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A42786
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Remarks on remarks, or, The Rector of Bury's sermon vindicated his charge exhibited against the dissenters for endeavouring to corrupt the word of God justified and farther confirmed : also the absurdities and notorious falsities of Mr. Owen and other pretended ministers of the Gospel are detected and expos'd / by Thomas Gipps, Rector of Bury.
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Gipps, Thomas, d. 1709.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing G780; ESTC R34916
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57,995
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68
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Remarks on Remarks OR THE RECTOR of BVRY's SERMON VINDICATED His CHARGE Exhibited against the Dissenters for Endeavouring to Corrupt the Word of GOD Justified and farther Confirm'd ALSO The Absurdities and Notorious Falsities of Mr. Owen and other pretended Ministers of the Gospel are detected and expos'd By THOMAS GIPPS Rector of BURY Siquis est qui dictum in se in clementiùs existimet esse sic existimet sciat Responsum non dictum esse quia laesit prius Terent. Eunuch Prol. LONDON Printed for Ephraim Johnston Bookseller in Manchester MDCXCVIII ERRATA PAg. 1. Lin. ult r. attack p. 4. l. 9. for Acts read Accounts p. 5. l. 22. r. Remarker l. 37. r. Manchester p. 8. l. 5. r. Remarker's l. 14. r. intolerable p. 14. l. 32. for the r. that p. 15. l. 13. dele p. 21. l. 7. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 23. after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 add by p. 27. l. 8. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 30. l. 28. r. Divisions p. 40. l. 32. r. subprior p. 41. l. 36. for noising r. nosing p. 46. l. 31. r. convivae p. 52. l. ult r. Voaligon CHAP. I. IN these Parts of the Nation for any thing I ever heard or knew there had been for some Years a perfect Peace at least a Cessation of Arms between the Church of England and the Dissenters there was no Writing no Publishing Invectives no raising of the old Disputes nor so much as Preaching against one another at least not in any foul and exasperating Manner Our common Danger I verily thought and our common Interest like a Charm had laid the Devil of Contention and confin'd him to his own Place never to enter in among us any more till Peace Plenty and Security from Foraign Enemies should as 't is too apt conjure him up again and embroil us with new Disorders But contrary to all expectation even when our public Affairs were at a low ebb and whilst we were strugling with greater Difficulties then we could hope of a suddain to surmount the Peaceable Men as they affect to be call'd blew the Trumpet and when we dream'd of no such Thing assaulted us in our very Camp In the Year 1695. appear'd at Manchester an Author of prodigious Confidence who without any just Provocation caus'd to be Printed his Scurrilous Libel entituled Notes upon the Lord Bishop of Salisbury's four last Discourses c. It is incredible how the Dissenters hugg'd and commended it as one of the sweetest Morsels they had ever tasted And tho' it's ingredients were mostly Gall and Wormwood Impudence and Slander yet was it in their Mouths as Honey for sweetness By it's Title one would imagin it calculated for the Meridian of Salisbury Diocess But 't was compos'd at Manchester there best known and design'd to expose the Members of the Church of England in those Quarters We lay at that time as I hinted before in a profound Peace and had given no Occasion for such a sudden and surprizing Attach The Notes pretend indeed to be an Answer to the Bishop's four Discourses and the Libeller plainly tells the World that he was induc'd to write as he did because my Lord of Salisbury had as he speaks reflected upon the Dissenters as Separatists but this will not I presume excuse the Authors Rudeness and the Calumnies which he fill'd that Pamphlet with It must be confest that excellent Prelate in one of his four Discourses directed his Clergy how to demean ' emselves towards Separatists meaning the Dissenters But at the same time he us'd 'em with all the Meekness and Charity that is due unto those who differ from us He gives 'em no hard Words neither pursu'd 'em with any offensive Language His business there was not to prove the Charge of Schism upon them that was taken for granted between him and his Clergy but to shew how they were to be brought back into the Fold and into Unity with the Church To which purpose He distinguish'd between those who separated thro' Ignorance or Prepossession and others whom worldly