Mistery a little which are when His Majesty shall think it convenient for them to mett for the meaning of this seems plain that His Majesty is resolved that they shall never meet till he receive such Assurances in a new round of Closetting that he shall be pat out of doubt concerning it VII I will not enter into the dispute concerning Liberty of Conscience and the Reasons that may be offered for it to a Session of Parliament for there is scarce any one point that either with relation to Religion or Politicks affords a greater variety of matter for Reflection and I make no doubt to say that there is abundance of Reason to oblige Parliament to review all the nal Laws either with relation to Papists or to Dissenters but I will take the boldness to add one thing that the Kings Suspending of laws strikes at the root of this whole Government and subverts it quite for if there is any thing certain with relation to English Government it is this that the Executive Power of the Law is entirely in the King and the Law to fortifie him in the Management of it has cloathed him with a vast Prerogative and made it unlawful on any pretence whâ—â— oevâ— to resist him whereas on the other hand the Legislative Power is not so entirely in the King but that the Lords and Commons have such a share in it that no Law can be either made repealed or which is all one suspended but by their consent shâ— that the placing this Legislative Power singly in the King is a subversion of this whole Government since the Essence of all Governments consists in the Subjects of the Legislative Authority Acts of Violence or Injustice committed in the Executive part are such things that all Princes being subject to them the peace of mankind were very ill secured if it were not unlawful to resist upon any pretence taken from any ill Administrations in which as the Law may be doubtful so the Facts may be uncertain and at worst the publick Peace must always be more valued than any private Oppressions or Injuries whatsoever But the total Subversion of a Government being so contrary to the Trust that is given to the Prince who ought to execute it will put men upon uneasie and dangerous Inquiries which will turn little to the Advantage of those who are driving matters to such a doubtful and desperate Issue VIII If there is any thing in which the Exercise of the Legislative Power seems indispensable it is in those Oaths of Allegeance and Tests that are thought necessary to Qualifie men either to be admited to enjoy the Protection of the Law or to bear a share in the Government for in these the Security of the Government is chiefly concerned and therefore the total Extinction of these as it is not only a Suspension of them but a plain repealing of them so it is a Subverting of the whole Foundation of our Go-Government For the Regulation that King and Parliament had set both for the Subjects having the Protection of the State by the Oath of Allegeance and for a share in the places of Trust by the Tests is now pluckt up by the roots when it is declared That these shall not at any time hereafter be required to be taken or subscribed by any persons whatsoever fot it is plain that this is no Suspension of the Law but a formal repeal of it in as plain Words as can be conceived IX His Majesty says that the Benefit of the Service of all his Subjects is by the Law of Nature Inseparably an nexed to and inherent in his Sacred Person It is somewhat strange that when so many Laws that we all know are suspended the Law of Nature which is so hard to be found out should be clted but the Penners of this Declaration had best let that Law lie forgotten among the rest and there is a scurvy Paragraph in it concerning self-Preservation that is capable of very unacceptable Glosses It is hard to tell what Section of the Law of Nature has markt either such a Form of Government or such a Family for it And if His Majesty renounces his Pretensions to our Allegeance as founded on the Laws of England and betakes himself to this Law of Nature he will perhaps find the Counsel was a little too rash but to make the most that can be the Law of Nations or Nature does indeed allow the Governors of all Societies a Power to serve themselves of every Member of it in the cases of Extream Danger but no Law of Nature that has been yet heard of will conclude that if by special Laws a sort of men have been disabled from all imployments that a Prince who at his Coronation Swore to maintaiu those Laws may at his pleasure extinguish all these Disabilities X. At the end of the Declaration as in a Postscript His Majesty assures his Subjects that he will maintain them in their Properties as well in Church and Abbey Lands as other Lands but the chief of all their Properties being the share that they have by their Representatives in the Legislative Power this Declaration which breaks thro that is no great Evidence that the rest will be maintained and to speak plainly when a Coronation Oath is so little remembred other Promises must have a proportioned degree of Credit given to them as for the Abbey Lands the keeping them from the Church is according to the Principles of that Religion Sacriledge and that is a mortal Sin and there can no Absolution be given to any who continue in it and so this Promise being an Obligation to maintain men in a mortal Sin is 〈◊〉 and void of it self Châ—rch Lands are also according to the Doctrine of their Canonists so immediately Gods Right that the Pope himself is the only Administrator and Dispeneer but is not the Master of them he can indeed make a truck for God or let them so low that God shall be an easie Landlord but he cannot alter God ' s Property nor translate the Right that is in him to Sacrilegious Laymen and Hereticks XI One of the Effects of this Declaration will be the setting on foot a new run of Adresses over the Nation for there is nothing how impudent and base soever of which the abject flattery of a slavish Spirit is not capable It must be confest to the Reproach of the Age that all those strains of flattery among the Romans that Tacitus sets forth with so much just Scorn are modest things compared to what this Nation has produced within these seven Years only if our Flattery has come short of the Refinedness of the Romans it has exceeded theirs as much in its loathed Fulsomneâ—s The late King set out a Declaration in which he gave the most solemn Assurances possible of his adhering to the Church of England and to the Religion established by Law and of his Resolution to have frequent Parliament upon which the whole
