written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him 2 Kings 22 23. Chapters Now therefore my Lord the King arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee And command all your Children your Confederates and Allies your Nobles and your Commons and all the people of your Kingdoms to help you saying Is not the Lord your God with you And hath he not given you rest on every side for he hath given your enemies into your hands and the Land is subdued before the Lord and before his people Now set your heart and your soul to seeke the Lord your God arise therefore and build ye the Sanctuary of the Lord God establish Religion in its purity according to Gods Word settle the Church government compose the differences and heal the distempers that our sins have made repair ye the breaches and build up the waste places in the Church and State and doe you Judgement and Justice throughout all my Dominions And comand all the people to gather themselves together as one man and to make confession saying O Lord the great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant and mercie to them that love him and to them that keepe his Comandements We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even hy departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Neither have we harkned unto thy servants the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word and Ordinances which spake in thy name to our King our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face because we have sinned against thee To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him O Lord we have been disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behinde our backs have slain thy servants which testified against us to turn us unto thee and we have wrought great provocations therefore thou deliverest us into the hands of our enemies who vexed us in the time of our trouble when we cryed unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest us Saviours who saved us out of the hands of our enemies But after we had rest we did evill again before thee therefore leftest thou us in the hand of our enemies so that they had the dominion over us yet when we returned and cried unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and many times didst thou deliver us according to thy mercies Thou didst not utterly consume us nor forsake us for thou art a gracious and a mercifull God Now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest Covenant and mercie Let not all the trouble seeme little before thee that hath come upon us on our King on our Princes and Nobles and on our Ministers and Elders on our fathers on all thy people since the time of the Kings departing from his Parliaments and people unto this day Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Neither have our King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of thy Word nor our Fathers kept thy Law nor hearkned unto thy Commandements and thy Testimonies wherewith thou didst testifie against them For they have not served thee in their Kingdom in thy great goodness that thou gavest them and in the large and fatland which thou gavest before them neither turned they from their wicked works Behold we are servants this day and for the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it And it yieldeth much increase unto them whom thou hast set over us because of our sins also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattell at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this let us make a sure Covenant and write it and let the King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of Gods Word and Ordinances our Fathers and all the people of your Majesties Dominions seal unto it And finally may it please your Excellent Majesty to attend unto the doctrine and exhortations of the Apostle 1 Thes Chap. 5. and Hebrews 13.20 21. Quench not the spirit despise not prophesyings prove all things hold fast that which is good abstain from all appearance of evill And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blameless unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will do it Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen I have not omitted for many yeares together my Sovereign Lord daily and constantly to pray for the temporall and eternall happiness of the King the Queen your Consort and Royall Progeny with that integrity of heart zeal and devout affection as I pray for the Church of God and the salvation of my own soul Thus rejoyceth evermore to pray without ceasing Royall Sir Your Majesties humbly devoted Oratour most dutifull loyall and faithfull Subject and Servant in the Lord Thomas de la More Cornet to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight Generall of England c. From my Quarters at Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire Feb. 22. 1646. Note * Mistakes in the imprinting may be thus amended Page 1. line 7. read unrighteousness p. 4. line 23. blot out neither p. 5. l. 3. read weed p. 7. l. 11. blot out so p. 17. l. 13. read conveying p. 20. l. 10. read butt line 12. blot out the second but. p. 24. l. 8. read we are sold we were sold Imprimatur Iohn Downame A Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of ENGLAND Composed 1641 By Thomas de la More of Graies-Inne Esq revised and published in the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1648. The first Part. SECT I. JOSVAH'S Resolution IEHOVAH our King who ruleth the Hoast of Heaven and scepters the hearts of Princes and great Potentates on earth with the powerfull Arme of his Justice mightily defendeth and with the sovereigne hand of his mercy graciously preserveth these our Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland from desolation and miserable confusion Satan rageth and his ministers fight against Christ they take the weapons of righteousnesse and smite their Reprovers like the mad Prophet with obloquie and murtherous intentions They maligne revile and
