Interest Mistaken OR THE Holy Cheat PROVING From the undeniable Practises and Positions of the Presbyterians that the Design of that Party is to enslave both King and People under the Masque of RELIGION By way of Observation upon a Treatise INTITULED The Interest of England in the Matter of RELIGION c. By ROGER L'ESTRANGE The Second Impression Aug. De Civ Dei Nullo modo his artibus placatur Divina Majestas quibus Humana Dignitas inquinatur LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane 1661. To the Honourable HOVSE of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT Most Honourable TO begg your Pardon or Protection were to suppose a Fault or Hazzard but in this Dedication finding neither I shall waive that Formality humbly submitting what I have to say my Reasons and my Self to your Authority and Wisdom without more Prologue or Apology There is a Faction which under the note of Presbyterian seems much concerned to stickle against Bishops Church-rites on the behalf of tender Consciences Their Writings and Opinions are with great Freedom Craft and Diligence dispers'd throughout the Nation to the great Scandal of the true Church and the Encouragement of those of the Revolt But this is yet the least part of the Mischief or in effect of their Design Their Ayme being to Tumultuate the People and make a Partie against the Civil Power Indeed their Pamphlets wear the Face of Church-disputes and Modells but he that reads them through and marques them narrowly shall find the King's Authority the Question That the late War against the King was Lawfull is a Position common to them all and this they publiquely maintain as the main Basis of the Cause By which assertion they cast the Bloud and Guilt upon His Majestie make his Adhaerents Traitors place the Supreme Authoritie in the two Houses subject the Law to an Ordinance the Government to a Faction and animate the Schismatiques to serve His Majestie in beeing as they did His Father This is the drift of their seditious Libells and of their Projects too if any judgement may be made upon their strict conformity of Argument and Methode to those that first embroyl'd us How farr this matter may require your Care becomes not me to meddle I thought it might be worth your Honours Knowledge and led by an Opinion of my Duty this state of the Affair such as it is I doe most humbly lay before you His Majesty had no sooner set Foot upon English ground but swarms of Pestilent papers were in a Readiness to enterteyn him Some of the sharpest of them I delivered to several Members of that Session with the Stationers name for whom they were Printed Smith at the Bible in Cornhill Croftons Agent but all too little to suppress them One Passage is this that Follows speaking of the limited Power of Kings This may serve to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Lawes and Liberties Hand in hand with this Pamphlet came forth Smectymnuus Reviv'd and recommended by Mr. Manton and since that time some Hundreds more of the same stamp whose common business 't is by Affronting of the Law and Flattering of the Rabble to cast all back into Confusiâ—n Among the many other Actours of Religion I find not any man playes his part better then the Author of That Treatise which hath extorted This who indeed abuses the People in very good terms Some hasty Observations I have pass'd upon him in favour of the easie and deceivable Vulgar which Prailties I submit to your Honours Charity but the main Equitie of the Cause I hope will stand the test of your severest Justice for doubtlesse much is due to the late King's Honour as well as to his Blood And somewhat with submission to your Wisdoms may be allow'd to his Partie at least sufficient to protect them from Popular contempt and the Infamous lash of every daring Libell I dare not trust my self further with my own thoughts and yet I take them to be such as very well consist with the Duty of Your Honours most Obedient and Humble Servant Roger L'estrange TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF ENGLAND THe Cm mon good is the Common pretence of all seditious Combinations and it is no new thing for a Crafty Faction to impose upon a simple Multitude empty Appearances for Truths and Reason But our Reformers scorn to stop at this dull general method of Confusion The Law of God must be subjected as well as that of the Nation we must call Treason Loyalty and commit Murther as a point of Conscience No lesse than this is hinted in the Presbyterians Justification of the Scotish League and Quarrel nor have they any other aim than by procuring an Allowance of That War to make way to Another To this end they disperse their poysonous Infusions into all Quarters of the Kingdom under those very Forms of Piety and Tenderness by which they first betrayed us and by those very means do they now prosecute afresh their first Intentions That is they labour to promote the Cause by scandalous and rank Invectives against the Church and stirring up of Tumults to Reform it by a loud Pharisaical ostentation of their own Holyness a sour churlish Censure of all Others by sharp and sawcie Aspersions upon the Royal Party and by Reflections yet more bitter and Audacious upon his Sacred Majesty and his Murtherd Father To see these Libells passe with Freedom and Impunitie as if they were Authorized and to observe what foul Mistakes are grounded upon these grosse Allowances to the Kings Disadvantage and all without Controll or Confutation This and no other Reason so God blesse me that is of private Passion or Animosity of temper hath drawn this honest Folly from me I reckon it my Duty to my Prince and Country to my own Honour and to the Oath I have taken Where ever I find a publique Enemy to discover him And being thus Commissioned both by Authority and Conscience I proceed The Benefit of this Treatise is directed to the People and the Design of it is onely to lay open the Presbyterian Juggle that in one Age they be not twice deluded by the same Imposture My Arguments are Drawn from their own Practises and Positions from Presidents of Former times Cartwright and his Disciples from what hath passed within our own Experience from what these very men have done and from the very Logique of their own Writings what they professe they do intend to doe As the Delusion is apparent so is the Justice of Discoursing it Can it be thought that by the Act of Pardon his Majestie ever meant to subject all the Sober and Legal Interests of the Nation to be worried by a Faction Who of the Royal Party charges them Or if they did what has the Law done to offend them Or say the Law be sharp against them his Majesties unparalell'd Mercy has by
give good Evidence As touching Ceremonies the Contest began early even in King Edward's Reign between Hooper and other Bishops The Consecration of Hooper Elect Bishop of Glocester being stayed because he refused to wear certain Garments used by Popish Bishops he obtained Letters from the King and from the Earl of Warwick to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and others that he might not be burthened with certain Rites and Ceremonies and an Oath commonâ—y used in the Consecration of Bishops which were offensive to his Conscience Nevertheless he found but harsh dealing from his fellow-Bishops whereof some were afterwards his fellow-Martyrs and Ridley among others who afterwards thus wrote unto him when they were both Prisoners for the Gospel However in time past in certain Circumstances and By-matters of Religion your wisdom and my simplicity I grant hath a little jarred each of us following the abundance of his own sense and judgment Now be assured that even with my whole heart in the Bowels of Christ I love you in the truth and for the truth's sake which abideth in us Some godly Martyrs in Queen Mary's days disliked the Ceremonies and none of them died in the defence of Ceremonies Liturgy and Prelacy in opposition to all other Ecclesiastical Government and Order It was the Protestant verity which they witnessed and sealed in blood in opposition to Popery especially the prodigious Opinion of Transubstantiation and the Abomination of the Romish Mass or Sacrifice In the same bloody days certain English Protestants being fled for refuge into Germany and setled at Frankford were divided amongst themselves about the Service-book even with scandalous breach of Charity and in the issue the Congregation was sadly broken and dissipated What is intended by Due Liberty might be a Doubt did not the Coherence explain it to be a Freedom of Acting to all intents and purposes at pleasure whether without Law or against it no matter according to such presidents of Former times as our Resolver refers unto and justifies He tells us The contest about Ceremonies began early and so in truth it did For in the time of King Edward there was a wambling toward the Geneva Discipline but neither very earnest nor very popular and That so far as I can learn procured even by the Author of that Platform Calvin himself Concerning Godly Martyrs in Queen Mary's days Some suffered that disliked the Ceremonies Others that liked them That none died in defence of them is a Remarque might have been spared For the Question was matter of Faith not Discipline The Frankford Breach indeed was a sad Story but yet considering the Dividers of no great Honor or Authority to our Friends purpose Knox and Whittingham were the prime Ring-leaders in this Disorder who upon some Disputes started about the