I will that I will or as in the English I am that I am h Exod. 3.14 to shew the Soveraignty of his authority and the incontroulableness of his will and power So in like manner hath he given to earthly Monarchs power too i Rom. 13.1 John 19.11 over his Church or people in their particular Dominions in proportion to their Vicegerency under him as their Master and Lord paramount The Lord is absolute both in power and supremacy he is higher than the highest k Ecclesiastes 5.8 Ps 89.27 and who shall say unto him What dost thou l Job 9.12 Isa 45.9 Dan. 4.35 and the King is next him he hath no superiour but the * The very Heathens by the light of nature did acknowledge this Doctrine Marcus Aurelius says in Dion Cassius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Imperial Authority God only may be Judge In excerptis Dionis Cassii vid. Herodotum l. 3. c. Lord himself to whom he is bound to give an account he doth whatsoever pleaseth him Where the word of a King is there is power and who but God may say unto him What dost thou * Ecclesiastes 8.3 4. And therefore King David said unto God Against thee thee only have I sinned Ps 51.4 3. As the Lord and the King are very fitly and wisely joyned together in regard of their headship prerogatives Supremacy and power c. so also in regard of their Election to their Kingship The Lord to demonstrate his absolute Power and Supremacy will be the Author both of his own Election and his Vicegerents too 1. Of his own he Elected himself King over n 1 Sam. 12.12 Israel The Israelites were Gods own chosen inheritance o Deut. 9.26 Ps 105.43 and therefore he chose to be their King to govern all their affairs both in Church and State in a special manner 'T is true he had even then his Viceroys under him but they did not rule like the Kings of other Nations the Lord himself did by them rule his peculiar people after a peculiar manner as their King till the days of Samuel where all the Elders of Israel gathered themselves together and by a wilful saucy Traiterous Rebellious Disloyal ungrateful and obstinate demand of a King to judge them like all the Nations p 1 Sam. 8.5 19. rejected him from ruling over them q 1 Sam. 10.19 For though in that wicked Act they cast off Samuel also r 1 Sam. 8.8 as being their Judge and the Lords Prophet and Viceroy yet it was the Lord indeed that therein was chiefly rejected as being their only King and Soveraign as well as the Lord their God As Samuel told them before to stop them if he could from being obstinate in desiring a change and the Lord himself confirms it when he said to Samuel they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them f 1 Sam. 8.7 For which cause that they might perceive and see that their wickedness was great which they had done in the sight of the Lord in asking them a King Samuel called unto the Lord and the Lord sent such terrible thunder and rain upon their Harvest that they were afraid it would have destroyed even them themselves And therefore all the people said unto Samuel Pray for thy Servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not for we have added unto all our sins this evil to ask us a King t 1 Sam. 12.17 18 19. This you see without repentance is the love God hath for them who fear not him nor his Viceroy u 1 Sam. 12.18 but desire a Change Yet since their mind was still for Monarchy which all the Nations about them had chosen by the light of nature the Lord granted them a King according to their Petition w 1 Sam. 8.7 but only he would not grant them the liberty of Electing him themselves The people cannot remove Kings and set up Kings without usurping the Lords Prerogative Dan. 2.21 for that is a Prerogative so annexed to his Headship that he could not possibly do it without intrenching upon his own Royalty and Supremacy as he is King of Kings We should think it very unreasonable if any should desire without our appointment to have the choice of him that is to be our servant how much more then is it unreasonable for any to desire to have the choice of him that is to be Gods Deputy and Viceroy Whenas the distance between God and man is so great that it is beyond Comparison Therefore the Lord would not suffer his King to be the peoples Elect but as at first he was the Author of his own Election so now 2. He would be the Author of his Vicegerents too For though it be said Behold the King whom ye have chosen x 1 Sam. 12.13 Yet that choice was only in regard of their wills to have a King and the Election of him if they could and therefore it is added in the same Verse and whom ye have desired For behold the Lord himself chose him y 1 Sam. 10.24 and appointed Samuel to anoint Saul for their King z 1 Sam. 10.1 12.1 13. But though the Lord chose them a King yet he was such a King as might be a Curse to them for their desiring a Change as is expressed in the manner of his Reigning over them a 1 Sam. 8.11 c. And indeed though they might foolishly imagine that if they had had a King of their own Election as they also wickedly desired he might be the more plyable to their humors it belonging to them with as much right to remove him when they pleased yet since they went so unadvisedly to work in asking a King under the pretext of Samuels old age and the male administration of his Sons b 1 Sam. 8.5 without desiring Gods choice and consent they could not expect if they had believed God that their King should prove any better than a Tyrant c 1 Sam. 8.18 for God foretold them by his servant Moses thus When thou art come into the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee and shalt possess it and shalt dwell therein and shalt say I will set a King over me like as all the nations that are about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose that is in the sense of the Targum of Ben. Vzziel Ye shall seek instruction of the Lord and after that ye shall set a King over you One from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17.14 15. But to this precept you see they had no regard they would not take Gods choice and advice nor stay his time and pleasure till David had changed his Sheephook into a Scepter who being a man after Gods
