they hold their Principle which is none of the best obtain all yield nothing so far are they from being arm'd with Epaminondas his brave heroick Resolution Totius orbis â—â—â—itias despicere prae patriae charitate to despise private Interests for Love of the publick Peace of Church and State This were such a Self-dental as would adorn a Christian and speak him truly Catholick and if Distempers in the Body Natural and Political are reduc'd by Physicians and Politicians not to what they should be but what they can be then let us not strive to advance our Christian Liberty above the Laws of Sobriety Charity and Government nor endeavour to serue any Peg so high in the Church as to make a discord in the State but endeavour calmly to perswade and convince Men by the Scriptures and Reason for though the Ministry and Service be ours yet the Dominion is his who bears the Sword and whose Friends must be ours or else we are not Chrict's nor our own We may keep our Consciences Tender but not so raw as to kick and wince at all which touches us or which we understand not Remember that of Lactantius Quae ubi aut qualis est Pietas nâ—mirum apud eos qui bella nesciunt qui concordiam cum omnibus servant qui omnes homines pro sratribus diligunt qui â—ohibere iram sciunt omnemque animi furorem tranquillâ moderatione lenire Such an Evangelium armatum as some warm Disputants would make our Religion favour would better become John Goodwin to publish who was better skill'd in the methods of embroiling Three Kingdoms than any True Sons of the Church of England whose Laws are not like Draco's the Athenian written in Blood Her Heart is not so petresied as to rejoyce in Evil she abhors all living Bonefires she prays for the Conversion of her's and God's Enemies and delights in their Reformation but not in their Ruine her Commands are like her Saviour's with the Sceptre and not with the Sword unless it be of the Spirit which she never suffers to make way to Mens Consciences by cutting through their Flesh Let my Soul never come into such Bloody Councils at these The Greek Church approves not to this day the putting Hereticks to Death and we have great Reason to Bless God and the King that our Writt de Haeretico comburendo is taken away by Act of Parliament and may all other Sanguinary Laws perish and be abolish'd as well as that made in this or any Christian State against Men upon the score of Christian Religion if the most notorious Offenders against it be punished with a civil Death here and an eternal hereafter 't is sufficient Defendenda est Religio non occidendo sed moriendo Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus evangelici fraterna necessitudine cohaeremus quam qui non agnoscit injustus est Christianity binds us to purchase Peace at Interest rather than keep up a Party against it for there is such variety of Education Interest and Custom in the World that he who resolves to yield to no Body can agree with no Body Christ comply'd with the Rites and Customs he found in the World and condeseended to the very Humours of Stubborn People to ingratiate himself and his Doctrine And Erasmus hated discord so much that he lov'd not any Truth that might occasion it Mihi sane adeo invisa est discordia ut veritas eâ—iam displiceat seditiosa Nor can any desire to keep the Wounds of the Church or Kingdom open but such as would he better pleas'd to suck the blood of both and peaceable Princes have a happy time of it to serve the Humours of such Men and receive such Encouragements as they daily give them There was to be no destructive Beast in all God's Holy Mountain the Beasts of prey came down from Mount Seir and not from Mount Sion If the Counsels of any of the Enemies of our Church be of Men or Devils it will come to nought but if it be of God we cannot overthrow if least happily we be sound Fighters against God and if ever we hope upon good Grounds to ride on and prosper it must be because of our Truth and Right â—ousness and Meekness not of Humour and Petulancy for this is a time of healing and not of troubling the Waters There is nothing wanting to make us live quietly one by another though of several Judgments whilst we agree in the Fundamentals of Religion and loyalty but the subduing of our own inordinate Affections Did we take up the Cross to lay it upon other Mens Shoulders or do we fellow Christ as the Jews did to Crucisie him This is to love Christ and the King as Men do one another till they be brought to the Tryal Goodness is the best Note of the True Church and I hope will prove the inseparable Character of Ours for I am sure none are so affable to their Brethren on Earth as they that have their Conversation in Heaven If we will suffer it our Religion is ready to tye the Gordian-knot of Kindness between us and all who deserve the Name of Christians it will breed an harmony in the Affections of all the King's Subjects who receive it it will sublimate and spiritualize