preaching only the indubitable truths of Christianity would undermine it If any should preach what is Schismatical and Seditious they are liable to Restraints and Censures according to their demerits Why will the established Clergy refuse their Brethren and set them at such a distance Is it their honour strength or safety that such men should be numbred among their opposites The intrinsick and permanent State of Prelacy is not advanced by these present Rigors It is not more rooted in the hearts of people nor are many gained over that would stick close to it in a time of tryal The dread that is of its Censures ariseth from the subsequent temporal Penalties And however it be its Chariot drives but heavily It cannot measure its strength by the number of Conformists among whom there are many that are a reproach unto it and many that are very indifferent men and there are the Latitudinarians that are accounted but luke-warm Conformists and many that submit may not like the imposing and men may think divers Injunctions that are not simply unlawful to be burdensome and inconvenient and would be glad to shake off the yoke A great Prelate before the late Warrs is reported to say That the Conforming Puritan was the Devil of the Times And of those that zealously affect the established Order there are not a few that disgust the behaviour of Church-men and are ready to upbraid them with the known moderation of many whom they have ejected yea the more considerate Sons of the Church do observe and bewail such dangerous miscarriages by Simony Pluralities Non-residency and Profaneness as threaten a second downfall The world takes notice what men are cast out and what is the condition of multitudes that are retained in the Service of the Church There are a sort of men of great Worth and Reputation in the several Orders of this Kingdom that indeed affect Episcopacy but see the inconvenience and danger of this Severity and would have things carried with Discretion and Equity and are ready to do good offices for the depressed Party If the Affairs of the Commonwealth should go backwards can the Clergy alone be at rest in their Honour Power and Wealth Though of later times it hath been said No Bishop no King yet it is not evident That the present frame of Prelacy hath an immutable Interest in the Regal Name and Power The Religion of any State will sink if it be not held up in its venerable Estimation among the people and it cannot be long held in reverence if it hath neither the reality nor appearance of Devotion and Sanctity That which is divested of the Disguises and Impostures of Romish Superstition had need to be spirited with Life and Power Minds touch'd with Devotion will look either to the way of true and real Godliness or to the Popish Bodily Exercise It is here sincerely wish't That the Clergy may hold their state in safety and honour That they may never be laid low for want of meet Revenue or Dignity That they may always preserve a reverend esteem of their Persons and Office But then the Bishops must not be the Head of such Ministers as for ignorance and lewdness are a scandal and scorn to their Neighbours nor of such as incourage profaneness and deprave seriousness and diligence in Religion and strictness of life under the scandal of Puritanism Fanaticism or such like names of reproach They must so manage their Government that under it the sound knowledg of God may encrease through the Land that holiness and righteousness may flourish that their influence may dispose men to do those things that are honest and pure and comely and vertuous and praise-worthy To this may be added the setling of the Church in a due extent that it may incompass so much as may enable it to vanquish whatsoever is inconsistent with it and to keep within compass whatsoever may be tollerated under it The great danger and damage which may be dreaded to ensue this moderation which nevertheless may possibly not ensue it is but the cutting off some Luxuriances from some in the Highest Order or the sharing among many what was ingrossed by a few And the Church doth not change for the worse if some diminution of greatness in a very few persons makes way for a more general amplitude stability and peace and the Clergy enjoy an Estate of Power Plenty and Honour with less envy and hazard of undermining SECT XXII Thirdly To the Interest of the Nobility and Gentry THere is another Interest that of the Nobility and Gentry which is worthy of regard in this Inquiry The Latitude and Liberty here discoursed is thought to give too great advantage to the Citizens and the Commonalty as also to make all sorts more knowing and less servile and consequently less obsequious to the wills of great men And the doubt is whether the Nobles and Gentlemen of England can maintain their Authority and Splendor with the Freedom of Citizens and the common people Surely in the times of their Ancestors they were in as much splendor and power as they have been in the memory of this Age and yet in those times both Citizens and Yeomanry were rich and free brave and worthy in their own rank And it may be the higher Degrees in England would never be so advanced as some have conceited if the meaner sort were reduced to the condition of the French Peasantry For there is another Spirit in the English People which peradventure may not be vanquished at less charges then dissipation of the strength and riches and all the glory of this Land Besides Trade which is the Life of England must be managed by a people not of a slavish and sordid condition And in a Trading Nation things do so pass to and fro and run from one hand to another that New Men by their Wealth will be always getting up into the rank of Gentlemen and former Gentile Families will be decaying There is a Liberty for every Native to purchase Lands and though some of our Tenures began in the Vassalage of meaner men to great ones yet they are now by custom of later Ages become so far free that they are fit for any ingenuous persons to take them up Moreover the English Gentry are Commons according to the main frame of this Polity and that great Convention where they meet in their chiefest Power is the Commons House of Parliament in which they represent the universality of the Commons of all Counties and Cities and Burroughs And therefore the free Estate of the Commons is the true Interest of Gentlemen And how groundless and fruitless is all evil emulation between the Gentry and Citizens or Traders For they mutually uphold each other or both must fall to the ground Many Gentile Families are the Off-spring of former Citizens and many Citizens are the sons of Gentlemen And when the Estates of ancient Gentry are sinking their Marriage with Citizens is an ordinary means of underpropping them And if Traders fail the Revenue of the Gentry must fail also whose Lands did never bear that Price nor yeeld that Annual Rent that of late they have done till the Nation became great in Foreign Trade If emulation of Gallantry be any matter of grudg between them the Citizens may leave the Gentry to their own Garbs and retain a grave habit to themselves in which they may sufficiently express their Wealth as their Predecessors did before them For it