reputed such c. and every one of them to have hold and possess seat place and voice in our Parliaments Publick Conventions and Councils and of those of our Heirs and Successors within our Kingdom of England amongst other Barons and Barons of our Parliaments publick Conventions and Councils This having been the long used form of the Patents granted by our Protestant Princes it is not only an abatement of what the Sovereign intended for their well-deserving Subjects and a violating of that peculiar Right which was designed to be transmitted to their Posterities and thereby a degrading of Roman Catholic Peers of so importent a priviledge but it wrests out of the Kings hands a Royal Prerogative he hath Jure Coronae to make and create the Members of that most Honourable House which is his Supreme Court of Judicature The ill Consequences that may follow such Retrenchment being well worth serious Reflections and of the Kings Prerogative I having occasion hereafter to treat more largely shall add no more here but only hint to you the Resentments of some Parliaments when they have wanted their Members and close this Head with some short Reflections which with all due deference to better Judgments and those whom it may most immediatly concern I shall only offer to be considered Mat. Paris p. 885. Anno 1255. The Earls and Barons absolutely refused the King any assistance or answer at all to what he demanded because all the Barons were not at that time called according to the Tenure of Magna Charta Stat. 1â— 114 So the Acts of the Parliament of the 21th of Rich. 2. and all the proceedings therein were totally repealed and nulled by the first Parliament of King Henry the Fourth because the Lords who adhered to the King were summoned by him to the Parliament and some of the opposite party imprisoned impeached and unsummoned Pryns plea for Lords Stat. 24. When King Charles the First sitting the Parliament confined but one Member the Earl of Arundel the whole House of Lords Remonstrated and petitioned the King to take off the restraint and to admit him to sit and serve the King and Common-wealth in the great Affairs of that Parliament So the Lord Digby Earl of Bristol being not summoned the Lords ordered his Admission to Sit as his Birth-right 4 Justit p. 2. from which he might not be debarred for want of summons which ought to have been sent him ex debito Justitiae as Sir Edward Coke affirms Pryn ut supra p. 145 146. When the same King Charles demanded the Five Members the Two Houses grew exceedingly disquieted at it and would meddle in no other Business but adjourned themselves to Guild-Hall London till the King should give them satisfaction in discovering the Authors of that Counsel The stress of whose Argument in their Messages to the King Nov. 2. 1642 was That by that means under false pretences of Crimes and Accusations such and so many Members of both or either House of Parliament may be taken at any time by any person to serve a turn and to make a Major part of whereby the freedom of Parliament would be destroyed which they say dependeth in a great part on this priviledge because without it the whole Body of Parliaments may be dissolved by depriving them of their Members by degrees some at one time and others at another Plea for Lords p. 414. The same mischiefs which they urged might happen to the Being and Constitution of Parliaments by the Kings depriving the House of five Members may happen upon the Houses excluding their Members by Vote against which Mr. Prynn makes so great an Out-cry and from this unparallell'd president except in the long Parliament of expelling Members for their opinion in Religion Some Reflections upon the whole All Lovers of the so excellently composed Constitution of the Two Houses may do well to consider what an Inlet it will make to the Imitation of the likely designing Men when they shall have any Intrigue in hand to expel Members of other Qualifications Qualifications and Recognitions during the Usurpation Surely we ought not to forget how much it prolong'd our miserable slavery under the Usurpers when no Members how duly soever chosen by the Freeholders were admitted to sit unless they were so and so qualified and made a Recognition to own the Usurped Government and to Act nothing contrary to the Model of it I think it no great Commendation in us to be in Love with such a Copy of the same tho drawn in Oyl-Colours and made more lasting and obliging by the Legality of it When Queen Elizabeth was in greatest danger from Roman Catholics even while her Rival lived she could not be induced to deprive the Roman Catholic Lords of their places in Parliament The ill consequences of Secluding the Bishops I think we ought to remember what dismal effects followed the Seclusion of the Bishops out of the House of Lords and that upon the Kings Restauration none appeared more forward and zealous to have them brought into the House of Lords again than the Roman Catholic Peers did which Action none I think will interpret to have proceeded from their Love to their Religion but solely to the tender regard they had to Justice and the true Constitution of Parliaments and if the Bishops and Protestant Lords had thought fit to have been as careful of the Birth-rights of those few Catholic Lords that were Members of their House in all probability our Religion had been in as little danger by their stay as it hath been better'd by their expulsion for they neither were then or are like to be so numerous in that House as to carry any Vote to overthrow or weaken the Exercise of the Protestant Religion What sort of Acts of Parliament least dureable It must be owned that Acts of Parliament are to be looked upon as Laws the Subjects ought to yield all Obedience to But it is likewise to be considered that such Temporary Acts which upon Emergencies and to serve a juncture have altered any Ancient or Fundamental Constitution of the Government robbed the King of any useful Prerogative or the Subjects of their Birth-rights as likewise all such as by Revolution of Time have the Causes for which they were made ceasing have been rarely found conducible to Publick Good or of any long continuance It is true our present Sovereign was personally excepted from the severity of these Acts but it is well known that some great Members of the Houses designed to have him presented by the Grand-Jury as a Recusant in order to his Conviction as a Roman Catholic and the Judges for discharging the Jury too soon as the designers alledged whereby an Indictment could not be brought in were severely censured by the House of Commons This was not all for the hottest Zealots were for proceeding upon the Statute against being Converted or Reconciled to the Church of Rome upon
the Church for the Common-weal and for the remedy disburthening and ease of them that be grieved yet this should not be prejudicial to him or to his Crown but that the Right which to him appertaineth should be saved Which Sir Edward Coke calls the Kings Right of his Crown and Prerogative It is declared by the Lords and Commons in full h Reâ—l Parliament 43 Ed. 3. No. 7. Parliament upon demand by the King That they would not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the disinhereson of the King and the Crown whereto they were sworn This makes the Chief i 4 Iuctiâ— 51. Justice censure as a great fault the omission in the printed Statute of 2 R. 2. in confirmation of Liberties these Words Saving to the King his Regality which are found in the Parliament k Roll. Parlam 2 R. 2. Stat. 2. cap. 4. Roll. A Lawyer l Davis Reports 86. of no small esteem saith The Commons of England have ever been exemplary for the tenderness of the Kings Honour and the maintenance of the Sovereignty But this was before they medled so much with Articles of Religion So in latter times 3º Car. 1. both Houses declared upon passing the Petition of Right that they have neither intention nor power to hurt the Kings Prerogatives Thus far as to the regard our Ancestors have had to the Royal Prerogative Now I shall in a few particulars shew the resolutions of the Judges in such Cases when Acts of Parliament have intrenched upon them In the 13th of m 4 Institu 42. How the Judges have resolved upon Acts of Parliament that Insringe the Preregative Richard the Second Stat. 2. cap. 1. it was enacted That no Charter of Pardon unless so and so qualified should be from thenceforth allowed by the Justices for Murther Treason or Rape and if it were otherwise the Charter to be disallowed Yet my Lord Coke saith This did not bind the King the granting of Pardon being the Kings Prerogative incident solely and inseperably to the Person of the King. The same Richard the Second bequeathed n Ibid. certain Treasuries to his Successor on condition to observe the Acts made the 21 Reg. This was held unjust and unlawful for that it restrained the Sovereign Liberty of the King his Successor And the same Reason saith a judicious o Majestas Intemorata Lawyer may serve to overthrow a Statute which shall unjustly and unlawfully restrain the same Sovereign Nor had saith he this bequest been of more strength had it been enacted by Parliament Injustice being Injustice and Vnlawfulness Vnlawfulness every where It was p Cokes Report 12. p. 14. enacted 23 H. 6. That no man should serve the King as Sheriff in any County above one year but the Grant should be void the person accepting it pay two hundred pound and it was expresly provided that the King by a non obstante should not dispence with it Yet it was agreed 2 H. 7. against the express provision of that Act That the King may by a special non obstante dispence with the Act because no Act could debar the King from the service of his Subjects which the Law of Nature did give unto him In the 37 H. 6. it was q Ibid. p. 18. enacted That none should be Justice of Assize c. in the County where he was born or did inhabit Yet saith the same judicious Lawyer the King with a special non obstante may dispence with it and gives the reason for that it