from the Bishops than that they have in part retained in their Government and Ceremonies the Exteriors of that Religion should now themselves joyn to bring it intirely in But above all Who could have believed that the French Ministers who after having experimented all the Fury of Popery in France were at last banished rather than that they would subscribe to its Errors and Abuses And for this very cause fled into England that they might there more freely profess the Protestant Religion should now contribute to re-establish Popery in their new Country where they had been received by their Brethren with so singular a Charity Would you indeed Gentlemen see England once more submitted to the Tyranny of the Pope whose Yoke it so happily threw off in the last Age Would you there see all those monstrous Doctrines all those Superstitions and that horrible Idolatry which reigned there before the Reformation domineer once more in it Would you that the People should again hear the Pulpits and the Churches sounding out the Doctrins of Purgatory of Indulgences of the Sacrifice of the Mass c. and see the Image and Reliques of the Saints carried solemnly in Procession with a God formed by the hand of Man. And that in sine they should again publickly adore those vain Idols We are confident there is not â—… good Protestant in the World that would not startle â—… at the thought of it But this is not yet all The Declaration of which we speak does not only re-establish Popery with all its abominations but does moreover tend to the Ruine of the Reformation in England A Man need not to have any great Sagacity to be convinced of this And that as much as it seems to establish for ever the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom it does on the contrary destroy the very Foundations of it The ground upon which the Reformation is founded in England are the Laws which have been made at several times for the settlement of it and to abolish either the Tyranny of the Pope or the Popish Religion altogether And as these Laws have been made by the King and Parliament together so that the King has not the power to Repeal them without a Parliament they secure the Protestant Religion against the Enterprizes of such Kings as should ever think to Destroy it But now if this Declaration be executed we are no more to make any account of those Solemn Laws which have been passed in favour of the Reformation they become of no value and the Protestant Religion is intirely lest to the King's Pleasure This is what will clearly appear from what we are about to say The King not having been able to obtain of the last Parliament to consent to a Repeal of the Laws which had been made against the Nonconformists dissolved the Parliament it self Not long after without attending a new one he did that alone by his Declaration which the Parliament would not do conjunctly with him He granted a all Liberty of Conscience to the Nonconformists he freed them from the Penalties which had been appointed against them and dispensed with the Oaths to which the Laws obliged all those who were admitted to any Charges whether in the souldiery or in administration of Justice or of the Government In pursuance of these Declarations he threw the Protestants out of all Places of any great Importance to clap in Papists in their room and goes on without ceasing to the intire establishment of Popery Who does not see that if the Protestants approve these Declarations and themselves authorize such Enterprises the King will not stop here but that this will be only one step to carry him much further What can be did when he shall do the same thing with reference to those Laws which exclude the Papists out of the Parliament that he has done to those which shut them out of all Charges and Imploys and forbad them the Exercise of their Religion Does not the approbation of such Declarations as it overthrows these last carry with it before-hand the approbation of those which shall one day overthrow the former And if the King shall once give himself the Authority to bring Papists into the Parliament who shall hinder him from using Solicitations Promises Threatnings and a thousand other the like means to make up a Popish Parliament And who shall hinder him with the concurrence of that Parliament to repeal all the ancient Laws that had been passed against Popery and make new ones against the Protestants These are without doubt the natural Consequences of what the King at this time aims at These are the fruits which one ought to expect from it if instead of approving as some have done his Enterprises against the Laws they do not on the contrary with all imaginable Vigor oppose them Reflect a little on what we have here said and you will confess that we have reason to commend the Conduct of the Bishops who refused to publish the Declaration and to condemn those Dissentèrs who have made their Addresses of Thanks for it It is true that the Dissenters are to be pitied and that they have been treated hardly enough and we do not think it at all strange that they so earnestly sigh after Liberty of Conscience It is natural for Men under Oppression to seek for Relief and Liberty of Conscience considered only in it self is it may be the Thing of all the World the most precious and most desirable Would to God we were able to procure it for them by any lawful means and without such ill Consequences tho' it were at the peril of our Lives But we conjure them to consider how pernicious that Liberty of Conscience is which is offer'd to them as we have just now shewn On the one side it is inseparably linked with the Establishment of Popery and on the other it cannot be accepted without approving a terrible Breach which his Majesty thereby makes upon the Laws and which would be the ruine of the Reformation in his Kingdoms were not some Remedy brought to it And where is the Protestant who would buy Liberty of Conscience at so dear a rate and not rather chuse to continue deprived of it all his Life Should the private Interest of our Brechren the Dissenters blind them in such a manner that they have no regard to the general Interest of the Church Should they for enjoying a Liberty of Conscience so ill assured shut their Eyes to all other Considerations How much better would it be for them to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline but especially at this time when their Conduct ought to have entirely defaced those unjust Suspicions which they had conceived against them But if they could not so readily dispose themselves to such a Re-union would it not be better for them to resolve still to continue without Liberty of Conscience and expect some more favourable time when they may by lawful
