competency of temporal as well as plentitude of Spiritual Authority in the World We do not find for some Ages after that though several Emperours turned Arrian any Pope pretended to an Authority of dispensing their Subjects from the Oaths of Fidelity they had taken to them But it is possible some may and not impertinently answer There was then scarce such a thing in the World as an Oath of Allegiance therefore Dispensations from what were not in being could not be expected To this I assent and do well know Christian Religion in its Primitive Innocency taught obedience from the Laws of Nature which some called Conscience and did not suppose any persons truly toucht with its divine Doctrines could need any other obligation to perform their duties either to God or their Neighbour than what their sacred Initiating Vow of Baptism laid upon them And so far I believe the Quakers not without a true hint that they needed one amongst another no other affirmations but Yea and Nay and that they guided their Conversations by the true Rule Nature had taught them which the Quakers call the Light within them But when Religion became National and that many wicked people took the name of Christianity more for worldly than heavenly advantage then were they forced to have recourse to new sort of solemn Oaths taken either in Publick Churches where Kings did likewise condescend to take new invented Coronation Oaths and the People Oaths of Subjection in return In the management of which Ceremony the Bishops were the chief Officers which by degrees hankt a great respect to them and they not a little ambitious of more taught the dependency of Subjects and Princes one upon the other not to be from the Laws of Nature but from these Compacts which their Authority and nothing else could make Sacred These dangerous Tenets Princes not only at first connived at but made use of For the greatest part of the World being then shifting Subjection from the Roman Empire to native or more neighbouring Dominions was shatter'd into petty Regencies so that the Bishops who preserved a kind of Unity of their distinct Authorities in that of the Roman Sees had a greater power over the common peoples minds than those Kings of Counties had So that indeed Dominion was often transferred from lawful Princes that durst stomach these spiritual Usurpations to Usurpers that would truckle to the Clergy for their good word to prefer them Thus all things becoming again as in the first corruruption of humane Nature where every body were forced to secure themselves from violence and oppression by obligations they believed most sacred Oaths invented or formed by Popes and other Bishops became the Method which when there was a necessity of breaking then they were consulted with as persons best able to judge of that necessity and above all of them the Pope as the most eminent and then thought most disinterested Bishop he being well provided for in Temporalties and very much eased from such entire subjection to the Civil Magistrate as other Bishops in particular still remained under so from an unprejudiced assistant to Conscience he by frequency of Addresses became at length an Umpire then in a manner sole Judge of what Oaths or Compacts remained sacred and what by contingencies ceased to be obligatory So by degrees as naturally all men aspire after Power he took upon him to give and the World accepted from him of course Dispensations from any Vows were troublesom either to their affairs or appetites and it may be if he could have stopt here the World and most Princes in it would have been contented still to have made use of this impossible Power he had assumed but at last they flew to such Practices as disturbed nay destroyed their own Soveraign the Emperours that opposed their insolencies and attempted no less against most Christian Kingdoms nay to such a height were they arrived that few Kingdoms but must owne they did at one time or other receive a new Race of Kings from their appointment And though several of them as particularly this Kingdom have by Gods Providence received again their natural Princes yet was it long first and perhaps not truly in this Nation till King James's assuming the Crown But this excess as well in their extention as execution of their usurp't Authority alarm'd the World and put that upon new Consultations for its safety against a Power which pretended to the deposing of Princes and alteration of Governments without so fair a warning as the beat of Drum This produced our Statute of Praemunire against any person that should bring a Bull from Rome and that as early as Richard the Second's days wherein it is likewise provided That if any Nuntio Legate c. should presume to set foot in this Nation on a Message from the Pope without having first procured the Kings Licence he should be proceeded against as an Enemy to the State This and many other Laws of the like kind made both in this Nation and other Kingdoms about those times sufficiently shew how weary and afraid the Catholick World were grown of the Popes Pride and Usurpations But to return to the matter If we will be so foolish to allow all things may lawfully be done that have successfully been so then the Popes have not only a Power to absolve all persons from their Oaths and Compacts but likewise to alter the Government