is however indeed a most glorious Design to reconcile all the Churches to one Doctrine and Communion though some that meddle in it do it chiefly in order to fetter men straighter under the formal bondage of fictitious Discipline but it is a thing rather to be wished and prayed for than to be expected from these kind of endeavours It is so large a Field that no man can see to the end of it and all that have adventured to travel it have been bewildred That Man must have a vast opinion of his own sufficiency that can think he may by his Oratory or Reason either in his own time or at any of our Author 's more happy juncture of Affairs so far perswade and fascinate the Roman-Church having by a regular contexture of continued Policy for so many Ages interwoven it self with the Secular Interest and made it self necessary to most Princes and having at last erected a Throne of infallibility over their Consciences as to prevail with her to submit a Power and Empire so acquired and established in Compromise to the Arbitration of an humble Proposer God only in his own time and by the inscrutable methods of his Providence is able to effect that Alteration though I think too he hath signified in part by what means he intends to accomplish it and to range so considerable a Church and once so exemplary into Primitive Unity and Christian Order In the mean time such 〈◊〉 are sit 〈◊〉 pregnant Scholars that have nothing else to do to go big with for forty years and may qualifie them to discourse with Princes Statesmen at their leisure but I never saw that they came to use or possibility No more than that of Alexanders Architect who proposed to make him a Statue of the Mountain Achos and that was no Molehil and among other things that Statue to carry in its hand a great habitable City But the Surveyor was gravell'd being asked whence that City should be supplyed with Water I would only have ask'd the Bishop when he had carv'd and hammer'd the Romists and Protestants into one Colossian-Church how we should have done as to matter of Bibles For the Bishop p. 117. complains that unqualified people should have a promiscuous Licence to read the Scriptures and you may guess thence if he had moreover the Pope to friend how the Laity should have been used There have been attempts in former Ages to dig through the Separating Istmos of Peloponnesus and another to make communication between the Red-Sea and the Mediterranean both more easie than to cut this Ecclesiastick Canal and yet both laid by partly upon the difficulty of doing it and partly upon the inconveniences if it had been effected I must confess freely yet I ask pardon for the presumption that I cannot look upon these undertaking Church-men however otherwise of excellent Prudence and Learning but as men struck with a Notio and craz'd on that side of their head And so I think even the Bishop had much better have busied himself in Peaching in his own Diocess and disarming the Papists of their Arguments instead of rebating our weapons than in taking an Oecumenical care upon him which none called him to and as appears by the sequel none conn'd him thanks for But if he were so great a Politicion as I have heard and indeed believe him to have been me-thinks he should in the first place have contrived how we might live well with our Protestant Neighbours and to have united us in one body under the King of England as Head of the Protestant Interest which might have rendred us more considerable and put us into a more likely posture to have reduced the Church of Rome to Reason For the most leading Party of the English Clergy in his time retained such a Pontifical stiffness towards the Foreign Divines that it puts me in mind of Austine the Monk when he came into Kent not deigning to rise up to the Brittish or give them the hand and could scarce afford their Churches either Communion or Charity or common Civility So that it is not to be wondred if they also on their parts look'd upon our Models of Accomodation with the same jealousie that the British Christians had as Austin's Design to unite them first to that is under the Savons and then deliver them both over bound to the Papal Government and Ceremonies But seeing hereby our hands were weakned and there was no probability of arriving so near the end of the work as to a consent among Protestants abroad had the Bishop but gone that step to have reconciled the Ecclesiastical Differences in our own Nations and that we might have stood firm at home before we had taken such a Jump beyond-Sea it would have been a Performance worthy of his Wisdom For at that time the Ecclesiastical Rigours here were in the highest ferment and the Church in being arrayed it self against the peaceable Dissenters only in some points of Worship And what great Undertaking could we be ripe for abroad while so divided at home or what fruit expected from the labour of those Mediating Divines in weighty matters who