must at least acquiesce tho they are not Infallible there being still a sort of an Appeal to be made to the Soveraign or the Supream Legislative Body so the Church has a Subaltern Jurisdiction but as the Authority of inferior Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law So it is not necessary for the Preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be Infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their Obedience to their Soveraign tho in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Soveraign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Soveraign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a Subaltern Judg If they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular Persons may be supposed as competent Judges of that as in Civil Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Judges and in that case they are bound still to maintain their Obedience to Jesus Christ in matters Indifferent Christians are bound for the Preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decision of the Church and in matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be Silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Soveraign of the Church I mean Christ the People may put in their Appeal to that great Judg and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the People followed the Rules that I have named with Humility and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the Providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that it appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho they are bad enough yet are not equal to the Effects that ignorant Superstition and obedient Zeal have produced in the World witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small diversity of Opinion and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signify nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and then that certainly it it not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say That there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See. X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some Starts and after long Intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first 320 years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this Right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Councils of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern Parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperor's Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700. years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a competent Understanding to satisfy him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said That this Infallibility is to be sought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this Here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a Study that must cost a Man an Age to go thorow it and many of the Ages through which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very
was in Scotland and the pretension to Absolute Power is so great a thing that since His Majesty thought fit once to claim it he is little beholden to those that make him fall so much in his Language especially since both these Declarations have appeared in our Gazettes so that as we see what is done in Scotland we know from hence what is in some Peoples Hearts and what we may expect in England II. His Majesty tells his People that the perfect Enjoyment of their Property has never been in any Case invaded by him since his coming to the Crown This is indeed matter of great Encouragement to all good Subjects for it lets them see that such Invasions as have been made on Property have been done without His Majesty's knowledge so that no doubt the continuing to levy the Customs and the Additional Excise which had been granted only during the late King's Life before the Parliament could meet to renew the Grant was done without His Majesty's knowledge the many Violences committed not only by Soldiers but Officers in all the Parts of England which are severe Invasions on Property have been all without his Majesty's knowledge and since the first Branch of Property is the Right that a Man has to his Life the strange Essay of Mahometan Government that was shewed at Taunton and the no less strange Proceedings of the present Lord Chancellor in his Circuit after the Rebellion which are very justly called His Campagne for it was an open Act of Hostility to all Law and for which and other Services of the like nature it is believed he has had the Reward of the Great Seal and the Executions of those who have left their Colours which being founded on no Law are no other than so many Murders all these I say are as we are sure Invasions on Property But since the King tells us that no such Invasions have been made since he came to the Crown we must conclude that all these things have fallen out without his Privity And if a Standing Army in time of Peace has been ever look'd on by this Nation as an Attempt upon the whole Property of the Nation in gross one must conclude that even this is done without His Majesty's knowledge III. His Majesty expresses his Charity for us in a kind Wish That we were all Members of the Catholick Church In return to which we offer up daily our most earnest Prayers for him That he may become a Member of the truly Catholick Church for Wishes and Prayers do no hurt on no side But His Majesty adds That it has ever been his Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion We are very happy if this continues to be always his Sense but we are sure in this he is no obedient Member of that which he means by the Catholick Church for it has over and over again decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks It encourages Princes to it by the Offer of the Pardon of their Sins it threatens them to it by denouncing to them not only the Judgments of God but that which is more sensible the loss of their Dominions and it seems they intend to make us know that part of their Doctrine even before we come to feel it since tho' some of that Communion would take away the Horror which the Fourth Council of the Lateran gives us in which these things were decreed by denying it to be a General Council and rejecting the Authority of those Canons yea the most learned of all the Apostates that has fallen to them from our Church has so lately given up this Plea and has so formally acknowledged the Authority of that Council and of its Canons that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing of warning us before hand of our Danger It is true Bellarmin says The Church does not always execute her Power of Deposing Heretical Princes tho' she always retains it one Reason that he assigns is Because she is not at all times able to put it in execution so the same Reason may perhaps make it appear unadvisable to extirpate Hereticks because that at present it connot be done but the Right remains entire and is put in execution in such an unrelenting manner in all Places where that Religion prevails that it has a very ill Grace to see any Member of that Church speak in this strain and when neither the Policy of France nor the Greatness of their Monarch nor yet the Interests of the Emperour joined to the Gentleness of his own Temper could withstand these Bloody Councils that are indeed parts of that Religion we can see no