prejudice against these Laws that the very making of them discovered a particular Malignity against His Majesty and therefore it is ill Manners to speak for them The first had perhaps an Eye at his being then Admiral and the last was possibly levelled at him though when that was discovered he was excepted out of it by a special Proviso And as for that which past in 73 I hope it is not forgot that it was enacted by that Loyal Parliament that had setled both the Prerogative of the Crown and the Rites of the Church and that had given the King more Money than all the Parliaments of England had ever done in all former Times A Parliament that had indeed some Disputes with the King but upon the first step that he made with relation to Religion or Safety they shewed how ready they were to forget all that was past as appeared by their Behaviour after the Triple Alliance And in 73 though they had great cause given them to dislike the Dutch War especially the strange beginning of it upon the Smirna Fleet and the stopping the Exchequer the Declaration for Toleration and the Writes for the Members of the House were Matters of hard Digestion yet no saoner did the King give them this new assurance for their Religion then though they had very great Reasons given them to be jealous of the VVar yet since the King was Engaged they gave him 1200000 Pounds for carrying it on and they thought they had no ill Penniworths for their Money when they carried home with them to their Countries this new Security for their Religion which we are now desired to throw up and which the Reverend Judges have already thrown out as a Law out of date If this had carried in it any new piece of Severity their Complaints might be just but they are extream tender if they are so uneasie under a Law that only gives them Leisure and Opportunities to live at Home And the last Test which was intended only for shutting them out from a share in the Legislative Body appears to be so just that one is rather amased to find that it was so long a doing than that it was done at last and since it is done it is a great presumption on our Understandings to think that we should be willing to part with it If it was not sooner done it was because there was not such cause given for Jealousie to work upon but what has appeared since that time and what has been Printed in his Majesties Name shews the World now that the Jealousies which occasion'd those Laws were not so ill grounded as some well meaning Men perhaps then believed them to be But there are some times in which all Mens Eyes come to be opened IX I am told some think it is very indecent to have a Test for our Parliaments in which the King's Religion iâ— accused of Idolatry but if this reason is good in this particular it will be full as good against several of the Articles of our Church and many of the Homilies If the Church and Religion of this Nation is so formed by Law that the King's Religion is declared over and over again to be Idolatrous what help is there for it It is no other than it was when His Majesty was Crowned and Swore to Maintain our Laws I hope none will be wanting in all possible Respect to his sacred Person and as we ought to be infinitely sorry to find him engaged in a Religion which we must believe Idolatrous so we are far from the ill manners of reflecting on his Person or calling him an Idolator for as every Man that reports a Lye is not for that to be called a Lyar so that tho' the ordering the Intention and the prejudice of a misperswasion are such abatements that we will not rashly take on us to call every Man of the Church of Rome an Idolater yet on the other hand we can never lay down our Charge against the Church of Rome as guilty of Idolatry unless at the same time we part with our Religion X. Others give us a strange sort of Argument to perswade us to part with the Test they say The King must imploy his Popish Subjects for he can trust no other and he is so assured of their Fidelity to him that we need apprehend no Danger from them This is an old Method to work on us to let in a sort of People to the Parliament and Government since the King cannot trust us but will depend on them so that as soon as this Law is repealed they must have all the Imployments and have the whole Power of the Nation lodged in their hands this seems a little to gross to impose even on Irish-men The King saw for many Years together with how much Zeal both the Clergy and many of the Gentry appeared for his Interests and if there is now a Melancholy Damp on their Spirits the King can dissipate it when he will and as the Church of England is a Body that will never Rebell against him so any Sullenness under which the late Administration of Affairs has brought them would soon vanish if the King would be pleas'd to remember a little what he has so often promised not only in Publick but in Pivate and would be contented with the Exercise of his own Religion without imbroiling his whole Affairs because F. Petre will have it so and it tempts Englishmen to to more than ordinary degrees of Rage against a sort of Men who it seems can infuse in a Prince born with the highest Sense of Honour possible Projects to which without doing some Violence to his own Royal Nature he could not so much as hearken to if his Religion did not so fatally muffle him up in a blind Obedience But if we are so unhappy that Priests can so disguise Matters as to mis-lead a Prince who without their ill Insluences would be the most Glorious Monarch of all Europe and would soon reduce the Grand Lauis to a much humbler Fgure yet it is not to be so much as imagined that ever their Arts can be so unhappily successful as to impose on an English Parliament composed of Protestant Members Some REFLECTIONS on His Majesties Proclamation of the Twelfth of February 1686 7 for a Toleration in Scotland together with the said Pro-Proclamation I. THe Preamble of a Prâ—clamamaâ—ion is fst writ in hast and is the flourish of some waâ—tâ—n Pen but one of such an Extraordinary 〈◊〉 as this is was probably more severely Examined there is a new designation of his Majesties Authority here set forth of his Absolute Power which is so often repeated that it deserves to be a little searched into Prerogative Royal and Soveraign Authority are Terms already received and known but for this Absolute Power as it is a new Term so those who have coined it may make it signifie what they will The Roman Law speaks of Princeps Legibus solutus and Absolute
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 Churh 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 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 goâ—d manners is suppressed It is known K. Iames 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 â—ominions the Pope must depose him and declare his Subjects absolved from their Allegeance and give his Dominions to another so that even his Majesty how much soever he may be a Zealous Catholick yet 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 Pâ—omises 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 Prâ—testant 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 Suâ—jects 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 Iames 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 Allegeance 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 Perfians 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
