he gives to Church-men in his Epistles to Timotby 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 Use of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace through the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the Worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascension 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 revealed as the 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 Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark Passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by Particular persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly provided in their law Deut. 17.8 That when controversies arose concerning any cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the tribe of Levi and to the judge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of death so that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorized in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal Testimony on her behalf As for our Saviour's Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the People Deut. 13 1. That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho he wrought miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his father brought in the worship of another God might well pretend that he was not obliged to yield to the authority of our Saviour's Miracles without taking cognizance of his doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the mouths of the Jews against our Saviour and from hence we see that the authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Jeremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's days not only many ill grounded traditions had got in among them by which the vigour of the moral law was much enervated but likewise they were also universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those Prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascension So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiation of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force and freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the Reconciling of Differences that of Binding and of Loosing according to the use of those terms among the Jews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church J signifies only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish and that of Christs being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special Conduct and Protection which the Church may always expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the world which he sets in opposition to the wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come far short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at least be acknowledged that they have not an evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first The Account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him And in this every Man must answer for the sincerity of his Heart in examining Divine Matters and the following what upon the best enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with Relation to this there is no need of a Judg for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the Talents that he had and all will be saved according to their Sincerity and with Relation to that Judgment there is no need of any other Judg but God. A second View of Religion is as it is a Body united together and by consequence brought under some Regulation And as in all States there are subaltern Judges in whose Decisions all
to some Words in the Proclamation that it was thought necessary to set them near one another that the Reader may be able to judge whether he is deceived by any false Quotations or not BY THE KING A PROCLAMATION JAMES R. JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and sundry our good Subjects whom these Presents do or may concern Greeting We having taken into Our Royal Consideration the many and great Inconveniencies which have hapned to that Our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland of late Years through the different Persuasions in the Christian Religion and the great Heats and Animosities amongst the several Professors thereof to the ruine and decay of Trade wasting of Lands extinguishing of Charity contempt of the Royal Power and converting of true Religion and the Fear of GOD into Animosities Names Factions and sometimes into Sacriledge and Treason And being resolved as much as in us lies to unite the Hearts and Affections of Our Subjects to GOD in Religion to Us in Loyalty and to their Neighbours in Christian Love and Charity Have therefore thought fit to Grant and by Our Sovereign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all Our Subjects are to obey without Reserve do hereby give and grant Our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named with and under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations after mentioned In the first place We allow and tolerate the Moderate Presbyterians to Meet in their Private Houses and there to hear all such Ministers as either have or are willing to accept of Our Indulgence allanerly and none other and that there be not any thing said or done contrary to the Well and Peace of Our Reign Seditious or Treasonable under the highest Pains these Crimes will import nor are they to presume to Build Meeting Houses or to use Out-Houses or Barns but only to exercise in their Private Houses as said is In the