be is scarce ever established by the Sword and the Gospel the blessed Peace cannot be published by the Sound of the Cannon neither the Sacred Word be conveyed unto us by the impious hands of Souldiers neither Tranquility be brought to the Persons and Consciences of Men by that which bringeth Ruin unto Nations ibid. pag. 30. He has said much in a little the Talent and Honour of Men truly great I give this still to the Church of Englands Principles which yet makes it harder for her to justifie her Practice in her use of Power But let us hear a King speak and one the Church of England is bound to hear by many Obligations King Charles the First out of his tender and princely sence of the sad and bleeding Condition of the Kingdom and his unwearied Desires to apply such Remedies as by the blessing of Almighty God might settle it in Peace by the Advice of his Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Oxford propounded and desired that all the Members of both Houses might securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to treat consult and agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease to tender Consciences The Kings Message of a Treaty March 3. 1643. from Oxford Superscribed to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster In the Kings Twentieth Message for Peace January 29. 1645. he has these Words That by the Liberty offered in his Message of the 5 th present for the ease of their Consciences who will not Communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom He intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceable in and towards the civil Government shall have the free Exercise of their Religion according to their own way In the Thirty third Message for Peace November 17. 1647. there are these Words His Majesty considering the great present Distempers concerning Church Discipline and that the Presbyterian Government is now in practice his Majesty to eschew Confusion as much as may be and for the satisfaction of his two Houses is content that the said Government be legally permitted to stand in the same Condition it now is for three Years provided that his Majesty and those of his Judgment or any other who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not obliged to comply with the Presbyterian Government but have free Practice of their own Profession without receiving any Prejudice thereby From the Isle of Wight In his Declaration to all his People January 18. 1645. from Carisbrook Castle after the Votes of no Address He says I have sacrificed to my two Houses of Parliament for the Peace of the Kingdom all but what is much more dear to me then my Life my Conscience and my Honour In his Letter to the Lords Gentlemen and Committee of the Scotch Parliament together with the Officers of the Army July 3. 1648. from Carisbrook Castle As the best foundation of Loyalty is Christianity so true Christianity is perfect Loyalty VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon his Majesties retirement from Westminster Sure it ceases to be Counsel when not Reason is used as to Men to Perswade but Force and Terror as to Beasts to drive and compel men to whatever tumultary Patrons shall project He deserves to be a Slave without Pity or Redemption that is content to have his Rational Soveraignty of his Soul and Liberty of his Will and Words so captivated Again ibid. Sure that Man cannot be blameable to God or Man who seriously indeavours to see the best reason of things and faithfully follows what he takes for reason the uprightness of his Intentions will excuse the possible failings of his Understanding Again ibid. I know no Resolutions more worthy a Christian King then to prefer his Conscience before his Kingdoms XII Upon the Rebellion and Troubles in Ireland Some kind of Zeal counts all merciful Moderation Lukewarmness and had rather be Cruel than accounted Cold and is not seldom more greedy to kill the Bear for her Skin than for any harm he hath done ibid O my God thou seest how much Cruelty among Christians is acted under the colour of Religion as if we could not be Christians unless we Crucifie one another XIII Upon the calling the Scots and their coming Sure in matters of Religion those Truth 's gain most on mens Judgments and Consciences which are least urged with Secular Violence which weakens Truth with Prejudices and is unreasonable to be used till such means of rational Conviction hath been appli'd as leaving no excuse for Ignorance condemns mens Obstinacy to deserv'd Penalties Violent Motions are neither Manly Christian nor Loyal The proper Engine of Faction is Force the Arbitrator of Beasts not of reasonable Men much less of humble Christians and loyal Subjects in matters of Religion XIV Upon the Covenant Religion requires Charity and Candor to others of different Opinions Nothing Violent and Injurious can be Religions XV. Upon the many Jealousies raised and Scandals cast upon the King to stir up the People against him In point of true Conscientious Tenderness attended with Humility and Meekness not with proud or arrogant Activity which seeks to hatch every egge of indifferent