Title of all our Laws and is the right End to which all Laws ought to be directed But why are they called Penal Laws for have not all Laws a Penalty annexed to them Perhaps they mean that these are Laws which interpose in Matters indifferent such as the Eating â—… Flesh on Frydays But is not Popery Malum is â—… Is Idolatry an Evil only by chance and by happening to be prohibited Is not the Worship of a â—…-God an Onion-God or a Red-cloth-God an unspeakable Dishonour to the God of Heaven in â—… Places in every Season of the Ear every Day of the Week and all Hours of the Day Is it not â—… ternally Evil The Laws of the Land found Idolatry prohibited to their hands by the â—… Law of God and even antecedently to that it â—… prohibited by the Law of Nature and no Muncipal Laws in the World need desire a â—… Warrant And therefore to Repeal the Law made against the Idol of the Mass Agnus â—… Blocks-Almighty and the infinite Idolatry which interwoven with Popery is neither more nor â—… than to undertake to Repeal the Laws of God. Secondly The Laws made against the Seminary Priests and Romish Missioners are Religious Laws because they are made in pursuance of â—… Iohn's Precept a Epist. 10. 11. If there come â—… unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive â—… not into your house neither bid him God-speed â—… â—… that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his â—… deeds But do the Seminaries come and bring â—… the true Doctrine of Christ Do they not bring â—… another Gospel As Dr. Sherlock hath unanswerably proved upon them in the Second Part of his Preservative against Popery And therefore as every private Man is bound to shut his Doors against these Deceivers and Seducers by the same reason â—… Community is bound to expel and drive them â—… of the Nation And I think there were never â—… errant Cheats and Impostors as these are for â—… by their Masses can fetch Souls out of â—… of their own putting in they can forgive â—… in the Sacrament of Confession they can â—… away the Devil with Crosses and Holy â—… and they can make their God in the Sacrament They make a God! they make a â—… Again The Laws against the Papists are â—… Necessary Laws and so they were to the very â—… of the Kingdom In the first of Elizabeth â—… Oath of Supremacy was absolutely necessary to â—… off the Romish Yoke and that intolerable â—… and Tyranny of the Pope under which â—… the Crown and Kingdom were perfect Slaves â—… afterwards was it not time to look after the â—… Chaplains when they had raised a Rebellion â—… the North and he himself had sent a Bull to â—… the Queen and to Absolve her Subjects from â—… Allegiance I do not mention the continual â—… of the Queen of Scots in which the â—… Party always joyned with her and besides â—… drawn in several deluded Protestants which â—… a great Jest to the Papists That Protestants â—… be so insatuated as to assist the Queen of Scots to their own Destruction as is to be seen in â—… Francis Walsingham's Letter written from â—… still extant in the Cebala of Letters In short â—… appears by the Preambles of all those Statutes in â—… Reign that the Kingdom made every one of â—… in their own Defence and to preserve â—… from Popish Attempts and that the Nation â—… utterly perished without them And then in King James's time did not the â—… dig under the very Pillars of the Kingdom â—… make them shake when they laid so many â—… of Gunpowder under the Parliament-House â—… was it not high time to tye their Hands by the â—… which followed by more closely consining â—… to their Houses by banishing them ten Miles â—… London by disabling them not only from all â—… but from being in any Publick Employment and by thoroughly disarming them so much â—… from wearing a Sword. And was it not time in the late King's Reign to put new life into the Disabling Acts by the addition of a Test when several Papists had gotten the greatest Offices of the Kingdom into their hands And then as for the Parliament-Test that the Papists may not be our Law-givers besides the perpetual necessity of such a Law the Occasion of it is still upon Record both in Mens Minds and very largely in the Journal of the House of Lords and in other inferiour Courts of Record And if these were all of them Necessary Laws when they were made they are become ten times more necessary since for now Popery has beset us and hemmed us in on every side We have an Army of Priests and Jesuits the true Fore-runners of Antichrist in the Bowels of the Kingdom nay the Pope himself who by several Laws is declared to be the Publick Enemy of the Kingdom has arrived some time since in his Nuncio and is now compassing the Land in his Four Apostolick Vicars And therefore to talk of Repealing Laws when we want the strictest Execution of them is talk only fit for Bedlam and that Nation which Repeals Necessary Laws when it has the greatest necessity for them must be concluded to be weary of its own Life and is Felo de se Secondly I am now come to the Penal Laws against the Dissenters concerning which I shall say the less because God's time for the Repealing of those Laws is not yet come For if they cannot be Repealed in this Juncture of time unless the Dissenters put forth their hands to the setting up of Idolatry when they cannot be Repealed and therefore what cannot be now done without manifest Impiety must even be let alone till it can be done with a good Conscience As for the good Disposition which is in the Conformists to Repeal those Laws with