HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE Church of ENGLAND Ought to behave themselves under A ROMAN CATHOLIC KING With reference to the TEST and PENAL LAWS In a Letter to a Friend by a Member of the same Church LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687. THE TITLES OF THE SECTIONS SECT I. THe Character of an old Loyalist of the Church of England Page 1. SECT II. How such behaved themselves during the Transaction of the Bill of Seclusion Page 4. SECT III. How the Bishops and Clergy behaved themselves in those times Page 14. SECT IV. The Calumnies against the Loyal Members of the Church of England in the foregoing times Page 18. SECT V. The Affrightments and Arts now used to make Subjects believe that the Protestant Religion is to be extirpated here Page 22. SECT VI. That the Church of England hath been in a disturbed condition under Protestant Princes Page 27. SECT VII That it is in a more flourishing condition now Page 33. SECT VIII The self-denial of the King in the Exercise of his own Religion Page 36. SECT IX The difficulty of effecting a change of Religion Page 40. SECT X. Two Objections answered Page 56. SECT XI That the Kings dispensing with the Test is no Argument of his design to Extirpate the Protestant Religion Page 62. SECT XII That it is not the Kings Interest to extirpate the Protestant Religion Page 72. SECT XIII Concerning the Test Page 78. SECT XIV Concerning Sanguinary and Penal Laws against Roman Catholics Page 143. SECT XV. The Inconveniencies that will attend the not Repealing of Penal Laws and particularly the Test Page 165. SECT XVI The Practicableness of Roman Catholics and Protestants living under one Secular Government Page 180. SECT XVII The Character of his Majesty Page 191. SECT XVIII The Conclusion Page 205. ERRATA PAge 15. Line 7. for assured read afraid P. 22. the last line but one for These r. There P. 31. l. 17. for confirmed too r. conformed to P. 40. The Title of the Section should have ended at the word Religion and the rest be placed in the Margent P. 79. l. ult for it r. them P. 94. l. 7. for naturally r. natural P. 113. l. 12. for But r. yet P. 117. l. 1. after we put in may P. 178. l. 7. for preached r. practised P. 182. l. 3. for attemps r. attempts P. 183. l. 11. for Budifir r. Budifin P. 185. l. 7. for Abby r. Abbot HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE Church of England Ought to behave themselves under A ROMAN CATHOLICK KING In a Letter to a Friend SECT I. The Character of an old Loyalist of the Church of England SIR SINCE our first acquaintance we have seen the Revolution of almost fifty years In all which time your unshaken Loyalty and steady Adherence to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England have been most conspicuous You equally hated the Flatterer who by stretching the Length of the Scepter made it unweildy and the Factious who by continual filing made it too slender and of no more force than a Reed or so shortned it that from a Sovereign Battoon it scarce equalled a Serjeants Mace. You valued him most who paid a just Deference to the Regal Prerogative and was infinitely thankful for all the gracious Enfranchisements of the Subject You knew too well the Injustice and Illegality of taking Arms against King Charles the First setled your Judgment so firmly then that none of the Designers Arts to cajole the Multitude made any impression on you And however great your Sufferings were then and thereby by your Disability to aid the Banished Prince yet you were as forward as any to assist him in all things serviceable to his Interest not only in confirming your Neighbours and Acquaintance in their Allegiance when their Enemies success made them dispond but in making Converts of those who had been deluded by the specious pretence of Liberty and Reformation So that you helped much to prepare Mens minds earnestly to wish and effectually to promote the late Merciful King's Restauration and when in his later time he was so Embarrassed with some of his Parliaments you were an eminent Abhorrer and as strenuous an Opposer of the Bill of Seclusion and though you were branded with the name of Papist in Masquerade and a Janizary for Arbitrary Power yet you kept your Post and assured those that conversed with you that Loyalty which you had been taught in the Church of England was so firm a Basis to you that the attacks of Slander and Obloquy should never remove you one hair's breadth from your Duty It was the very Polar Star to which you directed all your Actions without trepidation the Axis on which you designed to move SECT II. How such behaved themselves during the Transaction of the Bill of Seclusion GIVE me leave to remind you of some of those Answers you used to make to those Speeches were sent you from one of the Clerks of the Commons House when the debate was hottest about the Bill of Seclusion for it was at that critical Time the truest Sons of the English Church were discriminated from the Latitudinarian Protestants Non-Conformists and Common-wealth's Men. S. W. J. Collection of Speeches When that overgrown Lawyer said He took it for granted that it was impossible that a Papist should come to the Possession and quiet enjoyment of the Crown without wading through a Sea of Blood and without occasioning such a War as for ought he knew might shake the Monarchical Government You then reply'd This was more like the Bellowing of a Bull than a Responce from an Oracle of the Laws and that who ever lived to see the Duke Succeed as in course of Nature it was likely would find the True Sons of the Church of England so far from listing up an hand against him that if his Right were opposed they would with as much Zeal and Concern as any fight under his Royal Standard and if any such Bouteseu's as he raised a Rebellion they would only afford Trophies to his Victorious Sword and fall as Sacrifices to the Justice of his Cause When that bitter mans Speech was urged That a Popish Head on a Protestant Body would be such a Monster in Nature as would neither be fit to preserve or be preserved and it as naturally followed as the Night did Day that the Head would Change the Body or the Body the Head You answered That we ought to consider the Royal Headship abstractedly from the Subject-Body as we do the sublimed Animal and vital Spirits from the gross Blood and the grosser composition of the Body The Sovereignty being as a Presiding Coelestial Power fitted to govern Members of various Temperaments and Constitutions and that it was as easie to conceive how a Popish King might benignly govern his Protestant Subjects as it was for a Father to govern with Paternal Care and Indulgence his Children of different Humors and Inclinations and
