REGARD, thou righteous God and true, Regard thy weeping people’s prayer, Before the sword our land go through, Before thy latest plague we bear, Let all to thee their smiter turn, Let all beneath thine anger mourn.
The sword, which first bereav’d abroad, We now within _our_ borders see: We see, but slight thy nearer rod, So oft so kindly warn’d by thee: We still thy warning love despise, And dare thine utmost wrath to rise.
Yet for the faithful remnants sake Thine utmost wrath awhile defer, If haply we at last may wake, And trembling at destruction near The _cause_ of all our evils _own_, And leave the sins for which we groan.
Or if the wicked will not mourn, And ’scape the long-suspended blow, Yet shall it to thy glory turn, Yet shall they all thy patience know, Thy slighted love and mercy clear, And vindicate thy justice here.
For his MAJESTY King GEORGE.
IMMORTAL King of Kings, Whose favour or whose frown Monarchs and States to honour brings, Or turns them upside down;
To thee in danger’s hour We for our sov’reign cry, Protect him by thy gracious power, And set him up on high.
Not by a mighty host Can he deliver’d be; Let others in their numbers trust, We look, O Lord, to thee:
Help to thy servant send, And strengthen from above, And still thy minister defend By thine almighty love.
The spirit of thy grace, Thy heavenly unction shed, And hosts of guardian angels place Around his sacred head:
Confound whoe’er oppose, Or force them to retire; Be thou a tower against his foes, Be thou a wall of fire.
O bring him out of all His _sanctified_ distress, And by his name thy servant call, And fill him with thy peace:
Shew him, almighty Lord, That thou _his_ Saviour art, And speak the soul-converting word _My son, give me thy heart_!
A WORD to a PROTESTANT.
1. DON’T _you_ call yourself a _Protestant_? Why so? Do you know what the word means? What is a _Protestant_? I suppose you mean one that is not a _Papist_? But what is a _Papist_? If you don’t know, say so. Acknowledge you cannot tell. Is not this the case? You call yourself a _Protestant_: but you don’t know what a _Protestant_ is. You talk against _Papists_: and yet neither do you know what a _Papist_ is. Why do you _pretend_ then to the knowledge which you have not? Why do you use words which you don’t understand.
2. Are you desirous to know what these words, _Papist_ and _Protestant_ mean? A _Papist_ is one who holds the _Pope_, or bishop of _Rome_, (the name _papa_, that is _father_, was formerly given to all bishops) to be head of the whole Christian church: and the church of _Rome_, or that which owns the _Pope_ as their head, to be the only Christian church.
3. In a course of years, many errors crept into this church, of which good men complained from time to time. At last, about two hundred years ago, the _Pope_ appointed many bishops and others to meet at a town in _Germany_, called _Trent_. But these, instead of amending those errors, established them all by a law, and so delivered them down to all succeeding generations.
4. Among these errors may be numbered, their doctrine of seven sacraments; of transubstantiation; of communion in one kind only; of purgatory, and praying for the dead therein; of veneration of relics, and of indulgences, or pardons granted by the Pope, and to be bought for money.
It is thought by some, that these errors, great as they are, do only defile the purity of Christianity: but it is sure, the following strike at its very root, and tend to banish true religion out of the world.
5. First, the doctrine of _merit_. The very foundation of Christianity is, that a man can _merit_ nothing of God: that we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: not for any of our works, or of our deservings; but by faith in the blood of the covenant.
But the _Papists_ hold, that a man may by his works merit or deserve eternal life; and that we are justified, not by faith in Christ alone, but by faith and works together.
This doctrine strikes at the root of Christian faith, the only foundation of true religion.
6. Secondly, the doctrine of _praying_ to saints and _worshipping_ of images. To the Virgin _Mary_ they pray in these words; “O mother of God, O queen of heaven, command thy Son to have mercy upon us.” And, “the right use of images” (says the Council of _Trent_) “is to honour them, by _bowing down_ before them.” _Session 25. Paragraph 2._
This doctrine strikes at the root of that great commandment, (which the _Papists_ call part of the first) _Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them_, _i. e._ not any image whatsoever. It is gross, open, palpable _idolatry_, such as can neither be denied, nor excused; and tends directly to destroy the love of God, which is indeed the first and great commandment.