persecute the beloved Spouse of Christ the Church But the Lord hath reserved a peculiar people to himselfe that hâ—ve not bowed the knee unto Baal God hath selected a faithfull and obedient flock that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth These the Lord our God the God of Israel who keepeth covenant for ever hath blessed and they are blessed and no adversary power is able to curse them When Jesus Christ was upon earth he prayed thus for his Elect Holy Father keepe through thine owne name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are John 17. But he is entred into Heaven it selfe now to appear in the presence of God for us And this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end Let us not be slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises For God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love which his servants have shewed towards his Name The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose and is to be burned Let us labour therefore faithfully in Gods Vineyard the Church Militant least we fall in unbeliefe for an ensample of a rebellious and stiff-necked people My hearty desire and continuall prayer to Almighty God is that every one of us in our severall places and callings do shew all diligence in the Worke of our great Lord and Master the God of our Fathers whom we serve and that we labour to advance the truth and purity of doctrine taught and delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and to resist convince and silence the gain-sayers and enemies of the Gospell Let us be strong and very couragious that we may observe to do according to all the Law that God hath commanded us let us not turn from 〈◊〉 to the right hand or to the left for then the Lord shall make our wayes our indeavours and works prosperous and then we shall have good successe Let us take good heed therefore unto our selves that we love the Lord our God Else if we do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of Idolatry that remaineth among us Know for a certainty that the Lord our God will no more be mercifull unto us will no more be among us and deliver us But those Idol-worshippers false bloudy-hearted Papists shall be snares and traps unto us and scourges in our sides and thornes in our eyes untill we are restrained from all the good things which the Lord our God hath given us Would God that we had the courage and resolution of Joshua and that this charge of his from the Lord unto the people of Israel were written in our hearts Now therefore feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Floud and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord choose ye this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. See the 24th of Joshua and the 2d of Judges both remarkable Chapters for this purpose O Eternall and most Gracious God inflame thy Messengers the Ministers of thy Word with a holy Zeal and arme thy servants the Civill Magistrates with a godly courage that they may demolish beat down and root out Popery Superstition Heresie and Prophanesse out of these Isles and Dominions of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles The toleration of Massing Religion is against the grounds of true Christian Religion against reason and against the policy of the Common-wealth as I finde at large in an Answer to the Masse-Priests presumptuous Supplication directed to our late King James of renowned memory and published 1604. Our Adversaries themselves declare that indifferency of Religion or toleration of two contrary Religions in one Kingdome is intolerable Possevin Biblioth Select lib. 1. c. 26. saith 1 It is a divelish invention 2 that it is contrary to Gods Ordinance 3 that it repugneth against the Lawes of Moses of nature and the Gospell it selfe 4 That it is contrary to the substance and proprieties of Christian faith 5 That it taketh away the truth and certainty of Christian faith 6 That it taketh away the certainty of Gods divine Worship and of the Church 7 That it taketh away Christian Discipline 8 That it cutteth asunder the unity of the Church 9 That it is contrary to the Word of God 10 That it is repugnant to the practise of the Primitive Church the authority of Fathers and Decrees of Emperours And finally that it provokrth the wrath of God against the Authours of it If then the Adversaries themselves see Liberty of divers Religions to be so pernicious where they have winde in pupp I hope they will pardon others that will not admit their lewd pernicious and phantasticall opinions We read in our Histories when Ladislaus son of Albert King of Bohemia about the year 1440. went to Bohemia there to be crowned where Pogtebracius had the Governance that during all the time of his being there though being much requested yet would the young King neither enter into the Churches nor hear the service of them which did draw after the Doctrine of Hus. Also before he departed thence he thought first to visit the noble City of Uratislavia in Schlesia In the which City the aforesaid King Ladislaus being there in the high Church at Service many great Princes were about him among whom was also George Pogiebracius who then stood neerest to the King unto whom one Chilianus playing the Parasite about the King as the fashion is of such as feign themselves fooles to make other men as very fooles as they spake in this wise as followeth With what countenance you do behold this our Service I see right well but your heart I do not see Say then doth not the Order of this our Religion seem unto you decent and comely Do you not see how many and how great Princes yea the King himself do follow one Order and Uniformity And why do you rather follow your Preacher Rochezana than these Do you think a few Bohemians to be more wise then all the Church of Christ besides
