their Disciples and Followers who refusing to be called of that Sect yet participate too much with their Humours in maintaining the above-mentioned Errors and the King further adds I Protest upon my Honour I did not mean it generally of all those Preachers or others that like better the single Form of Policy in our Church than of the many Ceremonies of the Church of England or that are perswaded that their Bishops smell of a Papal Supremacy No I am so far from being contentious in these things that I equally love and honour the Learned and Grave Men of either Opinion And that those called Puritans at that time in England were not such Persons as are here described appears sufficiently from the earnest Endeavours both of the House of Commons and Lords of the Privy Council on their behalf and the different account they give of them who must needs be acknowledged very competent Judges and it is observable that the Familists in England took notice of this censure of the King 's Fuller Church Hist Book 10 p. 30. and in their Petition to him when he came into England they disown all Affinity with the Puritans and speak reproachfully of them under that Title themselves I hope this will abundantly acquit the Old English Puritans from being the Persons aimed at in those Royal Reflections and therefore notwithstanding any thing in that Book it may be very true that the Bishops flattered that King into an ill Opinion of them That some of our English Prelates endeavour'd to do very ill Offices betwixt the King and Presbyterian Party even before he came into England is most certainly true and it cannot be imagined that they would be less busie when they had him amongst them Bishop Bancroft was more than ordinary active in such Designs as appeared amongst other things by a Letter from one Norton a Stationer in Edenburgh directed for him and intercepted Calderwood's Hist of the Ch. of Scotland p. 248. upon Examination Norton acknowledged that he was employed by Bancroft to disperse certain Questions that tended to the Defamation of the Kirk and Presbyterial Government The same Bishop writ frequent Letters to Mr. Patrick Adamson the Titular Archbishop of St. Andrews which were many of them intercepted wherein he stirs him up to Extol and Praise the Church of England above all others and to come up to London Ibid. p. 259. assuring him that he would be very welcome and well rewarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury This Adamson had composed a Declaration which passed under the King's Name wherein the whole Order of the Kirk was greatly traduced and condemned The Commissioners of the General Assembly complained to the King of the many false Aspersions contained therein which were so shameful that the King disowned it and said It was not his doing but the Archbishops and prudently discarded that great Favourite and gave the Rents of the Bishoprick to the Duke of Lenox The poor Gentleman thus abandoned professes himself to be truly Penitent for what he had done and makes a full Recantation which he Subscribed in the presence of a great many Witnesses and directs it to the Synod conven'd at St. Andrew's Confessing That he had out of Ambition Vain-Glory and Covetousness undertaken the Office of an Archbishop That he had laboured to advance the King's Arbitrary Power in Matters of Religion and Protested before God that he was commanded to write that Declaration by the Chancellor the Secretary and another great Courtier and that he was more busie with some Bishops in England in Prejudice of the Discipline of the Kirk partly when he was there and partly by Mutual Intelligence than became a good Christian much less a Faithful Pastor c. Now although the King fondly adhered to such kind of Men whilst he hoped to advance his Prerogative thereby yet when he began to perceive the ill Effects of such Conduct Ibid. Preface he still deserted them and in those prudent Intervals would freely declare his good Opinion of the Presbytery and their Form of Government particularly in the National Assembly 1590. He thank'd God that he was King of such a Country wherein says he there is such a Church even the sincerest Church on Earth Geneva not excepted seeing they keep some Festival Days as Easter and Christmas and what have they for it As for our Neighbours in England their Service is an ill mumbled Mass in English they want little of the Mass but the Liftings Now I charge you my good People Barons Gentlemen Ministers and Elders that you all stand to your Purity and Exhort the People to do the same and as long as I have Life and Crown I will maintain the same against all deadly Nay Calder p. 473. when he took his leave of Scotland upon the Union of the two Kingdoms he solemnly promised the Ministers of the Synod of Lothian that he would make no Alterations in their Discipline but when he came up to London those who had been tampering with him and his Courtiers before had a fair opportunity to accomplish their Design which was the utter Abolition of the Presbytery in Scotland and the Suppression of the Puritans in England And saith my Author as soon as the English Prelates had got King James amongst them R. Baylie's Vindication and Answer to the Declarat p. 11. they did not rest till Mr. Melvill and the Prime of the Scots Divines were called up to London and only for their Just Defence of the Truth and Liberties of Scotland against Episcopal Usurpations were either Banish'd or Confin'd and so sore Oppressed that it brought many of them with Sorrow to their Graves and the whole Discipline of the Church was over-thrown notwithstanding the King 's parting Promise to the contrary The Nonconformists in England were so far from being brought over by the Severities of the former Reign that they drew up a Petition about this time Signed by Seven hundred and fifty Ministers desiring Reformation of certain Ceremonies and Abuses in the Church which Fuller gives us at large this was designed to have been presented before the Conference at Hampton-Court but was deferr'd till after The Relation of this so much talk'd of Conference as Fuller reports it out of Barlow is justly suspected of great Partiality and the Historian himself speaks doubtfully of it and yet even in that we have a plain Indication of what temper the Court and Bishops were It looks very odd that when the King had allow'd several of Dr. Reynold's Exceptions he should threaten if they had no more to say He would make them to Conform or hurry them out of the Land or do worse a poor business for a Prince to menace his own Subjects for Non-conformity to that which himself had formerly called an Ill-mumbled Mass in English and even now acknowledged wanted some Reformation But we have this Matter set in a truer Light by Mr. Patrick Galloway in his Account of it
