such a Treacherous Precarious way of Communicating them We see how strangely the Ancient History of the World and the greatest Transactions of it whilst they were thus Transmitted were Depraved and Corrupted so intermix'd with Lies and Fables as they passed down the Channel of Time and Ages that the truth of things was either quite lost or very difficultly to be found out being cover'd or in a manner Buried under such an heap of Dirt and Rubbish that the Wisest and most Sagacious minds after all their care and endeavours to search it out were very doubtful and could not come to a full Determination what to believe or what to reject some things they saw had an appearance of Truth but then the Fables mixt therewith disgrac'd and render'd them so Suspicious that they knew not what to think of them And therefore the All-wise and most Merciful God as he was pleased to offer Immortal Happiness to Mankind and to tell them upon what terms or conditions he would admit them to and bless them with it so he took care to have these most weighty things Conveyed down to all Ages and Generations of Men in the safest way requiring those he imploy'd to deliver his Laws to Mankind to commit them to Writing nay delivering some of them the Ten Commandments that is to Moses Inscribed or Written upon two Tables of Stone Exodus 32. 16. which way of Transmitting them is most durable or lasting and therefore the safest and they that say the contrary Reproach Disparage the Wisdom of God because he thought fit thus to Convey them to us and when these Writings were compleated by the Addition of the New Testament to the Old nothing could be wanting to instruct Mankind in all the parts of their Duty and to tell them all the terms or Conditions of their Eternall Happiness and Salvation To say they are imperfect and do not give Men sufficient Direction for the attaining this great end is to Blaspheme the Glorious Author of them to Arraign his Wisdom to revile his Goodness and to contradict these Sacred Writings which call upon us to search and study them and invite us to perform the Duties they require of us with the offer of Salvation if we do it and the Denunciation of Damnation if we refuse to do it Now if all those things united or conjoyned cannot bring the observers of them to the Salvation they promise then the Scriptures do not say true and therefore God is not the Author of them This the Church of Rome doth not dares not say but owns the Truth of all they say and confesses them to come from God only it says they are insufficient and obscure that is do not speak enough tell those that consult them all things necessary to Salvation nor speak so plainly and intelligibly as to be understood without an infallible Interpreter to declare the true and full Sense or Meaning of them The first cannot be because if the Scriptures say do these things and thou shalt live be Eternally happy and Blessed As for Instance believe in Christ Repent of thy Sins keep the Commandments of God and tell us what they are as it is apparent they do and promise Salvation to them that so believe Repent and keep the Commandments of God then they speak fully to the purpose tell him or them that Read them enough to save them if they perform it and consequently must be sufficient and then to add I know not what unwritten Verities as they are called as Supplements to them is both a Wicked and a Vain thing 't is Wicked both as it invades Gods Authority will not let him prescribe appoint all the Terms or Conditions upon which he will give Eternal Life and Glory to his Church and People Wicked also as it disgraces his Laws and charges them with defects they are not Guilty of 'T is vain too and altogether needless like Lighting up a Torch or a Candle when the Sun Shines in all his Glory for they that cannot see or find the way to Heaven by the Glorious Light or Direction of the Holy Scriptture will never do it by the help of the dark Lanthern of Oral Tradition this is apter to seduce or draw those that follow it out of the Right way than to guide them into it That cannot deceive any because it gives them a full and perfect Description of it tells them This is the way walk ye in it And as they speak fully to this great point give an exact and perfect Answer to every one that asks them that Important Question What shall I do that I may have Eternal Life So they speak plainly and intelligibly to it and every Reader may if he brings with him an humble and Teachable Mind Learn and understand all his Duty his Duty as the Apostle divides it to God his Neighbour and himself to God in Acts of Piety to his Neighbour in Acts of Justice and Charity to himself in Acts of Temperance or Sobriety 'T is very Foolish as well as Sinful for Men to cry out of the Obscurity or Darkness of the Scriptures only to serve a Worldly Interest by it when those parts of them that describe our Duty are said to be a Light a Light unto our Pathes and a Lantern to our Feet those must needs be Blind that cannot see the Light because it is the Nature or Property of it to be Visible 'T is true indeed there are degrees of Light one Light being greater and more Radiant than another thus the Law was a Light but yet weak and dimm in Compare with the Gospel which is so great and Illustrious a Light that the Apostle saith If it be hid it is hid to them that Perish that are so in Love with their Sins as to resolve to persist though they Perish in them and therefore shut their Eyes against the Gospel which comes as a Light to shew them their Errour They that say the Scriptures are Obscure and unintelligible must say that either God could not or would not declare his Mind so as to be understood by Men If they say the first they degrade him because if he could not do it he hath not the Wisdom or Intelligence of a Man and therefore cannot be God every Man of Common Sense that is able to speak being also able to speak his Mind so as to be understood If they say the other they Vilifie and Disgrace him for if he would not speak so that Men might understand him then it is meer mockery to offer them Eternal Happiness upon such Conditions as they do not cannot understand and hateful Cruelty to threaten them with Everlasting and Intolerable Punishment for Transgressing such Laws and omitting such Duties as are above their apprehension To say as the Papists do that God hath took care to remedy this Obscurity of the Scriptures by appointing an Infallible Guide or Interpreter to explicate or unridle the meaning of them and
Primitive times Besides the Holy Scriptures or written word of God as I remarked before call upon us to search and study and meditate in them nay to believe and obey or Live according to them and Promise Eternal Happiness and Salvation to all that do these things but they make no mention of the word of God not written do not Command any to enquire or search after or trouble their Heads about any such thing as the Unwritten word of God 'T is true indeed St. Paul praises the Obedient Members of the Church of Corinth that kept 1 Cor. 11. 2. the Traditions or Ordinances which he deliver'd to them But these were no part of the word of God either written or not written but things in their own nature Indifferent That the Men should Pray in publick with their Heads uncover'd and the Women with their Heads cover'd Verses 4th and 5th He gives this charge also to Timothy hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of 2 Tim. 1. 13. me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Which form of sound words was either the Creed which the Apostles agreed upon as a summary of the Chief things that were to be believed and profess'd by all Christians or else the whole Doctrine of Christ containing all things to be done as well as believed to Salvation which if not then were before the Apostles left the World intirely written for the Instruction of all that should Imbrace the Christian Religion But doth not Christ tell his Apostles I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now By which saith the St. John 16. 12. Church of Rome it appears That Christ spoke many things that were not written and it is not credible that the Apostles would not deliver these by word of mouth to the Church To which a Reverend Bishop of ours gives this Satisfactory Answer that Christ doth not say Bishop Davenane de judice norma fidei page 18. Multa habeo quae non potestis in posterum scribere I have many things to say unto you which you cannot hereafter write but which you cannot now bear Postea autem Spiritu sancto illuminati portare ea potuerunt praedicare mundo ac demum scriptis toti Ecclesiae Commendare but afterwards being inlightned by the Holy Ghost they could both bear them themselves and Preach them to the World and at last in their writings Commend and Transmit them to the whole Church But let us grant saith he that these things were such as are not written yet who is so impudent and rash as to dare to specifie or assign what those things were This is such Transcendent Presumption that none but the Church of Rome dares venture on which takes the boldness to Father all her Dreams Fables and Errours upon God calling them his Traditional or Unwritten word As for those words of St. John which they insist so much upon There are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be Chap. 21. 25. written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be written These neither prove the necessity nor Authority of their Traditional or Unwritten word of God Fatemue enim multa esse quae fecit Jesus quae tamen ab Evangelistis scripta non fuerunt for we Page 18. confess saith that Learned Authour that there were many things which Jesus did that are not written by the Evangelists but these many things were not Doctrines necessary to Salvation but Miracles or sayings which we may be ignorant of without any detriment to Religion or Salvation so St. John himself tells us And many other Signs truly did Jesus in the Chap. 20. 30. 31. presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name Which utterly destroys the necessity of their Unwritten word of God for if what is written be enough to perswade Men to believe in Christ and that believing be sufficient to save or bring them to Eternal life that do it then no more can be necessary but St. John affirms both these therefore the Romish Traditional or Unwritten word of God is at best a needless or superfluous thing Besides it is and must be with all thinking Men a mighty Objection against this Unwritten word of God as they call it that the Church of Rome hath the sole Custody or keeping of it the Primitive Church after the Canon of the Scriptures was compleated says nothing at all of it for all the Fathers cry up and maintain the Perfection and Sufficiency of the written word of God and all the Reformed Churches adhere to this in Opposition to that Unwritten Word How then came Rome by it Is God so partial such a Respecter of Persons as to Communicate it to that Church and not to others Or is it a Cheat or Artifice of the nequam ingeniosi the witty or Crafty Deceivers to help at a dead lift This is the very Truth Many of their Doctrines and Practices they plainly perceiv'd did openly clash with and contradict the Holy Scriptures or written word of God and therefore there was no way to defend them to acquit their Church from Errour and Impiety but to cry up Tradition and make it of equal Authority with the Scriptures But this will not do it for doth God use to contradict himself There are that say he hath two Wills the one secret the other reveal'd and that the one is contrary to the other which is neither better nor worse than downright Blasphemy the Church of Rome with equal Blasphemy affirms that God hath two Laws or Words the one contained in the Scriptures the other transmitted by Oral Tradition and they plead this in Defence of those Doctrines which are contrary to that being beaten from the Scriptures and having no shelter or protection for their Errours there they Fly for refuge to Tradition as if that could bear them out or support their Cause and so they make the infinitely Wise and Righteous God contradict himself which he must needs do if he hath declared his will to Mankind two several ways that is by Scritpure and Oral Tradition and this affirms things which that deny's and gainsays They had rather if they could do it prove the points in controversy by the Scriptures as the most satisfactory and convincing proof but not being able to do that they are constrained either to confess their Errours or to pretend Tradition to vouch and countenance them That they will not do because it is against their Worldly Interest inconsistent with their Honour and Profit This they had better not do because the Cheat is so Evident that none but weak Persons will be gull'd and deluded by it for we know that must
