SAM. L d Be of OXOIS His Celebrated REASONS ABROGATING THE TES T And NOTIONS of IDOLATRY ANSWERED BY S A M U E L, Arch-Deacon of Canterbury It's better to Indulge Mens Vices and Debaucheries than their Confciences. Sam. ?ark. Ecclef Pol. Tag. 54. L ONDOM. VmntM in *hp v^,. .^00 D) ~^Here is nothing hereby intended to impugn the Abrogation of the TEST: May His Majefty's Sacred Will and Plea fu re be Fulfill'd ; and may the Rights of theEnglhjh?eerage remain Inviolable. But there ieems to have been an abfolute Neceflity, for the Author of the Keafons for Abroga- ting the TEST, to have Repeal'd his moft bit— g ter Invectives againft the Nonconformifts, and his tempeftuous Indignation againft Diffenters in genera^ fo diametrically o'ppofite to the Serene and Pious Defires and Refolutions of His Majefty, to make His Subjects happy, and unite them to Him as well by Inclination, as Duty; and to have fhew'd nis Compliance to His Majefty in all His moft Laudable and Generous Deligns, before he had (Ingi'd out that particular Point of the TEST, meerly to hook in a Plea for' Tranfuhjlantiation, anci his own New modelFd Notions of Idolatry. But let Others, whom it may concern, dif- B pute v 2 ; pute thofe Controverts : The prefent Queftr on is, Whether his Lordfhip of Oxon, have Re - tracked his Difcourfes ofEcclefiaftical Polity, or at leaft, thofe Paflages in them, which run To apparently counter to His Majefty's Gracious Declaration for hiherty of Conscience ? Otherwife he may feem to have calculated his Writings for the various Meridians of State ; and his Ar- guments will not bear that Weight, which (tho" the fame, yet) coming from Another Perfon, they would have done. NOW, there cannot be a more certain - Toucb-jtone of Truth of the Bijhofs, or Arch-Deacons (which you pleafe, for they are both the &me¥er£oris)EccIefiaftical?olit : )> i than the Declaration it felf : Only, out of his Chri- ftian Charity, the Arch-Deacon has Peopled the Kingdom with fuch a dreadful Canaille, {all but thofe of the Church of England) that Aflo- nifhment it felf might wonder well, were his unconfcionoble Epithet es to be allow'd, that fo Gracious, fo Indulgent, lb Soft and Calm a Declaration, mould come forth in Kindnefs to fuch a Rabble : For Thofe whom His Ma- jefty (3) jefty calls His Good Suljefts, the Arcb-Deacon continually ftigmatizes with the foul Epit betes of Jugglers, Di(fembkrs, Wicked, Rebel- Ecclefiaft Polir> lions, Hypocrites, Sons of Strife and Stn- pag. *4*» m^ gularity, and mo ft notorious Hereticks. * 73, ¥%* 7 * And, upon this Suppofition, as the Founda- tion of his Pile, that the Generality of the People of England are fuch, (for he excepts none but Thofe of the Cburcb of England) he rears the Fabrick of his Ecclejfaftical Polity } wherein he had only this Misfortune, to be of a quite contrary Opinion to His Prince $ and that his Dracomcks were not Repeal'd, be- fore the Declaration came forth. The Declaration exprerles His Majefty'sE^r- neft Defire to Eftahlifh His Government on fuel aVoun* dation, as to make His S id j efts happy, and unite Them to Him as well bv Inclination, as Duty ; which He thinks can be done by no means fo effectual, as by granting Them the EreeExercife of their Religion. But the Arch-Deacons Politicks are of another Strain : For, in his Preface to his Ecclefiaflical Pjolity, p. 12. he fays -, That the AimofbisDK- couric is, by reprefenting the palpable hconfiflency f/Phanatick Tempers and Principles, with the IVel- B 2 fare I 4 J pf Why this Counfel was not taken, fince* the Counfel was given fo long before the Declaration came forth I Anfw. Becaufeit was ever contrary to Dedar. His Majeflfs Inclination. R z; Pag. 269. "Tis