did the Festivals of Bacchus or as it is usual to proceed against Traitors I think I may now put a period unto the Discourse about Indulgence which I have so managed as becomes a Son and a Friend unto the Church of England as well as a lover of the peace and welfare of his Native Countrey I have not debated the point of Prerogative in particular partly because what was said heretofore about the Deity is true concerning these Gods on earth It is dangerous to tell even the truth concerning their Essence partly because I could not do it without offending if not prejudicing the Church of England I do not think it convenient or seasonable that we should minutely inquire whether All the Power which was owned to be in the Pope at the Lateran Councill were vested in K. Henry VIII Or to examine strictly what the purport of those words are that The Kings of this Realme shall be taken accepted and reputed the onely Supreame Head on Earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia and shall have and enjoy annexed and united unto the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the title and stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Preheminences Jurisdictions Priviledges Authorities Immunities Profits and Commodities to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the same Church belonging and appertaining Our Laws doe likewise tell us that the King is the onely and undoubted supream Headof the Church of England and Ireland to whom by Holy Scripture all Authority and power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of causes Ecclesiastical Which passages whosoever shall discreetly consider He will esteem of these Arcana Imperii as matters which no wise man will search into that affects the tranquillity of these Realms To exemplify this further did not Q. Elizabeth dispense with the Act for coming to Church and connived at the Popish Service in private Houses in a manner without punishment although it were prohibited by the Law under a pecuniary mulct This Indulgence she used for thirteen years And when the Statute was made against the bringing in of Bulls Agnus Dei's and hallowed grains c. privy tokens of Papal obedience or to reconcile any man unto the Church of Rome yet was there no man in full six years proceeded against by that Law What imports it whither a Law be suspended by Practice or Declaration Her Reign doth afford some instances of Toleration as also do the Primitive Times which I have declined to mention But yet they are instances of what a Prince may do upon Reason of State and against which I have not met with any Father Bishop or Lawyer that hath protested I thought to put an end here unto this Preface which is grown prolixe beyond my intention But I met lately with a Book written by an English Lawyer in 1640. and tendered to the Parliament which requires some Animadversions thereupon The Case is about Ship-Money but there is an excursion against the English Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas the which since I have so perspicuously asserted against the Dutch it seems necessary that I do not suffer it to be betrayed by the English I am sorry to find a sort of Civil war betwixt the Temple and a faction in Lincolns-Inn and I wondered who had suggested unto the Dutch those principles of refusing the Flag and denying our Rights on the Sea until I found this Book to have given them a pretext thereunto If I be any thing sharp in my reflections thereon I may be pâ—…doned since those assertions are less to be endured in an English man then in an Hollander After the writings of Selden it is strange to find a Subject of the King of Great Britain that doubts Whether the Sea be a part of the King's dominions and adds But grant the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions to some purposes How is it a part Essential or equally valuable or how does it appeare that the Fate of the Land depends wholly upon the Dominion of the Sea France subsists without the Regiment of the Sea and why may not we as well want the same If England quite spend it self and poure out all its treasure to preserve the Seignory of the Seas it is not certain to exceed the Naval force of France Spain Holland c. And if it content it self with its antient strength of Shipping it may remain as safe as it hath formerly done Nay I cannot see that either necessity of ruine or necessity of dishonour can be truly pretended out of this that France Spain or Holland c. are too potent at Sea for Us. The Dominion of the Seas may be considered as a meer Right or as an Honour or as a Profit to us As a Right it is a Theame fitter for Scholars to whet their Wits upon then for Christians to fight and spill blood about And since it doth not manifestly appeare how or when it was first purchased or by what Law conveyed unto Us we take notice of it onely as matter of wit and disputation As it is an Honour to make others strike saile to us as They pass it is a glory fitter for women and children to wonder at then for Statesmen to contend about It may be compared to a Chaplet of Flowers not to a Diadem of Gold But as it is a profit unto Us to fence and enclose the Sea its matter of moment yet it concernes Us no more then it doth other Nations By too insolent contestations hereupon we may provoke God and dishonour our selves we may more probably incense our friends then quell our enemies we may make the Land a Slave to the Sea rather then the Sea a Servant to the Land I mention this passage to shew the Frenzy which possessed the Heà ds of many that would be reputed Patriots and Defenders of the Laws and Liberties of the English Nation in 1636 c. But there are some fatal periods amongst these Northern Regions when the Inhabitants do become so brutal and prejudicate that no obligations of Reason Prudence or Conscience and Religion can prevail over their passions especially if they are instigated by the Boutefeus of the Law in opposition to the Gospel of Peace and Obedience At another time it would have seemed strange that a Common-Lawyer should doubt whither the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions Whereas our Laws and Parliaments have alwayes decreed it to be so It is strange that one of that Robe should controvert our Right thereunto or scruple How it was purchased since in Vulgar Titles the Common Law looks no farther then Prescription and in explication thereof they are not so nice as the Civilians â—…or by the Civil Law there is required a Just Title which the Common Law requireth not And Bona fides which the Common Law requireth not and continual Possession which the Common Law only requireth And This He might have seen proved in Mr. Selden and Sir John Boroughs
