be quiet In Bohemia and Poland what stirs and disturbances have the Socinians raised In Germany and the Bishoprick of Munster what wickednesses have not the Anabaptists committed I should be endless if I reckon'd up all the Mischiefs Blood Tumults War and Calamities which small and inconsiderable disputes about Religion have brought upon men in the Primitive Church and in these latter days Look only into our own Nation and consider the late Tragedies acted by our own Countreymen upon the Person of their King and Nobles Look into the cause of their unreasonable fury and you shall find nothing but their mistakes about Religion to have thus transported and carried them to that excess of cruelty and rage In Queen Elizabeths days the Separatists began to quarrel with our Discipline and Government and laid a foundation for the Brownists the Familists and their Successors to build their confused Babel Their bold Pamphlets in the Queens Reign and in King James's time threatned the Nation with the following disturbances in the State The restless Puritans were always bawling in the Peoples ears against our Church and its Rulers and what troubles did they not breed but all former disputes were but sports and plays to the late disputes about Religion in our Royal Martyrs days for it is observable that when men have wearied themselves in disputing about trifles they try the cause and decide the difference a nearer way with the dint of their sharp swords This was the end of our unhappy divisions we remember yet the late Civil War the Calamity under which the Land groaned the Disorders and Miseries that we and our Families suffered This my Brethren proceeded from the same cause which yet you are unadvisedly fond of and embrace with an invincible tenacity They were at first discontented at our Church and Religious Worship they exclaimed continually against our formalities and practices and differed from us in the same punctilio's as some of you do They were at first as modest in all their behaviour towards us See the Kings Portraiture desiring nothing but liberty and freedom for themselves and their way of worship but when they had gathered into a head their pretensions were so high that they would oblige all men to conform and subscribe to all their irregularities and extravagancies I cannot call to mind the sad condition of our Church of England in those unhappy days without Tears when our Governours were deposed our Clergy banished with their Prince our Nobility and Gentry sequestred our Laws obliged to submit to the power of the Sword our Kingdom and Government in the hands of lawless Tyrants Sects and Divisions in Religion multiplying every day and rising out of the filthy spawn of the Jesuits the wicked principles which they spread amongst us to disturb us and puzle the weaker sort in the Notions of Religion All these Evils with innumerable others which we can better remember than speak of sprung from your Forefathers Non-Conformity And will not their Chidren be better advised will they wittingly draw again the same danger upon their heads will they not be persuaded to prevent such mischiefs for the time to come The burnt Child dreads the fire We have been already burnt and almost consumed in the hot fire of a Civil-War Shall we cast our selves again into it or entertain the same causes that brought forth that sad calamity Our Enemies took occasion to blow up the coals into a grievous flame who knows but they are busily employed about the same wicked purposes and will cast us headlong into the same misery why shall we be so foolish so mad and such Enemies of the publick and of our selves and posterity as to assist the Jesuits and Romanists in their grand design to ruin us and our Nation This proceeding of yours may seem very strange my Brethren and may cause a greater wonder when we have seriously considered and proved it to you CHAP. III. That there is no reasonable cause of dividing from our Church and that the most scrupulous Conscience may and ought to conform according to the Laws of God as well as man HAD you as good and allowable causes to alledge for your separation from us as we and our Forefathers had to depart out of the Idolatrous Church of Rome your zeal would deserve a commendation and none could charge you with the Crime of Schism or Faction For in such a case you would have in Conformity to the Examples and Command of Christ and his holy Apostles forsaken those who had first forsaken him and divided your selves from those abominations whereof the belief and practice can never consist with the Salvation of your immortal Souls But though we and our Church are falsely aspersed with Popery and Popish Superstition the Accusation is false and so ill grounded that it would not deserve a refutation were it not that this strange conceit is greedily entertained by many of our Non-Conforming Brethren The accusation is commonly delivered in gross because there is none can justifie this charge by any particular instance It is the common Practice and Art of Impostors and of abusive Tongues when they cannot make good the