AMONG all the various kinds of Seditious People, that from time to time have Plagu'd our English Nation, there have been none so dreadfully Per­nicious and Troublesome to the Peace of England, as our Government Menders, who always find something that they think ought to be Altered, Amended, or Abolished, and are so fond of their own Enthusiastick Notions, which rather proceed from Over-heated Brains, than Solid Judg­ments, [Page 2] that they can neither be at quiet themselves, nor suffer any Societies of Men to be so, that will but hearken whilst they are communicating their own fansiful Delusions, and Whims that have no other Design than to distract the Bo­dy Politick. These Practices have been formerly Arraign'd, as the Crimes of particular Laymen, that Courted Preferment by setting up themselves as profest Enemies to every Admi­nistration; but now to find this Course pursued by a Man that has the Reputation of Learning, a Batchelor in Divini­ty, and Beneficed in the Church of England, is so Abominable and Amazing, that 'tis enough to startle Men of Temper and Prudence, to think the Church should harbour such a Viper in its Bosom, as is gnawing his way to a Name, by M [...]thods directly [...]pposite to his own Oaths of Fidelity, Canonical Obe­dience, and the Purity of the Churches Doctrine, which unhap­pily came to pass after this manner.

Mr. Stephens being ambitious of getting a Name among a Party that never wish'd well to the Monarchy, or the Church of England, knowing the Honourable and Loyal House of Commons did Annually meet at St. Margaret's Church in West­minster, on the 30th of January, to bewail a Crime so dete­sted by God and Man, as the Murder of a King is, he pro­cured the Favour of Preaching before that Honourable Assem­bly on that Solemn Day of Humiliation, in which so black a Crime was committed, which had it not long since been publickly appointed by the Voice of the whole Nation, that we, and our Posterities after us, should Yearly bewail the Guilty Memory of it, it would have remain'd, an Indelible Disgrace to the present Age, and to the whole English Name; and yet the reason, as 'tis credibly reported, why h [...] covet­ed the Honour of Preaching before this August Assembly on that occasion, was, Because he thought himself able, to give that Wife and Illustrious Auditory, sufficient Reasons for the Non-observance of it any longer.

A Bold, Saucy, and Daring undertaking, to Preach a­gainst a Law in force, before our Legislators; as if they knew not what was fit to be Retained or Abolished, without the Directions of a Pragmatical Preacher, that like a Blind, and Bewildred Traveller, seems to have lost his way; and whilst he affected to Dictate so Magisterially out of the Com­mon Road and Duty of a Preacher, he fell into a Complication of Absurdities: Each of which was a most intolerable Blun­der in his Politicks, and may chance raise a Storm upon him, that all the Friends he has will never be able to pa­cify.

Of all Men living, Mr. Stephens, considering his own Cir­cumstances, had the greatest reason in the World to have worn out his Days in the greatest Obscurity; and it not on­ly accuses his own Discretion, but the Common Prudence of all his Advisers; to revive the Memory of his former (and almost buried) Crimes, by setting him up in such a Celebra­ted Auditory, which would carry the Discourse of them into all the Counties and Corporations of England, had he beha­ved himself never so cautiously in the Pulpit: And what then might he reasonable expect, when he resolved to Affront the Laws, and run counter to the Sentiments of the whole Kingdom; but that his Abominable and not to be named Crimes, with which he was accused by his Scholars, when he was School-Master of Bristol, and for which he run away from that City for fear of being Prosecuted, should be revived to his Eternal Infamy, and Hatred of all Mankind. Which if his Advisers had considered, they would never have cast such an Odium upon their own Tennets and Politicks, as to have publish'd them by a Man of Mr. Stephens's Character.

However, up he comes with his Usual Confidence into St. Margaret's Pulpit, and having named his Text out of Titus the 3d, Verse the 1st, Put them in mind to be subject to Prin­cipalities and Powers, to obey Magistrates, and to be ready to [Page 4] every Good Work: Which Text in its genuine Interpretation imports nothing else, but that all Christians should Peaceably submit themselves to the Government under which they live: yet he that always had the Ill luck to spy more in a Text than all the rest of his Brethren, indeavoured to prove (tho' with very ill success) the Doctrine of Disobedience to Princes, from the same Text that Preaches up Obedience to Authority, as the Indispensible Duty of every Christian.

