Throne and not to ease the Nations Oppression so that in such Cases a Revolution does the People no good for he that has got the Crown thinks that whatever is done for the Good and Security of the People is so much lost to him of what he hoped to get by coming over A third Reason may be this Because he may presume upon the good Opinion the People have of him supposing that they will put the best Construction upon all he does and look upon those things to be but Mistakes and consequence of want of Information which are the result of a formid Design Or else because he may Imagine that altho' he does to a great degree act over the Part of him who was thrust out of the Throne yet that the People will not feel the lash so sencibly because it comes from his hand This when ever it happens is a thing of so foul a Complexion that it deserves as ill a name as can be given it and yet I fear there does not want Examples of it It is a Mistake and a dangerous one to consider the Person more than the thing that is done as if the person made the thing better or worse than it otherwise would be Men indeed differ from one another and do the same thing in different ways and manners but yet every thing is still the same whoever he be that does it if there be any difference it lyes in this that the better Reputation he has who does an ill thing so much the greater is his Reproach especially if it be a thing that he has reproved and punisht in another This Judging the thing by the Person is that by which commonly men deceive themselves so very much or else they would make a righter Judgment than for the most part they do How happy is that Prince then whilst he is on this side the Grave and how glorious will be his Memory who is not afraid or shy to have his Actions examined that mankind as well as his own Conscience may bear him Testimony that he Governs according to Law and makes the good of his People the End of his Government Before I proceed any further I would be rightly understood in what I have already said because possibly either through Mistake or Malice some may infer that I would perswade you to take more care of your Liberty than of Religion by reason that I have said so much of the former But far be so Atheistical a thought from me I bless God it never yet entred into my heart altho' I am not so Religious as I ought to be yet I think our Religion to be more valuable than any other thing whatever for if God should take away the Light of his Gospel from us it would be the severest Judgment that he could visit us with and have therefore pressed you to take care of your Liberty as the surest means by which you can preserve your Religion and in so doing I conceive I have shown a Zeal rather than a neglect of it It is to be wisht by all those who desire the Peace of their Country that Religion were more in fashion than it is For no Nation ever did thrive where it was neglected and it is to be feared that God will have a controversie with this Land if Swearing and Drinking which are now become so common be not speedily suppressed and the Corrupt Manners of the Nation reformed But before I speak more particularly upon them give me leave to observe something thing to you upon two things which are very injurious to Religion and yet are done out of a pretended care and tenderness for it The First is When Protestants break into several Sects and distinct Congregations and not being content with Worshiping God in their own way are uneasy at all others who follow not with them Every one being assured that they are not mistaken that they will not allow any but themselves to be in the right and thereby leave the excellent Rule of Charity to follow a blind Infallibility 'T is true indeed whilest we are upon Earth we shall have different Sentiments and Opinions and it is not possible for me to help it because our Reason is so short sighted and Pur-blind But yet we may all agree to have a mutual Charity for one another and then every man will be the better for his Religion and no body will be the worse for it For otherwise instead of promoting Religion we eat out the Bowels of it that is we destroy that Charity without which we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But alas it is come to this That one is for Paul another for Apollo and a third for Caephas One asks of such a one Is he a Son of the Church a second inquires Whether he is of such a Congregation A third demands to know if he follows such a man if so all is well and with them he must pass for a good man without examining into his Life and Morals But what does all this amount to am I the better for being of such a man's Opininion or of such a Communion unless I am a Doer as well as a Hearer of the Word Or what is another man the worse because I am not of his own Opinion if he live a better life than I do This Zeal for a Party is a Zeal rather to be reproved than to invite others to the practice of it for it is not an Argument of Religion but a sign of Pharisaical pride when a man is uneasy with another because he worships God in a way different from him For if any man desire to live becoming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to that End does daily try and examine himself he will find more to be amiss there than he can discover in others and therefore to lead a good Life is the best Argument that any man can use to perswade another to be of his Opinion The next thing which is Injurious to Religion is when the Discipline and Government of the Church interferes with the State breaking into the Methods and Foundation of it and to advance the Power and greatness of the Clergy This soon becomes Mischievous to Religion For as it does in no sort prompt God's Glory or tend to the reforming of Mens manners c. When the People find their Liberties Crouded to make Elbow Room for the Clergy and that the Government of the Church will help to make them Slaves they will be very apt to abhor the Offerings of the Lord. And therefore in all well regulated Constitutions the Government of the Church is moulded according to the Principle upon which the Civil Government stands for if the Church were to Model the State Christ's Kingdom would be of this World which he has expresly told us is not Is not that People then in a sad condition when that what is amiss in the State must not be Reformed for fear of hurting the Church as
a share in building a House that lays here and there a Stone as he that lays the Foundation and raises much of the Superstructure upon it which is the very Case betwixt the high Church-men and the Dissenters and though our high Church snarle at the King and treat him with over-familiar Language yet what they have said and done does not so much denote their repentance as that they are disobliged and disappointed because it is not accompanied with amendment of life which is the truest sign of penitence for I doubt there are very few of them that can boast that they are less debaucht and profane If the matter then be so and they on their part have not done any thing to invite or incourage the Dissenters to come to Church they should be the least of all Men that should complain of their absenting Upon the whole Matter then The Dissenters by falling in with the Indulgence have done that which in the consequence will set up Arbitrary Power But the high Church-men have in express terms preached up and assisted Arbitrary Power and have treated the Papists as their Friends So that they having been chiefly instrumental and layed a Foundation for Popery and Slavery I may without pretending to the gift of Prophecy adventure to say that whenever it comes to extremity the greatest brunt will light upon them and their Heads will sheild the blows from others who used all lawful means to have prevented the Mischeif that is coming on apace Thus I have laid open the Fault on all sides let then the high Church be more charitable and the Dissenters less stiff and sweamish and let every one indeavour to live like People professing the Gospel and I hope that God may yet have mercy upon this poor Nation A SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT FOR THE Bill of Exclusion I Wish I could have been silent and I wish there had not been an occasion for this dayes debate but since we are brought into this condition it behoves every Man to put to his Shoulder to support this tottering Nation And in this Matter that is now before us we ought to consider very well for a great deal depends upon it and therefore I hope that every Gentleman will speak and Vote as God shall put it into his heart without any prejudice or pre-possession A Bill to Exclude all Papists from the Crown will produce a great many Inconveniences on both hands because his R. H. being a Papist it will set him aside therefore we are to consider which is the lesser evil and to choose that If the D. be excluded you are told how unjust it is to take away his Right from him that the Crown is his Inheritance if he survive the K. and besides you provoke him and all the Papists in England to Rise and cut our Throats On the other hand it 's plain that when we shall have a Popish K. our Religion and Laws are not secure one Moment but are in continual danger So that the case in short is this Whether we shall sit still and put it to the venture of having a Popish Successor then we must either submit our Heads to the Block or fight and be Rebels Or else to have a Law that will justifie us in the defending our Religion and Laws In plain English whether we would fight for or against the Law I think I have put it right and now let every Man make his choice that loves either his God or his Countrey As to the D's Right to the Crown I wish it were clearly known what sort of Right it is he claims and whence he derives it He is not Heir Apparent neither do I think that our Law knows any such thing as an Heir to the Crown but only as a Successor And therefore the D. nor any other whatever can pretend the same Title to the Crown as the Son of a Subject can to his Fathers Estate after his decease for with Subjects they do not succeed but inherit It is not so as to the Crown for there they succeed And it is from a not rightly considering the word Heir as it is a Synonymous term with that of Successor that has made so many to be deceived in the D's Title to the Crown for this word Heir to the Crown was not heard of till Arbitrary Power began to put forth Before William the Conquerour's Time it would have been a senseless word when the people set up and pulled down as they saw cause And till Queen Elizabeth it was not much in fashion when the Crown was so frequently setled by Act of Parliament and the Next of blood so often set aside when the Son seldom followed his Father into the Throne but either by Election in the Life-time of his Father or else by Act of Parliament So that to make the D. either Heir Apparent or Presumptive to the Crown it must be proved either by the Constitution of the Government or by some Law or Act of Parliament If therefore he has a Title to the Crown it 's necessary to know what it is and whence he has it but if he has none it 's not unjust to pass the Bill or any otherwhere he shall be particularly named But I will say no more of this least I may seem to be against Kingly Government which I am not If the D. be Excluded because he is a Papist yet it is no injustice Why will he be of that Religion that the Law endeavours to suppress The Subjects who are of that Religion forfeit Two parts in Three of their Estates and shall any Subject by reason of his Quality be exempted from the Law I hope not Besides if a Subject forfeit two parts it 's reasonable that the next of blood or any that is of that Religion should be excluded from the Crown because the Law has prohibited all Papists from having any Office Civil or Military because their Principles are inconsistent with the Government and then how preposterous would it be to make him the Head of the Church and the Preserver of our Laws and Liberties whose Religion obliges him to ruine and destroy both So that if the D. had not by his practices given us just cause to except against him yet barely as he is a Papist he ought to be Excluded But when it is considered that he has held a correspondency with the Pope and the French King to subvert our Religion and Laws what protection can we expect from him if he be King It is a sensleless thing to imagine that he will not disturb us in our Religion and Laws seeing whilest he is a Subject he is practising to destroy us and them Therefore for my part I think we betray both our Religion and Laws if we do not pass this Bill There is one Opinion which prevails much in the World which as it is false so it does a great deal of hurt and that is this That every Government in the World was
