Godly and wholsom Doctrine all this Clamour against Idolatry turns against himself for he will find the Church of Rome charged with this almost an Age before Dr. Stillingfleet was born and though perhaps none has ever defended the Charge with so much Learning as he has done yet no Malice less impudent than his is could make him the Author of the Accusation It will be another strain of our Author's Modesty if he will pretend that our Church is not bound to own the Doctrine that is contained in her Homilies he must by this make our Church as treacherous to her Members as Sa. Oxon is to her for to deliver this Doctrine to the People if we believe it not our selves is to be as impudent as he himself can pretend to be A Church may believe a Doctrine which she does not think necessary to propose to all her Members but she were indeed a Society sit for such Pastors as he is if she could propose to the People a Doctrine chiefly one of so great Consequence as this is without she believed it herself So then he must either renounce our Church and her Articles or he must answer all his own Plea for clearing that Church of this Imputation which is so slight that it will be no hard matter even for such a trifling Writer as himself is to do it As for what he says of Stabbing and Cut-throat Words he may charge us with such Words if he will but we know who we may charge with the Deeds I would gladly see the List of all that have been murder'd by these Words to try if they can be put in the Ballance either with the Massacre of Ireland or that of Paris upon which I must take Notice of his slight way of mentioning Coligny and his Faction and telling us in plain Words p. 45. That they were Rebels This is perhaps another instance of his kindness to the Calvinist Prince that is descended from that Great Man. If Idolatry made our Plot it was not the first that it made but his Malignity is still like himself in his charging Dr. Stillingfleet who he says is the Author of the Imputation of Idolatry as if he had suborned the Evidence in our Plot. I should congraulate to the Doctor the Honour that is done him by the Malice of one who must needs be the Object of the Hatred of all good Men if I did not look upon him as so comtemptible a Person that his Love and his Hatred are equally insignificant If he thinks our Church worse than Canibals I wish he would be at the pains to go and make a trial and see whether these Salvages will use him as we have done I dare say they would not eat him for they would find so much Gall and Choller in him that the first bit would quite disgust them REFLECTIONS on a Late PAMPHLET Entituled PARLIAMENTUM PACIFICUM Licensed by the Earl of Sunderland and Printed at London in March 1688. I. PEace is a very desirable thing yet every state that is peaceable is not blindly to be courted An Apoplexy is the most peaceable state into which a man's Body can be laid yet few would desire to pacific the Humours of the Body at that rate an Implicit Faith and Absolute Slavery are the two peaceablest things that can be yet we Confess we have no mind to try so dangerous an Experiment and while the Remedies are too strong we will chuse rather to bear our Disease than to venture on them The Instance that is proposed to the Imitation of the Nation is that Parliament which called in the late King and yet that cannot so much as be called a Parliament unless it be upon a Common-wealth Principle That the Sovereign Power is radically in the People for its being Chosen without the King 's Writ was such an Essential Nullity that no subsequent Ratification could take it away For all People saw that they could not depend upon any Acts passed by it and therefore it was quickly Dissolved and ever since it has been called by all the Monarchical Party a Convention and not a Parliament But now in order to the Courting the Common-wealth Party this is not only called a Parliament but is proposed as a Pattern to all others from the beginning to pag. 19. II. But since this Author will send us back to that time and since he takes so ill That the Memory of the late King should be forgotten let us Examine that Transaction a little and then we shall see whether it had not been more for his Honour to let it be forgotten The King did indeed in his Declaration from Breda promise Liberty of Conscience on which he insisted in a large and wise Declaration set out after he was settled on the Throne But after that he had got a Parliament chosen all of Creatures depending on himself who for many years Granted him every thing that he desired a severe Act of Uniformity was passed and the Kings Promise was carried off by this That the King could not refuse to comply with so Loyal a Parliament It is well enough known that those who were then secretly Papists and who disguised their Religion for many years after this as the King himself did to the last animated the Chief Men of our Church to carry the Points of Uniformity as high as was possible and that both then and ever since all that proposed any Expedients for uniting us or as it was afterwards termed for Comprehending the Dissenters were represented as the Betrayers of the Church The Design was then clear to some that so by carrying the Terms of Conformity to a great rigidity there might be many Non-Conformists and great occasion given for a Toleration under which Popery might insensibly creep in For if the Expedients that the King himself proposed in his Declaration had been stood to it is well known that of the 2000 Conscientious Ministers as he calls them pag. 14. by an Affectation too gross to pass on them that were turned out above 1700 had staid in Their Practices had but too good Success on those who were then at the Head of our Church whose Spirits were too much soured by their ill usage during the War and whose Principles led them to so good an Opinion of all that the Court did that for a great while they would suspect nothing But at the same time that the Church Party that carried all before them in that Parliament were animated to press things so hard the Dissenters were secretly encouraged to stand out and were told That the Kings Temper and Principle and the consideration of Trade would certainly procure them a Toleration and ever since that Party that thus had set us together by the ears has shifted fides dextrously enough but still they have carried on the main Design which was to keep up the Quarrel in the Intervals of Parliament Liberty of Conscience was in vogue but when a Session of Parliament came
remarkable that that bloody Commission is founded on the King 's Absolute Power and his Zeal for Religion This is the only Edict that I know in which a King has pretended to Absolute Power before the two Declarations for Scotland in the year 1687. so whether they who penned them took their pattern from this I cannot determin it I could carry this view of History much further to shew in many more Instances how little Protestants can depend on the Faith of Roman Catholicks and that their condition is so much the worse the more pious that their Princes are As for what may be objected to all this from the present State of some Principalities or Towns in Germany or of the Switsirs and Grisons it is to be considered that in some of these want of Power in the Roman Catholioks to do mischief and the other Circumstances of their affairs are visibly the only Securities of the Protestants and whensoever this Nation departs from that and gives up the Laws it is no hard thing to guess how short-lived the Liberty of Conscience even though seiled into a Magna Charta would be V. All that our Author says upon the General Subject of Liberty of Conscience is only a severe Libel upon that Church whose Principles and Practices are so contrary to it But the proposition lately made has put an end to all this dispute since by an Offer of Repealing the Penal Laws reserving only those of the Test and such others as secure the Protestant Religion the question is now no more which Religion must be tolerated but which Religion must Reign and prevail All that is here offered in opposition to that is that by this means such a number of persons must be ruined pag. 64. which is as severe a way of forcing People to change their Religion as the way of Dragoons I will not examine the particulars of this matter but must express my joy to find that all the difficulty which is in our way to a happy quiet is the supplying such a number of men with the means of their subsistence which by the execution of the Law for the Test must be taken from them This by all that I can learn will not come to near an hundred thousand pound a year and indeed the supplying of those of the King's Religion that want it is a piece of Charity and Bounty so worthy of him that I do