added preserve its self by means so evidently contrary to the very Nature and End of Religion This is Dr. Tillotson's fam'd Character of Religion and not to descant in long Applications upon it I desire my Reader to consider if it is not as applicable to the New as to the Old Fifth of November and the Worthies of the Protestants as well as the Popish Religion who conspired against James the Second as these did against James the First Tell me O ye Worthies of the Church of England who have hazarded your Lives and Fortunes to preserve our Religion Is it more lawful to Plot and Rebel for holy Church of England than for holy Church of Rome And is it not as much Priestcraft in our Divines to applaud you as Worthies for so doing as it was in the Pope to compare the Duke of Guise and his Partizans to those Jewish Worthies Jephtha Gideon and the Maccabees and do you not despise them for their sordid Flattery of you in open Contradiction to their own Doctrines and the Principles of that Religion which they pretend still to profess May I not say with Dr. Till against himself (a) Serm. Vol. 3. p. 77. That a Miracle is not enough to give Credit to a Man who teaches Things so contrary to the Nature of Religion and that (b) P. 20. the Heathen Philosophers are better Casuists than he This he said of the Jesuists and the Casuists of the Church of Rome for maintaining the Lawfulness of deposing Kings and subverting Government and yet without Blushing he maintained the Lawfulness of this in commending you But this is but one Instance of acting in contradiction to his own Doctrine when the appointed time of tryal came there are many more so well known that I need not mention them For indeed his whole Practice since the Revolution hath been one Series of Apostacy and by which he hath not only dishonoured his Memory and made all his other Good be evil spoken of but been a Scandal to our holy Church and Religion to which our Preacher saith he was such an Honour given the Enemies of them great occasion to Triumph their best and most stedfast Friends great occasion of Grief and Shame And lastly tempted loose and unprincipled Men to turn Atheists and ridicule our Priesthood and Religion and this he hath been told of in such different manners that I do not wonder (c) Fun. Serm. p. 27. it sank deep into him and had such influence upon his Health I cannot imagine but that one Letter which was sent to his Lady for him superscribed for Dr. Tillotson must needs disquiet him very much if he received it and read it It is written throughout with a serious Air and every Line of it speaks to his Conscience and because I know the worthy Gentleman who wrote it and that it is a full and clear Proof of what I have said I present my Reader but more especially the Preacher of his Funeral Sermon with a few Paragraphs of it if he will have the Patience to read them It begins thus (d) Letter p. 2. Sir I shall preface what I am about to say with an Assurance That I have formerly had the greatest Veneration for you as well for your Piety as good Sense and Learning that my Notions of Government are so large that the first Thing I ever doubtfully Examined that had your Name affixed to it was your Letter to my Lord Russel But your Actions since do less quadrate with that Opinion and seriously make me address my self to you to know how you reconcile your present Actings to the Principles either of Natural or Revealed Religion especially how you reconcile them with the Positions and Intentions of that Letter and consequently whether you have a Belief of God and the World to come (a) P. 5. But to come to your more particular Case I beseech you to publish some Discourse if you can clear Things to demonstrate either your Repentance of what you wrote to my Lord Russel or the Reasons that make that and what you now do consistent and that you with the usual Solidity with which you treat upon other Subjects justify the Proceedings and explain the Title of K. W. I know no Body hath a stronger and clearer Head and if you have Truth on your Side you can write unanswerably God's Glory and the Reputation of the Protestant Religion is at Stake Your own good Name calls for it and more especially because you have accepted a most Reverend and Devout Man's Archbishoprick A Man who hath given Evidence how unalterably he is a Protestant A Sufferer formerly for the Laws and Church of England and a Sufferer for those very Principles upon which that Letter to my Lord was written for those very Principles which you disputed for when he had so short a time to Live Nay which you remember'd him of even upon the Scaffold with the dreadful Commination of eternal Woe Really Sir if there be any Truth if there be any Vertue if there be any Religion what shall we say to these Things What will you say to them You must be at the Pains to clear this matter that we may not believe the Boundaries of Right and Wrong the Measures of Violence and Justice quite taken away that we may not be tempted to (b) P. 7. speculative and from thence to practical Atheism This Change has made many sober Men sceptical and gone further towards the eradicating all the Notions of a Deity than all the Labours of Hobs and your part in it hath I confess more stagger'd me than any one Thing else I have been ready to suspect That Religion it self was a Cheat and that it was a Defect in my Un-Understanding that I could not look through it For I think if I can know my Right-hand from my Left our present Government stands upon Foundations that contradict all those Discourses which you as well as others have lent to Passive Obedience The excessive Value I have for you for your Knowledg your Judgment your largeness of Spirit your Moderation and many other great Qualities that have signaliz'd your Name once made you one of the greatest Ornaments of the Christian Church Apostacy from what you preached and wrote pretended to believe and would have others believe shake me so violently in the first Credenda of Religion That I beseech you if you think it necessary upon no other Account that you will publish such a Discourse at least for the Satisfaction of mine and other Men's Consciences who I can assure you of my own Knowledg lie under the same Scruples with my self have the same Scruples in relaion to the Government and the same Temptations to question Religion it self upon your Account (a) P. 8. I beg of God Almighty to lay an happy constraint upon me â—o do what may be most for his Glory and the Good of these Nations and I earnestly supplicate him that
signifies grieving our fellow Christians and by our Example occasioning others to sin I will instance in his giving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to those who would receive it in no posture but that irreverent one of sitting This was his Practice at Lincoln's Inn Chappel whither a great Lady of Dr. Owen's Congregation and one of his Hearers too would sometimes resort to receive the Sacrament because as she told a Noble Lord of my acquaintance she could receive it theâ—e sitting And his Practice as a devout Gentlewoman who lived in that Neighbourhood assured me was first to walk about with the Elements to those in the Pews where the Sitters were and give it them first but in the last place to those who kneel'd at the Rail within which he would not go as decency would have directed another Man but coming behind them he gave it them in the Letter of the Proverb over the left Shouldier So the late Bishop of St. Asaph at Dr. Kidder's Church not long after the Revolution gave Dr. Bates and some others the Sacrament in the same irreverent posture to the great offence of some part of the Congregation that saw it and for ought he knew to the endangering of others to despise the Orders of the Church I could give other instances of this nature in the other Sacrament of Baptism wherein the defunct Hero hath acted without excuse against the Churches Orders to the great scandal of others who came to know it and violating the prescribed Rules of Decency and Edification which I suppose come under our Preacher's lesser Matters and when I consider how notoriously He and his Hero have acted in other instances against Justice Mercy Faith and Charity I cannot tell what he esteems the great Truths and Duties of Christianity or the weightier Matters of the Law But he * p. 15. tells us however that his UNBLEMISHED HERO saw with a deep regret the fatal Corruptions of this Age while the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former times disposed many to Atheism and Impiety But methinks he should have said nothing of the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times since they cannot but put men in mind of the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of these which for kind have been the same and for degree or Atrocity as great as those and have also as much disposed men to Atheism and Impiety Was it not rebelling under the Holy pretence of Religion Was it not for taking God's Holy Name in vain in Fasts and Thanksgivings to break his Holy Laws and Judgements with a Popular shew of Sanctimony that he means by the Hypocrisie of former Times and have not the same things been done over again in these And then as for the Extravagancies of those former Times does he not mean by them the proceeding so far under those hypocritical Pretences as first to rise up in Arms against Charles the I. then to abdicate him in the Vote of Non addresses then to murder him before his own Palace and last of all to defend those Extravagancies under the same hypocritical Pretences and magnifie those who did them as our Deliverers to whom we owed the conservation of our Religion Lives and Liberties And if this be his meaning as in appearance it must then I pray him to compare Times with Times Facts with Facts and Pretences with Pretences and then to tell me if as