no more for her self than the French say for their King which yet she refuses to take for an Answer Perhaps I could parralel some of the severest Passages in that Kingdom out of the Actions of some Members of the Church of England in cool Blood that are even yet for continuing the Penal Laws upon their plunder'd Neighbours so that this Reflection of hers upon France is more popular than just from her But I beseech her to look upon a Country four times bigger than France Germany I mean and she will there see both Religions practis'd with great Ease and Amity yet of this we must not hear one Word I hope it is not for fear of imitating it However 't is disingenious to object the Mischiefs of Popery to a general Ease when we see it is the way to prevent them This is but in the name of Popery to keep all to herself as well from Protestant Dissenters as Roman Catholicks How Christian how equal how safe that narrow Method is becomes her well to consider and methinks she ought not to be long about it I know she flatters herself and others to believe she is a Bulwork against Popery and with that without any further Security to other Protestants wipes her Mouth of all old Scores and makes her present Court for Assistance But when that word Bulwork is examined I fear it appears too mean no more than this That she would keep out Popery for that reason for which she apprehends Popery would turn her out viz. Temporal Interest But may I without Offence ask her when she kept Persecution out Or if she keeps out Popery for any bodies sake but her own Nay if it be not to hold the Power she has in her hands that she would frighten other Parties now she has done her worst with what mischief Popery would do them when it has Power But to speak freely can she be a Bulwork in the Case that has been bringing the worst part of Popery in these six and twenty Years if Persecution be so as she says it is This would be call'd Canting to the World in others But I hear she begins to see her Fault is heartily sorry for it and promises to do so no more And why may not Popery be as wise that has also burnt her Fingers with the same work Their praying for ease by Law looks as if they chose That rather than Power for Security and if so why may not the Papists Live as well as she Reign I am none of their Advocate I am no Papist but I would be just and merciful too However I must tell her that keeping the Laws on foot by which she did the mischief is none of the plainest Evidences of her Repentance They that can believe it have little reason to quarrel the unaccountableness of Transubstantiation Is it unjust in Popery to invade her Priviledges and can it be just in her to provoke it by denying a Christian Liberty or can she expect what she will not give or not do as she would be done by because she fears others will not observe the same Rule to her Is not this doing Evil that Good may come of it and that uncertain too against an express Command as well as common Charity But to speak freely whether we regard the Circumstances of the King the Relation of his Children the inequality of the Number and Strength of those of each of their Communions we must conclude that the Aversion of the Church of England to this intreated Liberty cannot reasonably be thought to come from the Fear she has of the prevalency of Popery but the loss of that Power the Law gives her to domineer over all Dissenters And is not this a Rare Motive for a Christian Church to continue Penal Laws for Religion If her Piety be not able to maintain her upon equal terms methinks her having so much the whip hand and start of all others should satisfy her Ambition and quiet her Fears for 't is possible for her to keep the Churches if the Laws were abolished all the difference is she could not force She might perswade and convince what she could And pray is not that enough for a true Church without Goales Whips Halters and Gibbets O what Corruption is this that has prevail'd over Men of such Pretensions to Light and Conscience that they do not or will not see nor feel their own Principles one remove from themselves but sacrifice the noblest part of the Reformation to Ambition and compel Men to truckle their tender Consciences to the Grandure and Dominion of their Doctors But because the Sons of the Church of England keep at this time such a stir in her favour and fix her excellency in her opposition to Popery it is worth while to consider a little further if really the most feared and disagreeable part of Popery in her own opinion does not belong to her and if it does should we not be in a fine Condition to be in Love with our Fetters and to Court our Misery That part of Popery which the Church of England with most success objects against is her Violence This is that she can only pretend to fear Her Doctrines she partly Professes or thinks she can easily refute She does not think her Doctors Conjurers for their Transubstantiation or