the People 2. There is a mutual compact tacit or express between a Prince and his Subjects and that if he perform not his duty they are discharg'd from theirs 3. That if lawful Governors become Tyrants or govern otherwise than by the Laws of God and Man they ought to do they forfeit the Right they had unto their Government Lex Rex Buchanan de Jure Regni Vindiciae contra tyrannos Bellarmine de Conciliis de Pontifice Milton Goodwin Baxter H. C. 4. The Sovereignty of England is in the three Estates viz. King Lords and Commons The King has but a co-ordinate Power and may be over-ruled by the other two Lex Rex Hunton of a limited and mix'd Monarchy Baxter H. C. Polit. Catech. 5. Birthright and proximity of Blood give no title to Rule or Government and it is Lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession to the Crown Lex Rex Hunt's Postscript Doleman History of Succession Julian the Apostate Mene Tekel 6. It is Lawful for Subjects without the Consent and against the Command of the Supreme Magistrate to enter into Leagues Covenants and Associations for defence of themselves and their Religion Solemn League and Covenant Late Association 7. Self-preservation is the Fundamental Law of Nature and supersedes the Obligation of all others whenever they stand in competition with it Hobbs de Cive Leviathan 8. The Doctrine of the Gospel concerning patient suffering of Injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher Powers in case of Persecution for Religion Lex Rex Julian Apostat Apolog. Relat. 9. There lies no Obligation upon Christians to Passive Obedience when the Prince Commands any thing against the Laws of our Country And the Primitive Christians chose rather to die than resist because Christianity was not yet settled by the Laws of the Empire Julian Apostate 10. Possession and strength give a right to Govern and Success in a Cause or Enterprize proclaims it to be Lawful and Just to pursue it is to comply with the Will of God because it is to follow the Conduct of his Providence Hobbs Owen's Sermon before the Regicides Jan. 31. 1648. Baxter Jenkin's Petition Octob. 1651. 11. In the state of Nature there is no difference between good and evil right and wrong the state of Nature is a state of War in which every Man hath a right to all things 12. The Foundation of Civil Authority is this natural right which is not given but left to the Supreme Magistrate upon Men's entring into Societies and not only a Foreign Invader but a Domestick Rebel puts himself again into a state of nature to be proceeded against not as a Subject but an Enemy And consequently acquires by his Rebellion the same right over the Life of his Prince as the Prince for the most heinous Crimes has over the Life of his own Subjects 13. Every Man after his entring into a Society retains a right of defending himself against Force and cannot transfer that right to the Common-wealth when he consents to that Union whereby a Common-wealth is made and in case a great many Men together have already resisted the Common-wealth for which every one of them expecteth Death they have liberty then to joyn together to assist and defend one another Their bearing of Arms subsequent to the first breach of their Duty though it be to maintain what they have done is no new unjust act and if it be only to defend their Persons is not unjust at all 14. An Oath superadds no obligation to pact and a pact obliges no further than it is credited And consequently if a Prince gives any Indication that he does not believe the Promises of Fealty and Allegiance made by any of his Subjects they are thereby freed from their subjection and notwithstanding their Pacts and Oaths may lawfully rebel against and destroy their Sovereign Hobbs de Cive Leviathan 15. If a People that by Oath and Duty are oblig'd to a Sovereign shall sinfully dispossess him and contrary to their Covenants chuse and covenant with another they may be obliged by their latter Covenant notwithstanding their former Baxter H. C. 16. All Oaths are unlawful and contrary to the Word of God Quakers 17. An Oath obliges not in the sense of the Imposer but the Takers Sheriffs Case 18. Dominion is founded in Grace 19. The Powers of this World are Usurpations upon the Prerogative of Jesus Christ and it is the Duty of God's People to destroy them in order to the setting Christ upon his Throne Fifth-Monarchy Men. 20. The Presbyterian Government is the Scepter of Christ's Kingdom to which Kings as well as others are bound to submit and the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs asserted by the Church of England is injurious to Christ the sole King and Head of his Church Altare Damascenum Apolog. relat Hist Indulgen Cartwright Travers 21. It is not lawful for Superiors to impose any thing in the Worship of God that is not antecedently necessary 22. The duty of not offending a weak Brother is inconsistent with all human Authority of making Laws concerning indifferent things Protestant Reconciler 23. Wicked Kings and Tyrants ought to be put to Death and if the Judges and inferior Magistrates will not do their office the Power of the Sword devolves to the People if the major part of the People refuse to exercise this Power then the Ministers may Excommunicate such a King after which it is lawful for any of the Subjects to kill him as the People did Athaliah and Jehu Jezabel Buchanan Knox. Goodman Gilby Jesuits 24. After the sealing of the Scripture-Canon the People of God in all ages are to expect new Revelations for a rule of their Actions * Quakers and other Enthusiasts and it is lawful for a private Man having an inward motion from God to kill a Tyrant †Goodman 25. The example of Phineas is to us instead of a Command for what God has commanded or approved in one Age must needs oblige in all Goodman Knox. Naphtali 26. King Charles the First was lawfully put to Death and his Murtherers were the blessed Instruments of God's Glory in their Generation Milton Goodwin Owen 27. King Charles the First made War upon his Parliament and in such a case the King may not only be resisted but he ceaseth to be King Baxter We decree judge and declare all and every of these Propositions to be False Seditious and Impious and most of them to be also Heretical and Blasphemous infamous to Christian Religion and destructive of all Government in Church and State We farther decree that the Books which contain the foresaid Propositions and impious Doctrines are fitted to deprave good Manners corrupt the Minds of unwary Men stir up Seditions and Tumults overthrow States and Kingdoms and lead to Rebellion murther of Princes and Atheism it self And therefore we interdict all Members of the University from the reading the said Books under the Penalties
going to Heaven upon their confessing their Sins to a Priest and their receiving Absolution the Eucharist and Extream Unction need not look after Repentance towards God Conversion to Holiness nor a Life of Faith Love Mortification and Obedience which the Protestant Religion upon the Authority of the Gospel obligeth them unto in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness And as the late Apostates to Popery in England are chiefly such who were notorious for Looseness Prophaneness and Immorality and were the Scandal of our Religion while they professed it and while in our Church were not properly of it So it is from among Men of this stamp and character that their late Majesties have found Persons assisting and subservient to their Despotical and Arbitrary Designs For whosoever takes a Survey of the Court-Faction and considereth who have been the Advocates for Encroachments upon our Liberties and Abetters of Vsurpations over our Rights they will find them to have been principally the profligate and debauched among the Nobility and Gentry the mercenary ignorant and scandalous among the Clergy the Off-scouring and such as are an Ignominy to Human Nature among the Yeomanry and Peasants And it was in order to this villanous End that the Royal Brothers have endeavoured so industriously to debauch the Nation and have made Sensuality and Profaneness the Qualifications for Preferment and the Badges of Loyalty And if among those that appear for the Preservation of the Liberties of their Country there be any that deserve to be stiled Enemies to Religion and Vertue as I dare affirm that they owe their Immoralities to Court-Education Converse and Example so I hope that though they have not hitherto been all of them so happy as to have left their Vices where they learned them yet that they will not continue to disparage the good Cause which they have espoused with an unsutable Life nor give their Adversaries reason to say that while they pretend to seek the Reformation of the State they are both the Deriders of Sobriety and Vertue without which no Constitution can long subsist and guilty of such horrid Oaths Cursing Imprecations Blasphemies and uncleannesses which naturally as well as morally and meritoriously dispose Nations to Subversion and Extirpation Finally Being through the bitter Effects which have ensued upon our Divisions made apprehensive and jealous one of another it hath from thence come to pass that while the Care of the Conformists hath been to watch against the growth of the Dissenters and the sollicitude of the Nonconformists hath been how to prevent the Rage of the bigotted Church-men the Papists in the mean time without being heeded or observed have both incredibly multiplied and made considerable Advances in their designs of ruining us For whensoever the Court was to take a signal step towards Popery and Arbitrary Power there was a clamour raised of some menacing Boldness of the Dissenters And if the Nation grew at any time alarmed by reason of the Favour shewn to the Roman Catholicks and of some visible Progress made towards the Kings becoming Despotical all was immediately hush'd with a shout and cry of the Government and Church's being in imminent hazard from the Dissenters Yea whensoever the Papists and their Royal Patrons stood detected of having been conspiring against our Religion and Civil Liberties all was diverted and stifled by putting the Kingdom upon a false Scent and by hounding out their Beagles upon the Nonconformists So that the Eyes and Minds of Protestants being imployed in reference to what was to be apprehended and feared from one another the working of our Popish Enemies either escaped our Observation or were heeded by most only with a superficial and unaffective Glance And while our Church-men stood prepossessed by the Court with a dread and jealousy of the Dissenters all that was said and written of a Conspiracy carryed on by the Papists against our Laws and Religion was entertained and represented by the prejudiced Clergy as an Artifice only of the Dissenters for compassing an Indulgence from the Parliament which in case such a Plot had obtained the belief that a Matter of so great Danger and Consequence required would have been easily granted being the only rational Expedient for the preservation of the established Religion and the Legal Government Nor did our Enemies question but that having enflamed our Divisions and raised our Animosities to so great a height rather than the one party would lay aside their Severities and the other let fall their Resentments we would even be contented to lye at their Mercy and submit our selves to the Pleasure and Discretion of the Court and Papists And there have not wanted some peevish foolish and ill Men of both Parties who rather than sacrifice their Spleen and Passion and abandon their particular Quarrels for the Interest and Safety of the whole have been inclined to expose the Protestant Religion and English Liberties to the Hazards wherewith they were apparently threatned and to suffer all Extremities meerly to have the satisfaction of seeing those whom they respectively hate involved with them under the same miseries But as this was such a degree of Madness and Infatuation as could proceed from nothing but brutish Rage and argues no less than a Divine Nemesis so I hope they are but few that now stand infected with these passionate Sentiments and Inclinations and remain thus hardned in their mutual Prejudices And to those I have nothing to say nor the least Advice to administer but shall leave them to their own Follies as Persons to whose Conviction no Discourse though never so rational can be adapted and whom only Stripes can work upon 'T is to such therefore as are capable of hearkning to Reason and who are ready to embrace any Counsel that shall be found adjusted to the Common Interest that I am to address what remains to be represented and said in the following Leaves For all Parties of Protestants having seen how far our Enemies have improved our Divisions and Rancours to the compassing their wicked and ambitious Designs and the robbing us of all that good and generous Men account valuable they are at last convinced of the necessity we have been and are reduced unto of altering the measures of our acting towards one another and both of laying aside our Persecutions and of exchanging our Wranglings among our selves into a joint contending for the Faith of the Gospel and the Rights of the Nation For what the Gentleman so lately in the Throne intends and aims at is not any longer matter of meer Suspicion and Jealousy but of demonstrable Evidence and unquestionable Certainty His Mask and Vizor of Zeal for the preservation of the Church of England and of tender regard for the Laws of the Land were laid by and put off and his Resolutions of governing Arbitrarily and of introducing Popery were become obvious to all Men whom Reason and Sense have not forsaken and left The Papists whom it was thought much a
which they do evidently show that they are restrained by no Rules or Law whatsoever but that they have subjected the Honors and Estates of the Subjects and the establish'd Religion to a Despotick Power and to Arbitrary Government in all which they are served and seconded by those Ecclesiâ—stical Commissioners They have also followed the same Methods with relation to Civil Affairs For they have procured orders to examine all Lords-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Sheriffs Justices of Peace and all others that were in any publick Imployment if they would concur with the King in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and all such whose Consciences did not suffer them to comply with their Designs were turned out and others were put in their places who they believed would be more compliant to them in their designs of defeating the intent and Execution of those Laws which had been made with so much Care and Caution for the Security of the Protestant Religion And in many of these places they have put professed Papists tho the Law has disabled them and warranted the Subjects not to have any regard to their Order They have also invaded the Privileges and seised on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by their Burgesses in Parliament and have procured Surrenders to be made of them by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Privileges to be disposed of at the Pleasure of those Evil Counsellors who have thereupon placed new Magistrates in those Towns such as they can most entirely confide in and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law has put them And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the Administration of good and impartial Justice upon which Men Lives Liberties Honors and Estates do depend those Evil Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power In the most important Affairs they have studied to discover before-hand the Opinions of the Judges and have turned out such as they found would not conform themselves to their Intentions and have put others in their places of whom they were more assured without having any regard to their Abilities And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law and that no regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them They have carried this so far as to deprive such Judges who in the common Administration of Justice shew that they were governed by their Consciences and not by the Directions which the others gave them By which it is apparent that they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives Honors and Estates of the Subjects of what Rank or Dignity soever they may be and that without having any regard either to the Equity of the Cause or to the Consciences of the Judges whom they will have to submit in all things to their own Will and Pleasure hoping by such ways to intimidate those other Judges who are yet in Imployment as also such others as they shall think fit to put in the rooms of those whom they have turned out and to make them see what they must look for if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good liking and that no Failings of that kind are pardoned in any Persons whatsoever A great deal of Blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors against all the Rules and Forms of Law without so much as suffering the Persons that were accused to plead in their own Defence They have also by putting the Administration of Justice in the Hands of Papists brought all the Matters of Civil Justice into great Uncertainties with how much exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all places of Judicature but have put them under an Incapacity none are bound to acknowledge or to obey their Judgments and all Sentences given by them are null and void of themselves so that all Persons who have been cast in Trials before such Popish Judges may justly look on their pretended Sentences as having no more Force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorised Person whatsoever So deplorable is the case of the Subjects who are obliged to answer to such Judges that must in all things stick to the Rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors who as they raised them up to those Imployments so can turn them out of them at pleasure and who can never be esteemed Lawful Judges so that all their Sentences are in the Construction of the Law of no Force and Efficacy They have likewise disposed of all Military Imployments in the same manner For tho the Laws have not only excluded Papists from all such Imployments but have in particular provided that they should be disarmed yet they in contempt of those Laws have not only armed the Papists but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land and that Strangers as well as Natives and Irish as well as English that so by these means they having rendered themselves Masters both of the Affairs of the Church of the Government of the Nation and of the course of Justice and subjected them all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power they might be in a capacity to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by the assistance of the Army and thereby to enslave the Nation The dismal Effects of this Subversion of the established Religion Laws and Liberties in England appear more evidently to us by what we see done in Ireland where the whole Government is put into the hands of Papists and where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily Fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power which is set up there which has made great Numbers of them leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estates in it remembering well that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the year 1641. Those Evil Counsellors have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland that he is cloathed with Absolute Power and that all the Subjects are bound to obey him without Reserve upon which he has assumed an Arbitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom from all which it is apparent what is to be looked for in England as soon as Matters are duly prepared for it Those great and insufferable Oppressions and the open Contempt of all Law together with the Apprehensions of the said Consequences that must certainly follow upon it have put the Subjects under great and just Fears and have made them look after such lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations yet all has been without effect And those Evil Counsellors have endeavored to make all Men apprehend the loss of
appeared both during the Queens Pretended Biggness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible Grounds of Suspition that not only we our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the Pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queens Biggness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess and likewise we our selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the United Provinces were Invaded in a most unjust War use their utmost Endeavors to put an end to that War and that in Opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they run the Hazard of losing both the Favor of the Court and their Imployments And since the English Nation has ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our Dearest Consort the Princess and to our selves We cannot excuse our selves from espousing their Interests in a matter of such high Consequence and from Contributing all that lies in us for the Maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the Securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over to England and to carry over with us a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors And we being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood have for this end prepared this Declaration in which as we have hitherto given a true Account of the Reasons inducing us to it So we now think fit to Declare that this our Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible and that in order to this all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limited contrary to the Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no force And likewise all Magistrates who have been Injustly turned out shall forthwith resume their former Imployments as well as all the Boroughs of England shall return again to their Ancient Prescriptions and Charters And more particularly that the Ancient Charter of the Great and Famous City of London shall again be in Force And that the Writs for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to the proper Officers according to Law and Custom That also none be suffered to choose or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law And that the Members of Parliament being thus lawfully chosen they shall meet and sit in full Freedom that so the Two Houses may concur in the preparing of such Laws as they upon full and free Debate shall judge necessary and convenient both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test and such other Laws as are necessary for the Security and Maintenance of the Protestant Religion as likewise for making such Laws as may establish a good Agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters as also for the covering and securing of all such who will live Peaceable under the Government as becomes good Subjects from all Persecution upon the account of their Religion even Papists themselves not excepted and for the doing of all other things which the Two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace Honor and Safety of the Nation so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbitrary Government To this Parliament we will also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the Pretended Prince of Wales and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession And we for our part will concur in every thing that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine Since we have nothing before our Eyes in this our Undertaking but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the covering of all Men from Persecution for their Consciences and the Securing to the whole Nation the free Enjoyment of all their Laws Rights and Liberties under a Just and Legal Government This is the design that we have proposed to our selves in appearing upon this occasion in Arms In the Conduct of which we will keep the Forces under our Command under all the Strictness of Martial Discipline and take a special Care that the People of the Countries through which we must march shall not suffer by their means And as soon as the State of the Nation will admit of it we promise that we will send back all those Foreign Forces that we have brought along with us We do therefore hope that all People will judge rightly of us and approve of these our Proceedings But we chiefly rely on the Blessing of God for the Success of this our Undertaking in which we place our whole and only Confidence We do in the last place invite and require all Persons whatsoever all the Peers of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal all Lords-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist us in order to the Executing of this our Design against all such as shall endeavor to oppose us that so we may prevent all those Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery And that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament And we do likewise resolve that as soon as the Nations are brought to a State of Quiet we will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland for the restoring the Ancient Constitution of that Kingdom and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a Settlement that the People may live Easie and Happy and for putting an end to all the Injust Violences that have been in a course of so many Years committed there We will also study to bring the Kingdom of Ireland to such a State that the Settlement there may be Religiously observed and that the Protestant and British Interest there may be secured And we will endeavor by all possible means to procure such an Establishment in all the Three Kingdoms that they may all live in a Happy Union and Correspondence together and that the Protestant Religion and the Peace
humbly Pray That His Majesty would Consent to this Expedient in order to a future Settlement And hope that such a Temperament may be thought of as that the Army now on Foot may not give any Interruption to the proceeding of a Parliament But if to the great Misfortune and Ruin of these Kingdoms it should prove otherwise we further declare That we will to our utmost defend the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Kingdom and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject A Letter from a Gentleman at King's-Lynn December 7. 1688. To his Friend in London Sir THE Duke of Norfolk came to Town on Wednesday Night with many of the chiefest of the County and yesterday in the Market-place received the Address following which was presented by the Mayor attended by the Body and many hundreds of the Inhabitants To his Grace the most Noble Henry Duke of Norfolk Lord Marshal of England My Lord THE daily Allarms we receive as well from Foreign as Domestick Enemies give us just Apprehensions of the approaching Danger which we conceive we are in and to apply with all earnestness to your Grace as your great Patron in all humble Confidence to succeed in our Expectations That we may be put into such a posture by your Grace's Directions and Conduct as may make us appear as zealous as any in the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Laws and Ancient Government of this Kingdom Being the desire of many hundreds who must humbly callenge a Right of your Grace's Protection His Grace's Answer Mr. Mayor I Am very much obliged to you and the rest of your Body and those here present for your good Opinion of me and the Confidence you have that I will do what in me lies to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion in which I will never deceive you And since the coming of the Prince of Orange hath given us an opportunity to declare for the defence of them I can only assure you that no Man will venture his Life and Fortune more freely for the Defence of the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion than I will do and with all these Gentlemen here present and many more will unanimously concur therein and you shall see that all possible Care shall be taken that such a Defence shall be made as you require AFter which the Duke was with his Retinue received at the Mayor's House at Dinner with great Acclamations and his Proceedings therein have put our County into a Condition of Defence of which you shall hear further in a little time our Militia being ordered to be raised throughout the County Our Tradesmen Seamen and Mobile have this morning generally put Orange Ribbon on their Hats Ecchoing Huzza's to the Prince of Orange and Duke of Norfolk All are in a hot Ferment God send us a good Issue of it Lynn-Regis Decemb. 10. 1688. Sir BY mine of the 7th Instant I gave you an Account of the Address of this Corporation to his Grace the Duke of Norfolk and of his Grace's Answer thereto Since which his Grace has sent for the Militia Troops and put them in a posture of Defence as appears by the ensuing Speech The Duke of Norfolk's second Speech at Lynn I Hope you see I have endeavoured to put you in the posture you desired by sending both for Horse and Foot of the Militia and am very glad to see such an Appearance of this Town in so good a Condition And I do again renew my former Assurances to you that I will ever stand by you to Defend the Laws Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to procure a Settlement in Church and State in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And so God save the King The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-hall Dec. 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably Hope that the King having Issued His Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested Secure under the Expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn Himself and as we apprehend in order to His Departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of Persons ill-affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably Involved these Realms We do therefore Unanimously resolve to apply our Selves to His Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard to his own Person hath Undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue Us with as little Effusion as possible of Christian Blood from the Imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby Declare That we will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties may be Secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World may be Supported and Encouraged to the glory of God the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the Parts adjacent by taking care to Disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests who are in our about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by us for promoting his Highness's generous Intentions for the Publick good we shall be ready to do it as occasion shall require W. Cant. Tho. Ebor. Pembroke Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Barkelay Rochester Newport Waymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph Fran. Ely Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriberg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandos Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crewe Osulston WHereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn Himself we the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are subscribed being assembled at Guild-hall in London having Agreed upon and Signed a Declaration Entituled The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-hall 11. Decemb. 1688. Do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same
from those Contentions whilest every one pretended to all the Marks which are to attend upon the true Church except only that which is inseparable from it Charirity to one another My Lords and Gentlemen This Disquisition hath cost the King many a Sigh many a sad Hour when he hath considered the almost irreparable Reproach the Protestant Religion hath undergone from the Divisions and Distractions which have been so notorious within this Kingdom What pains he hath taken to compose them after several Discourses with learned and pious Men of different Perswasions you will shortly see by a Declaration He will publish upon that Occasion by which you will see His great Indulgence to those who can have any Protection from Conscience to differ with their Brethren And I hope God will so bless the Candor of His Majesty in the Condescentions he makes that the Church as well as the State will return to that Unity and Unanimity which will make both King and People as happy as they can hope to be in this World My Lords and Gentlemen I shall conclude with the Kings hearty thanks to you not only for what you have done towards Him which hath been very signal but for what you have done towards each other for the excellent correspondence you have maintained for the very seasonable Deference and Condescention you have had for each other which will restore Parliaments to the Veneration they ought to have And since His Majesty knows that you all desire to please him you have given him ample Evidence that you do so He hath appointed me to give you a sure Receipt to attain that good End it is a Receipt of His own prescribing and therefore is not like to fail Be but pleased your selves and perswade others to be so contrive all the ways imaginable for your own Happiness and you will make Him the best pleased and the most happy Prince in the World THE State of ENGLAND Both at HOME and ABROAD In Order to The Designs of France CONSIDERED To the READER THIS Discourse being imaginarily Scened and yet really performed out of the Treasure of a very great Minister of State 's Capacity it was thought fit to be Published now and not before because that Respect ought to be payed to the Secret of his Majesty's Affairs so as nothing should anticipate the King 's own Labours to give the People Satisfaction in his due time touching the tender Care that He is graciously pleased to take of all his Subjects in point of Honour Safety Freedom Union and Commerce which nothing could more advance then the Conclusion of the Treaty newly made betwixt England and the States of the United Provinces which without Flattery may be demonstrated to Men of Understanding to aim at nothing but the Good of His Subjects in general exempt from all manner of private Interest whatsoever Blessed be God then that it is so happily concluded and that we have a King whom nothing can ever alienate from the true Interest of his Realms nor no corrupt Counsellour let him be thought to be never so Powerful or Crafty in order to his own Advantages prevent the Wisdom and Integrity of such a Prince from prevailing above the Artifices and Frauds of those who would perswade the Nation were they competent Masters of their Art enough so to do that those Counsellors who are not interested can be less prudent or successful then such as did make it their Business to appropriate all to themselves and nothing to their Master The French King is much commended for his Parts and Activity but let us see him out-do the King of England in this particular of the Treaty both in Courage and Conduct and then I shall be apt to attribute his Grandeur as much to natural Abilities as extraordinary Fortune but not before THE State of England c. THE Adventure which happened unto me lately is of so extraordinary a nature and contains so many important Discoveries in relation to the publick Good in its Progress that I should prove defective towards my Countrey if I did not candidly publish all the Passages both touching the Occasion and Effects of what followed from this Accident Know then that a Peer of the Realm of England and one whose Merit Quality and the Place which he holds in the Administration of the Affairs of the Kingdom are remarkable did invite sundry of his Lordship's best Friends to a magnificent Feast and amongst the rest he had the kindness not to omit me out of the number where the excellence of the Chear which he made to his Guests after a most noble manner put the whole Company into such a refined humour of conversing together that the Entertainment was but one intire pleasing Debate how to express our compleat enjoying of each other I was not wanting with the uttermost of Vigour and Solace to uphold the Genious of this Conference But as the freest speakers do commonly come by the worst in Discourse and are the soonest exposed to enterfiering lashes I found my self to be attacqued in so many places at once with the swiftness of other Mens Reasons and Wits who held the opposite Arguments that although I were something heated yet there remained unto me presence of mind enough and success of Intervalls to get insensibly out of the Press whilst the Disorder and Confusion lasted which is usual at such Meetings into another room I retired then pursuing the Opportunity into a fair Gallery which surprised my Eyes with the rich Ornaments wherewith it was furnished but not without trouble neither and a Curiosity beyond the Opticks of the Place which increased there so as I was diverted from any farther Consideration of the Furniture because the Place seemed to lie too near the Enemy to dwell any longer upon those Objects Wherefore I went into another Chamber hard by which instantly filled me with new Apprehensions by the means of several large Looking-Glasses hanging on the Walls which shewed me my own proper Figure at length on every side and from thence imprinted in my wounded Imagination as many Adversaries as there were angular Reflections out of each Mirrour that appeared to pursue me so furiously that I ran on violently with my head forwards in order to some Escape to the door of another Chamber adjoyning thereunto which opened with such Resistance when I thrust against it as if it had been forced with a Petard And thus falling in the Attempt I was so stunned that it was a good while after before I could come to my self again But at last having partly recovered my spirits I was surprised with a fresh astonishment as much amazed me as the former had done that I repeated for when I began to open my eyes half way finding that till then they had been altogether unuseful to me I attributed the Disorder to want of Sight often feeling in regard of the Darkness of the Room to try whether they were still in my head or not
Confessor was in private with him and said this Harvy used frequently to come to the Prison after Condemnation and that where one Prisoner died a Protestant many died Papists Mr. Wootten said that after some stay he saw Mr. Harvy come out from Mr. Hubert and then he was admitted to have Speech with him Mr. Cawdry Keeper of Newgate did Inform That Mr. Harvy the Jesuit did frequent the Prison at Newgate about the times of the Execution upon the pretence of the Queens Charity and did spend much time with the Prisoners in private and particularly did so before the last Execution night after night Mr. Cawdry said likewise of the nine that suffered eight died Papists whereof some he knew were Protestants when they came into the Prison It appeared upon several Informations that Mr. Harvy and other Priests did not only resort to Newgate at times of Execution but likewise to the White-Lion in Southwark and other places in the Country and used their endeavours to pervert dying Prisoners Thomas Barnet late a Papist Informed That when he was a Papist and resorted to Gentlemens Houses in Barkshire that were Papists there was almost in every Gentlemans House a Priest and instanced in divers private Gentlemen in that County Others inform the like in Sarrey Mr. Cottman did inform That one Mr. Carpenter late a Preacher at Colledge-hill did in Discourse tell Cottman That the Judgments of God upon this Kingdom by the Plague last year and lately by the Fire in London were come upon this Land and People for their forsaking the true Roman Catholick Religion and shaking off Obedience to the Pope and that if they would return to the Church of Rome the Pope would rebuild the City at his own Charge Carpenter said likewise to Cottman That if he would come and hear him Preach the next Sunday at his House in Queen-street he would give twenty Reasons to prove that the Roman Catholick was the true Religion and his the false and that our Bible had a thousand falsities in it and that there was no true Scripture but at Rome and their Church Carpenter at the Committee confessed that he had formerly taken Orders from the Church of Rome to be a Priest but said he had renounced that Church and taken Orders in England The next thing is the Information of their Insolency and I shall begin with their Scorning and Despising the Bible One Thomas Williams an Officer in Sir William Bowyer 's Regiment Informed That one Ashley a Papist seeing a Woman read in a Bible asked her why she read in that Damnable Presbiterian Bible and said A Play-book was as good Thomas Barnet of Bingfield in Barkshire Informed That being at one Mr. Young's House in Bingfield at Bartholomew-tide last Mr. Young said to the Brother of this Thomas in his hearing That within two Years there should not be a Protestant in England Thomas Barnet Informed further That being at Mr. Doncaster's House in Bingfield one Mr. Thural Son-in-Law to Mr. Doncaster and both Papists said to this Informer who was then likewise a Papist The People take me for a poor fellow but I shall find a thousand or two thousand pounds to raise a party of Horse to make Mr. Hathorns and Mr. Bullocks fat guts lie on the ground for it is no more to kill an Heretick than to kill a Grashopper and that it was happy for him that he was a Catholick for by that means he shall be one that shall be mounted Mr. Linwood Scrivenner in White-Chappel Informed That about the Twentieth of October last meeting with one Mr. Binks a Papist and discoursing with him Binks told him That there was amongst the Papists as a great Design aâ— ever was in England and he thought it would be executed suddenly Being asked how many Papists there were about London He answered About seven thousand and in England an hundred thousand were Armed Mr. Oaks a Physician dwelling in Shadwel Informed That a little after the burning of London one Mr. Carpenter a Minister came to his House in Tower-wharf and spake to him to this purpose I will not say that I am a Papist but this I will say that I had rather die the death of the Papists and that my Soul should be raised with their Resurrection than either to be Presbiterian Independant or Anabaptist and I tell you the Papists have hitherto been his Majesty's best Fortification for when Presbiterians Independants and Anabaptists forsook and opposed him then they stood by him and helped him and he is now resolved to commit himself into their hands And take it upon my word in a short time the Papists will lay you as low as that house pointing to an house that was demolished for they are able to raise Forty thousand men and I believe the next work will be cutting of Throats This was Sworn by Mr. Oaks before Sir John Frederick a Member of the House Mirian Pilkington being present when the Words were spoken doth affirm them all save only those That the King is resolved to commit himself into the Papists hands Those she doth not remember Henry Young a Distiller of Hot-waters informed That about April 1661. being in the Jesuites Colledge in Antwerp one Powel an English Jesuite perswaded him to turn a Roman Catholick and said That if he intended to save his Life and Estate he had best turn so for within seven Years he should see all England of that Religion Young replied That the City of London would never endure it Powel answered That within five or six Years they would break the Power and Strength of London in pieces and that they had been contriving it these twenty Years and that if Young did live he should see it done The said Young did likewise Inform That shortly after his coming into England one Thomson and Copervel both Papists did several times say to him That within five or six Years at the farthest the Roman Catholick Religion should be all over in this Kingdom Jasper Goodwin of Darking in the County of Surrey Informed That about a Month since one Edward Complin a Papist said to him You must all be Papists shortly and that now he was not ashamed to own himself a Roman Catholick and to own his Priest naming two that were in Darkin in the houses of two Papists and likewise said That in twenty four hours warning the Roman Catholicks could raise thirty thousand Men as well armed as any Men in Christendom William Warner of Darking Informed That the said Edward Complin did tell him That the Roman Catholicks in England could in twenty four hours raise thirty thousand Horse and Arms And upon saying so pulled out his Crucifix and Beads and said He was not ashamed of his Religion John Grawnger of Darking Informed that about a Year since being in his House reading the Bible one Thomas Collins a Papist said to him Are you still a Church-goer Had you not better turn Roman Catholick If you stay till you
are forced none will abide you And said further That there was a Man beyond sea had prophesied That in sixty six if the King did not settle the Romish Religion in England he would be banished out of the Kingdom and all his Posterity And Collins further said That he being lately turned a Roman Catholick he would not be a Protestant for all the World He wished Graunger again in the hearing of his Wife which he affirmed to the Committee to turn his Religion for all the said Prophesie would come to pass in Sixty six Robert Holloway of Darking aforesaid informed That one Stephen Griffin a Papist said to him That all the bloud that had been shed in the late civil War was nothing to that which would be shed this year in England Holloway demanded a reason for these words in regard the Kingdom was in peace and no likelihood of trouble and said Do you Papists intend to rise and cut our throats when we are asleep Griffin answered That 's no matter if you live you shall see it Ferdinand de Massido a Portuguese and some Years since a Romish Priest but turning Protestant Informed That one Father Taff a Jesuite did the last year tell him at Paris That if all England did not return to the Church of Rome they should all be destroyed the next Year Mr. Samuel Cottman of the Middle-Temple Barister Informed That about two Years since one Mr. Jeviston a Popish Priest and called by the Name of Father Garret did perswade him to turn Papist and he should want neither Profit nor Preferment Mr. Cottman objected that he intended to practise the Law which he could not do if he turned Papist because he must take the Oath of Supremacy at his being called to the Bar and if he were a Papist he must not take it Mr. Jeviston replied Why not take the Oath It is an unlawful Oath and void ipso facto And after some pause said further First take the Oath and then I will convert you He said further The King will not own ' himself to be Head of the Church And said further You in England that set up the Dutch to destroy our Religion shall find that they shall be the Men to PULL DOWN YOURS Mr. Stanley an Officer to the Duke of Ormond in Ireland Informed That coming out of Ireland with one Oriel who owned himself of the Order of the Jesuites and commissioned from the Pope to be Lord Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Armah and falling into some Discourse with him he told him That there had been a Difference between him and some other of the Jesuites in Ireland and that part of the Occasion was that one Father Walsh and some other of the Jesuites there did dispense with the Papists in Ireland to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy by virtue of a standing Commission from the Pope which he had to do it during this King's Life and Oriel thought they ought not to do it by virtue of the standing Commission but should take a new Commission from the Pope every Year to do it And likewise That he brought eight Boys out of Ireland whom he intended to carry to Flanders to breed up in some of the Colledges there And at his taking Shipping to go for Flanders he shaked his Foot towards England terming it Egypt and said He would not return into England till he came with 50 thousand Men at his heels A French Merchant being a Papist living in St. Michael's Lane London writes in a Letter to his Friend That a great number of Men and Arms were ready here if those he wrote to were ready there He being upon the Intercepting of this Letter searched forty Fire-locks were found in his House ready loaden which were carried to Fishmongers-Hall a Month or more before the Fire and he committed to Prison but since released A Poor Woman retaining to one Belson's House a Papist about Darking in Surrey was follicited that she and her husband would turn Roman Catholicks which if they did voluntarily Now they would be accepted of but if they staid a little longer they would be forced whether they would or no and then they would not be esteemed This was deposed before Sir Adam Brown a Member of Parliament A Complaint being made against a Sugar-Baker at Fox-hall his House was searched by Lieutenant Collonel Luntly who found there several Guns with such Locks as no English-man who was at the taking of them could discharge together with Brass Blunderbusses and Fire-works of a furious and burning nature Trial being made of a small part of them the Materials were discerned to be Sulphur Aquavitae and Gun-powder whatever else In a Letter to Sir John Frederick and Mr. Nathanail Heron from Horsham in Sussex the 8th of September 1666. Subscibed Henry Chowne Wherein is mentioned that the said Henry Chowne had thoughts to come to London that week but that they were in Distraction there concerning the Papists fearing they would shew themselves all that day And that he had been to search a Papist's House within six miles of that place He with another Justice of Peace met the Gentleman's Brother who is a Priest going to London whom they searched and found a Letter about him which he had received that Morning from his Sister twenty miles off from him wherein is expressed That a great Business is in hand not to be committed to Paper as the times be Your Committee have thought fit to give no Opinion upon these Informations but leave the matter of Fact to your Judgments I am commanded to tell you That your Committee have several other things of this nature under their Inquiry AS a further Instance of the audacious and insolent Behaviour of these Popish Recusants take the following Copy of Verses made and then scattered abroad by some of their Party in Westminster-Hall and several other places about the City and elsewhere in the Kingdom COvre la feu ye Hugonots That have so branded us with Plots And henceforth no more Bonfires make Till ye arrive the Stygian Lakeâ— For down ye must ye Hereticks For all your hopes in sixty six The hand against you is so steady Your Babylon is faln already And if you will avoid that hap Return into your Mothers lap The Devil a Mercy is for those That Holy Mother-Church oppose Let not your Clergy you betray Great Eyes are ope and see the way Return in time if you will save Your Souls your Lives or ought you have And if you live till sixty seven Confess you had fair Warning given Then see in time or ay be blind Short time will shew you what 's behind Dated the 5th Day of November in the Year 1666. and the First Year of the Restoration of the Church of Rome in England NOt long after the Burning of London Mr. Brook Bridges a young gentleman of the Temple as he was going to attend Divine Service in the Temple-Church in a Pew there
out of the Hands of the Possessor than purely those of his own Conscience which is worthy Mr. Considerer's highest Consideration I shall only take notice of one Objection more and then conclude fearing I have too much trespass'd on your Patience already It 's very hard says he that a man should lose his Inheritance because he is of this or that Perswasion in Matters of Religion And truly Gentlemen were the Case only so I should be intirely of his mind But alass Popery whatever Mr. Considerer is pleas'd to insinuate in not an harmless innocent Perswasion of a Number of Men differing from others in matters relating to Christian Religion but is really and truly a different Religion from Christianity it self Nor is the Inheritance he there mentions an Inheritance only of Black-Acre and White Acre without any Office annexed which requires him to be par Officio But the Government and Protection of several Nations the Making War and Peace for them the Preservation of their Religion the Disposal of Publick Places and Revenues the Execution of all Laws together with many other things of the greatest Importance are in this Case claimed by the Word Inheritance which if you consider and at the same time reflect upon the Enslaving and Bloody Tenents of the Church of Rome more particularly the Hellish and Damnable Conspiracy those of that Communion are now carrying on against our Lives our Religion and our Government I am confident you will think it as proper for a Wolf to be a Shepherd as it is for a Papist to be the Defender of our Faith c. The Old Gentleman had no sooner ended his Discourse but I returned him my hearty Thanks for the Trouble he had been pleased to give himself on this Occasion and I could not but acknowledge he had given me great Satisfaction in that Affair what it will give thee Charles I know not I am sure I parted from him very Melancholy for having been a Fool so long Adieu I am thy Affectionate I. D. A Collection of Speeches IN THE House of Commons In the Year 1680. The Lord L. Speech My Lords MAny have been the Designs of the Papists to subvert this poor Nation from the Protestant Religion to that of the See of Rome and that by all the undermining Policies possibly could be invented during the Recess of Parliament even to the casting the Odium of their most Damnable Designs on the Innocency of his Majesties most Loyal Subjects We have already had a taste of their Plottings in Ireland and find how many unaccountable Irish Papists dally arrive which we have now under Consideration My Lord Dunbarton a great Romanist has Petitioned for his stay here alledging several Reasons therein which in my Opinion make all for his speedy Departure for I can never think his Majesty and this Kingdom sufficiently secure till we are rid of those Irish Cattel and all others besides for I durst be bold to say that whatsoever they may pretend there is not one of them but have a destructive Tenet only they want Power not Will to put it in force I would not have so much as a Popish Man nor a Popish Woman to remain here nor so much as a Popish Dog or a Popish Bitch no not so much as a Popish Cat that should pur or mew about the King We are in a Labyrinth of Evils and must carefully endeavour to get out of them and the greatest danger of all amongst us are our conniving Protestants who notwithstanding the many Evidences of the Plot have been industrious to revile the Kings Witnesses and such an one is R L'E who now disappears being one of the greatest Villains upon the Earth a Rogue beyond my Skill to delineate has been the Bugbear to the Protestant Religion and traduced the King and Kingdoms Evidences by his notorious scribling Writings and hath endeavoured as much as in him lay to eclipse the Glory of the English Nation he is a dangerous rank Papist proved by good and substantial Evidence for which since he has walked under another disguise he deserves of all Men to be hanged and I believe I shall live to see that to be his State He has scandalized several of the Nobility and detracted from the Rights of his Majesty's great Council the Parliament and is now fled from Justice by which he confesses the Charge against him and that shows him to be guilty My humble Motion is that this House Address to his Majesty to put him out of the Commission of Peace and all other Publick Employments for ever Speeches in the Honourable House of Commons Mr. Speaker IN the Front of Magna Charta it is said Nulli negabimus nulli differimus Justitiam we will defer or deny Justice to no Man to this the King is Sworn and with this the Judges are intrusted by their Oaths I admire what they can say for themselves if they have not read this Law they are not fit to sit upon the Bench and if they have I had almost said they deserve to lose their Heads Mr. Speaker The State of the poor Nation is to be deplored that in almost all ages the Judges who ought to be Preservers of the Laws have endeavoured to destroy them and that to please a Court-Faction they have by Treachery attempted to break the Bonds asunder of Magna Charta the great Treasury of our Peace it was no sooner passed but a Chief Justice in that day perswades the King he was not bound by it because he was under Age when it was passed But this sort of Insolence the next Parliament resented to the ruine of the pernicious Chief Justice In the time of Richard the Second an unthinking dissolute Prince there were Judges that did insinuate into the King that the Parliament were only his Creatures and depended on his Will and not on the Fundamental Constitutions of the Land which Treacherous Advice proved the Ruine of the King and for which all those evil Instruments were brought to Justice In his late Majesties Time his Misfortunes were occasioned chiesly by the Corruptions of the Long Robe his Judges by an Extrajudicial Opinion give the King Power to raise Money upon an extraordinary Occasion without Parliament and made the King Judge of such Occasions Charity prompts me to think they thought this a Service to the King but the sad Consequences of it may convince all Mankind that every illegal Act weakens the Royal Interest and to endeavour to introduce Absolute Dominion in these Realms is the worst of Treasons because whilst it bears the Face of Friendship to the King and Designs to be for his Service it never fails of the contrary effect The two great Pillars of the Government are Parliaments and Juries it is this gives us the Title of Free-born English-men for my Notion of Free-English-men is this that they are ruled by Laws of their own making and tried by Men of the same Condition with themselves The Two great
rest shelter themselves the Grand Jury were in an unheard of and unpresidented and illegal manner discharged and that with so much haste and fear lest they should finish that Presentment that they were prevented from delivering many other Indictments by them at that time found against other Popish Recusants Because a Pamphlet came forth Weekly called The Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome which exposes Popery as it deserves as ridiculous to the People a new and arbitrary Rule of Court was made in your Majesty's Court of King's Bench rather like a Star-Chamber than a Court of Law That the same should not for the future be Printed by any Person whatsoever We acknowledge your Majesty's Grace and Care in issuing forth divers Proclamations since the Discovery of the Plot for the banishing Papists from about this great City and Residence of your Majesty's Court and the Parliament but with trouble of Mind we do humbly inform your Majesty That notwithstanding all these Prohibitions great Numbers of them and of the most dangerous Sort to the Terrour of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects do daily resort hither and abide here Under these and other sad Effects and Evidences of the Prevalency of Popery and its Adherents We Your Majesty's Faithful Commons found this your Majesty's distressed Kingdom and other parts of your Dominions labouring when we assembled And therefore from our Allegiance to your Majesty our Zeal to our Religion our Faithfulness to our Country and our Care of Posterity We have lately upon mature deliberation proposed one Remedy of these Great Evils without which in our Judgments all others will prove vain and fruitless and like all deceitful Securities against certain Dangers will rather expose your Majesty's Person to the greatest hazard and the people together with all that 's valuable to them as Men or Christians to utter Ruine and Destruction We have taken this Occasion of an Access to your Majesty's Royal Presence humbly to lay before your Majesty's great Judgment and Gracious Consideration this most dreadful design of introducing Popery and as necessary consequences of it all other Calamities into your Majesty's Kingdoms And if after all this the private Suggestions of the subtle Accomplices of that Party and Design should yet prevail either to elude or totally obstruct the faithful Endeavours of Us your Commons for an Happy Settlement of this Kingdom We shall have this remaining Comfort That we have freed our selves from the Guilt of that Blood and Desolation which is like to ensue But our only Hope next under God is in your Sacred Majesty That by your Great Wisdom and Goodness we may be effectually secured from Popery and all the Evils that attend it and that none but persons of known Fidelity to your Majesty and Sincere Affections to the Protestant Religion may be put into any Employment Civil or Military that whilst we shall give a Supply to Tangier we may be assured we do not augment the Strength of our Popish Adversaries nor encrease our own Dangers Which Desires of your faithful Commons if your Majesty shall graciously vouchsafe to grant We shall not only be ready to assist your Majesty in Defence of Tangier but do whatsoever else shall be in our Power to enable your Majesty to protect the Protestant Religion and Interest at Home and abroad and to Resist and Repel the Attempts of your Majesty's and the Kingdoms Enemies The Humble Address of the House of Commons presented to His Majesty upon Tuesday the 21. Day of December 1680. In Answer to His Majesty's Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament upon the 15th Day of the same December May it please Your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled have taken into our serious Consideration your Majesty's Gracious Speech to both your Houses of Parliament on the 15th of this instant December and do with all the grateful Sense of Faithful Subjects and sincere Protestants acknowledge your Majesty's great Goodness to us in renewing the Assurances you have been pleased to give us of your readiness to concur with us in any means for the Security of the Protestant Religion and your Gracious Invitation of us to make our Desires known to your Majesty But with grief of Heart we cannot but observe that to these Princely Offers your Majesty has been advised by what Secret Enemies to Your Majesty and your People we know not to annex a Reservation which if insisted on in the instance to which alone it is applicable will render all your Majesty 's other Gracious Inclinations of no effect or advantage to us Your Majesty is pleased thus to limit your promise of concurrence in the Remedies which shall be proposed that they may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent And we do humbly inform your Majesty that no Interruption of that Descent has been endeavoured by us except only the Descent upon the Person of the Duke of York who by the wicked Instruments of the Church of Rome has been manifestly perverted to their Religion And we do humbly represent to your Majesty as the Issue of our most deliberate Thoughts and Consultations that for the Papists to have their hopes continued that a Prince of that Religion shall succeed in the Throne of these Kingdoms is utterly inconsistent with the Safety of your Majesty's Person the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Prosperity Peace and Welfare of your Protestant Subjects That your Majesty's Sacred Life is in continual danger under the prospect of a Popish Successor is evident not only from the Principles of those devoted to the Church of Rome which allow that an Heretical Prince and such they term all Protestant Princes Excommunicated and deposed by the Pope may be destroyed and murther'd but also from the Testimonies given in the prosecution of the Horrid Popish Plot against divers Traitors Attainted for designing to put those accursed Principles into practice against your Majesty From the expectation of this Succession has the number of Papists in your Majesty's Dominions so much encreased within these few years and so many been prevailed with to desert the true Protestant Religion that they might be prepared for the Favours of a Popish Prince assoon as he should come to the possession of the Crown and while the same Expectation lasts many more will be in the same danger of being perverted This it is that has hardned the Papists of this Kingdom animated and confedederated by their Priests and Jesuits to make a common Purse provide Arms make application to Foreign Princes and sollicite their Aid for imposing Popery upon us And all this even during your Majesty's Reign and while your Majesty's Government and the Laws were our protection It is your Majesty's Glory and true Interest to be the Head and Protector of all Protestants as well abroad as at home But if these Hopes remain what
said Report Resolved Nemine contradicente THat Richard Thompson Clerk hath publickly defamed his Sacred Majesty preached Sedition vilified the Reformation promoted Popery by asserting Popish Principles decrying the Popish Plot and turning the same upon the Protestants and endeavoured to subvert the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Rights and Privileges of Parliament and that he is a Scandal and Reproach to his Function And that the said Richard Thompson be impeached upon the said Report and Resolution of the House And a Committee is appointed to prepare the said Impeachment and to receive further Instructions against him and to send for Persons Papers and Records Articles of Impeachment of Sir William Scroggs Chief Justice of the Court of King ' s-Bench by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled in their own Name and in the Name of all the Commons of England of High-Treason and other great Crimes and Misdemeanors I. THat he the said Sir William Scroggs then being Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench hath traiterously and wickedly endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and the Establisht Religion and Government of this Kingdom of England and instead thereof to introduce Popery and an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which he has declared by divers Traiterous and Wicked Words Opinions Judgments Practices and Actions II. That he the said Sir William Scroggs in Trinity Term last being then Chief Justice of the said Court and having taken an Oath duly to Administer Justice according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm in pursuance of his said Traiterous Purposes did together with the rest of the said Justices of the same Court several days before the end of the said Term in an Arbitrary manner discharge the Grand Jury which then served for the Hundred of Oswaldston in the County of Middlesex before they had made their Presentments or had found several Bills of Indictment which were then before them whereof the said Sir William Scroggs was then fully informed and that the same would be tendered to the Court upon the last day of the said Term which day then was and by the known Course of the said Court hath always heretofore been given unto the said Jury for the delivering in of their Bills and Presentments by which sudden and illegal Discharge of the said Jury the Course of Justice was stopt maliciously and designedly the Presentments of many Papists and other Offenders were obstructed and in particular a Bill of Indictment against James Duke of York for absenting himself from Church which was then before them was prevented from being proceeded upon III. That whereas one Henry Carr had for some time before Publish'd every week a certain Book Intituled The weekly Packet of advice from Rome Or the History of Popery wherein the Superstitions and Cheats of the Church of Rome were from time to time exposed he the said Sir William Scroggs then Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench together with the other Judges of the said Court before any Legal Conviction of the said Carr of any Crime did in the same Trinity Term in a most Illegal and Arbitrary manner make and cause to be entred a certain Rule of that Court against the Printing of the said Book in Haec Verba Dies Mercurii proxime post tres Septimanas Sanctae Trinitatis Anno 32 Car. II. Regis ORdinatum est quod Liber intitulat ' The weekly Packet of Advice from Rome Or The History of Popery Non ulterius imprimatur vel publicetur per aliquam personam quamcunque Per Cur ' And did cause the said Carr and divers Printers and other Persons to be served with the same which said Rule and other Proceedings were most apparently contrary to all Justice in Condemning not only what had been written without hearing the Parties but also all that might for the future be written on that Subject A manifest countenancing of Popery and discouragement of Protestants an open Invasion upon the Right of the Subject and an encroaching and assuming to themselves a Legislative Power and Authority IV. That he the said Sir William Scroggs since he was made Chief Justice of the King 's Bench hath together with the other Judges of the said Court most notoriously departed from all Rules of Justice and Equality in the Imposition of Fines upon Persons convicted of Misdemeanours in the said Court and particularly in the Term of Easter last past did openly declare in the said Court in the Case of one Jessop who was convicted of Publishing False News and was then to be sined That he would have regard to Persons and their Principles in imposing of Fines and would set a Fine of 500 l. on one Person for the same Offence for the which he would not Fine another 100 l. And according to his said Unjust and Arbitrary Declaration he the said Sir Will. Scroggs together with the said other Justices did then impose a Fine of 100 l. upon the said Jessop although the said Jessop had before that time proved one Hewit to be convicted as Author of the said false News and afterwards in the same Term did fine the said Hewit upon his said Conviction only five Marks Nor hath the said Sir Will. Scroggs together with the other Judges of the said Court had any regard to the Nature of the Offences or the Ability of the Persons in the imposing of Fines but have been manifestly partial and favourable to Papists and Persons affected to and promoting the Popish Interest in this time of imminent Danger from them And at the same time have most severely and grievously oppressed his Majesty's Protestant Subjects as will appear upon view of the several Records of Fines set in the said Court By which arbitrary unjust and partial Proceedings many of his Majesty's Liege People have been ruined and Popery countenanced under colour of Justice and all the Mischiefs and Excesses of the Court of Star-Chamber by Act of Parliament suppressed have been again in direct opposition to the said Law introduced V. That he the said Sir Will. Scroggs for the further accomplishing of his said traiterous and wicked Purposes and designing to subject the Persons as well as the Estates of his Majesty's Liege People to his lawless Will and Pleasure hath frequently refused to accept of Bail though the same were sufficient and legally tendered unto him by many Persons accused before him only of such Crimes for which by Law Bail ought to have been taken and divers of the said Persons being only accused of Offences against himself declaring at the same time That he refused Bail and committed them to Gaol only to put them to Charges and using such furious Threats as were to the terrour of his Majesty's Subjects and such scandalous Expressions as were a dishonour to the Government and to the Dignity of his Office And particularly That he the said Sir Will. Scroggs did in the Year 1679 commit and detain in Prison in such
unlawful manner among others Henry Carr George Broome Edw. Berry Benj. Harris Francis Smith Sen. Francis Smith Jun. and Jane Curtis Citizens of London Which Proceedings of the said Sir Will. Scroggs are a high Breach of the Liberty of the Subject destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm contrary to the Petition of Right and other Statutes and do manifestly tend to the introducing of Arbitrary Power VI. That he the said Sir Will. Scroggs in further Oppression of his Majesty's Liege People hath since his being made Chief Justice of the said Court of Kings Bench in an Arbitrary manner granted divers general Warrants for Attaching the Persons and Seizing the Goods of his Majesty's Subjects not named or described particularly in the said Warrants By means whereof many of his Majesty's Subjects have been vexed their Houses entered into and they themselves grievously oppressed contrary to Law VII Whereas there hath been a Horrid and Damnable Plot contrived and carried on by the Papists for the Murthering the King the Subversion of the Laws and Government of this Kingdom and for the Destruction of the Protestant Religion in the same All which the said Sir William Scroggs well knew having himself not only Tried but given Judgment against several of the Offenders nevertheless the said Sir Will. Scroggs did at divers times and places as well sitting in Court as otherwise openly Defame and Scandalize several of the Witnesses who had proved the said Treasons against divers of the Conspirators and had given Evidence against divers other Persons who were then untried and did endeavour to disparage their Evidence and take off their Credit whereby as much as in him lay he did traiterously and wickedly suppress and stifle the Discovery of the said Popish Plot and Encourage the Conspirators to proceed in the same to the great and apparent Danger of his Majesty's Sacred Life and of the well-established Government and Religion of this Realm of England VIII Whereas the said Sir William Scroggs being advanced to be Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench ought by a sober grave and vertuous Conversation to have given a good Example to the King's Liege People and to demean himself answerable to the Dignity of so Eminent a Station yet he the said Sir William Scroggs on the contrary by his frequent and notorious Excesses and Debaucheries and his Prophane and Atheistical Discourses doth daily affront Almighty God dishonour his Majesty give countenance and incouragement to all manner of Vice and Wickedness and bring the highest scandal on the publick Justice of the Kingdom All which Words Opinions and Actions of the said Sir William Scroggs were by him spoken and done traiterously wickedly falsly and maliciously to alienate the Hearts of the King's Subjects from his Majesty and to set a Division between him and them and to subvert the Fundamental Laws and the Establisht Religion and Government of this Kingdom and to Introduce Popery and an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government and contrary to his own knowledge and the known Laws of the Realm of England and thereby he the said Sir William Scroggs hath not only broken his own Oath but also as far as in him lay hath broken the King Oath to his People whereof he the said Sir William Scroggs representing his Majesty in so high an Office of Justice had the Custody for which the said Commons do Impeach him the said Sir William Scroggs of the High-Treason against our Sovereign Lord the King and his Crown and Dignity and other the High Crimes and Misdemeanours aforesaid And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir William Scroggs and also of Replying to the Answer that he shall make thereunto and of Offering proofs of the Premises or of any other Impeachments or Accusations that shall be by them exhibited against him as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliament require Do pray that the said Sir Will. Scroggs Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench may be put to Answer to all and every the Premises and may be committed to safe Custody and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon him had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice and the Course of Parliaments Resolved That the said Sir William Scroggs be Impeached upon the said Articles The Humble Petition of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common-Council Assembled on the Thirteenth of January 1680. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty for the Sitting of this present Parliament Prorogu'd to the Twentieth Instant Together with the Resolutions Orders and Debates of the said Court Commune Concil ' tent ' in Camera Guildhall Civitatis London Die Jovis decimo tertio die Januarii Anno Domini 1680. Annoque Regni Domini nostri Carol ' Secundi nunc Regis Angl ' c. Tricesimo secundo coram Patient ' Ward Mil ' Major ' Civitatis London Thoma Aleyn Mil ' Bar ' Johanne Frederick Mil ' Johanne Lawrence Mil ' Georgio Waterman Mil ' Josepho Sheldon Mil ' Jacobo Edwards Mil ' Roberto Clayton Mil ' Aldermannis Georgio Treby Ar ' Recordatore dictae Civit ' Johanne Moore Mil ' Willielmo Pritchard Mil ' Henrico Tulse Mil ' Jacobo Smith Mil ' Roberto Jeffery Mil Johanne Shorter Mil ' Thoma Gould Mil ' Willielmo Rawsterne Mil ' Thoma Beckford Mil ' Johanne Chapman Mil ' Simone Lewis Mil ' Thoma Pilkington Ar ' Ald'ris Henrico Cornish Ar ' Ald'ro ac unum vicecom ' dictae Civitatis necnon Major ' parte Comminarior ' dictae Civitatis in Communi Concil ' tunc ibidem Assemblat ' THis Day the Members that serve for this City in Parliament having communicated unto this Court a Vote or Resolution of the Honourable House of Commons whereby that House was pleased to give Thanks unto this City for their manifest Loyalty to the King their Care Charge and Vigilance for the Preservation of his Majesty's Person and of the Protestant Religion This Court is greatly sensible of the Honour thereby given to this City and do declare That it is the fixt and uniform Resolution of this City to persevere in what they have done and to contribute their utmost Assistance for the Defence of the Protestant Religion His Majesty's Person and the Government Established It was now unanimously Agreed and Ordered by this Court That the Thanks of this Court be given to the Members that serve for this City in Parliament for their good Service done this City and their Faithfulness in discharging their Duties in that Honourable and great Assembly Upon a Petition now Presented by divers Citizens and Inhabitants of this City representing their Fears from the Designs of the Papists and their Adherents and praying this Court to acquaint his Majesty therewith and to desire That the Parliament may sit from the Day
to which it stands Prorogued until they have sufficiently provided against Popery and Arbitrary Power This Court after some Debate and Consideration had thereupon did return the Petitioners Thanks for their Care and good Intention herein And did thereupon nominate and appoint Sir John Lawrence Sir Robert Clayton Knights and Aldermen Mr. Recorder Sir Thomas Player Kt. Mr. John Du Bois John Ellis Esq and Mr. Michael Godfrey Commoners to withdraw and immediately to prepare a Petition to his Majesty upon the Subject matter of the said Petition who accordingly withdrawing after some time returned again to this Court and then presented the Draught of such a Petition to his Majesty The Tenor whereof followeth Viz. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty c. After reading whereof It is agreed and ordered by this Court Nemine Contradicente That the said Petition shall be presented to his Majesty this Evening or as soon as conveniently may be And the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor is desired to present the same accompanied with Sir John Lawrence Sir Joseph Sheldon Sir James Edwards Knights and Aldermen Mr. Recorder Deputy Hawes Deputy Daâ—â—l John Nichols John Ellis Esquires Mr. Godfrey and Capt. Griffith Commoners who are now nominated and appointed to attend upon his Lordship at the Presenting thereof Ward Mayor Commune Concil ' tent ' 13 Januarii 1680. Annoque Regis Car. II. 32. IT is Agreed and Ordered by this Court Nemine Contradicente That the Humble Petition to His Majesty from this Court now read and agreed upon shall be presented to His Majesty this Evening or as soon as conveniently may be And the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor is desired to Present the same accompanied with Sir John Lawrence Sir Joseph Sheldon and Sir James Edwards Knights and Aldermen Mr. Recorder Deputy Hawes Deputy Daniel John Nichols John Ellis Esquires Mr. Godfrey and Capt. Griffith Commoners who are now nominated and appointed to attend upon his Lordship at the Presenting thereof Wagstaffe To the KING 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common-Council Assembled Most Humbly sheweth THat Your Majesty's great Council in Parliament having in their late Session in pursuance of Your Majesty's Direction entred upon a strict and impartial Inquiry into the horrid and execrable Popish Plot which hath been for several years last past and still is carried on for destruction of Your Majesty's Sacred Person and Government and extirpation of the Protestant Religion and the utter Ruine of Your Majesty's Protestant Subjects and having so far proceeded therein as justly to attaint upon full Evidence one of the five Lords impeached for the same and were in further Prosecution of the remaining Four Lords and other Conspirators therein And as well the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as the Commons in Your said Parliament assembled having Declared That they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers years last past hath been a horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Pupish Religion in Ireland for Massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and the Ancient established Government of that Kingdom And Your said Commons having Impeached the Earl of Tyrone in order to the bringing him to Justice for the same And having under Examination other Conspirators in the said Irish Plot. And Your said Commons having likewise impeached Sir William Scroggs Chief Justice of Your Majesty's Court of Kings Bench for Treason and other great Crimes and Misdemeanors in endeavouring to subvert the Laws of this Kingdom by his Arbitrary and Illegal proceedings And having voted Impeachments against several other Judges for the like Misdemeanors Your Petitioners considering the continual Hazards to which Your Sacred Life and the Protestant Religion and the Peace of this Kingdom are exposed while the Hopes of a Popish Successor gives Countenance and Encouragement to the Conspiratours in their wicked Designs And considering also the Disquiet and Dreadful Apprehensions of Your good Subjects by reason of the Miseries and Mischiefs which threaten them on all parts as well from Foreign Powers as from the Conspiracies within Your several Kingdoms against which no sufficient Remedy can be provided but by Your Majesty and Your Parliament were extreamly surprized at the late Prorogation whereby the Prosecution of the Publick Justice of the Kingdom and the making the Provisions necessary for the Preservation of Your Majesty and Your Protestant Subjects hath received an interruption And they are the more affected herewith by reason of the Experience they have had of the great Progress which the emboldned Conspirators have formerly made in their Designs during the late frequent Recesses of Parliament But that which supports them against Dispair is the Hopes they derive from Your Majesty's Goodness That Your Intention was and does continue by this Prorogation to make way for Your better Concurrence with the Counsels of Your Parliament And Your Petitioners humbly hope That Your Majesty will not take Offence that your Subjects are thus Zealous and even impatient of the least Delay of the long hoped for Security whilst they see your precious Life invaded the true Religion undermined their Families and innocent Posterity likely to be subjected to Blood Confusion and Ruine and all these Dangers encreased by reason of the late Endeavours of Your Majesty and Your Parliament which have added Provocation to the Conspirators but have had little or no Effect towards securing against them And they trust Your Majesty will graciously accept this Discovery and Desire of their Loyal Hearts to preserve Your Majesty and whatever else is dear to them and to strengthen Your Majesty against all Popish and Pernicious Counsels which any ill affected Persons may persume to offer They do therefore most humbly Pray That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased as the only means to quiet the Minds and extinguish the Fears of Your Protestant People and prevent the imminent Dangers which threaten Your Majesty's Kingdoms and particularly this Your Great City which hath already so deeply suffered for the same to permit Your said Parliament to Sit from the Day to which they are Prorogued untill by their Counsels and Endeavours those good Remedies shall be provided and those just Ends attained upon which the Safety of Your Majesty's Person the preservation of the Protestant Religion the Peace and Settlement of Your Kingdoms and the Welfare of this Your Ancient City do so absolutely depend For the pursuing and obtaining of which good Effects Your Petitioners unanimously do offer their Lives and Estates And shall ever Pray c. Vox Patriae Or the Resentments and Indignation of the Free-born Subjects of England against Popery Arbitrary Government the Duke of York or any Popish Successor being a true Collection of the Petitions and Addresses lately made from divers Counties Cities and Boroughs of this Realm to their respective Representatives chosen to serve in the Parliament
although we do not in the least question your Faithfulness to the true Interest of this Nation nor your Prudence in the Management thereof yet esteeming it greatly our Duty in this unhappy Juncture wherein our Religion Lives Liberties Properties and all that is dear unto us are in such iminent danger to signifie our pressing Dangers unto You. And accordingly we do request That in the next Parliament wherein we have chose You to Sit and Act That You will with the greatest Integrity and most undaunted Resolution joyn with and assist the other Worthy Representatives and Patriots of this Nation in the searching into and preventing the Horrid and Hellish Villâ—nies Plots and Designs of that wicked and restless sort of People the Papists both in this and the Neighbouring Kingdoms And making some honourable Provision for the Discovery thereof In securing to us the Enjoyment of the True Protestant Religion and the well established Government of this Kingdom In Promoting the happy and long prayed for Union among all His Majesties Protestant Subjects In Repealing the 35th of Elizabeth the Corporation-Act and all other Acts which upon experience have proved injurious to the true Protestant Interest In Asserting the Peoples unquestionable Rights of Petitioning In removing our just Fears by reason of the great Forces in this Kingdom under the Name of Guards which the Law hath no knowledge of In preventing the Misery Ruine and utter Destruction which unavoidably must come upon this and the neighbouring Nations if James Duke of York or any other Papist shall ascend the Royal Throne of this Kingdom And lastly in securing to us our Legal Right of Annual Parliaments which under God will unquestionably prove the highest security of all that is good and desirable to us and our Posterity after us Always assuring our selves that you will not in any wise consent unto any Money-Supply until we are effectually secured against Popery and Arbitrary Power And particularly we desire you to give the most hearty Thanks of this County to that Noble Peer the Earl of Essex and by him to the rest of those Noble and Renowned Peers who were pleased lately and so seasonably to offer their Petition and Advice to His Majesty In the pursuance of all which Needful Worthy and Excellent Ends we shall as in duty bound stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes A Letter of Thanks from the Grand-Jury of the County of Worcester to the Knights of this Shire Dated Jan. 12. 1680. Honoured Sirs WE the Grand-Jury of the County of Worcester at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace held for the said County the 11th day of Jan. in the 32d year of the King's Majesties Reign do hereby in the behalf of our selves and the County for which we serve return you our most hearty Thanks for your constant and unwearied Attendance upon the Service of His Majesty and your Country in this present Parliament in a Time of such iminent danger And especially of your concurrence in those Methods that have been taken for the Security of His Majesties Sacred Person the Protestant Religion and the Properties of His Majesties Subjects against the Hellish Plots of the Papists and their Adherents And we do humbly request your continuance therein and shall ever pray for the preservation of the Person of our most Gracious Sovereign and that God will direct and unite his Councils and upon all occasions testifie that we are Honoured Sirs Your very Humble Obliged and Thankful Servants This was signed by all the said Grand-Jury and directed to the Honourable Colonel Samuel Sandys and Thomas Foley Esquires Members of this present Parliament A Letter from the Ancient and Loyal Borough of North-Allerton in Yorkshire Dated Jan. 14. 1680. to their Burgesses in Parliament Honoured Sirs THe unexpected and sudden News of this Day 's Post preventing us from sending those due Acknowledgments which the greatness of your Services for Publick Good have merited from us we have no better way now left us to express our Gratitude and the highest Resentments of your Actions before and in your last Sessions of Parliament than to manifest our Approbation thereof by an Assurance that if a Dissolution of this present Parliament happen since you have evidenced so sufficiently your Affections to His Majesties Royal Person and Endeavours for the preserving the Protestant Religion our Laws and Liberties we are now resolved if you are pleas'd to continue with us to continue you as our Representatives And do therefore beg your Acceptance thereof and farther that you will continue your Station during this Prorogation faithfully assuring you that none of us desire to give or occasion you the Expence or Trouble of a Journey in order to your Election if such happen being so sensible of the too great expence you have been at already in so carefully discharging the Trust and Confidence reposed in you by Gentlemen Your Obliged and Faithful Friends and Servants Signed by the Burgesses and Electors of North-Allerton and directed to Sir Gilbert Gerrard and Sir Henry Calverly Burgesses for the Borough of North-Allerton in Yorkshire The same day the Grand-Jury of Reading Presented the following Paper to the Mayor of that Town Berkshire ss The Petition of the Grand-Jury of the Borough of Reading at the Sessions holden at the said Borough Jan. 14. 1680. To the Right Worshipful the Mayor and Aldermen of the Town and Borough of Reading The Humble Petition of the Grand-Jury of the said Town in behalf of themselves and others the Inhabitants of the same Sheweth THat your Petitioners are deeply sensible of the Great and Iminent Dangers and Mischiefs that threaten Us as well as the whole Nation by the implacable Malice and Endeavour of our Enemies to introduce Popery and Arbitrary Government to Subvert the Protestant Religion and our well-establisht Laws and to deprive us of our undoubted Rights and Liberties We therefore humbly entreat you that you would take it into your consideration that no Person whatsoever may be imployed encouraged or empowered to act in any wise in this Corporation that hath been Voted and Deemed in Parliament a Betrayer of the Rights of the People of England And your Petitioners shall Pray c. Soon after the Amazing Dissolution happened and His Majesty having then Declared his pleasure to Summon and Hold the next Parliament not at Westminster which in all Ages has been generally the usual place of Convening those Assemblies as being most conveniently situate near the Metropolis of the Kingdom where all Persons may be much better accommodated than elsewhere but at the City of Oxford several Noble Lords thought it their Duty humbly to Represent the Inconveniencies which in their apprehensions would attend such chargeable Removal and submissively to offer their Advice to His Majesty to alter that Resolution in the following Petition which being presented to His Majesty by that Noble Peer of approved Loyalty and Prudence the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex His Lordship
against the Incroachments of Arbitrary Power In pursuance of which Great and Good Ends we shall always be ready as we are obliged to adhere to you our Honoured Representatives with the utmost hazard of our Persons and Estates City of Chichester the same Day After the Unanimous Choice of John Braman and Richard Farington Esquires who serv'd for that City in the late Parliament they had the Sence of that Eminent City delivered to them by a Worthy Person in the Name and by the Consent of the rest in the following Speech Gentlemen THe Faithful discharge of the like high Trust we formerly gave you is the true Inducement of our chusing you again And as we heartily thank you for your past worthy Behaviour in Parliament and in a particular manner for your being for the Bill of Exclusion for the Bill of Uniting all His Majesty's Subjects for Vindicating our almost lost Right of Petitioning for frequent Parliaments and for your endeavour to call those wretched Pensioners to an Account that betray'd the Nation in the late Long Parliament So we pray you to persevere in your faithful Service of us until the Nation be throughly secured against Popery and Arbitrary Power And since that Famous and Renowned Bulwark of the Protestant Religion the ever-to-be-honoured City of London have commanded their Sheriffs to present their Thanks to the true English and Noble Earl of Essex and by him to the rest of those Right Honourable Peers for their late Excellent Petition and Advice to His Majesty so we being willing to imitate so Good and Great an Example do desire you in our names to present in like manner our humble and hearty Thanks to the said Earl and those Noble Lords Borough of Colchester February 15. 1680 1. After the Election made a great Number of the Free-Burgesses of this Corporation agreed upon the following Address to be presented to their Representatives To the Honourable Sir Harbottle Grimston Baronet and Samuel Reynolds Esq now chosen Burgesses for our Corporation of Cochester in the County of Essex WE the Free-Burgesses of the said Corporation being deeply sensible of the unspeakable danger threatning His Majesty's Life and the Protestant Religion and the well established Government of this Kingdom from the Hellish Designs of the Papists and their wicked Adherents And that our Religion and Liberties can only under God be secured to us and our Posterity by wholsome Advice in Parliament Have now chosen you to represent us there in confidence of your Integrity and Courage to discharge so great a Trust in this time of Imminent Danger And we do desire you to allow us to speak our stedfast Resolution with utmost hazard of our Lives and Fortunes to shew our Approbation of what shall be resolved in Parliament for maintaining the Protestant Religion and our Liberties against Popery and Arbitrary Government And we hope you will endeavour to the utmost of your Power to disable James Duke of York and all other Popish Pretenders from Inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm And we shall pray for your good success Here we cannot but inform the Reader That the Notorious Thompson in his Popish Intelligence of the 15th of March would insinuate as if there were no such Address by Printing a Story That the Mayor Aldermen and some others of this Town being Assembled on February 28. 1680 1. A Printed Paper purporting to be the manner of the Election and containing also an Address made to the Members c. was read amongst them and that none of the Assembly would own his Consenting to or making that Paper or Address Touching which it must be Noted 1. That the Mayor and several of these Gentlemen were disobliged by being Out-Voted and much offended because they could not carry it for their Friend Sir Walter Clarges and so had no Reason to Address to the Members duly and fairly Elected because they had vigorously appeared for a contrary Party 2. That there are in that Pamphlet in relating the manner of the Election some galling Truths or if you please Reflections which possibly had better been spared and therefore no wise man would own the making it But for the Address it self 't is certain That it was agreed upon consented unto and will be Justified by the far greater part of the Electors of this Antient and Eminently Loyal Borough of which 't was thought fit here to give this brief Account for obviating any slanderous Objection that might be made on that occasion The Address of the Gentlemen and Free-holders of Bedford To the Right Honourable the Lord Russel and Sir Humphrey Munnox Elected Knights for that Shire on the 14th of February 1680 1. WHen it pleased His Majesty to summon His Peers and Commons of this His Realm to meet Him at Westminster in the last Parliament we accordingly then Chose You to Act on our behalf And being abundantly satisfied not only in Your Courage Integrity and Prudence in general but also in Your particular Care and faithful conscientious Endeavours 1. To assert our Right of Legal Petitioning for Redress of our just Grievances and to punish those who were studious to betray it 2. To secure the Meeting and Sitting of frequent Parliaments already by Law provided for for the preservation of our Lives Liberties and Estates and for the support of His Sacred Majesty and even of the Government it self 3. To Repeal the Act of the 35th of Elizabeth whereby all true Protestants might possibly in case of a Popish Successor from which God of his infinite Mercy defend us be liable to utter Ruine Abjuration and perpetual Banishment .4 To secure his Majesty's Royal Person the Protestant Religion and well Established Government of this Realm 5. To destroy and root out Popery 6. To use the most effectual means conducing to so good an End viz. The Exclusion of a a Popish Successor both by name and otherwise We have therefore now chosen you again to represent us in like manner in this Parliament called to be held at Oxford in full Trust and Confidence that with the same Courage and Integrity you will persevere in the same good Endeavours pursuing all things that by joynt consent of your Fellow-Members shall be found for our publick Good and Safety And in full assurance that you will not consent to the disposal of any of our Moneys till we are effectually secured against Popery and Arbitrary Power do resolve by Divine Assistance to stand by you therein The Address of the Gentry and Free-holders of the County of Suffolk to their Representatives Chosen the 14th of February 1680 1. presented to them by Sir Philip Skippon in the name and by consent of the rest of the Electors To the Honourable Sir Sam. Barnardiston and Sir Will. Spring Baronets Knights of the Shire for the County of Suffolk Gentlemen WE the Free-holders of this County having chosen you our Representatives in the last Parliament in which we had satisfactory Demonstration of your