were not yet past Sucking-bottle but seem'd to place all the business of Chri stianity in persecuting men for their Consciences differing from them in smaller metters How ridiculous must we be to the Church of Rome to interpose in her Affairs and force our Mediation upon her when besides our ill correspondence with Foreign Protestants she must observe our weakness within our selves that we could not or would not step over a straw though for the perpetual settlement and security of our Church and Nation She might well look upon us as those that probably might be forced at some time by our folly to call her into our assistance for with no Weapons or Arguments but what are fetch'd out of 〈◊〉 Arsenals can the Ceremonial Controversie be rightly defended but never could she consider us as of such Authority or Wisdom as to give Ballance to her Counsels But this was far from Bishop Bramhall's thoughts who so he might like Caesar manage the Roman Empire at its utmost extent had quite forgot what would conduce to 〈◊〉 Peace of his own Province and Country For p. 57. he settles this Maxime as a Truth That second Reformations are commonly like Metal upon Metal which is false Heraldry Where by the way it is a wonder that our Author in enumerating the Bioshp's perfections in Divinity Law History and Philosophy neglected this peculiar gift he had in Heraldry and omitted to tell us that his 〈◊〉 was large enough to have animated the Kingdoms of Garter and 〈◊〉 at their greatest dimensions But beside what I have said already in relation to this Project upon Rome there is this more 〈◊〉 I confess was below Bishop Brumhall's reflection and was indeed fit only sor some vulgar Politician or the Commissioners of Scotland about the 〈◊〉 Union Whether it would not have succeeded as
be he did write that before he was come to full maturity of judgement and some other things I do not say after he was superannuated but without that due deliberation which he useth at other times wherein a man may desire Mr. Bayes in Mr. Ba yes Or it it may be some things may be changed in his Book as I have been told by one os his nearest friends and that we shall shortly see a more Authentick Edition of all his Works This is certain that some of those things which I dislike were not his own judgment after he was come to maturity in Theological matter And had Mr. Bayes as he ought to have done carryed his Book to any os the present Bishops or their Chaplains for a Licence to print it I cannot conceive that he could have obtained it in better terms than what I have collected out of the 108. page of his Answerer Notwithstanding the old Pleas of the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy of Example and Direction Apostolical of a Parity of Reason between the condition of the Church whilst under Extraordinary Officers and whilst under Ordinary of the power of the Church to appoint Ceremonies for Decency and Order of the patern of the Churches of old all which under Protestation are reserved till the first oportunity I have upon reading of this Book found that it may be of use 〈◊〉 the present 〈◊〉 of Affairs and therefore let it be printed And as I think he hath disobliged the Clergy of England in this matter so I believe the favour that he doth his Majesty is not eqvivalent to that damage For that I may with Mr. Bayes his leave prophane Ben John son though the gravest Divines should be his Flatâ—…erers he hath a very quick sense shall I prophane Horace too in the same period Hunc male si palpere 〈◊〉 undique tutus If one stroke him ilfavouredly he hath a terrible way of kicking and will fling you to the Stable-door but is himself safe on every side He knows it's all but that you may get into the Saddle again and that the Priest may ride him though it be to a Precipiece He therefore contents himself with the Power that he hath inherited from his Royal Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and as it is declared by Parliament and is not to be trepann'd into another kind of Tenure of Dominion to be held at Mr. Bayes his pleasure and depend upon the strength only of his Argument But that I may not offend in Latin too frequently he considers that by not assumining a Deity to himself he becomes secure and worthy of his Government There are lightly about the Courts of Princes a sort of Projectors for Concealed Lands to which they entitle the King to begg them for themselves and yet generally they get not much by it but are exceeding vexatious to the Subject And even such an one is this Bayes with his Project of a Concealed Power that most Princes as ee saith have not yet rightly understood but whereof the King is so little enamour'd that I am confident were it not for prolling and momolesting the People his Majâ—…sty would give Mr. Bayes the Patent sor it and let him make his best on 't after he hath paid the Fees to my Lord Keeper But one thing I must confess is very pleasant and he hath past