and hope of Order And by his able Conduct of Affairs he became less hated and more feared then at the first yet not beloved His chiefest Grandees in Council and Army he made nothing to cashiere when they appeared to take check at his Proceedings and so he seemed to have made a fair progress in the establishing of his new Dominion But the truth is that Party and those means by which he obtained the Power would in no wise permit him to make it sure His Army was not like that of Caesar who had no other aim than to make their General Lord of the Roman World and to share in his fortunes But it was acted by working Spirits zealous of peculiar Notions touching things both Religious and Civil utterly repugnant to the way of generall Satisfaction and National Settlement And not onely those of the standing Army but the whole body of that irregular Party throughout the Nation did generally oppose the Kingship of this Person who was their head and Chief conceiving that the best insuring of their Interest was not by way of legal Stability but Sword-security This old Leaven their chief Commander could not purge out and this Veterane Party could not with safety be abandoned or neglected until a larger tract of time might beget a better confidence between him and the sober part of the people But in this unsetled posture being taken off by death he leaves all to a Successor depending rather upon the Courtesie of the present Grandees and the peoples peaceable inclination than any potent abilities or interest of his own After a while the wild spirit of the Army before manacled brake loose and instantly dissolved the whole frame of that new Model Forthwith they run into inextricable Errours and Mazes through unstable and head-long Counsels they do and undo build up and pull down the samethings and are always reeling upon the brink of a Precipice And at last to hasten an inevitable ruine the Army and Party combined with it is divided against it self the bonds of Union are broken and things brought into extream disorder by a spirit of Ambition Giddiness Perversness Fury Section II. The Nation grows impatient of these confusions and conceives just indignation at the disgrace and scorn cast upon it by such ridiculous changes and absurd motions in Government Considerate men saw plainly that the state of England was grown poor and feeble and must needs langush more and more till it hath no strength left to resist any Invader or to subsist under its own charge and burthen The thoughts of men in general fix upon the exiled Royal Family as alone sacred to Soveraignty and alone able by reason of its extensive and grounded Interest to hold and manage it In this juncture of time the unruly motions and projects of the prevailing part of the Army received some check by a Chieftain of High Trust yet not of the Army-spirit Presently the three Kingdoms gaze upon him musing what is the design and what may be the issue of his single opposition Being a Person deliberate reserved and resolute by ambiguous expressions and winding Traverses he amuzes all parties and feels his way step by step till he finds when to declare and where to fix himself At length a full Tide of concurring accidents carries him to a closure with the sober part of the Parliamentary party who from first to last intended only a Reformation and due regulation of things in Church and State but abhorred the thought of destroying the King or changing the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Whereupon the doors were set open to the Re-admission of the Secluded Members which necessarily drew after it the restoring of King Lords and Commons according to the ancient constitution Nor was it possible in that state of things that any other party could peaceably bring about this much desired and long expected end For the Souldiery however changed and much qualified were not so manageable as to have indured the stirring of those who were then called Royalists but in any such appearance they were in all reason likely to have deserted their General and from that rooted principle of self-preservation to have taken such ways and counsels as might put things to a stand if not to the utmost hazard But those prudent and sober-minded Patriots being re-assembled after so long Exclusion to put a Period to those disorders did not only prevent the aforesaid mischief but also beget a good measure of quietness and confidence in the minds of that party which conscientiously adhered to them in the first Cause asserted by both Houses of Parliament in as much as these longed for nothing more then the securing of the true Reformed Protestant Religion and their Civil Rights and Liberties upon the ancient Foundations and esteemed the legal settlement of the Kingdom to be that regular way wherein they might expect that God should meet them and bless them and give them peace and wherein whatever happens they should finde security and satisfaction to their own Consciences Thus the Divine Providence having first prepared the way brings back King Charles the Second drawn in the swiftest Chariots even the affections of his willing people and amidst their triumphant