has sufficiently taken off this Objection Agere de sui temporis politia non de ea quae fuit ab Ecclesiae initiis and more particularly to that of Jerom Chamier de Occum Pontif. cap. 6. p. 180. manifestum est de suo loqui tempore c. It is manifest when St. Jerom says a Presbyter does every thing that a Bishop does except in Ordination he speaks of the time in which he lived and from that very thing he draws an Argument to prove that formerly Bishop and Presbyter were the same because says he even now though the Names have been for a long time used for Distinction of Degrees yet excepting in Ordination there is nothing that a Bishop does but a Presbyter may do it also and therefore if after so long a Discrimination of Title and Degree Bishops have only gained this one Point of Power it is certain at first there was no difference at all this is the reasoning of that Father wherein he agrees very well with himself and is guilty of no such inconsistency as some careless or prejudiced Readers would charge upon him But that which seems most directly to confront these Witnesses is That Aerius is reckon'd amongst the Hereticks by Epiphanius for this Opinion and is represented as a Prodigy and his Opinion madness which Dr. Morrice does not forget to Proclaim as that which gives a mortal wound to our Cause But a learned Prelate of their own will give them a sufficient answer to this Irenic p. 277. for if Aerius was a Heretick for holding the Identity of Order it is strange that Epiphanius should be the first man that should charge him with it and that neither Socrates Sozomen Theodoret nor Evagrius before whose time he lived should censure him for it and why should not Jerom have equally Animadverted upon who is as express in this as any man in the World But some tell us He was an Arian others say he was put amongst the Hereticks for making an unnecessary Separation from the Church of Sebastia and Eustathius the Bishop thereof not that this was indeed Heresie but it was the custom of angry Bishops in those Ages to call all men Hereticks that stood in their way as appears by the famous Catalogues of Hereticks and Heresies that Philastrius a Bishop and Saint has bequeathed unto the World It is too evident to be concealed that Epiphanius though otherwise a Worthy and Good Man was of a hot and eager Temper rash in his Censures and sometimes transported into great irregularities of Practice as appears by the disturbance he made at Constantinople Socrates c. 11 12. and the rude Language he gave to Chrysostom because he did not at his command banish Dioscorus and condemn the Books of Origen The Learned Author of the Summary of the Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome gives us an instance of the rash and injudicious Zeal of Epiphanius in condemning Aerius for Heresie in another point which will very much depreciate the Authority of that Father in judging of Heresies Summary of the Controv. p. 62.63 64. take it in the Words of our Author At the Celebration of the Eucharist the Bishop or Priest made mention of the Names of Martyrs and Confessors and those who had deserved well of the Church and particular Christians in their Private Devotions remembred their own Relations and Friends and thus it became a Custom without enquiring into the Reasons of it till by this Custom People began to conclude that such Prayers were profitable for the dead and that those who had not lived so well as they should do might obtain the pardon of their Sins by the Intercessions of the Living which I confess was a very natural Thought and shews us the easie progress of Superstition that Customs taken up without any good Reason will find some reason though a very bad one when they grow Popular upon this Aerius condemns the Practice and he is reckoned amongst Hereticks for so doing He desired to know for what Reason the Names of dead men are recited in the Celebration of the Eucharist and Prayers made for them whether by this means those who died in Sin might obtain Pardon which he thought if it were true would make it unnecessary to live vertuously if they had Pious Friends who would pray for them when they were dead Epiphanius undertakes to confute Aerius but gives such Reasons as are no answer at all to his Questions He says it signifies our Belief that those who are dead to this World do still live in another state are alive to God That it signifies our good Hopes of the Happy State of those who are gone hence That it is done to make a Distinction between Christ and all other good Men for we pray for all but him who intercedes for us all Very worthy Reasons of praying for the Dead c. Thus you see what a Monstrous Heretick Aerius was and what an admirable Confuter Epiphanius The Truth is these two Heresies of Aerius concerning the Parity of Bishops and Presbyters and the unlawfulness of praying for the dead are much of the same Nature and Epiphanius's Confutation of them both equally Learned and Satisfactory for it is very observable that in the same place where he condemns that monstrous prodigious Heresie of the Identity of Order he fairly confesses That by the two Orders of Presbyters and Deacons Epiph. conr Acrium haeres 75. p. 905. all Ecclesiastical Offices might be performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the Fathers we have suffrage of the Canonists Gratian cap. 24. Legimus dist 39. cap. 5. Olim dist 95. cap. 4. Nullus dist 60. cap. 16. Ecce dist 95. Lancel l. 1. Tit. 21. p. 32. Auth. Glossae in cap. dist Concil Basil Duaren de sacr Eccl. Min. l. 1. c. 7. And it being thus enrolled in the Canon Law was publickly taught by the Schoolmen and others as Lombard lib. 4. Sentent dist 24. litera I. But at length the Roman Church saw it necessary for the better settling of the Papacy to advance the Order of Episcopacy above Presbytery and in the Council of Trent they have Decreed Sess 23. cap. 4. Can. 6 7. this Superiority and in their New Edition of the Canon Law have inserted this Note Annot. Marg. ad Cap. legimus dist 43. That Bishops have differed from Presbyters always as they do now in Government Prelacy Offices and Sacraments but not in the Name and Title of Bishop which was formerly common to both And those Learned Examiners of the Tridentine Council Chemnitius and Gentilletus Exam. part 2. Lib. 4. the one a Divine the other a Lawyer condemn this Decree the one by Scripture and Fathers the other by the Canon Law The Judgment of the Reformed Churches is so well known by the Harmony of Confessions that I shall not particularly enlarge upon it we have it there laid down
a form it is impossible to perform this Duty aright is as the Vindicator speaks little less than Lampoon upon the common sence of English men and I am sure it is contrary to the whole scope of that excellent Book of Bishop Wilkins called the Gift of Prayer for my part I thank God for the acquaintance I have had with some plain poor People that in their Prayers to God would express themselves in much more proper and pertinent Language than this Gentleman has yet attained to though he be the Author of at least two famous Books 2. In our Gestures that in Prayer they are confused and irreverent I know not what he intends by these Words We judge it our Duty either to kneel or stand in the time of Prayer either of which are postures of Adoration and to sit or loll we utterly disallow unless in case of bodily weakness and inability where they are excused by that Rule God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice I wonder how this Gentleman should come to know our postures better than we do our selves I suppose he has seldom appeared in our Assemblies unless it was in former days when he came attended by his Setters to break them up and then perhaps the Terror of such a One might put the People into postures odd and confused enough but if he pleases to come now when his Thunder-bolts are spent he may satisfie himself that our Gestures are almost as grave though not so genteel as his own But it seems the Dissenters sit and loll and are covered at the reading of the Psalms as for sitting I know not why it should be more irreverent at the reading of the