an high Complement upon his Majesty in it that he may if he please reserve the Priest-hood and the Exercise of it to himself Now this iudeed is surprâ—…sing but this only troubles me how his Majesty would look in all the Sacerdotal habiliments and the Pontifical Wardrobe I am asraid the King would find himself incommoded with all that furniture upon his back and would scarce reconcile himself to wear even the Lawn-sleeves and the Surplice But what even Charles the fifth as I have rerd was at his Inauguration by the Pope content to be vested according to the Roman Ceremonial in the habit of a Deacon and a man would not scruple too much the formality of the dress in order to Empire But one thing I douâ—…t Mr Bayes did not well consider that if the King may discharge the Function of the Prest-hood he may too and 't is all the reason in the world assume the Revenue It would be the best Subsidy that ever was voluntarily given by the Clergy But truly otherwise I do not see but that the King does lead a more unblamable Conuersation and takes more care of Souls than many of them and understands their office much better and deserves something already sor the pains he hath taken The next is Publick Conscience For as to mens private Consciences he hath made them very inconsiderable and reading what he saith of them with some attention I only found this new and important Discovery and great Priviledge of Christian Liberty thar Thought is free We are howexer obliged to him for that seeing by consequence we think of him what we pleaser And thii he saith a man may assert against all the powers of the Earth and indeed with much reason and to great purpose seeing as he also alledges the Civil Power is so far srom doing violence to that liberty that it never can But yet if the freedom of thoughts be in not lying open to discovery there have been wayes of compelling men to discover them or if the freedom consist in retaining their judgments when so manifested that also hath been made penal And I doubt not but beside Oaths and Renunciations and Assents and Consents Mr. Bayes if he were searched hath twenty other tests and picklocks in his pocket Would Mr. Bayes then perswade men to assert this against all the Powers of the Earth I would ask in what manner To say the truth I do not like him and would wish the Nonconformists to be upon their guard lest he trapan them first by this means into a Plot and then preach and so hang them If Mr. Bayes meant otherwise in this matter I confess my stupidity and the fault is most his own who should have writ to the capacity of vulgar Readâ—…rs He cuts indeed and saulters in this discourse which is no good sign perswading men that they may and ought to practise against their Consciences where the Commands of the Magistrate intervenes None of them denies that it is their duty where their Judgments or Consciences cannot comply with what is injoyned that they ought in obedience patiently to suffer but further they have not learned I dare say that the Casual Divinity of the Jesuites is all thorow as Orthodox as this Maxime of our Authors and as the Opinion is brutish so the Consequences are Develish To make it therefore go down more glibly he saith that ' t is better to err with Authority than to he in the right against it in all doubtful disputable cases because the great duty of Obedience outweighs the danger of a little error and tittle it is if it
hath shut that Ecclesiastical Polity and Mr. Bayes's too out of doors But for the Friendly Dâ—…bate I must confess that is unaâ—…swerable 'T is one Mr. Hales of Eaton a most learned Divire and one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Eâ—…and and most remarkable for his Suffâ—…r â—…gs in the late timeâ—… and his Christian Patience under them And I reâ—…kon it not one of the least 〈◊〉 of that Age that so eminent a Person should have been by the Iniquity of the â—…es reduced to thoâ—…e necessities under which he lived as I account it no small honour to have grown up into some part of his Acquaintance and convers'd a while with the living remains of one of the clearest heads and best prepared breasts in Christendom That which I speak of is his litâ—…le Treatise of Schism which though I had read many years ago was quite out of n y mind till Loccasionally light upon 't at a 〈◊〉 stall I hope it will not be tedious though I write 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 few and yet whatsoever I â—…mit I shall have left behind more material Passages Schissm is one of those Theological Scarcrows with which they who use to uphold a party in Religion use to fright away such as making inquiry into it are ready to relinquish and opâ—…ose it if it appear either erroneous or suspicious Schism is if we would define it an unnecessary separation of Christians from that part of the Visible Church of which they were once members Some reverencing Antiquâ—…y more than needs have suffered