will remain Sacred and Venerable whatever I have proved him to be nor lose any more of the respect which is due to it because he is a Bishop than human Nature can lose of the Honour and Dignity which is due to it because he is a Man Though Bishops turn Rebels and make Rebels and Outlaws Bishops yet I must reverence the Function by reason I think it of Divine Institution But notwithstanding all my Reverence for it I think it ought not to be a Cover and Protection for ill Men who pervert whole Nations and Churches especially for insolent and cruel Men who persecute their Brethren for no other Reason but because they profess and practise the same Doctrines which they themselves formerly taught the People and because they have endeavoured to convince the World by their Books That these Men are Apostates and have done both our Church and Religion much more harm than they can do it good These are the Traytors to that very Order which some of them have Usurped and seem ready to give up the uninterrupted Succession upon which the Priesthood depends if they may but by gaining one Sort of Dissenters better secure their Baronies and Revenues which they mind more than the Honour of their Order or the Catholick Rights of the Church What else means their Courting at such a fulsom Rate those in one Kingdom who have destroyed it in another Why else are they so ready to treat it away under a Pretence of Union with Dissenters and in Complement to Foreign Churches Why contrary to former Times do they suffer some French Ministers who have not had Episcopal Ordination to Preach and Administer the Sacraments at the Church in the Savoy and its Dependences which by the Act of Uniformity is a Member of the Church of England What means this new Discovery of Comprehension in so many of the late Funeral Sermons which the Convocation rejected Why do they exhort Lay-men to support and Clergy-men to comply with Presbytery in Scotland as I have shewed our Preacher and his Heroe did Or lastly What means the new Hypothesis of * See the Book of the Revelation paraphrased with Annotations on each Chapter Lond. printed by Rich. Wellington at the Lute in St. Paul's Churchyard 1694. Witnessing Churches That because the Churches in Savoy and France which have no Bishops have born their Testimony against Popery therefore Bishops by uninterrupted Succession and Priests of Episcopal Ordination which have been the signal Blessing of the Church of England are not necessary to the Church At the Rate that Annotator writes in very many Places of his Book and Preface we must blend our pure Orders and Priesthood not only with Ministers who derive their Mission from Presbyters but with Ministers who derive them ultimately from meer Lay-men as many of the first Reformers both in France and Savoy were Nay at this rate of talking I know not what is necessary to Christianity either as a Sect professing Doctrines or a Society which Antiquity so much undervalued by him called the Catholick Church For Anabaptists Quakers and Socinians have born their Testimony against Popery and will bear it and therefore in his wild way of Writing not only Bishops but Priests nor Episcopal Orders only but all Orders with Infant Baptism and the Lord's Supper may be parted with as Temporary Ordinances for comprehension of all Sects that pretend to be Christian and witnesses against the Church of Rome Nay this dangerous Hypothesis of the witnessing Churches may for any Thing I see to the contrary be improved to the Advantage of the Jews to prove them to be the Church of God For they have born and will bear their Testimony against Popery and great Numbers of them have died Martyrs against it in the Inquisition I need but mention the Mahumetans who abhor Popery for its Image-Worship and the Invocation of Saints as much as the Witnessing Churches And therefore it is a mad way of arguing to cure us of our Fondness as he is pleased to call it for our uninterrupted Episcopal Succession because the Witnessing Churches have the Misfortune to want it This is the Argument of the Fox in the Fable who had lost his Tail and had Men argued in this manner in the Primitive Times they might have laid aside both the Sacraments in the Church because great Numbers of Catechumens died Martyrs or Witnesses against the Idolatry of Rome Pagan which notwithstanding all the Comments and Annotations of some Men I believe was much more Abominable than that of the modern Papal Rome This Annotator I take to be one of those Men who drive on for Comprehension and with those Latitudinarians it was and more particularly Dr. Tillotson that Dr. Sherlock (a) Temple Serm. upon the Death of the Queen p. 16 17. saith Their Majesties and more particularly the Queen who had more leisure for such Thoughts were inspired with great and pious Designs to serve the Church of England whatever some Men might suspect though it may be not perfectly in their own way But why does he not tell us what this way was And whether it was consistent with his Queries his Book of Union and Communion and his Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's unreasonableness of Separation from the Church of England Dr. Bates the Non-conformist tells us (b) Sermon upon the Death of the Queen p. 20. It was to unite Christians in Things essential to Christianity but he doth not tell us what those Essential Things were or whether they were Things Essential to Christianity as a Society as well as a Sect. But I desire plainly to know what those Things were which they thought Essential to Christianity and in which they were to be United For I am afraid they had a Design to form an Union against the Catholick Church and in order to it give up some Things as not Essential which many as learned and good Men as Dr. T. and these Doctors would have thought Essential to Christianity and that their parting with them would have involved in it a parting with the Lord's Day and Infant Baptism nay all Baptism and the Lord's Supper with the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and have done no good Office to the Power of the Keys nor to the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures which depends so much upon Tradition That they themselves alone are not alone sufficient to prove it without the Testimony of the Church It was my Design in writing these Discourses to aim at all the Men of this broad Way of Union as well as against those Two whom I have detected and thereby to warn the rest of the Clergy against them For God be thanked the main Body of our Clergy are Men of quite different Spirits they do not persecute their old Brethren for their strict Doctrines but pity and help to support them They know by Experience how hard it was for Conscience to overcome the Difficulties of the new Oath and therefore
St. Ambrose and St. Augustin but more especially one that desired to be an Orthodox Divine should methinks have well studied the Clements the Ignatius's the Polycarps the Irenaeus's the Tertullians and the Cyprians who (c) Ibid. he saith were the Glories of the Golden Age of the Church He had better by much have studied all them than all the Ancient Philosophers and had he went into all the best Things of those Fathers as it seems he did into all the best Things of Bishop Wilkins I need not fear to say he had been a much surer Guide as well as a more learned and profound Divine and had not been so ready at all times to treat away those Things with Dissenters which give such an Advantage to the Church of England above all the Reformed and more particularly enable her to answer that unhappy Question of our common Adversaries Where is your Mission The not being able to answer which as we can do hath contributed more to the Ruin of the French Reformed Church than all the late Persecution For he would have learned in those Fathers who lived nearest to the Times of the Apostles that Bishops were their Successors and next under Christ the Heads of their particular Dioceses From whom the Presbyters derived their Powers and to whom they and the People were to be subject for Christ's sake Had he thoroughly learned and imbibed this Doctrine which is best learned from those Fathers he would in all likelihood have been as loth to part from it as those the Latitudinarian Projectors are apt to call narrow and angry Men because they are not for Treaties of Comprehension with Dissenters upon such Terms as are not consistent with the Catholick and Apostolick Tradition concerning Episcopacy and Episcopal Ordinations and which if yielded to would be of more dangerous Consequence to the Religion we profess than all our Dissenters are or can be Notwithstanding all this our Preacher cannot but tell us (a) P. 17. of his tender Method of treating with Dissenters and of his Endeavours to extinguish that Fire and to unite us among our selves But he doth not tell us what were the Principles and Terms of Union upon which we were to be united nor how many of the Dissenters were to be taken in I can tell one Project which will take them all in and Roman Catholicks with them and that is to comprehend all who will subscribe to the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and all the Doctrines contained therein And if he shall say That such a Comprehension is too wide and such an Union more than all Divisions I am afraid when we shall know what this Man 's tender Method of Union or pious Designs as (b) Temp. Ch. Serm. preached Dec. 30. 