THE Modern Pharisees: OR A SERMON On the twenty-three. of S. MATT. v. 15.  
SHOWING The Principles of the present Jesuits, and Puritans, to be of the same evil influence with the ancient Pharisees; and equally vexatious and destructive to GOVERNMENT.  
By NATH. BISBIE, D. D.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1683.   

To the Right Worshipful, His ever Honoured PATRON, Sir JOHN CORDEL Baronet, One of His MAJESTY'S Deputy Lieutenants for the County of SUFFOLK.  
NOthing hath been more severely charged upon the Church of Rome, and the Proselytes thereof, since the Reformation, than their averseness and disaffection to Government; the belief whereof hath caused many heavy Laws, a continued jealousy, much slaughter and devastation among them. And the like hath no less severely been charged back by them upon the Reformation; It is manifest (saith the Author of the Protestants Babel) that in all places at home, as well as abroad, this spirit of Resormation hath ever been, and is seditiously pragmatical and dangerous unto Princes and States; insomuch that within the space of sixty Years, more Princes have been deposed and persecuted by Protestants upon the quarrel and difference of Religion, than had been by the Pope's excommunication, or by the attempts and practices of any subjects Catholic in six hundred years before (and yet our late Martyred Sovereign had not then been brought unto the block;) Wherefore I thought it worth my while and my pains to find out the Criminals; for if Christianity in general be faulty, Princes may well be ; or if there be not a Religion more Orthodox and Loyal than other, they may alike be favourable to all, but affected with none; This I say) made me to single out the present Malefactors of the Age, the Jesuit (with his Faction) for the Roman; and the Puritan (with his) for the English Church: who though harmless and innocent by their own account (for all the late applications to our after murdered Sovereign, were ushered in with, We your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Subjects; and the Restauration of our present King no less congratulated with, We your best and experienced Friends) yet if I have fixed wrong, or charged either of them unjustly (provided their own Writings may be the Judges in the case) I am content to undergo their burden; and when the next Rebellion or Commotion happens, for want of one of them in it (that justly deserves execution,) to be the man: And if this be proved, I hope, I shall no longer be blamed, either on the one hand or the other, for having, or still continuing to call them, Brethren in Iniquity; or for telling you and others where our danger lies, that Authority may know at whose Door to Knock, and by their severity and care prevent all future and growing mischiefs. Sure I am, there is a sort of Evil Doers among us, and if the Sword that should be a terror to such (the Sword they delight in so much) be born in vain, we shall all be made a Babel indeed. My prayer therefore shall be, That at such time, and in such straits, the King may never want Champions like you to defend him; nor such Champions a reward, whilst Loyalty is to be accounted a Virtue, and Valour deserves its Trophy.  
Your most bounden and respectful Servant, Nath. Bisbie. Long Melford, Suff. Nou. 5. 1682.   
MATT. twenty-three. 15. woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites; for ye compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the Child of Hell than yourselves. 
THE Jewish Writers (who have undertaken a representation of that Church in our Saviour's time) tell us, That there were then in it three more prevailing Sects or Parties; to wit, the Pharisees, the Sadduces, the Essens: As for the Sadduces, they were men seemingly extreme, and rigorously just, exact in giving every man his desert and due; called therefore Sadduces from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justitia, as if that virtue, which had gilded the face of the golden age, were not where so much to be found as in their Territories, and among their Party: Men (as they would have their name proclaim them) of equity and conscience; The only just, punctual, downright dealers of the age; so that if Jew or Gentile would have justice done them, the Sadducee must be the man. As for the Essens, they were no less addicted to piety and devotion; called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a sort of religious and sanctimonious persons, perfect Monks, as the Papists conceive; giving themselves wholly up to fasting, reading, praying, and many other such like exercises of austerity and devotion; every way as notorious and eminent for their piety and prayers, as the Sadduces were for their integrity and justice. An unnatural cursed divorce wherever it happens! Wherefore the Pharisee seemingly unites the righteousness of the one to the piety of the other; and joining both together, not only acts, but infinitely outdoes the Sadducee in his duly admired Justice, and the Essen in his no less applauded devotion. The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are We. You shall find them pale in their fastings, loud and long in their prayers, openhanded at their charity, great enemies to the Publican for his extortion and injustice, to the Sinner for his pollution and uncleanness; so sanctified, so mortified, so every way refined, that Heaven seems not to have a more glorious Saint, nor Earth so great a Pattern; and yet when thoroughly inspected and known, the very Rogues and Villains of the age: for they devour Widows houses, kill the Prophets, oppose Caesar and his Tribute, do a thousand and a thousand exorbitances more under the colour and pretext of religion, which God and nature, Religion and religious Men abhor, the Sadduces detest, the Essens cry shame upon; so every way sanctified yet profligated, That the holy Land hath not a more unholy Clan; nor the Serpent therein such another generation of Vipers. We may know them by the antipathy, that our blessed Saviour had against them, for though there naturally dropped nothing from his sacred Lips, but words smooth as Oil, (blessings or pardons) yet he never meets with a Pharisee, but he is still reproving or thundering out his anathemas against him; there are no less than eight of them together in this Chapter, and all directed against that sort of cattle: nay, I do not find that he ever fell so foul upon any other sort or Sect of Men; and yet I am sure, the Sadduces and Essens full well deserved it, especially the former; for they were (as Josephus informs us) of sour and savage natures, unnatural and unkind one towards another: nay, they had Principles that led them on to great impieties and immoralities; for they denied the Immortality of the Soul, the Resurrection of the Body, future rewards and punishments: and yet though thus actually wicked, and prone by their Principles to be much more wicked than they were, He notwithstanding passed them by (innocent as it were in comparison to the other) and applied his Woes to the Pharisees only, as Men whom he looked upon to be bipedum nequissimos, the most faulty pieces of Religion throughout the whole Church of the Jews. Nay, it is worth our observation, that the more fatherly, still the more faulty; if once professed and arrived unto the degree of being Scribes, of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Publishers and Teachers of the Law and the Traditions thereunto belonging; If once missionated, and by virtue of that mission they be also ordered to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to range and proselyte others, than the Woe comes double and triple upon them, Woe, Woe, Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites, for ye compass Sea and Land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of Hell than yourselves.  
