IF ever that grievous complaint, which in the foregoing Chapter S. Paul makes of the Jews, might be also made of some that call themselves Christians, The name of God is Blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, perhaps from the time of S. Paul's writing this Epistle to the time when the fifth of November, was first a Day of Note in our English Calendar, neither the Jewish nor Christian story can point out a more re­markable Instance of a great scandal gi­ven to all the World, than was that foul Conspiracy which gave us occasion of [Page 2] Celebrating this as a Festival Day; yes, I may safely, that is, truly say, this was the greatest scandal on the Christian name within that compass of time: from S. Paul's Preaching the Gospel of Peace, to the opening of this bloudy scene, there hap­pen'd nothing like this; nothing so ig­nominious not only to Religion and to pretences of Piety, but to humane Nature it self, nothing so full of black Diabo­lical malice: For the first good Friday, (as I may call it) was before that period of time which I set from S. Paul's Apo­stleship; then for the other Judas's and the later Pilates that occasioned our set­ting apart the 30^th of January for our solemn Fast, they liv'd and flourisht a great while after these goodly forerunners and worthy Leaders of theirs the Powder-Traitors.

But what shall we say when S. Paul himself is forc't to enter his Protestation in my Text, and make his appeal to all the World in a case of scandal, which though never given by him, yet was taken up against him by some either Jews or [Page 3] Judaizing Christians, or Gnostick Here­ticks, by such men as these was the name of Christ Blasphemed among the Gentiles through him, through S. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, these striving to fasten it upon him and his fellow-helpers in the Gospel, so as by consequence to fix it upon Christ himself, as if it were a part of that Gospel, and a piece of true Christian Divinity, Preacht up as a good Principle, Let us do evil that good may come of it; a Principle which if granted may serve to justify any malicious wicked­ness, nay even to glorify those that acted in the Prodigious Wickedness of this Day. Now after such a Calumny as this, that any should affirm this, as if S. Paul had said it or did approve it, what Man, or what order of Men can expect or hope to escape being slanderously reported?

But how was this occasion taken if none were given to defame this glori­ous Saint and Servant of Jesus Christ, and through his sides to strike at the Honour of his Master? Be pleas'd to ob­serve that Saint Paul had upon all oc­casions [Page 4] magnified the goodness of God in sending the Gospel to those, who could least expect such an unspeakable Gift of a Divine Revelation, since they had offended all manner of ways against the Dictates of Nature and right Reason, as well as against the sufficient Grace vouchsaf't them: But upon this very score does S. Paul extol the Mercy of God to them, that where sin had abounded, there Grace had superabounded. But from this saying of His, this Great saying, some took advantage to raise an odious lye upon him, as if he had declared him­self in the case of the Pagans having the Gospel preacht to them; that since the greatness of their sins did make God's mercy appear the more visibly great and glorious in sending the Gospel to such, therefore it was lawful to live vi­cious heathenish Lives, the more to il­lustrate the glory of that Grace in the forgiveness of such monstrous foul of­fences. For answer to this Calumny, though he can scarce afford to answer it, but with indignation rejects it as a [Page 5] wicked slander; he that in another place had shew'd so much charity as to wish himself an Anathema for his Brethren, the deluded Jews, on condition they might be converted; yet he denounces here an Anathema upon those Slanderers, who (it may be suppos'd) wilfully had perverted the Doctrine of Christianity: their Damnation, he declares, is Just and Righteous, if they persevere in charging not only him but his Blessed Gospel with admitting so cursed a Principle, as if it were lawful to do any one known E­vil, though with an eye to the best and noblest Designs, and with an aim at no other consequences but such as were most beneficial to the Publick; nay though the Glory of God, the propa­gating of his Gospel, the setling of his Church, be the studied end and intent of that one forbidden Action: it must not be allowed in contemplation of all the good in the World.

