An answer to the Bishop of Oxford's Reasons for abrogating the test, impos'd on all members of Parliament anno 1678. Octob. 30 ..

A N SAW ER

T O T H E

Bi(hop of OXFORD'S Reafons

FOR

ABROGATING

THE

TEST,

Impos d on All

$lember0 of parliament

Anno 1678. Oftob. 30.
In thefe Words,

31 a. b. sa folemnfp anti fi cerelp, in t&ePtf fence of ©^ p?o
fefs, teflifie, antedate, Cijat 3i Bo bzlitH tfjat m tfje &&
ttanunioni)tl,QiV8%i\y$z\:tfjZtZi8 notanpC?att!l!bffat:*
ttatton of roe Clement of TiSieaD ami aume mto tije 15j8?
aito TSIooti of Cijaff, at, 0? after tlje Coaiecrattou tljereof
'fcpam> peirfcn isljatfumc; 8m« tljattJje Jnuocuttor, o^ 3Da-
Mttori of t(je Qtrgin Mary, 0.2 an? otljer g>amt> ami tfje <*a<
cnficeotdje ^a;s, astljrp are iund tifeti ia tf?e Cfmrelj jf
Rome, are ®upei'ft!t(otij8a«B3!OoIatrciu^

By a Perfon of Quality.
— -r- London, Printed in the Year 1688, £^~

i

L * J

To the Kingdom in General.

H

/ S Majefty, having with a Grace exemplary not
onely to all his Subjects of this Nation , bat to all
Chriftian Princes and States, ( however they may
be ihemfelves of the Roman Perfuafion) defignd ity
as the avowed Glory and Stability of his Reign, to
fettle fuch a Liberty, that there maybe free difcourfesy
and debates concerning the Truths of Chriftian Reli-
gion, and the Diffents of Chriftians in them, as from
the Pulpit, fo proportionably from the Prefs ; as there-
fore the Minifters and Fautors of that Church (which
would be known by the Name of Catholick ) have al-
ways ( and will be while they are ) always aflive
with their Pens to the utmoft in their Sphazr. And
as we fee they have Publick Freedom, fo is it not to
le doubted of the Princely fo Vniverfal Grace, but
that he intends a Freedom on the other fide to an-
fwer ; that there may be no Inequality in holding the
Beam, but that it may alike incline to all in this
matter, fpecially now that he is making Credence of
thofe his Royal Favours to all His Proteftant Sub-
jects, who cannot but be deeply concern d at fuch a
Time as this; becaufe of the great Advantages, the
Inter efts of the Counter-Scale hope for from a Sove-
reign of their own Sentiments. But in no cafe is this
Liberty more deferable, than when an Amphibious-
Ambidextrous Bifliop, who affumesy like that Angel
of the Revelation, to fet one Foot on the Sea, and

( a ) the

I z J ■

//^ other on the Earth : One Foot on the Protec-
tant Church, ( which he calls eve as if his felf were
of it )* and the other on the Roman : In favour of
which he Jo openly appeareth Q to fpeak the mo ft ho-
nourably of him) to conciliate toward it , at left a
CaiJandrian Temperament : which, as it will never be
yielded by the Proteflant , fo would it not be ac-
cepted, if it were offer d, by the Papi-ft. For he hath
publijhed (^ with what intentions is left known to God,
and his own Confcience ) a palliation of the moft ir-
reconciliahle Points of the Popifh Religion, Tran-
fubuantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mais, the Invoca-
tion and Adoration of the Virgin Mary fwolnto fuch
a Monftrofity in that Religion, together with other
Saints, and all with Images too; Points wherein the
Wifedom of the Nation thought fit to fix the TEST,
as the fecurity of V rot ef fancy ; and that of Ima-
ges of fo great Infamy in Sacred Writ, and all thefe
with a Multitude of Rampant Words; now rather
than a Multitude of fuch Words fhould not be anfwe-
red, or a man of lips be justified, even the very
Stones would fpeak: Such LiesdWSophifiry will not
fuffer Men to hold their peace, and while he feems ra-
ther to mock than argue, fhould not every one en-
deavour to make him* afhamed ? For, certainly, his
ways of Difcourfe are like thofe of the Whorifh Wo-
man in the Proverbs, fo moveable , one cannot know
them, he comes out in this Time,* that he efteems a
Twilight, and with a profit it uted Subtilty he treats
of Sacred th ngs : he is loud and flubborn ; his feet
abide not in the Houfe of his own Church, as he his
fielfi ftyles it ; but now he is in the Streets of the
Scrange Religion, and layeth wait in every Corner
with a New fort of Ecclefiaftieal Polity, or in a New

Edition,

Edition, amt his great Temptation ter /have, faith /<?>
Peace-Otierings with me, that carry at the fame Time
Reconciliablenefs -to Rome, and likewife a Bfcfiing
kimfelf in a defignd Indulgence to his own Genius,
and car effing kimfelf in the thoughts of his cemfcrta-
lle Magdalen Importances, and though at a high Wa-
ter of Papacv he would he burnt fur a Kererick, if
he did not fpeak more out, which without doubt he
is prepaid to do on congruous Occafeons, yet fo muchy
at this feeming Return of the Water, is enough to be-
atifie and then Canonize turn in that prefent Kalen-
der, where, I doubt not, he flands markt with a Red
Letter, and it may be a jujl Reafon to all frncere Pro-
teflants to ipue him out of their Mouths : The obfer-
vation of his double dealing and appearing more like
the Atheift than the Learned and Ingenuous, though
mifperfuaded, Vapifl, foweiimes tranfports my Style be-
yond its own Intention and Reflation, when I fir ft ef-
faid to confder onely the rational part of Difcourfe
in thofe matters ; and I am much the bolder, becaufe
I hear froxa all, his Book hath much differv d His Maje-
flies Gratious Purpofe, and created in all minds a fifaur
faa ; fpecially obferving his odd Afperfions on fo emi-
nent a Verfon, as^ Dr. St. who in the thoughts of all
the World is incomparably (and beyond all poffibility of
being namd together,') ten thoufand times more, the
Apoltolick Bilhop.

If I have offered too largely to a jufl Indignation here,
I having the Treat ife it felf mojtly applied my f elf to
the rational part, and minded chiefly to poffefs the Rea-
der with the truefenfe of things : I have therefore wavd
the perfuit of his Hifiory of Tranftbflantiation in the fe-
ver al Stages of it, leaving it to more learned Pe>jons,
who, I doubt not, 'may obferve in their ufual walks and

daily

L 4 J

fkuly paths , through the whole courfe of Ecciefiaflick
Times Many of his Erratick motions ? but however the
main point of truth, orfalfhoodoJi that Heady or Article
refts in this little room whether it ispofiible to believe
fuch fublime fpirituality {as our -Lord alway breath 'd) fo
little of kin to fenfc, to matter, to fiefh, fhould in his
I oly dying In(litution, for fake him fo, that he [kould, in-
tend to engage his Bleffed Body, that was fofuddenly to
become a Spiritual Glorious Body, and to Aflcend far
above al! Heavens , to fo inglorious , infipid , ineffica-
cious a deffcent^as onely to difpoffefs a f mall Roll of Bread,
or Wafer of its whole Sub/lance, and as by a trick to leave
its Accidents ft HI intire to fool and baffle all thefenfe and
reafon in the World ; and yet to fo little efledl as to
fuffer the Bodies and the Souls too, of the great eft number
of the Eaters to be without any Evidences of good, as
?iotorious and certain, as the miracle is fuppofed to be
ft u pen do us ; whoever can believe this, need not go to vijit
the dark and too oft impure Cells where fo ft range a Doc-
rine was conceiv d and foflerd, he hath a Bulimy of
Faith .without more ado of fearch and inquiry to devour
all the abfurdities that the name of a Church can offer
him.

And as to the points 0/^ Idolatry, abating from things
Pious and Learned, Xjo which let the utmofl allowances
of deference and honour be yielded, and paid) the No-
tions he would imprint of it on the minds of his Readers,
are an audacious affront (as he fpeaks in a more innocent
tafe) to God the Creator of Heaven and Earth in his
Word, who therein abhorrs all Diftributions and Par-
cellings out of any the leaft Particles of the Glory of the
One God, or Mediator to any of the moft Seraphick of his
Creatures, Angels, or Saints, or the Mother of God, as
he fpeaks without precedent from Scripture, and hardly

allow-

allowable in a Difcourfe of fcloTatry a
the cafe of the Neltorian Herefie : Even fo all Addrefs
of any Beings le fides that God and the Mediator, his
Worddoi tESTfpeciallyhvlj ings^to whom we

can make not the leajl Application, but :<>>rler the peril of
Idolatry as Comm nicaring them, in any ftmblances of
W or (hip, with thoje Incommunicable Attributes and Pro-
perties of Omnifcicnce and O nn> ; He hath
indeed allowed and commanded mut nous rejpetis in the low-
er humane World for the fettlement of the order of Reli-
gious, and Civil Offices ; but all the figments of Men's
own Brains concerning Worihip ofUitnfeli] or of the Me-
diator through the Mediation of any of his Creatures, and
moft notorioufly, by Graven Images, or any kind of Si-
militudes comprehending other Figments, he declares to
he Abomination. It is a grand Audacioufnefs therefore
to offer fuch an infolent piece of falfbood to Chriflian minds
as gthat the Cherub were by his appointment to be
Worfhipped, or to have Worihip directed to them,
lecaufe their Refemblances were placed as waiting at that
Throne that was Empty of any F re fence to fit upon it;
but an Invifible Glory and Grace had promifed favour
to thofewho, according to his Word, praid toward that
place, which He having filld with a vifible fign of his
Prefence of Glory He after placed his Name there :
with as much fenje therefore it might have been faid that
every Stone in the Building of the Temple, or whatever
was in the temple, or fpecially in 'the Holy ofHolie-,
was to be Worfhipped as to fay the Cherubim were to b;
Worfhipped, of God in, through, or by them,

A Parallel! Effrontery it is to load the Sun and Kofi of
Heaven, the Scripture with a /the Idolatries brands, and
fo contrary to the very letter of it , that the Vifional
Reprefentation of the Jewilh Idolatries to Ezekiel, Ch. 7.

(tO dtftm-

IjuLgAptlr,, thmv ij; ihc oun jrom all the Refi, I
(land therefore in perfetl Amaze and Aftonifh what the
Christian, much more the Protectant, Bifhop fbould mean,
and yet make fo open and publkk an appeal for his In-
tegrity, God and the World in the clofe. As to what con-
cerns the Tell and the Peerage, / humbly fubmit the
Reafon of it to the higher Judges in thefe things ; beg-
ging pardon of any errors info great matter sy as I ike wife
taking example in that, 1 beg of all Men allowance for
mif takes of humane infirmity in fo Critical a point and in
fo Critical a time,

DRAWDEREVE ROFMADA.

AN

C i )

A N

ANSWER

T O T H E

Bifhop of Oxford's Reafons

For Abrogating the

TEST

Impos'd on all Members of

PARLIAMENT.

Ann. 1672. ORob. 30.

IN undertaking to give an Anfwer to thefe Reafonsi
I fhall choofe, as my particular Province, to infift
onely upon the mod fubftantial Principles of Rea-
fon, and that may moft concern, ( as we ufually fpeak )
the Merits of the Caufe, with all due regard to the
Character of Dignity, the Laws of this Nation, and the
Conftitution of the Government thereof (both Civil and
Ecclefiaftick) have imprinted upon theAuthour ; as alfo

A 3 rprnem-

CO

■remembring the Admonition the Apoflle Jude gives
from t-e Example of the Arch- Angel, who deputing
with the Devil about the Body of Mojes, moft probably
in the Caufe of Idolatry, did not adventure to bring a*
gaiufl him a Railing Accujarion? but laid, the Lord re-
hitke Thee.

Nor u ill I .a flume to make the lead Reflexion upon
thelnluflkiencies of the Difcourfe, as to its particular
Frame and Menage, or upon the Air, Meen, or Spirit oi
it, relating to either the Roman, or the Protejlant Reli-
gion, or to the Names of greateft Honour, Authority
and Reverence, who havea&ed, or written in Defence
of the Reformation : But leaving all this part to thofe,
who have bothTalents, and Authority to fupport them
in their juft Cenfurcs of fuch a manner of Treaty of what
deferves our higheft Value and Veneration, I will con-
tent my felf with Debating upon the principal Matters,
taking them in the utmoit Extent of the Offenfive, or
Defensive '"Arguments upon them.

The Heads therefore according to which
Keaf. i. this Difcourfe is to be mode! I'd, mult be thofe
--Reafons-, tkeBi/hop gives for the Abrogating of
the, TV? ; The firftof which is.; £ That it doth not one-
" ly diminifn, but utterly deftroy the natural Rights of
" Peerage , and: turns /the Bir.th-Right of the Englifh
" Nobility into ^Precarious Title.

