AS in the Roman History we may observe, that the Flattery of the People, by which the Enormities of the Caesar's were professedly indulg'd, gave an infallible proof to the distempers of a sick and languishing Government; so if we reflect with just resentment on the like gross Vanity, which prevailed for some Years in this Nation, and derived encourage­ment from the Court, which ought to have been the School of more noble Exploits; we must acknowledge, that the same slavish extravagance, so fondly entertain'd among us, ushered in the fatal degeneracy and corruption of our State.

But among all the fawning Addresses which were Dedicated to our Kings, we may esteem none more pernicious then those bold Advances of Officious Ceremony, which, in Favour of most un­justifiable Proceedings, struck at the Foundation of our Laws, and led in a direct tendency to their Subversion. For thô the pretences did bare a formal and sanctify'd Dress, and were armed with the Phylactery of Pharisaical right'ousness, yet did the Design carry with it a dreadful iniquity. The intrigue was begun in Hell, propos'd at [Page 2] Doway, Licens'd at Rome, confirm'd at Paris, and was ready to have deliver'd it's effects in London, and our other City's, had not the Provi­dence of God raised up to us a Deliverer.

It is well known who in that Age of Tryal were the Betrayers of their Country, and who in complyance with a wretched Declaration, which seem'd to Petition the People for Addresses, were drawn into a most destructive Adventure. I shall not therefore at present Pry into the full Mystery of that iniquity (it being in part discover'd in another place of this discourse) but leave it to the scourge of Historians, and to other faithful Animadverters.

However I must not omit (since it falls within the compass of our immediate review) a Comical Scene I formerly beheld at Gloucester, where that Skeleton of Law Judge Allebon perform'd a meritorious part, and propos'd in open Court his Terms of Accommodation. The Holy Man told us, That our two Churches were agreed in the grand-point of the real Presence, That the invocation of Saints was enjoyned by the fifth Comandment: That 'twas inconsistent with Christian Charity to suffer Penal-Laws and a distinguishing Test to render the Religion of a gracious Prince uneasy to the Subject; and that a gene­ral Toleration would advance the dignity and Port of our Nation: He drew parallel Lines from the prosperity of the Hans-Towns, and from the flourishing State of the Low-Countries; and I expected to have heard him sum up his Sermon with a remark on the Blessed Effects which the uninterrupted course of Liberty produc'd in Sodom, Laish and Gibeah of Benjamin.

The kind and tender-hearted Grand-Jury (among whom were herded Saints of many different Communions) were soon enflamed with a Sympathizing Zeal, and could not but gratify the little Scarlet Image with a Paper, first convey'd in a Whisper to them from a Factor of the Court, in which they dispatch'd their public thanks to his Majesty for his Declaration, with the promise (if I understood their meaning) to return, I should have said to elect (since the other ex­pression contains the Office of their Popish Sheriff) such Representa­tives for Parliament, who might answer the Kings demands; or who in plain English would break down all the Fences, which kept out Su­perstition, and all the other invasions upon our just Libertys. This was an Address with a witness, and highly magnify'd by many, who cannot be reconcil'd to the sincerity and moderation of our last In­quest.

I cannot but admire the Wisdom and renowned bravery of our undaunted Heroes the Bishops, who, in the midst of the impetuous storms of those licencious Times, oppos'd the Buckler of our Laws to the new and unexampl'd enterprize. They did maintain (not with­out the concurrence of an Almighty Power) our Religion and Civil Rights against the Stratagems and brisk Assaults of daring Enemies. Nor did they faintly repel the Force; but when they received the express Command of a Potent King to be as base as other Men they remonstrated in masculin Terms, and reply'd to their Sovereign with such Christian courage as confounded the Papal valor, and silenc'd their Adversarys, and those who were then jealous of the prosperity of their Mitre.

I would not be suppos'd to instruct or remind any Persons of the just Debt and Duty of gratitude, if I affirm, that the calamity and rigorous sufferings which befel our Church and those good Fathers af­ter their inimitable conduct, proved the Great Engine, and one of the most profitable pretences, which the Authors of the late Revolution used in promoting their Enterprize. The Separatists were then in­dulg'd with Freedom, this being the successful Return to their tempori­zing Addresses. The Apostles of Muncer, Nayler and Muggleton enjoy'd the Priviledge of a Sanctuary: the other Dissenters whom we own (though against their Wills) to be our Brethren, were lull'd into a fatal security: All the Factions, as they Danced to the Music of the Court, and gratify'd Father Petre in the current of his desires; so they could not be supposed thus triumphing in the Event and Luxury of their wishes, to afford any reasonable matter for the Ground-work of our wonderful Deliverance.

His present Majesty had another Path to which a Divine Power led him, and his Eyes were Arrested with more serious and pressing Ob­jects. 'Twas then that the Prince, like another Constantine, declar'd he would undertake the Patronage of our Church, and made it's De­fence one of the most Honorable and cogent Reasons for his descent into England.

He saw Seven Bishops (and how renowned is that Mystical Num­ber?) condemn'd, like their Fore-fathers in Dioclesian's Rage, to a dreadful confinement among Murtherers and Traytors. He saw a suspension past on another Bishop, and the like Thunder threatned against the rest of his Brethren. He saw the Divines of both Pro­vinces [Page 4]attacqu'd by the Tyrannical decrees of an Arbitrary Commission, and Successors appointed to them out of the Store-house of St. James's. He saw the Franchises of the Church dissolved, and the Schools of the Prophets invaded by seminary Priests. By this manifest Injustice, and deliberate Sacriledge, so effrontedly carryed on against the loud Oracle of our Laws, the Charter of our Religion, and the common Princi­ples of Honor, the Illustrious Nassau did plainly perceive, that the whole Kingdom was put to Sale, and Sacrific'd to the Ambition of the French Monarch, who is the Darling of St. Loyola; he therefore disputed the condition of the Tenure with the first unfortunate Pro­prietor, and the Title of the Purchase with the other bold Pretender: God hath been pleased to Crown him with success against both; nor can it lessen the Glory of the Atcheivment if (after his Majesty) we make an Honorable mention of our Bishops, and Petition the Champion of our Church on their behalf, since the Umbrage of their name hath been so advantag'ous to his design.

