put the Nation on an Enquiry that nothing but necessity will drive them to For a Nation may be laid asleep and be a little cheated but when it is awakened and sees its danger it will not look on and see a Rape made on its Religion and Liberties without examining From whence have these Men this Authority They will hardly find that it is of Men and they will not believe that it is of God. But it is to be hoped that there will be no occasion given for this angry Question which is much easier made than answered VII If all that were now asked in favour of Popery were only some Gentleness towards the Papists there were some reason to entertain the Debate when the Demand were a little more modest If Men were to be attainted of Treason for being reconciled to the Church of Rome or for reconciling others to it If Priests were demanded to be hanged for taking Orders in the Church of Rome and if the two thirds of the Papists Estates were offered to be levied it were a very natural thing to see them uneasie and restless but now the matter is more barefaced they are not contented to live at ease and enjoy their Estates but they must carry all before them and F. Petre cannot be at quiet unless he makes as great a Figure in our Court as Pere de la Chaise does at Versailles A Cessation of all Severities against them is that to which the Nation would more easily submit but it is their Behaviour that must create them the continuance of the like Compassion in another Reign If a restless and a persecuting Spirit were not inherent in that Order that has now the Ascendant they would have behaved themselves so decently under their present Advantages as to have made our Divines that have charged them so heavily look a little out of countenance and this would have wrought more on the good Nature of the Nation and the Princely Nobleness of the Successors whom we have in view than those Arts of Craft and Violence to which we see their Tempers carry them even so early before it is yet time to shew themselves The Temper of the English Nation the Heroical Vertues of those whom we have in our Eyes but above all our most holy Religion which instead of Revenge and Cruelty inspires us with Charity and Mercy even for Enemies are all such things as may take from the Gentlemen of that Religion all sad Apprehensions unless they raise a Storm against themselves and provoke the Justice of the Nation to such a degree that the Successors may find it necessary to be just even when their own Inclinations would rather carry them to shew Mercy In short they need fear nothing but what they create to themselves so that all this stir that they keep for their own Safety looks too like the securing to themselves Pardons for the Crimes that they intend to commit VIII I know it is objected as no small Prejudice against these Laws That the very making of them discovered a particular Malignity against His Majesty and therefore it is ill Manners to speak for them The first had perhaps an Eye at his being then Admiral and the last was possibly levelled at him tho' when that was discovered he was excepted out of it by a special Proviso And as for that which past in 73 I hope it is not forgot that it was enacted by that Loyal Parliament that had setled both the Prerogative of the Crown and the Rites of the Church and that had given the King more Money than all the Parliaments of England had ever done in all former Times A Parliament that had indeed some Disputes with the King but upon the first Step that he made with relation to Religion or Safety they shewed how ready they were to forget all that was past as appeared by their Behaviour after the Triple Alliance And in 73 tho' they had great cause given them to dislike the Dutch War especially the strange beginning of it upon the Smyrna Fleet and the stopping the Exchequer the Declaration for Toleration and the Writs for the Members of the House were Matters of hard Digestion yet no sooner did the King give them this new Assurance for their Religion then tho' they had very great Reasons given them to be jealous of the War yet since the King was engaged they gave him 1200000 Pounds for carrying it on and they thought they had no ill Peniworths for their Money when they carried home with them to their Countries this new Security for their Religion which we are desired now to throw up and which the Reverend Judges have already thrown out as a Law out of date If this had carried in it any new piece of Severity their Complaints might be just but they are extream tender if they are so uneasie under a Law that only gives them Leisure and Opportunities to live at home And the last Test which was intended only for shutting them out from a share in the Legislative Body appears to be so just that one is rather amased to find that it was so long a doing than that it was done at last and since it is done it is a great presumption on our Understandings to think that we should be willing to part with it If it was not sooner done it was because there was not such cause given for Jealousie to work upon but what has appeared since that time and what has been printed in his late Majesty's Name shews the World now that the Jealousies which occasioned those Laws were not so ill grounded as some well-meaning Men perhaps then believed them to be But there are some Times in which all Mens Eyes come to be opened IX I am told some think it is very indecent to have a Test for our Parliaments in which the King's Religion is accused of Idolatry but if this Reason is good in this Particular it will be full as good against several of the Articles of our Church and many of the Homilies If the Church and Religion of this Nation is so formed by Law that the King's Religion is declared over and over again to be Idolatrous what help is there for it It is no other than it was when His Majesty was Crowned and Swore to maintain our Laws I hope none will be wanting in all possible Respect to His Sacred Person and as we ought to be infinitely sorry to find him engaged in a Religion which we must believe Idolatrous so we are far from the ill Manners of reflecting on his Person or calling him an Idolater for as every Man that reports a Lie is not for that to be called a Liar so tho' the ordering the Intention and the prejudice of a Mispersuasion are such Abatements that we will not rashly take on us to call every Man of the Church of Rome an Idolater yet on the other hand we can never lay down our Charge against the Church
Author and some others have often given it out as if I had Betrayed a Master and I may expect the next time that they will say that I Murdered my Father for the one is as true as the other I never had a Master but the King for the whole course of my Life raised me above the serving of any Subject A design proposed to me by one that is now Dead and therefore shall not be named by me of bringing in an Army out of Scotland for the Spoiling and Subduing of England gave me a just horror at the Proposition and I did all I could to withstand it The same great Person did quickly take up such a Jealousy of me that he did all he could to ruin me tho His present Majesty who had then the Goodness for me to endeavour to Pacify him owned to me that he could see nothing in his hatred of me but a violent Passion Yet he was resolved to throw me in a Prison where very probably I had languished away the rest of my Life if the King that now is had not been so gracious to me as to warn me of my Danger which made me leave Scotland and after I had suffered near two years all that Wrath armed with Power could do to me at last while I was under one of the sharp effects of that great Minister's anger I told a Person of Honour that which I believed was one of the grounds of it The Gentleman set this so about that as he himself was a Member of the House of Commons so it was known to a great many others upon which I was sent for by the House I declined for four several times to say what had been proposed to me and at last being threatned to be prosecuted by the House of Commons as an Enemy to the Nation I was thus unwillingly brought to own it But that Great Man fell no sooner under an Eclipse of Favour then tho I had felt the weight of his Credit for seven years together I made not only all the steps necessary for a Reconciliation but I engaged some then in Favour so far into his Interests that he expressed a very thankful acknowledgment of it and a perfect Reconciliation with me Tho upon some Reasons of his own our Meeting was not thought convenient and his own Nephew who being now of the Roman Communion is a Witness to whom I may the more freely appeal brought me very kind Messages from him and signified them to me after his Death As for all the other things that can be objected to me I pass them over as things which can very little hurt me The Author it seems pities Varillas's defeated Condition who as my Friends from Paris write to me does not so much as pretend to justify himself of all those gross Errors of which I have discovered him Guilty but says he has received an Order from the King to insist no more in the Dispute in which he and I were engaged Our Author will be a very fit Person to succeed to that Despicable Writer who fancies that I contradict my self in setting forth Q. Maries Clemency in one place and yet shewing in another how Unmerciful she shewed her self towards those that were condemned of Heresy The best Natures in the World can be corrupted by a false Religion and they being once possessed with cruel Principles the more Pious they are they will be the more true to the Doctrines of their Church and by consequence they will execute all its severe Decrees with an unrelenting Rigour And we have clear Instances of this in the Age in which we live of Princes whose Inclinations to Clemency are as well known as the Severities to which the Credit of the Society has carried them are Deplorable There is another spiteful Insinuation with which I shall conclude my Apology This Author finding that the Matters of State of which he had accused me were not like to Blemish me much resolved to try what he could do in a Subject of another Nature which was indeed above him for tho it seems he is entertained to Scribble upon the Politicks yet the matters of Divinity probably do not lie within his Province but it seems he thought that any thing was to be ventured on that might Defame me He represents me as an Enemy to the Divinity of Jesus Christ because of the various readings of a verse in St. John's Epistle that I gave from some Ancient Manuscripts which I saw in my Travels And these men who have of late studied to make all the World either Deists or Socinians if they cannot make them Papists by representing that unless we believe the Infallibility of the Church we cannot upon good grounds believe either the Christian Religion or the Mysteries of it and this with so much Heat and Industry as if their design were to have us to be any thing rather than Protestants yet will accuse some of our Church of those Doctrines against which we have writ with greater force than any of our Calumniators For we have Accusers of the other side too All the Fathers that writ against the Arians believed those Mysteries tho they never cited that Passage from which it was reasonable to conclude that it was not in their Bibles otherwise it is not to be imagined that such Men as St. Athanase and St. Austin should not have mentioned it now the many other places of Scripture that determine me to believe the Divinity of the Saviour of the World are so clear that I believe it equally well whether this passage be acknowledged to be genuine or not But having for some years taken pleasure to compare Manuscripts those of the Holy Scriptures were naturally the most looked into by me and since a Man that has but a transcient View of M. SS cannot stay to examine them in many Passages that Passage being the most Important of all that are controverted I turned always to it and have given the account of what I saw sincerely both for it and against it For I have learned from Job not to lye for God since truth needs no support from falshood And I may well forgive those of a Church who have built so much upon Forgeries and Counterfeit Pieces to be angry with me for giving so sincere an account as I did of a Matter of Fact. But that Divine Saviour whom I adore daily as God equal with the Father knows the Injustice that is done me in this as well as in the other false Accusations with which my Enemies study to blacken me I can assure them that I have that Detestation of all Idolatry and of theirs in particular that I should never adore him as I do if I did not think him to be by Nature God over all blessed for ever And now to conclude if Men will not receive this Vindication of my self with the Justice that is due to me I humbly commit my Cause to him who judges righteously who
