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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B09464	Animadversions on the defence of the answer to a paper, intituled The case of the dissenting Protestants of Ireland, in reference to a bill of indulgence from the exceptions made against it together with an answer to a peaceable & friendly address to the non-conformists written upon their desiring an act of toleration without the sacramental test.	Mac Bride, John.; Pullen, Tobias, 1648-1713. Defence of the ansvver to a paper intituled The case of the dissenting Protestants.	1697 (1697)	Wing M114; ESTC R180238	76,467	116

Uniting Protestants by Act of Parliament And many Episcopal Divines and some Bishops were for it a clear discovery that the mischiefs of our Divisions are of that sort that it were better that an abatement were made of some things made necessary to Uniformity without which the Dissenters will not unite than suffer them to hang over our heads and come upon us we plainly see that many of these reasons of the Commons were of no force we will observe what is of present use to our times which is the first and for the other it became their Wisdom and Religion to Pass a Bill taking from the Act of Uniformity his Majesty hath not been molested by the Importunities of the Dissenters who have not so much as opened their Grievances or Petitioned the King and Parliament these many years There is no new Sect appearing or increase of any by the Non-conformists to weaken the Protestant Religion who have us'd endeavours to Increase and Maintain it it is is in no danger from them they are not troublesome to the Government are not for a Toleration of intolerable Sects and Sectaries contend not for an Establishment which they would rejoyce in but as it become learned men and rational with as great a temper at least as theirs that writ against them the Peace of the Nation is not disturb'd by them and if Popery come in it is against their wills Pains and Prayers to expose and baffle it It is their trouble that they are thought troublesome to the Government which may by no extraordinary exercise of Patience and Love overcome the trouble in their own Breast which is the seat of trouble and for the only remaining which is the evil of Schism it 's clear that Connivance gives no Establishment to it c. But seeing the D. is so confident of the Authority of the Commons in that Parliament and lays so much stress upon it we hope he will not decline the Authority of the whole when the Experience of Ten Years had made them wiser for p. 22. our Author tells what England knows That that very Parliament which was observed for a great part of it to be young Gentlemen growing Elder became more cool and moderate toward Dissenting Protestants more suspicious of Popery and the more Resolute they grew in Maintaining Property and the Protestant Religion and break the leggs and arms of growing Popery the more temperate they grew toward Nonconformists c. And therefore at that meeting of the Parliament in Feb. 24. 1672. An Act passed against Papists and a Bill was presented by the same House of Commons to the Lords in favour of the Dissenting and for Uniting Protestants which as some who have as much reason to know as any that write say would have passed if they had got time to sit and from that time that Long Parliament who had made the Act against Conventicles A. 1670. how Resolute soever they were against Indulgence Feb. 15. 1662. they saw the incompatibility of the Execution of their own Law and the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and have ever since taken other Measures Now whether or not the same Parliament after ten years Experience of the weakness and some worse evils of their own Prophetical Arguments upon which they retract their former Sentence is to be more regarded than when they gave their first unexperienced thoughts we shall leave all thinking Men to judge and of the D's Candour in concealing this part of the History And if we were to manage this Argument by Authority we have an Act of Parliament consisting of as good Protestants A. 1689. to ballance the Addrese of the Commons in 1662. with the concurring Authority of all our Kings who have been experienced in these our differences asserting the conveniency of Indulging tender Consciences as we could give him undeniable Instances But one for all is the Vote of the House of Commons passed Jan. 10th 168 where they say It is the Opinion of this House that the Persecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws is at this time Grievous to the Subject and weakening to the Protestant Interest an Encouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom His 7th and last Argument which he calls the most forcible of all is the judgment of the Ministers of London with those of Lancaster against Toleration Printed Anno 1648. A. Tho' we allow the Truth of all those Ministers say yet they never intended that for that end which he perverts their words to For it will be hard to persuade the world that these men judged the Toleration of Presbyterians unlawful seeing themselves were such and because his whole Argument runs upon a false supposition that we desired an universal Toleration of all Sects he may receive our judgment in this from our confession Cap. 20. Sect. 3. