A letter sent from beyond the seas to one of the chief ministers of the non-conforming party by way of reply to many particulars which he sent to the author in a letter of news / by a lover of the established government both of church and state.

A letter sent from beyond the seas to one of the chief ministers of the non-conforming party by way of reply to many particulars which he sent to the author in a letter of news / by a lover of the established government both of church and state.

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A Letter sent from beyond the Seas, to one of the Chief Ministers of the Nonconforming Party.

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A Letter sent from beyond the Seas, to one of the Chief Ministers of the Nonconforming Party.

Dear Cousin,

I Was very glad to receive your Letter, but very far from being glad to find you still so extreamly desirous of Innovations in a Government so well established, as that is under which you live. I perceive you are more zealous than it becomes a good Subject, or a good Christian to be, for carrying on a Project of my Lord Choses's, as Unreasonable as New; viz. That of Disabling a Papist to Inherit the Crown. For doubtless that proposal was first made, and afterwards promoted, by him, the last Sessions of Parliament, not out of true Love to the Reformed Religion, but out of Spite or Revenge to the D. of Y—Who, were he not only Papist, but Heathen, or Mahumetan, (which I think is not much worse) would certainly have as good a Title to his Crown, and all his Temporal Rights, as if he were the most Orthodox and Holy Christian in the World. And I am perswaded, that my zealous Lord Chose would not be willing that the King and Parliament should make a particular Act to disable his own Posterity to Inherit the great Estate he hath got, if they should turn [Page] Papists or Atheists, as others have done before them. We all know what mischief in the World that Damnable Doctrine has made, That Temporal Rights and Inheritances depend upon Saintship and Grace. And if it be clear from Scripture (as nothing is more clear) that a King ought not to lose his Crown, or any other Person for feit his Temporal Rights, for not being Christians, or for renouncing the Christian Religion; then it is plain, that neither the D—nor any other Person, ought to be deprived of their Temporal Rights, especially Crowns, (of all Temporal Rights the greatest) for not being Protestants; or, which is more, for renouncing the Christian Religion.

And I am heartily glad that God gave the Fathers of the English Church the grace to defend her Doctrine, in opposing that Unreasonable, and truly Romish Proposal of my Lord Chose; which if they had approved, and defended after it was proposed, they had truly acted in that like men Popishly affected, and shewed themselves to be what their Adversaries would fain perswade the World they are. For 'tis the Romish Church, and her Doctors, which maintain, That Kings Excommunicated, or Heretick Kings, or (which is all one) that Kings that renounce the Apostolick Faith, ought to be Deprived and Deposed. But 'tis the Church of England that maintains the contradiction of that Unscriptural, Unevangelical [Page] Principle; and thinks her self as much obliged to submit her self to a Heathen, Atheistical, Heretical, or Popish Prince, where she can, as to an Orthodox King; and, where she cannot, she thinks her self obliged to suffer, as her Saviour, like a Lamb brought to the slaughter; and dares pretend to take up no Arms but those of the Primitive Christians, (whose true Copy she is) Tears, Arguments, and Prayers. I say, it is the Church of England that is of this judgment, and neither the Church of Rome, nor the Church of Scotland; both of which have actually Excommunicated and Deposed Lawful and Rightful Princes, under the Notion of being Hereticks, and Enemies to Christ's Kingdom; forgetting both alike the Precepts and Examples of our Saviour and his Apostles, on which the Church of England hath grounded the contrary Doctrine, as well as on right reason.

Our Saviour, though God, rendred unto the Heathen Caesar the things that were Caesar's; he owned his right to the Empire, both by word and deed, although he were but the adopted Successor of the greatest Usurper that ever was in the World. Nay furthermore, he owned and submitted to the Procuratory Power of Pilate, who acted but by Commission from the Emperour Tiberius; who (if there be any truth in the Character of Tacitus) was the greatest Tyrant, and the most wicked man that ever the World [Page] saw. And as for St. Paul, there is no Article of our Religion, not even that, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, more clear in his Epistles, than that Every Soul should be subject to the Higher Powers; That we should Obey, not only for Wrath, but Conscience sake; That whosoever resisieth, receiveth to himself Damnation; and lastly, that all the Powers (and when he wrote there were none but Heathen Powers) were Ordained of God.

I might here insist upon the Practice of the Apostles, as it is represented in their Acts, and the constant Submission and Sufferings of the Primitive Christians, as they are reported by the Ecclesiastical Fathers, and Historians; but the Scripture it self is sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this Argument, which the Church of England has not only established in her Doctrine, but her Fathers, and Sons of late, maintained in their Practices; and which the Church of Scotland (agreeing in this and many other Points with that of Rome) did ever oppose, both in Word and Deed. And since that Kirk and Nation have been of this Opinion, we need not wonder that the English Disciples of their Buchanan and Knox have practised those rebellious Principles, which have so debauched and corrupted the Subjects of the Kings of England, as to make them be proverbially called, The Kings of Devils: And which the Anabaptists in Germany improved into this Maxim, That Saintship was [Page] the Foundation of Soveraignty, and that the Righteous ought to Inherit the Earth.

