of the Beaufront Protestants Now if this be a truth as verily it is then pray Sir seeing as you pretend that you wrote your Book onely to ease your own Conscience and that poor Dissenters may not be damned by being excluded our Church why then Sir will you damn the Conscientious Papists by excluding them for you do in your Book exclude all the Papists as the Onely Common Enemy to our Church and State As if the Dissenters were no Enemies to either as if they dear innocent Souls had no Gall or Bitterness no Malice or Ill-will against the King and his Government Sir you are become an eloquent Tertullus a great Apologizer for not onely some but even all the Dissenters When in Page 108 and Page 114 of your Book you declare to the whole world in these very words Their Innocency and your own good opinion of them Protestant Reconciler p. 113 114. saying I Sincerely profess I know not any pure Malice Obstinacy and Wilfulness which can certainly be applied unto the Case of the Dissenters Surely Sir you will for once eat your words and Confess That you know some yet Surviving who entred into a Malitious Scotch-Covenant against the late King and obstinately raised a Bloudy-War against Him and his present Majesty and you know farther That They have not as yet Openly declared their Repentance and sorrow for so doing Ergo You know some that still continue Obstinate and Malitious as the Learned Dr. Womack and Faulkland have informed you Surely Sir you knew or at least have heard of Oliver Cromwell and his Malitious Army that Murthered King Charles the First and you know many of that Army do yet survive without declaring the least Abhorrency of that Horrid Action Ergo Did you never know nor hear of Tho. Venner and his Company who in 1660 shot and fired at the King 's peaceable Subjects in London Streets and pleaded They did it out of a Tender Conscience and for King Jesus his sake And is there not one Fifth Monarchy Man of all your Acquaintance Did you never hear of a late Malitious Association carryed on by the Beaufronts and the Dissenters against the King and the Church Government The which if you will believe the King 's late Declaration would in all likelyhood had it took effect have proved more fatal and destructive to the King and the Church of England as now established than ever the Scotch Covenant And I pray Sir don't you know one of these Associatours Did you never know Stephen Colledge that was hang'd at Oxford I wonder in what County you live For in all Counties the Associatours exceedingly abound both Beaufronts and Dissenters And 't is observed that the Beaufronts are of this humour That they will on Sunday Morning go to their Parish-Church and in the Afternoon to a Conventicle in the Afternoons they will never come to Divine Service nor to Catechising nor to Exposition on the Church Catechism though never so profitable and large yet if there be no Sermon in the Pulpit they will turn their back upon Divine Service and either go to another Church where there is no Catechising but a Sermon or to a Conventicle or else they will stay at home and Scurrilously Rail at the King and Bishops and be sure at their own Parson and complain that he is lazy and idle although he be never so laborious and painfull in his Exposition on the Church Catechism and in instructing old and young according to the Church Canons in the Desk Yet because he does not in the Afternoon ascend the Pulpit and beat the Cushion he cannot escape the Virulency of their Tongues And Mr. Reconciler in one County a Canonical Parson being sent for to Preach before his Diocesan he was thereby prevented from Reading Divine Service the next day which fell out to be an Holy-day at his own Parish Church Hereupon it happened that the Dissenters and Beaufronts in the said Parish who never came to Divine Service on Holy-days went from House to House in the said Town railing on the said Parson tauntingly saying Look ye Neighbours ye see what care the Parson has of his Parishioners Souls He is gone out of Town and has left no Body to Reade Prayers to morrow it is very true for we have been with the Clark to know the truth And if we should die before Sunday we may all be Damned for all the Parson's care of us A Vengeance on him and on all his Tribe They mind onely the Fleece and not the Flock c. And yet you must know that when the said Parson is at home he never misses if he be well the Reading of Divine Service on Holy days at his Parish Church no although he has had no other Auditours but the Walls and those few of his own Family And when the said Parson has as he often has called upon the aforesaid Dissenters and Beaufronts to frequent the Divine Service on the Holy-days They have answered him to his very face and complained That Holy days were first of the Pope's Superstitious Appointment And that they doe more hurt than good for they make Servants idle and bad Husbands And farther said they What need we goe to Church on the Week-days Sunday is enough God required but One Day in Seven We can Pray at home as well as at the