mean time it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure that Field-Conventicles and such as Preach or Exercise at them or who shall any ways assist or connive at them shall be prosecuted according to the utmost Severity of our Laws made against them seeing from these Rendezvouses of Rebellion so much Disorder hath proceeded and so much Disturbance to the Government and for which after this Our Royal Indulgence for Tender Consciences there is no Excuse left In like manner We do hereby tolerate Quakers to meet and exercise in their Form in any Place or Places appointed for their Worship And considering the Severe and Cruel Laws made against Roman Catholicks therein called Papists in the Minority of Our Royal Grandfather of Glorious Memory without His Consent ☜ and contrary to the Duty of good Subjects by His Regents and other Enemies to their Lawful Sovereign Our Royal Great Grandmother Queen Mary of Blessed and Pious Memory wherein under the pretence of Religion they cloathed the worst of Treasons Factions and Usurpations and made these Laws not as against the Enemies of GOD but their own which Laws have still been continued of course without design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only on Supposition that the Papists relying on an External Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their Natural Soveraigns and Rightful Monarchs We of Our certain Knowledge and long Experience knowing that the Catholicks as it is their Principle to be Good Christians so it is to be Dutiful Subjects and that they have likewise on all occasions shewn themselves Good and faithful Subjects to Us and Our Royal Predecessors by hazarding and many of them actually losing their Lives and Fortunes in their defence though of another Religion and the Maintenance of their Authority against the Violences and Treasons of the most violent Abettors of these Laws Do therefore with Advice and Consent of Our Privy Council by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power aforesaid suspend stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament Customs or Constitutions made or executed against any of our Roman-Catholick Subjects in any time past to all Intents and Purposes making void all Prohibitions therein mentioned Pains or Penalties therein ordained to be inflicted so that they shall in all things be as free in all Respects as any of Our Protestant Subjects whatsoever not only to exercise their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which we shall think fit to bestow upon them in all time coming Nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure and we do hereby command all Catholicks at their highest pains only to exercise their Religious Worship in Houses or Chappels and that they presume not to Preach in the open Fields or to invade the Protestant Churches by force under the pains aforesaid to be inflicted upon the Offenders respectively nor shall they presume to make Publick Processions in the High-streets of any of Our Royal Burghs under the Pains above-mentioned And whereas the Obedience and Service of Our Good Subjects is due to Us by their Allegiance and Our Soveraignty and that no Law Custom or Constitution Difference in Religion or other Impediment whatsoever can exempt or discharge the Subjects from their Native Obligations and Duty to the Crown or hinder Us from Protecting and Employing them according to their several Capacities and Our Royal Pleasure nor Restrain Us from Conferring Heretable Rights and Priviledges upon them or vacuate or annul these Rights Heretable when they are made or conferred And likewise considering that some Oaths are capable of being wrested by Men of sinistrous Intentions a practice in that Kingdom fatal to Religion as it was to Loyalty Do therefore with Advice and Consent aforesaid cass annull and Discharge all Oaths whatsoever by which any of Our Subjects are incapacitated or disabled from holding Places or Offices in Our said Kingdom or enjoying their Hereditary Rights and Priviledges discharging the same to be taken or given in any time coming without our special Warrant and Consent under the pains due to the Contempt of Our Royal Commands and Authority And to this effect we do by Our Royal Authority aforesaid stop disable and dispense with all Laws enjoyning the said Oaths Tests or any of them particuarly the first Act of the first Session of the first Parliament of King Charles the Second the eleventh Act of the foresaid Session of the foresaid Parliament the sixth Act of the third Parliament of the said King Charles the twenty first and twenty fifth Acts of that Parliament and the thirteenth Act of the first Session of Our late Parliament ☜ in so far allanerly as concerns the taking the Oaths or Tests therein prescribed and all others as well not mentioned as mentioned and that in place of them all Our good Subjects or such of them as We or Our Privy Council shall require so to do shall take and swear the following Oath allanerly