Service-book joyning with others of the Consistorian stamp drew such an extract of it as they thought fit and sent it to Calvin requesting his Opinion of it Such was the Answer they received as blew the whole Congregation into a flame from whence arose that scandalous breach ensuing viz. The English Service being established Whitingham Gilby Goodman with some others Divided and went to Geneva whence both by Letters and Discourses they tampered the Ministers and People of England and Scotland into a revolt encouraging them to set up their new Discipline in despite of all Opposers whatsoever The Gospel returning under Queen Elizabeth these differences were revived and held up by Disputes Writings and Addresses to several Parliaments and there were great thoughts of heart for these Divisions Observation Why this is English yet it is but turning now to Queen Elizabeth's Reign to understand these people and unriddle the Due Liberty they plead for But of This in its proper place Having drawn down the Quarrel from Edward the Sixth to the blessed Restauration of Charls the Second whom God protect he proceeds to descant upon the Present The greatest part of the Ministers named Puritans yielded conformity to those controverted Rites and Forms that were by Law or Canons established as to things burdensome not desirable in their nature supposed indifferent but in their use many ways offensive and groaning more and more under the yoke of bondage as they conceived they waited for deliverance and were in the main of one soul and spirit with the Nonconformists And even then the way called Puritanism did not give but get ground But now the Tenents of this way are rooted more than ever and those things formerly imposed are noâ— by many if not by the most of this way accounted not onely burdensome but unlawful Observation But is it so that Matters by Law established in themselves Indifferent and onely Burthensome to day rebuâ—sic stantibus may become Vnlawful to morrow By the same Rule Kings may be taken away as well as Bishops all Dignities and Powers being alike submitted to a Popular Level For if the People shall think fit to say the Magistrate is unlawful as well as the Ceremony by the same reason he may destroy One with the Other and Virtually he does it We know the Rites and Forms of Worshipping are not of the Essence of Religion and the huge bustle about Discipline is onely an Appeal to Ignorance and Tumult The Church must be Reformed By whom Not by the Rabble What means this application then of so many factious Sermons and Libels to the People They are not Judges of the Controversie But in a Cause more capable of Force than Argument they do well to Negotiate where Clamour and Pretence weigh more than Modesty and Reason If a man asks by what Commission Act these Zelots They answer readily 'T is God's Cause and better obey God than Man He that said Give not Credit to every Spirit I suppose knew as much of Gods mind as our Illuminates Is not mistaken or perverted Scripture the ground of all Schism and Heresie Counsels may erre they say and cannot Presbyterians How comes this Party to be more infallible than their Neighbours If they are not let but all other people of Different Judgments take the same Freedom they do of out-cries against any thing under pretext of Conscience let any man imagine the confusion For where every man is his own Judge All men shall dispute till each Particular condemns himself so that the Strife is Endless and the Event Restlesness and Confusion This comes of not submitting to some Final and over-ruling Decision Upon this pinch at a dead lift they fly to their Judgment of Discretion which leaves them still at Liberty to shape their Duty to their Profit They tell us They 'l be tryed by the Word of God not heeding how That is again to be tri'd by Them so that in Issue their private Interpretation of the Scriptures must pass for the Law Paramount to which both King and People are equally and indispensably subjected Undoubtedly what God commands we ought to do and not to do what he forbids This in few
that 's the King's So that effectually the passing of a Bill is but the granting of a Request So much for Parliaments in propriety of speaking Now to the Power of the Two Houses by my Antagonist mis-call'd The Parliament of England upon which Bottom stands the Presbyterian Fabrick He tell us They Act in Two Capacities As Subjects or Petitioners first and Then as Sharers of the Soveraignty As if he said They are sent to Ask what they List and Take what they Please The Petitioning Capacity is not for the Presbyterians purpose wherefore he waves That and sticks to the Other What their Power is will best appear from the King 's Writ of Summons which both Commands and Limits them Pro QUIBUSDAM arduis urgentibus negotiis c. ORDINAVIMUS c. He states it otherwise and places a part of the Legislative Power in the Two Houses which is not Doctor-like For the Legislative Power is totally the King 's They do but make the Bill He makes the Law 'T is the Stamp not the Matter makes it current Nor do I comprehend what he can mean by Part of the Legislative Power to my thinking he might as well have said Part of an Indivisible Point This will come to a pretty Fraction Two Thirds of a Parliament shall make Two Thirds of a Law Is it not enough that the King can do nothing without the Two Houses unless they may do every thing without the King Grant this and of all people living we are the greatest Slaves as of all Constitutions ours is the most Ridiculous Touching the power of the two Houses to Redress Grievances and Question all Ministers of State and Justice The Power they have is either from Prescription or Commission To the Former I think Few will pretend and to the Latter None Never was the House of Commons at any hand reputed a Court of Justice They cannot give an Oath impose a Fine not indeed exercise any Empire but over their own Members 'T is true the Lords House hath in some Cases a Right of Judicature but Claiming by Prescription they are likewise Limited by Custom Further Both Houses are no Court of Judicature and with due Reverence to his Majesty the King himself in Parliament joyn'd with the Three Estates claim not a right of Judication but very rarely and with great Tenderness It is the proper business of a Parliament to Make Laws Alter or Repeal them not to Interpret them unless in matters of very great Importance That 's left to the Judges and to determine of their Validity For Acts of Parliament either Repugnant in themselves or of impossible Supposition or against Common Right are deem'd not Binding The Common and most specious shift of all the rest is that the Government of this Nation is in King Lords and Commons This must be swallowed with great wariness or 't will choak half the Nation By the KING Architectonicè and by the other TWO Organicè as Walker distinguishes it the King as the Architect and the Two Houses as his Instruments If there were neither Practice Law nor Interest in the Case me-thinks the very odds of Honor in the Deputation should be Enough to carry it The King is God's Representative They are but the Peoples Say I should now admit them all they challenge as Delegated by the People so tickle is the point yet that if any one single Person of the number should be illegally debarr'd the Freedom of his Vote that nicety avoids and nulls the whole Proceeding I can hardly think any thing clearer than the error of placing part of the Supreme Power in the two Houses It implies a Contradiction A part of a Thing with leave Impartible But Drowning men will catch at Straws However I perceive that his Majesty's best Friends and the Church's as they style themselves are resolved to serve both King and Bishops alike That is just as the Bishop is to rule in Consociation with his Presbyters so shall his Majesty with his Fellow-Princes the Presbyterian Members It cannot but exceedingly dispose the King to grant these people all DUE LIBERTY that will give him so much Crowns are but Troublesome and Government sits heavy upon the shoulders of a Single Person They 'l ease him of that Care and Weight and for the honor of their Prince and their Country's good divide the Glorious load among themselves This being past which heaven avert We may says the late King be waited on bare-headed we may have our Hand kiss'd the style of Majesty continued to us and the King's Authority declared by both Houses of Parliament may be still the style of your Commands we may have Swords and Maces carried before us and please our Self with Sight of a Crown and Scepter But soft the Man relents and tells us though the Law says the King can do no wrong That This part of the Supreme power is indeed capable of doing wrong yet how it might be Guilty of Rebellion is more difficult to conceive Observation Put case the two Houses should take up Arms against the King because he will not Banish the one half of his Friends and hang up the rest would not that be Rebellion I could start twenty Suppoâ—itions more but I 'll stop here and the rather because our Author professes that in this high and tender point it belongs not to him to Determine Yet he goes on and certainly believes that the world is divided into Fools and Presbyterians he would not otherwise have thrust upon us so gross a Juggle as that which I am now about to examine Touching the much debated point of resisting the higher Powers without passing any judgment in the great Case of England I shall onely make rehearsal of the words of Grotius a man of Renown and known to be neither Anti-monarchical nor Anti-prelatical which are found in his Book De jure Belli Pacis by himself dedicated to the French King Si Rex partem habeat summi Imperii partem alteram populus aut Senatus Regi in partem non suam involanti vis justa opponi poterit quia eatenus Imperium non habet Quod locum habere censeo etiamfi dictum sit belli potestatem penes Regem fore Id enim de bello externo intelligendum est cum alioqui quisquis Imperii summi partem habeat non possit non jus habere eam partem tuendi lib. 1. c. 4. s. 13. Observation Here we find Grotius cited to justifie that the Lords and Commons may make war against the King to defend their Title to the Supreme Power Pythagoras his opinion concerning Wild-foul had been as much to the purpose For the English Reader 's sake I 'l turn it and in this point desire a more than ordinary attention Where the Supremacy is in the King in some Cases in Others in the People or Senate That King invading the others Right may be lawfully resisted for his power reaches