to be Master so much as of his own Family Yea these Harpyes these Lycanthropi possessed themselves of the inheritance and Estates of all whom they at pleasure would make a Delinquent not sparing so much as the Dead * Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 128 129 130. from Sequestration as it fareth with the head so with the members when they had once destroyed the King they make all true Loyalists both Clergy and Laity take up their Cross and follow him as he did his Saviour Not unlike the savage Tartars who when their great Cham dies cast many of his dearest friends after him For 2. These Lord-Danes with the vulgar Lurdanes killed their King not only for the sake of his Inheritance and his Nobles c. but also for the sake of the Churches Patrimony For all their fine words and fair speeches they served not the Lord Jesus but their own belly a Rom. 16.17 18. The Presbyterians have much to answer for this For tho' they knew * They could not chuse but know it if Envy and Covetousness had not blinded their eyes it being not only evident by Gods general rule 1 Cor. 14.40 the perpetual Law of Order which saith Aristole is ipsa ratio reason it self but also throughly proved over and over both by other Scriptures and Antiquity that Episcopacy was the Primitive Government yet they made the world believe that they could not endure the order and title of a Bishop And why so The reason is because it was not sutable to their changing they must have some hypocritical pretence or other or else they could not have changed Oliver Cromwell taught them an example he as you have heard would not be called a King no by no means yet he would be more than a King So these though they would not have the name of a Bishop no by no means yet they would have been more than Bishops if they could for as soon as the King their Protector was once removed they actually took possession of as much lands and livings of theirs as they could No Bishop no King was the wise saying of King James and no King no Bishop hath been seen to be as true as that But the torrent of their Covetousness did not stop here it also wafted them over into the fairest Vineyards of the inferior Clergy which if they the right owners demonstrated themselves to be True Loyalists men that feared the Lord and the King by refusing to take their unreasonable and abominable League and Covenant they took into their possession as readily and as jollily as Ahab when he took possession of the fair Vineyard of Naboth b 1 King 21.19 But 3. The licentiousness Anarchy and confusion of these Changers is most perspicuous in the subversion of the Churches Discipline and all Gods Laws and Ordinances therein for as disorder in the first Wheel of a Watch or Clock makes confusion in all the rest so Monarchy Gods own Government being once changed into Oligarchy and Tyranny there quickly followed a change of all Gods other Laws and Ordinances in the whole sphere of Religion and Government uno errore concesso mille sequuntur As when Cain had once killed Abel the wickedness of the Old World began to flow in apace like so many Waves one upon the neck of another c Gen. 6. So these Blunderbuss Zamzummims d Deut. 2.20 when they had once destroyed the Lords Anointed grew desperate over Shoos over Boots as they say they did not care what they did they became men of Gigantick-like wickedness Rebels against Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fighters against God they turned themselves in the next place directly against the Lord himself and his Church they took as much delight to oppose God in the order and government of his Church as Satan doth to fish in troubled Waters Their new modelled Common-wealth must have a new fashioned Religion to uphold it As 1. They opposed God in his order by changing the primitive Government of his Church by Episcopacy into a new invented one of their own called Presbytery English Athenians all for novelties they thought themselves such perfect workmen in Gods Vineyard that they scorned to be guided by Gods general rule of decency and order e 1 Cor. 14.40 they made a Lesbian rule of their own called a Directory for the publick worship of God appointed contrary to their knowledge * Marshal one of Cromwels Journey-men Priests declared against all use of Common-Prayer by others and yet married his own Daughter with the same Book and a Ring and gave for reason that the Statute Establishing that Liturgy was not yet repealed and he was loth to have his Daughter Whored and turned back upon him for want of legal marriage Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 80. and conscience to be used instead of our Common-Prayer in opposition to Gods command to glorifie him with one mind and one mouth f Rom. 15.6 And as our martyred Soveraign observeth in his ' ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ they also set forth old Catechisms and Confessions of Faith new drest importing as much saith he as if there had been no sound and clear doctrine of faith in this Church before some four or five years consultation had matured their thoughts touching their first principles of Religion Moreover as Jeroboam answerable to his Idolatry made Priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi g 1 Kings 12.31 So these Changers from the fear of the Lord and the King answerable to their confusion silenced the true Clergy of God and chose the very scum of the Nation to preach in their room in opposition to the Lords Decree and Ordinance that no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron h Heb. 5.4 Yea they hated Gods Clergy so vehemently that they contradicted them even in their very appearel they preached in Cloaks c. in opposition to their orderly and Canonical vestments And what should I say more They slighted Gods Ordinances so much that they first caused the Banes of Marriage to be cryed in the Market-place and then the parties to be married by Justices of the Peace in private houses in opposition to Gods Ministers at Church O what must one day be the judgment of these hare-brain'd wretches That set no more by Gods Ordinances especially that contemn the holy State of Marriage so honourable in all i Heb. 13.4 instituted by God himself in Paradise k Gen. 2.24 Mat. 19.5 6. the emblem of Christ and his Church l Eph. 5.32 Rev. 19.7 yea honoured by Christ our Saviour with his first miracle m John 2.11 Vzziah for all he was a King a person not only Civil but Sacred too yet came we know to a very fearful end for invading the Priests Office n 2 Chron. 26. Judge ye then what must be the end of inferior
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
