Selected quad for the lemma: majesty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A36614
|
A defence of the papers written by the late king of blessed memory, and Duchess of York, against the answer made to them
|
Dryden, John, 1631-1700.
|
1686
(1686)
|
Wing D2261; ESTC R22072
|
76,147
|
138
|
A DEFENCE OF THE PAPERS Written by the Late KING Of Blessed Memory AND Duchess of York AGAINST The ANSWER made to Them By Command LONDON Printed by H. Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel 1686. PREFACE T IS acknowledg'd that Sovereign Princes when They enter into the Lists of Disputation may be answer'd as well as Private Men for then they Command not but only Argue speak their Opinion and Instruct. The Answerer is not therefore blam'd for appearing on the contrary Side to our late Sovereign of Blessed Memory whose Papers were for that Reason made Public that every man might have the liberty of considering them and of making a free and upright Iudgment concerning them Accordingly it hath pleas'd Almighty God by means of them to open the Vnderstanding and direct the Will of many sober and well-meaning Readers in the knowledge of his only True Church and the desire of being united to it The great Success of them as it is manifest to the World so in all probability hath occasion'd the Answer by one who calls himself a Son of the Church of England and who gives it as the Reason of the publishing his Pamphlet That the Papers thus dispers'd in Print may fall into many Hands who without some Assistance may not readily resolve some Difficulties started by them Vpon which Consideration this Author thought it not unbecoming his Duty to God and the King to give a clearer Light to the Things contained in them Which not long after he explains in relation at least to the First Paper wherein he could have been glad to have found as much Reason to convince as there was a fair Appearance to deceive Now whether the King intended to deceive his People or that the Deceit might be occasion'd by His Writings I leave our Author to expound But in general to clear Difficulties and discover a Cousenage I freely grant not to be unbecoming of our Duty An Answer then may be made even to a King but the Manner of Answering is likewise to be consider'd And surely there is somewhat more of Respect to be given to a Sovereign Prince than to a common or private Disputant especially if the Answerer be his Subject The Cardinal of Peronne tho' a Forreigner has observ'd this Decency in the Controversie manag'd betwixt our King JAMES the First and him Luther on the other side has made a German Quarrel with HENRY the Eighth without allowing Him so much as the Name of King but in the beginning of his Answer calling Him barely by His Christn'd Name and using Him afterward as familiarly and scurrilously as if Martyn and Harry had been two Sophisters set up to wrangle in the Schools at their two confronting Desks After the same manner and not without a convenient share of Impudence has Milton treated King CHARLES the First but he had cast off the Yoke of Dominion before he answer'd and of a Subject was become a Rebel To speak evil of Dignities is not much recommended to us in the Holy Scriptures and whether he be Catholic or Protestant Tros Rutulusve fuat who manages a Dispute in this manner neither Church ought to be over-proud of such a Champion Now whether our Answerer has follow'd the Example of Peronne or whether he has not some little tincture of Luther's Mannerliness and the Civility of Milton let the impartial Readers of his Pamphlet nay let even all modest and dutiful Protestants be Iudges I name not here the Passages which are either disrespectful in relation to the Late King or to the Present nor the Pedantique Cavils nor the private Scoffs which have render'd our Author justly odious to the sober Men even of his own Party But if he will look upon this as a bare Accusation without Proof I shall endeavour to make it good upon his Summons In the mean time tho' as he alledges it be no Reflection on the Authority of a Prince for a private Subject to examine a Piece of Coin as to its just Value notwithstanding that it bears his Image and Superscription on it yet the Answerer ought to be cautious of decrying that Coin among his Fellow-Subjects unless he can fully prove it to be Counterfeit But he might have made a more proper and less invidious Similitude by comparing the King's Paper to a Medal rather than to Coin'd Money It bears the Figure of one Monarch and is Distributed to the People by another 'T is a Largess not impos'd on any Man it may either be taken or refus'd But both those Actions ought to be accompanied with Respect the Metal and the Weight may be examin'd without phillipping it up into the Air for the Image the Superscription and the Donor ought all to secure it from Contempt To conclude If the Answerer thinks it not unbecoming his Duty to God and the King to give a clearer Light to the Things contain'd in those Papers I know it not to be unbecoming mine to defend the Honour of both our Princes and the Truth of that Religion profess'd by them which has descended without interruption from our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles even to us In so doing I hope I shall discover the foul Dealing of this Author who has obscur'd as much as he is able the Native Lustre of those Papers and