their Humanity and draw it off from all the Dreggs of Malice and Uncharitableness and teaches us to love the King for his Goodness as well as others to fear him for his Resolution The Samaritans held it an Abomination to come near a Man of a different Religion or Perswasion from them but we have not so learned Christ may there never any sâ—â—iâ—e be heard amongst us but who shall strive first and most to serve God and the King Unless you loath your present Manna and long for your old AEgyptian Leeks and Garlicks you will not make others look like Devils that you may look the more like Saints but you will join with the Church and the meanest of her Children and say a hearty Amen to this Prayer Domine da pacem in diebus nostris and spend your time in Prayers to the God of Peace that you may prevail to stisle and put out those Dissentions which the Divel has kindled among us and in Tears if you cannot so shall ye be sound in Peace by the Prince of Peace at his coming without spot and blameless and our Hierusalem be built up as a City at Unity in it self Sir I have not martial'd my Thoughts into such a method as I should and would have done if my time and other Accomplishments had born any proportion to your Expectations and the duty of such an undertaking but I hope I have said enough to make it plain to all the True and Well-meaning Sons of the Church of England that what I have press'd you and them to do and resolve by God's Assistance to practise my self Is 1 st A Duty we owe to Almighty God by
AN ANSWER OF A MINISTER OF THE Church of England TO A Seasonable and Important QUESTION Proposed to him by a Loyal and Religious Member of the present House of COMMONS VIZ. What Respect ought the True Sons of the Church of England in point of Conscience and Christian Prudence to bear to the Religion of that Church whereof the King is a Member If it be possible and as much as in you lies live peaceably with all Men. Rom. xii 18. LONDON Printed for J. L. and are to be Sold by most Booksellers in London and Westminster 1687. ANSWER OF A MINISTER OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND To a Seasonable and Important Question propos'd to him by a Loyal and Religious Member of the present House of COMMONS SIR THE Support and Security of the Government as now by Law establish'd both in Church and State is so publick a good that all good Christians and Subjects within these Kingdoms are oblig'd to open their Veins and Purses for it and à fortiori to open their Mouths and put their Pens to Paper for it in a time of Trial. And since you are pleas'd to condescend so far as to ask my poor private Judgment as if you meant to rely upon it in a Case of such publick Importance I will save you and my self the trouble of any Apology and trust to your Candor and my own good Intentions in setting down what I judge to be your's and my duty in all sincerity which God knows I have done and leave to him and you the pardoning of my Errors which I hope you will at least cover from being any common Nuisance to others or any private Damage to my self You are alwaies pleas'd to allow me as much freedom in Writing as in Thinking and therefore I do the more freely pour my indigested Thoughts into your Bosom as well to ease my own Mind as to understand what your's will be of the whole matter for I am sensible That the Commands you have laid upon me are rather directed to try my Obedience than to supply want of Information in any Point which concerns your Duty to God or the King And therefore I must rather expose my own real Desects than not endeavour to supply your imaginary ones who will be alwaies as much as I can though not so much as I ought to be your Servant They who least consider hazzard in the doing of their duty fare best still Mens Tongues are their own nor is it in your power or mine to prescribe what shall be spoken for or against us by them who make all Men Papists who are not Schismaticks nor will they ever believe us far enough from Rome unless we will bear them Company to Geneva But we have not so learned Christ We have been taught how to govern our selves both towards Papal and Popular Supremacy and to give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God the things that are Gods What I now speak in this Paper is I am sure to a wise Man Judge you what I say Now first Sir give me leave to premise That a Case of Conscience and a Case of Prudence are not alwaies the same Case and therefore would require more than one Resolution they seem to differ just as much as what is Lawful and what is Expedient Terms that often meet together may eidem competere but are not convertible and very often cannot de eodem affirmari Some things that are lawful may not be expedient and some things have of late years as you well remember been thought expedient as the Black-Bill of Exclusion which you and I knew to be unlawful and tho the calling it Christian Prudence do distinguish