is as fit for 1680 as it was for 1640. And we will not dissemble the truth of it but let it have its full Scope For this Text is part of the Epinicion or Song for Victory obtain'd by Deborah the Queen or Judge of Israel Judges 4.4 She Judged Israel at that Time and Barak her Captain General The Title of this Chapter wherein the Text is is The Song of Deborah and Barak after Victory obtain'd against the Queens Enemies the Captain of whose Host was wicked Sisera who with a Mighty Army came to Fight against Deborah the Soveraign of the Israelites of which her Subjects some Fought for their Soveraign Deborah as Zebulun and Naphtali some would not Fight for their Soveraign as Meroz Therefore Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord the help of their Soveraign there called the help of the Lord against the Mighty Enemies of Soveraign Majesty So that the help of the Lord in this Text is evidently the help of Deborah the help and assistance of the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy This is so plain and Evident from the Context that nothing can be more Intelligible Whence observe Doc. that to help the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy is to help God Or thus They that Fight not for their Soveraign Fight not for God And they that Fight against their Soveraign Fight against God Or the Kings Enemy cannot be Gods Friend Or He that Honors not the King Fears not God Or thus All Rebels and Disloyal Persons to their Soveraign are Cursed Rebels and Disloyal to God Truth 's so clearly deduced without any wresting from this Text as well as throughout the whole Scripture Canonical that we may well wonder that there could have been such Pulpiteers as to Cheat their Hearers with quite contrary Doctrines and Deductions from this Text or such easie Gulls amongst their Auditors that could be so grosly impos'd upon and be juggled out of their Lives their Money their Plate nay it is to be feared their Souls are accursed if this Text be true not only for refusing to Assist their Soveraign the Cursed Crime in the Text but much more for resisting him even to Blood and their own Damnation so easie are and so Damnable too many times those Juggling Tricks that Cheats the Vulgar Cheat the Vulgar Alas What is more Ordinary But this was the most Gross most Palpable and the most Fatal Cheat that ever was put upon them and from the Holy Scripture wretchedly wrested and from the Pulpit too Fatal to the People Fatal to the King and Kingdom With this Text that is the most Loyal Text in all the Bible was the Kings Army rooted our Blessed King Martyr'd and Murther'd and the Kingdom Ruined Which may teach Soveraigns by woful Experience that if they let loose the Reignes of Government especially in Ecclesiastical Affairs if they cannot or will not restrain the License of the Pulpit and Pulpiteers they loose the best Flower of the Crown and expose themselves and their People to the wild Expositions and Harangues of every bold Expositor and Boutifeau Where by the way note how necessary it is for a King as to outward Administration to keep the Key of David that Openeth and no man shutteth Isa 22.22 and shutteth and no man openeth and not to trust the opening the meaning and Interpretations of Scripture to his Adversaries or Rebells or such as he has no influence upon whether Pope or Presbyterian Popery or Foppery And have we not Laws enough and strong enough to bind the Bloody hands of both and hinder their growth if men have but honesty and courage enough to put them in Execution And this Doctrine so apparent in the Text that to help our Sovereign against his Enemies is to help God and not to help him is to be lyable to the Curse of God is founded upon these two following Reasons and infallible Arguments which I shall place in Answer to the third Quere why Meroz was accursed Reas 1st Because Disloyalty and Rebellion against the Soveraign Magistrate is a Sin of the same horrid nature with Disloyalty and Rebellion against God himself Nay the Holy Apostle does not say they are like one another as ever they can look but they are one and the same Rom. 13.2 Job 35.6.7.8 He that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God the Imperial Edict of God For if thou Sinnest what doest thou against God saith Eliphaz or if thy Transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou against him If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art and thy Righteousness may profit the Son of Man Upon this account Jehoiakim who rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar contrary to his Oath of Allegiance and Covenant 2 Chron. 