Parliament Declared to be utterly Inconsistent Now the Coronation-Oath is a Fundamental Law of this Kingdom for it is antecedent to the Oath of Allegiance Accordingly if you look upon the Coronation-Oath in the Parliament-Roll 1 H. 4. you shall there find that in the third Branch of it the King Grants and Promises upon his Oath That the Laws shall be kept and protected by him secundum Vires suas to the utmost of his Power and therefore he has no Power lest him to Dispense withal By which it appears that those men are the wretched Enemies both of the King and Kingdom who would fain perswade the King that he has this Dispensing-Power because therein they endeavour to perswade him that Perjury is his Prerogative Heretofore in Trisilian's time some of the Oracles of the Law were consulted Whether it could stand with the Law of the Kingdom that the King might Obviatt and Withstand the Ordinances concerning the King and the Kingdom which were made in the last Parliament by the Peers and Commons of the Realm with the King's Assent though as the Courtiers said forced in that behalf And they made Answer That the King might Annul such Ordinances and Change them at his pleasure into a better fashion because he was above the Laws Knyghton Col. 2693. Now this was very False Law as those Judges found afterwards to their Cost and it was grounded on the worst Reason that could be For they must needs know from all their Books and from the Mirror in particular p. 282. That the first and Sovereign Abusion of the Law that is the chief Contrariety and Repugnency of it is for the King to be Above the Law whereas he ought to be Subject to it as is contained in his Oath Neither could they be ignorant of that Argument which the Peers used to shew the Absurdity of such a Supposition it is recorded in the Annals of Rurton set forth as I take it by Mr. Obadiah Walker Si Rex est supra Legem tunc est extra Legem Num Rex Angliae est Exlex If the King be above the Law then he is without the Law. What! is the King of England an Outlaw And as for the words of Bracton they were too plain either to need a Comment or Translation Rex habet Superiorem Deum item Legem per quam sactus est Rex item Curiam suam seil Comites Baronts As likewise those other words of his Ubi Voluntas Imperat non Lex ibi non est Rex Where he makes it the very Essence of our King to Govern according to Law. Having therefore shewn that the Laws are always in full Force till they are Revoked by the same Authority which made them and that all Persons whatsoever bound to the Laws and that the Laws themselves were never in Bondage to any Man we know from thence what we are to conclude concerning those Papists who pretend to be in Office in Desiance to the Laws We had once a mischievous Distinction of Sheriffs de Jure and Sheriffs de Facto But those who pretend to be in Office without taking the TEST are no Officers either in Right or in Fact for the 25 Car. 2. says That their Offices are ipso facto void and then those Officers are ipso facto no Officers and can do us no more hurt than if they were under Ground and therefore we need not trouble our Heads about them though they may in all likelihood fall under the Care and Consideration of a Parliament After all some persons may possibly be so far deluded as to think there is somewhat of Equity in the Toleration of Papists and that it is the Christian Rule Of doing as one would be done by Now for any Papist to plead this Rule of Equity himself or any body else in his behalf is just as if a High-way Man should thus urge it upon his Judge My Lord if you hang me you break the Golden Rule for I am sure you are not willing to be so served yourself nor to hang with me Now the Equity of the Judge in this case does not lye either in forbearing to punish the Offender or in Hanging with him for Company but in being content to submit to the same Law if he himself should commit the same Crime And so are we willing to lye under all the Penal Laws whenever we turn Papists And therefore no body can tax us with want of Equity because we do no otherways to the Papists than we are willing to be done by in the same case But it may be said that our Conscience does not serve us to be Papists though theirs does Neither does the Judge's Conscience serve him to rob though it seems the High-way Man 's did and therefore take heed of Liberty of Conscience Still it may be further replied That this is properly a Judicial Cause because Robbery is a breach of the Peace and of Property and therefore ought to be Punished whereas the worship and Service of God according to a Man's Conscience though it be amiss yet it ought not to be punished by Hamane Laws but is to be reserved to the Judgment of God alone who is Lord of Conscience Now this is the New Doctrine which I shall prove to be False by positive and express Scripture For Job says Chap. 31. Ver. 28. That is his Heart had been secretly perswaded and he had thereupon kissed his Hand to the Sun or Moon This were an Iniquity to be punished by the Judge because he had therein Lyed against the God above So that though a Man's Heart and Conscience lead him to Idolatry yet Job tells us this is inditable it is Avon Pelili a Judicial Crime and as Punishable by Humane Laws as Adultry with another Man's Wise is as you have it in the same Phrase in the 11th Verse of the same Chapter The Second Instance of a Punishable Conscience in the Service of God is that which our Saviour gives us John 16. 2. Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think he doth God service Now I would sain know whether such a Conscience as this ought not to be Restrained and Punished And whether it be Sacriledge for Humane Laws to controul Conscience I mean such a one as Kills and Murders for God's sake And I ask again Whether there be no Consciences of this Stamp now in the World And whether there has not been an Holy Inquisition Religious Crusadoes and Meritorious Massacres to extirpate Hereticks and abundance of this Divine Service in the Church of Rome Whether they have not offered up whole Hecatombs of these Sacrifices in most Countries And whether a Neighbouring Prince has not been highly extolled and had all his most Christian Titles double Gilt with the Flatteries of his Clergy for the late Merit of his Religious Service in this kind And therefore if men will do things in order let them first send for a breed of Irish Wolves and
them this way is fit to be debated The other is the probability of his getting the Statute for benefit of Clergy in favour of Cow-Stealers and House-Robbers Repealed and where by the way there is a severe Rebuke given to our English Priests for their ill-placed Mercy to Irish Offenders A fault I hope they will be no more guilty of Whether these Advantages be so considerable as to move His Majesty to continue a Man for other more weighty Reasons absolutely destructive to this Kingdom or whether some of them might not be performed by an English Governour His Majesty is the only Judge Only this I am sure of The King if he were under any Obligations to His Minister has fully discharged them all and has showed himself to be the best of Masters in giving so great and honourable an Employment to his Creature and continuing him in it so long notwithstanding the decrease of his own Revenue and the other visible bad effects of his Management the Impoverishment of that Kingdom amounting to at least two Millions of Money And His Majesty may be now at liberty without the least imputation of Breach of Promise to his Servant to restore us to our former flourishing condition by sending some English Nobleman among us whose contrary Methods will no doubt produce different effects To conclude methinks the comparison between His Majesty and Phillip of Mactdon when he was drunk is a little too familiar not to say unmannerly and that between Antipater and my Lord Tyrconnel is as great a Complement to the latter But provided my Lord be commended which was our Author's chief design he cares not tho' the comparison does not hold good in all points 't is enough that we know we are Govern'd by such a Prince that neither practises such Debauches himself nor allows of them in his Servants But we are not beholding to the Author for the knowledge of this should a Forreigner read his Pamphlet or get it interpreted to him he would be apt and with reason to conclude that His Majesty as much resembled Phillip in a Debauch as my Lord Tyrconnel does sober Antipater I have now done with all that seems of any weight in our Author's Pamphlet and can see nothing in his Postscript that deserves an Answer All that I will say is That his Recipes bear no proportion to our desperate Disease and he will prove not to be a Physitian but a pretending Quack who by ill applied Medicines will leave us in a worse Condition then he found us I shall conclude with telling you That your Letter which enclosed the Pamphlet whereof I have here given you my thoughts was more than a Fortnight on the way or else you had received this sooner I am Dublin 1688. SIR Your most humble Servant 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 