those who were under Sentence of Deposition or Deprivation A. Doth not the Law of England also deprive men of the Benefice who are degraded from the Office seeing Beneficium datur propter Officium for none were deposed by Presbyteries but such whose Crimes upon full and fair Tryal deserved such Treatment Is that severe in a Parliament to deny those men wages who have cut themselves off from service in the Church Further to evince the more than ordinary severity in Scotland against the Episcopal Clergy since the Revolution the D. alledgeth an Act of Parliament June 12. 1693. whereby is is Enacted That no Person be admitted or continued to be a Minister or Preacher within the Church of Scotland unless he own the Presbyterian Government to be the only Church Government of that Church that he will submit thereunto and and concur therewith and never endeavour directly or indirectly to do any thing to the prejudice or subversion thereof A. The disingenuity so oft complained of in the V. seems not to be so much a dislike of the evil as that this D. would make a monopoly of it for himself for in this report we have a considerable deal of it for he waves the consideration of what it was brought to prove that a great many Episcopal Ministers enjoyed the Protection of the Government in the free Exercise of their Ministry and legally establish't maintainance 2. That the places of greatest trust are in the hands of those who are Episcopal in Judgment several of whom were instanced so that no severity is exercised meerly for mens judgments in that matter all which by his silence he seems to confess and yet insisteth in his ordinary rote of of exclaiming against the Government But we say 2. The Act cited doth not inflict any penalty on any for being Episcopal in Judgment 3. There is nothing in this Act but what upon the matter was agreeed to by the Episcopal Clergy in their Address presented to the General Assembly of that Church held Jan. 15. 1691 2. with the following Formula they promised to Subscribe The Address of the Episcopal Clergy to the General Assembly held at Edinburgh VVE under-subscribers for our selves and our constituent Ministers of the Gospel humbly shew that since the Episcopacy is abolished and Presbyterian Government is established as it was 1592. we being desirous to exercise the holy Function wherewith we are invested in our several Stations for the Glory of God Advancement of Religion their Majesties Service and the Peace of the Nation do therefore humbly desire that stops and impediments may be taken off so that we may be admitted as Presbyters to sit in Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblies in concurrence with the Presbyterian Ministers in the Government of the Church as now established by Law in this Kingdom The Formula Proposed is I A. B. do sincerely Promise and Declare that I will submit to the Presbyterian Government of this Church as now by Law established in this Kingdom under K. William and Q. Mary by Presbyteries Provincial Synods and General Assemblies and that I will as it becomes a Minister of the Gospel heartily concur with the said Government for the suppressing of Sin and Wickedness the promoting Peace and purging the Church of all Erroneous and Seandalous Ministers and do further Promise that I will Subscribe the confession of Faith the Larger and Shorter Catechisms now Confirmed by Act of Parliament as containing the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion Professed in this Kingdom By all this it appears that the Act obliges to nothing but what these Addresses offered except a promise not to subvert the Government which they indeed refused as a severity but we leave the world to judge of the sincerity of such Ministers of the Gospel who will promise to submit to a Government and concur with it but will not promise not to subvert it but if needful we could fully detect to the world the juggle of that whole design But 4. Knows he not that the Act of Uniformity requires the same from all Conformists which he exclaims against in the Church of Scotland is not then the height of partiality to condemn that as rigid severity in others which we applaud in ourselves as Justice and Prudence But his second Exception against this Act is it 's ordering that uniformity of Worship and Administration of all publick Ordinances in the Church of Scotland be observed by all Ministers and Preachers as it is at present performed or shall be hereafter declar'd by the Authority of the same which he looks on as equally unreasonable as the Papists requiring Implicit Faith or subscription to the Oath c. A. It is very unjust in him to instance that as a piece of severity against the Episcopal Clergy which by the Act all Presbyterian Ministers as well as they are obliged to But if uniformity of Worship and Administration of all publick Ordinances be so Popish and unreasonable why so much noise about it in his Church to deprive men of a birth-right priviledge if they comply not But 't is Scotish Conformity only disgusts him for what concerns the English and Irish he can say ego mihimet ignosco But saith he They are to subscribe to what shall be Ordered by the Church as well as to what is at present Ordered A. We ask him seriously whether he that swears Canonical Obedience to his Ordinary doth not oblige himself to be ruled according to such Canons as shall be made by the Church as well as by these which are already made or when a Judge sweareth to administer Justice according to Law whether he obligeth not himself to Judge by Acts of Parliament that shall be made as well as by those that already are And if so he dare not say whatever he may think that they are guided by an implicit Faith or takes an Oath c. Even so when the Ministers of the Church of Scotland promise to govern their flocks and be governed themselves by such constitutions as are already made or hereafter shall by the common consent of the Church established what man compos mentis can condemn them doth not natures light reach us that all who join themselves to a Society ruled by Laws are obliged to be governed by these Laws already made or to be made especially when they are made by themselves if this be Popery he must be such or resist the Government in the execution of Laws made since his creation but men of inconsiderate slippery judgment must be dilemma'd His last instance of Scotish severity is from an Act made July 5. 1695. against Intruders by whom are understood all who have not an orderly call from the Heritors Elders and People with a legal Admission by the Presbytery now such by that Law are to be removed from these Churches into which they have intruded and rendred incapable of any Church or Stipend within the Kingdom for seven years c. but he tells