he that invades the Peoples Rights does no less to the King no man can perswade the King to do a thing more contrary to him and his Interest than to invade the Peoples Rights for if one be hurt the other is hurt also and he that will not do the King Right cannot expect to have Right done to himself No man can come to his Right but by doing the King Right give each its due but have a care how you give either side so much as an inch And therefore I would that People would forbear to preach up such destructive Doctrine both to King and People and not put the King and Parliament to the Trouble to make a Law whereby it shall be Treason in Words as well as Actions to endeavour the least alteration in the Government Petty-Treason For a Wife to kill her Husband or a Servant his or her Master or Mistris 25 Eliz. 3.2 Praemunire It is properly a Writ or Process of Summons awarded against such as brought in Bulls or Citations from the Court of Rome to obtain Ecclesiastical Benefices by way of Provision before they fell void To contribute Money or send Relief to any Jesuite or seminary Priest beyond Sea or any College 27 Eliz. 2. The first time to extol or maintain the Authority and Power of the Bishop of Rome Or The first time to refuse the Oath of Supremacy is a Praemunire 5 Eliz. 1. If any bring over any Agnus Dei Crosses Pictures or Beads hollowed as they call it at Rome to disperse among the People or if any person receive such 13 Eliz. 2. The Penalty in these and the like cases is That the Person offending shall forfeit all his Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels Imprisonment and be put out of the King's Protection 16 Rich. 2.5 Gentlemen you may observe that many of the things I have mentioned are only done by the Papists whose Religion has been the Author of all our Troubles and Mischiefs it was the Papists who took off the late King's Head though they made use of other People to act their part yet they were the Contrivers of all it was they who fired London and Southwark and it 's they who at this time would have brought us into the greatest Confusion that ever had been heard of by a Design which nothing but Hell could be the Contriver of but God in his Mercy brought it to light just when it should have been put in execution It is with Horror when I consider the Cruelty and Bloodshed that must necessarily have ensued had this Plot gone on it was no feigned thing the matter is as clear as any thing can be nothing but the execution of it could make it more clear and yet I hear that there are those who will take upon them to say there is no Plot and argue it how far they are guilty themselves I know not but I must tell them that they render themselves very suspicious to argue against that which every body believes and is satisfied of for my part I must judge them either to be in the Plot or very much enclined to Popery Wisely therefore has the Law provided for us against that from which there is so much danger If Popery be the True Religion God Almighty is not God Almighty for certainly that Religion is very defective whose Foundation must be layed in Blood and Cruelty and certainly God Almighty can propagate his Truth without having recourse to such unnatural means I am sure there is not to be found in Scripture the least evidence or instance to warrant the killing of Men for their Religion Men are to be convinced by Reason and Scripture and not by Force and Fire The Papists think it a hard thing to be required to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which Oaths don't deny them the private use of their Religion only require from them a Security to be true to the Government but don't consider that their Church requires that all must dye who will not change their Religion or if any of them have an Estate held wrongfully from them or is robbed or abused they expect to have the benefit of the Law and Justice of the Government they expect that the Government shall defend them and they will not be bound to maintain it how reasonable this is let any man judge But Gentlemen there 's no reason the Government should defend them that would destroy it though the Penalties are great yet you ought to avoid Tenderness because so much depends upon it as does and besides where any of them comes under a Praemunire the Persons themselves don 't suffer so much as the Common Stock for they have Stocks and Banks for those uses and to buy Poor People to their Religion Popery is not a Religion but an Interest which endeavours our destruction and therefore we ought to shew it no Favour And this will suit very well with Moderation for in all the Laws against the Papists the Penalties are very modest and moderate in comparison to what we have found at their hands and therefore to put the Laws strongly in execution against them cannot be called Severity Misprision of Treason To know any to be guilty of High Treason and not to disclose it If a Bull or Instrument of Absolution or Reconciliation be offered to use or put in use if they do not make it known within six weeks to some of the Privy Council 13 Eliz. 2. In them that shall be aiding maintaining or concealing of such persons as shall withdraw any from their Obedience or Religion and not make it known to some Justice of Peace within twenty days 23 Eliz. 1. The next thing that I am to give you in charge is Felony which is of two sorts against the Person and against the Possession of another Felonies against the Person of another If any commit Homicide that is kill or slay another which if out of precedent Malice either expressed or implied is Murther If upon a sudden Falling-out Manslaughter If in doing a lawful action is called Chance-medley If in his own defence it 's stiled Homicide se defendendo Poysoning Stabbing and Bewitching to Death are Homicides If any commit a Rape have the carnal knowledge of a Woman against her will or with her will if she be under Ten years old If any take away or consent or assist to take away any Maid Widow or Wife against her will she being then interested in Lands or Goods If any marry a second Husband or Wife the first being alive If any commit Buggery or Sodomy If any do willingly and maliciously cut out the Tongue or put out the Eye of another And by a Statute made the 22d and 23d year of K. Ch. it is Felony that by lying in wait purposely or upon Malice forethought to maim or disfigure another If any receive relieve or maintain any Jesuite or Seminary Priest knowing him to be such 27 Eliz. 2. If any incorrigible Rogue judged
constituted by God himself But that cannot be so for it would follow that God is unjust which he cannot be There neither is nor was any Government of that sort but only that of the Jews the rest of the World were left to themselves to frame such a Government as suited best to their Inclinations and to make such Rules and Laws as they could best obey and be governed by Ours is compounded of an absolute Monarchy and a Common-wealth and the original of it we have from the Saxons But be it what it will or whence it will it is without question that the first original of our Kings was that the people found it for their advantage to set one over them because of his Wisdom Valour and Justice and therefore they gave him several Prerogatives above the rest of the People that he might be the better able to govern and defend them for there is none of the Kings Prerogatives but are for the good of the Nation if rightly imployed But it will be a strange conclusion to suppose that the People obliged themselves to submit to the Posterity of that Man whom they first chose for their King because of his extraordinary Endowments let them be what they would and never so unfit for the Government For the next of blood may be incapable of governing in several respects suppose a Fool or Lunatick by his Principles if he aim at Arbitrary Power by his Religion if he be a Papist or a Heathen or by his practises before he comes to the Crown to destroy the Religion and Government by Law Establisht Now this I do not say to argue that the Election of the King is in the People though I think much might be said in that case neither is it now the question but that which I speak for is to prove that the next of blood has not so absolute an Inherent Right to the Crown but that he may for the good of the Nation be set aside There is yet another Inconvenience to allow the next of blood to have so absolute a Right to the Crown because the Possession of the Crown takes away all disabilities but only such as are by Act of Parliament which being so every King must thank his Successor for every moment that he lives if he kill him himself he cannot be questioned for it because as soon as the one is dead the other is King for here the King never dies If therefore the next of blood has so absolute a Right the King is very unsafe For though the D. be not inclined to shorten his Brothers days nay though he be averse to it yet in obedience to the Pope and his Priests it must be done either by himself or some other hand and then how long we expect his Majesties life If Kings were good Men an absolute Monarchy were the best Government but we see that they are subject to the same Infirmities with other Men and therefore it is necessary to bound their Power And by reason that they are flesh and blood and the Nation is so apt to be bad by their Example I believe was that wherefore God was averse to let the Jews have a King till they had Kings they never revolted so wholly from him when their Kings were good they were obedient to him but when they were idolatrous then the People went mad of Idols I hope it is no Regis ad exemplum that makes our Nation so lewd and wicked at this day A SPEECH AGAINST Arbitrary and Illegal IMPRISONMENTS BY THE Privy Councill THere is not any thing that an Englishman can claim as his Right that we value more than Freedom and Liberty I mean that of the Body because Imprisonment is a sort of Death and less tolerable to some than Death it self For by it we are deprived of all our Earthly Comforts What is a Man the better for having never so great an Estate never so great Honour or what else is desirable in this World if he is restrained of his Liberty Now there are several sorts of Restraints or Imprisonments and they are all forbidden by our Law unless the cause be very just and reasonable not for bare surmises or vain stories that a Man shall be imprisoned and hurried from his aboad but only for such cause as shall prove that it is for the good of the Government and the support of it that this or that Man is imprisoned or restrained Although the Law has taken very good care yet the Subject is often abused in his Liberty sometimes by the Courts in West-Hall sometimes by other Courts and particular Magistrates But the greatest cause of complaint proceeds from the Privy Council The Privy Council that is though they have been much to blame in this particular yet it is not a new thing that they practice but this Itch of sending for and imprisoning the Subject upon vain pretences has descended from one Privy Council to another like an Infirmity that runs in a Blood for no sooner is a Man made a Privy Councellor but this Spirit rests upon him This Mischief was early espied even in Henry III's time and several Lawes have been made to restrain the Privy Council By the 9. H. 3. Chap. 29. it 's declared that No Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his Free-hold or Liberties or Free Customes or be out-lawed or any other way destroyed nor we will not pass upon him nor condemn him but by Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land By the 5. Edw. III. 9. It is Enacted That no Man from thenceforth shall be attacht by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods nor Chattels seized into the Kings Hands against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land By 25. Edw. III. Chap. 4. It is declared That from thenceforth none shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion made to our Lord the King or to his Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of his good and lawful people of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ original at the Common Law Nor that none be out of his Franchises nor of his Free-holds unless he be duly brought in answer and fore-judged of the same by the Course of the Law And if any thing be done against the same it shall be redressed and holden for none By 28. Edw. III. Chap. 3. It is Establisht That no Man of what Estate or Condition that he be shall be put out of Land or Tenement nor taken nor imprisoned nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought in answer by due process of Law And by 37. Edw. III. Chap. 18. It says Tho' it be contained in the Great Charter That no Man be taken nor imprisoned nor put out of his Freehold without process of the Law nevertheless divers people make false Suggestions to the King himself
