A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, upon the 5th of November, 1673 in commemoration of Englands deliverance from the Gun-powder treason / by John Scott, Minister of St. Thomas's in Southwark. Scott, John, 1639-1695. 1673 Approx. 61 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A58811 Wing S2065 ESTC R15382 13144658 ocm 13144658 98050 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A58811) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98050) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 778:14) A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, upon the 5th of November, 1673 in commemoration of Englands deliverance from the Gun-powder treason / by John Scott, Minister of St. Thomas's in Southwark. Scott, John, 1639-1695. [7], 32 p. Printed for Tho. Taylor ..., London : 1673. Advertisement: p. 32. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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It was Ordered by this Court , That Mr. Scot be desired to print his Sermon , this day preached at the Guild-hall Chappel , before the Lord Mayor , and Aldermen of this City . Wagstaffe . A SERMON PREACHED Before the Right Honourable THE Lord Mayor , AND COURT of ALDERMEN ; At Guild-Hall Chappel , upon the 5th of November , 1673. IN Commemoration of ENGLANDS Deliverance from the Gun-powder Treason . By John Scott Minister of St. Thomas's in Southwark . LONDON , Printed for Tho. Taylor , at the Hand and Bible in the New Buildings on London-Bridge , 1673. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To the Right Honourable Sir William Hooker , Lord Mayor of London , and to the Right Honourable the Court of Aldermen . Right Honourable , THough I esteem my self as much as I deserve , and perhaps a little more , yet I thank God I was never yet so partial to my self , or fond of my own Conceptions , as to think the Publication of them an Act of Charity , either to the world , or to the Bookseller ; and as for this Discourse , I assure you , had not you had a better opinion of it then I ; I should have been so charitabl as to have kept it within doors , and not to have exposed it to the open Air , in which I have known many wiser discourses to have gotten their bane ; but I shall not be so unmannerly as to controul your opinion , which yet I doubt had not been so favourable to me , had not your Judgments been bribed by your Zeal to the Protestant Religion , against the Adversary whereof this discourse was designed , perhaps the Protestant Reader , who is unacquainted with the transactions of the last 600 years , may think I have been too severe upon the Roman Religion , charging it with such bloudy Principles , and Practises : to which I shall say no more then this ; that if I have falsified its Character , or represented it fouler than it is : let me indure the shame , and punishment of a common Calumniator ; but if I have drawn it according to its own natural Features , and Complexions ; it is not my fault that it appears deformed , and if it be as bad as 't is represented , it makes invectives enough against it self , and carries its Satyrs in its own bosom : But what I have said of it is all matter of Fact , which I have proved by the testimony of their own Authors , who cannot be supposed to be false witnesses against themselves , and if , after this , any one should be so obstinate as to suspect me of forgery ; let him peruse the Martyrologies of the six last Centuries , and compare them with the bloodiest of all the ten Pesecutions : and I doubt not but he will be of my opinion , viz. that Domitian and Dioclesian were but puny Persecutors , and Bunglers in cruelty compared with the infallible Cut-throats of the Apostolical Chair . Having thus accounted for the honesty of this discourse ; I have no more to say for it , but only this ; that however it may succeed , it was well intended ; and if it prove any way instrumental to alay the un-Christian heats , and Animosities among us , to promote the peace of the Church , and the interest of the Protestant Religion , I have my design : and though I should be defeated in this , it will be some satisfaction to me , that I have honour'd my self before the world by this address , and testified by my ready compliance with your commands how really I am , RIGHT HONOURABLE Your most humble and Faithful Servant John Scott . A Sermon Preached before the Right Honorable the LORD MAYOR and Court of Aldermen , Novemb. 1673. Luke 9. 56. For the son of man came not to destroy mens lives , but to save them . IT is the glory of the Christian Religion , that it hath conquered the World , and triumphed over all that opposed it , without any other weapon but its own victorious Beauty , and reasonableness : had it been Proclaimed by the mouths of Canon , or marched like Paracelsus his Daemon , upon the pummel of the Sword : it had been Rivalled by sundry successful Impostures ; and the Alcheron it self would have compared Victories with it : but in this it hath the preeminence of all the Religions that ever were , that it atchieved its Conquest without Scrib or Sword , without the aid of Worldly Force , or Policy : that by its own native Light , it Vanquished the Ignorance and Prejudice of the World ; and by pure dint of Reason , subdued mens minds to its Impire : for 't was not by Racks and Tortures , that it Converted Infidels , & Convinced Hereticks ; but by Reason , and Miracles ; and till it began to be sophisticated with temporal interests , and designs , it taught its followers only to indure , but not to inflict Persecutions : for this was their language in the purer Ages , Non est Religionis , cogere Religionem , quae suscipi debet sponte , non vi , as Tertull. expresses it . Religion presseth no man to her service , and disdains to have any Followers , but Volunteers ; but when once its Followers began to bend it to their interest , and make it the Solicitor of their temporal designs , to break into Parties , and imbarque their own Reputation , and in the success of those disputable Opinions , that distinguished them , then according as they had the luck to succeed in their Disputes , and the favour of the Emperors , they began to solicit , and arm the temporal power against their Adversaries ; in which bad practice , they imitated those , whom in all other things they did condemn ; namely the Arrians the Circumcellians , and Donatists , who were the first Christians that either perswaded , or practised persecution ; and yet for a long while so abhorrent it was from the temper of Christians , that Vrsatus , and Ithrius , two otherwise Catholick Bishops , for perswading Maximus to destroy the Priscillianists , were branded by their Brethren with an infamous Character , and sharply reproved by the good Bishop of Trevers , who plainly tells them , Satis , superque sufficere ut Episcopali sententia haeretico Judicati Ecclesijs pellerentur : novum est , & inauditum nefas : ut causam Ecclesiae Judex seculi judicaret : It is sufficient that Heriticks be banished by the Church as Out-laws , from the Communion of Christians : but it is a now and unheard of wickedness , that a Cause of Religion should be judged and punished at a secular Tribunal ; and yet this was above 370 years after Christ : but as the Churches fortunes grew better , and her Sons grew worse , and some of her Fathers worst of all : so Persecution and Tyranny prevailed in Christendom , till at last it was baptized , into the name of Zeal , and enthroned among the graces of Religion : for if we look into the History of the Roman Church , we shall find Persecution first Preached from the Infallible Chair : the Popes whereof growing great , and proud , and impatient of contradiction , began first to murmure against the Tollerations of the Novatians , which being a great eye-sore to those haughty Prelates , as soon as they had gotten power into their hands , they rooted them out by Force and Violence , but yet they had not so far abandoned all their natural sense of mercy and goodness , as to proceed to bloodshed , till the Divine Right of Fire and Faggot was invented by St. Dominick , that rabbid and furious Incendiary , by whose instigation the Albigenses were wasted by a dreadful War , and 180 of them burnt to death , because they would not abjure their Religion : which horrid butchery was acted by the Commission of Pope Innocent the third , who to encourage it , granted a plenary pardon and indulgence to the Executioners , and now like Lybian Tygers , having tasted Blood , they thirst insatiably for more ; and instead of Pastors turn Buttchers to the Flock of Christ , by their repeated Cruelties , converting that Church into an infamous Slaughter-house of Christians , which was once so famous a Seminary of Martyrs ; and for these 600 years bleeding , hath been the only Remedy those Spiritual Mountebancks have prescribed , to cure the Diseased Church ; and this hath been cryed up as their great Catholicon ; witness the infinite Slaughters they have acted and instigated in Italy Bohemia , the upper and lower Germany : witness the Spanish Inquisition , where the Holy Fathers confute Hereticks with Racks and Gibbets ; witness the Parisian Massacre , where our Religion was consuted only with Skenes , and Daggers , witness the Marian days , wherein the Roman Faith was defended so gloriously against all Arguments , with only that Dreadful Text , Recant or Burn : and if all this be not enough , witness that Horrid Power Plot , the Prevention of which we now Commemorate ; a Villany so Foul and Monstrous , as was never Parallell'd either in Fiction or History ; and compared with which , the most Tragick Scenes of Melancholy Poets , and dismal Phantasms of Despairing Souls , are but all Comick Tales , Subjects of Sport and Laughter : a Tragedy so deep and bloody , that certainly had the most barbarous Canibal in America been hired to act it , the very thought of it must have startled him into an Agony ; and he could not but have relented , considering thus with himself ; I am now giving Fire to a Train , which at one blow will Ruine a whole Kingdom , tear in pieces its King and Princes , and scatter their Members in the Air , strew its Fields with the Limbs and Quarters of its slaughtered Nobles and Gentry , fill its Streets with the Threns and Lamentations of woful Mothers , the shrieks and out cryes of desolate Wives & Children , shake its goodly Temples , and Royal Palaces into ruines , and in one moment lay all its glory in the dust : and yet [ O tell it not in Gath , publish it not in the streets of Askalon ! ] All these Cruelties were designed under the livery of the most merciful Jesus , and this Cannibals feast of fellow-Christians blood prepared to entertain the Father of Mercies , and the Prince of Love ; as if they like the Heathens Daemons , fed their hungry Nostrils with the Niderous reeks and steams of humane sacrifices : Thus by degrees you see Persecution is imbodyed into the Romish Religion ; and when Heresie is the Disease , Ruine is the only Remedy : A sure one indeed ; but O how heavenly wide of those mild prescriptions of the great Physician of souls ! who being urged by his own Disciples to revenge himself upon a company of rude and obstinate Scismaticks , solemnly professes , that he came not to destroy mens lives , but to save them . The occasion of which words was an affront which the Samaritans had offered to our blessed Saviour ; who being notorious Scismaticks , and professed enemies to the Jews , that worshipped at Jerusalem , refused to entertain our Saviour for one night ; perceiving he was a Jew , and so of a contrary Religion to themselves , upon which James and John moved with great indignation , to see their blessed Master so unworthily treated , request him , that after the example of Elias , they might call for fire from Heaven to destroy them : but he no way approving their motion , severely rebukes them for it , and plainly tells them , that they knew not what spirit they were of ; as much as if he should have said ; if you will needs imitate that Legal zelotick spirit Elias acted by ; whatever you pretend , you act not like my Disciples , whose spirit and genius ought to be more tender and merciful ; and therefore , though these Samaritans are of a different Sect ▪ and Religion , and will not imbrace me , nor my Doctrine ; yet far be it from me to destroy them ; for this is quite contrary both to my temper , and the design of my coming ; which is not to destroy mens lives , but to save them . So that you see the plain scope of the words is this ; That to destroy mens lives upon the score of Religion , is a practice contraty to the Spirit of Christ , and the design of his Religion . Before I proceed to the proof of this Proposition , I shall briefly endeavour to state , and restrain it within its just bounds and limits : and they are these four . First , That it is not to be understood of any Religion , that is in its own nature wicked and immoral : for if a mans Religion teacheth Vice , or directly patronizeth it , his Vice is not the less punishable , because his Religion prompted him to it . Indeed if he keep his wicked Opinion to himself , it cannot be punished , because it cannot be known ; but if he perswade others to it , or practise it himself ; it becomes matter of fact , and is as punishable as the crime is it perswades to : for the great Rules of Virtue and Good Life , are so clear and perspicuous , that a man cannot be ignorant of them , without being faulty : and therefore if a man imbrace a wicked Opinion , and act or spread it , the matter of fact is justly punishable , according to the proportion of its malignity . And indeed if wicked actions were to be excused upon the score of Conscience , or Opinion , Religion would be made a Sanctuary for all the villanies in the world ; and there is no crime so monstrous , but would make a shift to shelter it self from punishment under the protection of Conscience . Secondly , And more particularly , that the Proposition is not to be understood of such Opinions , as either directly , or in their immediate consequents , undermine the foundations of Government : for Government being indispensably necessary to the well-being of the world , men ought to know that that can be no good Religion which teacheth Doctrines , whose consequents destroy it ; and therefore its just and reasonable it should be rooted out , as a dangerous post , and nuisance to the publick interest ; and the necessity of the thing , will justifie the lawfulness of it : For were Princes bound to tolerate ungovernable principles , they must be Kings no longer than they can get leave to reign , from the humour or conscience of each hot-brained Opinionists ; and all their Authority must be dependant upon the little capricio's of every peevish Zealot ; the consequents of which must be the dissolution of Government , and that an in-let to all disorder and confusion : and therefore those that under a pretence of Religion propagate such principles , are justly accountable for all the consequent inconveniences , and punishable accordingly . Thirdly , That the Proposition is not be understood of our practice , but of our Judgements and Opinions : for every man hath a natural Right , as he is a Rationable creature , to judg for himself ; and to punish any one for so doing , is the greatest tyranny in the world ; it being an exercise of dominion over the minds of men , which are subject only to the Empire of God ; but as for our practice , that 's liable to the restraints of humane Laws ; and that as well in Sacred , as in Civil Affairs ; they cannot indeed oblige us to do what God hath forbidden us , because his , being the supreme Authority , ought to take place against all the countermands of any inferiour power whatsoever : but then there are a world of things which remain in a state of indifferency , and are left undetermined both by the natural , and positive Laws of God : and these are all liable to the commands and determinations of humane Authority , and are the proper matter of Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws ; to the extent of whose jurisdiction , there can be no other restraint , than only the countermand of a Superiour Authority ; and therefore if there be nothing antecedently evil enjoyned by the Laws , whether Civil , or Ecclesiastical , we are bound to obey them ; and if we do not , we are justly punishable for our disobedience . Indeed if we believe the thing enjoyned to be evil , though it be not , we ought not to do it , in obedience to the Supreme Authority of God , which we believe hath forbidden it : but yet if we mistake , and the thing be not evil , but in its own nature indifferent , we are justly punishable for the not doing it , because our mistake alters not the nature of the thing ; if it be indifferent , it is a proper object of humane Laws , whether we think it so or no , and as such may justly be imposed ; and the imposition being just , our not obeying it must needs be justly punishable . In this extremity therefore we have no other redress , but to seek information , and get our mistaken consciences better instructed ; and if when we have done all , we cannot alter our Opinion , our meek and patient submission to the penalty , will be our excuse before the Tribunal of God. Fourthly , And lastly , that the Proposition is not to be understood of our making a publick profession of our Opinions , so as to disturb the Peace of the Church with them , so long as men are humble and modest in their dissent , and do not go about to advance their Opinions into Factions , and to divide and rend the Church in the propagation of them , I see no reason why they should be punished , and persecuted for them ; but if men openly profess their dissent , to the prejudice of the publick Peace and Intrest , and doat so much upon their own conceits , as to phancy them necessary for all the rest of Mankind , and consequently go about to vex their neighbours , provoke their Rulers , and unsetttle the Government for the propagation of them : if through an inconsiderate Zeal for their own notions , they should be active and industrious to make a Party against the Church , and withdraw others from her communion , they are offenders to the publck Peace , and as such are justly liable to punishment : for they ought to consider , that unless their Opinion be of greater moment than the Churches Peace , it ought to vail , and give way to it , and that there are no Opinions weighty enough to ballance the Churches Peace , whose contraries do not undermine Christianity it self , and utterly defeat the ends of Christian Society : for everyman is obliged , by vertue of being in Society , to do his utmost to preserve the honour and intrest of it , and to joyn in all acts of it , so far as they tend thereunto ; and dissent from every thing which tends to the apparent ruine of that Society . Now the main end of Christian Society , being the honour of God , and the salvation of souls : the primary reason of mens entring into Churches , or Christian Societies , is to advance these ends , and to joyn in all acts of the Society they are listed into , so far as they tend to the advancement of them ; but if any thing be required of us directly repugnant to these ends , we are bound to manifest and declare our dissent from them , and if for so doing we are 〈◊〉 cast out of the particular Christian Society ; by so doing , and suffering , we preserve our communion with the Catholick Society of Christians ; but if I am never so much perswaded that such a practice or Article of the Church is an errour ; yet if it be not such an errour as doth defeat the great ends of Christian Society , I am bound either to keep my parswasion to my self , or at least not to disturb the Peace of the Church in my indeavours to propagate it to others ; because , next to the honour of God , and the salvation of souls , the Churches Peace is to be valued above all things whatsoever ; and therefore is not to be disturbed for the sake of every little errour , and trifling Opinion : It is sufficient that we are allowed the liberty of opining , and are not deprived of our natural right of judging for our selves ; and we ought not to complain , though we should be restrained by Laws and penalties , from making Parties against the Church , and propagating our little Opinions into Factions ; since if we will not restrain our selves , without such a restriction , it is impossible there should be any Peace among Christian Societies ; every hot-brain'd Opinionist will be making a Party for himself ; and every differing Opinion will grow into a Sect ; and so there will be continual dividing and subdividing , till the Christian world be crumbled into as many Churches , as there are Opinions ; and as many Opinions as there are men : for whilst every one is zealously propagating his little Opinion , no man will let his Brother be quiet : this man will be ready to burst till he hath vented himself ; and the other will be as impatient till he hath contradicted what he hath said : and whilst both are thus zealous to proselite each other , neither will be content with a single conquest ; but the publick must be disturbed , and by the Zeal of the contending Parties , rent into infinite Sects and Divisions ; so that you see it is indispensibly necessary , that there should be some restraint , though not upon mens Opinions , yet upon their publick profession of them , since without it , the Church will be inevitably exposed to perpetual tumults and disturbances . Having thus stated and bounded the Proposition , you see the plain meaning of it is this , That it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ , and the genius of Christianity , to destroy or persecute men for meer Opinions , or errours in Religion : that it is so , I shall indeavour to prove from these following Instances . I. It is contrary to that tenderness and compassion which Christianity requireth of us : For our Religion enjoyns us to sympathize with the miserable ; and not to add afflictions