A Short View OF The Present State OF THE Protestant Religion IN BRITAIN, AS It is now profest in the Episcopal Church in
England,
the Presbyterian Church in
Scotland,
and the Dissenters in Both.
EDINBURGH,
Printed in the Year, M.DCC.VII.
A Short View OF The present State OF THE Protestant Religion in
BRITAIN,
&c,
I Always observed in such Cases as this, the only way to come at a Clear Understanding of Particulars, was to go back to their Generals, to search the Original of things, and see from thence not how they are represented, but how they really are in their meer Nature, and Native Circumstances.
In doing this, I shall study as much as in me lies, to give no Offence to any body, nor concern my self with any thing, however warmly said on that Head, but to my utmost, keep closs to impartial Truth in Fact, and give my own thoughts as calmly as I can.
Perhaps the Historical part may be counted superficial, and I am content it be so; no body can expect a succinct History of Religion in three Sheets of Paper, nor shall I,
remote as I am from Books, Vouchers, and Persons,
enter into many Quotations, designing no other History of these Affairs; but what every Mans Memory may reflect on, or by very short reading, be informed about.
I have no room to spare for Apologies; As I intend no Offence to any one, so I hope, no Man will take Offence at me, misconstrue my Meaning, or cavil at Mistakes in the manner—. If they do, if they will raise Strife from what is design'd for Peace, the Strife shall be theirs, the Peace shall be mine; and to all false or railing Accusations, I answer in the words of the Text, in the 9
th.
Verse of the Epistle of
Jude,
and no more.
In the beginning of the Fifteenth Century, this whole Island was under the intire absolute Dominion of Popery; Rulers and People too much united in following after Vanity and Idols, and very small faint Glimerings of the Glorious Resurrection of Truth were then only to be seen.
Henry
VII. reigning in
England,
and
James
IV. in
Scotland,
had nothing in them inclining to an Alteration of Religion, but supinely slept—under the invincible Operation of the
Roman
Opiat: Priest Craft, and the Pomp of Religion had dozvd Man-kind, and that Glorious Light which the Spirit of GOD, by the Preaching of the Apostles, had spread thro' the World, seem'd so overclouded with the Universal Vail of Superstition, and vile Traditional Performances, that it look'd as if the General Dispensation was at End, the Church of GOD compleated, and the World given up to Original Blindness.
I would not be misunderstood here, as if there were no Appearances in Particular Places and Persons of a true Light; For God has never left the Church quite desolate: And I know what has been alledged of the
Waldenses, Albigenses,
and other suffering Christians—. But I desire to be taken as I mean, that a General and dreadful Darkness had at that Time overspread the World, all the Potentates of
Europe
bowed at the Feet of
Baal;
and the
Romish
Pontiff executed a Tyrannick Power without Controul, if there were any Professors of Truth, they behooved to be Confessors also; and what Light appear'd, tho it was received with Love, it was a Guest that brought certain Death with it—: Indeed the wonderful Power of the invisible irresistable Grace of GOD was in nothing more conspicuous, than in furnishing almost all to whom he revealed his Truth, with such a Love to it, Zeal for it, and Resolution in it, that Persecution and Martyrdom were but meer Agents in the Propagation of Truth; and
Sanguis Martyrum
was at that time more than ever prov'd to be
Semen Ecclesiae.
In this suffering posture the Affairs of the Church stood at the coming of
Henry
VIII. to the Crown of
England;
the first part of his Reign gave little Hopes to any that a Reformation could have its Rise in a Prince who committed the Famous
John Lambert
to the Fire, and appeared qualified to be the most Famous Persecutor of Gods Church that ever was in the World, being in his Conduct Politick, in his Nature cholerick and cruel, in his Government Tyrannical, and in his Religion nothing at all, but—what was guided by his Ambition and Interest.
But behold how the Divine
Power
is magnified, in making his Enemies destroy themselves; Pride, Ambition, Covetousness, and the Wrath of Man in this day, brought to pass the Glorious and determined Designs of God, and the Consusions and Extravagancies of the World assisted to open the Eyes of such whose Hearts God at the same time had touch't with His Grace; and now the Great Light of Truth began to break out between the Clouds, and by wonderful and various steps of Providence, too long to relate, All the Mists of Darkness, Ignorance and Superstition fled away, and Truth in its Native Lustre shone over these Parts of the World.
For now
Luther
had broke in upon Error in
Gormany;
like a Torrent the Kings of the Earth began to hate the Whore; and all the Northern Part of
Europe
fell off from Idolatry, both Princes and People.
The various Turns in
England
under
Henry
VIII. about the Article of Divorce, the Regale, and other things, widned a Breach between him and the Pope; and those lucid Intervals gave such breathings to the Reformed Religion, that it advanc't exceedingly, till even in his Reign, it crept into, first his Cabinet, and then his bed.
In this Crisi
, he strook the two great Preliminary Strokes at the Root of Popery, in which, tho I see no Ground to suggest, he had any Religious aim, yet Providence, who acted him as the Instrument, without giving him the Principle, brought to pass the End by the involuntary Agency of what Means he thought sit.
These two Blows at Popery, which I call preliminarys, were casting off the Popes Supremacy, and overturning these Seminaries of Filthiness and. Superstition, the Abbeys and Monasteries.
And here any Body may see the Reason of my going thus far back in this Account, and which perhaps they might begin to think impertinent to my purpose. But the Case is this, Had King
Henry
's Zeal been for Retormation indeed, or rather had he not been acted by Pride in one, and Avarice in the other, that Step had been taken another way, which if it had, the Snares that have follow'd, had been perhaps prevented. I explain my self thus.
Had
Henry
VIII. been Enlightned by a true Knowledge, in proportion to his Circumstance, had his Fury been a Religious Zeal—, had he been acted by the Christian, not the Monarch, when he pull'd down the Supremacy of the Pope, he had erected the true Gospel Supremacy of Christ Jesus, and in this unhappy Mistake, has been found all the brooding Snakes of Ecclesiastick Tyranny, which this part of the World has been plagued with ever since.
I'll repeat it another way yet plainer, I hope I shall be excused the Tautology.
Henry
VIII, A meer Tyrant, a Man of no Religion in his inside, and but very little in the outside; for the Tyrant was too rampant in him, to suffer him to be a Hypocrite, when he pull'd down the Supremacy of the Pope, immediately set up his own; this was, I say, only dethroning one Devil to set up another; however, the Church was yet Popish, the Reformation young, and the Heads of the Reformers were glad to lay hold of this Handle to pull down what they really struggled with, as Tyrannical; not foreseeing that the Tyranny still remained, tho the Masters were chang'd, or that this Monster call'd the temporal Supremacy, was big with future Mischiefs, which generating from one another, would still bring the Church of God into, at least, unscriptural Bondage.
But let no Man read this with Prejudice at the Good Men who were the Agents, who in the simplicity of their Souls, did this, and by it laid the Ax effectually to the Root of Religious Subjection; and the impious Ambition of the Church of
Rome:
If God Almighty for our Sins, and partly for Punishment, suffered yet this
Canaanite
to remain in the Bowels of the Reformation, without doubt he had his Divine Ends in it, which I shall not presume to enquire into.
On this Foundation has however been built, that unhappy Structure of Division, which has made such Chasms in Gods Church, broke in so much upon our Charity, and fatally upon our more perfect Reformation, even to this Day.
For the Supremacy in Matters Ecclesiastical, being resolved in the King, began to produce strange Effects, and some Martyrs, as they call them, on the
Romish
side died for denying it, such as Sir
Thomas Moor,
Bishop
Fisher
and others, as in
Burnets
History of the Reformation,
Vol.
1. may be seen at large.
I shall touch at some of the Evils, that setting this Dignity on the head of the Temporal Prince brought with it, and these were two.
First,
That in Matters indifferent in themselves, the Command of the Civil Magistrate, has Power to determine us, and make those indifferent things necessary, and hereon is built all our Ceremonial, that has since caused such Division in the Protestant Churches here. And,
Secondly,
This I give as the Reason, or rather the Occasion, that our
English
Church reformed into Episcopacy, and a Pompous Hierarchy, rather than a
Calvinistical
Parity.
This is what we mean by the
Regale,
which of course brought the Pontificate along with it, and in this
Scotland
had the Advantage of
England;
for that the Reformation in
Scotland
being not in the Direction of the Prince, but rather in Opposition to the Regent the Queen Mother, the Pomp, the Magnificence, and the outside of the Matter lost all the Reverence it had in the Court of Princes, where it seem'd to be Carress't from some suitableness between them in Matters of Dominion.
'Tis true, Queen
Mary
resign'd this Authority to the Pope, and Queen
Elizabeth
was not very hasty in resuming it again, as 'tis plain from
Burnet's
History of the Reformation.
The Church of
England,
tho' first Reform'd, being under the Reign of a Young King, he was easily prevail'd with to form the Model of Church Government in this manner, as having his Eye more at the main Point,
viz.
