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A39114 A letter from a person of quality in the north to a friend in London, concerning Bishop Lake's late declaration of his dying in the belief of the doctrine of passive obedience as the distinguishing character of the Church of England Eyre, Elizabeth. 1689 (1689) Wing E3940; ESTC R5465 6,030 13

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A LETTER FROM A Person of Quality IN THE NORTH To a Friend in LONDON CONCERNING Bishop Lake's Late Declaration Of his Dying in the Belief of the Doctrine OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE AS THE Distinguishing Character of the CHURCH of ENGLAND Licens'd Sept. 19th 1689. J. F. LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchill at the Black-Swan near Amen-Corner 1689. A LETTER FROM A Person of Quality Dear Sir YOU may wonder that at this time of day I should begin to talk to you of Bishop Lake's Death for which I dare say both of us have before this paid our just Tribute of Sorrow and for whose Memory every True Protestant must have a very particular Respect so long as the Courage and Constancy of the Seven Bishops remains upon Record which I verily believe will be till time shall be no more But some as if this Glorious Action had not been enough to have secured his Fame to all Eternity seem rather desirous to transmit him to Posterity by another Distinguishing Character that of the Great Champion for Passive Obedience thinking that to be a greater Honour than to be recorded for one of the great Maintainers and Assertors of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties For there is a Paper sent abroad about our Country attested not only by his own Hand but also by several unquestionable Witnesses wherein the Good Bishop on his Death-Bed declares That he had been brought up in and had also taught others that great Doctrine of Passive Obedience which he always look't upon as the Distinguishing Character of the Church of England and that he would not have taken the Oath though the Penalty had been Loss of Life but found great Satisfaction and Consolation in his Mind because he had not taken it and these he desired might be look'd upon as the Words of a Dying Man and so represented to his Friends But whether those Friends had not done him as good Service if they had kept it to themselves and not represented it to the World I think may be a Question for I must confess 't is a little unaccountable to me what Designs they could have in Publishing it For 't is so far from being necessary on the Bishop's account that 't was really impertinent For he that at that time was under and had submitted to a Suspension meerly upon his refusal of the Oaths had certainly given the World as convincing a Proof of his Opinion as if he had printed a Thousand Volumes about it So that there was no more occasion I think of making but I am sure of Publishing such a Declaration than there is for my Lord Bishop of Cant. to Print Manifestoes to tell the People he is suspended on the same account And since there was so very little Reason to do it on the Bishop's Score the Motives and Designs had need be very good that can justifie their doing it on their own Had either they or the Bishop given us the Reasons of his adhering to that Opinion besides that of his being bred and born in it an Argument that a Turk or Pagan may have for the Truth of their Religion they might have obliged the World exceedingly but the only Motives at least that are to me apparent for telling us what we knew before I think might as well have been spared for there are Two Inferences which may very easily be made from the Paper and which I suspect was the chief aim in publishing The First is to insinuate that from the beginning of the Reformation ever since the Church of England was restored to its Purity Passive Obedience was the Corner-stone of it for 't is call'd The Distinguishing Character of the Church of England so that it seems none was accounted her true Sons that did not hold it Now if this be true here 's the whole Body of the Clergy in Queen Elizabeth's days cut off from the Church of England at one blow for 't is not the Opinion of one or two private Prelates but the whole Convocation who agree not only in giving the Queen so very large Subsidies but also in declaring the accounts on which they did it and that was assisting and protecting the Scotch and French Protestants and for abating all Hostilities against the true Professors of Gods holy Gospel and for the advancing the free profession of the Gospel within and without Her Majesties Dominions and a great deal more to this purpose as may be seen at large in the Preambles to the Three Subsidy Bills given the 5 th of Eliz. l. 24. the 35 th of Eliz. c. 12. and the 43 d of Eliz. c. 17. So that 't is apparent it was their practice for Forty years and I hope their Faith also for I cannot be so uncharitable as to think they would sin against their Conscience and purchase Damnation at so dear a rate as those vast Sums they gave for the assistance of those that I am sure did resist their Kings and who according to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience ought to have been look'd upon and used as Rebels And truly whatever is pretended their Doctrine was agreeable to their practice for altho the Book of Homilies hath been so often cited for the confirmation of this Doctrine yet the Example of David which is so much recommended to us in the 2 d Homily against Rebellion for his Loyalty and our imitation that is we desire to stand or fall by for if the Subject may be allow'd to take up as we are sure David did against Saul Defensive Arms I think they would be very unreasonable to desire any more But this having been enlarged on by better Pens I shall say no more of it but cannot pass by the Epithet of the distinguishing Character of the Church of England without some Animadversions on it And first I would ask you Sir whether you think it necessary for particular Churches to have particular distinguishing Doctrines For I must confess to me but if I am in an Error I hope you will correct it it appears so far from necessary that I think 't is very inconvenient when particular Churches have such distinguishing Doctrines for I believe it has been the occasion of all the Schisms in the World. For since as the Apostle saith Eph. 4. 5. there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism and I may add one Church and one Truth Why should we not at least endeavour to be all of one mind and not affect little distinctions which oftentimes create great Animosities of which our present Age can give too many sad instances But alas the Disease did not begin neither will it I fear end with us for we find St. Paul reproving it in his Corinthians as that which occasioned all their Divisions while one cryed he was of Paul and another of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ So that it seems they did not only give their patticular Teachers the preference above others but also set them in opposition