Now in the fir ft place in anfwer to this, I muit ob-
ferve ; that in the very thought of utterly dejtroying
this Right, theEpifcopal Authour doesfomewhat relent,
and recoyl from the Height of his Expreiiion, and a-
hates it into a Turningthat Birth-Right into a Precarious
Title : Taking therefore advantage horn that fo natural,
and even neeeflarj Reccfs, or Condelleniion, if net to be
thought, as it very much ieems a Check upon impetu-

oufnefs

(5)
oufnefs of dyle from a Confcioulnefs of its Excels • T
ihall take the boldnefs more freely to aflert , That the
natural Rights of Veer age are not at all cleilro\ ed, but
own'd, upheld, and more folemnly acknowledge b\ 'the
Teft-Acl. Secondly, that the Birth-Right of the En-
gliili Nobility is no way turn'd into a Precarious Title
by it.

And becaufe this is indeed the onely Argument for
the removing the Teft-Acl, that is of true Strength, and
Merit in the whole Contexture- it deferves the more
Attent Confideration.

For whatever ihall attempt to iliake fiich a miinEii-
Iar,.and Fundamental Principle of our Engliih Govern-
ment, ought to be both fufpedted, and feared; and it it
indeed prove to do fo , to be furpriz'd and foreclos'd
from its EfTed: But the Invalidity of this Charge will
thus appear.

i. It is mod evident the Right of Peerage in the Ge-
neral dands firm, notwithdanding the Tejt i Seeing this
Principle of Government is not onely dill, but with
ftronged Confirmations even from this very Teft-Acl on
all fides preferv'd mod firm and undoubted, That there
is a mod jud Right that every Peer hath to all the pri-
vileges of Englijh Peerage : Accordingly the very Act
is founded upon that Acknowledgment, and Suppofiti-
on, viz. That every Peer hath fuch Right to all the Ho-
nours of Peerage, and to that Right mo:t unquedionable
in it (elf, for elle the very Ground of the Law were ta-
ken away. 2. All and every Peer fubmitting to that
Law takes that Right, and enjoys it without any Dimi-
nution, and holds it not onely for himfelf, but for that
whole Eft ate : the whole being -acknowledged in every
Member : And particularly fitting, and voting in the
Higher Houfe of Parliament, ( v, hich is th.-viore with

Honour

C4)

Honour to that EJtate calfd the Houfe of Lords) is ac-
knowledged to be the juft Right of Peerage without any
Infraction upon the Right it felf. 3. Even thofe Nolle
Lords, who do refufe, or do not actually fubmit to the
taking the Tefl, have yet their Right of Birth, Blood, or
other Title preferv'd undifputed, and inviolate, as it is
fuch a Right and on fuch a Claim ; and therefore when-
ever they pleafe to accept it on that Condition, there is
no demur upon their Right. But untill they ib accept,
their Right is in a kind oiAteyance^ and Cuflody of Law
for them ; and never dyes, or is extinguifht. 4. The Suf-
penfion in the mean time amounts no higher to the De-
falcation of the Priviledge, (nor indeed fo high) than the
Minority of fuch Noble Perfons, which caufe's a Sulpen-
fion of that Priviledge of voting in Parliament, till they
are of Age, which is not at their pleafure, but requires
the natural Courfe of Time to advance them to it;
whereas in this cafe, they may in Conftrudtion of Law
every day remove the Obftruition and enjoy their
Right, feeing the Claim is always allow'd, and own'd,
and the Law takes no notice of the Reafons of their
refufal. f. This is made moft evident; in that all other
natural Rights of their Peerage, are notwithflanding the
Sufpenfion of this particular Branch continued to them.
6. It is moft undeniable ; their Right of Blood, or other
Claim to the Priviledge of Parliament is unmoved ; be-
caufe not their taking the Tefl, but that precedent,and ftill
continuing juft Right, gives them a perfed; enjoyment of
that particular Priviledge whenever they take che Teft.
Which is, I hope, a full Vindication of the natural Rights
of Peerage from being utterly deltroyed ; ieeing it is
onely one Branch, that is in Queftion, and that is onely
fufpended, or rather depo(ited in trufl: with the Houfe of
Peers, and no way deftroy'd,or extinguiih'd.

z. I come

c o

2. I come therefore to make good in the fecond
place, that the Birth-Right of the Enghfh Nobility is
not turn'd into a Precarious Title, nor that which in
former Ages was forfeited onely by Treafon is now at
the mercy of every Fkffioa, or every Pajfion in Parlia-
ment.

For that can never be Precarious, nor at fuch mercy,
which fubfifts, and reds upon the common Bafe of the
whole World for its iecurity, and that is the Law of
felfprefervation.

For when a Parliament confifts of Two Houfe s, and
the Vpper Houfe of Two Eflates, each Eftate a Conven-
tion ( as is to be always prefumed) of the wifeft, and
moft honourable Perfons of a whole Nation, the Lower
Hoife hath always upon all their Propofals, or Offers at
any Bill, the curb and refiraint; that this is topafs the
Vpper Houfe, or Houfe of Lords , and therefore cannot
rationally fo much, as efiay them with any Law, that
would deflroy the Rights of their Peerage.

But fuppofethe Houfe of Commons ihould makefoun-
reafonable an attempt, it can never be imagin'd, fo in-
telligent a Body always provident, and watchful!, fp
natural!} fefl£ble of Honour, and of their own Intereir,
fhouk: ' re impos'd upon, or drawn by whatfoeyer
mc nfent to the Deftrudion of their very

Con Lrution, there being no ftronger Paflion, or more
L.i it-, thanrhat o\ felfprefervation.

And the preparation of the two Houfes for the

br a Law, does but form the Materi-

al- may be prcfented to the Royal Allent to

to give them the form and life; who as the common
Father of thnCoumrey will judg of all Bills, whether
they aretfrq Prbdu&s of Pajfton, or Faftion, andfo they
either live, or are lull-born.

B When

CO

When all Laws are therefore thus winnow'd, and
fiftcd through ihefe feveral Explorations of Perfons fup-
pos'd to have all manner of Talents forjudging, and the
quickeft Refentments of their own Interell, and Con-
cernment whether as the Lower, or Higher Body of a
Nation, whether Civil, or Ecclejiaftick, and then fhall
all meet in the common Head, who fees, and feels for
the whole, it is very adventurous to impute fuch En-
actions to the Fa&ion, or Paffion of a Parliament. See-
ing this mull needs be the firmeft Foundation humane
Affairs can be entruded to in this World, viz. the Law
of felf prefervation ballanc'd by King, Lords, and Com-
mons, e'reany thing becomesaLaw. And although, it
is true, the influence of the Supreme Prince, the Genius,
and Temper of an Age, or particular Inclination^ Times,
the Configuration of various Co-incidents may prepon-
derate to the worfe , in fome-Laws, yet there mud
be fubmiflion to fuffering, even when Conference, or
Rcafon counterfways that which we call A&ive Obedi-
ence to fuch Laws; or all Government muft be unhinged,
and fall.

And feeing it is acknowledged there may be a For-
feiture by Treafon of the Rights of Peerage, and that it
hath been in the Power oi Parliaments to declare the
nature and kinds of Treafon, there is, nor can be grea-
ter danger to the Peerage in trufting themfelves with
the Sufpenfion of one Branch of their Right than, in
trufting themfelves with the whole of thofe Rights:
and it is very rare, that humane Nature (fpeciallyVuch
fapient and honourable part of it) confpire with a Fatlion,
or Pajjion againft themfelves, or receive a precedent
from a partial fnfringment of their Rights to deflru&i*
on of the whole; feeing, if fo great an Eft ate hath over-
fcen in a leller concern, it is to be concluded, it will be the

more

C 7 )
more jealous after, and where the whole is in danger ;
and fo there is no more confequence from the Precedent
of the Teft- Law ( which is either unawares, or by the
force of Truth, or of meer Grace, it being unlike the reft
of this Difcourfe, granted by the Reverend Authour to
have been ufefull in its feafon ) than from a neceflary
and prudent opening a vein to conclude the Perfon that
confents to the one, will therefore confent to the let-
ting out the whole Mafs of Blood.

And laftly after all that hath been faid ; the
Inftances this Authour gives of the firft Tranfubftanti-
ation-Teft, and the Protejiat'ion, on Tell of Loyalty in
which the priviledge of Peerage was fo carefully provi-
ded for againfl; injury by either of thofe Te/ls, do ra-
ther flrengthen than weaken what hath been infilled
on ; for it confirms, how quick of apprehenfion the
Houfe of Peers have always been in that point, and
therefore they would not fuffer their own Peerage to
fall under any Eclipfe , fooner than they found abfo-
lute neceflity, and fuch a good arifing, as would com-
penfate any fo much, as Parenthejis of the full Beams of
that Glory on any of their Members, and fo that it
fhouldbe no more than a Parentbefts ; till fuch Mem-
bers mov'd themfelves to fuch a pofitfon, that no part
of their Orb of Honour fhould be unenlighten'd.

But in the other Tefi they feeing no Reafon for the
fhorteft Sufpenfion on Accounts of Loyalty, fufficiently
otherwife fecur'd, left there ihould arife a Cuilom of
trapaning Peers out of their Rights, fome Noble Perfo-
nages relolv'd to Stem that Tide • even as in the wife
Adminiftration of what pertains to health, extraordinary
methods may berefolv'd againft ; but when indeed for-
midable Symptoms appear, fuch refolutions may be
refcinded ; and fo without any Dilhonour but great Ho-

B z nour,

C 8 )
rrour, the Peers who entred Protections againft fuch
fuperfluous Tefts, as were proje&ed to enfnare and ob-
tein upon them (landing Orders of the Houfe againft
any fuch Tefts, and yet might upon preiling vehement
urgencies, fee it neceflary for the fafety of the whole
Body of the Peerage to have fuch a Te(t as might bring
fome of their Members under a Sufpenfion, till they
gave Hoftages of their not fuffering fuch perfuafions to
have the aicendent of them, as might be deltru&ivetoa
Proteftant Nobility in all appearance much the Major
part; whereas in the cafe of the defigned Froteftationy
the lefler part were ^probably underltood to have de-
fign'd by Degrees to have difinherifon'd through fuch
Artificesthe greater Number,of which fome Lords more
fagaeious, being aware, entred their Proteftation to awa-
ken others equally concern'd, though not fo forefeeing,
and whofe forefight gain'd upon the reft.

And feeing no fuch Proteftation was entred in the cafe
of the lad Tranfuhftantiation-Teft, it aflures the evidence
of thereafonablenefsof it,overweigh'd the very attempt?:,
And fo I take leave of the Firft Reafon,which I have more
diligently attended in all its moments of appearance ,
becaufe it is.urg'd not only by this Authour, but by the
generality of the zealous for removing the Teft-Atl.
And it iflues into this molt equitable Maxim of Govern-
ment ; That the major part of each particular Body Poli-
tick in a Nation muft judg , even as particular Perfons
do, what is bell for the whole. And the Houfe of Veers
being Judg for it felf, and mod tender of it felf,- and
the King, the Father and Fountain 0///0»0/*r,havingadvi-
fed with them, and given life to a Law for the Sufpenfi-
on of the Rights of thofe Peers who negled: to take the
Jeji; this Law can by no means (hake the general.
Rights of Peerage^ or fo much as deftroy, but onely

fuipends

(9 )

fufpends the Right of particular Peers, till they yield
obedience to that Law, which acknowledging their
Right expels it from them , and haftens.them to a
compliance with it felf.

And this will proportionately flow down upon all
parts, and Perfons concerned in the T'eft-Afl. If the
major part of each diftind: Body of Men in a Nation
fliall not by their Reprefentatives freely chofen, or by
the whole Body it felf fummon'd to Parliament upon
the Right of their Peerage , conclude the whole,
by their mod duely weigh'd, and confidered Ads,
prefented to the Supreme Power, and imprefs'd by him,
there can be no poffible Reft, Quiet, or Determination
of humane Affairs in any rational way, or method:
And all this being of that nature, and fo cautioufly
fufpending, or prefeerving, as in Abeyance, and not ex-
tinguishing any Right, it can never be fa id to deflroy,
nor fo much as to fubmit to a Precarious Title, Fafti-
en, or Tafjion of Parliament, * Any Right,
much Ids the Right of Peerage, as being (nju^uSVoThe
a Right of Blood and of Inheritance. very Nature of

Parliaments.)

I come therefore to the Bijhops Second Reafon.

Secondly it ought to he repealed, hecaufe of
its difhonour able Birth, and Original ; it being Reaf z.
the fir ft Born of Oates his Plot, and brought
forth on purpofe to give Credit and Reputation to the
Perjury.

How far the Wifedom of the Nation in Parliament
fliall concern it felf for the Honour of both the Nation,
and its Parliaments to give Reputation to the Crofs
Wounds it mayfeemto have receiv'd in that unhap-
py Affair, I will not be fo bold as to pry; it being an
Ark of State that hath its Secrets, and facred Retire-
ments

C 10)

ments, nor at all wade in fo invidious a matter;
but wholly wave the Paragraph , in which it is
handled ; onely I will confider how far a dishonourable
occafion may give Birth to a Law, and the Law it
felf ftill remain in honour ; and then remark upon the
Little Intereft the (as the Bifhop calls it ) Otejian Plot
may have in the Tejl-Atl.

