Selected quad for the lemma: order_n
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A49109
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The case of persecution, charg'd on the Church of England, consider'd and discharg'd, in order to her justification, and a desired union of Protestant dissenters
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Long, Thomas, 1621-1707.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing L2961; ESTC R6944
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61,317
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83
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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
and though they desire Ease and Liberty they are not willing to have it with such apparent hazard of Church and State I am sure that tho' we were never so desirous that they might have their Liberty and when there is opportunity of shewing our inclinations without danger they may find that we are not such Persecutors as we are represented yet we cannot consent that they should have it this way which they will find the dearest Liberty that ever was granted This Sir is our Case in short the Difficulties are great on both sides and therefore now if ever we ought to besiege Heaven with our Prayers for Wisdom and Counsel and Courage that God would protect his Church and Reformed Christianity against all the devices of their Enemies Which is the daily and hearty Prayer of May 22. 1688. SIR Your Friend and Brother Though this Petition was presented with all humble Submission and how reasonable soever the Refusing to publish the Declaration was it was so aggravated by Father Petre and others of the Romish Perswasion that the Bishops were sent for to the Council and there charged with publishing a false malicious and seditious Libel and by a Warrant of the Council committed to the Tower on which there followed at least in the hopes and expectations of the Papists such a Scene of Persecution as never was seen under Queen Mary The Seven Bishops were by Habias Corpus brought to the King's-Bench Bar where was the Chief Justice and an Ignoramus Papist Allebone whom one of his Brethren openly exposed for his false Quotations Justice Holloway and Justice Powel after all the pleadings of Councel on each side the Chief Justice gave this direction to the Jury That if they believed the Petition presented by the Bishops to the King was the same that was produced in Court then the Publication was sufficiently proved if not the Bishops were not guilty of the Publication And secondly That any thing tending to disturb the Government was Libellus Famosus and therefore he judged it to be a Libel Justice Holloway said That the intention of an action ought to be considered that the Bishops delivered the Petition with all humility and decency imaginable and were not Men of evil lives and it being the Right of every Subject to Petition such a delivery could be no fault especially it being done to save themselves harmless by shewing their Reasons of not obeying the King's Command Justice Powel declared plainly That he saw nothing of Sedition or other Crime fixed on the Bishops nothing being offered by the King's Counsel to make the Petition false or malicious and desired the Jury to consider That the Bishops apprehended the Declaration to be illegal being founded on a Dispensing Power and he did never remember in any Case that there was such a Power in the King which if true the Petition could be no Libel And lastly That such a Power would amount to an abrogation of all the Laws and so there would be no need of Parliaments but the whole Legislative Power would be in the King which said he to the Jury is worth your consideration The Jury accordingly considered the Case all Night and in the Morning gave their Verdict for the Bishops Not Guilty which caused such Acclamations in the Court as were ecchoed through the Nation And this Deliverance of the Bishops was esteemed the Freedom of the whole Nation from Popery and Slavery and on it the Revolution of our Affairs began This Scene of Persecution being so happily broken we may have leisure to take a view of that other of the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs which was such an Engine as Archimedes fancied he had contrived that if he had found a place whereon to fix it it would have unhinged the Globe of the Earth but as it happened there was no such place to be found But this was so contrived as to make the Church a Felo de se and to fall by its own hands for the Commissioners first named were some of those that were intended to fall by it the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Durham and Rochester the Lord Treasurer and Sunderland and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert and the Lord Chancellor who was the Dominus Factotum in conjunction with whom any Two might act and such Three might take Cognisance of any Case that was under the Ecclesiastical Laws they might Visit both the Universities the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Parish-Churches Schools and Hospitals they might abrogate Old and make New Laws with a Non Obstante to any Right or ancient Constitution and all their Acts were to be confirmed by a New Seal having this Inscription Sigillum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas But the Commission was so unwarrantable and ill designed that the most considerable Men refused to act by it in whose room other confiding Men are named viz. the Bishop of Chester the Lord Chief Justice Wright and Baron Jenner so that the Chancellor could never want Two of his own Distemper to act with him The R. R. the Bishop of London was a Person of such extraordinary merit that he was pitcht on as the first that was fit to suffer by this new sort of Ostracisme but finding no pretence for an Accusation in him from any act of his own he must suffer for another's sin imputed to him or rather for a wicked invention of their own for thus it was Dr. Sharp of the Diocess of London a Divine of known Integrity and Loyalty as well as of Parts and Prudence was represented to the King as one that had preached Seditiously and endeavoured to alienate the Affections of His Majesty's Subjects from him whereof the Doctor being advised endeavours by all means to clear himself and by good Advice draws up a Petition to His Majesty declaring How faithfully he had served Him and his Brother and had studiously endeavoured to suppress all Doctrines and Practices tending to Sedition c. But the Doctor could never find opportunity to present his Petition for the Scene was otherwise laid and thus it opened A Letter was procured from the King to the Bishop of London importing That his Majesty being fully satisfied that Dr. John Sharp Rector of St. Giles's had reflected on his Majesty and on his Government he commanded the Bishop forthwith right or wrong to suspend him The Bishop returned an Answer to the Earl of Sunderland to this effect That his Majesty's Command could not be complied with being contrary to Law because no Judges as he was could condemn any Man before he was heard what he could say for himself So that he was to suffer for what in Justice he could not do On the Fourth of August he appears before the Commissioners and the Chancellor asks him the Reason Why he suspended not Dr. Sharp according to the King's Order The Bishop answered That he had received such an Order and if he had done contrary to his Duty it was his ignorance