glorious an Enterprise it will be rowsing his slow and unresolved Thoughts with the Consideration what a perpetual renown it ever will be to King Henry the VII that he united the Houses of York and Lancaster and how glorious the memory of King James the I. ever must be who united the Kingdoms And how transcendent a Jubile it would cause over all the Roman World That his Grandson should reunite his Subjects to the Roman Catholick Church which will be so irresistable a Charm they say that it cannot be in his power to escape the Enchantment Nor could he want the Charity to wish it or neglect the essaying all means to effect it being prepossessed with a firm Perswasion that the undertaking of it would be an acceptable Service to God Almighty It is not my design to write any thing that may lessen the esteem and due regard Men have for the Church of England of which I own my self an unworty Member Neither shall I meddle with any Points in controversie but only offer my Reasons why I cannot conceive by the Proceedings of the King hitherto nor the consequences flowing from those steps he makes That the Protestant Religion is either in danger or designed to be rooted out or so eclipsed as we are invited to believe SECT VI. That the Church of England hath been in a disturbed condition under Protestant Princes BEfore I consider the present State of the Church of England which I think in many respects is as flourishing as it hath been since the Reformation I must shew its former condition During the Reign of Q. Elizabeth and the three succeeding Kings it hath been continually disquieted with Dissenters Fanaticks and other Sects who never gave over their Clamours for a more refined Reformation from Rome Every Year almost producing some bitter Invective or other grudging murmuring and calumniating the English Hierarchy to the great disquiet of the Secular Government Hence the necessity of severe Laws against Non-conformists ever and anon being made or reinforced Those that lived in the beginning of the late Wars cannot forget what Tumults were in some places about placing the Communion Table Altar-wise How many were scandalized at the Bishop's dignifyed Clergy and Priests Habit at the kneeling at the Sacrament at the use of the Cross in Baptism about bowing to the Altar and the Name of Jesus And tho' in Cathedrals a Solemn Order was observed yet it was much murmured at and was branded both in the manner of the Celebration of Divine Offices and the use of the Choristers and Organs with the name of down-right Popery and Superstition Who hath a mind to know the particulars of the disquieting of the Church of England by her Protestant Adversaries may peruse Bishop Bancroft's Dangerous Positions and Dr. Heylin's History of Presbyterianism Mr. Fowlis History of the Plots Conspiracies c. and such as relate the Church History of those times and they will find sufficient to convince them what Jars Conflicts Heart-burnings and Disquiets were amongst Protestants How the Clergy and the Liturgy were despised which grew every Year worse and worse till it was judged requisite by a strict execution of the Laws to master the Nonconformists and bend or break them to a complyance or silence But the success answered not the design for on the contrary the peoples minds grew strongly alienated from the Discipline of the Church and as soon as they had chosen a House of Commons to their mind the use of the Common Prayer Book Surplices and Habits of the Clergy and all things in use formerly and established by Law were voted down and the Souldiery and Rabble were encouraged to tear the Service-Book and Surplices to transplace the Communion-Table level the Steps pull up Fonts break down all the painted Glass-Windows especially where any representation of our Saviour or any Saints or Bishops or other in Religious Habits were The Copes Vestments and Chalices were all swept out of the Church by Order of Committies or the Rapine of Parishioners or Soldiers The Monuments and monumental Inscriptions were most of them defaced especially where a Religious Habit was represented an Ora pro Animâ annexed or the worth of the Brass tempted the Sacriledge none of the zealous Observers of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church were permitted to enjoy any Benefice or teach a School Bishops and Deans and Chapters Lands were sold and they were about resolving which of the Cathedrals should be demolished So that in conclusion there was no publick appearance of the Discipline of the Church of England tho' all the Pulpits were supplyed with Preachers who conformed to their new Directory and new Ordination by Presbyters This might indeed be called a Protestant Church but I am sure it was very different from the Church of England as established by Law which was so far from then being a flourishing Church that it had neither Vola nor Vestigium of one but such as was under as dismal a Persecution as a Church well could be It is true after the late King of immortal memory's Restauration It was restored again to a competency of Power and Order Yet the Dissenters Meeting-places were as much frequented as the Churches Everywhere Non-conformable Ministers had their Conventicles till a new Act of Uniformity was made yet the number of Dissenters then were so many that the King who loved ease and to have his Subjects minds composed that he might more freely have the Service of their Bodies and Purses was willing to grant them Indulgence till that was disliked by the Parliament and the Bishops and zealous Members of the Church of England whereby the King was prevailed with to revoke it Thus was the Church of England harrassed under Protestant Princes SECT VII That it is in a more flourishing condition now LET us now take a view of its present State and make a just paralel and we shall I think find it in no worse but in a better state than before Now our Clergy-men go publickly in their decent Habits are reverenced and respected no affronts put upon them All the Ceremonies appointed by the Canons and Rubricks are more exactly observed and more universally confirmed too than in any Age before we hear little of their Conventicles the greater number of former Dissenters flocking to our Churches conforming in all things answering to the Responses standing up at the Creed bowing at the Name of Jesus kneeling at the Prayers and with great attention and zeal hearing the learned Sermons delivered almost from every Pulpit the Ministers redoubling their pains in emulation to the Catholick Fathers that they may retain their Flocks firm to the Protestant Religion and we may judge by the crowding of the Churches That for one Dissenter that was won to the Church of England in the late Kings Reign there are now ten which is one of the Miracles the King has done to unite these at so great odds formerly So that to me it is a
plain proof that some people believe the Promise of protecting the Church of England Which makes them shelter themselves under it but I suppose it will be no longer than the Storm is impending In fine unless it be that we want his Majesties presence at the Royal Chappel we find no alteration from what was in King Charles the Second's time and the generality of the people finding the Clergy so boldly to stand to the Protestant Religion respect and reverence them more than ever So that if the flourishing state of a Church be to be known by the number of Communicants by the populous Auditories conformableness to the Ecclesiastical Doctrine and Discipline If by the decency of the Churches the full free and solemn Exercise of the Rites of our Religion by the eloquent learned and painful preaching of the Ministers by the full and free enjoyment of their Revenues the uninterrupted Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Laws and Discipline The present state of the Church of England is as flourishing as we can desire and may so continue if we can be content to yield Roman Catholics a favour next to a Tolleration SECT VIII The Self-denial of the King in the Exercise of his own Religion SINCE I am discoursing of the paralel of the flourishing state of the Church of England formerly and now I think we ought seriously to reflect how gracious our King is to us and how little a share of liberty to his Catholics he is content with None sure could have counted it injustice if our Sovereign had chosen his own Royal Chappel in his own Palace to have performed his Devotions in whereas he quits that to the Prince and Princess to the