not know a man that would envy them the double of this in Pensions and if such a Sum would a little charge the King's Revenue I dare say when the settlement of the Nation is brought to that single point there would not be one Negative found in either House of Parliament for the Reimbursing the King. So far are we from desiring either the Destruction or even the Poverty of these that perhaps wait only for all occasion to burn us I will add one bold thing further That though I will be no Undertaker for what a Parliament may do yet I am confident that all Men are so far from any desire of Revenge but most of all that the Heroical Minds of the next Successors are above it that if an Indemnity for that bold Violation of the Law that hath been of late both Practised and Authorised amongst us would procure a full settlement even this could be obtained Though an impunity after such Transgressions is perhaps too great an Encouragement to offend for the future But since it is the Preservation of the Nation and not the Ruine of any Party in it that is aimed at the hardiness of this Proposition will I hope be forgiven me It is urg'd pag. 63. That according to the Dutch Pattern at least the Roman Catholicks may have a share in Military Employments but the difference between our Case and theirs is clear since some Roman Catholick Officers where the Government is wholly in the hands of the Protestants cannot be of such dangerous consequence as it must needs be under a King that is not only of that perswasion but is become nearly allied to the Society as the Liege Letter tells us VI. It is true our Author would perswade that the King 's Dispensing Power hath already put an end to this Dispute and that therefore it is a seeming sort of Perjury see pag. 48. to keep the Justices of Peace still under an Oath of executing those Laws which they must consider no more Some Precedents are brought from former times p. 22 23 24. of our King 's using the Dispensing Power in Edward 3d Richard 2d Henry 7th Henry 8th Edward 6th and Queen Elizabeth's time It is very true that the Laws have been of late broke through amongst us with a very high hand but it is a little too dangerous to upbraid the Justices of Peace with their Oaths lest this oblige them to reflect on so Sacred an Engagement For the worthy Members of Magdalen Colledge are not the only Persons in England who will make Conscience of observing their Oaths So that if others are brought to reflect too much upon what they do our Author's officiousness in suggesting this to them may prove to be no acceptable piece of Service I will not examine all his Precedents we are to be govern'd by Law and not by some of the Excesses of Government nor is the latter end of Edward the Third a time to be much imitated and of all the parts of the English History Richard the Second's Reign should be least mentioned since those Excesses of his produced so Tragical a Conclusion as the loss of his Crown and Life Henry the Sixth's seeble and embroyled Reign will scarce support an Argument And if there were some Excesses in Henry the Eighth's time which is ordinary in all great Revolutions he got all these to be either warranted or afterwards to be confirmed in Parliament And Queen Elizabeth's power in Ecclesiastical Matters was founded on a special Act of Parliament which was in a great measure Repealed in 1641 and that Repeal was again ratified by another Act in the late King's time We are often told of the late King's Acts concerning Carts and Waggons but all Lawyers know some Laws are understood to be abrogated without a special Repeal when some visible inconvenience inforces it such as appeared in that mistaken Act concerning Waggons So the King in that Case only declared the inconvenience which made that Law to be of itself null because it was impracticable It is true the Parliament never question'd this A Man would not be offended if another pulled up a Flower in his Garden that yet would take it iil if he broke his Hedge And in Holland to which our Author's Pen leads him often when a River changes its course any Man may break the Dyke that was made to resist yet that will be no Warrant to go and break the Dyke that resists the Current of the same River So if a Dispensing Power well applyed to smaller Offences has been past
other great Mischiefs and Inconveniences have also ensuid to the Kings Subjects by occasion of the said Branch and Commissions issued thereupon and the executions thereof Therefore for thr repressirg and preventing of the aforesaid abuses Mischiefs and Inconveniences in time to come by Sect. 3. the said Clause in the said Act 1 E. 1. is Repealed with a Non obstante to the said Act in these words Be it Enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Paliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the aforesaid Branch Clause Article or Sentence contained in the said Act and every word matter and thing contained in that Branch Clause Article or Sentence shall from benceforth be Repealed Annulled Revoked Annihilated and utterly made Void for ever any thing in the said All to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And in Sect 5. of the same Act it is Enacted That from and after the First of August in the said â—… mentioned all such Commissions shall be void in these words And be it further Enacted Toat â—… and after the said First day of August no new Court should be erected ordained or appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall or â—… have the like Power Jurisdiction or Authority as to said High Commission Court now bath or pretendeth â—… have but that all and every such Letters Patents Commissions and Grants made or to be made by â—… Majesty his Heirs or Successors and all Powers and Authorities Granted or pretended or mentioned â—… be granted thereby And all Acts Sentences and Decrees to be made by vertue or colour thereof shall â—… utterly void and of none effect By which Act then the power of Exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Commissioners under the Broad-Seal is so taken away that it provided no such power shall ever for the future be Delagated by the Crown to any Person or Person whatsoever Let us then in the last place consider Whether the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. hath Restored this Power or not And for this I take it that it is not restored â—… the said Act or any Clause in it and to make that evident I shall first set down the whole Act â—… then consider it in the several Branches of it that relate to this matter The Act is Entituled An Act for Explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the 17th Year of the â—… King Charles Entituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of Statute in primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical The Act it self runs thus Whereas in an Act of Parliament made in the Seventeenth Year of the â—… King Charles Entituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of a Statute primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical it is amongst other things Enacted That no Arch-bishop bishop nor Vicar-General nor any Chancellor nor â—… of any Arch-bishop Bishop or Vicar-General â—… any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister of Justice nor any other person or persons whatsoever â—… Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction by any Grant Lisence or Commission of the King Majesty His Heirs or Successors or by any Power â—… Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the First Day of August which then should be in the Year of our Lord â—… One thousand six hundred forty one Award Impose or Inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or other Corporal Punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanor Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging â—… Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction 2 Whereupon some doubt hath been made that all ordinary power of Coertion and proceeding in Causes acclesiastical were taken away whereby the ordinary cause of Justice in Causes Ecclesiastical hath been obstructed 3. Be it therefore Declared and Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority thereof That neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained doth or shall take away any ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Arch-bishops Bishops or any other person or persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them Exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may Proceed Determine Sentence Execute and Exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all Cenfures and Coertions appertaining and belonging to the same before any making of the act before recited in all Causes and Matters belonging â—… Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised in this â—… in as ample Manner and Form as they did and might lawfully have done before making of the said Act. Sect. 