all one to the Concernments of Go— vernment, whether Tendernefs of Confcience be Se- rious or Counterfeit: For whether fo orfo, 'tis directly contrary to the Ends and Inter efls of Government. Bet- ter unfaid, than not Believed. Pag. 263. And what can be more deflruB'ive to all manner of Government, than to make all the Kules of Order and Difcipline lefs Sacred, than the Whimfes of every Phanatick Zealot? Pray be pa- tient* Sir, there's no fuch thing done. Ibid. When to pick Quarrels with the Laws, and make Scruple of Obeying them, jhallbe made the Sped- C 2. fifk ( 8 ) fick Ch aratkr of the Godly : When giddy and humorous Zeal Jball not only excufe, but hallow Y)ifobedience\ when every one that has Vancy enough to fancy himfelf a Child of God, fiallhaveLicenfe to defpife Authority. Who would have been at the trouble of all this Rhetorick, had he known what would have followed? Pag. 253. In hief The only Caufe of all our Trou- bles and Difiurbances, is, the Inflexible Perverfenefs cf about an hundred Proud, Ignorant, and Seditious Preachers i againfi whom, if the Severity of theLaws mere particularly leveled, how eafie would it be to reduce the People to a? 'eaceableiemper ? There were Three more than his Number, and that fpoil'd the Projed. Pag. 187. What can be more apparently vain, than to talk of Accommodations, or to hope for any Pofbility ( were Government rightly under ft 00 d, and duly manag d) wherein Mi-- flakes and Abufes in Religion, would not fupply the Galleys with vaftly greater Numbers, than\i\i, lany. Tis a Comfort, curft Cows have now iliort Horns. However, to this the Tender Declaration makes a Reply, declaring one of the Reafons of His Majefty's Indulgence to be, Becaufe He finds, That Force in Matters of meet Religion, tends to the Depopulating of Countries. . . On the other fide, the Arch-Deacon, in Op- D pofition. ( 10 ) pofition to the KING'S Reafon, is for Depo- pulating the Land, and Peopling the Galleys ; and arraigns that Government for want of Un- derftanding, and due Management, that does not obferve his Method of Cruelty. He is for Pillories, Wbipping-Pojls, Rods, Axes, Scourges, 8cc. as if no Government pleas'd him, but that defcribed by Firgil in Hell : Hinc exaudiri gemitus, & fevafonare Verbera ; turn jiridor Verri, trattaque catena. — —AccinBa flagella Tifiphone qwatit infultans, torvofque finiflra Intentans Angues vocat Agmina fieva (or or urn. This, in the Arch-Deacons Ecclejiafiical Policy; and to fhew, that nq other Government will con- tent him but this, Pag. 18 . I leave it, (fayes he) to Governors themfelves to judge, whether it does not concern them, with as much Vigilance and Se- verity, either to prevent the Rile, or fupprefs the Growth, (of Phanaticks he means, that find themfelves aggrieved by the Penal Laws) as to punijh any the foulefi Crimes ^/Immorality ? And if they would but ferioujly confider into what Exor- bitances peevijb and untoward Principles about Re- ligion -J ligion improve themfelves ', they could not but per- ceive it to be as much their Concernment to punijh them with the fevereft Inflictions, as any whatfo- ever Principles and Rebellions in the State. — Well ! The Bufinefs is confider'd, and his Ec~ clefiajlical Polity is found to be Deficient. Nay, he goes farther, and arraigns all Kings #id Princes for their Folly, under the Title 'of Governors : For, fays he, in the following Pdg>iy. This certainly has ever been one of the Fa- tal Miscarriages of all Governors, in that they have not been mare of this fierce and ImplacableE- nerny, (meaning the Pbanaticks, who care no more tot Whips and Scourges, than the Devil does for Holy-Water) but have gone about to govern unruly Conferences