I do not say he urg'd Resistance in Express Words, for there was a vein of Crafty and Ambiguous Sence and Expressi­on, that run through his whole Sermon, which might have fitted the Mouth of a Knox, or a Mariana, but ill became one that would be thought a Minister of Jesus Christ, and a true Son of the Church of England. He has indeed a peculiar Knack at wounding with Sly, Oblique, and Paltry Suggesti­ons; at Stabbing and looking another way, as if he were wholly Innocent and Unconcern'd, which might pass at a Tables end over a Bottle amongst his Cronies of the Faction; but he was mightily mistaken, to think he could Top upon a whole Parliament, or so disguise his Notions, that they could not apprehend that his Raking up the pretended faults of Afflicted Majesty, was a Base and Cowardly Assault, some­what more than Barbarous and Inhumane; and his Leveling the Supreme Authority below its just Rights, was but a trick to usher in Confusion, or which is worse, beget a misunder­standing between the Royal Head and Loyal Members, as if they would incroach upon the Sovereignty, and therefore those great Men put such a Slight upon this Confident Preva­ricator, as would have broken any English Man's Heart, but Mr. Stephens's, or at least have made him follow his Bristol Brother in Iniquity Emanuel Heath, into Jamaica, who both fled from Bristol almost at the same time, and upon the very same occasion.

It cannot be imagined I should answer every Hetero­dox Notion in his Sermon; I shall therefore only reflect upon the main Design, and be indebted to him for the rest, till he Prints his Sermon.

His Flurting at the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, was only putting Swords into the Hands of Madmen, who know no other use of it, but either to destroy them­selves, or the Peace of the Kingdom; for no Man can have any honest Design that Preaches against it. 'Tis true, the Words were abused in the late Reign, and is at all times when employ'd to countenance an Insupportable Tyranny, and that has made the Words generally distast­ful to English Men since the Revolution; which all Anti­monarchists being sensible of, when they have a mind to inveigh against Obedience to Authority, 'tis but Tack­ing the Word Passive to Obedience, and their Work is done: For it creates an Aversion in unthinking People, who cannot distinguish between the Use and the Abuse of things; and because 'twas once applied to Ill Purpo­ses, run away with that mistake ad infinitem, and think the Men that inveigh against Passive Obedience, are the only Asserters of true English Liberty: Which is a grand mistake, and instead of lulling Men asleep in an Error so pernicious to the Peace of the Kingdom, ought to Al­larm this Stupid Humour into a sense of Danger, or the Folly will be as unaccountable, as the Mischiefs will be insupportable, if ever this Seditious Hot-headed Crew of Republicans, be once more suffered to have the Steerage of Publick Affairs; who are a Proud and Ambitious sort of People, only valuable in their Conceits, and now Herd with the Jacobites only to reduce us into a State of Anarchy.

Some Men through Ignorance might imbibe Notions of Disobedience, as others think it lawful upon extraor­dinary Occasions, where Sic Volo sic Jubeo is a Law, and the King's Will is made the Political Standard; but for a Man of Mr. Stephens's Learning, to Preach up the Do­ctrine of Resistance in a time of Peace, when there is no occasion to blow the Coals, when we have a King of our own choice, whom the Nation intirely Love and Ho­nour, as being a Valiant and Brave Prince, undoubtedly the greatest Heroe of his Age, and has a Soul large e­nough to Animate more than three Kingdoms, was such an Ungenerous, Dastardly, and creeping Innuendo a­gainst him, and carried such a rude threatning of His Majesty, if he should happen to disoblige the Faction; that the Preacher ought to be treated with a Scorn, and Contempt, answerable to the Baseness of the Enterprize: Since he cannot but know, that the Doctrines of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance in their just Latitude, and Evangelical Importance, are Truths as Sacred as any other Humane Duty in the Bible, and without the Belief and Practice of it, the World will be no better than a Savage Wilderness, and a Habitation of Wolves and Ty­gers in Humane Shape, Rending and Devouring one another.