go about to satisfie Men that will never be satisfied A time may come and I hope it is approaching when such a Declaration will not only be believ'd but receiv'd with the joyful Acclamations and grateful Acknowledgments of both Houses and if it be thy Blessed will Oh God let such a time a time so much desired by all good Men come and that quickly But for my part I do not think it civil or decent for those that are unacquainted with the greatest affairs of State to take upon them to prescribe to his Royal Highness or to tell him when or in what manner he should declare himself because this would Savour of Rudeness and Presumption and therefore they must leave it to his own Prudence and the Wise Determinations of those Great and Honourable Personages that understand and conduct the weighty concerns of the Government it being for Them to know the times and seasons of so important an Action and not for Men of privacy and low degree Stay a while then and consider what you are doing be not too confident Oh ye Excluders make not so much hast nor such a stir to shut the door upon a Prince that you are not sure is gone from you believe it possible for you to Err or be Mistaken in your Opinions of him you see he hath no Reason to be a Papist and the Arguments for it are insufficient do not prove it therefore be not too confident he is so SECT IV. So far I have consider'd the first Question Whether his Royal Highness be a Papist The next and great Enquiry is Whether if he be so that Forfeits his Right That it doth not I assert and am now to prove In order to which I affirm That it is possible for a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man one that desires to go the Right way to Heaven to turn Papist Errour may look so like Truth and Superstition be so adorn'd with the paint and fair colours of true Piety that Men of good understanding and great integrity may be deceived and deluded by it Thus the excellent Chillingworth a Pious and Learned Man was seduced to the Romish Church though by the Grace of God he saw his errour return'd to our Church and lived and died in the Holy and Apostolical Faith which it professeth and not long after his return to it mindful of that sacred precept of our Lord to St. Peter when thou art converted strengthen by Brethren writ his excellent Book St. Luke 22. 32. in which he fully and unanswerably proves that which is the Subject or Title of it That the Religion of Protestants is a safe way to Salvation a Book highly meriting the perusal of all that either need or desire satisfaction in that Great and most weighty point In the Preface to it he tells his Readers the Motives that perswaded him to turn Papist which though they were as he truly calls them and to which he there gives full and satisfactory answers silly Sophisms and false Suppositions yet they so abused that good Man as to Proselyte him to the Church of Rome And why may not others as Pious Prudent and Conscientious as he be deceiv'd and misled into Popery by these or such fallacious Arguments or Reasons 'T is very well known that the Jesuits and Missionaries of the Roman Church are Persons Learned and Subtile trained up by the most expert Masters and not suffer'd to go abroad till they are thoroughly skil'd and instructed in the controversies between them and us and furnish'd with all manner of Arts and Abilities to seduce and deceive People And cannot Persons so prepared and fitted for it make gross errours and the foulest practices look fair and plausible varnish them over so with Apologies or Excuses extenuate their guilt pare off the Absurdities adhereing to them with Distinctions and set them out to such advantage that an honest Man shall not only think them Innocent things such as have no harm nor venome in them but be very much enamour'd of or taken with them They that read their Books must acknowledg if they will speak the truth that nothing is wanting in them that either Wit or Zeal can invent to defend or put a fair gloss upon the errours of their Church though what they plead in Justification of them be false or deceitful Argumentations poor idle Sophisms meer Paint Varnish no better than Gilding a Rotten Post or Cloathing Errour in the dress and vestments of Truth yet they seem so plausible look so fair and inviting that a Good Conscientious and well meaning Man as I said before may be so abus'd and deluded by them as to become a Proselyte to the Roman Church And being so is he not a Christian A Papist I suppose cannot truly be deny'd to be a Christian because the Church of which he is a Member is a Christian Church though lapsed into great Errours and Impieties a Christian Church it must needs be because it makes Profession of the Faith and Religion of Christ ascribes enough to him to secure to it self the Glorious Title and Denomination of Christian for the Council of Trent in the Explication of the Article of Justification gives this account of it Hujus Justificationis causae sunt c. Session 6. cap. 7. page 35. The Causes of this Justification are these The Final Cause is the Glory of God and of Christ and Eternal Life The Efficient Cause is the Merciful God who freely washeth aod sanctifieth signing and anoynting with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the the earnest of our Inheritance The Meritorious cause is the most beloved and only begotten Son of God who when we were Enemies for his great Love wherewith he Loved us did by his most holy passion upon the Cross Merit Justification and give Satisfaction to God his Father for us By which it is Evident that the Church of Rome holds That the Merits of Christ are the moving or procuring Cause of our Justification so absolutely necessary to it that as that Council speaks a little after Nemo possit esse justus nisi cui page 36. merita Passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi Communicantur no Man can be Just or Righteous but He to whom the Merits of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are Communicated Now they that acknowledg or own this Great and Fundamental Truth that we are justified by the Merits of Christ and consequently that he is our only Saviour and do adore him as the Christ or Son of God which they cannot be deny'd to do though that Acknowledgment this Worship of theirs be mixt and accompany'd with many and those very dangerous Errours must be acknowledg'd to be a Christian Church And if the collective Body be such the particular Members must be so too I suppose then it will be easily granted me by the greatest Zealots against Popery it being but a reasonable concession and such as I shall not
I leave it to the Consciences of the Excluders to determine what high and horrid Injustice it is to deprive or take it from him if he have not forfeited this Right which is now to be Examin'd or enquir'd into All I know that is pleaded for the affirmative is his changing his Religion or turning Papist and the Dangers thence proceeding to our most Gracious King and excellent Religion here then two things are to be enquired into First Whether the Duke be a Papist Secondly If he be whether that forfeits his Right SECT IV. First Whether His Royal Highness be a Papist revolted from ours to the Romish Church and Religion I may have leave I hope to put the Question and no good Man will be offended at me if I have that honour for a Grand-Child of our English Solomon King James who was so zealous an Opposer of the Romish Superstition for a Son of the Royal Martyr who Lived and Died in the Holy Apostolical Faith professed in our Church for a Brother the only Brother of our present most Gracious Soveraign who is the Great Patron and Protector of the Reformed Religion as not rashly to conclude him guilty of such a change a change so reproachful to them and Injurious to himself The Excluders I know will laugh at nay be angry with me for putting the Question it being as they affirm Notorious that he is a Papist and they believe him so to be as verily as they believe any Article of the Creed but I confess I do not think it so notorious as is pretended but look upon it as a doubtful Case because his Royal Highness hath so much reason to disswade him from such a change and because the Arguments for the Affirmative that he is a Papist do not as I apprehend prove him so to be There is nothing which they that are serious in it use to adhere to with a more firm stable and immoveable Resolution than the Religion in which they have been educated this if it have nothing else to endear and recommend it ingages their constancy and fixes them firmly to it like the magnetick needle to the North even a false Religion having the advantage of prepossession will keep its ground against the true though it comes with the clearest reason the most convincing Arguments and such unanswerable Proofs of its Divine Original and Authority as may justly not only perswade but Command Admittance and Reception This detain'd the Heathens in their Abominable Idolatry and Superstition it was the Religion they had been brought up in which they suck'd in as we say with their Mothers Milk and they were resolv'd to follow their Ancestours in it as they had happily done those that went before them and they pleaded in defence of their refusing Christianity that it was a new Doctrine and an upstart Sect not known nor heard of in the Days of their Fore-Fathers and they asked the Christians in the greatest scorn where was your Religion before Jesus Christ And it hath ever been accounted a mighty Dishonour and Reproach to any Nation or Persons to change their Religion but upon the greatest most weighty and pressing Reasons and Motives and therefore God upbraids his People with it Hath a Nation Jeremiah 2d 11. changed their Gods which are yet no Gods but my People have changed their Glory for that which doth not Profit Never any Nation was so absurd and unreasonable as to change their Gods though false and but supposed ones till they were fully or throughly convinced that they were not what they took them for As wild an Errour and oversight is it for Men to change their Religion unless there be the biggest reason and the greatest necessity for it It argues great Lightness