the Church and for the prevention of Schism and Scandal Then may the King and Governours Now Impose things Indifferent and Unnecessary when they see it is Necessary for prevention of Scandal and Offence unto the Episcopal-Protestants who are the Onely Supporters of the Established Government in Church and State And Thousands of these Canonical Pious Conformists do think in their Consciences the present Ceremonies in the Church ought to be Continued for the Fame Peace and Vniformity of the Glorious Church of England which ever used them And for their own great Antiquity Decency and Vtility Hook Eccles Pol. 1.5 as Judicious Hooker Argues Farther as the First Christian Council at Jerusalem so the Four First General Councils did Impose things Indifferent upon both Clergy and Laity as Conditions of Church Communion as any one may know who will but consult their Acts and Deeds The observation of Easter-Day whether on the Jews Passover Day or on the First Day of the week was a thing Indifferent and some observed it at one time as did the Jews others observed it at another time as did the Romanists But for Vniformity sake the First General Council at Nice the Emperour Constantine being present determined Euseb in vit Const 1. 3. ◠18. That all Christians throughout the World should celebrate Easter on one and the same Lord's Day in the year To Pray unto Almighty God on Sundays whether Kneeling or Standing was in it self a thing Indifferent But yet the General Council at Nice Canon 20. for Vniformity sake Imposed upon the People the Posture of Kneeling in Prayer-Time on the Week-Days but Standing in time of Prayer on the Lord's Days commonly called Sundays And Tertullian informes us that in his time Die Dominico jejunium Nefas ducimus vel de Geniculis adorare c. It was counted a Sin on the Lord's-Day Tertull. Corona Mil. c. 3◠either to Fast or to Pray and Adore God Kneeling To Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized was a thing Necessary in Holy Baptism to be observed But to Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized more than Once was a thing Indifferent But yet by the Ancients it was Imposed upon the Clergy and People that the Party Baptized should be thrice Dipped or Sprinkled in Reference to the Three Sacred Persons in the Holy Trinity Hence that of Tertullian Tertul. Ibid. Apostolical Can. 49. Dehinc ter Mergitamur c. And the same Order was commanded upon the pain of Deposition And Zonaras on that Canon saith as our Reconciler himself well notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is an ungodly thing to dip in Holy Baptism but Once Tertullian mentions many things Imposed upon the People as terms of Church-Communion and he says the Ground and Warrant for those Impositions was not the Scripture Tertull. Coro Mil. c. 4. but Ancient Custome and Tradition Harum aliarum ejusmodi Disciplinarum si Legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies Traditio tibi proetendetur Auctrix Consuetudo Confirmatrix Fides Observatrix Thirdly As Reason speaks a necessity of making Civil Laws for prevention of disorder and confusion in the State so Reason speaks it as necessary to make Laws Ecclesiastical for preventing the same Mischiefs and Inconveniences in the Church And when such Laws are made and nothing can be found in them which is absolutely sinfull then Reason as well as Religion commands Obedience to them As Moral Wisedom preserves Common Life by ordering what is Convenient so Civil and Ecclesiastick Wisedom preserves Life in the State and Church by ordering what is Necessary and Expedient And as the Learned Hooker notes Whatever the Church Hook Eccles Pol. l. 5. p. 136 138. by her Ecclesiastick Authority shall in matters of Order and Comeliness probably think and define to be True or Good must in Congruity of Reason Over-rule all other inferiour judgments whatsoever and must be thought Convenient And all things in the Church which are void of Superstition and are of long Continuance in the Church are things which edifie and are not lightly to be altered Nothing is unfit or inconvenient which the King and Governours shall think fit and convenient Unless the said thing imposed be against 1. The Sacred Scriptures 2. Right Reason 3. The practice of Piety Whatever is otherwise thought to be inconvenient by the Subject it is the Result either 1. Of Pride or 2. Of an unsetled Mind a Melancholick phanoy and imagination or 3. Of Capriciousness And now let the Reconciler chuse and tell us which of them is in the Dissenters and is the Cause of their Non-Compliance with the King 's Lawfull Commands as to things Indifferent Thus far Scripture Councils and Reason conclude the Reconciler's Proposition as considered absolutely and simply in it self to be false for by these Testimonies it is a very great Truth scil That things Indifferent may and sometimes necessarily ought to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion Contrary to what the Reconciler has Suggested to the Vulgar Secondly If we consider the Reconciler's Proposition Relatively as it Refers to the Circumstances our Church and State are in then it will