in its natural signification importing the being without all Ties and Restraints then the true meaning of this seems to be that there is an Inherent Power in the King which can neither be restrained by Laws Promises nor Oaths for nothing less than the being free from all these renders a Power Absolute II. If the former Term seemed to stretch our Allegiance that which comes after it is yet a step of another nature tho one can hardly imagine what can go beyond Absolute Power 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 Seigneur ever yet claimed For all Princes even the most violent Pretenders to Absolute Power till Lewis the Great 's time have thought it enought 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 probale 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 shat 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 promises an Abolition of the Protestant Religion of the Rights of the Subjects nor 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 to 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 chiesfly 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 amoâ—nts 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 canot so readily guess If a Standard had been given of Opinions or Practices then one could have known how this might have been distiâ—gâ—ished but as it lyes 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 Iames 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 Iames when he came to be of fall 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 thet are lapsed since King Iames was of full Age so many Confirmations that if there is any thing certain in Human Government we might depend upon them bat 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 Iames'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 wel 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 carrâ—es aâ—Royal Stamp upon it when he sees such grounds made use of as mâ—st 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 Law 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 Elict 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. Iames'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. Iames's Memory is that he was a Prince of great
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 carried I will not anticipate upon this illegal Court to tell what Judgments are coming but without carrying our Jealousies ton 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 a owed Papists as we are sure it is projected by such there were nothing extraordinary in it but that which carries our Indig nation 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 Iudas's Crime of saying Hail Master and kissing him while they are betraying him into the hands of othnrs these carry their Wickedness fâ—rthâ—r and say Hail Mother and then they themselves murtheâ— her If after all this we were called on 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 Treaâ—â—ery 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 Transubstaetiation 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 is a means to keep them from carrying their Courtship further than good words this Paper will not come too late An Answer to a Paper Printed with Allowance Entitled A New Test of the Church of Englands Loyalty 1. THE Accusing the Church of England of want of Loyalty or the putting it to a new Test after so fresh a one with relation to His Majesty argues a high degree of Confidence in him who undertakes it She knew well what were the Doctrines and Practices of those of the Roman Church with Relation to Hereticks and yet She was so true to her Loyalty that She shut her Eyes on all the Temptations that so just a fear could raise in her and She set her self to support His Majesties Right of Succession with so much Zeal that She thereby not only put her self in the power of her Enemies but She has also Exposed her Self to the Scorn of those who insult over her Misfortune She lost the Affections even of many of her own Children who thought that her Zeal for an Interest which was then so much decry'd was a little too fervent and all those who judged severely of the proceedings thought that the Opposition which She made to the side that then went so high had more Heat than Decency in it And indeed all this was so very Extraordinary that if She was not acted by a principle of Conscience She could make no Excuse for her Conduct There appeared such peculiar Marks of Affection and Heartiness at every time that the Duke was named whether in Drinking his Health or upon graver Occasions that it seemed affected and when the late King himself whose Word they took that he was a Protestant was spoke of but coldly the very Name of the Duke set her Children all on fire this made many conclude that they were ready to Sacrifice all to him for indeed their Behaviour was inflamed with so much Heat that the greater part of the Nation be lieved they waited for a fit opportunity to declare themselves Faith in Jesus Christ was not a more frequent Subject of the Sermons of many than Loyalty and the Right of the Succession to the Crown the Heat that appeared in the Pulpit and the Learning that was in their Books on these Subjects and the Eloquent Strains that were in their Addresses were all Originals and made the World conclude That whatever might be laid to their Charge they should never be accused of any want of Loyalty at least in this King's time while the remembrance of so signal a service was so fresh When His Majesty came to the Crown these men did so entirely depend on the Promise that he made to maintain the Church of England that the doubting of the performance appeared to them the worst sort of Infidelity They believed that in His Majesty the Hero and the King would be too strong for the Papists and when any one told them How weak a tie the Faith of a Catholick to Hereticks must needs be they could not hearken to this with any patience but looked on his Majesties Promise as a thing so Sacred that they imploy'd their interest to carry all Elections of Parliament-Men for those that were recommended by the Court with so much Vigour that it laid them open to much Censure In Parliament they moved for no Laws to secure their Religion but assuring themselves that Honour was the Kings Idol they laid hold on it and fancied that a publick reliance on his Word would give them an Interest in his Majesty that was Generous and more suteable to the Nobleness of a Princely Nature than any new Laws could be so that they acquieseed in it and gave the King a vast Revenue for Life In the Rebellion that followed they shewed with what Zeal they
