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
so many and great expressions of his Goodness proved himself a Father and a Friend to or Lover of mankind takes no notice or care of them is to say the falsest and most unreasonable of all things because it is either to deny Wisdom Power and Goodness or to make them Superfluous or of no use at all And if he protect or take care of any 't is most reasonable to suppose the just and pious persons are those he extends that favour to because they do in some measure resemble him and are the only Persons he delights in for The Eyes of the Lord saith the Prophet are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers that is he loves and favours them highly hears them graciously and therefore guards or defends them carefully This is so certain that it is a very hard if not impossible thing to find any Nation or People professing his Truth and obeying his Laws whilst they continue in that profession and obedience so forsaken by God as to be given up to the will of their Enemies to be Ruin'd that is and destroy'd by them Their Zeal for his Glory their Reverence for his Laws their Piety and Holiness must decline and degenerate before he will cast them off particular persons though of great Innocence and Vertues may and do frequently suffer in this World but then their Crowns are brighter and their Reward greater for it in that which is to come but as for Societies of pious and good People if they be not rewarded upon Earth they cannot be rewarded at all their present Peace Safety and Prosperity being all the recompence they can receive from God as a Nation And it is a truth attested by the observation and experience of all the World that Judgments seldom if ever come Calamity and Ruin rarely fall upon a People till their great and general contempt of his Laws provokes the Almighty to inflict them Let it be our earnest care and endeavour therefore to become a righteous Nation and an holy People make it appear that we truly love our Religion by leading the pure and blameless Lives it requires of us then we shall be as safe and happy as we can possibly be in this World for the tender Providence of God will watch over and preserve our King and Us either make our Enemies to be at Peace with or deprive them of all Power to hurt us then the Truth shall flourish in this our Earth and our excellent Religion take such deep root in the Nation that no power nor policy either of Devils or Men shall be able to hurt or destroy it These as they are innocent so they are sure preservatives which every Man may and ought to make use of And besides these we have excellent Laws which are a mighty safe-guard and defence both to the King and the Establish'd Religion so that we want nothing for our security having the gracious Providence of God to guard and protect us if we commend our selves to it by devout Prayer and holy Living and such Laws to be a preservative to us that it is a vain thing to attempt either to mend or multiply them because if these cannot secure us none can All that can be done more is to remove the Subsect 7. Scandals or whatever may give his Royal Highness supposing him to be a Papist any cause to be offended at our Church for though it be not just to blame that for the Errours and Misdemeanours of them that either are or pretend to be of it because it gives no countenance nor encouragement to them yet seeing our adversaries take every occasion to asperse it 't is both prudent and necessary to take out of the way whatever may have any colour or appearance of a just objection against it create in him an ill Opinion either of Us or the Religion we profess These may be reduced to Three Heads The lamentable Schisms or Divisions that are amongst us The open Prophaneness and Wickedness into which the Nation is lapsed The great Injustice and Indignities that have been offer'd to the Duke himself First The lamentable Schisms or Divisions amongst us there being no where more sharp and bitter contentions more implacable feuds and quarrels such numerous and peevish Sects as amongst us that profess the most Pure and Primitive Christianity for by the just judgment of God our Adversaries say ever since we departed from the Catholick Church so they call the Roman like the Dove that went out of the Ark we can find no rest for the Soles of our Feet cannot agree amongst our selves nor follow that Peace without which and holiness the Apostle affirms no Man shall see the Lord but divide and subdivide separate or run from one another and are become a very Babel or Confusion This they object against and think a mighty reproach to us nay take it for a sure Prognostick of the approaching fall and ruin of our Church because our Lord affirms that an House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand which they use as an Artifice to draw People from us To this I answer that it is true indeed our Schisms or Divisions are great and deplorable that we are broken into Sects and Factions are a distracted and divided Nation But then the Question is how we came to be so and what the causes are from which they spring That the guilt of them doth not ly upon our Church is certain because it gives no just provocation to any to Separate from the Communion of it