ST. Paul, after some years absence, returning again into his Native Countrey, found the malice of the Jews, who neither would embrace the Gospel themselves, nor suffer the Gentiles to be partakers of it, strong and active as possible to his Ruin: his turning his Back upon them in so publick a manner, Acts xiii. 46. And his care to deliver to all Churches of the Gentiles, the Decrees of the Council of Jerusalem, Acts xvi. 4. had fill'd 'em with so inveterate prejudices against him, that altho' in Compliance with them, he himself submitted at his return to the Ceremonies in the most solemn way, yet they surprize him in that very Action, and in the Temple it self with such Clamour and Violence, that had not the chief Captain of the Roman Garrison, then in Jeru­salem, interpos'd and with his Soldiers over-aw'd 'em, they had soon dispatch'd their formidable Enemy. He, the faithful servant of Almighty God, found more favour and justice from the hands of Claudius Lysias an inferior Commander, from Covetous Felix, and too Popu­lar Festus, tho' strangers to true Religion, than he could from his own Countrey-men, Gods peculiar People, who boasted themselves of their Zeal for the [Page 2]Name and Commands of the same Divinity he Preach'd, the Jews prosecuted him with their viru­lent and improbable slanders, and their desperate and bloody Associations, while Heathens, persons of a very Moderate Vertue, gave him Protection and Security. Nor could all St. Paul's sacred Eloquence, the dictates of the everlasting Spirit, quell their Fanatick Rage; nor his baffling their absurd Accusations, in spite of their Mercenary Orator's Assistance, allay their Malice; tho' he could prevail upon King Agrippa so far as to perswade him almost to be a Christian, and upon Festus the Roman Goverour to pronounce him Innocent, and not to have merited any restraint but for his Appeal to Caesar, Acts xxvi. 28.31, 32.

Festus indeed gave the Jews all the advantage ima­ginable against St. Paul, had they had any proof of what they Accuse him for: he invited the ablest of 'em to go down with him from Jerusalem to Caesarea, where the Apostle was Prisoner, and there to Accuse him if there were any Wickedness in him, vers. 5. of this Chapter, he makes no long delays, but, after a short time, sits in the judgment Seat, and commands Paul to be brought to the face of his Accusers; who standing round about him, strove to render him as black as they could: they laid many and grievous Complaints against him, but, alass! they were clog'd with an unhappy circumstance, for of all the Crimes they impeach'd him, they could not prove one, v. 6, 7. And Paul Answer'd their Charge with a more probable [Page 3]Plea for himself, That neither against the Law of the Jews, nor against the Temple, nor yet against Caesar had he offended any thing at all, that is, That he had nei­ther transgressed those setled Laws whereby the Govern­ment of their Nation was regulated in temporal Affairs, nor had he slighted, vilified or made any Schism in their Religion, nor had he despised or profaned that magnifi­cent Temple, built and dedicated among them to the Worship and Honour of the true God; neither yet had he enter'd into any Plots, Confederacies, or Associations against the Person or Government of the Roman Em­perour; their then Lawful and Ʋndoubted Sovereign, nor refused Obedience to his Laws, nor Rebelled against him.

This Apology which S. Paul makes for himself, seems little agreeable to the Practice of those blood-thirsty Saints, whose Barbarous Piety broke the Church of England to pieces, profaned all the Houses of God in the Land, overturned all Laws of God and Man; and dip'd their cruel hands in the Sacred Blood of their Law­ful Prince, the Lords Anointed: A Crime of so horrid a Complexion, as (tho too true some few years since) was beyond all the Ideas of Impiety in the former, and will be almost too great to obtain Credit in all future Ages. If I be an Offender, if I have really contracted that Guilt which the Jews pretend only to prosecute in me with so much zeal and eagerness, if I have com­mitted any thing worthy of Death (and Sins against just Laws, pure Religion, and Lawfully acquired Sove­reignty [Page 8]are truly such) if I have done any such thing, says our great Apostle, I refuse not to dye. Death is justly due to such Criminals; and tho' per­haps Humane Justice may oversee some of the foul­est actions, Divine Vengeance is guided by an All­seeing Eye, and sooner or later will give them their just Reward: So far was he from excusing, and much farther from glorying in such cursed Actions. Nay, he was willing in his case to Appeal to the Justice of Cesar, where the Murderer of his Father would scarce have expected Pardon, from whose Presence our great Patriots labour'd to fly as far as they could.

From the Accusation of the Jews, (which of what nature it was we may conjecture from the Speech of Tertullus ch. 24. and from St. Paul's Defence,) we may learn what are the Beginnings, what the En­crease, and what the End of Troubles and Disorders in a Church or State. The Jews had a great Vene­ration for the Temple of God and those Laws by which the Worship of God in that Temple were Regula­ted, those Rites and Ceremonies which attended their Religious Constitutions, they justly condemn St. Paul, had he been guilty, of profaning their Tem­ple, preaching down their Ceremonies, and breaking those Rules delivered to them by God himself: He an­swers for himself that against their Temple, against their Religion he had committed no offence. They accuse him as a Pestilent fellow, a mover of Sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, so a breaker of their [Page 9] Countrey Statutes, and their Politicks, having had the Sanction of Almighty God himself (for what Nation was there so great, who had God so nigh unto them, and what so great that had Statutes and Judgments so Righteous, as that Law which Moses in the Name of God set before them, Deut. 4.7, 8.) if it were true, they had reason for their Impeaching him, Im­punity giving the greatest encouragement to Factious Spirits. He replyes that he had not offended against the Law of the Jews; His enemies taking the two former Articles for granted, make their Third a ne­cessary and rational Inference from them, that he was an Enemy to Cesar, and so whosoever was a mover of Sedition or Division among his Subjects must unavoid­ably be. But the Apostle by taking his Innocence in the former respects to be evident and granted, there being no tolerable Proof offered to the Con­trary from thence (yet more justly) concludes that neither against Cesar had he offended any thing at all. The Jewish Accusation then amounts to this, Where Ecclesiastical Injunctions are broken, there the breach of Laws Temporal is a present Protection, and Rebellion against the Law-maker the Sovereign, sup­posed a more lasting security; and this Politick Axiome they apply to the Prisoner. St. Paul acknowledges the truth of that Proposition, but denies the Applica­tion, tho' they had asserted what was true in it self; yet their Assertion could not reach him, tho' he in­sinuates at the same time that nothing but an Ʋniver­sal [Page 10]Innocence, could be a sufficient Defence against such an Accusation, having such a President as this, I shall endeavour from hence to evidence that indis­soluble Connexion there is between these Crimes, which St. Paul so industriously in the Text and elsewhere Vindicates himself from, or that a Contempt and breach of Laws Ecclesiastical, introduces consequentially the Contempt and breach of Laws Temporal, and that Rebel­lion against the Lawful Supreme Powers, which what success it may sometimes have, this days sad Solem­nity sufficiently informs us; and

1. Let us duly consider the Trespasses committed against the orders of a true Church, those Canons and Rules appointed for its better Government, which Trespasses soon break out into endless Schisms and Separations.