Archbishops great Ministers of State the Nobility Bishops and Protestants of all ranks and contents himself with the Queens Chappel at St. James's hath only one Bishop his Confessarius and a small number of Chaplains and circumscribes his Processions within the Cloyster of that small Convent And at Windsor his Summer-Palace leaves the Collegiate Church to Protestants and only keeps to himself the small new Chappel adjoyning to St. Georges Hall which if he had not taken though some unquiet Spirits made such a noise at it he must have had no place there for his Devotion The King graciously allows us the Cathedrals Parish-Churches and Chappels and the free and unrestrained exercise of our Religion have we reason then to grudge him two or three small Chappels and the Subjects of his Faith their Private Oratories We have had a further Instance of his Majesties tenderness in protecting the Church of England in the Letter sent to the two Arch-bishops at such time when it was generally bruited abroad we may judge by whose Artifice and Malice that the King intended to prohibite preaching of Controversies betwixt the Church of Rome and us and to take away Lectures and Afternoon Preaching whereas we find by the Instructions annexed to the Letter That it was no more than had been done in King James's and in King Charles the First 's time and was verbatim what had been published by King Charles the Second And in stead of restraining our Ministers from preaching in defence of the Church of England it is allowed yea appointed them so it be done according to the Instructions Let us therefore receive these largesses of Princely Favours with dutiful and thankful Hearts and by no petulancy or unnecessary eagerness for more indanger the loss of what we enjoy And I doubt not but Roman Catholics will allow something to a people devoted to their Religion and distinguish betwixt those that are and ever will be truly Loyal even under Sufferings and a party that seek all opportunities to repine SECT IX The difficulty of effecting a Change of Religion First from the Peoples general Prejudice against it TO proceed more particularly to the further Reasons why I think the Protestant Religion is in no such danger as some labour with all their Arts to make us believe I shall desire it may be considered How averse the body of the People are to it Protestantism here has taken deep Root and the prejudice against and even abhorrence of Popery hath been instilled into us with our first Rudiments So that the generality may as well be prevailed upon to embrace Turcism or Heathenism as the Religion which hath been represented to them as Idolatrous and so contrary to Scripture Education and a long Series of contrary Usage are great Impediments in the minds of all Men to admit of any change in Customs much more in Religion The great Obstacle that hinder the common people from complying with the Roman Catholic Religion are That the Publick Service is celebrated in an Unknown Tongue in which they know not how to joyn as they do in our Liturgies and the multitude of mysterious Ceremonies do no less amaze them who will be rather contented to be accounted thick-skulls than they will be at the pains to learn them The Clergy and those who are able to consider the matters in dispute betwixt the two Churches cannot after that vast number of Books that have been writ on both sides satisfie themselves in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints worship of Images Purgatory Merit and several other matters in which difference they unite with other Reformed Churches And there is something peculiar which will be a constant Remora to the Clergy especially viz. That First the Reformation was here more regular than in any other Country Secondly That Episcopal Government is maintained in good order and such a Liturgy and Ceremonies used as come nearest to the Primitive usage as they think themselves very able to maintain Thirdly They are unwilling to yield the Roman Catholic Church to be the Judge of Controversies betwixt them And as to the Supremacy of the Pope The English Clergy will most unwillingly yield it after so long a renouncing it Lastly The Indispensible Celebacy of the Catholic Clergy is an insuparable hinderance of English Ministers submission to that Religion since the married here will be incapable of preferment and on the contrary must suffer degradation and beggery Who seriously considers those things will not only judge it an attempt unseazable especially when the prospect of a Protestant Successor is an Ensuring-Office to our Religion but may satisfie any of the groundlesness of those Fears some people are too prone to suggest more I think out of design than that they believe it themselves That the Protestant Religion is designed to be overthrown There are but four ways by which this can be effected Either First by the freedom of preaching of the Fathers Secondly Their Writings Thirdly Their Conversation Or Fourthly by Force which I shall now consider As to their Preaching 1 That it will not be effected by the preaching of the Fathers First It is observeable That it is a most rare thing to hear any discourse of Controversies in the King 's or either Queen's Chappels or
of Rome by any of these or any other method of more force the act being personal seeing every Mans Salvation toucheth himself most why should any so much be concerned about it seeing it is their own voluntary act and no injury is done to the willing yielder and it would be a strange obstinacy in any not to yield to conviction Having shewn the groundlesness of those peoples fears that dread the overthrow of the Church of England by any of the three forementioned ways I come now to the last that is Force It was a Master-piece in the Seclusionists 4 That it is morally impossible to effect it by force to represent Popery and Slavery as Twin-Monsters and inseparable Fiends which they described in the most terrible shape with Jaws of Lions Talons of Vultures and Harpyes Eyes of Basilisks and fierceness of Tygers surrounding them with Fire and Brimstone horrible Flame and the equipage of Chains Racks and Wheels and all the Torments of the Ten Persecutions or what ever else inventive Mischief hath since found out Yet we now live to see them all but terrible Bugbears and the Affrightments of Hypocondriac Dreams By a natural instinct we English of what perswasion soever are very careful to preserve our properties which in all times have been dear to us and those most antient Laws that secure them were made before the name of Protestant was known in the World. We must also consider that with what ever daring courage religious zeal may inspire Men yet common policy and interest will certainly discourage all Catholics from attempting any change of Religion by force and enslaving lest they or their posterity in the next Age might undergo a Retaliation as heavy upon them when it would be more easie to extirpate the whole Roman Religion here than now it would be to change that of one City When therefore the founding of Religion will be the ruine of Estates and the Story of Perrillus's Bull is not worn out of Mens Memories or Men are like to be the Sacrifices upon the Altars they too precipitately raise we are not to expect such venterous Heroes as will have the hardiness of Sampson especially since if they had they would want the Power and force to effect it SECT X. Two Objections answered I Know it is urged That we had a sad Experiment of the change made by a standing Army here which was able to overthrow the Monarchy And the French Kings late proceedings against the