Opinion to Faction or Schism I have oft declared how little I desire my Laws and Scepter should intrench over Gods Soveraignty which is the only king of mens Consciences XXVII To the Prince of Wales Take heed of abetting to any Factions your partial adhereing to any one Side gains you not so great Advantages in some Mens Hearts who are prone to be of their Kings Religion as it looseth you in others who think themselves and their Profession first despised then persecuted by you My Counsel and Charge to you is That you seriously consider the former real or objected Miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you may avoid them A Charitable Connivance and Christian Toleration often dissipates their Strength whom rougher Opposition fortifies Always keep up Sollid Piety and those Fundamental Truths which mend both Hearts and Lives of Men with impartial Favour and Justice Your Prerogative is best shewed and exercised in remitting rather then exacting the rigour of the Law there being nothing worse than legal Tyranny And as this was the Sence and Judgment of a King that Time and the greatest Troubles had inform'd with a superiour Judgment and which to be sure highly justifies the measures that are now taken So Dr. Hudson his Plain-dealing Chaplain must not be forgotten by us on this occasion who took the freedom to tell his Royal Master That he lookt upon the Calamities he laboured under to be the hand of God upon him for not having given God his due over Conscience One can easily imagin this to be Reformation Language and then it is not hard to think how low that Church must be fallen that from
be of the same Judgment That Conscience ought not to be forced nor Religion imposed upon men at their civil peril I own they are all of that mind at one time or other and therefore that I may purge my self of any Animosity to the Doctrine of the Church of England I will Ingeniously confess the severe conduct I have argued against is not to be imputed to her Principles but then her Evil will be the greater that in fact has so notoriously contradicted them I know some of her defenders will hardly allow that too Tho the more candid give us their Silence or Confession For they tell us 't is not the Church that has done it which unless they mean the Laws were not made a Church must needs be false since those that made and executed them were of her own Communion and are that great body of Members that constitute her a Church but by her shifting them off 't is but reasonable to conclude that she tacitly condemns what she publickly disowns One would think then it should not be so hard to perswade her to quit them in the way she made them or to injoyn her Sons to do it if that language be to harsh for her This Story she must hear of some way and I pray God she may endeavour to do her duty in it She is not alone for every Party in Power has too evidently lapst into this Evil tho under the prevalency and persecution of another Interest they have ever writ against club Law for Religion And to the end that I may do the Reformation Right and the Principles of the Church of England Justice I must say that hardly one person of any note dyed in the time of Queen Mary that did not pass Sentance upon Persecution as Antichristian particularly Latimer Philpot Bradford Rogers very Eminent Reformers The Apologies that were writ in those times are of the same strain as may be seen in Jewel Haddon Reynalds c. and the Papists were with reason thought much in the wrong by those Primative Protestants for the Persecution that they raised against them for matters of pure Religion But what need we go so far back is it not recent in memory that Bishop Vsher was Employ'd to O. Cromwell by some of the Clergy of the Church of England for Liberty of Conscience Dr Parr in the Life of Dr Vsher Primate of Armagh fol. 75. has that passage thus Cromwell forbidding the Clergy under great penalties to teach Schools or to perform any part of their ministerial function some of the most Considerable Episcopal Clergy in and about London desired my Lord Primate that he would use his Interest with Cromwell since they heard he pretended a great respect for him that as he granted Liberty of Conscience to almost all sorts of Religions so the Episcopal Divines might have the same freedom of serving God in their private Congregations since they were not premitted the publick Churches according to the Liturgie of the Church of England and that neither the Ministers nor Those that frequented That Service might be any more hindered or disturbed by his Souldiers So according to their desire he went and used his utmost Endeavours with Cromwell for the taking off this restraint which was at last promised tho with some difficulty that they should not be molested provided they meddled not with any matters relating to his Government Certainly those Gentlemen were of my mind And to give Dr Hammond his due who I understand was one of them he left it to the Witnesses of his end as his dying Counsel to the Church of England That they displaced no man out of the University or present Church but that by Love and