them if they are constant to their own principles for the keeping out of Popery and it will be an indelible Reproach to them all who have professed a greater detestation of Popery and the Church of England which they have slandered and opposed as if they had too far complied with the Papists if they should at last confederate with them to take off those Laws which they unanimously consented to as a means to keep out Popery especially it being evident to all considering persons that when these Laws are abrogated those Laws by which Popery was formerly established will be in force and so they who consent to the taking away the one do consent to the establishing of the other and set up Popery by a Law. See the first and second of Queen Mary But to return to the Vindication of the Church of England from the Imputation of Persecution let the Reader consider that the Established Church hath neither any Power nor any Principle that may incline her to it 1. It hath never had any Power the Church being always in its Minority and the King being her Guardian she cannot enact any thing for her self her Courts are the King's Courts her Convocations are called by the King's Writs they cannot consult of any other Matters but what are proposed by the King nor make any Canons but what are proposed by the King nor make any Canons but what are ratified by his Authority nor execute them but by his Warrant and that under these Proviso's that they be not against the King's Prerogative nor against the Common or Statute Laws And there lieth an Appeal to the Court of Chancery and the Common Law which may grant Prohibitions against their Proceedings and hinder the Execution of their Sentences so that neither any Corporal Punishment can be inflicted nor any Fine leavied but by the Civil Magistrate by whom all Penal Laws are executed so that if there be any cause of Complaint it is to be charged on those Members of Parliament which themselves chose to Vote for them Nor ought they to complain of what was acted by their own Choice And whosoever will duly consider the Rise of those Laws by which the Complainers have suffered the greatest Penalties will find that they were enacted or procured by the Complainers themselves for those Laws by vertue whereof the greatest Execution hath been done since the Reformation were contrived by the Papists I mean the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which though some are pleased to call Protestant Oaths yet were they in being before the Reformation That of Supremacy was enacted in a full Parliament under King Henry the Eighth and was only a Vindication of the ancient Rights of the Crown from foreign Usurpations it was defended by divers Learned Men of the Romish Perswasion particularly by Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester And some great Men lost their Lives for defaming or refusing to take that Oath viz. The Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moore and if others have suffered on the same account since the Church of England cannot justly be accused of what was so solemnly recognized by the Papists Nec lex est justior ulla And as to the Oath of Allegiance though it were brought into a form by King James as a Test to discover such persons as had often conspired to take away his Life yet as to the matter of it it was to be administred in all Courts-Leet to the Subjects of the Crown and was so framed as to turn the Edge of it against the Papists 2. The Church of England hath no principles that may incline any of her Communion to Persecuting Practices for she makes the holy Scriptures the Rule of her Faith and Practice and Light is not more contrary to Darkness than the Spirit of the Gospel is to that of Persecution When James and John moved our Saviour to call for fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans Luke 9.54 Our Saviour rebuked them saying Ye know not what spirit ye are of for the son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Of what spirit then are they of who will call for Fire from Hell if they cannot obtain it from Heaven it concerns others to consider As many as walk by the Rule of the Gospel are for Peace and Acts of Mercy And it 's well known that the Church of England strictly injoyns that nothing be preached by her Ministers but what is plainly declared in the Scriptures or may be clearly ded uced from it The Church teacheth all of her Communion to pray for all Men even their Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and frequently useth our Lord's Prayer which obligeth them to forgive Men their Trespasses as they hope to be forgiven of their heavenly Father And St. Paul assures us That all our gifts and graces without charity are nothing worth that charity which suffereth long and is kind which is not puffed up is not easily provoked thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. by which Rule all Christians ought to walk Here the Counsel of Optatus is seasonable Si vestros videri Martyres vultis probate amasse pacem in qua prima sunt Martyris fundamenta aut dilexisse deo placidam unitatem aut habuisse cum fratribus charitatem sine qua maxima imperiosa virtus caret effectu p. 72. If our Church did lay claim to an infallible Spirit and enforce her new Decrees on the Consciences of Men under the pain of an Anathema on all that should not receive them with the like submission as they do to the Oracles of God Did she exact a blind Obedience and an implicite Faith to her Ordinances with a Non-obstante to the Institutions of Christ or if she did pronounce all Hereticks that refuse to hold Communion with her and teach that no Faith is to be kept with such Hereticks Did she account Men Hereticks for keeping and reading their Bibles and Books of Piety and Devotion or set up an Inquisition to Imprison Torment and put to Death Men and Women for their dissent from it in such Opinions Did it punish Men because they believe their Senses and will not fall down and Worship a piece of Bread and give Divine Honour to the Works of Mens hands and Worship the Creature more or besides the Creator Rom. 1.25 Did it approve or allow the deposing Doctrine and approve of Rebellion and Resistance and Massacring thousands of innocent persons for its Advantage and Grandure which some of the Complainers of both Perties have contended for and practised Or did it teach that Dominion is founded in Grace that wicked Men have no Right to what they enjoy but it belongs to the Saints to possess the Earth and to bind Kings in Chains c Did it erect Imperium in imperio an Ernpire independent and paramount to that of the Prince in whose Dominions they live as too many of the Cornplainers do affirm Then might the charge of Persecution be justly pleaded
to say when it is too late but a non Putarum that the instances of the obduration of Pharoah and the Pharisees make you not afraid lest the Wrath of God come upon you to the utmost while you please not God and are contrary to all Men forbidding Christ's Labourers to preach to the Ignorant and Impenitent that they may be saved 1 Thess 2.15 O that God would make them sensible how many thousand persons Damnation is like to be charged upon them for what they have already done these seventeen Years hindring so many Faithful Ministers I must profess if it were the last word I should speak in the World that I had rather be the basest Scavenger yea and suffer many Deaths than be found at the Judgment-Seat of Christ in the Place and Guilt of those of you the best and most moderate Bishops c. who have done what is done against the Gospel and Church of Christ in this Land. In p. 236. the Author opposeth this Question in behalf of the Bishops Why do I write all this to you Bishops and not to his Majesty and the Parliament I answer It is not them nor any of their Laws and Actions which in all this Book I intend to speak against Yet the whole design of the Book was to Justifie the Preaching of Non conformists contrary to Law. And p. 104. he says No Bishops have Silenced us by Spiritual Government that we know of but only as Barons by the Secular Laws to which they gave their Votes and he acknowledgeth all did not These Contradictions cannot be reconciled And it was no less then a Spirit of Contradictions that wrought in the hearts of such Men as thus opposed themselves to the Establishment made by the Parliament notwithstanding the many Alterations then made in the Liturgy and Rubricks and the Reasons given for them in the Preface before the Common-Prayer and the Discourse concerning Ceremonies which there follows And because the farther Concessions opposed by that Learned Dr. Stillingfleet may give some satisfaction to the Reader how willing the Church was to propose Terms of Reconciliation I have here set them down that it may appear also how unreasonably they were despised by the Men of that Generation And that this Doctor may not stand alone or be thought to propose his own Sentiments only I shall joyn with him the Reverend Dean of Canterbury in a Sermon preach'd at the York-shire Feast Anno 1679 p. 28. Though it was not for private Persons says he to undertake in matters of publick Concernment yet I have no cause to doubt but the Governours of our Church notwithstanding all the Advantages and Authority too which are on their side were persons of that Piety and Prudence that for Peace sake and in order to a firm Union among Protestants they would be content if that would do it not to insist upon little things but to yield them up whether to the Infirmity or Importunity or perhaps in some very few things to the plausible Exceptions of those who differed from them Dr. Sherlock makes up a Triumvirate after whom I shall not need though I could mention many Auxiliaries in a Sermon preached before the Lord-Mayor Novemb. 