which the practise of the Prerogative and the Laws of the Land did ever Allow I do not design to enter here upon the old distinction of Malum in se Prohibitum For that Evil which was prohibited when by reasons of State it comes to be dispens'd withall is no longer so but really good so it would be oppression in a Prince to demolish the dwellings of his Subjects but no one will say 't is so in a Siege when he burns down the Subburbs But this being not only to be defended by Reason but the Laws was repin'd at as * Arbitrary the King upbraided with Vid. Letter and Answer to the Test of Church of Englands Loyalty Vid. All Burnets Papers his Coronation Oath to keep all the Laws the Judges Libell'd and Satyris'd for their sense and opinions and with a Non Obstante posted up in an house of Office The rumour ran of nothing else but all the Laws to be lay'd aside though only some Penal ones were suspended and when they might as well have made their Satyr and Animadversion upon every Session at the Old Baily where the King was never deny'd the pardoning of a Felon or remitting a Fine tho' the one were for the highest misdemeanour and the other even for murder it self and sure to infer from an argument a fortiori if the Law will justifie the Kings Mercy to a Malefactor for the shedding of blood it will sure extend to forgive the forfeiture of an Office or Place and yet too by the leave of the mighty Dr. and his most malitious * Dr. Burnet's Reflections on Declaration for Liberty c. construction this shall not amount to the repeal of the Law and be but a bare suspension of the Penalty For as it appear'd in the late Case of Hales it was in the power of any man to Prosecute tho it was at last left in the King to Pardon And if the Dr. will make hast before the Parliament may make some Alteration he shall bring what information he pleases against any Papist for their forfeitures where he may shew his malice and do no mischief So that all his Scotch Droll about Cass and Null and Absolute Power apply'd to the Cases in England are nothing to the purpose But it was not Dr. B. alone that was thus bold we heard nothing about that time in private discourse but threatning of Publick impeachments that Parliaments had questioned Wolsey Bristol and others for advising such dispensations and that Judges had been with the old story of Tresilian hang'd for such resolutions Gentlemen it could not be the Dissenters now that were guilty of these sort of Observations unless they were angry at the Clemency and Mercy that reliev'd them But that we have no reason to make this a piece of Arbitrary Power consider but some Presidents of Prerogative and that in the former Reigns King Edw. 3d. repeal'd an Act of Parliament as impos'd by necessity and that by his Royal Prerogative the Parliament in Rich. 2d time by several Judicial Acts had proceeded against the Ld. Chancellor the Duke of Ireland and Arch Bishop of York to which the King had given his assent but assoon as he dissolv'd that Assembly all was dissolv'd too that had been done against them And that the Resolution of our Judges may not be lookt on as so Extrajudicial and Extravagant I 'le refer them to what was resolv'd by the Judges in the same Kings Reign I. That the Statute of Commission made in the last Parliament was Void because against the Prerogative and that the Advisers to it deserved Death II. That the King could cause the Parliament to proceed upon Articles by him limited before they meddled with any other III. That the Judgment against Pool in Parliament was Revocable by the King. So that it is no new thing for the Judges in the highest manner to assert the Prerogative and what ever Miracles were performed afterward by that Parliament of wonders that does not make it less the duty of those sages to assert the right of the Crown tho' some of them were afterward by the rebellious Barons and the designing Duke of Glocester brought to suffer for the service to their King and by the same People too that afterward depos'd their Prince I need no more then mention the Dispensation to the Justices against 37. of Hen. 6. and that common Case of the Sherifs dispensed with by the 2d of Hen. 7. or the Case of Coinage in his 11. when Hen. 8 rejected the Popes Supremicy in Ecclesiasticals 't is as well known he reserv'd it as Entirely to himself settl'd upon him so by Act of Parliament so that if the Pope ever had a Dispensing power with a non Obstante both Hen. 8 and Edw. 6. had it too and I think both of them made use of it with a witness * Vid. Heylin's Hist Reform as also Acts Monuments you 'l see what Waste what Work was made with Altars Images tho' such irreligious Violence was by the Council of Illiberis forbidden to be shewn even the Pagan Idols the Sanctuary it self was not safe against their Dispensations that were extended even to Sacriledge too and the Altar it self was offer'd up for a Burnt-Offering to some Orders of the Council-Board The management of Religious matters will ever depend on the Civil Magistrate and is a saying never the less certain or more false for being the sense too of Mr. Hobbs The power that these assum'd in Ecclesiasticals as some think too much as it was deriv'd to all their successors since so none of them have exercis'd it so little as to lose it by disuse but in all their Dispensations to Forreigners that came to settle to their Families when encreas'd and to several of their native subjects at home sufficiently manifested that this Power was in the Crown that it was often made use of and that it is very unlikely any Prince will be willing to part with it Who ever run the Royal Authority in Sacreds higher than the Church that disputes it now so much So that the Kings power is with them what they please when it only countenances their Establishment and just none at all when it will Favour any Other I must confess I cou'd never find but that Argument Law was ever Relatively Good or Ill according to the disposition of the Party that was to Gain or Lose by it and every man will ever be a Knave or a Fool to those that are not of his Opinion but yet certainly there must be somewhat of Intrinsick Equity and Eternal Reason however confounded according to the diversity of Partyes and partiality of the People and by such an Vnprejudic'd Judgment I dare venture to try not only the Power of Dispensing but of the very Repealing of the Laws I would ask these men whether Queen Elizabeth did not take as great a Liberty in * Vid. Heylin's Reformation