appear also to be very False and Vnseasonably Propounded The present Circumstances of our Church and State Are either Good or Bad. Consider we them as Good And then they are 1. The enjoyment of present Peace and Quietness in stead of the late Intestine Wars and Rebellion 2. The enjoyment of good Order and Settlement in stead of the late Confusion and Anarchy God be Praised Now our King sits on his Throne of Inheritance Our Bishops and Clergv are repossessed of their Dues quoad Officium Beneficium both as to Office and Benefice And the People Nobles Gentry and Commons are now restored to their Rights and Privileges 3. We enjoy Justice and Equity in stead of the late Oppressions Extortions and Tyranny Our King demands and takes no more than what by Law is his Due And the People receive and enjoy all that by Law and Inheritance is their Right and Property 4. As to our Impositions in reference to Religious Worship they are all the very same which the Primitive Christians observed who died Confessours and Martyrs for the Truth And they are not more than were at the first Reformation in King Edward the Sixth's and Queen Elizabeth's Reign when there was less Talk but greater Exercise of Conscience and of Godliness than is now a-days Nay in this our Day there is an enjoyment of greater Liberty of Conscience than ever was granted by any Prince or by any Law or Act of Parliament whatever since the Reformation in England For now by Act of Parliament Men of all Persuasions may in their own Families use what Liberty they please as to their private Modes of Worship which Freedom none could enjoy under Popery Whereas now there is by Law a Toleration for all Sects and Religious Persons to Meet not exceeding the number of Five and
Clarke a Noted Presbyterian writes of Knox. How that in Queen Maryes days Clark's Martyrol p. 293. Mr. Knox fled into Germany where at Frankfort an English Congregation was setled who served God after the English Rubrick published by King Edward the Sixth But Mr. Knox coming thither disturbed the aforesaid Congregation and made a Schism among them for Knox cryed down the English Service-Book And drew up a Liturgy which was says Clark the very same with that used at Geneva which Calvin had composed But Dr. Cox a Prelatical Man stood up stoutly in Defence of the English Service Book And he complained to the Magistrates That Mr. Knox his Doctrine and Discipline was inconsistent with the safety of Monarchical Government And that he had Preached and Published Seditious Doctrine against the Emperour All which being proved Mr. Knox fled to Basil And there he set up the Genevian-Anti-Monarchical Discipline Afterwards upon the Death of Queen Mary the said Mr. Knox went into Scotland And infected that Nation with his Presbyterian Doctrine Preaching That Kings are to give an Account of their evil Government not onely unto God but also unto the People who entrusted them with the Magistratical Power And that Vngodly Princes such as are all Popish Princes are no less enemies to Christ than was Nero c. And there in Scotland the said Knox set up his Scotch-Kirk and Presbyterian Consistory which assumed to its self a Power over Kings to that Degree as that King James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England who knew them too well to trust them said He would never admit of the Presbyterian Government in England G. G. Ch. Hist of Gr. Brit. p. 268. lest every Jack and Tom in the Consistory should Censure Him and his Council as they had done in Scotland And as thus Calvin in Geneva and Knox in Scotland setled Presbyterian Consistories in Opposition to Monarchy Episcopacy and all Regal Supremacy So did Whittingham Cartwright and Travers who every one of them had been New-principled at Geneva come over from beyond Sea and endeavoured to settle the Like here in England To which purpose One of them broached his Anti-Monarchical Principles at Cambridge being there made a Professour and slily poysoned That Fountain with the putrid waters of Geneva's Lake for which he was Deposed Another of them did the like in the Temple at London being chosen Lecturer thereof And there he infected the other sort of Gown Men even the Lawyers for which he was Silenced They i. e. the Presbyterians thus having got as they thought both Law and Divinity on their side proceeded so high as to fix their Consistories in several places of this our Land In all which Consistories they Declared against Subscription to the English Rubrick and against the Queens Supremacy and the Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons and against the Ceremonies of the Church And thus they would have run on to an higher rate even to the unsetling the Established Government both in Church and State Had not Queen Elizabeth interposed her Authority and by her care and prudence soon put a stop to their carreir The like did King James in Scotland soon after by the advice of Bishop Bancroft who before Queen Elizabeths Death kept correspondence with King James and discovered to him the Inconsistency of the Presbyterian Principles and Consistories with Monarchy in that they Deny'd The King's