That there is indeed some such thing necessary as Ecclesiastical Polity for the Government of the whole Body of Religious Professors within such or such a district, is acknowledg'd by the express Consent or open Practice of all Churches whatsoever; and the end prescrib'd to all Religion whether true or false being the Honour of the Supreme Being, and the secu­ring a perfect and substantial Happiness to Man, all Ecclesiastical Constitutions, according to the various Capacities of Mens understandings are adapted to that end, all concurring as much as possible with that Apostolical Canon, that all things should be done to Edi­fying, 1 Cor. 14.26. that is, that all Particulars or [Page 11]Circumstances whatsoever may be so contriv'd, all Laws so framed, as to confirm and strengthen as well as instruct the Professors of such a Religion, in those principles which the first Advancers of that Religion endeavour to inculcate into their Followers as most directly tending, according to their best apprehen­sions, to those great ends before named. Thus what­soever God prescrib'd in the Government of the Ju­daic Church, all those Ceremonial Appendages of it aim'd at this, to make the Natural Jews or those Proselyted to them, to have a due respect and Ho­nour to that Religion he had setled among them, to acknowledge the infinite wisdom, goodness and ab­solute Dominion of God to and over them; that so they, sensible of the difference between God's wis­dom and their own, and of his favour to them in con­descending to be their Law-maker and Counsellor, might acquiesce in his Commands, and study to act and live accordingly. In the same manner that infamous Impostor Mahomet, contriving a motley Religion, such a Hotchpotch of Fooleries as best might suit to the variable tempers of Men, for the more sure irra­dicating it into their minds, gave such Laws to his deluded Disciples, that a due Obedience to them must of necessity make their Errors the more inve­terate, and possess them with an invincible Bigottry for that Religion by which alone they hoped to at­tain to their truly ridiculous Paradise.

If we take a view of the Church of Rome and [Page 12]that adulterated Religion it holds forth, we find its Canons and Constitutions very numerous and al­ways encreasing considerably with those new Super­stitions invented and entertain'd by it. And as that Church lays a great deal of weight upon that straw and stubble which they have raised upon the more excellent and solid foundation of the Gospel, as it recommends all its Superstitious and Idolatrous Inno­vations to its Members as the best and most ready means for the gaining everlasting Salvation; so that prodigious heap of Ceremonies, with which its Di­vine Worship is encumbred, far more than ever the Jewish Church was before, are employ'd to make their Novelties the more valuable, and that large Body of the Canon Law there receiv'd as the standard of Ecclesiastical government, obliges all Persons in that Communion to such a method of Practice, as cannot but agree with, and gradually instill, such Principles into their minds, as may make them exactly confor­mable to even the grossest Errors which may be im­posed upon them, under the notion of assistances to Heaven.

Let us but consider the Case of those great di­sturbers of the Peace of the Church of England in the Days of Queen Elizabeth, when they had pickt what faults they could with the publick and Authen­tick Constitution of its Government, when they call'd aloud for greater Purity in Religious Ordinan­ces, and a more thorough Reformation, to that end [Page 13]they were very active to contrive a form of Disci­pline, which they call'd the Discipline of Jesus Christ, which all who were true Professors were to submit themselves to: which Discipline was of such a Nature, as that the deeper impression it made upon the minds of Men, the more violent prejudices would it fill them with against the Orders of our Church as by Law establisht, the more inflexible would it make them to all motions to quietness and submission, the more closely would it knit and unite them in one society, and all under the plausible pretence of pleasing God and securing their own Happiness the better.

And the wretched Successors of that unhappy ancestry, in the times of our late Troubles, when they had by their treacherous practices Confounded all things Sacred and Civil, and had setled them­selves in the Supreme Power among us, for the support and desence of themselves were necessitated to make a Directory for the worship of God, and to endeavour the settlement of a Classical Presbytery, for the due Execution of such Laws as should be necessary for the establishment of their Confused Church; and the Independents or Congregational Men where they bear the Sway, as in New England, are forced to settle certain rules of government in their Churches, nay the Quakers themselves are not with­out some Methods of Policy in their Conventicles. All these, agreeing as far as possible with those fond and Sceptical principles the several Factions have stu­died [Page 14]to advance; and to do thus, in the sense of all those I have instanc'd in, is to do what tends in their several ways to Edification: and indeed this course seems agreeable to Natural Prudence tho' we had no Divine Command for it.

This then being a Method so universally agreed to, it seems very obvious, that a breach made upon it, must necessarily tend to the dissolution of that So­ciety wheresoever it is admitted; and yet a nicety or tenderness of Conscience, as it is abusively called, is as good a Plea for allowance of such a breach in one Church or Religious Society, as in another. He who has scruples against the Jewish Church-Laws, may have scruples too against Mahometism, against Popery, against Presbytery, Independency, nay, against all the Religion in the World, if a pretence to such a ten­derness and scrupulosity be enough to loose every Bond, and to break every Yoak; and it must needs procure Con­tempt to the best and purest Religion, if it be not thought worth the while to oblige men by all just ways to those Laws whereby it is guided and esta­blished. When Sects and Heresies were permitted among the Jews notwithstanding the Fundamen­tal Constitutions of their Church, the solid Doctrines of Truth delivered to them by the Divinely inspired Prophets, dwindled away into nice and useless Spe­culations, obscure glosses and uncertain and Heretical Traditions: Sincere Piety gave place to the transi­tory flashes of Hypocrisie, and Intestine Broils and [Page 15]Divisions, in the Heat of which God's Honour was forgotten, contributed largely to the utter ruine and subversion of their Nation; which was indeed no wonder, Vengeance commonly taking place where Faith is banish'd; and so low was that grown among them, that a poor Proselyted Centurion exprest more of Faith to our Saviour than he could find in Israel, Matth. 8.10. And since the time that the Followers of Mahomet gave way to new Prophets and Exposi­tors of the Originals of their Profession, their zeal is extremely abated, and much of that debauchery and irreligion, which the very Alcoran forbad, has gotten ground and favour among them, and the Pa­pacy has lost as much almost of its power and Inter­est in these parts of the World by the relaxation of its Discipline and Indulgence to Contradictory Doctrines and Practices, as it has gain'd by all its Legendary Miracles and new-fangled Arts and Stratagems, assist­ed with the extraordinary activity of its most zea­lous Agents and Emissaries.

Thus Puritanism in our Fore-fathers days, through its ineffectual attempts to settle the Holy Discipline, prepared the way to Brownism and separation; a little loosening the Golden Reins of Government in the Church of England, gave entrance and encrease to super-Puritanical Presbytery; and that, not being suf­ficiently guarded by Directories and Ordinances, in­troduced Independency, Quakerism, Familism, Liberti­nism, and all the Sects and Heresies, and more than [Page 16]ever the Christian World had been acquainted with before.