dangerous to the State for their Beads or their Purgatory But forcing others to their Faith or ruining them for refusing it is the terrible thing we are taught by her to apprehend Now granting this to be the case in reference to the Roman Religion where it is in the Chair I ask if the Church of England with her better Doctrines has not been Guilty of this Impiety and for that cause more blameable the the Church she opposes so much If we look into her Acts of State we find them many and bitter against all sorts of Dissenters There is nigh twenty Laws made and yet in force to constrain Conformity and they have been executed too as far and as often as she thought it fit for her Interest to let them Some have been Hang'd many Banish't more Imprisoned and some to Death and abundance Impoverish't and all this meerly for Religion Tho by a base and barbarous use of Words it has been call'd Treason Sedition Routs and Riots the worst of aggravations since they are not contented to make People unhappy for their Dissent but rob them of all they had left their Innocency This has been her State Craft to coin Guilt and make men dangerous to have her ends upon them But that way of Palliating Persecution by rendring a thing that it is not and punishing men for Crimes they never committed show but little Conscience in the Projectors The Church of England crys out against Transubstantiation because of the Invisibility of the Change. She don't see Christ there and therefore he is not there and yet her Sons do the same thing For tho all the tokens of
in the middle betwixt God and the will of Man as that which is usually and truly spoken of Kings and Emperors may as truly be verified of the Consciences of every man Solo Deo minores esse nec aliquam in Terris superiorem ag noscere They are less than God only and on Earth do acknowledge no Superior That Speech of the Emperor Maximilian the first is very memorable Consciencij Dominari velle est Arcem Coeli invadere To exercise a Domination over Consciences is to invade the Tower of Heaven He is a Plunderer of the Glory of God and a nefarious Invader of the Power that is due unto him whosoever he is that shall claim a right to the Consciences of men or practice an Usurpation over them ibid. Sect. 11. pag. 115. And yet this is the sad consequence of imposing Religion upon Conscience and punishing Non-conformity with worldly Penalties Let us now hear what the late Bishop of Down says in his Lib. of Prophesie to our Point I am very much displeased that so many Opinions and new Doctrines are commenced amongst us but more troubled that every man that hath an Opinion thinks his own and other mens Salvation is concerned in its maintenance but most of all that men should be Persecuted and Afflicted for disagreeing in such Opinions which they cannot with sufficient grounds obtrude upon others necessarily because they cannot propound them Infallibly and because they have no warrant from Scripture so to do for if I shall tye other men to believe my Opinion because I think I have a place of Scripture which seems to warrant it to my understanding why may he not serve up another dish to me in the same Dress and exact the same task of me to believe the contradictory Liberty of Prophesie Epist Dedic pag. 8 9. The Experience which Christendom hath had in this last Age is Argument enough that Toleration of differing Opinions is so far from disturbing the Publick Peace or destroying the Interest of Princes and Common-wealths that it does advantage to the Publick it secures Peace because there is not so much as the pretence of Religion left to such Persons to contend for it being already indulged to them ibid. p. 21. It is a proverbial saying Quod nimia familiaritas servorum est conspiratio adversus Dominum and they who for their security run in Grots and Cellers and Retirements think that they being upon the defensive those Princes and those Laws that drive them to it are their Enemies and therefore they cannot be secure unless the Power of the one and the Obligation of the other be lessened and rescinded and then the being restrained and made miserable indears the discontented Persons mutually and makes more hearty and dangerous Confederations ibid. pag. 23. No man speaks more unreasonably than he that denies to men the use of their Reason in choice of their Religion ibid. pag. 169. No Christian is to be put to Death Dis-membred or otherwise directly Persecuted for his Opinion which does not teach Impiety or Blasphemy ibid. pag. 190. There is a popular Pity that follows all Persons in Misery and that Compassion breeds likeness of Affections and that very often produces likeness of Perswasion and so much the rather because there arises a Jealousie and pregnant Suspition that they who Persecute an Opinion are destitute of sufficient Arguments to confute it and that the Hangman is the best Disputant ibid. pag. 197 198. If a man cannot change his