Magistrats for preferring the Law of the Kingdom to the Humor of particular Persons Somewhat might be likewise said for those Differences if we did not find that they necessarly and naturally produced Principles of Rebellion Assassination contempt of Magistracy and of Masters with a thousand other Impieties and Immoralities Whilst it is very remarkable that Episcopacy never bred a Rebel nor inspir'd a Murderer but gentle like the Christian Religion which it professes it Preaches Obedience under the pain of eternal Damnation and practises mercy to that height that it is now become the Temper of the Men as well as the Doctrine of the Church 6ly In Matters of Government We must Ballance the Safety of the whole with the Punishment of a few And in our Case We must consider that a Civil War would be much more severe then a few Executions or Fynes can be And we need only remember the vast Subsidies the extraordinary Cruelties and boundless Arbitrariness of the last Age to be convinc'd that it is not Severity but kindness in the present Government which forces them as a Physician rather to draw a little Bloud than to suffer their Patient to run into a Frensie especially when they know the Patient has been lately inclin'd to it and when they see the usual Symptoms that foretel the approaching fit to grow very remarkably every hour This may be further clear'd by comparing a little the condition wherein His Royal Highness found this Kingdom with that State to which it is now brought under his happy Influence It cannot be deny'd but that before His Royal Highness came to Scotland the Fields were every Sabbath cover'd with Arm'd-men upon the pretext of hearing Sermons Which Sermons were so far from being a legal Defense against Rebellion that they were most Efficacious Incentives to it His Majesties most undenyable Prerogatives were upon all Occasions contraverted Masters were contemn'd by their Servants and Heretors by their Tennents And it was very just and consequential that these Masters should have been contemn'd by their Servants who did themselves learn them this Lesson by contemning the King their Superiour and Master The Ministers of the Gospel were Invaded Wounded and Assassinated Churches were either left Waste or insolently Perturb'd when they were frequented Principles of Assassination were Preach'd and Practis'd All such as own'd or Serv'd the Government were affronted and menac'd Pasquils and Defamatory Libels vvere publickly vented and prais'd Dreams Visions and Prophesies portending the Ruine and Overthrovv of the Government vvere spread abroad to amuse the People and fill the Heads of the vveaker sort vvith Fears and Jealousies Lying vvas become all our Wit and Hectoring of the Government all our Courage Whereas novv People are gathered in from the Fields to Churches God Almighty is served with Reverence and the King as his Vicegerent with Respect The Royal Prerogative is neither streatch'd nor basi'd The Privy Council have learn'd by his Royal Highnesses sitting so long amongst them to shevv as much Clemency as may consist vvith firmness and to sustain their Justice by their Courage All Animosities and Differences among our Nobility are Compos'd and forgot and Thefts and Robberies in the Highlands vvhich vvere formerly so great a Reproach to the Government and a Ruine to the People are novv not only Secur'd against by present Punishments but prevented by suitable and proportional Remedies such as Commissions of Justiciary Security taken from the Heretors and Chiftains of Clans setling of Garisons in convenient places and giving Money for Intelligence to Spy's Ministers are so much Protected and Encourag'd that one can hardly think if he had not knovvn their former condition that ever the People had had any unkindness for them Men do not novv lust after Nevvs nor Conventicles But Employ those Thoughts and that Time upon their privat Affairs vvhich they formerly mispent in follovving Expensive Field Preachers Securing themselves and their Estates by a pleasant peaceableness from the Fears as vvell as the Damnage of Fines and Punishments We have no Pasquils nor hear of no Visions Men honour the Lavvs by vvhich they are Protected and those Magistrats by whose Ministry they enjoy this Peace and Quiet Whilst their Magistrats on the other hand remember that His Majesty and His Royal Highness hate the insolence of their Servants though they may for some time suffer it And that the preparatives they make to the prejudice of the People will be lasting Snares and Burdens on their Posterity Magistrats should pity the frailties to which themselves are subject and the misfortuns which themselves cannot shun and should cover rather than punish Escapes which have more of mistake in them than of Guilt By which paralel our Countrey-men and Neighbours may judge whether His Royal Highness be so undesirable a Governour that the Law of God of Nature and Nations should be brok to Exclude him from his Right of Succession Whether we Enjoy greater and truer Liberty under his Protection than we did under our usurping Parliaments And whether those Expressions of our Thankfulness