rather chuse to be non-suited than comply with such determinations which may be to your advantage much good may it doe you Moreover it is generally believed by all natural Philosophers that a man may walk into a Church though it stands East and West if all the doors be open though some Hypocondrical people would fancy they could not and that the door is either too little for their Noses or their Noses too big for the Door Now Sir you will say that Conscience though erroneous is not melancholy and that the cases we talk of are not Civil but Ecclesiastical therefore say you 't is certain that Conscience though false obliges but that 't is uncertain whether such Commands do or no. But that your Conscience may not be erroneous we will prove they certainly do oblige Whig If the Commands of a Father or Master of a Family do not in such Circumstantials for many reasons I have given how then can such Commands of a Supreme Magistrate whose Dominions may be so large that they cannot punctually be observed Suppose a strict Law were made at Paris that every particular Church in the Nation should commence their publick Service on the Lord's day precisely at nine a clock it is Mathematically certain that some would have done and got half through their dinners before others would be half way in their devotions they in the farthest Eastern Parts would have come to their Amen before those on the Calabrian Ocean would be at their Oremus Pamph. They would be pretty well out of the hearing and interrupting one another that 's the comfort of it If the Man in the Almanack though pelted with all the Signs of the Zodiack had not brought a better Argument I would sentence him to be stuck in the Pillory that his Noddle might be influenc'd with rotten Eggs and therefore keep your Mathematical Certainty for your Sunday Pudding But Sir though the Clock of a Family may sometimes go wrong it can't go far and therefore I suppose the Master of a Family may determine a time by that clock for family-duty ay and many other Circumstantials too Nay I fancy that he may enjoyn his Family to abstain from Wine all Lent Whig That would be a Breach of Christian Liberty Pamph. Was not that more a Breach of the Jewish Privileges when the Rechabites were commanded to drink no Wine they nor their sons for ever by their Father Jonadab there lay no such obligation from the Law of Moses yet what says the Text Jerem. 35. 18 19. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Because ye have obeyed the Commandment of Jonadab your Father and kept all his Precepts and done according to all that he hath commanded you Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever Whig But the consequence from the power of a Master of a Family to the Civil Magistrate's Power is not very clear and that by reason of the incapacity and unfitness of the Matter the bulkiness of the Aggregate for as c. Pamph. Away with these rumbling Similitudes you draw but foisty Arguments from such swelling words of vanity I say the Supreme Magistrate particularly the King of England is better qualified to govern in all cases Civil and Ecclesiastical in his Dominions than any Master can be for domestick in his Family God has furnish'd him with means suitable to the greatness and variety of his charge for Ecclesiastical affairs Rex Angliae est persona mixta cum Sacerdote in the same sense that Constantine the Great vouch'd himself to be a Bishop and the Church of Christ acknowledged him He is custos utriusque Tabulae And as he can command you to hold up your hand at the Bar of God's Justice whose Vicegerent he is in case you break any one Commandment so can he command you to kneel before the Throne of Grace in token of your Obedience So that indeed I grant you that the power of a Master of a Family may not be compared with that of the Supreme Magistrate indeed if you look into the late Rebellion the Supreme Magistrate was made low enough but if you look into the Present State of England you will find by Common Civil Canonical Apostolical by all manner of Law that our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second is by the grace of God in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour Look into the late Rebellion and you will find that they were such scrupulous Buffoons as your self that broke the Boundaries of Order and Obedience under the pretence of Reformation and Conscience and turned the Nation Topsy-turvy in Blood and Gore I have formerly shewn what was their Reformation As for their Consciences they were not very tender when they made none you are mightily offended that such a Tender Conscience should be thought a melancholy delusion or a superstitious qualm But with what confidence are you so brisk upon that instance of David's heart smiting him when he cut off Saul's skirt when you are Pag. 375. pleading for the Consciences of those Dissenters that cut off King Charles his Head You are merrily prophane when you say pag. 381. that you wonder that among all the Apocryphal