is generous so to do And as for the Nobility and Gentry their Honour lyes in upholding their Families and bearing sway in their Countries and they do the one by discreet and liberal Frugality and the other by having and using greater Abilities then the vulgar for their Countries Service SECT XXIII The general Security that comes by this Latitude THE chief Prejudices have been considered and these three Important Interests being known aright are found not to oppose but to require this Latitude of Religion Furthermore our common Security and Freedom earnestly perswades it For the Severities of Law against Dissenters may at length come home to them or theirs who take themselves to be far out of the reach thereof And the inforcing of those Penalties may need such ways and means as may trouble them who are tender of the Lawful Rights and Liberties of English-men But the Common Peace being once firmly setled in this Comprehensive state all Necessity of Powers and Proceedings extraordinary will disappear and vanish away Finally The more Pacifick we are at home the more Powerful and Formidable shall we be abroad But our Breaches are too well known and make little for our Reputation or Advantage in Foreign parts What can it avail to disturb a People that would settle in peace and whose Peace is accommodated to the Publick Weal and bound up together with it It must needs be fruitless and unfortunate and cause perplexities and miscarriages in the chiefest Affairs of State It is a saying of the wisest of Kings He that troubles his own House shall inherit the wind FINIS * In the Reign of Edward the sixth a formidab'e Rebellion was raised for recovery of the Mass. * Dr. Parry confessed that having promised at Rome to kill the Queen he was troubled in Conscience about it till he had read Dr. Allen's Book which taught That Princes excommunicate for Heresie were to be deprived of Kingdom and Life which Book he said did vehemently excite him to prosecute his Enterprise
the PARLIAMENT judged the Matter worthy of their Search and appointed a Committee to receive Informations This Party hath high pretensions of Merit towards the King and all that are called Royallists and they seek apparently more then Indulgence and Safety even High Power and Trust as if they were the true and sure Confidents of this State Such Claims as these challenge a serious Debate For a Charge of a high nature as themselves have taken notice hath been of a long time prosecuted against Popery viz. That it disposeth Subjects to Rebellion That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach That wheresoever it finds incouragement it is restless till it bear down all or hath put all in Disorder Till they make a better Defence then the world hath yet seen we take the just liberty of insisting upon this Charge and examining first How benign or safe the influence of Popery is upon any State or Kingdom whatsoever and then how it doth comport with the State of England whose Basis is the Protestant Religion setled by Law and by length of time generally spred and deeply rooted in the Nation and solemnly and constantly avowed by Prince and People SECT III. That POPERY disposeth Subjects to Rebellion VVHat hath been the constant practice of the Popes who are the Head of the Roman Faith the Universal consent of History bears record What continual thundering of Excommunications hath sounded throughout the Christian world in all Ages since the beginning of the Papal Reign against Kings Emperors and other Princes and States that presumed to dispute their Dictates or cross their Designs to the loosing of Subjects from the Bonds of Allegiance and the deposing of Soveraigns What unexampled Abasements hath the Imperial Majesty suffered in the Persons of sundry Emperors by prodigious instances of Papal Pride which though enough to stir up the indignation of mankind are applauded by famous Writers Champions of the Court of Rome The Popes Temporal Dominions began and grew up in Rebellion and Usurpation for which cause they have nourished Factions and filled the world with Warrs and Tumults and maintained most outragious and tedious Conflicts with many Emperors even till they had crippled and broke the back of the Empire it self And these practices are justified by their Decretals and Canons and Divines of greatest Authority and some of their Councils ascribing to the Pope a Power of Deposing Princes that are Heretical or favourers of Hereticks The Jesuits Doctrine of KING-KILLING hath made them odious and if some passages can be alledged out of their Writings against taking away the Lives of Princes their declared meaning is That a King deposed by the Pope becomes Tirannus titulo and is no more a Lawful King and then what follows is easily understood Those of the Church of Rome that disavow these things should mind their contradiction to the Faith they own in leaving their Popes Divines and Canonists in a point of such importance But how potent the influence of the Court of Rome and the Agency of the Jesuits is for the diffusing of those Principles into the most and chiefest of the Roman-Catholicks is not unknown If the undisturbed Government of the Emperor and of the King of Spain in later times be brought forth as an instance of the Loyalty of Popish Subjects or an argument of the soundness of Popish Principles it must be considered That the House of Austria have made their devotion to the See of Rome their grand and appropriate Interest and that See hath a main dependance on those Princes and both it and they have the same active Votaries throughout Christendom the Jesuits and their Adherents As for the Kingdom of France the State of Venice and others acknowledging the Popes Headship they have had enough to do and they would have more if either themselves were weak and less formidable to the Pope or the Popes lightning and thunder were now as dreadful as in former Ages Even in Popish Countreys the abuses of Papal Power and the Intrigues and Interests of the Court of Rome are a little better discerned therefore those Princes and States can make the better terms for themselves yet if either the former degree of ignorance and stupid devotion to that See shall return upon their people or the like occasions of embroiling or breaking States shall revive they must accept the Popes conditions and submit to the former yoke But if the Princes of that Profession can in this our more knowing Age with much ado hold their Subjects in obedience against the Acts of Rome yet the question concerning England remains intire Whether a Protestant Prince can with good reason confide or repose himself in the Loyalty of his Popish Subjects and more especially Whether the fore-mentioned Popish Claims do in any wise comport with the State of England whose Basis is the Protestant Religion No other Religion gives the Priests such an Empire over the Conscience as the Popish doth The Principles of that Belief and the Order and Frame of that Church are directed to this end and the people are miserably inthralled to the will of their Clergy By Auricular Confession the Priests have a constant inlet into the hearts of men by injoyning Penances and works of Devotion they exercise a spiritual