The rooting out of Idolatry and Superstition, but had not yet had the Episcopal Hierarchy debated, or its Scriptural Authority call'd in Question.
As to Queen
Elizabeth,
she rather went back in the Reformation of Ceremonies, than foreward in destroying them; for which two Reasons are assign'd by the Writers of that Age.
1
st.
Policy, That by the preserving some sunilitude to the old Rites, she might, if possible, bring the Papists to comply with her way, and so prevent a Division.
2. Her natural Gayness of Temper, which enclin'd her to be much in Love with the Pomp and Shows of Religion.
In King
James
the first, a new and unheard of Doctrine started into the World, found first in the Heads of his Flatterers, That Kings were immediatly clothed with their Power from above, that they Governed
Jure Divino,
and consequently must be obeyed as Gods Ordinance, and without any Controul.
I shall not run into the dark Particulars of that wretched Doctrine, nor the Mischiefs it brought upon both Nations; but having assign'd the proper Original, both of Prelacy and Ceremonies, the two great things now debated, I shall proceed to examine what has been the Consequence of these things in these Kingdoms.
And
First,
I must own they brought immediat Contention into the Reformed Churches, and afterwards all the Divisions, Schisms some call them, and Debates that have been in the World, since their Foundation.
There were indeed early Differences in the Reformed Churches in
England,
and Bishop
Hooper,
and Bishop
Ridly
cont
ded a little too warmly on both sides, till Affliction and Suffering taught both of them more Charity; and when they came both to die for the Essentials of Religion, it taught them to own, the Root of Religion might be sound, where the Blossom had not the same flagrance; that the Faith, Hope, Love, and other Christian Graces might be preserved, where they differed in the Circumstances.
However, I believe no man will Dispute with me, that the very Bishops themselves in those Times were Good Men; of Holy and Blameless Lives, sound and wholsome Doctrine; constant and Laborious in Preaching, of firm and unshaken
Faith,
of invincible Fortitude in the Cause of Christ, and sealed the Reformation with their Blood; and tho I am as far from Episcopacy in my Opinion as any man in
Scotland,
yet I must do Justice; these were Bishops, of whom five besides Arch-Deacon
Philpot,
past the Fiery Trial, and laid down their Lives in the Glorious Cause of Religion.
These were not dumb Dogs, but Zealous Teachers of the Good People, and having taught Christ first, they died for him afterwards: A thing easier to talk of than to do.
In Queen
Elizabeth
's Time, the
Regale
and
Pontificat
continuing still in the Church, Bishops and Ceremonies, reserv'd their Legal Sanction or Confirmation rather; but as the World began to encrease in Knowledge, and Light spread it self further than usual; so People began to be much out of Love with the Pomp of Service, as with a thing remote from the true Institution of the Gospel; and tho several Acts of Parliament were made against them, yet their Number increased every Day; the Queen indeed proceeded very severely with them, to reclaim them: And King
James,
tho bred up under another kind of Church Government himself, carryed it yet higher.
But as force never yet could be effectual over Religion; so all these Proceedings serv'd but to make the persecuted People encrease.
Their Original, and I must own, I think a most just Objection was, that the Church required a yet farther Reformation, that it was their Duty to serve God in the way which was most agreeable to the Scriptures, and they having disliked several things in the Ceremonies and Liturgy of the Church of
England,
pressed for a greater Purity of Worship: Hence they were called PURITANS.
The Holiness and Blamelessness of their Lives, the inoffensiveness of their Behaviour to all Persons, and the General Character they had, was such, that the Name first given them in Derision, was afterwards in great Honour, both at home, and especially among the Protestant Churches Abroad; and
Erasmus,
who was in
England
at that time, and converst with them; gave his Opinion of them in this noble Expression,
Sit anima mea cum Puritannis Anglicanis.
Yet even these Puritans, than whom Europe never shew'd better Christians, remain'd in the Communion of the Church of
England,
and in Subjection to
Episcopacy.
The Reason they gave for it was, that tho they could not join in many things of their Worship, yet they thought it their Duty not to separate, and make a Breach or Schism in the Church.
Note, for I desire to be rightly understood, I do not say it was their Duty not to separate, but they were convinc't of its being their Duty, and so it might become a Duty to them.
And that it was apparently thus, appear'd afterward, even that when their Kings put that abominable Book of Sports upon then, for which all the most Godly and Pious Ministers were deprived; yet they did not gather separate Churches, they went about Preaching, Catechizing, and Instructing Private Families; but they neither Baptized nor administraed the Lords Supper, but their People Conform'd in that to the establish't Church.
If 'tis enquir'd why I observe this, 'tis because,
1. I would note with what Force and unwillingness the Dissenters in
England
have been driven to be Dissenters, and as it were, thrust out of the Church.
2. Because of alike backwardness to separate, which appeared at the last juncture in 1661, which some Censure the Dissenters, I think too severely for.
But to return to the Puritans:
The Government being resolved to push them upon all extremities, and put every thing upon them that they knew they would not comply with, an Opportunity offered to try whether it was meerly for the sake of Persecution and Oppression, that they were thus used, or whether being really affraid of them, their General Absence would ha' been grateful to them.
For the Discovery of a Planting in the North part of
America,
called
New England,
happening about this time, they Petition King
James
for Leave to go over and plant themselves there—, which not to enter here into the Circumstances of their Address, or its Reception, tho the History of it is very diverting, was granted them.
Immediately the whole Kingdom was in motion, and nothing was to be seen, but hiring Ships, packing up Goods, selling Estates, Jewels, Houshold Stuff, and Equippages, as if the whole Nation was going to transplant.
The first Families that went, met with Terrible severity in
old, Famine, and Want of all things, particularly of Habitations in a barren uncultivated Wilderness; but what will not People suffer for the Liberty of their Consciences? not discouraged by the Distresses they went thro', they went on, and were followed by such Multitudes, and with such Wealth, that if I remember right above 19000 People were found to have gone over in a very few Years; and so generally were they bent upon it, that the Council had it several times under debate to stop them.
But King James dying, and the Confusions of the next Reign coming on, the Civil Wars broke out, and the Power of the Parliament prevailing, the Principle before mentioned, of Purity in Worship, obtained on the Nation, Episcopacy was wholly supprest, and a New form of Church Government erected.
This not only establish't Liberty to all the Puritans, and put a stop to their flying Abroad, but the Scriptures with the Pattern of the Primitive Churches, being the Rule of their Establishment, a General Assembly of Divines was call'd, who sat at
Westminster
—, what their proceedings were, how they entertain'd a Brotherly Correspondence with the Assembly in this Countrey, how they unhappily divided again into different Opinions, the Contests about the
Jus Divinum
of Church Government, and of their manner in particular; these are things too long to enter upon here, and something Foreign to my Purpose also.
But to come as fast as possible to the present Times, at the Restoration of the Monarchy in King
Charles
II. this whole Fabrick, so it seem'd good to the Almighty, fell at once, and the Episcopal Hierarchy, Liturgy, Ceremonies,
&c.
were restored.
The King, whether sincerely desirous to unite his Subjects, in possible, or not, is needless to determine here, the Consequence best explain'd his Meaning; but however, in pretence and outside he called it, appoints a Conference at the
Savoy,
and granted a Commission to certain on both sides, to treat of an Accommodation of Differences.
The Ministers gladly accept of this Conference, and principally being made to believe that Concessions being made on their side, like Concessions would be made on the other, and it might be possible to prevent a Breach in the whole.
They then had several Meetings among themselves, to consider how far they might comply, and as they all thought it their Duty to go as far as possible: So the Latitude of some People went farther than others.
I shall not Justifie or condemn here, it is not my present Business; I shall readily own some Men went farther than any Body of the Dissenters in
England
would go now, and farther than they themselves would ever after have gone again.
They offered to submit to a Superintendency; or call it what you will, a moderate Episcopacy, and I shall not dispute with any Man, whether they did not offer to go higher than is consistent with a Presby terian Parity.
They saw that whole Body going to be rent in Pieces; they saw themselves going to be depriv'd of their Ministerial Function, and rendred uncapable of doing the Good they were dedicated to, and they thought it their Duty to go as far as possible to avoid the greater Evils they saw before them, to themselves, the Church of God, and the Power of Religion in general.
Let those that please to condemn their Latitude, take it in what Sense they think fit, I readily grant all that is Matter of Fact in their Concession, and which Mr.
Baxter
has at large given an account of in the History of his Life.
I shall not examine how far the present Body of the Dissenters are affected by it, or are to be censur'd for it, or are any way concern'd in it, and I wave it here for that Reason.
The Concessions of the Dissenters being delivered in, the King told them,
He was well pleased they agreed to the Essence of Episcopacy;
and renew'd his Assurances to them of his earnest Desire of an Accommodation.
What the Treatment they met with from the Church Party upon these Concessions was, is very remarkable, and might put it out of any bodys thought ever to apprehend a Conjunction.