it from that and such-like Vnchristian Projects of some State-Politicians and suppose it only conversant about things lawful yet still there is a difference between what I ought and must as bound in Conscience to do that I may approve my self an honest Man and a good Subject and what I may or should do at this juncture to prove my self a discreet and prudent Man If I do not the former I Sin both against God and the King if not the latter I do not Sin mortally though I act foolishly which will prove the Case of very many whom it will be hard for you or me to make so Wise as they should be because they conceit themselves to be Wise enough already Prudence is not only a Moral but a Christian Vertue and such as is necessary to the constituting of all others Nec Religio ulla sine sapientia suscipienda est nec ulla sine Religione probanda sapientia Without Prudence our very Zeal for the Church of England would prove but a kind of pious Phrenesy For though our Intentions to preserve it were never so justifiable or commendable yet if we did not prudently choose appropriate means for the attainment of that Good End we should undermine the thing which we would have established and defeat our own Aims for a good Intention will never alter the Nature of an ill Action We must therefore have our Eyes in our Heads that we be not practis'd upon to our own or the Churches Ruine and be sure to judge of the things in question according to Truth and Charity Non ex eo quod est fallimur sed ex eo quod non est we are not cheated with Realities but with Disguises and Appearances of things with those counterfeit Shapes which our selves or others have given them Sapiens est cui res sapiunt ut sunt He is a Prudent Man to whom things savour and relish as they are Who can abstract the Ill that may be from the Good that appears to be and sever the Colour from the Thing Wise Men cannot be content to be abus'd with Vmbrages they will consider first what is just and honest and then what is sit decent and advantageous they will first argue the matter in point of Conscience what is lawful both for the Church's Interest and their own and then in point of Prudence what is Advisable that so in the Conclusion they may please both God and the King And accordingly I suppose the meaning of your inquiry to be What Respect the True Sons of the Church of England may salvâ Conscientiâ and therefore as things now stand must and ought in Prudence to bear to the Religion of that Church whereof the King is a Member Towards the stating and resolving of which Question 't will perhaps not be impertinent to mention what is meant by the King's Religion and who by the True Sons of the Church of England and what sort of Respect or Honour it may justly challenge from them at this time especially For when there is any though but little Difficulty or Ambiguity in the Terms it is sit they should be explained nor may one presume that they are generally understood aright because they are by some The Roman Catholick Religion is capable of magis
be thought to be for the Church of England they ought not in Point of Honour to take every advantage against her Enemies nor to put every thrust so home as they do but restore them in the Spirit of Meekness nor to throw dirt in their Faces to disgrace them which as the Purity of our Church abhors so the more they handle the more it will defile them This is not to walk in Wisdom to them that are without nor to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace There is yet another thing worse than barely calumniating the King's Religion and that is disturbing of the solemn Exercise of it by Routs and Riots which would be so high an indecency and so opposite to the gentleness of Christian Religion that about the time of the first general Council of Nice under Constantine the Great it was made a Canon in the Council of Illiberis That if any one should out of any immoderate transports of Zeal deface demolish or break down Idols or Images and be thereupon slain because it is not commanded in the Gospel nor practis'd by the Apostles that they should not be reckon'd in the number of Martyrs Nor need I remind you that the Idols were of the Heathens and that Christian Religion was not only the private Religion of the Emperor but publickly established by him throughout the Empire and yet while the other had but a bare Toleration from the Emperor and Christianity had the Law of the Land on its side yet the Holy Church discouraged her Sons from injuring it by violence The prevention of railing against the Emperor's Religion by the Lutherans was the wise care of the Diet of Ratisbone Anno Dom. 1532. which was in part made up of Protestants Electors Free-Princes and Hans-Towns 't was their final Accord That the Ausburg Confession should be allow'd so that nothing was taught or written but what was contained in that Confession As to raillery upon the Religion professed by our Prince as