and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that as there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho' they are bad enough yet are not equal Effects that ignorant Superstition and Obedient Zeal have produced in the World Witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small Diversion of Opinions and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signifie nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand Years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and than that certainly it is not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say that there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some starts and other long intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first Three Hundred and Twenty years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Council of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperours Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700 years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have Excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a Competent Understanding to satisfie him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said that this Infallibility is to be fought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a study that must cost a Man an Age to go thro' it and many of the Ages thro' which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their Belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing is the more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their Nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued 1000 years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a Thousand Years upon Earth and if those who had Matters at second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater Errors at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Expositions of some passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70 Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Jerome examined this matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more than all the rest it seems plain that the Fathers before the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort inferiour to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they considered these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three men have the same Humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and
that detain Church-Lands especially since the Papists themselves â—ehâ—mently accuse King Henry the eighth for sacrilegiously robbing of Religious Houses and seising of their Lands a great pâ—â—t of which Lands are to this very day possess'd by Papists Now though there may be some Plea for the Popes Authority in the interim of a general Council and in such things wherein they have made no determination yet in this matter there is no colour for any pretences since the Council of Trent was actually assembled within sew years after these Alienations and expresly condemned the possessors of Abby Lands and after all this was all consirm'd and ratified by the Pope himself in his Bulla Super conf gen Concil Trid. A. D. 1564. And tho' we have here the Judgment of the infallible See as to this matter in the Consirmation of the Trent Council yet because there be some that magnifie the Popes extravagant and unlimited power over the Church and pretend that he confirm'd the Abby-Lands in England to the Lay-possessors of them I shall shew Secondly That the Pope neither hath nor pretends to any such Power nor did ever make use of it in this matter under debate only I shall premise that whereas some part of the Canon Law seems to allow of such particular alienations as are made by the Clerks and Members of the Church with the consent of the Bishop yet such free consent was never obtained in England and as to what was done by force fraud and violence is of so little moment as to giving a legal Title that even the alienations that were made by Charles Martell who is among the Papists themselves as infamous for Sacriledge as King Henry the Eighth yet even his Acts are said to be done by a Council of Bishops as is acknowledg'd by Dr. Johnston in his assurance of Abby Lands p. 27. I shall proceed to shew First That the Pope hath no such power as to confirm these Alienations and this is expresly determined by the infallible Pope Damasus in the Canon-Law Caus 12.9.2 c. 20. The Pope cannot alienate Lands belonging to the Church in any manner or for any necessity whatsoever both the buyer and the seller lie under an Anathema till they be restored so that any Church-man may oppese any such Alienations and again require the Lands and Profits so Alienated So that here we have a full and express Determination of the infallible See And tho in Answer to this it is urg'd by Dr. Johnston that this Canon is with small difference published by Binius in the Councils and so as to confine it to the suburbicacy Diocess of Rome yet that this Answer is wholly trivial will appear First Because if the Bishop of Rome hath no Authority to confirm such alienations in his own peculiar Diocess where he hath most power much less can he do it in the Provinces where his power is less Secondly That in all Ecclesiastical Courts of the Church of Rome it is not Binius's Edition of the Councils but Gratian's Collection of Canons that is of Authority in which Book these words are as here quoted Thirdly Since this Book of the Popes Decree hath been frequently reprinted by the Authority and Command of several Popes and constantly used in their Courts this is not to be look'd upon as a Decree of Pope Damasus only but of all the succeeding Popes and in the opinion of F. Ellis Sermon before the King Decem. 5. 1686. p. 21. what is inserted in the Canon Law is become the whole Judgment of the whole-Church Fourthly It 's absolutely forbid by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in his Bull presixed before the Canon-Law A. D. 1580. for any one to add or invert any thing in that Book So that according to this express Determination in the Popes own Law the Bishops of Rome have no power to confirm any such Alienations as have been made in England and agreeable to all this Pope Julius the Fourth the very person that is pretended to have confirm'd these Alienations declar'd to our English Ambassadors that were sent upon that Errand That if he had Power to grant it he would do it most readily but his Authority was not so large F. Paul's H. of Council of Trent Lond. A. D. 1629. And therefore all Confirmations from the Bishop of Rome are already prejudg'd to be invallid and of no force at all Secondly No Bishop of Rome did ever confirm them The Breve of Pope Julius the Third which gave Cardinal Pool the largest powers towards the effecting this had this express limitation Salvo tamen in his quibus propttr renem magnitudinem gravitatem haec Sancta sedes merito tibi videtur consulenda nostro prefatae sedis beneplacito confirmatione i. e. Saving to us in these matters in which by reason of their weight and greatness this Holy See may justly seem to you that of right it ought to be consulted the good pleasure and confirmation of us and of the holy See which is the true English to that Latin and that this whole Kingdom did then so understand these words is evident from the Ambassadors that were sent to Rome the next Spring Viz. Viscount Moitecute Bishop of Ely and Sir Edward Carn These being one to represent every state of the Kingdom to obtain of him a Confirmation of all those Graces which Cardinal Pool had granted Burnet's H. Ref p. 2. f. 300. So that in the esteem of the whole Nation what the Cardinal had done was not valid without the Confirmation of the Pope himself Now this Pope Julius and the next Marcellus both died before there is any pretence of any Confirmation from Rome but this was at length done by Pope Paul the Fourth is pretended and for proof of it three things are alledged First The Journals of the House of Commons where are these words After which was read a Bill from the Popes Holiness confirming the doing of my Lord Cardinal touching the assurance of Abby Lands c. Secondly a Bull of the same Pope to Sir Will Peters Thirdly The Decrees of Cardinal Peol and his Life by Dudithius To all which I answer First That it s confess'd on all hands that there is no such Bull or Confirmation by Pope Paul the Fourth to be any where found in the whole World not any Copy or Transcript of it not in all the Bullaria nor our own Rolls and Records tho' it be a matter of so great moment to the Roman Catholicks of England and what cannot be produced may easily be denied Nor can it be imagined that a Journal of Lay-persons that were parties concerned or a private Bull to Sir Will Peters or some hints in the Decrees and Life of the Cardinal will be of any moment in a Court at Rome whensoever a matter of that vast consequence as all the Abby Lands in England shall come to be disputed especially if it be observed that this very Journal of the House of Commonâ— is
