 2. In his Ecclesiastes or book of the Preacher he hath discovered the perilous and painted Beauty of the world the deceitfulness and sophistry of Riches and Honour and all things therein together with the brevity uncertainty and evil of a mans days that when we are adulti more mature and confirmed in years we may be moved thereby to despise and repudiate the one for its deformity and insufficiency and get the more solidity by a serious reflection upon the vanity of the other 3. In his Canticles Epithalamium or mystical Love-song betwixt Christ and the Church from the consideration of natural and earthly things he ascends to the speculation and contemplation of things Supernatural and Divine That when we are Old Aged and well stricken in years we may not grow the more earthly the more we grow to the earth but have our minds there in a special manner possessed with Metaphysical and Heavenly meditations and fixed upon God and Christ where the Soul like Noahs Dove can only find rest and tranquillity For as St. * Bernard in Canticis Bernard hath taught us in primo pellitur superfluus amor Sui in secundo vanus amor mundi in tertio praescribitur castus amor Dei The Proverbs disswade us from Philautia the foolish and superfluous love of our selves The Ecclesiastes disswades the vain worthless love of the Vicious World The Canticles perswade the pure chast and perfect love of God So that these Books of Solomon being adapted to the three grand periods of mans age none may think themselves unconcerned and plead want of direction But all even from the days of their youth may remember their Creator c Eccles 12.1 and as they grow in years grow in grace always ascending up higher and higher upon Jacobs Ladder 2 Pet. 1. from one vertue to another till they come to glory And accordingly the Wise man hath directed this Proverb to all both young and old to instruct the one and remind the other of their duty of subjection and obedience to the Lord Analogia numeri the singular number for the Plural by a Synecdoche membri and the King under a sweet compellation but indefinite title fili mi my Son whereby are meant all the Sons and Daughters of Adam without discrimination And Secondly as this Proverb is universal in its direction so it containeth a duty no less necessary to be performed by all For it is observable that our Master useth this familiar and insinuating title fili mi my Son only here and two and twenty times besides in all his Proverbs to shew that though his other Proverbs which only suppose this title are in their proper Spheres very excellent for Wisdom and instruction yet those Proverbs that are inforced immediately with this winning and alluring compellation fili mi My Son are of nearer concern and more important Lessons for us to learn in his School of Wisdom or Righteousness And I may add too that this Proverb which we are now upon doth seem in regard of its great comprehensiveness to have an eminency above them all as including in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiastes 12.13 by way of excellency the whole Duty of Man all the ingredients of a Christian to constitute the Essence or Being of a true Loyalist This will most clearly appear in the opening of its parts which are these two in general 1. A Precept My Son fear thou the Lord and the King 2. A Caution and meddle not with them that are given to change 1. For the Precept My Son fear thou the Lord and the King And therein two things are very worthy our consideration 1. A Conjunction of the Lord and the King 2. An Injunction of fear to them both In the handling of which order requires me that I first speak of the Conjunction of the Lord and the King And they are very fitly and wisely joyned together in three things 1. In regard of their Headship and Soveraignty for Deus magnus immortalis est Rex Rex parvus mortalis est Deus God is a great and immortal King and a King is a little and mortal God d Ps 82.6 Monarchy is Gods own Government he hath his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all the Kingdoms of the World e Ps 103.19 Isa 66.1 where he hath ordained terrene Monarchs for his Deputies and Viceroys to rule his Church externally in his stead as he himself rules it internally by his Holy Spirit And from hence he is emphatically styled the King of kings and Lord of lords f 1 Tim. 6.15 And Kings nursing Fathers and Queens nursing Mothers to his Church g Isa 49.23 2. In regard of the Prerogatives which are annexed to their Headship and Soveraignty The first whereof is Power and Authority God in proportion to his Grandeur and Headship over all the World hath absolute and Independent power in himself In which respect he is here called by his proper name Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original the name of his Essence and Majesty deduced ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit as being a Being before and the Original of all Beings The same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ero qui ero
a handful as it were and some of them disloyal too against a multitude 1. Therefore O ye Prophane and ungodly Loyalists though God forbid any such sad times should come again to try your Loyalty in yet it is behoofeful that you as well as those that call themselves the Godly Party purge out all your sins by a true timely and unfeigned repentance and holy resolutions of better obedience that your Hypocrisie and deception may also vanish as well as theirs Mat. 12.41 42. Unless you mean to have the very Gentiles rise in judgment against you for being under the light of Nature better Loyalists than you under the glorious light of the Gospel For all men are obliged even by Nature it self to venture their dearest blood for the safety of their King Our Saviour himself who came to fufil the Law of Moses and perfect the Law of Nature u Mat. 5.17 hath confirmed it for a never dying Maxim If my Kingdom saith he were of this World then would my Servants fight c. John 18.36 And no marvel that it should be thus for