Psalms than other parts of Scripture or than at the singing of the Psalms and at such times I am sure in Churches they generally sit And that we are usually covered either at the Reading or Preaching of the Word is not true and yet I know of no great Crime in it S. B. Esq The Providences of God observed p. 28. especially in Infirm and Aged Persons but I shall refer him to what a Learned Gentleman of the Church of England says in this Case his Words are Though the Act for enjoyning the Common Prayer forbids both Affirmatively and Negatively any other Method or Form of Service Rites and Ceremonies than is there directed some Churchmen are great Nonconformists in disobeying that Rule by several Additions in approach to Popery as in their second Service c. As also in being superabundant to Popery in endeavouring to make a Superstitious Fashion to sit bare during Sermon which is but a new thing in England and not known in any other Christian Church for though the Papists are bare in their Churches out of Service-time whom we endeavour to imitate in that Circumstance yet they are covered during Sermon wherein we outdo them and he tells us That the Minister of Finchly not long since caused one to be committed for being covered whilst he was in his Sermon who bringing his Action against the Justice for false Imprisonment recovered good Damages of him which though sufficient to prove the Churches Usurpation in this matter they do notwithstanding go on in it as a part of that new Popery formerly intended by Laud in his time But the Gentleman is chiefly scandalized at our Gesture in receiving the Sacrament Reply p. 46. wherein he says we sit like Clowns and Bumkins but who told him that we sit so Clownishly A man may sit very decently and handsomely and how does he know but we do so I hope meerly sitting is not the thing that makes a Bumkin for then this Gentleman is forced to be a Bumkin almost all the day long nor sitting in the Service of God for that he does too and why it should have such a peculiar Rustical quality at the Lords Supper rather than in other Ordinances I cannot imagine especially when for any thing that appears our Saviour used it in the very Institution of the Ordinance and the Apostles even when they received it from his immediate hand and though I am not of their minds that think this makes sitting necessary yet I am sure it will at least defend it from the scandal of an irreverent Posture 3. The Habit of our Ministers is not pleasing For says he He who administers in their Divine Service as they call it has no other habit than what is due to and becomes a Tradesman or any other Laick in the Congregation And here again we have Reason to complain that the matter of Fact is not truly represented for our Ministers are generally distinguished from others Tertul. de pallio p. 490. by the use of that very antient Garment the Goak of which Tertullian has writ a Treatise and prefers it before the Gown as a more modest humble Attire insomuch as that à Toga ad Pallium became a Proverb to express a Person growing humble from which Beatus Rhenanus argueth against the costly Wardrobe of the Prelates as not being à toga ad pallium but à pallio ad togam ad purpuram ad mundi pâ—mpam And what if Laicks wear Cloaks too so do Lawyers wear Gowns and the singing Men and Boys have their Surplices and yet I suppose they are not thereby advanced above the Condition of Lâ—icks why then is not our habit as grave though not as Majestical as theirs The Gentleman seems to be exceedingly enamoured of the Surplice and passionately cries out should the Church condescend to gratifie your humour to stript the Priest of his Habit the Emblem of Innocency and Colour of the Robes in St. Johns Vision I must Confess 't is Pitty the Priest should not be Innocent and Heavenly at least in Emblem and yet we find the learned men of his Church Vnreason of Separat Pres p. 83. Iren. p. 64. make but a very small account of this Visional Holy Garment The Bishop of Worcester says As for the Surplice in Parochial Churches it is not of that consequence as to bear a dispute one way or another and elsewhere I am sure it is contrary to the Primitive Practice to suspend and deprive Men of their Ministerial Functions De rebus Eccles cap. 24. for not Conforming in Habits Gestures and the like and Wulfridus Strabo expresly tells us there was no distinction of Habits used in the Primitive times Can. 14. and the Concil Gangrense condemned Eustathius Sebastenus for making a necessity of the Diversity of Habits and we find Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Preaching the Gospel in his Philosophers Habit and if after all this we must be condemn'd for irreverent Clowns and Bumkins it will be some comfort to us that we shall suffer in very good Company In short The most Learned Conformists that have largely writ in Vindication of these Ceremonies Protest Recâ—n p. 41. acknowledge there is nothing of real goodness in them nothing of Positive Order Decency or Reverence
be retained since they are neither good in themselves nor have a natural fitness to promote the Common Good were there any usefulness in them we would not reject them meerly because they have been abused but since by their own acknowledgment the Worship of God is not at all the better performed for them we cannot but judge it irrational to retain them a Wise Man will do nothing deliberately in his common Conversation but what he can give some account cui bono to what end he does it And really it is somewhat a hard case that we are in if we use these Ceremonies and know before hand our Duties are never the better for them Conscience and Reason tell us we are guilty of trifling in a Matter of the greatest Solemnity if we use them with an opinion that the Worship of God is better performed with them than otherwise their own Bishops and Doctors tell us we are guilty of Superstition and Will-worship 3. We observe that the Dealers in Ceremonies are apt to grow upon us and if we yield to a few they still urge us with more and indeed the Principle upon which they are defended leaves room to bring in as many as they please provided they be not expresly prohibited in the Word of God which in things of this Nature is not to be expected for it had been an endless task and would have swell'd our Bibles to a Prodigious Bulk to have precluded them all by Name which may be as various and indefinite as the fancies of Men Thus our Canons enjoyn several things which are not required by Law as bowing at the Altar at the Name of Jesus reading some part of the Service at the Communion Table c. and the Practice of some Zealous Men outgoes the very Canons themselves We are very loth to launch out into so vast an Ocean and commit our selves to be tost up and down by the Caprices and Humours of Men which are as uncertain as the Winds and Waves and we know not upon what dangerous Rocks or remote Shores they may at length drive us 4. Those things which we scruple are disapproved by the best Reformed Churches we know it to be so from their own words when the Ministers of the Helvetian and French Churches were desired to give their Opinion about these things they did generally express their dislike of them See a Book Intituled The Judgment of the Reformed Churches Printed at Geneva Octob. 24. 