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<DATE>2012-07-10</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE APOLOGY OF <HI>SOCRATES CHRISTIAN&V;S:</HI> Or a Brief and Plain NARRATIVE OF HIS <HI>Hone&s;t Endeavours</HI> for the Service of his Country, and of the <HI>Di&s;hone&s;t Practices,</HI> which have been u&s;ed to Suppre&s;s them, and Oppre&s;s him, with <HI>Fal&s;e Reports</HI> and <HI>Calumnies.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">In a Letter to a very Worthy and Generous Friend.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Honoured Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THough I have not been Ignorant for &s;ome time, that I have been much injured by <HI>Fal&s;e Reports</HI> indu&s;triou&s;ly &s;pread abroad by the Practices of &s;ome Per&s;ons of truly Latitudinarian Principles, in expre&s;s terms, that I am a <HI>Mad Man,</HI> am <HI>turned Papi&s;t,</HI> and that I <HI>Wrote</HI> what I have of late Printed, <HI>through the In&s;tigation or Per&s;wa&s;ion of Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites;</HI> yet have I hitherto Di&s;pi&s;ed them all, becau&s;e I thought the <HI>Folly</HI> of the fir&s;t &s;ufficiently manife&s;t by what I have &s;o lately Written and Printed; the <HI>Fal&s;ity</HI> of the next both by <HI>my Pro|fe&s;&s;ion
<PB N="2" REF="2">of Faith</HI> lately Printed, and by what I daily do in the pre&s;ence of &s;ufficient Witne&s;&s;es, in the Celebration of the Chri&s;tian Sacrifice and Admini&s;tration of the Holy Sacrament with common Bread, in both kinds, in a vulgar Language, in a Form of Engli&s;h Compo&s;ure in the Reign of <HI>Edward</HI> VI. and recommended to the Church of <HI>Scotland</HI> by Engli&s;h Bi&s;hops, in the Reign of King <HI>Charles</HI> I. and which I Printed and Pre|&s;ented to the Arch-bi&s;hop and other Bi&s;hops, and have for|merly u&s;ed in a publick Church in the Heart of the City, for between two and three Years together; and the <HI>Unrea&s;o|nablene&s;s</HI> of the la&s;t, (of it &s;elf a &s;illy Surmi&s;e, and utterly impro|bable,) ea&s;ily perceivable by Men of Learning in the Diffe|rences ob&s;ervable in my Writings from tho&s;e of the Roma|ni&s;ts, both in &s;everal Opinions, and in the manner of treat|ing tho&s;e wherein we come neare&s;t to Agreement: Yet &s;ince you have been plea&s;ed not only to do me Right very generou&s;ly in my ab&s;ence upon all Occa&s;ions, but often pre&s;|&s;ed me to do Right to my &s;elf and my own Cau&s;e, if not for my own Sake, at lea&s;t for the Service of his Maje&s;ty and my Country; for which &s;uch Reports, though Fal&s;e, might &s;omewhat di&s;able me: This la&s;t Con&s;ideration, together with the re&s;pect I ought to have for &s;o Generous a Friend, have prevailed with me to give you a brief and plain Account in Writing of the <HI>Occa&s;ions</HI> of all this Noi&s;e and Clamour, and indi|rect and &s;hameful Practices of the Authors of it again&s;t me.</P>
<P>I have long &s;ince, upon good Con&s;ideration of all I could meet with pertinent to the Que&s;tion, been well &s;atisfyed of <HI>the Truth of the Chri&s;tian Religion;</HI> and by reading the Writ|ings of the Ancient Chri&s;tians from my Youth, together with the Holy Scriptures, well &s;atisfied what is the <HI>True, Genuine, Primitive, Catholick Chri&s;tianity.</HI> By this means I have been long &s;en&s;ible of great <HI>Corruptions and Abu&s;es,</HI> not only in what is truly and properly <HI>Popery,</HI> but al&s;o in what is vulgarly cry'd up for <HI>Reformation:</HI> And the&s;e no le&s;s pernicious and di&s;tructive to the Rights and Intere&s;t of the Church and Kingdom of Chri&s;t upon Earth, and to the Power and Efficacy of true Religion, than the other, but much more &s;ubtile and plau&s;ible, and &s;avouring of the Craft of the Serpent, and truly Antichri&s;|tian. And as much as this I have &s;aid before now in Print, without any &s;uch Noi&s;e and Clamour again&s;t it.