acclamations peaceably sets him upon the Throne of his Royal Progenitors And there let him long sit and reign and let his House and Kingdom be established throughout all Ages And verily in this great turning time it is of the highest importance to inquire and search how the King and Kingdom who in so wonderful manner have been restored to each other may be put into a stable possession of peace happiness and security unto all mutual complacency and satisfaction Section III. After a dreadful Earthquake shaking all the Powers of the Kingdom and overturning the very Foundations and after a new frame of things erected standing for divers years and seemingly stated for perpetuity the Regal Family and Government is raised up again not by the power or policy of that party who fought under the Banner of his late Majesty in the Wars between Him and both Houses of Parliament But by the restless desire of the Nation and the vigorous actings of the City of London with the concurrence of the Secluded Members of the Long Parliament in conjunction with that Renowned Person who then held the power of the Sword Which it pleased the King to take notice of according to His Princely Condescention in His Gracious Speech to the House of Peers for hastening the Act of Indempnity My Lords if you do not joyn with Me in extinguishing those fears which keep mens hearts awake and apprehensive of safety and security you keep Me from performing my promise which if I had not made I am perswaded that neither I nor you had been now here I pray you let Us not deceive those who brought Us or permitted Us to come together His Majesty thus brought back to a willing and free-spirited people by their own Act
Party which cannot be rooted out but will be always considerable either as friends or enemies especially when those tearms do comprise some part of their victory that should accept them Let the Episcopal Clergy observe the spirit of the Nation and the condition of the Times that they may rightly comprehend the measure of their own hopes The English are a generous Nation and as they delight in the Majesty and Glory of their King so also in the splendid condition of subordinate Governours that their manner of living be in some sort conformable to the dignity and opulency of the Nation Accordingly they seem to take pleasure that the Ecclesiastical State be upheld by a fair Revenue and competent Dignity yet with moderation For if the Clergy do rise to Princely or Lordly wealth and power they may become the envy of the Nobility and Gentry Let them remember they stand by Grace not by their own strength but by their Prince His Favour The Nation in general may be taken with a grave and masculine decency in all Sacred things sutable to their spiritual Majesty but I make a Question whether in this noon-tide of the Gospel they will fall in love with excessive gaudiness pompous shews and various affected gestures in Sacred Administrations and not rather esteem them vanities too much detracting from the dignity and purity of Gospel-Worship In this noon-tide of the Gospel the Bishops cannot magnifie their Office but by other courses then what were taken in former and darker times Meer formalities will no longer dazle our eyes We shall think they have work of an higher nature then to look only to the observation of outward Forms and Rites ann Ceremonies they must make a nearer approach to the Presbyterian practice in the constant Preaching of the Word in the strict observation of the Lords Day in keeping a true watch over the Flock and in correcting the real scandals that break forth in mens conversations And if they walk in these paths the Prelatists and Presbyterians will not be far asunder Perhaps the friends of Prelacy may imagine that in this coalition Presbytery may at length undermine Episcopacy but reason shews that Episcopacy will stand more firm in conjunction with Presbytery then by it self alone In the body natural there is some predominant humour as sanguine cholerick melancholy or phlegmatick yet none of these do subsist alone without the mixture of the rest in a due temperament In like manner the Body Ecclesiastical may be of several complexions or constitutions as Episcopal or Presbyterial according to the predominant quality Now if the Presbyterian Churches would become more firm and stable by the superintendency of one grave President and the truth is in all Presbyteries there appeareth some Episcopacy either formal or vertual so an Episcopal Church may be judged more firm and stable by a Bishops superintendency in consociation with assistant Presbyters And to remove the fear of the incroachments of Presbytery it is easie to discern that Episcopacy if it contains it self within moderate bounds will be always in this National Church the predominant quality In the Conclusion of this Discourse let me offer these few Essayes concerning the pathes of peace Section XLV The glorifying and pleasing of the highest Potentate and universal Monarch and the eternal happiness of immortal precious souls are the most noble and blessed ends of Government Let his Majesties Reign be happy and glorious in attaining these ends