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A63532
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The true interest of the legal English Protestants, stated in a letter to a present member of the House of Commons concerning the test
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1687
(1687)
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Wing T2714A; ESTC R219806
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3,708
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4
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tell it unto the Church and if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican Verse 18. Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven And whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven And the Church that we must hear must be always Visible if Christ be always with them or else it can neither command nor we hear them to Obey And without an Umpire Church we can never agree about the Sacrament nor any other of the many Controverted Texts and Sects growing from them And now I believe this may be enough though you still doubt Transubstantiation to make you think it your Duty to endeavour to Repeal these Test-Acts to remove such a Bait for Division between His Majesty and People As for the Declaration in the second Test-Act Of Idolatry for Invoking the Virgin Mary or Saints or Adoring Christ in the Elevated Bread of the Mass Where they suppose he is not I shall in brief only say That the seeking of Christ either by or without his mediating Favourites though it should be where he is suppos'd not to be can be no Idolatry Since Christ is every where as he is God and that no Pagan Gods are in the Hearts of any Christians And now having prov'd the unlawfulness I shall proceed to the Inconveniencies of the Test-Acts And what can be more improper then depriving the Government not only of the use of the Roman Catholicks in all Chargeable Troublesom or Dangerous Offices either Civil or Military but even of all other Subjects who may avoid such Imployments by saying I cannot take the Ingagements in the Test-Acts and therefore must not obey you How ridiculous were any Government that should not have a Power to suspend such Laws As for the Penal Laws against Non-conformists they were made to wear out the Opposers of Queen Elizabeths Title to the Crown But that Cause being remov'd long since it is certain that they have been contrary to the Primitive Doctrine and Practice of Christians Oppressive of mens Consciences and Families the Causers of Conspiracies and Rebellions and drivers of men to Hypocrisy If these then are their undenyable Attributes your Compassion Justice and true Protestant Interest will Ingage you to endeavour when you Sit again to get the start of all your Enemies in obliging His most Illustrious Majesty by taking off altogether the worst of Slaveries at least from the most Loyal of His Oppressed Subjects They are but a Contemptible Handful of People And therefore when God shall remove His glorious Majesty if you shall then find them worse then other Subjects you will be numerous enough to make what new Laws you please against them For they are not the twentieth man and have grown no faster here in this short time of Liberty than a great Body of them hath done amongst the Wise United Netherlanders with a hundred years Liberty where they are in Peace with a continued Fidelity to their Government when Invaded by the French of their own Religion But let what will happen it is the True Interest of the Church of England to stand or fall with its Duty Their King if he were a Heathen is the Lords Anointed as Cyrus was call'd in Isaia chap. 45. v. 1. and he is the Legal Head of the English Church by which he can model them to their Duty without force And now I have said enough to one so Wise as to know that God and the King must be Trusted with something For I should Apologize for so tedious a Letter from Your very Affectionate and most Humble Servant
The True Interest of the Legal English PROTESTANTS STATED IN A LETTER TO A Present Member of the House of Commons Concerning the TEST SIR IF you look round about you you will find the greatest part of the Nation to have been your Bloody Devouring Enemies The visible Reasons have been the Actings of the Bishops in Scotland and the High Commission-Court in England But the chief Reason of taking this pretence was the Avarice of your Enemies to Usurp Church-Lands Which Interest as it hath ever continued their Conspiracies since must always make them remain your Solemnly Leagued and unalterable Enemies though perhaps your present Flatterers And you have no Revertionary prospect to comfort you for the next Heir now living is Invironed with Presbyterian Instructers But the present King mindful of your past Loyalty hath Promis'd and Perform'd the Protection of you for two years together without withdrawing so much as His Family-Chappel at Whitehall from you And His Clemency and Compassion no loss perseveres in Protecting and Cherishing those Contenders with Kings the French Hugonots So that His Protestant Friends can have no motive to doubt Him whom they can only Trust if they Disoblige him not But if the Coersive Power must be continued over the Sectaries though it begun all our Miseries