and reasonably politick and if applied to the case in hand nothing more expedient For when matters are come to this pass that either a Nation in general must be deprived of all that is dear to them their Religion their Liberties and it may be their Lives or that one man that will be the Author of all this mischief must be put out of a capacity to effect it though by excluding him from a Right which otherwise he were intitled to it needs not much deliberation what course to take seeing I have already proved that to resolve upon this latter is not contrary to Law is most consonant to Equity and above all the most expedient Which last consideration I shall pursue no further being so excellently done already in The Character of a Popish Successor Having thus vindicated the passing of the Bill of Exclusion I have in doing so detected the designs and interests those have espoused that have on this account calumniated these Honourable and Loyal Senators with endeavours to subvert the Government establisht with Republican designs with the Nick-name of Presbyterians and all that 's odious His Majesty indeed has the natural affection towards a Brother his incomparable lenity of disposition and his consciousness of having deserved so infinitely of those that seek his ruine that he cannot easily believe there can be so monstrous ingratitude in nature I say he has all these to Apologize for his not giving countenance to the Bill and to keep Him in the good opinion of his Loyal Subjects But for others that have none of these colour'd Glasses to look through they may indeed affirm as they do that white is black but they lie against the truth and their own eyes and prove nothing with all their confident clamour but that they are well pleas'd at the King's danger and triumph in the hopes of a Successor for their turn This will be more plain by and by when I come to examine the Addresses which will also give us occasion to observe the perverse construction they give of the Act for repealing 35 Eliz. This Parliament indeed deserves the heaviest censure for striking down so strong a pillar of the Cause as the Lord Stafford when one and thirty Lords had set to their shoulders to support it Losers may have leave to speak and we 'll hear what they can say when we have taken a turn to Oxford This Session continued almost three months and brought forth but three living Acts a fourth was still-born and never saw the light After a prorogation for a few dayes this Parliament was dissolved and another called to assemble at Oxford that seeing Pisgah had proved so unfortunate it might be tryed whether Peor would be more favourable It was fit the people should be minded of his Majesties Prerogative and whatever private reasons the King might have for it the subject had a satisfactory reason when they understood their Sovereign would have it so Some insinuated to his Majesty that it was ominous but He was not so superstitious as to apprehend any danger in going thither tho' perhaps too apprehensive of it since his return back There was a great concourse of people many going thither in complement to their Members many meerly out of curiosity being invited with the Novelty and some perhaps over sagacious to defend the Assembly if they should be assaulted by the Papists The House of Commons declared to all the world as the Speaker exprest it in his Speech at his presentment to the King that they were not given to change which was true as he meant it seeing he had been Speaker too in the last Parliament but was also prophetical for they still pursued the same means for preservation of the Protestant Religion and the King's person The Bill of Exclusion that past the House the last Parliament is still esteemed the only thing that can do it Sir L. J. condemns it of injustice irreligion perjury which I think I have sufficiently vindicated it from but it was observed he had no body to second him his objections were such down-right Cant. Others of the Duke's friends finding the House absolutely of opinion that it was lawful endeavour to stave it off by offering an Expedient that might as well answer the ends of that Bill and not be subject to such incoveniencies And that was That the Duke should have the title of King but the Regency or administration of the Kingly power should be in the next Heir A pretty wheedle as if by granting the Name to the immediate Successor and thereby declaring that the right was in him would not give him a fairer pretence and opportunity of usurping the Power likewise than if he were excluded the title as well as administration Besides this Expedient is founded on this bottom it must suppose him to be either an intolerable knave or a perfect fool a desperate Villain or a Madman His greatest enemies would acquit him of the latter imputation and his friends from the former so that the Person and the Power would soon be piec'd together Sir F. W. said that seeing an Act of Parliament against common sence is void and that it were a contradiction and non-sense to make a man King and not to suffer him to exercise Kingly