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the afore recited Act of Decimo â—… Car. and all the Matters and Clauses therein contained excepting what concerns the High-Commission Court or the new Erection of some such like court by Commission shall be and is thereby Repealed to all intents and purposes whatsoever any thing cause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary not withstanding Sect. 3. Provided always and it is hereby Enacted that neither this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to revive or give Force to the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act of Parliament made on the said Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth shall stand and be Repealed â—… such sort as if this Act had never been made Sect. 4. Provided also and it is hereby further Enacted That it shall not be lawful for any Arch-bishop Bishop Vicar-General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to Tender or Administer unto any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex Officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or Administred may be charged or compelled to Confess or Accuse or to purge him or her self of any Criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be liable to Censure or Punishment any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custom or Usage hertofore to the contrary hereof in any wife notwithstanding Sect. 5. Provided always That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Arch-bishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any Power or Authority to Exercise Execute Inflict or determine any Ecclesiastical
Consciences of the Church of England Men and â—… the Foundation of our State If Mr. Pen â—… his Disciples had condemn'd the unlawfulness the Declarations and the Dispensing Power â—… they wrote so fast for Liberty of Conscience they had then shew'd a generous zeal for a just freedom in Matters of Religion and at the same â—… a due veneration to the Legislative Power Kings Lords and Commons but the secret of the â—… was to maintain and Erect a Prerogative â—… all Acts of Parliament and consequently to produce upon that bottom Tyranny and Popery yet â—… all this uncontroulable Power and â—… of Grandeur an Easterly Wind and a Fleet Fly-Boats would cancel and undo all again Our â—… Historians relate of King John that being some distress he sent Sir Tho. Hardington and â—… Sir Ralph Fitz-Nichols Ambassadours to â—… the great Emperour of Morocco with â—… of his Kingdom to him upon Condition he should come and aid him and that if he prevail'd â—… would himself turn Mahometan and renounce â—… I will not insist upon the violations of Laws and Treaties in the Low Countries or the Spanish â—… over them because the Spaniards have got so much by that Persecution and Cruelty that they might be tempted to practise the like again for forcing the Netherlanders to take up Arms for their defence and by necessitating Queen Elizabeth â—… and preserve them they have set up a â—… and Glorious State as they themselves have call'd them in some Treaties that hath preserv'd â—… languishing Monarchy of Spain and the Liberty of Christendim The base and cowardly Massacre of that great â—… William Prince of Orange of the Renowned â—… Coligny and the Prince of Conde the many bloody Conspiracies for the Extirpation of the whole Race of the House of Orange The Murders â—… Henry the 2d and Henry the 4th are all Rewards and everlasting Monuments of Popish Barbarity What incredible Effusion of Blood hath been occasion'd by the frequent revolts of the Popes against the Emperours by he Image-Worship and the Holy Wars What Treachery in the Bohemian Transactions and Treaties What Inhumanity burning Jerome of Prague and John Hus when they had the Emperours Pass and all other â—… securities from the Council it self that put to â—… those two Good Men. The Reign of Queen Mary is another Scene of the Infidelity and Treachery of the Church of Rome what Oaths did she take what Promises and Protestations did she make to the Suffolk Men who had set the Crown upon her head and yet they were the first that felt the strokes of a Persecution from Her. Read her History in Fox's Martyrs and Doctor Burnet's History of the Reformation The many Conspiracies to destroy Queen Elizabeth and King James the Gunpowder Plot the Counsels carried on in Popish Countries to take off King Charles the First and the many late Popish Plots are a continued Series and Thred carried on by the Church of Rome to break thro' all Laws both of God and Man to erect an Universal Monarchy of Priest-Crast and to bring the whole World under their Yoke The Sweeds have taken an effectual and commendable way to keep Popish Priests and Jesuits those â—… and disturbers of Societies the declared Enemies to the Welfare of Mankind out of their â—… by Gelding them and consequently rendring them incapable of Sacerdotal Functions tho' the Priests have found out a Salvo and will say Mass and Consess if they can procure their Testicles again and carry them in their Pockets either preserv'd or in Powder In aethiopia China and Japan the Roman Priests have been so intolerably turbulent and such extravagant Incendiaries that they have been often Banished and put to Death so that now they disguise themselves all over the Eastern Nations under the Names and Characters of Mathematicians Mechanicks Physicians c. and dare not own their Mission to propagate a Faith which is grown ridiculous all over Asia The long and dreadful Civil Wars of France the many Massacres and Persecutions and lastly the Siege of Rochel are living Instances how far we may rely upon Engagements and Laws both as to the taking of that Bulwark and the promised relief from hence The Protestant Defenders of it refusing to rely any longer upon Paper Edicts and the Word of a Most Christian King had this City granted them as a Cautionary Town for their Security for before they had always been deluded out of their Advantages by fair promises insignificant Treaties and the word of a King yet Lewis the 13. following the vitious Examples of Treacherous Princes fell upon this Glorious City which upon the account of their Laws and Priviledges made a resistance and brave defence having never heard of Passive Obedience amongst their Pastors thinking it more lawful to defend their Rights than it was for Lewis to invade them As for the late and present Reign here in England they are too nice and tender things for me to touch whether the Transactions of them are consistent with the Coronation-Oaths the many Declarations Protestations publick and solemn Promises I am no fit Judge they are more proper for the Gravity of an Historian or the Authority of a Parliament to handle than for a private Gentleman in a Letter to his Friend The Bishops Papers and the P. of Orange's Declarations are the best Memoirs of them but they only begin where the two parts of the History of the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government left off and how far we may trust to Catholick Stipulations Oaths and Treaties the facts of past and the present Age are the best Criterions and Rules to guide and determine us for what happens every day will in all probability happen to morrow the same Causes always produce the same Effects and the Church of Rome is still the same Church it was a hundred years ago that is a Mass of Treachery Barbarity Perjury and the highest Superstition a Machine without any principle or setled Law of Motion not to be mov'd or stopt with the weights of any private or publick Obligations a Monster that destroys all that is sacred both in Heaven and Earth so Ravenous that it is never content unless it gets the whole World into its Claws and tears all to pieces in order to Salvation a Preteus that turns it self into all shapes a Chamelion that puts on all Colours according to its present circumstances this day an Angel of Light to morrow a Beelzehub Amongst all the Courts of Christendom where I have conversed that of Holland is the freest from Tricks and Falshood and tho' I am naturally jealous and suspitious of the Conduct of Princes yet I could never discover the least Knavery within those Walls it appear'd to me another Athens of Philosophers and the only Seat of Justice and Vertue now left in the World as for the Character of the Prince of Orange it is so faithfully drawn by Sir Will. Temple Doctor Burnet and in a half sheet