Opinion when he lists nor ever does heartily or resolutely but when he cannot do otherwise then to use Force may make him a Hypocrite but never to be a right Believer and so instead of erecting a Trophee to God and true Religion we build a Monument for the Devil ibid. pag. 200. The Trick of giving Persons differing in Opinion over to the secular Power at the best is no better than Hypocrisie removing Envy from themselves and laying it upon others a refusing to do that in external Act which they do in Council and Approbation ibid. pag. 209. Thus far Bishop Taylâ—r and one of the most Learned Men of the Church of England in his time Let me add another Bishop held learn'd by all and in great Reputation with the men of his Communion and among them the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parlioment assembled who have sufficiently declared against this persecuting Spirit on the account of Religion by their full approbation of and thanks returned to the Bishop of St Asaph for his Sermon preached before them November the 5 th 1680. and their desire that he would Print and Publish that Sermon The Bishop says that They who are most given to hate and destroy others especially those others who differ from them in Religion they are not the Church of God or at least they are so far corrupt in that particular pag. 8. Again he says That of Societies of Men Christians of all others are most averse from ways of Violence and Blood especially from using any such ways upon the account of Religion And among Christian Churches where they differ among themselves if either of them use those ways upon the account of Religion they give a strong Presumption against themselves that they are not truly Christians ibid. pag. 9. There is reason for this because we know that Christ gave Love for the Caracter by which his Disciples were to be known John 13.35 By this shall all Men know that you are my Disciples if you have Love to one another And least men should unchristen others first that they may hate them and Destroy them afterwards Christ enlarged his Precept of Love and extended it even to Enemies and not only to ours but to the Enemies of our Religion Matt. 5.43 44. ibid. pag. 9. As our holy Religion excels all others in this admirable temper so by this we may usually judge who they are that excel among Christian Churches when there happens any difference between them whether touching the Faith or the terms of Communion They that were the more Fierce they generally had the worst Cause ibid. pag. 12 13. The Council of Nice suppressed the Arians by no other Force but putting Arians out of their Bishopricks they could not think Hereticks fit to be trusted with cure of Souls but otherwise as to Temporal things I do not find that they inflicted any kind of Punishment but when the Arians came to have the Power in their Hands when theirs was come to be the Imperial Religion then Depriving was nothing Banishment was the least that they inflicted ibid. pag. 14. Neither our Religion nor our Church is of a persecuting Spirit I know not how it may be in particular Persons but I say again it is not in the Genius of our Church She hath no Doctrine that teacheth Persecution ibid. pag. 20. I would have no man punished for his Religion no not them that destroy men for Religion ibid. pag. 37. Dr Stillingfleet comes short
if dispersed to be sure they have not strength for such an Attempt But if they are not sufficient there is a Potent Prince not far off can help the Design who is not angry with Protestancy at home only Suppose this is there not as Potent Naval Powers to assist the Constitution of the Kingdom from such Invasions yes and Land ones too And as the Protestant Governments have more Ships then the other so an equal Land Force when by such attempts to make Popery universal they are awaken'd to the use of them But certainly we must be very silly to think the King should suffer so great a shake to his own Interest as admitting an Army of Forraigners to enter his Kingdom on any pretence must necessarily occasion These Bull-Beggers and Raw-Heads and Bloody-Bones are the Malice of some and Weakness of others But time that Informs Children will tell the World the meaning of the Fright The third Proof of my second Reason is the Intestine Division among themselves That Division weakens a great Body and renders a small one harmless all will agree Now that there is such a thing as Division among them is town talk The Seculars Regulars have ever been two Interests all the Roman Church over and they are not only so here but the Regulars differ among themselves There is not a Coffee-House in Town that does not freely tell us that the Jesuites and Benedictines are at variance that Count Da Da the Popes Nuncio and Bishop Lyborn Dissent mightily from the Politicks of the first Nay t'other Day the Story was that they had prevail'd Entirely over them The Lords and Gentlemen of her Communion