proceed from flattery or from gratitude REFLECTIONS ON The Earl of ARGIL'S Process NExt to our Laws our Judges are arraigned and though all Nations presume that Judges understand and that we should presume them Just being ordinarly men of Integrity who are ingadg'd upon Oath and have both Soul and Reputation at Stake And who know their Children are to be Judg'd by the preparatives they make Yet our Phamphleters who neither understand matter of Law nor matter of Fact stick not most soveraignly to decyde that our Sentences even in Criminals in which men cannot Err wilfully without murdering deliberatly are absurd ridiculous and inhumane And yet these same men the great Patrons of Iustice are the Secretaries of that Party who after they had murdered Strafford made an Act that none should dy by that preparative in imitation of which horrid Injustice our Rebellous Zealots did Execute Sir Iohn Gordon of Haddo upon a Statute made by them after they had Condemn'd him as a Traitor for bearing Arms against the three Estates tho he had a special Commission from the King their Soveraign And hang'd the great Marques of Montrose with his Declaration Emited by His Majesties Authority about his Neck though they had Treated and concluded with the King that gave it by whom so many Noble-men and Gentle-men fell for doing their Duty and so many innocent Cavaleers were Massacr'd after they got Quarters Then it was That an Oath was taken by our States-men not to spare the lives of either kin Friend nor Ally That three hundred were expos'd on a Rock to be starv'd and as many murdered in cold Bloud after Quarter And a Scaffold being Erected at the Cross of Edinburgh on which in six Weeks time multitudes of generous Gentle-men having dy'd a Zealous Minister Thanked GOD for that Altar on which so sweet smelling a Sacrifice was offer'd Whereas our Merciful King having had his Father
Martyr'd and being himself Banish'd Pardon'd even His Fathers Murderers And granted not only Pardons but Indulgences after two inexcusable Rebellions And it was very wonderful to see His Royal Brother this formidable Tyrant in our Pamphlets pleading for Pardon even to such as owned a hatred against all the Royal Family Nor can it be deny'd but there is a gentleness in the old Cavalier Party which demonstrats that they are in the Right And which is infinitly preferable to that soure Cruelty and morose bitterness which make the insolent Republicans and bigot Fanaticks humourous and dangerous And as a Monarch the true father of his Subjects thinks it generous to Pardon so Republicans must be Cruel to shew a Zeal for the Rabble which they Serve Nor do I ever hear that any of those publick Spirited Authors do turn the Edge of their Zeal against Ignoramus juries false Witnesses lying Scriblers against the Government assassinats c. I am now come to take notice of a late Pamphlet called The Scots-mist wherein because the late Earl of Argyl's Process is founded upon Points in jure and consequently not so obvious to the consideration of every Unlearn'd Man the Author takes pains to make it appear an unanswerable Instance of the Arbitrariness of our Judges But before I answer his weak Reflections in Law I must take notice of some few Particulars in Fact As first His Judges were not Judges in a Packt Commission but the learn'd and Ordinary Iudges of the Nation 2ly What Temptation could the King or any who Served Him have to streatch Law in that case for that as to his Life there was no design is clear from the express Order His Royal Highness gave not to keep him strictly after he was found guilty Though great presumptions were offered to that generous Prince of a design'd Escape And himself ordour'd in Council that the most Learned Advocats in Scotland should be prest to appear for him Nor was ever a Prisoner us'd either by Judges or by the Kings Advocat with so much discretion and respect 3ly His Jurisdictions nor Estate could be no Temptation for the late Advocat had Represented such Reasons against his Right to these Jurisdictions and Superiorities as no man under Heaven could answer with any shadow of Reason And the King got not one farthing of his Estate for His Royal Highness by his generous Interposition procur'd more of it for his Children then belonged to the Family Debts being payed And the remainder was gifted by our gracious and inimitable King amongst the Creditors And the Tithes possest by that Earl returned to the Church Happy Kingdom wherein the greatest Instance of Arbitrary Government is a Person who having nothing to lose save what the King gave had a fair Tryal by sworn Judges and Jurors and lost upon the Event neither Life nor Fortune And whose Family after three capital Sentences two by Parliaments and one by a Solemn Iustice Court is left without envy in a better condition then almost any who Serv'd the King in His great Extremities 4ly All these Narratives and Apologies are founded on great mistakes as if the Earl had been desired to take the Test for we desire no man but men in Office desire it because they cannot enjoy their Offices till they take it And that the Council was once pleased with the