Life of his Sacred Majesty that now is his Royal Son and our most Gracious Soveraign 26. That since the Non-Conformists were a generation of men either of the first date as it is most likely or at least that rose in England at the same time as the Conformists did and since they were for number and quality as great or rather greater and more considerate than the other and who in their Judgment came nearer as to the outward Government and Purity of Worship not only to the first Reformers Zuinglius Luther and Calvin but also to the Apostolical Practice and who indeed were the TRUE PROTESTANTS most Conformable to that Party in Germany who so stiled themselves Protestants in opposition to the Imperial Edicts of Worms and Spire it must needs be a great wickedness and cruelty too in the Conformists because they had all the while the Countenance of Princes and the longest Sword to persecute the Non-Conformists and to deprive them of the liberty of setting up Purer Ordinances in Conventicles and of sharing in the Publick Maintenance for the Ministers 27. That it is a most barbarous improper uncharitable and unchristian language in the Corrupt-Party of the Church of England to stile themselves the only true and properly so called PROTESTANTS and to discard all others in Europe from the right to that name for want of such Episcopal Ordinations as are in England as if that 500 men possessing the three parts of the Church-Revenues in England should better deserve to be called Protestants than the first so called in Germany whereas what ever Bishop Bilson Andrews Dr. Floyd Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet could say in the behalf of the Government of the Church of England as being the most Apostolical and Primitive there is none more opposite not only to that of the first Protestants but also to Scripture Reason and Antiquity 28. These being the Material Heads or a Summary Idea of the whole to be more largely and particularly handled hereafter if God giveth Life and Time to the Author I shall excerpt much from the Scrinia of the Reverend and Learned Divine Mr. Richard Baxter but yet so as to take the liberty to follow my own Method and Genius as to the menage of it 29. So then the main design of the Subsequent Book whereof this is a brief but full Specimen shall be to shew prove and make clear to You the unreasonableness unconscionableness and consequently the ungodliness of retaining urging and pressing the things in debate between the Conformists and the Non-Conformists and of persecuting those that refuse to submit to them or at least to approve of them 30. That Dissenters could not cannot ought not neither in reason nor in Conscience to submit to them at least for the assenting and consenting to them and the approving of them 31. That those Conformists whom I call Peaceable and Orthodox men such as were the Members of the Parliament of 1640 and those of Westminster assembled and their Predecessors and all others however otherwise most upright sincere Orthodox holy and well-minded persons since the first Reformation in King Edward the Sixth's dayes and Lovers of the Non-Conformists that have hitherto been Conformists were all guilty of prevarication and of a-sinful yielding complying assenting and subscribing to a Church-way which doubtless is sinful 32. And therefore that the Non-Conformists who ever since King Edward's dayes in Conformity to the true Doctrine of those of the best sort of Conformists kept gathered Churches and Meetings out of the Parishes had right Reason and Scripture on their side and walked with a purer Conscience were the best reformed from Popery and those that preserved the true Apostolical Doctrine Worship and Government and conveyed it to Posterity 33. The Author may Incidently speak of the nature of the Church Synods Associations and Fraternities by a confederate discipline but cannot by any means hear of a National Church-Tribunal independant on the Magistrate to whom only he allows the setting up of a National Worship by Persuasion and Commendation but not in the least by forcing men to it by penal Lawes except they be Papists or disturbers of the Publick Peace FINIS A SOBER and UNPASSIONATE REPLY TO The Author OF The Lively Picture OF LEWIS DV MOVLIN Gal. 4. Vers 16. Am I therefore become your Enemy because I tell you the truth LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway 1680. A Sober and Unpassionate REPLY c. I AM very sensible that My late Book viz. A short and true Account of the several Advances the Church of England hath made towards Rome c. hath raised up very great and fierce tempests against me as well from some of my Friends as from those that are most otherwise to me especially from those who can very calmly sedately patiently and without any disturbance in the world see the publication of Mr. Hobbes's Books and such others that are much what of the same stuff with them that are good for nothing but to instruct People either in Atheism or at best in an indifferency as to Matters of Religion but who are highly provoked if any One comes but near their Noli me tangere either to make a Seasonable