A Christian King esteems it the excellency of his regal Power to hold and manage it as the servant of Jesus Christ to be a Protector of the true Church the Body of Christ the Lambs wife for whose redemption Christ dyed and for whose gathering and perfecting the world is continued It is the Character of this true Church to make the holy Scriptures the perfect rule of their faith and life to worship God in spirit and in truth according to the power and spiritual worship of the Gospel to walk by the rule of the new Creature in spiritual mortification and crucifixion to the world to study holinesse in sincerity to strive to advance it in themselves and others and to have influence upon others unto sound knowledge faith humility godlinesse justice temperance charity The true Church lies in the middle between two extreams Formalists and Fanaticks They are of circumspect and regular walking no way forward in attempting or desiring alterations in a civil State A Prince doth hold them in obedience under a double bond For they know they must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for conscience sake Indeed we will not conceal that in lawful wayes they assert that liberty which is setled by the known Laws and fundamental Constitutions the maintaining whereof is the Princ's as much as the Peoples safety Section XLVI That being the happiest politie that is founded in true Religion and most fully suited to mens everlasting concernments it greatly behoveth Governors to mark and avoid those things which bring Religion into contempt and tend to the increase of Atheism and infidelity The many various Sects and absurd opinions and fancies and pretended Revelations of these latter times have much lessened the reverence of Religion in England This is a great evil and much observed and decryed by the present times There is another evil no less injurious to the honour and estimation of Christian piety to wit Ceremonial strictness with real prophaness or at the most but lukewarmness in the real part of Religion And this is the true state of the Papacy by occasion whereof Atheists have so abounded in Italy Machiavel observes in his time that Christianity was no where less honoured then in Rome which is the pretended Head thereof Let this evil be seen prevented and remedied that the sacred name of the Church be given to a society not carnal but truly spiritual according to that of the Apostle We are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Section XLVII It is the preheminence of His Majesty as General Bishop of the Land for so He is in a political sence to visit His people of all ranks by His prudent inspection And it is worthy of His chiefest care and search to know whether every Pastor be resident with his own Flock and doth constantly on every Sabbath teach them the good Knowledge of God what Pluralists do seize upon several Congregations thrusting or barring out laborious Ministers and leaving the sheep in the hands of one who is a meer mercinary and careth not for them whether Preaching in Cathedral Churches be more frequent since the reviving of Deans and Chapters then before when those places were supplied by one or two stipendiary Ministers whether the Precincts of Cathedrals be the purest parts of the Land and the Members thereof the purest parts of the Clergy as in reason they ought to be In all His Majesties superintendency there is
and pull down but not to build up They do not hang in the air bur build upon a firm ground they have setled principles consistent with the rules of stable policy Contrariwise Fanaticks truly and not abusively so called do build castles in the air and are fit instruments to disturb and destroy and root out but never to compose and plant and settle for which cause their Kingdom could never hold long in any time or place of the world Upon this ground Presbytery not sectarian Anarchy hath been assaulted with greatest violence by the more observing Prelatists against this they have raised their main batteries this appeared formidable for it is stable and uniform and like to hold if once setled in good earnest This party do not run so fast but they know where to stop they are a number of men so fixed and constant as none more and a Prince or State shall know where to find them They do not strain so high but they consider withal what the Kingdoms of the world will bear and are willing to bring things to the capacity of political Government They can have no pleasure in commotions and alterations for order and regular unity is their way and therefore stability of Government and publick tranquility is their interest It is most unreasonable to object that the late wilde postures extravagancies and incongruities in Government were the work of Presbytery or Presbyterians The Nation had never proof of Presbytery for it was never setled but rather decryed and exposed to prejudice by those that were in sway and that in the more early times of the late Wars The truth of this matter is cleared by a passage of our late Soveraign in a Letter to his Majesty that now is All the lesser Factions were at first officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till