decayed to Reform the Church when corrupted and to Protect the same when Reformed This is the Supremacy which the German Princes being the first Reformers Assumed to themselves exercising their own Authority in Ordering and Setling Church-Matters within their own Dominions And because they all Protested against the Pope's Supremacy and Defended that of their own Therefore were they called Protestants In like manner King Henry the Eighth was the first Protestant Prince in England for no other Reason But because he was the first King of England since the Reformation who strenuously vindicated his Own Regal Supremacy And Protested against the Pope's Usurpation and Tyranny over Kings and their Subjects For which the Pope of Rome Excommunicated King Henry the Eighth and Branded him with the Name of Heretick and Protestant And notwithstanding King Henry's being a perfect and Rigid Papist in all points of Doctrine according to the Church of Rome yet because he Assumed his Own Supremacy and Abjured that of the Pope's he is Therefore styled and that very truely A Protestant And our Statute-Laws call all them who deny the King's Supremacy Recusants whether they be Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists or Quakers The Law Names all Recusants and indeed such They are and Not Protestants For as in the Church of Rome no man is counted a Papist but onely he who declares for the Pope's Supremacy So in the Church of England no man is nor ought to be reckoned a Protestant but onely he who in Thought Word and Deed is for the King's Supremacy as above stated These things being Premised We are of Opinion That the Reconciler has Mistaken his own Title for in equity and honesty he should have Entitled Himself and his Book The Recusant and not the Protestant Reconciler For we know no Protestants in England that need any Reconciliation unless it be the Beaufronts alias Fair-faced Protestants Who have God and the King in their Mouths but the Devil in their Hearts Who Speak their Prince fair to his face but will Wound his Reputation and cut his Throat behind his Back Who will take and swallow all Oaths particularly those of Supremacy and Allegiance And yet will enter into a Scotch-Covenant or into a Shaftsburian-ASSOCIATION and Plot Treason and Rebellion against their King and his Government Who will cry-up the Church of England and yet cry-down the Bishops Who will on a Sunday-Morning go to Divine-Service in the Parish-Church and receive the Sacrament Kneeling and yet in the Afternoon Contrary to their Oath of Allegiance will go to a Seditious Conventicle These are the Tares among the Wheat the very Pests of the Nation And indeed They want a Reconciliation that is Of their ungodly Principles and Practices to Piety Of their Knavery to Honesty Of their Perjury and Hypocrisie to Truth Of their Faction to Loyalty Except these dissembling Beaufronts we know no Protestants that need any Reconciliation for in England there are no Protestants except the Beaufronts but onely the true-hearted and Loyal Episcopal men who in Heart and Conscience Own and Protest for according to our Churches Articles 34 36 37. 1. The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Authority in Ordering Rites and Ceremonies 3. The Episcopal Government as now established Asserting the Distinct Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons 4. Who give due Obedience to the Churches Orders and Constitutions These are the onely Protestants in England As for all others the Laws of the Realm Notifie them by the Name of Recusants So then it is a most Certain Truth though a Paradox to the Vulgar That although there be Myriads of Men in England who pass for Protestants and call themselves Protestants yet in truth and reality they are Recusants They all Combining and Siding with the Papists against the King's Supremacy do by so doing declare themselves to be No Protestants And the onely way to Reconcile these Recusants unto our Church is in the first place to persuade them to become Protestants that is to say to persuade them to Own and Protest for the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastick Matters and to become Obedient to his Laws Civil and Ecclesiastick for till this be done as was said before They are No Protestants And of this Nature and Character are all the Dissenters in England to wit Recusants and not Protestants For they all deny the King's Supremacy which is the Essence and Foundation of Protestantism in Opposition to Popery And whoever pleads for them to be Reconciled to the Church of England without an open Recantation of their Popish Principles as does the Reconciler is guilty of a Praemunire and smells more of a Papist than of a Protestant This then being the proper Notion of a Protestant We once more petition the Reconciler That he would be pleased to inform us who are the Protestants for whom he so earnestly pleads and unto whom he so passionately craves a Condescension may be granted by the King and the Governours If he says They be the Dissenting-Brethren as he has it in his Title Page then he grosly mistakes himself For the Dissenters are No Protestants Because they all deny The King's Supremacy Which is the onely Badge and Characteristical Note of a Protestant Now that All the Dissenters do so is easily proved by their own Avowed and Declared Principles and Practices The Dissenters in England although they be very numerous yet they may be reduced unto four Ranks and Sects which will comprehend them all at