falls upon the Builder He says His Aim is Unity and truly so is mine But Vnity in such a Composition will never set us right Two may agree in the same point of Verity but then that Truth must for it self be entertain'd without considering one another If about any thing Material we differ flie to the Judge of Truth The Scriptures and the Church If about Less and Common Matters go to the Rule of Duty in such Cases the setled Law But I forget my self It must needs be says the Deliberator the Wisdom of this State to smother all dividing Factions and to abolish all partial Interests that the common Interest of England may be alone exalted Observation I hope he does not mean by State the Keepers of the Liberties if the Supreme Authority of this Nation as it is legally vested in the King the Man has kill'd himself What are Dividing Factions but such Parties as start from that common Rule the Law which every State is bound upon a Principle of Policy and Honor to preserve Sacred and Inviolable The Law is but the Wisdom treasur'd up of many Ages onely an amass of all those lights which long Experience strict Search and Industry and many Consultations of great Statesmen have given to the Discovery of our true Interest Great Reason is there to approve so great Authority and as great shame it were not to avow what we our selves have done The Law being but an Universal Vote beside the penalty of Disobedience How Mad then how Ignoble and how Desperate shall we esteem that Faction that breaks through all these bonds of Reverence Honor and Prudential Security to force that Sanctuary wherein as Christians and as Men we have reposed First the Protection of our Religion and then the Arbitration of our Lives and Fortunes From such Dividers Heaven deliver us first and then preserve us All Enterprises says our Author very rationally that have their beginning in judgment and not in passion are directed to a certain end set up as a mark and that end is not a business at Rovers but some particular steady issue of things certainly or probably apprehended and expected Wherefore let wise men consider the mark where at they level and to what issue and state of things their actions tend Most certain 't is without that mark men go they know not whether First the End then the Way is I suppose the Common Method of all Wise men and his advice to such to look before them might have been spared they would have don 't without it Now to his Business but first I 'le clear the way to 't The Question is Whether the fomenting of these Discords viz. in matters of Discipline do not proceed from a carual design And he debates the matter with the Episcopalians Here is a numerous Party not of the dregs and refuse of the Nation but of the judicious and serious part thereof What will they do with them and how will they order the matter concerning them Would they destroy them I solemnly profess that I abhor to think so by the generality of the Episcopal perswasion I would disdain to mention such an unreasonable impiety were it not to shew the inconsiderate and absurd proceedings of an unalterable opposition as that it cannot drive to any formed end and issue That Protestants should destroy Protestants for dissenting in the point of Ceremonies and sole Jurisdiction of Bishops is so dreadful a violation of Charity and common Honesty that it is a most uncharitable and dishonest thing to suppose it of them What then would they bear them down or keep them under hard conditions Shall all persons that cannot yield exact obedience to Ecclesiastical injunctions concerning all the parts of the Liturgy and Ceremonies be suspended and deprived as formerly Shall Ministers of this judgment be cast and kept out of Ecclesiastical Preferment and Employment Shall all private Conferences of Godly Peaceable Christians for mutual edification be held unlawful Conventicles It hath been thought by wise men to be against the Rules of Government to hold under a rigid yoke a free people of such a number and quality and intermingled in all estates and ranks and intimately conjoyned with all parts of the Body Politick that it is almost impossible to exclude their Interest from a considerable share in publick actions Observation We are so often told of this judicious serious Party pray let 's allow them to be a Company of very fine Gentlemen and mind our business I think he says they are numerous too So were the Frogs that came into the King's Chamber and what of that In good truth altogether it is a very pretty Anagram of Sedition If it wants any single Circumstance that 's needful to procure a Tumult I am exceedingly mistaken Mark it here 's Number Conduct and Pretence of Right to Embolden and to Fix the Multitude Then to Provoke and Heighten them old Sores are rub'd they are minded how they were used so long ago and hinted yet of worse behind if they have not a care betimes What is all this to say but Gentlemen you remember how it was with you formerly if you have a mind to any more of That so But things are well enough yet there are those will stand by you that know what they have to do and enow to make their hearts ake VVhy it is against all Rule of Government to put this yoke upon a Free People If the Author be within hearing he should do well to be his own Expositor In the mean while compare we the Gloss with the Text. He speaks now in his own words which the Reader may find by conferring them with the entire matter of the last Quotation to be extracted with the strictest justice to his meaning Here is says he a numerous Party of the judicious and serious part of the Nation what will they the Episcopalians do with them c. would they destroy them c. I solemnly profess that I abhor to think so of the generality of the Episcopal perswasion c. shall they be suspended and deprived as formerly shall all private conferences of godly peaceable Christians for mutual edification be held unlawful Conventicles It hath been thought by wise men to be against the Rules of Government to hold under a rigid yoke a Free People of such a Number and Quality This is cutting of a Man's Throat with a Whetstone Truly Horace his saying would sound very well from this Gentleman Fungor vice Cotis acutum Reddere quae ferrum valet exors ipse secundi My Office is to Whet not Cut. To tie him up now to his own Philosophy which is according to his fore-alledg'd Position that all Rational Enterprises propose some certain End unto which end all wise men conform their mediate Actions If it be so as we are agreed upon it then by that very reason which directs him to chuse the means are we enabled
shall well know how to master That must not be Our Interest lyes to take in just so many as when they have done our Work we may be able to turn out again So much for That This is the very Soul of the rigid Presbyterians Poor Worms Where is our Charity and Regard they crye to publick tranquillitie if we reject the sure and only means of Concord Observation He should have rather said where is our Providence if we admit so sure an Introduction to Confusion To comply with one Importunity of this nature is to Authorize and encourage more and to please all is totally Impossible The Canons stick in his Stomach notably they force too much and bring in Poperie Shall not the Laity be allow'd to search the Scriptures nor try the Doctrines delivered but acquiesce in what their Teachers say without the Exercise of their own reasoning or judgment of Discretion Observation Yes let them search the Scriptures as their Teachers may the Lawes yet by their Leave the Church and Bench must interpret them What difference is there betwixt King James his Phanatiques and King Charles his save that they ascribe one and the same Effect to several Causes Both claiming equal Certainty the One from his Judgement of Discretion the Other from Divine Impulse What work shall we have when every Taylour shall with his Judgement of Discretion cut out his own Discipline and set it up for a Fashion When these men and their Bibles are alone together as Hooker sayes what Phrensies do they not call directions of the Spirit He comes now to the Politicks It is a chief point of knowledge in those whose work it is to mould and manage a Nation according to any order of things to understand what is the temper of the people what Principles possess and govern them or considerable Parties of them and to what passe things