But since the Apostle has said enough to vindicate himself, that this was no Apostolical Canon of his Making, but [Page 6] rather a Maxime from Hell (and thi­ther he sends it again) I shall now consider it apart, and drawing off from the particular case of S. Paul, I shall pro­ceed by these steps which will come extremely home to the case of these sinners against their own Souls, whose burthen it is to be arraign'd every fifth of November.

First I shall shew that this Principle, of doing Evil that good may come of it, does indeed afford a colour (though a false deceitful colour) to those that do Evil to call it Good, and so to go on as if they did no Evil.

Secondly, that this is a most unchri­stian heathenish Principle, Let us do evil that good may come of it: accordingly the Apostle has read their sentence, whoso­ever they are that hold it, their damna­tion is Just; and still the more just their damnation, as they justify the more impious Practices upon this Principle; where I shall have occasion to shew how those that acted in this hellish Conspiracy proceeded upon this Principle, and by [Page 7] consequence, how justly they fell into condemnation.

Thirdly, That it is a wicked Slander, to charge any that are not guilty, as if they held this Principle, or proceeded upon it in their Practices: Now, whereas we of the Church of England do charge some others that are not of the Roman Commu­nion, and whereas we our selves are charged by some, as if we also were ser­ving Turns upon this same Principle, I shall endeavour to make it appear, who are, and who are not slanderously Re­ported.

First, I shall shew, that this Principle, of Doing Evil, that Good may come of it, does indeed afford a Colour (though a false de­ceitful Colour) to those that do Evil to call it Good, and so to go on as if they did no Evil.

Wo unto them that call Evil Good, and Good Evil (sayes the Prophet Isaiah) then Wo unto them that take up this Principle, of Doing Evil that Good may come of it; for Evil when it is called by its own Name, and when it appears in its own shape, is so frightful a thing, few can [Page 8] endure the sight of it in themselves, till they have borrow'd for it a Mask from Goodness. Now of all the Disguises capa­ble of Cheating the Judgement, none is so proper as this, a great Design seemingly for the Glory of God; an End so good, as to be thought a sufficient Apology, a fair Excuse for the bad Means us'd to attain it. This is so forcible a Motive to do Evil that Good may come of it, that in the Heat of such a Temptation, as comes but once, and unexpectedly, a Man of true Good­ness, (when to use the words of the Pro­phet Ezekiel, God layes a stumbling block be­fore him, either for his Tryal, or his Punish­ment) even one that walks warily with God, may make a false step sometimes in some more Difficult and more Disputable Cases, though upon second thoughts and cooler Debates, he presently sees his Error: So S. Austin in his Treatise De Mendacio, where he does very rationally conclude all man­ner of Serious Officious Lying, to be ab­solutely unlawful, though it were to preserve a Life, (the Life of a Saint whom a Tyrant sought to discover and put to [Page 9] death) nay, though it were to save a soul, yet he does acknowledge his own want of Resolution in some hard Cases and surprizing Exigences, when his Truth happens to stand in Competition with his Compassion, and he cannot do some great Good, or avoid some desperate Evil, without admitting that, which he ingeni­ously calls Quasi Compensativum Peccatum, a sin that seems to make amends for it self. It does but seem to do so. But then if the best men have been prevail'd withal to transgress upon this account in lesser In­stances, no wonder if the worst men do Evil with both hands, the greatest Evil, when they have it in their prospect, or, which is all one, in their fancy, to compass by so doing the greatest Good; when they have an Enthusiasm upon them, and are possest, that as they Act for God and his Glory, so they Act like Him too, and glo­riously as He does: they mean to bring Light out of Darkness, even out of their own deeds of Darkness; when they are consulting and contriving to raise a New World of Order and Beauty, out of that Chaos and [Page 10] Confusion, to which they must first re­duce all things. This is the Principle still that is at the bottom of all that Evil under the Sun committed by such as S. Paul foretells there shall come in these last dayes, in these perillous times, men that are Tray­tors, heady, high-minded. Such Traytors as are Elevated and even Transported with the Glory (though it be but vain Glory) of some high flying Design in their present management; such Traytors as propose some vast Undertaking as a Common Be­nefaction: Such are apt to conceit they have made themselves necessary, as if God Almighty could not do his Work without them: then they conclude, they are so much before-hand with Him; that He is indebted to them an Indulgence for the grossest Prevarications of His Laws; then to contradict the Reveal'd Will of God is Greatness and Priviledge, not Sin: So I have heard, that the Case of Jacob wrest­ling with God, was Preacht upon to our late great Usurper from that Text, Let me go, for the day breaketh: and he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me; whence there [Page 11] was rais'd this Doctrine most comfortable for him, That Gods Jacobs, or Glorious Wrest­lers with God, might for great Ends do some things contrary to His Declar'd Will, which things might yet be Acceptable to His Secret Will, and procure a Blessing. Then they grow Masters or Learned in Wickedness (as the Prophet Jeremy speaks) they are Illu­minated with so Extraordinary Notions of Justice and Charity, that they have no Charity for other mens Understandings, but count them Tender-hearted Fools that oppose their Expedient, and therefore Meritorious Cruelties, with any Scruples of Pity. Ye know nothing at all (it was very Magisterially spoken by Caiaphas the High Priest) nor consider that it is Expedient for us, that One Man should Dye for the People, and that the whole Nation Perish not. Now if I can destroy this fundamentally Erroneous Principle of Expedience instead of that which is Just and Right, I shall plow up the very ground upon which the Architects of what ever Sect or Party do build almost all their Treasonable Designs. I wish I could sow it with Salt too, and that none [Page 12] might dare to build upon it hereafter, for fear of the Curse that S. Paul has left on the Ground.