time and Military Success discovering to each their particular advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their party the trade of profits and preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but of Presbytery it self Thus the joynt stock of uniform Religion was left and Presbytery neglected before the first War was ended Yea and those that stedsastly adhered to it were maligned and reviled by the exorbitant party for opposing their new models or agreements of the people Section XVII Neither can Sects or Schisms with any truth or justice be reckoned the Off-spring of Presbytery Consider the French Dutch Helvetian Churches how intire they keep themselves in Orthodox Vnity from the Gangreen of Sects and Schisms A wide Breach was once made in the Netherlands by Arminius and his Followers but after some years conflict it was healed by the Synod of Dort The Church of Scotland is inferiour to none in the unity of Doctrine and Church-Communion and their form of Ecclesiastical Policy and method of Discipline is very effectual to prevent the broaching of Errour King James in discourse with an English Bishop is reported to have rendred this account why so few Heresies and Errours of Doctrine are united and prosecuted to the publick disturbance of that Church Every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them and he with his Elders and Deacons hath a weekly meeting for censure of manners by which he perfectly knows his Flock and every abberation of them in doctrine practise and lest any heresie might seize upon the Pastor they have their Presbyters which meet together once also every week in the next chief Town or City and there they have their exercise of prophesying after which the Moderator asks the judgement of all the Pastors concerning the doctrine then delivered or of any other doubtful point then propounded and if the Presbytery be divided in their opinions the question is under an injoyned silence put over 〈◊〉 the next Synod which is held twice a 〈…〉 which the Pastors of that quarter or province do duly resort accompanied with their Elders and any question of doubt is either decided by that Assembly or with charge of silence reserved to a national Synod which they hold every year once whither come not the Pastors onely but the King himself or his Commissioners and some of all orders and degrees sufficiently authorized for determining of any controversie that shall arise among them Could the Bishops in former times procure a greater unity in the Church of England Whence therefore should this charge arise peradventure some Presbyterians have turned Sectaries Surely it would be taken for a weak arguing to say That Prelacy is the way to Popery because some Prelatists have turned Papists The truth is Sectarianism grew up in a Mystery of Iniquity and State policy and it was not well discerned till it became almost triumphant by Military successes But after that its growth and strength did manifestly appear Presbytery began to struggle with it and so continued until by the power of the Army it was inforced to sit down but never to comply Whereupon the tongues and pens of Sectaries were imployed against none more then the Presbyterians And I should be glad to hear of such bitter Invectives of the Papists against the Prelatists not that I rejoyce in the sin of the one or the suffering of the other but that the Protestant friends of Prelacy might more incline to their Protestant Presbyterian Brethren Surely the way to prevent the growth of the two utmost extreams is for the two middle parties to draw up and close together But however the world goes the Presbyterians shall ever keep as good a distance from the Sectaries or Fanaticks as the Prelatists shall from Papists And verily there is no greater bar against Fanaticism then the right Presbyterian principles as not to sever but joyn the written word and spirit for direction the spirit and use of Ordinances for Edification to erect a stated Church-Order and Discipline to allow to the Church a directive and to every Christian a discretive judgment to insist only upon Divine Scripture Warrant and to wave humane authority in matters of Religion For such is the temperament of these Maximes that they commend and require a distinct knowledge and illumination in the mind and in the affections lively motions and stirrings against Formality and blind Devotion and so do satisfie the minds of those who conceive that in true Religion there is spiritual light and life and power and also they shew the necessity of the written Word of constant publick Ordinances and private Exercises of Religion and of the direction and discipline of the Church all which do serve to settle the mind against dilusive impulses and wild fancies and raptures Section XVIII But of all the prejudices and scandals taken against this way there is none greater then this that it is represented as tyrannical and domineering and that those who live under it must like Issachar crouch under the burdens In
