Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	church_n	ordination_n	3,829	5	10.8464	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52706	A letter from a gentleman in the city to a gentleman in the country, about the odiousness of persecution wherein the rise and end of the penal laws for religion in this kingdom, are consider'd : occasioned by the late rigorous proceedings against sober dissenters, by certain angry justices in the country.	A. N.; Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1687 (1687)	Wing N3; Wing L1388A_CANCELLED; ESTC R9450	23,013	34

Persecution for matters of meer Religion upon the Papists as a Principle of Popery so the Papists are as Industrious to perswade the World that it is a Principle of Protestancy I might here by way of Apology and Extenuation refer the Papists as they do the Protestants to consider of Circumstances of times and things which occasion'd their Severities against them as the unruliness which might probably be amongst the people in the time of K. Edw. the VI. to see their Religion alter'd as they conceiv'd by the Protector And in Q. Elizabeth's time besides the rensentment which the Protestants had of the Cruelties which were exercis'd against them in Q. Mary's time It is certain the Papists did not look upon Q. Elizabeth to have any Right to the Crown she having been declar'd by the Judicial Sentence and judgement of Arch-Bishop Cranmer to be Illegitimate and the Marriage between K. Henry VIII and Anne of Bullen her Mother being by the same Sentence declar'd absolutely void ab Initio and that Sentence confirm'd by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. c. 7. So that the Papists took Q. Mary of Scotland to be the Rightful Heir to the Crown and Rightful Queen and Q. Elizabeth was constrain'd by great necessity to keep them under but Apologies are not proper to be made on the behalf of those who have the Authority towards those who are subjected And as the Protestants in general and the Papists reproach'd each other reciprocally charging upon each other that Persecution for matters of meer Religion was a Principle of each others Religion so did the Episcopal Protestants and the Non-Conformists The Episcopal Party who first Persecuted the Non-conformists under the general Name of Puritans or Presbyterians affirm'd That their first beginners in Scotland from whence they deriv'd themselves did more than any Party upon Earth Persecute others for matters of meer Religion and had gain'd a Power by their Vsurpation Oppression and Persecution being a sort of people who wanted the very Essentials as they said of Religion viz. A Right Ordination without which as they alleadged there could be no True Church no True Ministery or True Sacraments And that therefore they ought by Penal Laws timely made to be prevented from making Disturbances in England The Puritans to justify themselves denying Persecution for matters of meer Religion to be their Principle or to be lawful labour'd to fix it upon the Church of England as their Principle and as taken up by them from the Papists And as to the particulars charg'd upon those of Scotland they said That whatsoever those of the Reformation had done in Scotland was approv'd and abetted by Queen Elizabeth and the Protestants of England without whose Advice nothing in Scotland had been Transacted and without whose Assistance things had not been so Effected They further said as to the point of Ordination That the Church of England ought not in Reason to account Episcopal Ordination to be such an Essential of Religion as they charged for that if no Ordination could be valid but by Bishops that then it would follow that no Ordination could be valid but from True and Rightful Bishops of the True Church of Christ and then the Ordination of the Church of England would be as invalid as the Ordination of those of Scotland for the Church of England could make out no Succession of Bishops but through the Popish Church which both parties as well those of the Church of England as those of Scotland had condemned and agreed to be a False Church and no True Church of Christ but an Harlot and Anti-christian Thus the Episcopal Protestants and the Puritans charged and recriminated each other the Episcopal Party nevertheless making good their ground so long as they had the Civil Power to support them but when upon the Death of K. Charles the I the Non-conformists gain'd the Civil Power into their Hands the Church of England Party like all Parties oppress'd being under Persecution together with the Papists for matters of meer Religion Did absolutely condemn all such Persecutions as Vnlawful And then the Non-conformists who were at that time sub-divided and branch'd out into several other Parties gave occasion to charge them with the Principle of Persecution for meer Religion and put them to use the same Arguments to clear themselves as the Episcopel Party and Papists had respectively before made use of when the Government was in them to prevail with the World to believe that they abhorr'd the Principle of Persecution for meer Religion and that the Persecutions us'd by them were not for any matters of meer Religion nor in Truth Persecutions but purely Acts of Prudence and doing right to