And furthermore, if Crowns ought to be Entailed upon Protestants only, then it is but just, that the Estates of all Subjects whatsoever should be so Entailed: And if for example, the D—of Y—must be cut off from his Rights for being a Roman Catholick, then let the rest of the Papists lose theirs; they are all alike Idolaters, and let them all alike suffer. And, to bring the Case to your own House, can you imagine that you your self ought to lose your Right to the Estate you have, or may have hereafter, upon that supposition, that you should turn Papist; which men as firmly resolved against it as you have certainly done. These Practises and Proposals are such, that they have left a blot on the memories of some men, that seem more zealous than their Brethren. And I am glad at present, that the Religious Lord Chose is the Chief Patron and Promoter of such an Unreasonable and Romish Design. I have more than ordinary reason to call it Romish, because I have heard it maintained here among all the Priests I converse with. It is a Doctrine dearly beloved by the Romanists: And put but the name of Heretick to a Prince here, and it is just the same case as when you call a Prince a Papist in England; where, if there be no more than my good Lord Chose that are Fautors of this Romish Doctrine, my Country is [Page] in a far better case than I thought it to be. And truly this noble Project of the late Lord Chose was condemned by all Protestants as soon as it took air in France; not only for that it was an Ungospel way of proceeding, and savors strongly of the Doctrine of Rome, which they abhor; but because it puts their King in mind of a Project he is very much inclined to, viz. To make a like Law here, that none but a Roman Catholick shall ever be King, or bear any Office or Trust in the Kingdom. And certainly, if it should ever please God, for our sins, to suffer our Princes to back-slide into Romish Idolatry and Superstition, we have nothing to do but to pray, and like our glorious Ancestors in Queen Mary's days, suffer quietly when we cannot flie. And therefore I wonder that you should so oblickly reflect upon the Bishops, and censure them for doing that, which in Honor and Duty, they were bound to do; and represent this to their Disgrace, which all good and well advised Protestants must needs commend them for, if they will be Impartial.

But put the case such an Act were made, who can see the bad consequences thereof? None but a Protestant shall govern now; but Faction still increasing, none within a while but a Presbyterian, &c. For you that are used to talk of Numbers and Strength, can best tell how Numerous and Powerful they are that are possessed [Page] with as firm a prejudice against the Church of England, as the Church of Rome it self; denying communion equally with both; and who educate their Children in perfect hatred of the one, as the genuine Daughter of the other.

I have wrote all this, to present to your view what (perhaps in the hurry of Business) you have not had time to consider. And though I think it very impious and unreasonable to deprive any such Prince of his Crown upon this account, yet were the Government to be formed again, I would be as zealous for this condition, as the greatest Zealot of them all: And I am as sorry as any other man, that it was not alwaies one of the Fundamental Laws of England, though now it be too late to make it such.

You tell me also, that my Lord—intends to come and live in London; I suppose it may be under pretence to secure his Person from the Papists; but I wish it may not be with a design to act over the same things, under a pretence of securing the Protestant, which the Duke of Guise acted in Paris, under a seeming zeal to secure the Popish Religion. The Reason that makes me fear it, is the conformity of our times in England with those in France, as you may see by the following account.

The Duke, who was a man of an high spirit, [Page] and not able to bear the least disgrace, being removed by Henry III. from the most rich and honourable of his Court-preferments, became thereupon male-content; and retiring from the Court, which he now did hate, went to live at his house in Paris; where, by many Arts, as in particular by the subtle Practises of the Priests and Jesuits, he became in a short time the Minion of the People; whose Affections he drew off from the King, by representing him (though a hearty Roman Catholick) as a favorer of the Hereticks; who under the protection of the Princes of the Bloud increased mightily in his Reign. He also represented him in particular to be a great fovorer of the King of Navarre, against whom he himself had a particular ill will; and whom the People, through the Instigation of the Priests and Jesuits, did perfectly hate, because he was a Protestant; although he was Primier Prince of the Bloud, (for whom the French commonly have a great Reverence) and by consequence Heir Apparent, or as a Friend of yours would have said, Heir Presumptive (for the King was Childless) to the Crown of France. After he had thus made the credulous People, by the help of the Priests and Jesuits, zealous for the Defense of their Declining Religion, he drew them to League into Rebellion against their lawful Sovereign, under a pretence of securing the same, by removing Evil Counsellors from his Person, and obliging him to employ his Royal Power in suppressing [Page] the Protestants; and in particular by declaring the Heretick King of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) uncapable of succeeding to the Crown.

For the sake of Peace the King was willing so far to deny himself, as to grant the two first, but could never be made so false to the Interest of the Royal Family, as to consent to the last, by changing the Order of Succession to the Crown, by which his Ancestors had Reigned for One thousand and two hundred years; and which had been so long established, without any respect to Religion, by the Salique or Original Laws of France. Hereupon the League (in Imitation, and after the Pattern of which the Solemn League and Covenant was formed) or Rebellion grew so high, as to beat the King out of Paris; where the Guisards had a design to sieze upon his sacred Person, shut him up, like King Chilperick, in a Monastery, and set up the silly old Cardinal Bourbon, the King of Navar's Uncle, to Reign in his stead. But the King escaping from Paris, sheltered himselfe in Chartres; where, to compose Differences, he issued out Writs to call together the three Estates (which much resemble our Parliaments) at Blois. Thither the Deputies or Members repair, some for the King, but far more for the Cursed League; and therefore the Guisards finding themselves more potent than the Royalists, insisted almost [Page] on nothing else but securing the Roman Catholick Religion, by declaring the King of Navarre, because an Heretick, uncapable of succeeding to the most Christian Crown.