Their Concessions being rejected, the Ministers were immediatly put to the Test of their Fidelity, and 'tis remarkable; that of all these that offered their Concessions, very few, if any, conform'd; above 3000 of the best, most Learned, and Pious of the Ministers, and who enjoy'd the largest Benefices rejected the Offers of Bishopricks and Preferment, and quitted their Livings; because they could not comply.
And thus the Episcopal Hierarchy was again re-established in
England
—, several Persecutions of the Dissenters followed in the times of King
Charles
II. the Rigour and Cruelty of which are standing Testimonies that they are very far from being Episcopally enclined.
Several Acts of Parliament have been since made to render them as uneasy as possible, as the Act of uniformity, I mean the Amendments to it, the five Mile Act, the
et cactera
Oath, the Sacramental Test, and others.
But the Gentlemen on that side have seen their Error, and even these we call High-Church Men, are now forewardest to make Concessions to the Dissenters, in order to bring them in to the Church—, what their Design is, he must be blinder than I will suppose any of my Readers to be, that does not see; but they do the Dissenters this Service in it, to testifie for them, that no Concessions will now bring them in, but such as shall bring the Worship and Discipline of the Church down to the Test of the Scriptures—, and this farther clears them of all Suspicion of being Episcopally inclin'd.
And thus I have brought the Church of
England
part of this Discourse down to the latter Times of King
Charles
II.
At his Death the Successor was a Papist, and the first Step he took, was to face about to the Dissenters, and by the Gloss of Charity, and General Justice, court them to his Party, giving them Liberty, but on the foot of his Prerogative, not the Laws, to draw them into the Snares, of, at least, a tacit Acknowledging his Right to do so.
The Generality of the Dissenters saw the hook thro' this Bait, and tho they accepted their Liberty, and carryed it dutifully to their Sovereign; yet they professed their Dissatisfaction at having it given in an unparliamentary manner.
Upon which these Famous Lines were made which every Body had in their Prints and Discourse.
The Declaration's but a
Trojan
Horse,
The Form's illegal, and the Matter's worse.
Some indeed were drawn into the Snares of Addressing, tho they were generally Opposed by the best and greatest part of the Dissenters, and those that did it, thank't him for the Liberty indeed, yet were ignorant both in the Design, and unbelieving in the Consequences, as appear'd in that as soon as their Eyes were opened, they started back, and testified their Concern for having been drawn in so far, of which presently.
This also farther appear'd in that, when the King, who thought he had gain'd one Point, was for pushing at another,
vlz.
the taking off the Penal Laws and Test; the Dissenters, tho they had suffered so deeply, and these Penal Laws were both wicked in their Nature, and particularly pointed at them; yet they generally rejected it, and declared they had rather be opprest by the Church of
E.
than have both the Church of
England
and themselves too, torn to Pieces by Popery or those Laws invaded by the dispensing Power of the Prince; nor could all King
James
his Booted Apostles bring them off from this.
In the Sense of this the Church of
England,
and the Dissenters made that famous Capitulation, on which the inviting over the Prince of
Orange,
afterwards the Glorious Restorer of Britains Liberty was built, and which is exprest in the Eighth Article of the Memorial to that Prince, on the Performance of which Treaty, the Establishment of the Church of
England,
and the Tolleration of the Dissenters are equally built, and supported by Right, Truth, and Fundamental Law, and thus they both stand at this Day.
I come now to the Reformation of the Church of
Scotland;
which beginning later than that of
England,
by about twelve Years, and having no Bonds of Tyranny upon them, which as I have noted, drew
England
into the Snare of the Regale; but their Reformation being made by the People themselves, and Mr.
Jobn Knox
being their
Calvin,
and who sent or went to
Geneva
on purpose to concert the best Grounds of a National Settlement, they had nothing imposed upon them, nor any body to impose it.
The Lords which headed them, referr'd the whole Settlement of Religion to the Ministers, they had the Mischiefs
England
was fallen into by a partial and pompous Reformation before their Eyes, and thus they reform'd at once into the compleat Model, both as to Discipline and Worship, which we find at this day.
Nor were they so dark in their Foresight, as not to expect all the Rage and Opposition the Enemies of such a Reformation could be guilty of, and to secure the People therefore as far as possible in the strict Adherence to the mighty Work they were engag'd in, they contrived the most Solemn, Awful and Tremendous Obligation, that I believe, any Nation ever bound themselves in, since the Oath of God, which
Moses
made the Children of
Israel
take at Mount
Horeb.
This is what they call the National Covenant, in which the People bind themselves and their Posterity, in the most solemn manner to God Almighty, to adhere to, maintain and defend to the utmost of their Power the Reformation they had settled, the Doctrine, Discipline and Government of the Church, as exprest in their confession of Faith, and several other Articles both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution therein exprest, needless, and too long to be repeated here.
This Covenant was made first in the Year, 1581. the new Reformation being then threatned with many Enemies, as well Foreign as Domestick—, and it was renewed again, in the Year 1590.
I am far from raising the least Scruple at, or making any Reflection upon the Nature, the Canse, the Manner, or Obligation of this Covenant, or any Branch of it; they that construe me so, do it to cover the Shame of the other ill Treatment which I have dayly from them.
I frankly own it a solemn, and almost just Obligation, and declare I never meant in any thing I said, or printed, the least Reflection against it; and 'tis very just I should have the explaining my own words.
If what I have said any where, gives a seeming Reflection, I should be very sorry, for the sake of them that may ignorantly mistake me; as for those that maliciously and wilfully mistake me, they are worth no Honest Mans Notice, nor is it on their account in the least, that I take notice of it here; but to disabuse those who are imposed upon by such.
I freely recognize the National Covenant, and what I said in the sixth Essay of our Fathers eating these sowre Grapes, and us their Children's Teeth set on edge by them. I wonder any Man should be so unjust as to turn my words to a Meaning, That the Covenant is a sowre Grape that sets the Childrens Teeth on Edge. I therefore declare it to be only brought as an Allusion to those People who load themselves with more Obligations in their Notions of the Covenant, than the Covenant really imposes upon them—, and the Sense of the place in which 'tis brought, will allow me this to any impartial Person.
I was proving that the National Covenant is not at all concern'd in the Union; I acknowledge first, that the Covenant is binding to Posterity, and I add, that for Argument sake, I'll grant;
whether I believe it or no,
it has all that Obligation they alledge,
let that be what it will
—, signifying thereby, they do reckon greater Obligations than really are in the Covenant, and this I call eating sowre Grapes, 6
th.
Essay,
P.
20. and this I leave to any impartial Censure.
If this be not Satisfaction to any Honest Man, that I have not the least Disrespect for the National Covenant, I shall on any Reasonable Sentence of indifferent Judges, make such more solemn Declaration or Acknowledgment as they can desire.
But to go on with my History of the Reformation in
Scotland,
there was a great Difference in it from what had been in
England,
for here it was made perfectly, without the Assistance,
and contrary to the Intention
of the Sovereign—, and the Regale therefore found no body to espouse it, but the Reformers had opportunity to make their Model as compleat as they could.
I know it has been objected, that in the Infancy of the Reformation, they found the very Essence of Episcopacy necessary, and that was in the Superintendents named in the
Church Policy,
one of the first Instruments of settlement devised for their Church, the Model of which had been brought from
Geneva
by Mr.
John Knox,
and some have raised Pleas from hence for the Prelatick Power, as the most Original Institution, and the like of the Common Prayers.
But the Bishops would be ill pleased to be no other kind of Bishops than those were, who tho they had a Diocess indeed, yet were subject to be deposed by the ordinary Ministers of their own Bounds, and therefore I do not bring this to justify Prelacy, but to relate as near as I can, the Fact as it lies, and the Use of it shall appear presently,
The Superintendents indeed had their Diocesses prescribed,
and 'tis call'd by that very name,
and they had power to plant Ministers, settle Churches, and do several things, which at that time could not be done without them; but I must always insist upon their subjection as a Clause that Chocks all the Efforts to prove the first Reformation Episcopal.
However, they were Superintendents, and therefore some kind of Superintendency may not be inconsistent with Presbyterian Parity, and thats all the use I shall make of it.
I find another instance of this, which serves the present Occasion, and that is a Letter written in the Year
from the Assembly of the Church of
Scotland,
to the Bishops in
England,
and in a differing Stile from what we write here now; the letter begins thus.
The Superintendents, Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of
Scotland
to their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors in
England,
who have renounced the
Roman Antichrist,
and have professed with us
the Lord Jesus
Here is something very remarkable, and worth nothing.
1. That the Church of
Scotland
esteem'd,
even the Bishops
and Pastors in those days, as Brethren profelling with them the
Lord Jesus,
a quite different Language from those who stile them
Dumb Dogs,
poor
Rogues,
&c. Indecencys, which must be offensive to modest Ears, were the case much worse than it is.
2. The Church of
Scotland
was as far from owning Episcopacy it self then as now, and in the very Letter, they exclaim against the Pomp and Ceremonies of Worship; but it did not at all break off their Charity from the Persons of the Bishops and Pastors, whom they still call'd Brethren, and own'd they profess't with them the
Lord Jesus.