themselves by a just care to keep the Episcopal Party and the Papists out of all possibility of Persecuting them any more for the future But none of them could find any reason of that Nature to excuse the Persecutions which they us'd towards the people called Quakers they could not charge them with ever having Persecuted any Party or Person Yet in Fact both the Non-conformists and the Episcopal Party did Persecute them in their turns and therefore to prevent being charged for persecuting a quiet People for matters of meer Religion They pretended sometimes that the Quakers were all Mad-men and that they Imprison'd them only to keep them out of the way and to preserve them in peace And those who had gotten the Government would upon that Title claim the right of judging what persons were Mad as they did always of judging what was Truth and what Errour At other times they pretended to punish the Quakers as Blasphemers and the Persecutors being the only Judges of what was Blasphemy under their Government they might make what they pleas'd Blasphemy When they grew asham'd of this Charge they then pretended that the Quakers were conceal'd Papists and that every one who spoke or utter'd any thing in their Meetings whether Man or Woman was a Jesuit Disguis'd It was clear that the Quakers suffer'd highly and it was as clear there could not with any shew of Truth be any thing charg'd against them but what was matter of meer Religion Now upon the whole Business what shall such a person judge of these matters who esteems himself in danger of being judged by God if he shall make any rash Judgment Shall we take for a sufficient solid Proof the Charge of an Exasperated Enemy against an Enemy who hath provoked him and this in a matter of so great a Concernment as to render not a single Person but a whole Party unworthy to live This were to judge against the Rules of common Justice and Righteousness as well as to Sin against Charity And this way of judging would render each Party the Quakers only excepted to be Guilty and to give a just Title to each Party where it hath the possession of Power and Government to put to Death all of the other Parties For though we in England should refuse

Eternal temperance and moderation most certainly each Party in their then present Circumstances would have answered in the Negative That it was not lawful They would not have fallen into the debate to consider what Religion their Persecutors were of whether of the Popish or Protestant to the end to have fixt the Cruelty and Injustice of Persecuting for a matter of meer Religion upon that Party as a Principle of their Religion which their Fancies should have perswaded them to have been the Religion of their Persecutors The Papists would not have then stood formalizing that because the first Persecution was occasioned upon the denyal of the King's Headship over the Church of England which was a Protestant Doctrine in opposition to the Pope's Headship which was the Popish Doctrine therefore the Protestants were the Aggressors in the Persecution and therefore the Principle of Persecution was a Protestant Principle and the Persecution of the Protestants afterwards was no other than a just Judgment of God drawn upon the Protestants by themselves as a Consequence of that Principle of Persecution which gave them the first occasion of introducing their Religion nationally into England Nor would the Protestants by way of Recrimination have charged the Papists then that because that King and the then Government were of the Popish Religion in every point save only in the Article touching the Supremacy therefore the Principle of Persecution must necessarily be a Popish Principle No they would most certainly each Party have disclaimed the Principle as unwarranted by the Principles of true Christianity which each of them claimed to be theirs and each of them would have agreed that it was their common Principle To do unto others as they desired others should do unto them Here we see the Principle of Christianity in England when divided The Persecutions before mentioned being quieted by the Death of K. Henry the Eighth and the Crown descending unto K. Edward the Sixth an Infant of such tender Years as made him uncapable of Exercising the Government in his own Person not being come to the use of right Reason the Duke of Somerset took upon him the Administration of all things under the Title of Protector and with him the Protestant Party had their sole Interest Several Penal Laws were made in this King's Reign for the Inflicting Pains and Penalties for matters of meer Religion which gave occasion to the Papists to charge upon Protestants the Principle of Persecution for matters of meer Religion as their Principle It is true the Papists were at that time Sufferers and were actually Persecuted by the then Government for matters of meer Religion But true Charity might easily have found other Reasons unto which those Persecutions might warrantably have been Assigned and there was certainly no necessity of Assigning them to any Principle of the Protestants The first Law which was made relating to these matters was 1. Edw. 6. C. 1. touching the Lord's Supper Entituled The Penalties for speaking against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ or against the receiving thereof in both kinds This seems to have no other tendency than barely to keep both Parties from falling together by the Ears and the Protestants were more likely to fall under the Punishment of this Law than the Papists None could say That it was the effect of Intemperate Spirits for though it directed Communion in both kinds to such as defired to Communicate yet it compelled not any person to communicate And it had a Clause of great Temperance in the very close of it in these words Not condemning hereby the usage of any Church out of the King's Majesties Dominions The next Law of this Nature was made in the same Parliament viz. 1. Edw. 6. C. 12. it is Entituled thus viz. Statutes concerning Treasons c. repealed and this cannot be denyed to be sharp against the Papists It makes it highly Penal to affirm That the King is not or ought not to be Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England and Ireland or any of them immediately under God or that the Bishop of Rome or any other Person or Persons other than the King of England for the time being is or ought to be by the Laws of God Supream Head of the same Churches or any of them But there is no necessity or reason of ascribing this neither to any Protestant Principle though it is supposed to be made in affirmance of a Protestant Principle Another penal Law was made 1. and 3. Edw. 6. Entituled The Penalty for not using Vniformity of Service and Administration of Sacraments And in 3. and 4. Edw. 6. C. 10. was made an Act For the abolishing and putting away of divers Books and Images Both which were severe against the Papists in matters of meer Religion yet do I not find any necessity why the Persecutions which these Statutes occasioned should be imputed to any Protestant Principle During the whole Reign of this Infant King it is clear that the Papists in some degree suffered Persecution from the Hands of the Protestants for matters of meer Religion And without doubt had it been then demanded of the Papists Whether such Persecutions and such Laws Enacting such Persecutions were lawful and agreeable with the Principles of true Christianity which they pretended to maintain their Answer would have been in the Negative And they would then with one accord have readily agreed That Persecution for matters of meer Religion was no more consistent with the Rule of Christ requiring us To do unto others as we would that others should do unto us than Murder and Robbery But the Persecutions Inflicted upon the Papists by the Law made in the time of King Edward the Sixth did not last long they ended with his Life and by the descending of the Crown to Queen Mary the Papists were rescued from all their Sufferings All the Laws made against them in the Times of Hen. 8. and Edw. 6. were Repealed But the case was altered with the poor Protestants whose Sufferings were so great and are so sharply and justly reflected on even to this day that I who love not to aggravate any thing especially that carries its own aggravation with it will say no more of them but beg of our good God to fill us with mercy in place of revenge and to forgive them as we would be forgiven Sure I am had any Protestant been asked his Judgment in that Age touching the Principle of Persecuting for matters of meer Religion he would have disclaimed it as absolutely contrary to the Principles of his Religion which is the point that I am labouring to Evince And after all this shall any one take it ill if upon a Principle of Charity I shall profess that I could never as yet see any thing offered which in my poor apprehension did necessarily Evince That Persecution for meer Religion was even an avowed Principle of either side The Bloody Fury of Persecution under which the Protestants

Conviction what Party shall be able to clear it self And who knows not that 't is a Christians part to Suffer but never to Persecute I very well know That the Protestants in general who look upon the Papists as their common Enemies do in their Pulpits in their Writings and in all their Addresses to the People charge them with those Rivers of Blood which streamed in the times of Q. Mary and with the Bloody Intentions which those i●l Men had in their Hearts who were engaged in the wicked powder-Plot That the first was done by Authority and chiefly by the Popish Bishops That the other though the Fact but of private Persons was never condemned by Authority and Silence is an implyed consent and approbation Do we well consider what the Papists offer by way of Extenuation in answer to these Charges they justifie none of these Facts But as to the first they recommend to us to be considered the circumstances that Q. Mary was in when she came to the Crown All the chief Heads of the Protestant Party had set up and Proclaimed the Lady June duly Queen in opposition to Q. Mary their Lawful Soveraign They had raised an Army against her She was compelled to gain her Right by Force She was a Conqueror And if we will believe them she had not given any Articles which might have obliged her to Pardon any who were guilty of this Usurpation and Treason She was told It was a Confedracy of the whole Party of the Protestants which gave her a ground to suspect that the Protestants