them if they are constant to their own principles for the keeping out of Popery and it will be an indelible Reproach to them all who have professed a greater detestation of Popery and the Church of England which they have slandered and opposed as if they had too far complied with the Papists if they should at last confederate with them to take off those Laws which they unanimously consented to as a means to keep out Popery especially it being evident to all considering persons that when these Laws are abrogated those Laws by which Popery was formerly established will be in force and so they who consent to the taking away the one do consent to the establishing of the other and set up Popery by a Law. See the first and second of Queen Mary But to return to the Vindication of the Church of England from the Imputation of Persecution let the Reader consider that the Established Church hath neither any Power nor any Principle that may incline her to it 1. It hath never had any Power the Church being always in its Minority and the King being her Guardian she cannot enact any thing for her self her Courts are the King's Courts her Convocations are called by the King's Writs they cannot consult of any other Matters but what are proposed by the King nor make any Canons but what are proposed by the King nor make any Canons but what are ratified by his Authority nor execute them but by his Warrant and that under these Proviso's that they be not against the King's Prerogative nor against the Common or Statute Laws And there lieth an Appeal to the Court of Chancery and the Common Law which may grant Prohibitions against their Proceedings and hinder the Execution of their Sentences so that neither any Corporal Punishment can be inflicted nor any Fine leavied but by the Civil Magistrate by whom all Penal Laws are executed so that if there be any cause of Complaint it is to be charged on those Members of Parliament which themselves chose to Vote for them Nor ought they to complain of what was acted by their own Choice And whosoever will duly consider the Rise of those Laws by which the Complainers have suffered the greatest Penalties will find that they were enacted or procured by the Complainers themselves for those Laws by vertue whereof the greatest Execution hath been done since the Reformation were contrived by the Papists I mean the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which though some are pleased to call Protestant Oaths yet were they in being before the Reformation That of Supremacy was enacted in a full Parliament under King Henry the Eighth and was only a Vindication of the ancient Rights of the Crown from foreign Usurpations it was defended by divers Learned Men of the Romish Perswasion particularly by Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester And some great Men lost their Lives for defaming or refusing to take that Oath viz. The Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moore and if others have suffered on the same account since the Church of England cannot justly be accused of what was so solemnly recognized by the Papists Nec lex est justior ulla And as to the Oath of Allegiance though it were brought into a form by King James as a Test to discover such persons as had often conspired to take away his Life yet as to the matter of it it was to be administred in all Courts-Leet to the Subjects of the Crown and was so framed as to turn the Edge of it against the Papists 2. The Church of England hath no principles that may incline any of her Communion to Persecuting Practices for she makes the holy Scriptures the Rule of her Faith and Practice and Light is not more contrary to Darkness than the Spirit of the Gospel is to that of Persecution When James and John moved our Saviour to call for fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans Luke 9.54 Our Saviour rebuked them saying Ye know not what spirit ye are of for the son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Of what spirit then are they of who will call for Fire from Hell if they cannot obtain it from Heaven it concerns others to consider As many as walk by the Rule of the Gospel are for Peace and Acts of Mercy And it 's well known that the Church of England strictly injoyns that nothing be preached by her Ministers but what is plainly declared in the Scriptures or may be clearly ded uced from it The Church teacheth all of her Communion to pray for all Men even their Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and frequently useth our Lord's Prayer which obligeth them to forgive Men their Trespasses as they hope to be forgiven of their heavenly Father And St. Paul assures us That all our gifts and graces without charity are nothing worth that charity which suffereth long and is kind which is not puffed up is not easily provoked thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. by which Rule all Christians ought to walk Here the Counsel of Optatus is seasonable Si vestros videri Martyres vultis probate amasse pacem in qua prima sunt Martyris fundamenta aut dilexisse deo placidam unitatem aut habuisse cum fratribus charitatem sine qua maxima imperiosa virtus caret effectu p. 72. If our Church did lay claim to an infallible Spirit and enforce her new Decrees on the Consciences of Men under the pain of an Anathema on all that should not receive them with the like submission as they do to the Oracles of God Did she exact a blind Obedience and an