are already brought among them Observation The more a Prince considers this the lesse will he afford a Scotized English Presbyterian By Temper he 's Ambitious and Vnthankful ever Craving and never Full Govern'd by Principles Insociable and Cruel He rates his Party his Piety and his Kindnesse twenty times greater then they are and rather than confesse that he is out in his Reckoning he shall face any other man down that one on the wrong side of a Cipher is 1000 Lastly in Considering to what passe things are brought among them he will bethink himself likewise how they came to be so A State may probably root out such Opinions as it conceives to be heterodox and inconvenient by using great severity in the beginning when the Opinions are but newly sowed in mens minds and the People are of such a nature as to abhor dangers and aim to live securely and when the Nation in generall is devoted to the antient custom of their Fore-fathers But the same course may not be taken when the Opinions have been deeply rooted and far spread by long continuance in a Nation of a free spirit and zealous and the generality of those that in a Law-sense are called Cives do not detest them Truly in this Case if Heterodox Opinions cannot be rooted out the Men that publiquely maintain them must and the rather if they be free and zealous for there 's the more danger in their further Progresse Especially if such Opinions prescribe from the successe of Treason For There even in matters of themselves very Allowable I would not leave the least marque of an approbation It gives too great an honour to Rebellion Provided alwayes that I act at Liberty and free from Pre-ingagements Where there is such a Real Cause of Fear as is here shadow'd to us That Prince that loves his Empires or his Honour must struggle with it betimes Safety or Pleasure such a people perhaps will be content to allow in exchange for Soveraignty But for the rest that Prince is lost that puts himself on the Asking side It never fayles this Rule when Subjects earnestly presse for more than they ought they ayme at more yet than they aske They are already past their Duty and short of their Ambition In such a Case as This Rigour is the onely Remedy great Aptnesse to forgive is entertain'd with greater Pronesse to offend Let it be thought upon if any Danger where it lyes Not in the bare Conceit of Phancy or Dislike for or against the Matter in Dispute but in the means that give Form growth and strength to those unquiet Motions and that assemble those Loose scatter'd Sparkes into one Flame These Instruments are mercenary Pulpit-men and Scriblers 't is but removing them and the Danger 's over Least he should seem to want a Colour for these Freedomes he tells us that the present Age being more discerning all sorts affect a greater Liberty of Judgement and Discourse than hath been used in Former times This we observ'd but did not till now impute it to Discretion Suppose they should grow more and more Discerning and their Desires of Liberty grow too would not these People soon grow Wise enough to Govern that are already grown too good to Obey 'T is dangerous trusting of them yet he assures us otherwise This Kingdom after the removing of foundations is by a marvellous turn re-establish'd upon its antient basis And verily that which hath wrought the change will settle it that which hath brought such things to pass will keep them where they are if we do not overlook and sleight it And what was it but the consent of the universality the Vote of all England Observation If all that acted toward this late and blessed Change meant to Fix here this needless ill-timed and dividing Controversie concerning Ceremonies would have been spared and those which move the Question with such earnestness at their Prayers rather than these Expostulations 'T is an ill Age when Theeves arraign the Law That sort of men which ruin'd us proposes now that very Method by which we were destroyed to settle us inviting the distemper'd people by this Overture to take their Poysoners for their Physicians 'T is very true that under Providence It was the Common Vote and stirring of the Nation restored the King and the Law and shall we now restrain that Universal Comfort to the particular Advantage of that single Party that first invaded them How great a blemish were it to the Honor and wisdom of the Nation after so long and hard a Tugg to throw away the sum of the Contest as if we had wrangled all this while for Shadows But to explain my self They that think matter of Ceremony to be the True reason of the Difference on either side mistake themselves It is the Law it self which is assaulted by the One Party and defended by the Other in the Particular of Ceremony and it is the King himself that is affronted in the Indignities they cast upon Bishops To leave the matter clear There is a Faction which
of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the very fundamentals of this Contract and Covenant may be controlled and opposed and if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms then they who have power as the Estates of a Land may and ought to resist by Arms Because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthroweth all the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may ☜ serve to Justifie the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in an hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties I think this needs no Comment About the same time Smectymnuus was revived by Mr. Manton a most auspicious welcome doubtless to his Majesty wherein five Champions of the Cause take up the Cudgels against one Bishop on the behalf of scandalous Pamphlets and Tumultuary Petitions against Episcopacy This is the naked Truth what ever the Jolly Priest may tell the Reader of the Faction against which they dealt Five Orthodox Divines he says were the Authors Four of the Five I shall not mention the Fifth was Marshal of whose Divinity a Taste that by the sweet Agreement we may the better judge of Mr. Manton's In a Letter printed 1643. arguing for the Authority of the two Houses page 14. Thus. Let every soul in England be subject to King and Parliament for they are the higher Powers ordained unto you of God whosoever therefore resisteth King and Parliament resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation The man was no Conjurer yet he had wit enough when Presbytery went down to Court the rising Interest and ' though the Common-prayer was an Abomination to marry his Daughter by it for fear of After-claps But I suppose 't was huddl'd up as 't is in Mr. Manton's Church that no man might be able to make Oath 't was not the Directory If the Case had been concerning the Allowance of Christian Burial to a Gentleman that was Quartered for his Loyalty Or to determine in the great Point of the late Kings Death upon an Anniversary Fast whether or no 't was Murther Truly considering the potent Arguments brought on both sides 't is possible that Mr. Marshal would have contented himself as well as his Neighbours barely to put the Case and leave the point at last undecided to his Auditory Not to spend time and paper needlesly The whole stream of the Disciplinarians runs this way onely perhaps more or less Bold and Open according to the present strength or weakness of the Faction But to return Can any thing be more gentle then A Reformation and due Regulation of things in Church and State words smoother than Oyle yet are they very Swords First To Reform and Regulate belongs to the Supreme Magistrate if they intended That they were to blame Now to take it in a Qualifi'd and softer sense 't was a Due Regulation they intended To put this General notion in more Intelligible terms upon this point depends no less then all that 's dear to every honest man The Dignity of the King the Liberty of the Subject the Freedome of Parliaments and the Honor of the Nation God knows my thoughts I do not envy any man either the Benefit of his Majesty's Mercy or the Blessing of his Favour that hath the Grace at last not to Abuse it I look upon his Royal Act of Pardon with Reverence and upon every Soul within that pale as in a Sanctuary But yet I do not understand a Pardon for one Rebellion to be a Dispensation for another nor how the Argument lies from Fact to Right Under these two words Due Regulation Thus much is comprehended waiving less Differences and Greater 1. The transferring of the Power of chusing Great Officers and Ministers of State from the King to the Two Houses 2. All matters of State in the Interval of Parliaments must be Debated and Concluded by a Counsel so chosen and in number not above twenty five nor under fifteen and no Publick Act esteemed of any Validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the Advice and Consent of the Major part of that Counsel Attested under their Hands And These too sworn to the sense of Both Houses 3. The Lords and Commons must be intrusted with the Militia 4. His Majesty may appoint but the Two Houses or the Counsel in such manner as aforesaid must Approve of All Governors of Forts and Castles Lastly No Peers hereafter made must Sit or Vote in Parliament unless Admitted thereunto by the Consent of Both Houses Upon these Terms his Majesty shall be supported in Honor and plenty by his most Humble and Faithful Subjects who have in their Thoughts and Desires nothing more precious next to the Honor and immediate Service of God than their just and faithful performance of their Duty to the King