great Extravagancies have not been done in our days And lastly as to disposing men to Atheism and Impiety I appeal to the Consciences of all serious observing men if what hath been done in by and since the Revolution call it by what name you please hath not disposed many more to Atheism and Impiety than what he calls the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times I have heard that in one of his Visitation Speeches to the Clergy of Wiltshire he complained of the deluge of Atheism and Impiety that overflowed this Nation and would to God he would lay his hand upon his heart and consider whether He and his Hero and his Hero's Successor have not among some others helped to set open the Floudgates to that overflowing Deludge by what they have done under the irreligious Pretence of serving and preserving our Religion by acting not only against the plainest Precepts of it but the common notions of Justice Truth and Honesty and their own former Doctrines which now bear witness against them and will hereafter without Repentance rise up in Judgment against them and condemn them when our Lord shall say unto them and every one that hath acted like them out of thy Mouth out of thy Writings will I condemn thee thou wicked Servant In that day this will be the aggravation of their condemnation above the Marshalls the Calamies the Owens and the Goodwins of former Times that they acted the same Iniquities against their own avowed Doctrins and Principles and Subscriptions whereby they had most publickly frequently and solemnly Anathematiz'd the Practises of those men and I will take upon me to say that for any one Athiest He or his Hero converted before the Revolution they have made ten since and that if those men slew their thousands these have slain their ten thousands and I pray God He and some others who have time of Repentance yet left them may consider what I say before it is too late It is scarce worth my pains to examine what he hath said in the same page of the Design that was laid he means in the Reign of King Charles the II. to make us first Athiests that we might more easily be made Papists this seems to be an odd design at least an odd way of expressing it to make men Athiests that they may more easily be made Papists that is first to bring them to believe no Religion that they may believe the Popish and teach them to laugh at the three Creeds that they might believe all the Articles of Pope Pius the IV. with all the supernumerary Traditions of the Roman Church King Charles the II. indeed was not so careful as he should have been in the great Concern of Religion but that was to be imputed also to the Hypocrisies and Extravagancies of former Times which did with his Father as these have done with his Brother but to suggest that he laid a Design to make men Papists by first making of them Athiests is as ridiculous as to say it now when Atheism abounds much more than it did in his Reign One may as reasonably say that he laid a design to make us first Papists that he might more easily make us Rebels or Socinians as our Preacher hath been long made But if by making us Papists he means outward Professors of Popery I must tell him that King Charles the II. was too wise a Prince to think that Athiests could ever be brought to that in such a Nation and Government as this where no inquisition or force sufficient to bring that about could be set up
will remain Sacred and Venerable whatever I have proved him to be nor lose any more of the respect which is due to it because he is a Bishop than human Nature can lose of the Honour and Dignity which is due to it because he is a Man Though Bishops turn Rebels and make Rebels and Outlaws Bishops yet I must reverence the Function by reason I think it of Divine Institution But notwithstanding all my Reverence for it I think it ought not to be a Cover and Protection for ill Men who pervert whole Nations and Churches especially for insolent and cruel Men who persecute their Brethren for no other Reason but because they profess and practise the same Doctrines which they themselves formerly taught the People and because they have endeavoured to convince the World by their Books That these Men are Apostates and have done both our Church and Religion much more harm than they can do it good These are the Traytors to that very Order which some of them have Usurped and seem ready to give up the uninterrupted Succession upon which the Priesthood depends if they may but by gaining one Sort of Dissenters better secure their Baronies and Revenues which they mind more than the Honour of their Order or the Catholick Rights of the Church What else means their Courting at such a fulsom Rate those in one Kingdom who have destroyed it in another Why else are they so ready to treat it away under a Pretence of Union with Dissenters and in Complement to Foreign Churches Why contrary to former Times do they suffer some French Ministers who have not had Episcopal Ordination to Preach and Administer the Sacraments at the Church in the Savoy and its Dependences which by the Act of Uniformity is a Member of the Church of England What means this new Discovery of Comprehension in so many of the late Funeral Sermons which the Convocation rejected Why do they exhort Lay-men to support and Clergy-men to comply with Presbytery in Scotland as I have shewed our Preacher and his Heroe did Or lastly What means the new Hypothesis of * See the Book of the Revelation paraphrased with Annotations on each Chapter Lond. printed by Rich. Wellington at the Lute in St. Paul's Churchyard 1694. Witnessing Churches That because the Churches in Savoy and France which have no Bishops have born their Testimony against Popery therefore Bishops by uninterrupted Succession and Priests of Episcopal Ordination which have been the signal Blessing of the Church of England are not necessary to the Church At the Rate that Annotator writes in very many Places of his Book and Preface we must blend our pure Orders and Priesthood not only with Ministers who derive their Mission from Presbyters but with Ministers who derive them ultimately from meer Lay-men as many of the first Reformers both in France and Savoy were Nay at this rate of talking I know not what is necessary to Christianity either as a Sect professing Doctrines or a Society which Antiquity so much undervalued by him called the Catholick Church For Anabaptists Quakers and Socinians have born their Testimony against Popery and will bear it and therefore in his wild way of Writing not only Bishops but Priests nor Episcopal Orders only but all Orders with Infant Baptism and the Lord's Supper may be parted with as Temporary Ordinances for comprehension of all Sects that pretend to be Christian and witnesses against the Church of Rome Nay this dangerous Hypothesis of the witnessing Churches may for any Thing I see to the contrary be improved to the Advantage of the Jews to prove them to be the Church of God For they have born and will bear their Testimony against Popery and great Numbers of them have died Martyrs against it in the Inquisition I need but mention the Mahumetans who abhor Popery for its Image-Worship and the Invocation of Saints as much as the Witnessing Churches And therefore it is a mad way of arguing to cure us of our Fondness as he is pleased to call it for our uninterrupted Episcopal Succession because the Witnessing Churches have the Misfortune to want it This is the Argument of the Fox in the Fable who had lost his Tail and had Men argued in this manner in the Primitive Times they might have laid aside both the Sacraments in the Church because great Numbers of Catechumens died Martyrs or Witnesses against the Idolatry of Rome Pagan which notwithstanding all the Comments and Annotations of some Men I believe was much more Abominable than that of the modern Papal Rome This Annotator I take to be one of those Men who drive on for Comprehension and with those Latitudinarians it was and more particularly Dr. Tillotson that Dr. Sherlock (a) Temple Serm. upon the Death of the Queen p. 16 17. saith Their Majesties and more particularly the Queen who had more leisure for such Thoughts were inspired with great and pious Designs to serve the Church of England whatever some Men might suspect though it may be not perfectly in their own way But why does he not tell us what this way was And whether it was consistent with his Queries his Book of Union and Communion and his Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's unreasonableness of Separation from the Church of England Dr. Bates the Non-conformist tells us (b) Sermon upon the Death of the Queen p. 20. It was to unite Christians in Things essential to Christianity but he doth not tell us what those Essential Things were or whether they were Things Essential to Christianity as a Society as well as a Sect. But I desire plainly to know what those Things were which they thought Essential to Christianity and in which they were to be United For I am afraid they had a Design to form an Union against the Catholick Church and in order to it give up some Things as not Essential which many as learned and good Men as Dr. T. and these Doctors would have thought Essential to Christianity and that their parting with them would have involved in it a parting with the Lord's Day and Infant Baptism nay all Baptism and the Lord's Supper with the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and have done no good Office to the Power of the Keys nor to the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures which depends so much upon Tradition That they themselves alone are not alone sufficient to prove it without the Testimony of the Church It was my Design in writing these Discourses to aim at all the Men of this broad Way of Union as well as against those Two whom I have detected and thereby to warn the rest of the Clergy against them For God be thanked the main Body of our Clergy are Men of quite different Spirits they do not persecute their old Brethren for their strict Doctrines but pity and help to support them They know by Experience how hard it was for Conscience to overcome the Difficulties of the new Oath and therefore