with the King and what Hopes She gave the Party yet they did not so entirely espouse the King's cause but that they had likewise a flying Squadron in the Parliaments Army how boldly soever this may be denied by our Author for this I will give him a Proof that is beyond exception in a Declaration of that Kings sent to the Kingdom of Scotland bearing date the 21 of April 1643. which is printed over and over again and as an Author that writes the History of the late Wars has assured us the clean draught of it corrected in some places with the King 's own Hand is yet extant so that it cannot be pretended that this was only a bold Assertion of some of the Kings Ministers that might be ill affected to their Party In that Declaration the King studied to possess his Subjects of Scotland with the Justice of his Cause and among other things to clear himself of that Imputation that he had an Army of Papists about him after many things said on that head these words are added Great numbers of that Religion have been with great Alacrity entertained in that Rebellious Army against us and others have been seduced to whom we had formerly denied Imployments as appears by the Examination of many Prisoners of whom we have taken twenty and thirty at a time of one Troop or Company of that Religion I hope our Author will not have the Impudence to dispute the Credit that is due to this Testimony but no Discoveries how evident so ever they may be can affect some sort of Men that have a Secret against blushing V. Our Author exhorts us to change our Principles of Loyalty and to take example of our Catholick Neighbours how to behave our selves towards a Prince that is not of our Perswasion But would he have us learn of our Irish Neighbours to cut our Fellow-subjects Throats and rebel against our King because he is of another Religion For that is the freshest Example that any of our Catholick Neighbours have set us and therefore I do not look so far back as to the Gunpowder-Plot or the League of France in the last Age. He reproaches us for failing in our Fidelity to our King. But in this matter we appeal to God Angels and Men and in particular to His Majesty Let our Enemies shew any one point of our Duty in which we have failed for as we cannot be charged for having preach'd any seditious Doctrine so we are not wanting in the preaching of the Duties of Loyalty even when we see what they are like to cost us The Point which he singles out is That we have failed in that grateful Return that we owed His Majesty for his Promise of maintaining our Church as it is established by Law since upon that we ought to have repealed the Sanguinary Laws and the late impious Tests the former being enacted to maintain the Usurpation of Queen Elizabeth and the other being contrived to exclude the present King. We have not failed to pay all the Gratitude and Duty that was possible in return to His Majesties Promise which we have carried so far that we are become the Object even of our Enemies Scorn by it With all Humility be it said that if His Majesty had promised us a farther Degree of his Favour than that of which the Law had assured us it might have been expected that our return should have been a degree of Obedience beyond that which was required by Law so that the return of the Obedience injoined by Law answers a Promise of a Protection according to Law Yet we carried this matter further for as was set forth in the beginning of this Paper we went on in so high a pace of Compliance and Confidence that we drew the Censures of the whole Nation on us Nor could any Jealousies or Fears give us the least Apprehensions till we were so hard pressed in matters of Religion that we could be no longer silent The same Apostle that taught us to honour the King said likewise that we must obey God rather than man. Our Author knows the History of our Laws ill for besides what has been already said touching the Laws made by Queen Elizabeth the severest of all our Penal Laws and that which troubles him and his Friends most was past by K. James after the Gunpowder-Plot a Provocation that might have well justified even greater Severities But tho' our Author may hope to impose on an ignorant Reader who may be apt to believe implicitly what he says concerning the Laws of the last Age yet it was too bold for him to assert that the Tests which are so lately made were contrived to exclude the present King when there was not a Thought of Exclusion many years after the first was made and the Duke was excepted out of the Second by a special Proviso But these Gentlemen will do well never to mention the Exclusion for every time that it is named it will make People call to mind the Service that the Church of England did in that matter and that will carry with it a Reproach of Ingratitude that needs not be aggravated He also confounds the two Tests as if that for Publick Imployments contained in it a Declaration of the King 's being an Idolater or as he makes it a Pagan which is not at all in it but in the other for the Members of Parliament in which there is indeed a Declaration that the Church of Rome is guilty of Idolatry which is done in general terms without applying it to His Majesty as our Author does Upon this he would infer That his Majesty is not safe till the Tests are taken away but we have given such Evidences of our Loyalty that we have plainly shewed this to be false since we do openly declare that our Duty to the King is not founded on his being of this or that Religion so that His Majesty has a full Security from our Principles tho' the Tests continue since there is no reason that we who did run the hazard of being ruined by the Excluders when the Tide was so strong against us would fail his Majesty now when our Interest and Duty are joyned together But if the Tests are taken away it is certain that we can have no Security any longer for we shall be then laid open to the Violence of such restless and ill-natured men as the Author of this Paper and his Brethren are VI. The same reason that made our Saviour refuse to throw himself down from the Roof of the Temple when the Devil tempted him to it in the vain Confidence that Angels must be assistant to him to preserve him holds good in our Case Our Saviour said Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And we dare not trust our selves to the Faith and to the Mercies of a Society that is but too well known to the World to pretend that we should pull down our Pales to let in such Wolves among us