Animadversions ON The Defence of the Answer To a PAPER INTITULED The CASE of the Dissenting Protestants of Ireland In Reference to a BILL of Indulgence from the Exceptions made against it TOGETHER With An ANSWER to A Peaceable Friendly Address TO THE Non-Conformists Written upon their desiring an Act of Toleration without the SACRAMENTAL TEST Phil. 4. 5. Let your Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand Printed in the the Year 1697. To the Protestant Reader THe Publication of these Animadversions tho design'd some time ago had ceas'd if a late Pamphlet called A Peaceable and Friendly Address c. had not importun'd it For seeing some men judge it their Interest to mis-represent to the world them they 'r pleas'd to call N. Conforming Brethren as a factious and schismatical people whereby we are mis-apprehended and pre-condemn'd We cannot in justice to Truth and Innocence suffer such so to prey upon the Credulity of some and our Reputation as thereby to hazard their Souls and our Safety Yea compassion to our Adversaries in endeavouring the prevention of their being wise in their own conceit a case more despcrate than that of Fools obligeth us to vindicate our selves and inform mis-guided people with words of Truth and Soberness The people we plead for are not the Idle and Consuming Caterpillars of the Nation but Industrious Labourers Ingenious Artists and Honest Traders whose religious Principles will abide in their strength while one jâ—t or tittle of the Law of God indures becase they adore the fulness of the H. Scriptures as the perfect and only rule of Faith and Manners They believe the necessity of a standing Gospel-Ministry in the Church to whose directive Authority they submit themselves not by an implicit Faith but by a judgment of Discretion All God's holy Ordinances and instituted Worship they embrace but their Fear towards God is not taught by the Commandments of men Their doctrine bears conformity with that of the Reformed Churches abroad and harmoniously agrees with that of Ireland declar'd in her Convocation An. 1615 excepting in what relates to Prelacy and Ceremonies They are willing to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's They profess their Credenda Petenda and Agenda ought all to be regulated by the word of God These Principles we believe are able to abide a Fiery Tryal And as their Principles are true so their Petitions are modest Episcopal Grandeur Jurisdiction or Revenues is not demanded for their Ministers or by them A liberty to serve God according to these foresaid Principles with a relief from some Penal Laws formerly fram'd against them and that no new ones be forg'd to their preiudice is all they require And if such modest Requests may be with Christian Conscience deny'd a people of such Principles we leave to the determination of our Judge that standeth at the Door if Men should give sentence against us Animadversions On the Defence of the Answer to a Paper ENTITULED The Case of the Dissenting Protestants in Ireland c. WHen Diogenes trampled upon Aristippus's Cushion and insulted over himself in these words See how I trample on Aristippus's Pride he had this return thou dost it but with no less Pride So when the Defendant of the Answer c. salutes the Vindicator of the Dissenters Case with a charge of sourness and vanity of temper In the very entrance of his diseourse he discovers so much of the distemper in himself that if Civility coult not yet Conscience of the same evil in himself should have oblig'd him to treat his Adversary more decently But whether the sourness of his temper or his vanity to comprize an Iliad of Railing Accusations in a Nut-shell hath induc'd him with one breath to upbraid the Vindicator with sourness and vanity of temper dexterity in perverting little sincerity dising enuity injustice c. I determine not but if his Reasoning taâ—ent be equivalent to his Railing no Dissenter will be able to stand before him Lest he shou'd be suspected of transgressing the 9th Commandment he attempts to make good this charge by as he calls it A remarkable Instance of the Dissenters injustice to him viz. The phrase general Indulgence us'd by him which as he saith doth plainly signify no more than a legal toleration of Dissenting Protestants the Vindicator wrests to import a comprehension of all sorts of Religion Answ If this be Injustice he hath cause to fear that all who have sense to discern words will be injurious to him seeing General Indulgence natively signifies Indulgence to all sorts of Persons and Opinions And 't is improper to say that General Indulgence imports only toleration of Protestant Dissenters which is but Special unless Protestant Dissentors should comprehend all sorts which himself doth not assert As the Vindicator hath not wrested his Expressions so neither hath he misrepresented his Sense seeing all the arguments he useth against the Indulgence pleaded for militat only against an unlimited and general Indulgence of all sorts The next thing disgusts the Defendant is a rule laid down by the Vindicator that these are of the same Religion with the Establish't Church who subscribe her