3. The Appellation of Brethren
was most just,
for that the
Bishops in those days, tho Prelats, vested with Civil Power, wearing the Habit, and every way practising their Church Power as now, yet were Holy and worthy Christians, and of the same Class with
Cranmer, Ridly, Latimer, Farrar,
and Blessed
Hooper,
who all of them sealed the Reformed Religion with their Blood, and durst pass to the Stake, and the Flames in maintaining the true Protestant Faith, against that
Roman Antichrist
here mentioned.
Let no Man suspect me here of favouring Episcopacy; for tho of late Years, the very Men have been a Scandal to the Office; yet I profess were the Bishops
Now
all
Hoopers
and
ranmers;
I could not agree to their Church Government: However, I cannot call it a damning Error; certainly a Bishop may go to Heaven, or else our want of Charity must be great for the Martyrs; I am therefore for letting them alone, so far, I mean as respects Civil Treatment, and fair Usage—; 'tis enough the Church of
Scotland
is fenced against them by Law, and the Debt of common Civility is due to all the World.
In like manner we find the Church of
Scotland
using a Liturgy in former Times—, I shall not infer that she ought to be distrusted on that Score, as likely to relapfe to it.
But this I shall observe, that Liturgies unimposed, have always been in use in the Church, even from the first 300 Years, and therefore are not so Frightful as some people make them, and the Directory is a Liturgy in its kind; all the Reformed Churches have Liturgies, and all that could be desired in that case, by the Dissenters in 1661 was, 1. That they be reformed. And, 2
dly.
That they be not imposed.
To prove that a Liturgy and Common Prayer were used in
Scotland,
take the following Instances.
1. In the Church Policy mentioned before, we have these words,
In great Towns, we think it expedient, that every day there be either Sermon or
Common Prayer. And again,
On the day of the Publick Sermon, we do not think the
Common Prayer
needful to be used.
2. In the Directory for the publick Worship in
Scotland,
we have this Introduction or Preface;
"In the beginning of this Blessed Reformation, our wise and Pious Ancestors took care to set forth an Order for redress of many things, which they then, by the word, discovered to be vain, erroneous Superstitions and Idolatrous in the publick Worship of God—.
This occasioned many Godly and Learned Men to rejoice much in the Book of
Common Prayer
at that time set forth.
"
The Summ of all this is, not at all to favour either Episcopacy or Liturgy in their Attempts to be either justified or restored in
Britain:
let no Man mistake me, but to do Justice against furious Censures, who at the same time, that the Nations professing both sorts, are going to unite, your to represent them as meer Popery or Heathenism, that the Dissenters in
England
may be the easier Censured for offers of Complyance with them, and this I profess to be my single Reason for giving these Instances; as for those who will have me mean what I never intend, I leave them to their own ways, and contemn their want of Candour.
'Tis enough the Church of
Scotland
is reform'd from this, all the burthens of Ceremony, Forms and Hierarchys are taken away, and Purity in both Worship and Discipline obtained; but there is a Christian Temper and Charity towards the Church of
England
certainly due, who, tho not so far reformed, are yet our Brethren, and of whom we yet hope, and ought to pray that they shall one day be effectually Illuminated; this Temper and Charity, I hope, shall now encrease on an Union, and that all the Contention shall be to out-preach, out-live, and out-practise one another, emulating, and thereby provoking one another to Love and to Good Works.
But to go back to the Church of
Scotland,
the several Convulsions she has felt by the Interposition of Tyranny, Conquest, and sometimes Episcopacy, are to be seen at large in the Historys of both Kingdoms, and I shall not enter upon them.
The Persecutions of the Honest suffering Inhabitants are a melancholly Testiwmony of the Assaults the Devil and his Agents have made upon the Reformation here, the Courage, Constancy, and vigorous Opposition of the Zealous Confessors of Christ and his Church in this Nation deserve a better Historian, and one less a Stranger to
Scotland
than I am, to record, and call for more leisure, and more room than I have in this small Tract, and I therefore leave them with this Remark, That no Nation in the World has with more Zeal and Fidelity opposed all the Impositions, Innovations and Barbarities of the Enemies of Truth; than this Nation, and more I cannot say here.
Under these suffering Circumstances, they continued, with some short Intervals, till their being incorporated with
England
in the time of
Oliver Cromwel,
when tho they seemed to be under a Military Government; yet they had their Representatives in Parliament, were Taxed but in Proportion to the Representative; and as I am inform'd here, their Subjection, such as it was, was attended with an Encrease of Wealth, Trade and Property.
At the Restoration, they had Episcopacy, Tranny and Superstition restored just as in
England;
Ministers that could not conform, turn'd out, silenced, persecuted, fin'd, banished, imprisoned
mutatis mutandis,
just as in
England,
except only that their Cruelties and Inhumanities here went farther than they did there.
Thus they continued till the Revolution, at the happy coming of the Great Deliverer of the whole Island, King
WIlliam;
when Tyranny fled, and Guilt drew in her blushing Countenance; Law, Truth, Justice and Liberty reviving, the Church of
Scotland
obtained a Resurrection from a Hundred Years of Misery, Uncertainty, and Distress.
Then Episcopay again vanish't in its turn, and its Elder Sister Tyranny, abdicated with her; the Presbyterian Government of the Church was restored to its Primitive Freedom, and to the full Exercise and Extent of all its Legal Rights, as it is this day, and thus far relates to the History of both Churches.
I come Now to the Dissenters in
England,
as the third Class of People, I am to enter upon.
Of the Dissenters in England.
I left them ejected, contemn'd, persecuted, and opprest during the Reign of the late King
Charles;
wheedled and amused, under his Brother King
James,
restored and tolerated under King
William;
and yet farther secured of that Liberty, tho under several Invasions, by the Vigilance of the Honse of Lords, and the Honour, Justice and special Favour of her present Majesty, whose Concern for them, Clemency and Justice to them, and free Adherence to their compleat Toleration, I hope they wlll never forget.
Here I desire to speak something to the Matter of dissenting from the Church of
England
in general, and then to the Endeavours of Reconciliation on both sides; and I hope that true stating the Matter of Fact, will clear up all the Doubts People may entertain on both sides without invectives, personal Reproaches, Railery, or ill Treatment of the Parties, with which I shall no ways concern my self.
I have deduc't the Dissenters from the Church of
England,
from them they came out, the Reason of their dissenting, I have confin'd to one Main Head,
viz. Purity of Worship,
which was the first; subsequent Scruples followed indeed, which were levelled at, what I call the
Regale and Pontificate,
the Supremacy of Civil Power, and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.
These drove them out of the Church,
and these only;
for as to Doctrinal Articles, they are allow'd to be Orthodox, and all the Dissenters frankly subscribe them, the Quakers excepted, and the last Clause of the 27
th.
Article to the Anabaptists.
It being objected by some, That
Offers have been made by the Dissenters to come into the Church,
I desire to speak directly to it, only to premise something which I think necessary in this place, relating to the Church of
England
her self.
1. The Dissenters, in their separating from the Church of
England;
do by no means disown her being a true Church, they charge her with no
Doctrinal Error,
nothing Heretical or Antichristian, I mean
as a Church.
2. No Man can be so void of Charity as to judge that a Man adhering to the Church of
England,
and
whose Conscience is not farther enlightned,
cannot be saved.
3. No Man then can deny, but that the Dissenters in
England
would
gladly come into
the Church of
England,
and become one Body with them again, and ought to do so, would they abate, alter, or remove all those things in which they differ from them, which do not appear warranted by the Word of God.
This being laid down, it will follow.
1. That a simple offer of complying with the Church, can be no matter of Charge against the Dissenters, if the Conditions on which they offer it are thus qualified.
2. Those that have offered more, are not to be justified, nor shall not by me; and those that have not, ought not to be condemned for the Mistakes of their Brethren, and a just Distinction shall be the Work before me.
I come then to speak to the Matter of Fact, as some have alledged it, that the Dissenters in
England
have made Offers to conform to the Church of
England
—;
I readily grant it is true,
and I think I may as readily grant all that has been said upon that Head, which amounts to this, and no more, That some of the Dissenting Ministers at the Conference at the
Savoy,
and before at
Breda,
willing, if possible, to avoid a Breach, and keep the Office of their Ministry, did offer to submit to a moderate Episcopacy, or as the King himself call'd it,
owned the Essence of Episcopacy.
I'll grant, that the latitude of some of their Principles, and the particular extensive Charity of others, and the Circumstances of the whole at that time, carryed them farther than would consist with the Presbyterian Parity now insisted on by both Churches.
Nay, I'll grant more than is asked,
and I perceive, more than some People desire I should grant,
viz. That they went farther than themselves, when they saw farther into it, would afterwards agree to, and a great deal more than others of their Brethren, even, at that time, would comply with.