Zeal for the Protestant Religion of your Loyalty to his Majesty's Person and Government and of your faithful Endeavours for the Preservation of the Laws our Rights and Properties we now return you our most hearty Thanks and have unanimously chosen you to represent this County at the Parliament to be holden at Oxford the 21st of March next And though we have not the least distrust of your Wisdom to understand or of your Integrity and Resolution to maintain and promote our common Interests now in so great hazard yet we think it meet at this time of imminent Danger to the King and Kingdom to recommend some things to your Care And particularly we do desire 1. That as hitherto you have so you will vigorously prosecute the Execrable Popish Plot now more fully discovered and proved by the Trial of William late Viscount Stafford 2. That you will promote a Bill for excluding James D. of York and all Popish Successors from the Imperial Crown of this Realm as that which under God may probably be a present and effectual means for the preservation of his Majesty's Life which God preserve the Protestant Religion and the well-established Government of this Kingdom 3. That you will endeavour the frequent meetings of Parliaments and their sitting so long as it shall be requisite for the dispatch of those great Affairs for which they are convened as that which is our only Bulwark against Arbitrary Power 4. That you will endeavour an happy and necessary Union amongst all his Majesty's Protestant Subjects by promoting those several good Bills which were to that end before the last Parliament And that till these things be obtained which we conceive necessary even to the Being of this Nation you will not consent to bring any Charge upon our Estates And we do assure you that we will stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes in Prosecution of the good ends before recited The Address of the Town of Hertford February 21. 1680 1. To the Right Worshipful Sir William Cooper Baronet and Sir Thomas Byde Knight WE the Free-men and Inhabitants of the Burrough of Hertford in the County of Hertford having unanimously Chosen You our Representatives to Sit in the next ensuing Parliament to be holden at Oxford the 21st of March next cannot but with all Thankfulness acknowledge your most faithful Endeavours and unwearied Pains in serving us in the last Parliament searching into and discovering the late damnable Hellish Popish Plot The preservation of His Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and the well established Government of the Realm To secure the Meeting and Sitting of frequent Parliaments to assert our undoubted Right of Petitioning and to punish such who would have betrayed those Rights To promote a happy Union amongst all His Majesty's Protestant Subjects to Repeal the Act of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth and the Corporation Act and particularly for what Progress hath been made in the Bill of Exclusion of all Popish Successors the principal Cause of all the Miseries and Ruine impending these Kingdoms in general beseeching You as now our Representatives to prosecute the same good Ends and Purposes until the Nation shall be throughly secured against Popery and Arbitrary Power both in Church and State And further in imitation of the ever Renowned City of London We Request You in our behalf to present our humble Acknowledgements to the Right Honorable the Earl of Essex and by him to all the rest of those Right Honorable Peers for their late Excellent Petition and Advice to His Majesty and for all the rest of all their Faithfull Services and Endeavours they have performed for the Protestant Interest of the Nation The Address of the Gentry and Free-holders of the County of Essex To Sir Henry Mildmay and John Lemot Honeywood Esquire Unanimously Re elected Knights for the Shire Feb. 22. 1680 1. Gentlemen THe Faithful Discharge of that Trust we formerly gave You is the true Inducement of our Chusing You again to be our Representatives being abundantly satisfied not only in Your Care and Prudence in General but also in Your Particular Care and Unwearied Diligence in Your Conscientious Endeavours to secure His Majesty's Royal Person the Protestant Religion and Government of the Realm To Unite all His Majesty's Protestant Subjects To Repeal the Act of the 35th of Elizabeth To Assert our just and ancient Rights and Priviledges and particularly that of Petitioning and to punish those who were studious to betray them For Your two excellent Addresses and Publishing Your Votes Endeavouring to secure the Meeting and Sitting of Frequent Parliaments To destroy and root out Popery by securing us against all Popish Successors and particularly by passing a Bill against James Duke of York without which we are highly sensible that all other means will be ineffectual and the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom and government it self left in great danger it being inconsistent with our Oath by which we swear against the Pope's Supremacy whil'st a Popish King himself owns it and it being against the Essence of Government that People should obey him who by his Principles as a Papist is bound to destroy them And as we do heartily thank You for Your past worthy Behaviour herein so we have chosen You to Act on our behalf in the next Parliament to be holden at Oxford in full trust and considence that with Courage and Integrity You will persevere in the same good Endeavours pursuing all things that shall be found for our Publick Good and Safety And in full Assurance that You will not consent to the disposal of any of our Moneys till we are effectually secured against Popery and Arbitrary Power And untill the Fleet and Garisons are settled in the hands of such as are Persons of known Loyalty and Fidelity to the King and Kingdom and true Zeal and Affection for the Protestant Religion and we do resolve by Divine Assistance to stand by You therein with our Lives and Fortunes 'T is observable That this Address being openly read to their Representatives and confirm'd by the Unanimous and loud Acclamations of the Free-holders for further demonstration that it was the Sense of each individual person of that Numerous Assembly it was offered that so many as agreed to it should say Ay upon which they all cried out Ay Ay. And if any were otherwise minded they were desired to express their Dissent by saying No At which there was Altum Silentium not one to be heard saying No. The Address of the Gentry and other Free-holders of the County of Surrey being in number about 2000 Feb. 23. 1680 1. To Arthur Onslow and George Evelin Esquires elected Knights for this County in the ensuing Parliament whose Session is appointed at Oxon the 21st of the following Month. WE the Free-holders of the County of Surrey having in the two former Parliaments chosen you to be our Representatives and being fully satisfied in your Faithfullness and Care to preserve the Protestant Religion
His Majesty's Royal Person the good Government of the Nation by Law and in securing our Rights and Liberties for your real Endeavours herein we joyntly return our hearty Thanks and have now chosen you again to be our Representatives in this Parliament And though we have not the least Suspicion or Doubt of your Wisdom and Integrity in Acting for our Common Good now as we apprehend in great danger yet we judge it expedient to discover our Minds and hearty Desires in the Particulars following viz. I. That you 'll continue vigorously to prosecute the horrid Popish Plotters and endeavour thay may be brought to condign punishment especially all Sham-Plotters which we esteem the worst of Villains II. That you will insist on a Bill for excluding all Popish Successors to the Crown which we believe an effectual Means under God for preserving the Protestant Religion His Majesty's Life and Tranquillity with the well established Government of the Kingdom and securing it to our Posterity III. That you endeavour passing a Bill for Regulating Elections and the Frequency of Parliaments for dispatch of those weighty Affairs of the Nation that shall from time to time be before them which we judge the best prevention of an Arbitrary Power IV. That you perservere in Asserting our Right of Legal Petitioning for removing our just Grievances and pass a Bill if there be no Law to punish such that shall obstruct it V. That you will use your utmost Endeavours to bring in a Bill against Pluralities of Church-Livings Non-residency and Scandalous Ministers of which there are too many in most Counties VI. That you will endeavour to preserve His Majesty's Person to root out Popery and prevent Arbitrary Government and use your utmost Endeavours to unite His Majesty's Protestant Subjects VII Lastly That you will not consent to any Money-Bill till the foresaid Particulars be effected and in so doing we hereby promise to stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes The Address of the Free-holders of the County of Leicester To the Right Honourable Benet Lord Sherrard and Sir John Hartopp Baronet as it was audibly read in Court by the Sheriff and unanimously approved of by the said Free-holders immediately after their Election 24 Febr. 1680 1. WE the Free-holders of the County of Leicester having chosen you to be our Representatives in the Two last Parliaments being highly sensible of the care you have taken to secure his Majesty's Royal person the Protestant Religion our Liberties and Properties as also your Endeavours further to discover and prosecute the horrid Popish Plot spread over the Realm of England and others of His Majesty's Dominions with your zealous promoting an happy Union of all good Protestants in this Land not only by good and wholesome Laws for that End but by Repealing those which were destructive to it and especially for your persisting in the Exclusion of James Duke of York and all other Popish Successors from inheriting the Imperial Crown of England which we esteem the only Security under God of His Majesty's Person and Dominions Likewise your Vindicating our fundamentally Right of Petitioning His Majesty for frequent Sitting of Parliaments by your particular Marks of Displeasure laid upon the Opposers of it For all which and other good Laws you were about to make we give you most hearty Thanks And having now again Unanimously chosen you for the ensuing Parliament if you shall continue the prosecution of the aforementioned absolutely necessary Things we shall stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes The Address of the Gentry and Free-holders of the County of York publickly read in Court and fully consented to by the whole Assembly by a general Acclamation at their Election March 2. To the Right Honourable Charles Lord Clifford and Henry Lord Fairfax May it please your Lordships THe Assurance we had of your Fidelity and Activity for the Service of our King and Country in the Parliament which began at Westminster the 6th of March 1678. Was the only Reason of our Choice of you to Represent us in the last Parliament and our experience of your Faithfulness and Diligence in the same Service the last Parliament is the only Ground of our uncontradicted Choice of you again this Day into the same Trust for the ensuing Parliament appointed to meet at Oxford the 21th instant And we judge it our Duty as good Protestants Loyal Subjects and True Englishmen not only to express our hearty Concurrence with you in but also to return you our real and publick Thanks for the many good Things you did and were about to do in both the last Parliaments and more especially for your seasonable Addresses to His Majesty your Necessary Votes Resolutions Orders and Bills whereby you have endeavoured 1. To preserve the Protestant Religion His Majesty's Person and the Kingdoms of England and Ireland from the many Dangers which threaten them 2. To Exclude a Popish Successor 3. To Unite all His Majesty's Protestant-Subjects 4. To purge out the Corruptions which abound in Elections of Members to serve in Parliament And 5. To secure us for the future against Popery and Arbitrary Power And we intreat you to proceed in a Parliamentary way to the Accomplishment of these Excellent Things and we assure you that these things being done we shall with great chearfullness be willing to supply His Majesty to the utmost of our Ability with Money for the securing of His Interest and Honour both at home and abroad A Letter agreed upon by the Mayor and Inhabitants of the Borough of Bridgwater to be sent to their Burgesses chosen on the 26th of February Sir Halswel Tynt and Sir John Malet WE greet you both with our most humble and hearty Service and by these inform you that on Saturday the 26th past with all becoming Calmness and Fairness we Elected you to be our Burgesses and Representatives in the ensuing Parliament We do also Unanimously approve of that great Care and indefatigable Industry which the last Parliament took in and toward the securing of the Protestant Religion than which nothing is more dear to us His Majesty's Sacred Person and Government together with the Vindication and Preservation of our Native Rights Liberties and Priviledges For their utmost Endeavour to bring the Betrayers of the same together with all the principal Conspirators in that most damnable and hellish Popish Plot to condign punishment not omitting our grateful Acknowledgments of those many Good Bills which they had prepared And moreover for all those worthy Votes Resolutions and orders made and past in that most Loyal and never-to-be-forgotten Parliament whereof one of you in the last and both of you in former Parliaments to our great comfort and encouragment approved your selves faithful Members We do also humbly and heartily Desire and Petition you to follow their good Precedent and Example in this ensuing Parliament to do your utmost to secure the King's Person with the Protestant Religion which we apprehend with deep sense
of mind to be in imminent Danger from all Popish Attempts and Conspiracies whatsoever As also to take Care for the Exclusion and Prevention of any Popish Successor from inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm In the firm and faithful Discharge of that great Trust we have reposed in you whereof we do not in the least doubt withal confidently believing That you will not charge our Estates till we are effectually secured from Popery and Arbitrary Government We do assure you That we will stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes And we shall ever pray for your good Success The Sense of the Gentry and Free-holders of the County of Nottingham to Sir Scroop How and John White elected Knights of the Shire there Febr. 22. as it was delivered in the following Speech made by a worthy Gentleman in the Name and by and with the Consent and Approbation of the whole Company of Electors Gentlemen WE give you hearty Thanks for your good Service in the late Parliaments and for accepting the same Trust again And we desire you to persevere in the same steps you have before made for the Preservation of His Majesty's Royal Person against the wicked Attempts of the Hellish Plotters And for the Defence of Religion and Property against Popery and Arbitrary Power and that you would be sparing of our Money until those things are effectually secured and a sure Foundation laid of an happy Union between the King and his People by the removal of those Evil Instruments who through private Interest and Ambition make it their business to divide their Affections The Barkshire Address to the Gentlemen Unanimously Elected to serve for that County Feb. 28. 1680 1. To the Worshipful William Barker and Richard Southby Esquires now Chosen to be the Representatives of the County of Berks. WE the Free-holders of this County being abundantly satisfied of your Faithful Discharge of the great Trust we reposed in you in the last Parliament in your Care and constant Attendance is the true Inducement of our Chusing you again this Day to be our Representatives in this Parliament to be holden at Oxford and do return you our hearty Thanks 1. That you have asserted our Right of the Legal Petitioning for Redress of our just Grievances and punishing those who labour to betray it 2. For endeavouring to preserve his Majesty's Royal Person the Protestant Religion and the Established Government of this Realm 3. In using the most effectual Means conducing to so good an End viz. the Excluding of James Duke of York or any Popish Successor from ever Inheriting this Crown being the only way as we imagine under God to destroy and root Popery out of this Realm 4. For endeavouring the frequent Meeting and Sitting of Parliaments already by Law provided for the preservation of our Lives Liberties and Estates for the support of his Majesty and the Government it self 5. For Repealing the 35th of Queen Elizabeth whereby all true Protestants might not be liable to utter Ruine and perpetual Banishment 6. For your Inspection into the Illegal and Arbitrary Proceedings of the Courts in Westminster-Hall as destructive to publick Justice and violating the Rights of the Subjects and in effect to subvert the Ancient Constitution of Parliaments and the Government of this Kingdom 7. That you laboured for an Happy and Necessary Union amongst all his Majesty's Protestant Subjects as being the surest way to defend the true Religion from all the evil Attempts of our Popish Adversaries 8. For Repealing the Corporation Act. And now our Request is That you will not consent to any Money-Bill till the aforesaid particulars be throughly effected and in so doing we do hereby engage to stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes The Address of the Town of Dover To Thomas Papillon and William Stokes Esquires the late and now new elected Members to serve in Parliament for the Town and Port of Dover in the County of Kent WE the Mayor Jurats and Commonalty of the said Town of Dover having duly considered the good Abilities and great Faithfulness of you who have been our Representatives in the two preceeding Parliaments and have therein given demonstration of your Loyalty to his Majesty and for the Security of his Majesty's Kingdoms do with all gratefulness return you our hearty thanks and do pray that in pursuance of the Trust we have now again reposed in you you will with the same Candor and Faithfulness endeavour the Security of his Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and his Majesty's Protestant Subjects by your utmost endeavours for the perfecting of those good Bills that were before you in the last Parliament in prosecution of which we will stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes The Address of the Borough of New-Castle under Line as it was read in the Town-Hall by the Recorder and fully consented to by the Inhabitants March the 3d. To the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Bellot Bar. and William Loveson Gower Esq now Chosen Burgesses for the Borough of New-Castle under Line WE the Mayor Aldermen and Free-Burgesses Inhabitants of the aforesaid Borough being deeply sensible of your faithful Discharge of the great Trust reposed in you the two last Parliaments and of the unspeakable Danger threatning his Majesty's Life the Protestant Religion and the well-established Government of this Kingdom from the Hellish Designs of the Papists and their Adherents And that our Religion and Liberties can only under God be secured to us and our Posterities by the wholesome Advice of Parliaments have now chosen you again to represent us in the next ensuing Parliament to be held at Oxford March 21st instant in confidence of your continued Faithfulness Integrity and Courage still to Discharge so great a Trust especially in this time of so imminent Danger And we do hereby declare That to our utmost power though with the hazard of our Lives and Fortunes we will maintain and approve of what shall be resolved in Parliament for the maintaining the Protestant Religion against Popery and Arbitrary Government And we also having already had such Experience of your Affections to the Kingdoms Interest hope that you will not consent to the Disposal of any of our Moneys till we are effectually setured against Popery and then a Charge upon us to the half of what we enjoy will be chearfully accepted by us And we hope that you will also endeavour to the utmost of your Power to disable James Duke of York and all other Popish Pretenders from Inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm And thereby you will lay a firm Obligation upon us who will heartily and unfeignedly pray for your good Success in so weighty an undertaking Signed Ralph Wood Mayor Nath. Beard and Will. Middleton Justices and by the Aldermen and Capital Burgesses and above 200 more of the Chief Inhabitants with their own hands The Address of the Gentry and other Free-holders of the County of Sussex To Sir Will. Thomas and Sir John Fagg
presented them upon their being elected Knights for the County at Lewis March the 3d. Gentlemen HAd we not heard well of Your Fidelity in discharging former Publick Trusts we had not this day called You to the same Imploy for they that betray or neglect our service once shall never receive our Trust again And though we have no intention to limit or circumscribe the Power we have laid in You yet we must desire and with that earnestness as becometh those that beg for no less than the life of their King Government Religion Laws Liberties and Properties yea the very Lives and beings of all the Protestants in the World That You would please as our Representatives to have an especial regard to these particulars following 1. That you would effectually secure His Majesty's Royal Life and the Lives of all His Majesty's Protestant Subjects by a firm and Legal Association 2. That You would repeat the Endeavours of the Two former Worthy Parliaments in barring the Door against all Popish Successors to the Crown and in particular against James Duke of York and Arbitrary Government 3. That You would be incessant in Your Endeavours for uniting His Majesty's Protestant Subjects 4. That You would further search into the bottom of those Damnable and Hellish Plots of the Papists that have been laid against His Majesty's Life the Protestant Religion and Government and to bring those Horrid Criminals to Justice 5. That You would not forget those Execrable Villains that by receiving Pension betrayed our Trusts and our Liberties in the late Long Parliament but do such Exemplary Justice on them that all others for the future may fear and do no more so wickedly And in doing these Great things and all others that You shall judge necessary for the Peace Safety and Prosperity of the Nation we shall not only stand by you as Thankful Acknowledgers of Your Service but reckon it our Duty if any hazard threaten you to defend You as Worthy Patriots with our Lives and Fortunes The Cheshire Address To the Honourable Henry Booth Esq and Sir Robert Cotton Kt. and Bar. being chosen Knights for that County March the 7th Immediately after their Election the Right Honourable the Lord Colchester and the Lord Brandon presented then a Paper containing the Sentiments and Desires of the Gentry and Free-holders in these words WE the Gentry and Free-holders of the County Palatine of Chester who have by a free and unanimous Consent Re-elected You to be our Representatives in Parliament do thankfully acknowledge Your joynt Integrity and concurrence with the Worthy and Eminent Members of the Last who in so Signal and never to be forgotten a manner of Petitioning promoted the Union Support and Growth of the True Protestant Religion Established by Law And the only Expedient we think to perpetuate these to our Posterity is to adhere to what the late Parliament designed relating to the Duke of York and all Popish Successors to provide for the Defence and Safety of His Majesty's Person vigorously to pursue the Discovery of the horrid Popish Plot and to punish all Sham-plotters whom we esteem the worst of Villains without which His Majesty can neither be easie nor secure These with those great and Excellent things then under their Considerations make us confident of Your Sincerity and Proceedings which that they may be successful is our prayer and will be the support of all those who wish the happiness of His Majesty and these distressed Kingdoms We likewise desire the Votes may continue to be Printed that till the effects of your endeavours on which depends the happiness both of Church and State are accomplished we may be truly acquainted with your proceedings The Northamptonshire Address March the 8th To John Parkhurst and Miles Fleetwood Esquires then elected Knights for that County Gentlemen THat we are extreamly satisfied of Your faithful and honest discharge of the great Trust reposed in You by this County of Northampton in the last Parliament is most evident by our Hearty Thanks we now return You and by our Unanimous Electing of You again to serve for us in the next Parliament to be holden at Oxford Gentlemen We find by Experience you so well judge of the sense of our Countrey that we need not tender You our Thoughts in many Particulars Only as the Preservation of His Majesty's Sacred Person the Protestant Religion and our Properties are of the greatest Concern and most dear unto us So more especially we recommend them unto you desiring You to use Your utmost Endeavours 1. That there may be a more full and perfect Discovery of that most Hellish Popish Plot and all other Sham-Plots 2. That we may be secured against a Popish Successor 3. That there may be found means of Uniting His Majesty's Protestant Subjects against the Common Enemy Gentlemen In pursuance of these good Ends and such others as You shall think conducing to the happiness of the King and Kingdom We shall stand by You with our Lives and Fortunes The Address of the Town of Taunton March 11th To Edmund Prideaux and John Trenchard Esquires Worthy Sirs WE do most Heartily acknowledge Your great Wisdom Courage and Faithfulness in the Discharge of the Trust by Us Reposed in You as Members of the late Dissolved Parliament whose Worthy Endeavours for the Happiness of the King and Kingdom exceedingly Rejoyced the hearts of True English and Protestant Spirits and will make them Famous to Posterity And now Sirs having a full assurance of Your Perseverance in the same good Works we have persumed again to make Choice of You as Our Representatives in the Ensuing Parliament desiring Your Acceptance of that great Trust And begging You as that wherein the Glory of God the Interest of the Protestant Religion the Safety and Welfare of the King and Kingdom is highly concerned to Prosecute as shall be Guided by the Wisdom of that Honourable House these following Particulars viz. 1. That some effectual course may be taken for the Safety of His Majesty's Sacred Person and Government which have been and still are in extreme danger by the abominable Plots and Atempts of Papists 2. That further Search be made into the Horrid Popish Plot and the Plotters and Abettors thereof brought to condign Punishment 3. That You will joyn with the rest of that Honourable House whereof You are now Chosen to be Members in repeating the Endeavours of the Two last Worthy Parliaments to bar all Papists and especially James Duke of York from the exercise of the Royal Authority of this Kingdom 4. That You will with all diligence endeavour the Uniting of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects and the Repealing those severe Laws that are obstructive thereof 5. That all good Endeavours be used for the securing of our Religion and Property and the just Rights and Priviledges of the Subject 6. That some Law may be made for the preventing of the Excesses and Exorbitances in the Elections of Members of Parliament and of undue
that I disown and renounce all such Principles Doctrins or Practices whether Popish or Fanatical which are contrary unto and inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And for testification of my obedience to my most gracious Soveraign Charles the II. I do affirm and swear by this my solemn Oath that the Kings Majesty is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil And that no Foreign Prince Person Pope Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminency or Authority Ecclesiastical or Civil within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Foreign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities And do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Rights Jurisdictions Prerogatives Priviledges Preferments and Authorities belonging to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors And I further affirm and swear by this my solemn Oath That I judge it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any other pretence whatsoever to enter into Covenants or Leagues or to Gonvocate Conveen or Assemble in any Councils Conventions or Assemblies to Treat Consult or Determine in any matter of State Civil or Ecclesiastick without His Majesties special Command or Express License had thereto or to take up Arms against the King or these Commissionate by him And that I shall never so rise in Arms or enter into such Covenants or Assemblies And that there lies no obligation on me from the National Covenant or the Solemn Leagâ—e and Covenant commonly so called or any other manner of way whatsoever to endeavour any Change or Alteration in the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of this Kingdome And I Promise and Swear That I shall with my utmost power Defend Assist and Maintain His Majesties Jurisdiction foresaid against all deadly And I shall never decline His Majesties Power and Jurisdiction as I shall answer to God And finally I affirm and swear That this my solemn Oath is given in the plain genuine sense and meaning of the words without any equivocation mental reservation or any manner of evasion whatsoever and that I shall not accept or use any dispensation from any creature whatsoever So help ne God The Bishop of Aberdeen and the Synods Explanation of the Test WE do not hereby swear to all the particular Assertions and Expressions of the Confession of Faith mentioned in the Test but only to the uniform Doctrine of the Reformed Churches contained therein II. We do not hereby prejudge the Churches Right to and Power of making any alteration in the said Confession as to the ambiguity and obscure expressions thereof or of making a more unexceptionable frame III. When we swear That the King is Supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastick as Civil and when we swear to assert and defend all His Majesties Rights and Prerogatives this is reserving always the intrinsick unalterable power of the Church immediately derived from Jesus Christ to wit the power of the Keys consisting in the preaching of the Word administration of the Sacraments ordaining of Pastors exercise of Discipline and the holding of such Assemblies as are necessary for preservation of Peace and Vnity Truth and Purity in the Church and withal we do hereby think that the King has a power to alter the Government of the Church at his pleasure IV. When we swear That it is unlawful for Subjects to meet or convene to treat or consult c. about matters of State Civil and Ecclesiastick this is excepting meetings for Ordination publick Worship and Discipline and such meetings as are necessary for the conservation of the Church and true Protestant Religion V. When we swear There lies no obligation on us c. to endeavour any change or alteration in Government either in Church or State we mean by Arms or any seditious way VI. When we swear That we take the Test in the plain and genuine sense of the words c. we understand it only in so far as it does not contradict these Exceptions The Explanation of the Test by the Synod and Clergy of Perth BEcause our Consciences require the publishing and declaring of that express meaning we have in taking the Test that we be not mis-interpreted to swear it in these glosses which men uncharitable to it and enemies to us are apt to put upon it and because some men ill affected to the Government who are daily broachers of odious and calumnious Slanders against our Persons and Ministry are apt to deduce inferences and conclusions from the alledged ambiguity of some Propositions of the Test that we charitably and firmly do believe were never intended by the Imposers nor received by the Takers Therefore to satisfie our Consciences and to save our Credit from these unjust imputations we expressly declare That we swear the Test in this following meaning I. By taking the Test we do not swear to every Proposition and Clause contained in the Confession of Faith but only to the true Protestant Religion founded upon the Word of God contained in that Confession as it is opposed to Popery and Fanaticism II. By swearing the Ecclesiastick Supremacy we swear it as we have done formerly without any reference to the assertory Act. We also reserve intire unto the Church it s own intrinsick and unalterable power of the Keys as it was exercised by the Apostles and the pure primitive Church for the first three Centuries III. By swearing That it is unlawful to Convocate convene or assemble in any Council Conventions or Assemblies to treat consult c. in any matter of State Civil or Ecclesiastick as we do not evacuate our natural Liberty whereby we are in freedom innocently without reflection upon or derogating to Authority or persons intrusted with it to discourse in any occasional meeting of these things so we exclude not those other meetings which are necessary for the well-being and Discipline of the Church IV. By our swearing it unlawful to endeavour any change or alteration in the Government either of Church or State we mean that it is unlawful for us to endeavour the alteration of the specifick Government of Monarchy in the true and lineal Descent and Episcopacy V. When we swear in the genuine and literal sense c. we understand it so far as it is not opposite or contradictory to the foresaid exceptions They were allowed to insert after the Oath before their Subscriptions these words or to this purpose We under-written do take this Oath according to the Explanation made by the Council approved by His Majesties Letter and we declare we are no further bound by this Oath EDINBVRGH The sederunt of the Council Sederunt vigesimo secundo Die Septembris 1681. His Royal
Highness c. Montrose Errol Marshall Marr Glencarne Winton Linlithgow Perth Strathmore Roxburgh Queensberry Airley Kintore Breadalbane Lorne Levingston Bishop of Edinburgh Elphinston Rosse Dalziel Treasurer Deputy Praeses Advocate Justice Clerk Collinâ—oun Tarbet Haddo Lundie This day the Test was subscribed by the above-written Privy-Councellors and by the Earl of Queensberry who coming in after the rest had taken it declared that he took it with the Explication following The Earl of Queensberries Explanation of the Test when he took it HIS Lordship declared that by that part of the Test That there lies no obligation to endeavour any change or alteration in the Government c. He did not understand himself to be obliged against Alterations in case it should please His Majesty to make alterations of the Government of Church or State HALYRVDEHOVSE Sederunt vigesimo primo Die Octobris 1681. His Royal Highness c. Winton Perth Strathmore Queensberry Ancram Airley Lorne Levingston Bishop of Edinburgh Treasurer Deputy Praeses Register Advocate Collintoun This day the Bishop of Edinburgh having drawn up a long Explication of the Test to satisfie the many Objections and Scruples moved against it especially by the conformed Clergy presented it to the Council for their Lordships Approbation which was ordered to be read but the Paper proving prolix and tedious his Highness after reading of a few Leaves interrupted saying very wittily and pertinently That the first Chapter of John with a Stone will chase away a Dog and so break it off Yet the Bishop was afterward allowed to print it if he pleased Sederunt quarto Die Novembris 1681. His Royal Highness c. Montrose Praeses Perth Ancram Levingston President of Session Advocate Winton Strathmore Airley Bishop of Edinburgh Treasurer Deputy Lundie Linlithgow Roxburgh Balcaras Esphynstoun Register This day the Eari of Argyle being about to take the Test as a Commissioner of the Treasury and having upon Command produced a Paper bearing the sense in which he took the Test the precedeing day and in which he would take the same as a Commissioner of the Treasury Upon consideration thereof it was resolved that he cannot sit in Council not having taken the Test in the sense and meaning of the Act of Parliament and therefore was removed The Earl of Argyle's Explication of the Test when he took it I Have considered the Test and I am very desirous to give obedience as far as I can I 'm confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths Therefore I think no Man can explain it but for himself Accordingly I take it as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion And I do declare That I mean not to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way to wish and endeavour any alteration I think to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty And this I understand as a part of my Oath But the Earl finding as hath been narrated this his Explication though accepted and approven by his Highness and Council the day before to be this day carped and offended at and advantages thereupon soughtand designed against him did immediately draw up the following Explanation of his Explication and for his own vindication did first communicate it to some privately and thereafter intended to have offered it at his Trial for clearing of his defences The Explanation of his Explication I Have delayed hitherto to take the Oath appointed by the Parliament to be taken by the first of January next But now being required near two Months sooner to take it this day peremptorily or to refuse I have considered the Test and have seen several Objections moved against it especially by many of the Orthodox Clergy notwithstand whereof I have endeavoured to satisfie my self with a just Explanation which I here offer that I may both satisfie my conscience and obey Your Highness and Your Lordships commands in taking the Test though the Act of Parliament do not simply command the thing but only under a Certification which I could easily submit to if it were with Your Highness favour and might be without offence but I love not to be singular and I am very desirous to give obedience in this and every thing as far as I can and that which clears me is that I am confident what ever any Man may think or say to the prejudice of this Oath the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths and because their sense they being the framers and imposers is the true sense and that this Test injoyned is of no private interpretation nor are the Kings Statutes to be interpreted but as they bear and to the intent they are made Therefore I think no Man that is no private Person can explain it for another to amuse or trouble him with it may be mistaken glosses But every Man as he is to take it so is to explain it for himself and to endeavour to understand it notwithstanding all these exceptions in the Parliament which is its true and genuine sense I take it therefore notwithstanding any scruple made by any as far as it is consistant with it self and the Protestant Religion which is wholly in the Parliaments sense and their true meaning which being present I am sure was owned by all to be the securing of the Protestant Religion founded on the Word of God and contained in the Confession of Faith Recorded J. 6 p. 1. c. 4. And not out of scruple as if any thing in the Test did import the contrary but to clear my self from all cavils as if thereby I were hand up further then the true meaning of the Oath I do declare that by that part of the Test that there lies no obligation on me c. I mean not to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way still disclaiming all unlawful endeavours to wish and endeavour any alteration I think according to my conscience to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty and by my Loyalty I understand no other thing then the words plainly bear to wit the duty and allegiance of all Loyal Subjects and this explanation I understand as a part not of the Test or Act of Parliament but as a qualifying part of my Oath that I am to Swear and with it I am willing to take the Test 〈◊〉 Your Royal Highness and Your Lordships allow me or otherwise in submission to Your High 〈◊〉 and the Councils pleasure I am content to be held as a refuser at present The Councils Letter to His Majesty Concerning their having committed the Earl of Argyle May it please your Sacred Majesty THE last Parliament having made so many and so advantageous Acts for securing the Protestant Religion the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom and Your Majesties Sacred Person whom God Almighty long preserve and having for the last and as the best way
Justice is exactly kept VII And lastly Never to ingage themselves in the beginning of a Cause but reserve themselves unprejudged till the whole business be heard Then the Earl goes on and makes notes for Additional Defences reducible to these Heads I. The absolute innocence af his Explication in its true and genuine meaning from all crime or offence far more from the horrible Crimes libelled II. The impertinency and absurdity of His Majesty's Advocate 's Arguings for inferring the Crimes libelled from the Earl's words III. The reasonableness of the Exculpation IV. The Earl's Answers to the Advocate 's groundless Pretences for aggravating of his Case As to the first The Earl waving what hath been said from common Reason and Humanity it self and from the whole tenour and circumstances of his Life comes close to the point by offering that just and genuine Explanation of his Explication which you have above Num. 21. I have delayed hitherto to take the Oath appointed by the Parliament to be taken betwixt and the first of January next But now being required near two months sooner to take it this day peremptorily or to refuse I have considered the Test and have seen several Objections moved against it especially by many of the Orthodox Clergy notwithstanding whereof I have endeavoured to satisfy my self with a just Explication which I here offer that I may both satisfy my Conscience and obey Your Highness and your Lordships Commands in taking the Test though the Act of Parliament do not simply command the thing but only under a certification which I could easily submit to if it were with Your Highness's favour and might be without offence But I love not to be singular and I am very desirous to give obedience in this and every thing as far as I can and that which clears me is that I am confident whatever any man may think or say to the prejudice of this Oath the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths and because their sense they being the Framers and Imposers is the true sense and this Test enjoined is of no private interpretation nor are the King's Statutes to be interpreted but as they bear and to the intent they are made therefore I think no man that is no private Person can explain it for another to amuse or trouble him with it may be mistaken glosses But every man as he is to take it so is to explain it for himself and to endeavour to understand it notwithstanding all these Exceptions in the Parliament's which is its true and genuine sense I take it therefore notwithstanding any scruple made by any as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion which is wholly in the Parliament's sense and their true meaning Which being present I am sure was owned by all to be the securing of the Protestant Religion founded on the Word of God and contained in the Confession of Faith recorded J. 6. p. 1. c. 4. And not out of Scruple as if any thing in the Test did import the contrair But to clear my self from Cavils as if thereby I were bound up further than the true meaning of the Oath I do declare That by that part of the Test that there lies lies no obligation on me c. I mean not to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way still disclaiming all unlawful endeavours To wish and endeavour any alteration I think According to my Conscience to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty And by my Loyalty I understand no other thing than the words plainly bear to wit the duty and allegiance of all Loyal Subjects and this Explanation I understand as a part not of the Test or Act of Parliament but as a qualifying part of my Oath that I am to swear and with it I am willing to take the Test if your Royal Highness and your Lordships allow me Or otherwise in submission to your Highness and the Councils pleasure I am content to be held as a Refuser at present Which Explanation doth manifestly appear to be so just and true without violence or straining so clear and full without the least impertinency so notore and obvious to common sense without any Commentary so loyal and honest without ambiguity and lastly so far from all or any of the Crimes libelled that it most evidently evinceth that the words thereby explained are altogether innocent And therefore it were lost time to use any Arguments to enforce it Yet seeing this is no trial of wit but to find out common sense let us examine the Advocate 's fantastical Paraphrase upon which he bottoms all the alledged Crimes and see whether it agrees in one jot with the true and right meaning of the Earl's words and as you may gather from the Indictment it is plainly thus I have considered the Test which ought not to be done and am very desirous to give obedience as far as I can but am not willing to give full obedience I am confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths that is I am confident they did intend to impose contradictory Oaths and therefore I think no man can explain it but for himself that is to say every man may take it in any sense he pleases to devise and thereby render this Law and also all other Laws tho not at all concerned in this Affair useless and so make himself a Legislator and usurp the Supreme Authority And I take it in so far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion whereby I suppose that it is not at all consistent with either nor was ever intended by the Parliament it should be consistent And I declare that by taking this Test I mean not to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way to wish or endeavour any alteration I think to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty Whereby I declare my self and all others free from all obligation to the Government either of Church or State as by Law established and from the duty and Loyalty of good Subjects Resolving of my self to alter all the Fundamentals both of Law and Religion as I shall think fit And this I understand as a part of my Oath that is as a part of the Act of Parliament by which I take upon me and usurp the Royal Legislative Power Which sense and Explanation as it consists of the Advocate 's own words and was indeed every word necessar to infer these horrible Crimes contained in the Indictment so to speak with all the modesty that truth will allow I am sure it is so violent false and absurd that the greatest difficulty must be to believe that any such thing was alledged far more received and sustained in judgment by Men professing only reason far less Religion But thirdly If neither the Earl's true genuine and honest sense nor this
nothing in the Test consistent with either And 3dly If the Protestant Religion and the Earl his reference to it be nothing then is not only the Council sadly reproached who in their Explanation declare this to be the only thing sworn to in the first part of the Test but our Religion quite subverted as far as this Test can do it But next for the Treason the Advocate says That the Earl expresly declares he means not by the Test to bind up himself from wishing or endeavouring in his station and in a lawful way any alteration he shall think for the advantage of Church or State whereby says he the Earl declares himself and others loosed from any obligation to the Government and from the duty of all good Subjects and that they may make what alterations they please A direct contrariety instead of a just consequence as if to be tied to Law Religion and Loyalty were to be loosed from all three Can there be a flatter and more ridiculous contradiction Next the Advocate pretends to found upon the fundamental Laws of this and all Nations Whereby it is Treason for any Man to make any alterations he thinks fit for the advantage of Church or State But first The Earl is not nor cannot be accused of so much as wishing much less endeavouring or making any alteration either in Church or State only he reserves to himself the same freedom for wishing which he had before his Oath and that all that have taken it do in effect say they still retain 2dly For a man to endeavour in his station and in a lawful way such alterations in Church or State as he conceives to their advantage not repugnant to Religion and Loyalty is so far from being Treason that it is the duty of every Subject and the sworn Duty of all His Majesty's Councellors and of all Members of Parliament But the Advocate by fancying and misapplying Laws of Nations wresting Acts of Parliaments adding taking away chopping and changing words thinks to conclude what he pleases And thus he proceeds That the Treason of making Alterations is not taken off by such qualifications of making them in a lawful way in ones station to the advantage of Church or State and not repugnant to Religion or Loyalty But how then Here is a strange matter Hundreds of Alterations have been made within these few years in our Government and in very material Points and the King 's best Subjects and greatest Favourites have both endeavoured and effectuate them And yet because the things were done according to the Earl's qualifications instead of being accounted Treason they have been highly commended and rewarded The Treasury hath been sometimes in the hands of a Treasurer sometimes put into a Commission backward and forward And the Senators of the College of Justice the right of whose places was thought to be founded on an Act of Parliament giving His Majesty the prerogative only of presenting are now commissioned by a Patent under the great Seal both which are considerable alterations in the Government which some have opposed others have wished and endeavoured and yet without all fear of Treason on either hand only because they acted according to these qualifications in a lawful way and not repugnant to Religion and Loyalty But that which the Advocate wilfully mistakes for it is impossible he could do it ignorantly is that he will have the endeavouring of alterations in general not to be of it self a thing indifferent and only determinable to be good or evil by its qualifications as all men see it plainly to be but to be forsooth in this very generality intrinsically evil a Notion never to be admitted on Earth in the frail and fallible condition of humane Affairs And then he would establish this wise Position by an example he adduces That rising in Arms against the King for so sure he means it being otherwise certain that rising in Arms in general is also a thing indifferent and plainly determinable to be either good or evil as done with or against the King's Authority is Treason and says If the Earl had reserved to himself a liberty to rise in Arms against the King tho he had added in a lawful manner yet it would not have availed because and he says well This being in it self unlawful the qualification had been but shams and contrariae facto But why then doth not his own reason convince him where the difference lies viz. That rising in Arms against the King is in it self unlawful whereas endeavouring alterations is only lawful or unlawful as it is qualified and if qualified in the Earl's Terms can never be unlawful But says the Advocate The Earl declares himself free to make all alterations and so he would make Men believe that the Earl is for making All or Any without any reserve whereas the Earl's words are most express that he is Neither for making all or any but only for wishing and endeavouring for such as are good and lawful and in a lawful way which no Man can disown without denying common reason nor no sworn Councellor disclaim without manifest Perjury But the Advocate 's last conceit is That the Earl's restriction is not as the King shall think fit or as is consistent with the Law but that himself is still to be judge of this and his Loyalty to be the standard But first The Earl's restriction is expresly according to Loyalty which in good sense is the same with according to Law and the very thing that the King is ever supposed to think Secondly As neither the Advocate nor any other hitherto have had reason to distinguish the exercise and actings of the Earlâ—s Loyalty from those of His Majesty's best Subjects so Is it not a marvellous thing that the Advocate should profess to think for in reality he cannot think it the Earl's words His Loyalty which all men see to be the same with his Duty and Fidelity or what else can bind him to his Prince capable of any quibble far more to be a ground of so horrid an accusation And whereas the Advocate says The Earl is still to be judge of this It is but an insipid calumny it being as plain as any thing can be That the Earl doth nowise design His thinking to be the rule of Right and Wrong but only mentions it as the necessary application of these excellent and unerring Rules of Religion Law and Reason to which he plainly refers and subjects both his thinking and himself to be judged accordingly By which it is evident that the Earl's restriction is rather better and more dutiful than that which the Advocate seems to desiderate And if the Earl's restrictions had not been full enough it was the Advocate 's part before administrating the Oath to have craved what more he thought necessary which the Earl in the Case would not have refused But it is believed the Advocate can yet hardly propose restrictions more full and suitable to Duty
for the Life of the injured Lord was broken as is manifest by his liberty now obtained by Law Witnesses may come prepared and tell plausible Stories in open Court if they know from the Prosecutor to what they must answer and have agreed and acquainted each other with the Tales they will tell and have resolved to be careful that all their Answers to cross Interrogatories may be conformable to their first Stories And if these relate only to Words spoken at several times in private to distinct Witnesses in such a case Evidence if given in open Court may seem to be very strong against the Person accused though there be nothing of truth in it But if such Witnesses were privately and separately examined by the Grand Inquest as the Law requires and were to answer only such Questions as they thought fit and in such order as was best in their Judgments and most natural to find out the Truth of the Accusation so that the Witnesses could not guess what they should be asked first or last nor one conjecture what the other had said which they are certain of when they know beforehand what the Prosecutor will ask in Court of every of them and what they have resolved to answer if the Inquest should put them out of their Road and then compare all their several Answers together they might possibly discern marks enough of falsehood to shew that their Testimonies ought not to be depended upon where Life is in question By what is now said the reasonableness of this Institution of Secrecy may be discerned in respect to the discovery of Truth and the protection of the Innocent from malicious Combinations and Perjuries Yet the same Secrecy of the King's Counsel is no less necessary to reserve the guilty for punishment when the Evidence against any party accused is not manifest and full it may be kept without prejudice under Secrecy until further enquiry and if sufficient proof can afterwards be made of the Offence an Indictment may be found by a Grand Inquest and the Party brought to answer it But when the Examinations are in open Court or the King's Council any other way divulged and the Evidence is weak and less than the Law requires 't is not probable that it will be more or stronger and should an Indictment be found and the Party tried by a Petit Jury whilst the Evidence is not full they must and ought to acquit him and then the further prosecution for the same Offence is for ever barred though his guilt should afterwards be manifest and confessed by himself From hence may certainly be concluded That Secrecy in the Examinations and Enquiries of Grand Juries is in all respects for the Interest and advantage of the King If he be concerned to have secret Treason Felonies and all other Enormities brought to light and that none of the Offenders should escape Justice if the gain of their Forfeitures be thought his Interest which God forbid then the first notices of all dangerous Crimes and wicked Confederacies ought to be secretly and prudently pursued and searcht into by the Grand Inquest the Accusers and Witnesses ought not to publish in a Court before a multitude what they pretend to know in such Cases until the discretion of so many honest Men of the Neighbourhood hath first determined whether their Testimony will amount to so good and full Evidence that it may be made publick with safety to the King and People in order to Justice Else they are obliged by Oath to lock up in their own Breasts all the Circumstances and Presumptions of Crimes until they or such as shall succeed in the same Trust shall have discovered as they believe Evidence enough to convict the Accused and then and not before they are to accuse the Party upon Record by finding the Bills as it 's usually called But when Bills are offered without satisfactory Evidence and they neither know nor can learn any more they ought for the King's sake to indorse Ignoramus upon them lest his Honour and Justice be stained by causing or permitting such Prosecution of his People in his own name and at his Suit as shall appear upon their Tryal and Acquittal to have been frivolous or else malicious designs upon their Lives and Fortunes If it should be said That whatsoever Reasons there are for this Oath of Secrecy yet it cannot deprive the King of the benefit of having the Evidence made publick if he desires it and that the Grand Jury do not break their Oaths when the King or the Prosecutor for him will have it so 'T is not hard to shew that such Notions have no foundation in Law or Reason and seem to come from Men who have not well studied the first Principles of the English Government or of True Religion Whosoever hath learnt that the Kings of England were ordained for the good Government of the Kingdom in the Execution of the Laws must needs know that the King cannot lawfully seek any other benefit in judicial proceedings than that common Right and Justice be done to the People according to their Laws and Customs Their Safety and Prosperity are to be the Objects of his continual Care and Study that being the highest concern The Greatness and Honour of a Prince consists in the Virtue Multitude Wealth and Prowess of his People and his greatest Glory is by the excellency of his Government so to have encouraged Virtue and Piety that few or no Criminals are to be found in his Dominions Those who have made this their principal aim have in some places so well succeeded as to introduce such a Discipline and rectitude of Manners as rendred every man a Law unto himself Gar. de la Veg Hist de los Incas As it is reported in the History of Peru that though the Laws were so severe as to make very small Crimes capital yet it often fell out that not one man was put to death in a year within the whole compass of that vast Empire The King 's only benefit in finding out and punishing Offenders by Courts of Justice are the preservation and support of the Government the protection of the Innocent revenging their wrongs and preventing further mischiefs by the terrors of exemplary Punishments The King is the head of Justice in the esteem of our Laws and the whole Kingdom is to expect right to be done them in his several Courts instituted by Law for that purpose Therefore Writs issue out in his name in all cases where relief is sought by the Subject and the wrongs done to the Lives or Limbs of the People are said to be done against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity reckoning it a dishonour to him and his Government that Subjects should not whilst they live within the Law enjoy Peace and Security It ought to be taken for a scandal upon the King when he is represented in a Court of Justice as if he were partially concerned or
of England though I could never yet comply with or rise up to all the heights of many People I wish with all my Soul all our unhappy Differences were removed and that all sincere Protestants would so far consider the Danger of Popery as to lay aside their Heats and agree against the Common Enemy and that the Church-men would be less severe and the Dissenters less scrupulous For I think Bitterness and Persecution are at all times bad but much more now For Popery I look on it as an Idolatrous and Bloody Religion and therefore thought my self bound in my station to do all I could against it And by that I foresaw I should proture such great Enemies to my self and so powerful ones that I have been now for some time expecting the worst And blessed be God I fall by the Axe and not by the Fiery Tryal Yet whatever apprehensions I had of Popery and of my own severe and heavy share I was like to have under it when it should prevail I never had a thought of doing any thing against it basely or inhumanely but what could well consist with the Christian Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom And I thank God I have examin'd all my actings in that matter with so great care that I can appeal to God Almighty who knows my heart that I went on sincerely without being moved either by Passion By-ends or ill-design I have always loved my Country much more than my life and never had any Design of changing the Government which I value and look upon as one of the best Governments in the World and would always have been ready to venture my life for the preserving it and would have suffered any Extremity rather than have consented to any Design to take away the King's Life Neither ever had Man the impudence to propose so base and barbarous a thing to me And I look on it as a very unhappy and uneasy part of my present Condition That in my Indictment there should be so much as mention of so vile a Fact tho' nothing in the least was said to prove any such Matter but the contrary by the Lord Howard Neither does any body I am confident believe the least of it So that I need not I think say more For the King I do sincerely pray for him and wish well to him and to the Nation That they may be happy in one another that he may be indeed the Defender of the Faith That the Protestant Religion and the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom may be preserved and flourish under his Government and that He in his Person may be happy both here and hereafter As for the share I had in the Prosecution of the Popish Plot I take God to witness That I proceeded in it in the Sincerity of my heart being then really convinced as I am still that there was a Conspiracy against the King the Nation and the Protestant Religion And I likewise profess That I never knew any thing either directly or indirectly of any Practice with the Witnesses which I look upon as so horrid a thing that I could never have endured it For I thank God Falshood and Cruelty were never in my Nature but always the farthest from it imaginable I did believe and do still That Popery is breaking in upon the Nation and that those who advance it will stop at nothing to carry on their Design I am heartily sorry that so many Protestants give their helping hand to it But I hope God will preserve the Protestant Religion and this Nation Though I am afraid it will fall under very great Tryals and very sharp Sufferings And indeed the Impiety and Prophaneness that abounds and appears so scandalously bare-fac'd every where gives too just reason to fear the worst things which can befall a People I pray God prevent it and give those who have shew'd Concern for the Publick Good and who have appear'd hearty for the true Interest of the Nation and the Protestant Religion Grace to live so that they may not cast a reproach on that which they endeavour to advance which God knows has often given me many sad thoughts And I hope such of my Friends as may think they are touch'd by this will not take what I say in ill part but endeavour to amend their ways and live suitable to the Rules of the true Reformed Religion which is the only thing can administer true Comfort at the latter end and revive a man when he comes to Dye As for my present Condition I bless God I have no repining in my heart at it I know for my Sins I have deserved much worse at the hands of God so that I chearfully submit to so small a Punishment as the being taken off a few years sooner and the being made a Spectacle to the World I do freely forgive all the World particularly those concerned in taking away my life and I desire and conjure my Friends to think of no Revenge but to submit to the holy Will of God into whose Hands I resign my self entirely But to look back a little I cannot but give some touch about the Bill of Exclusion and shew the Reasons of my appearing in that Business which in short is this That I thought the Nation was in such danger of Popery and that the expectation of a Popish Successor as I have said in Parliament put the King's life likewise in such danger that I saw no way so effectual to secure both as such a Bill As to the Limitations which were proposed if they were sincerely offered and had pass'd into a Law the Duke then would have been excluded from the power of a King and the Government quite alter'd and little more than the name of a King left So I could not see either Sin or Fault in the one when all People were willing to admit of t'other but thought it better to have a King with his Prerogative and the Nation easie and safe under him than a King without it which must have bred perpetual Jealousies and a continual struggle All this I say only to justifie my self and not to enflame others Though I cannot but think my Earnestness in that matter has had no small influence in my present Sufferings But I have now done with this World and am going to a Kingdom which cannot be moved And as to the Conspiring to seize the Guards which is the Crime for which I am Condemned and which was made a constructive Treason for taking away the King's Life to bring it within the Statue of Ed. the 3d. I shall give this true and clear account I never was at Mr. Shepheard's with that Company but once and there was no undertaking then of securing or seizing the Guards nor none appointed to view or examine them Some Discourse there was of the feasibleness of it and several times by accident in general Discourse elsewhere I have heard it mention'd as a thing might
and it is in these Words Which all our Subjects are to obey without reserve And this is the carrying Obedience many sizes beyond what the Grand Seignior ever yet claimed For all Princes even the most violent Pretenders to Absolute Power 'till Lewis the Great 's time have thought it enough to oblige their Subjects to submit to their Power and to bear whatsoever they thought good to impose upon them but till the Days of the late Conversions by the Dragoons it was never so much as pretended that Subjects were bound to Obey their Prince without Reserve and to be of his Religion because he would have it so Which was the only Argument that those late Apostles made use of so it is probable this qualification of the Duty of Subjects was put in here to prepare us for a terrible le Roy le veut and in that case we are told here that we must Obey without Reserve and when those Severe Orders come the Privy Council and all such as execute this Proclamation will be bound by this Declaration to shew themselves more forward than any others to obey without Reserve and those poor pretensions of Conscience Religion Honour and Reason will be then reckoned as Reserves upon their Obedience which are all now shut out III. These being the grounds upon which this Proclamation is founded we ought not only to consider what Consequences are now drawn from them but what may be drawn from them at any time hereafter for if they are of force to justify that which is inferred from them it will be full as just to draw from the same premises an Abolition of the Protestant Religion of the Rights of the Subjects not only to Church-Lands but to all Property whatsoever In a word it Asserts a Power to be in the King to command what he will and an Obligation in the Subjects to Obey whatsoever he shall Command IV. There is also mention made in the Preamble of the Christian Love and Charity which his Majesty would have established among Neighbours but another dash of a Pen founded on this Absolute Power may declare us all Hereticks and then in wonderful Charity to us we must be told that we are either to Obey without Reserve or be burnt without Reserve We know the Charity of that Church pretty well It is indeed fervent and burning and if we have forgot what has been done in former Ages France Savoy and Hungary have set before our Eyes very fresh Instances of the Charity of that Religion While those Examples are so green it is a little too imposing on us to talk to us of Christian Love and Charity No doubt His Majesty means sincerely and his Exactness to all his Promises chiefly to those made since he came to the Crown will not suffer us to think an unbecoming Thought of his Royal Intentions but yet after all tho' it seems by this Proclamation that we are bound to Obey without Reserve it is hardship upon hardship to be bound to Believe without Reserve V. There are a sort of People here Tolerated that will be hardly found out and these are the Moderate Presbyterians Now as some say that there are very few of those People in Scotland that deserves this Character so it is hard to tell what it amounts to and the calling any of them Immoderate cuts off all their share in this Grace Moderation is a quality that lyes in the mind and how this will be found out I cannot so readily guess If a Standard had been given of Opinions or Practices then one could have known how this might have been distinguished but as it lies it will not be easy to make the Discrimination and the declaring them all immoderate shuts them out quite VI. Another Foundation laid down for repealing all Laws made against the Papists is That they were Enacted in King James the Sixth's Minority with some harsh expressions that are not to be insisted on since they shew more the heat of the Penner than the Dignity of the Prince in whose name they are given out But all these Laws were ratifyed over and over again by King James when he came to be of full Age and they have received many Confirmations by King Charles the First and King Charles the Second as well as by his present Majesty both when he represented his Brother in the Year 1681 and since he himself came to the Crown so that whatsoever may be said concerning the first Formation of those Laws they have received now for the course of a whole hundred Years that are lapsed since King James was full of Age so many Confirmations that if there is any thing certain in Humane Government we might depend upon them but this new coyned Absolute Power must carry all before it VII It is also well known that the whole Settlement of the Church Lands and Tythes with many other things and more particularly the Establishment of the Protestant Religion was likewise enacted in King James's minority as well as those Penal Laws so that the Reason now made use of to annul the penal Laws will serve full as well for another Act of this Absolute Power that shall abolish all those and if Maximes that unhinge all the Securities of Human Society and all that is sacred in Government ought to be lookt on with the justest and deepest prejudices possible one is tempted to lose the respect that is due to every thing that carries a Royal Stamp upon it when he sees such grounds made use of as must shake all Settlements whatsoever for if a prescription of 120 Years and Confirmations reiterated over and over again these 100 Years past do not purge some Defects in the first Formation of those Laws what can make us secure But this looks so like a fetch of the French Prerogative Law both in their Processes with Relation to the Edict of Nantes and those concerning Dependences at Mets that this seems to be a Copy from that famous Original VIII It were too much ill nature to look into the History of the last Age to examine on what grounds those Characters of Pious and Blessed given to the Memory of Q Mary are built but since K. James's Memory has the Character of Glorious given to it if the Civility of the fair Sex makes one unwilling to look into one yet the other may be a little dwelt on The peculiar Glory that belongs to K. James's Memory is that he was a Prince of great Learning and that he imployed it chiefly in writing for his Religion of the Volume in Folio in which we have his Works two thirds are against the Church of Rome one part of them is a Commentary on the Revelation proving that the Pope is Antichrist another part of them belonged more naturally to his Post Dignity which is the warning that he gave to all the Princes and States of Europe against the Treasonable and Bloody Doctrines of the Papacy The first Act he did
Protestant Religion in the Churches And that We will and hereby promise on Our Royal Word to maintain the possessors of Church Lands formerly belonging to Abbeys or other Churches of the Catholick Religion in their full and free possession and right according to Our Laws and Acts of Parliament in that behalf in all time coming And We will imploy indifferently all our Subjects of all Perswasions so as none shall meet with any Discouragement on the account of his Religion but be advanced and esteemed by Us according to their several Capacities and Qualifications so long as We find Charity and Unity maintained And if any Animosities shall arise as We hope in God there will not We will shew the severest Effects of Our Royal Displeasure against the Beginners or Fomenters thereof seeing thereby Our Subjects may de deprived of this general Ease and Satisfaction We intend to all of them whose Happiness Prosperity Wealth and Safety is so much Our Royal Care that We will leave nothing undone which may procure these Blessings for them And lastly to the End all our good Subjects may have Notice of this Our Royal Will and Pleasure We do hereby command Our Lyon King at Arms and his Brethren Heraulds Macers Pursevants and Messengers at Arms to make timous Proclamation thereof at the Marcat-Cross of Edinburgh And besides the printing and Publishing of this Our Royal Proclamation it is Our express Will and Pleasure that the same be past under the great Seal of that Our Kingdom per saltum * without passing any other Seal or Register In Order whereunto this shall be to the Directors of Our Chancelary and their Deputies for writing the same and to Our Chancellor for causing our Great Seal aforesaid to be appended thereunto a sufficient Warrand Given at Our Court at Whitehall the twelfth day of Febr. 1686. and of Our Reign the Third Year By His Majesties Command MELFORT God save the King His Majesties Gracious DECLARATION to all His Loving Subjects for Liberty of Conscience JAMES R. IT having pleased Almighty God not only to bring Us to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms through the greatest difficulties but to preserve Us by a more than ordinary Providence upon the Throne of Our Royal Ancestors there is nothing now that we so earnestly desire as to Establish our Government on such a Foundation as may make Our Subjects happy and unite them to Us by Inclination as well as by Duty Which We think can be done by no Means so effectually as by granting to them the free Exercise of their Religion for the time to come and add that to the perfect Enjoyment of their Property which has never been in any case Invaded by Us since Our coming to the Crown Which being the two things Men value most shall ever be preserved in these Kingdoms during Our Reign over them as the truest Methods of their Peace and Our Glory We cannot but heartily wish as it will easily be believed That all the People of Our Dominions were Members of the Catholick Church yet We humbly thank Almighty God it is and hath of long time been Our constant Sense and Opinion which upon diverse Occasions We have Declared That Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion It has ever been directly contrary to Our Inclination as We think it is to the Interest of Government which it destroys by Spoiling Trade Depopulating Countries and Discouraging Strangers and finally that it never obtained the End for which it was employed And in this We are the more confirmed by the Reflections We have made upon the Conduct of the Four last Reigns For after all the frequent and pressing Endeavours that were used in each of them to reduce this Kingdom to an exact Conformity in Religion it is visible the Success has not answered the Design and that the Difficulty is invincible We therefore out of Our Princely Care and Affection unto all Our Loving Subjects that they may live at Ease and Quiet and for the increase of Trade and encouragement of Strangers have thought fit by virtue of Our Royal Prerogative to Issue forth this Our Royal Declaration of Indulgence making no doubt of the Concurrence of Our Two Houses of Parliament when We shall think it convenient for them to Meet In the first place We do Declare That We will Protect and Maintain Our Arch-Bishops Bishops and Clergy and all other our Subjects of the Church of England in the free Exercise of their Religion as by Law Established and in the quiet and full Enjoyment of all their Possessions without any Molestation or Disturbance whatsoever We do likewise Declare That it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure That from henceforth the Execution of all and all manner of Penal Laws in Matters Ecclesiastical for not coming to Church or not Receiving the Sacrament or for any other Non-conformity to the Religion Established or for or by reason of the Exercise of Religion in any manner whatsoever be immediately Suspended And the further Execution of the said Penal Laws and every of them is hereby Suspended And to the end that by the Liberty hereby Granted the Peace and Security of Our Government in the Practice thereof may not be endangered We have thought fit and do hereby straitly Charge and Command all Our Loving Subjects That as We do freely give them Leave to Meet and Serve God after their own Way and Manner be it in private Houses or Places purposely Hired or Built for that use So that they take especial care that nothing be Preached or Taught amongst them which may any ways tend to Alienate the Hearts of Our people from Us or Our Government and that their Meetings and Assemblies be peaceably openly and publickly held and all Persons freely admitted to them And that they do signifie and make known to some one or more of the next Justices of the Peace what place or places they set apart for those uses And that all Our Subjects may enjoy such their Religious Assemblies with greater Assurance and Protection We have thought it Requisite and do hereby Command That no Disturbance of any kind be made or given unto them under pain of our Displeasure and to be further proceeded against with the uttermost Severity And forasmuch as We are desirous to have the Benefit of the Service of all Our Loving Subjects which by the Law of Nature is inseparably annexed to and inherent in Our Royal Person And that none of Our Subjects may for the future be under any Discouragement or Disability who are otherwise well inclined and fit to serve Us by reason of some Oaths or Tests that have been usually Administred on such Occasions We do hereby further Declare That it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure That the Oaths commonly called The Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and also the several Tests and Declarations mentioned in the Acts of Parliament made in the 25th and 30th Years of
and it seems they intend to make us know that part of their Doctrine even before we come to feel it since tho' some of that Communion would take away the horror which the Fourth Council of the Lateran gives us in which these things were decreed by denying it to be a General Council and rejecting the Authority of those Canons yet the most learned of all the Apostates that has fallen to them from our Church has so lately given up this Plea and has so formally acknowledged the Authority of that Council and of its Canons that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing of warning us before hand of our Danger It is true Bellarmin says The Church does not always execute the Power of Deposing Heretical Princes tho' she always retains it one Reason that he assigns is Because she is not at all times able to put it in Execution so the same reason may perhaps make it appear unadviseable to Extirpate Hereticks because that at present it cannot be done but the Right remains intire and is put in execution in such an unrelenting manner in all places where that Religion prevails that it has a very ill Grace to see any Member of that Church speak in this strain and when neither the Policy of France nor the Greatness of their Monarch nor yet the Interests of the Emperour joyned to the Gentleness of his own temper could withstand these Bloody Councils that are indeed parts of that Religion we can see no reason to induce us to believe that a Toleration of Religion is proposed with any other design but either to divide us or to lay us asleep till it is time to give the Alarm for destroying us IV. If all the Endeavours that have been used in the last four Reigns for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to an Unity in Religion have been ineffectual as His Majesty says we know to whom we owe both the first beginnings and the progress of the Divisions among our selves the gentleness of Queen Elizabeth's Government and the numbers of those that adhered to the Church of Rome made it scarce possible to put an end to that Party during her Reign which has been ever since restless and has had Credit enough at Court during the three last Reigns not only to support it self but to distract us and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them by fomenting our own Differences and by setting on either a Toleration or a Persecution as it has happened to serve their Interests It is not so very long since that nothing was to be heard at Court but the supporting the Church of England and the Extirpating all the Nonconformists and it were easie to name the persons if it were decent that had this in their mouths but now all is turned round again the Church of England is in Disgrace and now the Encouragement of Trade the Quiet of the Nation and the Freedom of Conscience are again in Vogue that were such odious things but a few Years ago that the very mentioning them was enough to load any Man with Suspicions as backward in the King's Service while such Methods are used and the Government as if in an Ague divided between hot and cold fits no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have failed of their effect V. There is a good reserve here left for Severity when the proper Opportunity to set it on presents it self for his Majesty declares himself only against the forcing of men in matters of meer Religion so that whensoever Religion and Policy come to be so interwoven that meer Religion is not the Case and that publick Safety may be pretended then this Declaration is to be no more claimed so that the fastning any thing upon the Protestant Religion that is inconsistent with the publick Peace will be pretended to shew that they are not persecuted for meer Religion In France when it was resolved to extirpate the Protestants all the Discourses that were written on that Subject were full of the Wars occasioned by those of the Religion in the last Age tho' as these was the happy occasions of bringing the House of Bourbon to the Crown they had been ended above 80 Years ago and there had not been so much as the least Tumult raised by them these 50 Years past so that the French who have smarted under this Severity could not be charged with the least Infraction of the Law yet Stories of a hundred years old were raised up to inspire into the King those Apprehensions of them which have produced the terrible effects that are visible to all the World There is another Expression in this Declaration which lets us likewise see with what Caution the Offers of favour are now worded that so there may be an Occasion given when the time and Conjuncture shall be favourable to break through them all it is in these words So that they take especial Care that nothing be preached or taught amongst them which may any ways tend to alienate the hearts of our People from Us or Our Government This in it self is very reasonable and could admit of no Exception if we had not to do with a set of men who to our great Misfortune have so much Credit with His Majesty and who will be no sooner lodged in the Power to which they pretend then they will make every thing that is preached against Popery pass for that which may in some manner alienate the Subjects from the King VI. His Majesty makes no doubt of the Concurrence of his Two Houses of Parliament when he shall think it convenient for them to meet The hearts of Kings are unsearchable so that it is a little too presumptuous to look into his Majesties secret thoughts but according to the Judgments that we would make of other mens thoughts by their Actions one would be tempted to think that his Majesty made some doubt of it since his Affairs both at home and abroad could not go the worse if it appeared that there was a perfect understanding between him and His Parliament and that his people were supporting him with fresh Supplies and this House of Commons is so much at his Devotion that all the World saw how ready they were to grant every thing that he could desire of them till he began to lay off the Mask with relation to the Test and since that time the frequent Prorogations the Closetting and the pains that has been taken to gain Members by Promises made to some and the Disgraces of others would make one a little inclined to think that some doubt was made of their Concurrence But we must confess that the depth of his Majesties Judgment is such that we cannot fathom it and therefore we cannot guess what his Doubts or his Assurances are It is true the words that come after unriddle the Mistery a little which are when his Majesty shall think it convenient for them to
The Pope published a Bull in print against the restoring of Abby-Lands which Dr. Burnet affirms also Ap. Fol. 403. It is notoriously false they both asserting the contrary Dr. Burnet's Words in that very place are these The Pope in plain terms refused to ratifie what the Cardinal had done and soon after set out a severe Bull cursing and condemning all that held any Church Lands Seventhly and lastly The succeeding Popes have been clearly of this opinion Pope Pius the Fourth who immediately succeeded this Paul confirm'd the Counoil of Trent and therein damned all the detainers of Church-Lands and tho he was much importuned to confirm some Alienations made by the King of France to pay the debts of the Crown yet he absolutely refused it F. Pauls H. C. Trent 713. Pope Innocent the Tenth first protested against the Alienations of Church Lands in Germany that were made at the great Treaty of Munster and Osnaburg A. D. 1648. and when that would not do by his Bull Nov. 26. in the very same Year damns all those that should dare to retain the Church-Lands and declares the Treaty void Infirmnentum pacis c. Innocentii 10 me declaratio nullitatis Artic. c. and all their late Popes in the Bulla caenae do very solemnly Damn and Excommunicate all who usurp any Jurisdiction Fruits Revenues and Emoluments belonging to any Ecclesiastical person upon account of any Churches Monasteries or other Ecclesiastical Benefices or who upon any occasion or cause Sequester the said Revenues without the Express leave of the Bishop of Rome or others having lawful power to do it c. And tho upon Geod-Friday there is published a general Absolution yet out of that are expresly excluded all those who possess any Church Lands or Goods who are still left under the sentence of Excommunication Toleti Instr Sacerd. and his Explicatio casuum in Bulla caenae Dni reserva From which consideration it 's evident that it never was the design of the Pope to confirm the English Church Lands to the Lay-possessors but that he always urg'd the necessity of restoring of them to religious uses in order to which the papists prevailed to have the statute of Mortmain repealed for 20 Years In Queen Elizabeth's Reign the factious party that was manag'd wholy by Romish â—missaries demanded to have Abbtes and such Religious Houses restored for their Vse and A. D. 1585. in their petition to the Faâ—hament they set it down as a 〈◊〉 Doctrine that things once dedicated to Sacred Vses ought so to remain by the Word of God for ever and ought not to be converted to any private Vse Bishop Bancrofts Sermon at p. c. A. D. 1588. p. 25. And that the Church of Rome is still gaping after these Lands is evident from many of their late Books as the Religion of M. Luther lately printed at Oxford p. 15. The Monks wrote Anathema upon the Registers and Donations belonging to Monasteries the weight and essect of which curses are both felt and dreaded to this day To this End the Monastiâ—â—â— Anglicanum is so diligently preserved in the Vatican and other Libraries in the popish Countries and especially this appears from the obstinate refusal of this present Pope to confirm these Alienations tho it be a matter so much controverted and which would be of that vast Use towards promoting their Religion in this Kingdom If therefore the Bishops of Rome did never confirm these Alienations of Church-Lands but earnestly and strictly required their Restitution if they have declared in their Authentick Canons that they have no power to do it and both they and the last general Council pronounce an heavy Curse and Anathema against all such as detain them Then let every one that possesseth these Lands and yet own either of these Foreign Jurisdictions consider that here is nothing left to excuse him from Sacriledge and therefore with his Estate he must derive a curse to his posterity There is scarcely any Papist but that is forward to accuse King Henry the 8th of Sacriledge and yet never reflects upon himself who quietly possesseth the Fruits of it without Restitution either let them not accuse him or else restore themselves Now whatever opinions the papists may have of these things in the time of health yet I must desire to remember what the Jesuits proposed to Cardinal Pool in Doctor Pary's Days Viz. That if he would encourage them in England they did not doubt but that by dealing with the Consciences of those who were dying they should soon recover the greatest part of the Goods of the Church Dr. Burnet's Hist Vol. 2. p. 328. Not to mention that whensoever the Regulars shall grow numerous in England and by consequence burthensome to the few Nobility and Gentry of that perswasion they will find it necessary for them to consent to a Restitution of their Lands that they may share the burthen among others For so vast are the Burthens and Payments that that Religion brings with it that it will be found at length an advantagious Bargain to part with all the Church Lands to indemnifie the rest And I am confident that the Gentry of England that are Papists have found greater Burthens and Payments since their Religion hath been allow'd than ever they did for the many years it was forbid and this charge must daily encrease so long as their Clergy daily grows more numerous and their few Converts are most of them of the meanest Rank and such as want to be provided for And that 's no easie matter to force Converts may appear from that Excellent Observation of the great Emperour Charles the Fifth who told Queen Mary That by endeavouring to compel others to his own Relegion he had tired and spent himself in vain and purchas'd nothing by it but his own dishonour Card. Pool in Heylin's Hist Ref. p. 217. And to conclude this Discourse had the Act of Pope Julius the Third by his Legate Cardinal Pool in confirming of the Alienation of Church Lands in England been as valid as is by some pretended yet what shall secure us from an Act of Resumption That very Pope after that pretended Grant to Cardinal Pool published a Bull in which he Excommunicated all that kept Abby-Lands or Church Lands Burnet's Hist Vol. 2. p. 3â—9 by which all former Grants had there been any were cancell'd His Successor Pope Paul the Fourth retrieved all the Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues that had been alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the Second and the chief Reasons that are given why the Popes may not still proceed to an Act of Resumption of these Lands in England amount only to this That they may stay for a fair opportunity when it may be done without disturbing the peace of the Kingdom From all which it 's evident that the detaining of Abby-Lands and other Church-Lands from the Monks and Friars is altogether inconsistent with the Doctrine and Principles of the Romish Religion The King's
earnest to have those Laws maintained in their full and due vigour and think that the chief Security of the established Religion consists in the preserving of them Sacred and unshaken It is certain that there is no Kingdom Common-Wealth or any constituted Body or Assembly whatsoever in which there are not Laws made for the Safety thereof and that provide against all Attempts whatsoever that disturb their peace and that prescribe the Conditions and Qualities that they judge necessary for all that shall bear Employments in that Kingdom State or Corporation And no man can pretend that there is any Injury done him that he is not admitted to Imployments when he doth not satisfie the Conditions and Qualities required Nor can it be denied that there is a great difference to be observed in the conduct of those of the Reformed Religion and of the Roman Catholicks towards one another The Roman Catholicks not being satisfied to exclude the Reformed from all places of Profit or of Trust they do absolutely suppress the whole Exercise of that Religion and persecute all that profess it and this they do in all those places where it is safe and without danger to carry on that rigour And I am sorry that we have at this present so many deplorable Instances of this severity before our Eyes that is at the same time put in practice in so many different places I would therefore gladly see one single good reason to move a Protestant that fears God and that is concerned for his Religion to consent to the Repealing of those Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of King and Parliament which have no other tendency but to the security of the Reformed Religion and to the restraining of the Roman Catholicks from a capacity of overturning it these Laws inflict neither Fines nor Punishments and do only exclude the Roman Catholicks from a share in the Government who by being in Employments must needs study to encrease their party and to gain to it more Credit and Power which by what we see every day we must conclude will be extreamly dangerous to the Reformed Religion and must turn to its great prejudice Since in all places those that are in publick Employments do naturally Favour that Religion of which they are either more or less And who would go about to perswade me or any man else to endeavour to move Their Highnesses whom God hath honoured so far as to make them the Protectors of his Church to approve of or to consent to things so hurtful both to the Reformed Religion and to the publick Safety Nor can I Sir with your good leave in any way grant what you apprehend That no prejudice will thereby redound to the Reformed Religion I know it is commonly said that the number of the Roman Catholicks in England and Scotland is very inconsiderable and that they are possessed only of a very small number of the places of Trust Tho even as to this the case is quite different in Ireland Yet this you must of necessity grant me that if their numbers are small then it is not reasonable that the publick Peace should be disturbed on the account of so few persons especially when so great a favour may be offered to them such as the free Exercise of their Religion would be And if their numbers are greater then there is so much the more reason to be afraid of them I do indeed believe that Roman Catholicks as things at present stand will not be very desirous to be in publick Offices and Imployments nor that they will make any attempts upon the Reformed Religion both because this is contrary to Law and because of the great inconveniencies that this may bring at some other time both on their Persons and their Estates yet if the Restraints of the Law were once taken off you would see them brought into the Government and the chief Offices and Places of Trust would be put in their hands nor will it be easie to his Majesty to resist them in this how stedfast soever he may be for they will certainly press his hard in it and they will represent this to the King as a matter in which his Conscience will be concerned and when they are possessed of the publick Offices what will be left for the Protestants to do who will find no more the support of the Law and can expect little Encouragement from such Magistrates And on the other hand the advantages that the Roman Catholicks would find in being thus set loose from all restraints are so plain that it were a loss of time to go about the proving it I neither can nor will doubt of the sincerity of his Majesties intentions and that he has no other design before him in this matter but that all his Subjects may enjoy in all things the same Rights and Freedom But plain Reason as well as the Experience of all Ages the present as well as the past shews that it will be impossible for Roman Catholicks and Protestants when they are mixed together in places of Trust and publick Employments to live together peaceably or to maintain a good Correspondence together They will be certainly always jealous of one another For the Principles and the Maxims of both Religions are so opposite to one another that in my opinion I do not see how it will be in the power of any Prince or King whatsoever to keep down those Suspitions and Animosities which will be apt to arise upon all occasions As for that which you apprehend that the Dissenters shall not be delivered from the Penal Laws that are made against them unless at the same time the Test be likewise repealed This will be indeed a great unhappiness to them but the Roman Catholicks are only to blame for it who will rather be content that they and their Posterity should lie still under the weight of the Penal Laws and exposed to the hatred of the whole Nation than he still restrained from a capacity of attempting any thing against the Peace and the Security of the Protestant Religion And be deprived of that small advantage if it is at all to be reckoned one of having a share in the Government and publick Enjoyments since in all places of the World this has been always the priviledge of the Religion that is established by Laws and indeed these Attempts of the Roman Catholicks ought to be so much the more suspected and guarded against by Protestants in that they see that Roman Catholicks even when liable to that Severity of Penal Laws do yet endeavour to perswade his Majesty to make the Protestants whether they will or not dissolve the Security which they have for their Religion And to clear a way for bringing in the Roman Caâ—â—â—licks to the Government and to publick Employments In which case there would remain no relief for them but what were to be expected from a Roman Catholick Government Such then will be very unjust to
time be safely conducted thither Nor can I avoid pleasing my self with those joyful and hopeful thoughts when I reflect upon the various steps of Divine Providence by which they are brought into that nearness of legally inheriting these Crowns Certainly there is a voice that speaketh loud to this purpose not only in Gods denying a Legitimate Issue to the Late King and in his taking away from time to time all the Lawful Male Off-spring of his present Majesty but in the uniting their Highnesses in Marriage even to the crossing a certain Persons Inclinations whom I forbear to Name as well as to the disgusting of a Neighbouring Monarch and to the defeating the busie endeavours of the Popish Party But I must return to our Author whose Injustice to their Highnesses and his malice against their Honour Interest and Reputation knows neither end nor bounds For upon Monsieur Fagel's having ask'd Who would go about to advise him or any man else to endeavour to perswade their Highnesses whom God has so far honoured as to make them Defenders of his Church to approve and promote things so dangerous and hurtful both to the Reformed Religion and to the publick safety as the Repealing of the Test Laws would be our Author does hereupon with his wonted Friendship Equity and Candor to those Excellent Princes tells us that he hath not met with so bold a Declaration as this of calling them the Protectors of Gods Church and that the ascribing it to them is a detracting from the Honour of Kings and Monarchs who will not Abdicate from themselves to any other so glorious a Title And in pursuance of his rancour towards their Highnesses he runs out in his way of Wit and Learning into a most silly and impertinent Discourse about the Nature of a Church and accuseth the Prince and Princess as if by having this Character conferred upon them they had a design to usurp from his Majesty of Great Brittain the stile of Defenders of the Faith and to challenge to themselves the being the Protectors of the Church of England Surely this Gentleman does by vertue of his Popish Zeal and Irish Understanding believe that no Titles are due to Princes in reference to the Church of God but what are derived from the Papal Chair Whereas I dare say that Monsieur Fagel in bestowing this Title upon Their Highnesses did not dream of the Roman Pontif but had been taught it by God Almighty whom I take to be the Supream and true Fountain of Honour who is pleased to character such Princes as do cherish and favour his Church by the Name of Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers which is the term that the Pensionary useth in reference to their Highnesses And as it is their own merit which according to the Tenor of the Divine Creation hath entitled them to this glorious stile so they are neither to be ridicul'd nor hectored out of that duty of countenancing and supporting the Reformed Religion nor to be deterred by bold and empty words from those compassionate generous and Princely Offices to sincere Orthodox Believers by which they have deserved it And while others glory in the enjoyment of the Titles of most Christian and most Catholick Kings which their Vassalage to the See of Rome their contributing to the Exaltation of the Triple Crown and their being the Popes Executioners in the shedding the Blood of Saints hath procured unto them 't is enough for their Highnesses to be by the Suffrage of all true Protestants and that agreeably to the Doctrine and Authority of the Sacred Scriptures had in esteem and reverenced for Nutritii and Protectors of Gods Church Nor do they appropriate this stile to themselves tho' they account it the brightest among all their Titles but they acknowledge it to belong equally to many others and are afflicted at nothing more than that all Potentates may not justly claim a share in it And as the Pensionary's ascribing it unto their Highnesses was out of no design to usurp upon the King of Englands Title of Defender of the Faith nor to affix any Authority unto them over that Church so it will be no presumption to add that all of the Reformed Religion in that Kingdom how much soever differing in little and circumstantial things among themselves are yet so far sensible of the obligations they are under to Their Highnesses and of the benefits they have all the Assurance to expect from them hereafter that without meaning ill either to the King or to any one else they will unanimously join in stiling them Defenders of the Christian Reformed Faith and Protectors of Gods Church professing the Protestant Religion And they will easily know with whom they are to be angry and against whom to direct their Resentments Mijn Heer Fagel had said that if the Dissenters cannot during his Majesties Reign be eased from the Penal Laws unless the Tests be also abrogated that this will be an unhappiness unto them but for which the Roman Catholicks are only to be blamed who chuse rather to be contented that they and their Posterity should remain still obnoxious to the Penal Laws and exposed to the hatred of the whole Nation than be restrained from a capacity of attempting any thing against the peace and security of the Reformed Religion Our Author whose envy and injustice against Their Highnesses is not yet fully spent doth in his imprudent and indiscreet way obtrude from hence upon the World that the Nonconformists as well as the Roman Catholicks may hereby see where their true Interest stands and that they are extreamly obliged to those in whose Name this advice is given for the Consolation afforded them in the condition under which they are stated by Law Which is as much as if he should harangue the Nonconformists into discontentment against the Prince and Princess by assuring them that they are to hope for no relief against the Penal Laws by any favour of theirs Whereas the Dissenters are not only told that their Highnesses are willing to consent but that they do fully approve that they should have an entire Liberty for the full exercise of their Religion without being obnoxious to receive any prejudice trouble or molestation upon that account So that the heat which our Author would enflame the Dissenters unto against their Highnesses ought to turn and spend it self against the Papists who rather than part with the Tests which the Nonconformists are as much concerned to have maintained as they of the National Communion can be are resolved to keep all the Penal Laws in force and to leave the Dissenters under the dread and apprehension of them But this they may be fully perswaded of that if they can escape the edge of them during this Kings Reign they will be in no danger from them in case the Nation come once to be so happy as to see their Highnesses seated on the Throne For as much as they have not only their word which was hitherto