Doctriual Articles this rule he 'll not allow to be true and that because there being three general parts of Religion viz. Doctrin Worship and Government unless we agree in all these we are not of the same Religion A. If the Rule be not good why do the Books of Articles in England an 1552 and 1562 and those in Ireland in 1616 unanimously declare that they were agreed upon in Convocation for avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for Establishing Consent touching true Religion Do not the Subscribers to the 6th Article concerning the sufficiency of holy Scripture for Salvation subscribe to the Worship and Government of the Church as well as to its Doctrin if they do not as the D. insinuates it must be because that Worship and Doctrin is not read in the holy Scripture nor may be proved thereby which is no honor to the Liturgy Ceremonies or Prelacy Dr. Stillinfleet in his Irenicum hath endeavoured to prove that Men may be of the same Religion and yet not under the same particular form of Church Government And I am persuaded 't will be hard for the D. to produce any Church that is or hath been in the world with which the Establisht Church of England doth exactly agree in Form of Worship and Government And thus by his Rule excluding us from the same Religion with the Establisht Church he doth also cut her off from Communion in the same Religion with any Church in the World The Anabaptists against whom the D. excepts as unfit to be comprehended in the Indulgence are of age let them speak for themselves we are none of their Advocates Yet the V's reason for including them and his Charity also was their being included in the Act of Indulgence for England An. 1689. And in a Bill
this silly shift of bending the Knee in the Eucharist which came in with Popery they call indifferent and well know we will not do contrary to our Conscience while they do not try us with the Doctrinal Articles for a Test let all Wise Men judge of this Policy and Religion His second Observation of Dissenters growing much more tumultuous since the Legal Indulgence hath been granted them I apprehend hath been made by the D. in his Dream arising from frightful Ideas he hath of the Dissenters for sure since the commencement of a Legal Indulgence in 1689. no instance of Dissenters Tumults can be produc'd Tho' we can instance Bloody Tumults Rebellions and Conspiracies against the King and Government carried on by those who call themselves the Sons of the Church both in England and Scotland in which no Presbyterian hath been concern'd The V. having desired to know from the D. wherein a Toleration to Dissenting Protestants will advance the Popish Interest in Ireland he promiseth to give a full and ample satisfaction in this matter And 1st He desires him seriously to consider whether there be not violent presumption that a publick Legal Indulgence to Protestants doth not highly advance the Popish Interest since all Romish Emissaries so eagerly desire and industriously promote Tolerations tho limited to Protestant Dissenters and when all other measures fail'd have readily expended considerable Summs of Money to purchase them And it is generally known that the Declaration A. 1671 2. was of the Papists procuring A. If this Declaration was not granted in favor of the Dissenters in Ireland as he knows it was not his Answer can't satisfy the V's demand who would only know wherein a Toleration to Dissenters in Ireland wou'd advance the Popish Interest here but the Declaration he speaks of seems to be that emitted in England A. 1691 2 and then he most disingenuously represents the matter for it was procured by an Exigence of State Affairs England then being engaged in a War against Holland it was thought unsafe to persecute so numerous and wealthy a part of the Nation as Protestant Dissenters then were and in the interim to carry on a War against their Friends abroad therefore to keep matters at home as quiet as possible a Declaration for Indulgence was Published but so far from limiting the Indulgence to Protestant Dissenters that Popish Recusants had apparently the greatest share in that Liberty which so much disgusted the Nation that the King was necessitated to make Apology for it as appears by his Speech to the Parliament Feb. 5. An. 1672. In which he saith I put forth my Declaration for Indulgence to Dissenters and have hitherto found the good effect of it There is one part that is subject to mis-construction which is that concerning the Papists as if more liberty were granted to them than to other Recusants when it is plain there is less I do not intend to prejudice the Church but will support its Religion in its full Power having said I shall take it very ill to receive Contradiction in what I have done and I will deal plainly with you I am Resolved to stick to my Declaration The Lord Chancellor also spake the same thing viz. His Majesty hath so fully Vindicated his Declaration from that Calumny concerning the Papists that no reasonable scruple can be made against it by any good Man he hath sufficiently justify'd it by the time it was Published in the Effects he hath had from it and might have done it more from the agreeableness of it to his own natural Disposition which no good English-man could wish other ways than it is he loves not blood nor rigorous severities but where mild and gentle methods may be used by a Prince he is certain to chuse them and concludes that head thus But His Majesty is not convinced that violent Ways are the Interest of Religion or the Church By this we may see if the D. doth not Rival the V. in setting as he saith of him things in a false light for what can be less candid than this Representation of that matter Seeing 1. There was no legal Toleration but a Liberty granted by a Declaration which is questionable whether Law or not 2. Nor was it limitted to Protestant Dissenters only but included also Papists Nor 3dly Procured by mony By this we may see the merciless