power if such an Act should pass it would signifie nothing unless it were to shew that the House of Commons were out-witted It was clearly carried therefore that it was safer nay that it was absolutely necessary that the old Bill of Exclusion should be insisted on But there was another business in this Parliament that made as great a controversie and which occasioned the speedy dissolution of it Edw. Fitz-Harris had hired Mr. Everard to draw up a treasonable libel in the name of the Nonconformists giving him instructions for it which was to be printed and sent about by the Penny-post to the Protesting Lords and the Leading men of the House of Commons c. who were to be taken up assoon as they had it upon hopes that upon search it might be found about them This sham-plot being discovered to authority Fitz-Harris was seis'd on and committed to Newgate where inclining to confess the bottom of the design he was transmitted to the Tower Sir R. C. and Sir G. T. give information of his confession that he had made to them to the House Whereupon the House Resolve That the same Edw. Fitz-Harris be impeached of High Treason in the name of all the Commons of England and that Mr. Secretary Jenkins do go up and Impeach him at the Barr of the Lords House But the Lords refused to proceed upon this Impeachment and directed that he should be proceeded against at the Common Law This the Commons Resolve to be a denial of Justice a violation of the Constitution of Parliaments an obstruction to the further discovery of the Plot and of great danger to his Majesties person and the Protestant Religion And indeed not to mention that the
Bishops intermeddled in rejecting the Impeachment in which case being Capital they had no right to Vote when the Upper House had made no scruple in the former Parliament of receiving the Impeachment against the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs a Commoner it was plain what considerations influenc'd them at this time to be of another opinion However about twenty there were that protested against this rejection and esteemed the Commons demand of Justice there to be reasonable and just and such as ought to have been granted But a speedy dissolution soon reconciled this difference and Westminster-Hall has since determin'd the controversie And thus having given a short account of the businesses agitated and the manner of proceeding in these two Parliaments we shall be able to make the truer estimate of the grounds upon which some have made so bold to traduce them The Members were scarcely got home but out comes a Declaration charging them with unwarrantable and arbitrary proceedings but giving assurance that his Majesty would call frequent Parliaments that he would make the Laws the Rule of his Government and that he would maintain the Religion establisht Many begin to long for the performance of the first promise that would not doubt of the two latter from so good and gracious a King and so hearty a Protestant But others by magnifying and inculcating the King's Prerogative of calling Parliaments when and where he please seem willing to perswade Him He may be dispensed with in the breach of it Not that these are greater Friends to the Prerogative than the other but they care less for Parliaments that alone can enable the King to uphold the Religion and the Government Out of Complement to this Declaration are Addresses presented from all hands some indeed containing nothing but thanks for the gracious promises therein contained such was that from Warwickshire c. the most only a Declaration that they mean to keep their Oath of Allegeance in being true and faithful to the King his Heirs and lawful Successors And these truly were dignum patella operculum That when his Majesty had promised nothing but what he had oblig'd himself to at his Coronation by a more sacred tye these to express their acknowledgment of the favour barely say what they had formerly swore to All this sort of Addressers might e'en as well have let the matter rested and have concurr'd with the City of Lincoln in their opinion who in their Address say they thought there was no better way of expressing their Faith and true Allegeance to his Majesties most Sacred Person and their grateful sense of His excellent Government than a peaceable and quiet demeanour in their several Callings and Stations an humble submission to acquiesce in his Majesties good and wholsom Laws relating to the Government both of Church and State and a readiness as oft as his Majesty in his Princely wisdom judges fit to call a Parliament to choose such Members as they conceive to be perfectly devoted to his Majesties Service and the welfare of the Church and State as now by Law established without intermedling with the Calling or Dissolving of them though even these that thought thus that they might follow the fashion play the fool for company as themselves render the reason of their Address And it must certainly be from the impertinence of this sort that the Inns of Court those Fountains of Law and Loyalty disdain'd to serve up any such Crambe and