Church Come Sir we must tell you that you have a Pope in your Heart and that makes you so Superstitious as to Observe Days of Man's Inventions And now pray Mr. Reconciler be ingenuous and tell the truth What think you of this true Story for it is no Romance Do you not think these men were and all men like them are Malitious Obstinate and Turbulent But because you profess you know not one of them pray Know you not one Associatour or Beaufront besides your Dear Self in all your Town and Country Know you none of the Men of Shaftsbury Or Are they and all your Acquaintance since Stephen Colledge his Execution transformed from Associatours into Abhorrers from Knaves into Honest Men If so it is very good News But if not then pray Sir What makes you plead so earnestly in their behalf as even to Damn the King and Government if they do not Humour you in Granting to the aforesaid Factious Beaufronts and Dissenters a speedy Condescention But to wave this Digression and to return to our former Querie Pray Sir tell us What Reason is there That the Dissenters should be indulged and the Papists prosecuted Or why should the Dissenters onely be saved by an Admission into our Church-Communion But the Papists though never so Religious be Damned by an Exclusion for according to your Doctrine If Exclusion will damn the one it must also damn the other But you will object and plead 1. That the Papists are Idolaters and therefore ought not to be indulged But I pray Does not Doctour Owen in totidem verbis say the like of us How that all the
Dangerous if possible as a Reconciliation with the Dissenters For it is evident That unless the Papists will Renounce the Pope's Supremacy and so cease to be Papists And unless the Dissenters will acknowledge the King's Supremacy and so cease to be Dissenters Unless these two things be granted It is impossible for the Church of England as now established to be Reconciled unto either of these Schismaticks whether Papists or Dissenters Nor is it safe for the Government to admit of Schismaticks into our Church-Fellowship S. Cyprian de Vnit Eccl. §. 8.298 for Schismatici duos Episcopos duos Greges in una Ecclesia constituunt and they will bring in Confusion which is the destruction of all Order and Government Et dum Conventicula sibi diversa constituunt Ibid. 299. veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt c. which words of St. Cyprian we will leave to the Conventiclers of both Parties to translate and seriously to consider We being well assured that the Principles of both Papists and Dissenters are inconsistent with Truth and with the Well-being of our Established Government in Church and State For as has been already proved Papists and Dissenters Deny the King's Supremacy And therefore notwithstanding their taking the Oath of Allegiance which many of them have taken the King has no firm Security for the Preservation of his Life and Crown from either Papists or Dissenters For if the Pope should command the Papists as he did Ravillac or if the Consistory bid the Presbyterians as it did in the Deposition and Expulsion of Mary Queen of Scotland or if the Congregational-Church bid the Independent as in the Murthering of the late King or if the Spirit move and bid the Anabaptist and Quaker as it did Venner to raise War against the King because he is an Heretick and an ungodly Man and to Depose and Kill him not being fit for Government Then they all both Papists and Diffenters must according to their several Principles obey their several Orders and must Fight against Depose and Murther the King and destroy all that side with him Wherefore that neither the King's Life and Crown nor our own Privileges and Immunities may be exposed to their Cruelty and Usurpation We humbly conceive it necessary That the Laws of the Realm should stand in force equally against both Papists and Dissenters Because there is no party of men in this Kingdom that ever were or can be according to their Principles true and faithfull in all respects to the King and the Government in Church and State as now Established but onely the Episcopal Protestants And for a farther confirmation of this great Truth we have the Attest of our present Dread Sovereign in his Royal and Noble Speech unto the * Dr. Gower Vice-Chancellour Vniversity of Cambridge upon their humble and Loyal Address made to him at New Market Sept. 18. 