least all those which are of any Bulk and Note among us Such as the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers All which Sects we shall in order prove to be No Protestants CHAP. II. The Presbyterians No Protestants THe Presbyterians are no Protestants in as much as They Deny The King's Supremacy And in Opposition thereunto They Set up their own Ecclesiastick Consistory above the King and his Power For by their Consistorian Power They pretend they may and actually they have censured and deposed their own Natural Prince raised War by Oath and Covenant against Him when he would not yield himself a slave to their Demands and Consistorian Tyranny This is too well known in Scotland and England and needs no farther proof And although they do declare with the French Presbyterians French Disci Eccles c. 5. of the Consistory That a Magistrate may be called and employed in the charge of an Elder in the Consistory yet it is with such a Restraint and Limitation as that the Execution of one of the Functions must not hinder the other and bring no prejudice to the Church that is to their Consistorian Power which is to over-rule and controll the Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastick It is to be Noted That the first Presbyterian Consistory erected in Opposition to Monarchy and Episcopacy that ever we heard of was first in Geneva Setled by Calvin and Beza And the First Presbyterian Confistory Setled in Scotland was by John Knox who came from Geneva and brought from thence the Platform
BEAVFRONS OR A New-DISCOVERY of TREASON UNDER The FAIR-FACE and MASK OF RELIGION AND OF LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE In an ANSWER to the Protestant Reconciler In which is PROVED That the Protestant-Reconciler Encouraged the New Discovered Plot by his giving out unto the People That the King and Governours were and are the Betrayers of their Liberties And therefore Deserve Death By One of HIS MAJESTIE' 's Chaplains LONDON Printed for Charles Morden Bookseller in Cambridge MDCLXXXIII REVERENDO Admodum in Christo Patri Doctissimóque Antistiti ac DOMINO D. SETHO EPISCOPO SARISBVRIENSI Nec-non NOBILISSIMI ORDINIS à Periscelide Dicti Cancellario Tractatum Hunc In Summae Observantiae Symbolum Humillimè Dicat Dedicátque Ecclesiae verè Anglicanae Filius Observantissimus TO THE READER COURTEOUS SIR IT is humbly conceived that this TREATISE small in its Bulk but great in its Weight will be Acceptable unto all who Love their King and Church Because it so Seasonably Discovers the Plots and Designs of the Enemies to Both. And although the Authour was fully Satisfied That the Dissenters Principles were Treasonable and inconsistent with the Safety of our English Monarchy and of our Churches Welfare Yet he little thought They would so soon have given the World a Proof thereof as they have done in their NEW PLOT against the King's Most Sacred Person and against His Royal Highness the Duke of York which by Divine Providence is so happily discovered and we hope Totally Prevented Stephen Colledge's and their Treason detected fully Answers the Reconciler and proves sufficiently That no Condescention can safely be Granted unto the Dissenting Brethren untill they have openly Renounced their Traiterous Principles and have given some Better Signs of their Loyalty For as this TREATISE Foretold so now their New Treason Discovered has proved it to be a Truth that they are and will be as Dangerous if not more than the Papists And this Plot together with the Popish Plot does clearly evidence farther this Truth also That our King and Governours have no true Friends to trust unto but onely the True Episcopal-Church-Men of England For the Principles of all other Parties lead them into Faction and Rebellion from which Good Lord Deliver Vs July 2d 1683. THE Contents CHAP. I. THE True Notion of a Protestant p. 1. CHAP. II. The Presbyterians no Protestants p. 8. CHAP. III. The Independents no Protestants p. 17. CHAP. IV. The Ànabaptists no Protestants p. 29. CHAP. V. The Quakers no Protestants p. 36. CHAP. VI. The Reconciler's Design as pretended proved to be Impossible p. 40. CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be as Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State p. 60. SECT I. The Reconciler gives out to the People That our King and Governours are the Authours of our Present Schisms and Factions p. 61. SECT II. According to the Reconciler Our King and Governours are Proud Men and The Plagues of the Earth For Imposing things Indifferent p. 67. SECT III. According to the Reconciler Our King and Governours Deserve Death For Imposing on the People things Indifferent p. 68. SECT IV. The King and Governours according to the Reconciler are Traytours to the Common-wealth and Betrayers of the Peoples Liberties for Imposing upon them things Indifferent And that therefore the People ought not to yield to their Impositions But ought to Rebell and vindicate their Christian Liberty p. 70. SECT V. The Reconciler scandalously affirms That the King and Governours want Piety and Prudence And that therefore it is they Impose upon the People Things Indifferent p. 74. SECT VI. According to the Reconciler The King and Governours are the Destroyers of the Work of God and are the Murtherers of Myriads of Souls for Imposing things Indifferent p. 77. SECT VII According to the Reconciler The King Commands Men to Sin when he Commands their Obedience as to things Indifferent p. 79. SECT VIII The Reconciler's Rule for the