have as warmly contested about the lengths they ought to go Moderation seems to be the conclusion Together they are little and can do little and divided they are Contemptible instead of Terrible Lastly the Roman Church ought to be discreet and think of nothing further then the entreated general Ease because it would be an extream that must beget another in the succeeding Raign For as I can never think her so weak as well as base that after all her Arguments for the Jus divinum of Succession she should in the Face of the World attempt to violate it in the wrong of One of another Perswasion for that were an eternal loss of her with Mankind So if she does not and yet is Extravagant she only rises higher to fall lower then all others in another Raign This were provoking their own Ruin. And to say true either way would as the second Letter has it discredit her for ever and make true Prophets of those they had taken such pains to prove false Witnesses And supposing her to reckon upon the just Succession nothing can recommend her or continue her happiness in a Raign of another Judgment but this Liberty equally maintained that other Perswasions more numerous for that reason as well as for their own sakes are obliged to insure her Here the Foundation is broad and strong and what is built upon it has the looks of long Life The Indenture will at least be quint-pertite and Parties are not so mortal as Men. And as this joyns so it preserves Interest intire which amounts to a Religious Amity and a Civil Vnity at the worst Upon the whole matter I advise the Members of the Roman Communion in this Kingdom to be moderate 't is their Duty and it belongs to all Men to see it and feel it from them and it behoves them mightily they would for the first part of this Discourse belongs to their Hopes as well as to the Church of Englands Fears viz. the Duty and Spirit of Christianity Next let them do good Offices between the King and his excellent Children for as that will be well taken by so affectionate a Father so it gives the lie to their Enemies Suggestions and recommends them to the Grace and Favour of the Successors And having said this I have said all that belongs to them in particular There is left only my Address to the Protestant Dissenters and a general Conclusion to finish this Discourse Your Case that are called Protestant Dissenters differs mightily from that of the Church of England and Rome For the first have the Laws for her the last the Prince Those Laws are against you and she is not willing they should be Repeal'd The Prince offers to be kind to you if you please Your Interest in this Conjuncture is the Question I think none ought to be made that it is the Liberty of Conscience desired because you have much more need of it having neither Laws nor Prince of your side nor a Successor of any of your Perswasions The Fears of Popery I know reach you but it is to be remembered also that if the Laws are not Repeal'd there wants no new ones to Destroy you of the Papists making so that every fear you are taught to have of their Repeal is against your selves Suppose your Apprehensions well grounded you can but be Destroy'd Which is most comfortable for you to suffer by Law or without it The Church of England by her Penal Laws and the Doctrine of Headship has Armed that Religion as it falls out to Destroy you Nay has made it a Duty in the King to do it from which says she nothing but an Act of Parliament can absolve him that she is not willing to allow And is it not as reasonable that you should seek their Repeal that if you suffer from the Papists It may be without human Law as well as against Christs Law as for the Church of England to keep them in force because if she suffers it shall be against the Laws made to uphold her For not repealing them brings you an inevitable mischief and her at most but an uncertain safety tho 't is certain she at the same time will Sacrifice you to it And yet if I were in her case it would please me better to remove Laws that might reproach me and stop my Mouth when turn'd against me and be content that if I Suffer for my Religion it is against the Law of God Christianity and the Fundamentals of the old and true Civil Government of my Country before such Laws helpt to spoil it In short you must either go to Church or Meet or let fall your Worshipping of God in the way you believe If the first you are Hypocrites and give away the Cause and reproach your dead Brethrens Sincerity and gratifie the old accusation of Schism Ambition c. and finally loose the Hope and Reward of all your Sufferings If the second viz. that you Meet against Law you run into the Mouth of the Government whose Teeth are to meet in you and Destroy you as by Law established If the last you deny your Faith over-throw your own Arguments fall away from the Apostolical Doctrine of assembling together and so must fall into the Hands of God and under the troubles of your own