To accomplish this wicked End must needs be the great Design of our Popular Orator; for tho' he so flu­ently harangu'd about the tremendous Consequences of Passive Obedience, he studiously conceal'd the fatal Con­sequences of Rebellion, which will be ever found to be more Durable and Mischievous. This St. Paul well knew, and therefore founded this important and Inviolable Du­ty, [Page] upon Reasons that are perpetual and unalterable, as namely, that the Supream Magistrate is the Ordinance of God; His Power is ordain'd of God; He is the Mi­nister of the great Immutable God, and not of the Gid­dy and Capricious Multitude: Now these Reasons hold good equally at all times, subsist under all the Alterati­ons of the World, are the same now in England that they were heretofore at Rome, and consequently the Duty of Obedience must be the same, Yesterday, to Day, and for ever. And yet what pains has Mr. Stephens taken to lessen, if not incourage (by slant Strokes) the Crying and Diabolical Sin of Rebellion, which is so Dangerous, and infinitely encroaching, that if it be not stifled in its Seed and Principle, it will when kindled bid defiance to all Controul, and run along like an irresistible Confla­gration: And tho' the Preacher employ'd all his Art in Mincing and Palliating the Matter, 'twill be found a Maxime of Eternal Varity, that whosoever gives Power to any Subjects to rise up against a Good King, or Preach it up as lawful so to do, gives License to others to re-act the same doleful Tragedy which the whole Land mourns for every Thirtieth of January.

The Preachers next Design was to assert the Liberty of the Subject, an excellent thing when Honestly used, and Peaceably intended; but to what purpose he insisted up­on that Topick now, when blessed be God we have a Prince that neither does, nor intends to infringe our Pri­vileges, or Deprive us of our Rights, but has given us all the Legal Securities a Parliament could ask for our fu­ture Peace and Happiness. When there are no Com­plaints that our Rights are Invaded, our Properties U­surped, or our Liberties Infringed, and the whole Nati­on [Page] sit under their own Vines in Peace and Tranquility, I cannot imagine, unless he intended to Introduce a Bel­luine Liberty, for Men to say and do what they please: A Liberty of affronting the Government, and of impro­ving and practising upon invented Fears and Possibilities, till they have brought us into Vassalage to their own Party.

Now to Antidote this Venome, and to shield our selves from the Danger and Delusion, so artificially Insinuated by our Bifarious Predicator, is to judge of the Designs by the Men that promotes them; for all the Arts im­ployed by our Enemies, tho' never so cunningly disgui­sed, are but the Sly Impositions of Cunning Knaves, to advance their own Party: And therefore when we see ill Men take up a fit of pretended Zeal, and Kindness for their Country, and appear better Natured than consists with their Principles and avowed Interests, 'tis time to suspect a Fraud, and weigh their Words with their Pra­ctices, before we believe them further than consists with the safety of the Government, for the Men and their De­signs can never be parted.

Liberty is the greatest Glory of a People; yet if it be not bounded by the Laws of Reason and Religion, 'tis the greatest Makebate in the World, and tends directly to the Ruine of every Community, by the known Rule, That the best things corrupted become the worst. Liberty perverted into Contention for Superiority, is but Trapan­ing and Deluding Men into Real Slavery; Catching them with Words, and Decoying them into Nets and Snares: 'Twas the Affectation of this, that made our first Parents Rebel against God, and prompted Seditious Men, to Re­bel [Page 9] against his Vicegerents on Earth: 'Twas a Sin of this Complexion, that occasion'd the Unparallell'd Murder of Charles the First, for which our Land mourns at this very Day, and which seems like the first Transgression, to continue a lasting Curse and Debt upon Posterity.

Another Obliging Instance of his Dear Re­spects to Monarchy, was Investing the Sovereign and Supream Power in the People, and how that con­sists with his Duty as a Subject, or with his Re­peated Oaths as a Clergyman, I leave him to Consi­der and Repent of, least he falls under an Ecclesiasti­cal Censure also.

