Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A30368
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An enquiry into the reasons for abrogating the test imposed on all members of Parliament offered by Sa. Oxon.
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Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing B5813; ESTC R4008
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13,002
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8
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Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-Establishment of that Religion This is but one Hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave a rise to the other Discoveries and a fair Opportunity to those who knew the Secret of the Late King's Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The Third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for iâ— was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here He stretches out His Wings to a Top fligâ—t and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from His Throne the disowning neglecting and aâ—fronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this Sacred Prerogative of his Holy Catholick Church and then that He might have occasion to feed his Spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous Objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that He might shew His respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis that to their Shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no Shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two Points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation defined them both for above an Age before In the 28 th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transubstantiatien or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same Body of Articles since in the Article 35 the Homiliys are declared to contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People And the Second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe Expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign 'em must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the Name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it Her Self A man must be of Bays's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points had been already determined and were a part of our Doctrine enacted by Law all that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he â—an make out of this or how he can justifie the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order as if they had as much as in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betraied the Rights of the Church of England as by Law established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8.9 All this shews to whom he was pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour if he has any left When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good Men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were not worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in Figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus suceeded to Marcus Aurelius I do not find a more incongrous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falsehood of the matters contained in the Declaration it self pag. 9. for our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a paragraph as was formerly marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Genty that Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the School-men and Metaphysitians and that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the Rules of Honour and the Laws of their Countrey the practice of Martial Discipline and the Examples of Great Men in former Ages and by them to square their Actions in their reâ—â—â—â—tive Stationâ— and the life But â—ine the Bishop is here without his Fiocco yet at least for Decencys sake he should have named Religion and Virtue among the pâ—oper Studies of the Gentry and if he dares not trust them with the reading the Scriptures yet at least they might read the Articles of our Church and hearken to the Homilies for tho it has been long one of the first Maxims that he has infused into all the Clergy that come near him that the People ought to be brought into an 〈…〉 ance in matters of Religion that Preaâ—â—ing ought to be laid aside for a Preaching Church could not stand that in Sermons no points of Doctrine ought to be explained and that only the Rules of Human Life ought to be told the People yet after all they may read the short Articles and tho they were as blindly Implicit as he would wish them to be yet they would without more Enquiry find
since as to Cranmers opinion of the Sacrament his own Books and his Dispute at Oxford are such plain evidences that none but Bays could have questioned it and for his being an Erastian Dr. Burnet had clearly proved that he had changed his Opinion in that point so that tho he shewed that he had been indeed once engaged in those Opinions yet he proved that he had forsaken them Let the Reader judge to whom the charge of Forgery belongs 2. Dr. Burnet has indeed some temptations to Vanity now since he is ill used bâ— Bays and put in such Company But I dare say if he goes to give him his Character he will never mention so slight a one as Vanity in which how excessive so ever he may be yet it is the smallest of all his Faults 3. These two particulars here mentioned bear so inconsiderable a share in that History and have been so little minded that I dare say of an hundred that are pleased with that Work there is not one that will assign these as their Motives He censures Dr. Burnet for saying he had often heard it said that the Articles of our Church were framed by Cranmer and Ridley as if it were the meanest Trade of an Historian to stoop to hear says p. 55. But the best of all the Roman Historians Salust in â—ello Catil does it and in this Dr. Burnet maintains the Character of a sincere Historian to say notâ—ing that was not well grounded and since it has been often said by many Wrâ—ters that these two Bishops prepared our Articles he finding no particular Evidence of that delivers it with its own doubtfulness It is very like Sa. Oxon would have been more positive upon half the Grounds that Dr. Buâ—net had but the other chose to write exactly yet hâ— adds Thaâ— it is probable that they