Interest Mistaken OR THE Holy Cheat PROVING From the undeniable Practises and Positions of the Presbyterians that the Design of that Party is to enslave both King and People under the Masque of RELIGION By way of Observation upon a Treatise INTITULED The Interest of England in the Matter of RELIGION c. By ROGER L'ESTRANGE The Second Impression Aug. De Civ Dei Nullo modo his artibus placatur Divina Majestas quibus Humana Dignitas inquinatur LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane 1661. To the Honourable HOVSE of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT Most Honourable TO begg your Pardon or Protection were to suppose a Fault or Hazzard but in this Dedication finding neither I shall waive that Formality humbly submitting what I have to say my Reasons and my Self to your Authority and Wisdom without more Prologue or Apology There is a Faction which under the note of Presbyterian seems much concerned to stickle against Bishops Church-rites on the behalf of tender Consciences Their Writings and Opinions are with great Freedom Craft and Diligence dispers'd throughout the Nation to the great Scandal of the true Church and the Encouragement of those of the Revolt But this is yet the least part of the Mischief or in effect of their Design Their Ayme being to Tumultuate the People and make a Partie against the Civil Power Indeed their Pamphlets wear the Face of Church-disputes and Modells but he that reads them through and marques them narrowly shall find the King's Authority the Question That the late War against the King was Lawfull is a Position common to them all and this they publiquely maintain as the main Basis of the Cause By which assertion they cast the Bloud and Guilt upon His Majestie make his Adhaerents Traitors place the Supreme Authoritie in the two Houses subject the Law to an Ordinance the Government to a Faction and animate the Schismatiques to serve His Majestie in beeing as they did His Father This is the drift of their seditious Libells and of their Projects too if any judgement may be made upon their strict conformity of Argument and Methode to those that first embroyl'd us How farr this matter may require your Care becomes not me to meddle I thought it might be worth your Honours Knowledge and led by an Opinion of my Duty this state of the Affair such as it is I doe most humbly lay before you His Majesty had no sooner set Foot upon English ground but swarms of Pestilent papers were in a Readiness to enterteyn him Some of the sharpest of them I delivered to several Members of that Session with the Stationers name for whom they were Printed Smith at the Bible in Cornhill Croftons Agent but all too little to suppress them One Passage is this that Follows speaking of the limited Power of Kings This may serve to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Lawes and Liberties Hand in hand with this Pamphlet came forth Smectymnuus Reviv'd and recommended by Mr. Manton and since that time some Hundreds more of the same stamp whose common business 't is by Affronting of the Law and Flattering of the Rabble to cast all back into Confusiâ—n Among the many other Actours of Religion I find not any man playes his part better then the Author of That Treatise which hath extorted This who indeed abuses the People in very good terms Some hasty Observations I have pass'd upon him in favour of the easie and deceivable Vulgar which Prailties I submit to your Honours Charity but the main Equitie of the Cause I hope will stand the test of your severest Justice for doubtlesse much is due to the late King's Honour as well as to his Blood And somewhat with submission to your Wisdoms may be allow'd to his Partie at least sufficient to protect them from Popular contempt and the Infamous lash of every daring Libell I dare not trust my self further with my own thoughts and yet I take them to be such as very well consist with the Duty of Your Honours most Obedient and Humble Servant Roger L'estrange TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF ENGLAND THe Cm mon good is the Common pretence of all seditious Combinations and it is no new thing for a Crafty Faction to impose upon a simple Multitude empty Appearances for Truths and Reason But our Reformers scorn to stop at this dull general method of Confusion The Law of God must be subjected as well as that of the Nation we must call Treason Loyalty and commit Murther as a point of Conscience No lesse than this is hinted in the Presbyterians Justification of the Scotish League and Quarrel nor have they any other aim than by procuring an Allowance of That War to make way to Another To this end they disperse their poysonous Infusions into all Quarters of the Kingdom under those very Forms of Piety and Tenderness by which they first betrayed us and by those very means do they now prosecute afresh their first Intentions That is they labour to promote the Cause by scandalous and rank Invectives against the Church and stirring up of Tumults to Reform it by a loud Pharisaical ostentation of their own Holyness a sour churlish Censure of all Others by sharp and sawcie Aspersions upon the Royal Party and by Reflections yet more bitter and Audacious upon his Sacred Majesty and