it is bad Manners and worse Religion so it can never be good Wit which though it be allowed its Seasons yet this is none of them 't is as much as a Man can well bear to see it practis'd upon Virgil the Prince of Poets 4 ly The Church of England Men ought not to grudge the Privileges allowed by the King to those of his own Communion he does not desire that they should stand upon equal Terms of publick Privileges and Advantages of the tasting of the Sweet of the Church Revenues but only that they should lift up their Heads above the danger of the Laws and he be able to make life of their Services in the State He neither takes away our Rights nor with-holds his Favours from any Men of our Perswasion who cannot pretend to deserve them without blushing None ever found discouragement from our Gracious Sovereign upon the score of their Religion but have been advanc'd and esteem'd according to their several Capacities and Qualifications so long as he found Charity and Vnity maintain'd amongst them and why then should our Eye be evil because he is also good to some of his own A Christian Magistrate owes something more than Protection to the Religion which he sincerely professes and to them that profess it with him they may reasonably expect his Countenance and fair quarter if not hope to enjoy some Provision under him for certainly he may and ought to do all that he is able and hath opportunity to do on this side of force and injustice to help them a Nursing-Father he is to them as well as us and oblig'd to the Protection and Tuition of all his Children and not to suffer them to fare the worse for their Zeal either toward God or himself And methinks we should have more Wit Honesty and Charity more Modesty Equity Honour and Justice more good Breeding and ingenuous Education if not more Religion than to repine at it for this implies such a want of them all as any ingenuous Man must needs be ashamed of Is it not as fit the King should choose his Ministers as we our Servants Whatsoever a Prince does he is to be presum'd to do it with great Reason his Actions are manifest but his Thoughts secret and 't is our Duty to tolerate the one and not murmur against the other The Results of his Councils are like the current of a great River we see their Streams but not the Fountain from whence they flow Reason of State is Reason of Law though we see but the plain side of that great Watch within which all the Springs and Wheels are inclos'd and hid yet we find their Motions regular The King is our Law-giver and his Conscience is his and if it dictate these things to be necessary though he be deceiv'd they are become so to him and by no means to be declin'd by him but he must follow his own Conscience and if he mean it for good he has no reason to doubt but God will take it so and all good Subjects will pay him an Obedience of Acqutescence if not of Conformity we have reason to believe he will do nothing beneath his own Honour and the just Interest of his People And therefore St. Augustine in his Book against Faustus the Manichee says That a Christian Souldier fighting under an Heathen Prince may lawfully pursue the War or execute the Commands of his immediate or superior Officers in the course of his Service though he be not absolutely â—assured of the Justice of the one or the the Expediency of the other And in the case in question 't is no less evident for Sovereign Princes have Power to change the external Regiment of the Church A Christian Magistrate as such is a Governor in the Church The Prerogatives and Preheminencies of Power and Greatness which are involv'd in the fundamental conception of Sovereignty are the essential Rights and inseparably annexed to the Sovereign for which he is accountable to God alone and all Bishops are subject to the Imperial Power who is to determine what Doctrines are to be Preached and what not least any should be licens'd to barangue to the People in Seditious Libels His Power is by the Law of God and so can have no Inferior Power to limit it The Father of the Family governs not by the Law and Will of his Sons or Servants but by God's and his own nor were the best Kings of Judah or Israel tyed to any Laws nor is it the municipal Law of the Land but the natural Law of a Father which binds him to preserve the Lives and Fortunes of his Sons or Subjects The Church is always a Minor and Vnder-age and the King its Guardian how then can she expect to be back'd or countenanc'd any longer as she has hitherto been thanks be to God and the King by his civil Authority or enjoy the Revenues and Privileges she has any longer if the King's