THE Power of Parliaments when they are duly Elected and rightly Convened is so very Great that every Man who has any share in the Choice of them has the weight of his whole Country lying upon him For it is possible for my single Vote to determine the Election of that Parliament-Man whose single Vote in the Parliament-House may either save or sink the Nation And therefore it belioves Men who thus dispose both of themselves and their Posterity and of their whole Country at once to see that they put all these into safe hands and to be as well advis'd as much in earnest when they chuse Persons to serve in Parliament as they usually are when they make their Last Will and Testament And if this is to be done at all times certainly a much greater proportion of Care is to be taken at this time when endeavours have been used not only to sorestal the Freedom of Elections but even the Freedom of Voting in the Parliament House and when the Counties of England have been practised upon to be made Repealers both within doors and without They have been Catechised whether if they were Parliament-Men they would Repeal the Penal Laws and Tests or if they were not chosen themselves whether they would chuse such as would And as for the Boroughs they have been all of them Sifted to the very Bran Nay some Persons have been wrought upon to enter into Engagements beforehand in their Addresses But I suppose those that have been so very forward to promise themselves to serve a Turn will never be thought worthy to serve in Parliament And at the same time others have made it their business to render these Laws very odious to the People and to hoot them out of the World they have been Arraign'd and Condemn'd as Draconicks as Bloudy and Canibal Laws as Ungodly Laws and contrary to the Divine Principle of Liberty of Conscience without the common Justice of ever being heard For the preambles of these Laws which shew the Justice and Equity of them and the reasonableness both of their Birth and Continuance have been industriously suppressed This indeed has been a very bold Adventure for I am apt to think there is much Truth in my Lord Chief Justice Coke's Observation That never any Subject â—… a Fall with the Laws of England but they always broke his Neck And therefore according to the Courtesie of England I shall wish Friend Will. Pen and his Fellow-Gamesters a good Deliverance But while they have taken the liberty to say their Pleasure of these Laws which are now in as full Force as the day they were made I shall take leave according to the Duty of a Loyal Subject with whom the Laws of the Land are a Principle and who must always own the Majesty and Authority of them till such time as they are Repealed to offer a few words in their behalf which shall be dictated by nothing but Law Truth and Iustice and if every word that I say do not appear to be such I â—… content to have this whole Paper go for nothing and be as if it had never been Written And to proceed the more clearly and distinctly I shall first consider the Penal Laws as they are called against the Papists and the two Tests And secondly the Penal Laws against the Dissenters In the Statute 3 Iacobi c. 1. which is Read â—… very Fifth of November in our Churches the Law made against the Papists in Queen Elizabeth's time and the Confirmation of them 1 Iacobi â—… which the great Outcry is now made and for the sake of which they then attempted to blow â—… both the King and Parliament are called Necessary and Religious Laws And it I prove them to be undoubtedly such I hope the good People of England will look upon them an hundred times before they part with them once First The Laws against the Papists are Religious Laws they are Laws made for the high Honour of God as well as for the common Profit of the Realm which is the old
and the King wanted Money then a new severe Law against the Dissenters was offered to the angry men of the Church-party as the price of it and this seldom sail'd to have its effect so that they were like the Jewels of the Crown pawned when the King needed Money but redeem'd at the next Prorogation A Reflection then that arises naturally out of the Proceedings in the Year 1660. is That if a Parliament should come that would copy after that pattern and repeal Laws and Tests The King's Offers of Liberty of Conscience as may indeed be supposed will bind him till after a short Session or two such a meritorious Parliament should be dissolved according to the precedent in the Year 1660. and that a new one were brought together by the same Methods of changing Charters and making Returns and then the Old Laws de Heretico Comburtedo might be again revived and it would be said that the Kings Inclinations are for keeping his Promise and Granting still a Liberty of Conscience yet he can deny nothing to a Loyal and Catholick Parliament III. We pay all possible respect to the King and have witnessed how much we depended on his promises in so signal a manner that after such real Evidence all words are superfluous But since the King has shewed so much zeal not only for his Religion in general but in particular for that Society which of all the other Bodies in it we know is animated the most against us we must crave leave to speak a little freely and not suffer our selves to be destroyed by a Complement The Extirpation of Hereticks and the Breach of Faith to them have been Decreed by two of their General Councils and by a Tradition of several Ages the Pope is possessed of a power of dissolving all Promises Contracts and Oaths not to mention the prviate Doctrines of that Society that is so much in favour of doing Ill that Good may come of it of using Equivocations and Reservations and of ordering the Intention Now these Opinions as they have never been renounced by the Body of that Church so indeed they cannot be unless they renounce their Infallibility which is their Basis at the same time Therefore though a Prince of that Communion may very sincerely resolve to maintain Liberty of Conscience and to keep his Word yet the blind Subjection into which he is brought by his Religion to his Church must force him to break through all that as soon as the Doctrine of his Church is opened to him and that Absolution is denied him or higher Threatnings are made him if he continues firm to his merciful Incliations So that supposing His Majesties Piety to be as great as the Jesuits Sermon on the Thirtieth of January lately printed carries it to the uttermost possibility of Flesh and Blood then our Fears must still grow upon us who know what are the Decrees of that Church and by consequence we may infer to what his Piety must needs carry him as soon as those things are fully opened to him which in respect to him we are bound to believe are now hid from him IV. It will further appear that these are not injust Inferences if we consider a little what has been the Observation of all the Promises made for Liberty of Conscience to Hereticks by Roman Catholick Princes ever since the Reformation The first was the Edict of Passaw in Germany procured chiefly by Ferdinand's means and maintained indeed religiously by his Son Maximilian the Second whose Inclinations to the Protestant Religion made him be suspected for one himself but the Jesuits insinuated themselves so far into his Younger Brother's Court that was Archduke of Grats that this was not only broken by that Family in their Share but though Rodolph and Mathias were Princes of great Gentleness and the latter of these was the Prorector of the States in the beginning of their War with K. Philip the Second yet the violence with which the House of Grats was possessed overturned all that so that the breaking off the Pacificatory Edicts was begun in Rodolph's time and was so far carried on in Mathias's time that they set both Bahemia and Hungary in a Flame and so begun that long War of Germany 2. The next Promise for Liberty of Conscience was made by Queen Mary of England but we know well enough how it was observed The Promises made by the Queen Regent of Scotland were observed with the same Fidelity after these came the Pacificatory Edicts in France which were scarce made when the Triumvirat was formed to break them The famous Massacre of Paris was an instance never to be forgot of the Religious Observance of a Treaty made on purpost to lay the Party asleep and to bring the whole Heads of it into the Net This was a much more dreadful St. Partholomew than that on which our Author beflows that Epithere pag. 15. and when all seemed setled by the famous Edict of Nantes we have seen how restless that Party and in particular the Society were till it was broken by a Prince that for thirty years together had shewed as great an aversion to the Shedding of Blood in his Government at home as any of his Neighbours can pretend to and who has done nothing in the whole Tragedy that he has acted but what is exactly conform to the Doctrine and Decrees of his Church so that it is not himself but his Religion that we must blame for all that has fallen out in that Kingdom I cannot leave this without