You see, Cousin, what a parallel there is between those times & ours; excepting First, That there are no Priests and Jesuits to second such a Design in England, as there were in France: But to supply that Defect, there may be found men as fit in all points as they to stir up the People to Discontent and Rebellion. I mean the same sort of Persons that Preached up the late Bloudy War; who really are the Bastard-brood of the Monastick Emissaries, though they bear not the names of their Fathers, but (like Bastards) are disowned by those that begot them. The Seditious Principles Preached and Printed by them in the late Times, are Evident Proofs of what Race they are come: and as a man may travel so far West, till at last he come to the same Eastern-point from which he did set out, so you, Cousin, and your Brethren have gone so far from the Church of Rome, that you are (some I believe unawares) come thither again; as is unanswerably proved by Lysimachus Nicanor, in his Letter of Congratulation to the Kyrk. But Secondly, the Parallel failes in this too, That his Royal Highness is not a declared Papist, as the King of Navarre was a declared Protestant; but on the contrary persists in the Communion [Page] of the Church of England, for which his blessed Father died a Martyr. And therefore of the two our English Guisards are too much to blame, to represent his Royal Highness as a Papist, which it is so absurd to imagine him to be.

But furthermore, upon supposition he were a declared Papist, the Proposal of my Lord Chose was very ridiculous, since it did suppose a possibility of prevailing with his Majesty to disinherit his Royal Brother, who must needs be so much dearer to him, than the King of Navarre was to Henry III. as he is nearer in Bloud. And for for my own part, I cannot but imagine, at this distance, that his Majesty, who is a Prince incomparably wiser and juster than was Henry III. of France, must needs disdain and abhor such a Proposal; which, were it Enacted, it would enervate the Laws of Succession by which He and His Ancestors have hitherto Reigned, and give as great a Blow to the English Monarchy as that which cut off His Royal Father's Head.

I have here forborn to give you an Account of the Tragical End of the Duke of Guise, which is a Lesson well worth your learning, and may teach all Persons, so disposed as he was, how unsafe it is to provoke Sovereign Authority; since the Goodness of the best of Kings, like the infinite Goodness of God himself, whose Ministers they are, may at length be so injured and affronted, [Page] as to be forced to sharpen it self into Sovereign Vengeance and Justice. And therefore, Cousin, let me advise you, if not for Conscience, yet for Wraths sake, to have nothing to do in Blowing up the Flames of Sedition: Nor let your Soul enter into the secret of my Lord—though his Interest among the Senators (as you write) be so very considerable and strong.

You likewise forget your self, in miscalling the Execution of the late Laws by the odious name of Persecution; which if you can prove to be such, according to the Scriptural notion of Persecution, viz. infliction of Evil for Righteousness sake, then will I become your Proselyte, and forsake the Church of England, as much as I have this Idolatrous Church of Rome.

For no man is persecuted, but either for immediate matters of Divine Worship, which concern the First Table; or with respect to matters of Morality, or a Good Life, which concern the Second.

With respect to the First; a man is persecuted either on a negative account, for not worshiping a False God, as the three Children in Daniel; or for not worshiping the True in a False way: as St. Paul and the other Apostles were persecuted by the Pharisees, for not worshipping the True [Page] God according to the Jewish manner after it was abrogated: or as our Fore-fathers in England, For not worshiping God and our Saviour after the Romish Rites. Or Secondly, On a positive account, For worshiping the true God in a way that is true; or, to express it yet more clearly and absolutely in your own tearms, For serving of God: as Daniel was cast into the Lyons Den, for praying to God against the King's Decree.

With respect to the Second; A man is also persecuted on a negative account, For not doing something, which is in its own nature, or by Gods positive command, morally evil: as the good Midwives were afraid to be persecuted by Pharaoh, for not murthering the Hebrew Infants. Or else on a positive account, For doing some good moral action, which ought in such and such circumstances to be done: and thus was our blessed Saviour persecuted, for opening the eyes of the blind man, and for healing on the Sabbath-day.

Now these distinctions being premised, tell me in which of these cases you are persecuted; or, which is all one, for what you are Martyrs. For no man is persecuted, but as he is persecuted he is a Martyr; and by his sufferings bears witness to the Truth. With respect to the Second head, you cannot say that you are persecuted; and therefore let me see whether you are so with [Page] respect to the first. And First, 'tis plain that you are not brought to suffer for not worshiping a fall God; and 'tis likewise as plain, that you do not suffer for worshiping the true God in a false way. For First, the Laws, whose Execution you mis-call Persecution, do not punish you for not worshiping God after our way; or if they did, to prove their Execution to be Persecution, you must First prove that the Church of England (whose Doctrine is down-right against Idolatry and Superstition) does worship God in an Idolatrous and Superstitious manner; which, good Cousin, you know can never be proved.