belongs to the inseperable Prerogative of the King viz. his power to command to serve The same r Ibid. p. 18. Lord Chief Justice in the same report is more express and as full as if he had foreseen this present Case of ours where he affirms That no Act can bind the King from any Prerogative which is sole and inseperable to his person but that he may dispence with it by a non obstante and instanceth in the Sovereign Power to command any of his Subjects to serve him for the Public Weal For this saith he is solely and inseperably annexed to his Person and this Royal Power cannot be restrained continues he neither in Thesi nor Hypothesi but that the King by his Royal Prerogative may dispence with it For all which he gives this most unanswerable reason because upon the Commandment of the King and Obedience of the Subject doth the Government subsist I might add very many more Authorities as Edw. the Thirds repealing an Act of Parliament by Proclamation as consented to upon necessity But I shall leave that to those whose Province it is and close this Head with one Observation We are all commendably and justly tender of the preserving the Liberties and Enfranchisments we enjoy by the gracious Condescentions of our Princes and are vigorous maintainers of our Properties and ought we not to own that there is as good reason that the Kings of England should be as solicitous to preserve their Prerogatives which are their right For as a most judicious Å¿ Quicquid in Regalibus est Ita est Principibus privatum ut Subditis quod suum est Selden prefat Mare Clausum Antiquary and Lawyer expresseth Whatsoever belongs to the Kings Royalty he hath as much Propriety in it as the Subject hath in any thing that is his We must likewise consider that the King is as much sworn to preserve the Right of his Crown as the Liberties of the People Therefore we find that branch in t Majestatis Intemerata some Coronation Oaths that the King swears he shall keep all the Lands Honours and Dignities of the Crown righteous and free in all manner whole without any manner of minishment And the rights of the Crown hurt decay or lost to his power shall call again into the Ancient Estate Therefore my Lord u 12 Rep. 18 Coke praiseth King Henry the Second in that he was a great Defender and Maintainer of the Rights of the Crown Inferences from the premises Having dispatched these Heads I now come to the application of them to the Test which as the Case now is and ever will be so long as it stands unrepealed deprives the King of the Allegiance of such of his Subjects as either Conscientiously or Designedly refuse the taking of the Oaths and affirming the Declaration enjoyned The Inconveniency of which is double First In robbing the King of so necessary and fundamental a Right over his Subjects in commanding them to serve him in Offices Military and Civil without which he is but a very Impotent Sovereign and cannot exert that necessary Justice of Protecting Rewarding and Imploying his Subjects which surely is not only much to the dishonour of the Sovereign but an unsufferable restraint And if w 31 Eliz. c. 4. Imbezelling Purloyning and Conveying away the Arms Ordnance Munition Shot Powder Habiliments of War c. is declared Fellony what sort of Crime
HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE Church of ENGLAND Ought to behave themselves under A ROMAN CATHOLIC KING With reference to the TEST and PENAL LAWS In a Letter to a Friend by a Member of the same Church LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687. THE TITLES OF THE SECTIONS SECT I. THe Character of an old Loyalist of the Church of England Page 1. SECT II. How such behaved themselves during the Transaction of the Bill of Seclusion Page 4. SECT III. How the Bishops and Clergy behaved themselves in those times Page 14. SECT IV. The Calumnies against the Loyal Members of the Church of England in the foregoing times Page 18. SECT V. The Affrightments and Arts now used to make Subjects believe that the Protestant Religion is to be extirpated here Page 22. SECT VI. That the Church of England hath been in a disturbed condition under Protestant Princes Page 27. SECT VII That it is in a more flourishing condition now Page 33. SECT VIII The self-denial of the King in the Exercise of his own Religion Page 36. SECT IX The difficulty of effecting a change of Religion Page 40. SECT X. Two Objections answered Page 56. SECT XI That the Kings dispensing with the Test is no Argument of his design to Extirpate the Protestant Religion Page 62. SECT XII That it is not the Kings Interest to extirpate the Protestant Religion Page 72. SECT XIII Concerning the Test Page 78. SECT XIV Concerning Sanguinary and Penal Laws against Roman Catholics Page 143. SECT XV. The Inconveniencies that will attend the not Repealing of Penal Laws and particularly the Test Page 165. SECT XVI The Practicableness of Roman Catholics and Protestants living under one Secular Government Page 180. SECT XVII The Character of his Majesty Page 191. SECT XVIII The Conclusion Page 205. ERRATA PAge 15. Line 7. for assured read afraid P. 22. the last line but one for These r. There P. 31. l. 17. for confirmed too r. conformed to P. 40. The Title of the Section should have ended at the word Religion and the rest be placed in the Margent P. 79. l. ult for it r. them P. 94. l. 7. for naturally r. natural P. 113. l. 12. for But r. yet P. 117. l. 1. after we put in may P. 178. l. 7. for preached r. practised P. 182. l. 3. for attemps r. attempts P. 183. l. 11. for Budifir r. Budifin P. 185. l. 7. for Abby r. Abbot HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE Church of England Ought to behave themselves under A ROMAN CATHOLICK KING In a Letter to a Friend SECT I. The Character of an old Loyalist of the Church of England SIR SINCE our first acquaintance we have seen the Revolution of almost fifty years In all which time your unshaken Loyalty and steady Adherence to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England have been most conspicuous You equally hated the Flatterer who by stretching the Length of the Scepter made it unweildy and the Factious who by continual filing made it too slender and of no more force than a Reed or so shortned it that from a Sovereign Battoon it scarce equalled a Serjeants Mace. You valued him most who paid a just Deference to the Regal Prerogative and was infinitely thankful for all the gracious Enfranchisements of the Subject You knew too well the Injustice and Illegality of taking Arms against King Charles the First setled your Judgment so firmly then that none of the Designers Arts to cajole the Multitude made any impression on you And however great your Sufferings were then and thereby by your Disability to aid the Banished Prince yet you were as forward as any to assist him in all things serviceable to his Interest not only in confirming your Neighbours and Acquaintance in their Allegiance when their Enemies success made them dispond but in making Converts of those who had been deluded by the specious pretence of Liberty and Reformation So that you helped much to prepare Mens minds earnestly to wish and effectually to promote the late Merciful King's Restauration and when in his later time he was so Embarrassed with some of his Parliaments you were an eminent Abhorrer and as strenuous an Opposer of the Bill of Seclusion and though you were branded with the name of Papist in Masquerade and a Janizary for Arbitrary Power yet you kept your Post and assured those that conversed with you that Loyalty which you had been taught in the Church of England was so firm a Basis to you that the attacks of Slander and Obloquy should never remove you one hair's breadth from your Duty It was the very Polar Star to which you directed all your Actions without trepidation the Axis on which you designed to move SECT II. How such behaved themselves during the Transaction of the Bill of Seclusion GIVE me leave to remind you of some of those Answers you used to make to those Speeches were sent you from one of the Clerks of the Commons House when the debate was hottest about the Bill of Seclusion for it was at that critical Time the truest Sons of the English Church were discriminated from the Latitudinarian Protestants Non-Conformists and Common-wealth's Men. S. W. J. Collection of Speeches When that overgrown Lawyer said He took it for granted that it was impossible that a Papist should come to the Possession and quiet enjoyment of the Crown without wading through a Sea of Blood and without occasioning such a War as for ought he knew might shake the Monarchical Government You then reply'd This was more like the Bellowing of a Bull than a Responce from an Oracle of the Laws and that who ever lived to see the Duke Succeed as in course of Nature it was likely would find the True Sons of the Church of England so far from listing up an hand against him that if his Right were opposed they would with as much Zeal and Concern as any fight under his Royal Standard and if any such Bouteseu's as he raised a Rebellion they would only afford Trophies to his Victorious Sword and fall as Sacrifices to the Justice of his Cause When that bitter mans Speech was urged That a Popish Head on a Protestant Body would be such a Monster in Nature as would neither be fit to preserve or be preserved and it as naturally followed as the Night did Day that the Head would Change the Body or the Body the Head You answered That we ought to consider the Royal Headship abstractedly from the Subject-Body as we do the sublimed Animal and vital Spirits from the gross Blood and the grosser composition of the Body The Sovereignty being as a Presiding Coelestial Power fitted to govern Members of various Temperaments and Constitutions and that it was as easie to conceive how a Popish King might benignly govern his Protestant Subjects as it was for a Father to govern with Paternal Care and Indulgence his Children of different Humors and Inclinations and