meritorious to promote their Religion without regard had to the way or means of effecting it though it be by Butchering their King Murthering Father or Children prostituting their Wife or overthrowing the Government Be it never so unnatural or repugnant to Gods Commands and agreeable to these two are all the rest of their Principles So that I would fain see how it is possible to live in quiet with a People whose Religion obliges them to destroy all Converse or Humane Society to Murther their Neighbours Assassinate their King and Subvert the Government when it is in their Power for my part I cannot see how they can or are fit to live but with People of their own Faith and belief Brutes and Christians can never live and Converse together for none but Men of their Principles can live in safety with them And agreeable to their Principles has been their Practice all along What Rebellion or to use their own word Commotions have we had but their hand has been chiefly in it I know they would cast the Odium of the late Wars upon the Presbyterians they may well be afforded to lye for their Cause who will do every thing else for it though never so Inhumane or Unnatural they may well deny that Plot when they have the Impudence to deny this and to cast this also upon the Presbyterians but why should they not lye in these cases whose Religion is a Lye But it 's very well known who began the Late War there is no Man but is sensible that the Papists carryed on the business against the Scots It is too notorious that a great Woman imployed her Agents to the Papists to incourage them to contribute to that Work I 'll not name her because of the Act of Oblivion and besides She is dead I believe every one knows who I mean The Papists have renounced the Government they have forfeited the Benefit they might have by the Laws in that they will not take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy or when they do swallow them it is with such Mental Evasions that they don't think themselves to be obliged or bound by them which in effect is a denying them and what are these two Oaths but a reasonable Security that the Government requires them and all others to give and he that denyes to assure the Government that he will to the best of his power maintain it does in plain English acknowledge another power and that when he has an opportunity he will do his best to destroy this and bring in that Is that Government obliged to preserve them who will destroy it Are they to have any benefit of the Laws who will not obey them They have renounced the Government they have denyed the Kings Authority and therefore they are to be used as Enemies to both and then what severity is it to banish such People For what must we do It 's plain that whilest they are here we shall never be in quiet there is something in their Religion that obliges them to be unquiet for what reason had they at this time to plot or disturb us had not they all things at Hearts-ease they cannot expect to be in so good a condition if they had a Prince of their own choosing they were free from all chargeable and troublesome Imployments and Offices their Estates were not burdened with the Forfeitures due by Law an easie hand was layed upon them and the way to preferment was by being of their Religion they had got into almost all the profitable Imployments they were above and we below they had what they desired and yet all this would not do But if this be too much then let us do with them as the Children of Israel did with the Gibeonites they had made a League with them that they should live amongst them but least they might do them harm They made them Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water Joshua 9. notwithstanding the League And if the Papists must live amongst us let us give their Estates to the King to ease our own and reduce them to such a Condition that since they will not live at peace with us let us put it out of their power to hurt us If they must live amongst us and have their Estates I shall humbly propose that we may know them let them wear a particular Habit or carry some Mark whereby they may be distinguish't from the rest of the Nation In Rome the Whores wear a peculiar Garb In the time of a Plague we set a Mark upon the House that is Infected and shall these People have none who are the Pest of the Land it 's to them that we owe all our Disquiet and let us know how to avoid them I cannot think of any other way how to be secure against them we have no great benefit by convicting of them kissing goes so much by favour and they are so tender a place that this Man and the other is pickt out to be exempted from the Penalty of the Law there is such Picking that few are left These are my Thoughts and if any thing I have proposed may be of use I am very glad of it if not I hope I shall have your Pardon for troubling of you A SPEECH OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE JUDGES THere is not under the Sun a better if so good a Government as ours But the best constituted Government in the World is subject to one great fatality and that is whatever benefit we have by the Laws at least most of the Priviledges we enjoy by it depend upon the Will and pleasure of those who are to see to the execution of the Laws For Laws that are not put in execution are vain and empty things signifying nothing for Execution is the Life of the Law and without that they are a dead Letter Laws unexecuted are not far unlike to a Gun which if rightly used is a Weapon of great defence but otherwise of no great use and if it be charged it may do much mischief unless it be levelled at the right mark So our Laws if they are not executed what advantage arises to us more than from a wast paper And if they are made use of yet if they are not directed to their proper end they may hurt those they ought not So that it is out of doubt that they who are intrusted with the execution of the Laws it is an indispensable duty incumbent on them that they take care not only that the Laws be duly put in execution but also that they pursue their proper end and design in short that neither the Innocent be condemned nor the guilty acquitted Therefore the execution of the Law is so clear and undoubted a right of every Subject that no power whatever can dispense with it And they whose Duty it is to see it done if they either pervert or hinder the Law from having its course are highly criminal and ought to be called to a strict account
consideration and prepared a Bill for taking away the Dispensing-power which by the help of some other things that were in the same Bill obtained the Royal Assent and so it passed into a Law The Declaration then takes notice that for the better introducing of the Dispensing-power That the Judges were prevailed with to declare that such a power is a right belonging to the Crown and in order to it the Judges opinions were discovered before-hand and such as would not comply were turned out thereby to intimate to the rest that they might act at all times as they should be directed This indeed was a very high aggravation of it this was not to use the Law lawfully but to establish Oppression Violence and all manner of Iniquity by a Law For whoever shall endeavour to influence the Judges in their opinions by what means soever he seeks to intimidate them whether it be by turning them out of their places withholding their Sallaries or putting others over their Heads does plainly discover that he aims at nothing less than to Govern by his Will For the apprehension of losing a good imploy is not above the ordinary rate of men and the stopping of a Judges Sallary must have the same effect because it 's all one whether a man is turned out of his place or the profits of it are withholden from him and that Judge is exposed to a powerful temptation who sees he cannot rise in course unless he will comply The Parliament being sensible how much the Justice of the Nation lay exposed so long as the Judges held their Places or Sallaries at Pleasure had the last Sessions but one prepared a Bill to remedy this inconvenience which was offered to the Royal Assent but was refused for what reasons is not proper for me to give because I shall always advise the contrary so that that part of King James's Male-administration remains as it was to be practised by any other King who shall be so wicked as to have it in his thoughts how he may inslave the Nation The Declaration observes that King James put men into imployment and continued them therein altho they had not qualified themselves according to Law This as it unhinged one of the great securities of the Government so it was a plain indication of King James's intentions to govern without Law for when men are put into imployment in spight of the Law it shews they were preferred not so much for their fitness to execute that Office as to serve some other purpose against Law and those that so complyed justly incurred the censure of every man that wisht well to his Country for they shewed that they were through-stich-men that would stick at nothing thereby rendering themselves so infamous as to make all mankind conclude that they would never be imployed in any other Reign by reason of the scandal as well as the danger that any Prince runs who shall take them into his Service The Declaration then takes notice of the Ecclesiastical Commission which indeed carried an ill design in the face of it it having been always found that such extraordinary methods are not so much to punish faults already committed as to wish there were such and to pretend men to be guilty who have not transgressed For if nothing more had been designed but to punish those who really were offenders what need was there of that High Commission seeing the Law had before sufficiently provided so that the parlous intention of setting up that Commission was very obvious and it was yet plainer because it was expresly against Law for 16 Car. c. 11. that took away the then High-Commission Court has provided and declared that any other such like Court is illegal and all proceedings thereupon to be void and of no force And here I cannot but observe to you how far they were the occasion of setting up this Court who were like to suffer most by it For it cannot be forgot what pains the Clergy took to magnifie Prerogative and to preach up the Doctrine of Passive-Obedience and Non-resistance upon which King James supposing them to be worthy of their Functions and consequently what they preacht in their Pulpits they would practice when they were out of them thought he might make the more bold with them But with what Christian patience they bore it I believe you remember for King James received more reproachful language and revilings from them than from all other people and therefore I hope they have learnt this lesson and will be careful for the future to instruct all others under their care not to extend Prerogative beyond the bounds which the Law has set it lest they are the first that feel the weight of an unlimited power For this Ecclesiastical-Commission was a monstrous thing and therefore it is to be hoped that all those who were of it and that now are in eminent stations under this Government have made it appear that they are become new men or otherwise if it was a fault in King James to set up that Commission it will be hard to find an excuse for their being of it The Declaration proceeds in taking notice that several Churches and Chapels were built for the exercise of the Romish Religion and that several Colleges of Jesuits were set up and that a Jesuit was made one of King James's Privy Council This had it stood singly of it self must appear dreadful to all true English-men and yet it was but a necessary consequence of what went before it and gave every man a clearer prospect of the precarious condition in which his Religion and Liberty stood The next thing that followed was to examine Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace and all others in publick imployments in order to have the Penal-Laws and Test repealed and to turn out such as would not concur This was made use of as no doubt it would have been a very effectual means towards the packing of a Parliament it being a lesson which he had learnt from his Brother C. II. who used to take Parliament-men to task in private where he used such arguments as thereby he so often drew from the Parliament those unnecessary supplies This examination of the People in private was called Closetting at first lookt upon as a very inconsiderable thing yet we saw that the said Cloud tho at first no bigger than a mans hand quickly overspread the whole Heavens and gave our affairs a very gloomy Complexion and if we will learn has taught us this useful lesson That when men shall not be left to the freedom of their judgments in relation to the publick but indeavours are used to warp and bend them another way that there is some ill design in hatching especially when such applicaons are made to members of Parliament concerning such matters as are under their Consideration For this is to kill the Government at the Root and the design is equally apparent and mischievous by what means
Meetings The next thing you are to inquire of is the sin of Drunkenness Those that are common Drunkards and frequenters of Traverns and Ale-houses I wish they were not so many as offend herein and that the abuses were fewer that people receive from those that are Drunk This also is a sin of Custom and not of Nature for Nature requires so little that a man cannot disorder himself by taking what is needful to satisfie it So that every Drunkard offers violence to the bent of Nature to bring himself into that condition and what is the advantage of it but to make himself nauseous to others over night that he may loath himself next morning when he is disgorging the last nights entertainment Nothing brings a man so near to a beast as it does for it deprives him of the use of his reason and exposes him to more extravagancies than any other sin What difference is there betwixt a drunken Man and a Swine only that the Brute has the better of him for a Swine follows that appetite which Nature has indued him with and when he is dead his carcass is worth the meat it has eaten But a drunkard forces himself beyond his appetite and when he is dead is good for nothing I have heard of many that boast how they can make others drunk and how much they can drink A notable thing indeed to value themselves upon considering that a Woe is denounced against those that set the Bottle to their neighbours Nose and he that drinks most cannot vaunt of so much as an Hogshead can do Do these men think that they were made to only devour the fat of the Land that they may vomit it up but their answer is that their Time Money and Body are their own and therefore they may do with them what they will so long as they hurt no body else 'T is true indeed they are their own yet only to some intents and purposes For as they may not injure others by the use of them so neither can they justifie the harming of themselves for both Body Time and Money are to be imployed for the advantage of others as well as of themselves because every man's Life and Estate is more the publick's than his own In order to the suppressing of this swinish practice you ought to present all such Ale-houses as of your own knowledge or by information suffer people to tipple and drink in their houses at unseasonable hours or that harbour men suspected and of evil fame or that suffer any other disorder Likewise if there are any Ale-houses in by-ways or other improper places which through inadvertency or mis-informatian are Licenced you