the Declaration it self pag. 9. for our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a paragraph as was formally marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Gentry that Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the School-men and Metaphysitians and that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the Rules of Honour and the Laws of their Countrey the Practice of Martial Discipline and the Examples of Great Men in former Ages and by them to square their Actions in their respective Stations and the like But sure the Bishop is here without his Fiocco yet at least for Decency's sake he should have named Religion and Virtue among the proper Studies of the Gentry and if he dares not trust them with the reading the Scriptures yet at least they might read the Articles of our Church and hearken to the Homilies for tho it has been long one of the first Maxims that he has infused into all the Clergy that come near him that the People ought to be brought into an ignorance in matters of Religion that Preaching ought to be laid aside for a Preaching Church could not stand that in Sermons no points of Doctrine ought to be explained and that only the Rules of Human Life ought to be told the People yet after all they may read the short Articles and tho they were as blindly Implicit as he would wish them to be yet they would without more Enquiry find Transubstantiation to be condemned in them Next he Triumphs over the renouncing of it pag. 11. as too bold and too prophane an Affront to Almighty God when men Abjure a thing which it is morally impossible for them to understand And he appeals to the Members of both Houses whom in a fit of Respect he calls Honourable after he had Reproach'd them all he could if they have any distinct Idea or Notion in their minds of the thing they here so Solemnly Renounce I do verily believe none of them have any distinct Notion of Transubstantiation and that it is not only Morally but Physically impossible for them to understand it But one would think that this is enough for declaring that they do not Believe it since the TEST contains no declaration concerning Transubstantiation it self whether it is a True or a False Doctrine but only concerning the Belief of him that takes it And if one can have no distinct Notion of it so that it is morally impossible for him to understand it he may very well declare That he does not believe it After a Farce of a slight Story he concludes that there seems to be nothing but a Prophane Levity in the whole matter and a shameless abuse put upon God and Religion to carry on the Wicked Designs of a Rebel-Faction For he cannot for his heart abate an ace of his Insolence even when he makes the King Lords and Commons the subject of his Scorn Certainly whatever his Character is it ought not to be expected that a man who attacks all that is Sacred under God and Christ should not be treated as he deserves it were a feeble weakness to have so great a regard to a Character that is so prostituted by him He tells us pag 47. That all parties agree in the thing and that they differ only in the word and manner and here he makes a long excursion to shew his Learning in tacking a great many things together which passes with Ignorant Readers as a mark of his great Reading whereas in this as well as in all his other Books in which any shews of Learning appear those who have searched into the Fountains see that he does nothing but gather from the Collection of others only he spoils them with the Levities of his Buffoon Stilo and which is worse with his Dis-ingenuity I leave all these matters to be examined by those who have leisure for it and that think him worth their pains But as for Transubstantiation the words that I have cited from out of our Articles shew plainly that it is rejected in our Church so that he is bound either to renounce it or to renounce our Church therefore all that shew he makes with our History comes to nothing since whatever he may say with relation to Edward the Sixth's Reign it cannot be denied but they were Enacted by the Convocation in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and they have been ever since the Doctrine of our Church so that without going further this is now our Doctrine and since Sa. Oxon carries the Authority of the Convocation so high he will find the Original Record of these Articles in Corpus-Christi Colledg in Cambridge subscribed by the Members of both Houses in which there is a much more Positive Decision than is in the Prints not only against Transubstantiation but against any Corporal or Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament And if he will give himself scope to rail at those who suppressed this I leave him to his Liberty But here is the formal decision of this Church and the pretending that there was no Evidence of Cranmer's Opinion but in an unknown Manuscript or a Famous Invisible Manuscript p. 49 47. when there are two Books writ on this matter by Cranmer himself and when all the Disputes in Queen Mary's time besides those that were both in Oxford and Cambridge in King Edward's time shew so clearly That this was his Doctrine is a strain becoming his Sincerity that gives this among many other Essays of the Trust that is due to him But it seems he thought that Dr. Tillotson Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Burnet besides some others whom he does not Name had not Reputation enough in the World and therefore he intended to raise it by using them ill which is all the effect that his Malice can have He had set on one of his poor underworkmen some years ago to decry the Manuscript which Dr. Stillingfleet had in his keeping for above Twenty Years and which Dr. Burnet had in his Hands for many months and which they shewed to as many as desired to see it but that had turned so much to his Shame that first vented the Calumny that it seems he summoned Sa. Oxon to appear his second in the Slander and he whose Brow is of so peculiar a Composition will needs bring it here tho ever so impertinently But I forgive the Hatred that he bears both to that Manuscript and to those Doctors since nothing could be less to the satisfacton of those for whom he published his Book than to see the Mature and Regular Methods in which the Reformation
to some Words in the Proclamation that it was thought necessary to set them near one another that the Reader may be able to judge whether he is deceived by any false Quotations or not BY THE KING A PROCLAMATION JAMES R. JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and sundry our good Subjects whom these Presents do or may concern Greeting We having taken into Our Royal Consideration the many and great Inconveniencies which have hapned to that Our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland of late Years through the different Persuasions in the Christian Religion and the great Heats and Animosities amongst the several Professors thereof to the ruine and decay of Trade wasting of Lands extinguishing of Charity contempt of the Royal Power and converting of true Religion and the Fear of GOD into Animosities Names Factions and sometimes into Sacriledge and Treason And being resolved as much as in us lies to unite the Hearts and Affections of Our Subjects to GOD in Religion to Us in Loyalty and to their Neighbours in Christian Love and Charity Have therefore thought fit to Grant and by Our Sovereign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all Our Subjects are to obey without Reserve do hereby give and grant Our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named with and under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations after mentioned In the first place We allow and tolerate the Moderate Presbyterians to Meet in their Private Houses and there to hear all such Ministers as either have or are willing to accept of Our Indulgence allanerly and none other and that there be not any thing said or done contrary to the Well and Peace of Our Reign Seditious or Treasonable under the highest Pains these Crimes will import nor are they to presume to Build Meeting Houses or to use Out-Houses or Barns but only to exercise in their Private Houses as said is In the mean time it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure that Field-Conventicles and such as Preach or Exercise at them or who shall any ways assist or connive at them shall be prosecuted according to the utmost Severity of our Laws made against them seeing from these Rendezvouses of Rebellion so much Disorder hath proceeded and so much Disturbance to the Government and for which after this Our Royal Indulgence for Tender Consciences there is no Excuse left In like manner We do hereby tolerate Quakers to meet and exercise in their Form in any Place or Places appointed for their Worship And considering the Severe and Cruel Laws made against Roman Catholicks therein called Papists in the Minority of Our Royal Grandfather of Glorious Memory without His Consent ☜ and contrary to the Duty of good Subjects by His Regents and other Enemies to their Lawful Sovereign Our Royal Great Grandmother Queen Mary of Blessed and Pious Memory wherein under the pretence of Religion they cloathed the worst of Treasons Factions and Usurpations and made these Laws not as against the Enemies of GOD but their own which Laws have still been continued of course without design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only on Supposition that the Papists relying on an External Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their Natural Soveraigns and Rightful Monarchs We of Our certain Knowledge and long Experience knowing that the Catholicks as it is their Principle to be Good Christians so it is to be Dutiful Subjects and that they have likewise on all occasions shewn themselves Good and faithful Subjects to Us and Our Royal Predecessors by hazarding and many of