it teaches no False nor Erroneous Doctrines makes no new Articles of Faith nor any other Conditions of Salvation but those propounded and requir'd as such in Scripture It sets up no forbidden Way of Worship presumes not to inlarge the Essentials of it or to make any thing a part of Gods Worship which he hath not injoyn'd as such 'T is true indeed our Church determins the modes and circumstances of it because all Churches do it and they are not determin'd in Scripture and are so necessary to be determin'd that unless it be done the Essentials or Moral part of Gods Worship cannot be perform'd and because the leaving them Arbitrary would produce endless disorders and confusions But then these Ceremonies are not culpable as to their number unlawful in themselves as contrary to the word of God sinful in their use as being made means of grace or having any holiness ascribed to them or so highly esteemed as to be thought necessary to recommend or render the worship it self acceptable or pleasing to God nor made of perpetual obligation but are declared to be mutable Constitutions or such as may be changed or varyed as occasion serves nay quite abolish'd or taken away upon just causes by the same Authority that Instituted or Ordained them The Government also of our Church by the Right Reverend Bishops is that which is Commended in Scripture was Instituted by Christ Setled by his Apostles
World and you will find that of the Philosopher to be a great truth That Tyrants seldome live to be Old the Saints pray their Blood and Sufferings cry to Heaven against them and God Abhors and the Earth Groans under the burthen of their Crimes and Hell is ready for them How then can it be for the Dukes Honour or Felicity to be one of them to live and that but for a little time Abhor'd by God dreaded and forsaken by all good Men to die Unpityed and Unlamented to depart this World not with the Tears and Praises but with the Joy and Thanksgivings of his Subjects that by his Death they are deliver'd from the Miseries and Oppressions his Reign was attended with to have the story of his Life there being some that delight to Record the Actions of Princes transmitted to future Ages stain'd with so many Executions Cruelties and Oppressions which his setting up the Romish Religion will occasion and to be remembred no otherwise when he is Dead and gone than Plagues and Wars and the most dreadful Calamities are that is with Horrour and Amazment How unreasonable is it then to believe his Royal Highness if he come to the Crown will thus ruin and undo himself for no Reason or Inducement at all Common Prudence will not suffer him to be so much his own Enemy And therefore they that upon idle Rumours or meer Suspicions entertain such unbecoming thoughts of him do great Injury to and extremely wrong so brave a Prince who is confessed by his very Enemies to be Highly just and hath ventured his Life in defence of his Country and therefore in reason and justice ought neither to be accounted nor treated as its Enemy that hath any intention to Ruin if it be the will of Heaven that he Reign over it 'T is certain then that it is not for the Duke Interest in this World to turn Papist and therefore if he be so that cannot be the Reason of it The only Motive therefore he could have to Subsect 4. perswade him to such a change must be his Happiness and Salvation in that which is to come This indeed is the great End the Highest reason any Person can propose to himself in the Choyce of his Religion that it be such as will conduct him safely to Eternal Happiness Now if I can prove that there is no danger of missing this in the Communion of the Church of England and that there is great and apparent Hazard of losing it in the Communion of the Church of Rome then this can be no Reason for nor Inducement to such a change it being most Absur'd and Imprudent to Exchange a safe for a dangerous Church a Church wherein there is a certainty for one wherein there is at most but a bare possibility of Salvation The enquiry then must be if the case be not thus between ours and the Church of Rome whether in that there be not a Certainty in this at most but a meer Possibility of Salvation God the Supream Lord of Men as he made them to Serve and Glorify him here and to injoy or live with him in Immortal Glory and Happiness hereafter so it must needs belong to him alone to appoint what Service they shall Perform to him to declare how and in what instances he will be Honour'd and Glorifi'd by them to prescribe measures of Obedience and the terms or conditions upon which he will admit them to the Participation of that Supream and Soveraign Happiness for being the greatest good that God can give or they desire 't is most unreasonable to believe it Inconditional promised absolutely either to all or a select part of Mankind so that they shall be sure to have it though they do nothing towards the Obtaining of it And if it be proposed upon certain Terms or Conditions as it evidently is God alone must determine and propose these determine them because that transcendent Felicity being his Kind and Bountiful offer none hath any Right but he to appoint the things that must be done by Men for the acquiring of it Propose them because 'till he hath Revealed them none can