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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30625	A treatise of church-government occasion'd by some letters lately printed concerning the same subject / by Robert Burscough ...	Burscough, Robert, 1651-1709.	1692 (1692)	Wing B6137; ESTC R2297	142,067	330

Then so very dangerous when with so much Courage they threw themselvs in the Breach that was made by the Dispensing Power and were asserting and labouring to preserve our Laws and Liberties which others were offering up in Sacrifice They were then conveying their Malignity to the People when in their Books and Sermons they defended the Cause of the Reformation with so much Success that Popery lay Gasping before them in great Agonies notwithstanding the Cordials that were administred to it by other hands And Then indeed the King was uneasie because his Endeavours to establish his Religion did not make the Impressions he desir'd And the Jesuits and their Associats were uneasie because their Measures were broken and their expectation of extirpating the Northern Heresie defeated And such of the Dissenters as had been assisting and pushing them on in works of darkness were uneasie at the Reproach they had brought upon themselves by their ill Conduct But in the rest of the Nation there appear'd a general satisfaction to see Truth prevailing by lawful Methods against the Errors of the Church of Rome when they were cover'd with a powerful Protection One may wonder what it is that induced our Author to lead our thoughts to the Transactions of those Times since it would be more for his Reputation could he bury them in Oblivion or cover them with a Veil of Darkness But it seems he cannot dissemble how much he was affected with the Management of Affairs when himself was in the Interests and Measures of the Government and when in a Pamphlet Intitled Prudential Reasons for repealing the Penal Laws against all Recusants c. Penn'd by a Protestant Person of Quality he declar'd to the World that King James the Second had a clearer prospect of his own and the Kingdoms Interest than any of his Royal Predecessors ever had and pursu'd it with that Conduct and Vigour which did correspond with the Miracles that preserv'd the Crown for him and him for the Crown and for a Glory greater than that of wearing Crowns to wit to be the Restorer of Religion to Liberty and Freedom of Exercise And with such exquisite and servile Flattery was that Unfortunate Prince encouraged in the Large Steps he made to his Ruine That I have imputed to my Adversary the Harangue which I have quoted from the Prudential Reasons you will not think strange when I have told you that sometime since I received several Controversial Letters written by the hand of a Non-Conformist Preacher who subscrib'd them in his own Name and profess'd and persuaded his Easie Followers that they were his own But he could not deny when the Charge was lay'd before him that they were compos'd by the Protestant Person of Quality as he is pleas'd to call himself who hath lately publish'd some part of them to which this Treatise contains an Answer But how his Amanuensis resents this usage or contented he is to be stript of his borrowed Plumes and left naked to the Pity or Derision of Spectators as they are variously affected I pretend not to discover Some may think he hath had very hard measure and that he had much better never have enjoy'd the Glory of his Masters labours than be depriv'd of it in such a manner but that I leave to be adjusted between themselves And I had not said thus much of their Combination but out of great Compassion to a deluded People that I may let them see if they do not wilfully shut their eyes on what it is they grounded their insolent boasting by what Impostures they have been abus'd and by what Arts they have been engaged and encourag'd in their Schism Here it may be fit to take notice that since our Author appear'd in open light his Style differs much from what it was before For many Pages of his Manuscript Papers which I have by me are fill'd with bitter Invectives against me and other Conformists but it is in some measure true what he now says that his Printed Letters are refin'd from Personal Reflexions He thought it seems that Scurrility was suitable enough to the part he acted when he sustain'd the person of another and was asham'd of it when he laid aside his disguise Yet since he shews no Repentance for his former Provocations nor forbears to strike at the whole Body of the Conforming Clergy some may object that I have handled him with an excess of Tenderness But I wish no greater defects may be found in this Discourse than that I have err'd on the side of Lenity and I shall not be much concern'd at this Exception Nevertheless my Adversary may be assur'd that such a Conduct as his must needs have awaken'd the observation of many and I cannot promise that others will spare him as I have done or that he may not receive such Correction from a severer Hand as he is not Stoick enough to bear For my part I could have been content if he had refin'd away none of his Personal Reflexions I was willing enough that the World should have seen with what an impotent Fury I have been assaulted by him and I should have been glad to have been eas'd of the Fatigue of writing and giving a new Turn to the Answers I had sent him But for his own sake I congratulate to him any Tendency towards a Calmness of Thought and still retain for him the Regard that is due to an Intelligent Person of a sharp Wit great Reading and indefatigable Industry I could say more to his advantage but that I am afraid to indulge an Humour in him that is too predominant and what that is you may perceive from the Admonition he gave me in his Letter of Feb. 9. That he and I are never like to answer one anothers expectation so long as he looks for strength and closeness in my Discourses or I think to find weakness or loosness in his Which shews that he is a Man of a peculiar Temper and distinguish'd by such an Air of Assurance as is not common Not but that another might have treated me with as much Contempt but he was the Man of the World that thought nothing could come from him that is weak or loose Finding him in this condition I thought it not unfit to give him such Touches as might make him sensible that he is a Mortal Wight and of Humane Race and having convinc'd him by the method I propos'd that he was not Infallible he now confesses some of his mistakes Yet there are some Remains of his former distemper still hanging on him For says he to his Noble Friends I present you in these following Letters the true Idea as I take it of Church-Government which could it be receiv'd by all others with the same degree of Candor I assure my self it shall by you would be of Infinite Advantage to end these fatal Controversies that for many Ages have perplexed and in this last almost destroyed the Church I have not the honour