ought to present them that they may be suppressed for as they do not answer the legal end of an Ale-house so they are the receptacles and harbours of Thieves and Rogues and consequently the occasion of all the Thefts and Robberies that are committed in the Country There are a sort of people who will go Ten or Twelve Miles to a three Penny Doal that will refuse six pence if offered them to go four or five Miles altho they have scarcely rags to cover their nakedness if you know of any such you ought to present them that they may be sent to a place where they 'll be forc'd to work There are also a sort of People that spend high and live very plentifully yet have no visible means of supporting that expence if you know of any such you ought to present them that an account may be taken of them and their way of living which is very necessary at this time when Clipping and Horse-stealing are two such great Trades The last thing I will recommend to your Care is to present all such Officers as have neglected their duties in seeking and Apprehending Vagrants and wandering Persons I believe Gentlemen you are very sensible that the numbers of these â—dle people are great and that the mischiefs they bring upon us are many for they do so swarm in these parts that it 's a wonder if some other of them are not apprehended every day in most Townsports and yet by what the Officers do one would think there was scarce any of them for in all the time that I have been a Justice of the Peace I don't remember that so much as one Vagrant has been seized by the Constables unless when they have been found pilfering so backward are they to do their duty herein that one would think the Vagrants were in fee with the Constables or else they could not pass along as they do without disturbance considering that the Law has given good incouragement for the apprehending of Vagrants not only by holding out a reward to such as shall apprehend them but also by inflicting a penalty for suffering them to pass along 'T is strange that the Petty Constables if not out of regard to their Oaths yet for the sake of their Reputations are not more diligent herein for he cannot boast of much honesty who is remiss in his duty and it is most apparent that there is a wilfull neglect herein I have now finisht what I thought fit to discourse on at this time and shall therefore conclude with this short word That till Vice and Profaneness be supprest till there is more a face of Religion if not a sincere profession of the Gospel till the glory of God is more regarded till men be convinced that they cannot be true Sons of the Church unless they be good Christians till the Government shall prefer men as well out of regard to their honesty and upright conversations as for any other reasons we must still expect to meet with difficulties and disappointments in our Affairs if not to be over-run by an Invasion or to be ruined by our selves A Speech against Asserters of Arbitrary Power and the Non-swearers I Believe you are all well affected to the Government and therefore to incourage you to do your part upon this occasion I only need to tell you that this is a time that calls upon the diligence and care of every man that wishes well to the publick peace And I am perswaded that this admonition is not very necessary to be given to you who I believe are already very sensible that we are an unsetled and divided people and in this you will concur with me that they are very much to blame who are the occasion of it Far be it from me to charge any one foolishly and I wish it could not be affirmed with so much truth but it is most certain that that Party who in the two late Reigns were so industrious to serve that interest that designed to set up Popery and Slavery are the very men that at this time are the troublers of our Israel And that you may the better understand them and their designs give me leave a little to look back and observe to you the principles upon which they seemed to Act. In the Reign of the
without the Law but that he might imploy his power to an ill end and those then that incourage arbitrary inclinations in their Prince are guilty of all the Oppression and Violence that he shall commit The Law is the best hold both of King and people for it 's their mutual and only interest which soever of them lets it go will have much ado to preserve themselves for never did any stand long that parted with it when the King forsakes the Law he ceases to be King and makes room for another that is more righteous than himself and therefore because he endeavoured to set his will above the Law was the late King James set aside and I am perswaded with all the Justice in the World Thus I have indeavoured in a few words to detect the unreasonableness of this arbitrary Doctrine and indeed the great Asserters of it at last discovered what was the true principle that guided them they had very honestly prescribed a rule for others which they could not practice themselves like the Pharisees who were reproved by our Saviour for laying heavy burdens upon others that they would not touch themselves Our Loyal men were very well pleased with arbitrary power whilst they might be imployed and lord it over their neighbours they little dreamt that the wheel might go round for no sooner did they see that this power was like to be exercised upon themselves but they changed their note all their encomiums upon King James were turned into the most bitter invectives that their wit could invent and their threatnings which they used to breath out against the Dissenters were turned into words of Vnity and Reconciliation I will not affirm that the mercenary principle of preferment made them so zealous for Prerogative but this is most certain their zeal never abated till they saw that other people were like to come into play and then they were as forward as any to explode the Doctrine of Non-resistance and to wish success to the Prince of Orange But since King William does not think fit to employ them nothing will serve their turn but King James And because they cannot for shame talk any more of their unshaken Loyalty they have wholly laid aside that word and now their mouths are filled with nothing but the Church and considering that they refuse the Oaths and indeavour to throw all the contempt they can upon this Government therefore in their sense the Church and this Government are two distinct interests and King James a profest bigotted Papist is more likely to support the Church than King William who is a Protestant and thus they demonstrate their care for the Church and if it be not because King William won't put them into imployment I can't imagine why they should be so averse to him unless it is because his Government is more Just and Mild and that he Governs more by the Laws than any of the four last Kings Gentlemen Your inclinations to the Government is not to be question'd yet in regard it has been indeavoured to be so much traduced it may not be improper to say some thing of it Every King of England receiving and holds his Crown upon condition to Govern according to the known and approved Laws of Land for by what means soever he may come to the Crown he can hold it by no other means than by making the Laws the measure of his Power and when he forsakes that good old way he ceases to be King and Male Administration is a forfeiture of his Crown This was the opinion of our forefathers as appears by the many instances of those Kings that have been Deposed for their evil Government And those who have succeeded them have still been acknowledged and obeyed as rightful and lawful tho the other were alive For when the Throne is vacant it naturally comes into the hands of the people because the original dispose and gift of the Crown was from them therefore whoever they place upon the Throne has as good a right to be there as the first King that wore the Crown No Government can want a power to help it self and therefore when the King has set his will above the Laws what other means has the people left but their Arms for nothing can oppose Force but Force Prayers and Tears are our proper applications to God Almighty but signifie but little with an Arbitrary Prince who will be rather confirmed in his purposes when he finds that he is like to meet with no other opposition But this opposing the King with Arms is not justifiable for every wrong step or miscarriage of the Prince save only in cases of extremity when it 's obvious to every man that the King has cast off his affection to the Common Good and sets up his will in the place of the Law and thereby rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter For this reason was King James deposed and therefore is this present Government justified to the last degree by very good reason and the constant practice of our Fore-fathers in the like case For long before King Charles dyed the Nation was very apprehensive of the mischief they should be exsposed to if in case the Duke of York should get into the Throne and he had not long been in possession of the Crown before he convinced the world that those jeers and apprehensions were not groundless for he quickly became so exorbitant in the exercise of his power that the Nation grew very uneasie under him where upon the Duke of Monmouth landed in order to deliver us from that which the Nation had so much cause to fear and it did not please God to give him success Yet I am perswaded it was not by reason of the justness of King James 's Cause that God permitted him to prevail for some years but that he might fill up the Measure of his Iniquities and all the Earth might see how justly he was Deposed To recount the particulars of his Male-Administration would take up too much of your time and therefore I will only say this in short That he had so notoriously broken the Constitution of this Government to set up Popery and Slavery that the Nation was necessitated to rise in Arms and by as good right did they take the Diadem from his Head as he ever had to claim it for he having rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter the Crown thereby fell into the hands of the people and where then could they so well and properly dispose of it as to set it on his Head that so generously and opportunely came in to our assistance at a time when the Nation lay gasping and just ready to expire with the weight of Popery and Arbitrary Power What horrible unthankfulness to God and ingratitude to King William is every man professing the Protestant Religion guilty of who is disatisfied with the present Government For I would ask any of them what else could have been done to bring
have it or not for a power in a King to Oppress and Burden his Subjects is inconsistent with the true Nature and design of Prerogative which was given to the Crown to relieve the Subject where the Law was too keen the better to further the publick Peace If the Prerogative be set above the Law it will quickly devour it for there is no difference betwixt making the King Absolute and destroying the Law because then all our Laws and Statutes are only Rules during his pleasure and a King that desires to sit at ease will not find his reckoning in it for if the Prerogative be once raised above the Law he thereby quits his best Title to the Crown and leaves the decision of the Right to the Sword and then he that has the sharpest will prove by that Rule to have the best Right but he that has a better Title will not claim under the Sword What has been said may in a great measure expose that vile and ridiculous Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Nonresistance which the Example of David sufficiently refutes and no man can pretend to Justify but either because he wants common Sence or in hopes of Preferment will if he can outface all manner of Truth However it was so useful to carry on the Design of Popery and Slavery that all possible ways was tryed to propagate this Doctrine and all Discouragements put upon those who did any thing to lessen the credit of it Just like the policy of the Romish Priests who forbid the Laity the use of any Books that may give them better Light and it is very strange that this Doctrine did not obtain more Credit considering how it was supported both by the Palpit and Press But God be praised that the Nation preserved its understanding and that the time is come that the Truth may be spoke in publick And I would have stopt but that I conceive it to be convenient to say something to let you see how senceless and impudent they are who profess themselves to be Protestants and yet are dissatisfyed that the late K. James is set aside and King William placed upon the Throne And first I do say that I thought it my Duty to draw my Sword in the Defence of my Religion and Government and I did and do think it as lawful to reject the late K. James as to place K. William on the Throne And I hope to satisfy all that hear me that the present Settlement is Justifyed both by the Laws of God of Nature and the ancient Government If what is done were rather expedient then lawful yet one would think that particular persons might acquiesce in what is done by the collective Wisdom of the Nation I mean the Lords and Commons and I shall ever believe that man to be mistaken who thinks himself either more wise or Just than the two Houses of Parliament Till the Prince of Orange Landed I am perswaded that most were of Opinion that we had but this Choice left us either to Turn or Burn and I am inclinable to think that all such as are for recalling K. James are prepared to turn and I wish every man that has a mind to have him here again were with him I know not whether it would be best for them but I am sure it would be so for every man that wishes well to England But to speak more home and directly I take