In this confidence I presume that the Address, Subscribed by our last Grand-jury, may be worthy of it's short vindication, because it speaks in Favour of the very same Men who could never trifle with Earthly Princes: they are those Reverend Persons who first taught us to Petition after a just and Honorable way, and by their Prayers and Tears promoted a successful Address to the Court of Heaven.

The Crime with which they now stand charg'd, do's not consist in gross Immoralities, nor is their suspensions (as I have already discover'd) for any base complyance with the noted miscarriages of the late Go­vernment, but it proceeds from their refusal to swear in a certain set­tled Form of Words to the present, under which notwithstanding they endeavor to live conformable. They conceal their Reasons, and therefore in good manners I shall not dive into them further then to suppose that in matters of such importance one and the same standing Rule do's direct them; so that if the expressions are so mode­rately qualify'd that their Hearts may in so serious a performance move with their Lips, an Oath doth not bare the consideration of a scruple with them; but they esteem Hypocrisy to be too mean a slave to in­trude either into their external Submissions, or to be Listed with them in the Service of their Prince.

Althô this Practice be not agreeable to carnal Policy which serves as a Weather-cock to all Changes, yet in Matters of solemn Moment all hasty and sudden Complyances are by the Rules of true Ethicks strictly condemned: for as we ought to chain the means and the end together, so must we never disjoyn the Ʋtile and the Bonum. And therefore Prudence (which, being an intellectual Vertue, is by Aristotle defined to be an habit of right Reason) doth consult not only of the Universal Precepts and Laws of Life, which are more certain then to require much deliberate Study; but descending (and that more properly) to particular Actions, and to their various Circumstances from which the Regularity and depravity of those Actions depend, she brings them up the Touch-stone of Reason and Vertue: And having taken Counsel by a diligent preparation of Mind, she then makes her choice, and adheres to that which is best. Now; as a deliberation cannot be perform'd without freedom of Spirit, so neither can there be a good Election, where the Office of deliberation is not fully de­termined. For Conscience (which with respect to the knowledge of Right and of Fact is a conjunct Science) must give its concurrent Vote in all Matters of Practice, or else the Consultation is frivolous and irregular or rather no Consultation at all, and therefore if the Mind doth still strive with Intricacies, and cannot be certain of the probability or rather the necessity of Right, it will never admit the necessity of Fact, be the temptations otherwise never so powerful. So that as Prudence doth attempt nothing of importance which hath not an apparent Profit annex'd to it, so doth she esteem that alone to be profitable, which is also good. The Wisdom of the best Statesmen has still entertained this Moral Doctrine for a just Principle, and cer­tainly it doth afford the best interpretation to that memorable Ex­pression of Ʋlpianus, which he deliver'd as a great Law of Politics to the Romans: In Rebus novis constituendis evidens utilitas esse debet, ne rece­datur ab eo quod diu aequum visum est, and I cannot but believe it was also introductive as of the late Practices, so of the present Sentiments of the Bishops; who are not govern'd by a Peevish or Superci­lious humor, but mourn in Spirit for the Miseries of the Protestant Church and pray for the Prosperity of the English Canaan, thô, like Moses, they are not permitted to enjoy an Inheritance in it. This which some call Obstinacy, Pride and Prejudice (the three grand Enemies of prudential deliberations) will appear, as I hope, no such [Page 6]dangerous and wicked temper, when we have modestly considered it, and charitably interpreted it.

I am confident the World need not be advertis'd under what a dreadful Hurricane our Nation hath lately laboured. I shall not make a sorrowful research after a like Example into the Confusions of former Centuries, when the Pagan or Popish Religion did bare a Regency in the Land. It is most certain we have had nothing that Challenges the Affinity of an exact Paral­lel to those Troubles since our Blessed Reformation: Our Bi­shops therefore who are professedly studious, as of the Peace, so of the Glory of that Establishment, were loath immediately to admit the sharp and extreme Remedies which were recommended to them as necessary for their own Securities. Many others, and among them not a few who Flatter'd and Addrest the Abdicated Monarch into his Ruine, did rejoyce and triumph in the Afflicti­ons of that calamitous Prince; but our Prelates scorn'd such an Unchristian Revenge; for, if in the Council of Arles under Leo the First it was condemned for an heathenish Barbarity to use Mirth in the House of Mourning, and to sport in the view of the melancholy Incentives; how could our Holy Primate and his Brethren be suppos'd to Laugh and Sing in the Agony of our Church and State? as Samuel mourned for Saul's Abjection, so did they lament the late Kings Misery, and forgot his rigid Severities exercised on them. They have in the great pangs of Spirit, and in the anguish of their Soul often wept for their avowed Enemy, and endeavoured with their holy Tears, like the Sovereign Balm Tree, to cure his Wounds who cut and mangled them. In short they were Bishops of the best reform'd Church, and were cautious how they intermedled in tumult and secular Tra­gedy.

And are they not now of the like unspotted Fame for their quiet re­signation and peaceable deport under the present Settlement? Are they not Sacred in their Majesties Register, belov'd and pittyed by Men of exact Piety, and highly admired by their greatest Enemies? Let us not then furiously pursue them, nor deride the loss of their former Stations; for thô, during their present Eclypse, they are not crowned with the brightest Beams, yet, like the languishing Aecolampadius, they clap their hands on their Breasts, and say, hic sat lucis, hic sat radiorum. To conclude; let them be accounted worthy of the [Page 7]best usage now, who were so unworthy of the harsh Treatment in the last Reign, we well remember how religiously they then con­form'd to the dictates of their Consciences, and we are bound in Charity to believe they are not at this time directed by a diffe­rent Rule.

The Obligations of Oaths (and particularly those in which the Go­vernment doth concern its own immediate Interest and Security) hath been in all Nations attended with Veneration and Respect. The Romans stiled it their Sacrament, the violation of which drew after it such a dreadful Chain of Infamy, that exceeded the most heavy Penalties, Hierocles, speaking as from the Chair of Pytha­goras, pronounces, that a great part of Religious Worship is contain'd in it; and does plainly affirm, that the unstable or timorous ought not to engage in the Solemnity of so Sacred an Act. Philo Judaeus doth admonish every one to whom an Oath is propos'd, that he care­fully consider all Circumstances, and whether he hath a right Notion of what he is doing, otherwise, saith he, the great God is blasphemed. The Books of Christians (and surely the Bishops have carefully perused them) are full of the same Doctrine: for they tell us, that, to avoid all Abuses in this Holy Service, we ought to take Three Companions with us, viz. Truth, Justice and Judgment: so that we must no [...] oblige our selves to a thing we know is false or evil in its Nature, nor to that of which we entertain a dubious thought, nor to what is un­worthy the Majesty of the Holy God into whose more especial pre­sence we do approach.