16.13 with an Infidel King and is said to have broken Gods Covenant Ezekiel 17.19 by breaking the Covenant made to that Heathen King whose sworn vassal he was as appears also Ezekiel 17.13.18 Murmuring against Moses the Chief Magistrate is called tempting of God 1 Cor. 9.10 And the People in their Confession of the Mutiny say as much Numb 21.7 We have sinned for we have spâ—ken against the Lord and against thee where note that speaking against Moses is called speaking against God even as the Royal Ayd in the Text is called the help of the Lord. Is not the People's murmurings against Moses called murmuring against God Exod. 16.2 The Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him and what are we your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord which must be taken implicitely for expresly they murmured only against the Chief Magistrate and Chief Priest Moses and Aaron Exod. 16.2 Nay God himself calls the rejecting of Samuel the Chief Magistrate the rejecting of the God of Israel 1. Sam. 8.7 1. Thes 4.8 The Spirit of Loyalty which moved Amasa to help the King is called the Spirit of God 1. Chron. 21.18 From whence then came that Spirit that moved Sheba to Rebellion and made him therefore a Son of Belial 2. Cor. 2 15. 2. Sam. 20.1 What Communion has Christ with Belial If then the help of the Soveraign be the help of the Lord as it is styled in this Text by the Spirit of God that Nick-names nothing then who do they help that ayd Rebells against their Sovereign The Devil without doubt And how meritorious is it in the sight of Heaven to help our Sovereign upon Earth the Blessing of God goes along with these whilst the other are Cursed by God and his Holy Angel as Meroz was Cursed Meroz Disloyal Meroz Thus the Indictment had been rightly drawn up against Naboth 1. K. 21.10 for Blaspheming God and the King if but the latter clause could have been prov'd The Counsel in their addresses to the Emperors made use of
for no History can tell us what is become of them to this day And this they got even ruin the certain Portion and lot of all Rebells whilst loyal Judah and Benjamin continu'd a Kingdom govern'd by their own Laws and Religion except in the Parenthesis of 70 years Captivity until the Blood of our Saviour which according to their wish fell heavily upon them unto this day and made them Cain's and Vagabonds upon the Face of the Earth All this shews us the Truth of the Old Religion of the Primitive Christians in spight of our new Presbyterian Church-Militant whose Weapons were only Prayers and Tears with which they defended themselves and wearyed out and at last overcame their Persecutors and Tyrants And as this is true Christian Piety so we in England find it the best Policy by Fatal Lectures of woful Experience People were so alarum'd from the Pulpits with such Texts as this and so frighted with Jealousies and Fears of Arbitrary Government and Popery that like men in a Shipwrack as I said before that leap into the Sea for fear of Drowning we gulf'd our selves into more Arbitrary Government Tyranny and Popery or Foppery and Phanaticisme the Spawn of Popery then could possibly have betided us if the worst had come that men did fear or were perswaded to fear How were our Miseries in the Late Civil Wars Prologu'd with a noise of Arbitrary Government in the Case of Ship-Money a Tax impos'd without a Parliament for Remedy whereof it came to Armes and Blood and Ruine and instead of one Arbitrary Tax as they call'd it by the King without a Parliament in a Case of urgent necessity to defend the Kingdom against Forreign Foes we underwent a Thousand Arbitrary Taxes by a Parliament without a King which is at least equally Illegal and Millions of Men and Treasure consum'd was not this Remedy worse than the Disease And was there ever any Tyrant heard of in any Age or Nation that ever Ruin'd and wasted his People at that Bloody Rate that we wasted and ruin'd one another and all this because nothing would please men but New Religions and New Preachers and New Expositions of Texts such as this is but explain'd quite contrary to Truth and the Old Christian Religion whose Weapons against Authority and Soveraign Majesty are only I say again Prayers and Tears And shall not God hear his Peoples Cryes and Groanings Yes surely read all Histories and you will find that as Rebels so Tyrants seldom come to the Grave in Peace Sine coede sanguine Nemo Nec siccâ morte Tyranni Rehoboam would play the Tyrant and lost his Subjects by it Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracusa thought he had ensur'd his Kingdom of Sicily to him with Chains of Adamant and he was glad to turn School-Master in Italy in Conclusion and get a Paultry living as a Tyrannical Paedagogue with insulting over Boyes The time would fail me to tell of the dismal ends of such Nero's and Dioclesian's and I am weary of this Tragical Discourse and will briefly come to a more pleasant Improvement of the Text concluding the Stated Question thus If the King happen to be a Child a Mad-man a Papist or an Infidel for his Personal Infirmities he shall answer to God alone but his Dominion and our Obedience are circumcised within the Limits of the Laws of the Land the only Rule of his Soveraignty and our