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A39114
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A letter from a person of quality in the north to a friend in London, concerning Bishop Lake's late declaration of his dying in the belief of the doctrine of passive obedience as the distinguishing character of the Church of England
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Eyre, Elizabeth.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing E3940; ESTC R5465
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6,030
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13
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to Christ but to such I may ask the Apostles Question Who is Paul or who is Apollos but Ministers by whom you have believed But if Paul or an Angel Preach any other Gospel let him be Anathema and the same thing may and I think ought to be said of Churches when they impose any thing but what is the true Catholick Faith. Therefore to say such a Doctrine is particular to such a Church and that which distinguisheth it from the Catholick is indeed to say the worst thing in the World of it and to own that is not any part of the Catholick Faith. And why Bishop Lake or any body should value a Doctrine so much on that score is that I cannot comprehend And in my Opinion it would more have become his Lordship if as the Office for the Sick directs he had made a Confession of the Christian Faith contain'd in the Apostles Creed which unquestionably he believ'd but it would satisfy us Lay-people very much if those Gentlemen who have attested this Recognition of his distinguishing Faith would Print another Paper to assure us that he rehearsed the Articles of our Common Creed that we may not be misled by the Example of a Bishop to depart from the Rules of the Church when we come to die and instead of the Cristian Faith declare we believe just quite contrary to his Distinguishing Faith that in some cases Resistance is lawful But I fear I have already tired you by being so large on my First Inference therefore shall endeavour to be as short on the Second as I can and that I take to be this that from the Bishops declaring he would not have taken the Oath to have saved his Life and that his not taking it was the great Consolation he had at that time they would insinuate that the taking of the Oath is a very wicked unlawful thing For they being the words of a dying Man just going to receive the Sacrament ought to be the more credited and to make the deeper impression for so good a Man as he could not be easily deceived himself and at such time 't is certain did not design to deceive others To which I shall crave leave to Reply First That as to the main Question of the Lawfulness of the Oath it has been so fully and so satisfactorily discussed already that I am very confident you and I know some that have taken it with as good a Conscience as Bishop Lake or any body could refuse it with therefore it would be superfluous to say any thing on that point But only wish that instead of urging any humane Example both sides would remember the Divine Rule of St. Paul Rom. 14. 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth But then Secondly as to the Authority that Bishop Lake's Dying Words ought to have over mine or any Mans judgment I must declare that till Infallibility be I will not say the distinguishing Character but the inseparable Attendant of a good Man I cannot say that they ought to influence any body any farther than they appear true and reasonable For if dying Mens Sentiments were to be the Rule of our Faith we should have a very uncertain Standard For you must know that once I was acquainted with a Papist that I think setting aside his Opinion was a very good Man for he led a good Life and when this Person came to die he did it with as great confidence and comfort too as could be imagined and express'd as great satisfaction in his not being a Protestant as the Bishop could in not taking the Oaths So that we may see 't is only the strong perswasion of the Party and not the truth of the Tenets that produces that sort of Consolation For I am confident the Bishop himself would not have approved of the Argument had I turned Papist on that dying Mans declaration But it seems some think it no great matter what we turn now for I hear some are so exceeding fierce that they will hardly allow those which have taken the new Oathes to be so much as out-lyers of the Church of England but to be sure none must be within the Pail that have not the distinguishing character and truly the number of the enclosed will be so small that King James himself could hardly have hoped to have contracted the Church of England in so small a compass and may in part be said to have got his ends of us for I am sure he has done more mischief by the Divisions he has occasioned among our selves than he could have done by his Persecutions But although some Persons indiscreet Zeal have made them so uncharitable I am as far from supposing it the temper of all the worthy Men of that Party as I am from believing the Doctrine of Passive Obedience in that unlimited sence it was Preached up by some was the universal Opinion of the Church of England in any Age. For that it was not so for Forty Years of Queen Elizabeth's Reign has been made pretty evident by matter of fact and that it is not so at this day I think may be demonstrated by the same way of Argumentation For although I might have supposed it possible that a few particular private