Nation fell as it were into Raptures of Joy and Flattery but tho he lived four Years after that he called no Parliament notwithstanding the Law for Trienâ—ial Parliaments and the manner of his Death and the Papers printed after his Death in his Name having sufficiently shewed that he was equally sincere in both those Assurances that he gave as well in that relating to Religion as in that other relating to frequent Parliaments yet upon his Death a â—ew let of Addresses appeared in which all that Flattery could invent was brought forth in the Commendations of a Prince to whose Memory the greatest kindness can be done is to forget him and because his present Majesty upon his coming to the Throne give some very general Promise of maintaining the Church of England this was magnified in so Extravagant a stâ—ain as if it had been a Securiry greater than any that the Law could give tho by the regard that the King has both to iâ— and to the Laws it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally since then the Nation has already made it srlf sufficiently ridiculous both to the present and to all succeeding Ages it is time that at last men should grow weary and become ashamed of their Folly XII The Nonconformists are now invited to set an Example to the rest and they who have valued themselves hitherto upon their Oppositian to Popery and that have quarrelled with the Church of England for some small Approaches to it in a few Ceremonies are now solicited to rejoyce because the Laws that secure us against it are all plucked up since they enjoy at present and during pleasure leave to meet together It is natural for all men to love to be set at ease especially in the matter of their Consciences but it is visible that thos who allow them this favour do it with no other design but that under a pretence of a General Toleration they may Introduce a Religion which must persecute all equally it is likewise apparent how much they are hated and how much they have been persecuted by the Instigation of those who now Court them and who have now no game that is more promising than the engaging them and the Church of England into new Quarrels and as for the Promises now maâ—e to them it cannot be supposed that they will be more lâ—sting than those that were made some time ago to the Church of England who had both a better Title in Law and greater Merit upon the Crown to assure them that they should be well used than these can pretend to The Nation has scarce forgiven some of the Church of England the Persecution into which they have suffered themselves to be cosened tho now that they see Popery barefaced the Stand that they have made and the vigorous Opposition that they have given to it is that which makes all men willing to forget what is past and raises again the Glory of a Church that was not a little stained by the Indiscretion and Weakness of those that were too apt to believe and hope and so suffered themselves to be made a Property to those who would make them a Sacrifice The Sufferings of the Nonconformists and the Fnâ—y that the Popish party expressed against them had recommended them so much to the Compassions of the Nation and had given them so just a pretension to favour in a better time that it will look like a Curse of God upon them if a few men whom the Court has gained to betray them can have such an ill Influence upon them as to make them throw away all that Merit and those Compassions which their Sufferings have procured them and to go and court those who are only seemingly kind to them that they may destroy both them and us They must remember that as the Church of England is the only Establishment that our Religion has by Law so it is the main body of the Nation and all the Sects are but small and stragling parties and if the Legal Settlement of the Church is dissolved and that body is once broken these lesser bodies will be all at Mercy and it is an easy thing to define what the Mercies of those Church of Rome are XIII But tho' it must be confessed that the Nonconformists are still under some Temptations to receive every thing that gives them present ease with a little too much kindness since they lie exposed to many severe Laws of which they have of late felt the weight very heavily and as they are men and some of them as ill Natured men as other people so it is no wonder if upon t he first surprises of the Declaration they are a little delighted to see the Church of England after all its Services and Submissions to the Court so much mortified by it so that taking all together it will not be strange if they commit some Follies upon this occasion Yet on the other hand it passes all imagination to see some of the Church of England especially those whose Natures we know are so particularly sharpned in the point of Persecution chiefly when it is levelled against the Dissenters rejoyce at this Declaration and make Addresses upon it It is hard to think that they have attained to so high a a pitch of Christian Charity as to thank those who do now Despitefully use them and that as an earnest that within a little while they will Persecute them This will be an Original and a Master-piece in Flattery which must needs draw the last degrees of Contemption such as are capable of so abject and sordid a Compliance and that not only from all the true Members of the Church of England but likewise from those of the Church of Rome it self for every man is apt to esteem an Enemy that is brave even in his Misfortunes as much as he despises those whose minds sink with their Condition for what is it that these men would the King Is it because he breaks those Laws that are made in their Favour and for their Protection and is now striking at the Root of all Legal Settlement that they have for their Religion Or is it because that at the same time that the King professes a Religion that condemns his Supremacy yet he is not contented with the Exercise of it as it is warranted by Law but carries it so far as to erect a Court contrary to the express worps of a Law so lately made That Court takes care to maintain a due proportion between their Constitution and all their Proceedings that so all may be of a piece and all equally contrary to Law They have suspended one Bishop only because he wâ—uld not do that which was not in his power to do for since there is no Extrajudiciary Authority in England a Bishop can no more proceed to a Sentence of Suspension against a Clergy-man without a Tryal and the hearing of Parties than a Judge can give a Sentence in his Chamber