Reason to induce us to believe that a Toleration of Religion is proposed with any other Design but either to divide us or to lay us asleep till it is time to give the Alarm for destroying us IV. If all the Endeavours that have been used in the last four Reigns for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to a Unity in Religion have been ineffectual as His Majesty says we know to whom we owe both the first Beginnings and the Progress of the Divisions among our selves the Gentleness of Queen Elizabeth's Government and the numbers of those that adhered to the Church of Rome made it scarce possible to put an end to that Party during her Reign which has been ever since restless and has had credit enough at Court during the three last Reigns not only to support it self but to distract us and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them by somenting our own Differences and by setting on either a Toleration or a Persecution as it has hapned to serve their Interests It is not so very long since that nothing was to be heard at Court but the supporting the Church of England and the extirpating all the Nonconformists and it were easie to name the Persons if it were decent that had this ever in their Mouths but now all is turned round again the Church of England is in disgrace and now the Encouragement of Trade the Quiet of the Nation and the Freedom of Conscience are again in vogue that were such odious things but a few years ago that the very mentioning of them was enough to load any Man with Suspicions as backward in the King's Service while such Methods are used and the Government is as in an Ague divided between hot and cold Fits no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have failed of their Effect V. There is a good Reserve here left for Severity when the proper Opportunity to set it on presents it self for His Majesty declares himself only against the forcing of Men in Matters of meer Religion so that whensoever Religion and Policy come to be so interwoven that meer Religion is not the Case and that Publick Safety may be pretended then this Declaration is to be no more claimed so that the fastning any thing
some Bodies that pass for General Councils have so expounded many Passages of it and have wrested them so visibly that none of the Modern Writers of that Church pretend to excuse it I say I must freely own to you that when I find I need a Commentary on dark Passages these will be the last Persons to whom I will address my self for it Thus you see how fully I have opened my mind to you in this matter I have gone over a great deal of Ground in as few Words as is possible because hints I know are enough for you I thank God these Considerations do fully satisfy me and I will be infinitely joyed if they have the same effect on you I am yours THis Letter came to London with the return of the first Post after his late Majesties Papers were sent into the Country some that saw it liked it well and wished to have it publick and the rather because the Writer did not so entirely confine himself to the Reasons that were in those Papers but took the whole Controversy to task in a little compass and yet with a great variety of Reflections And this way of examining the whole Matter without following those Papers word for word or the finding more fault than the common concern of this Cause required seemed more agreeing to the Respect that is due to the Dead and more particularly to the Memory of so great a Prince but other Considerations made it not so easy nor so adviseable to procure a License for the Printing this Letter it has been kept in private Hands till now those who have boasted much of the Shortness of the late Kings Papers and of the Length of the Answers that have been made to them will not find so great a Disproportion between them and this Answer to them An ENQUIRY into the Reasons for Abrogating the TEST imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by Sa. Oxon. WHen the Cardinals in Rome go abroad without Fiocco's on their Horses heads it is understood that they will be then Incognito and they expect nothing of that Respect which is payed them on other Occasions So since there is no Fiocco at the Head of this Discourse no Name nor Designation it seems the Writer offers himself to be examined without those nice regards that may be due to the Dignity he bears and indeed when a Man forgets what he is himself it is very natural for others to do it likewise It is no wonder to see those of the Roman Communion bestir themselves so much as they do to be delivered from the Test and every thing else that is uneasy to them and tho others may find it very reasonable to oppose themselves in all the just and legal ways that agree with our Constitution to this Design yet it is so natural to all that are under any Pressure to desire to get free from it that at the same time that we cannot forbear to withstand them we cannot much condemn them but it raises nature a little to see a Man that has been so long fatned with the Spoils of our Church and who has now got up to a degree so disproportioned to his Merit to turn so treacherously upon it If he is already weary of his comfortable importance and will here give her into the Bargain and declare himself no Body will be surprized at the change of his Masque since he has taken much pains to convince the World that his Religion goes no deeper than his Habit yet tho his Confidence is of a piece with all his other Virtues few thought it could have carried him so far I confess I am not surprized but rather wonder to see that others should be so for he has given sufficient warning of what he is capable of he has told the World what is the worst thing that Dr. Burnet can do p. 50. But I am sure the Dr. cannot be quit with him to tell what is the worst thing that he can do it must needs be a very fruitful sancy that can find out all the degrees of wickedness to which he can go and tho this Pamphlet is a good Essay of his Talent that way yet that Terra Incognita is boundless In the title Page it is said that this was first writ for the Author 's own satisfaction and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern But the words are certainly wrong placed for the truth of the matter is That it was Written for the Author 's own benefit and that it is now published for the satisfaction of all others whom it may concern in some sense perhaps it was written for the Author 's own satisfaction for so petulant and so depraved a mind as His is capable of being delighted with His Treachery and a poor Bishoprick with the addition of a Presidentship being too low a prize for His Ambition and Avarice He resolved to assure Himself of the first great Bishoprick that falls the Liege Letter lets us see how far the Jesuits were assured of Him and how much courted by Him and that He said That none but Atheists supported the Protestant Religion now in England yet how many soever of these may be among us He is upon the point of lessening their number by one at least and he takes care to justifie the hopes which these Father 's conceived of Him. They are severe Masters and will not be put off with secret Civilities lewd Jests Entertainments and Healths drank to their good Success so now the Price of the Presidentship is to be pay'd so good a Morsel as this deserved that Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Tillotson Dr. Burnet and some other Divines should be ill used and He to preserve the Character of Drawcansir which is as due to Him as that of Bays falls upon the Articles of the Church and upon both Houses of Parliament It is Reproach enough to the House of Lords that He is of it but it is somewhat new and a Character becoming Sa. Oxon to arraign that House with all the Insolence to which he can raise his wanton Pen. Laws that are in being are treated with respect even by those who move for their Repeal but our Drawcansir scorns that modest strain he is not contented to arraign the Law but calls it Barbarous and says That nothing can be more Barbarous and Prophane than to make the renouncing of a Mystery so unanimously received a State Test pag. 133. pag. 64. But he ought to have avoided the word Prophane since it leads men to remember that he had taxed the Praying for the King as under God and Christ as Crude not to say Prophane when in the Prospect he had then 36 of a Bishoprick he raised the King above Christ but now another Prospect will make him sink him beneath the Pope who is but at best Christ's Vicar But this is not all there comes another Flower that is worthy of him he tells us That the TEST was the
followed their Decisions and which was Imployed in the Execution of them makes it appear rather a stranger thing that so many opposed them than that so many submitted to them When Inquisitors or Dragoons manage an Argument how strong soever the Spirit may be in opposing it it is certain the Flesh will be weak and will ply easily When Princes were threatned with Deposition and Hereticks with Extirpation and when both were executed with so much rigour the success of all the Doctrines that were established in those days ought to make no Impression on us in its favour VII It is no less plain that there was a great and vigorous opposition made to every step of the progress of this Doctrine When the Eutichians first made use of it the greatest men of that Age set themselves against it When the Worshippers of Images did afterwards deny that the Sacrament was the Image of the Body and Blood of Christ a General Council in the East asserted according to the Ancient Liturgies the Contrary Proposition When Paschase Radbert set on Foot the Corporal Presence in the West all the great men of the Age writ against him Berenger was likewise highly esteemed and had many secret Followers when this Doctrine was first decreed and ever since the time of the Council of the Lateran that Transubstantiation was established there have been whole bodies of men that have opposed it and that have fallen as Sacrifices to the Rages of the Inquisitors And by the Processes of those of Tholouse of which I have seen the Original Records for the space of Twenty years it appears that as Transubstantiation was the Article upon which they were always chiefly examined so it was that which many of them did the most constantly deny so far were they on both sides from looking on it only as an Explanation of the Real Presence VIII The Novelty of this Doctrine appears plainly by the strange work that the Schools have made with it since they got it among them both in their Philosophy and Divinity and by the many different methods that they took for explaining it till they had licked it into the shape in which it is now which is as plain an Evidence of the Novelty of the Doctrine as can be imagined The Learned Mr. Alix has given us a clear Deduction of all that confusion into which it has cast the Schoolmen and the many various Methods that they sell on for maintaining it First they thought the Body of Christ was broken by the Teeth of the Faithful then that appearing absurd and subjecting our Saviour to new sufferings the Doctrine of a Bodies being in a place after the manner of a spirit was set up And as to the change some thought that the Matter of Bread remained but that it was united to the Body of Christ as nourishment is digested into our Bodies others thought that the Form of Bread remained the Matter only being changed And some thought that the Bread was only withdrawn to give place to the Body of Christ whereas others thought it was Annihilated While the better Judges had always an eye either to a Consubstantiation or to such an Assumption of the Bread and Wine by the Eternal Word as made the Sacrament in some sense his Body indeed but not that Body which is now in Heaven All these different Opinions in which the Schoolmen were divided even after the Decision made by Pope Innocent in the Council of the Lateran shew that the Doctrine being a Novelty men did not yet know how to mould or form it but in process of time the whole Philosophy was so digested as to prepare all Scholars in their first formation to receive it the more easily And in our Age in which that Philosophy has lost its credit what pains do they take to suppress the New Philosophy as seeing that it cannot be so easily subdued to support this Doctrine as the Old one was And it is no unpleasant thing to see the Shifts to which the Partisans of the Cartesian Philosophy are driven to explain themselves which are indeed so very ridiculous that one can hardly think that those who make use of them believe them for they are plainly rather Tricks and Excuses than Answers IX No man can deny that Transubstantiation is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome but he that will dispute the Authority of the Councils of the Lateran and Trent Now tho some have done the first avowedly yet as their number is small and their Opinion decried so for the Council of Trent tho I have known some of that Communion who do not look upon it as a General Council and tho it is not at all received in France neither as to Doctrine nor Discipline yet the contrary opinion is so universally received that they who think otherwise dare not speak out and so give their Opinion as a secret which they trust in confidence rather than as a Doctrine which they will own But setting aside the Authority of these Councils the common Resolution of Faith in the Church of Rome being Tradition it cannot be denied that the constant and general Tradition in the Church of Rome these last Five hundred years has been in favour of Transubstantiation and that is witnessed by all the Evidences by which it is possible to know Tradition The Writings of Learned Men the Sermons of Preachers the Poceedings of Tribunals the Decisions of Councils that if they were not general were yet very numerous and above all by the many Authentical Declarations that Popes have made in this matter So that either Tradition is to be for ever rejected as a false conveyance or this is the received Doctrine of the Church of Rome from which She can never depart without giving up both her Infallibility and the Authority of Tradition X. There is not any one point in which all the Reformed Churches do more unanimously agree than in the rejecting of Transubstantiation as appears both by the Harmony of their Consessions and by the current of all the Reformed VVriters And for the Real Presence tho the Lutherans explain it by a Consubstantiation and the rest of the Reformed by a Reality of Virtue and Efficacy and a Presence of Christ as crucified yet all of them have taken much pains to shew that in what sense soever they meant it they were still far enough from Transubstantiation This demonstrates the wisdom of our Legislators in singling out this to be the sole point of the Test for Imployments since it is perhaps the only point in Controversy in which the whole Church of Rome holds the Affirmative and the whole Reformed hold the Negative And it is as certain that Transubstantiation is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as that it is rejected by the Church of England it being by name condemned in our Articles And thus I hope the whole Plea of our Author in favour of Transubstantiation is overthrown in all its three Branches which