of Nations and dispense to Subjects their natural obediences to their lawful Soveraigns which are Tenets few Roman Catholicks in the World do hold to the full and such as do it is pity should be suffered to breathe any Air in safety but that of S. John's de Lateran or the Vatican But not to leave the matter fully as I found it upon doubtful Suppositions whether they have any Authority or no to dispense with any sort of Vows whatsoever I will proceed to divide all sorts of Oaths in the World under these three several kinds First Oaths to declare ones assent or to strengthen ones duty in performance of such things as the Law imprinted in every rational Soul does require should however be done Secondly Oaths of Compact between Prince and Prince State and State or private person and private person c. Thirdly Voluntary Vows or Oaths to perform some Religious exercise or function c. Under these three Heads I conceive all Oaths that have ever seemed to need or require Dispensation do fall As from Oaths in Evidence those come not under our consideration Now in the first kind neither the Pope nor any Power that is or ever was visible on Earth could or can dispense for that implies an Authority to give leave to commit things malas in se and under this Head does clearly fall obedience of Subjects to their Princes Children to their Parents c. things that if there never had been Religion would have no sooner lost their respect but humane Nature would have lost its being
directed to obey for conscience sake he would commit a grievous sin against God Now what excuse can we make for our obstinacy in refusing to go to the Churches at times commanded The Popes pretended Commands will not do for were they more binding than the Laws of a Nation which certainly they are not yet can we have none such from him having no Bishops or Spiritual Superiours left whom we might or ought to trust for the truth of them when they came and we have his too too solemn promise that he will have nothing to do with us This being so I am afraid the private discourses and false pretences of private mercenary Jesuits and Missionaries will not be a sufficient Basis to rely upon before the last Tribunal for such obstinate resistance against lawful Authority in things in themselves wholly indifferent Now Brother I know Mr. Politick the Jesuit if you shew him this will presently bless himself with the sign of the Cross desire all to joyn in a Pater noster and Ave Maria against the infection and then dogmatically affirm I am turned a rank nay dangerous Heretick Your Daughters must be desired to visit me no more for fear of perversion nay you will be perswaded to double my Annuity on condition I never see your face again Well if these afflictions should happen I cannot help it but for the mind I am in it must be stronger Arguments shall hinder me from avoiding conviction as long as with a safe conscience I can And I think there are none such for I have considered all I ever hitherto have heard and to me they appear weak and impertinent But that I may not be thought only to affirm this I will sum up all I know any thing to the purpose To begin first then with scandal which is one Argument mainly urged I suppose it can never be intended that if a weak Brother id est perhaps a Fool shall be troubled in mind that I have six dishes of meat at my Table and himself and many better Christians than I have it may be scarce half a one That I must therefore for fear of being an eye-sore to him retrench my self to his fragments And yet S. Paul as to his own practice seemed to resolve this since he says he would never eat meat whilst he lived rather than offend the weak brethren So I suppose and reasonably that his Doctrines of Scandals were calculated for the use of Christian Teachers and those that sought to be Rulers in the Church For had he intended them for all Christians I am afraid they would have proved heavier burdens on Believers than ever were imposed on the Primitive observers of the Mosaical Law and would have but ill accorded with the great Argument for Conversion which was Christian liberty from duties which they and their forefathers were not able to undergo Nor is it reasonable to think I am bound to part with two thirds of my Estate because some fool my neighbour may think me an Heretick by my going to Church no let him think on the sin is his not mine who do nothing but what in it self is lawful and what becomes my duty by the Laws commanding it But he judges amiss of my interiour Faith by my outward actions though lawful and therefore sins in want of Charity Thus much I believe may serve for Scandal though much more might be said The next Objection proceeds from this that it is made the sign of Faith and therefore he that complies in it owns the Church of Englands Doctrine but this must be by all rational men positively denied if they will consider these following Circumstances First when going to Church was commanded in England by a Penal Statute it was designed rather for opportunity to instruct people educated Roman Catholicks in the Principles of the Protestants than as an Act of general Uniformity in Faith which could not so suddenly be expected Next it would have been a vain way of trying the Faith of Papists by a thing they might lawfully according to their own