implicite Faith to her Ordinances with a Non-obstante to the Institutions of Christ or if she did pronounce all Hereticks that refuse to hold Communion with her and teach that no Faith is to be kept with such Hereticks Did she account Men Hereticks for keeping and reading their Bibles and Books of Piety and Devotion or set up an Inquisition to Imprison Torment and put to Death Men and Women for their dissent from it in such Opinions Did it punish Men because they believe their Senses and will not fall down and Worship a piece of Bread and give Divine Honour to the Works of Mens hands and Worship the Creature more or besides the Creator Rom. 1.25 Did it approve or allow the deposing Doctrine and approve of Rebellion and Resistance and Massacring thousands of innocent persons for its Advantage and Grandure which some of the Complainers of both Perties have contended for and practised Or did it teach that Dominion is founded in Grace that wicked Men have no Right to what they enjoy but it belongs to the Saints to possess the Earth and to bind Kings in Chains c Did it erect Imperium in imperio an Ernpire independent and paramount to that of the Prince in whose Dominions they live as too many of the Cornplainers do affirm Then might the charge of Persecution be justly pleaded
to say when it is too late but a non Putarum that the instances of the obduration of Pharoah and the Pharisees make you not afraid lest the Wrath of God come upon you to the utmost while you please not God and are contrary to all Men forbidding Christ's Labourers to preach to the Ignorant and Impenitent that they may be saved 1 Thess 2.15 O that God would make them sensible how many thousand persons Damnation is like to be charged upon them for what they have already done these seventeen Years hindring so many Faithful Ministers I must profess if it were the last word I should speak in the World that I had rather be the basest Scavenger yea and suffer many Deaths than be found at the Judgment-Seat of Christ in the Place and Guilt of those of you the best and most moderate Bishops c. who have done what is done against the Gospel and Church of Christ in this Land. In p. 236. the Author opposeth this Question in behalf of the Bishops Why do I write all this to you Bishops and not to his Majesty and the Parliament I answer It is not them nor any of their Laws and Actions which in all this Book I intend to speak against Yet the whole design of the Book was to Justifie the Preaching of Non conformists contrary to Law. And p. 104. he says No Bishops have Silenced us by Spiritual Government that we know of but only as Barons by the Secular Laws to which they gave their Votes and he acknowledgeth all did not These Contradictions cannot be reconciled And it was no less then a Spirit of Contradictions that wrought in the hearts of such Men as thus opposed themselves to the Establishment made by the Parliament notwithstanding the many Alterations then made in the Liturgy and Rubricks and the Reasons given for them in the Preface before the Common-Prayer and the Discourse concerning Ceremonies which there follows And because the farther Concessions opposed by that Learned Dr. Stillingfleet may give some satisfaction to the Reader how willing the Church was to propose Terms of Reconciliation I have here set them down that it may appear also how unreasonably they were despised by the Men of that Generation And that this Doctor may not stand alone or be thought to propose his own Sentiments only I shall joyn with him the Reverend Dean of Canterbury in a Sermon preach'd at the York-shire Feast Anno 1679 p. 28. Though it was not for private Persons says he to undertake in matters of publick Concernment yet I have no cause to doubt but the Governours of our Church notwithstanding all the Advantages and Authority too which are on their side were persons of that Piety and Prudence that for Peace sake and in order to a firm Union among Protestants they would be content if that would do it not to insist upon little things but to yield them up whether to the Infirmity or Importunity or perhaps in some very few things to the plausible Exceptions of those who differed from them Dr. Sherlock makes up a Triumvirate after whom I shall not need though I could mention many Auxiliaries in a Sermon preached before the Lord-Mayor Novemb. 1688. We have reason to hope that the Church of England which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent care not to offend the Papists in going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend to a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenters for while the External Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Divisions and Breaches of the Church And let us all heartily pray to God that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Reunion And all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not meerly the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruine is aimed at but the whole Protestant Faith. And to evidence that this was the Sence of the Governours of our Church the Archbishop of Canterbury with his Six Brethren did declare in their Petition to the late King That they did not refuse to distribute and publish his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience for any want of due Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a Temper as should be thought fit when that matter should be considered and setled in