PROSECUTION NO PERSECUTION: Or, the Difference Between Suffering for Disobedience and Faction, AND Suffering for Righteousness, and Christ's Sake;  
Truly Discussed and Stated.  
IN A SERMON Upon PHIL. 1. 29.  
Preached at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, on the 22 th'. of March, 1681. being the time of the general Assizes there held.  
By Nath. Bisbie, D. D.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1682.   

To my ever honoured Patron Sir John Cordell of Long Melford Baronet, one of His Majesty's Deputy Lieutenants for the County of Suffolk; and to the Virtuous and truly Religious Lady, Dame Elizabeth his Wife, Continuance of Health, and everlasting Happiness.  
WHen this Sermon was first Preached it was vulgarly said, that it was boldly done; but (if I mistake not) it is much more bold and daring to cause it to be made public. Speed it as it may, I am sufficiently pleased that in this juncture of Affairs (when Allegiance is made a Crime, and Conformity little better than Infidelity,) I have Patrons able and ready to assert the interest of them both; The one a lineal descendant of my Original Patron, and I hope Succession in this case is no ways Criminal; the other of a Family no less Loyal, and if that be Criminal I beg no one's pardon. My Prayer is, and ever shall be, That none of you may degenerate, or in the least be tempted to look awry; and howbeit others are too too apt to despise the Priesthood, (and perhaps the more because they are Loyal and True to David and his Family,) yet may the Blessing thereof always descend upon you, and upon all that descend from, or belong unto you; and this is, and shall be the daily Prayer of  
Your faithful and ready Servant, in all Priestly Offices, and humble Gratitude, Nath. Bisbie. Long Melford. Suff. 29 May. 1682.   
PHIL. 1. 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. 
HE that would gain upon his Auditory, and win the Attentions and Affections of the people, must not only be (as the Orator saith) ready and prepared to speak; but he must do it seasonably and suitably to the matter and duty of the day: Insomuch that this Lenten Fast should have a Lenten Sermon; and you indeed hear of nothing, but Fast, Watch, Penanceing, together with the more severe Doctrines of Mortification and Repentance. The Preacher should have come (like the Baptist) clad in his Raiment of Camel's hair, and been the voice of one crying in the Wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths strait: But considering withal the confluxe of people, and the more than usual Solemnity of the time, I thought good to change my Subject, and instead of Repentance to preach up Faith, instead of Penanceing to encourage unto Sufferings. And certainly whosoever will but seriously consider the Present condition of the Church, how it is opposed by the Papists on the one hand, and the fanatics (their Sworn Brethren in iniquity) on the other, as if it were a Den of Thiefs rather than a Church of God; as also how the Ministers and Managers thereof are discouraged, flouted, maligned; passing sometimes under the name of the Profane, at other times under the hated appellation of Papists, (though as to the one, they may as well be Jews; and as to the other Devils) may conclude it a task not unsuitable to the day, to set forth the true nature of Suffering, in opposition to the misrepresentations that are made of it in the World; and to encourage you (who are of the Communion of the Church) to stand firm and constant to the Faith that hath been delivered to you: So that though the World frown, and throw its slavor and indignities upon you, you may notwithstanding bear and suffer all, rather than desert her establishment, founded by your Ancestors in a blessed and desirable Reformation; and not only Heroically and Christianly by them defended, but by their Sufferings and Martyrdoms propagated and handed down to us, and ours. In short, There are Two things that all virtuous and good men ever have, always aught, and at all times will carefully labour after; and upon no account whatsoever be discouraged in, or frighted from; and they are, To do well, and to Suffer ill; To be true to God, dutiful to their Sovereign, honest and just one to the other; and rather than do otherwise, to endure any hardship; The rough hands of Esau; the gainsayings of Corah; the afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, bonds, imprisonments, that St. Paul endured. This was the great commendation of the Philippians in my Text, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake.  
In which Words,  
First, The Persons Commended, You Philippians, To you it is given.  
Secondly, The Things they are Commended for, and that is, First for their Faith, To you it is given to believe in him: Secondly, For their Fortitude: To you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.  
Begin we  
First, With the Persons Commended; You, To you it is given; or (as it is Ver. 1.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To you the Saints at, in, or about Philippi; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with the Bishops and Deacons there; To you it is given: To you the Saints, Qui Sanctitate saltem Sacramentali sancti, who have been Hallowed and Sanctified into a Church of Christ through Baptism in his Name, To you it is given: Yet not so as if your Bishops and Deacons (who have not only the same, but by virtue of their Office and Order a further Sanctification) were not alike Holy, or alike Saints. This were to have infused into them a Spirit of Pride and Scorn, like that of the Saintlike Jews, (Isa. 65. 5.) to cry out, Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou; and really to have planted in them the Factious Seditious Humour which was found in Corah, and his Fellow Schismatics, against Aaron and the rest of the Priesthood, (Numb. 16. 13.) You take too much upon you, seeing all the Congregation is holy; Crimes too too incident now adays to the inferior and more ordinary sort of Believers. No, To you the Saints with the Bishops and Deacons; To you the Saints at large, To them the Bishops and Deacons in particular, and by name; giving the honour mostly to the last, and making the last in place to be the first in Suffering: thereby showing, that if the true Faith (the Faith that was by the Apostles first planted in the Church) be to be kept up, the Bishops and Clergy must be the men by name that do it: Or if Persecution chance to arise, either from Enemies without, or from false Teachers or Brethren within, they must be the Antesignani, the first in the Conflict, and the Leaders on of the rest; it being natural to the Church's Enemies (under what denomination soever they fight) to fix their malice upon the Clergy, and to charge their Complices (as the King of Syria did his Captains) to fight neither against small nor great, but only against them: But certainly it is never better for the Church of Christ (be it at Philippi, or else where) then for the Saints to be with their Bishops and Deacons, in conjunction and communion together, both as to Faith and Suffering. There is a Baptism in Blood, as well as a Baptism in Water; but than it is right, and as it should be, when Priest and People (like John the Baptist with his Saviour in his hands) go down into the Flood together to be Baptised with that Baptism: I mean, when the People and the Priest join hand in hand, both in the Defence of, and in the Suffering for the Faith delivered to them: The Believers in their Station, and the Ministers in theirs; all and every one earnestly contending for the Defence and Continuance of the same; and rather than give place to any, or suffer it to perish from among them, to perish themselves under it; that out of