them that they do whatever they do or say to the contrary nay tho' some have disallow'd even that and will no practise to the contrary please them does not the King of Spain the most Catholick King alive live as free from Rebellions I am asham'd to say more then the King of England is not the King of France as absolute as our own at Home as ready to quarrel with Rome upon the least diminution of his Right and to come homer to our selves have not our own Laws justl'd out this Jealousy with the Popes Pretentions in several †Vid. Stat. of Carlile of Provisoes c. Statutes under our Catholick Kings But besides their Principles as to their particular Practise and Behaviour have they not given England Proof enough they can live in it like good Subjects and if we put the Test of their Loyalty against That made to prevent Dangers from Popish Recusants I am afraid it will spoil all the Praeamble Gentlemen Matter of Fact confirms it and 't is in vain to dispute They Fought with You for CHARLES the FIRST in the Field and They alone Preserv'd the SECOND in the Royal Oak forsook their Fortune at Home and follow'd Him in his Exile Abroad The Best of Protestants could do no more tho' some might fare better that did not so much and their being among the Rebels is but a Libel of * This their Celebrated Dr. has made K. James 1. to curse his Posterity K. Charles 1. to betray his Friends Char. 2d to deceive his People James 2d to Oppress his Subjects as if He had laboured to ly under the Glorious Infamy of Libelling four Kings in one piece of Paper as if his Quarrel were too meanly commenc'd if it did not terminate in the lasting Reproach of our whole Scottish Line and he had better Authority to do it because himself a Scot and his Soveraign Lords were all at last to Suffer because his Master by him was at first Betray'd Vid. Paper page 12 36 23. 1. Burnet's both on the †How can this Establisht Church if it has any Veneration to the Dust of their Late Protestant Prince Deceas'd applaud approve of the Writings of such an Injurious Impostor that would have his Name Buried too and that tells them The greatest Kindness that can he done to His Memory is to Forget Him. page 23. KING's Declaration and them which is sufficiently Baffl'd by the well-known Story of Coll. Ashton who when refus'd by his KING was Courted into Commission by the Parliament which assoon as Receiv'd he Laid himself and That at His Majesties Feet This is as certain as that some Protestant Subjects were in Rebellion which if such a thing must Reflect on a Church I am afraid that will very much suffer and to say the National and Establish't Church did disown all such Proceedings will not much mend the Matter when so many of her Members were so mainly concern'd for tho' the Sectaries at last prevail'd for the subverting of the State the Commons of Forty-One that Commenc'd the Quarrel were generally Church-men and 't is not impossible for such to be Zealous and Discontented too neither is the Communion bound to answer for the faults of those members she Condemns the Lord Lieutenants that this Parliament chose were for the most part Conforming men and Essex's Army had many such Officers too some can tell us this for a truth that liv'd then and their Catalogue for the Militia makes it no ly 'T is too much to remember and too soon to forget that most of the Excluding Members were of that Communion as well as all the most Eminent Conspirators in the last Plot and Rebellion and even her Passive Obedience was Burlesque by one that publickly profest himself her son I speak it not for a disparagement to the Church that was then beyond dispute both in Principal and Practise faithful to the Crown but to satisfy such men that it is both imprudent and irrational for them to fling out such arguments as will fly in their face and as unjust to censure a whole Perswasion only for the fault of some of it's Professors for King-killing and deposing to condemn a Catholick Communion and from the writings of a Jesuit to upbraid the Church of Rome and that in Terms too bitter for a Prayer to make their Religion to be Rebellion and their Faith Faction And so much for the Reason of a Legal Toleration and General Comprehension Now to shew too that the Members of the Church Establisht ought to be willing to get it Done And that 2d It is fittest for Them to do it And first they must remember that by themselves these Laws were made and as a learned Lawyer lets us know that he is the best Judg of a Law that has the Power to make it so we may say those that make it when it happens to become unreasonable are the Fittest to get it Repeal'd if the Prelates are become less riged if the Spirit of Persecution is turn'd into a Spirit of Peace if they make no matter of Conscience to give Indulgence what greater proof can they give of all this then by their own voluntary Cancelling those severe Laws which themselves must own for some considerations of State were only made This would be a much better evidence of their more mercifull disposition then all the Promises of T. W. It will be no such scandal tho' it be true when all that can be said is You were overseen Length of time and revolution of affairs tell People at last their long errors tho commonly too late and then for the most part make men wise when they cannot make amends for their folly But Fortune seems to favour you now and puts it in your Power to mend all that was amiss she seems to Court your Inclinations and tempt you to Credit your selves Gratify your KING and Pleasure all In the next Place I hope it will be as plain That 3d It is their Interest so to do First because 't is they themselves that have asserted the Kings Power in Eclesiasticals to be such that it may be much to their detriment to Provoke such a Prince whom they by Law have made so Powerful neither is it such a Childish reason that it must be dally'd with or laught out of doors as an Author does it with * Vid. Tryal of the New Test page 6. a Legal Establishment even whilst it remains so legally subverted It may be done Sir without such a deal of Contradiction when People make Laws that Contradict themselves if Popish Recusants are so dangerous that they must not be Tolerated in England by a Law and we have such Laws that set the King as Supream to do whatsoever the Pope could have done Papists may well expect to be Protected from such a Catholick King and perhaps Protestants owe to His Promises most of their Security the Review of their first-Fruits to the