Supremacy And King James was so far convinced of the truth of what he Asserted Heyl. Life of Arch-Bishop Laud p. 62.63 as that when he came to the Crown of England he caused several eminent Scotch-Divines to be Consecrated Bishops according to our English Rubrick And sent them hence back into their own Country and placed them in several Diocesses in Scotland And by their Prudence and Assistence King James restored His own Supremacy and the Protestant Episcopacy again in that Kingdom which ever since has had a Being there though not a Well-Being by reason of the late Bloudy-Rebellions made against the King by the Presbyterians who all were and still are under an Oath and Covenant to maintain their Consistorian Power against the King's Supremacy and the Churches Episcopacy which verifies King James his Proverb No BISHOP No KING And what the Presbyterians have been in Scotland the very same have they been and still are here in England For they All are still if not by Oath yet by Principle against The King's Supremacy And therefore we may safely conclude them to be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. III. The Independents no Protestants THis Sect and Generation of People are as Dangerous to the State and Church as the Presbyterians and in some respect worse Because they are against a National Church which the Presbyterians acknowledge They make every Individual Gathered Congregation An absolute Church Independent on all other Congregational Churches And therefore are they called Independents So that Every Individual Independent Congregation is invested with a Supremacy of their own And challenge to themselves a Power to Censure Condemn and to Excommunicate any man whether Magistrate Prince or Peasant And that which excells Popery it self The Independent individual Church will allow of no Appeal from their Sentence whether right or wrong unto any other Power And the Reason for it is this scil Because They own no Power on Earth to be above them They being a perfect Church of themselves have the Supremacy absolutely within themselves Hence it is that Dr. Owen the greatest Independent in England says and that very consistently with his own Independent Principles That all Church Power is Originally in the People Owen's Vindica p. 37. who have the casting Vote in their Congregational Church And this is the Professed Doctrine of the Independent Churches in new-New-England Whose Supreme Magistrates are all chosen Annually by the People of God that is * This is one of their Fundamental Laws Vid. new-New-England Statutes And if our King should par pari referre in Old England then none should be chosen or Chuse Parliament-Men but onely Protestants i. e. Onely such who are for the King's Supremacy and the Churches Episcopacy by the Members of the Independent Congregations and by no other For in New-England Let a Man be never so vertuous and sober so rich and wealthy yet if he be not a Member of some of their particular Independent Congregations He is not capable of giving a Vote for a Governour nor of being chosen a Governour among them And as all Governours in New-England are chosen by the People so all their Governours and Magistrates if they err and transgress in Government or become wicked and vitious in manners they are all subject to the censure of the People and the Church for in New England none is to be a Governour or Magistrate but he who is endued with Grace and is Godly in their Sense Their great State Maxim being this scil Dominium Fundatur in Gratia That All Dominion and Government
and not ye nor any else are the Couragious Gallant Spirited Men who in Our Zeal for God and his Glory Killed not to say Murthered the late King We were the Justiciaries who paid unto Him the proper Wages of his sin which was death And now Surely any pious heart would have thought That all the Sect of Independents with one consent would have sharply exclaimed against this Traytour and his Treason But pudet dictu instead of that The Independents Cryed up and Applauded this their Champion And sent forth into the Field two others to be his Seconds For Soon after Johannes Melaina Bdella alias John Blackbdell appears * Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John Milton the Blind Independent Historian and †Jo. Goodwin's Defence of the SENTENCE passed on the KING John Goodwin the Independent Pastour of Colemanstreet London Both Wrote in Justification of King Charles his Tryal and Execution And we heartily wish Dr. Owen yet Surviving would Recant his Treasonable Words spoken to the Commons of the Rump Parliament the very day after the King's Murther on Jan. 31. 