Crime if it had been found about him written by another hand and I could name one or two Persons who as they were able enough to Compose such Papers so had power enough over his Spirit to engage him to Copy them and to put themselves out of danger by restoring the Original You ought to address your self to the Learned Divines of our Church for answer to such things in them as puzzle you and not to one that has not the honour to be of that Body and that has now carried a Sword for some time and imploys the leasure that at any time he enjoys rather in Philosophical and Mathematical Enquiries than in matters of Controversie There is indeed one Consideration that determined me more easily to comply with your desires which is my having had the honour to discourse copiously of those matters with the late King himself and he having proposed to me some of the particulars that I find in those Papers and I having said several things to him in answer to those Heads which he offered to me only as Objections with which he seemed fully satisfied I am the more willing to communicate to you that which I took the liberty to lay before His late Majesty on several occasions the particulars on which he insisted in discourse with me were the uselessness of a Law without a Judge and the necessity of an infallible Tribunal to determine Controversies to which he added the many Sects that were in England which seemed to be a necessary consequence of the Liberty that every one took to interpret the Scriptures and he often repeated that of the Church of Englands arguing from the obligation to obey the Church against the Sectaries which he thought was of no force unless they allowed more Authority to the Church then they seemed willing to admit in their Disputes with this Church of Rome But upon the whole Matter I will offer you some Reflections that will I hope be of as great weight with you as they are with my self I. All Arguments that prove upon such general Considerations that there ought to be an Infallible Judge named by Christ and cloathed with his Authority signify nothing unless it can be shewed us in what Texts of Scripture that nomination is to be found and till that is shewed they are only Arguments brought to prove that Christ ought to have done somewhat that he has not done So these are in effect so many Arguments against Christ unless it appears that he has Authorised such a Judge therefore the right way to end this Dispute is to shew where such a Constitution is Authorised So that the most that can be made of this is that it amounts to a favourable presumption II. It is a very unreasonable thing for us to form Presumptions of what is or ought to be from Inconveniences that do arise in case that such things are not for we may carry this so far that it will not be easie to stop it It seems more suitable to the infinite Goodness of God to communicate the knowledge of himself to all Mankind and to furnish every Man with such assistances as will certainly prevail over him It seems also reasonable to think that so perfect a Saviour as Jesus Christ was should have shewed us a certain way and yet consistent with the free Use of our Faculties of avoiding all sin nor is it very easie to imagine that it should be a reproach on his Gospel if there is not an Infallible Preservative against Errour when it is acknowledged that there is no infallible Preservative against sin for it is certain that the one Damns us more Infallibly than the other III. Since presumptions are so much insisted on to prove what things must be appointed by Christ it is to be considered that it is also a reasonable Presumption that if such a Court was appointed by him it must be done in such plain terms that there can be no room to question the meaning of them and since this is the hinge upon which all other matters turn it ought to be expressed so particularly in whom it is vested that there should be no occasion given to dispute whether it is in one Man or in a Body and if in a Body whether in the Majority or in the two thirds or in the whole Body unanimously agreeing in short the Chief thing in all Governments being the Nature and Power of the Judges those are always distinctly specified and therefore if these things are not specified in the Scriptures it is at least a strong Presumption that Christ did not intend to authorise such Judges IV. There were several Controversies raised among the Churches to which the Apostles writ as appears by the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians and Colossians yet the Apostles never make use of those passages that are pretended for this Authority to put an end to those Controversies which is a shrew'd Presumption that they did not understand them in that sense in which the Church of Rome does now take them Nor does St. Paul in the Directions that he gives to the Church-men in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus reckon this of submitting to the directions of the Church for one which he could not have omitted if this be the true meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one word sounding that way which is very different from the directions which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the New Testament such as the Rules of a good Life the Vse of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace thro' the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly reveal'd as others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a Presumption for particular Persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests and other Guides in Sacred Matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the Mouths of the Jews against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the Prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the
Fear or Courtship have enrolled themselves into the List of Addressers and under pretence of giving thanks to the King for his promise of protecting the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy and all other of the Church of England in the free exercise of their Religion as by Law established have cut the throat of their Mother at whose breasts they have suck'd till they are grown fat both by acknowledging the usurped Prerogative upon which the King assumes the Right and Authority of emitting the Declaration and by exchanging the legal standing and security of their Church into that precarious one of the Royal Word which they fly unto as the bottom of her Subsistence and trust to as the wall of her defence And as most of the Members of the Separate Societies are free from all accession to Addressing and the few that concurred were merely drawn in by the wheedle and importunity of their Preachers so they who are of the chiefest Character and greatest reputation for Wisdom and Learning among the Ministers have preserved themselves from all folly and treachery of that kind The Apostle tells us that not many wise not many noble are called which as it is verified in many of the Dissenting Addressers