it That there was a People before there was a King That they set the King over them for their good That the Obligation of Protection and Subjection is Mutual That a King by reason of his Male Administration may forfeit his Crown That the End of Government is Peace and Order That it is more for Gods glory for every man to sit safely under his Vine than to be oppressed That no Government can be destitute of a Power to relieve it self That the whole is better than a part That this late Settlement is no new thing the like having been done in all Kingdoms and Governments To suppose there was a King before there was a People is as ridiculous as to suppose a man to be born before he is begot or that a man can live without Food or run before he can go and it will follow that a King may be a King of nothing for what is a King if he have no people Multitudes of other Absurdities will follow so that I need not say any thing more to it And I think the next thing is as plain that it is for their good when a People sets a King over them For to what other intent can it be done all things are done for some end and a People cannot be supposed to be void of the Principle of self preservation since that is inherent in Brutes and Plants and nothing that either breaths or grows but endeavours to preserve it self and can it then be imagined that a People would choose a King for their hurt rather than for their good Indeed sometimes in Judgment to a People God has blinded their Eyes in their choice they have made but their Intention was otherwise And I take it to be as clear that the Obligation of Protection and Subjection is Mutual for the very Nature of all Agreements proves it for in any thing of that nature if one side be bound and the other at Liberty it demonstrates the folly or Rashness of the one Party and cunning or good Fortune of the other and cannot so properly be called a Bargain as a Submission Subjection is really an Effect of Protection and arises from it otherwise Parents would have it in their choice to provide for or neglect their Children and tho' their Right is from Nature and for that Reason more Arbitrary than when it proceeds from compact yet no man will deny but that Parents are bound to Educate and provide all other Necessaries for their Children as far as their Substance will enable them and that nothing can discharge them of this Obligation but the Notorious Disobedience and wickedness of their Children The Nature of our Allegiance proves that the Obligation is mutual because the King takes the Coronation Oath before the Subjects swear to him which shews that our Allegiance is Conditional and such it is in all regular Governments for what can induce one man to obey another but that he ingages to protect him for if I am bound to obey where I have not an Assurance of Protection then if a Tyger or other Monster could get into the Throne I should then be under the same Obligation of Obedience but the reason of this is so obvious to every one of common Sence that I will say no more to it I think it will not be disputed that the End of Government is Peace and Order if not for these it must be for Confusion because there is no Medium between Peace and Confusion now God could not intend the latter because he has declared himself to
They are sensible that then it will be discovered that in the Primitive times there was no such thing as an Arch-Bishop and that it came in with superstition and blindness These and abundance of other things that I could reckon stick on their Stomacks but I will not loose your time by recounting of them In regard therefore that the enjoying of Ceremonies keeps Thousands from conforming I desire to be answered whether they who stickle for Ceremonies do not play that Popes Game to his greatest advantage for that which the Pope has always made his design is to divide Protestants and he knows there is no other way to ruine them but by fomenting differences amongst them for all his other devices have proved nothing in Comparison of it And yet these Ceremony-Mongers do speak plain sometimes for tho they pretend to be for uniting of Protestants yet they will tell you that Presbyterians are worse than the Devil and the Papists are to be esteemed of ten fold better then they so that it will out slip them some times do they not openly own their design and when e're they mention the Plot How plainly do they bewray themselves with what difficulty are they brought to acknowledge the belief of it But no sooner was that faction of the Presbyterian Plot started but presently they ran away with it as the greatest truth every where arguing people into the belief of it As if themselves had had a hand in it or else were such well wishers to it that they desired it might succeed For it is not to be denyed that no people have been less active if not altogether passive against the Popish Plot than these Ceremony-Idolaters and the Bishops themselves So that with Submission I take it to be plain that Popery is at the bottom And whilest that prevailes there is little hopes of uniting Protestants by our dignifyed Clergy and therefore the Parliament must do it if ' ere it be done If Ceremonies are of that Moment that we must suppose the Church cannot subsist if they be layed aside Therefore I will let that pass and humbly effer one thing that I conceive will conduce greatly to the composing the differences that are amongst us and I am the more confident to propose it because altho it fail in this yet I hope that thing will appear reasonable In short therefore it is this that a Law be made to take away pluralities and non-residences Not to have any retrospect for that I would not do but to bar them for the future For by these it is that much of our divisions are increased and high laid and I 'le shew you how it comes to pass They who are bred up to be Ministers are for the most part the Sons of such parents who are not capable of doing further for them than to maintain them at the University till they are capable to be admitted into a benefice And when they have done that they turn them off to provide for themselves who possibly have not five pounds in all the world or a Cross as we say to bless themselves with So that being put to shift for themselves they find it difficult to get into a living for when any Vacancy is it is oftener supplyed by a Man that is beneficed already than by him that has none Therefore what must he do he has nothing to subsist on he can get no preferment he must not starve Work he cannot to beg he is ashamed steal he dares not what then is his refuge There is no way left but to insinuate himself into the opinion of them that separate from the Church and to gain approbation he must preach up a new fangled doctrine and so gain to himself a people And these he must be sure to keep from the Church by speaking against it and telling terrible stories of it to fill them with fear and apprehensions that they may not come at it so that he is sure that if he can give them a dislike of the Church their benevolences will be the more liberal and certain Whereas if room were made in Ecclesiastical preferments by preventing pluralities and non-residencies young Clergy men would not be so apt to turn aside because they need not dispair of preferment I acknowledge this would not wholly cure our distemper but I dare appeale to any reasonable man whether it would not go a great way in the work But to let this pass I will proceed and mention a few things and then let any man if he can Justify pluralists and non-residents first where do we find in Scripture that any one man had several flocks committed to his care Nay that of a Bishop which if allowable in any ought to have the over-sight of many congregations yet they are confined to one Church by the primitive institution of them when the Clergy made the work of the Ministry their business Therefore I would fain be satisfied how it comes to pass that the work of the Ministry is or ought to be less the care of the Clergy than heretofore For so it is now adays and it plainly appears by their Coveting Pluralities For how can he that has several livings preach at them all visit and comfort the sick and do all the duties of him whose cares it is to watch for their Souls And how unreasonable a thing is it for one man to have five six perhaps more preferments and five or six men of learning and Piety perish for want of bread It would make a man begin to think that Church preferments were ordained for these pluralists and not design'd for every worthy labourer who well deserves his hire besides not to say any thing of the Debauchery Pride Coveteousness and contention of the Clergy what a shame is it to see how these pluralists make choice of their Curates their question is not what is he but how little will he take as if piety and learning made no Matter and were not requisite and if a good man be preferred to be a Curate it is by accident and not by design And therefore I humbly conceive that the divisions of our Church are not a little occasioned by this and contempt brought upon it And is it not sad to think that men shall be prefered to the Church upon the account of interest and not for Merit This being so plain I will not multiply words upon it but conclude with this that every mans religion is to do Justly love Mercy and to Walk humbly with God to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and not to put our brethren out of the Church for which God Almighty will not shut Heavens Gates against us Of the Absolute Power exercised in the late Reigns and a Defence of King Williams accession to the Thone c. Gentlemen THe preservation of the publick peace is the occasion that has called us together at this time in which no man can be remiss or neglect when he considers that his
mans pleasure so we hold our Religion as precariously because a Prince can impose upon Slaves what Religion he pleases France is so pregnant an Instance of this that it puts the thing out of Dispute For while the Protestants kept their Liberties all was well with them yet no sooner was that wrested out of their hands but it was quickly seen what became of their Religion I have always thought that they began at the wrong End who reckoned themselves out of all other danger whilst they enjoyed the Exercise of their Religion it will not be denyed but that Liberty is a great Security to the free Exercise of Religion but if our Civil Rights are assaulted I don't see by what means Religion can rescue them out of Violent hands Besides there are many Instances where Religion has been used as a Stalking Horse to enslave a Nation For did ever any Man pretend to have a greater concern for the Church than Charles the 2d and yet no man more designed the Ruine or the Nation than he did which Example may occasion the People to suspect some Design upon their Liberties when the Prince pretends the greatest Care for Religion unless he be a man of great Morality and Religion appear in his Life and Practice as well as in his Words and Promises For it is scarce passible to inslave a free People by direct Force and therefore they must be gulled out of their Liberty by Art and underhand Practice and there cannot be a better blind than a pretended care for Religion to keep the people from observing what is designed against them So that if any thing is worthy of their Care it is their Liberty and in doing so you do the part of Loyal Subjects and good Christians whereas by the neglect of it you expose every thing that is valuable so you also lay a snare in the way of your Prince thereby tempting him to think of that which otherwise might not have come into his Thoughts And this Care is never to be neglected not even when any thing goes to their hearts Desire lest whilst you speak Peace to your selves there comes upon you sudden destruction For a Design is more likely to take effect when people suspect no such thing than when they stand upon their Guard There are many ways of Working People up into a Security of all which Promiles are the most fatal for without Performance they become Snares and therefore it is upon Actions and not upon words that a Wise Man will ground his Belief or Opinion Consider what is done and not what is said for whoever he be that is so wicked as to have a Design of inslaving the Nation he will never make a difficulty of promising very largely If then we ought to take care of our Liberty how ridiculous is it to talk of Serving the Crown when by that is meant To make the Kings Will and Pleasure the Measure of their Obedience it must be a mere Nonsensical Boast to talk at that rate when they have stript themselves of the means of Serving like Rational Creatures for when men have given up their Liberty what does all their Service to the Crown differ from that of a Beast The Service that we do for our Prince should be like that which we render unto God not a forc't and constrained but a free and reasonable Service So that I think I may say That he who hopes to recommend himself to his Princes Favour by such a piece of Service must needs be a very profligate Wretch and believe his Prince to be altogether such a one as himself For such a design is altogether unlawful because it is destructive to the Nature and End of Government Contrary to the Kings Coronation Oath inconsistent with Reason and a Violation of that Trust and Confidence which the people repose in the King For as I take it The Power that is lodged in the Crown is only a Trust and nothing more for he must have that Power either as a Trust or a Property and if he holds it as a Property then no Bounds or Limits can be set to it and he may use it as to him shall seem most meet What will Laws then signify To what purpose is the Coronation Oath and all those other Cautions that are taken