of the Bishops this Law was consented to by them in the House of Lords But what shame is due to him who has treated that Venerable Bench and in particular his Metropolitan in so scurrilous a manner The Order has much more cause to be ashamed of such a Member tho if there are two or three such as he is among the Twenty six they may Comfort themselves with this That a dozen of much berter Men had one among them that I confess was not much worse if it was not for this That he let the price of his Treachery fall much lower than Sa. Oxon does who is still true to his Old Maxim that he delivered in Answer to one who asked him What was the best Body of Divinity which was That that which could help a man to keep a Coach and six Horses was certainly the best But now I come to Examine his Reasons for abrogating the TEST The first is That it is conâ—rary to the Natural Rights of Peerage and turns the Birth-Right of the English Nobility into a Precarious Title which is at the mercy of every Faction and Passion in Parliament and that therefore how useful soever the TEST might have been in its season it sometime must prove a very ill President against the Right of Peerage and upon this he tells a story of a Protestation made in the House of Lords against the TEST that was brought in in 1675 together with the Resolution of the House against that Penalty upon the Peers of loosing their Votes in case of a Refusal he represents this as a Test or Oath of Loyalty against the Lawfulness of taking Arms upon any pretence whatsoever against the King. But in Answer to all this one would gladly know what are the Natural Rights of Peerage and in what Chapter of the Law of Nature they are to be found for if those Rights have no other Warrant but the Constitution of this Government then they are still subject to the Legislative Authority and may be regulated by it The Right of Peerage is still in the Family only as the exercise of it is limited by the Law to such an Age so it may be suspended as oft as the Publick Safety comes to require it even the indelible Character it self may be brought under a total Suspension of which our Author may perhaps afford an instance at some time or other 2. Votes in either House of Parliament are never to be put in Ballance with Establish'd Laws these are but the Opinions of One House and are changeable 3. But if the TEST might have been useful in its Season one would gladly see how it should be so soon out of Season for its chief Use being to Secure the Protestant Religion in 1678. it does not appear That now in 1688. the Dangers are so quite dissipated that there is no more need of Securing it In one Sense we are in a Safer Condition than we were then for some False Brethren have shewed themselves and have lost that little Credit which some unhappy Accidents had procured them 4. It was not the Loyalty in the TEST of the Year 1675. that raised the greatest Opposition to it but another part of it That they should never Endeavour any Alteration in the Government either in the Church or State. Now it seemed to be an unreasonable Limitation on the Legislative Body to have the Members engaged to make no Alteration And it is that which would not have much pleased those For whose Satisfaction this Book is published The second Reason was already hinted at of its dishonourable Birth and Original pag. 10. which according to the decency of his stile he calls the first Sacrament of the Otesian Villany pag. 9. This he aggravates as such a Monstrous and Inhuman piece of Barbarity as could never have entred into the thoughts of any man but the infamous Author of it this piece of Elegance tho it belongs to this Reason comes in again in his Fourth Reason Pag. 6. and to let the House of Lords see their Fate if they will not yield to his Reasons he tells them that this will be not only an Eternal National Reproach but such a blot upon the Peers that no length of time could wear away nothing but the Universal Conoagration could destroy which are the aptest Expressions that I know to mark how deeply the many blots with which he is stigmatized are rooted in his Nature The wanton man in his Drawcansir humor thinks that Parliaments and a House of Peers are to be treated by him with as much Scorn as is justly due to himself But to set this matter in its true Light it is to be remembred that in 1678. there were besides the Evidences of the Witnesses a great many other Discoveries made of Letters and Negotiations in Forreign Parts chiefly in the Courts of France and Rome for Extirpating the Protestant Religion upon which the Parts that was most united to the Court set on this Law for the Test as that which was both in it self a just and necessary Security for the Establish'd Religion and that would probably lay the fermentation which was then in the Nation and the Act was so little acceptable to Him whom he calls its Author that he spake of it then with Contempt as a Trick of the Court to lay the Nation too soon asleep The Negotiations beyond Sea were too evidently proved to be denied and which is not yet generally known Mr. Coleman when Examined by the Committee of the House of Commons said plain enough to them that the Late King was concerned in them but the Committee would not look into that matter and so Mr. Sacheverill that was their Chair-man did not report it yet the thing was not so secret but that one to whom it was trusted gave the Late King an Account of it who said That he had not heard of it any other way and was so fully convinced that the Nation had cause given them to be jealous that he himself set forward the Act and the rather because he saw that the E. of S. did not much like it The Parliament as long as it was known that the Religion was safe in the Kings Negative had not taken any great Care of its own Constitution but it seemed the best Expedient that could be found for laying the Jealousies of His Late Majesty and the apprehensions of the Successor to take so much Care of the Two Houses that so the Dangers with which men were than allarm'd might seem the less formidable upon so effectual a Security and thus all the stir that He keeps with Perjury and Imposture ought to make no other impression but to shew the wantonness of His own Temper that meddles so boldly with things of which He knew so little the true Secret For here was a Law passed of which all made great use that opposed the Bill of Exclusion to demonstrate to the Nation that there could be no Danger of