and Kingdom This is the Due Regulation they Intended for sure they Meant what they Proposed to our Late Soveraign I speak not this of Persons but of the Gross of the Party nor to reproach That neither but to remove a Scandal from the Ashes of that Blessed Martyr and to direct a Reverence towards his Successor What provocation have these restless People now to revive This Question but an unruly Impotency of Passion against the Government This is their way In Generals they justifie from first to last the Presbyterians Cause The multitude they look into Particulars and from those Injuries which the late King suffered draw Inferences Dis-honourable and Dangerous to this In the next Periode me-thinks he falls upon a Non-sequitur The Re-admission of the Secluded Members he says did necessarily draw after it the Restoring of King Lords and Commons according to the antient Constitution Not Necessarily under favour according to the antient Constitution I will not say nor probably but there were two shrewd Blocks cast in the way The First in the Militia where no Commissionated Officer was to Act that should not first acknowledge in these words viz. I do Acknowledge and Declare that the Warre undertaken by both Houses of Parliament in their defence against the Forces raised in the Name of the late King was Just and Lawful and that Magistracy and Ministery are the Ordinances of God The Second was in the Exclusion of the Royal Party from the next Choice as followeth Resolved that all and every Person who have advised or voluntarily aided abeited or assisted in any War against the Parliament since the first day of January 1641. his or their sons unless he or they have since Manifested their good affections to this Parliament shall be uncapable to be elected to serve as members of the next Parliament Now how a Choice thus limited in the House and Principled in the Field should Necessarily set us right does not to me appear Perhaps it was the most the Time would bear but God forbid That Declaration charging the Guilt and
every soul high and low to one divine Law and Rule perpetual and unalterable And therefore doth strongly plead the expedience of a due civil Liberty on the behalf of its Professors yet such a liberty as will not enfeeble Monarchy nor the Legal power of the Kings of England Observation Truly I think I have not seen words so well put together that signifie so little Because Religion is not variable but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternal Truth c. Therefore the Professors of it must have a due civil Liberty c. Is not a Due Liberty Due to all people Again What is civil Liberty to matter of salvation And yet again Why should the Presbyterians challenge that liberty to themselves which they refuse to others upon the very same Plea and not rather submit their Discipline to the Law then stoop the Law to their Discipline There is a Liberty which is a cloak for Maliciousness and I am afraid Theirs and That are much a-kinn One thing is very notable they never state what they would have their terms are general and indefinite hard to be understood because they are resolv'd not to be satisfi'd A Due Freedom a Due Civil Liberty The Legal Power What means all this but any thing they shall be pleased to make of it A King ruling a free People hath a Power much more noble and more free than he that ruleth over perfect Vassals that have no Propriety The power is more noble because it hath a more noble subject of Government it is more honorable to rule Men than Beasts and Freemen than slaves Likewise the power is more free For whatsoever Prince hath not his power limited by his people's legal freedom he will be bound up some other way either by the potency of subordinate Princes and great Lords within the Realm or by a veterane Army as the Turkish Emperor by his Janizaries and the Roman Caesars by the Pretorian Bands and the Legions Vpon which account to be a powerful Monarch over a free people is the freedome and glory of our Soveraign Lord above all the Potentates on earth Observation A King ruling a free people is a kind of Presbyterianism and sounds better in the mouth of a Lawyer than of a Divine The Correlate to Rule is Subjection nor will their Title to a Propriety yet justifie the common usage of the Term. 'T is of a dangerous Intimation and seems to give the people more than comes to their share I speak with reverence to the benignity of our English Laws and the Indubitable right which every Subject hath to the Benefits thereof That it is more honorable to Rule Free-men than Slaves is but a Complement For I can make those Slaves Free when I please whereas the other way of my power 's confin'd that is in Equity a Prince is bound to observe the Law as his own Act and if he fails the people may compel him to it if they can shew a Law for 't To end this point What Prince soever shall suffer every bubling brain to controvert the bounds of King and Subject the Royal Authority and the Peoples Freedom that Prince I say runs a great hazzard of his Soveraignty The very moving of the Question is to prophane the Sacredness of Majesty and by degrees begets irreverend and sawcy habits in the people But Rebellion he tells us and Disobedience is the loud out-cry of some against this Party And this were a crying sin indeed But let not sober minds be hurried into prejudice by such exclamations and out-cries It were to be wished for common peace and amity that the late publick Discords were eternally forgotten But seeing some in these times of expected Reconciliation will not cease to implead and condemn the honest minded and render them odious to the higher Powers a necessity is laid upon us to speak something Apologetical at least to mitigate the business and remove prejudice Observation Sure this loud out-cry of Rebellion aad Disobedience comes from within himself for truly I have a little watch'd the Press and since his Majesty's Return nay a good while before upon my conscience I have not met with one syllable of bitterness against that Party but Defensive Yet I dare undertake to produce forty Presbyterian Pamplets and Discourses of fresh date exceeding foul against the King and his Adherents It really makes me blush and tremble to consider how great a mercy they abuse how sad a vengeance they provoke Had but these people the least spark of natural affection and remorse the venerable ruines of a glorious Chuch and State would work upon them Or now and then a thought how matters stand betwixt God and their Souls But their great care of others make them neglect themselves and become true Anathemaes for a pretended publick good However they do well to cry Whore first and call that a Necessitated Apology which seems to me a palpable and causeless Slander We have heard much and often of the Presbyterians Loyalty and Religion we 'l look a little now into their Law which very fairly gives us to understand that the Vnbishopping of Timothy and Titus will not do their trick They are at work already upon the two main props of Royalty the King 's Negative Voice and the Power of the Sword A blessed Age the while when the Pulpit shall pretend to dispose of the Crown Kerve out the Government and every scribling Priest vent his seditious and crude Politiques to the People But now it works The Presbyterian Party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament I have read that the Parliament of England hath several capacities and among the rest these two First that it represents the People as Subjects and so it can do nothing but manifest their grievances and petition for relief Secondly That by the constitution it hath part in the Soveraignty and so it hath part in the Legislative power and in the final Judgment Now when as a part of the Legislative Power resides in the Two Houses as also a Power to redress grievances and to call into question all Ministers of State and Justice and all Subjects of whatsoever degree in case of Delinquency it might be thought that a part of the Supreme Power doth reside in them though they have not the honorary Title Observation Me-thinks we should do well to leave calling the Two Houses the Parliament of England having already paid so dear for that mistake Concerning the Power of the Parliament of England 'T is beyond doubt onely inferiour to the Fountain of all Power even God Himself But then an Agreement is imply'd neither King Lords nor Commons nor any Two of them can pretend to a Parliamentary Authority without the Third This is not to suppose Co-ordination neither The Two Houses are still Subjects Their Office being onely Consultive or Preparatory The Character of Power rests in the final Sanction and