an holy Life they should prevail upon those in possession to come into their Church But this lookt so littie like the Policy and Ambition of the Living that they resolved it should be Buried with him This I had from an eminent Hand in Oxford a year or two after his Death An older man out liv'd him and one of the most Learned and Pious of that Communion Bishop Sande son I mean They were the two great men of their sort that was of the Party Let us see what this Reverend man says to our point The Word of God doth expressly forbid us to subject our Consciences to the Judgment of any other or to usurp a Dominion over the Consciences of any One. Several cases of Conscience discussed in ten Lectures in the Divinity School at Oxford 3 Lect. 30 Sect. pag. â—03 Printed 1660. He is not worthy to be Christs Disciple who is not the Disciple of Christ alone The Simplicity and Sincerity of the Christian Faith hath suffered a great prejudice since we have been divided into Parties neither is their any hope that Religion should be restored to her former Original and Purity until the Wounds that were made wider by our daily Quarrels and Dissentions being anointed with the Olye of Brotherly Love as with a Balsom shall begin to close again and to grow entire into the same Unity of Faith and Charity ibid Sect. 29. The obligation of Conscience doth not signifie any Compulsion for to speak properly the Conscience can no more be compelled than the Free-will ibid 4. Lecture Sect. 5. pag. 109. The express Commandment of God doth oblige the Conscience properly by it self and by its own force and this obligation is absolute because it doth directly and always oblige and because it obligeth all persons and the obligation of it is never to be cancelled Noâ—e but God alone hath power to impose a Law upon the Conscience of any Man to which it ought to be subjected as obliging by it sâ—lf This Conclusion is proved by the words of the Apostle There is but one Law-giver who can both save and destroy In which words two Arguments do profer themselves to our Observation In the first place they assert there is but one Legislator not one picked out amongst many not one above many but one exclusively that is to say One and but one only The Apostle otherwise had made use of a very ineffectual argument to prove what he had propounded for he rebuketh those who unadvisedly did pass their Judgment either on the persons or the deeds of other Men as the Invaders of their Rights Who art Thou saith he who dost judge another as if he should have said dost thou know thy self what thou art and what thou dost It doth not belong to Thee to thrust thy sawcy Sickle into the harvest of another Man much less boldly to fling thy self into the Throne of Almighty God. If already Thou art Ignorant of it then know that it belongeth to him alone to judge of the Consciences of men to whom alone it doth belong to impose Laws upon the Consciences of men which none can do but God alone ibid pag. 111 112 113. The Condition and Natural estate of the Conscience it self is so placed as it were
in Example at some other turn of Power to our own utter Ruin. Had this Honest Just Wise and English Consideration prevailed with our Ancestors of all Opinions from the days of Richard the second there had been less Blood Imprisonment Plunder Beggery for the Government of this Kingdom to answer for Shall I speak within our own knowledge and that without Offence there has been Ruin'd since the late Kings Restoration above Fifteen Thousand Families and more then Five Thousand Persons Dead under Bonds for matters of meer Conscience to God But who hath laid it to Heart It is high time now we should especially when our King with so much Grace and Goodness leads us the way I beseech you all if you have any Reverence towards God any Value for the Excellent Constitution of this Kingdom any Tenderness for your Posterity any Love for your Selves you would embrace this happy Conjuncture and persue a common Expedient That since we cannot agree to meet in one Profession of Religion we may entirely do it in this common civil Interest where we are all equally engaged and therefore we ought for our own sakes to seek one anâ—â—â—ers Security that if we cannot be the Better we may not be tâ—e Worse for our Perswasions in things that bear no relation to them and in which it is impossible we should Suffer and the Government escape that is so much concern'd in the civil Support and Prosperity of every Party and Person that belongs to it Let us not therefore uphold Penal Laws against any of our Religious Perswasions nor make Tests out of each others Faiths to exclude one another our civil Rights for by the same Reason that denying Transubstantiation is made One to exclude a Papist to own it may be made one to exclude a Church of England-man a Presbyterian an Independant a Quaker and Anabaptist For the Question is not who is in the right in Opinion but whether he is not in Practice in the wrong that for such an Opinion deprives his Neighbour of his common Right Now 't is certain there is not one of any Party that would willingly have a Test made