King and Governours to observe in case any Evil Consequents should happen through the Dissenters Disobedience after a Condescention granted to them to wit To leave the Event to God p. 81. CHAP. VIII The Reconciler's Proposition to wit That considering the Circumstances our Church and State at present are in Things Indifferent ought not to be Imposed by the Legislators as Conditions of Church-Communion This Proposition if taken absolutely and simply in it self is proved to be false p. 84. Secondly It is proved to be false and unseasonably Propounded if taken Relatively in Reference to the Circumstances our Church and State are in at present p. 96. CHAP. I. The true Notion of a PROTESTANT NEver was the Christian World more abus'd with any Word under the Pretence of Religion than with this of Protestant And especially in this Our Factious and Disloyal Age and Country In which this Word has been and still is made odious and a very Covert for all Religious-Male-Contents in Church and State For All Parties and Sects that would not be deemed Papists have Christened and Styled themselves Protestants Although they have been and still are the most erroneous vitious and dissolute Persons in the World both as to Principles and Practices And for as much as a Late Authour Entitles himself and his Book THE PROTESTANT RECONCILER But has not told his Reader Who are the Persons he understands by Protestants We therefore entreat the said Reconciler to inform the World What he means by A Protestant For if by Protestants the Reconciler understands All those men who disown and Protest against the Name of Papist Then in truth the Turks and Jews may as deservedly be called Protestants But if he says that by Protestants he means All Christians who Renounce Popery Then he would doe well 1. To define what is Popery 2. To let us know who are the Persons that renounce Popery so defined For by Popery the Church of Rome means the Pope's Supremacy and whoever denies that is no Papist at Rome Let his other Opinions be never so Canonical And by Protestantism the Church of England understands the Pious Doctrine of the King's Supremacy in Opposition unto that of the Pope's And whoever denyes the King's Supremacy is no Protestant in England Let his other Tenets be never so Orthodox Wherefore Once again We request the Reconciler not to amuse the World with any Bug-Bear Words But in plain English to Unridle Who and What are the Persons he discriminates from all others by the Specious Title of Protestants For if the Reconciler be a genuine Son of the Church of England as now established which we very much doubt He cannot but know That our Church and State own and acknowledge None to be Protestants in England but onely such who in their Consciences and Principles allow of and Protest for The King's Supremacy And by the King's Supremacy we mean Full. Ch. Hist l. 9. p. 53. A Power in the King given to him by Almighty God to Restore Religion when
in truth I would tell you that if you are a right true Episcopal Protestant which I fear That then in Reason you ought to love the Papists rather than the Obstinate Dissenters Not but that you ought to use your best arguments to convert both yet if you will be partial in your Respect then you ought to shew it to the Papists And the Reason for so doing is this scil Because The Papists are more like the Episcopal-Protestants than any of the Dissenters And you cannot but know so much Philosophy That where there is the greatest Parity and Likeness There ought to be the greatest Love The Parity and Likeness between them is this 1. The Papists are as the Episcopal-Protestants are for the Sacred Order of Episcopacy distinct from that of Presbytery and Deaconship But the Dissenters are all against it 2. The Papists as the Episcopal-Protestants are for Monarchy rather than for Democracy Whereas All the Dissenters are as was Calvin rather for Aristocracy and Democracy Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 20. than Monarchy in the State 3. The Papists as the Episcopal-Protestants are for solemnly Consecrating and Dedicating Churches and Chapels unto the peculiar Service of Almighty God and his Holy Worship But the Dissenters are all against any such pious Dedications and Consecrations for fear say they of placing Holiness in one place more than in another 4. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for an Uniformity in Divine Service and for a Set-Liturgy and for the Peoples Responsals That so all Persons may serve God with one voice and mind and in one way But the Dissenters are against the Impositions of any such Set-Forms and Liturgies 5. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for Imposition of the Decent Ceremonies of the Cross in Baptism of Kneeling in the Eucharist of the Surplice and of Bowing at the Name of Jesus But the Dissenters and Beaufronts and the Reconciler are all against the imposition of them Though it is to be Noted that the Reconciler to hold his Great and manifold Preferments uses them all and one more to wit Bowing to the Altar as he hints to us in his Book 6. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants do not prefer the Pulpit before the Desk a Sermon before the Judicious Prayers of the Church But they Command and Commend both in their due places and order Whereas the Dissenters and Beaufronts Idolize the Rulpit and slight the Desk highly admire and cry-up Sermons and Preaching but cry-down the Prayers of the Church and sometimes in derision have called the Holy Prayers of our Church no better than a Mess of Pottage 7. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are strict for Catechising and for expounding upon the Catechism according to Canon on Sundays in the Afternoon in the open face of the Congregation that thereby not onely the youth but also the elder people may be taught the Principles of Christianity Whereas the Beaufronts and Dissenters will not come to Church at all on a Sunday in the Afternoon if there be onely Catechising and Exposition and no Sermon 8. The Papists as also the Episcopal Protestants will not allow of any Irreverence or walking up and down in any part of the Church or sitting with their Hats on in the Church But all the Beaufronts and Dissenters do permit and allow of this Irreverence and will tell you That a man is Superstitious and Worships the Walls if he Religiously uncovers his head when there is neither Singing nor Praying in the Church But one thing I have observed among them when they have come to our Churches That in time of Sermon which they so much Idolize and prefer before the Prayers they will sit with their Hats on but in time of Prayer they will pull them off as if God was not present in the time of Preaching as well as of Praing I wondered at their doings and once I asked of them Their Reason for it Their Answer was this That in Prayer they by the Minister spoke to God and therefore in Reverence to God they in Prayer pull off their Hats and for this Reason the Quaker now will put off the Hat in Prayer But said they In Sermon or Preaching God by the Minister speaks to us and therefore we put on our Hats lest we should be thought to adore the Minister instead of God As if God was not as much to be adored when he speaks as when he is spoken to Yet this is the Superstition of all the Dissenters I will not except any no not the Presbyterians nor the Independents for though I never was in any of their Conventicles as I know of yet I have frequently observed in our Churches this Superstition in them that is to put on the Hat in Sermon and to put it off in Prayer-time 9. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for Burying all Baptized Persons Christian-like i.e. decently and piously with a Solemn Funeral Office But the Presbyterians are indifferent Presbyterian Directory for Burying whether there be at the Grave any Prayers or Exhortation made to the Living or no They that will may and they that will not may let it alone Just as our Reconciler says p. 341. Reconcil p. 341. They that will have a May-pole shall have one and they that will not have a May-pole shall have none But the Independents and all the other Dissenters are against all Funeral Offices And their Buryals for the most part are no better than that of a Dead Dog or an Asse 10. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for keeping God's House the Church Neat and Clean and if the Papists err in this respect it is in their excess Whereas the Dissenters are for the other extreme to wit for Sordidness and Nastiness in their places of Divine Worship By these and other instances the unprejudiced Reader may perceive in the Papists a great Parity with and resemblance unto the Episcopal Protestants And therefore if the Reconciler be an Episcopal Protestant and if he will be partial in his Affection which is not at all necessary then he ought in Reason to like that Party best which is most like himself But yet I would not have the Reconciler nor my Ingenuous Reader to mistake me As if I pleaded for an Indulgence and favour to be shewn by the King and Government unto the Papists because in some things they resemble us and none to the Dissenters because in no one Essential of either our Church or our State Government are they like us For in truth I am as I ought to be against both Parties Papists and Dissenters This being my Opinion with submission to my Superiours better judgments That if either Papists or Dissenters get the upper hand our Church of England as now Established and our King's Supremacy and Authority will be utterly destroyed And therefore it is humbly conceived That a Reconciliation with the Papists is as impossible and as Pernicious and
Dangerous if possible as a Reconciliation with the Dissenters For it is evident That unless the Papists will Renounce the Pope's Supremacy and so cease to be Papists And unless the Dissenters will acknowledge the King's Supremacy and so cease to be Dissenters Unless these two things be granted It is impossible for the Church of England as now established to be Reconciled unto either of these Schismaticks whether Papists or Dissenters Nor is it safe for the Government to admit of Schismaticks into our Church-Fellowship S. Cyprian de Vnit Eccl. §. 