written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him 2 Kings 22 23. Chapters Now therefore my Lord the King arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee And command all your Children your Confederates and Allies your Nobles and your Commons and all the people of your Kingdoms to help you saying Is not the Lord your God with you And hath he not given you rest on every side for he hath given your enemies into your hands and the Land is subdued before the Lord and before his people Now set your heart and your soul to seeke the Lord your God arise therefore and build ye the Sanctuary of the Lord God establish Religion in its purity according to Gods Word settle the Church government compose the differences and heal the distempers that our sins have made repair ye the breaches and build up the waste places in the Church and State and doe you Judgement and Justice throughout all my Dominions And comand all the people to gather themselves together as one man and to make confession saying O Lord the great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant and mercie to them that love him and to them that keepe his Comandements We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even hy departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Neither have we harkned unto thy servants the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word and Ordinances which spake in thy name to our King our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face because we have sinned against thee To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him O Lord we have been disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behinde our backs have slain thy servants which testified against us to turn us unto thee and we have wrought great provocations therefore thou deliverest us into the hands of our enemies who vexed us in the time of our trouble when we cryed unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest us Saviours who saved us out of the hands of our enemies But after we had rest we did evill again before thee therefore leftest thou us in the hand of our enemies so that they had the dominion over us yet when we returned and cried unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and many times didst thou deliver us according to thy mercies Thou didst not utterly consume us nor forsake us for thou art a gracious and a mercifull God Now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest Covenant and mercie Let not all the trouble seeme little before thee that hath come upon us on our King on our Princes and Nobles and on our Ministers and Elders on our fathers on all thy people since the time of the Kings departing from his Parliaments and people unto this day Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Neither have our King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of thy Word nor our Fathers kept thy Law nor hearkned unto thy Commandements and thy Testimonies wherewith thou didst testifie against them For they have not served thee in their Kingdom in thy great goodness that thou gavest them and in the large and fatland which thou gavest before them neither turned they from their wicked works Behold we are servants this day and for the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it And it yieldeth much increase unto them whom thou hast set over us because of our sins also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattell at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this let us make a sure Covenant and write it and let the King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of Gods Word and Ordinances our Fathers and all the people of your Majesties Dominions seal unto it And finally may it please your Excellent Majesty to attend unto the doctrine and exhortations of the Apostle 1 Thes Chap. 5. and Hebrews 13.20 21. Quench not the spirit despise not prophesyings prove all things hold fast that which is good abstain from all appearance of evill And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blameless unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will do it Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen I have not omitted for many yeares together my Sovereign Lord daily and constantly to pray for the temporall and eternall happiness of the King the Queen your Consort and Royall Progeny with that integrity of heart zeal and devout affection as I pray for the Church of God and the salvation of my own soul Thus rejoyceth evermore to pray without ceasing Royall Sir Your Majesties humbly devoted Oratour most dutifull loyall and faithfull Subject and Servant in the Lord Thomas de la More Cornet to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight Generall of England c. From my Quarters at Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire Feb. 22. 