Persons might for interest sake have disclaimed their former Opinion and comply'd with any thing yet truly I have so much respect for the Clergy of the Church of England as not to believe that the whole Body of them could be guilty of so mean a thing to say no worse of it For really the Dissenters in comparison are so few that had there not been some Names of note among them they would hardly have been reckoned a number which gives me great hopes that those great and good Men whom we look'd upon as the Pillars of our Church will not forsake the stations they so well became for the sake of a particular private Doctrine which was no way essential either to the being or well-being of the Church but whose only use was to distinguish the Church of England from all the Churches in the World and that is really from the Catholick Church For this Bishop Lake seems to me to own when he calls it the distinguishing Character of the Church of England and so truly it may still continue if they please for I believe there is no other Church so fond of it as to rob us of it if to be carried so high as some would have it But if taken in its limited and true sence Passive Obedience must be acknowledged so necessary a Duty that the World could not well subsist without it And I am very confident that all the difference about it has been occasioned by a little mistake in applying those Rules to Communities which were given to particular private Persons and only designed for such For although in my single private capacity I ought to submit to and suffer the greatest injustice rather than disobey the lawful Magistrate and disturb the Government Yet as I am an English Man I think I am as much obliged by all tyes both Civil and Sacred to defend and maintain that Government and Constitution of which I am a Member as I am to obey the King and that being the Primary Obligation ought to be discharged in the first place but the safety of that being secured Subjects ought to obey without any other reserve And this seems to me so evident that I think it needs no further proof though 't is capable of the clearest if it were necessary as I hope it is not for after all I am very confident that the greatest and best of our Dissenters are of my mind in this point as might very easily be proved if they would please but truly to resolve me one Question and that is Whether they did not both wish and pray that London-derry should be delivered out of the hands of those merciless Butchers and this the excellency of their temper as well as their Christianity obliging to I cannot at all question but they did nay I verily believe they would have gone further and assisted them with their Purses if they had known how to have conveyed them Relief And now pray let us a little consider the Consequences of this for if the Doctrine is true That 't is unlawful to take up Arms for the Defence of our Lives and Liberties then all those great and gallant Men were certainly great Rebels and whosoever did assist or abet them incurr'd the same guilt so that for any thing I see we may all shake hands as to that matter But in case I should be mistaken and they were not so good natur'd as I do still believe they were but did desire that so many thousand innocent persons might fall into the hands of their bloody implacable Enemies If I say they could wish this it would give me a greater prejudice against the Doctrine than ever yet I had Since it not only made them put off those Bowels of Mercies which Christians out to have for one another but even devested them of common Humanity For unless it be the Papists I know no other Sect that is arrived to that height of Barbarity as to wish that so many thousand persons who they never saw nor never did them any wrong should perish only because they were not of their Opinion and if this could be their Temper I 'm sure I would never be their Proselyte for I should dread it as much as Popery it self and so truly I believe those good men do But I forget my self having already I fear exceeded the bounds of a Letter and trespass'd too much on your patience But whatever the Effect may be I hope the Cause is pardonable because it proceeds from that intire Confidence I have both in your Judgment and Friendship that all my Notions must be approved by you before they can be so by Dear Sir Your most intirely affectionate Friend and Servant FINIS
A LETTER FROM A Person of Quality IN THE NORTH To a Friend in LONDON CONCERNING Bishop Lake's Late Declaration Of his Dying in the Belief of the Doctrine OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE AS THE Distinguishing Character of the CHURCH of ENGLAND Licens'd Sept. 19th 1689. J. F. LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchill at the Black-Swan near Amen-Corner 1689. A LETTER FROM A Person of Quality Dear Sir YOU may wonder that at this time of day I should begin to talk to you of Bishop Lake's Death for which I dare say both of us have before this paid our just Tribute of Sorrow and for whose Memory every True Protestant must have a very particular Respect so long as the Courage and Constancy of the Seven Bishops remains upon Record which I verily believe will be till time shall be no more But some as if this Glorious Action had not been enough to have secured his Fame to all Eternity seem rather desirous to transmit him to Posterity by another Distinguishing Character that of the Great Champion for Passive Obedience thinking that to be a greater Honour than to be recorded for one of the great