taking notice of our Author's Sincerity who page 18. tells us of the Protestants entring into their League in France when it is well known that it was a League of Papists against a Protestant Successor which was afterwards applied to a Popish King only because he was not zealous enough against Hereticks But to end this List of Instances at a Countrey to which our Author bears so particular a kindness when the Dutchess of Parma granted the Edict of Pacification by which all that was past was buried and the Exercise of the Protestant Religion was to be connived at for the future King Philip the Second did not only ratifie this but expressed himself so fully upon it to the Count of Egmont who had been sunt over to him that the easie Count returned to Flanders so assured of the King's Sincerity that he endeavoured to perswade all others to rely as much on his Word as he himself did It is well known how fatal this Confidence was to him and see Mettren lib. 3. that two years after this that King sent over the Duke of Alva with that severe Commission which has been often Printed in which without any regard had to the former Pacification or Promises the King declared That the Provinces had forfeited all their Liberties and that every man in it had forfeited his Life and therefore he authorised that numerciful man to proceed with all possible rigor against them It is also
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
will be inwardly glad that their forced Endeavours do not succeed and are pleased when men resist their Insinuations which are far from being Voluntary or Sincere â—… are Squeezed out of them by the weight of their being so Obnoxious If in the height of this great dearness by comparing things it should happen that at this instant there is much a surer Friendship with those who are so far from allowing Liberty that they allow no Living to a Protestant under them Let the Scene lie in what part of the World it will the Argument will come home and sure it will afford sufficient ground to suspect Apparent Contradictions must strike us neither Nature nor Reason can digest them Self-Flattery and the desire to Deceive our selves to â—… a present Appetite with all their Power which is Great cannot get the better of such broad Conviction as some things carry along with them Will you call these vain and empty suspitions have you been at all times so void of Fears and Jealousies as to justifie your being so unreasonably Valiant in having none upon this occasion Such an extraordinary Courage it this unseasonable time to say no more is too dangerous a Vertue to be commended If then for these and a thousand other Reasons there is cause to suspect sure your new Friends are not to Dictate to you or Advise you for instance The Addresses that fly abroad every Week and Murther us with another to the same â—… first Draughts are made by those who are not very proper to be Secretaries to the Protestant Region and it is your part only to Write them â—… fairer again Strange that you who have been formerly so much against Set-Forms should â—… be content the Priests should Indite for you The nature of Thanks is an unavoidable consequence of being Pleased or Obliged they grow â—… the Heart and from thence shew themselves â—… in Looks Speech Writing or Action No man was ever Thankful because he was bid to be so but because he had or thought he had some Reason for it If then there is cause in this Case to pay such extravagant Acknowledgments they will flow naturally without taking such pains to procure them and it is unkindly done to Tire all the Post-Horses with carrying Circular Letters to sollicite that which would be done without any trouble or constraint If it is really in it self such a Favour what needeth so much pressing men to be Thankful and with such eager circumstances that where Persuasions cannot delude Threatnings are imployed to fright them into a Compliance Thanks must be voluntary not only unconstrained but unsollicited else they are either Trisles or Snares they either signifie nothing or a great deal more than is intended by those that give them If an inference should be made That whosoever Thanketh the King for his Declaration is by that ingaged to Justifie it in point of Law it is a greater Stride than I presume all those care to make who are perswaded to Address If it shall be supposed that all the Thankers will be Repealers of the TEST whenever a Parliament shall Meet Such an Expectation is better prevented before than disappointed afterwards and the surest way to avoid the lying under such a Scandal is not to do any thing that may give a colour to the Mistake These Bespoken Thanks are little less improper than Love-Letters that were Sollicited by the Lady to whom they are to be Directed so that besides the little ground there is to give them the manner of getting them doth extremely lessen their Value It might be wished that you would have suppressed your impatience and have been content for the sake of Religion to enjoy it within your selves without the Liberty of a publick Exercise till a Parliament had allowed it but since that could not be and that the Artifices of some amongst you have made use of the Well-meant Zeal of the Generality to draw them into this Mistake I am so far from blaming you with that sharpness which perhaps the Matter in strictness would bear that I am ready to err on the side of the more gentle construction There is a great difference between enjoying quietly the advantages of an Act irregularly done by others and the going about to support it against the Laws in being the Law is so Sacred that no Trespass against ' it is to be Defended yet Frailties may in some measure be Excused when they cannot be justified The desire of enjoying a Liberty from which men have been so long restrained may be a Temptation that their Reason is not at all times able to resist If in such a case some Objections are leapt over indifferent men will be more inclined to lament the Occasion than to fall too hard upon the Fault whilst it is covered with the Apology of a good Intention but where to rescue your selves from the Severity of one Law you give a Blow to all the Laws by which your Religion and Liberty are to be protected and instead of silently receiving the benefit of this Indulgence you set up for Advocates to support it you become voluntary Aggressors and look like Councel retained by the Prerogative against your old Friend Magna Charta who hath done nothing to deserve her falling thus under your Displeasure If the case then should be that the Price expected from you for this Liberty is giving up your Right in the Laws sure you will think twice before you go any further in such a losing Bargain After giving Thanks for the breach of one Law you lose the Right of Complaining of the breach of all the rest you will not very well know how to defend your selves when you are pressed and having given up the question when it was for your advantage you cannot recall it when it shall be to your prejudice If you will set up at one time a Power to help you which at another time by parity of Reason shall be made use of to destroy you you will neither be pitied nor relieved against a Mischief you draw upon your selves by being so unreasonably thankful It is like calling in Auxiliaries to help who are strong enough to subdue you In such a case your Complaints will come too late to be heard and your Sufferings will raise Mirth instead of Compassion If you think for your excuse to expound your Thanks so as to restrain them to this particular case others for their ends will extend them further and in these differing Interpretations that which is back'd by Authority will be the most likely to prevail especially when by the advantage you have given them they have in truth the better of the Argument and that the Inferences from your own Concessions are very strong and express against you This is so far from being a groundless Supposition that there was a late instance of it the last Session of Parliament in the House of Lords where the first Thanks though things of course 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