December 21. 1688. Licensed Fourteen Papers VIZ. I. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel II. A Letter from a Freeholder to the rest of the Freeholders of England and all Others who have Votes in the Choice of Parliament-Men III. An Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by Sa. Oxon. IV. Reflections on a Late Pamphlet Entituled Parliamentum Pacificum Licensed by the Earl of Sunderland and Printed at London in March 1688. V. A Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of His Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence VI. The Anatomy of an Equivalent VII A Letter from a Clergy-man in the City to his Friend in the Country Containing his Reasons for not Reading the Declaration VIII An Answer to the City Minister's Letter from his Country Friend IX A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the Hague concerning the Penal Laws and the Test shewing that the Popular Plea for Liberty of Conscience is not concerned in that Question X. A Plain Account of the Persecution said to the Charge of the Church of England XI Abby and other Church-Lands not yet assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion XII The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated XIII A Letter of several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the Account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the Kings Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. XIV Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of Orange's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin ' near the BlackBull in the Old-Bailey 1689. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel SIR AS soon as the Letter Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland c. came to my hands I set upon Answering it with the same expedition and plainness of Style as uses to accompany naked Truth which needs not the cloathing of sophistical Arguments or florid Expressions to recommend it to the unprejudic'd part of Mankind And indeed upon the very first reading of every Paragraph of it the slightness of the Arguing or the notorious Falshood of the Matter of Fact did so evidently appear that a man of ordinary capacity needs not put his Natural Talent on the Rack to resute them The very first Position of the Paper viz. That Ireland is in a better Way of Thriving under the Government of a Native than an Englishman by which I suppose you mean one not barely so by Birth but by Inclination Interest Education Religion c. is so false that it contradicts the Experience and Reason of Mankind and disgusts one so much in the front of the Letter that I was tempted to fling it away unread judging it not worth the loss of so much time if the rest should prove of the same kind as indeed I found it upon perusal but having ventured through it I looked upon myself obliged to say something by way of Answer since in the opinion of some sort of Men the not Answering though even the most trifling Pamphlet is given out to be the Inability of the Party to reply to the weight of such Arguments as are contained in it I will not insist much upon the constant Practice of all the Predecessours of our English Kings and their Counsellors ever since the Conquest of Ireland who made it an establisht Maxim in relation to that Kingdom That none but an Englishman should be Chief Governour insomuch that till within these two Years that Practice gave occasion to the common erronious opinion That a man born in Ireland however otherwise qualified was thereby incapacitated from being Lord Deputy It is certain that long before the Reformation when Matters of Religion made no distinction between the Natives of each Country this was the setled and unalter'd Rule Have we any reason then to alter it now that Religion is put into the Scale and become the additional weight which never fails giving the advantage to the side it espouses and adheres to or rashly to condemn the wise Proceedings of the Ancestours of our Kings and contrary to the Opinion of the World judge our Author's Irish Understanding better than all the English ones that have been heretofore Our Author will certainly allow Ireland to be a conquer'd Country and consequently that the Conquerours have right to establish Laws with such restrictions and limitations as shall seem fitting and convenient towards the keeping it in their hands and the welfare of the Inhabitants which are of two sorts the British Planters and the Natives I shall prove that it has been and still is the Advantage of both these that Ireland should be Govern'd by an Englishman By the way I would have it understood that I do not pretend to put these two Interests into any ballance I know the British Interest does so far outweigh the other that it were a wrong done it to bring them into any competition more than two parts of three of the Lands of Ireland being by the several Rebellions of the Irish in British hands and for the Quality Temper Industry c. there is no comparison besides that if one of two Parties is to be pleased tho' by the detriment of the other 't is but just that the Conquerours who have right to give Law should be indulg'd how much more when it is consistent with the welfare of the Irish themselves if they understood their own good I am convinc'd that whatever has been done in favour of the Natives is pure Grace and cannot be claimed as a just Debt any otherwise than since it has been confirmed by Our Laws and Acts of Parliament He that reflects on 1641 will readily assent to this which makes me admire at the pertness of our Author in Capitulating as if we stood upon even ground with them but 't is plain he considers the Interest but of one Party in that Kingdom and tho' he names Ireland often he means the Native Irish Papist only But I proceed To prove that it is the Interest of the British that Ireland should be Governed by an Englishman I need say no more than that they all ardently desire it and People are the best Judge of their own Necessities The common Maxim That Interest will not lye Holds good here to some purpose The ill effects the contrary method has had on their Persons and Estates is but too visible Whoever had seen Ireland four Years ago and
would compare its Condition with what it is now from the most thriving and flourishing Country of Europe from a place of the briskest Trade and best paid Rents in Christendom it is fallen in one Year and a half 's time to Ruine and Desoration in the most frequent Cities empty Houses and melancholy Countenances in the best Peopl'd Counties unmanur'd neglected Fields and Solitariness Such a one I say might justly exclaim Heu Quantum mutatus ab illo But it would be impertinent to insist any longer on this I must now prove That 't is the advantage of the very Natives themselves who have long been uneasie under the English Government and often endeavour'd to shake it off to be Rul'd and Guided by that Nation they hate so much They are beholding to us for reducing them from a state of Barbarity which left but little difference between them and Brutes We taught them to Live to Eat Drink and Lodge like humane Creatures if they esteem this any advantage and do not really prefer their Native Wildness to all the Benefits of Civil Society Trade Agriculture Merchandizing Learning c. and if the gentleness of the English Government could have had any influence on them they had no reason to be discontented at it They had the equal Protection of the Laws in relation to their Estates and Persons they bore but their just proportion in all Taxes and Cesses Their Lands improv'd in value by the means of their British Neighbours and their Rents were much better paid than formerly whil'st themselves were Masters of the whole Island They had a large connivance for the exercise of their Religion and were even allowed to hold a National Synod of their own Clergy in Dublin Anno 1666. The poor Natives were not oppressed when their severe Land-lords the Irish Gentry by their cruel Extortions Casherings Duties and Days Labour ruin'd them who as soon as the English Manners prevailed among them as they were introduced with difficulty enough there was need of the Authority of Acts of Parliament to constrain them for their own good lived plentifully and in convenient Houses had their share of the current Coyn and proportion of all other Necessaries to the life and well-being of Man which now they want insomuch that several of them have been heard to Curse my Lord Tyrconnel for to his Government they attribute their Misery and acknowledge they never liv'd so well as under the Direction of the English Rulers nor expected to do so again till they were restored to the Helm See the force of Truth which compels a consession of it even from the mouths of its Adversaries One may easily perceive by our Author's manner of arguing where the Shooe pinches he is really concern'd that Ireland is not altogether an independent