Dominion over them Hereby they have dayly opportunity and advantage enough to excite them to any notable Exploits for the Catholick Cause unto which kind of services they fix an Opinion of the highest Merit either for discharge from the pains of Purgatory or for the acquest of a greater Reward in Glory Yea dissolute persons may be easily drawn to such Attempts in hope of making compensation for a loose and lewd life and when they suffer for Sedition or Treason they are held to acquire the glory of Martyrs and Confessors Add hereunto their Belluine hatred of Hereticks and vile esteem of their persons And in all this their Church's supposed Infallibility warrants this blind obedience and brutish confidence And to make void all the security that can be given between Prince and people the Pope under pretence of Equity and Necessity undertakes to dispence with Oaths and with all Laws both Civil and Divine Besides all this there is the Jesuits peculiar Discipline most exquisite for blind obedience and resolution and consequently for any great and strange Attempts Things past may afford prognosticks of thing to come May Englands constant Experience be taken for Evidence in the case The Reign of Queen Elizabeth after the Protestant Reformation had gotten the stated possession of this Kingdom was infested with a continued succession and series of Treasons for the re-introducing of Popery carried on by the English Papists with an indefatigable and implacable Spirit proceedings from Causes peculiar to that Religion During the first ten years they conformed to the Church of England but afterwards to testifie their union with the Pope they became a divided party in this State For them the Queen
being found unmoveable the Pope published his Declaratory Sentence against Her by which all Her Subjects were absolved from the Oath of Allengiance and an Anathema denounced against those that thence forth obey Her The Popish Rebellion in the North breaks out Many horrid attempts of Violence upon Her Majesties Person were plotted one after another for many years together as that of Dr. Story of Parry of Arden and Somervile of Throgmorton of Babington and his Complices besides the concurrent Commotion in Ireland In these several Treasons many of the Seminary Priests were forward and active The great and setled Design was the advancing of the Queen of Scots to the Crown of England wherein were ingaged the Pope and Spaniard and French King and Duke of Guise in conjunction with the English Papists making use of her Title to set on foot those many desperate Enterprises against the Queen After the death of the Queen of Scots they raised a new Title to the Crown in the House of Spain The memory of Eighty Eight will be an everlasting Monument of Papistical Cruelty and Treason Cardinal Allen the first founder or procurer of the Foreign Seminaries a person admired as well by the Secular Priests as Jesuits penned a Treatise with all the Rhetorick he had to excite the English Catholicks to joyn with the Spaniards Among the Forces in the Low-Countries prepared for this Invasion were seven hundred English Fugitives After the Spanish Armado was dissipated the Jesuits had not done They would have stirred up the Earl of Derby to assume the Title of the Kingdom they plotted the poysoning of the Queen by Lopez her Physician they excited Villains to dispatch her by bloody hands and they never left soliciting the King of Spain till he twice attempted another Invasion In those times Parsons his Book of Titles was famous wherein he set up divers Competitors for the Crown preferring the Infanta before all others and slighting King James his Title as having but few Favourers and little accounted by Catholicks The Roman party could be provoked to these mischiefs by no other impulse then the impetuous zeal of their Superstition Some of their own did then publsh to the world their important Considerations to move all true Catholicks to acknowledg That the proceedings of Her Majesty and the State with them since the beginning of Her Reign had been mild and merciful In the several times of those mischievous designments though some priests were executed yet those that were found moderate in their Examinations obtained Mercy and a great number of them that by Law were obnoxious to death were spared from that extremity and only banished It is true that certain Secular priests did impute all those Treasons to the Jesuits and their Adherents and fully charged them with all the aforefaid matters of Fact in terms of highest aggravation acquitting all other Catholicks But it must be noted that the Jesuits were in greatest reputation and had the predominant influence upon the English Papists in general and as appears by the Seculars loud Complaints had such a power of disposing the Alms collected for their prisoners and other sufferers that such as complied not with their purposes were debarr'd of relief and pined for want And by their counsels the Foreign Seminaries those Nurseries of Disloyalty were wholly swayed And 't is observable That the agrieved Seculars never published their pretended abhorrency of these Treasons till they were over-past and themselves being driven to despair by the Jesuits potency were forced to take shelter under a great Prelate of the Church of England The same Spirit of Disloyalty was as active and vigorous in that Kings time who at his first entrance found himself excluded from Title to the Crown by two Papal Breves the ground-work of that Infernal Plot of matchless Villany and Cruelty the GUNPOWDER-TREASON After the defeat of which horrid Conspiracy the Projects of Rome proceeded not in such down-right Rebellions which always miscarried but in ways more secretly undermining Religion and as truly destructive to the Interest of King and Kingdom SECT IV. That it Persecutes all other Religions within its reach THE second Branch of the Charge against Popery is That it persecutes all other Religions within its reach In the Church of Rome for many by-past Ages the Meekness of Christ and the Dove-like nature of his Spouse hath not appeared but the Cruelty of that great Whore that was drunken with the Blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus All that cast off her yoke and disown her pretended Infallibility are with her no better then Hereticks though they intirely own all the Articles of the Christian Faith received by the ancient Church And Hereticks are esteemed more vile then dogs and it is held meritorious to abuse and torment them Her Laws have made their punishment to be the sharpest kind of death Burning alive inexorably inflicted By this Romish Wrath and Fury were Three hundred Martyrs sacrificed in Queen Maries time for not believing the Sacramental Bread to be turned into the Substance of Christs Body against the most clear and distinct perception and reason of all Mankind But can humane Nature hear without horror the report of that direful Consistory called the Holy Inquisition established in those Countries where Popery is in full sway Doubtless that Church whose Religious Orders in a solemn and Sacred Judicatory shall commit such horrid Outrages as are indeed acted by those Infernal Judges upon pretence of