their Ashes and overthrow (for sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae) a new Phoenix (a new Posterity of Believers) may arise; To you it is thus given, not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for his sake. For though Persecution be the Portion of the Saints in general, the Legacy which our dying Saviour bequeathed unto them; for hanging upon the Cross (saith St. Ambrose) he made his Will, bequeathing his Body to the Jews, his Spirit to his Father, his Mother to the beloved Apostle, Paradise to the Thief, Hell to Sinners, and Persecution to his Saints and Followers: Though this (I say) be the lot of all Christians, and of the Church in general; yet, to you, to you of the Church at Philippi, or (as St. Polycarp in the Title of his Epistle to the said Philippians phraseth it,) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To you of the Church of God lying near or belonging to the Church at Philippi, (making it thereby to be a Metropolitical Church, with many Bishops and Deacons in it, the only reason prehaps why Bishops are here mentioned in the Plural number) To you the Saints and Bishops at Philippi; To you it is given, that is, To you it is a Gift, a most Royal gift, a special Grace, not a Burden, but an Honour and Privilege. To you eminently and above other Churches it is given, not only to believe, but also to suffer for Christ's sake; suitable to that saying of our blessed Saviour, (Math. 13. 11.) To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Other Churches may have other Gifts conferred upon them (other Excellencies and other Endowments that may make them lovely,) and perhaps in some measure this of Suffering too; but it is your particular Endowment, the Grace which God (out of his signal favour) hath designed for, and entailed upon you; even this, To believe well, and to suffer ill; to do right, and to endure wrong; to prosecute that which is good and wellpleasing unto God, and to be prosecuted for it. And here in order to the prosecution of my design from these Words, it will not be amiss to set forth the condition of the Saints at Philippi, when the Apostle wrote this Epistle to them, that we may know how these Sufferings came upon them; and upon what account their Faith, and adherence to that Faith came to be so persecuted, and so commended. And you must know  
First, That they came to be Saints by an Apostle; and by no less an one than St. Paul, the great Doctor of the Gentiles; who in the time of his travails into Macedonia converted them, and first framed them into a Church of Christ, said therefore to be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, his first Fruits in that Region; for (Acts 16. 9) A Vision appeared to him in the Night, and there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia; and so losing from Troas, he came to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi; where (preaching the Gospel) he first founded them into a Church, leaving it and them to the inspection and government of Bishops, and their respective Deacons; as may be seen at large in the fourteenth Chapter of the Acts, and more particularly in the twenty third Verse thereof; an usage customary in all places wherever he came. And indeed to see a Church without a Bishop is as monstrous in Christianity, as in Nature to see a Body without an Head; and (if by Faction or Violence despoiled of them) much like that sad and never to be forgotten Spectacle of our late Martyred Sovereign, a Royal Trunk, with an Head chopped of, lying bleeding by. Such Assemblies as these were called of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, headless Churches, or Churches without an Head; neither indeed can the Saints of themselves regularly make a Church, no nor Saints though in conjunction with their Deacons; To you the Saints at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons, Grace be unto you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. A strange thing therefore, That that which completes a Church, and makes it beautiful, perfect, glorious, should seem to destroy a Church, and be made the only grievance of the Saints; when in truth and indeed no Apostolical Church, scarce a Saint (of the Primitive stamp and beauty) can be found without them.  
Secondly, The Church thus established was soon overrun with Error, Heresy and Schism, (the great Pests of Christianity, and the most certain Forerunners to the ill being and persecution of the Saints.) And here two sorts of men will be found highly Criminal.  
First, False Teachers.  
Secondly, Schismatical Brethren, too too apt to follow those False Teachers.  
1. False Teachers, and these the Apostle calleth Dogs, (Ch. 3. v. 2.) Beware of Dogs. Not dumb Dogs, (that's the Title they are pleased to give unto the more Regular Clergy, because forsooth not so forward to open upon every Scent, and to follow with full cry every false Trail that the crafty Huntsman shams them withal,) but barking and biting Dogs, always yelping and exclaiming against the Orthodox Professors, taking on upon all occasions (especially against their Bishops, Deacons, and Governors) as ill natured Curs do at the Moon; or rather at the Man in it, because they fear he inspects their manners, and will one day call them to account for their Night irregularities. The Learned Hammond makes Two Sorts of them; First, Heretical Gnostics, and Secondly, Judaizing Believers. The first a Sort of illuminated and gifted Brethren, ready to veer and turn about with any Wind rather than to weather out a Storm: The other, old Ceremonialists, observing still the Mosaical Law, and requiring all to Judaize with them, or else persecuting them for it. The Apostle speaking of them both, (Ch. 1. v. 15.) telleth us, That they preach Christ out of envy, strife, and contention: Soboles contentiosa & ad rixas nata, (as one saith of them;) a Generation (a brood of men) much like that of Cadmus; arising out of Serpent's teeth, and naturally hissing, stinging, poisoning themselves and others: Born (I may say) with Flambeaus in their hands, and resolved like Erostratus to Fire the Temple of the Gods, though themselves perish in the Flame. Nay, delighting with Nero in the Fire they have kindled, and (though their own Houses be next, yet) stand Singing Religiously by with Anthems and Hymns to the good success of the Flames. The Apostle in the same breath calleth them Evil-workers: Workers, and in the work of the Gospel, (Preaching daily, and Praying earnestly) but not out of good mind, and for the interest of the Church, but Maliciously, Selfishly; and thereby supposing (they are the Apostles own words, Ch. 1. v. 16.) to add Afflictions to his Bonds; greater trouble by their Schism and Dissent, (by their unlawful Preach and Assembling) than otherwise the bare Profession and Managery of Christianity would expose its Followers unto. Beware of Dogs, beware of evil Worerks, beware of the Concision; men pretending to be of the Circumcision, but are indeed of the Concision; and in the number of those that do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, cut and tore the Church in sunder. A threefold Caveat; First, beware of them, as you would of a mad Dog, that foams and slavers, bites and infects all that come near him. Beware of them Secondly, as you would of those that design upon you, no less than against life; nay, upon your Faith dearer than that life. Lastly, beware of them, as you would of men who come with Knives or Scissors in their hand, to cut and to mangle all they have to do with; rending and taring the Church of Christ (that Seamless Coat of his) into Rags and Tatters, till they do make of that lovely Garment, a long ill patched Cloak for themselves, their Covetousness, Hypocrisy, Ambition.  
