Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A31186
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The case of the suspended bishops considered in which the unreasonableness of their descent from the present government and the mischievous consequence that hath attended it, is demonstrated.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C1168; ESTC R3534
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16,373
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38
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our Apologist in setting forth a few days Imprisonment in one of the Royal Palaces of the Kings of England for such the Tower is under the Notion of such Prisons as the Primitive Christians were buried alive in under Dioclesian does really detract from the real Glory the Reverend Bishops gain'd by their Restraint since every body will tell us the vast disproportion between the Dungeons of the Primitive Christians and the place where the Seven Rishops were confin'd In the next period our Author seems to be willing to teach the World how to give Uncharitable Names to the Suspended Bishops their standing out against taking the Oaths And they are very little oblig'd to him for putting such words as Obstinacy Pride and Prejudice in the Mouths of uncharitable People who are inclinable enough of themselves to put a harsh Interpretation upon these Reverend Persons their Carriage in that Point But they are yet less oblig'd to them in taxing them with mourning in Spirit for the Miseries of the Protestant Religion Alas how strangely does this Man accuse instead of defending the Persons he Apologises for And what can he say worse of them than that they mounn in Spirit for the Miseries of the Protestant Religion when those that have a just measure of Charity for them believe they are so far from looking upon the Protestant Religion to be in a worse condition through this late Revolution that on the contrary we are all willing to think these Reverend Persons do rejoice heartily for it as carrying with it the happiness and prosperity of the Protestant Religion which otherwise would have been at the bottom of misery But he comes to tell us page 4. That the Bishops Conceal their Reasons why they do not take the Oaths and therefore he has not the ill manners to dive into them Pray why an Apology for the Suspended Bishops their not taking the Oaths and yet no diving into the Reasons why they will not take them I confess the Gentleman his fall'n upon a new and hitherto unheard of manner of making an Apology since he will not â—â—â—er into the Reasons why they did not the thing for which he Apologises If he had pleased he might have sav'd himself and us the trouble of his Pamphlet for this is all we desire to know why the Suspended Bishops did not take the Oaths and he thinks it ill manners to dive into them Thus we are just as wise as before for any thing this Gentleman is pleas'd to tell us to the contrary Commend me to the Grand Jury of Glocester for drawing up Addrosses and for making Apologies tho' the one comes never to be delivered and the other never to touch the Principal Subject it should reat of I hope this folly in their Apologiser will oblige some of the Reverend Persons concern'd to do it themselves by which they will extraordinarly oblige the World But our Apologist comes pag 6. to tell us of the Christian temper of our Holy Primate and his Brethren in not rejoicing as others in the Afflictions of that Calamitous Prince King James and that in their anguish of Soul and great pangs of Spirit they have often wept for their avowed Enemy and endeavoured with their Holy Tears like the Soveraign Balm Tree to cure his Wounds It 's a great pity this Gentleman were not in the Chair to preach a Panegyrick upon the Suspended Bishops What stuff and Cant is here without any design I know of but either to render these Reverend Persons Cause ridiculous or the Case of those that have taken contrary Measures to them less odious Might not the Suspended Bishops have mourn'd for the Afflictions of the late King without having by their stiffness encouraged a Party that 's an Enemy both to them and all of their Religion tho' never so much against the present Settlement Where has the Panegyrist learn'd this new kind of canting flattery Holy Primate Holy Tears c. And what needed the Man tell the World that these Fathers have endeavour'd by these their Holy Tears to cure that unfortunate Prince's Wounds That is worse of them than I am willing the World should know For King James his greatest Wounds are certainly his being sot beside a Throne his being stopt in the midst of his Carreer of destroying the Protestant Religion the Laws and Liberties of three Kingdoms his being forc'd to see a Religion he abhors to become Triumphant in spight of all his hopes and endeavours to the contrary Pray do the Bishops endeavour by their holy tears to cure such Wounds as these Or does their Champion design to assront them with pretending they endeavour to bring King James back again to his Throne and to put him in condition of executing his begun design upon us and our Religion I know no other Cure of his Wound than this And does this our Author under the colour of making an Apology for them venture to put them in a new fright by acquainting the Mob that they endeavour to cure King James 's Wounds which is all one with restoring him to the Throne We justly say there is no Wound like that of a Friend and this Champion of the Suspended Bishops whether out of inadvertence or design has said of them what their greatest Endemes would scarce have ventur'd on and all under a pretence of writing their Panegvrick I am as much as any against Harsh Treating the Suspended Bishops and I am loath to give the Name of Ignis fatuus to this Light he says these Reverend Persons entertain in their Breasts But I never thought it was Harsh Treatment to get leave to enjoy the Protection of a Government at the very time they refuse to acknowledge the Government that gives it them And tho every Body is pleased these Fathers should enjoy Protection and Safety under the present Settlement yet I must tell this Author That there is no Government I know upon Earth that would be so Favourable in this case as Ours is To pass over that Mass of indigested Stuff about the Sacredness of an Oath on which our Author expatiates in the 7 and 8 Pages I cannot but laugh at the Poor Mans rediculous Notions of the Suspended Bishops their not being yet satisfied in their Perplexity of their Doubt to give his own words tho scarce good or intelligible which he says does so much affect them than for this reason they refuse to Swear The truth is we are obliged in good Manners to think these Reverend Persons have some Doubts that forbid them to take the Oaths but what these Doubts are neither they nor this their New Champion are at the Pains to let us know It 's greatly to be regrated that this Divine Spirit which he says Page 8. Reigns in their Breasts should be of the Nature of those Spirits our Saviour met with on Earth both Deaf and Dumb Deaf against all Reasons offered to them and Dumb as to all Reasons expected from them And