A FURTHER IUSTIFICATION OF THE PRESENT WAR AGAINST THE United Netherlands Illustrated with several SCULPTURES By Henry Stubbe a lover of the Honour and Welfare of old ENGLAND Everard Reidan Annal. Belgic lib. 17. A. D. 1600. Decretum Ord. General advers Groninganos Quod ad pactiones foedus toties ruptum provocarent absurdum nec audiendum neque vitio Patribus vertendum esse quod securitati rerum suarum consulere velint LONDON Printed for Henry Hills and John Starkey and are to be sold at the Sign of the Miter near Temple-Barr in Fleetstreet MDCLXXIII The Contents of the Epistle to the READER THe Reason why this Treatise is called the Apology of the Parliamentarians The Insolence of the Dutch against the Parliamentarians in particular An account of the Loevesteine-faction the powers of the State-holder and Advocate of Holland A Relation of the folly of John de Wit in subverting the fundamental Government of the United Provinces The Contents of the Preface unto the loyal Subjects of His Majesty THe necessity of writing the ensuing Treatise for the full satisfaction of the King's Subjects about the lawfulness of the present War pag. 1 Several just and approved Causes of War which yet His Majesty did not insist upon p. 1 2 A true and full account concerning the true grounds of this War and how it was unavoidable on the part of His Majesty p. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Reasons why the League betwixt England and Holland was not endeavoured nor ought to be renewed after its violation p. 9 10 11 12 13 14 What advise Q. Elizabeth would have suggested in the case p. 15 16 17 Arguments against the Neutrality of England during the War betwixt France and Holland p. 17 Arguments for the English to combine with France p. 17 18 19 Two Objections against the Alliance with France urged by an unknown Casuist and fully answered p. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 The regard which His Majesty still preserved for the security of Flanders according to the Triple Alliance p. 26 27 The prudence of His Majesty in transacting the League with France with so much Secrecy p. 27 The prudence with which His Majesty penned and signed the Declaration for liberty of Conscience March 15. 1671 2. The parallel proceedings of the primitive Christian Emperors during the fourth Century That 't is the interest of the Church of England that Liberty of Conscience be granted at present That the Christian Church at first was setled by such contrivances as His Majesty now pursues That His Majesty hath in that Declaration provided better for the security of the Church of England than the antient Emperors did for Christianity in their times And consequently the Church of England is in no danger to be subverted by the present Indulgence That the present Indulgence is consonant to right reason of State and not repugnant unto civil Policy or likely to prove destructive to the Government p. 27. unto p. 73 A confutation of some assertions relating unto the Dominion of the Sea tendered to the Parliament in 1640. p. 76 Certain projects of Q. Elizabeth whereby she advanced the Honour and Trade of England p. 83 An Exhortation unto the English to be Unanimous and Couragious notwithstanding the troublesom condition of Europe p. 87 The Contents of the Apology THe Apology of those that were unhappily engaged in the service of the pretended Commonwealth and O. Cromwell for the King's Majesties Declaration and Proceedings against the United Provinces The Congratulation of the Parliamentarians for and their brief vindication of the Declaration of March 15. 1671 2. p. 57 Though the Dutch were Protestants yet this War is lawful p. 58 The Right of the Flagge a just cause of War with the Dutch the demands of the Parliamentarians and the Dutch concessions about it heretofore p. 58. 59 60 61 The English Channel not the sole Brittish Sea p. 61 62 The demands of the Parliamentarians concerning the Fishing the debate betwixt them and the Dutch about the Right of England thereto p. 62 63 64 65 66 The villanous composition made betwixt Oliver and the Dutch about the said Points and against His Majesty p. 66 The King's interest in the English Planters at Surinam afferâ—… p. 67 The Barbarity and Insolence of the Dutch towards the English in the East-Indies p. 67 68 69 A parallel betwixt the indignities done to His Majesty and those put upon the Parliamentarians formerly the defence of the Parliamentarians for their Resentments thereof p. 67 70 The perfidiousness of the Dutch illustrated at large p. 70 71 72 73 74 75 An account of the Dutch Religion p. 75 76 77 The Parliamentarians resolve that no secure peace can be made with the Hollanders except they submit to a Coalition or be reduced to an incapacity of hurting England p. 77 78 An account of the Treaty betwixt the Parliamentarians and Hollanders The States of Holland and West-Friesland confess their errors in fighting against England p. 78 79 The Parliamentarians reply and how they out-witted the Hollanders p. 79 80 The Parliamentarians refuse unto the States General the Title of High and Mighty and they discontinue it p. 80 81 Hugh Peters intercedes for the Dutch the voluntary proffers of the Dutch they amidst their solemn professions of Love unto the Rump perswade Cromwell to depose them and then cheat him p. 81 The Council of State beats the Dutch and makes them proceed by way of Humble Petition p. 82 83 The stark loving-kindness betwixt the Dutch and the Council and their joint concern for the Glory of God p. 84 The Council demands that the Dutch submit unto a Coalition the reciprocal Arguments about it p. 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 The Dutch refuse all Coalition and depart the sense of the whole Nation and particularly of the Fifth-Monarchists concerning them p. 91 92 The distressed condition of the Hollanders their Petition and submissive Memorial unto the Fifth-Monarchists p. 92 93 94 95 The Dutch are hated and scorned p. 96 Effectual projects to curb the insolence of the Dutch p. 97 Cromwell's dissimulation with the Dutch p. 97 98 The Dutch temporise with the Commissioners p. 98 9â—… A Preamble and draught of Articles tendered by the Commissioners 〈◊〉 99 100. 101 The exceptions of the Dutch thereunto their Papers slighted p. 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 The Dutch and English do again debate the point of Coalition p. 108 109 110 The Dutch perswade Cromwell to discard the Fifth-Monarchists and to assume the Government their Promises and Submissions unto him p. 110 111 Cromwell betrays the English interest unto the Dutch and yet is cheated by them several times before the Conclusion of the Treaty p. 111. unto p. 117 Both Parties agree to omit the general concernment of Religion p. 117 The Dutch observed not that Peace ibid. A large Memorial penned by the pretended Parliament of the Commonwealth of England concerning the English Rights to
occasion these evils which thus ensue nor is He any way guilty of them If then the War with the United Provinces be Just which is an unquestionable truth if it be lawful for the Protestant King of Great Britain to enter into a League with the King of France though a Papist which cannot well be questioned those considerations ought not to perplex the Consciences of any English man which arise from the voluntary and subsequent proceedings of his most Christian Majesty It became the States General at first to weigh those things they are extrinsical to our Business But we ought to take notice with what circumspection as to this point his Majesty hath proceeded by Inviting them to come hither and securely to profess their Religion in England Whereupon his Majesty did most piously and motuproprio make as great a provision for the support of the Protestant Religion as it was possible for him in that condition which the Treachery and Villany of the Dutch Governours had reduced Him unto They had made the Interests of the two Nations to be incompatible and as it becomes all English-men to prefer their own Welfare before that of a Stranger so it is manifest that the Reformed Religion will be in a better Posture by the Grandeur and Puissance of these Realms than if they fell under the force of Holland Out of what hath been alledged in Answer unto the first Scruple there hath been in a manner suggested a Reply unto the Second Yet I do further say That his Majesty hath a Cordial and sincere regard unto the general good of the Protestants and how much he regarded the welfare of the Dutch it doth appear by the Treaty at Breda the Triple Alliance and Defensive Articles It is not in His Power to oblige them further against their Wills nor is it requisite and fitting that he give up the Rights of