some of the material Doctrines of the Roman Church may notwithstanding the Charity which we retain towards the Bulk of them make us justly apprehensive that one or more of their Leaders are intirely in the Interest of the Church of Rome For as the Popish Emissaries know how to put themselves into all shapes for the increasing and heightning divisions among Protestants and for the exposing as well as supplanting of our Religion so the design promoted in the foresaid Papers of destroying all the Legal Fences against Popery and of letting the Papists into the Legislative and whole Executive Power of the Government gives the World too much ground to suspect out of whose mint and forge writings of this stamp and mettle do proceed Secondly It should not a little contribute to augment our Jealousie that they who without being false to their Religious Tenets cannot joyn to assist Protestants in case the Papists should attempt to cut our Throats or endeavour to impose their Religion upon the Nation by Military force should of all men study to overthrow that Security which we have by the Test Laws whose whole tendency is onely to prevent the Papists from getting into a condition to extirpate our Religion and destroy us Is it not enough that they have rob'd the Kingdom of the Aid of so many as they have leavened with their Doctrine in case the King upon despairing to establish Popery by a Parliament should imploy his Janizaries to compel us to receive it and should set upon the converting Protestants in England in the way that the French Monarch hath converted the Huguenots but that over and above this they should be doing all they can to deprive us of all the Legal Security whereby we may be preserved from the Power of the Papists Surely 'twere not Charity and good Nature but stupidity and folly not to suspect the tendency of such a design when we find it pursued and carried on by a person that stiles himself a Quaker But then when besides this we find that 't is Mr. William Pen who is the Author of those Papers and the great Instrument in advancing this projection we have the more cause to suspect some sinistrous thing at the bottom of it For first he is under those Obligations to His Majesty which as they may put a biass upon his Understanding so they afford ground enough to Protestants to look upon him no otherways than as one Retained against them 'T was through his present Majesties Intercession with the late King that he obtained the Proprietorship of Pensilvania and from his Bounty that he had the Propriety of Three whole Counties bordering upon it superadded thereunto And as this cannot be but a strong Obligation upon so grateful a person as Mr. Pen why he should effectually serve the King and make his Will in a very great degree the measure of his actings so it ought to be an Inducement to others to be the more jealous of all he say's and not to surrender themselves too easily either to his Magisterial Dictates upon the one hand or to his smooth Flatteries upon the other He must have either laid a mighty merit upon the two Royal Brothers of both whose Religion we are at last convinced or he must have come under Obligations of doing them very considerable service in reference to that which they were most fond of compassing otherways we have little cause to think that he would have been singled out from all the rest of the Kingdom to be made the object of so special favour and of so eminent liberality For though there might be a debt owing to his Father Sir William Pen yet they must be extreamly weak who conceive there was no other motive to the forementioned Donation save Honour and Justice in the two Royal Brothers for having it discharged Seeing many of the noblest Families in England who had spent their Blood and wasted their Estates in fighting for the Crown while Sir William Pen was all along ingaged against it were not only left without all kind of Compensation for what they had eminently acted and as eminently suffered in behalf of the Monarchy but could never get to be reimbursed one farthing of the vast Sums which they had lent the late King and his Father upon the security of the Royal Faith Secondly Mr. Pen hath too far detected himself in these very Discourses not to give us ground to suspect what they are calculated for and whereunto they are subservient For besides his justifying the King's turning so many Gentlemen of the Church of England out of all Office and Imploy by saying they are not fit to be trusted who are out of the King's Interest he further tells us that the King being mortal it is not good sense that he should leave the power in those hands that to his face shew their aversion to the Friends of his Communion Letter first For as this implies no less than that they ought to have the whole Legal and Military Power of the three Kingdoms put into their hands that they may be in a condition to preclude the right Heir from Succession to the Crown or prescribe such Laws to her as they please in case they should think fit to admit her so a very small measure of Understanding will serve to instruct us what the Papists esteem to be an aversion to them and in what manner had they the power in their hands they think themselves obliged to treat us upon that account And as we have had occasion to know too much of his Majesties Temper and Design as well as to whose Guidance he hath implicitely resigned himself not to be sensible what he esteems his Interest so we need no other evidence what it amounts unto to be in it than the seeing so many displaced from all share in the administration whose Quality gives them a Right and their Abilities a fitness for the chiefest and most honourable Trusts and whom as the King by reason of their services to himself as well as the Crown cannot lay aside without the highest ingratitude so their known Loyalty to his person and zeal for the grandure of the Monarchy is such that nothing could take them off from concurring in his Councils and promoting his Designs but the conviction they are under of their tendency to the subversion of Religion and the altering of the Legal Government And as we have reason to suspect what the foresaid Papers are intended to promote both upon the account of the Author's being Quaker and because not onely of the many Obligations he is under to His Majesty but his being so intirely in his Interest as appears by his influence into Councils the great stroke he hath in all Affairs and from his being one of the King 's principal Confidents so upon looking into those Discourses we find several things obtruded on us for truth and proposed in order to wheedle and insnare us into an abrogation of the Laws
enacted for our security which to every ones knowledge are so palpably false that we have all the ground that may be both to question and suspect his sincerity and to conclude that his Masters do not purpose to confine themselves within the bounds that he is pleased to chalk out for them and which he undertakes they shall be contented with for their allotment For what can be remoter from Truth than that the Test Laws were designed as a preamble to the Bill of Exclusion as he phrases it Letter first and that they were contrived to exclude the Duke of York from the Crown as he expresseth it p. 15. of his Good Advice c. when it is most certain that as the Test in 73. was made long before there were or could be any thoughts of it and was enacted by a Parliament against whose Loyalty there can be no exception so there was a clause in the last Test Act by which it was provided that he should not be obliged to take it Again what can be more repugnant to experience than that the King onely desires ease for those of his Religion Good Adv. p. 44. and that the Papists desire no more than a Toleration and are willing upon those Terms to make a perpetual peace with the Church of England Good Advice p. 17. For do we not daily see Protestants turned out of all Places of Trust Authority and Command and Papists advanced into all Offices Military and Civil Could the King have been contented with a Non-execution of the Laws against those of his Communion and could they have been satisfied with such an Indulgence and have modestly improved it 'T is not improbable but that such a behaviour would have so far prevailed upon the ingenuity and good nature of the generality of Protestants that without needing to have been importuned they would have repealed all the Penal Laws against Roman Catholicks But the methods which have been pursued by his Majesty and them shews both that they aim at no less than the Domination and that we must be very willing to be deceived if we either credit Mr. Pen or suffer our selves to be influenced by him after his obtruding upon us for truths matters which our very senses inable us to refute It may justly make us question his sincerity and beget a suspition in all thinking people of the sinistrous design these Papers are adapted unto when we find him endeavouring to cajole the Nation to an abrogation of the Laws by which our Religion and Safety are secured by telling us That the King's word is enough for us to rely upon if they were gone Good Advice p. 49. and that he could easily pack a Parliament for Repealing them if he did not seek a more lasting and more agreeable security to his Friends Letter third p. 12. and that if they were abolished 't is below the Glory of our King to use ways so unlike the rest of his open and generous principles as to endeavour to get a Parliament afterwards returned that is not duly chosen Letter second p. 15. and that he is a Prince of that Honour Conscience and generoas nature as not by invading the Rights of the Church of England to become guilty of an injustice and irreligion he hath so often so solemnly and earnestly spoken against Letter second p. 11. He must needs take us to be strangely unacquainted with the whole Tenor of the King's Actings in England as well as in Scotland and Ireland and to be persons of very weak understandings and of an easie belief if he think we are to be imposed upon and decoy'd by such Topicks as these to absolish the Tests or that after what we have seen and felt contradictory to those Panegyricks and inconsistent with those beautiful and lofty Characters fastned upon his Majesty we should believe Mr. Pen to mean nothing but well and honestly towards the Protestant Interest in what he so earnestly solliciteth the Church of England and the Dissenters in the forementioned Papers to concurr and consent unto I do acknowledge that what he hath said about Liberty due to men in matters of meer Religion and by way of rebuke unto and reflection upon the Wisdom and Justice of those that either are or have been for persecution is very strong and convincing but I must withall add that it is all at this time very needless and impertinent For the Church of England is so sensible of the Iniquity as well as folly of that Method that there is no ground to suspect She will ever be guilty of it for the future They whom no Arguments could heretofore convert the Court whose Tools they were in that mischievous and Unchristian work and by whom they were instigated to all the severities which they are now blamed for by objecting it to them as their Reproach and Disgrace and by seeking to improve the resentments of those who had suffered by Penal Laws to become an united party with the Papists for their subversion hath brought them at once to be asham'd of what they did and to Resolutions of promoting all Christian Liberty for the time to come And should there be any peevish and ill-natur'd Ecclesiasticks who upon a turn of Affairs would be ready to reassume their former principles and pursue their wonted course we may be secure against all fear of their being successful in it not only by finding the Majority as well as the more learned both of the dignified and inferior Clergy unchangeably fixed and determined against it but by having the whole Nobility and Gentry and those Noble Princes whose right it will be next to ascend the Throne fully possessed with all the generous and Christian purposes we can desire of making provision for Liberty of Conscience by a Law Nor can I forbear to subjoyn how surprizing it ought to be to all Protestants that while Mr. Pen expresseth so much charity for the Papists he entertaineth so little for the Church of England He would perswade us that if the Penal and Test Laws were abrogated the Papists would be so far afterward from seeking to shake the Constitution of the Church of England or from breaking in upon the Liberty that is now vouchsafed unto Dissenters or from endeavouring to make their Religion National that they would not onely be contented with a bare Toleration but that upon their enjoyment of ease by Law they would turn good Countrymen and come in to the Interest of the Kingdom Letter first Whereas at the same time he would have us believe that all the Protestations of those in the Communion of the Church of England for exercising Moderation in time to come are but the Language of their fear that their promises are not to be trusted Good Advice p. 54. and that the Dissenters deserve to be begged for Fools should they be satisfied with any less assurance than the abolition of the Penal and Test Laws ibid. p. 55. 'T is enough not onely to excite
could they once get to have a share in the Legislation and to be legally stated in all places of Trust and Power What need we had of a legal security for our Religion in case of a Papists coming to inherit the Crown not onely the late King who thorowly knew his Brothers temper and bigottry but those Loyal Zealots who with an unhappy vigour opposed the Bill of Exclusion were sensible of and therefore besides all the security which we have for our Religion by the Statutes in force they offered many other provisions for its protection and several of them very threatning to the Monarchy which we might have had established into Laws if through our pursuit of the point of Exclusion we had not been so improvident as to despise and reject them He that dares attempt so much as he hath done in opposition unto and defiance of all our Laws what will he not have the confidence to undertake and be in a condition to accomplish if these obstructions were out of his way The Penal Laws cannot prejudice the Papists in this King's Reign seeing he can connive at the non-execution of them and the Repeal of them now cannot benefit the Papists when he is gone because if they do not behave themselves modestly we can either re-establish them or enact others which they will be as little fond of But their abrogation at this time would infallibly prejudice us and would prove to be the pulling up of the Sluces and the throwing down the Dikes which stem the deluge that is breaking in upon us and which hinder the threatning waves from overflowing us And whereas Mr. Pen would obtrude upon weak and credulous Men That if these Laws were Repealed the King is willing to give us other for our security and that he would onely exchange the security and not destroy it Letter 2d p. 11. he must pardon us if we do not easily believe him after what we know of his Majesties natural Genius and Religious Bigottry and after what we have seen and experienced in the whole course of his Government And if there be no other way of giving the King an opportunity of Keeping his word with the Church of England in preserving her and maintaining our Religion but the Repealing of the Penal and Tests Laws as he intimates unto us Good Adv. p. 50. we have not found the Royal Faith so sacred and inviolable in other instances as to rob our selves of a Legal defence and protection for to depend upon the precarious one of a bare promise which his Ghostly Fathers whensoever they find it convenient will tell him it was unlawful to make and which he can have a Dispensation for the breaking of at what time he pleaseth Nor do we remember that when he pledged his Faith unto us in so many Promises that the parting with our Laws was declared to be the condition upon which he made and undertook to perform them Neither can any have the confidence to alledge it without having recourse to the Papal Doctrine of Mental Reservation Which being one of the Principles of that Order under whose conduct he is makes us justly afraid to rely upon his word without further Security However we do hereby see with what little sincerity Mr. Pen Writes and what small regard he hath to His Majesty's honour when he tells the Church of England That if She please and like the terms of giving up the Penal and Test Laws against Papists that then the King will perform his word with her Good Adv. p. 17. but that otherways it is She who breaks with him and not he with her ib p. 44. Though something may be said for the Repealing of all Penal Laws in reference to every perswasion that is called Religion how incongruously soever it may claim that Name yet 't is inconsistent with the safety of all Civil Government and a plain betraying of the Civil Liberties as well as the established Religion in Great Brittain not to allow the precluding those from places of Trust of whose fidelity we can have no assurance And therefore as all that Mr. Pen hath alledged for abolishing the Tests is miserably silly so he hath thereby too manifestly detected the small regard he bears to the safety of the Kingdoms and the Protestant cause not to be suspected in every thing else which he hath more plausibly and reasonably asserted For as all Governments have an unquestionable Right to use means whereby to preserve themselves so 't is not onely lawful but expedient that they should have Tests by which it may be known who are fit to be trusted with the Legislative and Executive power Without this no Constitution can subsist nor Subjects be in any security under it Neither can any Reasons be advanced against the Test Laws but what are of equal force against exacting Oaths of Allegiance and Promises of Fidelity from those whom the Government thinks meet to Employ One might think that Mr. Pen should allow as much to the Parliament of England as he challengeth to himself in his Government of Pensilvania For I find that not onely such shall be precluded from a share in the Government there who shall either be convicted of ill Fame and unsober Coversation or who shall not acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World Chap. 2d of their Constitutions and Laws but that none shall be either chosen into Office or so much as admitted to choose but who solemnly declare and promise Fidelity to William Pen and his Heirs Chap. 57. This I take not onely to be equivalent unto but something more than our Tests do amount unto For whereas there may be several whom the Quakers may judge persons of unsober Conversation who may be true to the Civil Interest of their Country and willing to the utmost of their power to preserve the Peace and promote the Prosperity of it we have no ground to believe the like of Papists in relation to the welfare and safety of a Protestant State And that not onely because they acknowledge a Forraign Jurisdiction inconsistent with and paramount to ours but because they are obliged by the Principles of their Religion whensoever they find themselves able to destroy and extirpate us I 'm sure that the Motives which in 73 and 78 enforced to the Enacting of the Test Laws do at this season plead more effectually for the continuing them Nor had we so much cause then of being afraid of Popery or to be apprehensive of having our Religion overturned by Papists which were the Inducements to the making of those Laws as we have ground to dread it at this time and to be jealous of it under the present conjuncture And the more that the Roman Catholicks and their Advocates press to have these Laws abolished the more fear they excite in us of their design if they knew how to effect it and make us the more resolved to hazard all we have to
what Mr. Pen intends when he tells us that such a Bargain will be driven with the Kingdom as will make the Church of England think that half a Loaf had been better than no Bread Good Adv. p. 43. and that one year will shew the Trick and mightily deceive her and the opportunity of her being preserved lost and another Bargain driven mightily to her disadvantage Ibid. p. 42. But as it will be impossible for Papists and Dissenters should they conspire together to be able to effect it considering the interest which her integrity in the Protestant Religion and her tenderness for the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdoms have justly acquired unto her so it were both the most foolish as well as criminal thing which any pretending themselves Protestants can be guilty of to be in any measure accessory unto it For as there is nothing in reference to their own Religious Liberties and the Priviledges of the Nation which they may not undoubtedly expect from her Justice as well as from her Mercy and Moderation so there is no means left within our view either to give a lasting Peace and a firm settlement to Three distracted Kingdoms or to bring the Protestant Interest into such a condition as may ballance the Papal grandure in Europe and give check to the rage of Persecution in all places but her happy advancement to the Thrones of Great Brittain and Ireland when it shall please God to remove his Majesty Until which time I hope all who call themselves Protestants will submit to the worst of fate rather than to fall under the Curse of this Age and Ignominy with all that shall come after for becoming an United Party with the Church of Rome in any of her Designs how plausible soever they may appear The Ill Effects of Animosities 'T IS long since the Court of England under the Authority of the late King and his Brother was embark'd in a design of subverting the Protestant Religion and of introducing and establishing Popery For the two Royal Brothers being in the time of their Exile seduced by the Caresses and Importunities of their Mother allured by the Promises and Favours of Popish Princes and being wheedled by the Crafts and Arts of Priests and Jesuites who are cunning to deceive and know how to prevail upon persons that were but weakly established in the Doctrine and wholly strangers to the practice and power of the Religion they were tempted from they not only abjured the Reformed Religion and became reconciled to the Church of Rome but by their Example and the Influence which they had over those that depended upon them both for present Subsistence and future Hopes they drew many that accompanied them in their Banishment to renounce the Doctrine Worship and Communion of the Church of England though in the War between Charles the First and the Parliament they had pretended to fight for them in equal conjunction with the Prerogatives of the Crown So that upon the Restoration in the year 1660 they were not only moulded and prepared themselves for promoting the desires of the Pope and his Emissaries but they were furnished with a stock of Gentlemen out of whom they might have a supply of Instruments both in Parliament and elsewhere to co-operate with and under them in the methods that should be judged most proper and subservient to the Extirpation of Protestancy and the bringing the Nation again into a Servitude to the Triple Crown And besides the Obligations that the Principles of the Religion to which they had revolted laid them under for eradicating the established Doctrine and Worship they had bound themselves unto it by all the Promises and Oaths which persons are capable of having prescribed unto and exacted of them Nor can any now disbelieve his late Majesty's having lived and died a Papist who hath either heard what he both said and did when under the prospect of approaching Death and past hope of acting a part any longer on the present Stage or who have seen and read the two Papers left in his Closet which have been since published to the World and attested for Authentick by the present King And had we been so just to our selves as to have examined the whole course of his Reign both in his Alliances Abroad and his most Important Counsels and Actions at Home or had we hearkened to the Reports of those who knew him at Collen and in Flanders we had been long ago convinced of what Religion he was Nor were his many repeated Protestations of his Zeal for Protestancy but in order to delude the Nation till insensibly as to us and with safety to himself he had overturned the Religion which he pretended to own and had introduced that which he inveighed against And while with the highest asseverations he disclaimed the being what he really was and with most sacred and tremendous Oaths professed the being what he was not his Religion might in the mean time have been traced through all the signal Occurrences of his Government and have been discerned written in Capital Letters through all the material Affairs wherein he was engaged from the Day he ascended the Throne till the Hour he left the World His entring into two Wars against the Dutch without any provocation on their part or ground on his save their being a Protestant State his being not only conscious unto but interposing his Commands as well as Encouragements for the burning of London His concurrence in all the parts of the Popish Plot except that which the Jesuites with a few others were involved in against himself his stifling that Conspiracy and delivering the Roman Catholicks from the Dangers into which it had cast them His being the Author of so many forged Plots which he caused to be charged on Protestants His constant Confederacies with France to the disobliging his people the betraying of Europe the neglect of the reformed in that Kingdom and the encouraging the Design carried on against them for their Extirpation His entailing the Duke of York upon the Nation contrary to the Desires and Endeavours of three several Parliaments and that not out of Love to his person but Affection to Popery which he knew that Gentleman would introduce and establish All these besides many other things which might be named were sufficient Evidences of the late King's Religion and of the Design he was engaged in for the Subversion of Ours So that it would fill a sober person with amazement to think that after all this there should be so many sincere Protestants and true English Men who not only believed the late King to be of the reformed Religion but with an insatiableness thirsted after the Blood of those that durst otherwise represent him And had it not been for his receiving Absolution and Extream Unction from a Popish Priest at his Death and for what he left in writing in the two Papers found in his strong Box he would have still passed for a Prince
to the Church of Rome or upon rendring the Monarchy unlimited and independent on the Law would have been thought to have laid a Snare for exposing the Papists to greater Severities than they were obnoxious unto before and to have projected the robbing the Crown of the Prerogatives which belong unto it by the Rules of the Constitution and to which it was so lately restored And the despair of succeeding would have rendred the Royal Brothers deaf to all Importunities from Romish Emissaries and Court Minions Neither the Promises and Oaths which they had made and taken beyond Sea to introduce Popery nor their Ambition to advance themselves beyond the restraint of Laws and the Controul of Parliaments would have prevailed upon them to have encountred the Hazards and Difficulties which in case of the Union of English Protestants must have attended and ensued upon Attempts and Endeavours of the one kind and of the other Or should their beloved Popery and their own Bigottedness in the Romish Superstition have so far transported them beyond the bounds of Wisdom and Discretion as to have appeared possessed with an Intention of subverting the Protestant Religion and of enslaving the Nation to the Superstition and Idolatry of Rome they would have been made soon to understand That the Laws which make it Treason to own the Jurisdiction of the Pope or to seduce the meanest Subject to the Church of Rome were not enacted in vain and that those as well as many more made for the Security of the Protestant Religion and to prevent the growth and introduction of Popery were not to be dallied and plaid withal Or should they have been so far infatuated and abandoned of all Understanding as out of a foolish and haughty Affectation of being Absolute to have attempted the Alteration of the Civil Government they would have been immediately and unanimously told That the People have the same Right to their Liberties that the King hath to the Prerogatives of the Crown And if they would not have been contented with what belongs unto the Prince by the Common and Statute-Laws of the Realm but had invaded the Priviledges reserved unto the Subject they would have been made to know that they might not onely be withstood in what they strove to Usurp contrary to Magna Charta the Petition of Right and other Laws of the Kingdom but that thereby they forfeited and might be disseized of what either appertained unto the Crown by fundamental Agreements or hath been since settled upon the Monarch by Statute-Laws Nor could any thing have emboldened his late Majesty and the present King to Enterprizes of the one kind or the other but the prospect of begetting a Misunderstanding Jealousie and Rancor among Protestants and thereby both of making them instrumental to the ruin of one another and contributary to the loss of English Liberty and the Reformed Religion which they equally value and esteem and to the setting up Popery and Tyranny which the one detesteth and abhorreth no less than the other Though all English Protestants have ever been at an Accord in all the Essentials and Vitals of Religion yet from the very beginning of the Reformation there have been Differences among them concerning Ecclesiastical Government and Discipline and about Forms Rites and Ceremonies of Worship And had they consulted either their Duty to God or the common Interest of Religion they might have found ways either for removing the occasions of them or they ought to have lived together as Brethren notwithstanding the differences which were among them in those things But how much wiser are the Children of this World than those of the Kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ For though the differences among the Papists do far exceed ours both in their number and in the Importance of those things wherein they disagree yet they do mutually tolerate and bear with one another The matters wherein they differ are neither made the Terms of their Church-Communion nor the Grounds of mutual Excommunications and Persecutions But alas one Party among us hath been always endeavouring to cut or stretch others to their own Size and have made those things which themselves stile Indifferent both the Qualifications for admission to the Pastoral Office and the Conditions of Fellowship in the Ordinances of the Gospel Nor is it to be expressed what Advantages were hereby administred all along to the Common Enemy and what Sufferings peaceable and orthodox Christians were exposed unto from their peevish and angry Brethren And though these Things with the Heats begotten among all and the Calamities undergone by one side were not the cause of that funestous War betwixt Charles the First and the Parliament yet they were an occasion of diverting Thousands from the side which the Persecuting Church-men espoused and engaging them in the behalf of the two Houses in the Quarrel which they begun and carried on against that Prince for defence of the Civil Liberties Priviledges and Rights of the People but some of the Mitred Clergy were so far from being made wise by their own and the Nations Sufferings as upon their Restoration to hearken to moderate Counsels and to decline their former Rigours and Severities that they became the Tools and Instruments of the Court not onely for reviving but for heightning and enflaming all the Differences which had formerly been among English Protestants For the Royal Brothers finding nothing more adapted and subservient than this to their Design of altering the Government and subverting Religion they animated those waspish and impolitick Ecclesiasticks not onely to pursue the Restoration of all those things which had given rise and occasion to former Dissentions and Persecutions but to lay new Snares for alienating many persons of unspotted lives and tender Consciences from the Church and of rendring them obnoxious to suffer in their Names Persons and Estates And what a satisfaction was it to the late King and his Brother to find the old Episcopal Clergy prepared through Principles of revenge as well as from Love of Domination Ambition and Covetousness to fall in with the Design not onely of Increasing Divisions among Protestants both by making the Conditions of entring upon the Pastoral Function narrower and for screwing Conformity with the Church in her Forms and Ceremonies of Worship into Tests for admission to Magistracy and Civil Trusts but of obtaining several Laws against Dissenters whereby the Penalties to which they foresaw that People would become liable were rendred greater than they had been before and their Sufferings made more merciless inhumane and intolerable For though his late Majesty had by a Declaration dated at Breda promised Indulgence to all Protestants that would live peaceably under the Civil Government yet it was never in his Thoughts to perform it and the previous Obligations which he was under to the Church of Rome had a virtue to supersede and cancel his Engagements to English Hereticks And all he intended by that Declaration was onely to wheedle
and lull those into a tameness of admitting his Return into his Dominions whom a jealousie of being afterwards persecuted for their Consciences might have awakened to withstand and dispute it And to give him his due he never judged himself longer bound to the observation of Promises and Oaths made to his People than until without hazard to his Person and Government he could violate and break them Accordingly he was no sooner seated in the Throne of his Ancestors and those whom he had been apprehensive of Resistance and Disturbance from put out of Capacity and Condition of attempting any thing against him but he thought himself discharged from every thing that the Royal Word and Faith of a Prince had been pledged and 〈◊〉 to stake for in that Declaration and from that day forward acted in direct opposition to all the Parts and Branches of it For having soon after his Return obtained a Parliament moulded and adapted both to his Arbitrary and Popish Ends he immediately set all his Instruments at work for the procuring of such Laws to be Enacted as might divide and weaken Protestants and thereby make us not onely the more easie Prey to the Papists but afford them an advantage through our Scuffles of undermining our Religion with the less notice and observation How such persons came to be chosen and to constitute the Majority of the House of Commons who by their Actings have made themselves Infamous and Execrable to all Ages were a matter too large to penetrate at present into the Reasons of but that which my Theme conducts me to observe is That as they sacrificed the Treasure of the Nation to the profuseness and prodigality of the Prince and our Rights and Liberties to his Ambition and Arbitrary Will so they both introduced and established those Things which have been a means of dividing us and by many severe and repeated Laws they subjected a great number of industrious English-men and true Protestants to Excommunications Imprisonments rigorous and multiplied Fines and all this for Matters onely relating to their Consciences and for their Obedience to God in the Ordinances of his Worship and House And notwithstanding the late King 's often pretended compassion to the Dissenters it will be hard to discern them unless in Effects which proceed from very different and opposite Principles The distance which he kept them from his Person and Favour the influencing these Members of both Houses that depended upon him to be the Authors and Promoters of Severities against them the enjoyning so often the Judges and Justices of Peace to execute the Laws upon them in their utmost rigour the instigating the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Courts if at any time they relented in their Prosecutions to pursue them with fresh Citations and Censures the arraigning them not onely upon the Statutes made intentionally against Dissenters but upon those that were originally and solely enacted against the Papists these and other Procedures of that Nature are the onely Proofs and Evidences which I can find of the late King's Bowels Pity and Tenderness to them And whereas the weak Church-men were imposed upon to believe that all the Severity against the Nonconformists was the Fruit of his Zeal for the Protestant Religion and for the security of the Worship and Discipline established by Law they might have easily discovered if Passion Prejudice Wealth and Honour had not blinded them that all this was calculated for Ends perfectly destructive to the Church and inconsistent with the Safety and Happiness of all Protestants For as his seeking oftner than once to have wriggled himself into a Power of superseding and dispensing with those Laws and suspending their Execution plainly shews that he never intended the support and preservation of the Church by them so his non-execution of the Laws against Papists his conniving at their encrease his perswading those nearest unto him to reconcile themselves to the See of Rome as he did among others the late D. of Monmouth his countenancing the Roman Catholicks in their open and intollerable Insolencies and his advancing them to the most gainful and Important Places and trusts sufficiently declare that he never had any love to Protestants or care of the Reformed Religion but that all his designs were of a contrary tendency and his fairest Pretences for the Protection and Grandure of the Church of England adapted to other ends Thus the Royal Brothers having obtained such Laws to be enacted whereby one Party of Protestants was armed with means of oppressing and persecuting all others neither the necessity of their Affairs at any time since nor the Application and Interposure of several Parliaments for removing the Grounds of our Differences and Animosities by an Indulgence to be past into a Law could prevail either upon his late Majesty or the present King to forgoe the Advantage they had gotten of keeping us in mutual Enmity and thereby of ministring to their projection of supplanting our Religion and re-establishing the Faith and Worship of the Church of Rome Hereupon the last King not onely refused to consent to such Bills as diverse late Parliaments had prepared for indulging Dissenters and for bringing them into an union of Counsels and Conjunction of Interest with those of the Church of England for resisting the Conspiracies of the Papists against our Legal Government and Established Religion but he rejected an Address for suspending the Execution of the Penal Laws against Dissenters which was offered and presented unto him by that very Parliament which had framed and enacted those cruel and hard Laws And as the Royal Brothers have made it their constant Business to cherish a Division and Rancour among Protestants and to provoke one Party to persecute and ruine another so nothing could more naturally fall in with the Design of Arbitrariness or be more subservient to the betraying the Nationâ—â— Papal Idolatry and Jurisdiction For several Penal Laws against a considerable Body of People do either expose them against whom they are enacted to be destroyed by the Prince with whom the executive Power of the Law is trusted and deposited or they prove a Temptation to such as are obnoxious of resigning themselves in such a manner to the Will and Pleasure of the Monarch for the obtaining his connivancy at their violation of the Laws as is unsafe and dangerous for the common Liberty and Good of the Kingdom For in case the Supreme Magistrate pursue an Interest distinct from and destructive to that of his People they who the Law hath made liable to be oppressed are brought under Inducements of becoming so many Parisans for abetting him in his Designs in hopes of being thereupon protected from the Penal Statutes the execution whereof is committed to him And as it is not agreeable to the Wisdom and Prudence which ought to be among Men nor to the Mercy and Compassion which should be among Christians for one party to surrender another into the Hands and Power of the Soveraign to be
unnatural Heats wherewith Protestants have been enflamed and enraged against Protestants many weak ungrounded and unstable Souls have been tempted to question the Truth of our Religion and to Apostatize to the Church of Rome and thereupon have become united in Inclination Power and Endeavours with the Court and our old Enemies the Papists for the Extirpation of Protestancy and the alteration of the Government As it hath been matter of Offence and Scandal to all Men so it hath been ground of stumbling and falling unto many to see those who are professedly of the same Religion to be mutually embittered against one another and so far transported with Malice and Rage as to seek and pursue each others Destruction For such a Carriage and Behaviour are so contrary to the Spirit and Principles of Christianity and to the Genius and Temper of True Religion that it is no marvel if persons ignorant of the Holy Scriptures and strangers to the converting and comforting Vertue of the Doctrine of the Gospel asserted in our Confessions and insisted upon by our Divines should suspect the Orthodoxy of that Religion which is accompanied with so bitter Fruits even in the Dispensers of the Word as well as in others and betake themselves to the Communion of that Church where how many and important soever their Differences be one with another yet they do not break forth into those Flames of Excommunicating and Persecuting each other that ours have done How have some among us through having their Spirits fretted and exasperated by the craft and cunning of our Enemies not onely loaded and stigmatized their Brethren and fellow Protestants with Crimes and Names which were they true and deserved would justly render us a loathing and an Abomination to Mankind but having Libelled and Branded those whom God had honoured to be Instruments of the Reformation with Appellations and Characters fit to beget a Detestation of their Doctrine as well as their Memory The worst that the Papists have forged and vomited out against Luther Zwinglius Calvin c. hath been raked up and repeated to the disparagement of the Reformation and to the scandalizing the Minds of weak Men against it And as the Jesuites and Priests have improved those Slanders and Calumnies to the seduction of diverse from the Church of England and to a working them over to a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome so the Court hath thereby had an increase of their Faction and Party against our Religion and Liberties and have been enabled to muster Troops of Janisaries for their Despotical and Unlimited Claim Nor have our Divisions with the Heats Animosities Revilings and Persecutions that have ensued thereupon proved onely an occasion of the Seduction of several from our Religion and of their Apostacy to Popery but they have been a main spring and source of the Debauchery Irreligion and Atheism which have over spread the Nation and have brought so many both to an indifferency and unconcernedness for the Gospel and all that is vertuous and noble and have disposed them to fall in with those that could countenance and protect them in their Impiety and Prophaneness and feed their Luxury and Pride with Honour and Gain What a woful Scheme of Religion have we afforded the World and how shamefully have we painted forth and represented the Holy Doctrine of the blessed Jesus while we have not onely lived in a direct opposition to all the Commands of Meekness Love and mutual Forbearance which our Religion lays us under the Authority of but have neglected to practise good Manners to observe the Rules of Civility to treat one another with common Humanity and to do as we would be done unto while we have been more offended at what seemed to supplant our Dominations and Grandeurs than at what dishonoured God and reproached the Gospel while we weighed not so much whether they whom we took into our Sacred Communion as well as into our personal Friendship were conformable in their Lives to the Scripture as whether they complied with the Canons of the Church while we reprobated all that were not of our way though never so vertuous and devout and Sainted all that were though never so wicked and prophane while we branded such for Fanaticks whom we could justly charge with nothing save the not admitting that into Religion which came not from the Divine Author of it and hugged those for good and Orthodox Believers that would sooner consult the Statute-Book for their Practice in the Worship of God than the Bible while we haled those to Prison and spoiled them of their Estates to whom nothing could be objected except their being too precise and consciencious in avoiding that through fear and apprehension of sinning which others had a liberty and latitude to do as judging it lawful and in the mean time esteemed those worthy of the chiefest Trusts in the Church and Common-wealth whose Folly and Villanies made them unfit for Civil Societies while they who lived most agreeably to the Laws of God and the Example of Christ were persecuted as Enemies to Religion and the Pests of the Kingdom and in the interim too many of the very Clergy were not onely Countenancers of the most Profligate Persons as their best Friends but joined and assisted in scandalous Debaucheries under pretence of sustaining the Honour of their Tribe and doing Service to the Church I say while these were the unhappy but too obvious Fruits of our Divisions and of the bitter Heats that accompanied them how was the Reverence for the Sacred Order lessened and diminished the Veneration for Religion weakned and lost the Shame and Dread of appearing prophane and wicked removed and banished and such who took the measures of Christianity from the Practices of those that were stiled Christians rather than from the immaculate and holy Scriptures tempted to think all Religion a Juggle and Priesthood but an Artifice and Craft to compass Honour and Wealth And though nothing but a shortness of Understanding and an immoderate Love to their Lusts could occasion the drawing such a Conclusion from the foregoing Premises yet I must needs grant that there was too just a ground administred unto them of saying that many did not believe that themselves the Faith whereof they recommended to others But that which I would more particularly observe is that it is from among those who by the foregoing occasions have been tempted to Debauchery and Irreligion that the Romish Emissaries have made the Harvest of Proselytes and Converts to the Church of Rome For as they who fear not God will be easily brought to imitate Caesar and such who are of no Religion will in subserviency to Secular Ends assume the Mask and Profession of any So Popery is extreamly adapted to the Wishes and Desires of wicked and profane Men in that it provides for their living as enormously as they please here and flatters them with hopes and assurances of Blessedness hereafter They who can be ascertained of
there being sincere Christians and true Englishmen among those of all Judgments and Societies of Protestants and among none more than those of the Communion of the Church of England It were the height of Wickedness as well as the most prodigious Folly to imagine that the Conformists have abandoned all Fidelity to God and cast off all care of themselves and their Country upon a mistaken Judgment of being Loyal and Obedient to the King The contrary is plain enough they knew as well as any that the giving to Caesar the Things that are Caesar's lay them under no Obligation of surrendring unto him the Things that are God's nor of sacrificing unto the Will of the Sovereign the Priviledges reserved unto the People by the Fundamental Rules of the Constitution and by the Statutes of the Realm And they understand as well as others that the Laws of the Land are the only measures of the Prince's Authority and of the Subjects Fealty and where they give him no Right to Command they lay them under no tye to Obey And though here and there a Dissenter has written against Popery with good Success yet they have been mostly Conformable Divines who have triumphed over it in elaborate Discourses and who have beaten the Romish Scriblers off the Stage Nor can it be thought that they who have so accurately related and vindicated the History and asserted and defended the Doctrine of the Reformation should either tamely relinquish or be wanting in all due and legal Ways to uphold and maintain it And though some few of the Nonconformists have with sufficient strength and applause used their Pens against Arbitrariness in detecting the Designs of the Royal Brothers yet they who have generally and with greatest Honour appeared for our Laws and Legal Government against the Invasions and Usurpations of the Court have been Theologues and Gentlemen of the Church of England Nor in case of further Attempts for altering the Constitution and enslaving the Nation will they shew themselves unworthy the having descended from Ancestors whose Motto in the high Places of the Field was nolumus Leges Angliae mutari They who have so often justified the Arms of the Vnited Netherlands against their Rightful Princes the Kings of Spain and so unanswerably vindicated their casting off Obedience to those Monarchs when they had invaded their Priviledges and attempted to establish the Inquisition over them cannot be ignorant what their own Right and Duty is in behalf of the Protestant Religion and English Liberties for the Security whereof we have not only so many Laws but the Coronation Oaths and Stipulations of our Kings And those Gentlemen of the Church of England who appeared so vigorously in three Parliaments for excluding the Duke of York from the Succession to the Crown by reason of a Jealousy of what through being a Papist he would attempt against our Religion and Priviledges in case he were suffered to ascend the Throne cannot be now to seek what becomes them towards him having seen and felt what before they only apprehended and feared For if the Law that entaileth the Succession upon the next of Kin and obligeth the Subjects to admit and receive him not only may but ought to be dispensed with in case the Heir thro' having imbib'd Principles which threaten the Safety and are inconsistent with the Happiness of the People hath made himself incapable to inherit we know by a short Ratiocination how far we stand bound to a Prince on the Throne who by Transgressing against the Laws of the Constitution hath abdicated himself from the Government and stands virtually Deposed For whosoever shall offer to Rule Arbitrarily does immediately cease to be King de jure seeing by the Fundamental Common and Statute Laws of the Realm we know none for Supream Magistrate and Governor but a limited Prince and one who stands circumscribed and bounded in his Power and Prerogative And should the Dissenters entertain a belief that the Conformists are less concerned and zealous than themselves for the Protestant Religion and Laws of the Kingdom they would not only Sin and offend against the Rules of Charity but against the Measures of Justice and daily Evidences from Matters of Fact For neither they nor we owe our Conversion to God and our practical Holiness to the Opinions about Discipline Forms of Worship and Ceremonies wherein we differ but the Doctrines of Faith and Christian Obedience wherein we agree 'T is not their being for a Liturgy a Surpliss or a Bishop that hath heretofore influenced them to subserve the Court in Designs tending to Absoluteness but they were seduced unto it upon Motives whereof they are now ashamed and the ridiculousness and folly of which they have at last discever'd Nor is the multitude of profligate and scandalous persons with which the Church of England is crowded any just impeachment of the Purity of her Doctrine in the Vitals and Essentials of Religion or of the Vertue and Piety of many of her Members For as it is her being the only Society established by Law that attracts those Vermin to her Bosom so it is her being restrained by Law from debarring them that keeps them there to her reproach and to the grief of many of her Ecclesiasticks Neither is it the fault of the Church of England that the Agents and Factors for Popery and Arbitrary Power have chosen to pass under the name of her Sons but it proceeds partly from their Malice as hoping by that means to disgrace her with all true English-men as well as with Dissenters and partly from their Craft in order thereby the better to conceal their Design and to shrowd themselves from the Censure and Punishment which had it not been for that Mask they would have been exposed unto and have undergone And I dare affirm that besides the Obligations from Religion which the Conformists are equally under with Dissenters for hindring the introduction of Popery there are several Inducements from interest which sway them to prevent its establishment wherein the Dissenters are but little concerned For though Popery would be alike afflictive to the Consciences of Protestants of all Persuasions yet they are Gentlemen and Ministers of the Church of England whole Livings Revenues and Estates have been threatned in case it had come to be established Nor would the most Loyal and obsequious Levites provided they resolve to continue Protestants be willing that their Personages and Incumbencies to which they have have no less Right by Law than the King hath to the Excise and Customs should be taken from them and bestowed upon Romish Priests by an Act of Despotical Power and of unlimited Prerogative And for the Gentlemen as I think few of them would hold themselves obliged to part with their purses to High-way-Padders though such should have a pattent from the King to rob whomsoever they met upon the Road so there will not be many inclined to suffer their Mannours and Abbey-Lands to which they have so
good a Title to be ravished from them either by Monks or Janizaries though authorised thereunto by the Princes Commission Even they who had formerly suffered themselves to be seduced to prove in a manner Betrayers of the Rights and Religion of their Country will now being undeceived not only in conjunction with others withstand the Court in its prosecution of Popish and Arbitrary Designs but through a generous exasperation for having been deluded and abused will judge themselves obliged in vindication of their Actings before to appear for the Protestant Religion and the Laws of England with a Zeal equal to that wherewith they contributed to the undermining and supplanting of them For they are not only become more sensible than they were of the Mischiefs of Absolute Government so as for the future to prize and assert the Priviledges reserved unto the people by the Rules of the Constitution and chalk'd out for them in the Laws of the Land but they have such a fresh view of Popery both in its Heresies Blasphemies Superstitions and Idolatries and in the Treachery Sanguinariness Violence and Cruelty which the Papal Principles mould influence and oblige Men unto that they not only entertain the greatest abhorrency and detestation imaginable for it but seem resolved not to cherish in their Bosom a Thing so abominable to God execrable to good Men and destructive to Humane as well as to Christian Societies Nor are the Dissenters meerly to believe that the Conformists are equally zealous as themselves for the Reformed Religion and English Rights but they are to consider them as the only great and united Body of Protestants in the Kingdom with whom all other parties compared bear no considerable proportion For though the Nonconformists considered abstractly make a vast number of honest and useful people yet being laid in the Scale with those of the Episcopal Communion they are but few and lye in a little room And whosoever will take the pains to ballance the one against the other even where Dissenters make the greatest Figure and may justly boast of their Multitude they will soon be convinced that the number of the other doth far transcend and exceed them And if it be so in Cities and Corporations where the greatest Bulk of Dissenters are it is much more so in Country Parishes where the latter bear not the proportion of one to a hundred Nor doth the Church of England more exceed the other parties in her number than she doth in the quality of her Members For whereas they who make up and constitute the separate Societies are chiefly persons of the middle Rank and Condition the Church of England doth in a manner vouch and claim all the Persons of Honour of the Learned professions and such as have valuable Estates for her Communicants And though the other sort are as necessary in the Common-wealth and contribute as much to its Strength Prosperity and Happiness yet they make not that Figure in the Government nor stand in that Capacity of having influence upon Publick Affairs For not only the Gentlemen of both the Gowns who by reason of their Calling and Learning are best able to defend our Religion and vindicate our Laws and Priviledges with their Tongues and Pens but they whose Estates Reputation and Interest recommendeth them to be elected Members of the great Senate of the Nation as well as they who by reason of their Honours and Baronages are Hereditary Legislators are generally if not all of the Communion of the Church of England So that they who conform to the established Worship and Discipline are to be look'd upon and acknowledged as the great Bulwark of the Protestant Religion in England and the Hedge and Fence of our Civil Liberties and Rights And though it be true that this great Breach made upon our Religion and Laws is fallen out under their hand while the poor Dissenters had neither accession to nor were in a condition to prevent it yet seeing their own Consciences do sufficiently load and charge them for it with Shame and Ignominy it were neither candid nor at this Juncture seasonable to upbraid it to them or improve it to their Dishonour and Reproach For as they have tamely look'd on and connived till our Religion and Liberties are so far undermined and supplanted so it is they alone who have been in a condition of stemming the Inundation of Idolatry and Tyranny with which we were threatned and of repairing our Breaches and reducing the Prerogative to its old Channel and making Popery sneak and retreat into its holes and corners again And should the Church of England have been overthrown and devoured what an easie Prey would the rest have been to the Romish Cormorants And could the King under the Conduct of the Jesuits and with the assistance of his Myrmidons have dissolved the established Worship and Discipline they of the Separation would have been in no capacity to support the Reformed Religion nor able to escape the common Ruine and Persecution 'T is therefore the Interest as well as the Duty of the Dissenters to help maintain and defend those Walls within the skreen and shelter whereof their own Huts and Cottages are built and stand And the rather seeing the Conformists are at last though to their own Religion's and the Nations Expence become so far enlightned as to see a necessity of growing more amicable towards them and to enlarge the Terms of their Communion grant an Indulgence to all Protestants that differ from them And as we ought to admire the Wisdom of God in those Providences by which Protestants are taught to lay aside their Animosities and let fall their Persecutions of one another so it would be a Contradiction both to the principles and repeated Protestations of Dissenters to aim at more than such a Liberty as is consistent with a National Ecclesiastick Establishment Yea it were to proclaim themselves both Villains and Hypocrites not to allow their Fellow-Protestants the Exercise of their Judgments with what further Profits and Emoluments the Law will grant them provided themselves may be discharged from all obnoxiousness to Penalties and Censures upon the account of their Consciences and be admitted a free and publick Practice of their own respective Modes of Discipline and be suffered to worship God in those ways which they think he hath required and enjoyned them And were England immediately to be rendred so happy as to have a Protestant Prince or Princess as we are not now quite out of hopes ascend the Throne and to enjoy a Parliament duly chosen and acting with freedom no one party of the Reformed Religion among us must ever expect to be established and supported to the denial of Liberty to others much less to be by Law empowered to ruine and destroy them Should it please Almighty God to bring the Princess of Orange to the Crown though the Church of England may in that case justly expect the being preserved and upheld as the National
where it hath obtained and prevailed For beside the innumerable Executions and Murthers committed by means of the Inquisition to crush and stifle the Reformed Religion in its Rise and Birth and to prevent its Succeeding and Settlement in Spain Italy and many other Territories there is no Kingdom or State where it hath so far prevailed as to come to be universally received and legally established but it hath been through strange and wonderful Conflicts with the Rage and Malice of the Church of Rome The Persecutions which the Primitive Christians underwent by vertue of the Edicts of the Pagan Emperors were not more Sanguinary and Cruel than what through the Laws and Ordinances of Popish Princes have been inflicted upon those who have testified against the Heresies Superstitions and Idolatries and have withdrawn from the Communion of the Papal Church Nor were the Martyrs that suffered for the Testimony of Jesus against Heathenism either more numerous or worthier of esteem for Virtue Justice and Piety than they who have been slaughtered upon no other Pretence but for Endeavouring to restore the Christian Religion to the Simplicity and Purity of its Divine and first Institution and to recover it from the Corruptions wherewith it was become universally Tainted in Doctrine Worship and Discipline How have all the Nations in Europe been soak'd with the Blood of Saints through the Barbarous Rage of Popish Rulers whom the Roman Bishops and Clergy stirred up and instigated in order to support themselves in their secular Grandeur and in their Tyranny over the Consciences of Men and to keep the World in Slavery under Ignorance Errors Superstition and Idolatry which the reducing Christianity again to the Rule of the Gospel would have redeemed Mankind from and been an effectual Means to have Dissipated and Subverted They of the Roman Communion having strangely corrupted the Christian Religion in its Faith Worship and Discipline and having prodigiously altered it from what it was in the Doctrines and Institutions of our Saviour and his Apostles they found no otherway whereby to sustain their Errors and Corruptions and to preserve themselves in the Possession of that Empire which they had usurped over Conscience and in the Enjoyment of the Wealth and secular Greatness which by working upon the Ignorance Superstition Lusts and Prophaneness of People they had skrewed and wound themselves into but by adjudging all who durst detect or oppose them to Fire and Sword or to Miseries to which Death in its worst shape were preferrable Nor have they for the better obstructing the Growth and compassing the Extirpation of the Reformed Religion omitted either the Arts and Subtleties of Julian or the Fury and Violence of Galerius and Dioclesian Whosoever hath not observed the Craft and Rage that have been employed and exerted against Protestants for these 170 Years must have been very little Conversant in Histories and strangely overlook'd the Conduct of Affairs in the World and the Transactions in Churches and States during their own time And tho the Papists do not think it fit to put their Maxims for preserving the Catholick Religion and converting Hereticks in Execution at all times and in every place yet some of their Writers are so Ingenuous as to tell us the reason of it and that they do not forbear it upon Principles of Christianity or good Nature but upon Motives of Policy and Fear lest the cutting one of our Throats might endanger two of their own However they have been careful not to suffer a period of twenty Years to clapse since the beginning of the Reformation without affording us in some place or another renewed Evidences of Papal Charity and of the Roman Method of hindering the Growth of Heresie either by a Massacre War or Persecution begun and executed upon no other Account or Provocation but merely that of our Religion and because we cannot believe and practise in the Matters of God as they do And having obtained of late great Advantages for the pursuing their Malice against us more boldly and avowedly than at another Season and that not only through a strange Concurrence and Conjunction of Princes in the Papal Communion who are more intoxicated with their Superstitions and Idolatries or less wise merciful and humane than some of their Predecessors of that Fellowship were but through having obtained a Prince intirely devoted unto them and under the implicit guidance of their Priests to be advanced unto a Throne where such sometime used to sit as were the Terror of Rome the Safeguard of the Reformed Religion and the Sanctuary of oppressed Protestants they have thereupon both assumed a Courage of stirring up new and unpresidented Persecutions in divers places against the most useful best and loyallest of Subjects upon no other Charge or Allegation but for dissenting for the Tridentine Faith and denying Subjection to the Tripple Crown and are raised into a Confidence of wholly Extirpating Protestancy and of re-establishing the Papal Tyrannies and Superstition in the several Countries whence they had been expelled or stood so depressed and discountenanced as that the Votaries and Partizans of their Church had not the Sway and Domination Nor need we any other Conviction both of their Design and of their Confidence of Succeeding in it than what they have already done and continue to pursue in France Hungary and Piedmont where their prospering to such a degree in their Cruel and Barbarous Attempts not only gives them boldness of entertaining thoughts of taking the like Methods and Acting by the same Measures in all Places where they find Rulers at their beck and under their Influence but to unite and provoke all Popish Monarchs to enter into a holy War against Protestants every where that by Conquering and Subduing those States and Kingdoms where the Reformed Religion is received and established they may extirpate it out of the World under the Notion of the Northern Heresie If Principles of Humanity Maxims of Interest Rules of Policy Obligations of Gratitude Ties of Royal and Princely Faith or the repeated Promises Oaths Edicts and Declarations of Sovereigns could have been a Security to Protestants for the Profession of their Faith and Exercise of their Worship in the forementioned Territories and Dominions they had all that could be rationally desired for their Safety and Protection in the free and open Profession and Practice of their Religion whereas by a Violation of all that is Sacred among Men of a binding Virtue unto Princes except Chains and Fetters or that confer a Right Claim and Security unto Subjects the poor Protestants in those Places have been and still are Persecuted with a Rage and Barbarity which no Age can parallel and for which it is difficult to find words proper and severe enough whereby to stamp a Character of Infamy upon the treacherous cruel and savage Authors Promoters and Instruments of it Nor does it proceed from a Malignancy of Nature peculiar to the Emperor the French King and the Duke of Savoy above what
Means for preserving themselves 't is become a necessary Duty and an indispensible Service to Mankind to deal plainly and above-board that so by describing Kings as they are and setting them in a true and just Light we may prevent the Peoples being further imposed upon or if through suffering themselves to be still deceived they come to fall under Miseries and Persecutions they may lay all their Distresses and Desolations at the Door of their own Folly in not having taken care how to avoid what they were not only threatned with but whereof they were warned and advertised History of the Times For as I am not of Sir Roger l'Estrange's mind That if we cannot avoid being distrustful of our Safety yet it is extremely Vain foolish and extravagant to talk of it so I am very sensible how many of the French Ministers by painting forth their King more like a God than a Man and by possessing their People with a belief of Wisdom Justice Grace and Mercy in Him of which they knew him destitute they both emboldned Him to attempt what he hath perpetrated and laid them under Snares which they knew not how to disentangle themselves from in order to escape it Nor would the King of England have acted with that neglect of the future Safety of the Papists nor have exposed them to the Resentment and hereafter Revenge of three Nations by the Arbitrary and Illegal Steps he hath made in their Favor if he intended any thing less than the putting Protestants for ever out of Capacity and Condition of calling them to a Reckoning and exacting an Account of them which neither He nor they about him can have the weakness to think they have sufficiently provided against without compelling us by an Order of à la mode France Missionaries to turn Catholicks or by adjudging us to Mines and Galleys according to the Versailles President for our Heretical Stubbornness or which is the more expeditious way of Converting three Kingdoms to cause Murther the Protestant Inhabitants according to the Pattern which his Loyal Irish Catholicks endeavored to have set anno 1641. for the Conversion of that Nation Had his Majesty been contented with the bare avowing and publishing himself to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome and of challenging a Liberty though against Law for the Exercise of his Religion it might have awakened our Pity and Compassion to see him embrace a Religion where there are so many Impediments of Salvation and in doing whereof he was become obnoxious unto the Imprecation of his Grandfather who wished the Curse of God to fall upon such of his Posterity as should at any time turn Papists but it would have raised no intemperate Heats in the Minds of any against him much less have alienated them from the Subjection and Obedience which are due unto their Sovereign by the Laws of the several Kingdoms and the Fundamental Rules of the respective Constitutions Or could He have been contented with waving the rigorous Execution of the Laws against Papists of whatsoever Quality Rank or Order they were and with the bestowing personal and private Favors upon those of his Religion it would have been so far from begetting Rancor or Discontent in his Protestant Subjects that they would not only have connived at and approved such a Procedure and those little Benignities and Kindnesses but had the Papists quietly acquiesced in them and modestly improved them it might have been a means of reconciling the Nation to more Lenity towards them for the future and might have influenced our Legislators when God shall vouchsafe us a Protestant on the Throne to moderate the Severities to which by the Laws in being they are obnoxious and to render their Condition as easie and safe as that of other Subjects and only to take care for precluding them such Places of Power and Trust as should prevent their being able to hurt us but could bring no damage or inconvenience upon themselves But the King instead of terminating here and allowing only such Graces and Immunities to the Papists as would have been enough for the placing them in the private Exercise of their Religion with Security to them and without any threatning Danger to us He hath not only suspended all the penal Laws against Roman Catholicks but He hath by an usurped Prerogative that is paramount to the Rules of the Constitution and to all Acts of Parliament dispensed with and disabled the Laws that enjoin the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy and which appoint and prescribe the Tests that were the Fences which the Wisdom of the Nation had erected for preserving the Legislative Authority securing the Government and keeping Places of Power Magistracy and Office in the hands of Protestants and thereby of continuing the Protestant Religion and English Liberties to our selves and the Generations that shall come after us And as if this were not sufficient to awaken us to a Consideration of the danger we are in of having our Religion supplanted and overthrown He hath not only advanced the most violent Papists unto all Places of Military Command by Sea and Land but hath establish'd many of them in the chief Trusts and Offices of Magistracy and Civil Judicature so that there are scarce any continued in Power and Employment save they who have either promised to turn Roman Catholicks or who have engaged to concur and assist to the Subverting our Liberties and Religion under the Mask and Disguise of Protestants 'T is already evident that it is beyond the help and relief of all Peaceable and Civil means to preserve and uphold the Protestant Religion in Ireland and that nothing but Force and an intestine War can retrieve it unto and re-establish it there in any degree of Safety Nor is it less apparent from the Arbitrary and Tyrannous Oath ordained to be required of His Majesties Protestant Subjects in Scotland whereby they are to swear Obedience to Him without Reserve that our Religion is held only precariously in that Kingdom and that whensoever He shall please to command the Establishment of Popery and to enjoin the People to enter into the Communion of the Church of Rome he expects to have his Will immediately conformed unto and not to be disputed or controlled But lest what we are to expect from the King as to the Extirpation of the Reformed Religion and the inflicting the utmost Severities upon his Protestant Subjects that Papal Rage armed with Power can inable him unto may not so fully appear from what hath been already intimated as either to awaken the Dissenters out of the Lethargy into which the late Declaration hath cast them or to quicken those of the Church of England to that zealous care vigilancy and use of all Lawful means for preserving themselves and the Protestant Religion that the impendent Danger wherewith they are threatned requires at their hands I shall give that farther Confirmation of it from Topicks and Motives of Credibility Moral Political
recommended to the Favor of the two Royal Brothers Nor is it unworthy of Observation that some of the most virulent Writers against Liberty of Conscience and others of the most fierce Instigators to the persecuting Dissenters among whom we may reckon Parker Bishop of Oxford and Cartwright Bishop of Chester are since Addressing for the Declaration of Indulgence became the means of being graciously look'd upon at Whitehall turned forward Promoters of it tho their Success in their Diocesses with their Clergy hath not answered their Expectations and Endeavors For as these two Mytred Gentlemen will fall in with and justifie whatsoever the King hath a mind to do if they may but keep their Seas and enjoy their Revenues which I dare say that rather than lose they will subscribe not only to the Tridentine Faith but to the Alcoran so it is most certain that they two as well as the Bishop of Durham have promised to turn Roman Catholicks and that as Crew hath been several times seen assisting at the Celebration of the Mass and that as Cartwright paid a particular respect to the Nuncie at his solemn Entrance at Windsor which some Temporal Lords had so much Conscience and Honor as to scorn to do so the Author of the Liege Letter tells us that Parker not only extremely favors Popery but that he brands in a manner all such for Atheists who continue to plead for the Protestant Religion 'T is an Act of the same Candor and good Nature in the King with the former and another Royal Effect of his Princely Breeding as well as of his Gratitude when he Endeavors to cast a farther Odium upon the Church of England and to exasperate the Dissenters against her by saying in the forementioned Letter to Mr. Alsop That the reason why the Dissenters enjoyed not Liberty sooner is wholly owing to the Sollicitation of the Conforming Clergy whereas many of the learned and sober Men of the Church of England could have been contented that the Non-conforming Protestants should have had Liberty long ago provided it had been granted in a legal way and the chief Executioners of Severity upon them were such of all Ranks Orders and Stations as the Court both set on and rewarded for it 'T is not their Brethrens having Liberty that displeaseth modest and good Men of the Church of England but 't is the having it in the virtue of an Usurped Prerogative over the Laws of the Land and to the shaking all the legal Foundations of the Protestant Religion it self in the Kingdom And had the Declaration of Indulgence imported only an Exemption of Dissenters and Papists from Rigors and Penalties I know very few that would have been displeased at it but the extending it to the removing all the Fences about the Reformed Doctrine and Worship and laying us open both to the tyranny of Papists and the being overflowed with a deluge of their Superstitions and Idolatries as well as the designing it for a means to overthrow the established Church is that which no wise Dissenter no more than a conformable man knows how to digest For I am not of Sir R. L'Estrange's mind who after he hath been writing for many years against Dissenters with all the venom and malice imaginable and to disprove the wisdom justice and convenience of granting them liberty hath now the impudence to publish that whatsoever he formerly wrote bears an exact conformity to the present Resolutions of State Pref. to his Hist of the Times p. 8. in that the liberty now vouchsafed is an Act of Grace issuing from the supreme Magistrate and not a claim of Right in the people And as to recited expressions of the King they are only a papal trick whereby to keep up heats and animosities among Protestants when both the inward heats of men are much allay'd and the external provocations to them are wholly removed and they are merely Jesuitick methods by which our hatred of one another may be maintain'd tho the Laws enabling one party to persecute the other which was the chief spring of all our mutual rancor and bitterness be suspended It would be the sport and glory of the Ignatian Order to be able to make the disabling of penal Laws as effectual to the supporting differences among Protestants as the enacting and rigorous execution of them was to the first raising and the continuing them afterwards for many years And if the foregoing Topicks can furnish the King arguments whereby to reproach the Ch. of England when he thinks it seasonable and for the interest of Rome to be angry with them I dare affirm he will never want pretences of being discontented with and of aspersing Fanaticks when he finds the doing so to be for the service of the papal cause And if the forementioned instances of his Majesty's behaviour to the Ch. of England to which he stands so superlatively obliged be neither testimonies of his Ingenuity evidences of his Gratitude nor effects of common much less royal Justice yet what remains to be intimated does carry more visible marks of his malice and design both against the legally established Church and our Religion For not being satisfied with the suspension of all those Laws by which Protestants and they of the national Communion might seem to be injurious to Papists in their Persons and Estates such as the Laws which make those who shall be found to have taken Orders in the Ch. of Rome obnoxious to death or those other Statutes by which the King hath Power and Authority for levying two thirds of their Estates that shall be convicted of Recusancy but by an usurped Prerogative and an absolute Power he is pleased to suspend all the Laws by which they were only disabled from hurting us thro standing precluded from places of Power and Trust in the Government So that the whole security we have in time to come for our Religion depends upon the temperate disposition and good nature of those Roman Catholicks that shall be advanced to Offices and Employments and does no longer bear upon the protection and support of the Law and I think we have not had that experience of grace and favour from Papists as may give us just confidence of fair and candid treatment from them for the future Now that we may be the better convinced how little security we have from his Majesty's promise in his Declaration of his protecting the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy and all other his Subjects of the Church of England in the free exercise of their Religion as by Law established and in the quiet and full enjoyment of their poffessions without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever which is all the Tenour that is left us 't is not unworthy of observation how that beside the suspending the Bishop of London ab Officio and the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge both ab Officio and Beneficio and this not only for Actions which the Laws of God and the Kingdom make their duty but
administred by any of them shall ever tempt me to say they deserve it or cause me to ravel into their former and past carriages so as to fasten a blot or imputation upon the party or body of them whatsoever I may be forced to do as to particular persons among them For as to the generality I do believe them to be as honest industrious useful and vertuous a people tho many of them be none of the wisest nor of the greatest prospect as any party of men in the Kingdom and that wherein soever their carriage even abstracting from their differences with their Fellow Protestants in matters of Religion hath varied from that of other Subjects they have been in the Right and have acted most agreeably to the interest and safety of the Kingdom But it can be no reflection upon them to recall into their memories that the whole tenor of the King's actings towards them both when Duke of York and since he came to the Crown hath been such as might render it beyond dispute that they are so far from having any singular room in his favour that he bears them neither pity nor compassion but that they are the objects of his unchangeable indignation For not to mention how the Persecutions that were observed always to relent both upon his being at any distance from the late King and upon the abatement of his influence at any time into Counsels were constantly revived upon his return to Court and were carried on in degrees of severity proportionable to the figure he made at Whitehall and his Brothers disposedness and inclination to hearken to him surely their memories cannot be so weak and untenacious but they must remember how their sufferings were never greater nor the Laws executed with more severity upon them than since his Majesty came to ascend the Throne As it is not many years since he said publickly in Scotland that it were well if all that part of the Kingdom which is above half of the Nation where the Dissenters were known to be most numerous were turned into a hunting field so none were favoured and promoted either there or in England but such as were taken to be the most fierce and violent of all others against Fanaticks Nor were men preferred either in Church or State for their learning vertue or merit but for their passionate heats and brutal rigours to Dissenters And whereas the Papists from the very first day of his arrival at the Government had beside many other marks of his Grace this special Testimony of it of not having the penal Statutes to which they stood liable put in execution against them all the Laws to which the Dissenters were obnoxious were by his Majesty's Orders to the Judges Justices of the Peace and all other Officers Civil and Ecclesiastical most unmercifully executed Nor was there the least talk of lenity to Dissenters till the King found that he could not compass his Ends by the Church of England and prevail upon the Parliament for repealing the Tests and cancelling the other Laws in force against Papists which if they could have been wrought over unto the Fanaticks would not only have been left Pitiless and continued in the Hands of the furious Church men to exercise their Spleen upon but would have been surrendred as a Sacrifice to new Flames of Wrath if they of the Prelatical Communion had retained their wonted Animosity and thought it for their Interest to exert it either in the old or in fresh Methods But that Project not succeeding his Majesty is forced to shift Hands and to use the Pretence of extending Compassion to Dissenting Protestants that he may the more plausibly and with the less Hazard suspend and disable the Laws against Papists and make way for their Admission into all Offices Civil and Military which is the first Step and all that he is yet in a Condition to take for the Subversion of our Religion And all the celebrated Kindness to Fanaticks is only to use them as the Cat 's Paw for pulling the Chesunt out of the Fire to the Monkey and to make them stales under whose Shroud and Covert the Church of Rome may undermine and subvert all the legal Foundations of our Religion which to suffer themselves to be Instrumental in will not in the Issue turn to the Commendation of the Dissenters Wisdom or their Honesty Nor is there more Truth in the King 's declaring it to have been his constant Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of mere Religion than there is of Justice in that malicious Insiuuation in his Letter to Mr. Alsop against the Church of England That should he see cause to change his Religion he should never be of that Party of Protestants who think their only way to advance their Church is by undoing those Churches of Christians that differ from them in smaller Matters Forasmuch as he is in the mean time a Member of the most Persecuting and Bloody Society that ever was cloathed with the name of a Church and whose Cruelty towards Protestants he is careful not to Arraign by fastning his Offence at Severity upon Differences in smaller Matters which he knows that those between Rome and us are not nor so accounted of by any of the Papal Fellowship It were to be wished that the Dissenters would reflect and consider how when the late King had emitted a Declaration of Indulgence Anno 1672. upon pretended Motives of Tenderness and Compassion to his Protestant Subjects but in truth to keep all quiet at home when in Conjunction with France he was engaging in an unjust War against a Reformed State abroad and in order to steal a Liberty for the Papists to Practise their Idolatries without incurring a Suspition himself of being of the Romish Religion and in hope to wind up the Prerogative to a Paramount Power over the Law and how when the Parliament condemned the Illegality of it and would have the Declaration recalled all his Kindness to Dissenters not only immediately vanished but turned into that Rage and Fury that tho both that Parliament addressed for some Favor to be shew'd them and another voted it a Betraying of the Protestant Religion to continue the Execution of the Penal Laws upon them yet instead of their having any Mercy or Moderation exercised towards them they were thrown into a Furnace made seven times hotter than that wherein they had been scorched before And without pretending to be a Prophet I dare prognosticate and foretell that whensoever the present King hath compassed the Ends unto which this Declaration is designed to be subservient namely the placing the Papists both in the open Exercise of their Religion and in all publick Offices and Trusts and the getting a Power to be acknowledged vested in him over the Laws that then instead of the still Voice calmly whispered from Whitehall they will both hear and feel the Blasts of a mighty rushing Wind and
Fear or Courtship have enrolled themselves into the List of Addressers and under pretence of giving thanks to the King for his promise of protecting the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy and all other of the Church of England in the free exercise of their Religion as by Law established have cut the throat of their Mother at whose breasts they have suck'd till they are grown fat both by acknowledging the usurped Prerogative upon which the King assumes the Right and Authority of emitting the Declaration and by exchanging the legal standing and security of their Church into that precarious one of the Royal Word which they fly unto as the bottom of her Subsistence and trust to as the wall of her defence And as most of the Members of the Separate Societies are free from all accession to Addressing and the few that concurred were merely drawn in by the wheedle and importunity of their Preachers so they who are of the chiefest Character and greatest reputation for Wisdom and Learning among the Ministers have preserved themselves from all folly and treachery of that kind The Apostle tells us that not many wise not many noble are called which as it is verified in many of the Dissenting Addressers so it may serve for some kind of Apology for their low and sneaking as well as for their indiscreet and imprudent behaviour in this matter And it is the more venial in some of them as being not only a means of ingratiating themselves as they fansie with the King who heretofore had no very good opinion of them but as being both an easie and compendious method of Attoning for Offences against the Crown of which they were strongly suspected and a cheap and expenceless way of purchasing the pardon of their Relations that had stood actually accused of High Treason Nor is it to be doubted but that as the King will retain very little favour and mercy for Fanaticks when once he has served his Ends upon them so they will preserve as little kindness for the Papists if they can but obtain relief in a legal way And as there is not a People in the Kingdom that will be more loyal to Princes while they continue so to govern as that Fealty by the Laws of God or Man remains due to them so there are none of what Principles or Communion soever upon whom the Kingdom in its whole interest come to lye at stake may more assuredly and with greater confidence depend than upon the generality of Dissenting Protestants and especially upon those that are not of the Pastoral Order The severities that the Dissenters lay under before and their deliverance from Oppression and Disturbance now seconded with the Kings expectation and demands of thanksgiving Addresses were strong Temptations upon men void of generosity and greatness of spirit and who are withal of no great political Wisdom nor of prospect into the Consequences of Councils and Tricks of State to act as illegally in their thanks as his Majesty had done in his bounty So that whatsoever Animadversion they may deserve should they be proceeded against according to their demerit yet it is to be hoped that both they and the Addressers of the former stamp may all find room in an Act of Indemnity and that the Mercy of the Nation towards them will triumph over and get the better of its Justice As it would argue a strange and judicial infatuation should they proceed to farther excesses and think to escape the Punishment due to one Crime by committing and taking sanctuary in another thro improving their Complements into actions of Treachery so all their hope of Pardon as well as of Lenity and Moderation from a true Protestant and rightly constituted Authority depends upon their conduct and behaviour henceforward and their not suffering themselves to be hurried and deluded into a cooperation with the Court for the obtaining of a Popish Parliament All their endeavours of that kind would but more clearly detect and manifest their treachery to Religion and the Kingdom it not being in their power to out-vote the honest English part of the People so as to help the King to such a House of Commons as he desires and were it possible that thro their assistance in conjunction with violence and tricks used in Elections and Returns by the Court such a House of Commons might be obtained as would be serviceable to Arbitrary and Papal Ends yet neither the King nor they would be the nearer the compassing what is aim'd at it being demonstrable that the majority of the House of Lords are never to be wrought over to justifie this illegal Declaration or to grant the King a Power of Suspending Laws at his pleasure nor to give their Assent to a Bill for Repealing the Test Acts and the Statutes that enjoyn and require the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy And if they should be so far left of God and betray'd by those among themselves whom the Court hath gained as to become guilty of so enormous an act of folly and villany and should the Election of the next Parliament be the happy juncture they wait for and the improving their interest as well as the giving their own Votes for the Choice of Papists into the House of Commons be what they mean by an essential proof of their Loyalty and of the sincerity of their humble Addresses See Mr. Alsop's Speech to the King and that whereby they intend to demonstrate that the greatest thing they have promised is the least thing they will perform for his Majesties service and satisfaction as in that case they will deserve to forfeit all hopes of being forgiven so it would be an infidelity to God and Men and a cruelty to our selves and our Posterity not to abandon them as betrayers of Religion expunge them out of the Roll of Protestants strip them of all that wherein free Subjects have a Legal Right and not to condemn them to the utmost punishments which the Laws of the Kingdom adjudge the worst of Traitors and Malefactors unto There are some who thro hating of them do wish their miscarrying and offending to so unpardonable a degree that they may hereafter be furnished with an advantage both of ruining them and the whole Dissenting Party for their sakes But as the love that I bear unto them and the perswasion and belief I have of the truth of their Religious Principles do make me exceeding sollicitous to have them kept and prevented from being hurried and transported into so fatal and criminal a behaviour so I desire to make no other excuse for my plain dealing towards them but that of Solomon who tells us that faithful are the wounds of a friend while the kisses of an Enemy are deceitful and that he who rebukes a man shall find more favour afterwards than he who flattereth with the tongue POSTSCRIPT SInce the foregoing Sheets went to the Press and while they were Printing off there is come to my hands a new
3. By taking the Children of Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen sending them abroad to be bred Papists making great Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges abroad bestowing Pensions on Priests and perverting Protestants from their Religion by Offers of Places Preferments and Pensions 4. By disarming Protestants while at the same time he employed Papists in the Places of greatest Trust Civil and Military such as Chancellor Secretaries Privy Councellors and Lords of Session thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and intrusting the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom in their hands 5. By Imposing Oaths contrary to Law 6. By giving Gifts and Grants for exacting of Mony without Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates 7. By Levying and keeping on foot a standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament which Army did exact Locality free and day Quarters 8. By Employing the Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom and imposing them where there were held Offices and Jurisdictions by whom many of the Leiges were put to Death summarily without legal Tryal Jury or Record 9. By imposing exorbitant Fines to the Value of the Parties Estates exacting extravagant Bail and disposing Fines and Forfaulture before any Process or Conviction 10. By Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to put them to Tryal 11. By causing pursue and forfault several Persons upon stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak pretences upon lame and defective Probations as particularly the late Earl of Argyle to the scandal and reproach of the Justice of the Nation 12. By Subverting the Right of the Royal Boroughs the Third Estate of Parliament imposing upon them not only Magistrates but also the whole Town Council and Clerks contrary to the Liberties and express Charters without the pretence either of Sentence Surrender or Consent So that the Commissioners to Parliaments being chosen by the Magistrates and Councils the King might in effect as well nominate that entire Estate of Parliament many of the said Magistrates put in by him were avowed Papists and the Burghs were forced to pay Mony for the Letters imposing these Illegal Magistrates and Council upon them 13. By sending Letters to the chief Courts of Justice not only ordering the Judges to stop and desist sine die to determine Causes but also ordering and commanding them how to proceed in Cases depending before them contrary to the express Laws And by changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam and giving them Commissions ad bene placitum to dispose them to compliance by Arbitrary Courses turning them out of their Offices when they did not comply 14. By granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts contrary to Law All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws Freedoms and Statutes of this Realm Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declare That King James the Seventh being a profest papist did assume the Regal Power and acted as a King without ever taking the Oath required by Law and have by advice of Evil and Wicked Counsellors invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a Legal limited Monarchy to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power and hath exercised the same to the subversion of the Protestant Religion and the violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom Inverting all the Ends of Government whereby he hath forfaulted the Right to the Crown and the Throne is become vacant And whereas his Royal Highness William then Prince of Orange now King of England whom it hath pleased the Almighty God to make the glorious Instrument of delivering these Kingdoms from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of this Nation at London for the time call the Estates of this Kingdom to meet the Fourteenth of March last in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not be again in danger of being subverted And the said Estates being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation taking to their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid Do in the first place as their Ancestors in the like cases have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That by the Law of this Kingdom no Papist can be King or Queen of the Realm nor bear any Office whatsoever therein nor can any Protestant Successor exercise the Regal Power until he or she swear the Coronation Oath That all Proclamations asserting an Absolute Power to cass annul and disable Laws the erecting Schools and Colleges for Jesuits the inverting Protestant Chapels and Churches to publick Mass-houses and the allowing Mass to be said are contrary to Law That the allowing Popish Books to be printed and dispersed is contrary to Law That the taking the Children of Noblemen Gentlemen and others sending and keeping them abroad to be bred Papists The making Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges the bestowing Pensions on Priests and the perverting Protestants from their Religion by offers of Places Preferments and Pensions are contrary to Law That the disarming of Protestants and imploying Papists in the Places of greatest Trust both Civil and Military the thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and the entrusting Papists with the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom are contrary to Law That the Imposing Oaths without Authority of Parliament is contrary to Law That the giving Gifts or Grants for raising of Mony without the Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates is contrary to Law That the employing Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom or imposing them where there were several Offices and Jurisdictions and the putting the Lieges to death summarily and without legal Tryal Jury or Record are contrary to Law That the imposing extraordinary Fines the exacting of exorbitant Bail and the disposing of Fines and Forfaultures before Sentence are contrary to Law That the Imprisoning Persons without expressing the reason thereof and delaying to put them to Tryal are contrary to Law That the causing pursue and forfault Persons upon Stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak Pretences upon lame and defective Probation as particularly the late Earl of Argyle are contrary to Law That the nominating and imposing Magistrates Councils and Clerks upon Burghs contrary to the Liberties and express Charters is contrary to Law That the sending Letters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to stop or desist from determining Causes or ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them and the changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam unto Commissions Durante bene placito are contrary to Law That the granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts is contrary to Law That the forcing the Lieges to depone against themselves in Capital Crimes however the Punishment be restricted is contrary to Law