and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie the unlimited Desires of the greatest Monarch in Christendom and therefore how unpardonable are we to deny our King that Power which is inseparably annext to his Royal Diadem and without which he would be no King but a Royal Slave in Golden Chains for the King 's the Church's and our own if not for the Cause's sake let us not grudge Men of his own Perswasion in Religion the free enjoyment of any Favours which he is graciously pleased to afford them and that especially considering that the occasion upon which such Privileges were formerly denied them viz. the Jealousie the Government had of their Sincerity and Obedience now ceases and this brings me to say something more particularly 5 ly To your self and your fellow Members of this Loyal Parliament whom I find to be concern'd in this Case also 'T would be presumption in me to offer to direct your Votes otherwise than as a Divine by reciting the advice of our Blessed Saviour Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them and be ye wise as Serpents but harmless as Doves and such like general Sentences the particular application of which I must in good Manners leave to your own Christian Discretion nor can they fail of making a good application of them who consider that our Blessed Saviour by these Hicroglyphicks taught his Disciples Innocence as well as Prudence in times of greatest danger that they may be able to say with St. Paul That they are pure from the Blood of all Men and that the Church of England by appointing the former Sentence to be read at the Offertory on the 5th of November and 30th of January does thereby teach us whether we have escaped a Danger or suffered Affliction not to be revengeful but be rather ready to return Good for Evil. That some severe Laws which might have Reason when they were made should by common consent of all any ways interested cease when the Reason does universally cease was I think never denied by good Casuists or good Statesmen Now the chief Reason alledged and the only justifiable one for these severe Laws against Romanists was the Jealousie the Government conceived of their Affections and the Apprehensions that their private Zeal for their Catholick Religion would make them cool in their services to the Publick which their imployments would oft require should be against their Principles and that they relying on an external Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their natural Sovereign and rightful Monarchs Kings Proclamation 12th of Fevruary 1686 7 But who now can plausibly suspect their Faithfulness to the present King or that they will be backward in his Service And whilst the Case stands thus what need will there be of sanguinary Laws for Imprisonment during Life or Consiscation of Goods Or for those Tests which exclude the Peers of the Romish Religion from sitting in the House of Lords according to their Birth-right Especially seeing these Latter were made upon a mistake of Matur of Fact whereas it has since appeared to all discreet Men of the most unquestionable Loyalty That the Popish Plot was of that perjur'd Villain Oates and other subtiler Heads making to serve their Faction and Revenge against the Government And as it is the noblest Ingenuity to own any sort of mistake so methinks it touches a Man's Reputation but softly to retract what he had formerly believed and acted upon a charitable Perswasion that Men would not be Perjur'd who after were legally convicted for being notoriously such and besides this 't is no safe matter to alter the Foundations of Government and deface the Original of a Right which in the case of all Privileges of Peerage hath been taken to be either Writt or Patent for if these must give place in any one instance no man knows where it will end or whose course to turn or be turned out of that Highest Court of National Justice may next come In the Parliament of 41. when the old Loyal Assurances were laid aside and instead of the former the Presbyterians Tested Men with their Covenant they were not aware that they made a President against themselves for an Ingagement and the Ingagâ—rs did not longè prospicere neither they little thought that they furnished their Masters of the Army with a countenancing Example to break them all in pieces and to vote them all Vseless And therefore 't is a rule of Wisdom as well as of Justice a point of Prudence as well as Consience not to remove the ancient Land-marks and 't is as useful to the State as to the Church what the first general Council decreed Let the old Vsages prevail suitable to which was the establishing Saying of the Peers long ago Nolumnus matare Leges Angliae We will not that the Laws of England be changed and certainly pursuant to this Resolution if by any cross chance or accident a change have surpriz'd the Government a Restitution to the former fettlement should soon be made and that the rather because we may say of those sanguinary Laws as his Majesty in his Royal Proclamation in Scotland does 12th February 1686 7 of the like made in the Minority of his Royal Grandfather That they have been continued of course without any design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only and sure we are that our severest