think of the Laws of Burning the poor Servants of the Living God because they cannot give Divine Wership to that which they believe to be only a Piece of Bread The Representation he gives of this part of our History is so false that tho upon Q. Elizabeths coming to the Crown there were many Complaints exhibited of the illegal Violences that Bonner and other Butchers had committed yet all these were stifled and no Penal Laws were Enacted against those of that Religion The popish Clergy were indeed turned out but they were well used and had Pensions assigned them so ready was the Queen and our Church to forgive what was past and to shew all Gentleness for the future During the first thirteen Years of her Reign matter went on calmly without any sort of Severity on the account of Religion But then the restless spirit of that Party began to throw the Nation into violent Convulsions The Pope deposed the Queen and one of the Party had the Impudence to post up the Bull in London upon this followed several Rebellions both in England and Ireland and the Papists of both Kingdoms entred into Confederacies with the King of Spain and the Court of Rome the Preists disposed all the people that depended on them to submit to the Popes Authority in that Disposition and to reject the Queens These endeavours besides open Rebelion produced many Secret Practices against her Life All these things gave the rise to the severe Laws which began not to be enacted before the twentieth year of her raign A War was formed by the Bull of Deposition between the Queen and the Court of Rome so it was a necessary Piece of Precaution to decleare all those to be Traitors who were the Missionaries of that Authority which had stript the Queen of hers yet those Laws were not executed upon some Secular Priests who had the Honesty to condemn the Deposing Doctrine As fâ—r the unhappy Death of the Queen of Scotland it was brought on by the wicked Practices of her own Party who fatally involved her in some of them She was but a Subject here in England and if the Queen took a more Violent way than was decent for her own Security here was no Disloyalty nor Rebellion in the Church of England which owed her no sort of Allegeance IV. I do not pretend that the Church of England has any great cause to value her self upon her Fidelity to King Charles the First thoâ— our Author would have it pass for the only thing of which She can boast for I confess the cause of the Church was so twiâ—â—ed with the King`s that Interest and Duty went together tho` I will not go so far as our Author who says that the Lavs of Nature dictates to every Individual to fight in his own Defence This is too bold a thing to be delivered so crudely at this time The Laws of Nature are perpetual can never be cancelled by any special Law So if these Gentlemen own so freely that this is a Law of Nature they had best take care not to provoke Nature too much lest She fly to the Reliefe that this Law may give her unless she is restrained by the Loyalty of our Church Our Author values his Party much upon their Loyalty to King Charles the first but I must take the Liberty to ask him of what Religion were the Irish Rebells and what sort of Loyalty was it that they shewed either in the first Massacre or in the progress of that Rebellion Their Messages to the Pope to the Court of France and to the Duke of Larrain offering themselves to any of these that would have undertaken to protect them are acts of Loyalty which the Church of England is no ways in clined to follow and the Authentical Proofs of these things are ready to be produced Nor need I add to this the hard terms that they offered to the King and their ill usage of those whom he Imployed I could likewise repress the Insolence of this Writer by telling him of the Slavish Submissions thattheir Party made to Cromwel both Father and son As for their Adhering to King Charles the first there is a peculiar Boldness in our Authors Aâ—â—ertâ—on who says that they had no Hope nor Interest in that Cause The State of that Court is not so quite forgot but that we do well remember what Credit the Queen had with the King and what Hopes She gave the Party yet they did not so entirely espouse the Kings Cause but that they had likewise a flying Squadron in the Parliaments Army how â—oldly soever this may be denyed by our Author for this I will give him a proof that is beyond exception in a Declaration of that Kings sent to the Kingdom of Scotland baring date the 21 of April 1643. which is printed over and over again and as an Author that writes the History of the late Wars had assured us the clean draught of it corrected in some places with the King 's own Hand is yet extant so that it cannot be pretended that this was only a bold Assertion of some of the Kings Ministers that might be ill affected to their Party In that Declaration the King studied to possess his Subjects of Scotland with the Justice of his Cause and among other things to clear himself of that Imputation that he had an Army of Papists about him after many things said on that head these words are added Great numbers of that Religion have been with great Alacâ—ity entertained in that Rebellious Army against us and others have been seduced to whom we had formerly denyed Imployments as appears by the Examination of many Prisoners of whom we have taken twenty and thirty at a time of one Troop or Company of that Religion I hope our Author will not have the Impudence to dispute the Credit that is due to this Testimony but no Discoveries how evident soever they may be can affect some sort of men that have a Secret against blâ—shing V. Our Author exhorts us to charge our Principles of Loyalty and to take Example of our Catholick Neighbours how to behave our selves towards a Prince that is not of our Perswasion But would he have us learn of our â—ish Neighbours to cut our Fellow Subjects Throats and rebel against our King because he is of another Religion for that is the freshest Example that any of our Catholick Neighbours have set us and therefore I do not look so far back as to the Gunpowder-plot or the League of France in the last Age. He reproabhes us for failing in our Fidelity to our King But in this matter we appeal to God Angels and Men and in particular to His Majesty Let our Enemies shew any one Point of our Duty in which we have failed for as we cannot be charged for having preacht any Seditious Doctrine so we are not wanting in the Preaching of the Duties of Loyalty even when we see what they are like to
SIX PAPERS CONTAINING I. Reasons against the Repealing the Acts of Parliament concerning the TEST Humbly offer'd to the Consideration of the Members of both Houses at their next meeting II. Reflections on His Majesties Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland together with the said Proclamation III. Reflections on His Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Dated the Fourth of April 1687. IV. An Answer to a Paper Printed with Allowance Entitled A New Test of the Church of England ' s Loyalty V. Remarks on the two Papers writ by His late Majesty King Charles II. concerning Religion VI. The Citation togethar with Three Letters to the Earl of Midleton By Gilbert Burnet D. D. Printed in the Year 1687. REASONS against the Repealing the Acts of Parliament concerning the TEST Humbly offered to the Consideration of the Members of both Houses at their next Meeting I. IF the just Apprehensions of the Danger of Popery gave the Birth to the two Laws for the two Tests the one with relation to all publick Employments in 73. and the other with relation to the Constitution of our Parliaments for the future in 78. the present time