disposition of some Church-Men who first extort from the Magistrate Rigorous Laws and then reproach Dissenters for disloyalty in not obeying them which they have squeezed from the Magistrate contrary to his Inclination and Interest The D's second Argument to prove that the free exercise of Protestant Religion according to different Modes will advance the Popish Interest here is drawn from his experience for saith he when Protestant Dissenters or as he calls them pretended Protestants have been Legally Indulged it hath been experimentally found that Popish Emissaries were more numerous their Application greater and Harvest more plenteous than at other times A. If the D. had as sincerely intended as he vainly promised ample satisfaction in this point he would have instanc'd the time when and place where a legal Indulgence granted to Protestant Dissenters produc'd that effect for tho he values his own testimony as demonstration others do not for it appears not that this fell out in Queen Elizabeth's K. James's or K. Charle's 1st time it then must be either in Oliver's time as by the date of Bishop Bramhall's Letter in 1659 which he cites would appear but then the Papists do not glory in their Harvest here unless it was that many of them were cut down at the same rate being set on a Priest's Head in Ireland as on a Wolf which occasion'd Emissaries to be never less numerous than then or after the Restauration of K C. 2d during whose Reign Dissenters had no Legal Indulgence here tho we confess the application of Papists was strong the Harvest plentiful and Emissaries numerous or for King James the 2d's time in which no such Toleration limited to Dissenters was thought on The charge then must lye on K. W. and Q. M. since 1689. but then his experience will be found false for neither we bless God for it are Popish Emissaries so numerous as in former times have been nor their harvest so plentiful nay we have found it experimentally that when Protestant Dissenters has been violently Persecuted Popish Emissaries has been most warmly Entertain'd for when Dissenters in the North of this Kingdom were forced in the beginning of K. C. I's Reign to undertake a troublesome Voyage to America there to shelter themselves from Persecution tho' providentially driven back then a Toleration for Papists here was granted Concerning Bp. Bramhall's Letter to Primate Vsher produc'd to prove his experience Anno 1659. in which 't is said that several of the Popish Clergy of France were taught manual Trades to qualify them as Emissaries to foment divisions in England A few Instances given of these
hath made this true for no occasion hath produc'd more continuing and more sanguinary Schisms than this hath done the Sees of Alexandria of Antioch of Constantinople and above all of Rome do abundantly shew this much and our Ecclesiastical Stories Witness no less of which the greatest part consists in factionating and tumultuating of Great and Potent Bishop c. This Episcopal Ambition shewed it self especially in two Heads one concerning plurality of Bishops in one See another the Superiority of Bishops in divers Sees As to the first he tells us That the general Practice of the Church since the Original of Episcopacy as now it is was never to admit at once more than one Bishop in one See and to prevent Spiritual Polygamy neither would they admit of two Cathedrals but from the beginning it was not so for even at Rome and Hippo there were two Bishops at one time neither doth it savour of Vice or Misdemeanour that it should be so still their Punishment sleeps not who go about unnecessarily and wantonly to infringe it But the other head of Episcopal Ambition concerning Supremacy of Bishops in divers Sees one claiming Superiority over another as it hath been from time to time a great Trespasser against the Churches Peace so it is now the final Ruin of it the East and West through the fury of the two prime Bishops being irremediably separated without all hope of Reconcilement and beside all this mischief is founded on a Vice contrary to all Christian Humility without which no Man shall see his Saviour for they do but abuse themselves and others that would perswade us that Bishops by Christ's Institution have any Superiority over other men further than that of Reverence or that any Bishop is Superior to another further than positive Order agreed upon amongst Christians hath prescrib'd for we have believed him that hath told us that in Jesus Christ there is neither high nâ—r low and that in giving honour every man should be ready to prefer another before himself which sayings cut off all claim most certainly to Superiority by title of Christianity except men can think that these things were only spoken to poor and private men Nature and Religion agree in this that neither of them have a hand in this heraldry of secundum sub supra all this comes from composition and agreement of men among themselves wherefore this abuse of Christianity to make it lacquy to ambition is a vice for which we have no ordinary name and an ordinary one we will not give it lest you should take so transcendent a vice for a trivial Thus the Memorable Mr. Jo. Hales And would to God all would consider his words most seriously by which we may see what are the true causes of Schism and who are the Schismaticks Whence also it will appear that a publick Indulgence to weaker Brethren in matters not necessary and suspected to be unlawful is no cause of Divisions but on the contrary an ambitious claim of Superiority imposing private Opinions and commanding suspected Practices are the true causes of them and ever will be The D's 4th Argument against Publick Indulgence is That they have not only fatally conduced to the perverting a considerable number of Protestants but also effectually hindred the conversion of many Papists who tho sensible of many gross Errors in Principles and ungodly Practices in the Worship enjoyn'd them by Rome yet have been so