1694 p. 17. Dr. Sherlock calls them were there will be Reason to say the same Thing of it and them For I make no difficulty to confess to the Reverend Doctor That I am one of those many Thousands who suspect his admirable Primates pious Designs of serving the Church his own way For he was always for blending of Orders under Pretence of Union and since he commenced admirable Primate he was wont to advise the Scottish Episcopal Clergy-men to submit to their Presbyterians and do all Acts of Compliance to their pretended Authority which was in effect to advise them not only to commit the highest Act of Disobedience and Schism against their own Bishops but to abjure Episcopacy with those who detest and abjure it as an Antichristian Usurpation over the Church of God The good Lord of his Mercy deliver his Church from such admirable Primates and Bishops as are Traytors to their own Order and from such tender Methods of Union and pious Designs of serving the Church as they may without breach of Charity be supposed to have Our Preacher as well as his Heroe may be numbred among those pious Designers for going to wait upon the Duke of Hamilton when he was last in London some days before he went for Scotland He took upon him to tell his Grace That he would ruin his Interest if he did not stick fast to the Presbyterian Cause for they began to fear that he was not for it to them And thereupon he advised him as he regarded his own Standing and the Kings Favour to be sure to promote the Presbyterian Interest This the Duke told to a Person of Honour before he left the Town And now hear O ye * See the Pref. before Bedel's Life Clements Ignatius's Polycarps Deny's Irenaeus's and Cyprians of the Golden Age of the Church was not this Apostolical Councel in a Man that bears your holy Character Could he do any Thing more unworthy of it than to advise a Prince of his Country to support those and stick to these who have declared your Holy Order to be Antichristian and abolished it as an Usurpation and deprived your Successors as much as in them lies for Usurpers over the Church of God Nay let all Men that read this Story consider it a little in its just Consequences and Reflections upon this wretched Man as he is a Bishop and a Bishop who formerly asserted the Office of a Bishop to be an Apostolical Institution Read what he hath wrote for it in his Preface to Bishop Bedel's Life It is not possible to think that a Government can be Criminal under which the World received the Christian Religion and that in a Course of many Ages in which as all the Corners of the Christian Church so all the Parts of it the Sound as well as the Unsound that is the Orthodox as well as the Hereticks and Schismaticks agreed The Persecutions that then lay so heavy upon the Church made it no desirable Thing for a Man to be exposed to their first Fury which was always the Bishops Portion And that in a Course of many Centuries in which there was nothing but Poverty and Labour to be got by the Employment There being no Princes to set it on as an Engin of Government and no Synods of Clergy men gathered to assume that Authority to themselves by joynt Designs and Endeavours And can it be imagined that in all that glorious Cloud of Witnesses to the Truth of the Christian Religion there should not so much as one single Person be found on whom either a Love of Truth or an Envy of the Advancement of others prevailed so far as to declare against such an early and universal Corruption if it is to be esteemed one When all this is complicated together it is really of so great Authority that I love not to give the proper Name to that Temper that can withstand so plain a Demonstration For what can a Man even herited with all the Force of Imagination and possessed with all the Sharpness of Prejudice except to the Inference made from these Premisses That a Form so soon introduced and so wonderfully blest could not be contrary to the Rules of the Gospel
signifies grieving our fellow Christians and by our Example occasioning others to sin I will instance in his giving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to those who would receive it in no posture but that irreverent one of sitting This was his Practice at Lincoln's Inn Chappel whither a great Lady of Dr. Owen's Congregation and one of his Hearers too would sometimes resort to receive the Sacrament because as she told a Noble Lord of my acquaintance she could receive it theâ—e sitting And his Practice as a devout Gentlewoman who lived in that Neighbourhood assured me was first to walk about with the Elements to those in the Pews where the Sitters were and give it them first but in the last place to those who kneel'd at the Rail within which he would not go as decency would have directed another Man but coming behind them he gave it them in the Letter of the Proverb over the left Shouldier So the late Bishop of St. Asaph at Dr. Kidder's Church not long after the Revolution gave Dr. Bates and some others the Sacrament in the same irreverent posture to the great offence of some part of the Congregation that saw it and for ought he knew to the endangering of others to despise the Orders of the Church I could give other instances of this nature in the other Sacrament of Baptism wherein the defunct Hero hath acted without excuse against the Churches Orders to the great scandal of others who came to know it and violating the prescribed Rules of Decency and Edification which I suppose come under our Preacher's lesser Matters and when I consider how notoriously He and his Hero have acted in other instances against Justice Mercy Faith and Charity I cannot tell what he esteems the great Truths and Duties of Christianity or the weightier Matters of the Law But he * p. 15. tells us however that his UNBLEMISHED HERO saw with a deep regret the fatal Corruptions of this Age while the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former times disposed many to Atheism and Impiety But methinks he should have said nothing of the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times since they cannot but put men in mind of the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of these which for kind have been the same and for degree or Atrocity as great as those and have also as much disposed men to Atheism and Impiety Was it not rebelling under the Holy pretence of Religion Was it not for taking God's Holy Name in vain in Fasts and Thanksgivings to break his Holy Laws and Judgements with a Popular shew of Sanctimony that he means by the Hypocrisie of former Times and have not the same things been done over again in these And then as for the Extravagancies of those former Times does he not mean by them the proceeding so far under those hypocritical Pretences as first to rise up in Arms against Charles the I. then to abdicate him in the Vote of Non addresses then to murder him before his own Palace and last of all to defend those Extravagancies under the same hypocritical Pretences and magnifie those who did them as our Deliverers to whom we owed the conservation of our Religion Lives and Liberties And if this be his meaning as in appearance it must then I pray him to compare Times with Times Facts with Facts and Pretences with Pretences and then to tell me if as great Extravagancies have not been done in our days And lastly as to disposing men to Atheism and Impiety I appeal to the Consciences of all serious observing men if what hath been done in by and since the Revolution call it by what name you please hath not disposed many more to Atheism and Impiety than what he calls the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times I have heard that in one of his Visitation Speeches to the Clergy of Wiltshire he complained of the deluge of Atheism and Impiety that overflowed this Nation and would to God he would lay his hand upon his heart and consider whether He and his Hero and his Hero's Successor have not among some others helped to set open the Floudgates to that overflowing Deludge by what they have done under the irreligious Pretence of serving and preserving our Religion by acting not only against the plainest Precepts of it but the common notions of Justice Truth and Honesty and their own former Doctrines which now bear witness against them and will hereafter without Repentance rise up in Judgment against them and condemn them when our Lord shall say unto them and every one that hath acted like them out of thy Mouth out of thy Writings will I condemn thee thou wicked Servant In that day this will be the aggravation of their condemnation above the Marshalls the Calamies the Owens and the Goodwins of former Times that they acted the same Iniquities against their own avowed Doctrins and