followed their Decisions and which was Imployed in the Execution of them makes it appear rather a stranger thing that so many opposed them than that so many submitted to them When Inquisitors or Dragoons manage an Argument how strong soever the Spirit may be in opposing it it is certain the Flesh will be weak and will ply easily When Princes were threatned with Deposition and Hereticks with Extirpation and when both were executed with so much rigour the success of all the Doctrines that were established in those days ought to make no Impression on us in its favour VII It is no less plain that there was a great and vigorous opposition made to every step of the progress of this Doctrine When the Eutichians first made use of it the greatest men of that Age set themselves against it When the Worshippers of Images did afterwards deny that the Sacrament was the Image of the Body and Blood of Christ a General Council in the East asserted according to the Ancient Liturgies the Contrary Proposition When Paschase Radbert set on Foot the Corporal Presence in the West all the great men of the Age writ against him Berenger was likewise highly esteemed and had many secret Followers when this Doctrine was first decreed and ever since the time of the Council of the Lateran that Transubstantiation was established there have been whole bodies of men that have opposed it and that have fallen as Sacrifices to the Rages of the Inquisitors And by the Processes of those of Tholouse of which I have seen the Original Records for the space of Twenty years it appears that as Transubstantiation was the Article upon which they were always chiefly examined so it was that which many of them did the most constantly deny so far were they on both sides from looking on it only as an Explanation of the Real Presence VIII The Novelty of this Doctrine appears plainly by the strange work that the Schools have made with it since they got it among them both in their Philosophy and Divinity and by the many different methods that they took for explaining it till they had licked it into the shape in which it is now which is as plain an Evidence of the Novelty of the Doctrine as can be imagined The Learned Mr. Alix has given us a clear Deduction of all that confusion into which it has cast the Schoolmen and the many various Methods that they sell on for maintaining it First they thought the Body of Christ was broken by the Teeth of the Faithful then that appearing absurd and subjecting our Saviour to new sufferings the Doctrine of a Bodies being in a place after the manner of a spirit was set up And as to the change some thought that the Matter of Bread remained but that it was united to the Body of Christ as nourishment is digested into our Bodies others thought that the Form of Bread remained the Matter only being changed And some thought that the Bread was only withdrawn to give place to the Body of Christ whereas others thought it was Annihilated While the better Judges had always an eye either to a Consubstantiation or to such an Assumption of the Bread and Wine by the Eternal Word as made the Sacrament in some sense his Body indeed but not that Body which is now in Heaven All these different Opinions in which the Schoolmen were divided even after the Decision made by Pope Innocent in the Council of the Lateran shew that the Doctrine being a Novelty men did not yet know how to mould or form it but in process of time the whole Philosophy was so digested as to prepare all Scholars in their first formation to receive it the more easily And in our Age in which that Philosophy has lost its credit what pains do they take to suppress the New Philosophy as seeing that it cannot be so easily subdued to support this Doctrine as the Old one was And it is no unpleasant thing to see the Shifts to which the Partisans of the Cartesian Philosophy are driven to explain themselves which are indeed so very ridiculous that one can hardly think that those who make use of them believe them for they are plainly rather Tricks and Excuses than Answers IX No man can deny that Transubstantiation is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome but he that will dispute the Authority of the Councils of the Lateran and Trent Now tho some have done the first avowedly yet as their number is small and their Opinion decried so for the Council of Trent tho I have known some of that Communion who do not look upon it as a General Council and tho it is not at all received in France neither as to Doctrine nor Discipline yet the contrary opinion is so universally received that they who think otherwise dare not speak out and so give their Opinion as a secret which they trust in confidence rather than as a Doctrine which they will own But setting aside the Authority of these Councils the common Resolution of Faith in the Church of Rome being Tradition it cannot be denied that the constant and general Tradition in the Church of Rome these last Five hundred years has been in favour of Transubstantiation and that is witnessed by all the Evidences by which it is possible to know Tradition The Writings of Learned Men the Sermons of Preachers the Poceedings of Tribunals the Decisions of Councils that if they were not general were yet very numerous and above all by the many Authentical Declarations that Popes have made in this matter So that either Tradition is to be for ever rejected as a false conveyance or this is the received Doctrine of the Church of Rome from which She can never depart without giving up both her Infallibility and the Authority of Tradition X. There is not any one point in which all the Reformed Churches do more unanimously agree than in the rejecting of Transubstantiation as appears both by the Harmony of their Consessions and by the current of all the Reformed VVriters And for the Real Presence tho the Lutherans explain it by a Consubstantiation and the rest of the Reformed by a Reality of Virtue and Efficacy and a Presence of Christ as crucified yet all of them have taken much pains to shew that in what sense soever they meant it they were still far enough from Transubstantiation This demonstrates the wisdom of our Legislators in singling out this to be the sole point of the Test for Imployments since it is perhaps the only point in Controversy in which the whole Church of Rome holds the Affirmative and the whole Reformed hold the Negative And it is as certain that Transubstantiation is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as that it is rejected by the Church of England it being by name condemned in our Articles And thus I hope the whole Plea of our Author in favour of Transubstantiation is overthrown in all its three Branches which