give them English Liberties let them dig down their Walls and let in the Sea let them begin with some of these Preliminaries before they think of Repealing the Laws against Popery and of letting loose such Consciences as these upon us To Conclude therefore It highly Concerns you in the Choice of Parliament-Men to decline all those Men who are willing to Consent to so Great and so Fatal a Revolution as the Repeal of so many Laws at once which would plainly expose the Protestant Religion to be swallowed up You want Men like their Ancestors who had the Courage and Resolution to declare in Parliament Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari We will not have the Laws of England altered Chuse such as will not Betray the Great ' Frust you repose in them The Writ for Elections says That you Impower your Representatives Tell them therefore for what you Impower them For the Maintenance and Presirvation of the Protestant Religion and of our good Laws and not for their Destruction And when you have done this and taken all the care you can you have done your Duties And I have nothing more to add but GOD speed your Elections An ENQIRY 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 understood 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 itlikewise It is no wonder to see those of the Roman Communion bestir themselves so much as they do to be delivered from the Test and every thing else that is uneasie to them and though others 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 give her into the bargain and declare himself no body will be surprized 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 though 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 what he is capable of he has told the World what is the worst thing that Dr. Burnet can do pag. 50. but I am sure the Doctor 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 though this Pamphlet is a good Essay of his Talent that way yet that Terra Incognia 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 sence 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 a Presidentship being too low a Prize for his Ambition and Avarice He resolved to assure Himself of the first great Bishoprick that falls the Litge Letter lets us see how far the Jesuites were assured of him and how much courted by him and that he said that none but Atheists 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 conceiv'd 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 Presidentship is to be paid 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 that 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 Repcal but our Drawcansir 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 then to make the renouncing of a Mistery so unanimously received a State Test p. 133. p. 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 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 Christ's 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 sorth on purpose to give Credit and Reputation to the Perjury p. 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
means attain it than to open themselves a Gite to Popery and to concur with it to the Ruine of the Protestant Religion You will it may be tell us that it looks ill in us who so much complain That we have been deprived of Liberty of Concience in France to sind fault with the King of England for granting it to his Subjects And that it is the least that can be allowed to a Soveraign to allow him the Right to permit the exercise of his own Religion in his own Kingdoms and to make use of the Service of such of his Subjects as himself shall think sit by putting them into Charges and Employs You will add That his Majesty does not go about neither to abrogate the ancient Laws nor to make new ones All he does being only to dispence with the Observation of certain Laws in such of his Subjects as he thinks fit and for as long time as he pleases and that the right of dispensing with and suspending of Laws is a Right insepably tied to his Person That for the rest the Protestant Religion does not run the least Risque There are Laws to shut the Papists out of Parliament and these Laws can neither be dispensed with nor suspended So that the Parliament partaking with the King in the Legislative Power and continuing still Protestant there is no cause to fear that any thing should be done contrary to the Protestant Religion Besides What probability is there that a King who appears so great an Enemy to Oppression in matters of Conscience and Religion should ever have a thought tho' he had the Power himself to oppress in this very matter the greatest part of his Subjects and take from them that Liberty of Conscience which he now grants to them and which he promises so â—… to observe for the time to come These are all the Objections that can with â—… appearance of Reason be made against what we have before said They may all be reduced â—… five which we shall examine in their order And we doubt not but we shall easily make it appear that they are all but meer Illusions 1. We do justly complain That they had taken from us our Liberty of Conscience in France because it was done contrary to the Laws And one may as justly complain that the K. of England does labour to re-estalish Popery in his Country because he cannot do it but contrary to the Laws Our Liberties in France were founded us on solemn Laws upon perpetual irrevocable and sacred Edicts and which could not be â—… without violating at once the Publick Faith the Royal Word and the Sacredness of an Oath And Popery has been banished out of England by Laws made by King and Parliament and which cannot be repealed but by the author of King and Parliament together so that the therefore there is just cause to complain that the King should go about to overthrow them himself alone by his Declaration 2. It