piece of Tyranny and Persecution tho it affected them only in their politick capacity and no person was afflicted by it with any Pecuniary mulct or Corporal punishment This their own Authors say they thought hard to suffer only for their Fidelity to their Sovereign and will these most unreasonable men most injuriously suppose it Justice and Reason that others are expos'd to be incapacitated for Trust excluded from Office debar'd of birth-right to be banisht fin'd imprison'd and fairly hang'd and that only for their Faith to their God Gentlemen These are great Truths unless our Annals Ly. Nothing of florid insinuations but a sober and modest representation of matter of fact which we shall further apply to the Circumstances of our present time And pray what benefit and ty after all had those Spiritual Bonds and Coercives of the Conscience and Soul save only to ensnare people into Perjury or punish them for not being Perjur'd i. e. ruining their estates in this world because they would not compound for their inheritance in the next What effect had that formidable Declaration Test of the Two Houses against the Members of the ensuing Parliament that was to Sit why our History tells us these their hard Exclusions were as little heeded by their Electors the recover'd Nation began to revive its drooping spirits it saw dismal oppression and fearful Tyranny like a cloudy shade flying from the Land when the refreshing Sun breaks forth with his ray and equally dispenses his benefits to all below Liberty was then too the long'd for blessing and the Universal cry peace of conscience freedom of fouls and a free Parliament were heard in the Land where nought had been but complaining in the streets the freemen and freeholders began to think themselves truly free that even in their Choice of Representatives their Nations birth-right and native Inheritance and that notwithstanding those Negative Oaths and Tests of Exclusion and their being banish't both Houses with an I. A. B. Neither will the Common Notion of Oaths impos'd by an unlawful Authority being utterly void satisfy all People we have seen it would not in the Case of the Covenant in some several persons that have been good casuists too it being an invocation of the same just God tho' administer'd with injustice by men and which perhaps in matters of Faith the most Legal Government as many think cannot well impose It was at That time the people began to think of chusing such Representatives as should rescue them from unreasonable Laws and a bondage more than that of the body no persons then pretended Loyalty to a Party all were Dissenters but those in Arms all the Nation big with Expectation of this blessed and reconciling Parliament nay most of the very Army it self signing an engagement to submit to all it's consultations none were disturb'd with apprehensions of its approach none cast down but some in high places and such as were likely to fall from a power of doing mischief That let Lambert out of the Tower and led him into the field fear of Vnion and a fear of Peace That Publisht Papers too to create Jealousies of that ensuing Parliament and the boldest of them too was a Letter not to a Dissenter but as sent from Brussels the Church of England-Loyalists then were full of Addresses Declarations subscrib'd by Nobility Gentry Clergy full of condescention to all tender Consciences with these very soft terms expressions of * Vid. Declarations Publique Liberty Publique Peace National Interest laying aside all mention of Parties and Factions and burying all Rancours and Animosities and had before agreed in a reconciling Association of Episcopal Presbyterian and Independant and all but Papist Church-government and certainly it will not recommend much the demeanor of this Establisht Church when it shall be said with Truth that she was then only meek when humbled and then alone merciful when she could not hurt I wish I could not put an end to this Section with another observation that seems to have some affinity to the juncture of affairs afoot As it was the Plot of that Parliament that had created all our troubles at their expiration to put a test to the Loyalty of the next that was to succeed or rather a tryal of their affection to their Treason and Usurpation So also there was a contrivance upon the Assembling of that Healing Parliament to have Ejected most of the Members after they were met by Vertue of those very Votes and Tests of their opinion of the War and of the Ministry and Magistracy being only from God. I mention this as apposite too because 't is more than probable that the Contrivances of the late Tests being to debar people of their Birth-right their Peerage and sitting in Parliament they may move again Now to have all Members excluded for their Opinions and that they cannot take the Oaths as if the belief of Transubstantiation would turn the Elements of the man too and unqualify a person for the affairs of his Country as if a Coventicle was impossible to afford a Burgher that understood the Constitution of his own Corporation But certainly there may be some means found out for obviating such an inconvenience and sure the KING who by the resolution of the Laws and the greatest Judges of it can dispense with those Oaths to be taken in any Court of Judicature can by an argument a Majori extend his dispensation to such as cannot take it in an House of Commons which is none unless it should so fall out too as an officer upon the passing those former Tests told General Monk while he was talking of a new Parliament and those qualifications they themselves being to be Judges of themselves it may so happen that the Major part may be of such as are not themselves Qualify'd And I may add to the present case of such as may not be willing or care that others should so Qualify themselves for the service of their King and Country as in their opinions must make them renounce their Heaven and deny their GOD. But we must not leave this Subject yet without answering two Objections wherewith the partial concern'd will be sure to attack us in the rear and therefore 't is fit to face about to confute them First Then that the power which opprest the Church of England was an absolute usurpation and terminated in a Tyranny not to be indur'd the product of a devilish Rebellion and the remains of a raging War. Secondly That those which suffer'd under her Reign have had this assurance and benefit too that it shall always be by the known Laws of the Land and Statutes of the Realm whereas all those Oaths and Engagements Votes and Ordinances we so insignificantly mention were just no Laws at all so that they suffer'd by nothing as well as for it To this it may be as readily replyed that all sufferings if against all sense and reason to the ruining men