out of his Belief to abridge him of his native Priviledge and therefore neither the Opinion of Transubstantiation in the Papists Episcopâ—cy in the Church of England Man Free-will in the Arminian Predestination in the Presbyterian Perticular Churches in the Independant Dipping of adult People in the Anabaptist nor not-swearing in the Quaker ought to be made a Test of to deprive him of the comforts of his Life or render him incapable of the service of his Country to which by a natural Obligation he is indebted and from which no Opinion can discharge him and for that Reason much less should any other Party think it fit or in their power to exclude him And indeed it were ridiculous to talk of giving Liberty of Conscience which yet few have now the fore-head to oppose and at the same time imagine those Tests that do exclude men that Service and Reward ought to be continued For though it does not immediately concern me being neither Officer nor Papist yet the Consequence is general and every party even the Church of England will find her self concern'd upon reflection For she cannot assure her self it may not come to be her turn But Is it not an odd thing that by leaving them on foot every Body shall have Liberty of Conscience but the Goverment for while a man is out of Office he is Test-free but the hour he is chosen to any station be it in the Legislation or Administration he must wiredraw his Conscience to hold it or be excluded with the Brand of Dissent And can this be equal or wise Is this the way to employ men for the good of the Publick where Opinion prevails above vertue and Abilities are submitted to the humour of a Party surely none can think this a Cure for Division or that Animosities are like to be prevented by the only ways in the World that beget and heighten them Nor is it possible that the ease that should be granted can continue long when the Party in whose savour they are not repeal'd may thereby be enabled to turn the point of the sword again upon Dissenters I know Holland is given in Objection to this extent of freedom where only one Perswasion has the Government tho the rest their Liberty But they don't consider first how much more Holland is under the power of Necessity then we are Next That our Constitutions differ greatly For the first 't is plain in the little compass they live in the uncertainty and precariousness of the means of their subsistance That as they are in more danger of Drowning so neerer ruin by any Commotion in the State then other Countries are Trading is their Support This keeps them busy That makes them Rich and Wealth naturally gives them caution of the disorders that may spoil them of it This makes the governing Party wary how they use their power and the other Interests tender how they resist it for upon it they have reason to fear a publick Desolation since Holland has not a natural and Domestick Fund to rely upon or return to from such national Disorders The next Consideration is as clear and cogent our Constitutions differ mightily For though they have the Name of a Republick yet in their choice in order to the Legislature they are much less free then we are And since the Freeholders of all Parties in England may Elect which in Holland they can no more do then they can be chosen there is good reason why all may be elected to serve their King Country here that in Holland cannot be chosen or serve And if our Power to chuse be larger then theirs in Holland we are certainly then a freer People and so ought not to be confin'd as they are about what Person it is that must be chosen Methinks it bears no proportion and therefore the Instance and Objection are improper to our purpose But it is said by some That there cannot be two predominant Religions and if the Church of England be not that Popery by the Kings Favour is like to be so It is certain that two predominant Religions would be two Uppermosts at once which is nonsence every where But as I cannot see what need there is for the Church of England to lose her Churhces or Revenues so while she has them Believe me she is Predominant in the thing of the World that lies nearest her Guides But if I were to speak my inclination I cannot apprehend the necessity of any Predominant Religion understanding the word with Penal Laws in the tale of it The Mischief of it in a Country of so many powerful Interests as this I can easily understand having had the opertunity of seeing and feeling it too And because nothing can keep up the Ball of Vengance like such a Predominant Religion and that Penal Laws and Tests are the means of the Domination I for that reason think them fit to be Repeal'd and let English Mankind say AMEN I do not love Quibling but 't is true to a Lamentation that there is little of the power of Religion seen where there is such a predominant one unless among those it Domineers over I conclude they that are so Predominant and they that seek to be so be they who they will move by the same Spirit and Principle and however differing their Pretentions and Ends may be the odds are very little to me by which it is I must certainly be Opprest Dare we then