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 subalterne Iudge if they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular persons may be supposed as competent Iudges of that as in Civill Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Iudges and in that case they are bound still to mantain their Obedience to Iesus Christ. In matters Indifferent Christians are bound for the Preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decisions 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 Iudge 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 as there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that 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 Opinions 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 shewes us that it Must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party sayes 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 is 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 so ever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture sayes 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 Vote and what forfeits this right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Iudgment 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 Emperours 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. Pallavicins 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 N. Testament he is involved in a study that must cost a Man an Age to go thro it and many of the Ages thro which he caries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our dayes that it is not possible to 〈◊〉 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 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 Years upon Earth and if those who had Matters at second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater errours 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. Ierome examined this Matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more then all the rest It seems plain that the Fathers befor the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort Inferiour to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they considered 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 Petau will satisfy you as to the first Period before the Council of Nice and the learned Dr. Cudmorth 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 Judge 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 immediatly succeeded 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 Hoslies 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 Latines 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 Iudge turn against all those of the Church of Rome that do not acknowledge the Infallibility of the Pope for if he is not Infallible they have no other Iudge 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 Ê’ which shews that the Doctrine of the present Church is not alwayes 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 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 Iudge to expound it and when I see not only Popes but even 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
fallen out without his Privity And if a standing Army in time of Peace has been ever lookt 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 Majesties 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 yet 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 sayes 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 unadviseable to extirpate Hereticks because that at present it cannot 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 joyned 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 Maj. says we know to whom we owe both the first beginnings and the progress of the Divisions among our selves the Gentleness of Q. Elisabeth'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 fomenting 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 easy 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 Encouragment 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 them was enough to load any man with Suspitions 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 upon the Protestant Religion that is inconsistent with the Publick Peace will be pretended to shew that they are not persecuted for meer Religion In France when it was resolved to extirpate the Protestants all the Discourses that were written on that Subject were full of the Wars occasioned by those of the Religion in the last Age tho as these were the happy Occasions of bringing the House of Bourbon to the Crown they had been ended above 80. years ago and there had not been so much as the least Tumult raised by them these 50. years past so that the French who have smarted under this Severity could not be charged with the least Infraction of the Law yet Stories of a hundred years old were raised up to inspire into the King those Apprehensions of them which have produced the terrible effects that are visible to all the World. There is another Expression in this Declaration which lets us likewise see with what Caution the Offers of Favour are now worded that so there may be an Occasion given when the Time and Conjuncture shall be favourable to break thro them all it is in these words So that they take especial Care that nothing be preached or taught amongst them which may any ways tend to alienate the Hearts of our People from us or our Government This in it self is very reasonable and could admit of no Exception if we had not to do with a set of men who to our great Misfortune have so much Credit with His Majesty and who will be no sooner lodged in the Power to which they pretend than they will make every thing that is preached against Popery pass for that which may in some manner alienate the Subjects from the King. VI. His Majesty makes no doubt of the Concurrence of his Two Houses of Parliament when he shall think it convenient for them to meet The Hearts of Kings are unsearchable so that it is a little too presumptuous to look into His Majesties Secret Thoughts
which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have giveÌ„ V. There are some things very expresly taught in the N. Testament such as the rules of a Good Life the Use of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace thro 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 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 Jewes 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 to the judge in those daies that they were to declare what was right 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 authorised 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 Saviours 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 worsâ—hip of another God might well pretend that he was not obliged to yield to the authority of our Saviours Miracles without taking cognisance 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 Iewes 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 Ieremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's dayes 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 freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the Reconciling of Differences â—hat of Binding of Loosing according to the use of those terms among the Iews 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 signifys only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish that of Christs being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special Conduct Protection which the Church may alwayes 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 Iudge for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the talents thar he had and all will be saved according to their â—incerity and with relation to that judgement there is no need of any other judge but God. A Second view of Religion is as it is a Body united together by consequence brought under some regulation and as in all States there are subalterne Iudges in whose decisions all must at least acquiesce tho they are not infallible there being still a sort of an appeal to be made to the soveraigne or the supream legsliative Body so the Church has a Subalterne Iurisdiction but as the Authority of Inferiour Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law