Obedience and all other Doctrine of Obedience is Parasitical or Prophane Vse 1. If the help of our Soveraign Lord the King be the help of the Lord God and if Royal Aid be Divine Aid then who do they help that Fight against and resist their Sovereign Who are they for For the Devil sure There is no middle way no favorable Limbus no Purgatory that can Intervene but they that help not Heaven they help Hell they that help not the Lord help the Devil As do all those that are so Disloyal Lazy or Cowardly that neglect to help their Soveraign when endanger'd or distrest by Enemies much more do those help the Devil that Rebel and Tumultuously resist and Fight against their Soveraign If the Spirit of Loyalty be the Spirit of God as the Holy Ghost calls it as aforesaid then what Spirit is that which Resisteth God by Resisting the Soveraign Magistrate who is called God but the Spirit of Antichrist and the Spirit of the Devil Not the Spirit of the Devil in his own Black Hellish likeness and Apparition that would affright rather than invite men to be his Followers But a Devil in the likeness of Samuel in the likeness of a Prophet a Rebel with his Cloak on the Old Cloak of Religion and the Cause the Cause The Devil was great in Absalom to make him a Rebel against his King and Father but he was a Crafty Politick Devil withall 2 Sam. 15. to make him pretend Justice and Courtesie and Humility to gain the Populace and above all Arts Religion let me go and pay my Vows which I have Vowed to the Lord in Hebron saith he the Place of Conventicle and the Place of Randevouz and Parade also Finge Deum Belial quoties vis fallere plebem And such Devils in the likeness of a Prophet I say in the likeness of Religion is the fiercest the Bloodyest the most Antichristian and Devillish of all Devils Did ever man read of more Bloody Massacres than under the Conduct of the Papists Covenanted together in France by the Name of the Holy League Did ever any thing Parallel it except those Hellish contrivances and Bloody Butcheries in this Island under the favor and Influence of the solemn League and Covenant We read in the Holy Go pel of a kind of Devils that cannot be Cast out but by Prayer and Fasting but this kind of Devil or Spirit of Antichrist that I am Treating of gets Life and strength by Prayer and Fasting Variety of opinions there are the Man of Sin Spoken of 2. Thef 2. the Son of Perdition Be this Spirit of Perdition or Man of Sin who it will I am sure 1st It is a religious a pretendedly Religious Spirit because it sits in the Temple of God vers 4. Secondly It is a Rebellious Spirit against the Sovereign Magistrate opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God that is the Magistrate So that those that under color of Religion and upon pretence of Religion Fight and Kill and Slay and break the peace As in our Age have the Papists especially the Jesuits and the Fanaticks especially the rigid Presbyterian and Fifth-Monarchy-Men we are sure they are Men of Sin and Sons of Perdition opposing the Magistrate for God's sake or in pretence of Religion Religion certainly true Religion is the greatest happiness that God gives to Mortal Men thereby we converse with Heaven upon Earth thereby Men live on Earth like the Glorified Saints and Angels in Heaven thereby comes Glory to God on High on Earth Peace good Will towards
Men And as true Religion is the best thing so it is facile and easie to learn and practice Fear God and Honor the King Love thy Neighbor includes the whole duty of Man But the Hypocrisie of Religion the Face without the Heart of Religion it requires such a deal of dresses and paintings controversies disputes dissimulations frauds and pretences that it had been much better for the good and Peace of Mankind to have had no Religion then such a perplext tragical troublesome and fatal thing as some have made it and still endeavor to make it The first Quarrel and Bloodshed that ever was in the World was about Religion therefore Cain slew his Brother Abel and became the great Example of Murthering our Brethren upon a Religious score to all Holy and Solemn Leaguers and Covenanters both of Papists in France and Protestants in great Britain We have then here a clear Evidence who is the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition namely every Spirit that sits in the Temple of God and opposes and exalts it self above the Magistrate who is called God And that Spirit that Devillish Anti-christian Spirit divides it self like two lines drawn from the circumference to the center that seem to oppose one another yet both aime at the Center into the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery The Former under pretence of Religion exalts the Mitre above the Crown and the Crosier above the Scepter the latter plumes himself in his Almighty Pulpit whilst the Magistrate truckles under him upon the Stool of Repentance both of them oppose and exalt themselves above