Principles and Subscriptions whereby they had most publickly frequently and solemnly Anathematiz'd the Practises of those men and I will take upon me to say that for any one Athiest He or his Hero converted before the Revolution they have made ten since and that if those men slew their thousands these have slain their ten thousands and I pray God He and some others who have time of Repentance yet left them may consider what I say before it is too late It is scarce worth my pains to examine what he hath said in the same page of the Design that was laid he means in the Reign of King Charles the II. to make us first Athiests that we might more easily be made Papists this seems to be an odd design at least an odd way of expressing it to make men Athiests that they may more easily be made Papists that is first to bring them to believe no Religion that they may believe the Popish and teach them to laugh at the three Creeds that they might believe all the Articles of Pope Pius the IV. with all the supernumerary Traditions of the Roman Church King Charles the II. indeed was not so careful as he should have been in the great Concern of Religion but that was to be imputed also to the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times which did with his Father as these have done with his Brother but to suggest that he laid a Design to make men Papists by first making of them Athiests is as ridiculous as to say it now when Atheism abounds much more than it did in his Reign One may as reasonably say that he laid a design to make us first Papists that he might more easily make us Rebels or Socinians as our Preacher hath been long made But if by making us Papists he means outward Professors of Popery I must tell him that King Charles the II. was too wise a Prince to think that Athiests could ever be brought to that in such a Nation and Government as this where no inquisition or force sufficient to bring that about could be set up
they * Among the worthy Men I here describe may justly be reckoned the late learned Mr. Wharton who put out Archbishop Laud's Works Dr. Dove who as all the World knows took the new Oath with so much reluctance and once turned Dr. B. out of his House for arguing as he thought too warmly for the Government And more particularly Dr. Scot of worthy Memory who first refused the Bishoprick of Chester because he could not take the Oath of Homage and afterwards anotther Bishoprick the Deanry of Worcester and a Prebendary of the Church of Windsor because they all were Places of deprived Men and therefore Dr. Isham in his Funeral Sermon did improperly make them attendants upon the Obsequies of the late blessed Queen as he is pleased to say To these may be added the learned Dr. Busby I dare not name the Living retain vey tender Compassions for those who could not overcome them and honour them in their Hearts as Men of Principles who are most Faithful to the English Monarchy Zealous for the Honour and Prosperity of the Royal Family and the Catholick Doctrines and Rights of the Church Nay I have Reason to hope that they wait for the Times of healing and refreshing when they may come again to Communion with them under the Rightful Bishops who never did betray their Order or act in contradiction to the Doctrines of the Church I know in some measure what I say to be true and if any Man doubt of it let him consider what Inclinations the Convocation discovered at its first Sitting down But these Two Men and the rest against whom these Discourses are intended are to be considered as Men of quite another Spirit For they revile and persecute their old Brethren and say all manner of Evil falsely against them for their Principles sake and for their adhering to them If they are to preach before a great Audience especially upon a solemn Occasion then they will be sure to inveigh against them and as they think expose them for their Paucity or want of Reason or Peevishness or which is very strange for being dangerous to the Goverment which it is impossible for so small a Number of Men to be unless they have Truth on their side I have shewed in several Instances how this persecuting Spirit discovered it self in these Two Men upon whom I have discoursed and how it possesseth another of them may be seen in his (a) P. 18. Funeral Sermon at the Abby before the Lords and Commons in which he tells them of a domestick Discontent which Reigns in those whose Resentments are stronger than their Reasons Might he not as well have said My Lords and Gentlemen we are now engaged in a Foreign War and it concerns you to provide new Laws against our domestick Male contents whose Malice against the Government is of more dangerous Consequence to it than their Arguments and their Resentments stronger than their Reasons And I pray you let them know (b) This was the Message which Hugh Peters brought from Cromwel and the Army to the London Ministers before the Tryal of Charles the First That if they are for Suffering they shall have Suffering enough I would not have my Reader think that I put this Gloss upon his Words without Cause for he hath been a Persecutor of his old Brethren both by Word and Deed ever since they were deprived It was he that egged on Justice Tully when Vicar of St. Martins to drive a Meeting of Sufferers out of his Parish I could name the Gentleman that read his Letter to that purpose over the Justice's Shoulder as he stood reading it in the Street and this Spirit of Persecution in him proceeds from a Spirit of Latitude which makes him he cannot endure the Men of strict Suffering Principles beccause they and their Reasonings which he seems to undervalue so much but really stands in awe of are contrary to him in all his Designs I say he stands in awe of their Reasonings and therefore hath taken more Pains than any one Man among them to suppress them by hunting out the private Presses and getting their Books seized I have Reprinted a Paper in the (c) N. IX Appendix first published by the Messenger of the Press That Posterity may see from an Authentick Testimony what a severe Inquisition hath been made against their Books and how many of them have been destroyed No Man knew this better than himself and therefore it was equal Insolence and Disingenuity in him to disparage their Reasons when he was so conscious to himself of the Endeavours he and others had used to stifle them in the Birth Certainly there must be something formidable in their Books and some Reasonings in them which these Men of Latitude cannot well Answer that they use so much diligence to suppress them at a time when Atheists Hereticks and Republicans print and publish what they please with little or no molestation Why all this ado to suppress their Books more than others if their Reasonings are not strong But because he saith That their Resentments are stronger than their Reasons I have concluded my Appendix with a (a) N.X. Catalogue of their Books which lie unanswered and he may try his strength to answer any one of them when he will Some of his Brethren have published their Reasons and been soundly baffled by the Men of Resentment as he calls them but he never thought fit to give them Opportunity of answering any of his which makes it intolerable in him to Censure their Reasons in publick but especially in such an august Assembly before he had published his own or answered those Things which some years since have been (b) In a Book entitled A Vindication of some among our selves against the false Principles of Dr. Sherlock objected to him out of his own Writings I have taken this Method in the following Discourses of objecting many Things against Dr. Burnet and his Heroe out of their own Writings particularly about the Nature of the Christian Religion and to that which I have produced out of the former Reflections upon Varillas concerning Religion I desire this may be added out of the first Dialogue of his modest and free Conference printed 1669. In that Dialogue he thus answers the folâ—owing Objection N. The Law of Nature teacheth us to defend our selves and so there is no need of Scripture for it C. This is marvelous Dealing in other Things you always flee from Reason as a carnal Principle to Scripture but here you quit Scripture and appeal to it But it seems you are yet a Stranger to the very Design of Religion which is to tame and mortify Nature and it is not a natural Thing but supernatural Therefore the Rules of defending and advancing of it must not be borrowed from Nature but Grace The Scriptures are also strangely contrived since they ever tell us of suffering Persecution without giving your Exception that we may resist when we