Transubstantiation in spite of the Evidence of Sense to the contrary yet those that feel themselves at ease will hardly be brought to think that they are persecuted because they are told so in an ill-writ Pamphlet And for their Rebellion the Prince that is only concerned in that finds them now to be his best Allies and chief Supports as his Predecessors acknowledged them a Free State almost an Age ago And it being confessed by the Historians of all sides That there was an express Proviso in the Constitution of their Government That if their Prince broke such and such Limits they were no more bound to obey him but might resist him and it being no less certain that King Philip the Second authorised the the Duke of Alva to seise upon all their Priviledges their resisting him and maintaining their Priviledges was without all Dispute a justifiabble Action and was so esteemed by all the States of Europe and in particular here in England as appears by the Preambles of several Acts of Subsidy that were given the Queen in order to the assisting the States and as for their not dealing fairly with Princes when our Author can find such an Instance in their History as our Attempt upon their Smyrna Fleet was he may employ his Eloquence in setting it out and if notwithstanding all the Failures that they have felt from others they have still maintained the Publick Faith our Author's Rhetorick will hardly blemish them The Peace of Nimmegen and the abandoning of Luxemburgh are perhaps the single Instances in their History that need to be a little excused But as the vast Expence of the late War brought them into a Necessity that either knows no Law or at least will hearken to none so we who forced them to both and first sold the Triple Alliance and then let go Luxemburgh do with a very ill grace reproach the Dutch for these unhappy steps to which our Conduct drove them VIII If a strain of pert bolness runs thro this whole Pamphlet it appears no where more eminently than in the Reflections the Author makes on Mr. Fagel's Letter He calls it pag. 62. a pretended Piece and a Presumption not to be soon pardoned in prefixing to a surreptitious and unauthorised Pamphlet the Reverend Name of the Princess of Orange which in another place Page 72. he had reason to imagine was but a Counterfeit Coin and that those Venerable Characters were but politically feigned and a Sacred Title given to it without their Authority All this coming out with so solemn a License has made me take some pains to be rightly informed in this matter those whom I consulted tell me they have discoursed the Pensioner himself on this Subject who will very shortly take a sure Method to clear himself of those Imputations and to do that right to the Prince and Princess as to shew the World that in this matter he acted only by their Order For as Mr. Stewart's Letter drew the Pensioner's Answer from him so this Paper licensed as it is will now draw from him a particular Recital of the whole Progress of this Matter Mr. Albeville knows that the Princess explained her self so fully to him in the Month of May and June 1687. upon the Repeal of the Test that he himself has acknowledged to several Persons that though both the Prince and Princess were very stiff in that matter yet of the two he found the Princess more inflexible Afterwards when Mr. Stewart by many repeated Letters pressed his Friend to renew his Importunities to the Pensioner for an Answer he having also said in his Letters That he writ by the King's Order and Direction Upon this the Pensioner having consulted the Prince and Princess drew his Letter first in Dutch and communicated it to them and it being approved by them he turned it into Latine but because it was to be shewed to the King he thought it was fit to get it to be put in English that so their Highnesses might see that Translation of his Letter which was to be offered to His Majesty and they having approved of it he sent it with his own in Latine and it was delivered to the King. This Account was given me by my Friend who added that it would appear e're long in a more Authentical manner And by this I suppose the Impudence of those men does sufficiently appear who have the Brow to pubtish such Stuff of the Falshood of which they themselves are well assured And therefore I may well conclude that my Lord President 's License was granted by him with that Carelessness with which most Books are read and licensed Our Author pretends that he cannot believe that this Letter could flow from a Princess of so sweet a Temper pag. 62. and yet others find so much of the Sweetness of her Temper in it that for that very reason they believe it the more easily to have come from her No Passion or indiscreet Zeal appears in it and it expresses such