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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50861	Remarks upon the occasional paper, number VIII in a letter to the author.	Milles, Thomas, 1671-1740.	1697 (1697)	Wing M2068; ESTC R31895	7,801	12

not likely in the present Posture of Affairs to get the Church any more of its Just Rights than 't is already possess'd of and may possibly too much expose particular Persons But if you should be tempted to write upon this Subject and you should venture to endeavour the Confutation of this Learned and Pious Author I shall take the boldness to recommend this Piece of Advice to you That you would treat his Person with all that Respect which is due to his Extraordinary Merits in a word That you would behave your self to him as he behaves himself to all those he happens to differ from with the greatest Deference Candor and Modesty And I am the rather inclined to take the liberty of recommending this to you because by your way of writing you seem I had almost said Pedantically to affect to be thought a Moderate Man Which made me wonder the more that you who had behaved your self with that Caution and Tenderness towards others even where a little more Severity would not have been perhaps much amiss should unluckily fail of it only there where it was most due and best deserv'd Moderation is a Virtue that becomes a Scholar and a Minister better than any but yet if it be misplac'd it loses its Name and Nature and degenerates into a vicious Lukewarmness and Indifferency When the Foundations of all Religion in general and the Sacred Truths of the Christian in particular whether they be such as respect the Faith or Government and Discipline of the Church are not only sapped and undermined but professedly and openly attack'd by Atheists Deists and Latitudinarians all that are in earnest with what they profess ought presently to take the Alarm and with a suitable Concern and a becoming discreet Zeal boldly to defend their Holy Mother the Church from these her false Friends and declar'd Enemies We are commanded to contend earnestly for the Faith and to rebuke some men sharply and though the Truth and Obligation of these Commands is own'd by all in Theory yet I know not how by distinguishing Times Seasons and Circumstances they are so evaded by most that they have almost lost all their Force and Energy in Practice To what a deplorable State this Indifference in Matters of Religion together with a good ample Toleration will bring any Church in some time we may judge from what we see in a neighbour-Neighbour-State where there is as great a variety and medly of Sects Opinions and Religions as there was anciently of Tongues at Babel where all Religions are profess'd and none believ'd where Men alter their Opinions in these Matters as they do the Fashion of their Cloaths according to their own Humour or the Customs of the Country where they are or the Examples of those with whom they converse For so we are told by an Author that has given an account of this Country Sir W. T. of the Netherlands p. 207. That the Appearance of Religion is here like a Piece of Humanity by which every one falls most into the Company or Conversation of those whose Customs and Humours whose Talk and Dispositions he likes best And as in other Places 't is in every Man's choice with whom he will Eat or Lodge with whom go to Market or to Court so it is here with whom he will Pray or go to Church or associate himself in the Service and Worship of God Nor is any more notice taken or consure pass'd of what every one chuses in these Cases than in the other But how much soever such a State and Face of Religion may advance the Trade and Commerce of a Country which I wish some Men don't prefer before all other Considerations yet certainly nothing can be more prejudicial to Mens Eternal Interest which whatever those Men may think are infinitely preferable to the other than this humour of Indifferency and such an unlimited Toleration as is here described For unless all Religions be alike and every one shall be saved by living up to the Precepts of that Sect or Party which he is a Member of which no body that has any Religion will assert it can be no indifferent thing with whom we associate our selves in the Service of God Since among the many Sects and Parties of Religion into which any Nation may be divided it is certain but one of them can be in the true and that by joining with which alone in a visible Communion Men are made capable of being Saved in the Ordinary way even upon performing all the other Conditions of Salvation And if this be true I cannot see but all Civil Magistrates are indispensably obliged to use all fit means that the True Religion may be profess'd by all those that live within their Dominions however inconsistent this may be with Trade or any other Worldly Advantage The Ingenious Author above-mentioned has given us a very good Account how such an unlimited Toleration came to be setled in the Country I am speaking of It was not their being satisfied of the Lawfulness or even Expediency in respect of Religion of such an extravagant Liberty that made them permit a mixtûre of all Religions among them but the force of Commerce and a Trading Conversation This same Trade has a wonderful force and energy We know whom it made Deny or Dissemble their Christianity in the East Indies And I wish with all my heart that Trade and Commissioners for Trade may have no ill influence upon the same Religion here in England And as our Latitudinarians are thus injurious to Religion so are They no less who are for altering our present Ecclesiastical Constitution in order to comprehend a party of Men who have no mind to come within the Pale of the Church because they make their Markets much better by holding their Separate Conventicles These are the Men whose common Theme of Discourse are the Miscarriages of the Two last Reigns whether in Church or State who read and admire the Secret Histories that have come out of late of what no body besides the Authors of them ever heard of Others of them endeavour to shew their Impartiality and Moderation by owning some things that are charged upon the Church and Clergy which are not really true And this is the reason that I have known some Men accuse and condemn themselves recant and give the Lie to their own Sermons wherein they admirably well asserted and maintain'd the Doctrine of Passive Obedience not above its due height though perhaps in contradiction to the Opinions that are current at this time concerning it And I wish this be not the Motive which induced you Sir P. 31. to make that Severe Reflection concerning the Management of Church-Discipline in this Nation For unless you mean some few Miscarriages of Lay-Chancellors I don't think you can give Three Instances of any very great mismanagement of Church Power besides what the unhappy Circumstances of the Church Censures being directed and govern'd by our Civil Laws have necessarily involved those that inflict them in So little reason you had to own any Irregularities and Extravagancies no milder Terms it seems would serve your Turn of those who you are pleas'd to say exercise Church Power without regard to the Design or Rules of Christianity And now Sir I have done with my Remarks upon your Paper which I had not troubled my self to take so much notice of if you had not undeservedly spoken so disrespectfully of the Vindicator of the Deprived Bishops whom all Men highly honour for his great Innocence of Life concern for Religion and his incomparable Learning Your Design in writing in behalf of Church-Discipline which is very much wanted in this Nation and which our Church in her Liturgy wishes might be restored is highly commendable 'T is a Subject that well deserves an able Pen one that is exactly well acquainted with Primitive Antiquity to manage it And though we be not all capable of saying all that might be said upon some particular Subjects yet we ought to endeavour as much as we can to convince Men of those Sacred Truths which by the iniquity of the Times are most discountenanced and run down I am Sir Your c. FINIS

REMARKS UPON THE Occasional Paper NUMBER VIII In a Letter to the AUTHOR SIR I Was very much surpriz'd to find you charge the Author of the Vindication of the depriv'd Bishops so severely as you do pag. 3 and 4. of your late Occasional Paper he having given you no occasion that I or any unprejudic'd Person can see for those unkind Reflections Your Paper pretends to shew the Necessity of Christian Discipline and therefore I cannot but wonder you should seem so desirous to pick a Quarrel with one who has always been and is still ready upon all occasions to second your Design What he has said and writ in Defence of the Rights of the Clergy might one would have thought have secured him from the Pen of a Clergyman and though he should be found to have been somewhat mistaken in so generously asserting the Rights of the Church yet the Honesty and Sincerity of his Intentions ought to have induced you to have drawn a Veil over appendant Miscarriages The Temper of the Laity in this Age and Nation is such that few of them appear very forward to defend even the just Privileges of the Clergy and therefore when a Layman will write in their behalf they ought to be so true to their own Interests as at least to stand Neuters the mean while But it seems 't is fear'd That the Rights of the Church are carried to such a height as to give just ground of Suspicion and Jealousy to the Magistrate This ought to have been proved as well as asserted But I cannot see how that Power which this Author asserts to the Church can give any the least Cause of Jealousy to the Magistrate since 't is a purely Spiritual Power and such as is wholly independent of and has no manner of relation to and therefore cannot interfere with that of the State Nor can it endanger the Safety of any Government Because those who have it are not enabled by it to meddle or concern themselves at all in Temporal Matters but only to Feed Direct and Govern that Flock of which the Church hath made them Overseers Nay they own or ought to do so That in all Lawful things they are to pay an Active Obedience to the Civil Magistrate and where they cannot do this without violating their Consciences that there they must patiently submit even to his most unjust Punishments and utterly disown all manner of Resistance purely upon the account of Religion Men surely that own and maintain such Principles as these are not very likely to raise Commotions in a State or disturb the Government of the Civil Magistrate I don 't at all doubt but that the Government had good Reasons to seize and suppress the Pamphlet you mention There were possibly some things in it which the Person by whose Order it was suppress'd did not think convenient should be expos'd to Publick View But yet since there was a Promise from one engaged in the Controversy That he would secure whatever should be printed of that kind and since after it was seiz'd and before it was suppress'd there were Offers made of striking out whatever was offensive and Printing those Sheets over again it seems somewhat hard it should after all be condemn'd to the lining Trunks and Paper-Boxes You say the Title of this Author's Book is long and obscure Which is a Charge as False as 't is Impertinent To prove it False I need do no more than present you with the Title which runs thus A DEFENCE of the Vindication of the Deprived Bishops wherein The Case of Abiathar is particularly considered and the Invalidity of Lay-Deprivations is further proved from the Doctrines received under the Old Testament continued in the First Ages of Christianity and from our own Fundamental Laws Now I appeal to any Man of Sense whether this Title be e're a whit too long or at all obscure But it seems Sir you thought that the Book being suppress'd and so not likely to come abroad into the World you might say any thing of it no matter whether true or false since few or none would be able to contradict you And therefore the Author is beholden to you that you did not fall foul upon the Book it self but contented your self to Nibble at the Title-Page But Good Sir what matter is it how long or obscure the Title may be provided the Arguments thar are in it be clear and conclusive I have often known a Glorious Title prefix'd to a very indifferent Book as on the other hand an Excellent Book have but an ordinary Title this being a matter of so little moment that 't is often left to the Discretion of the Bookseller or Corrector And truly I believe no one will judge of the Goodness or Badness of a Book by its Title unless they be such as look no further than the Title Pages of Books But it is the way of some Men to endeavour to raise Prejudices against some sort of Books because forsooth the Style or Title-Page or something else as trifling which does not concern the Merits of the Cause is not to their minds I readily grant you That they do a great Injury to the Church as to its Real Rights who pretend to such as are not so But then Sir I must desire you to grant me That they do a greater Injury to it who tamely give up its Real Rights and oppose those who would defend them And as they are no Friends to the Church who draw upon it the Jealousy of those in Authority so they are Friends to neither Church nor State who give the latter such a Power over the former as cannot be warranted by Scripture Reason or the earliest Antiquity You profess your self glad That this Author is neither a Clergyman nor a Member of the Establish'd Church But I am sure all good men are sorry both for the one and the other since a Person of his great Piety and profound Learning would be a Support and Ornament to both Church and Clergy As for the Measures of the Magistrate's Power over the Church and whether it reaches so far as that he may forbid the Exercise of those Offices in his own Dominions which are inseparable from the Episcopal Character by those who will not declare themselves his Friends it is the matter in Debate and your saying That indeed it 's hard he should not have such a Power does not determine it I am sure the Primitive Christians of the first Three hundred Years after Christ in some Instances would not declare themselves Friends to the Roman Emperors in such a manner as they required and yet even in such a Case they did not think that they had a Power of hindring any particular Bishop from the exercise of his Function in his particular District If you say the Case is alter'd since the Civil Magistrates are become Christians It is answer'd That a Christian Governement has not the least Authority or Jurisdiction over the Church