so it may serve for some kind of Apology for their low and sneaking as well as for their indiscreet and imprudent behaviour in this matter And it is the more venial in some of them as being not only a means of ingratiating themselves as they fansie with the King who heretofore had no very good opinion of them but as being both an easie and compendious method of Attoning for Offences against the Crown of which they were strongly suspected and a cheap and expenceless way of purchasing the pardon of their Relations that had stood actually accused of High Treason Nor is it to be doubted but that as the King will retain very little favour and mercy for Fanaticks when once he has served his Ends upon them so they will preserve as little kindness for the Papists if they can but obtain relief in a legal way And as there is not a People in the Kingdom that will be more loyal to Princes while they continue so to govern as that Fealty by the Laws of God or Man remains due to them so there are none of what Principles or Communion soever upon whom the Kingdom in its whole interest come to lye at stake may more assuredly and with greater confidence depend than upon the generality of Dissenting Protestants and especially upon those that are not of the Pastoral Order The severities that the Dissenters lay under before and their deliverance from Oppression and Disturbance now seconded with the Kings expectation and demands of thanksgiving Addresses were strong Temptations upon men void of generosity and greatness of spirit and who are withal of no great political Wisdom nor of prospect into the Consequences of Councils and Tricks of State to act as illegally in their thanks as his Majesty had done in his bounty So that whatsoever Animadversion they may deserve should they be proceeded against according to their demerit yet it is to be hoped that both they and the Addressers of the former stamp may all find room in an Act of Indemnity and that the Mercy of the Nation towards them will triumph over and get the better of its Justice As it would argue a strange and judicial infatuation should they proceed to farther excesses and think to escape the Punishment due to one Crime by committing and taking sanctuary in another thro improving their Complements into actions of Treachery so all their hope of Pardon as well as of Lenity and Moderation from a true Protestant and rightly constituted Authority depends upon their conduct and behaviour henceforward and their not suffering themselves to be hurried and deluded into a cooperation with the Court for the obtaining of a Popish Parliament All their endeavours of that kind would but more clearly detect and manifest their treachery to Religion and the Kingdom it not being in their power to out-vote the honest English part of the People so as to help the King to such a House of Commons as he desires and were it possible that thro their assistance in conjunction with violence and tricks used in Elections and Returns by the Court such a House of Commons might be obtained as would be serviceable to Arbitrary and Papal Ends yet neither the King nor they would be the nearer the compassing what is aim'd at it being demonstrable that the majority of the House of Lords are never to be wrought over to justifie this illegal Declaration or to grant the King a Power of Suspending Laws at his pleasure nor to give their Assent to a Bill for Repealing the Test Acts and the Statutes that enjoyn and require the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy And if they should be so far left of God and betray'd by those among themselves whom the Court hath gained as to become guilty of so enormous an act of folly and villany and should the Election of the next Parliament be the happy juncture they wait for and the improving their interest as well as the giving their own Votes for the Choice of Papists into the House of Commons be what they mean by an essential proof of their Loyalty and of the sincerity of their humble Addresses See Mr. Alsop's Speech to the King and that whereby they intend to demonstrate that the greatest thing they have promised is the least thing they will perform for his Majesties service and satisfaction as in that case they will deserve to forfeit all hopes of being forgiven so it would be an infidelity to God and Men and a cruelty to our selves and our Posterity not to abandon them as betrayers of Religion expunge them out of the Roll of Protestants strip them of all that wherein free Subjects have a Legal Right and not to condemn them to the utmost punishments which the Laws of the Kingdom adjudge the worst of Traitors and Malefactors unto There are some who thro hating of them do wish their miscarrying and offending to so unpardonable a degree that they may hereafter be furnished with an advantage both of ruining them and the whole Dissenting Party for their sakes But as the love that I bear unto them and the perswasion and belief I have of the truth of their Religious Principles do make me exceeding sollicitous to have them kept and prevented from being hurried and transported into so fatal and criminal a behaviour so I desire to make no other excuse for my plain dealing towards them but that of Solomon who tells us that faithful are the wounds of a friend while the kisses of an Enemy are deceitful and that he who rebukes a man shall find more favour afterwards than he who flattereth with the tongue POSTSCRIPT SInce the foregoing Sheets went to the Press and while they were Printing off there is come to my hands a new
recites the daily Experiences that many of his Majesty's Subjects that adhere in their Hearts to the Popish Religion by the Infection drawn from thence by the wicked and devillish Counsel of Jesuits Seminaries and other like Persons dangerous to the Church and State are so far perverted in the point of their Loyalties and due Allegiance to the King's Majesty and the Crown of England as they are ready to entertain and execute any Treasonable Conspiracies and Practices And for the better Trial how his Majesty's Subjects stand affected in point of their Loyalties and due Obedience Enacts that it shall be lawful for any Bishop in his Diocess or any two Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum within the Limits of their Jurisdiction out of the Session to require any Person of the age of eighteen Years or above which shall be convict or indicted of Recusancy other than Noblemen c. or which shall not have received the Sacrament twice within the Year then next past or any Person passing in or through the Country unknown that being examined upon Oath shall confess or not deny him or her self to be a Recusant and to take the Oath therein after expressed viz. c. The Oath of Allegiance So that by the occasion of imposing the Oath and by the appointing it to be tendred only to Papists or suspected Papists it is apparent that the Design of the Law-makers was to detect such Persons as were perverted or in danger to be perverted in their Loyalty by Infection drawn from the Popish Religion The form of the Oath makes it yet more evident being wholly levell'd against any Opinion of the Lawfulness of deposing the King or practising any Treason against him upon pretence of his being excommunicated or deprived by the Pope and against any Opinion of the Pope's Power to discharge Subjects from their Oaths of Fidelity to their Princes It runs thus viz. I A. B. Do truly and sincerely profess testify and declare in my Conscience before God and the World that our Soveraign Lord King James is lawful and rightful King of this Realm and of all his Majesty's Dominions and Countries And that the Pope neither of himself nor by any Authority of the Church or See of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any Power or Authority to depose the King or to dispose any of his Majesty's Kingdoms or Dominions or to authorize any Foreign Prince to invade or annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Subjects of their Allegiance