was in Scotland and the pretension to Absolute Power is so great a thing that since His Majesty thought fit once to claim it he is little beholden to those that make him fall so much in his Language especially since both these Declarations have appeared in our Gazettes so that as we see what is done in Scotland we know from hence what is in some Peoples Hearts and what we may expect in England II. His Majesty tells his People that the perfect Enjoyment of their Property has never been in any Case invaded by him since his coming to the Crown This is indeed matter of great Encouragement to all good Subjects for it lets them see that such Invasions as have been made on Property have been done without His Majesty's knowledge so that no doubt the continuing to levy the Customs and the Additional Excise which had been granted only during the late King's Life before the Parliament could meet to renew the Grant was done without His Majesty's knowledge the many Violences committed not only by Soldiers but Officers in all the Parts of England which are severe Invasions on Property have been all without his Majesty's knowledge and since the first Branch of Property is the Right that a Man has to his Life the strange Essay of Mahometan Government that was shewed at Taunton and the no less strange Proceedings of the present Lord Chancellor in his Circuit after the Rebellion which are very justly called His Campagne for it was an open Act of Hostility to all Law and for which and other Services of the like nature it is believed he has had the Reward of the Great Seal and the Executions of those who have left their Colours which being founded on no Law are no other than so many Murders all these I say are as we are sure Invasions on Property But since the King tells us that no such Invasions have been made since he came to the Crown we must conclude that all these things have fallen out without his Privity And if a Standing Army in time of Peace has been ever look'd on by this Nation as an Attempt upon the whole Property of the Nation in gross one must conclude that even this is done without His Majesty's knowledge III. His Majesty expresses his Charity for us in a kind Wish That we were all Members of the Catholick Church In return to which we offer up daily our most earnest Prayers for him That he may become a Member of the truly Catholick Church for Wishes and Prayers do no hurt on no side But His Majesty adds That it has ever been his Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion We are very happy if this continues to be always his Sense but we are sure in this he is no obedient Member of that which he means by the Catholick Church for it has over and over again decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks It encourages Princes to it by the Offer of the Pardon of their Sins it threatens them to it by denouncing to them not only the Judgments of God but that which is more sensible the loss of their Dominions and it seems they intend to make us know that part of their Doctrine even before we come to feel it since tho' some of that Communion would take away the Horror which the Fourth Council of the Lateran gives us in which these things were decreed by denying it to be a General Council and rejecting the Authority of those Canons yea the most learned of all the Apostates that has fallen to them from our Church has so lately given up this Plea and has so formally acknowledged the Authority of that Council and of its Canons that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing of warning us before hand of our Danger It is true Bellarmin says The Church does not always execute her Power of Deposing Heretical Princes tho' she always retains it one Reason that he assigns is Because she is not at all times able to put it in execution so the same Reason may perhaps make it appear unadvisable to extirpate Hereticks because that at present it connot be done but the Right remains entire and is put in execution in such an unrelenting manner in all Places where that Religion prevails that it has a very ill Grace to see any Member of that Church speak in this strain and when neither the Policy of France nor the Greatness of their Monarch nor yet the Interests of the Emperour joined to the Gentleness of his own Temper could withstand these Bloody Councils that are indeed parts of that Religion we can see no Reason to induce us to believe that a Toleration of Religion is proposed with any other Design but either to divide us or to lay us asleep till it is time to give the Alarm for destroying us IV. If all the Endeavours that have been used in the last four Reigns for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to a Unity in Religion have been ineffectual as His Majesty says we know to whom we owe both the first Beginnings and the Progress of the Divisions among our selves the Gentleness of Queen Elizabeth's Government and the numbers of those that adhered to the Church of Rome made it scarce possible to put an end to that Party during her Reign which has been ever since restless and has had credit enough at Court during the three last Reigns not only to support it self but to distract us and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them by somenting our own Differences and by setting on either a Toleration or a Persecution as it has hapned to serve their Interests It is not so very long since that nothing was to be heard at Court but the supporting the Church of England and the extirpating all the Nonconformists and it were easie to name the Persons if it were decent that had this ever in their Mouths but now all is turned round again the Church of England is in disgrace and now the Encouragement of Trade the Quiet of the Nation and the Freedom of Conscience are again in vogue that were such odious things but a few years ago that the very mentioning of them was enough to load any Man with Suspicions as backward in the King's Service while such Methods are used and the Government is as in an Ague divided between hot and cold Fits no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have failed of their Effect V. There is a good Reserve here left for Severity when the proper Opportunity to set it on presents it self for His Majesty declares himself only against the forcing of Men in Matters of meer Religion so that whensoever Religion and Policy come to be so interwoven that meer Religion is not the Case and that Publick Safety may be pretended then this Declaration is to be no more claimed so that the fastning any thing
