manner of the Sufferings of those Primitive Christians with the Afflictions and Patience of our Modern Sects we shall find these to be more like pettish and froward Children who fancy Bugbears to themselves and by groundless fears and crying disquiet themselves and others then like those Heroick Christians that indured the most exquisite Torments with invincible patience praying for their Persecutors The Stoicks behaved themselves with a much more imitable fortitude Tormenta a me abesse velim sed si sustinenda suerint ut me fortiter animose honeste geram optabo And thus Seneca Placebit ei ignis per quem fides collucebit He would rather embrace the Fire than betray his Fidelity Whereas our Complainers do by intolerable provocations draw down punishments on themselves and instead of induring them with a Christian patience seek to avenge themselves on the Inflictors How unreasonable the Complaints of such men are will appear if we consider first what their Sufferings have been as to the matter and causes of them Nulli dictum est nega Deum incende Testamentum Idolis Sacrifica It was never said to any of them Deny your God or dye by the hands of an Executioner burn your Bibles or we will burn you Sacrifice to our Idols or we will Sacrifice you Sola fuerunt ad pacem hortamenta ut Deus Christus ejus in unitate coleretur as St. Augustine speaks of the Donatists They were only exhorted to Worship God and his Son Jesus Christ in a peaceable Communion with their Christian Brethren and to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace wherefore he advised them to consider Prius quid secerint deinde quod patiuntur First what they had done and then what they did suffer So shall I desire those that think themselves grieved to consider by what actions and provocations of theirs the Penal Laws that are now in force were procured for Ex malis moribus bonae leges it was the seditious practices of ungovernable Men that gave birth to those Statutes which as the Preamble to those that were made in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth declares were made to retain her Majesty's Subjects in due Obedience That there is a necessity of some Penal Laws for the restraint of Evil-doers is the mature judgment of all Mankind for without such every Government would soon run into confusion and therefore every of the complaining Parties have made such Laws and inforced them with more severe Sanctions than those against whom they complain That the making of such Laws belongs to the Supreme Magistrate according to the National Constitution is also unquestionable and it would be ridiculous and bring Authority to contempt to make them and not execute them upon such as render themselves obnoxious by their disorderly behaviour St. Augustine in his 48th Epistle says That it was once his judgment that there was no need of Coercive Laws in matters of Religion lest we should have dissembling Catholicks instead of open Hereticks And therefore he thought that none should be compelled to the Unity of Christ but on second thoughts he altered his opinion and wrote a Tract de Correctione Donatistarum which is extant among his Retractations l. 2. wherein he asserts the necessity of Penal Laws which he grounds on his own experience instancing in the City of Hippo whereof he was Bishop which notwithstanding all his Learning and Endeavours was over-run by the Donatists which set up separate Congregations but by the execution of some Penal Laws was so reduced to Unity as if there had never been any Schism among them for as he observes they being first awed by fear were afterward convinced by truth which they could not hear from their false Teachers And in his 48th Epistle he appeals to them Quis nostram non laudat leges ab Imperatoribus adversus Pagana Sacrificia illius quippe impietatis Capitale supplicium est i. e. Who of us doth not commend the Imperial Edicts against Heathenish Sacrifices although the punishment be capital And in his 50th Epistle he affirms the Laws of the Emperours against those Donatists were a greater act of Charity to their Souls and Bodies as well as Piety towards God than the Indulgence of Julian which was such an occasion of Impiety and Cruelty as had almost destroyed Christianity by permitting Divisions among them wherefore he desires them to consider Quid potias eligatis utrum correcti vivere in pace an in malitia perseverantes falsi martyris nomine vera supplicia sustinere contra Petil. l. 2. which were most eligible either by correction to live in peace or to persevere in malice and draw just punishments on themselves being deceived with a false opinion of Martyrdom and Persecution For as he truly says Non persequitur phreneticum Medicus sed sphreneticus medicum When men that are diseased grow frantick and so ungovernable that they seek to infect and abuse others they that bind them to a better behaviour do the office of a Physitian not a Persecutor and so the Donatists did rather persecute the Laws than the Laws them Leges puniendo non possunt quod ipsi saeviendo potuerunt Epist 170. Nor can any reason be given why such Laws and Penalties should not extend to such as live in the Communion of the Church or separating from it pretend Conscience for their Disobedience for then all sorts of Wickedness might go unpunished seeing that some men have pleaded Conscience as a pretext for the greatest Villanies Now seeing it pleased the Supreme Authority of the Nation having had long experience of the Loyalty and peaceableness of such as lived in Communion with the Established Church to make the Conformity of the Subjects to the publick Doctrine and Worship a Test of their Obedience and Loyalty to the King and having also observed by many Years experience that such as moved Sedition in the State had first raised Division in or made Separation from the Church it pleased them to enact several Laws and Sanctions for an Uniformity in the Worship