A lucky day this, not only to the Princes of England, but auspicious to the welfare of Europe.

Upon the third of March last, being the day of St. Eutropius, his royal highness withdrew towards the Low Countries: Procopius tells us, humana sæpe contingit a Deo mutari. Terence says, vicissitudo omnium rerum est. Which two sayings I can no way better English, than by that of Eccles. ix. 11. Time and chance happen to all men: nor no way better second, than with that of 1 Cor. iv. 11. Incertis vagamur sedibus. This accident therefore, our life being but a pilgrimage, as Jacob termed it to Pharaoh, is nothing to a general providence in the main. Therefore from the augury of his fourteenth of October, and from the good omen, comprehended in the signification of Eutropius, which hints, that all this shall end well, and turn to the best; and from Ecclus. xiv. 14, 15. I accost his royal highness with a non defraudabitur a die bono. He shall not lose his good day.

Dixerunt ibis, pariter dixere redibis;

Te non infausto dii posuere die.

'The gods thy exit have ordain'd, and also they
Thy bless'd return have firm'd, born on a lucky day.'

I just now said, that the third of March was dedicated to Eutropius, which is derived from ε well, and rgén to turn it is also dedicated to St. Maximus, St. Marinus, St. Lucius; which three also have no. table hints in relation to his royal highness.

First, no man can deny, but that he is Maximus Princeps.

Secondly, he is Maximus Marinus; for in the time of his exile, he was admiral of Arragon, as I have been told many years since in Flanders; and I am sure very many commissions, in those days, past under his name; and till 1673, he was lord high admiral of England.

Lucius comes from Luci, which signifies in the morning; and betokens a child born in the morning, or at sun-rising, which some affirm to be a good time for birth: but I will, for my present purpose, deduce it a luceo; and I must affirm quod hic maximus princeps gestis marinis maxime lucet, et alias lucebit; This most great prince is extremely illustrious in sea negotiations, and shall yet be otherwise most illustrious.

That his highness has long since verified the first paragraph of my asser. tion, take it not only on my credit; but, besides what has been said before, hear part of an ode to his sacred majesty, on his highness's victory over the Dutch, June 3, 1665, composed by Sir T. H. a most worthy person, whom his foreign negotiations have made enough known:

This day your empire fate secures,

And now one half of the whole world is yours.
The Austrian youth who won the day,
When the pale crescent to the cross gave way,

Must to your glorious brother yield,

Who with less loss hath got a greater field, &c.

The Germans, high and low, amongst which last, his highness now

resides, call October, Wyn-maendt, Mensis Vindemialis, the Wine Month,

The effects of wine we read Judg. ix. 13. Psal. civ. 15. Eccles. x. 19. Zach. x. 7. Why then may we not term this month Mensis Latificans? That it may be so to his royal highness, as well as it was to the most great queen his mother, are the hearty prayers of Blue-mantle.

Hæc olim meminisse juvabit:

Unanimes omnes, cum te, dux celse, reducto,
Certatim instaurent epulas, atq; omine magno
Crateres læti statuant et vina coronent.

Virgil.

Remembrance of these things delight shall thee,
When, home return'd, great feastings thou shalt see,
And healthings round shall stir up gladsome glee,
And this rejoicing general shall be.

I have by me a book, printed Anno 1641, containing the true effigies of King Charles the First, of blessed memory, his queen, with their royal progeny, with verses annexed, wherein are notable predictions of his royal highness, which I will here recite:

This prince, much like another sun, darts forth
Most glorious beams to 's dukedom, and the north;
And makes us see with eyes of expectation,
He'll be a mighty pillar to this nation,

A stay of state, a strong supporting prop,

Whose fame will scale the heighth of honour's top.
He hates dull idleness, and loves to be

In action, such as fits his high degree:
He will be stirring in such exercise,
As well becomes his years and qualities.
Surely th' eternal eye of providence

Doth watch, direct, and guide this hopeful prince,
For some designs may be for heaven's glory,
And fill the earth, with James's noble story.