But I make no question to prove here, that there can be no just Argument drawn from hence, to prove that the Dissenters now in
England,
should be charged with the same Complyance, or distrusted on the Account of what then past—. But on the contrary, that there are very good Demonstrations to prove they would by no means comply with any such thing; and that the dissenting in
England,
and in
Scotland,
is on the same Foundation with one another, and no other.
The Debate therefore of the Complyance in 1661, I take to be at an end here;
Because I grant all that can be alledged on that head,
I neither Justifie nor approve the Concessions offered, tho at the same time the other Party alledged they were no Concessions at all, but what were destructive to Episcopacy, and, as they call'd it, a Plot against it.
I must own, I think, That suppose the Complyance of those Men as sinful as we please, they were Great and Good Men, they are dead, and gone to their Rest, and their Works follow them; their Labours remain standing Monuments of their Worth and Excellence, and seem to merit that their Infirmities should be buried in the Grave with them.
Let any Minister in
Britain
first make it appear, that he has been blest with being made the Instrument of the Conversion, restoring and comforting as many Souls, as Mr.
Baxters Call to the Unconverted,
his
Saints everlasting Rest,
and Mr.
Hows Blessedness of the Righteous,
and he shall pass with me for the greatest Blessing of his kind, that God has left us in this Day.
Works of this Value deserve their Savour in the Hearts of all good Christians, and if some Opinions of these Men do not agree with ours; yet Charity ought to restrain our Censures of such Men, as God has made eminently useful in his Church, at least let us abstract the Good, and let the Bad sleep, that what we Dislike may not prejudge the Minds of those who may receive Good from the other.
This I think is a Christian way of dealing with them, and they that reflect most upon their own miscarriages and failings will be aptest to allow for other people, the rest is all cavil and indecent.
Having yielded thus to the utmost, I am now to prove that the Dissenters in
England
are not of the same Mind now, and would on no account go the same length, the Consequence of which will be plain, that they are not to be Censur'd or distrusted for what was then done.
I confess my Absence from Books and Vouchers in
England,
deprives me of some Helps; but I must work with such Tools as I have; and tho my performance may not be so perfect as otherwise it would be; yet I hope it shall be convincing, and any moderate Person will allow for the Disadvantage of meer Memory.
First,
I have living Testimony now in this place, who have heard most, if not all the Dissenting Ministers of
England
that have been here, declare in their own Names, and on account of their Brethren in
England,
that it is the general Opinion of the Dissenters in
England,
That if the Church of
England
would abate their whole Liturgy, Habits, Ceremonies,
&c.
yet that they could not conform meerly on account of Episcopacy; and if it shall be of any weight to add my own Testimony, I declare I have heard them universally profess the same thing in
England.
But to come farther, lets take the Testimony of their Enemies, which is no ill way of coming at a charge; the Author of the
Regale and Pontificate,
an Eminent Advocate for the Episcopal Hierarchy in
England,
charging the Dissenters with their rejecting all offers of Complyance made from the Church, concludes thus,
'tis impossible that any Union can be made between the Church and them; because they refuse the REGALE
and
PONTIFICATE,
and on this he charges them with
incurable Schism.
The Author of the
Wolff stript,
one of this Countrey Men, and a great Schollar, inviting, or rather challenging the Dissenters to the stating their Scruples before the Convocation, in order to a Reconciliation, has these words—.
We should have little Quarrel with the Dissenters about all the Objections they make as to Habit, Ceremonies, Liturgy, and even the grand Point of Ordination by Presbyters, if it was not for their Schism, and gathering separate Congregations, in Opposition to the true Episcopal Authority of the Church.
Here's Liturgy, Ceremonies, Habits, and almost every thing sacrifiz'd to the Dissenters, BUT EPISCOPACY, and why did they not accept the Challenge; but because the
Main and Material thing
was behind, without which there could be no Complyance,
viz.
Episcopal Hierarchy.
What is the Complyance of Mr.
Baxter, &c.
to these things? what was then done, is near 50 Years ago, and the State of things is somewhat altered since that time; for 'tis otherways now.
And here I think it will be proper to remind the Dissenters Enemies, or those that
distrust them
on this account, with that many headed Monster call'd A COMPREHENSION, which some People—,
in the abundance of their Ignorance,
have charg'd the Dissenters with contriving.
I believe the Challenge may very modestly be made in the Name of all the Dissenters in
England
to any Man, to prove that a Comprehension had ever its Rise among them, or that any Dissenter ever closed with it.
I know Bishop
Usher
's
Model
was the famous Foundation, and several Dissenters, I believe, at that time, might have come into that.
But even that Model was far from
a Comprehension,
and when ever the Word
omprehension came to be considered, and brought down to
the Edge of Practice,
it was always found impracticable, and therefore the aforesaid Author of the
Regale and Pontificate
declares an Union between the Church and the Dissenters impossible; because the Dissenters will not come up to Episcopacy.
I know some People are foreward to tell us there is a project in
England
now, of making Abatements to the Dissenters to bring them in, I shall give a short answer to it, if it be to take away the
Regale
and
Pontificate,
they will accept it, for that is not coming in to the Church, but receiving the Church in to us; if it be only as formerly, to abate Rigorous Exacting of Conformity, I pledge the Value of all I have said upon it.
1. That 'tis a high Church Project.
2. That the Dissenters reject it.
Now, I would fain ask those Gentlemen that fear the Dissenters and the Church of
England
should unite, who of the Church, the Dissenters should be most likely to join with,
the High Church
or
the Low Church;
the Low Church-men do not seek it, for they are willing to give the Dissenters all the Liberty and Toleration they desire, knowing they cannot come in; as to the high Church, I believe no body will suspect the Dissenters of coming over to them.
But here's another Question will be harder to decide still; How comes it to pass, that the High-Church Men quarrel the Low-Church-Men on this Head, and charge them with shifting the Cause of the Schism off from themselves, telling them, they are not so willing to yield in indifferent things to the Dissenters, as they are; to prove this the same Author quoted before, inviting the Dissenters to offer their Demands to the Convocation, and telling them indifferent things will be given up to them, has these words.
'And if they will do this, it will soon appear whether the High or Low Church will go farthest to purchase the desir'd Reconciliation, and which of them do in most earnest wish for it.
'Next says the same Author, Let those of the Low Church, who make such Boasts of their Project for Reconciliation, produce the Terms of it, that it may appear they were none but indifferent things that were to be given up, otherways let them too, cease their railing at the High Church Men for suspecting them.
'The High Church desire that they and the Low Ohurch may be tryed by their Actions—
, thus you see an Alternative, the Low Church are suspected by the High Church of giving up all, or giving up none, and Comprehensions, Abatements,
&c
are all offered on the High Church Mens side.
The Reason is plain, they see an effectual Gate, to the Ruine of the Dissenters in making Division among them, by yielding in part—, but are mortally averse to giving up the Substantial and effectual Articles, which once removed, would bring an Universal Conjunction.
If I am ask't here in General, whether we would on any terms joyn at all with them. I answer. and believe all good Christians will answer,
Yes, with all our Hearts
—, and so will the Church of
Scotland
too.
And as 'tis natural to say in the next Question, What are the Conditions, Truely such as on the Foundation of which, we would all join with the Papists, or any Church in the World, and I hope, no body will take Offence at the General way of expressing it; for 'tis not stepping foreward, but receiving those that step forward to us.
If any Christian Church will abate what is either in their Doctrine, Worship, or Discipline, not warranted by the Word of God, I'll readily say, we shall all join with that Church.
But to come to Particulars,
as this is not the first time that Question has been ask't and answer'd, I'll give five Heads which have been offered to the Church in this Case by the Dissenters, and on which, I believe; the Church of
Scotland,
the Church of
England,
and the Dissenters, should soon be one united Body, and these are long since made publick in several Tracts, particularly in an Answer to the High Church Challenge printed in the Year 1704.
1. That as to Liturgies, they may suffer such amendment and Alterations as are justifiable by Scripture and the Practice of the Primitive Church.
2. That when they are so amended, they may not be imposed, or the Minister tyed up, and prescrib'd by the Letter of the Book, but be at liberty to enlarge or abridge as his own abilities may supply, or the Case require.
3. That Ordination of Ministers be establish't in the Presbyters, and no re-ordination or unreasonable Oaths imposed.
4. That Habits and Ceremonies, such as kneeling at the Sacrament, bowing at the name of Jesus, the Cross in Baptism, the Surplice, Vestments, and all the rest, scrupled by the Dissenters, and own'd to be indifferent, may be wholly left out, or left at the Discretion of the People, as that they may not be imposed upon them without their Consent.
5. That Church Government be reduced to such a pitch of Authority, and vested in such Persons as may be justified by the Scriptures, and no other.
In all these Offers, I do not see the least Tendency towards a Complyance with any thing, either in Discipline or Worship, which the Church of
Scotland
would not agree to, or that can render the Dissenters suspected; I do not say these are all the things to be insisted on, and let no Man take that weak hold by the Barrenness of Expression to suggest a corrupt Meaning; but I think there is nothing the Church of
England
can be ask't, but what is contained
airly in these Generals.