own heart d 1 Sam. 13.14 was the fittest to succeed him in the Government e 1 Sam. 16.7 but they most arrogantly and presumptuously assumed unto themselves a Power of Electing whom and when they pleased Because they were the Elders of Israel and particulary of that chief Council of them called the Sanhedrim instituted by God at the request of Moses for his assistance they thought they might do any thing For which cause the Lord again complains of them in the Prophet Hosea mentioning their Crime in the Plural Number for the clearer example to all Nations under the Sun They have set up Kings but not by me or according to the Arabick Version they have Reigned from themselves and not from me They have made Princes but I knew it not Hosea 8.4 that is contrary to my Will allowance and approbation Thus you see that it is absolutely unlawful for any either Elders Sanhedrim or Parliament men upon any pretence whatsoever either to chuse or be chosen a King without Gods leave counsel and advice as he hath appointed and directed in his word How much more then is it unlawful to set up any other form of government besides Monarchy Gods own both by Order Precept and Example Yet many in this latter age of the World now iniquity doth abound and get the upper hand f Mat. 24.12 have presumed to do it I need not trouble you with an instance of this out of any History for its illustration you know we have had a more eminent example of it already in Cromwell that Arch-Traitor and Usurper and those Phanaticks and Changers that set up the Idol and worshiped it than all the Histories in the world can afford besides being put all together But if the Ruler be not Tyrannus titulo a meer Usurper like him and illegally chosen but one that having a just Right and Title to the Crown entreth into his Throne by the right door and climbeth up not some other way the same is no Thief nor Robber g Joh. 10.1 2. but may be said to be as directly from God as Monarchy is it self though he be otherwise never so much Tyrannus exercitio as grand a Tyrant in practice as King Saul or as much a Heathen as King Cyrus h Isa 45.1 'T is by God that Kings Reign as well as by him that Princes decree Justice Proverbs 8.15 There are no judgments nor evil of punishments in any Nation or City under the Sun but the Lord hath a hand in them all i Amos 3.6 2 King 33. Therefore to bring about those ends without putting himself to the expence of a Miracle he not only sometimes takes away Religious Princes and in their room permits Usurpers but also anoints bad Vicegerents under him as well as good As is evident by the examples of Saul Nebuchadnezzar Jehu and others k Jer. 25.9 2 King 10.30 whom though as such when they have once accomplished the ends for which they were ordained he either takes away in his Wrath as at first he gave them in his Anger l Hos 13.11 or else reserves them for a greater judgment to come yet as they are his Vicegerents appointed to execute his Wrath and pleasure upon Offenders he hath invested them both with a Soveraign Title to rule and a Soveraign Power to maintain it Headship and Prerogatives are so firmly united together in the Lord and the King that the one cannot possibly subsist without the other 1. From hence we may see the great absurdity of Cromwell the Usurper that Notorious Changer Cursed Hypocrite and Deceiver in separating Soveraign Title from Soveraign Power which the Lord in himself and the King hath thus firmly joyned together The guilt of his Conscience would not suffer him to assume the name of a King No nor his Diabolical policy neither lest he should seem to favour that Kingly Government which he had destroyed But to maintain his Usurpation of the Royal due and the favour of his Fanaticks he would change the name and be called their Protector yet his ambition would not suffer him to neglect the usurpation of the Kings Power For which cause he and his most abusively granted the King to have the name of a King still if so be he would be so contented without the power because they knew without that the King would be as was said of Pompey but magni nominis umbra the shadow of a King without the substance yea to be a titulary †Josep Antiq. l. 15. telleth us that Marcus Antonius being urged by his Dalilah Cleopatra to call Herod to an account replyed that it was not fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to demand of a King an account of what was done in his Government for so he would not be a King King would be a King no more in reality than a King in a Play Therefore it is observable that Mephibosheth like a True Loyalist called David not only by the name of King to shew his Soveraign Title to rule but also by the name of Lord saying My Lord the King to shew his Soveraign Power to command 2 Sam. 19.30 2. From hence it also is that by our most wise and Royal Master we are here enjoyned to fear the Lord and the King because power the foundation of fear belongeth to them both To the Lord as God the greatest Supreme and to the King as his Minister and Vicegerent m Rom. 13.4 Therefore St. Paul joyneth fear and power saying Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power Rom. 13.3 And to speak all in a word The reason wherefore the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King are here joyned and enjoyned together is for an exegesis or exposition one of the other to shew that he that is truly Godly and fears the Lord is also a True Loyalist and fears the King and that he is only a True Loyalist and fears the King who is truly godly and fears the Lord True Godliness and Loyalty the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King like Hippocrates's Twins live and die together Godliness without Loyalty is not true but Pharisaical and Loyalty without godliness is only nominal false and adulterate Now as the fear of the Lord and the fear of the King is the same in kind though not in degree because the fear of the King is terminated in the fear of the Lord So it is meant not of any legal or servile fear derived from the lower spring of Nature which it would be if it were grounded only upon their Power But of a pure filial and Evangelical fear derived from the upper spring of grace grounded not only upon power but upon cordial love and duty As the true Godlilist fears to disobey and dishonour the Lord not legally only for the sake of his power but filially out of pure love as an obedient child fears a kind Father n Deut. 10.12 Gal. 4.7 Heb.