I proceed then in the Second Place to shew, That this is a most Unchristian Heathenish Principle, Let us Do Evil that Good may come of It.

And First, I shall make it appear, That whoever Act on this Principle, do but Abuse themselves and others, if they suppose that they Act for the Glory of God.

Secondly, I shall Expose the necessary but extream ill Consequence of this Principle, that it naturally leads from one great Sin and Mischief to another.

First, That they do not Act for the Glory of God:

For what can more tend to lessen the Glory of an Omnipotent Being, and of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity, than to break his most Holy Commandments upon pretence of doing Him Honour and Service; as if He could not Govern the World, but by Conniving at their Violation of His Precepts? But it may be [Page 13] answer'd for them, that perhaps they judge it no Iniquity, while they Intend all for his Glory: But 'tis easily reply'd, they do not sincerely Intend it: They may think indeed that they do Intend it; they may not only to others seem to do so (which is as easie as winking to counterfeit sleeping) but to themselves; they may be men of that strange Composition and Contradiction which S. Paul describes, De­ceivers and being deceived: They may be bloody Hypocrites, and yet imagine them­selves the blessed Instruments of God, and Workers for His Glory. Such were they of whom the Prophet Isaiah gives this ac­count, Your Brethren that hated you and cast you out for my Name sake, said, Let the Lord be Glorified. But notwithstanding all this Deceitfulness of the Heart, we must come at last to this resolution of the Case, That as the Stoick Philosophy concludes all Evil-Doers to be Fools and Ignorant, though the violence of their Affections has wrought them up to the heighth of Perswasion that they do well; so the Christian Philosophy supposes all such Fools, to be Knaves; [Page 14] all Christians that are Ignorant of such plain necessary Practical Doctrines, as to do no Murther on pretence of Doing God Service, must be suppos'd to be willingly Ignorant, as S. Peter speaks: Willingly, that is, wilfully Ignorant if they be Christians: For the works of the Flesh are manifest, sayes S. Paul: and amongst those works is Murther as well as Adultery: so that the Case of those Offen­ders who pretend to believe S. Paul's Go­spel, is altogether different from the Case of S. Paul himself, though his was bad enough too, while he was a Persecutor of the Church, out of Zeal to the Glory of God, but yet he did it ignorantly in Unbe­lief.