all that is called God both of them will without scruple do evil that good may come thereof Equivocate Lye Plunder Sequester and Behead for Gods-sake and the causes-sake both of them agree in that Jesuitical tenent that Dominion is founded in grace both of them Plot and contrive Mischief where and when they have sway but always Mischief as much as in them lyes both of them have for many years been the great Disturbers of the Peace of all Christendome as well as of the Peace of England and tell me but of any Massacre or Bloody Wars and Stratagem 's against the Magistrate any Treason 's and Rebellions but what was carried on either by Papists and Jesuits or by Presbyterians and Fanaticks in the Memory of Man and I 'le be content to abide the Bloody Inquisition of the one and undergo the Fates of the Arch-Bishops and Metropolitan's of England and Scotland Canterbury and St. Andrews Murther'd by the other Both are Bejesuited and Breath nothing but Blood and Ruin for Gods-sake and Gods-cause and yet they are severally distinguish't and disguiz'd one wears a Fryars weed the other a short synodical Jump Jam. 4.1 one wear's his Crown shaven the other only crop't So that whence comes wars and Fightings amongst us From the Church the Temple of God And such as sit in the Temple of God Comes it from the conclave the Synod or the Pulpit Yes it did God knows when Men Men of Sin and Sons of Perdition with such a Text as this did make the Sacred Pulpit a Pulpit Drum to beat a Call thereon and an Alarum to Arms and War to Rebellion and Blood But such wild expositions and Harangues to bejuggle and beguile the silly Rabble came from the Lusts that Warr'd in their Members the Lust of Ambition the Lust of Covetousness after the Kings Lands the Bishops Lands the Stately Houses and Mannors of the Loyal Lords and Gentlemen And this all this and more came from the Pulpit From this Principle and Spirit of Antichrist or Rebellion under the Cloak of Religion did Pope Boniface exalted in Pride set his insulting Toe upon the Neck of Frederick the Emperor repeating with a surly grace that of the Psalmist Psa 18.40 Thou hast given me the Necks of mine Enemies and Psal 91.13 Psa 91.13 Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the Young Lion and Dragon shalt thou trample under Feet And just so did the Fanaticks who are minor Popes of a later Edition from this Principle wrest another place of the Psalmist to justifie the Murther of our late Sovereign of Blessed Memory namely To bind their Kings with Chains Psa 149 9â—… and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron to Execute upon them the Judgment written this Honor of all the Saints Then that of Isa 2.2 has done great Service namely Isa 2.2 The Mountain of the Lords House shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills c. I 'le warrant there has been old quarrelling and scolding disputing and calling names Sons of Whores Sons of the Whore of Babylon Whore of Rome old Fighting and Wrangling Parrying and Fencing Thrusting and Scrambling whose Party should get up on and be this Mountain that shall be exalted upon the top of all other Mountains Ambition and Covetousness are of all Lusts never weary never tyred especially when Pride and Coverousness wears the Vizard of Religion then the Riches of Pluto and Hell cannot glut them and nothing but the ambition of Lucifer to be equal if not above their Maker can satisfie their Insatiable Pride Thus Vid. Alph de Verg. p. 123. Pope Boniface Lesson'd and Tutor'd Phillip Sirnamed the Fair King of France volumus te scire in temporali spirituali nobis subjacere you must know Sir that in Temporals as well as Spirituals you are our Subject Yet the French Army made bold to Plunder Pope Boniface 8th of more Treasure then all the Revenue of the Kings of the whole Earth amounted to in one Year Heildfield Histor a Sum by far exceeding the Sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Tun of Gold which Pope John 22. left to his Heirs All the wealth of the Indies is theirs if the King that owes those golden Mines be Priest-Ridden But the French not only of late through the Sorbonists Doctrine but also in former ages been very dull and unapt to learn the Doctrine of the Popes Supremacy and therefore the said French King Philip the Fair in his Letter to Pope Boniface in answer to his said impudent as well as imprudent claim begins his Letter with Sciat fatuitas vestra instead of Sciat sanctitas vestra that is in English I give your Fop-ship to understand instead of I give your Popeship to understand When Hen. 2. King of England was whipt and went to Tyburn in expiation of Beckets Death Thomas of Canterbury a proud Sawcy Priest and Rebel the King took every blow in Dudgeon and grumbled somewhat to himself in a menacing way whereupon the Popes legate stop't his Mouth presently with these words Domine noli minari c. Sir never threaten us who are Retainers to a Court that Lords it justly over Kings and Emperors 'T is endless to tell Stories of this Nature See Gerson Chancelor of Paâ—…is de poestate Ecles consid â—…2 part 3.