those two famous and Mother Cities London and York look'd on and had the diversion to see their Children act like such But if we have any reason to question the discretion of these Addressers we have much more cause to suspect the honesty of the following This kind are continually a bawling out Whore to others that they may have a Monopoly of the Trade themselves You arraign you asperse the Government you reflect on Authority is their general accusation whilst they do the same things avowedly in the face of the Sun Thus Ripon account it a matter of the highest joy and satisfaction that they are deliver'd from the unwarrantable proceedings of the House of Commons If they have indeed proceeded unwarrantably let his Majesty and They fairly dispute it in God's name at their next Meeting but what have these Scoundrels a Parson's Son and a company of Spur-makers to do with it The one might learn from his Father to keep to his Text and the others from the Bootmaker to look to their Lasts without calumniating an essential part of the Government Yet the term unwarrantable is somewhat modest tho' now enter jingling Will with his Myrmidons complaining that the House of Commons made use of an Arbitrary and Illegal power to the great prejudice of his Majesties Loyal Subjects contrary to the known Laws of this Kingdom and to the discouragement of the Members of that House and all other Loyal Students and Practisers of the Laws A little discouragement will serve their turn God knows and if they want a better pretence for their Idleness they are welcom to this let them take what course they please I 'll warrant 'em neither Grey's Inn nor Westminster-Hall will lament the loss or much want their company However we must acknowledge them good Proficients for their standing for they know more Laws of the Kingdom than the oldest man of their House They had done well to have particularized the Laws and the Offences however because the whole Gang are acted by the same Spirit we may inform our selves at least of the latter from Chesterfield who return Loyal thanks for his Majesties Dissolving the Parliament and thereby preserving them from the late growing Vsurpation of Arbitrary Government by imprisoning his Majesties Subjects c. Manet alta mente repostum Judicium Paridis c. This usurping Parliament lodg'd five Friends in the Tower for nothing else but designing to murther the King and to alter the Government in Church and State Another honest Protestant for saying there was no Popish but a Presbyterian Plot. O Crimes unpardonable A third sort were committed to the Serjeants Ward for betraying the liberty of the Subject and contributing to the design of subverting the ancient legal Constitution of this Kingdom and introducing Arbitrary Power O Usurpation O Arbitrariness But what shall we think of them that insinuate their belief of the King 's being in more danger of the Parliament than of either Papists or Presbyterians Enter Weobley and Richmond Weobley We shall still acknowledge God's goodness in blessing us with a Prince who so prudently foresaw the ruin of Your Self and us which must have been expected from such unparallel'd Mischiefs which were threatned if they had not been timely prevented by Dissolving the Parliament Richmond We Your most dutiful c. present to Your Sacred Majesty from our Hearts a more thankful acknowledgement for your most gracious late Declaration than we can in any words express whereby you have assured unto us the
they had done by the War And now one would have thought the new rais'd Army should have been presently Disbanded but as we us'd to say It is easier to raise the Devil than to lay him again so this Army that was got together by one Sessions of Parliament was hardly got dissolv'd by two But for this also there wanted not a pretence That it was necessary to continue in Arms till our Neighbours had disbanded and the Articles of the Peace as to restoring of Towns c. fulfilled But by this time the Vizard was pull'd off the design and every one saw it in its own complexion For in the mean time had the most execrable Plot that ever was contrived in the World been discovered wherein having resolv'd on the Murther of His Majesty assoon as that should be accomplish'd and the D. of Y. should arrive at the Crown this Army into which many known Papists but more Popishly inclin'd had already been thrust and which might have been model'd at pleasure by the new Sovereign was to have been employ'd in this most horrid villany Not that by this alone they could compass their ends though there had not been a man in it but what was devoted to their Interest of which I believe there were many but this was one step towards the effecting the Tragedy of a Massacre But besides this open Force they had listed under-hand a greater of which Dr. Oates his Narrative acquaints you with the chief Officers But above all their reliance was upon the French who was now got clear of the Confederates and was at leisure to serve their ends and his own ambition But by the good providence of God none of those weapons that were