Kingdom and in the hands of its own Natives he longs till the day when the English Yoak of Bondage shall be thrown off Of this he gives us broad hints when he tells us that England is the only Nation in the World that impedes their Trade That a man of English interest will never Club with them as he phrases it or Project any thing which may tend to their advantage that will be the least bar or prejudice to the Trade of England Now why a man of English interest unless he will allow none of that Nation to be an able and just Minister to his Prince should be partial to ruine one Kingdom to avoid the least inconveniency of the other contrary to the positive Commands of his King I cannot imagine For since it is the Governour 's Duty to Rule by Law and such Orders as he shall receive from His Majesty I know no grounds for our Author 's Arraigning the whole English Nation in saying That no one man among them of what Perswasion soever will be true either to the Laws or his Majesty's positive Orders which shall seem repugnant to the smallest Conveniencies of England This is a glory reserv'd only as it seemes for his Hero my Lord Tyrconnel The Imbargo upon the West-India Trade and the Prohibition of Irish Cattel are the two Instances given It were to be wished indeed for the good of that Kingdom that both were taken off and I question not but to see a day wherein it shall seem proper to the King and an English Parliament to Repeal those Laws a day wherein they will consider us as their own Flesh and Bloud a Colony of their Kindred and Relations and take care of our Advantages with as little grudging and repining I am sure they have the same and no stronger Reason as Cornwall does at Yorkshire There are instances in several Islands in the East-Indies as far distant as Ireland is from England that make up but one Kingdom and Govern'd by the same Laws but the Wisdom of England will not judge it time sitting to do this till we of Ireland be one Man's Children either in Reality or Affection we wish the latter and have made many steps and advances towards it if the Natives will not meet us half way we cannot help it let the Event lie at their own Doors But after all I see not how those Instances have any manner of relation to the English Chief Governours in Ireland they were neither the Causes Contrivers nor Promoters of those Acts. The King and an English Parliament did it without consulting them if they had 't is sorty to one My Lord of Ormond and the Council whose stake is so great in Ireland would have hindred it as much as possible Our Author's Argument proves indeed That 't is detrimental to Ireland to be a subordinate Kingdom to England and 't is plain 't is that he drives at let him disguise it as much as he will but the Conclusion he would prove cannot at all be deduced from it Shortly I expect he will speak plainer and in down-right terms propose That the two Kingdoms may be governed by different Kings Matters seem to grow ripe for such a â—… Proposition â—… Acts and not the subjection to an â—… â—… were the Grievances they would be so â—… British there as well as to the Natives but though we wish them Repealed we do not repine in the mean time if the British who are the most considerable Trading part of that Nation and consequently seel the ill effects of those Acts more sensibly can be contented why the Natives should not acquiesce in it unless it be for the forementioned Reasons I cannot see Our Author allows that there are different ways of obeying the King 't is a Point gained for us and proves there may be such a partiality exercised in executing His Majesty's Commands as may destroy the very intent of them and yet taking the matter strictly the King is obeyed but a good Minister will consider his Masters Intention and not make use of a word that may have a double sence to the ruine of a Kingdom nor of a latitude of power
If in a Country whose â—… was perfectly in the English hands so sudden an alteration was made that both the Courts of Judicature and Charters of their Corporations were taken from them without any fault of theirs have they not reason to complain and be affraid If those very Arms which are taken from them be put into the hands of their sworn Enemies and their just Debts paid after a new Method by beating or killing the Creditors when they demand their own Have they not reason to fear and desert the Kingdom If these and an hundred other things do not justifie the retreat of several of the British into England I know not what shall be adjudged a sufficient Reason This our Author would insinuate is caused by a sullen Combination as if the Gentry of a Nation could agree together to do a thing so contrary to their visible Interest as desert their Houses and Estates to the loss of one half of them meerly out of spite to the Government But because our Author is so good at his Narratives and would induce the World to believe that there was but two Regiments disbanded by his talking only of two and in another place speaking of some Officers that were Cashiered We shall hereafter give a faithful Account of the Proceedings in the business of Disbanding and in the mean time affirm That his whole Account of the Affair at Molingar is most unsincere The English Soldiers were given to understand that they were all to be turned out and the only Grace his Excellency did them was to declare before a long and tedious March That such as had a mind or had Settlements in that Country might better quit then than hereafter This is plainly shewn by the turning out afterwards all those English who then actually continued in the Service they were glad that any would quit voluntarily but those that did not and after a publick Tryal were willing to serve His Majesty they soon after turn'd out Thus the false gloss that our Author puts upon my Lord Tyrconnel's Speech is discover'd And I assure the Reader the Memoires I have by me are from such unquestionable hands and there are so many hundred living Witnesses to the truth of them that our Author will not have the Impudence to deny what may be prov'd before His Majesty if he require it I shall only take notice of the ill Application of our Author's Sea-Metaphor Though in stress of Weather the Owner is willing to make use of all hands that may be helpful towards the saving the Vessel yet he takes care to call for none whose practice it hath been to cut the Tacklings and to steer contrary to the Pilot's Directions he thinks such safer by far shut up under Hatches then set at liberty or employ'd to do mischief As for his supposition of 30000 men to be sent out of Ireland into Flanders I cannot tell what to make on 't Let them crack the Shell that hope to find a Kernel in it For my part I despair though the readiness of the English Soldiers of Ireland who at twenty four hours warning came into England to serve His Majesty in the time of Monmouth's Rebellion ought to have been remembered to their advantage and might serve to any unprejudic'd person as a Pattern of the Loyalty and good Inclinations of all the Protestants in that Kingdom if His Majesty had had occasion â—… them Whether the Parliament will Repeal â—… Test for those several weighty Reasons our Author says are fitter for Contemplation then Discourse tho methinks it would be pleasant to see a House of Commons sit like the Brethren at a silent Meeting is not my Province to determine As likewise Whether they will so much consider that â—… Reason the King will have it so for his Conscience and theirs may differ or what the Dissenters will do I cannot tell One thing I am sure â—… there will be no such Stumbling-block in the â—… of the King's desires when they meet as the present condition of Ireland they will be apt â—… His Majesty tells them they shall have their â—… shares in Employments when they have Repealed the Laws to say Look at Ireland see what is done there where the Spirit of Religion appears â—… fac'd and accordingly compute what may become of us when we have removed our own legal â—… Since they now leap over those Hedges what may we expect when they are quite taken away Poyning's Law is a great grievance to our Author and here in one word he discovers that 't is the dependance this Kingdom has on England he quarrel at 'T is fit the Reader should understand that Law enacted when Poynings was Lord Deputy make all the English Acts of Parliament of force in Ireland we are therefore so fond of that Law and cover so much to preserve our dependance on England that all the Arguments our Author can bring shall not induce us to part with it I will not reflect in the least on the Courage of the Irish I know there are several brave men among them but they have had the misfortune to fall under the Consideration of as our Author softens â—… but