Two letters written by the Right Honourable Edward, Earl of Clarendon, late Lord High Chancellour of England one to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the other to the Dutchess, occasioned by her embracing the Roman Catholick religion.

THE Earl of Clarendons LETTER TO THE Dutchess of YORK.

YOu have much reason to believe that I have no mind to trouble you, or displease you, especially in an argument that is so unpleasant▪ and grievous to my self; but as no distance of place that is between us, in respect of our Residence, or the greater distance in respect of the high condition you are in, can make me less your Father, or absolve me from performing those obligations which that Relation requires from me: So when I receive any Credible advertisement of what reflects upon You, in point of Honour, Conscience, or Discretion, I ought not to omit the informing You of it, or administring such advice to You, as to my understanding seems reasonable, and which I must still hope will have some Credit with You: I will confess to You, that what You wrote to me many Months since, upon those Reproaches which I told You were generally reported concerning Your defection in Religion, gave me so much satis∣faction, that I believed them to proceed from that ill Spirit of the Time that delights in Slanders and Calumny; but I must tell You, the same Report increases of late very much, and I my self saw a Letter the last week from Paris, from a person who said the English Embassador assured him the day before, that the Dutchess was become a Roman Catholick; and which makes greater Impression upon me, I am assured that many good men in England, who have great Affection for You and me, and who have thought nothing more impossible, then that there should be such a Change in You, are at present under much affliction, with the observation of a great Change in Your course, of Life and that constant Exercise of that Devotion which was so noto∣rious; and do apprehend from Your frequent Discourses, that you have not the same Reverence and Veneration, which You use to have, for the Church of England, the Church in which you were Baptized, and the Church the best Constituted, and the most free from Errors of any Christian Church this day in the World; and that some persons by their Insinuations have prevailed with You to have a better Op••nion of that which is most opposite to it, the Church of Rome, then the Integrity thereof de∣serves. It is not yet in my power to believe that Your wit and understanding (with Gods blessing upon both) can suffer you to be shaken further then with Melancholick reflections upon the Iniquity and wickedness of the Age we live in, which discredits all Religion, and which with equal license breaks into the Professors of all, and prevails upon the members of all Churches, and whose Manners will have no benefit from the Faith of any Church.

I presume You do not intangle Your self in the particular Controversies between the Romanists and us, or think Your self a Competent Judge of all difficulties which occur therein; and therefore it must be some fallacious argument of Antiquity and Univer∣sality confidently urged by men who know less then many of those You are acquainted with, and ought less to be believed by You, that can raise any doubts or scruples in You; and if You will with equal temper hear those who are well able to inform You in all such particulars, it is not possible for You to suck in that poison which can only

corrupt and prevail over You, by stopping Your own Ears and shutting Your own Eyes. There are but two persons in the World who have greater Authority with You then I can pretend to, and am sure they both suffer more in this Rumour, and would suffer much more if there were ground for it, then I can do; and truly I am as unlikely to be deceived my self, or to deceive You, as any man who endeavours to pervert You in Your Religion: And therefore I beseech You let me have so much Credit with You, as to perswade you to communicate any Doubts or Scruples which occur to You, before You suffer them to make too deep an Impression upon You. The common Argument that there is no Salvation out of the Church, and that the Church of Rome is that only true Church, is both irrational and untrue; there are many Churches in which Sal∣vation may be attained as well as in any one of them: And were many even in the Apostles time, otherewise they would not have directed their Epistles to so many several Churches, in which there were different Opinions received and very different Doctrines taught. There is indeed but one Faith in which we can be saved, the stedfast belief of the Birth, Passion and Resurrecti••n of our Saviour; and every Church that receives and imbraces that Faith is in a state of Salvation; if the Apostles Preacht true Doctrine, the reception and retention of many Errors, does not destroy the Essence of a Church; if it did, the Church of Rome would be in as ill, if not in a worse Condition, then most other Christian Churches, because its Errors are of a greater magnitude, and more destructive to Religion. Let not the Canting Discourse of the Universality and extent of that Church, which has as little of Truth as the rest, prevail over You; they who will imitate the greatest part of the World, must tu••n Heathens, for it is generally believed that above half the World is possessed by them, and that the Mahumet••ns possess more then half the remainder: There is as little question that of the rest which is inhabited by Christians, one part of four is not of the Communion of the Church of Rome, and God knows in that very Communion there is as great discord in Opinion, and in matters of as great moment, as is between the other Christians.