we conclude that those who agree in the Doctrine of Faith cannot disagree in the substance of Worship They differ only about the Liturgy and Ceremonies And the dissenting side oppose not all Liturgy but desire that the present form may be changed or reformed They oppose not any circumstance of Decency and Order but desire that mystical Ceremonies of humane institution may be abolished or not injoyned Section XX. Thus the Coalition of these two Interests into one appeareth possible because their conscientious principles on both sides have not that repugnancy but that they may well close together in a due temperament and constitute one solid Ecclesiastical politie And nothing hinders this conjunction but the obstinacy either of one or both parties from a humour of opposition or incurable enmity or some carnal designe Among the Bishops and Episcopal Doctors some of the most eminent have witnessed to the world their desires of Accommodation by their endeavours and proposals that way The Presbyterians preferr an uniting accommodation though upon yielding terms before division with an intire Toleration The incomparable Bishop Usher in the beginning of the late Troubles proposed his model Intituled The Reduction of Episcopacy unto the form of Synodical Government received in the ancient Church as an expedient for the comprimizing of the now differences thus declaring That by Order of the Church of England all Presbyters are charged to minister the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Realm hath received the same And that they might the better understand what the Lord hath commanded therein the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus is appointed to be read unto them at the time of their Ordination Take heed to your selves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to rule the Congregation of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Mark well how this pious learned Prelate declares his own sence and interprets the meaning of the Church of England that the Holy Ghost hath made all Ordained Ministers Bishops or Overseers to rule the Congregation of God He saith further Though in our Church this kinde of Presbyterial Government hath been long dis-used yet seeing it still professeth that every Pastor hath a right to rule the Church and to minister the Discipline of Christ as well as to dispense the Doctrine and Sacraments And the restraint of the exercise of this Right proceeds onely from the custom now received in this Realm no man can doubt but by another Law of the Land this hinderance may be well removed If the Presbyterians imbrace these or such like Proposals what hinders the agreement in that great and most difficult point in difference to wit Church-Government Section XXI If both parties refuse to meet each other and to walk together in a middle way the weaker party must needs be tolerated There is indeed a third way by subverting the rejected side but we believe that in the present case it is so abhorrent to humane reason and Christian Charity thâ—â—we will not take it into consideration Wherefore the Question lies between an Accommodation and a Toleration which of these two shall be chosen and why the former is more desirable for both sides then the latter I offer these arguments And first Multiformity of Religion publickly professed doth not well comport with the spirit of this Nation which is free eager zealous apt to animosities and jealousies besides that it hath ever had a strong propension to Uniformity Also it is too well known that the dividing of Church communion is the dividing of hearts and that we shall not live like brethren till we agree to walk in one way Only let this be well observed and ever remembred that the necessary and injoyned terms of this Unity be not in things superfluous but necessary at least for edification order and peace Moreover Toleration being not the daughter of Amity but of Enmity at least in some degree supposeth the party tolerated to be a burden especially if conceived dangerous to the way established and commonly holds no longer then meer necessity compels and consequently neither party take themselves to be safe the one alwaies fearing to lose its authority and the other its liberty And if men will lay aside self-conceit and fond indulgence to the way of their own perswasion they will quickly finde that the temper of this Kingdom doth not well accord with extreams on either hand Certainly well-minded and serious people were never better prepared for an equall Accommodation They are weary of tedious dissentions in Church and State and have seen felt the sad consequents thereof and could they once attain to setled union upon the same grounds they would do their utmost to hold and keep it inviolable Without controversie the earnest thoughts of such a compoture did expedite the peaceable return of his Majesty The Presbyterians vigorously acted for it although they knew there were some that breathed out revenge and cruelty against them yet they hoped that the prevailing part would be sober and carry it with all moderation But they relyed chiefly upon his Majestie 's Wisdom Equity and Goodness whose Virtues attested by faithfull witnesses proclaimed him the Soveraign Reconciler and Healer of our breaches And surely they