and conjuncture does not seem so proper for repealing them unless it can be imagined that the Danger of Popery is now so much less than it was formerly that we need be no more on our guard against it We had a King when these Laws were enacted who as he declared himself to be of the Church of England by receiving the Sacrament four times a year in it so in all his Speeches to his Parliaments and in all his Declarations to his Subjects he repeated the assurances of his firmness to the Protestant Religion so solemnly and frequently that if the saying a thing often gives just reason to believe it we had as much reason as ever People had to depend upon him and yet for all that it was thought necessary to fortifie those Assurances with Laws and it is not easie to imagin why we should throw away those when we have a Prince that is not only of another Religion himself but that has expressed so much steadiness in it and so much zeal for it that one would think we should rather now seek a further security than throw away that which we already have II. Our King has given such Testimonies of his Zeal for his Religion that we see among all his other Royal Qualities there is none for which he desires and deserves to be so much admired Since even the passion of Glory of making himself the terrour of all Europe and the Arbiter of Christendom which as it is natural to all Princes so must it be most particularly so to one of his Martial and Noble Temper yields to his Zeal for his Church and that he in whom we might have hoped to see our Edward the Third or our Henry the Fifth reviv'd chooses rather to merit the heightning his degree of Glory in another World than to Acquire all the Lawrelâ— and Conquests that this low and vile World can give him and that instead of making himself a terrour to all his Neighbours he is contented with the humble Glory of being a terrour to his own People so that instead of the great Figure which this Reign might make in the World all the News of England is now only concerning the practises on some fearful Mereenaries Thâ—se things shew That His Majesty is so possessed with his Religion that this cannot suffer us to think that there is at present no danger from Popery III. It does not appear by what we see either abroad or at home that Popery has so changed its nature that we have less reason to be afraid of it at present than we had in former time It might be thought ill nature to go so far back as to the Councils of the Lateran that decreed the extirpation of Hereticks with severe Sanctions on those Princes that failed in their Duty of being the Hangmen of the Inquisitors or to the Council of Constance that decreed that Princes were not bound to keep their faith to Hereticks tho it must be acknowledged that we have extraordinary Memories if we can forget such things and more extraordinary Understandings if we do not make some inferences from them I will not stand upon such inconsiderable Trifles as the Gunpowder-Plot or the Massacre of Ireland but I will take the liberty to reflect a little on what that Church has done since those Laws were made to give us kinder and softer thoughts of them and to make us the less apprehensive of them We see before our Eyes what they have done and are still doing in France and what seeble things Edicts Coronation Oaths Laws and Promises repeated over and over again proved to be where that Religion prevails and Louis le Grand makes notso contemptible a Figure in that Church or in our Court as to make us think that his example may not he proposed as a Pattern as well as Aid may be offered for an encouragement to act the same things in England that he is now dâ—ing with so much Applause in France and it may be perhaps tho rather desired from hence to put him a little in countenance when so great a King as ours is willing to forget himself so far as to copy after him and to depend upon him so that as the Doctriue and Principles of that Church must be still the same in all Ages and Places since its chief pretension is that it is Infallible it is no unreasonable thing for us to be afraid of those who will be easily induced to burn us a little here when they are told that such servent Zeal will save them a more lasting burning hereafter and will perhaps quit all scores so enttirely that they may hope scarce to endure a Singeing in Purgatory for all their other Sins IV. If the severest Order of the Church of Rome that has breathed out nothing but Fire and Blood since its first formation and that is even decryed at Rome it self for its Violence is in such credit here I do not see any inducement from thence to persuade us to look on the Councils that are directed by that Society as suâ—h harmless and inoffensive things that we need be no more on our guard against them I know not why we may not apprehend as much from Father Petre as the French have felt from Pere de la Chaise since all the difference that is observed to be between them is that the English Iesuite has much more Fire and Passion and much less Conduct and Judgment than the French has And when Rome has expressed so great a Jealousy of the Interest that that Order had in our Councils that â— Morgan who was thought to influence our Ambassadour was ordered to leave Rome I do not see why England should look so tamely on them No reason can be given why Card. Howard should be shut out of all their Councils unless it
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 this Absolute Power it is a little too hard to make men swear to maintain the King in it and if that Kingdom has suffered so much by the many Oaths that have been in use among them as is marked in this Proclamation I am afraid this new Oath will not much mend the matter XIV Yet after all there is some Comfort his Majesty assures them he will use no Violence nor Force nor any Invincible Necessity to any man on the account of his perswasion It were too great a want of respect to fancy that a time may come in which even this may be remembrad full as well as the promises that were made to the Parliament after His Majesty came to the Crown I do not I Confess apprehend that for I see here so great a Caution used in the choice of these words that it is plain very great Severities may very well consist with them It is clear that the general words of Violence and Force are to be determined by these last of Invincible Necessity so that the King does only promise to lay no Invincible Necessity on his Subjects but for all Necessâ—ies that are not Invincible it seems thy must expect to bear a large share of them Disgraces want of Imployments Fines and Imprisonments and even Death it self are all Vincible things to a man of a â—irmness of mind so that the Violences of Torture the Furies of Dragooâ—s and some of the Methods now practised in France perhaps may be Included within this Promise since these seem almost Invincible to Humane Nature if it is not fortified with an Extraordinary measure of Grace but as to all other things His Majesty binds himself up from no part of the Exercise of His Absolute Power by this Promise XV. His Majesty Orders this to go Immediately to the Great Seal without passing through the other Seals now since this is â—â—unter-signed by the