that the Censures upon it are divided both fall heavy Some suspect their Sincerity others accuse them for want of a right Understanding For tho' all are not of the pitch of the Irish Priests Reflections on the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Sermon which was indeed Irish double refined yet both in your Books of Controversie and Policy and even in your Poems you seem to have entred into such an Intermixture with the Irish that the Thred all over is Linsie-woolsie You acknowledge that the Gentleman whom you answer has a Polite Pen and that his Letter is an ingenious Paper and made up of well-composed Sentences and Periods Yet I believe he will hardly return you your Complement If it was well writ your Party wants either Men or Judgment extremely in allowing you this Province of answering it If the Paper did you some hurt you had better have let the Town be a little pleased with it for a while and have hoped that a little Time or some new Paper tho' one of its force is scarce to be expected should have worn it out than to give it a new Lustre by such an Answer The Time of the Dissenters Sufferings which you lengthen out to Twenty seven Years will hardly amount to Seven For the long Intervals it had in the last Reign are not forgot and those who animated the latest and severest of their Sufferings are sueh that in good manners you ought not to reflect on their Conduct Opium is as certain a Poyson tho' not so violent as Sublimate and if more corrosive Medicines did not work the Design is the same when soporiferous ones are used since the Patient is to be killed both ways and it seems that all that is in debate is which is the safer The accepting a present Ease when the ill intent with which it is offered is visible is just as wise an Action as to take Opium to lay a small Distemper when one may conclude from the Dose that he will never come out of the Sleep So that after all it is plain on which side the Madness lies The Dissenters for a little present ease to be enjoyed at mercy must concur to break down all our Hedges and to lay us open to that devouring Power before which nothing can stand that will not worship it All that for which you reproach the Church of England amounts to this that a few good Words could not persuade her to destroy her self and to sacrifice her Religion and the Laws to a Party that never has done nor ever can do the King half the Service that She has rendred him There are some sorts of Propositions that a Man does not know how to answer nor would he be thought ingrateful who after he had received some Civilities from a Person to whom he had done great Service could not be prevailed with by these so far as to spare him his Wife or his Daughter It must argue a peculiar degree of Confidence to ask things that are above the being either ask'd or granted Our Religion and our Government are Matters that are not to be parted with to shew our good Breeding and of all Men living you ought not to pretend to Good Manners who talk as you do of the Oppression of the last Reign When the King's Obligations to his Brother and the share that he had in his Councils are considered the reproaching his Government has so ill a grace that you are as indecent in your Flatteries as injurious in your Reflections And by this Gratitude of yours to the Memory of the late King the Church of England may easily infer how long all her Services would be remembred even if she had done all that was desired of her I would fain know which of the Brethren of the Dissenters in Foreign Countries sought their Relief from Rebellion The Germans Reformed by the Authority of their Princes so did the Swedes the Danes and likewise the Switzers In France they maintained the Princes of the Blood against the League and in Holland the Quarrel was for Civil Liberties Protestant and Papist concurring equally in it You mention Holland as an Instance that Liberty and Infallibility can dwell together since Papists there shew that they can be friendly Neighbours to those whom they think in the wrong It is very like they would be still so in England if they were under the Lash of the Law and so were upon their Good-behaviour the Government being still against them And this has so good an effect in Holland that I hope we shall never depart from the Dutch Pattern Some can be very Humble Servants that would prove Imperious Masters You say that Force is our only Supporter but tho' there is no Force of our Side at present it does not appear that we are in such a tottering condition as if we had no Supporter left us God and Truth are of our side and the indiscreet use of Force when set on by our Enemies has rather undermined than supported us But you have taken pains to make us grow wiser and to let us see our Errors which is perhaps the only Obligation that we owe you and we are so sensible of it that without examining what your Intentions may have been in it we heartily thank you for it I do not comprehend what your Quarrel is at the squinting Term of the next Heir as you call it tho' I do not wonder that squinting comes in your mind whensoever you think of HER for all People look asquint at that which troubles them and Her being the next Heir is no less the Delight of all Good Men than it is your Affliction All the pains that you take to represent Her dreadful to the Dissenters must needs find that credit with them that is due to the Insinuations of an Enemy It is very true that as She was bred up in our Church She adheres to it so eminently as to make Her to be now our chief Ornament as we hope She will be once our main Defence If by the strictest Form of our Church you mean an Exemplary Piety and a shining Conversation you have given Her true Character But your Design lies another way to make the Dissenters form strange Ideas of Her as if She thought all Indulgence to them Criminal But as the Gentleness of her Nature is such that none but those who are so guilty that all Mercy to them would be a Crime can apprehend any thing that is terrible from Her so as for the Dissenters Her going so constantly to the Dutch and French Churches shews that She can very well endure their Assemblies at the same time that She prefers ours She has also too often expressed her dislike at the heats that have been kept up among us concerning such inconsiderable Differences to pass for a Bigot or Persecutor in such Matters and She sees both the Mischief that the Protestant Religion has received from their Subdivisions and the happiness of granting