or Obedience to his Majesty or to give licence or leave to any of them to bear Arms raise Tumults or to offer any Violence or Hurt to his Majesty's Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majesty's Subjects within his Majesty's Dominions Also I do swear from my Heart that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Successors or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his See against the said King his Heirs and Successors or any Absolution of the said Subjects from their Obedience I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against him or any of them And I do further swear that I do from my Heart abhor and detest and abjure as impious and heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in Conscience am perswaded that neither the Pope nor any Person whatsoever hath Power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledg by good and lawful Authority to be lawfully administred unto me and I do renounce all Parsons and Dispensations to the contrary And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledg and swear according to these express words by me spoken and according to the plain and common Sense and Vnderstanding of the same words without any Equivocation or mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon the true Faith of a Christian So help me God And the Statute of 7 Jacobi cap. 6. recites that Whereas by a Statute made in the third Year of the said King's Reign the form of an Oath to be ministred and given to certain Persons in the same Act mentioned is limited and prescribed tending only to the Declaration of such Duty as every true and well affected Subject not only by bond of Allegiance but also by the Commandment of Almighty God ought to bear to the King his Heirs and Successors Which Oath such are infected with Popish Superstition do oppugne with many false and unsound Arguments the just defence whereof the King had therefore undertaken and worthily performed to the great contentment of all his Subjects notwithstanding the Gainsayings of Contentious Adversaries And to shew how greatly the King 's Loyal Subjects do approve the said Oath they beseech his Majesty that the said Oath be administred to all his Subjects The Pope and Authority of the See of Rome run through the first Paragraph Notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of Excommunication c. Governs the second Paragraph Excommunicated and deprived the Pope are the material words in the third Paragraph The fourth is added in Majorem cautelam in opposition to the Popish Doctrine of Dispensing with Oaths Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance Equivocations Mental Evasions c. So that as the Oath of Supremacy did but enforce the Antient Oath of Fealty with an acknowledgment of the Queen 's supream Authority in Ecclesiastial Causes and things as well as Temporal and a Renunciation of all Foreign Jurisdictions so the Oath of Allegiance does but enforce the same old Oath of Fealty by obliging the Subjects of England expresly to disown any lawful Authority in the Pope or See of Rome to depose invade or annoy the King his Dominions or Subjects And notwithstanding any Sentence of Excommunication Deprivation c. by the Pope c. to bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King his Heirs and lawful Successors And to abjure that Position that it is lawful to depose Princes that are Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope Whatever is added is either Oath over and above what was exprest in the old Oath of Fealty is but as Explanatory of it and branching it out
houses in Holborn at the same time That he was at the Fire in the Temple but was not engaged to do any thing in it And said that Gyfford told him that there were English French and Irish Roman Catholicks enough in London to make a very good Army and that the King of France was coming with 60000 Men under pretence to shew the Dauphin his Dominions but it was to lay his Men at Deep Bulloign Callis and Dunkirk to be in an hours Warning to be Landed in England and he doubted not but it would be by the middle of June and by that time all the Catholicks here will be in readiness all were to rise in order to bring him in That the Papists here were to be distinguished by Marks in their Hatts that the said Father Gyfford doubted not but he should be an Abbot or a Bishop when the work was over for the good service he hath done That at their Meeting Father Gyfford used to tell them it was no more sin to kill a Heretick then a Dog and that they did God good Service in doing what Mischiefs they could by firing their houses That it was well Sir Edmondbury Godfrey was Murdered for he was their Devilish Enemy That Coleman was a Saint in Heaven for what he had done And saith he is fearful he shall be Murthered for this Confession Father Gyfford having sworn him to Secresie and told him he should be Damned if he made any Discovery and should be sure to be killed and that he should take the Oaths because he was a House-keeper and that it was no sin And saith That Gyfford and Roger _____ told him when their Forces meet about the middle of June then have at the VOTES and ADDRESSES Of the Honourable House of Commons ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT Made this present Year 1673 Concerning Popery and other Grievances March 29. 1673. The Parliaments Address to his Majesty for the Removal of Grievances in England and Ireland WE your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled conceiving our selves bound in necessary Duty to your Majesty and in Discharge of the Trust reposed in us truly to inform your Majesty of the Estate of your Kingdom And though we are abundantly satisfied that it hath been your Royal Will and Pleasure that your Subjects should be governed according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm yet finding that contrary to your Majesties gracious Intention some Grievances and Abuses are crept in We crave Leave humbly to represent them to your Majesties Knowledge and Desire 1. That the Imposition of 12 d. per Chaldron upon Coals for the providing of Convoys by Vertue of an Order from Council dated the 15th of May 1672 may be recalled and all Bonds taken by Virtue thereof cancelled 2. That your Majesties Proclamation of the 24th of December 1672 for preventing of Disorders which may be committed by Soldiers and whereby the Soldiers now in your Majesties Service are in a manner exempted from the ordinary Course of Justice may likewise be recalled 3. And whereas great Complaints have been made out of several parts of this Kingdom of divers Abuses committed in Quartering of Soldiers That your Majesty would be pleased to give Order to redress those Abuses and in particular that no Soldiers be hereafter Quartered in any private Houses and that due Satisfaction may be given to the Inn-keepers or Victuallers where they lye before they remove 4. And since the continuance of Soldiers in this Nation will necessarily produce many Inconveniences to your Majesties Subjects We do humbly present it as our Petition and Advice That when this present War is ended all your Souldiers which have been raised since the last Session of Parliament may be Disbanded 5. That your Majesty would be likewise pleased to consider of the Irregularities and Abuses in pressing Soldiers and to give Order for the Prevention thereof for the future 6. And although it hath been the Course of former Parliaments to desire Redress in their Grievances before they proceeded to give a Supply yet we have so full Assurance of your Majesties Tenderness and Compassion towards your People that we humbly prostrate our selves at your Majesties feet with these our Petitions desiring your Majesty to take them into your Princely Consideration and to give such Orders for the Relief of your Subjects and the Removing these Pressures as shall seem lest to your Roâ—al Wisdâ—m Address touching Ireland WE your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled taking