formed against His Majesty prosper'd but he still remains alive the protector of our Religion Lives and Liberties Though if any of the Instruments they employ'd had dispatcht him out of the way they were not unprovided of a pretext to make the odium of it fall upon their greatest enemies An intimation of which they gave us in procuring Mr. Claypoole to be sent to the Tower about that time whose relation to Cromwel might make him to be presumed the greater Confident of his party It was suggested he should say That he and two hundred more had resolved to kill the King It matters not how ridiculous such a Deposition seems at this time of day but if the King had been cut off before the Papists were suspected or discover'd to have such a design there are enow who bear themselves high upon the name of Protestants that would sooner have believed the Fanaticks to have committed the Fact than the Papists and would have been ready to have joyn'd with the Papists to their utter extirpation And these Nominal Protestants are the men whose designs I shall now apply my self to trace and discover The Long Parliament who first made a considerable enquiry into the Popish Plot being dissolv'd and the next that follow'd being by their sudden dissolution prevented from bringing those to their Tryals that the former had committed there sprang a jealousie in the hearts of many that some about His Majesty who influenc'd his Counsels were either themselves concerned in the Plot or had too great a kindness for those that were seeing they thus obstructed the further discovery of it and prevented the prosecution of the Conspirators But lest this disappointment should prove fatal to His Majesty and give the Papists and their Adherents too much scope and opportunity of still carrying on and perfecting their wicked designs several worthy and Noble Peers out of their great affection to their Soveraign whom they apprehended in minutely danger and zeal to the Protestant Religion and for the English Liberty both which were bound up in His Majesties Life Petition'd His Majesty for the Sitting of the Third which was chosen but not as yet Assembled Those that had advis'd the untimely dissolution of the former and the prorogation of this were alarm'd hereupon and possess His Majesty that such petitioning was tumultuous and contrary to I know not what Law of King James and advise him to prohibit it by Proclamation At the same time their little Emissaries were order'd to discourage it every where and among the rest Sir George Jeffe ies here in the City who as the Parliament in their Address against him word it Well knowing that many of His Majesties Loyal Protestant Subjects and particularly those of His Majesties great and famous City of London out of Zeal for the preservation of the Protestant Religion His Majesties Royal Person and Government and in hopes to bring the Popish Conspirator to speedy Justice were about to Petition to His Majesty in an humble dutiful and legal way for the Sitting of this Parliament the said Sir George Jefferies not regarding his duty to His Majesty or the welfare of His People did on purpose to serve his own private ends and to create a misunderstanding between His Majesty and His good Subjects though disguised with pretence of Service to hi Majesty maliciously declare such petitioning sometimes to be Tumultuous Seditious and Illegal and at other times did presume publickly to insinuate and assert as if His Majesty would deprive His Citizens of London of their Charters and divers other Priviledges Immunities and Advantages and also of His Royal Favour in case they should so Petition c But notwithstanding these discouragements many Counties and Corporations did Petition the King to the purpose aforesaid which thes Gentlemen not being able to prevent they framed an Anti-petition under the Notion of an Abhorrence wherein they endeavoured as much as in them lay to induce his Majesty to conceive a sinister opinion of the honest and humble desires of his most loving and loyal Subjects And their insinuation had that effect that it was many Months ere the Parliament was permitted to Sit. In the mean time our Pulpits began to Echo with the Mischiefs of Separation the danger the Church and State were in from Fanaticks R. L' estrange struck up his Fiddle and play'd us the Old Tune of Forty one he industriously labour'd to bring the Witnesses of the Popish Plot under suspicion of combination and perjury Sir Robert Yeomans and Sir Robert Cann of Bristol with Thompson a person fit for their Chaplain avowedly declare that there was no Popish Plot but a Presbyterian Plot and it has been the common Cry of the whole Herd from that time to this That His Majesty and the Church of England was and is in as great or greater danger from the Dissenters than from the Papists But notwithstanding all the prejudice they endeavour'd to create in His Majesty against his loving and faithful Subjects he was so careful of his own and his people safety as to assemble this long desired Parliament in October 80. What opinion the Hous of Commons had of our Abhorrers as these Gentlemen have not yet forgotten so they have given by-standers some diversion to