England and abandon the concerns of His natural Subjects for the benefit of Holland It is for the general benefit of Protestancy that England flourish rather then be destroyed Hereunto His Majesty hath bent all His Councils He neither sought this War nor ever declined a just and honourable Peace We cannot expect He should perform impossibilities in behalf of the reformed Religion in general and we ought not to amuse the People with insinuations that are either vain or malitious Let us rather contemplate the success which hath happened upon the contests betwixt Protestants heretofore When Maurice aided Charles the 5th though the Lantgrave of Hesse and Elector of Saxony both were overthrown in the quarrel yet was not Protestancy it self prejudiced thereby and the like events have sundry times fallen out so that we have no such reason to prognosticate these calamities unto the reformed Religion whether we attend unto experience or the good will of God in the disposition of affairs and whilst we perplex our selves about the Hollanders it may be they are now saying It is good for us that we were afflicted They may now be reclaimed from their Pride and Insolence and at once become better Christians and better Neighbours But to resume my Discourse The Reasons aforesaid did not the more elevated judgement of His Majesty suggest unto Him any others are sufficient to authorize our Amity with France and Enmity with Holland Which His Majesty did so conclude upon as to remember the English interest in preserving Flanders unto the Spaniard The Embassadour of that Crown I am sure hath with repeated Declarations been satisfied that His Majesty did not intend nor had by this League abandoned those thoughts which at first led Him to enter upon the Triple Alliance and that an Article to that purpose was so penned that a Son of Spain could not have been more express as to that point then the King of England was If his Majesty did transact this whole affair with great secrecy it is an Argument of His extraordinary Conduct which was necessary to so great an affair If He did not advise with the Parliament about the War let us believe it not to have been fit that His privacies should be made publick or that the League should be protracted by their tedious debates and let us acknowledge that according to the English Laws His Majesty is sole Arbitrator and Judge of War and Peace and if our Kings have sometimes advised with their Parliaments about Wars they were never obliged thereunto If that hitherto the Conduct of His Majesty hath appeared to be such that every man must be satisfied with His care and vigilancy for the welfare and honour of His Subjects that which I now come to treat of is such an Action that represents His Prudence to be as great as Clemency and as by the latter vertue He hath equalled Himself to the best of former Princes so I am confident that Antiquity even those Ages which our Homily terms purer then our's did never produce any contrivance equal to what I now come to discourse upon and that is His Majesties Declaration to all His loving Subjects March 15. 1671. To do His Majesty justice about this point and to describe the excellency of that advise I shall choose to imitate the Painter of Crotona who being to draw the Picture of Venus assembled all the beautifull Damsels of the City and by reducing all those perfections which were scattered amongst them into one Effigies did pourtray His Deity or as in some Optick Tables the beautie of a multitude of little Figures are transferred and by reflexion form the Image of some Hero which is all life charm and attraict Thus I will faithfully repeat the several Decrees of the Christian Emperours in the purest times whose Prudence and Piety hath endeared their memories unto all the Church and whom the Church of England doth oblige all Her Sons to have in Reverence and thence it will be manifest that His Majesty hath revived again with advantage that Piety and Policy which is thought to have declined these thirteen hundred years Before I descend to the particulars it is requisite that I deduce these Counsils of His Majesty from their true Original that is His great Devotion unto and tenderness for the preservation of the Church of England Were Our Church retired into the Wilderness were their Dioceses in the desarts of Thebais or some unknown corner of the Earth the Ecclesiasticks might with safety perhaps attend unto their Devotion and perform in their Cells Hermitages and Mandrae the duties of Religion with poverty and without molestation But since it hath pleased Divine Providence to advance the Christian Church above its Primitive Streights want and persecution being originally its allotment to reduce the Kings and Emperours of the Earth unto the Christian Faith and to incorporate the concerns of Religion with those of the Empire other contrivances other means are necessary to support the Lustre and Grandeur of this Church now then were practised in its first condition and those are such as conform
with the dictates of humane Policy It is now no less requisite unto the Clergy that the Nation be puissant populous and rich then it is unto the Layety and the common interest of all is that the Monarchy be supported and Rents duely paid But these ends could not be accomplished without the Declaration aforesaid As to the Divisions in these Kingdomes the Sects and Heresies which distract and afflict the Church His Majesty is innocent as to their original and progress Inimicus homo fecit haec He did not make them but found them and from Holland they were constantly fomented His Majesty not only by His Royal Example but by sundry Acts of Parliament and reiterated endeavours for the space of twelve Years hath laboured to compose the affairs and promote the interest of the Church of England And perhaps if all others in their proper Sphears had contributed as much to the removing of Scandals and re-establishing of the Peace of the Church there had not been any need to exchange the wayes of Coercion for those of Toleration But since those pious intendments of His Majesty have been frustrated so long partly by the negligence and other defaults of some and the untamed obstinacy of the Sectaries it seems the dictate of ordinary Wisdom rather to endure then attempt the healing of inveterate Ulcers and to continue them as running Sores rather then to endanger the whole Body by amputation or violent Remedies It is apparent that this Nation doth want Men to carry on our Trades at home and Merchandizing abroad And if we consider how requisite it is unto the common security that the Naval strength be always great and that the Fishing be resumed nothing can be more clear then that we ought by all possible means continue amongst us the People which we already have and invite in hither also what Numbers we can of Foreiners We do not live in the new Atlantis nor have we for our Neighbours the Natives of China who desire not to enlarge their Domions nor any such Potentates as have made a decree not to encrease their Territories Our Shores are washed with the British Seas the United Provinces and France are our immediate Neighbours Ever since the days of John Olden Barnevelt unto the Reign of John de Wit the Hollanders have been constantly undermining our Reputation and our Trade and our long sufferance had so far imboldened them as that at length they doubted not by open force and Clandestine machinations to effect our ruine or reduce us under their protection Had we been at the same time attacqued by their Fleets and imbroiled by domestick Commotions what would have been the condition of our State and Church If there be no Trading how little will the difference be betwixt the