from the Bishops than that they have in part retained in their Government and Ceremonies the Exteriors of that Religion should now themselves joyn to bring it intirely in But above all Who could have believed that the French Ministers who after having experimented all the Fury of Popery in France were at last banished rather than that they would subscribe to its Errors and Abuses And for this very cause fled into England that they might there more freely profess the Protestant Religion should now contribute to re-establish Popery in their new Country where they had been received by their Brethren with so singular a Charity Would you indeed Gentlemen see England once more submitted to the Tyranny of the Pope whose Yoke it so happily threw off in the last Age Would you there see all those monstrous Doctrines all those Superstitions and that horrible Idolatry which reigned there before the Reformation domineer once more in it Would you that the People should again hear the Pulpits and the Churches sounding out the Doctrins of Purgatory of Indulgences of the Sacrifice of the Mass c. and see the Image and Reliques of the Saints carried solemnly in Procession with a God formed by the hand of Man. And that in sine they should again publickly adore those vain Idols We are confident there is not â—… good Protestant in the World that would not startle â—… at the thought of it But this is not yet all The Declaration of which we speak does not only re-establish Popery with all its abominations but does moreover tend to the Ruine of the Reformation in England A Man need not to have any great Sagacity to be convinced of this And that as much as it seems to establish for ever the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom it does on the contrary destroy the very Foundations of it The ground upon which the Reformation is founded in England are the Laws which have been made at several times for the settlement of it and to abolish either the Tyranny of the Pope or the Popish Religion altogether And as these Laws have been made by the King and Parliament together so that the King has not the power to Repeal them without a Parliament they secure the Protestant Religion against the Enterprizes of such Kings as should ever think to Destroy it But now if this Declaration be executed we are no more to make any account of those Solemn Laws which have been passed in favour of the Reformation they become of no value and the Protestant Religion is intirely lest to the King's Pleasure This is what will clearly appear from what we are about to say The King not having been able to obtain of the last Parliament to consent to a Repeal of the Laws which had been made against the Nonconformists dissolved the Parliament it self Not long after without attending a new one he did that alone by his Declaration which the Parliament would not do conjunctly with him He granted a all Liberty of Conscience to the Nonconformists he freed them from the Penalties which had been appointed against them and dispensed with the Oaths to which the Laws obliged all those who were admitted to any Charges whether in the souldiery or in administration of Justice or of the Government In pursuance of these Declarations he threw the Protestants out of all Places of any great Importance to clap in Papists in their room and goes on without ceasing to the intire establishment of Popery Who does not see that if the Protestants approve these Declarations and themselves authorize such Enterprises the King will not stop here but that this will be only one step to carry him much further What can be did when he shall do the same thing with reference to those Laws which exclude the Papists out of the Parliament that he has done to those which shut them out of all Charges and Imploys and forbad them the Exercise of their Religion Does not the approbation of such Declarations as it overthrows these last carry with it before-hand the approbation of those which shall one day overthrow the former And if the King shall once give himself the Authority to bring Papists into the Parliament who shall hinder him from using Solicitations Promises Threatnings and a thousand other the like means to make up a Popish Parliament And who shall hinder him with the concurrence of that Parliament to repeal all the ancient Laws that had been passed against Popery and make new ones against the Protestants These are without doubt the natural Consequences of what the King at this time aims at These are the fruits which one ought to expect from it if instead of approving as some have done his Enterprises against the Laws they do not on the contrary with all imaginable Vigor oppose them Reflect a little on what we have here said and you will confess that we have reason to commend the Conduct of the Bishops who refused to publish the Declaration and to condemn those Dissentèrs who have made their Addresses of Thanks for it It is true that the Dissenters are to be pitied and that they have been treated hardly enough and we do not think it at all strange that they so earnestly sigh after Liberty of Conscience It is natural for Men under Oppression to seek for Relief and Liberty of Conscience considered only in it self is it may be the Thing of all the World the most precious and most desirable Would to God we were able to procure it for them by any lawful means and without such ill Consequences tho' it were at the peril of our Lives But we conjure them to consider how pernicious that Liberty of Conscience is which is offer'd to them as we have just now shewn On the one side it is inseparably linked with the Establishment of Popery and on the other it cannot be accepted without approving a terrible Breach which his Majesty thereby makes upon the Laws and which would be the ruine of the Reformation in his Kingdoms were not some Remedy brought to it And where is the Protestant who would buy Liberty of Conscience at so dear a rate and not rather chuse to continue deprived of it all his Life Should the private Interest of our Brechren the Dissenters blind them in such a manner that they have no regard to the general Interest of the Church Should they for enjoying a Liberty of Conscience so ill assured shut their Eyes to all other Considerations How much better would it be for them to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline but especially at this time when their Conduct ought to have entirely defaced those unjust Suspicions which they had conceived against them But if they could not so readily dispose themselves to such a Re-union would it not be better for them to resolve still to continue without Liberty of Conscience and expect some more favourable time when they may by lawful
means attain it than to open themselves a Gite to Popery and to concur with it to the Ruine of the Protestant Religion You will it may be tell us that it looks ill in us who so much complain That we have been deprived of Liberty of Concience in France to sind fault with the King of England for granting it to his Subjects And that it is the least that can be allowed to a Soveraign to allow him the Right to permit the exercise of his own Religion in his own Kingdoms and to make use of the Service of such of his Subjects as himself shall think sit by putting them into Charges and Employs You will add That his Majesty does not go about neither to abrogate the ancient Laws nor to make new ones All he does being only to dispence with the Observation of certain Laws in such of his Subjects as he thinks fit and for as long time as he pleases and that the right of dispensing with and suspending of Laws is a Right insepably tied to his Person That for the rest the Protestant Religion does not run the least Risque There are Laws to shut the Papists out of Parliament and these Laws can neither be dispensed with nor suspended So that the Parliament partaking with the King in the Legislative Power and continuing still Protestant there is no cause to fear that any thing should be done contrary to the Protestant Religion Besides What probability is there that a King who appears so great an Enemy to Oppression in matters of Conscience and Religion should ever have a thought tho' he had the Power himself to oppress in this very matter the greatest part of his Subjects and take from them that Liberty of Conscience which he now grants to them and which he promises so â—… to observe for the time to come These are all the Objections that can with â—… appearance of Reason be made against what we have before said They may all be reduced â—… five which we shall examine in their order And we doubt not but we shall easily make it appear that they are all but meer Illusions 1. We do justly complain That they had taken from us our Liberty of Conscience in France because it was done contrary to the Laws And one may as justly complain that the K. of England does labour to re-estalish Popery in his Country because he cannot do it but contrary to the Laws Our Liberties in France were founded us on solemn Laws upon perpetual irrevocable and sacred Edicts and which could not be â—… without violating at once the Publick Faith the Royal Word and the Sacredness of an Oath And Popery has been banished out of England by Laws made by King and Parliament and which cannot be repealed but by the author of King and Parliament together so that the therefore there is just cause to complain that the King should go about to overthrow them himself alone by his Declaration 2. It is not true that a Soveraign has always the right to permit the Exercise of his own Religion in his Dominions and to make use of the â—… of such of his Subjects as he himself shall that fit that is to say by putting of them into â—… and Employs And in particular he has this right when the Laws of his Country contrary thereunto as they are in the â—… before us Every King is obliged to observe the fundamental Laws of his Kingdom And the King of England as well as his Subjects ought to observe the Laws which have been established by King and Parliament together 3. For the