AN ACCOUNT Of Mr. EDWARD SCLATER's RETURN to the Communion of the Church of ENGLAND And of the RECANTATION he made at the Church of St. Mary Savoy the Fifth of May 1689. Dr. BURNET Bishop of Sarum Preaching the Sermon there that Forenoon By ANTHONY HORNECK D. D. THose who have Power and Authority to command me thinking it requisite that Mr. Sclater's Return and Reconciliation to the Church of England should be made publick in Obedience to their Order I shall impartially set down the Beginning Progress and the Publick Declaration he made of his Outward Repentance I say Outward for the Church judges not of things Occult and Inward and by that means give the Reader an Opportunity to exercise his Charity It was about the beginning of April last that Mr. Sclater sent a Friend of his to me to desire me to admit him to the Communion at the Savoy and the Motive alledged was That he had not only given my Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Satisfaction in the Sincerity of his Repentance but was ready to make a free and formal Retractation of his former Errors before me and to assure me that nothing but Conviction and Evidence and a clearer sight of the Truth had wrought this Conversion in him the Reason he said why he chose to Receive the Eucharist at the Savoy was because he intended to live thereabout in a House of his own and there to betake himself to such an Employment as he should be capable of The News of his Repentance though the juncture of Time was Temptation enough to suggest some Idea's which might incline me to a Smile yet I entertained with all the Gravity and Seriousness as became a Divine and a Christian that ought to be pleased with the coming back of a straying Sheep and much more of a Shepherd who had lost his way But the Admission of such a Person tho' neverso penitent appearing to me a matter of more than ordinary Consequence I soon resolved not to determine anything till I had consulted with my Diocesan the Lord Bishop of London I was willing enough in the mean while to hear the Reasons and Motives of this intended Change which upon Enquiry I found to be these That he had been mistaken deceived and deluded with plausible Arguments and specious Pretences and hopes of finding greater Truth and Piety and Severity of Life in the Romish Church than in our Communion which mistaks he was now so sensible of that he was ready to retract any thing he had said or writ against the Doctrine of the Church of England And when hereupon I acquainted my Lord Bishop of London with these his Confessions and Protestations his Lordship was pleased to refer the whole matters to his Grace the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury under whose Jurisdiction he had lived a great part of his time and to whose Cognisance and Determination the Difficulties attending his Re-admission into the Church did more immediatly belong After this his Grace being importuned and earnestly intreated to declare his final Resolution and to order the way and manner of a publick Acknowledgment of his Faults his Lordship was pleased to desire Mr. Gee to gather out of Mr. Sclatter's Book the most Offensive Passages with an Intent to have them inserted in his Recantation and Mr. Needham his Grace's Chaplain at the same time was ordered to take notice of such Consessions and Penitential Acknowledgements as Mr. Sclater had made in his Letters and Addresses to his Lordship in order to make his Retractation full and comprehensive and Satisfactory to the Auditors and Spectators before whom it was to be read and pronounc'd and in the framing of this form of Revoking his Erroneous Doctrines I was commanded to assist which I was very ready to do It being very agreeable to my Inclination to promote and wish well to all Acts of Christian Charity This being done and dispatch'd on Saturday the Fourth of May and Mr. Sclater giving his Consent to the Retractation we had drawn up and his Grace approved of Mr. Sclater accordingly appeared next day at the Savoy and after the Morning Service was ended just before the Psalm was sung in a very full Auditory and in the presence of a very great Throng of people and in the Hearing of my Lord Bishop of Salisbury who did me the Favour to Preach that Morning with a Loud and Audible Voice and with Tears flowing from his Eyes Read Pronounced and Repeated the Recantation which you have at the end of this Relation An Acknowledgment of this Nature I thought could not but be surprizing to a Congregation who had no Notice of it aforehand and therefore to prepare them for the Retractation I spake to them in the words following Beloved Hearers By Order and Direction of my Superiors I am to acquaint you That there is a Person in this Congregation who having some time since deserted the Communion of the Church of England and gone over to that of Rome and now detesting what he hath done sensible of the Errors of his Ways doth earnestly desire to be re-admitted into the Bosom of that Church which he hath forsaken The Person thus penitent and sensible is Mr. Edward Sclater late Vicat and Minister of Putney Touch'd with a sense of the Offence and Scandal he hath given to the Church both to the Clergy and Laity and all the Members of the Church of England he chuses