for it being terrified by the greatness of the danger would have compounded so far as to have taken away the Penal Laws against Papists and so have set them upon a Level with other English Subjects provided the Test might have been continued and the Government secured from falling into the hands of that Faction all such offers were despised and rejected with scorn Nor would any thing content the Bigotry and Arbitrary humour of those who were then in the Saddle less than the total enslaving of the Nation and the Re-establishment of that Idolatrous Religion from which our Ancestors had freed themselves with so much Bravery and Generosity in the beginning of the last Century In this deplorable Condition His then Highness the Prince of Orange found these Kingdoms when he came to relieve us from the greatest Oppressions He heard the Voice of the People that earnestly invited him over to their Rescue and taking it as undoubtedly it was for the Voice of God complied and God hath made us All happy with the desired success Had the late King James stuck firmly to the Interests of his People He would thereby have easily secured his own and if they could have found He had had what he assured both Houses of Parliament King's Speech to both Houses of Parliament May 30. 1685. in a Speech he made to them A true English heart as Jealous of the Honour of the Nation as they themselves could be he might have carried by God's Blessing and their Assistance as he then said the Reputation of it yet higher in the World than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors He wanted not some about him at the first especially that would gladly have given him faithful Counsel Those that were able to advise him well and were real Friends to Him as they were true to their Religion and to the Interest of their Countrey and A Wise Man says my incomparable Author Memoirs of Philip de Comines lib. 3. c. 5. p. 159. in a Prince's Retinue is a great Treasure and Security to his Master if one has the Liberty to speak truth and the other the Discretion to believe him But unhappy Prince He was resolvedly bent by the force of his own Superstition the Power and Influence of the Priests and Jesuits that continually attended on him and the Directions from France upon the total Destruction of our Reformed Religion that Pestilent Northern Heresy our Liberties and our Properties and was upon the point of effecting that Tremendous Design but God in his Wise Providence with Infinite Mercy and Compassion to this almost Ruined Land and People saw it meet to give check to that Imperial Carreer with a hitherto shalt thou come and no further HE REMOVETH KINGS AND SETTETH UP KINGS In this Volume you have a full Account of our late happy Revolution with almost all the steps and measures that were taken in it and a justification of our present Settlement 'T was God's doing and it ought ever to be marvellous in our eyes We have now a King and Queen professing the same Faith with our selves who as He came over to preserve our Dearest Interests the Protestant Religion and to restore to Vs our invaded Laws and Liberties found the Nation generally disposed to receive him as the Mighty Deliverer under God of this Church and State The hand of Heaven conducted him with safety up to London and all the Kingdom called him Blessed and in a sence of Joy and Gratitude to Him and His Royal Consort The whole Body of the Nation by their Representatives in Parliament have recognized and acknowledged Their present Majesties to be their Lawful and Rightful Sovereign Liege Lord and Lady And how could we do less than own them for our King and Queen who by such an amazing turn have redeemed from Slavery both our Souls and Bodies if we pretend to any value for our Holy Religion or any English Love of Liberty We have a King of an Extraordinary Personal Valour and Conduct that hath very often already ventured his Life and still resolves to despise all difficulties and hazards himself that His People may reap the fruit of them in their own Peace and Prosperity and that the Protestant Religion may be established to us and our Children to future Generations The Queen is as Supream in Her Vertue as in Her Dignity and hath shewed a most Eminent Resolution as well as a most Prudent Care in all the Administrations of the Government when the Absence of the King hath obliged Her to take the Exercise of the Regal Power upon Her So that the Nation may now hope to enjoy a lasting Felicity from the Royal Protection of both Their Majesties whose constant endeavours we are assured from themselves will be imployed to procure and support the Interest and Honour of it and the Benefit Safety and Ease of their People they throughly understanding the Truth of Mons Gourville's Observation who had been long enough here in England Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. p. 33 34. to know the Humour of our Court and People and Parliaments to conclude Qu'un Roy d'Angleterre qui veut estre l'homme de son peuple est le plus Grand Roy du monde mais s'il veut estre quelque chose d'avantage par Dieu il n'est plus rien i. e. That a King of England who will be the MAN of his People is the greatest King in World but if he will be something more he is nothing at all I may venture therefore to Prophesy that this King and Queen will take the same care to continue as they have already done to make themselves the DARLING of their People and no Good English Man can wish for more but that this King and Queen may long Reign and that the Tripple Alliance of their Sacred Majesties their Parliaments and their People may never be dissolved Little needs be said concerning the usefulness of such Collections as these THAT formerly published having received sufficient Approbation from Persons of Learning and Knowledg The benefit of them is the same with what redounds from a true History not of Battels and Sieges Births Marriages and Deaths of Princes which are temporary and momentary things but of the Legal Government of a Nation struggling with Arbitrary Power and Illegal Proceedings so far forth as it was invaded within the time mentioned in the Title A CATALOGUE OF THE TRACTS Contained in This Second Volume 1. THE Earl of Clarendon's Speech about disbanding the Army September 13. 1660. Fol. 1 2. The State of England both at home and abroad in order to the Designs of France considered 6 3. Of the Fundamental Laws or Politick Constitution of this Kingdom 22 4. London's Flames revived Or an Account of several Informations exhibited to a Committee appointed by Parliament Sept. 25. 1666. to inquire into the burning of London
43. A Brief Account of particulars occurring at the happy death of our late Soveraign Lord K. Ch. 2d in regard to Religion faithfully related by his then Assistant Mr. Jo. Huddleston 280 44. Some Reflections on His Majesty's Proclamation of the Twelfth of Feb. 1686 7. for a Toleration in Scotland together with the said Proclamation 281 45. His Majesty's Gracious Declaration to all his Loving Subjects for Liberty of Conscience 287 46. A Letter containing some Reflections on His Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Dated April 4. 1687. 289 47. A Letter to a Dissenter upon Occasion of His Majesty's Late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence 294 48. The Anatomy of an Equivalent 300 49. A Letter from a Gentleman in the City to his Friend in the Countrey containing his Reasons for not reading the Declaration 309 50. An Answer to the City Minister's Letter from his Countrey Friend 314 51. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon ocasion of a Pamphlet entituled A Vindication of the Present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel 316 52. A Plain Account of the Persecution laid to the Charge of the Church of England 322 53. Abby and other Church Lands not yet assured to such possessors as are Roman-Catholicks dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion 326 54. The King's Power in Ecclesiastical matters truly stated 331 55. A Letter writ by Mijn Heer Fagel Pensioner of Holland to Mr. James Stewart Advocate giving an Account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws 334 56. Reflections on Monsieur Fagel's Letter 338 57. Animadversions upon a pretended Answer to Mijn Heer Fagel's Letter 343 58. Some Reflections on a Discourse called Good Advice to the Church of England c. 363 59. The ill effects of Animosities 371 60. A Representation of the Threatning Dangers impending over Protestants in Great-Britain With an Account of the Arbitrary and Popish ends unto which the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in England and the Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland are designed 380 61. The Declaration of his Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 420 62. His Highnesses Additional Declaration 426 63. The then supposed Third Declaration of his Royal Highness pretended to be signed at his head Quarters at Sherborn-Castle November 28. 1688. but was written by another Person tho yet unknown 427 64. The Reverend Mr. Samuel Johnson's Paper in the year 1686. for which he was sentenc'd by the Court of Kings-Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice and Sir Francis Wythens pronouncing the Sentence to stand Three times on the Pillory and to be whipp'd from Newgate to Tyburn which barbarous Sentence was Executed 428 65. Several Reasons for the establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia by the said Mr. Johnson 429 66. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty the Humble Petition of William Archbishop of Canterbury and divers of the suffragan Bishops of that Province then present with him in behalf of themselves and others of their absent Brethren and of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses with His Majesty's Answer 430 67. The Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the calling of a free Parliament together with His Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships Ib. 68. The Prince of Orange's Letter to the English Army 431 69. Prince George his Letter to the King 432 70. The Lord Churchill's Letter to the King 432 71. The Princess Ann of Denmark's Letter to the Queen 433 72. A Memorial of the Protestants of the Church of England presented to their Royal Hignesses the Prince and Princess of Orange 433 73. Admiral Herbert's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Seamen in His Majesty's Fleet. 434 74. The Lord Delamere's Speech 434 75. An Engagement of the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen at Exeter to assist the Prince of Orange in the defence of the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties of the People of England Scotland and Ireland 435 76. The Declaration of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty at the Rendezvouz at Nottingham November 22. 1688. 436 77. His Grace the Duke of Norfolk's Speech to the Mayor of Norwich on the 1st of December in the Market-place of Norwich 437 78. The Speech of the Prince of Orange to some principal Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire on their coming to join his Highness at Exeter Novemb. 15. 1688. 437 79. The True Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby where he Quartered Novemb. 21. 1688. 438 80. A Letter from a Gentleman at Kings-Lynn Decemb. 7. 1688. to his Friend in London With an Address to his Grace the most Noble Henry Duke of Norfolk Lord Marshall of England Ibid. 81. His Grace's Answer with another Letter from Lynn-Regis giving the D. of Norfolk's 2d Speech there Decemb. 10. 1688. 439 82. The Declaration of the Lord 's Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall Decemb. 11. 1688. Ibid. 83. A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by His Majesty to treat with him and his Highness's Answer 1688. 440 84. The Recorder of Bristoll's Speech to his Highness the Prince of Orange Monday Jan. 7. 1688. 441. 85. The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Decemb. 12. 1688. 442 86. The Humble Address of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common-Council Assembled to his Highness the Prince of Orange 443 87. The Speech of Sir Geo. Treby Knight Recorder of the Honourable City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Decemb. 20. 1688. Ibid. 88. His Highness the Prince of Orange's Speech to the Scotch Lords and Gentlemen with their Advice and his Highness's Answer with a true Account of what past at their meeting in the Council Chamber at White-Hall Jan. 7. 1688 9. 444 89. The Emperor of Germany's Account of K. James's Misgovernment in joining with the K. of France the Common Enemy of Christendom in his Letter to K. James 446 90. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster concerning the Misgovernment of K. James and filling up the Throne Presented to K. William and Q. Mary by the Right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax Speaker to the House of Lords with His Majesty's Most Gracious Answer thereunto 447 91. A Proclamation Declaring William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England France and Ireland c. 449 92. The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Misgovernment of K. James the 7th
would not have been a very melancholy Present Have not you frank and dutiful Expressions that cheerfulness and vivacity in your Looks rendred much more acceptable much more valuable No Prince in Christendom loves a cheerful giver so well as God Almighty does and he of all Gifts a cheerful Heart and therefore I pray let not a cloudy and disconsolate face be the only or the best sign of Piety and Devotion in the Heart I must ask your Pardon for misplacing much of this Discourse which I should have mentioned when I came to speak of the Ministers Bill they I hope will endeavour to remove these new marks of Dinstinction and Reproaches and keep their Auditories from being imposed upon by such Characters and Descriptions The King hath passed this Act very willingly and done much to the end of this Act before yet hath willingly admitted you to be Sharers and Partners with Him in the Obligation I may say confidently His Majesty hath never denied His Confirmation to any Man in Possession who hath asked it and they have all the effect of it except such who upon Examination and Enquiry appeared not worthy of it and such who though they are pardoned cannot yet think themselves worthy to be preferr'd His Majesty well knows that by this Act he hath gratified and obliged many worthy and pious Men who have contributed much to His Restauration and who shall always receive fresh Evidence of His Majesties Favour and Kindness but he is not sure that he may not likewise have gratified some who did neither contribute to His coming in nor are yet glad that he is in how comes it else to pass that he receives such frequent informations of Seditious Sermons in the City and the Countrey in which all Industry is used to alienate the Affections of the People and to infuse Jealousies into them of the King and His Government They talk of introducing Popery of evil Councellors and such other old Calumnies as are pardoned by this Act of Indempnity His Majesty told You when he was last here what Rigour and Severity He will hereafter use how contrary soever it is to his Nature in these Cases and conjured You My Lords and Gentlemen to concur with him in this just and necessary Severity which I am sure You will do with Your utmost Vigilance and that You will believe that too much ill cannot befall those who do the best they can to corrupt His Majesties Nature and to extinguish His Mercy My Lords and Gentlemen I told You I was to acquaint you with some things His Majesty intends to do during this Recess that You may see He will give no intermission to His Own thoughts for the Publick good though for a time He Dispences with Your Assistance He doth consider the infinite Importance the Improvement of Trade must be to this Kingdom and therefore His Majesty intends forthwith to Establish a Council for Trade consisting of some Principal Merchants of the several Companies to which he will add some Gentlemen of Quality and Experience and for their greater Honour and Encouragement some of my Lords of His own Privy Council In the next Place His Majesty hopes that a well-setled Peace and Gods great Blessing upon Him and You this Nation will in a short time flourish to that Degree that the Land of Canaan did when Esau found it necessary to part from his Brother For their riches were more then that they might dwell together and the land wherein they were could not bear them because of their cattel We have been Our selves very near this Pinacle of happiness and the hope and Contemplation that We may be so again disposes the King to be very solicitous for the Improvement and Prosperity of His Plantations abroad where there is such large room for the Industry and Reception of such who shall desire to go thither and therefore His Majesty likewise intends to erect and establish a Councel for those Plantations in which persons well qualified shall be wholly intent upon the good and advancement of those Plantations There are two other particulars which I am commanded to mention which were both mentioned and recommended to You by His Majesty in his Declaration from Breda The one for the Confirmation of Sales or other Recompence for Purchasers The other for the composing those Differences and Distempers in Religion which have too much disturbed the Peace of the Kingdom Two very weighty particulars in which His Majesty knows You have spent much time and concerning which he should have heard from You before this time if You had not met with great difficulties in the Disquisition of either For the First His Majesty hath not been without much thought upon the Argument and hath done much towards the Accommodation of many particular Persons and You shall not be at Your Journeys end before His Majesty will put that Business concerning Sales into such a way of Dispatch that he doubts not You will find a good Progress made in it before Your coming together again and I believe the Persons concerned will be very much to blame if they receive not good Satisfaction And some of You who stay in Town shall be advised and consulted with that Setlement The other of Religion is a sad Argument indeed It is a Consideration that must make every religious heart to bleed to see Religion which should be the strongest obligation and cement of Affection and brotherly kindness and compassion made now by the Wranglings of passionate and froward Men the ground of all animosity hatred malice and revenge And this unruly and unmanly Passion which no question the Divine Nature exceedingly abhors sometimes and I fear too frequently transports those who are in the right as well those who are in the wrong and leaves the latter more excusable then the former when men who find their manners and dispositions very conformable in all the necessary obligations of humane Nature avoid one anothers Conversation and grow first unsociable and then uncharitable to each other because one cannot think as the other doth And from this separation we intitle God to the Patronage of and Concernment in our Fancies and Distinction and purely for his sake hate one another heartily It was not so of old when one of the most ancient Fathers of the Church tells us That Love and Charity was so signal and eminent in the Primitive Christians that it even drew Admiration and Envy from their Adversaries Vide inquiunt ut invicim se diligunt Their Adversaries in that in which they most agreed in their very prosecution of them had their Passions and Animosities amongst themselves they were only Christians that loved and cherished and comforted and were ready to die for one another Quid nunc illi dicerent Christiani si nostra viderent tempora says the incomparable Grotius How would they look upon our sharp and virulent Contentions in the Debates of Christian Religion and the bloudy wars that have proceeded
houses in Holborn at the same time That he was at the Fire in the Temple but was not engaged to do any thing in it And said that Gyfford told him that there were English French and Irish Roman Catholicks enough in London to make a very good Army and that the King of France was coming with 60000 Men under pretence to shew the Dauphin his Dominions but it was to lay his Men at Deep Bulloign Callis and Dunkirk to be in an hours Warning to be Landed in England and he doubted not but it would be by the middle of June and by that time all the Catholicks here will be in readiness all were to rise in order to bring him in That the Papists here were to be distinguished by Marks in their Hatts that the said Father Gyfford doubted not but he should be an Abbot or a Bishop when the work was over for the good service he hath done That at their Meeting Father Gyfford used to tell them it was no more sin to kill a Heretick then a Dog and that they did God good Service in doing what Mischiefs they could by firing their houses That it was well Sir Edmondbury Godfrey was Murdered for he was their Devilish Enemy That Coleman was a Saint in Heaven for what he had done And saith he is fearful he shall be Murthered for this Confession Father Gyfford having sworn him to Secresie and told him he should be Damned if he made any Discovery and should be sure to be killed and that he should take the Oaths because he was a House-keeper and that it was no sin And saith That Gyfford and Roger _____ told him when their Forces meet about the middle of June then have at the VOTES and ADDRESSES Of the Honourable House of Commons ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT Made this present Year 1673 Concerning Popery and other Grievances March 29. 1673. The Parliaments Address to his Majesty for the Removal of Grievances in England and Ireland WE your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled conceiving our selves bound in necessary Duty to your Majesty and in Discharge of the Trust reposed in us truly to inform your Majesty of the Estate of your Kingdom And though we are abundantly satisfied that it hath been your Royal Will and Pleasure that your Subjects should be governed according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm yet finding that contrary to your Majesties gracious Intention some Grievances and Abuses are crept in We crave Leave humbly to represent them to your Majesties Knowledge and Desire 1. That the Imposition of 12 d. per Chaldron upon Coals for the providing of Convoys by Vertue of an Order from Council dated the 15th of May 1672 may be recalled and all Bonds taken by Virtue thereof cancelled 2. That your Majesties Proclamation of the 24th of December 1672 for preventing of Disorders which may be committed by Soldiers and whereby the Soldiers now in your Majesties Service are in a manner exempted from the ordinary Course of Justice may likewise be recalled 3. And whereas great Complaints have been made out of several parts of this Kingdom of divers Abuses committed in Quartering of Soldiers That your Majesty would be pleased to give Order to redress those Abuses and in particular that no Soldiers be hereafter Quartered in any private Houses and that due Satisfaction may be given to the Inn-keepers or Victuallers where they lye before they remove 4. And since the continuance of Soldiers in this Nation will necessarily produce many Inconveniences to your Majesties Subjects We do humbly present it as our Petition and Advice That when this present War is ended all your Souldiers which have been raised since the last Session of Parliament may be Disbanded 5. That your Majesty would be likewise pleased to consider of the Irregularities and Abuses in pressing Soldiers and to give Order for the Prevention thereof for the future 6. And although it hath been the Course of former Parliaments to desire Redress in their Grievances before they proceeded to give a Supply yet we have so full Assurance of your Majesties Tenderness and Compassion towards your People that we humbly prostrate our selves at your Majesties feet with these our Petitions desiring your Majesty to take them into your Princely Consideration and to give such Orders for the Relief of your Subjects and the Removing these Pressures as shall seem lest to your Roâ—al Wisdâ—m Address touching Ireland WE your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled taking into Consideration the great Calamities which have formerly befallen your Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Ireland from the Popish Recusants there who for the most part are profest Enemies to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest and how they make use of your Majesties gracious Disposition and Clemency are at this time grown more insolent and presumptuous than formerly to the apparent Danger of that Kingdom and your Majesties Protestant Subjects there the Consequence whereof may likewise prove very fatal to this your Majesties Kingdom of England if not timely prevented And having seriously weighed what Remedies may be most properly applied to those growing Distempers do in all Humility present your Majesty with these our Petitions 1. That for the Establishment and Quieting the Possessions of your Majesties Subjects in that Kingdom your Majesty would be pleased to maintain the Act of Settlement and Explanatory Act thereupon and to recall the Commission of Enquiry into Irish Affairs bearing Date the 17th of January last as containing many new and extraordinary Powers not only to the Frejudice of particular Persons whose Estates and Titles are thereby made liable to be questioned but in a manner to the Overthrow of the Acts of Settlement And if pursâ—â—d may be the Occasion of great Charge and Attendance to many of your Subjects in Ireland and shake the Peace and Security of the whole 2. That your Majesty would give Order that no Papist be either continued or hereafter admitted to be Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Coroners or Mayors Sovereigns or Portrieves in that Kingdom 3. That the Titular Popish Archbishops Bishops Vicars-General Ablâ—â—s and all other exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the Popes Authority and in particular Peter Talbot pretended Archbishop of Dublin for his notorious Disloyalty to your Majesty and Disobedience and Contempt of your Laws may be commanded by Proclamation forthwith to depart out of Ireland and all other your Majesties Dominions or otherwise to be prosecuted according to Law And that all Convents Seminaties and Publick Popish Scholes may be dissolved and suppressed and the Secular Priests commanded to depart under the Penalty 4 That no Irish Papist be admitted to inhabit in any part of that Kingdom unless duly licensed according to the aforesaid Acts of Settlemenâ— and that your Majesty would be pleased to recall your Letters of the 26th of February 1671. And the Proclamation thereupon whereby general Licence is
given to such Papists as inhabit in Corporations there 5. That your Majesties Letters of the 28th of September 1672. and the Order of Council thereupon whereby your Subjects are required not to prosecute any Actions against the Irish for any Wrongs or Injuries committed during the late Rebellion may likewise be recalled 6. That Colonel Talbot who hath notoriously assumed to himself the Title of Agent of the Roman Catholicks in Ireland be immediately dismissed out of all Command Military and Civil and forbidden Access to your Majesties Court. 7. That your Majesty would be pleased from time to time out of your Princely Wisdom to give such further Order and Directions to the Lord Lieutenant or other Governour of Ireland for the time being as may best conduce to the Encouragement of the English Planters and Protestants Interest there and the Suppression of the Insolencles and Disorders of the Irish Papists there These our humble Desires we present to your Majesty as the best means to preserve the Peace and Safety of that your Kingdom which hath been so much of late in Danger by the Practices of the said Irish Papists particularly Richard and Peter Talbot and we doubt not but your Majesty will find the happy Effects thereof to the great Satisfaction and Security of your Majesties Person and Government which of all earthly things is most dear to your Majesties most Loyal Subjects Ordered October 20. 1673. THat an Address be made to his Majesty by such Members of this House as are of his Majesties Privy-Council to acquaint his Majesty that it is the humble desire of this House that the intended Marriage of his Royal Highness with the Dutchess of Modena be not consummated and that he may not be Married to any Person but of the Protestant Religion And the same Day the Parliament was Prorogued till Monday next The Address of the Parliament to his Majesty WE your Majesties most Humble and Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled being full of Assurance of your Majesties gracious Intentions to provide for the Establishment of Religion and the Preservation of your People in Peace and Security and foreseeing the dangerous Consequences which â—ay follow the Marriage of his Royal Highness the Duke of York with the Princess of â—â—â—dena or any other of the Popish Religion we hold our selves bound in Conscience â—â—d Duty to represent the same to your Sacred Majesty not doubting but these constant Testimonies which we have given your Majesty of our true and loyal Affections to your Sacred Person will easily gain a Belief that these our humble Desires proceed from Hearts still full of the same Affections toward your sacred Majesty and with intentions to establish your Royal Government upon those true Supports of the Protestant Religion and the Hearts of your People with all Humility desiring your Majesty to take the same into your Princely Consideration and to relieve your Subjects from those Fears and Apprehensions which at present they lie under from the Progress hath been made in that Treaty We do therefore humbly intreat your Majesty to consider that if this Match do proceed it will be a means to disquiet the Minds of your Protestant Subjects at home and to fill them with endless Jealousies and Discontents and will bring your Majesty into such Alliances abroad as will prove highly prejudicial if not destructive to the Interest of the very Protestant Religion it self And we find by sad Experience that such Marriages have encreased and encouraged Popery in this Kingdom and given opportunity to Priests and Jesuits to propagate their Opinions and seduce great Numbers of your Majesties Subjects And we do already observe how much the Party is animated with the hopes of this Match which were lately discouraged by your gracious Concessions in the last Meeting in this Parliament That we greatly fear this may be an Occasion to lessen the Affections of the People to his Royal Highness who is so nearly related to the Crown and whose Honour and Esteem we desire may always be intirely preserved That for another Age more at the least this Kingdom will be under the continual Apprehensions of the Growth of Popery and the Danger of the Protestant Religion Lastly We consider that this Princess having so near a Relation and Kindred to many Eminent Persons of the Court of Rome may give them great Opportunities to promote their Designs and carry on their Practices among us and by the same means penetrate into your Majesties most Secret Counsels and more easily discover the State of the whole Kingdom And finding that by the Opinions of very Learned Men it is generally admitted that such Treaties and Contracts by Proxies are dissolvable of which there are several Instances to be produced We do in all humbleness beseech your Majesty to put a stop to the Consummation of this intended Marriage And this we do the more importunately desire because we have not yet the Happiness to see any Issue of your Majesty's that may succeed in the Government of these Kingdoms which Blessings we most heartily pray Almighty God in his due time to bestow upon your Majesty and these Kingdoms to the unspeakable Joy and Comfort of all your Majesty's Subjects who desire nothing more than to continue under the Reigns of your Majesty and your Royal Posterity for ever October 30. 1673. Mr. Secretary Coventry brought from his Majesty an Answer to the Address presented to him touching the Duke of York as followeth C. R. HIS Majesty having received an Address from the House of Commons presenting their humble Desire that the intended Marriage betwixt his Royal Highness and the Princess of Modena may not be Consummated Commanded this Answer to be returned That he perceived the House of Commons have wanted a full Information of this Matter the Marriage not being barely intended but Compleated according to the Forms used amongst Princes and by His Royal Consent and Authority Nor could He in the least suppose it disagreeable to His House of Commons His Royal Highness having been in the view of the World for several Months engaged in a Treaty of Marriage with another Catholick Princess and yet a Parliament held during the time and not the least Exception taken at it An Address ordered to be presented to His Majesty concerning a Marriage between his Royal Highness and the Princess of Modena and a Committee appointed to that purpose A Committee appointed for preparing a Bill for a general Test to distinguish between Protestants and Papists and those that shall refuse to take it be incapable to enjoy any Office Military or Civil or to sit in either Houses of Parliament or to come within five miles of the Court. The House adjourned till Monday October 31. 1673. Resolved That the House considering the present Condition of the Nation will not take into any further Debate the Consideration of any Aid or Supplies or Charge upon the Subjects before the time of Payment of
extraordinary Action of destroying the Queens Renunciation and then invading the Spanish Netherlands upon it An Action hardly to be paralell'd in the Story of the whole World for a Concurrence of so many enormous Circumstances There was in it The Publick Faith of the two Crowns which is the only Security of Government and the Bond of Humane Society There was in it The Solemnity of an Oath at the very Altar which is the most Sacred Tye of a Christian There was also The highest Profession and Assurance of Friendship imaginable which is accompted one of the most binding Obligations betwixt Man and Man And then there was a Brother a Cousin and an Infant in the Case which makes it Matter of Humanity and Honour And yet all these Cords were as easily broken as Bulrushes This single President may serve however for a warning to all Princes and States not to leave themselves at the mercy of Men of such Principles But his most Christian Majesty is not the only Prince that has been abused by Corrupt and Ambitious Ministers Your next observation was That they are the greatest Intermedlers in the World in other Peoples Affairs that they embroil all wherever they come and that there 's hardly any Rebellion but they are in the bottom of it For their Money walks in all the Courts and Councils of Christendom nay and beyond it too For 't is said that the last Grand Visâ—er was their Pensioner Was it not France that debauch'd Scotland first and afterwards England into the late Rebellion Nay did they not stand still and look on to see the Câ—owning of the Work which they themselves began in the Execrable Murther of the late King and did they not refuse to our Gracious and Persecuted Sovereign even a Retreat in their Dominions How did they prolong the War in Portugal What Havock have they made in Poland and what work in Hungary And are they not this Day in Counsel with the Port against the Empire and undermining the Bulwark of Christendom How have they dash'd England against Holland blinded the Eyes of several Princes of the Empire and baffled all Mediations towards a General Peace Did they not formerly under the Colour of Protecting Germany cut off Alsatia from the Empire and in a word this has been their Practice wheresoever they have come They covet Harbours in Spain says the Admirable Baron deâ— Isola Leagues in the Empire Factions in Poland Wars in England and Holland Passes into Italy and the Sovereign Arbitrage every where Their Quiet consists in the Trouble of all others and their Advantage is in the Publick Calamities Nor have they any other way then by dividing and weakening of the parts to master the whole which is the Capital Design And if so There 's no Fence against a Common Enemy but a Common Union It is already made appear by what is above said how dangerous they are to Mankind The next hint you gave me was to consider on 't Whether the English may reasonably expect any better Quarter from them then other People in which point I shall only lay the matter before you and leave you the Judge on 't The Four main Interests of a Nation are Religion Reputation Peace and Trade For the First of these we shall neither fare the better nor the worse but lose just as much for being of another Communion as his Catholick Majesty gets by being of the same The Question now on Foot is a Communion of State not of Faith The Alcoran and the Gospel go hand in hand and at the same time the Protestants are protected in Hungary and persecuted in France To say nothing of the Encouragements they give there to the Jansenists which may for ought we know prove the greatest Blow to the Church of Rome that ever it received since the Reformation But what do I talk of Religion in a Cause that is dipp'd in Christian Blood and in the Tears of Widows and Orphans A Cause that is propagated by Sacriledge Rapes Depopulation Slavery Oppression and at least a Million of Lives sacrificed to it already The very Thought of it is enough to strike the Soul of any Man with Horrour and Indignation If you would see how tenderly they have handled us in the Business of Reputation Pray do but cast an Eye upon the Character of an English-man in their Politique de France Quant a ce qui est des Anglois ils n'ont aucuns amis ce sont des gens sans Foy sans Religion sans Probite sans Justice aucune defians legers au dernier point Cruels Impatiens Gourmands Superbes Audacieux Avares Propres pour les coups de main et pour une promte execution mais incapables de conduire une Guerre avec judgment Leur Pais est assez bon pour vivre mais il n' est pas assez riche pour leur fournir les moyens de sortir de faire aucune conqueste aussi n' ont ils jamais rien conquis excepte L' Irelande dont les habitans sont fobiles mauvais Soldats c. i. e. As for the English they are a People without Friends without Faith Religion Honesty or Justice Distrustful and Fickle to the highest Degree imaginable Cruel Impatient Gluttonnous Proud Audacious they will do well enough for a Rubber at Cuffs or a sudden Exploit but they understand nothing at all of the Government of a War The Country is passable enough for them to live in but not rich enough to offer at any Conquest abroad nor did they ever make any but upon the Irish which are a weakly People and ill Soldiers I think it were not amiss in this place to desire our Impertinent Undertaker to turn back to the History of Philip de Valois and he shall there find there that our Edward the III. made a Shift with one Army to beat 60000 French and leave betwixt Thirty and forty Thousand of them upon the place and with another Army in the Bishoprick of Durham to defeat as many Scots and cut off 15000 of them too And it must not be here omitted that this Scotch Army was also animated by French Counsels I would not willingly run out a Letter into a Volume so that all other Reflections apart I shall only add that if the English had not once recovered the Field and another time made it good in two of the greatest Actions of late that have yet passed betwixt the Imperialists and the French 't is the Opinion of Wise Men that the later would not have had much to brag of upon the Success of this War And this in some degree is acknowledged by the Author of a French Relation of the Actions betwixt the two Armies in 1675 1676 and 1677 how Romantical soever in other Cases Speaking of the Battle under the Command of the Count de Lorge after the Death of the Vicount Turenne these are his words Et a rendre justice aux Anglois aux
Nature and consequently the Ordinance of God but that the different forms of Government whether to reside in One Few or Many or whether it shall be continued by Succession or by Election together with the different measures and limitations of Power and Authority in Governours of the same kind in several Countries all these things I say are ordained by and purely depend upon positive and humane Laws From whence it will necessarily follow That the same human Authority residing in King Lords and Commons here in England which gave Being to those Laws for the good of the Community is Superintendent over them and both may and ought to make any Addition to or Alteration of them when the publick Good and Welfare of the Nation shall require it unless you will admit That an Human Authority establishing any thing intentionally for the common good of the Society which in tract of time by reason of unforeseen circumstances and emergencies proves destructive of it has by that Act concluded it self and made that accidental Evil moral and unchangeable which to affirm is sensless and repugnant And now Sir I hope by this time said the old Gentleman you begin to think that the Bill for disabling the Duke was not so unjust and unreasonable as was pretended and that the course of Succession being founded upon the same bottom with other Civil Constitutions might likewise as justly have been altered by the King Lords and Commons as any other Law or Custom whatever And here I might conclude but because a late Pensionary Pen has publickly arraign'd the Wisdom Loyalty and Justice of the Honourable House of Commons on the account of this Bill I will ex abundanti add a word or two more to that particular Whereupon he pluck'd a Paper out of his Pocket entituled Great and weighty Considerations relating to the Duke and Successor of the Crown c. Which as soon as he had read unto us You see here said he the true Temper of those men of whom I first gave you caution There never was an Endeavour though in a Legal and Parliamentary way after any Reformation either in Church or State but the Promoters of it were sure to be branded by them with the odious imputations of Fanaticism and Faction Nay if the Country-Electors of Parliament-men will not pitch upon such Rake-hells of the Nation as are usually proposed by them but on the contrary make use of their Freedom and Consciences in chusing able upright and deserving persons and if good men thus chosen do but according to their Duty in the House enquire into publick Grievances pursue in a legal course notorious Offenders and consult and advise the Security of the Government and Protestant Religion the high Church-man immediately swells and in a passion tells you That all this proceeds from the old Phanatick Leven not yet worn out amongst the People That we are going back again to Forty One and acting over afresh the Sins of our Forefathers Thus ignorantly do they complement the Times and Persons they endeavour to expose by appropriating to them such Virtues as were common to good men in all Ages But enough of this In the next place pray observe how hypocritically the Considerer puts this Question viz. Whether Protestant Religion was not settled in this Nation by the same mighty hand of God that establish'd Jeroboam in the Kingdom of Israel And then adds Whether we like that wicked King should so far despair of God's Providence in preserving the work of his own Hands as never to think it safe unless it be establish'd on the Quick-sands of our own wicked Inventions viz. the Bill against the Duke And throughout his whole Discourse he frequently calls all Care of preserving our Religion a Mistrust of God's Providence and on that score calls out to the Nation O ye of little Faith c. Now I will allow him That the least Evil is not to be done that the greatest and most important Good may ensue But that the Bill for disabling the Duke is highly justifiable both by the Laws of God and Constitution of our Government I think by my former Discourse I have left no room to doubt And the Considerer having scarce attempted to prove the contrary it 's preposterously done of him to give us his Use of Reproof before he has clear'd his Doctrine However I owe him many thanks for putting me in mind how Protestant Religion was first establish'd here in England it was indeed by the mighty Hand of God influencing the publick Councils of the Nation so that all imaginable care was taken both by Prince and People to rescue themselves from under the Romish Yoke and accordingly most excellent Laws were made against the usurpation and tyranny of that Man of Sin Our noble Ancestors in those days did not palliate a want of Zeal for their Religion with a lazy pretence of trusting in God's Providence but together with their Prayers to and Affiance in Heaven they joyned the Acts of their own Duty without which they very well knew they had no reason to expect a Blessing from it But now be pleased to take notice of the Candor of this worthy Considerer nothing less will serve his turn than the proving all the Voters for the Bill guilty of the highest Perjury For says he they have all sworn in the Oath of Allegiance to bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty his Heirs and Successors but the Duke is Heir ergo c. A very hopeful Argument indeed But what if it should happen as it is neither impossible nor very improbable to imagin it that the next Heir to the Crown should commit Treason and conspire the Death of the present Possessor and for this Treason should not only be attainded by Parliament but executed too Pray Mr. Considerer would the Parliament in this case be guilty of Murder and Perjury I am confident you will not say it If therefore the next Heir become obnoxious to the Government in a lower degree why may not the same Authority proportion the Punishment and leave him his Life but debar him of the Succession This I say only to shew the absurdity of his Argument My Answer is this No man can bear Allegiance to two persons at the same time nor can Allegiance be ever due to a Subject and therefore my Obligation by the word Heir in the Oath does not commence till such Heir has a present Right to or actual Possession of the Crown which if he never attains either by reason of Death or any other Act that incapacitates and bars him then can my Obligation to him by the word Heir in the Oath never have a beginning But besides all this it cannot be denied but Mr. Considerer's Doctrine does bring great Inconveniences on Succession for the next Heir by his way of arguing is let loose from all the Restrictions and Penalties of Humane Laws and has no other tyes upon him not to snatch the Crown
and undoubted Priviledges of the People have been lately invaded by the Judges that now sit in Westminster-hall they have Espoused Proclamation against Law they have discountenanced and opposed several legal Acts that tended to the sitting of this Honourable House they have grasped the Legislative Power into their own Hands as in that Instance of Printing the Parliament was considering that matter but they in the interim made their private Opinion to be Law to supersede the Judgment of this House They have discharged Grand Juries on purpose to quel their Presentments and shelter great Criminals from Justice and when Juries have presented their Opinion for the sitting of this Parliament they have in disdain thrown them at their Feet and told them they would be no Messengets to carry such Petitions and yet in a few days after have encouraged all that would spit their Venom against the Government they have served an Ignorant and Arbitrary Faction and been the Messengers of Abhorrences to the King Mr. Speaker What we have now to do is to load them with shame who have bid defiance to the Law they are guilty of Crimes against Nature against the King against their Knowledge and against Posterity The whole frame of Nature doth loudly and daily petition to God their Creator and Kings like God may be addressed to in like manner by Petition not Command They likewise knew it was lawful to petition Ignorance can be no Plea and their Knowledge aggravates their Crimes The Children unborn are bound to curse such Proceedings for 't was not petitioning but Parliaments they abhorr'd The Atheist pleads against a God not that he disbelieves a Deity but would have it so Tresilian and Belknap were Judges too their Learning gave them Honour but their Villanies made their Exit by a Rope The end of my Motion therefore is That we may address warmly to our Prince against them let us settle a Committee to enquire into their Crimes and not fail of doing Justice upon them that have perverted it let us purge the Fountain and the Streams will issue pure November the 17th being appointed for consideration of His Majesty's Message the Order being read it was moved by a worthy Member THAT as long as Popery hangs over us we could do nothing and we ought to represent our condition to the King and then when we had secured our Religion and Property we should be ready to do any thing that might make the King happy and great A Second I am sorry that Tangier that is a Supply is moved for at so unseasonable a time I confess Tangier is of great moment but we have now in hands that which is of greater moment than ten Tangiers put together The consideration of that before we are secure in our Religion at home is as when an Enemy was landed we should afterwards go to fortifie the Coasts of Kent And being told us by His Majesty we should secure our selves against Popery by all ways but meddling with the Succession and should rest there we are prevented of what is our preservation And the providing for Tangier now will be the weakening of our Security When Tangier was put into the hands of the English first there was an Article that there should continue a Popish Church and the Religion that belonged to it to continue their Lives but not to be replenish'd with new And if it be enquir'd into I believe it will be found the number of them is not yet decreased It is not long since there was a Popish Governour there many Papists and Souldiers gone thither lately from Ireland It is not a little Sum that will do what is needful there and if it should be a considerable one that should be given for it it may be made use of to raise an Army there so that we run into a great Inconveniency by providing for it I think we ought to consider well of it before we do And yet I am not for sullenly saying we will raise no Money but for clearly stating the Case by an Address to the King A Third I am only to acquaint you That Tangier is not to be maintained without your Support A Fourth All things are to be considered comparatively and if it be made an Argument against the Duke's Bill that is at the Head of an Army in Scotland and that in Ireland there are ten Papists to one Protestant his great interest in the Fleet and being Admiral and Tangier being a Seminary of Papists then sure you have a special Argument to take Tangier into your Consideration and Money may be for that Service But then this Parliament do not ask Petitions of Grace but of Right And will you part with your Money without any Security You have often done so and what are you the better for it I long for the time when we may give Money to make the King great but if things must go on as they do I am for a plain Bargain to know what we shall have for our Money For my part I only desire our Security but if we should give Money I suppose you will take care what hands we put it in and there ought to be a Trust Let us Address His Majesty A Fifth We are told Tangier is of Importance it is a Nursery of Papists And we are likewise told The Irish sent thither a part of the Irish Army and they take the Oath that is no Security Was not the Lord Bellassis Governour of Tangier and Hull and the Pensioners Captain all at a time and took the Oaths those Souldiers for ought I know may be brought hither and the asking for a Supply for it at this time is very unreasonable because Parliaments have been put off two or three years and whilst there are people that dare make a difference between the King and this House we shall never be safe Let us represent our Condition as boldly as may stand with good manners It is not to be endured to see the Duke preferred before the King as he was as if Arguments of his Greatness and Power were Arguments strong enough to hinder the Bill He hath violated the Law and we needed not to have gone this way to work if we could have had Justice against him but he is too great for that let us Address His Majesty A Smith If Tangier be wholly under the Duke's Care and Protection and such a Seminary for Papists as hath been represented I think no motion to have a Supply for it is unseasonable and am against it order the bringing in the state of it A Seventh I spoke the fence of the City formerly and do so now again and in the name of the greatest part of the Commonalty of the City of London and we do declare That we are ready to give Money half we have nay all and be content to set up again and get new Estates if we can but be secured The burning of London justly laid upon the Papists and
Gentleman answered Mr. Speaker I wonder that Noble Lord should thus interrupt me for I have not positively affirmed any thing at all of the Duke though I have said nothing but what in my Judgment I thought might be truth and I shall not change my mind for his being displeased at it but however I am very well satisfied to say no more but only that I remember that Honourable Person by the Bar told us he would not speak to the prudential part against the Bill and truly Sir I think he has kept his Word very exactly and that whereas another Member before him objected That it was possible the Duke might turn Protestant I would only answer that I do not think it possible that any Person that has been bred up in the Protestant Religion and hath been weak enough for so I must call it to turn Papist should ever after in that respect be wise enough to turn Protestant and therefore Sir upon the whole matter my humble Motion is That the Bill may pass Debates in the House of Commons Jan. 7. 1680. upon His Majesties Message The First Speech by an Honourable Gentleman HIS Majesties relies not only on the Dictates of his own Judgment but is confirmed by the Judgment of the House of Lords but many of them have gained their Honour by Interest rather than Merit His Majesty hath given no Answer to several of your Addresses when you say nothing can secure you but this Bill that he should propose other means but if we have not the Bill we are deprived of the means to preserve His Majesties Life Person and Government I never knew that Tangier was more considerable than all the Three Kingdoms Is it time to be silent or not Why is all this stir for a Man that desires the Throne before His Majesty is dead He is in all the Plot either at one end or other who took evidence of London Fire Arbitrary Power was at the end and no Religion like Popery to set up That I will pay the Duty and Allegiance of an English-man to an English Prince But Popery and Arbitrary Power must be rooted out Can you hope for any Good while this Man is Heir an Apostate from his Religion his Government is the most dangerous Our Ministers of State give us little hopes from Whitehall I hope they will be Named First set a Brand on all them that framed the Answer and all them that shall lend Money by way of Anticipation desire him to take Advice of His Parliament rather then private Men or to let us go home and attend His Service when he shall again call for us The Second Speech by another Person of Hour I am afraid we are lost we have done our Parts shewed our selves good Subjects but some stand between the King and us to promote the Duke of York's Interest Those that advised the King not to pass the Bill deserve to be Branded The Third Speech by an Honourable Gentleman We have made the modestest Request that ever People did in such a time of Danger we have neither passed a Bill nor obtained a kind Answer our Trust must be in our Votes When the King bid us look into the Plot like well-meaning Countrey-Gentlemen we looked into the Tower we should have looked into Whitehall There the Plot is hatched cherished and brought up It would be well if all against the Bill were put out of Councel and all of this House were put out of Commission that were for it I had rather the Moors had Tangier the French King Flanders than the Pope had Eugland The Fourth Speech by a Person of Honour I think the Debate is upon a Message from the King and the most especial part is about the Bill I concur with that Noble Person rather than with all the rest But begin with the first his Majesty hath suffered us twice to address upon the Bill yet the Lords have not admitted one Conference I believe every man came unwillingly into this Bill have any that were against it proposed any thing for our Security if they will let them stand up and I will sit down I have advised with Men that know the Laws Religion and Government they say if you will preserve this Government this Law this Bill must pass We have received no expedient from the Lords the State of the Nation lies at their Door they sit to hear Causes they mind you of Mr. Seymour but say nothing of the Bills In Richard the Second his Time some Lords were said to be Lords in the King's Pocket but had no shoulders to support him It 's plain our evil comes from evil Ministers There are some that will have a Prince of one Religion on the Throne to rule the People of another a Popish Prince and a Protestant Kingdom will any Ministers of parts unless they have an indifferency of Religion think this consistent I dedicate my Allegiance to the King they to another Person so the Kingdom must be destroy'd either this limited Monarchy must stand or come to Blood on the other side Water-Monarchy is absolutely supported by little men of no Fortune and he that takes mean and low men to make Ministers of sets up for Popery and Arbitrary Government The King hath Counsels born if you have a Popish Prince and a Protestant Parliament will the King ever concur with them in matters of Religion and Property are not your Estates sprinkled with Abbey-Lands If he asks Money will you trust him must Foreigners comply with a Prince that in effect hath no People We must be overcome with France and Popery or the Body will get a new Head or the Head a new Body The Fifth Speech by a Person of Honour The House was unwilling at first to enter into a Debate about Expedients and I am not prepared to propound them any thing you have heard proposed by the King in Print if you had them they will do you no harm One day you say the King had been a good Prince if he had good Company and good Councils no great Complement to the King he offers you any thing but the Bill I humbly make my motion to try it The Sixth Speech by an Honourable Gentleman I think it becomes that Gentleman very well to be of the Opinion he is though no man else in this House I wish the D. was of that Opinion his Father desired him The Lords rejected the Bill but I am afraid the King solicited or else they would not it 's some mens interest to be for the D. but while they are at Court we shall never have it Foreign Persons have given Influence at Court the French Ministers access to Court inclines me to believe some body is paid for it The Court is a Nurcery of Vice they transmit them into the Countrey and none but such men are imployed The Seventh Speech by an Honourable Gentleman The Question now before you is Whether any other means be effectual
to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of His Majesties Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religon But also if the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest than that a Total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the Preservation whereof Be it Enacted by the King 's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament Excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them or either of them belonging or to have exercise or enjoy any Dominion Power Jurisdiction or Authority in the same Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any time hereafter challenge claim or attempt to possess or enjoy or shall take upon him to use or exercise any Dominion Power or Authority or Jurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or Chief Magistrate of the same That then he the said James Duke of York for every such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatever shall assist or maintain abett or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such challenge claim or attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Regal Power Jurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by Writing or Preaching advisedly publish maintain or declare That he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or Chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and that he suffer and undergo the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York shall not at any time from and after the Fifth of November 1680 return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid And then he the said James Duke of York shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such Return of the said James Duke of York That then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer as in Cases of High Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York or any other Person being guilty of any of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive Benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named and that no Nole prosequi or Order for stay of Proceedings shall be received or allowed in or upon any Indictment for any of the Offences mentioned in this Act. And be it further Enacted and Declared And it is hereby Enacted and Declared That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Magistrates Officers and other Subjects whatsoever of these Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid and they are hereby enjoyned and required to apprehend and secure the said James Duke of York and every other Person offending in any of the Premisses and with him or them in case of Resistance to fight and him or them by Force to subdue For all which Actings and for so doing they are and shall be by virtue of this Act saved harmless and indemnified Provided and it is hereby Declared That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or adjudged to disenable any other Person from inheriting and enjoying the Imperial Crown of the Realms and Dominions aforesaid other than the said James Duke of York But that in case the said James Duke of York should survive his now Majesty and the Heirs of his Majesty's Body The said Imperial Crown shall descend to and be enjoyed by such Person or Person successarily during the Life of the said James Duke of York as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said James Duke of York were naturally dead any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given in charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly Read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the several respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Fore-noon to read the same twice in every year that is to say on the 25th of December and upon Easter-day during the Life of the said James Duke of York This BILL was Read Three Times and Passed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence Some particular Matters of Fact relating to the Administration of Affairs in Scotland under the Duke of LAUDERDALE Humbly offered to Your Majesty's Consideration in Obedience to Your Royal Commands 1. THE Duke of Lauderdale did grosly misrepresent to your Majesty the Condition of the Western Countries as if they had been in a state of Rebellion though there had never been any opposition made to your Majesty's Authority nor any Resistance offered to your Forces nor to the execution of the Laws But he purposing to abuse your Majesty that so he might carry on his sinistrous Designs by your Authority advised your Majesty to raise an Army against your peaceable Subjects at least did frame a Letter which he sent to your Majesty to be signed by your Royal Hand to that effect which being sent down to your Council Orders was thereupon given out for raising an Army of Eight or Nine thousand men the greatest part whereof were Highblanders and notwithstanding that to avert threatning the Nobility and Gentry of that Country did send to Edenburgh and for the security of the Peace did offer to engage that whatsoever should be sent to put the Laws in execution should meet with no affront and that they would become Hostages for their safety yet
Alliances can be made for the advantage of the Protestant Religion and Interest which shall give confidence to your Majesty's Allies to joyn so vigorously with your Majesty as the State of that Interest in the World now requires while they see this Protestant Kingdom in so much danger of a Popish Successor by whom at the present all their Councils and Actions may be eluded as hitherto they have been and by whom if he should succeed they are sure to be destroyed We have thus humbly laid before your Majesty some of those great Dangers and Mischiefs which evidently accompany the expectation of a Popish Successor The certain and unspeakable Evils which will come upon your Majesty's Protestant Subjects and their posterity if such a Prince should inherit are more also than we can well enumerate Our Religion which is now so dangerously shaken will then be totally overthrown Nothing will be left or can be found to protect or defend it The execution of old Laws must cease and it will be vain to expect new ones The most sacred Obligations of Contracts and Promises if any should be given that shall be judged to be against the interest of the Romish Religion will be violated as is undeniable not only from Argument and Experience elsewhere but from the sad experience this Nation once had on the like occasion In the Reign of such a Prince the Pope will be acknowledged Supream though the Subjects of this Kingdom have sworn the contrary and all Causes either as Spiritual or in order to Spiritual Things will be brought under his Jurisdiction The Lives Liberties and Estates of all such Protestants as value their Souls and their Religion more than their secular Concernments will be adjudged forfeited To all this we might add That it appears in the discovery of the Plot that Forreign Princes were invited to assist in securing the Crown to the Duke of York with Arguments from his great Zeal to establish Popery and to extirpate Protestants whom they call Hereticks out of his Dominions and such will expect performance accordingly We further humbly beseech Your Majesty in Your great Wisdom to consider Whether in case the Imperial Crown of this Protestant Kingdom should descend to the Duke of York the opposition which may possibly be made to his possessing it may not only endanger the farther descent in the Royal Line but even Monarchy it self For these Reasons we are most humble Petitioners to your most Sacred Majesty That in tender commiseration of your poor Protestant people Your Majesty will be gratiously pleased to depart from the Reservation in Your said Speech and when a Bill shall be tendred to your Majesty in a Parliamentary way to disable the Duke of York from inheriting the Crown Your Majesty will give your Royal Assent thereto and as necessary to fortify and defend the same that your Majesty will likewise be gratiously pleased to Assent to an Act whereby your Majesty's Protestant Subjects may be enabled to Associate themselves for the defence of your Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and the Security of your Kingdoms These Requests we are constrained Humbly to make to your Majesty as of absolute Necessity for the safe and peaceable Enjoyment of our Religion Without these things the Alliances of England will not be valuable nor the People encouraged to contribute to your Majesties Service As some farther means for the Preservation both of our Religion and Propriety We are Humble Suiters to your Majesty that from henceforth such Persons onely may be Judges within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as are Men of Ability Integrity and known Affection to the Protestant Religion And that they may hold both their Offices and Sallaries Quam diu se bene gesserint That several Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace fitly qualified for those Imployments having been of late displaced and others put in their room who are Men of Arbitrary Principles and Countenancers of Papists and Popery such only may bear the Office of a Lord-Lieutenant as are Persons of integrity and known Affection to the Protestant Religion That Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace may be also so qualified and may be moreover Men of Ability of Estates and interest in their Countrey That none may be Imployed as Military Officers or Officers in your Majesties Fleet but Men of known Experience Courage and Affection to the Protestant Religion These our Humble Requests being obtained we shall on our part be ready to Assist your Majesty for the Preservation of Tangier and for putting your Majesties Fleet into such a Condition as it may preserve your Majesties Soveraignty of the Seas and be for the Defence of the Nation If your Majesty hath or shall make any necessary Allyances for defence of the Protestant Religion and Interest and Security of this Kingdom this House will be ready to Assist and stand by your Majesty in the support of the same After this our humble Answer to your Majesties Gracious Speech we Hope no evil Instruments whatsoever shall be able to lessen your Majesties Esteem of that Fidelity and Affection we bear to your Majesties Service but that your Majesty will always retain in your Royal Breast that Favourable Opinion of us your Loyal Commons that those other Good Bills which we have now under Consideration Conducing to the Great Ends we have before mentioned as also all Laws for the Benefit and Comfort of your People which shall from time to time be tendred for your Majesties Royal Assent shall find acceptance with your Majesty The Report of the Committee of the Commons appointed to Examine the Proceedings of the Judges c. THis Committee being Inform'd that in Trinity-Term last the Court of Kings-Bench discharg'd the Grand Jury that serv'd for the Hundred of Ossulston in the County of Middlesex in a very unusual manner proceeded to enquire into the same and found by the Information of Charles Umfrevil Esq Foreman of the said Jury Edward Proby Henry Gerard and John Smith Centlemen also of the said Jury That on the 21st of June last the Constables attending the said Jury were found Defective in not presenting the Papists as they ought and thereupon were ordered by the said Jury to make further Presentments of them on the 26. following on which Day the Jury met for that purpose when several Peers of this Realm and other Persons of Honour and Quality brought them a Bill against James Duke of York for not coming to Church But some exceptions being taken to that Bill in that it did not set forth the said Duke to be a Papist some of the Jury Attended the said persons of Quality to receive satisfaction therein In the mean time and about an Hour after they had received the said Bill some of the Jury attended the Court of Kings-Bench with a Petition which they desired the Court to present in their Name unto His Majesty for the Sitting of this Parliament Upon which the Lord
words pointing at the Dead said That he was no Schismatical Petitioning Rebel and that by his instigations the Grand-Jury of Bristol made a Presentment of their detestation against Petitioning for the sitting of the Parliament that he said Mr. Thompson had told him that he was Governour to Mr. Narbor when he was beyond Sea and said That he had been very often and above one hundred times at Mass in the great Church at Paris and usually gave half a Crown to get a Place to hear a certain Doctor of that Church and that he was like to be brought over to that Religion and that when he went beyond Sea did not know but that he might be of that Religion before his return That he is very Censorious and Frequently casts evil Aspersions against several Divines at Bristol of great Note viz. Mr. Chetwind Mr. Standfast Mr. Crosman Mr. Palmer and others saying That such as went to their Lectures were the Brats of the Devil The 9th That Mr. Thompson in his preaching inveighed bitterly against Subscribing Petitions for Sitting of this Parliament saying That it was the Seed of Rebellion and like to Forty one and that the Devil set them on work and the Devil would pay them their Wages saying That before he would set his hand to such Petitions he would cut it off yea and cut them off The 10th saith That about two years since being in the Chancel of St. Thomas's Church in Bristol where Queen Elizabeth's Effigies is Mr. Thompson pointing his Finger to it said That she was the worst of Women and a most lewd and infamous Woman Upon which this Informant replied He never heard any speak ill of her thereupon Mr. Thompson said She was no better than a Church-Robber and that Henry the 8th begun it and that she finish'd it The 11th Rowe saith That in the year 1678 he waited on the Mayor to Church and that Mr. Thomson who was there railed at Henry the Eighth saying He did more hurt in Robbing the Abby Lands than he did good by the Reformation That after Dinner Mr. Thompson comes to this Informant and claps his Hands on his Shoulders saying Hah Boy had Queen Elizabeth been living you needed not to have been Sword-bearer of Bristol The said Rowe asked him why He replied She loved such a lusty Rogue so well as he was and he would have been very fit for her Drudgery at White-hall The 12th saith That he heard a great noise of a Sermon to be preached by Mr. Thompson on the 30th of January 1679 to the second part of the same Tune And that he was present at the same Sermon in which Mr. Thompson said There was a great noise of a Popish Plot but says he Here is nothing in it but a Presbyterian Plot for here they are going about to Petition for the sitting of the Parliament but the end of it will be to bring the Kings Head to the block as they have done his Father The 13th saith That in January last or thereabouts there was a Petition going about for the sitting of this Parliament When Mr. Thompson in Redâ—liff Church in his Sermon said It was a Seditious and Rebellious Petition and rather than he would sign it his Hand should be cut off The 14th saith The Eighth day of April he going to pay Mr. Thompson his Dues speaking concerning the Meeters in private Mr. Thompson said He would hall them out and fill the Gaols with them and hoped to see their Houses afire about their Ears in a short time and this he the said Thompson doubled again and again The 15th saith That about December 1679 Mr. Thompson came to visit his Mother being sick and discoursing of Religion The said Thompson said If he were as well satisfied of other things as he was of Justification Auricular Confession Penance Extream Unction and Crisme in Baptism he would not have been so long separated from the Catholick Church And further affirmed That the Church of Rome was the True Catholick Church He further endeavoured to prove Extream Unction and Auricular Confession as well as he could out of the Epistles Further he hath heard him say The King was a Person of mean and soft Temper and could be led easily to any thing but yet a Solomon in vices but that the Duke of York was a Prince of a brave Spirit would be faithful to his Friends and that it was our own Faults that he was a Roman Catholick in that we forc'd him to fly into France where he imbraced that Religion About the same time he the said Thompson said the Church would be Militant but greatly commended the Decency of Solemnizing the Mass in France and that it was performed with much more Reverence and Devotion than any other Religion doth use He further heard him say in a Sermon about the time of Petitioning he would rather cut off his hand than Sign it and had many bad Expressions of it that it was the Seed of Rebellion and like 40 and 41 And further the said Mr. Thompson at one Sandford's Shop door in Bristol speaking of Bedlow said That he was not to be believ'd because Bedlow had said he meaning Mr. Thompson was at St. Omers where Mr. Thompson said he was not and that Bedlow was of a bad Life and in many Plots and not to be credited in any thing he said And that in another Discourse he commended the Romish Clergy for their single Life and is himself so and did at the same time Vilify and Rail at the English Clergy for Marrying saying It was better for a Clergy-Man to be Guelt than to Marry and that the Calvinists in France were Letcherous Fellows and could scarce be two years a Priest without a Wife About the time and after the Election of Sir John Knight to this Parliament Mr. Thompson said he was not fit to be believ'd and as bad as any Fanatick He further said in the Pulpit at St. Thomas's that after Excommunication by the Bishop without Absolution from the Spiritual Court such a one was surely Damned and he would pawn his Soul for the Truth of it Mr. Thompson after the Evidence given by every particular Person Face to Face was asked to every one If he had any Questions to ask before they called another Who answer'd He should not say any thing at present When the Witnesses before mentioned were all Examined Mr. Thompson being desir'd to make his Defence and declare whether he were Guilty of the Matters laid to his charge did for the greatest part confess words spoken to that effect and in other things endeavoured to turn the words with more favour towards himself but the Witnesses being of great Credit and many more being ready to have made good the same things the Committee look'd upon the business to be of a high Nature and therefore ordered the matter to be reported specially leaving it to the Wisdom of the House The Resolution of the House of Commons upon the
being accompanied with several other Lords at the Delivery thereof thus expressed himself The Earl of Essex's Speech at the Delivering the following Petition to His most Sacred Majesty Jan. 25. 1680. May it please your Majesty THe Lords here present together with divers other Peers of the Realm taking notice that by Your late Proclamation Your Majesty has declared an intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from History and Records how unfortunate many Assemblies have been when called at a Place remote from the Capital City as particularly the Congress in Henry the Second's time at Clarendon Three several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the Third's time and at Coventry in Henry the Sixth's time With divers others which have proved very fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great mischief on the whole Kingdom And considering the present posture of affairs the many jealousies and discontents which are amongst the People We have great Cause to apprehend that the consequences of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to Your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to the then Reigning Kings and therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to Your Majesty or to the People If we being Peers of the Realm should not on so Important an Occasion humbly offer our advice to Your Majesty that if possible Your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend unseasonable Resolution The Grounds and Reasons of our Opinion are contained in this our Petition which We humbly Present to Your Majesty To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition and Advice of the Lords under-named Peers of the Realm Humbly Sheweth THat whereas Your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Speeches and Messages to Your Houses of Parliament rightly to represent to them the Dangers that Threatned Your Majesty's Person and the whole Kingdom from the Mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the sudden Growth of a Foreign Power unto which no stop or remedy could be Provided unless it were by Parliament and an Union of Your Majesty's Protestant Subjects in one Mind and one Interest And the Lord Chancellor in Pursuance of Your Majesty's Commands having more at large Demonstrated the said Dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our Fears could Imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would be certainly Lost if a speedy Provision were not made against them And Your Majesty on the 21st of April 1679. Having called unto your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and declared to them and the whole Kingdom That being sensible of the evil Effects of a single Ministry or private Advice or Forreign Committee for the General Direction of your Affairs Your Majesty would for the future Refer all things unto that Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent use of your great Council the Parliament Your Majesty was hereafter Resolved to Govern the Kingdoms We began to hope we should see an end of our Miseries But to our unspeakable Grief and Sorrow we soon found our Expectations Frustrated The Parliament then subsisting was Prorogued and Dissolved before it could perfect what was intended for our Relief and Security and though another was thereupon called yet by many Prorogations it was put off till the 21st of October past and notwithstanding Your Majesty was then again pleased to acknowledge that neither Your Person nor Your Kingdom could be safe till the matter of the Plot was gone thorow It was unexpectedly Prorogued on the 10th of this Month before any sufficient Order could be taken therein all their Just and Pious Endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown the good Bills they had been Industriously preparing to Unite all Your Majesties Protestant Subjects brought to nought The discovery of the Irish Plot stifled The Witnesses that came in frequently more fully to declare That both of England and Ireland discouraged Those Forreign Kingdoms and States who by a happy conjunction with us might give a Check to the French Power disheartned even to such a Despair of their own Security against the growing greatness of that Monarch as we fear may induce them to take new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us The Strength and Courage of our Enemies both at home and abroad increased and our selves left in the utmost danger of seeing our Country brought into utter Desolation In these Extremities we had nothing under God to comfort us but the Hopes that Your Majesty being touched with the Groans of Your perishing People would have suffered Your Parliament to meet at the Day unto which it was Prorogued and that no further interruption should have been given to their Proceedings in Order to their saving of the Nation But that failed us too For then we heard that Your Majesty by the private suggestion of some Wicked Persons Favourers of Popery Promoters of French Designs and Enemies to Your Majesty and the Kingdom without the Advice and as we have good Reason to believe against the Opinion even of Your Privy-Council had been prevailed with to Dissolve it and to call another to meet at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in Safety but will be daily exposed to the Sword of the Papists and their Adherents of whom too many are crept into Your Majesties Guards The Liberty of speaking according to their Consciences will be thereby Destroyed and the Validity of all their Acts and Proceedings consisting in it left Disputable The Straitness of the Place no way admits of such a concourse of Persons as now follows every Parliament the Witnesses which are necessary to give Evidence against the Popish Lords such Judges or others whom the Commons have Impeached or had resolved to Impeach can neither bear the Charge of going thither nor trust themselves under the Protection of a Parliament that is it self Evidently under the power of Guards and Soldiers The Premises considered We Your Majesties Petitioners out of a Just Abhorrence of such a dangerous and pernicious Council which the Authors have not dared to avow and the direful Apprehensions of the Calamities and Miseries that may ensue thereupon do make it our most Humble Prayer and Advice That the Parliament may not sit at a Place where it will not be able to Act with that Freedom which is necessary and especially to give unto their Acts and Proceedings that Authority which they ought to have amongst the People and have ever had unless Impaired by some Awe upon them of which there wants not Precedents And that Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to Order It to Sit at Westminster it being the usual Place and where they may Consult and Act with Safety and Freedom And your Petitioness shall ever Pray c. Monmouth Kent Huntington Bedford Salisbury Clare Stanford Essex Shaftsbury Mordant Evers Paget Grey Herbert Howard Delamer The Counties
truly for him he was never heard to disswade any to take the Test nor to disparage it after it past in an Act only he refused to take it himself without an Explanation which to firetch to a Crime is beyond all example I confess he never cry'd it up as super excellent or Divine a some have done that can alter their tone and decry it as much when ever there shall be occasion The next morning the Earl waited on his Highness expecting yesternights countenance and indeed nothing less than what he met with for beginning to speak with his Highness in private his Highness interrupted him and said he was not pleased with his Explanation The Earl said he did not presume to give it till his Highness allowed him His Highness acknowledged that the Bishop of Edinburgh had told him that the Earl intended an Explanation But says his Highness I thought it had been some short one like Earl Queensburries The Earl answered that his Highness heard what he said His Highness said he did but he was surprized Then the Earl said he had said the same thing in private to his Highness wherewith he at that time appeared satisfied And the Earl being about to say more in his own vindication his Highness interrupting him said well it is past with you but it shall pass so with no other which words the Earl thought did both confirm the Councils acceptance and his explanation and sufficiently clear him of all offence if he had incurred any And whatever hath been his Highness resolution or the Earls misfortune since the Earl is perswaded that his Highness was resolved then to push the affair no further for though some had still the same animosities and prejudices against the Earl yet hitherto they had not adventured to undertake to extract and forge such Crimes out of his words as afterwards they did And it was not till private suggestions were made that Advocates were asked as they were if these words could be stretched to Treason and that when the ablest denied the Kings Advocate complied and was ordered to draw the Indictment and some Judges were engaged and secured about it as will appear when ever His Majesty thinks it his Interest to take an exact trial of that whole affair The Earl did think as I just now said his Highness saying it was past as to him was enough he was resolved to say no more for justifying himself but seeing he is so hardly pressed and his life and honour at the stake it is hoped his Highness will not disown what the Earl hath hitherto so respectfully concealed and is now no less necessary to be spoke out for his vindication And that is that besides that his Highness did allow the Earl to explain and did hear his explanation in Council and approve it The Earl did twice in private once before and once after his Oath in Council repeat to his Highness the same words that the Treason is now founded on viz. That the Earl meant not to bind up himself to wish and endeavour in a lawful way and in his station any alteration he thought to the advantage of Church and State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and his Loyalty and that his Highness was so far from charging them with Treason that he said plainly both times the Earls scruples were unnecessary and that the Test did not bind him up as he imagined adding further the last time that the Earl had cheated himself for notwithstanding the explanation he had taken the Test To which the Earl only answered that then his Highness should be satisfied Now after all this that Treason should be so earnestly searched for and so groundlessly found in those words is it not strange beyond all example Could it be Treason for the Earl to say He will not bind up himself where his Highness says so oft and so plainly It was not intended that he or any man should be bound up What past the next day after the Earl had taken the Test and was received by the Council is also proper for you to know The Earl being to take it as one of the Commissioners of the Treasury it was commonly thought that he and the other Commissioners were to take it in the Exchequer but after Ten of the Clock about two hours after the Earl had parted from his Highness one told him there was a design upon him to make him swear once more before the Council And accordingly at Twelve there was an extraordinary Council called in the Abbey and there it was found That the Commissioners of Treasury as Officers of the Crown were to take the Test before the Council and it was told the Earl that the Exchequer could not that day sit without him And to make the matter more solemn it was resolved that the Council should meet that Afternoon and that his Highness should be present So as soon as they were met the Oath was tendered and the Earl offering to take it and saying only these words as before the Earl of Roxburgh never heard to speak in Council till then stood up behind his Highness Chair and with Clamour asked what was said To whom his Highness was pleased to turn and inform him upon which Roxburgh prepared for the purpose desired that what the Earl of Argyle had said the day before might be repeated Which the Earl seeing a design upon him did at first decline till he was peremptorily put to it by his Highness and he being Ingenuous and thinking no course more proper to prevent mistakes of words he said he had a Note of what he had said in his Pocket which his Highness called for very earnestly and Commanded him to produce which be done and the Paper read so secure was the Earl of his Innocency that he was willing upon the first motion to sign it But the then new President of the Session now Chancellor and the new Register could not agree whether it was fit or not the Treason not yet appearing when read in Council as when they had talked of it in private so the Earl was removed and then called in and after these two had whered and adjusted their Inventions he was desired positively to sign the Paper he had given in To which he answered he meant well and truly did see no ill in the Paper why he might not and if the words did please them then as they did when they were first pronounced he would do it But if they found the least matter of displeasure in them he would forbear Whereupon being again removed and called in he was told he had not given the satisfaction required by the Act of Parliament in taking the Test And so could not sit in the Council and somewhat more was added as if the matter drew deeper but the particular words I do not know To which the Earl said that he judged all the Parliament meant was to exclude Refusers of the Test from Places of trust And
go the same length And if any such thing were argued it might be argued ten times more strongly from a simple refusing of the Oath as if any thing were enjoyned which were so hard that it is not possible to comply with it And yet such implications are most irrational and inconsequential and neither in the case of a simple and absolute refusing of the Oath nor in the Case of an Explication of the parties sense wherein he is willing to take the Oath is there any impeachment of the Justice and prudence of the Legislator who imposeth this Oath but singly a declaration of the scrupulosity and weakness of the party why he cannot take the Oath in other terms and such Explications have been allowed by the Laws and Customs of all Nations and are advised by all Divines of whatsoever principles for the solace and security of a Mans Conscience 2. As to that point of the Explication libelled That I am confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths it respects the former answer which considering the plain and downright Objections that were spread abroad and made against the Oath as containing inconsistencies and contradictions was an high Vindication of the Justice and prudence of the Parliament 3. As to these words And therefore I think no body can explain it but for himself The plain and clear meaning is nothing else but that the Oath being imposed by Act of Parliament it was of no private interpretation and that therefore every man who was to take it behooved to take it in that sense which he apprehended to be the genuine sense of the Parliament And it is impossible without impugning common sense that any man could take it in any other fence it being as impossible to see with anothers mans eyes as to see with his private Reason And a mans own private sense and apprehension of the genuine sense was the only proper way wherein any man could rationally take the Oath And as to these words That he takes it as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion The Pannel neither intended nor exprest more but that he did take it as a true Protestant and he hopes all men have taken it as such And as to that Clause wherein the Pannel is made to declare That he does not bind up himself in his Station in a lawful way to wish and endeavour any alteration he thinks to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and his Loyalty It is answered There is nothing in this expression that can import the least Crime or give the least umbrage for any mistake For 1. It is most certain it is impossible to elicite any such thing from the Oath but that it was the intention of the Parliament That persons notwithstanding of the Oath might concur in their stations and in a lawful way in any Law to the advantage of Church and State And no rational man ever did or can take the Oath in other terms that being contrary to his Allegiance and Duty to His Sacred Majesty and Prince 2. There is nothing in the said expression which does touch in the least point at any alteration in the Fundamentals of Government either in Church or State but on the contrary by the plain and clear words and meaning rather for its perpetuity stability and security The expression being cautioned to the utmost scrupulosity as that it was to be done in a lawful manner that it was to be to the advantage of Church or State that it was to be consistent with the Protestant Religion and with his Loyalty which was no other but the Duty and Loyalty of all faithful Subjects and which he has signally and eminently expressed upon all occasions So that how such an expression can be drawn to import all or any of the Crimes libelled passeth all Natural Understanding And as to the last words And this I understand as a part of my Oath which is libelled to be a treasonable Invasion and assuming of the Legislative power It is answered it is most unwarrantable and a parties declaring the sense and meaning in which he was free to take an Oath does not at all respect or invade the Legislative power of which the Pannel never entertained a thought but has an absolute abhorrence and detestation of such practices But the plain and clear meaning is That the sense and explication was a part of his Oath and not of the Law imposing the Oath these being as distant as the two Poles and which sense was taken off the Earls hands and he accordingly was allowed to take his place at the Council-Board and therefore repeats the former general Defences And to convince the Lords of Justitiary that there is nothing in the pretended explication libelled which can be drawn to import any Crime even of the lowest size and degree and that there is no expression therein contained that can be detorted or wrested to import the same is evident from the learned Vindication published and spread abroad by an eminent Bishop and which was read in the face of the Privy Council and does contain expressions of the same nature and to the same import contained in the pretended Explication libelled as the ground of this Indictment libelled against the Pannel And it is positively offered to be proven That these terms were given in and read and allowed to be printed and without taking notice of the whole tenor of the said Vindication which the Lords of Justitiary are humbly desired to peruse and consider and compare the same with the Explication libelled the same acknowledgeth that scruples had been raised and spread abroad against the Oath and also acknowledgeth that there were expressions therein that were dark and obscure and likewise takes notice that the Confession ratified Par. 1. James 6. to which the Oath relates was hastily made and takes notice of that Authority that made it and acknowledges in plain terms that the Oath does not hinder any regular endeavour to regulate or better the Establisht Government but only prohibits irregular endeavours and attempts to invert the substance or body of the Government and does likewise explain the Act of Parliament anent His Majesties Supremacy that it does not reach the alteration of the external Government of the Church And the Pannel and his Proctors are far from insinuating in the least that there is any thing in the said Vindication but what is consistent with the exemplary Loyalty Piety and Learning of the Writer of the same And tho others perhaps may differ in their private opinion as to this interpetation of the Act of Parliament anent the Kings Supremacy yet it were most absurd and irrational to pretend that whether the mistake were upon the interpretation of the Writer or the sense of others as to that point that such mistakes or misapprehensions upon either hand should import or infer against them the Crimes of Leasing making or