to say no more of it the Doctor so trinketed in that Affair with his Lordship That Dr. Tillotson was obliged to write that Famous Letter to him a little before his Death and afterwards carried it to the Secretary of State and my Lord Hallifax then the Favourite Minister for his Vindication and so offended he pretended to be at him for something he did to my Lord that he said to a Person of great Reputation of my Acquaintance He would never trust a Scotch-man more for his sake I know no Reason he had to reflect upon his Country which hath been so fruitful in brave Men and Persons of the greatest Honour but however he trusted him after that Resolution and not only trusted him but let himself be too much influenced by him since the Revolution To my Account of this Speech I may add his most unjust exaggerating Character of the Prosecution of the Dissenters in London at the later end of Charles II's Reign He describes it in Terms big enough for the Decian or Dioclesian Persecution * At the later end of his Pref. to Lactantius For he saith it was reasonable to think it contributed not a little to fill up the Measures of the Sins of the Church and to bring down severe Strokes upon the Members of it that they let themselves loose to all the Rages of a mad Persecution to gratify their own Revenges And that they ought seriously to profess their Repentance of this their Fury in Instances that might be as visible as their Rage hath been publick and destructive Hear O ye furious mad raging revengeful Archdeacons Commissaries Officials Church-wardens and Parish Priests within the Liberties of London Give an Account of the Blood you have shed and the Families you have ruined But who can believe a Writer of Story at a greater distance that to gratify Passions and serve Turns will misrepresent such late Transactions and at such an impudent Rate as this I have shewed out of his Reflections on Varillas that he counts it but a small and venial Fault in an Historian if he departs from the exact Laws of History in setting out the best Side of his own Party and the worst of his Adversary and in slightly touching the Failures of the one and severely aggravating those of the other This he hath done throughout his Funeral Sermon of Dr. Tillotson and given me occasion to undeceive the World in the Heroick Character he hath given of him by noting some of his Failings which bring him down to the mediocrity of other Men. Had he been a more private Person or acted in a more private Sphere I should not have called his Canonization of him into question nor taken the Glory from the Picture which he drew of him in his Sermon and sent in numerous Copies about the World But being a Person of great and dangerous Example both to present Times and Posterity and having acted such a Part as he hath had the Misfoâ—tune to do both in Church and State I thought I should do the Christian World good Service in observing some of his Errours Weaknesses and Misdoings lest Men now or hereafter taking of him indeed for a Man of unblemished and heroick Piety should think him imitable in every Thing and follow his dangerous Example where he did ill as well as where he did well One thing I have taken notice of was the unfortunate Part he had in slandering and wronging the Two Kings and since I have concluded my Book I have heard that after the Revolution he did again revive the Report of the Legitimacy of the Duke of Monmouth which being false whatever Opinion he had of it is one of the greatest Slanders to the Memory of one of the Royal Brothers and Injuries to the other that a Man could be guilty of It is well known among the Clergy that one of his most intimate Acquaintance was very zealous after the Revolution in going about to Bishops and other Church-men to try if he could make them believe this old Story to be true and thence to perswade them to take the Oath of Allegiance to King W. because King J. never had any Right to the Crown I know the idle Hear-says he told them to create belief in them of this Stale Fiction and am able to disprove them all and I would here tell them and disprove them but that the great Honour and Respect I have for that Duke 's illustrious Family will nâ—t let me say some Things in Confutation of them which I think would be unacceptable to them to hear But if that second Self of Dr. Tillotson will publish his Hear-say Stories which I always suspected he had from him I will undertake to shew the falseness of them provided he will do it quickly while my Witnesses are alive Another Thing in which Dr. Tillotson fell short of his own Doctrine and was wont to act contrary to it was in noting like many of his Brethren the small Number of the non-complying Clergy upon all Occasions and despising of them and their Cause for that they were so few I thought to have observed this in its proper Place in my second Chapter but having forgot it I will here shew in his own Words what a vain and unmanly Thing it is to argue for or against any Church or Cause from Number and I am the more willing to set them down That neither his Funeral Orator nor any other of his side hereafter may boast of their Numbers or despise any Suffering Cause especially because it is embraced but by a Few * The Protestant Religion vindicated from the Charge of Singularity and Novelty in a Sermon preached before the King at Whitehall Ap. 2. 1680. But we will not stand upon this Advantage with them Suppose we were by much the Fewer So hath the Church of God often been without any the least Prejudice to the Truth of their Religion What think we of the Church in Abraham's Time which for ought we know was consined to one Family and one small Kingdom that of Melchisedeck King of Salem What think we of it in Moses's Time when it was confined to one People wandering in a Wildnerness What of it in Elijah's Time when besides the Two Tribes that worshiped at Jerusalem there were in the other Ten but Seven thousand that had not bowed the Knee to Baal What in our Saviour's Time when the whole Christian Church consisted of Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples and some few Followers beside How would Bellarmin have despised this little Flock because it wanted one or two of his goodliest Marks of the true Church Universality and Splendor And what think we of the Christian Church in the Height of Arianism and Pelagianism when a great part of Christendom was over-run with these Errours and the Number of the Orthodox was inconsiderable in comparison of Hereticks But what need I urge these Instances As if the truth of Religion were to be
estimated and carried by the major Vote which as it can be an Argument to none but Fools so I dare say no honest and wise Man ever made use of it for the solid Proof of the Truth and Goodness of any Church or Religion If Multitude be an Argument that Men are in the Right in vain then hath the Scripture said Thou shalt not follow a Multitude to do Evil for if this Argument be of any force the greater Number never go wrong I have cited this as I have done all other Passages faithfully out of the Works of these two Authors in the following Discourses and whether the Reflections and Applications I have made upon them be just and right and the Consequences I have drawn from them upon themselves be true must be left to the Reader to judge betwixt me and them THE INTRODUCTION AS nothing of late hath more Entertain'd the World than Funeral Sermons So none of them hath had a more General Reception among Men of all Sorts than that preacht at the Funeral of the late Dean of Canterbury whom the Preacher stiles By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England It was sent abroad with its Fiocco by the R. R. Father in God Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum and Men were curious to see what he would say upon an Occasion so inviting to a Fruitful Invention while his Censors of the House were a Sitting I hapned to make a Visit to a Place where I found one Gentleman reading of it to three more who were very attentive to it I came in almost at the Beginning and having only beg'd the Favour of the Text made no other Interruption But though I said nothing upon hearing the Words I marvelled at his Choice of them That he should pitch upon a Place so emphatical for Suffering at the Funeral of a Man who never Suffered nor loved Sufferings but who on the contrary was of a Temper and Constitution that loved Ease and Indolency of which the Apostle enjoy'd little or nothing in the whole Course of his Apostleship But as he taught so was he always practising the Evangelical Doctrine of Sufferings of which he hath left us several short Accounts in his Epistles and sam'd them all up In fighting the good fight of Faith a little before his final Martyrdom when he was ready to be offered and the time of his Passion was at hand At the End of this private Lecture the Gentleman who read first began to Censure Saith he The little Knowledge I had of Dr. Tillotson makes it not proper for me to judge whether or no he deserv'd so great a Character as this Panegyrist hath given him but if he did it was very unfortunate for his Memory that he should have Bishop Burnet for his Funeral Orator A Man that how much soever he may think himself possessed of the Esteem of the World is very much lost in it both at Home and Abroad and upon whose Authority very few Men will believe Things that are true to be so without other very good proof Saith another I am well acquainted with the Writings of Dr. Tillotson and am not a perfect Stranger to his Conversation and I am sure the Character this Bishop has given him is much above his Merit Fy Fy That Men of this Order should so flatter in the Pulpit where Flattering is so abominable He was not (a) Serm. p. 2.28 an Example of Heroick Piety and Vertue his Life was not free from Blemishes and some great ones too and this the Panegyrist knows very well A third then began to argue against some particular Passages in his Sermon particularly against the Truth of what he (b) P. 22. saith of some of our Suffering Bishops and the Authority that displaced them which I shall hereafter recite And then the fourth after a little Silence said with a Critical Authority That his Sermon was a Boyish Piece of Rhetorick more becoming a Declamer than a Preacher and fitter for a Sophister's Desk than a Bishops Pulpit having too much the Air of a young Student's Declamation and also seem'd in some parts of it to have too much of Common Place in it and in others too much Art to be true Nay saith he his own (c) P. 10. 