high had more Heat than Decency in it And indeed all this was so very extraordinary that if She was not acted by a Principle of Conscience She could make no Excuse for her Conduct There appeared such peculiar Marks of Affection and Heartiness at every time that the Duke was named whether in drinking his Health or upon graver Occasions that it seemed affected And when the late King himself whose Word they took that he was a Protestant was spoke of but coldly the very Name of the Duke set her Children all on fire this made many conclude that they were ready to sacrifice all to him for indeed their Behaviour was inflamed with so much Heat that the greater part of the Nation believed they waited for a fit opportunity to declare themselves Faith in Jesus Christ was not a more frequent Subject of the Sermons of many than Loyalty and the Right of the Succession to the Crown the Heat that appeared in the Pulpit and the Learning that was in their Books on these Subjects and the Eloquent Strains that were in their Addresses were all Originals and made the World conclude That whatever might be laid to their charge they should never be accused of any want of Loyalty at least in this King's time while the remembrance of so signal a Service was so fresh When His Majesty came to the Crown these men did so entirely depend on the Promise that he made to maintain the Church of England that the doubting of the performance appeared to them the worst sort of Infidelity They believed that in His Majesty the Hero and the King would be too strong for the Papist and when any one told them How weak a tie the Faith of a Catholick to Hereticks must needs be they could not hearken to this with any patience but looked on his Majesties Promise as a thing so Sacred that they imploy'd their Interest to carry all Elections of Parliament-men for those that were recommended by the Court with so much Vigour that it laid them open to much Censure In Parliament they moved for no Laws to secure their Religion but assuring themselves that Honour was the King's Idol they laid hold on it and fancied that a publick reliance on his Word would give them an Interest in His Majesty that was Generous and more sutable to the Nobleness of a Princely Nature than any new Laws could be so that they acquiesced in it and gave the King a vast Revenue for life In the Rebellion that followed they shewed with what Zeal they adhered to His Majesty even against a Pretender that declared for them And in the Session of Parliament which came after that they shewed their disposition to assist the King with new Supplies and were willing to excuse and indemnifie all that was past only they desired with all possible Modesty that the Laws which His Majesty had both Promised and at his Coronation had Sworn to maintain might be executed Here is their Crime which has raised all this Out cry they did not move for the Execution of Severe or Penal Laws but were willing to let those sleep till it might appear by the behaviour of the Papists whether they might deserve that there should be any Mitigation made of them in their Favour Since that time our Church men have been constant in mixing their Zeal for their Religion against Popery with a Zeal for Loyalty against Rebellion because they think these two are very well consistent one with another It is true they have generally expressed an unwillingness to part with the two Tests because they have no mind to trust the keeping of their Throats to those who they believe will cut them And they have seen nothing in the Conduct of the Papists either within or without the Kingdom to make them grow weary of the Laws for their sakes and the same Principle of common Sense which makes it so hard for them to believe Transubstantiation makes them conclude That the Author of this Paper and his Friends are no other than what they hear and see and know them to be II. One Instance in which the Church of England shewed her Submission to the Court was that as soon as the Nonconformists had drawn a new Storm upon themselves by their medling in the matter of the Exclusion many of her zealous Members went into that Prosecution of them which the Court set on foot with more Heat than was perhaps either justifiable in it self or reasonable in those Circumstances but how censurable soever some angry men may be it is somewhat strange to see those of the Church of Rome blame us for it which has decreed such unrelenting Severities against all that differ from her and has enacted that not only in Parliaments but even in General Councils It must needs sound odly to hear the Sons of a Church that must destroy all others as soon as it can compass it yet complain of the Excesses of Fines and Imprisonments that have been of late among us But if this Reproach seems a little strange when it is in the Mouth of a Papist it is yet much more provoking when it comes from any of the Court. Were not all the Orders for the late Severity sent from thence Did not the Judges in every Circuit and the Favourite Justices of Peace in every Sessions imploy all their Eloquence on this Subject The Directions that were given to the Justices and the Grand Juries were all repeated Aggravations of this Matter and a little Ordinary Lawyer without any other visible Merit but an outragious Fury in those Matters on which he has chiefly valued himself was of a sudden taken into His Majesties special Favour and raised up to the Highest Posts of the Law. All these things led some of our Obedient Clergy to look on it as a piece of their Duty to the King to encourage that Severity of which the Court seemed so fond that almost all People thought they had set it up for a Maxim from which they would never depart I will not pretend to excuse all that has been done of late years but it is certain that the most crying Severities have been acted by Persons that were raised up to be Judges and Magistrates for that very end they were Instructed Trusted and Rewarded for it both in the last and under the present Reign Church Preferments were distributed rather as Recompences of this devouring Zeal than of a real Merit and men of more moderate Tempers were not only ill lookt at but ill used So that it is in it self very unreasonable to throw the load of the late Rigour on the Church of England without distinction but it is worse than in good manners it is fit to call it if this Reproach comes from the Court. And it is somewhat unbecoming to see that which was set on at one time disowned at another while yet he that was the Chief Instrument in it is still in so high a Post and begins