if then he gives in an Explication of the sense which in his private judgment doth apprehend to be the genuine meaning if that private sense be disconform to the Legislators sense in the Oath then the Imposer of the Oath or he that has power to offer it to the party if he consider the parties sense disconform he ought to reject the Oath as not fulfilling the intent of the Law imposing it But it is impossible to state that as a Crime That a party should neither believe what is proposed in the Oath nor be able to take it And he can run no farther hazard but the penalty imposed upon the Refuser And therefore in all Oaths there must be a concourse both of the sense imposed by Authority and of the private Sense Judgment or Conscience of the party And therefore if a party should take an Oath in the Sense proposed by Authority contrary to his own sense he were perjured whereby it is evident that the sense of Authority is not sufficient without the acquiescence and consent of the private person And therefore it is very strange why that part of the Pannel's Explanation should be challenged that he takes it in his own Sense the posterior words making it as plain as the light that that sense of his own is not what he â—pleases to make of the Oath for it bears expresly that no body can explain it but for himself and reconcile it as it is genuine and agrees in its own sense So that there must be a Reconciliation bewixt his own sense and the genuine sense which upon all hands is acknowledged to be the Sense of Authority And if the Pannel had been of these lax and debaucht Principles that he might have evaded the meaning and energy of the Oath by imposing upon it what sense he pleased certainly he would have contented himself in the general refuge of Equivocation or Mental Reservation and he would never have exposed his sense to the world in which he took this Oath whereby he became absolutely fixed and determined to the Oath in that particular sense and so had no latitude of shuffling off the Energy or Obligation of the Oath And it is likewise acknowledged That the Cases alledged in the Reply are true viz. That the person is guilty of Perjury si aliquo novo Commento he would elude his Oath or who doth not fulfil the Oath in the sense of the Imposer But that does not concern this Case For in the foresaid Citation a person after he has taken an Oath finding out some new conceit to elude it he is perjured but in this Case the Pannel did at and before his taking the Test declare the tâ—â—â—s in which he understood it So that this was not novo aliquo commento to elude it And the other Case where a party takes it in the sense of Authority but has some subterfuge or concealed Explanation it is acknowledged to be Perjury But in this Case there was no concealed Explanation but it was publickly exprest and an Explanation given which the Pannel designed and understood as the meaning of Authority and had ground to believe he was not mistaken since upon that Explanation he was received and allowed to sit and vote in Council And as to that part of the Reply that explains the Treason there can be no Treason in the Pannel's Case because the express Act of Parliament founded upon doth relate only to the Constitution of the Parliament And I am sure His Majesties Advocate cannot subsume in theâ—e terms And therefore in the Reply he recurs to the general Grounds of the Law That the usurping of His Majesties Authority in making a part of the Law and to make alterations in general and without the King are high and treasonable words or designs and such as the party pleases and such designs as have been practised the late times And that even the adjection of fair and safe words as in the Covenant does not secure from treasonable Designs and that it was so found in Balmerino's Case tho it bear a fair Narrative of an humble Supplication It is replied That the usurpation of making of Laws is undoubtedly treasonable but no such thing can be pretended or subsumed in this Case For albeit the Pannel declares his Explanation to be a part of his Oath yet he never meaned to impose it as even a part of the Law or that his Explanation should be a thing distinct or a separate part of his Oath For this Explanation being but exegetick of the several parts of the Oath it is no distinct thing from the Oath but declared to be a part of the Oath de natura rei And it was never pretended That he that alledged any thing to be de natura rei did say That that was distinct and separate which were a contradiction And therefore the Argument is retorted the Pannel having declared this Explanation was de natura rei implied in the Oath he necessarily made this Explanation no addition or extention of the Oath So that for all this Explanation the Oath is neither broader nor longer than it was And as to these words I do not mean to bind up my self in my station and in a lawful way to wish and endeavour any alteration I think to the advantage of Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty It is a strange thing how this Clause can be drawn in question as treasonable when it may with better Reason be alledged That there is not good Subject but is bound to say it And albeit the words to endeavour in my station be words contained in the Covenant yet that is no Reason why two words in the Covenant may not be made use of in another very good and loyal sense And there is no man that shall have the honour either to be entrusted by His Majesty in his Council or any other Judicature or to be a Member of Parliament but he is bound by his Loyalty to say the same thing And there was never a Clause more cautiously exprest for the words run to endeavour any alteration I shall think to the advantage of Church and State And tho that was sufficient yet the Clause is so cautiously conceived that it contains another Restriction not repugnant to Religion and his Loyalty So that except it could be alledged That a man by lawful means to the advantage of Church and State consistent with his Religion and Loyalty could make treasonable alterations and invasions upon the Government and Monarchy which are the highest Contradictions imaginable there can be nothing against the Pannel And albeit the Clause any alterations might without the Restrictions and Qualifications foresaid be generally extended yet the preceeding words of lawful way and the rational Interpretation of the emission of words especially before a solemn Judicatory leaves no place or shadow to doubt that these alterations were no fundamental or treasonable alterations but such as
violent corrupt and false sense will satisfy let us try what transprosing the Earl's Explanation will do and see how the just contrary will look And it must be thus I Have considered the Test nor am I at all desirous to give obedience so far as I can I am confident the Parliament intended to impose contradictory Oaths And therefore I think every man can explain it for others as well as for himself and take it without reconciling it either to it self or his own sense of it And I do take it tho it be inconsistent with it self and the Protestant Religion And I declare that I mean thereby to bind up my self never either in my station or in any lawful way whatsoever to wish or endeavour in the least any alteration tho to the advantage of Church or State and tho never so suitable and no way repugnant to the Protestant Religion and my Loyalty And tho this be the express quality of my Swearing yet I understand it to be no part of my Oath Now whether this contradictory Conversion be not Treason or highly Criminal at best I leave all the World to judge and to make both sides of a contradiction that is both the Affirmative and Negative of the same Proposition Treason is beyound ordinary Logick Escobar finds two contrary ways may both be probable and safe ways to go to Heaven but neither he nor the Devil himself have hitherto adventured to declare two contradictory Propositions both damnable and either of them a just cause to take away mens Lives Honours and Fortunes But where the Disease is in the Will it is lost labour to apply Remedies to the Understanding and must not this be indeed either the oddest Treason or strangest Discovery that ever was heard of The Bishop of Edinburgh sees it not witness his Vindication saying the same and more nor many of the Orthodox Clergy witness their Explanations nor his Royal Highness in private nor at first in Council nor all the Councellors when together at the Council-board nor the President of the Council nor the then President of the Session now Chancellor though he rose from his Seat to be sure to hear nor any of the most learned Lawyers witness their signed Opinion nor the most learned of the Judges on the Bench nor the generality of the knowing Persons either in Scotland or England wonderful Treason one day seen by none another day seen by so many A Stander-by hearing the Trial and the Sentence said He believed the Earl's words were by Popish Magick transubstantiate for he saw them the same as before Another answered that he verily thought it was so for he was confident none could see Treason in the words that would not when ever it was a proper time readily also profess his belief of Transubstantiation but he believed many that professed both believed neither The second Head of the Earl's Additional Defence contains the impertinencies and absurdities of the Advocate 's Arguings And here you must not expect any solid debate For as there is no disputing with those that deny Principles so as little with those who heap up phantastical and inconsequential Inferences without all shadow of reason If a Stone be thrown though it may do hurt yet having some weight it may be thrown back with equal or more force But if a man trig up a feather and fling it it is in vain to throw it back and the more strength the less success It shall therefore serve by a cursory Discourse to expose his Arguments which are in effect easier answered than understood and without any serious arguing which they cannot bear rather leave him to be wise in his own eyes than by too much empty talk hazard to be like him He alledges first That the Earl instead of taking the Test in its plain and genuine meaning as he ought doth declare against and defame the Act that enjoined it which is certainly a great Crime But now Inasmuch says the Advocate as he tells us That he had considered the Test Which I have indeed heard say was his greatest Crime and that he ought to have taken it with a profound and devout ignorance as some of our most inventive Politicians boasted they had done But the Earl says that he was desirous to give obedience as far as he could whereby says the Advocate he insinuates that he was not able to give full obedience This is not the meaning but what if it were and that indeed he could not Have not thousands given no obedience yet even in Law are guiltless And ought not that to please his Highness and the Council that is accepted of God Almighty and is all any Mortal can perform But the Earl says the Advocate goes on That he was confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths whereby says the Advocate he abuses the People with a belief that the Parliament did intend to impose such Wonderful reasoning All men know that Parliaments neither are nor pretend to be infallible And in our present Case hundreds of Loyal Subjects complain of Contradictions and Inconsistencies some way or other crept into this Oath And even the Council have yielded so far to their Exceptions as to make an alteration upon it for satisfying those scruples far beyond any thing the Earl said and such an alteration as I believe few dreamed of and I am certain none durst have attempted without their express command and authority and yet in the midst of all this the Earl's charitable and honest Opinion in behalf of the Parliaments good Intentions must be perverted to a direct slander But the Earl says That every man must explain it for himself and so no doubt he must if the Test be either in it self or in his apprehension ambiguous otherwise how can he swear in Judgment But this the Advocate will have to be a man 's own sense and thereupon runs out That hereby this Law and Oath and all Laws and Oaths are rendred useless and to no purpose And further the Legislative Power is taken from the Imposer and setled in the Taker of the Oath which certainly is a most treasonable presumption But first although there be no reason to strain or mistake the Expression yet the Earl did not say That every man must take the Test in his own sense II. The Council hath now explained the Test for the Clergy Might not then the Earl before their Explanation was devised say by the Councils allowance which he had That he might explain it for himself For if an ambiguous Proposition the Test for example may be reconciled to it self two different ways must not the Taker reconcile it as in his own sense he thinks it doth best agree with the genuine meaning of the words themselves and with the sense he conceives was intended by the Parliament that formed it especially before the Parliament emit their own Explanation And is it not juster to do it so than in any other
than the fore-mentioned of Religion Law and Reason which the Earl did of himself profer As for what His Majesty's Advocate adds That under such professions and reserves the late Rebellions and disorders have all been câ—rried on and fomented It is but a meer vapour for no Rebellion ever was or can be without a breach of one or other of the Earl's qualifications which doth sufficiently vindicate that part of the Earl's Explanation The Advocate insists much that Any is equivalent to All and that All comprehends Every particular under it which he would have to be the deadly Poyson in the Earl's words And yet the Earl may defy him and all his detracters to find out a Case of the least undutifulness much less of Rebellion that a Man can be guilty of while he keeps within the excellent Rules and Limitations wherewith his words are cautioned I could tell you further that so imaginary or rather extravagant and ridiculous is this pretended Treason that there is not a person in Scotland either of those who have refused or who by the Act are not called to take the Test that may not upon the same ground and words be impeach't viz. That they are not bound and so without doubt both may and do say it by the Test in their station c. to wish and endeavour any alteration c. Nay I desire the Advocate to produce the Man among those that have taken the Test that will affirm that by taking it he hath bound up himself never to wish or endeavour any alteration c. according to the Earl's qualifications and I shall name Hundreds to whom his Highness as you have heard may be added that will say they are not bound up So that by this conclusion if it were yielded all Scotland are equally guilty of Treason the Advocate himself to say nothing of His Royal Highness not excepted Or if he still think he is I wish he would testify under his hand to the World that by his Oath he is bound up never to wish nor endeavour any alteration he thinks to the advantage of Church or State in a lawful way nor in his station though neither repugnant to the Protestant Religion nor his Loyalty And if this he do he does as a Man if not of Sense at least of Honour but if not I leave a blank for his Epithets But that you may see that this whole affair is a deep Mystery pray notice what is objected against the last part of the Explanation This I understand as a part of my Oath Which says the Advocate is a Treasonable invasion upon the Royal Legislative power as if the Earl could make to himself an Act of Parliament since he who can make any part of an Act may make the whole And then say I farewell all Takers of the Test with an Explanation whether the Orthodox Clergy or Earl Queensberry tho himself Justice General who were allowed by the Council so to do seeing that whether they hold their Explanation for a part of their Oath or not yet others may and in effect all men of sense do understand it so And thus in the Advocate 's Opinion they have Treasonably invaded the Legislative Power and made an Act of Parliament to themselves Neither in that Case can the Councils allowance excuse them seeing not only the Earl had it as well as they but even the Council it self cannot make an Act of Parliament either for themselves or others But Sir I protest I am both ashamed and wearied of this trifling and therefore to shut up this Head I shall only give a few remarks First you may see by the Acts of Parliament upon which the Advocate founds his Indictment That as to Leasing-making and depraving Laws all of them run in these plain and sensible terms The inventing of Narrations the making and telling of Lies the â—ttering of wicked and untrue Calumnies to the slander of King and Government the depraving of his Laws and misconstruing his Proceedings to the engendering of discord moving and raising of batred and dislike betwixt the King and his People And as to Treason in these yet more positive terms That none impugn the dignity and authority of the Three Estates or seek or procure the innovation or diminution thereof Which are things so palpable and easily discerned and withal so infinitely remote both from the Earl's words and intentions or any tollerable construction can be put on either that I confess I never read this Indictment but I was made to wonder that its forger and maker was not in looking on it deterred by the just apprehensions he might have not only to be sometime accused as a manifest depraver of all Law but to be for ever accounted a gross and most disingenuous perverter of common sense The Earl's words are sober respectful and dutifully spoken for the exoneration of his own Conscience without the least insinuation of either reflection or slander much less the impugning of the Authority of Parliament as the Earl may appeal not only to His Majesty's true and Royal sense but to the most scrupulous and nice affecters of the exactest discerning besides that they were first formally tendered in Council for their approbation and by them directly allowed How then can any Man think that they could be charged with the greatest and vilest of crimes Leasing-making Depraving Perjury and Treason But the Advocate tells us That there are some things which the Law commonly forbids in general and that some inferences are as natural and strong and reproach as soon or sooner than the plainest defamations But what of all this Must therefore such generals be left to the phantastick application of every wild imagination to the confounding of the use of Speech and subverting of humane Society and not rather be still submitted to the judgment of common sense for their true and right understanding and the deducing thence these strong and natural inferences talk'd of Of which good sense if the Advocate do but allow a grain weight it is evident that the inferences he here Libels against the Earl must infallibly be cast and by all rational unbiassed men be found strange unnatural and monstrous For Sir Secondly pray observe these rational and sound Maxims he founds his Inferences on and they are manifestly these First That he who says he will only obey as far as be can invents a new way whereby no man is at all bound to obey 2dly That he who in the midst of Hundreds of exceptions and contradictions objected against an Oath injoyned by Act of Parliament and still unanswered says That he is confident the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths reproaches the Parliament 3dly That he that says he must explain an ambiguous Oath for himself before he take it renders all Laws and Oaths useless and makes himself the Legislator 4thly That he that says that he takes this Oath as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant
Religion swears nothing 5thly That he that declares himself not tied up by the Test from endeavouring in a lawful way such alterations as he thinks to the advantage of Church and State consistent with Religion and Loyalty declares himself and all others loosed from the Government and all duty to it and free to make any and all alterations that be pleases And 6thly That he that takes the Test with an explanation and holds it to be a part of his Oath invades the Legislative Power and makes Acts of Parliament Upon which rare and excellent Propositions I dare say The Earl is content according to the best Judgment that you and all unbiassed Men can make either of their Truth or of my ingenuity in excerping them to be adjudged Guilty or not Guilty without the least fear or apprehension of the issue And in the third and last place I shall only intreat you to try how the Advocate 's reasoning will proceed in other Cases and what brave work may be wrought by so useful a Tool Suppose then a Man refuse the Test simply or falls into any other kind of Non-conformity either Civil or Ecclesiastick or pays not the King's Custom or other dues or lastly understands an Act otherwise than the Advocate thinks he should Is not his Indictment already formed and his Process as good as made viz. That he regards not the Law That he thinks it is unjustly or foolishly Enacted That he will only obey as far as he can and as he pleases and thereby renders all Laws useless and so reproaches the King and Parliament and impugns their Authority and assumes to himself the Legislative Power and therefore is guilty of Leasing-making Depraving His Majesty's Laws and of Treason of which crimes above-mentioned or one or other of them he is Actor Art and Part Which being found by an Assize he ought to be punished with the pains of Death Forfaulture and Escheat of Lands and Goods to the terror of others to do or commit the like hereafter And if there be found a convenient Judge the poor Man is undoubtedly lost But Sir having drawn this Parallel rather to retrieve the Earl's Case than to make it a precedent which I hope it shall never be and chusing rather to leave the Advocate than follow him in his follies I forbear to urge it further These things considered must it not appear strange beyond expression how the Earl's Explanation such as it is did fall under such enormous and grievous misconstructions For setting aside the Councils allowance and approbation which comes to be considered under the next Head suppose the Earl or any other person called before the Council and there required to take the Test had in all due humility said either that he could not at all take it or at least not without an Explanation because the Test did contain such things as not noly he but many other and those the best of the Loyal and Orthodox Clergy did apprehend to be Contradictions and Inconsistencies And thereupon had proponed one or two such as the Papers above set down do plainly enough hold out and the Bishop in his Explanation rather evades than answers would it not be hard beyond all the measures of Equity and Charity to look upon this as a designed Reflection far more a malicious and wicked Slander and the blackest Treason We see the Act of Parliament doth not absolutely injoin the taking of the Test but only proposeth it to such as are intrusted in the Government with the ordinary certification either of losing or holding their Trusts at their option We know also that in Cases of this nature it is far more suitable both to our Christian Liberty and the respect we owe to a Christian Magistrate to give a reason of our conscientious non-compliance with meekness and fear than by a mute compearance to fall under the censure of a stubborn obstinacy And Iustly It is certain and may safely be affirmed without the least reproach that Parliaments are not infallible as witness the frequent changes and abrogations of their own Acts and their altering of Oaths imposed by themselves and even of this Oath after it was presented which the Earl was not for altering so much as it was done as I told you before How then can it be that the Earl appearing before a Christian Council and there declaring in terms at the worst a little obscure because too tender and modest his Scruples at an Oath presented to him either to be freely taken or refused should fall under any Censure If the Earl had in this occasion said he could not take the Test unless liberty were given him first to explain himself as to some Contradictions and Inconsistencies which he conceived to be in it tho he had said far more than is contained in his contraverted Explanation yet he had said nothing but what Christian Liberty hath often freely allowed and Christian Charity would readily construe for an honest expression of a commendable tenderness without any imputation of reproach against either King or Parliament How much more then is his part clear and innocent when albeit so many thought the Contradictions to be undeniable yet such was his well-tempered respect both to God and Man to his own Conscience and His Majesty's Authority that before and not after the taking of this Oath to clear himself in the midst of the many Exceptions and Scruples raised of all ambiguitles in swearing he first applies himself for a satisfying Explanation to the Parliament the prime Imposers their true intentions and genuine meaning and then gathering it very rationally from the Oath 's consistency with it self and with the Protestant Religion the Parliament's aim and scope and so asserting the King and Parliament's truth and honour he places the relief and quiet of his own Conscience in his taking the Test with this Explanation and in declaring its congruity with his Oath and duty of Allegiance The third Head of the Earl's additional Defences is the further clearing and improving of his grounds of Exculpation above adduced and repelled Which were first that before the Earl did offer his Explanation to the Council a great many Papers were spread abroad by some of the Orthodox Clergy charging the Test with Contradictions and Inconsistencies 2dly That there was a Paper penned by a Reverend Bishop and presented and read in Council and by them allowed to be printed which did contain the same and far more important things than any can be found in the Earl's Explanation And consequently far more obnoxious to all His Majesty's Advocate 's Accusations 3dly That the Explanation upon which he was indicted was publickly by himself declared in Council and by the Council allowed so that the Oath was administrat to him and he received to sit in Council and vote by his Highness and the rest of the Members with and under this express qualification But to all urged for the Earl's Exculpation the Advocate makes
Land to cut off these workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom VII All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1.2 and by the duty of their place to disobey all Writs Letters or Commands which are brought to them either under the little Seal or under the great Seal to hinder or delay common Right Are the Judges all bound in an Oath and by their places to break the 13 of the Romans VIII The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York June 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and Thirty Nine Peers besides the Lord Chief-Justice Banks and several others of the Privy-Council was in these words We do engage our selves not to Obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land Was this likewise an Association against the 13 of the Romans IX A Constable represents the King's person and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13 of the Romans as all Men grant but in case he so far pervert his Office as to break the Peace and commit Murther Burglary or Robbery on the Highway he may and ought to be Resisted X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13 of the Romans Here and in Poland the Law of the Land There XI The 13 of the Romans is receiv'd for Scripture in Poland and yet this is expressed in the Coronation Oath in that Country Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero Incola Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur And if I shall violate my Oath the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience XII The Law of the Land according to Bracton is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text for it is superior to the King and made him King Lib. 3. Cap. 26. Rex habet superiorum Deum item Legem per quam factus est Rex item Curiam suam viz. Comites Barones and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place And according to Melancthon It is the Ordinance of God to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to be subject Vol. 3. In his Commentary on the Fifth Verse Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake He hath these words Neque vero haec tantum pertinent ad Subditos sed etiam ad Magistratum qui cum fiunt Tyranni non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei quam Seditiosi Ideo ipsorum Conscientia fit rea quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei id est Legibus quibus debent parere Ideo Comminationes hic positae etiam ad ipsos pertinent Itaque hujus mandati severitas moveat omnes ne violationem Politici status putent esse leve peccatum Neither doth this place concern Subjects only but also the Magistrates themselves who when they turn Tyrants do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious and therefore their Consciences too are guilty for not obeying the Ordinance of God that is the Laws which they ought to obey So that the Threatnings in this place do also belong to them wherefore let the severity of this Command deter all men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin Corollary To destroy the Law and Legal Constitution which is the Ordinance of God by false and arbitrary Expositions of this Text is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk CHAP. IV. Of LAWS I. THere is no Natural Obligation wereby one Man is bound to yield Obedience to another but what is founded in paternal or patriarchal Authority II. All the Subjects of a patriarchal Monarch are Princes of the Blood III. All the people of England are not Princes of the Blood IV. No Man who is Naturally Free can be bound but by his own Act and Deed. V. Publick Laws are made by publick consent and they therefore bind every man because every man's consent is involved in them VI. Nothing but the same Authority and Consent which made the Laws can Repeal Alter or Explain them VII To judge and determine Causes against Law without Law or where the Law is obscure and uncertain is to assume Legislative power VIII Power assumed without a Man's consent cannot bind him as his own Act and Deed. IX The Law of the Land is all of a piece and the same Authority which made one Law made all the rest and intended to have them all Impartially Executed X. Law on One Side is the Back-Sword of Justice XI The Best Things when Corrupted are the Worst and the wild Justice of a State of Nature is much more desirable than Law perverted and over-rul'd into Hemlock and Oppression Copies of Two Papers Written by the Late King CHARLES II. Published by His MAJESTIES Command Printed in the Year 1686. The First Paper THE Discourse we had the other Day I hope satisfied you in the main that Christ can have but one Church here upon Earth and I believe that it is as visible as that the Scripture is in Print That none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church I think you need not trouble your self with entring into that Ocean of particular Disputes when the main and in truth the only Question is Where that Church is which we profess to believe in the two Creeds We declare there to believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church and it is not left to every phantastical man's head to believe as he pleases but to the Church to whom Christ left the power upon Earth to govern us in matters of Faith who made these Creeds for our Directions It were a very Irrational thing to make Laws for a Country and leave it to the Inhabitants to be the Interpreters and Judges of those Laws For then every man will be his own Judge and by consequence no such thing as either right or wrong Can we therefore suppose that God Almighty would leave us at those uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by and to leave every man to be his own Judge I do ask any ingenuous man whether it be not the same thing to follow our own Fancy or to interpret the Scripture by it I would have any man shew me where the power of deciding matters of Faith is given to every particular man Christ left his power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrection First by his Apostles in these Creeds and many years after by the Council at Nice where that Creed was made that is called by that name and by the power which they
Crime if it had been found about him written by another hand and I could name one or two Persons who as they were able enough to Compose such Papers so had power enough over his Spirit to engage him to Copy them and to put themselves out of danger by restoring the Original You ought to address your self to the Learned Divines of our Church for answer to such things in them as puzzle you and not to one that has not the honour to be of that Body and that has now carried a Sword for some time and imploys the leasure that at any time he enjoys rather in Philosophical and Mathematical Enquiries than in matters of Controversie There is indeed one Consideration that determined me more easily to comply with your desires which is my having had the honour to discourse copiously of those matters with the late King himself and he having proposed to me some of the particulars that I find in those Papers and I having said several things to him in answer to those Heads which he offered to me only as Objections with which he seemed fully satisfied I am the more willing to communicate to you that which I took the liberty to lay before His late Majesty on several occasions the particulars on which he insisted in discourse with me were the uselessness of a Law without a Judge and the necessity of an infallible Tribunal to determine Controversies to which he added the many Sects that were in England which seemed to be a necessary consequence of the Liberty that every one took to interpret the Scriptures and he often repeated that of the Church of Englands arguing from the obligation to obey the Church against the Sectaries which he thought was of no force unless they allowed more Authority to the Church then they seemed willing to admit in their Disputes with this Church of Rome But upon the whole Matter I will offer you some Reflections that will I hope be of as great weight with you as they are with my self I. All Arguments that prove upon such general Considerations that there ought to be an Infallible Judge named by Christ and cloathed with his Authority signify nothing unless it can be shewed us in what Texts of Scripture that nomination is to be found and till that is shewed they are only Arguments brought to prove that Christ ought to have done somewhat that he has not done So these are in effect so many Arguments against Christ unless it appears that he has Authorised such a Judge therefore the right way to end this Dispute is to shew where such a Constitution is Authorised So that the most that can be made of this is that it amounts to a favourable presumption II. It is a very unreasonable thing for us to form Presumptions of what is or ought to be from Inconveniences that do arise in case that such things are not for we may carry this so far that it will not be easie to stop it It seems more suitable to the infinite Goodness of God to communicate the knowledge of himself to all Mankind and to furnish every Man with such assistances as will certainly prevail over him It seems also reasonable to think that so perfect a Saviour as Jesus Christ was should have shewed us a certain way and yet consistent with the free Use of our Faculties of avoiding all sin nor is it very easie to imagine that it should be a reproach on his Gospel if there is not an Infallible Preservative against Errour when it is acknowledged that there is no infallible Preservative against sin for it is certain that the one Damns us more Infallibly than the other III. Since presumptions are so much insisted on to prove what things must be appointed by Christ it is to be considered that it is also a reasonable Presumption that if such a Court was appointed by him it must be done in such plain terms that there can be no room to question the meaning of them and since this is the hinge upon which all other matters turn it ought to be expressed so particularly in whom it is vested that there should be no occasion given to dispute whether it is in one Man or in a Body and if in a Body whether in the Majority or in the two thirds or in the whole Body unanimously agreeing in short the Chief thing in all Governments being the Nature and Power of the Judges those are always distinctly specified and therefore if these things are not specified in the Scriptures it is at least a strong Presumption that Christ did not intend to authorise such Judges IV. There were several Controversies raised among the Churches to which the Apostles writ as appears by the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians and Colossians yet the Apostles never make use of those passages that are pretended for this Authority to put an end to those Controversies which is a shrew'd Presumption that they did not understand them in that sense in which the Church of Rome does now take them Nor does St. Paul in the Directions that he gives to the Church-men in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus reckon this of submitting to the directions of the Church for one which he could not have omitted if this be the true meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one word sounding that way which is very different from the directions which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the New Testament such as the Rules of a good Life the Vse of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace thro' the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly reveal'd as others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a Presumption for particular Persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests and other Guides in Sacred Matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the Mouths of the Jews against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the Prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the
Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by particular Persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly proved in their Law Deut. 17.8 That when Controversies arose concerning any Cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the Tribe of Levi and to the Judge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of Death So that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorised in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal Testimony on her behalf As for our Saviour's Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his Doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the people Deut. 13.1 That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho' he wrought Miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to Death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his Father brought in the worship of another God might well pretend that he was not oblig'd to yield to the Authority of our Saviour's Miracles without taking cognisance of his Doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the Mouths of the Jews against our Saviour and from hence we see that the Authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Jeremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's days not only many ill-grounded Traditions had got in among them by which the vigor of the Moral Law was much enervated but likewise they were universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascention So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiations of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and Texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force and freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the reconconciling of Differences that of binding and loosing according to the use of those terms among the Jews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church signifies only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish and that of Christ's being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special conduct and protection which the Church may always expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an Infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the Spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine Inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the World which he sets in opposition to the Wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at last be acknowledged that they have not an Evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first the Account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him and in this every man must answer for the sincerity of his Heart in examining Divine Matters and the following what upon the best Enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with relation to this there is no need of a Judge for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the Talents that he had and all will be saved according to their sincerity and with relation to that Judgment there is no need of any other Judge but God A second view of Religion is as it is a Body united together and by consequence brought under some Regulation and as in all States there are subaltern Judges in whose decisions all must at least acquiesce tho' they are not infallible there being still a sort of an Appeal to be made to the Sovereign or the Supream Legislative Body so the Church has a subaltern Jurisdiction but as the Authority oâ— Inferiour Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law so it is not necessary for the preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their Obedience to their Sovereign tho' in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Sovereign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Sovereign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a subaltern Judge if they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular persons may be supposed as competent Judges of that as in civil Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Judges and in that case they are bound still to maintain their Obedience to Jesus Christ In matters indifferent Christians are bound for the preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decisions of the Church and in Matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho' they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Sovereign of the Church I mean Christ the people may put in their Appeal to that great Judge and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the people followed the Rules that I have named with Humility
and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that as there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho' they are bad enough yet are not equal Effects that ignorant Superstition and Obedient Zeal have produced in the World Witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small Diversion of Opinions and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signifie nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand Years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and than that certainly it is not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say that there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some starts and other long intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first Three Hundred and Twenty years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Council of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperours Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700 years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have Excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a Competent Understanding to satisfie him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said that this Infallibility is to be fought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a study that must cost a Man an Age to go thro' it and many of the Ages thro' which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their Belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing is the more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their Nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued 1000 years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a Thousand Years upon Earth and if those who had Matters at second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater Errors at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Expositions of some passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70 Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Jerome examined this matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more than all the rest it seems plain that the Fathers before the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort inferiour to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they considered these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three men have the same Humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and
when he came of Age was to swear in Person with all his Family and afterwards with all his People of Scotland a Covenant containing an Enumeration of all the points of Popery and a most solemn Renunciation of them somewhat like our Parliament Test his first Speech to the Parliament of England was Copious on this Subject and he left a Legacy of a Wish on such of his Posterity as should go over to that Religion which in good manners is suppressed It is known K. James was no Conquerour and that he made more use of his Pen than his Sword so the Glory that is peculiar to his Memory must fall chiefly on his Learned and Immortal Writings and since there is such a Veneration expressed for him it agrees not ill with this to wish that his Works were more studied by those who offer such Incense to his Glorious Memory IX His Majesty assures his People of Scotland upon a certain Knowledge and long Experience that the Catholicks as they are good Christians so they are likewise dutiful Subjects but if we must believe both these equally then we must conclude severely against their being Good Christians for we are sure they can never be good Subjects not only to a Heretical Prince if he does not extirpate Hereticks for their beloved Council of the Lateran that decreed Transubstantiation has likewise decreed that if a Prince does not extirpate Hereticks out of his Dominions the Pope must depose him and declare his Subjects absolved from their Allegiance and give his Dominions to another so that even his Majesty how much soever he may be a Zealous Catholick yet he cannot be assured of their fidelity to him unless he has given them secret assurances that he is resolved to extirpate Hereticks out of his Dominions and that all the Promises which he now makes to these poor wretches are no other way to be kept than the Assurances which the Great Lewis gave to his Protestant Subjects of his observing still the Edict of Nantes even after he had resolved to break it and also his last promise made in the Edict that repealed the Edict of Nantes by which he gave Assurances that no violence should be used to any for their Religion in the very time that he was ordering all possible Violences to be put in execution against them X. His Majesty assures us that on all Occasions the Papists have shewed themselves good and faithful Subjects to him and his Royal Predecessors but how Absolute soever the King's Power may be it seems his Knowledge of History is not so Absolute but it may be capable of some Improvement It will be hard to find out what Loyalty they shewed on the Gunpowder Plot or during the whole progress of the Rebellion of Ireland if the King will either take the words of King James of Glorious Memory or K. Charles the first that was indeed of pious and blessed Memory rather than the penners of this Proclamation it will not be hard to find Occasions where they were a little wanting in this their so much boasted Loyalty and we are sure that by the Principles of that Religion the King can never be assured of the Fidelity of those he calls his Catholick Subjects but by engaging to them to make his Heretical Subjects Sacrifices to their Rage XI The King declares them capable of all the Offices and Benefices which he shall think fit to bestow on them and only restrains them from invading the Protestant Churches by force so that here a door is plainly opened for admitting them to the Exercise of their Religion in Protestant Churches so they do not break into them by force and whatsoever may be the Sense of the term Benefice in its antient and first signification now it stands only for Church Preferments so that when any Churches that are at the King's Gift fall vacant here is a plain intimation that they are to be provided to them and then it is very probable that all the Laws made against such as go not to their parish Churches will be severely turned upon those that will not come to Mass XII His Majesty does in the next place in the vertue of his Absolute Power Annul a great many Laws as well those that Established the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as the late Test enacted by himself in person while he represented his Brother upon which he gave as strange an Essay to the World of his absolute Justice in the Attainder of the late Earl of Argile as he does now of his Absolute Power in condemning the Test it self he also repeals his own Confirmation of the Test since he came to the Crown which he offered as the clearest Evidence that he could give of his Resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and by which he gained so much upon that Parliament that he obtained every thing from them that he desired of them till he came to try them in the Matters of Religion This is no Extraordinary Evidence to assure his People that his Promises will be like the Laws of the Medes and Persians which alter not nor will the disgrace of the Commissioner that Enacted that Law lay this matter wholly on him for the Letter that he brought the Speech that he made and the Instructions which he got are all too well known to be so soon forgotten and if Princes will give their Subjects reason to think that they forget their Promises as soon as the turn is served for which they were made this will be too prevailing a Temptation on the Subjects to mind the Princes promise as little as it seems he himself does and will force them to conclude that the Truth of the Prince is not so absolute as it seems he fancies his Power to be XIII Here is not only a repealing of a great many Laws and established Oaths and Tests but by the Exercise of the Absolute Power a new Oath is imposed which was never pretended to by the Crown in any former time and as the Oath is Created by this Absolute Power so it seems the Absolute Power must be supported by this Oath since one branch of it is an Obligation to maintain his Majesty and his Lawful Successors in the Exercise of this their Absolute Power and Authority against all deadly which I suppose is Scotch for Mortals now to impose so hard a yoke as this Absolute Power on the Subject seems no small stretch but it is a wonderful exercise of it to oblige the Subjects to defend this it had been more modest if they had been only bound to bear it and submit to it but it is a terrible thing so far to extinguish all the remnants of natural Liberty or of a Legal Government as to oblige the Subjects by Oath to maintain the Exercise of this which plainly must destroy themselves for the short execution by the Bow-strings of Turkey or by sending Orders to Men to return in their Heads being an Exercise of
Good and Faithful Subjects to Us and our Royal Predecessors by hazarding and many of them actually losing their Lives and Fortunes in their Defence though of another Religion and the Maintenance of their Authority against the Violences and Treasons of the most violent Abettors of these Laws Do therefore with Advice and Consent of Our Privy Council by Our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power aforesaid Suspend Stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament Customs or Constitutions made or executed against any of our Roman Catholick Subjects in any time past to all intents and purposes making void all Prohibitions therein mentioned pains or penalties therein ordain'd to be Inflicted so that they shall in all things be as free in all Respects whatsoever not only to Exercise their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which We shall think fit to bestow upon them in all time coming Nevertheless it is our Will and Pleasure and we do hereby command all Catholicks at their highest Pains only to Exercise their Religious Worship in Houses or Chappels and that they presume not to Preach in the open Fields or to invade the Protestant Churches by force under the pains aforesaid to be inflicted upon the Offenders respectively nor shall they presume to make Publick Processions in the High-Streets of any of Our Royal Burghs under the Pains above mentioned And whereas the Obedience and Service of our good Subjects is due to Us by their Allegiance and Our Soveraignty and that no Law Custom or Constitution Difference in Religion or other Impediment whatsoever can exempt or discharge the Subjects from their Native Obligations and Duty to the Crown or hinder us from Protecting and Employing them according to their several Capacities and Our Royal Pleasure nor Restrain Us from Conferring Heretable Rights and Priviledges upon them or vacate or annul these Rights Heretable when they are made or conferred And likewise considering that some Oaths are capable of being wrested by men of sinistrous Intentions a practice in that Kingdom fatal to Religion as it was to Loyalty Do therefore with Advice and Consent aforesaid Cass Annul and Discharge all Oaths whatsoever by which any of Our Subjects are incapacitated or disabled from holding Places or Offices in our said Kingdom or enjoy their Hereditary Right and Priviledges discharging the same to be taken or given in any time coming without Our special Warrant and Consent under the pains due to the Contempt of Our Royal Commands and Authority And to this effect We do by Our Royal Authority aforesaid Stop Disable and Dispense with all Laws enjoyning the said Oaths Tests or any of them particularly the first Act of the first Session of the first Parliament of King Charles the Second the Eleventh Act of the foresaid Session of the foresaid Parliament the sixth Act of the third Parliament of the said King Charles the twenty first and twenty fifth Acts of that Parliament and the thirteenth Act of the first Session of * Our late Parliament in so far allanerly as concerns the taking the Oaths or Tests therein prescrib'd and all others as well not mentioned as mentioned and that in place of them all our good Subjects or such of them as We or our Privy Council shall require so to do shall take and swear the following Oath allanerly I A. B. do acknowledge testifie and declare that JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. is rightful King and Supream Governour of these Realms and over all persons therein and that it is unlawful for Subjects on any pretence or for any cause whatsoever to rise in Arms against Him or any Commissionated by Him and that I shall never so rise in Arms nor assist any who shall so do and that I shall never resist His Power or Authority nor ever oppose His Authority to His Person as I shall answer to God but shall to the utmost of my power Assist Defend and Maintain Him His Heirs and Lawful Successors in the Exercise of their Absolute Power and Authority against all Deadly So help me God And seeing many of Our good Subjects have before Our pleasure in these Matters was made publick incurred the Guilt appointed by the Acts of Parliament above-mentioned or others We by Our Authority and Absolute Power and Prerogative Royal above-mentioned of Our certain Knowledge and innate Mercy give Our ample and full Indemnity to all those of the Roman Catholick or Popish Religion for all things by them done contrary to Our Laws or Acts of Parliament made in any time past relating to their Religion the Worship and Exercise thereof or for being Papists Jesuits or Traffickers for hearing or saying of Mass concealing of Priests or Jesuits breeding their Children Catholicks at home or abroad or any other thing Rite or Doctrine said performed or maintained by them or any of them And likewise for holding or taking of Places Employments or Offices contrary to any Law or Constitution Advices given to Us or our Council Actions done or generally any thing perform'd or said against the known Laws of that Our Ancient Kingdom Excepting always from this Our Royal Indemnity all Murthers Assassinations Thefts and such like other Crimes which never used to be comprehended in Our General Acts of Indemnity And We command and require all Our Judges or others concerned to explain this in the most ample Sense and Meaning Acts of Indemnity at any time have contained Declaring this shall be as good to every one concerned as if they had Our Royal Pardon and Remission under Our Great Seal of that Kingdom And likewise indemnifying Our Protestant Subjects from all pains and penalties due for hearing or preaching in Houses providing there be no Treasonable Speeches uttered in the said Conventicles by them in which case the Law is only to take place against the Guilty and none other present providing also that they Reveal to any of Our Council the Guilt so committed As also excepting all Fines or Effects of Sentences already given And likewise Indemnifying fully and freely all Quakers for their Meetings and Worship in all time past preceeding the publication of these presents And we doubt not but Our Protestant Subjects will give their Assistance and Concourse hereunto on all Occasions in their Respective Capacities In consideration whereof and the ease those of Our Religion and others may have hereby and for the Encouragement of Our Protestant Bishops and the Regular Clergy and such as have hitherto lived orderly We think fit to declare that it never was Our Principle nor will We ever suffer Violence to be offered to any Man's Conscience nor will We use Force or Invincible Necessity against any Man on the account of his Perswasion nor the Protestant Religion but will protect Our Bishops and other Minsters in their Functions Rights and Properties and all Our Protestant Subjects in the free Exercise of their
the Reign of Our late Royal Brother King Charles the Second shall not at any time hereafter be required to be Taken Declared or Subscribed by any person or persons whatsoever who is or shall be Employed in any Office or Place of Trust either Civil or Military under Us or in Our Government And We do further Declare it to be Our Pleasure and Intention from time to time hereafter to Grant Our Royal Dispensations under Our Great Seal to all our Loving Subjects so to be Employed who shall not take the said Oaths or Subscribe or declare the said Tests or Declarations in the abovementioned Acts and every of them And to the end that all Our Loving Subjects may receive and enjoy the full Benefit and Advantage of Our Gracious Indulgence hereby intended and may be Acquitted and Discharged from all Pains Penalties Forfeitures and Disabilities by them or any of them incurred or forfeited or which they shall or may at any time hereafter be liable to for or by reason of their Non-conformity or the Exercise of their Religion and from all Suits Troubles or Disturbances for the same We do hereby give Our Free and Ample Pardon unto all Non-conformists Recusants and other Our Loving Subjects for all Crimes and Things by them commited or done contrary to the Penal Laws formerly made relating to Religion and the Profession or Exercise thereof Hereby Declaring That this Our Royal pardon and Indempnity shall be as Good and Effectual to all intents and purposes as if every individual person had been therein particularly named or had particular Pardons under Our Great Seal which We do likewise Declare shall from time to time be Granted unto any person or persons desiring the same Willing and Requiring Our Judges Justices and other Officers to take Notice of and Obey Our Royal Will and Pleasure herein before Declared And although the Freedom and Assurance We have hereby given in relation to Religion and Property might be sufficient to remove from the Minds of Our Loving Subjects all Fears and Jealousies in relation to either yet We have thought fit further to Declare That We will Maintain them in all their Properties and Possessions as well of Church and Abby-Lands as in any other their Lands and Properties whatsoever Given at our Court at Whitehall the Fourth Day of April 1687. In the Third Year of Our Reign By His Majesties Special Command A LETTER containing some Reflections on His Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Dated the Fourth of April 1687. SIR I. I Thank you for the Favour of sending me the late Declaration that His Majesty has granted for Liberty of Conscience I confess I longed for it with great Impatience and was surprised to find it so different from the Scotch Pattern for I imagined that it was to be set to the second part of the same tune nor can I see why the Penners of this have sunk so much in their stile for I suppose the same Men penned both I expected to have seen the Imperial Language of Absolute Power to which all the Subjects are to Obey without reserve and of the Cassing Annulling the stopping and disabling of Laws set forth in the Preamble and body of this Declaration whereas those dreadful words are not to be found here for instead of Repealing the Laws his Majesty pretends by this only to Suspend them and though in effect this amounts to a Repeal yet it must be confessed that the words are softer Now since the Absolute Power to which his Majesty pretends in Scotland is not founded on such poor things as Law for that would look as if it were the gift of the People but on the Divine Authority which is supposed to be delegated to his Majesty this may be as well claimed in England as it was in Scotland and the pretentions to Absolute Power is so great a thing that since his Majesty thought fit once to claim it he is little beholding to those that make him fall so much in his Language especially since both these Declarations have appeared in our Gazettes so that as we see what is done in Scotland we know from hence what is in some peoples hearts and what we may expect in England II. His Majesty tells his people that the perfect Injoyment of their Property has never been in any Case invaded by him since his coming to the Crown This is indeed matter of great Incouragement to all good Subjects for it lets them see that such Invasions as have been made on Property have been done without his Majesties knowledge so that no doubt the continuing to levy the Customes and the Additional Excise which had been granted only during the late King's Life before the Parliament could meet to renew the Grant was done without his Majesties knowledge the many Violences committed not only by Soldiers but Officers in all the parts of England which are severe Invasions on Property have been all without his Majesties knowledge and since the first Branch of Property is the Right that a man has to his Life the strange Essay of Mahometan Government that was shewed at Taunton and the no less strange proceedings of the present Lord Chancellour in his Circuit after the Rebellion which are very justly called his Campagne for it was an open Act of Hostility to all Law and for which and other Services of the like nature it is believed he has had the reward of the great Seal and the Executions of those who have left their Colours which being founded on no Law are no other than so many murders all these I say are as we are sure Invasions on Property but since the King tells us that no such Invasions have been made since he came to the Crown we must conclude that all these things have fallen out without his privity And if a standing Army in time of Peace has been ever lookt on by this Nation as an Attempt upon the whole Property of the Nation in gross one must conclude that even this is done without his Majesties knowledge III. His Majesty expresses his Charity for us in a kind wish that we were all Members of the Catholick Church in return to which we offer up daily our most earnest Prayers for him that he may become a Member of the truly Catholick Church for Wishes and Prayers do no hurt on no side but his Majesty adds that it has ever been his Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrain'd nor people forced in matters of meer Religion We are very happy if this continues to be always his sense but we are sure in this he is no Obedient Member of that which he means by the Catholick Church for it has over and over again decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks It encourages Princes to it by the Offer of the pardon of their Sins it threatens them to it by denouncing to them not only the Judgments of God but that which is more sensible the loss of their Dominions
meet for the meaning of this seems plain that His Majesty is resolved that they shall never meet till he receives such Assurances in a new round of Closetting that he shall be put out of doubt concerning it VII I will not enter into the Dispute concerning Liberty of Conscience and the Reasons that may be offered for it to a Session of Parliament for there is scarce any one point that either with relation to Religion or Politicks affords a greater variety of matter for Reflection and I make no doubt to say that there is abundance of Reason to oblige Parliaments to review all the Penal Laws either with relation to Papists or to Dissenters but I will take the boldness to add one thing that the King 's Suspending of Laws strikes at the root of this whole Government and subverts it quite for if there is any thing certain with relation to English Government it is this that the Executive Power of the Law is entirely in the King and the Law to fortifie him in the Management of it has cloathed him with a vast Prerogative and made it unlawful on any pretence whatsoever to resist him whereas on the other hand the Legislative Power is not so entirely in the King but that the Lords and Commons have such a share in it that no Law can either be made repealed or which is all one suspended but by their consent so that the placing this Legislative Power singly in the King is a subversion of this whole Government since the Essence of all Governments consists in the Subjects of the Legislative Authority Acts of Violence or Injustice committed in the Executive part are such things that all Princes being subject to them the peace of mankind were very ill secured if it were not unlawful to resist upon any pretence taken from any ill Administrations in which as the Law may be doubtful so the Facts may be uncertain and at worst the publick Peace must always be more valued than any private Oppressions or Injuries whatsoever But the total Subversion of a Government being so contrary to the Trust that is given to the Prince who ought to execute it will put men upon uneasie and dangerous Inquiries which will turn little to the Advantage of those who are driving matters to such a doubtful and desperate Issue VIII If there is any thing in which the Exercise of the Legislative Power seems indispensable it is in those Oaths of Allegiance and Tests that are thought necessary to Qualifie men either to be admitted to enjoy the protection of the Law or to bear a share in the Government for in these the Security of the Government is chiefly concerned and therefore the total Extinction of these as it is not only a Suspension of of them but a plain repealing of them so it is a Subverting of the whole Foundation of our Government For the Regulation that King and Parliament had set both for the Subjects having the protection of the State by the Oath of Allegiance and for a share in the places of Trust by the Tests is now pluckt up by the roots when it is declared That these shall not at any time hereafter be required to be taken or subscribed by any persons whatsoever for it is plain that this is no Suspension of the Law but a formal repeal of it in as plain words as can be conceived IX His Majesty says that the Benefit of the Service of all his Subjects is by the Law of Nature inseparably annexed to and inherent in his Sacred Person It is somewhat strange that when so many Laws that we all know are suspended the Law of Nature which is so hard to be found out should be cited but the Penners of this Declaration had best let that Law lie forgotten among the rest and there is a scurvy Paragraph in it concerning self-Preservation that is capable of very unacceptable Glosses It is hard to tell what Section of the Law of Nature has markt either such a Form of Government or such a Family for it And if his Majesty renounces his Pretensions to our Allegiance as founded on the Laws of England and betakes himself to this Law of Nature he will perhaps find the Counsel was a little too rash but to make the most that can be the Law of Nations or Nature does indeed allow the Governours of all Societies a Power to serve themselves of every Member of it in the cases of Extream Danger but no Law of Nature that has been yet heard of will conclude that if by special Laws a sort of men have been disabled from all Imployments that a Prince who at his Coronation Swore to maintain those Laws may at his pleasure extinguish all these Disabilities X. At the end of the Declaration as in a Poscript His Majesty assures his Subjects that he will maintain them in their Properties as well in Church and Abbey Lands as other Lands but the chief of all their Properties being the share that they have by their Representatives in the Legislative Power this Declaration which breaks thro' that is no great Evidence that the rest will be maintained and to speak plainly when a Coronation Oath is so little remembred other Promises must have a proportioned degree of Credit given to them as for the Abbey Lands the keeping them from the Church is according to the Principles of that Religion Sacriledge and that is a mortal Sin and there can no Absolution be given to any who continue in it and so this Promise being an Obligation to maintain men in a mortal Sin is nul and void of it self Church-Lands are also according to the Doctrine of their Canonists so immediately God's Right that the the Pope himself is the only Administrator and Dispencer but is not the master of them he can indeed make a truck for God or let them so low that God shall be an easie Landlord but he cannot alter God's Property nor translate the Right that is in him to Sacrilegious Laymen and Hereticks XI One of the Effects of this Declaration will be the setting on foot a new run of Addresses over the Nation for there is nothing how impudent and base soever of which the abject flattery of a slavish Spirit is not capable It must be confest to the Reproach of the Age that all those strains of flattery among the Romans that Tacitus sets forth with so much just scorn are modest things compared to what this Nation has produced within these seven Years only if our Flattery has come short of the Refinedness of the Romans it has exceeded theirs as much in its loathed Fulsomeness The late King set out a Declaration in which he gave the most solemn Assurances possible of his adhering to the Church of England and to the Religion established by Law and of his Resolution to have frequent Parliaments upon which the whole Nation fell as it were into Raptures of Joy and Flattery but though he lived four
Years after that he called no Parliament notwithstanding the Law for Triennial Parliaments and the manner of his Death and the Papers printed after his Death in his Name having sufficiently shewed that he was equally sincere in both those Assurances that he gave as well in that relating to Religion as in that other relating to frequent Parliaments yet upon his Death a new set of Addresses appeared in which all that Flattery couldinvent was brought forth in the Commendations of a Prince to whose Memory the greatest kindness can be done is to forget him and because his present Majesty upon his coming to the Throne gave some very general Promise of maintaining the Church of England this was magnified in so extravagant a strain as if it had been a Security greater than any that the Law could give tho' by the regard that the King has both to it and to the Laws it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally since then the Nation has already made it self sufficiently ridiculous both to the present and to all succeeding Ages it is time that at last men should grow weary and become ashamed of their Folly XII The Nonconformists are now invited to set an Example to the rest and they who have valued themselves hitherto upon their Opposition to Popery and that have quarrelled with the Church of England for some small Approaches to it in a few Ceremonies are now solicited to rejoyce because the Laws that secure us against it are all plucked up since they enjoy at present and during pleasure leave to meet together It is natural for all men to love to be set at ease especially in the matter of their Consciences but it is visible that those who allow them this favour do it with no other design but that under a pretence of a General Toleration they may Introduce a Religion which must persecute all equally It is likewise apparent how much they are hated and how much they have been persecuted by the Instigation of those who now Court them and who have now no game that is more promising than the engaging them and the Church of England into new Quarrels and as for the Promises now made to them it cannot be supposed that they will be more lasting than those that were made some time ago to the Church of England who had both a better Title in Law and greater Merit upon the Crown to assure them that they should be well used than these can pretend to The Nation has scarce forgiven some of the Church of England the Persecution into which they have suffered themselves to be cosened tho' now that they see Popery barefaced the Stand that they have made and the vigorous Opposition that they have given to it is that which makes all men willing to forget what is past and raises again the Glory of a Church that was not a little stained by the Indiscretion and Weakness of those that were too apt to believe and hope and so suffered themselves to be made a Property to those who would make them a Sacrifice The Sufferings of the Nonconformists and the Fury that the Popish party expressed against them had recommended them so much to the Compassions of the Nation and had given them so just a pretension to favour in a better time that it will look like a Curse of God upon them if a few men whom the Court has gained to betray them can have such an ill Influence upon them as to make them throw away all that Merit and those Compassions which their Sufferings have procured them and to go and court those who are only seemingly kind to them that they may destroy both them and us They must remember that as the Church of England is the only Establishment that our Religion has by Law so it is the main body of the Nation and all the Sects are but small and stragling parties and if the Legal Settlement of the Church is dissolved and that body is once broken these lesser bodies will be all at Mercy and it is an easie thing to define what the Mercies of those of the Church of Rome are XIII But tho' it must be confessed that the Nonconformists are still under some Temptations to receive every thing that gives them present ease with a little too much kindness since they lie exposed to many severe Laws for which they have of late felt the weight very heavily and as they are men and some of them as ill Natured men as other people so it is no wonder if upon the first surprises of the Declaration they are a little delighted to see the Church of England after all its Services and Submissions to the Court so much mortified by it so that taking all together it will not be strange if they commit some Follies upon this occasion Yet on the other hand it passes all imagination to see some of the Church of England especially those whose Natures we know are so particularly sharpned in the point of Persecution chiefly when it is levelled against the Dissenters rejoice at this Declaration and make Addresses upon it It it hard to think that they have attained to so high a pitch of Christian Charity as to thank those who do now Despitefully use them and that as an earnest that within a little while they will Persecute them This will be an Original and a Master-piece in Flattery which must needs draw the last degrees of Contempt on such as are capable of so abject and sordid a Compliance and that not only from all the true Members of the Church of England but likewise from those of the Church Rome it self for every man is apt to esteem an Enemy that is brave even in his Misfortunes as much as he despises those whose minds sink with their Condition for what is it that these men would Address the King Is it because he breaks those Laws that are made in their Favour and for their Protection and is now striking at the Root of all Legal Settlement that they have for their Religion Or is it because that at the same time that the King professes a Religion that condemns his Supremacy yet he is not contented with the Exercise of it as it is warranted by Law but carries it so far as to erect a Court contrary to the express words of a Law so lately made That Court takes care to maintain a due proportion between their Constitution and all their Procedings that so all may be of a piece and all equally contrary to Law They have suspended one Bishop only because he would not do that which was not in his power to do for since there is no Extrajudiciary Authority in England a Bishop can no more proceed to the Sentence of Suspension against a Clergy-man without a Tryal and the hearing of Parties than a Judge can give a Sentence in his Chamber without an Indictment a Tryal or a Jury and because one of the greatest bodies of
England would not break their Oaths and obey a Mandate that plainly contradicted them we see to what a pitch this is like to be caried I will not anticipate upon this illegal Court to tell what Judgments are coming but without carrying our Jealousies too far one may safely conclude that they will never depart so far from their first Institution as to have any regard either to our Religion or our Laws or Liberties in any thing they do If all this were acted by avowed Papists as we are sure it is projected by such there were nothing extraordinary in it but that which carries our Indignation a little too far to be easily governed is to see some pretended Protestants and a few Bishops among those that are the fatal Instruments of pulling down the Church of England and that those Mercenaries Sacrifice their Religion and their Church to their Ambition and Interests this has such peculiar Characters of Misfortune upon it that it seems it is not enough if we perish without pity since we fall by that hand that we have so much supported and fortified but we must become the Scorn of all the World since we have produced such an unnatural Brood that even while they are pretending to be the Sons of the Church of England are cutting their Mothers Throat and not content with Judas's Crime of saying Hail Master and kissing him while they are betraying him into the hands of others these carry their Wickedness farther and say Hail Mother and then they themselves murther her If after all this we are called to bear this as Christians and to suffer it as Subjects if we were required in Patience to possess our own Souls and to be in Charity with our Enemies and which is more to forgive our False Brethren who add Treachery to their Hatred the Exhortation were seasonable and indeed a little necessary for Humane Nature cannot easily take down things of such a hard digestion but to tell us that we must make Addresses and offer Thanks for all this is to insult a little too much upon us in our Sufferings and he that can believe that a dry and cautiously worded Promise of maintaining the Church of England will be religiously observed after all that we have seen and is upon that carried so far out of his Wits as to Address and give Thanks and will believe still such a man has nothing to excuse him from believing Transubstantiation it self for it is plain that he can bring himself to believe even when the thing is contrary to the clearest Evidence that his Senses can give him Si populus hic vult decipi decipiatur POSTSCRIPT THese Reflections were writ soon after the Declaration came to my hands but the Matter of them was so tender and the Conveyance of them to the Press was so uneasie that they appear now too late to have one effect that was Designed by them which was the diverting men from making Addresses upon it yet if what is here proposed makes men become so far wise as to be ashamed of what they have done and carrying is a means to keep them from their Courtship further than good words this Paper will not come too late A LETTER TO A DISSENTER Upon occasion of His MAJESTIES Late Gracious DECLARATION of INDVLGENCE SIR SInce Addresses are in fashion give me leave to make one to you This is neither the Effect of Fear Interest or Resentment therefore you may be sure it is sincere and for that reason it may expect to be kindly received Whether it will have power enough to Convince dependeth upon the Reasons of which you are to judge and upon your preparation of Mind to be perswaded by Truth whenever it appeareth to you It ought not to be the less welcome for coming from a friendly hand one whose kindness to you is not lessened by difference of Opinion and who will not let his thoughts for the Publick be so tyed or confined to this or that Subdivision of Protestants as to stifle the Charity which besides all other Arguments is at this time become necessary to preserve us I am neither surprized nor provoked to see that in the Condition you were put into by the Laws and the ill Circumstances you lay under by having the Exclusion and Rebellion laid to your Charge you were desirous to make your serves less uneasie and obnoxious to Authority Men who are fore run to the nearest Remedy with too much haste to consider all the Consequences Grains of allowance are to be given where Nature giveth such strong Influences When to Men under Sufferings it offereth Ease the present Pain will hardly allow time to examine the Remedies and the strongest Reasons can hardly gain a fair Audience from our Mind whilst so possessed till the smart is a little allayed I do not know whether the Warmth that naturally belongeth to new Friendships may not make it a harder Task for me to perswade you It is like telling Lovers in the beginning of their Joys that they will in a little time have an end Such an unwelcome Style doth not easily find Credit but I will suppose you are not so far gone in your new Passion but that you will hear still and therefore I am under the less Discouragement when I offer to your Consideration two things The first is the Cause you have to suspect your new Friends The second the Duty incumbent upon you in Christianity and Prudence not to hazard the Publick Safety neither by desire of Ease nor of Revenge To the First Consider that notwithstanding the smooth Language which is now put on to engage you these new Friends did not make you their Choice but their Refuge They have ever made their first Courtships to the Church of England and when they were rejected there they made their Application to you in the second Place The Instances of this might be given in all times I do not repeat them because whatsoever is unnecessary must be tedious the Truth of this Assertion being so plain as not to admit a Dispute You cannot therefore reasonably flatter your selves that there is any Inclination to you They never pretended to allow you any Quarter but to usher in Liberty for themselves under that Shelter I refer you to Mr. Coleman's Letters and to the Journals of Parliament where you may be convinced if you can be so mistaken as to doubt nay at this very Hour they can hardly forbear in the height of their Courtship to let fall hard Words of you So little is Nature to be restrained it will start out sometimes disdaining to submit to the Usurpation of Art and Interest This Alliance between Liberty and Infallibility is bringing together the Two most contrary Things that are in the World The Church of Rome doth not only dislike the allowing Liberty but by its Principles it cannot do it Wine is not more expresly forbidden to the Mahometans than giving Hereticks Liberty is to Papists They are
the Nature of a Bargain and the due Circumstances belonging to an Equivalent and will now conclude with this short Word Where Distrusting may be the Cause of provoking Anger and Trusting may be the Cause of bringing Ruine the Choice is too easie to need the being explained A LETTER From a Gentleman in the City To his Friend in the Country Containing his Reasons for not Reading the Declaration SIR I Do not wonder at your Concern for finding an Order of Council published in the Gazette for Reading the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in all Churches and Chappels in this Kingdom You desire to know my Thoughts about it and I shall freely tell them for this is not a time to be reserved Our Enemies who have given our Gracious King this Counsel against us have taken the most effectual way not only to ruine us but to make us appear the Instruments of our own Ruine that what Course soever we take we shall be undone and one side or other will conclude that we have undone our selves and fall like Fools To lose our Livings and Preferments nay our Liberties and our Lives in a plain and direct Opposition to Popery as suppose for refusing to read Mass in our Churches or to swear to the Trent Creed is an honorable way of falling and has the Divine Comforts of Suffering for Christ and his Religion and I hope there is none of us but can chearfully submit to the Will of God in it But this is not our present Case to read the Declaration is not to read the Mass nor to profess the Romish Faith and therefore some will judge that there is no hurt in Reading it and that to suffer for such a Refusul is not to fall like Confessors but to suffer as Criminals for disobeying the Lawful Commands of our Prince but yet we judge and we have the concurring Opinions of all the Nobility and Gertry with us who have already suffered in this Cause that to take away the Test and Penal Laws at this time is but one step from the introducing of Popery and therefore to read such a Declaration in our Churches though it do not immediately bring Popery in yet it sets open our Church Doors for it and then it will take its own time to enter So that should we comply with this Order all good Protestants would despise and hate us and men we may be easily crushed and shall soon fall with great Dishonour and without any Pity This is the Difficulty of our Case we shall be censured on both sides but with this Difference We shall fall a little sooner by not Reading the Declaration if our Gracious Prince resent this as an Act of an obstinate and peevish or factious Disobedience as our Enemies will be sure to represent it to him We shall as certainly fall and not long after if we do read it and then we shall fall unpitied and despised and it may be with the Curses of the Nation whom we have ruined by our Compliance and this is the way never to rise more And may I suffer all that can be suffered in this World rather than contribute to the sinal Ruine of the best Church in the World Let us then examine this Matter impartially as those who have no mind either to ruine themselves or to ruine the Church I suppose no Minister of the Church of England can give his Consent to the Declaration Let us then consider whether Reading the Declaration in our Churches be not an Interpretative Consent and will not with great Reason be interpreted to be so For First By our Law all Ministerial Officers are accountable for their Actions The Authority of Superiors though of the King himself cannot justifie inferior Officers much less the Ministers of State if they should execute any illegal Commands which shews that our Law does not look upon the Ministers of Church or State to be meer Machines and Tools to be managed wholly by the Will of Superiors without exercising any Act of Judgment or Reason themselves for then inferior Ministers were no more punishable than the Horses are which draw an innocent Man to Tyburn and if inferior Ministers are punishable then our Laws suppose that what we do in obedience to Superiors we make our own Act by doing it and I suppose that signifies our Consent in the Eye of the Law to what we do It is a Maxime in our Law That the King can do no Wrong and therefore if any Wrong be done the Crime and Guilt is the Ministers who does it for the Laws are the King 's publick Will and therefore he is never supposed to command any thing contrary to Law nor is any Minister who does an illegal Action allowed to pretend the King's Command and Authority for it and yet this is the only Reason I know why we must not obey a Prince against the Laws of the Land or the Laws of God because what we do let the Authority be what it will that commands it becomes our own Act and we are responsible for it and then as I observed before it must imply our own Consent Secondly The Ministers of Religion have a greater Tye and Obligation than this because they have the Care and Conduct of Mens Souls and therefore are bound to take Care that what they publish in their Churches be neither contrary to the Laws of the Land nor to the Good of the Church For the Ministers of Religion are not look'd upon as Common Cryers but what they Read they are supposed to recommend too though they do no more than Read it and therefore to read any thing in the Church which I do not consent to and approve nay which I think prejudicial to Religion and the Church of God as well as contrary to the Laws of the Land is to misguide my People and to dissemble with God and Men because it is presum'd that I neither do nor ought to read any thing in the Church which I do not in some degree approve Indeed let Mens private Opinions be what they will in the Nature of the thing he that reads such a Declaration to his People teaches them by it For is not Reading Teaching Suppose then I do not consent to what I read yet I consent to Teach my People what I Read and herein is the Evil of it for it may be it were no Fault to Consent to the Declaration but if I consent to Teach my People what I do not consent to my self I am sure that is a great one And he who can distinguish between consenting to Read the Declaration and consenting to Teach the People by the Declaration when Reading the Declaration is teaching it has a very subtile Distinguishing Conscience Now if consenting to Read the Declaration be a Consent to Teach it my People then the natural Interpretation of Reading the Declaration is That he who Reads it in such a solemn Teaching-manner Approves it If this be not
so I desire to know why I may not read an Homily for Transubstantiation or Invocation of Saints or the Worship of Images if the King sends me such good Catholick Homilies and commands me to read them And thus we may instruct our People in all the Points of Popery and recommend it to them with all the Sophistry and Artificial Infintrations in Obedience to the King with a very good Conscience because without our Consent If it be said this would be a Contradiction to the Doctrine of our Church by Law established so I take the Declaration to be And if we may read the Declaration contrary to Law because it does not imply our Consent to it so we may Popish Homilies for the bare Reading them will not imply our Consent no more than the Reading the Declaration does But whether I consent to the Doctrine or no it is certain I consent to teach my People this Doctrine and it is to be considered whether an honest Man cand do this Thirdly I suppose no Man will doubt but the King intends that our Reading the Declaration should signifie to the Nation our Consent and Approbation of it for the Declaration does not want Publishing for it is sufficiently known already but our Reading it in our Churches must serve instead of Addresses of Thanks which the Clergy generally refused though it was only to Thank the King for his Gracious Promises renewed to the Church of England in His Declaration which was much more innocent than to publish the Declaration it self in our Churches This would perswade one that the King thinks our Reading the Declaration to signifie our Consent and that the People will think it to be so And he that can satisfie his 〈◊〉 to do an Action without Consent which the Nature of the Thing the Design and intention of the Command and the Sense of the People expound to be a Consent may I think as well satisfie himself with Equivocations and mental Reservations There are two things to be answered to this which must be considered 1. That the People understand our Minds and see that this is Matter of Force upon us and meer Obedience to the King To which I answer 1. Possibly the People do understand that the Matter of the Declaration is against our Principles But is this any Excuse that we read that and by Reading recommend that to them which is against our own Consciences and Judgments Reading the Declaration would be no Fault at all but our Duty whâ—â— the King commands it did we approve of the Matter of it but to consent to teach our People such Doctrines as we think contrary to the Laws of God or the Laws of the Land does not lessen but aggravate the Fault and the People must be very good natured to think this an Excuse 2. It is not likely that all the People will be of a Mind in this Matter some may excuse it others and those it may be the most the best and the wifest Men will condemn us for it and then how shall we justifie our selves against their Censures when the World will be divided in their Opinions the plain way is certainly the best to do what we can justifie our selves and then let Men judge as they please No Men in England will be pleased with our Reading the Declaration but those who hope to make great Advantage of it against us and against our Church and Religion others will severely condemn us for it and censure us as false to our Religion and as Betrayers both of Church and State and besides that it does not become a Minister of Religion to do any thing which in the Opinion of the most charitable Men can only be excused for what needs an Excuse is either a Fault or looks very like one besides this I say I will not trust Mens Charity those who have suffered themselves in this Cause will not excuse us for fear of suffering those who are inclined to excuse us now will not do so when they consider the thing better and come to feel the ill Consequences of it when our Enemies open their Eyes and tell them what our Reading the Declaration signified which they will then tell us we ought to have seen before though they were not bound to see it for we are to guide and instruct them not they us II. Others therefore think that when we read the Declaration we should publickly profess that it is not our own Judgment but that we only Read it in Obedience to the King and then our Reading it cannot imply our Consent to it Now this is only Protestatio contra sactum which all People will laugh at and scorn us for for such a solemn Reading it in time of Divine Service when all Men ought to be most grave and serious and far from dissembling with God or Men does in the Nature of the thing imply our Approbation and should we declare the contrary when we read it what shall we say to those who ask uâ— why then do you read it But let those who have a mind to try this way which for my part I take to be a greater and more unjustifiable Provocation of the King than not to read it and I suppose those who do not read it will be thought plainer and honester Men and will 〈◊〉 as well as those who read it and protest against it and yet nothing less than an express Protestation against it will salve this Matter for only to say they read it meerly in Obedience to the King does not express their Dissent It signifies indeed that they would not have read it if the King had not commanded it but these Words do not signifie that they disapprove of the Declaration when their Reading it though only in Obedience to the King signifies their Approbation of it as much as Actions can signifie a Consent let us call to mind how it fared with those in King Charles the First 's Reign who read the Book of Sports as it was called and then preached against it To return then to our Arguments if Reading the Declaration in our Churches be in the Nature of the Action in the Intention of the Command in the Opinion of the People an interpretative Consent to it I think my self bound in Conscience not to read it because I am bound in Conscience not to approve it It is against the Constitution of the Church of England which is established by Law and to which I have subscribed and therefore am bound in Conscience to Teach nothing contrary to it while this Obligation lasts It is to teach an unlimitâ—d and universal Toleration which the Parliament in 72. Declared illegal and which has been condemned by the Christian Church in all Ages It is to teach my People that they need never come to Church more but have my free Leave as they have the King 's to go to a Conventicle or Mass It is to teach the Dispencing Power which alters what
has been formerly thought the whole Constitution of this Church and Kingdom which we dare not do till we have the Authority of Parliament for it It is to recommend to our People the Choice of such Persons to sit in Parliament as shall take away the Test and Penal Laws which most of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation have declared their Judgment against It is to condemn all those great and worthy Patriots of their Country who forfeited the dearest thing in the World to them next a good Conscience viz. The Favour of their Prince and a great many honorable and profitable Employments with it rather than consent to that Proposal of taking away the Test and Penal Paws which they apprehend destructive to the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and he who can in Conscience do all this I think need scruple nothing For let us consider further what the Effects and Consequences of our Reading the Declaration are likely to be and I think they are Matter of Conscience too when they are evident and apparent This will certainly render our Persons and Ministry infinitely contemptible which is against that Apostolical Canon Let no Man despise thee Titus 2.15 That is so to behave himself in his Ministereal Office as not to fall under Contempt and therefore this obliges the Conscience not to make our selves ridiculous nor to render our Ministry our Counsels Exhortations Preaching Writing of no Effect which is a thousand times worse than being silenced Our Sufferings will preach more effectually to the People when we cannot speak to them but he who for Fear or Cowardise or the Love of this World betrays his Church and Religion by undue Compliances and will certainly be thought to do so may continue to Preach but to no purpose and when we have rendred our selves ridiculous and contemptible we shall then quickly fall and fall unpitied There is nothing will so effectually tend to the final Ruine of the Church of England because our Reading the Declaration will discourage or provoke or misguide all the Friends the Church of England has can we blame any Man for not preserving the Laws and the Religion of our Church and Nation when we our selves will venture nothing for it Can we blame any Man for consenting to Repeal the Test and Penal Laws when we recommend it to them by Reading the Declaration Have we not reason to expect that the Nobility and Gentry who have already suffered in this Cause when they hear themselves condemned for it in all the Churches of England will think it time to mend such a Fault and reconcile themselves to their Prince and if our Church fall this way is there any reason to expect that it should ever rise again These Consequences are almost as evident as Demonstrations and let it be what it will in it self which I foresee will destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and Interest I think I ought to make as much Conscience of doing it as of doing the most immortal Action in Nature To say that these mischievous Consequences are not absolutely necessary and therefore do not affect the Conscience because we are not certain they will follow is a very mean Objection Moral Actions indeed have not such necessary Consequences as natural Causes have necessary Effects because no moral Causes act necessarily Reading the Declaration will not as necessarily destroy the Church of England as Fire burns Wood but if the Consequence be plain and evident the most likely thing that can happen if it be unreasonable to expect any other if it be what is plainly intended and designed either I must never have any regard to Moral Consequences of my Actions or if ever they are to be considered they are in this case Why are the Nobility and Gentry so extreamly averse to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws Why do they forfeit the King's Favour and their Honourable Stations rather than comply with it If you say that this tends to destroy the Church of England and the Protestant Religion I ask whether this be the necessary consequence of it whether the King cannot keep his promise to the Church of England if the Test and Penal Laws be Repealed We cannot say but this may be And yet the Nation does not think fit to try it and we commend those great men who deny it and if the same questions were put to us we think we ought in Conscience to deny them our selves And are there not as high probabilities that our Reading the Declaration will promote the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws as that such a Repeal will ruine our Constitution and bring in Popery upon us Is it not as probable that such a complyance in us will disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry who have hitherto been firm to us as that when the power of the Nation is put into Popish Hands by the Repeal of such Tests and Laws the Priests and Jesuirs may find some salvo for the King's Conscience and perswade him to forget his Promise to the Church of England and if the probable ill consequences of Repealing the Test and Penal Laws be a good reason not to comply with it I cannot see but that the as probable ill consequences of Reading the Declaration is as good a reason not to read it The most material Objection is that the Dissenters whom we ought not to provoke will expound our not Reading it to be the effect of a persecuting Spirit Now I wonder Men should lay any weight on this who will not allow the most probable consequences of our Actions to have any influence upon Conscience For if we must compare consequences to disoblige all the Nobility and Gentry by reading it is likely to be much more fatal than to anger the Diffenters and it is more likely and there is much more reason for it that one should be offended than the other For the Dissenters who are wise and considering are sensible of the snare themselves and though they desire Ease and Liberty they are not willing to have it with such apparent hazard of Church and State I am sure that tho' we were never so desirous that they might have their Liberty and when there is opportunity of shewing our inclinations without danger they may find that we are nations without danger they may find that we are not such Persecutors as we are represented yet we cannot consent that they should have it this way which they will find the dearest Liberty that ever was granted This Sir is our Case in short the Difficulties are great on both sides and therefore now if ever we ought to besiege Heaven with our Prayers for Wisdom and Counsel and Courage that God would protect his Church and Reformed Christianity against all the devices of their Enemies Which is the daily and hearty Prayer of SIR Your Friend and Brother May 22. 1â—88 POSTSCRIPT I Have just now seen H. Care 's Paper