The second Sort of Criminals in the case are,  
2. Schismatical Brethren, too too apt to follow those False Teachers; and these the Apostle most pathetically exhorts to Unity, as looking upon it to be the best expedient to preserve the Faith, and to continue the Church which he had planted among them. If there be any consolation in Christ (saith he, Ch. 2. Ver. 1. 2.) if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercy, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, and of one mind. And in truth nothing in the world promotes Religion more than Unity, nor dissolves it sooner than Divisions. If ye by't and devour one another, (Gal. 5. 15.) take heed that you be not consumed. Certainly no Popish Conspiracy, no Factious ASSOCIATION could ever hurt us, if we did not cherish and maintain them by our Divisions: Nay, truth itself may be the Judge in this case, (Luc. 11. 17.) An house divided against itself cannot stand: Which calls to mind that Apologue or Story of Bessarion, encouraging the Princes against the Turk, and made use of by Melancton against the Papists: There was a War between the Wolves and the Dogs; whereupon news coming to the Wolves that there was a mighty number of Dogs marching against them, intending to tore them to pieces; the Wolves sent out one of their Fraternity for a Spy, who returns, that the Report was true, and the Army of them very great; but you need not (saith he) fear them, for they are of different Colours, and cannot agree amongst themselves, but snarl and snap, and fight with one another. My Prayer shall be much the same as Melancthon's was, That the Son of God would govern us, and make us all to be of one Mind, and of one Faith in the Church; that there be no False Teachers, nor no Schismatical Brethren; no Divisions nor no Factions: But that we may all go up unto the House of God together, and there (as it is Eph. 5. 4, 5.) be one body, and one Spirit; having one Lord, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. And so I have done with the Persons Commended; having shown who they were, and what their condition was, how troubled, and wherein diseased: And from them I pass  
Secondly, To the things they are commended for; and that is,  
First, For their Faith.  
Secondly, For their Fortitude.  
First, For their Faith; To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe in him; that is, To have and maintain a sound Faith, a Faith answerable and correspondent to the Faith preached to you, and planted with you by your Apostle: And to you it is given to believe, in opposition  
First, To the Nullifidians, who look upon the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the) Highest revelation, as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or an empty sound, a Grecian Mythology or Roman Legend; reducing all to reason, and in the end making that no better than a well contrived Mechanism, where if the Clock strike for the wiser sort of men to know the time of the day (though it be but to eat, and to drink, and to play,) and to set others (their inferiors and dependants) to work, They think they have no more to do, nor no further account to make. Speak of Heaven, It is an Elysian Field, and only fit for the airy Poet to play his wanton Muses in. Of Hell, It is no other than one of Plautus his imaginary tormentive Islands, (his fustitudineae, ferricrepidinae insulae) where the Club, the Whip, and the Shackle, gives all the entertainment. The Bible, a mere extract of the more weighty Books of Conjuration (burnt by S. Paul, as Aristotle served the old Philosophers afore him) to make his own works more significant and great; and the Preachers thereof, mere Parish Mormo's, set up by public Authority with the Spirit in their Mouths, and the Bible in their Hands to scare, and to awe the more fearful and cowardly Sinners. A brave Representation indeed! But a greater piece of folly than ever appeared in the World, beside the Fop that fancieth it; much like unto the Fly, who when a mighty Dust was raised by the Coach that carried him, and by the Horses that drew it, said, See what a Dust it is, that I make: Lo, what a considerable Creature the great God (if there be any) hath made me. But hast thou a Being, then tell me (I pray thee) who gave thee thy Tongue to prattle thus? who made thee able to be thus Saucy? and who is it (dost thou think) if thou be any thing but a Fly, or an insect, that will make thee work again, when once death hath put that matter out of motion? The Jews, the Heathens, the Christians, the Turks (all that are, were, or ever shall be) generally agree in this, That there is a future state, and a special way to attain that state; and why then shouldst thou (and two or three more Sceptics like thyself) be the only faithless Tomboys in the world? who (like Zeno) shall walk and talk, prate and dispute, and yet not believe that there is any Sense, or any Motion in Nature. To you it is given to believe in Christ, in opposition  
Secondly, to the Falsifidians, who will believe any thing at first ear, that is obtruded upon them, though loaded with never so many Absurdities, never such scaring Solaecisms, never such seeming Impossibilities: Insomuch that they will take and adore a rotten Signpost for the true Cross of our Saviour; a piece of Baker's Bread (breathed upon by a Priest) for the natural Body of the eternal Son of God; believe a Deity in the work of their own hands; swallow down the most uncouth Doctrines of Transubstantiation, Ubiquity, Infallibility, etc. as roundly as men do Pills. Conceptions oftentimes befalling Wisemen, yet as absurd as the apprehension of Fools; and as incompatible, as (for another brood of Believers among us) to say, That Rebellion is good Allegiance, and to be a Schismatic the only way to be a Saint; That to be Factious is to be Religious, and to renounce their Bishops, and Deacons, as necessary as to renounce the Devil, and his Works. A Faith so large and prodigious, that I could be Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, and abundance of hard Names more, and yet set up for a True Believer, or (as the word now is) a True Protestant. This I do find that all, and every one of these, will be Believers, and (in some degree or other) Saints into the bargain; but in truth and indeed the Turkish Musselman (nay, Janisary) may put in for a share, and (for aught as I do know) not be very much worse Believers. To you it is given not only to believe, but to suffer, in opposition  