by more eafie and remifsLaws, than thofe that are only able to fupprefs fcandalous andconfefs'd Villanies ; and have thought them Suf- ficiently Refiraind, by threatning PunKhments,©/^* out infixing them-. And indeed, in mofi Kingdoms, fo little have Princes under fiood their own Inter efts in Matters of Religion, 6fr. Hearken, O ye Princes of Europe, and go to School again to the Author of the Dijcourfes of Ecslejiaflical Polity ! D 2 But, ( 12) But, here is another bold Touch : Prohi*- bition difobliges Diflenters, and that is one Evil; Impunity allows them Toleration* but that is a Greater-, and where Governors permit what their Laws permit, (This is not the prefent Cafe) there the Commonwealth muft at once feel all the Evils both of Reftraint and Liberty. So that, as they would expcft Peace and Settlement, they muft k fare, at firft, to bind on f/wEcclefiaftical Lawt with the ftreighteft Knot , and afterwards keepjhem in Force and Countenance, by the Severity of the Law. Their Reftraint muft be proportion d to their Vnru^ linefs of the Confcience ; and they muft be ma- nag d with fo much the greater StriUnefs, than all otherPrinciples 0/Difturbance,^ bow much they are the more dangerous. Gratias Domine, now Princes underftand what they have to do. Yet a little more of the Arch-Deacon's Eccle- fiaftical Polity. Beloved, in his Preface to Biftiop Bramhah Vindication, (for it is not Pag'd) you mall find it thus written : They (meaning the Phanatieks, or Complainants againft the Penal Statutes) have been Jo long accuft4>m*d to undutiful Demeanor, that it is to be fear d, they are grown too Head-ftrong and Incorrigible t to be awd into a more (13) more modeft Behaviour by Threatnings of Severity, Therefore, it will be, thought neceffary to bridle their angovernd Tongues and Spirits with Pillo- ries and Whipping- Polls. And akthe Bottom of the fame Page : To this Peevifinefs of their Humors, I might add the Reftlefnefs of their Minds, that is always difpleas'd with the fettled Frame of Things, {innuendo, the fet- tled Penal Laws j ) and that no Alterations can fa- tisfy. If you condefcend to their Firft Demands, you only encourage the)n to be w^^/^NevvRemonftran- ces: Appeafe all their Old Complaints, and they are immediately picking New Faults to be Kedrefs d. They that at firft only re que ft Indulgence, will, when ftrong enough, demand it. In fhort, Give the Non- conformifts an Inch, and they'll take an Ell. • Bat, (in the lame Preface) jhould it ever fo bap- pen hereafter, that any King of 'England Jhould be prevailed with to deliver up the Church, (That is to fay, to difpence with the Penal Laws and TEST; for the TEST, notwithstanding the Reafons againft it, muft be included in this long Parenthefis, becaufe the Church fram'd it) he had as good, at the fameTime, refign up his Crown. And thus you fee the Danger of the Prefent E Govern- (1+) Government, through the Von- conformity to the Arch-Deacons Ec olefin fiical Polity. \ There is another Reafon, why His Maje- fty was gracioufiy pleas'd to Think',Force in Mat- ters of meer Religion dire<5Hy contrary to the Intereft of Government J and that is, Spoiling. of TRADE. Trade ! cries the Arch-Deacon : Trade ! No.