must at least acquiesce tho they are not Infallible there being still a sort of an Appeal to be made to the Soveraign or the Supream Legislative Body so the Church has a Subaltern Jurisdiction but as the Authority of inferior Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law So it is not necessary for the Preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be Infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their Obedience to their Soveraign tho in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Soveraign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Soveraign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a Subaltern Judg If they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular Persons may be supposed as competent Judges of that as in Civil Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Judges and in that case they are bound still to maintain their Obedience to Jesus Christ in matters Indifferent Christians are bound for the Preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decision of the Church and in matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be Silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Soveraign of the Church I mean Christ the People may put in their Appeal to that great Judg and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the People followed the Rules that I have named with Humility and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the Providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that it appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho they are bad enough yet are not equal to the Effects that ignorant Superstition and obedient Zeal have produced in the World witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small diversity of Opinion and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signify nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and then that certainly it it not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say That there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See. X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some Starts and after long Intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first 320 years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this Right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Councils of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern Parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperor's Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700. years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a competent Understanding to satisfy him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said That this Infallibility is to be sought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this Here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a Study that must cost a Man an Age to go thorow it and many of the Ages through which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very
that the Censures upon it are divided both fall heavy Some suspect their Sincerity others accuse them for want of a right Understanding For tho' all are not of the pitch of the Irish Priests Reflections on the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Sermon which was indeed Irish double refined yet both in your Books of Controversie and Policy and even in your Poems you seem to have entred into such an Intermixture with the Irish that the Thred all over is Linsie-woolsie You acknowledge that the Gentleman whom you answer has a Polite Pen and that his Letter is an ingenious Paper and made up of well-composed Sentences and Periods Yet I believe he will hardly return you your Complement If it was well writ your Party wants either Men or Judgment extremely in allowing you this Province of answering it If the Paper did you some hurt you had better have let the Town be a little pleased with it for a while and have hoped that a little Time or some new Paper tho' one of its force is scarce to be expected should have worn it out than to give it a new Lustre by such an Answer The Time of the Dissenters Sufferings which you lengthen out to Twenty seven Years will hardly amount to Seven For the long Intervals it had in the last Reign are not forgot and those who animated the latest and severest of their Sufferings are sueh that in good manners you ought not to reflect on their Conduct Opium is as certain a Poyson tho' not so violent as Sublimate and if more corrosive Medicines did not work the Design is the same when soporiferous ones are used since the Patient is to be killed both ways and it seems that all that is in debate is which is the safer The accepting a present Ease when the ill intent with which it is offered is visible is just as wise an Action as to take Opium to lay a small Distemper when one may conclude from the Dose that he will never come out of the Sleep So that after all it is plain on which side the Madness lies The Dissenters for a little present ease to be enjoyed at mercy must concur to break down all our Hedges and to lay us open to that devouring Power before which nothing can stand that will not worship it All that for which you reproach the Church of England amounts to this that a few good Words could not persuade her to destroy her self and to sacrifice her Religion and the Laws to a Party that never has done nor ever can do the King half the Service that She has rendred him There are some sorts of Propositions that a Man does not know how to answer nor would he be thought ingrateful who after he had received some Civilities from a Person to whom he had done great Service could not be prevailed with by these so far as to spare him his Wife or his Daughter It must argue a peculiar degree of Confidence to ask things that are above the being either ask'd or granted Our Religion and our Government are Matters that are not to be parted with to shew our good Breeding and of all Men living you ought not to pretend to Good Manners who talk as you do of the Oppression of the last Reign When the King's Obligations to his Brother and the share that he had in his Councils are considered the reproaching his Government has so ill a grace that you are as indecent