to appear this day before this Congregation publickly to profess his unfeigned sorrow for that great Offence to make some Reparation for the Scandal It was about Christmas last when he made his first Application to the Lord Arch Bishop of Canterbury and adress'd to him several Letters Declaring his abhorence of the Popish Doctrines in general and those particularly which he had offered to defend in a Book published to that purpose together with the Motives that oblidged him to think of forsaking that Erroneous and Idolatrous Church into which through mistake of their pretended Piety and Ignorance of the Danger of their Doctrines he had been drawn and enticed His Grace after due Consideration of his Protestations and Promises was at last content he should be admitted to Lay-Communion injoyning withal since he had reproached calumniated abused offended and scandalized the Church of England to make a publick Recantation of his former Erroneous Tenets and Opinions which Pennance if a Duty may be called so he is ready to perform this day before you all It 's very probable there may be found abundance of persons who will be loath to extend their Charity to a Belief of the Reality and Sincerity of his Return but to such I must crave leave to say that as it is not for us to usurp the Authority of God who alone is the Searcher of all Hearts so till we see manifest Proofs to the contrary our Religion binds us to believe the best and to forgive and receive him as a Brother Brethren If a Man be
overtaken in a Fault ye which are Spiritual restore such a one in the Spirit of Meekness considering thy self least thou also be tempted Gal. 6 1. This was the Rule the Apostle gave to Churches of Galatia and it would look very strange in us if we should not follow that direction especially when our great Master hath charged us Take heed to your selves it thy Brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against thee 7 times in a day and 7 times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him Luk. 17. 3. Were it so that the Ancient Discipline especially that of the African Church had been kept up the Penitent who appears before you have submitted to a far more more rigorous Task even the Religious Hardships of some years before he could have been admitted to the Holy Eucharist but the reviving of these Ancient Severities being rather an Object of our pious Wishes than a thing practicable in this Iron Age a publick Retractation Confession Acknowledgment Declaration and Protestation before an All-seing Eye and in the Face of a whole Congregation is as much as can be rationally desired And now Mr. Sclater having thus told your Case to the Congregation I do intreat desire and admonish you to confirm what I have said by your own free deliberat and considerate Profession before many witnesses Mr. Sclater the degrees of your Sin ought to be answered by the degrees of your Sorrow and Contrition your Apostacy hath been publick and your Repentance ought to be so too And may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who sent his Son into the World to save Sinners and to call them to Repentance give you a Repentance never to be repented of that your future Conversation and blameless Life may do as much good in the World as your former example hath done harm After this Preliminary Discourse Mr. Sclater read in the hearing of the whole Assembly this following Retractation I Edward Sclater late Curate of Putney being unfeignedly sorrowful for the Sin I have committed and the Scandal I have given by my late shameful forsaking of the Communion of the Church of England and joyning myself to that of Rome and having made my most earnest and repealed suplications to the most Reverend Father in God the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury for his Permission to make the best reparation I am able for the great injuries done to the Church by that my Scandalous Defection in hopes of being again admitted to Communion in her Holy Offices Do here in the presence of the All-seeing God and under most serious Apprehensions of Judgment to come heartily and freely make the following Acknowledgement First As to the Romish Doctrines concerning the Infallibility and Supremacy of the Pope or Church of Rome and that Salvation cannot be had out of that Communion I do utterly Renounce them as contrary to the Word and Truth of God. And I do unfeignedly Assent to the Doctrine of the Church of England set forth in her 39 Articles of Religion Moreover I utterly Disown all those many false and scandalous passages contained in that unhappy Book which I styled Consensus veterum heartily wishing I had never published it More particularly I Renounce those disparaging and false Expressions concerning the Rule of Faith and the Use of it in the Church of England For whereas I there wrote That the Canon of Scripture in the Church of England was no other but what her own Members were pleased to allow that the Private Spirit was the Support of the Protestant Faith and that I myself whilst in that Church might have Choice of an hundred Faiths in Her. I am now fully convinced That the Church of England does receive the very same Canon of Scripture and the same Creeds which have in all Ages of the Church