Inclinations as well as against their Rule And can we imagine that they can have no force at all upon the common people Therefore we cannot in Conscience pronounce these words in the Ears of the people whose Souls are committed to our Charge For we should hereby lay a snare before them and become their Tempters instead of being their Instructers and in very fair and reasonable Construction we shall be understood to sollicite them to Apostacy to leave the Truth of the Gospel for Fables and the mistakes of men a reasonable and decent Worship for Superstition and Idolatry a true Christian Liberty for the most intollerable Bondage both of Soul and Body If any will forsake our Doctrine and Fellowship which yet is not ours but Christs at their own peril be it But as for us We are resolv'd by the Grace of God to lay no stumbling block in their way nor to be accessary to their ruin that we may be able to declare our integrity with S. Paul That we are pure from the blood of all Men. III. In the next place We are to declare in the King's Name That from henceforth the Execution of all and all manner of Penal Laws in matters Ecclesiastical for not coming to Church or not receiving the Sacrament or for any other Nonconformity to the Religion Established or for or by Reason of the Exercise of Religion in any manner whatsoever be immediately Suspended and the farther Execution of the said Penal Laws and every of them is hereby Suspended What! All and all manner of Laws in matters Ecclesiastical VVhat the Laws against Fornication Adultery Incest For these are in Ecclefiastical matters VVhat All Laws against Blasphemy prophaneness open Derision of Christian Religion Yet these crimes are punishable by no other Laws here than such as have been made in favour of the Established Religion How shall the Lord's day be observ'd VVhat shall hinder covetous men to plow and Cart and follow their several Trades upon that day since all the Laws that secure this observance and outward countenance of respect to the Christian Religion are by this general expression laid aside Besides these words for not coming to Church or not receiving the Sacrament or for any other Nonconformity to the Religion Established cannot in Conscience be read by us in our Churches because they may be a Temptation to young unguided people to neglect all manner of Religious Worship and give them occasion of depriving themselves of such opportunities of grace and salvation as these Penal Laws did often oblige them to use For being discharg'd attendance on our Service they are left at Liberty to be of any Religion or none at all Nay Christian Religion is by these general terms left at discretion as well as the Church of England For men may forsake us to become Jews or Mahometans or Pagan Idolaters as well as to be Papists or Dissenters for any care taken in this Declaration to prevent it And even of such as pretend to be Christians there either are or may be such Blasphemous Sects so dishonourable to our Common Lord and Master as are incapable of all publick encouragement and allowance for that would involve the Government in the Imputation of those Blasphemies and the whole Nation in that Curse and Vengeance of God which such provocations may extorts Wherefore it is not out of any unreasonable opinion of our selves nor disaffection to Protestant Dissenters that we refuse to publish this Indulgence but out of a tender care of the Souls committed to us especially those of the weaker sort to whom we dare not propose an Invitation to Popery and much less any thing that may give countenance or encouragement to Irreligion It is said indeed that we are not required to approve but to read it To this Sir you have very well answer'd that Reading was Teaching it or if it be not so absolutely in the nature of the thing yet in common Construction I am afraid it would have been understood But we do not stand in need of this Excuse for if there be any passages in it that are plain temptations to Popery or Licentiousness it cannot consist with our duty either to God or the Church to read them before our people As for the dispensing power and the Oaths and Tests required to qualifie men for Offices Military and Civil I must leave them to the Consideration of those who nearer concern'd and therefore reasonably presum'd to understand them better Nor do I envy his Majesty the use of his Popish Subjects though I do not know what service they may be capable of doing more than other Men. This Nation has for some time made hard shift to subsist without much of their Aid and against the wills of several of them But now they are become the only necessary men and seem to want nothing but Number to fill all places Military and Civil in the Kingdom in the mean time the Odiousness of their persons and the Insolence of their Behaviour with their way of menacing strange things makes some abatement of the merit of their service Lastly The respect which we have for his Majesties Service will not permit us to Read the Appendix to the Declaration Where the flower of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom are something hardly reflected on as persons that will not contribute to the peace and honour of the Nation because they would consent to the taking away the Laws against Papists that they be put into a Condition to give us Laws The persons here reflected on VVe know to be the chief for Ability and Interest and Inclination to serve the King and therefore cannot do his His Majesty that disservice as to be publishers of their disgrace and make our selves the Instruments of alienating from his Majesty the Affections of his best Subjects Nay we find in our selves a strange difficulty to believe that this could come from His Majesty who has experienc'd their faithfulness upon so many and pressing Occasions This could not well proceed from any but a Stranger to those Honourable persons and the Nation and a greater Stranger to shame and good manners and what have we to do to publish the Venome and Vitulency of a Jesuit A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel SIR AS soon as the Letter Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland c. came to my hands I set upon Answering it with the same expedition and plainness of Style as uses to accompany naked Truth which needs not the cloathing of sophistical Arguments or florid Expressions to recommend it to the unprejudic'd part of Mankind And indeed upon the very first reading of every Paragraph of it the slightness of the Arguing or the notorious Falshood of the Matter of Fact did so evidently appear that a man of
remember if they please that as once there was a time when the Court turned out or chid those Justices who were forward in the Execution of the Laws against Nonâ—nformists because they were then in so low a Condition that the Court was afraid the Church of England might indeed be established in its Uniformity So when the Nonconformists were by some Liberty grown stronger and set themselves against the Court Interest in the Election of Sheriffs and such like things then all those Justices were turned out who hung back and would not execute the Laws against them and Justices pickt out for the purpose who would do it severely Nay the Clergy were called upon and had Orders sent them to return the Names of all Nâ—nconformisis in their several Parishes that they might be proceeded against in the Courts Ecclesiastical And here I cannot forget the Order made by the Middlesex Justices at the Sessions at Hicks's Hall Jan. 13. 1681. Where they urge the Execution of the Act of 22 C. 2. against Conventicles because in all probability they will destroy both Church and State This was the reason which moved them to call upon Consiables and all other Officers to do their Doty in this Matter Nay to call upon the B. of London himself that he would use his utmost endeavers within his Jurisdiction that all such Persons may be Excommumcate This was a bold stroke proceeding from an unusual degree of Zeal which plainly enough signifies that the Bishops were not so forward as the Jaestices in the prosecuting of Dissenters Who may do well to remember that the House of Commons a little before this had been so kind to them that those Justices would not have dared to have been so severe as they were at Hicks's Hall if they had not been set on by Directions from White-Hall For in their Order they press the Execution of the Statute 1 Eliz. and 3 Jac. 1. for levying Twelve Pence a Sunday upon all those that do not come to Church Whereas the House of Commons Nov. 6. 1680. had Resolved Nemine Contradicente That it is the Opinion of this House That the Acts of Parliament made in the Reign of Queen Eâ—zâ—beth and King James against Popish Recusants ought not to be extended against Protestant Dâ—ssenters VI. Who should not forget how backward the Clergy of London especially were to comply with this Design of reviving the Execution of the Laws against them What Courses they took to save them from this Danger and what Hatred they incurred for being so kind to them Which in truth wâ—â— Kindness to themselves for now they saw plainly that Nothing was intended but the Destruction of us both by setting us in our turns one against the other Many indeed were possessed with the old Opinion that the Dissenters aimed at the Overthrow of the Government bâ—th in Church and State which made them the more readily joyn with those who were employed to suppress them by turning the Loge of the Laws upon them But both these were most industriously promoted by the Court who laboured might and main to have this believed that they who were called Wings intended the Ruine of the Church and of the Monarchy too and therefore none had the Court favour but they alone who were for the ruining of them all others were frown'd upon and branded with the Name of Trimmers who they adventured at last to say were worse than Whigs Meerly because they seeing through the Design desired those ugly Names of Whig and Tory might be laid aside and perswaded all to Moderation Love Vnity and Peace If any Man had these dangerous Words in his Mouth he had a Mark set upon him and was lookt upon as an Enemy as soon as he discovered any Desires of Reconciliation No Peace with Dissenters was then as much in some Mens Mouths as no Peace with Rome had been in others They were all voted to Destruction and it was an unpardonable Crime so much as to mention an Accommodation Such things as these ought not to be forgotten VII But if they list not to call them to mind though they be of fresh Memory yet let them at least consider what they have had at their Tongues end ever since they knew any thing That the Church or Rome is a persecuting Church and the Mother of Persecution Will they then be deluded by the present Sham of Liberty of Conscience which they of that Church pretend to give It is not in their Power no more than in their Spirit They neither will nor can give Liberty of Conscience but with a Design to take all Liberty from us That Church must be obeyed and there it no middle Choice among them between Turn or Burn Conform or be undone What Liberty do they give in any Country where their Power is established What Liberty can they give who have determined that Hereticks ought to be rooted out Look into France with which we have had the strictest Alliance and Friendship along time and behold how at this Moment they compel those to go to Mass who they know abhor it as an abominable Idolatry Such a violent Spirit now acts them that they stick not to prophane their own most holy Mysteries that they may have the Face of an Vniversal Conformity without the least Liberty For the New Converts as they are called poor Wretches are known to be mere outward Compliers in their Hearts abominating that which they are forced eternally to worship They declare as much by escaping form this Tyranny over their Consciences and bewailing their sinful Compliance whensoever they have an Opportunity And they that cannot escape frequently protest they have been constrained to adore that which they believe ought not to be adored And when they come to die refuse to receive the Romish Sacrament and thereupon are dragg'd when dead along the Streets and thrown like dead Dogs upon the Dunghils Unto what a height of Rage are the Spirits of the Romish Clergy inflamed that it perfectly blinds their Eyes and will not let them see how they expose the most sacred thing in all their Religion the Holy Sacrament which they believe to be Jesus Christ himself to be received by those who they know have no Reverence at all for it but utterly abhor it For they force them by all manner of Violence to adore the Host against their Will and then to eat what they have adored though they have the greatest reason to believe that those poor Creatures do not adore it That is the Church of Rome will have her Mysteries adored by all though it be by Hypocrites None shall be excused but whether they believe or not believe they shall be compelled to do as that Church doth Nothing shall hinder it for the Hatred and Fury wherewith they are now transported is so exceeding great that it makes them as I have said offer Violence even to their own Religion rather than suffer any Body not to conform to it VIII
And assure your selves they are very desirous to extend this Violence beyond the bounds of France They would fain see England also in the same Condition the Bishop of Valence and Die hath told as much in the Speech which he made to the French King in the Name of the Clergy of France to congratulate his glorious Atchievements in rooting out the Heresie of Calvin In which he hath a most memorable Passage for which we are beholden to him because it informs us that they are not satisfied with what their King hath done there but would have him think there is a further Glory reserved for him of lending his Help to make us such good Catholicks as he hath made in France This is the blessed Work they would be at and if any among us be still so blind as not to see it we must look upon it as the just Judgment of God upon them for some other Sins which they have committed They are delivered up to a reprobate Mind which cannot discern the most evident things They declare to all the World that they have been above fifty Years crying out against they know not what For they know not what Popery is of which they have seemed to be horribly afraid if they believe that they of that Religion either can or will give any Liberty when they have Power to establish their Tyranny It is no better St. John himself hath described that Church under the Name of Babylon that cruel City and of a BEAST which like a Bear tramples all under its Feet and of another Beast which causes as many as will not worship the Image of the Beast to be killed and that no man may buy or sell save such as have had his Mark i.e. are of hsi Religion Rev. 13.1 15 16. This Character they will make good to the very end of their Reign as they have fâ—â—â—thed it from the beginning They cannot alter their Nature no more than the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots It ever was since the rising of the Beast and it ever will be till its Fall a bloody Church which can bear no Contradiction to her Doctrine and Orders but will endeavour to root out all those that oppose her from the Face of the Earth Witness the Barbarous Crusado's against the poor Albigenses in France in one of which alone Bellarmine himself saith and not without Triumph there were killed no less than an hundred thousand Witness the horrible Butcheries committed in France in England and in the Low Countries in the Age before us and in Poland the Vallies of Pâ—edmont and in Ireland in this Age upon those who had no other Fault but this that the made the Holy Scriptures and the Roman Church the Rule of their Faith IX But if you be ignorant of what hath been done and doing abroad yet I hope you observe what they do here at home What do you think of the Declaration which was very lately imposed to be read in all our Churches Which when several Bishops and their Clergy most humbly represented they could not in Conscience publish to the People in time of Divine Service this would not excuse them their Petition was received with Indignation and looked upon as a Libel the Bishops were prosecuted for it and Inquiry is now ordered to be made after those who did not read it as well as those that did that the may be punished by the High Commissioners Call you this Liberty of Conscience Or do you imagine you shall never have any thing imposed upon you to be read in your Congregations which you câ—nnot comply withal Consider I beseech you what will become of you when that time shall come What 's the meaning of this that ever they are look'd upon as Offenders for following their Conscience whose Services have been acknowledged to be so great that they should never be forgotten It ought to teach Dissenters what they are to expect hereafter when they have served them so far by taking off the Tests and Penal Laws as to enable them with safety to remember all their former pretended Transgressions Let them assure themselves the Services of the Church of England are not now more certainly forgotten than the Sins of Dissenters will hereafter when they have got Power to punish them be most certainly remembred Be not drawn in then by deccitful Words to help forward your own Destruction If you will not be assistant to it they cannot do it alone and it will be very strange if you be perswaded to lend them your Help when the Deceit is so apparent For what are all the present Pleas for Liberty but so many infamous Libels upon the Roman Church which denies all Men this Liberty While they declaim so loudly against Persecution they most notoriously reproach Popery which subsists by nothing but Deceit and Cruelty And who can think that they would suffer their Church to be so exposed and reviled as it is by such Discourses but with a Design to cheat heedless People into its Obedience For this end they can hear it proved nay prove it themselves to be an Antichristian Church when they prove it is against Christianity nay against the Law of Nature and Common Reason to trouble any Body for his Opinion in Religion X. Once more then I beseech you be not deceived by good Words if you love your Liberty and your Life Call to mind how our poor Brethren in France were lately deluded by the repeated Protestations which their King made he would observe the Edict of Nantes which was the Foundation of their Liberty even then when he was about to overthrow it and by many Assurances which were given them by those who came to torment them that the King intended to eform the Church of France as soon as he had united his Subjects What he had done already against the Court of Rome told them they was an Instance of it and they should shortly see other Matters Such ensnaring Words they heard there daily from the Mouths of their armed Prosecutors who were ready to fall upon them or had begun to oppress them And therefore they would be arrant Fools here if they did not give good words when they have no Power to hurt us But we shall be far greater Fools if we believe they will keep their Word when they have got that Power the greatest of all Fools if we give them that Power They have no other way but this to wheedle us out of our Laws and Liberties Do but surrender the one I mean our Laws and they will soon take away the other our beloved Liberties Be not tempted to make such a dangerous Experiment but let the Laws stand as they are because they are against them as appears by their earnest Endeavours to repeal them and be not used as Tools to take them away because they have been grievous to you They never can be so again For can they who now Court you have
the Face to turn them again upon you after they have made all this Noise for Liberty And the Church of England you may be assured will not any more trouble you but when a Protestand Prince shall come will joyn in the Healing of all our Breaches by removing all things out of the way which have long hindred that blessed Work They cannot meet together in a Body to give you this Assurance how should they without the Kings Authority so to do but every particular Person that I have discoursed withal which are not a few and you your selves would do well to ask them when you meet them profess that they see an absolute Necessity of making an end of these Differences that have almost undone us and will no longer contend to bring all Men to one Vniformity but promote an Vniform Liberty Do not imagine I intend to give meer Words I meâ—n honestly such a regular Liberty as will be the Beauty and Honour not the Blot and Discredit of our Religion To such a Temper the Archbishop of Canterbury with several other Bishops of his Province and their Clergy have openly declared they are willing to come And the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England have never been know to act deceitfully Our Religion will not at any time allow them to equivecate nor to give good VVords without a Meaning much less at such a time as this when our Religion is in great danger and we have nothing to trust unto but Gods Protection of sincere Persons Let Integrity and Vprightness preserve us is their constant Prayer They can hope for no Help from Heaven if they should prevaricate with Men. God they know would desert them if they should go about to delude their Brethren And they are not so void of common Sense as to adventure to incur his most high Displeasure when they have nothing to rely upon but his Favour In short Trust to those who own you for their Brethren as you do them for though they have been angry Brethren yet there is hope of Reconciliation between such near Relations But put no Confidence in those who not only utterly disown any such Relation to you but have ever treated you with an implacable Hatred as their most mortal Enemies unto whom it is impossible they should be reconciled Prov. 12.19 20. The Lips of Truth shall be established for ever but a lying tongue is but for a mâ—ment Lying Lips are an Abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his Delight Abby and other Church-Lands not yet assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion SInce it is universally agreed on that so great a Matter as the total Alienation of all the Abby-Lands c. in England can never be made legal and valid and such as will satisfie the reasonable Doubts and Scruples of a religious and conscientions Person except it be confirm'd by the Supreme Authority in this Church t is evident that the Protestants who assert the Church of England to be Autokephalos and such as allows of no Foreign Jurisdiction or Appeals having had these Lands confirmed to them by the King as Head of the Chuech the Convocation as the Church Representative and by the King and Parliament as the Supreme Legislative Power in this Realm have these Alienations made as valid to them as any Power on Earth can make them but the Members of the Church of Rome who maintain a Foreign and Supreme Jurisdiction either in a General Council or in the Bishop of Rome or both together cannot have these Alienations confirm'd to them without the Consent of one or both of these Superior Jurisdictions If therefore I shall make it appear that these Alienations in England were never confirm'd by either I do not see how any Roman Catholick in England can without Sacriledge retain them and his Religion together As to the first of these since there hath been no Council from the first Alienation of Abby-Lands in England to this Day that pretends to be general but that of Trent we need only look into that for the Satisfaction of such Roman Catholicke as esteem a General Council above the Bishop of Rome And I am sure that that Council is so far from confirming these Abby-Lands to the present Possessors that it expresly denounceth them accursed that detain them Sess 22. Decret de Ref. Cap. 11. Si quem c. If Covetousness the Root of all Evil shall so far possess any Person whatsoever whether of the Clergy or Laity though he be an Emperor or a King as that by Force Fear or Fraud or any Art or Colour whatsoever he presume to convert to his own Use and usurp the Jurisdiction Goods Estates Fruits Profits or Emoluments whatever of any Church or any Benefice Secular or Regular Hospital or Religious House or shall hinder that the Profits of the said Houses be not received by those to whom they do of right belong let him lie under an Anathema till the said Jurisdiction Goods Estates Rents and Prosits which he hath possessed and invaded or which have come to him any manner of way be restored to the Church and after that have Absolution from the Bishop of Rome So great a Terror did this strike into the English Papists that were Possessors of Church-Lands against whom this Anathema seems particularly directed that many of the zealous Papists began to think of Restitution and Sir William Peters notwithstanding his private Bull of Absolution from Pope Juâ—â—us the Fourth was so much startled at it as that the very next Year he endowed eight new Fellowships in Exeter-Colledge in Oxford Again the same Council Sess 25. Decret de Râ—f c. 2 â— Cupiens Sancta Synodus c. Decreeth and commandeth that all the Holy Ca 〈◊〉 and General Councils and Apostolick Sanctions in Favour of Ecclesiastical Persons and the Liberties of the Church and against those that violate them be exactly observed by eveâ—y 〈◊〉 and doth farther admonish the Emperor Kings Princes and all Persons of what Estate soever that they would observe the Rights of the Church as the Commands of God and defend them by their particular Patronage nor suffer them to be invaded by any Lords or Gâ—ntlemen whaâ—soever but severely punish all those who hinder the Liâ—â—wâ—â—ies Immâ—â—ities and Jurildictions of the Church and that they would imitate those excellent Princes who by their Authority and Bounty encreased the Revenues of the Church so far were they from suffering them to be invadâ—â— and in this let every one sedulously perform his part c. And now after so full and express Declaration of the Council of Trent I do not â—â—e how any of those Râ—man Catholicks who esteem a general Council to be the Supreme Authority in the Church and receive the Trent Council as such can any way excuse themselves in point of Conscience from these heavy Curses that are there denounc'd against all those
then first of all assure you very positively that their Highnesses have often declared as they did it more particularly to the Marquiss of Albeville His Majesties Envoy Extraordinary to the States that it is Their Opinion That no Christian ought to be persecuted for his conscience or be ill used because he differs from the publick and Established Religion And therefore They can consent that the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland be suffered to continue in their Religion with as much Liberty as is allowed them by the States in these Provinces in which it cannot be denied that they enjoy a full Liberty of conscience And as for the Dissenters Their Highnesses do not only consent but do heartily approve of their having an entire Liberty for the full exercise of their Religion without any trouble or hindrance so that none may be able to give them the least disturbance upon that account And their Highnesses are very ready in case his Majesty shall think fit to desire it to declare their willingness to concur in the setling and confirming this Liberty and as far as it lies in them they will protect and defend it and according to the Language of Treaties They will confirm it with their Guaranty of which you made mention in yours And if his Majesty shall think fit further to desire their concurrence in the repealing of the Penal Laws they are ready to give it provided always that those Laws remain still in their full vigour by which the Roman Catholicks are shut out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all publick Employments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military As likewise all those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secures it against all the attempts of the Roman Catholicks But their Highnesses cannot agree to the repeal of the Test or of those other Penal Laws last mentioned that tend to the security of the Protestant Religion since the Roman Catholicks receive no other prejudice from these then the being excluded from Parliaments or from publick Employments And that by them the Protestant Religion is covered from all the Designs of the Roman Catholicks against it or against the publick safety and neither the Test nor these other Laws can be said to carry in them any severity against the Roman Catholicks upon account of their Consciences They are only provisions qualifying men to be Members of Parliament or to be capable of bearing Office by which they must declare before God and Men that they are for the Protestant Religion So that indeed all this amounts to no more than a securing the Protestant Religion from any prejudices that it may receive from the Roman Catholicks Their Highnesses have thought and do still think that more than this ought not to be ask'd or expected from them since by this means the Roman Catholicks and their posterity will be for ever secured from all trouble in their Persons or Estates or in the Exercise of their Religion and that the Roman Catholicks ought to be satisfied with this and not to disquiet the Kingdom because they cannot be admitted to sit in Parliament or to be in Employments or because those Laws in which the Security of the Protestant Religion does chiefly consist are not repealed by which they may be put in a condition to overturn it Their Highnesses do also believe that the Dissenters will be fully satisfied when they shall be for ever covered from all danger of being disturbed or punished for the free Exercise of their Religion upon any sort of pretence whatsoever Their Highnesses having declared themselves so positively in these matters it seems very plain to me that They are far from being any hindrance to the Freeing Dissenters from the Severity of Penal Laws since they are ready to use their utmost endeavours for the Establishing of it Nor do They at all press the denying to the Roman Catholicks the Exercise of their Religion provided it be managed modestly and without Pomp or Ostentation As for my own part I ever was and still am very much against all those who would persecute any Christian because he differs from the publick and established Religion And I hope by the Grace of God to continue still in the same mind for since that Light with which Religion illuminates our minds is according to my sense of things purely an effect of the Mercy of God to us we ought then as I think to render to God all possible Thanks for his Goodness to us and to have pity for those who are still shut up in Error even as God has pitied us and to put up most earnest prayers to God for bringing those into the way of Truth who stray from it and to use all gentle and friendly methods for reducing them to it But I confess I could never comprehend how any that profess themselves Christians and that may enjoy their Religion freely and without any disturbance can judge it lawful for them to go about to disturb the Quiet of any Kingdom or State or to overturn Constitutions that so they themselves may be admitted to Employments and that those Laws in which the Security and Quiet of the established Religion consists should be shaken It is plain that the Reformed Religion is by the Grace of God and by the Laws of the Land enacted both by King and Parliament the publick and established Religion both in England Scotland and Ireland and that it is provided by those Laws that none can be admitted either to a place in Parliament or to any publick Employment except those that do openly declare that they are of the Protestant Religion and not Roman Catholicks and it is also provided by those Laws that the Protestant Religion shall be in all time coming secured from the Designs of the Roman Catholicks against it In all which I do not see that these Laws contain any Severity either against the Persons or Estates of those who cannot take those Tests that are contrary to the Roman Catholick Religion all the inconveniences that can redound to them from thence is that their Persons their Estates and even the Exercise of their Religion being assured to them only they can have no share in the Government nor in Offices of Trust as long as their Consciences do not allow them to take these Tests and they are not suffered to do any thing that is to the prejudice of the Reformed Religion Since as I have already told you Their Highnesses are ready to concur with his Majesty for the Repeal of those Penal Laws by which Men are made liable to fines or other Punishments So I see there remains no difficulty concerning the Repealing the Penal Laws but only this that some would have the Roman Catholicks render'd capable of all publick Trusts and Employments and that by consequence all those should be repealed that have secured the Protestant Religion against the designs of the Roman Catholicks where others at the same time are not less
Opportunity is precious and very slippery and if they let the present Occasion pass by they can hardly ever hope that it will be possible for them to recover it That their Fathers and Grand-fathers would have thought themselves in Heaven to have had such an Offer as this is in any of the four last Reigns and therefore that they had better be contented with Half a Loaf than no Bread I mean it will be their VVisdom to embrace this Golden Occasion of putting themselves on a Level with all other English Men at least as to their private Capacity and to disarm once for all the severity of those Laws which if ever they should come to be in good earnest executed by a Protestant Successor will make England too hot for them And therefore I should particularly advise those among them who have the Honour to approach his Majesty to use their Credit to prevail with him to make this so necessary a step in Favour of the Nation since the Successors have advanced two Thirds of the way for effecting so good and pious a VVork Then and not till then the R. C's may think themselves secured and his Majesty may hope to be great by translating Fear and Anger from the Breasts of his Subjects to the Hearts of his Own and the Nations Enemies But if an evil Genius which seems to have hovered over us now a long time will have it otherwise if I were a R. C. I could meddle no more but live quiet at home and caress my Protestant Neighbours and in so doing I should think my self better secured against the Resentments of the Nation than by all the Forces Forts Leagues Garranties and even Men Children that His Majesty may hope to leave behind him As for the Protestant Dissenters I am confident the Body of them will continue to behave themselves like Men who to their great Honour have ever preferred the Love of their Country and Religion to all Dangers and Favours whatsoever but there are both weak and interested Men among all great Numbers I would have them consider how much the state of things is altered upon the coming out of this Letter for if hitherto they have been too forward in giving Ear to Proposals on this Mistake that they could never have such a favorable Juncture for getting the Laws against them repealed I hope now they are undeceived since the Successors have pawn'd their Faith and Honour for it which I take to be a better security as Matters go at present than the so much talked of Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience would be tho got in a legal way for our Judges have declared That Princes can dispense with the Obligation of Laws but they have not yet given their Opinion that they can dispense with the Honour of their Word nor have their Highnesses any Confessor to supply such an Omission However it is not to be charged on their Highnesses if such a Magna Charta be not at present given them provided the Test be let alone but I fear the Roman Catholicks Zeal will have all or nothing and the Test too must be repealed by wheedling the Dissenters to joyn with willing Sheriffs in violating the Rights of Elections which are the Root of the Liberties of England prudent way of recommending their Religion to all true English Men. But if any of the Dissenters be so destitute of Sense and Honesty as to prefer a Magna Charta so obtained Void and Null in it self to their own Honour and Conscience to the Love and Liberties of their Countrey to the present Kindness of all good Men and their Countenance at another time and above all to the Favour and Word of the Successors who have now so generously declared themselves for them We may pronounce that they are Men abandoned to a reprobate Sence who will justly deserve Infamy and the hatred of the Nation at present and its Resentments hereafter Is it possible that any Dissenter who either deserves or loves the Reputation of an honest Man can be prevailed with by any pretences of Insinuations how plausible soever to make so odious and pernicious a Bargain as that of buying a precarious pretended Liberty of Conscience at the price of the Civil Liberties of their Country and at the price of removing that which under God is the most effectual Bar to keep us from the Dominion of a Religion that would as soon as it could force us to abandon our own or reduce us to the miserable Condition of those of our Neighbours who are glad to forsake all they have in the World that they may have their Souls and Lives for a Prey As for the Church of England their Clergy have of late opposed themselves to Popery with so much Learning Vigor Danger and Success that I think all honest Dissenters will lay down their Resentments against them and look on that Church as the present Bulwark and Honour of the Protestant Religion I wish those high Men among them who have so long appropriated to themselves the Name and Authority of the Church of England and have been made Instruments to bring about Designs of which their present Behaviour convinces me they were ignorant as I suppose many of the Dissenters are whose turn it is now to be the Tools I say I wish such Men would consider to what a pass they have brought Matters by their Violences or rather the Violences of these whose Property they were and at length be wise They cannot but be sensible of the Advantages they receive by this Letter I suppose they apprehend I am sure they ought to do it that the Ruine of their Church is resolv'd onâ— But if the Dissenters upon this Letter withdraw themselves the R. C's have neither Hearts to keep firm to such a Resolution nor Hands to execute it Since therefore they themselves have unhappily brought their Church into such Precepices by provoking the Dissenters it is in a particular manner their Duty as well as their Interest to endeavour to soften them by assisting the Letter and promoting the Design of it But if the old Leaven still remain and they continue to argue as formerly if the Surplice be parted with the Church of England is lost if the Penal Laws be repealed the Test wâ—â— follow and comfort themselves with this most Christian Reflection that the R. Câ—â— will 〈◊〉 accept of what is offered them such Men deserve all the Misery that is preparing for them and will perish without Pity and give thinking Men occasion to remember the Proveâ—â— But a Fool or a Zealot in a Mortar yet his Foolishness will not depart from him But the Disseâ—â—â—â— ought not to be much concerned at this they have their own Bigots and the Church â—â—â—land theirs there will be Tools whilst there are Workmen This is a time for Wisdom to be justified of her Children when honest Men 〈…〉 off minding the lesser Interests of this or that particular Church and
never violated laid to pledge for their relief and ease but in that their Interest as well as their Principles will oblige them to be compassionate and tender to all sorts of Protestants and if they cannot be so Fortunate as to unite them yet to exercise equal kindness and favour towards them Having examined what our Author in his impertinent way venteth in unjust Reflections against their Highnesses and having in some measure chastned him for them tho' not to the Degree he does deserve I come now in the third place to call him to an account for his calumniating the States of these Provinces and for his endeavouring to possess the minds of their Popish Subjects with dissatisfaction and prejudice towards them And if he be the person whom most men take him for tho' he may have herein acted suitably to himself yet he hath behaved disagreeably to his character and unworthy of the Post which his Master hath placed him in Nor need we from henceforth to doubt but that he does all the ill Offices he can between his Majesty of Great Brittain and this Government seeing he hath by slanders destitute of all Foundation most maliciously studied to raise differences betwixt them and their own Subjects And if the Intelligence which he transmits to Whitehall be as equally distant from truth and sincerity as the Memoirs are which he hath here published we may easily conjecture what little credit ought to be given unto it tho' at the same time we cannot but discern the end that it must be shappen and designed unto Nor was there the least occasion administred by mijn Heer Fagel in his Letter by which our Author could be provoked to attack these States with so much rudeness injustice and falshood as he hath done in his Answer For all that the Pensionary had said and which it seems threw our Author into a raging fit was only that their Highnesses could consent that the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland should be suffered to exercise their Religion with as much freedom as is allowed them in these Provinces in which they enjoy a full liberty of Conscience And as the time hath been and may hereafter come Wherein the English Roman Catholicks would have thought and may again account such a Liberty for a happiness so I do not understand if the condition of the Roman Catholicks in these Countreys be as our Author describes it with what consistency either to Reason or with themselves the Papists in England should have so often heretofore in their Pleas for a Toleration have made the Liberty vouchsafed their Brethren in these Provinces not only a motive for their own being capable of Indulgence but to have represented it as the largest measure of the freedom they desired and which they would have been thankful for Seeing this Gentleman according to his accustomed manner of truth and ingenuity takes upon him to assure us That as there can be no greater persecution than what the Papists undergo in the exercise of their Religion in Guelderland Freesland Zeland and the Province of Groningue so that the Liberty which they even enjoy in Holland is so mean and inconsiderable that it doth not deliver them from being subject to daily fines and molestations Surely this man is either very unacquainted with what is done upon the account of Religion in other parts of the World or else he must needs think that the most brutal severities to some are Acts of Merit while gentle restrictions upon others are mortal Crimes otherwise he could never write at this ignorant and extravagant rate wherein all persons must discern his folly as well as insincerity and neglect of truth For we have too many deplorable evidences daily before our Eyes besides those which arrive with us by reports of unquestionable credit of a stranger kind of Persecution exercised towards those of the Reformed Religion in France and Piedmont than any which the Roman Catholicks in these Provinces can be alledged to be under except it be by one of our Author's veracity and discretion Neither needs there any other Refutation of the calumny with which he asperseth the Supream and Subordinate Magistrates of this Country in reference to the treating their Popish Subjects with horrid Severities nor a clearer proof that those of the Romish Communion do esteem themselves to be in a condition of peace freedom and ease under this Government than that of their behaviour during the late War carried on by the French King against these States which he gave out both at Rome and at several other Courts in Europe to have been undertaken in favour and for the restoring of the Roman Catholick Religion For had they lain under that grievous persecution and those tragical hardships in the practice of it which our Author would impose the belief of upon the World they would not have failed to welcome that Monarch as their happy Deliverer and would have united in a general Insurrection against the States for their having been Tyrannous over them But instead of that most of them acquitted themselves with the same Zeal for the support of this Government and in defence of their Country that other Subjects did Which demonstrates beyond all controul that they do not judge themselves to be in so wretched and miserable circumstances as this bold and calumnious Person represents them to be And whereas Monsieur Fagel in justification of the necessity of preserving the Test Laws by which the Papists are precluded from Employments and Places of Trust and to rectifie a mistake in Mr. Stewart about his conceiving the Roman Catholicks to continue capable of bearing publick Offices in this Commonwealth had said that by the Laws of this Republick they are expresly shut out from all the Employments both of Policy and Justice Our Author does hereupon with the highest Injustice and with all the acrimony he can accuse the States not only of departing from the express Terms of the Pacification of Gant but of violating the Articles of the Vnion at Utrecht which was the Foundation upon which this Government was both originally erected and doth still subsist And with his wonted degree of knowledge and prudence he further adds That the Provinces and most of the Cities would not have entred into the foresaid Vnion but upon condition that they of the Roman Catholick Religion should at all times possess the Government And particularly that Amsterdam had it stipulated unto them under the Guaranty of the Prince of Orange that none of the Reformed Religion should be allowed a Place to assemble in either within the Walls or without so far as the Jurisdiction of the City did extend One would have little expected that a person living in the Communion of the Romish Church as our Author professeth himself to do should upbraid these States with the violation of Articles relating unto a Grant made unto any for their Security in the free Exercise of their Religion at a season when
shift Instruments and to betake themselves to the Nonconformists whose assistance the better to engage they have not only suspended all the Penal Laws to which the Dissenters were liable but have endeavoured to fill ' them with jealousy and apprehension of danger from the Test Acts tho at the same time they know that Nonconformists never either did or could receive prejudice by them Only they are sensible that if they could work up that easie people into such a belief they should thereby not only obtain their concurrence and abettment for the rescinding of those Laws that are at present the only great remaining Fence about our Religion and upon the abrogation whereof nothing could hinder the Papists from getting into a condition to extirpate it but make them a formed and united Body with themselves against the Prince and Princess of Orange who have with so much Wisdom Courage and Integrity declared that they are against the having them repealed And as the Dissenters cannot have so far renounced all regard both to honesty and to a good name as to be fond of being herded with the Papists or thank our Author for it so they must be become void of all sense and understanding if they suffer themselves to be either wheedled or frighted into an opinion of their being subject to receive any dammage by the Tests it being so expresly contrary both to the Terms of those Laws and to their own experience Nor can they be so far abandoned of God nor prove so treacherous to the Nation Posterity and the whole Protestant Interest thro' Europe as to cooperate to the Repeal of them by destroying that great Fence about the Reformed Religion in England and to put the Papists into capacity both of subverting it there and every where else And setting aside a few mercenary fellows among them there is no ground to fear after we have had so many proofs of their zeal for the Protestant Religion and English Liberties in the worst of times and under the greatest Temptations that they should at this season when all others behave themselves with so much Integrity and Courage be accessory to so villanous a thing The ill success which the Court hath met with in the several Towns and City's since the late Regulation of the Corporations sufficiently shews that the Dissenters who were put into Magistracy in hopes by them to have compassed the packing of a Parliament are no less careful of preserving the Test Laws than they of the Church of England Communion were who were displaced to make way for them And to discover the grossness of the abuse which our Author without regard to Truth or Ingenuity endeavours to put upon them as if they were judged by their Highnesses to be incapable of Trusts and Employments or any ways concluded to stand under those restraints by the Test which the Roman Catholicks do there is not one word in Mijn Heer Fagel's Letter whereby they are said to be subject unto them or by which there is any ground administred of fancying they are put into the same rank with the Papists and whereby to fear that they may hereafter come to be treated accordingly But in stead of this they are expresly told that Their Highnesses do both allow and desire the abrogation of all the Penal Laws against Dissenters and the having them freed from the severity of them and that they do not only consent but heartily approve of their having an entire liberty granted them for the full exercise of their Religion without any trouble or hindrance or being left exposed to the least molestation or inconvenience upon that account And to testifie how far the Nonconformists are from being in the least menaced by those Laws it is again Declared that the only reason why their Highnesses refuse to consent to the having them repealed is because that they have no other tendency save to Secure the Reformed Religion from the Designs of the Papists by containing provisions in the vertue of which those only may be kept out of Office who can not testifie that they are of the Reformed and not of the Roman Catholick Religion Which as it is the highest evidence imaginable of their own stedfastness and integrity in the Reformed Religion and of the compassion and love which they equally bear to all who profess it and how careful they will at all times be to have it maintained and supported so it is the putting such a merit upon all Protestants that it should engage their prayers for their happy extation to the Throne and make them ambitious as well as willing and ready to hazard their lives and Fortunes for the securing the Succession unto them if any should be so wicked as to go about to preclude them But I must pay a further attendance upon our Author and accompany him to the fifth particular which I promised to consider namely that according to his own foolish and incoherent way of writing while he pretends to commend and justify the proceeding of His Majesty of Great Brittain he publisheth the villany of the Papal Church and proclaims the dishonour and injustice of diverse Eminent Monarchs and Princes of the Romish Communion His Panegyricks upon the King of England are so many just Satyr's upon the Church of Rome the Monarch of France and the Duke of Savoy c. For if it be becoming a Christian to be of a contrary judgment to those who are for persecuting such as differ from the publick and established Religion and if it be a sentiment worthy of a Royal mind that none ought to be oppressed for their Consciences in Divine Matters what characters of irreligion ignominy wickedness are due unto them who judge it to be meritorious to destroy sincere Christians for no other pretended Crime save that they cannot believe as the Pope and the Church of Rome do Surely our Author must either be extreamly ignorant of the Doctrine of his own Church and of the bloody and barbarous practices pursuant thereunto both at this day and for many ages past or else he must be the most unsincere miscreant that ever writ or at best be guilty of the inconsistency and folly as to continue in the Communion of a Church whose Articles of Faith he condemns as Antichristian and whose practices according to the Terms made necessary for Salvation he abhorreth both as unworthy of Royal Minds and contrary to Christian Piety But tho nothing can render a false man honest or a foolish Man wise yet seeing something may be done towards the curing a person's ignorance if he be teachable or at least to shew his obstinacy and that the fault is in his will not in his Understanding if he will not learn and be convinced I shall therefore both acquaint him a little with the Doctrine of that Church and briefly put him in remembrance how these of the Romish Fellowship have therefore persecuted Christians and still continue so to do only for differing
from the publick and established Religion As to the first it is sufficiently known that according to the judgment of the Church of Rome we are Hereticks and that Heresie being Crimen laesae Majestatis Divinae we are therefore the worst of Traitors and liable to the Penalties of the greatest High Treason And thereupon we are not only declared to be infamous and sentenced to be deprived of all Honor and Dignity and to be incapable of all Offices and have our Estates confiscated and seised but we are condemned to be burnt and if that cannot conveniently be effected it is both made lawful and meritorious to extirpate us by War or Massacre as shall be best and most safe for the Church of Rome In order whereunto not only all Laws made for our Security are declared to be null and that no promises made unto us ought to be kept but all Princes that neglect to destory and extirpate us are proclaimed to be deposed And sutable hereunto has their carriage been for many ages to such as differ from them in Articles of Faith and will not joyn in their Superstitions and Idolatries In proof where of I neither need to insist upon the infinite Murders committed by the Inquisition the most Devilish Engine of Cruelty that ever the World was acquainted with nor to reflect so far backward as the Parisian and Irish Massacres or the infinite Slaughters perpetrated heretofore in France Germany and the Low Countreys c. seeing we have such fresh and doleful evidences of the mercy and gentleness of the Papal Church in the ungrateful inhumane perjurious and salvage persecutions executed so lately in France and Piedmont If it be the effect of Royal and Paternal affection in the King of England to his Subjects that all he endeavoureth is to treat them as becomes a common Father without making any distinction between one and another as our Author is pleased to call it in his Testimony concerning him what cruel Parents must many Princes of the Roman Communion be who act with that difference towards their people that while they cherish and embrace some they tear out the Bowels and suck the blood of others And if no Society destitute of such tender and Christian affections can merit the name of a Church we hence learn where to fasten the character of being the Mother of Harlots In that we not only know whose Doctrine it is that whom She cannot convert She ought to destroy but that we have observed her to have been in all Ages drunk with the Blood of Saints All the commendations our Author bestows upon the King of England are not only either so many accusations of His Majesties insincerity in the Papal Faith or infallible indications that both the King pardon the expression and his Minister are Hypocritical Dissemblers but they are stabbing and twinging Satyr's against Mother Church and the Holy Father and against his Brittanick Majesties dear Brother and Ally the French King Nor can we be guilty either of Crime or Indecency in the worst we can say of the Church of Rome and the Most Christian King seeing we have in equivalent Terms a President for it both from so good a Catholick and so wise a Minister of a great Monarch as our honourable Author is And tho I begin to grow weary of conversing with so impertinent a man yet I am bound to wait upon him a little longer and while the Reader can reap no advantage by any thing he says to see whether it be not possible to lay hold of an occasion from his Ignorance and Folly to communicate things that may be more solid and instructive The sixth thing therefore whereof I accused him and for which I promised to call him to an account is his egregious ignorance in relation to Government Laws Customs and matters of Fact Mijn Heer Fagel tells us that the Test Laws being enacted by King and Parliament for the Security of the Reformed Religion and the Roman Catholicks receiving no prejudice by them but being meerly restrained from getting into a condition to subvert it therefore Their Highnesses could not consent to their Repeal And he further adds that there is no Kingdom Common-wealth or any constituted Body and Society in which there are not Laws made for the safety thereof which not only provide against all attempts that may disturb their peace but which prescribe such conditions as they judge necessary for the discerning who are qualified to bear Employments To which he again subjoins that there is a great difference between the conduct of these of the Reformed Religion towards Roman Catholicks which is moderate and only to prevent their getting into a capacity to do hurt and that of those of the Roman Catholick Religion towards the Reformed who not being satisfied to exclude them from places of Trust do both suppress the whole Exercise of their Religion and severely persecute all that profess it And he finally adds that both Reason and the Experience of the present as well as past Ages do shew that it is impossible for Roman Catholicks and those of the Reformed Religion when joyned together in places of Trust and publick Employment to maintain a good Correspondence live in mutual peace and to discharge their Offices quietly and to the publick Good Now from these several passages which carry their own evidence along with them our Author takes occasion both to vent his foolish and ridiculous Politicks and to proclaim his ignorance in History and of the most obvious matters of Fact However we shall have the patience to hearken to what he hath been pleased to say and shall examine it piece by piece as we go along And the first thing he does is to acquaint us with a mighty Mystery of State and which none but so great a Minister could have been able to have revealed namely that tho the King and Parliament upon the first Revolution with respect to Religion and the introducing and setting up the Reformed Religion thought fit to make those Laws which they judged necessary for its preservation yet that it does not follow that his present Majesty and a Parliament would be of the same mind but that they might enact Laws of a differing Nature from the former and re-establish Religion into the same State in which it was before the Reformed Doctrine and Worship was set up We are much obliged to our Author for this discovery though I must add that this it is to trust a Fool with secrets for he will be sure to be blabbing For tho he subjoin that he will not say that matters would be pushed so far yet he hath already told us enough to make us understand both what his own hopes are and what is designed by the Papal party if they could compass a Parliament of a Complexion and Temper to their mind But there are two fatal things which lye in their way One is that neither progressing nor closeting bribing nor threatning can
prove effectual to give them the slenderest ground of confidence of their obtaining a Parliament of that mould and constitution And the second is that all the Members must take the Tests before they can be a Legal Parliament and then there is little probability that they who can make the Declaration required in these Laws will be inclinable to Repeal them especially at a season when their own safety as well as that of the Protestant Religion renders it so necessary to have them maintained Whatsoever any Body of men by what name soever they be called or within what walls soever they assemble shall attempt to do without first having taken the Tests is ipso facto null and void in Law and will serve to no Legal purpose but to make themselves obnoxious to the severest punishments which the Justice of a provoked and betrayed Nation can be able to inflict upon them So that we do not doubt what the King would do for the re-establishing Popery and banishing the Protestant Religion could he get a Parliament to his mind but our hope is that he will not and the better to prevent it we will endeavour to keep our Test Laws But to go on with our Author who with his accustomed ignorance but personating here the wisdom of a Solon or a Lycurgus takes upon him to instruct us that as nothing can be called the fundamental Law of a Kingdom or a Republick but what was enacted at the commencement of that State or Society before any alterations could fall out in it with reference to Religion so nothing deserves the name of such a Law save that which is to the advantage and benefit of all the Subjects It were not amiss here to enquire by what Authority our Author fastens on Mijn Heer Fagel this Term of Fundamental Law in reference to the Tests seeing he never used it in his Letter much less applyed it to such a purpose But falsifying is so natural to this Gentleman that he could not avoid it even when he might have been sensible that he would not escape the being challenged for it There is a Countrey in the world that is said to bear no poysonous animal nor had it need seeing if any number of the Natives be of the mould and frame that some are there are brutal and venemous Creatures enough in it tho there be neither Toad nor Serpent there But may not the Test Laws answer the end they were designed unto of being a Fence about Religion tho they be none of the Fundamental Laws of the Government It is not the name that alone gives value to a Law but the Sanction of the Legislative Authority and the usefulness of it to the publick good A Statute that was occasioned by a necessity arising in reference to the publick Safety ought as much to be stood by and upheld while that necessity continues as if it were an original Law and Coaeval with the Constitution And if it was the indispensable dependance of the Welfare and Safety of the Community upon such and such Provisions at first that gave them the Name of Fundamental Laws I am sure that under our present Circumstances we may call the Test Laws absolutely needful if we assume not the vanity to stile them Fundamental Besides I would fain know of our Author that if all Laws lye exposed to an easie Abrogation that are not coaeval with the Kingdom what will then become of the Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience which his Majesty not only promiseth but undertakes to make irrepealable And withal may not some Laws be as necessary to the being and preservation of a State under the notion of Protestant as others are to its being and subsistence under the consideration of an embodied and formed Society Every Society is bound to use all necessary means to preserve it self and while it maketh no provisions in order thereunto that derive inconvenience upon others unless it be only to keep them from being able to do hurt it would be a wickedness as well as a folly to neglect them In a word as the making no Laws necessary for the Safety of a people under any knowledge of God they may be grown up into but what were coaeval with their first formation into a Kingdom or Republick were the weakning and undermining the Security of the Christian Religion in all parts of the world where it hath obtained to be embraced and setled so by the same reason that it is lawful to make provisions for the preservation of Christianity in a State professing the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is also lawful to make the like provisions for the Security of the Reformed Religion in these Kingdoms and Common-wealths which have judged it to be their duty to God and their Souls to receive and establish it And for our Author 's saying that no Law deserves to be called Fundamental save that which is to the benefit and advantage of all the Subjects it is wholly impertinent to the case for which it is alledged and does no way's attack or weaken what the Pensionary had said For as the Laws contended for to be maintained were never stiled Fundamental so many thousands may have benefit by a Law whom nevertheless all persons of sense and wisdom will account unfit to be advanced to publick Trusts As no man will judge it unreasonable to require that all who are held capable of publick employments should have some degree of wit and understanding so I think it is very reasonable that they should be qualified with so much honesty as to be well affected to the Government as it is by Law established And to speak properly it is not the Law that makes the Papists uncapable of Offices and Employments it only declares they shall not be admitted because they were incapable before and had made themselves unfit to be trusted partly through their dependance upon a forraign power that is at enmity with the State and seeks to subvert it and partly by reason of that principle which they are possessed with of its being their duty to destroy us whensoever they can And as it 's a great favour vouchsafed by the Government to suffer such to live under it as stand so ill affected to it and want only means to overthrow it so if the Roman Catholicks will not be content with the first without the latter it will be a great temptation upon the Kingdom to deprive them of the Priviledge they have because they would not be content with it unless they might obtain that which the Nation could not grant without being Felo de se and without abandoning the means both of our safety here and Happiness hereafter And whereas our Author takes the confidence to tell us That there are many States and Cities in Germany where without the giving occasion to any disturbance the Government is shared between Papists and Protestants and where both those of the Roman Catholick and Reformed Religion do
equally partake in publick Trusts and Employments He must pardon me if I not only say he is mistaken but that it is a down-right Falsehood and that herein he betrays his wonted ignorance or at least gives us a new discovery of the insincerity that is natural to him Nor would he have vented this in so general Terms but that he did foresee if he should have condescended to particulars how easy it would have been for persons of very ordinary acquaintance either with History or the World to have both contradicted and refuted him And if there were some one or other small City where by reason of the Fewness of those of one Religion to exercise the Government and to take care of the Welfare of the Society those of the other Religion are sometimes received into Employments in order to prevent the inconveniencies which the want of a competent number of Magistrates would be attended with and where the Jealousie and Fear of being swallowed up by some envious and potent Neighbour may lay them under a necessity of agreeing better together than otherwise they would or than the principles of some of them incline them unto must we thence conclude that it ought to be so in a great Kingdom where there is so vast a number of Protestants admirably qualified with Wisdom Interest and Estates to discharge all the Offices of the Government and to manage the universal care of the Society without running the hazard of the many mischiefs that would accompany the taking the Papists into partnership with them Nor could Mijn Heer Fagel in representing what is safe or unsafe to so great and noble a Nation take notice of what is practised upon necessity in some mean Town or Corporation supposing that it were there as our Author alledgeth without transgressing against all the Rules both of prudence and decency But as the Pensionary had no where in his Letter affirmed that there were not any States or Cities in which the Protestants and Papists bear Office in Government together but had only said that Reason and Experience do shew us how impossible it will be for them when joyned together in places of Trust and publick Employments to maintain a good Correspondence and to live peaceably with one another so this is found to be so just a truth and so pertinently observed that in all the places where it hath been practised tho not in Germany as our Author ignorantly suggests they have not only lived in continual heats and dissentions but have often come to open Hostility against each other Nor hath it meerly fallen out thus in private and particular States within themselves but the like evils have often followed and ensued where more States have associated into Union for the common preservation of the Generality and where the Government hath been in some in the hands of Protestants and in others executed by Roman Catholicks Of this we have diverse Examples in the Cantons of Switzerland where thro the Magistrates being in some Cantons of the Reformed and in others of the Roman Catholick Religion they have not only been often hindred from joyning and acting vigorously as they ought to have done for the interest of all and the benefit of the common Confederation and Union but they have sometimes come to open ruptures and have been embarqued in War against one another And forasmuch as our Author makes bold to say That there was never any Christian Kingdom where the Religion that the Prince professeth and which had in former ages been Dominant was so far laid aside and banished that his Subjects professing the same with himself were shut out and precluded from Trusts and Employments I will take the freedom to tell him that it is so gross and palpable a Falsehood that none but a person of his ignorance and impudence would have had the face to have asserted it For there are Christian Kingdoms that have done more than this amounts unto and who to prevent the danger of having Papists preferred to Trusts and Employments in case a Prince of their Religion should come to the Throne have been so wise as to declare Roman Catholicks incapable either of obtaining or keeping the Soveraignty And it was in the vertue of such a Law and by reason of the dread of it that Christina Queen of Sweden upon the having taken up a resolution to turn Papist chose to demit her Crown before she declared her self as knowing that immediately after such a Declaration she would have been deposed from the Throne and possibly not have had so liberal an allowance assigned her afterwards as by that conduct she did obtain Nor is it unknown to any except it be to such as our Author is for natural and acquired accomplishments that there were not only Laws in Scotland for precluding a Popish Prince from coming to the Government but that the same thing was imployed in the English Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as being Oaths of such a frame and nature that it had been most incongruous to impose them upon Subjects to a King of the Roman Catholick Religion And tho these two Nations did not improve the advantage which they had by means of their legal provisions to hinder the present King from inheriting the Crowns of the respective Realms yet those Laws serve to inform us how far some Christian Kingdoms thought it lawful to go and to what heighth to Act not only against Popish Subjects but against Catholick Princes themselves Yea the time was that the very Papists were so far from condemning the having men of their Religion debarred from Trusts and Employments in Protestant Kingdoms under a Popish Prince that they made the Test Laws by which they are shut out from Offices and Declared incapable of them the great Argument against the necessity of having the Bill passed for excluding the Duke of York from the Crown and improved them as the main Engine for allaying the fears of the Nation under the apprehensions they had of his being a Roman Catholick and coming to the Throne But by their different Language now from what it was then all Englishmen understand how far they are to be believed in other cases and whether the many promises which they do make at this time in order to a further design and the putting a new Trick upon the Nation ought to be depended on by them whom they have already deceived And whereas upon Mijn Heer Fagel's having observed that the conduct of Roman Catholicks is much more severe towards Protestants than that of those of the Reformed Religion towards Papists our Author is pleased to reply that in order to judge as we should of that different procedure we are to consider whether it be not less just to banish a Religion that had been so long dominant as the Roman Catholick had been than to withstand the introduction of a new Religion that would depress and supplant the old All I shall say in reference to this is
our Jealousie but to stir up severer passions to be told at a season when we know what the Catholicks are doing in France and in most other places where they have any power that the Papists through having burnt their fingers with persecution may be grown so wise as to do so no more and yet to have it asserted in the same Page that they who can be prevailed upon to believe that the Church of England is sorry for what She hath done and that she will not be guilty of such a thing again have little reason to quarrel at the unaccount ableness of Transubstantiation Good Advice p. 8. Nor is it becoming one who stiles himself a Protestant no more than it is consistent with Truth to extenuate our being scandal'd at the severity upon Protestants in France by affirming that he can parallel some of the severest passages in that Kingdom out of the Actions of some Members of the Church of England in cool Blood ibid. p. 7. And though I have all the kindness imaginable for Mr. Pen's Person and am loath to think otherways of him as to his Religious Principles than as his avowed profession discovers him yet these and diverse passages more of that kind together with the accession he must necessarily have had to the apprehension and imprisonment of Mr. Gray c. for abandoning the Benedictine Order are things I can neither reconcile to the title he assumes nor to his many Discourses for Repealing the Test Laws And to speak freely considering the Nature of our Laws against Papists and that it was their manifold Treasons and onely our care to preserve our selves that both gave the first rise unto them and has necessitated their continuance I know neither how to construe that Assertion of Mr. Pen's Good Advice p. 13. that the Principle which the Church of England acts by justifies the King of France and the Inquisition nor that other Letter first of there having been eight times more Laws made for ruining men for their Conscience since the Church of England came to be the National Establishment than were all the time that Popery was in the Chair Nor can this be designed to any other end but the giving the Church of Rome the commendation of Mercy and Moderation above a Protestant Church For as 't is certain that the one Law of Burning and Extirpating Hereticks was a thousand fold worse and hath produced infinitely more Sanguinary effects than all the Laws and Rigours that the Church of England can be charged with so there is nothing can be falser than that either her Principle or Practice do parallel or justifie the barbarous and brutal severities of the French King and the Inquisition Moreover were all Protestants agreed that Liberty in meer matters of Religion should be immediately granted in a Legal way yet I do not see how the Papists should pretend to any benefit by it or be able to lay a just claim to a share in it So that the foundation which Mr. Pen goes upon of mens having a Right to be indulged in matters of Religion is too narrow to support the structure he raiseth upon it For though there may be some things retained in Popery which may be called matters of Religion yet in the bulk and complex of it it is a Conjuration against all Religion and a Conspiracy against the Peace of Societies and the Rights of Mankind 'T is one of the Crimes as well as the Miseries of this Age that out of a dread of some and in complacence to others we have avoided representing Popery in its native colours and calling it by the Names properly due unto it But I have always thought that 't is better fail in our Courtship to Men than in our duty to God and fidelity to the Interest of Jesus Christ and the safety of Mankind Nor do I doubt but that they will be better approved in the Great day of Account who Character Persons Doctrines and Practices as the Scripture doth than they who that they may accommodate themselves unto and be acceptable with the world speak of them in a softer stile Now if either Blasphemies against God or Tyrannies over Men if either the defacing the Ideas of a Deity or corrupting the Principles of Vertue and Moral Honesty if either the subverting the foundations of natural Religion or the overthrowing the most essential Articles of the Christian Faith if either the most avowed and bold affronts offered to heaven or the bloodiest and most brutal outrages executed against the best of men if all these be sufficient to preclude a party from the benefit of Liberty due to people in Religious Matters I am sure none have reason to challenge it in behalf of the Papists nor cause to complain if it be denied them Can there be any thing more unreasonable than that they should claim a Toleration in a Protestant State whose Principles not only allow but oblige them to destroy us as soon as their power inables them to do it Is not the Doctrine of the Pope's Supremacy and his having a Right to Depose Kings and absolve Subjects from their Allegiance together with that of breaking Faith to Hereticks and the extirpating all those who cannot believe as the Church of Rome doth mighty inducements to those whom they have baptized with that Name and to whom they long to exercise that courtesie for the Repealing of the Penal and Test Laws against Papists Nor are these Principles falsely charged upon them but they are the Oracular Decisions of their General Councils and Popes whom they stile Infallible So that Mr. Pen's Book and Letters which seem to have been written not so much in favour of Dissenting Protestants as of Roman Catholicks can little advantage the latter even allowing the Principle which he goes upon and admitting all he hath said for Mens Right to Liberty in meer matters of Religion to be unanswerable And his telling us Good Adv. p. 42. that Violence and Tyranny are not natural consequences of Popery does onely discover his kindness to Rome and the little Friendship and care he hath for the Protestant Interest For we know both the Principles of their Religion too well and have at all times experienced and do at this day feel the effects of them too sensibly to be deluded by this kind of Sophistry and imposed upon by so palpable a Falsehood to abandon the means of our safety Wheresoever any Popish Rulers Act with Gentleness and Moderation towards those whom their Church hath declared Hereticks 't is either because there are Political Reasons for it as might be easily shewed in reference to all those States and Governments which he mentions or because there are some Princes of the Roman Communion in whom the Dictates of Humane Nature are more prevalent than those of their Religion But should the gentle Temper of the English Nation sway them beyond the strict obligations of duty and make them willing to Repeal the
Penal Laws against Papists yet to do it in their present Circumstances and at such a conjuncture as this were the highest act of folly in the world and a betraying both their own safety and that of their Religion Had the Roman Catholicks forbore to assume a liberty till it had been legally given them they had been the more capable objects of such a Grace but to bestow it upon them after they have in contempt and defiance of all our Laws taken it 't were to justify their usurpation and approve their crime Could they have been contented with the private practice of their Worship and the non-exaction of the penalties to which our Statutes make them liable without leaping into all Offices of Trust and Command and invading our Seats of Judicature our Churches and our Universities their modesty might have wrought much upon the generosity and candor of all sort of Protestants but their audacious wresting all power into their hands and their laying aside all those that have either any zeal for our Civil Rights or for the Protestant Religion is enough to kindle our further indignation in stead of influencing us to thoughts of moderation and lenity And should we once begin to cancel our Laws according to the measure and proportion that they break them and usurp upon them no man can tell where that will terminate and they will be sure to turn it into an encouragement to further attempts For having in compliance with their Impudence and to absolve them from the guilt of their Crimes and Treasons abrogated the Laws against Popery they will not fail in a little while to betake themselves to the same Methods for obtaining the abolition of all the Laws for Protestancy 'T is but for the King to declare that he will have all his Subjects to be of his own Religion and then by the Logick of the late Cant which he used in his Speech to the Council at Windsor That they who are not for him are against him we must immediately either turn Papists or be put into the same List with them and be thought worthy of the same Royal Displeasure which they are become obnoxious unto who cannot find it to be their duty and interest to destroy the Tests And Mr. Pen's Argument of being afraid of His Majesties and the Papists power and yet to provoke it Good Advice p. 43. will hold in the one case as well as in the other Nor do I see but that the Court may improve another Topick of his against us Ibid. p. 44. viz. That we were ill Courtiers by setting him up first to give him Roast-meat and then to beat him with the Spit by refusing to be of his Religion To which I may add that the brutal severities exercised towards Protestants in France and Piedmont are but ill inducements to prevail upon a Reformed Nation to give Liberty to Papists 'T is an Axiom founded in the light of Nature as well as an Oracle of Revelation That with what measure any do mete unto others it shall be measured to them again and that whatsoever any would that we should do to them they should do so to us Would the Papists once perswade Catholick Rulers to give Indulgence to those of our Religion it would be an argument that they acted sincerely in their pleading against Penal Laws for matters of Religion and would mightily prevail upon all of the Reformed Communion to Repeal such Statutes as are Enacted against them But while they continue and increase their Persecution against us in all places where they have power I do not see how they can reasonably expect that we should believe them either to be just or honest or to deserve any measure of lenity Reprizals are the onely methods whereby to bring them to peaceable and equal Terms Had Protestant Princes and States given Papal Soveraigns to understand that they would act upon the same square that they do and retaliate upon those of the Romish Faith whatsoever should be inflicted because of Religion upon those of ours I have ground to think that the Clergy in France and Savoy would have had more discretion than to have been Instrumental in stirring up the late Persecutions and of instigating Rulers to such unparallelled Barbarities 'T is not many years since a Prince in Germany begun to treat Protestants with an unjust severity and to Banish them his Countrey contrary to his word and the Stipulation he had made with them but upon the Duke of Brandenburg's both threatning and beginning to do so by the Roman Catholicks in his Dutchy of Cleve the other Prince immediately forbare his rigour and the Protestants had fair Quarter allowed them And therefore if Mr. Pen and his Catholick Friends in stead of reproaching the Church of England of justifying by her principle the King of France and the Inquisition would prevail for abolishing the one and for putting an end to Persecution by the other they would thereby do more for inclining the Nations to Tolerate Papists than either by all their invidious Satyrs against the conformable Clergy or by their Panegyricks upon a Popish Monarch and the Romish Church In the mean time 't is most unreasonable for them to demand or expect and unwise as well as unseasonable for British Protestants to consent to the Abrogation of the Tests and the Repealing of the Penal Laws against Papists Moreover though 't is possible that we might defend our selves against the dangers that might ensue upon it had we a Prince of our own Religion on the Throne yet it would be to surrender our selves unto their power and to expose our selves to their Discretion should we venture to do it while a Papist of His Majesties humour hath the weilding of the Scepter One of the main Arguments by which Mr. Pen would perswade us against all apprehension of danger from the Papists in case the Test and Penal Laws were abolished is the inconsiderableness of their number in comparison of Protestants Good Advice p. 49. And yet if there be so many ill Men in the Nation as he intimates Letter 3d. p. 12. who being of no Religion are ready upon the motives of worldly Interest to take upon them the profession of any were it not for fear of being at one time or another called to an account I do not see but that as the Papists through having the King on their side are already possessed of what he stiles the Artificial Strength of the Kingdom why they may not in a short while were those Laws once destroyed by which the Atheistical and profane sort of Men are kept in awe come to obtain too much of the natural strength of it and raise their number to a nearer equality to that of Protestants And though they should never multiply to any near proportion yet we may easily imagine what a few hands may be able to do when Authorized by a Popish Soveraign and seconded by a well-disciplin'd Army commanded by Roman Catholicks
maintain them For as no Papist is prejudiced by them in his person or property so they are the most innocent and moderate security we can have for the preservation of our selves and of our Religion Nor could any thing justifie the Wisdom of the Nation in being without them so long but that we were not till then suspicious of the Religion of the Regnant Prince nor apprehensive before of the misfortune of having a Popish Successor And whereas Mr. Pen tells us that it were ridiculous to talk of giving liberty of Conscience and at the same time imagine that the Tests ought to be continued Good Adv. p. 59. We may not onely reply that Liberty of Conscience has no Relation to Mens being admitted unto Civil Trusts but that the same is practised in several States and Governments both Popish and Protestant and in Pensilvania it self where I suppose Liberty of Conscience is allowed For as we find freedom vouchsafed to Men in matters of Religion both in Holland and in diverse Protestant States in Germany without their being capable of Claiming a share in the Magistracy so though the Protestant Religion be tolerated in Collen yet it is with a preclusion of all of that Religion from Authority Whatsoever else Mr. Pen says upon this head is so despicably weak that as I neither judge it worthy to be taken notice of nor have Room to do it so I am confident that be his Religion what it will which by reason of his late Papers I have more Reason to suspect than ever he writes as much against his conscience and Judgment as against the Pattern and Example which he hath set us in Pensilvania I confess the Dissenters are under more temptations than other Protestants to wish for and to endeavour the Abrogation of the Penal Laws And as this makes them to be the more particularly applied unto by the Court for the promoting of it so it renders them the more liable to be influenced by Discourses of the nature and complexion that Mr. Pen's are of But I hope they will consider that the preservation of the Protestant Religion to themselves their posterity and the Kingdom is more valuable than a little temporal ease and which they onely hold by the precarious tenure of the King's word Surely they cannot be so infatuated as to think that the Papists love them or that they will trust them any longer than they have occasion to use them I would think that it should both make them blush to find themselves coupled with Roman Catholicks in Courts and Employments while their fellow Protestants are shut out and make them jealous that they are onely made use of for some mischievous and sinistrous end They can never hope to lay such a merit upon the Court as the Church of England hath done and her reward may forewarn them what they are to expect when they have done the job that is allotted for them His Majesties sincerity in giving liberty to Dissenting Protestants may be easily guessed at by his ordering 26 poor Scots Dissenters to be sent to the Barbadoes for slaves and this both since the Emitting of his First Proclamation for a Toleration and without the having any thing objected to them but what concerned their Consciences in matters of Religion The Terms upon which Phanaticks are to enjoy his Majesties favour and how long they are to expect the continuance of that mighty Grace we have declared by himself as they stand recorded in my Lord Melfort's Letter to the Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland Namely That he intends to continue their Liberty if he have suitable encouragement and concurrence from them in their Doctrine and Practice and if they concur with him in removing of the Penal Laws This is the Task that they are indulged and preferred for and 't is a wonder that they do not foresee that their destiny will be one and the same in case they have once done it as if they do it not This is the Fountain of all his Majesties friendship to them and the glorious assertion of its having been always his Principle that Conscience ought not to be constrained and that none ought to be persecuted for meer matters of Religion is at last dwindled into this that he will give them Liberty so long as they will concurr and cooperate with him in his introducing of Popery and till they have destroyed the Laws by which our own Religion is fenced about and defended Certainly it is high time to consider what this is which is exacted of them and what hazard they not onely expose the Nation and the Gospel unto but what guilt they derive upon themselves if they undertake and pursue it Nor can they promote the Repealing of the Penal Laws against Papists and the Test Statutes without running themselves under the guilt of Perjury and the making themselves chargeable before God with all the blood that was shed in the War between King Charles I. and the Parliament For as one of the Articles of the Solemn League and Covenant was to endeavour to extirpate Popery so the countenance and incouragement which that Prince gave to Papists was a main ingredient in the State of the Quarrel for which they drew their Swords against him and in the assertion whereof so many thousands lost their lives Can they now be willing to act in direct opposition to that Covenant which rather than renounce and disclaim the obligatory force of many of them have suffered so much or would they have the guilt of all the blood lye upon them which was shed in the former long and fatal War I 'm perswaded that many who are most forward to pursue the Abrogation of the Tests and Penal Laws against Papists never gave themselves leave to think what they are hurried unto Mr. Pen tells them he will beg them for Fools if they do it not Good Advice p. 54. and I dare take upon me to say that they are most Execrable Knaves and Villains if they do it Is it possible they should be so deprived of all understanding as not to perceive themselves meerly trick't upon and made use of for Tools to promote a Design which others have the wisdom and integrity not to be instrumental in when Jeffreys who a while ago said on the Bench Shew me a Fanatick and I will shew you a Knave and that 't was impossible to be a Fanatick and not to be a Rebel should now caress them as his Majesties best and most Loyal Subjects and tell them upon their being advanced to Offices That he is glad to find honest men come to be employed which was the Complement he lately bestowed upon Sir John Shorter 'T is likely they may be told that if they will fall in with the Papists for destroying the Church of England that they shall be secured from the Resentments of the next Heir by having the Monarchy made dissolvable into a Republick upon his Majesties death And this would seem to be
who had lived and died a cordial and zealous Protestant and whosoever had muttered any thing to the contrary would have been branded for a Villain and an execrable person But with what a scent and odor must it recommend his Memory to them to consider his having not onely lived and died in the Communion of the Church of Rome in contradiction to all his publick Speeches solemn Declarations and highest Asseverations to his People in Parliament but his participating from time to time of the Sacrament as Administred in the Church of England while in the interim he had Abjured our Religion stood reconciled to the Church of Rome and had obliged himself by most sacred Vows and was endeavouring by all the Frauds and Arts imaginable to subvert the established Doctrin and Worship and set up Heresy and Idolatry in their room And it must needs give them an abhorrent Idea and Character of Popery and a loathsom representation of those trusted with the Conduct and Guidance of the Consciences of Men in the Roman Communion that they should not onely dispense with and indulge such Crimes and Villanies but proclaim them Sanctified and Meritorious from the end which they are calculated for and levelled at And for his dear Brother and renowned Successor who possessed the Throne after him I suppose his most partial Admirers who took him for a Prince not onely merciful in his Temper and imbued with all gracious Inclinations to our Laws and the Rights of the Subject but for one Orthodox in his Religion and who would prove a zealous Defender of the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church established by Law are before this time both undeceived and filled with Resentments for his having abused their Credulity deceived their Expectations and reproached all their Gloryings and Boastings of him For as it would have been the greatest Affront they could have put upon the King to question his being of the Roman Communion or to detract from his Zeal for the introduction of Popery notwithstanding his own antecedent Protestations as well as the many Statutes in force for the preservation of the Reformed Religion so I must take the liberty to tell them that his Apostacy is not of so late Date as the World is made commonly to believe For though it was many Years concealed and the contrary pretended and dissembled yet it is most certain that he Abjured the Protestant Religion soon after the Exilement of the Royal Family and was reconciled to the Romish Church at St. Germains in France Nor were several of the then suffering Bishops and Clergy ignorant of this though they had neither the Integrity nor Courage to give the Nation and Church warning of it And within these five Years there was in the custody of a very worthy and honest Gentleman a Letter written to the late Bishop of D. by a Doctor of Divinity then attending upon the Royal Brothers wherein the Apostacy of the then Duke of York to the See of Rome is particularly related and an Account given how much the Dutchess of Tremoville though without being her self observed had heard the Queen Mother glorying of it bewailed it as a dishonour unto the Royal Family and as that which might prove of pernicious consequence to the Protestant Interest But though the old Queen privately rejoyced and triumphed in it yet she knew too well what disadvantage it might be both to her Son and to the Papal Cause in Great Brittain to have it at that Season communicated and divulged Thereupon it remained a Secret for many Years and by virtue of a Dispensation he sometimes joined in all Ordinances with those of the Protestant Communion But for all the Art Hypocrisy and Sacrilege by which it was endeavoured to be concealed it might have been easily discerned as manifesting it self in the whole Course of his Actions And at last his own Zeal the Importunity of the Priests and the Cunning of the late King prevailing over Reasons of State he withdrew from all Acts of Fellowship with the Church of England But neither that nor his refusing the Test enjoyned by Law for distinguishing Papists from Protestants though thereupon he was forced both to resign his Office of Lord High Admiral c. nor his declining the Oath which the Laws of Scotland for the securing a Protestant Governour enjoyn to be taken by the High Commissioner nor yet so many Parliaments having endeavoured to get him Excluded from Succession to the Crown upon the account of having revolted to the See of Rome and thereby become dangerous to the Established Religion could make impression upon a wilfully deluded and obstinate sort of Protestants but in defiance of all means of Conviction they would perswade themselves that he was still a Zealot for our Religion and a grand Patriot of the Church of England Nor could any thing undeceive them till upon his Brother's Death he had openly declared himself a Roman Catholick and afterwards in the fumes and raptures of his Victory over the late Duke of Monmouth had discovered and proclaimed his Intentions of overthrowing both our Religion and Laws Yea so closely had some sealed up their Eyes against all beams of Light and hardned themselves against all Evidences from Reason and Fact that had it pleased the Almighty God to have prospered the Duke of Monmouth's Arms in the Summer 85. the present King would have gone off the Stage with the Reputation among them of a Prince tender of the Laws of the Kingdom and who notwithstanding his own being a Papist would have preserved the Reformed Religion and have maintained the Church of England in all her Grandure and Rights And though his whole Life had been but one continued Conspiracy against our Civil Liberties and Priviledges he had left the Throne with the Character and under the Esteem of a Gentleman that in the whole course of his Government would have regulated himself by the Rules of the Constitution and the Statutes of the Realm Now among all the Methods fallen upon by the Royal Brothers for the undermining and subverting our Religion and Laws there is none that they have pursued with more Ardor and wherein they have been more successful to the compassing of their Designs than in their dividing Protestants and alienating their Affections and embittering their Minds from and against one another And had not this lain under their prospect and the means of effecting it appeared easie they might have been Papists themselves while in the mean time they had been dispensed with to protest and swear their being of the Reformed Religion and they might have envied our Liberties and bewailed their Restriction from Arbitrary and Despotical Power but they never durst have entertained a Thought of subverting the Established Religion or of altering the Civil Government nor would they ever have had the boldness to have attempted the introducing and erecting Popery and Tyranny in their room And whosoever should have put them upon reducing the Nation