cost us The Point which he singles out is That we have failed in that grateful Return that we owed his Majesty for his Promise of Maintaining our Church as it is Established by Law since upon that we ought to have repealed the Sanguinary Laws and the late impious Tests the former being enacted to maintain the Usurpation of Queen Elizabeth and the other being contrived to exclude the present King We have not failed to pay all the Gratitude and Duty that was possible in return to His Majesties Promise which we have carried so far that we are become the Object even of our Enemies Scorn by it With all Humility be it said that if His Majesty had promised us a farther Degree of His Favour than that of which the Law had assuered us it might have been expected that our return should have a degree of Obedience beyond that which was required by Law so that the return of the Obedience injoyned by Law answers a Promise of a protection according to Law yet we carried this matter farther for as was set forth in the beginning of this paper we went on in so high a pace of Compliance and Confidence that we drew the censuers of the whole Nation on us nor could any Jealousies or Fears give us the least Apprehensions tell we were so hard pressed in matters of Religion that we conld be no longer silent The same Apostle that taught us to Honour the King said likewise that we must obey God rather than man Our Author knows the History of our Laws ill for besides wha has been allready said touching the Laws made by Queen Elizabeth the severest of our Penall Laws and that which troubles him and his friends most was past by K. Iames after the Gunpowder-plot a provocation thut might have well Justified even greater Severities But tho our Author may hope to Impose on an Ignorant Reader who may be apt to believe Implicity what he says concerning the Laws of the last Age yet it was too hold for him to assert that the Tests which are so lately made were contrived to exclude the present King when there was not a thought of Exclusion many Years after the first was made and the Duke was accepted out of the second by a special Proviso but these Gentlemen will do well never to mention the Exclusion for every time that it is named it will make people call to mind the Service that the Church of England did in that matter and that will carry with it a Reproach of Ingratitude that needs not be aggravated He also confounds the two Tests as if that for publick Imployments contained in it a Declaration of the Kings being an Idolater or as he makes it a Pagan which is not at all in it but in the other for the Members of Parliament in which there is indeed a Declaration that the Church of Rome is guilty of Idolatry which is done in general terms without applying it to His Majesty as our Author does Upon this he would infer that his Majesty is not safe till the Tests are taken away but we have given such Evidences of our Loyalty that we have plainly shewed this to be false since we do openly declare that our Duty to the King is not founded on his being of this or that Religion so that his Majesty has a full Security from our Principles tho the Tests contiune since there is no reason that we who did run the hazard of being ruined by the Excluders when the Tide was so strong against us would fail his Majesty now when our Interest and Duty are joyned together but if the Tests are taken away it is certain that we can have no Severity any longer for we shall be then laid open to the Violence of such restless and ill-natured men as the Author of this Papâ—r and his Brethren are VI. The same reason that made our Saviour refuse to throw himself down from the Roof of the Temple when the Devil tempted him to it in the vain Confidence that Angels must be assistant to him to preserve him holds good in our Case Our Saviour said Thou shalt not Tempt the Lord thy God And we dare not trust our selves to the Faith and to the Mercies of a Society that is but too well known to the World to pretend that we should pull down our Pales to let in such Wolves among us God and the Laws hath given us a legal Security aâ—d His Majesty has promised to maintain us in it and we think it argues no Distrust either of God or the Truth of our Religion to say that we cannot by any Act of our own lay our selves open and throw away that Defenee Nor would we willingly expose his Majesty to the unwearied Solicitations of a sort of men who if we may Judge of that which is to come by that which is past would give him no rest if once the Restraints of Law were taken off but would drive matters to those Extremities to which we see their Natures carry them headlong VII The last Paragraph is a strain worchy of that School that bred our Author he says His Majesty may withdraw his Royal Protection from the Church of England which was promised her upon the account of her constant Fidelity and he brings no other Proof to confirm so bold an Assertion but a false Axiome of that despised Philosophy in which he was bred Cessante causa tollitur Effectus This is indeed such an lndignity to His Majesty that I presume to say it with all humble Reverence these are the last persons whom he ought to pardon that have the Boldnels to touch so sacred a point as the Faith of a Prince which is the chief Security of Government and the Foundation of all the Confidence that a Prince can promise himself from his People and which once blasted can never be recovered Equivocations may be both taught and practised with less danger by an Order that has little Credit to lose but nothing can shike Thrones so much as such treacherous Maxims I must also ask our Author in what point of Fidelity has our Church failed so far as to make her forfeit her Title to His Majesties Promises for as he himself has stated this matter it comes all to this The King promised that he would maintain the Church of England as Established by Law Upon which in Gratitude he says that the Church of England was bound to throw up the Chief Security that she had in her Establishment by Law which is that all who are intrusted either with the Legislative or the executive Parts of our Government must be of her Communion and if the Church of England is not so Tame and so Submissive as to part with This then the King is free from his Promise and may withdraw his Royal Protection though I must crave leave to tell him that the Laws gave the Church of England a Right to that Protection whether His Majesty had promised