Explanation he gave as if he had given in an Explanation and the Council being pleased with it allowed him to take it in these Terms Whereas the true cas was that the Earl had assured both His Royal Highness and many others that he would not take the Test. Notwithstanding whereof coming in abruptly to the Council he spoke something with so slow a Voice that none say they heard him and then clapping down-on his Knees took the Test but some Copies being dispersed of what he said all Loyal Men murmured at the preparative as tending to destroy not only the Parliaments design in the Test but to unhing all Government And the greatest Fanaticks in Scotland owned they would take it in that Sense without prejudice to their Principles and so they might being allowed not to bind up themselves from endeavouring any alteration they should think fit for the advantage of Church and State Which made the Oath no Oath and the Test no Test. And therefore the next day when he offered to take the Test as a Commissioner of the Thesaury he was desired first to give in his Explanation which when he gave it in it was enquir'd if any man had heard that Explanation made in Council and no man did remember he heard or understood it so And thereafter it was Voted not satisfactory And albeit His Majesties Advocat allowed the Earl to prove that the Council heard and approved it yet his Lordship failed in the Probation and it is absurd to think the Council would have allowed an Explanation which would have Evacuated the whole Act and the design of the Parliament in it as shall fully hereafter be prov'd Whereas if the Earl had only designed to Exoner his Conscience he might either have abstained for no man is obliged to take the Test or if he had resolved to know if his meaning would have been acceptable he might have given his Sense and petitioned to know if that was acceptable which had been a fair and sure way both for Takers and Rulers Whereas first to take and then give in his Explanation is a certain way to secure ones own Employments and a preparative to let in any let their Principles be what they please if they have the Wit to Salve their Principles by apposit Explications and the dispersing Copies of that Paper before it was presented in Council cannot be said to have been done for Exonering his own Conscience but is the ordinary way that men take when they resolve to Defame the Government Nor is our Government so unreasonable as not to desire to satisfie such as scruple without ill Designs And this they shew in satisfying some of the Orthodox Clergy who offered modestly some Scruples against the inconsistency of the Confession of Faith with Episcopacy And which Scruples being easily cleared they all obeyed save nineteen or twenty in the whole Kingdom at most some whereof had also inclinations however to the good old Cause Nor can I pass by here a strange abuse put upon the World in that Pamphlet as if those scruples there set down were only the Scruples of the conform Clergy whereas many Papers bearing that Title were drawn by the Presbyterians and found amongst their Papers and the Paper ascryb'd to them in that Book wants the chief Objection they stuck at viz. That the Compylers of that Confession of Faith were Enemies to Episcopacy and in place thereof it asperses our present Episcopacy the Kings Supremacy and the Act of the Succession which the conform Clergy never did For clearing this Process modestly and meerly in defense of our Judges I shal first set
privat mens Lives and to rise in Arms was Treason before the Statute King Ia. 1. Nor have we yet any clear Statute against Murder and if special Statutes were requisit in every case of Treason the greatest Treason should often escape unpunished For Law thought it unnecessary to provide against these and every age produces new kinds of Treasonable Extravagancies and Traitors would easily elude and cheat the express Words of a Statue if that were all that were necessary But who can deny that the Justices condemned a man justly for Treason for saying when he was askt if the King was a Tyrant let his Coronation Oath and his Actions and particularly his usurping over the Church of Christ be compared and that will be soon known And yet here was no explicite assertion but yet what all men easily understood and which reproacht and mis-represented the King as much as any open Expression and there was no Statute condemning that Expression expresly nor can there be a Law for every Expression But yet the Earls Treason is founded upon the express Statute abovementioned And whereas it is pretended 2ly That the Earl might have as a Privy Counsellor propos'd any thing to the King and so a Reservation was necessar upon that account To this it may be easily answered that no Oath does hinder a man from doing what is Lawful and so there needed be no Reservation nor Exception upon that or the like Consideration For an Exception must be of some thing that could oppose the Rule But so it is the Oath which is the Rule in that Case did not exclude any lawful Endeavours at the desire or command of the Prince and so there needed no Exception as to these But