highly scandalized by the Divisions amongst us that they have rather chosen to continue in them c. A. Had not the D. trusted more to the Rhetorick than Logick of this Argument he had conceal'd it being a Sophism as they call it of non causa pro causa and is no stronger than this the legal establishment of one of the divided parties perverts many and hindreth the conversion of Papists because they are scandalized at our Divisions for a legal toleration of some is not the cause but consequent of our Divisions seeing Divisions must be before the necessity of a Toleration to the Parties divided 2dly If our Divisions scandalize the Papists as I am perswaded they do he may enquire at the Memorable Mr. John Halos who are the Dividers and to whom the Woe is due that belongs to such as cause Offences 3dly Such Papists as are sensible of gross Errors in Principles and ungodly Practices in the Worship enjoyned them and yet continue in them would have had the same object on against Christianity it self had they lived in Corinth in the days of the Apostles for then were Divisions nor do I see what loss the Church sustains by want of such Converts as can live for Union's sake in gross Errors and ungodly Practices whereof they are convinced And why Division should terrify them from Conversion I see not seeing if they will be converted to us they must divide from Rome 4thly But what if the rigid severity of the domineering party of Protestants against all who differ from them be the cause of Offence Sure Intelligent Papists are not ignorant of the Divisions among themselves but neither Party being permitted to bite and devour each other except by Pen and Ink they glory in their Union notwithstanding these Divisions Bishop Hall in his Letter to Mr. Laud afterward Archbishop Laud expostulating with him about his unsettledness in Religion hanging betwixt the Romanists and Protestants upon the account of our Divisions tells him Whither will ye go for Truth if ye will allow no truth but where there is no Division To Rome perhaps famous for Unity famous for Peace See now how happily ye have chosen how well have you sped So their Cardinal Bellarmin himself a Witness above exception under his own hand acknowledgeth to the world and reckons up 237 contraâ—â—â—â—â— of Doctrin amongst the Romish Divines no they are no more peaceable but more subtil they fight more closely within doors all our frays are in the Frield our strite is in Ceremony theirs is in Substance so the Decad 3 Ep. 5. The D's 5th Argument to prove that this legal liberty to Protestant Dissenters will advance the Popish Interest is taken from the different state of Denmark and Swedland from that of the United Provinces in reference to the numbers of Papists in these Countreys For as the strictness of the Laws against those who differ from these Established Churches hath been remarkably effectual for the rooting out of Popery from amongst them so the unlimited Toleration granted in Holland to all sorts of Religions hath multiplied the Papists there c. A. As the strictness of the Laws in Denmark and Sweden are remarkable for rooting out Popery so are they for rooting out all Protestants save Lutherans And if their strictness be their perfection we can tell him of more perfect Laws viz. the Laws of the Holy Inquisition which are as soveraign prophylactick for the Established Churches of Spain and Italy as these of Denmark and Sweden are so that he
he saith to be always in extreems very good or very bad and is at several times highly applauded and violently decry'd by the whole Body of Dissenting Protestants it hath some truth but not the whole truth in it for both Papists and Sons of the Church have and do decry and commend it according to their need for do not the Papists in England and Ireland and his Episcopal Brethren in Scotland plead for it as much as Protestant Dissenters We suppose he hath seen Bishop Taylor 's Liberty of Prophecying and when he hath answered the Preface to that Book he may possibly prevent mens looking on Toleration as unlawful If he had the wisdom of the unjust Steward he might improve his Remark that should he be put out of his Stewardship which is metaphysically possible he might have Friends to receive him into their Houses To the V's Question whether he could produce one Instance of any Protestant Dissenter even in the late Reign turning Papist The D. gives a womans reason he could give several Instances but will not mention one which certainly flows not from tenderness of our Reputation which he labours on all occasions industriously to blast but either because he can't as we are sure he can't fairly or because he is tender of their honor now they are turn'd Papists and will not expose them or fears if we come to ballance Accounts with him he shall be much a Loser But however He tells the great reason why so few of theirs or our Communion were perverted is under God to be ascribed to the excellent Discourses wrâ—t against Papists by the Episcopal Clergy and amongst the vest numbers of those admirable Tracts two only were wrote by Dissenters and then he falls to downright calling and reviâ—ing Dissenters A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think it unjust to derogate from the worth of any mans labours yet it is only native to Animals of 〈…〉 their own Praise and inconsistent with the 〈◊〉 of God which directs us to let another man praise 〈…〉 Lips A stranger and not thine own 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 D. being jealous none would undertake to be his Parties Herald but with so much Vanity That he calls to our remembrance a frantick man who before the Troubles wandred about in the North under the Title of King of the Rainbow who with great assurance asserted he defended Brittain and Ireland from all foreign Enemies that he fought our Battles and that we ow'd our lives to his Valour Conduct and hath been observ'd busie in an old Fort in his imaginary War