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<P>Indeed I have long complained of the&s;e things; and for this &s;even Years la&s;t pa&s;t, &s;ince I was more &s;pecially engaged in the more immediate Service of God, I have been indea|vouring for the Reformation but of &s;ome of them, which I thought both mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary, and mo&s;t ea&s;y to be effected, by private Applications for &s;ome time; till being grieved at the hardne&s;s of their Hearts, and in&s;uperable Re&s;tine&s;s and Uncon|cernedne&s;s for &s;uch things, which I ob&s;erved in &s;uch as ought to have been the fir&s;t and principal Movers in &s;uch Occa&s;ions, it provoked me to a <HI>Review</HI> of the Roots and Original of this Religion,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> calls it the <HI>Nominal mi&s;|taken Reformation.</HI></NOTE> called the <HI>Re|formation,</HI> which brings forth no better Fruits. And therein I ob&s;erved yet more Abu&s;es, than I had ob&s;erved, or &s;ufficiently con&s;idered before. This Work I had &s;carce fini&s;hed, when we had the welcome News of the pre&s;ent Peace concluded; which had been more welcome to me, had it not been damped by my Sen&s;e and Apprehen&s;ion of the Mi&s;chiefs of the&s;e unhappy Differences in Religion, which had been the Occa&s;ion of &s;uch Wars and Confu&s;ions already, and were as like to be &s;o &s;till, if &s;ome good Care was not taken in time to compo&s;e them. And upon this I renewed my former Ap|plications, by Letter to &s;uch as I thought mo&s;t proper for me to apply to; and de&s;ired that the CONVOCATION might be per|mitted to &s;it and con&s;ider of the&s;e things, otherwi&s;e, if we might not have the opportunity to propo&s;e matters of &s;uch importance to the Church Collective in <HI>a Synod,</HI> there would be a nece&s;&s;ity of doing it to the Church Diffu&s;ive from the Pre&s;s: But could get no other an&s;wer, but that the King would not permit it. Which I take to be no le&s;s injurious to his Maje&s;ty, than it is to all the Clergy, and whole Church and Nation.</P>
<P>For it is certain that the King (and in him the Church and Nation, and his Government too) hath been much abu&s;ed by ill Advice or Mi&s;information both of his Right and Duty, and con|cerning the Major part of the Clergy and Convocation by &s;ome Factious Per&s;ons, if it be true that he will not permit the Convo|cation to &s;it and Act; or by that Pretence, if it be not &s;o indeed. This may ea&s;ily be demon&s;trated beyond all contradiction: And the Truth of it is like to break out erelong beyond all oppo&s;ition, to the &s;hame and confu&s;ion of tho&s;e, who with their Latitudina|rian
<PB N="4" REF="3">Prudentials have made no &s;cruple to betray the Rights of Chri&s;t's Church, and of their own Order, and the mutual Con|fidence between the King and People, which is the Principal means of a happy Government, by &s;uch Flattery, as no Party of Chri&s;ti|ans in this Nation, or rarely any where el&s;e, are guilty of be&s;ides them&s;elves, and their de&s;picable Party. But as there is no <HI>Evil,</HI> but is capable of <HI>improvement to Good</HI> by &s;uch as know how to make their Advantage of it, &s;o the&s;e Evil Practices have given a ju&s;t occa&s;ion to a Wi&s;e and Magnanimous Prince to demon&s;trate the Sincerity and Ju&s;tice of his Intention and Re&s;olution to Govern according to the Noble Principles of the true Engli&s;h Government, by <HI>Re&s;toring to the Church tho&s;e Rights,</HI> which as to any real advan|tage to the State, are lighter than a Feather in his Cap, but heavier than Lead in their mi&s;chievous Con&s;equences, while they are u&s;ur|ped and detained, both to King and People: but would be of in|credible advantage to him, if he after all would re&s;olve to be the Prince who &s;hould generou&s;ly re&s;tore them.</P>