will never repent of their honesty and loyalty And let them rest assured that their moderation shall plead for them in the time to come Section XXII If one party coming forward to meer their brethren make a tender of such propositions as in al reason may procure unity and order in the Church and cannot pass further without regret of Conscience in this case for the other party to go about to strain them higher is most unreasonable and uncharitable Let them remember his Rule who is Lord and Head of the Church Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye the same unto them Now such proposals may suffice for peace which will not satisfie humour and faction and carnal interest Unity and order may be obtained by those terms that do not prejudice the conscientious principles of either party and are not defective in things necessary I mean not onely to salvation but to the Churches peace and edification and verily to insist upon such terms alone is the most Christian and most rational way to a solid and sure peace As for the Presbyterians what they offer will sufficiently attain the said ends and what they stand upon doth not cross the said rule of Charity and Prudence Their proposals touching Prelacy Liturgy Ceremonies and Canonical Subscription are in no wise repugnant to the Churche's being or wel-being Section XXIII That Prelacy as it stood in England is not essential to a Church-State we call to witness the far greater number of Protestant Episcopal Divines yea the whole current of them till the times next fore-going our Civil wars Archbishop Bancroft no way
to contest with Princes and Nobles and all ranks and degrees about their Immunities Priviledges Pre-eminencies to multiply Constitutions and Ceremonies for props to their own Greatness but not to promote the Spiritual Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of people according to the life and power of Christianity The above-named Venetian Gentleman in his Narrative of the Popes Nuncio delivers this Maxime That the Court of Rome in perpetual pursuance of its old pretences is more sollicitous and laborious to reverse and destroy the Oath of Allegiance because it seems contrary to its temporall grandeur then to extirpate such Heresies as the Realm of England is infected with Even so such an Hierarchy will be more industrious and careful to establish and enlarge their own Power Dignity then to maintain and propagate Christs true Religion What are the weapons of the Warfare by which this Mystical State prevails Not such as are mighty through God working upon the conscience but pecuniary Mulcts and greater temporal penalties not to the wounding of the spirit but to the breaking of the outward estate By what wayes and methods must it be advanced The constant and practical preaching of the Word must be discountenanced Snares must be laid for the most zealous Ministers Sports and pastimes on the Sabbath dayes must be held forth with allowance and approbation Men of strict lives and serious in Religion must be reproached for Fanaticks By these means a people being first enthralled to ignorance superstition and profaness will be disposed unto blinde obedience and perfect spiritual bondage For in very deed the State here described will never stand safely among a people that are free serious searching and discerning in matters of Religion For this cause an Hierarchy of this nature hath a strong bias towards Popery Nay it must for its own safety approach as near it as the Nation can well bear The Reformed Religion doth not glory in the vast riches outward pomp and splendour of Ecclesiastical persons Wherefore when the grandeur of Prelates and pomp of Ceremonies is affected and admired the Church of Rome is sure to finde favour in the eyes of the Clergy The said Venetian reports That the Universities Bishops and Divines of this Realm dayly imbrace Catholick Opinions though they profess them not with open mouth for fear of the Puritans In this matter let them stand or fall by the evidence of their own writings Let it be well observed that the designes of suppressing Puritans and complying with Papists in this Nation had their beginning both at once and proceeded in equal paces And it hath appeared that the moderate Cassandrian Grotian Popery was no abomination to many Prelatists The Conciliators of our age have judged Papists and moderate Protestants as they call them very reconcileable but have cast the Calvinists or Puritans without the limits of the pacification Wherefore we cannot conceive that the excessive height of Prelacy I say not this of regulated Episcopacy to be the strongest Bulwark against Popery unless by Popery is meant no more then what the Trent Fathers except the Italians generally opposed to wit the stupendious exorbitant power of the Pope who pretends to be not only Supream but in effect sole Bishop of the Universe as reputing all other Bishops his meer subjects and delegates We confess Popery in this new and strict notion might be controlled by the height of Prelacy But according to a vulgar sence we take Popery in the height thereof for the Heresies and Idolatries and in the lower degree thereof