But Secondly, (To joyn together both those Considerations which I proposed) A Principle that opens a Gap to let in Sin upon Sin, and Mischief upon Mischief, can never be a Means to advance the Glo­ry of God, or set forward the welfare of Mankind, unless the way to either of those be to turn the World upside down. That it opens a Gap, did I say, to let in Sin? Yes, it sets the very Flood-gates of [Page 15] Hell wide open, to pour upon the Earth a black Inundation of the most Practical Atheism, to which God alone can speak, as He does to the Sea, Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther. To prove it upon these Conspirators of the Fifth of November, procee­ding still upon this same ground; How did they, as David said of other wicked men, go from one wickedness to another? From conspiring a Horrible Massacre of so many reputed Hereticks, but most false­ly so call'd, they soon Resolv'd it as Lawful to Murder many whom they judg'd to be altogether Innocent and Good Catholicks; yet even such were Condemn'd to Fall with the Guilty He­reticks. It was determin'd by Garnet the Provincial, That even this was Lawful, if so much Good would come of it, as would Re­compense the Lives of so many Guiltless Per­sons. So they supported themselves on the same ground still, Onmia metiri ex com­modo Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae, to Measure all things by the Benefit would Accrue to their Holy Mother Church. Their Design they thought was Catholick, therefore it must be Christi­an, [Page 16] though it were attended throughout with the most Sacrilegious Abuses of their Holy Things, Oaths, Confessions and Sacra­ments.

And upon this account I call'd it a Hellish Conspiracy, for their Owning and Avowing a Doctrine so Damnable as this; (for so does S. Paul call it) the Wisdom, or rather the Infernal Subtlety of Traytors; a Wisdom, which to be sure, descended not from Above: 'tis short to call it Earthly and Sensual, unless I add the Apostles last Epi­thet, and call it Devilish. For, allowing them their utmost Rigours, their most unreasonable Prejudices to our Commu­nion; yet to Attempt our Reduction through a Sea of Blood, I must still call it Devilish: This Restoring us (as they call it) to the Church, by Hurrying Kings and Princes out of the World, and Invol­ving a whole Senate in Dust and Blood; the Remedy is worse than they can ima­gine the Disease: the Prescription is as Unnatural as Detestable, as was the Ad­vice of some Physicians, or rather Ma­gicians to the Royal Constantine, (if there be [Page 17] truth in the Story, however the Moral is good) that He might be cured of his Le­prosie, if He would bathe Himself in the Life-blood of Infants: 'tis said, He ab­horr'd the Medicine: and I wish that Bi­shop of Rome, who they pretend cured this Emperour of his Leprosie when he Bap­tiz'd Him (though the Lye be long ago rejected and derided by the Learned of their own Church, I wish he) could have Entail'd but so much Tenderness upon all his Successors in that See, that they should not have thought of Purging us to Death, when we were in so good health; then would they not by their Deposing or Excluding Bulls have given Life to such a Design as this, of washing us, by shed­ding the Royal Blood.

I have shew'd how those that Acted in this Conspiracy, proceeded upon this Principle of Doing Evil that Good may come of it, and by consequence, how justly they fell into Condemnation: But now, whereas we our selves of the Church of England charge some others that are not of the Roman Communion, and whereas we our selves are charged by [Page 18] some, as if we also were serving Turns upon this same Principle; I shall in the Third and last Place, and that very briefly, endeavour to make it appear, who are, and who are not slanderously Reported.

Since I undertook to shew the spreading malignant Influence of this Principle, can I avoid reflecting on another Party? when ever they Heard or Read the Story of the Powder-Traytors, sure they must needs Reflect upon themselves in such words as those which immediately follow my Text, What then? are we better than they? no, in no wise. I mean the Party that open­ly Voted and Acted in Westminster-Hall the Unparallel'd Villany, which they Execu­ted at White-Hall-Gate: And perhaps it were an Excess of Charity, to suppose that any of them ever Imagin'd or Intended any Good to come of it, but only to set up themselves, which was another Insuppor­table Evil.