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 Ingratefull 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 askt 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 forreigne Countries sought their Relief from Rebellion The Germans Reformed by the Authority of their Princes so did the Swedes the Danes and like wise the Switsers In France they maintained the Princes of the Blood against the League and in Holland the Quarrell 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 Goverment 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 quarrell 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 designe 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 a persecutor in such matters and She sees both the mischief that the Protestant Religion has received from their subdivisions and the happiness of granting a due Liberty of Conscience where she has so long lived that there is no reason to make any fancy that she will either keep up our Differences or bear down the Dissenters with Rigor But because you hope for nothing from her own Inclinations you would have her terrified with the strong Argument of Numbers which you fancy will certainly secure them from her recalling the favour But of what side soever that Argument may be strong sure it is not of theirs who make but one to Two hundred and I suppose you scarce expect that the Dissenters will rebel that you may have your Masses and how their numbers will secure them unless it be by enabling them to Rebell I cannot Imagine this is indeed a squinting at the Next Heir with a witness when you would already muster up the Troops that must rise against her But let me tell you that you know both Her Character and the Prince's very ill that fancy they are only to be wrought on by Fear They are known to your great grief to be above that and it must be to their own Mercifull Inclinations that you must owe all that you can expect under them but neither to their fear nor to your own Numbers As for the hatred and Contempt even to the degree of being more Ridiculous then the Mass under which you say Her way of Worship is in Holland this is one of those figures of speech that shew how exactly you have Studied the Jesuites Moralls All that come from Holland assure us that she is so Universally beloved and esteemed there that every thing that she does is the better thought of even because she does it Upon the whole matter all that you say of the Next Heir proves too truly that you are that for which you reproach the Church of England a Disciple of the Crown only for the loaves for if you had that respect which you pretend for the King you would have shewed it more upon this
put the late King out of the list of Protestant Kings so that this Reproach lies wholly on the King's Father and his Grand-father It is a little surprising after all the Eloquence that has been Imployed to raise the Character of the late Martyr to so high a pitch that one of his Sons Secretaries should set it under his hand in a letter that he pretends is written by the King's Commands that he made it a Maxime to undo his People The Writer of this Letter should have avoided the mentioning of fines since it is not so long since both He and his Brother valued themselves on a point that they carried in 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 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 Councellours declared they believed him guilty He will hardly find among all the Maximes of those Protestant Persecuting Kings any one that will Justify 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 Pomer 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 Papists 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 signify 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 slackning and sofning 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 penne dit FINIS AN ANSWER To A PAPER Printed with Allowance Entitled A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty I. THe Accusing the Church of England of Want of Loyalty or the putting it to a new Test after so fresh a one with relation to His Majesty argues a high degree of Confidence in him who undertakes it She knew well what were the Doctrines and Practices of those of the Roman Church with Relation to Hereticks and yet She was so true to her Loyalty that She shut her eyes on all the Temptations that so just a fear could raise in her and She set her self to support His Majesties Right of Succession with so much Zeal that She thereby not only put her self in the power of her Enemies but She has also exposed her self to the Scorn of those who insult over her in her Misfortune She lost the Affections even of many of her own Children who thought that her Zeal for an Interest which was then so much decry'd was a little too fervent and all those who judged severely of the proceedings thought that the Opposition which She made to the side that then went so 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 Shâ— could make no Excuse for her conductâ— 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 Lawes to secure their Religion but assuring themselves that Honour was the Kings 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 suteable 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 Indemnify 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 â—ust 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 Maxime 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 disown'd at another while yet he that was the Chief Instrument in it is still in so high a post and begins now to treat the Men of the Church of England with the same Brutal Excesses that he bestowed so lately and so liberally on the Dissenters as if his design were to render himself equally odious to all Mankind III. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as Seditious after she has rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth has done She has beaten down all the Principles of Rebellion with more Force and Learning than any Body of men has ever yet done and has run the hazard of enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the more learned of her Members knew well what they might expect And since our Author likes the figure of a Snake in ones Bosom so well I could tell him that according to the Apologue we took up and sheltred an Interest that was almost Dead and by that warmth gave it Life which yet now with the Snake in the Bosom is like to bite us to Death We do not say we are the only Church that has Principles of Loyalty but this we may say that we are the Church in the World that carries them the highest as we know a Church that of all others sinks them the lowest We do not pretend that we are Inerrable in this point but acknowledge that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edwards Death Yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more steadily to their Loyalty in favour of Queen Mary than She did to the Promises that she made to them Upon this Subject our Author by his false Quotation of History forces me to set the Reader right which if it proves to the disadvantage of