them actually losing their Lives and Fortunes in their defence though of another Religion and the Maintenance of their Authority against the Violences and Treasons of the most violent Abettors of these Laws Do therefore with Advice and Consent of Our Privy Council by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power aforesaid suspend stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament Customs or Constitutions made or executed against any of our Roman-Catholick Subjects in any time past to all Intents and Purposes making void all Prohibitions therein mentioned Pains or Penalties therein ordained to be inflicted so that they shall in all things be as free in all Respects as any of Our Protestant Subjects whatsoever not only to exercise their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which we shall think fit to bestow upon them in all time coming Nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure and we do hereby command all Catholicks at their highest pains only to exercise their Religious Worship in Houses or Chappels and that they presume not to Preach in the open Fields or to invade the Protestant Churches by force under the pains aforesaid to be inflicted upon the Offenders respectively nor shall they presume to make Publick Processions in the High-streets of any of Our Royal Burghs under the Pains above-mentioned And whereas the Obedience and Service of Our Good Subjects is due to Us by their Allegiance and Our Soveraignty and that no Law Custom or Constitution Difference in Religion or other Impediment whatsoever can exempt or discharge the Subjects from their Native Obligations and Duty to the Crown or hinder Us from Protecting and Employing them according to their several Capacities and Our Royal Pleasure nor Restrain Us from Conferring Heretable Rights and Priviledges upon them or vacuate or annul these Rights Heretable when they are made or conferred And likewise considering that some Oaths are capable of being wrested by Men of sinistrous Intentions a practice in that Kingdom fatal to Religion as it was to Loyalty Do therefore with Advice and Consent aforesaid cass annull and Discharge all Oaths whatsoever by which any of Our Subjects are incapacitated or disabled from holding Places or Offices in Our said Kingdom or enjoying their Hereditary Rights and Priviledges discharging the same to be taken or given in any time coming without our special Warrant and Consent under the pains due to the Contempt of Our Royal Commands and Authority And to this effect we do by Our Royal Authority aforesaid stop disable and dispense with all Laws enjoyning the said Oaths Tests or any of them particuarly the first Act of the first Session of the first Parliament of King Charles the Second the eleventh Act of the foresaid Session of the foresaid Parliament the sixth Act of the third Parliament of the said King Charles the twenty first and twenty fifth Acts of that Parliament and the thirteenth Act of the first Session of Our late Parliament ☜ in so far allanerly as concerns the taking the Oaths or Tests therein prescribed and all others as well not mentioned as mentioned and that in place of them all Our good Subjects or such of them as We or Our Privy Council shall require so to do shall take and swear the following Oath allanerly
high had more Heat than Decency in it And indeed all this was so very extraordinary that if She was not acted by a Principle of Conscience She could make no Excuse for her Conduct There appeared such peculiar Marks of Affection and Heartiness at every time that the Duke was named whether in drinking his Health or upon graver Occasions that it seemed affected And when the late King himself whose Word they took that he was a Protestant was spoke of but coldly the very Name of the Duke set her Children all on fire this made many conclude that they were ready to sacrifice all to him for indeed their Behaviour was inflamed with so much Heat that the greater part of the Nation believed they waited for a fit opportunity to declare themselves Faith in Jesus Christ was not a more frequent Subject of the Sermons of many than Loyalty and the Right of the Succession to the Crown the Heat that appeared in the Pulpit and the Learning that was in their Books on these Subjects and the Eloquent Strains that were in their Addresses were all Originals and made the World conclude That whatever might be laid to their charge they should never be accused of any want of Loyalty at least in this King's time while the remembrance of so signal a Service was so fresh When His Majesty came to the Crown these men did so entirely depend on the Promise that he made to maintain the Church of England that the doubting of the performance appeared to them the worst sort of Infidelity They believed that in His Majesty the Hero and the King would be too strong for the Papist and when any one told them How weak a tie the Faith of a Catholick to Hereticks must needs be they could not hearken to this with any patience but looked on his Majesties Promise as a thing so Sacred that they imploy'd their Interest to carry all Elections of Parliament-men for those that were recommended by the Court with so much Vigour that it laid them open to much Censure In Parliament they moved for no Laws to secure their Religion but assuring themselves that Honour was the King's Idol they laid hold on it and fancied that a publick reliance on his Word would give them an Interest in His Majesty that was Generous and more sutable to the Nobleness of a Princely Nature than any new Laws could be so that they acquiesced in it and gave the King a vast Revenue for life In the Rebellion that followed they shewed with what Zeal they adhered to His Majesty even against a Pretender that declared for them And in the Session of Parliament which came after that they shewed their disposition to assist the King with new Supplies and were willing to excuse and indemnifie all that was past only they desired with all possible Modesty that the Laws which His Majesty had both Promised and at his Coronation had Sworn to maintain might be executed Here is their Crime which has raised all this Out cry they did not move for the Execution of Severe or Penal Laws but were willing to let those sleep till it might appear by the behaviour of the Papists whether they might deserve that there should be any Mitigation made of them in their Favour Since that time our Church men have been constant in mixing their Zeal for their Religion against Popery with a Zeal for Loyalty against Rebellion because they think these two are very well consistent one with another It is true they have generally expressed an unwillingness to part with the two Tests because they have no mind to trust the keeping of their Throats to those who they believe will cut them And they have seen nothing in the Conduct of the Papists either within or without the Kingdom to make them grow weary of the Laws for their sakes and the same Principle of common Sense which makes it so hard for them to believe Transubstantiation makes them conclude That the Author of this Paper and his Friends are no other than what they hear and see and know them to be II. One Instance in which the Church of England shewed her Submission to the Court was that as soon as the Nonconformists had drawn a new Storm upon themselves by their medling in the matter of the Exclusion many of her zealous Members went into that Prosecution of them which the Court set on foot with more Heat than was perhaps either justifiable in it self or reasonable in those Circumstances but how censurable soever some angry men may be it is somewhat strange to see those of the Church of Rome blame us for it which has decreed such unrelenting Severities against all that differ from her and has enacted that not only in Parliaments but even in General Councils It must needs sound odly to hear the Sons of a Church that must destroy all others as soon as it can compass it yet complain of the Excesses of Fines and Imprisonments that have been of late among us But if this Reproach seems a little strange when it is in the Mouth of a Papist it is yet much more provoking when it comes from any of the Court. Were not all the Orders for the late Severity sent from thence Did not the Judges in every Circuit and the Favourite Justices of Peace in every Sessions imploy all their Eloquence on this Subject The Directions that were given to the Justices and the Grand Juries were all repeated Aggravations of this Matter and a little Ordinary Lawyer without any other visible Merit but an outragious Fury in those Matters on which he has chiefly valued himself was of a sudden taken into His Majesties special Favour and raised up to the Highest Posts of the Law. All these things led some of our Obedient Clergy to look on it as a piece of their Duty to the King to encourage that Severity of which the Court seemed so fond that almost all People thought they had set it up for a Maxim from which they would never depart I will not pretend to excuse all that has been done of late years but it is certain that the most crying Severities have been acted by Persons that were raised up to be Judges and Magistrates for that very end they were Instructed Trusted and Rewarded for it both in the last and under the present Reign Church Preferments were distributed rather as Recompences of this devouring Zeal than of a real Merit and men of more moderate Tempers were not only ill lookt at but ill used So that it is in it self very unreasonable to throw the load of the late Rigour on the Church of England without distinction but it is worse than in good manners it is fit to call it if this Reproach comes from the Court. And it is somewhat unbecoming to see that which was set on at one time disowned at another while yet he that was the Chief Instrument in it is still in so high a Post and begins
