Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A64558
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Remarks on the preface to The Protestant reconciler in a letter to a friend.
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S. T. (Samuel Thomas), 1627-1693.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing T974; ESTC R25646
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26,707
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64
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less than this will suffice to make this or any other Testimony pertinent and adequate to this Authors attempt For which reason therefore his next Testimony from the Declaration of King Charles the Second is as insignificant to his purpose as this For neither in that from Breda nor in the other concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs does his Majesty Acknowledge it his Duty at that time not to impose the use of the Ceremonies on Tender Consciences nor if he had would it thence follow either that it is or that his Majesty thinks it his duty now to gratifie them by such an Indulgence and yet even this also is requisite to make Testimonies pertinent to our Authors design which as himself words it p. 4. of his Book is to prove that things indifferent which may be changed and altered without Sin or violation of Gods Laws ought not especially under our present Circumstances to be imposed by Superiors as the Conditions of Communion or as Conditions without which none shall minister in sacred things Besides who that has any sense of the measures and obligations of Loyalty or so much as Civility can think it tolerable in any man especially in a Church-man as this Author is said to be to treat the King at this rate and to urge this Declaration in the behalf of Dissenters now when t is so well known that his Majesty himself thought fit to vacate it within two years after its publication by consenting to the Act of Parliament for Uniformity which Act acquaints us that his Majesty had duly considered the Book of Common-Prayer as then framed which re-imposed the use of the Ceremonies and had fully approved and allowed the same and recommended it to that Parliament that the said Book should be Appointed to be used under such Sanctions and Penalties as the House of Parliament should thing fit From which Approbation and Consent of his Majesty we ought to conclude that he was then made very sensible how unworthy the Dissenters were of that Liberty which he at first designed them and how mischievous 't would prove to the Concerns both of Church and State and that 't was neither just nor reasonable it should be allowed them And accordingly that Act assures us that nothing conduceth more to the setling of the Peace of this Nation nor to the honour of our Religion and the Propagation thereof then an universal Agreement in the Publick Worship of Almighty God An excellent determination this and a very golden sentence and yet this Gentleman pretends humbly to conceive the quite contrary p. 8. and to think that the united Judgement of the whole Nation cannot frame a better or a more unexceptionable Expedient for a firm and lasting Concord then the Liberty indulged by the Kings Declaration which required neither Ceremonies nor Subscription nor Oath of Canonical Obedience But I confess he speaks there of an Expedient for a firm and lasting Concord of these distracted Churches by which expression what the man means would perhaps be worth the knowing and the rather because the word Churches is printed in a different Character A suspicious man may reasonably enough conjecture that he honours the Conventicles of Separatists with the Name of Churches in opposition to Canon 10. before cited if not what Churches in England are so distracted as to render his unexceptionable Expedient necessary to their Concord But is not that a very pleasant Question which he puts p. 9. If as the Kings Royal Word assures us the Reverend Bishops in the Year 60. did think such Concessions made by his Royal Person and Authority to allay the then present distempers very Just and Reasonable and cheerfully would conform themselves thereunto why should we now conceive they should be of another mind in 82 To which Question I Answer seriously 1. That the Kings Royal Word as quoted by this Writer p. 6. does not assure us that the Bishops did then think so but only that his Majesty had not the least doubt but that they would think so However on supposition he had quoted the Kings Words truly p. 39. I Answer 2. We may well conceive it because his Majesty himself was of another mind in 62. and appears now to be of the same mind he was then being so far from indulging that he commands the Laws to be vigorously executed against Dissenters But does this man indeed fancy that the Case and Reason of things is the same now in 82. that those parts of the King's Declaration which he has quoted represent it to have been in 60 Has he the Simplicity to believe himself or the Confidence to desire others to believe that the Dissenters are as innocent now as that Declaration acquaints us his Majesty then found those whom he Confer'd with Can he tell us where these Presbyterians are now to be met with who shew themselves as it seems those did at the time there spoken of Persons full of Affection towards the King or Zeal for the Peace of the Church and State and neither Enemies to Episcopacy nor Liturgy but modestly desire such Alterations in either as without shaking the Foundations may best allay the present distempers or can he tell us where those men of other Persuasions are now to be found who all approve Episcopacy and a set Form of Lyturgy p. 6. Nay have not the Leaders of several Parties sadly demonstrated themselves to be men of a quite contrary temper since the discovery of the Popish Plot some employing the best Reason some the best Wit they had others the most ungodly Arts that a lying slandring spiteful malicious humor could supply them with to the prejudice of our Church and its Constitutions and to the rendring not only its Ceremonies but also its Episcopacy and Lyturgy Odious and Ridiculous But whatever others may possibly think of our Bishops and their averseness from condescending in matters of Ceremony this Prefacer p. 9. prosesses to think with the Reverend Dean of Canterbury that we have no cause to doubt but the Governours of our Church are Persons of that Piety and Prudence that for Peace sake and in order to a firm Vnion among Protestants they would be content if that would do it not to insist on little things but yield them up to the infirmity or importunity of those that differ from them Which Passage having been long since ingeniously descanted upon in a Polio-Pamphlet whose Title I cannot now call to mind I shall let it pass but not without this Profession that I hope there is now no one Bishop nor would-be-Bishop Living who would yield and yield and yield up so much of the Church-Constitutions to Dissenters till he has left the Dissenters nothing to yield up to the Church In p. 10. the Learned and Judicious Judge Hale is brought in as a Favourer of Condescension to moderate Non-conformists and as one who drew up a Bill for Comprehension of some and a limited Indulgence to others And this we are told upon