Discovery or in Love and Friendship to bring them the wholesome Application of Remedies such as is this Truth That the Papists would never have been ingaged in such a design as to introduce Popery into England by Massacres and other wayes of the highest cruelty if they had not been very well assured that though the Corrupt-Party of the Church of England who are the most prevailing now be not in a disposition to give their Consent to such Massacres the thoughts of which are alone sufficient to strike a horrour into the worst of them yet they are all of them I mean the Corrupt Party pretty inclinable to or which is not a jott less not very much against embracing the Religion of Rome I WILL begin with the Heat and Passion of my Friends against me and with the Judgment which they make upon my Short and True Account c. they say That that Book is altogether now unseasonable When as Persons of great Learning Piety and Merit and who at the bottom are very Sincere and Upright in the Church of England such as Dr. Floyd Dr. Tillotson Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Patrick to whom I might joyn Professor Burnett are making it their business as they think it their duty to re-unite the Two Parties the Conformists and the Non-Conformists and when they are most industriously imployed in reducing to Practice the Means of Peace and Concord according to Mr. Richard Baxter's Model and that instead of lending them my helping hand and assisting them in so good a Work I am doing what I can to divide both Parties and to exasperate and imbitter them one against the other BUT Methinks these Gentlemen either have not read my Book at all or else have no mind to understand the design of it
AN APPEAL OF All the Non-Conformists in ENGLAND TO GOD And all the Protestants of EUROPE In order To manifest their Sincerity in point Of Obedience to God and the King To which is added A Sober and Vnpassionate REPLY To the AUTHOR Of the Lively Picture of Lewis du Moulin By Dr. LEWIS Du MOVLIN Late History Professor of Oxford London Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Ally in Pater-Noster-Row MDCLXXXI A Notice to the Reader ALthough these Papers to thee are Posthumous the Author of them departing this Life three or four days since yet the Doctor himself both saw and corrected all the sheets save one before his sickness October 23 1680. Pag. 20. line 5 read Conformist for Non-Conformist AN APPEAL OF All the Non-Conformists in ENGLAND to GOD and all the Protestants of Europe in order to manifest their Sincerity to GOD and the KING HAving in some late Treatises given a short Account of the Advances of the Church of England towards Popery from the beginning of the Reformation I am obliged to mention some Particulars over again which leads me to some other Considerations very material for the Design in hand 1. That the First Reformers in the dayes of E. 6. though of several Judgments about the External part of the Government were all of honest Principles and Sentiments in their Doctrine and had the same mind and design to purge the then present Church of its Idolatry Superstitions and gross Errours and to bring in the same pure Doctrine that was professed by Calvin and the Reformed Churches in France and which hath been and is still retained by the Non-Conformists that were and are now 2. That the said first Reformers being divided in their Opinions about retaining that which was good and taking away whatsoever was amiss in the Romish Church as to the outward Governmnt the Opinion that the Reformation could not be thoroughly done for matter of Government and Externals as it was possible for matter of Doctrine prevailed so far with Bishop Hooper Rogers and others that wisht it had been otherwise as to make them forbear any further urging of a compleat Reformation in hopes that when the people that were instructed in the true saving Doctrine should be more numerous the opposition to a through Reformation in all points would be less 3. That this rude draught of Reformation suitable to that time had very bad Success because the Conformable Party prevailed still with the Soveraign and the Grandees of the Realm to have it a standing Law that was not to be repealed nor altered and which drawing along with it Non-Residency plurality of Livings a meer form and garb of Religion and Piety outward pomp and grandeur best suited with a Worldly interest whilest the other Party who were then Puritans and whom we now call Non-Conformists retained and do still to our days a desire and longing after a thorow Reformation and they have endeavoured by Conferences Remonstrances and Writings to have it introduced 4. That yet the Conformists were not all of one mind there being still a Party among them very peaceable and Orthodox and at less distance from the Non-Conformists especially among the Gentry that were no Courtiers and in great Towns Cities and Corporations whilest the other Party made up of Conformists grew corrupt and so far from hearkening to a further Reformation that they made nearer advances towards Rome 5. That Jealousies and apprehensions daily encreasing and fears of inclining to Popery and the Troubles in Scotland intervening in the Years 38 and 39 and the Discontents rising up in England the King was forced to call a Parliament which began in 1640. 