he had a great Veneration yet he could not but observe however since the Presbiterian Plot they preached up the danger of Phanaticks to be more than of Papists and that to disinherit the Duke was against the Law of God Which said oppinions said he If they should be Imbibed by the People what would the Associating Bill signifie or any other Law against Popery J. B. Another said That People were come to know that the Clergy may be good Divines but not so good Politicians And that the Clergy-men might be in a possibility of being advanced by Popery if they submitted but the Laity under a probability of loosing all notwithstanding all Submission And added That he doubted not but that many of the Beshops and Clergy would as soon die for the Protestant Religion as any Person in the Nation but he was jealous there was some over-ruling Power yet amongst them something answerable to that of a Popish Successor This Gentleman seemed kinder than the rest in that he charged them mostly with want of foresight and inadvertency that some Leading Men of their Order were decoying them to overlook their Interest But surely in this they Acted like good Politicians as well as Divines in that thereby they saved a great effusion of Blood which necessarily must have followed such an unjust Bill And I hope they will retain the same Integrity and Wisdom with a good Conscience as to afford no occasion to their Enemies to censure their defect of Religion or Policy or allay the King-Affection and Grace to them for that Service then done to him SECT IV. The Calumnies against the Loyal Members of the Church of England in the foregoing times I Think it not unfeasonable here to refresh your Memory with a Summary of the Calumnies laid upon the Loyal Members of the Church of England in the Reign of the two late Kings of Glorious Memory In King Charles the First 's Reign the People being wrought upon to repine at some ways of levying Money not usual and some Rules of Uniformity either disused or not so Universally practised before chose in most places such Members of Parliament as they thought would be most ready to redress those Grievances who no sooner were met but the Designers amongst them set the People upon petitioning against Innovations Then the Bishops and most of the dignified Clergy were accused of an intention to bring in Popery and to make some approaches to a Conformity to the Church of Rome Every where hideous Crys were heard of the apprehensions of the Inundation and Inflowing of Popery when the thousandth Man scarce knew what it was or who were the Preservers of the Banks which most powerfully kept it out and having got Power by those Suggestions and gained an Aversion in so many against them before they had over powered the Monarchy voted down and in the effectualest way they could totally overthrew the English Hierarchy And all that asserted the Government then exercised in Church and State were branded as Betrayers of the Subjects Birthright Priviledges and Liberties and Favourers of Popery and Arbitrary Government Which Epithets they never failed to interweave and on whomsoever they fastned such of their Petars they were sure to have their Reputation blasted and all their subsequent Actions rendred odious to the Commonalty who the soonest of any Mortals are blear-cy'd and distorted with the suspitious squint In the late Kings time all Loyal Men who profest most strict conformity to the Church of England and were not for the Bill of Seclusion or Comprehension were stigmatiz'd with the names of Papists in Masquerade How efficacious these Calumnies were to Arm so great a part of the Subjects against the blessed Martyr of his People and bring him to that tragical end is too fresh in our Memories to need a recital And when we found the powerfulness of those Fictions and Imaginary Goblins in both Kings Reigns to endanger the Subversion of the Monarchy and Episcopacy Have we not reason to believe that there are a great number of Republican Spirits yet at work who subtily mingle themselves with all Male-Contents and dissatisfied Parties and by their sly insinuations inflame every small Scratch and rancle it into a venomous Boil by their pestilent and contagious Breath Those are continually raking into the Ashes of every of these by-past Designs keeping some Brands always in the Embers ready upon every light occasion to be blown into a Flame Can we believe those to be now at rest and quiet to have hushed or mortified their eager Concupiscence of advancing the Good Old Cause No no let us not believe the Fox hath forgot his Shifts and Wiles or the Crocodile his Tears or the Asp his venemous Bite Let us fear the gilded Snake in the Grass yea rather lurking in every Thicket where repining murmurs sears jealousie or discontent can lodge SECT V. The Affrightments and Arts now used to make the Subjects believe that the Protestant Religion is to be extirpated here THese are a set of Men who by their whispering dissatisfaction and suspitions of the danger of the Protestant Religion are but fitting their Mouths and preparing their Lungs to blow the Bag-pipe of Sedition And when they have allured the Crowd will endeavour to decoy them into the same Designs with themselves and excite us to follow the Methods they used in our Fathers days That new Japan doth much resemble the old Varnish only they have found out new Exotick affrighting Figures And whereas before the Emblem of Venient Romani was placed at so great a distance from the Sight that it was but faintly delineated as in a remote Prospect Now they think they may be bold to place it in a nearer Light and hope to allure the Tender-sighted and well Affected to the Church of England to believe the reality of the Representation which is no other but that the Roman Altars are to be placed where Communion Tables now stand That the great Fabrick of St. Pauls is to have a Cupula with the Sword of that Saint and the Keys of St. Peter upon it That our Common Prayer is to he changed for a Mass-Book And in fine that the Protestant Religion is designed to be extirpated The Plausible Inducements they pretend to have to believe this are the Liberty the King grants to all his Catholic Subjects to Exercise their Religious Worship the suspending the execution of all the penal Laws against them and the placing of Catholics contrary to the Provision made by Act of Parliament to exclude them These Proceedings of the King they would make us believe are manifest Demonstrations of his intentions to recede from his Royal Promise of protecting the Church of England and consequently that it will crumble to nothing by his withdrawing it This they endeavour to infer by the consideration of the influence the Pope and the Catholick Fathers may have upon his Majesty who will be continually instilling into his Royal Mind how
glorious an Enterprise it will be rowsing his slow and unresolved Thoughts with the Consideration what a perpetual renown it ever will be to King Henry the VII that he united the Houses of York and Lancaster and how glorious the memory of King James the I. ever must be who united the Kingdoms And how transcendent a Jubile it would cause over all the Roman World That his Grandson should reunite his Subjects to the Roman Catholick Church which will be so irresistable a Charm they say that it cannot be in his power to escape the Enchantment Nor could he want the Charity to wish it or neglect the essaying all means to effect it being prepossessed with a firm Perswasion that the undertaking of it would be an acceptable Service to God Almighty It is not my design to write any thing that may lessen the esteem and due regard Men have for the Church of England of which I own my self an unworty Member Neither shall I meddle with any Points in controversie but only offer my Reasons why I cannot conceive by the Proceedings of the King hitherto nor the consequences flowing from those steps he makes That the Protestant Religion is either in danger or designed to be rooted out or so eclipsed as we are invited to believe SECT VI. That the Church of England hath been in a disturbed condition under Protestant Princes BEfore I consider the present State of the Church of England which I think in many respects is as flourishing as it hath been since the Reformation I must shew its former condition During the Reign of Q. Elizabeth and the three succeeding Kings it hath been continually disquieted with Dissenters Fanaticks and other Sects who never gave over their Clamours for a more refined Reformation from Rome Every Year almost producing some bitter Invective or other grudging murmuring and calumniating the English Hierarchy to the great disquiet of the Secular Government Hence the necessity of severe Laws against Non-conformists ever and anon being made or reinforced Those that lived in the beginning of the late Wars cannot forget what Tumults were in some places about placing the Communion Table Altar-wise How many were scandalized at the Bishop's dignifyed Clergy and Priests Habit at the kneeling at the Sacrament at the use of the Cross in Baptism about bowing to the Altar and the Name of Jesus And tho' in Cathedrals a Solemn Order was observed yet it was much murmured at and was branded both in the manner of the Celebration of Divine Offices and the use of the Choristers and Organs with the name of down-right Popery and Superstition Who hath a mind to know the particulars of the disquieting of the Church of England by her Protestant Adversaries may peruse Bishop Bancroft's Dangerous Positions and Dr. Heylin's History of Presbyterianism Mr. Fowlis History of the Plots Conspiracies c. and such as relate the Church History of those times and they will find sufficient to convince them what Jars Conflicts Heart-burnings and Disquiets were amongst Protestants How the Clergy and the Liturgy were despised which grew every Year worse and worse till it was judged requisite by a strict execution of the Laws to master the Nonconformists and bend or break them to a complyance or silence But the success answered not the design for on the