So tho we will not deny all good that such discourses may have done yet we are confident that their influence upon Dissenters hath been very weak seeing very few of them hath heard or seen these Admirable Tracts which would justly deserve the Epithete if they could preserve those who never saw nor heard them But how comes he to know that only two were wrote by Dissenters against Papists doth he know all of that nature is done by them we suppose the Morning Exercises Preach't and Printed by the Dissenting Ministers of London to that purpose may viâ— with any of these admirable Tracts several others also might be Instanced But yet we see not that the Irish-English Clergy have any great share in this Honour except it be the Bishop of Derry in his Admirable Tract against Manby in which he hath taken the same method to prevent Dissenters being perverted that so did whâ— recommended cutting off the Head as a Soveraign Remedy against the â—oothach for lest the Catholick Church shou'd lose its Members by their being perverted he prudently cut them off from being Members of it And left the Lawful Spiritual Governours of the Church shou'd laugh at Presbyterians and Independants he appears to us to treat them no better if his Difinition of the Catholick Church hold good â—or pag. 4. He defines it to be the whole Body of Men professing the Religion of Christ and living under their Lawful Spiritual Governours Now the Lawful Spiritual Governours can't live under the Lawful Spiritual Governours for then should they be undermost and upmost at the same time and therefore a Bishop is as little a member of the Catholick Church as a Presbyterian Bishop Sheridon also Preach't a Sermon against Popery which we have seen but how it preserv'd him in his Bishoprick the D. knows and yet notwithstanding all these admirable Tracts he boasts of the Establish't Church has furnish't Rome with twenty Proselytes to one more than all the Dissenting Protestants in Britain and Ireland so that their Works has been better Amulets for their Neighbours than themselves If we intended to render railing for railing we would charge the Episcopal Clergy with what he falsely accuseth all Dissenting Ministers as being Trumpoters in State Tumults and Seditions But we leave that work to his Jacobitish Brethren who have upbraided many of their own Clergy with that Evil under the aggravation of Treachery and Perjury But wickedness proceedeth from the wicked my hand shall not be upon them Tho the D. endeavors to ridicule Preaching the Gospel under the name of raising the Hue and Cry c. Yet it hath pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe The Gospel was planted by Preaching not by Printing and shall be preserved by the same means Acts 20. 32. And as Rome's first wound was given by the faithful Preaching of the first Reformers more than by their Printing so we understand not that the Walls of Rome shall be battered by Books but as the Walls of Jericho did fall by Faith even so shall Rome's 2 Thess 2 8. The Lord shall consume it with the spirit of his mouth and Faith comes by hearing and hearing by God's Word Preached Rom. 10. 14 15. The V. having told to mortifie the man's vanity that years experience might convince them how unsuccesful they had been in gaining Dissenters to their Communion the D. tells that this is mainly to be attributed to the unwearied labours of Dissenting Preachers in raising unreasonable prejudices and in fixing invincible aversion to our Ecclesiastical Discipline and Constitutions c. in them A. As their endeavors have been very unsuccesful as to the numbers they have gain'd from us so the worth of such is inconsiderable being persons whom a worldly Interest and a more licentious Life prevail'd upon and as they are no Ornaments to their Church except their admired Bishop of Derry so they are no loss to us who could spare them more such when we detect them Nor is this to be attributed so much to the unwearied labours of Dissenting Preachers as he saith as to the Dignified Clergy's easy wearying in their labours and inverting the Apostle's words into Woe to me if I Preach the Gospel and the unwearied pursuit of Dignities and Revenues of the Church more than Ministerial Duties nor need the Dissenting Preachers weary themselves to beget in people an aversion and prejudice against
his first cause of this fear viz. The many thousand Families that are come out of Scotland whether the Government will judge it the Interest of the Kingdom to hinder its Planting with his Majesties Industrious and Loyal Subjects to gratify the D. and cure him and the Irish Papists of their fears is very doubtful But I believe those who value the Protestant and Brittish Interest in Ireland could wish that many more thousand Protestant Families were Planted here tho they were not all of the D's persuasion nor do we see that this would lessen the Revenue and Strength of the Kingdom abate Gentlemens Rents spoil the Nations Trade nor hinder the Clergys Tythes so that it is questionable wherein the Nations Interest can be to obstruct Protestants settling here If his fears be because such are Scotch 't is but the ordinary effect of such panic fear as to bereave Men of considerate thoughts which seems to be the D's Case For beside the little Religion he Evidenceth in his Antipathy against that Nation there is as little policy as piety in its seeing the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom whom he boasts to be Members of this Establisht Church cannot but resent such a publick affront done to their Nation To the second cause of his fear viz. Their Preachers Zeal to the Covenant If by it he means the National Covenant Subscribed by King James the 6th and all Ranks of Persons in Scotland in 1580 1581 and 1590 they will own it as the antient Confession of that National Church and we suppose his Scotch Episcopal Brethren dare not disown it seeing it was a part of that Contradictory Test which they impos'd