1547. Subscribed by Beza and many famous Divines of those Churches And we cannot forget the Exhortation of the poor Remains of the Bohemian Churches directed to the Reformed especially to that of England by the Learned and Pious Comenius writ in Latine and Dedicated to King Charles II. at his return into England I will transcribe a few Lines because the Book is not in every Bodies hand Contend then P. 8. Oh great Churches among your selves if you please about the Preheminence Strive about the Notion of Faith or for Ceremonies or the Hierarchy as fiercely as you can behold God presents you with a little Child an Infant stript of all Pomp and Dressing considerable for nothing but for Simplicity knows not any thing of preferring it self before others or quarrelling with any or coveting Wealth and Honours only understands how to keep at home to do its own Business not to intermeddle in other Mens Matters but to Serve God in Spirit and in Truth c. And in another Place thus P. 47. As for the Pomp of Church Ceremonies God indeed in the old way of Worship ordained such a thing therein by Shaddows to set forth the Spiritual Mysteries of Salvation which Christ at his coming was to disclose but seeing that since the coming of Christ they have been demolished and levelled by so many Apostolical Strains as Claps of Thunder and Flashes of Lightning directed against them why should we bring them up again still to make use of them Under the Papacy perhaps where the Light of the Gospel is obscured in their Barbarous Generations they might seem to be of some use at least with some colourable pretence but in a Reformed Church I beseech you what use can be made of them Those that have been hitherto retained in England under the Reformed Bishops have not the very Pentificians themselves laught them to Scorn and Derision It is plain to be seen in Weston's Theatre of Life Civil and Sacred Printed at Antwerp 1626. P. 564 c. Where having said that the Religion of the Protestants is without all Religion because they have no Sacrifice Priesthood nor Sacred Ceremonies he adds Some Protestants indeed that they may not appear absolutely Impious and Irreligious use our Missal and Breviary selecting what they please thereof for the Rubrick of their Liturgy and to make the Form of their Worship appear the more goodly they have their Canonical Persons forsooth after the Modes and Customs of the Church of Rome their Caps and Hoods and Holy-Days and such-like Stuff which they say they found in the Synagogue of Antichrist by which very thing it is apparent that the Religion of these Protestants stands guilty of Stealth and Robbery by which it first came into the World or if they will not be taken for Thieves let them go for our Apes These with their whole Service are derided and scorned not only by ours but also by their own the English seem to have driven the Pope out of England in such haste that they have forced him to leave his Cloaths behind him which they as Fools in a Play put on with a kind of Pompous Ceremony of Triumph and so lead the Quire a goodly Reformation it is that they dare not carry it through c. It will therefore be a glorious thing for the Reformed Churches to come back to the Practice of Christ and his Apostles leaving off the Baubles of earthly Riches Honours and Pomp and to look after and busie themselves about things of a higher Nature c. This and a great deal more to the same purpose is there to be seen by which it appears not only that those renowned Martyrs and Confessors called the Taborites disliked our Ceremonies but that the Papists themselves for whose sake they are retained despise and ridicule us for them 2. There are those amongst us that could bear with the use of these things but cannot declare their Approbation of them and their Assent and Consent to all of them this would be to espouse and commend those things which at best they look upon but as Tolerabiles Ineptiae and this Approbation must extend to all things required and they cannot so far dissemble with God and the World There are many things in the Book of Homilies which they like very well but they cannot say so of all there are some very odd Passages which they cannot Assent to P. 160. take one instance of many 2 Hom. of Alms. The same Lesson doth the Holy
proving the Dissenters Schismaticks and the Vindicator repay'd him with another of those that have defended them from that Charge And adds whether these have not done as much to prove the Imposers Schismaticks as the former to prove the Dissenters such is referred not to the judgment of an interessed Party but of all the unbyass'd part of Mankind Our famous Surveyor asks Where shall we have a Council of such For those that have a Liturgy and Ceremonies and Bishops are certainly for us and those that are for none of these are all byassed against us But Sir the Question to be referr'd is not whether a Liturgy and Ceremonies and Bishops are lawful but whether such as ours be so and whether it be lawful to take those Oaths and make those Declarations that have been required of us and as there is no Church upon Earth requires the same things as this of our Nation so we have judges enough of this matter that are disinteressed without going to Pagans or Atheists for them and what their thoughts are has been already in part discovered He would help T.W. to prove that a Man who is not divested of all Christian Temper Humility and Consideration Review p. 34. may yet be in a desperate condition because it seems He may not have Grains enough of these Virtues to save him What! must we have a statical Divinity too If a Man has Christian Faith though it be but as a Grain of Mustard-seed it will be effectual to Salvation and I know not why the same may not be said of all other Graces he that has them not in the prevailing degree has them not at all that Man in whom Pride is Habitually prevalent has not the least Grain of Christian Humility The Gentleman therefore must find out some other Salvo against the next time The Vindicator took notice of a blunder in the Citizen in calling the same Person Sceptical a Slighter of our Religion Obstinate and Perverse c. And thought Sceptical and Obstinate did not jump well together This Gentleman endeavours to help him here too and says T.W. intended these as so many several Characters and did not intend to unite them all in one Person But it is certain he did he speaks in the singular number if thou be Sceptical I shall altogether glory in thy Scoffs c. These are all joined together no disjunctive particle betwixt them all lodged in one single Person in a distinct Paragraph as a third Man distinct both from the Church-man and Dissenter and this is so plain that Alderman himself as this Author calls him was too honest to deny it The Question concerning the ninth Article of the Creed and in what sence T. W. sets it up as a Standard of Controversie is fully manifested in the Preface to this Paper And 't is a very groundless suggestion that we have any design to lay it aside that we may impose whatever Notions we please upon the World we very well approve of the Creeds and have subscribed to them and to the Doctrine of the Church as laid down in the Articles and it were to be wished your own Ministers kept as close to those Articles in their Preaching as ours do The Vindicator has been already defended in the exceptions he took at T. W's date of the Origination of the Catholick Church This Gentlaman says he spoke of it under the denomination of Christian which is very false as those that read the passage will see however the Alderman is beholden to his brisk Champion for he 'll say any thing