third the distinction between abrogation of a Law and the dispensing â—… and suspending of it cannot here be of use whether the King abrogates the Laws which have been made against Popery or whether without saying expressly that he does abrogate them he overthrows them by his Declarations under pretence of dispensing with suspending of them it is still in effect same thing And to what purpose is it the Laws are not abrogated if in the â—… time all sorts of Charges are given to Papists and Popery it self be re-established contrary to the tenor of the Laws The truth is if the King has such a power as this if this be â—… Right necessarily tied to his Person 't is in vain â—… the Parliament does partake with him in the Legislature This Authority of the Parliament is but a meer Name a Shadow a Phan â—… a Chimera and no more The King is still the absolute Master because he can alone and without his Parliament render useless by his Declarations the Laws which the Parliament shall have the most solemnly established together with him We confess the King has right of dispensing in certain Cases as if the concern be what belongs to his private Interest he may without doubt whenever he pleases depart from his own Rights 't is a Liberty which no body will pretend to contest with him But he has not the power to dispense to the Prejudice of the Rights of the people â—… by consequence put the Property the Liberty and the Lives of his Protestant Subjects into the hands of Papists 4. What we have now said in Answer to the third Objection will be more clear from the Answer we are to give to the fourth They should perswade the Protestants that their Religion is in safety because on the one side the King cannot make Laws without the Parliament and that on the other there being Laws which exclude Papists out of the two Houses it must necessarily follow That the Parliament shall continue to be Protestant But if the King has the power to break through the Laws under the pretence of dispensing with and suspending of them what Security shall the Protestants have that he will not dispense with the Papists the Observation of those Laws which do exclude them out of the Parliament as well as â—… has dispensed with those that should have kept them out of Charges and Imployments â—… Security shall they have that he will â—… at any time hereafter suspend the Execution of the former as he has already suspended the Execution of the latter Which being â—… what should hinder us from seeing in a little â—… a Popish Parliament who together with the King shall pass Laws contrary to the Protestant Religion What difference can be shewn between the one and the other of these Laws â—… the one should be liable to be dispensed with and suspended and the other not Were they not both established by the King and Parliament Were not both the one and the other made for the Security of the Protestant Religion and of those who profess it Are not the Rights of the people concerned in the one as well as in the other And whosoever suffers and approves the King in the violation of these Rights in some things does he not thereby authorize him to violate them in all If the King has power to put the Liberty and
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
making of Laws which shall Authorize the Deisying a bit of Bread the Worshipping of it for a God the Praying to it Idolatry Blasphemy any thing in the World for them that like it Now is not this a very fair Speech and does it not well become the mouths of Protestants I would fain press this home upon the Consciences both of those Dissenters who are hired and of those who are not hired to labour the Repeal of our Laws Do you fear the Informers more than God Will you for the sake of your little Conventicles do the greatest Evils which you know to be such You know in your very Hearts that the Worship of Images Crosses and of a Wafer is abominable Idolatry that the Half-Communion is Sacriledge and that many other Points of Popery are blasphemous Fables And will you set up this for one of your Religions as by Law Established Will you do all that hands can do to entail Idolatry upon the Nation not only Removendo prohibens as Divines distinguish by pulling down the Laws which hinder it but also Promovendo adjuvans by making a perpetual Magna Charta for it The Laws and Constitution of a Country do denominate that Country if Atheism were Authorized by Law this would be an Athiestical Nation and if Idolatry be set up by Law it is an Idolatrous Nation and all that have any hand in it make it the Sin of the Nation as well as their own Think therefore of these things in time before you have involved both your selves and your Country in a miserable Estate and remember poor Francis Spira who went against Light. But Secondly There is just as much Prudence as Conscience in these Proceedings for by Repealing the Laws against Popery you Reverse the Outlawry and take of those legal Disabilities which the Papists now lie under and which have hitherto tied their Hands from destroying Hereticks When Papists shall be right Justices and Sheriffs and not Counterseits when they shall be Probi legales homines and pass Muster in Law when they shall be both our legal Judges and our lawful Juries and when Protestants shall come to be Tryed by their Country that is to say by their Twelve Popish Godfathers they may easily know what sort of Blessing they are to expect The Papists want nothing but these Advantages to make a fair riddance of all Protestants for we see by several of their late Pamphlets that if any thing be said against Popery they have a great dexterity in laying it Treason Now this is a civil way of answering Arguments for which we are bound to thank them because it so plainly discovers what they would be at if it were in their Power But how comes it to be Treason to speak against a Religion which is itself High-Treason and is Proscribed by so many Laws Why their Medium is this That Popery is the King's Religion and therefore by an Inuendo what is said against that is meant against him But is there any Law of England that Popery shall be the King's Religion Or is it declared by any Law that Popery either is or can be his Religion On the other hand we are enabled by an Act in this very Reign to pronounce Popery to be a False Religion and to assert the Religion which is now professed in the Church of England and Established by the Laws of this Realm to be the True Christian Religion Act for building St. Ann's Church p. 133. But these Gentlemen it seems are for Hanging Men without Law or against Law or any how and therefore we thank them again for being thus plain with us before hand Now if they be thus insolent when they are so very abnoxious themselves and have Halters about their own Necks with what a Rod of Iron will they Rule us when they are our Masters What havock will they then make of the Nation when we already see Magdalen Colledge which was lately a flourishing Society of Protestants now made a Den of Jesuits and that done to in such a way as shakes all the Property in England Or who can be safe after our Laws are Repealed when Endeavours have been lately used to extract Sedition even out of Prayers and Tears and the Bishops Humble Petition was threatned to be made a Treasonable Libel But here the Dissenters have a plausible excuse for themselves for say they We have now an opportunity of getting the Laws which are against us Repealed which is clear gain and as for our refusing to Repeal the Laws against Popery there is nothing gotten by that either to us or to any body else for they are already as good as Repealed by the Dispensing Power and therefore such Discourse as this only advises us to stand in our own light without doing any good to the Nation at all for there will be Popish Justices Sheriffs Judges and Juries whether we will or no for whatsoever we refuse to do the Dispensing Power will supply To which I answer Do you keep your hands off from Repealing the Laws let who will contravene or Transgress them for then you are free from the Blood of all Men you have no share in the guilt of those Mischiefs which befal your Country which would sooner or later be a heavy burden and a dead weight upon the Conscience of any Protestant But besides let the Laws alone and they will defend both themselves and us too for if the Law says That a Papist shall not nor cannot have an Office then he shall not nor cannot for who can speak Louder than the Laws As for a Dispensing-Power inherent in the King which can set aside as many of the Laws of the Land as he pleases and Suspend the Force and Obligation of them which has been lately held forth by many False and Unlawful Pamphlets the Dissenters know very well that there is no such thing but that no body may pretend Ignorance I shall here prove in very few words That by the Established Laws of the Land the King cannot have such a Dispensing-Power unless Dispensing with the Laws and Executing the Laws be the same thing and unless both keeping the Laws himself and causing them to be kept by all others be the English of Dispensing with them For in the Statute of Provisors 25 Eaw 3. c. 25. we have this laid down for Law That the King is bound to Execute those Statutes which are Unrepealed and to cause them to be kept as the Law of this Realm The words are these speaking of a Statute made in the time of Edward the First Which Statute holdeth always his Force and was never Defeated or Annull'd in any point And by somuch our Sovereign Lord the King is bound by his Oath to do the same to be kept as the Law of this Realm although by Sufferance and Negligence it hath since been attempted to the contrary So that the Coronation Oath and the Dispensing-Power are here by King Edward the Third and his