been most Universally received as containing all things Necessary to Salvation And that She has due recourse to the Ancient Fathers and the Authority of the Church as the most effectual Means for repressing the Extravagancies of each Man 's private Spirit and for the maintaining of Truth and Peace and good Order in the Church And having now more seriously considered these Things I sincerely think the Testimonies of the first six Centuries to be most fairly interpreted by the Divines of the Church of England and must own That I myself did alledge them very partially and corruptly in behalf of Transubstantiation and other Errors of the Church of Rome Secondly Whereas the usual Boastings of the Romish Emissaries had made me hope to find an Eminent Piety in that Communion I most freely profess and I speak it from my own Observation of two years and upwards that That Religion has approved it self to me utterly contrary to my Expectations My own Devotion was so effectually checked that altho' Mass was said most days in the Week in my House yet I did not Receive for several Months together nor found any I clination to do it Because I could never believe that there was neither Bread nor Wine remaining after Consecration Nay the oftner I saw the Elements after Consecration the less I could believe it tho' I confess I strove my utmost My whole Family frequently complained that they were nothing bettered by the Service it being performed in Latin. And do I what I could they could not understand what was meant nor what themselves were to do while the Priests were to Officiate I found the Priests very zealous for gaining Proselytes but very negligent of their proper Charge They would spend hours every day upon Wavering Protestants But scarce Catechise Children once a fortnight and then too not above half a quarter of an hour and without any Exposition I found what I did not believe before that Confession was practised by them as a means to gain Awe and Authority over the Laity the Priests pretending a Right to know every thing that was said or done in the Family And yet it was neglected by themselves For they would celebrate Mass without it altho' to my knowledge they were guilty of very heinous Sins So that my Expectations of an extraordinary Piety in that Communion were very far from being answered Thirdly I do sorrowfully and with Shame acknowledge That my seeking and accepting a Royal Dispensation to receive the Profits of Ecclesiastical Perferments when I knew my self incapable by Law and was perswaded in my Judgement that I ought not to Officiate and yet at the same time paid another for doing what I thought He ought not to have done was a just occasion of very great Scandal and might have proved fatal to the Church and Kingdom if many had followed my wicked example My best Pleais if I may mention any That I did not then discern the secret Intrigues of that mischievous Faction But I hope no Pious and charitable Heart will conceive I can now be so blind as not
with whom it was not enough to confess many idle Words many angry Expressions to my Boys when unruly or undiligent but I must name a particular Sin or I could not be absolved one at least I suppose he expected a huge matter but any one served turn and then the business might be done I could not well tell the Hearts of them but it seemed to me either a way of giving Absolution very easily or else the squeezing out a particular they might if they please make use of toward the obtaining the greater Power over us and keeping us by consequence in more Awe especially when I also considered That two other Priests guilty to my knowledge of more heinous sins than I bless God I had any to confess received every day without Confession or Absolution unless they could confess and absolve themselves however I could not but account their so officiating rather a Desecration than a Consecration To tell you that I was never throughly satisfyed in the Points of Liturgy in an unknown Tongue and non participation of the Cup is but to tell the plain Truth I must confess I huddled them both into the Power and Authority of the Church and so their Arguments went the easier down But as to the first I found manifest ill Consequences from it my whole Family besides my self not only totally Ignorant of what was meant all the while the Priest was officiating but do what I could at a loss in what they had to do themselves and still complaining my Wife especially that she was nothing satisfyed or bettered But one thing I cannot ommit She was visited with the violent Pain of the Sciatica we both of us desired the Priest to pray for ease of her Pain which he refused with this uncomfortable Reply That she must bear what God was pleased to lay upon her I could not but think Counsel tho' very good without Prayers of the Church very uncomfortable Perhaps his Breviary had no such provision in it Tho' at the same time the little Children would frequently go to their Manuals and Beads in her behalf A third Observation I made was of their almost utter neglect of informing and instructing those under their Charge it was enough it seems they were so seldom sometimes not once a fortnight Catetechising tender little Ones and when they did it a short foddering not above