do for once as we would be done by and show the World we are not Religious without Justice nor Christians without Charity That False self shall not govern us against True self nor oppertunity make us Thieves to our Neighbours for Gods sake the end of Testing and Persecuting under every Revolution of Government If this we can find in our Hearts to do and yet as Men and as Christians as English Men we do but do our Duty let the Penal Laws and Tests be Repeal'd and in order to it Let us now take those measures of men and things that may give our Wishes and Endeavours the best success for the publick good that our Posterity may have more reason to bless our Memories for their Freedom and Security then for their Nature and Inheritance FINIS Irenicum a Weapon-Salve for the Churches Wounds by Edward Stillingfleet Rector of â—uton in Bedfordshire in Preface to the Reader L. 6. Cod. de Paganis
a Riot are as invisible in a Dissenters Meeting as Christ in the Transubstantiation yet it must be a Riot without any more to do The English of which is 't is a Riot to pray to God in the humblest and peaceablest manner in a Conventicle I know it is said The Blood-shed in the fore-going Raign and the Plots of the Papists against Queen Elizabeth drew those Laws from the Church of England But this was no reason why she should do ill because they had done so Besides it may be answered that that Religion having so long intermixt it self with worldly Power it gave way to take the revenges of it And certainly the great men of the Church of England endeavouring to intercept Queen Mary by proclaiming the Lady Jane Gray and the Apprehension the Papists had of the better Title of Mary Queen of Scots together with a long Possession were scurvy Temptations to kindle ill Designs against that extraordinary Queen But tho nothing can excuse and less justifie those cruel Proceedings yet if there were any reason for the Laws it is plainly removed for the Interests are joyn'd and have been since King James the first came to the Crown However 't is certain there were Laws enough or they might have had them to punish all civil Enormities without the necessity of making any against them as Papists And so the civil Government had stood upon its own Legs and Vices only against it had been punishable by it In short it was the falsest Step that was made in all that great Queens Raign the most dishonourable to the Principles of the first Reformers and therefore I know no better Reason why it should be continued than that which made the Cardinal in the History of the Council of Trent oppose the Reformation at Rome That tho it was true that they were in the wrong yet the admitting of it approved the judgment of their Enemies and so good-night to Infallibility Let not this be the Practice of the Church of England and the rather because she does not pretend to it But let her reflect that she has lost her King from her Religion and they that have got him naturally hope for ease for theirs by him that 't is the end they labour'd and the great use they have for him and I would fain wonder that she never saw it before but whether she did or no why should she begrudg it at least refuse it now Since 't is plain that there is nothing we esteem dangerous in Popery that other Laws are not sufficient to secure us from Have we not enough of them let her think of more and do the best she can to discover Plotters punish Traitors suppress the Seditious and keep the Peace better than those we have can enable us to do But for Gods sake let us never direct Laws against Men for the cause of Religion or punish them before they have otherwise done amiss Let Mens Works not their Opinions turn the Edg of the Magistrates Sword against them else 't is Beheading them before they are Born. By the common Law of this Kingdom there must be some Real and Proper Overt Act that proves Treason some Malice that proves Sedition and some violent Action that proves a Rout or Riot If so to call any sort of Religious Orders the one or Praying to God in a way out of fashion the other is prepostrous and punishing People for it down right Murther or Breach of the Peace according to the true use of Words and the old Law of England If the Church of England fears the growth of Popery let her be true to the Religion she owns and betake her self to Faith rather than Force by a pious humble and a good Example To convince and perswade which is the highest honour to any Church and the greatest Victory over Men. I am for a National Church as well as she so it be by Consent and not by Constraint But Coercive Churches have the same Principle tho not the same Interest A Church by Law established is a State Church and that is no Argument of Verity unless the State that makes her so be infallible and because that will not be asserted the other can never oblige the Conscience and consequently the Compulsion she uses is unreasonable This very Principle justifies the King of France and the Inquisition For Laws being equally of Force in all Countries where they are made it must be as much Fault in the Church of Englands Judgment to be a Protestant