1648. when he said He that is trusted with the Sword and dares not doe Justice on every one that dares doe Injustice is afraid of the Creature But makes very bold with the Creatour From these and an hundred other Instances which might be brought it is evident That the Independents were the Professed Enemies of the late King and of this his present Majesty And although the Presbyterians began the War and the Rebellion against King Charles the First yet it was the Independents who carryed it on unto the Death For Who but the Independents debarred the Secluded Presbyterian-Members that began to Repent of their Rebellion from entring the House of Commons Who but the Independents Brake up the Presbyterian-Assembly of Divines What was Oliver and his New-Reform'd Army But Independents and Anabaptists Who continued the War and Rebellion after the King's Murther But the Independents And when the Whole Nation Groaned under the Oliverian-Tyranny and Oppression And Long'd for the Present King's-Restauration Who opposed it but the Independents Was it not Mr. Caryll the Great Independent that was Sent * Church-Hist of Gr. Brit. p. 367. in the Name of all the Independent Churches unto General Monk in Scotland with Arguments to divert and hinder him from Marching on into England urging this for one Reason to wit That if he did persist Then †Mr. Caryll's Speech in the Name of the Independent Churches Charles Stuart King of the Scots and his Party would reap Great Advantages and as it was feared would soon be Restored and the Perizzites and Canaanites in the Land would Triumph And the People of God for so he called his own Party would be brought into great danger And when General Monk was Marched into England against Lambert Who was it But the Independents that in their Juncto Voted on Jan. 2. 1659. That No man whatever should be a Councillour of State But onely he who took an Oath of Abjuration of the King his Family and Government And I pray Who was it But Doctor Owen Head of the present Independents that since the Act of Oblivion and of Vniformity Dr. Owen's Vindica cult Evang. Satyrically called All the Church of England and therefore among them the King Limbs of Antichrist and said Dissenters Sayings That the Ministery of the Church of England is False Superstitious and Idolatrous And that Persons performing the Publick-Worship in the Church of England are No Officers appointed by Christ But are an Anti-Christian Ministery and Idolaters Now What is all this But the very same Railery and Doctrine continued which was formerly Preached and Vented by the same Man Dr. Owen's Thanksgiving Sermon 1651. on Octob. 24. 1651. when he Queried in the Pulpit What is this Prelacy A mere Anti-Christian Encroachment upon the Inheritance of Christ And it is to be noted That this Independent Doctor Preached and Printed this his Anti-Prelatical Sermon soon after Worcester-Fight when the Oppressed Nation was in great Hopes That Monarchy and Episcopacy would have been restored And truely in all probability they both had been Restored had not the Independent Army prevailed and prevented So that all the Calamities and Troubles which our King and our Nation met with after Worcester-Fight they were all occasioned by the Independents And all the Bloud Shed then and since in the Defence of the Present King and his Government as also the Bloud of King Charles the Martyr it all chiefly lies at the Independents Door And more particularly at That Man's Door who has in Print Justified the said Murther and Rebellion So that we may truely say to him what Nathan said to David Thou Art The Man We will add onely two instances more as First That of the Independent Authour His BOOK Entitled One Blow more at BABYLON Printed 1650. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murthered by the Parliament Page 57. but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and Righteously administred for his bloudy Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever Secondly The Character which Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton gave of the Independents in which they say That the Independents are Revilers Covenant-Breakers with God and Man Hereticks Causers of Divisions and Offences and such as all Christians ought to take heed of and not to bid them God Speed And yet these are the Godly the Conscientious Men Our Reconciler would have the King and Government to admit into the Bosome and Communion of our Church of England and that without any Publick Penance or Abrenunciation of their Treasonable and Anti Protestant Positions But For as much as these Men have and still do peremptorily deny The King's Supremacy We therefore Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians to be No Protestants CHAP. IV. The Anabaptists No Protestants THis Sect has as many Names as Hydra had Heads Full. Hist l. 5. p. 229. and therefore it may well be called The Monster of Religion or rather of Impiety This Monster Swiming over from Amsterdam as did the Presbyterian from Geneva made its first unlucky Arrival in England about 29 Hen. 8.1538 Their Opinions are innumerable And therefore we will onely take notice of such of them as speak them Enemies 1. To the King's Supremacy in the Church 2. To his Monarchy in the State 1. The King by his Supremacy is to order all matters in the Church so as in his Royal wisedom he shall think most consistent with the revealed will of God in his written word and most conducing to the advancement of God's Glory Religions Honour and of the Churches wellfare Whereas the Anabaptists deny this power to be granted by God unto Kings or to