contrary the peoples minds grew strongly alienated from the Discipline of the Church and as soon as they had chosen a House of Commons to their mind the use of the Common Prayer Book Surplices and Habits of the Clergy and all things in use formerly and established by Law were voted down and the Souldiery and Rabble were encouraged to tear the Service-Book and Surplices to transplace the Communion-Table level the Steps pull up Fonts break down all the painted Glass-Windows especially where any representation of our Saviour or any Saints or Bishops or other in Religious Habits were The Copes Vestments and Chalices were all swept out of the Church by Order of Committies or the Rapine of Parishioners or Soldiers The Monuments and monumental Inscriptions were most of them defaced especially where a Religious Habit was represented an Ora pro Animâ annexed or the worth of the Brass tempted the Sacriledge none of the zealous Observers of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church were permitted to enjoy any Benefice or teach a School Bishops and Deans and Chapters Lands were sold and they were about resolving which of the Cathedrals should be demolished So that in conclusion there was no publick appearance of the Discipline of the Church of England tho' all the Pulpits were supplyed with Preachers who conformed to their new Directory and new Ordination by Presbyters This might indeed be called a Protestant Church but I am sure it was very different from the Church of England as established by Law which was so far from then being a flourishing Church that it had neither Vola nor Vestigium of one but such as was under as dismal a Persecution as a Church well could be It is true after the late King of immortal memory's Restauration It was restored again to a competency of Power and Order Yet the Dissenters Meeting-places were as much frequented as the Churches Everywhere Non-conformable Ministers had their Conventicles till a new Act of Uniformity was made yet the number of Dissenters then were so many that the King who loved ease and to have his Subjects minds composed that he might more freely have the Service of their Bodies and Purses was willing to grant them Indulgence till that was disliked by the Parliament and the Bishops and zealous Members of the Church of England whereby the King was prevailed with to revoke it Thus was the Church of England harrassed under Protestant Princes SECT VII That it is in a more flourishing condition now LET us now take a view of its present State and make a just paralel and we shall I think find it in no worse but in a better state than before Now our Clergy-men go publickly in their decent Habits are reverenced and respected no affronts put upon them All the Ceremonies appointed by the Canons and Rubricks are more exactly observed and more universally confirmed too than in any Age before we hear little of their Conventicles the greater number of former Dissenters flocking to our Churches conforming in all things answering to the Responses standing up at the Creed bowing at the Name of Jesus kneeling at the Prayers and with great attention and zeal hearing the learned Sermons delivered almost from every Pulpit the Ministers redoubling their pains in emulation to the Catholick Fathers that they may retain their Flocks firm to the Protestant Religion and we may judge by the crowding of the Churches That for one Dissenter that was won to the Church of England in the late Kings Reign there are now ten which is one of the Miracles the King has done to unite these at so great odds formerly So that to me it is a
of Rome by any of these or any other method of more force the act being personal seeing every Mans Salvation toucheth himself most why should any so much be concerned about it seeing it is their own voluntary act and no injury is done to the willing yielder and it would be a strange obstinacy in any not to yield to conviction Having shewn the groundlesness of those peoples fears that dread the overthrow of the Church of England by any of the three forementioned ways I come now to the last that is Force It was a Master-piece in the Seclusionists 4 That it is morally impossible to effect it by force to represent Popery and Slavery as Twin-Monsters and inseparable Fiends which they described in the most terrible shape with Jaws of Lions Talons of Vultures and Harpyes Eyes of Basilisks and fierceness of Tygers surrounding them with Fire and Brimstone horrible Flame and the equipage of Chains Racks and Wheels and all the Torments of the Ten Persecutions or what ever else inventive Mischief hath since found out Yet we now live to see them all but terrible Bugbears and the Affrightments of Hypocondriac Dreams By a natural instinct we English of what perswasion soever are very careful to preserve our properties which in all times have been dear to us and those most antient Laws that secure them were made before the name of Protestant was known in the World. We must also consider that with what ever daring courage religious zeal may inspire Men yet common policy and interest will certainly discourage all Catholics from attempting any change of Religion by force and enslaving lest they or their posterity in the next Age might undergo a Retaliation as heavy upon them when it would be more easie to extirpate the whole Roman Religion here than now it would be to change that of one City When therefore the founding of Religion will be the ruine of Estates and the Story of Perrillus's Bull is not worn out of Mens Memories or Men are like to be the Sacrifices upon the Altars they too precipitately raise we are not to expect such venterous Heroes as will have the hardiness of Sampson especially since if they had they would want the Power and force to effect it SECT X. Two Objections answered I Know it is urged That we had a sad Experiment of the change made by a standing Army here which was able to overthrow the Monarchy And the French Kings late proceedings against the Hugonots prove That by force great alterations otherwise looked upon as next to impossible may be effected But the Cases are very different from ours 1 That the case of the Usurpers over throwing the monarchy and episcopacy is very different from ours for in our late Civil Wars the people were only wrought up to the height of power to dispose of the fate of Monarchy by the belief the Designers impressed upon them That Popery and arbitrary Government were making great approaches and fully designed to be introduced by the King and Bishops And a Parliament was by a fatal oversight perpetuated which was of the same perswasion and had the Hearts Purses and Heads of infinite multitudes to assist them in the work of Reformation in the Church and redressing of Grievances as they were called in the State Which being such specious pretensions and having a Parliament to patronize it and the Scotch Nation to abett them it was the less to be wondred at that such a Revolution was made especially when we consider the Churches alteration was nothing so great as it would be betwixt the exchange of Protestant Episcopacy for R. Catholic Hierarchy and the Popes Supremacy which is here so much antiquated Then the Doctrine of the Church was little altered except in that they rejected the Order of Bishops for the Service being in the known Language without any Ceremonies only consisting of Prayers reading of Scriptures Preaching and Administring the Sacraments according to the use of Scotland Geneva Holland and the Hugonots of France the transition was more easie after the Army was victorious Yet we have seen how short liv'd even that Usurpation was In our present case a Religion is to be brought in against the most earnest endeavours the firmest perswasions and Resolutions and the utmost detestation and abhorrence of the people So that while we see only a mixture of Catholic Officers with a far greater number of Protestants and a Body almost intire of Protestant Soldiers We may as well have credited That Oliver Cromwel's Army could have pulled the Pope out of his Palace and introduced Protestantism in all Catholic Countries as I have heard some of the Officers and Chaplains of that Army confidently enough hope as that we can expect an extirpation of our Religion here by so small a number of R. Catholics as are in the Court Camp or Country As to the instance of the French Kings proceeding 2 That the proceedings of the French King ought nor to affright us surely they that urge it never give themselves liberty to reflect upon the discrepancy of the case In France the King and the whole Body of his Kingdom are R. Catholics and the Religion is established by Law and it is easie to obtain further Laws for the support of it and the destroying of all others by a King so victorious and reverenced since how numerous soever Protestants were there yet comparatively to the Catholics they were very inconsiderable If indeed the King of France were an Hugonot and with the assistance of his Protestant Subjects had been able to have brought all Catholics to his Religion then there might have been some ground for such an instance If the advancers of this affrightment would have been so candid as to have subjoyned how our gracious King hath granted not only the French Exiles a safe retreat into his Kingdom but hath likewise promised them a Protection in the exercise of Religion conformable to the practice of the Church of England And to all such hath granted his Gragracious Letters Patents for the collecting the Charity of his Subjects for their Relief which is accordingly with a superlative Liberality afforded them They would rather have made it as an Argument of the Kings inviolable observing his Gracious promise in protecting the Church of England than have produced it as an incitement to our fears of the contrary But these kind of men know how to boil up Sugar to the bitterness of Aloes and extract Poison out of Cordials SECT XI That the King 's dispensing with the Test is no Argument of his Design to extirpate the Protestant Religion I Know it is urged that if his Majesty did not design some alteration in Religion what need is there of his so great solicitude and earnest endeavours for the taking away of the Test and how comes it to pass that the Law against it is dispensed with and so many Catholics are Commissioned in the Army and may be in