be that the Nobleness of his Birth and the Gentleness of his Temper are too hard even for his Religion and his Purple to be mastered by them And it is a Contradiction that nothing but a Belief capable of receiving Transubstantiation can recoucile to see Men pretend to observe Law and yet to find at the same time an Ambassadour from England at Rome when there are so many Laws in our Pook of Statutes never yet Repealed that have declared over and over again all Commerce with the Court and Sâ—e of Rome to be High Treason V. The late famous Judgment of our Judges who knowing no other way to make their Names immortal have found an effectual one to preserve â—hem from being ever forgot seems to call for another Method of Proceeding The Pâ—esident they have set must be Fatal either to them oâ—â—ns For if Twelâ—e Men that get into Scarlet and Fuâ—s have an Authority to dissolve all our Laws the English Government is to be hereafter lookt at with as much Scorn as it has hitherto drawn Admiration That doubtful Words of Laws made so long ago that the intention of the Lawgivers is not certainly known must be expounded by the Judges is not to be question'd but to infer from thence that the plain Words of a Law so lately made and that was so vigorously asserted by the present Parliament may be made void by a Decision of theirs after so much Practice upon them is just as reasonable a way of Aâ—puing as theirs is who because the Church of England acknowledges that the Church has a Power in Matters of Rites and Ceremonies will from thence conclude that this Power must go so far that tho Christ has said of the Cup Drink ye all of it we must obey the Church when she decrees that we shall not drink of it Our Judges for the greater part were Men that had past their Lives in so much Retirement that from thence one might have hoped that they had studied our Law well since the Bar had â—alled them so seldome from their Studies and if Practice is thought often hurâ—ful â—o Speculation as that which disorders and hurries the Judgment they who had practised so little in our Law had no byass on their Understandings and if the habit of taking Money as a Lawyer is a dangerous preparation for one that is to be an incorrupt Judge they should have been incorruptible since it is not thought that the greater part of them got ever so much Money by their Profession as pay'd for their Furs In short we now see how they have merited their Preferment and they may yet expect a further Exalcation when the Justice and the Laws of England come to be in hands that will be as careful to preserve them as they have been no destroy them But what an Infamy will it lay upon the Name of an English Parliament if instead of calling those Betrayers of their Countrey to an account they should go by an after-game to confirm what these Fellows haâ—e done VI. The late Canferences with so many Members of both houses will give such an ill-natured piece of Jealousy against them that of all Persons living that are the most concern'd to take care how they give their Votes the World will believe that Threatnings and Promises had as large a share in those secret Conversations as Reasoning or Persuasion and it must be a more than ordinary degree of zeal and Courage in them that must take off the Blot of being sent for and spoke to on such a subject and such a manner The worthy Behaviour of the Members in the last Session had made the Nation unwilling to remember the Errors committed in the first Election and it is to be hoped that they will not give any cause for the future to call that to mind For if a Parliament that had so many Flaws in its first Conception goes to repeal Laws that we are sure were made by Legal Parliaments it will put the Nation on an Enquiry that nothing but necessity will drive them to For a Nation may be laid asleep and be a little cheated but when it is awakned and sees its danger it will not look on and see a Rape made on its Religion and Liberties without examining from whence have these Men this Authority they will hardly find that it is of Men and they will not believe that it is of God But it is to be hoped that there will be no occasion given for this angry question which is much easier made than answered VII If all that where now asked in favour of Popery were only some Gentleness towards the Papists there were some reason to entertain the Debate when the Demand were a little more modest If Men were to be attainted of Treason for being Reconciled to the Church of Rome or for Reconciling others to it If Priests were demanded to be hanged for taking Orders in the Church of Rome and if the two thirds of the Papists Estates were offered to be Levied it were a very natural thing to see them uneasy and restless but now the matter is more barefaced they are not contented to live at ease and enjoy their Estates but they must carry all before them and F. Petre cannot be at quiet unless he makes as great a Figure in our Court as Pere de la Chaise does at Versailles A Cessation of all Severities against them is that to which the Nation would more easily submit but it is their Behaviour that must create them the continuance of the like Compassion in another Reign If a restless and a persecuting Spirit were not inherent in that Order that has now the Ascendant they would have behaved themselves so decently under their present Advantages as to have made our Divines that have charged them so heavily look a little out of countenance and this would have wrought more on the good Nature of the Nation and the Princly Nobleness of the Successors whom we have in view than those Arts of Craft and Violence to which we see their Tempers carry them even so early before it is yet time to show themselves The Temper of the English Nation the Heroical Vertues of those whom we have in our Eyes but above all our most holy Religion which instead of Revenge and Cruelty inspires us with Charity and Mercy even for Enemies are all such things as may take from the Gentlemen of that Religion all sad apprehensions unless they raise a Storm against themselves and provoke the Iustice of the Nation to such a degree that the Successors may find it necessary to be Iust even when their own Inclinations would rather carry them to shew Mercy In short they need fear nothing but what they create to themselves so that all this stir that they keep for their own Safety looks too like the securing to themselves Pardons for the Crimes that they intend to commit VIII I know it is objected as no small