Dangerous if possible as a Reconciliation with the Dissenters For it is evident That unless the Papists will Renounce the Pope's Supremacy and so cease to be Papists And unless the Dissenters will acknowledge the King's Supremacy and so cease to be Dissenters Unless these two things be granted It is impossible for the Church of England as now established to be Reconciled unto either of these Schismaticks whether Papists or Dissenters Nor is it safe for the Government to admit of Schismaticks into our Church-Fellowship S. Cyprian de Vnit Eccl. §. 8.298 for Schismatici duos Episcopos duos Greges in una Ecclesia constituunt and they will bring in Confusion which is the destruction of all Order and Government Et dum Conventicula sibi diversa constituunt Ibid. 299. veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt c. which words of St. Cyprian we will leave to the Conventiclers of both Parties to translate and seriously to consider We being well assured that the Principles of both Papists and Dissenters are inconsistent with Truth and with the Well-being of our Established Government in Church and State For as has been already proved Papists and Dissenters Deny the King's Supremacy And therefore notwithstanding their taking the Oath of Allegiance which many of them have taken the King has no firm Security for the Preservation of his Life and Crown from either Papists or Dissenters For if the Pope should command the Papists as he did Ravillac or if the Consistory bid the Presbyterians as it did in the Deposition and Expulsion of Mary Queen of Scotland or if the Congregational-Church bid the Independent as in the Murthering of the late King or if the Spirit move and bid the Anabaptist and Quaker as it did Venner to raise War against the King because he is an Heretick and an ungodly Man and to Depose and Kill him not being fit for Government Then they all both Papists and Diffenters must according to their several Principles obey their several Orders and must Fight against Depose and Murther the King and destroy all that side with him Wherefore that neither the King's Life and Crown nor our own Privileges and Immunities may be exposed to their Cruelty and Usurpation We humbly conceive it necessary That the Laws of the Realm should stand in force equally against both Papists and Dissenters Because there is no party of men in this Kingdom that ever were or can be according to their Principles true and faithfull in all respects to the King and the Government in Church and State as now Established but onely the Episcopal Protestants And for a farther confirmation of this great Truth we have the Attest of our present Dread Sovereign in his Royal and Noble Speech unto the * Dr. Gower Vice-Chancellour Vniversity of Cambridge upon their humble and Loyal Address made to him at New Market Sept. 18. 1681. In which His Majesty was graciously pleased to Oblige them and indeed the whole Nation with the following words and Assurances to wit That He would constantly own and defend the Church of England King Charles the Second his Speech to the Vniversity of Cambridge Printed in the London-Gazette by Authority as Established by Law of this He bid them be Assured for He would be as good as his word Notwithstanding whatever Representation either had or should be made of him to the contrary Being farther pleased to add That there was no other Church in the World that Taught and Practised Loyalty so Conscientiously as that did In truth This short but pithy Speech of His Sacred Majesty is a full Answer to the Reconciler's whole Book especially to that part of it which so unworthily Misrepresents His Majestie 's former Declarations to the eye and ear of the World CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be As Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State OUr Church and State of England at present God be Praised are by the Divine Providence and by the King 's wise Conduct of Affairs in a very prosperous well-ordered and Setled State and Condition And therefore for any Man to wish and endeavour as does the Reconciler their disturbance by an unnecessary Alteration of their Established Laws is truely to wish them a worse state and condition than at present they are in And so to wish and endeavour is according to the Stoicks Philosophy the height of Envy and Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. Zeno l. 7. p. 506. c. Now that the Reconciler's Design is as he has managed it thus Malitious and Treasonable Towards the King in Scandalizing and Blaspheming Him And towards the Church as now Established in representing her Bishops and Governours as Anti christian Cruel and Tyrannizing over Godly Mens Consciences And in prostituting her pious Orders and Constitutions to Publick Scorn and Derision That it is so Will be the Task of the following Lines and Sections to prove SECT I. The Reconciler Scandalously makes The King and Governours the Authours of all our present Schisms and Factions And that for Two Reasons 1. BEcause they impose things indifferent upon the People 2. Because the King and Governours require of the Clergy subscriptions to the things Imposed As to the First