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A29078 Vox populi, or, The sense of the sober lay-men of the Church of England concerning the heads proposed in His Majesties commission to the Convocation. Boyse, J. (Joseph), 1660-1728. 1690 (1690) Wing B4084; ESTC R19826 46,104 48

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Vox Populi Or the SENSE of the SOBER LAY-MEN OF THE Church of England Concerning the HEADS Proposed in his MAJESTIES COMMISSION TO THE CONVOCATION LONDON Printed for Randall Taylor near Stationers-hall 1690. The Bookseller to the Reader THese Papers were sent to me before the late Prorogation of the Parliament but yet I have thought fit to publish them hoping they may be useful to the Publick THE PREFACE WE pay too great a Deference to so venerable an Assembly as our Convocation to come before them tho with a Petition in our hands without making some Apology for this seeming Rudeness as tho we presum'd to instruct our Teachers and fancied our selves wiser than our Spiritual Guides We might plead by way of Excuse that a former Convocation not only allowed but desired more on our behalf than we do pretend to Burnet 's Hist of the Reform Vol. 1. p. 147 For they addressed to King Henry the 8th That an equal number of Lay-men might be joined to some of their own Body with a full power to abrogate or confirm Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws as to them should seem most expedient whereas we do neither presume nor desire to sit among the Clergy as Counsellors but only to be permitted to stand as Supplicants at their door We might further alledg in our own behalf that when we lately ventured with our Pens to defend the Doctrines of our Church against the Papists in which Controversy our Learned Clergy gain'd such immortal Trophies of Honour our Papers were not only kindly received but protected too Even Dr. Sherlock himself condescending to cover a Protestant Footman with his mighty Shield who like a small Squire had ventured to strike a blow or two for the Giant We are therefore apt to believe that what we now propose for the further advantage of our Church will be as favourably entertain'd And we are the rather encouraged to such a Persuasion because the Master of the Temple notwithstanding the Canon in this case which shall be observ'd in its proper Place under that Head hath lately revoked that Letter of Attourny which the Clergy seemed to pretend to for the warranting them alone to act in our Names while we sate still and held our Peace For saith he Tho the Clergy have of late in a great measure monopoliz'd the Name of the Church to themselves yet in propriety of Speech they do not belong to the Definition of it Dr. Sherlock's Disc of the Nature Vnity and Communion of the Catholick Church p. 32. 34. they are indeed the Governours of the Church as they have receiv'd Authority from Christ the supreme Lord and Bishop of the Church but they are no more the Church than the King is his Kingdom or the Shepherd his Flock the Bishops and Pastors of the Church consider'd as such represent the Head and not the Body c. But that which we shall insist on and stand by as the main Reason of our willing and publishing the following Papers and which we conceive will fully silence those that are most likely to raise a Clamour against us is to clear our selv●s from the inj●●ious Misrepresentation that Vox Cleri Vox Cleri p. 11 gives of us as tho we were as perverse Enemies to his Majesties excellent Design in his Commission to the Convocation as he himself is and those whose Judgment he pretends to express For one of the main Reasons he urges against all Alterations is that which he cites out of Dr. Burnet in Judg Hales's Life That as some might come in so others that were in our Communion might take offence by the Alterations and desert it and seeing our frequent Changes in some things might suppose there is nothing certain among us and from the many Disputes about our Liturgy proceed to question our Articles and at last fall off to the Church of Rome which they saw more constant to their Principles And as we shall not repeat what hath been already replied so we shall take the more effectual way of confuting him by declaring the common Sense of the wisest and best among our selves that we have convers'd with about these matters For tho we pay that Respect even to the violent Bigots of our Clergy which the great Learning of many of them does deserve yet we must beg their Pardon if we are unwilling all the blame of their unaccountable Stiffness and Rigour should lie at our door We should think our selves very unhappy if any unreasonable Sowrness or Humour of ours should be the great Obstacle to the Churches Reformation and Peace If we should any way contribute to the keeping open those bleeding Wounds which our Spiritual Physicians are called together to heal and close We that have been so well instructed by our Ministers have learnt to distinguish between the Substance of our Religion and the separable Appendages of it and shall not suspect a change of our Food every time the mode of garnishing the Dish is altered and have more of that Divine Charity they have preached to us than to stand at an irreconcileable Distance from Dissenting Protestants and to run both out of the Church and our Wits too if the Convocation should think fit to let them in on an honourable Accommodation of our Differences We have therefore thought fit to descend to the particular Heads mentioned in his Majesties Commission and under each of them to propose such Alterations as would not only not be offensive to us but are highly desirable because we suppose them equally conducive to the Beauty and Safety the Strength and Glory of our Church Of the Liturgy and Ceremonies TO begin with the Calendar we shall not insist on the Rule to find out Easter which hath been sometimes found not to be true because that does more concern the Clergy to look after than any of us But as to some of the Lessons appointed in it they being design'd for our Edification we hope we may have ●ib●●ty to speak What a smutty Story is that in the 6th 7th and 8th Chapters of Tobit appointed for the Lessons on the last day of September and the first of August which is enough to make a Man laugh till he burst as certainly as the lumps of Pitch Fat and Hair did the Dragon Another precious Story which not being appointed formerly by our Church was by the New Reformers on the late Kings Restauration ordered to be read to us on the 23d of November The business in short is this Tobias luckily catcht a certain Fish that greedily snapt at him Tobit c. 6. Roasted it and Eat it but by the Direction of the Angel very carefully lays up the Heart the Liver and the Gall. Now an Ointment made of this Gall was a notable Remedy against Whiteness in the Eyes If it were as good against Dimness of Sight too we could wish for the sake of the Author of Vox Cleri we knew what sort of Fish this was Tobit