held it for a principle That it was lawful for them to take up Arms against and Depose their Lawful Soveraign if of a Religion contrary to him She might by the Laws then in being the same which we have to this day in force amongst us have taken away the Lives of all who were any ways Guilty of endeavouring to Depose her She did not make any one new Persecuting Law which is considerable by which any of those were taken off who were put to Death But being put into fears by her Council that without making great Examples of Justice in all parts of the Kingdom she would be in danger of having new Insurrections made by the Protestants against her she was perswaded that the only way to prevent the sheding of more Blood for the Future was to punish considerable numbers of those who had then actually broken the old Laws of her Kingdom Her Bishops and that is the chief and justest ground of the charge had their Fears and Revenge also in particular They were newly restored to their Bishopricks and Religion of which they had been dispossessed in the Time of King Edward the Sixth They were afraid of being again disturbed and these fears and passions made them take wrong measures They perswaded the Queen that she might as well make Examples of Justice and prevent future Insurrections by punishing those for their Religion who had been Guilty of Treason as if she had punished them for Treason And they urged that by this way she should do her self the greater right and give a proof to the World that she was more offended with Treason committed against Heaven for so they esteemed Protestant Religion than with Treason committed against her self which might be interpreted Revenge They had forgotten the Principles of the true Christian Religion which required to leave unto God to Revenge whatsoever Injuries are done to him and to leave it to God to judge what Injuries were done to him They did not now think of doing unto others as they would that others should do unto them They did not remember the wise advice of Gamaliel before mention'd but giving Ear only to their own Fears and preferring Humane Policies before Gospel-Rules they misled the Queen and took away the Lives of vast numbers of such against whom nothing could be charged but what was matter of meer Religion thereby giving a Just occasion to charge upon their own Religion the Principle of Persecution for meer Religion which those who now profess that Religion here do pretend to disown and abominate And as to the business of the Powder-Plot they pray us to observe that it was the Treason not of the Papists of England but of a few particular persons of Desperate Fortunes and worse Consciences and not without suspition of being drawn into the Snare by their Enemies That upon the most severe Scrutiny which could be made into that business it clearly appear'd that the number of the Offenders was not greater than what happens sometimes to be engag'd in a particular Burglary and not so many as make up the fourth part of a Foot Company of Souldiers That the Villany of that design hath been as fully and generally yea and as publickly decry'd condemn'd and reprobated by the whole party of English Papists of that Age and of all succeeding Ages as any thing can be by a Party in Persecution who have not ever had any opportunities or allowances to act in any case otherwise then each person of the party only in his private Capacity might do and they Appeal to the Justice of those who profess to have the greatest Aversion of all others against the Religion of the Papists whether they will admit it as a rule that the Villanies of some private persons who profess themselves to be in Fellowship or Communion with any Church or people calling themselves Christians may in Justice and ought in Reason to be charged as proceeding from the Principles Doctrines or Religion of that Church or people with which private persons profess to be in Communion or Fellowship They cry out God forbid any such Rule should have credit in the World. On the other side I am not ignorant that the Papists who Esteem the Protestants in general as their mortal Enemies by whom they apprehend themselves to have been depriv'd of what is most dear unto them from the time that the Protestant Religion first gain'd a Preheminency in England are as highly Uncharitable towards the Protestants as these are severe in their Censures towards them They have almost look'd upon the Protestants as the Israelites did upon the Egyptians They charg'd upon them the guilt of all Blood that hath been shed of all the Persecutions which have hap'ned for matters of meer Religion since the first Act of Parliament of that nature made by King Henry the VIII unto this hour Insmuating that what was so Cruelly Acted by Q. Mary's Bishops was occasion'd by the Provocations given in the time of King Edward the VI. and warranted as far as ill Acts can be warranted First by the Non-conformists Retaliations towards the Church of England when subdu'd by them upon the Death of King Charles the I. and then by the Retaliation made to the Non-conformists by those of the Church of England since the Restoration of our present Soveraign In short as the Protestants in general to excuse and justifie themselves labour to cast