There remains nothing then but to assert, That you are punished for serving God; or for worshiping God in a way which you are sure is true. That you worship God in a true way, I verily believe, and could heartily joyn with you in other circumstances. But then you are not punished for worshiping God in that manner; for the same Laws you complain of, allow you to worship God in what fashion you please; and not only you, but your Family, be it as great as it will; and Lastly, not only your Family, but Five Persons more: Which allowance, were you the only Christians in the World, and the Magistrates Heathens; or, which your Friends are more likely to suggest, were they Papists or Atheists, is so far from being Persecution, that were you of the temper of the Primitive Christians, [Page] you would esteem it as a great priviledg, and, instead of reviling, thank the kind Magistrate for the same. But then if on the other hand you be considered (and many good English men, and good Christians cannot but consider you) as a sort of men, that have formerly raised a Civil War, and now make Schism in the Church, and Broyles in the State, your punishments you suffer, will be so far from seeming persecution of you as Christians, that it will rather seem your just Desert, as factious and turbulent Subjects. And I assure you, that your Brethren in France (whom you falsly so call, and for whom you pretend so great respect) are so far from judging you persecuted, that they will not excuse you; but wonder at your non-submission to the Church, and pity your mistakes, that make you stand out against the Laws. They that have seen and examined our English Liturgy, which is Printed at Geneva in French, cannot understand your Notion of Persecution. And Ministre Claude, the most famous of them all, for Piety and Learning, told me, in the presence of many others, (after a Discourse, wherein he said all for you that could be said) that he wondered how the Presbyterians in England could rend the Peace of the Church, for such little indifferent matters; and that, if he were in England, he would be of the Episcopal Party, and heartily submit himself to the Discipline and Government of the Church of England. And if [Page] you would do so too, how happy a thing would this be both for your selves and the Nation? Or seeing, as you pretend, you cannot, yet at least live peaceably, and forbear to trouble the World with compassing Sea and Land; that is, by doing all that you can, like your Fathers of old the Pharisees, to make Proselytes; when yet you cannot shew any sinful condition of communion with the Church of England, nor prove your way of worship as Apostolical as that of hers; from which, out of Pride, Interest, or Ignorance, or partly all together, you dissent. I am sure this would rather become the dissenting Brethren, than to foment Divisions, raise Parties, betake themselves to the wickedness of men, as of late to—, and cry up the Kings Prerogative, which they formerly cried down; which, with many other self-contradictions, confirms me in an opinion you know I was of before, That in those matters wherein you differ from us, you are men of no Principles, and know not where to fix.

I have enlarged upon this Theam more than I thought to do at first, because the Papists here in France complain as loudly as you of the cruelty of the same, and other of our Laws; and cry out, wherever they come, how their Brethren have been, and still are persecuted among us; though with this difference, that in disputing ad hominem their case is far more reasonable and [Page] pleadable than yours. As for you, I protest, I wish that the Laws you complain of had never been made; and though perhaps I am willing to grant, they are very hard Laws, considering you as free-born Subjects of England; yet I will maintain, that the Execution of them is not Persecution, although you be considered as the only true Christians in the World. For, as I hinted before, you have the Liberty in your Houses to profess what Religion you please, and to worship God in what manner you will; and, for fear your Family should not be a just Congregation, you may have five more: but, for fear you should do as you have formerly done, you are not to have five Hundred, or five Thousand: which Liberty, not only the Primitive Christians, but our own Ancestors, an hundred years ago, would have called a Blessing, and a Priviledg, and have heartily thanked God and the King for the same. And God grant we may never see that time in England, when truly tender Consciences will esteem so much Liberty as the greatest Blessing in the World.