know what they are To leave Mankind to their own Fancies and Conjectures in a matter of such Moment and Concern to offer them Eternal Happiness and not tell them how to Obtain it would have been a disparagement to the Divine Goodness because it would have been to Mock and Delude them with the discovery of a Treasure more precious then all the World whch they knew not how to possess themselves of if they guess'd at the way of doing of it it would be great odds but they would mistake and guess wrong leave the true Pathes or means leading to so lovely and desireable a good and follow false ones as we see all the Heathen World did in that prime part of Religion the Worship of God So that one of these two things must necessarily follow either that God had no Purpose or Intention to save or make Mankind Eternally Happy or if that be Inconsistent with his Mercy and the Benignity of his Nature that he did reveal or declare not only that he would do it but also upon what Terms or Conditions he would be pleased to do it which Revelation of his Royal Pleasure in both the parts of it being of the greatest Moment or Concern both that Men might know and admire the Transcendent kindness of the Gracious Author of their being towards them and be sufficiently Instructed how to Express or Declare their Gratitude for it in fit and acceptable returns of Obedience and Duty to him ought in Reason to be kept as the most precious Treasure and carefully preserv'd from all Change and Injury that it might descend safe and Intire to all Ages and Generations of Men and so afford them full and Perfect Instruction what they must believe and do how they must live or behave themselves in this that they may obtain the Eternal Felicity of the other World To transmit or hand down this Revelation from Age to Age from Generation to Generation through all Succeeding time from the first Publishing of it to the end of the World by Oral Tradition or word of Mouth was not possible without continual Miracles both to Preserve it intire in the Minds and Memories of the Relators and to aslure those that receiv'd it from them that they had neither by fraud nor forgetfulness Corrupted or changed it any way added nothing to it nor kept back any part of it and seeing this might be secured another way by his common Providence why should God multiply Miracles continually to no purpose for without these such a Treasure could not be safely committed to such a way of Conveyance Oral Tradition being a very hazardous and uncertain way of delivering things to others especially at any great distance of time and therefore the greater Moment the things are of the more dangerous is it to trust them to
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
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
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
they use the best and most pious methods to that purpose Princes and Magistrates 't is certain may ought to do every thing that is just and innocent for the safety of the true Religion but if they use any wicked or forbidden means to protect and defend it these by the just Judgments of God increase the danger both hasten and render the fall of it more ruinous and shameful it dies certainly because God hath determin'd it shall and that with reproach and consequently leaves an ill name behind it not by its own Demerit but by the Errours and evil Practices of its lovers and admirers Now whatever Errours either of Judgement or Practice this Device of yours leads any of the People into and whatever Ruin or Miseries they thereby bring upon themselves either in this World or in the other all these you are answerable and will be called to a sad reckoning for if not before yet in that great day when the Righteous God shall bring every work into Judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evil if you do not prevent it in time by rectifying their mistakes and changing their opinions of it which you may easily do by representing to them faithfully and plainly the great Jnjustice and Impiety of it that Religion Condemns Right Reason and common Honesty Forbids it that it is Evil in it self Dangerous to the King and Mischievous to the People and therefore to be abhor'd not admired rejected not chosen Such a Declaration as this from you will recover the People out of the Errour and Snare into which you have drawn them and reclaim them from doting on it but if you do it not so long as they have your Persons in Admiration and cry up your Opinions as Orracles they will be very difficultly if at all convinced of the Injustice of it and you omit that which is necessary to compleat your Repentance and consequently to obtain your Pardon from all whom you have thereby injured and offended If you do the other God will be merciful his Anoynted forgive and his Royal Highness be reconcil'd to you then it will be well with you and happy shall you be Well but you will say if we lay aside Subsect 6. this Expedient will not the Romans come and take away our Place and Nation must our Religion our King and all that is Dear to us be endanger'd by the Papists and shall we do nothing for our Defence and Security This is an hard saying who can bear it As for the Romans there is no doubt but they will recover their lost Soveraignty and set up their Religion here if they can though it be a great question whether they can do it and we should be very much to blame and perish cheaply if we do not use all fair and lawful means to preserve our selves But as for those that are unjust and sinful as I have proved this Project of yours to be as they will do us no good so we have no need to use them For first Is there no God nor Providence doth not he that made Govern the World Hath he no care of nor concern for them that profess his Truth and reverence or obey his Laws That he is you do not Question and you have no Reason to doubt the other because St. Peter expresly affirms it calling upon us to cast our care upon him because he careth for us Hath 1 Epist 5. 