11. 60. Reflexions on Varillas are here true upon himself His Sermon hath too much the Air of a Romance 't is too Fine to be true He seems to write his own Inventions and sets abundance of Whipt Cream before his Reader And then he told us a Story of a bâ—ind Gentleman but a good natural Critick whose Custom was to repair very early to St. Martin's Church and to ask who preacht Saith he he hapned once to ask me the Question and when I told him Dr. Burnet was to preach then in truth saith he we shall have a Whipt Sillibub And I think said he Smiling Dr. Burnet's whipt Sillibub is as far from the Nature of strong and manly Meat as Monsieur Varillas's whipt Cream A Preacher especially at Funerals ought to avoid Strains and when he speaks of the Defunct to speak more like an Historian than an Orator But this Man's Eloquence to use his own Words of (a) Pref. to Lactantius Lactantius carries him often into Strains that become a young Orator better than an Historian for he hath a heat of Stile that ought not to be imitated by one that would write truth but it may be saith he Smiling again in his Words of Lactantius He design'd his Sermon for a mixt sort of Writing between a Declamation and a Funeral Sermon and so may think that the Figures which agree not to the one may be allow'd in the other (b) P. 1. WHILE NATURE FEELS SO GREAT A LOSS AND SINKS UNDER IT This and some more are the Figures of a young Declamer and the Super sublime of our Lawn-sleeve Orator who should not have been transported with the Heats of a vitious Rhetorick Send him to School to Longinus and Rapine to learn the Rules of true and manly Eloquence They will both tell him That what is not Just is not true Eloquence and that a Stile not fit for the Occasion or the Subject in hand always argues defect of Judgment and that no Speech or Treatise which sticks not with the Hearers after it is read though it tickle never so much in Reading can be a Piece of true Eloquence And speak Gentlemen saith he you have all heard this Panegyrick very many fine Things and Generals are said in it but after all I can scarce tell for what he commends his Metropolitan All his pompous Figures have raised in me no great Idea of the Man for after all my Attention I find very little Sticks behind nor do I think this Performance will do his Memory much Service or transmit it with Advantage to Posterity CHAP. I. THis is the Short of what passed in this little Court of Censure upon this Bishop's
make a Cloak of Religion for Covetousness Ambition and Cruelty They will both Lye Murther Rob and Rebel for holy Church and Religion and there never yet was any Holy League Covenant or Association to begin or carry on Rebellion under the holy Pretence of Religion wherein the Ring-leaders were not Atheists or Enthusiasts and of the Two it is hard to tell which hath done most Mischief in any Kingdom and especially in ours But the Enthusiast makes the more plausible and taking Hypocrite of the Two he can sooner melt into Tears and more naturally counterfeit the Spiritual Man among the People and transform himself with a better Grace into an Angel of Light And one cannot but suppose that he had a great Dose of Enthusiasm in him when he undertook to perswade the late unhappy Princess to invade her Father's Kingdom against the Light of Nature and the Principles of her Education and that he season'd his Perswasives with the Salt of Pharisaical Tears pretended to be shed in Commiseration of the Church of England For it is well known that he hath Tears at Command as Enthusiasts of all Religions have He wept like any Crocodile at Mr. Napleton's Relation of the barbarous Usage which the King met with at Feversham And pray Mr. Napleton said he still wiping his Eyes carry my Duty to the King and let him know my Concern for him Which puts me in mind of a Story that I have heard of that Master-Enthusiast Cromwel who when a Gentleman came to entreat his Excellency That he would give leave that he might have a Lock of the Beheaded King's Hair for an honourable Lady Ah! no Sir saith he bursting into Tears that must not be for I swore to him when he was Living that not an Hair of his Head should Perish I beg my Reader 's Pardon for this Digression of Enthusiasm though I hope it is not altogether impertinent to my Undertaking and now return to shew by other Examples how apt our Preacher or Historian call him which you please is to write his Phansies and Inventions for true History and that he is very little if any Thing at all behind Varillas in this Fault which a Man of Letters especially a Divine that desires to have a lasting Reputation ought to avoid as much as a Tradesman that values his Credit ought to take care not to sell Counterfeit or Sophisticated Goods In his first Volume of his History of the Reformation p. 209. he tells us of Two original Letters the one in Italian and the other in English which the Lady Elizabeth not yet Four years of Age wrote to Queen Jane Seymour when she was with Child of King Edward and that they were both writ in the same hand that she wrote all the rest of her Life These are Two strange and incredible Things First That a Child not yet Four years old should have learned a foreign Language to such a Degree of Perfection as to be able to write Letters in it and Secondly That she should write then so well as never to mend or alter her hand after And to these Two I may add those pretty waggish Conceits in the English Letter which he hath there set down with this marginal Note Her Letter to the Queen not yet Four years of Age. In this Letter she Compliments her Highness upon the Pain it was to her to write her Grace being with Child and then after many other Passages which could not be the first Blossoms of a Child as he thinks these Words follow I cannot reprove my Lord for not doing your Commendations in his Letter for he did it and although he had not yet I will not complain on him for that he shall be diligent to give me knowledg from time to time how his busy Child doth for if I were at his Birth no doubt I would see him beaten for the trouble he hath put you to Now I appeal to any considering Man whether those look like the Conceits of a Child not yet Four years old And none certainly but an Historian so rash and phanciful in his Writings as he is would for this Reason have thought that this Letter was written to the Queen And had he taken time enough to reflect and considered his (a) Q. Eliz. was born Sep. 7. 1533. Cath. Par died in Child-bed of her Daughter in the beginning of Sep. 1548. Record better he would have found that her Highness was not the Queen but Catherine Par and my Lord not the King but the Lord Admiral to whom she was married and by consequence that the Lady Elizabeth was then Fifteen years of Age. How many Lashes must poor Varillas have had without mercy if he had been guilty of such a Blunder I know saith he in his (b) P. 29. Reflections upon him There are a Sort of Men that are much more ashamed when their Ignorance is discovered than when their other Vices are laid open since degenerate Minds are more jealous of the Reputation of their Understandings than of their (c) I suppose he means Sincerity Honour And whether this Discovery touches the Reputation of his Understanding or his Honour most I leave him to judge From hence I pass to Bishop Bedel's Life of which he saith in the Preface That his Part in it was so small that he can scarce assume any Thing to himself but the Copying out of what was put into his Hands by Mr. Clogy And in the (d) P. 175. Book he saith again That Mr. Clogy is much more the Author of it than he is For this we have only his own Word which I profess signifies little with me But to know what was his and what Mr. Clogy's he hath left us to Conjecture though I think few that know his way of Writing will so much as doubt that the Romantick Passages which I am going to cite out of it and which are obtruded upon the World for true History are his own Inventions and not Mr. Clogy's But however though they were Mr. Clogy's he is answerable for them for letting them pass unobserved and unchastised into the World But if they are his own as I am confident they are then let Men of the greatest Candor judge what Censure is fit for a Man that would write his own Imaginations for truth though he had declared in the Preface That Lives were to be written with the Strictness of a severe Historian and not helped up with Invention and that those who do otherwise dress up Legends and make Lives rather than write them To deceive and at the same time to declare against deceiving is double Imposture and Imposition in an Historian But Bishop Bedel it seems was worthy for whom our Historian should dispense with the Laws of History as he (a) 13 Eli. 12. did with an Act of Parliament upon a certain Occasion for reading the 39 Articles It is manifest from the Bishops Letters That he was a Latitudinarian in some