alienation of Church-lands and the receiving no Rents from them In fine let the Clergy consider how they are better provided for by his Majesties Declaration then they would have been by the Pensionary of Holland and any Placart of the States General and they will see just cause to acquiesce in and magnify that Prudence which hath preserved the Nation that Prudence whereby our domestick Peace is ensured our Trade and Strength pnt into a possibility to be advanced and whereby His Majesty hath obliged the Non-Conformists unto His Service whom the Dutch presumed upon as their Friends and had rendered as it were their Pensioners by their joynt Trade and the sums of money which had been remitted to Amsterdam Whereupon they seemed to be the most fitting Instruments and were treated with in order to the involving their native Country in another civil War It is certain John de Wit omitted not any artifice or suggestion that might conduce unto these ends That Faction did not propose to themselves a generous War the issue whereof might be an honourable and lasting Peace but such a one as should end in the desolation of these Realms and final subjection under them Less would not secure unto the Dutch the universal Trade and the passage through our Chanel for their East-India Ships whose Voyage by Scotland they complain of as tedious expensive and dangerous Not would the malice of the de Wits satisfie it self with any more moderate terms then the ruine of His Majesty of His Royâ—…l Highness and the Court and a total alteration in the Government The Pensioner the better to inveigle the English pretended that they had no quarrel with the Protestants of this Nation they beheld them as dear Brethren and begged they would either divert His Majesty from this War or pray to God to confound His Counsils that the Advisers of this War were the common Enemies of both Nations and from the insinuations of John de Wit came that vulgar jealousie of the designs on Foot to introduce amongst us a change of Religion and an Arbitrary Government by this War with Holland But those they treated with did not prove such absolute Phanaticks as the great Minister of the States of Holland did imagine they would Experience had shewed them how difficult a thing it was to overthrow an hereditary Monarchâ—… and how impossible it was for a Nation inured to Monarchy divided in interests discriminated by degrees of honour debauched in its manners irreconcileable in its factions to retain its liberty though Fortâ—…ne upon any accident or attempt should dissolve its present Monarchy They did consider the general treachery of Men and the particular Impostures which their own Partisans had deluded them by heretofore nor could theâ—… upon the most diligent enquiries propose to themselves any Person in whose hands they could wish the Conduct of affairs entrusted rather then in those of His Majesty of whose Prudence Generosity and Clemency they had seen so great and unexpected Trials They knew that the Dutch hated the Phanaticks by reason of the dammages they had received by them in the War 1652 1653. And that they would never endure England to be modelled into a Republick especially under the leading of the Phanatick Party Nor could they believe the design feasible upon this account though the beginnings should happen prosperous that all new Governments are weak and there being two such potent Neighbours adjoyning unto England it seemed unimaginable that they should be Passive in the business and neither of them endeavour to possess themselves of all or some of these Realms and draw to themselves so great and facile advantages as such a revolution would invite them unto Upon such considerations besides that regard to the honour of old England which nothing can obliterate in any English Soul those generous Phanaticks who were most of them removed out of the Dominions of His Majesty did abominate the enterprize discovered the Plots of the Lovesteine faction and prepossessed their Friends against the artifices of the Dutch and fixed them unto the service of His Majesty and of their native Country This deportment of that supposed Faction created in the breast of his Majesty better
Sentiments concerning their Persons then some of Saturnine Constitutions and petulant Wits could approve of It did then appear unto the Soveraign judgment of our most discerning Prince that there was not in those Men such an inveterate Animosity against Monarchy such an hatred towards his Reign such a rest-less Spirit as some rash and impolitick Men had inculcated every where It was manifest then that those heats which Youth unexperiencedness intemporate and inconsiderate Zeal Ambition or Covetousness had bred in those men were by Age a better discovery of the vanity of precipitous Counsils and the false-hood of pretenders to the publick good Liberty and Religion so abated and allayed that He might presume confidently to employ them in His Service whom neither the rigour of penal Laws nor the insolent deportment of their Enemies in their discourses and writings contrary to ordinary discretion the Laws of Christian Charity and the Act of utter Oblivion could force into a confederacy with the Dutch If their malice against the Church if their covetousness to regain the Ecclesiastical and Crown Lands had been such as it was boldly represented certainly in this juncture and with the ready assistance of John de Wit those so turbulent Persons irritated by so many and so bitter Contumelies would have embraced designes consonant thereunto His Majesty being very well satisfied with the services which some of that Party had done Him and which many others were ready to do and being desirous to engage them universally unto the defense of His Crown and Dignity when the implacable and restless malice of His Enemies did necessitate Him to employ all His care and all possible Provision against their secret and desperate complotments He issued out that Declaration March the 15th 1671. to all His loving Subjects wherein He exempted all sorts of Non-conformists from the execution of the penal Laws against them but with such a Declaracion of His reverence for the Church of England such a regulation of the Non-conformists that whilst His Majesty expresseth himself to be the common Father of His People at the same time He demonstrateth himself likewise a zealous and perfect Son of the Church He revives the Primitive Policy of Constantine and acteth like a Bishop over those that are without whilest he defends and owns the Orthodox Bishops over those that are within The Judgment of the Church of England in Her Homilies concerning the foure first Centuries of Christianity FOr three hundred years after our Saviour Christ the Christian Religion was most pure and indeed Golden Constantine was a Prince of good zeal to our Religion Homily III. against peril of Idolatry In those dayes which were about four hundred years after our Saviour the Church was much less corrupt and more pure then now Homily II. against peril of Idolatry In the Act of Parliament against Conventicles there is this Clause inserted Provided that neither this Act nor any thing therin contained shall extend to invalidate or avoid His Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical affairs but that His Majesty and his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Powers and Authorities in Ecclesiastical affairs as fully and as amply as himself or any of his Predecessours have or might have done the same any thing in this Act notwithstanding This Proviso puts me upon a necessity of researching into the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of the Royal Predecessours And I am sure that Constantine the Great was