at Rome or a Calvanist at Paris as to be a Papist at London Then where is Truth or Conscience but in the Laws of Countries which renders her an Hobbist notwithstanding her long and loud Clamours against the Leviathan I beg her for the love of Christ that she would think of these things and not esteem me her Enemy for performing the part of so good a Friend Plain Dealing becomes that Caracter no matter whether the Way be agreeable so it be right We are all to do our Duty and leave the rest to God He can best answer for our Obedience that Commands it and our Dependance upon his Word will be our Security in our Conduct What weight is it to a Church that she is the Church by Law established when no humane Law can make a true Church A true Church is of Christs making and is by Gospel established 'T is a Reflection to a Church that would be thought true to stoop to humane Law for her Establishment I have been often scandal'd at that Expression from the Sons of the Church of England especially those of the Robe What do you talk for our Religion is by Law established as if that determin'd the Question of its Truth against all other Perswasions The Jews had this to say against our Saviour We have a Law and by our Law he ought to Dye The Primitive Christians and some of our first Reformers Dyed as by Law established if that would mend the matter but does that make it lawful to a Christian Conscience we must ever demur to this Plea. No greater Argument of a Churches Defection from Christianity than turning Persecutor 'T is true the Scripture says The Earth shall help the Woman but that was to save her self not to destroy others For 't is the Token that 's given by the Holy Ghost of a false Church That none must Buy or Sell in her Dominions that will not receive her Mark in their Forehead or Right-hand That is by going to Church against Conscience or bribing lustily to stay at Home Things don't change tho men do Persecution is still the same let the hand alter never so often but the Sin may not For doubtless it is greatest in those that make the highest claim to Reformation For while they plead their own Light for doing so they hereby endeavour to extinguish anothers Light that can't concur What a Man can't do it is not his Fault he don't do nor
of none of them on this Subject Our Saviour says he never pressed Followers as men do Souldiers but said If any man will come after me let him take up his Cross not his Sword and follow me His was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his very Commands shewed his Meekness his Laws were sweet and gentle Laws not like Draco's that were writ in Blood unless it were his own that gave them His design was to ease men of their former Burdens and not lay on more the Duties he required were no other but such as were necessary and withal very just and reasonable He that came to take away the insupportable Yoke of Jewish Ceremonies certainly did never intend to gall the Necks of his Disciples with another instead of it And it would be strange the Church should require more than Christ himselâ— did and make other conditions of her Communion than our Saviour did of Discipleship What possible reason can be assigned or given why such things should not be sufficient for Communion with a Church which are sufficient for eternal Salvation And certainly those things are sufficient for that which are laid down as necessary Duties for Christianity by our Lord and Saviour in his Word What ground can there be why Christians should not stand upon the same terms now which they did in the time of Christ and his Apostles Was not Religion sufficiently guarded and fenced in â—hem Was there ever more true and cordial Reverence in the Worship of God What Charter hath Christ given the Church to bind men up to more than himself hath done Or to exclude those from her Society who may be admitted into Heaven Will Christ ever thank Men at the great day for keeping such out from Communion with his Church when he will vouchsafe not only Crowns of Glory to but it may be Aureolae too if there be any such things there The Grand Commission the Apostles were sent out with was only to teach what Christ had commanded them Not the least Intimation of any Power given them to impose or require any thing beyond what himself had spoken to them or they were directed to by the immediate Guidance of the Spirit of God. Without all Controversie the main Inlet of all the Distractions Confusions and Divisions of the Christian World hath been by adding other Conditions of Church Communion than Christ hath done There is nothing the Primitive Church deserves greater imitation by us in than in that admirable Temper Moderation and Condesention which was used in it towards all the Members of it This admirable Temper in the Primitive Church might be largely cleared from that Liberty they allowed freely to Dissenters from them in matters of Practice and Opinion as might be cleared from Cyprian Austin Jerome and others Leaving the Men to be won by observing the true decency and order of Churches whereby those who act upon a true Principle of Christian Ingenuity may