Ignorance and instability of Mind to be of an Ambulatory and gadding Humour in a matter of such moment and concern as Religion shews the Persons guilty of it to be of a weak and Childish temper Like Children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every Wind of Doctrine It reproaches their Wisdom Arraigns their discretion that they should imbrace a Faith or Religion they dare not be constant to such considerations as these do commonly keep Men firm stedfast in the Religion they first imbraced though a better be offer'd and proposed to them But this is Foolish and Wicked Obstinacy a blind and dishonourable Constancy it being as St. Ambrose well observes nullus pudor ad meliora tranfire no shame no reproach at all to change for the better to quit errours for the truth a corrupt for a Pure Church a dangerous and sinful for a safe and holy Religion but to turn from the truth to errour from a pure to a corrupt Church to exchange a safe and holy for a lewd and dangerous Religion is a great shame and such a Sin as without Repentance must needs be Damnable if any Man thus draw back my Soul saith God shall have no Pleasure in him They therefore that say the Duke hath changed his Religion reconciled himself as they call it to the Church of Rome must say he did it either with Reason or without that he had great and considerable motives to induce him to it or he had not If they say he had not but did it without Reason they put the greatest slur and abuse upon him imaginable charge him with the highest imprudence make him a Child not a Man cast a greater Calumny or Reproach upon him than that base slander for which he brought his Scandalum Magnatum against the impious impairer of his Honour this being to say that he would in a sullen and unaccountable humour Create his Royal Brother a Brother so tender of his Honour and Interest so great danger Vexation and Trouble put the Nation into such horrid Tumults Disorders and Confusion bring upon himself so many Dangers incur the Clamours Obloquies Hatred and contempt of all the Factious People without any cause or inducement at all If they say his Royal Highness had reason for this change considerable motives to induce him to it these must be either his Interest and Advantage in this World or his Salvation in the other because these are the greatest and most momentous reasons that could be offered to move him to such a change but to turn Papist I shall prove is neither for his Interest and Advantage here nor his Happiness and Salvation hereafter both these being better secured and provided for by his stay in ours then they can be by joyning himself to the Church of Rome His interest and advantage in this World for what can a Prince whom Heaven is pleas'd shall Reign desire more then all the Authority Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to the Royal Dignity a Loyal and Obedient People their Welfare and Felicity with all that Honour and Renown Fame and Glory that these are always attended with Every wise Prince if he was permitted to chuse his happiness would have it Compounded or
the Preacher out And as Preaching cannot unless they be forced to hear and the just Correction of the Laws drive them from their Conventicles to our Assemblies so Writing hath done no good upon them all the excellent Books that have been written both formerly and of late Years by the excellent Divines of our Church in which all their exceptions against it have been fully answer'd all their scruples satisfi'd all their Pleas and Apologies for their Separation throughly confuted and the Authors of them put to all the shame and silence Men of their Confidence are capable of yet they are never the better but persist stubbornly in their wicked Schism and prove to all the World that they are such as hate to be Reformed the crafty seducers tell their Credulous followers that such are Lewd and ungodly Books and that frights them so that they dare not upon any Terms give them the Reading all that their guides think fit to do in the case is to imploy some Pragmatical Fellow to write an Answer which how silly or impertinent soever is admired and applauded by the whole Faction as an Incomparable piece and the Author hugd and caress'd by the Brethren and Holy Sisters as a very precious Man Nor can any better success be reasonably expected from the other way that of Conference because if they will not hear our Clergy Preach nor Read the excellent Books they have writ in defence of the Church they will be as averse especially when they have their Liberty to private Conference be with great difficulty brought to admit the Charitable Person that comes to undeceive them or if they do they are generally so ignorant and so conceited that it is very hard to make them understand the nature of the things disputed what Schism is and how exceeding Sinful and if this be done they are so highly conceited of their own Gifts and Godliness as to think themselves Wiser and Holyer than he that offers them Instruction Besides they are such Slaves to so wholly at the Command of their own Guides and Teachers that if they tell them their separate Meetings are Innocent and Holy Assemblies and those of the Church so impure or defiled with Popish Prayers Ceremonies and other Humane Inventions that it is not safe for them to venture their precious Souls in them they believe such lying words as firmly as if they were Divine Truths and adhere to them in spight of all the Scripture and Reason that can be brought against them These therefore and all other vain projects laid aside the Government if it will be safe and happy must with great and earnest care endeavour to reduce them to the Church which can be effected no other way but by a strict Executing the Laws upon all Dissenters an unwearied persisting in it letting them see that if they dare be so impudent as to Affront Transgress the Laws and defie Authority that both will and dares do Justice upon such bold Offendors This in time will make them leave their Fooling to give it no worse Title Teach the People to shun the Meeting-Houses with the same caution and waryness as they do the Dreadful and Disconsolate Places where Misery and Ruin dwell This will put them upon serious Thoughts and Considerations Oblige them strictly to Examine the Cause for which they Suffer prompt them to ask themselves such questions as these what harm or venom is there in the Ceremonies of the Church that we should be so affraid of them as to run from the Communion of it Do not our own Guides and Teachers confess the Doctrine of it to be pure or agreeable to the Scriptures Are there not abundance of Learned Pious and Holy Men that Live and Dye in the Communion of it and can we think that such Men are not Saved And if they be Why will not the same Faith the same Doctrine the same Prayers and Holyness carry us to Heaven Are not the Doctrine Government and Worship the same that were Taught exercis'd and used by those brave and Holy Men that with such admirable zeal and courage suffer'd Martyrdom in the Reign of Queen Mary How can that be Popery now which was practic'd by them who would rather burn at a Stake then turn Papist and are we Wiser or more Conscientious than they The Wise Merciful Correction of the Laws will by degrees bring the Offendors to a sight and abhorring of their Errours and produce in them such good Thoughts as these and consequently ingage them to return from whence they are fallen I mean to our Holy and Excellent Church which will put an Happy end to all our Schisms and Divisions and the People by coming constantly to our Pious Loyal Assemblies will in a little time Learn to Fear God and the King and meddle no more with them that are given to change But if this great means of reducing them be waved or neglected or coldly prosecuted such a Blessed and desirable Revolution can never be attained but our fewds and contentions will be Immortal and we shall be as the scorn of so the most Miserable and Distracted Nation in the World Without this nothing can reduce them but in Conjunction with and Subordination to it there are other things that will contribute very much to it as the Exemplary Piety and strict Conformity of the Clergy and the putting them into such a Condition that they may not depend upon the Benevolence of the People for their Maintenance Their Exemplary Piety that none be suffer'd to Dishonour our most pure and holy Church by their Evil and unsuitable Lives for though 't is certain we have the most Learned Pious Unblamable and therefore Excellent Clergy in the World yet if there be any irregular Persons amongst them as 't is possible there may in such a great Body of Men be here and there one that forgets himself that care be taken and means used to Reform them that they give no Offence Minister no Occasion to any to Reproach the Church or to speak Evil of our most Holy and Undefiled Religion We see how cautious and careful the Schismatical Preachers are to seem Holy that they may gain the Esteem and Veneration of the People and lead them by the Noses whether and to what they please and if the shadow in them to be sure the Substance of Holiness a Vertuous and unblamable Life in all our Clergy will gain them great Authority with the People and convince them that must needs be an Holy Church that hath so Pious Regular and Excellent a Clergy The next is their strict Conformity that all of them be compell'd to observe all the Orders and Constitutions of the Church Unless this be done the People can never be drawn off from their prejudices against and misperswasions concerning them but will think them unlawful Impositions because some of the Clergy do not observe them and they will admire applaud and follow those that do not observe them as
that he cannot Err in the doing of it is to say that which all the World can never Prove for how doth it appear that God hath Constituted or Commission'd him to be the Sole Expounder of Scripture more than any other Bishop or Doctor of the Church Doth not our Lord say to all the Apostles nay to the seventy Disciples He that heareth you heareth me Did not he speak to them all when he said Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature How then came his Holyness to have the Monopoly or Sole power of Interpreting Scripture Did it descend to him from St. Peter that cannot be because he never claim'd never pretended to it never had it Solely himself and the Successor cannot without Usurpation chalenge a greater Power nor plead a larger Commission than he had whom he pretends to Succeed 'T is certain that all the Apostles received an equal Authority and the same Commission from Christ and therefore all Bishops now being the undoubted Successors of the Apostles have an equal Power and Right to Interpret Scripture and there is by Divine Right no difference at all between them what is is either by Humane Constitution or by Usurpation and Incroachment And if he connot shew a Patent from God to prove him to be the only Authoritative Interpreter of his Laws how will he make good the other proud Word which he prefixes before it That he is the only and Infallible Expounder of Scripture He knows very well that a great and the wisest part of the World deny his Infallibility and Laugh at him for pretending to it How then will he convince them that he hath it by Reason no no! that gives no Testimony to such a gross and palpable Absurdity Reason says to be a Man and to be Exempt from all Possibility of Errour are Inconsistent Will he prove it by Scripture some Texts are brought from thence for fashion sake to colour the business as those that contain the promise of our Lord to his Apostles to send them the Holy Ghost to guide or St. John 16. 