observe how ever since they have resented their treatment We shall only observe what thanks the Commons conn'd G. Earl of H. who was believed to have a principal hand in dissolving the last and staving off the sitting of the present Parliament In an Address against him to the King they thus express themselves That being deeply sensible of the manifold dangers and mischiefs which have been occasioned to this Kingdom by the dissolution of the last Parliament and by the frequent Prorogation of this present Parliament whereby the Papists have been greatly encouraged to carry on their Hellish and damnable Conspiracies against His Majesties Royal Person and Government and the Protestant Religion now establish'd amongst us and have had many opportunities to contrive false and malicious Plots against the Lives and Honours of several of His Loyal Protestant Subjects and having just reason to believe that the said dissolution was promoted by the evil and pernicious Counsels of G. Earl of Hallifax Do therefore most humbly pray his Majesty That he would be graciously pleased to remove the said G. Earl of H. from his presence and counsels for ever But notwithstanding this Address he still keeps his station Sir Rob. Yeomans upon confessing the accusation against him and begging pardon of the House is dismist But Sir Rob. Cann reviling his Accusers and especially being a Parliament man for him to be guilty of such an expression was so great an aggravation that being expell'd the House he is committed to the Tower Thompson's punishment was prevented by the dissolution of the Parliament And now the Parliament according to the direction of his Majesty vigorously prosecute the Plot try all the waies and methods whereby his Majesties safety might be ensur'd and Religion secur'd As for themselves they present an Address declaring their resolution to preserve and support the King's Person and Government and the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad for which the King thankt them heartily As to the Plot they appoint a Committee to inspect and to take an Abstract of the Journals of both Houses as to matters relating to it upon the Report whereof they resolve Nemine contradicente That the D. of York 's being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the present designs and Conspiracies against the King and Protestant Religion And That in the defence of the King's Person and Government and of the Protestant Religion this House doth declare That they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come by any violent Death which God forbid they will revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists Hereupon they bring in a Bill and pass it for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James D. of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereto belonging but with a Proviso that it should extend to the person of the Duke of York only But the Lords rejecting this Bill and thereby the most probable Expedient the Commons could think of for the security of his Majesty and the Protestant Religion being frustrated they then in a Committee of the whole House make these two Resolves First That it is the Opinion of this Committee That as long as the Papists have any hopes of the D. of York 's succeeding the King in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging the Kings Person the Protestant Religion and the Lives Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects are in apparent danger of being destroyed The Second That it is the Opinion of this Committee That the House be moved nThat a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the safety of his Majesties Person the defence of the Protestant Religion and the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for the preventing the Duke of York or any Papist from succeeding to the Crown To both which Resolves the House agreed As to this Bill of Association we shall have occasion to speak to it afterwards but as to the Bill of Exclusion we must say something of it here the rather because our late Addresses and Abhorrers have taken occasion thence to revile this incomparably Loyal House of Commons with endeavours of subverting the Government And I shall demonstrate both its Legality its Equity and its Expediency 1. As to its Legality I could never hear more than two things oppos'd the one that Kings holding their Crowns by right of Primogeniture it is against the Law of Nature to put by the next Heir the other that it is against the Oath of Allegeance The first is so silly an Allegation that one would think no man that has heard of the several forms of Government in the World or read the History of his own Nation could have the confidence to insist upon it In how many Kingdoms has force and violence and the longest Sword settled an absolute Monarchy How oft has that yoke been shak'd off and the Government turn'd into a Free State How many different models of both Monarchies and States are there at