for crimes they cannot but commit are certainly the same to the sufferers in the Penalties and Pains they are to undergo whatever be the Lawfulness of the Authority that inflicts them 'T is as small advantage to a man that has all his goods confiscated for the Twenty pounds a Month to think he was ruin'd by an Act of Queen Elizabeth as if he had been plunder'd by an Army of Olivers and as little comfort for the poor Priest that must be Hang'd for his Habit to say he dyes Legally as if he had been Knockt on the Head for taking the Wall. Justice and Equity will be still the same whatever are the various Revolutions of a Politick State and founded upon Eternal Reason as some Maxims in the Schools upon the same Truth Thirdly They must be soon satisfy'd too and with as much Reverence to those Mighty Powers that no Power on Earth no Humane Constitution can make Statutes against the Decrees of Heaven or resist an Omnipotency that is Divine their Dictates they say are Spirit that influences the Will And will any man say Flesh and Blood shall oppose it Souls may be said to have a Property too that cannot be violated by the Sanctions of an Humane Assembly nor Persons made to suffer for obeying the Divine dictates of their Devoutest thought or following the Natural Principles of their Religious Education The one of which even a Moral Turk will tell you must not cannot be oppos'd and any honest Heathen in Philosophy teach us the difficulty to Proselyte * Naturam expellas furca licet usque recurret Horat Nature or pervert it and that certainly in lesser concerns than the Salvation of a Soul. Dissenters represent their sufferings in all their addresses and Complaints as Tyrannical too they are sure the best Judges of their miseries that groan under them and there may be Tyranny too in the Laws tho the Legislators had a Lawful Power to make them but these very Laws too have been strain'd by * Ryots made and Routs of Meetings Construction and so they Sympathiz'd with those under Usurpation and suffer'd by none at all Lastly To close this Section with the similitude of the Circumstances of affairs to Crown all the KING himself then like his other self now his only and Lawful Successor intimated his designs against the opening of the first Session of that Free Parliament That he intended a freedom from all Penalties and suffering for Religion promis'd it to General Monk and in his Declarations represented his readiness to Consent to any Act of Parliament for the full granting that Indulgence Upon these Motives was that Miraculous Restoration facilitated upon these foundations was fixt that firm and what perhaps might have been a more lasting Peace too had not the powerful importunities of a prevailing Church interrupted the felicity to the disturbance of the State. Gentlemen the Case of the Church of England was once in Common with some Dissenters and no less hard than theirs is now they suffer'd you see together once from a prevailing Party and Liberty of Conscience was certainly then as dear to them as this Religion Establisht by Law and that from their own mouths if his Majesty may take their words for it was alway dearer to them than their lives It was as great a Crime to them then to have a Common Prayer as to a Dissenter now to make use of the Directory Her book of Liturgy was lookt on then as bad as that of the Mass and all her Canon and Rubrick no more to be receiv'd than a Calendar of Red Letters or the Rituals of Rome Alas What a mighty Metamorphosis the felicity of some peoples affairs can produce to the forgetting of their misfortunes all their fellow-sufferers and even the Sentiments of their own Souls The Dissenters desire to come just to the Circumstances they were in at the late KING's Restoration And why for Godsake must this Establisht Church turn truly Militant not only against all others but it self And like that of Ephesus Leave her first Love and as some say her first Faith too to forget that compassion she had for such Sufferers and her own sense and opinion that such sufferings were most severe What judgment can seriously be made by Sober Persons to what will impartial people impute this her hot Zeal against Dissenters that in the dawning of her Restitution was hardly Luke-warm Will it not give occasion to say that she must answer for her self like the Laodicean too Because says she I am rich now and increased with goods and have need of nothing And if it be so that the Dissenters were promis'd then an Exemption from Penalties for matters of meer Religion and the KING Parliament and Church thought it meet as matter of fact will make it appear then certainly all this cry will sound very harsh and unreasonable against this present Prince that has greater reasons for it when he only performs the promises of his Pious Predecessor gratifies the desires of his Restoring Parliament and answers the very first Petitions of his People SECT III. The Maxims and Methods that it took ANd now by the Division of this Discourse we are come to the Third Point The Maxims and Methods that were taken by this Healing Parliament It met upon the Twenty Fifth of April and who knows but about that time our next may meet and may that Epoche of their Commencement prove as great an Omen of their good Agreement it found the Kingdom most unhappily confus'd with Diversities of Opinions in the ways of worshipping their God it found the severe Laws of Q. Eliz. KING James and Car. 1. very ineffectual for the suppressing of what was call'd Schism and Dissention For this reason they took care in the first place in their Act for Confirming of Ministers That none should be Ejected for their past Non-conformity from 42 to 60 unless such as had in the time of Usurpation Ejected others This was agreeable to what the KING had first propos'd to them both before privately and afterward at the publick opening of the Parliament for this the Lord Chancellor in their first Adjournment was order'd to tell them from the KING in these Terms That no sort of Piety and Godliness should be turn'd into Vid. Lord Chancellors Speech on that Occasion terms of slander and reproach or distinguish between the Court the City or the Country He was order'd further to tell them That by that favourable Act for confirming of Ministers his Majesty was sensible he had gratify'd many worthy and Pious Men and such as should alway receive fresh evidence of his Majesties favor and Kindness In that Parliament he had this Direction to tell them Of the sad consideration that the differences in Religion should be the ground of Animosities Malice and Revenge Passions which the Divine Nature exceedingly abhor'd That the Bloody Wars proceeded from those Contentions And that however descanted on by men that