to the afflicted ; and therefore fallibility being the natural imperfection , and unhappiness of humane understandings , the errours of them should rather be the subject of our pity , than our revenge : for 't is as much out of our power , not to err , as not to be sick or die : and we may as reasonably punish a man for not being immortal , as for not being infallible : for the seeds of fallibility are sown in the nature of our understandings , as well as those of mortality in the temper of our bodies : and we can no more avoid being mistaken in all instances than we can prevent the consumption of our radical moisture : all we can do is to endeavour not to err : to stand as fast as we can in the center of Truth ; but if when we have done so , we should reel on either hand towards the circumference of errour ; we have done our duty , and were not bound not to be mistaken : for no obligation can reach a mans conscience , if it be impossible ; we cannot be bound to do more than our best ; to have the understanding of an Angel , or to be infallible ; for these are things that are not within the sphere of our choice , and therefore are no matters of Law , or subjects of rewards and punishments : 'T is true , errour is many times occasioned by a corrupt byas in the will ; and mens understandings are frequently mis-led by their lusts ; and then indeed the errour hath a guilt derived to it from that evil principle to which it owes its original : but if we see men honest in their lives , we are bound to think them so in their errours too ; and if their errours be only innocent mistakes , what an inhumanity is it to persecute them for that which is their misery only , and not their sin ! who but a Barbarian would cut a mans throat , for being poor , or blind , or lame ? and is it not altogether as barbarous , and cruel to destroy a man for that , which is the poverty , and blindness , and lameness of his understanding ? what is this , but to lay load upon load ; to trample upon the prostrate , and heap miseries on the miserable ? Suppose that a different education , different Books and company , have cast thy Brothers understanding into a different figure from thine ; is it reasonable that therefore thou shouldest persecute and destroy him ? or rather is it not as unreasonable , as if thou shouldest cut off his head , because he hath a dimple upon his chin , or a mould on his cheeks , or some line in his face that renders him unlike thee ? suppose he hath the ill luck to believe some Proposition , which to you and I seems wild , absurd and unreasonable , must we presently beat out his Opinion with his brains , because the poor soul was so unfortunate as to be mis-led by education , and imposed upon by Authority and Custom , which we see do so often cheat the honestest minds ; and like a mighty whirlpool , having once sucked a man in , do keep his head under water , and make it almost impossible for him to emerge , or recover himself ? How can such a piece of cruelty , do ye think , consist with the tenderness and compassion which our Religion enjoyns . II. It is destructive of the union and harmony among Christians , which the Christian Religion requires : for certainly the design of Christianity is not to reconcile mens notions , or to beget in the world an universal harmony in systems of orthodox Opinions ; which considering the frame of humane nature , the infinite variety of mens ages and complexions , and the different sizes of our understandings , would be , I doubt , as vain a project , as to attempt to build a Castle in the Aire nor indeed is it necessary that men should be all of one Opinion , any more than that all should be of one humour and temper : for as in these , Divine Providence hath made a great diversity , in which there is both beauty , and convenience : so perhaps for the same reason it hath contrived variety of Opinions , in which if there were an universal harmony , mankind would be at a loss for subjects of discourse , and so be deprived of a great part of the pleasures of conversation . The union therefore which our Religion doth so studiously design , and zealously promote , is that of hearts and affections , and this , I doubt not , might well enough consist with different Opinions , were they but managed with that Humility , Modesty , and Charity which becomes Christians : were we but so modest , as to propose our Opinions calmly , or to keep them to our selves ; so humble as not to over-value our own notions , and fancy them necessary for all the rest of mankind ; so Charitable , as to alow our Brethren a liberty of Opining , and not to Damn and Persecute them , because their Brains are of a different Figure from ours ; I cannot imagin why difference in Opinions should more disturb the Church , than difference in Faces ; for such a demeanour one towards another would infallibly keep our Charity alive , which when all is done , is the strongest ligament of Christian Society , and the surest band of the Communion of Saints ; for this will twine and clasp our souls together , and tye us one to another by the heart strings : But the destroying mens lives upon the score of their Opinions , is the most effectual way in the world to supplant Charity . For how is it possible , considering the passions of humane nature , that the Persecuted Party should love their Persecutors , whom they see armed with Fire and Faggot to destroy them ? and when once they hate them ( as they will soon do when they 〈◊〉 them ) their passion will immediately provoke their Reason to damn and censure them , which is the only means that Persecuted People have a stay to the stomach of their hungry Vengeance , till they have power , and opportunity to glut it in the blood of their Persecutors : and if in the revolution of things , the Persecuted should get above their Persecutors , what can be expected , but that to preserve themselves , they will destroy them from whom they can expect nothing but destruction , should another revolution mount them uppermost again ; and so Christendom will be made a Cock-pit of Cruelties , and as often as mens understandings are deceived , and abused ; so often there will be new Executions and Massacres , which must therefore needs be the more cruel and unmerciful , because they are so Consecrated with a pretence of Religion : for when Religion , which should be the Antidote of our Cruelty , proves its greatest Incentive , it must needs run on the faster into mischief , by how much that which stopped its course before , drives it on with the greater violence ; so that by Persecuting men upon the score of Opinion , we do what in us lies , to banish Charity out of the World ; and in the room of that Love and Union , which our Religion injoyns , to introduce nothing but Rage , Revenge , and Cruelty ; and to make Christendom more Barbarous th●● America . III. It 's contrary to that method which Christianity prescribes us for the Convincing Deceived , and Eronious Persons 〈◊〉 for the only Remedy our Holy Religion prescribes 〈◊〉 the Cure of Errour , is Charity , and Forbearance Piety and Reason ; for the sense and Spirit of 〈◊〉 is described in these excellent words of St. Paul , 2 Tim. 2. 