the plain sence is been beaten by a Warlike Nation and I question not unless they behave themselves modestly in their Prosperity they will again fall under the Consideration of the same Nation 't is better we should live in peace and quietness but the Choice is in their hands and if they had rather come under our Consideration again than avoid it let them look to the Consequence Another Advantage which may accrue to Ireland by a Native as Governour our Author â—… to be His personal knowledge of the Tories and their Harbourers and his being thereby better capacitated to suppress them Malicious People would be apt to infer from this Suggestion that his Excellency had occasion formerly to be familiarly acquainted with such sort of Cattle I have heard indeed that one of our bravest English Princes â—… the during the Extravagancies of his Youth â—… company with publick Robbers and often shar'd both in the Danger and Booty But as soon as the Death of his Father made way for his Succession to the Crown he made â—… of his former acquaintance of their Persons and â—… to the extirpating and dissolving the greatest knot of Highway-men that ever troubled England My Lord therefore in imitation of his great Prince no doubt will make use of his Experience that way to the same end and I really assent to the Author that no English Governor can be so fit to clear that Kingdom of Tories and that for the same reason he gives us There are two other Advantages remaining one is his Excellency's having already made different Parties in that Kingdom the Objects of his Love and Hatred let the Offences of the one or the Merits of the other be never so conspicuous Whether the British can draw any comfort from his Excellency's knowledge of
Account of it who said That he had not heard of it any other way and was so fully convinced that the Nuion had cause given them to be jealous that he himself set forward the Act and the rather because he saw that the E. of S. did not much like it The Parliament as long as it was known that the Religion was safe in the King 's Negative had not taken any great Care of its own Constitution but it seemed the best Expedient that could be found for laying the Jealousies of his Late Majesty and the Apprehensions of the Successor to take so much Care of the Two Houses that so the Dangers with which Men were then allarm'd might seem the less formidable upon so effectual a Security And thus all the stir that he keeps with Perjury and Imposture ought to make no other impression but the wantonness of his own temper that meddles so boldly with things of which he knew so little the true Secret. For here was a Law passed of which all made great use that opposed the Bill of Exclusion to demonstrate to the Nation that there could be no danger of Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that Season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-establishment of that Religion This is but one hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made to shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave rise to the other Discoveries and a fair opportunity to those who knew the Secret of the late Kings Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The Third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the Incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for it was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here he stretches out his Wings to a top-flight and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from his Throne the disowning neglecting and assronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this Sacred Prerogative of his holy Catholick Church and then that he might have occasion to seed his Spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous Objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that he might shew his respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis That to their shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no Shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation desined them both for above an Age before In the 28th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transabstantiation or the change of the substance of bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same Body of Articles since in the Article 35. the Homilies are declared To contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the people And the second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign them must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it her self A man must be of Bay's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points had been already determined and were a part of our Doctrines enacted by Law all that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he can make out of this or how he can justifie the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order As if they had as much in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betrayed the Rights of the Church of England as by Law established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8 9. All this shews to whom he hath pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour is he has any lest When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were not worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in Figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus succeeded to Marcus Aurelius I do not find a more incongruous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His Fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falshood of the matters contained in the Declaration itself pag. 9. For our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a Paragraph as was formerly marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Gentry That Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the Schoolmen and Metaphysicians And that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the
not been set on by directions from Whiteball For in their Order they press the Execution of the Statute 1 Eliz. and 3. Jac. 1. for levying Tuelve pence a Sunday upon all those that do not come to Church Whereas the House of Commons Nov. 6. 1680. had Resolved Nemine contradicente that it is the Opinion of this House That the Acts of Parliament made in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and King James against Popish Recusants ought not to be extended against Protestant Dissenters VI. Who should not forget how backward the Clergy of London especially were to comply with this design of reviving the Execution of the Laws against them what courses they took to save them from this danger and what hatred they incurred for being so kind to them Which in truth was kindness to themselves for now they saw plainly enough that Nothing was intended but the destruction of us both by setting us in our turns one against the other Many indeed were possessed with the old Opinion that the Dissenters aimed at the overthrow of the Government both in Church and State which made them the more readily joyn with those who were employd to suppress them by turning the edge of the Laws upon them But both these were most industriously promoted by the Court who laboured might main to have this believed that they who were called Whigs intended the ruine of the Church and of the Monarchy too and therefore none had the Court favour but they alone who were for the ruining of them all others were frown'd upon and branded with the name of Trimmers who they adventured at last to say were worse than Whigs Meerly because they seeing through the design desired those ugly Names of Whig and Tory might be laid aside and perswaded all to Moderation Law Unity and Peace If any man had these dangerous words in his mouth he had a mark set upon him and was lookt upon as an Enemy as soon as he discovered any desires of Reconciliation No peace with Dissenters was then as much in some mens mouths as no peace with Rome had been in others They were all voted to destruction and it was an unpardonable Crime so much as to mention an Accommodation Such things as these ought not to be forgotten VII But if they lift not to call them to mind tho' they be of fresh memory yet let them at least consider what they have had at their Tongues end ever since they knew any thing That the Church of Rome is a persecuting Church and the Mother of Persecution Will they then be deluded by the present Sham of Liberty of Conscience which they of that Church pretend to give It is not in their power no more than in their Spirit They neither will nor can give liberty of Conscience but with a design to take all liberty from us That Church must be obeyed and there is no middle choice among them between turn or burn conform or be undout What Liberty do they give in any Country where their power