their practise and designs are contain'd in these Verses Sedes Summa Petri quae Pastoralis honoris Facta caput Mundi quicquid non possidet armis Religione tenet That is the Pope like the Presbyterian does his business with the word or the Sword if one will not do the other shall or they 'le fill the Nations with Blood and Wounds Yet God be thank't the Devil and those Roaring Lyons roaring out their Anathema's their Curses and Excommunications are not always Rampant nor does more harm than the Curse of Pope Julius the second did the French-men who rooted his Army at the Battle of Ravenna Fran à vitoriá a Popish Fryar de â—…ot Eccles â—…elict Sect. â—… p. 39. See Occuâ—…nen in Rom. in Rom. ep â—…ap 1. Theophyâ—…ct â—…id Blasp â—…n glossâ â—…e majoriâ—…ate oâ—…edientiâ The news whereof coming to his Holiness whilst at his Beads by the Fire-side made him in a passion to conclude his Prayers with a Curse in these very words Sit ergo gallus in nomine Diabolorum All the Devils in Hell take the Frenchman I met with one honest Fryar Francis à Victoriâ who confesses that Popes were not always so ambitious and that their pretended Supremacy over all persons and in all causes was but of late usurp't Glossatores hoc dominum dedêrunt Papae cum ipfi essent Pauperes rebus Doctrinâ That this Supremacy and Sovereignty was given to the Pope by Expositors that were as poor as proud with Purses as empty as their Pates and who were as bare of Crowns as their Crowns were bare and Shaven Hence we have cause to think that Pope Pius the Fifth who Excommunicated our Queen Elizabeth Anno 1569. was in Earnest when he said Cum essem Religiosus sperabam benè de salute meâ Cardinalis factus extimui Pontifex creatus paenè despero Which I 'le English thus When I was first made Priest my Soul did well But How when Cardinal I cannot tell Now I am Pope surly my Rome is Hell Optimi putantur Pontifices saith Papyrius Massonius who was a Popish Priest si vel leniter mali vel minus boni quam caeteri Mortales esse solent Methinks saith he we speed well if our Popes be but indifferently bad or but a little worse than other Mortals And the same say I of all that are of the said Antichristian Spirit that trouble and disquiet the Magistrate and their Neighbors putting them in Fears with their Numbers and their darings their Petitions Subscriptions like Muster Rolls Methinks we speed well if they be but indifferently bad or but a little worse than Pagans Indians Turks and Jews if they were as harmless as Indians and Insidels would tell no more Lyes nor carry on no more Bloody Designs than Pagans truly for my part I think we should be very happy in them to what we now are An Indian or Pagan for his Life could not think of such Pride and Insolence as that wherewith Pope Paul the Fifth Treated Dandalus the Venetian Ambassador when he made him Crouch under the Board and eat with the Dogs the Crums that fell from their Masters Table And yet this Bravery though more Insolent yet was less Impious then that Blasphemous Salutation which His Holyness gladly accepted from the Sicilian Ambassador that came to beg his Peace with Domine Deus Papa miserere Nostrum Lord have Mercy upon us Lord God Pope And again Oh Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World Grant us thy Peace Thus Christoper Marcellus Complemented the Pope in the Second Councel of Lateran Tu es alter Deus in terris And with like Religion did the Old Romanists Erect an Altar in Rome to Simon Magus with this Inscription Simoni Sancto Deo In honor of Simon the Hely God Not more Atheistical than these was the Painters Motto under the Effigies of Alexander the Great Jupiter assere tibi coelum ego mihi asserui terram But enough of these Insolencies and Blasphemies yet not a jot too much in these days when such Designs are on Foot to make the Crown stoop to the Mitre But for the Crown to Vaile and Lowre to the Stool of Repentance Oh abominable and Vile Forasmuch as 't is much more Honor to be foyl'd by a Lyon than to be baffled by an Ass This is nothing else but to be Persecuted with Vermine and run the Fate of that German Bishop that was devoured and Hunted to Death with Rats and Mice This is to undergo the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians that were put in Bears-skins and Baited to Death with Dogs The Pope how bad soever his Designs be yet he is a Temporal Prince of great Territories and Dominions if you reckon only the Countries called the St. Peters Patrimony whether he has got them per fas or nefas whether by Dint of the Sword or Cheat of the Word it comes all to one Reckoning yet still he is a Prince of Ancient Grandeur and the less dishonor to be Subject to him But for a Prince to stoop to Geneva-Upstarts that have nothing Eminent but Ears and Mouth is the