When Bedel came over he brought along with him the Archbishop of Spalata and one Despoline a Physitian who could no longer bear with the Corruptions of the Roman Church c. It was in the Year 1610. that Mr. Bedel return'd with Sir H. Wootton into England and the bringing them over should in all Reason and Decency have been ascribed to the Ambassador rather than his Chaplain but having set him up for a Man that had his own Dislikes to bowing at the Name of Jesus the alternative Reading and Singing of Psalms bowing towards the Altar instrumental Musick in Churches and the use of the Common Prayer in private Families he was resolved to paint him with a Glory and transmit his Memory to after Ages by Fictions as well as true Stories and even rob his Patron of his due Praises to extol him Both these are evident from what he saith of Bedel's bringing over Spalatensis and Despoline for as for the former it is evident from his Consilium Profectionis That he did not come over with Bedel it bearing date at Venice 1616 near 6 Years after Mr. Bedel's return from that Place and accordingly Dr. Heylin saith in the (a) P. 102. Life of Laud that Antonius de Dominis betook himself for Sanctuary to the Church of England An. 1616. And as for the latter Sir H. Wootton claims to himself the Credit of bringing him over as appears by his Letters In (b) Reliq Wootton p. 400. one to Sir Edm. Bacon he writes thus There cometh to you with him an Italian Doctor of Physick by Name Gasper Despolini I was glad to be the Conductor of him where his Conscience may be free In another to my dear (c) Ibid. p. 349. Nic. he saith more than a voluntary Motion doth now carry me towards Suffolk especially that I may confer by the way with an Excellent Physitian at B whom I brought my self from Venice I could produce more Instances out of Bedel's Life to shew how apt our Author of it is to write his own Inventions for true History and thereby impose upon the World but I believe I have brought enough for that purpose and hope I have thereby Convinced all Lovers of Truth more than of Mens Persons how unsafe it is to take Things upon trust from him Mr. Bedel was really a Man of great Merit for his Learning Life and Christian Temper which endear'd him to Father Paul who took him into his very Soul and * See Sir Henry Wootton's Life by Mr. Walton câ—mmunicated his most inward Thoughts to him He was also upon a strict Principle of Duty very Exemplary in Conformity to the Rites of the Church He kept all Ember weeks and observed all the Canonical Hours of Prayer very conscientiously and all the Feasts and Fasts of the Church But Dr. Burnet by writing so many Things to his Honour which are not true hath very much dishonoured his Memory and given those who are come to the knowledge of him only by his Life occasion to suspect every Thing he hath said of him and that he hath described him not as he was but as he would have the World believe him to have been But to apply all to the Purpose of my own Writing if he hath taken such Poetical Liberties where he promised to write with the Severity of a strict Historian and to give only a bare and simple Relation of Things I say if he hath taken such Liberties and made so bold with Truth in the Life of one Bishop contrary to his own Promises I think we cannot be too cautious how we believe him in his Funeral Sermon upon the other although he professes to speak of him with Plainess and Simplicity with great Reserves and with a Modesty of Stile through his whole Discourse But I think I have shewed how little Professions of this Nature signify when they come from him and will only add That our blessed Saviour's Advice of taking heed whom and what we hear is very strictly to be observed then when we hear or read him who is so apt to Romance and to speak of Things and Persons as he would have them to be rather than as they are And that he hath so spoken in many Respects of Dr. Tillotson and praised him above his Merits and more than his Memory deserves is according to the Method of the mentioned Conference which I proposed to follow to be the Subject of the ensuing Chapter CHAP. II. AMong the many worthy Men of our Church whose Memories have been transmitted to Posterity we read of some who have forbidden Sermons to be preached at their Funerals of others who have forbidden that any mention should be made of them in their Funeral Sermons and others again have taken care to nominate Persons to preach at their Funerals in whose great Prudence and Judgment they had an entire Confidence that they would speak more to the Living than of the Dead and that what they spoke of them would be Just Modest and Genuin and such as they might have said of themselves without Arrogance had they been Living or heard others say of them without Confusion Had Dr. Tillotson been so careful as to follow any one of these Examples or his Friends so well advised as to follow them for him he would have had more rest in his Grave and perhaps not had his Name so soon and so strictly called into question But having had the Misfortune after his Death to have his Funeral Sermon preached by a Man who hath shewed so little Temper and Justice in his Character but raised his Fame to an undue Pitch upon the Defamation of others more worthy than he I thought I should do a Work acceptable to all Lovers of Truth and of the true Church of England if I shewed in some Instances how undeserving he was of that Character and by noting some of his defects which ought to be noted prevent the Danger which unwary Readers and Hearers of his Funeral Sermon might otherwise fall into of following him upon the implicit Belief of this Character in the Wrong as well as in the Right and walk after him as securely in the devious paths of Errour as in the strait way of Truth For who would not chuse to follow the Example of a Man (a) P. 28. whose Life was free from Blemishes and shined in all the Parts of it and (b) P. 2. who was an Example of all sublime and heroical Piety and Vertue and a Patern both to Church and State And who more especially of our Religion would not follow a Church-man who will be such a lasting Honour to it and who (c) P. 30. kept the sacred Trust of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and maintain'd it pure and undefiled to his dying Day This is the lofty Character which our Preacher hath given us of Dr. T. but falsely and so much above his Merit That he hath had the deplorable Infelicity to do many Things
get but one Act of Parliament how Bribed and Pensionary soever in this Nation our Clergy by this Doctrine would have nothing to do but to pray at home and deliver up their Flocks to the Wolves Dr. Gunning the good and learned Bishop of Ely was so sensible of this consequence that he complained loudly of it in the House of Lords as a Doctrine that would serve the Turn of Popery and so inconsistent is it with and destructive of the Rights of the Church as a Society distinct from the State and independent of it especially in Times of Persecution when it must stand upon its own Rights That it occasioned (a) Dr. Lowth of the Subject of Church Power in whom it resides its force extent and execution Printed for B. Tooke 1685. a very Orthodox and Learned Divine to write an excellent Book against it to which it is hoped he will put his last hand and give another Edition And what Dr. Patrick then thought of this easy but treacherous Doctrine may be seen in what he wrote to Dr. Parker then Arch-deacon of Canterbury in the following Words A Passage I assure you which I and some of our common Acquaintance read not without a great deal of Trouble when we fiâ—st saw it They think it would be well to admonish him in a Letter of this Errour and to represent the Consequences of it to him Exposing his Opinion It is plain by another Passage in that Sermon that he was not Awake nor had his Wits about him as he used to have at other Times when he wrote it The Place I mean is Page 9. There the very Existence of a God may be thought to be called into question by him and to be in his account but a Politick Invention For thus he writes pressing Religion as the strongest Band of human Society God is so necessary to the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind as if the Being of God himself had been purposely designed and contrived for the Benefit and Advantage of Men. In which his meaning is so untowardly expressed that you cannot but think he was indisposed when he wrote so untowardly He hath altered this Passage I hear in the (a) The Reader is desired here to observe That though he printed this Sermon a Second time yet the Second Edition is not noted in the Title Page Second Edition but so it is as I have recited it in that which he sent me at its first coming out and indeed that very Parenthesis in the first part of the Sermon till I better informed shews he was in too great haste at least when he composed it else he would never have adventured to deliver his Opinion in a matter of such Moment till he had been better informed of its Truth I do not write this out of any Change there is in my mind concerning Persons or Things having the very same Thoughts I had when you and I conversed more frequently together but the lamentable Case of Things I cannot but have a love to Dr. Tillotson's Person though I have none for his Opinion I therefore would gladly have him well treated though he be never so sharply reproved This with more will be produced under Dr. Patrick's Hand if there be Occasion and he afterwards confirmed it all to Dr. Parker when they met at London and said that he ought to give Satisfaction by a Retractation or else be exposed If he will not be reduced he ought to have no mercy but to be hunted out of the Christian Church when he will not own it And then