Sure Mr. Stephens when he was advancing the Ima­ginary Power of the People, thought he was Preaching at Wootton-Under-Edge in Gloucestershire, where he us'd to Vend these Popular Notions by Wholesale, with now and then a Gird at the Establish'd Church, to make his Discourse more Palatable to the Carders and Spin­ners, and not in St. Margaret's Church at Westminster, whose Auditors were not accustomed to such Disloyal and Republican Discourses, till their Ears were Violated by this Imposter, who could design nothing but mis­chief by it; for in a Monarchical Government, God's Vicegerency ought not to be delegated to any other Head but what is Anointed, nor unaccountably scat­tered among the Multitude: For as Dividing a Power which is only safe by being Intire, derogates from the King's Supremacy; so it is destructive to the Peoples Liberty, as it Intoxicates them, and makes them stagger from one Form of Government to ano­ther, [Page 10] till their Divisions, as a Punishment for their Fickleness, sinks them at last under an Absolute Mo­narchy.

This Pretence of Exalting a P [...]pular Power, could have no other Aim in the Preacher, than to create Jea­lousies between the King and his People: For as they cannot allay the false Fears they are decoyed into, without Undutiful Resentments: So the King cannot brook Competitors in Power and Prerogative; and therefore the Preacher in playing the Inferior Mem­bers against the Head, could have no design but the Destruction of the whole Body: For this is an Infal­lible Maxime, That they who endeavour to submit Kings, rather than themselves, are laying the Foundation of Sla­very and Confusion.

One Argument our Case-harden'd Predicant made use of, to prove the Power was in the People, was from Jethro's Advising Moses to Ease himself; by ap­pointing Inferiour Magistrates to Hear and Determine lesser Differences among the People: Which is such a positive Contradiction to what he was advancing, that in the whole Book of God, he could not have found an Instance more directly Opposite to his Notion, than the Absolute Authority that Moses exercis'd over the Tribes of Israel: And at this no wise Man will won­der, for Scriptura is so much out of our Preachers way, as he never Blunders more, as when he thinks to sup­port his s [...]aking 'cause from those Sacred Oracles; so that unless he acquit himself better for time to come, than he either did at St. Mary le Bow, Jan. 30. 1693. or at St. Margaret's Westminster, Jan. 30. 1699. he [Page 11] will scarce be capable of any better Preferment, than Chaplain in Ordinary to the Calves Head Club, that Feast, and Rejoice, in Memory of the most Barbarous Murder that the Sun ever saw, or M [...]n or Devils were capable of committing.

Sermons generally beget or lose their Esteem, by their being suted, or running Counter to the Occasion for which they were intended, and how our Preacher acquitted himself in this particular, is apparent. It was a Day of Humiliation for the Murder of a King by Rebellious Subjects, and instead of humbly perswading his Auditors to be Zealous in the Discharge of that Duty, he Preaches up the exploded Opinions that were the Occasions of that Bloody Tragedy, a Lawless Li­berty, and the pretended Power of the People began the War, Murdered the King, and brought the Na­tion under a Cruel and Barbarous Vassalage to the Meanest of their Fellow Subjects, and his knowing the same Causes will for ever produce the same Ef­fects, made these the main things he insisted upon on the Thirtieth of January, whereon nothing like a Christian, or indeed a Man, besides his wretched self, could have plaid the Buffoon and Incendiary at so mali­cious a rate, upon so Solemn and Sad and Occasion, as brought together that August Assembly before whom he Preach'd; tho' as another Specimen of his Defence, he was pleased, for Reasons best known to himself, to omit praying for the Parliament, and every Branch of the Royal Family, which I believe, was scarce omit­ted upon that Day by any Preacher in England besides himself.

But it seems our Preacher's great Design, was, to Preach down the Observation of the Day; and there­fore instead of Declaiming against those Black Counsels and Accursed Practices, which finish'd the last part of this Blessed Monarch's Tragedy, and humbly per­swading his Illustrious Auditory, as the Representa­tives of the Nation, to be most Industriously Watch­ful, that the same Chimerical Designs and Antomonar­chical Principles, which then Inspired so many Ill Men, Misled so many Good Men, and cost a Good King so Dear; might once more Rivive, and Insi­nuate themselves again, under the same, or Newer, and Craftier Disguises, and find an opportunity to attempt the like Mischiefs, he would have per­swaded his Honourable Auditors, That the Ob­servation of this Fast, which has always been Re­ligiously observed by all Parliaments, should be ut­terly Abolished, and Raced out of the English Ca­lender.