the Enemies of GOD but their own which Laws have still been continued of course without design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only on Supposition that the Papists relying on an External Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegeance to their Natural Soveraigns and Rightful Monarchs We of Our certain Knowledge and long Experience knowing that the Catholicks as it is their Principle to be Good Christians so it is to be dutiful Subjects and that they have likewise on all Occasions shewn themselves Good and Faithful Subjects to Us and Our Royal Predecessors by hazarding and many of them actually losing their Lives and Fortunes in their Defence though of another Religion and the Maintenance of their Authority against the Violences and Treasons of the most violent Abettors of these Laws Do therefore with Advice and Consent of Our Privy Councâ—l by Our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power aforesaid Suspend Stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament Customs or Constitutions made or executed against any of our Roman Catholick Subjects in any time past to all Intents and Purposes making void all Prohibitions therein mentioned pains or penalties therein ordained to be Inflicted so that they shall in all things he as free in all Respects as any of our Protestant Subjects whatsoever not only to Exercise their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which We shall think fit to bestow upon them in all time coming Nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure and we do hereby câ—mmand all Catholicks at their highest Pains only to Exercise their Religious Worship in Houses or Chappels and that they presume not to Preach in the open Fields or to invade the Protestant Churches by force under the pains aforesaid to be inflicted upon the Offenders respectively nor shall they presume to make Publick Processions in the High-Streets of any of Our Royal Burghs under the Pains above mentioned And whereas the Obedience and Service of Our Good Subjects is due to Us by their Allegiance and Our Soveraignty and that no Law Custom or Constitution Difference in Religion or other Impediment whatsoever can exempt or discharge the Subjects from their Native Obligations and Duty to the Crown or hinder Us from Protecting and Employing them according to their several Capacities and Our Royal Pleasure nor Restrain us from Conferring Heretable Rights and Priviledges upon them or vacuate or annul these Rights Hereable when they are made or conferred And likewise considering that some Oaths are capable of being wrested â—y Men of sinistrous intentions a practice in that Kingdom fatal to Religion as it was to Loyalty Do therefore with Advice and Consent aforesaid â—ass Annul and Discharge all Oaths whatsoever by which any of Our Subjects are incapacâ—â—ated or disabled from holding Places or Offices in Our said Kingdom or enjoying their Hereditary Rights and Priviledges discharging the same to be taken or given in any time coming without our special Warrant and Consent under the pains due to the Contempt of Our Royal Commands aâ—d Authority And to this effectâ— we do by Our Royaâ— Authority aforesaid Stop 〈◊〉 and Diâ—pense with all Laws enjoyning the said Oaths Tâ—sts or any of them particularly the first Act of the first Session of the first Parliament of King Charles the Second the Eleventh Act of the foresaid Session of the foresaid Parliament the sixth Act of the third Parliament of the said King Charles the twenty first and twenty fifty Acts of that Parliament and the thirteenth Act of the first Session of * Our late Parliament in so far allanerly as concerns the taking the Oaths or Tests therein prescribed and all others as well not mentioned as mentioned and that in place of them all Our good Subjects or such of them as We or Our Privy Council shall require so to do shall take and swear the following Oath allanerly I A. B. do acknowledge testifie and declare that JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. is rightful King and Supream Governour of these Realms and over all persons therein and that it is unlawful for Subjects on any pretence or for any cause whatsoever to rise in Arms against Him or any Commissionated by Him and that I shall never so rise in Arms nor assist any who shall so do and that I shall never resist His power or Authority nor ever oppose his Authority to his Persâ—n as I shall answer to God but shall to the utmost of my power Assist Defend and Maintain him his Heirs and Lawful Successors in the Exercise of their Absolute Power and Authority against all Deadly So help me God And seeing many of Our good Subjects have before Our pleasure in these Matters was made publick incurred the Guilt appointed by the Acts of Parliament above-mentioned or others We by Our Authority and Absolute power and prerogative Royal above-mentioned of Our certain Knowledge and innaâ—e Mercy Give Our ample and full Indemnity to all those of the Roman-Catholick or popish Religion for all things by them done contrary to Our Laws or Acts of Parliament made in any time past relating to their Religion the Worship and Excercise thereof or for being papists Jesuits or Traffickers for hearing or saying of Mass concealing of Priests or Jesuits breeding their Children Catholicks at home or abroad or any other thing Rite or Doctrrine said performed or maintained by them or any of them And likewise for holding or taking of Places Employments or Offices contrary to any Law or Constitution Advices given to Us or Our Council Actions done or generally any thing performed or said against the known Laws of that Our Ancient Kingdom Excepting always from this Our Royal Indemnity all Murders Assassinations Thefts and such like other Crimes which never used to be comprehended in Our General Acts of Indemnity And we command and require all Our Judges or others concerned to explain this in the most Ample Sense and Meaning Acts of Indemnity at any time have contained Declaring this shall be as good to every one concerned as if they had Our Royal pardon and Remission under Our Great Seal of that Kingdom And likewise indemnifying Our Protestant Subjects from all pains and penalties due for hearing or preaching in Houses providing there be no Treasonable Speeches uttered in the said Conventicles by them in which case the Law is only to take place against the Guilty and none other present prâ—vâ—ding also that they Râ—veal to any of Our Council the Guilt so committed As also execpting all Fines or Effects of Sentences already given And likewise Indemnifying fully and freely all Quakers for their Meetings and Worship in all time past preceeding the publication of these pâ—esents And we doubt not but Our Protestant Subjects will give their Assistance and Concourse hereunto on all Occasions in their respective Capacities In consideration whereof and the ease those of Our