Late King being so true a Judge of Wit could not but be much taken with the best Satyr of our Time saw that Bays's Wit when measured with anothers was of a piece with his Virtues and therefore judged in favour of the Rebearsal Transpros'd this went deep and though it gave occasion to the single piece of Modesty with which he can be charged of withdrawing from the Town and not importuning the Press more for some years since even a Face of Brass must grow red when it is so burnt as his was then yet his Malice against the Elder Brother was never extinguished but with his Life But now a strange Conjuncture has brought him again on the Stage and Bays will be Bays still He begins his Prologue with the only soft word in the whole piece I humbly Conceive but he quickly repents him of that Debonarity and so makes Thunder and Lightning speak the rest as if his Designs were to Insult over the two Houses and not to convince them He who is one of the Punies of his Order and is certainly one of its justest Reproaches tells us pag. 8. That to the Shame of the Bishops this Law was consented to by them in the House of Lords But what Shame is due to him who has treated that Venerable Bench and in particular his Metropolitan in so scurrilous a manner The Order has much more cause to be ashamed of such a Member though if there are two or three such as he is among the twenty Six they may Comfort themselves with this that a dozen of much better Men had one among them that I confess was not much worse if it was not for this that he let the Price of his Treachery fall much lower than Sa. Oxon does who is still true to his old Maxim that he delivered in Answer to one who asked him What was the best Body of Divinity which was That that which could help a man to keep a Coach and Six Horses was certainly the best But now I come to Examine his Reasons for abrogating the Test. The first is That it is contrary to the Natural Rights of Peerage and turns the Birth-Right of the English Nobility into a Precarious Title which is at the mercy of every Faction and Passion in Parliament and that therefore how useful soever the TEST might have been in its Season it some time must prove a very ill President against the Right of Peerage and upon this he tells a Story of a Protestation made in the House of Lords against the TEST that was brought in in 1675. together with the Resolution of the House against that Penalty upon the Peers of losing their Votes in case of a Refusal be represents this as a Test or Oath of Loyalty against the Lamfulness of taking Arms upon any pretence whatsoever against the King. But in Answer to all this one would gladly know what are the Natural Rights of Peerage and in what Chapter of the Law of Nature they are to be found for if those Rights have no other Warrant but the Constitution of this Government then they are still subject to the Legislative Authority and may be regulated by it The Right of Peerage is still in the Family only as the exercise of it is limited by the Law to such an Age so it may be suspended as ost as the Publick Safety comes to require it even the indelible Character it self may be brought under a total Suspension of which our Author may perhaps afford an instance at some time or other 2. Votes in either House of Parliament are never to be put in Ballance with Establish'd Laws These are the Opinions of one House and are changeable 3. But if the TEST might have been useful in its Season one would gladly see how it should be so soon out of Season for its chief Use being to secure the Protestant Religion in 1678. it does not appear That now in 1688. the Dangers are so quite dissipated that there is no more need of securing it In one sence we are in a safer Condition than we were then for some false Brethren have shewed themselves and have lost that little Credit which some unhappy Accidents had procured them 4. It was not the Loyalty in the TEST of the Year 1675 that raised the greatest Opposition to it but another part of it That they should never Endeavour any Alteration in the Government either in the Church or State. Now it seemed to be an unreasonable Limitation on the Legislative Body to have the yenbers engaged to make no Alteration And it is that which would not have much pleased those For whose satisfaction this Book is published The second Reason was already hinted at of its dishonourable Birth and Original p. 10. which according to the decency of his stile he calls the first Sacrament of the Otesian Villany p 9. This he aggravates as such a Monstrous and Inhuman piece of Barbarity as could never have entred into the thoughts of any Man but the infamous Author of it This piece of Elegance though it belongs to this Reason comes in again in his Fourth Reason page 6. and to let the House of Lords see their Fate if they will not yield to his Reasons he tells them that this will be not only an Eternal National Reproach but such a blot upon the Peers that no length of time could wear away nothing but the Universal Constagration could destroy which are the aprest Expressions that I know to mark how deeply the many blots with which he is stigmatized are rooted in his Nature The wanton man in his Drawcansir humour thinks that Parliaments and a House of Peers are to be treated by Him with as much Seorn as is justly due to himself But to set this matter in its true Light it is to be remembred that in 1678. there were besides the Evidences of the Witnesses a great many other Discoveries made of Letters and Negotiations in Forreign Pares chiefly in the Courts of France and Rome for Extirpating the Protestant Religion upon which the Party that was most united to the Court set on this Law for the Test as that which was both in itself a just and necessary Security for the Establish'd Religion and that would probably lay the fermentation which was then in the Nation and the Act was so little acceptable to him whom he calls its Author that he spake of it then with Contempt as a Trick of the Court to lay the Nation too soon asleep The Negotiations beyond Sea were too evidently proved to be denied and which is not yet generally known Mr. Coleman when Examined by the Committe of the House of Commons said plain enough to them that the Late King was concerned in them but the Committee would not look into that Matter and so Mr. Sacheverill that was their Chairman did not report it yet the thing was not so secret but that one to whom it was trusted gave the Late King an
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
to mind how it fared with those in King Charles the First 's Reign who read the Book of Sports as it was called and then preached against it To return then to our Argument if reading the Declaration in our Churches be in the nature of the Action in the intention of the Command in the opinion of the People an interpretative consent to it I think my self bound in conscience not to read it because I am bound in conscience not to approve it It is against the Constitution of the Church of England which is Established by Law and to which I have subscribed and thefore am bound in Conscience to Teach nothing contrary to it while this Obligation lasts It is to Teach an unlimited and universal Toleration which the Parliament in 72. Declared illegal and which has been condemned by the Christian Church in all Ages It is to teach my People that they need never come to Church more but have my free leave as they have the King 's to go to a Conventicle or to Mass It is to teach the dispensing Power which alters what has been formerly thought the whole Constitution of this Church and Kingdom which we dare not do till we have the Authority of Parliament for it It is to recommend to our People the choice of such persons to sit in Parliament as shall take away the Test and Penal-Laws which most of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation have declared their judgment against It is to condemn all those great and worthy Patriots of their Country who forfeited the dearest thing in the World to them next a good Conscience viz. The Favour of their Prince and a great many honourable and profitable Employments with it rather than consent to that Proposal of taking away the Test and Penal Laws which they apprehend destructive to the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and he who can in Conscience do all this I think need scruple nothing For let us consider further what the effects and consequences of our reading the Declaration are likely to be and I think they are matter of Conscience too when they are evident and apparent This will certainly render our Persons and Ministry infinitely contemptible which is against that Apostolick Canon Let no man despise thee Titus 2. 