Thirdly, To the Solifidians, who will do nothing but believe: Be all Faith, no suffering for that Faith; all pure imagination and fancy, without action, or the least of passion: Like unto the Bird of Paradise, whose Nature is to be almost all Mouth, or all Feathers; Mouth to suck in the air for the maintenance and continuance of its Being, and Feathers to support it in that air, where it lives, and feeds, and breeds. Not but that Faith gallantly doth, and valiantly re-encountreth all difficulties; It prevaileth against Satan, it conquereth Sin, it hath Death in derision, Principalities and Powers must stoop under it; it leadeth the World captive, and bringeth every Enemy that riseth up against it to confusion and shame. What shall I say more, saith the Apostle to the Hebrews? It stopped the mouths of Lions, quenched the violence of the fire, rebated the edge of the sword. And in truth, to say no more, it will undoubtedly quash the Consults of the bloody Jesuits; nay, frustrate the ASSOCIATIONS of (their elder Brother) the Church-rending and Nation-confounding Puritan: But than it must not be alone, for if it be, It is dead, saith St. James. Nay, It is nothing, saith St. Paul; though in this unhappy Age of ours, it goeth often for an Heresy to add Works unto Faith, or Obedience unto Christ's Righteousness: It being (as it were) against the Liberty of the Subject to prescribe them any Rules of duty, and thereby make Slaves of Free born men; but rather suffer them to live, as if Christ had never died for them, or rather as if his Righteousness and Obedience without any act at all of their own were to be imputed to them; whereupon because Christ lived innocently, and in subjection to the Higher Powers, therefore the unruly, disobedient Factionist, which is said (and thinks himself) to believe, must be accounted a good Subject, by the imputation of his Righteousness and Obedience. A Doctrine, that hath so confounded our Church and Nation, that (I dare say) the Lives of ten hundred thousand (yea, and perhaps twice times told) have been lost; nor is that issue of blood yet staunched, but without a Miracle of providence it is like to run afresh, and as fast as ever. And it is remarkable, that wherever this sort of Believers (these Solifidians) take place, there Peace and Obedience to Lawful Authority have been constantly cast out: It is a Sect that doth infallibly bring along with it Sedition, and Tumults, and Bloodshed; and therefore eminently deserves to have a special mark of Reprobation set upon it, that you may for ever beware of it. You the People, without whose aid and assistance they had never been able (nor never again shall) to do such infinite mischiefs; and you the Deacons, without whose hallowed Lungs the Trumpet had never sounded to Battle, nor ever either Romish or English Host been consecrated to the destruction of the Church and State among us.  
My advice therefore to you (my Brethren and Fellow Christians) is  
First, To keep unto your Faith.  
Secondly, To add Obedience to your Faith; that especially which is due to your King, who is the true and careful Defender of your Faith.  
First, To keep unto your Faith; a Faith every ways perfect and sound; consonant to the Institutions, Precepts, and Practices of the holy Jesus; and to the Preach and Writings of the blessed Apostles. A Faith answerable to that which is yet to be found in the holy Scriptures, and to that which at first was planted in all Churches of the World, that had an Apostle, or Apostolical man for its Founder; of kin naturally, neither to the Trentine Fathers, nor to the Geneva Brethren; but of the blood Royal, and descended from Christ himself the eternal Son of God; fostered and nursed up by the hands of his immediate Apostles, and Ministers; and in being throughout all Ages of the Church to this very day. A Faith that hath stood trial through the Ten Persecutions, endured and quenched the Marian Flames, weathered out the bloodshed and confusions of Babel; and is so good and so sound still, that it will never want Kings to be its Defenders, nor multitude of Believers to bleed, and to die for it. Keep (I say) to this Faith; neither scared with the damning Anathemas of the Pope, and his Catholickship, as if there were no Christianity out of his Communion; nor with the pious Pretences of the whirligig Protestants, as if there were no Reformation, nor Saintship without them. Your Cause is good, and the very same with the Primitive Christians; the very same with your Forefathers in Queen Mary's days; the very same as it was when Cromwell, and the stinking Rump, played the Devil in Christ's Name. Give not over this Faith, whatever the Posterity of the one, or the present Brood of the other, threaten you withal. Justum & tenacem propositi virum, non civium ardor prava jubentium; So good, so accountable a Faith is not to be reprobated (no, nor deserted) for any heat of Citizens, for any faction of Senators, for any madness of the People. Wherefore though the whole World almost (as they did in Athanasius his days) should Arrianizare, turn mad and Conventicle; nay, Si fractus illabatur orbis, Though they should murder their King again, and pull the Foundations of the earth about your ears; yet hold your own, and let it be said of you in the Transcript as of the Philippians in the Original, That to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.  