Hugonots prove That by force great alterations otherwise looked upon as next to impossible may be effected But the Cases are very different from ours 1 That the case of the Usurpers over throwing the monarchy and episcopacy is very different from ours for in our late Civil Wars the people were only wrought up to the height of power to dispose of the fate of Monarchy by the belief the Designers impressed upon them That Popery and arbitrary Government were making great approaches and fully designed to be introduced by the King and Bishops And a Parliament was by a fatal oversight perpetuated which was of the same perswasion and had the Hearts Purses and Heads of infinite multitudes to assist them in the work of Reformation in the Church and redressing of Grievances as they were called in the State Which being such specious pretensions and having a Parliament to patronize it and the Scotch Nation to abett them it was the less to be wondred at that such a Revolution was made especially when we consider the Churches alteration was nothing so great as it would be betwixt the exchange of Protestant Episcopacy for R. Catholic Hierarchy and the Popes Supremacy which is here so much antiquated Then the Doctrine of the Church was little altered except in that they rejected the Order of Bishops for the Service being in the known Language without any Ceremonies only consisting of Prayers reading of Scriptures Preaching and Administring the Sacraments according to the use of Scotland Geneva Holland and the Hugonots of France the transition was more easie after the Army was victorious Yet we have seen how short liv'd even that Usurpation was In our present case a Religion is to be brought in against the most earnest endeavours the firmest perswasions and Resolutions and the utmost detestation and abhorrence of the people So that while we see only a mixture of Catholic Officers with a far greater number of Protestants and a Body almost intire of Protestant Soldiers We may as well have credited That Oliver Cromwel's Army could have pulled the Pope out of his Palace and introduced Protestantism in all Catholic Countries as I have heard some of the Officers and Chaplains of that Army confidently enough hope as that we can expect an extirpation of our Religion here by so small a number of R. Catholics as are in the Court Camp or Country As to the instance of the French Kings proceeding 2 That the proceedings of the French King ought nor to affright us surely they that urge it never give themselves liberty to reflect upon the discrepancy of the case In France the King and the whole Body of his Kingdom are R. Catholics and the Religion is established by Law and it is easie to obtain further Laws for the support of it and the destroying of all others by a King so victorious and reverenced since how numerous soever Protestants were there yet comparatively to the Catholics they were very inconsiderable If indeed the King of France were an Hugonot and with the assistance of his Protestant Subjects had been able to have brought all Catholics to his Religion then there might have been some ground for such an instance If the advancers of this affrightment would have been so candid as to have subjoyned how our gracious King hath granted not only the French Exiles a safe retreat into his Kingdom but hath likewise promised them a Protection in the exercise of Religion conformable to the practice of the Church of England And to all such hath granted his Gragracious Letters Patents for the collecting the Charity of his Subjects for their Relief which is accordingly with a superlative Liberality afforded them They would rather have made it as an Argument of the Kings inviolable observing his Gracious promise in protecting the Church of England than have produced it as an incitement to our fears of the contrary But these kind of men know how to boil up Sugar to the bitterness of Aloes and extract Poison out of Cordials SECT XI That the King 's dispensing with the Test is no Argument of his Design to extirpate the Protestant Religion I Know it is urged that if his Majesty did not design some alteration in Religion what need is there of his so great solicitude and earnest endeavours for the taking away of the Test and how comes it to pass that the Law against it is dispensed with and so many Catholics are Commissioned in the Army and may be in
none of those Acts of bounty or choice he can do if he cannot dispense with penal Laws Yet for all this gracious and just Favour to Catholics I do not see that by any the remotest consequences either the King doth design or that it is his Interest by them to extirpate the Protestant Religion but rather to conciliate a better Union betwixt them by conversation and mutual Service that in as much as in him lies by the experience now of that good Accord betwixt them in the Civil and Military management of Affairs a better understanding may be betwixt them even under a Protestant Prince Though it is to be doubted that however now we grudge that a few Catholics are in Commission and are peevish because any are imployed besides Protestants yet who ever lives to see a Protestant Successor will not find the same reciprocal Favours to Catholics SECT XII That it is not the Kings Interest to extirpate the Protestant Religion THe Reason that presseth me much to believe that the King neither Designs nor thinks it his Interest to introduce the Catholic Religion so as to extrude the Church of England is the moral impossibility that so wise and generous a Prince and so great a lover of his Country however his wishes may be in his Judgment thinking it conducibâ—e to the Salvation of their Souls will undertake a Business that requires a long long Age to effect and must render those days he hath to live which I wish many and many full of disquiet and anxiety if not of Blood and Carnage For it is a Princes paramont Interest to consult the safety of his Government and where he governs Subjects as his are circumstantiated so to manage Affairs as he may not weaken his Kingdoms defence against his watchful Neighbours by giving the Power into a few hands against the hundred times more numerous and consequently more able to serve him in his Defence or give opportunity to such as we may be sure are not true to the Principles of the Church of England of non-resistance to raise some formidable disturbance which the Catholics singly will not be able to quell It is very evident that the Doctrine professed by the Church of England is unconditioned Loyalty and the Members of it that understand best the Doctrine and their Duty think in this particular they carry the Prize from all other Church-Societies But they are not all to be reputed Members of the Church of England who go by that Name there are some can be very loyal to a Protestant King but can be factious seditious Male-contents and sowers of jealousies and fears under a Catholic and think it no sin to be regardless of his Honour or Success And if any Rebellion should happen which God avert they would think it their Duty to sit still and others who fight for pay only of which it may be presumed there are many of the Common Sort if upon any Revolt they had a prospect of Money and the better securing of the Religion they value would swiftly run over to that side where they might hope for both Besides which the indefatigable Commonwealths-men Male-contents Non-conformists and several of the Zealous true Protestants Associaters and Exclusionists would combine in opposition to barefac'd Popery for they are all threaded on one String the same Iron Sinue runing through them all so