Transubstantiation in spite of the Evidence of Sense to the contrary yet those that feel themselves at ease will hardly be brought to think that they are persecuted because they are told so in an ill-writ Pamphlet And for their Rebellion the Prince that is only concerned in that finds them now to be his best Allies and chief Supports as his Predecessors acknowledged them a Free State almost an Age ago And it being confessed by the Historians of all sides That there was an express Proviso in the Constitution of their Government That if their Prince broke such and such Limits they were no more bound to obey him but might resist him and it being no less certain that King Philip the Second authorised the the Duke of Alva to seise upon all their Priviledges their resisting him and maintaining their Priviledges was without all Dispute a justifiabble Action and was so esteemed by all the States of Europe and in particular here in England as appears by the Preambles of several Acts of Subsidy that were given the Queen in order to the assisting the States and as for their not dealing fairly with Princes when our Author can find such an Instance in their History as our Attempt upon their Smyrna Fleet was he may employ his Eloquence in setting it out and if notwithstanding all the Failures that they have felt from others they have still maintained the Publick Faith our Author's Rhetorick will hardly blemish them The Peace of Nimmegen and the abandoning of Luxemburgh are perhaps the single Instances in their History that need to be a little excused But as the vast Expence of the late War brought them into a Necessity that either knows no Law or at least will hearken to none so we who forced them to both and first sold the Triple Alliance and then let go Luxemburgh do with a very ill grace reproach the Dutch for these unhappy steps to which our Conduct drove them VIII If a strain of pert bolness runs thro this whole Pamphlet it appears no where more eminently than in the Reflections the Author makes on Mr. Fagel's Letter He calls it pag. 62. a pretended Piece and a Presumption not to be soon pardoned in prefixing to a surreptitious and unauthorised Pamphlet the Reverend Name of the Princess of Orange which in another place Page 72. he had reason to imagine was but a Counterfeit Coin and that those Venerable Characters were but politically feigned and a Sacred Title given to it without their Authority All this coming out with so solemn a License has made me take some pains to be rightly informed in this matter those whom I consulted tell me they have discoursed the Pensioner himself on this Subject who will very shortly take a sure Method to clear himself of those Imputations and to do that right to the Prince and Princess as to shew the World that in this matter he acted only by their Order For as Mr. Stewart's Letter drew the Pensioner's Answer from him so this Paper licensed as it is will now draw from him a particular Recital of the whole Progress of this Matter Mr. Albeville knows that the Princess explained her self so fully to him in the Month of May and June 1687. upon the Repeal of the Test that he himself has acknowledged to several Persons that though both the Prince and Princess were very stiff in that matter yet of the two he found the Princess more inflexible Afterwards when Mr. Stewart by many repeated Letters pressed his Friend to renew his Importunities to the Pensioner for an Answer he having also said in his Letters That he writ by the King's Order and Direction Upon this the Pensioner having consulted the Prince and Princess drew his Letter first in Dutch and communicated it to them and it being approved by them he turned it into Latine but because it was to be shewed to the King he thought it was fit to get it to be put in English that so their Highnesses might see that Translation of his Letter which was to be offered to His Majesty and they having approved of it he sent it with his own in Latine and it was delivered to the King. This Account was given me by my Friend who added that it would appear e're long in a more Authentical manner And by this I suppose the Impudence of those men does sufficiently appear who have the Brow to pubtish such Stuff of the Falshood of which they themselves are well assured And therefore I may well conclude that my Lord President 's License was granted by him with that Carelessness with which most Books are read and licensed Our Author pretends that he cannot believe that this Letter could flow from a Princess of so sweet a Temper pag. 62. and yet others find so much of the Sweetness of her Temper in it that for that very reason they believe it the more easily to have come from her No Passion or indiscreet Zeal appears in it and it expresses such an extended Charity and Nobleness of Temper that these Characters shew it comes from one that has neither a narrowness of Soul nor a sourness of Spirit In short She proposes nothing in it but to preserve that Religion which she believes the true one and that being secured she is willing that all others enjoy all the Liberties of Subjects and the Freedoms of Christians Here is Sweetness of Temper and Christian Charity in their fullest extent The other Reason is so mysteriously expressed that I will not wrong our Author by putting it in any other words than his own pag. 62. She is certainly as little pleased to promote any thing to the Disturbance of a State to which she still seems so nearly related She seems still are two significant Words and not set here for nothing She seems in his Opinion only related to the Crown that is She is not really so but there is something that these Gentlemen have in reserve to blow up this seeming Relation And She seems still imports that though this apparent Relation is suffered to pass at present yet it must have its Period for this seems still can have no other meaning But in what does She promote the Disturbance of the State or Patronise the Opposers of her Parents as he says afterwards ibid. Did She officiously interpose in this matter or was not her Sense asked And when it was asked must She not give it according to her Conscience She is too perfect a Pattern in all other things not to know well how great a Respect and Submission She owes her Father but She is too good a Christian not to know that her Duty to God must go first And therefore in matters of Religion when Her Mind was asked She could not avoid the giving it according to her Conscience and all the invidious Expressions which he fastens on this Letter and which he makes so many Arguments to shew that it could not flow from Her are all the
the begetting of an understanding betwixt the King and the States and the Parliament will consent to the Liberty so much the rather that they have a Protestant Successor in prospect I cannot on these things make any Conclusion but simply leave them to your Reflection and the best use you please to make of them I will expect your Answer per first Windsor July 18. 1687. THE Hints that I gave you in my two former Letters I shall now explain more fully in this And therefore I heartily wish that the Prince and Princess may understand all that you think needful on this Subject it troubles his Majesty to find them so averse from approving this Liberty and concurring for its Establishment so that in truth I cannot see why their Highnesses should not embrace cheerfully so fair an Opportunity to gratify both his Majesty and the far greater and better part of the Nation Now upon the whole I expect that you will make all I have written fully known at the Hague especially with the Prince But the main thing I expect from you is to have your Mind whether or not his Highness may be so disposed as that a well chosen Informer sent to himself might perfect the work And this Answer I will expect per first where-ever the Prince be you know who are to be spoken and how I again entreat your Care and Dispatch in this with your Return London July 29. 1687. MIne of the 9 / 19 July with my last of the 26th July V. St. will I am sure satisfy you fully for therein I have indeed answered all can be objected and have given you such an Account of the Confirmation of all I have writ from his Majesty himself that I must think it a Fatality if your People remain obstinate And I again assure you if your People be obstinate it will be fatal to the poor Dissenters and I fear productive of Ills yet unheard of and therefore pray consider my Letters and let me know if there be any place to receive Information by a good hand but however let us endeavour Good all we can and I assure you I have my Warrant Haste your Answer Windsor Aug. 5. 1687. AND in a word believe me if the Prince will do what is desired it is the best Service to the Protestants the Highest Obligation on his Majesty and the greatest Advancement of his own Interest that he can think on but if not then all is contrary but pray haste an Answer Windsor Aug. 12. 1678. I Have yours of the 5 / 15 Instant long look'd for your Remark that you have received mine of the 26th of July but say nothing of that of the 19th which was my fullest and which I assure you was writ not only with permission but according to his Majesty 's Mind sufficiently expressed our Religion ought certainly to be dearer to us than all Earthly Concerns It is very true what you say that Mistakes about its Concerns especially in such a time may be of the greatest Importance which no doubt should perswade to a very scrupulous caution But yet I am satisfied that the simple representing of what was wrote to you which was all I required was no such difficult Task But to be plain with you as my Friend your return was not only long delay'd but I observe such a Coldness in it different from the strain of your former that I think I mistake not when I understand by your Letter more than you express I wish the P. may see or hear this from end to end London Aug. 22. 1687. I have yours of the 16th Instant When I said your last was more cool I meant not as to your Affection but as to your Diligence in that Affair for I am perswaded that the establishing of this Liberty by Law is not only the Interest of Protestant Dissenters above all others but that his Highness consenting to it would be its secure Guarantee both against Changes and Abuses As you love the quiet of good Men and me leave of Complements and Ceremonies and discourse his Highness of all I have written I am now hastning to Scotland but may return shortly for the King is most desirous to gain the Prince and he will be undoubtedly the best Guarantee to us of this Liberty and also to hinder all your Fears about Popery Newark Aug. 26. 1687. BUT now I must tell you that though I know to be my very good Friend yet he hath not answered my Expectation for you see that to seven of mine he gave me not one word of Answer although I told him that the Substance of them was writ by the King's Allowance and a Return expected by him besides the Answers he makes are either Generals or Complements whereas my desire was that the Prince should know things and that his Answer with his Reasons might be understood but my Friend has delayed and scruffed things From Scotland Septemb. 24. 1687. I Have yours of the 30th of August but have delayed so long to answer because I had written other Letters to you whereof I yet expect the Return my most humble Duty to my Friend at the Hague Edinburgh Octob. 8. 1687. AS for that more important Affair wherewith I have long troubled you I need add no more my Conscience bears me witness I have dealt sincerely for the freedom of Gospel I had certainly long ere now written to Pensioner Fagel were it not that I judged you were a better Interpreter of any thing I could say I know his real Concern for the Protestant Religion and shall never forget his undeserved Respects to me but alas that Providences should be so ill understood London Novemb. 8. 1687. I Have yours of the 1st of November the enclosed from the L. Pensionary surprize me with a Testimony of his Favour and Friendship and also of his sincere love to the Truth and fair and candid reasoning upon the present Subject of Liberty beyond what I can express he hath seriously done too much for me but the more he hath done in Compliance with my insignificant Endeavours the more do I judg and esteem his noble and zealous Concern for Religion and Peace which I am certain could only in this matter be his just Motive I hope you will testify to him my deep sense of his Favour and most serious profession of Duty with all diligence until I be in case to make his L. a direct return I shewed the Letter to my Lord Melfort who was satisfied with it London Novemb. 6. 1687. which it seems is by a Mistake of the Date I Have your last but have been so harrassed and toiled that I have not had time to write to you much less to my L. Pensionary yet since my last I acquainted the Earl of Sunderland with his Answer as the King ordered me but I see all hope from your side is given quite over and Men are become as cold in it here as you are positive there London