No Person, who hath ever treated of the nature of Oaths and their Obligation, doth on any account advise or allow the engaging in an Oath, which doth raise an unanswerable scruple in the Mind, and to which a Man thinks he cannot be exactly conformable without hazarding his Salvation. Conscience is a Mark beyond the stretch of Human Power, and bares a Sovereign Authority above the Arrests of Parliaments, and the Edicts of Princes: Nec per Senatum, saith Lactan­tius, nec per populum solvi hac lege possumus. On this account all Earthly Potentates are excused their Exercise of Jurisdiction, the King of Kings having by his Apostle published as the Statute Law of Heaven, that whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin. Nor do I think that any Mo­narch can be secure in the Fidelity of those Persons, who have first broken their Allegiance with their God: since therefore the Suspended [Page 8]Bishops are not yet satisfied in the perplexity of their doubt, which so much affects them, I suppose that for this Reason they refuse to Swear.

But truly when I consider the just Merit of these Prelates, with the divine Spirit that reigns in their Breasts, and the memorable Ex­perience we have had of their former Gallantry; I humbly conceive (without any violence to the Rules of common Reason, Religion and Policy, or derogation from the Sacred Proceedings of the two honour­able Houses of Parliament) that their Parol of Honor to conform with Obedience to the present Government (which they are studiously enclin'd to do) might have been at first accepted by the Legislative Power as a sufficient Tye upon them without any more solemn Obli­gation.

We have Cases even in Pagan story which favor the Merit of Vertue; for the Ephesian Judges, in consideration of the sincerity of Hermodorus, would not for a time permit him to give testimony (nor be otherwised obliged) by Oath. And Cicero in his Oration for Corne­lius Balbus reports of an honest Athenian, how that when he approach'd to the Altars on the like performance, the great Council did recla­mare, and would not suffer him to be sworn, of whose Faith and Veracity the Gods and Men were so fully perswaded.

Nor are the Archives of our Senate destitute of Examples, which, being nearer ally'd to our Case, are beyond Exception. Among these (that I may omit the dispensation which was lately afforded to the Quakers) we have a proper instance in the Reign of the last King Charles, when, notwithstanding all the Tests, Oaths, and declaratory Provisions which were in true Prudence enjoyn'd, in order to our Se­curity against the encroachments of the Court of Rome, and the de­sign of her busie Emissaries, Mr. John Huddleston, for one approved act of Loyalty, was excused the Obligation, and discharg'd the Pe­nalties of the Statute.

And therefore since in this World there is no exact perfection in the greatest Councils (the most important Affairs of State being sometimes perform'd in such Rapid and Critical haste that 'tis impossi­ble to consult every particular Circumstance) we readily acknowledge that if the Convention had among their many other serious and ma­ture Performances copyed out any thing in favour to the Bishops, [Page 9]as they would have introduced no new Custom, so had we not been at the Labour of an Address: I could add more; but I choose rather to take up with the Rule prescribed by a great Casuist (another learned Prelate of the Church)Bishop Taylors Rule and Ex­ercise of holy Living, Ch. p. 3.5.10. who tells us, ‘That we must not be too easie in examining the Pru­dence and Unreasonableness of human Laws: for althô we are not bound to believe them all to be the wisest, yet if by enquiring into the lawfulness of them, or by any other Instrument we find them to fail of that Wisdom with which some others are ordained; yet we must never make use of it to disparage the Persons of the Law­giver or to countenance any Mans disobedience.’ I am sure our Holy Fathers the Bishops are of the same Opinion: I shall therefore endeavour to apply our Proceedings, and our Address to the same Topick.

‘The Address in few words was no other, then the return of our Thanks to His Majesty for his repeated Assurances to maintain our Religion as by Law Established, and for his Gracious Resolution to Grant to all his Subjects (except such as in his Princely Wisdom he should distinguish from the rest) his Gracious Pardon: And we humbly prayed, that the like favour might be extended to our Pious Bishops particularly our Diocesan, that the incapacity they were then under by not taking the Oaths, might no longer disable them from serving Their Majesties in their several Provinces.’

It contain'd great deference to the Kings Royal Person, Charity to the distressed, Malice against none; much less can it be arraign'd as a breach of the Law, or deserve the Character, that some hot Spirits have fix'd upon it, as the product of a Papistical and factious Zeal. In the discovery of this Truth, I do appeal from the lofty Tribunal of our rash Criticks, and bespeak the sober Judgment of the honest and impartial Reader.

We therefore in the first place own, that we gave the public testi­mony of our Thanks to the King, for his support of that Religion, in the defence of which Cranmer, and the other mitred Martyrs spent their precious Blood: to which a Virgin Queen was solemnly espoused, and of which our Suffering Bishops have made a good Confession. Sure I am, the Church of Rome hath the only cause to be sensibly touch'd and tormented at this Reflection; nor can I judge but that the [Page 10]moderate Dissenters do, in some measure, congratulate with us: For though many of our home-bred Pharisees did stifly presume, that af­ter the Ruine of our Establishment, they should flourish under the Popes Influence, and gain strange Advantages to the Protestant Faith from their new Patron; yet their golden Hopes had put a no­torious Cheat upon them. Those Temporizers would have obtained no better Lot, than what befel the crooked Camel in the Fable, who, being Heavens Favorite, petitioned the Gods for Horns; but Jupiter deriding his Pretence, croped his Ears, and made him ever after bare the Mark of his Presumption in a sanctified Dress. The Moral is obvious, and needs no Explanation.

We thought it also not unbecoming the Exercise of our Duty, to thank his Majesty for a Pardon he design'd his Subjects; yea, we did not exclude the trimming Latitudinarians of the last Reign; for we suppose their Consciences have sufficiently chastised their evil Extrava­gance. Neither did we except against the other violent and brutish Addressors, from whom King James received the like Homage, which was paid to Mercury by the Heathen Sleepers, viz. a Sacrifice of the Tongues of Beasts. We insulted no Faction; but calmly considered the Favor of our Prince; and since an Amnesty was so sea­sonably tender'd by him, we conceiv'd it would not have been constru­ed in a vile Sense, to desire his Majesty to include our Diocesan in the same Grace, and to render some of the best Men in the World capable of his Service.