as for the Dissenters to whom this Passage was no less offensive as our Preacher saith That (b) P. 11. he had a just Value and due Tenderness for them So he must give me leave to add on this Occasion That his Tenderness for them was much greater than for those of the Church for he made them Satisfaction for the Scandal this Passage gave them but would never do any Thing to remove the Offence which he gave his Brethren of the Church I came to know this Secret by an honourable Person of my Acquaintance who happening to give Dr. Cox a Visit presently after Dr. Stillingfleet had published his Sermon of the Mischief of Separation found Mr. Baxter at his House vehemently inveighing both against it and him This gave occasion to that Gentleman to ask him why he was so severe upon that Sermon and the Author of it and yet took no notice of another which was newly come out and which he thought had given the Men of his Party as muh offence as it did to those of the Church of England What Sermon is that said Mr. Baxter It is the Dean of Canterbury's Court Sermon saith he wherein he tells you That you must not affront the Established Religion nor openly draw Men off from the Profession of it Oh! replied Mr. Baxter he gave us great Offence indeed but he hath cried Peccavi and made us Satisfaction but your other Dean is a proud haughty Man that will retract nothing The Gentleman having finished his Visit took leave of the Doctor and Mr. Baxter and the same day called upon the Dean of Paul's to give him an Account of what had passed betwixt him and Mr. Baxter and finding the Dean of Canterbury with him told the Story to them both Upon which the Dean of Paul's asked the Dean of Canterbury And did you in good earnest cry Peccavi to Mr. Baxter Pish replied he will you mind what Mr. Baxter saith But the Dean of Pauls not being satisfied with that evasive Answer pressed him to a categorical Answer upon which his Countenance altering he went away in disorder without any Reply I tell this Story on purpose to shew our Reverend Clergy of the Convocation what great Reason they have to Censure this Passage because he would never make the Church Satisfaction for it nor do any Thing that looked like Satisfaction but on the contrary hath lately Reprinted it in the Third Volume of his Sermons And I hope Dr. Patrick who was formerly so justly offended at it will now he hath taken an higher Character upon him promote and propose the Censure of it in Convocation The duty the Clergy owe the Church and the honour of their own Order requires them to Censure it especially since it is so contrary to the Purport of their Ordination and their Duty prescribed in it both as Priests and Bishops There they are told That they are Messengers Stewards and Watch men of the Lord that they are not to leave the Sheep when the Wolf cometh and that they are to be ready with all faithful Diligence to drive away and banish all strange Doctrines contrary to God's Word as need and occasion shall require More especially in the Consecration of Bishops St. Paul is proposed as an Example to them who are indeed the Successors of the Apostles in the Epistle to be read on that Occasion There he saith That he
Excellency of our holy Faith and in the (b) P. 7. Character of St. Paul whom he makes his Exemplar he insinuates his great Concern for the Truth and Honour of the Christian Religion and more particularly that he asserted the great (c) P. 31. Mystery of the Trinity when he was desired by some and provoked by others to do it with that Strength and Clearness which was peculiar to him As to the first I thought the Torments of Hell as well as the Joys of Heaven had been part of our holy Faith and taught as plainly by Christ the great Doctor of his Church and also as much implied in the Doctrine of the Resurrection and the last Judgment But how convincingly he hath proved the Truth of them appears from what I have said above And as to his great Concern for the Truth and Honour for the Christian Religion that appears in the same manner by his Apostacy in his Practice from that true and honourable Character he gave of it in his Fifth of November Sermon and as for the Strength and Clearness with which he hath proved the Mystery of the Trinity I refer the Reader to the Book in the * Entitled The Charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson consider'd in Examination of some Sermons he hath lately published to clear himself from that Imputation by way of Dialogue To which are added some Reflections upon the Second of Dr. Burnet's Discourses delivered to the Clergy of Sarum concerning the Divinity and Death of Christ with a Supplement Margent which I hope will see the Light before these Discourses of mine There he will find that his Vindication of himself is but a shuffling Vindication which hath much of Arian Cunning and Reserve in it And that he never departed from his Moderation in this point as our Author saith he did not in another To this I shall add in the next place what he hath said of the heinousness of the Sin of Perjury in his Assize Sermon upon Heb. 6.16 But I shall not insist upon the Application of it as of some former Passages because it will apply it self nor make some severe and dangerous Reflections upon his heroical Piety because they are so obvious that the Reader may make them himself There he saith that all departure from the Simplicity of an Oath is Perjury and that a Man is never a whit the less forsworn because his Perjury is a little finer and more artificial than ordinary That he is guilty of Perjury who having a real Intention when he swears to perform what he promiseth yet afterwards neglects to do it not for want of Power but for want of Will and due Regard to his Oath That the primary and sole Intention of the Third Commandment is to forbid the great Sin of Perjury and that it is observable That there is no Threatning added to any other Commandment but to this and the Second which intimates to us that next to Idolatry and the Worship of a false God Perjury is one of the greatest Affronts that can be offered to the Divine Majesty This is one of those Sins that cries aloud to Heaven and quickens the pace of God's Judgments This Sin by the Secret Judgment of God undermines Estates and Families to the utter ruin of them and among the Heathens it was always reckoned one of the greatest Crimes and which they did believe God did not only punish upon the guilty Person himself but many times upon whole Nations as the Prophet also tells us That because of Oaths the Land mourns I need not use many Words to aggravate this Sin It is certainly a Crime of the highest Nature deliberate Perjury being directly against a Man's knowledge so that no Man can commit it without staring his Conscience in the Face which is one of the greatest Aggravations of any Crime and it is equally a Sin against both Tables being the highest Affront to God and of most injurious Consequence to Men. In respect of Men it is not only a Wrong to this or that particular Person who suffers by it but Treason to human Society subverting at once the Foundations of publick Peace and Justice This is just what our suffering Clergy and People say of Perjury and in consequence of it for their own Vindication Indeed they suffer like Men of heroick Piety because they could not outstare their Consciences as some other Men did and in their Opinion which they have so nobly defended commit Treason against Mankind and the King Dr. Sherlock told the Bishop of Killmore He would be sacrificed before he took the new Oath of Allegiance And Dr. Dove said He would give a Thousand Pound that he might not take it such Struglings they had to overcome the Dictates of their own Consciences which preached unto them the heinous Nature of Perjury And if those who took that Oath with so much Difficulty would but remember their own Case they would have more Compassion for those who could not take it at all more especially had that Tenderness which our Preacher saith his Heroe of Piety had for the Dissenters been genuin and the undesign'd Effect of his tender and extensive Charity he would have been as tender and compassionate to the Dissenters in this Reign as to those of the two former It was fear of Perjury the most heinous Sin of Perjury against which he preached so well that made them stand out and if they are under a Mistake he ought to have pitied and sympathiz'd with them more than other Men. Nay upon reading this excellent Passage against Perjury one would think he should have had more Tenderness and Pity for them than for the dissenting Parties but instead of that he was an early and vigorous Persecutor of them and so continued to his last Stroke though they had defended their Cause much better than the Dissenters were or ever will be able to defend theirs The Sunday after the First of February the day of Deprivation some of the Non-swearing Clergy preached in their Churches as I remember Dr. Sherlock was one and on Munday Morning following one of my Acquaintance going to this Man about some Business he inveighed severely against their Presumption and said Government was not to be so affronted At St. Laurence where he lies buried he preached often against them twice more especially at the beginning of Two several Sessions of Parliament and by degrees forgetting what he had preached against the heinous Sin of Perjury He thought Prisons and all the hard Usages of them which in former Reigns he was wont to call unchristian and inhuman Methods of converting Men not too bad for the best of them When others sometimes would pity them for being deprived and also dragoon'd by the new way of double Taxing he would say They brought their Sufferings upon themselves and which was yet more inhuman he endeavoured to rob them of the Glory of their suffering for Conscience and to bring yet more