adhered to his Majesty even against a Pretender that declared for them And in the Session of Parliament which came after that they shewed their disposition to assist the King with new Supplies and were willing to Excuse and indemnifie all that was past only they desired with all possible Modesty that the Laws which His Majesty had both promised and at his Coronation had Sworn to maintain might be Exâ—cuted Here is their Crime which has raised all this Out-cry They did not move for the Exâ—cution of â—evere and penal Laws but were willing to let those sleep till it might appear by the Behaviour of the Papists whether they might deserve that there should be any Mitigation made of them in their Favour Since that time our Church-men have have been constant in mixing their Zeal for their Religion against Popery with a Zeal for Loyalty against Rebellions because they think these two are very well consistent one with another It is true they have generally expressed an unwillingness to part with the two Tests because they have no mind to trust the keeping of their Throats to those who they believe will cut them and they have seen nothing 〈◊〉 the conduct of the Papists either â—â—thin or without the Kingdom to make them grow weary of the Laws for their sakes and the same principle of common sense which make it so hard for them to believe Transubstantiation makes them conclude that the Author of this Paper and his Friends are no other than what they hear and see and know them to be II. One instance in which the Church of England shewed her Submission to the Conrt was that as soon as the Nonconformists had drawn a new Storm upon themselves by their medling in the matter of Exclusion many of her Zealous Members went into that Prosecution of them which the Court set on foot with more Heat than was perhaps justifiable in it self or reasonable in those Circumstances but how censurable soever some angry men may be it is somewhat strane to see those of the Church of Rome blame us for it which has decreed some unrelenting Severities against all that differ from her and has enacted that not only in Parliaments but even in General Councils It must needs sound odly to hear the Sons of a Church that must destroy all others as soon as it can compass it yet complain of the Excesses of Fines and â—mprisonments that have been of late among â—s But if this Reproach seems a little strange when it is in the Mouth of a Papist it is much more provoking when it comes from any of the Court. Were not all the Orders 〈◊〉 late Severity sent from thence Did not the Judges in every Circuit and the Favourite Justices of Peace in every Sessions imploy all their Eloquence on this Subject The Directions that were given to the Justices and the Grand Iuries were all repeated Aggravations of this Matter and a little Ordinary Lawyer without any other Visible Merit but an Outragious Fury in those Matters on which he has chiefly valued himself was of a sudden taken in his Majesties special Favour and raised up to the Highest Posts of the Law All these things led sâ—me of our Obedient Clergy to look on it as a piece of their Duty to the King to encourage that Severity of which the Court seemed so fond that almost all people thought they had set it up for a Maxime from which they would never depart I will not pretend to excuse all that has been done of late Years but it is certain that the most crying Seveâ—ities have been acted by persons that were raised up to be Judges and Magistrates for that very end they were Instructed Trâ—sted and Rewarded for it both in the last and under the pâ—esent Reign Church-preferments were distinguished rather as Recompences of this devouring Zeal than of a real Merit and men of more mode ate Tempers were not only ill lookt at but ill used So that it is in it self very unreasonable to throw the load of the late Rigour on the Church of England without distinction but it is worse than in good manners it is fit to call it if this Reproach comes from the Court. And it is somewhat unbecoming to see that which was set on at one time disowned at another while yet he that was the chief Instrument in it is still in so high a post and begins now to treat the men of the Church of England with the same Brutal Excesses that he bestowed so lately and so liberally on the Dissenters as if his design were to render himself equally odious to all Mankind III. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as Seditinus after she has rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth has done She has beaten down all the Principles of Rebellon with more Force and Learning than any Body of men has yet done and has run the hazard of Enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the more learned of her Members knew well what they might expect And since our Author likes the figure of a Snake in ones Bosom so well I could tell him that according to the Apoâ—ogue we took up and sheltred an Interest that was almost Dead and by that warmth gave it Life which yet now with the Snake in the Bosom is like to bite us to Death We do not say that we are the only Church that has the Principles of Loyalty but this we may say that we are the Church in the World that carries them the highest as we know a Church that of all others sinks them the lowest We do not pretend that we are inerrable in this Point but acknowledge that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edwards Death Yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more ftedily to their Loyalty in favour of Q. Mary that She did to the Promises that she made to them Upon this Subject our Aurhor by his false Quotation of History forces me to set the Reader right which if it proves to the Disadvantage of his Cause his Friends may thank him for it I will not enter into so tedious a Digression as the justifying Queen Elizabeths being Legitimate and the throwing the Bastardy on Queen Mary must carry me to this I will only say that it was made out that according to the best sort of Arguments used by the Church of Rome I mean the constant Tradition of all Ages King Henry the Eighth marrying with Queen Catherine was Incesâ—uous and by consequence Q. Mary was the Bastard â—â—d Queen Elizabeth was the Legitimate Issue But our Author not satisfied with defaming Queen Elizabeth tells us that the Church of England was no sooner set up by her than She Enacted those Bloody Cannibal Laws to Hang Draw and Quarter the Priests of the Living God But since these Laws disturb him so much what does he