in your Flatteries as injurious in your Reflections And by this Gratitude of yours to the Memory of the late King the Church of England may easily infer how long all her Services would be remembred even if she had done all that was desired of her I would fain know which of the Brethren of the Dissenters in Foreign Countries sought their Relief from Rebellion The Germans Reformed by the Authority of their Princes so did the Swedes the Danes and likewise the Switzers In France they maintained the Princes of the Blood against the League and in Holland the Quarrel was for Civil Liberties Protestant and Papist concurring equally in it You mention Holland as an Instance that Liberty and Infallibility can dwell together since Papists there shew that they can be friendly Neighbours to those whom they think in the wrong It is very like they would be still so in England if they were under the Lash of the Law and so were upon their Good-behaviour the Government being still against them And this has so good an effect in Holland that I hope we shall never depart from the Dutch Pattern Some can be very Humble Servants that would prove Imperious Masters You say that Force is our only Supporter but tho' there is no Force of our Side at present it does not appear that we are in such a tottering condition as if we had no Supporter left us God and Truth are of our side and the indiscreet use of Force when set on by our Enemies has rather undermined than supported us But you have taken pains to make us grow wiser and to let us see our Errors which is perhaps the only Obligation that we owe you and we are so sensible of it that without examining what your Intentions may have been in it we heartily thank you for it I do not comprehend what your Quarrel is at the squinting Term of the next Heir as you call it tho' I do not wonder that squinting comes in your mind whensoever you think of HER for all People look asquint at that which troubles them and Her being the next Heir is no less the Delight of all Good Men than it is your Affliction All the pains that you take to represent Her dreadful to the Dissenters must needs find that credit with them that is due to the Insinuations of an Enemy It is very true that as She was bred up in our Church She adheres to it so eminently as to make Her to be now our chief Ornament as we hope She will be once our main Defence If by the strictest Form of our Church you mean an Exemplary Piety and a shining Conversation you have given Her true Character But your Design lies another way to make the Dissenters form strange Ideas of Her as if She thought all Indulgence to them Criminal But as the Gentleness of her Nature is such that none but those who are so guilty that all Mercy to them would be a Crime can apprehend any thing that is terrible from Her so as for the Dissenters Her going so constantly to the Dutch and French Churches shews that She can very well endure their Assemblies at the same time that She prefers ours She has also too often expressed her dislike at the heats that have been kept up among us concerning such inconsiderable Differences to pass for a Bigot or Persecutor in such Matters and She sees both the Mischief that the Protestant Religion has received from their Subdivisions and the happiness of granting
now to treat the Men of the Church of England with the same Brutal Excesses that he bestowed so lately and so liberally on the Dissenters as if his Design were to render himself equally odious to all Mankind III. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as Seditious after she has rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth has done She has beaten down all the Principles of Rebellion with more Force and Learning than any Body of men has ever yet done and has run the hazard of enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the more Learned of her Members knew well what they might expect And since our Author likes the figure of a Snake in ones Bosome so well I could tell him that according to the Apologue we took up and sheltered an Interest that was almost dead and by that warmth gave it life which yet now with the Snake in the Bosome is like to bite us to death We do not say we are the only Church that has Principles of Loyalty but this we may say That we are the Church in the World that carries them the highest as we know a Church that of all others sinks them them the lowest We do not pretend that we are Inerrable in this Point but acknowledge that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edward's Death Yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more steadily to their Loyalty in favour of Queen Mary than She did to the Promises that she made to them Upon this Subject our Author by his false Quotation of History forces me to set the Reader right which if it proves to the disadvantage of his Cause his Friends may thank him for it I will not enter into so tedious a Digression as the justifying Queen Elizabeth's being Legitimate and the throwing the Bastardy on Queen Mary must carry me to this I will only say That it was made out that according to the best sort of Arguments used by the Church of Rome I mean the constant Tradition of all Ages King Henry the VIII marrying with Queen Katherine was Incestuous and by Consequence Queen Mary was the Bastard and Queen Elizabeth was the Legitimate Issue But our Author not satisfied with defaming Queen Elizabeth tells us that the Church of England was no sooner set up by her than She Enacted those Bloody Cannibal Laws to Hang Draw and Quarter the Priests of the living God. But since these Laws disturb him so much What does he think of the Laws of Burning the poor Servants of the living God because they cannot give Divine Worship to that which they believe to be only a Piece of Bread The Representation he gives of this part of our History is so false that tho' upon Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Crown there were many Complaints exhibited of the illegal Violences that Bonner and other Butchers had committed yet all these were stifled and no Penal Laws were enacted against those of that Religion The Popish Clergy were indeed turned out but they were well used and had Pensions assigned them so ready was the Queen and our Church to forgive what was past and to shew all Gentleness for the future During the first thirteen years of her Reign matters went on calmly without any sort of Severity on the account of Religion But then the restless