is not true that a Soveraign has always the right to permit the Exercise of his own Religion in his Dominions and to make use of the â—… of such of his Subjects as he himself shall that fit that is to say by putting of them into â—… and Employs And in particular he has this right when the Laws of his Country contrary thereunto as they are in the â—… before us Every King is obliged to observe the fundamental Laws of his Kingdom And the King of England as well as his Subjects ought to observe the Laws which have been established by King and Parliament together 3. For the third the distinction between abrogation of a Law and the dispensing â—… and suspending of it cannot here be of use whether the King abrogates the Laws which have been made against Popery or whether without saying expressly that he does abrogate them he overthrows them by his Declarations under pretence of dispensing with suspending of them it is still in effect same thing And to what purpose is it the Laws are not abrogated if in the â—… time all sorts of Charges are given to Papists and Popery it self be re-established contrary to the tenor of the Laws The truth is if the King has such a power as this if this be â—… Right necessarily tied to his Person 't is in vain â—… the Parliament does partake with him in the Legislature This Authority of the Parliament is but a meer Name a Shadow a Phan â—… a Chimera and no more The King is still the absolute Master because he can alone and without his Parliament render useless by his Declarations the Laws which the Parliament shall have the most solemnly established together with him We confess the King has right of dispensing in certain Cases as if the concern be what belongs to his private Interest he may without doubt whenever he pleases depart from his own Rights 't is a Liberty which no body will pretend to contest with him But he has not the power to dispense to the Prejudice of the Rights of the people â—… by consequence put the Property the Liberty and the Lives of his Protestant Subjects into the hands of Papists 4. What we have now said in Answer to the third Objection will be more clear from the Answer we are to give to the fourth They should perswade the Protestants that their Religion is in safety because on the one side the King cannot make Laws without the Parliament and that on the other there being Laws which exclude Papists out of the two Houses it must necessarily follow That the Parliament shall continue to be Protestant But if the King has the power to break through the Laws under the pretence of dispensing with and suspending of them what Security shall the Protestants have that he will not dispense with the Papists the Observation of those Laws which do exclude them out of the Parliament as well as â—… has dispensed with those that should have kept them out of Charges and Imployments â—… Security shall they have that he will â—… at any time hereafter suspend the Execution of the former as he has already suspended the Execution of the latter Which being â—… what should hinder us from seeing in a little â—… a Popish Parliament who together with the King shall pass Laws contrary to the Protestant Religion What difference can be shewn between the one and the other of these Laws â—… the one should be liable to be dispensed with and suspended and the other not Were they not both established by the King and Parliament Were not both the one and the other made for the Security of the Protestant Religion and of those who profess it Are not the Rights of the people concerned in the one as well as in the other And whosoever suffers and approves the King in the violation of these Rights in some things does he not thereby authorize him to violate them in all If the King has power to put the Liberty and
will be inwardly glad that their forced Endeavours do not succeed and are pleased when men resist their Insinuations which are far from being Voluntary or Sincere â—… are Squeezed out of them by the weight of their being so Obnoxious If in the height of this great dearness by comparing things it should happen that at this instant there is much a surer Friendship with those who are so far from allowing Liberty that they allow no Living to a Protestant under them Let the Scene lie in what part of the World it will the Argument will come home and sure it will afford sufficient ground to suspect Apparent Contradictions must strike us neither Nature nor Reason can digest them Self-Flattery and the desire to Deceive our selves to â—… a present Appetite with all their Power which is Great cannot get the better of such broad Conviction as some things carry along with them Will you call these vain and empty suspitions have you been at all times so void of Fears and Jealousies as to justifie your being so unreasonably Valiant in having none upon this occasion Such an extraordinary Courage it this unseasonable time to say no more is too dangerous a Vertue to be commended If then for these and a thousand other Reasons there is cause to suspect sure your new Friends are not to Dictate to you or Advise you for instance The Addresses that fly abroad every Week and Murther us with another to the same â—… first Draughts are made by those who are not very proper to be Secretaries to the Protestant Region and it is your part only to Write them â—… fairer again Strange that you who have been formerly so much against Set-Forms should â—… be content the Priests should Indite for you The nature of Thanks is an unavoidable consequence of being Pleased or Obliged they grow â—… the Heart and from thence shew themselves â—… in Looks Speech Writing or Action No man was ever Thankful because he was bid to be so but because he had or thought he had some Reason for it If then there is cause in this Case to pay such extravagant Acknowledgments they will flow naturally without taking such pains to procure them and it is unkindly done to Tire all the Post-Horses with carrying Circular Letters to sollicite that which would be done without any trouble or constraint If it is really in it self such a Favour what needeth so much pressing men to be Thankful and with such eager circumstances that where Persuasions cannot delude Threatnings are imployed to fright them into a Compliance Thanks must be voluntary