themselves to be scared with imputation of Schism more than needs Nothing absolves men from the guilt of Sâ—…sm 〈◊〉 true and unpretended Conscience But the Judgments of the Aâ—…cients many times to speak most gentâ—…y are justly to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cause of 〈◊〉 is â—…essary â—…ere not he 〈◊〉 separates but he thâ—…t is the cause of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Schismatick Where the occasion of Separation is unnecessary neither side can be excused from guilt of Schism But who shall be the Judg That is a point of great difficulty because it carries fire in the Taâ—…l of it for it brings with it a piece of Doctrine which is seldom pleasing to Superiours You shall find that all Schisms have crept into the Church by one of these three waies eiâ—…her upon matter of Fact or upon matter of Opinion or point of Ambition For the first I call that matter of Fact when something 〈◊〉 required to be done by us which either we know or strongly â—…ct to be unlawful Where he instances in the old great Controversie about EASTER For it being upon error taken for necessary that an Easter must be kept and upon worse than error for it was no less than a point of Judaism forc'd upon the Church thought further necesseary that the ground of the time for the Feast must be the Rule left by 〈◊〉 to the Jews there 〈◊〉 a stout Question Whether 't was to be celebrated with the Jews on the fourteenth Moon or the Sunday following This caused as great a Combustion as ever was the West separating and refusing Communion with the East for many years together Here I cannot see bus all the world were Schismaticks excepting only that we charitably suppose to excuse them from it that all parties did what they did out of Conscience A thing which befell them by the ignorance for I will not say the malice of their guides and thâ—…t through the just judgment of God because through floth and blind obedience men exaâ—…ed not the things they were taught but like beasts of burthen patiently couched down and indifferently underwent all whatsoever their Superiours laid upon them If the discretion of the chiefest guides of the Church did in a point so trivial so inconsiderable so mainly fail them Can we without the imputation of great grossness and folly think so poor-spirited persons competent Judges of the Questions now on foot betwixt the Churches Where or among whom or how many the Church shall be it is a thing indifferent What if those to whom the Execution of the publick Service iâ—… committed do something either unseemingly or suspicious or peradventure unlawful what if the Garments they wear be censured nay indeed be suspicious What if the gesture or adoration to be used to the Altars as now we have learned to speak What if the Homilist have preached or delivered any Doctrine of the truth of which we are not well perswaded a thing which very often falls out yet for all this we may not separate except we be constrained personally to bear a part in it our selves Nothing can be a just cause of refusing Communion in Schism that concerns Fact but only to require the execution of some unlawful or sâ—…spected Act. For not only in Reason but in Religion too that Maxim admits of no release Cautissimi cujusque praeceptum qued duobitas ne feceris That whatsoever you doubt of that you in no case do He instances then in the Second Council of Nice where saith he the Syâ—…od it self was the Schismatical party in the point of using the Images which seith he all acknowledge unnecessary most do suspect and many hold utterly unlawful Can then the injoining of such a thing be ought else but an abuse Can the refusal of Communion here be thought any other thing than Duty Here or upon the like occasion to separate may perad venture bring personal troubâ—…e or danger against which it concerns any honest man to have Pectâ—… 〈◊〉 Then of Schism from Opiniâ—…n Prayer Confession Thanksgiving Reading of Scripture Administration of Sacraments in the plainest and the simplest manner were matter enough to furnish out a sufficient Liturgy though nothing either of private Opinion or of Church Pomp of Garments of prescribed Gestures of Imagery of Musick of matter concerning the Dead of many Superflu ities which creep into the Church under the name of Order and Decency did interpose it self To charge Churches and Liturgies with things unnecessary was the first beginning of Superstition If the Fathers and special Guides of the Church would be a little sparing in incumbring Churches with Sâ—…perfluities or not over-rigid either in reviving obsolete customs or imposing new there would be far less cause of Schism or Superstiâ—…ion and all the inconvenience likely to ensue would be but this They should in so doing yield a little to the imbecility of their inferiours a thing which Saint Paul would never have refused to do It is alike unlawful to make profession of known or suspected falâ—…hood as to put in practise unlawful or sâ—…spected Actions The third thing I named for matter of Schism was Ambition I mean Episcopal Ambition One head of which is one Bishops claiming Supremacy over another which as it hath been from time to time a great Trespass against the Churches Peace so it is now the final ruine of it For they do but abuse themselves and others who would perswade us that Bishops by Christs Institution have any