Justice and Piety must needs be a School of Universal Cruelty for all her Adherents The Popish hath outgone the Pagan Cruelty What Treachery and Villany hath been acted What barbarous Indignities have been offered in ways as immodest and shameless as outragious and merciless upon pretence of zeal against Hereticks What varieties of strangely-devised Torments have been inflicted upon the Servants of Christ without sparing Age Sex or Condition Nor hath such work been done onely in our Age or Country but in all Ages successively and Countries universally that were imbued with Romish Principles Witness the huge slaughters of the Waldenses the persecutions of the Bohemian Brethren and of many others throughout Christendom in the former Ages And since Protestant-Reformation how have the Romish Zealots filled Europe with the slaughters of Christians within their reach in France Germany Spain Italy England Scotland the Netherlands In Ireland Piedmont and Poland their Cruelty is fresh in memory And the slain cannot be numbred for multitude they were killed by Thousands Ten thousands Hundred thousands at one and the same Persecution And the Tragedies have been acted where the Name of Protestant was well known yea where Protestants were under the shelter of the Law For the Jesuits uncessantly stir up the Princes to fall upon their people against Law and without provocation given and after things have been setled to break their Agreements with them And the Pope himself is the Contriver or Applauder of these Mischiefs and
the succesful execution thereof is received at Rome with joy and triumph as the Murtherers in the Parisian Massacre were highly extolled by the Pope and rewarded with such spiritual Graces as his Holiness useth to bestow SECT V. That wheresoever it finds Encouragement it is restless till it bears down all before it or hath put all in disorder MAy we judg by these things how a Party devoted to the See of Rome are to be trusted and cherished in a Protestant Nation who mind the securing of themselves and their posterity from the sharpest Persecutions especially considering the Third Branch of the Charge That in any State where they find advantage or fit matter to work upon they are restless till they bear down all or put all in disorder Popery hath its formed Combinations and seâ—led Correspondencies over all Christendom under the Supreme Direction and Government of the Congregation at Rome for the propagation of the Faith which sent over swarms of Seminary Priests Jesuits and Fryars of all sorts who made their Hives in England The several PARLIAMENTS of the later times of King James represented to the King how the Popish Recusants had dangerously increased their Numbers and Insolencies having great expectation from the Treaties with Spain and the interposing of Foreign Princes for Indulgence to them how they openly and usually resorted to the Churches and Chappels of Foreign Ambassadors their more then usual concourse to the City and their frequent Conventicles and Conferences there how their children were educated in many Foreign Seminaries appropriated to the English Fugitives what swarms of Priests and Jesuits came into the Land many Popish and Seditious Books licentiously printed and dispersed From which Causes as from bitter Roots most dangerous Effects both to Church and State would follow For the Popish Religion is incompatible with ours it draws with it an unavoidable dependance upon Foreign Princes it opens a wide gap for popularity in any who shall draw too great a party it hath a restless spirit and will strive by these gradations If it once get connivance it will press for Toleration if that should be obtained it must have an Equality from thence it will aspire to a Superiority and never rest till it hath wrought the subversion of true Religion In the several PARLIAMENTS of King Charles the First not one Publick Grievance was more insisted on then the Growth of POPERY In the Third PARLIAMENT of that King at a Conference between the Lords and Commons about Popish Recusants one of the Principal Secretaries of State spake thus Give me leave to tell you what I know That These now both vaunt at home and write to their Friends abroad they hope all will be well and doubt not to prevail and win ground upon us And a little to awaken the Care and Zeal of our Learned and Grave Fathers it is fit that they take notice of that Hierarchy which is already Established in competition with their Lordships For they have already a Bishop consecrated by the Pope This Bishop hath his subalternate Officers of all kinds as Vicars General Arch-Deacons Rural Deans Apparitors and such like neither are these nominal and titular Officers alone but they all execute their Jurisdiction and make their ordinary Visitation throughout the Kingdom keep Courts and determine Ecclesiastical Causes and which is an argument of more consequence they keep ordinary intelligence by their Agents at Rome and hold correspondencies with the Nuncio's and Cardinals both at Bruxels and in France Neither are the Seculars alone grown to this height but the Regulars are more active and dangerous and have taken deep root They have already planted their Societies and Colledges of both Sexes They have setled Revenues Houses Libraries Vestments and all other necessary provisions to travel or stay at home nay even at this time they intend to hold a concurrent Assembly with this Parliament In Ireland a Popish Clergy far more numerous then the Protestant was in full exercise of all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Arch-Bishops Bishops Vicars General Officiats and a Vicar Apostolical And they had a special Cardinal at Rome for their Protector Among other Projects a Consultation and Overture of reconciling England and Rome was set on foot Some of Eminency in the Church of England gave advantage to the Project by declaring That only the Puritans among the Protestants and the Jesuits among the Papists obstructed the Peace of Christendom Some prime Agent of the Pope made a solemn offer of a Cardinalship to Bishop Laud at the time of his translation to the See of Canterbury Sancta Clara presumed to dedicate his Book to the King wherein the Articles of the Church of England were examined by the Roman Standard and distorted to the sense of the Council of Trent The Pope had Three Nuncio's Panzani Con and Roseti successively residing in England to work upon this State by advantage of the Project of Reconciliation This Faction had many Irons in the Fire and many strings to their Bow They had their Agents in Court City and Country They had their Spyes in the Houses of great men and such as kept continual watch over them that had the chief sway of Publick Affairs Their work was to raise and foster Jealousies between the King and His People to cast things into the hurry of Faction Prejudice and confused Motion And whether the Court or Popular Faction prevailed they thought it equally advantagious to their Designs which was to unsettle the present State and work Mutations Such Incendiaries are the Factors of Rome and such busie Engineers in the Confusions of Christendom Can any that considers the foregoing passages doubt of the powerful and