Secretary in whose hands the Signet is there was no other step to be made but through the Privy Seal so I must own I have a gâ—eat Curiosity of knowing his Character in whose hands the Privy Seal is at present for it seems his Conscience is not so very supple as the Chancellors and the Secretaries are but it is very likely if he does not quickly change his mind the Privy Seal at least will very quickly change its Keeper and I am sorry to hear that the Lord Chancellor and the Secretary have not another Brother to fill this post that so the guilt of the ruin of that Nation may lie on one siâ—gle Family and that there may be no others involved in it XVI Upon the whole matter many smaller things being waved it being extream unpleasant to find fault where one has all possible dispositions to pay all respect we here in England see what we must look for A Parliament in Scotland was tryed but it proved a little Stubborn and now Absolute Power comes to set all right so when the Closetting has gone round so that Noses are counted we may perhaps see a Parliament here but if it chanâ—â—s to be untoward and not to Obey without Reserve then our Reverend Judges will copy from Scotland and will not only tell us of the King 's Imperial Power but will discover to us this new Mystery of Absolute Power to whch we are all bound to Obey without Reserve These Reflexions refer in so many places to some words in the Proclamation that it was thought necessary to set them near one another that the Reader may be able to Iudge whether he is deceived by any false Quotations or not By the King A PROCLAMATION IAMES R. JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and sundry our good Subjects whom these presents do or may concern Greeting We have taken into our Royal Consideration the many and great inconveniencies which have happened to that our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland of late years through the different perswasions in the Christian Religion and the great Heats and Animosities amongst the several Professors thereof to the ruin and decay of Trade wasting of Lands extinguishing of Charity contempt of the Royal Power and converting of True Religion and the Fear of God into Animosities Names Fractions and sometimes into Sacrilege and Treason And being resolved as much as in us lyes to Unite the Hearts and Affections of Our Subjects to GOD in Religion to Us in Loyalty and to their Neighbours in Christian Love and Charity Have therefore thought fit to Grant and by Gur Souveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all Our Subjects are to Obey without Reserve Do hereby give and grant Our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after named with and under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations after-mentioned In the first place We allow and Tolerate the Moderate Presbyterians to Meet in their Private Houses and there to hear all such Ministers as either have or are willing to accept of Our Indulgence allanerly and none other and that there be not any thing said or done contrary to the Well and Peace of Our Reign Seditious or Treasonable under the highest Pains these Crimes will import nor are they to presume to Build Meeting-Houses or to use Out-Houses or Barns but only to exercise in their Private Houses as said is In the mean time it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure that Field-Conventicles and such as Preach or Exercise at them or who shall any ways assist or connive at them shall be prosecuted according to the utmost Severity of our Laws made against them seeing from these Rendezvouzes of Rebellion so much Disorder hath proceeded and so much Disturbance to the Government and for which after this Our Royal Indulgence for tender Consciences there is no Excuse lefâ— In like manner we do hereby tolerate Quakers to meet and Exercise in their Form in any Place or Places appointed for their Worship And considering the Severe and Cruel Laws made against Roman Catholicks therein called Papists in the Minority of Our Royal Grand Father of * Glorious Memory without His Consent and contrary to the Duty of good Subjects by His Regents and other Enemies to their Lawful Soveraigns Our Royal Great Grand Mother Queen Mary of Blessed and Pious Memory wherein â—nder the pretence of Religion they cloathed the worst of Treasons Factions and Usurpations and 〈◊〉 these Laws not as against
the judgments of God but that which is more sensible the loss of their Dominions and it sâ—ems 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 fâ—rmally aâ—knowledged the Authority of that Council and of its Canons that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing of wâ—rning us before hand of our Danger It is true Bellarmin says The Church does not always execute her 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 intiâ—e 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 Emperoâ—r 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 Endeavonrs that have been used in the last four Reigâ—s for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to a 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 Q. 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 suâ—pâ—rt it self but to distract us and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them by fomenting our own Diffâ—rences and by setting on either a Toleration or a Pâ—rsecuâ—iâ—n as it has happened to serve their Interests It is not so very long since that nothing was to be heard at Coâ—rt 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 Suspicious as backward in the King's Service while such Methods are used and the Government is as in an Ague divided between hot and cold fits no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have faâ—led 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 meet Religion so that whensoever Religion and Pâ—licy come to be so interwoven that meer Religion is not the Case and that publick Safety may be preteâ—ded then thiâ— Declaration is to bâ— no moâ—e 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 no 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 occasiâ—ned by those of the Religion in the last Age tho as these was the happy Occaâ—â—ons of bringing the House of Bâ—uâ—bon to the Crown they had been ended above 80 Years ago and there had not been so much as the least Tumulâ— 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 huddred years old were raised up to inspire into the King those Apprehensions of them which â—ave 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 Goverment 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 Sabjects from the King VI. His Majesty makes no doubt of tthe Concurrence of his Two Houses of Parliament when he shall think it convenient for them to meet The Hearts of King are unsearchable so that it is a little too presumptuous to look into His hajesties secret Thoughts but according to the Judgments that we would make of other mens Thoughts by their Actions one would betâ—mpted 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 were 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 rant 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 mett for the meaning of this seems plain that His Majesty