Laws did not proceed from Ill-nature any otherwise than the best do ex malis moribus And 't is obvious to remark that the True Sons of the Church of England have always been better natur'd than to press or countenance the execution of them in cases of meer Religion and they have accordingly blessed be God been very sparingly executed unless when the byt-blows of a powerful Faction and no True Sons of the Church of England or some violent attempt of the Enemies thereof have forc'd it so sparingly have they been executed that 't is an old Proverb of Reproach upon the Legislators that their Laws were only made in Terrorem for Mormoes and Scare-crows And if they will serve for that purpose and to preserve the good Seed or hinder the Enemies of our Church and State from sowing rebellious and treasonable Tares among us whilst we are asleep we desire no more The Holy Church which so passionately desires the saving of Mens Souls never thirsts after the destruction of their Bodies Some Laws indeed there are made since our Reformation from Popery which threaten death to the Romish Clergy who are Natives of it if they be found in this Kingdom But though the Wisdom of the Nation thought fit to enact them at that time for the security of those Protestant Princes to whom the Romish deposing Doctrine is not Propitious yet was it Treason and not Heresie which those Laws made Capital And since there is no question but that a Prince of their Communion dare trust himself in their
Strafford there was not one Roman Catholick who suffered Death or Imprisonment or so much as a pecuniary Mulct of Twelve Pence for his Religion upon any penal Statute and yet he was as True a Son of the Church of England and as Wise and the Lord Lieutenant as great a Martyr for his Religion and Loyalty and both of them as sit to be our Guides in this Point as the best Men now living Stay till they have offended and done things worthy of Punishment and then spare them not Men as wise and as good as we thought we might be safe without their king in danger and it seems highly reasonable that their having done amiss and not our Fears and Jealousus of it that they will do so should make them punishable The Laws made against Roman Catholicks are either as Rebels or Papists If as Rebels what need of particular Laws for them more than others Why not the same Law to punish them and others guilty of the same Treason If any Papist be found guilty let that Law act against him which is thought sufficient not only to Punish but to prevent Treason in all Men of Antimonarchical Principles and therefore they cannot be made against them in that sence viz. as Rebels Nor as Papists for then it will follow That he is liable to most severer Punishments who acts according to his Conscience which is the Rule and internal Law which God obliges us to follow and observe under pain of Sin right or wrong if our Conscience after a serious Examination dictates so therefore all huâ— ane Laws which punish a sincere Obedience to this internal Law viz. Conference are hard in case that is of an Invincible Error Besides we must acknowledge them to be a True Church though Infected with some Errors and to have things necessary to Salvation why then such a severe Animadversion upon them Do not Turks and Jews and some Sectaries who are worse than either live quietly among us and why then must our Brethren of Rome be molested And why may not either Church or State alter many things concerning their own Constitutions upon prudent consideration as the Reason and Circumstance of thingâ— very upon new and better Reasons No Law purely Humane can be made perpetual and when it is made it must be interpreted according to the mind of the Lawgiver and when he interprets his own Law he does not take off but suspends the Obligation and he may intervene between the Equity and Strictness for the Intention more than the Letter of the Law is to be ragarded And certainly Mens stiffness in keeping what they have got though not upon such Grounds as themselves now approve of is rather a Point of mistaken Honour than of Conscience a Contention of Spirit rather than a Debate of Truth and Equity And if this be the Case I am sure all wise and good Men will censure your Obstinacy and Frowardness if you persist though the Mobile perhaps may reproach you with Levity and Cowardice if you retreat To change our Minds upon mature Deliberation and better Experience and the evidence of new and better Reason is a great piece of Christian Generosity and such as will speak you honest though not crafty Men. And if the honour of your Religion be of equal value to you with that of your personal Reputation 't were well you studied how much that were concern'd in the peaceable and obedient Temper of such as pretend to have espous'd it as becomes the True Sons of the Church of England Nothing can stain the Reputation of the glorious Religion we profess more than your turbulent stiff