half a quarter of an hour serv'd the turn and that without any Explanation either of Question or Answer But yet to give them their due if they could find one abroad that would so listen to their discourses as gave them any small hopes they were to be prevailed upon they would spend hours every day with them but this methought look'd like stealing of Sheep and starving of Lambs To back this their Negligence was altogether as great in other Duties of a Family for even on Sundays not one word but the Mass and then all their Work was totally done Not so much as calling us to Prayers in the Afternoon nay rather signifying to us the no necessity of them by their continual Absence from us at the time we were at them but frequently taking a walk at that time A fourth Grievance was That in our Discourses especially the Subject of Praying for the Dead I told the Priest That every time I said Requiescant in pace I could not for my Heart forget my dead Mother He asked me If she was a Catholick I told him No. He replyed I must not by any means use that Prayer for her 'T was very harsh I thought and so much uncharitable that it seemed to me unnatural I am sure she led a better Life than he more Just more Devout and believe her Ignorance will plead for her before the great Tribunal more effectually than all the Sanctity he had in him Nor was their Carriage in my House less troublesom and unhandsom as this single instance among many may sufficiently make appear One of them finds one of the School boys very fit for his purpose and his Office was When this Priest at any time should be absent to observe all the Family without exception and to give him an account when he came home of all that had passed or had been spoken Which my Wife chiding the Boy for the Priest managed him in it in these words Why is there any thing to be said or done in this House and I must not know it This was a Yoak upon me I never so much as dream'd of for till then I thought my self Master of my own House and my House my Castle thô never after so long as I had such an overtopping Dominion over me That these Particulars can be reconcileable with that Piety I expected to find in that Church I shall for ever think impossible So that as to the Unity of the Church I must conclude it must consist Pardon the newness of the Expression in being Nerv'd and Sinew'd to Dissenting Members in Fundamental Points and Charity And I can now easily conceive how Errors and Ignorance might creep into the Church whilst the ancient Governours of that Church were more eager of Dominion than careful of Doctrine and their Inferiors aimed more at Gain than Godliness Sir These as I told you in my last are but Personal Observations in my own Family but ex pede Herculem whatsoever the Learned Writers of the Church of England have Writ of their more publick Exorbitancies will now easily find belief with me upon the score of these which my own experience has found too true When his Grace shall according to his wonted Candour receive this unfeigned account of my Disgusts I hope he will assure himself that my Repentance is as unfeigned and sincere as these are so true that I can safely take my Oath of before any Judicature in the whole World a thousand times over In the mean time I do assure him I condemn my self greatly and cannot enough for my unadvised and rash embracing that Religion that has approv'd it self to me so utterly contrary to my expctation I have nothing to assure him of my unfeigned Sorrow for my Fault but the words of my Mouth God only knows the Heart upon all the Examination I can make I am unfeignedly sorrowful for it None but our Saviour knew the Hearts of Enemies yet his Church by his command have alwayes forgiven Penitents I presume none will be a greater follower of his Example and Precepts than my Mother the Church of England whose Pardon I as comfortably hope for as I humbly beg it I never yet heard her Clemency deny'd it I humbly beg her to admit me to her Communion upon the Terms the Primitive Church admitted the ancient Lapsi whether of the Clergy or Laity LETTER II. To His Grace the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY May it please Your Grace ACcording to what you have been pleas'd to Command I have sent You my unhappy Book and also my firm Resolution to retract all
to see what every Man sees viz. That their Aim and practices tended to the Subversion of All that was either Law or Religion After All I am sadly sensible That what I have heretofore said written and done may justly render my Sincerity suspected even in these my Confessions But if a diligent search into the Secrets of my own Soul If a deep affliction of Spirit for what is past If the strongest Desire of being reconciled to that Communion I have so wickedly forsaken If the firmest Purposes of evidencing all these by suitable Actions for the future be Proofs of being sincere I am sure I am so and I desire your Charity in Praying for me and may the Almighty graciously answer your Prayers and mine that as the Church does compassionatly receive me into her Communion so God will be pleased in Mercy to ratifie her Act and Receive me a Returning Penitent to his Pardon And grant that I may recover his Favour and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit that my Repentance bearing some proportion to my Crime the remainig part of my Life short as it is like to be may be spent in his True Faith and Fear and to his Glory And I do here in the presence of God his holy Angels and this Congregation protest that I have done all this freely without Equivocation or Reservation and do solemnly promise and Oblige my self to continue in sincere and constant Communion with the Church of England to my Life's End. EDWARD SCLATER ADVERTISEMENT TO give Light to some Passages in the Historical Part of these Papers and to let all Men see with what Earnestness Mr. Sclater sued for a Reconciliation and what Arguments he went upon to convince himself of a necessity of returning to the Church of England it is thought fit to add some of his letters written with his own Hand both to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and others who were known to him in order to his being Re-admitted to our Communion LETTER I. To Mr. Hutchins Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Danby Dear Friend WHen my Observations for two Years and upward below mentioned had made me reflect upon the Doctrine of Infallibility so wounded mortally by their own practices I found I must needs lower the Notion or be engaged in impossible Work of making Contradictions true I think it cannot be denied but the Church in every Nation is so far irrefragable that it is Unchristian to contradict Her in the least undecent manner but am perfectly convinc'd by the present Bishop of Lincoln's Book that the Romish Church has infallibly allowed and approved of many not only Errors but Unchristian ones That I did not see this so well before was perhaps in the Providence of God that I might see it the better now I shall be highly to blame if I ever cease to be truly sorrowful for the unhappy Want of his Informations Yet that I left the Church of England for Interest I utterly disclaim and assure you That I was not so short sighted nor so little vers'd in their practices to be any thing dazled with that prospect I knew several Instances long ago of their not only neglecting but avoiding those they thought they had secured for fear of Applications of that sort Besides I have declared to several that it were not at all prudential in them to encourage proselytes upon that account for so they might have many Converts and few Christians many for the Loaves and few for the Bread of Life Nay so far have I been from making any such Application that a Noble Lord of that Communion can be my Witness I assured him I never would make any and I am sure I have been as good as my word it is some small comfort to me in the midst of my hearty Sorrows for my Fault that my Fault is I think so much the less 'T was not Gain I aimed at but their Piety as I was mis informed surpassing all other Communions in the World. The name of a Church of that extent pretended to be so united in all the Truths of the Holy Jesus and withal so full of Piety as all their Writers boasted of methought was as glorious a prospect as this World could yield and well it were if there were such an Heaven upon Earth Who would not be glad to see it Who would not be more glad to be in it But I now conceive it must be our prayers because as yet it can be no more than our Hopes for in my own House I have had one Priest at one time so eager for the Pope's Infallibility even extra Cathedram that he has plainly assured me I should beyond Seas be Burnt for an Heretick for my contesting against it And another as eagerly at another condemning the former for his fierce insisting upon a Point that might give disgust and impede their progress in making Proselytes Having too rashly swallowed the Doctrine of Infallibity God of his infinite Mercy Pardon my Rashness my main inquiry was the Eucharist a point of all the most difficult that I was Dazled with its sublimity will not be a wonder to any Man That it is mysterious every good Christian will say nay that it is Tremendum Mysterium Now that one Man highly distasted at the low Expressions of some Protestants should fly too far from them is just as natural as that another equally distasted with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation should fly as far from it This I humbly conceive states my Case Nor was it long before I found I had taken too far a flight I could with ease believe as Real a Presence as they would have me if they will call this Transubstantiation I should not disbelieve it but I could not give over my Faith to the annihilating the Elements nay the oftner I saw it after Consecration the less I could believe it thô I confess I strove my utmost to force my Faith up to it but it would not do Here I began to condemn my own Rashness and inconsiderat Precipitancy nay to think must at last become an Infidel and believe little more that there is a God which even Nature it self would teach me when I must believe God bids me believe what I began to find every day more and more impossible for me to believe Here I began to mistrust I had mistaken Zeal and fervent Expressions of some of the Fathers concerning this high Mystery quoted in an unhappy Book for the ancient Doctrine of the Church and that must lower their high Raptures to a more intelligible and rational Sense So that since Whitsontide last thô Mass was said most dayes of the Week in my House yet I have never Received and more than that could not find in my self much inclination to Receive Antecedent to which you know is Confession which I began very much to mistrust was a mere piece of Formality as practised by them especially as to my own particular