for the gross errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome Section XXXII Moreover pure necessity in that state will constrain the Hierarchy to negotiate with Rome if they subvert and ruine the Presbyterians If in such a case they intend to uphold a Protestant State they understand not their own concernment The Bishops must either retreat to a moderate compliance with Presbyteriaus or advance to a reconciliation with Papists If they had a design to extirpate the Presbyterians and could accomplish it are they able afterwards alone and by themselves to bear up against the main force and to withstand all the wiles and methods of the popish Faction at home and abroad They mistake themselves if they think their unalterable adherents are so numerous and powerful In case they dissipate that other party which hath been always found most active vigorous and vigilant against Romish Encroachments what remains besides themselves and their zealots but a common dronish multitude that will do little for any religion or men of loose principles that would easily embrace Popery as a flesh-pleasing Religion When the common people are left to ignorance and prophaness for servile ends and purposes they are thoroughly prepared for Popery which is a gross sensual formal pompous way agreeable to the multitude whereas Fanaticism the other extreme takes but with a few in comparison because it hath something of pretended illuminations spiritual notions and raptures to which the common multitude is not propense If you ask how hath Prelacy held it out hitherto against Popery even from the first Reformation take notice that the Episcopal Clergy did not go about to exterminate the Puritans before their latter times and then he that had half an eye could discern the notable advance and the confident expectations of the Popish faction Section XXXIII Do any persons conceive a Reconciliation with Rome hopeful or possible upon moderate tearms as they suppose namely the permission of the marriage of Priests the Popes Dispensation for the Oaths of Allegiance and Supermacy so far as it concerns the Kings temporal power the administring of the Communion in both kinds and the Liturgy officiated in the English Tongue Let them observe that Panzani the Popes Nuncio in England declared privately to his intimate friend that the Pope would never admit any man to govern here as Bishop meaning over the Catholicks that should favour the Oath of Allegiance And the reason hereof is evident because it is a thing contrary to the maxims of Rome Moreover in that little History of the said Nuncio there is a passage which being well considered doth evince that the Courts of England and Rome are irreconcileable unless England become intirely papal That Author saith That this Realm is so perversly addicted to maintain its own resolute opinion of excluding the Popes authority that this hath been the cause why the Catholicks who for the first twelve years conformed themselves unto the Politie introduced into the Church of England have since separated from it and to testifie their uniting to the Pope have refused to frequent the Protestant Churches and have therby framed one party in that State Let a fair accord in the general be supposed yet the sole point of the Popes Supremacy shal dash the whole agreement We know that Jesuitism is the predominant humour in the Papacy and nothing can be done without their influence and therefore we cannot
every Town and Parish and almost in all mixed companies and occasional Meetings But let the propounded Accommodation be accepted and established and the former mutual injuries will pass into forgetfulness and persons formerly engaged against each other will be able to look one another in the face without provocation and new quarrels Where is our Charity and regard to publick tranquility if we reject the sure and only means of Concord Section XXIII Uniformity in Religion is beautiful and amiable but we ought to consider not only what is desirable but what is attainable There have been are and always will be such points as the Apostle tearms doubtful disputations When the severity of Laws and Canons inforce external Uniformity in things of this nature it exerciseth a tyranny over mens judgments and holds them in a servile condition that they are not free but captivated to the Authority of men or suppressed from making a due search into matters of Religion yea this thraldom will inevitably reach to things of an higher nature even the vital parts of Christianity That servile Principle which hath the heart of Popery in it must be introduced to wit that the Laity should not search the Scriptures nor try the Doctrines delivered but acquiesce in what their Teachers say without the Exercise of their own reason or judgment of discretion Hereupon will follow gross ignorance and supine carelesness in the things of God and in those that any whit mind Religion which is the best of the matter a blind devotion And a people rude and servile in Religion will be rude and dissolute in Conversation as we see in Popish Countries and in all places where spiritual tyranny prevaileth This is so great an evil