On the Conceding therefore these five Heads, the Dissenters, yea, and the Church of
Scotland
too, might very easily close with the General Union, and become one great Protestant, and purely reformed Church, for it would be one Presbyterian Church.
Upon the whole, the Matter of Fact I think is plain, that the grand Difference between the Church of
England
and the Dissenters, at this time, is just the same as in
Scotland,
and no other, I mean Church Government, or, in the High Church Language,
the Regale and Pontificate,
and all the Dispute in both may be said to turn upon two Points.
1. Episcopal Hierarchy.
2. The Supremacy of the Civil Magistrate, or his Power to Impose Indifferent Things, and thereby to make them necessary.
This is the Sum of the Matter, and most of it lyes in the first Head too; For, were the Hierarchy reduced, 'tis plain, the Church would soon give up the rest: And, as the Author before Quoted observes,
Would have little Dispute about Habits, Ceremonies, Liturgies and Ordination;
They are indeed but the Pomp and Jingle of the other, and the Scripture Rule would soon reduce them to Primitive Plainness.
I know the Nicety of the Subject I am writing upon, and the want of Charity with which some will read, and this forces me to frequent and otherwise needless Excursions.
I hope I retain an Air of Integrity in my Meaning, and for Misconstructions,
especially wilful ones,
I despise them: I see nothing in my Discourse, that should make me be suspected of being Episcopally inclin'd—Tho I cannot be for Sealing all that are of an Episcopal Church to Reprobation.—Nor Treating them as Antichristian: I believe the Hierarchy Unscriptural, and enter my publick Protest against both
Regale
and
Ponitificate.
—And I think this is as much as any Christian can be requir'd.—But I cannot call the Church of
England
Antichristian, because neither
Regale
or
Pontificate
are Essentials of Doctrine, and when ever they shall be quitted by them, they are from that time the same individual Reform'd Presbyterian Church with this in
Scotland.
Some have taken pains to prove, that the Dissenters in
England, I desire to be understood of the Dissenters, the Presbyterian Dissenters, except where I explain it otherways,
declare themselves
now
for moderate Episcopacy—. But this can never be prov'd upon them; Nor does Mr.
Calamy
any where suggest i
, that I remember, if he says
No Body Questioned the Lawfulness of it at the Conference at the Savoy,
it does not amount to a Proof, that they allowed the Lawfulness of it, much less that they do so now.
But then I find 'tis objected, That they Sign the 37
th
Article of the Church of
England,
which Recognizes the
Regale,
or Power of the Civil Authority: But he that Quotes the Words of that Article, and leaves out the Explanation with which they Sign it, does not Act the most candid part of a Reconciler, nor Treat them fairly.
'Tis known, That the Explication is made part of that Article, and with that Explication the Dissenters are satisfied; and satisfied, that they do not own the Supremacy of the Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Matters,
farther than all the Protestant Churches in
Europe
do.
Again,
this cannot be brought as a single Argument to distrust the Presbyterian Dissenters,
if it be any Proof at all, 'tis against the whole Body;
For even the Anabaptists Sign that Article, as well as the Presbyterians, and no Man ever suspected them of owning the Supremacy.
Lastly, And which is more than all the rest,
the Church her self is come off from the
Regale
in General, and the Oath of Supremacy formerly imposed was one of the first things left out of the
English
Constitution at the Revolution, the Act for it repealed, and has never been imposed upon any Bo-dy since.
So that I think no Complyance can be charg'd on the Dissenters in
England
upon that Foundation.
I have met with but one thing more, in which the Dissenters are attack't, relating to
Scotland,
and that is, that they set up for a Toleration of Dissenters there.
I must own, I have not the same formidable Opinion of a Toleration here, as some Gentlemen have: And as to the Episcopal Dissenters here, I firmly believe, 'tis the true method to dissolve and reduce them to nothing, of which hereafter
but this is nothing to the case;
For I see no Proof, that the Dissenters in
England
have, one way or other, concern'd themselves in it: And therefore, if any Man charges them on that Head, it ought to be prov'd; For to say 'tis so,
as far as we know,
is only to make it appear, we know but little or nothing of the Matter.
But to offer at something relating to their Principles in that case,
it may be noted,
1. that when Essays at Universal Toleration have been made in
England,
the Dissenters have always opposed them; particularly as in taking off the Penal Laws against Papists, when they chose rather to bear the Unreasonable Burden of those Laws themselves, than to tolerate what was destructive to the General Constitution of the Protestant Religion.
2. Another later Instance is, in a Famous Letter lately written by Mr.
Toland
to the respective Heads of the Dissenters in
England,
pressing them to declare their Opinions of the Universal Liberty of Christians, and the Toleration of all Opinions
meerly Religious:
The Original of which Letter I have here with me,
for it was never printed,
and shall freely show to any Body that desires it.
Upon this Application, back't with Mr.
Stephens
and several others—the Dissenters meeting and consulting about it, unanimously resolved, not to give any Answer at all to it, or to make any Declaration of their Opinion on that Head—. Now if they have thus refused to declare their Opinion in
England
where accepting Toleration themselves, 'tis most likely they should be for giving it to others, 'tis very unlikely they should officiously declare themselves for it in
Scotland,
where they have nothing at all to do with it.
However to such Objectors I refer them to my Opinion of that Matter stated in the Preface to
Jure Divino,
now to be seen in this Town, and which I shall take the Freedom to appeal to.
I think therefore they are free from any of the Reproaches thrown on them on that score.
I find but one thing more objected against them and that is about their prompting the Dispensing Power of the late King in
England,
by their Addresses of Thanks for an Illegal Indulgence.
This has been directly answer'd already, and is briefly sum'd up thus,
Some few Dissenters did Address and Thank the King for their Liberty, which,
tho' I do not, nor ever did approve, because that Liberty was their Native Right,
yet as Ignorance, Good Manners, and Wilingness to
ultivate the Benefit which they had many Ages mourn'd for want of, moved some, and the prevailing Arts of Court Flatteries others, yet none of those Addresses being a real owning the Dispensing Power, they cannot be directly charged. And it was plain, they were not design'd as such by the Addressers, since, as soon as they discover'd the Fraud, they all started back, and acknowledg'd the Mistake.
Nor can it be argued, as is weakly insinuated,
That Thanking him for an Indulgence, is a Thanking him for a Dispensing Power, as that Indulgence was a breaking in upon the Laws by a Dispensing Power,
because the one was apparent, the other concealed.
That some were drawn in I owne,
but to what?
—To Thank the King—Well,
what did they Thank him for?
—For what was
THE EFFECT
of a Dispensing Power.
Note again,
not for the Dispensing Power it self, for they did not foresee it—. The
HOOK
Tyranny, was cover'd with the
BAIT
Liberty,
as in all Ages of the World it has been
—. And 'tis Disingenuous to charge that Ignorance as a Sin against Knowlege, and the more so, because as soon as their Eyes were opened, they corrected the Mistake.
Suppose a Man, with a Villainous Design to Murder me, makes me a Present of a Poisoned Nosegay, I accept his Present, and ignorantly Thank him for it—. But I Thank him for the Flowers, I do not Thank him for the Poison; But, as soon as I discover the Treachery, I throw away the Gift, and prosecu
the Murderer.
Again, these People that were thus drawn in, were but a few, not One to Twenty,
some say,
not One
Fifty, and to charge this on the whole Body, looks
if the Enemy had a great Barrenness of Fact,
wants Charity more than it wants Malice.
But I am told very Scholastically, That speaking indefinitly does not imply the whole, and to
THE DISSENTERS
may mean but a few,
cause in School Logic,
an Indefinite in a Matter Con
gent is taken but for a part.
I forbear any Reflection on the Sophistry of this, the Case before us is too honest to need such Equivocations, and plai
Reason with the help of Fact will clear it up all.
If, to say
THE
Dissenters
did so,
may signifie
but some of them,
then, if ten Dissenters did it, it may be said,
The Dissenters
did it.
On the other hand, by the same Rule, if ten th
sand did not do it, it may be as truly said,
The Dissenters
did not do it.
So by this blessed sort of School Reasoning, it may be true, and very proper to say, the Dissenters
did it,
and the Dissenters
did not do it,
both at the same time.
This is the Art of Reasoning which I confess my self untaught in and when I handle a Cause that wants it, I'll go to School to learn it, but I thank GOD I am defending a Cause and a People, who want nothing but Truth in the plainest Dress to defend them, and a plain Fellow is therefore the fitter to plead for them.
Sincerity is the Glory of a Christian, it makes his Life all of a piece with his Profession, this is the Glory of the Cause of the Dissenters, which is like the People, plain and sincere, if they have slipt in any thing,
Humanum est Errare,
but they have fallen like Christians to rise again: And what People in the World has done it less? in Thirty Years Oppression, they have stood their Ground, they have upheld the Justice of their Non-conformity, till tyred with persecuting them, the very Church that opposed them has yielded to Truth, and complyed with their most reasonable Demands.