these to the People And thus when the abolishing of the Episcopal Government with all its dependences Root and Branch was in agitation Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes objected against the Bishops That by their Power over other Ministers who had an influence upon the People they might mould them both according to their own wills and having put out our eyes says he as the Philistins did Sampson 's they may afterwards make us grind and reduce us to what slavery they please A dreadful thing indeed had there been any foundation for the apprehension of it But if such Fantômes as may at any time be rais'd by Art or the Strength of Imagination and have nothing in them of Substance or Reality be sufficient to disquiet us we are like to enjoy but little rest And to come nearer to the purpose If a meer possibility of doing hurt be so dangerous and formidable to Princes This would be enough to create in them frightful Idea's of their Guards and their Armies and of all that are about them and render them at last like Pashur a Terror to themselves He could not but see that a meer Capacity in the Clergy of conveying Malignity was not sufficient to make them Enemies to the State and he pretends that they have been actually guilty of a most notorious defection from their Duty to the Civil Magistrate and that it has been found by Experience not only that there never was but that there never can be in the World a thing more dangerous to any Government than the National Hierarchy An Accusation that sounds very harsh and runs high not against a few single persons only but a considerable Society But he hath not told us in what Instance they were liable to it or when it was they became so criminal It is certain that in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth they could not deserve so hateful a Character For Jealous as She was of her Glory She could not find that it was eclips'd by them But She did perceive how necessary it was to check and repress the Attempts against them and was sensible as Mr. Camden acquaints us that her own Authority was struck at through the sides of the Bishops As this Admirable Princess penetrated into the Secrets of Foreign Courts so She perfectly understood the Interests of her own Kingdoms And if any would know what She thought of some fiery Zealots of those Times who spent their Heats in opposing Episcopacy and the Liturgy it may be seen in Serjeant Puckering's Speech recorded by Sr. William Dugdale for it is made by Her Command Her Successor King James could never discover that nothing could be more dangerous to him than the National Hierarchy He always believ'd that Episcopacy was of Divine Institution and as he found it establish'd here to his great satisfaction so he never saw cause to repent of his defence of it and the Privileges annex'd to it How well he approv'd the Constitution of the Church of England may appear from hence that in his Speech in the Star-Chamber he affirm'd That of any Church that ever he read or knew of present or past he thought in his Conscience This was the most pure and nearest the Primitive and Apostolical Church in Doctrine and Discipline and the sureliest founded on the Word of God of any Church in Christendom At the same time he complain'd of the Contempt that was cast on a Church so Reform'd and the Governours thereof and looking on it as a sign of Impending Judgments he says God will not bless us and our Laws if we do not reverence and obey Gods Law which cannot be except the Interpreters of it be respected and reverenced Such a regard He had for them from a Principle of Religion and their Fidelity to Him was answerable to it and contributed not a little to the Safety of his Person the Support of the Throne and the Welfare of the Nation But as for the many Dangers to which he was expos'd they arose from other Quarters They either proceeded from the Conspiracies of Papists whose Principles he examin'd and confuted that neither the Subversion of States nor the Murthers of Kings should have free passage in the World for want of timely Advertisement or from the Practices of another sort of persons whom he calls the very Pests in the Church and Common-wealth and by whom as he declares to all Christian Monarchs Free Princes and States he was persecuted not from his Birth only but four Months before his Birth In the Reign of King Charles the First the Clergy were not wanting in their demonstrations of Loyalty as we all know and they felt Yet I grant that some had discours'd before his Majesty that Episcopacy as claim'd and exercis'd within this Realm was not a little derogatory to the Regal Authority as well in the Point of Supremacy as Prerogative in the one by claiming the Function as by a Divine Right in the other by exercising the Jurisdiction in their own Names But on that occasion He told Dr. Sanderson that he did not believe the Church-Government as by Law establish'd was in either of the aforesaid respects or any other way prejudicial to his Crown Nevertheless he requir'd that Learned Man from whom I borrow'd this Relation to draw up an Answer to those two Objections for the satisfaction of others which he did accordingly And I shall only crave leave to transcribe from him the following words which he uses near the Conclusion of his Treatise By this time says he I doubt not all that are not wilfully blind do see and understand by sad experience that it had been far better both with King and Kingdom than now it is or is like to be in haste if the Enemies of Episcopacy had meant no worse to the King and his Crown than the Bishops and those that favour'd them did I shall not further exercise your patience in going about to prove that the Clergy were faithful to the Crown in the Reign of King Charles the Second You may well enough remember what King James the Second acknowledged that the Church of England had been eminently Loyal in the defence of his Father and support of his Brother in the worst of Times But that our Church-men have since revolted from their Principles which were then said to be for Monarchy I do not understand Nor was our Author willing in plain terms to inform us when it was that they became such Examples of Malignity lest the Calumny might easily be detected Yet Obscure as he is he hath left us a Key to his meaning for he intimates that they have been found to be dangerous by fresh experience when they were not in the Measures and Interests of the Government respecting doubtless the late Times before the great Revolution And so the Secret comes out which was at the bottom and rais'd his Indignation In the Opinion you see of this Gentleman the Clergy were