into Consideration the great Calamities which have formerly befallen your Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Ireland from the Popish Recusants there who for the most part are profest Enemies to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest and how they make use of your Majesties gracious Disposition and Clemency are at this time grown more insolent and presumptuous than formerly to the apparent Danger of that Kingdom and your Majesties Protestant Subjects there the Consequence whereof may likewise prove very fatal to this your Majesties Kingdom of England if not timely prevented And having seriously weighed what Remedies may be most properly applied to those growing Distempers do in all Humility present your Majesty with these our Petitions 1. That for the Establishment and Quieting the Possessions of your Majesties Subjects in that Kingdom your Majesty would be pleased to maintain the Act of Settlement and Explanatory Act thereupon and to recall the Commission of Enquiry into Irish Affairs bearing Date the 17th of January last as containing many new and extraordinary Powers not only to the Frejudice of particular Persons whose Estates and Titles are thereby made liable to be questioned but in a manner to the Overthrow of the Acts of Settlement And if pursâ—â—d may be the Occasion of great Charge and Attendance to many of your Subjects in Ireland and shake the Peace and Security of the whole 2. That your Majesty would give Order that no Papist be either continued or hereafter admitted to be Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Coroners or Mayors Sovereigns or Portrieves in that Kingdom 3. That the Titular Popish Archbishops Bishops Vicars-General Ablâ—â—s and all other exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the Popes Authority and in particular Peter Talbot pretended Archbishop of Dublin for his notorious Disloyalty to your Majesty and Disobedience and Contempt of your Laws may be commanded by Proclamation forthwith to depart out of Ireland and all other your Majesties Dominions or otherwise to be prosecuted according to Law And that all Convents Seminaties and Publick Popish Scholes may be dissolved and suppressed and the Secular Priests commanded to depart under the Penalty 4 That no Irish Papist be admitted to inhabit in any part of that Kingdom unless duly licensed according to the aforesaid Acts of Settlemenâ— and that your Majesty would be pleased to recall your Letters of the 26th of February 1671. And the Proclamation thereupon whereby general Licence is
and future Times To which I could not but Reply That I begged their Pardon if I differed from them in Opinion and did believe that how honestly soever the House of Commons might intend in that matter yet that the point of Succession was so Sacred a thing and of so high a Nature that it was not subjected to their Cognizance That Monarchy was of Divine Right That Princes succeeded by Nature and Generation only and not by Authority Admission or Approbation of the People and consequently that neither the Merit or Demerit of their Persons nor the different influences from thence upon the People were to be respected or had in consideration but the Common-wealth ought to obey and Submit to the next Heir without any further Inquisition and if he proved a Worthy Vertuous and Just Prince it was a great Happiness if Unjust Barbarous and Tyrannical there was no other Remedy but Prayer Patience and an intire Submission to so difficult a Dispensation of Gods Providence I had no sooner ended my Discourse but one of the Gentlemen that was the most serious in the Company seeing me a Young Man gravely Replied That he could not but be extreamly concerned to hear that such pernicious Notions against all lawful Government had been taught in the World That he believed they were in me purely the Effects of an University-Education and that it had been my Misfortune to have had a very high Church-man for my Tutor who had endeavoured as it was their constant Practice to all Young Gentlemen under their Care to debauch me with such Principles as would enslave my mind to their Hierarchy and the Monarchical part of the Government without any Regard at all to the Aristocratical and Popular and that fat Parsonages Prebendships Deanaries and Episcopal Sees were the certain and constant Rewards of such Services That the Place we were in was a little too Publick for Discourses of this Nature but if I would accept of a Bottle of Wine at the next Tavern he would undertake to give me juster measures adding it was pity so hopeful a Gentleman should be tainted with bad Principles My Friend coming in at the same Time proved to be one of their particular Acquaintance and both he and I readily complied with so generous a motion We had no sooner drank a Glass round but the Old Gentleman was pleased to renew his Discourse and said it was undoubtedly true that the inclination of Mankind to live in Company from whence come Towns Cities and Common-wealths did proceed of Nature and consequently of God the Author of Nature So likewise Government and the Jurisdiction of Magistrates in general which does necessarily flow from the living together in Society is also of Nature and ordained by God for the common Good of Mankind but that the particular Species and Forms of this or that Government in this or that manner To have many few or one Governour or that they should have this or that Authority more or less for a longer or a shorter time or whether ordinarily by Succession or by Election All these things he said are Ordained and Diversified by the particular positive Laws of every Country and are not Establish'd either by Law Natural or Divine but left by God unto every Nation and Country to pitch upon what Form of Government they shall think most proper to promote the common good of the whole and best adapted to the Natures Constitutions and other Circumstances of the People which accordingly for the same Reasons may be altered or amended in any of its parts by the mutual Consent of the Governours and Governed whenever they shall see reasonable cause so to do all which appears plainly both from the diversity of Governments extant in the World and by the same Nations living sometimes under one sort of Government and sometimes under another So we see God himself permitted his peculiar People the Jews to live under divers Forms of Government as First under Patriarchs then under Captains then under Judges then under High-Priests next under Kings and then under Captains and High-Priests again until they were conquered by the Romans who themselves also first lived under Kings and then Consuls whose Authority they afterwards limitted by a Senate by adding Tribunes of the People and in extraordinary Emergencies of the Commonwealth they were governed by Dictators and last of all by Emperors So that it 's plain no Magistrate has his particular Government or an Interest of Succession in it by any Institution of Nature but only by the particular Constitution of the Commonwealth within it self And as the kinds of Government are different so also are the measures of Power and Authority in the same kind in different Countries I shall begin said he with that of the Roman Empire which though it be the first in Dignity among Christian Princes yet it is so restrained and limited by the particular Laws of the Empire that he can do much less in his State than other Kings in theirs He can neither make War nor exact any Contribution of Men or Money but by the Consent of all the States of the German Diet And as for his Children and Relations they have no Interest or Pretence to succeed but only by Election if they shall be thought worthy Nay the chiefest Article the Emperour swears to keep at his Admission to that Honour is That he shall never endeavour to make the Dignity of the Empire Hereditary to his Family In Spain and in France the Priviledges of Kings are much more eminent both in Power and Succession their Authority is more