Religion do nor can we believe the people of England assembled in Parliament could be so ignorant had they been minded then to have known the hearts of persons as to have fallen upon so impertinent a test For to my sorrow we find when they intended that they knew a ready and infallible way to do it But suppose the worst that the Law designed it as a tryal of Faith and a discovery of persons Popishly inclined permitting still the thing in it self to be no sin that can no ways oblige you to the refusal of it for I would desire Mr. Jesuit to tell me why you are more obliged openly to declare your self a Catholick than he is to owne himself a Priest fear of death I am sure should not deter him since if he dyes his Faith calls it Martyrdom which gains a Crown of Glory a temptation sufficient and much beyond what any of them will secure you for your Estate But if he like S. Paul thinks it lawful to get down in a Basket you may as advisedly come to Christ by night For is it reasonable that because the Law says Every Popish Recusant shall be convicted that therefore I should be bound presently to run and confess my self a Papist at the next Sessions For 't is as rational to affirm that as to say I am bound when the Law prescribes a thing to be done for tryal of my Faith which I may in Conscience do presently to cry out against it and refuse it for that cause only If that were so then it would be no hard matter by another trick to banish us all the Realm by declaring whosoever should be within this Kingdom on the 25 of March next should be esteemed to all intents and purposes no Roman Catholicks but good Sons of the Church of England whether they communicated in it or no. Now I am afraid Brother if such a sign of Faith as this were by the Law made yet Mr. Jesuit would find many excuses for staying after that time But if he would not I wish with all my heart the Parliament would make such a Statute that we might be rid of them But they know better their Principles than to hope so fair a riddance by so easie a way no these are but weak Arguments to lead the too believing Laity by the noses it must be stronger toyls that shall catch their Elephant understandings Therefore good Brother let you and I be no longer held by them For 't is plain neither scandal nor signum fide ought to be a hindrance to me from doing a thing in it self indifferent and which becomes my duty by the Law 's commanding it The next material Objection I have from some of our Spiritual misleaders met with is That as Faith comes by hearing so does Heresie therefore we ought to avoid the place where it is taught lest we should be misguided into it If you answer
this by saying the Argument would hold all the World over and so make it a sin as well in France as here then they reply That in Catholick Countries though you hear Heresie in a Protestant Sermon yet you have a Catholick Sermon presently clears the point and makes it indubitable on the Churches side Now this by the Prohibition of Religion is prevented in England and therefore the case very different One would think this a very subtile Argument so notably put together that there would be no possibility of answering it if one did but very much stand in awe of the Magisterial Mountebank that it may be with a world of Rhetorical flourishes and grave Quotations out of Scotus doth positively affirm this to be the opinion of all School-men nay the Catholick Church it elf But Heaven knows examine it a little and you will find it a meer rope of sand as solidly compacted as their ridiculous though politick Doctrine of Probabilities and no better For will not they or any observing man confess that the Romanists of England take them one with another are ten for one more learned and confirmed in the Principles of their Religion than those of France or any Catholick Country indeed are He that considers that most of the Natives of this Kingdom who are of that Faith be either Persons of Quality who have had great advantages by Education or Converts from the Protestants will easily believe there must be a great disparity between such and the general herd of Vulgars bred in Countries under a Religion no ways famous for making the common people too knowing But suppose it is not so and that those who have so long strugled under difficulties in their Fortunes for Conscience sake have done it more out of ignorance the Mother as some say of Popish devotion than of understanding yet will the former Argument wash away in that part which says those in Catholick Countries have more opportunity of being untaught what they might prejudicially have suckt in For none will deny but more Doctrine is collected from rational discourses Pro and Con than from such set Speeches as Sermons are Therefore considering there are few Gentlemen in England of the Romish Religion who have 500 l. per Ann. but keep a Priest in their Houshold How is it likely if good Arguments be to be found against every thing the Protestants teach contrary to the Romish Faith but that they should presently upon inquiry have their new-raised scruples at Church by such sooner and stronger wip't off than a person that it may be in a Catholick Country may go to Church both Sunday and other Holy-day a year before he hears any Sermon casually to glance upon that point whereon such doubt of his