special Agency of the Court of Rome in the Commotions that followed A Venetian Agent in England intimate with Nuncio Panzani and privy to all his Negotiations made this Observation If one may make judgment of things future by things past this Realm so divided into many Factions in matter of Religion and that of the Catholick increasing daily will in time be troubled and torn with Civil Warrs SECT VI. The PAPISTS pretension of Loyalty and Merit in the King's Cause Examined THE great Plea and boasting of the Romanists is Their pretension of Merit in the King's Cause The truth is the Papists knew that the PARLIAMENT was fully bent and deeply engaged against them and therefore despaired of any good to themselves by a direct and open compliance with them whatever undiscerned influence they might have on their Counsels So that Necessity made them to serve the King in that Warr. And they brought neither Success nor Reputation to His Majesties Affairs nor did He care to own their Assistance more then as justified by the present necessity And they have little reason to upbraid the Protestants with the scandal of that Warr for whatsoever was alledged in defence thereof by the PARLIAMENT and their Adherents as much hath been written by very Eminent School-men and Doctors
the Stabbing and Poysoning of Princes that stood in their way which the Jesuits teach their Disciples SECT IX The Reformed Religion is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom AS the Protestant or Reformed Religion is the true Primitive Christianity so it is the stable and permanent Interest of England and the sure Foundation of its Prosperity The King of England is the most Mighty Prince of this Profession and becomes the more Potent over Christendom by being the Head and Chief of the whole Protestant Party And it is well known That by the Support and Defence of this Cause the Nation hath encreased in Honour and Wealth and Power The Peoples rooted Aversness from Popery is most apparent and their Jealousies work upon any more then usual Insolence or Confidence of the Papists The Royallists as well as others have been Allarm'd and manifested their Zeal against it And His Majesties Aversness from it is so fully declared by His Constancy amidst Temptations in the time of His Exile and now since His Return that for His Honours sake it is made very penal for any to suggest that He would introduce it the Law presuming That such suggestion must needs proceed from an evil mind And what Prince that hath cast off the Popes yoke would willingly come under it again A Foreign Statesman of the Roman Profession hath observed it as a Barr against the projected Reconciliation between England and Rome That it could not be effected without Concessions on both sides contrary to the Maxims of both parties This Realm saith he is perversly addicted to maintain its own resolute Opinion of Excluding the Popes Authority And the Court of Rome is more sollicitous to remove whatsoever is contrary to its Temporal Grandure then to extirpate such Heresies as this Realm is infected with To instance in that one point of the Approbation or Toleration of the Oath of Allegiance though some Catholick Doctors had with their Tongues and Pens maintained the lawfulness of that Oath yet thereby and by opening some other points of high consequence they had so displeased the Pope that could they have been catch't they were sure to have been burn'd or strangled for it But what allurement is there to dispose the Monarchs of the Earth to subject themselves to the Sacerdotal Empire of Rome or to endeavour an Accommodation with it Hath Popery its advantages to dispose Subjects to security and blind obedience So it hath its advantages to loosen the Bonds of Allegiance and foment Rebellion in Subjects when Protestancy seasons them with principles of unstained Loyalty A people nuzled in ignorance and superstition are more easily seduced from their obedience to Magistrates and carried headlong by those that have dominion over their Consciences But Understanding and Knowledg makes men considerate and more easily manageable by a just and prudent Government As for the Clergy's Interest though the Protestant Religion doth not affect that excessive Pomp and Splendor of Church-men which the Popish doth yet it is taken for granted That neither Conscience nor Interest will permit the Bishops and Clergy of England to unite to the See of Rome Their Doctrine is too pure and their Judgment too clear for a full compliance with Popery And they know what it is to come under the Papal Yoke to divest themselves and receive new Orders from Rome and to be displaced and set behind the Veteran Soldiers of the Roman Camp whose turns must be first served SECT X. It is for the behoof of Religion and true Piety and for the Interest of this State That Reformed Christianity be setled in its full Extent IF it be resolved That Protestancy is the truth of Christianity and also the stability of England it follows That this Profession must not be streightned and lessened but inlarged and cherished according to its true Extent and the Rule and Square of the Ecclesiastical State must be commensurate thereunto It should be the measure of all mens Zeal and Activity in Rites and Opinions whatsoever is necessary to its support and advancement is constantly to be asserted and about things impertinent thereunto contention should utterly cease This is to advance the Kingdom of God among men and to encrease the Church's glory upon earth But by needless Schisms and Factions to weaken the common Interest of Reformed Christianity is to dissipate the Church of God and to defeat the great Ends of the Christian Religion which are Sound and strong Faith in Christ and his Promises unfeigned devotion purity of heart innocence and integrity of life common charity brotherly love humility mutual forbearance and condescention unshaken peace and concord As this Latitude promotes the great Designs of Christs Gospel so it settles this Nation and is for matter of Religion its right and sure Basis. Every good Foundation lyes adequate to the Building to be laid thereon So any Polity Civil or Ecclesiastical should be proportionate to the people to be governed thereby The people that are of moment in the Ballance of this Nation are though not universally yet more generally rooted in Protestantism as it is taken in its due latitude and not as unduly restrained by the passions and interests of men For in this they are one though divided about lesser things There hath been much discord between men of several Perswasions that throughly accord with each other in the same common Faith as almost to expunge one another out of the List of Protestants Surely this is a great error and a disadvantage on all hands as well to those that stand on the Vantage-ground as to others For they that carry it after this sort do weaken the Common Interest of true Religion and strengthen the Common Adversary that is irreconcilable and disparage themselves as a narrow Party or Faction That all those who heartily embrace the English Reformation established by Law are Protestants will not be questioned by men of temperate spirits And concerning the residue let the sober-minded judge Whether they that assent to the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Articles of the Church of England and do worship God according to that Faith have right to be esteemed Protestants Now if Protestancy taken in its due Extent doth sway the Nation and is able to settle its Peace against the Competition of any Rival should it not be encompassed according to that Extent as much as is possible in the Polity of this State SECT XI How momentous in the Ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Polity VVHether cogent Reason speaks for this Latitude be it now considered How momentous in the Ballance of this Nation those Protestants are which are dissatisfied in the present Ecclesiastical Polity They are every where spred through City and Countrey they make no small part of all ranks and sorts of men by Relations and Commerce they are so woven into the Nations Interest that it is not easie to sever them without unravelling the whole