<P>After I had waited for the Sitting of the Convocation till the next Se&s;&s;ions of Parliament, and &s;aw it again pa&s;t hopes, I began to think of Printing; and made choice of a Subject mo&s;t proper for my purpo&s;e in many re&s;pects; but e&s;pecially for their Judgment to whom I thought fit next to apply my &s;elf in this ca&s;e, that is, the Lord Chancellor, Judges, and Gentlemen of the Honourable Profe&s;&s;ion of the Law: And in the Preface to them, I have &s;uffi|ciently declared what is my only <HI>De&s;ign</HI> in that, and the other things, which I have &s;ince publi&s;hed. Which is no other than the removing of &s;uch mi&s;chievous Differences and &s;eeds of Wars and Confu&s;ions, out of the way of &s;uch Per&s;ons, as are apt to make their Advantage of &s;uch Occa&s;ions; or at lea&s;t that the Cau&s;e of my Country, that is, of this Church and Nation, in all &s;uch Differences, as cannot be compo&s;ed, may be &s;o rectified and &s;et right, as not only to be made Defen&s;able, &s;o that an hone&s;t impartial Man need not &s;cruple to appear in it; but &s;o plain and irre&s;i&s;table, that no con&s;iderate Adver&s;ary &s;hould dare to oppo&s;e it. And &s;uch I think I have found by experience it may be. But to give Life to this, I thought fit not only to &s;hew &s;ome rea&s;ons to beleive that &s;uch an attempt is not unrea&s;o|nable or impracticable, but that the Faults on this &s;ide are &s;uch as make it ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary; that I might, if po&s;&s;ible, a little awaken &s;uch as I have hitherto found &s;o re&s;ty and
<PB N="5" REF="3">unconcerned in matters of &s;o great importance. This is the Sum of that hone&s;t De&s;ign, which in all the&s;e things I have been labouring to promote as I could, con&s;idering what Per&s;ons I had to deal with.</P>
<P>And I expected either a fair An&s;wer by &s;ome learned Per|&s;on for the &s;atisfaction of my &s;elf and others, or at lea&s;t to have been called to an&s;wer for what I had Written, before &s;ome competent Authority, where I might have been heard, and have an&s;wered for my &s;elf to what &s;hould be objected again&s;t me. But there were other Coun&s;els re&s;olved on, and at la&s;t in&s;tead of what I expected I found <HI>a Report indu&s;triou&s;ly</HI> Spread in Book-&s;ellers Shops, and afterwards very common both in City and Country, that the Author was Mad, and the Book did not de&s;erve an An&s;wer. It was not altogether without a Precedent, for &s;ome Gentlemen in the Hou&s;e of Commons had made u&s;e of &s;uch a &s;hift to e&s;cape a Petition in the late Queens time again&s;t them there, for Di&s;couraging the Ex|ecution of the Laws, and Contempt of her Maje&s;ties Autho|rity; which was &s;o well atte&s;ted as could not otherwi&s;e be an&s;wered, but by well timeing that Project. And Mr. <HI>John&s;on</HI> before that had him&s;elf been &s;o treated by one concerned in this, and gives in&s;tances of others &s;o &s;erved; &s;o that it might well pa&s;s with Men of Latitudinarian Principles for a tried Ex|periment in a de&s;perate Ca&s;e, where no better Expedient could be found; only the difference between a Petition known to few, and a Book Printed and Publi&s;hed, and a &s;ufficient Evidence of it &s;elf of the truth of the Ca&s;e, to all who plea&s;e to peru&s;e it, was not perhaps very well con&s;idered; for that will di&s;cover to whom that imputation does mo&s;t ju&s;tly belong. But they who think fit to con&s;ider the mo&s;t exact Procedents of this whole matter, may plea&s;e to have recour&s;e to the Sacred Records both Old and New, and there they may find enough to &s;atisfy them what Judgment to make in this Ca&s;e, and what Spirit it is that acts under the Sheeps clothing of Moderation.</P>
<P>But this did neither di&s;courage nor divert me from proceeding in my hone&s;t De&s;ign and Endeavours for the Service of God and my Country, and for that purpo&s;e I thought fit, according to the Practice of the Ancient Chri&s;tians in &s;uch ca&s;es, to draw up <HI>a Pro|fe&s;&s;ion of my Faith</HI> with particular re&s;pect to the Roman Terms