while ago to see connived at in the exercise of their Worship in private Houses are allowed now to practise their Idolatry openly in our chief Towns and in the Metropolitan City of the Kingdom to usurp the publick Churches and Cathedrals Those Catholick Gentlemen whom heretofore it was matter of surprise to see countenanced with the private Favour of the Prince are now advanced to the supream Commands in the Army and the principal Trust in Civil Affairs The Recusant Lords whose enlargement out of the Tower we could not but look upon as an unpresidented Violation both of the Laws of the Land and of the Rights and Jurisdiction of Parliament being committed thither by the Authority of the House of Lords upon a Charge and Impeachment of High Treason by the Commons of England in Parliament assembled were now honoured to be Members of the Privy Council and exalted to be chief Ministers of State They whom the Statutes of the Realm make subject to the severest Penalties for Apostacy to Rome are not only protected from the edg of the Laws but maintained in Parochial Incumbencies and Headships of Colledges Our Orthodox Clergy are not only inhibited to preach against Popery but are illegally Reprimanded Silenced and Suspended for discharging that Duty which their Consciences Offices Oaths and the Laws of the Kingdom oblige them unto And such whom neither the Ecclesiastical nor Westminster Courts can arraign and proceed against we have a new Court of Inquisition erected for the adjudging and punishing of them So that it is not the Dissenters who are the only Persons to be struck at and ruined but the Conformists are to be treated after the same manner and to share in the common Lot whereunto all honest and sincere Protestants are destined and designed Even they who were the Darlings of Whitehall and St. Jameses and recompensed with Honours and Titles for betraying the Rights and Priviledges of Corporations persecuting Dissenters and heading Addresses wherein Parliaments were reproached the Course of Justice against Popish Offenders was slandered the illegal and arbitrary procedures of the Court applauded and justified and all that were zealous for our Laws and Liberties stigmatized with the names of Villains and Traitors are now themselves for but discouraging Popish Assemblies and attempting to put the Laws in execution against Priests who had publickly celebrated Mass not only check'd and rebuked but punished with Seisure and Imprisonment Nor are our Religion and Civil Liberties meerly supplanted and undermined by illegal Tricks glossed over with the Varnish of judicial Forms but they are assaulted and battered in the face of the Sun without so much as a palliation to give their procedures a plausible figure And the King being brought to a despair of managing the Parliament to his barefaced Purpose of Popery and Arbitrariness and of prevailing with them to establish Tyranny and Idolatry by Law notwithstanding their having been as industriously pack'd and chosen to answer such a Design as Art Bribery and Authority could reach and notwithstanding their having been obsequious in their first Session to an excess that has proved unsafe to themselves and the Nation he became resolved not to allow them to meet any more but to set up a-la-mode de France and to his personal Commands seconded with the Assent of his durante-beneplacito-Judges to be acknowledged and obeyed for Laws So that they who were formerly seduced into a good Opinion of him are not only undeceived but provoked to warm Resentments for having had their credulity and easiness of belief so grosly abused And as the converting so vast a number of well-meaning but wofully deluded People who had suffered themselves to be hoodwink'd and fatally hurried to betray their Religion Country and Posterity to the Ambition and Popish Bigottry of the Court was a design becoming the Compassion Mercy and Wisdom of God so the Method's and Means whereby they are come to be enlightned and proselyted are a signal vindication of the Sapience and Righteousness of God in all those tremendous steps of his Providence by which our Enemies have been emboldned to detect and discover themselves For though their continuing so long to have a good opinion of the present King and their abetting him so far in the undermining our Religion and invading our Liberties may seem to have proceeded not so much from their Ignorance as from their Obstinacy and Malice yet God who penetrates into the Hearts of Men may have discovered some degrees of sincerity in their Pretentions and Carriages though accompanied with a great deal of folly and unmanliness Nor are the Lords ways like to ours to give Persons over as unteachable and irreclaimable upon their withstanding every measure of Light and the resisting even those Means which were sufficient and proper for their Conviction but he will try them by new and extraordinary Methods and see whether Feeling and doleful Experience may not convert those upon whom Arguments and Moral Evidence could make no impressions And there being among those formerly misled and deluded Protestants many who retained a Love for their Country a Care for their Posterity and a Zeal for the Gospel and Reformed Religion even when their Actions imported the contrary and seem'd to betray them the singling and weeding out such from among the Court-Faction and Party is a compensation both for the defeatment of all endeavours for the prevention of the Evils that have overtaken us and for the Distresses and Calamities under which we do at present lie and groan And if there be joy in Heaven upon the conversion of a Sinner with what thankfulness to God and joy in themselves should they who have so many years wrestled against the encroachments of Popery and Arbitrariness and who have deeply suffered in their Names Persons and Estates upon that account welcome and embrace their once erring and misled but now enlightned reclaimed and converted Brethren And in stead of remembring or upbraiding them with the opposition and rancour which they expressed against our Persons Principles and Ways let there be no Language heard from us but what may declare the joy we have in our selves for their conversion and the entire trust and confidence which we put in them The first Duty incumbent therefore upon Dissenters towards those of the Church of England is to believe that notwithstanding there have been many of them so long Advocates and Partisans for the Court through ignorance of what was aimed at and intended they are nevertheless as really concerned as any others and as truly zealous for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and for maintaining the legal Rights and Liberties of the Subject and when occasion shall offer will approve themselves accordingly 'T is a ridiculous as well as a mischievous Fancy for one Party to confine all Religion only to themselves or to circumscribe all the ancient English Ardor for the common Rights of the Nation to such as are of their particular Fellowship and Perswasion
which they cannot help but bear his Misfortune and Lot with Patience in himself and with Compassion and Charity towards them and have his Indignation raised only against that Court which forced them to be instrumental in their Oppression and Trouble The Protestant Dissenters could not be so far void of sense as to think that the Person lately in the Throne bore them any good-Will but his drift was to screw himself into a Supremacy and Absoluteness over the Law and to get such an Authority confessed to be vested in him as when he pleased he might subvert the Established Religion and set up Popery Forby the same Power that he can dispense with the Penal Statutes against the Nonconformists he may also dispense with those against the Roman Catholicks And whosoever owneth that he hath a Right to do the first doth in effect own that he hath a Right to do the last For if he be allowed a Power for the superseding some Laws made in reference to Matters of Religion he may challenge the like Power for the superseding others of the same kind And then by the same Authority that he can suspend the Laws against Popery he may also suspend those for Protestancy And by the same Power that he can in defiance of Law indulge the Papists the Exercise of their Religion in Houses he may establish them in the publick Celebration of their Idolatry in Churches and Cathedrals yea whereas the Laws that relate to Religion are enacted by no less Authority than those that are made for the Preservation of our Civil Rights should the K. be admitted to have an Arbitrary Power over the one it is very like that by the Logick of Whitehall he might have challeng'd the same Absoluteness over the other Nor do I doubt but that the eleven Judges who gratified him with a Despoticalness over the former would when required grant him the same over the latter I know the Dissenters have been under no small Temptations both by reason of being hindred from enjoying the Ordinances of the Gospel and because of many grievous Calamities which they suffer for their Nonconformity of making Applications to the K. for some Relief by his suspending the Execution of the Laws but they must give me leave to add that they ought not for the obtaining of a little Ease to have betrayed the Kingdom and Sacrifice the Legal Constitution of the Government to the Lust and Pleasure of a Popish Prince whom nothing less would serve than being Absolute and Despotical And had he once been in the quiet Possession of an Authority to dispense with the Penal Laws the Dissenters would not long have enjoyed the Benefit of it Nor could they have denied him a Power of reviving the Execution of the Law which is part of the Trust deposited with him as Supreme Magistrate who have granted him a Power of Suspending the Laws which the Rules of the Government precluded him from And as he might whensoever he pleased cause the Laws to which they were Obnoxious to be executed upon them so by virtue of having an Authority acknowledged in him of superceding the Laws he might deprive them of the Liberty of meeting together to the number of Five a Grace which the Parliament thought fit to allow them under all the other Severities to which they were subjected Nor needs there any further Evidence that the Prince's challenging such a Power was an Usurpation and that the Subjects making any Application by which it seem'd allowed to him was a betraying of the Ancient Legal Government of the Kingdom whereas the most Obsequious and Servile Parliament to the Court that ever England knew not only denied this Prerogative to the late King Charles but made him renounce it by revoking his Declaration of Indulgence which he had emitted Anno 1672. And as it will be to the perpetual Honour of some of the Dissenters to have chosen rather to suffer the Severities which the Laws make them liable unto than by any Act and Transaction of theirs to undermine and weaken either the Church or the State so it will be a means both of endearing them we hope not only to the Prince of Orange now by a miraculous Providence brought in amongst us but to future Parliaments and of bringing them and the Conformists into an Union of Counsels and Endeavours against Popery and Tyranny for ever which is at this season a thing so indispensibly necessary for their common Preservation Especially when through a new and more threatning Alliance and Confederacy with France than that in 72 the King had not only engaged to act by and observe the same Measures towards Protestants in England which that Monarch hath vouchsafed the World a Pattern and Copy of in his carriage towards those of the Reformed Religion in France but had promised to disturb the Peace and Repose of his Neighbours and to commence a War in conjunction with that Prince against Foreign Protestants For as the King 's giving Liberty and Protection to the Algerines to frequent his Havens and sell the Prizes which they take from the Dutch is both a most infamous Action for a Prince pretending to be a Christian and a direct Violation of his Alliance with the States General so nothing can be more evident than that he thereby sought to render them the weaker for him to assault and that he was resolved if some unforeseen and extraordinary Providence had not interposed and prevented to declare War against them the next Summer in order whereunto great Remises of Money were already ordered him from the French Court So that the Indulgence which he pretends to be inclinable to afford the Dissenters was not an effect of Kindness and Good-will but an Artifice whereby to oblige their Assistance in destroying those Abroad of the same Religion with themselves Which if he could once compass it were easie to foresee what Fate both the Dissenters and they of the Communion of the Church of England were to expect Who as they would not then have known whither to retreat for shelter so they would have been destitute of Comfort in themselves and deprived of Pity from others not only for having through their Divisions made themselves a Prey to the Papists at Home but for having been accessary to the Ruin of the Reformed State Abroad and which was the Asilum and Sanctuary of all those that were elsewhere oppressed and persecuted for Religion Gloria Deo Optimo Maximo Honos Principi nostri celcissimo pientissimo A Representation of the Threatning Dangers Impending over Protestants in Great Britain With an Account of the Arbitrary and Popish Ends unto which the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in England and the Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland are designed THey are great Strangers to the Transactions of the World who know not how many and various the Attempts of the Papists have been both to hinder all Endeavours towards a Reformation and to overthrow and subvert it
is in other Princes of the same Communion or that they are more regardless of Fame and less concerned how future Generations will brand their Memories than other Papal Monarchs seem to be that they have suffered themselves to be prevailed upon to violate the Promises and Oaths they were bound by to their Protestant Subjects seeing the Emperor is character'd for a Person of a meek and gentle Temper and of the goodness of whose Nature there remain some shadows interwoven with the bloody streaks of the Hungarian Persecution And the French King though he stand not much commended for Sweetness and Benignity of Disposition is known to be unmeasurably Ambitious of having his name transmitted to Posterity in Letters of Greatness and Honor which his behaviour towards his Subjects of the Reformed Religion is no ways adapted unto but calculated to make him hereafter listed with Nero and Julian As to the Duke of Savoy there seems by the whole course of his other Actions to be a certain Greatness of Mind in him not easily consisting with that savage and brutal Temper which the Cruelties he hath exercised upon the Protestants in Piedmont would intimate and denote But it ariseth from the Mischievousness and Pestilency of their Religion their Bigottry in it and their having put themselves so entirely under the conduct of the Clergy particularly of the Jesuits who are for the most part a Sett of Men especially the latter that through acting in the Prospect of no other Ends but the Grandeur Wealth and Domination of the Church of Rome do with an unlimited Rage and a peculiar kind of Malice persecute all that have renounced Fellowship with it and care not if they Sacrifice the Honor Glory and Safety of Monarchs and bring their Kingdoms into Contempt and Desolation by rending them weak poor and dispeopled provided they may wreek their Spleen and Revenge upon those whose Religion is not only dissonant from theirs but should it prevail to be the Religion of the Legislators and Rulers of Nations those Springs of Wealth would be immediately dried up by which their Superior Clergy and all their Religious Orders are enriched and fed up in Idleness And should the People come to be generally imbued with Principles of Gospel Light and Liberty they would immediately shake off a blind and slavish Dependence upon Pope and Priests and thereby subvert the Foundation upon which the Monarchick Grandeur of the Romish Church and their whole Religion is superstructed and destroy the Engine by which they are inabled to Lord it over the Bodies Estates and Consciences of Men. And if Protestants every where especially under Popish Rulers were not under a strange Infatuation they would look for no fairer Quarter from Papists than what their Brethren have met with in France and Piedmont nor would they rely upon the Faith of any King that stiles himself a Roman Catholick seeing Sacred Promises tremendous Oaths and the most Authentick Declarations are but Papal Arts and Tricks sanctified at Rome whereby to lull Subjects into a Security and delude them into a neglect of all means for preserving themselves and their Religion till their Rulers can be in a condition of obeying the Decrees of the fourth Lateran Council that enjoyns Kings to destroy and extirpate Hereticks under pain of Excommunication and of having both their Subjects absolved from Allegiance to them and their Territories given away to others and till without running any Hazard they may comply with the Ordinance of the Council of Constance which not only releaseth them from all Obligation of keeping Faith to Hereticks but requires them to violate it and accordingly made Sigismond break his Faith to John Hus whom in defiance of the Security given him by that King they caused to be condemned and Burn'd Nor is the Practice and late Example of the Great Louis designed for less than a Pattern by which all Popish Princes are to act and his Proceedings are to be the Copy and Moddel which they who would merit the name of Zealous Catholicks and be esteemed dutiful Sons of the Church are to transcribe and limn out in Lines of Force Violence and Blood and for the better corresponding with the Original to imploy Dragoons for Missionaries And tho I will not say but that there may be some Popish Princes who through an extraordinary Measure of good Nature and from Principles of Compassion woven into their Constitution previously to all notices of Revelation whether real or pretended and who through Sentiments imbib'd from a generous Education and their coming afterwards to be under the Influence and Management of wise and discreet Counsellors may be able to resist the malignant Impressions of their Religion and so be preserved from the Inhumanities towards those of different Perswasions from them in the things of God which their Priests would lay them under Obligations unto by the Doctrines of the Romish Faith yet there appears no reason why an understanding Man should be induced to believe that the King of England is likely to prove a Prince of that great and noble Temper there being more than enough both to raise a Jealousie and beget a Perswasion that there is not a Monarch among all those who are commonly stiled Catholicks from whom Protestants may justly dread greater Severities than from Him or look for worse and more Barbarous Treatments I am not ignorant with what Candor we ought by the Rules of Charity and good Manners to speak of all Men whatsoever their Religion is nor am I unacquainted with what Veneration and Deference we are to discourse of Crowned Heads but as I dare not give those flattering Titles unto any of which there are not a few in some of the late Addresses presented to the King by an inconsiderable and foolish sort of Dissenting Preachers so I should not know how to be accountable to God my own Conscience or the World should I not in my Station as a Protestant and as a Lover of the Laws and Liberties of my Country offer something whereby both to undeceive that weak and short-sighted People whom their own being accommodated for a Season by the Declaration of Indulgence hath deluded into an Opinion that His Majesty cherisheth no thoughts of subverting our Religion and also further to enlighten and confirm others in the just Apprehensions they are possessed with of the Design carrying on in Great Britain and Ireland for the Extirpation of Protestancy and that the late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience is emitted in Subserviency thereunto and calculated by the Court toward the paving and preparing the way for the more facile Accomplishment of it And while Mercenary Sycophants by their Flatteries infect and corrupt Princes and by their representing them to the World in Colours disagreeable from their Tempers and Dispositions and in milder and fairer Characters than any thing observable in them either deserveth or correspondeth with do delude Subjects into such Opinions of them as beget a neglect of
given to his Declaration and to what he hath since the Emission of it repeated both in his Speech to Mr. Penn and in his Letter to Mr. Alsop And to omit many other Instances of his kindness and Benignity to the Fanaticks whom he now so much hugs and caresseth it may not be amiss to remember them and all other Protestants of that barbarous and illegal Commission issued forth by the Council of Scotland while he as the late King 's High Commissioner had the Management of the Affairs of that Kingdom by which every Military Officer that had command over twelve Men was impower'd to impannel Juries Try Condemn and cause to be put to Death not only those who should be found to disclaim the King's Authority but such as should refuse to acknowledge the King 's new modelled Supremacy over that Church in the pursuance and Execution of which Commission some were Shot to Death others were Hang'd or Drowned and this not only during the Continuance of the Reign of his late Majesty but for above a Year and a half after the present King came to the Crown But what need is there of insisting upon such little Particulars wherein he was at all times ready to express his Malice to Protestants seeing we have not only Dr. Oates's Testimony and that of divers others but most Authentick Proofs from Mr. Coleman's Letters of his having been in a Conspiracy several Years for the Subversion of our Religion upon the meritorious and sanctified Motive of extirpating the Northern Heresie Of which beside all the Evidence that four Successive Parliaments arrived at I know several who since the Duke of York ascended the Throne have had it confirmed unto them by divers Foreign Papists that were less reserved or more ingenuous than many of that Communion use to be To question the Existence of that Plot and his present Majesties having been Accessary unto and in the Head of it argues a strange Effrontery and Impudence through casting an Aspersion of Weakness Folly and Injustice not only upon those Three Parliaments that seem'd to have retained some Zeal for English Liberties but by fastening the same Imputations upon the Long Parliament which had shewed it self at all times more Obsequious to the Will of the Court than was either for their own Honor or the Safety and Interest of the Kingdom and who had expressed a Veneration for the Royal Family that approached too much upon a degree of Idolatry Whosoever considers that Train of Counsels wherein the King was many Years engaged and whereof we felt the woful Effects in the Burning of London the frequent Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliaments the widening and exasperating Differences among Protestants the stirring up and provoking Civil Magistrates and Ecclesiastical Courts to persecute Dissenters and the maintaining Correspondencies with the Pope and Catholick Princes abroad to the dishonor of the Nation and danger of our Laws and Religion cannot avoid being apprehensive what we are now to look for at his Hands nor can be escape thinking that he esteems his Advancement to the Crown both a Reward from Heaven for what he hath done and plotted against these three Kingdoms and an Opportunity and Advantage administred to him for the Perfecting and Accomplishment of all those Designs with which he hath been so long Bigg and in Travel for the Destruction of our Religion the Subversion of our Laws and the Re-establishment of Popery in these Dominions The Conduct and Guidance under which His Majesty hath put himself and the fiery Temper of that Order to whose Government he hath resigned his Conscience may greatly add to our Fears and give us all the Jealousie and Dread that we are capable of being impressed with in reference to Matters to come that there is nothing which can be Fatal to our Religion or Persons that we may not expect the being called to conflict with and suffer For tho most of the Popish Ecclesiasticks especially the Regulars bear an inveterate Malice to Protestants and hold themselves under indispensible Obligations of eradicating whatsoever their Church stiles Heresie and have accordingly been always forward to stir up and provoke Rulers to the use and Application of Force for the Destruction of Protestants as a Company of perverse and obstinate Hereticks adjudged and condemned to the Stake and Gibbet by the infallible Chair yet of all Men in the Communion of the Romish Church and of their Religious Orders the Jesuits are they who do most hate us and whose Counsels have been most Sanguinary and always tending to influence those Monarchs whose Consciences they have had the guiding and conducting of to the utmost Cruelties and Barbarities towards us What our Brethren have had measured out to them in France through Father de la Chaise's Influence upon that King and through the bewitching Power and Domination he hath over him in the quality of his Confessor and as having the Direction of his Conscience may very well alarm and inform us what we ought to expect from His Majesty of Great Britain who hath surrendered his Conscience to the Guidance of Father Peters a Person of the same Order and of the like mischievous and bloody Disposition that the former is 'T is well observed by the Author of the Reasons against Repealing the Acts of Parliament concerning the Test that Cardinal Howard's being of such a meek and gentle Temper that is able to withstand the Malignity of his Religion and to preserve him from concurring in those mischievous Counsels which his Purple might seem to oblige him unto is the reason of his being shut out from Acquaintance with and Interest in the English Affairs transacted at Rome and that whatsoever his Majesty hath to do in that Court is managed by his Ambassador under the sole Direction of the Jesuits So that it is not without cause that the Jesuit of Liege in his intercepted and lately printed Letter tells a Brother of the Order what a wonderful Veneration the King hath for the Society and with what profound Submission he receives those Reverend Fathers and hearkens to whatsoever they represent Nor is His Majesty's being under the Influence of the Jesuits through having one of them for his Confessor and several of them for his Chief Counsellors and principal Confidents the only thing in this Matter that awakens our Fear in what we are to expect from his armed Power excited and stir'd up by that fiery Tribe but there is another Ground why we ought more especially to dread him and that is his being entred and enrolled into the Order and become a Member of the Society whereby he is brought into a greater Subjection and Dependence upon them and stands bound by Ties and Engagements of being obedient to the Commands of the General of the Jesuits and that not only in Spirituals but in whatsoever they shall pretend to be subservient to the Exaltation of the Church and for upholding the Glory of the Tripple Crown This
is a Mystery which few are yet acquainted with and which both His Majesty and the Order judge it their Interest to have industriously concealed but whereof the World may ere long receive that convictive Intelligence that there will be no room left for suspecting the Truth of it and whereof a Jesuit in the late printed Letter from Liege hath given us already sufficient Intimation both in telling us That the King of England stiles himself a Son of the Society and how that he wrote to Father de la Chaise that he would account every Injury done to the Jesuits to be a wrong committed against himself Neither is it so surprising as it may seem at first view that the King should list himself a Member of the Order seeing there have been four other Crowned Heads of whose Entrance and Matriculation into the Society there is all the Evidence and Assurance imaginable And tho one of them is acknowledged to have been in the Classis of the Directors while the other three are generally believed to have been in the Form of the Directed yet such was the Power of the Society over them all that a great part of the Cruelty exercised towards Protestants both in the last Age and in this is to be ascribed to that implicit and blind Obedience which they were bound to yield to the Injunctions of the Order and to the Commands of the General Philip the Second of Spain who was the first King that entred into the Order and who did it upon Motives of Policy in hopes by their means to have compassed the Universal Monarchy which he was aspiring after and who through being in the Classis of Directors had Advantages of using and improving and not of being in that degree of Servitude unto them which the others have been yet to what barbarous Cruelties did they over-rule and instigate him not only to the Destruction of unconceivable Numbers of his Subjects whose only Crime was that they could not believe as the Church of Rome doth which issued in the depopulating some of his Dominions and his being deposed from the Sovereignty in others but to the Sacrificing his Son and Heir Prince Charles whom to gratifie the Society he caused upon an Accusation of his favoring the Low-Country Hereticks and the being himself tainted with Lutheranism to be murthered in his own Court and Palace Sigismond of Poland who was the second Crowned Head admitted into the Order through complying with the Counsels and serving the Wrath Rage and Passions of the Jesuits in endeavoring to suppress Religion in Swedeland to which he was Heir and in striving to subvert their Civil Rights drew upon himself the Resentment and Wrath of that Nation to such a degree that they abdicated him and his Heirs from the Government and advanced another to the Throne Casimire who was also King of Poland is reckoned to be the third Sovereign Prince that entered into the Society and he through coming under the Domination of the Jesuits and being bound to follow their Directions and to execute whatsoever the General of the Order thought fit to enjoyn for the Promotion and Benefit of the Church became not only an Instrument of a severe Persecution against all sort of Dissenters from the Romish Faith so that many were put to Death and more driven to abandon their Country but through committing many things in the course of his Government that were prejudicial to the Rights and thereupon disgustful to the Polish Nobility they conceived such an Aversion and Hatred for him that to avoid the Effects of their Resentment and Indignation he was forced to lay down his Crown and to chuse to end his days in France in no higher a Post and under no more glorious a Character than that of Abbot of St. German There is a fourth Prince and who is yet in being that is generally believed to be enrolled into the Order and the Persecution he hath carried on in Hungary contrary to his natural Temper and to all the Rules of Interest and Policy and to the Violation of his Promises and Oaths for continuing unto them the Liberty of their Religion is both too probable an Evidence of it and a strong Confirmation of the Cruelties which the Jesuits instigate Princes unto over whom they have Influence and whom they have wheedled into Engagements of obeying their Commands and pursuing their Injunctions And as the desolating of Hungary through a long and bloody War and the tempting the Turks to invade the Austrian Territories are some of the Effects that have ensued upon the Emperor's complying with the fierce and heady Counsels of the Jesuits so we have not seen all the Mischiefs that the Persecution which they have engaged him in against Protestants is like to issue in tho beside the disgusting several Electoral Princes and States in Germany and the furnishing the Ottoman Potentate with Encouragements of continuing the War there are wonderful Advantages afforded by it to embolden the French King in his Encroachments upon the Empire which otherways he would not have dared to attempt and whereof the result at last may prove fatal to the Imperial Dignity and to the whole House of Austria Now what the Protestants in Great Britain and Ireland ought to dread from the King upon his being entred into a Society that hath breathed nothing but Fire and Blood since its first Institution I leave to the serious Consideration of all Men who value their Lives Liberties and Estates and that do not think of renouncing their Religion and turning Papists Nor is it to be imagined that the King before he can be supposed well settled on the Throne and while under a declining State of Body as well as in an advanced Age having the weight of Four and fifty upon his Shoulders beside something else that he is obliged to the Earl of Southesk for which I shall not mention would have taken so many bold wide and Illegal Steps for the Supplanting our Religion and Laws and for the Introduction and Establishment of Popery and Tyranny and this not only to the losing and disobliging his former Votaries and Partizans but to the strange Allarming and Disgusting most Persons of Honor Quality and Interest in the Three Kingdoms were he not beside the being under the Sway of his own Bigottry and the strong Ballance of a large Measure of ill Nature bound by Ties of implicit Obedience to the Commands of that extravagant and furious Society to the promoting of whose Passions and Malice rather than his own Safety and Glory or the lasting Benefit of the Roman Catholicks themselves the whole Course of his Government hitherto seems to have been shapen and adapted The Occasion and Subject of the late Contest between him and the Pope which hath made so great a Noise not only at Rome but through all Europe may serve to convince us both of the extraordinary Zeal he hath for the Society and of the transcendent Power they have over
him and that 't is no wonder he should exact an Obedience without reserve from his Subjects in Scotland seeing he himself yields an Obedience without reserve to the Jesuits 'T is known how that by the Rules of their Institution no Jesuit is capable of the Mitre and that if the Ambition of any of them should tempt him to seek or accept the Dignity of a Prelate he must for being capacitated thereunto renounce his Membership in the Order Yet so great is His Majesties Passion for the Honor and Grandeur of the Society and such is their Domination and absolute Power over him that no less will serve him neither would they allow him to insist upon less than that the Pope should dispense with Father Peters being made a Bishop without his ceasing to be a Jesuit or the being transplanted into another Order And this the old Gentleman at Rome hath been forced at last to comply with and to grant a Dispensation whereby Father Peters shall be capable of the Prelature notwithstanding his remaining in the Ignatian Order the Jesuits through their Authority over the King not suffering him to recede from his Demand and His Majesty's Zeal for the Society not permitting him to comply either with the Prayers or the Conscience and Honor of the Supreme Pontiff Not only the King's Unthankfulness unto but his illegal Proceedings against and his Arbitrary invading the Rights of those who stood by him in all his Dangers and Difficulties and who were the Instruments of preventing his Exclusion from the Crown and the chief means both of his Advancement to the Throne and his being kept in it are so many new Evidences of the ill will he bears to all Protestants and what they are to dread from him as Occasions are Administred of Injuring and Oppressing them and may serve to convince all impartial and thinking People that his Popish Malice to our Religion is too strong for all Principles of Honor and Gratitude and able to cancel the Obligations which Friendship for his Person and Service to his Interest may be supposed to have laid him under to any heretofore Had it not been for many of the Church of England who stood up with a Zeal and Vigor for preserving the Succession in the right Line beyond what Religion Conscience Reason or Interest could conduct them unto he had never been able to have out-wrestled the Endeavors of Three Parliaments for ex-excluding him from the Imperial Crown of England And had it not been for their Abetting and standing by him with their Swords in their Hands upon the Duke of Monmouth's Descent into the Kingdom Anno 1685 he could not have avoided the being driven from the Throne and the having the Scepter wrested out of his Hand Whosoever had the Advantage of knowing the Temper and Genius of the late King and how afraid he was of embarking into any thing that might import a visible Hazard to the Peace of his Government and draw after it a general Disgust of his Person will be soon satisfied that if all his Protestant Subjects had united in their Desires and concurred in their Endeavors to have had the Duke of York debarred from the Crown that his late Majesty would not have once scrupled the complying with it and that his Love to his Dear Brother would have given way to the Apprehension and Fear of forfeiting a Love for himself in the Hearts of his People especially when what was required of him was not an Invasion upon the Fundamentals of the Constitution of the English Monarchy nor dissonant from the Practice of the Nation in many repeated Instances Nor can there be a greater Evidence of the present King 's ill Nature Romish Bigottry and prodigious Ingratitude as well as of the Design he is carrying on against our Religion and Laws than his Carriage and Behavior towards the Church of England tho I cannot but acknowledge it a righteous Judgment upon them from God and a just Punishment for their being not only so unconcerned for the Preservation of our Religion and Liberties in avoiding to close with the only Methods that were adapted thereunto but for being so Passionate and Industrious to hasten the Loss of them through putting the Government into ones hands who as they might have foreseen would be sure to make a Sacrifice of them to his beloved Popery and to his inordinate Lust after despotical and Arbitrary Power And as the only Example bearing any Affinity to it is that of Louis XIV who in recompence to his Protestant Subjects for maintaining him on the Throne when the late Prince of Conde assisted by Papists would have wrested the Crown from him hath treated them with a Barbarity whereof that of Antiochus towards the Jews and that of Diocletian and Maximian towards the Primitive Christians were but scanty and imperfect Draughts so there wants nothing for compleating the Parallel between England and France but a little more time and a fortunate Opportunity and then the deluded Church-men will find that Father Peters is no less skillful at Whitehall for transforming their Acts of Loyalty and Merit towards the King into Crimes and Motives of their Ruin than Pere de la Chaise hath shewn himself at Versailles where by an Art peculiar to the Jesuits he hath improved the Loyalty and Zeal of the Reformed in France for the House of Bourbon into a reason of alienating that Monarch from them and into a ground of his destroying that dutiful and obedient People It will not be amiss to call over some of his Majesty's Proceedings towards the Church of England that from what hath been already seen and felt both they and all English Protestants may the better know what they are to expect and look for hereafter Tho it be a Method very unbecoming a Prince yet it shews a great deal of Spleen to turn the former Persecution of Dissenters so maliciously upon the Prelatical and Conforming Clergy as his Majesty doth in his Letter to Mr. Alsop in stiling them a Party of Protestants who think the only way to advance their Church is by undoing those Churches of Christians that differ from them in smaller Matters Whereas the Severity that the Fanaticks met with had much of its Original at Court where it was formed and designed upon Motives of Popery and Arbitrariness and the Resentment and revengeful Humor of some of the old Prelates and other Church-men that had suffered in the late times was only laid hold of the better to justifie and improve it And tho it be too true that many of the dignified Rank as well as of the little Levites were both extremely fond of it and contentiously pleaded for it yet it is as true that most of them did it not upon Principles of Judgment and Conscience but upon Inducements of Retaliation for conceived Injuries and upon a belief of its being the most compendious Method to the next Preferment and Benefice and the fairest way of standing
Edward VI. but had the Royal Faith of Q. Mary laid to pledg in a Promise made to the Men of Suffolk that nothing should be done towards its Subversion or whereby they might be hindred in the free Exercise of it But as neither Law nor Promise could prove restraints upon Mary to hinder her from subverting Religion and burning Protestants so the Obligation of Gratitude that she was under to the Men of Suffolk for their coming in so seasonably to her Assistance against the D. of Northumb. who was in the field with an Army in the name of the Lady Jane Gray whom the Council had proclaimed Queen could not excuse them from sharing in the Severity that others met with it being observed that more of that County were Burnt for Religion than of any other Shire in England And 't is greatly to be feared that this piece of her Example will not escape being conform'd unto by the King in his Carriage towards those that eminently served him as well as all the rest of it in his Behaviour towards Protestants in general Nor is it possible to conceive that the Papists living at that ease and quietness which they did under his late Majesty of whose being of their Religion they were not ignorant as appears by the Proofs they have vouchsaf'd the World of it since his death would have been in so many plots for destroying him and at last have hastned him to his Fathers as can be demonstrated whensoever it is seasonable had they not been assur'd of more to be attempted by his Successor for the Extirpation of Protestants than Charles could be wrought up unto or prevail'd upon to expose his Person and Crown to the danger and hazard of For as it is not merely a Prince's being a Papist and mild gentle and favorable to Catholicks that will content the fiery Zealots of the Roman Clergy and the Regular Orders but he must both gratifie their Ambition in exalting them to a Condition above all others and serve their inhuman Lusts and brutal Passions in not suffering any to live in his Dominions that will not renounce the Northern Heresie so it is not more incredible that they should dispatch a Prince by an infusion in a Cup of Tea or Chocolate whom tho' they knew to be a Papist yet they found too cold and slow in promoting their Designs than that they should have murder'd another by a consecrated Dagger in the hand of Ravilliac the one being both more easie to be detected and likelier to derive an universal Hatred and Revenge upon them than the other And as the King 's being conscious of that parricide committed upon his Brother plainly tells us that there is nothing so abominable and barbarous which he hath not a Conscience that will swallow and digest so the Promotion of the Catholick Cause being the Motive to that horrid Crime we may be sure that what is hitherto done in favor of Papists falls much short of what is intended there being something more meritorious than all this amounts unto needful to attone for so barbarous a Villany which can be nothing else but the extirpating the Protestant Religion out of the three Kingdoms Nor is it probable that the present King who is represented for a Person ambitious of Glory would lose the Opportunities wherewith the present posture of Affairs in the World presents him of being the Umpire and Arbiter of Christendom and of giving check to the Grandeur and Usurpations of a neighboring Monarch to whom all Europe is in danger of becoming enslaved if he were not swallowed up in the Thoughts of a Conquest over the Consciences Laws and Liberties of his own People and of subjugating his Dominions to the Sea of Rome and had he not Hopes and Assurances of Aid and Assistance therein from that Monarch as he is emboldned and encouraged thereunto by his Pattern and Example What the Papists have all along been endeavoring for the Subversion of our Religion during and under the Reigns of Protestant Princes may yet farther inform and confirm us what they will infallibly attempt upon their having gotten one into the Throne who is not only in all things of their own Faith but of an Humor agreeable unto their Desires and of a Temper every way suited and adapted to their Designs Tho' the Protestant Religion had obtain'd some entrance into several States and Kingdoms and had made some considerable spread in Europe before it came to be generally received and established upon Foundations of Law in England yet they of other Countries were little able to defend themselves from the Power and Malice of the Church of Rome and of Popish Princes and many of them were very unsuccessful in Endeavors of that nature till England in Qu. Elizabeths time by espousing their Cause and undertaking their Quarrel not only wrought out their Safety but made them flourish This the Court of Rome and the Priests grew immediately sensible of and have therefore moulded all their Counsels ever since against England as being both the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion and the Ballance of Europe All the late attempts for the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion in France and elsewhere are much to be ascribed to the Confidence the Papists had in the late King and his Brother of their giving no Discouragement nor Obstruction to so holy a Design and thereupon as the first Edicts for infringing the Liberty and weakning and oppressing Protestants in France and the persecution in Hungary commenced and bore date with the Restoration of the Royal Family and multiplied and encreased from year to year as they grew into farther assurance of the Royal Brothers approving as well as conniving at what was done so that for the abolition of the Edict of Nants and the total Suppression of the Reformed Religion in France was emitted upon his present Majesty's being exalted to the Throne and the encouragement he gave them to a Procedure which as he now justifies he will hereafter imitate It were to suppose English Protestants exceedingly unacquainted with the History of their own Nation to give a long Deduction of what the Papists have attempted for the Extirpation of our Religion while we had Princes on the Throne whose Belief and Principles in Christianity led them to assert and defend the Reformation and who had Courage as well as Integrity to punish those that conspired against it Their many Conjurations against Queen Elizabeths Person and their repeated Endeavors of bringing in Foreigners and of betraying the Nation to the Spaniards who were to convert the Kingdom as they had done the West-Indies by killing the Inhabitants are sufficiently known to all who have allowed themselves leisure to read or who have been careful to remember what they have been often told by those that have inspected the Memoirs of those times The Gunpowder-plot with the Motives unto it and the extent of the mischief it was shapen for together with the insurrection they
were prepared for in case it had succeeded and the foreign aid they had been solliciting and were promised and all for the extirpation of English Hereticks are things so modern and which we have had so many times related to us by our Fathers that it is enough barely to intimate them The Irish Massacre in which above 200000 were murder'd in cold blood and to which there was no provocation but that of hatred to our Religion and furious zeal to extirpate Hereticks ought at this time to be more particularly reflected upon as that which gives us a true scheme of the manner of the Church of Rome's converting Protestant Kingdoms and being the Copy they have a mind to write after and that in such Characters and lines of blood as may be sure to answer the Original At the season when they both entred upon and executed that hellish conjuration they were in a quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the private exercise of their Religion yea had many publick meeting-places thro the means of the Queen and many great friends which they had at Court and were neither disturbed for not coming to Church nor suffered any severities upon the account of their Profession but that would not satisfie nor will any thing else unless they may be allowed to cut the throats or make bonefires of all that will not join with them in a blind obedience to the Sea of Rome and of worshipping S. Patrick The little harsh usages which the Papists at any time met with there or in England they derived them upon themselves by their Crimes against the State and for their Conspiracies against our Princes and their Protestant Subjects For till the Pope had taken upon him to depose Queen Elizabeth and absolve her Subjects from their Allegiance and till the Papists had so far approved that Act of his Holiness as to raise Rebellions at home and enter into treasonable confederacies abroad there were no Laws that could be stiled severe enacted in England against Papists and the making of them was the result of necessity in order to preserve our selves and not from an inclination to hurt any for matters of mere Religion Such hath always been the moderation of our Rulers and so powerful are the incitements to lenity which the generality of Protestants through the influence and impression of their Religion especially they of a more generous education have been under towards those of the Roman Communion that nothing but their unwearied restlesness to disturb the Government and destroy Protestants hath been the cause either of enacting those Laws against them that are stiled rigorous or of their having been at any time put into execution And notwithstanding that some such Laws were enacted as might appear to savour of severity yet could they have but submitted to have dwelt peaceably in the Land they would have found that their mere belief and the private practice of their Worship would not have much prejudiced or endangered them and that tho the Laws had been continued unrepealed yet it was only as a Hedge about us for our protection and as Bonds of obligation upon them to their good behaviour To which may be added that more Protestants have suffered in one year by the Laws made against Dissenters and to the utmost height of the penalties which the violation of them imported and that by the instigation of Papists and their influence over the late King and his present Majesty than there have Papists from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign to this very day tho there was a difference in the punishments they underwent However we may from their many and repeated attempts against us while we had Princes that both would and could chasten their insolencies and inflict upon them what the Law made them obnoxious unto for their outrages gather and conclude what we are now to expect upon their having obtained a King imbu'd with all the persecuting and bloody principles of Popery and perfectly baptised into all the Doctrines of the Councils of Lateran and Constance And it may strengthen our faith as well as increase our fear of what is purposed against and impends over us in that they cannot but think that the suffering our Religion to remain in a condition to be at any time hereafter the Religion of the State and of the universality of the People may not only prove a means of retrieving Protestancy in France and of assisting to revenge the barbarities perpetrated there upon a great and innocent people but may leave the Roman Catholicks in England exposed to the resentment of the Kingdom for what they have so foolishly and impudently acted both against our Civil Rights and Established Religion since James II. came to the Crown and may also upon the Government 's falling into good hands and Magistrates coming to understand their true Interest which is for an English Prince to make himself the Head of the Protestant cause and to espouse their quarrel in all places give such a Revolution in Europe as will not only check the present Career of Rome but cause them repent the methods in which they have been engaged These things we may be sure the Papists are aware of and that having proceeded so far they have nothing left for their security from punishments because of crimes committed but to put us out of all capacity of doing our selves Right and them Justice and he must be dull who does not know into what that must necessarily hurry them It being then as evident as a matter of this nature is capable of what we are to expect and dread from the King both as to our Religion and Laws we may do more than presume that the late Declaration for liberty of Conscience and the Proclamation for a Toleration are not intended and designed for the benefit and advantage of the Reformed Religion and that whatsoever motives have influenced to the granting and emitting of them they do not in the least flow or proceed from any kindness and good will to Protestant Dissenters And though many of those weak and easie People may flatter themselves with a belief of an interest in the Kings favour and suffer others to delude them into a persuasion of his bearing a gracious respect towards them yet it is certain that they are People in the world whom he most hates and who when things are ripe for it and that he hath abused their credulity into a serving his Ends as far as they can be prevailed upon and as long as the present Juggle can be of any advantage for promoting the Papal Cause will be sure not only to have an equal share in his displeasure with their Brethren of the Church of England but will be made to drink deepest in the cup of fury and wrath that is mingling and preparing for all Protestants No provocation from their present behaviour tho it is such as might warm a person of very cool temper much less offences of another complexion
about him who thrust the last King out of the Throne to make room for his present Majesty much scruple to put a Protestant Successor by it if they can find another Papist as Bigotted as this to advance unto it However were they on the Throne to morrow here is both a Foreign Jurisdiction brought in and set up to Rival and control theirs and they are deprived of all means of being secured of the Loyalty and Fealty of a great number of their Subjects Nor will His Majesty's certain Knowledge and long Experience whereof he boasts in the Scots Proclamation that the Catholicks as it is their Principle to be good Christians so it is to be dutiful Subjects be enough for their Royal Highnesses to rely upon their Religion obliging them to the contrary towards Princes whom the Church of Rome hath adjudged to be Hereticks A second Instance wherein this pretended Royal Prerogative is exercised Paramount to all Laws and which nothing but a claim of Absolute Power in his Majesty can support and an Acknowledgment of it by the Subjects make them approve the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Proclamation for Toleration is the stopping disabling and suspending the Statutes whereby the Tests were enacted and thereby letting the Papists in to all Benefices Offices and Places of Trust whether Civil Military or Ecclesiastick I do not speak of Suspending the Execution of those Laws whereby the being Priests or taking Orders in the Church of Rome or the being reconciled to that Church or the Papists meeting to celebrate Mass were in one degree or another made Punishable tho the King 's dispensing with them by a challenged Claim in the Crown be altogether Illegal for as divers of these Laws were never approved by many Protestants so nothing would have justified the making of them but the many Treasons and Conspiracies that they were from time to time found guilty of against the State And as the Papists of all Men have the least cause to complain of the Injustice Rigor and Severity of them considering the many Laws more Cruel and Sanguinary that are in Force in most Popish Countries against Protestants and these enacted and executed merely for their Opinions and Practices in the Matters of God without their being chargeable with Crimes and Offences against the Civil Government under which they live so were it necessary from Principles of Religion and Policy to relieve the Roman Catholicks from the forementioned Laws yet it ought not to be done but by the Legislative Authority of the Kingdoms and for the King to assume a Power of doing it in the vertue of a pretended Prerogative is both a high Usurpation over the Laws and a Violation of his Coronation Oath Nor is it any Commendation either of the Humanity of the Papists or of the Meekness and Truth of their Religion that while they elsewhere treat those who differ from them in Faith and Worship with that Barbarity they should so clamorously inveigh against the Severities which in some Reformed States they are liable unto and which their Treasons gave the Rise and Provocation unto at first and have been at all times the Motives to the Infliction of But they alone would have the Allowance to be Cruel wherein they act consonantly to their own Tenets and I wish that some Provision might be made for the future for the Security of our Religion and our Safety in the Profession of it without the doing any thing that may unbecome the Merciful Principles of Christianity or be unsuitable to the meek and generous Temper of the English Nation and that the Property of being Sanguinary may be left to the Church of Rome as its peculiar Priviledge and Glory and as a more distinguishing Character than all the other Marks which she pretends unto That which I am speaking of is the Suspending the Execution of those Laws by which the Government was secured of the Fidelity of its Subjects and by which they in whom it could not confide were merely shut out from Places of Power and Trust and were made liable to very small Damages themselves and only hindered from getting into a Condition of doing Mischief to us All Governments have a Right to use means for their own Preservation provided they be not such as are inconsistent with the Ends of Government and repugnant to the Will and Pleasure of the Supreme Sovereign of Mankind and it is in the Power of every Legislative Assembly to declare who of the Community shall be capable or incapable of publick Imploys and of possessing Offices upon which the Peace Welfare and Security of the whole Politick Body does depend Without this no Government could subsist nor the People be in Safety under it but the Constitution would be in constant danger of being Subverted and the Privileges Liberties and Religion of the Subjects laid open to be overthrown And should such a Power in Legislators be upon weak Suspitions and ill grounded Jealousies carried at any time too far and some prove to be debarred from Trusts whose being imployed would import no Hazard yet the worst of that would be only a disrespect shewn to individual Persons who might deserve more Favor and Esteem but could be of no Prejudice to the Society there being always a sufficient number of others fit for the discharge of all Offices in whom an entire Confidence may be reposed And 't is remarkable that the States General of the United Provinces who afford the greatest Liberty to all Religions that any known State in Europe giveth yet they suffer no Papists to come into Places of Authority and Judicature nor to bear any Office in the Republick that may either put them into a Condition or lay them under a Temptation of attempting any thing to the Prejudice of Religion or for the betraying the Liberty of the Provinces And as 't is Lawful for any Government to preclude all such Persons from publick Trusts of whose Enemity and ill Will to the Establishment in Church or State they have either a moral Certainty or just Grounds of Suspition so 't is no less lawful to provide Tests for their Discovery and Detection that they may not be able to mask and vizor themselves in order to getting into Offices and thereupon of promoting and accomplishing their mischievous and malicious Intentions Nor is it possible in such a case but that the Tests they are to be tried by must relate to some of those Principles by which they are most eminently distinguished from them of the National Settlement and in reference whereunto they think it most piacular to dissemble their Opinion Nor have the Papists cause to be offended that the Renouncing the Belief of Transubstantiation should be required as the distinguishing Mark whereby upon their refusal they may be discerned when all the Penalty upon their being known is only to be excluded from a Share in the Legislation and not to be admitted to Employments of Trust and Profit
of his Understanding fully declares it However here is such a stroke and exercise of Absolute power as Dissolves the Government and brings us all into a State of Nature by discharging us from the ties which by virtue of Fundamental Stipulations and Statute Laws we formerly lay under forasmuch as we know no King but a King by Law nor no Power he hath but a legal Power Which through disclaiming by a challenge that the whole Legislative Authority does reside in himself he hath thrown the Gantler to three Kingdoms and provokes them to a tryal whether he be ablest to maintain his Absoluteness or they to justifie their being a free People And by virtue of the same Royal will and pleasure that he annuls which he calls suspending the Laws enjoyning the Tests and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and commands that none of these Oaths and Declarations shall at any time hereafter be required to be taken he may in some following Royal Papers give us White-hall or Hampton Court Edicts conformable to those at Verfailles which at all times hereafter we shall be bound to submit unto and stand obliged to be ruled by instead of the Common Law and Statute Book Nor is the taking upon him to stamp us new Laws exclusively of Parliamentary concurrence in the virtue of his Royal Prerogative any thing more uncouth in it self or more disagreeable to the Rules of the Constitution and what we have been constantly accustomed unto than the cassing disabling and abrogating so many old ones which that obsolete out of date as well as ill favoured thing upon Monarchs called a Parliament had a share in the enacting of I will not say that our Addressers were conscious that the getting an Absolute Power in his Majesty to be owned and acknowledged was one of the Ends for which the late Declaration was calculated and emitted but I think I have sufficiently demonstrated both that such a power it issueth and flows from and that such a power is plainly exercised in it Which whether their coming now to be told and made acquainted with it may make them repent what they have done or at least prevent their being accessory to the support of this Power in other mischievous effects that are to be dreaded from it I must leave to time to make the discovery it being impossible to foretell what a People fallen into a phrenzie may do in their paroxisms of distraction and madness Nor was the scruing himself into the possession of an Absolute power and the getting it to be owned by at least a part of the people the only Motive to the publishing the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in England and the Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland but a second inducement that sway'd unto it was the undermining and subverting the Protestant Religion and the opening a door for the introduction and establishment of Popery Nor was it from any compassion to Dissenters that these two Royal Papers were emitted but from his Majesty's tender love to Papists to whom as there arise many advantages for the present so the whole benefit will be found to redound to them in the issue We are told as I have already mentioned that the King is resolved to convert England or to die a Martyr and we may be sure that if he did not think the suspending the penal Laws and the dispensing with requiring of the Tests and the granting Liberty and Toleration to be means admirably adapted thereunto he would not have acted so inconsistently with himself nor in that opposition to his own designs as to have disabled these Laws and vouchsafed the Freedom that results thereupon Especially when we are told by the Liege Jesuit that the King being sensible of his growing old finds himself thereby obliged to make the greater haste and to take the larger steps lest through not living long enough to effect what he intends he should not only lose the glory of converting three Kingdoms but should leave the Papists in a worse condition than he found them His Highness the Prince of Orange very justly concludes this to be the thing aim'd at by the present Indulgence and therefore being desired to approve the Suspension of the Test Acts and to co-operate with his Majesty for the obtaining their being Repealed was pleased to answer That while he was as well as professeth himself a Protestant he would not act so unworthily as to betray the Protestant Religion which he necessarily must if he should do as he was desired Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange has likewise the same apprehension of the tendency of the Toleration and Indulgence and therefore was pleased to say to some Scots Ministers that did themselves the honor and performed the duty that became them in going to wait upon her that she greatly commended their having no accession to the betraying of the Protestant Religion by their returning home to take the benefit of the Toleration What an indelible Reproach will it be to a company of men that pretend to be set for the defence of the Gospel and who stile themselves Ministers of Jesus Christ to be found betraying Religion thro justifying the Suspension of so many Laws whereby it was established and supported and whereby the Kingdoms were fenced about and guarded against Popery while these two noble Princes to the neglect of their own Interest in His Majesty's Favour and to the provoking him to do them all the prejudice he can in their Right of Succession to the Imperial Crown of Great Britain do signifie their open dislike of that Act of the King and that not only upon the account of its Illegality and Arbitrariness but by reason of its tendency to supplant and undermine the Reformed Religion And they are strangely blind that do not see how it powerfully operates and conduceth to the effecting of this and that in more ways and methods than are easie to be recounted For thereby our divisions are not only kept up at a time when the united Counsels and strength of all Protestants is too little against the craft and power of Rome but they who have Addressed to thank the King for his Royal Papers and become a listed and enrolled Faction to abet and stand by the King in all that naturally follows to be done for the maintaining his Declaration and justifying of the usurped Authority from which it issues 'T is matter of a melancholy consideration and turns little to the credit of Dissenters that when they of the Church of England who had with so great indiscretion promoted things to that pass which an easie improvement of would produce what hath since ensued are through being at last enlightned in the designs of the Court come so far to recover their wits as that they can no longer do the service they were wont and which was still expected from them there should be a new Tribe of men muster'd up to stand in their room and who by their
which the Prince filleth in that Government so that he dare neither venture to Disinherit Them nor impose upon them such Terms and Conditions as their Consciences will not suffer them to comply with while either these States remain Free or while such English and Scots as retain a Zeal for Religion and the Ancient Laws and Rights of their respective Countries can retreat thither under hopes of Admission and Protection And so closely are the Interests of all Protestants in England and Scotland woven and inlaid with the Interest of the United Netherlands and such is the singular regard that both the one and the other bear to the Reformed Religion the Liberty of Mankind and their several Civil Rights that it is impossible for his Majesty to embark in a Design against the One without resolving at the same time upon the Ruin of the Other Neither will the One be able to subsist when once the Other is Subdued and Enslaved As Philip the Second of Spain saw no way so compendious for the restoring himself to the Sovereignty and Tyrannous Rule over the Dutch as the Subjugating of England that help'd to support and assist them which was the ground of Rigging out his Formidable Armado and of his design against England in 1588 so his British Majesty thinks no Method so Expeditious for the Enslaving his own People as the endeavoring first to subdue the Dutch And as upon the one hand it would be of a threatning Consequence to Holland could the King subjugate his own People extirpate the Protestant Religion out of his Dominions and advance himself to a Despotical Power so upon the other hand could he conquer the Dutch we might with the greatest certainty Date the woful Fate of Great Britain and the loss of all that is valuable to them as Men and Christians from the same Moment and Period of time They are like the Twins we read of whose Destiny was to live and die together and which soever of the two is destroyed first all the Hope and Comfort that the other can pretend unto is to be last devoured Now after the Advances which his Majesty had made towards the Enslaving his Subjects and the Subverting the Reformed Religion in his Kingdoms he finds it necessary before he venture to give the last and fatal Stroke at home and to enter upon the plenary Exercise of his Absolute Power in laying Parliaments wholly aside in cancelling all Laws to make way for Royal Edicts or Declarations of the Complexion of the former and in commanding us to turn Roman Catholicks or to be Dragoon'd I say he thinks it needful before he proceeds to these to try whether he can Subdue and Conquer the Dutch and thereby remove all hopes of Shelter Relief Comfort and Assistance from his own People when he shall afterwards fall upon them And how much soever the Court endeavors to conceal its Design and strives to complement the States General into a Confidence that all Alliances between them and the Crown of England shall be maintained and preserved yet they not only speak their Intentions by several open and visible Actions but some of them cannot forbear to tell it when their Blood is heated and their Heads warm'd with a liberal Glass and a lusty Proportion of Wine Thence it was that a Governing Papist lately told a Gentleman after they two had drank hard together That they had some Work in England that would employ them a little time but when that was over they would make the Dutch fly to the end of the World to find a resting place Delenda est Carthago is engraven upon their Hearts as being that without which Rome cannot arrive at the Universal Monarchy that it aspires after It was upon a formed Design of a War against the United Provinces that the King hath for these two Years stirred up and incited as well as countenanced and protected the Algerines in their Piracies that through their weakning and spoiling the Dutch before-hand it may be the more easie a matter for him to Subdue them when he shall think fit to begin his Hostilities 'T is in order to thiâ— that he hath entred into new and secret Alliances with other Princes the purpott of which is boldly talk'd of in London but whether believ'd at the Hague I cannot tell For as Monsieur Barrillion and Monsieur Bonrepos present Transactions at Whitehall relate to something else than merely to the affair of Hudson's Bay so Prince George's errand to Denmark is of more importance than a bare Visit or a naked Compelment to his Brother 'T is upon this design that all that great Marine Preparation hath been so long making in the several Ports of England but to the hindering the execution whereof some unexpected and not foreseen accidents have interposed And it is in subserviency not to be disquieted at Home while he is carrying on this holy War Abroad that the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in England and the Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland are granted and published 'T is well enough known how that after the French King had among many other severities exercised against Protestants made them uncapable of Employments and Commands yet to avoid the consequences that might have ensued thereupon while he was engaged in a War against the Emperor the King of Spain and the States of Holland and to have the aid of his Reformed Subjects he not only intermitted and abated in many other rigours towards them but in Anno 1674 restored them to a capacity of being employed and preferred And that this did not flow from any compassion tenderness or good will towards them his carriage since the issue of that War and the miserable condition he hath reduced them to does sufficiently testifie and declare Nor can we forget how that the late King after a rigorous execution of the penal laws for several years against Dissenters yet being to enter into an unjust War against the United Provinces Anno 1672. not only forbore all proceedings of that kind but published a Declaration for suspending the Execution of all those Laws and for the allowing them liberty of Assembling to worship God in their separate Meetings without being hindred or disturbed What Principle that proceeded from and to what End it was calculated appeared in his behaviour to them afterwards when neither the danger the Nation was in from the Papists nor the application of several Parliaments could prevail for lonity towards them much less for a legal Repeal of those implitick and unreasonable Statutes Nor does the present Indulgence flow from any kindness to Fanaticks but it is only an artifice to stifle their Discontents and to procure their assistance for the destroying of a Foreign Protestant State And it may not be unworthy of observation that as the Declaration of Indulgence Anno 1672 bore date much about the same time with the Declaration of War against the Dutch so at the very Season that his present Majesty
have provok'd the then Duke of York's Indignation and have exposed the Party that did it to Discountenance and Disgrace The Question is not what is convenient to be done in some measure and degree and in reference to those whose Religion does not oblige them to destroy all that differ from them when they have opportunity for it but the Point in debate is who hath the legal Power of doing it and of fixing its Bounds and Limits It was never pretended that the King ought to be shut out from a Share in Suspending and Repealing Laws but that the sole Right of doing it belongs to him is what cannot be allowed without changing the Constitution and placing the whole Legislative Authority in His Majesty And as it is an Usurpation in the King to challenge it and a Treachery in English Subjects to acknowledge it so the Inconveniences that this or that Party are in the mean time exposed unto through the Laws remaining in Force are rather to be endured than that a Power of giving Ease and Relief farther than by Connivance should be confessed to reside in any one in whom the Laws of the Community have not placed it 'T is better to undergo Hardships under the Execution of unjust Laws than be released from our Troubles by a Power Usurped over all Laws For by the one the Measures of Government as well as the Rights and Privileges of a Nation are destroy'd whereas by the other only a part of the People are Afflicted and unduly dealt with While we are govern'd by Laws tho several of them may be Injust and Inconvenient yet we are under a Security as to all other things which those Laws have not made liable but when we fall under an illimited Prerogative and Absolute Power we have no longer a Title unto or a hedge about any thing but all lies open to the Lust and Pleasure of him in whom we have owned that Power to be seated A Liberty is what Dissenters have a Right to Claim and which the Legislative Authority is bound by the Rules of Justice and Duty as well as by Principles of Wisdom and Discretion to grant And I am sorry that while they stood so fair to obtain it in a Legal and Parliamentary way any of them by acknowledging a Right in another to give it and that in a manner so Subversive of the Authority of Parliaments should have rendred themselves unworthy to receive it from them to whom the Power of Bestowing it does belong Not but that a Toleration will be always due to their Principles but I know not whether the particular Men of those Principles who have by their Addresses betray'd the Kingdom may not come to be judged to have forfeited all Share in it for their Crime committed against the Constitution and the whole Politick Society Nor is there any thing more Just and Equal than that they who surrender and give away the Rights both of Legislators and Subjects should lose all Grace and Favor from the former and all Portion among the latter And how much soever some Protestant Dissenters may please themselves with the Liberty that at present they enjoy in the virtue of the two Royal Papers yet this may serve to moderate them in their Transports of Gladness that they have no solid Security for the Continuance of it For should a Parliament null and make void the Declaration for Liberty and impeach the Judges for declaring a Power vested in the King to suspend so many Laws and for forbearing upon the King's Mandat to execute them the Freedom that the Dissenters possess would immediately vanish and have much the same Destiny that the Liberty had which was granted unto them by the Declaration of Indulgence Anno 1672. Or should the Parliament be willing to grant Ease and Indulgence to all Protestants by a Bill prepared for Repealing of all the Laws formerly made against them and should only be desirous to preserve in force the Laws relating to the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Statutes which enjoyn the Tests of whose Execution we never more wanted the Benefit in order to our Preservation from Popery and which an English Parliament cannot be supposed willing to part with at a time when our Lives Estates and Religion are so visibly threatned to be swallowed up and destroyed by the Papists In that case we may confidently believe that the King instead either of Assenting to such a Bill for separate Favor to Protestants or persevering in his Compassion and Kindness of continuing the Suspension of the Laws against Dissenters he would from an inveterate Enmity as well as from a new contracted Resentment be stirred up and enraged to the putting the Laws in Execution with greater Rigor and Severity than hath been seen or felt heretofore And all that the Addressers would then reap by the Declaration would be to undergo the furious Effects of Brutal Rage in their Persecutors and to be unpitied by the Kingdom and unlamented by their fellow Protestants Or should his Majesty in favor to his good Catholicks resolve against the Meeting of a Parliament or to Adjourn and Prorogue them whensoever he shall find that instead of confirming what he hath done they shall make null his Declaration vote his pretended Prerogative Illegal and Arbitrary and fall upon those Mercenary and Perjured Villains who have allowed him a Power transcendent to Law yet even upon that Supposal which is the best that can be made to support Mens hopes in the continuance of the present Liberty the Protestant Dissenters would have but slender Security all the Tenure they have for the Duration of their Freedom being only Precarious and depending merely upon the King's Word and Promise which there is small ground to rely upon Nor can He be true to them without being false to his Religion which not only gives Him leave to break his Faith with Hereticks but obligeth Him to it and to destroy them to boot and that both under the pain of Damnation and of forfeiting his Crown and losing his Dominions And how far the Promise and Royal Word of a Catholick Monarch is to be trusted unto and depended upon we have a modern Proof and Evidence in the Behavior of Louis de Grand towards his Reformed Subjects not only in Repealing the many Edicts made and confirmed by himself as well as his Ancestors for the free Exercise of their Religion but in the Methods he hath always observed namely to promise them protection in the profession of their Faith and practice of their Worship when he was most stedfastly resolved to subvert their Religion and was about making some fresh advance and taking some new step for its Extirpation Thus when he had firmly purposed not to suffer a Minister to continue a year in the Kingdom he at the same time published an Edict requiring Ministers to serve but three Years in one Place and not to return to the Church where they had first Officiated
commended or promised to stand by him For tho the Matter and Subject of the Arbitrary Act of him now upon the Throne be not as to every Branch of it so publickly Scandalous as some of the Arbitrary Proceedings of the late King were as relating to a Favor which Mankind hath a just Claim unto yet it is every way as Illegal being in reference to a Privilege which his Majesty hath no Authority to grant and bestow And were it not that there are many Dissenters who preserve themselves Innocent at this Juncture and upon whom the Temptation that is administred makes no Impression the World would have just ground to say that the Fanaticks are not governed by Principles but that the Measures they walk by are what conduceth to their private and personal Benefit or what lyes in a Tendency to their Loss and Prejudice And that it was not the late King's Usurping and exerting an Arbitrary and illegal Power that offended them but that they were not the Objects in whose Favor it was exercised 'T is also an Aggravation of their Folly as well as their Offence that they should revive a Practice which the Nation was grown asham'd of and whereof they who had been guilty begun to repent through having seen that all the former Declarations Assurances and Promises of the Royal Brothers which tempted to Applications of that kind were but so many Juggles peculiar to the late Breed of the Family for the deceiving of Mankind and that never one of them was performed and made good But the Transgression as well as the Imprudence of the present Addressers is yet the greater and they are the more Criminal and Inexcusable before God and Men in that they might have enjoyed all the Benefits of the King's Declaration without acknowledging the Justice of the Authority by which it was granted or making themselves the Scorn and Contempt of all that are truly Honest and Wise by their servile Adulations and their Gratulatory Scriblers unbecoming English-men and Protestants They had no more to do but to continue their Meetings as they had sometimes heretofore used to do without taking notice that the present Suspension of the Laws made their Assembling together more safe and freed them from Apprehensions of Fines and Imprisonments Nor could the King how much soever displeased with such a Conduct have at this time ventured upon the expressing Displeasure against them seeing as that would have been both to have proclaimed his Hypocrisie in saying That Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in matters of mere Religion and a discovering the villainous Design in Subserviency to which the Declaration had been emitted so it were not possible for him after what he hath published to single out the Dissenters from amongst other Protestants and to fall upon all before Matters are more ripe for it might be a means of the Abortion of all his Popish Projections and of saving the whole Reformed Interest in Great Britain Neither would the Church of England-men have envied their Tranquility or have blamed their Carriage but would have been glad that their Brethren had been eased from Oppressions and themselves delivered from the grievous and dishonorable Task of prosecuting them which they had formerly been forced unto by Court-Injunctions and Commands And as they would have by a Conduct of this Nature had all the Freedom which they now enjoy without the Guilt and Reproach which they have derived upon themselves by Addressing so such a Carriage would have wonderfully recommended them to the Favor of a true English Parliament which tho it would see cause to condemn the King's Usurping a Power of Suspending the Laws and to make void his Declaration yet in gratitude to Dissenters for such a Behavior as well as in Pity and Compassion to them as English Protestants such a Parliament would not fail to do all it could to give them relief in a legal way Whereas if any thing Enflame and Exasperate the Nation to revive their Sufferings it will arise from a Resentment of the unworthy and treacherous Carriage of so many of them in this critical and dangerous Juncture But the Terms which through their Addressing they have owned the receiving their Liberty and Indulgence upon does in a peculiar manner enhance their Guilt against God and their Country and strangely adds to the Disgust and Anger which Lovers of Religion and the Laws of the Nation have conceived against them For it is not only upon the Acknowledgment of a Prerogative in the King over the Laws that they have received and now hold their Liberty but it is upon the Condition That nothing be preached or taught amongst them that may any ways tend to alienate the Hearts of the People from his Majesty's Person and Government He must be of an Understanding very near allied unto and approaching to that of an Irish-man who does not know what the Court-Sense of that Clause is and that his Majesty thereby intends that they are not to preach against Popery nor to set forth the Doctrines of the Romish Church in Terms that may prevent the Peoples being infected by them much less in Colours that may render them Hated and Abhorred To accuse the King's Religion of Idolatry or to affirm the Church of Rome to be the Apocalyptick Babylon and to represent the Articles of the Tridentine Faith as Faithful Ministers of Christ ought to do would be accounted an alienating the Hearts of their Hearers from the King and his Government which as they are in the foresaid Clauses required not to do so they have by their Addressing confessed the Justice of the Terms and have undertaken to hold their Liberty by that Tenor. And to give them their due they have been very Faithful hitherto in conforming to what the King Exacts and in observing what themselves have assented to the Equity of For notwithstanding all the Danger from Popery that the Nation is exposed unto and all the Hazard that the Souls of Men are in of being poysoned with Romish Principles yet instead of Preaching or Writing against any of the Doctrines of the Church of Rome they have agreed among themselves and with such of their Congregations as approve their Procedure not so much as to mention them but to leave the Province of defending our Religion and of detecting the Falshood of Papal Tenets to the Pastors and Gentlemen of the Church of England And being ask'd as I know some of them that have been why they do not preach against Antichrist and confute the Papal Dectrines they very gravely reply that by preaching Christ they preach against Anti-christ and that by Teaching the Gospel they refute Popery which is such a piece of fraudulent and guilful Subterfuge that I want words to express the knavery and criminalness of it What a reserve and change have I lived to see in England from what I beheld a few years ago It was but the other day that the Conformable Clergy
Proclamation dated at Windsor the 28th of June 1687 for granting further Liberty in Scotland and which was published there by an Order of the Privy Council of that Kingdom bearing date at Edinburgh the 5. of July This Superfoetation of one Proclamation after another in reference to the same thing is so apportioned and parallel to the late French method of emitting Edicts in relation to those of the Reformed Religion in that Kingdom that they seem to proceed out of one mint to be calculated for the same end and to be designed for the compassing and obtaining the like effects For assoon as an Alarm was taken at the publishing of some unreasonable and rigorous Edict there used often to follow another of a milder strain which was pretended to be either for the moderating the severities of the former or to remove and rectifie what they were pleased to call misconstructions unduly put upon it but the true end whereof was only to stifle and extinguish the Jealousies and Apprehensions that the other had begotten and excited and which had they not been calmed and allay'd might have awakened the Protestants there to provide for their safety by a timely withdrawing into other Countries if they had not been provoked to generous endeavours of preventing the final suppression of their Religion and for obviating the ruin which that Court had projected against them and was hastning to involve them under Nor does my suspicion of his Majesties pursuing the same design against Protestants which the great Louis glories to have accomplished proceed merely from that conjunction of Counsels that all the world observes between Whitehall and Versailles nor merely from the Kings abandoning his Nephew and Son-in-law the Prince of Orange and not so much as interposing to obtain satisfaction to be given him for the many Injuries Damages Spoiles and Robberies as well as Affronts done him by that haughty Monarch when one vigorous Application could not fail to effect it nor yet merely from that agreeableness in their proceedures through the King of England's imitating that Foreign Potentate and making the whole course that hath been taken in France the Pattern of all his actings in Great Britain but I am much confirmed in my fears and jealousies by remembring a passage in one of Mr. Coleman's Letters who as he very well knew what the then Duke of York had been for many years engaged in against our Religion and Civil Lberties and under what Vows and Promises he was not to desist from prosecuting what had been resolved upon and undertaken so he had the confidence to say that his Master's design and that of the King of France was one and the same and that this was no less as he farther informs us than the extirpating the Northern Heresie Had the King of England acted with sincerity from that noble Principle that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in matters of mere Religion as he would delude weak and easie People to believe and had not all his Arbitrary and illegal proceedings in granting Liberty to Dissenting Protestants been to subserve and promote other Designs which it is not yet seasonable and convenient to discover and avow he would have then acted with that conformity to the Principle he professeth to be under the Influence and Government of and with that consonancy and harmonious agreeableness in all the degrees of Indulgence vouchsafed to those of the Reformed Religion in England and Scotland that differ from them of the Established way that there would have needed no second Proclamation apporting new measures of Liberty and favour to Scots Dissenters seeing they would have had it granted them at first in the same latitude and illimitedness that it was bestowed upon the English Nonconformists But when Princes carry on and pursue mischievous designs under the palliations of Religion publick good and the Right of Mankind it comes often to pass through adapting their methods to what they mean and intend and not to what they pretend and give out that their crafty projections by being not sufficiently accommodated to their purposes prove ineffectual to the compassing what was aim'd at and this forceth them to a new Game of Falshood and Subtilety but still under the old varnish and gloss and obligeth them to have recourse to means that may be more proportioned than the former were for their reaching the End that they ubtimately drive at Thence it is that those Rulers who are engaged in the Prosecution of wicked and unjustifiable Designs are necessitated not only to apply themselves to opposite Methods towards different Parties and those such as must be suited and apportioned to their discrepant Interest without the accommodating of which they can neither hope to mould them to that tame and servile Compliance nor work them up to that active and vigorous abetting of their malicious and crafty Projections as is necessary for the rendring them Successful but they are forced to vary their Proceedings towards one and the same Party and that as well when the ways they have acted in towards them are found inadequate to the end unto which they were calculated as when the mischief hid under them comes to be too soon discovered This weak and short-sighted People fancy to arise from an uncertainty in Princes Counsels and from their being at no Consistency with themselves but they who can penetrate into Affairs and that do consider things more narrowly can easily discern that all this Variation Diversity and shifting of Methods in Rulers Actings proceed from other Causes and that it is their Stability and Perseverance in an illegal and wicked Design that compels them to those crooked and contrary Courses either for the gaining the unwary and ill-applied Concurrence of their Subject to the hastning Distress and Desolation upon themselves or for the throwing them into that Lethargy and under that Supineness as may hinder them from all Endeavors of obstructing and diverting the Evils that their Governours are seeking to bring upon them Nor is there a more certain Indication of a Princes being engaged in a Design contrary to the good and happiness of the Society over which he is set than his betaking himself to illegal ways upon pretence of promoting the ease and benefit of his People or according as he finds his Subjects to differ in their particular Interests his applying himself to them in Methods whereof the contrariety of the one to the other renders them the more proper and adapted to ensnare the divided Factions through accosting each of them with something that they are severally fond of Legal means are always sufficient to the pursuing and compassing legal Ends and whatsoever is for the general good of the Community may either be obtained by Courses wherein the Generality find their united Interest and common Felicity or else by Application to a Parliament freely and duly chosen which as it represents the whole Politick Society so there may be expected most Compassion and
Tenderness as well as Wisdom and Prudence for redressing the Grievances easing the Troubles and providing for the Benefit and Safety of all that are wrapt up in and represented by them And as every Prince who sincerely seeks and pursues the Advantage of his People will so adjust and attemper all his Actions towards them that his whole Carriage shall be uniform and all the Exercises of his Governing Power meet in the benefit of the Community as so many lines from a circumference uniting in their Centre so there needs no other proof that these two or three late Actions of His Majesty which a foolish sort of men are apt to interpret for favours and to account them effects of Compassion and Kindness are but to conceal his Malice and to subserve as well as cover some fatal and pernicious Design that he is carrying on against his Protestant Subjects than that while he is gratifying a few of them in one thing he is at the same time robbing all of them of many and that while he is indulging the Dissenters with a freedom from the penal Laws for matters of Religion he is invading the Properties and subverting the Civil Rights of the three Nations and changing the whole Constitution of the Government He that strips us of what belongs unto us as we are English and Scots men cannot mean honestly in the favours he pretends to vouchsafe us as we are Christians nor can he that is endeavouring to enslave our Persons and to subject our Estates to his arbitrary Lust and Pleasure intend any thing else by this kindness granted to Fanaticks in matters of Religion than the dividing them from the rest of the People in what concerns the Civil Interest and external happiness of the Community and to render them an engaged Faction to assist and abet him in enthralling the Kingdoms Whosoever considers the whole Tenor of His Majesty's other Actings in proroguing and dissolving Parliaments when he finds them uncompliant with his Popish and Despotical Ends his keeping on foot a formidable Army against all the Laws of the Land and upon no other intention but to maintain him in his Usurpations over our Rights and to awe us into a tame and servile submission to his Prerogative Will his filling all places of Judicature with weak as well as treacherous persons who instead of administring Justice may be the Instruments of Tyranny his robbing men of their Estates by judicial forms and under pretence that nullum tempus occurrit Regi after they have been quietly enjoyed by the Subjects for several hundred years his advancing none to Civil or Military Employs but whom he hath some confidence in as to the finding them ready to execute his despotical Injunctions and his esteeming no persons loyal and faithful to himself save those who are willing to betray their Country and be Rebels and Traitors against the Legal Constitution I say whosoever considers all this and a great deal more of the same hue and complexion cannot imagine unless he be under a judicial blindness and a strange infatuation that any thing arriving from the King tho it may be a matter wherein they may find their present ease and advantage should proceed from compassion and good will to his Protestant Subjects but that it must be only in order to promote a distinct interest from that of his People and for the better and more easie accomplishing of some wicked and unjustifiable Design And tho his Majesty would have us believe that the reasons moving him to the emission of this second Proclamation were the sinistruous Interpretations which either have or may be made of some Restrictions in his former yet it is not difficult even without being of his Privy Council to assign a truer motive and a more real and effectual cause of it For as that of the 12 of February came forth attended with so many limitations not easie to be digested by men of Wisdom or Honesty lest if it had been more unconfined and extensive and should have opened a door for all Scots Dissenters to have gone in and taken the benefit of it the generality of Protestants in that Kingdom abstracting from the Bishops Curates and a few others should have joined in the separate Interest and thereby have become an united Body against Popery but upon finding that hardly any would purchase their freedom from the penal Laws at so dear a rate as to do things so unbecoming Men and Christians as the conforming to the Terms therein prescribed obliged them unto and that as they of the National Communion were alarm'd and disgusted so fesh or none of the Dissenting Fellowships were pleased and that both were not only angry at the many illegal favours and threatning advantages bestowed upon the Papists but were grown so sensible of the Design carrying on against the Protestant Religion and the Liberties and Privileges of the Subject that tho they could not renounce their respective Tenets in the matters wherein they differed yet they were willing to stifle their Heats and Animosities and to give that Encouragement Aid and Assistance to one another as was necessary for their common safety upon these Cnnsiderations his Majesty if he would have spoken fincerely ought to have said that he had published this new Proclamation in order to hinder Scots Protestants from uniting for their mutual defence against Turkish Tyranny and Romish Idolatry in hopes thereby to continue and exasperate their undue and passionate heats and to steep them not only in divided and opposite interests but to make them contribute to the suppressing and ruining each other or at least to look on unconcernedly till he have ripened his Designs against them both and be prepared for extirpating the Reformed Religion and for subverting the Fundamental as well as Statute Laws and for bringing such to the Stake and Gibbet as shall have the Integrity to assert the one or the Courage to plead for the other And yet in his last Proclamation wherein he grants a more illimited Freedom than in the former and promiseth to protect all in the Exercise of Their Protestant Religion as he Disdainfully and Ignominiously calls it there is a Clause that may discourage all honest Men from owning their Liberty to the Authority that bestows it and from which it is derived and conveyed to them For not being satisfied to superstruct his pretended Right of Suspending Stopping and Disabling Laws upon his Sovereign Authority and Prerogative Royal but as knowing that these give no such Pre-eminence and Jurisdiction over the Laws of the Kingdom he is pleased to challenge unto himself an Absolute Power as the Source and Spring of that Exorbitant and Paramount Claim which he therein exerciseth and exerts And forasmuch as Absolute Power imports his Majesties being loose and free from all Ties and Restraints either by Fundamental Stipulations or superadded Laws it is very Natural to observe that he allows the Government under which we were born and to which