In the words we have our blessed Saviour bitterly inveighing, and severely reflecting upon the whole Order of the Pharisees, especially upon the proselyting Party thereof; The only cried up Order by the People, and almost the only cried down Order by our Saviour. Please you to see the reason of his severity in these two following Instances.  
1. They were utter enemies to Caesar and his Government, counting all things of Religion (though of the remotest concern) too Sacred and Spiritual to come under his cognizance: Nay, our blessed Saviour never seemed more a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or less their Messiah, than when he pleaded for the things of Caesar, and appeared in the defence of his Prerogative and Government. Josephus (who was himself a Pharisee, and therefore (without question) a favourer of the party) telleth us, That they were much given to combine and complot for the carrying on of Antimonarchical, Anticaesarean designs; insomuch, that being urged by the Emperor to take the Oath of Allegiance (as the rest of the Jews had done) they peremptorily, to the hazard of their lives and fortunes, opposed it. So insolent and daring, and withal so busy and affrontive they were grown in King Herod's days (not only disobedient themselves, but propagating their Principles of disobedience among their Proselytes and Scholars) that (as the same Author saith, at leastwise Bishop Montague from him) he not only pulled down their Schools and Seminaries (spoiled them of their Nests and Harbour) but burned many of them alive, trussed up others, and banished the rest, never looking upon his Government to be secure, as long as there were such Ecclesiastical Incendiaries, such religious Boutefeaus in it.  
2. They were no less enemies to Christ, and to the Reformation of religion introduced by him; Religion! 'Twas the shine of Paradise, the glory of Humane nature, the proper Image of God upon Earth, until the Incarnation of his Son; This the Heathens by their evil Customs and Doctrines had mightily corrupted, Moses in a great measure restored, and the Jews wonderfully made happy by such a restauration, till the Pharisees (those monsters of men) again depraved it, and by their Superstitious Novelties, and ill devised Traditions, not only evaded, but evacuated the Primary Rules and more lasting Constitutions of Divine perfection. It were endless to show how this Order of Men, above all others in the Jewish Church, had corrupted its purity: Our blessed Saviour (that great Reformer, who was faithful to him that appointed him) every where chides them for it. You teach (saith he) for Doctrines the Traditions of Men; and again, You transgress the Commandment of God by your Traditions; and again, You make the Commandments of God of none effect by your Traditions. And this (no question) was the reason why they were so angry with, so set themselves against, and so endeavoured by all manner of ways to entrap and ensnare him. Nay, rather than fail through the weakness of their own Party, they'll join hands and interests with the Sadduces, with the Essens, yea with the very Herodians themselves; whom otherwise they abominated, because they were such sticklers for, and promoters of the absoluteness and arbitrariness of the Roman Caesarean power; (Mat. 22. 16.) and yet hail Sadducee, most welcome Herodian, no Man nor Party amiss, provided they will but join in with them, in support of their darling Tradition, and obstruct the Holy Jesus in his Reformation.  
These were their Principles, but that which aggravates their crime under these Principles, is,  
1. That they (of all in the World besides) would seem to be the only Men for Religion; which sets forth their cursed Hypocrisy: Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites.  
2. That no difficulties whatever could either deter or affright them from propagating such their Principles; which shows their preposterous Zeal: for they would compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte.  
