The judgment of an anonymous writer concerning ... I. a law for disabling a papist to inherit the crown, II. the execution of penal laws against Protestant dissenters, III. a bill of comprehension : all briefly discussed in a letter sent from beyond the seas to a dissenter ten years ago. Hickes, George, 1642-1715. 1684 Approx. 58 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A43659 Wing H1854 ESTC R5996 12271135 ocm 12271135 58249 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. A43659) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 58249) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 187:16) The judgment of an anonymous writer concerning ... I. a law for disabling a papist to inherit the crown, II. the execution of penal laws against Protestant dissenters, III. a bill of comprehension : all briefly discussed in a letter sent from beyond the seas to a dissenter ten years ago. Hickes, George, 1642-1715. L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704. The second edition. [4], 30, [1] p. Printed by T.B. for Robert Clavel and are to be sold by Randolph Taylor ..., London : 1684. Written by George Hickes. Also ascribed to R. L'Estrange by the Nat. Lib. of Scot. Cf. Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.). Advertisement on p. [1] at end. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- Succession. 2003-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-04 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2004-04 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE JUDGMENT OF AN Anonymous Writer . CONCERNING These following Particulars . I. A Law for Disabling a Papist to Inherit the Crown . II. The Execution of Penal Laws against Protestant Dissenters . III. A Bill of Comprehension . All Briefly Discussed In a Letter sent from beyond the Seas to a Dissenter , ten Years ago . The Second Edition . LONDON , Printed by T. B. for Robert Clavel , and are to be sold by Randolph Taylor near Stationers Hall. MDCLXXXIV . THE Bookseller TO THE READER . THIS Little Book was first Printed in the Year 1674. Who the Author of it was , I cannot tell , nor dare I presume to conjecture . When it came out first it was received as the last thing that was written by a Late Learned and Right Honourable Author , who was in France at that time , and since hath been cited , as if it had been his , and I was so carried away with the common Opinion , that I was almost perswaded to print it under his Name , especially having heard , that the Late Firebrand of the Nation , The Earl of Shaftsbury always took it for his : But as I was ready to put it to the Press , a Gentleman , to whom I communicated my Design , did assure me he was not the Author of it , but another Person ; but because I cannot speak upon Assurance , for fear of mistake , I will not so much as hint to the Reader , whom I think him to be . I was perswaded by a Learned Gentleman , as ignorant of the Author as myself , to give it a New Impression ; and by this small Pamphlet , which came out so long since , the Republican Party might have seen , that there were good Men in the NATION , who would not sit idle , and see them run down the Government : For if a Loyal Subject at such a distance did Ten years since defend the Succession , when it was but lightly attack'd , it was easie to foresee , that there would be great Numbers to defend it , both with their Pens and Swords , when it came to be so powerfully opposed . God Almighty be praised for giving the KING the Victory over the Enemies of the Monarchy , and give his Loyal Subjects Grace to walk worthy of the same , Amen . Robert Clavel . A LETTER sent from beyond the Seas to a Noted Dissenter . Dear Cousin , I Was very glad to receive your Letters , but very sorry to find by them , that you are 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 then it becomes a good Subject , or a good Christian to be , for carrying on a Project of the Earl of Shaftsbury , 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 and 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 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 , for not being a Christian , or for renouncing the Christian Religion as Iulian did ; then it is plain , that neither the Duke nor any other Prince ought to be debarred from the Crown , which is the greatest and most sacred of Temporal Rights , 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 and Courage 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 Prelats Popishly affected , and really shewed themselves to be what their Adversaries would fain perswade the World , they are . For 't is 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 't is the Church of England that maintains the contradiction of that Unscriptural , Unevangelical 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 Kirk of Scotland ; both of which have actually Excommunicated and Deposed Lawful and Rightful Princes , under the Notion of being Hereticks , and Enemies to Christs 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 one of the greatest Tyrants , and most wicked men that ever the World saw . And as for St. Paul , there is no Article of our Religion , not even that , that Iesus 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 resisteth , 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 Kirk of 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 Anababtists in Germany improved into this Maxim , That Saintship was the Foundation of Soveraignty , and that the Righteous ought to Inherit the Earth . And furthermore , if Crowns ought to descend 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 . It is unreasonable to exclude a Popish Heir from a Crown , to which he derives his right from Popish Ancestors , and 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 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 savours 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 backslide 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 would so obliquely reflect upon the Bishops , and censure them for doing that , which in Honour and Duty , they were bound to do , and represent this to their Disgrace , which all good and well advised Protestan's must needs Command them for , if they will be Impartial . But put the case such an Act were made , who can see the bad consequences thereof ? The Union of Great Brittain will be broke upon it , and War entailed upon both Kingdoms , and by the same reason , that none but a Protestant shall succeed now , Faction still increasing , none perhaps within a while , will be thought fit to Inherit the Crown , 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 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 Zeal ) you have