not only unconstrained but unsollicited else they are either Trisles or Snares they either signifie nothing or a great deal more than is intended by those that give them If an inference should be made That whosoever Thanketh the King for his Declaration is by that ingaged to Justifie it in point of Law it is a greater Stride than I presume all those care to make who are perswaded to Address If it shall be supposed that all the Thankers will be Repealers of the TEST whenever a Parliament shall Meet Such an Expectation is better prevented before than disappointed afterwards and the surest way to avoid the lying under such a Scandal is not to do any thing that may give a colour to the Mistake These Bespoken Thanks are little less improper than Love-Letters that were Sollicited by the Lady to whom they are to be Directed so that besides the little ground there is to give them the manner of getting them doth extremely lessen their Value It might be wished that you would have suppressed your impatience and have been content for the sake of Religion to enjoy it within your selves without the Liberty of a publick Exercise till a Parliament had allowed it but since that could not be and that the Artifices of some amongst you have made use of the Well-meant Zeal of the Generality to draw them into this Mistake I am so far from blaming you with that sharpness which perhaps the Matter in strictness would bear that I am ready to err on the side of the more gentle construction There is a great difference between enjoying quietly the advantages of an Act irregularly done by others and the going about to support it against the Laws in being the Law is so Sacred that no Trespass against ' it is to be Defended yet Frailties may in some measure be Excused when they cannot be justified The desire of enjoying a Liberty from which men have been so long restrained may be a Temptation that their Reason is not at all times able to resist If in such a case some Objections are leapt over indifferent men will be more inclined to lament the Occasion than to fall too hard upon the Fault whilst it is covered with the Apology of a good Intention but where to rescue your selves from the Severity of one Law you give a Blow to all the Laws by which your Religion and Liberty are to be protected and instead of silently receiving the benefit of this Indulgence you set up for Advocates to support it you become voluntary Aggressors and look like Councel retained by the Prerogative against your old Friend Magna Charta who hath done nothing to deserve her falling thus under your Displeasure If the case then should be that the Price expected from you for this Liberty is giving up your Right in the Laws sure you will think twice before you go any further in such a losing Bargain After giving Thanks for the breach of one Law you lose the Right of Complaining of the breach of all the rest you will not very well know how to defend your selves when you are pressed and having given up the question when it was for your advantage you cannot recall it when it shall be to your prejudice If you will set up at one time a Power to help you which at another time by parity of Reason shall be made use of to destroy you you will neither be pitied nor relieved against a Mischief you draw upon your selves by being so unreasonably thankful It is like calling in Auxiliaries to help who are strong enough to subdue you In such a case your Complaints will come too late to be heard and your Sufferings will raise Mirth instead of Compassion If you think for your excuse to expound your Thanks so as to restrain them to this particular case others for their ends will extend them further and in these differing Interpretations that which is back'd by Authority will be the most likely to prevail especially when by the advantage you have given them they have in truth the better of the Argument and that the Inferences from your own Concessions are very strong and express against you This is so far from being a groundless Supposition that there was a late instance of it the last Session of Parliament in the House of Lords where the first Thanks though things of course were
conform to the Presbyterial Government And when these Dissenting Brethren commonly known by the name of Independants had got a Party strong enough which carried all before them they would not allow the use of the Common Prayer in any Parish no not to the King himself in his own Chappel not grant to one of the old Clergy so much liberty as to teach a School c. Which things I do not mention God knows to reproach those who were guilty of them but only to put them in mind of their own Failings that they may be humbled for them and not insult over the Church of England nor severely upbraid them with that which when time was they acted with a higher hand themselves If I should report all that the Presbyterians did here and in Scotland and all that the Independants did here and in New-England it would not be thought that I exceed the Truth when I say they have been more guilty of this fault than those whom they now charge with it Which doth not excuse the Church of England it must be confessed but doth in some measure mitigate her fault For the Conformable Clergy having met with such very hard usage in that dismal time wherein many of them were oppressed above measure no wonder if the smart of it then fresh in their minds something imbittered their Spirits when God was pleased by a wonderful Revolution to put them into Power again III. Then a stricter Act of Uniformity was made and several Laws pursuant to it for the enforcing that Uniformity by severe Penalties But let it be remembred that none were by those Laws constrained to come to Church but had Liberty left them to serve God at home and some Company with them in their own way And let it be farther remembred that the reason why they were denied their liberty of meeting in greater Assemblies was because such Assemblies were represented as greatly endangering the publick Pecce and Safety as the words are in the very first Act of this nature against Quakers in the Year 1662. Let any one read the Oxford Act as it is commonly called made in the Year 1665. and that at Westminster in the Year 1670. and he will find them intended against