that if by any Wars abroad or Intestine Discontents at home any Calamity should happen which may fall out under the prudentest and wisest Prince It is to be suspected by the mere terrible Engine the fear of losing their Religion the Body of the People would consider their strength only and make their Loyalty give place to their great Concernment and neither regard the Kings Sovereignty or the Loyal Principles of the Church of England but forget all Duty and Reverence to secure that which they would make us believe is dearer to them than their Lives and Fortunes and then the Catholics and true Sons of the Church of England would be only left to abide the shock of all the rest And though such a Prince as ours is not to be affrighted out of his Methods yet we may rationally Judge that he considers all this and must compute what Hearts and Hands he is sure of and will not embarras and imbroil himself in Matters so difficult to accomplish and make his Reign uneasie to himself by imposing a Religion upon his Subjects they are so much Strangers unto and have such an aversion from and to no other end but to force his people at the best to become Hypocrites Having thus I hope cleared that Point that the Protestant Religion is in no such danger as timerous or designing Persons would have us believe I come now to speak more particularly to the Test which is looked upon as the very Barrier Rampire and Citadel that is only left to defend us against the over-powering Attacks of Popery which some Men would make us believe if it once be yeilded up to the Kings demolishing no visible hold is left to prevent the whole Nation 's being subdued to the Catholic Religion SECT XIII Concerning the Test I Shall first therefore endeavour to shew the Nature of the Test and the occasion of the making of it and the several Reasons why it may be prudence to revoke it and other penal Laws And lastly the inconveniences of denying to repeal it and so draw to a Conclusion The Motives that occasioned the making of the Test It must be owned that it hath been the Care of most Protestant Parliaments especially since the late Kings Restauration to secure the Militia and the Kings Guards and standing Forces in the hands of Protestants only Therefore in the Act for Setling the Militia Anno 1661 the taking of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were injoyned and when it was known that our King had left the Communion of the Church of England the Houses began to be more intent upon finding out ways to secure the Protestant Religion and then those who afterwards pushed forward with such violence the Bill of Seclusion having gained so specious opportunity to lay all the stress of their Contrivances upon the necessary endeavours to secure the Protestant Religion under the notion of protecting the Person and Government of our late King and preventing a Popish Successor from Arming Catholics to the hazard of the Protestant Religion They prevailed upon the King to give his Assent to the Bills I shall now give you a Breviate of it in the words of the Act and give some short Notes upon them and then proceed The First Act. Stat. 2â— Car. 2. c. 2. The Title of the Act is For preventing dangers which may happen from popish Recusants And the preamble adds For quieting the minds of his Majesties good Subjects It is enacted That all and every person or persons as well Peers as Commoners that shall bear any Office or Offices Civil or Military or
the Church for the Common-weal and for the remedy disburthening and ease of them that be grieved yet this should not be prejudicial to him or to his Crown but that the Right which to him appertaineth should be saved Which Sir Edward Coke calls the Kings Right of his Crown and Prerogative It is declared by the Lords and Commons in full h Reâ—l Parliament 43 Ed. 3. No. 7. Parliament upon demand by the King That they would not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the disinhereson of the King and the Crown whereto they were sworn This makes the Chief i 4 Iuctiâ— 51. Justice censure as a great fault the omission in the printed Statute of 2 R. 2. in confirmation of Liberties these Words Saving to the King his Regality which are found in the Parliament k Roll. Parlam 2 R. 2. Stat. 2. cap. 4. Roll. A Lawyer l Davis Reports 86. of no small esteem saith The Commons of England have ever been exemplary for the tenderness of the Kings Honour and the maintenance of the Sovereignty But this was before they medled so much with Articles of Religion So in latter times 3º Car. 1. both Houses declared upon passing the Petition of Right that they have neither intention nor power to hurt the Kings Prerogatives Thus far as to the regard our Ancestors have had to the Royal Prerogative Now I shall in a few particulars shew the resolutions of the Judges in such Cases when Acts of Parliament have intrenched upon them In the 13th of m 4 Institu 42. How the Judges have resolved upon Acts of Parliament that Insringe the Preregative Richard the Second Stat. 2. cap. 1. it was enacted That no Charter of Pardon unless so and so qualified should be from thenceforth allowed by the Justices for Murther Treason or Rape and if it were otherwise the Charter to be disallowed Yet my Lord Coke saith This did not bind the King the granting of Pardon being the Kings Prerogative incident solely and inseperably to the Person of the King. The same Richard the Second bequeathed n Ibid. certain Treasuries to his Successor on condition to observe the Acts made the 21 Reg. This was held unjust and unlawful for that it restrained the Sovereign Liberty of the King his Successor And the same Reason saith a judicious o Majestas Intemorata Lawyer may serve to overthrow a Statute which shall unjustly and unlawfully restrain the same Sovereign Nor had saith he this bequest been of more strength had it been enacted by Parliament Injustice being Injustice and Vnlawfulness Vnlawfulness every where It was p Cokes Report 12. p. 14. enacted 23 H. 6. That no man should serve the King as Sheriff in any County above one year but the Grant should be void the person accepting it pay two hundred pound and it was expresly provided that the King by a non obstante should not dispence with it Yet it was agreed 2 H. 7. against the express provision of that Act That the King may by a special non obstante dispence with the Act because no Act could debar the King from the service of his Subjects which the Law of Nature did give unto him In the 37 H. 6. it was q Ibid. p. 18. enacted That none should be Justice of Assize c. in the County where he was born or did inhabit Yet saith the same judicious Lawyer the King with a special non obstante may dispence with it and gives the reason for that it belongs to the inseperable Prerogative of the King viz. his power to command to serve The same r Ibid. p. 18. Lord Chief Justice in the same report is more express and as full as if he had foreseen this present Case of ours where he affirms That no Act can bind the King from any Prerogative which is sole and inseperable to his person but that he may dispence with it by a non obstante and instanceth in the Sovereign Power to command any of his Subjects to serve him for the Public Weal For this saith he is solely and inseperably annexed to his Person and this Royal Power cannot be restrained continues he neither in Thesi nor Hypothesi but that the King by his Royal Prerogative may dispence with it For all which he gives this most unanswerable reason because upon the Commandment of the King and Obedience of the Subject doth the Government subsist I might add very many more