of God as a means to preserve the publick peace of the State which Laws being the Senatus consulta the effects of the Supreme Authority in Parliaments wherein every Subject by himself or his Representative is supposed to have this Vote they cannot be accounted the Constitutions of the Church any more than the Plebiscita or the Agreement of the People confirmed by the King on the Advice and Counsel of his Parliament and those Laws which on such solemn deliberation and general consent were established cannot rationally be annulled as long as the causes which made the enacting of them necessary are continued And doubtless as the Papists will acknowledge the necessity of them to suppress Heresies and Schisms seeing there is no Nation where their Religion is established where there are not more severe Laws and Sanctions made to suppress such Mischiefs so all other Dissenters will approve of the execution of
called and then preached against it To return then to our Argument If reading the Declaration in our Churches be in the nature of the action in the intention of the command in the opinion of the People an interpretative consent to it I think myself bound in conscience not to read it because I am bound in conscience not to approve it It it against the Constitution of the Church of England which is established by Law and to which I have subscribed and therefore am bound in conscience to teach nothing contrary to it while this Obligation lasts It is to teach an unlimited and universal Toleration which the Parliament in 72 declared illegal and which has been condemned by the Christian Church in all Ages It is to teach my People that they need never come to Church more but have my free leave as they have the King 's to go to a Conventicle or to Mass It is to teach the Dispensing Power which alters what has been formerly thought the whole Constitution of this Church and Kingdom which we dare not do till we have the Authority of Parliament for it It is to recommend to our People the choice of such Persons to sit in Parliament as shall take away the Test and Penal Laws which most of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation have declared their Judgments against It is to condemn all those great and worthy Patriots of their Country who forfeited the dearest thing in the World to them next a good Conscience viz. The favour of their Prince and a great many honourable and profitable Employments with it rather than consent to that Proposal of taking away the Test and Penal Laws which they apprehend destructive to the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and he who can in conscience do all this I think need scruple nothing For let us consider further what the effects and consequences of our reading the Declaration are like to be and I think they are matter of Conscience too when they are evident and apparent This will certainly render our Persons and Ministry infinitely contemptible which is against that Apostolick Canon Let no man despise thee Tit. 2.15 That is so to behave himself in his Ministerial Office as not to fall under contempt and therefore this obliges the Conscience not to make our selves ridiculous nor to render our Ministry our Counsels Exhortations Preaching Writing of no effect which is a thousand times worse than being silenced Our Sufferings will Preach more effectually to the People when we cannot Speak to them but he who for Fear or Cowardize or the Love of this World betrays his Church and Religion by undue compliances and will certainly be thought to do so may continue to Preach but to no purpose and when we have rendred our selves ridiculous and contemptible we shall then quickly fall and fall unpitied There is nothing will so effectually tend to the final ruin of the Church of England because our Reading the Declaration will discourage or provoke or misguide all the Friends the Church of England has can we blame any man for not preserving the Laws and the Religion of our Church and Nation when we our selves will venture nothing for it can we blame any man for consenting to Repeal the Test and Penal Laws when we recommend it to them by reading the Declaration have we not reason to expect that the Nobility and Gentry who have already suffered in this Cause when they hear themselves condemned for it in all the Churches of England will think it time to mend such a fault and reconcile themselves to their Prince and if our Church fall this way is there any reason to expect that it should ever rise again These Consequences are almost as evident as Demonstrations and let it be what it will in itself which I foresee will destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and Interest I think I ought to make as much conscience of doing it as of doing the most immoral action in nature To say that these mischievous consequences are not absolutely necessary and therefore do not affect the Conscience because we are not certain they will follow is a very mean Objection Moral Actions indeed have not such necessary consequences as natural causes have necessary effects because no moral causes act necessarily reading the Declaration will not as necessarily destroy the Church of England as Fire burns Wood but if the consequence be plain and evident the most likely thing that can happen if it be unreasonable to expect any other if it be what is plainly intended and designed either I must never have any regard to Moral Consequences of my Actions or if ever they are to be considered they are in this Case Why are the Nobility and Gentry so extreamly averse to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws Why do they forfeit the King's Favour and their Honourable Stations rather then comply with it If you say that this tends to destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion I ask whether this be the necessary consequence of it whether the King cannot keep his Promise to the Church of England