But in the Progress I now take, I must be so just, as to satisfie the most plausible Objection that thwarts our Proceeding. Our Adversa­ries contend, that for as much as our Case was already concluded by a positive Law (a Statute having past a legal Disability and Suspension upon the Bishops) the King must not be perswaded to break through the Obligation of an Act of Parliament, the Consequence of which would be destructive of our Liberties, and again exalt the exploded Idol of Arbitrary Power. To this specious Offer, we answer in the following Terms.

First, We do observe, that our Address was penned in the Session of Parliament, and therefore it cannot with reason be supposed we would incur the Displeasure of that August Body.

In the next Place it is apparent, that we design'd to thank his Ma­jesty for no other Pardon, than what he himself intended and prepared. [Page 11]And was it not proposed by him to the two Houses, with an Assu­rance they would pass it, and that it should derive a just Solemnity from their Consent? On this Account our Address was the irreprova­ble Witness of our Sincerity; for after the King had discovered his gracious Intentions to them, we paid our Tribute of Gratitude to the Royal Favor, and desired him to extend the common Priviledge of his Mercy to our pious (though suffering) Bishops. Certainly if this be Criminal, or destructive either of Gods Honor, or the Liberties of Human Society, there is neither Justice on Earth, nor Truth in Hea­ven; for Vertue and Vice have lost their Names.

If our Adversaries are not yet satisfied, but in the Burthen of their irreconcileable Animosity against our Prelates, still say (as I have of­ten heard them maintain) that it would have been more agreeable to the Usage of Parliament, if one or both the Houses had first prepar'd and passed a Bill in Favor of the Bishops, than that such an important Repeal should begin with his Majesty, and descend to their Considera­tion, as from the Authority and Force of his Will, and that there­fore our Address ought rather to have been dedicated either to the Lords or Commons, than to the King. I must take the Liberty to assure the Managers of this bold, but impertinent Cavil, that they fail not of their usual Levity, discovering as their gross Ignorance in the Customs of our Nation, which entitle the King to be the Foun­tain of all Acts of Grace, so likewise their profound Respects to his Majesty; for by the Consequence of their Words, they declare that the Duty and Intercourse between the Prince and People ought not to be reciprocal. I need not tell them that neither of those honorable Houses had at that time given us the Cause (I speak with respect to the first Dispatch and Draught of the general Pardon) to return them those peculiar Thanks which made up the principal Frame of our Application to the King, and that for this Reason they could not be the sutable and adequate Object of our Address; but I answer, that we addressed his Majesty in Parliament, because he there challenges a supereminent Power; and therefore, if during the Session, it is per­mitted to any private Person to petition either the Lords or Commons for a particular Redress; shall it be accounted heynous, that the Grand-jury, who represented the Body of the County, and faithfully delivered the true Sense and Desire of their Vicinage, should make their humble Approaches to the King, who is the Sovereign Head, [Page 12]and supream Intendant of our Parliament? This is in effect to declare that his Majesty hath a Chair of State placed in the House, on no other account, than that he may be curtail'd in Stature, and appear less considerable than his many Servants who attend him.

Should any Dyet or Parliament in Christendom pursue the Lati­tude of this Doctrine, and therefore refuse to attend a most Religi­ous and Solemn Enterprize, because the Prince doth first propose it to them; they would be justly censured very positive and supercilious in their Determinations. Examples of that Nature are very rare in well-disciplin'd Common-wealths, and I know but one that doth exactly square to the Proceeding, and this is related byEuseb. His­tor. Eccles. l. 2. c. 2. Eusebius, out of an ancient Father of the Church, and was a strange Violence against the standing Law of Moderation in great Councils, the Story in short is to this effect.

After our Saviours Manifestation among the Sons of Men, to whom, by the exemplary Conduct of his triumphant Resurrection from the Dead, he gave the most undeniable Proofs of his Divinity: Tiberius, in whose Time the Christian Name made its entry into the World, communicated to the Senate an Account he had received out of Syria Palestine of this great Affair; and having given his own Suf­frage to Christ's Divinity, he desired them to enact it into a Decree, and to register him in the Catalogue of the Gods: But the lofty Se­nate disdaining to be instructed in a Business which concerned the Ex­ercise of their own Power, rejected Caesar's Motion, and would not place our Saviour in their Festival Calendar, because they had not first approv'd the Matter, before the Emperor perswaded them to it. This you may say was a brisk Maintenance of Priviledge against the Tor­rent of Prerogative; and I must I confess admit it, but in a Sense that takes away the Authority, not only from the Person, but from the Doctrine of our Saviour, and seems to render unto the People the things which are Caesar's, and unto Sathan the things which are Gods: and I hope the Example will have no tolerable Sway in the Christian World.

It is our Comfort that the English Parliament (though they have a just Pretence to a great Power, in conjunction with their Prince) do not affect such an unseasonable Grandeur which would disappoint the Success of his Majesties Piety. So that what Monsieur Talôn speaks [Page 13]in Flattery of the aspiring Lewis, we may conclude most true of King William; that to our August Monarch nothing is impossible, especially when he endeavors the Intersts of Heaven: I am sure his Favor to the Bishops will not lead him out of the way thither.