As to the Tcfl, all Laws have this diflionour in their
Original Of we might allow things of that Clals,or Rank
to be Originals ; ) to. have fuch refped: to the degene-
racy of humane Nature, that the Apoftk hath faid ; The
Law is not made for a Righteous Man but for the Lawlefs ;
and it is a known Maxime ; Ex malis moribus bona naf-
cuntur Leges.

Out of fuch manners as coud ner be faid

To have been good, good Laws have jet been made :

Sic vere vertit

For grant the Birth be bafe ; dont Comets rife

From Fogs and Vapours, fore they fhine in Skies ?

And acts amazing by a Pefanfs Son,

As by a Prince's, ha ve they not been done ?

Iffo, SA. OXON is (SAI not theTEST is) gone.

Sicjufte judicat EHMAMP AR1NOCAS.

Alias DRAWDE REVEROFMADA.

Laws therefore are to be weigh'd by the ferviceable-
nefs, and ufe they are of to the main Ends of Vertue,
Righteouf nefsand Peace, and not by the foulnefsof
their occafional Originals. And therefore they have
indeed a much higher Original, if wife, vertuous and
goodLaws; and claim their defcent from the exemplar-
Wifedom andGooJnefs, and that Eternal Law of Rea-
fon, Truth and Equity, which can never be ftain'd, or

cmbas'd

C " )

embas'd by the particular occafions, upon which they
are Ena&ed, which give Being to them no othcrwife,
than as thofe Divine Emanations exert and dire&them-
felves againft thofe contrary Evils and Vices which they
Forbid and Punifh: fo that the Birth, or Original of
this Law is not to be inquii into (fuppofe it Oats's
Plot) fo low as Oat is Plot, but as the Peace and Safety
of a Community is pro J for by it ;._. which is as the
Arteria Magna, in that univerfal Law of Righteoufnefs,
as it concerns Humane Affairs, and as it is calculated
for the Support and Security of the National Religion,
againft xheVfurpation of a Foreign Jarifdiclion, a nobler
part, than that any thing elfe can come in Competition
with it. It is then a very petty thing to weigh the
goodnefs of a Law by the next occafion of it; and a
manifeft Blunder upon a Non Caufe for the True Caufe,
to confound an Occafion and an Original together.

Let us then confider in the next place, what Intereft
the (To ftyl'd) Otefian Plot hath in this Law: For if
in effed: it fhould prove the Firft-Born of that Plot,
the Beginning, and Excellence of its ft rength, and that it
hath not a more Excellent Soul, and Spirit, dcfcending
from Above; it might be in danger to be Condemn'dto
the fame Fate. But whoever confiders the Te[t it felf,
will not find the lea ft Cognation, or Relation it hath to
that. Plot, nor that any Lineaments, or Strokes of it en-
ter into its Compofition : fo that however it might re-
ceive occafion from it, yet the Eilentials of it are fucli
Sentiments, as the Nation hath had tor. above the laft
hundred of years, and that it hath upon greateft Judg-
ment,* Reafon and Experience confirm'd it felf in: and
according to feveral Emergencies added to its fecurities
by Law upon Law, againlt the Regurgitations of that
ufurpation upon it; not barely becauie of fuch Emer-
gencies,

c 1*0

gencies, but becaufe of that Grand Reafon, the very
Effence of Popery hath given it : whether therefore the
particular Emergent hath had Dimenfions Long and
Broad enough for the particular Laws and Constitutions
which have been made, wTas not fo much confider'd :
But the whole Nature of the Evil Fear'd, and provided
againft, being large enough to fupport fuch Adts, it
hath given Reafon to all fuch provifions ; and that
iv js the danger of the Roman Religion Refettling and Re-
inflating it {t\f ma. Proteftant Nation, zsthe Engl ijh Na-
tion is and hath been for fo great a fpace.

Thus this Lajl Aft for the feft, fetting before it only
that fo Full and Comprehenfive Confideration of the
Increafe and Danger of Popery in this Nation, to which
the former good Laws had proved Ineffectual, does
therefore fo Enacl as that A& expreffes.

In all which there is not the lead Reference to the
fo much Infarrid Plot, nor any Line looking toward
it : Till therefore there be a change in the very EfTen-
tial Nature of Popery, and a perfect Nullity of all the
Fears arifing from it made evident, there mult be This,
or That particular Accidental Caufe quickning the Le-
giflative Power of the Nation to branch out it felf into
more and more, and further and further particular
Laws, that may more effectually reach the. intended
Point, and be new in the Particulars; obferving where
former . Provifions were deficient and inefficacious :
which new Laws are not to be charged upon the *lefler
Accidental Caufes, but on the Irreconcileablenefs of
Popery, and its Growth to the peace and welfare of a
Proteflant Nation. And fo I have finiihed what I think
neceflary upon the Bifhofs Second Reafon, to fhew
how Inconcluding it is for the Abrogating of the Tefi.

I pro-

C *3 )

I proceed 'nor? to the Third ' Retfw.

" TheTeft ought to be repeai'd, becatife
c; of the incompetent Authority, by which Reaf. ].
" it was ena&ed, for it is a Law of an Eccle-
" fiaflick Nature, made without the Authority of the
H Church, contrary to the Pradtice of the Ghrifttaa
" World in all Ages, &c.

" i. This Reafonreilsuponthefe two Principal Pillars,
" that the Power of making Decrees concerning Divine
" Verities, is a Legiflative Power, given as the higheft
" Aft of Government by ChriiVs Commifiion, to the
•" Officers of his own Kingdom, upon which the whole
" Fabrickof the Christian Church hath hitherto flood,
" and is to (land to the End of the World, and with-
" out which, it mud run into confufion ; and that to
" entrench upon this Prerogative of the Holy Catholick
a Church, is to depofc Chni from his Throne, by dif-
9 owning, nep!c.cltng, and affronting his CommaTion to
" his Catholick Church ; lb that this Power cannot be
" ufurped without Sacnledge, and Bhfphemy , and
" fuch a daring Invasion of ChriiVs Kingdom, as that
" nothing more imports Chriftian Kings and Gover-
u nours, than to be wary and cautious, how tiiey lay
" hands upon it.

"2. That the Bifliops fitting in the Houfe of Lords,
S and (to their ihame) confenring to this Law, is not
u fufneientto make this Law an Act of Church Authj-
" rity ; becaufe it ought to have been fiHt decreed by
their own proper Authority, without any Lay Con-
currence and then to have come into ParUarm:it,iv\6.
as they judged lit, to have been abetted with Tempo-
ral Penalties, a Pra&ice never violated, but by
ApojlateS) and Refcl Parliaments. And laftly becaufe

C " Pa r

( 14 D

* FarticularBiJhops fit not inParliament by Power derived
^ from our Blefled Saviour, but by the meer Grace and
Favour of the King, fo that the exercifing any Eccle-

f
to the Lord • and laftly becaufe the Ecclefiajlkal

'4 Power is by the Law of England fetled in Convoca-

** mn\ $nd therefore to enadt any thing of an Ecclefi-

'l ajlical Nature without their confent is to betray the

*' Rights of the Church of England, as by Law ejlablifh-

x edin particular, as well as of the Church CatholUk

i% in general.

" But^as a Check and Limitation to all this, the E-
" pifcopal Authour interpofes; the Civil Power may re-
" flrain the Exercifeof this Ecclejiajlical Prerogative, as
'* they fhall judge meet for the Ends of Peace, and the
" Intereft of the Common Wealth, and punifliit too at
" their own difcretion, if it lhall at any time entrench
<c upon the Power of the State, and it may prevent, or
£* correct Abufes.

I have thus collected the flrengthof this whole Rea-
fon, without omitting any thing,I could think material •
L have alfo fubjoyn'd the Limitation, that it may be of
the ufe the Authour defign'd it, and may alfo be confc
der'd in its place to our purpofe.

There are three Expreffions, I defire in modefty and
reverence to this R. R. Authour to draw a Veil over. i.
That Parenthetic (to their Jbame) viz. the Bijhops fhame,
who confented to the Teji-Law, becaufe itfeemsfomuch
to confine onf peaking Evil of Dignities • and for the fame
Reafon, zly. upon that, (Except by Apojlates, and Rebel-
Tarliaments^) as alfo becaufe I would not know the di-
red. meaning of thofe words, but go backward to caft
% covering over them. 3. On thole words, I draw the

Curtain,-

on

Curtain ; ( profanely pawn the Bifhep to the Lor J ) left
they feem rather, fit to be retyr'd among the Bifbops
Ludicra.

But to the main purport, and ftrefs of the Argument
I fhall undertake to rcjoyn thefe Aflertions.

i. That there is nofuch Legijlative Power given by
Commiflion from Chrift; to his Church, or made the
Foundation of it.

2. That all fuch Pretenfions of Church-Power drawn
from the Practice of the Chri(Iian Church, are very
invalid.

3. That the Law of the Tefl is not a Law of an Eccle-
Jiajiick Nature.

4. And if it were, the Church of England hath done
enough in Convocation, and other Church- Ads to fup-
port it.

5*. That thePrefence oftheBifiopsm Parliament not
protefting againft it, are fuilicient proof of the two laft
Aflertions.

6. That according to the Bifbops own Limitation of
Church-Power ; it muft remain a good, and neceflary
Law, and for which the Parliament had Competent
Authority.

I begin writh the firft. 1. That there is no
fuch Legijlative Power, given by Commifiion Ajfert. u
from Chrift to his Church, or made the Foun-
dation of it, which may bedemonftrated in this manner.

This Legijlative Power of the Church is moil contrary
to that Holy Book, from whence we derive our Chrift ian
Sacred Religion, and to the foundeft Reafon guided by
that ; for by that there is, nor can be any Legijlative
Power in matters of Divine Verity but what is immedi-
ately from Heaven, either by voice from thence, or by
the Miniffery of Angels, or by immediate Infpiration
given to Holy Men, Prophets and Apoftles>and confign-

C z ed

cd by them into the Holy Writings we call Scriptures.
All which after- Revelations arc to be tryed, and Tefltd
by their compare with, and Agreement to former Reve-
lations, as is moit manifefl in all parts of Scripture ; and
by the conftant, and continual. Appeal of the OldTefla-
ment to the New : So that this prerogative/, Leg/flative
Church, that is pleaded into lb high and rampant a-Pow-
er,that All-feeming wavings of its Authority muft bean
Invafon ofChrijTs Kingdom^ Depofing of Him^n affron-
ting hisCcwmiffion, fmells flrong-of the Pride, and Am-
bition of that CV/p, which, firft, as a Ciy, and then as a
Church hath always afpir'd, to have a Kingdom over the
Kings of the Earth • as a! (b of the Lucijerian Afceni of the
Beaf, that carries it, with and upon which, I doubt not,
trie Sacriledge, and BlafphemywiW be found : Who exalts-
hhnfelf above all that is called God, ox ivorjhipped, who-
firteth in the Temple of God, ihew ing Ilimfelf that he is
Gcd.

But to us, there is but one Law giver, who is able to
fave and to deflroy. One Father, who is in Heaven ; One
Mafler, who is Chrifl, and all we are Brethren ; One Le-
gislative-Lord • and the chief ejh'm h s Church are Ser-
vants, Minifying his Word in the Scriptures, the onely.
law of Divine verities.. And therefore in this Preroga-
tive-fenfe, dare not receive the title of Maflers, or J5t£
tiers.; nor can tliofe who receive the Law of Chrift,.
rnade evident from the Scriptures to hthis Law, by their
Miniftry, upon fuch Minijlration yield them therefore
she Names of Maflers, or Fathers in a Legiflative knte.
For they know, they ought to Preach Chrifl the Lord;
and themfelves onely Servants for Chrifl V fakefhzt they
have no Dominion over the Faith of Chriftians, (who are
however called theL^/>j,yet areChnft'sC/few,) but on-
lyaYGEnfampks of thzFlock who attends the motion ofthe
Chief Shepherd, the Lamb, Chrifl Jefu's, whitherfoever
ke goes, and will net follow Strangers. Prin-

C 17 )

Princes, and States by Light oflcr'd them By the Mi~
nifterial labours, and'fervices of the E/Jhcps, and El
of the Church, who labour in the word, and Doctrine aie
to direct their Power according to that Light they re-
ceive by fudiMiniftrations,but together, and not w ith-
out their own fearch, into Scriptures, and cboiVant j
ditation therein.

And the People are to obey in Agreement ^
Law, and word of Chrift- which tuey arc to
themfelves in that Light difius'd.by the pre.<- ire

word to them in fez] on and cut of feafon. whichi I
they are to know for themfelves, arcA not others iq\
by the deep refearch cf their cv» ri minds into $fi '■.
to fes whether thofe things are fo,or not. For wifeJom hqth
written to them, even to them, as may be fcen h) all the
Epiftles oi'thtApoftles; that they might know the certain-
ty of the words of truth, and have their truft in the Lord,
and not an Implicit Faith in Men, and might b- able by
Apologies for the hope that is in them, to anfwer the words
of Truth to thofe, who fend to them either in a way of ad-
vice, or challenge.