absolute every Order of theirs having the Validity of a Law and their next of Bloud does ordinarily inherit though in a different manner In Spain the next Heir cannot succeed but by the Approbation of the Nobility Bishops and States of the Realm In France the Women are not admitted to succeed let them be never so lineally descended In England our Kings are much more limited and confined in their Power than either of the two former for here no Law can be made but by Consent and Authority of Parliament and as to the Point of Succession the next of kin is admitted unless in extraordinary Cases and when important Reason of State require an Alteration And then the Parliaments of England according to the ancient Laws and Statutes of the Realm have frequently directed and appointed the Succession of the Crown in other manner than in course it would have gone of which I shall give you some Examples in Order But first let us look abroad and see how things have been carried as to this Point in other Countries Amongst the Jews the Law of Succession did ordinarily hold and accordingly Rehoboam the Lawful Son and Heir of Solomon after his Fathers Decease went to Sichem to be crowned and admitted by the People and the whole Body of the People of Israel being there gathered together did before they would admit him their lawful
Years after that he called no Parliament notwithstanding the Law for Triennial Parliaments and the manner of his Death and the Papers printed after his Death in his Name having sufficiently shewed that he was equally sincere in both those Assurances that he gave as well in that relating to Religion as in that other relating to frequent Parliaments yet upon his Death a new set of Addresses appeared in which all that Flattery couldinvent was brought forth in the Commendations of a Prince to whose Memory the greatest kindness can be done is to forget him and because his present Majesty upon his coming to the Throne gave some very general Promise of maintaining the Church of England this was magnified in so extravagant a strain as if it had been a Security greater than any that the Law could give tho' by the regard that the King has both to it and to the Laws it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally since then the Nation has already made it self sufficiently ridiculous both to the present and to all succeeding Ages it is time that at last men should grow weary and become ashamed of their Folly XII The Nonconformists are now invited to set an Example to the rest and they who have valued themselves hitherto upon their Opposition to Popery and that have quarrelled with the Church of England for some small Approaches to it in a few Ceremonies are now solicited to rejoyce because the Laws that secure us against it are all plucked up since they enjoy at present and during pleasure leave to meet together It is natural for all men to love to be set at ease especially in the matter of their Consciences but it is visible that those who allow them this favour do it with no other design but that under a pretence of a General Toleration they may Introduce a Religion which must persecute all equally It is likewise apparent how much they are hated and how much they have been persecuted by the Instigation of those who now Court them and who have now no game that is more promising than the engaging them and the Church of England into new Quarrels and as for the Promises now made to them it cannot be supposed that they will be more lasting than those that were made some time ago to the Church of England who had both a better Title in Law and greater Merit upon the Crown to assure them that they should be well used than these can pretend to The Nation has scarce forgiven some of the Church of England the Persecution into which they have suffered themselves to be cosened tho' now that they see Popery barefaced the Stand that they have made and the vigorous Opposition that they have given to it is that which makes all men willing to forget what is past and raises again the Glory of a Church that was not a little stained by the Indiscretion and Weakness of those that were too apt to believe and hope and so suffered themselves to be made a Property to those who would make them a Sacrifice The Sufferings of the Nonconformists and the Fury that the Popish party expressed against them had recommended them so much to the Compassions of the Nation and had given them so just a pretension to favour in a better time that it will look like a Curse of God upon them if a few men whom the Court has gained to betray them can have such an ill Influence upon them as to make them throw away all that Merit and those Compassions which their Sufferings have procured them and to go and court those who are only seemingly kind to them that they may destroy both them and us They must remember that as the Church of England is the only Establishment that our Religion has by Law so it is the main body of the Nation and all the Sects are but small and stragling parties and if the Legal Settlement of the Church is dissolved and that body is once broken these lesser bodies will be all at Mercy and it is an easie thing to define what the Mercies of those of the Church of Rome are XIII But tho' it must be confessed that the Nonconformists are still under some Temptations to receive every thing that gives them present ease with a little too much kindness since they lie exposed to many severe Laws for which they have of late felt the weight very heavily and as they are men and some of them as ill Natured men as other people so it is no wonder if upon the first surprises of the Declaration they are a little delighted to see the Church of England after all its Services and Submissions to the Court so much mortified by it so that taking all together it will not be strange if they commit some Follies upon this occasion Yet on the other hand it passes all imagination to see some of the Church of England especially those whose Natures we know are so particularly sharpned in the point of Persecution chiefly when it is levelled against the Dissenters rejoice at this Declaration and make Addresses upon it It it hard to think that they have attained to so high a pitch of Christian Charity as to thank those who do now Despitefully use them and that as an earnest that within a little while they will Persecute them This will be an Original and a Master-piece in Flattery which must needs draw the last degrees of Contempt on such as are capable of so abject and sordid a Compliance and that not only from all the true Members of the Church of England but likewise from those of the Church Rome it self for every man is apt to esteem an Enemy that is brave even in his Misfortunes as much as he despises those whose minds sink with their Condition for what is it that these men would Address the King Is it because he breaks those Laws that are made in their Favour and for their Protection and is now striking at the Root of all Legal Settlement that they have for their Religion Or is it because that at the same time that the King professes a Religion that condemns his Supremacy yet he is not contented with the Exercise of it as it is warranted by Law but carries it so far as to erect a Court contrary to the express words of a Law so lately made That Court takes care to maintain a due proportion between their Constitution and all their Procedings that so all may be of a piece and all equally contrary to Law They have suspended one Bishop only because he would not do that which was not in his power to do for since there is no Extrajudiciary Authority in England a Bishop can no more proceed to the Sentence of Suspension against a Clergy-man without a Tryal and the hearing of Parties than a Judge can give a Sentence in his Chamber without an Indictment a Tryal or a Jury and because one of the greatest bodies of