24. The Servants of the Lord must not strive , but be gentle unto all men ; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging the Truth . So that unless we can torture men without striving with them , and meekly instruct them by cutting their throats , its evident by this Text , we must either not persecute men , or quit the title of being the servants of God. So also the same Apostle in Gal. 6. 1. Brethren , if any man be overtaken with an errour , ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness . And sure there is some difference between destroying , and restoring a man ; between the halter , and the spirit of meekness . 'T is true indeed , the procedure of the Gospel was more severe and rigorous against wicked and obstinate Hereticks ; but then it was not for their Opinions barely : but for the wickedness of their Opinions , and obstinate perseverance in them , to the disturbance of the Churches Peace ; both which I have shewed you are excepted cases : but yet as the Gospel was a great deal tenderer of making Hereticks , than the Church of Rome is ; so was it also a great deal gentler in punishing them ; for its utmost severity against them was excommunication , which at the worst did not destroy mens souls ; but only consigned them to that sad portion they had deserved , and should have received independantly from the Churches censure ; but the primary design of it was to scare them into a lober mind ; which if it obtained , it proceeded no further 〈◊〉 that in its own nature it was medicinal ; and though it was a distastful and uneasie potion , by reason it gave the Devil possession of their bodies , to torture and afflict them ; yet in it self 't was holesome , and restorative , and did no man hurt , unless he would himself ; but if he would be obstinate in his wickedness , notwithstanding he felt the woful effects of it , he might thank himself for all that followed , it being his own obstinacy that actuated the Judgement , and gave a sting to it . but to destroy a mans life is as strange a way to cure him of his Errors , as cutting off his head is to cure him of the Toothach ; for the only way to reduce him , is to perswade his understanding , which we shall hardly do by beating out his Brains ; 't is true indeed , corporal punishments may make a man dissemble his Opinion , and profess contrary to his Conscience and Judgement ; but they have no more Vertue in them to inform his Conscience , or rectifie his Judgement than syllogisms , or demonstrations have , to cure him of the Stone or Strangury , and therefore what ever he may pretend , he cannot think his Opinion truer or falser , because you threaten to wrack and torture him for it , for such premisses can infer , no conclusion but only that of his life , so whilst you attempt by such rough arguments to force him into your Opinion ; you may perhaps vanquish his Courage , but you will never alter his Judgement ; and if you make him a Hypocrite , and terrifie him into a Profession of what he doth not believe ; instead of erecting a Trophe to God , you shall but build a Monument for the Devil : And as Persecution is a bad remedy for Errors , so 't is a worse Antidote against it ; for if you consult Ecclesiastical history you will find , that Fire and Faggot hath made more Hereticks , than it ever destroyed , witness the Priscillianists , who as Sulpitius tells us , were so far from being suppressed by the death of Priscillian , that they were more confirmed by it , and grew much more numerous ; and it is the complaint of one of the Italian Inquisitors , that he had found after 40 years experience , wherein they had destroyed above 100000 Hereticks ; they were so far from being suppressed or weakened , that they were much more strengthened and encreased . For there is a popular pitty that follows all persons in misery , which breeds likeness of affection , and that very often likeness in Opinion ; and so much the rather , because he that Persecutes another for his Opinion , gives the multitude reason to suspect , that that is the best argument he can urge against it : whereas on the contrary , he that dies for his Opinion , and seals it with his Blood , confirms it with the most popular argument in the world ; for although [ as one says ] laying a wager be an argument of confidence , rather then of truth ; yet when a man stakes his life and soul , it argues at least , that he is resigned , and Honest , and Charitable , and Noble ; and this among weak people will more advance his Opinion then reason , and demonstration : So by persecuting of Error , we do what in us lyes to Canonize it ; and by Crowning of it wth the glory of Martyrdom ; we take an effectual course to encrease the number of its Voterys . IV. And lastly , It is contrary to that care , and tender regard of Truth , which Christianity injoyns us ; for in many instances there is so near a resemblance between Truth and Error , that our purblind reason can hardly distinguish between them ; and therefore if Error were left to the Persecutions of such fallible creatures as we , Truth would be exposed to inevitable danger ; for if you set a blind man to weed your Garden ; you must expect that sometimes he will pull up flowers instead of weeds : and if we that are so prone to err , should be authorized to root up Error , 't would be impossible but we should sometimes mistake , and root up Truth instead of Error ; and therefore our Saviour considering this , hath reserved that power in his own hands , as you may see at large in Matth. 13. 24. &c. Another Parable put he forth unto them , saying , The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man that soweth good seed in his field , and while men slept , his enemy came and sowed tares among his wheat , and went away : upon which this mans servants ask him , in the 28 verse , if they should go and gather up the tares ; to which he answers him , nay , lest while ye gather up the tares , ye root up also the wheat with them : let both grow together until the Harvest . By the field here , all men agree , we are to understand the Church , and by the seed sown in it , that of the pure and sound doctrines of Religion ; so that all the difficulty of the Parable , lyes in understanding what is meant by the tares , and what by the not gathering the tares : By the the tares , must be meant either persons of wicked lives , or of false and evil Opinions ; and by the not gathering these tares , must be understood , either the not cutting them off by the Temporal sword , or the not excommunicating , and cutting them off by the Spiritual sword ; but by the tares , cannot be meant persons of wicked lives , for then the Text would forbid the punishment of evil doers ; by not gathering the tares , cannot be meant the not cutting them off by the Spiritual sword , for then the Text would forbid the Church to excommunicate either wicked livers , or obstinate Hereticks : And therefore of necessity by the tares , must be meant persons of evil Opinions ; and by the not gathering them , the not destroying them by the Temporal sword , and this Interpretation is very much favoured , by the reason that is given of the Prohibition , least ye also root up the wheat with them ; as if he should have said , as for external wickednesses , I freely leave them to the lash of humane Judicatures ; the rectitude or obliquity of them being far more discernable , then of inward speculations , and Opinions ; but I will by no means trust you with the punishment of Errors ; least through interest , passion , or mistake , you should exterminate the Truth with it , for you being so fallible , and apt to err , it is impossible but sometimes you must miss the mark ; mistake the wheat for tares , and hit the Truth , though you aime at Error . Having thus shewed you how contrary it is to the spirit , and genius of Christianity , to destroy mens lives , upon the score of mere Opinion , or Religion ; I shall now conclude what I have said , with one inference from the whole . Use , From hence I infer , the Antichristian tyranny of the Church of Rome , who hath fleshed her self with so many slaughters , and dyed her Garments so deep in the blood of Christians , upon no other score , but only their differing from her , in some ( at least ) disputable , and harmless Opinions ; because upon her bare word they could not believe propositions , which to them seemed contrary to sense , and reason , and Scripture and their Faith had not stomach enough , to digest the most fulsome absurdities and swallow the grossest contradictions : Blessed Jesu ! that ever a Church pretending to be thy Spouse , should be so forgetful of thy mercies , as to spill the blood of so many thousands of Christians , upon no other account , but because they could not believe her absolution such a Philosophers Stone , as to turn attrition into effectual Repentance ; and a few words of a Priest , such a powerful charm , as to conjure a man to Heaven in an instant : and because thou hast made holiness the sole condition of eternal life , durst not depend upon confraternities , stations , and priviledge-Altars , Dei's , little offices , amulets , and such like hallowed baubles , because they could not worship Images , and pray to God , and Saints in the same form of words , and durst not run from Scripture , to uncertain traditions , and from ancient traditions , unto new pretences ; from reasonable services , into blind devotions ; from believing the necessity of inward acts of piety , and devotion , into a dangerous temptation of resting upon the Opus Operatum , the meer numbring of so many Beads , and saying of so many prayers ! that ever Christians should be destroyed by Christians , for not believing all those monstrous absurdities , which transubstantiation implies , that Christs body may be in a thousand places at the same time ; that it may stay in a place while it is going from it , be both in , and out of the same place , in the same moment ; that it may come from Heaven to Earth , and yet never stir out of Heaven , nor be any where in the way between ; that his whole body is in each crumb of each consecrated wafer , and that without being lessened , all its parts are crouded up into one single attom , and lye all within the compass of a Pin's head , though it be 4 foot long ; that though it be whole and entire in every crumb , and there be 10000 of these crumbs in 10000 distant places ; yet doth it not multiply into 10000 bodies , but still remains one and the same : now what greater tyranny can there be , than to destroy and massacre men for not believing such a mass of palpable contradictions ? and yet for these , and such like causes it is that Rome hath so often washed her barbarous hands in Protestant blood ; imbroiled the Christian world , and by the terrour of her awful thunder-bolts , scared Subjects into Rebellion against their lawful Soveraigns , and Soveraigns into persecution of their natural Subjects : of the truth of which I could give you a thousand forein instances ; but in complyance with the time and occasion , I shall rather chuse to confine my self at home : to destroy mens lives upon the score of Religion , was a practice never known in England , till the time of Henry the 4th ; who being an Usurper , and so liable to many enemies , both forein and domestick ; sought to endear the Pope to him , who was then moderator of Christendom , by sending him , as a token of his love and duty , the blood of his enemies : and for many years after this was the yearly sacrifice our English Monarks were fain to offer up to the Roman Idol ; and whensoever through their own weakness , they either feared , or were forced to flatter him ; they had no other way to appease the angry Demon , but by causing their children to pass through the fire to him , and glutting his thirsty vengeance with their blood : but when afterwards our English Monarchs threw off the Roman yoak , and would no longer be the Popes Leeches ; he immediately issueth out his Bulls , and excommunications to alarum their subjects into a Rebellion against them : for immediately upon Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Throne , Pope Paul the 4th . refuseth to acknowledge her , pretending this Crown to be a fee of the Papacy , and that therefore it was audaciously done of her , to assume it without his leave ; and because she would not turn out immediately , when her great Landlord had given her such fair warning , Pope Pius the 5th . takes out a Writ of Ejectment , issueth out his Bull , and deposeth her ; in which he thus expresserh himself , Volumus , & jubemus ut adversus Elizabetham Angliae Reginam subditi arma capessant ; it is our will and command that the Subjects of England take up Arms against their Queen : upon which followed the Northern Rebellion , and sundry private attempts of the Papists , to murder her : Afterwards Pope Gregory the 15th . having two Bastards to provide for , one of his own , and another of the Emperours , he bestowed the Kingdom of England upon the one , and that of Ireland upon the other ; but neither of these prevailing , Sixtus the 5th . curses her afresh , and publishes a crusade against her ; and bequeaths the whole right of her Dominions to Philip the 2d . King of Spain ; but when neither the Popes bounty , nor the blessings of his successors , nor the Spanish Arms , nor Italian Arts , could prevail against God's providence , which till the end of her daies pitched its tents about her . Pope Clement the 8th . seeing there was no other remedy , resolved to let her go like a Heretick as she was , and to take more care that another Heretick might not succeed her ; for which end he sent over two Breves into England ; one to the Clergy , and another to the Laity ; commanding them not to suffer any but a Catholick , though never so near in blood to succeed her ; the design of which was to exclude King James , who was the sole Heir apparent to the Crown ; upon which the Papists indeavoured to their utmost , to prevent his coming in , and afterwards to throw him out again ; and when neither took effect , at last they resolve to send him to Heaven with a vengeance , by a blow of Gun-powder ; which was a villany so black and odious , that the Romanists themselves do blush to own it : And indeed , were it not so apparent from the confessions of the Traitors themselves ; who acknowledged the Jesuits to be their Conspirators , that egged them on by their pernicious counsels ; swore them to secresie by the holy Trinity , and gave them the Sacrament upon it , that they should neither withdraw themseves from , nor discover it to others without common consent : I say , were it not for these , and a thousand other notorious circumstances , one would have thought it impossible such a hellish design could ever have been acted under the wing and patronage of the best Religion that ever was : but he that