1688. We have reason to hope that the Church of England which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent care not to offend the Papists in going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend to a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenters for while the External Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Divisions and Breaches of the Church And let us all heartily pray to God that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Reunion And all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not meerly the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruine is aimed at but the whole Protestant Faith. And to evidence that this was the Sence of the Governours of our Church the Archbishop of Canterbury with his Six Brethren did declare in their Petition to the late King That they did not refuse to distribute and publish his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience for any want of due Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a Temper as should be thought fit when that matter should be considered and setled in Parliament and Convocation And in the Articles commended to the Bishops of his Province and their Clergy he Exhorts That they walk in Wisdom towards them that are not of our Communion and if there be in their Parishes any such that they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the Spirit of Meekness seeking by all good ways and means to gain them to our Communion more especially that they have a very tender regard to our Brethren the Protestant Dissenters that upon occasion offered they visit them at their Houses and receive them kindly at their own and treat them fairly where-ever they meet them perswading them if it may be to a full Compliance with our Church or at least that whereunto we have already attained we may all walk by the same Rule and mind the same Thing and in order hereunto that they take all opportunities of assuring and convincing them that the Bishops of this Church are really and sincerely irreconcileable to the Errours Superstitions Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome and that they warmly and most affectionately exhort them to joyn with us in daily fervent Prayer to the God of Peace for an universal blessed Union of all the Reformed Churches at home and abroad against our common Enemies and that all they who confess the Holy Name of our Dear Lord and agree in the Truth of his Holy Word may also meet in one Holy Communion and live in perfect Unity and Godly Love. And it is well known that many Ministers in the City and Country were accounted Trimmers and threatned to be Prosecuted themselves because they refused to Present and Prosecute their Dissenting Neighbours So that both the Bishops and others of the Established Clergy have been alway ready to Sacrifice their private Peace and Interest to the publick Walfare The Reverend Dean of St. Paul's Proposals or Terms of Union betwixt the Church of England and the Dissenters Taken out his Preface to the Unreasonableness of Separation p. 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94. are as followeth Quest Is there nothing to be done for Dissenting Protestants who agree with us in all Doctrinal Articles of our Church and only scruple the use of a few Ceremonies and some late Impositions Shall these Differences still be continued when they may be so easily removed and so many useful
against her but she utterly detests and abhors all such Doctrines and both teacheth and practiseth the contrary The Weapons of her Warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual Prayers and Tears Patience and Forbearance Exhortations and Admonitions which are not for Destruction but for Edification There is one sort of Persecution and but one that I know of that the Complainers have cause to accuse her of and that is not of the Sword but the Pen her cogent Reasons and sharp Arguments which have been prest and enforced against her Adversaries by the Sons of the Church in Vindication of their dearest Mother and happy is she for she hath her Quiver so full of them that she is not ashamed to meet her Enemy in the Gates these have done very considerable Execution being so rightly aimed so sharp headed and driven home that they could neither fly from nor resist the force of them but have been beaten from one Refuge to another stript of all the Armour wherein they trusted left naked and so defenceless that all the broken Forces which her Adversaries either Papists or Dissenters can Rally have little left but to complain of a Persecution But as they have not felt so neither have they cause to fear a Persecution from the Church of England if they farther consider how compassionately and charitably they have been always disposed for the Relief and Comfort of such afflicted Protestants abroad which differ from her as much or more than the Protestant Dissenters of our own Nation Witness the great sums of Money that have been Collected in our Assemblies for the distressed Inhabitants of the Palatinate and Hungary of Peidmont and Lucerne and the liberal Contributions for Redemption of Captives without respect of Persons their great Hospitality to such as fled to her Bosom being driven from their own Habitations Naked and Destitute meerly for Conscience sake being otherwise very Loyal and Peaceable Subjects And if the Church Established have not been forgetful to entertain Strangers and relieve the Oppressed abroad who can suppose them forward to persecute their Dissenting Brethren at home who are of the same Houshold of Faith to whom they are especially commanded to do good Gal. 6.10 Again the Penal Laws which are now in force were for the most part enacted by the States of the Nation long before the present Clergy had their Being viz. in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and therefore cannot be justly imputed to the present Generation nor hath any rigorous Execution of them been enforced by the importunity of the Established Clergy That Wind that brought the Storm over the Heads of the Complainers did not blow from Canterbury or York but from Rome or Scotland The loud Clamours of our Dissenters against the Toleration of Papists and the secret Whispers of the Papists against Indulgence to the other Sectaries and the intolerable Misdemeanours of both did awaken those dormant Laws and necessitate the Execution of them to prevent such another Deluge as had overflown the Nation with Confusion for almost twenty years together And it hath been truly observed that such as have been most earnest to revive the Execution of those Laws were no great Friends to the Established Church sometime a prevailing party of Presbyterians exasperating them against the Papists and sometime a powerful party of Papists sharpening them against the Presbyterians and Sectaries to incense both Parties against the Established Church as it hath too truly fallen out the Odium of what hath been procured by the opposite Factions being now by them joyntly thrown upon the Church many of whose Ministers have been reviled for their Moderation by the name of Trimmers Hagar and her Son Ishmael were severely dealt with by Sarah and did suffer much more than what some Men do now call Persecution and yet the Apostle accounts that Ishmael was the Persecutor for his mocking of Isaac who was the Son of a Prince and Heir of the Family And the Apostle tells us That there are cruel Mockngs as well as cruel Stripes and Imprisonments And moreover that there was an Allegory in these Transactions by Sarah and her Son Jerusalem or the Church of Christ is represented and then by Ishmael all those cruel Mockers and Despisers of that Church and its Fathers and Family who scoft at them as Antichristian dumb Dogs or Priests of Baal and would once and again cast them out of the Family of God on Earth and in Heaven too are certainly meant and to be noted for the Persecutors though they first cry out of Persecution as it is usual for those that are most guilty to complain first But if any of the Clergy which had for their Loyalty to the Royal Martyr suffered the loss of all manner of Subsistance for themselves and their Families for almost twenty Years together were willing that some such Laws might be enacted as might prevent the like Mischiefs for the future I only ask If any of the Complainers had been under the like Circumstances would they not have endeavoured the same And if so what cause have they to condemn others for what they would allow in themselves Quod ab aliis vobis provocantibus factum est nobis non debet imputari And I can with some Confidence assert That many Members of the Church of England suffered more for obeying the King and his Laws than the Complainers have for their Disobedience And the Church of England hath suffered more for their Kindness to the Papists than ever the Papists suffered by any unkindess from that Church And many of the Clergy were like to suffer much for their Moderation to the Dissenters But what cause is there of such frightful Complaints of being persecuted for Conscience sake when they themselves may so easily and innocently take off those Penalties by a Conformity to the present Establishment which is submitted to by the French Protestants who are Men of as great Learning and as tender Consciences as any of the Complainers an Establishment which is approved by all sorrs of Protestants abroad even those of Geneva and Holland where the President of the Synod of Dort in Discourse with some of our Divines concerning the Constitution of our Church did wish that they might enjoy the like with a Non licet nobis esse tam felicibus and which is acknowledged and dreaded as the greatest Bull-work against Popery And therefore the prime leaders of the Separation though they did not conform as Ministers yet they by their Examples fully complied with our Liturgy in Prayers and Sacraments as Lay-men attending early on the publick Worship and Communicating frequently in our Sacraments as the most sober of the Ancient Non-conformists did and many of the present do and it is affirmed by some that they who now separate from the present Church may for the same reason separate from almost all other Churches in Christendom and one of their own Preachers delivers it as his own and the Judgment of some others