Lion and that is your very Image in all things What follows is too immodest to be translated Concerning the Interpretation of Laws and that they ought to be expounded not strictly by the Words or Cases put in them but by the Equity and Reason of them Cicero writes thus lib. 2. de Inventione Causae rationes afferentur quare quo consilio sit ita in lege ut sententia voluntate scriptoris non ipsa solum Scripturae causa confirmatum esse videatur Legis scriptorem certo ex ordine Judices certa aetate praeditos constituisse ut essent non qui scriptum suum recitarent quod quivis puer facere posset sed qui cogitationem assequi possent voluntatem interpretari Nullam rem neque legibus neque scriptura ulla denique ne in sermone quidem quotidiano atque imperiis domesticis rectè posse administrari si unusquisque velit verba spectare non ad voluntatem ejus qui verba habuerit accedere Judex is videtur legi obtemperare qui sententiam ejus non qui Scripturam sequatur Leges in consilio scriptoris utilitate communi non in verbis consistere Idcirco de hac re nihil esse scriptum quod cum de illa esset scriptum de hac is qui scribebat dubitaturum neminem judicabat Postea multis in legibus multa esse praeterita quae idcirco praeterita nemo arbitretur quod ex caeteris de quibus scriptum sit intelligi possint Let the Grounds and Reasons be shewed that it may appear upon what Design the Law was so and so made that so it may appear what is enacted not only from the Words of the Law but from the Will and Design of the Law-giver The Law-givers have ordained Judges to be chosen out of a certain Rank of Men and of a determined Age that so there might be Persons appointed who should not only repeat the Letter of the Law which any Child may do but should be able to find out the Design of the Law-giver and explain it according to his Will. If one will only have regard to the Words and not to the Mind of him that uttered them it will not be possible to order Matters aright neither by Law nor by any sort of Writing nor indeed by any sort of Discourse And this will appear in the whole Business of the World and even in Domestick Matters That Judg obeys the Law more who pursues the Design of it than he who has regard only to the Words of it Laws consist not in the Words in which they are conceived but in the Intent of the Makers of them and are to be explained by the Good of the Publick for which they are made Nothing is specified in the Law concerning such a Case because the Law-giver who mentioned another Case in the Law could not but conclude that the one being expressed no Body could doubt of the other For after all there are many Cases that seem to be omitted in many Laws which yet we ought not to think omitted because we may easily see what we ought to think of them from those Cases that are mentioned in the Law. The greatest part of his Oration for Caecina is to the same purpose and among many others these words are remarkable Cum voluntas consilium sententia interdicti intelligatur impudentiam summam aut stultitiam singularem putabimus in verborum errore versari rem causam utilitatem communem non relinquere folum sed etiam prodere Juris igitur retineri sententiam equitatem plurimum valere oportere an verbo ac litera jus omne torqueri vos statuite utrum utilius esse videatur When we once comprehend the Reasons the Design and the Intent of a Law it is either great Impudence or great Folly to let our selves be misled by any Ambiguity in the words for this is not only to forsake but to betray the true Ends of the Law and the Good of the Publick Do you therefore that are the Judges consider which is best Whether the Design of the Law ought to be observed and to be explained according to Equity or whether Justice it self ought to be perverted by adhering to the Words and Letter of the Law AN ENQUIRY Into the Measures of SUBMISSION TO THE SUPREAM AUTHORITY And of the Grounds upon which it may be lawful or necessary for Subjects to defend their Religion Lives and Liberties THis Enquiry cannot be regularly made but by taking in the first place a true and full view of the nature of Civil Society and more particularly of the nature of Supream Power whether it is lodged in one or more Persons I. It is certain That the Law of Nature has put no difference nor subordination among Men except it be that of Children to Parents or of Wives to their Husbands so that with Relation to the Law of Nature all Men are born free and this Liberty must still be supposed entire unless so far as it is limited by Contracts Provisions or Laws For a Man can either bind himself to be a Servant or sell himself to be a Slave by which he becomes in the power of another only so far as it was provided by the Contract since all that Liberty which was not expresly given away remains still entire so that the Plea for Liberty always proves it self unless it appears that it is given up or limited by any special Agreement II. It is no less certain that as the Light of Nature has planted in all Men a Natural Principle of the love of Life and of a desire to preserve it so the common Principles of all Religion agree in this that God having set us in this World we are bound to preserve that Being which he has given us by all just and lawful ways Now this Duty of Self-preservation is exerted in Instances of two sorts the one are in the resisting of violent Aggressors the other are the taking of just Revenges of those who have invaded us so secretly that we could not prevent them and so violently that we could not resist-them In which cases the Principle of self-Preservation warrants us both to recover what is our own with just Damages and also to put such unjust Persons out of a Capacity of doing the like Injuries any more either to our selves or to any others Now in these two Instances of Self-Preservation this difference is to be observed that the first cannot be limited by any slow Forms since a pressing Danger requires a vigorous Repulse and cannot admit of Delays whereas the second of taking Revenges or Reparations is not of such haste but that it may be brought under Rules and Forms III. The true and Original Notion of Civil Society and Government is that it is a Compromise made by such a Body of Men by which they resign up the Right of demanding Reparations either in the way of Justice against one another
Paganism had been still the Legal Religion notwithstanding its falshood and though the Truth of the Christian Religion is the only ground upon which we believe it yet it must become Legal as well as it is true before we can claim the Protection of the Law and the Government that has secured it to us so that to fight against Popery where that is the Establish'd Religion is as certainly a Sin as it is a Debt that we owe our Religion and Country to fight for the Protestant Religion when the Law is for it and illegal Violence is imployed to pull it down 6. The Reflector's Common-place-stuff with relation to the Dispensing Power has been so oft exposed that it scarce deserves a Review The Obligation of all Laws depends on the force of the Penalties against Trangressors so that the Dispensing with Penal Laws carries in it the Dispensing with all Laws whatsoever and by this Doctrine the whole Frame and Security of our Government is at the King's Discretion Nor will that distinction of malum in se and malum prohibitum save the matter unless all the World were agreed upon the point What things are evil of themselves and what not In the sense of a Papist all the Laws against their Religion are so far from being Obligatory of their own Nature that they are impious Attempts upon that Authority which they think infallible Therefore all the distinction that is offered to save us from the exorbitancy of this Dispensing Power as if it could not reach to things that are evil of themselves is of no force unless a measure were laid down in which both Protestants and Papists were agreed concerning things that are good or evil of themselves For instance Murther is allowed by all to be evil of it self yet if the Extirpation of Hereticks is a Duty incumbent on a Catholick King as we are sure it is then a Commission given to destroy us would be a justifiable Action and so the Laws against Murder and Manslaughter might in that case be dispensed with since the killing of Hereticks is by the Doctrine of Papists only Malum prohibitum and not malum in se 7. Our Author might have spar'd his Rhetorick how well soever he loads it upon the Head of Persecution and Liberty of Conscience if it had been but for this Reason that it discover'd too plainly who it was that wrote these Reflections which perhaps he may have e're long some Reasons to wish it were not so well known as he has taken pains to do by his luxuriant Stile All that can be said on this Head belongs very pertinently to the Consideration of a Parliament but is very improperly urged in favour of the bloodiest of all Persecutors who could not begin their breaking in upon our Laws and our Religion more dextrously than at this of Liberty of Conscience tho they themselves had been the Authors of all the Severities that had been acted among us and intended by this shew of Ease to bring us under all the Cruelties of an Inquisition which is one of the inseparable Perquisites of that bloody Religion 8. The greatest part of the Invasions made on our Government that are set forth in the Prince's Declaration are acknowledged to be such by our Reflector But he thinks they are now redressed The High Commission is at an end Magdalen Colledge is restor'd If the King had of his own motion and from a sense of the justice of the thing done all this while he apprehended no danger and if he had brought the Authors of those Pernicious Councils to condign Punishment then it had been more reasonable to value those Acts of Justice by which the former Violences had been in some measure repaired but what is done in the present Circumstances shews only a meanness of Spirit and a feebleness in the Government And some Mens Tempers are too well known to suffer us once to doubt of their returning back to all their former Violences and of their carrying them on to greater Excesses if God for the sins of the Nation should blast this Glorious Undertaking And if the Charters are now restor'd we know by the Proceedings of the late Regulators of Corporations that it was far from their thoughts but a little while ago so that this is likewise an effect of the present Fear they are under and it shews that after all their Huffings during their Prosperity they sink under Dangers as much as others whose Memory they are so careful to blemish how much soever they are beholden to them It is here said that most of the Charters were taken away in the late King's time But as it is well known under whose Influence the last years of the late Reign were conducted so the limiting the Elections to a speical number contrary to Custom and Prescription was the Invention of the present Reign 9. But if the Reflector will not justify every thing that the Government has done and thinks the present state of things could hardly bear so gross an Abuse yet he insists often upon this that these Illegal things were fit for the Consideration and the Redress of a