"the Church and Kingdom." Of the Truth of which Reafon, if there were none elfe, we had Proof enough given at Pentland Hills and Bothwel-Bridge in North-Britain, and in Argyle's Rebellion against his lawful Sovereign in that, and Monmouth's in this Kingdom. Now that the Foundations upon which all thefe Penal Statutes were built, were juft and good; we have the Opinions of all our Reprefentatives in Parliament in the feveral Cafes: And the Inftances of Plots, Treafons, Infurrections and Rebellions which they refer to, were and are to this Day, fo notorious, that nothing but the most extreme Impudence and Effrontery can deny them. And what fhall we fay, after all this? Our Princes, tho' they don't draw up the Forms of our Laws, yet they always make them Laws: They give them Life and Vigor, and an obliging Power. It is their Intereft and Duty to fupprefs all feditious and turbulent Spirits, and to provide for the Peace and Security of their Subjects: And must they for punishing Faction, Sedition, Rebellion or Treafon in any who are guilty of them, be immediately ftiled Perfecutors? Certainly the State of thofe Princes must be very miferable who can't fecure to themselves the Character of being good Chriftians, or good Governors at a cheaper Rate than expofing their Throats to the unmerciful Swords of their difcontented Subjects. But as for Mofes, tho' the holy Spirit gives him the Character of the meekeft Man upon Earth; he, to be fure, was a bloody Perfecutor, when he commanded fo dreadful VOL. II. L an 25. Circa Majeftatem Imperatoris infamamur: Tamen nu quam Albiniani nec Nigriani vel Caffiani inveniri potuerint Chriftiani. Chriftianus nullius eft Hoftis; nedum Imperatoris; quem fciens a Deo fuo conftitui, neceffe eft ut & ipfum diligat & revereatur & bonoret falvum velit. Colimus ergo Imperatorem fic quomodo ' Exod. 32. an Execution among the Worshippers of the Golden Calf. Seditions and Infurections were charged upon the Chriftians of old, as an Incentive to Heathen Princes to Perfecute them ; but the Accufation was ridiculous and falfe. Tertullian, therefore pleads in their Behalf; "We are fcan"daliz'd with relation to ແ our Behaviour toward his Imperial Majefty: And yet the Chriftians were never "found among the Parties "of Albinus, Niger, or Caffius, (Perfons who fet up for Emperors against Septimius Severus.) A Chriftian is no "Man's Enemy, much lefs "the Emperor's: For knowing him to be fet by God himself, he owns himself neceffarily obliged to love, to reverence and to honour him, and "always to wifh his Health and Safety. We "therefore revere the Emperor fo far as is "lawful for us, and as is expedient for him, "i. e. as a Man next to God himself, and as "having all his Greatnefs from God, inferior nobis licet ipfi expedit, ut hominem a Deo fecundum, & quicquid eft, a Deo confecutum, folo Deo minorem. Tertul. ad Scapulam. 6 (c to none but God." This Apology written to the Emperor's Lieutenant, was a fair and open Challenge to all their Accufers to prove them really guilty of any fuch Crimes as they had charged them with at Random: And the Silence of their Adverfaries upon the Challenge, was a compleat Vindication of the Chriftians from thofe fcandalous Attacks made upon their Innocence. All Chriftians in thofe happy early Days were ready to fpeak for them felves in the Language of St. Paul, If we are Of-Acts 25. fenders, or have committed any thing worthy of 11. Death, we refufe not to die, but if there be none of those things true whereof they accufe us, none may deliver us up to our Adverfaries. We appeal unto Cafar. Now, if those who cry out of Perfecution among us on Account of their religious Singularities, can make the fame Challenge for themselves as thofe could, and with the fame Evidences of their Innocence; they may reafonably complain of their Sufferings, and we'll yield, that they have been under Perfecution. But fince they are really guilty of those Crimes