When Humane Politiques first took place, and men united themselves into regular Bodies, it was present­ly found that the wisest and most rational Laws could not restrain the extravagancies of the multi­tude, unless some penalties were annexed and a Power setled in some particular persons to execute those penalties upon offenders; the same was prov'd true in Religious affairs also; for though the ground and reason of all commanded or forbidden was ne­ver so plain and notorious, yet Corrupt Man was ungovernable by pure Reason and wisdom; so that some punishments were as necessary among Ecclesi­astical as among Civil Criminals; and this necessi­ty has always made a necessary Connexion between the Temporal and Spiritual Laws, that one might be Assistant to the other; that Religion might oblige men obedience to the Civil Powers, and Corporal punish­ments compel them to submission to the Church. Thus God himself in the Jewish Government joyns the Judge and the Priest together, Deut. 17.8,—13. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, being matters of Controversy within the gates, then thou shalt arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse, & thou shalt come unto the Priests the Le­vites and unto the Judge that shall be in those days, and enquire, and they shall shew thee the sentence of judg­ment [Page 17]and the Man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest, that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the Judge, even that man shall dye and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel, and when the Law was compleated by Moses, we are told that he wrote this Law and deli­vered it unto the Priests, the Sons of Levi, which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and to all the Elders, i. e. the Princes and Civil governors of Israel, Deut. 31.9. so making the Priests and the Princes joynt Commissioners in the encouraging mo­ral vertue and devotion, and in repressing irregularity and disobedience, and though the sentence of Excom­munication denounced only by the Pastors and Go­vernours of the Church be really the most dreadful of all others, yet so much quicker generally is Man's sense of bodily than of spiritual pain or danger, that the Temporal Magistrate is frequently forced, for the keeping Men in the better aw, to make the Execution of National Laws, the best evidence of the inconve­niences attending of the Anathema's of the Church; those who are willing enough to quit for ever God's service, being very loath to lose the smallest temporal Revenue or Privelege.

This mutual Assistance which Civil and Ecclesiasti­cal Laws give to one another, has at all times been found of so good effect for the keeping Men in due bounds of sobriety and obedience, that so soon as there were any Christian Princes, they presently set [Page 18]the Seal of their Authority to the Canons and Rules made by Church Governors for the use of Christi­ans: So the Imperial constitutions gave security to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, that men might know there was a Coersive Authority invested in their spiritual Su­periors, and that such a one, as from which there could lye no advantageous appeal; and on the other Hand Church Censures gave a strong confirmation to Imperial Sanctions, evidencing the Consistency of Supreme Dominion and the power of Sword with the fundamentals of Christianity, from which to the great satisfaction of temporal Princes, it must notoriously appear that no Insurrection, Conspiracy, Rebellion, or the like, could be commenced for Conscience-sake, but that Conscience indeed under the Conduct of the Divine Law, would oblige men to fidelity and sub­jection to their Rulers, not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward, and hence it is that tho' there be a power inherent in the Fathers of this Church of ours and that deriv'd from Christ himself, by which they may Anathematize Sinners and suspend unwor­thy persons from Church Communion, or admit Con­verts to it; yet their Government is made the more easie and successful, by having the favour of our National Statutes the Common Laws of the Realm; by which while they meddle only with such things as are under their Cognisance, they are protected from the malice and Revenge of Atheistical and un­reasonable men.

[Page 19] Had the Apostles been blest with the same Assi­stance, it is no doubt but the Gospel might have made at least more seeming Converts to it; the power of working Miracles, the striking of guilty persons dead with a word, as in the case of Ananias and Sap­phira, did indeed in some measure supply that want and yet even then, much more in the time of the next Successors, whosoever thought himself not ho­nour'd according to his merit, could make a defecti­on from the Church and contrive and propagate Heresies to ruine that Church, if possible, which had rejected them; of which Simon Magus was a remark­able instance, or if any were excommunicated for the foulest Crimes, they could but turn Heathens again, and in revenge use their interest to raise a per­secution against or to blaspheme Christianity, and all this without any fear of being punish'd by the Ci­vil Magistrate. But tho' men had then those ways of evading punishment for the present, that subtilty was no alleviation but an aggravation of their Sin: and though upon a Church-Censure denounc'd a­gainst them, they flew in the face of their Censurers in confidence of their impunity, those first and Master­builders of the Church were not so frighted from their duties, well knowing that tho' they escaped here, they would find the dreadful weight of a just­ly inflicted Anathema hereafter.

But from a transgression of these Rules of Church Polity innumerable Sins take their original, the pre­cepts [Page 20]of Christianity are severe and mortifying, and corrupt men are loath to be compell'd to take such pains for Heaven, which makes them oppose and vi­lify such Sanctions with the utmost vigour, and re­solve frequently never to submit to them unless upon their own terms, which gives ground for separation. So the bruitish Gnosticks of old, cavill'd at the imper­fection and impunity of Church Discipline even in the Apostles time, and under pretence of greater Holiness and knowledge, receded from the faithful Believers; and what seminaries of filth and impiety their Conventicles prov'd upon it, Church History sufficiently informs us. Upon the same reasons have all those Schisms in the several Ages of the Church been made; when the severity of Discipline pinch'd them, they have cried out for want of it, and under that pretext have made a shift to live without any at all. Nor can we in this present Age upon the strickest Enquiry, find more loosness, falshood, self­ishness, or uncharitableness among any people whatsoever, than among those, who upon pretence of Conscience, make fractures in the Church of God; nor can that pretence extenuate the Sin of Separation▪ unless one Sin, be the best Argument to excuse another by, or an Error in Opinion the best plea for an Error in Practice; and the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church being both built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone, it can [Page 21]appear strange to none, if they respect one another, and concur to the building up and confirming men in their most holy Faith; nor can any wonder at our Churches censuring those persons, who can no way prove any Divine Command evacuated by her Laws, nor shew any thing derogatory in its Consti­tution from the Honour of God, and that reverence due to his Sacred Word, nor find any impediment in its tendries to that Spirit and Truth requir'd in the worship of God, and yet with an empty cry against it of Popery and Superstition, to which It of all other Churches is the most irreconcileable Enemy, divide themselves from its Communion, labour night and day to enlarge that division, encourage obstinacy in that practice from the Pulpit and from the Press by the blackest Calumnies the Devil can suggest against its Members, Pastors and Governours, as if it were of the essence of true Protestant Religion, as well as that of the Jesuits, to lye stoutly, that somewhat may stick to their purpose. St. Paul's practice was not such, the Jewish worship and Doctrine was Corrupt­ed indeed, and he endeavoured to reform them ac­cording to the appointment of the Saviour: but he represents them not worse than they were, by ficti­tious Stories, he sow'd no divisions among them; nay, we find not that among them he endeavour'd to perswade any to reject the Ceremonial Law of Moses, though he would not admit of it among the Converted Gentiles; nor against their Temple did he [Page 22]commit any offence whatsoever; and if it be alledged that he preach'd against their Commands and in pri­vate, the Objection answers it self; they would not give way to Christs Doctrine, therefore Paul and the rest of the Apostles must preach, or the World must still have continued in Darkness: but we preach Christ and him Crucified as well as the Objectors, we hope to be sav'd by his Merits and Mediation as well as they, we forbid them not to speak in the name of Christ when they are lawfully called to it; but we forbid them to Preach up their own fancies and ill-grounded opinions, to fill mens heads with useless, idle and confounding scruples, to instil a Pharisaical pride and uncharitableness in the minds of weak, but well meaning Christians; and here the Civil Power strikes in with the Prohibition, and they incur the Penalties of the National Laws, who employ them­selves so: those are to us, as the Rabbins say the Ma­sorah is to the Mosaic Law, the Hedge and sence of our Church power; which keep the wild Boars, the Wolves and Foxes from breaking in upon us, and hap­py sure are we to whom God has given such Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers, who have that care to protect from growing and encroaching Enemies. But Hinc illae Lacrymae, hence all those tears, those sad complaints of persecution, were but the Cherubins and flaming Sword the Government and Laws remov'd from the gates of our Paradise. How soon would our Enthusiastick and Tender-Conscienced Saints rush [Page 23]into all places of Power and Profit, seize the Tree of Life it self, and once more glut themselves with the Blood of the Slain. But now, alas! the edge of that fatal Sword is turned upon them every way, the Gar­den of God is not to be rooted up by them; other Arts therefore must be tryed, embroil the State and Church disorders shall escape unpunishment; and this hint brings me to the next degree of wickedness, which the Apostle in the Text purges himself from, i.e.