Parliament and that they do not justify the Prince of Orange's Attempt But the Prince's Design is only to see a Free Parliament Chosen and Assembled according to Law. For our Author and his Complices for he reckons himself in the Ministry § 23. when he names the things objected against the Ministry as objected against us had taken such care to keep off a Parliament and to overturn all Corporations to corrupt all Elections and to provide for false Returns by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors that we were out of all hopes or rather out of a possibility of ever seeing a Free Parliament again so that any nearer Prospect that we now have of one is wholly owing to the Prince's Undertaking and indeed what is given us at present is done with so ill a Grace and the Popish and corrupt Ministry is still preserved and cherished with so particular a Confidence that they seem to have a mind to make the Nation see that all is done so grosly that those who are cheated by it will have no excuse for their Folly since the trick is acted with too bare a face to pass on any 10. The Reflector thinks that the Prince ought to have complained to the King of these Abuses though in other places of this Paper he pretends that the Prince was not a proper Judg in those Matters he aggravates the Prince's breaking with an Uncle and a Father-in-Law without warning given Indeed if this were the Case all that could be said upon it was that he had copied from the Pattern that was set him in 1672 in that famous Attempt on the Sinirna Fleet What Complaints the Prince made or what encouragement he had to make any and how they were entertain'd and answer'd are domestick matters of which the World knows little since all that has appear'd in publick was
in Mr. Fagel's Letter and how well that was received and how civilly it was answer'd all England saw It is true the Prince is very nearly related to the King but there are other Ties stronger than the Bonds of Flesh and Blood He owes more to the Protestant Religion and to the Nation than can be defaced by any other Relation whatsoever and if the faling in one Relation excuses the other then enough might be said to shew at what pains the Court of England has been to free the Prince from all other Engagements except those of Loving Enemies and doing good to those who despitefully use us for upon this account the Prince lies under all possible Obligations 11. The Reflector thinks that those who left Ireland were driven by a needless Fear but tho' he has no reason to apprehend much from the Irish Papists yet those who saw the last Bloody Massacre may be forgiven if they have no mind to see such another He faintly blames that great Change that was lately made in the whole Government of Ireland but he presently excuses it since it was natural for the King and his Friends to desire to be safe some where till they had fair Quarter in England they must make sure of Ireland but he adds that as soon as that was done the thing must have returned into its old Channel again This ought to be writ only to Irishmen for none of a higher size of Understanding can bear it if it can ever be shewed that Papists have yielded up any thing which they had once wrung out of the Hands of Protestants except when they were forced to it we may believe this and all the other gross things which are here imposed on us The plain Case was the Papists resolved to destroy us and to put themselves in case to do it as soon as was possible So they went about it immediately in Ireland only they have delay'd the giving the Signal for a new Massacre till Matters were ripe for it in England 12. The Reflector has reason to avoid the saying any thing to the Article of Scotland for even his Confidence could not support him in justifying the King's claiming an Absolute Power to which all are bound to obey without reserve and the Repealing of a great many Laws upon that Pretension this is too gross for Humane Nature and the Principles of all Religions whatsoever Our Author avoids speaking to it because he does not know the Extent of the Prerogative of that Crown But no Prerogative can go to an Obedience without Reserve nor can Absolute Power consist with any Legal Government 13. The Declaration had set forth that the Evil Counsellors had represented the Expedient offer'd by the Prince and Princess as offer'd on design to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom upon which the Reflector bestows this kind Remark on the Ministry And did they not say true as it happens Believe me some Folks think many of them are not often guilty of such forelight The Writer is angry that his Side is not uppermost and tho' he includes himself in the Ministry by saying Us when he speaks of them yet here tho' he was to censure the Party that is against him he distinguishes them by saying many of the Counsellors use not to have such foresight But perhaps they can object as much to his foresight and with as much reason But if the King comes up to Mr. Fagel's Letter why was it rejected with so much Scorn and answered with so much Insolence Now perhaps they would hearken to it when they have brought both themselves and the Nation to the brink of Ruin by their mad Councils But they ought to be forgiven since they have been true to the Principles and Dictates of their Religion 14. Our Reflector thinks a Free Parliament a Chimera and indeed he and his Friends have been at a great deal of pains to render it impossible But perhaps he may be quickly cured of his Error and a Free One is the sooner like to be chosen when he and such as he are set at a due distance from the Publick Councils If Members are sometimes chosen by Drinking and other Practices this is bad enough but still it is not so bad as the laying a Force upon the Electors and a Restraint upon the Election Nor is it very much to the King's Honour to remember how the last Parliament was chosen it was indeed a very disgusting Essay in the beginning of a Reign and gave a sad prospect of what might be look'd for but if one Violence was born with when the struggle of another Party seemed to excuse it this does not prove that a course of such Violences when the Design is become both more visible and less excusable ought to be endured If the Members of that Parliament proved Worthy Patriots I do not see why they ought not to be remembred with Honour tho' there is a great deal to be said upon their first elevation to that Character which they maintained indeed nobly so that if the first Conception of the Parliament was Irregular yet its End was Honourable since never a Parliament was dissolv'd upon a more Glorious Account 15. The Reflector sets up all his Sail when he enters upon the Article of the pretended Prince of Wales This was a Point by which he hoped to merit highly and upon that to gain ground on that Party of the Court on whom he had reflected with so much scorn Therefore here must the Prince be attack'd with all the malicious Force to which his Rhetorick could carry him and all those Men of Honour that went over to wait on him at the Hague and to represent to him the bleeding and desperate Condition of the Nation must be stigmatized as a lewd Crew of Renegadoes tho I must tell him that the common acceptation of Renegado is one that changes his Religion and by this he will find some near him to whom that Character belongs more justly He almost blames the King for the low Step he lately made to prove that Birth It was a low one indeed to make so much ado and to bring together such a Solemn Appearance to hear so slight a Proof produced which could have no other Effect but to make the Imposture so much the more visible when the utmost Attempts to support it appear to be now so feeble that as to the main Point of the Queen's bearing the Child there is not so much as a colour of a Proof produc'd And it is certain that if this had been a fair thing the Court would have so managed it that it should not have been in the Power of any Mortal to have called it in question And on the other hand they have so managed it that one must needs see in every step of it broad Marks of an Imposture It will not be half Proofs nor suborned Witnesses that will satisfy the Nation in so great a Point But I will
enter into no Particulars relating to this Business which will be better laid open when a Free Parliament meets to examine it 16. The Reflector charges upon the Prince all the Miseries that may follow on a War as an unsuitable return to the Kindness that the Nation has shewed him But if the Dissolution of the Government brought on by the Court has given a just Rise to his coming then the ill Effects that may fall out in the Progress of his Design are no more to be charged on him than the Miseries to which a severe Cure of the ill Effects of a wilful Disorder expose a Patient ought to be imputed to a Physician that betrays his Patient if he flatters him and that must apply violent Remedies to obstinate Distempers I do not hear from other Hands that the Lords and Bishops about the City have disowned their inviting the Prince and I do not believe it the better because the Author affirms it But if it were true there are others in England besides those about the City so the thing may be true though a few about the City had not been in it A small Civility is bestowed on the Prince when it is said that he would not have affirmed it if he did not believe it but this is soon taken off and it is said doubtless he was abused in this If this is to be supposed the Prince is as weak a Man as his Enemies for their own sakes ought to wish to be if he could suffer himself to be engaged in a matter of this nature without being well assured of the grounds he went on 17. What is said of the Prince's referring all matters to the determination of a Free Parliament is too flat to require an Answer This was a plausible thing and therefore it ought to have been either quite past over or somewhat of force ought to have been set against it This is not the referring of other peoples Rights to a Parliament but the leaving the healing of the Nation to those who are its proper Physicians And the taking a Cure out of the hands of the Court instead of that is like the renouncing a sure Method and a good Physician and the hearkening to the arrogant promises of a bold Mountebank The Prince has promised to send away his Army as soon as the state of the Nation will permit upon which the Reflector says that here is but a Foreigner's word against our own King's and he refers it to our Allegiance to judg which of the two we ought to trust But I cannot find out in what the Prince's promise contradicts any that the King has made for I do not hear that the King has promised that these Troops shall not return and unless that were the Case I cannot find out the Contradiction and after all if we must speak out there is some odds to be made between a Prince whose Religion as well as his Honour has ever determined him to keep all his Promises and another whose Religion has taught him so often to make bold with all his 18. The Prince's summoning the Nobility and Gentry as it is the usual stile of all Generals so it requires them only to appear and to act for their Country and their Religion and his promising to have a Parliament called in Scotland and Ireland imports no more but that he is come with a Resolution to have the Government setled on its true Basis