the Council of Scotland that Husbands should be fined for their Wives not going to Church tho' it was not founded on any Law. And of all Men living he ought to be the last that should speak of the taking away of Estates who got a very fair one during the present Reign by an Act of Parliament that attainted a Gentleman in a Method as new as his Stile is upon this ground that two Privy Counsellors declared they belived him guilty He will hardly find among all the Maxims of those Protestant persecuting Kings any one that will justifie this It seems the New Stile is not very copious in Words since Doctrine is three times repeated in so short a Letter He tells them that their Doctrine must tend to cause all the Subjects to walk obediently now by obediently in this Stile is to obey the Absolute Power without reserve for to obey according to Law would pass now for a Crime This being then his meaning it is probable that the Encouragements which are necessary to make His Majesty continue the happiness of his Subjects will not be so very great as to merit the perpetuating this Favour There is with this a heavy charge laid upon them as to their Practice that it must be such as shall be most pleasing to his Majesty for certainly that can only be by their turning Pastpis since a Prince that is so zealous for his Religion as His Majesty is cannot be so well pleased with any other thing as with this Their concurring with the King to remove the Penal Laws comes over again for tho' Repetitions are Impertinencies in the Common Stile they are Flowers in the new one In Conclusion he tells them That the King expects that they will continue their Prayers for him yet this does not agree too well with a Catholick Zeal for the Prayers of damned Hereticks cannot be worth the asking for the third time he tells them to look well to their Doctrine now this is a little ambiguous for it may either signifie that they should study the Controversies well so as to be able to defend their Doctrine solidly or that they should so mince it that nothing may fall from them in their Sermons against Popery this will be indeed a looking to their Doctrine but I do not know whether it will be thought a looking well to it or not He adds That their Example be influential I confess this hard new word frighted me I suppose the meaning of it is That their Practice may be such as that it may have an Influence on others yet there are both good and bad Influences a good Influence will be the animating the People to a Zeal for their Religion and a bad one will be the stackning and softning of that Zeal A little more clearness here had not been amiss As for the last Words of this Letter That all these are his Majesty's Commands it is very hard for me to bring my self to believe them For certainly he has more Piety for the Memory of the late Martyr and more regard both to himself to his Children and to his People than to have ever given any such Commands In order to the communicating this Piece of Elegance to the World I wish the translating it into French were recommended to Mr. d' Albeville that it may appear whether the Secretary-Stile will look better in his Irish-French than it does now in the Scotch-English of him who penned it REFLECTIONS ON A PAMPHLET Entitled PARLIAMENTUM PACIFICUM Licensed by the EARL of SVNDERLAND AND Printed at London in March 1688. I. PEace is a very desirable thing yet every State that is peaceable is not blindly to be courted An Apoplexy is the most peaceable State in which a Man's Body can be laid yet few would desire to pacifie the Humours of their Body at that rate An Implicite Faith and Absolute Slavery are the two peaceablest things that can be yet we confess we have no mind to try so dangerous an Experiment and while the Remedies are too strong we will chuse rather to bear our Disease than to venture on them The Instance that is proposed to the Imitation of the Nation is that Parliament which called in the late King and yet that cannot so much as be called a Parliament unless it be upon a Commonwealth Principle That the Sovereign Power is radically in the People For its being chosen without the King 's Writ was such an Essential Nullity that no subsequent Ratification could take it away For all People saw that they could not depend upon any Acts past by it and therefore it was quickly dissolved and ever since it has been called by all the Monarchical Party a Convention and not a Parliament But now in order to the courting the Common-wealth Party this is not only called a Parliament but is proposed as a Pattern to all others from the beginning to Page 19. II. But since this Author will send us back to that Time and since he takes it so ill that the Memory of the late King should be forgotten let us examine that Transaction a little and then we shall see whether it had not been more for His Honour to let it be forgotten The King did indeed in his Declaration from Breda promise Liberty of Conscience on which he insisted in a large and wise Declaration set out after he was setled on the Throne but after that he had got a Parliament chosen all of Creatures depending on himself who for many years granted him every thing that he desired a severe Act of Uniformity was passed and the King's Promise was carried off by this That the King could not refuse to comply with so Loyal a Parliament It is well enough known that those who were then secretly Papists and who disguised their Religion for many Years after this as the King himself did to the last animated the Chief Men of our Church to carry the Points of Uniformity as high as was possible and that both then and ever since all that proposed any Expedients for uniting us or as it was afterwards termed for Comprehending the Dissenters were represented as the Betrayers of the Church The Design was then clear to some that so by carrying the Terms of Conformity to a great rigidity there might be many Nonconformists and great occasion given for a Toleration under which Popery might insensibly creep in For if the Expedients that the King himself proposed in his Declaration had been stood to it is well known that of the Two thousand Consciencious Ministers as he calls them pag. 14. by an Affectation too gross to pass on them that were turned out above Seventeen hundred had staid in Their Practices had but too good Success on those who were then at the Head of our Church whose Spirits were too much soured by their ill usage during the War and whose Principles led them to so good an Opinion of all that the Court did that for a great while they
would suspect nothing But at the same time that the Church-Party that carried all before them in that Parliament were animated to press things so hard the Dissenters were secretly encouraged to stand out and were told that the King's Temper and Principle and the Consideration of Trade would certainly procure them a Toleration and ever since that Party that thus had set us together by the ears has shifted Sides dexterously enough but still they have carried on the main Design which was to keep up the Quarrel in the Intervals of Parliament Liberty of Conscience was in vogue but when a Session of Parliament came and the King wanted Money then a new severe Law against the Dissenters was offered to the angry Men of the Church-Party as the Price of it and this seldom failed to have its effect so that they were like the Jewels of the Crown pawned when the King needed Money but redeemed at the next Prorogation A Reflection then that arises naturally out of the Proceedings in the Year 1660. is That if a Parliament should come that would copy after that Pattern and repeal Laws and Tests the King's Offers of Liberty of Conscience as may indeed be supposed will bind him till after a short Session or two such a meritorious Parliament should be dissolved according to the Precedent in the Year 1660. and that a new one were brought together by the same Methods of changing Charters and making Returns and then the old Laws de Heretico comburendo might be again revived and it would be said that the King's Inclinations are for keeping his Promise and granting still a Liberty of Conscience yet he can deny nothing to a Loyal and Catholick Parliament III. We pay all possible respect to the King and have witnessed how much we depended on his Promises in so signal a manner