his Murtherd Father To see these Libells passe with Freedom and Impunitie as if they were Authorized and to observe what foul Mistakes are grounded upon these grosse Allowances to the Kings Disadvantage and all without Controll or Confutation This and no other Reason so God blesse me that is of private Passion or Animosity of temper hath drawn this honest Folly from me I reckon it my Duty to my Prince and Country to my own Honour and to the Oath I have taken Where ever I find a publique Enemy to discover him And being thus Commissioned both by Authority and Conscience I proceed The Benefit of this Treatise is directed to the People and the Design of it is onely to lay open the Presbyterian Juggle that in one Age they be not twice deluded by the same Imposture My Arguments are Drawn from their own Practises and Positions from Presidents of Former times Cartwright and his Disciples from what hath passed within our own Experience from what these very men have done and from the very Logique of their own Writings what they professe they do intend to doe As the Delusion is apparent so is the Justice of Discoursing it Can it be thought that by the Act of Pardon his Majestie ever meant to subject all the Sober and Legal Interests of the Nation to be worried by a Faction Who of the Royal Party charges them Or if they did what has the Law done to offend them Or say the Law be sharp against them his Majesties unparalell'd Mercy has by
of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the very fundamentals of this Contract and Covenant may be controlled and opposed and if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms then they who have power as the Estates of a Land may and ought to resist by Arms Because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthroweth all the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may ☜ serve to Justifie the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in an hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties I think this needs no Comment About the same time Smectymnuus was revived by Mr. Manton a most auspicious welcome doubtless to his Majesty wherein five Champions of the Cause take up the Cudgels against one Bishop on the behalf of scandalous Pamphlets and Tumultuary Petitions against Episcopacy This is the naked Truth what ever the Jolly Priest may tell the Reader of the Faction against which they dealt Five Orthodox Divines he says were the Authors Four of the Five I shall not mention the Fifth was Marshal of whose Divinity a Taste that by the sweet Agreement we may the better judge of Mr. Manton's In a Letter printed 1643. arguing for the Authority of the two Houses page 14. Thus. Let every soul in England be subject to King and Parliament for they are the higher Powers ordained unto you of God whosoever therefore resisteth King and Parliament resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation The man was no Conjurer yet he had wit enough when Presbytery went down to Court the rising Interest and ' though the Common-prayer was an Abomination to marry his Daughter by it for fear of After-claps But I suppose 't was huddl'd up as 't is in Mr. Manton's Church that no man might be able to make Oath 't was not the Directory If the Case had been concerning the Allowance of Christian Burial to a Gentleman that was Quartered for his Loyalty Or to determine in the great Point of the late Kings Death upon an Anniversary Fast whether or no 't was Murther Truly considering the potent Arguments brought on both sides 't is possible that Mr. Marshal would have contented himself as well as his Neighbours barely to put the Case and leave the point at last undecided to his Auditory Not to spend time and paper needlesly The whole stream of the Disciplinarians runs this way onely perhaps more or less Bold and Open according to the present strength or weakness of the Faction But to return Can any thing be more gentle then A Reformation and due Regulation of things in Church and State words smoother than Oyle yet are they very Swords First To Reform and Regulate belongs to the Supreme Magistrate if they intended That they were to blame Now to take it in a Qualifi'd and softer sense 't was a Due Regulation they intended To put this General notion in more Intelligible terms upon this point depends no less then all that 's dear to every honest man The Dignity of the King the Liberty of the Subject the Freedome of Parliaments and the Honor of the Nation God knows my thoughts I do not envy any man either the Benefit of his Majesty's Mercy or the Blessing of his Favour that hath the Grace at last not to Abuse it I look upon his Royal Act of Pardon with Reverence and upon every Soul within that pale as in a Sanctuary But yet I do not understand a Pardon for one Rebellion to be a Dispensation for another nor how the Argument lies from Fact to Right Under these two words Due Regulation Thus much is comprehended waiving less Differences and Greater 1. The transferring of the Power of chusing Great Officers and Ministers of State from the King to the Two Houses 2. All matters of State in the Interval of Parliaments must be Debated and Concluded by a Counsel so chosen and in number not above twenty