Superiority over other men further than positive Order agreed upon among Christians hath preâ—…cribed Time hath taken leave sometimes to fix this name of CONVENTICLES upon good and honest Meetings Though open Assemblies are required yet at all times while men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pious all Meetings of men for mutual help of 〈◊〉 and Devotion wheresoever and by whomsoever celebrated where permitted without exception In times of manifest Corruption and Perseru-tion wherein Religious Assembling is dangerous Private Meetings howsoever besides Publicâ—… Order are not onely lawful but they are of necessity and duty All piâ—…us Assemblies in times of Persecution and Corruption howsoever practised are indeed or rather alone the Lawful Congregations and Publick Assâ—…mblies though according to form of Law are indeed nothing else but RIOTS and CONVENTICLES if they be stained with Corruption and Superstition Do you not see now Mr. Bays that you needed not have gone so for a word when you might have had it in the Neighbourhood If there be any Coherence leâ—…t in yâ—…ur Scull you canâ—… but perceive that I have brought you Authority eâ—… to prâ—…ve that Schism for the reason we may discourse another time do's at least rhime to Ism. But you have a peculiar delight and selicity which no man 〈◊〉 you in Scripture-Drollery â—…othing less 〈◊〉 taste to your Palat whereaâ—… otherwise you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far in Italy that you could not escape the Tiâ—…les of some Books which would have served your turn as well Caâ—…dinalism Nâ—…potism Putanism if you were in a Parox 〈◊〉 of the Ism's When I had â—…rit this and undergone so grateful a P. 〈◊〉 for no less than that I had transcribed beâ—…ore cut of â—…ur Author I could not upon compariug them both together but reflect most seriously upon the difference of their two ways of Discoursing I could not but admire that Majesty and Beauty which sits upon the forehead of masculine Truth and generous Honesty but no less detest the Deformity of falshood disguised in all its Ornaments How much another thing it is to hear him speak that hath cleared himself from forth and growns and who suffers neither Sloth nor Fear nor Ambition nor any other tempting Spirit of that nature to abuse him from one who as Mr. Hales expresseth it makes Christianity lackque to Ambition How wretchedly the one to uphold his Fiction must incite Princes to Persecution and Tyranny degrade Grace to Morality debauch Conscience against its own Principles distort and mis-interpret the Scripture fill the world with Blood Execution aâ—…d Massacre while the other needs and requires no more but a peaceable and unprejudicate Soul and the native simplicity of a Christian-spirit And me thinks if our Author had any spark of Vertue unextinguished he should upon considering these together retire into his Closet and there lament and pine away for his desperate follie for the disgrace he hath as far as in him is brought upon the Church of England by such an undertaking and for the eternal shame to which he has hereby coudemn'd his own memory I ask you heartily pardon Mr. Bayes for treating you against Decorum here with so much gravity 'T is possible I may not trouble you above once or twice more in the like nature but so often at least I hope one may in the writing of a whole Book have leave to be serious Your next Flower and that indeed is a sweet one Dear Heart how could I hug and kiss thee for all this Love and Sweetness Fy â—…y Mr. Bayes Is this the Language of a Divine and to be used as you ometimes express it in the faâ—… of the Sun Who can escape from thinking that you are adream'd of your Comfortable Importance These are as the Moral Saâ—… calls them in the claenl est manner the thing would bare Words left betwixt the Sheets Some body might take it ill that you should misapply your Courtship to an Enemy But in the Roman Empire it was the priviledge of the Hangman to deflour a Virgin before Execution But sweet Mr. Bayes for I know you do nothing without a precedent of some of the greatest wits of the Nation whose example had you for this seeming Transport of a gentler Passion Then comes Wellfare poor Macedo for a modest Fool. This I know is matter of Gazette which is as Canonical as Ecclisiastical Policy Therefore I have the less to say to 't Onely I could wish that there were some severer Laws against such Villains who raise so false and scandalous reports of worthy Gentlemen And