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practice any Sin or cherish any Lust do thereby destroy the end of Christian Liberty c. And because the Power which God hath ordained and Liberty which Christ hath purchased are not intended by God to destroy but mutually to uphold one another they who upon pretence of Christian Liberty shall oppose any lawful Power whether Civil or Ecclesiastical resist the Ordinance of God and for their publishing such Opinions and maintaining such Practices as are contrary to the Light of Nature or the known Principles of Christianity whether concerning Faith Worship Conversation or the Power of Godliness Or such Erronious Opinions or Practices as either in their own nature or in the manner of publishing and maintaining them are destructive to the external Order which Christ has Established in the Church they may be lawfully call'd to account and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church and by the Power of the Civil Magistrate Thus far our Confession of Faith By this 't is apparent that we justify no unlimited Toleration and when he hath made it appear that we maintain Opinions and Practices inconsistent with the light of Nature and known Principles of Christianity either in Faith Worship or Conversation or destructive of the external Order by Christ Established in his Church then let us be look't upon as deserving no Toleration and till then we judge our title to it as good as theirs who enjoy their legal Establishment and tho we are not for encouraging any Evils yet we believe if no Sinner were tolerable the D. himself would be intolerable for the Apostle teacheth G. 6. 1. that even Brethren may be overtaken in faults but then they are to be restored with the spirit of meekness not rigor Every Sin is not the object of Church Censure or the Magistrate's Wrath but they may and ought to bear one anothers burthens and not to bind more heavy burthens on the backs of our Brethren and then lash them for their inability to bear them For his Remark about that which he calls the fortune of Toleration which is as

they be really such into Parishes A. If the Law doth not make Non-Conforming Ministers Intruders by what Law doth he call them so The Law of the Land he vindicates from this Aspersion and we are sure the Law of God layeth no such crime to our charge For Ministers duly qualified and by the unanimous consent of a Christian People elected and call'd to be their Ministers are not intruders tho' their Election be not ratisy'd by the Civil Sanction else all the Ministers of the Gospel for the first 300 years of Christianity had been Intruders That a Christian People have power to Elect and call their own Ministers is according to the Primitive Patern Cyprian's Rule Lib. 1. Ep. 4. is consonant to Scripture viz. Plebs ipsa potestatem habet vel eligendi dig nos sacerdotes vel indig nos recusandi And even in Rome it self in Pope Leo's time it was a Rule Qui prae futurus est omnibus ab omnibus Elegatur And such we are able to make appear our Election to the Ministry to be 2. Nor hath the Parl. of Scotland made any Act against intruding into Parishes but against intruding into Churches and seizing upon Manses and Glebs which if N. C's here had done it 's possible they had both heard and felt that there are Acts of Parl. against such intruders The fourth instance of Moderation is that the Establish'd Church hath not forbid these Dissenters whom the Calamities of the late times had driven away to return and perform any Ministerial Acts in the places where formerly they held their Conventicles for want of a Legal Call A. Had Dissenters as obstinately refused to swear Allegiance to K. W. and Q. M. as his Episcopal Brethren did in Scotland we shou'd have had as little favour as the Non-jurant Clergy there have had and justly deserv'd it But why the Government of Scotland only shou'd be condemn'd for severity when both in England and Ireland the Non-jurant Bishops and Clergy have met with the same measure and yet he dates not tax the Government here or in England of severity upon that account so that he is either grosly impartial or a Jacobite in heart tho' he appear for King William The Fifth Instance of Moderation is That they have not here authorized or required the Mayors of Corporations and Justices of the Peace to remove all those who have intruded or shall intrude as they have done in Scotland A. If the Civil Magistrate were subject to the Authority of the Church we have cause to be confident of being otherwise dealt with than at present we are God be blessed for it We think he deserves a fee if he 'll make good that Dissenters may without counter acting Acts of Parl. enter and possess Churches and Tythes but then why makes he such a hideous out-cry against the Minister of Letterkenny for his intrusion His Sixth and last Instance of Moderation exceeding that of Scotland is that they have not ordered Writs of Rebellion against Dissenting Ministers in order to the removing them out of Parishes where they live and making them desist from exercising Ministerial Acts. A. For