that it cannot be countervailed by all the imaginable benefit of Uniformity And the truth is all profitable Uniformity is mingled with sobriety and stands not in an indivisible point but admits a latitude and by a little variety in matters of lesser moment becomes more graceful because it is more unstrained and unaffected Section XXIV It is a chief point of knowledge in those whose work it is to mould and manage a Nation according to any order of things to undrestand what is the temper of the people what Principles possess and govern them or considerable Parties of them and to what pass things are already brought among them Those who duly observe and regard the disposition and present State of England and the principles and affections of the several considerable Parties will be able to give the best advice for a happy settlement For such a course as is wisely and succesfully taken in one Nation may in the like business prove unfortunate in another Nation or in the same at another time A State may probably root out such opinions as it conceives to be heterodox and inconvenient by using great severity in the beginning when the opinions are but newly sowed in mens minds and the people are of such a nature as to abhor dangers and aim to live securely and when the Nation in general is devoted to the ancient customs of their fore-fathers But the same course may not be taken when the opinions have been deeply rooted and far spread by long continuance in a Nation of a free spirit and zealous and the generality of those that in a Law sence are called Cives do not detest them At this day England affords a multitude of Episcopal Zealots and a multitude of Presbyterian Zealots balancing the former and between these two there lye a more indifferent sort of people whereof a great number care for none of these things but others are more intelligent and considerate and these seem to approve some things and again to disapprove some things on either side As far as I have observed the indifferent sort of men do accord with the Episcopal way in affecting the Common-Prayer-Book and those among them that are of any reckoning for worth or honesty do also according to the Presbyterian way affect the constant preaching of the Word and the residency of Ministers in their Parochial Charges and disaffect plurality of Benefices Knowledge hath so increased that the people in general will more observe their Teachers Doctrine and conversation and the impertinencies of the one and the irregularities of the other shall not pass without noting The insufficient idle and scandalous will fall into contempt and be slighted by the common people The profanation of the Lords Day by open sports and pastimes is by the Civil part of the Nation accounted scandalous Furthermore the present Age being more discerning all sorts affect a greater liberty of Judgment and Discourse then hath been used in former times Whereupon the State of this Kingdom requires a temper or medium between two extreams to wit medium abnegationis in those unnecessary things wherein no accord can be expected between the Parties by abolishing or not injoyning them and medium participationis in things necessary to Order and Government wherein the moderate of both Parties do easily comply with each other When the State like a prudent Mother not led by the passions of her angry Children shall not engage in their quarrels on this or that side but settle such a temperament for their common good love and peace may ensue between the Parties though difference of judgment still remains When the Nation shall not espouse to it self the Interest of a party but intirely reserve it self for the good of the Universality those hot disputes and contests will of themselves fall to the ground and men of different judgments will be less fond of their own opinions when they observe that the State doth not judge its happiness to rest upon any of them and that the welfare of the Church and Kingdom consists without them Section XXV This Kingdom after the removing of foundations is by a marvellous turn re-established upon its ancient basis And verily that which hath wrought the change will settle it that which hath brought such things to pass will keep them where they are if we do not overlook and sleight it And what was it but the consent of the universality the Vote of all England This did produce an universal motion exceeding vehement but not violent For it was not against but according to nature All things having been out of place and held in a state preternatural when the force was taken off moved to their center and place of rest to wit the ancient fundamental constitution And for this cause the change was not terrible but calm kindly and unbloody Now as that natural inclination which carries things to their resting place will keep them there untill by violence they are forced thence so this consent of the universality which produced a kindly motion of all things to settle in their own place and order upon the right foundation will keep them there until such external force shall come as can break and dissipate the universality Wherefore seeing this great revolution