4 15 16 18. and Daniel would not omit his daily Prayers to God notwithstanding thereby at his utmost peril he broke Darius's Royal Edict Dan. 6. 7 ad 10. And when Christ had commanded the Apostles to go and preach to all Nations they would not desist when the Jews forbid it saying Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye Acts 4. 17 18 19. and the Primitive Christians those renowned Patterns of Loyalty though they would never raise Rebellions against their Princes yet stood out in a continual and invincible breach of their wicked Laws refusing obstinately either to Curse Christ or to Sacrifice to Idols when they were required thereto by their Heathen Governours When any Kings Laws run thus against Gods Laws non-compliance and holding out is a grace which the more resolved it is the better it is Nay that Boldness and undaunted Face in opposition which in case of lawful Impositions is a most criminal Impudence is in this case a peculiar Gift of the Holy Ghost which was beg'd by the Apostles when under the Threatnings of the Jewish Rulers they desired Grace to speak the word with boldness Acts 4. 29. which according to that Prayer was afterwards most eminent in themselves and the Primitive Confessors which God still bestow'd when he call'd men to suffer for him in after Ages and which I doubt not but he will still bestow when he shall please to call any Churches to suffer for him to the end of the World Thus are the things of Religion Gods things wherein all men are still to follow him though the Powers of the World being erroneously mislead should have the misfortune both to practise themselves and to injoyn their Subjects too to practice otherwise The onely Caution I think fit to be added in this case is that we do not make those things Religion which are not so as not Kneeling at the Communion not using the Cross in Baptism not joyning in a Form of Prayers and the like True Religion doth not stick at these and such like indifferent things For God makes Religion and he has no where forbid the use of them but may be served by them as truly and oft-times more becomingly than without them So that when our Governours require onely such things as these they intrench not at all upon Religion and the Rights of God but we may lawfully obey them and then we must do it If they command against him in that we are to desert them because we are to follow him in Religion But then we must take care that what we call Religion be not a point of mans Invention that it be some Article of the holy Scriptures and not of our own Fancy some thing which is a Religion of Gods and not of our own making Thus must we hold firm to God in things of Religion and therefore as the pretence of Religion must never lead any to be ill Subjects So neither when Princes happen to be mislead in Religion must the pretence of Loyalty ever draw them to err and be ill Christians When Subjects are most Loyal to their Prince in paying him all Honour and Obedience and submissive Carriage they must not embrace his Errours nor conform to his Opinion and Practice in Religion if they happen to be different from what the Scripture teaches This is no act of disloyalty to a Prince to be true to Almighty God and both to believe and practise as he would have us All Loyalty to the King must consist with true Religion towards God since the King is onely God's Vicegerent This was the belief of our Saviour Christ and of his Apostles and of all the Saints and Servants of God in all Ages And it will always be the opinion of every man whose Conscience is not debauched with Atheistical Principles but knows he has a God as well as a King to serve Having thus stated what are the things of God and what the things of Cesar and shown how the pretended care and zeal for the one can never exempt us from the other I shall now very briefly exhort you to a careful observance of what has been delivered and so conclude Since God and the King then must both have what belongs to them and God who is most jealous of his own Honour will not have mens Zeal even for that to transport them against the just Rights of Cesar let me exhort all that hear me to have a watchful eye to both these and that what God has put together they would not set asunder Be careful to give God all the Honour that is due to him and to do it with Constancy Zeal and Affection But when you are most zealous for the Honour of God be careful to preserve an inviolable Duty to your Prince too who is Gods Vice-gerent Shew your selves hearty and steady Protestants that is Gods Cause wherein you may and should be zealous but at the same time be sure to shew your selves good Subjects and good Christians Let not your Zeal for Protestancy bereave you of your Loyalty or Christianity and make you forget either your Duty to your Governours or that Charity which you owe your Neighbours even those who are most opposite in Religion to your selves This is to act by a Primitive Spirit like sincere Servants of Christ and true Members of the