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A52316 The project of peace, or, Unity of faith and government, the only expedient to procure peace, both foreign and domestique and to preserve these nations from the danger of popery and arbitrary tyranny by the author of the countermine. Nalson, John, 1638?-1686. 1678 (1678) Wing N113; ESTC R3879 154,518 354

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that it put him in mind of his Apostplical Function which was to be a Fisher of Men but coming to be possessed of the Triple Crown the Net was no longer seen and being by an intimate Consident demanded what was the Reason that since he wore the Annulum Piscatoris the Papal Signet of St. Peter the Fisherman he had now left off his Net He pleasantly reply'd That now he had got what he had so long been fishing for Thus did our English Massaniello by the pretence of Sanctity and Non-conformity by the help of long Prayers and a longer Sword by the promises of Liberty of Conscience Liberty of the Subject propagation of Truth and giving the Gospel a free course that it might run and be Glorified by the help of new Gospel Lights and Revelations which shone in his Army by these Arts did he advance himself to the most unlimitted Power over Laws Liberty Life Estate and Religion to that degree that a look from him like Plinies Basilisk was death even to his fellow Snakes and as if with Mithridates he had liv'd upon Poyson his very breath was Mortal not only to the Royal Party but to those who had sometime been of his own and even to bodies Politick the Conventions which he call'd Parliaments one of which Assemblies I remember exceeding the Limits he had set them a free debate being then no Priviledg of Parliament he swore by the Living God a venial sin in so great a Saint he would dissolve them and immediately sent Collonel Pride the constant Friend of his Ambition with the Janizaries of his houshold to put the bow-string of his Authority about the neck of the House which with the resignation of a Turkish Bashaw with Suchis the will of my Lord bowed the head to the execution and departed that Life without a Murmur against his Highness Artic. 3. of the Instrument that he should not dissolve a Parliament till it had sate 5 Months this begun Sept. 3. and was dissolved Jan. 10th 1654. or the lest complaint of breach of Priviledg or his Oath to the Instrument of Government that he should not dissolve them in five Months or his intrenching upon the Liberties of a Free-born People Tantum potuit Religio Suadere Malorum THIS is a sufficient Caution to all People not to trust their Lives Liberties Priviledges or Religion to the Protection of such Prayers and Pretenders to Piety Zeal Reformation and Sanctity I know such instances are rare and Ambition does not usually prove so fortunate but this it never fails of to make the Lives of those with whom it dwells uneasie to themselves and others and if it happens among men of the Church it certainly occasions great Commotions the breach of Peace and loss of Vnity And if we search the Records of Church history we shall find that most of the Schisms and Heresies which have occasioned those Great Disorders drew their Original from the Pride and Ambition of the discontented Clergy for nothing is more natural than for such Persons where want of Temper renders them most unfit for Government in the Church to be most desirous of it and to believe they best deserve it if they fail in their Expectations which it is more than probable they will being measured by the Standard of the Sober and Judicious and not by their own flattery of themselves presently they fall into discontent and endeavour to obtain that Esteem and Authority by unlawful Methods which they could not arrive at in the regular modest and peaceable ways of Order and obedience This discontent pushes them violently forward to be revenged of those who by not advancing them they think depress them or by advancing others they believe despise and disparage them and at the same time they endeavour to satisfie their Ambition and Revenge by Exalting themselves Now there are no Arts which they can more successfully use to accomplish their design than these which follow FIRST to appear more strict holy devout and righteous than those whom they call their Enemies who shall therefore be thought ill themselves for not advancing those who appear so good And by this means they shall certainly be so esteemed by such who look no further and indeed cannot discover the Depth of their hearts or the secret malice that lodges so closely there This presently creates them a Name and wins them a Party who celebrate their Fame sing Hosannas in their Praise Espouse them their Interest and their Quarrel SECONDLY That they may appear more than common and difference their Party from the rest thereby to keep them to themselves they must broach some new Doctrine or revive some old one there must be an Altar erected and though it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet will there never want some who will ignorantly Worship the stranger God and entertain the Travelling Deity then must the old Rites and manner of Worship be exploded to make room for the New and though a man may truly say of them as our Saviour of the Wine the old is better than the new so unsettled unfermented and full of mutinous Spirits that it flies and froths and and foams breaks the old Bottles into which it is put yet will even this Wine upon the fret please some Capricious Palates better than the Old THIRDLY Then all those who oppose them must be exclaimed against and cryed down Especially their lawful Superiors and Governors as formal out-of-fashion-Christians all endeavours must be used to rendred them contemptible and Odious And all this must be done out of pure Zeal to Truth when in reality it is out of pure Revenge and for no other Design than that these Ambitious Spirits may satisfie their Pride by obtaining that Preheminence by fraud and force which they can never hope for by any other ways THIS is the true procedure of Pride and Ambition and which leads directly into the Red Sea of Blood I wish most heartily that all sober and considerative Persons who dissent from the Church of England and even those who are principally guilty of our Divisions would enter into a serious Examination whether there be not some of the furious Spirit which our Saviour Rebukes in his Disciples James and John Luke 9.54 55. which puts them upon Desiring fire from Heaven upon such as will not recieve them and since they cannot obtain that makes them throw about their own wild-fire to set the Church and Common-wealth into a Blaze And to help the Discovery I will give them some Indications of such a Spirit though lurking never so cunningly under the Cloak of Zeal and Piety AND first therefore Disobedience to Lawful Authority and all the ways which manifest that Disobedience whether Words or Actions are certain Symptoms of the Pride of Mens Hearts and the secret Ambition of their Minds for whosoever disobeys his Superior does at the same time despise him and whosoever despises any person in Authority does it because he is confident