3. That wherever they propagated the same, they always instilled such violence and virulency into the minds of their Proselytes, that they ever made them much more wicked (far more desperate and daring) than themselves; and this shows their rancour and their poison: for they made them twofold more the children of Hell than themselves. Begin we,  
1. With their Hypocrisy; which makes the wickedness of their Principles far more wicked, than otherwise of themselves they would have been; for though none more turbulent to Government, nor more opposite to Religion, yet none seemed more religious or peaceable. Who hath not heard of their pale looks, their demure carriage, their affected garb, their composed gate? every way so singular, as if they designed to be looked upon, and (as the Apostle in another case phraseth it) to be made a spectacle to the World, to Angels, and to Men. Thus attired, how do they fast and pray? spending no less than a third of their time amongst their Books and their Beads; yea, and with what alacrity do they run to their Spiritual exercises and Corporal austerities? making their Beds upon Flints and Stones; upon Briars, Bushes, and Thorns, to prevent their rest, that it be not too long nor too pleasing: But now our Saviour (who knew the inside of the rotten Sepulchre, as well as the outside) telleth us, That it was all to be seen of Men. Hence they would not pray, but in the Streets, and with a Saints-bell before them; nor give Alms, unless a Trumpet called unto the Show. Nay, go unto the Sick-man's house, and there you shall have them; Visit the Widow and the Orphan, and there you shall find them; Search the Hospital and the Prison, and neither the noisomness of the one, nor the fulsomness of the other will keep them away; wherever there is need of a charitable Person, the Pharisee will be there; and (if you will believe him) upon no other account, than barely for the worth and merit of the action: But then watch him, and to the Sick-man he is making himself a Legatee; to the Orphan a Guardian; to the Widow not so much a Confessor as Supervisor; Truth itself assures us, that under pretence of long prayers, he devoureth Widows houses: Nay, he'll rob the Spittle, and starve his very Parents to enrich the Corban, and advance his Society. In short, what served others to make them religious, would not serve the Pharisee; He was all for Majorem Dei gloriam, for that which would most visibly set out the honour and glory of God in the World; and therefore he did enlarge his Phylacteries, and make them broader and bigger than other Men; He multiplied his holy waters and sprinklings, counting it more necessary to sprinkle himself, than (if he were a-thirst) to drink and live. Nay, if any thing would set him higher in the esteem of the vulgar than other Men, he would be sure to be most punctual thereat; witness his tithing of Mint and Cummin, which (as the learned Hammond observes) was under a dispute, even amongst the very Lawyers and Casuists themselves, whether it ought to be paid or no. Thus great, thus universal was his Hypocrisy, and no wonder therefore, if the Pharisee be no sooner named, but Hypocrisy be clapped upon him; or that the Holy Jesus should not denounce a Woe against him, without calling him Hypocrite, and showing him the reason of that Woe. The second thing for which they stand charged, is,  
2. Their preposterous Zeal, for they would compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte. Run into the Indies, seek out the remotest corners of the World, renounce their Friends and Families, endure all the hardships and dangers that the merciless Seas, or the more merciless Nations could expose them unto; and all, for the gaining perhaps but of one single Convert. Nay, they were so far from either balking or starting at the employ, that they would beg the mission, and strive who should be the first and most forward in it. Now though this action was altogether praiseworthy, and to be accepted of, even when it reached but to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Proselyte within the Gate, (to the Person that had his habitation among the Jews) whether he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stranger by birth and religion only; or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by birth, religion and affection too; yet it was never so highly esteemed of, nor the Party never seemed so much to merit, as when he left his native Country to do it. Such an one was magni nominis, ever to be honoured with a red Letter in the Calendar, and to be seated (in the Resurrection of the Just) next to Hillel and Schamai. And this certainly (if well designed) had been a most pious, excellent and glorious Work; One of the Apostles of the Holy Jesus telleth us, that he who effects it shall save a Soul alive, and hid a multitude of sins: But then, as it fell out, it was not so much to gain them to God and the truth, as to themselves and their Party; not so much to make them Converts, as Pharisees; not to bring them off from a false to a true, as from a false to a false; from an Heathenish, Idolatrous, to as heathenishly superstitious, and more wicked religion. Which in the third place sets forth,  
3. Their rancour and their poison; for as they proselyted, so they ever made those (whom they proselyted) twice more Children of the Devil than before; infinitely more rebellious to the Government they lived under, and much more opposite to the coming and design of the blessed Jesus, in purifying and reforming the depraved World. As Jews, they were never good, (the whole Religion of them was prone to be stubborn, rebellious, antichristian) but when proselyted, they ever grew worse; their temper more sour, their behaviour more ungovernable, their designs more wicked and bloody. And hence, when they attempted a Persecution upon the Apostles, it's said (Acts 13. 50.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they animated or inflamed the worshipping (the proselyted) Women against them, as those who were ever the most zealous and forward in the cause; not altogether, because they were Women, and of that Sex, (usually the most zealous) but because newly proselyted, and thereby made a new Sect. And in sooth, so they would but keep up their zeal (and therewith the Traditions they were taught) the Pharisees never minded what their lives or practices were, nor how much they engaged themselves for hell or hellish designs. No, Pereant illi in ignorantiâ, superstitione, impietate modo permaneant in Judaismo, let them for ever perish in their ignorance, superstition, impiety, (yea, Go unto the Devil, whose Children they are) provided, whilst they are in this World, they will but adhere unto their Proselytism, and keep close unto the Pharisee, his Faction and Traditions. The sum of all that we have been labouring for (in short) is this,  
1. That the Jewish Church was at this time in a very degenerate and corrupted condition, overrun with many ill Doctrines and Superstitious practices; guided, not by the Eternal verities of Divine revelation, but by the Traditions and dotages of the self-designing Pharisee.  
2. That the one Order of the Hypocritical Pharisees were the only cause, and the main promoters of this corruption and decay in Religion.  
3. That there was no way so ready, or so seisable to purge out its corruptions, and to bring on a Reformation, and thereby to settle the Church on a lasting and peaceable foundation, as to root out the Pharisees, and put a stop to their proselyting Zeal.  
And here I should end, were the Jewish the only Church troubled with this sort of Men; But alas! we shall find the Church of Christ (now in the world, even in these our days) every way to be as much pestered with them. And in the first place,  
1. Let the Jesuit come unto the Scrutiny; that Man of piety and design, the fittest Zealot to be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and to act a Part in this Tragedy. For who seeing Ignatius and his Followers returning from the Holy Land, barefoot and barelegged, with their Crucifixes in their Hands, their Bible and Breviaries under their Arms, their Rosaries about their Necks, most pitifully clad, and as pitifully fed, disciplining themselves as they go, and mumbling over their Offices (their Pater nosters and Ave Maries) at every Door they come to, would not believe, that the Pharisees were again revived? or that there was not (a new spawn) another Generation of those old Vipers going out into the World, especially if he considers,  