13. lead them into all Truth but this promise either proves too little or too much to do the feat for either it is a Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only who needed an Extraordinary Assistance from Christ that they might Transmit his Doctrine full and intire to Succeeding Ages and then was Personal and Expired with them and so doth not concern his Holyness for though the Holy Ghost guided them into all Truth yet he either not having the Holy Ghost or Refusing to follow his guidances may run into all Errour Or if it was not a Personal or Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only but Equally to their Successors then it proves more than he would have it That all the Bishops in the World are Infallible for the promise was made not to St. Peter only but to all the Apostles and therefore what nonsense and Ridiculous Partiallity is it to Restrain a general promise made to the whole Colledg of Apostles to the Successours of one of them for if they that Succeed St. Peter be Fully and Perfectly lead into all Truth then the Successors of all the Apostles are so and consequently all the Bishops in the World are Infallible and then his Holiness will have but a bad Market for his Expositions of Scripture for few People will be at the trouble to go to Rome for them because they may have them from their own Bishops Well but doth not our Lord say to St. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will Build my Church and the Gates St. Mat. 16. 18. of Hell shall not Prevail against it These are certainly the Words of Christ but they confer no peculiar Priviledg or Prerogative upon St. Peter nothing but what was equally given to all the Apostles for the Rock Signifies either his Confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God which is the Rock the great and Vers 16. Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith upon which the Church is Built or if it concern his Person that he should be an Excellent Instrument as the other Apostles were and therefore are also called Foundation Stones to bring in Converts and Disciples unto Christ and to raise or Build him up a Church in the World which the Gates of Hell all the Power and Policy of the Devil should never be able Totally to ruin or destroy These Words then speak nothing for the pretended Infallibility And indeed the greatest Champions for it are so far from thinking it fully proved in Scripture that they are not agreed about it To fix it in the Popes Person they dare not because the many and gross Errours of his Life would confute and shame them and therefore as a Man they confess he can and may and doth Err To ascribe it to his Chair either to his Office or Dignity as Bishop or to him as Bishop of Rome and Successor to St. Peter in that Patriarchal See is silly for if he could Err before he can do so still because his being made Bishop doth not change his Nature but his Office and being the same Man why may he not be the same falliable or erring Man he was before The place he is Bishop of can make no Difference in the case because no reason can be given why the Bishop of Rome should be more Exempt from Errour than the Bishop of Munster To place the Infallibility in the Pope and a general Council is as unreasonable because if they can Err apart they may united and they confess that a general Council may Err if it be not Confirmed by the Pope and t is plain they think the Pope without it may Err or else t is idle to add a general Council to him but the uniting or putting two Erring parties together cannot make them Infallible To say that a General Council Confirm'd by the Pope cannot Err is unanswerably confuted by this argument of a great and excellent person The Pope never Confirms a Council till it be finish'd Arch-Bishop Laud against Fisher pa. 274. when it is finish'd before the Popes Confirmation be put to it either it hath Erred or not Erred if it hath Erred he ought not to confirm it or if he do it is a voyd Act because no power can make Errour or falsehood to be Truth if it hath not Erred then it was True before he Confirmed it and so his Confirmation signifies nothing And not withstanding all the stir they make about the Popes Infallibility they do not believe it themselves for the School-Men and Writers of Controversies as that Author observes put the case whether the Pope coming to be an Heritick Pa. 269. may not be Deposed and the Common Law as he adds says expresly That he may be Deposed for Heresie now if he can fall into Heresie and may be Deposed for it then he cannot be Infallible And
Will is you should do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same First you must have an assured Faith in God and give your selves wholy unto him Love him in Prosperity and Adversity and dread to offend him evermore Then for his Sake Love all Men Friends and Foes because they be his Creation and Image and Redeemed as you are Cast in your Minds how you may do good unto all Men unto your Powers and hurt no Man Obey all your Superiours and Governours Serve your Masters Faithfully and Diligently as well in their absence as in their presence not for dread of Punishment only but for Conscience Sake knowing that you are bound so to do by Gods Commandments Disobey not your Fathers and Mothers but honour them help them and please them to your Power Oppress not Kill not Beat not neither Slander nor Hate any Man but Love all Men speak well of all Men help and Succour every Man as you may yea even your Enemies that hate you that speak Evil of you and that do hurt you Take no Mans Goods nor Covet your Neighbours Goods wrongfully but content your selves with that which ye get truly and also bestow your own Goods Charitably as Need and Case requireth Fly all Idolatry Witchcraft and Perjury Commit no Adultery Fornication or other Unchastness in Will nor Deed And Travelling continually during this Life thus in keeping the Commandments of God wherein standeth the Right Trade and Pathway unto Heaven you shall not fail as Christ hath promised to come to that Blessed and Everlasting Life where you shall Live in Glory and Joy with God for ever 'T is as impossible as any thing can be that they who do these things and continue in them to the end of their Lives should miss of Eternal Glory and Happiness To say that such a Faith such Obedience such a Life as our Church propounds and Teacheth persisted in till they pass out of this World cannot through the Merits of Christ Save Men is to Damn the Blessed Apostles and all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs who if they went to Heaven at all went thither by believing and Living according to the Scriptures and call upon us to follow their Faith their pure or unspotted Lives considering the end of their Conversation the Glories in which they shine in the Blessed mansions above This is the Rock upon which we of the Church of England Build our hopes of a Crown of Glory this is a Guide that cannot deceive but will lead us safely to the Blessed place we aspire after they that walk by this Rule the Rule of the Holy Scripture are in a sure way to Salvation and if they persevere cannot miss of it But if we remove our Thoughts now to the Church of Rome it will be Evident that there is at most but a Possibility of Salvation in the Communion of it because of its disagreement with and repugnancy to the Holy Scriptures So far is this Church from doing them the Right and the Honour as to confess that they comprehend all things necessary to Salvation that it affirms the contrary that they do it not without the help of Traditions which they of that Communion receive and Honour with an equal Devotion and Reverence So saith the Council of Trent expresly Sacrosancta oecumenica generalis Tridentina Synodus in spiritu sancto Session the 4th page 19 Legitimè congregata c. This Holy Oecumenical and general Council of Trent being Lawfully called together in the Holy Ghost having this ever before their Eyes that all Errours being destroyed or taken away the very purity of the Gospel might be preserved in the Church which being promised before by the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God with his own Mouth first publish'd and afterwards Commanded it to be Preach'd to every Creature by his Apostles as the Fountain of all saving Truth and Discipline or Instruction of manners and knowing this Discipline and Truth to be contained in the written Books and in Traditions not written which being received by the Apostles from Christs own Mouth or by the Apostles themselves the Holy Ghost prompting them to it as it were handed down are come to us This Council following the Examples of the Orthodox Fathers doth with equal Devotion and Reverence receive and honour all the Books of the Old and New Testament because the same God is the Authour of them both and the Traditions themselves belonging both to Faith and Manners as deliver'd by Christ by word of mouth or dictated by the Holy Spirit and kept by continual Succession in the Catholick Church So that their Rule of Faith consists of two distinct parts the Scriptures and Traditions the word of God written and the word of God not written but transmitted by word of Mouth from Age to Age from Generation to Genertion Now though it be certain that the word of God be equally true and equally obligatory to all Persons whether it be written or not written which way soever it be propounded or convey'd to them yet how shall it appear or be proved that what they call the Unwritten word of God is really so not a wicked cheat imposture They say it is his word we say it is not the Primitive Church saith nothing at all of it but asserts and maintains the sufficiency or fullness of the Scriptures or written word of God that is that it contains all things necessary to be believed and done to the obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness as is fully proved by many Protestant Writers And when the Ancient and Orthodox Fathers speak of Traditions and call upon any to observe and obey them they either mean by those Traditions the Doctrine of Christ deliver'd to the Christian Church in the Writings of the Apostles or the Ordinances made either by the Apostles themselves or the Bishops that succeeded them in their Apostolical Office for the decent and orderly performance of Gods Worship The first is indeed the Word of God but then it is his written word the other are not the word of God at all but humane Constitutions and no farther Obligatory than they are agreeable to the General Rules the Scriptures give for Conducting the Circumstances of Religion the Church having Power as Ours truly affirms to Decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority Article the 20. in Controversies of Faith though it be not Lawful for the Church to Ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods word written This is all the Ancient Fathers mean by Traditions when they speak of or require the Observation of them but they make no such Distinction as this of the written and unwritten word of God neither do they say that the first is imperfect or doth not sufficiently instruct Mankind to Salvation unless it be supply'd with the other This is a Blasphemy which the Apostate Church only is guilty of but was never heard of in the