this day in the World and yet none of them that I know of but are and ought to be own'd by the Subjects for lawful Governments and submitted unto for the Lord's sake If Princes held by this right how impossible were it for them to make out their Title ab origine if questioned Or shall we say that all States live contrary to the Law of Nature because they retain not this form of Government What shall we say of God's giving the Kingdom of Israel to Saul of the Tribe of Benjamin the youngest of Jacob's sons or to David the youngest of his Father's sons and of the Tribe of Judah while none of Reuben's Off-spring ever sate upon the throne Or if God may by prerogative dispense with this Law how came David to put Adonijah by the throne and seat Solomon in it Here in England King William 2. was King William 1. his third son and yet was advanced to the Crown and his eldest Brother Rtobert shamm'd off with a Dukedom King S ephen succeeded H. 1. though that King had a daughter Maud the Empress then living and Stephen had also an elder Brother named Theobald King John was admitted to the Crown though his elder Brother's son was living It were endless to give Instances both out of sacred and prophane History of the like nature Away then with this extravagant fancy and let the Soveraign Powers think their right sufficiently proved by the Law of the Land by their present quiet possession and the Allegeance of their Subjects But now this Oath of Allegeance is pretended not only to oblige those that take it to the present Soveraign and to his lawful Successors after his decease but even in his life-time To this
preservation of our Religion Liberties and Properties that were all lately like to have been swallowed up in monstrous confusions if the special Spirit of God had not inspired Your Heart to prevent it Here not to mention the imputation of Enthusiasm cast upon His Majesty which such a Master of Reason would be asham'd to pretend to what is the scope of both these Addresses but to work His Majesty into an apprehension of Treasonable and Rebellious Designs against His Person and the Government carried on by Two Parliaments than which none ever exprest a greater care and providence for the preservation of both This is the only saving Card that the men of this Interest have to play to make the King jealous and fearful of his Parliaments and consequently to breed a diffidence in them of Him that the foundations of the Government being renderd thus unsteady they may upon a favourable juncture overturn it and erect their own new Model And to accomplish this design 't is not only the method of these whiffling Boroughs already mentioned and of others I might recite as Weymouth Thetford c. but of deeper heads The University of Cambridge it self reflecting on these Parliaments speaks of them in these terms That factious and malicious men have not proceeded to plunder and sequestration to violate our Chapels rifle our Libraries and empty our Colledges as once they did next to the over-ruling providence of God is only due to the Royal care and prudence of Your sacred Majesty who gave so seasonable a check to their arbitrary and insolent undertaking What could be spoken more malicious or what if his Majesty could be induc'd to believe it true could possibly tempt him more to resolve never to put himself into the danger of the like Assembly And that we need not question their desire and design os cashiering Parliaments they take upon themselves a power of repealing an Act of Parliament for they make bold to affirm That no Religion no LAW no fault or forfeiture can alter the Succession whereas the Statute of 13 Eliz. has made it Treason to affirm that the LAWS and Statutes made in Parliament do not bind the Right of the Crown and the descent limitation inheritance and governance thereof It were needless to recite the like assertions in other Addresses for these are enow to convince any man of the design that is not engag'd in it and those that are will never be convinc'd but by a Parliament which in due time may perswade them to recant And to make his Majesty more favourable to their purpose and lest his Wants and necessities should be stronger Arguments to Him for assembling a Parliament the only Legal means of supplying them than their Insinuations for staving him from it they first accuse the late Sessions for unreasonably obstructing his Majesties demands of supplies of mony so Northumberland and then to put Him into a readier method of furnishing himself the County Palatine of Durham in their late Anti-Associations as they call it thus express themselves And that we may not only verbally express our Loyalty we do as in Duty and Allegiance bound give this Assurance That our Lives and Fortunes sha l be ready and that we will CONTRIBVTE MONEY to our uttermost Abilities when ever your Majesties occasions shall require No mention at all of a Parliament but both by the words and the whole scope and drift of this Address it is plain they mean a voluntary Contribution whenever His Majesty shall signifie that his occasions require it Thus by these few passages we see how industriously they are engaged in carrying on the leading half of the Popish Plot viz. Arbitrary Government we shall next inquire what assistance they afford the following half to wit the extirpating the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery And I doubt not but to make it appear they are thorough pac'd in this also In the Parliament that began Octob. 