6. That that Parliament both Lords and Commons was most if not all composed of such Peaceable Orthodox Church of England men I have but now mentioned and all conforming to the Rites Ceremonies of Episcopacy and Hierarchy but yet greatly averse to Popery Tyranny and the Corrupt Party of the Church of England that inclined towards Rome Witness the many Speeches in Parliament they made as of the Lord Faulckland Sir Benjamin Rudyer Digby and others with whom Good and Honest Bishops joyned 7. That the Ground and Rise of the Civil War in 1640 and 43 was in opposition to such as Bishop Laud and other bad instruments 8. That the Lords and Commons in 1642 and 43 were all in perfect Conformity to the Church of England so was the Army too that they raised for the General the main Body of the Army the Officers and Captains both by Land and Sea were all conformable to the Church of England and none of them Puritans Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Sectaries or Conventiclers 9. That likewise the Assembly of Divines in Westminster chosen by the Parliament were all Conformists and none of them Silenced Ministers except 8. or 9 and 4 Scots 10. That the first Intentions of the Parliament was so far from subverting the Government of Church and State established by Law and from taking away the House of Lords and Bishops root and branch that it was only to reform the abuses of both and to settle such a Model of Church Government as was recommended by the Pious and Learned Bishops Vsher and Hall and which did not much differ from that which our Gracious Soveraign that now is recommended to his Parliament in his Declaration 1660. about Ecclesiastical Affairs 11. That the Parliament had no thoughts of bringing in the Covenant into England had not the necessity of their Affairs forced them to joyn with the Scots 12. That no man was obliged by it to take away Bishops but only as they are in Conjunction with the English Hierarchy 13. Neither was it the Intention of the Lords and Commons at first to take away Deans and Chapters but to make them more serviceable and useful to take away Pluralities Non-residencies and to settle a more proportionable Maintenance for Ministers 14. That the Change or Subversion of Government the taking away the Lords House and with them the Bishops and excluding the greatest part of the House of Commons and last of all the taking away the King and all the Confusions and Disorders that happened thereupon did arise from a third Party viz. The Army that was neither for the King nor Parliament Neither for Conformists nor for Non-Conformists but was an Enemy to them all and sought their absolute ruine and destruction 15. That the Non-Conformists who usually now go by the name of Presbyterians Fanaticks Independents Rebels Sons of Belial c. by the corrupt Church-Party that have been always making advances towards Popery were so far from being the first in Arms in opposition to the King our late blessed Martyr and being contrivers of his Death and of taking away Monarchy that on the contrary it was the only Party while the others of the King's Friends sate still that appeared before and since 48 in his behalf to the hazard of their Lives witness Mr. Love and that in 1660 had a
those Bishops 1. That though the first Reformation in the time of Edward the 6th was extremely pure as to its Doctrine it was notwithstanding very defective and imperfect as to the exterior Government because it was adjusted to that present time where the Papists were Twenty for One that was reformed in England 2. That the first Reformers imagined that when the People converted to the true Faith should be more Numerous and more disposed to receive a more perfect Reformation The Successors of the first Reformers would apply themselves to it with more Earnestness and Zeal 3. But it never came into their thoughts that their Successors would be guilty of so great a fault as to act the quite contrary to such a good Project and Design in persuading both Princes and Parliaments to bring the first Rude Draught of Reformation into a standing Law but only to have it established for a certain time untill they themselves should see they were able to effect a more perfect Reformation 4. That the Practice of these Successors of the first Reformers hath been unreasonable wicked impious and cruel in the Imposition of several things which they themselves have owned not to be necessary and at best but indifferent under pain of deprivation ab officio beneficio although all the Conformists have not been equally guilty for some among them have approved of these measures they have taken towards the Non-Conformists but yet have connived at them either by their submission or their silence and have not vigorously enough set themselves against the Corruption that so much prevailed From all these Hypotheses I gather these Conclusions which naturally follow the aforesaid Premises 1. That several Bishops and Doctors