The good Protestants here in France, though their Religion is made an obstacle to all Statepreferments, though it disable them to sit in the Courts of Parliaments, (except just so many as serve in the Chamber of Edicts to decide Controversies between Protestants and Papists) or to have any other Charges of Judicature, or any [Page] high Offices in the Army; though their Numbers are much diminished; and their Interest weakned, by a Prohibition to marry with Roman Catholicks, and by a Capital Law, which makes it Death to return Protestants after they have once turn'd Papists; and though a great number of their Temples have been demolished (some under a pretence that they were built since the Edict of Nantes, others that they were built without License, and others that they were built upon Holy Ground) so that hereby they are forced in very many places to the grievous inconvenience of going two, three, four, or five Leagues to Church, if not more: and though all the Places of Strength, where they do abound, are demolished, and Cittadels are erected to awe them in other Towns, where they are numerous; though their own particular Hospitals, and all other perpetual Provisions for their Poor are taken away; and they disabled, either living or dying, to give any settled Maintenance either to their own Ministers or People, (as to endowe Churches, build Schools, Colledges, or Hospitals, &c.) nay, though they are deprived of the benefit of other Hospitals, provided for the rest of the Subjects; and although their Ministers are forbid to speak against the Pope, or to Preach against the Romish Religion, with half that freedom and plainness that you dare speak against the Church of England; or to Preach in any places but those few appointed by the King; [Page] though they are forbidden to call the Papists in their Sermons by any other name but that of Catholicks; or to make mention of their Religion and Ceremonies without Reverence and Respect; though they are forbid to call themselves Priests or Pastors, and have no other Title allowed them, but only Ministres de la Religion pretenduë Reformée; and though it be Enacted, that their Religion shall be called by no other name in any Publick Acts, Registers, &c. Though they are forbidden to bury their dead in Catholick Churches, or Church-yards, even where the deceased Person was Patron of the Church, or where his Ancestors had purchased Burying-places for their Families; Though they are forbid to make any Publick Exhortations, or Prayer, or to sing Psalms at their Burial: Though they are forbid to Instruct or Condole those of their own Religion in Prisons or Hospitals; or to Pray with them in a voice so loud as to be heard by the standers by; though they are forbid to make any Collections of Money among themselves, but such as are permitted and regulated by the Edicts of the King; Though they are forbid to Work, or open their Shops on Romish Holy-daies, or to sell Flesh on their Fastingdaies, &c. I say the good Protestants here in France, notwithstanding all this hard dealing, are yet so far from complaining of Persecution, that they shew themselves thankful both to God and the King for the Liberty and Indulgence [Page] they enjoy. Indeed they will complain, for the aforesaid Reasons, that their Religion is very much discouraged, and they themselves hardly used: But Persecution is a Notion that they never think or speak of, when they discourse of their own condition; being very far, though not so far as you, from a state of Martyrdom; which consists in a forcible obligation to suffer, or renounce the Truth. And therefore Cousin, I beseech you, and conjure you, not to misuse the name of Persecution again. It is a very sinful way thus to abuse and amuse the Vulgar, by calling things by their wrong names: and as to this particular, honest and knowing men will be apt to suspect, that through the name of Persecution, you have a design to make your Governors pass for Tyrants, and your selves for Martyrs.

To conclude: If this which you call Persecution, be not such indeed, then I doubt not but they who mis-call it so, that is, all presumptuous or affectedly gn [...]orant Schismaticks, without bitter pangs of Repentance, will be persecuted by the God of Peace himself to a sad and endless eternity.