all this boasted of Moderation the time was when there were Writs out against all the Dissenting Ministers to apprehend them whereupon many were apprehended and imprison'd which is well known And we owe but little thanks to Church-men for the mercy we now enjoy But by this he insinuates that the Episcopal Clergy are by Writs and Capias's driven from living in any Parishes in Scotland which is a Calumny and by it we may see how safe his Majesty's Government is like to be under such Directors of Conscience who labour to possess his Subjects against him and his Government as cruel and severe notwithstanding all the Clemency he has us'd to such as are declar'd Enemies to his Authority The D. having triumph'd in the victory of the Establish't Church of Ireland over that of Scotland in point of Moderation seems to be mov'd with a Prophetick Spirit to ●orete●l that in case such Revolution of Church Affairs should happen in this Kingdom as hath lately been in Scotland the V. and his Adherents would imitate the Presbyterians in Scotland and make the Episcopal Clergy desist from exercising any Ministerial Acts and Issue out Writs of Rebellion against them A. Either he fears what he supposeth will come to pass or not If he doth really fear such Revolution then we think 't were his wisdom to be preparing an Ark for saving himself and houshold tho it be no policy to declare his fears seeing thereby he incourageth Dissenters and weakens the hands of his Friends by representing us as a formidable party But if he believes no probability of what he supposeth he needs not trouble us or his party with such Prophecies for if he were not conscious to himself that he had deserved ill of Dissenters he would not fear ill from them To make his Prophecy probable he tells us that the Professors in Colleges of Scotland felt the rigor of the Presbyterian Visitation which he calls by the odious name of Inquisition practised upon the Professor of the College of Edinburgh in Aug. and Sept. 1690. according to an Act passed the 4th of July 1690. By which it is ordered that no Minister or Professor in any College or School shall be allowed to continue in the Exercise of his Function but such as shall subscribe to the Confession of Faith ratify'd by this present Parliament and submit to the Government of the Church now Establisht by Law A. To stigmatize the Visitors of the University's acting by his Majesty's Commission and Parliamentary Authority with the odious name of Inquisitors and the Visitation with the name of Inquisition doth palpably insinuate that tho the Heroick Ancestors of our King did drive the Inquisition out of the Netherlands yet he and his Queen have brought it into Scotland And tho he will swear he intended no such ●●flection on his Majesty yet it 's too apparent he would make him and these acting by Authority under him successors to St. Dominick 2. He falsely attributes to the Church the Act of the State 3. When he wou'd prove a removal of Persons Episcopal from Civil Employments he instances in Professors of Divinity which are not esteem'd Civil Employments in Scotland 4. The ground of their removal was their refusing to swear Allegiance to K. W. and Q M. and the reason they gave for their refusal was that they were not crown'd K. and Q. of Scotland tho' they made no such scruple of swearing to K. James whether or no by justifying them in this he partake with them in their evil deeds let all Men judge 5. It 's highly hypocritical to rail at that as Sin in others which we applaud in ourselves as a Vertue for what more criminal is it in the Church of Scotland to oblige its Professors of Divinity to subscribe its legally Establish'd Doctrin and to submit to its

But if we can make appear that these Ceremonies as imposed by you are made essential parts of Religion and necessary to Salvation then you must acknowledge them destructive of Christian Liberty This will appear if it be considered 1. That if these Impositions be necessary in order to Communion with the Church and Communion with the Church necessary to Salvation then they must be necessary to Salvation that they are made necessary conditions of our Communion with the Church is evident by the Act of Uniformity and your calling us all Schismaticks who conform not to them 2. What is made necessary to the Solemn Worship of God is made necessary to Salvation but so are they seeing without them it cannot be solemnly performed in England and Ireland 3. If the bare omission of them tho' out of tenderness of Conscience be ju●ged Schism Sedition and Rebellion and be made worthy of Fining Imprisonment and Excommunication 4. If for calling them unlawful a man must be delivered to Satan according to Can 6. 5 If the omission of these make a Minister more lyable to Deprivation c. than Whoredom Drunkenness or breaking the Lord's day 6. If the refusers of Conformity to them be judged worse than Idolatrous Papists if they be more necessary than the Peace and Unity of the Church with what confidence can any man say that he judgeth them not necessary to Salvation That our Directory requ●reth any Ceremonies of mystical signification or imposeth any indifferent things save such circumstances as nature's Light and right Reason direct us to for the decent and orderly performance of our duties we deny and demand proof from all who assert it Having justify'd as you think the nature of your Ceremonies you proceed to vindicate their number telling us if we should say that your Ceremonies were too numerous and burthensome c. if this were really so it were only an inconvenience and not a sin Ans God's word tells us that to do what is not convenient is sinful Rom. 1. 