is resolved that they shall never meet till he receive such Assurances in a new round of Closetting that he shall be pat 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 Parliament to review all the nal Laws either with relation to Papists or to Dissenters but I will take the boldness to add one thing that the Kings 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 whâ—â— oevâ— 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 be either made repealed or which is all one suspended but by their consent shâ— 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 Allegeance and Tests that are thought necessary to Qualifie men either to be admited 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 them but a plain repealing of them so it is a Subverting of the whole Foundation of our Go-Government For the Regulation that King and Parliament had set both for the Subjects having the Protection of the State by the Oath of Allegeance 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 fot 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 an nexed 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 clted 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 Allegeance 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 Governors 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 maintaiu those Laws may at his pleasure extinguish all these Disabilities X. At the end of the Declaration as in a Postscript 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 〈◊〉 and void of it self Châ—rch Lands are also according to the Doctrine of their Canonists so immediately Gods Right that the Pope himself is the only Administrator and Dispeneer 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 Adresses 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 Fulsomneâ—s 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 Parliament upon which the whole
Nation fell as it were into Raptures of Joy and Flattery but tho he lived four Years after that he called no Parliament notwithstanding the Law for Trienâ—ial 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 â—ew let of Addresses appeared in which all that Flattery could invent 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 give some very general Promise of maintaining the Church of England this was magnified in so Extravagant a stâ—ain as if it had been a Securiry greater than any that the Law could give tho by the regard that the King has both to iâ— and to the Laws it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally since then the Nation has already made it srlf 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 Oppositian 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 thos 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 maâ—e to them it cannot be supposed that they will be more lâ—sting 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 Fnâ—y 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 easy thing to define what the Mercies of those 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 of 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 t he 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 rejoyce at this Declaration and make Addresses upon it It is hard to think that they have attained to so high a 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 Contemption 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 of 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 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 worps of a Law so lately made That Court takes care to maintain a due proportion between their Constitution and all their Proceedings that so all may be of a piece and all equally contrary to Law They have suspended one Bishop only because he wâ—uld 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 a 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
cost us The Point which he singles out is That we have failed in that grateful Return that we owed his Majesty for his Promise of Maintaining our Church as it is Established by Law since upon that we ought to have repealed the Sanguinary Laws and the late impious Tests the former being enacted to maintain the Usurpation of Queen Elizabeth and the other being contrived to exclude the present King We have not failed to pay all the Gratitude and Duty that was possible in return to His Majesties Promise which we have carried so far that we are become the Object even of our Enemies Scorn by it With all Humility be it said that if His Majesty had promised us a farther Degree of His Favour than that of which the Law had assuered us it might have been expected that our return should have a degree of Obedience beyond that which was required by Law so that the return of the Obedience injoyned by Law answers a Promise of a protection according to Law yet we carried this matter farther for as was set forth in the beginning of this paper we went on in so high a pace of Compliance and Confidence that we drew the censuers of the whole Nation on us nor could any Jealousies or Fears give us the least Apprehensions tell we were so hard pressed in matters of Religion that we conld be no longer silent The same Apostle that taught us to Honour the King said likewise that we must obey God rather than man Our Author knows the History of our Laws ill for besides wha has been allready said touching the Laws made by Queen Elizabeth the severest of our Penall Laws and that which troubles him and his friends most was past by K. Iames after the Gunpowder-plot a provocation thut might have well Justified even greater Severities But tho our Author may hope to Impose on an Ignorant Reader who may be apt to believe Implicity what he says concerning the Laws of the last Age yet it was too hold for him to assert that the Tests which are so lately made were contrived to exclude the present King when there was not a thought of Exclusion many Years after the first was made and the Duke was accepted out of the second by a special Proviso but these Gentlemen will do well never to mention the Exclusion for every time that it is named it will make people call to mind the Service that the Church of England did in that matter and that will carry with it a Reproach of Ingratitude that needs not be aggravated He also confounds the two Tests as if that for publick Imployments contained in it a Declaration of the Kings being an Idolater or as he makes it a Pagan which is not at all in it but in the other for the Members of Parliament in which there is indeed a Declaration that the Church of Rome is guilty of Idolatry which is done in general terms without applying it to His Majesty as our Author does Upon this he would infer that his Majesty is not safe till the Tests are taken away but we have given such Evidences of our Loyalty that we have plainly shewed this to be false since we do openly declare that our Duty to the King is not founded on his being of this or that Religion so that his Majesty has a full Security from our Principles tho the Tests contiune since there is no reason that we who did run the hazard of being ruined by the Excluders when the Tide was so strong against us would fail his Majesty now when our Interest and Duty are joyned together but if the