objected crime to bring their accusation in this manner that their malice might be less discoverable and their charge more weighty But why should we be declared to be Popishly affected against our wills we disown this charge as a grievous calumny that hath no other foundation but the pride and unreconcileable hatred of our Enemies Did ever any Church write more smartly against the Pope and Papists than the Learned Divines of the Church of England read over the thirty nine Articles and Bishop Jewel and the Archbishop Laud against Fisher and in these our days read but the writings of these Learned Divines of the present Bishop of Lincoln of Dr. Stilling fleet and Dr. Pierce and you shall find that none professes to be greater enemies of Popery than we do But methinks that this late Popish Plot and all the Papists endeavours against the Church of England should justifie us in the eyes of all the World better than any Arguments can that we are not Papists nor Popishly affected can we think the Papists and Jesuits who are not so easily mistaken in their judgments of us would have laid a Train to blow us up had we been on their side can we think them so blind that they cannot see their friends from their foes would they offer to burn destroy and kill us and our Children were we so inclinable to Popery as our mistaken Brethren falsely conceive what mad men are you Priests and Jesuits Popes and Cardinals of Rome thus to conspire and spend so much Treasure to destroy your own Brethren Did you not understand all this while that we were all agreed and that we are so near related that we may shake hands Why will you needs murder us and our Families for our Religion sake when we are as much or within a small
A Seasonable Advice TO ALL True Protestants IN ENGLAND IN This present Posture of Affairs DISCOVERING The present Designs of the PAPISTS WITH Other Remarkable Things tending to the Peace of the Church and the Security of the Protestant Relion By a Sincere Lover of his King and Countrey LONDON Printed for T. Fox in Westminster-Hall 1679. TO THE Courteous Reader Courteous Reader I Intreat you to peruse with a mild a moderate and a Christian Temper these few sheets which have been thought fit to be recommended to the publick view as well to give a full prospect of the Jesuitical Designs against us and our Religion as to persuade our Brethren to that Vnity and Vniformity which will secure us against all their Hellish Attempts This Invitation will appear so much the more seasonable because we are yet threatned with strong Combinations with mighty Conspiracies with the Conjunction of Foreign Powers that promise to themselves the overthrow of Christ's Gospel and Truth amongst us Methinks that the greatness of the Common Danger in which we are all concern'd should Alarm us into a compliance with one another and oblige us to joyn to maintain that Profession which our Enemies joyntly strike at Methinks their Policy should teach us how to preserve our selves and cause us to unite also in Affections in Gods Worship in our Cares and Endeavours for the Publick Safety for the prevention of their mischievous purposes too much encouraged by our groundless and unreasonable Divisions In this juncture of time the Nations welfare and preservation hath such a dependency upon this Conjunction that we can never expect it without this reconciliation It is the Vnity of the people that will render us invincible and draw down upon our heads the Blessing of Heaven The safest Defence of States and Kingdoms It will establish Religion upon an unmoveable Basis and maintain the envied Hierarchy of our Church in the midst of all Disorders It will prevent many wicked Designs of the Pope and his bloody Agents and silence the jealousies and tumultuous fears that disturb our quiet In a word Vnity in Religion and Gods Worship will preserve the Nations Peace from Foreign Invasion and Intestine discords If therefore our Brethren of the same Religion who differ from us only in shadows would hearken at last to this Reconciliation and joyn with us at least in outward appearance If they would consent to lay aside all prejudice and partiality and banish from among us all names of dissention innumerable advantages would from thence proceed and this happy Conjunction would infallibly prove the most Invincible Bulwark of our Church and Nation against the malice of Hell and the Popes fury In order thereunto several particulars are here recommended to the publick view to dispose mens minds for this blessed unity in Religion and prepare them for a Cure But as there are distempers which the Patients frowardness and other circumstances will not suffer to be healed by every common Physitian the grand disease of our Nation is such that only the Wisdom of our Superiours can compleat the cure and close up our bleeding wounds torn and inlarged through our Enemies subtil practices Several endeavours have been formerly made for the same purpose but success hath not answered the expectations of good men because their Judicious and Religious proceedings have been frustrate as some