Church of England to whose Eternal Honour it may be said that the Clergy and true Members of it beyond what is ordinary in other Churches are careful to shew such a just and well-governed Zeal for Almighty God as dare not fly in the Face of the King or be unchristianly violent against their Brethren for Gods sake They are and by their Principles should be zealous against Popery But at the same time they are zealous against Rebellion and Disloyalty one of the most mischievous things in Popery and against all unchristian usage and uncharitableness to men of different Perswasions which the unbridled Zeal of Papists and Sectaries too commonly transports them to And then as for you my Reverend Brethren who are intrusted with the Ministry of Religion let me particularly recommend the things of God and Religion to your care that you would labour to make men true to God that they may be true to the King for Gods sake Stir them up not onely to like Religion or to be Luke-warm which God told the Church of Laodicea was loathsome but to be concerned and zealous in it And that they may not be all Heat without Light nor their Zeal outrun their Knowledge endeavour to possess them with right Notions of it letting them see that Religion lies in Faith and Practice in Believing all the Articles of the Creed and Keeping the Commandments and Laws of God Suffer them not to place Religion in little things to embrace Shadows for a Substance and to think either to please or displease God by such frivolous and
THE Religious Loyalist OR A GOOD CHRISTIAN Taught How to be a Faithful SERVANT BOTH TO GOD and the KING IN A Uisitation-Sermon Preached at Coles-hill in Warwick-shire Aug. 28 1685. At the Triennial Visitation of my Lords Grace of Canterbury During the Suspension of the Bp. of Litchfield and Coventry By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-Hill Imprimatur Hen. Maurice R. Arch. Cant. à sacris Dec. 23 1685. LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter against St. Dunstan ' s Church in Fleet street 1686. TO THE READER READER THE first and greatest Duty in Religion is sincere Piety towards God And next to that is Submission to Gods Vice-gerent which all men have Obligation enough to practise to make their Passage easie and secure through this world as well as to save their Souls in that which is to come To recommend both these Duties to all mens care is the business of this Sermon I have endeavoured to be Plain and Particular in such necessary Points to render it more helpful to mens Practice And the plainness and Honesty of this Discourse together with the great need our Age has to be often admonished and instructed in these Subjects was that I presume which mov'd several Worthy persons who were pleased with it from the Pulpit to desire I would make it more publick from the Press I have yielded to their request in hope it can do no hurt and may do some good And if thereby any be more instrcted or setled in these important Matters God will receive some Glory this Church and State some Quiet and Establishment their own Souls some Benefit by it and then I have my end MATTH 22. 21. Render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's and unto God the things which are God's THese Words are our Saviour's Answer to a Question which some Male-contents and Religious Zealots among the Jews put to him whether Tribute was to be paid to the Roman Emperours who were the Rulers God had set over them at that time And they contain the just Bounds of Pious and Religious Loyalty teaching us how to maintain an inviolable Duty both to God and the King Religion towards God is the chief concern of all wise and good men especially of us who are the Ministers of it And Loyalty and due Allegiance to the King will always be the care of all that duly fear God or desire to live at quiet Both these are indispensibly required and in themselves can very well consist together But yet in the practice of the World mens Fears for the one are most apt to bear them against the other And because we have so fresh an instance of this in the late Rebellion among our selves I think it may be very â—it at this season to shew men how they are to express their care for God and that without Rebelling and also how they are to shew their assection to their Soveraign and that without deserting or any ways injuring true Religion Sometimes Princes profess a Wrong Religion nay sometimes they set themselves against the True and persecute Gods Servants And when at any time this is the Case our duty to God and the King seem as if they were at odds and look like irreconcilable and inconsistent things And then men oft-times think themselves exempt from one of them because they cannot serve two Masters of contrary Interests so that either in Zeal for Religion they cast off all duty to their Prince and turn Bigotted Rebels or else in compliance with their Prince they throw aside true Religion and their Duty towards God and turn Irreligious Time-servers But the true