As for the Bill of Comprehension, (if such a thing can be) I heartily wish it had passed into an Act; for I think it would have been much to the advantage, and nothing at all to the dishonour [Page] of the Church of England, to change or take away those few Ceremonies, which her self in the 34th Article confesseth may be altered, or removed, according to the exigency of times. Neither, if this were done, could the Romish Church have the least apparent reason to reproach us for such a slight alteration; seeing her own Missals and Breviaries have been so diverse and different in several times and places; and have undergone so many Emendations, or rather Corruptions, before they were established in the present form, by the Authority of Pius V. and the Decree of the Council of Trent. But in the mean time, I would have all good Christians wait in Peace and Patience till it shall lawfully be done; and by that means our Breach would be perfectly made up: So that a poor English Traveller would not be tauntingly asked by every Impertinent Priest here, Whether he were a true Son of the Church, or Presbyterian, or Independent, or Anabaptist, or Quaker. And I assure you, when they meet with a man that owns himself a true Son of the Church of England, they will seem to pity him more than any other; but yet they will hardly attempt to convert him. But when they meet with one that will own himself of any other sort, they will be pleased, smile in their sleeves, and set upon him as a person not far from their Kingdom of God. And I am perswaded, had you seen or heard as [Page] much of their Idolatries, Blasphemies, and Superstitons, as I have done in one Christmass, one Lent, and one Easter, you would be so far from doing the Church of England any ill office, that you would rather (like St. Paul after his conversion) preach against your own Partizans, and thank God that you lived in a Church reformed from Romish Idolatry and Superstition. And I cannot but freely confess, that I am since my Travels become ten times a greater lover of our own Church, and as many times a greater hater and detester of the Romish Church, than I was before. And therefore I cannot here dissemble the hearty grief I have conceived, for the great hopes you have, that the Licenses (as you express it) will be once more authorized by his Majesty, or the Declaration revived. For as it is that which at first was hammered out by that late Patron and Idol of the Presbyterians, the Popish Lord Clifford; so 'tis that which the Roman Catholicks here (especially the Priests) do hope and wish for as well as you. They desire nothing more than such a Toleration as that was, knowing that it must needs tend to the Ruine of the Church of England, which is the principal Butt of all their Envy and Malice; as being the main support and credit of the Reformed Religion every where, and the only Hedg against Popery it self in our unfortunate British Isles. We meet with not a few Priests [Page] of several Orders, that have the confidence (in our most familiar conferences) to tell us, that by the just Judgment of God upon our Church, the time of her ruine is at hand; the Nation it self being over-spread with Schism and Atheism, and the hearts of the faithful being disposed by the Spirit and Providence of God to reembrace the holy Catholick Truth. And therefore they freely confess, that this time of Distraction is their Harvest; and withal express their intentions and zeal to transport themselves into England at the critical time of Toleration, that they may be Fellow-laborers with your selves in that Harvest. They seem to lament as much, and complain as fast, of the prodigious increase of Schism and Atheism among us, as you are wont to do of the daily growth of Atheism and Popery. And whilst you both complain alike, and in the formality of your complaints, both alike reflect upon the Church of England; it is she only that is the sufferer, and she only that truly laments the growth, and at the same time sets up banks to hinder the perfect Inundation of all the three among us. As for Schism among Protestants, you were the first Fathers, and continue the chief Fautors thereof; all the inferior Sects having sprung from you, and dividing both from you, and one another, under pretence of the same Reasons, for which you profess to divide from the Church. And 'tis from you, that even the Quakering Sect it self, (the dregs of Schism) [Page] have learned to talk of Illumination, and the Spirit: and the rest of the Sectaries, in what number soever they be, differ from you no more than the second, third, or fourth, &c. from the first Book of Euclid. Not that by this comparison I intend, that you have any such Principles, or Data among your selves, as there are among Mathematicians; for I am very well assured, that take but any four of the Presbyterian Demagogues, and they can scarce agree, amongst themselves, in any four particulars, wherein they differ from the Church of England. And therefore, if you be not Schismaticks, then the Church of England, from which you separate, and out of which you have gathered Congregations, and Preach and Administer the Sacraments unto them; I say, if you be not Schismaticks, then our Church must be the Schismatick, in the Controversie between us; and be justly chargeable with the same Indictment, which she hath drawn up against the Church of Rome. An Assertion, Cousin, which I never knew any other Person, except one or two, besides your self, have the confidence to aver: and an Assertion, which no Protestant here in France could hear us yet relate, without Horror, Impatience, and Disdain. And therefore, if the Reformed Church of England, from which you wilfully divide, and to which by your Divisions you cause so much Scandal abroad, and Evil at [Page] home, be not a Schismatical Church, that is, a Church which requires some sinful conditions of Communion; in what a woful condition will your unpeaceable seditious spirits appear before the God of Peace? And how will you answer that, at the Tribunal of his Wisdom and Justice, which neither your Fathers, nor you could ever yet answer, to those Instruments of His Glory, Judicious Hooker, and the Venerable Sanderson? But whether you are Schismaticks, or whether you are not, the Separations which you and your Brood have made from the Church, are the apparent Causes of the growth of Popery; and both your Separations, and your Superstitious Enthusiastical way of Worshipping that God, whose People you Emphatically pretend to be, are the true Causes of that abundant Atheism, which at present makes England an Astonishment, and a Scandal to Foreign Nations. And if you, or any other of the Brother-hood, think it strange, that I charge yours, which is the Capital Sect, with Enthusiasm, or make Superstition, which seemeth diametrically opposite to Atheism, the Mother thereof; I offer, upon the Challenge, to make good the Charge, in both particulars: But in the mean time, to shew you how unsafe it will be to provoke me to that trouble, I advise you to read one or two short Chapters in the beginning of Mr. Smith's Discourses, concerning these Distempers of the [Page] Soul, and you shall find what I have said, proved with more Demonstration, than you can gainsay; and with more Plainness and Perspecuity, than, I am confident, you would wish to see.

But besides the Schism and Enthusiasm, the Bloudy Wars, which you formerly made in the State, under pretence of the Glory of God, and the Reformation of the Reformed Religion, have given many Inconsiderate men occasion to suspect, that all Religion, like that of most of your Leaders, is but a Politick Engine, which men use, to make themselves Popular and Powerful, that they may afterwards act with good colour whatsoever their Interest shall suggest. And furthermore, to consider, That the great Pretenders of the Spirit, and Power of the Christian Religion, (which with respect to Magistrates teacheth nothing but to obey or suffer) should notwithstanding Preach up Rebellion against their Rightful Prince, Fight Him from Field to Field, Remove Him from Prison to Prison, and at last most Barbarously put Him to Death, is such an Absurdity against the Principles of right Reason, so repugnant to the Laws of our own Nation, and so inconsistent with the Peaceable Doctrine of the Gospel; that, besides the Atheists it hath made, it hath, and ever will constrain men of honest Principles, and just Resentments, to Persecute you with Satyrs [Page] and Exclamations to the end of the World. I had not here presented that Tragical Scene of the King's Murther, but that I have had so many unpleasant Occasions to hear our Nation Reproached with the Scandal and Dishonour of that Inhumane Fact. Particularly, It was my bad fortune to be at a station in Paris, where there were met about two hundred Persons, to read the Gazets, at that very same time, when that of England came full charged with the News of Burning the Pope in Effigie at London. This Feat did at first surprize that Roman Catholick concourse of People; but after a little recollection, they ceased to wonder, saying in every company as we passed along; It is not so strange that the English Devils should do this, who formerly Murthered their King. And another time, it was my ill luck also to be at the same place, when the London Gazet brought us the News, That the House of Lords had taken into consideration the growth of Atheism in our Nation: Whereupon some French Gentlemen of my acquaintance seriously enquired of me the Causes of so much Atheism, amongst such a Thinking and Solid People. I assigned the same Reasons which I have written above, besides some others, not so fit to be mentioned, as the most probable Causes thereof. And as I hope I did not misinform them, so I am confident I did not unjustly charge you in any particular, [Page] especially with the Murther of the King. For there were no Accessaries in the Murther of that Sacred Person; neither was it the last stroke only that fell'd the Royal Oak; but you and the Independents, like the two Sacrilegious Priests of Jupiter, are equally guilty of the Crime; the one for Binding the direful Victim, and the other for putting the Knife to his Throat.