shall receive any Sallary Fee or Wages by reason of any Patent or Grant from his Majesty or shall have command or place of Trust from and under his Majesty or from any of his Majesties Predecessors or by His or Their Authority or by Authority derived from Him or them within the Realm c. or in his Majesties Navy I slands c or shall be of the Houshold or in the Service or Imployment of his Majesty or of his Royal Highness the Duke of York c. shall personally in the Court of Chancery or Kings-Bench take the several Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the usage of the Church of England and the like for all Officers to be admitted to any Office for the future within a time limitted The Neglecters or Refusers to be adjudged incapable of any other Office or to Sue use any Action Bill Plaint or Information in Courts of Law or prosecute any Suit in any Court of Equity or to be a Guardian to any Child or Executor or Administrator of any Person or be capable of any Legacy or Deed of Gist or to have any Office and shall forfeit 500 l. The persons obliged to take the Oaths shall at the same time make and subscribe the Declaration following under the same penalties and forfeitures as by the Act appointed The Declaration is in these words I A. B. do declare that I do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever There is a Provision that this Act shall not hurt or prejudice the Peerage of any Peer of this Realm either in time of Parliament or otherwise But this was in the next Act fully vacated The Second Act. 30. Car. 2. The second Act is Intiuled An Act for the more effectual preserving the Kings Person and Government by disabling Papists from sitting in either House and the Preamble adds That for as much as divers good Laws have been made for preventing the increase and danger of Popery in this Kingdom which have not had the desired effect by reason of the Liberty which of late some of the Recusants have had and taken to sit and vote in Parliament Therefore it was Enacted That no Peers of the Realm and Members of the House of Peers should Vote or make their Proxy in the House of Peers nor any sit there during any debate in the said House Nor should any Members of the House of Commons Vote or sit there during any debate after the Speaker was chosen until they respectively take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and make and subscribe and audibly repeat the Declaration following I A. B. Do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God Profess Testifie and Declare That I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now used in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous Likewise no Peer of England Scotland or Ireland being twenty years old nor any Convict Recusant that takes not the same Oaths and make and subscribes the Declaration may advisedly come into or remain in the presence of the King or Queens Majesty or come into the Court or House where They or any of Them reside Every Peer or Member thus offending shall be deemed and judged a Popish Recusant and suffer as such be disabled to hold or execute any Office or place of Profit or Trust Civil or Military in any of His Majesties Dominions c and shall not Sit or Vote in either House or make a proxy in the house of Peers or have any benefit of the Law as in the foregoing Act and shall forfeit 500 l. Also every sworn Servant of the King not having performed all things in the former Act required shall do what this Act enjoyns or shall be disabled to hold any place as sworn Servant to the King and suffer all the Pains and Penalties aforesaid The Proviso's are That Nine of the Queens Men-servants natural born-subjects of Portugal and as many Women-servants such as shall be nominated by the Queen under her Hand and Seal are exempt from the taking these Oaths c. Secondly That none be restrained from coming or residing in the King or Queens presence c. that shall first obtain warrant so to do under the Hands and Seals of six or more Privy Councillors by order from his Majesties Privy Council upon some urgent occasion therein to be expressed so that such Licence exceed not the space of ten days at one time nor thirty days in one year and such Licence to be recorded in the Petty-bag-Office Lastly That nothing in this Act shall extend to his Royal Highness the Duke of YORK Some Reflectione upon these Acts. Whoever peruseth these Acts in the circumstance we now are in will easily I think yield that whatever temporary uses there could be formerly of them yet they could never be put in practice by a Roman Catholick King or that he could suffer the execution of them as I shall more at large shew in the following Discourse In this place I shall only touch upon some few Heads As The Sererity First Concerning the severity in General upon those who could not renounce the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Invocation or Adoration of Saints these being purely Metaphysical Points of Religion setled by Pecrees of Councils in the Roman Catholic Church oblige those of that Communion to believe them under the penalty of an Anathema yet I think it is not easie to prove that these Doctrines have any Natural Tendency to induce the Believers and Practisers of them either to endanger the Person of the King or the Government which is declared to be the principal end why the Acts were made and as to the increase of Popery these very Doctrines are so far from working upon Protestants that they are the very chief impediments which hinder the people in General from embracing that Religion Therefore it must appear very severe that all persons who by a spiritual obligation cannot renounce these Doctrines and Practices should be obnoxious to those penalties which as convict Papists they are liable to and which however vexatious and chargeable to them redound mostly to the profit of Informers Bayliffs Clerks and such persons as bear no proportion of Merit or Interest in the Government to those suffering Roman Catholic Lords and Gentlemen and by such Payments Fines c. the Kings Revenue is very little encreased The Reasons why made Although some may think some of the branches were then necessary to prevent all Roman Catholics from enjoying publick
employments whereby the Managery of the Government might solely be in the hands of Protestants yet what necessity was there for the outlawing of them in putting them out of the protection of the King and his Laws or of receiving any benefit by them so that they could not recover their just debts defend themselves from any injury done to their Persons or Estates nor have equity done them which is the priviledge all Subjects claim from their Sovereigns Justice As they must suffer all hardships so the Acts provide that no Protestant or other should be beneficial to them being deprived of all the usual ways whereby advantages accrue to any either by the Living or the Dead in that they might not be Guardians Executors Administrators or receive any Legacy or Deed of Gift Whoever considers these things with a sedate and composed mind undisturbed with Bigotry Suspition or Envy must think this punishment intended to keep the Roman Catholics in perpetual poverty and vassallage which no Roman Catholic Prince can take pleasure to see or endure Of the prohibiting Rom. Cathol to be in the Kings Court or Presence As to the prohibiting all Roman Catholics or any other resusers of the Oaths and Declarations advisedly to come into the Kings Presence or Courts there might be some colour for such a prohibition during the time that a Protestant Prince was thought to be in personal danger from Roman Catholics but surely at any other time it appears a strange ungentileness to retrench a Sovereigns attendance and shews a very unbecoming diffidence in the Wisdom of a Prince and his Privy Council as if they knew not whom and when to prohibit Access to their Royal Persons and Court which by direction to the Lord Chamberlain or by Proclamation might be done upon Emergencies It looks like a suspition that the hinderance of the Access of Roman Catholics was rather that they might not represent their sufferings explain their Religion more favourably make Proselytes or interceed for some accused which though not expressed in the Act fully yet may well enough be interpreted from the words preventing the increase of Popery I know there is a provision upon obtaining of licence but that could extend to very few who either could be at the expence or obtain the favour of an Order of Council for that purpose and so all indigent Catholics who for their sufferings for Kings Charles the Martyr might merit the late merciful Kings regard and benignity were utterly excluded Not fit now to continue But if we suppose these Acts as necessary and equitable as the greatest Sticklers for them could evince while the Plot was believed I think no person endowed with common civility will think it fit they should be imposed upon our present Sovereign nor will they think it equitable and just that any Roman Catholic King should deal in the same manner with his Protestant Subjects And I presume the Golden Rule to do to others as we would be done by our selves should influence publick as well as private affairs Concerning the King and Queens sworn Servants As to the Kings sworn Servants It must be very severe upon several of them whose fortunes were bottomed upon it and it was a very unbecoming restraint that a Sovereign should dismiss his Domesticks though never so experienced and faithful for that which it may be few Members of the Houses would discard a Trusty Menial Servant for As to the Queens Servants it had been contrary to the Law of Nations to have