determination of the Case our Saviour tells us is to do neither of these When Princes happen to have any mis-perswasions about Religion we must still pay them all civil Subjection and Obedience But our Loyalty must not carry us to embrace their Errours but at the same time we must keep true to Religion and Gods Service Render c. In discoursing upon these words I shall 1. Shew on what ground these Inquirers thought themselves exempt and what was the cause of this Question 2. Vnfold the plain determination our Saviour here gives of it and shew what is implied in religious Loyalty and true Christian Subjection so as that there may be no just cause of Offence either to God or to the King Render c. 1. I shall shew on what ground these Inquirers thought themselves exempt and what was the cause of this Question Now that was because they thought they ought not to be subject to a Prince of a Forreign Religion This Sect who sought satisfaction in this point were not against all Subjection as if they would be lawless and introduce a perfect License having no controuler but themselves They would submit to a Prince of their own Nation as their Fore-fathers had done to Saul David and Solomon Yea they would submit to a Prince of a Forreign Nation provided he would embrace their Religion and way of Worship and espouse Judaism And thus these very Inquirers did at this time For Herod was a Forreigner by Country an Idumaean not Jewish born but because Idumaea when it was conquered was cast into the same Province with Judaea and especially because he turned Proselyte to Judaism and became an eminent Professor and great Assertor of their Law and Religion they made no dispute at all of being subject unto him the Herodians i. e. the Court-doctors and Favourers of Herod coming along with the Pharisees to ask our Lord this Question as we are told v. 16. But they were against paying subjection to Heathens who worshipped other Gods and were not of the same Religion with themselves The Soverain Lord of all is Almighty God and Princes are onely Officers of his whom he has deputed and they would not esteem any one a right Vicegerent but that worshipped the same God as they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Josephus of them i. e. The onely Lord and Leader they owned was God and Governors that owned him and so they would not submit to any prophane Dominion which had renounced him as the Romans did at that time So that they cast off the Yoke not because they would have none over them but because they would not be subject to a Heathen The Founder of this Sect which Josephus calls the Fourth Sect was Judas Gaulonites who rose in Galilee in the days of the Taxing under Cyrenius and is called by Gamaliel Judas of Galilee Acts 5. 37. He was followed by those Galileans whom because of their rejecting the Roman Yoke Pilate the Roman-governour came upon and slew as they were a Sacrificing Luke 13. 1. His Followers lay much among the Pharisees those zealous Assertors of the Mosaick Law and Jewish Liberties with whom as Josephus notes they accord in all things And they were Pharisees who came to Christ desiring to be resolved in this point v. 15 16. Thus did they
as with Truth and Justice and pay faithfully all Legal Tributes and obey cheerfully all their just Laws and live quietly under them without raising any Commotions to defend and secure even their Religion and themselves under all Princes under a Nero Dioclesian or Julian that not onely profess but espouse and forcibly propagate a false Religion as well as under the best and most Orthodox and Christian Kings So that the pretence of Religion can never authorize any men to be ill Subjects Render unto Cesar the things which are Cesars says our Saviour in this very case to those who inquired how they should behave themselves under Princes of a wrong Religion But whilst we are thus careful to pay all due Respect and just Obedience to our Prince whatever Religion he be of so that the pretence of Religion never make us ill Subjects We must take care still further 2. To reserve at the same time all due Service and Subjection to Almighty God so that when at any time Princes happen to err in Religion the pretence of Loyalty must never draw us to embrace their Errours and become irreligious When we do any thing else in compliance with Soveraign Princes yet must we not sin against God for their sakes For Princes how high soever they are above us are yet under him as his mere Deputies and Ministers and he is still the Soveraign Prince so that our respect to them must never carry us to his prejudice Render unto God the things which are Gods is the other part of our Saviours Answer in this case The things of God are the things of Religion And the Religion which God prescribes is not always the same with that which the Prince doth In our own case God be thanked they meet For our Laws fetch Religion from the Scriptures and establish the same that Christ himself has there established And our King has given