in the World to help him at a dead lift He puts the question Whether when our Saviour said upon this Rock I will build my Church he did not speak of it as yet unbuilt I answer if by unbuilt he means unfinished it is true for the Church Universal is a building in fieri and will not be compleated till the End of the World But if by unbuilt he means unbegun I say there is no reason so to understand the words of our Saviour for he has been building his Church upon the same Rock there spoken of from the Fall of Man but I am loth to spend time upon such quibbles if the Gentleman had mentioned the Christian Church or if he had not said a few Lines before that the Angels were the most glorious Members of the Church I dare say the Vindicator would not have taken notice of it Review p. 35. nor have blamed him no more than Tertullian and Jerome for speaking of the Christian Church in its infancy And though the Vindicator acknowledges the Apostles and Disciples were the Church he did not say the whole Church much less that the Church then had its first existence I hope when these Gentlemen call the Church of England the Church they do not mean the Church Universal I desire this Gentleman to give us some better proof than his bare Word that ever the Apostles imposed upon the Disciples things indifferent P. 36. especially because they tell us it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them not to do so And he must also prove that the Bishops are their Successors in the same plenitude of power till then he beats the Air but gains no Victory The Vindicator bewails the slow Progress the Gospel has made in the World and imputes it in part to the needless Ceremonies with which Men have encumbred it and want of Personal worth in the managers To this he replies The Divines of the Church of England are no way concerned in it No What! not when there is so much notorious Debauchery amongst us that insolently out-faces all the Letters and Orders whereby our Pious King and Queen have stirred up Magistrates and Ministers to do what they can for the suppression of it And yet these Gentlemen see no want of success of the Gospel in England but are for recommending to the Dissenters a Journey to China or Tartary Alass Man The design of the Gospel is not onely to give Nations another Title but to make the Inhabitants other Men and if you be not sensible that has made but a slow Progress in England in that which is its main design you 'll make but an ill Watch-man upon the Walls of your Church And if our Ministers should take such a journey as you are pleased to assign them it is not the first time that they have been forced to leave the dear and pleasant land of their Nativity and expose themselves to the fatigues of a tedious Voyage and all the dangers and hardships of a Pagan Wilderness that there at least they might enjoy that liberty of serving God according to his Word Vid. The Life of Mr. Elliot amongst the Barbarous Indians to whom they brought the Glorious Gospel and what toils they under-went and what success God was pleased to give them the whole World has seen and admired The Citizen acknowledged that in the Primitive times there was
See Fuller lb. But Cranmer and Ridley and others who by Politick compliances had weathered out the Storm very stiffly defended them under the pretences of Antiquity and Decency The Unhappy differences betwixt Ridley and Hooper about these things are sufficiently known and so is that happy agreement to which they came when they were Prisoners for the Truth in the Marian days And by Ridleys Letter to Hooper it appears that his sufferings had changed his Thoughts concerning those by-matters as he calls them for which in Prosperity he had so warmly contended he confesseth it was Hoopers Wisdom to reject them and his Simplicity to urge them Your Wisdom and my Simplicity I grant hath a little jarred A learned and worthy Person that has lately descanted upon that Letter B. of S. seems to think that this was only spoken out of Ridleys abundant humility and condescention and that it should be taken for granted that Ridley was in the right and Hooper in the wrong especially because a Law interposed but with all possible respect to that great Man we cannot easily admit this supposition We do verily believe Ridley was in the wrong and though he acted according to his Judgment which was really great in other matters yet in this it was misinformed and we think our selves obliged to believe him when he expresly says it was his simplicity to jarr with Hooper in this matter And that which made his Rigor the more blameable was that he persisted in it notwithstanding the King 's earnest Request to the contrary first by the Earl of Warwick then under his own Signet wherein he highly commends Hooper's Learning Judgment Discretion and Probity and promises to save the Bishops from all Penalties they might incur by passing over those Rites and Ceremonies that were offensive to his Conscience but instead of complying herewith Hooper is sent to Prison no wonder if this caused Ridley to make such reflections upon himself when he was under the like Confinement The Learned Author adds That Ridley spoke these diminishing things of himself in the absence of the Law when it was repealed but that I suppose does not in the least alter the case for if his contending with Hooper was justifiable at first it would have remained so still and the quality of the action could not be changed by any thing ex post-facto but must needs stand good or bad as it was when first done and under those Circumstances no doubt it was reviewed when the simplicity thereof was acknowledged and I fear it will not so well consist with the honour that is due to the Memory of that blessed Martyr to think that out of meer Complement to Hooper he would disapprove of what he had done had he really believed he had done well in it He that was ready to suffer the utmost extremity for the great Truths of Religion would not upon any account have recanted his Judicious Zeal for the Unity of the Church and Decency of Religion if he had so esteemed of it but his Sentiments were now changed and that which before he thought to be Wisdom and Zeal he now confesses was simplicity Whilst this good Bishop was thus acknowledging his weakness and gladly embracing those to whom he had been formerly somewhat troublesome others of his Brethren who had escaped the Fiery Tryal and were not humbled enough to see their folly werefomenting differences even in the Sanctuaries to which they fled The most famous Congregation of English Exiles was seated at Frankfort where they had a Church granted them by the Magistrates Troubles of Frankfort printed 1575 who required them to observe the Model of the French Churches in their Service which they willingly consented to forbearing to answer aloud after the Minister omitting the Litany Surplice and other Ceremonies as superfluous and superstitious instead of the Confession in the English Liturgy used another better fitted to the present time and state of Affairs then sang a Psalm in Metre in a plain Tune then the Minister prayed for the Divine Assistance and so proceeded to the Sermon then followed a prayer for all States particularly for England which ended with the Lord's Prayer then the rehearsal of the Articles of our Belief then another Psalm and the Minister concluded with the Blessing In this posture the Affairs of that Church stood Fuller Ch. Histor Cent. 16. l. 8. p. 