. From any offence committed against the Law of the Jews, those Politics whereby their State was governed, the natural Consequence of troubling and dividing the Church; the Gnosticks the Spawn of Simon Magus, were the first Hereticks that Broke the peace of the Church, and the first pretenders to Christianity that appear'd in opposition to the Caesa­rean Laws, engaging even in Rebellions contrary to that Doctrine they profest to own. Nor did those zealots among the Jews who thought the rest of their own Nation too impure for their Society, trans­gress less when they sent for the Edomites to assist them in ruining their Native Country and oppres­sing those who were better than themselves, and how frequently the Edicts of Christian Emperours were slighted by the Arrians, Eutychians, Donatists, and other Hereticks and Schismaticks, we may learn from the most Authentick writers of Church History, and indeed this Crime seems inevitable where the former is admitted; since those who separate from others [Page 24]on account of purer administrations, and so make a Schism in the Church, must of necessity hold meet­ings of their own Associates, to make a show of Di­vine worship and so break the Edicts of the State.

It is plain that Ʋnity in the Church and State, both carrying on the same good design, must needs be the most happy and desirable thing in the World; but if every one be permitted to act according to this own appre­hension in the one, it must unquestionably produce confusion and have a fatal influence on the other. Thus if a man be permitted to separate from the Church of God, and to enjoy his own way quietly in that state of separation, if he believe the end of Church Discipline and Laws generally to be the good of his Soul, his better part, he may reasonably conclude he may as well and upon as good grounds withdraw his obedience from the Laws temporal, which only con­cern his Body, his meaner part, or his estate and For­tunes; and this principle once entertain'd, what the Consequences of it may be, a very ordinary Capacity will soon discover. So we see it has been questioned by Anabaptists, Socinians, and others, whether it be lawful for a Christian to exercise the Authority of a Magistrate, or to assume to himself, though enabled by never so many humane Laws, the power of Life and Death; now what trouble such Sectaries and Hereticks have given to the Churches of Christen­dom we all know: but may they not as justly que­stion whether it be lawful for a Christian to submit [Page 25]to any such Authority as he concludes unlawful and an usurpation; and if they may not submit to Laws, and if they may not be compell'd by punishments, extending to Life and Limb, to that submission, the Legislative power must be of small value, it being a mere Scare-crow at which none but Fools can tremble.

I am ready as any Man to Believe, that were all men as sincerely Religious as they ought to be, Laws without penalties or bare directions from their Supe­riors, would be enough to govern them by: but the World is acquainted with no such perfection, and therefore that burthen which men by Sins have brought upon themselves, they must submit to; and as self-preservation will engage a man who has seve­ral enemies to secure himself from their attempts by all means imaginable, the same reason obliges Princes and other Publick persons, who are the constant ob­jects of Envious and Ambitious Spirits, to fortify themselves by the best Laws and those by the best Alliances they can find out. Now tho' Heathen Princes, out of a distrust of that Religion, with whose Principles they were utterly unacquainted, were afraid to expect security from their own Christian Subjects, and therefore rather chose foreign Confede­racies and Leagues whereby they might be able to de­press those whom they always suspected (tho' un­justly) ready for a Rebellion; Yet Christian Princes have insisted on contrary Methods, and have endea­voured, [Page 26]by Unity and mutual Confidence in their Subjects, to secure themselves against Foreigners, for which end they have advanced uniformity in sacred Worship as well knowing, that Nothing can create a more complete Love and Union among men than a close agreement in the weightiest actions of this life: and this agreement at home once well setled, a Con­federacy abroad against their own Subjects, if they be Christians indeed, is altogether needless. But this Ʋni­formity must be establish'd and impos'd by Law: for we sind sew Subjects so submissive to their Rulers, as for their bare desire to agree to any such thing; and by this means it comes to pass that Church Ʋnifor­mity cannot be interrupted, but Civil Constitutions must be broken at the same time; that a Schism can­not commence in the Church, but it will produce a faction in the State; every one concluding it their Interest to cry up those of their own opinion, and they, if in power, making a retribution of encourage­ment and protection. While the Constituent Mem­bers of the Church and State are but Men Subject to mistakes and Errors, it can be no hard matter, for malicious Wits to find several imperfections in both. The most pious and wise among Church-Governours and State-Politicians may take wrong measures of things, and ordain sometimes such things, as, though Lawful, may upon tryal be found inconvenient, or though their Ordinances may be proper for the pre­sent Juncture of Affairs, yet they may be impracti­cable [Page 27]afterwards: So the Canons of the Apostles con­cerning abstinence from things strangled and from blood, though absolutely necessary to prevent giving Scan­dal to the Believing Jews at that time, and though Dictated by the Holy Ghost, yet when the reason of that Canon ceas'd, was soon antiquated and laid aside by the Churches in General: So we in this King­dom have had several Statutes made only upon pro­bation for a term of years, which expired, as they were found profitable or otherwise, they were re­newed or repeal'd: now this argues an acknowledg­ment of imperfection on both sides, but is no reason for the disobedience of private persons on either. It is the Apostles command, Heb. 13.17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your selves, for they watch for your Souls, as they that must give Account, that they may do it with Joy and not with grief; and it is a command back'd with the same authority, 1 Pet. 2.13, 14, 15. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake, Whether it be to the King as Su­preme, or to Governours as those that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil doers, but for the praise of them that do well, for so is the will of God, that with well doing we may put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. Now these commands being of the same Au­thority and force, being both absolute and illimited, and respecting both our Temporal and Spiritual Governors, he that can dispense with his respect for one, may as warrantably absolve himself from the obedience due [Page 28]to the other: nor can it be imprudence in any Prince to believe with Constantius the Father of Constantine the Great, that those who are undutiful to their God, can never be faithful Subjects to their Sovereign.