An ENQUIRY into the Reasons for Abrogating the TEST imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by Sa. Oxon. WHEN the Cardinals in Rome go abroad without Fiocco's on their Horses heads it is unstood that they will be then incognito and they expect nothing of that Respect which is payed them on other Occasions So since there is no Fiocco at the Head of this Discourse no Name nor Designation it seems the Writer offers himself to be examined without those nice regards that may be due to the Dignity he bears and indeed when a Man forgets what he is himself it is very natural for others to do it likewise It is no wonder to see those of the Roman Communion be stir themselves so much as they do to be delivered from the Test and every thing else that is uneasie to them and tho othres may find it very reasonable to oppose themselves in all the just and legal ways that agree with our Constitution to this Design yet it is so natural to all that are under any Pressure to desire to get free from it that at the same time that we cannot forbear to withstand them we cannot much condemn them but it raises nature a little to see a Man that has been so long fatned with the Spoils of our Church and who has now got up to a degree so disproportioned to his Merit to turn so treacherously upon it If he is already weary of his comfortable importance and will here give her into the bargain and declare himself no body will be surprised at the change of his masque since he has taken much pains to convince the World that his Religion goes no deeper than his Habit yet tho his confidence is of a piece with all his other Vertues few thought it could have carried him so far I confess I am not surprized but rather wonder to see that others should be so for he has given sufficient Warning of what he is capable of he has told the World what is the worst thing that Dr. Burnet can do p. 50. but I am sure the Dr. cannot be quit with him to tell what is the worst thing that he can do it must needs be a very fruitful Fancy that can find out all the degrees of Wickedness to which he can go And tho' this Pamphlet is a good Essay of his Talent that way yet that Terra Incognita is boundless In the Title Page it is said that this was first writ for the Author 's own Satisfaction and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern But the words are certainly wrong placed for the truth of the matter is That it was written for the Author 's own benefit and that it is now published for the satisfaction of all others whom it may concern In some sense perhaps it was written for the Author 's own Satisfaction for so petulant and so depraved a mind as His is capable of being delighted with His Treachery and a poor Bishoprick with the addition of Presidentship being too low a Prize for His Ambition and Avarice He resolved to assure Himseif of the first great Bishoprick that falls the Liege Letter let us see how far the Iesuits were assured of him and how much courted by him and that he said that none but Athiests supported the Protestant Religion now in England yet how many soever of these may be among us He is upon the point of lessening their number by one at least and he takes care to justifie the Hopes which these Father 's conceived of Him. They are severe Masters and will not be put off with Secret Civilities Lewd Jests Entertainments and Healths drank to their good Success so now the Price of the â—residenâ—ship is to be pay'd so good a Morsel as this deserved that Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Tillotson Dr. Burnet and some other Divines should be ill used and He to preserve the Character of Drawcansir which is as due to Him as thâ—t of Bays falls upon the Articles of the Church and upon both Houses of Parliament It is Reproach enough to the House of Lords that He is of it but it is somewhat new and a Character becoming Sa. Oxon to arraign that House with all the Insolence to which He can raise his wanton Pen. Laws that are in being are treated with respect even by those who move for their Repeal but our Drawâ—ansir scorns that modest strain He is not contented to arraign the Law but calls it Barbarous and says that nothing can be more Barbarous and Prophane than to make the renouncing of a Mystery so unanimously received a State Test pag. 133. pag. 64. But he ought to have avoided the word Prophane since it leads men to remember that He had taxed the praying for the King as under God and Christ as Crude not to say Prophane when in the prospect He had then 36 of a Bishoprick he raised the King above Christ but now another prospect will make Him sink Him beneath the Pope who is but at best Christs Vicar But this is not all there comes another Flower that is worthy of Him He tells us That the TEST was the First-born of Oats 's Plot and brought forth on purpose to give Credit and Reputation to the Perjury pag. 5. and because this went in common