the old professional part contradicting the new promissory part but we suppose he intends the solemn League and Covenant and here we believe he may be mistaken of their Zeal for that as it is a League with England and Ireland obliging them to a Reformation seeing as a these Leagues formerly made with France oblige England since the French have violated them The Antidote against Ireland's Planting by Protestant Subjects from Scotland smels rank of National Antipathy and smites his Majesty King William with his now blessed Consort Queen Mary as Plaguers of that Nation by Abolishing Episcopacy but yet let this Antidote be no worse than its words are and we refuse not to perform a just quarentine and undergo any truly Religious Test that His Majesty shall think necessary to promote God's Glory the Nations Peace and Prosperity by Yet Experience hath found some of these called Religious Tests to be National Pests and should others observe them no better then the D. and some of his Brethren have done the Government may possibly be rendered more secure but not more safe by them But we perceive the D's fears are increasing and therefore he would have all the Nation Allarm'd with the Danger of the Cameronians who as he saith are lately Landed in considerable Numbers A. These considerable Numbers of Cameronians lately landed must have come from Vutopia for there be no considerable Numbers of them now in Scotland and other Nations bring forth no such Fruit For since the late happy Revolution all except very few unite with the Establish't Church there and their Preachers now orderly and ordain'd Ministers one whereof is a Chaplain to a Regiment in Flanders and in good esteem with his Majesty for his Zeal and Courage whereof he hath given good proof And we dare say that those whom he calls so dangerous have spent more blood in the defence of the Protestant Religion and in the Service of their King and Countrey both at home and abroad than all the Episcopal Clergy in Brittain and Ireland for the truth of which we doubt not but the best of the three Nations will vouch But while he is allarming the Kingdom with 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 doth he not also as a Faithful Watchman warn it of his Jacobitish Brethren who swarms hither daily and notwithstanding their publickly declar'd Contempt of His Majesty's Government and Authority in denying Allegiance to him in Scotland are entertain'd as bosom Friends by some Clergy-men in Ireland tho they perform'd not their quarantine by swearing Allegiance to K. William And if the Government desire satisfaction in this matter they may by search of Records in the several Counties where they are entertain'd find out the truth of this and much more concerning such course men The Vindicator had told That there had been avowed designs of Extirpating Protestant Dissenters declared by many Sanguinary Laws past against them both in England and Scotland and that there were later ones in Scotland that made it capital to be present at their Meetings which the D. reckons unpardonable disingenuity 't is well it is not the sin against the Holy Ghost and to prove it these irrefragable Arguments are produced 1. He never heard it 2. He is inform'd by those who have reason to know better then the Vindicator that there is not one Sanguinary Law in England against Protestant Dissenters and in Scotland not one except one which was August 13. 1670. A. To his first demonstration taken from his not hearing it it seems his ears are of a prodigious length when every matter both of Fact and Law must be within the sphere of their activity if things cease to be because he heard them not a great many have had no being of whom he never heard The next from his Informer is little better for Episcopal Informers have not been always men of the best reputation yet it is strange that they should be ignorant of those Laws by which they had so much of other mens wealth but it 's like that being now out of date they are not fond of owning their old friends lest they should purchase new Enemies But if the D. who sees by his Neighbours eyes will receive truer Instruction from a Dissenter we will make appear that what the Vindicator asserts is real truth To begin then with England because its Laws against Dissenters are of eldest date we will find that Sanguinary Laws were there First against the Soul Secondly against the Body Thirdly against the Estates of Protestant Dissenters And to give the Church the deserv'd pre-eminence in this case by her Canons made Anno 1603. eleven of these in the Van are levelled against Dissenters by most of which they are to be excommunicated ipso facto and not to be restored but by the A. Bishop after Repentance and a publick Recantation of such wicked Errors And when by this Canonical Cimiter they are cut off from the Church Militant and by vertue of the keys of Heaven committed to it the gates of Heaven which it seems were formerly potent are now shut against Dissenters and alti janua ditis made open and they delivered to the Devil lest he should prove too merciful in not receiving their Mittimus the poor Dissenters by a Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo is to be apprehended by