to oblige the King to Govern according to the Laws and laudable Customs of the Realm and then every Prince that has been Deposed for committing Violence and Oppression was highly injured for there would be no other Standard of Right and Wrong but that of his Will and Pleasure But it is a common Practice to depose Kings when they become a Burthen to the People that being the proper and only remedy in such Cases For let any man tell me if he can whether the Liberty that remains in the World has been or can be preserved by any other Means than by that Power that is used in the people of laying aside such Kings whose Administrations become exorbitant For the Number of ill Kings exceeds so much that of the good ones that Liberty had been before this day swallowed by Prerogative without some such check and because so very much good or hurt is in the power of the Prince the value of a good King is inestimable To be delivered out of the Hands of an Oppressing King is a great Mercy yet such a price when put into the Hands of any People is seldom improved as it ought to be For Tacitus makes this Observation upon the Fall of Nero That the first day after the Reign of a Tyrant is always the best This is a great Truth and a Rule that has no exception For this several Reasons may be given For generally the people are so transported upon being eased of their Burthen that they neglect to make such provisions as are necessary to prevent the like Irregularities for the Future either from belief that no other man will be Wicked to the like degree or else from the fond Opinion that they conceive of him who was the chief Instrument of their Deliverance trusting that the same Principle of Honour and Justice that incited him to stand up in their Defence will prompt him to do all those things that are needful to settle the Government upon a lasting Foundation Which was something our Case upon the Restoration of King Charles 2d only with this Difference that instead of Repairing the Breaches which his Father had made the mistaken Loyalty of the Age helpt to make them wider Another Reason for Tacitus his Observation may be this Because the chief Instrument of their Deliverance altho' he appeared very zealous on their behalf yet he aimed at nothing but getting the Crown as it was when the Dauphine of France came over to assist the Barons against King John his Declaration was full of nothing else but the English Liberties yet it afterwards appeared that his Design in assisting them was only to get into the
some do vainly pretend This I say because I am afraid it is something our Case at this time and so the Nation must languish to satisfy the Imaginâ—â—ions of some People who are afraid of their Shadows How the Church can be hurt by any Laws that concern the State is not easily to be comprehended if those Laws Establish no other Gospel than that which was delivered by our Saviour Nothing can hurt the Church but it self and it is never in more danger than when it is in its greatest Pomp and Grandure The deceit of this is very plain because they that bawl most of the Danger the Church is in have the least of Religion in their Lives for those who live and understand better see the folly of it as also that Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Nonresistance which many cry'd up as the Corner Stone of the Church A Burden which they were forward to lay upon other peoples Shoulders yet when it came to their own turn none was so uneasy under it as they for when their Rights came to be toucht No mens Mouths was so full of Liberty and Property as theirs But now that the Storm is blown over they are angry that that Liberty is granted to others which they promised to consent to and are returned to where they were in supporting that Arbitary Doctrine and to that end they are inventing new Titles to the Crown for this King and Queen which demonstrates what Steddy men these are since in the late times they would not allow any Title to be good but Succession yet now they can submit to any other how contrary soever to Succession provided they can thereby keep up this Arbitrary Doctrine and get their turns served and first they find out for this King and Queen a Title by Conquest I hope they are mistaken for if the case be so we are all Slaves and instead of being rid of Arbitrary Power by this Revolution we have helpt to Saddle and Bridle our selves For the people that are conquered hold all they have at the will and pleasure of him who did subdue them But how were we conquer'd did the Nation conquer it self if it did it was an odd thing and altogether new Or who was conquer'd not they who actually appear'd in Arms against King James nor those who wisht him somewhere else and that was by much the greatest part of the Nation It is so senceless a Notion that it only serves to discover the ignorance or knavery of those who go about to maintain it and I suppose we shall hear no more of it because the Lords and Commons in Parliament by an unanimous Vote have condemn'd it The Next thing talkt of is Gods ways of disposing of Kingdoms whence they would pretend that the King and Queen received the Crown from God Almightys immediate donation It is Blasphemy to exclude the power of God in any Case and to exclude the people from having had an immediate hand in bestowing the Crown is a new intelligible sort of Politick for the drift of this Notion is to make us Slaves by reason That whatever is the immediate Act of God and a declaration of his pleasure Man has nothing more to do but to yield an intire obedience and submission to it So that when a King receives his Crown immediately from God any Provisions or Limitations that can be made by Men comes too late to circumscribe his Power But is this our Case which way did God declare that this Man should Reign over us Or who foresaw upon what Head the Crown would be placed till the Lords and Commons came to a Resolution in it and therefore it will follow That the King and Queen received their Crown from the Hands of the People upon such Terms as they gave it and God has not done any thing to exempt them from the Performance of those Conditions However there are those who hoped to make their Court to their present Majesties by starting and maintaining those two Notions Viz. of Conquest and God's ways of disposing of Kingdoms with what success I leave to every mans observation and only say this That is will be an happy Age when Kings are so much disposed to the good of their People that such Flatterers will meet with no Incouragement from them I come now to speak of Swearing and Drinking and I do believe that the horrible Prophanation of God's Name was never so common as in this Age. That great and dreadful Name before which we ought to Fear and Tremble is used with more familiarity than the meanest thing you can think on It is a very unfortunate thing whenever we take the Name of God irreverently into our Mouths altho' it happen when we are under some Provocation yet it Administers cause for Humiliation and a more narrow Observation of our selves for the future but is in no sort a Justification of us Therefore to fill their mouths with horrible Oaths when they are cool and in temper and to swear in common Discourse is a dreadful hearing And really it is come to that pass that men don't think they express themselves well and modishly unless they interlard every Sentence with an Oath or two and that which is strangely ridiculous is that some cannot ask another man how he does without wishing his own Damnation How this is to be remedied is the Question for since it could not be prevented from growing to the height to which it is gotten it will be so much the more difficult to suppress it for if in any case it can be said That the number of Offenders is too big for the Law it must be allowed to be so in this That Law has provided very well for the Punishment of such as offend herein per Statute 21st Jacob. C. 20. They forfeit twelve Pence per Oath If this were duly put in Execution I am perswaded it would work a great Cure These Customary Swearers would with more wariness open their Lips when they found that their Oaths cost them so dear and I am the rather of this opinion because I have observed That when a common Swearer is in the presence of any person whose Authority or Quality has an awe over him scarcely an Oath slips from him tho' he speaks never so much And therefore it is very much to be wisht that Magistrates would more strictly inform themseves of such as offend herein and give them the punishment which their Offence deserves The next thing is the Sin of Drunkenness which calls aloud for redress it being now so common and universal that People of all Ages Sex and conditions are infected with it to that degree that it is become the Reproach of the Nation which is now as remarkable for this Sin as it was for the Excellency of our Government during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And it may be Observed That from the time that this Government began to decay that this beastly Custom took its Rise I
may have them And hence it might come to pass that the Son succeeded the Father as it befel in the case of Henry III. his Father K. John had been quarreling with his Barons and they called in Lewis the F. Prince to their aid and several swore to him but K. John dying and the Nation being willing to be at rest they chose rather to have Henry III. being a Child whom they had hopes to train up in the Principles of an English King than to admit Lewis who was a Foreigner Or else that out of Gratitude to the memory of their deceased King who had done good things for the Nation they chose his Son believing him to inherit his Father's Vertues and therefore deserved the Crown better than any other person as it befel in the case of Edw. II. and Rich. II. and Hen. VI. who all deceiv'd them and therefore were deposed I think the rest of the Instances where the Son has followed his Father into the Throne are where the Succession was continued to them by Act of Parliament or by Election in the life-time of the Father as it happen'd in the case of Rich. I. and Edw. I. But I think it is without all dispute a known Custom in England that where a man has any Estate either real or personal if it came to him by Descent although he has no further power of it yet during his Life he may dispose of it as to him shall seem meet and divest himself of it to all intents and purposes And therefore if the Crown of England comes by descent what hinders that he who enjoys it cannot alien or dispose of it during his own life for whenever it has been attempted the People has still opposed it as in the case of K. John when he laid down the Crown at the Feet of Pandulphus the Pope's Legate and he kept it three days for the Pope's use this being done without the Consent of the Nation the King was told He could not make any conveyance of it without the leave of the People and although he had the Pope for his Second who was obliged to stand by him in maintaining what he had done not only out of the advantage he would gain hereby against King John and his Successors but also to encourage his other Sons to the like Dutifulness and Obedience yet the People were Victors and the King fairly gave up the Cudgels Which methinks clears the Point very well for our Lawyers tell us That a President where the thing has been disputed is worth a thousand where there was no Contest I will give you another Instance though not the very same yet I think not impertinent to be mentioned Q. Mary upon her first enjoyment of her Husband Philip was very fond of him and thinking nothing to be too good for him she had a great desire to have him crowned but notwithstanding her Importunities the Parliament would not consent and she never had her Desire Whereas if the Crown had come to her by descent she need not have asked the Parliament leave nor had K. John been to blame to give away that which was absolutely his own It is true that in the life-time of H. II. his eldest Son was crowned but he first acquainted his Lords with his purpose which implies that he asked their consent which is very probable because they swore Allegiance to him which they would never have done had it not been with their good liking for the Lords were more sturdy in those days than they are in ours for they would yield no further than they saw there was Law and Reason for it I have heard it objected That the three Children of Hen. VIII succeeded to the Crown by his Will it may be so and yet not clear the point That the Crown comes by Inheritance for Hen. VIII had shaken off the Pope's Authority and the People might be very willing to accept his Son Edward for their King and it had been a wonder if they had refused him seeing he was a Protestant and one like to perfect the Reformation But in his Successor Q. Mary we find the President of bequeathing the Crown by Will overthrown for Edw. VI. by his last Will had given the Crown to Jane Seymour and to make the thing more valid he caused the Nobility Bishops and Judges to set their Hands to it and yet Q. Mary prevailed against this Will but Arthur Son to Jeoffery who was Brother to Rich. I. and K. John was not only Son to the elder Brother but was designed by Rich. I. to be his Successor to the Crown So that if any thing would have prevailed against the Election of the People without doubt Arthur would have had the Crown and John must have waited longer But if the Crown of England comes by Descent or Inheritance I desire to ask by what Title all the Kings and Queens since the Conquest have possessed the Throne for no man can have the face to say that the first William came in by Descent but that his Title was either by Election Conquest or Vsurpation and all that have succeeded him out of his Loins are upon the same bottom with him and if his Title was not by Election then he and all his Successors can be termed nothing but Vsurpers who came in by force and have maintained it by might against Law for it is very well known that a Possession which is illegal at first cannot be better by continuing it nor does it mend the matter if they hold it never so long the Right remains the same And therefore having said this I do presume it will be as difficult to understand those things mentioned in the 30th Chapter of Proverbs Verse the 19th as it is to prove that the Crown of England comes by Descent But possibly when there shall be a Man so much wiser than Solomon that can unriddle those four things he may be able to clear this first and resolve all other Doubts that may be proposed to him but till that be I hope the People will hold their Right in disposing of the Crown and not be bound to admit the next of Blood if he be not fit for it I will now Sir proceed to your second Demand Whether the Duke ought to be excluded and to that I do answer affirmatively That he ought to be set aside for if he had not deserved it very justly the late House of Commons would not have been so vigorous and intent upon the Bill neither would the preceding mercinary House of Commons have said a word against him if his Faults had not been very plain but the whole thing is so evident that there needs nothing more to enforce the Reasons for his exclusion for Is it a small thing to hold a Correspondence with the Pope and the French King the two great Enemies to our Religion and Government to procure Pardons for Papists and keeping none about him but Papists or Popishly