Maintainers and Assertors of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties For there is a Paper sent abroad about our Country attested not only by his own Hand but also by several unquestionable Witnesses wherein the Good Bishop on his Death-Bed declares That he had been brought up in and had also taught others that great Doctrine of Passive Obedience which he always look't upon as the Distinguishing Character of the Church of England and that he would not have taken the Oath though the Penalty had been Loss of Life but found great Satisfaction and Consolation in his Mind because he had not taken it and these he desired might be look'd upon as the Words of a Dying Man and so represented to his Friends But whether those Friends had not done him as good Service if they had kept it to themselves and not represented it to the World I think may be a Question for I must confess 't is a little unaccountable to me what Designs they could have in Publishing it For 't is so far from being necessary on the Bishop's account that 't was really impertinent For he that at that time was under and had submitted to a Suspension meerly upon his refusal of the Oaths had certainly given the World as convincing a Proof of his Opinion as if he had printed a Thousand Volumes about it So that there was no more occasion I think of making but I am sure of Publishing such a Declaration than there is for my Lord Bishop of Cant. to Print Manifestoes to tell the People he is suspended on the same account And since there was so very little Reason to do it on the Bishop's Score the Motives and Designs had need be very good that can justifie their doing it on their own Had either they or the Bishop given us the Reasons of his adhering to that Opinion besides that of his being bred and born in it an Argument that a Turk or Pagan may have for the Truth of their Religion they might have obliged the World exceedingly but the only Motives at least that are to me apparent for telling us what we knew before I think might as well have been spared for there are Two Inferences which may very easily be made from the Paper and which I suspect was the chief aim in publishing The First is to insinuate that from the beginning of the Reformation ever since the Church of England was restored to its Purity Passive Obedience was the Corner-stone of it for 't is call'd The Distinguishing Character of the Church of England so that it seems none was accounted her true Sons that did not hold it Now if this be true here 's the whole Body of the Clergy in Queen Elizabeth's days cut off from the Church of England at one blow for 't is not the Opinion of one or two private Prelates but the whole Convocation who agree not only in giving the Queen so very large Subsidies but also in declaring the accounts on which they did it and that was assisting and protecting the Scotch and French Protestants and for abating all Hostilities against the true Professors of Gods holy Gospel and for the advancing the free profession of the Gospel within and without Her Majesties Dominions and a great deal more to this purpose as may be seen at large in the Preambles to the Three Subsidy Bills given the 5 th of Eliz. l. 24. the 35 th of Eliz. c. 12. and the 43 d of Eliz. c. 17. So that 't is apparent it was their practice for Forty years and I hope their Faith also for I cannot be so uncharitable as to think they would sin against their Conscience and purchase Damnation at so dear a rate as those vast Sums they gave for the assistance of those that I am sure did resist their Kings and who according to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience ought to have been look'd upon and used as Rebels And truly whatever is pretended their Doctrine was agreeable to their practice for altho the Book of Homilies hath been so often cited for the confirmation of this Doctrine yet the Example of David which is so much recommended to us in the 2 d Homily against Rebellion for his Loyalty and our imitation that is we desire to stand or fall by for if the Subject may be allow'd to take up as we are sure David did against Saul Defensive Arms I think they would be very unreasonable to desire any more But this having been enlarged on by better Pens I shall say no more of it but cannot pass by the Epithet of the distinguishing Character of the Church of England without some Animadversions on it And first I would ask you Sir whether you think it necessary for particular Churches to have particular distinguishing Doctrines For I must confess to me but if I am in an Error I hope you will correct it it appears so far from necessary that I think 't is very inconvenient when particular Churches have such distinguishing Doctrines for I believe it has been the occasion of all the Schisms in the World. For since as the Apostle saith Eph. 4. 5. there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism and I may add one Church and one Truth Why should we not at least endeavour to be all of one mind and not affect little distinctions which oftentimes create great Animosities of which our present Age can give too many sad instances But alas the Disease did not begin neither will it I fear end with us for we find St. Paul reproving it in his Corinthians as that which occasioned all their Divisions while one cryed he was of Paul and another of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ So that it seems they did not only give their patticular Teachers the preference above others but also set them in opposition