Parliament and Convocation And in the Articles commended to the Bishops of his Province and their Clergy he Exhorts That they walk in Wisdom towards them that are not of our Communion and if there be in their Parishes any such that they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the Spirit of Meekness seeking by all good ways and means to gain them to our Communion more especially that they have a very tender regard to our Brethren the Protestant Dissenters that upon occasion offered they visit them at their Houses and receive them kindly at their own and treat them fairly where-ever they meet them perswading them if it may be to a full Compliance with our Church or at least that whereunto we have already attained we may all walk by the same Rule and mind the same Thing and in order hereunto that they take all opportunities of assuring and convincing them that the Bishops of this Church are really and sincerely irreconcileable to the Errours Superstitions Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome and that they warmly and most affectionately exhort them to joyn with us in daily fervent Prayer to the God of Peace for an universal blessed Union of all the Reformed Churches at home and abroad against our common Enemies and that all they who confess the Holy Name of our Dear Lord and agree in the Truth of his Holy Word may also meet in one Holy Communion and live in perfect Unity and Godly Love. And it is well known that many Ministers in the City and Country were accounted Trimmers and threatned to be Prosecuted themselves because they refused to Present and Prosecute their Dissenting Neighbours So that both the Bishops and others of the Established Clergy have been alway ready to Sacrifice their private Peace and Interest to the publick Walfare The Reverend Dean of St. Paul's Proposals or Terms of Union betwixt the Church of England and the Dissenters Taken out his Preface to the Unreasonableness of Separation p. 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94. are as followeth Quest Is there nothing to be done for Dissenting Protestants who agree with us in all Doctrinal Articles of our Church and only scruple the use of a few Ceremonies and some late Impositions Shall these Differences still be continued when they may be so easily removed and so many useful
Men to run among them and no Persons so indulged be capable of any Publick Office. It not being reasonable that such should be trusted with Government who look upon the Worship Established by Law as Unlawful 6. That no other Penalty be laid on such indulged Persons but that of Twelve Pence a Sunday for their absence from their Parochial Churches which ought to be duly Collected for the Use of the Poor and cannot be complained of as any heavy Burthen considering the Liberty they do enjoy by it 7. That the Bishops as Visitors appointed by Law have an exact Account given to them of the Rule of their Worship and Discipline and of all the Persons belonging to the indulged Congregations with their Qualities and Places of Abode and that none be admitted a Member of any such Congregation without acquainting their Visitor with it that so means may be used to prevent their leaving our Communion by giving satisfaction to their scruples This Power of the Bishops cannot be scrupled by them since herein they are considered as Commissioners appointed by Law. 8. That no indulged Persons presume under severe Penalties to breed up Scholars or to teach Gentlemens Sons University-Learning because this may be justly looked on as a design to propagate Schism to Posterity and to lay a Foundation for the disturbance of future Generations II. As to the Case of the Ejected Ministers I have these things to offer 1. That bare Subscription of the Thirty Six Articles concerning Doctrinal Points be not allowed as sufficient to qualifie any Man for a Living or any Church-preferment for these Reasons First Any Lay-man upon these Terms may not only be capable of a Living but may take upon him to Administer the Sacraments which was never allowed in any well-constituted Church in the Christian World. And such an allowance among us instead of setling and uniting us will immediately bring things into great Confusion and give mighty Advantage to the Papists againstour Church And we have reason to fear a Design of this Nature under a pretence of Union of Protestants tends to the Subversion of this Church and throwing all things into Confusion which at last will end in Popery Secondly This will bring a Faction into the Church which will more endanger it than External Opposition For such Men will come in Triumphantly having beaten down Three of the Thirty Nine Articles and being in Legal Possession of their Places will be ready to defie and contemn those who submitted to the rest and to glory in their Conquests and draw followers after them as the Victorious Confessors against Prelacy and Ceremonies And can they imagine those of the Church of England will see the Reputation of the Church or their own to suffer so much and not appear in their own Vindication Things are not come to that pass nor will they suddenly be that the Friends of the Church of England will be either afraid or ashamed to own her Cause We do heartily and sincerely desire Union with our Brethren if it may be had on just and reasonable Terms but they must not think that we will give up the Cause of the Church for it so as to condemn its Constitution or make