other Places of his Diocess immediately before the first Fermentation not to mention the Interest he espoused in the Convention But I believe he more especially means the Archbishop who never came to speak his mind there but nothing can be more absurd than to ascribe it to a design of holding his Revenues first because no man ever despised them more especially in comparison of his Duty and secondly because he must needs know that coming or not coming to the Convention he could not hold his See long if a new Government were set up The Reasons will one day be told why he would not come thither it was not fear but conscience and a real persuasion that his appearance there would do no good which made him decline coming to a Meeting which he thought was so illegally and unauthoritatively called Then it follows Thus did they abandon the Government of the Church and I will say just as the King abandoned and relinquished the Kingdom or as a man abandons his House that is driven from it by force of Arms. Is not this a modest way of representing matter of fact and doth it not excellently well become an Ecclesiastical Historian to call suspending and ejecting Abandoning The word might perhaps have passed in the next Age but no man besides our Preacher would have called it so now that is not Abandoned by Modesty and the love of Truth Then it follows We were in such a Posture by their means that neither our Laws nor our Princes could bear it long What our Princes would or could have born in that Affair I cannot determine but it is well known how they were importuned after the Victor's return from the Boyn by our Preacher and others of his Robe to put other Bishops into the places of the deprived or perhaps it might have been longer before the Schism had been commenced The writ of Intrusion was also devised and prepared in order to this good Work and the pleasure his Hero took in the Invention of that Expedient shews that he was not so incapable as he * p. 29. makes him of craft or violence and that there was something in the †p. 27. World he thought worth much art and great management namely to get Possession of an Archbishoprick worth five thousand pounds a year But then as for our Laws they would have born with it as long as our Princes pleased for it is a Maxim in our Constitution which our Preacher if he knew forgot or dissembled that nullum tempus occurrit Regi and whether it had not been more for the honour of our Church and the reputation of our Religion to have deferred filling up the Sees of our suffering Fathers till their deaths had really made them vacant I leave any indifferent Person to judge I am sure Diocesses have been longer kept vacant than that in probability would have been in the best Reigns and for less important Reasons and if the like forbearance had been practised now this Schism this horrible and unnatural Schism had been prevented nor had we lost the unvaluable advantage we had before over our Adversaries by now having as they have had Bishop against Bishop and Pope against Pope And then to conclude all saith he most triumphantly Therefore the same authority made their Sees void that had displaced the Non-conformists in 61. and the Popish Bishops in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth 's Reign That it was the same authority which displaced the Popish Bishops in Queen Elizabeth's Reign and the Non-conformists in 61. every true Englishman will confess but that that Authority and this which deprived our suffering Fathers is the same a great part of the Nation who are as well versed in our Antiquities Histories Records and Laws as any other men and have studied our Constitution to inform their Consciences as every one knows utterly deny so that our Preacher's asserting that Authority and this to be the same without proving it is precarious and signifies just nothing at all I will not take upon me to be a Judge in this Controversie for it is above my Sphere but only set down some Observations which I have made in reading Books on both sides First then as to the Authority of our Hereditary Kings I observe first that those who in former Reigns have maintained the Cause of our Non Hereditary Princes never had the confidence to deny it but the other side have always taken upon them to deny their Power to be Authority because in their opinion it wanted Right Secondly I have observed that the Arguments or rather Argument for the Authority of our Hereditary Kings is in all Writers of all Reigns and Ages one and the same but in other Writers various different and inconsistent one with another and as for this Government our Preacher advanced one Argument for it in his Pastoral Letter for which the House of Commons damned the whole Book to the Flames where all the other Arguments for taking the Oath but Dr. Sherlock's Providential Right were burnt together with Conquest by the hand of the common Hangman Thirdly I have observed that many Usurpers of this Kingdom have notwithstanding all their other patched Titles pretended also to Birth-right as the best of all and I appeal to the best Friends of the present Government if they would not most willingly exchange all their other Titles for that as the Fox in the Fable who when he was hotly pursued by the Hounds would have given all his shifts which he proudly reckoned up but a little before for that single one of the Cat. And how much it once prevailed above all the rest upon the most solemn hearing that ever was on both sides in any Kingdom may be seen in Roll. Par. 39 Hen. VI. n. 10. which I cited before and once more recommend to the Reader and to our Preacher too But which soever of the two is the best side of the Controversie it did not become him of all men in the Kingdom to affirm those Authorities to be the same who had declared Henry IV. to be an Usurper and the meeting of a Convention without the King 's Writ to be an Essential Nullity and who likewise in his third Discourse deliver'd to his Clergy concerning the infallibility and authority of the Church declares that in all Constitutions among men the most evident thing is this where the supream Authority rests that there should be no danger of mistaking and where and in whom it evidently rests by our constitutions those who have read the many recognition Acts in our Statute Book and the Oath of Supremacy may easily tell But then in the second place let us suppose those Authorities to be the same yet it doth not follow that the Cases of the Deprivations are the same too For the same lawful Authority may in one Reign deprive justly and in another unjustly sometimes it may make good and sometimes it may enact wicked Laws sometimes punish evil-doers
quantam hic fenestram aperiemus in re omnibus communi cogitandi orientur hic fontes questionum opinionum ut tutius multo sit illos simpliciter manere in suo signo Cum nec ipsi suam nec nos nostram partem multo minus utrique totum orbem pertrahemus in eam sententiam sed potius irritabimus ad varias Cogitationes Ideo vellem potius ut sopitum maneret dissidium in duabus istis Sententiis quam ut occasio davetur infinitis quaestionibus ad Epicurisinum profuturis 3. Cum stent hic pro nostrâ sententia 1. textus ipse apertissimus Evangelii qui non sine causâ movet omnes homines non solum pios 2. Patrum decta quamplurima quae non tam facile possunt solvi nec tutâ conscientiâ aliter quam sonat intelligi cum bonâ Grammaticâ textui fortiter consentiant 3. Quia periculosum est statuere Ecclesiam tot annos per totum orbem caruisse vero sensu Sacramenti cum nos fateamur omnes mansisse Sacramenta verbum etsi obruta multis abominationibus 4. Dicta S. Aug. de signo quae contraria nostrae sententiae videntur non sunt firma satis contra ista jam tria dicta maximè cum ex Aug. scriptis clarè possit ostendi convinci Eum loqui de signo praesentis Corporis Vt illud contra Adamantum Non dubitavit Dominus appellare Corpus suum cum daret signum Corporis sui vel de signo corporis mystici in quo valde multus est praesertim in Johanne ubi copiose docet Manducare carnem Christi esse in corpore mystico seu ut ipse dicit in societate unitate charitate Ecclesiae istis enim verbis utitur 5. Ominium est fortissimum Augustinus quod dicit Non hoc Corpus quod videtis Manducaturi estis c. Et tamen conscientia memor apertorum verborum Christi Hoc est Corpus meum hoc dictum S. Aug. facile sic exponit quod de visibili corpore loquatur Aug. sicut sonant verba quod videtis Ita nihil pugnat Aug. cum claris verbis Christi Aug. infirmior est quam ut hoc uno dicto tam incerto imo satis consono nos moveat in contrarium Sensum 6. Ego S. Aug. non intelligo aliter sic ipse Patres ante se sorte intellexerit quam quod contra Judaeos Gentes docendum fuit apud Christianos non comedi Corpus Christi visibiliter more Corporali hac ratione fidem Sacramenti defenderunt Rursus contra Hypocritas Christianorum docendum fuit quod Sacramentum non esset salutare accipientibus nisi spiritualiter manducarent i. e. Ecclesiae essent uniti incorporati hac ratione Charitatem in Sacramento exegerunt ut ex Aug. clarè accipi potest qui absque dubio ex prioribus Patribus sui saeculi usu ista accepit 7. Istis salvis nihil est quod a me peti possit Nam ego hoc dissidium vellem testis est mihi Christus meus redemptum non uno Corpore sanguine meo Sed quid faciam Ipsi forte conscientiâ bonâ capti sunt in alteram sententiam Feramus igitur eos Si sinceri sunt liberabit eos Christus Dominus Ego contra captus sum bonâ certè conscientiâ nisi ipse mihi sim ignotus in meamsententiam ferant me si non possint mihi accedere Si vero illi sententiam suam sc de praesentiâ Corporis Christi cum pane tenere velint petierint Nos invicem tamen tolerari ego planè tolerabo in spe futurae communionis nam interim communicare Illis in fide sensu non possum Deinde si politica concordia quaeritur ea non impeditur diversitate Religionis sicut novimus