Whatever is contrary to this undoubted evidence of
the Word of God, and found Reafon, feeing every one muft
give an account of himfelf to God, as well as thofe, who are
Jet over them, who by faithfull Offers of Truth difcharge
themfelves, whatever.I fay, is fo propo^'d, as by aCatho-
lick Church,and its prerogative,! affirm favours of that in-
toxicating Cup of Abominations in the hand of that Scrce-
refs, that calls her felf the Miftrefs of Churches, and would
Sit the Lady of the Chriflian World,and of the power that
bears it,who under pretence of the Kingdom of Chrift un-
dermines it, and hath, in the unfearchable Judgment of
God delay'd, thus long its appearance to all the World ;
and is the Baalam lofty Prophet of that Rcmifl) Perga-
mus.

2. The

c « ;

2. The pretended practice of the Church of God
in all Ages, can give no prefidency in this Cafe, be-
yond what is thus aflerted ; For in the times of the
OldTeftamcnt, Religious Princes, did by the general
advice,and Dodrine of the Vrophets,znd of thofe Priefts
who kept their Faith to the Law of God, themfelves
govern, and reform according to that of which each
King was to have a Copy Written by himfelf, which was
to be with him, and he was to read it all the days of his
Life. That he might Learn to fear the Lord
Deut.17. his God, and to keep his Laws. And whereas
in that precedent Law, enquiry of the Prieft
in the place God [hould choofe, was commended ; it plain-
ly innnuates;the divine Refponfes, God gave at that time
by the Vrim, and Thummim, immediately from himfelf
were intended, but yet all was to be founded in the Writ-
tenLawf\\zxz all was to be lhown,and from thence to be
learnt, or not to be receiv'd, no not under a power of
feeming Miiracles, Deut. n.

In the firft times of Chriftianity, for three hundred
years, there were noChriliian Magiftrates, who would
wait for the Churches Oracle's. But for the Determina-
tion of the Church without a Lay-Concurrence, it is mod
apparently oppofite to that grand inftance of the/r/?
Council, wherein the people (if any) diftinguifhingly
flyl'd the Church ; and who made moft manifeftjy one
of the EJtates, (if I may fo exprefs it) in the whole
Conciliary management ; The Apoftles, the Elders, the
Brethren ; and the whole Confutation, and Determi-
nation mov'd upon the Poles of exprefs Scripture, as will
be mod viflble to any enquirer into thofe Conciliary Acls •
For he that runs may read, Adfc 1 5-.

In the days of that firft and moft Religious Empe-
rour Conflantine, although he, as all pious Princes, and
Chriltians would, receiv'd light from the Miniflers of

(acred

C 19 )

facred truth, yet fo that he us'd his own Judgment to-
gether with it ; deploring the weakneiies he obferv'd
among thefe who feemd to be pillars of light, but yet
it mult be acknowledge, that that Apoflafie, the Myjle-
ry of iniquity, that began to work in the Apo files days was
well grown up, and advane'd, and a Leg/flat ive Church
wasTowring up its Power in theChriflian World at that
very time.

But it is undoubted, There is nothing fo Ancient, as
Divine Truth in the Law, and in the Tejlimony, con-
senting with that Law of Reafon Engraven in mans
Heart, and to thefe we mult goe- Fot whatfoever
fpeaks not according to thefe, there is no Morning /# it>
nor from it; but a Nighr, even to a Midnight, enfues
upon it, what Antiquity foever it pretends to.

3. That I may yet give a more dired: Anfwer to
this Reafon, the Tefl- Ad is not a Law of an Ecclefia-
Jlick Nature ; For it is onely an Exploration , and
Touch upon Perfons , whether they are Romanifls, or
not : It is no Canonical Determination of the Point of
Tranfulflantiation, it binds no Decree with a Spiritual,
or Ecclefiajlick Anathema, or Excommunication ; which
are of the Eflence of Ecclefiafiick Laws, as they have
been always Solemnizd, and Ratified in the Chriflian-
Antichriflianizing World upon light occafions.

But this Tefl prefumes Two Things, fuppos'd be-
fore to be fufficiently certain. 1. That no Romanijl
will deny his Tranfubflantiation, nor confent, that his
Invocation of the Virgin Mary, and of other Saints,
and that the Sacrifice of the Mafs is Superflitious, and
Idolatrous. The Tefl does not determine, nor pretend
Canonically to Define of thefe Things: it onely propo-
fes this, as a certain Difcovery of the Votaries of a Fo-
reign Church; nor does it mind to decide the Truth of
thofe Matters : It is enough to it, to know, who do, or

who

c ■-= )

...'■■ ~.nd there-
-"::. . .

z». . . , and pe>

r" ro

cod : : . . . : a unt, . .to what

Hands to emruft its Interefts; and having by mote
l hundred ; e: tence, deemed it nctfafe for

a I -' to be o\ n by a Wipal Poivtr,

it b :, and E that Time

enquiring after the Truth of the Things, ccncernM in
tl\e Te. : but iatisSed with the A::urance, that a Ro-
: (as he is cail'dj will not affent to them,
iXQ therfe laid. Which are here onely taken
r\ :tters of State} and their Doctrinal

Truth it foppofes elfewiere to have been furficiently
Afcert.ur/d, as fhall be afterward confider'd.

4. For indeed t be C hwrch of England hath both in Cov-
in continual printed manifestations of its
1: ... Lrj daily p sellings, and minlft rations of the
Truth of the word of God, abundantly , and be}ondall
Concrcvenle cpen'd, explained, and aiTer ted concerning
r.efe things out of and according to Scripture, j -..:..
not in a Hyrr.ar.e Light, cr Determination, but in :.

:\ Beams cf Scripture, aj Truth, which ":j

pTainiy to le feen ftreaming from the jo-main 0

rd of Gcd, there is warranty enough withe ut
any I 1 upon Ch riffs KiKgdim,oi the Rights of :

: we c;

to &?f:ep$

il urances, as it cefire;

t^atiftheZ. C. rcb of England

prefer-. !ge, ami .red

at .oie

cafes, was iuificiem I | no injury cculd be

done to it.

Of

5. Of this the prefence or the Bi teat,

not Remon'} rating nor frkefihg :._
contenting hoUtefrfef tfe Author ;.
fhame ) are fecurity enough: That tttej
Teft-Larv to be no Invanon of the Rgltfj tftbeCh
but according to the whole Doctrine and Government of
it, as by Z~w efiaklifhed.

For feeing, as huh been before argued, every Body, nor
Elate oi Men in Parliament knew fo quick and feelingly
themfelves, an: lly fuch a B>dy as the Epifco-

of a Nation ; it can never be fuppcs'd they would,
as by a common Confpiracy, agree to betray their own
Rights and Priviledges. having at hand always that free-
dom ofentring their ProteJtatic>:s c: DilTent. So that
although it is acknowledge, tbey Jit m Parliament ty the
Grace of the Km^ and by thzConjhtution of Englifh Par-
liameats, and not by Power derived from Chrift, nor as a
Convocation according to the Lain of England \r\ that cafe ;
yet it is always to be forethought that they fit with their
Underftandings, with their Confciences, with their Szr<-
fcs, with their Sentiments oiSelf-prefenaticn about them :
and that therefore they would not be Felones defet by
contenting to the Deftruchon of their nobfefl Rhlts;
and en account of which, they are judg"d worthy to fit
as an Ejlate, and to vote in Parliament , viz. as Bifhops or.
the Church of Jeius Chrift.

6. But hftly, it can never be underftcod, bu: that
accord ng to the Bifhops own limitation if that be the
Standarc ) c[ Church-?cv;er and Prerogative., or his let-
ting op another pOTPfrand Frertgative to mate it,the Par-
Harnett have Teft-Lam.

For fee ; the may reftrah the Ext ci t

of Seek I ■:: J U t •' ft ; for

the ends cf Pca:e , and : .:. Interest f

D

(H)

2nd may punifh it too, at their own difcretion, if it fball at
any time intrench upon the Prerogative oi the State, and
tb&t it may prevent or correct Abufes ; who can deter-
mine, whether the States have not done according to
what they might and ought to do, in preventing and
correcting Abufes : For it they may prevent and correct
Abufes, they muft be able to judg of them ; they muft
determine when they ly , they muft judge alio of the
best means to prevent them. And what more lyable to
fuch judgment of Abufes, and to undergo the bell and
moft effectual methods of Prevention, than the things
to be deckr'd againft in the Teft ; as iliall be manifeftly
prov'd in the following Reafcn. And feeing that upon
thefe very accounts it is notorious, that even in this Na-
tion Church Power and Prerogative hath fwoln beyond all
bounds, and entrench'd with a vengeance upon the Power
of the State, why then may not the State continue the
correction and punifhment of it by After Alls ( feeing the
Bijhop allows thefe punifhments at their own difcretion )
and rejirain and lock down men > Certainly all the Ave-
nues tojfiich an Exercife and Notions again of that Power,
th?c they hav found in all Ages fo deftruftive to the
Peace and Intereft of the Commonwealth.

And he ,\. I cannot but reflect upon the ftrange Irre-
concileablenefs of th&BiJhop's Church-Prerogative, and of
the Civil Power, as he hath ftated it. For that liich a
Seeing Judging Prerogative and Legislative Power , that
can aher,rnake Decrees concerning Divine Ferities, fhould
not know how to keep within its own bounds, nor foto
learn its Paver, but that it muft be reftrain'd for the Ends
*f Peace, and the Interest of the Commonwealth, and be pu-
nifh'd too at d/fcretwn for its aptnefs to pmfume, and to
intrench upon1 the Power of the Star*; nay, and beyond
ali this, to be fo extravagant, that its Abufes may have
need to be prevented and cor vetted. Wh

(*0

Who can imagine, Jefus Chrift fliould be fo nearly
concern'd in fuch a Prerogative and Legiflative Power, as
to be difownd, neglecled} affronted, it that he be Chrift
rifen, and that the ufurpationoi iifaoxAd liefo near Sacri-
ledge and Blafphemy, as that his Kingdom fliould be inva-
ded, and Himfelf depofed > and on fuch an account, that
it fliould be fuch a Seeing and Holy Catholick Church ;
and yet that this Civil Power that is fuppos'd to know fo
little in Divine Verities, may bind its hands, punifh, pre-
vent, cornel its Abufes. What mull Chrift, fo clofely im-
portuned in it, fuffer in the mean time > What kind of
Kingdom and Power is here allow'd in the mean time >
What Governour would accept fuch a Power as this of
Chrift 's ? or how can the King of Kings, Lord of Lords,
Prince of the Kings of the Earth, be fuch an Underling >

Certainly this is is a precarious Tower, with a witnefs :
Surely in this ftate of things, there muft be a moft
profane pawning the Bifhop indeed to the Lordy or how can
ever one Firmament bear two fuch Suns, or the Confer-
ences of Man ever be at reft between them both ? or ferv
two fuch Mafters? They muft adhere to one, and defpife
the other; But fince the Bifhop muft be Reverenced as a man
of Senfe and Reafon, certeniy it cannot be the Roman Ho-
ly Catholic Church, that may be thus treated by the Civil
Power ; nor is it any Protedant Civil Prince, or State that
hath thefe Powers, but only a C<efar, or State of the Roman
Character, Image, and Superfcription hath this Power, and
only on Proteftant Churches under their dominion.

And (o I pafs with the Fatigue of this confounding, per-
plexing Reafon, and com to the laft but longeft Reafon,
which I fhall yet but in brief confider.

■ The fourth Reafon for which the Tefl-Att ought to
1 be repealed, is, becaufe of the uncertainty and fallhood
4 of the matters contained in the Declaration it felf, as, I

D i Tirft,

Firft, c That there is no franfubftantiation in the Sacra*
1 went of our Saviour's Body and Blood.

And Secondly, t That the Invocation of Saints, and of the
' Mother of God, is Idolatrie.

This reafon fo plainly divided by the Bifhop into its
two parts, that of Tranfubjlantiation, and that of Invocati-
on of Saints, and of the Mother of God, muft be diftinfr-
ly conficfered.

But before I proceed upon either of them, I muft 'needs
objefr, That this Tefi is not fairly quoted, for in fo great
a concern every word ought to have its due place, and no
pretence of keeping the fubftance,will juftifie the variation
of an Iota from the very Letter, except my apprehenfion
exceedingly deceive me: theSenceis much more injured,
than the Letter is varied : Indeed the Author hath been'
fo fair, as to prefix the Text of the Aft, that his unfair
Repetition may be convinced by it; but the unwary, or
unthinking Reader , may eafily Hide into Errour by
it, one being in the title-page, where it may mifs being
confidered, the other in the body of the Book. Obferv
then the difference betwixt the Text of the 7eH and
the Bijhofs Quotation; the Teft runs thus: I believe
there is no,&c. The Bifhop quotes as a propofition,rfe^
is no,&cc. It may be a much more uncertain propofiti-
on, and mere liable tofalfhood, to affirm, there is no Tran*
fubftantiation in tiie Sacrament of our Saviour's Body and
Blood, than to fay, I do believe, There is none; and fo
proportionably , / believe, is to be fupplied to the fecond
member of the Declaration , viz. And I believe, that the
Invocation or Adoration of,- &c.