Authorities as Edw. the Thirds repealing an Act of Parliament by Proclamation as consented to upon necessity But I shall leave that to those whose Province it is and close this Head with one Observation We are all commendably and justly tender of the preserving the Liberties and Enfranchisments we enjoy by the gracious Condescentions of our Princes and are vigorous maintainers of our Properties and ought we not to own that there is as good reason that the Kings of England should be as solicitous to preserve their Prerogatives which are their right For as a most judicious Å¿ Quicquid in Regalibus est Ita est Principibus privatum ut Subditis quod suum est Selden prefat Mare Clausum Antiquary and Lawyer expresseth Whatsoever belongs to the Kings Royalty he hath as much Propriety in it as the Subject hath in any thing that is his We must likewise consider that the King is as much sworn to preserve the Right of his Crown as the Liberties of the People Therefore we find that branch in t Majestatis Intemerata some Coronation Oaths that the King swears he shall keep all the Lands Honours and Dignities of the Crown righteous and free in all manner whole without any manner of minishment And the rights of the Crown hurt decay or lost to his power shall call again into the Ancient Estate Therefore my Lord u 12 Rep. 18 Coke praiseth King Henry the Second in that he was a great Defender and Maintainer of the Rights of the Crown Inferences from the premises Having dispatched these Heads I now come to the application of them to the Test which as the Case now is and ever will be so long as it stands unrepealed deprives the King of the Allegiance of such of his Subjects as either Conscientiously or Designedly refuse the taking of the Oaths and affirming the Declaration enjoyned The Inconveniency of which is double First In robbing the King of so necessary and fundamental a Right over his Subjects in commanding them to serve him in Offices Military and Civil without which he is but a very Impotent Sovereign and cannot exert that necessary Justice of Protecting Rewarding and Imploying his Subjects which surely is not only much to the dishonour of the Sovereign but an unsufferable restraint And if w 31 Eliz. c. 4. Imbezelling Purloyning and Conveying away the Arms Ordnance Munition Shot Powder Habiliments of War c. is declared Fellony what sort of Crime
that whatsoever Latitude other Church-men might take to obey Princes only so far as they were Nursing Fathers to their Church yet the Principles and Doctrine of the Church of England contained in its Homilies obliged all the Subjects to be dutiful bear Faith and Allegiance to their Sovereign and support his Crown and Dignity though he were of a different Religion and it taught absolute and unconditionate Obedience for Conscience sake When some thought to touch you more closely in your Private Col. B. Concerns as knowing you had some Church Lands and shewed you the Colonels Speech who said He took it for granted that we have nothing of our own if Popery come in not only the Church Lands but all the Lands we have will be little enough for them for they will never want an Holy Sanctified Religious pretence to take them from us To this you answered That the unpractitableness of restoring Church Lands is apparent in the possession of those in Germany got into by Hostilities and established by Treaties and seeing that in Queen Mary's days when the Romish Government and the Popes Supremacy was re-established and the individual Parcels disseiz'd from the Church easily known in the Reign of a Princess so zealous to remove the Guilt of Sacriledge that she actually restored what was in her Possession and proceeded to the Rebuilding of some Religious Houses seeing you said that she thus earnest upon the Work and who had the Interest of the Pope and the Zeal of a much vaster number of Catholicks then are now to assist her was yet so far from being able to obtain an Act of Parliament for that purpose that the Pope himself by Bull confirmed them Certainly if this then was unpracticable when Protestantism was at so low an Ebb what could be expected after almost 150 years quiet possession So that if there were no other obstacle but the inextricable confusion it would be impossible that any Court of Claims could adjust the Title of any Religious to them by any colour of Law or Equity and no Catholick Prince whatsoever would disquiet and disoblige the whole Body almost of his Subjects both Catholicks and Protestants for the advantage of three or four of his English Subjects in every Monastery for if he should recall all the Religious of his Subjects out of all the Foreign Convents they would not supply them to a greater number S. H. C. When you read another Splenetick Gentlemans Harangue That Misery and Slavery were the Concomitants of Popery And when in answer to a Gentleman that urged against the Bill That it would lay the foundation of a miserable Civil War The aforesaid zealous Knight reply'd That the Barbarousness exercised in Queen Mary 's Reign by Fire and Fagot might be put in the Ballance with all the inconveniences that ever happened by any Exclusion-Act I remember you pitied the Contlemans short Memory or want of perusing our Histories where he might have found in many of the Skirmishes besides the sixteen pitch'd Battels fought betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster upon the Usurpation of King Henry the Fourth against Richard the Second that more were slain in one day and more Families ruined in one year than in the whole Reign of Queen Mary And however the matter should fall out as we had no shadow of Reason to suspect it were better to die as Sufferers guilty of no other Crime than the Adhearing to our Religion then to die by the Sword Bullet Ax or Halter for Rebellion You farther said That we ought to consider the difference betwixt a lawful Hereditary Prince and an Usuper The one being obliged by Interest so to govern that he may have a peaceable and comfortable Reign and have willing and wealthy Subjects Whereas the other having the establishing his Usurpation his sole scope enslaves all he can studying only to aw all into Obedience by force and strong hand But it would be otherwise in the Succession here where the Princesses his R. H. only Daughters who or their Issues were in the course of Nature if he had no Son to succeed him were married to Protestants so that he would have as great regard to their peaceable Possession as his own And let the Motives be what they could he would content himself with the Publick Exercise of his own Religion and affording Liberty Countenance and Protection to all Catholicks and imploying some of them and suspending the execution of such Laws as were heavy upon them And if this were not opposed you doubted not but his Reign would much increase the Wealth Glory and Military Discipline of the Nation How scrupulous now Yet after all this since you have lived to see so much of the Prognosticks verified of late you have expressed apprehensions of the danger of your Religion and the concern for that hath made you hearken to the suggestions of some Church-men and others who really believe all which the Seclusionists then without crediting a Tittle of it most artificially spread abroad I think my self therefore bound to offer you my Reason why you ought not to fear this and in the first place think fit to remind you how the Clergy of England that surely considered consequences behaved themselves then and after shall answer the best Arguments I have met with to the contrary SECT III. How the Bishops and Clergy behaved