The Kings of England (and this the express Words of their Coro­nation Oath contain) are invested with a Power to execute Justice in Mercy, and as they carry an High Court of Chancery in their Breasts, so may they by their indulgent Grace, and especial Favor, abate some rigorous Extremities of the Law. This has ever been one of the Flowers of their Prerogative, to which no others can pretend, and it is as truly annext to their Crown, as the Royal Dignity to their Persons. This Power hath been often exerted by them in a various manner, when the Necessities of State, or their own Royal Pleasure required it; but it is then render'd more conspicuous, when it is pub­lished for the common Benefit and Security of the Nation, and does, in order to the quieting the Minds of the Subjects, dispense with the Frailties, Errors, and Miscarriages of the People. Such an impor­tant Grant of Clemency is capable of a twofold Management: for when the Prince doth design a general Amnesty, he sometimes issues forth his gracious Declaration of Free Pardon; or, if he Judges it more necessary and expedient, or more agreeable to some weighty Circumstances, he recommends the Affair to the Consideration of his Parliament, which in most submissive Terms doth either propose a Bill to his Royal Assent, or else receives a Draught of Pardon from him with such Ceremony as is expressive of their Gratitude. This latter Method hath been used by his present Majesty, and by the whole Pro­ceeding our Adversaries may be soon convinced what an Authority the Sovereign bears in the two Houses. For when some Lords, who were excepted in the Act of Grace, did move in Parliament that they might be heard by their Council, in order to give their Reasons why they should partake of the Benefit of the Act, their Motion was not ap­prov'd, nor was their Request allow'd them. I must not presume to render the Reasons which prevailed with the Honorable House to dismiss their Petition, having not had the Oportunity to examine the Records; but I suppose, from the Information I have casually re­ceived from judicious Persons, that those Noble Peers did not petition in the regular, direct and customary Order: for his Majesty (who best understood his own Resolutions) sent down his Pardon to the [Page 14]Lords House, not to be alter'd or enlarged, but to be passed into a Law; so that the Petitioners ought, in that case, to have addressed the King, who, as he is the Life of Justice, so is he the Fountain of Mercy.

I cannot therefore but pity the extream Weakness of their Judg­ments, who pretend to maintain, that our Grand jury did not pursue a right Course, when they made their Application to the King in the Behalf of the Bishops; for, by this Assertion, they seem to bare no Regard to the Authority of Presidents, but speak against the Voice of our Laws, the Prerogative of our Prince, and the true Liberty of the Subject. We could address no other Person, we could gain Re­lief from no other Place; the King alone could grant our Request, who might have been sensible of the Desires of his faithful People, had not evil Men slandered us, and mis-represented our Design: but to proceed.

As many of those Gentlemen, who disparage the Conduct of our Zeal, challenge us for an Insult upon the Laws; so others scruple not with open Mouth to tell us, that we should not on any Account have petitioned for Bishops, that Title being as odious to them, as was Hannibals Name to the Roman Matrons. In this Hatred they are fix'd by the prevailing Authority of Education and Prejudice, and their spiritual Directors carefully improve those Maxims, with which their early Judgments were possest. Among them Lewis du Moulin hath furnished his Disciples with Invectives against the sacred Function out of the Writings of a learned Man, whom he calls one of the sincer­est Persons in the World (though he confesses if Mr. Baxter be in an Error, he is the greatest of Lyars.) ‘Moulin's short and true Account of the Advances of the Church of England to­wards Rome, P. 64. &c. The Episcopacy of the Church of England, saith he, is absolutely contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and the Practice of the Primitive Church: It is not compatible with the Peace of the Church, nor with the Civil State. It is the Cause of all the Sects, all the Heresies and of all the Schisms and Divisions which have rent and torn and infected England for above this hundred Years, banishing all likeli­hood of Reformation in Religion and good Manners. That it shuts the Door against the Entrance of the Doctrine and Discipline of Jesus Christ, letting loose the Reins to all Debaucheries, Intempe­rance, [Page 15]Luxury and Idleness, making the Pastors lazy in the Dis­charge of their Ministry, fomenting Ignorance, hatred of Piety, Plurality of Benefices. That it is a Government that divests the Pastors of Parishes of the Authority to exercise the Discipline of Jesus Christ, to invest the secular Persons with it, breaking the Uni­on of the Churches of England with those beyond Sea, and gratify­ing the Enemy of our Salvation, and Persons of a sensual and de­praved Life.’ This is the Language of the Man whom our Author calls the sincere, and he does well deserve that Character; for he hath delivered the true Idaea of his Thoughts to us. And indeed if Episcopacy were of such a monstrous and Antichristian Composure, and did it carry such a Wolf in its Back as this old Angry Divine would perswade us, an Address in Favor of the Bishops had entituled us to a severe Chastisement. I need not intermeddle with the Merit of those Allegations with which that luxurious Writer bespatters the Order and Succession of our Church; but I beg leave to follow Mon­sieur Moulin himself in the full Stretch of his own Argument, and shame his Party by giving them a Repetition of his Words.

The Reader therefore is to be informed, that in the Judgment of this unerringIdem. p. 63. 65. Rabbin, ‘Dr. Tillotson is a Reverend and Learned Man; that Dr. Floyd and the Canon of the Chapiter, of which Dr. Tillotson is the Dean, have done good Service by their Labours against Pope­ry. That all the Three are every where extreamly valued and ho­nored by the best Judges, and the holiest Men, and that they live in the high Reputation of being eminently Learned and pious.’ These are the Expressions of the double fac'd Janus in one place of his Book, but in the reverse Page, he seems much afflicted that these Doctors have vindicated our Bishops, and the Frame of our Discipline, and for this Reason he compares them to those who made Panegirics on the Bloody Busiris, the Tyrant Nero and the Tertian Ague. ‘That it is with these three great Divines, as with Anselm, Ives, and John of Salisbury, who by the Reputation of their extraordinary piety, have established more strongly the Perpetuity of the Popes Empire, then all the Diabolical Instruments of Gregory the Seventh, Innocenti­us the Third and Fourth, and Boniface the Eighth.’

The Monsieur is justly allowed his Pretence to an Insight in the Af­fairs of Church History; for he managed his Conduct by the Autho­rity [Page 16]of a great and leading Example, treating our Doctors in the same Stile, with which the primitive Christians were entertain'd at Rome, Caius Scius, as the old learned Apologist Writes, was esteem'd as good and as rightous a Man as any in that City, but he was therefore de­clared wicked by a pubilc Out-cry, because he professed Christianity: And by the same Analogy Dr. Tillotson and his Reverend Brethren, after they had been acknowledged to be Angels of light, were soon transform'd into Instruments of darkness, because they as­serted the Power and Jurisdiction of Christian Prelacy: and if our Doctors are thus sentenced by the ill natur'd Minister, what mercy can our Bishops expect from the Tongues of his violent Party? Our Diocesan hath been often allowed to have done glorious Exploits (and his expence of Labor and Gold in the ransom of Christian Slaves, and his hazards in the Rescue of others from Turkish Tyranny speak him a great Man) but yet he is no Christian in the New Catalogue, be­cause he is a Bishop. Our holy Primate (and this his loudest Enemies confess) is a Person of stupendious Gifts and admirable Piety, and is most Serpahic in the Austerities of his Life; but he is therefore thought unworthy his Majesty's Grace because he is a Bishop. In this Cur­rent and Chanel doth Lewis du Moulin lead us, and it is no wonder his Votaries will not subscribe to a Pardon for our Prelates, who were the times answerable to their Wishes would blot out the Names of their Persons, and pull down the Establishment of their Order.