Epistles of our Saviour to Agbarus or Paul to Seneca that we meet with none of the Apostles to Nero That whereas their Lord and Master either through the hurry of business had forgotten or the littleness of the things had neglected to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Imperial Majesty that he would review and revise their Religion and such other mystical Ceremonies significant of Gospel-grace wherewith his well-known Piety could not but be intimately acquainted c. And his Petitioners shall humbly pray c. Sir Had you drawn a Petition according to the strain and humour of those Dissenters you plead for it should have run thus That whereas their Lord and Master whose Kingdom was not of this world had not left them Amunition enough to settle his Churches c. That therefore they humbly beseech his Protectorship to grant them the Militia of the Empire the Pretorian Bands and to add such other things significant of Gospel-power wherewith c. And his Petitioners shall heartily fight c. Whig Hark you Sir have you nothing to say to the Authour of Julian the Apostate Pamph. Yes I suppose he is one of your disciples and has learn'd both his Loyalty and his Modesty from you one would think that you had spit into his mouth that very Complement you by the way of Similitude pass upon the Supreme Magistrate Page 361. It was say you a Malicious Artifice of Julian the Apostate to erect the Images of the Heathen gods in the Forum near his own Statue reducing hereby the Christians to this Dilemma either to seem to worship the Images
Greg. Epist lib. 6. cap. 3. know it he detested it as a Symptome of Antichrist and Phocas who bestowed it upon Pope Boniface did not doe it untill he had an occasion to bestow his Master the Emperour Mauritius in the other World But now said he you may plainly see it with your Eyes look you there there is the Globe of the whole Earth of which the Pope is the Lord and Governour 't is true you Hereticks wander in some little bye Places as in England and in some petty Hans-Towns of Germany but his Authority is extended over all the World all the Indies acknowledge him all Italy France Spain Poland Hungaria Transylvania Gallicia Valentia Granada Andalusia Hold Hold Sir cryed he if you should stumble o'er the Straits Mouth you will beat out your Brains against Hercules's Pillars Pray let us examine this Monster 's Noddle what a grievous bruise has Martin Luther given him with his High Dutch Knuckles he has broken I do not know how many Degrees of Longitude and Latitude all Great Britain is quite beat out and the Low-Countries are so sunck in that I believe he must be trepan'd before he can recover in short the Protestants are almost as numerous as the Papists But suppose we grant him that thumping Appellation why did Pope Paul the 5th in his Bull wherein he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth use that sneaking Title of Servant of Servants your Triple Servant He should have sent a good deep-mouth'd Nuncio that should have stretch'd his Muzzle to the uttermost and have roar'd like a crack of Thunder among the Alpes and have cryed Paolo quinto Papa Monarcha di Regno di Vaticano Segnor del mondo supremo santissimo Vmano magistrato c. This would have conjur'd down all the Protestants and have put them into such a trembling Fit that they would have shak'd all their Heresie out of the Knees of their Breeches this would have better suited him who is the most serene and invincible Sultan of Contradictions the Grand-Seignior of all Mental Reservations and Equivocations the Sophi of Legends and Romances the Great Mogul of Indulgences the Czar of Holy Impostures and Pious Cheats the Great Cham of the Inquisition c. Hold Sir cryed one of the Papists this is Railery and Abuse 't is as true replyed he as that the Pope is Vniversal Bishop let him but keep within his own Diocese and not meddle any more with the Rights of Sovereign Kings and Princes and there is no body that I know of will be so ready to complement him from the Artick to the Antartick Pole for the Future But we hope cryed several of them you will allow our Church to be the Catholick Church For this word Catholick there has been much scrambling these many Years replyed he and you have taken much pains to monopolize it to your See of Rome in order to which for the great number of humane Hereticks whom you excommunicate you take all manner of Beasts Fowles and Fishes into the Pale of your Church St. Francis first converted the Birds and then afterwards he fully convinc'd and satisfied a Wolf that had a very tender Conscience nor was he the onely Apostle to the Brutes but the Bishop Book of Conf. p. 114. of Canaglion managed as difficult a Diocess in the Year 1593 for he Catholickly accused the Fishes so that afterwards they without all doubt believed the Doctrine of Holy Water St. Bernard in a Fit of Popery is reported by * Pet. de Nat. in vit Bern. Petrus de Natalibus to have excommunicated the Flies and therefore several Species of