one of them who was not onely born in England but began His Reign in this Realm and did in a mauner as Selden Avows transfer the Roman Empire unto Britain The Imperial Crown which the Kings of England at present wear did descend unto them as being Successors of the said Constantine He began his Reign Anno Dom. 306. and continued until 337. He was and is esteemed of by the Church as an Apostle and sometimes so styled also the Apostle amongst Kings or one equal unto the Apostles Euseb de vita Constantini M. l. 4. c. 60. cum notis Hen. Valesii His President His Authority is so much the more illustrious and great by reason of the Century in which He lived And for so much as that the Christian Church deriveth it's first Settlement and the Hierarchy its lustre from His auspicious Conduct and Decrees I shall therefore particularly relate the Transactions of His Age in order to the composing of Sects more violent more dissonant more lewd and not less obstinate or numerous then those which distract these Kingdomes And because those Emperours which did succeed Him immediately lived in those dayes whereon our Church bestowes the aforesaid Elogy and since they contributed as much by their proceedings unto the Peace and Tranquillity of the Orthodox Christianity as Constantine did as also their memory is not less reverenced by the Universal Church I shall add an account of their deportment The Declaration of Constantine the great concerning a general Indulgence I Do desire O God that all thy People should live in Peace and free from dissensions out of a regard unto the common good of Mankinde Notwithstanding let those that are deluded enjoy the benefits of peace and quiet equally with those that believe For this Regulation of Men under a mutual Amity is an effectual course for the reclaiming of them unto the right way Let no man molest another Let every man follow his own judgement Only let well-meaning Persons believe that they alone live holily and purely who are regulated by the holy Lawes and they who with draw from their assemblies Let them pursue their false Deities since they will have it so We are possessed of the truth which thou hast revealed unto Us and we wish them in the same condition that they might participate in the satisfaction which would arise from the general Unanimity of the Empire Thanks be rendred unto thee most great God and Ruler of all things for the more that humane nature discovers it self in a diversity of judgements and interests the more will the true Religion be confirmed in the minds of its Followers But whosoever will not be cured of his Errors let him blame none but Himself For the way to recover him is publick and obvious unto him But let every one have a care left they injure that Religion which doth manifest it self to be blameless and unspotted wherefore let us all make use of the benefits tendered unto us keeping our Consciences free from what is contrary thereunto But let no man prejudice another for being of another per swasion But whosoever understands any thing let him if possible communicate it to his Neighbour If it be not possible to prevail then let him alone For it is one thing for a man voluntarily to pursue the race for immortality and another to compel him by penalties thereunto I have insisted hereon more largely then seemed to my purpose because I would not conceal
to the Arians it is likewise recorded that He did not Persecute any of them after He had excluded them from Assembling within Constantinople but onely Eunomius And Eunomius together with His Sect was not properly an Arian for He did equally rebaptise and re-ordain those of the Arian and Orthodox Party which came over unto Him He was banished for not obeying the Decree of the Emperour but continuing to hold private Meetings within Constantinople The said Arians persisted openly to hold their Meetings without the City of Constantinople in the dayes of Arcadius and Honorius making a splendid procession thorough the Streets and singing Antiphons as they went unto their Churches In fine Procopius doth assure us that notwithstanding the many and severe Lawes which we read of against Arians and other Sects yet there were Hereticks openly tolerated in the Empire untill the dayes of Justinian with their Churches richly adorned such were those of the Montanists and Sabbatians c. Particularly the Churches of the Arians were so splendid that nothing in the Roman Empire could compare with them they had also large Revenues throughout the Empire Having never been molested by any Emperour from their first Original untill the dayes of Justinian After that Julian had restored the Donatists unto that Liberty which Constans had deprived them of they enjoyed their Churches their Bishops and freedome with little molestation untill the Reign of Honorius Theodosius had made a Decree against such Hereticks as should either give or take Orders that they should pay Ten pounds of Gold A. D. 392. This Law was pressed by the Catholicks against the Donatists to be put in execution when the extravagancies of that Sect were such that they seized the Churches of the Catholicks slew some of their Bishops beat and murthered divers Presbyters yet was it not put in force untill the dayes of Honorius A. D. 405. Nor did the Synod at Carthage importune the Emperour to enforce it but in such places as the Catholicks should be violently assaulted in I might enlarge my Discourse about this subject unto the succeeding Emperours Arcadius Valentinian II. who decreed unto the Arians an ample Toleration and commanded that their Churches should be restored unto them even that of St. Ambrose's within Milaine A. D. 386. upon pain of death Arcadius and Honorius and so down to the Age of Justinian From whence I might draw materials to illustrate the Question Whether it be greater wisdome to attempt the suppression of numerous rich and obstinate Hereticks they not being like unto the old Manichees Basilidians or Priscillianists c. upon whom are fixed the imputations of Magick or occasion of crimes that are universally infamous and inconsistent with Humane Society by rigorous Edicts Or to indulge them for a time and by more gentle meanes to contrive and pursue their conversion But I have confined my self unto that Century which Our Homily recommends unto me and unto those Emperours whose prudence and piety all Ecclesiastical Writers do extoll and by whose meanes Christianity was principally advanced The subsequent Princes were Children or commonly of weak intellectuals and they are proofes of little efficacy which are alledged unto any of the Church of England out of the Sixth Century Though even there I find the Emperour Justinian tolerating the Hexacionitae who were the chief of the Arians into the fraternity of whom the Gotthish Kings in Italy usually were admitted However I will insert some cases out of Ecclesiastical History which are deduced out of the Fifth Century and relate unto the times of Honorius who made more Laws then any Emperour against Hereticks Socrates Hist. Eccles. l. 7. c. 11. CElestinus being Bishop of Rome seized upon the Churches of the Novatians which they had within Rome and compelled their Bishop Rusticula to hold his Assembly in obscure and private houses For untill that time the Novatians lived at Rome in a very flourishing condition having many Churches and abundance of People resorting thereunto This raised Envy and that was the cause of their overthrow now that the Bishop of Rome was advanced into a Secular Magistracy in like manner as was the Bishop of Alexandria Upon this score it was that the Roman Bishops would not permit those to keep their separate Assemblies who were otherwise as Orthodox as themselves but having commended them much for their Consent in matters of Faith they dispossessed them of all they had The Novatians at Constantinople were not used so but were exceedingly beloved there and their Churches tolerated within the City The Character of Atticus Bishop of Constantinople Socrates Hist. Eccles. l. 7. 