vilest of Subjection and sets a value upon Turkish Slavery in Comparison of this Forasmuch as we expect better things from them Not that I commend our King John of England for profering himself and his Kingdom Vassels to the King of Morocco an Infidel rather than endure the Tyranny of Religious Men and the Pope forc't by Pandolphus the Popes Legate to resign his Crown to the Papal Chair which the proud Prelate kept it from him several days and then disdainfully setting his Foot upon it and the Money with which he bought his peace restor'd upon heavy terms the Crown yet certainly such Barbarous usage from Christians pretended Christians makes a great though not a sufficient Apology for him Grass they say never grows where the great Turk sets his Foot I 'me sure Math. Paris an Historian of good credit says that King John us'd to say that when he became the Pope's Footstool he never throve after to use his own words Postquam ut dixi me mea Regna Romanae subjeci Ecclesiae nulla mihi prospera omnia contraria advenêrunt Anno 1213. de Regione liberâ Ancellam fecit per chartum lugubrem saith Mathew Paris by a lamentable Charter King John made England a Bond-slave to the Pope that before was Free But his Son King Hen. 3. had it shortly after repeal'd even in times of Popery by Act of Parliament Read all our Chronicles since William the Conqueror and tell me if ever there were Wars in England but the Clergy had a great hand in them Odo Bishop of Bayeux furnished William the Conqueror with Forty Tall Ships to invade England and the Pope to encourage him sent him a Banner of the Church an Agnus of Gold and one of the Hairs of St. Peter such another Present as that Phoenix Feather which the Pope sent to the
brave the Magistrate and face him and dare him with their Numbers as if they were ready to come to the Poll with him and count whether more People come from the Church on a Lords-day or from the Meeting vying for multitude especially if the weaker Vessels the Vessels of Frailty will but pass Muster Poor Bashful tender Hearts and tender Consciences As if a Holder-forth cannot Preach Christ in the Wild of Kent as in the Throngs and Crowds of a City or Corporation Well the Magistrates surely do well enough know their meanings and what they would be at And such a Discourse as this and such a Text as this can no where be so properly or so well Improv'd as in this Assembly the most Honorable and most considerable of this greatest and most Glorious City of the whole Kingdom the great Hinge of Peace and War Those Preachers are like Jobs Comforters Job 13.4 either Forgers of Lyes or Physicians of no value that do not handle or do not handle to purpose this Distemper What disquiets your sleeps but Fears of Disturbances from the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery I know not which is worst they are both Bloody and Dangerous the former by Plotting but Blessed be God their Plots come to nothing the latter by Plotting and Acting too God knows not to mention the Defolation the Bondage the Tyranny and oppression this City groan'd under for so many years under so many Masters and different Tyrants Three or Four several ones in a year sometimes before His Majesties Happy Restauration but even since though the Papists might Plot Rebellion and Treason yet the Phanaticks have not only plotted but twice been up in Armes which the Papists never were twice I say in Armes and Open Field Fights in Scotland where our Miseries were first brooded and begun their Rise but Blessed be God as soon Defeated which was Gods goodness more than our Deserts no Thanks though to the Coventiclers and Field-meeters they show'd their good will and their good Religion and their tender Consciences in the Interim oh true Church Militant here upon Earth Why should Ministers make wild and randome discourses in the Pulpit and but beat the air applying remedies to distempers that the City and Kingdom are not especially plagu'd with alas Faction and Foppery and Popery are the great disease of the Kingdom with which it now at this day as well as of a long time it has been vext and griev'd hic seca hic ure here make applications otherwise we Preachers are like those the Apostle speaks of 2. Thes 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Working not at all to the purpose but busie to no purpose What shall Jesuits dare to venture their lives to come to pervert our Nation in the Spirit of Popery and shall Fanaticks dare and brave the Magistrate to his Face in publick in the Cities in the greatest City of the Nation and all this with an Impudent Forehead like the Whore in the Proverbs wiping the mouth and saying they have done no wickedness and all this in contempt nay in defyance of all Law and Authority and shall no Man dare to say and speak publickly what they dare do publickly Is it no sin no crime no shame for them presumptuously and with a High Hand and a Brazen Face to transgress the