A Bold and Presumptious Undertaking, to Dictate to that Wise and Honourable Assembly; and whilst he was performing his part of the Office appoint­ed for the Day, to declaim against the Observation of it: Least Guilty Consciences should be disturb'd, by the Remembrance of this Eternal Reproach, which though an Indemplity has Pardoned, no Oblivion will ever be able to Deface, is so un­accountable, that none but himself can assign a Rea­son for.

What could Mr. Stephens read in the Faces of these Wise and Loyal Senators, that could tempt him to such an Extravagant Conceit, that they would hearken to such an Infamous Proposal? What one thing have they ever done that might Countenance such a Presumption, that none but a Man of Mr. Ste­phens's Forehead durst have offer'd to a Parliament, without expecting to be made an Example to Po­sterity?

Had our Presumptuous and saucy Holder-Forth but consulted with our English History, he might have found that a Parliament had the Memory of Charles the First in such a great Esteem, that they Voted Seventy Thousand Pound to build him a Monument, and to pay the Charge of Removing his Body from Windsor to West­minster Vid. Just. Defence, p. 200. by which it appears, that the whole Kingdom thought nothing too much for expiating the Guilt, and Honouring the Memory of that ex­cellent Prince, which had been so Barbarously trea­ted: And tho' the Bill did not pass for the Monu­ment, yet the same Parliament had done another thing before, which in spight of all Mr. Stephens's Arguments against it, may out-last all of that Kind in Westminster, or elsewhere in the whole Nation, viz. Enacted, That the Day of that horrid Patricide, be observed as a solemn Fast through the whole King­dom for ever. And doubtless could they have fore­seen, that any Person would have taken the Confi­dence to Asperse his Memory, or to have given Reasons for the Non Observance of this Fast, it would [Page 14] have been Voted no less Treasonable than his Mur­der. But let us hear Mr. Stephens's Reasons for its Abolition. And the first was.

Because it creates Animosities among the People; which is a very weak Argument, since the very Abolition of the Fast would have furnish'd them with a Subject to keep up the Popular Animosities, greater than ever the Observation of the Day can pretend to. In which no question but Mr. Stephens will have his Share, for endeavouring to obliterate the Remembrance and Detestation of a Crime, that the Wisdom of the Nation have Enacted to continue for ever, and peradventure he may live to be poin­ted at in the Streets saying, That is the Man that At­tempted to put down the Aniversary Fast for the Mur­der of Charles the First, and by this means like Er [...] ­stratus may be remembred till Time shall be no more; besides, could our Pre [...]cher have obtain'd his end, an almost Twenty Years Rebellion, with the Miseries, Calamities and Desolations that ac­companied Us will for ever keep up Animosities, tho' there were no such Day in the Calender as the 30th of January: And therefore with Respect to Mr. Stephens's Project, I think the best way to ex­tinguish the Memory of that Guilty Day, Is to ab­hor and Utterly forsake the Principles, that prompted Ill Men to Commit so Inhumane and Barbarous a Crime; for as long as Men will be Arraigning Governments. Trampling upon the Power of Kings, and making all publick Distractions, concur in making way to their beloved Tyranny and Usurpation, others will up­on better grounds Reply, That God is making In­quisition [Page 15] for Blood, and that the Murder of our late Sovereign is Required, and Visited upon this present Generation.

Another Reason assigned by our Preacher for the Non-Observance of this Day of Humiliation, was, be­cause all the Bloody Actors in that Fatal Stroke were Dead, and the Memory of their Crimes ought to be Buried with them: Which Argument is as Weak and Feeble as the Other, unless he could prove, That the Principles by which those Regicides Acted, were as surely Damn'd to all Eternity, as the Authors of them are Dead: For till then, the Fast ought to continue, like a Bush-stuck up by a Charitable Tra­veller in a Quick-Sand, to Warn Men of the Sin and Danger, which those Ill Men by espousing Ill Principles, were led into; for, as I have said be­fore, what has been done, may be done again, and the same Causes will for ever produce the same Effects.