imagin through the unseasonableness and sharpness of the Remedies or the untractableness of interessed persons or rather through the secret Plots of our busy Enemies who lay in our bosoms and had a finger in our actings of this nature But now these obstacles are partly removed now the greatness of our danger hath alarm'd many into a compliance with our Church and begot in us an earnest desire of a Conjunction we only wait for an Invitation and the perfecting of that Vnion which will render us and our posterity happy for ever I shall desire from all True Protestants a favourable acceptance of and a charitable construction to these my endeavours which I hope will prevail upon men of calm spirits and unbiassed judgments my zeal and affection for the service of my Country and for the preservation of the true Religion for which I have been a sufferer hath encouraged me to this Attempt Who knows but that these considerations that I here offer may prevail upon many may satisfie their doubting Consciences and oblige them to study for the future Vnity and Peace Who knows but that a Person though in a mean Station may contribute something towards that Blessed Work of Vniting us and our Brethren together For it is the usual Method of Divine Providence to make use of the unlikeliest Agents to bring to pass the great Designs and the noble effects of his Power and Wisdome that the Glory might be ascribed to him alone and that none might partake with him in that which is all his due I beseech the God of all Wisdom Vnity and Peace to unite us all together to reconcile our differences te enlighten our understandings with his Truth sanctifie our wills and affections with his Spirit of Love I beseech His Divine Majesty to preserve in health and prosperity our gracious and religious King and bless the zealous endeavours of the wise and great Council of our Nation for his Glory and the Nations Welfare This shall always be the Prayer of M. D. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The Conspiracy and present Designs of the Popish Party in Europe against the Protestant Interest discovered with the methods observed by them to overthrow the Church of England Pag. 1. CHAP. II. The danger of Division in a Nation about matters of Religion and what pernicious consequences it hath had in foreign Countries and in this Pag. 12 CHAP. III. That there is no reasonable cause of dividing from our Church and that the most scrupulous Conscience may and ought to conform according to the Laws of God as well as man Pag. 20 CHAP. IV. The true causes why most part of our dissenting Brethren will not joyn with us in the Worship of our God enquired into In what particulars our differences chiefly consist and their grand Objection Answered Pag. 32 CHAP. V. Seasonable and Christian Advices for our Non-Conforming Brethren who are possessed with such strong prejudices against the Church of England that they cannot easily overcome them and a Reconciliation proposed Pag. 49 CHAP. VI. An Exhortation to all the Learned Pious and Christian Teachers amongst our Non-Conforming Brethren to prevent in time the Nations ruin by an Vnity with us and to lay aside all Prejudice and Partiality Pag. 56 A SEASONABLE ADVICE TO ALL True Protestants IN ENGLAND IN This present posture of Affairs CHAP. I. The Conspiracy and present Designs of the Popish Party in Europe against the Protestant Interest discovered with the methods observed by them to overthrow the Church of England THE true Christian Faith in all Ages hath been endangered by the cruelties and furious persecutions
Non-Conformity hath been the sad occasion of much disturbance in this Nation of Tumults and War and that it continues to dissociate our minds and interests one from another to the general unquietness of this poor Church is that which none can well deny II. That all unnecessary and avoidable actions and proceedings whereby strife debates envy hatred malice and variance are entertained amongst men are contrary to Gods Laws and the Blessed Rules of the Gospel That teacheth to be like minded one towards another chiefly in matters of Religion Rom. xv 5. To consult in all our Actions Love Mercy and Charity one towards another John xiii 34. Which teaches us to suppress all distasts and to study to advance the universal unity of the Christians amongst whom we live 1 John iii. 1. and to abstain from all actions whereby differences are maintained 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6. III. That we are to comply with all Rules Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church if they be not directly against Gods Glory or the Salvation of Mens Souls or if they be not expresly forbidden in Gods Holy Word or contrary to it This is confirmed to us by Christs own Example who conformed to the harmless and indifferent Injunctions of Men to avoid all singularity for in the Celebrating of the Paschal Lamb he eat it not standing as Moses commanded but lying down upon a Couch Matth. xxvi 20. Mark xiv 18. He caused a Hymn to be sung which was a Jewish Ordinance Christ also conformed himself to the