Seditious Conventicles That is they who made them were perswaded by the Jesuit interest at first to look upon such Meetings as Nurseries of Sedition where bad Principles were infused into mens minds destructive to the Civil Government If it had not been for this it doth not appear that the Contrivers of these Laws were inclined to such Severities as were thereby enacted but the Nonconformists might have enjoyed a larger liberty in Religion It was not Religion alone which was considered and pretended but the publick peace and seulement with respect to which they were tyed up so straitly in the exercise of their Religion Which to deal clearly I do not believe would have taught Rebellion but this was constantly insinuated by the Court Agents and it is no wonder if the Parliament who remembred how the Ministers of that Persuasion though indeed from the then appearance of Popery had been the principal Incouragers of that Defensive War against the King were easily made to believe that they still retained the same Principles and would propagate them if they were suffered among the People Certain it is also that the Court made it their care to have those Acts passed though at the same time they hindred their execution that they might keep up both Parties in the height of their Animosities and especially that they might make the Church of England be both hated and despised by the Dissenters IV. Thus things continued for some time till wise men began to see into the Secret and think of a Reconciliation But is was alway hindred by the Court who never thought of giving Liberty by a Law but only by the Prerogative which could as easily take it away There was a time for instance when a Comprehension c. was projected by several Great Men both in Church and State for the taking as many as was possible into Union with us and providing Ease for the rest Which so netled the late King that meeting with the then Archbishop of Canterbury he said to him as I perfectly remember What my Lord you are for a Comprehension To which he making such a reply as signified he heard some were about it No said the King I will keep the Church of England pure and unmixed that is never suffer a Reconciliation with the Dissenters And when the Lords and Commons also had not many years ago passed a Bill for the repealing of the most heavy of all the Penal Laws against Dissenters viz. the Statute of 35 Eliz. 1. which by the Parliament is made against the Wicked and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and â—… persons his late Majesty so dealt with the Clerk of the Parliament that it was shuffled away and could not be sound when it was to have been presented to him among other Bills for his Royal Consent unto it A notable token of the abhorrence the Court then had of all Penal Laws and of their great kindness to Dissenters V. Who may remember if they please that as once there was a time when the Court turned out or chid those Justices who were forward in the Execution of the Laws against Nonconformists because they were then in so low a Condition that the Court was afraid the Church of England might indeed be established in its Uniformity So when the Nonconformists were by some liberty grown stronger and set themselves against the Court interest in the Election of Sheriffs and such like things then all those Justices were turned out who hung back and would not execute the Laws against them and Justices pickt out for the purpose who would do it severely Nay the Clergy were called upon and had Orders sent them to return the Names of all Nonconformists in their several Parishes that they might be proceeded against in the Courts Ecclesiastical And here I cannot forget the Order made by the Middlesex Justices at the Sessions at Hickses-Hall Jan. 13. 1681. Where they urge the Execution of the Act of 22 C. 2. against Conventicles because in all probability they will destroy both Church and State. This was the reason which moved them to call upon Constables and all other Officers to do their duty in this matter Nay to call upon the B. of London himself that he would use his utmost endeavours within his Jurisdiction that all such Persons may be Excommunicate This was a bold stroke proceeding from an unusual degree of Zeal which plainly enough signifies that the Bishops were not so forward as the Justices in the prosecuting of Dissenters Who may do well to remember that the House of Commons a little before this had been so kind to them that those Justices would not have dared to have been so severe as they were at Hickses-Hall if they had
those who possess any Church-Lands or Goods who are still left under the sentence of Excommunication Toleti Instr. Sacord and his Explicatio casuum in Bulla canae Dni reserva From which considerations it's evident that it never was the design of the Pope to confirm the English Church Lands to the Lay-possessors but that he always urg'd the necessity of restoring of them to religious uses in order to which the Papists prevailed to have the statute of Mertmaln repealed for 20 Years In Queen Elizabeths Reign the factious Party that was manag'd wholy by Romish Amiffaries demanded to have Abbies and such religious Houses restored for their Use and A. D. 1585 in their Petition to the Parliament they set it down as a resolute Doctrine that things once dedicated to Sacred Uses ought so to remain by the Word of God for ever and ought not to be converted to any private use Bishop Bancrofts Sermon at p. c. A. D. 1588. p. 25. And that the Church of Rome is still gaping after these Lands is evident from many of their late Books as the Religion of M. Luther lately printed at Oxford p. 15. The Monks wrote Anathema upon the Registers and Donaticns belonging to Monasteries the weight and effect of which Curses are both felt and dreaded to this day To this end the Monasticon Anglicanum is so diligently preserved in the Vatican and other Libraries in Popish Countries and especially this appears from the obstlnate refusal of this present Pope to confirm these Alienations tho it be a matter so much controverted and which would be of that vast Use towards promoting their Religion in this Kingdom If therefore the Bishops of Rome did never confirm these Alienations of Church Lands but earnestly and strictly