They are not excluded from among the Nobility among the Gentry they are not a few but none are of more importance then they in the Trading part of the people and those that live by Industry upon whose hands the Business of the Nation lyes much It hath been noted that some who bear them no good will have said That the very Air of Corporations is infected with their Contagion And in whatsoever degree they are high or low ordinarily for good understanding steddiness and soberness they are not inferior to others of the same Rank and Quality neither do they want the Rational Courage of English Men. As for the Ministers of this Perswasion some have called them Fools for their Inconformity others are reported to have said That the Church should not so easily be rid of them as if their Conformity had been dreaded by them Some have pitied them wishing that they would Conform and others revile them saying Conform or not Conform never trust them Howbeit they make Solemn Appeals to the Most High God That they dare not Conform for Conscience sake and that it is not in the power of their own wills to relieve them And whatsoever their grounds of dissent be they hold it out against all hopes of Indulgence whilst many of them live in Necessities and most of them upon the kindness of others It is now about Five years since a Full and Vigorous Act of Uniformity at once cleared the Church of the supposed Enemies of her Polity All Corporations have been New-model'd and changed as to the Principles and Tempers of persons for the better securing of the Government in Church and State The Private Meetings for Religious Worship termed Conventicles are strictly prohibited Deportation being the Penalty upon the Third Conviction And for the breaking and dissipating of the whole Party it is provided by another Law That the Non-conforming Ministers be removed five miles distant from the places of their usual supports and influences Such care is taken and such is the advantage both of Law and Power to strengthen the State and restrain Dissenters Nevertheless the State Ecclesiastical hath advanced little in the esteem acceptance or acquiescence of people The Dissenters are still the same and are rather strengthned in their aversness And those of them that repair to the publick Assemblies retain their Principles of Reformation as they speak without seperation The Indifferent sort of men are still indifferent and it may be have some kindness for the depressed Party and pity them in their Sufferings SECT XII The Extirpation of the Dissenters is both difficult and unprofitable PEradventure some think their total Extirpation to be the surest way to publick Security and Peace and that great Severities will do the work But Violent compulsion and Terror comports not with the nature of Christian Religion which is a Rational Service and seeks a willing people and is not at all in truth where it is not received with judgment and free choice Besides the success of such a course may be doubted of since the Protestant spirit is not like the Popish Cruel and outragious and the nature of English men is not bloody but generously compassionate Wherefore in this Land to execute Extremity upon an intelligent sober and peaceable sort of men so numerous among all ranks may prove exceeding difficult unless it be executed by such Instruments as may strike terror into the whole Nation The Civil Officers in general may not be found so forward to afflict their quiet and harmless neighbours Moreover if severity used once for all could extinguish an opposite party there might be some plea of Policy but when Severity must still be justified with more Severity without an end it is like to prove unlucky to the undertakers Nor is the Nation like to grow the better by the subversion of this sort if it were effected For in them no small part of the Nations Sobriety Frugality and Industry doth reside They are not the Great Wasters but mostly in the number of Getters In most places the displaceing of them hath not encreased Civility and good Conversation among men and it makes not for their dishonour that many will swear and be drunk to declare they are none of them There is something of more importance To purge the Nation of this people may be to purge out more of its Vitals then the strength of this State can bear To suppress those that are reckoned among the chief in Trading and whose Commerce is so general may beget a general diffidence and insecurity in Traders and may help to drive away Trade it self and send it to an emulous and encroaching Nation May we mind without offence the event of things among us The business of the Nation hath not proceeded with the current and free passage expected nor doth its Wealth and Glory encrease Trade languisheth and Traders fail in great Numbers the Rents of Lands fall there is scarcity of Money in City and Country the Necessities and Difficulties of private Estates are common and Complainings are general And after a continued decay things are at last fallen and funk much lower in the Ruins of the City of LONDON 'T is the Nations happiness to be re-established upon the Ancient Legal Foundations but it is the right stating and pursuing of its true Interest by which it comes to a firm consistency and proportionable growth But this sort of men are inquisitive and therefore troublesome to Rulers to whom Obedience without disputing is most acceptable It is fit indeed they be as humble and modest as inquisitive Yet these inquiring men stand much by that main Principle of Protestantism the Judgment of Discretion Indeed the Churches Infallibility and the peoples implicite Faith may help against all Disputes but it cannot be so in England whilst the people read the Scriptures and the established Doctrine of Faith remains with us And if no greater latitude can be allowed then is at present a Race of Non-conformists is like to run parallel with the Conformists to the worlds end SECT XIII The representation of this Difficulty is no Threatning to Rulers or Intimation of Rebellion SUch as take this Representation for a Challenge to the Higher Powers and a Demand of LIBERTY and a Threatning if it be not granted are too far transported with Passion What can be of greater concernment to Governors then to discern and consider the state of their people as it is indeed And why may it not be minded by Subjects and spoken of without any hint or thought of Rebellion If Subjects use Arguments of Equity and Safety to Princes it doth not presently speak a Demand And it is no Threatning to say That Rulers themselves must be ruled by Reason or do worse The truth is should they whose Case is here argued upon this score meditate Rebellion and Warr they were abandoned of their own Reason and would hurry themselves into a precipice of manifest Ruin To rush into ways