penned them aâ—â— if either the Dignity of their Sees or of their Persons be considered the thing will appear reasonable enough But I do not wonder to see any thing that looks like a modesty of Stile offend our Author He is next so kind to Dr. Bâ—râ—et as to offer him some Counsel p. 50. that he would be well advised to imploy his Pen in writing Lampoons upon the present Princes of Christendom especially his own which he delights in most because iâ— is the worst thing that himself can do then collecting the Records of former times for the first will require time and Postage to pursue his Malice but the second is easily traced in the Chimney corner One would think that this period was Writ by Mr. Louth it is so obscure and ill expresâ—ed that nothing is plain but the malice of it but He of all men should be the furthest from reproaching any for Writing Lampoons who has now given so rude a one on the late King and the Lords and Commons if bold railing without either Wit or Decency deserves that Name I will only say this further that if one had the ill nature to write a Lampoon on the Government one of the severest Articles in it would be That it seems Writers are hard to be found when such a Baboon is made use of It is Lampoon enough upon the Age that he is â— Bishop but it is downright Reproach that he is made the Champion of a Cause which if â—t is bad of it self must suffer extreamly by beïng in such Hands And thus I think enough is said in Answer to His impertinent digression upon Transubstantiation let Him renounce the Article of our Church and all that he possesses in Consequence to His having signed it and then we will argue all the rest with Him upon the square but as long as He owns that He is bound likewise to own the first Branch of the TEST which is the Renouncing of Transubstantiation In this Discourse He makes His old Hatred to Calvin and the Calvinists return so often that Ãt appears very Conspicuously I believe it is stronger now than ever and that for a particular reason When the Prince and Prircess of Orange were Married he was perhaps the only Man in England that expressed his uneasiness at that Happy Conjunction in so Clownish a manner that when their Highnesses past thro Canterbury he would not go with the rest of that Body to which he was so long a Blemish to pay his Duty to them and when He was Asked the Reason he said He could have no regard to a Calvinist Prince Now this Calvinist Prince has declared his mind so openly and fully against the Repeal of the Test that no doubt this has encreased Bays's distemper and heightned his Choler against the Whole Party The second Branch of the TEST is the Declaration made of the Idolatry committed in the Roman Church upon which he tells us pag. 71.72 That Idolatry is a Stabbing and Cut-throat Word aâ—d that it is an Inviting and Warranting the Rabble whenever Opportunity favours to destroy the Roman Catholicks and here Bays will outdo himself since this was a Master-piece of Service therefore he makes the taxing the Church of Rome with Idolatry a piece of inhâ—manity that outdoes the Savages of the Canibals themselves and damns at once both Body and Soul. He Charges Dr. Stillingfleet as the great Founder of this and all other Anti-catholick and Antichristian and uncharitable Principles among us and that the Test is the Swearing to the Truth of his unlearned and Fanatick Nation of Idolatry pag. 130.135 and the result of all is That Idolatry made the Plot and then the Plot made Idolatry and that the â—ame persons made both He has also troubled the Reader with a second impertinence to shew his second hand Reading again upon the Notion of Idolatry But all this falls off with a very short Answer if he is of the Church of England and believes that the Homilies contain a Godly and Wholsome Doctrine all this clamour against Idolatry turns against himself for he will find the Church of Rome charged with this almost an Age before Dr. Stiâ—lingfleet was Born and tho perhaps none has ever defended the charge with so much Learning as he has done yet no malice less Impudent than his is eould make him the Author of the Accuâ—ation It will be another strain of our Authors modesty if he will pretend that our Church is not bound to own the Doctrine that is contained in hâ—r Homilies he must by this maxe our Church as Treacherous to her Members as Sa. Oxon is to her or to deliver this Doctrine to the people if we believe it not our selves is to be as Impudent as he himself can pretend to be A Church may believe a Doctrine which she does not think necessary to propose to all her Members but she were indeed a Society fit for such Pastors as he is if she could propose to the people a Doctrine chiefly one of so great consequence as this is without she believed it her Self So then he must either Renounce our Church and her Articles or he must Answer all his own Plea for clearing that Church of this Imputation which is so slight that it will be no hard matter even for such a trifling Writer as himself is to do it As for what he says of Stabbing and Cut-throat Words he may charge us with such words if he will but we know who we may charge with the Deeds I would gladly see the List of all that have been murdered by these Words to try if they can be put in the Ballance either with the Massacre of Ireland or that of Paris upon which I must take notice of his slight way of mentioning Coligny and Faction and telling us in plain words pag. 45. That they were Rebells this is perhaps another instance of his kindness to the Calvinist Prince that is descended from that Great Man. If Idolatry made our Plot it was not the first that is made but his malignity is still like himself his charging Dr. Stillingfleet who he says is the Author of the Imputation of Idolatry as if he had suborned the Evidence in our Plot. I should congratulate to the Dr. the Honour that is done him by the Malice of one who must needs be the object of the Hatred of all good Men if I did not look upon Him as so contemptible a person that his love and his hatred are equally insignificant If he thinks our Church worse than Canibals I wish he would be at the pains to go and make a trial and see whether these Salvages will use him as we have done I dare say they would not Eat him for they would find so much Gall and Choler in him that the first bit would quite disgust them FINIS