30. when Dr. Cox arrived there out of England who being a man of a high Spirit as Dr. Fuller speaks of him came one day into the Congregation and made a great disturbance amongst them answering aloud after the Minister and the next Lord's day one of his company without the knowledge and consent of the Congregation got up into the Pulpit and there read all the Litany using the English Ceremonies therein this no doubt was done for the sake of Decency and Order and Church-Unity though impartial men will think it was a very improper Method for the accomplishment of such designs These Irregular proceedings Dr. Burnet acknowledges that this Dr. Cox was the unhappy occasion of all the Troubles at Frankfort Observat upon Ridleys Letter to Hooper p. 4. Dr. Fuller ib. had almost ruined all for the Principal Magistrates of the Place protest if the Reformed Order of the Churches of Frankfort were not observed the Doors should be shut upon them again and thus says Fuller the Coxan Party depressed embrac'd a strange way to raise themselves accusing Mr. Knox the Pastor of the Church of High Treason against the Emperor in words spoken several years before in another Land and Language when he owed no Allegiance to him and this was so zealously urged that the Magistrates could do no less than will him to depart the City lest they should not seem tender enough of the Emperor's Honour so that at last Dr. Cox might say as the Historian observes With great rather than good Wrestlings have I wrestled and have prevailed When Queen Elizabeth came to the Throne there seemed a fair prospect of further Reformation and Union and divers of the Bishops that had been sufferers were willing to have promoted it but others were still tenacious of their Old Customs and greatly affected External Pomp and Gallantry in Divine Service and the Queen her self was very much of that humour as appears by Grindal's Letter to Bullinger dated August 27. Burnets Letters p. 52. 1566. where he writes that all the Bishops who had been beyond Sea dealt with the Queen to let the matter of the Habits fall but she was so prepossest that though they endeavoured to divert her from prosecuting that matter she continued still inflexible And Bishop Jewel in a Letter to the same Person dated July 16. 1565. writes of the Act concerning the Habits with great regret and expresses some hopes that it might be Repealed the next Session of Parliament Ibid. p. 53. if the Popish Party did not hinder it And the present Bishop
to him The Marshal only made it his Request that he would not trouble him for holding him so long in Restraint forasmuch as he was a Poor Man and had many Children and did only follow the Orders of his Superiours in what he had done Mr. Yarranton told him He did freely forgive him These dangerous Plotters being now at Liberty they depart every Man to his own Home and were never prosecuted or further questioned about this Matter There was no need of that for the Contrivers had now obtained their End which was to possess the King and Parliament that it was absolutely necessary to make some severe Act against this restless sort of Men who not contented with the King 's Gracious Pardon were always Plotting to disturb the Government Accordingly when the Parliament met together upon the 20th of November 1661. to which time they were Adjourned the King makes a Speech to them wherein are these words My Lords and Gentlemen I Am Sorry to find that the General Temper and Affections of the Nation are not so well Composed as I hoped they would have been after so signal Blessings of God Almighty upon us all and after so great Indulgence and Condescentions from me towards all Interests there are many wicked Instruments still as active as ever who labour Night and Day to disturb the Publick Peace and to make People jealous of each other it may be worthy of your Care and Vigilance to provide proper Remedies for Diseases of that Kind and if you find new Diseases you must find new Remedies c. No sooner was this Parliament in their geers Note this was before the Sham was discovered to Mr. Yarranton but Sir J. P. one of the Knights for Worcestershire with open mouth informs them of a dangerous Presbyterian Plot that was on foot that many of the chief Conspirators were now in Prison at Worcester The like Information was given by some of their Members that Served for Oxfordshire Herefordshire Staffordshire and other places yea this was the general Vogue Some say but by a very few Votes as may appear by the Printed Pamphlets of those times Hereupon a Bill of Uniformity was excogitated and carried on in the Parliament and passed that Sessions I have done with the First Part of this Sham Plot when I have added a Passage or two more concerning Mr. Yarranton As soon as he was Discharged as before he goes up to London and prevails with the Lord of Bristol to acquaint the King with the great wrong he had received and with the wicked Contrivance of some of his Ministers by Sham-Plots to divide the King from his People and his People from one another Hereupon an Order of Council was directed to the Deputy-Lieutenants of Worcestershire that were then in and about London to appear before the Council and to give an Account of this Matter They seemed to clear themselves from being concerned therein and desired such as were in the Country might be consulted The next Post they inform their Brethren in the Country how Matters stood before the Council and that the Lord of Bristol did Patronize Mr. Yarranton upon this Sir J. W. one of the Deputy-Lieutenants hastens up to London and brings with him one Hales an Attorney his Kinsman and Tenant now living in Tenbury which Hales with a Constable of St. Mary Overies and one Halborn a Waterman now living in Pepper-Alley in Southwark Arrested Mr. Yarranton when he was Bowling in Winchester-Park for High Treason and being further assisted by some of the Horse-Guards then in Southwark conveyed him in Halborn's Boat to White-Hall where he was that Night in Custody but on the Morrow the Earl of Bristol sent the King 's Privy Seal to a Friend of Mr. Yarranton's who brought it to him wherein it was declared That it was the King's Pleasure he should Travel where he pleased and not to be molested by any Person whatsoever without a Special Warrant from the King Mr. Yarranton seeing how Matters went in London resolved to return again into the Country where he prosecuted Major Wild and others for Imprisoning of him wrongfully but within Six Months after a Design is laid by some of the Criminals in the former Sham-Plot to Suborn Persons to Swear against him that he had spoken Treasonable Words against the King and the Government the Witnesses were one Dainty a Mountebank formerly an Apothecary in Derby who afterwards acknowledged that he had Five Pounds for his Pains The other Witness lived in Wales and went by two Names this was done at the Assizes in Worcester the Bill being found by the Grand Jury Twisden then Judge Mr. Yarranton put himself upon his Trial and though he did not except against any one of his Jury yet upon a full Hearing of the Case they presently acquitted him to the great disappointment of the designing Gentlemen This Narrative Mr. Yarranton Published under his own Hand and I never could understand that any Answer was made to it and by mentioning the Names of Persons then living and therein appealing to them it appears to be of undoubted credit and if any shall take upon them to contradict it there