1681. In which His Majesty was graciously pleased to Oblige them and indeed the whole Nation with the following words and Assurances to wit That He would constantly own and defend the Church of England King Charles the Second his Speech to the Vniversity of Cambridge Printed in the London-Gazette by Authority as Established by Law of this He bid them be Assured for He would be as good as his word Notwithstanding whatever Representation either had or should be made of him to the contrary Being farther pleased to add That there was no other Church in the World that Taught and Practised Loyalty so Conscientiously as that did In truth This short but pithy Speech of His Sacred Majesty is a full Answer to the Reconciler's whole Book especially to that part of it which so unworthily Misrepresents His Majestie 's former Declarations to the eye and ear of the World CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be As Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State OUr Church and State of England at present God be Praised are by the Divine Providence and by the King 's wise Conduct of Affairs in a very prosperous well-ordered and Setled State and Condition And therefore for any Man to wish and endeavour as does the Reconciler their disturbance by an unnecessary Alteration of their Established Laws is truely to wish them a worse state and condition than at present they are in And so to wish and endeavour is according to the Stoicks Philosophy the height of Envy and Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. Zeno l. 7. p. 506. c. Now that the Reconciler's Design is as he has managed it thus Malitious and Treasonable Towards the King in Scandalizing and Blaspheming Him And towards the Church as now Established in representing her Bishops and Governours as Anti christian Cruel and Tyrannizing over Godly Mens Consciences And in prostituting her pious Orders and Constitutions to Publick Scorn and Derision That it is so Will be the Task of the following Lines and Sections to prove SECT I. The Reconciler Scandalously makes The King and Governours the Authours of all our present Schisms and Factions And that for Two Reasons 1. BEcause they impose things indifferent upon the People 2. Because the King and Governours require of the Clergy subscriptions to the things Imposed As to the First the Reconciler's own words are Why do Superiours still continue the Imposition of those Indifferent things Reconciler c. 1. p. 30 31. which do occasion the Schism c And in Page 339. he Argues and Queries thus Page 339. Whether those Rules of the Church which concern things indifferent should not be altered or relaxed when it so happeneth that an Horrid Schism with all its dreadfull consequences is by Imposition of them caused throughout the Body of the Nation But a little to stop the Carreir of this fierce WRITER and to Vindicate the Honour and Justice of our King and Governours as to this particular we entreat it may be noted That the Reconciler is not onely Disloyal towards his Prince and Superiours in so Aspersing them But also Disingenuous towards his Ignorant Reader in so miserably imposing upon him For the truth of the matter is briefly this To wit Not the Imposers of things indifferent But the Separatists and Disobedient are the Sole Causes of the Schism For it is Confessed by the Reconciler and by the Separatists that the things Imposed are things Indifferent in themselves and have no sinfulness in them And therefore the not observing them when by Lawfull Authority Commanded is a Sin of Rebellion and Disobedience And this sin of not Observing things Indifferent when Lawfully imposed is the sole and Prime Cause of the Schism Nay Mr. Baxter presses farther scil That although it be a sin in the Magistrate to Command yet it is a Duty in the People to Obey His Command in things not sinfull in themselves Mr. Baxter's own words are Many a Ruler sinneth in his Commands Baxter's Cure of Church-Divisions Direct 34. p.
plainly If the Dissenters will not be satisfied However the King and Governours ought to Indulge them and Leave the Event to God And if by such an Indulgence the Dissenters shall destroy all our Church-Government and bring in Confusion among us God's will be done However the King and Governours must doe their Duty and INDVLGE them and then Leave the Event to God And if the Pragmatical People shall usurp an unlawfull power to themselves and shall chuse their own Bishop and every Parish Priest Volens Nolens the King or any Proper Patron God's will be done However the King and Governours must doe their Duty and give the People their Liberty and then Leave the Event to God If Dissenters should as they did in 48 Mutiny Rebell and Cut off this King 's Sacred Head as they did his Fathers and destroy all Good Order and Government in Church and State as formerly under the fair Pretence of Liberty of Conscience if so God's will be done However The King and Governours must doe their Duty that is Indulge the Dissenters and meekly resign up their Lives and Concerns to the Mercy and Courtesie of their Rebellious Enemies and then Leave the Event to God Now should this Rule of the Reconciler's take place in its full Latitude without the due use of Means for the Support of Government and for the Suppression of Vice Rebellion and Treason Then there would be nothing but Anarchy and Confusion in Church and State Which evil Design to bring to pass has been the great endeavour of All the Reconciler's Arguings For the main force of all his Arguments for Condescention to the Dissenters have tended to nothing more than to break down the Hedge of all our Good Laws and Orders for Vniformity and Conformity and to introduce an Unbounded Licentiousness and Confusion