15. That is so to behave himself in his Ministerial Office as not to fall under contempt and therefore this obliges the Conscience not to make our selves ridiculous nor to render our Ministry our Counsels Exhortations Preaching Writing of no effect which is a thousand times worse than being silenced Our Sufferings will Preach more effectually to the People when we cannot speak to them but he who for Fear or Cowardise or the Love of this World betrays his Church and Religion by undue compliances and will certainly be thought to do so may continue to Preach but to no purpose and when we have rendred our selves ridiculous and contemptible we shall then quickly fall and fall unpitied There is nothing will so effectually tend to the final ruine of the Church of England because our Reading the Declaration will discourage or provoke or misguide all the Friends the Church of England has can we blame any man for not preserving the Laws and the Religion of our Church and Nation when we our selves will venture nothing for it can we blame any man for consenting to Repeal the Test and Penal Laws when we recommend it to them by Reading the Declaration Have we not Reason to expect that the Nobility and Gentry who have already suffered in this Cause when they hear themselves condemned for it in all the Churches of England will think it time to mend such a fault and reconcile themselves to their Prince and if our Church fall this way is there any any reason to expect that it should ever rise again These Consequences are almost as evident as Demonstrations and let it be what it will in it self which I foreseee will destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and Interest I think I ought to make as much conscience of doing it as of doing the most immoral Action in Nature To say that these mischievous consequences are not absolutely necessary and therefore do not affect the Conscience because we are not certain they will follow is a very mean Objection Moral Actions indeed have not such necessary consequences as natural causes have necessary effects because no moral causes act necessarily Reading the Declaration will not as necessarily destroy the Church of England as fire burns Wood but if the consequence be plain and evident the most likely thing that can happen if it be unreasonable to expect any other if it be what is plainly intended and designed either I must never have any regard to Moral Consequences of my Actions or if ever they are to be considered they are in this case Why are the Nobility and Gentry so extreamly averse to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws why do they forfeit the King's Favour and their Honourable Stations rather than comply with it if you say that this tends to destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion I ask whether this be the necessary consequence of it whether the King cannot keep his promise to the Church of England if the Test and Penal Laws be Repealed We cannot say but this may be and yet the Nation does not think fit to try it and we commend those great men who deny it and if the same questions were put to us we think we ought in Conscience to deny them our selves and are there not as high probabilities that our Reading the Declaration will promote the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws as that such a Repeal will ruine our Constitution and bring in Popery upon us Is it not as probable that such a complyance in us will disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry who have hitherto been firm to us as that when the power of the Nation is put into Popish Hands by the Repeal of such Tests and Laws the Priests and Jesuits may find some salvo for the King's Conscience and perswade him to forget his Promise to the Church of England and if the probable ill consequences of Repealing the Test and Penal Laws be a good reason not to comply with it I cannot see but that the as probable ill consequences of Reading the Declaration is as good a reason not to read it The most material Objection is that the Dissenters whom we ought not to provoke will expound our not Reading it to be the effect of a Persecuting Spirit Now I wonder men should lay any weight on this who will not allow the most probable consequences of our Actions to have any influence upon Conscience for if we must compare consequences to disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry by Reading it is likely to be much more fatal than to anger the Dissenters and it is more likely and there is much more
And they are not so void of common sense as to adventure to incur his most high displeasure when they have nothing to rely upon but his favour In short Trust to those who own you for their Brethren as you do them for tho' they have been angry Brethren yet there is hope of Reconciliation between such near Relations But put no Confidence in those who not only utterly disown any such Relation to you but have ever treated you with an implacable hatred as their most mortal Enemies unto whom it is impossible they should be reconciled Prov. 12. 19 20. The lips of Truth shall be established for ever but a lying Tongue is but for a moment Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight Abby and other Church-Lands not yet assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion SInce it is universally agreed on that so great a matter as the total alienation of all the Abby-Lands c. in England can never be made legal and valid and such as vvill satisfie the reasonable doubts and scruples of a religious and conscienciousPerson except it be confirm'd by the supreme Authority in this Church its evident that the Protestants vvho assert the Church of England to be autokephalor and such as allows of no Foreign Jurisdiction or Appeals having had these Lands confirmed to them by the King as Head of the Church the Convocation as the Church representative and by the King and Parliament as the supreme Legislative Power in this Realm have these Alienations made as valid to them as any Power on Earth can make them but the Members of the Church of Rome who maintain a Foreign Superiour Jurisdiction either in a general Council or in the Bishop of Rome or both together cannot have these Alienations confirm'd to them without the consent of one or both of these Superiour Jurisdictions If therefore I shall make it appear that these Alienations in England were never confirm'd by either I do not see hovv any Roman-Catholick in England can without Sacriledge retain them and his Religion together As to the first of these since there hath been no Council from the first Alienation of Abby-Lands in England to this day that pretends to be general but that of Trent vve neeed only look into that for the satisfaction of such Roman Catholicks as esteem a general Council above the Bishop of Rome And I am sure that that Council is so far from confirming these Abby-Lands to the present Possessors that it expresly denounceth them accursed that detain them Sess. 22. Decret de Ref. Cap. 11. Si quem c. If Covetousness the root of all evil shall so far possess any Person whatsoever whether of the Clergy or Laity though he be an Emperour or a King as that by force fear or frand or any art or colour whatsoever he presume to convert to his own use usurp the Jurisdiction Goods Estates Fruits Profits or Emoluments whatsoever of any Church or any Benefice Secular or Regular Hospital or Religious House or shall hinder that the profits of the said Houses be not received by those to whom they do of right belong let him lie underan Anathema till the said Jurisdiction Goods Estates Rents and Profits which he hath possessed and invaded or which have come to him any manner of way be restored to the Church and after that have Absolution from the Bishop of Rome So great a Terrour did this strike into the English Papists that were possessors of Church-Lands against whom this Anathema seems particularly directed that many of the zealous papists began to think of Restitution and Sir William Peters notwithstanding his private Bull of Absolution from Pope Julius the Fourth was so much startled at it as that the very next year he endowed eight new Fellowships in Exeter Colledge in Oxford Again the same Council Sess. 25. Decret de Ref. c. 20. Cupiens Sancta Synodus c. Decreeth and commandeth that all the Holy Canons and general Councils and Apostolick Sanctions in savour of Ecclesiastical Persons and the Liberties of the Church and against those that violate them be exactly observed by every one and doth farther admonish the Emperor Kings Princes and all Persons of vvhat estate soever that they vvould observe the Rights of the Church as the commands of God and desend them by their particular Patronage nor suffer them to be invaded by any Lords or Gentlemen whatsoever but