the first opportunity that is always to be measured by Actions rather than Words and therefore I shall give them an instance of it in the Bill for Repealing the 25th of Elizabeth which passed both Houses of a Church of England Parliament though the Dissenters lost the benefit of that Pledge and Earnest of their Good-will and are not ignorant which way it was lost But in the mean time if our Dissenting Brethren should endeavour to get these Laws Repealed by parting on their side with the Laws against Popery then I beg of them to mind the plain English of such Conditions It is as if the Dissenters should say thus to the Papists Do you help us to set up Meeting-Houses and we will do as much for your Mass-Houses Let but the pure Worship of God be Established without Ceremonies and we are content that Idolatry itself shall go share and share-like in the same Establishment to make a Magna Charta which shall be equal let Christ have his part in it and Antichrist shall be sure to have his Our business is to receive the Sacramext without Kneeling and upon that Condition we will joyn in the
December 21. 1688. Licensed Fourteen Papers VIZ. I. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel II. A Letter from a Freeholder to the rest of the Freeholders of England and all Others who have Votes in the Choice of Parliament-Men III. An Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by Sa. Oxon. IV. Reflections on a Late Pamphlet Entituled Parliamentum Pacificum Licensed by the Earl of Sunderland and Printed at London in March 1688. V. A Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of His Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence VI. The Anatomy of an Equivalent VII A Letter from a Clergy-man in the City to his Friend in the Country Containing his Reasons for not Reading the Declaration VIII An Answer to the City Minister's Letter from his Country Friend IX A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the Hague concerning the Penal Laws and the Test shewing that the Popular Plea for Liberty of Conscience is not concerned in that Question X. A Plain Account of the Persecution said to the Charge of the Church of England XI Abby and other Church-Lands not yet assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion XII The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated XIII A Letter of several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the Account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the Kings Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. XIV Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of Orange's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin ' near the BlackBull in the Old-Bailey 1689. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel SIR AS soon as the Letter Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland c. came to my hands I set upon Answering it with the same expedition and plainness of Style as uses to accompany naked Truth which needs not the cloathing of sophistical Arguments or florid Expressions to recommend it to the unprejudic'd part of Mankind And indeed upon the very first reading of every Paragraph of it the slightness of the Arguing or the notorious Falshood of the Matter of Fact did so evidently appear that a man of ordinary capacity needs not put his Natural Talent on the Rack to resute them The very first Position of the Paper viz. That Ireland is in a better Way of Thriving under the Government of a Native than an Englishman by which I suppose you mean one not barely so by Birth but by Inclination Interest Education Religion c. is so false that it contradicts the Experience and Reason of Mankind and disgusts one so much in the front of the Letter that I was tempted to fling it away unread judging it not worth the loss of so much time if the rest should prove of the same kind as indeed I found it upon perusal but having ventured through it I looked upon myself obliged to say something by way of Answer since in the opinion of some sort of Men the not Answering though even the most trifling Pamphlet is given out to be the Inability of the Party to reply to the weight of such Arguments as are contained in it I will not insist much upon the constant Practice of all the Predecessours of our English Kings and their Counsellors ever since the Conquest of Ireland who made it an establisht Maxim in relation to that Kingdom That none but an Englishman should be Chief Governour insomuch that till within these two Years that Practice gave occasion to the common erronious opinion That a man born in Ireland however otherwise qualified was thereby incapacitated from being Lord Deputy It is certain that long before the Reformation when Matters of Religion made no distinction between the Natives of each Country this was the setled and unalter'd Rule Have we any reason then to alter it now that Religion is put into the Scale and become the additional weight which never fails giving the advantage to the side it espouses and adheres to or rashly to condemn the wise Proceedings of the Ancestours of our Kings and contrary to the Opinion of the World judge our Author's Irish Understanding better than all the English ones that have been heretofore Our Author will certainly allow Ireland to be a conquer'd Country and consequently that the Conquerours have right to establish Laws with such restrictions and limitations as shall seem fitting and convenient towards the keeping it in their hands and the welfare of