not had time to consider . And though I think it very impious and unreasonable ▪ to debar any such Prince from the Crown , upon this account , yet could we imagine the Government were to be formed again , I would be as Zeal us for this condition , as the greatest Zealot of them all : And I am as sorry as any other good Protestant , that it was not always 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 , 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 favourer 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 Iesuits , did perfectly hate , because he was a Protestant ; although he was Primier Prince of the Blood ( 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 had no Child to Inherit ) to the Crown of France . After he had thus made the credulous People , by the help of the Priests and Iesuits , zealous for the Defence of their Declining Religion , he drew them to League into Rebellion against their lawful Soveraign , under a pretence of securing the same , by removing Evil Councellors from his Person , and obliging him to employ his Royal Power in suppressing the Protestants ; and in particular by declaring the Heretick King of Navarre ( afterwards H. 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 so many hundred years ; and which have 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 himself 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 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 and 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 in Black , to stir up the People to Discontent and Rebellion . I mean the same sort of Persons that Preached up the late Bloody War ; who really are the Bastard-brood of the Monastick and Jesuitical 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 , lately reprinted at Oxford , in his Letter of Congratulation to the Kirk . But Secondly , the Parallel fails in this too , That his Royal Highness is not a declared Papist , as the King of Navarre was a declared Protestant ; nor has yet openly renounced the Communion of the Church of England , for which his blessed Father died a Martyr . And therefore of the two , our English Guisards are much more to blame , in representing his Royal Highness as a Papist , which is so difficult to imagine him Strictly 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 Blood. And for my own part , I cannot but imagine at this distance , that his Majesty who is a Prince incomparably wiser and juster then 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 a greater Blow to the English Monarchy , than that which cut off His Royal Fathers 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 Soveraign 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 , 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 worshipping the True in a False way : as St. Paul and the other Apostles were persecuted by the Pharisees , for not worshipping the True 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 worshipping the true God in a way that is true ; or to express it yet more clearly and absolutely in your own terms , 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 Confessors and Martyrs ? For no man is persecuted , but as he is persecuted he is a Confessor or 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 respect to the first . And First , 't is plain that you do suffer for not worshiping a false God ; and 't is likewise as plain , that you do not suffer for not worshipping 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 Worshipping 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 worshipping 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 , you would esteem it as a great priviledg , and instead of reviling , thank the kind Magistrate for the same . But then if on the contrary 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 most Unnatural Rebellion , and now make Schism in the Church , and Broyles in the State , the punishments you suffer and complain so loudly off , will be so far from seeming Persecution of you as Christians , that they 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 wondred 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 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 the old 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 altogether you Dissent . I am sure this would rather become the Dissenting Brethren , then to Foment Divisions , Raise Parties , betake themselves to the wickedest 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 our Ecclesiastical 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 pleadable then yours . As for you , I protest , tho' the Laws you complain off look like hard Laws , when I consider you as Free born Subjects of England , yet when I consider you as Head-strong , Turbulent and Factious Subjects , I cannot but think them just and good , and I will maintain that the Execution of them would not be Persecution , altho' you were 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 State-preferments , 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 Iudicacature , or any high Offices in the Army ; though their Numbers are much diminished , and their Interest weakened , by a Prohibition to Marry with Roman Catholicks , and by a Capital Law , which makes it Death to return Protestants after they have once turned 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 their perpetual Provisions for their Poor , are taken away , and they disabled , either living or dying , to give any setled Maintenance either to their own Ministers or People ( as to Endowe Churches , Build Schools , Colledges or Hospitals , &c. ) nay , tho' 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 , 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 Reformés ; 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 , tho' 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-days , or to sell Flesh on their Fasting-days , &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 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 rarely 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 Governours 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 Miscal it so , that is all presumptuous or affectedly ignorant 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 , it begun to be talked of , before I left my Country , and I have often discours'd it with many of the Projectors , but could never understand from them , how it was practicable to unite so many Incompossible Sects , which agree in nothing , but their opposition to the Church . However if the altering , or taking away of a Ceremony or two would effectually unite the Protestant Partys , as you are pleased to assert , I think it would be worth the while to do it , and that