to be restor'd Vbi vigent Isti ordines scil non esse Abolendos ubicunque Iniquitas temporum eos abolevit Restituendos With what Face now shall the Enemies of Bishops call themselves Protestants in this particular at least wherein they evidently cross the whole stream of Protestant Divines Now to the second Quaeâ—e Whether such Laws of Humane and significant Institution as are orderly made and neither contradict the general Laws of Nature nor any positive Law in Scripture be binding or not Hear Calvin first Quamvis quod oberuditur scandalum afferat quia tamen verbo Dei per se non repugnat concedi potest Scandals Taken without repugnancy to the Word of God are not sufficient to invalidate the obligation of a Ceremony imposed by the Church Beza himself nay Mr. Cartwright the Captain of our blessed Legions will allow rather than quit a Benefice to wear a Surplice Bucer thanks God with all his soul to see the English Ceremonies so pure and conform to the Word of God or at least rightly understood not contrary to it Not to hunt further for particular Authorities I shall be bold with my own Brother and make use of some general Collections which he hath gathered ready to my hand Nothing assuredly can be more demonstrative of the Protestant Tenets than the Confession of their several Churches That of Helvetia first Churches have always used their Liberty in Rites as being things indifferent which we also do at this day That of Bohemia Humane Traditions and Ceremonies brought in by a good custom are with an uniform consent to be retained in the Ecclesiastical Assemblies of Christian People at the common Service of God The Gallican Every place may have their peculiar constitutions as it shall seem convenient for them The Belgick We receive those Laws as are fit either to cherish or maintain concord or to keep us in the obedience of God That of Ausburg Ecclesiastical Rites which are ordained by mans Authority and tend to quietness and good order in the Church are to be observed That of Saxony For order sake there must be some decent and seemly Ceremonies That of Swethland Such Traditions of men as agree with the Scriptures and were ordained for good manners and the profit of men are worthily to be accounted rather of God than of Man These were the Tenents they publickly owned nor did they act different from what they taught ordaining Churches Pulpits Prayers before and after Sermon administring the Sacraments in Churches delivering the Communion in the forenoon to Women Baptizing Infants and several other things not one whereof were directly commanded by either Christ or his Apostles From hence 't is manifest we may divide from Presbyterians and yet the Protestant Religion not be divided against it self A Schism there is but whether in the Church or in the Faction is onely a dispute for those that plead the Authority of Tumults As their opinions are not one jot Protestant where they divide from Bishops so neither are their Morals any more warrantable wherein they act as Men. Which shall we credit Words or Deeds Will they not Bite where they pretend to Kiss A famous Martyr of that Party Hacket served a fellow so Some difference there had been and they were to be made friends Hacket pretends a Reconcilement takes the man in his Arms bites off his Nose and swallows it This is that Hacket that was joyn'd with Coppinger and Archington in a plot to murder the Lords in the Star-chamber because they had committed Cartwright the great Rabbi of the Party whose Crime was onely the erecting of the Presbytery without and against the Queens Authority Thus we see That in Queen Elizabeth 's days too the Protestant Religion was divided against it self Briefly that it is not Religion which moves these people is most apparent from their unquiet and distempered Actings Proceed we now to enquire what it is or in plain terms to unmasque the Holy Cheat and shew it bare-fac'd to the people Of all Impressions those of Religion are the deepests and of all Errors the most to be lamented and indulged are those of tender and mis-guided Consciences The clearness of this Principle considered it is no wonder that the foulest designs put on the greatest shews of Holiness as the onely way to gain and rule affections without which no great matters can be accomplish'd This is a truth well known to the Presbyterians and of experiment as antient as their Discipline We do not undertake to read their Hearts but their VVritings we may venture upon enquire a little into their practises and by comparing both give some tolerable guess at their Intentions The readiest way is to look back and match them for the best prospect of the future is behind us Some grumblings toward the Consistorian discipline there were in the days of Edw. 6. but the first notorious Separation was that of Frankford in the Reign of Queen Mary when Gilby Goodman and Whitingham with their Companions flew off and went to Geneva from whence they returned into England soon after Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown These led the Dance in England Knox in Scotland and at this day our Presbyterians do but write after their Copy professing the same Principles pretending the same Scruples and beyond doubt proposing the same End which was to get the same Dominion here which Calvin and Beza exercised at Geneva to whom they still repair'd for Counsel as they needed Cartwright and Travers came in the breech of these but not without consulting Beza first to learn the Knack of the Geneva Model These were the men that first brought into England that horrible Position that the Geneva Discipline was as essential a Note of the Church as either the true preaching of the Word or the due Administration of the Sacraments This is the Principle which supports the Presbyterian Interest For the first thirteen years of the Queen's Reign they contented themselves to throw about their Libels against Ceremonies and divide into Conventicles In the fourteenth of her Majesty they addressed two Admonitions to the Parliament the former in the quality of a Remonstrance with a Platform the other bolder and more peremptory This Parliament was no sooner Dissolved but they fell presently to work upon their Discipline the Progress whereof is with great exactness set down in the Third Book of Bancroft's dangerous Positions In 1572. a Presbytery was erected at Wandesworth in Surrey at which time they had also their Conventicles in London where little was debated but against Subscription the Attire and Book of Common-prayer In 82. A meeting was appointed of 60 Ministers out of Essex Cambridge-shire and Norfolk at Cockfield to confer about the Common-prayer what might be tolerated In 83. The form of Discipline was compiled and Decrees made touching the practise of it which soon after were put in execution
Impostors and after all our wandrings brought once again into the Channel We have our Prince our Laws our Freedoms our Interest lies before us and certainly we cannot be so mad as now to dash a second time upon the same Rock Yet they shall lose nothing for want of offering at it The Arguments of 1641. are set on foot again The very same with Cartwright's that Consistorian Patriarch as Bancroft terms him nay they are advanc'd already beyond pleading of their Cause to pressing of it by sawcy Importunities and peremptory threatnings From what I have deliver'd it cannot be deny'd but their Positions are destructive to all Civil Government And for their Practices the story is written in Blood This might suffice to end the Controversie concerning Reason of State for certainly a Faction so Principled cannot with safety to the Publick be incorporated into any Politick Constitution But I shall add some further Reasons why by no means they are to be admitted 1. They 'r a Party never to be gain'd by Obligations and this is manifest from their proceedings toward the late King whose most unhappy Tenderness of Nature rost him his Life And at this instant that irreclaimable ingratitude is yet more clear toward his Majesty in beeing whose unexampled Mercy so much as lies in them is converted to his Dishonor and Destruction 2. They ground their claim upon the Equity of their Cause which if allow'd by the same reason they may serve this King as they did his Father 3. Their Demands are Endless as well as Groundless and it is not prudential to grant any thing to a Faction that will be satisfi'd with nothing It is but Giving them a power to Take the rest 4. They Expostulate and what they get upon those Terms they look upon rather as a Submission than a Concession The very manner of their Address has a spice of Mutiny in it and they will hardly make an honest use of what they compass by dishonest means 5. It is not advisable to encourage Tumultuary combinations by Rewarding them 6. The Dispute is not so much what their Consciences will Bear as what their Importunities can Obtain and to feel the Pulse of the Supreme Authority In fine It is a contest betwixt the Law and a Faction and a fair step toward a New Rebellion So much for Reason of State Now to the Justice of their pretences The Quaere is Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouaged 'T is one thing what the King may do in point of Justice and another thing what the Presbyterians may demand upon that score There is a Justice of Conscience Honor and of Prudence By the First His Majesty is ty'd up in common with the meanest of his Subjects That is if the King find himself in Conscience bound to maintain Episcopacy in the state he found it Legally settled he is not free to alter it In point of Honor There 's more Liberty and whatever the King does in that particular is well done But his Majesty not having as yet declar'd himself what do we know how far even upon That Point he may concern himself to reject the Presbyterian's Demands Partly out of Reverence to his Royal Father In part out of a Princely Strictness to His own Dignity and partly out of a Generous tenderness toward his Ruin'd Party First as to what may seem relating to His Majesty's Father That which these people urge is what the late King chose rather to Die than Grant which in His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is intimated in these words In these two points the preservation of establish'd Religion and