And therefore we may very truely Conclude The Reconciler's Design in Publishing his Book as Managed by him to be Malitious and Treasonable towards the King the Church and the State as now Established CHAP. VIII The Reconciler's Proposition Proved to be False His Proposition is this scil THat Things Indifferent considering the Circumstances our Church and State at present are in ought not to be Imposed by the Legislatours Prot. Recon c. 1. p. 4. as Conditions of Church Communion This Proposition as it is propounded by the Reconciler is to be considered two ways 1. Simply and Absolutely in it self 2. Relatively as it refers to the present Circumstances our Church and State are in In both respects it will appear to be false 1. For take it Absolutely as simply considered in it self And then his Proposition which is the main hindge and Herculean Pillar on which his whole Book depends runs thus scil That at no time Things Indifferent ought to be imposed upon the People as Conditions of Church-Communion The Falsity of this Proposition is Proved 1. By the Testimony of Sacred Scriptures to the contrary 2. By the Authority and Canons of the first and most Ancient Councils And by the examples and practices of the Primitive Christians in their Church-Government 3. By Reason and the Natural Grounds of Ecclesiastick Polity and Government All these speak the expediency and lawfulness if not Necessity of imposing Things Indifferent as Conditions of Church Communion The prosecution of these Arguments at large we shall leave for an entire Discourse of it self And at present onely touch briefly upon them in their order And therefore as to the first 1. Several Instances in Canonical Scripture speak it lawfull to impose things Indifferent as Conditions of Church Communion For God in the very first founding of all good Order and Government between Himself and Mankind did Impose a thing in it self Indifferent to wit the not eating of the Forbidden Fruit as a necessary condition of Communion and Fellowship with Himself And God Excommunicated Adam and Eva his presence his love and favour for not observing that Ceremony and Imposition of not eating the Forbidden Fruit which fruit might have been eaten as well as any other fruit in the Garden of Eden as Clem. Alexandrinus notes had not God by a strict Imposition commanded the contrary on purpose to try the sincerity of Man's obedience to him his Lord and Creator And farther under the Mosaical Law God Himself and Moses by his Command Imposed many indifferent and unnecessary things as necessary conditions of Church Communion such as All or most of the Levitical Rites and Ceremonies were whose observation was injoyned upon pain of Excommunication and sometimes of Death in case they were wilfully neglected And God gave Authority not onely to Moses and Aaron but also to other his Vicegerents such as the Judges and Kings of his chosen people the Jews to impose things Indifferent as Terms and Conditions of Church-Communion such as the use of Bloud Oil Salt and other things in their Sacrifices such as the use of Garments Ephods Veils and Surplices and Bowings in Divine Worship Washings and Purifications of their very Garments And all manner of Musick such as their Superiours especially such as King David and King Solomon should judge most conducing to God's Glory and to the better stirring up of the Peoples Devotions and Affections in the Worship and Service of God The Imposition of Holy Days is the Imposing of a thing Indifferent for all Days in themselves are alike And yet God highly approved of Queen Esthers and her Uncle Mordecai's Imposition of the Holy-Days called Purim upon the People for ever to be solemnly kept as necessary Conditions of Church-Communion And it is to be noted that this Imposition was laid upon the People without any Command from God in time of Banishment when the Church was in Persecution yet even then in such Circumstances as those did Queen Esther use her Authority as to the Imposing of things Indifferent And if so then surely much rather may Kings and Queens use the same Authority in times of Prosperity The Feasts of Dedication of the Temple and of the Altar but especially of the Wall of Jerusalem Dr. Keller Tricen l. 1. c. 5. part 8. p. 23. was in it self a Thing Indifferent and yet they were so strictly Imposed as that whosoever wilfully neglected their Observation was under an Anathema Maranatha And it is very Remarkable that our Lord Jesus Christ who came to fulfill all Righteousness and to set an unerring pattern and example of Obedience unto all under Command Did himself approve of the Feast of Dedication instituted by the Macchabees l. 1. c. 4. v. 59. Judas and his Brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel Ordained that the days of Dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days For St. John 10.22 It was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication and it was Winter and Jesus walked in the Temple c. So that if you read on our Saviour Christ did not onely honour with his Presence