five nor under fifteen and no Publick Act esteemed of any Validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the Advice and Consent of the Major part of that Counsel Attested under their Hands And These too sworn to the sense of Both Houses 3. The Lords and Commons must be intrusted with the Militia 4. His Majesty may appoint but the Two Houses or the Counsel in such manner as aforesaid must Approve of All Governors of Forts and Castles Lastly No Peers hereafter made must Sit or Vote in Parliament unless Admitted thereunto by the Consent of Both Houses Upon these Terms his Majesty shall be supported in Honor and plenty by his most Humble and Faithful Subjects who have in their Thoughts and Desires nothing more precious next to the Honor and immediate Service of God than their just and faithful performance of their Duty to the King and Kingdom This is the Due Regulation they Intended for sure they Meant what they Proposed to our Late Soveraign I speak not this of Persons but of the Gross of the Party nor to reproach That neither but to remove a Scandal from the Ashes of that Blessed Martyr and to direct a Reverence towards his Successor What provocation have these restless People now to revive This Question but an unruly Impotency of Passion against the Government This is their way In Generals they justifie from first to last the Presbyterians Cause The multitude they look into Particulars and from those Injuries which the late King suffered draw Inferences Dis-honourable and Dangerous to this In the next Periode me-thinks he falls upon a Non-sequitur The Re-admission of the Secluded Members he says did necessarily draw after it the Restoring of King Lords and Commons according to the antient Constitution Not Necessarily under favour according to the antient Constitution I will not say nor probably but there were two shrewd Blocks cast in the way The First in the Militia where no Commissionated Officer was to Act that should not first acknowledge in these words viz. I do Acknowledge and Declare that the Warre undertaken by both Houses of Parliament in their defence against the Forces raised in the Name of the late King was Just and Lawful and that Magistracy and Ministery are the Ordinances of God The Second was in the Exclusion of the Royal Party from the next Choice as followeth Resolved that all and every Person who have advised or voluntarily aided abeited or assisted in any War against the Parliament since the first day of January 1641. his or their sons unless he or they have since Manifested their good affections to this Parliament shall be uncapable to be elected to serve as members of the next Parliament Now how a Choice thus limited in the House and Principled in the Field should Necessarily set us right does not to me appear Perhaps it was the most the Time would bear but God forbid That Declaration charging the Guilt and
every soul high and low to one divine Law and Rule perpetual and unalterable And therefore doth strongly plead the expedience of a due civil Liberty on the behalf of its Professors yet such a liberty as will not enfeeble Monarchy nor the Legal power of the Kings of England Observation Truly I think I have not seen words so well put together that signifie so little Because Religion is not variable but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternal Truth c. Therefore the Professors of it must have a due civil Liberty c. Is not a Due Liberty Due to all people Again What is civil Liberty to matter of salvation And yet again Why should the Presbyterians challenge that liberty to themselves which they refuse to others upon the very same Plea and not rather submit their Discipline to the Law then stoop the Law to their Discipline There is a Liberty which is a cloak for Maliciousness and I am afraid Theirs and That are much a-kinn One thing is very notable they never state what they would have their terms are general and indefinite hard to be understood because they are resolv'd not to be satisfi'd A Due Freedom a Due Civil Liberty The Legal Power What means all this but any thing they shall be pleased to make of it A King ruling a free People hath a Power much more noble and more free than he that ruleth over perfect Vassals that have no Propriety The power is more noble because it hath a more noble subject of Government it is more honorable to rule Men than Beasts and Freemen than slaves Likewise the power is more free For whatsoever Prince hath not his power limited by his people's legal freedom he will be bound up some other way either by the potency of subordinate Princes and great Lords within the Realm or by a veterane Army as the Turkish Emperor by his Janizaries and the Roman Caesars by the Pretorian Bands and the Legions Vpon which account to be a powerful Monarch over a free people is the freedome and glory of our Soveraign Lord above all the Potentates on earth Observation A King ruling a free people is a kind of Presbyterianism and sounds better in the mouth of a Lawyer than of a Divine The Correlate to Rule is Subjection nor will their Title to a Propriety yet justifie the common usage of the Term. 