the injustice that is done me and who will in his own Time and Way vindicate my Innocence and under Him I trust to the Protection of the HIGH AND MIGHTY STATES OF HOLLAND AND WEST-FRIESLAND My First Letter to the Earl of Midletoune May it please Your Lordship THE Affairs of these Provinces belonging to Your Lordship's share in the Ministry leads me to make this most humble Address to You and by Your Lordship to His Majesty I have received Advertisements from Scotland that the King has writ to the Privy Council ordering me to be proceeded against for High Treason against His Person and Government and that pursuant to this the King's Advocate has cited me to appear there if any thing in this World can surprise or disorder me this must needs do it For as few have writ more and preacht oftner against all soâ—ts of Treasonable Doctrines and Practices than my Self so all the Discoveries that have been made of late Years have been so far from aspersing me that though there has been disposition enough to find fault with me yet there has not been Matter given so much as for an examination It is now thirteen Years since I came out of Scotland and for these last five years I have not so much as mentioned the commonest News in any Letter I have writ to any in that Kingdom I do not mention Acts of Indemnity because I knâ—w that I do not need the benefit of them I went out of England by His Majesties Approbation and I have stayed out of it because His Majesty expresâ—ed His dâ—slike of my returning to it I am now upon the Point of Marrying in this Countrey and am Naturalized by the Staâ—es of Holland but though by this during my stay here my Allegiance is translated from his Majesty to the Soveraignty of this Province yet I will never depart from the profoundest Respect to his Sacred Person and Duty to his Government since my coming into these parts I have not seen any one Person either of Scotland or England that is Outlawd for Treason and when the King took Exceptions at the Access I had to the Prince and Princess of Orange there was not any thing of this kind objected to me So I protest unto your Lordship I do not so much as imagine upon what it is that those informations which it seems are brough to his Majesty are founded My Lord As I am not ashamed of any thing I have done so I am not afraid of any thing that my Enemies can do to me I can very easily part with a small Estate and with a Life of which I have been long weary and if my Engagements in this Countrey could dispence with it I would not avoid the coming to stand my Tryal but as this cannot be expected in the state in which I am so I humbly throw my self at His Majesties Feet and beg that he may not Condem me so much as in his thoughts till I know what is the Crime tâ—at is Objected to me that so I may offer a most humble Justification of my self to him I shall be infinitely sorry if any Iudgment that may pass on me in Scotland shall oblige me to appear in Print in my own Defence for I cannot betray my own Innocence so far as to suffer a thing of his nature to pass upon me without Printing an Apology for my self in which I will be forced to make a recital of all that share that I have had in Affairs these twenty years past and in which I must mention a vast number of particulars that I am afraid will â—e displeasing to His Majesty and as I will look on this as one of the greatest Misfortunes that can possibly befall me so with all the Duty and Humility in the World I beg I may not be driven to it I will not presume to add one word to your Lordship nor to claim any sort of Favour or Protection from you For I address my self only to your Lordship as you are the Kings Minister for these Provinces My Lord I am with all possible respect May it please your Lordship Your Lordships c. Hague May 10. 1687. The Criminal Letters at the Instance of the Lord Advocate Against Doctor GILBERT BVRNET JAMES c. To our Loviâ—s c. Herauls Pursevants Macers and Messengers at Arms Our Sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally specially constitute Greeting Forsameâ—kle as it is humbly meaned and complained to Us be Our Right Trustie and Familiar Councellor Sir Iohn Dalrymple the Younger of Stair our Advocate for our Interest upon Doctor Gilbert Burnet That where notwithstanding by the Laws and Act of Parliament and constant practique of this our Kingdom the venting of Slanderous Treasonable and Advised Speeches and Positions and the Reproaching our Person Estate and Government and the Râ—ceptâ—ng Supplying Aiding Assisting Intercomoning with doing Favours to denounced Rebels or forfaulted Traitors are punishable by Forfaulture of Life Land and Goods and particularly by the 1. 3. 4. Act of 8. P. K. Ja. 6. It is Statute Ordainâ—d that non of our Subjects of whatsoever Degaee Estate or Quality shall presume or take upon hand privatelie or publicklie in Sermons Declamation or Familiar Conferences to utter any False Slanderous or untrue Speeches to the Disdain Reproach or Contempt of Us our Council or Proceedings or to the Dishonour hurt or Prejudice of Us or to meddle in our Affairs or Estate by-gone present or in time coming under the pain of Death and Confiscation of Moveables And be the 10 Act 10 P. K. Ja. 6. It is Statue and Ordained that all our Subjects contain themselves in Quietness and dutiful Obedience to Us our Government and Authority and that non of them presume nor take upon hand publicklie to declame or privatelie to speak or write any Purpose of Reproach or Sclander against our Person Estate or Government or to deprave our Laws and Acts of Parliament or misconstrue our Proceedings whereby any Dis-like may be moved betwixt Us our Nobility and loving Subjects in time coming under the Pain of Death and that thes that do in the Contrair shall be repute as Seditious and wicked Instruments Enemies to Us and the Common-weel of this Realm and that the said paine of Death shall be inflicted upon them with all Rigour in Example of others And be the second Act 2. Sess. of the first Parliament of K. Ch. 9. We and our Estates of Parliament do declare that thes Positions that it is Lawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any other pretence whatsomever to enter into Leagues or Covenants or to take up Arms agaiust Us or thes Commissionat by Us or to putt limitations upon their due Obedience and Allegeance are Rebellious and Treasonable and that all persons who shall by Writing Preaching or other malitious and advysed Speaking Express thes Treasonable Intentions shall be proceeded against and adjudged Traitorâ— and shall suffer forfaulter of Life Lands and