8.298 for Schismatici duos Episcopos duos Greges in una Ecclesia constituunt and they will bring in Confusion which is the destruction of all Order and Government Et dum Conventicula sibi diversa constituunt Ibid. 299. veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt c. which words of St. Cyprian we will leave to the Conventiclers of both Parties to translate and seriously to consider We being well assured that the Principles of both Papists and Dissenters are inconsistent with Truth and with the Well-being of our Established Government in Church and State For as has been already proved Papists and Dissenters Deny the King's Supremacy And therefore notwithstanding their taking the Oath of Allegiance which many of them have taken the King has no firm Security for the Preservation of his Life and Crown from either Papists or Dissenters For if the Pope should command the Papists as he did Ravillac or if the Consistory bid the Presbyterians as it did in the Deposition and Expulsion of Mary Queen of Scotland or if the Congregational-Church bid the Independent as in the Murthering of the late King or if the Spirit move and bid the Anabaptist and Quaker as it did Venner to raise War against the King because he is an Heretick and an ungodly Man and to Depose and Kill him not being fit for Government Then they all both Papists and Diffenters must according to their several Principles obey their several Orders and must Fight against Depose and Murther the King and destroy all that side with him Wherefore that neither the King's Life and Crown nor our own Privileges and Immunities may be exposed to their Cruelty and Usurpation We humbly conceive it necessary That the Laws of the Realm should stand in force equally against both Papists and Dissenters Because there is no party of men in this Kingdom that ever were or can be according to their Principles true and faithfull in all respects to the King and the Government in Church and State as now Established but onely the Episcopal Protestants And for a farther confirmation of this great Truth we have the Attest of our present Dread Sovereign in his Royal and Noble Speech unto the * Dr. Gower Vice-Chancellour Vniversity of Cambridge upon their humble and Loyal Address made to him at New Market Sept. 18. 1681. In which His Majesty was graciously pleased to Oblige them and indeed the whole Nation with the following words and Assurances to wit That He would constantly own and defend the Church of England King Charles the Second his Speech to the Vniversity of Cambridge Printed in the London-Gazette by Authority as Established by Law of this He bid them be Assured for He would be as good as his word Notwithstanding whatever Representation either had or should be made of him to the contrary Being farther pleased to add That there was no other Church in the World that Taught and Practised Loyalty so Conscientiously as that did In truth This short but pithy Speech of His Sacred Majesty is a full Answer to the Reconciler's whole Book especially to that part of it which so unworthily Misrepresents His Majestie 's former Declarations to the eye and ear of the World CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be As Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State OUr Church and State of England at present God be Praised are by the Divine Providence and by the King 's wise Conduct of Affairs in a very prosperous well-ordered and Setled State and Condition And therefore for any Man to wish and endeavour as does the Reconciler their disturbance by an unnecessary Alteration of their Established Laws is truely to wish them a worse state and condition than at present they are in And so to wish and endeavour is according to the Stoicks Philosophy the height of Envy and Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. Zeno l. 7. p. 506. c. Now that the Reconciler's Design is as he has managed it thus Malitious and Treasonable Towards the King in Scandalizing and Blaspheming Him And towards the Church as now Established in representing her Bishops and Governours as Anti christian Cruel and Tyrannizing over Godly Mens Consciences And in prostituting her pious Orders and Constitutions to Publick Scorn and Derision That it is so Will be the Task of the following Lines and Sections to prove SECT I. The Reconciler Scandalously makes The King and Governours the Authours of all our present Schisms and Factions And that for Two Reasons 1. BEcause they impose things indifferent upon the People 2. Because the King and Governours require of the Clergy subscriptions to the things Imposed As to the First the Reconciler's own words are Why do Superiours still continue the Imposition of those Indifferent things Reconciler c. 1. p. 30 31. which do occasion the Schism c And in Page 339. he Argues and Queries thus Page 339. Whether those Rules of the Church which concern things indifferent should not be altered or relaxed when it so happeneth that an Horrid Schism with all its dreadfull consequences is by Imposition of them caused throughout the Body of the Nation But a little to stop the Carreir of this fierce WRITER and to Vindicate the Honour and Justice of our King and Governours as to this particular we entreat it may be noted That the Reconciler is not onely Disloyal towards his Prince and Superiours in so Aspersing them But also Disingenuous towards his Ignorant Reader in so miserably imposing upon him For the truth of the matter is briefly this To wit Not the Imposers of things indifferent But the Separatists and Disobedient are the Sole Causes of the Schism For it is Confessed by the Reconciler and by the Separatists that the things Imposed are things Indifferent in themselves and have no sinfulness in them And therefore the not observing them when by Lawfull Authority Commanded is a Sin of Rebellion and Disobedience And this sin of not Observing things Indifferent when Lawfully imposed is the sole and Prime Cause of the Schism Nay Mr. Baxter presses farther scil That although it be a sin in the Magistrate to Command yet it is a Duty in the People to Obey His Command in things not sinfull in themselves Mr. Baxter's own words are Many a Ruler sinneth in his Commands Baxter's Cure of Church-Divisions Direct 34. p.