I In December 1662, Charles II., with the ulterior view of abetting the Papists, and asserting, at the same time, the royal prerogative entitled " tlie dispensing power," issued a declaration, in wlaicli, says Burnet, " the king expressed his aversion to all seve- rities on the account of religion, but more particularly to all sanguinary laws, and gave hopes both to Papists and Nonconformists that he would find out such ways for temper- ing the severities of the laws, that all his suljjects would be easy under them." — " llistory of His Own Times," i. HM. Probably it is to this declaration our author refers. — En,
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requires. You cannot love tbem as the disciples of Christ, nor act to- wards them from any such principles. It is possible for you to show moderation towards them as men ; but to show any moderation towards them as those [who are] partakers of the same precious faith with you, that is impossible for you to do. Yet this is that which we are inquir- ing after, — not the moderation that may be amongst men as men, but that which ought to be among Christians as Christians. This is gos- pel moderation ; the other is common unto us with Tui'ks, Jews, and Pagans, and not at all of our present disquisition. And I wish that this were found amongst you, as proceeding from the principles of reason, with ingenuity and goodness of nature, more than it is; for that which proceedeth from, and is regulated by, interest, is hypo- critical, and not thankworthy. As occasion offers itself, it will turn and change; as we have found it to do in most kingdoms of Europe. Apparent, then, it is, that this fundamental principle of your profes- sion, " Subesse Romano pontifici," etc., — that it is of " indispensable necessity unto salvation unto every soul to be subject unto the pope of Rome," — doth utterly incapacitate you for that moderation towards any that are not of you which Christ requires in his disciples towards one another; seeing you judge none to be so but yourselves. Yet I assure you withal that I hope, yea, I am verily persuaded, that there are many, veiy many amongst you, whose minds and affections are so influenced by common ingrafted notions of God and his goodness, with a sense of the frailties of mankind, and Aveakness of the evidence that is rendered unto them for the eviction of that indispensable necessity of subjection to the pope which their masters urge, as also with the beams of truth shining forth in general in the Scriptures, and what they know or have heard of the practices of primitive times, as that, being seasoned with Christian charity and candour, they are not vso leavened with the sour prejudice of this principle as to be rendered unmeet for the due exercise of moderation. But for this they are not beholding to your church, nor this great principle of your profession. 2. It is the principle of your church, whereunto your practice hath been suited, that those who dissent from you in things determined l)y your church, being heretics, if they continue so to do after the ap- plication of the means for their reclaiming which you think meet to use, ought to be imprisoned, burned, or one way or other put to death. This you cannot deny to be your principle, in being the very foundation of your Inquisition, — the chief corner-stone in your eccle- siastical fabric, that couples and holds up the whole building together. And it hath been asserted in your practice for sundry ages, in most nations of Europe. Your councils, as that of Constance, have deter- mined it, and practised accordingly with John Huss and Jerome; your doctors dispute for it ; your church lives upon it. That you are
'25{) A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON FIAT LUX.
destitute of any colour from antiquity in this your way, I have showed before. Bellarmine, De Laic, cap. xxii., could find no other instance of it but that of Priscillianus, which what entertainment it found in the church of God, I have declared ; with that of one Basilius, out of Gregory's Dialogues, lib. i. cap. 4, whom he confesseth to have been a magician ; and of Bogomilus, in the days of Alexius Comne- nus, 1100 years after Christ, whose putting to death notwithstanding Avas afterward censured and condemned in a synod of more sober persons than those who procured it. Instances of your avowing this principle in your dealing with the Albigenses of old, the inhabitants of Merindol and Cabrieres in France, with the Waldenses in the val- leys of Piedmont, formerly and of late; of your judiciary proceedings against multitudes of persons of all sorts, conditions, ages, and sexes, in this and most other nations of Europe, you are not pleased with the mention of; I shall therefore pass them by: only, I desire you would not question whether this be the princij)le of your church or no, seeing you have given the world too great assurance that so it is ; and yourself, in your " Fiat," commend the wisdom of Philip, king of Spain, in his rigour in the pursuit of it, p. 243. These things being so, I desire to know what foundation you have to stand upon in pressing for moderation amongst dissenters in religion. I confess it is a huge argument of your good nature that you are so inclinable unto it ; but when you should come to the real exercise of it, I am afraid you would find your hands tied up by these principles of your church, and your endeavours thereupon become very faint and evanid. Men in such cases may make great pretences, —