Spirit of that Party began to throw the Nation into violent Convulsions The Pope deposed the Queen and and one of the Party had the Impudence to post up the Bull in London upon this followed several Rebellions both in England and Ireland and the Papists of both Kingdoms entred into Confederacies with the King of Spain and the Court of Rome The Priests disposed all the People that depended on them to submit to the Pope's Authority in that Deposition and to reject the Queen's These Endeavours besides open Rebellions produced many secret Practices against her Life All these things gave the rise to the severe Laws which began not to be enacted before the twentieth year of her Reign A War was formed by the Bull of Deposition between the Queen and the Court of Rome so it was a necessary piece of Precaution to declare all those to be Traitors who were the Missionaries of that Authority which had stript the Queen of hers Yet those Laws were not executed upon some Secular Priests who had the Honesty to condemn the Deposing Doctrine As for the Unhappy Death of the Queen of Scotland it was brought on by the wicked Practices of her own Party who fatally involved her in some of them She was but a Subject here in England and if the Queen took a more violent way than was decent for her own Security here was no Disloyalty nor Rebellion in the Church of England which owed her no sort of Allegiance IV. I do not pretend that the Church of England has any great cause to value her self upon her Fidelity to King Charles the First tho' our Author would have it pass for the only thing of which She can boast for I confess the cause of the Church was so twisted with the King 's that Interest and Duty went together tho' I will not go so far as our Author who says that the Law of Nature dictates to every Individual to fight in his own Defence This is too bold a thing to be delivered so crudely at this time The Laws of Nature are perpetual and can never be cancelled by any special Law So if these Gentlemen own so freely that this is a Law of Nature they had best take care not to provoke Nature too much lest She fly to the Relief that this Law may give her unless she is restrained by the Loyalty of our Church Our Author values his Party much upon their Loyalty to King Charles the First But I must take the liberty to ask him of what Religion were the Irish Rebels and what sort of Loyalty was it that they shewed either in the first Massacre or in the Progress of that Rebellion Their Messages to the Pope to the Court of France and to the Duke of Lorrain offering themselves to any of these that would have undertaken to protect them are Acts of Loyalty which the Church of England is no way inclined to follow and the authentical Proofs of these things are ready to be produced Nor need I add to this the hard terms they offered to the King and their ill usage of those whom he imployed I could likewise repress the Insolence of this Writer by telling him of the slavish Submissions that their Party made to Cromwel both Father and Son. As for their adhering to King Charles the First there is a peculiar boldness in our Author's Assertion who says That they had no Hope nor Interest in that cause The State of that Court is not so quite forgot but that we do well remember what Credit the Queen had
sees all things and who will bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and who will either compass me with his favour as with a shield and cover me from the rage of my Enemies or if he lets me fall into their hands will accept of the Sacrifice of my Life that I offer to him and receive me into his Presence where I shall be at quiet and safe both from the Strife of Tongues and from the Pride of Man. GILBERT BVRNET A Letter containing some Remarks on the two Papers writ by his late Majesty King Charles the Second concerning Religion SIR I Thank you for the Two Royal Papers that you have sent me I had heard of them before but now we have them so well attested that there is no hazard of being deceived by a false Copy You expect that in return I should let you know what Impression they have made upon me I pay all the reverence that is due to a Crown'd Head even in Ashes to which I will never be wanting Far less am I capable of suspecting the Royal Attestation that accompanies them of the truth of which I take it for granted no man doubts but I must crave leave to tell you that I am confident the late King only Copied them and that they are not of his composing for as they have nothing of that free Air with which he expressed himself so there is a Contexture in them that does not look like a Prince and the beginning of the first shews it was the effect of a Conversation and was to be communicated to another so that I am apt to think they were composed by another and were so well relished by the late King that he thought fit to keep them in oder to his examining them more particularly and that he was prevailed with to Copy them lest a Paper of that Nature might have been made a Crime if it had been found about him written by another hand And I could name one or two Persons who as they were able enough to compose such Papers so had Power enough over his Spirit to engage him to Copy them and to put themselves out of danger by restoring the Original You ought to address your self to the Learned Divines of our Church for an Answer to such things in them as puzzle you and not to one that has not the Honour to be of that Body and that has now carried a Sword for some time and imploys the Leasure that at any time he enjoys rather in Philosophical and Mathematical Enquiries than in matters of Controversy There is indeed one Consideration that determined me more easily to comply with your desires which is my having had the honour to Discourse copiously of those matters with the late King himself and he having proposed to me some of the Particulars that I find in those Papers and I having said several things to him in answer to those Heads which he offered to me only as Objections with which he seemed fully satisfied I am the more willing to communicate to you that which I took the Liberty to lay before his late Majesty on several occasions the Particulars on which he insisted in Discourse with me were the uselesness of a Law without a Judg and the necessity of an Infallible Tribunal to determine Controversies to which he added The many Sects that were in England which seemed to be a necessary consequence of the Liberty that every one