To charge the Body for the Mistake of a few, is unjust and unfair, and yet I dare say, that the Fact is not right neither,
viz. That they really own'd the Dispensing Power in any one Address,
or any other way countenanc'd it than tacitly, and by consequence without Design
I could say a great deal to defend their General Behaviour towards the Church.
They have always behaved decently and respectfully, as to a Body of
Fellow Christians,
with whom,
th
they cannot Conform to their Ecclesiastical Constitution,
they desir'd no Difference in Matters Civil and Neighbourly, I cannot think any Body will censure them for this—.
They have defended themselves
against their Argument,
but not against their Persons, they have kept their Consciences, but submitted
every thing else
to the Civil Government: Nay, they have gone further, they have not only acquiesc'd in the Civil Government of the Church of
England,
Magistracy, but, on all occasions, when Popery and Tyranny have invaded the Church of
England,
they have joyn'd with them
as their Brethren,
and as Persons embark'd in the same Bottom with them, both as to Civil and Religious Interests.
When the late King
Caress'd the Dissenters,
whe
he used all possible Artifice to draw them in to side with him against the Church of
England,
he found it impossible; But the Church of
England being the
in Distress,
and threatned with Destruction by the
High
ommission Court,
and several Gentlemen applying to the Dissenters to joyn in calling over
the Prince of Orange,
they readily laid aside all their Resentments at their former ill Usage, and not distinguishing the Niceties and Disputes between them, as Church of
England
and Dissenter,
at such a time as that;
the
joyn'd heartily as one General Body of Protesta
United in Interests, United in Doctrine, however differing in Opiuions and Circumstances; and Capitulating
for their Liberty only,
they universally joyn'd in
Blessed Revolution of this Island.
If any Man will undertake to censure the Con
of the Dissenters in this Case, and say, they Acted with less Policy than Charity, or with more
Good Nature
than
Discretion,
I must desire them to remember, the Dissenters and the Church in
England
ought to be considered in several and separate Capacities.
1.
As a Nation,
and respecting their Civil Policy as
English-Men,
they stand all upon
Foundation,
viz. Of Law, Liberty
and
Rig
when ever they separate, they are both destroy'd and both undone, and therefore, when ever the Dispute comes to be
between
Liberty and Tyranny,
between
Law and Dispensing Power, Property and Arbitrary Government, the Church of
England
and Dissenter
were
ever together,
as one Body of
Free-
English-Men,
United in Opposition to Slavery and Bondage, and they must both have been distracted, if it had been otherwise.
2.
As Protestants,
respecting Reformation in general, they are still one United Body of Christians, in Doctrine, Charity and Interest the same, and therefore, when ever the Dispute comes to be
between
the Papist and the Protestant,
between
Idolatry and true Worship,
between
the Purity of Religion and the
Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men,
they are still one Body of Protestants, Detesting and Renouncing the Errors of
Rome,
Espousing heartily the true Reformation, and Professing together the same
Lord JESUS.
3. But if you respect them as
Particular Churches,
then indeed you find them differing in Judgement and Opinion about the Circumstantials of Religion, such as
Habits, Ceremonies, Worship
and
Discipline;
yet this Difference, as it is not essential to Religion; so it does not, or, at least, ought not to break in upon their Mutual Charity, or National Interest; much less upon their Civility and good Manners, and therefore all
Revilings
and
Reproaches
are to be carefully avoided between the Lovers of Peace on both sides, and 'tis what the Dissenters have always pleaded for,
having suffered most by that
sage;
and I hope, shall be the last that return upon the Church, what they have so long complained of.
4. In speaking of them
as regarding the Church of Scotland,
this Distinction also ought to be made,
viz.
That the Dissenters were once a part of the Church of
England,
and have
only separated from them
for Purity of Worship, Church Government,
&c.
'Tis therefore quite another thing for them, to desire to be restored to their National Union, than for the Church of
Scotland,
who never were a part of their Body; And since yet they do not offer to comply, but on Terms justifyable by the Word of GOD, there remains no Censure due to them,
but such as do blame them,
show their want of Judgment and want of Charity both together; Nor is it any sufficient Exception, to say they
did not declare against the Compliances of any,
since they have always in Practice done it, and 'tis known they have no Power of Censure—.
Thro' infinit Persecutions, Fines, Jails, and harrassing of several kinds, they are
at last
arrived to a legal Liberty, a true Foundation Right which is called
a Toleration;
on this Foot they now stand.
On all Occasions they have declar'd they cannot comply with the Church in the Article of Bishops—,
Comprehensions
have been projected; but they
have always been concluded
impracticable, and the Presbyterian declares himself not able to conform.
Their Difference are
meerly consciencious,
they have suffered all Severities for their Consciences, and cannor without great want of Charity,
be distrusted
or suspected as Episcopally inclined.
CONCLUSION.
IT remains to say someting here to the present Circumstances of both Kingdoms as now going to incorporate and unite, and in this I shall be very plain; but, I hope, not at all injurious to any body, and shall direct my words as General as I can.
The
Word Union
directs my Discourse, Union is the Theme; and 'tis Peace
in this Union
I shall plead for; however, you contemn the Man, listen to the Doctrine; for let who will
send the Teacher,
the Teaching is from Heaven.
I cannot but think every Obstruction to this Doctrine,
out of Season,
I am sorry so Just a hint should give so great Offence, but
Truth will never fail to justifie its Owner.
It cannot but be
out of Season,
to talk of the sinfulness of a thing after 'tis done, which we applauded or at least, against which we said nothing before.
It cannot but
be out of Season
to rip up the Follies and Mistakes of Men who are dead, and cannot answer for themselves, especially of Good Men, whose shining Patterns deserve better Treatment.
It cannot but
be out of Season,
to Preach up distrust between a Society of Brethren at a time, when they are going to unite.
It cannot but
be out of Season,
to fill the Heads of the People with these Distrusts, and raise Jealousies and Divisions, where General Charity, and mutual Assistance must be the Principal Humane Support of both.
In the present Circumstances of these Kingdoms, I know nothing so essential to the Felicity of both, as mutual Confidence in, and Affection to one another.
The want of this is the only thing that can make all the
Flegmatick Predictions
of the Enemies of both come to pass, Union of Nations, without Union of People, Union in Generals, without Union in Particulars, Union of Constitution, without Union of Interest, will make the Union a meer Name and bring to pass all the Mischiefs either side can apprehend.
'Twill defeat all the Endeavours either side can exert, to convince one another of their Sincerity; every kind Action, every Concession, every Contrivance to oblige and engage on either side, will be rendred suspected, and taken for Traps and Snares to draw in and circumvent one another.
Mutual Distrust will be the Poison of every Good Desire, 'twill ruine Commerce, debauch Conversation slacken Endeavours, discourage Friends, encourage Enemies, blow up Feuds, scandalize Religion, dishnour God, and ruine the Nation.
I shall sum up this Matter here in as short a Head as the Subject will permit, I have not room to speak to the Head of the Dissenters here in
Scotland,
I purposed to do, I hope, in another place, I may
that Case, together with my Thoughts about Toleration, in a larger manner: Mean time, I desire to apply a little what has been said to the present Circumstance between the Dissenters and their Accusers—
First,
I frankly own the Distrust and Jealousies endeavour'd to be fomented here, between the Church of
Scotland
and the Dissenters in
England,
is far from being the General Act of the Ministry, or of the most Judicious of the People here: And among those
of the Reverend Ministers, who I have the Honour
Converse with, I find a General Concern, that
thing so Unkind should be offer'd to them; Nor shall I fail to do them all the Justice, both here and in
England,
that I can on that Head, that the Spirit of distrust may spread no farther, and the Innocent
not be Censur'd with the Guilty.
My Discourse therefore is not to them, but to th
who the Unhappy Temper has prevail'd upon, and who are too much drawn in to entertain fatal Suspicions, and ill grounded Prejudices, against their Brethren, and 'tis to them I crave the Liberty of speaking.
What Love Gentlemen? What Charity? What Mutual Assistance? What Advantages of Commerce? What Strength against Foreign, or Guard against Domestick Enemies? what Security of Liberty at Home, or Safety from Encroachments Abroad? If we cannot trust one another.
'Tis mutual Distrust has kept these Nations so long divided, and been the Occasion of such Seas of Blood being shed between them; all the widowed Families, the helpless Orphans, the distrest Provinces in either Kingdom, for these 300 Years bypast, have been principally produc'd by this Monster—. This Child of Hell has been in every Mischief, in every Plot, in every War between the two Nations.
To destroy this Devil, this present Union is contrived; 'tis for this all the Councils of both Kingdoms have been imployed; 'Tis to prevent this all the Enemies of our Peace have struggled: And if after all the Hazards run, all the Tumults, Rabbles and Mischiefs threatned, all the Endeavours of the Queen and her wisest Counsellors,
this part should not be obtained,
all the Attempts of a politick Union will be in vain.