Tests are taken away it is certain that we can have no Severity any longer for we shall be then laid open to the Violence of such restless and ill-natured men as the Author of this Papâ—r and his Brethren are VI. The same reason that made our Saviour refuse to throw himself down from the Roof of the Temple when the Devil tempted him to it in the vain Confidence that Angels must be assistant to him to preserve him holds good in our Case Our Saviour said Thou shalt not Tempt the Lord thy God And we dare not trust our selves to the Faith and to the Mercies of a Society that is but too well known to the World to pretend that we should pull down our Pales to let in such Wolves among us God and the Laws hath given us a legal Security aâ—d His Majesty has promised to maintain us in it and we think it argues no Distrust either of God or the Truth of our Religion to say that we cannot by any Act of our own lay our selves open and throw away that Defenee Nor would we willingly expose his Majesty to the unwearied Solicitations of a sort of men who if we may Judge of that which is to come by that which is past would give him no rest if once the Restraints of Law were taken off but would drive matters to those Extremities to which we see their Natures carry them headlong VII The last Paragraph is a strain worchy of that School that bred our Author he says His Majesty may withdraw his Royal Protection from the Church of England which was promised her upon the account of her constant Fidelity and he brings no other Proof to confirm so bold an Assertion but a false Axiome of that despised Philosophy in which he was bred Cessante causa tollitur Effectus This is indeed such an lndignity to His Majesty that I presume to say it with all humble Reverence these are the last persons whom he ought to pardon that have the Boldnels to touch so sacred a point as the Faith of a Prince which is the chief Security of Government and the Foundation of all the Confidence that a Prince can promise himself from his People and which once blasted can never be recovered Equivocations may be both taught and practised with less danger by an Order that has little Credit to lose but nothing can shike Thrones so much as such treacherous Maxims I must also ask our Author in what point of Fidelity has our Church failed so far as to make her forfeit her Title to His Majesties Promises for as he himself has stated this matter it comes all to this The King promised that he would maintain the Church of England as Established by Law Upon which in Gratitude he says that the Church of England was bound to throw up the Chief Security that she had in her Establishment by Law which is that all who are intrusted either with the Legislative or the executive Parts of our Government must be of her Communion and if the Church of England is not so Tame and so Submissive as to part with This then the King is free from his Promise and may withdraw his Royal Protection though I must crave leave to tell him that the Laws gave the Church of England a Right to that Protection whether His Majesty had promised
is a shrewd Presumption that they did not understand them in that selfe in which the Church of Rome does now take them Nor does St. Paul in the directions that he gives to 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 trâ—e meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one wâ—rd sounding that way which is very diffeâ—ent from the direction which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this maâ—er must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the N. 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 〈◊〉 God the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Iesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent 〈◊〉 we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other mattâ—rs we must conclude that thâ—â— are not of that Consequence other wise they would have been aâ— Plainly reâ—ealed 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 Consefluence that â—t 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 Iews 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 passagâ—s as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by particular Persons but that the Exposâ—ion of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanbedrin it being expresly provided 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 Iudge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their dâ—cision all were obliged to submit under pain of Death So that by this it appears that the Priests in the Iewish 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 fâ—r our Saviours 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 Iew saying that Christ by making himself one with his Father brought In thk worship of another God might well pretend that he was not oblig'd to yield to the authority of our Saviours 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 Iews against our Saviour and form 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 Ieremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's dâ—ys not only many ill-grounded Traditions had got in among them by which the vâ—goâ— of the moral law was much enervated but likewise they were universally possessed with a selfe 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 reconciling of Differences that of binding and loâ—sing according to the use of those terms among the Iews 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 Christs 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 â—â—ee 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 〈◊〉 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 subalterne Judges in whose decisions all must at least acquiesce tho they are not infallible there being still a sort of an apperl to be made to the Sovereign or the supream legislative Body so the Church has a subalterne Jurisdiction but as the authority of 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 Rebellon and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their obedience to their Soveraign tho in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Sovereign The case of Religion being then this That Iesus Christ is the Sovereign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a subalterne Judge if they manifestly oppose themselves to the Screptures which is the Law of Christians particular persons may be supposed as competent Iudges 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 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 lot 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 Alvâ—in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischâ—â—â—s that any can be Imagined to 〈◊〉 out of a small Diversâ—â— of Opinions and the present 〈◊〉 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 signify nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shewes us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party sayes 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 Insallible 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 so ever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture sayes not one word of his Successors at Rome so at lâ—st 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 after long intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first 320 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 forfeit this right and what number must concur in 〈…〉 Infalliâ—â—lity 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 Councils 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 nâ—w ashmed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a Competent understanding to satisfy 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. Pallavicins History of that Council XI If it is said that this Infallibility is to be sought 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 N. 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 dayes 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 aâ—l People see