and the Penal Laws with the Tests must remain to drive all sorts of Non-conformists to Hypocrisy you will find that those whom you would still be Threatning without Power will take new measures to destroy your future Power I say not this that I would have all sorts of Rebellious Sectaries have Liberty to meet in what Numbers and Places they please but would have new Acts if there be not enough to give the Civil Magistrate a sufficient preventing Power of such Temptations to Rebellion But I would have the Protestant Church freed from the blemish of being Tyrants over Mens Souls their Churches Revenues and such a Pastoral Power as Christ and his Apostles Exercis'd being continued upon them I mean a Power to Preach Teach and Excommunicate all Church-Disturbers And now since the Test-Acts have made a great noise in the World I shall presume to offer some Proofs out of an Allowed Protestant Bible of the Unlawfulness of them And to begin with the Act of the 25th of King Charles the Second the words of the Engagement are these I A. B. do declare that I do Believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Lords-Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever And in the second Act of the 30th of King Charles the Second there is added The renouncing the Invocation of the Virgin Mary or any of the Saints as Idolatrous as also the Mass as it is now used by the Church of Rome is declar'd Idolatrous But the Protestant Bible is positive in these Words St. Matthew Chap. 26. ver 26. And as they were Eating Jesus took Bread and Blessed it and Brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take Eat this is my Body And in St. Mark Chap. 14. ver 22. And as they did Eat Jesus took Bread and Blessed it and Brake it and gave it to them and said Take Eat this is my Body And in St. Luke Chap. 22. ver 19. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and Brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body which is given for you this do in Remembrance of me And in the Verses immediately following these three Texts Christ calls the Cup of Wine His Blood shed for his Followers But I omitted them for Brevity sake Now I would ask you whether the plain Words in the Test-Acts are not expresly that I believe not one of these Texts of Christ And to give you yet a plainer Text out of St. John Chap. 6. ver 51. You will find these words in your own Bible I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven if any Man Eat this Bread he shall live for ever And the Bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World. Consider now Sir Whether the Ingagements in these Test-Acts are not a Solemn League against the Word of God so plain in four Texts and a confounding Snare to those that cannot Read and Understand as well as to those that can for they engage to they know not what Nor do I know one contrary Text. As for the Miracle of Transubstantiation which the Test-takers think so hard God hath Impower'd Man and Beast to demonmonstrate it daily to them For the chief sorts of Beasts do daily Transubstantiate Grass and Water into their own Flesh and Blood And Man does Transubstantiate the very Elements of Bread and Wine into his own Flesh and Blood This undenyable Truth then should induce the Test-League to allow God a little more Power And since he shews them the multiplication of all growing Bodies in their Seed they cannot deny him a Fertile Power over his own Body For since the Holy Ghost Breathed Christs Body into the Womb of a Virgin Christ being God and Man cannot be denyed the same Power to Breath the Breath of Life into Bread by his own or his Delegates Words And for Flesh to lye hid under the outward Figure of Bread is no more impossible then for the hidden Flesh of all Birds with their entire Forms to be conceal'd under the Shape Taste and Complexion of Eggs. We must then believe God of such Infinite Power as to Create all things out of nothing by his Word which is the greatest and most visible of all Miracles For besides the proofs in Genesis we daily view the Universe which could never make it self in such Beauty and Order without an Infinitely Powerful Designer And that Christ did Delegate his Power in the Sacrament to his Disciples is plain in the Text above-mention'd of St. Luke Chap. 22. ver 9. This do in remembrance of me If then we have so many Texts for Transubstantiation and none against it And the second Councel of Nice with others declaring for it and none against it These are not Authorities to be oppos'd by an Antient Father or too as our Adversaries say or a little late grown Reformed Church or two For the opposers of Gods Word condemn their own Principle of Reformation and Contradictors of General Councels are underminers of all Christian Authority or Unity for they are the chosen Representatives of the Generality of Christians Amongst whom Peaceably call'd by the chief Power for many hundreds of years the Church of God must be To which Christ Promis'd to continue with St. Matthew Chap. 28. ver 20. in these words Loe I am with you always even unto the end of the World. And if so all Peaceable General Councels must be of like Authority And they who will not hear them must incur the Penalty denounced in St. Matthew Chap. 18. ver 17 18. And if he neglect to hear thee