of Kings I know indeed that the major part of men in the World are more apt to follow them in bad examples than in good because they are not of God but of the world which lieth in wickedness n 1 Joh. 5.19 But I could heartily wish if it were Gods good pleasure that even the whole world would imitate our King in this pious example and accordingly those that are of his Dominions shew their subjection to him as he therein shews his subjection to the Lord. Not but the mode of paying reverence to God is indifferent according to the various States customs and manners of Nations before it be ordained in the Church as it would be indifferent whether we pay revevence to God by putting off the Glove c. if there were any such custom or whether by putting off the shoes as the Jews or whether by putting off the Hat as we Christians It is free for every Nation to do what they think fit in such cases so long as they keep to Gods general rule of order and decency o 1 Cor. 14.40 which binds now to uncover the head and is therefore ordained but as for the reverence it self it never was indifferent but is always necessary to be expressed by some Rite or other as being that without which Gods honour cannot subsist which as his word is more durable than Heaven or Earth p Mat. 24.35 Quorsum vero haec from whence then is this disobedience and prophaneness of theirs You may quickly guess it that it is either because they read not the word of God at all or if they read it read it but cursorily in a canting tone out of vain glory Or suppose some think themselves as learned as the Jesuits themselves yet that will but aggravate their torments in Hell q Luk. 12.48 and so much the more manifest their blindness and want of faith For surely had they the eye of Faith to behold God in his Temple who is invisible they could not chuse but reverence and honour so great a Majesty and if their great knowledge in the Scriptures which they pretend to were sanctified unto them then they would never perswade their seduced proselytes to believe that that is Gods service wherein he is the most dishonoured and that that is true Religion which consisteth in the contradiction of his Laws and Ordinances For what saith St. James If any man among you seem to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart that is speaketh against his own knowledge and Conscience this mans Religion is vain But pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father saith he is this not to make any especially your Queen a Widow and her Heirs Fatherless but to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World James 1.26 27. Religion doth not license men to speak and do what they list it hath its name à religando from binding quòd hoc vinculo Deo religati sumus saith Lactan. Because by it as by a bond we are bound to God Whereby all our members are bound to their good behaviour Our hands from being stretched forth against the Lords anointed r 2 Sam. 1.14 our tongues from despising or speaking evil against him the Spirit of God puts the brand of the Sons of Belial upon them that presume to do it ſ 1 Sam. 10.27 either by reproaching his footsteeps or proceedings t Ps 89.51 or by controuling him in any of his ways or actions who may say to a King saith Solomon what dost thou u Ecclesiastes 8.4 And is it fit saith Job to say to a King thou art wicked And to Princes ye are ungodly w Job 34.18 and what should I say more our very hearts are bound by our Religion from cursing or wishing evil to the Lords Vicegerent Curse not the King saith Solomon no not in thy thought or Conscience x Ecclesiastes 10.20 Yet the Prophet Isaiah speaketh of a desperate generation of men that Curse their King their God and look upward y Isaiah 8.21 Of whom the Prophet speaketh this I dare not positively affirm But this I may safely say the words agree so exactly with these that stile themselves the Godly Party as if they were the very men pointed at in this Prophecy for who have been more infamous than they for Cursing their King and their God and for looking upwards withal to cover their wickedness with the vail of Hypocrisie They are not only that proud and supercilious generation which Solomon speaks of that have lofty eyes and eye-lids lifted up z Prov. 30.13 But also that Rebellious Generation which he speaks of too that curseth both their Natural Father and the King the Father of their Country and doth not bless their Mother nor their Queen a ver 11. Yea and finally that Hypocritical generation which follows next that are pure in their own eyes from whence they are called Puritans and yet are not washed from their filthiness b ver 12. But O ye Puritans be not righteous over-much neither make your selves over-wise why should you destroy your selves c Ecclesiastes 7.16 I know a man cannot be too Righteous or too wise so long as he lives according to the rule of Gods word but Omne nimium vertitur in vitium every extream degenerates into a vice if a man shoots at rovers in his Religion too much on the one hand by prophaneness or too much on the other by superstition he will never hit the mark Much less if he be pure only in his own eyes and make himself over Righteous and over wise out of spiritual pride and vain glory or on purpose to advance his own ends by deception For so he will demonstrate himself to be a perfect Emissary of Satan who when he intends to deceive the most appears not as a Devil but as an Angel of light d 2 Cor. 11.13 14. In a word therefore Let him that thinketh he standeth or in more fulness of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that seems to himself to stand take heed lest he fall e 1 Cor. 10.12 and you that have a name that you are alive and yet are dead as having been formerly seduced by their seeming sanctity and yet are still infected with the leven of their Phanaticism let me advise you once again before it be too late that ye purge it out by a true and timely repentance And that ye be watchful for the future to strengthen those good and Loyal principles which yet remain and are ready to die that your works may be found perfect before God f Rev. 3.1 2. Have a care that you do not with-hold from God his due of reverence lest he destroy you for defiling his Holy Temple g 1 Cor. 3.17 much rather beware that you do not mock him h Gal. 6.7 by with-holding from
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