even Burnets too Ecclesisticals for the founding of their Church greater than they can allow his Majesty only for the Countenancing of his when Her Injunctions to the Church past as currant with them for an Act of State as if 't had only been her Coinage and Shee at the same time could dispense to read the Latine Service * It was said by Moor in her Reign and Justify'd in Parliament that the Queens Non Obstante was good even against the Non Obstanle of an Act of Parliament to her Power Prerogative against what Her Self and Parliament had Enacted And if the Proceedings of PRINCES must be so much expos'd to the Censure of the People we meet with in her Reign perhaps the highest Instance of unheard of Power that History affords or ever was assum'd by any Monarch that Sate on our Throne And that was her Proceeding against the Queen of Scots the next Heir to her Crown tho' some would give Her a better Title whom against the Laws of Nature and Nations the word of a Queen the promise of a Sister the faith of a Christian after she had fled to her for Refuge after she had flatter'd her to restore her after Eighteen Years Imprisonment made her hold up her Hand to a Bar and be Beheaded on a Block It may be the first Example of such a sort of Suffering that ever was offer'd to a Crown'd Head whatever are the thoughts of our sublimated * Dr. Burnet the Author of the Tryal Examination of the New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty Wits to the contrary in the Cases they put For Licinius you must first observe was by their own Confession but a Colleague with Constantine and we may tell such Men of Law that understand Loyalty to be nothing else that till they prove the Queen of Scots a Coparcenary with Q Elizabeth they are impertinent in their Proof but as Bad Luck would have it when Wise Men make Ill Arguments * Vid. Sleid. de quatuor summ Imper. lib. 2. Eutropius lib. 10. Socrates lib. 1. cap. 2. lib. 2. cap. 1. This Licinius was Colleague with Maximianus conquer'd by Constantine and kill'd in a tumultuous Mutiny by the Souldiers He might so well have told us of Will Conqueror kill'd Harold the Dane And that Authors other President that he Cites for a Judicial Proceeding against a Crown'd Head fails him too as much tho' he might have told us which Queen Joan there being two that Reign'd and both Bad enough for that of Q. Joan's of Naples Case was shortly this She had Hang'd her first Husband for Insufficiency Kill'd the second in trying too much his Ability Beheaded the third for Incontinency Shee was Vanquish't by the K. of Hungary Brother to her First Husband and Hang'd in Revenge of his Death Here 's the Act again of an enrag'd Enemy made the same with a friend and Ally and the Case of the Lewdest Creature applyed Vid. his Answer to the New Test to the most Pious Lady Dr. B. himself cannot excuse the Barbarous Proceedings that were us'd against her and tho'I do not blame all the Bishops of those Times and This as some severe Papers have done yet to be Just to both most both of the Clergy and the Laity that liv'd then were for sacrificing of her to what they call'd Preservation of Religion and few of those that have followed since have justifyed the Proceedings Whatever were the Cause the Effects I 'm sure were Fatal and I fancy follow'd by some of our own Nation since and that to the spilling of more of the same Blood and verifying the Prophetick foresight as well as the seasonable Sarcasm of that unfortunate Princess that the English were ever wont to Murder their own KINGS and no wonder then they would Sacrifice now the Crown'd Head of another Kingdome Thus Gentlemen suffer'd that Pious Princess and if any a Blessed Saint and that upon the Pretence too of a sort of Penal Law a Test on purpose to destroy her and that upon the account of Religion Buckhurst and Beal both that brought her the dismal Tydings of her Death intimated to her that her Life would be the ruine of the Religion received and indeed 't was as agreeable to the pretended Interest of the State that Condemn'd her for she had no other Crime but their Fears and if her Endeavours to escape from the Confinement of a Faithless Ally were high Treason She was then only in a Plott So fell that Unfortunate Monarch whose Misfortunes would have melted Marble and that by the height of the most Arbitrary Power in a Reign where we dream of nothing else but Liberty Property and no other Dispensations but of impartial Justice And can any one think that his Majesty himself the direct Issue of the same Princess whose Religion is the same is not Wounded too with the sanguinary proceedings of her Times and the severity of those Laws still in force by which whatsoever is pretended many meerly for Religion suffer'd and those Catholicks that were Executed for what was adjudg'd High-Treason found as little Mercy as the other Justice being Cut down alive and Embowelled before their Face till the Queen was forc't to Forbid such cruel Executions That the Power of the Prerogative has been Arraign'd with such Animadversions as are above Suggested and that the KING's Dispensations have been remark't upon as Illegal and without President and that by those very men that made it their Business to advance any absolute Proceeding He must have kept himself very close or doubt his Hearing that disbelieves it but more than that they have given it under their Hand and the most modest of their Papers an Answerer to the Judgment and Doctrin of the Clergy about the power of Dispensing does handsomely clear them from the Belief of the Right of the KING's Prerogative in this point and is loath they should be taken for such Betrayers of the Liberty of the People Their Crime had not been so great had their Opinions lain under the Obloquy of such an Imputation and the Answerer as little obliges his Church as the Pamphleteer but as modest as he is 't is manifest from it that the Judgement of their Church is now against it or else sure it must be a needless labour if not impertinent to take so much pains to vindicate its Members from it But this I must observe from my acquaintance with all those Authors Quoted that tho' they have not in express Terms extended the KING's power to Dispense with Penal Laws they have advanc't his Soveraignty to as high a pitch and when the shooe pinches we are apt to complain tho' it be of our own putting on And those that find from the Revolutions of Affairs any unexpected Inconveniencies to flow from their own Arguments have nothing else to do but deny the Consequence and please themselves with a Non Sequitur but I 'le assure you