the former argument still Recurs viz. He that will not bind himself up as to any thing reserves a power as to all things or at least it must be Interpret of unlawful things For lawful things need no exception And if this were sufficient then the Parliament did unjustly in declaring that it is Treason to put limitations on our alleadgance and that notwithstanding of any pretence whatsoever Nor could any man commit Treason if that were allowed for he himself would be still Judge And whereas it is pretended 3ly That he disclaims the Covenant and rising in Arms expresly in this Oath and so he could not reserve any thing as to these It is answered that this were undenyable if he took the Oath simply but having taken the Oath only In so far as it is consistent with it Self and the Protestant Religion This Oath does not tye him if he think the Protestant Religion shall require rising in Arms. And having taken the Covenant if he still thinks the Covenant binds him he renunces it not by his Oath For this Oath tyes him only as far as he can that is to say as far as he is free and no man is free who thinks himself bound And taking it only as far as it is consistent with it self God only and the Earl knows how far that is for he has not told us how far it is consistent with it self and very probably such as have taken the Covenant think not that Oath consistent with the Protestant Religion in so far as it binds us not to take up Arms if the Protestant Religion be in danger and the Antitesters Papers Printed by Mr. Mist tell us plainly that it is not consistent with it self in so far as we swear to own the Successor though differing in Religion from us And yet we swear to the preservation of the Laws of which the Coronation Oath is one But whatever might have been said in defense of such Limitations before we saw what dreadful effects they had produced both in the last age and this And that Parliaments had so severely condemned them as Treason It is the duty of Judges to be severe to such as use them and they have only themselves to blame who split on a Rock when they see a Beacon set up to them And it is much safer for the Common-wealth that such Papers be punished then that it should be in danger by such Reservations as leave every man Judge how far he is oblieged to Obey And as there is great danger to the State on the one hand if it passe unpunished So there is none on the other seing men may be secure in abstaining from such Expressions and Papers And there was never any so unnecessary as this was And might not Strangers and our own Posterity think all the miseries that should fall on us by Rebellions and Civil Wars very just punishments of our senselesse Security if after we had not only seen but felt the mischief of such Glosses We stood still unconcernedly as men seing their own House set on fire by the same hands which had help't to burn it formerly If any by Ignorance or Error stumble into a Legal tho undesign'd Crime The Law allows not Judges by an insolent pity to justifie the Guilt but suffers the King by a Judicious Clemency to mitigat or remit the Punishment In which the Subjects under Monarchy are much happier than these of a Common-wealth where in many cases the Law must be cruel or Judges must be Arbitrary This is that sure City of Refuge into which no man who flees perisheth And if the Earl of Argile had come in Will during the Debate as use is I am sure he had been Securer there than by his Defenses But why should I admire that this Author and those of his Principles do not see that this Paper is Treason Since I dare say they will not acknowledge that it is Treason to oppose the Succession and to say that it can be altered by a Parliament and yet our Parliament unanimously thought that to be Treason And in the last age they thought it not Treason but duty to rise in Arms against the King and to Call Parliaments without him Though all the World abhorr'd us for it So that the fault is not in our Parliaments and Judges but in the depraved Sense and debauched Intellectuals of such as have by a long Custom of hating Authority bred in themselves also a hatred of every Person and thing that can maintain it Since then GOD Almighty amongst the other Miracles which he has wrought for his Darling as well as Representative CHARLES THE MERCIFUL begins to open the Eyes of the Blind and to make some who were Crooked Walk Straight Let us who Serve this gracious Monarch Reason whilst His Enemies Rail and be Just whilst they are Extravagant but withal let us be asham'd that they dare do more for Humour and Errors than we for Duty and Law and we may expect amongst other Rewards which the Rabble has not to bestow that we will get also that Applause which is alwise the Slave of Victory and which of late seem'd to Fan them so pleasantly meerly because they were like to prevail And for which too many of late sacrific'd their Honour and Loyalty VVithout remembring that tho just Applause is an Elogie VVritten by the Hand of Vertue and a Monument Built of solid Merit Yet that Applause which is unjust is only a sweet Poyson a plausible Cheat and the Dream of one who is Drunk FINIS