if the Test and Penal Laws be Repealed We cannot say but this may be and yet the Nation does not think fit to try it and we commend those Great Men who deny it and if the same Questions were put to us we think we ought in Conscience to deny them our selves and are there not as high probabilities that our Reading the Declaration will promote the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws as that such a Repeal will ruine our Constitution and bring in Popery upon us Is it not as probable that such a compliance in us will disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry who have hitherto been firm to us as that when the Power of the Nation is put into Popish Hands by the Repeal of such Tests and Laws the Priests and Jesuits may find some Salvo for the King's Conscience and perswade him to forget his Promise to the Church of England and if the probable ill consequences of Repealing the Test and Penal Laws be a good reason not to comply with it I cannot see but that the probable ill consequences of Reading the Declaration is as good a reason not to read it The most material Objection is that the Dissenters whom we ought not to provoke will expound our not Reading it to be the effect of a persecuting Spirit Now I wonder men should lay any weight on this who will not allow the most probable consequences of our Actions to have any influence upon Conscience for if we must compare consequences to disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry by Reading it is likely to be much more fatal than to anger the Dissenters and it is more likely and there is much more reason for it that one should be offended than the other For the Dissenters who are wise and considering are sensible of the snare themselves
and though they desire Ease and Liberty they are not willing to have it with such apparent hazard of Church and State I am sure that tho' we were never so desirous that they might have their Liberty and when there is opportunity of shewing our inclinations without danger they may find that we are not such Persecutors as we are represented yet we cannot consent that they should have it this way which they will find the dearest Liberty that ever was granted This Sir is our Case in short the Difficulties are great on both sides and therefore now if ever we ought to besiege Heaven with our Prayers for Wisdom and Counsel and Courage that God would protect his Church and Reformed Christianity against all the devices of their Enemies Which is the daily and hearty Prayer of May 22. 1688. SIR Your Friend and Brother Though this Petition was presented with all humble Submission and how reasonable soever the Refusing to publish the Declaration was it was so aggravated by Father Petre and others of the Romish Perswasion that the Bishops were sent for to the Council and there charged with publishing a false malicious and seditious Libel and by a Warrant of the Council committed to the Tower on which there followed at least in the hopes and expectations of the Papists such a Scene of Persecution as never was seen under Queen Mary The Seven Bishops were by Habias Corpus brought to the King's-Bench Bar where was the Chief Justice and an Ignoramus Papist Allebone whom one of his Brethren openly exposed for his false Quotations Justice Holloway and Justice Powel after all the pleadings of Councel on each side the Chief Justice gave this direction to the Jury That if they believed the Petition presented by the Bishops to the King was the same that was produced in Court then the Publication was sufficiently proved if not the Bishops were not guilty of the Publication And secondly That any thing tending to disturb the Government was Libellus Famosus and therefore he judged it to be a Libel Justice Holloway said That the intention of an action ought to be considered that the Bishops delivered the Petition with all humility and decency imaginable and were not Men of evil lives and it being the Right of every Subject to Petition such a delivery could be no fault especially it being done to save themselves harmless by shewing their Reasons of not obeying the King's Command Justice Powel declared plainly That he saw nothing of Sedition or other Crime fixed on the Bishops nothing being offered by the King's Counsel to make the Petition false or malicious and desired the Jury to consider That the Bishops apprehended the Declaration to be illegal being founded on a Dispensing Power and he did never remember in any Case that there was such a Power in the King which if true the Petition could be no Libel And lastly That such a Power would amount to an abrogation of all the Laws and so there would be no need of Parliaments but the whole Legislative Power would be in the King which said he to the Jury is worth your consideration The Jury accordingly considered the Case all Night and in the Morning gave their Verdict for the Bishops Not Guilty which caused such Acclamations in the Court as were ecchoed through the Nation And this Deliverance of the Bishops was esteemed the Freedom of the whole Nation from Popery and Slavery and on it the Revolution of our Affairs began This Scene of Persecution being so happily broken we may have leisure to take a view of that other of the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs which was such an Engine as Archimedes fancied he had contrived that if he had found a place whereon to fix it it would have unhinged the Globe of the Earth but as it happened there was no such place to be found But this was so contrived as to make the Church a Felo de se and to fall by its own hands for the Commissioners first named were some of those that were intended to fall by it the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Durham and Rochester the Lord Treasurer and Sunderland and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert and the Lord Chancellor who was the Dominus Factotum in conjunction with