I hear you do in publick discourses dislike some things in the Church of England, as the Marriage of the Clergy which is a point that no Roman Catholick will pretend to be of the Essence of Religion, and is in use in many places which are of the Commu∣nion of the Church of Rome; as in Bohemia, and those parts of the Greek Church which submit to the Roman: And all men know, that in the late Council of Trent, the Sacra∣ment of both kinds, and liberty of the Clergy to marry, was very passionately press'd both by the Emperor and King of France, for their Dominions; and it was afterwards granted to Germany, though under such conditions as made it ineffectual: which how∣ever shews that it was not, nor ever can be look'd upon as matter of Religion. Christianity was many hundred years old, before such a restraint was ever heard of in the Church; and when it was endeavoured, it met with great opposition, and was never submitted to. And as the positive Inhibition seems absolutely unlawful, so the Inconveniences which result from thence, will upon a just disquisition be found supe∣riour to those which attend the liberty, which Christian Religion permits. Those Ar∣guments which are not strong enough to draw persons from the Roman Communion, into that of the Church of England, when Custom and Education, and a long stupid re∣signation of all their faculties to their Teachers, usually shuts out all Reason to the contrary may yet be abundant to retain those who have been Baptized, and Bred and Instructed in the Grounds and Principles of that Religion, which are in truth not only founded upon the clear Authority of the Scriptures, but upon the consent of Antiquity, and the Practice of the Primitive Church; and men who look into Anti∣quity, know well by what Corruption and Violence, and with what constant and con∣tinual Opposition those Opinions which are contrary to ours, crept into the World; and how unwarrantably the Authority of the Bishop of Rome, which alone supports all the rest, came to prevail, who hath no more pretence of Authority and Power in Eng∣land, than the Bishop of Paris or Tole••o can as reasonably lay claim to; and is so far from being matter of Catholick Religion, that the Pope hath so much, and no more to do in France or Spain, or any other Catholick Dominion, then the Crown, and Laws and Constitutions of several Kingdoms gave him leave; which makes him so little, (if at all,) considered in France, and so much in Spain: And therefore the English Catho∣licks which attribute so much to him, make themselves very unwarrantably of ano∣ther

Religion than the Catholick Church professeth; and without doubt they who desert the Church of England, of which they are Members, and become thereby dis∣obedient to the Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws of their Country, and therein renounce their subjection to the State, as well as to the Church, (which are grievous sins) had need have a better excuse then the meeting with some doubts which they could not answer; and less then a manifest evidence that their Salvation is desperate in that Communion, cannot serve their turn: And they who imagine they have such an evidence, ought rather to suspect that their Understanding hath forsaken them, and that they are become mad, then that the Church which is replenished with all Learning and Piety requisite, can betray them to Perdition. I beseech you to consider, (which I hope will over-rule those ordinary Doubts and Objections which may be infus'd into you) that if you change your Religion, you renounce all Obedience and Affection to your Father, who loves you so tenderly, that such an odious mutation would break his heart; you condemn your Father and your Mother, (whose incomparable virtue, and piety and devotion hath plac'd her in Heaven) for having impiously Educated you; and you dec••are the Church and State, to both which you owe Reverence and Subjection, to be in your Judgment Antich••istian: You bring irreparable dishonour▪ scandal and prejudice to the Duke your Husband, to whom you ought to pay all imaginable Duty, and whom I presume is much more precious to you then your own Life; and all possible ruine to your Children, of whose company and conversation you must look to be deprived, for God forbid that after such an Apostasie, you should have any power in Education of your Children. You have many Enemies, whom you herein would abundantly grat••fie; and some Friends whom you will thereby (at least as far as in you lies) perfectly destroy; and afflict many others who have deserved well o•• you.

I know you are not inclined to any part of this mischief, and therefore offer those Considerations, as all those particulars would be the infallible Consequence of such a Conclusion. It is to me the saddest circumstance of my Banishment, that I may not be admitted, in such a season as this, to confer with you; when I am confident I could satisfie you in all your Doubts, and make it appear to you, that there are many Absurdities in the Roman Religion, inconsistent with your Judgment and Understand∣ing, and many Impieties inconsistent with your Conscience; so that before you can submit to the Obligations of Faith, you must divest your self of your Natural Reason, and common Sense, and captivate the dictates of your own Conscience, to the Impo∣sitions of an Authority which hath not any pretence to oblige or advise you. If you will not with freedom communicate the Doubts which occur to you, to those near you, of whose Learning and Piety you have had much experience, let me Conjure you to impart them to me, and to expect my answer before You suffer them to prevail over You.

God Bless You and Yours.