But to be short, where I am so unacceptable, I'le conclude my Argument with a Fable. A Principal Ship, which for many years had been Sovereign of the Seas, was at last Attacked by a Tempestuous Wind, which the Devil raised, and notwithstanding all the Help that could be made to save her, was driven by the force of that malignant Wind, and split upon a Rock. The very same instant she dashed upon the Rock, the Wind ceased; and being afterwards cursed by the Sea-men, for the Wrack of the Royal Charles, (for so the Capital Vessel was called) answered, You charge me most unjustly, my Friends; It was not I, but the Rock, as you saw, that split your Ship. The Moral of this Parable is very obvious; and if the Application thereof, or any thing else that I have written, may conduce to awaken your Conscience, and reclaim you from Schism, I shall think my pains well bestowed. But if you, and your seditious Brethren will still persevere, to assault the Church [Page] on one hand, as fast as the Romish Priests do undermine her on the other, her daies are like to be but few and evil; and except God encline the Heart of our Magistrates to put the Laws in Execution against them, and find some effectual means to reduce you, you may live to see her Ruine accomplished, which you both alike desire and expect. How numerous you are, the World can ghess, and if the Accounts, which we receive from the Fathers of Intelligence of several Orders, be credible, there are at least three thousand of them, which find entertainment and success in our Nation. But in the mean time, till her hour is come, she struggleth against both, like her Saviour against the Pharisees, whose true Disciples in part you both are; they representing those sworn Enemies of the Gospel, by the Cabala of their ridiculous and impious Traditions; and you representing them in their Hypocrisie, Pride, Envy, Evil-speaking, morose and censorious Dispositions, &c. (which are Sins scarce consistent with Humanity, much less with Grace) as likewise in observing many Fasts, and making long Prayers, with design not to serve God, but to delude the People. And therefore I wonder not, that you are such malignant Enemies to the Church of England, since that Pharisaical spirit, which reigneth so much amongst you, is a wicked Pusillanimous spirit, that affects to be seen in the Head of Parties, [Page] and Dictate amongst the Ignorant; and loves as much to Rule, as it hates to Obey. But would you once be so sincere, as to subdue your Pride, lay aside your Prejudice, inform your Ignorance, and forsake your dearly beloved interest, for the Truth; it would not be long ere we should see you joyn with the Church of England, without troubling our Senators, to bring you in, with an Act of Comprehension. Your Pride appeareth in Heading of Parties, and in the Pleasure you are seen to take in the Multitudes, that run after you; and in your boasting, that without you the Souls of People would starve for want of knowledg. Your Prejudice is an effect of your Pride, and discovers it self together with your Ignorance, in not submitting to those Invincible Reasons which you cannot answer. And as for your Interest, the greatest Paradox of all, that is evident enough to me, who have so often heard many of you glorifie your selves in the Number and Riches of your Followers, boast of their Affection to your sacred Persons, and brag of the great Sums you have collected in your Congregations; which makes the King's Chappels (as you arrogantly call your Conventicles) better places than most of the Churches, of which He is Patron. And therefore never complain, that you live either worse, or at greater uncertainties than you did before. For by your pretensions to Poverty and Sufferings, and by [Page] other unworthy Arts, you have so wrought your selves into the esteem of your Disciples, that few of them are either so Covetous, or so Poor, but they will Pinch at home to supply you. There are several Orders of Franciscans here, who have renounced not only Parsonages, but all Temporal Estates and Possessions whatsoever; and by their vain glorious Sanctity and Austerities, they have got (like you) such fast hold on the Souls of the People, (which is the fastest hold of all) that they can easily make most of them dispose of their Children, cashier their Servants, and settle their Estates as they please; and by these Tricks do more effectually promote the Interest of Rome, than all the Parish-Priests within the Pale of that Church. And really, when I consider what Influence these Sanctimonions and self-denying Zealots have o're all families, in all places where they live; how hey steal away the Hearts of the People from their Parish-Priests, and drain their Congregations; and how the deluded People had rather give them the worth of a shilling, than the dues of two pence to their own Cures; it makes me often run the Parallel between you and them, and think what a Politick and Gainful Pretence you have got to renounce your Livings, for to secure your Consciences, and to Preach the Word like the Primitive Apostles; when God knows, 'tis not out of love to the People, but to your selves.