call them to it and in the mean time return good for evil Upon Munday being Feb. 2. 1684 Charles II. was seized by a violent Fit supposed to be an Appoplexy whereof he died on the Thursday following and that Afternoon K. James II. was proclaimed who sitting in his Privy Council then assembled declared That since it pleased Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother he thought fit to declare That he would endeavour to follow his Example and more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People That he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power though that had not been the only story which had been made of him That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewn themselves Good and Loyal Subjects and therefore he should always take care to defend and support them And that he likewise knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish and therefore as he should never depart from the just Rights and Priviledges of the Crown so he would never invade any Man's Property Which Declaration was then ordered in Council to be Published and the same was repeated at the Coronation and then confirmed by his Oath for which Addresses of Thanks were sent the King from all parts of the Nation assuring him of their Loyalty and Resolutions to maintain his Rights and defend his Person with their Lives and Fortunes These Declarations were repeated to the Parliament which met May 22. 1685. That they might be assured that he spake them not by chance and that they might more firmly rely on a Promise so solemnly made But how this Promise was performed may appear by the following Events During the sitting of this Parliament News was brought of the Landing of Argyle in Scotland and shortly after of the Landing of the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England whereupon the Parliament readily declared to stand by the King with their Lives and Fortunes for the suppressing of those Rebellions desiring him to take more than ordinary care of his Person And though the Rebellions were suppressed chiefly by the voluntary Assistance of such as were of the Communion of the Church of England among whom the R. R. the Bishop of Winchester was a great Instrument and the Scholars of Oxford cheerfully ingaged themselves And the Militia raised in the West caused Monmouth to turn East-ward in the Mouth of the King's Army Yet in October following the King took occasion to complain how useless the Militia was on such occasions and to tell them That nothing but a good Force of well disciplined Troops in constant pay was sufficient to defend them from such as might disturb them at home or from abroad And here was a Foundation laid for a Standing Army such as the King intended in a due time by a French General and Irish Souldiers to over-awe the Nation and make the Instruments of accomplishing his Designs and there needed but a few more soft steps till the Church be surprized and awakened out of that Security wherein her own Innocence and the King 's frequent and solemn Promises had brought her but first the State of Ireland must be altered the Earl of Clarendon is called home to make way for Tyrconnel Scotland is secured by an Army which was raised for the suppressing of Argyle the Duke of Albemarle that was too popular is sent to Jamaica and whatever or whosoever might be thought able to withstand any violence that should be offered to the Church and the Religion that was Established is removed and the Power put into such hands as the King could confide in for the destruction of the same And because the Protestant Dissenters were a considerable Party and their Eyes began to be so far opened as to perceive that they should perish in the Ruine of the Church which made them more inclinable to a Union with it for prevention of their common destruction the old Stratagem of a Toleration and Liberty of Conscience which Coleman declared to be an effectual means to destroy the Established Church is now made use of This bold and fatal stroke was made immediately at the Root of the Religion and Laws established in Scotland but seconded by the same Arm against the Establishment in England as will evidently appear upon these considerations The Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience in Scotland dated Feb. 12. 1687. In which consider first the Foundation of it in these words We have thought fit to grant and by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all our Subjects are to obey without reserve do hereby grant our Royal Toleration c. Which words do assert a Power in the King to command what he pleaseth and an Obligation in the Subject to obey whatever he commands 2. This Absolute Power is not grounded on any Law lest it should seem to be derived from the People but on a Soveraign Authority inherent in the King's Person Jure Divino which may be exercised on that ground as well in England as Scotland as the event shews it was 3. This Absolute Power is to be obeyed by all the Subjects without reserve i. e. not only by a passive submission to the Power but by an active compliance with it so that when the King shall declare it to be his Will and Pleasure That all his Subjects renounce the Protestant Religion and turn Roman Catholicks to which his Religion binds him and as he hopes for Salvation and under the Penalty of being deposed by the Pope they are bound to be of the King's Religion 4. That the Subjects that will partake of the benefit of this Toleration must swear To the utmost of their power to assist defend and maintain the King and his Successors in the exercise of this Absolute Power against all deadly i. e. all Mortals So that the Subjects were to make a very dear purchase of this intolerable Toleration for which they were to pawn their Souls and submit all they had to an Absolute Power without reserve Let us consider therefore the intrinsick value of this Toleration which says We do give and grant our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named Where the word Royal looks like a stamp on base Metal mixt of Popery and Quakerism expressed in the Proclamation and is so general that as never any Christian Prince granted the like so the King as a Roman Catholick could not grant to any of those mentioned viz. either of the Church of Scotland then established under Episcopacy or to the Presbyterians or Quakers whom the Church of Rome accounts Hereticks But then it is to be considered that this Toleration of the Protestant Subjects is granted under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations
nature of the thing he that Reads such a Declaration to his People teaches them by it For is not Reading Teaching Suppose then I do not consent to what I Read yet I consent to teach my People what I read and herein is the evil of it for it may be it were no fault to consent to the Declaration but if I consent to teach my People what I do not consent to the Declaration but if I consent to teach my People what I do not consent to myself I am sure that is a great one And he who can distinguish between consenting to read the Declaration and consenting to teach the People by the Declaration when reading the Declaration is teaching it has a very subtile distinguishing-Conscience Now if consenting to read the Declaration be a consent to teach it my People then the natural Interpretation of Reading the Declaration is That he who Reads it in such a solemn teaching-manner Approves it If this be not so I desire to know why I may not read an Homily for Transubstantiation or Invocation of Saints or the Worship of Images if the King sends me such good Catholic Homilies and commands me to read them And thus we may instruct our People in all the Points of Popery and recommend it to them with all the Sophistry and artificial Insinuations in obedience to the King with a very good Conscience because without our consent If it be said this would be a contradiction to the Doctrine of our Church by Law established so I take the Declaration to be And if we may read the Declaration contrary to Law because it does not imply our consent to it so we may Popish Homilies for the bare reading them will not imply our consent no more than the reading the Declaration does But whether I consent to the Doctrine or no it is certain I consent to teach my People this Doctrine and it is to be considered whether an honest Man can to this Thirdly I suppose no man will doubt but the King intends that our Reading the Declaration should signifie to the Nation our Consent and Approbation of it for the Declaration does not want Publishing for it is sufficiently known already but our Reading it in our Churches must serve instead of Addresses of Thanks which the Clergy generally refused though it was only to Thank the King for his Gracious Promises renewed to the Church of England in the his Declaration which was much more innocent than to publish the Declaration itself in our Churches This would perswade one that the King thinks our reading the Declaration to signifie our Consent and that the People will think it to be so And he that can satisfie Conscience to do an action without consent which the nature of the Thing the design and intention of the Command and the Sence of the People expound to be a Consent may I think as well satisfie himself with Equivocations and mental Reservations There are two things to be answered to this which must be considered I. That the People understand our Minds and see that this is matter of Force upon us and meer Obedience to the King. To which I answer 1. Possibly the People do understand that the matter of the Declaration is against our Principles But is this any excuse that we read that and by reading recommend that to them which is against our own Consciences and Judgments Reading the Declaration would be no Fault at all but our Duty when the King commands it did we approve of the matter of it but to consent to teach our People such Doctrines as we think contrary to the Laws of God or the Laws of the Land does not lessen but aggravate the Fault and People must be very good natured to think this an Excuse 2. It is not likely that all the People will be of a mind in this matter some may excuse it others and those it may be the most the best and the wisest men will condemn us for it and then how shall we justifie our selves against their Censures when the World will be divided in their Opinions the plain way is certainly the best to do what we can justifie our selves and then let men judge as they please No men in England will be pleased with our Reading the Declaration but those who hope to make great advantage of it against us and against our Church and Religion others will severely condemn us for it and censure us as false to our Religion and as Betrayers both of Church and State and besides that it does not become a Minister of Religion to do any thing which in the opinion of the most charitable men can only be excused for what needs an excuse is either a fault or looks very like one besides this I say I will not trust mens Charity those who have suffered themselves in this Cause will not excuse us for fear of suffering those who are inclined to excuse us now will not do so when they consider the thing better and come to feel the ill consequences of it when our Enemies open their eyes and tell them what our