the Ceremonies unlawful which have been hitherto observed and practised in it If any Expedient can be found out for the ease of other Mens Consciences without reflecting on our own if they can be taken in without reproach or dishonour to the Reformation of the Church I hope no true Son of the Church of England will oppose it But if the Design be to bring them in as a Faction to bridle and controul the Episcopal Power by setting up Forty Bishops in a Diocess against One if it be for them to trample upon the Church of England and not submit to its Order and Government upon fair and moderate Terms let them not call this a Design of Union but the giving Law to a Party to oppose the Church of England And what the success of this will be let wise Men judge Thirdly If a Subscription to Thirty Six Articles were sufficient by the Statute 13 Eliz. c. 12. I do not understand how by vertue of that Statute a Man is bound publickly to read the Thirty Nine Articles in the Church and the Testimonial of his Subscription on pain of being deprived ipso facto Co. Inst 4. Part 323 324. if he do not For the L. Ch. J. Coke saith That Subscription to the 39 Articles are required by force of the Act of Parliament 13 Eliz. c. 12. And he adds That the Delinquent is disabled and deprived ipso facto and that a conditional Subscription to them was not sufficient was resolv'd by all the Judges in England But how a Man should be deprived ipso facto for not Subscribing and Reading the 39 Articles as appears by the Cases mentioned in Coke and yet be required only to subscribe to 36 by the same Statute is a thing too hard for me to conceive 2. But notwithstanding this if any temper can be found out as to the manner of Subscription that may give ease to the Scruples of our Brethren and secure the Peace of the Church the desired Union may be attained without that apparent Danger of increasing the Factions among us And this I suppose may be done by an absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith and the Use of the Sacraments and a solemn Promise under their hand or Subscription of peaceable Submission as to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing upon the same Penalty as if they had not subscribed to the 36. Which may be a more probable means to keep the Church in quiet than forcing a more rigorous Subscription upon them or leaving them at their full liberty 3. As to the other Subscription required 1 Jac. to the 3 Articles The first is provided for by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy The third is the same with the Subscription to the 39 Articles And as to the Second about the Book of Common Prayer c. It ought to be considered 1. Whether for the satisfaction of the Scrupulous some more doubtful and obscure passages may not yet be explained or amended Whether the New Translation of the Psalms were not fitter to be used at least in Parochial Churches Whether Portions of Canonical Scripture were not better put instead of Apocrypha Lessons Whether the Rubrick about Salvation of Infants might not be restored to its former place in the Office of Confirmation and so the present Exceptions against it be removed Whether those Expressions which suppose the strict Exercise of Discipline in Burying the Dead were not better left at liberty in our present Case Such a Review made by Wise and Peaceable Men not given to Wrath and Disputing may be so far from being a dishonour to this Church that it may add to the Glory of
call them to it and in the mean time return good for evil Upon Munday being Feb. 2. 1684 Charles II. was seized by a violent Fit supposed to be an Appoplexy whereof he died on the Thursday following and that Afternoon K. James II. was proclaimed who sitting in his Privy Council then assembled declared That since it pleased Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother he thought fit to declare That he would endeavour to follow his Example and more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People That he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power though that had not been the only story which had been made of him That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewn themselves Good and Loyal Subjects and therefore he should always take care to defend and support them And that he likewise knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish and therefore as he should never depart from the just Rights and Priviledges of the Crown so he would never invade any Man's Property Which Declaration was then ordered in Council to be Published and the same was repeated at the Coronation and then confirmed by his Oath for which Addresses of Thanks were sent the King from all parts of the Nation assuring him of their Loyalty and Resolutions to maintain his Rights and defend his Person with their Lives and Fortunes These Declarations were repeated to the Parliament which met May 22. 