an extended Charity and Nobleness of Temper that these Characters shew it comes from one that has neither a narrowness of Soul nor a sourness of Spirit In short She proposes nothing in it but to preserve that Religion which she believes the true one and that being secured she is willing that all others enjoy all the Liberties of Subjects and the Freedoms of Christians Here is Sweetness of Temper and Christian Charity in their fullest extent The other Reason is so mysteriously expressed that I will not wrong our Author by putting it in any other words than his own pag. 62. She is certainly as little pleased to promote any thing to the Disturbance of a State to which she still seems so nearly related She seems still are two significant Words and not set here for nothing She seems in his Opinion only related to the Crown that is She is not really so but there is something that these Gentlemen have in reserve to blow up this seeming Relation And She seems still imports that though this apparent Relation is suffered to pass at present yet it must have its Period for this seems still can have no other meaning But in what does She promote the Disturbance of the State or Patronise the Opposers of her Parents as he says afterwards ibid. Did She officiously interpose in this matter or was not her Sense asked And when it was asked must She not give it according to her Conscience She is too perfect a Pattern in all other things not to know well how great a Respect and Submission She owes her Father but She is too good a Christian not to know that her Duty to God must go first And therefore in matters of Religion when Her Mind was asked She could not avoid the giving it according to her Conscience and all the invidious Expressions which he fastens on this Letter and which he makes so many Arguments to shew that it could not flow from Her are all the
malicious and soon-discovered Artifices of one that knew that She had ordered the Letter and that thought himself safe in this Disguise in the discharging of his Malice against her So ingratefully is she required by a Party for whom she had expressed so much Compassion and Charity This Author Pag. 53. thinks it is an indecent forecast to be always erecting such Schemes for the next Heir both in Discourse and Writing as seem almost to calculate the Nativity of the present and he would almost make this High-Treason But if it is so there were many Traitors in England a few Years ago in which the next Heir though but a Brother was so much considered that the King himself look'd as one out of Countenance and abandoned and could scarce find Company enough about him for his Entertainment either in his Bed-Chamber or in his Walks when the whole Dependance was on the Successor so if we by turns look a little at the Successor those who did this in so scandalous a manner ought not to take it so very ill from us In a melancholy State of things it is hard to deny us the Consolation of hoping that we may see better Days But since our Author is so much concerned that this Letter should not be in any manner imputed to the Princess it seems a little strange that the Prince is so given up by him that he is at no pains to clear him of the Imputation For the happy Union that is between them will readily make us conclude that if the Prince ordered it the Princess had likewise her share in it I find but one glance at the Prince in the whole Book Pag. 52. when the Author is pleasing himself with the hopes of Protection from the Royal Heir out of a sense of Filial Duty He concludes Especially when so nearly allied to the very Bosom of a Prince whose way of Worship neither is the same with the National here and in whose Countries all Religions have been ever alike tolerated The Phrase of so near an Alliance to the very Bosom of a Prince is somewhat extraordinary An Author that will be florid scorns so simple an Expression as married he thought the other was more lofty But the matter of this Period is more remarkable it intimates as if the Prince's way of Worship was so different from ours tho we hear that he goes frequently with the Princess to her Chappel and expresses no aversion to any of our Forms tho he thinks it decent to be more constantly in the Exercises of Devotion that are authorised in Holland And as for that that all Religions have been ever alike tolerated there it is another of our Author's flights I do not hear that there are either Bonzis or Bramans in Holland or that the Mahometans have their Mosques there And sure his Friends the Roman Catholicks will tell him that all Religions are not alike tolerated there Thus I have followed him more largely in this Article than in any other it being that of the greatest Importance by which he had endeavoured to blast all the good effects which the Pensioners Letter has had among us IX I have now gone over that which I thought most important in this Paper and in which it seemed necessary to inform the Publick aright without insisting on the particular Slips of the Author of it or of the Advantages that he gives to any that would answer him more particularly I cannot think that any Man in the Nation can be now so weak as not to see what must needs be the effect of the Abolition of the Test after all that we see and hear it is too great an Affront to Mankind to offer to make it out A Man's Understanding may really mislead him so far as to make him change his Religion he