Now to shew that these Accursed Principles are at present more predominant than they were 1642; which I can ascribe to nothing but the Looseness and Irreligion of the Age, I would ask Mr. Stephens, Whether the Commonwealth Party are not now more Numerous, Insolent, and since they joyn'd with the Jacobites more formidable too, than in any King's Reign whatsoever? And also I would know, Whe­ther they do not take the same Methods, to Under­mine the Present Government under William the Third, as their Predecessors did under his Royal Grandfather Charles the First? And I heartily Wish this Evil be [Page 16] not so long neglected till it be grown past Redress, or Cure.

Are not our Republican Scriblers the Common Au­thors of all the Virulent Pamphlets against the Go­vernment? Who by Reporting what is False and Perverting what is True, are forcing Unsteady Men upon the Rock, on which their Fathers were Ship­wrackt.

Has not a Bold Rennigado Irish Popish Priest Writ­ten Milton's Life who Vindicated the Murder of the Lord's Anointed, and gives that Wretch many high Elogiums, that once occasion'd several Hours De­bates in the House of Commons: Whether he should not be Hang'd for what he had Written, in Justifi­cation of that Abominable Parricide, and had some of his N [...]w Admired Books Burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman.

Are not all that Vile Man's Works now Reprint­ed? And for fear they should not do Mischief e­nough that way, Is not an Abridgment of the most Poysonous Passages, put all together in the Account of his Life?

And which is no less observable than all the rest; Are not all these Collections made by a Priest in Romish Orders? And who, for ought we know, tho' h [...] [...]cts the Part of a Republican, may be a Romish Emmissary, sent hither on purpose to Embroyl our Affairs, and to Divide us among our Selves, that at last we may become a Prey to the Common Enemy [Page 17] of our Nation and Religion; for this is but the Old Game Renewed, and 'twould be a Wonder, while some are Rending our Government to pieces, if the Papists should not have their Wolves in Sheeps Cloath­ing among us, to hasten our Ruine.

Further, are not Ludlow's Letters, and Harring­ton's Commonwealth of Oceana, in every Hand? And is any thing so common as Calves-Head Clubs of Commonwealths Men, who Nightly Assemble to pro­mote that Interest? Which, I think, if seriously considered, there is as much Reason now as ever, to Antidote this Infection, and not to Gratifie the Preacher in his Intolerable Impertinencies.

But to turn the Tables upon Mr. Stephens, who suffer'd himself to be made a Property for the Service of a Faction; there can be no greater Argument, That the Republicans are very busie in setting up their Good Old Cause, than what relates to himself: For some of his Party, as soon as he had leave to Preach before the Honourable House of Commons, Industriously spreading a Report, What Wonders Master Stephens would perform, in Order to Quash the Observation of the Fast upon the Thirtieth of January.

He sold the Copy of his Sermon to a Bookseller, before it was Preached, as I am Credibly Informed, for Five and Twenty Pounds: Far fetch'd and Dear [Page 18] bought, are only fit for Ladies and Commonwealths Men, who never stick at the Price of any thing that may be serviceable to their Faction, which if the Bookseller is not well assured of, he has certainly catch'd a Tartar; for never Man heard of such an Extravagant Rate given for a Single Sermon, which can only make him amends by the Badness of it. But now as Matters are Circumstantiated, and the Preacher finds himself mistaken in the Strength of his Faction, it may so sink the Value of his Ser­mon, that like the rest of their Republican Pam­phlets, it must at last be Printed by a Contribu­tion.

Thus have I as Briefly as I could, Animadverted upon this Two-handed Sermon, in which I had been more particular, but for two Reasons.

First, Because that Reverend, Pious, and Learned Prelate, His Grace the Lord Arcbishop of York, Preached the same Day, and upon the same Text, before the Righr Honourable the House of Lords, in Westminster-Abby; and the Lords having desired His Grace to Print His Sermon, you will find in that Di­scourse the Duty enjoyn'd in the Text, and the Re­ligious Observation of the Day, Rescued from the Impertinent, Clandestine, and Dangerous Surmises of Mr. Stephens.

Secondly, Because the Honourable the House of Commons, before whom his Sermon was Preached, have shewed their Resentments of it, in a Vote and Resolve worthy of Themselves, and Eternal Re­membrance. To which I refer you.