Now although, I make no doubt, that every Chriftian
ought to be fully afllred of the propofitions themfelves,
to be declared in the Tefi ; yet, plain and down-right Do-
ctrinal Propofitions are not the proper fubjefts oifolenin

fmcere

(y)

fincere Profeffion, Teflifie at ion y and Declaration in the pre-
fence of God.

Butfuch folemnfincere Profeffions, Teflifie at ions, and De-
clarations, properly fall upon the belief "of a man's mind ;
which he knows, and hath judgment of, as a rational
man, becaus they are within him ; for the Apoflle tells
us, The fpirit of a man knows the things that are within him.
So that a man's belief that is within him , may be wel
declared and te/lified, even as all matters of fence and of
truft? and becauf they are within him, known onely to
himfelf; There are therefore many juft occafions to de-
clare and teflifie it to others : Of which the denial of law-
ful Authority, as a Qualification for Places of Truft and
Power, are.juftly to be accounted among the princi-
pal.

And this very obfervation, (ss it is plain, and grounded
on undeniable evidence by a compute of the words of the
Te&> fet down by the Bijhop himfelf, in the title-page, and
Fourth Reafon , page 9.) does indeed make vain , frivo-
lous, and of no poflible avail, or fo much as fignificancie.
AH that follows, as to the Tett, which is the thing in qua>
ftion, and under debate, and brings it into this narrow
compafs, Whether perfons fo devoted to the Faith of the
Church of Rome, may for the ends of Peace, and the Inte-
rest of a Proteflant Common-wealth, be feciuded from Pow-
er, and truft by theconfent of the major part of their own
particular Bodies, and of each other Body, or Eft ate of the
Nation, and the Supreme Prince aflenting, in fo confide-
rable and folemn an Aft, as an At! of Parliament muft
Seeds be j which hath been already diicours'd.

For which foever fide of the Proportions fhould be
true, yet ftil , what a man within himfelf believes, he
truly knows, and truly may declare and teflifie: And the
bufinefs of the TeH is not to determine, as hath been faid,
which part of eirher of the Propofions is true; but what

belief

belief each perlon admitted toTruft, and Power is of;
that fo the Nation, as Proteftant, may confult its own fafe-
ty againft the growth of Popery into a National ftrength
and intereft, and further confirms all that hath been laid,
That it is no Ecclefajlic A3, but a pure perfect Mggiflra-
tic Aft , as the ' Admimftrhtg an Oath in all other cafes
concerning the Truft of matters of Faith is.

So that the affirming, that thofe two Proportions are
by this Law to be fo/emnly and fincerely in the Pr^fence of
God, Protefied, Teftified and Declared, is a down-right un-
faithfulneis (not to fay, out of reverence to the Author,
Falfliood) in the very fight of the Sunf in the fight, if I
may fo (peak, of the Frcvtifpiece of the Book ; which
Title-Page gives of neceliity the Lye to this Ninth page ;
and is enough to difcredit, and to call into juft (iifpicion,
the badnefs of the whole Caufe, that is fo infinecrely
handled by a perfon of fuch a Charafter of Dignity, and
Sacrednefs of Office, as a Chriflian Bifbop, who ought to
do fo much otherwife.

But this is not all the uniaithfulnefs of the Epifcopal
Author i in recounting the Tcfi, he is arguing againft; for
whereas the Declaration in the A3 runs thus : ■ I believe,
5 that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, there is not
c any Tranfulftantiation of the Elements of the Bread and
c Wine into the Body and Blood of Chrijl, &c. The Bi-
fhop reprefents his Proposition thus : ■ That there is no
1 Tranfuhfiautiation in the Sacraments of our Saviour's Bo-
(dy and Blood. Nowitiseafie for every perfon, that
does but in the left apply his mind to it, to perceive, that
the Teji leaves it free to every perfon to frame any My-
flical. Spiritual, Analogical, Figurative fenfe in his own
thoughts concerning tranfuljlantiation \ and which may
fufficiently fatisfie and exhauft the fenfe of more than
mod words of the Greek Fathers import, for it is obfer-

vabl,

( 29)
i no word ftrictly Greek, for Tr>
oh. And «dy forepoafs that fa mooftrous coBtradiffion

CO all ur Faculties , ASihtTranfubjiatitiat :...£.r-

to the Body and Blood r \ C

And whereas the 7>// runs thus: ' Ana that the />;;:;>
<//** and Adoration of the V;rgin *Vjr/i
' S^.: : Sacrifice o: the AL?/J. as they ;

: : /o;wf. are iS:ofr . ido'.atrr.

I ..- thus : ' Tnat the In-*:::.:::-. .: tl

< God, and ;i~ Sahrts, is Idolatrous, Lea', ing oui _~.h: ■..:.-.-
-/'-f Church of Rome., a:;.. : r : . .-
cting in the word, is I • : I - :h
*h greater exadnefs in this Pr:

yet. I muftconfe - .....

Amount is the fame.

*Tbefe tilings being thus adjured, how eraptj ."

Pveafon muf: that Trag aai Ha-

•"s. be;n: of the MonihrouTnels, an:;

aids of the Barbarity, that cz^\i never b

' entred into the Thoughts of any Man. but the Lira-

* mous Author, to oblige the whole X. bihtv of a Nation,
1 to fwea: to the Trot: v :. :h \ .mcertairi Pro-
' pofitions, which :...■ .'.'■ . : D. nor Cam, nor CW.\

' to and: and tbis upon the Pen:lty of Forfeiting

1 the Pi B tb-rig £

4 O: the (ame Nature is, Toat *bi:h comes a :"::-:•,
' for what immediately bliows , 1 *ill he. is unfcfer-

* tain m, as the Argument it fdfis a.s.hbhi:he: :

* mous I

'Bat t .:.-. i/2 what .. r.eac: by Tri*u I-

; ::he? an i ■ n •; : the S:l :;•», and

* G:>;: ■ . - - : - : .'. . ■ c..- ' • :-. : .
< Schoo,-r - : . *e quarrei..

' than the No: m of T ' And that

(3°)

* fore, it is more uncapable to impofeupon the Nobility,
' and Gentry of the Nation, to Abjure a thing that is mo-
1 rally impoflibl for them to underftand ; and therefore

* it muft be a profane Affront to Almighty God in whofe
1 Prefence they Swear, and {hews men will Swear to any

* thing before the Searcher of Hearts, rather than lofe any

* Worldly intereft) are to be caft into the main Heap.

Together with ai_ is, an Appeal is fubjoyn'd to the
Honourable Members of 'both Houfes, whether they have
any d'AmQ. Idea, oi on in their minds, about what

they Renounce ; and thai: if every man gave his own ac-
count of Tranfubftantiation, it would be a Babel.

This is what is declaim'd with relation to the firft Pro-
portion, on which Fallacie.the Hiflorical Account of Tran-
fubftantiation t defign'd certainly on purpofe toamufe, for
it doth not add one Cubit to the Stature of the Argument,
above, and beyond what isherefumm'd up.

Taking therefore the words of the Tefl, as they ftand
in the Tefl it felf; I will fum up the Anfwerin thefe two
Heads.

I. That all the Abflrufenefs, Darknefs, and difficultie in
the Notion of Tranfubftantiation^ and this Biihop's
amufing Hiflorie of it, doth not in the left prejudice
the reafonablenefsof the Tefl, but make it more rea-
fonable.

II. That the very Point of Tranfuhflantiation is the
mofl reafonabl of all others, to fettle the Tefl upon,
and the more reafonable, becaufeof the difficultie of
that Notion.

i. Let the fir ft be confider'd with Relation to the mod
Unknowing, and Uninquiring Men of all, who can be
fuppos'd to beconcern'd in the taking the Tiff. And af-
ter

ter the word made common Englijh to them, which very-
ordinary ufe does to mod Men in the Nation, much more
to any likely to be concern'd, whether they can found
the Word, or hammer the Notion or not, is not materi-
al; For (till, what is more eafy then to declare their Be-
lief according to their Senfes; and that the Bread and
Wine that they fee before the Words of Confecration, and
in which they are agreedly not miftaken, are the fame
Bread, and Wine after Confecration. Who would be a-
fraid to Declare, and Profefs, they Believe it fo > and
that it isunchang'd, Vntranfulftantiated into the Flejh,
and Bloud of a Human Body. Let a Man be Unpreju-
dic'd, UnprepofTefs'd, and what the leaft Shade of Douot
could fall upon him in this Matter ? Call in Thoufands
together, to obferve the Progrefsfrom the beginning to
the end of the Celebration ; And would they not confent
upon Oath, that they fully believed there was no fuch
TranfMantiation 9 Let but their minds be free, undi-
fturb'd, unperplex'd, and the whole world of Touch, of
Tajle, of Sight, of Smell, of Hearing ( fo far as hearing
can have intereft in the trial) would be at perfefl: agree-
ment concerning it, their minds and understandings judg-
ing by the fenfes alike in all.

Let fuch perfons hear there are many Difputes, and
much variety of Opinions concerning it ; and how little
would it affeft them, except with wronder at the folly
and madnefs of any difference ?

And let them know, fome of the wifeft and mofl learn-
ed men in the World, are of their Opinion, or rather of
their Knowledge, by their fenfes, although there are others
of a contrary Opinion , men of Name too forKnowledg
and Learning ; and it is eafie to know whofe minds they
would be of, viz. of theirs whofe Learning and Senfes go
together.

E Thus

Thus let the thing be brought within the Verge of
Scripture-judgment, and upon that (o very controverted;
This is my hoay^nd dilcuffed before the mo ft plain and in-
artificial apprchenfions ; and let the genei al manner of Scri-
pture expreffing it felf oft in familiar Figures be laid be-
fore them : They would eafiiy conclude on the fide of
their Senfes, and that Scripture intended no violence on
their Faith, againft their Senfes, on the fide of fo incre-
dible a change of the Elements into a Humane Body.

Nothing but the charms or inchantments rather of a
falfe Religion, and the Sorcery of it, which are the things
to-be difcover'd by the Tesl , the flavery of an implicit
Faith, (except under the terror of a kverePerfecution, for
a contrary PerfwTafion) can endanger any mans falling in-
to fuch an unaccountable, wilful, profefied blindnefs.

TheTef? therefore requires not onely the eafieft, mod
unperplexed Aflent, Belief land Declaration,but that which
all Mankind with violence runs into (if not bavitcht with
Superftition) upon the left motive of apprehenfion about
the matter.

2. If fenfe goes thus far with the plained and mod un-
thinking men, how much more doth lleafon and rational
Faith affure the thinking and intelligent > who not onely
by Senfe determine the Bread is Bread s and the Wine
Wine ; but know, it can be no other, and the whole circle
of Alfurds, that crowd in upon the change into the Body
and Blood of Chrift, that have been fo often arang'd a-
gainft fuch a Figment, encompafs them, that with higheft
reafon and aflurance, they can declare their Belief, as the
Law of the Tejl requires them to do.

Whatever then may be the various ftiapes this Trotewt,
or Camelion of Tranfubftantiation hath put on through-
out the long Hitlorie of the Metamorphosd Notion, what-
ever drefs of Representation , the Eloquence of the Fa-

tiers.

(33)

thers, the Canon of the Ecclefiaflics,ot the Di$cilesNug& or
the vain curiofities and fubtilties of the School men have
Attyr'd it in ; the fincere honeft mind, and the intelli-
gent Chriftian, leaving all the cramping Difficulties of
Tranfubjlantiation to its Slaves, can declare freely with the
Tejl, There is not any Tranfulflantiation of the Elements
of Bread and Wine, in the Lord's Supper, into the Body
and Blood of Chrift. Whatever fpiritual Communion
there may be between Chrift in his Death, and the true
Reliever, is mod humbly in the mean time owned and
prayed for : which is the firft thing that was to be (hewn.