themselves in those times THe Deportment of the Bishops and the Loyal Clergy may be best known by their adhearing to the Crown-side and the endeavours that were used to render them less credited by the People It is very well known how strenuously they opposed the Bill of Seclusion both in the City and Country and how few if any of the Bishops in the House of Peers countenanced that Bill which occasioned such bitter and biting Speeches or such sly insinuating Girds against them as if they were ready to enroll themselves under the Banner of St. Peter and betray the Protestant Interest rather than be deprived of the warming Beams of the Rising Sun. Sr. F. W. Hence one of the Active Members said They might be assur'd of their Religion if the Fathers of the Church joyn in being against the only means to preserve it and he desired the Church might not be scandaliz'd for they did not disinherit the Prince for his Religion but to save their own And further said That he thought it a kindness to the Church above all other Acts whatsoever And lest in this he might not be understood aright he added that he meant the Protestant Church which shewed that these men considered the conformable Clergy of England as a different Body from the Protestants at large And so the kindness of that Act would operate to them though not to the present Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England who defired no such indirect proceedings to secure them W. H. Another said He was unwilling to detract from the Merits of Church-men for whom
doubtful whether the Kings dispensing Power will be allowed or not I say if there were no other Reasons the King hath from hence sufficient cause to insist earnestly upon the repealing these Laws and the Test and it is probable almost to a demonstration that if this had been frankly granted it would have satisfied the King and have composed the minds of Roman Catholics who being placed in a condition of safety would have continued that esteem they had for the Church of England ever since the late Civil Wars when they were the only fellow-sufferers SECT XV. The Inconveniencies that will attend the not repealing of Penal Laws and particularly the Test HAving premised this I come to treat of the Inconveniencies the denial of the repeal of these Laws brings with it viz. First That it raiseth in his Majesties Royal Breast a prejudice against our Church and Religion and the effects of the unkindness it may beget appears to me of a much more dangerous consequence than the taking off the sanguinary and penal Laws can produce so that in stead of acting for the preservation of our Religion we expose it to more imminent and apparent danger and inconsiderately run upon the Rock we would avoid since such unaccountable obstinacy hath not only in all probability occasioned the enquiry into the Kings Power in dispensing with the penal Laws the displacing of Ministers of State and Officers in the Army and Commissionating a greater number of Catholics than otherwise would have been admitted the taking Catholic Lords into the Council and granting the Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs but may oblige the King to make still greater Changes amongst his Officers Ministers and Judges than otherwise he intends All those holding their places only during his Royal Pleasure so that without violating any Law he may at one stroke remove most Protestant Officers from the Administration of Affairs of State under him And we know not what Changes and Alterations this wayward and unseasonable stiffness may induce his Majesty to make in the external Government and Polity of the Church by the Power of his Supremacy and Prerogatives And surely the extruding of Protestants from Power and Authority either in Church or State under the King is likely to be a vaster prejudice to our Religion than the repealing the Test can be Let us therefore think how much we are bound even in Christian prudence for the sake of our Religion not to provoke the King to withdraw his Indulgence to us in the Exercise of that Religion which he graciously offers to protect and which Grace we ought not to requite by urging the keeping up those severities against those of his Religion which most Protestants would decline to execute if they could and which we cannot if we would until we first renounce obedience to Gods Command and Submission to our Sovereign by refusing if not overthrowing his Sacred Authority and Power Whereas we are tyed by our Principles and Religion not to resist it being a chief and Essential Position and Doctrine of the Church of England to render Active and when we cannot do that Passive Obedience to our Sovereign and what ever we suffer it will not excuse us from the Guilt and Crime of indamaging and indangering our Religion by this unnecessary giving occasion to it when we might have saved not only our Reputations of being most dutiful Subjects but won so far upon the heart of our Royal Master that it would have been in the power of none to have estranged his Affections from us The Spirit of moderation becometh Christians and Calmness and Discretion becometh Subjects in all dealing with their Sovereign and we may be assured that the greater invitation we give our King by these Virtues the greater assurances we have of his Protection of our Religion and the preservation of the present Peace and Tranquility which we enjoy Let us not therefore by denying what we cannot hinder lose the greatest Blessings and Happinesses we may retain that King and People may live in that happy and good understanding which may continue and Crown the sweetness and easiness of his Royal Government over us and of our Tranquility Prosperity and Happiness under his Shadow The second Inconvenience Secondly Till these Laws be taken off it will continue those most dangerous of Evils that can befal the King and People when there is no good correspondence betwixt the King and the two Houses of Parliament On the Kings part first we may call to mind the miserable times of King John and King Henry the third and those more fresh and never to be forgot under King Charles the First Secondly However prudent and wise a Prince may be yet the watchful envy or designs of some Neighbour Potent Prince or State may necessitate our King to defend his Merchants or Plantations to succour his Allies or to secure his People from Damage or Hostilities whereby he may be forced to have recourse to his Parliament for Aid which while a good correspondence is wanting may render them slow to grant or upon unequal Conditions Thirdly This will give an opportunity to all sorts of Male-Contents and Enemies to the Monarchy to bestir themselves to embroil and ferment the People into some dangerous Defection Sedition or Rebellion On the Peoples side the mischiefs that will befall us by this want of a good understanding betwixt the King and his two Houses will be first that since our King by a mature Age and a great Experience of all affairs relating to Arms and Government is fitted and enabled more than most of his Royal Predecessors to aggrandize himself and give renown to his Subjects by buoying up whatever hath been sunk in the reputation of the World And is able to increase the Traffick of his people and inlarge their Commerce and his Empire and make as great a Figure in the World as any Crowned Head. All the Blessing we and our Neighbours might expect from so qualified a Prince will be utterly lost so that in stead of transporting his Cares Counsels and Arms into foreign parts he shall be necessitated to confine them within the Circle of his own Dominions only to keep them from Sedition or any worse mischief So that the hopeful opportunities which the World knows our King might have to hold again the Ballance of Europe and make us as flourishing a people as ever will be totally lost To the great satisfaction no doubt of some of his Neighbours and the general and irreparable loss to us and our Posterity who with sad reflections may lament the occasion of this dispute Secondly Such a want of good Correspondence betwixt the King and his two Houses will hinder us from obtaining such advantageous Laws for the benefit of the Subjects as this Remora being removed might rationally be expected among which most probably one or more might be a Corroboration of the Kings Gracious Promise of protecting the Church of England and whatever else