Reading the Declaration signified which they will then tell us we ought to have seen before though they were not bound to see it for we are to guide and instruct them not they us II. Others therefore think that when we read the Declaration we should publickly profess that it is not our own judgment but that we only read it in obedience to the King and then our reading it cannot imply our consent to it Now this is only Protestation contra factum which all People will laugh at and scorn us for for such a solemn reading it in the time of Divine Service when all men ought to be most grave and serious and far from dissembling with God or Men does in the nature of the thing imply our approbation and should we declare the contrary when we read it what shall we say to those who ask us Why then do you read it But let those who have a mind to try this way which for my part I take to be a greater and more unjustifiable provocation of the King than not to read it and I suppose those who do not read it will be thought plainer and honester men and will escape as well as those who read it and protest against it and yet nothing less than an express Protestation will salve this matter for only to say they read it meerly in obedience to the King does not express their dissent it signifies indeed that they would not have read it if the King had not commanded it but these words do not signifie that they disapprove of the Declaration when their reading it though only in obedience to the King signifies their approbation of it as much as actions can signifie a consent let us call to mind how it fared with those in King Charles the First 's Reign who read the Book of Sports as it was
called and then preached against it To return then to our Argument If reading the Declaration in our Churches be in the nature of the action in the intention of the command in the opinion of the People an interpretative consent to it I think myself bound in conscience not to read it because I am bound in conscience not to approve it It it against the Constitution of the Church of England which is established by Law and to which I have subscribed and therefore am bound in conscience to teach nothing contrary to it while this Obligation lasts It is to teach an unlimited and universal Toleration which the Parliament in 72 declared illegal and which has been condemned by the Christian Church in all Ages It is to teach my People that they need never come to Church more but have my free leave as they have the King 's to go to a Conventicle or to Mass It is to teach the Dispensing Power which alters what has been formerly thought the whole Constitution of this Church and Kingdom which we dare not do till we have the Authority of Parliament for it It is to recommend to our People the choice of such Persons to sit in Parliament as shall take away the Test and Penal Laws which most of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation have declared their Judgments against It is to condemn all those great and worthy Patriots of their Country who forfeited the dearest thing in the World to them next a good Conscience viz. The favour of their Prince and a great many honourable and profitable Employments with it rather than consent to that Proposal of taking away the Test and Penal Laws which they apprehend destructive to the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and he who can in conscience do all this I think need scruple nothing For let us consider further what the effects and consequences of our reading the Declaration are like to be and I think they are matter of Conscience too when they are evident and apparent This will certainly render our Persons and Ministry infinitely contemptible which is against that Apostolick Canon Let no man despise thee Tit. 2.15 That is so to behave himself in his Ministerial Office as not to fall under contempt and therefore this obliges the Conscience not to make our selves ridiculous nor to render our Ministry our Counsels Exhortations Preaching Writing of no effect which is a thousand times worse than being silenced Our Sufferings will Preach more effectually to the People when we cannot Speak to them but he who for Fear or Cowardize or the Love of this World betrays his Church and Religion by undue compliances and will certainly be thought to do so may continue to Preach but to no purpose and when we have rendred our selves ridiculous and contemptible we shall then quickly fall and fall unpitied There is nothing will so effectually tend to the final ruin of the Church of England because our Reading the Declaration will discourage or provoke or misguide all the Friends the Church of England has can we blame any man for not preserving the Laws and the Religion of our Church and Nation when we our selves will venture nothing for it can we blame any man for consenting to Repeal the Test and Penal Laws when we recommend it to them by reading the Declaration have we not reason to expect that the Nobility and Gentry who have already suffered in this Cause when they hear themselves condemned for it in all the Churches of England will think it time to mend such a fault and reconcile themselves to their Prince and if our Church fall this way is there any reason to expect that it should ever rise again These Consequences are almost as evident as Demonstrations and let it be what it will in itself which I foresee will destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and Interest I think I ought to make as much conscience of doing it as of doing the most immoral action in nature To say that these mischievous consequences are not absolutely necessary and therefore do not affect the Conscience because we are not certain they will follow is a very mean Objection Moral Actions indeed have not such necessary consequences as natural causes have necessary effects because no moral causes act necessarily reading the Declaration will not as necessarily destroy the Church of England as Fire burns Wood but if the consequence be plain and evident the most likely thing that can happen if it be unreasonable to expect any other if it be what is plainly intended and designed either I must never have any regard to Moral Consequences of my Actions or if ever they are to be considered they are in this Case Why are the Nobility and Gentry so extreamly averse to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws Why do they forfeit the King's Favour and their Honourable Stations rather then comply with it If you say that this tends to destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion I ask whether this be the necessary consequence of it whether the King cannot keep his Promise to the Church of England if the Test and Penal Laws be Repealed We cannot say but this may be and yet the Nation does not think fit to try it and we commend those Great Men who deny it and if the same Questions were put to us we think we ought in Conscience to deny them our selves and are there not as high probabilities that our Reading the Declaration will promote the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws as that such a Repeal will ruine our Constitution and bring in Popery upon us Is it not as probable that such a compliance in us will disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry who have hitherto been firm to us as that when the Power of the Nation is put into Popish Hands by the Repeal of such Tests and Laws the Priests and Jesuits may find some Salvo for the King's Conscience and perswade him to forget his Promise to the Church of England and if the probable ill consequences of Repealing the Test and Penal Laws be a good reason not to comply with it I cannot see but that the probable ill consequences of Reading the Declaration is as good a reason not to read it The most material Objection is that the Dissenters whom we ought not to provoke will expound our not Reading it to be the effect of a persecuting Spirit Now I wonder men should lay any weight on this who will not allow the most probable consequences of our Actions to have any influence upon Conscience for if we must compare consequences to disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry by Reading it is likely to be much more fatal than to anger the Dissenters and it is more likely and there is much more reason for it that one should be offended than the other For the Dissenters who are wise and considering are sensible of the snare themselves
of England and such Rulers as Defend and Support it are all of them Lying Perjured and Intolerable Persecutors As for his Colleague Mr. Hickringle I shall need to say no more than this That the Design of his Book against Ceremony-Mongers is sufficiently shewn by his other Book against the TEST and Penal Laws as if the Injunction of them were a Persecution for the removal of which Groundless Scandal the following Treatise is now Published The Preface SINCE it hath pleased Almighty GOD in his tender Compassion to a Sinful Nation to set over us a King and Queen who do naturally take Care for us and as industriously seek to Unite and Preserve as the late King did to Divide and Destroy us We should no longer think of shewing our Zeal for Christ as James and John did by calling for Fire from Heaven to consume all such as follow not us and our Opinion but as useful Members under such an able Head Unite into one Body that we may withstand the furious Attempts of our Common Adversaries who incessantly seek to improve the Seeds of Discord which they have sown amongst us for our utter Extirpation And that I may remove and prevent the Prejudices which such as have hitherto Separated from the Established Worship have conceived against the Governours of the Church under Regal Authority I shall here desire them to consider what Condescentions and Concessions they have been always ready to make for the Ease of all Tender Consciences and to which they are ready to Agree when-ever the Supreme Power shall commit the Consideration of those things to the Parliament and Convocation His Majesty Charles the Second in a Declaration from Breda promised a Liberty to Tender Consciences and that no Man should be disquieted or called in question for Differences of Opinion in Matters of Religion which did not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that he should be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature Deliberation should be offered to him for granting such an Indulgence After which he sets forth his Declaration to all his loving Subjects of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Dated at White-hall the 25th of October 1660 which certainly was sufficient to satisfie all sober Protestants He grants a Commission to some Persons of the Presbyterian as well as of the Episcopal Perswasion but what little Effect all these things wrought towards a Reconciliation and by whose Fault will thus appear In his Majesty's Declaration he desired the Dissenters to Read as much of the Common-Prayers as they had no just Exceptions against yet though some had declared they could Use the greatest part of it I never heard that any of them did comply with so reasonable a Desire of his Majesty but instead thereof they Petition for a Reformation both of Doctrine and Discipline and that Commissioners might be appointed to Compile a New Form or Reform the Old. And though the King denied the making of a New having expressed his esteem of the Old in his Declaration Octob. 