2. IN the beginning of the Reign of Theodosius the younger Atticus was Bishop of Constantinople a person of excellent learning piety and prudence from whence it happened that the Catholick Church did encrease much in his days For He did not only countenance and uphold those of his own Religion but astonished the Hereticks with the apprehension of His singular wisdome He did not at all desire to molest and persecute them but sometimes He would terrifie them a little and then oblige them unto Him by gentleness The Character of Proclus Bishop of Constantinople under the same Emperour Socrates Hist. Eccles. lib. 7. c. 41 42. PRoclus Bishop of Constantinople was a man of as excellent Moralls as any one in the world For being Educated under Atticus he did studiously imitate his vertues but he was of a greater patience and forbearance then his Master who would upon some occasions shew himself severe towards the Hereticks But Proclus was all gentleness purposing thereby rather then with compulsion to gain them unto the Church He did not molest or vex any Heresie in being but left unto the Catholicks the renown of mildness and charity according to which He had demeaned Himself He had for His patterne Theodosius Himself who had taken a resolution not to exercise His Imperial Authority against those that were obnoxious and Proclus was likewise determined not to regard such as differed from Him in their Sentiments concerning God For this reason did Theodosius love and honour him For the Emperour Himself was of such a frame of spirit as becomes the true Priests of God neither could He endure those that delighted in Persecution I dare boldly say that He surpassed all the true Priests of God that ever were in meekness according as the Scripture saith of Moses in the Book of Numbers that He was the most Meek of all men upon earth so may I say of Theodosius that He was the most milde and obliging Prince in the world And for this reason God hath subjected His Enemies unto Him without fighting Such have been the proceedings such the presidents of those Excellent Emperors in the purest times whereby they contrived How to settle and advance the Orthodox Church amidst variety of numerous and potent Sects But how renowned soever these Princes are for their
prudence and piety there is not any of their projects no nor all of them summed together which may compare with the Declaration of His Majesty in order to the preserving at present and re-setling for the future the Church of England If the Primitive Emperours did publish their own judgments concerning the Orthodox Church thereby to insinuate unto their subjects which way they wished and desired them to conform their Opinions If they did extend several priviledges and emoluments of Revenue and Legacies unto the Catholicks which the Sectaries were not to receive Behold what His most Sacred Majesty doth declare In the first place We Declare our express Resolution Meaning and Intention to be That the Church of England be preserved and remain entire in its Doctrine Discipline and Government as now it stands Established by Law And that This be taken to be as it is the Basis Rule and Standard of the General and Publick Worship of God and that the Orthodox Conformable Clergy do receive and enjoy the Revenues belonging thereunto and that no person though of a different Opinion and Perswasion shall be exempt from paying his Tythes or other Dues whatsoever Hitherto the Ancient Politicks concur with the modern prudence of His Majesty yet there is this advantage on the part of the Church of England above what the Primitive Christians had that the Revenues of the Conformists are better settled and greater by far then the Nicene Fathers then the Hillary's the Basil's and the Nazianzen's could pretend unto And the power and dignity which our Bishops hold as Spiritual Lords not to mention their influence upon the subordinate Clergy hath nothing parallel to it in the four first Centuries except we should seek for particular instances in Rome and Alexandria Here are no Pagan Pontifices Sacerdotales Agrorum Hierophantae c. to rival much less transcend them No Jewish Patriarchs Primates Archisynagogi c. that equal them in Titles and are to be respected and exempted by Franchisements equal unto theirs The common Schools and Universities are not now as Athens in the time of Nazianzen and generally the Professors and Sophistae devoted to Gentilisme but managed by the Church The Parliament as of old the Senate doth not consist of Paynims or Arians c. Those which sway in our Councils and in the Magistracy are now no such kind of Men as heretofore From whence it is easie to conclude that If the Orthodox Church did advance it self in the Primitive Ages amidst those circumstances there is no fear that the Church of England which takes that Antiquity for its pattern as to Doctrine and Discipline should be ruined amidst much better conditions His Majesty doth further adde That no person shall be capable of holding any Benefice Living or Ecclesiastical Dignity or Preferment of any kind in this Our Kingdom of England who is not exactly Conformable This is conform unto the Presidents of Constantine Theodosius c. who did require an exact Subscription to the Niâ—…ene Council Thus Athanasius and S. Hilary c. urge an unalterable Conformity to the Decrees of the Three hundred and eighteen Bishops at Nice From thence the Fathers never would reeede And when the Emperour Constantius at the Councils of Sirmium Ariminum c. had formed sundry Comprehensional Creeds whereunto both Arians and Catholicks might saving their sundry judgments subscribe the best of the Fathers totally rejected the contrivance and those which out of a desire for the Union of the Church had assented thereunto did soon repent themselves for thereby the Orthodox Church received extraordinary prejudice The Nicene Fathers and the Catholicks seemed to have condemned the practices of their Chief Prelates and of themselves in making so great a Schisme and fulminating out Anathema's against their Brethren for needless words and forms which the Church might want and which they now expunged The Arians triumphed every where as Victors the whole World seemed to follow them and the rest appeared to be justly exiled and scorned who had raised such Divisions and Animosities in the Church and State about Trifles Hereupon the Comprehension was utterly dissolved and never resumed again in old Christendome as the most foolish and impracticable design that could be Upon this precedent did the D. of Saxony rather proceed by a special form of Concord then by any General and Comprehensional course â—…hus did the Calvinists in the Synod of Dort The Romanists in the Council of Trent Q. Elizabeth in her Subscriptions Thus have all wise Princes done except Charles V. who by an ill-favoured Interim tried the other way but with so bad success that 't is no president for His Majesty How Orthodox soever the Novatians were yet were they ranked alwayes amongst the Hereticks and Schismaticks nor did the Church ever project a Comprehension for them It is true the Primitive Emperors did grant them the same priviledges with the Catholicks which I believe did help to continue their Schisme so long But herein the Judgment of His Majesty seems more clear and elevated in that He doth not imbolden any Pretenders unto Orthodoxy to be Schismaticks by communicating with them