severely punish all those vvho hinder the Liberties Immunities and Jurisdictions of the Church and that they vvould imitate those excellent Princes who by their Authority and Bounty encreased the Revenues of the Church so far were they from suffering them to be invaded and in this let every one sedulously perform his part c. And now after so full and express Declaration of the Council of Trent I do not see hovv any of those Roman Catholicks who esteem a general Council to be the supreme Authority in the Church and receive the Trent Council as such can any way excuse themselves in point of Conscience from those heavy Curses that are there denounc'd against all those that detain Church-Lands especially since the Papists themselves vehemently accuse King Henry the Eighth for sacrilegiously robbing of religious Houses and seising of their Lands a great part of which Lands are to this very day possess'd by Papists Now though there may be some Plea for the Popes Authority in the interim of a general Council and in such things vvherein they have made no determination yet in this matter there is no colour for any such pretences since the Council of Trent was actually assembled within few years after these Alienations and expresly condemned the possessors of Abby-Lands and after all this was all confirm'd and ratified by the Pope himself in his Bulla Super conf gen Concil Trid. A. D. 1564. And tho' we have here the Judgment of the infallible See as to this matter in the Confirmation of the Trent Council yet because there be some that magnifie the Popes extravagant and unlimited power over the Church and pretend that he confirm'd the Abby-Lands in England to the Lay-possessors of them I shall shew Secondly That the Pope neither hath nor pretends to any such Povver nor did ever make use of it in this matter under debate only I shall premise that whereas some part of the Canon-Law seem to allow of such particular alienations as are made by the Clerks and members of the Church with the consent of the Bishop yet such free consent was never obtained in England and as to what was done by force fraud and violence is of so little moment as to giving a legal Title that even the alienations that were made by Charles Martell who is among the Papists themselves as infamous for Sacrilege as King Henry the Eighth yet even his Acts are said to be done by a Council
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
property and Lives of his Protestant Subjects at the mercy of the Papists by placing them in Charges contrary to the Law why should he not have the power to raise the same Papists to the Authority of Legislators by declaring them capable of sitting in Parliament seeing that is but contrary to Law Do not deceive your selves the Laws are the Barrier which bound the Authority of the King and if this Barrier be once broken he will extend his Authority as far as he pleases And it will be impossible for you after that to set any bounds to it 5. In fine he must be very little acquainted with the Spirit of Popery who imagins that it will be content to re-establish it self in England without aiming to destroy the Protestant Religion Give it but Time and Opportunity to fortifie it self and you may then expect to see what it is In all places where it has got the power in its hands it will not only rule but rule alone and not suffer any other Religion besides it self and imploys the Sword and Fire to extirpate that which it calls Heresie Were not this a Truth confirmed by infinite Examples both ancient and modern which every one knows who has read any thing of History it would be too much evidenced by the Cruelties which it has so lately exercised against the Churches of Hungary of France and of the Vallies of Piemont And men ought not to be lulled asleep by the pretence of an Inclination which the King of England would be thought to have for Liberty of Conscience nor by the Promises which he makes to perserve it to all his Subjects without distinction Every one knows that persidiousness and breach of Faith are Characters of Popery no less essential to it than Cruelty Can you doubt of this Gentlemen you who so lately came from making a sad Experiment of it How often did our King promise us to preserve us in our Priviledges How many Declarations How many Edicts did he set out to that purpose How many Oaths were taken to confirm those Edicts Did not this very King Lewis XIV himself solemnly promise by several Edicts and Declarations to maintain us in all the Liberties which were granted to us by the Edict of Nantes And yet after all what scruple was there made to violate so many Laws so many Promises and so many Oaths The Protestants of England have themselves also sometimes likewise experimented the same Infidelity And not to alledge here any other Example let us desire them to remember only the Reign of Queen Mary what promises she made at her coming to the Crown not to make any change of Religion and yet what bloody Laws she afterwards passed to extinguish the Reformation as soon as she saw her self fast in the Throne And with that inhumanity she spilt the Blood of her most faithful Subjects to accomplish that design After such an instance as this a man must be very credulous indeed and willing to deceive himself that will put too much confidence in the promises of the King that now reigns Do we not know that there are neither Promises nor Oaths which the Pope does not pretend to have power to dispense with in those whom he employs for the Extirpation of Heresie And do we not also know that it is one of the great Maxims of Popery a Maxim authorized both by the Doctrine and Practice of the Council of Constance That they are not obliged to keep any Faith with Hereticks We ought not to believe that King James II. a Prince who has so much Zeal for Popery should be governed by any other Maxims than those of his Religion And whosoever will take the pains to examine his Conduct both before and since his coming to the Crown will find that he has more than once put 'em in practice And this Gentlemen we suppose may be sufficient to convince all reasonable persons that there is nothing more pernicious than that Declaration which you have approved whether by publishing it as some of you have done or by addressing to the King to thank him for it When you shall have reflected upon these things you will without doubt your selves confess that you have suffered your selves to be amused with some imaginary advantages which you hope to make by this Declaration In the mean time most dear Brethren you will pardon us if we have chanced to have let any thing slip that is not agreeable to you We had no Design to give the least Offence either to you or to our Brethren the Dissenters of England If we have spoken our Thoughts freely of your Conduct and â—… theirs we have at least spoken with no less liberty of that of the Bishops And God is our Witness that we have said nothing of the one or the other but in the sincerity of our Heart and out of a desire to contribute somewhat to his Glory and the good of his Church We are Most honoured Brethren Your most Humble most Obedient and most affectionate Brethren in Jesus Christ. N. â—… Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Genleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGEs Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament THE credulity and Superstition of Mankind hath given great Opportunities and Advantages to cunning Knaves to spread their Nets and lay â—… Traps in order to catch easie and unwary creatures these being led on by Ignorance or â—… they by Pride or Ambition or else a Vile and â—… Principle Therefore seeing we are in this state of Corruption bred up to believe Contradictions and Impossibilities led by the Nose with â—… State Monntebank and Mankish Jugler â—… like Puppets by Strings and Wires it seems â—… time to vindicate Humane Nature and to free â—… from these Shackles laid upon her in the very â—… for Man who ought to be a Free and â—… Animal in his present state is only an â—… and Machine contriv'd for the Vanity and â—… of Priests and Tyrants who claim to themselves â—… seem to Monopolize the Divine Stamp tho' we â—… all made of the same Materials by the same â—… and in the same Mould equal by Nature â—… together and link'd in Societies by mutual contracts plac'd by turns one above another and intrusted for some time with the Power of executing our own Laws and all by general consent for the Publick Good of the whole Community this is â—… genuine Shape and Figure of Primitive and â—… Government not distemper'd and fatally â—… with the monstruous Excrescencies of Arbitrary Power in one single Member above all the Laws of the whole Infallibility Divine Right c. â—… by Knaves and Sycophants bellev'd by Fools â—… scarce ever heard of the Greek and Roman Histories and never read their own I shall therefore give some Examples out of an infinite number of People ruin'd and utterly destroy'd by their â—… Credulity and good Nature matter of Fact â—… a stronger Proof
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