25. yet Mr. B. or some others drew up another Liturgy in eight Days time which they confessed had many Imperfections yet they call it their more Correct Nepenthe and Protest before God and Men against the Dose of Opium i.e. the Liturgy recommended by the King and Parliament as that which tended to the Cure of their Disease by Extinguishing of Life and to Unite them in a Dead Religion and tell the Bishops If these be all the Amendments and Abatements you will admit you sell your Innocency and the Churches Peace for nothing And in the due Account and Petition they reflect as severely upon his Majesty saying We must needs believe that when his Majesty took our Consent to a Liturgy to be a Foundation that would infer our Concord you i. e. your Majesty meant not that we should have no Concord but by consenting to this Liturgy without any considerable Alterations And in the close of the second Paper they tell the King If they should lose the opportunity of their desired Reconciliation it astonisheth them to foresee what doleful Effects our Divisions would produce As Basil said to Valens so they p. 117. of their Reply If you will receive the true Faith thy Son shall live which when he refused he said The Will of God be done with thy Son So we say too if you will put on Charity and promote the Churches Peace God will Honour you but if you will do contrary the Will of the Lord be done with your Honours And as to the Laws in a Prognostication set out 1661 p. 12 13. they talk of new Impositions Subscriptions and Oaths Words and Actions which they believe to be against the Word of God this reflects on the Legislators Dr. Stillingfleet observed of the first Plea for Peace That it lookt as if it had been designed on purpose to represent the Clergy of our Church as a company of Notorious Lying and Perjured Villains And that Author in his Answer to the Doctor 's Sermon p. 73. chargeth him with pleading for Presumption Prophanation Usurpation Uncharitableness and Schism And in the Preface of the Second Defence That the Doctor 's Book is made up of 1. Untrue Accusations 2. Untrue Historical Citations 3. Fallatious Reasonings That Learned Doctor had propounded several Concessions to be made for the Ease of Dissenters not without the Consent and Direction of his Superiours as I have been informed all which Mr. B. rejects saying That the Benefit would redound sibi suis not reaching our Necessities p. 21. of the Second Defence I cannot omit what an ingenious Person writes in his Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet which may serve to retort this Reflection p. 68. I will tell Mr. B. a Secret which I have heard but hope he will not put me to prove it That the Parliament made good Laws the Papists out of pretended Reverence to Tender Consciences hindred the Excution of them and some Leading Fanaticks to say no more had private Incouragement to set up a mighty Cry of Persecution to cast all the Odium on a Persecuting Church and Diocesan Canoneers In the Year 1681 was printed an Apology for the Non-conformist Ministers to justifie their Preaching contrary to Law the Book is directed to the Right Reverend Bishops of London Lincoln Hereford Carlile St. David's and Peterborough and others of their Moderation which he calls our best Bishops But with what Reverence and Moderation doth the Author Treat them P. 233. We Humbly lay these Petitions at your Feet and beseech you for the Souls of many Hundred Thousands that you who call yourselves Fathers and Pastors of the Church will not deny them the Bread of Life We beseech you to come out of your Palaces and be familiar with the People and dwell in some Country Village as we have done that you may not see many Hundred Thousands Damned by your means and you have nothing
Men to run among them and no Persons so indulged be capable of any Publick Office. It not being reasonable that such should be trusted with Government who look upon the Worship Established by Law as Unlawful 6. That no other Penalty be laid on such indulged Persons but that of Twelve Pence a Sunday for their absence from their Parochial Churches which ought to be duly Collected for the Use of the Poor and cannot be complained of as any heavy Burthen considering the Liberty they do enjoy by it 7. That the Bishops as Visitors appointed by Law have an exact Account given to them of the Rule of their Worship and Discipline and of all the Persons belonging to the indulged Congregations with their Qualities and Places of Abode and that none be admitted a Member of any such Congregation without acquainting their Visitor with it that so means may be used to prevent their leaving our Communion by giving satisfaction to their scruples This Power of the Bishops cannot be scrupled by them since herein they are considered as Commissioners appointed by Law. 8. That no indulged Persons presume under severe Penalties to breed up Scholars or to teach Gentlemens Sons University-Learning because this may be justly looked on as a design to propagate Schism to Posterity and to lay a Foundation for the disturbance of future Generations II. As to the Case of the Ejected Ministers I have these things to offer 1. That bare Subscription of the Thirty Six Articles concerning Doctrinal Points be not allowed as sufficient to qualifie any Man for a Living or any Church-preferment for these Reasons First Any Lay-man upon these Terms may not only be capable of a Living but may take upon him to Administer the Sacraments which was never allowed in any well-constituted Church in the Christian World. And such an allowance among us instead of setling and uniting us will immediately bring things into great Confusion and give mighty Advantage to the Papists againstour Church And we have reason to fear a Design of this Nature under a pretence of Union of Protestants tends to the Subversion of this Church and throwing all things into Confusion which at last will end in Popery Secondly This will bring a Faction into the Church which will more endanger it than External Opposition For such Men will come in Triumphantly having beaten down Three of the Thirty Nine Articles and being in Legal Possession of their Places will be ready to defie and contemn those who submitted to the rest and to glory in their Conquests and draw followers after them as the Victorious Confessors against Prelacy and Ceremonies And can they imagine those of the Church of England will see the Reputation of the Church or their own to suffer so much and not appear in their own Vindication Things are not come to that pass nor will they suddenly be that the Friends of the Church of England will be either afraid or ashamed to own her Cause We do heartily and sincerely desire Union with our Brethren if it may be had on just and reasonable Terms but they must not think that we will give up the Cause of the Church for it so as to condemn its Constitution or make the Ceremonies unlawful which have been hitherto observed and practised in it If any Expedient can be found out for the ease of other Mens Consciences without reflecting on our own if they can be taken in without reproach or dishonour to the Reformation of the Church I hope no true Son of the Church of England will oppose it But if the Design be to bring them in as a Faction to bridle and controul the Episcopal Power by setting up Forty Bishops in a Diocess against One if it be for them to trample upon the Church of England and not submit to its Order and Government upon fair and moderate Terms let them not call this a Design of Union but the giving Law to a Party to oppose the Church of England And what the success of this will be let wise Men judge Thirdly If a Subscription to Thirty Six Articles were sufficient by the Statute 13 Eliz. c. 12. I do not understand how by vertue of that Statute a Man is bound publickly to read the Thirty Nine Articles in the Church and the Testimonial of his Subscription on pain of being deprived ipso facto Co. Inst 4. Part 323 324. if he do not For the L. Ch. J. Coke saith That Subscription to the 39 Articles are required by force of the Act of Parliament 13 Eliz. c. 12. And he adds That the Delinquent is disabled and deprived ipso facto and that a conditional Subscription to them was not sufficient was resolv'd by all the Judges in England But how a Man should be deprived ipso facto for not Subscribing and Reading the 39 Articles as appears by the Cases mentioned in Coke and yet be required only to subscribe to 36 by the same Statute is a thing too hard for me to conceive 2. But notwithstanding this if any temper can be found out as to the manner of Subscription that may give ease to the Scruples of our Brethren and secure the Peace of the Church the desired Union may be attained without that apparent Danger of increasing the Factions among us And this I suppose may be done by an absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith and the Use of the Sacraments and a solemn Promise under their hand or Subscription of peaceable Submission as to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing upon the same Penalty as if they had not subscribed to the 36. Which may be a more probable means to keep the Church in quiet than forcing a more rigorous Subscription upon them or leaving them at their full liberty 3. As to the other Subscription required 1 Jac. to the 3 Articles The first is provided for by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy The third is the same with the Subscription to the 39 Articles And as to the Second about the Book of Common Prayer c. It ought to be considered 1. Whether for the satisfaction of the Scrupulous some more doubtful and obscure passages may not yet be explained or amended Whether the New Translation of the Psalms were not fitter to be used at least in Parochial Churches Whether Portions of Canonical Scripture were not better put instead of Apocrypha Lessons Whether the Rubrick about Salvation of Infants might not be restored to its former place in the Office of Confirmation and so the present Exceptions against it be removed Whether those Expressions which suppose the strict Exercise of Discipline in Burying the Dead were not better left at liberty in our present Case Such a Review made by Wise and Peaceable Men not given to Wrath and Disputing may be so far from being a dishonour to this Church that it may add to the Glory of
