A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the House of Peers, in the Abbey…A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the House of Peeres, in the Abbey…

To use force upon people before they have means to teach them; is to seek to beat the nail in by the hammer of authority, without making way by the wimble ⟨p. 45⟩of instruction. Indeed, if you have to deal with rotten or soft sappy wood, the hammer only may make the nail enter presently; but if you meet with sound wood, with heart of oak, though the hammer, and hand that strikes be strong, yet the nail will hardly go in; it will turn crooked or break; or at least, if it enters, it may split that wood it enters into; and if so, it will not hold long: you have not your end, consider you have to deal with English consciences; there is no country so famous for firm strong oaks as England; you will find English consciences to be so.

To use force upon people before they have meanes to teach them; is to seek to beat the nayle in by the hammer of authority, without making way by the wimble ⟨p. 45⟩of instruction. Indeed, if you have to deale with rotten or soft sappy wood, the hammer only may make the nail enter presently; but if you meet with sound wood, with heart of oke, though the hammer, and hand that strikes be strong, yet the nayle will hardly goe in; it will turn crooked or break; or at least, if it enters, it may split that wood it enters into; and if so, it will not hold long: you have not your end, consider you have to deale with English consciences; there is no country so famous for firm strong okes as England; you will find English consciences to be so.

My Lords, you are advanced to high power and honour in a Kingdom, where Christ hath as many dear Saints of his, as (I had almost said) in all the world besides; he expects you should use them kindly; they have been faithful to you, even such as cannot fully come up to you in some things you have published to the world; where hath any one of them (though cried out upon, as troublers of the Kingdom) falsified their trust in any thing you have committed to them? you sit here in peace, and enjoy your honours with abundance of mercies; in part through the blessings of God upon their faithfulness and courage in venturing their lives for you: God forbid you should fall upon them, when your turns are served by them. Listen not to any who shall whisper such suggestions, or boldly vent such things as tend to the exasperation of your spirits this way. There is a great outcry against the toleration of all religions, & we are willing to join against such a toleration; but that which fills the mouths of many in this, is the heat of their spirits against those that differ from them in any thing, that they might with the more strength be able by this to strike at them: suffer not your power to be abused