is established What Liberty can they give who have determined that Hereticks ought to be rooted out Look into France with which we have had the strictest Alliance and Friendship a long time and behold how at this moment they compel those to go to Mass who they know abher it as an abominable Idolatry Such a violent Spirit now acts them that they stick not to prophane their own most holy Mysteries that they may have the face of an Universal Consofmity without the least Liberty For the new Converts as they are called poor Wretches are known to be mere outward Compliers in their Hearts abominating that which they are forced eternaliy to worship They declare as much by escaping from this Tyranny over their Consciences and bewa ling their sinful Compliance whensoever they have an opportunity And they that cannot escape frequently protest they have been constrained to adore that which they believe ought not to be adored And when they come to dye refuse to receive the Romish Sacrament and thereupon are dragg'd when dead along the Streets and thrown like dead Dogs upon the Dunghils Unto what a heighth of rage are the spirits of the Romish Clergy inflamed that it perfectly blinds their eyes and will not let them see how they expose the most sacred thing in all their Religion the Holy Sacrament which they believe to be Jesus Christ himself to be received by those who they know have no reverence at all for it but utterly abhor it For they sorce them by all manner of violence to adore the Host against their will and then to eat what they have adored tho' they have the greatest reason to believe that those poor Creatures do not adore it That is the Church of Rome will have her Mysteries adored by all tho' it be by Hypecrites None shall be excused but whether they believe or not believe they shall be compelled to do as that Church doth Nothing shall hinder it for the hatred and fury wherewith they are now transported is so exceeding great that it makes them as I have said offer violence even to their own Religion rather than suffer any body not to conform to it VIII And assure your selves they are very desirous to extend this Violence beyond the bounds of France They would fain see England also in the same condition the Bishop of Valence and Die hath told as much in the Speech which he made to the French King in the Name of the Clergy of France to Congratulate his glorious Atchievements in rooting out the Heresie of Calvin In which he hath a most memorable passage for which we are beholden to him because it informs us that they are not satisfied with what their King hath done there but would have him think there is a further Glory reserved for him of lending his help to make us such good Catholicks as he hath made in France This is the blessed Work they would be at and if any among us be still so blind as not to see it we must look upon it as the just judgment of God upon them for some other sins which they have committed They are delivered up to a reprobate mind which cannot discern the most evident things They declare to all the World that they have been above fifty years crying out against they know not what For they know not what Popery is of which they have seemed to be horribly afraid if they believe that they of that Religion either can or will give any Liberty when they have power to establish their Tyranny It is no better St. John himself hath described that Church under the name of Babylon that cruel City and of a BEAST which like a Bear tramples all under its feet and of another Beast which causes as many as will not worship the Image of the Beast to be killed and that no man may buy or sell save such as have had his mark i. e. are of his
those who possess any Church-Lands or Goods who are still left under the sentence of Excommunication Toleti Instr. Sacord and his Explicatio casuum in Bulla canae Dni reserva From which considerations it's evident that it never was the design of the Pope to confirm the English Church Lands to the Lay-possessors but that he always urg'd the necessity of restoring of them to religious uses in order to which the Papists prevailed to have the statute of Mertmaln repealed for 20 Years In Queen Elizabeths Reign the factious Party that was manag'd wholy by Romish Amiffaries demanded to have Abbies and such religious Houses restored for their Use and A. D. 1585 in their Petition to the Parliament they set it down as a resolute Doctrine that things once dedicated to Sacred Uses ought so to remain by the Word of God for ever and ought not to be converted to any private use Bishop Bancrofts Sermon at p. c. A. D. 1588. p. 25. And that the Church of Rome is still gaping after these Lands is evident from many of their late Books as the Religion of M. Luther lately printed at Oxford p. 15. The Monks wrote Anathema upon the Registers and Donaticns belonging to Monasteries the weight and effect of which Curses are both felt and dreaded to this day To this end the Monasticon Anglicanum is so diligently preserved in the Vatican and other Libraries in Popish Countries and especially this appears from the obstlnate refusal of this present Pope to confirm these Alienations tho it be a matter so much controverted and which would be of that vast Use towards promoting their Religion in this Kingdom If therefore the Bishops of Rome did never confirm these Alienations of Church Lands but earnestly and strictly required their Restitution if they have declared in their Authentick Canons that they have no power to do it and both they and the last general Council pronounce an heavy Curse and Anathema against all such as detain them Then let every one that possesseth these Lands and yet owns either of these foreign Jurisdictions consider that here is nothing left to excuse him from Sacriledge and therefore with his Estate he must derive a curse to his Posterity There is scarcely any Papist but that is forward to accuse King Henry the 8th of Sacriledge and yet never reflects upon himself who quietly possesseth the Fruits of it without Restitution either set them not accuse him or else restore themselves Now whatever opinions the Papists may have of these things in the time of health yet I must desire to remember what the Jesuits proposed to Cardinal Pool in Doctor Pary's Days viz. That if he would encourage them in England they did not doubt but that by dealing with the Consciences of those who were dying they should soon recover the greatest part of the Goods of the Church Dr. Burnet's Hist. Vol. 2. p. 328. Not to mention that whensoever the Regulars shall grow numerous in England and by consequence butthensome to the few Nobility and Gentry of that Perswasion they will find it necessary for them to consent to a Restitution of their Lands that they may share the burthen among others For so vast are the Burthens and Payments that that Religion brings with it that it will be found at length an advantagious Bargain to part with all the Church Lands to indemnifie the rest And I am confident that the Gentry of England that are Papists have found greater Burthens and Payments since their Religion hath been allow'd than ever they did for the many years it was forbid and this charge must daily encrease so long as their Clergy daily grows more numerous and their few Converts are most of them of the meanest Rank and such as want to be provided for And that 's no easie matter to force Converts may appear from that excellent Observation of the great Emperor Charles the Fifth who told Queen Mary That by indeavouring to compel others to his own Religion i. e had tired and spent himself in vain and purchas'd nothing by it but his own dishonour Card. Pool in Heylins Hist. Ref. p. 217. And to conclude this Discourse had the Act of Pope Julius the Third by his Legate Cardinal Pool in confirming of the Alienation of Church Lands in England been as vallid as is by some pretended yet what shall secure us from an Act of Resumption That very Pope after that pretended Grant to Cardinal Pool published a Bull in which he excommunicated all that kept Abby Lands or Church Lands Burnets Hist. Vol. 2. p. 309. by which all former Grants had there been any were cancell'd His Successor Pope Paul the Fourth retrieved all the Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues that had been alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the Second and the chief Reasons that are given why the Popes may not still proceed to an Act of Resumption of these Lands in England amount only to this That they may stay for a fair opportunity when it may be done without disturbing the Peace of the Kingdom From all which it 's evident that the detaining of Abby Lands and other Church Lands from the Monks and Friars is altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine and Principles of the Romish Religion The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated HIS present Majesty having erected an High-Commission Court to enquire of and make redress in Ecclesiastical Matters c. Q. Whether such a Commission as the Law now stands be good or not And I hold that the Commission is not good And to maintain my Opinion herein I shall in the first place briefly consider what Power the Crown of England had in Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Matters for I take them to be synonymous Terms before 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 2ly I shall particularly consider that Act of 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. And 3ly I shall consider 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. And by that time I have fully considered these three Acts of Parliament it will plainly appear That the Crown of England hath now no Power to erect such a Court. I must confess and do agree That by the common Law all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was lodged in the Crown and the Bishops and all Spiritual Persons derived their Jurisdiction from thence And I cannot find that there were any attempts by the Clergy to divest the Crown of it till William the First 's time in whose time and his Successors down to King John the Pope obtained four Points of Jurisdiction 1st Sending of Legates into England 2ly Drawing of Appeals to the Court of Rome 3ly Donation of Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices And 4ly Exemption of Clerks from the secular Power Which four Points were gained within the space of an hundred and odd years but with all the opposition imaginable of the Kings and their People and the Kingdom never came to be absolutely inslaved to the Church of Rome till King John's time and then both King and People were
Jurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the Year of our Lord 1639. 2 Nor to Abridge or Diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and Affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the Year 1640. nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Canons not formerly Confirmed Allowed or Enacted by Parliament or by the Established Laws of the Land as they stood in the Year of our Lord 1639. From the Title of the Act and the Act it self considered I gather First That it is an Explanatory Act of the 17. of Car. 1. as to one particular Branch of it and not introductive of any new Law. Secondly That the occasion of making it was not from any doubt that did arise Whether the High-Commission Court were taken away or Whether the Crown had power to Erect any such-like Court for the future but from a doubt that was made that all ordinary Power of Coertion and proceedings in Causes Ecclesiastical was taken away whereby Justice in Ecclesiastical Matters was obstructed and this doubt did arise from a Clause in 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. Sect. 4. herein mentioned to be recited in the said Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Thirdly That this Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. as appears upon the face of it was made to the intent the ordinary Jurisdiction which the Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons had always exercised under the Crown might not be infringed but not to restore to the Crown the power of Delagating the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Letters Patents to Lay persons or any others and as to this nothing can be plainer than the words of the Act it self Sect. 2. Whereby 17 Car. 1. is repealed but takes particular care to except what concerned the High-Commission Court or the new erection of some such Court by Commission Neither did the Law-makers think this Exception in that Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Sect. 2. to be sufficient but to put the matter out of all doubt in the Third Section of the same Statute It is provided and Enacted That neither that Act nor any thing therein contained should extend or be construed to revive or give force to the Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. Sect. 18. but that the same Branch should stand absolutely Repealed And if so then the power of the Crown to delegate the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is wholly taken away for it was vested in the Crown by 1 Eliz. 1. and taken away by 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. and is in no manner restored by 13 Car. 2. 12. or any other But there may arise an Objection from the words in the Statute of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. that saith That that Act shall not extend to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and Affairs Whence some Men would gather That the same Power still remains in the Crown that was in it before 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. To which Objection I give this Answer That every Law is to be so constructed that it may not be Felo de se and that for the honour of the Legislators King Lords and Commons Now I would appeal to the Gentlemen themselves that assert this Doctrine Whether they can so construct the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. as they pretend to do without offering violence to their own Reason For when the 1 Car. 1. ca. 11. had absolutely Repealed the Branch of 1. Eliz. 1. that vested the power in the Crown of Delegating the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Enacts That no such Commission shall be for the future and the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. Repeals the 17 Car. â—… ca. 12. except what relates to that particular Branch there can no more of the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and Affairs be saved by the saving in the 13 Car. 2. ca. â—… but what was left in the Crown by 17 Car. â—… ca. 11. And now I hope I have sufficiently evinced That all the Proceedings before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are CORAM NON â—… and therefore have sufficient Reason to â—… That the same would never have been set on â—… by his present Majesty who had always the Character of JAMES the Just and hath â—… upon his Royal Word That he will invade â—… Mans Property had he not been Advised there unto by them who are better versed in the Canon of the Church of ROME than in the Laws that relate to the CROWN and CHURCH of ENGLAND A LETTER of several French Ministers Fled into Germany upon the account of the PERSECUTION in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the Kings Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. ALtho' in our present Dispersion most dear and honoured Brethren it has pleased the Providence of God to conduct us into places very distant from one another Yet that Union which ought always to continue betwixt us obliges us to declare our sense to one another with a Christian and Brotherly Freedom upon all occasions that may present themselves to us so to â—… 'T is this makes us hope that you will not take â—… amiss of us if at this time we deliver our Opinion to you touching the Affairs of England in matter of Religion and with reference to that Conduct which you have observed therein We ought not to conceal it from you â—… greatest part of the Protestants of Europe have been extreamly scandalized to understand that certain among you after the example of many of the Dissenters have Addressed to the King of England upon the account of his Declaration by which he â—… granted Liberty of Conscience to the No-nconformists And that some others who had already ranked themselves under the Episcopal Communion nevertheless published the said Declaration in their Churches and this at a time when almost all the Bishops themselves with so much Firmness â—… Courage refused to do it If we may be permitted to tell you freely what â—… Opinion is concerning the conduct of the Bishops and of the Dissenters in this conjuncture we shall make no difficulty to pronounce in favour of the former We look upon it that they have exceedingly well answered the Duty of their Charge whilst despising their own private Interest they have so worthily supported that of the Protestant Religion Whereas the others for want of considering these things as they ought to have done have given up the interest of their Religion to their own particular advantages It is not out of any complement to the Bishops which less out of any enmity to the Dissenters that we make such different judgments concerning them We know well enough how to commend â—… blame what seems to us to deserve our Praise â—… our Censure both in the one and in the other We do not at all approve the conduct of the Bishops towards the Dissenters under the last Reign And altho' we do not any more