The English CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN OR The SAINTS Vtopia By THOMAS de Eschallers de la MORE an unprofitable Servant of Jesus Christ Of Graies-Inne Barrister and Minister of the Gospel of eternall salvation In the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1649. A Treatise consisting of four SECTIONS 1 JOSVAHS Resolution 2 Of the Common LAW 3 Of PHYSICK 4 Of DIVINITY Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Deut. 32.45 46 47. Luke 6.31 1 Pet. 4.8 Prov. 19.29 Heb. 13.1 1 John 4.7 8. Eccles. 12. vers 13 14. Rom. 12. Chap. Chap. 13. Read these Chapters and texts of Scripture with diligencehumility and integrity of heart in the name and fear of God Sâ—â—â—â— Amen LONDON Printed by R. Leybourn in Monks-well street and are to be sold at Graies-Inne 1649. To his most excellent MAJESTY CHARLES King of Great Britain France and Ireland DRead Sovereign my Lord the King may it please your Highness onely once to look over this ensuing Treatise and it will not repent thee ô King to peruse it and read it again and again entituled a Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of England written almost six yeers since viz. in June 1641. by a loyal-hearted subject and a faithfull servant now in all humility prostrate beneath your Majesties feet May your favour descend as dew upon the grass and let me not behold the messengers of death in your countenance A shrub may grow neer unto a Cedar High and low great and small The rich and poor meet together The Lord is the maker of them all I would put a knife to my throat were I man given to appetite or desirous of dainties I am not called to sit and eat with a Ruler but to attend and wait untill I have delivered mine errand to the King it behoveth me therfore to consider diligently what to say Many will intreat the favour of the Prince and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts But I was born for adversity have bin trained up in afflictioÌ„s have eaten my bread in sorrow and do desire to appear my self a true Nathanael an upright Loyalist at all times Not subjection alone but duty my dread Lord comandest my greatest observance and most obedientiall gratitude for I am a branch spronted from a root this many ages hath grown spread flourished lived and revived in the light of the countenance and sun-shine days of divers Kings of England your Royall Progenitors whose Princely bounty and most munificent constant favours unto mine Ancestors hath been as a cloud of the latter rain videlicet Sir Hugh de Pounts un chivaler que vint de Normandie ove le Conquerour transacto regimine Regis Haroldi Secundi Laurentius de la More qui erat in exercitu Willielmi Bastardi Regis in Conquestu suo Regni Angliae c. Dominus Galfridus de Scalariis miles Sir Thomas de Eschallers Sir John de Chalers Knights Scalarii isti sunt editi atavo Galfridi senioris Hardwino de Scalariis Domino totius Baroniae de Caxton in Comitate Cantabrigiae tempore Willielmi Regis Angliae c. And Sir Thomas de la More Knight who was a Courtier in the Reigns of Edward the First Edward the Second and Edward the Third and was a Servant and wrote the life of King Edward the Second And my Grandfather who was Servant to King Henry the Eighth and divers others of my Ancestors who received most Princely rewards and gifts from their Masters the Kings of England and had great possessions and lands given unto them in the County of Oxon. c. Now therefore if I should not in most humble manner acknowledge this great munificence and pay my due tribute of Loyalty for such Royall favours I should be branded with the blackest note of Infamy and be chronicled ingratefull Moreover as I am a member of the body of Christ my supream Head Christian duty binds me not onely to pray for Kings and all that are in authority but to labour with my hands and assay all lawfull means possible for the building up and repairing of the breaches which all our sins have made in that mystical Temple the Church of God If David hath committed a great wickednesse and sinned secretly and the Prophet tell him Thou art the man he must presently confesse I have sinned against the Lord and the Lord will put away his sin and he shall not die Psal 51. 2 Sam. 12. If Peter denie his Master and the Lord looke back in mercie upon him he cannot but goe forth immediately and weepe bitterly If God hath humbled Ahab King of Israel Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon the Ninivites and Manasseth King of Judah that Mirrour of mercie and miracle of Gods unchangeable love and everlasting kindnesse and good will towards sinfull men they shall make an humble acknowledgement of their transgressions repent and turn unto the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning And the Lord will turn away his fierce wrath he will cancell his decree of temporall punishment and reverse his judgements denounced against them If that wise King Solomon multiply his whoredoms commit Spirituall Fornications and Idolatry he must become an Ecclesiastes in recantation of his vanities If King Saul make an unadvised adjuration to hinder the victory to retard the successe and weaken the hands of those that fight the Lords Battels Shall Jonathan die who hath wrought salvation in Israel God forbid the people may rescue him that he die not If Joab Captain of the Host advise a disconsolate son-lamenting King to speak comfortably unto his Princes his people his friends and servants that being ashamed have gotten themselves by stealth into their Cities and habitations The Kiâ—â— will presently arise and sit in the gate that all the people throughout all the Tribes of Israel and Judah may be at strife to bring the King back to his house If the people say unto him Thou shalt not goe forth to Battell for if we fly away they will not care for us neither if halfe of us die will they care for us but now thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the City the King will give them a gracious Answer and say unto them what seemeth you best I will doe If the Prophet Jeremy counsell the captiv'd King by yielding to save his life let him obey the voice of the Lord so it shall be well unto him and his soule shall live A wicked man hardeneth his face but as for the upright he directeth his way There is no Wisdome nor Understanding nor Counsell against the Lord. Let no man presume to touch Gods people the Servants the Prophets the Anointed of the Lord for he reproved Kings for their sakes Let no man speak evil of those things which he knoweth not lest he perish in the gain-saying of Core Let no wicked Pharoah exalt himselfe against Gods people lest the Lord