Synagogue-Worship established amongst the Jews by an Human Authority which our Blessed and peaceable Saviour was so far from disapproving that he expresly tells his Disciples that they who had made that Ordinance sit in Moses Seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Matth. xxiii 2 3. And in many other particulars of as high an importance as those which cause you my Non-Conforming Brethren to separate from us this Divine Saviour teacheth you by his good Example to avoid singularity to observe the Rules and Orders appointed in the place where you live and not for such matters as endanger not in themselves your Salvation to cause that disturbance that will infallibly indanger the Churches Peace and Unity and beget in your Souls those passions vices and distempers which are not agreeable with our Christian Religion and present interest or our future hopes of Salvation IV. That all disobedience to the Magistrate in things not contrary to Gods Word and Will is unlawful and forbidden by S. Paul Rom. xiii 1 2. Let every Soul be subject unto the higher powers For there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation A passive obedience is not sufficient where an active is required and may and ought to be yielded And though you do not actually resist at present the Civil Magistrate all Non-Conformity is a kind of resistance take heed therefore that by this opposition you render not your selves liable to the Curse and so deserving the Damnation that is so severely threatned In the third Chapter to Titus verse the first he desires him to put his people in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates and to be ready to every good work And to the Hebrews St. Paul speaketh more pertinently to our purpose Obey them that have rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you And St. Peter 1 Epist Chap. ii vers 13. calls upon you to submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man without the exception or distinction of Civil or Ecclesiastical matters and that for the Lords sake whether to the King as Supream or unto Governors for so is the Will of God Are these Commands of any force or Authority with you my Brethren Are you not thereby required to Conform to the Laws Rules and Constitutions of Gods Church amongst us enjoyned by Authority are not these Ordinances of Men which you ought to submit to Therefore none of you can refuse an obedience to them without violating Gods Laws and breaking the Sacred Rules of the Gospel I could instance many other Examples Precepts Commands and Entreaties out of Gods Holy-Word directed to you to wish require and desire you to be at Unity and Conformity with us your Brethren especially in the Publick Worship of God and to set aside all prejudice and partiality whereby you are hindered from seeing and embracing the Truth What is it therefore that keeps us at such a distance Is it your Consciences How can your Consciences oppose Gods Word and Will Is it Conscience that obliges you to be irregular in your practices and reject us as Prophane and Idolatrous who labor in all respects to be conformable to the Holy Precepts of the Gospel Is that Conscience in a word that teacheth you to be disobedient to the Laws of God and Man And to breed a disturbance in a Church and Kingdom for such frivolous and idle matters to the encouraging of our Enemies against us to conspire the ruin of our King and Countrey For Gods sake as well as for your own sakes and for Religions sake and the happiness of your Posterity deceive not your selves and think not to deceive God and man with this childish and empty excuse Let me tell you what I conceive to be the true causes of your obstinate Non-Conformity to the Church of England for the reasons commonly alledged of Conscience of Popery Superstition and the unjustifiableness of our Government and Liturgy by Gods Word are but meer pretences and empty excuses to cozen the weaker sort and to colour these following causes of our unreasonable Non-Conformity in the Eyes of the World CHAP. IV. The true causes why most part of our dissenting Brethren will not joyn with us in the Worship of our God enquired into In what particulars our differences chiefly consist and their grand Objection Answered IT is the usual custom of all malecontents to pretend one thing and to intend another and to veil over the foulest Actions with the most glorious covering in imitation of the grand Impostor who appears to us commonly in the garb of an Angel of Light Thus Korah and his rebellious Confederates who separated themselves from Moses and his Congregation pretended the Peoples Holiness and Priviledge and the Rulers Tyranny for their dividing from them Thus Absalom's Ambition was veiled over with a desire of doing justice more carefully to Gods People and freeing them from a tedious Attendance at David's Court. Thus Jeroboam the wicked Son of Nebat pretended the ease of the People for his Idolatrous Worship Thus the Quakers Fifth-Monarchy Anabaptists and many of the worser sort of Separatists whose Souls and Understandings God hath given over to