Creatures observing that all Regular Orders had put themseves under the Protection of some considerable Saints have likewise listed themselves the Dogs under St. Hubert a Huntsman the Horses under St. Loys their Ostler-General and because the Geese once preserved the Capitol there was an Order from the Vatican that St. Feriol should take care of them And so said he I hope we are all satisfied as to the Vniversality of the Romish Church pray set forth the Antiquity of it Upon this all the Papists desired that they might save that Argument untill the last fancying that it gathered strength every Moment and desired the Assembly to take into their consideration the Vnity of their Church and the Supremacy of the Pope as for the Protestants cryed one of them they are divided into as many Factions as there are days in the Year and make an Anarchy of the Kingdom of Grace but the Roman Catholicks are all united under one Head the Pope so making the true Hierarchy of the Holy Catholick Church Upon this one of the Church of England stood up and said as for our Church it has no more to doe or answer for the Factions among Protestants than yours nor so much neither when did ever any Minister of the Church of England preach the Doctrines of Fanaticks to promote its Interest when did any of them ever preach that which in their Consciences they knew to be a Lye for the sake of the Truth and if you look into your own you will find those Divisions which never were in our Church as the differences betwixt the Dominicans and Franciscans betwixt the Jansinists and Mollinists which have been continued with the greatest heats imaginable 't is true the Pope hath sometimes interposed his Authority but to no great purpose but where was the Papal Authority in the days of the Anti-Popes or what will become of it if the Jesuits gain their designs will all other Orders acknowledge the Papal Authority if the Jesuits confine it to their own the Church of England can never be subject to such a Fatal Division so long as the King of England is acknowledged to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour As for the Pope's Supremacy that has been so sufficiently pelted with good Greek and Latin by many of these Learned Authours that I will onely humbly drop a few Queries concerning it at this time First then We desire to know Whether our Saviour ever granted it to St. Peter Secondly Whether the present Pope be his Successour Thirdly Suppose it was granted to St. Peter Whether there was any need of forging the Donation of Constantine afterwards Fourthly If it was granted to St. Peter because he first confess'd him to be Christ the Son of the living God Whether Pope Leo the 10th had any right to it for saying to Cardinal Bembo * Crispinus Quantum nobis nostrique ea de Christo fabula prosuerit satis est omnibus secuâ— notum Fifthly we desire to know whether any Bishoprick in Christendom remaining can shew a Succession so disordered and corrupted as that of Rome Not to mention their strange Schisms let any Person but consider the Stratagems and impious Intrigues of the Conclave the Factions of the Nepotism contrary to that Solemn Oath they take enough to make Angels tremble and he will conclude
that there is more of the Old City than of the Ancient Church in Rome Lastly If the Papal Supremacy be so absolutely necessary to Christ's Kingdom here on Earth Whether the Cardinals be not strange Men that they by their long Janglings and Disputes upon a Vacancy and at an Election should so long debar him from the Administration of that Power by his Vicar And whether it be not more suitable to a Monarchy that suffers no Interregnum And consequently since Rex Angliae non moritur The King of England is said not to dye according to our Law whether the King be not according to the 37th Article the Supreme Governour in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil in all his Dominions and whether the Bishop of Rome hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction in any of them At this a Jesuit stood up and looking earnestly upon some newly proselyted Papists Regard not said he what any prating Heretick of them all says Have we not made you sufficiently sensible that all the Protestant Religion is an Innovation that King Henry the 8th a mere Julian was the first that apostatiz'd from the Holy Catholick Faith the first that arrogated to himself the Pope's incommunicable Dignity of being Head of the Church 'T is false replyed one of the Church of England King Henry the 8th onely reassum'd what some of his Predecessours own'd what none of them ever could or any of his Successours ever can give away from the Crown of England But the Papal Supremacy is an Usurpation and an Innovation too 't was never heard of in the World untill above 600 Years after Christ nay Pope Boniface the 3 d was the first that ever pretended to be the Vniversal Bishop The Christians in * Tertull. ad Scap. cap. 2. Tertullians's time acknowledg'd the Emperour to be Hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem And †Opt. Lib. 3. Optatus has the same Strain Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem What need I mention what Cyril and Chrysostome and Gregory the Great and Pope Agatho have clearly and plainly said and written upon this Point you have been told often enough nay in that Council which you call the Eighth General Council the Emperour Basilius publickly professeth none of the Bishops contradicting him * Epag Basilii in Conc. quod vocat Act. 8. 