remaining still an honest Man but no Man can pretend to be thought an honest Man that betrays the legal and now the only visible Defences of that Religion which he professes The taking away the Test for publick Employments is to set up an Office at Father Peter's for all Pretenders and perhaps a Pretender will not be so much as received till he has first abjured so that every Vacancy will probably make five or six Profelites and those Protestants who are already in Employments will feel their ground quickly fail under them and upon the first Complaint they will see what must be done to restore them to favour And as for the two Houses of Parliament as a great Creation will presently give them the Majority in the House of Lords so a new set of Charters and bold Returns will in a little time give them likewise the Majority in the House of Commons and if it is to be supposed that Protestants who have all the Security of the Law for their Religion can throw that up who can so much as doubt that when they have brought themselves into so naked a condition it will be no hard thing to overturn their whole Establishment and then perhaps we shall be told more plainly what is now but darkly insinuated to us by this Author that the next Heir seems still to be so nearly related to this State. AN APOLOGY FOR THE CHURCH of ENGLAND With Relation to the Spirit of PERSECUTION For which She is accused I. ONE should think that the Behaviour of the English Clergy for some Years past and the present Circumstances in which they are should set them beyond Slander and by consequence above Apologies yet since the Malice of her Enemies works against her with so much Spight and since there is no Insinuation that carries so much Malice in it and that seems to have such colours of Truth on it as this of their having set on a severe Persecution against the Dissenters of being still sour'd with that Leaven and of carrying the same implacable Hatred to them which the present Reputation that they have gained may put them in a further capacity of executing if another Revolution of Affairs should again give them Authority set about it it seems necessary to examine it and that the rather because some aggravate this so far as if nothing were now to be so much dreaded as the Church of England's getting out of her present Distress II. If these Imputations were charged on us only by those of the Church of Rome we should not much wonder at it for though it argues a good degree of Confidence for any of that Communion to declaim against the Severities that have been put in Practice among us since their little Finger must be heavier than ever our Loins were and to whose Scorpions our Rods ought not to be compared yet after all we are so much accustomed to their Methods that nothing from them can surprise us To hear Papists declare against Persecution and Jesuits cry up Liberty of Conscience are we confess unusual things yet there are some degrees of Shame over which when People are once passed all things become
Authority and Princely Power the Happiness Stabilitie and Quyetness of Our Subjects do depend Hes most perfidiously and treasonably presumed to commit and is guilty of the Crimes above mentioned in sua far as Archbald Campbel sometime Earl of Argyle James Stewart Sone to Sir James Stewart sometime Provost of Edinburgh Mr. Robert Ferguson sometime Chaplain to the late Earl of Shaftsbury Thomas Stewart of Cultness William Denholn sometime of Westsheils Master Robert Martin sometime Clerk to our Iustice-Court and several other Rebells and Traitors being most justy by our high Courts of Parliaments and Iustice Court Forfaulted for the Crimes of Treason and fled to our Kingdom of England and to Holland Flanders Geneva and several other places The said Doctor Gibert Burnet did upon the First Second and remanent days of the Month of January February and remainent Months of the Year one thousand six hundred eighty two one thousand six hundred eighty three one thousand six hundred eighty four or January February March or Aprile one thousand six hundred eighty five Converse Correspond and Intercommon with the said Archbald late Earl of Argyle a Forfaulted Traitor and that within the said Doctor Burnet his Dwelling-Hous in Lincolns-Inne Fields near the Plow-Inn in our City of London or Suburbs thereof or some other part or place within our Kingdom of England Defamed Sclandered and Reproached and Advisedlie spoke to the Disdain and Reproach of our Person Government and Authority wrote several Letters and receaved Answers thereto from the said Forfaulted Traitor when he was in Holland or elsewhere expressely contrary to his Duty and Allegeance to Vs his Soveraign Lord and King. And suklick upon the first second and third dayes of the Months of May June July August September October November and December one thousand six hundred eighty five and upon the first second and third dayes of the Moneths of January February and remanent Moneths of the Year one thousand six hundred eighty six and first second and third dayes of the Moneths of January February March one thousand six hundrd eighty seven or any or other of the dayes of any or other of the said Moneths or Years The said Doctor Gilbert Burnet did most treasonable Recept Supplied Aided Assisted Conversed and Intercomoned with and did Favours to the said James Stewart Mr. Robert Ferguson Thomas Stewart William Denholm and Mr. Robert Martyn forfaulted Traitors and Rebells in the Cityes of Rotterdam Amsterdam Leyden Breda Geneva or some other part or place within the Netherlands or elsewhere publickly and avowedly uttered several Speeches and Positions to the Disdain of our Person Authority and Government continues and persists in such undutiful and treasonable Practises against Vs and Our Government We being his Soveraign Lord and Prince expreslie contrair to his Allegeance and Duty By committing of the whilk Crimes above specifyed or either of them the said Doctor Burnet is guilty and culpable of the Crime of High Treason and is Art and Part thereof which being found be any Inquest he ought and should to suffer Forfaulture of Life Land and Goods to the Terror and Example of others to commit the like hereafter Our Will is theirfore and we charge you straitlie and Command that incontinent this our Letter seen yee pass and in our Name and Authority Command and Charge the said Doctor Gilbert Burnet above complained upon be sound of Trumpet with displayed Coat and using other Solemnities necessar to come and find sufficient Caution and Sovertie acted in our Books of Adjournal that he shall compeir before our Lords Iustice General Iustice Clerk and Commissioners of Iusticiary within the Tolbuith or Criminal Court-hous of Edinburgh the twentie sevinth day of June next to come in the hour of Caus there to underlie the Law for the Crymes above mentiond and that under the Paines contained in the new Acts of Parliament And that yee charge him personally if he can be apprehended and falizeing thereof at his dwelling-hous and be open Proclamation at the Mercat Cross of the head Burgh of the Shyre Stewartis Regalitie and other Iurisdiction where he dwells to come and find the said Sovertie acted in manner forsaid within six dayes if he be within this our Kingdom and if he be out with the Samyue that ye command and charge him in manner forsaid be open Proclamation at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh Peer and Shoar of Leith to come and find the said Sovertie within threescore dayes next after he is charged be you thereto under the Paine of Rebellion and putting of him to our Horne Whilst six and threescore dayes respectively being by-past and the said Sovertie not being found nor no Intimation made be him to you of the finding thereof that ye incontinent thereafter denunce him our Rebel and put him to our Horne Escheat and inbring all his moveable Goods and Geir to our use for his Contemption and Disobedience And if he come and find the said Sovertie Intimation alwayes being made be him to yow of the finding thereof that summond and Assyse hereto not exceeding the number of fourtie fyve Persons together with such Witnesses who best know the Veritie of the Premisses whose Names shall be given you in Roll subscribed by the said Complautor Ilk Person under the paine of one hundred Merks And that ye within fiftein dayes after his denunciation for not finding of Caution caus registrate thir Our Letters with your Executions thereof in Our Books of Adjournal conforme to the Act of Parliament made there-anent According to Iustice as ye will answer to Vs thereupon the whilk to doe Committs to yow conjunctly and severallie Our full Power be thir Our Letters delyvering them be yow duelie Execute and Indorsat again to the bearer Given under Our Signet at Edinburgh the nynteinth day of Aprile and of Our Reign the third Year 1678. Ex deliberatione Dominorum Commissionariorum Justiciarii sit subscribitur Signed 19. Apryle 1687. THO. GOFDONNE The Witnesses against Dr. Gilbert Burnet are Sir John Cochran of Ockiltree John Cochran of Wattersyd Mr. Robert West Lawyer Englishman Mr. Zachary Bourne Brewer Englishman Mr. William Carstaires Preacher Robert Baird Merchant in Holland Mr. Richard Baxter Preacher AN ANSWER TO THE Criminal Letters issued out against me I Look upon it as a particular Misfortune that I am forced to answer a Citation that is made in his Majesty's Name which will be ever so sacred with me that nothing but the sense of an Indispensable Duty could draw from me any thing that looks like a contending with that sublime Character I owe the Defence of my own Innocence and of my Reputation and Life to my self I owe also to all my Kindred and Friends to my Religion as I am a Christian and a Protestant and to my Profession as I am a Church-man and above all to His Majesty as I am his born Subject such a Vindication of my Loyalty and Integrity as may make it appear that my not
the Matter would have been let lie asleep all this while if he had said any thing to my prejudice I confess I have been long acquainted with him I look upon him as a Man of Honour and I reckon my self so safe in his Honour and in my own Innocence that I do very freely release him from all the Obligations of Friendship and Confidence and wish that he may declare every thing that has ever past between us for then I am sure he will do me the right to own that as oft as we talk'd of some things that were complained of in Scotland I took occasion to repeat my Opinion of the Duty of Subjects to submit and bear all the ill Administrations that might be in the Government but never to rise in Arms upon that account The next Witness is his Son whom I never saw but once or twice and with whom I never entred into any Discourse but what became a Man of my profession to so young a Person exhorting him to the Duties of a Christian The next two are Mr. West and Mr. Bourn whose Faces I do not know After them come Mr. Carstaires and Mr. Baird whose Faces I know not neither It seems these are the Witnesses to be led against me for the Article relating to the Netherlands but as I am wholly a Stranger to Mr. Carstairs so I do not so much as know if there is such a Person in being as Robert Baird Merchant in Holland And for the last Mr. Baxter I have had no Correspondence at all with him these two and twenty Years unless it was that once or twice I have met him by accident in a Visit in a third place and that once about six Years ago I went to discourse with him concerning a matter of History in which we differ'd but as all our Conversation at that time was in the presence of some Witnesses so it was not at all relating to matters of State. And now I have gone over all the Matter that is laid against me in this Citation and have made such Reflections both on the Facts that are alledged and the Witnesses that are named as will I hope satisfy even my Enemies themselves of the Falsehood and Injustice of these Informations So that I presume so far on His Majesty's Justice as to expect that all the Indignation which is kindled against me will be turned upon my false Accusers To all this I will add one thing further for my Justification tho I am fully satisfied it is that which I am not obliged to do and which if I were in other Circumstances I would not do my self as I would advise no other Man to do it For it is a part of that Right that every Man to preserve himself by all lawful ways that he do not accuse himself and by consequence that he do not purge himself by Oath of matters objected to him and I do not so well approve of the Courts of Inquisition as to give countenance to a practice which was first set on foot by them of requiring Men to answer upon Oath to Matters objected to them If I were not a Church-man I would not do this which I am about to do as I declare I will never do it again let my Enemies lay to my charge what they please But the regard I have to this Sacred Function to which I am dedicated makes me now once for all offer this solemn purgation of my self I attest the Great God the Searcher of all Things and the Judg of all Men that all the Matters of Fact laid to my Charge in this Citation are utterly groundless and ahsolutely false This I am ready to confirm with my Corporal Oath and to receive the Sacrament upon it And now I hope I have said enough to satisfy His Majesty concerning my Innocence so that I am confident he will not only discharge all further proceedings against me upon this Accusation but that he will express his Royal Displeasure against my False Accusers But if the power of my Enemies and their credit with His Majesty is still so great that this matter shall be carried further and that advantage shall be taken from my not appearing in Scotland to proceed to a Sentence against me which some brutal men now in the Hague are threatning before hand that they will execute it I then make my most humble Appeal to the Great God the King of kings who knows my Innocence and to whom my Blood will cry for Vengeance against all that may be any way concerned in the shedding of it He will at the Great Day judge all men righteously without respect of persons It is to him that I fly who I am sure will hear me Judge me O God according to the Integrity that is in me GILBERT BURNET At the Hague in Holland the 17. May Old Stile 1687. My Second Letter to the Earl of Middletoune May it please your Lordship THe Copy of the Citation against me has been sent me out of Scotland since I took the liberty to write last to your Lordship this puts me on a second Address to you for conveying the enclosed Answer which I most humbly lay down at his Majesty's feet I am confident that the Falshood of the matters objected to me will appear so evident to His Majesty as well as to all the world besides that he will not only order the proceedings to be quite discharged but that he will also order some reparation to be made to me for so publick a Blemish as even a Citation for so high a Crime amounts to I confess the many hard things that have been of late cast on me and in particular to Young and Old and Forraigners as well as Englishmen that have been coming into these Parts make me see that my Enemies have possessed his Majesty with thoughts of me that I must crave leave with all Humility to say that they are as undeserved as hard What have I either done or said to draw on me so heavy and so long a continued displeasure but my comfort lies in the Witness that I have within me of my own Innocence so that I dare appeal to God as I do now with all duty to his Vicegerent Since this Matter is now become so publick and that my Name is now so generally known I must not be wanting to my own Innocence especially when not only my Life and Reputation are struck at but the Religion that I profess is wounded through my sides therefore till I have put in order my Memoirs for a larger work I find it in some sort necessary to print the Citation together with this Answer but I had much rather have all this prevented by an effect of his Majesties Justice in ordering an end to be put to this Accusation and that hy some Act that may be as publick as the Citation it self was which may bear His Majesty's being satisfied with my Innocence as to these Matters but if I