and that he will see it done 19. The Reflector is in great wrath because the Prince has in his Additional Declaration shewed how little regard ought to be had to that imperfect Redress of Grievances that has been offered of late But it had been a concurring in the Cheat to suffer it to pass without laying it open When fair things are offered from Men to whom we ought to trust it is as seasonable to receive them as it is to reject all deceitful things when the Truth is apparent Therefore as the Prince had no reason to abandon the Cure of the Nation after the steps that he had made because of the endeavours of the Court to lay it asleep so he has so purged himself from the Imputations of designing a Conquest that all our Reflector's Malice cannot make them stick and all that Noble Company that came over with him and that have since come in to him are a proof of this beyond Exception Let all Men of Sense judg whether an Army composed of so many Irish Papists or another made up of so many Noblemen and Gentlemen of great Families and Estates are likeliest to set about the Conquering the Nation 20. He fancies that what the Prince gets by the Sword he will keep by the Sword And upon this he tells us that he said Once to the King that the bringing the Dutch Army to the Discipline in which it was had cost 1300 Lives Upon which he wishes those who value the Magna Charta and Trials by Juries to make some Reflections But since the Situation and Constitution of Holland makes an Army necessary to them and since they have provided by particular Laws that Marshal Discipline should be maintain'd by a Council of War nothing could have been contriv'd more for the Prince's Honour than to tell us that he has so ordered the Matter that the Army is become one of the most regular and inoffensive Bodies of Men that is in all Holland which this Nation sees now with no small astonishment to whom one Regiment of Irish has given more Fear and Disorder than this great Army has done to the places through which it has passed The Reflector tells us also as a very ridiculous thing that the Prince who has left the Dutch no Liberty at Home comes now to secure ours here And to make the Parallel compleat between the Prince and a near Relation of his he pretends that he broke his Oath to the States of Holland he having promised never to be Statholder though it should be offer'd him And to conclude all against him he says there is no more proportion between the Ancient Liberties of Holland and his present Government than there is between London and Brandford Here is the Force of all his Malice but we who have seen the State of Affairs in Holland and the Freedom of the Government there know that England can wish for no greater Happiness than that the Laws and Government here may be maintained as exactly here as they are there And the late Unanimous Concurrence of all the Provinces and of all the Negatives in every Province and not only of all the Members in every one of these Bodies but indeed of the whole People all over the Provinces Amsterdam it self leading the way to all the rest by which they gave their Fleet their Army and their Treasure so frankly up to the Prince was an Evidence of his good Government beyond all that can be set forth in words for real Arguments conclude always truly And
relate to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and the Doctrine of the Church of England as well as of the other Reformed Churches I have not loaded this Paper with Quotations because I intended to be short but I am ready to make good all the matters of fact asserted in it under the highest pains of Infamy if I fail in the performance and besides the more Voluminous works that have been writ on this subject such as Albertine's Claud's Answer to Mr. Arnaud and F. Nonet Larrogue's History of the Eucharist there have been so many learned Discourses written of late on this Subject and in particular two Answers to the Bishops Book that if it had not been thought expedient that I should have cast the whole matter into a short Paper I should not have judged it necessary to trouble the world with more Discourses on a subject that seems exhausted I will add no more but that by the next I will give another Paper of the same Bulk upon the Idolatry of the Church of Rome A Continuation of the Second Part of the ENQUIRY into the Reasons offered by Sa. Oxon for Abrogating the TEST Relating to the Idolatry of the Church of Rome THE words of the Test that belong to this Point are these The Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous Upon which our Author fastens this Censure That since by this the Church of Rome is charged with Idolatry which both forfeits Mens Lives here and their Salvation hereafter according to the express words of Scripture it is a damnable piece of Cruelty and Uncharitableness to load them with this Charge if they are not guilty of it and upon this he goes to clear them of it not only in the two Articles mentioned in the Test the Worship of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass but that his Apology might be compleat he takes in and indeed insists chiefly on the Worship of Images tho that is not at all mentioned in the Test He brings a great many Quotations out of the Old Testament to shew the Idolatry prohibited in it was the worshipping of the Sun Moon and Stars or the making an Image to resemble the Divine Essence upon which he produces also some other Authorities And in this consists the Substance of his Plea for the Church of Rome But upon all this he ought to have retracted both the License that himself gave some years ago to Dr. Stillingfleets Book Of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome and his own hasty Assertion in condemning both Turk and Papist as guilty of Idolatry the one for worshipping a leud Impostor and the other for worshipping a senseless piece of Matter Def. of his Eccl. Pol. p. 285 286 It seems he is now convinced that the latter part of this Charge that falls on Papists was as false as the former that falls on the Turks certianly is for they never worshipped Mahomet but hold him only in high Reverence as an extraordinary Prophet as the Jews do Moses It is very like that if the Turks had taken Vienna he would have retracted that as he has now in effect done the other for I believe he is in the same Disposition to reconcile himself to the Mufti and the Pope but the Ottoman Empire is now as low as Popery is high so he will brave the Turk still to his Teeth tho he did him wrong and will humble himself to the Papist tho he did him nothing but right but now I take leave of the Man and will confine my self severely to the matter that is before me And I. How guilty soever the Church of Rome is of Idolatry yet the Test does not plainly assert that for there is as great a difference between Idolatrous and Idolatry as there is in Law between what is Treasonable and what is Treason The one Imports only a worship that is conformable to Idolatry and that has a tendency to it whereas the other is the plain Sin it self there is also a great deal of difference between what is now used in that Church and the Explanations that some of their Doctors give of that usage We are to take the usage of the Church of Rome from her Publick Offices and her authorised Practices so that if these have a Conformity to Idolatry and a tendency to it then the words of the Test are justified what Sense soever some learned Men among them may put on these Offices and Practices therefore the Test may be well maintained even tho we should acknowledg that the Church of Rome was not guilty of Idolatry II. If Idolatry was a Crime punishable by Death under the Old Testament that does not at all concern us nor does the Charge of Idolatry authorise the People to kill all Idolaters unless our Author can prove that we believe our selves to be under all the Political and Judiciary Precepts of the Law of Moses and even among the Jews the Execution of that severe Law belonging either to the Magistrate or to some authorised and inspired Persona who as a Zealot might execute the Law when the Magistrate was wanting to his Duty So that this was writ invidiously only as it seems to inflame the Papists the more against us But the same Calvinist Prince that has expressed so just an Aversion to the repealing the Test has at the same time shewed so merciful an Inclination towards the Roman Catholicks that of all the Reproaches in the World one that intended to plead for that Religion ought to have avoided the mentioning of Blood or Cruelty with the greatest care III. It is true we cannot help believing that Idolatry is a damnable Sin that shuts Men out of the Kingdom of Heaven and if every Sin in which a Man dies without Repentance does it much more this which is one of the greatest of all Sins But yet after all there is Mercy for Sins of Ignorance upon Mens general Repentance and therefore since God alone knows the degrees of Mens Knowledg and of their Ignorance and how far it is either Affected on the one hand or Invincible on the other we do not take upon us to enter into Gods Secrets or to Judg of the Salvation or Damnation of particular Persons nor must we be byassed in our Enquiry into the nature of any Sin either by a fond regard to the State of our Ancestors or by the due respect that we owe to those who are over us in Civil Matters In this Case things are what God has declared them to be we can neither make them better nor worse than he has made them and we are only to Judg of things leaving Persons to the merciful as well as the just and dreadful Judgment of God. IV. All the stir that our Author keeps with the examining of the Idolatry committed by