needs be an Abominable Cheat which they call the Unwritten word of God because by this they evacuate or make the other voy'd and of no Effect Command what in the Scripture God forbids and forbid what he Commands condemn what he allows allow what he condemns make that necessary which he leaves Arbitrary or Indifferent and that Indifferent which he makes necessary using the Scriptures as one Procustes a Theevish Inn-keeper in Germany is said to have Treated his Guests who having but one Bed for all Comers if he that was to lye in it was too long for the Bed he would cut off his Feet or Legs till he had made him of an equal length for it if too short he would rack and stretch him out till he had made him of a fit size for it Thus doth Rome by her Traditions inlarge and alter add to and take from pervert and wrest the Scriptures to her own and the Destruction of Multitudes of those that give up themselves to her Conduct For I desire it may be considered what an horrid injury and affront it is to the Laws of God to those Sacred Books that contain so Choice and most Precious a Treasure as the Words of Eternal Life which they propound to us must needs be to use them thus Nay what abominable insolence and contempt of God it is to accuse them of Inperfection to affirm they do not give Men sufficient Instruction to Salvation which they say they do Is there any thing that Princes do more highly resent or more severely Punish than the contempt of their Laws and Royal Edicts when instead of paying a ready and cheereful Obedience to them any Persons censure and carp at them Falsly call them obscure and defective Institutions that do not reach the ends or designs they were made for and take upon them to forge new ones to put out Counterfeit Edicts and Mandates in the Princes name which he knew nothing of and gave no consent to Just thus doth the Church of Rome treat the Great Lord and Ruler of all the World accuses his Laws contained in the Scriptures of Imperfection say's they are obscure and defective dark and unintelligible Institutions in themselves and forges new ones which it calls his Traditional or Unwriten Laws and is Fonder of or Prefers them before the other which must needs provoke his Anger and bring down his most fearful Judgments upon it even all the Woes Plagues and Curses denounc'd in Scripture against them that commit so Insolent and Hainous a Wickedness And as they affront and dishonour the Scriptures by receiving Traditions with equal reverence and devotion so in defiance to them they have Inlarged the Faith Multiply'd the Sacraments Chang'd all the Principal parts of Religion which they propound to the Christian Church They neither Believe nor Worship God according to the Scriptures but to the Faith once delivered to the Saints they have added new and false Propositions and instead of the Pure and Holy Worship God requires disgrace and provoke him with their Images and leaving the old Paths and the good way of his appointing they have invented new means and conditions of Salvation For all the points Controverted between Them Us are plainly and evidently Repugnant to the Scriptures as would appear by a particular Examination of them But this is not proper to the Subject I have in hand and hath been so fully and Unanswerably proved by many Eminent Divines of our Church Famous in their Generations Men of Renown the excellent Bishop Jewel Dr. Feild the two Whites the Arch-deacon in his way to the true Church and his Brother the Bishop of Ely in his Defence of it By Arch-Bishop Laud in his admirable Book against Fisher by the Reverend Bishop of Down in the Defence of his Disswasive from Popery to the Learned and Excellent labours of which worthy Men I refer the Reader that it is needless for me to do it again But if any of the Church of Rome think I wrong their Mother by charging her with forsaking the Scriptures I am ready to make it good when they require it of me and will prove the points in Debate between the Church of England and theirs to be contrary to Scripture and therefore most dangerous Errours and Innovations And if they depart from the Scriptures as t is certain they do which only are able to make Men wise unto Salvation and by which all Christians shall be judged at the last and great Assize of the World there must needs as all the Reformed Churches truly believe and teach be great peril of Damnation in the Communion of that Church They are out of the way which God commands all Men to walk in that would obtain the Immortal Glories and Felicities of his Heavenly Kingdom and therefore if they be Saved it must be by extraordinary ways or means 'T is possible that God whose Mercies are Infinite may save the Ignorant and well meaning People amongst them that follow the Romish Guides in the Dr. Potter Answer to Charity mistaken page 78 79. Simplicity of their Hearts Who either have not as a learned Person of our Church observes sufficient means to find the truth or else after the use of the best means they can have find not Sufficient motives to convince their Conscience that they are in Errour 'T is possible also that they who lived all their days in the Communion of the Church of Rome may repent at their Death humbly beseech God to pardon all their Sins and Errours known and unknown and so find Mercy from him who is not extreme to mark what is done amiss But if that Ignorance or this Repentance do not help them though we take not on us to pass the Dreadful doom upon them yet our Charity to their Souls obliges us to tell them their Condition is exceeding Dangerous 'T is therefore great Uncharitableness to himself for any Man that Considers what a Blessed and Desirable thing Eternal Happiness is that thinks what it is to live with God his Angels and Saints in Glory unconceivable in joys unspeakable and endless to venture his Soul in the Romish Communion where there is the greatest hazard of losing it and at most but a poor Possibility of saving it A Church which I cannot better describe than in the Words of the Person I last mentioned who was a learned and a moderate Man She brings forth Children unto God by their Baptism but then Poysons them in their Breeding Dr. Potter pages 14 15 16. When they ask for Bread she gives them a Stone and Serpents instead of Fishes To the Word of God she adds and equalls her own Traditions she reads unto them that Word but in an unknown Tongue teaches them to Pray but in Latin which they understand not directs them to call upon God but withal upon Saints and Angels to Worship God but also dumb Blocks and Images She sends them to Legends and Pictures for much
against it because 't is possible they may and easie to say nay to perswade Credulous People they have Dispensations from him to do such things But Colemans Letters they say speake of the Dukes Zeal for the Romish Church and Religion therefore he is not only a Papist but a Zealous one the inference is not certain because though those Letters say so yet they may speak falsly What are Papists so great lovers of Truth as to make any Conscience of telling a Lye Do not the Excluders think them a Faithless and Deceitful Generation and Men that have no truth in them Do they not believe that the Jesuites and others nay Coleman himself that were Executed for the Popish Plot who asserted their Innocence and deny'd themselves to be Guilty of or Privy to any such design at their Death do they not believe I say that these Men Dyed with an Impudent and Notorious Lye in their Mouthes And if they dare do that at their Death to be sure they are not affraid to do it at other times when they apprehend no harm nor danger near them They that are so Prodigal of the Blood of Princes as to think it Lawful nay Meritorious to kill them will make no Conscience of Blaspheming and Slandering them of speaking all Words that may do them Harm and Injury blast and stain their Honour render them Suspected to and Rob them of the Love Esteem and Reverence of their People Was not that glorious Prince King Charles the Martyr as I observed before Reproach'd and Ruin'd by the Odious name of Papist which his Enemy's falsly cast upon him and can any Man think the Jesuits and other Zealots of the Romish Faction were careless or backward to spread so Mischievous a Rumour to publish such a story as would Expose him to the Hatred and Contempt of a great part of his People for knowing him to be so Zealous and Resolved a Protestant that he could never be gain'd to their Church their Malice and Reveng prompted them to call or report him a Papist that they might Inrage and Provoke his Subjects to take Armes against him But there can be no Colour nor Pretence for this the Excluders will say because Colemans Letters were not writ to Protestants but Papists therefore tell a true not feigned Story Supposing them to be writ to Papists why may they not only declare Colemans Opinion of his Royal Highness Or else be an Artifice or Trick of Colemans to get Mony of the French Kings Confessor Declare the Opinion he had of the Duke for Men of that Church are very Credulous otherwise they would not be of it apt to believe any thing they either desire or fancy if a Man shew them the least Kindness chance to speak any thing in Favour of their Church though it be little and inconsiderable and he have no Thought nor Intention ever to be a Proselyte to it they believe presently he is theirs and tell it far and near what a Convert they have gain'd when no such thing is 't is probable will never be done therefore what those Letters speak of the Dukes Zeal for the Romish Church may be no more but a vain glorious Brag or confident Fancy of him that pen'd them or else a crafty Trick or Wheedle to get Mony from France or Rome or Both by the Confessors interest in both those Courts to carry on the Plot in England Coleman knowing very well that such a Story as this of the Dukes Zeal for the Romish Religion would be a mighty Motive or Inducement to prompt his Holiness and all the Zealots of that Communion to a great and Liberal Contribution the Design they had in hand being so expensive that it would too much exhaust and impoverish the English Catholicks to manage or carry it on at their own Charge Well but if the Duke be not a Papist why doth he not say so Why doth he keep the Nation in Suspence Why doth he not declare himself of the Church of England and publickly profess the most Holy and Excellent Religion Established in it To these Queries divers Answers may be given That he hath declared it for in his Speech to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London he said if my Intelligence deceive me not My Lord I am sure I am the first Man that can demand October the 21. 1679. Property in England and have the greatest Property of any Subject in England and therefore have the greatest Reason to defend it any other Man may have private Interest but I can have none for I know very well that as long as this City and this Nation are well I shall be so and that I can be so no longer And I do assure you My Lord that no one Person in all this Assembly can ever Venture his Life more freely in the Defence of this Nation and City and the Government thereof as it is now by Law Establish'd than I will and have been always Ready to do as I hope is well known If this be not plain enough His Royal Highness hath declared since if my Information be true as I believe it was That he was satisfied this Monarchy had no true Friends but the Church of England And if he be so perswaded of is as he hath the highest reason to be how can he be of any other Church Will a Prince that is next Heir to the English Crown depart from a Church he confesses to be the only true Friend to it and joyn himself to one which by consequence he acknowledges to be no true Friend to it This is too unreasonable to be supposed But these if they be admitted they will say are but private Declarations and not so generally known nor so satisfactory as a publick Declaration would be The first was publick enough being made to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London Would they have him declare it in Parliament He may do so if he pleases but it would be to no purpose to do it in an Excluding Parliament for if he tell them never so seriously that he is no Papist they will not believe him Should he make the most solemn Protestations take all the Oathes and Tests that can be devis'd Vow Swear receive the most Blessed Sacrament upon it call the Pope Antichrist and Heretick give him all the hard words and infamous Appellations he could invent it would be in Vain for the Excluders would not believe him but say he had a Dispensation to say and do all these things And therefore if he be never so desirous to declare it in Parliament Common Prudence will oblige him to stay till the Excluders are shut out of it and Men of better Principles and a more moderate temper are elected in their stead To do it before would be to tell them that which they have no Mind to hear and no Faith to believe and what can it be but lost Labour and a vain Attempt to