are so many of the Persons concerned still alive as are sufficient to make out the truth and certainty of it This Act of Uniformity which was gained by such an Infamous Stratagem Some of the Ejected Ministers had been Sufferers for the King as Mr. Cook Mr. Harrison Mr. Kirby Mr. Seddan sent up Prisoners about Sir Geo. Booth's Attempt Collection of Debates p. 212. obliged all Ministers to Subscribe to the Book of Common-Prayer by Bartholomew-Day upon pain of Deprivation ab officio beneficio which about Two thousand Ministers could not do and were accordingly ejected and it is a wonder that all the Ministers in England were not Silenced by it for it is a known and certain Truth that the Liturgy with its new Alterations to which they assented came not out of the Press till about Bartholomew-Eve so that all those that Conformed excepting perhaps one or two in London Subscribed to they knew not what and thus the Effects of that Edict were as scandalous as the cause and rise of it An honourable Member of the House of Commons observed in Parliament in the Year 1680. If the Laws against Dissenters were projected in favour of the Protestant Religion it is strange they were so promoted as many Members now here that Served in that Parliament do remember by Sir Thomas Clifford Sir Solomon Swale and Sir Roger Strickland who have all since appeared to be Papists When the lamentable Effects of this Act began to appear more visible every day than other and the King was sensible how they had been cheated into it by a pretended Plot the Forgery whereof was now discovered He set forth the very same Year Decem. 26. his Declaration of Indulgence and in February next when the Parliament was met Journal of the House of
and like a good Angel made their fetters fall off and the doors fly open others were forced to abscond from their Families and Employments for fear of the Excommunication Writ and these it rescued from impending ruine and indeed it found them all insulted over scorned and trampled upon by the Bigots of the other Party but this Declaration put a respect upon them and gave them the Opportunity of letting the World see they were neither so few nor so bad nor contemptible as their Adversaries had represented them There are two things for which Dissenters are frequently reproached in the late Reign First Their accepting that Liberty with such Addresses of Thanks Secondly Their writing so few Books against Popery I have something to say in their just Defence upon both Accounts As to the First It had been the greatest Madness in the World for them to have refused the Advantages of that Liberty they thought themselves obliged to Worship God according to the Dictates of their Consciences when they run the Risque of Prisons and Banishment for so doing and to neglect it when they were freed from those hazards would have been such a piece of sullen unaccountable perversness as these Gentlemen would soon have upbraided us with I know it is commonly said that Toleration was promoted in favour of the Papists and I believe few of the Dissenters ever questioned it but they knew very well that when it was granted for them to have sate still and suffer'd the Papists alone to enjoy the Benefits of it would have strengthed Popery much more the Papists would have had never the less Liberty though Dissenters had been silent and when they were let loose it was time for all hands to be at work to countermine them and there 's no better weapon to subdue Errour than the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God It is objected this Declaration was founded upon a Dispensing Power and to accept of it was owning such a Power But the Dissenters never by Word or Writing ascribed any such Power unto the King as to Dispense with the Laws that are for the good of the Nation indeed they always esteemed the Laws by which they were excluded to be very unjust and unreasonable Edicts contrary to the Law of God and the common Interest and that they ought not to have been made or ever executed when they were made they never thought them binding in Point of Conscience and though they were forced heretofore to submit to the Penalty yet they were not so forsaken of common Sence as to court the Continuance of that Penalty or cast themselves into Prison when the Magistrate did not think fit to do it But the Clergy of the Church of England had often in the Pulpit and from the Press told the King that he had such a Power as the Author of Vox Cleri pro Rege shews us in abundance of Instances And the Judges who were of the Church of England had given it for Law as the other had declared it for Gospel and all the Magistrates in England thought fit to acquiesce in it which surely they would not have done if they had not thought it a just and reasonable thing for indeed the Kings Declaration would have signified little if the Magistrates had put the Laws in Execution still and if they did not think those Laws were really suspended they were bound by their Oaths to have done it and their forbearance was a plain acknowledgment of such a Power at least as to such kind of Laws as were hereby suspended but the Dissenters only persisted to do that which they thought themselves obliged to as they had opportunity by the Law of God any thing in humane Laws to the Contrary notwithstanding And as to their Addresses of Thanks it least becomes the Churchmen of all others to Reflect upon them not only because it was their Cruelty that made Indulgence so very pleasant and Oppression sometimes makes a wise man mad but also because they fall vastly short of those high flights of Complement which these men themselves took in their Addresses of a far worse Nature and Occasion If it be so Criminal to Thank the King for not suffering Protestants to destroy one another what shall we say of those that in the most Luxuriant manner thank'd him for dissolving one of the best of Parliaments E. of W's Speech and as a Noble Peer lately told them Were so forward in the Surrender of Charters and their fulsom Addresses and Abhorrences making no other claim to their Liberties and Civil Rights but Concessions from the Crown telling the King every one of his Commands was stamp'd with Gods Authority c. Besides I am informed by one of those that joined in an Address of Thanks to the King in Cheshire that the Nonconformists never moved in it till the Churchmen had led them the way these Gentleman therefore are too Imprudent to provoke us to Recriminations that will be so vastly to their own dishonour I am sure the Dissenters thank'd the Late King for nothing but what our present King and Parliament have Confirmed to them as the likeliest way to unite Protestants in Interest and Affection as the Preamble of the Act speaks and if there was any thing in that Liberty that was serviceable to the Papists it must be in the manner of giving it not in the thing it self as far as we are concerned in it and if the Episcopal Party had been so wise as to have promoted a legal Comprehension when it was in their Power they had disabled the Papists from serving themselves of any Liberty of ours As to the Second That Dissenters writ so little against Popery in the Late Reign it may be very easily accounted for They have sufficiently demonstrated their Abhorrence of Popery at all times and their Leading Men as Mr. Baxter Mr. Pool and the Preachers of the Morning Lecture have acquitted themselves very well in the Confutation of it and Malice it self cannot really believe that they are in the least favourable to the Romish Heresie the Crime that has been generally objected against them has been their too great aversation and distance from it As for the late Discourses upon that Subject that are so much boasted of it is observable that most of them were begun upon Personal Engagements The Preface to the Exam. of the Council of Trent by Catholick Tradition as one of the Principal Managers thereof acknowledges There is says he a Train in Controversies as well as in Thoughts one thing still giving start to another Conferences produce Letters Letters Books and one discourse gives occasion for another c. Now in such Cases it would not been have decent for a Third Person to have stept in and invaded another mans Province Besides there was no manner of Necessity for it the Papists in England have been a baffled party for some Ages and their Errors so often exposed that it