repeat in his own Words Saith he There is no Piece of Story which I read with such Pleasure as the Accounts given of the Martyrs for methinks they leave a Fervour upon my Mind which I meet with in no Study that of the Scriptures excepted Say not then They were not able to have stood to their Defence when it appears how great their Numbers were or shall I here tell you the known Story of the Thebean Legion which Consisted of 6666. c. In the Year 1673. the Stories of the Primitive Martyrs and this in particular left a Fervour upon his Mind which he never felt in his usual Studies but in 1687 the Year before the Revolution he stages it for a copious and incredible Legend in his Preface before Lactantius without so much as telling the World that he had been in that common Errour of the Learned and thought the Fable true The Arguments with which he Assaults it are all Negative and such as one would think he could not believe himself First he argues against it from the Silence of Eusebius though (a) Hist Eccl. l. 8. c. 13. Eusebius in his History of the Dioclesian Persecution professes to omit many of the Conflicts of those who suffered in divers Parts of the Empire leaving them to be described by those that were Eye witnesses to them Secondly from the Silence of Sulpitius Severus who mentions not one single Fact of that Persecution saying no more of it than that it continued X Years in which time the whole World was Dyed with the Blood of the Martyrs The Christians then striving for Martyrdom which he saith was more sought for among them than Bishopricks by the ambitious Clergy of his time from whence it came to pass That the World was never so much wasted by any War that stands upon Record in History as by that Persecution successively for X Years in which the Christians had so many Triumphs The Famous Martyrdoms of that time are yet extant which I shall not set down here because I would keep within the small Compass of this little Work This is the short Account of that Persecution in Sulpitius and if the Christians of the Empire then strove for Martyrdom upon the stupid Principle of Non-resistance why might not a Christian Legion under the Conduct of a Non-resisting Leader grow as stupid as other Christians And if all the World which is the Phrase for all the Empire was Dyed with Christian Blood why might not Agaunum have as deep a Tincture as any other Place But Agaunum was in Gaul and Lactantius says he excepts the Gauls from Persecution But the Thebean Legion were Strangers and not Gauls and though Constantius might protect the Gauls he had no Right to protect them or if he had he could not prevent what happen'd to them their Execution being not a State of Persecution but a Casual unforeseen Days-work of Military Discipline on the Edge of Gaul where Constantius was not present to countermand or oppose it But if he had been present he could have had no Authority to have hinder'd it because it was done by the Command of Maximian who was Augustus and as Augustus had Authority over Constantius who was then but Cesar and so by the Dioclesian Constitution of the Empire was subject to his Authority But he saith Lanctantius must needs have heard of so remarkable a Transaction as the Passion of this Legion if it were true Here is the Negative Argument again but I say it might be true and he yet not hear of it For it was but a few hours work of military Discipline in an obscure Corner of the Alps and Lactantius was at that time in Africk where to use his own Argument upon another Occasion (a) A Relation of a Conference had about Religion by Edward Stillingfleet and Gilbert Burnet p. 119. there was neither Printing nor Stages for Pacquets nor Publishing of Mercuries Gazettes and Journals and Men were not wont to amuse themselves at what was doing in the World I could tell him of a Mornings Work in the High-lands of his own Country not much unlike this in Cruelty and done about Three years ago which half of this Nation and of the Clergy themselves have not yet heard of and of those that have if they were to write an History of the Revolution few of them would mention it not excepting our Funeral Orator who I have Reason to think would be content to pass it over in Silence though I do believe Tradition from Father to Son will preserve an Account of it in the Valley of Glancow as it did that of the Thebean Legion till the time of Euchâ—…ius who was the first that committed it to Writing But in one Word the Silence of Lactantius is no Argument against the Truth of it who in his History passed over whole Persecutions which one would think he must needs have heard of and who in the Reign of Dioclesian describing only the Decennial Persecution which began at Nicomedia could not by the terms of his Account mention the Massacre of the Thebean Legion which was done so many Years before No Man would reasonably expect an Account of the fatal and bloody Fight at Edge Hill from an Historian that commences his History from the Tryal of Charles the First or the Restauration of his Son and therefore if our Panegyrist hath no better Arguments against the truth of that Story of the Thebean Legion he may read it still with his old wonted Fervour or if he thinks it worth his pains he may proceed to find out new Arguments against it which such learned Men as Grotius and Vsher have not yet found out but though I have a great Deference for their Authority and that Story upon the Account of it yet I am unconcern'd whether it be Truth or a Fiction and will only put him in Mind that the very Fiction of it proves that the Doctrine of Non-resistance however now exploded by him was the general Belief and Practise of the Antient Christians and a Badg of their Profession in Times of Persecution as much as Baptism it self or any Article in their Creed They call'd it the Doctrine of the Cross and he once pretended to be all Primitive and all Christian for it It used to create a Fervour in his Blood but now he is turned Apostate from it and from the Church of England although he pretends to be a Bishop of it according to his own Words (a) Serm on the 30 of January 1672. p. 36. This Doctrine we justly Glory in and if any who have had their Baptism and Education in our Church have turn'd RENEGADOS from it They prov'd no less Enemies to the Church herself than to the Civil Authority So that their APOSTACY leaves no Blame upon our Church No indeed His Apostacy leaves no Blame on it but however it is such a Blot upon himself that if I were one of those as I profess I am
broken loose from the common Measures of Honesty and Shame and to pay his Reader in false Coin which he truly tells Varillas is more Criminal in History than in other Matters and the least I can say of this pretended Willingness of Luther to make up the Difference between those of Ausbourg and them of the Helvetian Confession by a middle Opinion is what he saith of Varillas That it is all Vision his own Invention and composed out of his own Imagination to serve the popular Design of Comprehension which Dr. Sherlock bemoaned before he took the Oaths That it was still carried on by our Latitudinarians to the indangering of every Thing that hath been received for Catholick and Fundamental in Christianity in the purest Ages of the Church Indeed Comprehension and in order thereunto an universal unlimited Toleration was for many Years the great Diana of our Funeral Preacher and those who doubt of this may soon satisfy themselves in his old Acquaintance Mr. Papin's (b) P. 410. 414. 419. 420. 421. 422. Book entitled La tolerance des Protestants c. in which he vindicates what he had written for Toleration in a former Book entitled La Foi reduite à ses justes bornes and a great part of his Vindication of it consists in Copies of Dr. Burnet's Letters wherein he highly commends the ' foresaid Book and another more extravagant in Latin on the same Subject written by Strimesius But the horrour Papin had of this boundless Latitude which our Church of England Universalist Approved and which as he observes ends in absolute Scepticism gave him a Pretence of turning Romanist to take Sanctuary in the Authority of the Church And now I am upon the Subject of Latitude I will beg leave of the Reader to tell him a Story of Toleration or Comprehension for the Difference sometimes is not great between them which in the end will touch a little on our Preacher of whom I must observe once for all That it is his Opinion that (c) Reflections on the History of Varillas p. 7 8. an Historian who favours his own Side is to be forgiven though he puts a little too much Life in his Colours when he sets out the best Side of his Party and the worst of those from whom he differs and if he but slightly touches the Failures of his Friends and severely aggravates those of the other Side though in this he departs from the Laws of an exact Historian yet this Biass is so Natural that if it lessens the Credit of the Writer yet it doth not blacken him This shews how apt he is to favour his own Friends and his own Party beyond what is just and true and being a known Latitudinarian by his own Rule we can never safely trust him when he commends or defends any of his Friends of that Side And it was upon the Score of Latitudinariism and mystical Devotion that he loved to extol Dr. Layton though by some Canons he hath cited in his History of the Rights of Princes he was an Usurper of the See of Glascow as Dr. Tillotson was esteemed to be in a more offensive Degree of the See of Canterbury But to return to his admired