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c i>ul of the testimony which the church, from time to time, was provoked to make af^ainst the Papal usurpation of the Melchi- zedec kingdom. But I must contract the eye of my vision to one object, which it much concemcth us Britons minutely to study a» one nf the great gotxls which flowed to us from the Papacy ; I mean» (he Re- formation. The 1-ord, having borne for a thoui^jand yean with the spirit which had posscfiBcd and over-ruled the ten-homed beast, in consideration, no doubt, of the great pur|u>se^ of good it waf^ serving, resolved at length to brand Apostasy upon its foreh«ad; which could only t>e done by drawing out of it some one or more of the king- doms, and, by his dealings therewith, condemning all tlie rest. For this most gmcioiis end, it pleased him to make choice of thi?i kiugdomof tlBSE fintfl a* ' 4 THE TURBK V^CLBAH SPiKlTi. [ Grcal firitaiiii ivbicii lie elected from die oth ten, and coostituted it upou a iivw, aiul yet lic&rd-of priacipJep the principle of Prme&tation Our Saxon free-usages, our Ma<^ia Charta^ our ClarcodoQ CocsLitution, were eclip&od by the more instant danger of defending ourselves agatBfit Satan Hud lUe luviii ul' lii» ri^^hl ii^nil; and wa eame all at ouce a pFotettaat natiuu, who^c and fuiHluineiitdl principle was the oatb of ujpro* maey and abjuration, who5c ovcry bulwark wot Dffcoajvc against tht: Komau usurpatiuD, and de l^tive of the pTerogaliTt* of the civil tnagii^trAt Wc beeaine a nation constituted for ibe one en of sayint]£ A«> to all tbe Papal preteDsions : to utter the great negative o( thai positive evil; to be tlhc contradiction of the boly apostolical empire; atajMl single-landed against it, to unmask it, coiid<:iiiu it, and in tim end, in the I^rd'fi naitKV to direct tite bloodhounds of infidelity, who ve aow unkeoDelling for iu destruction. Sucb uac tbe church of Britain, the defender of civd liberty, bf licing Iheaascrlor of Lbc church^ obedience to tbe magittftite against the I'opc'fi usurpation of supre- macy over thcfn. And all ^ece^ftinn au<l uoihcoo* formity in tliebc»om of ihc Briiijih church, and iu oK%u]rreu( licparatjon into Epi»copaiJaii aud Prtu- byteriui, have only been to preserve the b of that \i&ible church, whoa^ cikI of redemptioD, whose charter of prt^vetvatiou is, tiiat, forgeUiag minor distinctions, «he slionid uUer the flat negi- tire to the Pope, 'Thou art not Melchisedec; thou art not the man of God» right hand; thou art tlie man of Sottu's right band, thou art Lbc roanofsiu/ — Oh that (iod would give nu: grace to convey unto my d