Martyr than whom there was not a meeker or more merciful Prince on the Earth was barbarously murthered as a Tyrant and Destroyer of his People but as they who fought against and overcame him and then sold him to those who imprisoned and slew him could no more wash their hands from his Bloud than Pilate did for delivering Christ to the Jews and Romans to be crucified so neither shall they be able to excuse themselves though they should plead that things fell out beyond their expectation or that it was a persecuting Church if by their deserting accusing and betraying of it it shall be destroyed and though it hath been accused and should be condemned as a Persecutor yet I doubt not but she will be found a constant Preacher of that Doctrine which our Saviour taught her of rendring unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's In my former Treatise of Persecution p. 3. I promised as a Second Part of an Historical Relation of Matters of Fact which upon some consideration got the start of this being printed Anno 1684 and was Entituled A Compendious History of all the Popish and Fanatical Plots and Conspiracies against the Established Government from the First Tear of Queen Elizabeth to 1684. It remains now that I continue that Relation to the end of the Reign of the late King James the Second In order whereunto I think it necessary to premonish the Reader who were the Actors and who the Sufferers in these later Transactions The Persons concerned on the one-side were the Church of England as by Law Established on the other-side I account the Dissenters of all sorts which acted sometimes severally and at other times by combination to undermine and destroy the Established Church which being in a legal possession of its Rights those who endeavoured either by open Acts of Hostility or secret and subtile Arts of Defamations Tolerations illegal Conventicles Confederacies and Compliances with her professed Enemies were the Aggressors and Persecutors and therefore though their Malice was so impotent that it could never obtain its desired effect yet that will not excuse them from being of a persecuting Spirit nor will their first and loud Clamours of Persecution Goals Fines and Imprisonment make impartial and rational Men believe that they were persecuted at all much less by the Church which as I have shewn had never power to inflict such punishments but only that the Sanctions of just and necessary Laws without which no Church or State can subsist were executed upon Transgressors The Members of the Church have suffered more for their moderation and kindness to Dissenters of all sorts than for any rigorous prosecution of any The Papists reviling them for being too favourable to Protestant Dissenters and these for too great a compliance with Papists These account us Hereticks and Schismaticks for departing so far from them the other hate us as Superstitious and Idolatrous for not going farther insomuch as the bare performance of our Duties to which the Laws of God and the Land do oblige us as well as our personal Oaths and Subscriptions is by our Adversaries of all sorts accounted our Crime and unless we wholly neglect our Duties and so render our selves obnoxious to the Laws we are sure to be reviled as Persecutors which is a Calumny as groundless as if a Man that is legally possessed of an Estate should be condemned as an Usurper for not delivering up the possession to every Outlaw that demands it I know that the Clamors which such Men make as have drawn the legal Penalties on their own heads may move the Mobilie to pity them and entertain hard thoughts of the Laws themselves but Men of more mature and sober Judgments will conclude that such Transgressors do rather persecute the Laws than the Laws them As in the Case of restraining distracted and ungovernable persons Non persequitur medicus phreneticum sed Phreneticus Medicum The first Matter of Fact that I shall mention is the Behaviour of the Bishops in Parliament and the rest of the Clergy in their several stations on the occasion of the Bill of Exclusion which was with great earnestness prosecuted by a Party in the House of Commons and as vigorously opposed by another Party whose Debates and Speeches Pro and Con are Printed at large And although the prospect of a Popish Successor might have prevailed with the House of Lords to admit some more moderate Debates thereupon yet was it no sooner presented than rejected and the blame thereof by the Commons was charged on the Bishops who were thereupon accounted of as a dead weight laying on the Nation and fit to be removed and it was urged against them in that House That they might well be afraid of their Religion if the Fathers of the Church will joyn against the only Means that can save it Nor were the generality of the Clergy defective in declaring their Resolutions to adhere to the Succession being thereto encouraged by the Duke 's solemn Protestation That if ever he came to the Crown he would support the Church in her Rights Which Promise was not so unalterable as to the Duke nor so infallibly believed by the Church who perceived that he had acted contrary to it in procuring Tolerations and Indulgences to the dividing and weakning of the Church But by these manifestations of their Loyalty and Fidelity to the Succession the whole Body of the Clergy contracted more Odium from the disaffected People their Party in the House of Commons having Voted the Bill of Exclusion as an Act for securing the Protestant Religion by Disabling the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging which is to be seen at large p. 83. c. of the Collection of the Debates the Preamble whereunto is as followeth Whereas James Duke of York is notoriously known to be perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and to carry on most devilish and horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of His Majesty's most Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religion And also That if the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom nothing is more manifest than that a total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue for prevention whereof be it enacted c. To which some in their Speeches added That it was impossible that a Popish Successor should come to the Crown but through a Sea of Blood and such a War as might shake the Monarchy and endanger both him and his Children which notwithstanding they generally declared for the Succession though they were premonisht how dear it would cost them and this is a great Argument that they were not of a revengeful or persecuting Spirit but rather disposed to suffer when God should
mentioned As first None are to be tolerated but such as accept of the Toleration i. e. acknowledge the Lawfulness of the Absolute Power and swear to maintain it 2. That nothing be said or done in their Meetings that is contrary to the Weal and Peace of our Reign Seditious or Treasonable and that they only exercise in private Houses But what would be interpreted to be Seditious the most cautious Preacher could hardly discern But that all Scotland might know for whose sake the Toleration was granted and who alone would in time reap the benefit of it after a large commendation of the Papists as good Christians and dutiful Subjects it follows We by our Absolute Power suspend stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament made against Roman Catholicks So that they shall be as free in all respects as any of our Protestant Subjects not only as to the exercise of their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which we shall think fit to bestow upon them And to this end it follows We do by our Royal Authority aforesaid i.e. the Absolute Power stop disable and dispense with all Laws injoyning any Oaths or Tests c. And whereas the Toleration for Protestants was clogg'd with several Conditions c. this for Papists is amplified in these words We command all our Judges and others concerned to explain this in the most ample sense and meaning c. for their Indemnity I have repeated the heads of this Proclamation more largely that the Reader may see what little reason the Protestants Subjects of Scotland had to return those slavish Addresses which would be too nauseous to repeat It is no great wonder that the Scottish Mobilie should return their Thanks when the Privy Council declared They would assert his Prerogative with the hazard of their Lives and that whoever were employed by him were sufficiently secured by his Authority But that the English Subjects should dance after the Scottish Pipe upon such Winds as blow hot and cold in the same breath is an indelible Reproach of ignorance and of obstinacy against what is their True Interest the support of the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties Yet when the like Declaration for Liberty of Conscience dated April 4. 