wounding on the thigh, was by the duke presently turned out of military fervice. Of Normans and French were flain no fmall number; the duke himfelf that day not a little hazarded his perfon, having had three choice horfes killed under him. Victory obtained, and his dead carefully buried, the English alfo by permiffion, he fent the body of Harold to his mother without ransom, though the offered very much to redeem it; which having received the buried at Waltham, in a church built there by Harold. In the meanwhile, Edwin and Morcar, who had withdrawn themselves from Harold, hearing of his death, came to London; fending Aldgith the queen their fifter with all speed to Weft-chefter. Aldred archbishop of York, and many of the nobles, with the Londoners, would have set up Edgar the right heir, and prepared themselves to fight for him; but Morcar and Edwin not liking the choice, who each of them expected to have been chofen before him, withdrew their forces, and returned home. Duke William, contrary to his former refolution, (if Florent of Worcefter, and they who follow him* fay true,) wasting, burning, and flaying all in his way; or rather, as faith Malmsbury, not in hoftile but in regal manner, came up to London, met at Barcham by Edgar, with the nobles, bishops, citizens, and at length Edwin and Morcar, who all fubmitted to him, gave hoftages and fwore fidelity he to them promised peace and defence; yet permitted his men the while to burn and make prey. Coming to London with all his army, he was on Christmas-day folemnly crowned in the great church at Westminster, by Aldred archbishop of York, having first given his oath at the altar, in prefence of all the people, to defend the church, well govern the people, maintain right law, prohibit rapine and unjuft judgment. Thus the English, while they agreed not about the choice of their native king, were conftrained to take the yoke of an outlandish conqueror. With what minds and by what course of life they had fitted themselves for this fervitude, William of Malmsbury fpares not to lay open. Not a few years VOL. IV. Sim. Dun. before Book VI. before the Normans came, the clergy, though in Edward the confeffor's days, had loft all good literature and religion, scarce able to read and understand their Latin fervice; he was a miracle to others who knew his gram The monks went clad in fine ftuffs, and made no difference what they eat; which though in itself no fault, yet to their confciences was irreligious. The great men, given to gluttony and diffolute life, made a prey of the common people, abusing their daughters whom they had in fervice, then turning them off to the ftews; the meaner fort tippling together night and day, spent all they had in drunkenness, attended with other vices which effeminate men's minds. Whence it came to pass, that carried on with fury and rafhnefs more than any true fortitude or fkill of war, they gave to William their conqueror fo eafy a conqueft. Not but that fome few of all forts were much better among them; but fuch was the generality. And as the long-fuffering of God permits bad men to enjoy profperous days with the good, fo his feverity ofttimes exempts not good men from their share in evil times with the bad. If these were the causes of fuch mifery and thraldom to those our ancestors, with what better close can be concluded, than here in fit feafon to remember this age in the midst of her fecurity, to fear from like vices, without amendment, the revolution of like calamities? THE END OF THE SIXTH BOOK. OF TRUE RELIGION, HERESY, SCHISM, TOLERATION; And what best MEANS may be used against the GROWTH OF POPERY*. IT is unknown to no man, who knows aught of concernment among us, that the increase of popery is at this day no fmall trouble and offence to greatest part of the nation; and the rejoicing of all good men that it is fo the more their rejoicing, that God hath given a heart to the people, to remember still their great and happy deliverance from popish thraldom, and to esteem fo highly the precious benefit of his gospel, fo freely and fo peaceably enjoyed among them. Since therefore fome have already in public with many confiderable arguments exhorted the people, to beware the growth of this Romifh weed; I thought it no lefs than a common duty, to lend my hand, how unable foever, to fo good a purpose. I will not now enter into the labyrinth of councils and fathers, an entangled wood, which the papifts love to fight in, not with hope of victory, but to obfcure the shame of an open overthrow: which yet in that kind of combat, many heretofore, and one of late, hath eminently given them. And fuch manner of difpute with them to learned men is ufeful and very commendable. But I fhall infift now on what is plainer to common apprehenfion, and what I have to fay, without longer introduction. True religion