Interest ungovournable Passions or some Evil Affections had prevail'd with to depart from our Communion The former he said are to be dealt with with a great deal of Tenderness and Candour are to be pitied rather then insulted over they are not the Schismatics which St. Paul calls Carnal Their Ignorance will happily find the same Mercy at the hand of God as we hope our own will in other Cases But the latter the Carnal Schismatics being such as are gone out from us not upon any true Principle of Conscience but on some carnal worldly Design were to be handled more roundly and their Wounds lay'd open with more sharpness and severity After this manner the good Bishop wrote unto his Clergy nor can I recollect any thing said by him that could Exasperate any sober and conscientious Dissenter I am sure the Note-maker pretended nothing else but the supposing them Separatists Now by Carnal Schismatics are I reckon to be understood all thoâ—e who upon any worldly Account whatever desert the Churches and joyn themselves to the Separate Assemblies ex gr a Person leaves the Parochial Communion and runs to the Barns induc'd thereto thro' the restless importunity of his Wise an Heiress to secure unto himself and Family her Estate and to keep Peace at home This Man is the Carnal Separatist St. Paul and the Bishop speak of His Religion is vain it hangs on his Wife's Apron-strings not on his own Conscience he abandons the Authority which God has given him over his Wife and truckles to hear as Adam did unto Eve In a word he suffers his Wife to usurp the Dominion to command him whom she ought to obey and to prescribe Rules to him of whom she ought to learn and to be instructed Upon the same Principle such a Man would turn Mahometan as Solomon did Idolater 1 Kings 11. 3. But to return to the Bishop of Salisbury and the Notes I cannot see that the Dissenters had just Cause from any thing spoken in that Discourse to treat his Lordship and the whole Body of the Church of England in so unmannerly and contemptuous a Manner as the Note-maker has taken the liberty to do It had been proper enough for any one of 'em to have endeavour'd to shake off the Imputation of Schism and to have fasten'd it upon us provided he had us'd the same Temper of Meekness and Candor as my Lord of Salisbury has done No body then would have blam'd him But a Man must be excus'd if when he wants Arguments to make good his Point he lashes out into down-right Railing and Billingsgate For the famous Note-maker has loaded us with all the spightful Reflections and malitious Imputations and artful Declamations which ill Nature want of good Breeding or a corrupt Phancy could furnish a profess'd Buffoon with It is not my Intention to confirm this in Particulars and to that end to pursue this
be these Things as they will I thought it not improper to give the foresaid brief Account of the Notes on the Bishop of S. four Disconrses if it were only to vindicate my self from the common Aspersion as if I were the Occasion of the Disturbances that are now among us whereas I profess and I hope it is already prov'd that the Note-maker has been the Troubler of Israel 'T is He who first blew up the Coals of Dissention which before lay as it were Dead in the Ashes Do the Dissenters think that our Hands and our Tongues must be tied whilst theirs are at liberty and let loose to pursue us in the most Contemptuous Manner with all the Bitterness that Malice and Rage can inspire 'em with Or can they hope to lull us asleep into Patience and Stoical Apathy that they may with the greater ease and security torment and oppress us Shall they prescribe unto us Charity towards them whilst they are unmercifully teasing and exposing us What a Master-piece of Religious Hypocrisy is this to stile themselves Ministers of the Gospel of Peace they wisely leave out and chalk out the way wherein we are to walk but in the mean time transgress it themselves To bind heavy Burthens and lay them on our Shoulders and not move 'em with one of their own Fingers In short there is no colour for their Complaints that we write and preach Controversies that we tax our Adversaries with their Faults that we set 'em forth with some Zeal and Warmth 'T is themselves which compel us tho' non vident id manticae quod à tergo est they cast their own Sins behind their Backs They have hitherto at most been paid but in their own Coin and receiv'd the common Measure of Justice quid pro quo with this difference and advantage on our side they were the Aggressors and Nature it self teaches us to stand on our Guard and to protect our selves whether it be by offensive or defensive Weapons It must then be confest that the two first mention'd Writings the Notes on my Lord Bishop of S. four Discourses and Mr. Baldwin's Sermon at the opening of a new erected Meeting-house drew the Rector into the present Skirmish which he was unwilling to decline least our Cause should suffer by silence and the Dissenters vainly imagin they had got any Advantage of us That Saying of the Wise Man came into my thoughts Answer a Fool according to his own Folly least he be Wise in his own Conceit I see no reason then but a Man may be angry and rescent the Injuries of an Adversary with some Indignation the Apostle permits it Eph. 4. 