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A54782 Sam. Ld. Bp. of Oxon, his celebrated reasons for abrogating the test and notions of idolatry, answered by Samuel, Arch-Deacon of Canterbury. Phillips, John, 1631-1706. 1688 (1688) Wing P2100; ESTC R32293 8,821 28

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and they are immediately picking New Faults to be Redress'd They that at first only request Indulgence will when strong enough demand it In short Give the Non-conformists an Inch and they 'll take an Ell. But in the same Preface should it ever so happen hereafter that any King of England should be prevail'd with to deliver up the Church That is to say to dispence with the Penal Laws and TEST for the TEST notwithstanding the Reasons against it must be included in this long Parenthesis because the Church fram'd it he had as good at the same Time resign up his Crown And thus you see the Danger of the Present Government through the Non-conformity to the Arch-Deacon 's Ecclesiastical Polity There is another Reason why His Majesty was graciously pleas'd to Think Force in Matters of meer Religion directly contrary to the Interest of Government and that is Spoyling of TRADE Trade cries the Arch-Deacon Trade No. Let Grass grow about the Custom-House rather than abate one Tittle of my Ecclesiastical Polity For in his Preface to his Ecclesiast Pol. Pag. 49. 'T is notorious says he that there is not any sort of People so inclinable to Seditious Practices as the Trading Part of a Nation and their Pride and Arrogance naturally increases with the Improvement of their Stock And if we reflect upon our late Miserable Distractions 't is easie to observe how the Quarrel was hatcht in Trade Men's Shops and cherisht by the Zeal of Prentices By the way this is plausible Nonsense all over But he goes on Pag. 50. 'T is a very odd and preposterous Piece of Policy to design the enriching this sort of People while their Heads are distemper'd with Religious Lunacies And Pag. 51. He is a very silly Man and understands nothing of the Follies Passions and Inclinations of Human Nature who sees not there is no Creature so ungovernable as a Wealthy Phanatick And therefore Pag. 48. I confess I cannot but smile when I observe how some that would be thought wonderful grave and solemn Statesmen labour with mighty Projects of setting up this and that Manufacture in their several respective Towns and Corporations and how eagerly they pursue these Petty Attempts beyond the Great Affairs of a more Publick Concernment Meaning the dreadful and terrible Execution of the Penal Laws and how wisely they neglect the Settlement of a whole Nation for the Benefit of a Village or Burrough Very pleasant Ecclesiastical Polity No Man must eat or drink or maintain his Family The grand Relation of Human Necessities depending one upon another must stand still to oblige the Arch-Deacon 's Ecclesiastical Polity Here 's a Quietus est for above the Third Part of the Nation None but those that can swallow a Surplice and adore the Parochial Levite must weave Camlets at Norwich make Bays at Colchester Spurrs at Rippon Nayls at Brommigeham or Saddles at Burford For why There is not any sort of People so Seditious as the Trading Part of the Nation So that supposing the Greater Part of the Trading Part of the Nation be as the Arch-Deacon calls them Phanaticks and Nonconformists that is Men Conscientiously scrupuling the Ceremonies of the Church of England they must either be Scourg'd into better Manners with Bryars and Thorns or else the Nation must be laid waste and desolate For to tell you true as good have no People as those that will not pay Tithes 't is no matter for the KING's Duties nor how the Nation may be otherwise weakn'd and expos'd There is yet behind one more Reason urg'd in the Declaration and that is this That Force in Matters of meer Religion never obtain'd the End for which it was imploy'd wherein His Majesty declares Himself the more Confirm'd by the Reflections He had made upon the Conduct of the Four last Reigns Now here 's the utter Subversion of the Arch-Deacon 's Ecclesiastical Policy All meer Labour in vain abundance of Ranting Raving Reviling expressions insomuch that the Arch-Angel was more civil to the Devil than the Arch-Deacon to the Dissenters and yet all to no purpose He has been at a great deal of pains in setting up Pillories and Whipping-Posts in all Parts and Corners of the Kingdom and now he may e'ne go and pull 'em down again What are now become of all his Politick Let but 's In his Preface to Bishop Bramhall 's Vindication Let but the Government think it seasonable at any time to Reprieve them meaning the Dissenters from the Severity of the Laws and they immediately start up into that Confidence as to imagine themselves the only Darlings of State. Let but the Publick Rods be removed from their Backs and they are presently full of Expectations to have them put into their own hands If they are not always Scourg'd and Chastis'd they will grow Sawcy and must by all means become Cronies to Kings and Princes Many other Passages might have been Collected out of his several Bitter if they may not be said to be Scurrilous Invectives against the Dissenters but here are sufficient to make it apparently Manifest that the Author of the Ecclesiastical Polity was as great a Dissenter from the mild and tender Maxims of his Majesty's Government and his constant Sense and Opinion of a long time professed and declared upon several Occasions in Matters of Religion as the Dissenters were dissatisfied with the Rigid Severity of the Church of England or at least with the Principles of his Ecclesiastical Polity Which makes it seem questionable whether a Person who has brandish'd his Pen with that Virulency against the Dissenters in general and His Majesty's Royal Opinion and the Mature Results of his most serious Deliberations may be a proper Champion against the Test For most certainly there has been much more said already and much more to the purpose than he has produced On the other side he has most Dogmatically avouch'd That if ever the Boisterous and unreasonable Opposition as he calls it of the Nonconformists to the Church of England be Re-erected it must be upon its Ruins And that if ever the Roman Catholicks get any Ground or Advantage of the Church of England they will be bound to make their Acknowledgments to the Puritans and the Strength of their Assistance Whence he draws his Conclusion That it would be a pleasant Spectacle that is to say A ridiculous over-sight in Government to see either the Classical or Congregational Discipline establish'd by Authority Moreover in the 721. Pag. of the Vindication of his Eccles. Pol. He appeals to all Men whether Liberty of Conscience be any better than a License for Anarchy and Confusion Pag. 238. He says That to grant Subjects a lawless and uncontroul'd Liberty of Conscience in all Matters and Pretences of Religion is to dissolve one half of the Government into perfect Anarchy and yield up the Constitution of all Publick Affairs to the Humor of every wild Enthusiast And Pag. 553. you find it thus written