be sooner drawn to a Compliance in all lawful things than by Force and rigorous Impositions which make men suspect the weight of the thing it self when such Force is used to make it enter in Preface The same is in effect declared by the House of Commons when they returned their Thanks to Dr. Tâ—llotson Dean of Canterbury for his Sermon preached before them November the 5 th 1678. desiring him to Print that Sermon where he says upon our Saviours Words Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Ye own your selves to be my Disciples but do you consider what Spirit now Acts and Governs you not that surely which my Doctrine designes to mould and fashion you into which is not a Furious and Persecuting and Destructive Spirit but Mild and Gentle and Saving tender of the Lives and Interests of Men even of those who are our greatest Enemies pag. 6 7. No difference of Religion no pretence of Zeal for God and Christ can warrant and justifie this Passionate and Fierce this Vindictive and Exterminating Spirit ibid. pag. 7. He i. e. Christ came to introduce a Religion which consults not only the Eternal Salvation of mens Souls but their Temporal Peace and Security their Comfort and Happiness in this World ibid pag. 8. In seemed good to the Author of this Institution to compel no man to it by Temporal Punishment ibid. pag. 13. To seperate Goodness and Mercy from God Compassion and Charity from Religion is to make the two best things in the World God and Religion good for nothing idid pag. 19. True Christianity is not noly the best but the best natured Institution in the World and so far as any Church is departed from good Nature and become Cruel and Barbarous so far it is degenerated from Christianity idid pag. 30. Thus far Dr Tillotson who to be sure deserves not to be thought the least Eminent in the present Church of England Let us hear what Doctor Burnet says to it Men are not Masters of their own Perswasions and cannot change their thoughts as they please he that believes any thing concerning Religion cannot turn as the Prince commands him or accomodate himself to the Law or his persent Interests unless he arrive at that pitch of Atheism as to look on Religion only as a matter of Policy and an Engine for civil Government Dr Burnet's History of the Rights of Princes c. in his Preface pag. 49. 'T is to this Doctor 's pains she ows the very History of her Reformation and as by it he has perpetuated his Name with hers certainly he must have Credit with her or we can deserve none with any body else for no man could well go further to oblige her Let me here bring in a lay Member of the Church of England Sir Robert Pointz in his vindication of Monarchy who yeilds us an excellent Testimony to the matter in hand The Sword availeth little with the Souls of Men unless to destroy them together with their Bodies and to make men desperate or dissemblers in Religion and when they find oppertunity to fall into Rebellion as there are many Examples p. 27. In the Ancient Times of Christianity such means were not used as might make Hereticks and Schismaticks more obstinate than docible through the preposterous proceedings of the Magistrates and Ministers of Justice in the Execution of Penal Laws used rather as Snares for gaining of Money and Pecuniary Mulcts impos'd rather as Prices set upon Offences than as Punishments for the Reformation of Manners ibid. pag. 28. The Ancient Christians were forbidden by the Imperial Law as also by the Laws of other Christian Nations under a great Penalty to meddle with the Goods of the Jews or Pagans living peaceably ibid. pag. 29. For the Goods of the Jews although Enemies to the Christian Religion cannot for the cause of Religion come by Escheat unto Christian Princes under whom they live ibid. pag. 29. It is truly said that Peace a Messenger whereof an Angel hath been chosen to
any Designs that may warp or byass things to their Advancement And that which ought to induce the Church of England not a little to hasten as well as do the thing is this she is now a sort of National Church by Power she will then be the Publick Church by Concurrence of all Parties Instead of Enemies to invade or undermine her they that should do it are made the Friends of her safety by the happiness they enjoy through her complacency And if any should be so unnatural or ungrateful to her the Interest of the rest will oblige them to be her Spys and Security against the Ambition of any such Party I do heartily pray to God that he would enlighten the Eyes of her Leaders and give them good Hearts too that Faction may not prevail against Charity in the name of Religion And above all that she would not be proud of her Numbers or stand off upon that Reflection for that alone will quickly lessen them in a Nation loving Freedom as much as this we live in And what appears in the Town is an ill Glass to take a prospect of the Country by There are Parishes that have Fifteen Thousand Souls in them and if two come to Church it is matter of Brag tho half the rest be sown among the several dissenting Congregations of their Judgment I would not have her mistaken tho