of the Peace and Vnity of this Realm 3. And that such Person or Persons so to be Named Assigned Authorised and Appointed by Your Highness Your Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as is aforesaid shall have full Power and Authority by Vertue of this Act and of the said Letters Patents under Your Highness Your Heirs and Successors to exercise use and execute all the premisses according to the Tenor and Effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding So that I take it that all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was in the Crown by the Common Law of England and declared to be so by the said Act of 1 Eliz. 1. and by that Act a Power given to the Crown to assign Commissioners to exercise this Jurisdiction which was accordingly done by Queen Elizabeth and a High Commission Court was by her erected which sate and held Plea of all Causes Spiritual and Ecclesiastical during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth King James the First and King Charles the First till the 17th Year of his Reign Which leads me to consider the Statute of 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. which Act recites the Title of 1 Eliz. ca. 1. and Sect. 18. of the same Act and recites further Section 2. That whereas by colour of some Words in the aforesaid Branch of the said Act whereby Commissioners are authorised to execute their Commission according to the Tenor and Effect of the Kings Letters Patents and by Letters Patents grounded thereupon the said Commissioners have to the great and insufferable Wrong and Oppression of the Kings Subjects used to Fine and Imprison them and to exercise other Authority not belonging to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction restored by that Act and divers other great Mischiefs and Inconveniences have also ensued to the Kings Subjects by occasion of the said Branch and Commissions issued thereupon and the Executions thereof Therefore for the repressing and preventing of the aforesaid Abuses Mischiefs and Inconveniences in time to come by Sect. 3. the said Clause in the said Act 1 Eliz. 1. is Repealed with a Non obstante to the said Act in these Words Be it Enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the aforesaid Branch Clause Article or Sentence contained in the said Act and every Word Matter and thing contained in that Branch Clause Article or Sentence shall from henceforth be Repealed Annulled Revoked Annihilated and utterly made Void for ever any thing in the said Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And in Sect. 5. of the same Act it is Enacted That from and after the first of August in the said Act mentioned all such Commissions shall be void in these Words And be it further Enacted That from and after the said first Day of August no new Court shall be erected ordained or appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall or may have the like Power Jurisdiction or Authority as the said High Commission Court now hath or pretendeth to have but that all and every such Letters Patents Commissions and Grants made or to be made by his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and all Powers and Authorities granted or pretended or mentioned to be granted thereby And all Acts Sentences and Decrees to be made by virtue or Colour thereof shall be utterly void and of none effect By which Act then the Power of Exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Commissioners under the Broad-Seal is so taken away that it provides no such Power shall ever for the future be Delegated by the Crown to any Person or Persons whatsoever Let us then in the last place consider Whether the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12 hath restored this Power or not And for this I take it that it is not restored by the said Act or any Clause in it and to make this evident I shall first set down the whole Act and then consider it in the several Branches of it that relate to this Matter The Act is Entituled An Act for Explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the 17th Year of the Late King Charles Entituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of Statute in Primo Elizabethae câ—ncerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical The Act it self runs thus Whereas in an Act of Parliament made in the Seventeenth Year of the Late King Charles Intituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of a Stature primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical It is amongst other things Enacted that no Arch-bishop Bisâ—â—p or Vicar-General nor any Chancellor nor Commissary of any Arch-Bishop Bishop or Vicar-General nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister of Justice nor any other Person or Persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction by any Grant Lisence or Commission of the Kings Majesty His Heirs or Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the First Day of August which then should be in the Year of our Lord God 1641. Award Impose or Inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or other Corporal Punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanor Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction 2. Whereupon some Doubt hath been made that all ordinary Power of Coertion and proceeding in Causes Ecclesiastital were taken away whereby the ordinary Course of Justice in Causes Ecclesiastical hath been obstructed 3. Be it therefore Declared and Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority thereof That neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained doth or shall take away any ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Arch-Bishops Bishops or any other Person or Persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may proceed determine Sentence execute and exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all Censures and Coertions appertaining and belonging to the same before any making of the Act before recited in all Causes and Matters belonging to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised in this Realm in as ample Manner and Form as they did and might lawfully have done before making of the said Act. Sect. 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the afore recited Act of Decimo Septimo Car. and all the Matters and Clauses therein contained excepting what concerns the High Commission Court or the new Erection of some such like Court by Commission shall be and is thereby repealed to dlintents and purposes whatsoever
any thing clause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary â—â—ithstanding Sect. 3. Provided always and it is hereby Enacted That neither this Act nor any thing herein conâ—â—ined shall extend or be construed to ravive or give Force to the said Branch of the said Statute wade in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act if Parliament made in the Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth scall stand and be Repealed in such sort as if this Act had never been made Sect. 4. Provided always and it is hereby Enacted That it shall not be lawful for any Arch-bishop Bishop Vicar-General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to Tender or Administer unto any Person whatsoever the Oath usually called Ex Officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendred or administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or herself of any Criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be liable to Censure or Punishment any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custom or Vsage heretofore to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding Sect. 5. Provided always That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Arch Bishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any Power or Authority to Exercise Execute Inflict or Determine any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the Year of our Lord 1639. 