whom any Two might act and such Three might take Cognisance of any Case that was under the Ecclesiastical Laws they might Visit both the Universities the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Parish-Churches Schools and Hospitals they might abrogate Old and make New Laws with a Non Obstante to any Right or ancient Constitution and all their Acts were to be confirmed by a New Seal having this Inscription Sigillum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas But the Commission was so unwarrantable and ill designed that the most considerable Men refused to act by it in whose room other confiding Men are named viz. the Bishop of Chester the Lord Chief Justice Wright and Baron Jenner so that the Chancellor could never want Two of his own Distemper to act with him The R. R. the Bishop of London was a Person of such extraordinary merit that he was pitcht on as the first that was fit to suffer by this new sort of Ostracisme but finding no pretence for an Accusation in him from any act of his own he must suffer for another's sin imputed to him or rather for a wicked invention of their own for thus it was Dr. Sharp of the Diocess of London a Divine of known Integrity and Loyalty as well as of Parts and Prudence was represented to the King as one that had preached Seditiously and endeavoured to alienate the Affections of His Majesty's Subjects from him whereof the Doctor being advised endeavours by all means to clear himself and by good Advice draws up a Petition to His Majesty declaring How faithfully he had served Him and his Brother and had studiously endeavoured to suppress all Doctrines and Practices tending to Sedition c. But the Doctor could never find opportunity to present his Petition for the Scene was otherwise laid and thus it opened A Letter was procured from the King to the Bishop of London importing That his Majesty being fully satisfied that Dr. John Sharp Rector of St. Giles's had reflected on his Majesty and on his Government he commanded the Bishop forthwith right or wrong to suspend him The Bishop returned an Answer to the Earl of Sunderland to this effect That his Majesty's Command could not be complied with being contrary to Law because no Judges as he was could condemn any Man before he was heard what he could say for himself So that he was to suffer for what in Justice he could not do On the Fourth of August he appears before the Commissioners and the Chancellor asks him the Reason Why he suspended not Dr. Sharp according to the King's Order The Bishop answered That he had received such an Order and if he had done contrary to his Duty it was his ignorance
of England and such Rulers as Defend and Support it are all of them Lying Perjured and Intolerable Persecutors As for his Colleague Mr. Hickringle I shall need to say no more than this That the Design of his Book against Ceremony-Mongers is sufficiently shewn by his other Book against the TEST and Penal Laws as if the Injunction of them were a Persecution for the removal of which Groundless Scandal the following Treatise is now Published The Preface SINCE it hath pleased Almighty GOD in his tender Compassion to a Sinful Nation to set over us a King and Queen who do naturally take Care for us and as industriously seek to Unite and Preserve as the late King did to Divide and Destroy us We should no longer think of shewing our Zeal for Christ as James and John did by calling for Fire from Heaven to consume all such as follow not us and our Opinion but as useful Members under such an able Head Unite into one Body that we may withstand the furious Attempts of our Common Adversaries who incessantly seek to improve the Seeds of Discord which they have sown amongst us for our utter Extirpation And that I may remove and prevent the Prejudices which such as have hitherto Separated from the Established Worship have conceived against the Governours of the Church under Regal Authority I shall here desire them to consider what Condescentions and Concessions they have been always ready to make for the Ease of all Tender Consciences and to which they are ready to Agree when-ever the Supreme Power shall commit the Consideration of those things to the Parliament and Convocation His Majesty Charles the Second in a Declaration from Breda promised a Liberty to Tender Consciences and that no Man should be disquieted or called in question for Differences of Opinion in Matters of Religion which did not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that he should be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature Deliberation should be offered to him for granting such an Indulgence After which he sets forth his Declaration to all his loving Subjects of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Dated at White-hall the 25th of October 1660 which certainly was sufficient to satisfie all sober Protestants He grants a Commission to some Persons of the Presbyterian as well as of the Episcopal Perswasion but what little Effect all these things wrought towards a Reconciliation and by whose Fault will thus appear In his Majesty's Declaration he desired the Dissenters to Read as much of the Common-Prayers as they had no just Exceptions against yet though some had declared they could Use the greatest part of it I never heard that any of them did comply with so reasonable a Desire of his Majesty but instead thereof they Petition for a Reformation both of Doctrine and Discipline and that Commissioners might be appointed to Compile a New Form or Reform the Old. And though the King denied the making of a New having expressed his esteem of the Old in his Declaration Octob. 