of which the Heathen World falfely accus'd the Chriftians of the former Ages; fince their own Difcourfes, their printed Books, their per petual Practices condemn them; were their Sufferings far greater than ever they havebeen, they could not reafonably complain of Perfecution. When Providence, in Contempt of all the Craft, and Malice, and Fury of enraged Hypocrites and Rebels, had brought Charles the Second to his juft hereditary Right, and the peaceable Poffeffion of his Martyr'd Father's Throne; who could have condemn'd him of Cruelty, Injustice or Perfecution, had he feiz'd the Lands of all those who had been in Arms againft his Royal Father or himfelf or if at leaft, he had ftripp'd them of all that Wealth and all thofe ftates and the Arrear Rents of which thofe Rebels had ftripp'd Thousands of Men of Piety, Honour and Loyalty, only for their Fidelity to their God and to their King, and had difpos'd of their Spoils among the Neceffitous Defcen L 2 dants dants of thofe glorious Sufferers? And when fo many were excepted by the Three States of the Kingdom out of the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion for their notorious Activity in the Murder of their Sovereign and the Ruin of thefe Nations; Who could have charg'd the King with Perfecution had he taken every one of their Lives, inftead of thofe few who fuffer'd for that barbarous and inhuman Action? And yet their bloody Party could celebrate thofe egregious Traitors, as all Dying in the Faith, and publish their Dying Speeches and Prayers to encourage others to the fame. traiterous Practices by their dreadful Hardness and Impenitency. Such were the Martyrs of the good old Caufe; fuch the Temper of those who having been the bloodieft of Perfecutors themselves, and ftanding to their old Principles ftill, upon the leaft Penalties, nay or meer Difappointments which they undergo, are both abroad and at home always crying out of Perfecutin. To give what I have thus far faid a fufficient Authority, I need but to appeal to that of 1 Pet. 2. St. Peter, This is Thankworthy, if a Man for Con19, 20. fcience toward God endure Grief, fuffering wrongfully, for what Glory is it if when ye are buffeted for your Faults you should take it patiently? Agreeably to which he afterward advifes Chri1 Pet. 4. ftians to take Care that none of them fuffer as Murderers, Thieves, Evil-Doers, or Bufy-bodies in other Mens Matters. To which Authority of 5. Infaniunt ifti qui dividunt Membra Chrifti 5 irrident Sacramenta Chrifti & de Perfecutione gloriantur, quia probibentur St. Peter, I may add that of fays he, who divide the "Members of Chrift from ૮૮ hibentur ifta facere Legibus Imperatorum quas conftituerunt Ep. 185 ad Bonifacium. Édit. pro Unitate Chrifti. Auguft. Par. Benedict. made to preferve "one another, and laugh at Non ergo qui propter Iniquitatem propter Chriftiana Unitatis impiam Divifionem, fed qui propter fuftitiam Perfequutionem patiuntur, hi Martyres funt. сс not to be Hereticks or Schif"maticks, and then it will be "Time enough to lift up "their Voices, and to tell "in lamentable Tones what grievous Things they "fuffer; then they may "prefume to call themselves "Martyrs for the Truth. "when they come under great Severities. Otherwife, if every one who is "punish'd by the Commands "of the Emperor or the Judges fent by him, muft L3 pre Prius probent fe non effe Hereticos vel Schifmaticos; Tum demum de indignis Panis fuis lividam edant vocem: Tum demum fefe audeant, cum mali aliquid patiuntur, Veritatis Martyres dicere. Alioquin, fi quifquis ab Imperatore vel a Judicibus ab eo millis pænas luit, protinus Martyr eft; Omnes Carceres Martyribus pleni funt; omnes Catena Judiciaria Martyres trahunt; in omnibus Metallis Martyres arumnosi funt; in omnes Infulas Martyres deportantur; in omnibus panalibus locis juridico Gladio Martyres feriuntur ; ad omnes Beftias Martyres furriguntur, aut Fuftionibus Judicum vivi Igne concremant. |