Illustrious and unparallel'd Line is the greatest glory of this your Ancient Kingdom we pay our most humble gratitude to Your Majesty for the repeated assurances of your Royal Protection to our National Church and Religion as the Laws have Established them which are very suitable to the gracious countenance incouragement and Protection your Majesty was pleased to afford to our Church whilst we were happy in your presence amongst us We Magnifie the Divine Majesty for blessing you with a Son and us with a Prince whom we pray Heaven may bless and preserve to sway Your Royal Scepter after you and that he may inherit with Your Royal Dominions the Illustrious and Heroick virtues of his August and most Serene Parents We are amaz'd to hear of the danger of an Invasion from Holland which excites our prayers for an universal Repentance to all orders of men that God may yet spare his people preserve Your Royal Person prevent the Effusion of Christian blood and give such Success to your Majesty's Arms that all who invade your Majesty's just and undoubted Right and Disturb or Interrupt the Peace of your Realms may be disappointed and cloathed with shame so that on your Royal Head the Crown may still flourish As by the grace of God we shall preserve in our selves an unshaken and firm Loyalty so we shall be careful and zealous to promote in all your Subjects an intrepid and stedfast Allegiance to your Majesty as an essential part of their Religion and the glory of our holy Profession Not doubting but that God in his great mercy who hath so often preserved and delivered your Majesty will still preserve and deliver you by giving you the hearts of your Subjects and the necks of your Enemies so Pray we who in all humility are May it please your most Sacred Majesty Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Subjects and Servants Edinburgh Nov. 3 1688. Signed by the Lords Bishops B. St. Andrews B. Glasgow B. Galloway B. Aberdeen B. Dunkell B. Buchan B. Orkney B. Murray B. Ross B. Dumblaine B. Isles Here is a Specimen of those Gentlemens Genius whose heads the D. would preserve while he boldâ—y opposeth truth and necessitates us to lay open to the world this Tryal of Skill of his Episcopal Brethren who all yet except the Bishop of Rapho whom an Irish Bishoprick hath converted glory in their being counted worthy to suffer for K. James and continue to deny Allegiance to K. William with many of their fellow Brethren That the Scoth Bishops unanimously deserted the convention of States we suppose none of themselves will deny which if any do we shall In Answer to his reasons proving these Reflections untrue because that the conversion would have pass'd some publick and severe mark upon them had that been true we say that by this he sees the mildness and tenderness of that convention who without laying open to the world their grossest Iniquities only voted the Bishops and their Clergy the great and unsupportable grievance of the Nation and thereupon voted the total abolishing of Prelacy and if these be not publick and severe marks indeed upon them why doth he make such a horrid Noise about their Persecution further 't is not to be attributed to want of matter that in the Act they are excluded by there is no particular mention of the misbecoming actions of their Lives c. for Parliaments are not Historians but yet if he long for a Legend of their Lives he may possibly obtain his desires e're long little to their Credit or his Comfort for there are many recorded Instances of their misbecoming actions noticed by those who smarted under them which if he necessitates us to lay open to the world possibly his Brethren may thank him For do's he think that so long as it remains in the Records of Counsel that they imposed and took a contradictory Test that it will not be alledged that they are perjured themselves and the cause of it in others or that they abjured what they had formerly sworn with great Solemnity and betrayed the truth committed to them Yea sure so long as it continues in the Records of these Counsels whereof they were Members that they ordered men to be killed without any Tryal or Colour of Law or so much as with an exception whether they resisted or no it will be hard to purge them from the guilt of Murther for it is very evident that these Prelates had a hot hand in all the Innocent Blood shed in Scotland in K. Charles II. and K. James I. times which we leave to those who may write their History Possibly the D. believes not this because he heard it not and therefore we urge him to inform himself better from Authentick Proofs and Records of that Nation that the Stains of his Brethren there may be a warning to him and all Clergy-men to fright them from merciless cruelty to which from a small tryal of his skill already given we fear he may be too much given His second exception against those two Gentlemens Letter is That it confidently asserts that there is not so much as one single man who was in the Possession of their Churches and publick Livings whâ—n K. James abdicated and forfeited who hath since K. William ' s accession to the Crown been thrust out for any other Crimes than either 1. for not reading the Proclamation whereby K. William and Q. Mary were Declared King and Queen or 2. for their not Praying for His Majesty or 3. for not Swearing the Oath of Allegiance and Assurance or 4 for such Immoralities as the Church of England as truly disallows as Prebyterians To contradict which he produceth an Instance of one Mr. Samuel Mowat a Clergy-man of Scotland in the Diocess of Glasgow and at the time in Dublin c. who was in possession of his Church in Scotland after K. William and Q Mary's accession to the Throne and read the Proclamation c. published by the Council of Scotland April 13. 1689. by the appointment of the General Assembly 2. Prayed for Their Majesties 3. took the Oath of Allegiance and Assurance 4. was free of Immoralities c. and declared himself willing to submit to the Presbyterian Government according to his Majesty's Formula and yet he was rejected by them because he would not renounce the Episcopal Government and declare his sorrow for submitting to it A. We might satisfy our selves with this that Mr. Samuel Mowat point blank denies what the D. hath written to be his Testimony and that it is grosly falsifyed but tho' he had said all this his single Testimony does not prove it's Truth for while he says that the Assembly appointed the reading the Proclamation whereby K. William and Q. Mary were Declared King and Queen which Proclamation was published April 13. 1690. This must be false seeing there was no Assembly till October 16. 1690. when they first sat after the Revolution It 's