required their Restitution if they have declared in their Authentick Canons that they have no power to do it and both they and the last general Council pronounce an heavy Curse and Anathema against all such as detain them Then let every one that possesseth these Lands and yet owns either of these foreign Jurisdictions consider that here is nothing left to excuse him from Sacriledge and therefore with his Estate he must derive a curse to his Posterity There is scarcely any Papist but that is forward to accuse King Henry the 8th of Sacriledge and yet never reflects upon himself who quietly possesseth the Fruits of it without Restitution either set them not accuse him or else restore themselves Now whatever opinions the Papists may have of these things in the time of health yet I must desire to remember what the Jesuits proposed to Cardinal Pool in Doctor Pary's Days viz. That if he would encourage them in England they did not doubt but that by dealing with the Consciences of those who were dying they should soon recover the greatest part of the Goods of the Church Dr. Burnet's Hist. Vol. 2. p. 328. Not to mention that whensoever the Regulars shall grow numerous in England and by consequence butthensome to the few Nobility and Gentry of that Perswasion they will find it necessary for them to consent to a Restitution of their Lands that they may share the burthen among others For so vast are the Burthens and Payments that that Religion brings with it that it will be found at length an advantagious Bargain to part with all the Church Lands to indemnifie the rest And I am confident that the Gentry of England that are Papists have found greater Burthens and Payments since their Religion hath been allow'd than ever they did for the many years it was forbid and this charge must daily encrease so long as their Clergy daily grows more numerous and their few Converts are most of them of the meanest Rank and such as want to be provided for And that 's no easie matter to force Converts may appear from that excellent Observation of the great Emperor Charles the Fifth who told Queen Mary That by indeavouring to compel others to his own Religion i. e had tired and spent himself in vain and purchas'd nothing by it but his own dishonour Card. Pool in Heylins Hist. Ref. p. 217. And to conclude this Discourse had the Act of Pope Julius the Third by his Legate Cardinal Pool in confirming of the Alienation of Church Lands in England been as vallid as is by some pretended yet what shall secure us from an Act of Resumption That very Pope after that pretended Grant to Cardinal Pool published a Bull in which he excommunicated all that kept Abby Lands or Church Lands Burnets Hist. Vol. 2. p. 309. by which all former Grants had there been any were cancell'd His Successor Pope Paul the Fourth retrieved all the Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues that had been alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the Second and the chief Reasons that are given why the Popes may not still proceed to an Act of Resumption of these Lands in England amount only to this That they may stay for a fair opportunity when it may be done without disturbing the Peace of the Kingdom From all which it 's evident that the detaining of Abby Lands and other Church Lands from the Monks and Friars is altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine and Principles of the Romish Religion The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated HIS present Majesty having erected an High-Commission Court to enquire of and make redress in Ecclesiastical Matters c. Q. Whether such a Commission as the Law now stands be good or not And I hold that the Commission is not good And to maintain my Opinion herein I shall in the first place briefly consider what Power the Crown of England had in Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Matters for I take them to be synonymous Terms before 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 2ly I shall particularly consider that Act of 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 3ly I shall consider 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. And by that time I have fully considered these three Acts of Parliament it will plainly appear That the Crown of England hath now no Power to erect such a Court. I must confess and do agree That by the common Law all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was lodged in the Crown and the Bishops and all Spiritual Persons derived their Jurisdiction from thence And I cannot find that there were any attempts by the Clergy to divest the Crown of it till William the First 's time in whose time and his Successors down to King John the Pope obtained four Points of Jurisdiction 1st Sending of Legates into England 2ly Drawing of Appeals to the Court of Rome 3ly Donation of Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices And 4ly Exemption of Clerks from the secular Power Which four Points were gained within the space of an hundred and odd years but with all the opposition imaginable of the Kings and their People and the Kingdom never came to be absolutely inslaved to the Church of Rome till King John's time and then both King and People were
approve that of the Dissenters in separating from their Communion â—… we do confess they had some reason in the bottom for it and that the Ceremonies which they have refused to submit to are the Remains of Popery which we could rather wish might have been entirely abolished In this unhappy Schism which has so long time rent the Church of England we look upon it that both Parties have been equally defective in their Charity On the one side the Dissenters ought by no means to have separated themselves for the Form of Ecclesiastical Government nor for Ceremonies which do not at all concern the Fundamentals of Religion On the other side The Bishops should have had a greater Condescension to the Weakness of their Brethren And without doubt they would have â—… in a manner more agreeable to the Spirit of the Gospel if instead of treating them with so much rigour as they did they had left them the Liberty of serving God according to their Conscience till it should have pleased him to re-unite All under the same Discipline However the Conformity