The Author of the Life of Julian the Apostate, has had the Impudence to tell the World, That the Christians summitted to the Heathen Emperours of old, merely because they were unable by reason of their small numbers to resist, which contradicts the opinion of Tertullian, who even in persecuting times assures us, that the Christians were so numerous that a bare quitting the Roman territories had been revenge enough against their persecutors (In Apologet.) 'tis strange he did not give them the same reason of Christ's yield­ing himself to that infamous Death of the Cross; but it happens unfortunately, that our blessed Saviour, the Captain of our Salvation, tells Peter, that he could pray to his Father, and he should presently give him more than twelve Legions of Angels, Matt. 26.53. Assistants enough to baffle the utmost force of the Jews, and it seems as Cross to his Assertion, that St. Peter himself tells us, that, if we do well, if for Conscience-sake toward God we suffer though wrong­fully, and suffer patiently, not because we cannot help it, this is acceptable with God, For even hereunto were we called, because Christ also, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who when he was reviled, re­viled not again, when he suffered, threatned not; he suf­fered for us, leaving us an Example that we should fol­low [Page 29]his steps. 1 Pet. ii. 19, 23. And St. Paul com­mands Every Soul to be subject to the higher Powers, not because they were too weak to rebell, but because those that resisted, resisted the Ordinance of God, which no strength or multitude could justifie, and they that resisted should receive to themselves damnation, Rom. xiii. 1. Now he who could think a Rebellion against a Lawful but persecuting Prince consistent enough with Christian Patience and Meekness, if there were but Force enough to carry it on, would never scruple if his tender conscience were disturbed by Canonical Impositions, to revenge himself on that Government as soon as possible, which should dare to Countenance the Imposers, of which Truth this day has given us a dreadful instance.

But since the Power of the Civil Magistrate, is the defence of Church Government, and that the same Civil Magistrate is obliged, by long setled Laws and Statutes, to the protection of it, the best means as yet found out to help this Grievance has been to get those Laws Repealed by which Sectaries and Schisma­ticks suffer. Now when we consider that even the most Arbitrary Monarchs have their Counsellors, of whose Advice they make use in all difficulties, and by whose Advice the standing Laws are fram'd, and that the same Power which Enacts Laws is re­quired for their Repeal; the design of discontented per­sons is, to procure the advancement of men like-min­ded with themselves to the Cabinet Counsels of Princes, [Page 30]that so, by their Assistance, they may procure the disanulling or at least the suspension of Pinching Sta­tutes. Or if, as in this Nation, the Prince calls toge­ther the Representatives of his People, chosen by their own Suffrages, to consult de arduis regni negotiis, about the most weighty Affairs of the Kingdom, by whose Authority, enlivened by the accession of the Royal Consent, Acts are composed and made publick, whereby such or such a party of men are restrain'd from that Liberty they imagine themselves born to, it is the employment of the same Malecontents, by fair and plausible pretences, and sometimes unjustifi­able subtilties, to make the Votes of the populace concur with their own desires in the Election of such persons for the great Council of the Nation, who have nothing less than the Good of the Nation in their thoughts, who only serve the Interest of that Party who chose them, by restless endeavours to enervate establisht Laws, or wholly to lay them aside: of this the Late Times give us too plain Examples.

The Puritans as they were then stiled, that busie and indefatigable Party, while they were but few in number, and so not likely to prevail in a publick Choice, endeavour'd by their Admonitions and Ad­vices to the Members of Parliament as already chosen, to allure or to affright them into an Agreement with that Holy Discipline they then labour'd Night and Day to set up: but when they found those worthy Patriots more Prudent, and Resolute than to take any [Page 31]notice of their Flatteries or of their Threats, that their Paper pellets could make no impression on them, they strait pursued another Method; they tryed all ways possible to curry favour with Men capable of serving in that Great Senate, they courted the good opinion of the Multitude by exclaiming against the Vices of the Age, especially against those of the Court, and of the best affected to the Establish'd Government, by de­claiming loudly against the Excesses committed under the Protection of Episcopal Government, by professing the greatest aversation possible to the Ʋsurpations, the Superstitious and Idolatrous Doctrins and Practices of the Church of Rome, the Commonalty apprehen­ding nothing more Terrible than that Bloody Inqui­sition necessarily (as they supposed) admitted with the Romish Religion, they ript up all the Immoralities of the Conformable Clergy, and added their own Fables to the Tale, shewing themselves in the mean time very precise and demure in publick. By these and other Artifices their Strength encreased, several openly owning them, and great numbers encouraging and favouring them privately: Nay many very sober and conformable persons were so far deceived by a gay outside, as to conclude it impossible for men of so much seeming Innocence and Holiness to carry on any Ill Designs, on which account not giving them so vigorous an opposition at first as was needful, they easily gain'd and made so considerable a Party in the Great Council of the Land, as first was able to give Check to [Page 32]their Prince, afterwards to embroyl him in several Wars, and at last to deny him all Supplies for the carrying those Wars on, unless at the Price of break­ing his Coronation Oath, quitting the Protection of the True Church of God, reversing those Laws which under God secured the Crown on his own Head, Dethroning himself, and putting the Reins of Government into the hands of a few Arbitrary and Domineering Demagogues. And this is the short and true Scheme of those Hellish Politicks by which Three Kingdoms were almost brought to Desolation.

And who can wonder at that dismal event of things? from those who enter into courses of Separa­tion out of Spleen or Revenge, every one knows what is to be expected; and as for those who follow them from motives which they imagine to proceed from Conscience, their Zeal is commonly so hot and furious, that being Confident of the Divine Obligation and nature of those Rules they walk by, and of the despe­rate and damnable Errors which those who agree not with them in all things run themselves into, they conclude the utter Extirpation of all such to be the doing the work of the Lord heartily: they think no means too violent to propagate their Opinions, nor that any kind of Cruelty which compells men whe­ther they will or not to go to Heaven. If such imagin the Established Church to be that Babylon so much condemn'd in Scripture, 'twill not be enough for them the People of God, to come out of her, but the Daughter [Page 33]of Babylon being destined to destruction, Happy shall he be that takes and dashes her little ones against the stones; according to the Psalmists expression, Ps. 137.8, 9. Nay what can it be accounted but the most compleat Charity for me, when I am sure I am in the way to Happiness my self, to do the utmost to bring all others into the same Blissful Condition?