took to interpret the Scriptures and he often repeated that of the Church of England's arguing from the obligation to obey the Church against the Sectaries which he thought was of no force unless they allowed more Authority to the Church than they seemed willing to admit in their Disputes with the Church of Rome But upon this whole Matter I will offer you some Reflections that will I hope be of as great weight with you as they are with my self I. All Arguments that prove upon such general Considerations That there ought to be an Infallible Judge named by Christ and clothed with his Authority signifie nothing unless it can be shewed us in what Texts of Scripture that nomination is to be found and till that is shewed they are only Arguments brought to prove that Christ ought to have done somewhat that he has not done So these are in effect so many Arguments against Christ unless it appears that he has authorised such a Judge therefore the right way to end this dispute is to shew where such a Constitution is authorised So that the most that can be made of this is that it amounts to a favourable presumption II. It is a very unreasonable thing for us to form Presumptions of what is or ought to be from Inconveniences that do arise in case that such things are not for we may carry this so far that it will not be easie to stop it It seems more suitable to the infinite Goodness of God to communicate the knowledge of himself to all Mankind and to furnish every Man with such assistances as will certainly prevail over him It seems also reasonable to think that so perfect a Saviour as Jesus Christ was should have shewed us a certain Way and yet consistent with the free Use of our Faculties of avoiding all sin nor is it very easie to imagine that it should be a reproach on his Gospel if there is not an Infallible Preservative against Error when it is acknowledged that there is no infallible Preservative against Sin for it is certain that the one Damns us more Infallibly than the other III. Since Presumptions are so much insisted on to prove what things must be appointed by Christ it is to be considered that it is also a reasonable Presumption that if such a Court was appointed by him it must be done in such plain terms that there can be no room to question the meaning of them and since this is the hinge upon which all other matters turn it ought to be expressed so particularly in whom it is vested that there should be no occasion given to dispute whether it is in One Man or in A Body and if in a body whether in the Majority or in the two thirds or in the whole Body unanimously agreeing in short the Chief thing in all Governments being the Nature and Power of the Judges those are always distinctly specified and therefore if these things are not specified in the Scriptures it is at least a strong Presumption that Christ did not intend to authorise such Judges IV. There were several Controversies raised among the Churches to which the Apostles writ as appears by the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians and Colossians yet the Apostles never make use of those passages that are pretended for this Authority to put an end to those Controversies which is a shrewd Presumption that they did not understand them in that sense in which the Church of Rome does now take them Nor does St. Paul in the directions that
he gives to Church-men in his Epistles to Timotby and Titus reckon this of submitting to the directions of the Church for one which he could not have omitted if this be the true meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one word sounding that way which is very different from the directions which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the New Testament such as the rules of a Good Life the Use of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace through the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the Worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must Conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly revealed as the others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a presumption for particular persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests and other Guides in sacred matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the mouths of the Jews against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark Passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by Particular persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly provided in their law Deut. 17.8 That when controversies arose concerning any cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the tribe of Levi and to the judge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of death so that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorized in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal Testimony on her behalf As for our Saviour's Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the People Deut. 13 1. That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho he wrought miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his father brought in the worship of another God might well pretend that he was not obliged to yield to the authority of our Saviour's Miracles without taking cognizance of his doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the mouths of the Jews against our Saviour and from hence we see that the authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Jeremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's days not only many ill grounded traditions had got in among them by which the vigour of the moral law was much enervated but likewise they were also universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those Prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascension So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiation of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force and freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the Reconciling of Differences that of Binding and of Loosing according to the use of those terms among the Jews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church J signifies only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish and that of Christs being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special Conduct and Protection which the Church may always expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the world which he sets in opposition to the wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come far short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at least be acknowledged that they have not an evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first The Account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him And in this every Man must answer for the sincerity of his Heart in examining Divine Matters and the following what upon the best enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with Relation to this there is no need of a Judg for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the Talents that he had and all will be saved according to their Sincerity and with Relation to that Judgment there is no need of any other Judg but God. A second View of Religion is as it is a Body united together and by consequence brought under some Regulation And as in all States there are subaltern Judges in whose Decisions all