1687 came forth for England tho' the pretences were That it ever had been his Majesty's Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion and that the perfect enjoyment of their Property had never been in any Case invaded by him when it was known that the rigour used against Dissenters was urged by the Court and many Outrages committed by a Standing Army against the Subjects Property And the suspending of Laws did strike at the very Foundation of Government and Destruction of the Subjects by placing Papists who were not qualified by Law into Offices and Places of Trust Civil and Military it is a wonder how any Faction in England could address their Thanks and promise to stand by the King as a Return of Gratitude for such a Toleration as gave liberty to Turks Jews and Athiests but was particularly designed for the establishing of that Religion which should persecute and devour all the rest and yet there wanted not Addresses of Thanks from all parts of the Nation for this Liberty of Conscience as it is called but really of Confusion The Addresses are so many and fulsome that I shall not surcharge the Reader with them only observe that they were offered by a Generation who succeeded those that petitioned for the Death of the Royal Martyr that addressed Oliver Cromwel and his Son Richard with the like odious Flatteries but that they should address their Thanks for taking off those Laws that kept out Popery and Slavery is more I suppose that their Forefathers would have done only it is evident that it was done on a design to ruine the Church of England though every ordinary person might perceive it had been in the power of the those Addressers Popery and Slavery would have been entailed on them and their Posterity by a Law. And though the Church of England had better Assurances both by the Laws and by their constant adhering to the Crown than the Promises in that Proclamation yet because they refused to return their Thanks they were charged with the brand of Abhorrers by the opposite Factions who might well conclude that since the King failed so much in his most solemn and deserved Promises to that Church which was by Law Established and was the Body of the Nation those scattered Parties which had not deserved any Favour from the Crown could not expect a performance of those Promises But by this we see what slender opportunities some Men are ready to lay hold on to vent their Malice against the Church thô their own Ruine be involved in it And what was the import of such Addresses but to thank the King for dispensing with those Laws and as much as in him lay abrogating and dissolving them which were made as a Fence to the Protestant Religion and for opening a wide gap for Popery and Slavery to come in and triumph over us In April 1688 the King declares That he was encouraged by the multitude of Addresses received from his Subjects to endeavour to establish Liberty of Conscience on such Foundations as should be unalterable And desires his Subjects to consider that for the Three Years last past he was not such a Prince as he had been represented by his Enemies i. e. an Oppressor but a Father of his People And now the Church of England which had merited so many Solemn Promises for their Protection were to have an experiment how well he would perform them for he makes an Order in Council That his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience should be read in all Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom Against the Publishing whereof the Seven Bishops who were then on the spot in behalf of themselves and their absent Brethren and their Clergy humbly presented the following Petition To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty Humbly shewing THat the Great Aversions they find in themselves to the Distributing and Publishing in all their Churches Your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any want of Duty and Obedience to Your Majesty our Holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more then once publickly acknowledged to be so by Your gracious Majesty nor yet from any want of due tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they are willing to come to such a temper as shall be thought fit when that matter shall be considered and setled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other considerations from this especially because that Declaration is founded on such a Dispensing Power as hath been often declared illegal in Parliament particularly in 1662 and 1672 and in the
and not a wilful neglect The Chancellor replies That his Lordship ought to have known the Law and however that the King ought to be obeyed To which the Bishop replied That if a Prince required a Judge to execute a Command not agreeable to Law it was his Duty Rescribere reclamare principi which he did by the Lord President and that he had done in effect what the King commanded advising the Doctor to forbear Preaching in his Diocess After this with some difficulty his Councel were admitted to plead who justified the Bishop's Answer and then the Bishop offered That if through mistake he had erred in any Circumstance he was ready to beg his Majesty's Pardon and to make any reparation he was able But in short at his next appearing he had his Sentence read viz. That Henry Lord Bishop of London being conven'd before the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs for his Disobedience and other Contempts and being fully heard was by them declared deemed and pronounced Suspended from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office. In this one Noble Bishop the whole Hierarchy of England were struck at and his Sentence but a Prologue to the Tragedy intended the next Scene of which was this On the Ninth of February Dr. Peachel Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge receiv'd a Mandate under the King's Signet Manual to admit one Father Francis a Benedictine Monk Master of Arts without taking the usual Oaths which the Vice-Chancellor by the unanimous Consent of the University refused perceiving their Priviledges and Properties to be in danger and upon their offering the Oaths to Father Francis and his refusing to take them they denied him that Degree whereupon the Vice-Chancellor was summoned by a Messenger to appear before the Commissioners in person and the Senate by their Deputies Upon their appearance the Vice-Chancellor was asked Why he had not obeyed the King's Command in admitting Father Francis To which they gave their Answer in Writing Shewing That by several Acts of Parliament viz. 1º 5º Eliz. by which it was ordained No Man should be promoted to any Degree without taking an Oath to acknowledge the King's Supremacy c. And 3º 9º Jacobi primi it was enacted That the Oath of Allegiance should be taken and administred by the Vice-Chancellor and all the Principals of Houses and by every Person that should be promoted to any Degree for the preservation of the Doctrine of the Church of England and the King's Prerogative which Oaths the said Francis refused And they pleaded also That the admission to a Degree was not of Ecclesiastical but Temporal Cognizance And that by a Statute 16 Charles II. No Court should be erected having like Power Jurisdiction and Authority as the High Commission Court had but should be utterly void After some Debate the Chancellor pronounced the Vice-Chancellor deprived of his Office and suspended ab Officio Beneficio of his Headship of Magdalen Colledge and forbid him to meddle with any publick business in the University This is another instance of the King 's good will to the Church of England and his unalterable observing his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience And now the other Sister the University of Oxford must partake of the same favour where Dr. Walker a professed Papist is made Head of University Colledge and one Massey a Popish Proselite Dean of Christ-Church and Dr. Clerk President of Magdalen Colledge being dead one Mr. Farmer procured the King's Mandate to succeed him against whom they petitioned his Majesty as being a scandalous person and not qualified as their Statutes required and they proceeded in a regular way to Elect Dr. Hough their President who being presented to their Visitor was sworn and admitted but being told of the King's displeasure they complained of their Unhappiness to the Duke of Ormond their Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor that they were reduced to a necessity either of disobeying the King or wronging their Consciences And that after his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience but Gallio cared for none of these things the Commissioners cite the Fellows or their Delegates to appear before them Their Delegates were Dr. Aldworth Dr. Fairfax Dr. Smith Mr. Hammond Mr. Dobson and Mr. Fairer who gave in their Plea to this effect That they were bound by their Oaths not to admit any to that Office but such as were Fellows of that or New-Colledge which Mr. Farmer was not That they were not to admit any but such did first swear to observe the Statutes of the Colledge That they were sworn not to admit any Dispensations by any Authority whatsoever and that they had Elected Dr. Hough who was qualified as the Statutes required Mr. Farmer on proofs of his Incapacity was laid aside and another Mandate sent for admission of the Bishop of Oxford And shortly after the King coming to Oxford ordered the Fellows to attend him at Christ-Church and then told them He had known them to be a stubborn and turbulent Colledge for Twenty Six Years taxed them with their Church of England Loyalty and bid them go home and know that he was their King and would be obeyed and such as refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford should feel the weight of his Displeasure But without dread of these Menaces and the intended Persecution they persisted to refuse the Bishop of Oxon against whom they had the like Objections as against Mr. Farmer the Bishop having Judas-like betrayed his Master that had preferred him to that Honour which he resolv'd to rise to viz. a Coach and Six Horses which was the Religion he resolv'd to adhere to but for these causes they were all expelled and made uncapable of any Preferment and all to make way for a Seminary of Papists For these breaches being made in the Walls and Towers of our Sion and there being an Army of Locusts in the Land which waited an opportunity to storm kill and take possession there being at the same time a Nuntio from Rome who was publickly feasted at the Guild-Hall London and an Ambassador at Rome a numerous Spawn of Jesuits and Fryars who were seen in their several Habits Schools Publick Houses appointed for them and Four Bishops appointed to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ireland being secured in the hands of Papists Scotland over-awed by an Army and the Fleet and Tower of London in confiding hands the Popish Lords being the Cabinet Council and Peters the Jesuit chief Minister of State. What could be expected but a total overthrow of the Church and that the King's Age and Infirmities being considered that they should with all violence push on for our Destruction But God infatuated the Counsels of all these Achitophels and what they designed for our Ruine was by his gracious and wise Providence turned to our preservation For whereas the King to secure the Popish Interest and to establish his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience to which the Prince and Princess of Orange could by