About 600 Years after the building of Rome, some tell us that the Institutes of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome were found, which being in­spected by the Quindecemviri appointed for such pur­poses, and found to contain a far different Scheme of Religion from what was then used among the Ro­mans, the Senate ordered them to be burnt (Lactan l. 1. c. 22.) so fearful were that People of Creating general disorders by permitting Innovations in the Sa­cred Rites. But that Religion they so carefully de­fended being false and Idolatrous, How much more reason have Christian Princes and Governors to secure theirs, which is founded upon the Infallible word of God, from the encroaching Impertinencies of froward Schismaticks; that Law which forbids Conventicles of Separatists, is grounded upon that reason that in those Meetings Seditions and Treasons had frequently been, and at any time might be contriv'd; the reason is good and true, and in Venner's Case was prov'd, and where Men can have the confidence to break the Statute by meeting in unlawful Assemblies, 'tis mere Cavilling to question whether they could not with as [Page 34]good a Conscience make Good the reason of it. Some from Scotland in the Days of Queen Elizabeth, en­deavour'd to commend the new-fangled Reforma­tion, as no Enemy to Government; and yet even in that very discourse Pen'd for the purpose, They charge the Judges and Lawyers, a Company of Godless Men, as they call them, with having made it a Com­mon and long practice, to make of the Statutes ordain'd for the maintenance of Religion and Common quietness, a Pit wherein to catch the peaceable of the Lord, (See Bancroft's English Scottizing, p. 54.) and this when they acted justly according to Law and the true mean­ing of it, by which words they plainly express their hatred to the common Laws, which yet they own at the same time to be the bonds of peace and quietness. But Authority sleeps not all this while, the Sword is often and justly drawn to quell these dividing and se­ditious Spirits. Kings cannot see Religion ruin'd and their Laws trampled upon without a deep resent­ment; which the most factious persons are very sen­sible of, but that Consideration is so far from quieting their turbulent Humours, that it rather drives them on to more desperate and impious actions. If they may not separate from the Church without distur­bance, nor break the Laws of the Nation without pu­nishment, the next Blow shall be at the Lawgivers Head, the very foundations of the Government shall be overturn'd, and that by the

3d. Thing St. Paul clears himself in the Text [Page 35]from, viz. by treachery and Rebellion, by flying in the face of Cesar himself, the best security a Dilinquent in the former respects pretends to. It was doubtless a very happy time, in the opinion of such, among the Israelites, when there was no King in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes, Judg. 21.25. and yet some, and upon very good grounds, have imagined that that very circumstance, the want of a King or Supreme Governour, was the cause of such deeds, as never had been seen, from the day that the Children of Israel came up out of Egypt, to that time, Judg. 19.30. and had almost procured the utter exci­sion of one of their Tribes, ch. 21.3. But this is not always a security sufficient for a Malefactor. Cain, when he had murdered his Brother, fear'd no Supe­riors animadverting upon him; and yet that guilt which lay upon his mind told him, that every one that found him should slay him, and when the Jews by slighting their own Religion and by breaking God's Laws, had provok'd him to bring the Chaldean army to scourge them, they hoping that the Egyptian power would secure them, the Chaldeans having al­ready rais'd their siege that was laid against. Jerusa­lem, the Prophet Jeremiah assures them, That though they had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans, so that there should remain none but wounded men among them, even those wounded men should rise up every one in his Tent and burn Jerusalem with fire, Jer. 37.10. from both which instances it appears that even where [Page 36]there are no higher powers to call Men to an Ac­count for Crimes, their very equals, or it may be their Inferiors will be their punishers.

But though this be indeed true, yet the way of opposing the higher powers in a covert or open manner, by Treachery or Rebellion, is the best help guilty persons can find out. By so doing they stand upon their guard, and challenge Justice if it dare to attacque them. But that is not enough, such men as have outlaw'd themselves by their disobedience, are too distrustful to keep themselves only in a defensive po­sture; a single person seldom is a Rebel; if there be Confederates, there must be some rule of maintain­ing that Confederacy; and those who have transgres­sed just and justly imposed Laws, may as readily, upon a fair opportunity offer'd, break those unjust articles, by which Conspiracies are holden together. So Sheba the Son of Bichri, the Ring-Leader of the Rebellion against David, had his Head thrown over the Walls of Abel by his own party, when that Sacrifice might divert a storm from their Heads. Therefore such persons are generally the Aggressors in a Civil War, hoping by activity and a full employment, to engage all their Party so far in the displeasure of their Superiors, that mere dispair of Pardon shall make them saithful and resolute in their perfidious undertakings. To this purpose it was subtilly enough advis'd by A­chitophel in the Rebellion of Absalom, That Absalom should go in to his Fathers Concubines, one of the [Page 37]foulest actions he could possibly be guilty of; the reason of which he gives, all Israel shall hear that thou art abhor'd of thy Father, then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong, 2 Sam. 16.21. for when the People had once seen Absalom's resolution by that unpardonable Villany, and made themselves his Accomplices by being Spectators and Approvers of it, it was not questioned but that they would rather dye valiantly fighting in the defence of their Leader, than submit to the barbarous usage of a common Exe­cutioner. Now a concurrence in wickedness being the only bond in such associations, it proves suffici­ently the wickedness of that end aim'd at by them.

But if the hopes of impunity be so great an incen­tive to an open Rebellion in Common temporary ca­ses, what shall we imagine of such persons, who when they rebel think they do God good service, who think they have an extraordinary call from Hea­ven to bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles in links of Iron, that so the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may be advanced in this World? Other Malefactors own the Execution of Laws, but the Execution of Ju­stice; and did they not reach their lives, would pos­sibly endeavour to appease their incensed Governors, by a quick submission and promises of amendment: but these act upon other principles, they tell us of the Phanatick suggestions of a melancholic Daemon within them, which they Nick-name Conscience, which assures them they are then in the most excellent way, when [Page 38]they tread in Contrary paths to all the Powers of this world, whether Christian or Heathen; that all those Laws whereby their designs are crost are wicked and Antichristian, whosoever was the Author of them; that Christian Princes are bound to favour and en­courage them, in setting Jesus the everlasting King upon the holy hill of Sion, though they be never so much dissatisfied in the Methods pursued to that pur­pose; that by persecuting and rebelling against Prin­ces, who impede them in their attempts, and forcing them to lay their Crowns at the footstool of Christs throne, they acquire the Crown of Martyrdom to them­selves, if they fail, and of Saints Triumphant if they accomplish their Intentions. While this Frenzy and these gay hopes predominate in the heads and minds of men, all their undertakings must consequently be violent in extremity: 'tis hard to make them listen to the words of truth and soberness, the zeal of God's house eats up their very Intellectuals, and makes them like insensible Machines, move either by prescrip­tion or not at all.