near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing is more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their Nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued a thousand years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a thousand year upon Earth and if those who had Matters at the second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater Errors at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Exposition of some Passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70. Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Jerome examined this Matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more than all the rest it seems plain That the Fathers before the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort Inferior to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they consider these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three Men have the same humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and after the fifth Century the Doctrine of one individual Essence was received If you will be farther informed concerning this Father Petua will satisfy you as to the first Period before the Council of Nice and the Learned Dr. Cudworth as to the second In all which particulars it appears how variable a thing Tradition is And upon the whole Matter the examining Tradition thus is still a searching among Books and here is no living Judg. XII If then the Authority that must decide Controversies lies in the Body of the Pastors scattered over the World which is the last Retrenchment here as many and as great Scruples will arise as we found in any of the former Heads Two difficulties appear at first View the one is How can we be assured that the present Pastors of the Church are derived in a just Succession from the Apostles there are no Registers extant that prove this So that we have nothing for it but some Histories that are so carelesly writ that we find many mistakes in them in other Matters and they are so different in the very first links of that Chain that immediately succeded the Apostles that the utmost can be made of this is that here is a Historical Relation somewhat doubtful but here is nothing to found our Faith on So that if a Succession from the Apostles times is necessary to the Constitution of that Church to which we must submit our selves we know not where to find it besides that the Doctrine of the necessity of the Intention of the Minister to the Validity of a Sacrament throws us into inextricable difficulties I know they generally say That by the Intention they do not mean the inward Acts of the Minister of the Sacrament but only that it must appear by his outward Deportment that he is in earnest going about a Sacrament and not doing a thing in jest and this appeared so reasonable to me that I was sorry to find our Divines urge it too much till turning over the Rubricks that are at the beginning of the Missal I found upon the head of the Intention of the Minister that if a Priest has a number of Hosties before him to be consecrated and intends to Consecrate them all except one in that case that vagrant Exception falls upon them all it not being affixed to any one and it is defined that he Consecrates none at all Here it is plain that the secret Acts of a Priest can defeat the Sacrament so that this overthrows all certainty concerning a Succession But besides all this we are sure that the Greek Churches have a much more uncontested Succession than the Latins so that a Succession cannot direct us And if it is necessary to seek out the Doctrines that are universally received this is not possible for a private Man to know So that in ignorant Countries where there is little Study the People have no other certainty concerning their Religion but what they take from their Curate and Confessor since they cannot examine what is generally received So that it must be confessed that all the Arguments that are brought for the necessity of a constant Infallible Judg turn against all those of the Church of Rome that do not acknowledg the Infallibility of the Pope for if he is not Infallible they have no other Judg that can pretend to it It were also easy to shew That some Doctrines have been as universally received in some Ages as they have been rejected in others which shews that the Doctrine of the present Church is not always a sure measure For five Ages together the Doctrine of the Popes Power to depose Heretical Princes was received without the least Opposition and this cannot be doubted by any that knows what has been the State of the Church since the end of the Eleventh Century and yet I believe few Princes would allow this notwithstanding all the concurring Authority of so many Ages to fortify it I could carry this into a great many other Instances but I single out this because it is a Point in which Princes are naturally extream sensible Upon the whole Matter it can never enter into my mind that God who has made Man a Creature that naturally enquires and reasons and that feels as sensible a pleasure when he can give himself a good account of his Actions as one that sees does perceive in Comparison to a blind Man that is led about and that this God that has also made Religion on design to perfect this humane Nature and to raise it to the utmost height to which it can arrive has contrived it to be dark and to be so much beyond the Penetration of our Faculties that we cannot find out his mind in those things that are necessary for our Salvation and that the Scriptures that were writ by plain Men in a very familiar Stile and addrest without any Discrimination to the Vulgar should become such an unintelligible Book in these Ages that we must have an Infallible Judg to expound it and when I see not only Popes but even