1. The conformity of their Principles to the Pharisees.  
2. How adapted and fitted they be, to reduce those Principles (or worse) if need require, into action. Consider we,   
1. Their Principles; the main and chief whereof is to ruin and extirpate the Reformation, (with us) the best, for the introducing (their own) the worst of religions. Religion! it is that they aim at, the religion of the place and Kingdom that troubles them; A religion consonant to God's Scripture, to the ancient Writings of the Fathers, to all the Records and Monuments of holy Church in the best and purest Ages thereof; In Doctrine orthodox, in Worship pure, in Discipline regular, in Devotion uniform; Asserted by Confessors, died for by Martyrs, adored by Maenials, admired by Foreigners, undermined by none but the Jesuit and his Masquerade Faction: Were but this out of the way, and instead thereof a rifraff of their own set up, I am persuaded King and Priest, Church and State, Nobles and Commons, all might live peaceably, and every day be blessed by them. Would we but change our Scripture into Legends, our Service into a Mass-book, our Prayers into Beads, our Sacraments into Shows, our Priests into Puppets; Would we communicate in one kind, read Prayers in an unknown Tongue, adore the Pope little less than we do God, preach Purgatory instead of Repentance, sell Masses for a Groat, bestow Indulgences and Absolutions to the worst of Men; Would we advise to an adoration of the Host, a veneration of Images, an Invocation of Saints, and (in short) renounce the Religion we are of, as we do the Devil and all his works; though instead of Scripture we set up rotten Tradition, though instead of Faith we preach up Faction, though instead of Obedience we become guilty of Treason; Nay, should we murder Princes, and turn false and deceitful to Mankind, yet Euge bone Serve, all would be well, and we in an instant thought worthy of a better Kingdom. But as long as we retain the Religion we are of▪ and not suffer the Whoredoms of Jezebel, and her Witchcrafts to be among us, there must (there can) be no peace. eos ut novos Diagoras & Protagoras ex omnibus civitatibus pelli debere, They ought (saith one of them, and no small one neither) to be driven out of all Cities and Places, as so many Blasphemers of the Gods, as so many known and professed Atheists; Proposita etiam mercede ei, qui illos interficeret; yea, and to allow a public reward to him who shall massacre or kill them. Miles esse debuit nostrae Societatis Pater: It was but meet (saith another of them) that the Founder of our Order should be a Soldier; for as the Soldier must never desist from oppressing his Enemy, until he hath either conquered or killed him, Ita nostrum est irruere in omnes qui Pontifici Romano resistunt, illosque tollere & abolere: So must we no less oppose those who are enemies to our holy Father the Pope, and never leave vexing and prosecuting them, till we have either reformed or destroyed them. And here two things more particularly are to be remarked upon this Order of Men, whereby they will appear to advance fairly to, if not outgo, the Pharisees.  
1. That they are under a more especial vow, and by the very constitutions of their Society obliged to root out all Doctrines which the Pope shall call Heresies, and all Persons whom he shall think good to declare Heretics. Nay, it was by virtue of this Oath, and in hopes of this success, that Pope Paul the III. ever established them into a Society, or that his Successors (the subsequent Popes) ever permitted them to out-grow their first number, and to multiply, till (like the Locusts) they may not only cover, but if (need be) devour the Land. Conteren guessing at them, supposes their number, in the Year 1618. to have been about one hundred and fifty thousand; another since hath counted them to be above two hundred thousand: Among these (saith the Author of the Jesuits life and doctrine) are form those, who afterwards become religious in Cloisters, Preachers in Pulpits, Pastors in Churches, Captains in Armies, Judges in Courts; which though not professed as the former, yet are Jesuits in Voto, and as fitting Janissaries to make Musselmen, as the professed themselves; by the help and labour of whom, their work (wherever they come) is expedited and made easy; insomuch, that let the word be but given, and the Nation in a moment becomes converted (I mean, not so much unto the faith, as) into flames and ashes.  
2. That if they cannot peaceably compass the same, they are to do it by Fire or Sword, Halter or Poison, never minding the lawfulness of the means, provided the thing be but done: At first indeed Consiliis, dictis & scriptis, their attempts are to be peaceable, sober, Christian; The ravening Wolf must put on Sheep's clothing, and by his Preaching, Disputing, Writing (if it be possible) bring about his ends; but if in that he cannot prevail, then Advocato seculari brachio, the Civil Magistrate must be sued unto, and his Axes and his Rods implored; The Wolf must then lay aside his clothing, and begin to show himself as he is; and if after this he fail, then Bellis persequendos, & non solum armis terrendos, sed etiam delendos, exscindendos, tollendos, extirpandos; Then alas, poor Heretics! Fire and Sword, Bloodshed and War, root and branch; nothing less than an Irish slaughter or Parisian Massacre; destruction upon destruction (like that of Amalek) till not one of them be spared. Nay, if the Magistrate himself oppose, or out of tenderness to his Subjects lives, thinks not good to comply with them, he must forthwith forfeit his Kingdom, and become as liable to their cruelty, as the worst of Heretics: Nay, Si justum sit bellum contra Haereticos, quanto justius contra caput Haereticorum; If it be a lawful thing to engage in War for the rooting out of Heretics, how much more lawful must it be to engage against Kings and Princes, who are the Heads of Heretics, and the Defenders of their faith? This is their doctrine abroad, and I do not find that the Serpent changeth his nature, when he changeth his Soil; No, I would have you know (saith Campian in his Letter to Queen Elizabeth) That we who are of this Society of Jesus, Sanctum foedus iniisse, have every one of us entered solemnly into Covenant, Machinas vestras superare, to null and frustrate all your attempts, quamdiu vel unus nostrûm supererit, as long as there is but one of us alive in the World. In short, I may say of these (and not in the least wrong them) as Judah's adversaries said of Jerusalem (Ezr. 4. 15.) Let the Books of Records be searched, so shalt thou find in the same, That this (City, this) Order of Men, is a most rebellious Order, hurtful unto Kings and Provinces, and that they have moved Sedition within the same of old time: Wherefore let the King be certified, that if (this City) this Order of Men be not pulled down, he shall not long have any portion on this side the River with us. And thus having given a transient view of the Jesuits Principles, I come to show,  