of the Church of England as Dr. Floyd Dr. Tillotson Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Patrick that are acknowledged by the Non-Conformists to be Persons of great Learning Worth and Piety but who are Extreme Admirers of the Episcopacy of England and all its Consequences and who have also preferred its Government to all other Establishments in Europe have by an unlucky accident contributed more towards the Reputation of the English Hierarchie and its Practises and towards the perpetuating the Feuds and Quarrels between the Conformists and Non-Conformists than it has been possible for any other Corrupted Party to do by all their Irregularities and advances towards Rome 2. That it may be said of these good Bishops and Doctors before mentioned what the Politique Sages have observed of Anselme Bernard Thomas Aquinas John of Salisbury and Gerson That by their great repute of Piety and Learning they have contributed more to the strengthening of the Pope's Tyranny and Religion in the Minds of the People than a hundred such as Gregory the VII and Boniface the VIII were able to effect by their Tyranny and the wickedness and impurity of their Lives for the discrediting of the Pope and his Religion 3. That it is not to be believed how much the Non-Conformists of England suffer in the Esteem of our Great Men of the Protestant Party in Europe who hearing people talk of the Learning and Piety of so many English Bishops and Doctors all Conformists and who resemble those four Doctors I have just before named say aloud that the Non-Conformists must needs be very unreasonable and of a very nice and fantastical Piety for refusing to Conform to the Church of England after the Example of those four Doctors 4. That how good soever the Intentions of some of the Bishops and Doctors of the Church of England may be that are of the same temper of spirit with these four Doctors and what kindness soever they may have for the Non-Conformists it is impossible They should ever come over to them and consent to terms of Reconciliation and Moderation so long as they remain in this Judgment and Opinion That of all the Established Ecclesiastical Governments in Europe that of the Church of England is the most excellent and the most Apostolical and that there is nothing of defect in it and so long as the multitude of their Benefices and the great honour they are in in the World blinds their Judgment there being no likelihood nor hopes that those who are raised so high and that live in honour and abundance richly and fatly unless they will imitate good Dr. Floyd who bestowes most of his Church-Revenues on the Poor will diminish any thing of their greatness both as to their Retinue or their Kitchin and will descend from high to low and that a Bishop who now goes before the Barons will quit his Place to be only a poor simple Moderator and Watchman over a small company of Priests such as were St. Cyprian and St. Austin For this Eminence of Fortune and Dignity does absolutely shut up the door to all the Overtures of Reformation which we learn from Mounsieur Claude in his Defence of the Reformation of the Churches of France where he tells us That the Cardinal du Prat for this very reason was the most violent of all men and the most inraged against Luther's Reformation because he was provided of Five Bishopricks and I know not how many other good and fat Benefices That for these Reasons Methinks it might be expected from these good Bishops and Doctors that by a Christian condescention they would endeavour to incline their Brethren the Non-Conformists to abate something of their heat and vigorousness against the Non-Conformists but so long as they themselves are neither sensible of any error or defect in their Church it is not to be expected or hoped for from them that they should go about the doing of any such good work how great and eminent soever they be no more than it ought to be expected from the Romish Doctors so long as they do look upon and verily believe their Church to be infallible And therefore it cannot be considerately imagined that the perfect day of hope of the Church of England's Reformation and of the Reconciliation of the Conformists to the Non-Conformists should break forth from these good Bishops and Doctors nor from any of the Clergy but from KINGS and the Princes of the People whose hearts are in God's hands and who holds them as the Rivers of Waters 25. As for the Odium that is cast upon the Congregational Way and those who are called Independents as being the more immediate authors and abettors of the King's Murther and of taking away Monarchy it can be easily wiped off and made out That Oliver Cromwell's Army like that of King David's in the Wilderness was a Medley or a Collection of all Parties that were discontented as some Courtiers some Episcoparians few of any Sect but most of none or else of the Religion of Thomas Hobbes and Dr. Scarborough not mentioning the Papists who had the greatest hand in the Death of King Charles the First the success of which made them so daring and impious as to contrive another most Damnable and Hellish Plot to cut off the