persecute the beloved Spouse of Christ the Church But the Lord hath reserved a peculiar people to himselfe that hâ—ve not bowed the knee unto Baal God hath selected a faithfull and obedient flock that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth These the Lord our God the God of Israel who keepeth covenant for ever hath blessed and they are blessed and no adversary power is able to curse them When Jesus Christ was upon earth he prayed thus for his Elect Holy Father keepe through thine owne name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are John 17. But he is entred into Heaven it selfe now to appear in the presence of God for us And this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end Let us not be slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises For God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love which his servants have shewed towards his Name The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose and is to be burned Let us labour therefore faithfully in Gods Vineyard the Church Militant least we fall in unbeliefe for an ensample of a rebellious and stiff-necked people My hearty desire and continuall prayer to Almighty God is that every one of us in our severall places and callings do shew all diligence in the Worke of our great Lord and Master the God of our Fathers whom we serve and that we labour to advance the truth and purity of doctrine taught and delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and to resist convince and silence the gain-sayers and enemies of the Gospell Let us be strong and very couragious that we may observe to do according to all the Law that God hath commanded us let us not turn from 〈◊〉 to the right hand or to the left for then the Lord shall make our wayes our indeavours and works prosperous and then we shall have good successe Let us take good heed therefore unto our selves that we love the Lord our God Else if we do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of Idolatry that remaineth among us Know for a certainty that the Lord our God will no more be mercifull unto us will no more be among us and deliver us But those Idol-worshippers false bloudy-hearted Papists shall be snares and traps unto us and scourges in our sides and thornes in our eyes untill we are restrained from all the good things which the Lord our God hath given us Would God that we had the courage and resolution of Joshua and that this charge of his from the Lord unto the people of Israel were written in our hearts Now therefore feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Floud and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord choose ye this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. See the 24th of Joshua and the 2d of Judges both remarkable Chapters for this purpose O Eternall and most Gracious God inflame thy Messengers the Ministers of thy Word with a holy Zeal and arme thy servants the Civill Magistrates with a godly courage that they may demolish beat down and root out Popery Superstition Heresie and Prophanesse out of these Isles and Dominions of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles The toleration of Massing Religion is against the grounds of true Christian Religion against reason and against the policy of the Common-wealth as I finde at large in an Answer to the Masse-Priests presumptuous Supplication directed to our late King James of renowned memory and published 1604. Our Adversaries themselves declare that indifferency of Religion or toleration of two contrary Religions in one Kingdome is intolerable Possevin Biblioth Select lib. 1. c. 26. saith 1 It is a divelish invention 2 that it is contrary to Gods Ordinance 3 that it repugneth against the Lawes of Moses of nature and the Gospell it selfe 4 That it is contrary to the substance and proprieties of Christian faith 5 That it taketh away the truth and certainty of Christian faith 6 That it taketh away the certainty of Gods divine Worship and of the Church 7 That it taketh away Christian Discipline 8 That it cutteth asunder the unity of the Church 9 That it is contrary to the Word of God 10 That it is repugnant to the practise of the Primitive Church the authority of Fathers and Decrees of Emperours And finally that it provokrth the wrath of God against the Authours of it If then the Adversaries themselves see Liberty of divers Religions to be so pernicious where they have winde in pupp I hope they will pardon others that will not admit their lewd pernicious and phantasticall opinions We read in our Histories when Ladislaus son of Albert King of Bohemia about the year 1440. went to Bohemia there to be crowned where Pogtebracius had the Governance that during all the time of his being there though being much requested yet would the young King neither enter into the Churches nor hear the service of them which did draw after the Doctrine of Hus. Also before he departed thence he thought first to visit the noble City of Uratislavia in Schlesia In the which City the aforesaid King Ladislaus being there in the high Church at Service many great Princes were about him among whom was also George Pogiebracius who then stood neerest to the King unto whom one Chilianus playing the Parasite about the King as the fashion is of such as feign themselves fooles to make other men as very fooles as they spake in this wise as followeth With what countenance you do behold this our Service I see right well but your heart I do not see Say then doth not the Order of this our Religion seem unto you decent and comely Do you not see how many and how great Princes yea the King himself do follow one Order and Uniformity And why do you rather follow your Preacher Rochezana than these Do you think a few Bohemians to be more wise then all the Church of Christ besides