Of this Humour the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviour's time seem to have been; their Religion al­together vain and superstitious, yet they so perswaded of its perfection, and so bewitch'd into an inordinate Love of it, that their Saviour the everlasting Jesus, who came to rectify their misapprehensions, to turn the Hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the Just; was look'd upon but as an inconsiderable Fellow, a mere [Page 39]cheat and Impostor? they built so much upon misin­terpreted Prophecies and the Infallibility of their own Judgments, that though their Forces were weak, their Interest contemptible and their Case desperate, they ven­tured to provoke the Roman power, till they had in­deed made good their own Imprecation, and brought the Innocent blood of the Son of God upon themselves and upon their Children. 'Tis this Conceit of them­selves, which makes the Turks to this day expose their Lives so prodigally to the Christian Swords, not doubting either of Conquest, or if they dye, but that they shall be, with open Arms, receiv'd by their great Prophet Mahomet into the joys of his sensual Para­dise: 'Tis this opinion which gives the Jesuited Pro­selytes of the Church of Rome courage enough to tra­verse unknown Countries by Sea and Land, as the Pharisees of old, to make one Proselyte, though they have little reason to hope for Life among those bar­barous strangers; and the same makes them so ready to contrive and to engage in Treasons, Insurrections and Assassinations, hoping that by such adventures they should either enlarge the bounds of their Idolatrous Religion, or exalt themselves beyond the danger of a terrible Purgatory: and those who remember the or­dinary applications, of Curse ye Meroz, &c. in former times, or have taken notice of Mr. Baxter's Calender of Saints in the first Editions of his Saints everlasting Rest, may have reason to believe, that some in our own Nation have been intoxicated with the same dam­nable [Page 40]opinions, by which they have been hurry'd on to folly and wickedness beyond expression or conception.

I never yet heard an Instance of the good settle­ment of Religion by the Sword, nor can I believe an at­tempt to that purpose consistent with the Spirit of Christianity; Nor do the Ring-leaders of Heresy or Schism believe any such thing themselves. Ambition and Pride are the Beginners of them, though some­times very Sober and mortified Men may be deluded so far as to carry them on; Had Valentinus or Marci­on been made Bishops 'tis possible they had never been Hereticks, but when their expectations of that kind fail'd, as Julius Cesar thought it more honourable to be the first Man in a little Village, than to be the second in Rome, so they thought it better to be the Heads of a miserable Party of seduced Wretches, than to manage an inferiour office in the Church of God: Hence they bad defiance to the truths of the Gos­pel, making good thereby the assertion of St. James 4.1. that Wars and fightings, Heresies and dissentions, arise from mens lusts that war in their Members. Now the Leaders, though they regard not the Dictates of Conscience, or act not according to their knowledge, they strive by false notions of Conscience instill'd into the minds of others, to make them believe they act so, even when they run into the greatest Errors in Religion, and the greatest dangers in their worldly concerns: but how easie is the work from this false ground laid, to make even wise Men mad? What, is [Page 41]not life and liberty dear to us, will we not run the extremest hazards for their preservation, are not our temporary priveleges of the highest value, and will we not keep them at the expence of our estates? is not our Country the object of our most passionate Love, and will not we expose our Lives themselves for its defence? but what are our Priveleges, our Lives, our Liberties, or our Countrey to our Religion; our Pri­veleges may be lost and we yet thrive and prosper; our Liberties may be retrench'd and we yet have di­version in a Prison; our Countrey may be Conquer'd and yet our Concerns secured; our Liveslost, and yet eternal Happiness gain'd; but when our Religion goes, Prosperity here, and the hopes of Happiness hereafter are for ever lost. 'Tis true, Religion is indeed of greater worth than any thing we can enjoy here below, but must we therefore do evil that good may come of it? must we forfeit one part of our Religion for the main­taining the other, advance the service of God by rebel­ling against his Substitutes? God forbid! 'tis a part of our Religion that we should Believe in God and serve him through Jesus Christ our Lord; and rather than quit this belief we should suffer the Gibbet, Ax, Wheel or Rack, or whatsoever inventive Malice can make use of to our Terror; but it is withal a part of our Religion, to be subject to the higher Pow­ers, not only for wrath, but for Conscience-sake, and ra­ther to bear the Effects of all those suspitions Jealous heads can entertain of their designs against our Pro­fession, [Page 42]than to lift up rebellious Swords against the Gods of the Earth our Lawful Superiors.

It is generally supposed that Princes and Governors have a severe eye upon all Innovators, and that they cannot contentedly endure those who are of a differ­ent Religion from themselves, but that one time or other they will revenge that affront put upon them by dissenters. This supposition is laid hold on by Ill men, Enemies to the Church and State; for first they study to draw others off, under a pretence of some great deficiency, from the publick National Pro­fession; then they encourage to a perseverance in their separation; then perswade them they have by so do­ing exasperated the Civil Magistrate beyond hopes of reconciliation; and last, to add Sin to Sin, teach them to rise against their Lords, and to extort that liberty of Conscience they cry out for, from their Su­periors by force of Arms; and whereas well meaning persons may possibly scruple to lift up their Hands against the Lords Anointed, Knox, and Buchanan and others of that Leven, have given out a relaxing Doctrine, That Princes for just causes may be deposed. That the People have the same power over the King, the highest Governour, that the King hath over any one Man. That the Commons of any Kingdom may law­fully require of their King to have true Preachers, of which the same Commons must be the ultimate Judges: and if he be negligent, then they, the Commons, them­selves may justly provide them, maintain them, defend [Page 43]them against all that persecute them, and may detain the profits of Church-Livings from those Preachers whom they approve not of, all Laws, Ordinances, Statutes, to the contrary notwithstanding. And now where these or the like Doctrines obtain credit, where so much power is put into the hands of the People, what Church can be at Ʋnity long within it self, what Laws of any effect or Validity, what Governors can be secure from the violence of the giddy-headed, changeable and easily deluded Populace?