The fecond Head is, That the very point of Tranful-
flantiation > is of all others the mod reafonable to fettle the
Tefl upon, and the more reafonable in all regards, becaufe
of the fo exceeding difficulty of the Notion.

i. What can a civil Power have greater indignation a-
gainft, or be more willing to fettle upon, as an exclufive
TeH of all from places of Honour, Truft , and Power;
than the being Vafials to fuch an Impofture as deftroys all
the Truth and Certainty that is in the World > Who can
be believ'd upon Oath, (which the Apoftle fays is the end
of all ftrife) if there be no more credit to fenfe, then that
Bread may be a Hnmane Body, and Wine Blood, though
it hath ail the evidences to fenfe poffible, it is what it
judges it to be, and that is Bread ? And what more heed
can be given to Reafon, if its main Foundations can be
thus overturn'd, fo that all the principles of Government,
and humane Converfe, are overthrown \ What may not
fuch Bigots be (ere wed into, who leave themfelves naked
of the defences of Senfe and Reafon, at the Command of
a tyrannic Church, and Pope, and become meer Tools in
fuch Hands ? Who can concredit to them the Intereft of
their Country , who couch down like Afles under fuch a
Burden, and efpecially for a Notion fo dark and flippery,

E 2 that

(*4)

that no one knows where to have it? And what would
become of humane Commerce, if fuch Things multipli-
ed ?

a. Upon TraHfulfiantiation, the Tefi-Aft doth mod
defervedly fall ; became* when the foundations of gene-
ral Reafon, and common Senfe are laid, Religion, artd
the Reafon, and Honour of that, as it is National, comes
next to be confider'd ? that it may-bear up it felf, and in-
vite both the People of the Nation, and even the Matrons
round about, to a juft veneration of it : But Tranfitbftan-
tiation being made the great, and mod tremendous My-
ftery of the Roman Religion, yet carneth in the very judg-
ment of fenfe, the Countenance, mean, and appear-
ance of the molt notorious Cheat, and Juggle, that the
Name of Religion ever offered to the World ; for there be-
ing a moft contemptible, poor, and low outfide onely,
withoutthe leaft of Power, or Puiflance, or any the thin-
neft refemblance of a Miracle-, demands a Belief of
theHigheft, and moft conftant Miracle, daily to be per-
formed by the moft Profligate oftentimes, and moft Ig-
norant of Mankind, and depending upon their Intention
too, which may defeat the Miracle. All this difhonours
the very Name oiChriftian Religion, and is fo heavy, and
intolerable aGabel, Excife, and Tax upon the Religious
Senfe of Mankind , as muft needs eat out the whole
Life, Power, and Reverence of it. And therefore it is
worthy the Notice, Prevention and Corretlion of fo grand
an Aflembly, as the King, the Lords , Spiritual and Tem-
poral, fftfl Commons of the Nation met in Parliament ; and
the Seclufion of all Perfons fromfo fage and awful a Con-
vention, who are under fo great a Slavery, as not to re-
nounce it : For as Mofes teftifies , The wife Laws of a
Nation in Religion give it an Eftimation oizlVife, Great,
and Honourable Nation. If therefore a Parliament fecures

the

the Rights and Properties of the Nation, from any Impo-
sitions upon their Eftates, but with their own Confenc :
How juftly may it doe the fame againft any Illegal Im-
pofttions upon their Faith ?

And whzrezsthisTranfa&ftantitaicnls attempted to be
brought into Parallel, and placed in the Rank of other
grtat Myfteries of the Chriftian Religion, as of the Blejfed
Father, Son, and Spirit , One God, of the Hjpojlaticat
Vnion, and Incarnation of Jefus Chrid, befid^s tlv: Intrin-
fick difference of the one, and of the other : There is this
vaft diflance, That thofe Supreme Revelations are Hea-
venly, Divine, retir'd in Medication, Holy Rational
DifcoDrfe, and Spiritual Adorations. But this of Tran-
ful>ftantiation,wh'\k it does nothing,offers nothing to Senfe,
to Reafon, or fo much as to Faith from Divine Revelation,
but by Grofi Letter, z Figurative, Spiritual Proporti-
on into condenfating, preiiing, and incraflating, it pre-
tends to a real Operation , or converfion of Bread
into the Body without any fuch thing. But yet, as if
fuch a thing were feen to be indeed done ; Mercenary
Priefts play all the Tricks of Gefture, Pofture, Elevation,
Geniculation, with the whole Train of Attendant Frauds,
too many to be mention'd, upon the Score of a dull coarfe
Cheat even \nHandicraft, and Legerdemain in Mechanic!? s,
All which Impoftureis r.Jeed, not onely Morally, but
Naturally impoffibletv-er tobeunderftood.
• 3. It ought above all other Points in Popery, to be the
Subjeft of a Tesi Atl, becaufe it hath above all other
Points of Topifh Falihood, been made the Tett of Vajfa-
lage and Slavery >znd as it were that very MarkohheBeaff
joyn'd with the Idolatrie of Adoration, and Image-Wor-
fhip ; and of t\\v Receiving his Name, zndfVorJhipping his
Image, which all muft receiv, or be kill'd ; and none
mult buy or fell , that the Tfuedo Spiritual Excommu-
nication

(3*)

wicatioH may be purfued with fecular A /s upon

all who wiil not bear this Cogv.ifance of the Befuan Usur-
pation. In fhort, This hath been the central Point, :.

rich, and into which have Flowed all the Cruelties,
Ferfecutions, .* ;, deluges of Bloud that have been

pour'dout: Bloud oi Men, Women, and Children. Sa-
crtficd agtfais A ar, that have made il J an Altar of

2?^W. an *!&& where real pfe/S and J3/W have been
Offered, and to (ay, Tte £r<f j</ ar.d jEfbt have bee
TranfubUantiaced into the Bod) and £/<W of Ma. j i •$,
were m J :h nearer Truth. Here have be -
unheard-of Barbarities and fattumaokies , that would
make a Hiftorie of Tr 'anfubfi aniiat l/; i T; ill :', indeed, could
it be hid, worth th' having, to juftifie th . and fuch

a one, that certainly could never upon the not offo

Welled a Religion , and of a Sacrifice c: fuch infinite
Grace, ;.$ chat of Jefas Chrifts Offer ingh'wfeif once for all
J, have entred into the Heart of any Men;
- it no: that iuch : very deteflable Beflial Pc. :r,
that bears at this very time, and hath long tern a Citie,
or Fal e Church, in which wil be found the Blend of Pro-
w4 ApoJIles, and that is Drunk with the Bloud of
Saints, and of the Martyrs cfjefiu, is made known unto
us in the Revelation.

Now all this is matter of known Hiftorie, and of e-

vident Fs8 ; How juftly therefore is Power, aud Truft,

endeavour a to be furprized by a Trotefiant Parliament,

::c~i fjch hands that dare not difewn Principles fo dou-

b]edyed in Bioud, on the account of which fuch But-

cteries, and Burnings of Men alive, have been commit-

e fo mitftil'd Barbaritie and Inhumanitie of the

npared herewith,is not only Mercie andHonor

to the Perfons concerned , but a Monument of greateft

tie and Philanthropic or Love to Humane Nature,

to

(

27 ;

Of

to endeavour to extingui'h out of tip Nation I
ve;y Principles of lb much Bkmd-Gi lone

Thirit, of the greater heinoufneis, becius if the Bifiop
be to be credited in the Cafe, it was rcr not be ig 3
Tra*f*hft**tuUkm «|4iiefa it was Morally impojd'.e for

thefe Martyri to knovj. ::: fjch alltrufiues which they
neither^, nor <r<W^/, nor indeed ought to nnderftand.

4. To prels and force a i:t:erai benfe upon the Holy
Scriptures Free Famihar ConGifci-nf.jn to our Weaknt;^
in exprefuig things of a high Spiritual Nature in fuch
Language, as we in Hur.r.iie Bodies moll eafily cake
things into our minds bv. as in the Sacrament, the real
Spiritual Union. and Com:ri inkation rathe Value, Wrrue,
andEfficacy of the 5aa\ii:c ofChrift Himfelf and in the
Vri.::i of, and Communis, ana Communication of his
Spirit to us, is exprefs;d by eating his Body, and drinking
his Bloud : No* I lay, to force, a litteral Senfe upon
this, is fuch a piece of Rudenefs, Barbaritie. end Ingrati-
tude, that if the lame meafure were meeted '0 all ether
parrs ot Scripture, would even in the Judgment of I ;;._
very Men, who are either Atheifis or Bigots in this matter,
not only turn it into Horrible, and Abominable BurkCcue*
but even Martyr and Murthet thole two Wkaefies, as
fame have expounded them *• To vindicate therefore,*
thofe Sacred Volumes, the Pandects of cur moft Hoj
Religion, from having to do with fo mid-night, and
Sphingian a Riddle, in Co plain, and merciful an Inftitu-
tion, to humble, and even Domefdc dna fpiritcd Sen k
as the Lorci"s Supper is: aRidule, let en work to fomuch
Cruelty and Bloud-thed, is worthy the Spirit of atruely
Chriftian, and nobly Englifb Senate, and to fet the dan-
ger of its return into ule, at the utmoft itnpoffibility.
Humane Providence could attain without the expectation 1
of Miracle.

For

KtV. U.

(*§)

For what is meant by Tranfubjlantiation, the Bifhop
himfelf fays, is altogether unknown and uncertain, efpe-
cially to the perfons chiefly concern'd, viz. the Nobility
and Geptry of the Nation 5 and which they neither Jo, can^
nor ought to know : What obligation can they then ha\*fe
to believe it, except with fuch a blind Faith as all Religi-
on and Reafon abhors \ However, if they have no Faith
concerning fo fugitive a thing,that like a fliadow,cannot be
catch'd, or like the Phantom of a Body that hath mflejh
and bones to hejeen and/^,as all Bodieshave,and as Chnft,
as it were prophetically, expos'd his BoJy to the Experi-
ment of, when it was really there, that no fuch Impo-
fture concerning it Ihould be palm'd upon the World: I
fey, if the Nobility and Gentry have no Faith of fuch a
thing, why may they not prof efiznd declare, they do not
believe it >

For the Bijhop feems either not to be awake, or to di£
femble a (lumber , that his Difcourfe of mens [wearing
to any thing, hisBurlefque on the famous Burgejfes ofOxon,
and his Appeal to the Honourable Members concerning
their Ueas of Tranfubftantiation, and the Babel thence a-
rifing, [ the whole Notion is indeed a Babalifm, or per-
taining to Babylon the Great ] had been very good, if the
7>/?had requir'd them to declare their belief of fuch a
Tranfub/lantiation. But now his Arguments hunt coun-
ter, and impeach the Roman Tyranny of horrid Murthers
upon perfons, for not believing what they neither *&, can,
nor ought to know, what they can fo hardly pronounce the
found of, much lefs hammer the fturdy fullen Notion it felf :
For who can know what there is no knowledge of J But
what more innocent than to declare, when lawfully re-
quir'd, though before the Searcher of Hearts, a man does
not believe what he cannot nor ought to know, nor fo
much as anvil a Notion of > If it were never fo true,

real,

real, knowable, and worthy to be believed, any oae
might, without guilt, ( when juftly demanded to dofo )
declare he did not believe it, while he knew it not fo as to
find reafon to believe it; it were double Hypccrifie to do
other wife : and all thzj&jhop's arguing and ftorying, cart
never make it other wife. Indeed the whole recoyles
upon himfelf, and dafhes out the brains of all he hath writ
upon it; which, fure, hecrafly overfaw, or thought all
his Readers were fuch Fools as to be couzen'd with the
glofs.

For if the infidelitie were ever fo culpable, it were a
Dutie, when adjurd by a Law to declare it ; but how can
the infidelitie be blam'd, when after the Bijhofs hunting
down the Notion through the whole Hiflorie of the Con-
troverfee, ' He hath prey'd only upon a Ghoft, mifs'd of all

* comprehenjion, and he pronounces the fumm, and refult
1 of all to be what is meant by that Tranfub(tantiation is
' a thing altogether uncertain and unknown ; and there is no
4 one thing in which Chrijlendom more both agrees and

* differs ; all Parties agree in the Thing, and differ in the
1 manner. Now it fo happens, the TeH was fo fagaci-
oufly compos'd , though it might lawfully have done
much more, that it modeftly leaves the Thing free, and
requires only to declare a Belief of fuch Manner oiTran-
fubllantiation, as of the Elements of Bread and Wine, into
the Bodie and Bloud of Chrift ; and requires the Decla-
rers own Belief alone, and nothing of cenfure upon any
others Belief in this±>ranch of the TeH ; which furely a-
ny man may lawfully make, that makes it truly : and
feeing the whole Iflue of the Notion is Scepticifm, the
Bifhop himfelf being Judg, ( and what can the man do that
comes after the ijhop > ) may not every man then fay,
h&™KcL^Mu y I do not comprehend it, therefore I do not
believe it.

F Indeed

Indeed if there were Revelation for it, like what there
is concerning the Father, Word, and Spirit, one God ^ con-
cerning the Incarnation and Hypoftatic Vnion of the Eter-
tailVordmth Humane Nature, leaning not on figurative
expreffion, but plain aflertion, wrought into all the dif-
courfe, and whole Argument of Scripture, all Difputes
were filencU

But when there is no pretext of Revelation, but fuch a
manner of fpeaking, as if it were prefs'd alike into a lite-
ral fenfe, through the whole Book of God, it muft over-
throw all Theologie. To refufe then a Figure there where
it is fo abfolutely neceftary, that elfe Chrift muft eat his
own flejb , while it remain'd entire before the slpoftles,
and drink his own lloud, while it was circulating in his
Veins, and no amaze nor fo much as queftion upon it,
is fuch a fetting the Scripture to be broken upon the
Wheel, fuch a Barbarity, as exceeds a thcufandfold all the
barbarities and Inhumanities fpoken of throughout the
Biftiop's whole Book : Efpecially when our Lord declares
in a like manner of fpeaking, and doubts upon it ; His
words were fpirit and life, and the flejb profited nothing.
Why then mould men bring the Scripture to the Engine,
to torture it into the confeflion of what ( as God fpeaks )
never came into his heart .<?