that men might not be suffered to walk the streets in so confident a garb who commit those Assassinates upon the reputation of deserving persons Here follows a sore Charge that the Answerer had without any provocation in a publick and solemn way undertakâ—…n the Dâ—…fence of the Fanatick Cause Here indeed Mr. Bayes You have reason and you might have had as just a quarrel against whosoever had undertaken it For your design and hope was from the beginning that no man would have aâ—…swered you in a publick and solemn way and nothing would vex a. wise man as you are more than to have his intention and Counsel frustrated When you have rang'd all your forces in battel when you have plac'd your Canon when you have sounded a charge and given the word to fall on upon the whole Party if you could then perswade every particular person of 'm that you gave him no Provocation I confess Mr. Bayes this were an excellent and a new way of your inventing to conquer single 't is your Moral Vertue whole Armies And so the admiring Drâ—…ve might stand gaping till one by one you had cut aâ—…l their throats But 〈◊〉 Bayes I cannot discern but that you gave him as much Provocation in your first Book as he has you in his Evangelical Love Church Peace and Unity which is the pretence of your issuing this Preface For having for your Dear sake beside many other troubles that I have undertaken without your giving me any Provoration sought out and perused that Book too I do not find you any where personally concern'd but as you have it seems upon some conviction assumed to your self some vices or errours against which he speaks in general and with some modesty But for the rest you say upon full perusal you find not one Syllable to the purpose beside a perpetual Repetition of the old out-worn story of Unscriptural Ceremonies and some frequent whinings and sometimes â—…avings c. Now to see the dulness of some mens Capacities above others I upon this occasion begun I know not how it came at p. 127. And thence read on to the end of his Book And from thence I turn'd to the beginning and continued to p. 127. and could not all along observe any thing but what was very pertinent to the matter in hand But this is your way of excusing your self from replying to things that yet you will be medling with and
and that â—…erefore they are unlawful Our Authors Answeer handling this Argument does among other things â—…ake use of a pertinent Passage in Saint Austin Signa â—…uum ad res divinas pertiâ—…t Sacramenta appellantur What does Mr. Bayes in this case for it went hard â—…ith him Why as good luck would have it not being willing that so great a Politician to the irrepaâ—…able damage of the Church shonld yet be destroyâ—…d J. O. had forgot to quote the Book and Page Now though you send a man the length of your Weapon and namâ—… your Second Yeâ—… Mr. Bayes being as you see 〈◊〉 admirably read in the Laws of 〈◊〉 knew that unless the Time and Place be appointed there is no danger He saith therefore p 452. of his second Book that he should have advantage on his side if he should lay odds with him that there is no such passage in all the Volumns of Saint Austin But however that it is neither civil nor ingenuous to trouble him with such Objections as he cannot answer without reading over eight or ten large Volumns in Folio It was too much to expect from one of so much business good Augustulus Quum tot sustineas tanta negotia solus Res Sacras Armis tuteris Moribus ornes Legibus emendes S Which may be thus translated When you alone have the Ceremonies to defend with Whipping-posts Rods and Axes when you have Grace to turn into Morality when you have the Act of Oblivion and Indemnity and the Ecclesiastical Declaration of March to tear in pieces it were unreasonable and too much to the dammage of the publick to put you on such an Imployment I ask your pardon Mr. Bayes for this Paraphrase and Digression for I perceive I am even hardned in my Latine and am prone to use it without fear or reverence But Mr. Bayes there might have been a remedy for this had you pleased Where then were all your Leaf-Turners a sort of poor Readers you as well as Bishop Bramhal ought to have some Reverence for having made so much use of them to gather materials for your Structures and Superstructures I cannot be perswaded for all this but that he knowâ—… it well enough the passage being so remarkable in it self and so dirtyed with the Nonconformists thumbs that he could not possibly miss it and I doubt he does but laugh at me now when to save him a labour I tell him in the simplicity of my heart that even I my self met with it in Ep. 