But I must needs add, Has not the same restless Party gone on still, ei­ther upon the same Principle, or none at all? Should they not in all Reason and [Page 19] Conscience, when ever they talk of these Regicides of the Fifth of November, ask them­selves the same plain Question, and give themselves the same Answer? What then? are we better than they? no, in no wise. For sure the Crime is much alike, whether a King be Destroy'd at Westminster, or the Rye, whether by so many Barrels of Pow­der or so many Blunderbusses.

But farther yet: Must we not sadly Acknowledge, that there is a Numerous Party, who, though I hope and be­lieve, they are none of the Conspira­tors, yet by following the grain of this Principle, Doing Evil that Good may come of it, they are in a fair way to be any thing, rather than Christians? Is it not come to that pass, that many will rather forswear themselves, than Act against their Conscience (as they call it) or which is all one with them, against their Party? Is not Casuistical Divinity grown even in this Age and Nation, as One ingeniously defin'd it, Ars litigandi cum Deo, an Art of trying Causes with God Almighty; a study to make every thing that men have a mind to do, as Law­ful [Page 20] as they can? God has given us ten Com­mandments, and we return Him ten Expedi­ents, and twenty Shifts, instead of Obeying Him. 'Tis commonly said among those that know how to Adapt and Apply the Jesuits Salvo's according to any present Exigency, That a Man of Wit never sins against his Conscience; for he can shew the Case in such Lights, as to make it look fairly to himself. But are the Jesuits the only Favourable Casuists to themselves? Was there not publisht, and that not long ago, a Treatise on Occasional Communion? and then another Treatise, stating that Que­stion about taking the Oaths and Sacrament, to Qualifie Dissenters for Publick Trusts? Who ever reads those Pieces, and remem­bers what Excellent use was made of that Doctrine, must needs confess, that there are men in the World, who cry the Prote­stant, the Protestant, as loud as ever the Jews did the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord; or as the Jesuits do the Church, the Catholick Church; and yet these True Pro­testants, (as they love to style themselves) are truly and thoroughly Jesuited in the Arts [Page 21] of Evasion, destructive to the End of our Laws, and contrary to the meaning of our Law-Givers.

Thus all men would do something to save their Souls, (as we say,) or they would at least say something to save their Credit with themselves as well as with others: Some Device they would gladly find out to ease themselves, while they play with that little of Natural Conscience they have left them. They do, like one that forg'd a Will, then took up the Dead Body out of the Grave, put a Pen into the Dead man's Hand, guided the Hand to sign the Will, and then took his Oath, that he had seen it sign'd by the Hand of the Testa­tor. To what purpose was all this Pa­geantry? Had not down-right Perjury been as easily swallowed? No; Drow­ning men will catch at Straws: Such is the force of Religion, that it can scarce be absolutely stifl'd in the minds of men; they would gladly retain some faint colour or shadow of Innocence, that their faults may not appear too ugly, but that they may [Page 22] flatter themselves in their own sight, until their Abominable Sin be found out.