of Opinion between the Dissenters and Us ought to have prejudiced Us in their favour had we been capable of Partiality on this occasion There is also another thing which might have disposed us to judge less favourably of the Bishops than of them and that is the Yoke which they have imposed upon the French Ministers by óbliging them to receive a second Ordination before they could be permitted to Exercise their Ministry in the Church of England as if the Ordination they had received in France had not been sufficient But we must do Justice to all the World and bear Witness to the Truth We have already said and we must again repeat it It seems to us that on this last Occasion the Bishops have discharged their Duty and are most worthy of Praise whereas the Dissenters on the contrary are extreamly to be blamed And we will presently offer our Reasons wherefore we judge so of the one and of the other In the mean time most dear Brethren give us leave freely to tell you That if our Brethren the Dissenters of England who have Addressed to the King are to be blamed as we verily believe they are you certainly are much more to be condemned The Hardships under which they had lived for many years without Churches without Pastors without Assemblies made them think the Liberty of Conscience which was offered to them a great Ease Their Spirits soured and prejudiced by the ill Treatments they had received from the Church of England had not freedom enough to let them see that the Present which was made them was Empoison'd And therefore upon the sudden they received it with joy and thought themselves obliged to testifie their Acknowledgment of it But for you who never had any part in the Divisions of the Church of England and who by consequence were in a state to judge more soundly of things How is it that you should not have perceived the Poison that was hid under the Liberty of Conscience offered to them Or if you did not perceive it of your selves how is it that the Generous Refusal of the Bishops tho' at the peril of their Liberty and Estates to publish the Declaration in their Diocesses should not at least have open'd your eyes How have those Venerable Prelates now highly justified themselves from the Reproach that was laid upon them of being Popishly affected and of persecuting the Dissenters only but of a secret Hatred to the Reformation How well have they made it appear that these were only Calumnies invented by their Enemies to render them odious to the Protestants and that their hearts were truly fixed to the Reformed Religion and animated with a Zeal worthy Primitive Bishops Could you see those faithful Servants of God disobey the Order of their Soveraign expose themselves thereby to his Disgrace suffer Imprisonment and prepare themselves to suffer any thing rather than betray their Consciences and their Religion without admiring their Constancy and being touched with their Examples But above all could you resolve by your Conduct to condemn that of those generous Confessors Is this the Acknowledgment which you ought to have made to them for that Charity with which they had received and comforted you in your Exile Is this to Answer the Glorious Quality of Confessors of which you so much vaunt your selves Is this the Act of Faithful Ministers of Christ Give us leave to tell you most dear Brethren your Proceedings in this Affair appear so very strange to us that we cannot imagine how you were capable of so doing It seems to us to have even effaced all the Glory you had attained by your Sufferings to Reproach your Ministry and to be unworthy of True and Reformed Christians This is no rash judgment which we pass and to convince you that it is not we beseech you only to examine these things with us without Prejudice and Interest The Declaration of which we speak is designed for two purposes The one the re-establishment of Popery The other the extinction of the Reformed Religion in England The former of these designs appears openly in it The second is more concealed 't is a Mystery of Iniquity covered over with a specious appearance and of which the trace must be concealed till the time of manifestation comes We will say nothing of a third Design which is Of the Oppression of the Liberties of England for the Establishment of an absolute Authority but shall leave it to the Politicians to make their Reflexions upon it As for us if we sometimes touch upon it it shall be only with reference to Religion We will apply our selves chiefly to the two other Designs which they proposed to themselves who made that Declaration It cannot be deny'd but that by this Declaration there is a Liberty of Conscience granted differently to the Papists and to the Dissenters â—… comprehends both the one and the other under the Name of Nonconformists And we may with confidence affirm That they were the Papists especially whom the King had in his eye when he gave this Declaration And howsoever he may pretend to have been touched with the Oppressions which the Dissenters had suffered yet that his principal design was to re-establish Popery Behold here already a very great evil and such as all true Protestants are obliged with their â—… most power to oppose What shall we see Popery that abominable Religion that prodigioâ—â— heap of Filthiness and Impurity re-establish itself with all it honours in Kingdoms from which the Reformation had happily banished it And shall there be found in those Kingdoms Protestant who not only stand still without making any opposition to it but e'en favour its re-establishment and openly give it their Approbation Who could have thought that the Dissenters of England â—… who have always testified so great an aversion to the Roman Religion and who have no other pretence to separate