What shall we say to an Endeavour
after an Union, is as it were concluded between the Nations,
to render the best People in both Nations, and perhaps in the World suspected to one another—. Shall I, thro' Favour, or Fear of Reproach, say '
tis Honest,
or
Fair,
or
Christian,
or
Seasonable:
God forbid I should dare to approve, what the Scripture says himself hates,
Prov.
6. 19.
Him that soweth Discord among Brethren.
Brethren of the Church of
Scotland, If the Dissenters in
England
are not to be trusted; whither will ye seek? what shall your Temporal Peace depend upon? what upholds the Interest of Religion in
Britain;
but that Glorious Body of Protestants, that from a few Years of the first Reformation, have been dayly Confessors for that Purity of Worship, which they always profest, and
which you enjoy?
Why should they be distrusted that never abandon'd their Cause, that never deserted the strong Foundation of Truth and Liberty, that have defended it, and are at last built upon it
in common with your selves.
The Laws of
Britain
are their Safety now, and yours also; the Civil Capacity is the Foundation Security now of your Religious Capacity;
Magna charta
is yours by the Union
as well as theirs;
the Great Liberties of
England
are now laid open in common with you—, a Foundation
so
strong,
so
certain,
so
sure, that should the greatest Monarchs that ever reign'd in
Britain
invade it,
even the Persecutors themselves
would join with you, to pull them down.
You are all built upon Law and Liberty, that is the Rock that supports you all, and you have now nothing to do, but
like your Stones in an Arch,
by shouldering up one another, make your Strength invincible; thus united like the same Arch, the more weight is laid on you, the stronger you grow; but dislocate one Stone only, and it falls by its own weight, into a heap of meer Rubbish and Disorder.
Suffer a Stranger to exhort you to what your own Interest ought to guide you to, and to what your Experience will bless him for hereafter,
unless by your unbelief, your Careasses fall in this wilderness of Strife,
and if that should happen, your Posterity will acknowledge it.
Study Peace, Study to be Quiet, and mark such as sow Divisions among you—; for where there is Strife and Contention, there is Every evil Work.
For my self, I shall say little, I have quitted the just Resentment at unsufferable Insolencies, that I might with the utmost Calmness of Mind, move
Scotland
to Peace, and practise the thing I exhort to—; the Gentleman that opposes me in this, shall not rally me only in Print, but he shall trample me under his Feet; I am content to be all that is contemptible and vile in his Eyes, and in every Mans else, if I can but be instrumental in the least to this blessed healing Temper.
I can hear him and his Platterers go about defaming my Morals to lessen my Argument, reproaching the Man, to weaken his Discourse, a certain Token of the sterility of better Answers—. It moves me not—. It shall all be in vain—. Slander and Backbiting shall do me no Injury—. I have been an open Reprover of other Mens Vices at the extremest Hazard—.
If my own Practice had been scandalous,
as these Men suggest, I should, long since, have had it Printed in my Forehead; for this is not the first time it has been attempted. I am sorry they force me to say any thing in my own Defence,
a most insignificant Triffle to what I am upon:
But as 'tis done with a Design to lessen the Esteem of what I say in this Cause, I am oblig'd to speak. They report me a Drunkard, a Swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, and what not—. Impotent Slanders! what Shift is Malice driven to? The Issue is short and plain, and their Honesty shall be tryed by it. I challenge them to bring the Man either here, or in
England,
that ever saw me drink to Excess, that ever heard me swear; or in short, can charge my Conversation with the least Vice or Immorality, with Indecency, Immodesty, Passion, Prophaneness, or any thing else that deserves Reproach; when they can do this, I'll burn this Book at the Mercat Cross, and desire all the World to regard no more what I say, and till they can do it, all Honest Men will abhor the Practice.
'Tis hard, Gentlemen, to force any Man to say thus much of his own Character, and so far, as it looks like Ostentation, I ask Pardon for it; I am far from valuing my self upon negative Vertue; yet I thank God that I am able to say thus much, and thought my self oblig'd to convince the World how they are imposed upon, and how a Stranger is treated here; and I beg the Gentlemen that use me thus, not to oblige me to recriminate upon their Morals, which I could do with too much Advantage.
It wounds every Honest Man to the Soul, to see a Spirit of Bitterness and Slander gone out among you, biting and devouring, and distrusting one another, at a time, and in a very Debate of National Union.
I verily believe God in his Providence has determined the Blessed Union of these two Nations; I foresee all the Malice of Hell cannot oppose it; the strange concurrence of Circumstances points out the Finger of Providence in every Point of it, 'thas been made up of Miracle, and unaccountable Junctures in its Periods. I beseech you Gentlemen, let not your unbelieving rob you of the Blessing of it, and adjourn the Comforts so, that like the Elders at
Samaria,
you should see it, but not taste of it.
I see nothing objected but Chimeras, Maybe's, supposes, Suggestions—, what-ifs, and the like; one convincing Demonstration of the sincerity of your Brethren
England
will crush them all, and how will you be asham'd of your Suspicions and Jealousies, how will you regret the unkind Treatment of your Friends, who will thus requit you Good for Evil, and heap Coals of Fire on your Heads,
If you would compare the certain Evils you have avoided by it, with the suggested Evils that they say are in prospect, there can be no rational Comparison drawn, Jacobitism. Popish Succession,
French
Tyranny, Popery and War—, these are avoided, and must have followed, what can there be before you to equal these.
If therefore you have any regard to Justice, to Truth, to your Interest, to your Religion, Liberty or Posterity, calm your Minds, and fortify your Souls with peaceable Ideas, leave Jealousies and Suspicions to ly asleep in the misty heads of the Ignorant; For distrust is the Product of a Barren Understanding, if your Eyes are open, you cannot but see your Safety and Prosperity in an hearty Affection, an Union of Love, an Union of Intrests, and an Union of Charity.
Without it, all's an empty Shadow, and must in time tend either to the Ruine of the General Peace, or of the particular opposers of it.
My Friends tell me I lay my self too low in this and that the Adverse Party have Ingenuity little enough to insult me upon this head; indeed I find little Ingenuity enough in the Party: But when I consider who they are, how mean in Character, how seandalously few in Number, how empty their Malice, and how ridiculous their Methods with me, 'tis a compleat Satisfaction, and I am perfectly unconcern'd for the rest.
Most of the Persons, whose ill treatment I complain of are realy contemptible in every part of them; their Principles,
they are opposite to mine, are so to all Honest Men, their Reproaches I value not enough to gratifie so much as their meanest Expectations; for with me it shall ever be calm without, when it is clear within; and for just Matters of Scandal, I have
airly defyed them.
As they are Enemies to God, so they are to the Government, to the Reformation; and to Good Men, and by Consequence to the Union, which is plainly the Work of the first, and the desi
of the last, and it is the Glory of her Majesties Government, that it aims at nothing but what concurrs both with the Glory of one, and the Wishes of the other, I mean Piery and Peace.
If there was any thing else in the Design, I bless God, I was never a Slave to any Government in the World; I was never frighted by Power, when I was
by its
, and I could never be brib'd by its Gi
s, when in the most proper circumstances to want them, I would not write a word, no, nor for the Queen her self, if my Conference and Principles did not say Amen to the Subject; and I challenge the World to say, when ever I acted otherwise.
The Party therefore in nothing more mistake me, than in thinking, that when, for Peace sake, I avoid Reflecting on their Follies, 'tis for any Value or Fear of their Resentment, they must be little acquainted with the Scenes I have acted in the World, who know me no better than that, and I refer them to the Resentments of Men much more Capital than their Ambitious Thoughts can pretend to, and let them see the
Influence their Anger has had on me.
But all this Humility of mine is for the sake of a few,
a very few indeed,
who, tho' Passion and Prejudice may over-rule them; and run them to Inconvenien
, tho' they may go a little out of themselves, I
hope are good Men in the Main, and Design no gen
ral Mischief, these,
however they treat me,
I am
of exposing, and tho' in this they unwarrily propagate the
Jacobite
Cause, and unhappily fall in
that fatal Principle that would ruine us all, yet
Tenderness to their Characters and Office,
and
other Account,
I behave calmly and carefully to
hoping, that in due time, they shall be bet
r informed, and then, I doubt not, they will do me Justice—
For the rest, their Principles are Abominable, their Ways of Propagating them are Unchristian and Irrational, their Methods are Detested by all honest Men, and to me they merit the utmost Contempt.
Very few also are the Number of the
ceiv'd Proselites they have made, not one in twenty, even of the Ministers that I have known, are of
Opinion: And I have such a Testimony from
of the best of that Reverend Body, of their Satisfac
in my honest Design, their Resentment of this
, and their just Regard to the Dissenters in
England,
that I can,
with the utmost Peace,
bear the Reproa
of the small Number that thus Attack me.
May the God of Peace move this Nation to thoughts of their own Happiness, and cool the evil Spirit that now endeavours to disquiet the Minds of those th
otherwise mean no ill to their Native Countrey.
FINIS.