but told the Parliament to their Face that he had so done and was resolv'd to proceed and he was as good as his word for he made Popish Officers Justices of the Peace and Judges upon which Loyalty began to decline for they fell away from him every day more than other But he stopp'd not here for that he might disoblige the Tories and Clergy as well as he had the rest of the Nation the Papists excepted he set up the High Commission and then the Declaration of Indulgence and for refusing to comply with it he clapp'd up seven of the Bishops in the Tower I am far from detracting from the Praise that is due to that Action of the Bishops yet give me leave to say the Merit of it is not so great as many have cry'd it up to be for they refused to read the Declaration more out of Self-Interest than out of regard to the Publick otherwise why did they not refuse to read the Declaration of Charles II. upon his dissolving the Oxford Parliament which struck more directly at the Heart of the Government than King James did yet not one Bishop refused it and accounted every one disaffected to the Government that did dislike it And that which further prevails with me to be of this Opinion is because some of these Bishops at this time refuse to take the Oaths It would be endless to run through all the Particulars of King James's Exorbitant Reign but in short he had turn'd the Government on its Head and was resolv'd to set up Popery instead of God's true Worship and his Absolute Will and Pleasure in the room of the Law and had fully accomplish'd his purpose if God had not sent us a Deliverer by whose assistance we thrust him from the Throne For having broke his Coronation-Oath and the Condition upon which he receiv'd the Crown he thereby lost all the Right of swaying this Scepter And by a just and real Authority with which the People of England are invested upon such occasions has the Nation by a full and free Consent placed King William on the Throne who I trust will be the Repairer of our Breaches How then ought we to rejoyce what cause have we to be thankful for such a stupendious Change when we had nothing but a fearful looking-for of utter Ruine we now enjoy the Protestant Religion instead of Idolatry and a just and equal Government instead of Slavery and all this brought about without the expence of Blood So that I stand amaz'd when I hear of any that are for recalling the late King James if there be any such I hope I shall not be accounted severe if I wish they were with him for I think it would be best and safest for them and every body else Can any Man be so senceless as to desire to set that man over them again who had once destroy'd their Religion and Liberties and had justly forfeited his Crown by Male Administration for when the King denies his Protection the People are discharged of their Obedience to him because the Obligation of Protection and Subjection is reciprocal Nay I may presume to say that the People have a greater Right to be well govern'd than any King can have to his Crown for their Right of being well govern'd was first in Nature and secondly it is necessary to the being of Mankind but so is it not that this or the other man be on the Throne nor even the form of the Government it self for that sort of Government is most necessary that is best for the Common Good We now fit safely under our Vines and Fig-trees and every man may Worship God without being hawled to a Goal the Bone is taken away that the Papists used to throw amongst Protestants to set them together by the Ears And truly it was always my Opinion that it would never go well with England till every man might worship God in his own way And this being thus happily accomplish'd I do beg your permission to offer my Advice which is this That all Protestants would now unite against the Common Enemy and forbear all Distinctions and Revilings though we may differ in some things yet let us neither reproach him that goes to his Parish Church nor be scandaliz'd at him that goes to a Barn let no man be offended at a Liturgy or set Form of Prayer nor think extempore Prayer is unacceptable to God every Tub must stand on its own bottom therefore let every man be more careful to mind and mend his own Failings than to observe the Faults of others let every man live up to the Doctrine he professes and sincerely act according to his Principles and prefer the publick before any private Interest and then it will go well with them here and hereafter Thus have I given you my scatter'd Thoughts which I have endeavour'd to put together as well as I could with the short leisure I have had As to the particular Business of this day it would be needless to offer you any Directions your Oath has sufficiently instructed you and I suppose most if not all of you understand your Duty as well as I can inform you therefore I will only say that whatever is an Offence against the Law is presentable by you Your Country has reposed a great and honourable Trust in you and I don't doubt your good and faithful discharge of it only this I desire to recommend to you That you will not find any Indictment or Presentment upon Suspicious or slight Evidence for it is unjust unreasonable and may be of fatal consequence to our selves or our Posterity A Man's Reputation is a precious thing and no man ought to be troubled unnecessarily And I do rather give you this Caution because it was the Practice of the Late Times and I hope we shall rather reform their Practices than follow them and come nearer to the Golden Rule of doing as we would be done by But in saying this I don't design to lead you out of the way of Justice that any who have offended the Law should escape Punishment Let the Guilty receive the Reward of their Doings and the Innocent suffer no Wrong and then shall we be a happy People So I will trouble you no further but to pray God to direct you in your Business SOME ARGUMENTS To prove That There is no Presbyterian but a Popish PLOT AND Against the Villany of Informing in 1681. I Will trouble you but with a few words before I proceed to the Particulars of your Charge and I hope no body of the Protestant Perswasion will be offended at what I have to say I have heard it positively affirm'd That 80 81. is become 40 41. That the same Game is now playing that was then If by this is meant That our old and restless Enemies the Papists are now at work that it is they who at this time are labouring our Destruction and that they are the Danger that threatens
us I fully agree with every man who is of that Opinion but if by this Assertion any would insinuate that there is a Plot against the King and Government carried on by all or any of the Dissenters besides that Plot of the Papists I cannot subscribe to it because where God Almighty permits me to use my Reason I cannot believe but upon clear evidence and I have not met with any thing that can warrant such an Opinion and therefore in things of this or the like nature we ought to explain our selves very clearly lest by leaving the matter under a doubtful construction we may against our intention cast an Imputation upon them who do not deserve it I am apt to believe that he who is most strongly possest with the Opinion That the Dissenters have formed a Plot against the King and Government will not adventure to justifie it before His Majesty and a Parliament and certainly that Opinion which will not abide the Test of the King and Parliament is not much to be valued But he who believes that there is a Popish Plot for the taking away of His Majesty's Life which God long preserve and the altering of Religion and Government may avow his Opinion to all the World because he has an undeniable Authority for it for His Majesty in Parliament and both Houses have declared no less but we do not find that His Majesty or either House of Parliament has made any Declaration that they have so much as in suspicion any other sort of People who are designing against his Life and the Government I think it is agreed by all that this Government is the best in the World for it gives the King a Prerogative whereby he may appear great both at home and abroad and it gives the Subject such a Right and Property in his Person and Goods that he cannot be deprived of either without his Consent unless for the breach of some known Law and besides Prerogative and Property help and support each other that is when they are rightly understood and applied for the Interest of King and People are as inseparable as the Sun and Light but when Prerogative and Property stand at a distance it is occasioned either by overgrown Favourites who by their Counsels and Actions have render'd themselves obnoxious to the publick and therefore so shroud themselves from Justice advise the King to insist upon something as his Prerogative which tends rather to hurt than preserve his just Prerogative or else from some ambitious restless Spirits who burr into the People that this or that is their Property which in the end will make their Just Rights to be Felo de se And what cares the one or other of these Make-bates for they are for the most part men of desperate Fortunes who having little or nothing to lose cannot doubt to reap advantage by the publick disturbance But to avoid the Evil on either Hand I think it would be a very good Rule to consider how far what is insisted on does quadrate with the Common Good and if they find that it does not agree to that Rule then to let it go as a thing that is against their true Interest It is agreed on all sides that there is a Plot for to Murther His Majesty and to alter the Religion and Government but whence our danger does arise who is the Common Enemy and against whom we are to unite is that which makes the Dispute and Divisions amongst us I take it to be an undeniable Truth That every State or Kingdom must expect to receive the most frequent and greatest Affronts and Injuries from such of their Neighbours whose Support and Interest does least depend upon them And every Government must in reason expect its Disturbances and Disquiets from such Subjects whose Interest does least depend upon the preservation of the Government And though I will not hastily judge any Man yet when there is a Plot against the Religion and Goverument they are with most reason to be under the suspicion of it who are of a contrary Religion and acknowledge a foreign Jurisdiction until there is very good Proof to charge it upon some other People I am verily perswaded that there are several Papists in England whose Quietness of Temper may make them very averse to give the Nation any disturbance and I heartily wish they were all such But when I consider the greater number of them and the Slavery they are under to their Priests I must be under an apprehension that they cannot intend us any good because their Religion is oppofite to ours and they look upon themselves as under another Jurisdiction but I know that not many years since Popery was a thing of a remote consideration and that they who declared their Fears of it were by those who called themselves the King's Friends accounted Enemies to the King and ill-affected to the Government Yet since the discovery of the Plot has proved their Fears were not groundless I suppose it is no difficult point to determine who are to be blamed they who were afraid of Popery or they who reprehended them so severely for their Fears for the Proof of the present Conspiracy of the Papists is so clear and evident that there remains no room for a Doubt whether there is such a Plot or no. And who is not confirmed in this Opinion since His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament have declared That there has been and still is a damnable and bellish Conspiracy contrived and carried on by the Popish Recusants for the assassinating and murthering the King for subverting the Government and destroying the Protestant Religion now by Law establish'd Now can any Man be so hardy as to think that His Majesty would lay so severe an Imputation upon a great part of his Subjects for God knows they are too many who are of that Perswasion or that the Parliament would pass so great a Censure upon such a number of their Fellow-Subjects without plain and evident Testimony and such as must convince every man but he who will not believe for by this Declaration they have avowed their Opinion to the whole World And there is one thing which further confirms me in the belief of a Popish Plot because in some of the Evidence it is declared That the Papists never had such hopes of restoring their Religion since Q. Maries days as at this time for it seems they had prepared every thing to their Hearts desire if His Majesty were but out of the way and how near they have been to effect it is horrible to remember and it 's a wonder they have not done it since they have not stuck at any thing whereby they might attain it And if we also consider how many fair Opportunities they have had we may conclude that God Almighty has wonderfully preserved him and may he always have him in his keeping But notwithstanding all this some do take upon them to say That there is