the Declaration it self pag. 9. for our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a paragraph as was formally marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Gentry that Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the School-men and Metaphysitians and that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the Rules of Honour and the Laws of their Countrey the Practice of Martial Discipline and the Examples of Great Men in former Ages and by them to square their Actions in their respective Stations and the like But sure the Bishop is here without his Fiocco yet at least for Decency's sake he should have named Religion and Virtue among the proper Studies of the Gentry and if he dares not trust them with the reading the Scriptures yet at least they might read the Articles of our Church and hearken to the Homilies for tho it has been long one of the first Maxims that he has infused into all the Clergy that come near him that the People ought to be brought into an ignorance in matters of Religion that Preaching ought to be laid aside for a Preaching Church could not stand that in Sermons no points of Doctrine ought to be explained and that only the Rules of Human Life ought to be told the People yet after all they may read the short Articles and tho they were as blindly Implicit as he would wish them to be yet they would without more Enquiry find Transubstantiation to be condemned in them Next he Triumphs over the renouncing of it pag. 11. as too bold and too prophane an Affront to Almighty God when men Abjure a thing which it is morally impossible for them to understand And he appeals to the Members of both Houses whom in a fit of Respect he calls Honourable after he had Reproach'd them all he could if they have any distinct Idea or Notion in their minds of the thing they here so Solemnly Renounce I do verily believe none of them have any distinct Notion of Transubstantiation and that it is not only Morally but Physically impossible for them to understand it But one would think that this is enough for declaring that they do not Believe it since the TEST contains no declaration concerning Transubstantiation it self whether it is a True or a False Doctrine but only concerning the Belief of him that takes it And if one can have no distinct Notion of it so that it is morally impossible for him to understand it he may very well declare That he does not believe it After a Farce of a slight Story he concludes that there seems to be nothing but a Prophane Levity in the whole matter and a shameless abuse put upon God and Religion to carry on the Wicked Designs of a Rebel-Faction For he cannot for his heart abate an ace of his Insolence even when he makes the King Lords and Commons the subject of his Scorn Certainly whatever his Character is it ought not to be expected that a man who attacks all that is Sacred under God and Christ should not be treated as he deserves it were a feeble weakness to have so great a regard to a Character that is so prostituted by him He tells us pag 47. That all parties agree in the thing and that they differ only in the word and manner and here he makes a long excursion to shew his Learning in tacking a great many things together which passes with Ignorant Readers as a mark of his great Reading whereas in this as well as in all his other Books in which any shews of Learning appear those who have searched into the Fountains see that he does nothing but gather from the Collection of others only he spoils them with the Levities of his Buffoon Stilo and which is worse with his Dis-ingenuity I leave all these matters to be examined by those who have leisure for it and that think him worth their pains But as for Transubstantiation the words that I have cited from out of our Articles shew plainly that it is rejected in our Church so that he is bound either to renounce it or to renounce our Church therefore all that shew he makes with our History comes to nothing since whatever he may say with relation to Edward the Sixth's Reign it cannot be denied but they were Enacted by the Convocation in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and they have been ever since the Doctrine of our Church so that without going further this is now our Doctrine and since Sa. Oxon carries the Authority of the Convocation so high he will find the Original Record of these Articles in Corpus-Christi Colledg in Cambridge subscribed by the Members of both Houses in which there is a much more Positive Decision than is in the Prints not only against Transubstantiation but against any Corporal or Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament And if he will give himself scope to rail at those who suppressed this I leave him to his Liberty But here is the formal decision of this Church and the pretending that there was no Evidence of Cranmer's Opinion but in an unknown Manuscript or a Famous Invisible Manuscript p. 49 47. when there are two Books writ on this matter by Cranmer himself and when all the Disputes in Queen Mary's time besides those that were both in Oxford and Cambridge in King Edward's time shew so clearly That this was his Doctrine is a strain becoming his Sincerity that gives this among many other Essays of the Trust that is due to him But it seems he thought that Dr. Tillotson Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Burnet besides some others whom he does not Name had not Reputation enough in the World and therefore he intended to raise it by using them ill which is all the effect that his Malice can have He had set on one of his poor underworkmen some years ago to decry the Manuscript which Dr. Stillingfleet had in his keeping for above Twenty Years and which Dr. Burnet had in his Hands for many months and which they shewed to as many as desired to see it but that had turned so much to his Shame that first vented the Calumny that it seems he summoned Sa. Oxon to appear his second in the Slander and he whose Brow is of so peculiar a Composition will needs bring it here tho ever so impertinently But I forgive the Hatred that he bears both to that Manuscript and to those Doctors since nothing could be less to the satisfacton of those for whom he published his Book than to see the Mature and Regular Methods in which the Reformation