it or not Of all the Maxims in the World there is none more hurtful to the Government in our present Circumstances than the saying that the Kings Promises and the Peoples Fidelity ought to be Reciprocal and that a Failuâ—e in the one cuts off the other for by a very natural consequence the Subject may likewise say that their Oaths of Allegeance being founded on the Assurance of His Majesties Protection the One binds no longer than the Othir is observed and the Inferences that may be drawn from hence will be very terrible if the Loyalty of the sos mueh decryed Church of England does not put a stop to them A LETTER containing some Remarks on the Two Papers writ by His late Maiâ—sty King Charles the Second concerning Religion SIR I Thank you for the two Royal Papers that you have sent me I had heard of them before but now we have them to well tâ—ested that there is no hazard of being deceive by a false Copy you expect that in return I should let you know what Impression they have made upon me I pay all the reverence that is due to a Crownd Head even in Ashes to which I will never be wanting far less am I capable of suspecting the Royal Attestation that accompanies them of the truth of which I take it for granted no man doubts but I must crave leave to tell you that I am confident the late King only copied them and that they are not of his Composing for as they have nothing of that free Air with which he expressed himself so there is a Contexture in them that does not look like a Prince and tho beginning of the first shewes it was the effect of a Conversation and was to be communicated to another so that I am apt to think they were Composed by another and were so well relished by the late King that he thought fit to keep them in order to his examining them more particularly and that he was prevailed with to Copy them lest a Paper of that nature might have been made a Crime if it had been found about him writen by another hand and I could name one or two Persons who as they were able enough to Compose such Papers so had power enough over his Spirit to engage him to Copy them and to put themselves out of danger by restoring the Original You ought to address your self to the Learned Divines of our Church for an answer to such things in them as puzzle you and not to one that has not the honour to be of that Body and that has now carried a Sword for some time and imploys the leasure that at any time he enjoyes rather in Philosophical and Mathematical Enquiries than in matters of Controversie There is indeed one Consideration that determined me more easily to comply with your desires which is my having had the honour to discourse copiously of those matters with the late King himself and he having proposed to me some of the particulars that I find in those Papers and I having said several things to him in answer to those Heads which he offered to me only as Objections with which he seemed fuâ—ly satisfied I am the more willing to communicate to you that which I took the liberty to lay before His late Majesty on several occasions the particulars on which he insisted in discourse with me were the uselessness of a Law without a Judge and the necessity of an infallible Tribunal to determine Controversies to which he added the many Sects that were in England which seemed to be a necessary consequence of the Liberty that every one took to interpret the Scriptures and he often repeated that of the Church of Englands arguing from the obligation to obey the Church against the Sectaries which he thought was of no force unless they allowed more Authority to the Church then they seemed willing to admit in their Disputes with this Church of Rome But upon the whole Matter I will offer you some Reflections that will I hope be of as great weight with you as they are with my self I. All Arguments that prove upon such general Considerations that there ought to be an Infallible Judge named by Christ and clothed with his Authority signify nothing unless it can be shewed us in what Texts of Scripture that â—omination is to be found and till that is shewed they are only Arguments brought to prove that Christ ought to have done somewhat that he has not done So these are in effect so many Arguments against Christ unless it appears that he has Authorised such a Judge therefore the right way to end this dispute is to shew where such a Constitution is aâ—thorised So that the most that can be made of this is that it amounts to a favourable presumption II. It is a very unreasonable thing for us to form Presumptions of what is or ought to be from Inconveniences that do arise in case that such things are noâ—â—â— for we may carry this so far that it will not be easie to stop it It seems more sutable to the infinite Goodness of God to communicate the knowledge of himself to all mankind and to furnish every Man with such assistances as will certainly prevail over him It seems also reasonable to think that so perfect a Saviour as Jesus Christ was should have shewed us a certain Way and yet confident with the free Use of our Faculties of avoiding all sin nor is it very easy to imagine that it should be a reproach on his Gâ—spel if there is not an Infallible Preservâ—tive against Errour when it is acknowledged that there is no infallible Preseâ—vative against sin for it is certain that the one Damns us more Infallibly than the other III. Since presumptions are so much insisted on to prove what things must be appointed by Christ it is to be considered that it is also a reasonable Presumption that if such a Court was appointed by him it must be done in such plain terms that there can be no room to question the meaning of them and since this is the â—â—â—ge upon which all other matters turn it ought to be expressed so particularly in whom it is vested that there should be no occasion given to dispute whether it is in one Man or in a Body and if in a Body whether in the Majority or in the two thirds or in the whole Body â—â—animously agreeing in short the Chief thing in all Governments being the Nature aâ—d Power of the Judges those are always distinctly specified and therefore if these things are not specified in the Scriptures it is at least a strong Presumption that Christ did not intend to authorise sâ—ch Judges IV. There were several Controveâ—sies raised among the Churches to which the Apostles writ as appears by the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Gaâ—atians and Colostians yet the Apostles â—ever make use of those passages that are pretended for this Authority to put an end to these Controversies which