My second advice is  
Secondly, To add Obedience to your Faith; that especially which is due to your King, the Defender of your Faith. It is observed of the defection made by the ten Tribes from the two, whereby Judah and Israel came to be two Kingdoms, that all the Levites all the Land over, as also all the well-affected and good men (who were not for the High places, and for the Devils, and for the Calves, which Jeroboam the Rebellious and Factious Usurper had set up) clove to the House of David, and to Rehoboam their Natural and Lawful Prince, (2 Chron. 11. 13.) And it may be observed further, to the eternal Honour of their Loyalty, that small or no interruptions were made by them, or by their Posterity as to the Lineal descent of their Kings, so long as they remained a Nation; though in Israel seldom above three of the same Stock continued in a direct Succession. Nay, further, Judah had but two Tribes to ten for the support of their King and Government, and yet Israel that were ten to two were long destroyed and captivated before them; Loyalty being certainly a most sure and lasting Bulwark against all Desolations. And in good sooth, if any thing keeps up our Religion, so that Jeroboam, his High places, his Devils, and his Calves, do not utterly devour us, it must be our Integrity and Loyalty to our King: Loyalty, the unquestionable duty of all good Subjects, and of all the sincere Worshippers of the true God: Loyalty, the fondling and darling of Princes, which will make us be beloved and defended by our Kings; and at last will prove the surest Preservative to our Church against Confusion, and the likeliest Remedy to restore it, and give it a Resurrection if it should ever happen to be overlaid. It is always prosperous and victorious; it hath the favour of Kings here, and the reward of the King of Kings hereafter: It gives us Crowns, because we love the Crown; and it will make us Kings in another World, for being good Subjects in this. Think not then that Loyalty will hurt you; or that your being and continuing faithful to your King, and his rightful Successors, shall ever endamage your Religion: A Religion so eminent for its Allegiance, and so hitherto unattainted, that God's Vicegerents (as long as they love their Regality) cannot, will not suffer it to be oppressed. If you aim at a Scotish Presbytery (saith King James) it agreeth as well with Monarchy, as God and the Devil; then Jack and Tom, and Will and Dick, shall meet and censure Me and my Council; I may thank you (my Bishops) that these men plead for my Supremacy: But if once you were out, and they in, I know not what would become of my Supremacy, for NO BISHOP NO KING. One of the greatest faults some men found with the COMMON-PRAYER BOOK (saith King Charles the Martyr) was this, that it taught them to pray so oft for Me; to which Petitions they had not Loyalty enough to say Amen. No Church in the World (saith our present Sovereign) hath Taught and Practised LOYALTY so Conscientiously as the Church of England hath done. Experience hath shown (saith the present Heir, the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Bugbear, to a sort of Mongrel Protestants) That the Members of the Church of England are the best Supporters of the Crown, insomuch that if it fall to Him to be concerned, he will ever countenance and preserve Them, and It. Wherefore let remoter Fears keep remoter off; and as we are bound, by the 37th. Article of our Religion, to give that Prerogative to our King, which was given to the Godly Princes in Scripture: Let us likewise give the same Loyalty as they did; such (I mean) as Judah and her Brethren gave to their Kings and Princes; and I doubt not but by so doing, if ever we go into Captivity, our King must with us. And so I have finished the first branch of their commendation, viz. their Faith: Pass we  
Secondly, To the other part thereof, and that is their Fortitude; their disposition and resolution to suffer the worst of Evils, for this so well-grounded and established Faith: To you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. We live in an Age that talks much of Suffering; and with this noise and clamour, the Jesuit and Enthusiast (the one on the behalf of his devout Catholics, the other on the behalf of his Schismatical Anticatholicks) endeavour to run down the Church of England; making the truly Orthodox and Loyal Members thereof the only Opposers of Christ, and themselves the only Confessors; Us the Martyrers, and them the Martyrs. But all Sufferings neither give Commendation nor Consolation to them that Suffer; neither do all that Complain, really and truly Suffer for Christ's sake. There is a difference between Punishment and Persecution; That an act of Justice, This of Malice; That for our Ill deeds, This for our Good: It is not what we Suffer, but why, that will justify our Sufferings; not the Blood, but the Cause, that will make a Martyr: For were it otherwise, Then would Cromwell and his bloody Myrmidons, Bradshaw and his band of Halberdiers (notwithstanding their Bodies have been mangled and quartered for their Bloodshed and Villainy) be found still Riding in the Host of Heaven, and admitted once again to be Judges and Sentencers of Kings: Then would Clement the Monk who stabbed Henry the Third, and Ravilliac who did the like to Henry the Fourth, (instead of being justly punished for their Murdering Tucks) be rewarded with Triumphant Palms: Then would Heaven above, as well as Earth below, be filled with Regicides, Traitors, Covenanters, Associators; and little or no room left in that Glorious Palace for the Honest, Peaceable, and Loyal good man. Wherefore upon this account it will be fully requisite to describe the true Nature of those Sufferings, that are the good Will and Gift of God unto his Church; and thereby distinguish them from those other Sufferings, that are the due Retributions and just Punishments of Faction and Sin. And the only Sufferings that are justifiable must be either  
First, For Righteousness, or  
Secondly, For Christ's sake.  
First, For Righteousness sake; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for being Righteous and Just; that is, for not Violating either the Laws of God, or of Man; the Eternal and Natural Laws of the one, the Prudential and Alterable (yet Just) Laws of the other. And such Sufferers as these our blessed Saviour (afore ever he discovered the Necessity of Suffering for his sake) pronounceth Blessed; Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. If ye do well, (saith St. Peter) and suffer for it, this is acceptable to God: But what glory is it, if ye be buffeted for your faults? If your endurance arise for your Faction, Sedition, Treasonable Practices; If for violating Oaths and Promises, Duty and Allegiance; If for trampling the Laws of the Land under foot, and for making a ridicule of the Laws of the Church; this is no ways thankworthy: Let none of you (saith the same Apostle) suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evildoer. Wherefore let neither the Jesuit, nor the Fanatic, cry out henceforth of Persecution, but rather let them know that their yoke is made heavy for the untameableness of the Beast; and the hand of Authority weighty, not for their Religion, but Faction; not for their Righteousness, but Unrighteousness; not for their Conscience, but Conspiracy. I have joined them together, but not one Cockatrices Egg more like to another, than these two Serpents are; I use that Appellation, because they are both given to gnaw the Entrails, and to eat through the Bowels of their Parent. For what if the one be for murdering his Lawful King, for breaking all Oaths and Promises, and for entering into Covenants against him, for Lying, Equivocating, Forswearing? Doth not the other Teach, Writ, and daily Practise the same things? And what if that other out of Zeal to his Protestantism be for disinheriting and proscribing Lawful Heirs, for that he foresees they will not (by reason of a contrary Religion) be propitious to to him, or his? Is not the Jesuit as Zealous in that very particular for his Popery? Whosoever shall give his help, consent, or assistance towards the making of a King, whom he judgeth or believeth to be faulty in Religion, is a most grievous and damnable Sinner, saith Parsons; and again, It is not enough for a man to be next only in Blood, thereby to pretend to a Crown, but other Circumstances also may concur; which if wanting, the bare propinquity, or ancientry of Blood may be rejected; and he that is first, second, third, fourth, fifth or last, may lawfully be preferred before the first. The choice of the People so far prevaileth (saith Becan) that though there be a Lawful known Heir, to whom the Kingdom rightfully belongs, Tamen si populus praetermisso legitimo haeredo, yet if the People think good to set by that Lawful Heir, and appoint another, that other is and must be their Lawful King. And thus Reynolds warneth the French, Will ye proclaim Navarre (the Calvinist) King of France? what is this but to advance a Dog to Lord it over Men? to prostitute the Temple of the Living God to the Devil? to let a most savage Boar to depopulate the Vineyard of the Lord? This I speak, only to show, That they are a kin, have the like Principles of Government, and both alike made up for mischief; at leastwise to show, who make the Firebals, and by whose hands they are thrown. For my part I do wish as well to my Religion, as any or either of them do to theirs, and Pray as hearty for the continuance of it; and will (by the grace of Almighty God) as to my ability, and the Post where I am placed, defend it as much as they shall do theirs: But to put by my Lawful Prince, because I suspect he will call me to an account for my Religion, and thereby make me worthy of Suffering for Christ, nay, Blessed; This, my Duty, my Conscience, my Oaths, my Religion, will not Suffer me to do. However, if at any time it shall so happen that I have either a Romish or a Fanatic Prince, my resolution firmly is (to be as quiet as they will let me, or as possibly I can be, and) to take up with the Primitive Christians practise (mentioned by Tertullian) Nos precamur pro omnibus imperatoribus vitam prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, populum probum, orbem quietum.  