imposed such Oaths and Declarations upon such as were naturaly born Subjects of Portugal yet in that they were limited to so small a number as nine whereas her Majesty entertains near thrice the number of Religious it shewed but little consideration of the number of Servants in the Family of so great a Princess But I need not trouble you with the consideration of these as moving in a lower Sphere for what ever will induce the two Houses to reinstate the great Orbs in their places and capacitate them to exert their due Powers will prevail to restore the Satellites of the great Luminaries Therefore I shall now pass to the ejecting the Roman Catholic Lords out of their House and depriving them of their Birth-rights Concerning the Catholic Lords being excluded the House By the Kings Royal Prerogative the Power of Creating a Baron and Peer of the Realm is only in the King as the Original Donor of all Honours from whom all Dignities flow as from a Fountain to all his Subjects Conciliarii nati This Honour consists not only in obtaining a swelling Title and Degree of precedencie as special Marks to them and their Families of Princely Favours but likewise hath for many hundreds of years had annexed to it a right of being a Member of the House of Peers sitting and voting there and thence they are stiled frequently Hereditary Councellors who constitute the Kings Supreme Court of Judicature In the Saxon times and long after the Conquest we find none but Bishops Abbots Priors and these stiled Magnates or Proceres to constitute the General Councils which we now call Parliaments tho it seems by what we can collect from the Ancientest Authors the King summoned which of these he pleased and did not tye himself to continue it to their Posterities Mat. Paris 227. But in the Great Charter of King John we find he granted that he would by special Letters summon to these Great Councils in Assessing all Aids and Scutage the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Earls and great Barons of the Realm Cap. 2.12.19.37.38 So in the Great Charter of Henry the Third those are first provided for and a severe Excommunication was wont to be pronounced by all the Bishops in presence of all the Lords and Commons against the Infringers thereof And it is obvious to all who know any thing of our Laws how Sacred an Esteem the Great Charter hath had being stiled The Charter of the Subjects Liberties and looked upon as the Standard of the Subjects Priviledges so that some are of opinion that even Acts of Parliament contrary to Magna Charta are void Et ut Barones tractentur teneantur reputentur c. eorum quilibet habeat teneat possideat sedem locuus vocem in Parliamentis publicis Comitiis et consillis nostris haeredum successorum nostrorum infra Regnum nostrum Angliae inter alios Barones Barones Parliamentorum publicorum Comitiorum Conciliorum T it 〈◊〉 Part. 2. cap. 5. This Right of Barons sitting and voting in Parliament is specially provided for in their Patents of Creation which may be seen at large in Mr. Selden And as to what relates to our purpose is contained in these Words after the Recital of the Words of Erecting and Creating them and their Heirs-males to the Name State Degree Stile Dignity Title and Honour of a Baron c. That they shall be treated held and
Crown It is a known maxim in Law saith the learned q Coke Report 7 p. 7. ex Stat. 11. H. 7. c. 1. 2 Eliz c. 2 Judge that every Subject is bound to defend the King and to go with the King and to serve in his Wars as well without as within the Realm The Liegeance to the Prince saith a singularly well read r Majestas Intemerata Lawyer is immutable and absolute in all places It obligeth in all ubi's and the liege man ought in duty of this faith to perform to his Lord the Offices of a Subject when ever he shall need his assistance against all who mori possunt aut vivere can die or live This is clear by Law and Reason In the 48 Å¿ Claus 48. H. 3. M. 3. Tam militiâ—e quam liberi homines omnes alii ad defensionem Regis tenentur H. 3. the words of the Law are That the Knights and Free-tenants and all others were obliged to the defence of the King And so 12 E. 3. All and every single person are bound to defend the King. Thence it was that a t 4 Instit 7. In â—â—riâ—â—lo Hestium suorum Parliament judged it High Treason in Nicholas Segrave that he withdrew himself from the Kings Hoste leaving the King in danger of his Enemies The ground of all which is what u Lib. 2. c. 1. Bracton so long since hath noted that to receive Justice and Protection are the greatest benefits of this Life and there can be no use of w Com. 3.5 Rulers without these Attributes for if the Sovereign be abridged x Roll. Eritt 234. of the Prerogative to exact Obedience and Liegiance from his Subjects he hath but a small portion of the Sovereignty indeed his Kingship must be precarious as depending only on the good Nature of his Subjects Thence the Attorney y Pusw Col cer 〈◊〉 552 General in the Argument of Ship-money saith The King as Head of the Politic Body is furnished with intire Power and Jurisdiction not only to minister Justice in Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal unto his People but likewise for defence both of the one and of the other Whence the Clause inserted in the Register Ad providendam Salvationem Regis Bracton z 2 Lib. 1. fol. 6. saith The Life and Members of every Subject are in the Power of the King And a a Pasch 19 E. 1. Rol. 36. North. Record saith Vita membra sunt in manu Regis both which are understood that the King hath sole Power to command their Service in his Wars or otherwise as he hath occasion The Lord Chief b Instit 149. West 2.39 1 R. 3. p. 2. c. 15. Rol. Brit. 85. Justice saith That if any Privy Councellor or other cause one to enter into an obligation to serve the King it is void every man being bound to serve him without it and such Writings are declared dishonourable being every man is bound to defend the King and his Realm and to do the service that appertaineth to him as his Liege Lord. The King c Com. pl. 316. is stiled the Sovereign and Chief Captain of Arms all Power is his no man may use Arms so much as in Turnament Tilt c. without the Kings License The d Rol. Parl. 5 H. 4. N o 24. Statute of Array is full in this tho' not printed This is further illustrated in that if a Sheriff return that he is resisted in serving the Kings Writ it is declared not to be good because it redounds to the Kings dishonour being presumed the King can command every one to obey and the Sheriff hath Authority from him to raise the Posse Commitatus In former Ages the Kings absolute Power in disposing the Militia was never disputed It was the black or bloody Parliament only that assumed to themselves coordinate Power and challenged the Power of ordering the Militia for preserving the Kingdom without and against the Kings consent which occasioned the first Parliament of King Charles the Second to declare in the preamble of the Act e 13 Car. 2. c. 6. 14 Car. 2. c. 3. That it is and ever was the Kings Prerogative alone to dispose of the Militia of the Nation to make War and Peace League and Truce to grant safe Conduct without the Parliament and that he may Issue out Commissions of Lieutenancy impowering them to form into Regiments and imploy them as well within their own as other Countries as the King shall direct Since the taking away Tenures it is true the Method of raising Men hath been something altered but before the imposing of the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and now this Test we find no qualifications of the persons required but that they should be habiles Corporis of able Bodies sit to serve the King and Country And tho this Test doth not totally deprive the King of the service of his Subjects yet it diminisheth his Authority and takes away the corporal Service of a considerable number of his Liege people Thirdly Hew careful our Ancestors have been to preserve the Prerogatives I now pass to the third particular in which I shall in some few instances shew how careful the Houses of Parliament have been in preserving inviolable the Prerogative of the Crown or when by any pressing emergency they have been invaded that the Judges have determined that the Kings of England might by a special non obstante dispence with the penalty of them This Question about the Test being wholly new and such a weakening of the Prerogative as hath not been known in our Ancestors days you cannot expect any clear discission of it in the Books of the Law. All one can do in such a case is only to produce some Maxims Presidents or parallel Cases that may affect it most which without the help of any ones Collections as having never perused any of the Arguments in Sir Edward Hales Case I shall out of my own small reading offer these following to your consideration The Attorney f Rushworth's Collect 578. General affirms That an Act of Parliament doth not extend to take away the Common Right of the Crown and saith That hath been the exposition of the Judges of Acts of Parliament that have done so He instanceth in the Magna Charta of King Johns 17º Regni where it is said That no Scutage or Aid should be without assent of Parliament So that in this there was no exception of an Aid to Knight the Kings Eldest Son or marry his Eldest Daughter yet it was resolved in this case that by that Charter those Aids were not abolished they being due by the Law of the Land and so it was declared 25 E. 1. cap. 1. We find an Antient Statute in King g Westons c. 50. 2 Instit 263. Edward the First 's time wherein the King speaks thus That he bad done this for the Honour of God the Honour of