Dr. Layton he was so great a Libertine in Comprehension that he freely offered to receive the ejected Presbyterian Ministers without Episcopal Ordination if they would come in and to transact all Things in the Government of the Church with his Presbyters by plurality of Suffrages strictly speaking as if he were no more than a Presbyter among them Archbishop Burnet into whose Chair he intruded told Dr. Gunning Bishop of Ely this Story of his Intruder and he wondering that any Bishop should give up that Power without which he could not act as Bishop asked Dr. Burnet of the truth of it which he positively denied This denial of his obliged the good Archbishop for his Vindication to refer Bishop Gunning to a Book which he had left with a Friend for the truth of what he had told him of the comprehensive Latitude of Dr. Layton I saw the Book and remember it was printed at Glascow and it so fully satisfied the Bishop that he took it home with him but before he went made some Reflections on the want of Ingenuity in Dr. Burnet and concluded his Animadversions upon him with a Trick he shew'd himself It relates to a Book called Naked Truth which the Bishop intended to answer Dr. Burnet among others hearing of it come to wait upon him and when that Discourse arose between them he asked the Bishop upon what Scheme he intended to make his Answer He who was one of the most frank and communicative Men in the World told him how he would answer it from Part to Part which the Doctor observing with Design carried every Thing away and being a swift and ready Writer printed his Answer to it before the other had finished his I said before that he was also an Admirer of * I suppose he is the Angelical Man of whom he speaks such hyperbolical Things in the plural Number and promises a particular Account of him in his Pref. before Bedel's Life Dr. Layton upon the Account of mystical Devotion for he was an Enthusiast of the first magnitude and it was a great Mischance that this Preacher preached not his Funeral Sermon And as upon that Account he admired him so was he wonderfully taken with Labbades Writings and would have perswaded the Duke of Lauderdale to send for him into Scotland One of his greatest London Friends hath also cold me what Pains he and some others formerly took to correct the Enthusiasm of his Temper and keep him from plunging himself into mystical Divinity And when he was Professor at Glascow he was got so far into a Fit of it that he set up for an Ascetick and once being in the Archbishop's House and discoursing with his Daughter upon some common Subject all on a sudden he leaped out of his Chair and with a Tone Look and Gesture all Extatick and Enthusiastical said Words to this Effect Now am I sure of my Salvation now am I sure that if the Earth should open and swallow me up this moment my Soul would go to Heaven I had this Story from the good Archbishop and I mention it because I have observed in very many Instances how Enthusiasm with its Religious Heats makes those in whom it is prevalent do the same ill Things that Atheism in the same degree makes others do They are indeed Depravations of the Mind very different in their Nature and Theory but they agree in the same unrighteous Practices and have a tendency to act the same Evils For if the Atheist does Evil because he believes not the Enthusiast will upon a thousand Occasions believe he may do any Evil. If the one sticks at no Means though never so wicked the other thinks the Goodness of the End will sanctify the most wicked Means In a word They both
sweet and delicious Doctrine (c) 1 Tim. 1.9 10. for the Lawless and Disobedient for the Ungodly and for Sinners for the Unholy and Prophane for (d) Voces Graecae eos significare possunt qui citra necem parentes percusserunt idemque valent quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut notant Suidas Hesych Eustath Polisynops in locum Murtherers of Fathers and Murtherers of Mothers for Man-slayers for Whoremongers for them that defile themselves with Mankind for Man-stealers for Lyars for perjured Persons or any other Things that is contrary to sound Doctrine And accordingly when it was first Published the Atheists and Deists and Socinians of the Town carried it about them to shew it in all Places glorying every where in the Doctrines of it and extolling the Author for a Man who durst speak Truth and set Mankind free from the Slavish Notion of eternal Torments and saying they believed most of our Clergy-men were of the same Opinion if they durst speak out I tell this the rather to provoke the Convocation to purge themselves of the Scandal this Sermon hath raised upon them by a publick Censure of it their own Honour and the Honour of the Church and the Care they have of Peoples Souls obligeth them to do it Nay the People have a Right to demand and require it in God's Name of them and the not doing of it I think in my Conscience will be such an heinous Sin of omission as may justly provoke God to forsake the Church of England as he forsook the Seven Asian Churches and make it as desolate as them Nay furthermore I dare be bold to say That had this Man lived in that Age when the Bishops rose up and deposed Paulus Samosatenus for his Blasphemies they would have deposed him for his For to apply the Words of the Apostle upon another Occasion If Christ the great Doctor and Legislator of his Church and Judg of all Men at the last Day after all his Doctrines and Threatnings concerning Hell-Torments is not obliged to execute them accordingly then is your Preaching O ye Clergy vain and our Faith vain yea and you are found false Witnesses of God because you have testified that he will inflict eternal Torments although he is free to do what he will and may please whether he will inflict them or no. This is the natural Reflection which every Clown will make upon the Clergy upon this Man's Doctrine of Hell Torments and therefore it is to be hoped they will make haste to Anathematize it and that there is more than ordinary Cause for them to do so will appear from this following Story which I had from a Learned Clergy-man of great Sincerity concerning the Secret of this damnable Opinion The first Author of it among us was an old Sceptick of Norwich who wrote a Book of the Subject which he used to put into the hands of others to proselyte them to his Opinion When he put it into the hands of this Clergy-man upon whose Authority I tell this Story he protested to him That he had Converted Dr. Tillotson and Five or Six Divines more most of which are now in great Places of the Church I wish I could have seen that Treatise of his to compare it with this Sermon of Hell Torments and then I should have seen whether the Author of it borrowed it thence as some of his Friends have assured me he borrowed his Rule of Faith in answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Foooing from the Discourses of the Learned Dr. Cradock who designed to answer that Book I have said a great deal on the Occasion of this wretched Sermon but one Thing more I must Remark and it is this (a) P. 156. He tells us That if God intended his Threatnings of Hell Torments should have their Effects to deter Men from Sinning it cannot be imagined that in the same Revelation which declares these Threatnings any intimation should be given of the Abatement or Non-execution of them But for God's sake what need God be so careful not to intimate that which this Man could find out Or why would it weaken his Laws more or take off the Edge and Terrour of his Threatnings for him to intimate this Abatement than for his Ministers to do it And therefore to turn his own Conclusion in his own Phrases upon himself Was it not a very impious Design in him and a betraying Men into misery not only to intimate this Abatement but to teach it and by Arguments in a set Discourse to go about to perswade Men into a Belief of it Had he lived in the Days of that Great and Apostolick Archbishop whose Works he hath Licensed to be published with the just and glorious Title of Martyr he and his Sermon had not passed so free from Censure Oh may that English Cyprian's Primitive Apostolical Spirit of Orthodoxy and Discipline fall upon our English Clergy that God may bless them and delight to do them and the Church good and make them as much the Veneration and Glory as latitude in Projects and Opinions loosness in Discipline and departing in Practice from their Principles have made them the Scorn and Contempt of the World From his Sermon on Hell Torments I pass to that preached at Whitehall in April 1680. upon Joshua 24.15 In which the following Passage though levelled at the Papists gave great Offence to very many both of the Church and Dissenting Communions I cannot think till I be better informed which I am always ready to be that any Pretence of Conscience warrants any Man that is not extraordinarily Commissioned as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were and cannot justify that Commission by Miracles as they did to affront the Established Religion of a Nation although it be false and openly draw Men off from the Profession of it in contempt of the Magistrate and the Laws All that Persons of a different Religion can in such a Case reasonably pretend to is to enjoy the private Liberty and Exercise of their own Consciences and Religion for which they ought to be very thankful and to forbear the open making of Proselytes to their own Religion though they be never so sure they are in the Right till they have either an extraordinary Commission from God to that purpose or the Providence of God make way for it by the Commission or Connivance of the Magistrate This is down-right Hobbism and a witty Lord standing at the King's Elbow when he spake it said Sir Sir do you hear Mr Hobs in the Pulpit In truth according to this Doctrine there 's no stemming the Torrent of any Errour or Irreligion no not of Idolatry it self when it happens to be Regnant and get the Civil Sanction And it severely reflects not only upon the Honour of the Orthodox Bishops and Clergy in the Arian Reigns but on the Memory of the most celebrated Reformers in most Countries And should God permit Popery to