Secondly, These Sufferings that are truly the gift of God, and rewardable by him, must be for Christ; for that Religion superadded by Christ to this former Righteousness, and brought more openly into Belief and Practice by his coming into the World. And the Sufferings here also are then only justifiable, when they are,  
First, Purely for Christ's sake; or  
Secondly, On the behalf of Christ; in, and relating to those things that more immediately and intimately concern him; his Precepts, his Doctrines, his Institutions.  
First, They must be Sufferings purely for Christ's sake; I mean, for him, and for the Religion brought by him into the World; whereby we confess him on the one hand (against all Opposers) to be the Eternal Son of God, and the only Saviour of Mankind; and profess ourselves on the other hand to be Candidates and Expectants through his Mercy of a Remission of our Sins, of a Resurrection of our Bodies, and of a Life Everlasting. And I dare boldly say, that if you turn all the Scripture over, you shall find the Apostles, and the Disciples, suffering upon no other account: And I am no less confident (if time would permit me to make it out) that all the Ten Persecutions (which made so many Martyrs in the World, that (as St. Jerome saith) there was no less than five thousand for every day in the year, New-year excepted) were upon this account, and this alone; namely, for confessing with their mouths, that Jesus was the Christ; and that there was no other Name (nor no other Religion) under Heaven, but that of Jesus, by which they could be Saved. I look unto the Scripture only, and shall begin with the prediction of our blessed Saviour, foreshowing what should befall his Apostles and Followers, for owning and publishing him in the World; to wit, That they should be delivered up to the Counsels, and Scourged; and purely for his sake, and for giving testimony of him to the Jews and Gentiles (Matth. 10. 18. 22.) Pass we thence to their real Sufferings, (Acts 5. 26.) Then went the Captain with the Officers, and brought them, and set them before the Council, and the high Priest asked them saying, did not we straight command you, that you should not teach in his name; whereupon Peter and the rest of the Apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than Men; showing what it was they had in command from God to Preach, and to Suffer for; and that was purely this, (Ver. 31.) That Jesus whom they had Crucified was risen, and that God had raised him up to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give Repentance to Israel, and Forgiveness of Sins. A quotation much in repute amongst our disorderly Conventiclers, to patronise and justify their Disobedience and Sedition; but they should first prove, that the Name of Jesus is forbade to be preached, or called upon, and they purely punished, for Preaching of him, and the Doctrines belonging to him, and consequent to his coming into the World; for that, and that only was the case of the Apostles there, (as Ver. 40.) for having called the Apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus. Pass we next to St. Stephen (the Proto-martyr of the Christian World) and we shall find the Multitude gnashing on him with their teeth, and stoning him, and for no other Crime (Acts 7. 54.) than that he preached to them concerning one Jesus, whom they had betrayed and murdered. Next to Paul (the Proto-persecutor of the Saints, Acts 9 2.) who when he found any of that way, (whether Men or Women) he brought them bound to Jerusalem, in order to their further Suffering; and the only reason was (Ver. 21.) because they called on the Name of Jesus. Nay, see what it was that this Paul (when he was Converted) first Preached; and verily no more (Acts 13.) than that God had raised one Jesus for the Forgiveness of Sins, whom the Jews had slain. And for Preaching this Doctrine, and this Doctrine alone, it was that he was Persecuted and Stoned; (Acts 14. 5.) for this Accused and Imprisoned; (Acts 24. 21.) for this sought for to be Condemned; (Acts 25. 19) for saith Festus, They brought no Accusation against him, but concerning one Jesus which was dead, but affirmed by Paul to be alive. So that when these, or any other places and texts of Scripture, are brought by our modern Sectaries to adjust and justify the troubles and miseries, that their Disobedience and Sedition brings upon them, they are utterly perverted, their Auditors cheated, and their Proselytes gulled into Schism, and unnecessary Suffering. And indeed if some speedy stop be not put to their exorbitant Proceed, I cannot see but that ere long we may have no Christ to preach, no Church to go unto, no King to govern us. They may talk of Christ, and of preaching of Christ; but were they all Silenced, (or would they rather be Silent, as in Duty and Conscience they are bound to be) Christ would no less be preached, his Death and Resurrection no less published; but Schism not so Sainted, nor the Nation so disturbed; the King would live more at ease, the Church be more at quiet, and Christianity flourish more among us.  