between the Two Houses He bestows a more particular mark of His Favour on the House of Lords and tells them That this was a Monument erected by themselves in honour of so gross an Imposture ibid. But after all the Royal Assent was added and here no doubt it itched somewhere for if it had not been for the manner of the Late King's Death and the Papers published since His Death He would have wreaked His Malice upon His Memory for He will never forgive His not Advancing him And the Late King being so true a Judgâ— of Wit could not but be much taken with the best Satyr of our Time and saw that Bays's Wit when measured with anothers was of a piece with hiâ— Vertues and therefore judged in favour of the Rehearsal Transpros'd this went deep and though it gave occasion to the single piece of Modesty with which he can be charged of withdrawing from the Town and not importuning the Press more for some years since even a Face of Brass must grow red when it is so Burnt as his was then yet his Malice against the Elder Brother was never extinguished but with his Life But now a strange conjuncture has brought him again on the Stage and Bays will be Bays still He begins his Prologue with the only soft word in the whole piece I humbly conceive but he quickly repents him of that Debonarity and so makes Thunder and Lightning speak the rest as if his Designs were to Insult over the two Houses and not to convince them He who is one of the Punies of his Order and is certainly one of its justest Reproaches tells us pag. 8. That to the shame
Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-Establishment of that Religion This is but one Hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave a rise to the other Discoveries and a fair Opportunity to those who knew the Secret of the Late King's Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The Third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for iâ— was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here He stretches out His Wings to a Top fligâ—t and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from His Throne the disowning neglecting and aâ—fronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this Sacred Prerogative of his Holy Catholick Church and then that He might have occasion to feed his Spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous Objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that He might shew His respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis that to their Shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no Shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two Points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation defined them both for above an Age before In the 28 th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transubstantiatien or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same Body of Articles since in the Article 35 the Homiliys are declared to contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People And the Second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe Expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign 'em must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the Name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it Her Self A man must be of Bays's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points had been already determined and were a part of our Doctrine enacted by Law all that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he â—an make out of this or how he can justifie the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order as if they had as much as in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betraied the Rights of the Church of England as by Law established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8.9 All this shews to whom he was pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour if he has any left When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good Men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were not worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in Figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus suceeded to Marcus Aurelius I do not find a more incongrous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falsehood of the matters contained in the Declaration it self pag. 9. for our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a paragraph as was formerly marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Genty that Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the School-men and Metaphysitians and that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the Rules of Honour and the Laws of their Countrey the practice of Martial Discipline and the Examples of Great Men in former Ages and by them to square their Actions in their reâ—â—â—â—tive Stationâ— and the life But â—ine the Bishop is here without his Fiocco yet at least for Decencys sake he should have named Religion and Virtue among the pâ—oper Studies of the Gentry and if he dares not trust them with the reading the Scriptures yet at least they might read the Articles of our Church and hearken to the Homilies for tho it has been long one of the first Maxims that he has infused into all the Clergy that come near him that the People ought to be brought into an 〈…〉 ance in matters of Religion that Preaâ—â—ing ought to be laid aside for a Preaching Church could not stand that in Sermons no points of Doctrine ought to be explained and that only the Rules of Human Life ought to be told the People yet after all they may read the short Articles and tho they were as blindly Implicit as he would wish them to be yet they would without more Enquiry find