eat any food until the evening c. they were no less careful to keep the Kings commandment in regard of their Oath for notwithstanding the rashness of the adjuration the greatness of their distress with hunger and confination and the greatness of their temptation too by the dropping of hony in a private wood Yet no man would put his hand to his mouth because they feared the Oath z 1 Sam. 14. Now if an Oath be so Sacred and blinding when it is only in things indifferent not contrary to the will of God How much rather is it Sacred and obliging when it is for confirmation of such holy things which the word of God hath before bound us to observe a Nehemiah 10.29 Let all be judge that have not shook hands with their rationality I am sure these obligations are more firm than Solomons threefold Cord which cannot quickly be broken b Ecclesiastes 4.12 But 2. If the Oath be rashly taken in such things that be contrary to the word of God I know then that there is none except he be more Infidel than the Devils themselves c James 2.19 but will readily acknowledge that it is absolutely unlawfull d Numb 30.5 8. and consequently the obligation to keep it as absolutely taken away Yea by the Law of contraposition if we will but allow Affirmatives and Negatives to include or suppose one another a man is as much obliged to break an unlawful Oath as he is to keep one that is lawful in all things according to the word of God because as he cannot keep an unlawful Oath without making his sin exceeding sinful so by breaking of it he manifesteth his repentance whereby he makes a re-entry into Covenant with God by a new stipulation How much then was Herod that Fox e Luke 13.32 to blame when he promised upon Oath to give the Daughter of Herodias for pleasing him in a Dance whatsoever she would ask and she being before instructed of her Mother said give me here John Baptist's head in a Charger For instead of putting her off by telling her that his Oath supposed only such requests as were lawful he added sin to sin for though the Hypocrite said He was exceeding sorry nevertheless for the Oaths sake as he pretended and them which sat with him at meat he commanded it to be given her f Mar. 14. Mar. 6. But how much more was Cromwell that Fox and his Park of Presbyterians and Independents to blame when to satisfie the having desire of Mrs. Avarice for pleasing them with a dance in the great Parlor of their large Consciences they bound themselves each to other by a Solemn yet damnable League and Covenant to destroy our Nation and her Religion and to root out all order and Government both in Church and State Herod played only the Tyrant but these were not only Tyrants but Usurpers too besides though they agreed with him in several circumstances of their cruelty and Hypocrisie yet they much out-ballanced him in the mode and hainousness of their Oath and Villany For whereas Herods Oath consisted only of a plain piece of cruelty against a single person their Covenant was taken for the destruction of a whole Kingdom and like the Turkish Alcoran consisted of a Hoch-poch of principles not only bad but some seemingly good too to cover the bad and their evil designs with the vail of Hypocrisie And accordingly herein it was notoriously contradictory to its self it pretended great Loyalty to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties Person and authority and withal to extirpate Episcopacy and Church Government Which could not possibly be without destroying the Kings Authority because they were upheld by the Kings Authority This was so evident that they preceived it themselves and therefore were resolved to contradict themselves further and also destroy the Kings Majesties person too The Presbyterians Preacht him upon the block and the Independents beheaded him and the whole Nation And accordingly when it had once strengthened them the end for which it was taken by tying the Populacy fast to their parties under the terrour of perjury then they quickly * Hist Independ Compleat Part. 1. p. 139. cast it aside and called it an Almanack out of date Yea and punished too many for attempting to keep it And no marvel for their Covenant which they had so rashly and unadvisedly taken pretended so much for the honour and happiness of the Kings Majesty and his Posterity that they saw they could not possibly keep it without its contradicting them in their pulling down of Monarchy and the establishing of their Oligarchy or Tyranny For * Hist Independ Compleat Part 1. p. 113. which cause their Grandees that they might also the better hinder their Vote that they would not alter the ancient form of Government by King Lords and Commons from taking effect caused the Antimonarchical book written by Parsons the Jesuit 1524. under the feigned name of Doleman to be published though they knew it was condemned by Act of Parliament 35 Eliz. But it is no wonder that they should not care for former Acts of Parliment when as they did so lightly esteem of their own as well as of their National Covenant Wherein though they also pretended to be great Reformers from Popish superstition yet you see as the same Author observes that they can joyn interests with France Doctrine with the Jesuits to carry on their design and reduce us to the condition of French Peasants and Slaves under the Kingdom of the Saints And the truth is though the greatest part might do what they did not out of malice but rather as our Martyred Soveraign charitably speaks of them in his ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ out of misapprehension of things or misinformation yet it is notorious that most of the Chief and Heads of them acted against their own knowledge and Conscience no less than Herod did in beheading of John the Baptist for as Herod knew and acknowledged that John was a just man and an holy and had done nothing worthy of death but only a spleen he had against him for telling him that it was not lawful for him to have his Brothers Wife whom he had married So these Covenanters knew not only that they had bound themselves by a solemn Oath with hands lifted up to the most high God to preserve and defend the King but also that he was so just a man an holy that they could find nothing of any moment to stuf out their black charge against him They knew that he comported * Hist Indedend Compleat Part 2. p. 218. himself in his afflictions with such admired temper prudence and constancy that many even of his engaged Enemies themselves became his Converts thereby speaking Panegyricks in his praise Particularly Harry †Hist Independ Compleat Part 2. p. 15. Martyn making a speech in the House upon the Debate touching Kingly Government whether a King or no King gives