get but one Act of Parliament how Bribed and Pensionary soever in this Nation our Clergy by this Doctrine would have nothing to do but to pray at home and deliver up their Flocks to the Wolves Dr. Gunning the good and learned Bishop of Ely was so sensible of this consequence that he complained loudly of it in the House of Lords as a Doctrine that would serve the Turn of Popery and so inconsistent is it with and destructive of the Rights of the Church as a Society distinct from the State and independent of it especially in Times of Persecution when it must stand upon its own Rights That it occasioned (a) Dr. Lowth of the Subject of Church Power in whom it resides its force extent and execution Printed for B. Tooke 1685. a very Orthodox and Learned Divine to write an excellent Book against it to which it is hoped he will put his last hand and give another Edition And what Dr. Patrick then thought of this easy but treacherous Doctrine may be seen in what he wrote to Dr. Parker then Arch-deacon of Canterbury in the following Words A Passage I assure you which I and some of our common Acquaintance read not without a great deal of Trouble when we fiâ—st saw it They think it would be well to admonish him in a Letter of this Errour and to represent the Consequences of it to him Exposing his Opinion It is plain by another Passage in that Sermon that he was not Awake nor had his Wits about him as he used to have at other Times when he wrote it The Place I mean is Page 9. There the very Existence of a God may be thought to be called into question by him and to be in his account but a Politick Invention For thus he writes pressing Religion as the strongest Band of human Society God is so necessary to the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind as if the Being of God himself had been purposely designed and contrived for the Benefit and Advantage of Men. In which his meaning is so untowardly expressed that you cannot but think he was indisposed when he wrote so untowardly He hath altered this Passage I hear in the (a) The Reader is desired here to observe That though he printed this Sermon a Second time yet the Second Edition is not noted in the Title Page Second Edition but so it is as I have recited it in that which he sent me at its first coming out and indeed that very Parenthesis in the first part of the Sermon till I better informed shews he was in too great haste at least when he composed it else he would never have adventured to deliver his Opinion in a matter of such Moment till he had been better informed of its Truth I do not write this out of any Change there is in my mind concerning Persons or Things having the very same Thoughts I had when you and I conversed more frequently together but the lamentable Case of Things I cannot but have a love to Dr. Tillotson's Person though I have none for his Opinion I therefore would gladly have him well treated though he be never so sharply reproved This with more will be produced under Dr. Patrick's Hand if there be Occasion and he afterwards confirmed it all to Dr. Parker when they met at London and said that he ought to give Satisfaction by a Retractation or else be exposed If he will not be reduced he ought to have no mercy but to be hunted out of the Christian Church when he will not own it And then as for the Dissenters to whom this Passage was no less offensive as our Preacher saith That (b) P. 11. he had a just Value and due Tenderness for them So he must give me leave to add on this Occasion That his Tenderness for them was much greater than for those of the Church for he made them Satisfaction for the Scandal this Passage gave them but would never do any Thing to remove the Offence which he gave his Brethren of the Church I came to know this Secret by an honourable Person of my Acquaintance who happening to give Dr. Cox a Visit presently after Dr. Stillingfleet had published his Sermon of the Mischief of Separation found Mr. Baxter at his House vehemently inveighing both against it and him This gave occasion to that Gentleman to ask him why he was so severe upon that Sermon and the Author of it and yet took no notice of another which was newly come out and which he thought had given the Men of his Party as muh offence as it did to those of the Church of England What Sermon is that said Mr. Baxter It is the Dean of Canterbury's Court Sermon saith he wherein he tells you That you must not affront the Established Religion nor openly draw Men off from the Profession of it Oh! replied Mr. Baxter he gave us great Offence indeed but he hath cried Peccavi and made us Satisfaction but your other Dean is a proud haughty Man that will retract nothing The Gentleman having finished his Visit took leave of the Doctor and Mr. Baxter and the same day called upon the Dean of Paul's to give him an Account of what had passed betwixt him and Mr. Baxter and finding the Dean of Canterbury with him told the Story to them both Upon which the Dean of Paul's asked the Dean of Canterbury And did you in good earnest cry Peccavi to Mr. Baxter Pish replied he will you mind what Mr. Baxter saith But the Dean of Pauls not being satisfied with that evasive Answer pressed him to a categorical Answer upon which his Countenance altering he went away in disorder without any Reply I tell this Story on purpose to shew our Reverend Clergy of the Convocation what great Reason they have to Censure this Passage because he would never make the Church Satisfaction for it nor do any Thing that looked like Satisfaction but on the contrary hath lately Reprinted it in the Third Volume of his Sermons And I hope Dr. Patrick who was formerly so justly offended at it will now he hath taken an higher Character upon him promote and propose the Censure of it in Convocation The duty the Clergy owe the Church and the honour of their own Order requires them to Censure it especially since it is so contrary to the Purport of their Ordination and their Duty prescribed in it both as Priests and Bishops There they are told That they are Messengers Stewards and Watch men of the Lord that they are not to leave the Sheep when the Wolf cometh and that they are to be ready with all faithful Diligence to drive away and banish all strange Doctrines contrary to God's Word as need and occasion shall require More especially in the Consecration of Bishops St. Paul is proposed as an Example to them who are indeed the Successors of the Apostles in the Epistle to be read on that Occasion There he saith That he
counted not his Life dear unto him so that he might finish his Ministry but this Man's Doctrine who was his own Patern of Preaching teacheth the Shepherds to fly when the Wolf cometh and to stop the Course of their Ministry when the Exercise of it without a Miracle will cost them their Lives It is only in the Case of a Divine Commission and Miracles to prove it that according to him a Priest or Bishop is to abide all Hazards or to expect extraordinary Assistance and supernatural Supports in their Sufferings contrary to the common Doctrine of Christianity and that in particular of the Church of England which teacheth us that God in suffering Times will give his faithful People suffering Spirits And likewise to the Histories of all Persecutions since Miracles ceased and more especially to our own Martyrology in Queen Mary's Reign His Encomiast * P. 13. tells us That he was little disposed to follow the Paterns of Preaching which former Times set but that he set a Patern to himself And from these Instances I have brought we may see the Truth of what he saith For the Hookers the Sandersons and Hamonds and Pearsons before him never set such Paterns of Preaching as he set himself but such a one it is That I hope it will neither be long nor much followed though his Funeral Orator hopes it will I have exemplified above how contrary the Practice of this unblemished Heroe hath been to his Principles and Doctrine and more particularly to his genuin and orthodox Notion of the Nature of