26. And Solomon teaches that To every thing there is a Season and a time to every Purpose under the Heaven among the rest that there is a time to Speak and a time of War And was it not high time to Speak when we were by the Note-maker treated with Scorn and Insolence and such things were laid to our Charge which if true would justly render us odious to God and Man And unworthy the Protection of the Government I thought fit therefore to make use of the Policy of Scipio Africanus to carry the War into the Enemies own Country and to lay unto the Dissenters Charge a Crime which I believe was prov'd upon them better than Atheism or Socinianism was or can be upon us Hereat the two Ministers at Oswestry and Manchester grew angry and have made Remarks upon my Sermon 'T is what I look'd for and design'd to the end the World may see that these Sober and Charitable Men can be intemperately Angry when they apprehend themselves touch'd to the quick and therefore ought to give others leave to be sensible of the Injuries first done 'em without any Provocation Briefly I am not surpriz'd at the Remarks which are fraught with so much Venom and Rancour I never expected Mercy at their Hands who have no Mercy no not in the Times of Peace and when no Occasion is given 'em to break out into Passion who in their calmest Mood when Meekness and Charity seems to sit on their Brow and when the whole Face is in appearence o're-spread with universal Sweetness and Smiles are even then as I have learn'd by Experience designing Mischief in their Hearts against their Neighbours and secretly undermining ' em Upon the whole Matter then the declamatory and popular Insinuations of the Remarks in his Ep. Dedic of want of sincere Affection to the Truth of Deference to Superiours and of Charity to Neighbours and other like Strains against false and malicious Accusing our Brethren with all the dirty stuff wherewith this fierce Champion of the good old Cause has bespatter'd the Rector recoil into the Note-maker and the Remarker own Faces and lie heavy upon the whole Body of the Dissenters and some of the Politic and intreaguing Trimmers in and about Manchester Now in the Reply I give unto the Remarker I will not make it my profest Business like a Merry Andrew to mind little else than the making Sport with my Adversary as he has done with me that 's the least in my thoughts I will take care chiefly to attend unto the Argument it self and see that firmly establish'd not caring much what becomes of the drolling and the scoffing Part. Altho' if now and then when his intollerable Absurdities and Impieties require it I take the freedom to shew him his own Face in his own Glass 't is hop'd I may merit Pardon of the Candid Reader CHAP. II. Being a Reply to that Part of the Remarks which Mr. Owen calls the Preface THE Remarker here in the Enterance promises his Reader an Idea of the Rector's Sermon but is not as good as his word He has presented us with whatever he believ'd would bear a Dispute and which he had the least Colour to make a Flourish with among the common People but he has overlook'd and neglected the most considerable things advanc'd against the Exceptions of Mr. de Laune which he ought not to have past over since he understood that Gentleman's Defence Instead then of an Idea of the Rector's Sermon he has presented the Reader with a Specimen of his own cavilling Humour This is an hopeful beginning when he who is pretending to vindicate others from the Charge of diminishing from the Word of God stumbles at the very Threshold and makes no difficulty to diminish from the Words of his Neighbours If Sacriledge or Robbing of God be a Crime I am sure Burglary or Stealing from one's Brother is no Virtue And if the former is by Law punishable without Benefit of Clergy so is the latter also Mr. de Laune as I mention'd in my Sermon had alledg'd against our establish'd Worship That in the Psalms used in the Liturgy are left out the Ancient Hebrew Titles which are says he Original and Parts of the holy Scripture having a Tendency towards the unfolding the Misterys therein contain'd