the Jews under the Old Testament supposing it were all true will serve no more for acquitting the Church of Rome than a Plea would avail a Criminal who were arraigned of High Treason for Coyning Money or for Countefeiting the Kings Seal in which one should set forth that High Treason was the Murdering the King or the levying War against him and that therefore the Criminal who was guilty of neither of these two ought to be acquitted Idolatry as well as Treason is a comprehensive Notion and has many different Branches so that tho the worshipping the Host of Heaven or the worshipping an Image as a Resemblance of the Divinity may be acknowledged to be the highest degrees of Idolatry yet many other Corruptions in the worship of God are justly reducible to it and may be termed not only Idolatrous but Idolatry it self V. Our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount has shewed us how many sins are reducible to the Second Table of the Law besides those of Murder Adultery c. that are expresly named in it and tho the Jews in that time having delivered themselves entirely from the sin of Idolatry to which their Fathers were so prone gave him no occasion of commenting on the first and second Commandment yet by the parity of things we may conclude that many sins are reducible to them besides those that are expresly named And tho we have not so compleat a History of the Idolatry of the Neighbouring Nations to Judea before the Captivity yet we do certainly know what was the Idolatry of which the Greeks and Romans were guilty when the New Testament was writ And tho the greatest part of the New Testament is written chiefly with relation to the Jews whose freedom from Idolatry gave no occasion to treat of it yet in those few passages which relate to the Heathen Idolatry then on foot the holy Writers retain the same phrases and stile that were used in the Old Testament which gives us just reason to believe that the Idolatry was upon the matter and in its main strokes the same under both and if so then we have a door opened to us to discover all our Author 's false Reasonings and upon this discovery we shall find that all the Inspired Writers charged the Heathen Worship with Idolatry not so much with relation to the glosses that Philosophers and other political men might put on their Rites but with relation to the practice in it self VI. But since Idolatry is a sin against a moral and unchangeable Law let us state the True Notion of the right VVorship of God and by Consequence of Idolatry tho this is done with that exactness by the worthy Master of the Temple that it should make a man afraid to come after him Our Ideas of God and the homage of VVorship and Service that we offer up pursuant to these are not only to be considered as they are just thoughts of God and Acts suitable to those thoughts but as they are Ideas that tend both to elevate and purifie our own natures for the thoughts of God are the seeds of all Truth and Virtue in us which being deeply rooted in us make us become conformable to the Divine Nature So that the sin of Idolatry consists in this that our Ideas of God being corrupted he is either defrauded of that honour which tho due to him is transferred to another or is dishonoured by a worship that is unsuitable to his nature and we also by forming wrong Ideas of the object of our VVorship become corrupted by them Nothing raises the soul of Man more than sublime thoughts of God's Greatness and Glory and nothing perfects it more than just notions of his VVisdom and Goodness On the contrary nothing debases our natures more than the offering our VVorship and Service to a Being that is low and unworthy of it or the depressing the supream Being in our thoughts or worship to somewhat that is like our selves or perhaps worse Therefore the design of true Religion being the forming in us such notions as may exalt and sanctify our natures as well as the raising a Tribute to the Author of our being that is in some sort worthy of him the sin of Idolatry is upon this account chiefly forbidden in Scripture because it corrupts our Ideas of God and by a natural tendency this must likewise corrupt our natures when we either raise up an Idol so far in our thoughts as to fancy it a God or depress God so far as to make him an Idol for these two Species of Idolatry have both the same effect on us And as a wound in a Man's vitals is much more destructive than any how deep and dangerous soever that is in his limbs since it is possible for him to recover of the one but not of the other so Idolatry corrupts Religion in its source Thus Idolatry in its moral and unchangeable nature is the Honouring any Creature as a God or the Imagining that God is such a being as the other Creatures are and this had been a sin tho no Law against it had ever been given to mankind but the light and law of nature VII But after all this there are different degrees in this sin for the true notion of God being this that he comprehends all perfections in his essence the ascribing all these to a Creature is the highest degree of Idolatry but the ascribing any one of these Infinite perfections or which is all one with relation to our actions the doing any thing which Imports or is understood to Import it is likewise Idolatry tho of a lower degree of guilt so likewise the Imagining that the true God is no other than as an Idol represents him to be is the highest degree of the other species of Idolatry but the conceiving him as having a Body in which his Eternal mind dwells or fancying that any strange Virtue from him dwells in any Body to such a degree as to make that Body the proper object of Worship unless he has assured us that he is really united to that Body and dwells in it which was the case of the Cloud of Glory under the Old Testament and much more of the humane nature of Christ under the New this is likewise Idolatry For in all these it is plain that the true Ideas of God and the Principles of Religion are corrupted VIII There are two principles in the nature of man that make him very apt to fall into Idolatry either inward or outward The first is the weakness of most peoples minds which are so sunk into gross phantasms and sensible objects that they are scarce capable to raise their thoughts to pure and spiritual Ideas and therefore they are apt either to forget Religion quite or to entertain it by objects that are visible and sensible the other is that mens appetites and passions being for the most part too strong for them and these not being reconcilable to the true Ideas of a
pure and Spiritual Essence they are easily disposed to embrace such notions of God as may live more peaceably with their vices and so they hope by a profusion of expence and honour or of fury and rage which they Imploy in the Worship of an Imaginary Deity to purchase their pardons and to compensate for their other crimes if not to authorise them These two principles that are so rooted in our frail and corrupt natures being wrought on by the craft and authority of ambitions and covetous men who are never wanting in all Ages and Nations have brought forth all that Idolatry that has appeared in so many different shapes up and down the World and has been diversified according to the various tempers accidents and Constitutions of the several Nations and Ages of the World. IX I now come to examine the beginnings of Idolatry as they are represented to us in the Scripture in which it will appear that our Authors account of it shews him guilty either of great Ignorance or of that which is worse He pretends that the first plain Intimation that we have of it in Palestine is when Jacob after his conversation with the Schichemites commanded his family to put away their Strange Gods. VVhereas we have an earlier and more particular account of those Strange Gods in the same Book of Genesis Chap. 31. where when Jacob fled away from Laban it is said Vers 19. that Rachel stole her fathers Images or Teraphim and these are afterwards called by Laban his Gods vers 30. and these very Images are called by Joshua 24.2 Strange Gods So that the Strange Gods from which Jacob cleansed his family Gen. 35.2 were no other than the Teraphim and that in the Teraphim we are to seek for the true Original of Idolatry and for the sense of the phrase of other Gods or Strange Gods which is indeed the true key to this whole matter These were little statues such as the Dii lares or Penates were afterwards among the Romans or the Pagods now in the East in which it was believed that there was such a divine vertue shut up that the Idolaters expected protection from them And as people in all times are apt to trust to Charms so those who pretended to chain down the Divine Influences to those Images had here a great occasion given them to deceive the world of this sort was the Palladium of Troy and the Ancelle of Rome And this gave the rise to all the cheats of Telesmes and Talismans that came afterwards These were of different figures and since our Author confesses p. 124. that Cherubim and Teraphim are sometimes used promiscuously for one another it is probable that the figure of both was the same and since it is plain from Ezekiel that the Cherubim resembled a Calf Compare Ezek. 1.10 with chap. 10.14 where what is called in the first the face of an Ox is called in the other the face of a Cherub from hence it is probable that the Teraphim or at least some of them were of the same figure In these it was also believed that there were different degrees of Charms some were believed stronger than others So that probably Pharaoh thought that Moses and Aaron had a Teraphim of greater virtue than his Magicians had which is the clearest account that I know of his hardening his heart against so many Miracles and this also seems to be the first occasion of the phrase of the Gods of the several Nations and of some being stronger than other that is the Teraphim of the one were believed to have a higher degree of enchantment in them than the others had This then leads us to the right Notion of Aaron's Golden Calf and of the terms of graven or carved Images in the Second Commandment and even of the other Gods in the first Commandment for we have seen that both in the Stile of Moses and Joshua the Images were those Teraphim which they also called strange Gods. When the Israelites thought that Moses had forsaken them they came to Aaron desiring him to make them gods that is Teraphims yet they prescribed no form to him but left that wholly to him and so the dream of their fondness of the Egyptian Idolatry vanishes for it was Aarons choice that made it a Calf perhaps he had seen the Divine Glory as a Cloud between the Cherubims when he went up into the Mountain Exod. 24.9 10. For a Pattern being shewed to Moses of the Tabernacle that he was to make it is probable Aaron saw that likewise and this might dispose him to give them a Seraphim in that Figure this is also the most probable account both of the Calves of Dan and Bethel set up by Jeroboam and also of the Israelites worshipping the Ephod that Gideon made Judg. 8.27 of the Idolatry of Micah and the Danites who robbed him Judg. 17.18 and of the Israelites offering Incense to the Brazen Serpent 2 Kings 18.4 which seemed to have all the Solemnities of a Teraphim in it so that it is plain the greatest part of the Idolatry under the Old Testament was the worship of the Teraphim X. But to compleat this Argument with relation to the present Point it is no less plain that the true Jehovah was Worshipped in those Teraphim To begin with the first It is clear that Laban in the Covenant that he made with Jacob appeals not only to the God of Abraham Gen. 31.53 but likewise to Jehovah v. 49. for tho that name was not then known yet Moses by using it on that occasion shews us plainly that Laban was a VVorshipper of the true God. Aaron shews the same by intimating that Feast which he appointed to Jehovah Exod. 32.5 which our Author thought not fit to mention the People also by calling these v. 4. the Gods that brought them out of Egypt shew that they had no thoughts of the Egyptian Idolatry but they believed that Moses had carried away the Teraphim in the vertue of which it seems they fancied that he had wrought his Miracles and that Aaron who they believed knew the Secret had made them new ones and this is the most probable account of their joy in celebrating that Feast And as for Jeroboam the case seems to be plainly the same he made the People believe that the Teraphim which he gave them in Dan and Bethel were as good as those that were at Jerusalem For as his design was no other than to hinder their going thither 1 Kings 12.27 so it is not likely that either he would or durst venture upon a total Change of their Religion or that it could have passed so easily with the People whereas the other had nothing extraordinary in it It is also plain that as Jeroboam called the Calves the Gods that brought them out of Egypt v. 28. so he still acknowledged the true Jehovah for the Prophets both true and false in his time prophesied in the name of Jehovah 1 Kings 13.2 18