And fo I may fairly difmifs the Bijhop's longfom Hi-
florie of TranfulJlantiationy feeing the mouth of his Ca-
non turns upon himfelf for what he can ; and what
fhoulda man be (hie of in declaring his Non-belief of what
is againft all the fenfe and reafon of mankind, what hath
no ground in Revelation, and what all the Wits and Sub-
tilties the Canonifls and School-men, yea the very Coun-
cils of the Rowan Vaflalage can, when fet upon the ut-
moftftretch, make nothing of, but a meer Balel, if we
naay believe the Bilhop, in what he determines upon the

whole

(33)

whole fearch in favour of it. Not like Solomons conclu-
[ton of the matter into the whole of man, but like the con-
clufion of Babel, all was Jargon, Nonfenfe, Confufion, and
Rubbijh ; and worfc than that, the conclufton will be
like that oi Babylon the Great, a perpetual Defolation and
Burning.

They therefore who have like Slaves lord their Ears
to this fpiritual Egyptian flavery , and under the Plague
***of its Darknefs to be even felt , how juft is it to dilen-
gage them from taking the Rights of their Prince and
Country into their truH, whether their contented Slavery
rife from fome weak part , or a worfe depravednefs,
which inclines their always lowed down Backs, and their
Eyes laden with flumber under fuch a monftrous Bigot-
tifm.

I come therefore to confider of the fecond Propositi-
on, which, however it runs in the Bijbop's Text, is thus
exprefs'd in the Tejl: \ And that the Invocation ox Ado-
' ration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and
! the Sacrifice of the Mafi, as they are now ufed in the
' Church of Rome, are fuperftitious and idolatrous.

In which, although I confefs in my own Judgment,
the very Extr^ftiity, as of Senfe, that the words can
reach, are fupported by the demerit of the things De~
dared againft : Yet, becaufe it is a Teff, publickly offer-
ed, the refufal of which fufpends fo great an Intereft, as
all. fliare in Government, as the Bijhop exprefles it. It
will not be unfit to obferve all the Lenitives, that are by
the Prudence of the Compofers, (whoever they were, it
makes no matter) contriv'd into it.

i. Therfore, / do believe is prefix'd to the whole Tefi,
by common Equity of ConftrriVion to be fupplyed. I do
believe the firft Proportion, that in the Sacrament, &c.
And in the fecond, Idolelieve, that the Invocation, &c.

F 2 Now

(34)

Now It is Evident, a Man may Swear to his ownBelief,
if he knows he does really fo Believe, although he be
miftaken in the grounds of his Belief, becaufe it isonely
matter of Fa& within himfelf,

2. There is a Limitation, As thefe things are usd, and
novo us'd in the Church of Rome, whether by exprefs
Command, or by Approbation, or Connivence ; fotha't
the very groflh.efs and ftupidity of the mod Dull and -
Ignorant, who (tick in the very thick Matter, and a^e
able to extricate themfelves, as the finer Wits pretend t<t
do, are to be taken into that Vfage, and that moft Meri-
torioufly, feeing if the Church of Rome leads fuch unwa-
ry, and unapprehenfive Perfons in Obedience to it, to
the very brink of the Precipice into fo deep, and impure

a Mud, and that fo unneceflarily ; it is to be changed
with the Vfages, as in it (elf*

And then thofe wrords of the TeH, As it is now ufed; fig-
nifies the firft beginnings of thefe things were net fo frefh,
as now they are arriv'd to be.

3. In that, the word Superfluous is firft kt, as the
lefler, and mod undoubted, and then not the downright
full-out word Idolatry, but Idolatrous. It takes off the
full Blow of the Cenfures, for Idolatffimpons a great
danger, fufpicion, and nearnefs to Idolatry, but not ab-
folute Idolatry it (elf. And this the Bifhop ought in all
candid dealing to have taken Notice of, and to have al-
lowed the Caution, with which the TeH is worded ; for
the Stabbing^ and Cut-throat word Idolatry is not ufed,
and fo the Piquancy of that his remark falle.

But letting flip all things that do not enter into the fub-
ftance of the matter, it is firft to be obferved, that abfo-
lutely and in earneft, all that dreadful Reprefentation of
thepunifliment of Idolatry in this World, is difown'd by
all fober Chriftians : and thofe rigid Laws, or any fuch

Zelo-

Zelotic Spirit of Eliaj, as among the Jews on the account
of Idolatry, are reverfed under the milder temper, and
more moderate climate of Chriftian Religion , and the
companionate Spirit of it , as repeated by our Saviour
exprefly in thofe words t# the Difciples, that were for de-
manding Fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans, Luke 9.
54. To which our Lord rejoyned, Te know not whatfpi-
ritye are of: the Son of man came not to deflroy mens lives,
lut to fave them We difown all fuch torrid Enthufiafm
where-ever it is found, upon this Authority, and fuch
Ravagings upon the Lives of. men meerly for their
(notwithstanding fo great) delufions in fo plain a point of
Divine Worftiip, are not fo much as thought of in the
Tefl : Cruelties and inhumanities of that kind, are left as
the proper Inheritance of the Idolatrous, who indeed cut
Throats, and caufe innocent Perfons to pafs through the
Fire alive, in the rage of their Moloch-Sacrafice : And I
am fully perfwaded the principal end of the Teft-Att was
to fecure the Lives and Fortunes of a Proteflant Nation
from the fury and blood-thirftinefs of that name of Reli-
gion, by which it is as much known (as the Scarlet and
Purple it is arraied in) and that in the Hiflorie of fome
Ages pad, and fo cannot but beftill fufpe&ed.

The prevention indeed of fuch, the public pra&ife of
thofe Superftitions and Idolatroufneffes, is worthy the care
of a Proteflant Magiflracy to prevent, and to take care the
Contagion may not fpread, much lefs that a Proteflant
Kingdom fhould come under the Girdle of its Minifterial
Government, (although with all Loyalty, it owns their
Soveraign, according to the Chriftian Law, and of theN*-
tion) and then for to fet fuch Bounds to it, as may mod
indemnifie it felf.

. But for the ferities of Divine Juftice upon Idolatry,
whenever they coin to be manifefted ; they wil be juft,and
bring their convi&ion along with them ; which may be

fpeedier

fpeedier than men are aware, the Meafure o£ Iniquity grow-
ing novo full, as of more then one God, is Idolatry, fo of
more than one Mediator is a Parallell Idolatry, And as
letting fall any glances of Refpedl upon any Creature,
Perfon, or Thing, Angel, or Difljiion, Sun, Moon>or Stars,
or the inferiour Creatures, as partial Gods conveying the
Benifits of the Supreme God to us, is foul Idolatry : fo
any partial or inferiour Mediators, are alike Idolatry,
under theGofpel. And as the making to our felves any
likenefs either in Heaven above, or the Earth beneath, &c.
as a Medium to Worfliip God by : fo the making to our
felves any likenefi of the Mediator ; (For though we had
known him after the fie fb, yet (faith the Apoftle) we know
himfo no more.) arealike Idolatrous. How cerrainly then
are the Invocations of the Virgin, of Saints Idolatrous, as
giving them a (hare of the incommunicable Mercy ,Om-
nifciency, Omniprefence, feeing they are not vifible to
us, we cannot fpeak with them at certain times or places,
we know them not , we know not they know us ;
there are no kinds of Communion between us ; a Vail of
thick Darknefs is fpread betwixt us, which nothing but
Infinity can pierce. The Infinity of the Father, the Infi-
nity of the Mediator, God man : Men indeed whom we
fee, whom we converfe with, to whom we can make our
felves and our condition known, we are allowed by God to
Addrefs, to give and receive mutual Religious Refpefts,
and of Civility and Kindnefs, according to the Stations of
Honour and Subordination we ftand in one to ano-
ther.

But how both Senfelefs, and Idolatrous, would it be
with hope of good to pray to any Perfon upon Earth, at
great, or even at the fmalleft diftance one from another,
where no Communication pafles |>j Word , Mefla-
ges, and Letters, as in our private Clofets, and Thoughts;

this

(37)

this were to make them, as God Omnifcient, Omnipre-
fent. And to pray to Saints or Angels, as Mediators, is
Idolatry committed againft the Mediator, as if he had not
that whole Sum of Mediatorial Mercy, Grace, Privi-
ledges in himfelf. How certainly then are their Invoca-
tions continually us'd at Rome, not only Sutoerftitious, but
Idolatrous : And indeed all Superjlition is Idolatry, againft
the Second Commandment ; Devifing an Image, a Like-
vefi to go to God by them. M

How certainly are thofe abundance of Images, Pictures,
Statues, Reprefentations, us'd at Rome: Their Incenfwg,
Bowing , Kneeling , uncovering the Head, to Images and
Pictures, us'd at Rome, Idolatrous .<? For even Job's Mouth
killing his Hand, was au Indication fufficient of an enticed
Heart. Their Ehvation , Adoration , Geniflexian , gi-
ven to the Bread, as the Body of Chrift, are of the
fame guilt, feeing Chrift was never Worfhipped Bodily
on Earth, when his Apoftles were daily with him, but
in the Emanations of his Divinity, how much more (now
we are to know him no more after the flejh) therefore are
we not to Worfhip him Bodily, not in an Imaginary
franfuljlantiation of the Elements) into Flejh : Doth
not he abhor fuch a Worfhip >

For whatever we do in pretence of Worfhip to
God and Chrift , that is not either the pure IfTues of
that Law of the Mind , or of the Natural Confcience
it felf, or is revealed to us in his Word : The Wor-
ihip ( call it how you will, Dulia, or an inferiour Wor-
lhip) not fo warranted, pafles before God for no other,
but Superjlition and Idolatry. Even the Worfhip of the
Man Chrift Jefus onely, as united to the Eternal Word,
is juftified by Divine Revelation : fo tender and fevere a
thing is the Worlhip of the Holy Jealous God, who as he
isfeparated from all Creatures in his Purity and Perfecti-
on, fo in his Worihip, and tne manner of his Worfhip ap-
pointed

(3«)

pointed only by himfelf. And fo Holy, Holyy Holy, and infi-
nitely feparate from all Creatures is J EHOVATH
the Mediator , with whom none can be named ; even as
none can know but by the Revelation of the Father. All
Worfhip therefore given to Creature-Mediators, all Wor-
fhip given to him not according to his Word, is but Super-
ftitious and Idolatrous in his Account.

How near therefore is it to the Blafphemy, of which
the Author confefles, Idolatry is a principal inftance ;
► when he fpeaks of the Cherubins being wor/hipp'd '; who
indeed, had by God's immediate Command, a Place of
Attendance, by the Mercy-Se at : this Type of ChriH, o-
ver which God filling the Tabernacle, and fo the Temple
after with his Glory, that none could enter, and fo on-
ly gave a remaining Symbol of his Prefence there; but
likewife of God to be feen ; but the People are warn'd
over and over, to take notice they faw no Likenefs or
Similitude of God ; nor is there the leaft fhadow of any
dire&ion of Worfhip to thofe Cherubins ; but to that Ged,
who was pleas'd to promife his Prefence there, where his
Glory had appear'd, in Chrift the propitiation ; fo that
by pure fpiritual A£te, they might pray towards that
place, calld by his Name, without any prophaning God
by fenfe : From which he is always in an infinite retire-
ment, for fenfe is the Foundation of Idolatry. And a-
greeably what was in the Holy of Holies, not being ken,
was a warning to retire all into a fpirituality , and a
fenfe of the incomprehenfiblenefs of God, the enjoyment
of him being in pure fpirituality.

And as falfe it is, that the Scripture fpeaks onely of the
Idolatry oHWorfhipping the Heavenly Body.

For from the heights above, to what is mod below,
the changing of the Glory of the incorruptible God, with any
corruptile Image, or the Worfhip diredted by the Media-
tion of any Image, is Abomination to him, as in number-

lefs

(3P)

lefs places of Scripture (hefides the Second Commandment)
particularly Duet.^. 16. Rom.i. 23. For that 1 can hard-
ly believe my eyes in reading the Bijhofs Definition of
Idolatry, and fo it is as to the Redeemer, or one Mediator,
who is not to be worfhipped, by any Image of his Huma-
nity, nor by fo defpicable a Thing as Bread, which he
made only the Element of a fpiritual Communication of
himfelf, as a mod familiar Emblem, without the kaft
defign of Wodhip to it, moft abhorred by him.

Moft falfe it is, therefore, that there is no Idolatry if
Men do not worfhip Images of falfe Gods, or make corpo-
real Images of bis divine Nature : For Angels, tho his
Servants, and Saints departed, become falfe (5§ds, and
Names of Blafphemy, when worfhipped with any fort of
Worfhip, as the Apocaliptick Angel teftifies, chap. zi. v.
22. and the HoH fo worshipped, is the Symbol of 'a falfe
God, as turn'd into a Likenefs, and Image, before the jea-
lous God, and Mediator, who will have all pure Spiritu-
ality in the Worlhip of them.