Laws I may without vanity turn the reproach of my sufferings as to the worlds censure into the honor of a kind of Martyrdom as to the testimony of My own conscience the troublers of My Kingdoms having nothing to object against me but this that I prefer Religion and Laws established before these alterations they propounded Every word hath its weight which fell from the Pen of that pious and judicious Prince Nor can I over-pass a Caution of his learned Father's when I consider the sum of their Proposals which in effect is but a condemnation of the late King in the bold needless justification of Themselves These are the words As for offences against your own Person and Authority since the fault concerneth your self I remit to your own choice to punish or pardon therein as your heart serveth you and according to the circumstances of the turn and the quality of the Committer Here would I also eike another Crime to be unpardonable if I should not be thought partial But the Fatherly love I bear you will make me break the bounds of shame in opening it unto you It is then the false and unreverent writing or speaking of malicious men against your Parents and Predecessors And a little further It is a thing monstrous to see a Man love the Child and hate the Parents as on the other part the infaming and making â—dious of the Parents is the ready way to bring the Son into contempt And for conclusion of this point I may also alledge my own experience for besides the judgments of God that with mine eyes I have seen fall upon all them that were chief Traitors to my Parents I may justly affirm I never found yet a constant biding by me in all my straits by any that were of perfect ☞ age in my Parents days but onely by such as constantly bode by them I mean specially by them that served the Queen my Mother for so that I discharge my Conscience to you my Son in revealing to you the truth I care not what any Traitor or Treason-allower think of it Thus far his Majesty may find himself concern'd in Honour to his Fathers Ashes now to his dying Counsels Take heed of abetting any factions or applying to any publick Discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your judgement and the Church well setled I cannot yet learn that lesson nor I hope ever will you that it is safe for a King to gratifie any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the publick Interest and the good of the Community What in effect do these people now desire but that his Majesty would rather take their Counsel than his Fathers In the next Page the King expresses a more than ordinary earnestness in these words My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my troubles that you may avoid them Herein his Majesty is tacitly conjured against them it being a most notorious Certainty That The late King lost both his Crown and Life by Over-granting The now-pretended cause of the quarrel was not mentioned till after the War was begun The colour of raising an Army being to
would over-throw the Law and set up themselves above it and These Contrivers put the People upon Cavilling for Ceremonies They innocently under a mistake of Conscience advance an Interest of Usurpation taking that to be onely a Dispute about the Lawfulness of the Practise which rationally pinches upon the validity of the Power It ends in this Grant once that a Popular Vote may over-rule a Stated Law though but to the value of a Hair the vertue of that reason extends to our Freedoms Lives and Fortunes which by the same Rule they may take away as well as Ceremonies And as the case stands Kings as well as Bishops But seeing this great Revolution hath not happened by the prevailing force of one Party but by the unstrained motion of all England what reason is there that one Party should thrust the other out of its due place of rest upon the common Foundation No reason in the world The Law is our common resting place the main Foundation upon which we are all to Bottom The Law is an impartial Judge let That determine which place belongs to Bishops which to Presbyters what Ceremonies are Lawful and which not This is a short and a sure way worth forty of his Coalition Having pressed union hitherto he proceeds now to remove certain impediments One whereof is an erroneous judgment touching the times foregoing the late Wars Observation In truth 't is pity the people are no better Instructed Then let them know from me those very principles these folks contend for were brought by Knox about 1558. from Geneva into Scotland from thence they were transmitted into England since which time the Abettors of them in both Nations have never ceased by Leagues Tumults Rebellions and Vsurpations to embroile the publick Peace and affront the Supreme Authority They have formally proceeded to the Deposing of Princes the exercise of an absolute Authority over the Subject the abrogation of Laws the Imposition of Taxes and in fine to all extremities of Rigour as well in matters of Civil Liberty as of Conscience He that desires a Presbytery let him but read Presbyter for King in the first Book of Samuel and the eighth Chapter and he shall there find what he is reasonably to expect These were the pranks foregoing the late Wars and such as these will be again if people be not the wiser But our Camerade will be none of the Party sure For I abhor says he to take upon me the defence of our late distracted times the distempers thereof I would not in any wise palliate Is the wind in that dore Now do I feel by his Pulse that Crofton's laid by the heels He hath forgot that the War was between the King and both Houses of Parliament And that the Presbyterian Party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament And that Presbyterians have never disclaimed or abandon'd their lawful Prince It may be he means that he will not justifie the Distempers of the other side But why do we contest since he tells us that It is the part of weak and selfish minds to contract Religion to certain modes and forms which stand not by divine Right but by the wills of men and which are of little efficacy and very disputable and if supposed lawful ought to be governed by the Rule of Charity Observation I would fain know which is more tolerable for the Church to impose upon the People or the People upon the Church For the People on the one side to exempt all or for the Church on the other side to bind all Order it self is of Divine appointment but the manner of Ordering save where God himself hath preimposed is left to Humane liking and Discretion To think says he that none is a good Christian a sound Protestant a fit Minister that cannot subscribe to such Modes and Forms proceeds from a narrow and ignoble judgment He may be a fit Teacher for Geneva that cannot subscribe to the Form of England and a fit Minister for England that cannot conform to the practise of Geneva they may be both good Christians too and sound Protestants yet neither of them fit in transposition 'T is one thing to be qualifi'd for the Ministerial Function and another thing to be fit for such or such a Constitution 'T is true he Officiates as a Minister but thus or so as a Subject and that 's the real ground of their exception They do not willingly admit the King's Authority in matters of the Church and that which effectually is but their own Ambition they obtrude upon the world as a high point of Tenderness to the people There are beyond all doubt weak Consciences fit objects for indulgence but the less pardonable are their Mis-leaders whose business 't is for their own ends to engage the simple multitude in painful and inextricable scruples Let them Preach down-right Treason stir up the Rabble to Tumult and Sedition if they chance to be caught and question'd for it see with what softness they treat their Fellows and with what supercilious gravity their Superiors When some degree of forwardness breaks forth it is encountred with that severity which hazards the undoing of the weak part that should and might be healed And again to the same effect concerning Crofton's Commitment I imagine But suppose that some of this way were guilty of some provoking forwardness should grave Patriots and wise Counsellors thereupon destroy the weak part or rather heal it A prudent Father is not so provoked by the stubbornness of a Child as to cast him out and make him desperate while there is yet hope concerning him It is meet indeed for Princes to express their just indignation when Subjects presuming on their Clemency do not contain themselves within their duty and the seasonable expression of such disdain wisely managed is of great force in Government nevertheless if it get the mastery it is exceeding perilous It was the Counsel of Indignation that proceeded from Rehoboam 's young Counsellors What this Language deserves both from the King and his Counsel let those that have authority to punish Judge When Governors resent the non-compliances of a Party their best remedy is to remove the occasions when it may be done without crossing the Interests of State or Maxims of Government Observation That is if the People will not yield to the Prince the Prince should do well to yield to the People A most excellent way for a King that hath to do with Presbyterians where he shall be sure never to want subject for his Humility nor ever to get thanks for his Labour Where there are many sufferers upon a Religious account whether in truth or pretence there will be a kind of glory in suffering and sooner or later it may turn to the Rulers detriment Observation There will not be many Sufferers where there are not many Offenders and