I have often wished that those who assume the name of Protestants, and by their great English Patriarch are Stiled the Sober and Self-denying Men, had not in their Practice maintained what he the sincere Person has deliver'd in Thesi. It would have conduced much to their Reputation, had they been led by the sweet and An­gelic Spirit of Calvin, to which though they do in a large Sense pre­tend, yet they never studied that part of Christian Imitation. I am sure they have lost their Credit among all good Protestants, nor has their Conduct been pleasing to the Lutheran, Hugonot and the Evange­lical Churches; for when our Dissenting Brethren enjoy'd a full swinge of Liberty by the Toleration in the late Reign, many of them could not bare the equal prosperity of our Church and of our Bishops, but rather then not ruin both, they could for once allow Satan their help to raise the Superstructure of his Kingdom. I am unwilling to en­large on what I before purposely avoided, or at least but lightly touch­ed; [Page 17]but their unpardonable iniquity cannot be concealed in this place. I suppose they remember the Traffick they held with the Court, when they accepted an Equivalent, and engag'd by stipula­tion to assist the common Enemy of Protestants in the Subversion of the best reformed Church in the World. This in plain Truth was the pregnant Impulse, that gave breath to many of the fulsome Ad­dresses presented by that numerous. Party to the King, and raised their Spiritual Fury to such a Degree, as readily to dispense with the Fanaticism of the Church of Rome, on condition that what they called the Popery of the Church of England might tumble to the Ground. Thus were they content to have seen the Abomination of a cursed Aelia set up over our Arch-Bishop's Gate, to have seen the Popes Ware-house opened in our Ecclesiastical Courts, to have seen Nuntiös Apostolic whipping Heresy out of our Chapels; to have seen the Separatists cherish'd by Royal Favour, and the Church of Eng­land alone dismantled of all her Priviledges. O the Religion, O the patience of the pretended Saints, who to revenge an old quarrel could so tamely permit the Roman Managers to mingle their Tyber in our Thames, and to make Lambeth the Faubourg of their Lateran Palace.

I suppose all honest and judicious Men are by this example suffi­ciently satisfied, that the Practices of some Men are agreeable to their Writings; and that what was at first thought a difference in mere Ceremony, is chang'd into a mortal Fewd. I would to God, these Men had bid Adieu to ill Nature under the kind influence of our pre­sent Government; but alas! the same Doctrine is still carefully con­vey'd from the Pulpit to the Peoples Ears, and from their lofty Oracle you may hear long Prayers for the confusion of Prelacy. How may it therefore with reason be supposed, that these forward Enthusiasts can have any tolerable Charity for our Diocesan, and our other Bi­shops, or any Favourable regard to those that undertake their Defence, who think it their Duty to Preach, to cry aloud, and to act violently against their very Order and Function? They love not a Bishop be he ever so good; they pity not a Bishop be he ever so afflicted; they envy those Bishops that do conform, and they rejoyce at their Calamity who are Suspended.

It is now (I confess) high time to draw to a conclusion, but before I do it I am obliged, thô not without some reluctancy of mind, to direct a few more Words to these very Men on a Subject, in which I had [Page 18]rather be excused with silence, for since the same oppugners of our Prelates are (for a certain grand Reason well known to themselves, but which I shall studiously at present conceal) much averse to the Sus­pended Bishops, because they maintain the Doctrine of Non resistance, and Passive-Obedience; I intreat the Readers Patience to attend me, whilst I endeavour to vindicate the Good Fathers in this one distin­guishing Principle and Character of our English Church.

And therefore although to carnal and worldly Reason (which re­spects more nicely the cadence and congruity of Words, then the sincerity of Actions) Passive-Obedience may sound as harsh, and in­consistent as Passive-resistance; yet the wholsom Doctrine which is couched under those significant Terms is not so tamely to be hissed off the Stage. We have an Authentic Nomenclature in the New Testa­ment, where we find the Words register'd both in the same expres­sive language, and in the like Sense; and we have there a great Ex­ample, who was an exact Copy of the Doctrine, and patiently per­mitted wicked Men to draw the litteral Characters of it in large Ca­pitals upon him. For if we trace our dear Saviour from his Tempta­tion in the Wilderness to his Agonies in the Garden, and from thence through the other dark scene of horrors to his Crucifixion, we shall find, that his Command of more then Twelve Legions of Angels could not prevail with him to attempt his Security by the Thunder of and Force against the rude insolencies of barbarous Sinners. The Author to the Hebrews tells us that though Christ was the Son of God yet be learned, patience by the things he sufferd; Heb. c. 5. v. 8. and St. Paul affirms to the Ephesians that the holy Jesus became Obedient unto the death, even to the death of the Cross Chap. 12. v. 8. which two Texts of Scripture do give a sufficient Authority to Passive Obe­dience and to the very Letter of the Expression. We read also in St. Peters, first Epistle c. 2. v. 23. that when our Saviour was revi­led he reviled not again, that when he suffered he threatned not, but commited himself to him who judgeth righteously. From which as also from many other passages of Holy Scripture the Doctrine of Non-resistance is fully cleared as a duty necessarily incumbent on the Practices of true Christians, especially since the same St. Peter (whose indstruction are a general Rule to all Ages) assures us in the same place, that Christ suffered for our Example that we should follow his steps. Now what is proposed for our Example I am sure is for [Page 19]our imitation; and if we imitate our Saviour in his patient suffering, I know what consequence will be from hence naturally inferred. I cannot therefore but tremble at the blaphemy of those wretched Men, who have so far Shipwrack't their Faith and a good Conscience as to expose and ridicule the most Divine and Apostolical Truths, by af­firming that this Doctrine ought no longer to be maintain'd in the Schools, in the State, or in the Church. We may on better Grounds conclude, that those who in the pressure of Persecutions are not of the sweet temper of a divine Resignation, and who cannot bare their af­flictions without murmuring against the appointments of Gods Pro­vidence, and without loud Clamors and revilings against the Men who oppress them, can never pretend to the name of Christians, much less can they be entituled to the merit of Confessors, or to the glory of Martyrdom. Their whole Man must be employed in the Service of their God; their Soul with it's Faculties, Powers, and Will, as well as the bodily Members must concur and cooperate in so Divine a Work. For Passive-Obedience (in property of Speech) do's imply the Sacrifice of the mind, and Non-resistance is a blessed effect wrought on the outward Man, which, by a true and sanctify'd mortification, is dead unto all worldly Cares and Interests, and moves by no other passion then that of Heavenly Love, and unlimitted Charity. Of this serene Temper was the good St. Stephen, who did not render evil for evil, and railing for railing; nor did he desire from God that the Stones might re­bound from him upon his Enemies; but he interceded for his Perse­cutors that the sin might not be laid to their charge. Let us trace the Christians in the first Century's, and we shall find the same genuin Principle and Spirit reigning among them. They did not therefore suffer because they had no Force and Power to resist, as some of our false Brethren in compliance with the Jesuits Doctrine do maliciously insinuate, but they often cast off the Souldiers Coat to wear the Livery of their Saviour, and deliver'd up their own Swords to the Use and Service of their Executioners.