〈◊〉 ad Marcellinum and the words these Nâ—…mis autem longum est convenienter disputare de 〈◊〉 fignorum quae cum ad res divinas pertinent Sacramâ—…nta appellantur But whether there be such a place or no he hath no mind that his Answerer shoâ—…d make use of it nor of the Schoolmen whom before he had owned for the Authors of the Church of England's 〈◊〉 but would bind up the Answerer to the Law only and the Gospel And now Mr. Bayes saith he will be of the School-mens opinion as long as thâ—…y spâ—…ak Sense and no longer and so I believe of Saint Ausâ—…'s that is to say so long as they will serve his â—…urn for all Politicians shake men â—…ff when they have no more use of 'm or find them to 〈◊〉 the design But Mr. Bayes why may not your Answerer or any man else quote St. Austin as well as you may the Scriâ—…re I am suâ—…e there is less danger of perverting the place or of mis-interpretation And though perhaps a Nonconsormist may value the Authority of the Bibâ—…e above that of the Fatâ—…ers yet the Welch have a Proverb that the Bible and a Stone do well together meaning perhaps that if one miss the other will hit You that are a Duellist know how great a bravery it is to gain your Eeâ—…emys Sword and that there is no more home-thrust in dispuâ—…ation thâ—…n the Argumentum ad hominem So that if your Adversary fell upon you with one of your own Fathers it was gallantâ—…y done on his part and no less wiâ—…ely on yours to fence in this mâ—…nner and usâ—… all your shifts 〈◊〉 put it by For you too Mr. Bayes do know no man better that it is not at all times safe nor honourable to be of a Fathers opinion Having escaped this danger he grows nor can I blame him exceeding merry and insults heavily over Symbolical wheresoever he meets with it for in his Answerer I find it not But wheresoever 't was it serves to good purpose For no man would imagine that he could have received so universal a Defeat and appear in so good humour A terrible Disputant he is when he has set up an hard word to be his Opponent 'T is a very wholesome thing he knows and prolongs life for all the while he can keep up this ball he may decline the Question But the poor Word is sure to be mumbled and mowsled to purpose and to be made an example But let us with Mr. Bayes his leave examine the thing for once a little closer The Non-conformists as I took notice before do object to some of the Rites of the Church of England under the name of Symbolical or significant Ceremonies They observe the Church of England does in the discourse of Ceremonies printed before the Common Prayer Book declare that the retaining of those Ceremonies is not onely as they serve for decent Order and Godly Discipline but as they are apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God by some special and notable significancy whereby he may be edified They further observe the Church of England's definition of a Sacrament That it is an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace They find these Ceremonies so constituted impos'd upon them by Authority and more-over according to our Authors principle made a new part of the Divine Law They therefore quarrel and except against these under the notion of Sacraments and insist that the Church is not impowred to institute such Ceremonies under such obligations and penalties as they are imposed Or if you will in stead of Church you may say rather the Magistrats for as much as our Author hath pro hac vice delivered the Keys and the whole power of the House into his hands Now the Author having got them at this lock crys Victory Nothing less will serve him than a three days triumph as if he had conquered Europe Asia and Africa and let him have a fourth day added if he please over the Terra Incognita of Geneva There is no end of his Ostentation and Pageantry and the dejected Non-conformists follow the wheels of his Chariot to be led afterwards to the Prison and there executed He had said p. 446. of his Second Book Here Cartwright begun his Objection and here he was immediately check'd in his Carrear by Whitgift you might Mr. Author for respect sake have called him at leaft Mr. if not Archbishop
a business To conclude the Author gives us one ground more and perhaps more Seditiously insinuated than any of the former that is if it should so prove that is if the Fanaticks by their wanton and unreasonable opposition to the ingenious and moderate Discipline of the Church of England shall give their Governours too much reason to suspect that they are never to be 〈◊〉 in order by a milder and more gentle Government than that of the Chuâ—…ch of Rome and force them at last to scourge them into better manners with the Briars and Thorns of thâ—…ir Discipline It seems then that the Discipline contended about is worth such an alteration It seems that he knowes something more than I did believe of the Design in the late times before the War Whom doth he mean by our Governours the King No for he is a single person The Parliament or the Bishops I have now done after I have which is I think due given the Reader and the Author a short account how I came to write this Book and in this manner First of all I was offended at the presumption and arrogance of his stile whereas there is nothing either of