the contrary and all the persecutions of the Church Luther therefore that great Reformer of our Religion when in his Reformation he was opposed by Authority would say That he had rather obey than work Miracles if it were in his power for obedience is due to Kings not as they are men but as they are powers ordained of God to be his Ministers and Vicegerents And so accordingly Julian the Apostate's Souldiers though they would not worship Idols at his command because God will not give his glory to another nor his praise to Graven Images z Isa 4.8 yet when he led them against an enemy they obeyed him most readily Distinguebant dominum temporalem à domino aeterno tamen subditi erant propter dominum aeternum saith Augustine August in Psal 124. they had understanding in them to distinguish their temporal Lord from their eternal and Religion too to subject themselves to their temporal for the sake of their eternal All power is from God and also for God let the Prince invested therewith abuse it never so much for himself as if it were his own yet God can extract the greatest good out of the greatest evil and order it to his glory and therefore the True Loyalist never uses a Sword against his King but a Buckler never resisteth the Power but is always submissive either actively or passively not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake If St. Paul indeed had said Let every soul be subject to Christian and vertuous Powers there might have been some Plea for Rebellion but to take away all scruple he saith to Powers indefinitely in that they be Powers as St. Peter expresly not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward a 1 Pet. 2.18 Sith then we are obliged by the Doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul to submit our selves to all Powers indefinitely let them be never so wicked and Tyrannous how much rather ought we to fear and obey those that are Peaceable and Religious Defenders of the Faith and Nursing Fathers to the Church Whenas to such there doth belong a double honour an honour as they are Gods Ministers and Trustees and an honour as they are fearers of God their Lord and Soveraign b Ps 15. ◠This is the glory of a Nation this gives Vertue free scope and makes True Loyalty the more operative Yet we must remember that obedience and subjection is a thing so highly necessary that it is enjoyned to all Powers indefinitely not only the good but the bad too 1. In regard of the Predicate because obedience unites men together and makes them Victorious it is the very strength and bulwork of a Nation 2. In regard of the Subject because wicked and Tyrannous Princes serve no less for our Tryal than good ones for our Consolation and who would not be happy eternally happy Blessed is the man saith St. James that endureth temptation For when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him c James 1.12 And accordingly to shew the great necessity of this duty the Lord himself by his Apostle hath here enforced obedience to it with two such moving arguments as they eminently comprehend all The first may serve for an use of terrour to fright all Fanaticks from Rebellion for it is taken from the exceeding great danger of them that resist the Powers because the Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation d Rom. 13.1 2. in the vulgar Latine it is acquirunt sibi damnationem they do acquire or purchase to themselves damnation to shew that Rebels above all Malefactors do the most worthily receive damnation for what can a man receive into his possession more worthily than that which he receives by purchase Moreover to shew the great interest and propriety they have in damnation they are said not only to receive it but to receive it to themselves they shall receive to themselves damnation and that both Temporal and Eternal 1. Temporal the very provoking a King to anger incurreth death without his mercy and Clemency The fear or Wrath of a King saith Solomon is as the roaring of a Lyon he that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own Soul That is offendeth against his own life hazzards and jeopards it e Pro. 20.2 19.12 Yea the Wrath of a King saith he is as the messengers of Death without the wisdom of the Wise to pacifie it f Pro. 16.14 How much rather then doth that Cursed Traiter deserve Death even that terrible and ignominious death the Laws of England have assigned him that hath so little fear of God before his eyes as not to be afraid to stretch forth his hand to destroy the Lords anointed Murder is a crying sin it cryeth for vengeance vengeance g Gen. 4.10 but Regicide what shall I term it it is a Roaring sin it roareth louder than all the Diabolical voices in Plutarch did together for the Cessation of their Oracles upon the coming of our Saviour for by Murder one single person may be destroyed only but by Regicide the murder of a King many times a whole Nation even all the Members of a body Politick perish in his ruine as the body Natural doth by the loss of the Head from whence the Metaphor is drawn 2. Eternal and that most proper in this place for though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here for damnation make no difference between that condemnation which is Temporal and that which is Eternal the judgment of man in this life and the judgment of God in the life to come h Rom. 2.2 Compared in the Orig. with Luk 23.40 yet the reason wherefore damnation here is pronounced against them that resist the Powers being because in resisting them they resist the Ordinance of God doth plainly shew that it is chiefly meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of eternal judgment Scripture and Order requires that a sin against God be punished with damnation eternal and a sin against man as man only with Temporal and a Rebel sins against both He sinneth against man in that he resisteth the power of his King as he is a man He sinneth against God in that by resisting the Power of his King he resisteth the Ordinance of God And therefore as the word signifieth he is guilty of both sorts of punishment not only Temporal but chiefly Eternal as is evident in the example of Corah and his Accomplices who because in being gathered together against Moses and against Aaron they were gathered together against the Lord they were not permitted to die the common death of other men but the Lord made a new thing caused the Earth to open her mouth and swallow them up quick into Hell i Numb 16. The 2. is an use of comfort both to
most gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second of ever blessed memory next under God and his Christ our Saviour and Prince of peace And as their malice begets cruelty so their cruelty seldom of never goes without crast The Churches enemies are Serpentina Soboles the seed of the Serpent And as the way of a Serpent upon a Rock is unknowable o Prov. 30.18 19. so are their ways too of undermining the Church p Neh. 4.11 Exod. 1.10 craft and cruelty are their chiefest Engines of mischief not one but both they exercise craft for the sake of their cruelty that it may wound the deeper and the more assuredly ingenium superat virès Policy makes the Sword of malice cut keener than strength doth Therefore as the Devil when he intends to be the greatest Abaddon or Apollyon a destroyer q Revel 9.11 ever joyns Reynolds tail to his Lyons skin r Eph. 6.11 So his Auxiliaries those that fight under his Banner when they intend the most mischief against the Churches peace and welfare ever add craft to their cruelty And so accordingly these Emissaries of Satan and Anti-Christ did in their forementioned plot against his Sacred Majesty when they murdered * The Tryal of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey's murderers at the Kings-Bench-bar at Westminster on Munday the 10th of Feb. An. Dom 1679. Where upon full evidence they were convicted and received sentence accordingly on Tuesday the next day solloveing Printed 1679. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey one of his Majesties most Loyal Justices for they perpetrated that crying sin lest their hellish Treason should be discovered by their own confessions which that worthy Magistrate had lately taken from them and the rather because they did as greatly hate him for his great sincerity in the True Protestant Religion as for beng so active and industrious in the discovery of their Plot. O man or Prophet shall I term thee for thou didst foretel that thou should'st be the first Martyr and I hope thou shalt be the last though our Religion will not suffer us to be so wicked silly and ridiculous to worship thee as a Saint yet thy name is to be ever honoured for thy True Loyalty and Fidelity to the Lord and the King Neither was their craft less seen in the mode of his murder One while they dog'd him into the fields Another while they sent people to spie when he came abroad that they might follow him into some dark Alley or other obscure and unfrequented place and there dispatch him And though their expectation was split in that yet their craft and cruelty was still the same for as he was coming from about St. Clements Church towards his own house near Charing-Cross about 7 or 8 a Clock at night notice being given them of his approach near to Sommersâ—t-house they met him at the back gate and that under a pretence of parting a fray a counterseit scuffle being made between two of them a Priest and another for the purpose for knowing that he was a man always careful to keep the peace and punish them that broke it they thought it a very apt means to train him into the yard where the fray parting of its self they most cowardly strangled him on a suddain before he had time to put himself into a posture of defence lest through his valiantness he should have put them all to the rout And now having killed his body in the next place to wave suspicion from themselves they endeavour to kill his reputation and lay the blame of this foul murder upon himself for as soon as opportunity had given them the conveniency to carry him forth they cast him into a Ditch where they left him with his Gold and Silver in his pocket and his own Sword thrust through him But laid his Glvoes Stick and other things upon the bank that so the world might conclude that he was male-contented and had laid violent hands upon himself and his relations to save his Estate had run him through Though all that knew him knew that he was not at all troubled in mind or discontented but only at their villany for fear their hellish treason should not be discovered soon enough before it had taken effect to the ruine of his King and Country Yet when this was first noised abroad there was such strangeness in the report that till such time as providence had discovered their treachery it filled the whole Nation with wonder and amazement and set all True Loyalists at a stand O how did the Lord for a while seem to favour the proceedings of these bloody Assassinates The children of this world saith our Saviour are in their Generations wiser than the Children of light f Luke 16.8 But alas their greatest wisdom is but foolishness with God t 1 Cor. 1.8 for thanks be unto his mercy he quickly frustrated the tokens of these Liars and made these Diviners mad he turned their wisemen backward he destroyed their wisdom and made their knowledge foolishness u Isa 44.25 He caused these Changers to bring up birds * Dr. Oates Mr. Bedlow and Mr. Coleman to peck out their own eyes He suffered Satan to delude them with pride †They were so far from contrition that they made a Narrative of the murder and gloried in it as a most Conscientious Charitable and Heroick act c. pursuant to the Decrees of the Council of Lattran and self-conceitedness for a while that he might change their glory into the greater shame w Hosea 4.7 he took them in their own craftiness like Haman x Esther 7.10 and made their Counsel to carry them headlong like Achitophel's to the Gallows y 2 Sam. 17.23 Job 5.13 The Pope the Antichrist But this punishment was but temporal which they did most deservedly receive as they were Changers from the fear of the King there is a sadder behind an eternal one as they were also Changers from the fear of the Lord not only in that they resisted his Ordinance in resisting the power of his Vicegerent but also in that therein they sought the subversion of all his other Doctrine and Discipline in this his Church of England as well as others For these Changers were the Emissaries of the Pope the Lords greatest Adversary and Opponent and therefore not unfitly termed by our Apostle the man of Sin z 2 Thes 2.3 Nor by St. John the Anti-Christ a 1 John 2.18 There be indeed saith he many other Anti Christs in the World every Heathen is such an Anti-Christ he confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh b 2 John 7. The Turk every false Religion and every Heretick is also such an Anti-Christ for though many of them do Historically and Diabolically confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh c Mat. 4.11 James 2.19 Yet they doctrinally deny him d Mat. 10.33 by being ashamed to confess e Mark 8.38 or