arose And I dare affirm so sweet is the profit the Jesuits and Missionaries find in England that there resides and is like to do constantly so many here that few Papists need to be a day from speaking with one of them and that is an advantage equal to the most Catholick Nations But suppose all here said nothing to the purpose but that 't is likely many would be changed in time and become Protestants What is that to you or I Brother or indeed to any rational Lay Catholick in England for he whose case it should be need not much repine that his conscience should lead him into a more advantageous Religion as to this World and for the other he would no doubt be as confident of a good place there if he acted purely upon the score of Faith as ever he was whilst he remained Papist But I confess many such accidents as those would shrewdly inconvenience the Priests and in time lessen their number But still what is that to you or I Brother I find no Canon of any General Council commanding you to give two thousand pound a year to increase the number of Priests or to maintain those that be Nor can I believe Christian Religion ever obliged its Professors to such remote considerations No all men were not bound like S. Paul to love to that extremity as to wish damnation for their Country-mens sakes They that can let them but still say I Brother keep your money you 'l repent it else one day take my word for it Another Argument I have heard started which is that if Catholicks should go to Church yet the Parliament would at last find out something like the late Test for Imployments by which they would be found out and so consequently be no ways the better but suffer equally to what they should do by Recusancy To this I answer that I ought as a Christian to obey the Government as far as I can in Conscience and that for Conscience sake and to trust the Divine Providence in whose hands are the hearts of Princes and Rulers for any thing by them for the future to be commanded which if I cannot then comply with I must either follow the direction of flying in persecution from city to city or patiently suffer for my sins what God shall please by the Law to impose upon me But this supposition how well grounded soever it may seem ought not to hinder me from complying as far as I am able at the present such test when if ever it comes will then with its penalties be time enough to submit to But I am of the opinion and not without some colour of reason that such a Test may never be especially if Catholicks would leave off Recusancy The grounds for my conceptions are these The People of England boast of this Priviledge beyond most European Nations if not all that no person is bound by Torture or Oath to accuse himself of any thing which by the Law is penal but that proof ought to come of matter of Fact before he suffer Now this so rational a Priviledge which frees us from the slavish subjection of those governed by the Civil Law all English Parliaments hitherto have been extremely tender of as appears by those Laws provided for security of Religion since the Reformation For every person knows they who incur punishment by not complying in Forms of Worship or matters of Faith do it out of tenderness of Conscience though it may be misguided Now such persons one may well believe would scruple above all things a false Oath Therefore if our Law-makers had not been very careful of this English Free-mans Priviledge they might have quickly left a latitude to Judges and other inferiour Magistrates by Interrogatories upon Oath to have found out all persons that had through Conscience offended against any Ecclesiastical Law as Whether have you heard Mass within a year or no have you asserted or taught the Popes Supremacy or brought in Crosses Beads or Images c. But we find no such Method allowed which can spring from nothing but the care of this Sacred English Priviledge always firmly rooted in the breasts of the Compilers of English Statutes For I should think
proper you keep how many Horses and when you may use them for recreation and when not At what hour Mass shall be and what is the critical minute for Dinner Supper and Bed-time in a well ordered House If I had not seen the domineering Domine's extend their spiritual Dominion in a devout Family much beyond these small matters I would have been silent but Heaven knows and so do you Brother that in such Popish Families where the Hen crows these are but the least of their insolencies For such Women as are very ill-natur'd to their Husbands and perhaps something ugly have little to imploy their time in but Masses Litanies Rosaries Jesus Psalters and Juniper-Lectures and these are generally great Friends of the Priests with whom they share the Dominion of the Hen-peckt Gentleman till poor man he is glad to make the Confessaries an Advocate to his devout Bed fellow for a Play-day that he may have leave to meet some few Neighbours to dust a stand of Ale which he wishes may prove bottomless that he might not be forc't to return again to keep company by stealth with his Fellow-servant the Steward in his own Cellar where he bribes the Butler with a stollen Tester to keep counsel Now in this condition dear Brother on my next Visit I expect to find you By that time I suppose all things will be put in due discipline in your Houshold where