the doing of it for so sure an end , would reflect no dishonour upon the Church of England , which acknowledgeth the few innocent and decent Ceremonies , which she hath ordained to be indifferent and alterable , 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 unless this Alteration would surely and infallibly produce this effect , it had far better be let alone , and in the mean time , I would have all good Christians wait in Peace and Complyance with the Established Religion , till Authority shall think to make this Alteration in it , that so 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 Independant , 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 with great Formality to pity him more than any other ; but yet they will never 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 much of their Idolatries , Blasphemies and Superstitions , as I have done in one Christmas , 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 a Popish Lord , who was the Patron and Idol of the Presbyterians ; so 't is 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 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 Ruin 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 re-embrace 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 't is from you , that even the Quakering Sect it self ( the dregs of Schism ) have learned to talk of Illumination , and the Spirit : and the rest of the Sectaries ; in what number soever they be , differ no more from you 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 chargable 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 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 show 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 Soul , and you shall find what I have said , proved with more Demonstration , than you can gainsay ; and with more Plainness and Perspicuity , than , I am confident , you would wish to see . But besides the Schism and Enthusiasm , the Bloody Wars , which you formerly made in the State , under pretence of the Glory of God , and the Reformation of 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 the Power of the Christian Religion , ( which with respect to Magistrates teacheth nothing but to obey or su●er ) should notwithstanding Preach up Rebellion against their Rightful Prince , Fight Him from Field to Field , Romove 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 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 Reproach'd 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 Gazetts , 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 Gazette 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 which I will not stand to mention , 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 , 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 Independants , like the two Sacrilegious Priests of Iupiter , 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 Attacted 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 on one Hand , as fast as the Romish Priests do undermine her on the other , her days are like to be but few and evil ; and except God encline the Hearts 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 Ruin accomplished , which you both alike desire and expect . How numerous you are , the World can guess , and if the Accounts which we receive from the Fathers of Intelligence of several Orders , be credible , there are about three Thousand of them , which find Entertainment and Success within the King of Great Britain's Dominions . 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 , moross 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 Pusilanimous spirit , that affects to be seen in the Head of Parties , 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 incomprehensible 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 Chapples ( 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 Pretentions to Poverty and Sufferings , and by other unworthy Arts , you have so wrought your selves into the esteem of your Disciples , that few of them are either so Covetuous or so Poor , but they will Pinch at home to supply you . There are several orders of Fransciscans 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 , cashire 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 Sanctimonious and self-denying Zealots have o're all Families , in all places where they live ; how they 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 Curees ; 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 gratis like the Primitive Apostles ; when God knows , 't is not out of love to the People , but to your selves . 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 Govent-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 Aerians , 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 , 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 judge 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 Governours in the World ; and should the Royal Hand place her Mytres on the Heads of none but Iewels , 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 fly 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 bound to hear even them , as much as the Iews were bound to hear the Scribes and Pharisees those Hypocrites , that sate in Moses's Chair . And in that deplorable state of the Iewish 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 Sehism of Ieroboam , 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 endeavour to cover your shame : And I had indeed a year ago undertaken that easie Task , but that a Western Gentleman , to whom I discovered my Intentions , told me , That Mr. Long Prebendary of Exeter , 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 from Drunkenness , Swearing , and Uncleanness , which are very grievous , and dreadful Sins , but yet not more damnable in their Nature , nor more distructive 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 Iesus Christ our Lord ; to whose Protection I commit you , and rest , Your most Affectionate Cousin , And humble Servant . Saumur : May 7. 1674. FINIS . ADVERTISEMENT . THere is lately Published a Book Entituled The , Royal Apology : or an Answer to the Rebels Plea : Wherein the most Noted Anti-Monarchical Tenents , First , Published by Doleman the Iesuite . to promote a Bill of Exclusion against King IAMES , Secondly , Practised by Bradshaw and the Regicides in the actual Murder of King CHARLES the 1st . Thirdly , Republished by Sidney and the Associators , to Depose and Murder his Present MAIESTY , are distinctly considered . With a Parallel between Doleman , Bradshaw , Sidney , and other of the True Protestant Party . London , Printed by T. B. for Robert Clavel , and are to be sold by Randolph Taylor near Stationers-Hall . 1684. Price 1 s.