the Reconciler's own words are Why do Superiours still continue the Imposition of those Indifferent things Reconciler c. 1. p. 30 31. which do occasion the Schism c And in Page 339. he Argues and Queries thus Page 339. Whether those Rules of the Church which concern things indifferent should not be altered or relaxed when it so happeneth that an Horrid Schism with all its dreadfull consequences is by Imposition of them caused throughout the Body of the Nation But a little to stop the Carreir of this fierce WRITER and to Vindicate the Honour and Justice of our King and Governours as to this particular we entreat it may be noted That the Reconciler is not onely Disloyal towards his Prince and Superiours in so Aspersing them But also Disingenuous towards his Ignorant Reader in so miserably imposing upon him For the truth of the matter is briefly this To wit Not the Imposers of things indifferent But the Separatists and Disobedient are the Sole Causes of the Schism For it is Confessed by the Reconciler and by the Separatists that the things Imposed are things Indifferent in themselves and have no sinfulness in them And therefore the not observing them when by Lawfull Authority Commanded is a Sin of Rebellion and Disobedience And this sin of not Observing things Indifferent when Lawfully imposed is the sole and Prime Cause of the Schism Nay Mr. Baxter presses farther scil That although it be a sin in the Magistrate to Command yet it is a Duty in the People to Obey His Command in things not sinfull in themselves Mr. Baxter's own words are Many a Ruler sinneth in his Commands Baxter's Cure of Church-Divisions Direct 34. p.
to serve God after their own Desire And pray What Kingdom is there in the Christian World where by Law Greater Moderation and Clemency is shown than this These are some of the Good circumstances our Church and State are in at present And therefore for any man to desire that our present Laws especially those of Vniformity may be altered it is really to desire That our present Good State and Condition may be Altered especially in the Church whose Good and Welfare does and ought to go hand in hand with that of the State And although an Alteration of the Established Laws may possibly be for the better yet it is an hundred to one but such an Alteration may be infinitely for the worse if we duely consider the great Divisions Heats Animosities and Bloudy-Plots on foot among us and all under the Pretence of Reformation and of setting up a more holy and purer way of Worship than what is Established by Law And therefore these things considered it seems to be the wisest and safest way to keep our present Station and to be what we are that is Well and Prosperous Lest by Changing we prove to be otherwise that is Convulsive Sick and Vnsetled in both Church and State Secondly If we consider our present circumstances as to the Time we live in then in truth they are bad enough For our Church and State as now established have Enemies abroad and which is worse at home The times we live in are full of Deceit and Hypocrisie of Divisions and Distractions full of Plots and Treasons And these Clandestine Treasons are Hatched not onely by Papists but also by Dissenters So that our King and Governours have no real Friends no True Trojanes to Trust unto but onely the Episcopal Protestants of the Church of England whose Honour and Glory it is that they were never sound Guilty of any Treasons or Plots against their King and his Government And in truth it is impossible They should ever be Disloyal unless they shall renounce their own professed Principles and act contrary thereunto and then they would cease to be Episcopal Protestants Whereas on the other side it is impossible for the other Parties whether Papists or Dissenters ever to be constantly Loyal and Faithfull to the King and his Government if they shall continue to act according to their own professed Doctrines as has already been proved For Sinon will ever be a Sinon And if King Priamus shall hearken to his Advice Sinon will persuade him to break down Troy's Wall and let in the Trojan-Horse Nirgil Aen. l. 2. and then in the Night-time of Security Sinon contrary to his Vows and Promises his Plighted Faith and Troth Sinon will Betray the over-credulous King and the Coeci furore Citizens into the hands of the Grecians and set City and all into a Combustion And as my Lord Verulam observes the Wolf will ever be a Wolf though in Sheeps Clothing And the Fox will ever remain a Fox No Art nor Argument can ever prevail with the one to lay aside his Ravening and Cruelty Nor with the other to lay aside his Deceipt and Cunning. And therefore it can be no part of Prudence nor of Fidelity in the Shepherd to let either the Wolf or the Fox into the Fold among the Flock lest the Sheep and the Lambs become a prey to them both Wherefore Queen Elizabeth for the preservation of Peace and Good Order in Church and State and for the prevention of Errour Heresie and Schism did wisely make a strict Law for Vniformity and She Severely punished the Rebellious and Obstinate Offenders Notwithstanding their great and earnest Plea of tenderness