doubtful whether the Kings dispensing Power will be allowed or not I say if there were no other Reasons the King hath from hence sufficient cause to insist earnestly upon the repealing these Laws and the Test and it is probable almost to a demonstration that if this had been frankly granted it would have satisfied the King and have composed the minds of Roman Catholics who being placed in a condition of safety would have continued that esteem they had for the Church of England ever since the late Civil Wars when they were the only fellow-sufferers SECT XV. The Inconveniencies that will attend the not repealing of Penal Laws and particularly the Test HAving premised this I come to treat of the Inconveniencies the denial of the repeal of these Laws brings with it viz. First That it raiseth in his Majesties Royal Breast a prejudice against our Church and Religion and the effects of the unkindness it may beget appears to me of a much more dangerous consequence than the taking off the sanguinary and penal Laws can produce so that in stead of acting for the preservation of our Religion we expose it to more imminent and apparent danger and inconsiderately run upon the Rock we would avoid since such unaccountable obstinacy hath not only in all probability occasioned the enquiry into the Kings Power in dispensing with the penal Laws the displacing of Ministers of State and Officers in the Army and Commissionating a greater number of Catholics than otherwise would have been admitted the taking Catholic Lords into the Council and granting the Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs but may oblige the King to make still greater Changes amongst his Officers Ministers and Judges than otherwise he intends All those holding their places only during his Royal Pleasure so that without violating any Law he may at one stroke remove most Protestant Officers from the Administration of Affairs of State under him And we know not what Changes and Alterations this wayward and unseasonable stiffness may induce his Majesty to make in the external Government and Polity of the Church by the Power of his Supremacy and Prerogatives And surely the extruding of Protestants from Power and Authority either in Church or State under the King is likely to be a vaster prejudice to our Religion than the repealing the Test can be Let us therefore think how much we are bound even in Christian prudence for the sake of our Religion not to provoke the King to withdraw his Indulgence to us in the Exercise of that Religion which he graciously offers to protect and which Grace we ought not to requite by urging the keeping up those severities against those of his Religion which most Protestants would decline to execute if they could and which we cannot if we would until we first renounce obedience to Gods Command and Submission to our Sovereign by refusing if not overthrowing his Sacred Authority and Power Whereas we are tyed by our Principles and Religion not to resist it being a chief and Essential Position and Doctrine of the Church of England to render Active and when we cannot do that Passive Obedience to our Sovereign and what ever we suffer it will not excuse us from the Guilt and Crime of indamaging and indangering our Religion by this unnecessary giving occasion to it when we might have saved not only our Reputations of being most dutiful Subjects but won so far upon the heart of our Royal Master that it would have been in the power of none to have estranged his Affections from us The Spirit of moderation becometh Christians and Calmness and Discretion becometh Subjects in all dealing with their Sovereign and we may be assured that the greater invitation we give our King by these Virtues the greater assurances we have of his Protection of our Religion and the preservation of the present Peace and Tranquility which we enjoy Let us not therefore by denying what we cannot hinder lose the greatest Blessings and Happinesses we may retain that King and People may live in that happy and good understanding which may continue and Crown the sweetness and easiness of his Royal Government over us and of our Tranquility Prosperity and Happiness under his Shadow The second Inconvenience Secondly Till these Laws be taken off it will continue those most dangerous of Evils that can befal the King and People when there is no good correspondence betwixt the King and the two Houses of Parliament On the Kings part first we may call to mind the miserable times of King John and King Henry the third and those more fresh and never to be forgot under King Charles the First Secondly However prudent and wise a Prince may be yet the watchful envy or designs of some Neighbour Potent Prince or State may necessitate our King to defend his Merchants or Plantations to succour his Allies or to secure his People from Damage or Hostilities whereby he may be forced to have recourse to his Parliament for Aid which while a good correspondence is wanting may render them slow to grant or upon unequal Conditions Thirdly This will give an opportunity to all sorts of Male-Contents and Enemies to the Monarchy to bestir themselves to embroil and ferment the People into some dangerous Defection Sedition or Rebellion On the Peoples side the mischiefs that will befall us by this want of a good understanding betwixt the King and his two Houses will be first that since our King by a mature Age and a great Experience of all affairs relating to Arms and Government is fitted and enabled more than most of his Royal Predecessors to aggrandize himself and give renown to his Subjects by buoying up whatever hath been sunk in the reputation of the World And is able to increase the Traffick of his people and inlarge their Commerce and his Empire and make as great a Figure in the World as any Crowned Head. All the Blessing we and our Neighbours might expect from so qualified a Prince will be utterly lost so that in stead of transporting his Cares Counsels and Arms into foreign parts he shall be necessitated to confine them within the Circle of his own Dominions only to keep them from Sedition or any worse mischief So that the hopeful opportunities which the World knows our King might have to hold again the Ballance of Europe and make us as flourishing a people as ever will be totally lost To the great satisfaction no doubt of some of his Neighbours and the general and irreparable loss to us and our Posterity who with sad reflections may lament the occasion of this dispute Secondly Such a want of good Correspondence betwixt the King and his two Houses will hinder us from obtaining such advantageous Laws for the benefit of the Subjects as this Remora being removed might rationally be expected among which most probably one or more might be a Corroboration of the Kings Gracious Promise of protecting the Church of England and whatever else
the two Houses might find useful for the public good Lastly This Non-correspondence must gratifie and incourage all the Enemies to Monarchy and all those who were for the Bill of Seclusion this Discord being the only pleasing Harmony to them who never hug themselves with so full an Ohe of content and satisfaction as when they find the Crown in any straits or can foment if not conjure up a Spirit of Jealousie betwixt the King and his Parliament and when they have stolen the Peoples Hearts from the King they are upon the Tiptoes of hope that they may strike in for the prize If we have not a feeling sense of the miserable state that Sedition and Rebellion It's most savage Elder Brother will bring us all to let us consult our bloody Annals and our Ancestors deplorable experience and then ponder well whether it be Tanti to move Heaven and Earth harras our Country and embrue it with the blood of so many of our Country-men and nearest Relations and at last fight our selves into a much worse condition than we are ever like to be in by granting this Repeal which in this juncture is most reasonable if not for our Kings sake and the Roman Catholics yet at least for our own peace and tranquility and the establishing our hopes of his Majesties kindness to our Church The last Inconvenience The last Reason I shall urge is that the refusing to Vacate these Acts may necessitate the King to grant a Toleration which of all things the Church of England hath hitherto most dreadded and to which we may believe the King is well enough inclined out of a principle of clemency to his people in general as well as Indulgence to his Catholic Subjects which altho his Royal Brother after an essay at the earnest solicitation of his Parliament was Graciously pleased to recal to gratifie the Church of England yet we cannot expect that our King not having those motives and being courted by so many to grant it and finding the extension of his Supremacy will think it his Interest to revoke it if he once establish it The difference betwixt Roman Catholics and other Dissenters from the Church of England Here it will not be a miss to consider the great difference there is betwixt Roman Catholics and other Dissenters while the Laws are in force The Non-conformists may meet to the number of Five besides the Family and have their Pastor or Teacher with them and the disagreeableness betwixt them and the Church of England is not so great but that those who have Estates or desire to obtain Offices of honour or profit even to do the Crown a disservice as we found in those that were to capacitate themselves to be Sheriffs in the late times could readily Conform Whereas Roman Catholics are in extream peril from the very harbouring their Priests so that in this the Roman Catholics are in a sadder state than any Christians are For to exercise their Religion without Priests for performing the Office of Baptizing Administring the Blessed Sacrament burying the Dead c. Is in that Church and ought to be in all others impossible and to have them for celebrating these and other Divine Offices as the Laws now are renders them obnoxious to the punishments inflicted on Felons and Traytors and there is no possibility of the Roman Catholics as such conforming even so much as in going once a month to Church without putting themselves out of the Communion of their Church which with them is to be avoided more than the utmost sufferings When therefore we consider the Unchristianness of such severe Laws under our circumstances and reflect that tho the greatest part of