Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54984
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The plain truth, or, A lenitive for the clergy by one Pantophilus.
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Pantophilus.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing P2369; ESTC R16071
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6,672
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7
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The Plain Truth OR A Lenitive for the CLERGY By one Pantophilus IT is manifest that we in this Nation are in a disquiet and in an uncomfortable posture Now as it behoves every man to have a well-grounded calmness in his own breast so we ought by all good means to promote it in the Church of God where we live If I had not a true Desire to further this I had never set Pen to Paper this way But having lookt upon most of the Books and Pamphlets that have been sent abroad for these several years especially since the Press was at liberty such I mean as concern Religion I have with Grief observ'd a Fatal Ferment in most of them The Wise God having seem'd to leave us to our selves foolishly to ruine one another Each Book and Pamphlet being pregnant with preternatural heat against the Opposite Party each Company and Discourse imploy'd in unkind reflections upon others yea matters are come to that pass that even among the Clergy it is rare to see the Gown and Cloak walk or sit easily together and which is worst of all the Pulpit is abus'd by some on all sides to cast Oyl into this woful Flame I have made it my Prayer that the God of Love and Peace would calm this Fury and in my converse have constantly endeavor'd it and finding this Feaver still to continue resolv'd to deliver my Thoughts in Writing to the same end with all serious plainness The Parties disagreeing in Religion in this Kingdom may be reduc'd to four heads 1. There is the Established Church consisting of the Clergy and Laity that approve of full Conformity in the Rites and Discipline setled by the Laws of the Land 2. There are the Papists who differ from this Church in many great Doctrins in many material points of Worship and with an inveterate enmity These are the most formidable Enemies to the Church aforesaid partly by reason of their Forreign Alliances and Dependencies and partly by the incouragement they have from a Presumptive Heir And they are the most irreconcileable also partly by reason of their avowed Principle That their Church cannot erre and consequently are fully concluded against any Reformation in it and partly by their constant practice of Equivocations and Dispensations which renders it impossible ro trust them And therefore these Essays pretend not to include them 3. There are the Non-conformists strictly so called which are those of the Clergy and Laity that agreeing with the Established Church in the substance of Doctrine and Worship yet differ in the Rites or Manner of worship and in Discipline And under this Head may be rank'd those called Presbyterians Independents and meer Anabaptists Now these being so neerly Allied to the Establish'd Church might expect far other treatment from them than the Papists but that there fell out some years since a Civil War in the Kingdom wherein these two parties prov'd opposite to one another and the former were vanquisht by the latter And this I conceive hath heightned the Enmity far above the matter of their Reall Difference this Party in Religion though doubtless they could be glad to have their way yea each one their own way setled yet they could be contented some rash and furious Persons excepted whereof there are some in all parties to be safely United with the Established Church or quietly suffered in their own practice Neither have they any Forreign Dependencies nor any Principles that lead them to Sedition as appears by their quietness under great provocations while the other sort the Papists cannot be quiet when no body troubles them 4. There are others amongst us different from all the former such are Atheists Socinians Pelagians Quakers Ranters Fifth-Monarchists and other Hereticks now these though their Principles are pernicious to themselves and others and therefore fit it were some Course were taken to convince them or restrain them yet they have no Forreign Helps or Confederacies to create much danger to our Publick Peace But these are so greatly opposite either to the Established Doctrine or Substantial Worship that as there is no likelihood of their Union so these Papers are not concern'd further with them So that this Indeavour is intended cheifly for the First and Third sort which are neerest akin And to bring down the matter to our present Case it is found out by Our King Parliaments Judges c. That there hath been and yet there is an Hellish Plot amongst these Papists to destroy his Majesty to overthrow the Protestant Religion with all that profess it in the Kingdom and to set up Popery Immediately upon this Alarm as the Civill Magistrates were trying the Criminals so the Clergy both the Conformists and the Nonconformists directed their Discourses to expose that Treacherous and Bloody Religion and to establish the people in our own And being both justly bent against the Common Enemy there appeared some more mutuall kindness towards one another than before and some lovers of Peace that mourn'd for the loss of that Hopefull Juncture in 1660 when most Mens Minds were very prone to Unity and also the loss of that other in 1665 and 1666 when the Plague and Fire had softned our Spirits They did now in 1678 renew their hopes that this common danger would greatly tend to the healing of our Divisions when on a sudden in 1679 without any known Occasion the Publick Clergy begin to abate their keenness against the Papists and instead thereof fall to batter the Non-conformists from Press and Pulpit and would pretend that there is more danger from Separation than from Popery and some of them I hope it is the weakest of them fear not to profess they would rather be Papists than Presbyterians which I am very certain no true Protestant will say except he be blinded with Malice or Ignorance And on the other side many Censorious Non-conformists put the worst interpretation on this carriage and suspect their opposites inclinable to Popery it self they do not say indeed as the former that they had rather be of the Church of Rome than of the Church of England but they know well enough that neither of them must expect that quarter from the Papists which they have found from one another but yet they exceed the Bounds of Charity in their harsh Reflections And thus they stand pelting at one another in an uncomfortable and ominous manner while their Common Enemy is ready to swallow both and what honest heart can be Spectator of these things without Grief and Astonishment Now if the Discovery of the Cause of a Disease be any step to the cure of it I verily believe that want of Christian Love or Charity is the Reall Cause of this fermentation This hath been at the Root of these miscarriages all along though something else concur's therewith to produce the present paroxysm It cannot be denied that these have been mutual provocations given one party hath been moved to see their Freehold and Opportunities