that after such real Evidence all Words are superfluous But since the King has shewed so much Zeal not only for his Religion in general but in particular for that Society which of all the other Bodies in it we know is animated the most against us we must crave leave to speak a little freely and not suffer our selves to be destroyed by a Complement The Extirpation of Hereticks and the Breach of Faith to them have been decreed by two of their General Councils and by a Tradition of several Ages the Pope is possessed of a Power of dissolving all Promises Contracts and Oaths not to mention the private Doctrines of that Society that is so much in favour of doing Ill that Good may come of it of using Equivocations and Reservations and of ordering the Intention Now these Opinions as they have never been renounced by the Body of that Church so indeed they cannot be unless they renounce their Infallibility which is their Basis at the same time Therefore tho a Prince of that Communion may very sincerely resolve to maintain Liberty of Conscience and to keep his Word yet the blind Subjection into which he is brought by his Religion to his Church must force him to break thro' all that as soon as the Doctrine of his Church is opened to him and that Absolution is denied him or higher Threatnings are made him if he continues firm to his merciful Inclinations So that supposing His Majesty's Piety to be as great as the Jesuit's Sermon on the Thirtieth of January lately printed carries it to the uttermost possibility of Flesh and Blood then our Fears must still grow upon us who know what are the Decrees of that Church and by consequence we may infer to what his Piety must needs carry him as soon as those things are fully opened to him which in respect to him we are bound to believe are now hid from him IV. It will further appear that these are not unjust Inferences if we consider a little what has been the Observation of all the Promises made for Liberty of Conscience to Hereticks by Roman Catholick Princes ever since the Reformation The first was the Edict of Passaw in Germany procured chiefly by Ferdinand's means and maintained indeed religiously by his Son Maximilian the Second whose Inclinations to the Protestant Religion made him be suspected for one himself But the Jesuits insinuated themselves so far into his younger Brother's Court that was Archduke of Grats that this was not only broken by that Family in their Share but tho' Rodolph and Mathias were Princes of great Gentleness and the latter of these was the Protector of the States in the beginning of their War with King Philip the Second yet the Violence with which the House of Grats was possessed overturned all that so that the breaking of the Pacificatory Edicts was begun in Rodolph's time and was so far carried on in Mathias's time that they set both Bohemia and Hungary in a Flame and so begun that long War of Germany 2. The next Promise for Liberty of Conscience was made by Queen Mary of England but we know well enough how it was observed the Promises made by the Queen Regent of Scotland were observed with the same Fidelity After these came the Pacificatory Edicts in France which were scarce made when the Triumvirate was formed to break them The famous Massacre of Paris was an Instance never to be forgot of the Religious Observance of a Treaty made on purpose to lay the Party asleep and to bring the whole Heads of it into the Net this was a much more dreadful St. Bartholomew than that on which our Author bestows that Epithete pag. 15. and when all seemed setled by the famous Edict of Nantes we have seen how restless that Party and in particular the Society were till it was broken by a Prince that for thirty years together had shewed as great an aversion to the Shedding of Blood in his Government at home as any of his Neighbours can pretend to and who has done nothing in the whole Tragedy that he has acted but what is exactly conform to the Doctrine and Decrees of his Church so that is not himself but his Religion that we must blame for all that has fallen out in that Kingdom I cannot leave this without taking notice of our Author's Sincerity who pag. 18. tells us of the Protestants entring into their League in France when it is well known that it was a League of Papists against a Protestant Successor which was afterwards applied to a Popish King only because he was not zealous enough against Hereticks But to end this List of Instances at a Country to which our Author bears so particular a kindness when the Dutchess of Parma granted the Edict of Pacification by which all that was past was buried and the Exercise of the Protestant Religion was to be connived at for the future King Philip the Second did not only ratifie this but expressed himself so fully upon it to the Count of Egmont who had been sent over to him that the easie Count returned to Flanders so assured of the King's
he gives to Church-men in his Epistles to Timotby and Titus reckon this of submitting to the directions of the Church for one which he could not have omitted if this be the true meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one word sounding that way which is very different from the directions which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the New Testament such as the rules of a Good Life the Use of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace through the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the Worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must Conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly revealed as the others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a presumption for particular persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests and other Guides in sacred matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the mouths of the Jews against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark Passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by Particular persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly provided in their law Deut. 17.8 That when controversies arose concerning any cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the tribe of Levi and to the judge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of death so that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorized in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal Testimony on her behalf As for our Saviour's Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the People Deut. 13 1. That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho he wrought miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his father brought in the worship of another God might well pretend that he was not obliged to yield to the authority of our Saviour's Miracles without taking cognizance of his doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the mouths of the Jews against our Saviour and from hence we see that the authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Jeremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's days not only many ill grounded traditions had got in among them by which the vigour of the moral law was much enervated but likewise they were also universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those Prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascension So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiation of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force and freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the Reconciling of Differences that of Binding and of Loosing according to the use of those terms among the Jews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church J signifies only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish and that of Christs being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special Conduct and Protection which the Church may always expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the world which he sets in opposition to the wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come far short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at least be acknowledged that they have not an evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first The Account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him And in this every Man must answer for the sincerity of his Heart in examining Divine Matters and the following what upon the best enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with Relation to this there is no need of a Judg for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the Talents that he had and all will be saved according to their Sincerity and with Relation to that Judgment there is no need of any other Judg but God. A second View of Religion is as it is a Body united together and by consequence brought under some Regulation And as in all States there are subaltern Judges in whose Decisions all
near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing is more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their Nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued a thousand years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a thousand year upon Earth and if those who had Matters at the second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater Errors at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Exposition of some Passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70. Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Jerome examined this Matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more than all the rest it seems plain That the Fathers before the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort Inferior to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they consider these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three Men have the same humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and after the fifth Century the Doctrine of one individual Essence was received If you will be farther informed concerning this Father Petua will satisfy you as to the first Period before the Council of Nice and the Learned Dr. Cudworth as to the second In all which particulars it appears how variable a thing Tradition is And upon the whole Matter the examining Tradition thus is still a searching among Books and here is no living Judg. XII If then the Authority that must decide Controversies lies in the Body of the Pastors scattered over the World which is the last Retrenchment here as many and as great Scruples will arise as we found in any of the former Heads Two difficulties appear at first View the one is How can we be assured that the present Pastors of the Church are derived in a just Succession from the Apostles there are no Registers extant that prove this So that we have nothing for it but some Histories that are so carelesly writ that we find many mistakes in them in other Matters and they are so different in the very first links of that Chain that immediately succeded the Apostles that the utmost can be made of this is that here is a Historical Relation somewhat doubtful but here is nothing to found our Faith on So that if a Succession from the Apostles times is necessary to the Constitution of that Church to which we must submit our selves we know not where to find it besides that the Doctrine of the necessity of the Intention of the Minister to the Validity of a Sacrament throws us into inextricable difficulties I know they generally say That by the Intention they do not mean the inward Acts of the Minister of the Sacrament but only that it must appear by his outward Deportment that he is in earnest going about a Sacrament and not doing a thing in jest and this appeared so reasonable to me that I was sorry to find our Divines urge it too much till turning over the Rubricks that are at the beginning of the Missal I found upon the head of the Intention of the Minister that if a Priest has a number of Hosties before him to be consecrated and intends to Consecrate them all except one in that case that vagrant Exception falls upon them all it not being affixed to any one and it is defined that he Consecrates none at all Here it is plain that the secret Acts of a Priest can defeat the Sacrament so that this overthrows all certainty concerning a Succession But besides all this we are sure that the Greek Churches have a much more uncontested Succession than the Latins so that a Succession cannot direct us And if it is necessary to seek out the Doctrines that are universally received this is not possible for a private Man to know So that in ignorant Countries where there is little Study the People have no other certainty concerning their Religion but what they take from their Curate and Confessor since they cannot examine what is generally received So that it must be confessed that all the Arguments that are brought for the necessity of a constant Infallible Judg turn against all those of the Church of Rome that do not acknowledg the Infallibility of the Pope for if he is not Infallible they have no other Judg that can pretend to it It were also easy to shew That some Doctrines have been as universally received in some Ages as they have been rejected in others which shews that the Doctrine of the present Church is not always a sure measure For five Ages together the Doctrine of the Popes Power to depose Heretical Princes was received without the least Opposition and this cannot be doubted by any that knows what has been the State of the Church since the end of the Eleventh Century and yet I believe few Princes would allow this notwithstanding all the concurring Authority of so many Ages to fortify it I could carry this into a great many other Instances but I single out this because it is a Point in which Princes are naturally extream sensible Upon the whole Matter it can never enter into my mind that God who has made Man a Creature that naturally enquires and reasons and that feels as sensible a pleasure when he can give himself a good account of his Actions as one that sees does perceive in Comparison to a blind Man that is led about and that this God that has also made Religion on design to perfect this humane Nature and to raise it to the utmost height to which it can arrive has contrived it to be dark and to be so much beyond the Penetration of our Faculties that we cannot find out his mind in those things that are necessary for our Salvation and that the Scriptures that were writ by plain Men in a very familiar Stile and addrest without any Discrimination to the Vulgar should become such an unintelligible Book in these Ages that we must have an Infallible Judg to expound it and when I see not only Popes but even