them to Rejoyce and be exceeding glad of them Blessed are they St. Mat. 5. 10. saith our Lord that are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when Men shall Revile you Verse 11. and Persecute you and shall say all manner of Evil against you falsly for my Sake Rejoyce and be Verse 12. exceeding Glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so Persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Behold saith St. James we count Ch. 5th 11. 1 Epist 3. 14. them happy which endure And if ye suffer for Righteousness sake happy are ye saith St. Peter and be not affraid of their Terrour neither be troubled Beloved think it not strange concerning Ch. 4th 12 13 14. the Fiery Tryal which is to Try you as though some strange thing hapned unto you But Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory shall be Revealed ye may be Glad also with exceeding Joy If ye be Reproached for the Name of Christ Happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God Resteth upon you These words had such Influence upon the Primitive Christians that they Courted Martyrdom with as Vehement and Longing desires as ever the Ambitious did the Honours or the Covetous the Riches of the World When the most Cruel Edicts were Publish'd against them they did not care to Fly or Hide themselves from the Fury of their Persecutors when the to others Dreadful Sentence of Death was pass'd upon them they gave their Judges Thanks in the midst of the most exquisite Torments they did nothing but Sing and give Thanks and Expired with Praises and Adorations of God St. Babylas Bishop of Antioch as he was led to Martyrdom broke out into these words of Joy and Triumph Return unto thy Rest Oh my Soul for the Lord Dr Patricks Witnesses to Christianity part 2d Page 646 hath dealt Bountifully with thee When Liberatus and his Monks who Defended the Christian Faith against the Heresy of Arrius were Condemn'd to be thrown bound into a Ship full of Faggots and there to be burnt in the midst of the Sea they Sung aloud this Hymn Glory be to God in the highest Behold now is the acceptable time behold now is the Day of Salvation in which we Suffer Punishment for the Faith of our God St. Ignatius as he was going to Rome to be Devour'd by Wild Beasts that being the Death he was Condemn'd to because he would not Renounce the Faith of Christ thought the time long and the way tedious and express'd his passionate desire after it Oh said he that I might come to those wild beasts that are prepared for me I heartily wish that I may D Cave Primitive Christian part 2d pa. 182 presently meet with them I would invite and encourage them speedily to devour me and not be affraid to set upon me as they have been to others nay should they refuse it I would even force them to it I am concerned for nothing either seen or unseen more than to Enjoy Jesus Christ Let Fire and the Cross and the rage of wild Beasts the breaking of Bones distortion of Members bruising of the whole Body yea all the punishments which the Devil can invent come upon me so I may but Enjoy Jesus Christ When Laurentius the Deacon espied Sixtus the Bishop of Rome going to his Id. part 2d page 183 Martyrdom he burst out into tears and passionately call'd to him saying Whither Oh my Father art thou going without thy Son Whither so fast O Holy Bishop without thy Deacon Never didst thou use to offer Spiritual Sacrifice without thy Minister to attend thee what have I done that might displease thee hast thou ever found me degenerous and fearful make Triall at least whether thou hast chosen a fit Minister to wait upon thee By this their admirable courage patience and constancy they did the highest Honour to our Lord and his Religion Shamed and Confuted all the Clamours Reproaches and false Accusations that were brought against it Convinced the wise or intelligent that Christianity was a Divine and Holy Doctrine because it inspired the Professors of it with such undaunted courage and greatness of mind as made them despise not only the pleasures and delight but the terrours and miseries of the World render'd them not only content to Dye but desirous of and in love with Death caused them not only patiently to bear but to Triumph and Rejoyce in those horrid Torments which those that stood by trembled and were affrighted to see them Endure This conduced mightily to the increasing the Church brought in Numerous or rather Innumerable Converts to it till the greatest part of the World became Christian and humbly adored the Crucified Jesus The care and concern of Christians then consisted but of these two parts to live without Sin and to Dye without Murmours or Complaints their Religion was composed of these two admirable ingredients Innocence patience this was their study to let their Conversation be as became the Gospel of Christ and to be conformed as much as they could both to the Life and Sufferings of Jesus They were neither so base nor timerous as to endeavour to shift the Cross from themselves and lay it upon others they scorn'd to do any unjust thing to decline suffering never attempted to deprive any Prince because they knew him to be an Heathen and feared he would be a Persecutor of them This this was their great care to live and dye in the Lord to Glorify him by a pure and unspotted Life by a Pious or Godly Death Hereby also they gain'd great Honour to themselves render'd their names and memories precious and immortal for the Church was careful to do all Lawfull honour to the Saints or Martyrs to those brave and worthy Persons who living shin'd as lights in the World by their Exemplary vertues and dying sealed the truth of Christianity with their Blood had that ardent love for our Lord that no dangers nor sufferings nor torments nor miseries could lessen or overcome that Zeal for his Religion which no Injuries Reproaches nor Persecutions could Extinguish The Christians used to meet at the place where such eminent Persons Suffer'd for the Faith or where their Bodies that were Slain for the Testimony of Jesus were Interr'd and make Orations in praise of them commemorate their piety and sufferings praise God for the excellent gifts and graces he confer'd upon them and Exhort one another to transcribe or imitate their Faith and Piety and Patience But this was the least and meanest Part of their Reward for as by Sufferings for Christ they gain'd Honour in this so a brighter Crown and greater Rewards in the other World for it is Evident that our Lord in the Words I mentioned before declares that they which are Persecuted for Righteousness Sake shall not only have a Reward but a great Reward in
us be at any time Removed and the Bloody Laws in Favour of the Romish Church Restored we must be content as the Ancient and Modern Martyrs have done before us to Suffer for the Truth not doubting but he that calls us to them will support us under our Sufferings not let us be tempted above what he will make us able to bear and Reward us abundantly for them in his Heavenly Kingdom And how can we Murmur or Repine to bear that Cross that will procure an Immortal Crown or think that a sad and cruel Death that will be our Conduct to a Blessed and Eternal Life Besides this may be a means to restore our Nation to its ancient Piety to recover it out of that deplorable Prophaness and Debauchery into which it is lapsed for the hypocrisy of the last Age hath produced open Atheism and Irreligion in this and the merciful God having try'd to reclaim us by other means and those very Sharp and Calamitous as War and Plague and Fire which effecting no cure or amendment upon the major part of the Nation it may be his pleasure before he utterly forsake or cast us off to see what the patience and sufferings of Martyrs will do towards our Reformation for this was the great instrument of converting the World from Heathenism to Christianity and therefore may be very effectual to reduce Christians by Profession from Heathen to Christian Practise to ingage them to live up to the excellent rules of their Religion for when lewd and vicious Persons see wise and good Men chuse rather to dye than to do wicked and unlawful things prefer their happiness in the other before all their enioyments in this World chearefully leave all that is dear to them upon Earth in hopes to reign with their Lord and Saviour in Heaven though they do at first like those fools the wise Man speaks of account their life Madness and their end to be without Honour yet when they come to consider better of it they will conclude there is great danger in Sin because such wise persons would not commit it to save so precious Jewels as their lives but chose rather to dye innocent than to live prophane and wicked be convinced there are great rewards provided for the Righteous after this Life because Men so intelligent would not but upon good grounds and the most rational evidence be perswaded to do so great and suffer so dreadful things in hope of obtaining them And when they see with what admirable courage invincible patience undaunted resolution perceive with what transports of joy they go to their Death kissing the stake and courting the flames prepared to consume their Bodies because they look for a blessed Resurrection and believe their souls will ascend by them like Elijah in his fiery Chariot to the Mansions of Glory This produces in them an high esteem and admiration of true Piety and Holiness because they effect such admirable things and from admireing them in these they proceed to love and practise them themselves that being holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy they may be fit to Suffer for and to Reign with him in Heavenly bliss and happiness So that the sufferings of the just are Instruments to convert the Wicked and from the Piety they practised in their Life and the patience they shew'd at their Death they learn to lead a good and Christian Life the casting them into the Fire though contrary to the mind or intention of the barbarous Persecutors is a means to inlighten others and they that came