Religion and I now proceed to shew that he hath not followed the generous and laudable Example of another Person in the very Case in which he hath proposed it for Imitation It cannot be denied nor am I much concerned to dissemble it saith he in his Funeral Sermon on Dr. Whitchcot that here he possessed another Man's Place who by the Iniquity of the Times was wrongfully ejected I mean Dr. Collins the famous and learned Divinity Professor of that University during whose Life and he lived many Years after by the free Consent of the College there were two Shares out of the common Dividend allotted to the Provost one whereof was constantly paid to Dr. Collins as if he had been still Provost To this Dr. Whitchcot did not only give his Consent without which the Thing could not have been done but was very forward in the doing of it though hereby he did not only considerably lessen his own Profit but likewise incur no small Censure and Hazard as Times then were And lest this had not been Kindness enough to that worthy Person whose Place he possessed in his last Will he left to his Son Sir John Collins a Legacy of an hundred Pounds One would think that such an heroick Vertue should have followed such a generous Example of his own proposing but as Dr. Whitchcot had Dr. Collins's Place so he had Dr. Gunning's Fellowship at the same Time and never allowed him one Farthing though he was as wrongfully ejected as Dr. Collins and stood in more need of an Allowance than the Doctor did But there is one Thing more to be said for the Honour of Dr. Witchcot which he took no notice of and it is this That he had Dr. Collins's Consent to take his Place which he himself had not from Dr Gunning to take his and yet he was very angry at him for resuming his Fellowship from him at the Restauration This would pass for a Blemish in any other Man's Life but Dr. Tillotson's or if it would not methinks his taking the Archbishop's Place not only without but against his Consent should pass for a Blemish in his Life He having not only got him extruded by Force out of it but thereby made himself the Author and Architect of a most scandalous and outragious Schism which will not only be an everlasting Blot upon his Memory but if not healed an everlasting Blemish upon the Church Methinks he might have so far followed Dr. Whitchcot's Example and to have made him an offer of some Allowance though he had refused it as I am sure he would have done But far from doing that he behaved himself towards him with the greatest Inhumanity as appeared from expressing his Joy unawares to Dr. Beveridge for the glorious Device of the Writ of Intrusion thinking the Doctor had come to talk with him as one that had excepted the Bishoprick of Wells but when he found that he came to excuse himself from the Acceptance of it he turned Pale upon reflecting he had discovered too much He also suffered his Grace's Steward and Nephew Mr. Sancroft who kept Possession at Lambeth for his Uncle to be Imprisoned and Fined though he might have prevented both if he would and yet lest him not a Legacy for reparation of his great Fine as Dr. Whitchcot did to Sir John Collins though he had all the Fruits and Profits of the Archbishoprick from the time of the Deprivation to the time that he took Possession thereof And it is further observable That as he enjoyed the Place of of one who was deprived by those who had usurped the Authority of Charles the First and that of another but of vaster Consequence who was deprived by the Power of those who had first deprived K. James the Second so he took the Place of a third a Minister in Suffolk who was Legally ejected by the Bartholomew Act upon the Return of Charles the Second Which shews That he was a Man of all Times and all Governments Right or Wrong and which in truth makes him look more like a Vicar of Bray than an Heroe in Vertue and will in most Mens Opinion take him down from that tall Character into an ordinary Man But to return again to Dr. Whitchcot's Funeral Sermon there is another Passage in it which all the Men I ever spoke with that heard or read it took for a Reflection upon the Church of England in the following Words He disclaimed Popery and as Things of near affinity with it Superstition and Usurpation upon the Consciences of Men. I know one Clergy-man who had a fair Respect for him before that from this time would never defend his Reputation And the most learned Mr. Dodwel who indeed is a great Example of heroick Piety and Vertue was much offended with this Passage and went on purpose to him to let him know what just Offence he had given by it but notwithstanding he printed it again in his Third Volume of Sermons with the Reflection in the Italick Character which further proves what I said before That how tender soever he was to the Dissenters and extensive in his Charity to them he had not such tenderness for true Church-men nor such a Loathness to offend these as those I now come to the Character of Orthodoxy which our Preacher gives of him in telling us of the (a) P. 2. convincing Arguments by which he so clearly proved the Truth and
for a while wished well to it afterwards saw their error and repented and being resolved to undo as much as they could what they had most unjustly done they rose up against Henry under the Title of Lord Henry Derby and put out a most remarkable Remonstrance against his Usurpation and an Excommunication against him which may be seen in Foxe's Acts and Monuments of that Reign and of which because it is so scarce to be had I have put an abridgment in the * N. VI. Appendix and in the Reign of his Grandson Henry the VI. The whole Peerage then assembled in a Parliament of that Prince's own calling being made sensible of their error and the injustice of their Ancestors in deposing Richard the II. and setting up Henry the IV. declared upon Richard Duke of York's Claim by Birth-right and proximity of Blood that his Title could not be defeated but that the Crown of Right belong'd to him this with all that was done thereupon may be seen in Roll. Parl. 39. Henry VI. N. 10. as it is in Cotton's Abridgement put out by Mr. Pryn or rather in the Record at large as it is Printed in the 31 page of the * An Enquiry into the remarkable instances of History and Parliament Records used by the Author of the Unreasonableness of a new Separation whether they are faithfully cited and applied Book mentioned in the Margent and I mention it because I think it as well as the Book in which it is Printed worthy to be read of all men And what another Parliament 1 Edw. IV. declared against the Usurpation of the three Henries as against God's Law Man's Allegiance and unnatural in its self I need not recite here because it is to be seen in the Printed Statutes of that Reign And in our Preachers former times of Hypocrisie the Times of the great Rebellion which began in 41 many Persons of Honour and Quality in both Kingdoms who were concern'd in the Prologue or first Scenes or Acts of that bloody Tragedy being afterwards convinced of their Errors not only started back and repented but brought forth Fruits meet for such Repentance and I need but name the Great Montrose his Patron the Duke of Lauderdale and Mr. Henderson of his own Country as Examples of what I say and the two Heroick Penitents the Lords Hepton and Capell both of Immortal Memory in ours The former of these Lords as Report saith went with a Rope about his Neck as a Token of his Repentance to throw himself at the King's Feet and how they both after repentance signaliz'd themselves in his service and the Lord Capell in his Son 's is known so well that I need not relate it So William Pryn not to mention all the Commissioners who were sent to treat with the King at Holmby-House started back also though it is to be wished they had done it sooner and how severely he censured his old Actions and endeavoured to undo what he had done may be seen from what he hath written in his Plea for the Lords his Concordia Discors and a Paragraph or two in his Preface to Cotton's Abridgment which I have also put in the †N. VI. Appendix Nay the Members of that very Convention which called home Charles the II. were the men that began and carried on the Rebellion against his Father and yet by God's Grace they started so far back as to declare point blank against their former Practise that by the undoubted and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together nor the People collectively nor representatively nor any other Persons whatsoever ever had have or ought to have any Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm And sometime before that when the King was in his return the Lords and Commons of that Convention together with the Lord Mayor Common Council-men and Freemen of London in a * Appen N. VII Proclamation did declare That His Majesty's Rights and Titles to his Kingdoms were every way compleat by the death of his Royal Father without the Ceremony or Solemnity of a Proclamation and that the Imperial Crown of this Realm did by inherent Birth right descend to him as next lineal and rightful Heir