dangerous and banished return again If any dangerous Rogue branded in the Shoulder return again to a roguish life Felonies against the Possession of another If any break a Dwelling house in the Night with intent to do any Felonious Act there If any rob another by the Highway or take any thing privately from his Person If any take the Goods of another in his absence with intent to steal them If any Servant go away with his Master's Goods delivered to him with intent to steal them being the value of 40 l. or upwards If any rob a Church If any maliciously burn the House or Stack of Corn or Barn of Corn of another If any do the second time forge any Deed Evidence or Writing and publish it to be a good Deed. If any acknowledge a Fine or Judgment or Deed to be enrolled in the Name of another and not being the true person If any Persons above twelve in number raise any Tumults or Vnlawful Assemblies If above forty Persons shall assemble together to do any unlawful act and shall continue together three hours after proclamation for their departure If any depart out of this Nation to serve a foreign Prince without Leave and before Bond entered and Oath taken according to the Statute If any perswade another to commit any Felony or receive and assist any Felon after the Felony committed these are Accessaries to the Felony If any rescue a Felon from Prison If any Felon break Prison and escape or be suffered to escape and be reseued In both sorts of Felonies some have the Benefit of Clergy others not and because it 's their Duty only to present them therefore I have not troubled you with their distinctions but have given you them in part Misprision of Felony If any one know another to have committed Felony and don 't reveal it The next thing I am to acquaint you with is Trespasses and Offences against the Peace which are Finable If any menace assault beat or wound another If any make unlawful entry upon another Man's Lands or unlawfully take away other Mens Goods If any make unlawful Assemblies Routs and Riots You are to present all Seditious Conventicles according to 16 Charles 2. where there shall be five persons over and above them of the Family who shall meet together under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy of the Church of England Now Gentlemen although this Law does seem to comprehend all Dissenters yet certainly not all alike for it would be unreasonable that they who only differ in some things from the Church of England should be as rigorously intended by this Law as those whose Worship and Principles are quite contrary to it and I think the very Title of the Statute is an Argument for me which is thus Seditious Conventicles suppressed If it had been only Conventicles suppressed then I should have been of another opinion And therefore Gentlemen my opinion is that this Law is rather intended against the Papists Quakers and others of that sort than against them who come nearer in their manner of Worship to the Church of England And without question at this time it is not prudent to be very strict against them who differ from the Church of England only in some Ceremonies in regard the Common Enemy to our Religion and Liberty is now very active I mean Popery and therefore it is very great Policy to unite our selves that we may be the more able to resist Popery I am sure that this is not a time to harase or pull one-another in pieces for some small Points in Religion I am sure it is that which the Pope and Church of Rome will esteem as a very great and meritorious piece of Service He that shall say or sing Mass forfeits 200 Marks and Imprisonment a year and after that till the Money be paid To hear Mass forfeits 100 Marks and Imprisonment a year He forfeits 20 l. per month who does not come to Church and if he forbear a year to be bound in 200 l. to the good a bearing till he conform 23 Eliz. 1. A Conformed Recusant not taking the Sacrament the first year forfeits 20 l. the second 40 l. and for every year after 60 l. Every Recusant that shall not come to Church forfeits 20 l. for every month Who shall be absent from Church for every Sunday forfeits 1 l. and for want of Distress to be committed to Prison To relieve or maintain a Recusant not going to Church forfeits for every month 10 l. To retain in ones Service a Recusant who shall not repair to some Church forfeits 10 l. per month 3 Jac. 4. Now Gentlemen you must understand that by by the word Recusant is meant Popish Recusant and no other whatsoever They who shall send their Children beyond Seas without License according to Law forfeits 100 l. 3 Jac. 5. If any chide brawl or draw a Weapon to strike or do strike in Church or Church-yard If any keep a Fair or Market in a Church or Church-yard If any voluntarily disturb the Preacher in his Sermon The next Matters that I am to acquaint you with are Offences against Justice in general If any be a common Stirrer and Procurer of Law-suits or a common Brabler or Quarreller among his Neighbours this is Barratry If any maintain the Law-suit of another to have part of the thing in demand this is Maintenance or Champerty If any get Goods of another into his Hands by false Tokens and Messages this Deceit is punishable If any counterfeit a Deed or Writing and publish it as true this is Forgery If any corrupt a Jury-man by Bribery or Menace to divert him from giving a just Verdict this is Imbracery If any wilfully and corruptly swear falsely in Evidence to a Jury it is Perjury and to procure another so to do is Subordination of Perjury And here I think I may mention Bailiffs and other Officers taking or demanding unlawful and unreasonable Fees None ought to practise as an Attorney but such only as have been bred up Attorneys at Law and not every little Catchpole that has read over a Book or two for these are they that do all the Mischief because Ignorance and Knavery for the most part go together and I doubt there are some who practise in this Court who are not duly qualified for it The next things you are to enquire into are The Neglects of Constables If he do not hastily pursue Hue-and Cry after Murtherers and Robbers If he do not truly execute and return all Warrants sent to him from Justices of the Peace If he do not apprehend Beggars Rogues and Vagabonds that are wandring or begging within his Office If he do not punish by Stocking such as refuse to labour in Hay and Harvest time If he do not present at the Sessions or to the next Justices the Disorders in Alehouses Defects in High-ways Recusants absence from Church
dangerous time to put the Laws in Execution against the Papists because there are Examples where Magistrates some have been murdered others attempted to be assassinated for putting the Laws in Execution against the Papists and because we appear'd to be zealous in it therefore this care is taken off us I suppose that might be the chief reason why I was put out because I have help't to convict above Five Thousand Papists in Lancashire And furthermore it was necessary to know how we stand in the thoughts of our Country-men whether they have a good opinion of us now we are turn'd out of Office because it look't like a design'd disgrace For my part it has gain'd me ground and I believe every Gentleman else finds his Countreymen not to esteem the worse of him I rather think better therefore seeing our Countreys believe us to be honest Men there 's no great question but we shall be in great esteem at Whitehall now they have had this Tryal of us For White-hall is very apt to incline to the opinion of the Country And that Cart is not well upon the Wheels when it is otherwise Therefore for my part I am very thankful that I am put out I 'le assure you I find my Purse the fuller for it and I find my Countrey to pay me altogether as much respect if not more than formerly There is but one thing that I grudged to part with and that was the Office of Custos Rotulorum which had been in my Family for several Generations and for that I hop'd a particular reason might have been assign'd why they took it from me but from that day to this I cannot learn what was the cause It 's gone and farewel it And that 's all the loss I had by being put out of the Commission of the Peace I have done with our selves and now give me leave to speak a little concerning other Gentlemen who are put out and no reason given for it When any Gentleman is made a Justice of Peace it is out of respect to him and for the good of the Country because he is supposed to be honest and able and without dispute no Man ought to be put out but either that he is unfaithful unwilling to do his part or else he does not understand it And it 's a great injustice to any Gentleman to put him out without hearing him for to judge a Man unheard is not allowed by the Law And what is it but to judge a Mans Reputation a thing most dear to every honest Man For in any Age but this it would be a great reflection upon a Gentleman to be turn'd out of the Commission of the Peace But God be thank't the Nation sees very plainly who and what sort of Persons rule the Rost By all the inquiry I can make I do not find that any Man is put out but such as were very active against the Papists such as are against Arbitrary Power and such as approved of the Bill against the Duke I wish they would give the reason why one Gentleman was put out in my County for besides my self there are but two put out the one was newly put in and had not acted the other is an Ancient Justice of Peace and a Man that cannot be reprehended in relation to the discharge of his trust without reflection or diminution to any Man I think he knows the work of a Justice of Peace as well as any Man in England I except no Man And for his Integrity he may set all Men at defiance to accuse him of the least partiality in the discharge of his trust And I do know that no Man made it more his business than he did that he might ease and serve the Country For as his Ability was not Inferiour to that of any other Man so did he most duly put the Laws in execution especially those against the Papists And therefore Sir on the behalf of my Country I must complain and demand to know the reason why he was put out we are greatly hurt we are deprived of a great assistance and relief and we cannot be quiet till we are satisfied in that particular And my Lord Chancellor or the Privy Council whichsoever of them it is that put him out will they not tell us why Are they asham'd to own the cause What will it not bear water I hate this as I do Arbitrary Power and Popery Brave World that we must be debarrâ—d of the benefit of our Laws for if they are not executed they signifie nothing It is that which gives Life to our Laws And they that do execute them are put out of Office this is a fair step to Arbitrary Power to deprive us of the benefit of the Law It is the same thing not to have Laws as to have Laws and not executed I say no more least I may seem to speak in my own case for I do not desire to have any thing done as to my own particular but as to the Gentleman whose Character I have given you and his Name I will acquaint you with it is Sir Thomas Manwaring you must give me leave to be importunate and press it again and again that he may be again put into the Commission of the Peace A SPEECH For Banishing the PAPISTS I Would be as backward to commit oppression as I will be to do any thing that God has forbidden me For in all our Actions betwixt Man and Man both Publick and Private if we observe that Golden Rule to do as we would be done by we cannot err And if my Conscience should tell me that I transgress'd that Law when I give my Vote to banish the Papists I'll assure you I would not violate either that Rule or my Conscience I would now be silent and give my Vote the other way But that Rule does not so strictly tye us up as that we must forget our selves our Posterity our Laws or our Religion it does not oblige any Man to hurt himself to save another neither does it require that a whole Kingdom shall be lost to save particular Men For Charity begins at home but when the Papists are considered in their Principles and Practices then let any Man deny if he can that the Papists themselves are not the cause of whatever happens to them I will mention but one or two of their Principles because I doubt not but every Gentleman here is very well informed of them The first that I will speak to is this That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks And this Liberty extends to every thing both as to Religion and Worldly Affairs It 's the same thing to them whether they speak Truth or no when they have to do with a Heretick as they esteem every Man that is not of their Faith so that you cannot tell when to believe them nay though they swear it for to Equivocate is a great part of their Religion The next is this That it is