<PB N="6" REF="4">of Communion, with all the Candor and Impartiality, that I po&s;&s;ibly could, but Printed off but very few, to be &s;ent to &s;ome learned Men on both &s;ides here at <HI>London,</HI> and &s;ome principal Men in both the Vniver&s;ities. From the Catholicks I received only one little Paper, to which I &s;oon returned an an&s;wer, and heard no more from any of them. And here I mu&s;t in Ju&s;tice do them right, and I a&s;&s;ure you, I never conver&s;ed with any Per&s;ons more Cautious of giving any Offence to the Govern|ment in my Life, nor have I Written, in all that I have Written any one Sentence or Word at the &s;ugge&s;tion of any one of them: So fal&s;e and injurious to them as well as to my &s;elf, is that la&s;t of the Reports before mentioned. From one of our pre&s;ent Bi&s;hops I received a very angry Letter, wherein he charged me with Par|tiality to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> but it &s;eems had immediatly that remor&s;e of Con&s;cience upon it, that before Night I had another from him to this effect, that he had tru&s;ted too much to his Me|mory, but upon farther peru&s;al of what I had Written, he found I had dealt &s;everely enough with the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI> And from one other con&s;iderable Clergyman of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> I received more Friendly Animadver&s;ions upon mo&s;t of the Articles, though not without &s;ome warmth and a little Partiality, but no more than might be expected; and when I had waited for more as long as I thought nece&s;&s;ary, I altered what I thought fit, and let it be printed off, and put into the Hands of one or two Book|&s;ellers. I fitted it as well as I could for my purpo&s;e, that is, as one ought to do who &s;incerely de&s;ires and endeavours an Agree|ment. The Catholicks I treated with that Re&s;pect as was proper to invite them, and yet with that plain Dealing as was nece&s;&s;ary to make them &s;en&s;ible of &s;ome things unrea&s;onable on their &s;ide: And the Prote&s;tants with that plain Declaration of &s;uch Faults on their &s;ide, as might convince them of a nece&s;&s;ity of an Agreement, or at lea&s;t of &s;uch an Amendment of their Cau&s;e as &s;hould leave all the Fault on the other &s;ide, if that could not be accompli&s;hed; and for my &s;elf did what I think all &s;incere Chri&s;tians ought to do, de|&s;ired Communion upon &s;uch Terms as I could &s;ubmit to. And by this means I have obtained this Advantage; fir&s;t the Satisfaction of my own Con&s;cience, that I am clear from all that Guilt which others lie under; and next that the Catholicks them&s;elves cannot ju&s;tly charge me with either Sacrilege, Schi&s;m, or Here&s;y, and yet am I no &s;uch Papi&s;t by any actual Reconciliation, or &s;o much as in Opinion, as the&s;e unworthy Latitudinarians, no le&s;s contrary
<PB N="7" REF="4">to their own Con&s;cience than to the Truth, have malitiou&s;ly re|ported me. But &s;uch was the an&s;wer I received to this al&s;o, as if a Judgment of Infatuation from almighty God had already &s;eized upon them, that they &s;hould make u&s;e of &s;uch means, as by tho&s;e very things, which they endeavoured to oppo&s;e, might without more a doe, be detected of Fal&s;ity and Folly, and that be manife&s;t to all Men. And I mu&s;t Confe&s;s, when upon the&s;e flal&s;e Reports and Calumnies, I thought fit to trouble my &s;elf no farther than only to go where I was &s;ure to meet with &s;ome of the Principal to &s;ee what they would &s;ay to my &s;elf, their Car|riage was &s;o Unchri&s;tian and even Unmanly as &s;eem'd to me, as if God had left them to expo&s;e their own weakne&s;s and worthle&s;|ne&s;s before my Face and all there pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>Upon this I printed my <HI>Letter to a Bi&s;hop,</HI> and &s;oon after to give an in&s;tance and proof in one particuler of tho&s;e things, which I there alleaged only in more general terms, <HI>the Great Que&s;tion</HI> con|cerning the Authority of the Engli&s;h Clergy, to make them &s;en&s;i|ble, if po&s;&s;ible, of the Nece&s;&s;ity of a Convocation and better con|&s;ideration of the&s;e Matters, of which I had never publi&s;hed any thing, if we might have had a Convocation. This I believe next to their Temporalties, was likely to touch them neare&s;t to the quick: And &s;o it &s;eems it did, but yet could not awaken them to a due Sen&s;e of their Duty and true Intere&s;t, &s;o as to apply them&s;elves to more proper and direct means to perform the one, and &s;ecure the other: But rather like Men be&s;ides them&s;elvos, they not only with Preachments and frightful Outcries again&s;t the Growth of Po|pery Alarm'd the Mobb, but with Appeals to all Prote&s;tant Prin|ces, and Letters to Members of Parliament pre&s;ented Occa&s;ions to &s;ome, who were ready to catch at them, and knew how to u&s;e them to &s;uch purpo&s;es, as &s;ufficient Experience &s;hews nece&s;&s;ary to the well looked to in time. It &s;ometimes makes me think of the Fool at <HI>Daventry,</HI> who if one gave him a box on the Ear, would pre&s;ently give another to the next before him: But I &s;caped not &s;o; for in that part of the City, where I not long &s;ince lived were &s;uch Clamour and Perjudice rai&s;ed again&s;t me, that mo&s;t of my Friends were afraid to &s;ay what they could for me; for there was part of the Knave, as well as of the Fool in it. But the my&s;tery is better known than is nece&s;&s;ary here to have more &s;aid of it, only it is not ami&s;s to remember what un&s;u&s;pected Con&s;equences the&s;e Nations have not long &s;ince &s;een proceeding from the like occa&s;ions.</P>
<PB N="8" REF="5">
<P>Their la&s;t Effort again&s;t me, was a grievous Complaint to the Privy Council behind my back, tho' I had offered &s;ome of them to appear either there or any where el&s;e to an&s;wer whatever they could alledge again&s;t me. And this when it was enquired into, was found to have ju&s;t as much Truth and Weight in it as all the re&s;t, and &s;erves only &s;till more to expo&s;e their own Wi&s;e Politicks and the Weakne&s;s of their Cau&s;e. And here I cannot but take no|tice of a very remarkable agreement between the&s;e Practices of the&s;e <HI>Latitudinarians</HI> now, and the Sect of the <HI>Libertins</HI> heretofore, who when they were not otherwi&s;e able to re&s;i&s;t the Truth, which was &s;poken to them, fir&s;t rai&s;ed Calumnies again&s;t the Speaker, then &s;tirred up the People; and then accu&s;ed him before the Coun|cil: But at la&s;t they gave him a Hearing before they pa&s;&s;ed their Sentence again&s;t him, which is more than the&s;e have yet done.</P>
<P>And now by the Truth of the&s;e &s;hameful Reports rai&s;ed and &s;pread again&s;t me, may any Man of Sen&s;e judge, what Credit is to be given to all the re&s;t: By the one how weak and in|defen&s;able a Cau&s;e they have; and by the other, that there is &s;ome My&s;tery fit to be &s;earched into, carried on under that fal&s;e and groundle&s;s Cover, which 'tis to be hop'd will appear in due time. But how far &s;uch things are to be countenan|ced or tolerated in a &s;etled Government, is to be left to them to whom it doth belong, to con&s;ider. And therefore I &s;hall here conclude when I have told you that in all this, and all I have Printed upon this occa&s;ion, I know not one Sen|tence or Word, which I do not believe to be hone&s;tly and &s;imply true. And &s;uch I hope you &s;hall always find me, and</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>1. <HI>April,</HI> 1700. Ea&s;ter Munday.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your faithful Friend and humble Servant. <HI>E. S.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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