Secondly, Our Sufferings are then warrantable and justifiable, when they are on Christ's behalf; or for those things which more immediately concern him, his Precepts, his Doctrines, and Institutions; so near unto the Faith, as that our Religion would be in danger of being notoriously corrupted, perhaps utterly lost, most certainly altered, if there be not a full adherence to, and a stout profession made of the same. Our Saviour chides the Pharisees for teaching for Doctrines the traditions of men, and by that very means making the Commandments of God of no effect; intimating, that there may be such Doctrines obtruded upon the Church, and superadded to the Faith, that may cassate and evacuate the very Doctrines of Religion, deface Christianity, and make the Faith another thing, and of another colour to that which Christ brought along with him into the World. And therefore our Ancestors would rather themselves suffer, than suffer a piece of Bread to be Worshipped by them for Christ, or in Christ's stead; rather suffer their own Blood to be spilt, than Christ's Blood to be taken from them in the Sacrament; rather be broke themselves than to bow down to Saints and Images, when God with his own tongue hath said, Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them; rather undergo the utmost fury of Adversaries than derogate from Christ's plenary Satisfaction, by advancing their own Merits into equal claim with his; and for this they have worthily obtained the Name, and the Honour of being Martyrs. But then there are other Doctrines more remote, and rather points of Speculation than of Faith, or Practise; nay, the World is grown to that pass, that there are no less variety of Opinions than of Faces, and (what is worst of all, and tends most to the disturbance of the Church on the one hand, and to the dishonour of our Religion on the other) we call all these by the name of Religion, and by the appellative of Faith; laying many times as great a stress upon the least of them, as upon the fundamental Articles of Christ's Resurrection; nay, of Christ's being Prince and Saviour; and from these it is, that there are such feuds and bussels in the World, or that there is such an outcry of Persecution: Whereas (God knows) it would be more for our comfort, and the Church's peace; more for the good of our own Souls, and the salvation of others, not to spread, divulge, much less to confront an establishment with them. Most certain it is, That the Apostles in all their Preach established no one Doctrine more (next to the coming of Christ) than that of Peace; Hence we are exhorted, To speak the same things, to have no Divisions among us, to be perfectly joined in the same mind, and in the same judgement, to follow the things that make for Peace, and (if it be possible) to live peaceably with all men; Telling us, That if we are Factious, we are Carnal; that if we are refractory to Government and Governors, we are Devilish; nay, that if for such things as these we do suffer, we are no less than Malefactors; Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, and (I may justly add) not as a Schismatic, nor as a Rebel; yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. I have only hinted this, to show, that while I Preach for honour to be done to those who really and truly suffer for Righteousness, or for Christ's sake, I might not seem to advocate for such men's enormities, who may be said to Preach the Gospel no otherwise, than as they set the Father against the Son, and the Son against the Father; turning all to Confusion, under pretence of having the Gospel of Peace in their mouths. And thus you have seen what those Sufferings are, that are the gift of God unto his Church; and of what nature those other Sufferings are, that are for Faction, Sedition, Treason; and not for Righteousness, or for Christ's sake.  
Wherefore (my Brethren and Fellow-sufferers in the Faith) be once more advised;  
First, Not to let the fear of Suffering scare or deter you from your Faith, or Duty;  
Secondly, That though you Suffer for Christ, and in his Name, yet not to Suffer all that come in his Name.  
First, Not to let the fear of Suffering scare or deter you from your Faith, or Duty; Be not faint nor weary in well-doing. What if the World do hate you, abuse you, design and work evil against you? Is it not for the support of your Loyalty, for the safety of your King, for the benefit of your Country, and for the continuance of a well-reformed Establishment among you? Bonds and Fetters in such Cases as these, are as Chains of Gold unto the Neck, and as Jewels and rich Ornaments to the Breasts; They add lustre to your Arms, and enrich the Coat whereof your Posterity will not (can not) be ashamed. What if there be some so set against our Way, that (as Cicero said of Catiline) Notant & designant oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrum, they mark and point out whom they intent to undo and destroy? and perhaps if some men's Studies had been as narrowly looked into, as other men's houses were, there might have been found black fanatics Lists, as soon (if not sooner) than Black Romish Bills. However, both akin to those Papers of Caligula, (the one whereof he calls his Sword, the other his Dagger) but equally designed to Ruin those whom he observed to stand in his way: Yet still your Case is good, and will make a Martyr (your late Royal Sovereign traced out the way) and certainly it is no small comfort the Conscience of our Innocence. It teacheth us to live in all Honesty, and to die without all Fear; making our Lives, blameless; and our Deaths, dreadless; This is that brazen Wall that is impregnable, This the Feast that is continual, This the Light that never fadeth, This the Sun that never setteth; It walketh with thee when thou goest out, it returneth with thee when thou comest home; It is as Wine when thou feedest, It is as the Spirit of Wine when thou saintest; If thou be'st Impleaded, it answers, for thee; If Judged, it defendeth thee; If Condemned, it acquitteth thee; It Enlargeth thee when thou art in Prison, Healeth thee when thou art Wounded, Quickeneth thee when thou art Killed; In Peace it is thy Delight, in Trouble thy Deliverance; Nay, we may call it (with a small allowance) the Helmet of Salvation, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shield of Faith, the Panoply of God; By this we approve ourselves as the Servants of God, in much Patience, in Afflictions, in Distresses, in Stripes, in Imprisonments, in Tumults, in Labours, in Necessities; This is our Vaunt, saith St. Paul; our Vantage, saith the Author to the Hebrews; our Confidence, saith St, John; yea, and our Conscience too, for saith one of the afore-named Apostles, ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath, but also for Conscience sake.  
