TO THE KING

SIR,

The Title of Defender of the Faith, the Noblest of all those which belong to this Imperial Crown, that has received a New Lustre by Your MAJESTY’s carrying it, is that which You have so Gloriously acquired, that if Your MAJESTY had not found it among them, what You have done must have secured it to Your Self by the Best of all Claims. We should be as much ashamed not to give it to Your MAJESTY, as we were to give it to Those who had been fatally led into the Design of Overturning That, which has been beyond all the Examples in History preserved and hitherto maintained by Your MAJESTY.

The Reformation had its greatest Support and Strength from the Crown of England; while Two of Your Renowned Ancestors were the Chief Defenders of it in Foreign Parts. The Blood of England mixing so happily with Theirs, in Your Royal Person, seemed to give the World a sure Prognostick of what might be look’d for from so Great a Conjunction. Your MAJESTY has outdone all Expectations; and has brought Matters to a State far beyond all our Hopes.

But amidst the Lawrels that adorn You, and those Applauses that do every where follow You, Suffer me, GREAT SIR, in all Humility to tell You, That Your Work is not yet done, nor Your Glory compleat, till You have employed that Power which God has put in Your hands, and before which nothing has been able hitherto to stand, in the supporting and securing This Church, in the bearing down Infidelity and Impiety, in the healing the Wounds and Breaches that are made among those who do in common profess this Faith, but are unhappily disjointed and divided by some Differences that are of less Importance: And above all things, in the raising the Power and Efficacy of this Religion, by a suitable Reformation of our Lives and Manners.

How much soever mens Hearts are out of the Reach of Human Authority, yet their Lives and all outward Appearances are governed by the Example and Influences of their Sovereigns.

The effectual pursuing of these Designs, as it is the greatest of all those Glories of which Mortals are capable, so it seems to be the only thing that is now wanting, to finish the Brightest and Perfectest Character that will be in History.

It was in order to the Promoting these Ends, that I undertook This Work; which I do now most humbly lay before Your MAJESTY, with the Profoundest Respect and Submission.

May God Preserve Your MAJESTY, till You have gloriously finished what You have so wonderfully carried on. All that You have hitherto set about, how small soever the Beginnings and Hopes were, has succeeded in Your Hands, to the Amazement of the whole World: The most desperate Face of Affairs has been able to give You no Stop.

Your MAJESTY seems Born under an Ascendant of Providence; and therefore how low soever all our Hopes are, either of raising the Power of Religion, or of Vniting those who profess it, yet we have often been taught to despair of nothing that is once undertaken by Your MAJESTY.

This will secure to You the Blessing of the present and of all succeeding Ages, and a full Reward in that Glorious and Immortal State that is before You: To which, That Your MAJESTY may have a Sure, though a Late Admittance, is the Daily and most Earnest Prayer of,

May it please Your MAJESTY, Your Majesty’s most Loyal, most Obedient, and most Devoted Subject and Servant, GI. SARUM,

C. G.