the Inhabitants which are of two sorts the British Planters and the Natives I shall prove that it has been and still is the Advantage of both these that Ireland should be Govern'd by an Englishman By the way I would have it understood that I do not pretend to put these two Interests into any ballance I know the British Interest does so far outweigh the other that it were a wrong done it to bring them into any competition more than two parts of three of the Lands of Ireland being by the several Rebellions of the Irish in British hands and for the Quality Temper Industry c. there is no comparison besides that if one of two Parties is to be pleased tho' by the detriment of the other 't is but just that the Conquerours who have right to give Law should be indulg'd how much more when it is consistent with the welfare of the Irish themselves if they understood their own good I am convinc'd that whatever has been done in favour of the Natives is pure Grace and cannot be claimed as a just Debt any otherwise than since it has been confirmed by Our Laws and Acts of Parliament He that reflects on 1641 will readily assent to this which makes me admire at the pertness of our Author in Capitulating as if we stood upon even ground with them but 't is plain he considers the Interest but of one Party in that Kingdom and tho' he names Ireland often he means the Native Irish Papist only But I proceed To prove that it is the Interest of the British that Ireland should be Governed by an Englishman I need say no more than that they all ardently desire it and People are the best Judge of their own Necessities The common Maxim That Interest will not lye Holds good here to some purpose The ill effects the contrary method has had on their Persons and Estates is but too visible Whoever had seen Ireland four Years ago and
wherewith he is intrusted to the destruction of the most considerable Party in it Far be it from us to think it was His Majesties Intentions to depopulate a flourishing Country to undo multitudes of laborious thriving Families in it to diminish and destroy his own Revenue to put the Sword into Mad-mens hands who are sworn Enemies to the British No! His Majesty who is willing that liberty of Trade as well as Conscience should equally flourish in all parts of his Dominions that recommends himself to his Subjects by his impartiality in distributing Offices of Trust and from that practice raises his greatest Argument to move his people to Repeal the Penal Laws never intended that some general Commands of his should be perverted to the destruction of that people his intention is to protect His Majesty Great as he is cannot have two Consciences one calculated for the Latitude of England another for Ireland We ought therefore to conclude in respect to the King. that His Commands have been ill understood and worse executed and this may be done as our Author confesses and the King undoubtedly obeyed but such an Obedience is no better than a Sacrifice of the best Subjects the King has in this Kingdom Our Author has given very good Reasons why the Natives may be well content with their present Governour but I cannot forbear laughing at those he has found out to satisfie the poor British with My Lord Tyrconnel's most Excellent Charitable English Lady His high sounding Name â—… in great Letters a Name that no less frightens â—… Poor English in Ireland then it once â—…â—… French a Name which because he is in possession of I will not dispute his Title to but I have been credibly informed that he has no relation to the most Noble Family of Shrewsbury though â—… Lord Tyrconnel presumes to bear the same Cost â—… Arms a Name in short which I hope in â—… â—… â—…â—… A Second Reason is drawn from his Education We have heard and it has never yet been contradicted that my Lord Tyrconnel from his Youth â—… has constantly born Arms against the British If our Author will assure us of the contrary I â—… apt to believe his Excellency will give him no â—… who lays the foundation of his Merit upon the â—… of his constant adherence to the Irish Party â—… use of Consolation can be drawn from this head â—… the British is beyond my skill to comprehend A third Reason is drawn from his Stake in England the Author would do well to shew us in what Country this lies that we may know where to find Reprisals hereafter for since he offers this for our Security 't is fit to enquire into the Title and Value of the Land before we give so valuable a Consideration Thus this great heap of substantial Reasons together with a large Panegyrick upon his Excellency's fair Face and good Shapes telling us by the by now he was not kill'd at Drogheda because he run away is enough and more than enough to demonstrate that the British have not the least cause to be dejected because they are sufficiently secure But I will agree with the Author in this That he seems to have been reserved by Heaven against the most critical occasion that should happen in this Age reserv'd as one of the Vials of God's Wrath to plague the People 'T is well known Self-preservation is allowed by God and Man and sines he tells us we are â—… People of a contrary Inurest he gives us right to provide for our selves and our Families as well as we may t is like a generous Aggressor first he declares who are his Enemies then gives them warning to put themselves into a posture of Defence We are beholding to him soo this hint and â—… hope shall make the right use of it 'T is below â—… to take notice of the