21. 1680. there were two Bills that had each two Readings and were Committed upon the debate of the House the one for Uniting of his Majesties Protestant Subjects the other for exempting his Majestie 's Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certain Laws whether they would have passed or no is uncertain however they were quash'd by the Prorogation of the Parliament But there was a third Bill which passed both Houses intitled An Act for the Repeal of a Statute made in the thirty fifth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth As the late Long Parliament repealed the Statute de Haeretico comburendo for fear if Popery should once again get the upper hand it would be executed upon Protestants as it was in Queen Marys daies so this present Parliament foreseeing that this Act of Queen Elizabeth that was made against the Prownists and Barrowists of those daies as appears in the Journals of Parliament of that Queen lately published by Mr. Starkey was likely to be perverted to the ruin of the Estates Liberties and it might be Lives of Protestants in the daies of a Popish Successor and thinking it prudent to provide even against the present dangers from the Common Enemy the Papists by bearing a gentler hand over the dissenting Protestants on whom this Act was in part executed and thereby uniting them more firmly in Interest and Affection with the Church of England I say upon these considerations this present Parl. thought fit to repeal that Act of 35 Eliz. But at the end of the Sessions when this Bill should have been presented with the others that were expedited unto his Majesty for his approbation and passing it into an Act there was no fight or tydings of it By whose default it was thus smother'd there has been no opportunity since to find out However some of our late Addressers throw the odium of it upon his Majesty telling him That he was unwilling to pass his Royal Assent to any Act which may repeal that of 35 Eliz. Vide Kents Address How these Gentlemen come to understand the King's mind in this case I know not Sure I am it is very unlikely but his Majesty would have passed this Bill recommended with the concurrent advice and consent of both Lords and Commons if it had been tendred to Him seeing he has alwaies profest so great a regard to tender Consciences and himself from his own motion granted them an Indulgence against this and several other Acts of Parliament which every one may remember how difficultly he was prevailed with by the Parliament to retract saying he was resolved to stand by it But these men would have it believ'd that He 's now otherwise inclin'd and besides if their Insinuations of his Majesties command to stifle it were true it were palpable that He had shaken the very Constitution of Parliaments according to which all Bills that have past both Houses ought to be presented to his Majesty But no truly Loyal Subject will believe so gracious a King
capable of being perverted to so great an Invasion of the Rights or breach of the Rules of Parliament let such ill-designing flatterers suggest what they please But where ever the fault of this miscarriage lay our Addressers were heartily glad of it and Petition the King that he will put this Act of 35 Eliz. in execution for the safety of the Church his Majesties Sacred Person and Government So Ripon Sussex c. They accuse the Two Houses as enemies to our Church and Religion which they endeavour'd to undermine and ruine when they went about to Repeal this Act which is a chief Bulwark of both So Holland in Lincolnshire Now one would think the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled better knew what would maintain our Religion than these men but the truth is our Religion is not the same with the Parliament and them and so no marvel if what will maintain the one's would ruine the other's They call their Religion that which is establisht by Law and this they will defend with their Lives and Fortunes In this protestation the rankest Papist in England will joyn with them believing Magna Charta to be the firmest Law and Popery to stand as unshaken thereupon as an House founded upon a Rock for all the blasts and billows of suppos'd Heretical Kings and Parliaments all whose Acts and Ordinances against Holy Church a Papist reckons to be in themselves void And considering all the circumstances even a charitable man may be pretty confident that this expression Religion establish'd by Law is commonly us'd in this sence when he observes that a Gentleman presum'd to be no very zealous Protestant in a late Print is represented as promising to stand by it and to endeavour to preserve it But this by the way Hence it