His publick favours c. equal emoluments with the true Sons of the Church of England As we do now reckon all Separatists whatever under the Name of Non-Conformists albeit they differ as much as Novatians Basilidians and Manichees so did the Antient prudence esteem them all Hereticks and Schismaticks And if the hopes of preferment if the honour of a publick Church be not motives sufficient to make some men Proselytes to the Church of England It is rational to think that the being indiscriminately mixed in such a loathsome company and character may operate upon the minds of many to abate of their preciseness It follows We do in the next place Declare Our Will and Pleasure to be That the Execution of all and all manner of Penal Laws in Matters Ecclesiastical against whatsoever sorts of Non-Conformists or Recusants be immediately suspended and they are hereby suspended His Majesty herein writes after the Copy of the Primitive Times The Penal Laws are suspended the Defaults the Heresie the Schisme are not authenticated The punishment is taken off the guilt is not None is encouraged hereby unto Separation but indulged if he do separate They are still Non-Conformists to the Church of England They are still Recusants as to the Law They may assemble publickly but 't is under this ignominious denomination What power properly belongs to the Church is entirely reserved unto it by His Majesty Ecclesia enim jus Judicii habet Imperii minimè They are Spiritual Fathers and Judges their Authority their Censures are not suspended The Parliamentary and Secular Laws are invalidated for a season which is conformable to the Ancient Proceedings It is not declared that They are not Hereticks or Schismaticks but that They shall be tolerated though such It is one thing to encounter an Heresie or Schisme
in the begininng and another when it hath made a large progress Then it may be suppressed easily and the publick receives little prejudice by the banishment or ruine of a few But in the latter case it is to be considered that the Kingdom receives a great and irreparable damage in its strength in its trade in its unanimity if Multitudes come to be exiled or impoverished The Manufactures may be transported into foreign Countries as happened in Flanders upon the persecution there by the D. of Alva Secrets of State and Interest may be divulged Or if they will not retire foreign correspondences and complotments may happen to be driven on by the enraged or desperate to the ruin of the Kingdom and Church If the revolt of Africk to the Vandals If the revolt of Italy unto the Goths were an effect of the rigorous usage against the numerous and obstinate Donatists and Arians If the progress of Mahometanisme was facilitated by the severity practised against the Arians in Syria AEgypt and Africk I would fain know whether the Church benefited more by the Indulgence of the first Emperours or rigors of the latter It was a Rhodomontado of Philip II. King of Spain that He had rather have no Subjects at all than those He had to be Hereticks By such Maximes the Moors the Jews were ejected Spain If a Wise-man examine the consequence of this opinion He will find that the Exchequer of Spain hath been exhausted the Revenues infinitely lessened the strength and riches of the Kingdom mightily diminished several Provinces lost the Monarchy scarce able to support it self And is this nothing unto the Bishop and Canons of Toledo Next It is Declared That there may be no pretence for any of Our Subjects to continue their Illegal Meetings and Conventicles We do Declare That We shall from time to time allow a sufficient number of Places as they shall be desired in all parts of this Our Kingdome for the use of such as do not Conform to the Church of England to meet and assemble in in order to their Publick Worship and Devotion which Places shall be open and free unto all persons This Paragraph contains a part of Wisdom which is superiour unto any thing the Fourth Century doth suggest unto me about this Subject Hereby His Majesty understands the Place the Persons meeting and their Numbers and may the access being free inform Himself of the Doctrine taught of the Discipline practised and of the Immoralities that may happen amongst some Sects which may resemble the Valentinians Gnostics Basilidians Priscillianists c. Those Sects which most distract the Church and subvert the Common-wealth are such as cannot bear the Light and a publick view There cannot be a more Moral certainty that neither Church nor State shall be damnified by these Schismatical Assemblies then this That His Majesty doth allow the Place and Teacher Amongst the old Hereticks and Schismatics the Emperors never had the Approbation of their Bishops but they were Elected and Ordained and admitted without His privity This occasioned great troubles to the Emperors and to the Schismatics themselves for as they sometimes chose out of faction at other times they were deceived by the Hypocrisie of an Ambitious person who was to rise by a seeming piety and cajolling of the populace so the Emperors did persecute them frequently for the disorders and misdemeanors of their Pastors and were forced to enact Laws against those Hereticks that did ordain or were ordained Something like unto what His Majesty doth I remember to have read of in the life of that brave and wise Goth Theodoric King of Italy He was an Arian yet did tolerate the Orthodoxe their Bishops and Churches And it is observed that whilest He had the Approbation of the Catholick Bishops the Churches were better served then ever He inviolably adhered unto the Indulgence given and placed His interest in approving of such Bishops onely as were peaceable and pious Nor did They endeavour to serve their private ends but the Church in their Ministry because that such courses might endanger their Bishopricks which were held but precariously of the King Whosoever shall compare this Declaration and way of meeting with that Act whereby four besides the family might convene under any Teacher will discern the sagacity of Our King who hereby prevents the Blasphemies Gross Errors un-moral and pernicious principles which might be inculcated into his subjects privily that way by the illiteterate ignorant wicked Teachers as Ranters c. who might be retained I cannot but take here notice of that Ancient Prudence and Respect unto the Church of England which His Majesty shews in the form of His Licences wherein He doth not vouchsafe unto their Assemblies the Name of Churches but Meetings and their Instructor is called a Teacher not a Pastor or Presbyter which is exactly consonant to the Edicts of Theodosius the Great and His Son Arcadius His Majesty concludes And if after this Our Clemency and Indulgence any of Our Subjects shall presume to Abuse this Liberty and shall Preach seditiously or to the Derogation of the Doctrine Discipline or Government of the Established Church or shall meet in places not allowed by Us We do hereby give them warning and Declare We will proceed against Them with all imaginable severity And We will let them see We can be as severe to punish such Offenders when so justly provoked as We are Indulgent to truly Tender Consciences Those that preach Sedition do abuse their Liberty and if they suffer thereupon the Indulgence to Tender Consciences is not violated To be obedient unto the Magistrates in Civil affairs To walk orderly and without giving offence these are indisputable Duties of Christianity If we consider the example of Our Saviour he fulfilled all Righteousness If we regard S. Paul he retracts the harsh Language which he had given unto the Jewish High Priest and at Ephesus He was not found Blaspheming or Reviling the Gods of the Gentiles In the Levitical Law there was a precept Not to blaspheme the Gods And it was a tenet of the first Christians that they ought not to blasphome or rail against the false Deities of the Pagans lest They should give the Gentiles occasion to blaspheme the true God There is a Canon of the Church which denies unto them the Glory of Martyrdom who should disturb a Priest at his Sacrifice or demolish their Altars and Idols Such a reverence had They for Government and so great a care to preserve the Peace The Donatists were persecuted by Constantine Constans and Honorius by reason of the frequent tumults they made contemning the Authority of the Emperors seising violently the Churches of the Catholicks committing intolerable outrages upon their persons sometimes killing their Bishops and Clerks Whereas the Novatians demeaning themselves Civilly and Peaceably were not molested The Arians were enjoyned by the Great Theodosius to hold their Meetings without the City of Constantinople And
