A pastoral letter from the four Catholic bishops to the lay-Catholics of England 1688 Approx. 12 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A56565 Wing P675 ESTC R13713 12033700 ocm 12033700 52833

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

 Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A56565) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 52833) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 573:10) A pastoral letter from the four Catholic bishops to the lay-Catholics of England Leyburn, John, 1620-1702. Giffard, Bonaventure, 1642-1734. Smith, James, 1645-1711. Ellis, Philip, 1652-1726. 8 p. Printed by Henry Hills ..., [London : 1688] Caption title. Imprint from colophon. Signed at end: John Bishop of Adramite. V.A., Bonaventure Bishop of Madaura. V.A., Philip Bishop of Aureliople. V.A., James Bishop of Callipoli. V.A. Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library.

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.

 eng Catholic Church -- England. 2004-06 Assigned for keying and markup 2004-06 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-07 Sampled and proofread 2004-07 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion
A Pastoral Letter FROM THE Four Catholic Bishops TO THE LAY-CATHOLICS of England.

EPiscopal Authority, Dear Brethren, of which You and your Catholic Ancestors have been long deprived, being lately, by a merciful Providence of God, and the Piety of His Majesty, restor'd unto you; and Our Persons, tho' unworthy of such a Dignity, made choice of to bear the Weight, and undergo the Sollicitude annexed to it: We have judged it proper, before We separate Our selves in order to a discharge of Our Duties in the respective Counties committed to Our Care, to join in a common Address unto You All, hoping that what comes thus directed by an united Application, will make a deeper Impression on your Minds, and dispose you to an easier Compliance with the Fatherly Admonitions which every one in his particular District shall think fit to be made unto you.

Your Condition for many years past hath been such, as enabl'd you to manifest a stedfastness in your Religion, rather by suffering for it in your own Persons, than by contributing actively towards the planting it in the Minds and Hearts of your Fellow-Subjects. The Exercise of it hath been private and precarious, tending rather towards the Preservation of it in your selves, than a Propagation of it in others. But now you are in Circumstances of letting it appear abroad, and of edifying your Neighbors by professing it publicly, and living up to the Rules prescribed by it.

We need not tell you what Obligation you lie under on this Account, and how unjustifiable your Behavior will be in the Judgment of God and Men, if it be not conformable to those Rules, if the Liberty you enjoy of professing your Religion be not improved into Practices suitable to the Sanctity thereof, and if the Truth of your Faith be not manifested by an Exemplarity in your Lives.

Charity, which the Apostle declares to be the End of the Law,1 Tim. 1. is the Vertue by which your Faith is to operate, and be kept alive: Your Understandings may be united without it, but your Hearts cannot. This latter Union is that which maintains the former, and renders it useful towards obtaining the End for which it is bestowed upon you.

We cannot mind you of this important Duty with words more expressive of what We desire, than those which the same Apostle made use of to exhort the Ephesians: Eph. 4. We conjure you, as he did them, to walk in a manner worthy of the Vocation by which you are called, with all Humility and Meekness, with Patience supportin one another in Charity, sollicitous for maintaining the Unity of Spirit in a Bond of Peace.

You see of how great Concern this Unity of Spirit is unto you, by the care which the Apostle takes to have it well guarded. You likewise may observe the quality of the Guard which is set to secure it. The imployment of ordinary Guards is to secure Peace, but here Peace it self is appointed to be the Guard: Peace in the first place with God, by an entire submission to the Orders of his Divine Providence; from which connaturally follows a Peace within your selves, and a Peace with your Fellow-Subjects.

As Peace is a secure Guard to the Spirit of true Religion and Piety,Gal. 5. so it is by the Apostle ranked in the third place amongst the Fruits of the Spirit. The Soul centers in God by Charity, and finding there an entire Satisfaction, rests in Peace.

Our Intention in exhorting you to a Practice of Charity, is not that it be confin'd to persons of your own Religion: Such confinement would be a destruction of it; for true Charity hath no Bounds. You must love those of your Religion, because they are so; and others, that as they profess themselves to be Christians, they may become Members of the Catholic Church. You must evidence your Love towards these, by an inoffensiveness in your Behavior.

The memory of past hardships which you have suffered from some amongst them, may be apt to create provoking Animosities, and the Liberty you now enjoy may possibly tempt you to insult over those who formerly abridged you of it: But it must be your care to prevent or suppress all such irregular Motions. You must endeavor to tread in the Footsteps of our Divine Master, who was so far from making such passionate returns, that he did not forbear, even in the height of his Persecutions, to signalize the Excess of his Charity to those who were guilty of them.1 Pet. 2. St. Peter puts you in mind of this, proposing the Example of Christ to your imitation; who, when his Enemies treated him with most outragious Language, was far from answering them in the same Dialect: When he was provok'd by them to the highest degree of a just Indignation, he did not so much as threaten them with the exercise of his Power.1 Pet. 3. The same Apostle leaving us a Character of true Christians, declares, That they must be unanimous, compassionate, Lovers of the Brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble, not rendring evil for evil, railing for railing; but on the contrary returning Blessings to those who treated them in this manner.