This all true Britons do expect in love;

No doubt, our wishes, are confirm'd above.

Thus that book: and I add,

Quis meliora petat, consultus quod tripos edat?
'Who better things than these can wish

From the oracles breath of bliss?

1678. Martis Mense data hæc, timidi committere prælo Non impressores audebant, tempore duro.

J. GIBBON.

A DISPUTATION:

PROVING,

That it is not convenient to grant unto Ministers secular jurisdiction ;

AND TO MAKE THEM

LORDS AND STATESMEN IN PARLIAMENT.

London: Printed in the year 1679. Quarto, containing thirty-six pages.

It is not expedient to grant unto Clergymen secular jurisdiction. 1. Do not undertake to prove that it is simply unlawful: and the worthy and judicious Bishop Davenant doth grant and assert, that the law of prudence and equity itself doth forbid kings to burden clergymen with it, so far as it will let and avocate them from their spiri tual office and function.

2. It will be demanded, who must be judge what is, and what is not expedient? To which the forenamed Davenant makes answer, that is to be accounted expedient which a wise man shall so judge and determine; whereunto I assent. He afterwards adds, that which a wise and religious prince shall so determine. Neither do I dissent in this, provided it be soundly understood: for that which a wise and religious prince shall judge to be expedient, if it be so indeed, all wise men will, at least they ought so to think, for sound wisdom is the same in all: but it is too possible for the most wise and prudent prince to enjoin things not good and expedient. King David thought it most prudent to number the people, who was a most wise prince; but in that his wisdom failed him. Joab, his general, that was much inferior to David in good. ness and heavenly wisdom, thought it very imprudent; and the event proved Joab to be the wiser man in that.

3. Some things are more evidently, other things are less evidently expedient: the scales may hang so even and equilibrious, that a wise comparing judgment can scarce tell whether is the heavier end, and whether part hath the stronger reasons; and the scales may be so odd and unequal, so much solid reason may be said for the one side, and so little for the other, that, to a wise comparing judgment, the case is not doubtful to decide. Now I shall manifest that it is evidently inexpedient to grant secular jurisdiction to ministers and clergymen, that is, that the same person be a minister, bishop, or pastor of souls, and a magistrate, or coercive judge, one that beareth the sword, Rom. xiii. 4.

4. Arg. I. Jesus Christ did not see it meet to exercise any such power while he was upon earth; being moved to be a kind of worldly judge between two brethren, he refused, saying, Who made me a judge or a divider over you? Luke xii. 14. As if he should say, says Davenant upon the words, neither by divine nor by human ordination do I

exercise judiciary power over private persons, much less over kings: by which argument the same Davenant goes about to prove the nullity of the pope's power in temporals. Now, if his argument be of force against the bishop of Rome, I see not but it is of equal force against worldly jurisdiction in all bishops and pastors whatsoever. Now, if Christ saw it not meet for him to exercise worldly jurisdiction, methinks all bishops and pastors of souls, who have their office and calling particularly from him, should see it meet to learn of him and imitate him herein, and princes themselves should not think it expedient to burden ministers with that, which Christ himself refused, and put from him, as either unlawful in itself, or inexpedient. Mat. xi. 29, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.'

5. Arg. II. The apostles, and the successors of the apostles, the bishops and pastors of the churches for the space of three hundred years unto the time of Constantine, had no temporal jurisdiction, nor did exercise any. And those are counted the best and purest times of the church. If we may not make the apostles of Christ, and their imme diate successors, the bishops and pastors of the churches for the first three hundred years, our pattern, what shall we make our pattern, and by what law and rule shall we determine what is, and what is not expedient? Can we better govern ourselves and the churches than they? Have we more wisdom to invent and find out ways of good governing the church than they had? Have we more holiness, and goodness, and faithfulness to God, ourselves, our calling, and the church, than they had? If the church did well, and best subsisted when it had no magistrates but what were pagan, infidel, and Jewish, many of whom were great persecutors, all of them deniers of the Christian name: will it not well and better subsist, if better can be, where magistrates are Christian, and defenders of the faith, if bishops and pastors, contenting themselves with no more but the episcopal and pastoral office, and refusing all worldly jurisdiction, shall wisely and faithfully behave themselves in their office, as those first and most ancient bishops and pastors of the churches did?

