fore I think I may conclude, That feveral of the Thirty-nine Articles were not 'confirm'd by the Parliament. For fince the Words of the Law have fo plain a Relation to the Diftinction of Articles into different Kinds, and fince a Diftinction of Articles into different Kinds is confirm'd by Matter of Fact, and fince that Diftinction is a common Diftinction in Divinity, I think the Words of the Act of Parliament bught to be understood conformably to it. For why should any one fuppofe the Parliament expreffed themfelves unaccurately, and that they meant all the Articles comprized in the Imprinted Book, when they speak of thofe only which concern the Confeffion of the true Chriftian Faith, and the • Doctrine of the Sacraments,' comprised in that Imprinted Bosk; while taking the Words in the obvious Senfe, and in the Senfe agreeable to Matter of Fact, and the Nature of Things, makes them ufe the most accurate Expreffion in the World?

How many of our Thirty-nine Articles are ftruck out from being established by Law by the foregoing Comment on the Law, cannot be known with that Certainty as if we had the Imprinted Book of Articles recorded, as our other Laws are. Then perhaps we fhould have feen what Articles were confirm'd, and what were not confirm'd. But fince we are deprived of that Light about Religious Matters established by Law, that we have in Civil Matters established by Law, we have no other Way to find the Articles established by Law, but by running over the whole Thirty-nine Articles, and confidering the Nature of them. This I do not propofe at prefent to take upon me; but only beg Leave to obferve, That we may be fure we have no Homilies by Law eftabJifhed. For the Homilies are no otherwife fuppofed to be eftablished by Law, than as they are a Part of the Thirty-nine Articles; the Thirty-fifth whereof affirms them to contain a godly and wholefome Doctrine,and neceffary for thefe Times. And Mr. Wentworth directly fays, the Article for the Homilies was put out by the Houfe. Though had he not mentioned that Article, the Matter would have otherwife been very plain. For how can an Article, which affirms, That thirtythree Sermons or Homilies do contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and neceflary for thefe Times, be one of the Articles of Religion which only concern the Confeffion of the true Chriftian Faith, and the Doftrine of the Sacraments? The Articles which only concern the Confeffion of the Chriftian Faith, and the Doctrine of the Sacraments, are no more concerned whether there fhould be any Homilies, or whether thefe Sermons or Homilies contain a godly and wholefome Doctrine, and neceffary for thefe Times, than they are concerned in the numerous Sermons and Books, cited by Sacheverell's Council in Behalf of Paffive Obedience.

What I have faid is, I hope, fufficient to carry the Point further than the Author of Prieftcraft in Perfettion has done, who has argued on the Suppofition, that all the Thirty-nine Articles are established by Law; and to convince any Man that is more concerned for Truth than his own Opinion, not only that the Claufe of the Church's Power, in the Beginning of the Twentieth Article, is not confirm'd by Law, but that there are feveral of the Thirty-nine Articles not confirm'd by Law.

The

The Age of RIDDLE S: or, A true Lift of certain extraordinary Pofitions, formerly called Contradictions,but now distinguished by no Name at all. Faithfully extracted from feveral Modern Doctrines and Practices.

Qui color eft Albus, nunc eft contrarius Albo.

LL Government is over-turn'd by Obedience, and eftablifhed by be"A Aing refifted. Therefore

II. The most eminent Inftance of Loyalty is to condemn Subjection; and he is the greatest Rebel that preaches against Rebellion.

III. Thofe are a Prince's beft Subjects, and moft faithful Minifters, who deny his Title to the Crown before his Face, and argue againft that Right which they are bound by their Offices and their Oaths to defend.

IV. The worst Caufe in the World ought to have the worft Managers; and thofe are fittest to cenfure other People's Speeches, that can't read their own. V. A Cch muft neceffarily be in a fafe and Bourishing Condition, when Bifhops explode its Doctrines, and Lawyers are forced to defend them.

VI. They that know nothing of the Laws of the Land, or act and plead in direct Oppofition to them, either are already At-nies and Solr Ġ—]s, or ought to be made L-d Ch-fJces..

VII. Thofe are the most proper Perfons to accufe others of high Crimes and Mifdemeanors, who for their Speeches in that very Accufation ought themselves to be hang'd for high Treafon.

VIII. Ignorance, Rudeness, Impudence, Dulness, Blunders and Nonfenfe, are undoubted Proofs of Wit, Learning,and good Manners; and the groffeft Slander, Lying and Injustice, the bittereft Railing, Rage and Malice, are the trueft Signs of Chriftian Charity, Temper and Moderation.

IX. When a Man is condemn'd and punished as a Criminal, his Friends ought to testify their Concern by Bon-fires and Illuminations.