I must not be thought by the tendency of my discourse to ener­vate the Minds and Spirits of Christians, and to recommend Cowar­dize as an Article of Faith. I desire no such interpretation may be made of my Words: for I know, that we must not only suffer, but also plead for rightousness sake; for as every Man is obliged by ver­tue of his being in a Society (whether it relates to the Church or the [Page 20]the State) not to consent to any thing which tends to the apparent ruine of it, but to refuse all such Acts for the sake and general end of the Society; so would a compliance with a sinful Command be in effect a disobedience to the Power that Commands, and to the Authority it self when stated and considered. And therefore if the Magistrate Commands any thing contrary to natural and revealed Religion, or destructive of the Fundamental Laws of the State or Church we may rescribere Principi; we may calmly advise him of the irreconcilable dif­ference between his Precept and our Duty, between his pleasure and voice of our conscience, between his Will and the more indispensable obligation of Gods Word or the dictates of morality. And if he is not satisfied with such Remonstrations, we may Petition, Address, and humbly entreat him to supersede his Resolutions, but if he yet re­main peremptory in his Demands, we must obey him by suffering, and apply our selves to the Christian warfare of Prayers and Tears. God in such a case hath reserv'd all Remedies to be expected by an Appeal to his own judgment Seat, for he has said that vengeance is his, and that he will repay it; and as he is jealous of his Honor, so will he not suf­fer any to go unpunished, who Usurp upon his Province, and presume to forestal his final retribution. By these considerations were our sus­pended Bishops led under their Afflictions in the last Reign, and God, who is the rewarder of Innocence, was pleased to Crown their con­stancy with a success far above our languishing hopes, and the pros­pect of a faint Expectation.

I cannot therefore but strangely wonder why some Persons who speak irreverently of the same Prelates, and write invectives against them, do at this time accuse them because they are passively obedient, and resolve not to resist. Are they desirous the good Fathers should encourage their many Friends to rise in Arms on their Account? Would this be for the Security of the Nation? Or is this the way to establish Peace and Union among us; I may assure those troublers of our Israel, that our Bishops know not how to blow the Trumpet for such an Alarm; longe aliud sonat tuba Evangelica aliud concha Panis, aut cornu Alectûs. If his Majesty (with respect to their modesty and mo­deration) would be pleased in a Parliament way to reinstate them in their former Capacities he would not hazard the Security of his Throne or the Glory of his Name. I am certain he would purchase as much Honor by this one Act of Piety, as he has gained by the Atchievment [Page 21]of his Arms, when he passed the Boyn, and waded through the other difficulties of War. But if they must be still chained to a suspension, they will be also chained to Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance, let the World cast what censures it please upon them. I confess many others (and those the great Enemies of this avowed Principle of the Bishops) have formerly on many occasions taken the liberty to di­sturb the Peace of our Government, and yet Mercy has been passive­ly obedient to them; but I leave them and their Party to another Tri­bunal where the proudest and most incorrigible Spirits must, in a more dreadful Sense, pay a Passive-Obedience to the scourge of infinite Justice.

In the mean time it is our comfort, that the good hand of Provi­dence doth over-rule the Affairs of this World, and that these furious and Antichristian Men have not the Effect of their Clamors granted them: but that the Sober and the Religious Gentlemen of our Na­tion do neither joyn with their interests, nor expect their success; to these therefore I shall seriously apply my self in a few Words.

I would desire them to consider with me the apparent Advantages our Enemies reap from the present Suspension. How joyfully was the News entertain'd in the Popes Palace and in the Colledge of Car­dinals? with what triumph and surprizing Pleasure did the General of the Jesuits receive the Express? how do they deride the fickle in­stability of our People, who were so fond of the Bishops under the last Reign, and seem now as violent against them? The Subtil Mis­sionary (who loves to breath in the midst of Tempests and Whirl­winds) takes occasion from hence to perswade the Friends of our Church that our Hierarchy is endanger'd, and that the Suspended Bishops must expect little Relief since their very order is not alto­gether pleasing. What is become, crys he, of the old plausible Text of Liberty, of Priviledges, and of Conscience? Where is the com­fortable and long expected Amnesty, or at least the equal and just Administration, when scandalous Sinners are exalted to a degree of of Eminence, when Out-laws, Pedlers of Perjury, and Mountebanks of Treason are favoured with a Pardon, and the holy, the Orthodox and Learned are discharg'd the hopes and benefit of that Grace? On the other hand the same Underminer of our Peace does insinuate to the Dissenter (whose readiness to comply with his late proposed Equi­valent renders him an apt Subject for his further delusions) that now is the time to appear rampant, to cry strongly against Episcopal [Page 22]Grandeur, and to beat down the Fabric of our Church, our Doctors and Prelates being so variously divided in their present Sentiments. To some he suggests, that our Church doth suffer too much by this pro­cedure, and that the whole Kingdom ought to be violent in their Demands for the Bishops Honour; but he assures others that our Church suffers too little, and must be yet chastised after the dreadful Model of the Scorish Reformation. Thus we see with what Topics the Ignatian Order is furnish'd to widen the Differences among Pro­testants, and to blow up the flame of our wretched Discontents and Passions: for as it is their sport and pleasure to embroil us; so is it their Interest carefully to maintain those Heats and Animosities which feed their own hopes and forward our destruction; and I know no better Method to disappoint the Artifice, then to dare for once to be Chri­stians, and to love one another with true Charity and Compassion; which we cannot be said to do, unless we renounce all savage and brutish Malice. If we seriously study this peaceable Temper, the Suspended Bishops will not be long bereav'd of their Places; but may be admitted to a share in that common Concern and Benefit of English Men as will render them serviceable to His Majesty, and useful in their Generations. Sure I am, this was the true Design of our Grand-Jury's Petition, and this was the plain and naked Sense of the dan­gerous Paper, that has been so violently proclaim'd against by some Men, who love to be thought great at Court, where they would mis-represent all the rest of Mankind, and themselves also, did not the eloven Foot discover their deformity.