6. Unto this, the worthy Davenant makes answer, that those times and ours are not alike. Those times were exceeding holy and good, ours are exceeding bad. There needed no secular authority in pastors then; there was so much holiness and piety, the word and discipline were abundantly enough; but now the Christian world is so exceeding corrupt and degenerate, that, unless ministers be armed with secular jurisdiction, their authority will be despised, and the discipline, which God hath appointed to be in his church, will be scorned as base and contemptible, rather than be reverenced for any good it will do: non tam usui esse, quam ludibrio, those are his very words. Davenant is the man whom I do highly esteem, and so do all that are wise and knowing in the things of God; but, in this, Davenant hath fallen much below himself; and the feebleness of his reasoning doth much confirm me, in my judgment and persuasion, that the cause which he oppugneth, and which I do here defend, is too strong to be overthrown.

7. His answer is partly not true, not to say it is directly and flatly false for, let any impartial man make a due estimate of things, and

compare the pastors and churches under the apostles (I except the persons of the apostles themselves) and, during their abode upon earth, and their successors the pastors and churches immediately following to the time of Constantine; I say, compare these with the pastors and churches of our times, and it will be found that there is no such inequality as he suggests. Bradford and Philpot, and Rogers, and Cranmer, and Latimer, and Ridley, and Hooper, and Bilney, and Sanders, and other of the English martyrs were worthy and famous martyrs of Christ, as well as were those first and most ancient martyrs. And Grindal, and Jewel, and Usher, and Davenant, and Gataker, and Vines, and Hildesham, and Preston, and Sibbs, and Dod, and Joseph Allen, and many more of our own and foreign divines were able to vie with the ancient bishops and pastors of the churches, such as died not martyrs. And the private Christians, and families, and congregations of our times, are not much inferior to those ancient ones both Greek and Latin, and even to those we have mention of in the New Testa ment, namely, the seven churches of Asia, those of Galatia, and Ju dea, that at Corinth, and others.

8. Admit it were true, which, questionless, is not: I should rather think, that the way to reduce an unreformed church and people from heresy and unholiness, to soundness in the faith and holiness, is for pastors to content themselves with the work of pastors, and give themselves wholly to it, and suffer no lets. Will the sword convert souls, or awe men's consciences? Would it likely do more good, if a minister should come into the pulpit with a sword in one hand, and a Bible in the other ? The sword is not appointed of God for the conversion of souls; the office of the magistrate is to make way for the work and office of the minister. It is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, which must cut in pieces men's lusts, and breed in them sound faith, holiness, and reformation, and not the sword of the magistrate. Let the magistrate do or not do his duty, let him be pagan or persecutor, and let the people be more loose and unreformed than they are, let but pastors and ministers do their duty well, and we shall soon see that God's word and discipline is of the same force now that ever it hath been, otherwise there is a change in God, and his promise fails, and Satan is stronger now than he hath been, and Christ and the Holy Ghost are much weaker. Read and consider well these scriptures, (Mat. xxviii. 18, 19, 20. 1 Pet. iii. 13. Mich. ii. 7. Isa. xlv. 19.-xlix. 4, 5. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Psal. lxxxiv. 11. 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. 2 Cor. iv. 1, 2. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5, 6.) to name no more, and let but ministers be wise and faithful, and try if it be not the best and speediest way to reform what is amiss in the church, contenting themselves with no more but their own office, and leaving all force and secular authority to the magistrate.

9. If we be the same that the ancient pastors were, be sure God and God's word will be the same; we cannot do God's part, nor the magistrate's part, nor the people's part, we can only do our own part, which we may do, if we will; do our own part, and be sure God will be with us and do his. What hinders but pastors may be as wise and holy as they have been of old? If we be not, it is our own fault. The more corrupt the times are, the more need pastors have to bestir themselves,