Laws and is he fit to be a Minister of God and the King that has neither honesty nor courage to Check and Rebuke it The great and good Emperor Constantine the first Christian Emperor took another course with Factious Coventicles Euseb de vit const He prohibited them by Edict and Proclamation see the Proclamation and Edict at large in Euseb de vit constant Theod. l. 1. c. 19. He Burnt their Books and proscribed the Authors and Abettors to use his own words Pestium illarum audacia ministri Dei hoc est meâ Executione coercebitur Their Plaguy Impudence shall be restrained by the Authority of the Minister of God that is my self c. that good Emperor Those bold pestilent fellows that dare offend in defyance of all Authority I 'le make bold to punish their Fool hardiness by my Authority A Speech as pious as Princely and a pious Example to Princes For ancient and modern experience has taught that faction like a Top never goes well but when under the lash and well whip't 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore obstinate and prating Fanaticks or Seducers saith St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul whose Mouthes must be stopped oportet os obturare it is very fit they should be stopped Why it follows because they subvert whole Houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy Lucres sake When the People had got a new Religion but a false one King Josiah puts it down and is commended for it 2. Kings 23. from the 4. verse to the 14. verse The same did King Hezekiah 2. Kings 18.3 4 5 6 7. The first Law of Theodosius that good Emperor in his Law Book is de sacrâ Trinitate quid credendum Theod lib. legum A Lawful King may not only imperata facere but imperare facienda though I know the Learned Grotius scruples this latter but he was a Hollander By this Regal Supremacy Solomon deposed Abiathar the Arch-Bishop because he sided with the Rebels 1 Kings 2.27 Constantine did the like to Vigelius and Justinian to Silverius Otho the Emperor ejected Pope John 12. for his Necromancy and Wickedness 'T is Chrysostom's Paraphrase on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers whether Apostle Evangelist Pastor or Teacher Pope or Bishop Presbyter or Presbyterian they must needs be subject and that for Conscience-sake if they have any Conscience any Conscience unseared Rom. 13 5 Vid Chrys Hom 3. ad Antioch any Conscience not hardned To whom assents Theodoret Theophylact Oecumenius and all that are not posses 't with the evil Spirit to keep to my old terms of Popery or Foppery King Josiah came not with Cap in hand to the High-priest 2 King 23.4 but commanded him to reform this and that Nefas est in dubium deducere ejus potestatem cui omnium gubcrnatio superno constat delegata Judicio saith the 6th Toletan Counsel speaking of the undoubted right of King Chintellanus The four first General Counsels were called by Emperors not by Popes Socrat l. 5 in proem nor the Clergy Pope Leo petitions the Emperor to call a Counsel in Italy and he call'd it at Ephesus Supplicationi nostrae dignetur Imperator annuere Lev. Epist 9.24.26 Let the Emperor vouchsafe an Ear and hearken to the request of his humble Petitioner But many years after the Canon of Pope Boniface runs a stile and Language more Magisterical Dictator like Dicimus Definimus De majoritat in glossâ pronunciamus esse de necessitate salutis omm humanae creaturae subesse Romano Pontifici We say it we
by a couple of Calves in Dan and Bethel Instances of this Nature are endless to come nearer home a new new Religion a new new light fresh and new at least an old Heresie new broach't in the Spirit of Foppery did the Business the Devillish business of Murder Blood Ruin and Treason in the late Civil Wars when the Spirit of Popery had run its race and run it self out of Breath and off its Legs In Seven Years the Spirit of Popery could scarce get Seven Proselytes whereas a new light a new Sect a new exposition of Holy Scripture like that of this Text should fetch in Proselytes by shoales nay the Fishers could not throw out their Netts so fast as the Gudgeons came gaping and willing to be taken though to their own destruction But alas alas even this Cheat is also quite discovered I wonder into what Shape this Spirit of Foppery will next appear for the Devil hath no great success with it at this day no more than with the Spirit of Popery A Holder-forth may Yawle and Yarne Snivle and Whine Thump and Bawl 'till his Lungs and his Heart ake and yet neither make open hearted nor open handed their close-fisted Disciples Nay he shall now turn up the white of his Eyes and play as many tricks as Hocus Pocus at a fair and yet not get so much Money at Night as a Common and Profane Hocus But instead of giving them any thing Men are grown to subtle and the cheat so stale that when they begin their tricks and they hear them cant Men are apt to clap their hands upon their Pockets as when Gypsies are near them