2. How adapted and fitted they be to reduce these their Principles (or worse) if need require, into action; and this will presently appear, if we consider,  
1. Their avowed Obedience and dependence: Ignatius in his Epistle ad fratres Lusitanoes (which they of the Sodality receive with as much veneration as they do the Epistles of St. Peter, or St. Paul) thus bespeaketh and obligeth his Brethren; Ab aliis religiosis ordinibus facilius patiamur superari; We are willing to yield ourselves outdone by the Religious of other Societies in their fastings, watch, austerities, but for the Virtue of Obedience (and the perfection of that Virtue) I would have you (who are of the Society of Jesus) to outdo and outstrip them all. And therefore he alloweth no obedience, virtutis nomine dignam, worthy the name of that virtue, or of his Society, that is not absolute, blind, entire; nor none to be veram germanamque sobolem, his true and legitimate offspring (though of the Society) but who do wholly give up themselves, without halting or scrupling, to the will and commands of their Superiors. Diligenter cavendum, mighty care (saith he) is to be taken, that no Man wrists his Superiors will, but make it his own; or rather divest himself of his own, that he might be invested with the Divinity of his Superiors. And as for his Understanding, eam etiam offerat necesse est, he must also offer up that too, yea and so far forth as to suffer it willingly to be captivated and led by his Superior: Nay, he must look upon his Superior not as a Man subject and liable to errors, but as Christ himself, who neither can be deceived, nor will deceive others; Insomuch that whatsoever his Superior commands, Ipsius Dei praeceptum esse & voluntatem, He is to account of it, as if it were the very will and command of God, and without any tergiversation or excuse, or ever enquiring into the Uprightness or Justice of the cause, with an heady blindness to betake himself to the accomplishing of it. Nay, Perit celebris ille obedientiae caecae simplicitas, the simplicity and excellency of that so blinded, yet much famed Obedience is quite spoiled, if at any time the Inferior shall but in the least question the commands of his Superior, and examine whether he hath rightfully commanded, or no. And this is the Obedience that is to be given at all times by all sorts of Persons of the Society; by the Underling to his immediate Superior, by the Superior to his Rector, by the Rector to his Provincial, by the Provincial to his General, by the General to the Pope, the Generalissimo of all their Forces upon Earth: So that if the Pope do but set them at work (be his design what it will) they must all Arm; the General must stir up his Provincials, the Provincials their Rectors, the Rectors all their inferior Officers, and they the rest of the Society, till a pack of Bloodhounds be unkenneled, and all the Beasts of the Forest in danger. Insomuch, that if the Pope be bloody, zealous, cruel, (as Gregory the Seventh, as Innocent the Third, as Boniface the Eight, as Julius the Second, or as Sixtus the Fifth, and as many others may be) If they be resolved to excommunicate Kings, and raise their Subjects against them (as few of them but will do, when they have an inviting opportunity) what must become of Kings and Kingdoms that are Heretical? Can the Prince be secure that hath so many Cutthroats about him, perhaps in his Court, in his Camp, nay, all his Dominions over? Or can his Subjects be safe (that are marked out as well as he) whilst they have a sort of Men among them, that upon the least whistle will run, some to their Knives, others unto their Swords; that will arm themselves with fraud, treachery, perfidiousness; make underhand Plots, and never give over (if once set on) till all be destroyed. Certainly if no harm be done, all must be ascribed to the piety and peaceableness of that one Man at Rome, and not to these his Agents and Instruments abroad. Add we to this,  
2. Their natural and wont Activity. It is a truth (saith the Author of the life and doctrine of the Jesuits) manifest to all this habitable part of the world, that there is no Country known to Men, wherein the Society doth not labour for Christ; Nay, let but the Pope send them, and though it be into the Deserts of Arabia, unto the Mountains of Caucasus, to the most unhospitable or uninhabitable parts of the world, it's all one; they demur not, but run. And this is sufficiently apparent from the Vow they make, by which they promise and are tied to execute, quicquid modernus, aliique Pontifices; whatsoever the present or future Popes shall command, and in prosecution thereof to go into all manner of Countries, whether they shall be sent unto Turks, or unto Infidels, yea even unto those that are commonly called the Indies, or unto any other Heretics or Schismatics whatsoever, and were their errand at all times good, or as they pretend ad profectum animarum & fidei propagationem, for the saving of Souls, and the propagating the Ancient, Catholic (and not purely Roman) faith, I confess I should admire their Zeal, and applaud their Order. But since one of them must go with a Dagger in his Hand, another with a Pistol, a third with a Bowl of Poison (most of them with one mischief or other) to murder the Kings, and Massacre the People, to breed confusions and unhinge Government, to destroy Religion and plant Idolatry, I cannot but utterly quarrel and blame their Zeal; and yet no Pharisee ever compassed Sea and Land like them. No difficulties scare them, no improbabilities amaze them, no dangers repel them; Tu Regina jube, let but the Pope (He or She) command them, and away they go with as much alacrity and readiness, as the Evil spirit (1 Kings 22.) to persuade Ahab that he may go up, and fall at Ramoth Gilead; and there came forth a Spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade Ahab: and the Lord said, Wherewith? and he answered, I will go, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets, and accordingly he went. Add hereunto as a further qualification for their wickedness,  