Safety of the Government s this Address of our Grand-Jury was III. Our Addressers have by their ordinary inadvertence and Folly insinuated that the Bishops needed a Pardon which truly they did not for they humbly pray the like Favour viz. a Pardon might be extended to their Pious Bishops particularly their Diocesan Whatever Thanks they pretend to pay the King 2ure I am the Suspended Bishops owe none to those Gentlemen who desire a Pardon for them when they themselves I hope are sufficiently perswaded they need none And if a Man had been design'd to redicule these Reverend Fathers it could not been better done than begging a Pardon for them that had appear'd in the last Reign with so much Zeal for the Liberty and Religion of their Country and had suffered a Confinement like that of the Primitive Martyrs under Dioclesian among Murtherers and Traytors to use our Authors own words upon that Score IV. Our Addressers have stumbled unhappily upon the Word Serving their Majesties in their several Provinces One would have thought these Zealous Votaries should rather have used the word Serving God Almighty for the Office of Bishops does more immediately rafer to that than to the Service of any Earthly Monarch It 's an ordinary Expression to Serve God in the Work of the Ministry but it 's a new one to Serve the King in it And I believe these Reverend Persons will be of my Opinion The word Provinces comes in as much from the Purpose for by Provinces when referring to the Bishops of England are meant two the Districts of Canterbury and York and that of York is already happily filled So that the word Province should have been used only in the Singular Number to mean that of Canterbury now Vacant otherwise it was not good Sense But to answer this Address in one word There is no Government in the World that ever allowed Men to enjoy the greatest Offices and Dignities in it that would not acknowledge the Government it selof some one way or other And there can be no greater Presumption nor Affront done the Government than for a Handful of Men to present a Petition or Address which is all one for continuing these Men in Offices which the Law and all the Rules of Policy incapacitate them for There is no Honest Man but could heartily wish these Reverend Bishops might have their Consciences satisfied in point of the Oaths but until they satisfie the Law by taking them we must regret their Misfortune without wishing them in Offices the Law cannot allow them to enjoy There is no question but whenever they shall get over their Scruples the King will shew as much Kindness to them as he has been pleased to shew One of their Coat of late upon his getting over his We have some hopes that the Pungent Reasons which prevail'd with this Reverend Parson to change his Sentiments as to the Lawfulness of the Oaths may at length prevail with the Bishops too And it 's from thence the World is in so much Impatience to see that New Convert's Reasons in Print I know not if I be obliged to follow this rambling Apologist through all the Impertinencies in the rest of his Pamphlet But I cannot enough admire the wonderful Application he makes of the Fable about the Camels getting from Jupiter crop'd Ears instead of Horns and all this our Author is at pains to relate meerly for the sake of a fine single Epithet in calling Crop'd Ears a Sanctisied Dress What a Leanred Man must this be that can go back the length of Esop's days only to have a Nonsensical Fling at the Dissenting Ministers whom such Learned Authors as himself have sometime for what Reason no body knows Nicknam'd Crop'd Ear'd Parsons But I would fain know of this Gentleman whither if he himself had been to ask a Boon of Jupiter it might not have been as much his Interest to desire him to crop his Ears as to give him or allow him to keep Horns the one being more visible and making perhaps a greater Noise in the Neighborhood than the other could possibly do especially if hidden by a Perriwig He spends almost all the rest of the Pamphlet in vindicating the Grand-Juries making their Address to the King and not to the King and Parliament It 's not worth the pains to consider whither they should have Address'd it to the King or to the Parliament or to both for whatever way they were to do it they were to lose their pains and to meet with that Just Disdain such a Folly deserves The Poor Man after this falls into one of the Saddest Fits of Fury against the Presbyterians that can be and no body knows what has given occasion to this Paroxism of his Was it because they condemn'd the Gloucester Address At that rate he might have with the same reason belsh'd out his Venom at the Better and Learneder part of the Church of England who have unanimously condemn'd this Address as much as the Presbyterians as being more concern'd for the Reflection such a Folly brings upon the Church But how he comes to spend so much time and so many Invectives against Doctor du Moulin for writing against some Mistakes in the Discipline of the Church of England I know not The Truth is I thought both the Man and his Book had been forgotten but it 's probable our Author is Master of so few Books that it 's no wonder he takes pains to cite so many Passages out of one that has casually fallen into his Hands There is very few I know that approves du Moulin's Heat against the Discipline of our Church but there are others of the other side nothing behind him in invectives against the Dissenters from the Church We have had both before and of late several who have gone to that length of Animosity against the Dissenters as for their meer Sakes to Vnchurch all the Protestant Churches in Europe because of the want of the Order of Bishops among them And it 's very likely this Uncharitableness of the Church of England against the Protestants abroad and particularly of the French Church whereof Doctor du Moulin was a Member might animate the Angry Old Man as our Author calls him a little beyond his Design and beyond Rea2on and Decency too So that Dr. du Moulin and our Author may even forget one another since they are equally in the wrong to one anothers Party The Author Raves when he tells us the Reason why People are displeased with his Gloucester Address is because it 's in Favour of Men that are Bishops and for their being so This is a rediculous and malicious Reflection there is no body but has a great Veneration for the Order and for a great many Learned Pious and Worthy Persons that compose it But indeed our Author will have much to do to reconcile the Generality of Mankind at least Protestants to the Conduct of the Suspended Bishops It 's not because they were