they are it seems Assertors of Lawfull Liberty in Lawfull waies but how is that I pray'e Did they not tell us this when their Swords were at our Throats when it was Death to assist the King when they were forc'd to flye to the Equitable sense of the Law and quit the Literal and fetch their Arguments from Inspiration because they had none in Reason I shall here put an End to this Discourse which is become much longer already than I meant it by reason of his Addition Crofton's ill Fortune I find hath made him wary but not humble for he presses the same Things in substance still though in somewhat a differing manner of Respect and seeming Candour The good Words he gives belong to those Persons which he shall vouchsafe to Call serious and to think worthy of them and the Government is to be moulded and disposed of as he pleases Finally he pretends to ayme at a Fair and Christian Accord and yet proceeds in a direct method of Dividing by sharp and scandalous Reflections upon the Kings Party To say no more his Reasonings are Dishonourable to the memory of the Late King Seditious and Provoking to the People Bold and Imposing in themselves Repugnant to the established Law and to the main scope of the General Pardon How out of all these ill Ingredients should be composed a National and healing balsome I shall now give the Reader leisure to consider Male imperatur ubi regit Vulgus Duces FINIS A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane THe Alliance of Divine Offices exhibiting all the Lyturgies of the Church of England since the Reformation by Hamon L'Estrange Esq in fol. The Souls Conflict being eight Sermons preach'd at Oxford and so much recommended by Dr. Hewit in 8. Dr. Browns Sepulchrall Urns and Garden of Cyrus in 8. Two Essayes of Love and Marriage in 12. The Royal Exchange A Comedy in 4. by R. Brome Five new Playes by R. Brome never before printed in 8. Poems by the VVits of both Universities in 8. A Treatise of Moderation by Mr. Gaule in 8. St. Bonaventures Soliloquies in 24. Mr Baxter's Treatise of Conversion in 4. The Common Law Epitomiz'd with Directions how to prosecute and defend personal actions very usefull for all Gentlemen to which is annexed the nature of a VVrit of Errour and the General proceedings thereupon in 8. Golden Remains by that most Learn'd R. Stuart D. D. Dean of Westminster and Clerk of the Closet to King Charles the first being the last and best Monuments that are likely to be made publick in 12. Mr. Sprat's Plague of Athens in 4. Jews in America by Mr. Thorowgood in 4. The Royal Buckler or a Lecture for Traytors in 8. A view of some late remarkable Transactions leading to the happy Government under our gracious Soveraign King Charles the Second by R. L'Estrange Esq in 4. All the Songs on the Rump in 8. The Pourtraicture of his sacred Majesty King Charles the Second from his Birth 1630. till this present year 1661. being the whole story of his escape at Worcester his travailes and troubles The Covenant discarged by John Russel in 4. The compleat Art of VVater-drawing in 4. Mr. Boys his Translation of the 6th Book of Virgil in 4. Mr. Walwin's Sermon on the happy return of King Charles the Second A perfect discovery of VVitchcraft very profitable to be read by all sorts of people especially Judges of Assize before they passe sentence on condemned persons for witches in 4. A short view of the Lives of the Illustrious Princes Henry Duke of Gloucester and Mary Princess of Orange deceased by T. M. Esq in 8. Aeneas his Voyage from Troy to Italy an Essay upon the third Book of Virgil by I. Boys Esq in 8. Trapp on the Major Prophets in fol. Songs and other Poems by A. Brome Gent. Mr. Grenfeilds Loyal Sermon before the Parliament A Caveat for the Cavaliers A Modest Plea both for the Caveat and Author by R. L'Estrange Esq The History of Portugall in 8. Cases of Conscience in the late Rebellion resolved by W. Lyford B. D. Minister of Sherburn in Dorsetshire Dowglas his Coronation Sermon Page 10. J. C. Page 10. Douglas * Epistle to the Reader Marshall * Epistle to the Reader Presbyterian Regulation Exact Collections pag. 310. Page 10. Observation Page 12. Observation His Majesty's Speech for hastning the Act of Indempnity His Majesty's Speech at the passing the Act of Indempnity Page 14. Observation Page 19. Page 20. Page 23. * English and Scotch Presbytery pag. 316. * Hist. of the Ch. of Scotl. p. 479. The Presbyterians practical Ministery Pag. 25. Observation Presbyterian Liberty page 27. page 28. The consequents of Presbyterian Liberty Page 29. Observation Page 29. Page 40. * Note Crofton Page 41. Page 42. Presbytery Antimonarchical The two Houses have no Coercive Power over the King The Covenant an Oath of Confederacy * Note The Covenant neither lawful nor binding Pag. 44. Observation Some honest Presbyterians Page 45. Page 46. Ibid. page 46. Page 47. Page 48. Presbyterians seditious and impenitent page 49. The Two Houses not the Parliament The Legislative power in the King The Two Houses no Court of Judicature Presbyters serve King and Bishops alike Exact Col. 316. page 49. page 50. Presbyterian Loyalty Bodin de Rep. lib. 2. cap. 5. De Rep. lib. 1. cap. 8. lib. 3. cap. 1. Ibid. Pag. 51. Page 51. Presbyterian Positions Page 52. Prelacy a more orderly Constitution than Presbytery Rom. 9.21 Page 53. Page 53. Ibid. Observation Rellquiae sacrae Corolinae Page 158. Page 55. Page 59. * Note * Note Page 58. Note Page 60. Exact Collections Pag. 531. History of Independency page 1. page 2. Page 63. Observation Page 65. Page 66. Page 70. Page 70. Observation Page 73. Page 47. Ibid. Toleration Page 76. Page 84. Observation Page 86. Observ. Significant Ceremonies not sacred Ibid. Observation Ecclesiast polit lib. 5. Sect. 29. Ecclesiast polity lib. 4. Sect. 12. * The Eunomian Hereticks in dishonor of the blessed Trinity brought in the laying on of water but once to cross the custom of the Chur. which in Baptism did it thrice Page 87. Can. 30. Eccles. polit lib. 5. Sect. 71. Page 88. Page 90. Observation Page 91. Observation Page 94. Page 95. Can. 36. Observ. Canonical subscription defended Page 97. * The late Kings Declaration concerning Scotland Page 403. Page 101. x] Can. 6. y] Can. 7. Page 97. Observation Page 103. Observation * Pa. 84. Page 103. Page 111. Observation Page 111. A voluntary Conscience Pa. 114. Observ. Ibid. Observ. Bibliotheca Regia p. 58. His Majestys Protestation page 115. Page 116. Pag. 120. Observation Pag. 120. Ibid. Observation English Scotch Presbyterians no Protestants L' Interest des Princes Discours 7. Puritan-Protestants Page 121. Observation Page 121. Observation Pag. 122. Observation Page 403. Ibid. page 124. Observation Page 17. part 1. Apol. Confess per Pap. Pag. 137. De reform adver Eccles pag. 95. Bez. cont Sarav p. 116. * Note Calvin Epist. Pag. 341. Scripta Anglicana p. 455. H. L. S. His affinity of sacred Liturgies pag. 27. Cap. 27. Cap. 15. Act. 32. Act. 32. Act. 15. Act. 20. Cap. 14. The rise of Presbytery The Process of Presbytery Dangerous Positions pag. 43. Dangerous Pos. pag. 44. Dangerous Pos. pag. 45. Dangerous Pos. pag. 75. pag. 86. pag. 89. pag. 91. Dangerous Pos. pag. 120. pag. 125. Presbyters Doctr. concerning Kings Knox to Engl. and Scotl. fol. 78. Gilby Obedience p. 25. Register p. 48. Goodman p. 144. Spotswoods History of the Chur. of Scotl. p. 330. Scots Plea p. 262. Kings Declaration concerning Scotland p. 404. Ibid. p. 409. Bancroft p. 169. King's declaration 404. Ibid. 408. Ibid. 411 Knox. Bancroft pag. 56. Ibid. p. 58. Admon 1. Cartwright Holy Discipline pag. 260. Ibid. 284. Ibid. Ib. 285. Inter. of Engl. Part. 2. p. 81. * By which term they difference their Classical Approbation from Episcopal Ordination * Inter. of Engl. Par. 2. p. 5◠The Reformers way of Petitioning Holy Discipline p. 100. Bancroft's dangerous Posit p. 53. Ibid. p. 56. Ibid. p. 57. Inter. of Engl. p. 29. Ibid. Bancroft Pag. 138. Ibid. 11. P◠14◠Inter. of Engl. p. 53. Positions of the Conventicle at Glasgow An. 1638. Presbytery tyrannous to the People Bancroft p. 20. Ibid. p. 105. Presbyters persecutors of K. James K. James his works pag. 305. Ibib. p. 160. The Antiquity of Phanaticks Reasons against Coalition Justice of Conscience Justice of Honor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 239. K. James his works p. 157. The late Kings Counsels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 236. Ib. p. 239. Ib. p. 240. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 62. Ibid. pag. 169. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 182. Ib. p. 236. The late Kings Declaration concerning Scotland pag. 404. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 170. Observation page 14. The best Rule of Interest is the Law Page 36. Observation Page 33. Page 36. The Presbyterian Method of making Peace Page 38. Page 39. Observation Page 42. Page 42. 1 Chr. 12. Page 43. Observation page 54. Ibid. Observation The Presbyterians do their own business in the Kings name Page 60. Page 61. Page 62. Page 63. Observ. Page 65 Observation Page 66. Page 67. Observation Page 73. Page 74. Interest of England Part 1. Page 13. Part 1. Page 49. Ibid. 53. page 75. pag. 75. Observation Page 78. Page 81. Page 83. Page 84. page 98. Interest of England Page 49 Ibid. 98. Page 49. Interest of England Page 101. pag. 104. Observation pag. 106. Observation Page 116. Observation