â—… of the Expression of an honest Man's losing his Head in a â—… and the nonscence of the other The most men bite at the stone c. Dogs indeed â—… to do so with us but this is only to let the World know what Country man our Author is â—… it may be 't is the custom here for these Men to â—… these more rational Creatures Our Author seems sensible that many hard things â—… been done which occasioned Clamours â—… the present Governour though I think our Grievances how intolerable soever have been â—… more silently then any Peoples since the Creation since I do not remember any one Pamphlet â—… hitherto come out to represent them ours â—… of that nature as â—… as and takes away â—… use of the Tongue and Pen Cura lives â—… â—… stupent I say he is not willing this â—… of Calumny should rest on my Lord Tyrconnel â—… casts it all on His Majesty imagining that the â—… we beat and justly to our King ought â—… tender us â—…-â—… in relation to the Male-â—… of his Minister But I have â—… shewn how the King's Orders may be stretch'd â—… perverted The very best and most cautiously â—… Laws have a double edge and if the Executive Power be lodg'd in ill Hands have the worst Effect even to the Punishment of Well-doers and the Encouragement of them that do Ill and I question not in the least but this is our Case and as little doubt that our Grievances would be redress'd did not one of His Majesties most Eminent Virtues interpose between us and His Grace I mean his Constancy to his old Servants and our Condition is so much the more deplorable that His Majesty cannot be a Father of His Country without seeming to desert His Minister but 't is to be hoped that at long running the Groans of a distressed Nation will prevail over all private Considerations Whether the Employment His Majesty has given my Lord Tyrconnel has not prov'd the occasion of the Augmentation of his Fortune as our Author insinuates it has not shall neither prove the subject of this Discourse nor object of our Envy I shall only say if the report be true that my Lord owes all his Estate to the King's bounty 't is ungratefully done to rob His Majesty of the Honour and Thanks due to him by denying it much less is it our business to find fault with the advancement of five Relations In this point Authors differ for some speak 55 at least If there had not been the greatest Partiality in the World shewed we should never have open'd our mouths if in an Army of about 9000 English Officers and Souldiers there be not 200 left in a Country where the English have so much cause to fear and those turn'd out for the most part without any cause assign'd after the most ignominious disgraceful manner imaginable stript naked in the Field their Horses Boots Buff-coats c. taken from them giving them Bills to receive so much Money in Dublin as â—…â—… half the value of their Equipage and â—… without Charge and Attendance have â—… reason to fear
If in a Country whose â—… was perfectly in the English hands so sudden an alteration was made that both the Courts of Judicature and Charters of their Corporations were taken from them without any fault of theirs have they not reason to complain and be affraid If those very Arms which are taken from them be put into the hands of their sworn Enemies and their just Debts paid after a new Method by beating or killing the Creditors when they demand their own Have they not reason to fear and desert the Kingdom If these and an hundred other things do not justifie the retreat of several of the British into England I know not what shall be adjudged a sufficient Reason This our Author would insinuate is caused by a sullen Combination as if the Gentry of a Nation could agree together to do a thing so contrary to their visible Interest as desert their Houses and Estates to the loss of one half of them meerly out of spite to the Government But because our Author is so good at his Narratives and would induce the World to believe that there was but two Regiments disbanded by his talking only of two and in another place speaking of some Officers that were Cashiered We shall hereafter give a faithful Account of the Proceedings in the business of Disbanding and in the mean time affirm That his whole Account of the Affair at Molingar is most unsincere The English Soldiers were given to understand that they were all to be turned out and the only Grace his Excellency did them was to declare before a long and tedious March That such as had a mind or had Settlements in that Country might better quit then than hereafter This is plainly shewn by the turning out afterwards all those English who then actually continued in the Service they were glad that any would quit voluntarily but those that did not and after a publick Tryal were willing to serve His Majesty they soon after turn'd out Thus the false gloss that our Author puts upon my Lord Tyrconnel's Speech is discover'd And I assure the Reader the Memoires I have by me are from such unquestionable hands and there are so many hundred living Witnesses to the truth of them that our Author will not have the Impudence to deny what may be prov'd before His Majesty if he require it I shall only take notice of the ill Application of our Author's Sea-Metaphor Though in stress of Weather the Owner is willing to make use of all hands that may be helpful towards the saving the Vessel yet he takes care to call for none whose practice it hath been to cut the Tacklings and to steer contrary to the Pilot's Directions he thinks