1685. That they might be assured that he spake them not by chance and that they might more firmly rely on a Promise so solemnly made But how this Promise was performed may appear by the following Events During the sitting of this Parliament News was brought of the Landing of Argyle in Scotland and shortly after of the Landing of the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England whereupon the Parliament readily declared to stand by the King with their Lives and Fortunes for the suppressing of those Rebellions desiring him to take more than ordinary care of his Person And though the Rebellions were suppressed chiefly by the voluntary Assistance of such as were of the Communion of the Church of England among whom the R. R. the Bishop of Winchester was a great Instrument and the Scholars of Oxford cheerfully ingaged themselves And the Militia raised in the West caused Monmouth to turn East-ward in the Mouth of the King's Army Yet in October following the King took occasion to complain how useless the Militia was on such occasions and to tell them That nothing but a good Force of well disciplined Troops in constant pay was sufficient to defend them from such as might disturb them at home or from abroad And here was a Foundation laid for a Standing Army such as the King intended in a due time by a French General and Irish Souldiers to over-awe the Nation and make the Instruments of accomplishing his Designs and there needed but a few more soft steps till the Church be surprized and awakened out of that Security wherein her own Innocence and the King 's frequent and solemn Promises had brought her but first the State of Ireland must be altered the Earl of Clarendon is called home to make way for Tyrconnel Scotland is secured by an Army which was raised for the suppressing of Argyle the Duke of Albemarle that was too popular is sent to Jamaica and whatever or whosoever might be thought able to withstand any violence that should be offered to the Church and the Religion that was Established is removed and the Power put into such hands as the King could confide in for the destruction of the same And because the Protestant Dissenters were a considerable Party and their Eyes began to be so far opened as to perceive that they should perish in the Ruine of the Church which made them more inclinable to a Union with it for prevention of their common destruction the old Stratagem of a Toleration and Liberty of Conscience which Coleman declared to be an effectual means to destroy the Established Church is now made use of This bold and fatal stroke was made immediately at the Root of the Religion and Laws established in Scotland but seconded by the same Arm against the Establishment in England as will evidently appear upon these considerations The Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience in Scotland dated Feb. 12. 1687. In which consider first the Foundation of it in these words We have thought fit to grant and by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all our Subjects are to obey without reserve do hereby grant our Royal Toleration c. Which words do assert a Power in the King to command what he pleaseth and an Obligation in the Subject to obey whatever he commands 2. This Absolute Power is not grounded on any Law lest it should seem to be derived from the People but on a Soveraign Authority inherent in the King's Person Jure Divino which may be exercised on that ground as well in England as Scotland as the event shews it was 3. This Absolute Power is to be obeyed by all the Subjects without reserve i. e. not only by a passive submission to the Power but by an active compliance with it so that when the King shall declare it to be his Will and Pleasure That all his Subjects renounce the Protestant Religion and turn Roman Catholicks to which his Religion binds him and as he hopes for Salvation and under the Penalty of being deposed by the Pope they are bound to be of the King's Religion 4. That the Subjects that will partake of the benefit of this Toleration must swear To the utmost of their power to assist defend and maintain the King and his Successors in the exercise of this Absolute Power against all deadly i. e. all Mortals So that the Subjects were to make a very dear purchase of this intolerable Toleration for which they were to pawn their Souls and submit all they had to an Absolute Power without reserve Let us consider therefore the intrinsick value of this Toleration which says We do give and grant our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named Where the word Royal looks like a stamp on base Metal mixt of Popery and Quakerism expressed in the Proclamation and is so general that as never any Christian Prince granted the like so the King as a Roman Catholick could not grant to any of those mentioned viz. either of the Church of Scotland then established under Episcopacy or to the Presbyterians or Quakers whom the Church of Rome accounts Hereticks But then it is to be considered that this Toleration of the Protestant Subjects is granted under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations
and not a wilful neglect The Chancellor replies That his Lordship ought to have known the Law and however that the King ought to be obeyed To which the Bishop replied That if a Prince required a Judge to execute a Command not agreeable to Law it was his Duty Rescribere reclamare principi which he did by the Lord President and that he had done in effect what the King commanded advising the Doctor to forbear Preaching in his Diocess After this with some difficulty his Councel were admitted to plead who justified the Bishop's Answer and then the Bishop offered That if through mistake he had erred in any Circumstance he was ready to beg his Majesty's Pardon and to make any reparation he was able But in short at his next appearing he had his Sentence read viz. That Henry Lord Bishop of London being conven'd before the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs for his Disobedience and other Contempts and being fully heard was by them declared deemed and pronounced Suspended from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office. In this one Noble Bishop the whole Hierarchy of England were struck at and his Sentence but a Prologue to the Tragedy intended the next Scene of which was this On the Ninth of February Dr. Peachel Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge receiv'd a Mandate under the King's Signet Manual to admit one Father Francis a Benedictine Monk Master of Arts without taking the usual Oaths which the Vice-Chancellor by the unanimous Consent of the University refused perceiving their Priviledges and Properties to be in danger and upon their offering the Oaths to Father Francis and his refusing to take them they denied him that Degree whereupon the Vice-Chancellor was summoned by a Messenger to appear before the Commissioners in person and the Senate by their Deputies Upon their appearance the Vice-Chancellor was asked Why he had not obeyed the King's Command in admitting Father Francis To which they gave their Answer in Writing Shewing That by several Acts of Parliament viz. 1º 5º Eliz. by which it was ordained No Man should be promoted to any Degree without taking an Oath to acknowledge the King's Supremacy c. And 3º 9º Jacobi primi it was enacted That the Oath of Allegiance should be taken and administred by the Vice-Chancellor and all the Principals of Houses and by every Person that should be promoted to any Degree for the preservation of the Doctrine of the Church of England and the King's Prerogative which Oaths the said Francis refused And they pleaded also That the admission to a Degree was not of Ecclesiastical but Temporal Cognizance And that by a Statute 16 Charles II. No Court should be erected having like Power Jurisdiction and Authority as the High Commission Court had but should be utterly void After some Debate the Chancellor pronounced the Vice-Chancellor deprived of his Office and suspended ab Officio Beneficio of his Headship of Magdalen Colledge and forbid him to meddle with any publick business in the University This is another instance of the King 's good will to the Church of England and his unalterable observing his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience And now the other Sister the University of Oxford must partake of the same favour where Dr. Walker a professed Papist is made Head of University Colledge and one Massey a Popish Proselite Dean of Christ-Church and Dr. Clerk President of Magdalen Colledge being dead one Mr. Farmer procured the King's Mandate to succeed him against whom they petitioned his Majesty as being a scandalous person and not qualified as their Statutes required and they proceeded in a regular way to Elect Dr. Hough their President who being presented to their Visitor was sworn and admitted but being told of the King's displeasure they complained of their Unhappiness to the Duke of Ormond their Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor that they were reduced to a necessity either of disobeying the King or wronging their Consciences And that after his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience but Gallio cared for none of these things the Commissioners cite the Fellows or their Delegates to appear before them Their Delegates were Dr. Aldworth Dr. Fairfax Dr. Smith Mr. Hammond Mr. Dobson and Mr. Fairer who gave in their Plea to this effect That they were bound by their Oaths not to admit any to that Office but such as were Fellows of that or New-Colledge which Mr. Farmer was not That they were not to admit any but such did first swear to observe the Statutes of the Colledge That they were sworn not to admit any Dispensations by any Authority whatsoever and that they had Elected Dr. Hough who was qualified as the Statutes required Mr. Farmer on proofs of his Incapacity was laid aside and another Mandate sent for admission of the Bishop of Oxford And shortly after the King coming to Oxford ordered the Fellows to attend him at Christ-Church and then told them He had known them to be a stubborn and turbulent Colledge for Twenty Six Years taxed them with their Church of England Loyalty and bid them go home and know that he was their King and would be obeyed and such as refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford should feel the weight of his Displeasure But without dread of these Menaces and the intended Persecution they persisted to refuse the Bishop of Oxon against whom they had the like Objections as against Mr. Farmer the Bishop having Judas-like betrayed his Master that had preferred him to that Honour which he resolv'd to rise to viz. a Coach and Six Horses which was the Religion he resolv'd to adhere to but for these causes they were all expelled and made uncapable of any Preferment and all to make way for a Seminary of Papists For these breaches being made in the Walls and Towers of our Sion and there being an Army of Locusts in the Land which waited an opportunity to storm kill and take possession there being at the same time a Nuntio from Rome who was publickly feasted at the Guild-Hall London and an Ambassador at Rome a numerous Spawn of Jesuits and Fryars who were seen in their several Habits Schools Publick Houses appointed for them and Four Bishops appointed to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ireland being secured in the hands of Papists Scotland over-awed by an Army and the Fleet and Tower of London in confiding hands the Popish Lords being the Cabinet Council and Peters the Jesuit chief Minister of State. What could be expected but a total overthrow of the Church and that the King's Age and Infirmities being considered that they should with all violence push on for our Destruction But God infatuated the Counsels of all these Achitophels and what they designed for our Ruine was by his gracious and wise Providence turned to our preservation For whereas the King to secure the Popish Interest and to establish his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience to which the Prince and Princess of Orange could by