Popery be an Unpopular thing 't is as certain she of a long time has not been Popular and on that Principle never can be And if she should Plow with that Heifer now and gain a little by the Aversion to Popery when it is discern'd that Popery does return to the civil Interest of the Kingdom they will quickly be Friends For besides that we are the easiest and best natur'd People in the World to be appeas'd there are those charms in Liberty and Property to English Nature that no endeavours can resist or disapoint And can we reasonably think the Romanists will be wanting in that when they see it is their own and perhaps their only Interest to do so These are the Arguments which I confess have prevailed with me to importune the Church of England to yeild to the Repeal of all the Penal Statutes and I should be glad to see them either well refuted or submitted to I shall now Address my self to those of the Roman Church and hope to make it appear it is their Interest to sit down thankfully with the Liberty of Conscience herein desired and that a Toleration and no more is that which all Romanists ought to be satisfied with My Reasons are these First The Opposition that Popery every where finds For in nothing is the Kingdom so much of a mind as in this Aversion 'T is no news and so may be the better said and taken I say then this Vnity this Vniversality and this Visibility against Popery make the attempt for more then Liberty of Conscience too great and Dangerous I believe there may be some poor silly Biggots that hope bigger and talk further but who can help that there are weak People of all sides and they will be making a Pudder But what 's the language of their true Interest the Infallible guide of the wiser Men Safety certainly and that in succeeding Raigns to chuse And if so their Steps must be modest for they are Watcht and Number'd And tho their Prudence should submit to their Zeal both must yeild to Necessity whether they like it or no. What they convert upon the Square Perswasion I mean is their own and much good may it do them But the fear is not of this and for compelling the avers Genius of the Kingdom they have not the means what ever they would do if they had them Which is my second Reason I say they have not the Power and that is what we apprehend most There are three things that prove this in my Opinion First their want of Hands next want of Time and lastly their Intestine Division which whatever we think is not inconsiderable They are few we must all agree to the Kingdom upon the best Computation that could be made Out of eight Millions of People they are not Thirty thousand and those but thinly sown up and down the Nation by which it appears that the Disproportion of the natural strength is not less than two hundred and seventy Persons to one So that Popery in England is like a Spirit without a Body or a General without an Army It can hurt no more than Bullets without Powder or a Sword and no Hand to use it I dare say there is not of that Communion enough at once to make all the Coal Fires in London and yet we are apprehensive they are able to consume the whole Kingdom I am still more afraid of her Fears than of them for tho they seem high she thinks their Religion in no Reign has appeared much lower O but they have the King of their Side and he has the Executive Power in his Hands True and this I call the Artificial Strength of the Kingdom But I say first we have his Word to bind him And tho some may think our Kings cannot be tyed by their People certainly they may be tyed by themselves What if I don't look upon the Act of both Houses to oblige the King his own Concession must and that may be given in an Act of State I take the King to be as well obliged in Honour and Conscience to what he promises his People in another Method as if it had been by his Royal Assent in Parliament for an honest mans Word is good every where and why a Kings should not I can't tell 'T is true the Place differs and the Voice comes with greater Solemnity but why it should with greater Truth I know not And if the Church of England will but be advised to give him the opportunity of keeping his repeated Word with her and not deprive her self of that advantage by Jealousies and Distances that make her suspected and may force him into another Conduct I cannot help believing that the King will not to a tittle let her feel the assurance and benefit of his Promises But next we have his Age for our Security which is the second Proof of the second Reason why the Papists should look no farther then a Toleration This is the want of time I mention'd They have but one Life in the Lease and 't is out of their power to renew and this Life has liv'd fast too and is got within seven of threescore A greater Age then most of his Ancestors ever attain'd Well but he has an Army and many Officers of his own Religion And if it be so what can it do It may suppress an Insurrection but upon the attemps we foolishly fear they were hardly a Breakfast to the Quarters they live in For if they were together all the confines or remote parts of the Nation would Rise like Grass upon them and