held more Bishopricks in her hand for many years many more then this KING since his coming to the Crown has dispos'd of their Churches their Chappels are all at their own Devotion and that within his Royal Pallaces and his own Walls Upon Application of these very People has he confirm'd to them several Freedoms and Immunities where he might have interpos'd with his Power and Prerogative These undistinguisht favours to all alike one would think should oblige some persons not to deny that Peace to their Soveraign which he labours to give to all his Subjects A Peace of Mind A Peace in the midst of Arms but such only as are employ'd for their defence the credit of their Nation and the Terror of their neighbours tho even that must be made their * Dr. Burnets Papers Grievance too which by the Goodness and Grandeur of their Prince is their greatest glory But there are many things besides to be consider'd consider but the reason of Enacting these Laws especially against Popish Recusants upon whom they are most severe and that they are now become the most unreasonable because the very occasions that call'd for them and to some people seem'd to make them necessary are now just none at all the Preambles to those very Statutes seem but so many Contradictions to the body of the Law. It would be hard for a Judge or Justice to tell the King of his dangers from Popish Recusants when he 's sure he can put his greatest faith and confidence in them and has so often try'd them in dangers too but it seems they and the Statutes being the better Judges of it are not bound to believe the KING but to Prosecute his friends for High Treason whom trusting and trying he finds to be guilty of no Treason at all And had not our Protestant officers of the * What can even the Church suffer from the Repeal that it is not expos'd to from the Kings dispensation And the malice of their Dr. Burnet makes them the same Reflections on Declaration Peace better repeal those Laws that are become but a dead letter thenly under a seeming sort of Perjury for not putting them in Execution Consider if in the time of the late KING by some Antecedent †Vid. Q. Eliz K. I. K. Ch. before Cited Law all the Conformists had been banisht the Court or from Access to the Kings Person if they had been made Malefactors Felons and Traytors of whose Loyalty he had so much proof in their adhering to the Crown would not his Majesty have been bound to get them repeat'd and themselves have thought it the most reasonable thing in the world that the Roman Catholicks in England have for a long time lain under severity not only of Opinion and Censure but Punishment and the Law even Protestants may allow without falling from their Faith or favouring their Religion for such a modest confession in their favour is no Vindication of the Doctrine of their Church and their Case to be consider'd here respects only their affairs in relation to the State and the matters being meerly Political must be determin'd by the Maxims of our States-men and so no Subject to be decided by the School-men and Divines And since those Persons suffer from the Constitution of Past-times partial to themselves since Papists that were once deny'd access to the person of their KING are now the Support of his Crown and Dignity since such put in but for a freedom from Penalty and an Immunity only from their being punisht as Malefactors it would be as great a want of honesty to call them Knaves for it as it is of Wit to think them fools But the Absurdity of such unreasonable Laws is somwhat more Considerable when they seem not a little to touch what is expressly forbidden The Lords Anointed Let them tell me where there is another such absurd inconsistency of State where the Statutes and Laws serve only to pollute their very Fountain the KING and make a Criminal of the Prince to that very Government in which he Presides where the Worship of his GOD must be said to be an Offering to Idols and his Conversion to a Faith High Treason against himself And then again since Papists as 't is now apparent have prov'd themselves No such Criminals to the State No such Pests of Society as they have been represented since they have Suffered the Severities of the Nations Iustice and seal'd their Innocency in their sufferings and Blood since they were sacrific'd to the Perjury of Recorded Villains and for a Conspiracy that can now only be Believ'd by Fools upon Record 't is time sure after this Iustice of the Nation has been satisfy'd so much even to the * vid. Oat's Tryal Arraigning of it self to let them find a little Mercy too and the more one would think for their Misfortunes Consider who they are that Furnish you with such distrustful Apprehensions of the Promises of your PRINCE and would frighten you into Dangers and Despair One of them a discontented Malecontent an Exile out of your Country a Criminal by Process in his Own and whose * Tho'by the Dr's leave the Lawyers say Abjuration will not Transfer it vid. Cok. 7. Rept p. 9. Dyer sol 300. Allegiance if we believe him is tranferr'd to another abroad and shall the severest Satyrs that Sedition can afford or Rage and Malice invent pass with us for pure Politicks and Impartial Truth There are ‖ Vid. Dr. B 's Papers Letter Tryal of the Test Others we have touch't upon that are no less Notorious and Applauded whose best of Praise is in not being Known that affect us like Vipers with their sting while at the same time they can hide their Heads Never Credit those that endeavour to Discredit their KING for such as will take that Liberty forfeit their Honesty and by the very Fact are not to be believ'd Pray what Attempt has he made to make the National Religion the Roman Catholick Which perhaps were it design'd is as little feasible that will alway preserve it self the National Religion which is most generally Receiv'd and untill they can prove to us That the Revealing the Laws will make more Papists in England than Protestants they may make many Words but no Arguments Has it not all the appearance in the world that it is the Principle of His MAJESTY's Soul and not any Designs of State that makes Him desire to have all the Souls of His Subjects at ease too to succour and relieve the Oppressed and let the Prisoner go free if not pray what then Oblig'd Him to that tender Compassion to the French-Protestants They are as much Hereticks to the Church of Rome and cannot pretend to a greater share of Friendship from the Agreeableness of their Doctrine or Faith They could not Plead Priviledges Immunities and Magna Charta and tell the KING He was bound by His Coronation Oath to Protect them yet'tis