25. yet Mr. B. or some others drew up another Liturgy in eight Days time which they confessed had many Imperfections yet they call it their more Correct Nepenthe and Protest before God and Men against the Dose of Opium i.e. the Liturgy recommended by the King and Parliament as that which tended to the Cure of their Disease by Extinguishing of Life and to Unite them in a Dead Religion and tell the Bishops If these be all the Amendments and Abatements you will admit you sell your Innocency and the Churches Peace for nothing And in the due Account and Petition they reflect as severely upon his Majesty saying We must needs believe that when his Majesty took our Consent to a Liturgy to be a Foundation that would infer our Concord you i. e. your Majesty meant not that we should have no Concord but by consenting to this Liturgy without any considerable Alterations And in the close of the second Paper they tell the King If they should lose the opportunity of their desired Reconciliation it astonisheth them to foresee what doleful Effects our Divisions would produce As Basil said to Valens so they p. 117. of their Reply If you will receive the true Faith thy Son shall live which when he refused he said The Will of God be done with thy Son So we say too if you will put on Charity and promote the Churches Peace God will Honour you but if you will do contrary the Will of the Lord be done with your Honours And as to the Laws in a Prognostication set out 1661 p. 12 13. they talk of new Impositions Subscriptions and Oaths Words and Actions which they believe to be against the Word of God this reflects on the Legislators Dr. Stillingfleet observed of the first Plea for Peace That it lookt as if it had been designed on purpose to represent the Clergy of our Church as a company of Notorious Lying and Perjured Villains And that Author in his Answer to the Doctor 's Sermon p. 73. chargeth him with pleading for Presumption Prophanation Usurpation Uncharitableness and Schism And in the Preface of the Second Defence That the Doctor 's Book is made up of 1. Untrue Accusations 2. Untrue Historical Citations 3. Fallatious Reasonings That Learned Doctor had propounded several Concessions to be made for the Ease of Dissenters not without the Consent and Direction of his Superiours as I have been informed all which Mr. B. rejects saying That the Benefit would redound sibi suis not reaching our Necessities p. 21. of the Second Defence I cannot omit what an ingenious Person writes in his Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet which may serve to retort this Reflection p. 68. I will tell Mr. B. a Secret which I have heard but hope he will not put me to prove it That the Parliament made good Laws the Papists out of pretended Reverence to Tender Consciences hindred the Excution of them and some Leading Fanaticks to say no more had private Incouragement to set up a mighty Cry of Persecution to cast all the Odium on a Persecuting Church and Diocesan Canoneers In the Year 1681 was printed an Apology for the Non-conformist Ministers to justifie their Preaching contrary to Law the Book is directed to the Right Reverend Bishops of London Lincoln Hereford Carlile St. David's and Peterborough and others of their Moderation which he calls our best Bishops But with what Reverence and Moderation doth the Author Treat them P. 233. We Humbly lay these Petitions at your Feet and beseech you for the Souls of many Hundred Thousands that you who call yourselves Fathers and Pastors of the Church will not deny them the Bread of Life We beseech you to come out of your Palaces and be familiar with the People and dwell in some Country Village as we have done that you may not see many Hundred Thousands Damned by your means and you have nothing
to say when it is too late but a non Putarum that the instances of the obduration of Pharoah and the Pharisees make you not afraid lest the Wrath of God come upon you to the utmost while you please not God and are contrary to all Men forbidding Christ's Labourers to preach to the Ignorant and Impenitent that they may be saved 1 Thess 2.15 O that God would make them sensible how many thousand persons Damnation is like to be charged upon them for what they have already done these seventeen Years hindring so many Faithful Ministers I must profess if it were the last word I should speak in the World that I had rather be the basest Scavenger yea and suffer many Deaths than be found at the Judgment-Seat of Christ in the Place and Guilt of those of you the best and most moderate Bishops c. who have done what is done against the Gospel and Church of Christ in this Land. In p. 236. the Author opposeth this Question in behalf of the Bishops Why do I write all this to you Bishops and not to his Majesty and the Parliament I answer It is not them nor any of their Laws and Actions which in all this Book I intend to speak against Yet the whole design of the Book was to Justifie the Preaching of Non conformists contrary to Law. And p. 104. he says No Bishops have Silenced us by Spiritual Government that we know of but only as Barons by the Secular Laws to which they gave their Votes and he acknowledgeth all did not These Contradictions cannot be reconciled And it was no less then a Spirit of Contradictions that wrought in the hearts of such Men as thus opposed themselves to the Establishment made by the Parliament notwithstanding the many Alterations then made in the Liturgy and Rubricks and the Reasons given for them in the Preface before the Common-Prayer and the Discourse concerning Ceremonies which there follows And because the farther Concessions opposed by that Learned Dr. Stillingfleet may give some satisfaction to the Reader how willing the Church was to propose Terms of Reconciliation I have here set them down that it may appear also how unreasonably they were despised by the Men of that Generation And that this Doctor may not stand alone or be thought to propose his own Sentiments only I shall joyn with him the Reverend Dean of Canterbury in a Sermon preach'd at the York-shire Feast Anno 1679 p. 28. Though it was not for private Persons says he to undertake in matters of publick Concernment yet I have no cause to doubt but the Governours of our Church notwithstanding all the Advantages and Authority too which are on their side were persons of that Piety and Prudence that for Peace sake and in order to a firm Union among Protestants they would be content if that would do it not to insist upon little things but to yield them up whether to the Infirmity or Importunity or perhaps in some very few things to the plausible Exceptions of those who differed from them Dr. Sherlock makes up a Triumvirate after whom I shall not need though I could mention many Auxiliaries in a Sermon preached before the Lord-Mayor Novemb. 