Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A47752
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Querela temporum, or, The danger of the Church of England in a letter from the Dean of ----- to ----- Prebend of.
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Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing L1142; ESTC R7679
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24,869
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29
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no more sincerely on his side than they were by some of us it was a Force on both sides and not like longer to last than the first Opportunity either could get to put themselves into hands they could better Trust They told us too That he would begin with Scotland and according to the Success he had there would take his Measures as to England There is not a Step has been made which they have not faithfully and truly foretold It is easy for Managers to be Prophets of what is design'd I wish what is to Come of their Prediction may not prove as True as what is Past That is That having Divided the Church of England among themselves they would through Fears or Hopes gain the major Number to come over to their Doctrine of Resistance whereby having proclaimed themselves to have been False-Teachers heretofore they would easily prevail with the People not to Trust them for the time to come And so by consequence gain the Cry on their side and have their turn in setting up upon the Inclinations of the Peoples and overturn Episcopacy here as they have done in Scotland Indifferency in Lovers is a certain Forerunner of a Breach And the People of England who were so excessively Enamour'd of us when the Bishops were in the Tower that they hardly forbore to Worship us are now I wish I could say but Cool and very Indifferent towards us What the End of all these Things will be is what dear Brother has tortur'd my Thoughts and makes me vent them so freely to you who I know partake in a great measure in them with my self But O good God! If we have not been Sincere with Him he knows our Hearts If Temporal Advantages have been any Biass to us Or if as Uzzah we have put forth our hand beyond our own Rank and Order going but in the least out of the plain Road of our Duty tho as we thought to save the Ark from falling oh what will our Judgment be if those Methods we have taken to preserve the Church prove as it sadly now threatens to her and our own utter Destruction We see the Enemy already Roar in the midst of our Congregations and they have set up their Banners for a Token We seem now to hold our Post but at their Discretion till they are ready to give the Word as in Scotland No more Episcopacy No more Church of England But we shall not fall like them They fell altogether every Bishop in the Kingdom and almost the whole Number of the inferiour Clergy They may rise again and will rise Glorious asserting still the same Principles as we did before in the Restoration 1660. But as for us now Whether shall we cause our Shame to go Will not the Scots upbraid us Where was our Zeal for Episcopacy or Foresight of our own Danger when we stood silent by and saw their Fall without putting in one Address or shewing the least Concern for our Brethren They will mind us for we have not thought of it of the Zeal which the English Bishops shew'd in the Case of the Archbishop of Glasgow unjustly Depriv'd by lay-Lay-Authority in the Reign of Charles the Second though there was an Act of Parliament there to countenance it they Espous'd it as their own Cause for so indeed it was till they prevail'd with the King to have him Restor'd But now we could see not only all the Bishops in that Kingdom but our own Renowned Metropolitan and near half of the then Bishops of our own Kingdom Depriv'd by meer lay-Lay-Authority not to mention the Dispute of the Validity of that Lay Authority and the Cause which none of us did think sufficient for a Deprivation without Interposing one Word on their behalf or so much as for having that Allowance made good to them which was provided for them by the Act of Parliament either by K. William to whom the Act entrusted the Disposing of it or if not from his Justice yet at least from the Generosity of those who came Unwilling and Sorrowful as they pretended into their Places Nor did our Convocation once complain of the Absence of their Archbishop and so many of their other Bishops or make any Address on their behalf or desire any Conference with them to know their Reasons and endeavour any Accommodation No we did none of these things We were seized with I know not what panick Consternation Though all were well Inclin'd and every one would gladly have been a Second yet none durst Begin We were Passive here to a superlative Degree Our Courage and our Souls have left us We lie under the Load though we see our selves sinking with it What is this but Infatuation and the End must be Destruction But now at last if we have any Spirit left though we have not made any Address or shewn our selves Concern'd for the Case of our Brethren in Scotland or for our Depriv'd Bishops and Clergy here yet let us not sit still and by a supine Negligence be so wanting to our selves as at least not to Petition to Represent our Fears and our Danger to the King and Government to Desire some Redress to our just Grievances That there may be an Alteration of the Persons employed in publick Offices and such only set at the Head of Affairs as are sincerely for the Church of England and let us make our Exceptions against those whom we know to be of a quite different Interest We ventur'd upon all this and more to King James and had good Success in it Who knows but upon our appearing Zealous and Active for the Safety of the Church others of our Flocks may joyn with us At least they will Approve and Justify us in asserting our and their true Interest But who will stir for us or stand by us if we Dare not so much as open our Mouths in our own Behalf It is our Office to Lead and Instruct them They will love us the better for it And we may by this Recover many whom we have lost But we shall loose all if we Render our selves wholy Insignificant and Insensible of the Encroachments which are daily made upon us And our Posterities may curse us in whose Power it was to have stem'd this Tide if we had taken it in time The People will never believe that we can be hearty to them and stand in the Gap for preservation of their Rights and Privileges as we have heretofore done and were Honour'd for it while they see us so very Dispirited and Negligent in our own At least this we shall Gain by it That if a Deaf Ear be given to all our Applications we may then rest assur'd of what is Determin'd against us 17 July 1694. FINIS