X. It is the Bufinefs of the Sons of Arch-bifhops to impeach the Church; of Bishops, to vote a Clergyman guilty of high Crimes and Mifdemeanors, for preaching thofe Doctrines which Chrift and his Apoftles, and they themselves have preached; of Scotch Peers,to fave a Church of England divine from Ruin ; of Prefbyterians, to pull down Meeting-Houfes; of Governors, to difcourage the Principles of Obedience; and of the Mob, to rebell in Defence of Loyalty.

The

The True, Genuine, TORY-ADDRESS. To which is added, An EXPLANATION of fome Hard Terms now in Ufe; for the Information of all fuch as Read or Subfcribe ADDRESSES. 1710.

Dread Sovereign,

I

N this critical Juncture of Affairs, permit us, the moft dutiful, and most peaceable, as well as moft numerous, of your Majefty's Subjects, in the moft humble Manner to lay before you our good Difpofitions, an our bestAdvices, as well with regard to your Sacred Perfon and Government, as to our happy Conftitution, and the true Intereft of this Church and Nation.

It is with Grief that we have obferved of late a mighty Zeal to appear for the Revolution, which we were in good hopes had been by this Time forgotten. Nay, to fuch a pitch of open, barefaced Impudence are fome Men arrived, that they have prefumed, even under your Majefty's mild Reign, publickly to defend thofe Principles and Practices, which faved your Sacred Life from Destruction, and the Nation from Ruin, and which are the whole Foundation of our present Establishment; and openly to confront thofe many excellent Treatifes that have been published (to the great Benefit of our whole Conftitution, and present Establishment) in Defence of Abfolute Monarchy, and Unlimited Non-Refistance,and Unalienable Right. We therefore cannot but effeem this the most proper Time, to declare our Zeal to be awakened into the utmost Abhorrence of thofe Republi can, Antimonarchical Principles, which alone preserved your Royal Perfon, and fecured to us the unfpeakable Happiness of your Government; and which alone can remove our Fears of returning again to Popery and Slavery, in Time to

come,

Your Majefty has feveral times expreffed a more than ordinary pungent Senfe of that wonderful Out-cry which had been induftriously raised, concerning the Danger of the Church of England, under your gracious Reign. We beg Leave, as we have hitheto done, to confult the Serenity of your Royal Mind, by continuing and increafing this moving Cry, till fuch Faithful Sons, and Bright Ornaments of the Church, as we can confide in, are put into the highest Offices. And in the mean time, whilft this Cry is working our Will through the Nation, if we be called to Account, as offending against the Voice of Queen, Lords, and Commons; we can profefs that we found it all upon that Increase of Blafphemy and Profaneness, which threatens Ruin to the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland, and all the Diffenting Congregations here, equally with the Church of England. We humbly hope therefore, that fo deep and univerfal a Concern as this, for our Brethren's Presbyterian Churches, as well as our own, can give no juft Offence to your Majefty, or any good Chriftian.

Our Eftablishment, fince the late Revolution, being founded upon the Justice of the Nation's having departed from the Right Line; and extinguished the Title of many who might hereafter claim by virtue of a Right merely Hereditary;

and

and fixed the Succeffion in the Proteftant House of Hanover: in a deep fenfe of the Oaths we have taken, and in order to make our Zeal for that Illuftrious Houfe manifeft beyond all Contradiction; we lay hold of the prefent Season, to declare our whole Regard to be for your Majefty's Title, as far as it is Hereditary; not knowing, nor being able to judge, how far it is fo: But not doubting that this will be an unanfwerable Demonftration of our being the truest Friends to your Majefty, as it will ever remain a certain Proof to the whole World that we are entirely in the Intereft of that Illuftrious Family, which is, unhappily, void of all Pretence to an Hereditary Right.

Thus do we, according to your Royal Direction, contend with our Brethren, who shall most effectually fecure the Proteftant Succeffion.

Your Majefty recommends with the utmoft Earneftnefs an Union of Affection amongst your Subjects. And indeed the Circumftances of this Nation, the Importance of the War abroad, and the Danger we are in from a powerful Common Enemy, might feem an irresistible Motive to it. And fo deeply are we touched with what seems most of all to affect the Serenity of your Royal Mind, that in order to this, we are continually doing what we can to perfuade all our Fellow-Subjects into one well-compatted Body; that is, our own Party. But if they will not yield to the most perfuafive Arguments of Raillery and Abuses, we most humbly defire to be excufed from all Tendency to Moderation; a Word indeed, unhappily, used by your Majefty from the Throne, but of pernicious Confequence to the Intereft of our Church. And as we have begun with Tumults and Rebellions; fo we fhall go on by difcontented Addreffes to contend, according to your Royal Defire, who fhall moft promote the Practice of Peace and Love.