is that our Addressers account it matter of highest Joy and Satisfaction to understand the King's resolution to maintain the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent Oh how it tickles their fancies to have hopes of a Popish Successor So Ely cannot but REJOYCE to find His Majesty expresly professing himself in his own Royal Judgment so nearly concerned in Honour Justice and Conscience to preserve the rightful Succession of the Crown in its Legal descent Thus Northumberland do with the greatest TRANSPORT of JOY and THANKFVLNESS return His Majesty their most humble and express acknowledgment for opposing with such incomparable resolution the Arbitrary and unnatural proceedings against the undoubted right of his Succession in the person of his Royal Brother the greatest Example of Trust Duty and Obedience to his sacred Majesty They would almost persuade one this Royal Brother absented himself from the King's Chapel in obedience to his Majesties Command or else they will give the Dissenters leave to style themselves his Majesties most dutiful and obedient Subjects in imitating so great an Example But to the Point I said above that the prejudices of natural affection c. that the King is byassed by may permit him to stand fair in the opinion of hearty Protestants notwithstanding his opposing the Bill of Exclusion and this entailing a Popish Successour might be matter of their patience and submission but to be so transported with Joy hereupon as our Addressers express themselves to be is a plain token they never intend to be burnt for Hereticks when such a one comes to the Crown but will with Derbyshire c. most heartily to the utmost expence both of their Lives and Fortunes assist support maintain and defend such a Successor with the Regalia's and Prerogatives of his Crown and the Religion and Government both of Church and State as establisht by Law I believe these Gentlemen are not so devested of Flesh and Blood nor have so perfectly learn'd of the Apostle to rejoyce in tribulation but that Fire and Faggot would drive them into sadder apprehensions if they knew not of a Trick to escape them But this is the ground of their Triumph that in such an ones Reign they shall be able to take a fuller revenge on the Schismatical Dogs than the present mild Laws and more indulgent Prince will permit them Who sees not how their fingers itch to be at it that observes their illegal and inhumane treatment of honest and peaceable Protestants at Bristol c. even whilst Laws to punish them for such barbarities are in force to what Cruelties then will not their Fury carry them when it shall be encourag'd and spurr'd on by Law and the Commands of a Jesuited King What shall I say of their preferring Popery before Presbytery of their accounting Calvin a worse man than Ignatius Loyola and his Doctrines more or at least as pernicious What construction can a man put upon their incredulousness of a Popish Plot that has been so sufficiently attested to be real while they profess their firm belief of a Presbyterian Plot that has twice at least been detected by the King and Council to be forg'd and Fictitious in the cases of Dangerfield and Fitz-Harris and was never yet believ'd by any Jury What rejoycings at the acquittal of Wakeman Gascoyne c. and what applause of the fairness of their Tryals but when a Protestant comes to be acquitted where is the man amongst them that shall I say is glad nay that does not with Durham in their Anti-Association complain of packt Juries and with the Middle-Templers of Juries perverting the Laws and usurping to themselves an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Dominion Which of them exclaims not presently like Norfolk against partial Grand Juries such as can violate their Oaths to procure impunity for Treason and think it merit to affront and oppose the Government Into what Tory's Heart ever did it enter or which of their Tongues ever made the motion to Abhor the most damnable Conspiracy of the Papists to Murther the King Massacre his Subjects and subvert the Protestant Religion but when a Sham-Association and yet that only to prevent a Popish Successour's coming to the Crown is obtruded upon the World then nothing but Death and the Cobler Treason Rebellion Can such men think any man so blind as not to see how they stand affected 'T were needless to observe how generally they have got by heart Thompson's two Letters to prove Sir Ed. Godfry Murthered himself and of what weight those absurd and contradictory suggestions seem to them what impressions the dying Jesu t s Speeches have made upon their Consciences and how charitably scrupulous they are grown whilst they question not but Colledge dyed with a Lye in his mouth What Clergy-man that has taken L'estrange for his Guide and those are more than a good many that will confess the Pope to be Anti-Christ or the Church of Rome to be Idolatrous let Vsher Mede Moore Stillingfleet c. demonstrate it never so plainly They must needs acknowledge they 'l tell you that there are many corruptions in the Church of Rome BUT what Constitution