no means be drawn to give their consent the King was prevailed with to own a Suppositious Child as Heir to his Dominions that he might give a new life to the Popish and Fanatick Interests But this and his sense of the Protestant Cause which was then in a decaying condition stirred up the Spirit of our present King to vindicate the Cause of the English Church and his own and his Consort 's Title to the Crown and the Severity used to the Bishops and the Universities and the Affront done to the English Souldiers by bringing some thousands of Irish Cut-Throats and preferring them above the English did stem the Tide and immediately upon the Arrival of the Prince's Army there followed a great Revolt of the Nobility Souldiery and Gentry of the Land who marching towards London became formidable to the King who coming as far as Salisbury intending to fight the Prince found himself so deserted that he returned in great haste to London and considering into what streights his precipitant Counsels had brought him he sends for such Bishops as were in or near London to have their Advice in that critical Juncture which with all possible humility and integrity they did to this effect 1. That it was necessary for him to restore all things to the state wherein he found them when he came to the Crown by committing all Offices and Places of Government to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws and by redressing and removing such Grievances as were generally complained of particularly that his Majesty would dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and promise to his People never to Erect any such Court for the future 2. That he would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations but would call in and cancel all those which since his coming to the Crown had been obtained from him 3. That he would restore the Universities to their Legal State Statutes and Customs and particularly restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge and the ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford to their Properties 4. And that he would not permit any Persons to enjoy any Preferments in either University but such as were qualified by the Statutes and Laws of the Land. 5. That he would suppress the Jesuits Schools opened in London or else-where and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as were against the Laws of the Land and his Majesties true interest 6. That he would send Inhibitions after the Four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars did presume to exercise within this Kingdom such Jurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land invested in the Bishops of the Church of England 7. That he would not suffer any more Quo Warranto's to be sued out against any Corporations but restore to such as had been disturbed their ancient Charters Priviledges and Immunities and condemn all those illegal Regulations that had been made 8. That he would fill up all the vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland with Persons duly qualified and especially consider the See of York whose want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to the whole Province 9. That he would act no more nor insist on the Dispensing Power but leave it to be debated and setled by Act of Parliament 10. That on the Restoration of Corporations he would issue Writs for a Free Parliament for redressing of Grievances in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations and to establish due Liberty of Conscience Lastly and above all That his Majesty would permit some of his Bishops to lay such Motives and Arguments before him as might by the Blessing of God bring back his Majesty to the Communion of the Church of England into whose Catholick Faith he had been Baptized in which he had been Educated and to which it was their earnest Prayer to Almighty God that his Majesty might be re-united Had these sober and pious Counsels been accepted then when the Bishop's Petition was rejected as a false malitious and seditious Libel the King might have been still setled on the Throne but he had past the Rubicon and was resolved to fight out his way for the establishing the Popish Religion against all opposition and being deserted by his English Forces hath resolutely cast himself on the French and Irish and what hath been done against the established Church there cannot amount to less than a Persecution And such a one must we have expected had not God's Almighty Arm bafled their Antichristian Designs Now if the Popish Party have been so hasty and violent in persecuting the Church as soon as they got Power into their hands notwithstanding all that kindness and moderation manifested to them to the great regret of the other Dissenters who thought