Your Majefty has declared from the Throne, that you will inviolably maintain the Toleration. We humbly wish that your Majefty had made use of a Word known to our Law. We cannot, in our Confciences, be for a Toleration. No: We your Faithful Subjects are for an Indulgence to Confciences truly fcrupulous: At least, we do not prefume, publickly, to disapprove the Legal Impunity allowed to Confciences truly tender. By which we, who are Judges of other Mens Confciences, know what we mean, viz. To leave room for Indulgence to whom we please; and to judge all Proteftant Diffenters, according as we think fit, to be Perfons who have no Confciences at all, and therefore to be without all Title to this Indulgence or Impunity.

We know that your Majefty hath with great Earneftnefs affured us of your affectionate Concern for the established Church: And it is true that we have received some small Pledges of it, a little Revenue beftowed upon it, and an Att paffed in order to enrich it more. But we hope to live to fee other Proofs of it; and the Intereft of all Europe facrificed to it, if Need be. What will all these Profeffions avail us, if the highest Posts and Trufts are filled with fuch Enemies to the Church, as, if we do not timely prevent it, will fecure it too much against France and Rome? We therefore beg Leave plainly to declare to your Majefty, that we cannot think it safe, in our Senfe of the Word, till the following Points are gain'd,viz. till a General is difmifs'd, who is the Idol of the Confederacy abroad, and whofe uncommon and unfeasonable Victories unluckily portend the Ruin of that Church which they preferve; till a Treafur er is removed, whofe Conduct. VOL. III, M m hath

hath extinguifh'd the Credit of all France; till a Miniftry is difplaced, under which every Thing moft honourable and most agreeable to your Majefty, every Thing molt grievous and moft difguftful to the Common Enemy, hath been unhappily effected; and efpecially, till a Houfe of Commons is diffolved, which hath betray'd too much Regard to the Liberties of their Country, and too much Zeal against Tyranny and Oppreffion; a Behaviour which we ever efteem pernicious to our Ecclefiaftical intereft. Thefe are Sacrifices worthy of a facred Love to the Church; and thefe are the Marks of it, which we are now impatiently waiting for.

And we humbly hope that your Majefty will pay the more ready Regard to these our Infinuations and Importunities, even at the Hazard of the publick Peace at Home, and of the Confederacy abroad; because we have made fuch Preparations for a new Election, as can hardly fail us, and at the farne Time have given the most ample Proofs of our great Intereft, and of the Weakness of the oppofite Party. For what may not your Majefty expect from us, who have been able to arm the People against those who stood up in Defence of their Rights and Privileges; to induce English Proteftants to act in Conjunction with Papifts; and to reconcile Men to that unparallel'd Contradiction of rebelling out of Loyalty, and refifting out of Zeal for Non-Refiftance? And what can your Majefty expect from another Sort of Men, fo heartless and weak, that all our repeated Provocations have not been able to ftir them up to any one Act of Tumult and Oppofition? And how can the Succefs of the Experiment be doubted? By our Riots and Mobs we have raised the Spirits of our Friends, and ftruck Terror into our Enemies. By our Addresses we have kept up that Ferment which our Riots raised. And now by our circular Letters we are difpofing the feveral Counties of the Land to the happy Event.

And as we have thus, in every Refpect, fhewed our ready Compliance with all your Majesty's pathetical Exhortations from the Throne: As we have cultivated Peace and Quiet by encouraging, or conniving at, the most outrageous Tumults; and mutual Love and Affection by the most endearing Provocations and Abuses: As we have manifefted our unfeign'd Refolution to maintain the Proteftant Succeffion, by our Zeal for that hereditary Right, which cannot belong to it; and our Concern for the common Good, by doing every thing agreeable to the Wishes of the common Enemy: So your Majefty may certainly depend upon it, that we will ever give the like convincing Proofs of our fincere Affection to your Perfon and Government. We will ever continue faithfully to fupport the Conftitution and the Church, by reviling the Revolution, and railing at the Toleration. We will, to the laft, defend your Majesty's Title to the Crown, as far only as it is bereditary; and we will effectually keep out the Pretender, and all the popish Line, by conftantly adhering to thofe Principles of unalienable Right, and unlimited NonRefiftance, by which they were at firft excluded: Principles which, as we have fhew'd in the Face of the whole World, fweeten the Tempers, and quiet the Paffions of those who profefs them; and are peculiarly adapted to reconcile the Affections of Men to our prefent Establishment.

By all therefore that is worthy of Confideration, we most earnestly entreat your Majesty's Favour; by all the numberless Obligations we have formerly laid

upon