posse conjugia commercia aliaque politica constare inter diversae religionis homines 1 Cor. 7. Christus faciat ut perfecte conteratur Satan sub nostris pedibus Amen Nostra autem sententia est Corpus ita cum pane seu in pane esse ut revera cum pane manducetur quemcunque motum vel actionem panis habet eandem Corpus Christi ut Corpus Christi verè dicatur ferri dari accipi manducari quando panis fertur datur accipitur manducatur Id est Hoc est Corpus meum No. III. A LETTER written to my Lord Russel in Newgate the Twentieth of July 1683. My Lord. I Was heartily glad to see your Lordship this Morning in that calm and devout temper at the Receiving of the Blessed Sacrament but Peace of mind unless it be well-grounded will avail little And because transient Discourse many times hath little effect for want of time to weigh and consider it therefore in tender compassion of your Lordships Case and from all the good will that one Man can bear to another I do humbly offer to your Lordships deliberate thoughts these following Considerations concerning the points of Resistance If our Religion and Rights should be invaded as your Lordship puts the Case concerning which I understand by Dr. B. that your Lordship had once received Satisfaction and am sorry to find a change First That the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the Resistance of Authority Secondly That though our Religion be Established by Law which your Lordship urges as a difference between our Case and that of the Primitive Christians yet in the same Law which Establishes our Religion it is declared That it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. Besides that there is a particular Law declaring the Power of the Militia to be solely in the King And that ties the hands of Subjects though the Law of Nature and the General Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty which I believe they do not because the Government and Peace of Humane Society could not well subsist upon these Terms Thirdly Your Lordships opinion is contrary to the declared Doctrin of all Protestant Churches and though some particular Persons have taught otherwise yet they have been contradicted herein and condemned for it by the Generality of Protestants And I beg your Lordship to consider how it will agree with an avowed asserting of the Protestant Religion to go contrary to the General Doctrin of Protestants My end in this is to convince your Lordship that you are in a very Great and Dangerous Mistake and being so convinced that which before was a Sin of Ignorance will appear of much more heinous Nature as in Truth it is and call for a very particular and deep Repentance which if your Lordship sincerely exercise upon the sight of your Error by a Penitent Acknowledgment of it to God and Men you will not only obtain Forgiveness of God but prevent a mighty Scandal to the Reformed Religion I am very loath to give your Lordship any disquiet in the Distress you are in
which I commiserate from my heart but am much more concerned that you do not leave the World in a Delusion and false Peace to the hindrance of your Eternal Happiness I heartily Pray for you and beseech your Lordship to believe that I am with the greatest Sincerity and Compassion in the World My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and Afflicted Servant J. Tillotson Printed for R. Baldwin 1683. No. IV. To the KING' 's most Excellent Majesty James the Second c. The Humble Address of the Bishops and Clergy of the City of London WE your Majesties most humble and Dutiful Subjects do heartily condole your Majestie 's loss of so dear a Brother of Blessed Memory And do thankfully adore that Divine Providence which hath so Peaceably setled your Majesty our Rightful Sovereign Lord upon the Throne of your Ancestors to the joy of all your Majesties good Subjects And as the Principles of our Church have taught us our Duty to our Prince so we most humbly thank your Majesty for making our Duty so Easie and pleasant by your gracious assurance to defend our Religion established by Law which is dearer to us than our Lives In a deep sence whereof we acknowledg our selves for ever bound not only in Duty but gratitude to contribute all we can by our Prayers our Doctrine and Example to your Majesties happy and prosperous Reign And with our most sincere promises of all Faith and Allegiance do humbly implore the Divine goodness to preserve your Majesties Person and to establish your Throne in this World and when he shall be pleased to Translate you hence to bestow on you an Eternal Crown of Life and Glory No. V. IN the Name of God Amen Before the Lord Jesus Christ Judge of the Quick and Dead We long since became bound by Oath upon the sacred Evangelical Book unto our Sovereign Lord Richard late King of England That we as long as we lived shall bear true Allegiance and fidelity towards him and his Heirs succeeding him in the Kingdom by just Title Right and Line according to the Statutes and Custom of this Realm have here taken unto us certain Articles subscribed in form following to be proponed heard and tryed before the just Judge Christ Jesus and the whole World But if which God forbid by force Fear or violence of wicked Persons we shall be cast in Prison or by violent Death be prevented so as in this world we shall not be able to prove the said Articles as we wish Then we do appeal to the high Celestial Judge that he may judge and discern the same in the day of his supream Judgment First we depose say and except and intend to prove against Henry Darby commonly called King of England himself pretending the same but without all Right and Title thereunto and against his adherents fautors Complices that they have ever been are and will be Traytors Invaders and Destroyers of God's Church and of our Sovereign Lord Richard late King of England his heirs his Kingdom and Common-wealth as shall hereafter manifestly appear In the Second Article they declare him Forsworn Prejured and Excommunicate for that he conspired against his Sovereign Lord King Richard In the Fourth they recite by what wrong illegall and false means he exalted himselfe into the Throne of of the Kingdom and then describing the miserable State of the Nation which followed after his Usurpation they again pronounce him Perjured and Excommunicate In the Fifth Article they set forth in what a Barbarous and inhuman manner Henry and his Accomplices Imprisoned and Murthered K. Richard and then cry out wherefore O England arise stand up and avenge the Cause the Death and injury of thy King and Prince If thou do not take this for certain that the Righteous God will Destroy thee by strange Invasions and foreign Power and avenge himself on thee for this so horrible an Act. In The Seventh they depose against him for putting to Death not only Lords Spiritual and other Religious Men but also divers of the Lords Temporal there Named for which they pronounce him Excommunicate In the Ninth they say and depose that the Realm of England never Flourished nor Prospered after he Tyrannically took upon him the Government of it And in the Last they Depose and protest for themselves and K. Richard and his Heirs the Clergy and Commonwealth of the whole Realm that they intended neither in word nor deed to offend any State of men in the Realm but to prevent the approaching Destruction of it and beseeching all men to favour them and their designs whereof the First was to Exalt to the Kingdom the true and lawful Heir and him to Crown in Kingly Throne with the Diadem of England No. VI. THat all Parliaments and Ambitious selfe seekers in them who under pretence of publick Reformation Liberty the Peoples ease or welfare have by indirect Surmise Policies Practices Force and new Devices most Usurped upon the Prerogatives of their Kings or the Persons Lives Offices or Estates of such Nobles great Officers and other Persons of a contrary Party whom they most dreaded maligned and which have imposed new Oaths upon the Members to secure perpetuate and make irrevocable their own Acts Judgments and unrighteous Proceedings have always proved most abortive successless pernicious to themselves and the activest Instruments in them The Parliaments themselves being commonly totally repealed null'd and the Grandees in them suppressed impeached condemned destroyed as Traytors and Enemies to the Publick in the very next succeeding Parliaments or not very long after That Kings Created and set up meerly by Parliaments and their own Power in them without any true Hereditary Title have seldom answer'd the Lords and Commons Expectations in the Preservation of their just Laws Liberties and Answers to their Petitions yea themselves at last branded for Tyrants Traytors Murderers Usurpers Their Posterities impeached of High-Treason and disinherited of the Crown by succeeding Kings and Parliaments of c. From these Three last Observations we may learn that as Parliaments are the best of all Courts and Councils when duly Summoned Convened Constituted Ordered and kept within their Legal Bounds So they become the greatest Mischiefs and Grievances to the Kingdom when like the Ocean they overflow their banks or degenerate and become through Sedition Malice Fear or Infatuation by Divine Justice promoters of corrupt sinister Ends or Accomplishers of the private Designs and ambitious Interests of particular Persons under the disguise of Publick Reformation Liberty Safety and Settlement No. VII ALtho' it can no way be doubted but that His Majesty's Right and Title to these Crowns and Kingdoms is and was every way Compleat by the Death of His most Royal Father of Glorious Memory without the Ceremony and Solemnity of a Proclamation Yet since Proclamations in such Cases have been always used to the end that all good Subjects might upon this Occasion testify their Duty and Respect And since the Armed Violence and