1646. Note * Mistakes in the imprinting may be thus amended Page 1. line 7. read unrighteousness p. 4. line 23. blot out neither p. 5. l. 3. read weed p. 7. l. 11. blot out so p. 17. l. 13. read conveying p. 20. l. 10. read butt line 12. blot out the second but. p. 24. l. 8. read we are sold we were sold Imprimatur Iohn Downame A Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of ENGLAND Composed 1641 By Thomas de la More of Graies-Inne Esq revised and published in the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1648. The first Part. SECT I. JOSVAH'S Resolution IEHOVAH our King who ruleth the Hoast of Heaven and scepters the hearts of Princes and great Potentates on earth with the powerfull Arme of his Justice mightily defendeth and with the sovereigne hand of his mercy graciously preserveth these our Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland from desolation and miserable confusion Satan rageth and his ministers fight against Christ they take the weapons of righteousnesse and smite their Reprovers like the mad Prophet with obloquie and murtherous intentions They maligne revile and
Church and Commonwealth Why such a one as I so obscure to the eye of the world and so mean in many respects would adventure or dare once to peepe forth among the press of Wits that justle abroad by whole Troops and Bands like so many Armed Souldiers fit for Rencontre in this understanding eagle-ey'd literate knowing age To this I answer First albeit I am of green years and 't is true I am of a weak and raw judgement of small experience learning and ability yet it is now almost thirteen years since I was admitted a Scholar into the University at Oxford where I continued six years and upwards and sithence I have been resident for the most part in London and a Student in the Municipall or Common Laws of the Realm and some knowledge I have gained in Travell Secondly I have met with great oppositions and contradictions of the Religion which I professe by Papists Arminians selfe-knowing conceited men and others popishly affected in the Society wherein I live and in other places where I have been conversant And herein I would gladly quit my selfe of the prejudice and misprisions of mine Adversaries by protesting against them and their Tenets And thirdly only for holding and defending the Doctrine of the Reformed Protestant Religion as it is expressed in the 39 Articles of the Church of England and agreeable to Gods Word and for my obedience thereunto and likewise for maintaining the honour the Wisdome and Justice of the proceedings of the High-Court of Parliament against the malice and force of Ignorance and blinde Zeal against the rash opinions of unsetled vain-heads and against the intoxicating poysonous breath of malevolent Tongues This I had for my paines I was counted and esteemed of as a Time-server a Puritan a Brownist an Ignoranius if not a Separatist a Schismatick an Heretick and one that had the spirit of giddinesse These things I say were strong motives unto me to make this Apologeticall profession of my faith the sincerity of mine intentions and actions But the chief reason indeed that moved me to write this my Protestation was the faithfull and true discharge of my conscience For where God hath given a minde a will and in some measure abilities there ought not to be an unprofitable doing nothing But the Talents of Grace according to our Saviours precept are to be well imployed that when we are called to give an account of our Stewardships our Master Christ Jesus may receive from us his servants the glory and praise of his own grace And since I might not and in truth it were unseemly that I should bring a rough and unpolished Talent to the Common Gazophilacy or Treasury of Religion I deem it meet to cast this Mite into my Spirituall mothers lap the Church of England And though I am no Pilot to guide or to steer the course of our Church which like a ship tossed and blown to and fro with storms and tempests is floating in a Sea of Errours Schismes and Heresies yet as a Passenger being on ship-board I may put forth a hand to help take in Sailes when this great Vessell is either in danger of running a ground upon the quicke-sands of prophanesse or of being bruised by clashing against the Rock of Popery and Superstitions But I know that our Saviour Jesus Christ our onely Mediatour our mercifull Redeemer Head and Governour is both able to keep and he will preserve his Church the pillar and ground of Truth from a finall merging and sinking Now that I may draw to a period of this my Discourse I will cast anchor upon a Resolve Notwithstanding all the pestilent and wicked oppositions the malice envy and hellish projects whereby any Adversary powers do endeavour and plot our ruine and destruction yet let us be strong and very courageous let us resolve and say with Joshuah we will serve the Lord. And let us pray O Eternall God our heavenly Father graciously heare us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devill or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodnesse they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Churh Through Jesus Christ our Lord. I will conclude with the usuall prayer of Martin Luther Confirme O God in us that thou hast wrought and perfect the worke that thou hast begun in us to thy glory So be it Now unto God alone who in his own Substance is Originall in and by himselfe the very Essence of all naturall created existences and beings and the Authour of all Order and Authority be ascribed all due Honour Majesty Might and Dominion by men here by Saints and Angels in the Heaven of Heavens Halelelujahs be sung evermore Amen Amen FINIS