or whatsoever in it shall be thought fit to be Retracted In the mean time as I have signifyed to your Grace already so I again repeat it having more seriously consider'd and compared the late Practises and past Usurpations of the Church of Rome I sincerely think the Testimonies of the first Six Centuries most fairly Interpreted by the Divines of the Church of England My Lord I humbly beg my speedy Reconciliation Pass by my rash and inconsiderate Aberration and compassionate my afflicted Spirit If Sorrow quite overwhelm What will become of a Soul out of Communion This is my great Grief But my Lord as Flesh and Blood I cannot but be much concern'd also for the aking Hearts of a miserable Family continually in Tears because ruin'd without some speedy prevention by my Folly. The God of Heaven and Earth make my humble Petition successful with your Grace and that I may once more Subscribe my self Your Grace's most Dutiful and Obedient Son and Servant EDW. SCLATER LETTER III. To His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury May it please Your Grace THose few Rays of Comfort my Dear Friend Mr. H. brought me last I hope will spread themselves into a much larger brightness Your Grace has promised to admit me to your Presence My Heart full of Thanks is too little a return for so great a Clemency Yet pardon an afflicted Spirit if I think every Minute very tedious till that happy time come I understand by him the great Obstacle of my farther Relief and Comfort is the suspicion of my sincerity I cannot condemn it the Hearts of Men are only known to him that made them I wish I may testifie the sincerity of mine with the best assurances possible to be thought of and will be glad of any assistance that can inform me of better than I can inform my self vae soli But what I can as yet do only in Words shall with Gods Assistance be always confirm'd by future Actions and Endeavours sutable to them Till I remov'd I was at too great a distance from the possibilities of discerning the secret Intrigues of that mischievous Faction being totally taken up in my daily Imploys and therefore easily detain'd under their strong Delusion But I hope no pious and charitable Heart will conceive I can now be thought so blind as not to see what every Man sees viz. That their Aim and Practices tended to the subversion of all that was either Law or Religion Impiety may be so cunningly dawb'd over with Artificial Colours as may if not blind yet dazle the best of Eyes but can it do so when it is manifest I humbly hope much better things will be thought of me and Charity will plead for me in some such form as this a better I shall never wish Forgive him he knew not what he did My Lord To those whether of the Clergy or Laity whom I have formerly made sorrowful for my Follies I shall always hereafter make this return of Thankfulness I will ever make it their comfort that they find me an Object of that Joy that even Angels in Heaven have at the Conversion of a Sinner Those that mistrust my Sincerity I will still by what Methods I can take endeavour to manifest to them they also ought to come in partakers of that Joy. I have spent no small time in searching my Heart for an affection towards those former Delusions that may lurk behind and do assure your Grace I find no one nor any thing but an abhorrence of them Nay my Prayers have been already and ever shall be that all deluded by them may speedily get from under them And now my Lord my Heart is full of Supplication to your Grace for Compassion that I may be Reconcil'd I 'll not give your Grace the trouble the Reading the long Enumeration of them The Sum of them is this Father I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants So shall Bread and not Husks be once more the Food of Your Graces most humble Petitioner E. S. LETTER IV. To the Reverend Dr. Battely Reverend Sir PArdon an afflicted Spirit the giving you the trouble of delivering the inclosed to his Grace if I have presumed in so doing put it upon the account of that Christian charitable office of receiving a Stranger which God reward to you with the entertaining tho' not an Angel yet once more a good Man and Your much obliged Servant EDW. SCLATER LETTER V. To His Grace the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY May it please Your Grace I Have Writ to a One perverted to the Church of Rome by Mr. Sclater's Example Mr. Wilkinson though I assure your Grace I cannot call to mind who he is or that ever I converst with any Man of that Name however I pray God what I have Written may be successful upon him I humbly beg I may receive the Blessed Sacrament My continual Prayers are for your being restored to perfect Health and that you may live long to Gods Glory and the Good of the Church I am Your Graces most Obedient Petitioner E. S. Printed at London by Edward Jones and Re-printed at Edinburgh Anno Dom. 1689.