1688. We have reason to hope that the Church of England which at the beginning of the Reformation took such prudent care not to offend the Papists in going farther from them than was necessary will whenever it is likely to do good condescend to a great deal farther than it is necessary to Reform to meet the Dissenters for while the External Decency Gravity and Solemnity of Worship is secured no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony when it will heal the Divisions and Breaches of the Church And let us all heartily pray to God that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Conformists and Non-conformists towards a happy Reunion And all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes when it is not meerly the Church of England nor any particular Sect of Protestants whose Ruine is aimed at but the whole Protestant Faith. And to evidence that this was the Sence of the Governours of our Church the Archbishop of Canterbury with his Six Brethren did declare in their Petition to the late King That they did not refuse to distribute and publish his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience for any want of due Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a Temper as should be thought fit when that matter should be considered and setled in Parliament and Convocation And in the Articles commended to the Bishops of his Province and their Clergy he Exhorts That they walk in Wisdom towards them that are not of our Communion and if there be in their Parishes any such that they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the Spirit of Meekness seeking by all good ways and means to gain them to our Communion more especially that they have a very tender regard to our Brethren the Protestant Dissenters that upon occasion offered they visit them at their Houses and receive them kindly at their own and treat them fairly where-ever they meet them perswading them if it may be to a full Compliance with our Church or at least that whereunto we have already attained we may all walk by the same Rule and mind the same Thing and in order hereunto that they take all opportunities of assuring and convincing them that the Bishops of this Church are really and sincerely irreconcileable to the Errours Superstitions Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome and that they warmly and most affectionately exhort them to joyn with us in daily fervent Prayer to the God of Peace for an universal blessed Union of all the Reformed Churches at home and abroad against our common Enemies and that all they who confess the Holy Name of our Dear Lord and agree in the Truth of his Holy Word may also meet in one Holy Communion and live in perfect Unity and Godly Love. And it is well known that many Ministers in the City and Country were accounted Trimmers and threatned to be Prosecuted themselves because they refused to Present and Prosecute their Dissenting Neighbours So that both the Bishops and others of the Established Clergy have been alway ready to Sacrifice their private Peace and Interest to the publick Walfare The Reverend Dean of St. Paul's Proposals or Terms of Union betwixt the Church of England and the Dissenters Taken out his Preface to the Unreasonableness of Separation p. 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94. are as followeth Quest Is there nothing to be done for Dissenting Protestants who agree with us in all Doctrinal Articles of our Church and only scruple the use of a few Ceremonies and some late Impositions Shall these Differences still be continued when they may be so easily removed and so many useful
call them to it and in the mean time return good for evil Upon Munday being Feb. 2. 1684 Charles II. was seized by a violent Fit supposed to be an Appoplexy whereof he died on the Thursday following and that Afternoon K. James II. was proclaimed who sitting in his Privy Council then assembled declared That since it pleased Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother he thought fit to declare That he would endeavour to follow his Example and more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People That he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power though that had not been the only story which had been made of him That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewn themselves Good and Loyal Subjects and therefore he should always take care to defend and support them And that he likewise knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish and therefore as he should never depart from the just Rights and Priviledges of the Crown so he would never invade any Man's Property Which Declaration was then ordered in Council to be Published and the same was repeated at the Coronation and then confirmed by his Oath for which Addresses of Thanks were sent the King from all parts of the Nation assuring him of their Loyalty and Resolutions to maintain his Rights and defend his Person with their Lives and Fortunes These Declarations were repeated to the Parliament which met May 22. 