us his Royal Word that he will govern by Laws and maintain them and always defend and support the Church of England But in other places among our neighbour Nations the Laws of Religion and the Laws of the Land thwart and oppose each other And so they did when our Religion was first planted in the days of the Apostles and so they continued to do in the succeeding Ages and may still happen to do in all times But when that is the case this close adherence to the Rules of true Religion is still the inviolable Right of God and no Powers on Earth must ever drive us from them Now the things of God or those things which are due to him in Religion I shall reduce to these three Heads 1. A belief of his Revelations 2. Worshiping him according to his own Rules 3. The service of a good Life and an upright Practice 1. The first thing of Religion due to God is a belief of his Revelations Whatsoever he declares we must all give absolute credit to because all that believe a God believe he is infinitely true and can never deceive men Nay in matters of Religion and Salvation we must give credit to him alone because he onely knows the terms of his own Mercy and how he will bring us all to Heaven In these Points we are not to believe an Apostle himself if he should not speak from him For they as St. Paul said had not dominion over mens Faith to make them believe any thing but were onely as Messengers and Dispensers of Gods Word and so could declare nothing but what he had told them And much less should we believe either him or an Angel from Heaven if he should not onely speak to us without Book but against it and contradict Gods own Revelation Though an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than what we have preached unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be accursed i. e. look on him as if he were anathematized and come not near him nor give any heed to him more than you would to one that is thrown out among Heathens and publickly excommunicated Gal. 1. 8. So that if the Laws of any Country require men to give their assent to ridiculous and absurd Opinions as they do among Heathens and Mahometans or to believe quite contrary to the Scriptures as they do in Italy and France where all men are compelled to believe Transubstantiation and to profess a Church Infallible which had evidently embraced and taught a number of Falshoods they not onely need not but they ought not to comply with them They must trust God before any Princes on earth when they happen to contradict him It is Gods Prerogative to govern our Faith and that must not be given up to any others 2. A second thing in Religion due to God is worshiping him according to his own Rules This is another of Gods Rights For his adorable Excellencies and Soveraignty over us claim our Worship and he himself alone can prescribe it The end of it is to honour and please him and what will do that is best known to himself so that his Worship must be of his own prescribing and we must never attempt to worship him in a way forbidden And therefore if any Powers on earth should command us to worship God in a way contrary to what he has required therein they are not to be obey'd Thus the Heathens required the Primitive Christians to Sacrifice to their Gods and to Swear by the Emperours Genius And thus in France and in other Popish Countries the poor Protestants are required among other things of like sort to pray to Saints and adore Images and worship the Host and take up with a maimed Sacrament receiving the Bread onely without the Cup and address to God in a Latine Service which they do not understand and from whence they can expect to reap no profit All these ways of Worship are directly opposite and contradictory to Gods Rules and therefore were justly and necessarily rejected by Gods faithful Servants For here notwithstanding their Princes Command they might and ought to reserve themselves to Almighty God this being his Province 3. A third thing of Religion due to God is the Service of a good Life and an upright Practice This is what God indispensibly requires of men in all Religions and which they must be most careful to pay to him inviolably in all times So that if any Powers should require to be served by Fraud or Falshood by Rapine or Bloodshed if they would have men stop at no bounds nor scruple at any wickedness which serves their ends their Subjects or Dependants must not hearken but here obey God who is a greater King than they These are the things of Religion and these are reserved to God as his things which are put without the controul of Princes so that we must not comply when at any time they invade them Thus the three Children would not worship the Golden Image for all the strictness of the Kings Commandment Dan. 3.