to see the blessed Martyr Dye go away confirmd or setled in the Faith nay resolv'd to dye for it Thus the Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church bringing forth by the blessing of God a plentiful Harvest of new Converts and therefore as it is a most wicked so it is a most imprudent attempt to endeavour to destroy the true Religion by Persecuting and putting the most eminent professors of it to Death because their Sufferings invite and allure others to it and drive none but Hypocrites and weak or foolish People from it 'T is your Wisdom then as well as duty to suffer Innocently rather than to decline it sinfully to bear the Cross your selves rather than lay it so unjustly upon his Royal Highness because our Lord pronounceth that blessed and promiseth a great Reward to them that do it but this hath a curse denounc'd against it will bring the most fearful punishment upon them that are guilty of it by that you will shew your selves Christians this will prove you Persecutors for they that oppress and wrong others upon what colour or pretence soever they do it are any thing rather than Christians instead of being number'd amongst the Righteous shall have their Portion amongst the Cruel and Unjust be the objects of his wrath displeasure Who ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutors Ps 7 14 Compare it Lastly with that Assertion of St. Paul that no Evil must be done that good may come and both the Sinfulness and Danger of Rom 3 8 your Project of Exclusion will be very Evident for of them that do Evil that good may come the Apostle saith Their Damnation is Just They shall without Repentance be Punish'd Eternally for it and it is Just they be so Punish'd By Evil the Apostle means Moral Evil the Evil of Sin any thing that is absolutely or in its own Nature Sinful and Wicked no such Evil as this may ever be done for the attaining any good whatsoever if it be the Apostle tells them that do it what they are to expect from God as their Recompence even Just Damnation We know not any greater good saith that excellent Casuist Bishop Sanderson than the Sermon 2d pa 30 Glory of God we scarce know a lesser Sin if any Sin may be accounted little than an Harmless Officious lye yet may not this be done no not for that will you speak Wickedly for God and talk Deceitfully Job 13 7 for him If not for the Glory of God then certainly not for any Inferiour end not for the saving of a Life not for the Conversion of a Soul not for the Peace of a Church and if even that were possible too not for the Redemption of a World no Intention of any end can warrant the choice of Sinful means to compass it But your attempt to Exclude his Royal Highness from Succeeding his present Majesty is the committing great and manifest Oppression and Injustice the Robbing an Innocent person of his Right the Doing that to him which you would not have Done to your selves and therefore absolutely or in its own Nature Sinful Wicked and Unlawful and it is intended for a good end to preserve the King and the Establish'd Religion from the Impious Attempts of the Church of Rome to Destroy both So that you do Evil a great Evil an Evil Aggravated as I said
not worse fears suggest and would it not be Egregious Knavery for some of the Mariners to cast the Pilate overboard because they have a wild Suspition that he will run the Ship upon a Rock on purpose to sink himself and them Besides though every man be allow'd to do all that is just and innocent for his own Preservation yet there are some Persons that must not have any injury or violence done them for any cause whatsoever because the great Author of the Law of Nature forbids it saying Touch not mine Anoynted No Provocation can ever make it Lawful for a Son to assault his Father nor for a Subject to resist his Prince because that is contrary to Nature this destructive to Civil Society of which he is born a Member and which he is indispensably obliged by the Law of Nature to preserve The Jews were full of Projects and had their Grand Expedient to save their Nation It is Expedient St. John 11. 50. for us saith Caiaphas that one man should dye for the People and that the whole Nation Perish not The Nation was in no Danger at all no Storm nor Shipwrack approaching no more Fear of the Romans than at other times only a danger feigned that they might have a poor pretence to Destroy an Innocent Person to Murder the Holy Jesus And what was the event of this Politick Expedient did it answer their expectations contribute any thing to their Safety or Security No no! instead of saving it sunk the Ship turn'd their so craftily pretended into a real danger involv'd their whole Nation in the greatest and most deplorable Ruin or Destruction and that by the Romans that ever any People Suffer'd or any History Related thereby warning all Kingdoms and Nations to take heed of such wicked Expedients never to do any unjust thing for the avoiding any danger how great or real soever or to seek the Publick Safety by oppressing or injuring any Innocent Person for God is Righteous and will be sure to Punish the wrong-doers So that the Bill of Exclusion is contrary to the Law of Nature as well as to the Law of Christ and as this forbids so that condemns it and therefore it cannot be agreable to Natural Justice unless they mean that of Mr Hobs who represents the Humane to be as savage and barbarous as the Brutish Nature and affirms that Men have no obligations upon them to do justly but what humane Laws lay upon them but that all Men have a natural Right to do every thing they please and that to all Persons for which and all his other lewd and impious Assertions he hath been sufficiently reproved and bafled by divers learned and excellent Persons The Bill of Exclusion may be acknowledg'd if that be any honour to it to be agreeable to this Wild and Atheistical Justice but Christianity condemns and Right Reason abhors it This is the true Character and real Nature Subsect 5. of your so much admired Project of Exclusion I have done it no injury laid no false colours upon to render it more deformed and odious than it is and deserves to be but have only examin'd it by the just and holy Laws of Christ and the Dictates of Right Reason that seeing what your fears of and Zeal against Popery would not then give you time to consider the high Injustice and great Impiety of it you may be ashamed and repent of it which with all humility I conjure and beseech you to do by all that is dear to you and which you have the greatest Reasons and most pressing Motives to perswade you to The Offence you have commited against God For doth not he love righteousness and hate iniquity and require that all men especially Magistrates do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with him But this Device of yours is a manifest contradiction to all these 'T is to oppress and rob an innocent person of his Right to offer him that hard Measure which you would by no means have done to your selves and therefore to do unjustly 'T is to treat an erring person for such his Royal Highness is if he be a Papist with the greatest rigor or severity to ruin or make him miserable in this because he is become as you believe a Proselyte to that Church which he if he be of it thinks though erroneously will guide him safely to the Eternal Glory and Happiness of the other World and therefore is most unmerciful If any man Err from the truth Charity prompts and obligeth us to endeavour his Conversion and to restore him in the Spirit of meekness with all mildness and gentleness to shew him his mistake and represent to him the evil and dangerous consequences of it that he may hate and forsake it But your attempt to Exclude the Duke doth not design his Conversion but Destruction leaves him no place for Repentance but intends his Ruin and therefore is Cruel not Charitable Amongst the many praises they adorn'd it with some of the Admirers of it I remember commended this Device for the mercy of it An Elogium destitute of all shadow or appearance of Truth because the punishment it would inflict is worse than Death for a brave and valiant Prince as his Royal Highness is had rather dye than survive the loss of a Crown which is his Right by Birth if he survive his present Majesty than to be degraded from and unjustly depriv'd of the highest Dignity and Honour upon Earth to see another leap over his Head get into that Throne wear the Royal Diadem and possess the Kingdoms he was born to must needs be a continual grief trouble and vexation to him and make him weary of his Life Such Iniury and Disgrace would be intolerable and cause him to dye daily to linger out a tedious Life but Death would soon put a period to all his miseries and conduct him to that blessed place where they that suffer wrongfully here shall be greatly rewarded when a Man hath no just claim to any thing that the World admires and calls great or glorious the want of it cannot reasonably create him any trouble or discontent but he is as well pleas'd with and thinks himself as happy in his low condition as others are in the highest and most honourable stations upon Earth but to be deposed or cast down from that Empire or Soveraignty which his Illustrious Ancestors enjoy'd before him and not suffer'd to Inherit the Throne of his Fathers to be laid aside as unworthy to possess the Kingdom he was born to this must needs be an Hell upon Earth the greatest or most perfect misery any Man living can endure that hath nothing to comfort or support to sweeten or ease it and therefore must needs be most rigorous and cruel If this be mercy God deliver every Man from it And being a contradiction to that Justice and Mercy he requires it cannot possibly be consistent with the other great duty the walking humbly
spread it self farther in the World but when this was done and the time come for them to confirm or seal the truth of that and to glorifie him by their Death then he was with them in the other manner to strengthen and support them in their Sufferings to give them courage patience and resolution to lay down their Lives to give Testimony to his Truth And I see no reason why this promise should be restrain'd only to the Apostles because all true Christians have great need of this presence of Christ that he should be with them hoth to protect and defend them from their Enemies and to help or support them in their Sufferings and also because the time mentioned in it reaches farther than the Age the Apostles Lived in Loe saith he I am with you alway to the end of the world which if it be understood in the narrowest sense those words the end of the World are capable of which is the destruction of the Jewish Nation by the Roman Army yet none of the Apostles but St. John lived to see that dreadful period and therefore it is most reasonably to understand it of the Apostles and the then Christians whilst they lived and of all true Christians in all Ages of the World till time shall be no more And if we of this Nation will but call to mind the former mercies and kindness of our Lord in what an eminent manner he hath been with us ever since the Reformation how graciously and wonderfully he hath guarded us from our cruel Enemies of the Romish Church we can have no cause at all to distrust him for the future How were the Romish Faction enraged at our Ancestours because renouncing their Errours Superstitions and Innovations they returned to the Pure and Primitive Christianity and yet notwithstanding all their rage fury and restless endeavours to