of Conscience for their Non-Conformity And She hang'd some of the first Independents that ever were known to be in England Full. Hist l. 9. p. 169. such as Mr. Barrow Elias Thacker and John Coping for their Seditious and Treasonable Practices But to shew that she could be Mercifull as well as Severe she graciously pardoned Mr. Brown the Independent But our present Gratious King has in Acts of Mercy infinitely out-done Queen Elizabeth for he has saved from Death many of the Presbyterian and Independent-Regicides and has pardoned the whole Body of them for that and other their Treasons But because he found that they and the rest of their Dissenting-Brethren were restless and by their daily Separations made a Dangerous Schism in the Church and as Pernicious a Faction in the State setting up Church against Church Government against Government and thus rendring the Kingdom Divided Therefore was the King and Governours forced to make Laws to Restrain them and to bring all things into their Pristine Order and Vniformity And forasmuch as the Causes and Occasions of the said Laws of Vniformity are still in Being Therefore the said Laws themselves ought in Reason and Prudence to be continued and to stand still in their full force and power And if our King should execute the Laws of Vniformity with Rigour and Severity yet His Majesty would doe no more than what the Independents in New England have done for the Suppression of Dissenters among themselves For they Excommunicate and Banish all Anabaptists into Long-Island All Quakers into Road-Island or other parts and all Episcopal-Men they Expell their Territories And it is not to be forgot how Severely they dealt with Mr. Dunster the first Master of Harvey College in Cambridge in New-England whom the Independents first Excommunicated out of their Congregational-Church at Cambridge then deprived him of his Mastership and Expelled him the said College and after all they Banished him and his Wife out of their Dominions upon Suspicion of his being an Anabaptist or rather as some believe for his being an Arminian and for uttering some words in favour of the Church of England's Episcopacy Nor may we pass by their Severity towards two or three Quakers whom they Hang'd for returning after Banishment and for disturbing their Congregations in new-New-England Thus the Reader may see what Strict Laws the Dissenters where they have power do make for maintaining their own Ecclesiastick Orders and Impositions and how severely they execute them upon the Offenders And therefore neither the Dissenters nor the Reconciler have any Reason to complain of our King for want of an Indulgence and Condescention toward them when by executing His Laws for Conformity He does but give them their own Measure and does onely par pari referre Doe to them as they doe to others This being Granted We may now from the Premisses Rationally Conclude against the RECONCILER and his Proposition That Considering the Circumstances of Treason and Rebellion of Schisms and Factions our Church and State our King and Governours at present are Molested withall Therefore Things Indifferent ought the rather by Strict Laws of Uniformity and Conformity to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion FINIS
decayed to Reform the Church when corrupted and to Protect the same when Reformed This is the Supremacy which the German Princes being the first Reformers Assumed to themselves exercising their own Authority in Ordering and Setling Church-Matters within their own Dominions And because they all Protested against the Pope's Supremacy and Defended that of their own Therefore were they called Protestants In like manner King Henry the Eighth was the first Protestant Prince in England for no other Reason But because he was the first King of England since the Reformation who strenuously vindicated his Own Regal Supremacy And Protested against the Pope's Usurpation and Tyranny over Kings and their Subjects For which the Pope of Rome Excommunicated King Henry the Eighth and Branded him with the Name of Heretick and Protestant And notwithstanding King Henry's being a perfect and Rigid Papist in all points of Doctrine according to the Church of Rome yet because he Assumed his Own Supremacy and Abjured that of the Pope's he is Therefore styled and that very truely A Protestant And our Statute-Laws call all them who deny the King's Supremacy Recusants whether they be Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists or Quakers The Law Names all Recusants and indeed such They are and Not Protestants For as in the Church of Rome no man is counted a Papist but onely he who declares for the Pope's Supremacy So in the Church of England no man is nor ought to be reckoned a Protestant but onely he who in Thought Word and Deed is for the King's Supremacy as above stated These things being Premised We are of Opinion That the Reconciler has Mistaken his own Title for in equity and honesty he should have Entitled Himself and his Book The Recusant and not the Protestant Reconciler For we know no Protestants in England that need any Reconciliation unless it be the Beaufronts