of violence evidently destroys their Interest which stands in maintaining such works and providing such things as are profitable to the Commonwealth that it may be known that the publike good consists by them as much as by others To abide in their stations to have patience under grievances to sweeten their Governors by humility and modesty is their best security who stand or fall together with the true Interest of the Nation Nevertheless though a peoples discomposure doth not forespeak Warrs and Tumults yet it may denounce Woe and Misery Can nothing undo a Kingdom but Rebellion and Treason Was there ever a greater Separation from the Church of England then now is Was there ever less satisfaction among Multitudes every where tâ—at do yet frequent her Assemblies A State that is free from violent Convulsive motions may fall into a Paralytick or Hectick Distemper or an Atrophy The Current of Vital Blood may be stopt in its Veins There be sullen Mutinies that make no noise but may loosen all the Joynts and Ligaments of Policy SECT XIV The Setling of the Nation by an Established Order a Toleration and a Connivence IF the Interest both of Reformed Christianity and of this Kingdom require a more comprehensive state of Religion the true Extent of that State will be no impertinent or unmeet Inquiry Such is the complicated condition of Humane Affairs that it is exceeding difficult to devise a Rule or Model that shall provide for all whom Equity will plead for Therefore the Prudent and Sober will acquiesce in any Constitution that is in some good sor proportionable to the Ends of Government All that are thought fit to abide with security in any state may be reduced to Three sorts First Those that are of the Established and Approved Order 2. Such as may be Tolerated under certain Restrictions 3. Such as may be only connived at And accordingly the Setling of a Nation may be made up of an Establishment a Limited Toleration and a Discreet Connivence To be comprehended within the Establishment it is requisite not only to be of importance in the Publick Interest but also of Principles congruous to such stated Order in the Church as the stability of the Commonwealth requires As for the two later Toleration and Connivence they must be regulated with respect not only to common Charity but also to the Safety of the Established Order SECT XV. Of the Established Order in RELIGION and the Moderation therein required AS for the Established Order we presume not here to intermeddle with the Form or Species of Church-Government but only to consider the prescribed Uniformity of Judgment and Practice Evident reason speaks That this be not narrow but as broad and comprehensive as it is possible that of it self by its own force it may be chief in sway and controle all dissenting parties On the other hand it must not be loose and incoherent but well compacted that it may attain the Ends of Discipline which are to promote sound Doctrine and godly life and to keep out Idolatry Superstition and all wicked Error and Practice that tends to the defeating of the Power of Christian Verity Now these Ends do not require a Constitution of narrower bounds then things necessary to Christian Faith and Life and godly Order in the Church These things must be maintained and clearly stated but whatsoever is more then these may be matter of good intention and devotion to some but an occasion of stumbling to others If it be said Who shall judg what things are necessary This doubt might soon be resolved if passion and prejudice and private ends were vanquished But however let it be put to the Reason and Conscience of the Church of England Why should not the great things of Christianity in the hands of wise Builders be a sufficient Foundation of Church-Unity and Concord What need hath the Church to enjoyn more then what is necessary to Faith and Order Is not Moderation and Charity far more excellent then glorying in Opinions Formalities and petty matters to the regret of many Consciences What if those that question her Injunctions should be weak nice and captious It is about matters of Divine Worship wherein God hath proclaimed his Jealousie and therefore if they being over-jealous do erre they deserve pity Our Eccleasiastical Superiors are here earnestly besought Calmly and seriously to review the prescribed Uniformity and to consider how some parts thereof which at the best are but things indifferent have been long disputed and by what manner of men and what hath been argued for and against them and how this Difference hath held and still encreased from Bishop Hooper in King Edward's time to the present Non-conformists and then to judg whether a rational and conscientious man may not possibly dissent from some of these things or at least doubt of their Lawfulness and in case of such dissenting or doubting what he should do seeing the Apostle saith in the case of Meats He that doubts is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith Can a man by Subscription and Practice allow those things which his Conscience rationally doubts to be sinful It is Honour and Power enough for the Church to be enabled by her Authority to inforce Gods Commandments She is observed and honoured as a Mother indeed when by her Wisdom and Care her Children walk orderly according to the Christian Institution and it may suffice her to chastise those of them that walk contrary to Christ. Though she be of venerable Authority yet she doth not claim an Infalâ—ibility and therefore she cannot settle the Conscience by her sole Warrant but still leaves room for doubting And in prescribed Forms and Rites of Religion the Conscience that doth its office will inevitably interpose and concern it self and it being unsatisfied â—arrs and râ—nts will follow Woful Experience cryes unâ—â— us No more of such Injunctions then needs must The indisputable Truths of Faith and the indispensable Duties of Life are the main object of Church-Discipline therefore an ill choice is made when the vigor of Discipline is exercised about lesser and more dispensable things of meer Humane Determination The Sons of the Church of England commend the Moderation used in the Articles of Religion being formed in words of that extent that men of different Perswasions about the Doctrines of Predestination Divine Grace and Free-will did alike subscribe them Nevertheless the present Orders and Ceremonies inexorably imposed have been as much disputed among the Godly Learned as those different Opinions about the Doctrines aforesaid and yet who can think they are of as much importance to the Substance of Religion Moreover men might more easily agree in the use of these little things or of some of them were their Internal Judgments spared and Subscriptions not injoyned They may bear with others in the practice of some things which themselves cannot practice They may submit to some things which they cannot approve and that not for