2. Nor to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclefiastical Matters and Affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the Year 1640. nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Canons not formerly confirmed allowed or enacted by Parliament or by the established Laws of the Land as they stood in the Year of our Lord 1639. From the Title of the Act and the Act it self considered I gather First That it is an Explanatory Act of the 17th of Car. 1. as to one particular Branch of it and not introductive of any new Law Secondly That the Occasion of making it was not from any Doubt that did arise VVhether the High Commission Court were taken away or whether the Crown had Power to erect any such like Court for the future but from a Doubt that was made that all ordinary Power of Coertion and Proceedings in Causes Ecclefiastical was taken away whereby Justice in Ecclesiastical Matters was obstructed and this Doubt did arise from a Clause in 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. Sect. 4. herein mentioned to be recited in the said Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Thirdly That this Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. as appears upon the Face of it was made to the intent the ordinary Jurisdiction which the Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persens had always exercised under the Crown might not be infringed but not to restore to the Crown the power of Delegating the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Letters Patents to Lay persons or any others and as to this nothing can be plainer than the VVords of the Act it self Sect. 2. Whereby 17 Car. 1. is repealed but takes particular care to except what concerned the High Commission Court or the new Erection of some such Court by Commission Neither did the Law-makers think this Exception in that Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Sect. 2. to be sufficient but to put the Matter out of all doubt in the Third Section of the same Statute It is provided and Enacted That neither that Act nor any thing therein contained should extend or be construed to revive or give force to the Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. Sect. 18. but that the same Branch shâ—â—â— stand absolutely Repealed And if so then the power of the Crown to delegate the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is wholly taken away for it was vested in the Crown by 1 Eliz. 1. and taken away by 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. and is in no manner restored by 13 Car. 2.12 or any other But there may arise an Objection from the VVords in the Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. that saith That that Act shall not extend to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and Affairs VVhence some Men would gather that the same power still remains in the Crown that was in it before 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. To which Objection I give this Answer That every Law is to be so constructed that it may not be Felo de se and that for the Honour of the Legislators King Lords and Comment Now I would appeal to the Gentlemen themselves that assert this Doctrine VVhether they can so construe the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. as they pretend to do without offering Viâ—lence to their own Reason For when the 1 Car. 1. ca. 11. had absolutely repealed the Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. that vested the power in the Crown of Delegating the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Enacts That no such Commission shall be for the future and the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Repeals the 17 Car. 1. ca. 12. except what relates to that particular Branch there can no more of the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and Affairs be saved by the saving in the 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. but what was left in the Crown by 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And now I hope I have sufficiently evinced That all the Proceedings before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are CORAM NON JVDICE and therefore have sufficient Reason to believe That the same would never have been set on foot by his present Majesty who had always the Character of JAMES the Just and hath promised upon his Royal VVord That he will invade no Mans Property had he not been advised thereunto by them who are better versed in the Canons of the Church of ROME than in the Laws that relate to the CROWN and CHURCH of ENGLAND A LETTER Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel Pensioner of Holland to Mr. James Stewart Advocate Giving an Account of the Prince and Princes of Orange's Thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws SIR I Am extream sorry that my ill health hath so long hindred me from Answering those Letters in which you so earnestly desired to know of me what their Highnesses thoughts are concerning the repeal of the Penal Laws and more particularlarly of that concerning the Test I beg you to assure your self that I will deal very plainly with you in this matter and without reserve since you say that your Letters were writ by the King's knowledge and allowance I must
Consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as allowed by Law That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or place out of Parliament That excessive Bail ought not to be required nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly empannell'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon Men in Tryals for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all grants and promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only Means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by Him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. do swear That I do from my Heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrin and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Browne Cleric ' Parl. Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THIS is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully Accept what you have Offered And as I had no other Intention in coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure That I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Jo. Browne Cleric ' Parliamentorum Die Veneris 〈◊〉 Februarii 1688. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses and the Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published And that His Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery A PROCLAMATION WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his Great Mercy to this Kingdom to Vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of ORANGE whom God hath Chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of ORANGE whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and Presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of ORANGE and therein desired them to Accept the Crown who have Accepted the same Accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with a full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Cerritories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be Owned Deemed Accepted and taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to Acknowledge and Pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to Bless King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with Long and Happy Years to Reign over Vs. God Save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Jo. Brown Cleric ' Parliamentorum The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Misgovernment of King James the Seventh and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary THAT King James the 7th had acted irregularly 1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said but also inverting Protestant Chapels and Churches to Publick Mass-houses contrary to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass 2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed by a Gift to a Popish Printer designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold College and Chapel contrary to the Laws