Consciences of the Church of England Men and â—… the Foundation of our State If Mr. Pen â—… his Disciples had condemn'd the unlawfulness the Declarations and the Dispensing Power â—… they wrote so fast for Liberty of Conscience they had then shew'd a generous zeal for a just freedom in Matters of Religion and at the same â—… a due veneration to the Legislative Power Kings Lords and Commons but the secret of the â—… was to maintain and Erect a Prerogative â—… all Acts of Parliament and consequently to produce upon that bottom Tyranny and Popery yet â—… all this uncontroulable Power and â—… of Grandeur an Easterly Wind and a Fleet Fly-Boats would cancel and undo all again Our â—… Historians relate of King John that being some distress he sent Sir Tho. Hardington and â—… Sir Ralph Fitz-Nichols Ambassadours to â—… the great Emperour of Morocco with â—… of his Kingdom to him upon Condition he should come and aid him and that if he prevail'd â—… would himself turn Mahometan and renounce â—… I will not insist upon the violations of Laws and Treaties in the Low Countries or the Spanish â—… over them because the Spaniards have got so much by that Persecution and Cruelty that they might be tempted to practise the like again for forcing the Netherlanders to take up Arms for their defence and by necessitating Queen Elizabeth â—… and preserve them they have set up a â—… and Glorious State as they themselves have call'd them in some Treaties that hath preserv'd â—… languishing Monarchy of Spain and the Liberty of Christendim The base and cowardly Massacre of that great â—… William Prince of Orange of the Renowned â—… Coligny and the Prince of Conde the many bloody Conspiracies for the Extirpation of the whole Race of the House of Orange The Murders â—… Henry the 2d and Henry the 4th are all Rewards and everlasting Monuments of Popish Barbarity What incredible Effusion of Blood hath been occasion'd by the frequent revolts of the Popes against the Emperours by he Image-Worship and the Holy Wars What Treachery in the Bohemian Transactions and Treaties What Inhumanity burning Jerome of Prague and John Hus when they had the Emperours Pass and all other â—… securities from the Council it self that put to â—… those two Good Men. The Reign of Queen Mary is another Scene of the Infidelity and Treachery of the Church of Rome what Oaths did she take what Promises and Protestations did she make to the Suffolk Men who had set the Crown upon her head and yet they were the first that felt the strokes of a Persecution from Her. Read her History in Fox's Martyrs and Doctor Burnet's History of the Reformation The many Conspiracies to destroy Queen Elizabeth and King James the Gunpowder Plot the Counsels carried on in Popish Countries to take off King Charles the First and the many late Popish Plots are a continued Series and Thred carried on by the Church of Rome to break thro' all Laws both of God and Man to erect an Universal Monarchy of Priest-Crast and to bring the whole World under their Yoke The Sweeds have taken an effectual and commendable way to keep Popish Priests and Jesuits those â—… and disturbers of Societies the declared Enemies to the Welfare of Mankind out of their â—… by Gelding them and consequently rendring them incapable of Sacerdotal Functions tho' the Priests have found out a Salvo and will say Mass and Consess if they can procure their Testicles again and carry them in their Pockets either preserv'd or in Powder In aethiopia China and Japan the Roman Priests have been so intolerably turbulent and such extravagant Incendiaries that they have been often Banished and put to Death so that now they disguise themselves all over the Eastern Nations under the Names and Characters of Mathematicians Mechanicks Physicians c. and dare not own their Mission to propagate a Faith which is grown ridiculous all over Asia The long and dreadful Civil Wars of France the many Massacres and Persecutions and lastly the Siege of Rochel are living Instances how far we may rely upon Engagements and Laws both as to the taking of that Bulwark and the promised relief from hence The Protestant Defenders of it refusing to rely any longer upon Paper Edicts and the Word of a Most Christian King had this City granted them as a Cautionary Town for their Security for before they had always been deluded out of their Advantages by fair promises insignificant Treaties and the word of a King yet Lewis the 13. following the vitious Examples of Treacherous Princes fell upon this Glorious City which upon the account of their Laws and Priviledges made a resistance and brave defence having never heard of Passive Obedience amongst their Pastors thinking it more lawful to defend their Rights than it was for Lewis to invade them As for the late and present Reign here in England they are too nice and tender things for me to touch whether the Transactions of them are consistent with the Coronation-Oaths the many Declarations Protestations publick and solemn Promises I am no fit Judge they are more proper for the Gravity of an Historian or the Authority of a Parliament to handle than for a private Gentleman in a Letter to his Friend The Bishops Papers and the P. of Orange's Declarations are the best Memoirs of them but they only begin where the two parts of the History of the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government left off and how far we may trust to Catholick Stipulations Oaths and Treaties the facts of past and the present Age are the best Criterions and Rules to guide and determine us for what happens every day will in all probability happen to morrow the same Causes always produce the same Effects and the Church of Rome is still the same Church it was a hundred years ago that is a Mass of Treachery Barbarity Perjury and the highest Superstition a Machine without any principle or setled Law of Motion not to be mov'd or stopt with the weights of any private or publick Obligations a Monster that destroys all that is sacred both in Heaven and Earth so Ravenous that it is never content unless it gets the whole World into its Claws and tears all to pieces in order to Salvation a Preteus that turns it self into all shapes a Chamelion that puts on all Colours according to its present circumstances this day an Angel of Light to morrow a Beelzehub Amongst all the Courts of Christendom where I have conversed that of Holland is the freest from Tricks and Falshood and tho' I am naturally jealous and suspitious of the Conduct of Princes yet I could never discover the least Knavery within those Walls it appear'd to me another Athens of Philosophers and the only Seat of Justice and Vertue now left in the World as for the Character of the Prince of Orange it is so faithfully drawn by Sir Will. Temple Doctor Burnet and in a half sheet