no means be drawn to give their consent the King was prevailed with to own a Suppositious Child as Heir to his Dominions that he might give a new life to the Popish and Fanatick Interests But this and his sense of the Protestant Cause which was then in a decaying condition stirred up the Spirit of our present King to vindicate the Cause of the English Church and his own and his Consort 's Title to the Crown and the Severity used to the Bishops and the Universities and the Affront done to the English Souldiers by bringing some thousands of Irish Cut-Throats and preferring them above the English did stem the Tide and immediately upon the Arrival of the Prince's Army there followed a great Revolt of the Nobility Souldiery and Gentry of the Land who marching towards London became formidable to the King who coming as far as Salisbury intending to fight the Prince found himself so deserted that he returned in great haste to London and considering into what streights his precipitant Counsels had brought him he sends for such Bishops as were in or near London to have their Advice in that critical Juncture which with all possible humility and integrity they did to this effect 1. That it was necessary for him to restore all things to the state wherein he found them when he came to the Crown by committing all Offices and Places of Government to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws and by redressing and removing such Grievances as were generally complained of particularly that his Majesty would dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and promise to his People never to Erect any such Court for the future 2. That he would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations but would call in and cancel all those which since his coming to the Crown had been obtained from him 3. That he would restore the Universities to their Legal State Statutes and Customs and particularly restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge and the ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford to their Properties 4. And that he would not permit any Persons to enjoy any Preferments in either University but such as were qualified by the Statutes and Laws of the Land. 5. That he would suppress the Jesuits Schools opened in London or else-where and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as were against the Laws of the Land and his Majesties true interest 6. That he would send Inhibitions after the Four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars did presume to exercise within this Kingdom such Jurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land invested in the Bishops of the Church of England 7. That he would not suffer any more Quo Warranto's to be sued out against any Corporations but restore to such as had been disturbed their ancient Charters Priviledges and Immunities and condemn all those illegal Regulations that had been made 8. That he would fill up all the vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland with Persons duly qualified and especially consider the See of York whose want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to the whole Province 9. That he would act no more nor insist on the Dispensing Power but leave it to be debated and setled by Act of Parliament 10. That on the Restoration of Corporations he would issue Writs for a Free Parliament for redressing of Grievances in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations and to establish due Liberty of Conscience Lastly and above all That his Majesty would permit some of his Bishops to lay such Motives and Arguments before him as might by the Blessing of God bring back his Majesty to the Communion of the Church of England into whose Catholick Faith he had been Baptized in which he had been Educated and to which it was their earnest Prayer to Almighty God that his Majesty might be re-united Had these sober and pious Counsels been accepted then when the Bishop's Petition was rejected as a false malitious and seditious Libel the King might have been still setled on the Throne but he had past the Rubicon and was resolved to fight out his way for the establishing the Popish Religion against all opposition and being deserted by his English Forces hath resolutely cast himself on the French and Irish and what hath been done against the established Church there cannot amount to less than a Persecution And such a one must we have expected had not God's Almighty Arm bafled their Antichristian Designs Now if the Popish Party have been so hasty and violent in persecuting the Church as soon as they got Power into their hands notwithstanding all that kindness and moderation manifested to them to the great regret of the other Dissenters who thought themselves less gently dealt with I know not what more gentle usage the Church could expect from them who have so long and loudly cried out of Persecution and for Forty or Fifty Years together covenanted to root out Episcopacy and Liturgy and perpetuated that Obligation to the present Generation so that the bitter Spirit of the Smectymneunans seem to survive still in the present Dissenters who still maintain the Old Cause and if ever the Power should return to their hands as in the time of the Long Parliament would fly as high and fall on the same Game for a Lyon is no less a Lyon while he is restrained within a Den and loaden with Chains but grows usually more raging when let loose and Maledicus à malefico non distat nisi occasione Those ravenons Beasts that do rent a Man in Effigie do manifest what they would do in Corpore as the Donatists who first slew the Orthodox Gladio Oris did as they had opportunity destroy them Ore Gladii I think it will be a difficult Province for a very good Orator to perswade the Church of England that such Dissenters as have all along struck at the Root will be contented if a few Branches were cut off When the Winds and Storms rage the Husband-men will part with the Branches to preserve the Root I may part with a Coat or a Cloak to an importunate Brother but if he to enrich himself by making me poor continues craving till he strips me to the skin and leaves me naked I am not so much charitable to him as cruel to myself Had the Dissenters in 62 asked less they might have had more granted but when they crave all they deserve nothing if the same Leaven do begin to swell and ferment the Spirits of Men now as then we are commanded to be aware of them We had no sooner past a Fiery Tryal in the Twenty Years Persecution by the Dissenters but were under another Twenty Years Tryal under the Papists though it did not appear so visible and successful till of late And if the Papists should be asked who were the Persecutors in the first Twenty Years they must answer the Dissenters if we should ask the Dissenters whether the Papists or the Church of England were the persecuted Party in the last Twenty Years it must be answered the Papists were for though their frequent Attempts to destroy the Church proved abortive as there may be many traiterous Conspiracies against the Life of a Prince though he survive them all and bring the Conspirators to condign punishment as in the Powder-Plot Cain might have been called a Persecutor of Abel though he had not slain him and Ishmael's cruel mocking of his Brother is called a persecuting of him And if the same bitterness of Spirit do reign in the English as hath shewn itself in the Scottish Presbytery the Episcopal Party may well be jealous of them and few I suppose will be of the Opinion of W. J. That the Removal of our Ceremonies will be an equivalent compensation for the shedding of as much Blood and exhausting as much Treasure as was shed and exhausted in the late inhumane Civil War Where the Royal Martyr the Archbishop many Nobles innumerable Gentry and Commons were sacrificed for a Reformation of Ceremonies but I hope such fury will not possess the hearts of any Dissenters in this Age. To Conclude The Church is still through the wonderful Providence of God in the legal possession of her Rights she is neither Popishly affected nor of a persecuting Spirit or Power she hath learnt by her own Suffering for Conscience-sake how to pity such as are truly conscientious but if any man be contentious and will deny her that liberty which they challenge to themselves I shall only say with the Apostle 〈◊〉 hath been to those French Protestants 〈◊〉 have found 〈◊〉 a Sanctuary and do readily joyn in her Worship and Service and I suppose their Judgments are as solid and their 〈◊〉 as tender as any of our Dissenters who yet look on our Church as a â—eth-haven and a House of Bondage FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS 1. A Resolution of Certain Queries concerning Submission to the Present Government The Queries 1. Concerning the Orginal of Government 2. What is the Constitution of the Government of England 3. What Obligation lies on the King by the Coronation-Oath 4. What Obligation lies on the Subject by the Oaths of Supremacy c. 5. Whether if the King Violate his Oath and actually Destroys the Ends of it the Subjects are freed from their Obligation to him 6. Whether the King hath Renounced or Deserted the Government 7. Whether on such Desertion the People to preserve themselves from Confusion may admit another what Method is to be used in such Admission 8. Whether the Settlement now made is a Lawful Establishment and such as with a good Conscience may be Submitted to 2. A full Answer to all the Popular Objections that have yet appear'd for not taking the Oath of Allegiance to their present Majesties particularly offered to the Consideration of all such of the Divines of the Church of England and others as are yet unsatisfied Shewing both from Scripture and the Laws of the Land the Reasonableness thereof and the Ruining Consequences both to the Nation and Themselves if not complied with 3. The Historian Unmask'd Or Some Reflections on the late History of Passive Obedience Wherein the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance is truly Stated and Asserted By a Divine of the Church of England All Three Printed by Freeman Collins and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Bailey 1689.