3. Their undaunted and daring audacity; It was the saying of a Bishop, Nullum animal audacius esse eo quod è cucullo prospiceret, that there was no sort of Creature more bold and daring than He that looks through an Hood; spoke indeed of a Monk, but much more applicable to the Jesuit; for if fixed and resolved, on He will. Tell not him of Axes or of Ropes, of Blocks or of Gallows; The Leviathan esteemeth Iron as straw, and Brass as rotten wood; the Arrow cannot make him flee, Darts are counted as stubble before him; He laugheth at the shaking of the Spear. Neither careth he much what his errand be; to pull Cerberus out of Hell, or Lucifer from his Throne: Nay, if for his impieties he chance to be seized or slain, the Hydra loseth not his Head, but instead of one chopped off, many rise up in the place; or if the unclean spirit happeneth for a while to be driven out of the Land, he soon returns again, and with other Devils worse than himself. The Summer draweth on, and the infects will breed, and a thousand to one (but if need require) cover the Land, as the Lice and Vermin did Egypt. Danger it is that he courts, for he lives a Jesuit and dies a Martyr; his Bones are to be enshrined, and (though he do miscarry, yet) he shall have the honour of his enterprise with a Voluisse sat est. In short, where the design is so bad, and the Actors in the design so wicked, desperate, restless, resolute; When nothing is so vile, but what may be commanded, nothing imposed but what shall be as readily executed, needs must that Nation be miserable and forlorn where such Locusts as they, not only harbour, but swarm. And thus have I exposed to your view the first sort of our Modern Pharisees, the Jesuits; There is another of them still behind, full as turbulent and dangerous to Government, and as great a supplanter of the blessed Reformation; yea, and as restless therein as the former; to whom (upon that account) I must no more than to the former say, God speed. And that is,  
2. The Puritan: whereby I intent not the Puritan in life, but the Puritan in worship; so called from Purus, and that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and from thence (because of his Separation and Conventicles) originally came the Pharisee. And he is one,  
1. That looks upon the Church of England (however Reform from the errors and fopperies of the Church of Rome) not to be pure enough to be communicated with by him; though by her Reformation she be made truly Primitive, Apostolical, Scriptural. He is one,  
2. That judgeth of his own Purity by no other Rule or Measure, than as he treads Antipodes, and runs counter to the Order, as well as to the disorder of the Church of Rome; ever looking upon those who most dissent from her (how unreasonable soever their dissent be) to be most pure. He is one,  
3. That takes all occasions to assert and protest his purity; and in order thereunto bespatters Kings, confounds Parliaments, roiles all the counsels of the Land, leaves no stone unturned, no religious villainy unpractised, till he hath made all as disorderly and confused as himself: So that if you look for a sincere Protestant, as the world now goes, (and as the Plotters doom would have it) it must not be He, that leadeth a pure life, that worshippeth the true God regularly, that studieth obedience to his Superiors (spiritual and temporal); or that practiseth the religion for which his Ancestors worthily are accounted Martyrs: but He that can profess and protest; with words and with Swords; in affront to Kings, in contempt to Laws, in despite to Government; yea, and the more daringly, always the better, till they not only ruin the best and purest Church in the World, but all the Government and Governors thereof. I confess it is hard at present to give him a proper name; you may as soon find out the number of the Beast, and tell the significancy of his many heads and horns, as know what the Legion means, or what denomination he most delights in: yet Purity is that he boasts of, it was that he was formerly named by, he still carries on the same design, and therefore if at present he obtaineth the same name, I hope he will excuse me; and the rather, because I neither fix upon him Covenanter, Smectymnuan, Rebel, nor any other such foul (though deserved) Appellation. This however I would have noted of him, that his dissent, difformity, disagreement to the Church of England is purely Pharisaism; nothing but downright Hypocrisy and Pharisaism. And this will evidently enough appear, if you view him either inside or outside, at home or abroad. View him,  
1. As he walks abroad; and here allow him but a Pharisees gate, a Pharisees look, a Pharisees garb; a few affected phrases, and a little mystical nonsense, a sour and misshapen face, an uncouth and hideous tone, some ecstatick and convulsive motions; Let him but show the Legerdemain of his Throat, his Eyes, his Hands, (these and such other-like feats of apishness and mummery) the Shibboleth of the Party; and though wise Men blame them, sober Men pity them, learned Men nauseate them, profane Men deride them, Nature itself decline them; nay, though God never requires them, nor in his Creation (of things good) ever designed them; and perhaps an hair Lip, or a cloven Foot may be as proper for the Man as any of them all: yet allow him (I say) but such little tricks, such delusory frauds to ensnare and toll in the populacy; and then we believe (saith one of them) that the generality of the Inhabitants of this Nation are as sound and healthful a part of the Catholic Church, as any in the World, and by their Profession as eminent a part of the Kingdom of Christ. Grant them (I say) but these pitiful allowances, for which Schoolboys are whipped, University-lads hist out of the Schools; and withal suffer them a separate house, one (like that of the Pharisees) in the corner of the Streets; a separate Priest, a woeful teaching Scribe of their own; a separate worship, that (I mean) of a long Cloak, and as long a Prayer (though as impertinent and Battological as ever Pharisee made) to carry off these their Solecisms and Singularities; and then their Sanctities are pleased, and the difference between the Church of England and them (as it was among the Jews) amounteth to no more but this, Stand off, for I am Holier than thou. View them,  