7. our Lord who when he was upon Earth did with so much Labour and so many Sufferings purchase to himself a Church and People who loved and gave himself to Death the cruel and reproachful Death of the Cross for it hath he I say no kindness for his Church no care at all of it now he is in Heaven Doth the Glory in which he shines on the right hand of his Father the Rapturous Joys and unconceivable Felicities he is there possess'd of divert his thoughts or render him unmindful of his faithful Servants and devout Worshippers upon Earth so that he cares not what becomes of them or if he bears them good will loves and is kindly affected to them is he so poor so impotent a Prince that he is not able to protect them What Shame and Folly and Impiety is it to think so meanly and unworthily of him He that when he was upon Earth healed the Sick raised the Dead and did so many wonderful works must needs now all Power is given him both in Heaven and Earth be a most mighty Saviour and Deliverer of his abillity then to help and defend us there can be no question or doubt at all all the dispute is whether he will do it And to my apprehension those words which St. Mathew relates as the last he speaks upon Earth have a favourable aspect this way Loe I am with you alway even to the end of the Chap. 28 20. world I am going from you returning to the glorious place from whence I came to take possession of the Throne prepared for me in Heaven but assure your selves that when I am there I will be careful of you though you have not my Bodily presence yet I will afford you my Protection and Assistance for those words I will be with you signifie commonly will deliver you as in that promise to the Prophet Jeremy be not affraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord and Chap 1. 8. St. Stephen speaking of Joseph saith God was with him that is as he explains it in the following Acts 7. 9 10. words deliver'd him out of all his afflictions 'T is true indeed this as all other temporal promises are must be understood cum exceptione crucis that Christ will be with protect and deliver his Church and People from all dangers and sufferings so far as is consistent with his Honour and Glory and the Interest of his Religion when their Sufferings are necessary to do him Honour in the world to recommend his Religion to others and gain Converts to it then he is With those he makes choice of to be his Martyrs and Confessors to strengthen and comfort or inable them to bear their Sufferings with Joy and Patience with a thankful and quiet Submission to his good will and pleasure And when his Sufferings can either do honour to Christ or Service to his Religion he is unworthy of the name of a Christian and can expect no portion in his Kingdom that repines at or seeks to decline them by Sinful means This was the case of the Apostles Christ was with them in the first sense to deliver them from many Dangers and all their Enemies till they had accomplish'd their Ministry preach'd the Gospel to the World appointed others to succeed them in their great holy Office left his Religion in such a condition that by his blessing and protection it was able not only to keep its ground but to make new conquests and
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
Regions above for his most faithful Servants So that a Popish King cannot be safe unless he sets up that Religion he must be a Zealous Assertor Promoter and Maintainer of it or else his own Party will depose and lay his Honour in the Dust down he must come unless a special Providence Guard him descend into his Grave by a violent and untimely Fate if he do not Imploy all his Power and skill to advance or set up that if he refuse to do this he Ruins and undoes himself for being of that Religion he must have some of its Priests to perform the Sacred Offices of it which gives them access to his Person and consequently Oppertunity to Dispatch him And therefore if his Royal Highness be a Papist and as such comes to the Crown by refusing to set up that Religion he will expose himself to the fiercest Rage of that party and Consequently to the greatest Danger though that rage of theirs will be most unreasonable because unprofitable to them all the rest of the Royal Family being known and professed Protestants so that no advantage can accrue to them by his Deposition or Death Besides 't is very probable that he may have no fear or Apprehension at all of it for if he be a Convert to that Church to be sure he hath a good Oppinion of it and