upon the Dutch themselves for certainly were these Penal Laws so favourable as only to incapacitate them for Office and Trust yet even that is a severity which they are necessitated to suffer and that for Conscience sake it is but a poor extenuation of an uncharitable temper when he tells us that for some Political ends these Laws for Religion must remain unrepeal'd as if the Sacraments themselves were only made to be subservient to some Civil Institutions and the God of Heaven but an instrument to work out the inventions of man if meerly for secular ends so sacred a being as the Drity it self must be so solemnly invok't which the best Advocates for the cause do seem to confess I am afraid such an Invocation may be worse than that to Saints and be at least very profane if not Idolatrous neither can it be answer'd us that then all Declarations all Oaths must be laid aside for the Consequence fails them too for the Common reason of Imposing them is only or only should be for the detecting of Justice and Equity the discovering of truth from falsehood whereas these Protestations call'd Tests are by their own Confession kept a foot only to be Injurious to their fellow-Subjects that are Equitably born to the Common Priviledges of their Country and are so far from a discovery of what is true or false that they are made about matters so profoundly divine and mysterious that it is morally impossible for human understanding to discover or find it out unless the swearing to an Article of Faith be found a sufficient proof of the soundness of the Doctrine and the books of Scripture Antient Fathers modern Criticks can be all Confuted or be better Expounded by the Votes of an house of Commons This States-man makes it so Incomprehensible for any that profess Vid. Letter themselves Christians to go to disturb the quiet of a state and over-turn Constitutions only that they may be admitted to employments And pray must not others then think it as Vnchristian to have the professors of the same faith and their fellow-Subjects excluded from such employs which as their Religion cannot really debar them from so their very Native Birth-right demands it it is false in fact tho they take it for granted that it is the Roman-Catholicks alone that do so disturb and disquiet the State of the Kingdom it is only these Laws that create all this disturbance to them and the state these establisht-men would have been loath under the Oppression of Oliver to have merited the Name of disturbers of the Nation and 't is shewn before that suffering from a power Legal or Vsurpt is still the same where the Laws are oppressive and if the Overturning of old Constitutions be a thing of that consideration tho hardly a Parliament passes in which there are not new ones made if that I say be such a considerable argument as to make it absolutely necessary for our English Catholiques to acquiesce to continue Out-Laws more incapacitated them some Protestant Aliens how destructive must this be to the Protestant Interest should the Romanists take an opportunity to return upon us an old Law of the Romans that of Talionis and exclude all the Reform'd from Trust with a Test of Retaliation why we must submit we must not endeavour for our Restitution we must not disturb the state overturn establishment or repeal Laws And must not we look very silly too when by our own Arguments we have silenc'd our selves What a formidable blow will this give to the Reformation in England which was carried on as some say by the overturning of all that was Antient and Establisht Sacred and Civil both in Church and State and afford them a Scurvy Argument That they may overturn with a better warrant than they were turn'd out that their alterations will be only a restoring of an old establishment whereas we overturn'd that to set up new Constitutiens In short if they bring no better Reasons for our Religion than its being so much Establisht it will certainly resolve it self into the Power and Pleasure of the Prince and really be what they so scornfully reject truly * Vid. Oxford Reasons Precarious for surely they must see that assoon as they had a Protestant King they presently had their Protestant Religion And that in spite of far more Antient Constitutions and Establishments to the contrary I 'le grant him that every constituted body or Assembly whatsoever will be willing to make Laws for its own safety and Preservation But whatever be the Policy of the State it must be still agreeable to the Rules of Reason and Equity otherwise it proves no more than that all things are Lawful that are Expedient and that a Common-wealth to use his own terms as well as their own Constitution tho the result of an absolute rebellion revolt and defection from their Prince may make what Laws they please to prevent any Casual return to there natural Allegiance or that an Assembl'd or tumultuous People may pull in pieces even a Pensioner to provide against attempts thaet may disturb their peace and granting too that in Political bodies like to those that are truly natural there will be alway somwhat of innate tenderness to their own Preservation that genuin Principle only respects all opposing of a forreign force and no way determines it to domestick oppression no more than if the lazy man that is said alway to see the Lyon in the way should cut off one of his legs that he might the better run away with the rest of his carkass I am sorry I can say that this dismembring of our selves for the difference of Communion at home does no less expose us to Invasions from abroad but I am sure the saying is as certainly True prov'd by Experience Fact unavoidable from these Statutes and the Laws for should the best Seaman the best Souldier by his birth or Conversion be a Papist Convict he is totally incapacitated utterly impossible to do the least service to the Kingdom or the Crown and why should these Dutch people put that upon us the inconvenience of which they see in themselves and take all the care to avoid unless they would Vid. Letter have the more of the Kings Subjects unqualify'd to fight for him only that they might the sooner invade him Before the making of our first Test * 1673. when Papists Participated of Employments had their Places in Parliament I cannot remember that they did Impeach our Peace I am sure some of them did us signal service in the Dutch Wars his foes felt too much of the force of the Admiral and so may well fear the Preferment of his friends What the Reform'd Religion suffers from the Roman-Catholicks in France is no reason at all against the repealing of Vid. Letter these Laws in England unless they can prove the disposition of the Princes and the Politicks of the Two States to be