And yet in the mean time, I mud acknowledge that
thcBiJhop hath rightly obferved concerning that Idolatry,
which he is willing to allow to be Idolatry, viz. the Wor-
fhip of the heavenly Bodies (and I am fure it will follow of
all other Idolatry, that it is to be proportionably admea-
fur'd to) It is an iniquity to he punifhed ly a fudge, viz.
By the Civil Magiflrate. And this determination con-
cerning Idolatry, is recorded in that admirable Book of
Natural Religion, the Book of Job. Now the Laws of
Natural Religion are irreverfihle, and unchangeable ; fo
that were it not that in the great degeneracie of humane
Nature, the generality of theNuionsof the World were
early drench'd, and even plung'd in this great evil, Na-
tures Laws had always fo prevail'd : Whereas, alas, too
too foon that Government grew to weak too eftablifh it

G felf;

(4o)
felt; and were that Government, the Government of
the Law, written in Mans Heart reftor'd, it mud pro-
ceed with all Efficacy to the extirpating this Evil ; and
where it was fo much reftored, as among the Jews, and
enforced with further Pofrdve and Ceremonial Sharpnefs
of Laws, the Rigors on Offenders were fo great, as the
Bijhop has Recounted : But yet the mercy of the Gof-
pel, and of Chriftian Religion, is fuch, that although in
Governments able and equal for it , there ought to be
no abatement of Severity againft the Sin it felf, yet there
isbyChrift, a Relaxation, as to Perfons Lives, where the
raoft guilty Circumftances o! Preemption, Obftinacy,
Danger ofbadExample,do not inflame the Account of the
Evil : All means of Converfion and Reformation be-
ing firft ufed ; which is z great juftification of thelawful-
nefs,and neceffity of the Tefl,\vi a Protejlant Government.
Neverthelefs, the generality of the Sin, hath been at no
time too big for Divine Vengeance ; but that it hath ap-
peared from Heaven upon IdolatroiuVowcrs^nd Nations,
when he faw good ; And the time is approaching, when
a better State of the renewed World growing on, will, by
degrees, but with fignal Vials powred cut upon the
whole Race of Idolaters and their Idolatries , make way
for the perfe&ion of that Renovation, and fuch a thing
as Idolatry will not in one fingle example be endured.
For Satan , that old Serpent , that hath deceived the
Nations into it fo long, will be feal'd up into his own Abyfi
at the fame time. But this hath been by way of Digrejfio*.
It is time to return now to the juft Remarks, that are to
be made upon the Bijbofs Difcourfe upon Idolatry ; fo
contriv'd, as to lead the Unthinking, yea, the not
clofely obfervant Reader, thorough a Variety of Matter,
far off from fufpe&ing the Roman Worfiiip of Idola-
tries^ where yet Scripture-? rophefie hath fettled it upon

its

(40.

its own 15afe, in that Land that is Spiritually called ShU
nar, or Myjlical Babylon: His D-fcoiirfe, indeed, is blen-
ded fometimes with better, that it may convey more
Artificially the intollerably bad, fometimes with things
doubtful and uncertain, that the notorioufly Falfe may
hope to skulk among them.

I cannot, according to the brevity I have refolv'd, re-
tail to the Reader, fo ambagious, or tedious an Account:
of Idolatry. There are two things among his own No-
tions, that if he had taken his Meafures by , they would
have fteerd* him much better, viz. Firjl, The obferva-
tion of the Great Care God took by all his Dealings with
his People, Defcendants from Abraham, to fecure them
by theMofaick Mediatorfhip in the acknowledgment of
the One God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Univer-
fal and mod Natural Standard againft Idolatry^ together
with thofe particular affurances of himfelf to them; by
his Covenant with Abraham, by bringing them out of
the Land of Egypt, fpeaking to them out of the Cloud,
and Fire on Mount Sinai, by his filling the Tabernacle
with his Glory, which i^efpecially to be remarked, both
in Mofess Tabernacle, and Solomons Temple, as being
the true Reafon of the Worjhip toward the Holy of Ho-
lies. And Secondly, the obfervation of the Sabbath, as
a peculiar Commemoration of the Creation, as alfo of the
further Manifestation of the fame true God, Creator of
Heaven and Earthy who was \o particularly the God of
Abraham^ Poflerity.

Had thefe two Obfcrvations , together with the
Types, which the Epifcopal Author, with Dr. Spencer,
and other Learned men, not without Reafon, make Fen.
ces between Ifrael and the Idolatrous Nations, and their
Idolatries ; or,as the Apoflle calls it, Partition-Wall ; tliefe
would have led to the One Mediator Jefus Chrift, Who is

G 2 that

that very Propitiation and Mercy-Seat, of which, that in
the Holy of Holies was but the Type, and for which
Type lake the Shecinah , or Glory once came, and
fate in its filling the Temple '; as between the Cherubims^
or Attendant Angels, Simb4ycally Reprefenttd in en Ado-
ring Pollure, Hooping dou i5 and prying upon the Mer-
cy-Seat, as that Type of Chrift, as the Apoilie Peter al-
ludes, i Pet. i. ix. Worjhipping; but the Spirits, whom
they refemble, would have abhor'd to be Wor flipped %
As he moft injarioufly to Truth, would bear his Readers
in hand, if they would be deceived by himT

Now, as Redemption parallels Creation; fo the One
Mediator, the One God; as our Lord himfelf teacheth.
This is Life Eternal, to know Thee the onely true God, and
whom thou haft fent, Jefus Chrifi, and fo the Apofile
tells us : There are Gods many, a>id Lords many in the
World, Counterfeits of the One God0 and 0m Mediator.
As the Heathenijh Gods, and Baalim, or Daimons, who
were efteem'd a middle Region of Gods, or Mediators:
But to us, faith he, There u but One God, the Father of
Whom are all things, and we in% cr for, or unto him ; and
One Lord Jefus Chrifi, by whom are all things, and we by
him. So to Timothy, There is One God, and One Medi-
ator, between God and Man, the Man Christ Jefus, which
one God is now known to us, as the God and Father of
our Lord Jefus Chris~i, which Title drinks up, as the An-
titype doth the Type of the former Titles, of the God
of Abraham, &c. of the God that brought from Egypt,
that fits between the Cherubins : that Title, indeed, of
Creator, Lord of Heaven and Earth, is not in the leaft ec-
cclips'd, but fiiines together upon, and with, and in the
Redeemer, the Lord Jefus Ghrift.

And as a Teftimony and (landing Plea of all this,
the Sabbath of Creation, is remov'd from the Seventh,

into

(43)

into an Union with the/vrj? Day, the Sallatb of Redem-
ption, or Lords Day.

Thus there is, as the Apojlle John fpeaks, the true God,
and eternal Life, in the very mention of which, as fore-
feeing the great Antichriflian Idolatry coming upon the
Chriftian World in other Mediators, (the fame thing with
other Gods) he makes the Ccnciufion and Farewel of
his Epiftle, little Children, keep your [elves from Idols :
and feal's it with a paffionate,^r.;^;;.

Now tiiis One God, and this one Mediator, we are to
worlhip, and only to know, and ov!y to few, all intro-
ducing other Mediators, either of Man, or of other Crea-
tures, as in hone ur to God, to worship Him, or Jefus
Chriftby them, join'd with fome Ceremonies of a Ser-
vicers KneelingRoivingJncenfingJn voking&c. is Idolatrous.

And now to draw the whole matter oi Idolatry to a
conclufion ; I confefs, it feems neceflary, that whoever
takes the Test, being, as the Brfiop truly obferves, of the
Alloy of an Oath, it is neceflary he ihould take it in Judg-
ment, as well as in Right eoufnefs, and in Truth.

That any one may Co doit, he muft carry about him a
Gauge, or certain Notion of Idolatry, and fome general
knowledge of the Ulages of Rome, as to the Invocation of
the Virgin, of Saints, the adoration of them in their Images,
with the Sacrifice of the Mafs ; which by a little enquiry
will be eafily known, if it can be at all unknown to any
Perfons, who can be fuppos'd to have poflible obligation
to take the Teff : For the Roman Church does not hide its
Sin ; but carries the Title oh its Forehead, the Title its I-
dolatrous Fornications ; and its Papal Prince carries his
Names of Blafphemy, Idolatry, on her Heads ; and it is to.
be earneftly prayed , thefc things may not be more vul-
gerly known among us, againlt which the Tesl is one.
great fecurity.

la

(44)

To give then in the fecond place, a very ftiort, and
portable Gauge of Idolatry , I fhould chufe to do it beft,
by all I have faid ; as encas'd, or enchas'd, in the very
words, Superftition and Idolatry, truly explained. The
firft of which imports any religious AQc, either to Per-
fons dead, as if they were now alive, and conversant
with us, though above, as the Virgin Mary; or Saints de-
parted or elfe and ( as may moft agree ) Super Statutum,
above the Rule and Law of all religious A&ions, viz.
the very Law and Light of Nature, teaching us natural
Religion,which confifts only in the Religion of the Mind;
and exprefled only in the moft neceflary Rational Latria,
or Service of our Bodies ; or elfe which beft explains
all Religion to us : The Word of God \ feeing, there we
find nothing of fuch Invocation, or Adoration, fo much
as in any dark Line of either of thefe Laws ; but much
written , as with a Sun-Beam againft them , who even
knows, and believes the Word of God, may boldly call
the ufages of Rome fuperftitious.

And as to Idolatry \ it is the Service to an Apparition
of a God, to our dark and foolijh Imagination, for the One
God, that made Heaven, and Earth-, or the Apparition of
a Mediator, befides Jefus Chrift, the One Mediator, who
redeem dm by his Death : Both which are againft the
firtf Commandement, for Idolatry is a worihip of any
thing whatever that isbeliev'd to be God,and Chrift,from
the higheft Heavens to the loweftCentre, by any Image, Qt
fenfible Reprefentation, (as againft the fecond Commande-
ment.)

Now he may be fure of this Idolatry, whoever confi-
dersthe Romifh Church, (falfely fo caird)theJpiritualBaly-
lon, the City made of graven Images ; fo certainly that
headed Babylon, that in the days of Johns receiving the
Revelation, reign d over the Kings of the Earth, and was

then

(45)

then (five of its Governments fo notorious in Hiftory,
being-nllen, or gone off from their Principality) under
itsjixih King, the Heathen Emperor \ and for a Utile [pace
r the Chriflian Emperor its/event b King, but no Head,
and hath been under its eighth King, that was of thofey?-
ven Kings, who 'were ever Heads, ever fince the expirati-
on of Auguftulus's Line, the lajf£ Emperor, An. Dom. 475-.

For till Rome be utterly deftroy'd, and Jink like a Mil-
flone into the* Sea, That eighth King, the Beaff , or Pope,
ihali not be utterly deftroyed ; but Rome, and its <?/g/;/£
King, 'hill fall within few years, from its Ten-kingd Prin-
cipaliiies,

All which imy be thus demonflrated, the Bounds of
the Prophefies Hand eminent and unmoveable , even to
demonftration, viz. the Heathen Empire therein being
atone end, and the final ruin of Rome at the other; in
the middle juft as the fhort liv'd Chriflian Empire expi-
ring, run forty two prophetic Months, or Times of the
Moon , amounting to 1222 prophetic years, which ac-
counted from 475, muft end 1697.

Now this Rome, and its fo call'd Church , is Myfleries
of Idolatries, and the Pope its Balam, or High Priejl, or
Prophet carrying it, and fo defcrib'd in the Revelation,
and the thing there Prophecied, fo fulfilled in all Eyes,
and Ears,Jin,the Blafphemies of God, and of all that dwell
in Heaven, by thefe Idolatries ; that then can be no
hazard, if there w7as liberty to demonftrate the thing, as
it may be demonflrated : It would put Tranfuhflantiation,
theWorjhip of the Virgin, of Saints, and the Adoration of
the Mafiy and its Sacrifice out jof all Difpute, although
the things may be otherwife fet, enough beyond Contro-
verfy, yet not fo fuddenly or furely, as by this Prophecy
is well explained.

In the mean time,to fay all in a word,I cannot but make

great

(4<0

great doubt, whether the Bifbop with fo great pretence,
and yet fuch i\\vc\Sophifms in the room of Reafon,and with
thofe Unepifcopa!, Unchriftian,Ungentilc, as well as high-
ly Senfelefs Refie&ions upon a Perfon of fo great Learn-
ing.Gravity and Piety in the eyes of the whole Nation, (as
Dr. St.) did indeed defign any more, than to Ridicule
what he would feem to Favor, things fo Falfe, fo Fallaci-
ous, fo Inconclufive, could never elfe have been fo laid
together, and to carry, as it were a frefh Remembrance.
At the laft he concludes his Book under a trSnfparent 7/f-
fany ,with a downrightFalihood^iz.As iPthenot taking the
Teft, did wrap up the Refufers in a Conviction of Recu fancy ;
to which purpofe he foifl's in a part of the Teft-Att, lea-
ving out what would have convi&ed him of fenflefs
Frandulency : For he well knows, not the Refufal of the
Teft, but the Refufal, and yet invading Offices contrary
to the Tefi, brings any one under that Conviclion : Whe-
ther therefore he was in earned:, or in a Sathanic Fa-
ttaticifm, when he writ all this, I much doubt ; but if he
were, indeed, in earneft, hedeferves theChara&er of the
weakefl of Men, in a difguife of a Man of Parts and
Learning; if not, of the moft infldelious and difhoneft
Sophifter in the Lawn of a Troteflant Bifbop.

But without any railing Accufation againft him, or
any fuch, I pray as I begun, the Lord reiukethim.

DRA. LOCNIL.
FINIS.