inconsiderable things as are unworthy of any Wise mans Notice which needless Scrupulosity of Mind will not onely prove a Snare to themselves but inevitably render them troublesome to their Governours and very detrimental to the Publick Peace And when they are thus rightly instructed in Religion and made true to Almighty God be diligent to weed out all Seditious Principles to make Civil Subjection as necessary a part of their Religion and as much a Point of Conscience as Prayers and Gods immediate Service In a word to let them see the Necessity the Duty and the Benefit of being inviolably Loyal and true to the King too I know the Judgements of great numbers are preposessed on the wrong side and leavened with ill Principles instilled by cunning Seducers into many well-meaning but unwary Minds both about the things of God and of the King too For as for the things of the King through an habitual and indulged License many are come without regret to question any thing that is in favour of their Governours to put remote and Imaginary Cases in Bar of present real and unquestionable Duties to Cavil and Dispute Power when they should be shewing Obedience nay to avow such Principles as inevitably unsettle any State and authorize the most bare-faced Rebellions as God knows we have newly felt by sad Experience which would have been much sadder still had not the Wisdom and Goodness of God confounded the Craft and defeated the mischievousness of men in our late happy speedy and in appearance intire Deliverance from them And then as for Religion great numbers of those who are concerned for it either place it in trifling Truths or in grounless and untrue Opinions and where they are most mistaken they are usually most confident and concerned and shew more Zeal for those empty and unprofitable Nothings where they think wrong than for all the grand and importan Truths of their Religion where they believe right These ill Weeds have in too many marr'd the Soyl which I am entreating you to cultivate And what pains it may have cost others to sow these evil Seeds and give them root I know not But now they are in posession and are rivited in the Minds of Men I know it will cost you much Pains and Patience too to pluck them out But this my Reverend Brethren though it will exercise your care yet must not discourage it Let not us shew less diligence to cure Mens Minds than others have done to corrupt them Let not the goodness of our Cause suffer through our remisness and want of care in managing it Substantial Religion and Loyalty are true and mighty and will prevail at last But without your care and pains who are appointed Advocates for them and are of all men as most concerned so best sitted to uphold them they will not be prevalent May the Almighty God daily increase your Zeal and both direct your Labours and prosper them in so good a Work That you may not onely be rewarded for the honesty of your Endeavours when Jesus Christ the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of the Church as St. Peter styles him shall come at last but may at present see the Fruit and rejoyce in the Success of them too Amen FINIS Books lately Printed for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter in Fleet-street THE Measures of Christian Obedience Or a Discourse shewing what Obedience is indispensably necessary to a Regenerate state and what Defects are consistent with it for the promotion of Piety and the peace of troubled Consciences By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire the second Edition corrected In Quarto price bound 8 s. 2. An Help and Exhortation to Worthy Communicating Or a Treatise describing the Meaning worthy Reception Duty and Benefits of the Holy Sacrament and answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain men from it together with suitable Devotions added By John Kettlewel Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire In Twelves price bound 3 s. 3. A Journey into Greece by Sir George Wheeler in company of Dr. Spon of Lyons in six Books Containing 1. A Voyage from Venice to Constantinople 2. An Account of Constantinople and the adjacent Places 3. A Voyage through the Lesser Asia 4. A Voyage from Zant through several parts of Greece to Athens 5. An Account of Athens 6. Several Journeys from Athens into Attica Corinth Boeotia c. With variety of Sculptures In Folio price bound 15 s. 4. A Vindication of the Primitive Christians in point of Obedience to their Prince against the Calumnies of a Book entituled The Life of Julian written by Ecebolius the Sophist As also The Doctrine of Passive Obedience cleared in defence of Dr. Hicks Together with an Appendix being a more full and distinct Answer to Mr. Thomas Hunt's Preface and Post script Unto all which is added the Life of Julian enlarged In Octavo price bound 2 s. 6 d. 5. The Paradoxal Discourses of F. M. Van Helmont concerning the Macrocosm and Microcosm of the Greater and Lesser World and their Union Set down in Writing by J. B. and now published In Octavo price bound 3 s. 6 d. * Antiqu. l. 18. c. 2. * Ibid. * Acts 22. 25. c. 16. 37. * Tacit. Annal 15. Suet. in Vita Ner. * Rom. 13. 4. * 2 Cor. 1. 24. * 1 Cor. 4. 1. 9. 17. * Matth. 28. 19 20. * Rev. 3. 16. * 1 Pet. 5. 4. 1 Pet. 2. 25.