1685. That they might be assured that he spake them not by chance and that they might more firmly rely on a Promise so solemnly made But how this Promise was performed may appear by the following Events During the sitting of this Parliament News was brought of the Landing of Argyle in Scotland and shortly after of the Landing of the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England whereupon the Parliament readily declared to stand by the King with their Lives and Fortunes for the suppressing of those Rebellions desiring him to take more than ordinary care of his Person And though the Rebellions were suppressed chiefly by the voluntary Assistance of such as were of the Communion of the Church of England among whom the R. R. the Bishop of Winchester was a great Instrument and the Scholars of Oxford cheerfully ingaged themselves And the Militia raised in the West caused Monmouth to turn East-ward in the Mouth of the King's Army Yet in October following the King took occasion to complain how useless the Militia was on such occasions and to tell them That nothing but a good Force of well disciplined Troops in constant pay was sufficient to defend them from such as might disturb them at home or from abroad And here was a Foundation laid for a Standing Army such as the King intended in a due time by a French General and Irish Souldiers to over-awe the Nation and make the Instruments of accomplishing his Designs and there needed but a few more soft steps till the Church be surprized and awakened out of that Security wherein her own Innocence and the King 's frequent and solemn Promises had brought her but first the State of Ireland must be altered the Earl of Clarendon is called home to make way for Tyrconnel Scotland is secured by an Army which was raised for the suppressing of Argyle the Duke of Albemarle that was too popular is sent to Jamaica and whatever or whosoever might be thought able to withstand any violence that should be offered to the Church and the Religion that was Established is removed and the Power put into such hands as the King could confide in for the destruction of the same And because the Protestant Dissenters were a considerable Party and their Eyes began to be so far opened as to perceive that they should perish in the Ruine of the Church which made them more inclinable to a Union with it for prevention of their common destruction the old Stratagem of a Toleration and Liberty of Conscience which Coleman declared to be an effectual means to destroy the Established Church is now made use of This bold and fatal stroke was made immediately at the Root of the Religion and Laws established in Scotland but seconded by the same Arm against the Establishment in England as will evidently appear upon these considerations The Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience in Scotland dated Feb. 12. 1687. In which consider first the Foundation of it in these words We have thought fit to grant and by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all our Subjects are to obey without reserve do hereby grant our Royal Toleration c. Which words do assert a Power in the King to command what he pleaseth and an Obligation in the Subject to obey whatever he commands 2. This Absolute Power is not grounded on any Law lest it should seem to be derived from the People but on a Soveraign Authority inherent in the King's Person Jure Divino which may be exercised on that ground as well in England as Scotland as the event shews it was 3. This Absolute Power is to be obeyed by all the Subjects without reserve i. e. not only by a passive submission to the Power but by an active compliance with it so that when the King shall declare it to be his Will and Pleasure That all his Subjects renounce the Protestant Religion and turn Roman Catholicks to which his Religion binds him and as he hopes for Salvation and under the Penalty of being deposed by the Pope they are bound to be of the King's Religion 4. That the Subjects that will partake of the benefit of this Toleration must swear To the utmost of their power to assist defend and maintain the King and his Successors in the exercise of this Absolute Power against all deadly i. e. all Mortals So that the Subjects were to make a very dear purchase of this intolerable Toleration for which they were to pawn their Souls and submit all they had to an Absolute Power without reserve Let us consider therefore the intrinsick value of this Toleration which says We do give and grant our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named Where the word Royal looks like a stamp on base Metal mixt of Popery and Quakerism expressed in the Proclamation and is so general that as never any Christian Prince granted the like so the King as a Roman Catholick could not grant to any of those mentioned viz. either of the Church of Scotland then established under Episcopacy or to the Presbyterians or Quakers whom the Church of Rome accounts Hereticks But then it is to be considered that this Toleration of the Protestant Subjects is granted under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations
and not a wilful neglect The Chancellor replies That his Lordship ought to have known the Law and however that the King ought to be obeyed To which the Bishop replied That if a Prince required a Judge to execute a Command not agreeable to Law it was his Duty Rescribere reclamare principi which he did by the Lord President and that he had done in effect what the King commanded advising the Doctor to forbear Preaching in his Diocess After this with some difficulty his Councel were admitted to plead who justified the Bishop's Answer and then the Bishop offered That if through mistake he had erred in any Circumstance he was ready to beg his Majesty's Pardon and to make any reparation he was able But in short at his next appearing he had his Sentence read viz. That Henry Lord Bishop of London being conven'd before the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs for his Disobedience and other Contempts and being fully heard was by them declared deemed and pronounced Suspended from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office. In this one Noble