Page images
PDF
EPUB

the greatest Power could be fufficient to introduce the worft Religion. By all which Steps, through these several Reigns, it plainly appears, that the utmost Defire of the Court of Rome is to have a Popish Prince on this Throne; they reckon their Work done, if once they obtain this Point: give them but a Popish Prince to their Heart, they will foon inftruct him what to do with Vows and Promises, and Coronation-Oaths; and in fuch a Cafe the People likewise would be inftructed to know their own Interest, when it was too late to help themselves.

When James the First came to the Crown, furrounded by an hopeful Iffsue of Proteftant Princes, the Caufe of Popery was at the laft Gafp: they faw their Downfall if this Family stood, in which there was a Profpect of a long Succeffion of Proteftant Heirs. A defperate Cafe requires desperate Remedies; here was no Room for Art and Management, and therefore Violence was now firft ufed, and the horrid Plot of the Fifth of November was contrived, which, had it took Effect, would have rid them not only of a Proteftant King, but of their greatest Fear, the Proteftant Heirs.

By what Methods they afterwards diftreffed

treffed the King, and laid the Foundation of that Ruin which broke out in his Son's Time, to the Deftruction of this Church and Nation, and one of the best Princes it ever had, would be tedious to relate. Nor need I fay much of the fucceeding Reigns, which fo nearly resemble the former, that from the Restoration to our prefent gracious King, the Cafe seems to be much the fame as it was from the Reformation to James the Firft. King Charles the Second had no Iffue; and if he was not himself a Papist, his Succeffor was, in whofe Time this Church and Nation were brought to the Brink of Ruin: and though he had been faved from a Bill of Exclufion by the Interests and Loyalty of the Church, yet no fooner was he on the Throne, but he imprisoned her Bishops, difpenfed with her Laws, and broke down all the Fences that were raised for her Security; in which Confufion she had utterly perished, had not the Providence of God rescued her by the Means of a Protestant Prince, happily allied to the Crown of England by Marriage, and by Birth. In his and his Succeffor's Time, the Eyes of the Popish Faction were upon the Pretender to the Crown, and all their Hopes cen

tered

tered in him. As long as there was any Profpect of defeating the Proteftant Succeffion, they kept themselves within Bounds, and were contented to work by Policy, and not by Force: but no fooner did they see a King of the reformed Communion, with a numerous Iffue mounted on the Throne, but they threw off the Mask; as they did in the like Cafe of James the Firft, attempted directly his Destruction and Ruin. And will not all this teach us wherein our true Interest does confift? Fas eft et ab hofte doceri: if we cannot judge for ourselves, let us learn of our Enemies to know wherein to place our Security. The two greatest Efforts of Popery to bring Ruin upon this Church and Nation by Force and Violence, have been, one at this Time, the other in James the Firft's Reign; and their great Provocation was, to fee a Succeffion of Proteftant Princes likely to be established among us. As this is their Fear, fo is it our Security. And if we confider the Circumftances of Times past, the doubtful Condition we have often been in, when our Happiness has depended on one fingle Life, we fhall have Reason to think that Providence has both wifely and mercifully provided for our Safety at this Time.

*

Time. When the Family of James the First was partly corrupted with Popery, and near being extinguished for want of Heirs, how providentially did God preserve one Branch free from the Infection, from which the prefent royal Family is defcended! And yet, to come to that which is the melancholy Part of the Application, how infenfible do we seem to be of this Bleffing! What Rebellions, what Tumults and Riots have we seen in the short Compass of this Reign! as if the People had forgot not only the Care of their King, but of their Country, their Religion, and themselves: as if the Fears of Popery were all vain; as if Superftition and Idolatry, and the very Terrors of an Inquifition, were the mere Delufions of a fick Mind. These are the Bleffings which fome are contending for; these will be the Rewards of their pious Undertaking to set up a Popish Prince over these Kingdoms.

It is an eafier Matter to kindle the Fires of Popery and Perfecution, than it will be to extinguish them. Should the Withes of fome take Place, and a Popish Prince prevail over us; and fhould he not be fo good as they vainly expect he will, where will they

they go next for Protection? What Prince or Family in Europe is left, to which they may fly for Succour? The Protestant Religion has its laft Support; if it fails now, there is no other Refuge; and fhould it be once loft in England, it will dwindle every where else; Popery will over-run all like a Torrent, and we fhall return to a worse Darkness, than that from which we came out. If therefore we have any Senfe of Loyalty to our prefent gracious King; if we have not quite forgot that Obedience upon which we have fo long valued ourfelves; if we have any Concern for our Religion and the Welfare of our Souls, which depends on it; if we have any natural Affection for our Country, our Friends, our Families, or ourselves; let us fhew it by a cheerful and steady Obedience to the Prince whom God has fet over us. All these Motives plead not fo much for him as for ourfelves for if ever Obedience to their Prince was the true Intereft of a People, now is the Time it is fo.

The fecond Obfervation I made to you, was, that notwithstanding the hopeless Profpect of human Affairs, the Text affords Ground of Dependence on God.

In

« PreviousContinue »