And now having briefly vindicated the Title of our Address, and the Errand upon which we dispatch'd it, I shall drop some words, and those but a few, in answer to that other immodest Calumny, which stiled us a factious Party. And here, as I am not permitted to be a compotent Judge in the Case, so neither will I allow the Testimony of our Opponents to the Truth of what they maintain, but we will appeal to an Authentic Umpirage and be determin'd by it. Tertullian; a most learn'd Civilian in the Opinion of the best Ma­sters, hath left these words to Meditation.Tertul. A­pol. advers. Gentes, cap. 39. Illis nomen Factionis accommodatum est, qui in odium bonorum & pro­borum conspirant, qui adversus sanguinem innocentium concla­mant. They merit says he, the name of a Faction who con­spire in Malice against good and just Men, and with loud outcrys demand their Blood. Which description is very apt and significant, [Page 23]and to it agrees the Grammatical Interpretation which Scaliger gives us of the same word, who writes, that a Faction is busied circa inimica studia. By these settled and approved Rules we may, salvo. jure, con­jecture, that much wickedness conceived in the Cabanet of the Cabal, and as profest Iniquity in the Actions of their Party, afford fit Ingre­dients to make up the Character. Corah and his Company, Achitophel and his Convention, Caiaphas with his Sanhedrim were in this Sense Factious and Turbulent Men; otherwise Moses, David, and the Holy Jesus would be robbed of the Authority that is due to their Innocence. If our Adversaries then will declare us liable to the same Imputation, they must first prove, that our appearance in the Bishops Cause, was a design'd Conspiracy against Righteousness and Peace, and if they dare confront us with this Libellous Assertion, I will say, they have hardned not only their Consciences, but also their Tongues against the Impressions of Truth. Certainly these busie Criticks ought in good Manners to pay a better Respect, if not to our Persons, yet to the Quality of our Office: for we held no Club distinct from the appointments of Custom; but we met together to consult the Peace of our Country, and to prepare Matters for the solemn Proceedings of Justice, and for the regular Execution of the Laws: And if we are accounted a Faction for freely speaking the Sense of our Neigh­bours, and for doing our other Duty in the Kings Service, the Au­thority of the Government is called in question, and we may esteem the honourable Judge to have been the Ringleader of our Sect. If the Clamarous Gentlemen are not yet satisfied in the present Notion with which I endeavour to correct the bitterness of their Judgments, or if they desire to be more fully inform'd what the Nature and Ty­ranny of a Faction is, I will for their further Improvement direct them to an exact and perfect Mirror, in which perhaps they may see their own faces.

I suppose they remember the days of old, when the pretended Saints (holding their solemn Councils atThis Expressi­on is borrowed from Mr. Mil­ton who lost his Eyes in his Zeal for those times. Pandaemo­nium the High Capitol of the Usurper and his Peers) studied the Ruine of the best of Kings, and plotted the dismal and black Tragedy, which was acted in our Church. These were inimica studia in odium bonorum proborum & innocentium. Then was the Use and Exercise of the Miter suspended, the Bonnet was [Page 24]advanc'd over the Crown, and Scepters was subjected to the Flail. The Liberaries of the Holy Ʋsher and other Learned Men were ransackt by base Plagiaries, and our most celebrated Scholars were reduc'd to such Streights, that they lived (according to Dr. Prideaux's Language) upon their Books and their Hangings, being necessitated to expose them to an uncomfortable huxstry for their Support. Our Bishops were Imprison'd, Sequestred, Banish'd, and the name Malig­nant, that as one observes) is attributed but once in the whole Bible to the Devil, was affix'd by accursed Hypocrites on the suffering Par­ty. In their Mint were our present and past Calamities coyned, they stamped Wrinckles on our Brow, and tryed us like Gold in the Fur­nace of Affliction. Those precious Sons of Sion (for in that Name they gloryed) perfected a Reformation according to Mr. Sedgwick's Scheme, who in a fast Sermon before the Commons assured them, that they ought in the performance to expectZion's delive. Anno, 1642. p. 11. Earth-quakes, Church-quakes and Kingdom-quakes. To conclude; thô the furious Priests per­swaded the People against Organs in the Church yet they had their own peculiar Music, even of that Hellish Compo­sure, whichHabet & mundus Organasua, sed quae infernè reddunt so­nitum inamabilem. Quid enim loquitur ira fides? ulciscere, spolia ejice, occide. Quid sonet Ambitionis nervus? dilata ditionem, nec Juris jurandi aut pietatis sit ratio, quoties agitur de imperio. Quid erepit Auaritiae chorda? vides nemini bene esse nisi qui plurimum possides, per fas nefasque congere, rape, serva, &c. Haec nimi­rum est mundi Musica.—Sic pessomam barn oriam reddit Livoris & Obtrectationis Chorda, &c. his modis aebrii, lymphatique sic belligeramur, tumultuamur, ambi­mus. rapimus, irascimur, mordemus invicem ac mordemur. Erasm. Epist. ad A­drian. Pontif. Praefix. Arnob. Comment. in Psalm. Erasmus on a like sorrowful occasion describes to us, that entertain'd the Age with the dire infernal Sound of War, Rapine, Ambition, A­varice, Perjury, Tumult and Blood.

This was a Faction in terrible earnest, and I hope the Spawn of that Party will no longer torment us with their own Title, lest we spare neither Paint, nor Labour to describe them more fully to the World.