My Advice is,  
Secondly, That though you suffer for Christ and in his Name, yet not to suffer all that come in his Name: This is to Tolerate, not to Suffer; To tolerate all Villainies, Impudencies, Wickednesses, Pretensions, Factions, Designers and Designs; no less grievous unto God than the Abominations of Chemosh and of Milcom. Though you are to suffer for Christ's sake, and on Christ's behalf; yet you are not to Suffer and to let go unpunished whatsoever sets itself up in the Name of Christ, against the Faith of Christ, against the Established Church of Christ, against the Defender of that Church and Faith. They that have caused so many dangerous Rebellions, such Damned and Execrable Attempts both in Church and State, are they Tolerable? Methinks we ought to repress their Disloyal Practices with some (if not with the utmost) rigour. To you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake; but if it be given you thus to Suffer, instead of building Temples for the gods as Numa did, we must with Romulus build Asylums for Rogues and Villains. Ket and his Clowns, Cromwell and his Saints, will be the only Canons, at least the only Canonised Tribe among us. Good men (but of them there are but a few) will be good, out of a pure love to Virtue; but evil men (of whom there is the greater number) will not be good, if it were not for fear of punishment. It is the Axe and the Rod, the Block and the Gallows, that teach many men Virtue. Nay, if such things as these be suffered, Innocency itself would not where be safe; Honesty and Justice appear the only Malefactors; And I doubt not but some of you to your cost (almost undoing) full well remember, That to Murder a Loyal Subject was accounted good Service: to Plunder an Honest Neighbour a great piece of Justice; and to Fight against, nay, Barbarously to Judge and to Kill their Lawful Sovereign an act of advanced Piety; The Faithful Ministers was looked upon as the only Judas, and the Loyal Gentleman as the only Malignant; Thus it was, and thus it will be, if there be none to declaim against, nor none to punish perverse and froward Criminals. Let me therefore in this my advice (before I conclude) request the worthy Patriots of our Church and State, not to be affrighted, or scared from their Duty (their Vigilancy and Care) by the Noise and Clamour of any of their Supplanters or Opposers; and  
First, Not with the Outcry and Clamour that Conscience makes; for I observe,  
That if the Faction goes out with that in their mouths, if Conscience lead on the Party (though never so wicked, never so full and pregnant of Mischief and Design against Church and State; Though like the Trojan Horse it be lined with Armed men, and stuffed up with Guns and Muskets, and other Instruments of Death, yet the bare naming of Conscience) like Lightning presently melts the Sword in the Scabbard; and causes the Minister of Justice (like another Belshazzar) to shake, and to tremble, till the rod (wherewith he should punish its wickedness) drops out of his hands. Conscience! Oh it is a good an a tender thing; but withal it is many times Proud and Haughty, Wilful and Erroneous, Disorderly and very Rebellious: I could name many Kings, that even sigh from their Tombs, and complain of Conscience for the loss of their Lives, and the downfall of their Kingdoms. What Barbarous Outrages, what notorious Villainies it hath acted, and still continues to act, England, and the Church of England can well tell; Wherefore as they that deny fire to be hot, for their more certain Conviction should be thrown into it; or ice to be cold, should have some thrust into their Bosoms; or a Cudgel to be hard and heavy, should be banged with it; even so they that deny such deal to be in Conscience are rightly served, if in the end they suffer the madness and extremity of it. Conscience! It is much countenanced by God, and so are the Poor; insomuch that he who shows no mercy to them, shall receive none from God; or he that wrongs them, (or severely deals by them) shall be judged as severely: Nay, I question whether a poor Orphan, or a distressed Widow, be not as tender in God's eyes as the most tender Conscience; And yet (saith God, Exod. 23. 3.) Thou shalt not Countenance a poor man in his Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Honour him, saith the Hebrew, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not be kind unto him, saith the Talmud, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Thou shalt not pity him, saith the Septuagint, Though of himself he be never so much befriended and favoured by God, though otherwise to be handled gently and tenderly by man; yet if he be caught in a Contention, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Fault, or a Quarrel, either Mutinying, or Tumultuating, so that the Judge must Judge him, than thou shalt not favour nor countenance him at all; have no respect nor regard either to the Man, or to his Poverty. And thus I conceive of Conscience, for though whilst Modest, Peaceable, and Orderly, it be to be respected and tendered; yet if it grow Wild and Furious, if once it be Criminal and Contentious, so that the Judge must take Cognizance of it, it must not then be Honoured, Advanced, or Pitied; no kindness shown, when it grows itself unkind.  
Secondly, Not with the Outcry and Clamour that Persecution makes; for let but the Offending Party gild over his Actions with the specious name of Religion, and call the Good Old Cause of Rebelling the Cause of God (making thereby the Minister of Justice the spiller of Innocent Blood, and God's Avenger, the Saints Persecutor, though never so falsely, yet) it dulls the sharpness of the Axe, rusts the most glittering Sword, and makes the most active Patriot to lay them by; leaving the Offenders to themselves, least in truth he should be (what the cry would make him) not only a Butcherer of his Brethren, but a Murderer of the Saints. An Imputation so keen, and makes so deep an Impression upon the weaker Fancies of the more easy Magistrates, that generally an omnia bene, and an Universal Impunity is granted by them to all manner of Disorders (though never so Fatal and Destructive to Church and State) rather than they'll bear the Odium and Gild of so bloody a charge. But the Apostle most strictly commands the Christians (Pet. 1. 4, 15.) not to suffer as Evil-doers, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, qui in publicas leges delinquunt, as those who Transgress the Public Laws; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or as those that will play the Bishop in another man's Diocese (the Preacher in another man's Cure) and thereby become Seditious: And questionless if ill they do (notwithstanding they be Christians; nay, notwithstanding they pass for Saints) as do it they must, whenever the Peace of the Nation and her wholesome Sanctions are violated, they may, nay they must suffer; neither need the hand that smites them fear a Withering for it. If these, and such Pretences as these, must give an Indulgence or Toleration to men to Act as they please, for my part I cannot see, but that the wild Arab as well as the furious Zealot, The Turkish Janisary as well as the Christian Incendiary, the Circassian Thief as well as the English Creeper into Houses, may claim a Liberty. But it is time to have done, having sufficiently angered the men of Faction; and therefore I shall conclude with the words, which a Famous Chancellor of this Nation caused to be engraven on his Tombstone for an Epitaph, (here is a Minister, and) there lies an Officer of the Realm, who lived and died in Peace with all men; only furibus homicidis, Schismaticisque infestus.  
FINIS.