unworthy Ends but for Conscience sake and chuse rather to acquiesce in a Tolerable State which for the main is sound and good rather then to endeavour a total Change which may be mischievous and at best is full of hazard Wise men know That by hasty Changes they do not come to rest and quietness but only change their Old Grievances for New ones If Practice sufficiently uniform that is to say without any scandalous difference may be obtained from men of different Perswasions Why should Uniformity of Judgment be exalted and men tempted in doubtful points to set their Consciences on the Rack If any number of Dissenters were willing to do their uttermost towards Compliance why should needless Choak-pears which they could not swallow be forc'd upon them If the Church's Authority be had in reverence if Order and Peace be kept what matter is it from what speculative Principles such observance proceeds Though a man so complying be not of the same mind with his Superiors yet he may have this honest Catholick Principle To promote the common Interest of Reformed Christianity and to dread the weakning and shattering of it by needless Schisms As for a narrow-bounded Uniformity both in Opinions and petty Observations it is no more necessary in the Church then Uniformity of Complexions and Visages in the same Civil State and is indeed no more attainable where a generous Freedom of Judgment is allowed SECT XVI Whether the Dissenters are capable of being brought into such a Comprehension VVHilst Reason is urged on their behalf that are left without the lines of the present Establishment some haply may ask Will they themselves hearken to reason Be it supposed that some among them seem not reducible to a due publick Order but another sort there are and those of chiefest moment whose principles are fit for Government the stability whereof hath been experimented in those Countreys where they have had the effectual concurrence of the Civil Powers Their Way never yet obtained in England nor were they ever favoured with the Magistrates vigorous aid so much as for an Accommodation with the Established Polity But their difficulties have still encreased and how streight soever the Terms imposed on them were in times before the after-times have still made them streighter Wherefore if they have been too much addicted to their own Opinions or have committed some errors in the management of their Affairs it is no marvel It was not easie for them being destitute of the Magistrates influence and lying under great discouragement and disadvantage always to keep stable and sure footing in such a slippery place as Church-Discipline The asserting of their Discipline is not here intended but the Inquiry is Whether they be of a Judgment and Temper that makes them capable of being brought under the Magistrates Paternal Care and Conduct to such a stated Order as will comport with this Church and Kingdom This is no undertaking Discourse it presumes only to offer its Reason to equal and impartial Readers When a Divine of great fame and of much esteem with the chiefest of the English Clergy was taxed by the Jesuit his Adversary for being no Protestant as refusing to subscribe the Nine and thirty Articles he judged it a sufficient Answer to testifie his belief That the Doctrine of this Church was so pure and holy that whosoever lived according to it should undoubtedly be saved that there was nothing in it that might give just cause to any to forsake the Communion or disturb the Peace thereof Who or what is there almost that this or the like Latitude would not encompass when hearty endeavours are put forth to gain men The same Catholick Spirit may dwell both in larger and stricter judgments One that cannot subscribe to all things contained in a Volume of Doctrines and Rules compiled by men subject to error may be ready to joyn with any Church not depraved in the substance of Religion that doth not impose upon his belief or practice things unsound or doubtful as the terms of her Communion The Presbyterians generally hold the Church of England to be a true Church though defective in its Order and Discipline and frequent the Worship of God in the publike Assemblies And many of those that press earnestly after further Reformation do yet communicate as well in the Sacraments as the Word Preached and Prayer And a way might be opened for many more to do as much by a safe and easie condescention of those in Authority The Ministers of the Presbyterian Perswasion in their Proposals presented to His Majesty declare That they do not nor ever did renounce the true Ancient Primitive Episcopacy or Presidency as it was ballanced or managed by a due commixtion of Presbyters therewith That they are satisfied in their judgments concerning the Lawfulness of a Liturgy or Form of Worship and they Petition His Majesty That for the setling of the Church in Unity and Peace some Learned Godly and Moderate Divines indifferently chosen may be employed to compile a Form as much as may be in Scripture-words or at least to Revise and effectually Reform the Old Concerning Ceremonies they profess to hold themselves obliged in every part of Divine Worship to do all things decently and in order and to be willing therein to be determined by Authority in such things as being meerly circumstantial are common to humane actions and are to be ordered by the Light of Nature and Humane Prudence according to the general Rules of Gods Word But as for divers Ceremonies formerly retained in the Church of England in as much as they contribute nothing to the necessary decency which the Apostle required and draw too near the significancy and moral efficacy of Sacraments and have been rejected together with Popery by many of the Reformed Churches abroad and ever since the Reformation have been matter of endless Dispute in this Church and an occasion of great seperation and are at the best indifferent and in their own nature mutable they desire they be not imposed and they heartily acknowledg his Majesty to be Supreme Governour over all Persons and over all Things and Causes in these his Dominions Upon these Proposals His Majesty in His Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs hath thus graciously expressed himself We must for the Honour of all those of either Perswasion with whom We have conferred declare That the Professions and Desires for the advancement of true Piety and Godliness are the same their professions of Zeal for the Peace of the Church the same of Affection and Duty to Us the same They all approve Episcopacy they all approve a set-form of Liturgy and they all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacriledg and Alienation of the Revenues of the Church And if upon these Excellent Foundations in submission to which there is such a harmony of Affections any Superstructure should be raised to the shaking of these Foundations or the contracting and lessening of the blessed gift of