[Page] And I protest to you, were I a man to be maintained by the Pulpit, and consulted my Profit more than the Goodness of my Cause, I should take the same courses that you do; I should rather be Mr. M. than Dr. A. of Plymouth; and should chuse the plentiful Income of that dull Zealot Dr. Manton, before that of his most Learned and Religious Successor of Covent-Garden. But though you live very well, and better indeed than most of the Ministers of the Church, yet the mischief, of it is, you are uncapable of Dignities; which makes you such Aërians, and upon all occasions openeth your. Throats as wide as Sepulchres, against the Bishops and the Church. You know what an History of Bishops Mr. Pryn hath wrote, and what a fair Collection the Learned Smec, hath taken out of him; as if when a Bishop is defective, either in Piety, Learning, or the skill of Government, it were not the deplorable unhappiness, but the fault of the Church of England. Should an Heathen, or Mahumetan, make such an Historical Collection of Scandalous Christians, either in this, or former Ages, you would not be perswaded for all that, to prefer the Alcoran before the Gospel; or the most exalted Paganism whatsoever, before the Christian Religion. Therefore wise and sober men will make no Inference but this, from such a malicious enumeration of Particulars; that corruptions will creep into Government, [Page] notwithstanding all the care that can be used to the contrary; and that by the favour of Princes (who hear with other mens ears, and often receive undeserved Characters of men) sometimes Ambitious, sometimes Ignorant, and sometimes Slothful, Imprudent, or Debauched Persons, will be Preferred to the most Honourable Dignities in the Church. But this, as often as it happens, is the misery of the Church of England, which all true Church men lament; though the men of the short Cloke take all such occasions to expose her to the scorn of the common People, who judg by Sense, and not by Reason; and who are taught by you, to make no distinction between the Bishops and the Church. But were all her Bishops the best Christians, the best Scholars, and the best Governors in the World; and should the Royal Hand place her Mytres on the Heads of none but Jewel's, Whitgift's, Andrews's, Hall's, Usher's, Morton's, Taylor's, and Sanderson's, yet that Unchristian Spirit of Envy and Discontent, which informs the Non-conformists, would still flie upon her with open mouth, like Beasts upon the Saints of old condemned to the Amphitheater; and make her, as she hath already been for almost forty years, a Spectacle to God, to Angels, and to Men. The wicked Lives of Scandalous Bishops and Priests, if there be any such, are her sad misfortune, but cannot justifie the Schism you are guilty of; who are [Page] bound to hear even them, as much as the Jews were bound to hear the Scribes and Pharisees, those Hypocrites, that sate in Moses's Chair. And in that deplorable state of the Jewish Church, when the Priests and Prophets were both alike corrupted, and called by the Holy Spirit, Dumb and greedy Dogs, yet it had been unlawful to make a separation, and set up other Altars against that which God (who was their King) had set up. I cannot but mind you of the Schism of Jeroboam, who by dividing the Church, as God was pleased to divide the Kingdom, into two parts, made Israel to Sin. But to insist on the Samaritan Secession, and write all that is necessary to discover and aggravate the damnable Nature of Schism, would require as much more Paper as I have bestowed, and so make me as tedious again, as, I fear, I have already been. Besides, it would oblige me to answer Mr. Hales's Treatise of Schism, with whose leaves you vainly endeavor to cover your shame: And I had indeed a year agoe undertaken that easie task, but that a Western Gentleman, to whom I discovered my Intentions, told me, That a Friend of his had already begun that good Work; so that I hope it is Printed by this time. And if either that or this, or any thing else, a thousand times better than I am able to write, may prove effectual to reclaim you from Schism; I shall be as glad, as to see some other of our Friends reformed [Page] from Drunkenness, Swearing, and Uncleanness: which are very grievous and dreadful Sins, but yet not more damnable in their Nature, nor more destructive to the Christian Religion, nor more deeply rooted in the Soul of man, than that of Schism. From which, I pray God, by the Power of his Grace, to Preserve me, and Reform you, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whose Protection I commit you, and rest,

Your most Affectionate Cousin, And humble Servant.

Saumur. May 7. 1674.

§

§

[Page]

[Page] A LETTER Sent from beyond the SEAS To One of the CHIEF MINISTERS OF THE NON-CONFORMING PARTY. By way of Reply to many Particulars which He sent to the Author in a Letter of News. Useful for these Distempered Times.

By a Lover of the Established Government both of Church and State.

ANNO DOMINI, M. DC. LXXIV.

Information about this book

Title statement

A letter sent from beyond the seas to one of the chief ministers of the non-conforming party by way of reply to many particulars which he sent to the author in a letter of news / by a lover of the established government both of church and state.

Hickes, George, 1642-1715.

Edition statement

1674

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A43661

ID [STC]

Wing H1855

ID [STC]

ESTC R12608

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

13016912

ID [OCLC]

ocm 13016912

ID [VID]

96574

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A43661)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 96574)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 741:44)

Source

— A letter sent from beyond the seas to one of the chief ministers of the non-conforming party by way of reply to many particulars which he sent to the author in a letter of news / by a lover of the established government both of church and state., Hickes, George, 1642-1715., Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 1609-1674..

Extent

[2], 35 p.

s.n.],. [London? :: 1674.. (Dated at end: May 7, 1674.) (Attributed to George Hickes; previously ascribed to Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. Cf. Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.).) (Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.)

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