Richard Baxter Preacher An Answer to the Criminal Letters issued out against me I Look upon it as a particular Misfortune that I am forced to answer a Citation that is made in His Majesties Name which will be ever so Sacred with me that nothing but the sense of an indispensable Duty could draw from me any thing that looks like a Contending with that sublime Character I owe the Defence of my own Innocence and of my own Reputation and Life to my self I owe also to all my Kindred and Friends to my Religion as I am a Christian and a Protestant and to my Profession as I am a Church-man and above all to His Majesty as I am his Born-Subject such a Vindication of my Loyalty and Integrity as may make it appear that my not going to Scotland according to the Tenour of this Citation does not flow from any sense of Guilt or Fear but meerly from those Engagements under which I am in Holland I hope my Contradicting or Refuting the Matters of Fact set forth in this Citation shall not be so maliciously perverted by any as if I meant to reflect either on His Majesty for writing to his Council of Scotland ordering this Citation to be made or on his Advocate for forming it and issuing it out But as I acknowledge that upon the Information that it seems was offer'd of those matters here laid against me it was very reasonable for Hs Majesty to order Justice to be done upon me so his Advocate in whose hands those Informations it seems are now put had all possible reason to lay them against me as he has done and therefore I will not pretend to make an Exception to the Laws and Acts of Parliament set forth in the first part of this Citation but I will only answer the matters of Fact laid to my Charge and whatsoever I say concerning them does only belong to my false Accusers and therefore I hope they will not be lookt on as things in which even His Majesties Advocate but much less His Sacred Majesty is any ways concerned I am first accused for having seen conversed with and held correspondence with the late Earl of Argyle and to make this appear the more probable the place is marked very Critically where I lived and where as it is pretended we met But as it is now almost two years since the late Argyle was taken and suffered and that a full account was had of all his secret Practices in all which I have not been once so much as mentioned tho' it is now a year since I have lived and preacht openly in these Provinces The truth is that for nine years before the late Earl of Argiles forfeiture I had no sort of Correspondence with him nor did I ever see him since the year 1676 After his Escape out of Prison I never saw him nor writ to him nor heard from him nor had I any sort of Commerce with him directly nor indirectly the Circumstance of my House and the Place in which I lived is added to make the thing look somewhat probable but tho' it is very easy to know where I lived and I having dwelt in Lincolns-Inn-Fields the space of seven years it was no hard matter to add this particular yet so inconsiderate is the Malice of my Enemies that even in this it leads them out of the way for soon after Argile's Escape and during the stay that as is believed he made in London I had removed from Lincolns-Inn-Fields into Brook-Buildings this makes me guess at the Informer who saw me often in the one House but never in the other and yet even he who has betrayed all that ever past between us has not Impudence enough th charge me with the least Disloyalty though I concealed very few of my thoughts from him With this of my seeing Argile the Article of the Scandalous and Treasonable words pretended to be spoken by me to him against His Majesties Person and Government falls to the ground it is obvious that this cannot be proved since Argile is dead and it is not pretended that these words were uttered in the hearing of other Witnesses nor is it needful to add that His Majesty was then only a Subject so that any Words spoken of him at that time cannot amount to Treason but I can appeal to all those with whom I have ever Conversed if they have ever heard me fail in the respect I owed the King and I can easily bring many Witnesses from several parts of Europe of the Zeal with which I have on all occasions expressed my self on those Subjects and that none of all those hard words that have been so freely bestowed on me has made me forget my Duty in the least I am in the next place accused of Correspondence with Iames Stewart Mr. Robert Ferguson Thomas Stewart William Denholm and Mr. Robert Martyn since my coming out of England and that I have entertained and supplied them in Foreign Parts particularly in the Cities of Amsterdam Rotterdam Leyden Breda Geneva or in some other parts within the Netherlands This Article is so very ill laid in all its branches that it shews my Enemies have very ill Informations concerning my most general Acquaintance since tho' there are among those that are condemned for Treason some that are of my Kindred and ancient Acquaintance they have here cast together a Company of men who are all Iames Stewart only excepted absolutely unknown to me whom I never saw and with whom I never exchanged one word in my whole Life as far as I can remember one of them Mr. Robert Martyn was as I ever understood it dead above a year before I left England as for Iames Stewart I had a general Acquaintance with him twenty years ago but have had no Commerce with him now for many years unless it was that I saw him twice by accident and that was several years before there was any Sentence past on him my Accusers know my motion ill for I have not been in Breda these twenty three years I seâ—led in the Hague upon my coming into Holland because I was willing to be under the Observation of His Majesties Envoy and I chose this place the rather because it was known that none of those that lay under Sentences come to it I have never gone to Amsterdam or Roterdam in sccret and have never been there but upon my private Affairs and that never above a Night or two at a time and I have been so visible all the while that I was in those places that I thought there was no room left even for Calumny In the last place it is said that I have publickly and avowedly uttered several Speeches and Positions to the Disdain of his Majesties Person Authority and Government and that I continue and persist in those Treasonable Practises This is so generally afferted that it is enough for me to say that it is positively false but I have yet clearer Evidence to