Now if in quality of true Christians you ought to live up to this Character; if you ought to make it good in the most provoking circumstances that Providence might place you in; what is to be expected from you in these which at present you are favored with? You are indulg'd a public Exercise of your Religion; a great part of the Nation, whose Persuasion in Points of Religion doth differ most from Yours, and which in time past hath been severe upon your Persons, is willing to enter into a Friendly Correspondence with you; and if some others do repine at your being Sharers in the Liberty which themselves enjoy with much greater Advantage, the most effectual means to convince them of their Error, is to edifie them by your good Example.

You live under a Prince of your own Religion, to whom, next unto God, you owe this Felicity. You have his Power to protect you in the free Exercise of your Religion, and his Example to encourage your discharge of this Duty in a most edifying manner. His Majesty's assiduousness at the Divine Service, and other Functions perform'd in his Chappel, notwithstanding the multitude of weighty Affairs, which might frequently excuse him from such Attendance; the respectful Posture in which he performs this Religious Duty, and which argues a Presence of Mind no less than of his Body, cannot but invite you, both as good Catholics and good Subjects, to a Conformity with so Eminent a Pattern. What business can dispense you from discharging these Obligations, when you see His Majesty under the Weight of the whole Government so punctual in His Compliance with them?

It may seem needless to suggest unto you another Obligation you lie under, not only of a passive Obedience to His Majesty's Orders relating to the Government, but also of an active and chearful Concurrence with Him therein: Your own Safety and Interest being concern'd in this, and depending on it, are sufficient Inducements for your endeavoring to give full Satisfaction in this Point.

His Majesty hath been graciously pleased not only to favor you with His Royal Protection, but moreover to honor many amongst you with a share of the Government under Him. He hath admitted you to Employments both Civil and Military, from which by the severity of our Laws you have formerly been excluded: He hath plac'd you in Circumstances of manifesting to the World that it was neither want of Loyalty nor Ability that occasion'd your former Exclusion: He hath capacitated you hereby to remove the Prejudices which in former Reigns your Religion and Persons have lain under. So that henceforth there will be no reason to apprehend your being Sufferers, or that your Fellow-Subjects will be preferr'd before you in management of public Trusts on these accounts, since Religion is no longer a Bar to your Preferment.

We therefore earnestly desire those amongst you who are already in Offices, so to behave themselves in them, that neither His Majesty may have occasion to repent, nor His other Subjects to repine at the Choice he hath made of them. We exhort those who are not yet in public Employment, to bear their Lots with Modesty and Patience, without Murmuring or Envy. We conjure you all to abstain from speaking or acting any thing that may seem to have the least indecent reflection upon the Government. The Councils of Kings are Sacred, as well as their Persons; and it is a kind of Sacrilege in Subjects to be too bold with either: Their Duty is, not to approach their Persons but with respect, nor discourse of their Councils without submission.Rom. 13.

Let every Soul (We speak to you again in the words of St. Paul) be subject to Higher Powers; for there is no Power but of God, and those that be, are ordained of God: Therefore he that resisteth Power, resisteth the Ordinance of God; and they who resist, do purchase to themselves Damnation. What in this Text of the Apostle is said of Higher Powers, must be understood not only of the Supreme Authority which is seated in the King's Person, but proportionably also of that which His Majesty is pleas'd to impart to His Ministers of State, and other Magistrates in their respective stations. It is the King that acts principally in, and by those Subordinate Officers: His Royal Character being stampt upon them, challengeth respect from the rest of His Subjects, and renders their failings therein a Trespass in some measure against Majesty it self.

Having thus minded you of the general and more substantial Duties incumbent on you, We do not judge it either necessary or proper to descend at present to such others as are of a more special Nature: Occasions hereafter will not be wanting of inculcating these, when We enter upon Our respective Provinces, where We are to dedicate Our Labors to your Spiritual Improvement, and where We hope to find such Dispositions, as by rendring Our Pastoral Sollicitude profitable to you,Heb. 13. may make it easie and comfortable to Our selves. Pray for Us: And the God of Peace, who brought out from the dead the great Pastor of the Sheep in the Blood of the Eternal Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ, fit you in all Goodness, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight.

Your most affectionate Servants in Christ, John Bishop of Adramite. V. A. Bonaventure Bishop of Madaura. V. A. Philip Bishop of Aureliople. V. A. James Bishop of Callipoli. V. A.

LONDON: Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel; and are to be sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Friers. 1688.