thinks them honest Men or else he would never have joyn'd himself to them and being so Perswaded how can he apprehend any danger from them if he do not set up that Religion which he agrees with them in their Profession of He may think he doth the Romish Faith Honour enough by the open owning of it and sufficient Service as his Example is a great allurement to invite others to imbrace it and he may Consider that to set it up by force will produce such Cruelty and Oppressions let in so many Miseries that his Clemency and Goodness may oblige him to abhor the thoughts of doing it If it be said that every Man desires to Propagate and Advance his own Religion and therefore the Duke if he be King will have the same desire to Promote his I grant it but then I say every Man will not make use of unjust and cruel Methods for that purpose but endeavour to win Men to it by Arguments and Perswasions he will do the Religion he is of all the Right and Service he can without wronging others he will by fair and lawful ways gain all the Converts he can to it but he will not make Sacrifices of those that refuse it and no Man knows but this may be the Dukes Resolution if he come to be King and be a Papist To say he will think that God requires him to set it up and that he cannot be Saved unless he do it is to say that he will think God requires him to make three Kingdoms Miserable to commit many Oppressions Cruelties and Murders and that such Horrid things as these which God forbids and declares to be Damnable are necessary to his Salvation which are most Unreasonable for any man that is truly Religious to think If the Duke think the Roman to be the true Religion he will think God requires him to beleive and profess it and to Endeavour by all Lawful means to Convert his People to it but if those do not Prevail he must in reason think himself Obliged no farther because the using cruel and unlawful means to that Purpose is Apparently Destructive of that Salvation which he designs to obtain by Imbracing that Religion And being assured God will not be Displeased with him if he do not set it up because it cannot be done without doing those things against which his Wrath is revealed from Heaven he may either Apprehend no danger from the Professors of it or if he do despise it relying upon the Divine Protection which his Consulting the safety and welfare of the People is a great Endearment of For if he set up the Romish Religion the People must either become its Proselytes or not If they do they lose Heaven If they do not they are sure to be Miserable upon Earth For Men to profess known Errours and to Practise Gross and known Sins must needs be Damnable but all Protestants know and are Convinced in their Consciences that the Romish Church is guilty of many and great Errours Sins and Impietys Errours in Doctrine Impieties Hainous Impieties in Worship such are the Images they make of God and the Divine Honour or Worship they give unto them as also their Praying to Saints Adoring their Images and Reliques and the Elements in the Eucharist with divers other Abominations which they are Guilty of and therefore for them that are convinced of the Sinfulness of these things to turn to that Church must needs be to shut themselves out of the Kingdome of Heaven But if that be too great a good to be so parted with then to secure it they must resolve to undergo all the Miseries and Cruelties and Sad things which upon their refusing the Romish Religion will break in upon them for either they must fly from the Storm become voluntary Exiles leave their Native Country their dearest Friends and Enjoyments go seek their safety and some of them their Maintainance in other Nations which is a great and sad Calamity or else stay and be Executed as Hereticks at home And seeing these will be the Lamentable consequences of his setting up the Romish Religion I desire those that are so forward to believe he will do it to consider what advantages can accrue to his Royal Highness by such violent and Tragical actions can it be any Pleasure to him to hear the Groans of Dying Men or to see the Funeral Piles of them that are Sacrifiz'd for the Faith of Christ Blaze before him Or can it be for his safety to destroy many of his best and most Loyal Subjects and by the Terrour and Severity of their Sufferings to force others to turn Papists this is to drive them from a Loyal to a Trayterous Church and how can he expect they should be true to him whom he Compells to be Unfaithful to their God Is it for his Honour to Execute the Bloody and Inhumane Sentences of Rome upon his good Subjects to be the Popes Instrument to commit what Cruelties he pleaseth in these our Brittish Islands Is not Murder an Hainous Sin and will not Innocent Blood the Blood of those that will be Slain if Popery be set up for professing the true Faith and Holy Religion of Christ cry aloud to the Righteous God for Vengeance and Provoke him to punish him here with a short Reign with the Terrours of a guilty Conscience with one Plague and Judgment after another till he pass from Hence to the other World and instead of the Glorious Crown the Pope and his Priests flatterd him with the hopes of he find an Horrid and Intolerable Ruin Search all Histories Examine all the Annals of the