no doubt I shall be welcom'd with Friday-Fares and new appointed Fasting-days for my Conversion or at least driving me out of doors again but be it as it will I cannot for bear telling you that the Priests who have nothing to lose will animate you by false pretences to incur the Sequestration that will suddenly succeed your late Conviction whereby they will confirm their yet doubtful Tyranny over your Conscience and then see what will follow Besides the loss of that goes into the Exchequer you will find a strange growing charge for Indulgences Masses for your Grandfathers Fathers Brothers Sisters and all your departed Relations Souls Nay if I should be so unkind to you as to die too 't is not twice my Annuity would pay for all the conditional Masses they would say were absolutely necessary for my terribly to be doubted Soul Alas Brother you cannot consider what a chargeable thing devotion in our Religion is if it be accompanied with visible ignorance and that the Priest once know the blind side all goes and there is no sign of it neither the Jesuits having a bottomless Bag into which they throw all they ever have or shall get from the foolish Penitents of their Order I could nay would and if provoked will name several particular Cheats acted by the Fathers of the Society on devout Catholicks that were their Penitents and had good Estates but were almost undone by them in these late times But I am as loth to scandalize them as I am sure they will think me by this Paper willing to do it and therefore I shall omit mentioning any of them particularly especially to you who I know are sensible of some of them your self But leaving all these particulars or any thing else that may too much reflect I will return to the matter in hand which is the lawfulness of going to Church whatsoever they or any of their Predecessors have or can say to the contrary I think I have made it plain that neither the Popes Commands Scandal sign of Faith want of Opportunity to be satisfied in the scruples Sermons might raise nor the fear of some future Test can oblige any Lay Catholick to disobey the Law by Recusancy But rather notwithstanding these Priestly Inventions they are all obliged in Conscience to go to Church as long as the Magistrates who gives vigour to the Law requires it Now I will a little touch upon those things that the Law farther requires to be done by Lay persons not seeking Imployments and so leave you afterterwards Brother to your prayers and tears that God would turn the hearts of the Rulers if you shall still obstinately persist in your resolution of rather suffering in a crowd without reason than save your self by it First then let us consider the Oath of Allegiance against the taking of which there want not numbers of Jesuits and Priests that do exclaim nor many Catholicks that thereupon fear to take it though as King James well observed in the compiling it there was particular care taken as well by himself as others that there might not be one word in it which might raise a scruple in a person willing to obey the Civil Magistrate Yet notwithstanding this is so certainly true that I never yet could meet with one rational Argument against any sentence word or syllable in it except such as were grounded on that not only Heretical but Diabolical Doctrine of the Popes having power to depose Princes notwithstanding this I say yet had and have the Missionaries such full dependence on the Court of Rome that a great part of them but especially the Jesuits and their Devotes did always both then and lately strive to raise scruples in the Consciences of the more confiding sort of Lay Papists to hinder them from taking it by that means striving as much as in them lay to keep some ready for the execution of any desperate Attempt they might have opportunity to design upon the State Now Brother I desire you would not take me to be too uncharitable in this assertion of mine For to what purpose else should they strive to deter men from taking an Oath the refusal whereof is of the direst consequence both to Life and Estate and yet wherein there is not the least thing contrary to Religion except the renouncing all rebellious designs be such I wish with all my heart I could frame some other less reflecting excuse both for those Persons of Quality and lesser persons sake that have formerly and very lately by their insinuations not only scrupled but too notoriously refused giving the Kingdom that small satisfaction of their future Loyalty by taking it but I fear it is impossible Now what in the name of wonder can the meaning be that when the Law Religion Reason it self and the Example of many noble many wise many devout many nay most zealous Catholicks of the Kingdom 's readiness to take it should concur to perswade all to do it yet that there should be still a Party so led away by the dogmatical Authority of the Jesuits that without shewing a reason dare boldly affirm it not lawful it may be as a strong Argument adding a forc't sigh with a Miserere for those that do take it I say that there should be still such a Party amongst us that on no better grounds have and do refuse so justifiable and necessary an Oath is not only a great wonder but a terrible scandal to all those of a contrary Religion They no doubt and it may be not without Justice do believe there