was too easie a Task these Gentlemen were engaged in to require so much help it 's a beaten Road in which they were to Travel and as I do not find that the Papists offered any thing of late but what has been in substance answered a thousand times so it was not necessary for our Doctors to set their Wits on the Rack for a Reply not indeed do I perceive any thing Method and Language excepted that pretends to be new nor is this any Diminution of their Honour but a Peace of Justice to the Memory and worth of those that have gone before them And I might add Fuller C. H. l. 9. p. 74. This clause was left out of the Art in 1571 but A. B Land would have it inserted again Parker Cartwright Walker Boyes Farmer Slater Manby Good all c. the Presbyterians had little Reason to fear that any of their Perswasion would be perverted their distinguishing Principle of the sufficiency of the Scripture will infallibly secure them whilst they adhere unto it But many of our Churchmen had instill'd into their Followers very odd Notions concerning the Power of the Church in Matters of Faith as in the twenty Article and of the Apostolical Succession and Authority of Bishops and their Power of Judging what is fit and decent in the Worship of God to which all others must submit and concerning the binding force of old Canons and Councils and such Doctrines as these would be in danger to betray men into the Arms of that Church that can pretend as high in these matters as any and it is certain in Fact some of their Bishops and Doctors and Clergy fell in with them and it was time for them to bestir themselves to deliver their men out of the Snares which they had helped to lay for them And the Dissenters were very well pleased to see those Learned Men baffling the Papists upon such Principles as they had reason to hope would set the Authors themselves more upright than before some of them had been those that read Dr. Sherlocks Preservatives against Popery and what he there says concerning the Nature of Gospel Worship That God will not now have a Temple nor is his Presence appropriated to any place and the like and compare it with that he has formerly writ especially in that Book wherein he told us Vind. Defence of Dr. St. p. 13. that Christianity is nothing else but Mystical Judaism will find that his late Polemical Engagements were so very beneficial to himself that it had been a thousand pitties to have taken the work out of his Hands And what I have collected out of these Modern debates concerning Church-Unity Communion Succession c. may convince any man that we had all the reason in the World to make them fair way and room when they were got into the good old Road of Scripture Catholick Notions that would infallibly confound the Papists and when they had done that would very much contribute to the reconciling of Protestants amongst themselves The Author of the Review takes upon him to affirm that none of our Ministers endeavoured at that time to fortifie his Conventicle against Popish Delusions but how can he expect to be believed in that which 't is as impossible for him to know as to be an Ubiquitarian and in all the Conventicles in England at the same time and as he can never prove it to be true so there are thousands in England know it to be false and are able to testifie that notwithstanding their Obligations to the Government their Ministers never failed to confute Popish Tenets when they fell in their way and that not seldom they would go a step or two out of their way to meet them As unhappy is he in the little stories that follow Dr. Owen was in Fee with King James and yet was dead several years before Our present Patrons were the men pickt up at Court to compleat our Ruine and yet I know of no Patrons we have for our Liberty but the King Lords and Commons I hope he does not mean them We know very well what Bishops and others were of the Ecclesiastical Commission in the Bishop of Londons Case and in that of Cambridge and Maudlin Colledge in Oxford not one Presbyterian amongst them Let this Gentleman prove that any Ministers of ours assisted at Jesuitical Intreagues or had Mony sprinkled amongst them to carry on those designs and by my Consent whoever is found Guilty shall be his Bondslave but by no means let Confidence and Noise and loud Appeals be taken for Evidence against them Amongst all that Croud of Writers that give us the History of the late Revolution there is scarcely one of them but acknowledges that the Dissenters were aware of the Popish design of taking away the Test and would not consent to it though for the Penal Laws they thought many of them might be very well spared and I challenge him to prove that either Mr. Lob or any other Person amongst those called Presbyterian and Congregational and we have nothing to do with others ever advised King James to any thing but what our Present King and Parliament have thought fit to establish by Law If as this Gentleman tells us a little Money Review p. 33. and a Toleration will make the Dissenters so easie and quiet and well satisfied it is a sign they are not the worst tempered People in the World and it were well if our Churchmen were as easily pleased for what my Lord Falkland a great Royalist said of some of the Bishops in 1641 they were so cordially Papists that it was all that fifteen hundred Pounds a Year could do to keep from Confessing it I am afraid is too true concerning many of our Clergy in another respect it is as much as some hundreds a year can do to keep them Quiet and Content under the present Government However we are obliged to him for telling us what the sober thinking People judge of us it seems They do not stick to say that our Zeal against Popery is all Counterfeit that we would be better Conformists if Popery should prevail than we are now but he should have told us who these sober thinking People are for many will presume to dignifie themselves with those Epithets See the Review Ibid. that have as little right to 'em as any People in the World and it is usual enough for a Mob of Ecclesiastical Politico's to get together and when they are well heated with drinking Healths to the Church of England and have liberally Cursed and Damned the Dissenters then step forth and look big and think themselves capable of reporting the opinion of all the sober thinking men of the Nation and I am the more inclin'd to believe that it is a Cabal of such men as these that have chosen this Gentleman for their Speaker because our own experience assures us those Conformists that are really most sober have always