the King as he is Gods Vicegerent and our Supreme head and Governour is as the men of Israel said of King David worth ten thousand of us w 2 Sam. 18.3 yea more than us all the very light of the Nation x 2 Sam. 21.17 This proves that the King is Major Vniversis contrary to that false Childish Fanatical and Antimonarchical distinction that he is Major Singulis Minor Vniversis Be ye then as Loyal in your resolutions as you are in your professions and as careful of your Kings preservation as Abishai and the men of Israel were of King David's y 2 Sam. 21.17 Lest for your neglect of a duty of so high a concern the greatness of your Talent bring upon you a greater Curse than that of Meroz Luke 12.48 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the inhabâ—â—â—nts thereof Because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty Judges 5.23 2. Though no pretence at last shall excuse any Gainsaying and Rebellious people z Rom. 10.21 but all that despise dominion and speak evil of Dignities must without discrimination perish in the Gainsaying of Core a Jud. 8. to the 22. yet be ye wary how ye offer any occasion to your weaker brethren to be Revolters from their Loyalty or obstinate in their Fanaticism by mixing your Loyalty with prophaneness lest you aggravate your Torments in Hell by making your selves guilty of their sin and punishment as well as your own You have seen in or from our late times of Rebellion what confusion and destruction our Old prophane Loyalists brought upon their King and Country by shaming so good a Cause which they owned How they filled our Land like Rama with mourning by their Cursing and Cursed Oaths b Jer. 23.10 Mat. 2.18 even bitter mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon c Zech. 12.11 Mal. 3.5 Ecclesiasticus 23.11 And finally what Aegyptian Bondage and darkness they enwrapped the whole Nation in both Church and State by moving Fanaticks as was pretended with their drunkenness and debauchery to extinguish the light of England In a word therefore take ye warning in time and follow their pernicious examples no more lest you find death in your Pots indeed d 2 Kings 4.40 the death of your Souls to all eternity e 1 Cor. 6.9 10. But manifest your Allegiance by adorning your Loyalty with holy lives answerable to your professions Tit. 2.10 that thereby you may both remove all objections and colours of Rebellion from any that watch for matter of advantage and exception against you and offer them as great an occasion to imbrace True Loyalty if they will accept it as they have from all True Loyalists if they were not wilfully blind and obstinate that so the more hearts being united to the Lord and the King we may get the more strength to resist our Enemies and the more securely enjoy Peace amongst our selves both in Church and State Now 2. As the True Loyalist when he is in the place of a True Conformist honours God not only with reverence but with his substance f Prov. 3.9 Mic. 4.13 so the True Conformist when he is in the place of a True Loyalist honours his King not only with due respect and esteem but also with maintenance The same man in one respect renders unto God the things which be Gods and in the other he renders unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's g Luk. 20.25 Prayer and thanksgiving he pays to God as his immediate Rents and dues Tythes and offerings mediately in his Stewards and Ministers But Tribute or Taxes c. he renders unto his King or Caesar in a more special manner as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent and next under him his supreme Head and Governour Therefore it is very remarkable that our blessed Saviour who pay'd Tribute himself which his pretended Vicar refuses to do to shew the great necessity of this duty Dr. Boys upon the dominical Epistles and Gospels p. 163. never did any miracle about honour or money except this one of giving Tribute unto Caesar Mat. 17.27 The consideration of this moves the True Loyalist to pay his Tribute and Taxes c. to his King freely and voluntarily out of love and fear to God and his Commandments Whereas the Nominal Loyalist though he also pays Tribute and Taxes c. to his King as well as the True yet he pays them unwillingly and by constraint out of fear of the Kings authority and the Penal Laws of the Land But the True Loyalist I say considers that his King is Gods Minister and Vicegerent appointed by him for the good of his Church both as a rewarder for the praise of them that do well and as a revenger to execute his wrath upon them that do evil And therefore as the Apostle hath taught him h Rom. 13.3 4 5 6. he pays his Tribute and Taxes c. with all subjection not only for Wrath but also for Conscience-sake By this you may perceive that though the True Loyalist and the nominal agree in this that both of them pay Tribute and Taxes c. to their King yet in the mode and ends of their paying they differ as much as a servile fear and a filial yea a Humane fear and a Divine the fear of God and the fear of man How much then are Quakers and such Godly gulls to blame who thinking they do God good service in resisting the higher Powers chuse rather to suffer imprisonment or any affliction in the World than to pay any Tribute or Taxes c. at all And glory in it too and plead Conscience for the same as if God the jealousie of whose honour burneth like fire was the Author of Rebellion against