we were Sworn and stood bound to be hereby subverted and changed and that thereupon we are not only Absolved and Acquitted from the Allegiance and Fealty we were formerly under to his Majesty but are indispensably obliged by the Ties and Engagements that are upon us of maintaining and defending the Constitution and Government to apply our selves to the use of all Means and Endeavors against him as an Enemy of the People and a Subverter of the legal Government wherein all the Interest he had or could lawfully claim was an Official Trust and not an Absolute Power or a Despâ—tical Dominion the first whereof he hath deposed and abdicated himself from by challenging and usurping the latter And should any Scots Dissenter either in his entrance upon the Liberty granted by this Proclamation or in Addressing by way of Thankfulness for it take the least notice of this Freedoms flowing from the King which cannot be done without Recognising this Absolute Power in his Majesty as the Fountain of it he is to be look'd upon as the worst of Traitors and deserves to be proceeded against both for his Accession unto and justifying the Subversion of the Laws Liberties and Government of his Country and for betraying the Rights of all Free-born Men. For those few Reflections in the foregoing Sheets which this new Proclamation may not only seem to render useless and frustrate the end whereunto they were intended but may make the publishing any Animadversions upon that which the King by departing from does himself Censure and Condemn be esteemed both a failure in Ingenuity and Candor and a want of regard to those Measures of Justice which ought to be observed towards all Men and more especially towards Crowned Heads I shall only say that as the Proclamation arrived with me too late to hinder and prevent the Communication of them to the Publick so I have this farther to add in Justification of their being published that it will thereby appear that what his Majesty stiles Sinistruous Interpretations made of some Restrictions mentioned in his former are no other than the just natural genuine and obvious Constructions which they lye open unto and are capable of and which a Man cannot avoid fastning upon them without renouncing all Sense and Reason And while the King continues to disparage and asperse all sober and judicious Reflections upon that Royal Paper by charging upon them the unjust and reproachful Character of Sinistruous Interpretations it is necessary as well as equal that the whole matter should be plainly and impartially represented to the World and that the Dection be remitted and left to the understanding and unbyass'd part of Mankind who are the Calumniators and Slanderers they who accuse the Proclamation of importing such Principles Consequences and Tendencies or he and his Ministers who think they have avoided and answered the Imputations fastened upon it when they have loaded them with hard and uncivil Terms For tho he be pleased to assume to himself an Absolute Power which all are bound to obey without reserve and in the virtue of which he Suspends Stops and Disables what Laws he pleaseth yet I do not know but that his Intellectuals being of the Size of other Mens and that seeing neither his Sovereignty nor Catholicalness have vested in him an Inerrability why we may not enter our Plea and Demur to the Dictates of his Judgment tho we know not how to withstand the Efforts of his Power Nor shall I subjoyn any more save that whereas his Majesty declares so many Laws to be disabled to all Intents and Purposes he ought to have remembred that beside other Intents and Purposes that several of them may hereafter serve unto as the Papists may possibly come to have Experience there is one thing in reference to which he cannot even at present hinder and prevent their Usefulness and Efficacy and that is not only their raising and exciting all just Resentments in the minds of free-born and generous Men for his challenging a Power to Suspend and Cassate them but their remaining and continuing Monuments of his Infidelity to the Trust reposed in him of his departure from all Promises made at and since his entering upon the Government and of his Invading and Subverting all the Rules of the Constitution The Declaration of His Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for Preserving of the Protestant Religion and for Restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland IT is both certain and evident to all Men that the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the Lawful Authority in it are openly Transgressed and Annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavored and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavored to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are Indispensably bound to endeavor to preserve and maintain the established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them And to take such an effectual Care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights Which is so much the more Necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to Declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by Secret and Indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible Pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can Suspend and Dispence with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendered those Laws of no Effect Tho there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt Concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the Nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority For tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the cases of
Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence that the King can entirely Suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony Unless it is pretended that he is cloathed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honors and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are entirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a Power to Suspend the Execution of Laws and to Dispense with them Those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring that this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges and procured such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence to be turned out and others to be substituted in their rooms till by the Changes which were made in the Courts of Judicature they at last obtained that Judgment And they have raised some to those Trusts who make open Profession of the Popish Religion tho those are by Law rendred Incapable of all such Employments It is also Manifest and Notorious that as his Majesty was upon his coming to the Crown received and acknowledged by all the Subjects of England Scotland and Ireland as their King without the least Opposition tho he made then open Profession of the Popish Religion so he did then Promise and Solemnly Swear at his Coronation that he would maintain his Subjects in the Free Enjoyment of their Laws Rights and Liberties and in particular that he would maintain the Church of England as it was established by Law It is likewise certain that there have been at diverse and sundry times several Laws enacted for the Preservation of those Rights and Liberties and of the Protestant Religion And among other Securities it has been enacted That all Persons whatsoever that are advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity or to bear Office in either University as likewise all others that should be put in any Imployment Civil or Military should declare that they were not Papists but were of the Protestant Religion and that by their taking of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test yet these Evil Counsellors have in effect annulled and abolished all those Laws both with relation to Ecclesiastical and Civil Employments In order to Ecclesiastical Dignities and Offices they have not only without any colour of Law but against most express Laws to the contrary set up a Commission of a certain number of Persons to whom they have committed the Cognisance and Direction of all Ecclesiastical Matters in the which Commission there has been and still is one of His Majesties Ministers of State who makes now publick Profession of the Popish Religion and who at the time of his first professing it declared that for a great while before he had believed that to be the only true Religion By all this the deplorable State to which the Protestant Religion is reduced is apparent since the Affairs of the Church of England are now put into the Hands of Persons who have accepted of a Commission that is manifestly Illegal and who have executed it contrary to all Law and that now one of their chief Members has abjured the Protestant Religion and declared himself a Papist by which he is become incapable of holding any Publick Employment The said Commissioners have hitherto given such proof of their Submission to the Directions given them that there is no reason to doubt but they will still continue to promote all such Designs as will be most agreeable to them And those Evil Counsellors take care to raise none to any Ecclesiastical Dignities but Persons that have no Zeal for the Protestant Religion and that now hide their Unconcernedness for it under the specious Pretence of Moderation The said Commissioners have Suspended the Bishop of London only because he refused to obey an Order that was sent him to Suspend a Worthy Divine without so much as citing him before him to make his own Defence or observing the common Forms of Process They have turned out a President chosen by the Fellows of Magdalen College and afterwards all the Fellows of that College without so much as citing them before any Court that could take legal Cognisance of that Affair or obtaining any Sentence against them by a Competent Judge And the only reason that was given for turning them out was their refusing to chuse for their President a Person that was recommended to them by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors tho the Right of a Free Election belonged undoubtedly to them But they were turned out of their Freeholds contrary to Law and to that express provision in the Magna Charta That no Man shall loose Life or Goods but by the Law of the Land And now these Evil Counsellors have put the said College wholly into the Hands of Papists tho as is abovesaid they are incapable of all such Employments both by the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the College These Commissioners have also cired before them all the Chancellors and Arch-deacons of England requiring them to certifie to them the Names of all such Clergy-men as have read the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and of such as have not read it without considering that the reading of it was not enjoyned the Clergy by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries The Illegality and Incompetency of the said Court of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners was so notoriously known and it did so evidently appear that it tended to the Subversion of the Protestant Religion that the Most Reverend Father in God William Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England seeing that it was raised for no other end but to oppress such Persons as were of eminent Vertue Learning and Piety refused to sit or to concur in it And tho there are many express Laws against all Churches or Chappels for the Exercise of the Popish Religion and also against all Monasteries and Convents and more particularly against the Order of the Jesuits yet those Evil Counsellors have procured orders for the building of several Churches and Chappels for the Exercise of that Religion They have also procured diverse Monasteries to be erected and in contempt of the Law they have not only set up several Colleges of Jesuits in diverse places for the corrupting of the Youth but have raised up one of the Order to be a Privy Counsellor and a Minister of State By all
Honor and Happiness of those Nations may be established upon Lasting Foundations Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court at the Hague the Tenth day of October in the Year 1688. William Henry Prince of Orange By His Highness's Special Command C. HUYGENS. His Highness's Additional Declaration AFter we had prepared and printed this our Declaration we have understood that the Subverters of the Religion and Laws of those Kingdoms hearing of our Preparations to assist the People against them have begun to retract some of the Arbitrary and Despotick Powers that they had assumed and to vacate some of their Injust Judgments and Decrees The Sense of their Guilt and the distrust of their Force have induced them to offer to the City of London some seeming Relief from their Great Oppressions hoping thereby to quiet the People and to divert them from demanding a Secure Re-establishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of our Arms. They do also give out that we intend to Conquer and Enslave the Nation And therefore it is that we have thought fit to add a few words to our Declaration We are Confident that no Persons can have such hard thought of us as to imagine that we have any other Design in this Undertaking than to procure a Settlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a Foundation that there may be no danger of the Nations relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter And as the Forces that we have brought along with us are utterly disproportioned to that wicked Design of Conquering the Nation if we were capable of intending it so the Great Numbers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry that are Men of Eminent Quality and Estates and Persons of known Integrity and Zeal both for the Religion and Government of England many of them being also distinguished by their constant Fidelity to the Crown who do both accompany us in this Expedition and have earnestly solicited us to it will cover us from all such Malicious Insinuations For it is not to be imagined that either those who have invited us or those that are already come to assist us can joyn in a wicked Attempt of Conquest to make void their own lawful Titles to their Honors Estates and Interests We are also confident that all Men see how little weight there is to be laid on all Promises and Engagements that can be now made since there has been so little regard had in time past to the most solemn Promises And as that imperfect Redress that is now offered is a plain Confession of those Violations of the Government that we have set forth so the Defectiveness of it is no less Apparent for they lay down nothing which they may not take up at Pleasure and they reserve entire and not so much as mentioned their Claims and Pretences to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power which has been the Root of all their Oppression and of the total Subversion of the Government And it is plain that there can be no Redress nor Remedy offered but in Parliament by a Declaration of the Rights of the Subjects that have been invaded and not by any Pretended Acts of Grace to which the Extremity of their Affairs has driven them Therefore it is that we have thought fit to declare That we will refer all to a Free Assembly of the Nation in a Lawful Parliament Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague the 24th day of October in the Year of our Lord 1688. William Henry Prince of Orange By His Highness's Special Command G. HUYGENS. By his Highness William Henry Prince of Orange A Declaration Printed in the Year 1688. WE have in the course of our whole Life and more particularly by the apparent Hazards both by Sea and Land to which we have so lately exposed our Person given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion that we are fully confident no true English-man and good Protestant can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution rather to spend our dearest Blood and perish in the Attempt than not carry on the Blessed and Glorious Design which by the Favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun to Rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to Establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of those Kingdoms upon such a sure and lasting Foundation that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny Towards the more easy Compassing this great Design we have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the Concurrence of the Nobility Gentry and People of England with Us for the Security of their Religion the Restitution of the Laws and the Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties Great Numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joyned themselves to us and others at great Distances from Us have taken up Arms and Declared for Us. And which we cannot but particularly mention in that Army which was Raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery may by the special Providence of God both Officers and common Souldiers have been touched with such a feeling sense of Religion and Honour and of true Affection for their Native Country that they have already deserted the Illegal Service they were ingaged in and have come over to Us and have given us full Assurance from the rest of the Army That they will certainly follow this Example as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them without the Hazard of being prevented and betray'd To which end and that we may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design we are ingaged in for the publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations We are resolved with all possible Diligence to advance forward that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King and all things first settled upon such a foot according to Law as may give Us and the whole Nation just Reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescensions on his part as will give intire Satisfaction and Security to all and make both King and People once more happy And that we may effect all this in the way most agreeable to our Desires if it be possible without the Effusion of any Blood except of those execrable Criminals who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion and Subverting the Laws of their Native Country We do think fit to declare That as we will offer no Violence to any but in our own necessary Defence so we will not suffer any Injury to be done to the Person even of a Papist provided he be found in such Place and in such Condition and Circumstances as the Laws require So we are resolved and do declare that all Papists who shall be found
in open Arms or with Arms in their Houses or about their Persons or in any Office or Imployment Civil or Military upon any Pretence whatsoever contrary to the known Laws of the Land shall be treated by Us and our Forces not as Soldiers and Gentlemen but as Robbers Free-Booters and Banditti they shall be incapable of Quarter and intirely delivered up to the Discretion of our Soldiers And We do further declare that all Persons who shall be found any ways aiding and assisting to them or shall march under their Command or shall joyn with or submit to them in the Discharge or Execution of their Illegal Commissions or Authority shall be looked upon as Partakers of their Crimes Enemies to the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great Numbers of armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempt upon the said Cities and their Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in Pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Tho we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's Assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of the great and tender Concern We have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to Require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord-Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and all other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all Power of doing mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their Force and be strictly Executed And We do hereby likewise Declare that We will Protect and Defend all those who shall not be afraid to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to Execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this Juncture to be cajoled or terrified out of ther Duty We will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt or destroyed by their Treachery and Cowardise William Henry Prince of Orange Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head-quarters at Sherburn Castle the 28th day of November 1688. By his Highness special Command C. HUYGENS. The following Paper was Published by Mr. Samuel Johnson in the Year 1686. for which he was Sentenc'd by the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice to stand three times on the Pillory and to be whipp'd from Newgate to Tyburn Which barbarous Sentence was Executed An Humble and Hearty Address to all the English Protestants in this present Army Gentlemen NExt to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hands and often look Death in the Face The second Thing that deserves your Consideration is The service of your Native Country wherein you drew your first Breath and breathed a free English Air. Now I would desire you to consider how well you comply with these two main Points by engaging in this present Service Is it in the Name of God and for his Service that you have joyned your selves with Papists who will indeed fight for the Mass-book but burn the Bible and who seek to Extirpate the Protestant Religion with Your Swords because they cannot do it with their Own And will you be Aiding and Assisting to set up Mass-houses to Erect that Popish Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst us and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these Things and yet call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a Foreign Yoke Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Country-men under the Name of Quartering directly contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Will you be Aiding and Assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions Which were declared Illegal and sufficiently blasted by both Houses of Parliament if there had been any need of it for it was very well known before That a Papist cannot have a Commission but by the Law is utterly Disabled and Disarmed Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial or Club-law and help to destroy all others only to be eaten last your selves If I know you well as you are English Men you hate and scorn these Things And therefore be not unequally yoaked with Idolatrous and Bloody Papists Be Valiant for the Truth and shew your selves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all the English Seamen who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since Eighty Eight Several Reasons for the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia By Mr. S. Johnson 1. BEcause the Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants and the whole Militia that is to say the Lords Gentlemen and Free-holders of England are not fit to be trusted with their own Laws Lives Liberties and Estates and therefore ought to have Guardians and Keepers assigned to them 2. Because Mercenary Soldiers who fight for twelve Pence a Day will fight better as having more to lose than either the Nobility or Gentry 3. Because there are no Irish Papists in the Militia who are certainly the best Soldiers in the World for they have slain Men Women and Children
by Hundreds of Thousands at once 4. Because the Dragooners have made more Converts than all the Bishops and Clergy of France 5. The Parliament ought to establish one standing Army at the least because indeed there will be need of Two that one of them may defend the People from the other 6. Because it is a thousand pities that a brave Popish Army should be a Riot 7. Unless it be Established by Act of Parliament The Justices of Peace will be forced to suppress it in their own Defence for they will be loth to forfeit an hundred Pounds every day they rise out of Complement to a Popish Rout. 13 H. 4. c. 7. 2 H. 5. c. 8. 8. Because a Popish Army is a Nullity For all Papists are utterly disabled and punishable besides from bearing any Office in Camp Troop Band or Company of Soldiers and are so far disarmed by Law that they cannot wear a Sword so much as in their Defence without the allowance of four Justices of the Peace of the County And then upon a March they will be perfectly Inchanted for they are not able to stir above five Miles from their own Dwelling-house 3. Jac. 5. Sect. 8.27 28 29.35 Eliz. 2.3 Jac. 5. Sect. 7. 9. Because Persons utterly disabled by Law are utterly Unauthorized and therefore the void Commissions of Killing and Slaying in the Hands of Papists can only enable them to Massacre and Murder To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province now present with him in behalf of themselves and others of their absent Brethren and of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses Humbly sheweth THAT the great averseness they find in themselves to the distributing and publishing in all their Churches your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any want of Duty and Obedience to your Majesty our Holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more than once publickly acknowledg'd to be so by your Gracious Majesty Nor yet from any want of due tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they are willing to come to such a Temper as shall be thought fit when that Matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other Considerations from this especially because that Declaration is founded upon such a Dispensing Power as has been often declared Illegal in Parliament and particularly in the years 1662 and 1672. and in the beginning of your Majesty's Reign and is a matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation both in Church and State that your Petitioners cannot in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the distribution of it all over the Nation and the solemn Publication of it once and again even in God's House and in the Time of his Divine Service must amount to in common and reasonable Construction Your Petitioners therefore most Humbly and Earnestly beseech your Majesty that you will be ciously pleased not to insist upon their Distributing and Reading your Majesty's said Declaration And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever Pray Will. Cant. Will. Asaph Fr Ely Jo. Cicestr Tho. Bathon Wellen. Tho. Peterburgen Jonath Bristol His Majesties Answer was to this effect I Have heard of this before but did not believe it I did not expect this from the Church of England especially from some of you If I change my Mind you shall hear from me if not I expect my Command shall be obeyed The PETITION of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament Together with his Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships To the KING 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are subscribed May it please your Majesty WE your Majesty's most loyal Subjects in a deep sense of the Miseries of a War now breaking forth in the Bowels of this your Kingdom and of the Danger to which your Majesty's Sacred Person is thereby like to be exposed and also of the Distractions of your People by reason of their present Grievances do think our selves bound in Conscience of the duty we owe to God and our holy Religion to your Majesty and our Country most humbly offer to your Majesty That in our Opinion the only visible Way to preserve your Majesty and this your Kingdom would be the Calling of a Parliament Regular and Free in all its Circumstances We therefore do most earnestly beseech your Majesty That you would be graciously pleased with all speed to call such a Parliament wherein we shall be most ready to promote such Counsels and Resolutions of Peace and Settlement in Church and State as may conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and to the quieting the Minds of your People We do likewise humbly beseech your Majesty in the mean time to use such means for the preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood as to your Majesty shall seem most meet And your Petitioners shall ever pray c. W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon Burlington Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph Fran. Ely Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg Tho. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston Presented by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Arch-Bishop of York Elect the Bishop of Ely and the Bishop of Rochester the 17th of November 1688. His Majesty's most Gracious Answer My LORDS What You ask of Me I most passionately desire And I promise You upon the Faith of a King That I will have a Parliament and such an One as You ask for as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm For How is it possible a Parliament should be Free in all its Circumstances as You Petition for whil'st an Enemy is in the Kingdom and can make a Return of near an Hundred Voices The Lords Petition with the King's Answer may be printed Novemb. 29. 1688. The P. O.'s Letter to the English Army Gentlemen and Friends WE have given you so full and so true an Account of Our Intentions in this Expedition in Our Declaration that as We can add nothing to it so We are sure you can desire nothing more of us We are come to preserve your Religion and to restore and establish your Liberties and Properties and therefore We cannot suffer Our selves to doubt but that all true English men will come and concur with Us in Our desire to secure these Nations from POPERY and SLAVERY You must all plainly see that you are only made use of as Instruments to enslave the Nation and ruin the Protestant Religion and when that is done you may judge what ye your selves ought to expect both from the cashiering of all the Protestant and English Officers and Soldiers in Ireland and by the Irish Soldiers being brought over to be put in your places
Orange designs the King's safety and preservation and hope all things may be composed without more Blood-shed by the calling a Parliament God grant a happy End to these Troubles that the King's Reign may be prosperous and that I may shortly meet You in perfect peace and safety till when let me beg You to continue the same favourable Opinion that You have hitherto had of Your most Obedient Daughter and Servant ANNE A Memorial of the Protestants of the Church of England Presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange YOur Royal Highnesses cannot be ignorant that the Protestants of England who continue true to their Religion and the Government Established by Law have been many ways troubled and vexed by restless contrivances and designs of the Papists under pretence of the Royal Authority and things required of them unaccountable before God and Man Ecclesiastical Benefices and Preferments taken from them without any other Reason but the King's Pleasure that they have been summoned and sentenced by Ecclesiastical Commissioners contrary to Law deprived of their Birth-Right in the free Choice of their Magistrates and Representatives divers Corporations dissolved the Legal Security of our Religion and Liberty established and ratified by King and Parliament annull'd and overthrown by a pretended Dispensing Power new and unheard of Maxims have been preached as if Subjects had no Right but what depends on the King's Will and Pleasure The Militia put into the Hands of persons not qualified by Law and a Popish Mercenary Army maintained in the Kingdom in time of Peace absolutely contrary to Law The Execution of the Law against several high Crimes and Misdemeanours superseded and prohibited the Statutes against Correspondence with the Court of Rome Papal Jurisdiction and Popish Priests suspended that in Courts of Justice those Judges are displaced who dare acquit them whom the King would have Condemned as happened to Judg Powel and Holloway for acquitting the Seven Bishops Liberty of chusing Members of Parliament notwithstanding all the Care taken and Provision made by Law on that behalf wholly taken away by Quo Warranto's served against Corporations and the three known Questions All things carried on in open view for the Propagation and Growth of Popery for which the Courts of England and France have so long joyntly laboured with so much Application and Earnestness Endeavours used to perswade your Royal Highnesses to consent to Liberty of Conscience and abrogating the Penal Laws and Tests wherein they fell short of their aim That they most humbly implore the Protection of your Royal Highnesses as to the 〈◊〉 ending and incroachments made upon the Law for maintenance of the Protestant Religion our Civil and Fundamental Rights and Priviledg and that Your Royal Highness would be pleased to insist that the Free Parliament of England according to Law may be restored the Laws against Papists Priests Papal Jurisdiction c. put in Execution and the Suspending and Dispensing Power declared null and void the Rights and Priviledges of the City of London the free Choice of their Magistrates and the Liâ—â—â—ties as well of that as other Corporations restored and all things returned to their 〈◊〉 Channel c. Admiral Herbert 's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Seamen in His Majesties Fleet. Gentlemen I Have little to add to what his Highness has express'd in general Terms besides laying before you the dangerous way you are at present in where Ruin or Infamy must inevitably attend you if you don't joyn with the Prince in the Common Cause for the Defence of your Religion and Liberties for should it please God for the sins of the English Nation to suffer your Arms to prevail to what can your Victory serve you but to enslave you deeper and overthrow the true Religion in which you have liv'd and your Fathers dy'd Of which I beg you as a Friend to consider the Consequences and to reflect on the Blot and Infamy it will bring on you not only now but in all After-Ages That by Your means the Protestant Religion was destroy'd and your Country depriv'd of its Ancient Liberties And if it pleases God to bless the Prince's Endeavours with success as I don't doubt but he will consider then what their Condition will be that oppose him in this so good a Design where the greatest Favour they can hope for is their being suffer'd to end their Days in Misery and Want detested and despised by all good Men. It is therefore and for many more Reasons too long to insert here that I as a true English-man and your Friend exhort you to joyn your Arms to the Prince for the Defence of the Common Cause the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of your Country It is what I am well assured the major and best part of the Army as well as the Nation will do so soon as convenience is offered Prevent them in so good an Action whilst it is in your power and may it appear That as the Kingdom hath always depended on the Navy for its Defence so you will yet go further by making it as much as in you lies the Protection of her Religion and Liberties and then you may assure your selves of all Marks of Favour and Honour suitable to the Merits of so great and glorious an Action After this I ought not to add so inconsiderable a thing as that it will for ever engage me to be in a most particular manner Your faithful Friend and humble Servant AR. HERBERT Aboard the Leyden in the Gooree Lord Delamear 's Speech THE occasion of this is to give you my Thoughts upon the present Conjuncture which concerns not only you but every Protestant and Free-born Man of England I am confident that wishes well to the Protestant Religion and his Country and I am perswaded that every Man of you thinks both in danger and now to lie at stake I am also perswaded that every Man of you will rejoyce to see Religion and Property settled if so then I am not mistaken in my Conjectures concerning you Can you ever hope for a better Occasion to root out POPERY and SLAVERY than by joining with the P. of O. whose Proposals contain and speak the Desires of every Man that loves his Religion and Liberty And in saying this I will invite you to nothing but what I will do my self and I will not desire any of you to go any further than I will move my self neither will I put you upon any Danger where I will not take share in it I propose this to you not as you are my Tenants but as my Friends and as you are Englishmen No Man can love Fighting for its own sake nor find any pleasure in danger And you may imagine I would be very glad to spend the rest of my days in peace I having had so great a share in Troubles but I see all lies at stake I am to chuse whether I will be a Slave and a Papist or a
Protestant and a Free man and therefore the Case being thus I shall think my self false to my Country if I sit still at this time I am of Opinion that when the Nation is Deliver'd it must be by Force or by Miracle It would be too great a presumption to expect the latter and therefore our Deliverance must be by Force and I hope this is the Time for it a Price is now put into our Hands and if it miscarry for want of Assistance our Blood is upon our own Heads and he that is passive at this Time may very well expect that God will mock when the Fear of Affliction comes upon him which he thought to avoid by being indifferent If the King prevails farewel Liberty of Conscience which has hitherto been allowed not for the sake of the Protestants but in order to settle Popery You may see what to expect if he get the better and he hath lately given you of this Town a taste of the Method whereby he will maintain his Army And you may see of what sort of People he intends his Army to consist and if you have not a mind to serve such Masters then stand not by and see your Country-men perish when they are endeavouring to defend you I promise this on my Word and Honour to every Tenant that goes along with me That if he fall I will make his Lease 〈◊〉 good to his Family as it was when he went from home The thing then which â—â—se â—esire and your Country does expect from you is this That every Man that hath a toâ—rable Horse or can procure one will meet me on Boden-Downs to morrow where I Rendezvouz But if any of you is rendred unable by reason of Age or any other just Excuse then that he would mount a fitter person and put five Pounds in his Pocket Those that have not nor cannot procure Horse let them stay at home and assist with their Purses and send it to me with a particular of every Mans Contribution I impose on no Man but let him lay his Hand on his Heart and consider what he is willing to give to recover his Religion and Liberty and to such I promise and to all that go along with 〈…〉 if we prevail I will be as industrious to have him recompensed for his Charge and â—â—azard as I will be to seek it for my self This Advice I give to all that stay behind That when you hear the Papists have committed any Out-rage or any Rising that you will get together for it is better to meet your danger than expect it I have no more to say but that I am willing to lose my Life in the Cause if God see it good for I was never unwilling to die for my Religion and Country An Engagement of the Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen at Exeter to Assist the Prince of Orange in the Defence of the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties of the People of England Scotland and Ireland WE do engage to Almighty God and to his Highness the Prince of Orange and with one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in the Defence of it and never to depart from it until our Religion Laws and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free-Parliament that we shall be no more in danger of falling under Popery and Slavery And whereas we are engaged in the Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which means his Person may be exposed to Danger and to the desperate and cursed Designs of Papists and other bloody Men we do therefore solemnly engage to God and to one another That if any such Attempts be made upon him we will pursue not only those that made them but all their Adherents and all we find in Arms against us with the utmost Severity of just Revenge in their Ruin and Destruction and that the executing any such Attempt which God of his Infinite Mercy forbid shall not deprive us from pursuing this Cause which we do now undertake but that it shall encourage us to carry it on with all the Vigour that so Barbarous Approach shall deserve The Declaration of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty at the Rendezvouz at Nottingham Nov. 22. 1688. WE the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of these Northern Counties assembled together at Nottingham for the Defence of the Laws Religion and Properties according to those free-born Liberties and Priviledges descended to us from our Ancestors as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious dress they can put upon us do here unanimously think it our Duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant Fellow-Subjects the Grounds of our present Undertaking We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible that the very Fundamentals of our Religion Liberties and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy Council as hath been of late too apparent 1. By the King's dispensing with all the Establish'd Laws at his pleasure 2. By displacing all Officers out of all Offices of Trust and Advantage and placing others in their room that are known Papists deservedly made incapable by the Establish'd Laws of our Land 3. By destroying the Charters of most Corporations in the Land 4. By discouraging all Persons that are not Papists preferring such as turn to Popery 5. By displacing all honest and conscientious Judges unless they would â—â—ntrary to their Consciences declare that to be Law which was meerly arbitrary 〈…〉 By branding all Men with the name of Rebels that but offered to justifie the Law 〈…〉 a legal course against the arbitrary proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects 8. By discountenancing the Establish'd Reformed Religion 9. By forbidding the Subjects the benefit of Petitioning and constâ—â—ing them Libellers so rendring the Laws a Nose of Wax to serve their Arbitrary 〈…〉 And many more such-like too long here to enumerate We being thus made sadly sensible oâ— he Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Counsels coming upon us do unanimously declare That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a Condition of Popery and Slavery as the aforesaid Oppressions inevitably threaten we will to the utmost of our power oppose the same by joining with the Prince of Orange whom we hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid will use our utmost Endeavours for the recovery of our almost ruin'd Laws Liberties and Religion And herein we hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us and not be bugbear'd with the opprobrious Terms of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolences and Usurpations
for we assure our selves that no rational and unbyassed Person will judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have sworn at their Coronations Which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have the Consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will his Law and to resist such an one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And in this Consideration we doubt not of all Honest Mens Assistance and humbly hope for and implore the great Gods Protection that turneth the Hearts of People as pleaseth him best it having been observed That People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration which hath in all Ages confirmed that Observation Vox Populi est Vox Dei The present restoring of Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen Colledg Fellows is plain are but to still the People like Plums to Children by deceiving them for a while but if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present Storm that threatens the Papists be past as soon as they shall be resetled the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour But we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds For 1. the Papists old Rule is That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresie And 2. Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk-men that help'd her to the Throne And above all 3. the Popes dispensing with the breach of Oaths Treaties or Promises at his pleasure when it makes for the service of Holy Church as they term it These we say are such convincing Reasons to hinder us from giving Credit to the aforesaid Mock-Shews of Redress that we think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no Security that shall not be approved by a Freely Elected Parliament to whom under God we refer our Cause His Grace the Duke of Norfolk 's Speech to the Mayor of Norwich on the First of December in the Market-place of Norwich Mr. Mayor NOT doubting but you and the rest of your Body as well as the whole City and Country may be Alarmed by the great Concourse of Gentry with the numerous Appearance of their Friends and Servants as well as of your own Militia here this Morning I have thought this the most proper place as being the most publick one to give you an Account of our Intentions Out of the deep sense we had that in the present unhappy Juncture of Affairs nothing we could think of was possible to secure the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion but a Free Parliament WE ARE HERE MET TO DECLARE That we will do our utmost to defend the same by declaring for such a Free Parliament And since His Majesty hath been pleased by the News we hear this day to order Writs for a Parliament to sit the Fifteenth of January next I can only add in the name of my Self and all these Gentlemen and others here met That we will ever be ready to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion And so GOD SAVE THE KING To this the Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the Corporation and a numerous Assembly did concur with his Grace and the rest of the Gentry His Grace at his lighting from his Horse perceiving great numbers of Common People gathering together called them to him and told them He desired they would not take any occasion to commit any Disorder or Outrage but go quietly to their Homes and acquainted them that the King had ordered a Free Parliament to be called The Speech of the Prince of Orange to some Principal Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire on their coming to joyn his Highness at Exeter the 15th of Nov. 1688. THO we know not all your Persons yet we have a Catalogue of your Names and remember the Character of your Worth and Interest in your Country You see we are come according to your Invitation and our Promise Our Duty to God obliges us to protect the Protestant Religion and our Love to Mankind your Liberties and Properties We expected you that dwelt so near the place of our Landing would have joyn'd us sooner not that it is now too late nor that we want your Military Assistance so much as your Countenance and Presence to justifie our declar'd Pretensions rather than accomplish our good and gracious Designs Tho we have brought both a good Fleet and a good Army to render these Kingdoms happy by rescuing all Protestants from Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power by restoring them to their Rights and Properties established by Law and by promoting of Peace and Trade which is the Soul of Government and the very Life-Blood of a Nation yet we rely more on the goodness of God and the Justice of our Cause than on any Humane Force and Power whatever Yet since God is pleased we shall make use of Human Means and not expect Miracles for our Preservation and Happiness let us not neglect making use of this gracious Opportunity but with Prudence and Courage put in Execution our so honourable Purposes Therefore Gentlemen Friends and Fellow-Protestants we bid you and all your Followers most heartily Welcom to our Court and Camp Let the whole World now judg if our Pretensions are not Just Generous Sincere and above Price since we might have even a Bridge of Gold to return back But it is our Principle and Resolution rather to die in a good Cause than live in a bad One well knowing that Vertue and True Honour is its own Reward and the Happiness of Mankind Our Great and Only Design The true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby where he quarter'd the one and twentieth of November 1688. WE the Nobility and Gentry of the Northern parts of England being deeply sensible of the Calamities that threaten these Kingdoms do think it our Duty as Christians and good Subjects to endeavour what in us lies the Healing of our present Distractions and preventing greater And as with grief we apprehend the said Consequences that may arise from the Landing of an Army in this Kingdom from Foreign parts So we cannot but deplore the Occasion given for it by so many Invasions made of late Years on our Religion and Laws And whereas we cannot think of any other Expedient to compose our Differences and prevent Effusion of Blood than that which procured a Settlement in these Kingdoms after the late Civil Wars the Meeting and Sitting of a Parliament freely and duly Chosen we think our selves obliged as far as in us lies to promote it And the rather because the Prince of Orange as appears by his Declaration is willing to submit his own Pretensions and all other Matters to their Determination We heartily Wish and
time acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at that Meeting Dated at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty to treat with him And his Highness's Answer WHereas on the 8th of December 1688. at Hungerford a Paper signed by the Marquess of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin Commissioners sent unto us from His Majesty was delivered to Us in these Word following viz. Sir THE King commanded us to acquaint You That he observeth all the Differences and Causes of Complaint alledged by Your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as He hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present State of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more compos'd Yet seeing that His People still continue to desire it He hath put forth His Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth His Writs for the calling of it And to prevent any Cause of Interruption in it He will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that shall come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent Us to attend Your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready immediately to enter into a Treaty in Order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be restrained within such Limits and at such a Distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may in any kind be disturbed being desirous that the Meeting of it may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford Dec. 8. 88. Signed Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin We with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Vs have in Answer to the same made these following Proposals I. THAT all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and Removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations which Reflect upon Us or any that have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having so assisted have been committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty shall think fit to be at London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with equal Number of our Guards Or if his Majesty shall please to be in any place from London at what-ever distance he thinks fit that We may be at a place of the same distance And that the respective Armies do remove from London Thirty Miles and that no more Foreign Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. That for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the said City VI. That to prevent the Landing of French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by Your Majesty and Us shall be agreed upon VII That some sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be Assigned Us for the Maintaining of our Forces until the Meeting of a Free Parliament Given at Littlecott the Ninth of December 1688. W. H. Prince of Orange The Speech of the Recorder of Bristol to his Highness the Prince of Orange Monday January the 7th 1688. The Mayor Recorder Aldermen and Commons of the Principal Citizens of the City of Bristol waited upon the Prince of Orange being introduced by his Grace the Duke of Ormond their High-Steward and the Earl of Shrewsbury Where the Recorder spake to this Effect May it please your Highness THE Restitution of our Religion Laws and Liberties and the Freeing us from that Thraldom which hath rendred us for many Years useless and at last dangerous to the Common Interest of the Protestant World by your Highness's singular Wisdom Courage and Conduct are not only a Stupendious Evidence of the Divine Favour and Providence for our Preservation but will be and ought to be an Everlasting Monument of your Highness's Magnanimity and other the Heroick Vertues which Adorn your great Soul by whom such a Revolution is wrought in this Nation as is become the Joy and Comfort of the Present and will be the Wonder of all Succeeding Ages In the Contrivance and Preparation of which great Work your Highness like the Heavens did shed your propitious Influences upon us whilst we slept and had scarce any prospect from whence we might expect our Redemption But as since your happy Arrival in England we did among the first Associate our selves to assist and promote your Highness's most glorious Design with our Lives and Fortunes so we now think our selves bound in the highest Obligation of Gratitude most humbly to present to your Highness our humble and hearty Thanks for this our Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and likewise for declaring your gracious Intentions That by the Advice of the Estates of this Kingdom you will rectifie the late Disorders in the Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil according to the known Laws The due and inviolable Observation of which will in our poor Opinion be the only proper Means to render the Soveraign Secure and both Soveraign and Subject happy To which his Highness returned a most Gracious Answer By the Commissioners of Lieutenancy for the said City Guild-hall London December the 11th 1688. Ordered THat Sir Robert Clayton Kt. Sir William Russel Kt. Sir Basil Firebrass Kt. and Charles Duncomb Esq be a Committee from the said Lieutenancy to Attend his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange and present to his Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning By the Commissioners Command Geo. Evans Cl. Lieu. London To His Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sense we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts That Your Highness has exposed Your Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we have not had any seasonable Opportunity to give Your Highness and the World a real Testimony that it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is Dear to Us to attain those glorious Ends which Your Highness has proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness
our just and due Acknowledgments for the happy Relief You have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a Posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's Happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the great Work which Your Highness has so happily begun to the general Joy and Satisfaction of us all December the 17th 1688. THE said Committee this day made Report to the Lieutenancy that they had presented the said Address to the Prince of Orange and that His Highness received them very kindly December the 17th 1688. By the Lieutenancy Ordered That the said Order and Address be forwith Printed Geo. Evans To his Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled May it please Your Highness WE taking into Consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many and hazardous Enterprizes which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless You with miraculous Success We render our deepest Thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same And beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your glorious Design to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some Remedy for these Oppressions and Imminent Dangers We together with our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from His Majesty's Concessions and Concurrences with Your Highness's Just and Pious purposes expressed in Your gracious Declaration But herein finding Our Selves finally disappointed by his Majesty's withdrawing Himself We presume to make Your Highness Our Refuge And do in the Name of this Capital CITY implore Your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech Your Highness to vouchsafe to repair to this CITY where Your Highness will be received with Universal Joy and Satisfaction The Speech of Sir George Treby Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Dec. 20. 1688. May it please your Highness THE Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom deputed to Congratulate your Highness upon this great and glorious Occasion In which labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State over-run by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the Point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliances in all Times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind To have the Title of Soveraign Prince Stadtholder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are among their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Soldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon your appearing GREAT SIR When we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and Fulness of our present Deliverance astonish'd we think it miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and called by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity restor'd Our Laws which are our ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can We make to your Highness Our Thoughts are full-charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all good Men among us And late Posterity will celebrate your ever-glorious Name till Time shall be no more Chapman Mayor Cur ' special ' tent ' die Jovis xx die Decemb ' 1688. Annoque RR. Jacobi Secundi Angl ' c. quarto THIS Court doth desire Mr. Recorder to print his Speech this day made to the Prince of Orange at the time of this Court 's attending his Highness with the Deputies of the several Wards and other Members of the Common Council Wagstaffe His Highness the Prince of Orange's Speech to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen With their Advice and his Highness's Answer With a true Account of what past at their Meeting in the Council-Chamber at Whitehall January 7th 168â— His Highness the Prince of Orange having caused Advertise such of the Scots Lords and Gentlemen as were in Town met them in a Room at St. James's upon Monday the Seventh of January at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon and had this Speech to them My Lords and Gentlemen THE only Reason that induced me to undergo so great an Vndertaking was That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in Imminent Danger And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for Securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration As soon as his Highness had retired the Lords and Gentlemen went to the Council-Chamber at Whitehall and having chosen the Duke of Hamilton their President they fell a consulting what Advice was fit to be given to his Highness in this Conjuncture And after some hours Reasoning they agreed upon the Materials of it and appointed the Clerks with such as were to assist them to draw up in Writing what the Meeting thought expedient to advise his Highness and to bring it in to the Meeting the next in the Afternoon Tuesday the Eighth Instant the Writing was presented in the Meeting And some time being spent in Reasoning about the fittest way of Coveening a General Meeting of the Estates of Scotland At last the Meeting came to agree in their Opinion and appointed the Advice to be writ clean over according to the Amendments But as they were about to part for that Dyet the Earl of Arran proposed to them as his Lordship's Advice that they should move the Prince of Orange to desire the King to return and call a Free Parliament which would be the best way to secure the Protestant Religion and Property and to
heal all Breaches This Proposal seemed to dissatisfie the whole Meeting and the Duke of Hamilton their President Father to the Earl but they presently parted Wednesday the Ninth of January they met at three of the Clock in the same Room and Sir Patrick Hume took notice of the Proposal made by the Earl of Arran and desired to know if there was any there that would second it But none appearing to do it he said That what the Earl had proposed was evidently opposite and inimicous to his Highness the Prince of Orange's Undertaking his Declaration and the good Intentions of preserving the Protestant Religion and of Restoring their Laws and Liberties exprest in it and further desired that the Meeting should declare this to be their Opinion of it The Lord Cardross seconded Sir Patrick's Motion It was answered by the Duke of Hamilton President of the Meeting That their Business was to prepare an Advice to be offered to the Prince and the Advice being now ready to go to the Vote there was no need that the Meeting should give their Sense of the Earl's Proposal which neither before nor after Sir Patrick's Motion any had pretended to own or second so that it was fallen and out of doors and that the Vote of the Meeting upon the Advice brought in by their Order would sufficiently declare their Opinion This being seconded by the Earl of Sutherland the Lord Cardross and Sir Patrick did acquiesce in it and the Meeting Voted unanimously the Advice following To His Highness the Prince of Orange WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give your Highness our Humble and Hearty Thanks for your Pious and Generous Undertaking for Preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms In order to the Attaining these Ends our humble Advice and Desire is That your Highness take upon You the Administration of all Affairs both Civil and Military the Disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing every Thing that is necessary for the Preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a general Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire your Highness to Call to be holden at Edinburgh the Fourteenth day of March next by your Letters or Proclamation to be published at the Market-Cross of Edingburgh and other Head-Boroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient Intimation to All concerned and according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriffs or Stewart Clerks for the Free-holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town-Clerks of the several Burroughs for the meeting of the whole Burgesses of the respective Royal Burroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen Days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edingburgh and the Respective Clerks to make Intimation thereof at least Ten Days before the Meetings for Elections And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edingburgh qualified as above Exprest be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever to Deliberate and Resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to your Highness's Declaration Dated at the Council-Chamber in White hall the Tenth Day of January 1689. This Address being Subscribed by Thirty Lords and about Eighty Gentlemen was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President to his Highness the Prince of Orange who thanked them for the Trust they reposed in him and desired time to consider upon so weighty an Affair Upon the Fourteenth of January his Highness the Prince of Orange met again with the Scots Lords and Gentlemen at St. James's And spoke to them as follows My Lords and Gentlemen IN persuance of your Advice I will until the Meeting of the States in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the Calling of the said Meeting for the preserving of the peace the applying of the publick Revenue to the most pressing Vses and putting the Fortresses in the Hands of persons in whom the Nation can have a just Confidence And I do further assure you That you will always find me ready to concur with you in every Thing that may be found necessary for Securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earl of Crawfourd desired of his Highness That himself the Earl of Louthian and others come to Town since the Address was presented might have an opportunity to Subscribe it which was accordingly done His Highness Retired and all shewed great Satisfaction with his Answer The Emperor of Germany 's Account of K. James 's Misgovernment in joyning with the King of France the Common Enemy of Christendom in his Letter to King James viz. LEOPOLD c. WE have received your Majesties Letters dated from St. Germans the sixth of February last by the Earl of Carlingford your Envoy in our Court By them we have understood the Condition your Majesty is reduced to and that you being deserted after the Landing of the Prince of Orange by your Army and even by your Domestick Servants and by those you most consided in and almost by all your Subjects you have been forced by a sudden Flight to provide for your own Safety and to seek Shelter and Protection in France Lastly that you desire Assistance from us for the recovering your Kingdoms We do assure your Majesty that as soon as we heard of this severe turn of Affairs we were moved at it not only with the common sense of Humanity but with much deeper Impressions suitable to the sincere Affection which we have always born to you And we were heartily sorry that at last that was come to pass which tho we hoped for better things yet our own sad thoughts had suggested to us would ensue If your Majesty had rather given Credit to the Friendly Remonstrances that were made you by our late Envoy the Count de Kaunitz in our Name than the deceitful Insinuations of the French whose chief aim was by fomenting continual Divisions between you and your People to gain thereby an Opportunity to insult the more securely over the rest of Christendom And if your Majesty had put a stop by your Force and Authority to their many Infractions of the Peace of which by the Treaty at Nimegen you are made the Guarantee and to that end entred into Consultations with us and such others as have the like just Sentiments in this matter We are verily persuaded that by this means you should have in a great measure quieted the Minds of your People which were so much exasperated through their aversion to our Religion and the publick Peace had been preserved as well
in your Kingdoms as here in the Roman Empire But now we refer it even to your Majesty to judg what condition we can be in to afford you any Assistance we being not only Engaged in a War with the Turks but finding our selves at the same time unjustly and barbarously Attacked by the French contrary to and against the Faith of Treaties they then reckoning themselves secure of England And this ought not to be concealed that the greatest Injuries which have been done to our Religion have flowed from no other than the French themselves who not only esteem it lawful for them to make perfidious Leagues with the sworn Enemies of the Holy Cross tending to the destruction both of us and of the whole Christian World in order to the checking our Endeavours which were undertaken for the glory of God and to stop those Successes which it hath pleased Almighty God to give us hitherto but further have heaped one Treuchery upon another even within the Empire it self The Cities of the Empire which were Surrendred upon Articles signed by the Dauphin himself have been exhausted by excessive Impositions and after their being exhausted have been Plundred and after Plundring have been Burned and Razed The Palaces of Princes which in all times and even in the most destructive Wars have been preserved are now burnt down to the ground The Churches are Robbed and such as submitted themselves to them are in a most Barbarous manner carried away as Slaves In short It is become a Diversion to them to commit all manner of Insolences and Cruelties in many places but chiefly in Catholick Countries exceeding the Cruelties of the Turks themselves which having imposed an absolute necessity upon us to secure our selves and the holy Roman Empire by the best means we can think on and that no less against them than against the Turks we promise our selves from your Justice ready assent to this That it ought not to be imputed to us if we endeavour to procure by a just War that security to our selves which we could not hitherto obtain by so many Treaties and that in order to the obtaining thereof we take measures for our mutual Defence of Preservation with all those who are equally concerned in the same Design with us It remains that we beg of God that he would Direct all things to his glory and that he would grant your Majesty true and solid Comforts under this your great Calamity we embrace you with tender Affections of a Brother At Vienna the 9th of April 1689. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster concerning the Misgovernment of King James and filling up the Throne Presented to King William and Queen Mary by the right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax Speaker to the House of Lords With His Majesties most gracious Answer thereunto WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers Imploy'd by Him did endeavour to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispensing with and Suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By Committing and Prosecuting divers Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be Excused from concurring to the said assumed Power By 〈◊〉 and causing to be executed a Commission under the great Seal for erecting a Court called The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes By Levying Mony for and to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within this Kingdom in the time of Peace whithout consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be Disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law By violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of King's-Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years Partial Corrupt and Unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Tryals and particularly divers Jurors in Tryals for High-Treason which were not Free-holders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subjects And Excessive Fines have been Imposed And Illegal and Cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Convictions or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be Levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the said late K. James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of Right to be sent to Parliament to Meet and Sit at Westminster upon the 22d Day of January in this Year 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted Upon which Letters Elections having been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lord's Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Case have usually done for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties Declare That the pretended Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is Illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like Nature are Illegal and Pernicious That levying of Mony for or to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted is Illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are Illegal That the Raising or Keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with
Consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as allowed by Law That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or place out of Parliament That excessive Bail ought not to be required nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly empannell'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon Men in Tryals for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all grants and promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only Means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by Him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. do swear That I do from my Heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrin and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Browne Cleric ' Parl. Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THIS is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully Accept what you have Offered And as I had no other Intention in coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure That I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Jo. Browne Cleric ' Parliamentorum Die Veneris 〈◊〉 Februarii 1688. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses and the Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published And that His Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery A PROCLAMATION WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his Great Mercy to this Kingdom to Vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of ORANGE whom God hath Chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of ORANGE whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and Presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of ORANGE and therein desired them to Accept the Crown who have Accepted the same Accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with a full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Cerritories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be Owned Deemed Accepted and taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to Acknowledge and Pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to Bless King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with Long and Happy Years to Reign over Vs. God Save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Jo. Brown Cleric ' Parliamentorum The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Misgovernment of King James the Seventh and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary THAT King James the 7th had acted irregularly 1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said but also inverting Protestant Chapels and Churches to Publick Mass-houses contrary to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass 2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed by a Gift to a Popish Printer designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold College and Chapel contrary to the Laws
That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes is contrary to Law That the sending of an Army in a Hostile manner upon any part of the Kingdom in a peaceable time and exacting of Locality and any manner of free Quarter is contrary to Law That the charging the Lieges with Law-burroughs at the King's instance and the imposing of Bands without the Authority of Parliament and the suspending the Advocates from their Imployments for not compearing when such Bands were offered were contrary to Law That the putting of Garisons on private Mens Houses in a time of peace without the consent of the Authority of Parliament is contrary to Law That the opinion of the Lords of Session in the two Causes following were contrary to Law viz. 1. That the concerting the demand of a Supply for a Forfaulted Person although not given is Treason 2. That Persons refusing to discover what are their private thoughts and judgments in relation to points of Treason or other Mens actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from the Church was contrary to Law That Prelacy and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and unsupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having Reformed from Popery by Presbyters and therefore ought to be abolished That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subjects to protest for remand of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounced by the Lords of Session providing the same do not stop execution of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and that all Imprisonments and Prosecutions for such Petitions are contrary to Law That for redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be frequently called and allowed to sit and the freedom of Speech and Debate secured to the Members And they do claim and demand and insist upon all and sundry the Premisses as their undoubted Right and Liberties and that no Declarations Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses ought in any ways to be drawn hereafter in consequence and example but that all Forfaultures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Pursuits Persecutions and Rigorous Executions be considered and the Parties seized be redressed To which demand of the Rights and Redressing of their Grievances they are particularly incouraged by his Majesty the King of England his Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland of the _____ day of October last as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and remead therein Having therefore an entire Confidence That his said Majesty the King of England will perfyte the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve That William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland â—e and Be Declared King and Queen of Scotland to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Royal Power be only in and exercised by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their joynt lives And after their deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which failing to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body Which also failing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And they do pray the said King and Queen of England to accept the same accordingly And that the Oath hereafter mentioned be taken by all Protestants of whom the Oath of Allegiance and any other Oaths and Declarations might be required by Law instead thereof And that the said Oath of Allegiance and other Oaths and Declarations may be Abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear True Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary So help me God A Proclamation declaring William and Mary King and Queen of England to be King and Queen of Scotland Edinburgh April 11. 1689. WHereas the Estates of this Kingdom of Scotland by their Act of the Date of these Presents have Resolved That WILLIAM and MARY King and Queen of England France and Ireland Be and Be declared King and Queen of Scotland to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of Them and that the Sole and Full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and Exercised by the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their joynt Libes As also the Estates having Resolved and Enacted an Instrument of Government or Claim of Right to be presented with the Offer of the Crown to the said King and Queen They do Statute and Ordain that William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland be accordingly forthwith Proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh by the Lyon King at Arms or his Deputs his Brethren Heraulds Macers and Pursevants and at the Head-Burghs of all the Shires Stewarties Bailliaries and Regalities within the Kingdom by Messengers at Arms. Extracted forth of the Meeting of the Estates by me Ja. Dalrymple Cls. God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY The Manner of the King and Queen taking the Scotish Coronation Oath May 11. 1689. THis day being appointed for the publick Reception of the Commissioners viz. The Earl of Argyle Sir James Montgomery of Skelmerly and Sir John Dalrymple of Stair younger who were sent by the Meeting of the Estates of Scotland with an Offer of the Crown of that Kingdom to Their Majesties they accordingly at three of the Clock met at the Council-Chamber and from thence were Conducted by Sir Charles Cotterel Master of the Ceremonies attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom who reside in and about this place to the Banqueting-House where the King and Queen came attended by many Persons of Quality the Sword being carried before them by the Lord Cardrosse and Their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a Rich Canopy they first presented a Letter from the Estates to his Majesty then the Instrument of Government Thirdly a Paper containing the Grievances which they desired might be Redressed and Lastly an Address to His Majesty for turning the Meeting of the said Estates into a Parliament All which being Signed by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton as President of the Meeting and
to publish all his Arbitrary Declarations and in particular one that strikes at their whole Settlement and has ordered Process to be begun against all that disobey'd this illegal Warrant and has treated so great a number of the Bishops as Criminals only for representing to him the Reasons of their not obeying him if likewise the King is not satisfied to profess his own Religion openly though even that is contrary to Law but has sent Ambassadors to Rome and received Nuntio 's from thence which is plainly Treason by Law if likewise many Popish Churches and Chappels have been publickly opened if several Colledges of Jesuits have been set up in divers parts of the Nation and one of the Order has been made a Privy Counsellor and a principal Minister of State and if Papists and even those who turn to that Religion though declared Traitors by Law are brought into all the chief Employments both Military and Civil then it is plain That all the Rights of the Church of England and the whole establishment of the Protestant Religion are struck at and designed to be overturned since all these things as they are notoriously illegal so they evidently demonstrate That the great design of them all is the rooting out of this Pestilent Heresy in their stile I mean the Protestant Religion In the next place If in the whole Course of Justice it is visible that there is a constant practising upon the Judges that they are turned out upon their varying from the Intentions of the Court and if Men of no Reputation nor Abilities are put in their places if an Army is kept up in time of Peace and Men who withdraw from that illegal Service are hanged up as Criminals without any colour of Law which by consequence are so many Murders and if the Souldiery are connived at and encouraged in the most enormous Crimes that so they may be thereby prepared to commit greater ones and from single Rapes and Murders proceed to a rape upon all our Liberties and a destruction of the Nation if I say all these things are true in fact then it is plain that there is such a dissolution of the Government made that there is not any one part of it left found and entire and if all these things are done now it is easy to imagine what may be expected when Arbitrary Power that spares no Man and Popery that spares no Heretick are finally established Then we may look for nothing but Gabelles Tailles Impositions Benevolences and all sorts of illegal Taxes as from the other we may expect Burnings Massacres and Inquisitions In what is doing in Scotland we may gather what is to be expected in England where if the King has over and over again declared that he is vested with an Absolute Power to which all are bound to obey without reserve and has upon that annulled almost all the Acts of Parliament that passed in K. James the Ist's Minority though they were ratified by himself when he came to be of age and were confirmed by all the subsequent Kings not excepting the present We must then conclude from thence what is resolved on here in England and what will be put in execution as soon as it is thought that the Times can bear it When likewise the whole Settlement of Ireland is shaken and the Army that was raised and is maintained by Taxes that were given for an Army of English Protestants to secure them from a new Massacre by the Irish Papists is now all filled with Irish Papists as well as almost all the other Imployments it is plain That not only all the British Protestants inhabiting that Island are in daily danger of being butchered a second time but that the Crown of England is in danger of losing that Island it being now put wholly into the hands and power of the Native Irish who as they formerly offered themselves up sometimes to the Crown of Spain sometimes to the Pope and once to the Duke of Lorrain so are they perhaps at this present treating with another Court for the sale and surrender of the Island and for the Massacre of the English in it If thus all the several Branches of our Constitution are dissolved it might be at least expected that one part should be left entire and that is the Regal Dignity and yet even that is prostituted when we see a young Child put in the reversion of it and pretended to be the Prince of Wales concerning whose being born of the Queen there appear to be not only no certain Proofs but there are all the Presumptions that can possibly be imagined to the contrary No Proofs were ever given either to the Princess of Denmark or to any other Protestant Ladies in whom we ought to repose any Confidence that the Queen was ever with Child that whole matter being managed with so much Mysteriousness that there were violent and publick Suspitions of it before the Birth But the whole Contrivance of the Birth the sending away the Princess of Denmark the sudden shortning of the Reckoning the Queen 's sudden going to St. James's her no less sudden pretended Delivery the hurrying the Child into another Room without shewing it to those present and without their hearing it cry and the mysterious Conduct of all since that time no satisfaction being given to the Princess of Denmark upon her Return from the Bath nor to any other Protestant Ladies of the Queen's having been really brought to bed These are all such evident Indications of a base Imposture in this matter that as the Nation has the justest reason in the World to doubt of it so they have all possible reason to be at no quiet till they see a Legal and Free Parliament assembled which may impartially and without either Fear or Corruption examine that whole matter If all these Matters are true in fact then I suppose no Man will doubt that the whole Foundations of this Government and all the most sacred Parts of it are overturned And as to the truth of all these Suppositions that is left to every Englishman's Judgment and Sense The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy no Badges of Slavery THE Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Crown of England having been invaded and broke in upon by the Power of the Court of Rome in K. Henry the Eighth 's time all Foreign Power was abolished and the Antient Legal Supremacy restor'd and by many additional Acts corroborated But all that was done of that kind in K. Henry the Eighth 's time was undone again in Queen Mary's and therefore in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign an Act of Parliament was made Intituled All Antient Jurisdiction restored to the Crown A Repeal of divers Statutes and Reviver of others and all foreign Power Abolished Which Act recites that whereas in the Reign of R. H. 8. divers good Laws were made and established as well for the utter extinguishment and putting away of all Vsurped and Foreign Powers and
for securing all these appointed a Test to be taken by all who should be entrusted with the Government which bears expresly That the same should be taken in the plain and genuine sense and meaning of the words We were very careful not to suffer any to take the said Oath or Test with their own Glosses or Explications But the Earâ— of Argyle having after some delays come to Council to take the said Oath as a Privy-Councellor spoke some things which were not then heard nor adverted to and when his Lordship at his next offering to take it in Council as one of the Commissioners of Your Majesties Treasury was commanded to take it simply he refused to do so but gave in a Paper shewing the only sense in which he would take it which Paper we all considered as that which had in it gross and scandalous Reflections upon that excellent Act of Parliament making it to contain things contradictory and inconstant and thereby depraving Your Majesties Laws misrepresenting Your Parliament and teaching Your Subjects to evacuate and disappoint all Laws and Securities that can be enacted for the preservation of the Government suitable to which his Lordship declares in that Paper That he means not to bind up himself from making any alterations he shall think fit for the advantage of Church or State and which Paper he desires may be looked upon as apart of his Oath as if he were the Legislator and able to add a part to the Act of Parliament Upon serious perusal of which Paper we found our selves obliged to send the said Earl to the Castle of Edinburgh and to transmit the Paper to Your Majesty being expresly obliged to both these by Your Majesties express Laws And we have commanded your Majesties Advocate to raise a pursuit against the said Earl for being Author and having given in the said Paper And for the further prosecution of all relating to this Affair we expect Your Majesties Commands which shall be most humbly and faithfully obeyed by Edinburgh Nov. 8. 1681. Your Majesties most Humble most Faithful and most Obedient Subjects and Servants Sic Subscribitur Glencairne Winton Linlithgow Perth Roxburgh Ancram Airlie Levingstoun Jo. Edinburgen Ross Geo. Gordoun Ch. Maitland G. Mekenzie Ja. Foulis J. Drumond Novemb. 15. 1681. The Kings Answer to the Councils Letter C. R. MOst dear c. Having in one of your Letters directed unto us of the 8. Instant received a particular account of the Earl of Argyle's refusing to take the Test simply and of your proceedings against him upon the occasion of his giving in a Paper shewing the only sense in which he will take it which had in it gross and scandalous Reflections upon that excellent late Act of our Parliament there by which the said Test was enjoyned to be taken we have now thought fit to let you know that as we do hereby approve these your Proceedings particularly your sending the said Earl to our Castle of Edinburgh and your commanding our Advocate to raise a Pursuit against him for being Author of and having given in the said Paper so we do also authorize you to do all things that may concern the further prosecution of all relating to this Affair Nevertheless it is our express Will and Pleasure That before any Sentence shall be pronounced against him at the Conclusion of the Process you send us a particular account of what he shall be found guilty of to the end that after our being fully informed thereof we may signifie our further pleasure in this matter For doing whereof c. But as notwithstanding the Councils demanding by their Letter His Majesties allowance for prosecuting the Earl they before any return caused His Majesties Advocate to exhibit an Indictment against him upon the points of slandering and depraving as hath been already remarked so after having received His Majesties answer the design grows and they thought fit to order a new Indictment containing beside the former points the Crimes of Treason and Perjury which accordingly was exhibited and is here subjoyned the difference betwixt the two Indictments being only in the particulars above noted The Copy of the Indictment against the Earl of Argyle Archibald Earl of Argyle YOU are Indicted and Accused That albeit by the Common Law of all well-govern'd Nations and by the Municipal Laws and Acts of Parliament of this Kingdom and particularly by the 21st and by the 43d Act Par. 2 James 1. and by the 83d Act Par. 6. James 5. and by the 34th Act Par. 8. James 6. and the 134th Act Par. 8. James 6. and the 205th Act Par. 14. James 6. All Leasing-makers and tellers of them are punishable with tinsel of Life and Goods like as by the 107th Act Par. 7. James 1. it is statuted That no man interpret the Kings Statutes otherwise than the Statute bears and to the intent and effect that they were made for and as the makers of them understood and who so does in the contrary to be punished at the Kings will And by the 10th Act Par. 10. James 6. it is statuted That none of His Majesties Subjects presume or take upon him publickly to declare or privately to speak or write any purpose of reproach or slander of His Majesties Person Estate or Government or to deprave his Laws or Acts of Parliament or misconstrue his proceedings whereby any mistaking may be moved betwixt his Highness his Nobility and loving Subjects in time coming under pain of death certifying them that does in the contrary they shall be reputed as seditious and wicked Instruments enemies to his Highness and to the Commonwealth of this Realm and the said pain of death shall be executed against them with all rigour to the example of others And by the second Act Ses 2. Par. 1. Char. 2. it is statuted That whosoever shall by Writing Libelling Remonstrating express publish or declare any words or sentences to stir up the people to the dislike of His Majesties Prerogative and Supremacy in causes Ecclesiastick or of the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops as it is now settled by Law is under the pain of being declared incapable to exercise any Office Civil Ecclesiastick or Military within this Kingdom in any time coming Like as by the fundamental Laws of this Nation by the 130th Act Par. 8. James 6. it is declared That none of His Majesties Subjects presume to impugn the Dignity or Authority of the three Estates or to procure innevation or diminution of their Power and Authority under the pain of Treason And that it is much more Treason in any of His Majesties Subjects to presume to alter Laws already made or to make new Laws or to add any part to any Law by their own Authority that being to assume the Legislative Power to themselves with His Majesties highest and most incommunicable Prerogative Yet true it is that albeit His Sacred Majesty did not only bestow on you the said Archibald Earl of Argyle
joyn in 〈…〉 common Interests of the Protestant Religion And to conclude I would 〈…〉 of the Dissenters to make use of their best Judgment on this so critical an Occusion whâ—â— they will do in my Opinion in keeping close to the Contents of this Letter by ends 〈◊〉 to obtain in a fair and legal way such a Liberty to all Perswasions as is the 〈◊〉 Right of Free men and as our Protestant Successors declare themselves willing to joyn in and it those who have an equal nay a greater Interest than themselves will not agree to such a Liberty because they will be Masters or nothing the Dissenters will have the Comfort of having discharged their own Consciences as prudent Men and good Christians ought to do and may safely trust God with the Event Sir I thought I had made an end but looking your Letter over again I find I have forgot to answer a Reason or two you give why you doubt whether the Letter be truly Mr. Fagels You are informed you say that such and such Great Men doubted of it but some might as well pretend to doubt of the Truth of that Letter though they knew it to be true as believe her Majesty to be with Child almost before she knew it her self and that she was quick when the Embryo as Anatomists say is not much above an inch long I don't think that Popish Successors like certain VVeeds grow faster than others The Persons you name may Trim and presume on their Merit least they might be thought capable of Resentment A dangerous Reflection I say their Merit you have seen a long Relation of the great Services some when they were in Power did their Highnesses it is bound up with a Relation of the true Causes of their Sufferings for their or rather their Highnesses Religion You know even how one of them the last Summer payed them his Reverence with all the Respect and Humility of a due distance and with the same Caution with which the Invincible Monarch fights out of Canon Shot But Sir though the Character of a Trimmer be ordinarily the Character of a prudent Man there are Times and Seasons when it is not the Character of an honest Man I acknowledge that since their Highnesses Marriage nothing has hapned so much for the Good of the Protestant Interest as this Letter of Mr. Fagels and if I had been either the Writer or Adviser of it I should be very proud of it and think the Nation much in my Debt But Sir that was not a very good Reason to make you doubt of it for a good Cause will have its time though not so often as a bad one which hath ordinarily the Majority of its side I am confident at present we have all the reason in the World to expect it for my own part though I am neither young nor strong I hope to live to see a Day of Jubilee in England for all that deserve it when honest Men shall have the same Pleasure in thinking on these Times that a Woman happily delivered hath in reflecting on the Pain and Danger she was in But Knaves shall remember them as I am told the damned do their Sins Cursing both them and themselves SIR I am Yours January the 12th 1688. Animadversions upon a pretended Answer to Mijn Heer Fagel's Letter SIR I Have been so far hitherto from thinking that the pretended Answer to the Excellent Letter of Mijn Heer Fagel deserved a Reply that I judged it would have been a disgrace offered to the Judgment of persons of the most ordinary Intellectuals as well as the Witnessing not only a great measure of self-denial but the submitting of my self to a severe mortification and pennance to bestow one upon it For as it argues a mean Opinion of mankind to believe that they should need any assistance save what their own Reason furnisheth them with in order to their preservation from being imposed upon by so weak foolish incoherent and self-contradictious a Paper so 't is both the rendring one mean and cheap and the inflicting upon himself a most uneasie chastisement to waste his time and employ his thoughts in animadverting upon and exposing so trifling and despicable an Author But seeing I am told that not only he who is commonly supposed to have had the presumption and indiscretion to write the Answer has also the vanity to value himself upon it but that there are others whose wit candour and ingenuity are much of a size with his who do improve our silence in reference unto it tho' arising from the contempt and neglect which all wise men have for it to countenance themselves in a belief and to obtrude an Opinion upon others of its containing something nervous and considerable I shall therefore account my self for once so much a debtor both to the vain and to the unwise as to bestow a few such Reflections upon it as may serve to rectifie the Judgments of the one and both to correct the folly and to abate the pride and swelling confidence of the other And indeed the Author 's concealing his Name may make us justly suspect that we are not to look for truth strength nor candor in that Paper especially when he writes not only in Justification of the proceedings of his Majesty of Great Brittain which is enough to shield him from all severe Attacks provided that he had conducted himself as became a wise and an honest man But in that he enters the lists against a person of Mijn Heer Fagel's quality and whose Letter not only had his Name affixed to it and was beautified with all those impressions of clearness gravity strength prudence and Religion which became the greatness of the Subject and whereunto the having been able to return an Answer that had the umbrage and appearance of Reason would have given a reputation to the Undertaker but which had been also penned by the Command and Authority of their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange in order to declare their Opinion in a matter of the greatest importance that ever English Protestants were concerned in and from Principles of Conscience and Justice hath given that assurance and satisfaction which all peaceable and good men either stood in need of or could desire And as this Authors venturing abroad in the fashion of an Incognito was not without reason seeing he might thereby hope not only to treat Mijn Heer Fagel without regard to truth or ingenuity but that with the less hazard both to his person and reputation he might arraign the Justice and Fidelity of these States and charge them with a violation of the Fundamental Articles upon which their Government was at first erected so he must not take it amiss if upon encountring him in the dark I not only fail in paying him the deference which he may conceive due unto him but handle him unsuitably to the Post he is said to possess Tho' I am not without apprehension that if he