is the true worship and fervice of God, learnt and believed from the word of God only. No man or angel can know how God would be worshipped and ferved, unless God reveal it: he hath revealed and taught it us in the holy scriptures by infpired minifters, and in the gofpel by his own fon and his apoftles, with ftricteft command, to reject all other traditions or ad * Printed in the year 1673. $ 2 ditions ditions whatsoever. According to that of St. Paul, "Though we or an angel from Heaven preach any other gofpel unto you, than that which we have preached_unto you, let him be anathema, or accurfed." And Deut. iv, 2: "Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish aught from it." Rev. xxii, 18, 19: "If any man shall add, &c. If any man fhall take away from the words," &c. With good and religious reason therefore all proteftant churches with one confent, and particularly the church of England in her thirty-nine articles, artic. 6th, 19th, 20th, 21ft, and elsewhere, maintain these two points, as the main principles of true religion; that the rule of true religion is the word of God only: and that their faith ought not to be an implicit faith, that is to believe, though as the church believes, against or without exprefs authority of scripture. And if all proteftants, as univerfally as they hold these two principles, two principles, fo attentively and religioufly would obferve them, they would avoid and cut off many debates and contentions, fchifms and perfecu tions, which too oft have been among them, and more firmly unite against the common adverfary. For hence it directly follows, that no true proteftant can perfecute, or not tolerate his fellow-proteftant, though diffenting from him in fome opinions, but he muft flatly deny and renounce these two his own main principles, whereon true religion is founded; while he compels his brother from that which he believes as the manifeft word of God, to an implicit faith (which he himself condemns) to the endangering of his brother's foul, whether by rafh belief, or outward conformity: for "whatsoever is not of faith, is fin." I will now as briefly fhow what is falfe religion or herefy, which will be done as easily: for of contraries the definitions muft needs be contrary. Herefy there fore is a religion taken up and believed from the traditions of men, and additions to the word of God. Whence alfo it follows clearly, that of all known fects, or pretended religions, at this day in Christendom, popery the only or the greatest herefy": and he who is fo forward to brand all others for heretics, the obftinate papist, the only only heretic. Hence one of their own famous writers found just cause to ftyle the Romish church "Mother of errour, fchool of herefy." And whereas the papist boafts himself to be a Roman Catholic, it is a mere contradiction, one of the pope's bulls, as if he fhould fay, univerfal particular, a catholic fchifmatic. For catholic in Greek fignifies univerfal: and the chriftian church was fo called, as confifting of all nations to whom the gospel was to be preached, in contradiftinction to the jewish church, which confifted for the moft part of Jews only. Sects may be in a true church as well as in a falfe, when men follow the doctrine too much for the teacher's fake, whom they think almoft infallible; and this becomes, through infirmity, implicit faith; and the name fectary pertains to fuch a disciple. Schifm is a rent or divifion in the church, when it comes to the feparating of congregations; and may alfo happen to a true church, as well as to a falfe; yet in the true needs not tend to the breaking of communion, if they can agree in the right adminiftration of that wherein they communicate, keeping their other opinions to themfelves, not being deftructive to faith. The pharifees and faducees were two fects, yet both met together in their common worship of God at Jerufalem. But here the papift will angrily demand, what! are lutherans, calvinifts, anabaptifts, focinians, arminians, no heretics? I anfwer, all these may have fome errours, but are no heretics. Herefy is in the will and choice profeffedly against fcripture; errour is against the will, in mifunderstanding the fcripture after all fincere endeavours to understand it rightly: hence it was faid well by one of the ancients, "Err I may, but a heretic I will not be." It is a human frailty to err, and no man is infallible here on earth. But fo long as all these profess to set the word of God only before them as the rule of faith and obedience; and ufe all diligence and fincerity of heart, by reading, by learning, by ftudy, by prayer for illumi nation of the holy fpirit, to understand the rule and obey it, they have done what man can do: God will affuredly pardon them, as he did the friends of Job: good and pious men, though much mistaken, as there it |