1. Gubernacula Ecclesiasticae navis sibi a Deo commissa That the Government of the Church was committed to him by God There was no reply made of a long time for a great bustle that was among the Papists at last three or four lusty Fellows came dragging in a mighty tall Statua almost resembling the old Image of St. Christopher in Nostre Dame in Paris he held in his Hand a long Scroll which was a Catalogue of all the Popes and was hung from Head to Foot with all manner of old fashion'd Trumpery Before it march'd an aged Hermit with a Scyth in his Hand and looking upon the Protestants as if he would have mowed them down at once Ye base Innovatours cryed he that have troubled the World with new Doctrines where was your Religion before Luther See here the ancient and undeniable Records of ours see here the infallible Traditions of many Ages by which we clearly know that we profess the same Fundamental Truths the first Martyrs asserted who were so very old that their Beards help'd to burn them and which none but a Company of new fangled Hereticks in the last Century ever denyed Good Father grey-Beard replyed Bishop Montague don 't think to afright us out of our Senses with an old Worm-eaten Idol over-run with Cobwebs you might as well have brought a Tom of Bedlam with the Luggage of the Gibeonites to prove the Antiquity of your Doctrines as this old wither'd Hercules for assure your self we cannot onely prove them the spurious Inventions of your Cabalistical Innovatours but we can tell you the very Time and Occasions of the introducing every one of them into the Christian Church we have not onely the Scriptures Fathers and Councils maintaining all the grounds of the Protestant Religion according to the Reformation of our Church of England but before it even in the darkest days of Popery we meet with many the learned'st Men that those Ages afforded inveighing against the Corruptions both in Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of Rome as Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln William Occham John Gerson Picus Mirandula Hierom Saveranola Hus and Hierom the Followers of Waldo and in the Year 1260 Nicholas Gallique wrote a Book upon that Subject entituled the Fiery Dart But since we cannot convince you of the Antiquity of Protestantism we will be so complemental for this once as to allow Popery to be older than Christianity it self it is no difficult thing to prove several of your Legends out of Livie and Valerius Maximus what a dull Theologue was Lipsius not to remember that several of the fine Stories he tells concerning our * Just â—ips de Virg. Hallu cap 6. Lady at Hall were long before recorded of the †Val. Max. lib. 1. cap 8. Statua of Claudia plac'd in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods the speaking and Miracles of Images are all Ethnick Illusions and the friskings of Monkish Puppets the Artificial Contrivances of Heathenish Oracle-mongers many of your Saints are slipt into places of Trust held by the old Deities but I wonder that since Diana had so noble an Office as to hunt the Stag and the Wild-Bore that St. Gertrude should get no better Preferment in your Legends than that of a paltry Rat-catcher But we will talk no more of the Antiquity of your Religion As for that Jesuit who boasts so much of it although he is the greatest Innovatour amongst you yet rather than fail upon occasion he can learnedly prove his own Order to be the eldest as well as the richest in the World nay contemporary with the very Hivites and Perizzites for Numb 26. 44. we reade Of Jesui the Family of the Jesuits He had a great deal more to say to them but that he was interrupted with a great Crowd and Noise of Clergy-men coming in from all parts of the Kingdom who made great Complaints against the Presbyterians and other Dissenters for that they in a time when the Government both in Church and State was in such danger by reason of the Papists were then more ungovernable restless and insolent than at any other time and indeed so it plainly appeared for those there present began to be troublesome and mutinous pretending great Fears of Popery but levelling all their Invectives against Persons the most remarkable for Loyalty and Conformity and clamouring for a speedy Reformation of I do not know what holding a great many Seditious Pamphlets in their Hands complaining railing petitioning threatning which when the Papists observed they very cunningly slipt away well knowing that they had too much alarm'd