and ungovernable Tempers who are the chief Patriots and Professors of it Shall we who have hitherto endeavoured to strengthen the hands of the Magistrate now strive to weaken them Shall we who pretend to inact his Laws in the very Consciences of his Subjects now endeavour to put other Limitations and Conditions upon them than God has done or pretend the Revocation of the Broad-Seal of the King 's civil Authority by the Privy-Signet of Religion Where-ever this is done that Prince or Magistrate had need be a very devout Man indeed who casts a benign aspect upon the profession of that Religion which has so malignant an influence upon his Government And all considering Men will with great Reason doubt whether that Religion be of God which gives such disturbance and trouble to his Vicegerent and whether that will carry Men to Heaven hereafter which makes such Tumults and Confusions as will be an Hell upon Earth I hope 't is no 13 th Article of your Creed or mine That whatsoever a Parliament does is rightly done for that were to bring Rome home to our own doors by giving them that Infallibility which they give the Pope Men are not bound to build their Consciences upon Acts of Parliament I have heard That to dissolve a Parliament in discontent is to pick a quarrel with the whole Nation and I am of Opinion That for them to fly in the Face of the King's Religion would be the ready way to pick a quarrel with him and whether it be a conscientious or prudent thing so to do or that a design to prevent a remote and contingent Inconvenience can atone for a Disobedience at present which may possibly dissolve the frame of Government I leave to you to jâ—dge of There may arise a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph and then you may come to be whip'd with your own Rods. These violent Opposers of the regal Prerogative know not what Spirit they are of Do they meet the same Measure they would have meeted to themselves again Is this their brotherly Kindness Meekness or good Manners Does not the Prince of Peace oblige his Disciples If it be possible and as much as in them lies to live peaceably with all Men The Wisdom which is from above is pure and peaceable it consults the publick good and 't is a true Testimony of a religious and generous Mind in his most retired thoughts to look out of himself and be mindful of the Publick Welfare of the whole in all his private Meditations 't was this made the Fabii and Fabricii and other Roman Worthies so renown'd in those times that they were content to expose themselves to the greatest dangers and to venture the losing of the good Opinion of the Mobile for the Prosperity and Safety of the Commonwealth Lord how rare a thing is it in out age to find a private Man who cordially devotes himself to the good of the Community which is of so much the nearer concernment than the privete as it is of larger Extension Consider before it be too late that the Religion you are so justly inamoured with will rather be prejudic'd than promoted by this peevishness of her Professors Hast thou the Faith of the Chruch of England have it to thy self and take the Kingdome of Heaven by an Holy violence but do
will look like a giving away your Religion It may look so to some Pur-blind People Who see but little before them and then the Reason is no better than Popularity which is now adays grown amongst Persons of Quality as common and great a fault as Oppression was formerly But how is our Religion given away by your consent to that which your dissent cannot hinder It is our Interest as well as Our Duty not to be wanting to them whom the King esteems and honours in any acts of Friendship which are consistent with a good Conscience and to susser our City Gates to stand wide open for them that they may go in and out at pleasure and partake of all the Benefits and Privileges which we enjoy No Man ever did a good turn of Friendship to another but at one time or other he himself eat the Fruits of it Let it be remembred in what good condition the Protestant Religion is in many Government within the German Empire by allowing Privileges to those of the Church of Rome How well assured the Governments are of their containing entirely Faithful when these People have equal assurances with other Subjects of their remaining safe Waving many Instances which that Empire affords let us look into that of Brandenburg the Religion of which Country is Lutheranism and is so preserv'd by the Elector though he many years ago became a Calvinist nor will this Change seem small to those who are acquainted with the mutual slender Amities of those two Perswasions the Men of Ink and Gall on both sides blackning one another and interchangably representing the opposite Opinions to be sowler than Popery it self in their Eyes But yet in this Electorate such was the Wisdom of his Highness that he freely gave in assurance to keep the publick Relâ—gion as he found it and such has