us all with Admiration and Joy. It will I doubt not be readily owned that his Majesty is indowed with as large a portion of those Royal and Princely Virtues which signalize great Monarchs and render them conspicuous as any Prince that hath governed these Realms for many years And without flattery we cannot but admire his Courage Resolution and Promptness of Mind Activeness delight in Business thorough inspection into his Affairs with such a peculiar sweetness and benignity of temper as singly are of great value in Crowned Heads much more when to such a degree and lustre they are mingled with Justice Honour Fortitude Temperance and other Heroick Virtues in a Constellation so that even those who most passionately wish him the Delight and Darling as well as Glory of his People can superadd nothing to their wishes but that he were of their Religion But in the Judgment of Roman Catholics he finds not only an esteem due to the accumulation of his illustrious Virtues but is inriched with a Ray more by the profession of his Religion Those who are blessed Auditors of his familiar Discourses admire the serenity of his Humor few Mortals being less clouded or shaken with any storm of passion Those are witnesses how he imploys his dressing time in enquiries after what is remarkable in remotest Countries whether they relate to Government Peace or War Situation and Fortifications of places correspondencies one with another Customs and Usages Disposition of the people and their Commodities and of Traffick or the personal Virtues and Accomplishments of great Men The Inventers of useful Arts especially such as respect Military Discipline Navigation and Traffick mingling his own choice Observations which render all his Discourses pleasing yea sometimes surprising and always profitable and instructive Never was any Princes Court freer from debauchery and more orderly in the â—â—â—posal of all Officers in it from whence the Sovereign Master's solid Rules and exemplariness are notably discover'd The Diligent Virtuous Sober Ingenious and Loyal are received without censure of their Religion The Sloathful Turbulent Factious Debauched and Irreligious are as much discouraged as is most manifest by bis severe charges against Swearing and Drunkenness c. Pass we thence to his Chappel we cannot but observe with some astonishment how his public Devotions are performed with a serious Attention and a Fervour and Zeal equal to those that officiate at the Altar When we consider the management of his Revenues by his own peculiar Wisdom and Direction we cannot but be amazed at that vast Capacity which those bred to the Imployment cannot equal no more than they can that inspection into all the Officies of his great Empire the Uses and Abuses of which are as well known to him as any Nobleman knows his Surveys Rentals and Offices what a Fatigue would this give to the ablest of his Subjects to order some few particulars of these Matters much more to superintend the whole as he doth Did we survey the wonderful increase of stores he hath made for all sorts of Munitions both for Land and Sea we should think he imployed his Care and a great part of his Revenues in nothing else But when we attend him to his Camp and Navies we find a new Charge a new Care. His Majesties extraordinary Diligence and Skill in disciplining his Army and the perfection he hath brought it to in one year will be as incredible to after Ages as it is the wonder of this It is the observation of some that have seen other Princes Troops that considering their number they exceed all others not only in the richness of the Clothes of the Officers and the Guards the neatness of the Common Soldiers the goodness of their Arms the sightliness of the Men and Horses the order of the Camp but in the Skill in all their Exercises their readiness to observe Orders and the Civility and Morals of them being free from those Debaucheries which effeminate and unfit Soldiers for Valor and Vigilance And no Prince can take more effectual ways by due and constant pay and provision of all things necessary to oblige his Troops to Fidelity and Courage Skill and Resolution than his Majesty doth so that his Camp is not only accomplished in Military Matters but is a nursery of good Education It being his Majesties special Command that the Soldiers so behave themselves in the Country that they may not only be regarded as his Servants wearing his Livery but as their Guard and the security of their peace and quiet So that none can justly repine at their numbers but such as would be glad to see him destitute of any force that might hinder their Contrivances against his Government We have already seen his Majesties Troops and we now find with how great eare and diligence he is equipping his Fleet which we may be sure will be answerable to the service he intends them for and proportionable to that Method and Order of his Land Forces and then no doubt it will exceed what former Ages have known when they are fitted by so great and magnanimous a Prince that hath so long been Lord High Admiral himself These things have millions of Witnesses But who can divine the Royal Solicitude and Care and those wise Contrivances for the good of his people which are the effects of his retired hours in his Closet There where he revolves in his Great Mind how to order all the Instruments of his Power to set all the Wheels of this great Machin on work to consider who are fitted for every distinct undertaking how to allott the thinking grave and wise the contriving part And the bold and obedient the executive part of his Affairs There he ruminates of his Councellors Wisdom and Address and what is fit to be communicated to them Here he consults the safety preservation and wealth of his Subjects how to make all of Loyal Principles tho of different perswasions in Religion live at ease and freedom Here he studies to obviate the designs of the Factious and Seditious which give greatest disquiet to the otherwise flourishing Reigns of Princes To reward advance and honour those who do him the acceptablest Services Here he bears the Burthen of his Kingdoms alone revolves the fate of other Empires and resoves the Model of his own May the Divine Wisdom inspire his Royal Breast here and in all places to follow such Methods as may make his People truly Reverence Love and dutifully Obey him whereby not only his Reign may be prosperous and peaceable but our Posterity may find the good effects of his Government Were his Majesties Character as well known through all his Dominions as it is to those nearest to him however imperfectly I have described it I should not think it possible that any could entertain such Umbrages of fear of his Conduct since we may be assured so wise and extraordinarily qualified a Prince will attentively consider how his own ease and felicity is involved in