28. Ephes 5. 4. though to suffer things inconvenient is not still so and by what authority can any burthen Consciences with their own Inventions was not this the sin of the Pharisees Matt. 23. 4. if Augustine complain'd as you say of the number and burthen of Ceremonies in his time why may not Dissenters do so now who are as unable to bear them as he was yet had he lived in some place of the World and complain'd of such a burthen there is a Canon called the 10th by which he had been ipso facto shut out of the Church But ye'll say he did not separate tho' he complained Answ How do ye know that he did not separate if he refused to use them he separated from them as well as we do and if he used them after his complaint of their being burthensome and too numerous it would be hard to excuse him from sinning against his confession but we have more Charity for him than to believe he did so To your Non-Conformists last Objection to wit The Ceremonies are unnecessary and therefore the Governors of the Church are not to lay unnecessary impositions on the People Ye Answer thus Tho' this were true that Governors did impose such things yet our complyance therewith for Peace and Vnity● sake were no sin but a virtue Answ That they are unnecessary you confess while you declare them indifferent and therefore the dubious supposition if they were c. is needless but that it is a virtue rather than a sin to comply with the unnecessary impositions of Church Governors for peace and unity is asserted not proved seeing nothing can be a Christian virtue which wants Christ's Command and we know of none he hath given for our complyance with Governors in their unnecessary impositions Yea we find Church Governors obliged by their Commission to teach us to observe no more than what Christ commanded them Matth. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and the good Centurian Cornelius would submit no further to the Apostle Peter Acts 10. 33. Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God for seeing God and Nature do nothing in vain they have no power to impose things needless and where their power to command is void we are under no Obligation to obey yea such complyance is but a conspiracy with men usurping power and so partaking of their sins Paul withstood Peter to the face in his imposing unnecessary things on the Jews Gal. 2. 11. And seeing the Church hath no Power but to Edification 2 Cor. 10. 8. We are to follow them no further than they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. The Synod of Jerusalem Acts 15. guided by the holy Spirit thought fit to impose nothing but necessary things Bishop Bramhall page 101 of his Vindication says It was not the Erroneous opinions of the Church of Rome but the imposing them by Law on other Churches that warranted the separation So when things unnecessary are made conditions of our Communion we look not upon it as a Christian virtue to comply with them Having asserted not only the lawfulness but innocence of your Communion you profess your self assured that we do not think every man is at liberty either to join himself with the establish't Church of a place or to set up a distinct Church for himself Answ Such as on good grounds judge your Communion lawful and innocent will not set up for themselves but your asserting your selves such makes it not evident seeing there is a generation all whose ways are clean in their own eyes tho they be not wash'd from their iniquity Therefore we say with Memerable Hales of Eaton page 194. Notwithstanding of the great benefit of Communion in regard of divers Distempers Men are subject to Dissention and Dis-union are often necessary for when either false or uncertain Conclusions are obtruded for truth and acts either unlawful or ministring just scruple are required of us to be performed by us in those cases consent were conspiracy and open contestation is not Faction or Schism but due Christian animosity For tho' you value your selves mightily on account of your legal establishment which is indeed your most powerful argument yet the aforesaid Author page 231. says That publick Assemblys though according to form of Law are indeed nothing else but Riots and Conventicles if they be stain'd with Corruption and Superstition A Legal Establishment gives protection and provision but makes neither Doctrine true Worship pure or Government of Divine apponitment and seeing it adds no intrinsick value to a Church it can merit nothing barely upon that account else other Churches who have had a longer title to a Legal Establishment than ye might expect more honour While you desire to know whether one or more bare inconveniencies which are or may be free from sin can be a sufficient reason to separate from