of the Blood Royal. Here are staâ—ters back with a witness and I hope their starting back from a Cause in which they were so long engaged was neither a reproach to them nor an argument for the goodness but the intollerable illness thereof And so if any of our suffering Clergy did as he affirms long for the Revolution and wish well to it their starting back shews no more than that they were mislead in the Croud and afterwards thought otherwise of it than they did at the first Therefore God is to be praised and they commended that they started back so soon and proceeded no further with relucting consciences as many others unhappily did I could tell of one now in the highest place of the Church who said sometime after the Revolution said to this effect That it was one entire piece of iniquity and after that again in the plural Phrase That we and by consequence he had gone too far and yet he goes on still and I fear will not start back Others I could name to their honour who proceeded so far as to take the Oath and to comply for sometime after but since God be praised have started back and offered like true Penitents to do pennance and begg'd Absolution for what they thought so grievous a sin and now I have told it let our Preacher make what he can of their starting back but when Dr. Sherlock started from the other side to which these men went back I never heard that he had the least remorse for continuing so long in his great error as he must acknowledge it to have been much less that he was willing to do pennance for it besides the pennance he did in Print or desired the Absolution of the Church After this he proceeds to tell us that some in high Stations that is some Bishops of the Church would neither openly declare for it nor against it according to the authority of their Characters one of which certainly they ought to have done if they did then judge it so unlawful as they would now represent it they ought to have thunder'd both with their Sermons and Censures against it especially in the first Fermentation when a vigorous opposition might have had considerable effects and would have made them look like Confessors indeed to which they afterwards pretended Here our Preacher reflects upon our suffering Fathers for not having declared and acted against the Revolution betimes and thunders against them for not having thundered with their Sermons and Censures against in the first Fermentation i. e. when the Mob were Masters in all places and would have tore them in pieces for it as some of them were threatned and that indeed would
have been a considerable effect This puts me in mind of the Question he so often asked Mr. Napleton of Feversham Why did you not let the King go To which Mr. Napleton made answer the first time to this purpose Sir We could not govern the Rabble and if the King had offered to go they would have torn him in pieces After some time the good Dr. asked Mr. Napleton again Why did you not let the King go I told you Sir replied Mr. Napleton because the Rabble would have torn him in pieces if he had offer'd to go And after that again a third time Why did you not let the King go Sir replied Mr. Napleton with some emotion I have told you twice because if he had offered to go the Rabble would have murdered him Eigh but Mr. Napleton saith he again You should have let him go i. e. as Mr. Napleton apprehended and all others must you should have let him been murdered by the People This account I had from a Gentleman in whose hearing Mr. Napleton told the Story and so here in like manner he saith they should have thunder'd with their Sermons and Censures against the Revolution in the first Fermentation when the Mob were the fermenting Particles that they might have been torn in pieces or knocked in the head The Non complying Bishops are as it were so many living Records against him and how glad would he have been that they had been martyred in the first Fermentation that might not have been Confessors now and now alive to reproach him with their Testimony and Sufferings They did it not saith he and God and they be thanked say I that they did it not out of Season for there is a time to suffer and a time to decline Suffering a time to speak as Confessors and a time to keep silence a time to die Martyrs and a time to fly from Martyrdom and our Spiritual Guides and Pastors were Judges of the Season God having left much to their prudence to act and suffer or to forbear acting in some times and places that they may not suffer as to them shall seem expedient most for God's Glory and the preservation of his Church For it is in the spiritual as it is in the secular Warfare sometimes the Souldiers of Christ but especially the Leaders must Husband their Lives more than at other times and sometimes Spiritual Prudence directs them to be as it were prodigal and sometimes to be sparing of their Blood Would it have been wisdom in Athanasius when there were so few faithful Bishops to have thunder'd with his Sermons against the Arrian Heresie before the Arrian Mob of Alexandria when it was much fitter for him to fly from their rage that he might reserve himself for better times and in the interim direct and encourage the faithful and live to settle the Church in its former State Let us hear what he saith in his own vindication for not acting according to the Authority of his Character and not thundering with Sermons and Censures in his Province when he might have made a vigorous opposition but fled to save his Life When they charge us with fear saith he they consider not that this reflects upon themselves who gave occasion for it for if it be a fault to fly it is a much greater to persecute If they reproach us for hiding our selves from those who seek to take away our Lives and for flying from the Persecutors what will they say to Jacob who fled from his Brother Esau or to Moses who departed into the Land of Madian for fear of Pharaoh or to David who fled from Saul What would they say to the Great Elias who hid himself because of Ahab and fled because of Jezabell 's Threatnings as the Sons of the Prophets were also by Fifties in Caves The Disciples of our Lord hid themselves for fear of the Jews and Paul at Damascus being sought for by the Governour was let down from the Wall in a Basket and so escaped his hands The Law appointed Cities of refuge to flee unto for the safety of those who were sought for to be put to death but in these last Times that Word of the Father who spake before to Moses gave Commandment that when his Disciples were persecuted in one City they should flee unto another This the Saints knew and managed themselves accordingly And this is the Rule for men to attain perfection namely to do what God commands Hence the Word himself who became incarnate for us when he was sought for thought it not amiss to hide himself as we do or to fly from Persecution When he was a Child he warned Joseph by an Angel to arise and take the young Child and his Mother and fly into Egypt And after Herod 's death he went aside into Nazareth because of Archelaus When he had cured the withered hand and the Pharasees took counsel to kill him he departed thence and when he had rais'd Lazarus from the dead and was in danger by it he walked no more openly among the Jews but departed thence into the Wilderness And when the Jews took up Stones to cast at him for affirming himself to have been before Abraham he hid himself and went out of the Temple and passing through the midst of them made his escape When John had suffered Martyrdom and his Disciples had buried his Body Jesus hearing of it withdrew himself took Ship and went privately into a Desart place What therefore is thus written of our Saviour is written for the common benefit of Mankind He would not permit himself to be apprehended before his time came nor would any longer hide himself when once it was come but discovered himself to those who came to take him Being persecuted they fled and saved themselves by lying close but if they happened to be discovered they were ready to suffer Martyrdom for the Faith Thus far the Great Athanasius by way of Apology for his flying and absconding and it is every word of it as good a justification of our suffering Fathers for not openly declaring and acting and for not preaching and thundering in the first Fermentation when the Mob not to name other Persons were more terrible than Esau or Pharaoh or Ahab or Jezabel or Herod or the Jews to which they were so like in every respect Wherefore in all appearance if our Fathers had declared and acted then we had not had the comfort and benefit of them now but had been left like Sheep without a Shepherd And tho' to have died and departed in Martyrdom would have been gain and advantage to them and really far better than to live in such wretched times yet their abiding in the flesh was and is more needful for us and for the succession and preservation of the Church But then suppose that we should admit which we have no reason to do that they were defective in their duty through fear and surprize or other human frailties in the