such safer by far shut up under Hatches then set at liberty or employ'd to do mischief As for his supposition of 30000 men to be sent out of Ireland into Flanders I cannot tell what to make on 't Let them crack the Shell that hope to find a Kernel in it For my part I despair though the readiness of the English Soldiers of Ireland who at twenty four hours warning came into England to serve His Majesty in the time of Monmouth's Rebellion ought to have been remembered to their advantage and might serve to any unprejudic'd person as a Pattern of the Loyalty and good Inclinations of all the Protestants in that Kingdom if His Majesty had had occasion â—… them Whether the Parliament will Repeal â—… Test for those several weighty Reasons our Author says are fitter for Contemplation then Discourse tho methinks it would be pleasant to see a House of Commons sit like the Brethren at a silent Meeting is not my Province to determine As likewise Whether they will so much consider that â—… Reason the King will have it so for his Conscience and theirs may differ or what the Dissenters will do I cannot tell One thing I am sure â—… there will be no such Stumbling-block in the â—… of the King's desires when they meet as the present condition of Ireland they will be apt â—… His Majesty tells them they shall have their â—… shares in Employments when they have Repealed the Laws to say Look at Ireland see what is done there where the Spirit of Religion appears â—… fac'd and accordingly compute what may become of us when we have removed our own legal â—… Since they now leap over those Hedges what may we expect when they are quite taken away Poyning's Law is a great grievance to our Author and here in one word he discovers that 't is the dependance this Kingdom has on England he quarrel at 'T is fit the Reader should understand that Law enacted when Poynings was Lord Deputy make all the English Acts of Parliament of force in Ireland we are therefore so fond of that Law and cover so much to preserve our dependance on England that all the Arguments our Author can bring shall not induce us to part with it I will not reflect in the least on the Courage of the Irish I know there are several brave men among them but they have had the misfortune to fall under the Consideration of as our Author softens â—… but the plain sence is been beaten by a Warlike Nation and I question not unless they behave themselves modestly in their Prosperity they will again fall under the Consideration of the same Nation 't is better we should live in peace and quietness but the Choice is in their hands and if they had rather come under our Consideration again than avoid it let them look to the Consequence Another Advantage which may accrue to Ireland by a Native as Governour our Author â—… to be His personal knowledge of the Tories and their Harbourers and his being thereby better capacitated to suppress them Malicious People would be apt to infer from this Suggestion that his Excellency had occasion formerly to be familiarly acquainted with such sort of Cattle I have heard indeed that one of our bravest English Princes â—… the during the Extravagancies of his Youth â—… company with publick Robbers and often shar'd both in the Danger and Booty But as soon as the Death of his Father made way for his Succession to the Crown he made â—… of his former acquaintance of their Persons and â—… to the extirpating and dissolving the greatest knot of Highway-men that ever troubled England My Lord therefore in imitation of his great Prince no doubt will make use of his Experience that way to the same end and I really assent to the Author that no English Governor can be so fit to clear that Kingdom of Tories and that for the same reason he gives us There are two other Advantages remaining one is his Excellency's having already made different Parties in that Kingdom the Objects of his Love and Hatred let the Offences of the one or the Merits of the other be never so conspicuous Whether the British can draw any comfort from his Excellency's knowledge of
those who possess any Church-Lands or Goods who are still left under the sentence of Excommunication Toleti Instr. Sacord and his Explicatio casuum in Bulla canae Dni reserva From which considerations it's evident that it never was the design of the Pope to confirm the English Church Lands to the Lay-possessors but that he always urg'd the necessity of restoring of them to religious uses in order to which the Papists prevailed to have the statute of Mertmaln repealed for 20 Years In Queen Elizabeths Reign the factious Party that was manag'd wholy by Romish Amiffaries demanded to have Abbies and such religious Houses restored for their Use and A. D. 1585 in their Petition to the Parliament they set it down as a resolute Doctrine that things once dedicated to Sacred Uses ought so to remain by the Word of God for ever and ought not to be converted to any private use Bishop Bancrofts Sermon at p. c. A. D. 1588. p. 25. And that the Church of Rome is still gaping after these Lands is evident from many of their late Books as the Religion of M. Luther lately printed at Oxford p. 15. The Monks wrote Anathema upon the Registers and Donaticns belonging to Monasteries the weight and effect of which Curses are both felt and dreaded to this day To this end the Monasticon Anglicanum is so diligently preserved in the Vatican and other Libraries in Popish Countries and especially this appears from the obstlnate refusal of this present Pope