But what do we of the Church of England complain of others, if that be true which some would fain insinuate, that we are Betraying our selves? Why do we still thank God for Discovering and Defeating the Powder-Plot, if we are Undermining the Several of Mr. Pryn's Pieces, Apostasia Laudensium. Patronus Bonae Fidei, &c. Church? for we are so Reported, whether slanderously or no, must be tryed: What Volumes have been Publisht heretofore, and some Pamphlets but lately, to make it appear, that Arch-Bishop Laud had bred us up for Popery? What a noise has been made with this, as if they meant to stop the Cry of his Innocent Blood with their Clamours, that he Liv'd and Dy'd in the Design of Introducing Popery? Nay more, that the Governing part of the present Clergy, have made what Advances they could, treading in his footsteps, and in the same Broad Way, with their Faces to­wards the Vatican. The Clergy of En­gland are more than Ten Thousand Men; that most of this vast Number, (whether [Page 23] they Lead or Drive) should be marching so fast toward Rome, is exceeding strange. It puts me in mind of the Story of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, who, as the Legend would make us believe, went out of En­gland in Pilgrimage, and Perisht in the way. But the Wisest and Learnedest Writers for that Fable, would be conten­ted to strike out their thousands at first dash; that they confess was an Error of some Monkish Transcriber; they would gladly compound for Eleven, nor can they prove even those few: So may not I challenge all our Accusers, that reflect on so great a Body as the Clergy, which consist (as I said) of ten thousand at least; To name but ten of the whole Clergy; ten men of any Note, either for their Dignity or Learning, who in the worst of Times, under the greatest Temptations, fell from the Church of England to that of Rome? But since we are so Defam'd, as if we still went on with the same Intrigue, where that Great Prelate was forc't to leave off, in Vindicating Him, I shall make a Defence for our selves, and to Justifie Him [Page 24] and His Administration, I shall make such an Appeal to Rome it self, as will be in no danger of a Praemunire. And first I refer my self to a Voluminous Italian Writer of Universal History, he Qualify'd himself very long ago with the Title of Historian to the Most Christian King: His Name I spare, because I think he is Living still, though he spares not the Memory of the Dead, and of one that Dy'd a Martyr. This Author is pleas'd to conclude in these words the Tragical Story of that Great Pre­late, Laying down his Head upon the Block, it was (sayes he) sever'd from his Shoulders by the Executioner at one Blow, Rendendo l'ani­ma a Satanasso, i. e. while he gave up his Soul to the Great Devil, to whom (sayes he) he belong'd in his life time, with his Damnable Doctrine of Calvin, whose follower he was. While I live I shall think the better of our Charity in the Church of England, as often as I Reflect upon this most Uncharitable Ex­pression: In the mean time, with what Justice is He still branded by our Dissenting Protestants for a Papist, when the other [Page 25] Adverse Party at the same time Damn Him for a Calvinist? But I add further, with what Justice does this Romanist tax Him for a Calvinist, when there's another far more Authentick Writer, a Romanist too, but Spondanus, Anno 1605. of a more Christian temper, (for he speaks with Detestation of the Powder-Plot, and ascribes the Discovery of it to the Hand of God:) & this Author clearly acquits that Renowned Prelate both from Popery and Puritanism? I mean the Pope's own Historian (as I may style him) the Continuator of the Great Cardinals Annals, who gives this Account, the Primate of England (sayes Spondanus, Anno 1645. he) without the Tents of the Roman and Apo­stolick Church, after he had been Imprison'd in the Tower of London for many Months, is Beheaded by the Command of those that stood for the Parliament, for his standing up in de­fence of the Kings Just Rights, and for Advi­sing his Majesty against the Puritans: then it follows, Catholica Religio ei Morienti defuit, quod dolendum, He wanted the Catholick Reli­gion when he dy'd, which (sayes my Author, partial to his own Faction) was to be la­mented. [Page 26] By the Catholick, we are sure he means the Roman. After two such Testi­monies as these, who ever can believe that Great and Good Man a Romanist, can, I sup­pose, believe whatever he has a mind to believe, and he may in good time believe the Relation of a Third Author, a Luthe­ran German, who in the Body of a large Continuat. Pezelii pars 4. Mellif. Hist. Anno 1645. General History tells us gravely, that the Arch-Bishop being Convicted to have Accepted the Title of a Cardinal sent him by the Univer­sity of Oxford, and to have Corrupted Reli­gion, was put to Death.