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
therefore of making any your familiar friend but them that truly fear the Lord and the King with them otherwise as in prudence we can unless it be to reprove them lest by their good words and fair speeches they at length deceive us as they themselves are deceived o Rom. 16.18 2 Tim. 3.13 turn our hearts from fearing the Lord and the King decoy us into their Faction under the pretence of a godly party and so make our folly in stirring up strife and contention as manifest to the world as their own Whence Solomon also telleth us that it is an honour for a man to cease from strife But every fool will be medling p Pro. 20.3 The effect for the cause It is an honour for a man to cease from such Changers and changing because that cannot be without strife and contention with whom to meddle is therefore a great argument of folly as it is in them to be given to change q Prov. 10.23 They are such Sots as well as sinners that Changelings themselves whom the world counts fools in the deepest grain do seem to take their name from them I know some will tell you that Changelings are so called from children being changed by Fairies in the time of Popery but that at the best is but a vulgar error or an Old Wives story It is more likely that Changelings to demonstrate the greatness of their folly and childishness do borrow their name from these Changers that are given to change because they resemble them so much in natural folly and childishness And accordingly the Apostle compares those that meddle with them which is in effect the same as to be given to change to Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive r Eph. 4.14 And semblably too St. James to shew their weakness and great want of wisdom compares them to Water than which there is nothing less apt to keep its bounds he that wavereth saith he is like a wave of the Sea driven with the wind and tossed ſ James 1.6 yea a double-minded man saith he is unstable in all his ways t Vers 8. Sith then a man cannot meddle with these Changers without betraying much weakness folly and childishness ye a madness in stirring up the fire of contention about his ears till his own peace and honour be consumed in the flame we ought in prudence to be so much the more wary how we meddle with them any more especially when as they lie in wait to beguile unstable souls as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty u 2 Cor. 11.3 that they make them as cursed children as themselves w 2 Pet. 2.14 Ye cannot be too wary of them they will compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when he is made they make him if it were possible twofold more the child of Hell than themselves x Mat. 23.15 Yea they will use all means both fair and foul to win you to their party sometimes they will speak great swelling words of vanity y 2 Pet. 2.18 and sometimes again they will flatter you with their deceitful tongue z Psal 52.4 But believe them not for it is but to devour you and make your end as woful as their own a Prov. 26.25 28. They will promise you as great honour and preferment as Balack did Balaam b Numb 22.37 if you will but joyn with them in defying and working mischief against the True Loyalist but yet I say believe them not for it is but to Curse you with as much shame and confusion as they are blessed with true praise that fear the Lord and the King And finally if nothing will serve the turn they have one pretence still in reserve which they think will never fail them their greatest Decoy to Rebellion they will tell you with much confidence and boasting that they are Custodes Libertatis Angliae Keepers of the Liberty of England and if you will be sure to meddle or have a hand with them in their changing you shall not fail to be made partakers thereof and have as much liberty as you can possibly wish or desire Whenas behold O ye Fanaticks even some of you your selves have seen by woful experience that it is but the easilier to overcome you and bring you under the greater slavery and bondage Ye therefore beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saith Hesiod in his Book Opera Dies even a Fool will bewise when by his suffering he hath felt his folly What fools then must they needs be whom experience it self cannot teach wisdom seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness c 2 Pet. 3.17 This caution of the Wisemans to meddle not with them that are given to change is a duty you see of no small concern when as Gods will is to have it fastened in our memories with so many a precept We must therefore follow what the Wiseman again adviseth us unto meddle not with him that flattereth or enticeth with his lips d Prov. 20.19 And the Apostles Counsel is no less to be observed He doth pour out his very bowels in this respect Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them e Rom. 16.17 'T is true Changes Divisions and Offences must needs come God that changeth not sometimes changeth the times and the seasons he sometimes removeth Kings and sometimes setteth up Kings f Dan. 2.21 Ecclesiastes 3. To what end for the punishment of a sinful Nation for the tryal and probation of the True Loyalist and for the manifestation of his own supreme power and authority yet ye must have a special care that ye be not any Authors of or in them for there is a woe pronounced by our Saviour unto him through whom they come g Mat. 18.7 Luke 17.1 O therefore stand to your Principles be ye stedfast in the faith let the times change as they will yet be sure to have no hand in them But know the right way of your Salvation and be unmovable therein as constant as a Die which ever falls upon a firm basis Gad no more about to change your ways lest God bring you again into Egypt and change your glory into shame h Jer. 2.26 Let not the Papists beguile you of your reward in their voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels i Col. 2.18 nor the Fanaticks with their Satanical and Parisaical delusions But in as much as they have only a form of godliness and deny the power thereof both in their lives and doctrine from such turn away And in all your passage through the Waves of this troublesome World swim ye directly between