Wit or Eloquence in all his Books worthy of a Readers and more unfit for his own taking notice of Then his infinite Tautology was burâ—…ensome which seem'd like marching a Company round a Hill upon a pay-day so often till if the Muster master were not attentive they might râ—…ceive the pay of a Regimâ—…nt All the variety of his Treat is Pork he knows the story but so little disguised by good Cookery that it discovers the miserableness or rather the penury of the Host. When I observed how he inveighs against the Trading part of the Nation I thought he deserved to be within the five mile Act and not to come within that distance of any Corporation I could not patiently see how irrevorently he treated Kings and Pâ—…inces as if they had been no better then King Phys and King Ush of Bâ—…anford I thought his profanation of the Scripture intolerable For though he alledges that 't is only in order to shew how it was misapplyed by the 〈◊〉 he might have done that too and yet preserved the Dignity and Beverence of those Sâ—…cred Writings which he hath not done but on the contrary he hatâ—… in what is properly his own taken the most of all his Ornaments and 〈◊〉 thence in 〈◊〉 sâ—…urrilous and sacrilegious sâ—…ile insomuch that were it honest I will undertake out of him to make a better than is a more ridiculâ—…s and 〈◊〉 book than all the Friendly Debates bound up together Me thought I never saw a more bold and wicked attempt than that of reducing Grace and making it a meer Fable of which he gives us the Moral I was sorry to see that even Prayer coulâ—… not be admitted to be a Virtue having though hitherto it had been a Grace and a peculiar gift of the Spirit But I considered that that Prayer ought to be discouraged in order to prefer the Licargy He seem'd to speak so little like a Divine in all those matters that the Poet might as well have preâ—…ended to be the Bishop Davenant and that description of the Poets of Prayer and Praise was better than out Auâ—…hors on the same Subjectâ—… Canto the 6th where he likens Prayes to the Ocean For Prayer the â—â—â—an is where diverâ—â—â— Men steer their course each to a several coast Where all our interests so discordant lye That half beg winds by which the rest are lost And Praise he compares to the Union of Fanaticks and Atheists c. that is Gunpowdâ—r Praise 〈◊〉 Devotion fit for mighty minds c. It s utmost force like Powder is unknown And though weak Kings excess of praise may fear 〈◊〉 when 't is here like Powder dangerous grown Heavens vault receives what would the Palcae tear Indeed all Astragen appear'd to me the better Scheme of Religion But it is unnecessary here to recapitulate all one by one what I have in the former Discourse taken notice cf. I shall only add what gave if not the greattest yea the last impulse to my writing I had observed in his first Book P 57 that he had said Some pert and pragmatical Divines had filled the world with a Buzze and Noise of the Divine Spirit which seemed to me so horribly irreverent as if he had taken similitude from the Hum and Buz of the Humble Bee in the Rehearsal In the same Book I have before mentioned that most unsafe passage of our Saviour being not only in an hot fit of zeal but in a seeming fury and transport 〈◊〉 Passion And striving to unhook 〈◊〉 hence P. 152. of his Second Book Swallows it deeper saying Our blessed Saviour did in that action take upon him the Person and Priviledge of a Jewish Zealot Take upon him the Person that is Personam inâ—… And what part did he play Of a Jewish Zealot The Second Person of the Trinity may I repeat these things without offence to take upon him the Person of a Jewish Zealot that is of a notorious Rogue and Cut Throat This seemed to proceed from too slight an Apprehension and Knowledge of the Duty we owe to our Saviour And last of all in this Preface as before quoted he saith the Nonconformist Preachers do spend most of their Pulpit-sweat in making a noise about Communion with God So that there is not one Person of the Trinity that he hath not done despight to and lest he should have distinct Communion with the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for which he mocks his Answerer he hath spoken evil distinctly of the Father distinctly of the Son and distinctly of the Holy Ghost That only remain'd behind wherein our Author might surpass the Character given to Aretine a famous man of his Faculty Qui giace ill Aretino Chi de tutti mal disse 〈◊〉 d' Adido Ma di questo si sensa perche no'l conobbe Here lies Aretine Who spoke evil of all except God only But of this he begs excuse because he did not know him And now I have done And I shall think my self largely recompensed for this trouble if any one that hath been formerly of another mind shall learn by this Example that it is not impossible to be merry and angry as long time as I have been Writing without profaning and violating those things 〈◊〉 are and ought to be most sacred FINIS