shall consider the bloody principles with which the Roman Church hath sophisticated Christianity , must needs confess that there is no wickedness so horrid , of which her Religion will not make her capable ; for 't is decreed by the Lateran Council , that in case any Prince be a favourer of Hereticks , the Pope shall discharge his Subjects from their allegiance , and give away his Kingdom to some Catholick , who upon rooting out those Hereticks , shall possess it without contradiction : and 't is the general Doctrine of her most celebrated Divines , that the Pope hath power to depose Kings at his pleasure ; and this Father Parsons determines to be a point of Faith , to believe it is in the Popes power to depose Heretical Princes ; and that subjects are upon their being declared heretical , thereby absolved from all duty of obedience to him ; and this Bellarmin proves at large , by giving us sundry examples of Popes , who have deposed Kings and Emperours ; as of Gregory the second , who deprived the Emperour Leo of a great part of his Dominions , because he opopposed the worship of Images ; of Pope Zacherie who deposed Childerick of France ; of Gregory the 7th who deposed Henry the 4th Emperor of Germany ; of Innocent the 3d , who deposed the Emperor Otho the 4th ; of Innocent the 4th , who deposed Frederick the 2d , and Clement the 6th , who also deposed Lewis the 6th , a●d so at last gravely concludes ; that because they had done so , they might do so still ; as if wickedness were sanctifyed by wicked Examples . So also Gregory de Valentia affirms , that an Heretical Prince may by the Popes Sentence be deprived of his Life , Estate , and Soveraignty . But beyond all these are those Traiterous positions of Mariana the Spanish Jesuite ; who affirms , That it is not only Lawful to kill a King upon the Popes S●ntance ; but also upon the Verdict of a few Learned Doctors : and discoursing pro and con of the most convenient way of doing it , at last determines Prisoning to be the most Orthodox and Catholick . And if we look into the Histories of these last 600 years , we shall find their practice hath made a bloody Comment on their Doctrines ; for in those days when Excommunications from Rome were so terrible , and all things shrunk at the flash of those Thunders ; it was the ordinary Recreation of those insolent Prelates , to play at Foot-ball with the Crowns of Princes , and trample on the Necks of Emperors : as the Fredericks , the Henries , the Lodovici , Bavari , found by woful experience , who were abandoned of their Subjects , their Kindred , their Allies , their own Children ; were troden under foot , deposed from their Empires , defamed as Hereticks , and chased like Raskals . These goodly Mirrours one would think were sufficient to warn all Christian Princes to shake off the Yoak that for so many ages hath galed the Necks of their Ancestors . But if after so m●ny woful Examples , there should remain any doubt of the Tyrannick Cruelties of Rome , let us Remember that pair of Royal Sacrifices the two last Henry's of France , both barbarously murdered by the Popes Executioners : the First by the hand of a Fryar , whose Villany was commended by Pope Sixtus the 5th in an Oration to his Cardinals ; wherein he compares the Fact with the Incarnation and Resurrection of Christ : and the Fryars Virtue and Courage , and servent Love to God , to that of Judith , and Eliazar , in the Maccabees . Blessed God! what wickedness will these men stick at the head of whose Religion Cannonizeth Regicide , and Christians murder a meritorious Virtue ? and why should the Papists be ashamed to own the Powder Treason , [ which though it may compare with the blackest Inte●●gues of Hell , and was foul enough to bring the Devil himself into disgrace ] yet was warranted by the Principles of their bloody Religion ? But 't is an old Maxim of the Roman Politicks , never to own an unsuccessful Villany ; and without doubt had not the Parisian Massacre taken effect , in which 30000 Protestants were slaughtered in one night , the Papists would have as loudly disclaimed that , as now they do the Powder Treason : but it being successful , the news of it at Rome , as their own Thuanus tells us , was welcomed with Publick Festivals , bonfires , and Tryumphs ; the Pope himself congratulating the Inhumane cruelty of the French King , commending the Faith of those bloudy Wretches , whose hands were imbrewed in the Slaughter , and distributing his Paternal Blessings among them : And without all controversie had Faux and Catesby been but as successful as they , their Faith had been as much praised , and their Persons as much blessed ; and the Fifth of November had been as high a Festival in the Roman Calender , as it is now in the English. Thus if you trace the Romish Religion in all her late Progresses , you will find that her way hath lead all along through a wilderness of Confusion , and a Red Sea of Blood : and though now she exerciseth less Cruelties in the World , than formerly ; yet her Will is the same , her Principles the same , her Documents of Cutting Throats the same , though blessed be God her Power and Interest is abated : For now a days , Princes are grown too stout to kiss his Holiness's Toe , to hold his Stirrup , and run like Lacquies at his heels : Those Golden Days are gone , and he that was wont to Command , is fain to Intreat his own Children ; and as an Ingenious Author hath observed , whilst Princes can stand upon their own legs , they may goe their own pace , as fast and as slow as they please ; but should any misfortune throw them upon all four , we shall soon see his Holiness get up and Ride them what pace he pleases : and being bestrid by such a furious Jehu , to be sure they will want neither Whip nor Spur to make them as swift to shed blood as ever . For thus at present , the French King may allow his Hugonots what liberty he pleases , and his Holiness is fain to sit still , and be silent ; being kept in aw by that Puissant Monarch , whose Cannon Bullets , are grown too strong for his Thunder-bolts : But the Case was otherwise with Charles the 9th , who being weakened by Faction , and impoverished by civil Broils , was in a manner necessitated to that Infamous Butchery at Paris , to appease the Pope , and prevent the Excommunication he threatned him , unless he speedily destroyed the Hugonots with Fire and Sword : And indeed the Pope is bound both by their Councels , and Canons to destroy Hereticks , if he can ; and which is all one , to Excommunicate their Favourers : for this is decreed in the 4th Lateran Councel , that all Hereticks should be Excommunicated , and then delivered up to the lash of the Secular Powers : but if the Prince , or Secular Power being Required , and Admonished by the Church , do not endeavour to their utmost , to exterminate , and destroy these Hereticks , he shall be presently Excommunicated by the Metropolitan or Arch-Bishop ; and if within a year he doth not amend , his obstinacy shall be signifyed to the Pope , Vt ex tunc ipse Vasallos ab ejus fidelitate denuntiet absolutos , &c. That from that time the Pope may denounce his Subjects absolved from their Allegiance to him : and Gregory the 13th , in that famous Bull of his , Intituled Literae processus lectae die Coenae Domini , Excommunicates , all Hussites Wiclivites , Zuinglians , Calvinists , Hugonots , and other Hereticks , together with their Concealers , and Favourers , and in general all those which desend them ; so that according to this Bull , a Child cannot conceal his Parents , nor a Prince Rescue his Subjecte from the Popes Blood-hounds , under the Penalty of Excommunication . And Pope Julius the 3d in another Bull , hath determin'd , That if any man examin the Doctrines of the Pope , by the Rule of Gods Word , and seeing it is different , chance to contradict it , he shall be rooted out with Fire and Sword. Was not this a precious Vicar , do you think , thus to doom men to slaughter , for not believing his own unreasonable dictates , before the infallible Oracles of God himself ? And yet these Bulls of the Popes , with the rest of their Decretals , Extravagants and Clementines , are all inserted in the body of the Canon Law of the Church of Rome , aud so are made as good and current Popery as ever was coyned in the Councel of Trent : and now , after all this , me thinks 't is impossible we should be so besorted , as to trust to the cruel courtesies of Rome , whose Religion breaths nothing but blood and slaughter . The cry indeed of the Roman Factors among us , is nothing but Toleration , and liberty of Conscience ; and since the Laws have proscribed them for their Treasonous Practices , and for swearing themselves Vassals to the Pope , whose countermands ( if they are faithful to their own Principles ) must evacuate all their obligations to their natural Prince ; What Tragical Exclamations do they make against Persecution ? as if they meant to have the monopoly of it , that no body might persecute but themselves ; and though in the Popish Dominions , they are as fell and rabbid as so many Lybean Tygers , yet no sooner do they set foot upon the English shores , but as if there were an Inchantment in the soil , the Wolves turn Sheep immediately , or at least disguise themselves in Sheeps cloathing : but if ever these sweet and merciful Gentlemen get into the Saddle again , we shall soon find them in another note , and Persecution will be zeal again , and Racks and Gibbets Catholick Arguments , and there will be no way to illuminate the understandings of us Hereticks , like the light of a flaming Fagget : For how can we expect it should be otherwise , when we reflect upon what is past , when the Marian days are yet within our prospect ? and 't is not half an Age ago since Ireland swam in Protestant blood , which was spilt by the instigation of some of these fawning Hypocrites , who now declaim forsooth for liberty of conscience , and defie persecution and all its works : But this pretence , its evident , is only a coppy of their countenances , and without all controversie the bottom of their design is only to perswade us to let them grow till they are strong enough to cut our throats ; for 't is the subtilty of these Harpys never to show their talons till they have their prey within their reach : but if what they pretend were Real , Why do they not allow what they plead for , and indulg that liberty to dissenters abroad , which here they crave for themselves ? Why do they not as much exclaim against the Spanish Inquision , which hath been confirmed by so many Bulls of their own Popes , as they do against the English Laws , and condemn the barbarous cruelties of the one , as well as the milder severities of the other ! for till they do so , we have reason to believe that 't is not against Persecution they exclaim , but against being persecuted . But in the mean time , how can we expect that they should be merciful to our bodies , whose Religion damns our souls ? or that if ever they get uppermost , [ which God prevent : ] they that are so uncharitable now , as to shut us out of Heaven ; should be so charitable then , as not to drive us out of the world ! For this is a Maxim founded upon the experience of all Ages , That that Religion which damns us when it is weak , will burn us when it is able . Wherefore , since God in his mercy hath delivered us from the Romish Tyranny ; let us with thankful hearts extoll and praise his goodness , and take heed for the future , least by our divisions , or apostacies we return again unto that yoak of bondage ; and since the Emissaries of Rome are now so busily pursuing their old Maxim , Divide , & Impera , and blowing the coals of our divisions , in hope at last to warm their hands at our flames ; O that we would now study the ways of peace , and reconciliation ! and not like the miserable Jews , fall out among our selves , while the Roman is at our Gates ; for all the time we are contending in the Ship , our Enemy is boring a hole in the bottom ; and while we are fomenting our unhappy differences , and tearing our own wounds wider , the Priest and Jesuit are at work in our Doublets ; who ever since their Gunpowder-Treason was defeated , have been strewing trains of Wild-fire among our selves , to make us our own Executioners , and blow us up by our own hands : For what else hath been their business among us , but only to raise sects and factions , and sow discords , and Divisions in the Church of England , which they know is the only Bulwork of the Protestant Religion among us . O would to God we would once heartily attempt to countermine them ! as we might yet easily do . Would we but once lay aside our unchristian passions , and prejudices , and study mutual compliances , and prefer Religion before a Faction , and abate some little Punctilioes to the soberer , and more governable Dissenters : These things if they might obtain amongst us , would yet undoubtedly secure us against all the attempts of our Adversaries , and Render their most hopeful design ; desperate , and unseasable : but if we will be deaf to all the Arguments which our common Interests , and dangers suggest to us ; if we will still squander into Sects and Parties , and nothing will serve our turns but the Ruine of that poor Church which for so many years hath been the Shelter , and Sanctuary of the Protestant Religion : The time may come perhaps , when we may dearly repent of our own Follies , and remember , with tears in our eyes , that we had once an opportunity to be happy . Let me therefore beseech you , even by all that love you bear to the Protestant Religion , to your own safety , and to the lives , and souls of your Posterity ; to lay aside all Faction , Bitterness , and Animosity ; lest by your unchristian Divisions , you open the Flood-gates of Popery on your selves , and out a gap to let in the Stygian Lake of Ignorance , Idolatry , Superstition , and Blood : which God of his Infinite Mercy avert . To whom be Honor , and Glory , and Power , and Dominion , For ever . FINIS . ☞ There is lately Printed , a Sermon , Preached before the Honorable the Military Company at St. Clements Danes July . 25. 1673. by the same Author : And are to be Sold by T. Tayler at the Hand and Bible on London Bridge . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A58811-e520 Sulp. Sev. Hist. lib. p. 152. Antinin . pars 3. Tit. 19. cap. 1. Ger. Busdrag . Epist. ad C●rdid . Pisar. ●hil●p 1 edict . Elizab p. 149. De Rom , Pont. lib. ●5 . c. 8● . T●m . 3. in Thom , dil . 1. q. 1● . p. ● . De Reg. Inst. l. 1. c. 6. Orat. Sixt. 5th . Prited at Paris 1589. Thuan. Hist. lib. 53. Conc. Lat. 4. c. 3. Collect. divers . constit pars 3. p. 72. De Vita Ignati . l. 3. c 21. p. 335.