And know the meaning and aime of the Jugler as at long run they did of a Long-Parliament Fast when every Boy could thereby Prophesie the Ensuing Tax And such Villain Murderers and Traytors have appear'd in the Likeness of this Spirit of Foppery that worse did never appear in the Spirit of Popery You may wink and chuse a Bravo in Spain a Bandito a High-way-man Kill Men and Rob for Money 's sake so do those Murderers and Traytors and Rebells under the Cloak of Religion in the Spirit or guize of Popery and Foppery all this is for Moneys sake though the Vizard pretends for God's sake A Rebel 's a Rebel and a Trayters a Traytor and a Robber's a Robber though he Rob in a Fryar's weed or a Buff-coat or a Presbyterian Jump Vaux is Vaux though he carry a Dark lanthorn and wear a Vizard Object Oh! but Conscience Conscience is a tender thing Ans I grant it Conscience is a tender thing and a Devillish hard thing as any thing in the World The Holy Ghost compares it to the hardest things in the World to the Adamant stone Zich 7 12 what harder than the Adamant or the neather Mill-stone Why Conscience is harder and feels no more 1 Tim. 4.1 2. relents no more than if it were feared with a hot Iron 1. Tim. 4.2 And who are they that carry these seared Consciences that can swallow Oath upon Oath Kill and Rob Plunder and Steal Sequester and Behead and still their Consciences blunk no more than a piece of Brass Why the same Apostle tells us they are such as shall appear in the latter days that in the Spirit of Foppery shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 And in the Spirit of Popery Forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from meats c. 1. Tim. 4.3 I tell you nothing herein but plain Scripture truth's easily applyed and yet I am sensible it is like to cost me dear This Spirit of Popery and Foppery that I have rais'd and discover'd and shown to you this day is a fierce Devillish Bloody Spirit 't is easily rais'd but hard to allay two Arch-bishops one of England the other of Scotland irritated this Spirit but this Fierce and Bloody Spirit fell upon them and Kill'd and Murther'd them many thousand such Bloody Instances there are oh this Spirit has Talons sharp and Keen I know it experimentally nor durst I provoke it as I have done but that I trust in God through Jesus Christ being as willing to suffer as they are to make me suffer in so good Cause Object But some may say we are bound to help and Obey the Sovereign Magistrate against our Consciences Or when he Persecutes men for their Consciences are we bound to help him and is this help the help of the Lord Ans To which I answer first that no man on Earth can meddle with mens Consciences I 'le think in my Conscience what I list and be of what Opinion I list and none upon Earth can hurt me for the same though never so flagitious 'T is Gods Prerogative alone to be the only Searcher as well as Converter of Hearts and Consciences For man sees only the outward Appearance but the Lord Vieweth the Heart or Conscience And as the Magistrate cannot so he does not pretend to meddle with mens Consciences if Two Robbers or Two Murderers come to be tryed before a Judge the one Robber is perhaps a Leveller or a Covenanter and thinks in his Conscience he may take the Goods of a Rich man or a Lord especially of a Prelate or Spiritual Lord till he has pull'd him down nay pull'd him up Root and Branch as he has Sworne in his solemn League and Covenant till he has at least Rob'd him Plunder'd and Sequestred him of his Estate so that he has rais'd his own equal and Level with him The other Robber is a down-right Thief and never aggravates his Crime with Hypocrisie but both are Convicted of the Felony Does the Judge or can the Judge search into the Heart and Conscience of the Men and dive to find whether it be their Conscience or Religion to Rob or Steal be their Consciences what they will he is not concern'd but finding them Malefactors and Transgressors of the Law he Condemnes the Godly Thief and the Ungodly Thief to the same Gallows Yet how gently how favorably and Religiously has our Laws provided for tender and dissenting Consciences and Religions Men may Preach that will when they will what they will and where they will at this day in England provided they do not Randevouz above Five strangers to the Conventicle least they Fight the Neighbor-hood with their Old tricks of making a Long Prayer and a long Sermon the Prologue of some ensuing mischief And also provided the Non-conformist Preacher do not Hold Forth within Five Miles of the Parish he Deserted I had almost said Deluded and also not within Five Miles of a City or Town-Corporate How would the Apostles have Blest God for this Liberty if they might but have Preacht from House to House they would have Blest God and the Magistrate for the Grace and Favor But our Spirits of Foppery will not be Fob'd off so they must and will have Numbers Glory in their Numbers