consensit There was never any of my predecessors that would be called by this prophane title And in another Epistle * Gregory lib. 4. Epist 38. having resembled him to Lucifer he saith thus unto him Tu quid Christo Vniversalis Sanctae Ecclesiae capiti in extremi judiciies dicturus examine qui cuncta ejus membra tibimet conaris Vniversalis appellatione supponere What answer wilt thou make in the Tryal of the last judgment unto Christ the Head of his Universal Church that thus by the name of Universal Bishop seekest to bring under thee all the members of his body No wonder then if Anti-Christ and his Crue have endeavoured to suppress his works But to come nearer home Eleutherius * Fox's Acts and Monuments p. 146. And Isaacsons Appen of the Plantation Encrease of Christianity in the Isle of Great Britain who became Bishop of Rome A. D. 177. in a Letter to Lucius the first Christian King who began his Rule over the Britains A. D. 170. upon his pious request for instructions in Christianity acknowledgeth him to be Gods only Vicar in his own Kingdom And indeed if no such Testimonies could have been produced it must needs be a very Antichristian thing so much as to conceit that the holy Apostle St. Peter should be so wicked as to break any Canon of the Apostles who made on t * Canon 36. that no Bishop under pain of deprivation should dare to intermeddle beyond his own bounds in anothers Province as being no ways subject to him St. Peter then is free from giving beginning to Anti-Christ nor will the Primitive Bishops allow him his Supremacy Where then will he fix What in Lucifer His coming is after the working of Satan from him he derives his Pedegree The times were pure at first Anti-Christ then only began to work he rose in his mysterie f iniquity by degrees first above Bishops then above Patriarchs then above Councils then above Kings then above Scriptures then at last seeing he could mount no higher he as God sits him down in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God I need not plead that time cal's me away to other things this is enough to convince any rational man that the Pope is really the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Anti-Christ the man of Sin and the Son of perdition Who then would be a Papist surely none but those whom the God of this World hath blinded u 2. Cor. 4.4 I know that there is no Religion in the World hath so great a Decoy in it to make Carnal men to profess it as Popery hath it is more self pleasing and gives fuller reins to flesh and blood than any other but nothing mor doth manifest it to be from the man of Sin * Richard Burton of the Wars in England Scotland and Ireland p. 49. Mervin Lord Audly and Earl of Castlehaven doth give us a very remarkable instance in this He was educated in the Protestant Religion but turned Papist to have the more liberty to commit wickedness in which he grew to so great an height that in the year 1631. being condemned by his Peers for Rape and Sodomy c. he impudently declared in the presence of some Lords that as others had their several delights some in one thing some in another so his delight was in Damning Souls by enticing men to such acts as might surely effect it And marel not that some of them have more art to hide their wickedness for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light w 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. 1. Therefore let us beware of these false Prophets and deceitful workers that are thus notoriously give to change from the fear of the Lord and the King lest we be also inserted with them into the family of Anti-Christ and adopted the Sons of perdition 2. Let us remember to render unto God due praise and thankfulness for all his former benefits x Psal 103. Psal 68.19 wherewith he hath continually loaded this undeserving Nation in many wonderful deliverances of our King and Country from their restless and unwearied Craft and Cruelty lest our ingratitude hold his hand from blessing us with future mercies For qui non est gratus datis non est dignus dandis He that is not thankful for benefits already received is not worthy to receive any more Lastly Let us not forget to pray unto God most earnestly that he will still confound all their plots and stratagems and maugre all their malice still protect his Majesty under the shadow of his Wings Psal 57.1 that he our King may enjoy a long and prosperous Reign over us and we his Subjects may lead a quiet and peaceable life under him in all godliness and honesty For happy is that people that is in such a case Yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. y Ps 144.15 2. For the Fanaticks they bring up the Reer yet they march not far behind Yea time was when they went before and disquieted the Nation with this evil the greatest under the Sun Folly was set in great dignity and the Rich and Honourable were detruded into low places Thinkers and Coblers and such like heaved themselves upon the Horses of their Princes and made them walk as servants upon the earth z Ecclesiastes 10.6 7. Pro. 19.10 30.22 Neither was this the height of their ambition they fulfilled Mother Shipton's Prophecy before the time they called a Parliament of High shoes to rase the Palace with Hob-nails and tread down all Royalty and Loyalty They pluck't the King from his Throne and set upon it no better than a Brewer Yea they were tickled so much with pride and Covetousness that they did not only attempt as the Papists did but they actually made their King a Martyr Et quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames And what wickedness is there that the love of money doth not tempt the hearts of men unto Covetousness is rightly stiled the root of all evil the King being gone they quickly changed Monarchy Gods own Government into Oligarchy whereby they made the Common wealth our Common-woe both by changing the order of nature into Anarchy and Confusion and giving reins to their licentiousness to play Rex's both in Church and State As 1. Having cantonized * Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 89. the Kingdom amongst themselves Prideaux the Post-master being King of the West-Saxons and murdered their King to maintain their unjust possessions they make a re-entry as it were upon what they had formerly usurped to lay the faster hold and make new divisions too of the best places and preferments in the Nation They imprisoned the Gentry and reduced †Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 65. them to the condition of conquered Slaves they plundered and left them almost quite naked and enforced free quarter from all and would not suffer any