entirely the same which as precariously as it is beg'd for an unquestionable Truth if but duly consider'd is as positively false for the Principle of our King will not permit him to Persecute by the Constitution of our state against Protestants in general it cannot be done for sure such a mighty Majority must secure them from being supprest tho perhaps it cannot from oppressing all others and they may as well tell us that the Hugonots in France are able to Frighten the Papists and subdue them since the Reform'd there have been always much more formidable both by number and force than ever the Papists can be suppos'd here and yet even there notwithstanding these insinuations till these late revolutions in the Policy of that State the Protestants were admitted to Offices and Trust in Court and in Camp by Sea and by Land the truth of which is so plain that to name the Persons would be needless and impertinent It is more Dogmatically laid down than Judiciously asserted when he says that it is Impossible for Roman-Catholiques and Protestants to live Peaceably together when both are put into places of Trust as if Religion and Divine Illumination must only divest us of Humanity enlighten us only so far as to see the better how to fall out among our selves First 't is plain that it is very Unchristian that it should be so Secondly The contrary appears by practise in several of the neighbouring states to Holland and in some Towns that even they still call their own where both Civil and Military matters are manag'd by both as before we have prov'd and that without these suggested consequences of Suspicions and Animosities Thirdly We our selves perceive none of this bad Correspondence from these mixt preferments that His Majesty bestows but on the contrary a better understanding it would be hard indeed if the Examination of his Faith must only qualify the man as to his merit and desert shall it be therefore hard for Papists in Holland to be shut out of Military Employment because in the first formation of their state they joyned in the defence of their publick Vid. Letter Liberty that is as I conceive in English in maintaining that revolt they had made from their Lawful Prince And shall it not be as Injurious a piece of Hardship or the greatest injustice to exclude them here from the same Employments when they joyn'd with all their Loyal Fellow-Subjects in the defence of their Soveraign and in some cases were more eminently and solely concern'd in his preservation And whereas he insinuates their being mixt so together in Offices of Trust must so necessarily cause this contention and Animosity nothing is more true than the Contrary when all our Jealousies and Envy Emulation and Division have been occasion'd by this ingrossing of Office and Preferment from the partiality of the Laws and men must needs be more apt to malign those that only will allow themselves to govern than such as will more modestly admit any other to share in the Government Whatever has been the sense of some Church-men they need not be asham'd to retract their opinion when the Recantation too will only make them better Christians and add the more Credit to their restor'd Charity as many among them never approv'd of the making men suffer for the Religion of their * Vid. Protestant Reconciler c. Church so several of them unprejudic'd thought it as hard they should utterly be disabl'd for all Administrations in the * Vid. Protest of the Lords a-against the Tests State. To tell us because we were once of an opinion we must never change it is a better Rule in Religion and if observ'd would have prevented all Schism if not hinderd a Reformation but is still a bad Maxim in the Politicks of a Common-wealth for the changes and wonderful revolutions that happen in those aggregated bodies as well as in our Personal and individuals which many times in less than seven years are mouldred all into new matter make some Constitutions and Establishments Rules and Reasons not only ridiculous but Impracticable and we cannot find in Scripture too unless interpreted by the whimseys of such as set up for Christs Kingdom that our Saviour has assur'd us he 'll be with the Government as well as the Church to the end of the world To this Point I can only tell the Pensioner further that Catholiques here are not made uneasy under their perferments unless it be by these Laws that make them such Criminals only for being prefer'd and Protestants may maintain with them a good Correspondence unless such whose Ambition would alone share the Administration of the State or the favour of the Crown and make of the very Government it self A Monopoly That learned Dilemma does not pinch and press the Argument so close as the Paper Pretends viz. That if the Papists are so Few the Laws have the Less reason to be Repeal'd for them and if their Numbers are much Greater Protestants have more reason to be affraid This sort of syllogising as sound as it is is as soon answer'd with another to the same and that out of his Own Concessions If their Numbers are so Few as he sayes they are in Polland 't is hard to hinder them from Publick Employments when the Publick Safety can no ways be endanger'd by them and if they are so Numerous as he would make them in Ireland then we have no reason to be affraid since where so many of them and we 'll imagin them if he will the Major Part People the Country Inhabit the Towns are Intrusted with Offices Civil and Military the Protestant Religion remains as firm and unviolated and the Constitution of the Government as much Vnshaken and to bring it Homer to our selves in England in a farther Answer to these fearful apprehensions that are sent us from Holland That when the Restraints of the Laws are Repeal'd then we shall see them brought into the Government and Protestants find no more the support of the Laws from such Magistrates I hope he does not think too we shall have no Protestant Lords left and that the Peerage it self shall be displac'd but this Gentleman is too much an Alien to our Commonwealth to be admitted either as a Iudg or Iuror being utterly unacquainted both with Law and Fact. For first the Establishment of the Protestant Religion does not solely depend upon those Statutes that are Penal and those are only desired to be Repeal'd In the next place he has forgot or is not yet inform'd that our KINGS from the Constitution of our Laws have a power to Dispense with them too which a Vid. Six Papers page 25. Dr. of Ours and a Favourite of these Dutch has made as dangerous as a Repeal indeed the very same He knows not that his Majesty has Actually exercised this Power Offices of all sorts of Trusts are already in their hands Civil Military as Souldiers and