Had the Apostles and other the first Preachers of the Gospel advanced such odious Doctrines as these, they would soon have brought the World about their Ears, and Pliny would have found something else to have informed the Emperor Trajan about than their Honest mutual Engagements, their early Prayers and in­ordinate Superstition, nor would Providence have been concerned in defence of an armed Gospel; such dis­coveries were reserved to the news lights of our times, who else would have had nothing to have recom­mended themselves to the World by. One main reason of St. Paul's speaking so much against divisions and breaches in the Church of Christ was, that by unity and peace among themselves Christians might become the less obnoxious to the State: For, since it pleased God sometimes, even under Heathen Kings and Emperors, to give the Churches peace on every side, and the uninterrupted protection of the Laws, he would not have them by Schisms among themselves [Page 44]drive one another to a necessity of trespassing upon those Laws they were Protected by, nor to exasperate the higher Powers so far as to reduce themselves to the sad choice of Perfecution or Rebellion. He had given them a better example by his own Carriage to­ward the Jews, when he could truly plead for him­self against them, that neither against the Law of the Jews, nor against the Temple, nor against Cesar, had he offended any thing at all; and happy had we in this Nation been, had those great pretenders to Holiness and Reformation, who caus'd all our woes and mise­ries some years since, follow'd this great Apostle's pattern, but the Act of Parliament for the observation of this Day, informs us of the impossibility of such a thing; It tells us They were a party of wretched Men desperately wicked and hardned in their impiety, who having first plotted and contrived the ruine of this Excellent Monarchy, and with it of the true Reformed Religion, which had been long protected by it, and flou­rished under it.; found it necessary in order to the Car­rying on their traiterous and pernicious Designs, to throw down all the bulwarks and fences of Law, and to sub­vert the very Being and Constitution of Parliament, that so they might at last make their way open for any far­ther Attempts upon the sacred Person of his Majesty himself, they then began at the destruction of the Church, proceeded to subversion of the Laws, ended in an Horrid Rebellion and the Barbarous murder of their Sovereign. Many perhaps in those black days had [Page 45]no prospect of those damnable Consequences; learn from thence then the folly of those who dare engage themselves in separating and Schismatical Courses, how God in them punishes one sin by another commonly, till their damnation is irremediable; but who could have suspected such Cruel Wolves under their Sheeps cloathing, who could have believed such plausible pre­tences had veil'd such devilish Treachery and Hypocri­sie? or indeed who could but suspect them if their first motions were but rationally ballanced? This Na­tion, nor any of its Neighbours were ever blest with a Prince of more Prudence, Goodness, or Exemplary Piety, than Charles the first of glorious Memory; No Church since the time of our Saviour and his Apostles themselves, was ever reformed to a higher or more Apostolical Purity in Doctrine or Discipline: No greater or more faithful Lights shone in the whole Christian world at that time, than the Fathers of our Church the Priests attending at God's sacred Altar: Our National felicity, our plenty, riches, prosperity were the Envy and Wonder of all the Nations round about us. Now when men begin to cry out for Reforma­tion in such a juncture of Affairs as this, it looks like earnest seeking for a reason of Quarrelling; it ar­gues a Capricious and discontented Humour to complain without cause, and a foul Stomach to nauseate the descending Manna the food of blessed Angels. When the Malicious Heads of the Age had Caball'd toge­ther, to render the Government as obnoxious as possi­ble, [Page 46]when they had made all the bitter reflexions ima­ginable upon the Prelates of the Church, the Counsel­lors of the State and the King himself their Head, when they had search'd the very Cabinet of their Prince and expos'd his most reserv'd Secrets to the View of the World, even then all their Charges were prov'd by the clearest reasons to be, nothing but Slanders, Ca­lumnies, Lyes, and the most gross absurdities that united Hell could ever invent; How often then were the traiterous Swords of his sworn Subjects lifted up against the sacred life of their gracious Sovereign, and yet at that very time, In what charming terms did that Gen­tle Prince woe his stubborn and obdurate Rebels but seriously to weigh and examine the truth of things be­fore it was too late! in how pathetic terms did he set before them the dangers they expos'd themselves to both in this and the future World by setting them­selves against the ordinance of God! How did his tender Soul relent for those unhappy Wretches whose zealous Ignorance hurried them to death in so cursed a Cause! but alas, the hardest Rocks, the very Walls that held him a Prisoner to his Rebels, were not more insensible than those remorseless Villains, who by Trea­sons had got the greater power, and were resolv'd to abuse it to his destruction, for whose sacred life milli­ons of such Hellish Souls had been but too mean a Sa­crifice: Our Saviour once told Pilate, that, If his Kingdom had been of this world, then his servants would have fought that he should not have been delivered to [Page 47]the Jews, John 18.36. The Case was alter'd now, our Saint-like Rebels thought the Kingdom of Charles the First, not to be of this World, else would they never have been so unnatural to have fought against, to have condemn'd, to have murdered him. Jews indeed they were in wickedness, and labour'd hard to copy out Jewish treachery and cruelty to their Messiah the ever blessed Jesus, in their false and bloody Dealing with his Vicegerent the Anointed of the Lord. It was an ill sight in the judgment of Solomon, to see Servants on Horse-back and Princes like Servants walking upon the Earth, Eccl. 10.7. but how much more dismal was the sight to see, a great Mo­narch led by a company of bruitish Guards, as his Saviour had been before, as a Sheep to the slaughter; to see awful Ma­jesly appear by compulsion before those persons his pretended Judges, whose Fathers he would have disdain'd to have set with the Dogs of his flock; Who were children of fools, yea, chil­dren of base men who were viler than the earth, as Job 30.1.8. expresses it; there to hear himself vilified and belyed by the impudence of a Mercenary Wretch; to hear the sentence of Death pronounced upon him by those who ow'd their own lives to the protection of his Laws, even then when they broke them desperately to his ruine! But what Adamantine Heart but would bleed, to see that Sacred Head struck off by an execrable Villain, and shew'd to the Astonished Mul­titude under the scandalous Name of the Head of a Traitor! Such as this surely was a throughly reforming Practice, well becoming those Blood-thirsty Saints, whose Devilish atchieve­ments we this day sadly Commemorate. Thus Jesuitism and Separation go hand in hand, both hold Princes responsible to their Subjects as Superiors; both hold them liable as well as others to Excommunication; both hold the Subjects absolv'd from their sworn Allegeance to that Prince, whom they judge an Enemy to God; both hold it lawful to oppose him by force of Arms; and both conclude in Murder: and I make no question but the same Heaven which receiv'd St. Garnet, St. Fawx, St. Clement, St. Ravilliac, and their Followers, may equally contain St. [Page 48] Cromwell, Bradshaw, Corbet, Peters, and the rest of that Hel­lish fraternity, who all dyed impenitent in the same damna­ble faith, if their own Friends bely them not.

But the Sun is risen again, God has visited us in Mercy be­yond our deserts, and we see the Gracious Son of Charles the Martyr seated on the throne of his Father: May his Reign be prosperous and his Days many; ready has this incorrigible Na­tion been to run headlong again into its former woes; Anti­monarchical Doctrines walk abroad again in open day; Suspici­ons and Jealousies are reentertain'd; the busie Separatists active to buoy up their Party, and to make an Interest once more great enough to reverse those Laws which justly take notice of them as Hypocritical and Seditious, rather than true Protestants: The old Steps had been so far traced again, that had not Almighty God inspired his Vicegerent among us with wisdom from above to crush those Basilisks in their early mo­tions, the Kingdom, in all probability, had e're this been made an Acel-dama a field of Blood. But thanks be to God at last the Snare is broken and we in some measure delivered; God of his mercy direct our Sovereign still, and confound the subtle and incessant Devices of his Enemies; God grant that we may know in this our day the things that belong to our Peace, that we may sincerely pray for and obey our Prince, that we may contend earnestly for that Faith which was once de­livered to the Saints; that laying aside all Malice and Hypo­crisie, we may serve the Lord our Defender and the Restorer of our breaches, with fear, and rejoice before him with reverence, that his blessing may ever rest upon us and upon our King, for Jesus Christ's sake; To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit, &c.