were peaceably suffered there But when They began to hold other unlawful Assembleis in the publick Porticos of the City though not to worship therein but to sing certain Antiphons which tended to Sedition and unto the disparagement of the Catholicks there arose a tumult thereupon and several were ssain on both sides whereat the Emperor was incensed and suppressed those Meetings as unlawful and such Hymns were interdicted Thus much I find recorded but I do not remember that any of the Antient Emperors did express such a concern for the Church in their Edicts as His Majesty doth manifest in His Royal Declaration viz. that None shall preach what derogates from the Doctrine Discipline or Government of the present Church then which nothing can be more prudential or conducing to the publick tranquility Their Teachers may instruct Their Flocks and those as I may say that are within But not judge those that are without If they do establish their supposed Truths the Contrary tenets fall of themselves and it is a needless if not a seditious attempt to expatiate against the Religion that is National The Sectaries ought to consider the Umbrage they are under and to walk warily upon that account as well as upon this motive that in cases of Treason and Rebellion greater caution is used and less proofs suffice then in lesser crimes They must not only be innocent but free from the suspicion thereof For the consequences of Sedition are so dreadful and horrid that no wise Governor will stay till it manifest it self by open actions but he puts a stop to what hath a tendency that way And if any one shall at any time find Himself abridged in his Liberty for any such misdemeanor He must blame himself and not the State which ought to be jealous of small matters where the Common welfare of the Kingdom is likely to be endangered The precedents which I have alledged for Indulgence conclude nothing in this case for even those Emperors did not esteem Actions un-moral or Seditious to fall under the notion of a Tender Conscience It behoveth therefore All the Nonconformists in common Gratitude to be Civil and Respectful unto that Church whereof their Indulgent Soveraign is a Member It behoveth them in common prudence not to enervate or subvert that Government which protects them It behoveth them according to the common Rules of Christianity to be wise unto Sobriety to walk worthy of that Liberty whereunto they are called As to the Sons of the Church of England I can suggest nothing unto them in this juncture of affairs that is comparable with their own principles The Homily against Contentions is the most perfect Summe of all that can be said about Moderation They profess to gather their Doctrines out of the Fathers And they will never erre at this time in their deportment who shall consult those Oracles Neither will any thing conduce more unto our peace then that our Church conform themselves unto those illustrious and pious precedents which They have transmitted unto Us How to deal with obstinate and condemned Hereticks I am more convinced by S. Hilary then the more modern dictators of Ecclesiastical Policy The former treated the Arians with much mildness and regained them unto the Church without the assistance of the Secular power And there is a great difference betwixt the addresses of the African Fathers unto and for the Donatists and what I can find in the present Incendiaries I dare not be so bitter in my expressions and so uncharitable in my Censures against the Non-Conformists because the Fathers do not allow of it Nor is it consistent with that Charity which thinks no evil nor with the Homily against Contentions whereunto our Clergy subscribes It is there that I read How taunts and Satyrical invectives are forbid It is there that I read How a Scoulder and a Taunter is reckoned 1 Cor. 1. with Thieves and Idolaters We are not to eat with such And many times there cometh less hurt of a Thief then of a railing Tongue for the one taketh away a Man 's good name the other taketh away his riches which are of much less value then his good name A Thief hurteth but Him from whom he stealeth But He that hath an evil tongue troubleth all the Town where He dwelleth and sometimes the Whole Countrey And a railing tongue is a pestilence so full of contagiousness that St. Paul willeth Chrâ—…ian Men to forbear the company of such and neither to eat nor drink with them And whereas he will not have a Christian Woman should forsake her Husband although he be an Infidel or that a Christian servant should forsake his Master which is an Infidel and Heathen so that He suffers a Christian maen to keep company with an Infidel Yet He forbiddeth us to eat with a Scoulder or Quarrel-picker I dare not entertain so severe thoughts against the Generality of the Non-conformists as to say that their obstinacy ariseth from malepertness and a Peevish Humour I allow that they are deluded but S. Salvian tells me that a man may erre with an upright intention and pious designs The Truth is lodged in the Church of England but they think themselves possessed of it The right Worship of God is amongst us but they think their wayes to be right And whatever Impiety they are guilty of they do not esteem it to be such What they are unto us we seem to be unto them And how they shall be judged for their erroneous opinions at the last day He alone knows who is to be their Judge Whence is derived this new mode of rendring evil for evil of cursing them that perhaps do not curse us Doe we think to convert Men by Satyrs or winn upon English Spirits by contumelious language or make men love us by proclaiming them for Hypocrites ungovernable and intolerable Sectaries do we think to reconcile affairs by repeating matters Pardon me ye modern followers of Idacius and Ithacius if I imagine the example of S. Martin to be most authentick in our Church I dare not say that a Belief of the indifferency or rather Imposture of all Religion is now made the most effectual not to say the most fashionable Argument for Liberty of Conscience Because I know that Necessity of State and Salus populi are superior thereunto and much more in fashion And whosoever understands the Controversie must know that there are considerable Arguments for it and 't is a great mistake in History for any Man to say That Toleration after Ecclesiastical Censures are passed is onely cried up by oppressed parties It is an effect of the same Ignorance for any man to say That Toleration is inconsistent with Government That 't is better to abrogate penal Laws then to suspend them in this case I cannot believe that to be the course to ruine the Church whereby it appears to have been setled Neither can I comprehend How the Toleration of numerous