themselves less gently dealt with I know not what more gentle usage the Church could expect from them who have so long and loudly cried out of Persecution and for Forty or Fifty Years together covenanted to root out Episcopacy and Liturgy and perpetuated that Obligation to the present Generation so that the bitter Spirit of the Smectymneunans seem to survive still in the present Dissenters who still maintain the Old Cause and if ever the Power should return to their hands as in the time of the Long Parliament would fly as high and fall on the same Game for a Lyon is no less a Lyon while he is restrained within a Den and loaden with Chains but grows usually more raging when let loose and Maledicus à malefico non distat nisi occasione Those ravenons Beasts that do rent a Man in Effigie do manifest what they would do in Corpore as the Donatists who first slew the Orthodox Gladio Oris did as they had opportunity destroy them Ore Gladii I think it will be a difficult Province for a very good Orator to perswade the Church of England that such Dissenters as have all along struck at the Root will be contented if a few Branches were cut off When the Winds and Storms rage the Husband-men will part with the Branches to preserve the Root I may part with a Coat or a Cloak to an importunate Brother but if he to enrich himself by making me poor continues craving till he strips me to the skin and leaves me naked I am not so much charitable to him as cruel to myself Had the Dissenters in 62 asked less they might have had more granted but when they crave all they deserve nothing if the same Leaven do begin to swell and ferment the Spirits of Men now as then we are commanded to be aware of them We had no sooner past a Fiery Tryal in the Twenty Years Persecution by the Dissenters but were under another Twenty Years Tryal under the Papists though it did not appear so visible and successful till of late And if the Papists should be asked who were the Persecutors in the first Twenty Years they must answer the Dissenters if we should ask the Dissenters whether the Papists or the Church of England were the persecuted Party in the last Twenty Years it must be answered the Papists were for though their frequent Attempts to destroy the Church proved abortive as there may be many traiterous Conspiracies against the Life of a Prince though he survive them all and bring the Conspirators to condign punishment as in the Powder-Plot Cain might have been called a Persecutor of Abel though he had not slain him and Ishmael's cruel mocking of his Brother is called a persecuting of him And if the same bitterness of Spirit do reign in the English as hath shewn itself in the Scottish Presbytery the Episcopal Party may well be jealous of them and few I suppose will be of the Opinion of W. J. That the Removal of our Ceremonies will be an equivalent compensation for the shedding of as much Blood and exhausting as much Treasure as was shed and exhausted in the late inhumane Civil War Where the Royal Martyr the Archbishop many Nobles innumerable Gentry and Commons were sacrificed for a Reformation of Ceremonies but I hope such fury will not possess the hearts of any Dissenters in this Age. To Conclude The Church is still through the wonderful Providence of God in the legal possession of her Rights she is neither Popishly affected nor of a persecuting Spirit or Power she hath learnt by her own Suffering for Conscience-sake how to pity such as are truly conscientious but if any man be contentious and will deny her that liberty which they challenge to themselves I shall only say with the Apostle 〈◊〉 hath been to those French Protestants 〈◊〉 have found 〈◊〉 a Sanctuary and do readily joyn in her Worship and Service and I suppose their Judgments are as solid and their 〈◊〉 as tender as any of our Dissenters who yet look on our Church as a â—eth-haven and a House of Bondage FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS 1. A Resolution of Certain Queries concerning Submission to the Present Government The Queries 1. Concerning the Orginal of Government 2. What is the Constitution of the Government of England 3. What Obligation lies on the King by the Coronation-Oath 4. What Obligation lies on the Subject by the Oaths of Supremacy c. 5. Whether if the King Violate his Oath and actually Destroys the Ends of it the Subjects are freed from their Obligation to him 6. Whether the King hath Renounced or Deserted the Government 7. Whether on such Desertion the People to preserve themselves from Confusion may admit another what Method is to be used in such Admission 8. Whether the Settlement now made is a Lawful Establishment and such as with a good Conscience may be Submitted to 2. A full Answer to all the Popular Objections that have yet appear'd for not taking the Oath of Allegiance to their present Majesties particularly offered to the Consideration of all such of the Divines of the Church of England and others as are yet unsatisfied Shewing both from Scripture and the Laws of the Land the Reasonableness thereof and the Ruining Consequences both to the Nation and Themselves if not complied with 3. The Historian Unmask'd Or Some Reflections on the late History of Passive Obedience Wherein the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance is truly Stated and Asserted By a Divine of the Church of England All Three Printed by Freeman Collins and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Bailey 1689.