destroy it it still continues and I hope will do to the last period of the World 'T is true indeed Queen Mary's coming to the Crown which she obtain'd notwithstanding all the Arts and Methods that were used to Exclude her obscured and removed it for a time so that it was publickly own'd only by the Martyrs and Confessors but that as was said of the Julian Persecution was but a cloud and soon vanished away for her Reign was short and Popery in England died with her For Queen Elizabeth succeeding her Restored Establish'd or most firmly Setled the Reformed Religion to the great Joy of the Nation and the indignation of Rome for that Faction were so incens'd and provoked as to try all ways to destroy that glorious Princess and with her our Religion hence proceeded frequent Treasons and Conspiracies to Poyson and Assassinate her several Bulls from Rome to forbid the Catholicks to come to our Churches to Excommunicate the Queen declare her fallen from all Dominion to Absolve her Subjects from their Allegiance and Excite them to take Arms against and depose her And such was the rage of Pope Pius Quintus against her that he declared he would be ready to aid in person to spend all St. Peters Patrimony all the Chalices and Crosses of the Church nay his very Cloaths to promote so good a work as he thought her destruction to be And when no clandestine or secret means succeeded the King of Spain sent his Invincible Armado as it was arrogantly and as appeared by the event falsly called to invade and take her Kingdom from her but all in vain for the gracious and watchful providence of God preserv'd her discover'd all the Treasons defeated all the Attempts that were made against her so that she died in peace and full of years The same good providence did also protect her most excellent Successor King James and the Parliament from the Destruction intended for them they being all by Romish Treachery and Cruelty appointed as sheep for the slaughter and the Conspirators took all possible care to prevent discovery so that it was little less than a Miracle that it was detected and thereby disappointed But I need not look so far back our present most gracious Soveraign being an Illustrious Instance or Proof of the certainty of those words of the Royal Prophet Great deliverance Psal 18. 50. giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his Anoynted For hath not a tender providence shrowded him under its Wings and confer'd the most Eminent blessings and deliverances upon him How many dangers hath he been in was he safe in Scotland when in the hands of those Men that Rebelled against and ruin'd his glorious Father Was it not possible for him to have fell at Worcester by a murdering Bullet or to be taken as he went off from that unfortunate Battell Were there no searchings for no rewards offer'd to them that could give information where the Royal Wanderer was Was the Oake such an Invincible fortress such a sure defence so safe an hiding place as to afford him protection if the power and providence of the most high had not guarded and overshadowed him And hath not the same providence that protected him then placed him upon the Throne of his Fathers and preserv'd him from those two horrid Conspiracies that of the Romish and this of the Fanatick or Common-wealth Faction By all which you may know and see if you do not wilfully shut your Eyes that the Lord helpeth or saveth his Anoynted that the Kings life is most dear and precious to him That besides those you see and so unjustly murmur at he hath an invisible guard the Angels of God to be a Security and Defence to him How then can the King be safer than under the Protection of the Almighty and why should you doubt of his Future care of him having such experience of the past deliverances he hath blessed him with That God who hath been with and so miraculously preserv'd him all his life will not withdraw his defence from him unless the sins of his People provoke him to it And your pressing His Majesty to so unjust an Act as the passing your Bill gives the World just cause to suspect that you do not really desire his safety for that cannot be had without the protection of God which is to be obtain'd only by the use of just and lawful means And therefore if you sincerely desire it as in duty and gratitude you are obliged be not faithless but trust in God and depend upon his Providence you see he hath saved his Anoynted and therefore have reason to believe he will do it still especially if you and all his People make it their frequent and earnest petition to him For Secondly is there no Efficacy in Prayer Do the pious and devout Supplications of holy and good men Prevail nothing with God Do they Call down no blessings from Heaven Conduce nothing to the safety and welfare of those that use them upon Earth If not mankind have been sadly deceiv'd for in all Ages and Places of the World the
constant custom hath been to invocate or call upon God and in all their dangers and necessities to make addresses to him in hopes to be heard protected and supply'd by his Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness for if this had not been their hope or expectation they would never have done the other for to what purpose should men supplicate such a Being as hath no kindness for and refuses to help them takes no notice of makes no return to the petitions that are put up to him 'T is true indeed most Nations of the World have been so ignorant as to present their Prayers to a wrong Object to invocate false and imaginary Deuties that could neither hear nor help them but they thought them to be wise and powerful and the dispensors of all manner of blessings otherwise they would never have gone to their Temples nor approach'd their Altars nor lifted up their hands and hearts and voices to them But we thanks be to God understand better than to be guilty of such gross and impious Errours we direct our Prayers to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is pleased to be called as by one of his most eminent titles of honour a God hearing Prayer and commands us to make our devout addresses to him nay invites us to do it with great and gracious promises It shall come to pass that before they call I Esa 65. 24. will answer and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear So propense is the Divine Goodness to help all Pious People that it will not stay to be asked but prevents them many times with great and eminent blessings and therefore much more will he do it when they humbly beg such favours of him as their present exigences require Are they in trouble or danger Call upon me saith this most merciful Being in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me And lest any man should think his condition not capable of help suppose his dangers or wants too great to be averted or reliev'd by his Prayers our Lord hath given us that most large and comprehensive promise verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name he will give it you St. Jo. 16. 23. Not every thing indefinitely but whatsoever good thing holy and good men rightly ask of him for a good End he assures us God will give it if the persons praying be pious and holy the things pray'd for just and lawful the end for which they are desired good if they be asked in Faith with submission to his holy will and pleasure with a pious importunity and dependance upon him then the Prayer is within our Saviours promise and of great efficacy with God so St. James affirms The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man Chap. 5. 16. Phil. 4. 6. availeth much is of such mighty Power with God that St. Paul commands us to be careful of nothing not to vex or disquiet trouble or torment our selves with dreadful apprehensions of the dangers that threaten and incompass us not to say how shall we escape what shall we do to decline the rage and cruelty of our Enemies but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with thanks-giving let our requests be made known unto God do but recommend your selves to God in holy and frequent Prayer with thankful acknowledgments of his former Mercies and you need trouble your selves no farther but leave the event to him who will either give you deliverance here or that which is better and more desirable eternal happiness and Salvation hereafter The more and greater our dangers are the more frequent and fervent our Prayers and Devotions ought to be for when all other helps and means have failed these have procured the most eminent blessings and deliverances the Church in all Ages hath experienced the benefit and advantage of them for the Prayers of holy men have saved Cities and Kingdoms from Ruin obtain'd Victories done Miracles shut and opened Heaven By the Prayer of Moses the Amalekites the most malicious Enemies of the People of Israel were vanquish'd by the Prayer of Asa the Ethiopians their most numerous Enemies were discomfited And by the Prayer of Isaiah and Hezekiah the vast Army of Sennacherib was destroy'd by an Angel the Seige of Jerusalem raised and he return'd into his own Land where he fell by the Swords of his own Sons And if the devout Prayers of holy men have been so advantageous and successful in former Ages how come they to have lost their power and efficacy now or to be of such small credit with Christians that they dare not trust to them and other lawful means but seek to secure themselves by those that are sinful and unrighteous May not we expect the same help and benefit by them which they have afforded others in their dangers and distresses yes certainly And therefore let it be our care as it is both our wisdom and duty to make use of these to put up Supplications Prayers and Intercessions First for the King that God will give him along Life a secure happy Reign save or deliver him from all his Enemies hide him from the gathering together of the froward and from the Insurrection of the wicked doers discover and defeat all the Councels and Conspiracies of Traytors that they may fall into the Pit which at any time they dig and be taken in the Snare which they are so Impious as to lay for him For his Royal Highness that God will preserve him from the hands of Violence from the cruel bloudy Zeal of Fanatick Spirits that he will be graciously pleased if he be a Papist to inlighten him with the knowledg of the Truth to convert him to this Pure and Holy Church that he may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus For our Religion humbly beseeching the great and glorious Author of it that he will be pleased to preserve and continue it to us and our posterity for ever that though our sinful and unsuitable lives deserve so sad and fearful a Judgment yet that he will be merciful to us not suffer his Truth to fail amongst nor his Gospel to be taken from us And that he will be pleased to keep us from dishonouring our Religion by using any unjust or unlawful means for the Defence and Preservation of it lest whilst we appear Zealous in such a way for the true we run into such errours extravagancies as will give the World just cause to think that we have really no Religion at all If these things were piously and frequently recommended to the Divine Goodness both in publick and private by all that in this Nation profess the Reformed Religion we should soon see the Blessed effects of and obtain a Gracious answer to such Prayers And therefore before we trouble our selves about any more let us try this most excellent Expedient which hath in all Ages done such wonders in the