recommended by a false Light his own sophisticated Ware part of which may certainly deserve the clearest Light which can be given it by the Hands of the Vnder-Sheriff or of somebody whom I will not name A DEFENCE OF THE PAPERS Written by The late KING of Blessed Memory and Duchess of York AGAINST The Answer made to Them A Defence of the First Paper AS I think the Answerer may with as little need of Apology become the Antagonist as I the Champion of a King and Princess and that the cowardise of delaying Time suits ill with the Presumption of entring into such a Quarrel I shall lose none in scanning the Preliminary Discourses of my Adversary or making any for my self His Majesty says in his first Lines That it is as visible as that the Scripture is in Print that none can be the One Church which Christ has here on Earth but that which is called the Roman Catholic Church and that there is no need to enter into the Ocean of Particular Disputes when the main and in truth only Question is Where that Church is The Answerer who had a mind to flourish before he offered to pass says first That if particular Controversies could be ended by a Principle as visible as that the Scripture is in Print all Men of sence would soon give over Disputing And what if they did The sooner the better I should think For Christians sure might without any harm become unanimous in their Sentiments all of one Heart and one Soul again and lay Disputing aside As truly I believe they would if the Apostle could prevail with them to lay aside all
then for our comfort neither of them were true Church of England Men though they were both Bishops and one of them no less than Primate of All England And now for a relishing bit before we rise he has kept in store for us the four Points which about the midst of her Paper the Duchess told us she found so easie in the Scripture that she wondered she had been so long without finding them He will needs fall into Dispute with her about them tho he knows before hand that she will not Dispute with him This is a Kind of Petition to her that she will permit him to make that difficult which she found easie for every thing becomes hard by chopping Logic upon it I am sure enough that the Wall before me is White and that I can go to it but put me once upon unriddling Sophisms I shall not be satisfied of what colour the Wall is nor how 't is possible for me to stir from the place in which I am Alas if People would be as much in earnest as she was and read the Scriptures with the same disposition the same unprejudic'd sincerity in their Hearts and docility in their Understanding seeking to bend their Judgments to what they find not what they find to their Judgments more I believe would find things as easie as she did and give the Answerer more frequent occasion for his derision of a willing mind But not to dilate on that matter I presume he will not pretend by his Disputing to make any thing plainly appear against her If he can let him do it and end Controversie in a moment for every one can see plain things and all Christians must be concluded by the Scripture But he knows well enough there is no such thing to be perform'd A Mist may be raised and interposed through which the Eye shall not discern what otherwise it would if nothing but the due medium were betwixt and the Object before it And that is all the fruit of this sort of Disputation and all the Assistance for which the Answerer was so earnest Upon the whole his mortal quarrel to the Duchess is that she would not become an Experiment of the perfection to which the Art of Learned Obscurity is improv'd in this our Age. And the Honour he has done to the Church of England is that he has us'd her Name to countenance the Defamation of a Lady I suspected whether he would bring it when I saw that Honour pretended in the beginning of his Pamphlet If he thinks his Bishops have reflected a Scandal on his Church by their Discourses with the Duchess he ought to have proceeded a more reasonable way than to insinuate that she forg'd them without proving it If she had been living and he had subscrib'd his Name to so infamous a Libell he knows the English of a Scandalum Magnatum for an Innuendo is considered in that case and three indirect insinuations will go as far in Law towards the giving a downright Lie as three Foils will go towards a Fall in Wrastling To Conclude I leave it to the Judgment of the Impartial Reader what occasion our Answerer has had for his Song of Triumph at the end of his Scurrilous Sawcy Pamphlet I have treated him as one single Answerer tho' properly speaking his Name is Legion but tho the Body be possessed with many evil Spirits 't is but one of them who talks let him disguise his defeat by the ringing of his Bells 'T was an old Dutch Pollicy when the Duke had beaten them to make Bonâ— ires for that kept the Populace in Heart Our Author knows he has all the Common People on his side and they only read the Gazetts of their own Writers so that every thing which is called an Answer is with them a Confutation and the Turk and Pope are their Sworn Enemies ever since Robin Wisdom was Inspir'd to joyn 'em together in a Godly Ballad In the mean time the Spirit of Meekness and Humble Charity would become our Author better than his boasts for this imaginary Victory or his Reflections upon Gods Anointed but it is the less to be admir'd that he is such a Stranger to that Spirit because among all the Volumes of Divinity written by the Protestants there is not one Original Treatise at least that I have seen or heard of which has handled distinctly and by it self that Christian Vertue of Humility FINIS ERRATA PAge 25. l. 24. for not the read not of the. p. 39. l. 7. it will be r. it be p. 79. l. 1. bare r. bear p. 81. l. 17. for vibsily r. visibly p. 98. l. 22. that r. his p. 111. l. 11 has r. was p. 113. l. 22. Conversion to r. Conversion wholly to A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. And are to be Sold next door to his House in Black-fryers at Richard Cheese's REflections upon the Answer to the Papist Mis-represented c. Quarto Price stitch'd 2d Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery Quarto Price stitch'd 4d 29. Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Dutchess of York Folio Price 2d The Spirit of Christianity Twelves Price bound 9d in Quires 7d Six Sermons Preach'd before their Majesties in English by the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congregation Chapin Ordinary to His Majesty Quarto Price stitch'd 2s 3d. An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie By the Right Reverend Iames Benigne Bossuet Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom Done into English with all the former Approbations and others newly Publish'd in the Ninth and Last Editions of the French Quarto Price stitch'd 9d A Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties Chappel at St. Iames's upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady March 25. 1686. By Io. Bethâ— m Doctor of Sorbon Quarto Price stitch'd 4d 2q An Abstract of the Douay Catechism for the Use of Childrer and Ignorant People Now Revis'd and much Amended Twenty fours Price 2d stitch'd in Blew Paper and cut A Pastoral Letter from the Lord Bishop of Meaux to the New Catholics of his Diocess Quarto Price stitch'd 4d ob The Answer of the New Converts of France to a Pastoral Letter from a Protestant Minister Quarto Price 1d 2q The Ceremonies for the Healing of them that be Diseased with the Kings Evil used in the time of King Henry VII Quarto in Latin Price 4d 2q English in Twelves Price 2d 2q A Short Christian Doctrine Composed by the R. Father Robert Bellarmin of the Society of Iesus and Cardinal in Twelves Stitch'd in Blew Paper and cut 2d A Vindication of the Bishop of Condom's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church In Answer to a Book Entituled An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England c. With a Letter from the said Bishop Quarto Price stitch'd 1s 2d Two Sermons Preach'd before the King and Queen By the Reverend Father Iohn Persall of the Society of Iesus Professor of Divinity Quarto Price stich'd 9d The Life of St. Ignatius Founder of the Society of Iesus In Octavo Price in Quires 1s 8d bound 2s 4d An Amicable Accommodation of the Difference between the Representer and the Answerer in Return to the Last Reply against the Papist Protesting against Protestant Popery Quarto Price stitch'd 4d 2q 〈…〉 Authoritas Aug. Cont. Epist. Fund c. v. 〈…〉 2 Per. 1. â— 0 1 Cor. 11. 16. Quoniam nihil proficiat congressio Scripturarum nisi plane ut aut stomachi quis inâ— at eversionem aut cerebri Non ad Scripturas provocandum est nec in his constituendum certamen in quibus aut nulla aut incerta victoria est aut parum â— erta Tertull. de Praescrip c. 17 19. Si dixeris noli Catholicis credere non recte facies per Evangelium me cogere ad Manichaei sidem quia ipsi Evangelio Catholicis praedicantibus credidi Quod si forte in Evangelio aliquid apertissimum de Manichaei Apostolatu invenire poteris infirmabis mihi Catholicorum authoritatem qui jubent ut tibi non credam Qua infirmata jam nec Evangelio credere potero quia per eos illi credideram ita nihil apud me valebit quiâ— quid inde protuleris Si inde aliquid manifestum pro Manâ— chaeo legeris nec illis credam nec tibi Aug. cont Ep. Fund â— 5. 2 Pet. 3. 16 Si unaquaeâ—â— c disciplina quamquam 〈◊〉 lis 〈…〉 percipi possit doctorem aut magiâ— trum requirit quid temerariae superbâ— ae plenius quam â—â—â—â—norum Sacramentorum libros ab Interpretibus suis nolle cognoscere incognitos veâ—â— e damnare Aug. de Util. Cred. c. 17. tom 6. Neque 〈◊〉 parvi momenâ— est quâ— d cum c. Hoc per universam Cathoâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 â—â—â—funditâ— r observari placuit quod tenemus August conâ— r. Creâ—â— on l. 1. c 32. Quam consuetudinem credo ex 〈◊〉 traditione venientem sicut multa quae non inveniuntur in litteris eorum neque in 〈◊〉 liis posteriorum tamen quia per universam custodâ— untur Ecclesiam non 〈…〉 tradita commendata creduntur Aug. de Bap. conâ— Donatist l. 2. c. 7. Si jam 〈◊〉 tibi jactatus videris finemque hujusmodi laboribus vis imponere sequere viam Cathoâ—â—â—â— disciplinae quae ab ipso Christo per Apostolos ad nos usque manavit abhinâ— ad 〈◊〉 manatura est Aug. de Util. Cred. c. 8. 〈…〉 Quid autem si neque Apostoli quidem Scripturas reliquissent nobis nonne opportebat ordinem sequi Traditionis quam tradiderunt iis quibus committebant Ecclesias cui ordinationi aâ— lentiunt multae Gentes Barbarorum eorum qui in Christum credunt sine charta atramento scriptam habentes per spiritum in cordibus suns salutem veterem Traditionem diligenter custodientes 〈◊〉 advers Haereâ— Lib. 3. col * Sir Her Wootton Herbert Hen 8. pag. 402.