to confirm these Alienations tho it be a matter so much controverted and which would be of that vast Use towards promoting their Religion in this Kingdom If therefore the Bishops of Rome did never confirm these Alienations of Church Lands but earnestly and strictly required their Restitution if they have declared in their Authentick Canons that they have no power to do it and both they and the last general Council pronounce an heavy Curse and Anathema against all such as detain them Then let every one that possesseth these Lands and yet owns either of these foreign Jurisdictions consider that here is nothing left to excuse him from Sacriledge and therefore with his Estate he must derive a curse to his Posterity There is scarcely any Papist but that is forward to accuse King Henry the 8th of Sacriledge and yet never reflects upon himself who quietly possesseth the Fruits of it without Restitution either set them not accuse him or else restore themselves Now whatever opinions the Papists may have of these things in the time of health yet I must desire to remember what the Jesuits proposed to Cardinal Pool in Doctor Pary's Days viz. That if he would encourage them in England they did not doubt but that by dealing with the Consciences of those who were dying they should soon recover the greatest part of the Goods of the Church Dr. Burnet's Hist. Vol. 2. p. 328. Not to mention that whensoever the Regulars shall grow numerous in England and by consequence butthensome to the few Nobility and Gentry of that Perswasion they will find it necessary for them to consent to a Restitution of their Lands that they may share the burthen among others For so vast are the Burthens and Payments that that Religion brings with it that it will be found at length an advantagious Bargain to part with all the Church Lands to indemnifie the rest And I am confident that the Gentry of England that are Papists have found greater Burthens and Payments since their Religion hath been allow'd than ever they did for the many years it was forbid and this charge must daily encrease so long as their Clergy daily grows more numerous and their few Converts are most of them of the meanest Rank and such as want to be provided for And that 's no easie matter to force Converts may appear from that excellent Observation of the great Emperor Charles the Fifth who told Queen Mary That by indeavouring to compel others to his own Religion i. e had tired and spent himself in vain and purchas'd nothing by it but his own dishonour Card. Pool in Heylins Hist. Ref. p. 217. And to conclude this Discourse had the Act of Pope Julius the Third by his Legate Cardinal Pool in confirming of the Alienation of Church Lands in England been as vallid as is by some pretended yet what shall secure us from an Act of Resumption That very Pope after that pretended Grant to Cardinal Pool published a Bull in which he excommunicated all that kept Abby Lands or Church Lands Burnets Hist. Vol. 2. p. 309. by which all former Grants had there been any were cancell'd His Successor Pope Paul the Fourth retrieved all the Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues that had been alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the Second and the chief Reasons that are given why the Popes may not still proceed to an Act of Resumption of these Lands in England amount only to this That they may stay for a fair opportunity when it may be done without disturbing the Peace of the Kingdom From all which it 's evident that the detaining of Abby Lands and other Church Lands from the Monks and Friars is altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine and Principles of the Romish Religion The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated HIS present Majesty having erected an High-Commission Court to enquire of and make redress in Ecclesiastical Matters c. Q. Whether such a Commission as the Law now stands be good or not And I hold that the Commission is not good And to maintain my Opinion herein I shall in the first place briefly consider what Power the Crown of England had in Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Matters for I take them to be synonymous Terms before 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 2ly I shall particularly consider that Act of 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 3ly I shall consider 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. And by that time I have fully considered these three Acts of Parliament it will plainly appear That the Crown of England hath now no Power to erect such a Court. I must confess and do agree That by the common Law all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was lodged in the Crown and the Bishops and all Spiritual Persons derived their Jurisdiction from thence And I cannot find that there were any attempts by the Clergy to divest the Crown of it till William the First 's time in whose time and his Successors down to King John the Pope obtained four Points of Jurisdiction 1st Sending of Legates into England 2ly Drawing of Appeals to the Court of Rome 3ly Donation of Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices And 4ly Exemption of Clerks from the secular Power Which four Points were gained within the space of an hundred and odd years but with all the opposition imaginable of the Kings and their People and the Kingdom never came to be absolutely inslaved to the Church of Rome till King John's time and then both King and People were