alias Fair-faced Protestants Who have God and the King in their Mouths but the Devil in their Hearts Who Speak their Prince fair to his face but will Wound his Reputation and cut his Throat behind his Back Who will take and swallow all Oaths particularly those of Supremacy and Allegiance And yet will enter into a Scotch-Covenant or into a Shaftsburian-ASSOCIATION and Plot Treason and Rebellion against their King and his Government Who will cry-up the Church of England and yet cry-down the Bishops Who will on a Sunday-Morning go to Divine-Service in the Parish-Church and receive the Sacrament Kneeling and yet in the Afternoon Contrary to their Oath of Allegiance will go to a Seditious Conventicle These are the Tares among the Wheat the very Pests of the Nation And indeed They want a Reconciliation that is Of their ungodly Principles and Practices to Piety Of their Knavery to Honesty Of their Perjury and Hypocrisie to Truth Of their Faction to Loyalty Except these dissembling Beaufronts we know no Protestants that need any Reconciliation for in England there are no Protestants except the Beaufronts but onely the true-hearted and Loyal Episcopal men who in Heart and Conscience Own and Protest for according to our Churches Articles 34 36 37. 1. The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Authority in Ordering Rites and Ceremonies 3. The Episcopal Government as now established Asserting the Distinct Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons 4. Who give due Obedience to the Churches Orders and Constitutions These are the onely Protestants in England As for all others the Laws of the Realm Notifie them by the Name of Recusants So then it is a most Certain Truth though a Paradox to the Vulgar That although there be Myriads of Men in England who pass for Protestants and call themselves Protestants yet in truth and reality they are Recusants They all Combining and Siding with the Papists against the King's Supremacy do by so doing declare themselves to be No Protestants And the onely way to Reconcile these Recusants unto our Church is in the first place to persuade them to become Protestants that is to say to persuade them to Own and Protest for the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastick Matters and to become Obedient to his Laws Civil and Ecclesiastick for till this be done as was said before They are No Protestants And of this Nature and Character are all the Dissenters in England to wit Recusants and not Protestants For they all deny the King's Supremacy which is the Essence and Foundation of Protestantism in Opposition to Popery And whoever pleads for them to be Reconciled to the Church of England without an open Recantation of their Popish Principles as does the Reconciler is guilty of a Praemunire and smells more of a Papist than of a Protestant This then being the proper Notion of a Protestant We once more petition the Reconciler That he would be pleased to inform us who are the Protestants for whom he so earnestly pleads and unto whom he so passionately craves a Condescension may be granted by the King and the Governours If he says They be the Dissenting-Brethren as he has it in his Title Page then he grosly mistakes himself For the Dissenters are No Protestants Because they all deny The King's Supremacy Which is the onely Badge and Characteristical Note of a Protestant Now that All the Dissenters do so is easily proved by their own Avowed and Declared Principles and Practices The Dissenters in England although they be very numerous yet they may be reduced unto four Ranks and Sects which will comprehend them all at least all those which are of any Bulk and Note among us Such as the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers All which Sects we shall in order prove to be No Protestants CHAP. II. The Presbyterians No Protestants THe Presbyterians are no Protestants in as much as They Deny The King's Supremacy And in Opposition thereunto They Set up their own Ecclesiastick Consistory above the King and his Power For by their Consistorian Power They pretend they may and actually they have censured and deposed their own Natural Prince raised War by Oath and Covenant against Him when he would not yield himself a slave to their Demands and Consistorian Tyranny This is too well known in Scotland and England and needs no farther proof And although they do declare with the French Presbyterians French Disci Eccles c. 5. of the Consistory That a Magistrate may be called and employed in the charge of an Elder in the Consistory yet it is with such a Restraint and Limitation as that the Execution of one of the Functions must not hinder the other and bring no prejudice to the Church that is to their Consistorian Power which is to over-rule and controll the Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastick It is to be Noted That the first Presbyterian Consistory erected in Opposition to Monarchy and Episcopacy that ever we heard of was first in Geneva Setled by Calvin and Beza And the First Presbyterian Confistory Setled in Scotland was by John Knox who came from Geneva and brought from thence the Platform