been his Faith and Honour that he has been sacred to his Ingagements On the other part these Graces have been suitably received by his Subjects that as he makes them happy so they and his own Prince-like Vertues have rendred him the most glorious Prince that ever Brandenburgh enjoyed and if we do our part like them ve have no occsion to question his Majesty's doing His. Though he keeps many Calvinist Ministers about him and make use of the Laity who Worship in his way yet the others do not repine at it much less ought we to grudge them he Fruits of the King's Favour who were as Loyal Actors in the late Times of Rebellion and gâ—eater Sufferes than we they who suffer'd with and for him might modestly have expected to have been restored to their Privilegs of True English Subjects before now and to have been rais'd above Contempt and Danger I speak not this to teach our Senators Wisdom but shall pray to God who stands in the congregation of Princes and observes not only all their Ways Acting and Proceedings but even the most secret Designs and Intentions of the Hearts of every one of them from whom alone cometh all Council Wisdom and Vnderstanding that when by the Authority of our Sovereign Lord the King you shall be lawfully gather'd in his Name to Consder Debate and Determine this and other weighty Matters both of Church and State he would send down his Heavenly Wisdom from above to direct and guide you in all your Consultations That having his Fear always before your Eyes and endeavouring to lay aside so far as humane Frailty will permit all private Interests Prejudices and partial Affections the result of your councils may tend to the glory of his blessed name the maintenance of True Religion and Justice the Saâ—ety Honour and Happiness of the King the publick Wealth Peace and Tranâ—uillity of this Realm and the uniting and knitting together of the Hearts of all Estates and Persons within the same in true Christian Love and Charity one towards another which will be your greatest Honour here and the way to eternal Glory hereafter But if any in your high Station should say such I mean who sit upon the same Bench with you we are so far from grudging Papists the Power into which his Majesty has been pleas'd to put them that we will leave all to them and we will be ever Loyal but we will not act in the same Commission with them either Civil or Military These Men who are such Neâ—er-passive Loyalists may do well to consider That this their peevish Resolution is disagreeable to their Allegiance at large to their Duty by Law and to the Interest they espouse Their Principle is wholly destructive of Loyalty for to be Loyal and not to serve the King when requir'd is a plain Contradiction since Loyalty is not like a civil Ceremony but an Obligation laid upon us by the highest Law to obey those placed over us against whom he does passively rebel who is unactive in their Service And therefore the Primitive Christians obey'd their Emperors though Heathens with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes and shall We that are the Sons of the Charch of England resuse the lawful Services of a most Christian and Gracious King whom we are obliged to serve without Ifs and And 's as well when he Frowns upon us as when he Favours us for this is the only way to be God's Favourites as well as his and to prove our selves Members of Christ as well as of the Commonwealth 'T is a known Maxim in the civil Law That Subjects ought not only to obey the Government but to be Instruments of it too without which the Government could not be carried on and the greatest Princes would have less effectual Authority than a Centuriom has who says to one Go and he goes to another come and he comes and to a third Souldier do this and he does it And our common Law has therefore establish'd this Sudalternacy of obeying and bearing part in the Government of which Sr. Thomaâ— Overbury's Case and Imprisonment is a pregnant Instance 〈…〉 n it be justly said That it was an over-stretching of 〈◊〉 Prerogative for the like was after practiâ—'d upon Sr Peter Hâ—â—â—â—n who for behaving himself â—â—ke some other mutiâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 â—ons in one of the last Parliaments of King Chaâ—â—◠〈…〉 was sent against his â—iking on â—r E 〈…〉 tinate and though the w 〈…〉 ce in the Parliament of Fâ—ay 〈…〉 at that or any other t 〈…〉 him an illegal No Prince could 〈◊〉 a K 〈…〉 ouâ— this Right of compelâ—ing his Subjects to m 〈…〉 respective Offices under him And as to acting in the Commission of Peace the Great Chancellor in the late King's time in the Case of an Irish Noble Man seated in England and refusing to take the Oath of a Justice of Peace declared That he ought to do it and every Man else nam'd in the King's Commission and therefore they are unpardonable to dispute it now who have already taken their Oaths and acted many years accordingly Nor is it less against your Interest