- Let Grafs grow about the Cuftom-Houfe,rathQr than abate one Tittle of my Ecokfiafiical Po- lity: For, (in his Preface to his Ecclefiafl. Pol. Pag. 4.9.) Yis notorious, (fays he) that there is not any fort, of People fo inclinable to Seditious Pra» cliices, as the Trading Part of a Nation ; and their Pride and Arrogance naturally increafes. with the Improvement of their Stock. And if we refieB upon our late Miferable Diftra£tions, 'tis eafie to obferve, how the Quarrel was hatcht in Trade, Mens Shops, and cherifbt by the Zeal iepe and Rye, for Popery to re- turn into England: For, when he comes to that part of his Preface to Biihop BrambalTs Vindi- cation, where he confiders what likely hood, or how much danger there is of the Return of Popery into this Nation : For my ownpart, fays he, I know none, but the Nonconformiil's boifterous and imreafonable Oppofition to the Church 0/ England. If he think, that the Abrogation of the Teft may be a means to unite the Papifi,$nd theDif- fettter, which he feemsx© intimate, by faying * ■ That (21) That the Taffionoftbe'Diffenters may he made ufl as Inflruments{Journey-men Tools) to diffolve and im vtltbejflablijJfdErame of things, and de fir oy the Chu, ^/"England ; and fir make anunobftrutfed Parage the Return of Popery in Glory and Triumph; thel he has left his Caufe in the Lurch, ajid relinl quifh'd all his EcclefafliealPoHty at once. As for the Papifls, he deals with them afte fuch a rate, that no Man living knows whert to have him. In his Preface to Bilhop Brambairs Vindication, he feems neither to Love nor Fear 'em : For that,as long as the Church of England fiands in Power and Reputation, it will eafily beat back and baffle all the Attempts of Rome, and its Adherents; -. Their Plaufible Reafons being evidently no more, than littleTricks andSophifms, and fee m intended by ihem- felveSj rather to ab life the Simple, tbanfatisfietbeWife. , Their Innovations are fo undeniable, and the Dejign of the Church ^/England's Reformation, fo apparently Apoftolicat, thatthofe People muft' needs argue at a \ ftrange wild rate, that will be demonflrating againft Experience, and ' Ocular Infp cation. So then, the Re- « formation made by the Church of England, in the Points of 'Tranfubjlantiation, Worjhip of Images, Adoration of the Ho ft, and Invocation of Saints, being G j Apojlo* ■ ( 22 ) Jpoftolicaly What muft be thought of hisReafdni agaiaft the. Tejt? Nay, there is Nothing could preferve tbeP&plRs from be- ing hifs'd out of the Pit, but that they are extreamly Confident, and mo ft Rczdexsfufficiently ignorant: So tltat the Church of England way fafely defie all their Oppofition. She does not ft and upon fuch Trembling Foundations, as to be thru ft down with Bull-rujh Spears, and Oral Traditions, with Labyrinths, and Cajiles in the Air. But then Tip Heart mifgives him again, and he begins to fear the Return of ropery into the Nation, (hould the Nonconformifts yoyn with the Papifts : And therefore, at the End of his Preface he begs the Hearty Prayers of his Friend, for the 'Peace and Fro- fperity of the Church of England ; for when That is gone y \hr^ wel Froft) 'twill he hard to find out Another y with which any y that are either Hone ft or Wife , will be over forward to jo) n in Com- mumon. Notwkhftanding all this, upon better Confederation, as it were in Companion of the defpis a Weaknefs of the Church of Rome, and her Adherents, he undertakes to furnifh Them wich better Arguments of his own, than any they have Themfelves, to vin- dicate Tranfuhftantiation, and clear them from Idolatry : For which he ftrains an Argument deducd from the Cherubims, that cover'd the Ar\\. And yet, in his Defence of his Ecclcfuftical Po- lity, Pag. 285, 286. he condemns both Turk, and 7* ope together in a Breath ^ the One for giving Divine Worflip to alewdlm- poftor j the Other, to a Senfelefs Piece of Matter. And thus,; what, by Vertue of Apparent , Apoftolical Reformation , he call'd (Before) a Senfelefs titce of Matter, he has (Now) cover'd with the Cherub wis Golden Wings, and rendered Adorable by Scrip f*n?~Warrant : But, Benefcribit, qui bene intelligijur ; What he has Written, he has Written, FINIS.