the disquiets from the Tenth Year at least of Queen Elizabeth have arisen from the pretences of keeping out Popery and the Advantages the Long Parliament had against King Charles the First was from that source and the troubles of our late merciful King were bottomed on the same apprehensions and yet now that we see it 's actually practised we find no such dreadful events but that the Vizard was portraied much more terrible than now when it appears with open face and now when we see the publick exercise of the Roman Catholic Religion we only find it gazed at as a Novelty but no affrightments attending it and we find what we understand in Sermons and Catechizing is Christian and profitable and what we understand not in Ceremonies we see full of Pomp and Magnificence and further we see not I say when we consider all this and that it is in our choice whether we will allow the sanguinary and penal Laws to be abolished with a security in the exercising the Protestant Religion or on the contrary the Inconveniencies before recited and a Tolleration to boot methinks it should be no difficult matter to determine which were more advantagious Having thus shewn some of the disadvantages to Us and our Religion by the refusal of a Repeal I might propose the advantages which will accrue by yielding up those Laws the King hath such an obligation in Honour and Justice at least in his own Royal Apprehension to insist upon but that the removal of the one puts the other in their place SECT XVI The practicableness of Roman Catholics and Protestants living under one Secular Government THerefore I shall chuse rather to shew the practicableness of Roman Catholics and Protestants living in the full enjoyment of their respective Religions under Princes of either Religion And first shall observe that the Church of Rome and the Church of England are the two Churches in Europe at least that are the most conspicuous and of most renown Both plead for the Antiquity of their Doctrine The Roman Catholics are of one Communion and so is the Church of England but Protestantism at large takes in a greater variety of subdivisions and those separate from the Church of England as much as that doth from the Roman Secondly It hath been the endeavour of many learned and pious men to accommodate the points in difference betwixt Roman Catholics and Protestants But by reason of secular interests no expedient could be found to adjust them till at last in Germany from whence our Saxon Ancestors came after about twenty years war wherein the Country was the very Theatre on which the most Tragical Effusion of Blood and the most depopulating waste by Fire and Rapine were acted to the highest degree of humane cruelty and revenge and all this principally upon the account of the difference between Roman Catholies and Protestants upon account of their Religion and being at last throughly wearied with the unsuccessful attempts upon one another in the year 1624. they came to the following settlements which I believe they hitherto reap the fruit of being confirmed Anno 1648. at the Treaty of Munster whereby it was made an Imperial Law. The Duke of Newburgh is a strict Roman Catholic yet in his Country of Juliers even at Deuseldorp
that of his Subjects Were he a Prince less Vigorous and Active in his person which his Princely exercises and temperance contribute so much to were he less experienced in a long Tract of Obervations less knowing of men and of their by-past and present innate and forced dispositions and of a less piercing Judgment and vivacity of Spirit Had he not so many times adventured his Life for the Honour and Safety of these Kingdoms were he a Prince that did not so seriously discountenance prophaneness and vice or gave not such signal tokens of his piety were he a Prince that devolved his Cares on others whereby he might enjoy a pompous and easie life were he not constant to his purposes or were less exemplary in all provident managery or sparing in the expence of Provisions for the Honour and Safety of his Dominions Were he subject to any transport of Passion or easily imposed upon by slie and cunning Achitophels we might suspect his concern for his people and think him negligent or not understanding of his Interest But a Prince endowed with so extraordinary qualifications can never be wanting in the great concern of his Royal Office both in conserving his Dominions in peace and being indulgent to all that unworthily distrust not his Gracious Intentions and make not false constructions comments and glosses upon them and by an unworthy waywardness court cloudy weather or storms when they might enjoy sun-shine and a clear sky SECT XVIII The Conclusion TO draw now towards a Conclusion I shall only offer you some considerations which I desire you will seriously think upon First you cannot but have observed that there are a set of men who although they be at as great a distance from knowing his Majesties Resolves as they are from the Moon yet will pretend to have Telescopes in Politicks whereby they can discover all the Hills and Valleys Seas and Rolling Sands the Precipices and Plains the Desarts and Fertil Champaigns of our little world and by engraffing Microscopes upon them can magnifie to what prodigious bulk they please Molehills and the minutest Insects Yea they pretend to discover the secret Springs and Movements of all Counsels and that which is their greatest dexterity by a Charm they have they can make every one they get to use these to believe the reality of what they represent These men considering the Kings Personal Resolution Courage and Conduct and the Noble Designs he declared at his first entrance on his Government that by the blessing of God he would adventure his person as far as any man in his Dominions for the good of his people and endeavour to raise the renown and repute of his people as high as any of his Predecessors and withall considering the success that had attended all his undertakings knew that they could no ways foreslow the progress of his affairs but by depriving him of the Cordial Affections of his Protestant Subjects Therefore finding that his Majesty would be bound in Honour and Justice to shew favour to Catholicks in imploying them and endeavouring a repeal of penal Laws and knowing how much it would stand them in hand to lay hold of this opportunity fell presently to sigh out their extream fears that the Church of England was to be trod under foot if not totally extirpated They knew full well that as a Nipping Frost suddenly dispoyleth fresh Flowers of their richest paint and beauty and makes their erectest leaves soften and flag and singes the tallest Oaks as well as the lower Thickets and Copices even so from this chilling apprehension the briskest and most active Loyalty of some would be palsied benummed or cramped a Cloudy Jealousie would seize others and it would slacken the sails and becalm and make those Vessels Hull and float in a dead Sea that had formerly made so fair a progress towards the Port of Loyalty They knew likewise that if they could get the Kings desires opposed in Parliament it would effectually hinder the former good Correspondence had been betwixt the King and them and so it was their Interests like cunning Ambo-dexters to animate and incourage the Kings Zeal for it and at the same time to set all other tools at work to get it opposed This was the master-piece of some peoples policy which possibly was not all home-bred and it hath most powerfully effected the business and no doubt but it was easie to have been prognosticated However the matter hath been managed it is too late to call back yesterday The King hath the same motives to insist upon the taking off the penal Laws and since I have laid down so fully the reasons and inconveniencies of denying his desire It will be very becoming the wisdom of the Parliament as Loyal as a Prince can wish and of all the true members of the Church of England and of all that desire we and our posterity may be happy to study such expedients as there may not be eternal heart-burning persecutions jars and feuds betwixt the Members of the two so Famous Churches and that they will not only impartially consider what I write to you but that they will call in the aids of their Christianity reason and duty to govern their Actions that we may not endanger our Religion or be misled by false fires and trained into those denns where destruction and slavery keep their residence and where the pretended qualm at the apprehension of their dying Religion is but to get a dose of that Volatile Salt of Vipers that they hope would raise to life again their good Old Cause I know it is one of the difficultest cures to bring Hypocondriac people to abandon or forget their complaints If they get a notion by the fore-top they swing it about as boys do fire-sticks till it appears a whole Circle of Fire whereas six drops of water will quench it Sometimes such are cured with Hellibore but oftner by calm reasoning diverting their thoughts by representing the ill consequences of such groundless phancies and then cordial refreshings of their spirits bring them to composure I have made choice only of the last and desire all Lovers of their Country yea and of their Religion also to consider what the designs of some men are by their Libels wherein they endeavour to possess the Souldiery with strange apprehensions and would poyson them in their principles of Allegiance Surely it can be to no other end but that they hope thereby to disarm them of their Loyalty and so to find from them little resistance when they could be able by setting up the Standard of Protestantism to assemble their power against the Government Have you not seen other Libels for setting up Stipulatory Conditional Monarchy There was never an Insurrection or any Intestine Trouble but it was occasioned by a prepossession of the people with an ill opinion of the Princes Conduct and by debauching of the people in their duty and when there was either a faction in the State or diversity