And we are just as Guilty as he was: 'Tis true indeed, we refus'd to Close and Comply with this Doctrine of Ex­pedients; some of them not unlike Sampson's Desperate Expedient to Destroy the Philistins, by pulling a vast Fabrick up­on his own head, as we must have done the Monarchy upon ours; or rather, like Fawx's Expedient to prevent the Death he apprehended, but to prevent it, by Blowing up the Parliament-House and himself and all, which he much regretted he had not done then when they seiz'd upon him: 'Tis [Page 27] very true, we believ'd it a preposterous way of securing our Religion, by giving up the peculiar Honour of our Church, the Do­ctrine of Obedience unto Kings: And we judg'd it a strange Means of Barring out Po­pery, by letting in the Doctrine of Translating and Disposing of Kingdoms: 'Tis most true, we Abhorr'd that Association, which naturally and directly lead to the second Powder-Plot, as I must have leave to call it: All this is true, and because we in none of these Instances, would Do Evil for fear of suf­fering it, therefore we are Reported to be Doing or Designing so ill a thing, as 'tis hard to conceive, what Good we should Intend, even to our private Interests, by hurting the publick: And therefore we may truly say with S. Paul in my Text, that we are slan­derously Reported. And they that are Guil­ty of the Slander do an Extream ill thing, whatever their Ends be: they might ex­pect some Good to come of it, if they could teach the Party, cum Ratione insanire, that is, When they had frighted them with Fears and Jealousies out of their Wits, then to make them [Page 28] Act like Reasonable Creatures. But if the Association had broken out into a furious Rebellion, (and that was just breaking out, as 'tis most clear and Evident, from many Credible Witnesses, and Dying Confessions long ago, nay, from Hands and Seals taken but very lately) then how could the Greatest Evil have been avoided? (even as Great as any that Piercy and Catesby intended) unless Well-meaning Rebells could have given every Bullet its Commission, whom to hit or miss, and could have directed their Shot as well as their Intentions.

Soon after that Execrable Assassination of King Henry the Fourth of France, one of that Great Prince's Servants, one of that Incomparable Learning, as made him justly esteem'd one of the Glories of his Time, coming over into England to divert his Melancholy, and to wait upon King James, the Patron of the Learned, he writes Causabon. Epist. 1612. Dan. Heins. from hence to another Eminent Scholar in these words, That he was come [...], into the Island of the Happy, where I enjoy (sayes he) this Consolation, that I am not [Page 29] Tormented with the sight of those wicked Fiends and Parricides; those he means, who, he suppos'd, had Animated the Murder of his Royal Master, and then (sayes he) I have this Comfort too, that in this Kingdom I see that Face of the Primitive Church, which I learn'd to know from the Writings of the An­cient Fathers. But had that Worthy Stran­ger Liv'd and Convers'd with us here until these Times, he must have endur'd, not only the Aspect, but the almost Twenty Years Tyranny of as Cursed Furies among us, as any he left behind him in his own Countrey: and he must have beheld ano­ther Woful Spectacle, the Church which he so much admir'd, in a manner Defac'd, or at least, most sadly Deform'd by them. And yet by the Mercy of God, neither the black Traytors of the Powder-Plot, nor the scarlet Traytors of the High Court of Justice, (tho' these latter prevail'd for a time) were able to Compass their utmost Hellish Ends and Purposes; but we are once again, the Island of the Happy, if we but knew our Happiness; and we are a King­dom [Page 30] again, where there is now to be seen the same Venerable Face of the Ancient Church, Restor'd together with the King, and Restor'd by the King under God. As long as our Church deserves that Glorious Character, which that Great Man bestow'd upon it, while it bears the likeness of the Primitive Church, it has a Just Title to a full share in that Gracious Promise made to the Catholick Church, Isa. 54. and the last Verse, No Wea­pon that is form'd against thee shall prosper, this is the Inheritance of the servants of the Lord; and may we not justly say with Joyful Thanks, that the Lot is fall'n to us in a fair Ground, and that this is a Goodly In­heritance? May we not with an Humble Greatness call such a Church, the place of the Vineyard that His right hand hath planted; and the Branch that He made so strong for Himself? O let it never be said, that Her Hedge is broken down, that all they that go by pluck off her Grapes, that the Wild Boar out of the Wood doth Root it up, and the Wild Beasts of the Field devour it. And after this Prayer for the Church, let us also pray [Page 31] for the King, as it follows in that Psalm, Let thy Hand be upon the Man of thy Right Hand; or in the plainer words of ano­ther Psalm, O continue thy Loving Mercies, that they may preserve Him! So will we alway give praise unto thy Name, that we may daily perform our Vows.

Now unto the King Eternal, &c.