Bishop the whole Hierarchy of England were struck at and his Sentence but a Prologue to the Tragedy intended the next Scene of which was this On the Ninth of February Dr. Peachel Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge receiv'd a Mandate under the King's Signet Manual to admit one Father Francis a Benedictine Monk Master of Arts without taking the usual Oaths which the Vice-Chancellor by the unanimous Consent of the University refused perceiving their Priviledges and Properties to be in danger and upon their offering the Oaths to Father Francis and his refusing to take them they denied him that Degree whereupon the Vice-Chancellor was summoned by a Messenger to appear before the Commissioners in person and the Senate by their Deputies Upon their appearance the Vice-Chancellor was asked Why he had not obeyed the King's Command in admitting Father Francis To which they gave their Answer in Writing Shewing That by several Acts of Parliament viz. 1º 5º Eliz. by which it was ordained No Man should be promoted to any Degree without taking an Oath to acknowledge the King's Supremacy c. And 3º 9º Jacobi primi it was enacted That the Oath of Allegiance should be taken and administred by the Vice-Chancellor and all the Principals of Houses and by every Person that should be promoted to any Degree for the preservation of the Doctrine of the Church of England and the King's Prerogative which Oaths the said Francis refused And they pleaded also That the admission to a Degree was not of Ecclesiastical but Temporal Cognizance And that by a Statute 16 Charles II. No Court should be erected having like Power Jurisdiction and Authority as the High Commission Court had but should be utterly void After some Debate the Chancellor pronounced the Vice-Chancellor deprived of his Office and suspended ab Officio Beneficio of his Headship of Magdalen Colledge and forbid him to meddle with any publick business in the University This is another instance of the King 's good will to the Church of England and his unalterable observing his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience And now the other Sister the University of Oxford must partake of the same favour where Dr. Walker a professed Papist is made Head of University Colledge and one Massey a Popish Proselite Dean of Christ-Church and Dr. Clerk President of Magdalen Colledge being dead one Mr. Farmer procured the King's Mandate to succeed him against whom they petitioned his Majesty as being a scandalous person and not qualified as their Statutes required and they proceeded in a regular way to Elect Dr. Hough their President who being presented to their Visitor was sworn and admitted but being told of the King's displeasure they complained of their Unhappiness to the Duke of Ormond their Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor that they were reduced to a necessity either of disobeying the King or wronging their Consciences And that after his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience but Gallio cared for none of these things the Commissioners cite the Fellows or their Delegates to appear before them Their Delegates were Dr. Aldworth Dr. Fairfax Dr. Smith Mr. Hammond Mr. Dobson and Mr. Fairer who gave in their Plea to this effect That they were bound by their Oaths not to admit any to that Office but such as were Fellows of that or New-Colledge which Mr. Farmer was not That they were not to admit any but such did first swear to observe the Statutes of the Colledge That they were sworn not to admit any Dispensations by any Authority whatsoever and that they had Elected Dr. Hough who was qualified as the Statutes required Mr. Farmer on proofs of his Incapacity was laid aside and another Mandate sent for admission of the Bishop of Oxford And shortly after the King coming to Oxford ordered the Fellows to attend him at Christ-Church and then told them He had known them to be a stubborn and turbulent Colledge for Twenty Six Years taxed them with their Church of England Loyalty and bid them go home and know that he was their King and would be obeyed and such as refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford should feel the weight of his Displeasure But without dread of these Menaces and the intended Persecution they persisted to refuse the Bishop of Oxon against whom they had the like Objections as against Mr. Farmer the Bishop having Judas-like betrayed his Master that had preferred him to that Honour which he resolv'd to rise to viz. a Coach and Six Horses which was the Religion he resolv'd to adhere to but for these causes they were all expelled and made uncapable of any Preferment and all to make way for a Seminary of Papists For these breaches being made in the Walls and Towers of our Sion and there being an Army of Locusts in the Land which waited an opportunity to storm kill and take possession there being at the same time a Nuntio from Rome who was publickly feasted at the Guild-Hall London and an Ambassador at Rome a numerous Spawn of Jesuits and Fryars who were seen in their several Habits Schools Publick Houses appointed for them and Four Bishops appointed to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ireland being secured in the hands of Papists Scotland over-awed by an Army and the Fleet and Tower of London in confiding hands the Popish Lords being the Cabinet Council and Peters the Jesuit chief Minister of State. What could be expected but a total overthrow of the Church and that the King's Age and Infirmities being considered that they should with all violence push on for our Destruction But God infatuated the Counsels of all these Achitophels and what they designed for our Ruine was by his gracious and wise Providence turned to our preservation For whereas the King to secure the Popish Interest and to establish his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience to which the Prince and Princess of Orange could by