2. More inwardly, as they espouse, and carry on the Principles of the Pharisees; which are mainly these two.  

1. An avowed Disobedience to their Prince;  
2. A trusty Opposition to the Reformation. Begin we,   
1. With their disobedience to their Prince; which (as among us) is their Proprium quarto modo; and as connatural and essential to the Puritan, as ever it was to the Pharisee or Jesuit. I would be loath to injure them, yet verily Bellarmin, Sanctarel, Mariana, are not more fulsome in their Tenants, nor more antiregal, antimonarchical in their Positions, than Knox, Buchanan and Cartwright of old; or than their offspring of late have been, still are, and are ever likely to be. If Princes (saith one of them, and no small fool among them neither) exceed their bounds, and do against that, wherefore they should be obeyed, there is no doubt, but they may be resisted. If I had power (saith another of them, looking upon all the Princes that oppose them, no better than as Tyrants) I would command them to be transported into some solitary place, or else to be drowned in the bottom of the Sea, that their evil savour should not annoy living Men: Nay, I would award recompense to be given for the slaughter of them, not only of all in general, but of every one in particular, as Men use to reward them for their pains, which kill Wolves and Bears, and destroy their young Ones. And after this uneven Copy did most, or all of our late Incendiaries writ. It's commendable (saith one,) lawful (saith another) for Defence of Religion to take up Arms against the King; those (saith a third) who conclude that the Parliament, being Subjects, may not take up Arms against the King, and that it is Rebellion to resist him, their grounds are sandy, and their superstructure false. Some tell us, that the Supreme power of the Land is originally, formally and radically in the Body of the People; So that if Kings fail in the performance of their duty, the people may supply it, at least in some cases may do it of themselves: Others, that the whole Sovereignty is conditionate, fiduciary, and merely in trust from and for the people; insomuch that if the trust be violated, the power returns unto the people again: Others, that the King is but one of the three Estates of the Land, and that the two Houses of Parliament are  with him in the Government; and being  may act any thing without his consent, especially in case of his refusal to cooperate, or conform to their desires: And lastly Others, that Kings are accountable to the people as to their Superiors, and upon their maladministration, or apostasy from the true Religion (of which they also must be Judges) are censurable, punishable, and dethronable by them.  
All which aforementioned Doctrines and Tenants are the avowed Doctrines of our Puritans, raised the last Civil Wars, murdered our late Sovereign, and make as fair steps towards the ruin and overthrow of the present, as any Consult of Jesuits in the World are able, or likely to do. It were endless to recite the number and horridness of these men's sayings and writings, the World itself being scarce able to contain them: However this (I think) I may lay down for a great truth (and I am very confident that I fail not in my computation) that though the Order of the Jesuits hath spread itself much further into the World than the Faction of the Puritans, yet there have been as many Puritans who have openly and boldly asserted the Doctrine of deteriorating, opposing, deposing Kings, as ever there were Jesuits: Yea, and have had their Writings (when time served) as publicly authorised by Cranford, Calamy, Caril, the Generals of their Faction; as ever the Jesuits had theirs, by Franciscus Borgia, Claudius Aquaviva, Mutius Vitileschi, the Generals of their Order. Nay, I think the Jesuits in reason (pardon me if I mistake) ought to be concluded the more safe of the two; for finding that such like Tenants were a matter of scandal to the respective Governments where they lived, there was first a prohibition made anno 1616, afterwards a precept of Obedience anno 1626., by which the whole Order of the Jesuits were obliged, under pain of Damnation, never to write, dispute, teach or print any thing concerning that matter; And this (saith the Author of the account of the Jesuits Life and Doctrine) is the Precept, which hath stood ever since, and never was infringed by any one Jesuit. I confess, I believe not the Man in his tale, Credat Judaeus Apella: But this I am sure of, that the Faction of the Puritans never gave such seeming satisfaction to the World, as these Men have done; for being urged by the Oxford Act to give credit to themselves by Oath, that they would never take up Arms against the King, nor at any time endeavour to alter the Government by Law established in Church or State, not one in twenty of them would do it. The refusal whereof must undoubtedly be attributed to one or other of these two Reasons; either,  
1. Because the Puritan doth really hold it lawful to take up Arms against the King, as once he hath done; or,  
2. Because he looks upon himself in conscience bound to endeavour and work an alteration in the Government; and, if so, than you see the nature of the Man, what the Puritan is, and what he would have. However (these things considered) we may wonder, that this sort of Men should ever dare to expect, much less to challenge any thing of favour from the King, till they have abjured and renounced their Anticarolin Principles, which as yet they have not, and (for aught as I can see) never will. Truly (saith Mr. Jenkins, that Christi fidelis servus) I speak no more than what I have often thought and said, The removal of those burdens that were then upon us, countervails all the Blood and Treasure shed and spent in these late Distractions; Nor did I as yet ever hear of any Godly man, that desired (were it possible) to purchase their Friends or Money again at so dear a rate, as with the return and re-imposal of those Soul-burthening antichristian Yokes; and if any such there be, I am sure that desire is no part of their godliness, and I profess myself in that to be none of the number. Richard Baxter telleth us, That he had often searched into his heart, whether he did lawfully engage in the late War against the King, or not, or did well to encourage so many thousands to it; and the issue of all his search (as he boasts) was this, That he cannot yet see that he was mistaken in the main cause, nor dares he repent of it, nor forbear doing the same, if it were to do again in the same state of things: Oh seasonable Indemnity! but much more need of an open and hearty penitency. Wonder we more, that ever they should have the face and confidence to mouth it against the Jesuit, as they do; yea, and to count all dastards, nay, Papists, at least popishly affected, that run not into the same excess of riot with them; since they themselves have adopted, and do still continue to prosecute the same, if not worse Principles than the Jesuits (the worst of Jesuits) have done. Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes? King James (who certainly knew the temper of the Men, as well as any Man living) adviseth his Son (and may the Grandchild observe) in the words following: Take heed, my Son! to such Puritans, very Pests in the Church and Commonwealth, breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumny; I protest before God, that you shall never find with any Highland or Border-thieves greater ingratitude, and more lies and vile perjuries than with these Fanatic Spirits; wherefore (for so he proceeds) let not the Principals of them to brook your Land, if you like to sit at rest upon the Throne. They are secondly (which bespeaks them downright Pharisees)  
2. No less enemies to the Reformation of Religion among us. It hath pleased God through his wonderful Providence to free this Land from the Errors. Superstitions, Idolatries, Usurpations, Tyranny of the Church of Rome, and in lieu thereof to establish to us a Religion Primitive, Apostolical, Scriptural. A Religion that our Forefathers thought good enough to die for; a Religion that hath all along been valued by their Offspring, as the greatest Legacy that was ever left them; and hath been the means (ever sith-hence) of conveying thousands and thousands of them into Heaven: At the first obtaining thereof, it was generally said to be wrought by the aid and assistance of the Holy Ghost; The King became a Defender of it, the Parliament a Supporter, the Clergy a Contriver and most willing Abettor; no Man but thought himself and his Posterity blessed by it: Nay, it hath made us stupor mundi, not only happy at home, but admired abroad; It hath done me good (saith the learned Spanhemius) to look upon the beautiful and comelyface of your English Church; its regular Devotion, its decent Order, (Patri●gentis vestrae virtus) a privilege and glory peculiar to yourselves alone, and not to be found in such lustre in any other Churches of the Reformation. But alas! it hath been her mishap from her very infancy (like her Lord and Master) to be crucified between two Thiefs, the Jesuit on the one hand, and the Puritan on the other; only whereas one hours' Crucifixion of him made one of the two to relent, and become a Convert; not an hundred years and more hath wrought upon these, or caused any one of the Factious to leave off their blaspheming and reviling language. My work at present is with the latter only, and whosoever shall but consider, how in the Church's infancy they would have stifled her, how in her younger years they would have supplanted her; how in her elder they would have buried her alive; how they have murdered the Defender of her Faith, sequestered her Ministers, turned her Senators out of doors, impoverished her Patriots, decimated and persecuted her Followers; yea, and at present how they abuse her Friends, applaud her Enemies, nick name her Proselytes, molest her Governors, by scandalous Reflections, seditious Petitions, pernicious Libels, Antimonarchical Clubs, will find reason enough to believe, that there ought to come a Woe upon them, as much as ever there did upon the Pharisees for their disturbing the Church of the Jews, and hindering the Reformation that our Blessed Saviour was then working among them. There is one thing further that I must remark upon them, how that to make themselves the only Protestants of the Land, the old ones must be laid aside, and on a sudden turned into Papists; Boast not yourselves any more for Queen Elizabeth's Protestant's (saith the Author of the Plotters doom) for you are so far from being of that nature, that bate the bare name, and you have nothing of her Protestants in you; nay, I am persuaded, it were good for our Church (he means the Conventicles of the Puritans) if you had not so much as the name neither. The Author of Celeusma (speaking of the conformable Clergy) telleth you plainly, that they are Specie duntaxat Protestants, and that they do Supparasitare Pelagio, Socino, sed imprimis Paepae & Papismo: And this of late hath been the cry of all or most of the Faction, in their pursuit after the conformable Clergy of the Church of England, forgetting all the while, at leastwise willing that it should be forgotten, that our Religion (as now established) is the very same it was in Queen Elizabeth's days, that no alteration hath been made either in our Doctrine, Discipline or Worship, only our Discipline somewhat weakened, whereby such Plotters should have had their doom; That it hath ever since those days been asserted, maintained and defended by the conformable Clergy, and ever most by the most conformable. That if at any time Protestantism be defied (as the Israelites were by the Goliath of the Philistines) the Church of England must find the Champion; Others perhaps may wear the Sword, but the Pen and the Prison, (to write and to suffer for it) ever did, ever must, and ever will belong unto them. I have been too tedious, however let this be observed, that the Jesuitical Society and Puritan Faction began together (much about the same time, and within a Year or two, one of the other) the one in Geneva, and the other in Rome; and both to obstruct and baffle the Reformation that then appeared in the World. And I must confess, that I am much of the same mind with the blessed Martyr (our late Archbishop) That till the Jesuits are taken from the Church of Rome, and the peevish Puritan-Preachers out of the Churches of Great Britain, there never can be any Peace in Christendom.  
May Authority therefore (to which they are both alike grievous) rid us of the one and the other; and I doubt not (which is the thing I desire to see) but Jerusalem will live in Peace; Her Walls will be Salvation, and her Gates Praise.  
FINIS.   

PRosecution no Persecution: Or the Difference between Suffering for Disobedience and Faction, and Suffering for Righteousness, and Christ's Sake; Truly Discussed and Stated. By Nath. Bisbie, D. D.  
Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard.