that they justly and rightly claim And therefore neither our Ancestors nor any other Country free like ours whilst they preserv'd their Liberties did ever suffer any mercenary or standing Guards to their Prince but took care that his Safety should be in Them as theirs was in Him Though these were the Objections to this Head yet they were but lighty touch'd and not fully insisted upon until the debate of the second Head where the Scope of the Design was opened clearer and more distinct to every Man's capacity The second was And that I do abhorr that Trayterous Position of taking Armes by His Authority against His person To this was objected That if this be meant an Explanation of the Oath of Allegiance to leave men without pretense to oppose where the individual person of the King is then it was to be considered that the proposition as it is here set down is universal and yet in most cases the position is not to be abhorred by honest or wise men For there is but one case and that never like to happen again where this position is in danger to be Trayterous which was the Case of the Long Parliament made perpetualâ— by the King 's own Act by which the Government was perfectly altered and made inconsistent with its self but it is to be supposed the Crown hath sufficient warning and full power to prevent the falling again into that danger But the other cases are many and such as may every day occurr wherein this position is so far from Traiterous that it would prove both necessary and our duty The Famous instance of Hen. 6. who being a soft and weak Prince when taken Prisoner by his Cousin Edward 4. that pretended to the Crown and the great Earl of Warwick was carryed in their Armies gave what orders and Commissions they pleased and yet all those that were Loyal to him adhered to his Wife and son fought in a pitcht battel against him in person and retook him This was directly taking up Armes by His Authority against his person and against those that were Commission'd by Him and yet to this day no Man hath ever blamed them or thought but that if they had done other they had betray'd their Prince The great Case of Charles 6. of France who being of a weak and crazie Brain yet govern'd by himself or rather by his Wife a Woman of passionate and heady humour that hatâ—ed her Son the Dolphin a vigorous and brave Prince and passionately loved her Daughter so that She easily being pressed by the Victory of Hen. 5. of England comply'd to settle the Crown of France upon Him to marry her Daughter to Him and own his Right contrary to the Salique Law This was directly opposed with Armes and Force by the Dolphin and all good French Men even in his Father's life time A third instance is that of King Iames of blessed Memory who when he was a Child was seized and taken Prisoner by those who were justly thought no friends to His Crown or Safeâ—y and if the case should be put that a future King of England of the same temper with Hen. 6. or Charl. 6. of France should be taken prisoner by Spaniard Dutch or French whose overgrowing power should give them thoughts of vast Empire and should with the person and commission of the King invade England for a Conquest were it not suitable to our Loyalty to joyn with the Son of that King for the defence of His Fathers Crown and Dignity even against his Person and Commission In all these and the like Cases it was not justified but that the stâ—ict Letter of the Law might be otherwise coâ—strued and when wisely considerd fit it should be so yet that it was not safe either for the Kingdom or person of the King and His Crown that it should be in express words Sworâ— against for if we shall forswear all Distinctions which ill Men have made ill use of either in Rebellion or Heresy we must extend the Oath to all the particulars of Divinity and Politiques To this the aged Bishop of Winchester reply'd That to take up Armes in such cases is not against but for the person of the King But his Lordship was told that he might then as well nay much better have leâ—t it upon the Old Oath of Allegiance then made such a wide gapp in his new Declaration The thâ—rd and last part of the Deâ—laration was or against those that are Commissioned by him Here the mask was plainly pluckt off and Arbitrary Government appear'd bare-faced and a standing Army to be established by Act of Parliament for it was said by several of the Lords That if whatever is by the Kings Commission be not opposed by the King's Authority then a standing Army is Law when â—ver the King pleases and yet the King's Commission was never thought sufficient to Protect or justify any man where it is against his Authority which is the Law this allowed alters the whole Law of England in the most essential and Fundamental parts of it and makes the whole Law of property to become Arbitrary and without effect whenever the King pleases For instance if in a Suit with a great Favourite a man recovers House and Lands and by course of Law be put into Possession by the Sheriff and afterwards a Warrant is obtain'd by the interest of the person to command some Souldiers of the standing Army to take the possession and deliver it back in such a case the man in Possession may justify to defend himself and killing those who shall violently endeavour to enter his house the party whose house is invaded takes up Armes by the King's Authority against those who are Commissioned by him And it is the same case if the Souldiers had been Commissioned to defend the House against the Sheriff when he first endeavored to take the possession according to Law neither could any Order or Commission of the King 's put a stop to the Sheriff if he had done his duty in raising the whole force of that Count to put the Law in execution neither can the Court from whom that Order proceeds if they observe their oaths and duty put any stop to the execution of the Law in such a case by any command or commission from the King whatsoever Nay all the Guards and standing forces in England cannot be secured by any Commission from being a direct Riot and unlawful Assembly unless in time of open War and Rebellion And it is not out of the way to suppose that if any King hereafter shall contrary to the petition of Right demand and levie Money by Privy-Seal or otherwise and cause Souldiers to enter and distrain foâ— such like illegall Taxes that in such a case any Man may by Law defend his house against them and yet this is of the same nature with the former and against the words of the Declaration These instances may seem somwhat rough and not with the usual
A LETTER From a Person of QUALITY To His FRIEND In the COUNTRY Printed in Year 1675. A Letter from a Person of Quality to His Friend in the Country SIR THis Session being ended and the Bill of the Test neer finished at the Committee of the whole House I can now give you a perfect Account of this STATE MASTER-PIECE It was first hatch't as almost all the Mischiefs of the World have hitherto been amongst the Great Church Men and is a Project of several Years standing but found not Ministers bold enough to go through with it unâ—il these new ones who wanting a better Bottom to support them beâ—ook themselves wholly to this which is no small Undertaking if you consider it in its whole Extent First to make a distinct Party from the rest of the Nation of the High Episcopal Man and the Old Cavalier who are to swallow the hopes of enjoying all the Power and Office of the Kingdom being also tempted by the advantage they may recieve from overthrowing the Act of Oblivion and not a little rejoycing to think how valiant they should prove if they could get any to fight the Old Quarrel over again Now they are possest of the Arms Foâ—ts and Ammunition of the Nation Next they design to have the Government of the Church Sworne to as Vnalterable and so Tacitely owned to be of Divine Right which though inconsistent with the Oath of Supremacy yet the Church Men easily break through all Obligations whatsoever to attain this Station the advantage of which the Prelate of Rome hath sufficiently taught the World Then in requital to the Crown they declare the Government absolute and Arbitrary and allow Monarchy as well as Episcopacy to be Iure Divino and not to be bounded or limited by humane Laws And to secure all this they resolve to take away the Power and opportunity of Parliaments to alter any thing in Church or State only leave them as an instrument to raise Money and to pass such Laws as the Court and Church shall have a mind to The Attempt of any other how necessary soever must be no less a Crime then Perjury And as the topstone of the whole Fabrique a pretence shall be taken from the Jealousies they themselves have raised and a real necessiâ—y from the smallness of their Partie to encrease and keep up a standing Army and then in due time the Cavalier and Church-man will be made greater fools but as errant Slaves as the rest of the Nation In order to this The first step was made in the Act for Regulating Corporations wisely beginning that in those lesser Governments whiâ—h they meant afterwards to introduce upon the Governâ—ent of the Nation and making them Swear to a Declaration and beleif of such propositions as themselves afterwards upon debate were enforced to alter and could not justifie in those words so that many of the Wealthyest Worthyest and Soberest Men are still kept out of the Magistracy of those places The next step was in the Act of the Militia which went for most of the cheifest Nobility and Gentry being obliged as Lord-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants c. to Swear to the same Declaration and Belief with the addition only of these words In persuance of such Military Commissions which makes the Matter rather worse then better Yet this went down smoothly as an Oath in fashion a testimony of Loyalty and none adventuring freely to debate the matter the humor of the Age like a strong Tide carries Wise and good Men down before it This Act is of a piece for it establisheth a standing Army by a Law and swears Us into a Military Government Immediately after this Followeth the Act of Vniformity by which all the Clergy of England are obliged to subscribe and declare what the Corporations Nobility and Gentry had before Sworn but with this additional clause of the Militia Act omitted This the Clergy readily complyed with for you know That sort of Men are taught rather to obey then understand and to use that Learning they have to justify not to examine what their Superiors command And yet that Bartholomew day was fatal to our Church and Religion in throwing out a very great Number of Whorthy Learned Pious and Orthodox Divines who could not come up to this and other things in that Act And it is an Oath upon this occasion worâ—h your knowledg that so great was the Zeal in carrying on this Church affair and so blind was the Obedience required that if you compute the time of the passing this Act with the time allowed for the Clergy to subscribe the Book of Common Prayer thereby established you shall plainly find it could not be Printed and distributed so as one Man in forty could have seen and read the Book they did so perfectly Assent and Consent to But this Matter was not compleat until the Five Mile Act passed at Oxford wherein they take an opportunity to introduce the Oath in the terms they would have it This was then strongly opposed by the L. Treasurer Southampton Lord Wharton L. Ashley and others not only in the Concern of those poor Ministers that were so severely handled but as it was in it Self a most Unlawful and Unjustifyable Oath however the Zeal of that time against All Nonconformists easily passed the Act. This Act was seconded the same Sessions at Oxford by another Bill in the House of Commons to have imposed that Oath on the whole Nation and the Providence by which it was thrown out was very remarquable for Mr. Peregrine Bertie being newly chosen was that morning introduced into the House by his Brother the now Earl of Lindsey and Sir Tho. Osborn now L. Treasurer who all Three gave their Votes against that Bill and the Numbers were so even upon the division that their three Votes carried the Question against it But we owe that Right to the Earl of Lindsey and the Lord Treasurer as to acknowledg tâ—at they have since made ample Satisfaction for whatever offence they gave either the Church or Court in that Vote Thus our Church became Triumphant and continued so for divers years the dissenting Protestant being the only Enemy and therefore only persecuted whilest the Papists remained undisturbed being by the Court tâ—ought Loyal and by our Great Bishops not dangerous they differing only in Doctrine and Fundamentalls but as to the Government of the Church that was in their Religion in its highest Exaltation This Dominion continued unto them untill the L. Clifford a Man of a daring and ambitious spirit made his way to the cheif Ministery of Affairs by other and far different measures and took the opportunity of the War with Holland the King was then engaged in to propose the Declaration of Indulgence that the Dissenters of all sorts as well Protestants as Papists might be at rest and so vast a number of People not be made desperate at Home while the King was engaged with so potent an Enemy abroad This was no
without Reordination but no Protestant Minister not Episcopally ordain'd but is required to be reordain'd as much as in us lies unchurching all the forreign Protestants that have not Bishops though the contrary was both allowâ—d and practis'd from the beginning of the Reformation till the time of that Act and several Bishops made of such as were never ordain'd Priests by Bishops Moreover the Vncharitableness of it was so much against the Interest of the Crown and Church of England casting off the dependency of the whole Protestant partie abroad that it would have been bought by the Pope and French King at a vast summ of Money and it is difficult to conceive so great an advantage fell to them meerly by chance and without their help so that he thought to endeavor to alter and restore the Liturgy to what it was in Queen Elizabeths days might consist with his being a very good Protestant As to the Catachisme he really thought it might be mended and durst declare to them it was not well that there was not a better made For the Homilies he thought there might be a better Book made and the 3. Hom. of Repairing and keeping clean of Churches might be omitted What is yet stranger then all this The Canons of our Church are directly the old Popish Canons which are still in force and no other which will appear if you turn to the Stat. 25. Hen. 8. cap. 19 confirmed and received by 1. Eliz. where all those Canons are establish'd untill an alteration should be made by the King in pursuance of that Act which thing was attempted by Edward the 6th but not perfected and let alone ever since for what reasons the Lords the Bishops could best tell and it was very hard to be obliged by Oath not to endeavour to alter either the English Common-Prayer book or the Canon of the Mass. But if they meant the latter That the Protestant Religion is contein'd in all those but that every part of those is not the Protestant Religion then â—e apprehended it might be in the Bishops Power to declare ex post facto what is the Protestant Religion or not or else they must leave it to every man to judge for himself what parts of those books are or are not and then their Oath had been much better let alone Much of this nature was said by that Lord and Others and the great Officers and Bishops were so hard put to it that they seemed willing and convinced to admit of an Expedient The Lord Wharton and Old and Expert Parliament Man of eminent Piety and Abilities beside a great Friend to the Protestant Religion and Interest of England offer'd as a cure to the whole Oath and what might make it pass in all the 3 parts of it without any farther debate the addition of these words at the latter end of the Oath Viz. as the same is or shall be establish'd by Act of Parliament but this was not endured at all when the Lord Grey of Rollston a worthy and true English Lord offered another Expedient which was the addition of words by force or fraud to the beginning of the Oath and then it would run thus I do swear not to endeavor by force or fraud to alter this was also a cure that would have passed the whole Oath and seemed as if it would have carried the whole House The Duke of York and Bishop of Rochester both secondâ—ng it but the Lord Treaâ—urer who had privately before consented to it speaking against it gave the word and sign to that party and it being put to the question the major Vote answered all arguments and the L. Grey's Proposition was laid aside Having thus carried the question relying upon their strength of Votes taking advantage that those expedients that had been offered extended to the whole Oath though but one of the 3 Clauses in the Oath had been debated the other two not mentioned at all they attempted strongly at nine of the Clock at night to have the whole Oath put to the question and though it was resolutely opposed by the Lord Mohun a Lord of great courage and resolution in the Publick Interest and one whose own personal merits as well as his Fathers gave him a just title to the best favors of the Court yet they were not diverted but by as great a disorder as ever was seen in that House proceeding from the rage those unreasonable proceedings had caused in the Country Lords they standing up in a clump together and crying out with so loud a conâ—inued Voice Adjourn that when silence was obtain'd Fear did what Reason could not do cause the question to be put only upon the first Clause concerning Protestant Religion to which the Bishops desired might be added as it is now established and one of the eminentest of those were for the Bill added the words by Law so that as it was passed it ran I A. B. do swear that I will not endeavor to alter the Protestant Religion now by Law established in the Church of England And here observe the words by Law do directly take in the Canons though the Bishops had never mentioned them And now comes the consideration of the latter part of the Oath which comprehends these 2 Clauses viz. nor the Goverment either in Church or State wherein the Church came first to be considerd And it was objected by the Lords against the Bill that it was not agreeable to the King's Crown and Dignity to have His Subjects sworn to the Government of the Church equally as to Himself That for the Kings of England to swear to maintain the Church was a diffeâ—ent thing from enjoyning all His Officers and both His Houses of Parliament to swear to them It would be well understood before the Bill passed what the Government of the Church we are to swear to is and what the Boundaries of it whether it derives no Power nor Authority nor the exercise of any Power Authority or Function but from the King as head of the Church and from God as through him as all his other Officers do For no Church or Religion can justify it self to the Government but the State Religion that ownes an entire dependency on and is but a branch of it or the independent Congregations whilest they claim no other power but the exclusion of their own members from their particular Communion and endeavor not to set up a Kingdom of Christ to their own use in this World whilest our Saviour hath told us that His Kingdom is not of it for otherwise there would be Imperium in imperio and two distinct Supream Powers inconsistent with each other in the same place and over the same persons The Bishops alâ—eadged that Priesthood and the Power thereof and the Authorities belonging thereunto were derived immediately from Christ but that the license of exercising that Authority and Power in any Country is derived from the civil Magistrate To which was replied that it was a