'T is of a dangerous Intimation and seems to give the people more than comes to their share I speak with reverence to the benignity of our English Laws and the Indubitable right which every Subject hath to the Benefits thereof That it is more honorable to Rule Free-men than Slaves is but a Complement For I can make those Slaves Free when I please whereas the other way of my power 's confin'd that is in Equity a Prince is bound to observe the Law as his own Act and if he fails the people may compel him to it if they can shew a Law for 't To end this point What Prince soever shall suffer every bubling brain to controvert the bounds of King and Subject the Royal Authority and the Peoples Freedom that Prince I say runs a great hazzard of his Soveraignty The very moving of the Question is to prophane the Sacredness of Majesty and by degrees begets irreverend and sawcy habits in the people But Rebellion he tells us and Disobedience is the loud out-cry of some against this Party And this were a crying sin indeed But let not sober minds be hurried into prejudice by such exclamations and out-cries It were to be wished for common peace and amity that the late publick Discords were eternally forgotten But seeing some in these times of expected Reconciliation will not cease to implead and condemn the honest minded and render them odious to the higher Powers a necessity is laid upon us to speak something Apologetical at least to mitigate the business and remove prejudice Observation Sure this loud out-cry of Rebellion aad Disobedience comes from within himself for truly I have a little watch'd the Press and since his Majesty's Return nay a good while before upon my conscience I have not met with one syllable of bitterness against that Party but Defensive Yet I dare undertake to produce forty Presbyterian Pamplets and Discourses of fresh date exceeding foul against the King and his Adherents It really makes me blush and tremble to consider how great a mercy they abuse how sad a vengeance they provoke Had but these people the least spark of natural affection and remorse the venerable ruines of a glorious Chuch and State would work upon them Or now and then a thought how matters stand betwixt God and their Souls But their great care of others make them neglect themselves and become true Anathemaes for a pretended publick good However they do well to cry Whore first and call that a Necessitated Apology which seems to me a palpable and causeless Slander We have heard much and often of the Presbyterians Loyalty and Religion we 'l look a little now into their Law which very fairly gives us to understand that the Vnbishopping of Timothy and Titus will not do their trick They are at work already upon the two main props of Royalty the King 's Negative Voice and the Power of the Sword A blessed Age the while when the Pulpit shall pretend to dispose of the Crown Kerve out the Government and every scribling Priest vent his seditious and crude Politiques to the People But now it works The Presbyterian Party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament I have read that the Parliament of England hath several capacities and among the rest these two First that it represents the People as Subjects and so it can do nothing but manifest their grievances and petition for relief Secondly That by the constitution it hath part in the Soveraignty and so it hath part in the Legislative power and in the final Judgment Now when as a part of the Legislative Power resides in the Two Houses as also a Power to redress grievances and to call into question all Ministers of State and Justice and all Subjects of whatsoever degree in case of Delinquency it might be thought that a part of the Supreme Power doth reside in them though they have not the honorary Title Observation Me-thinks we should do well to leave calling the Two Houses the Parliament of England having already paid so dear for that mistake Concerning the Power of the Parliament of England 'T is beyond doubt onely inferiour to the Fountain of all Power even God Himself But then an Agreement is imply'd neither King Lords nor Commons nor any Two of them can pretend to a Parliamentary Authority without the Third This is not to suppose Co-ordination neither The Two Houses are still Subjects Their Office being onely Consultive or Preparatory The Character of Power rests in the final Sanction and
of the Nation I cannot Comprehend If they are so they should do well to cast their Cause upon a Popular Vote and try the Issue by the Poll. For Quiet sake no matter Many or Few there may be Equity where there wants Number We 'l rather see in point of Right what 't is they insist upon Which if exemption from Episcopal Authority in things Indifferent and of Humane Institution We must plead judgment of Discretion too as well as They A Freedom and Capacity to distinguish betwixt a Scandal Given and Taken betwixt a Dis-conformity proceeding from Conscience and from Passion Where the Dissent proceeds from Conscience a Toleration clears That Scruple but our good peoples Liberty consists in Burthening Others as well as Freeing Themselves and that 's Intolerable How many strange Indecencies are here one upon the neck of another I First here 's the Minor part imposing upon the Major Secondly a Novel and Vulgar Imagination bearing down an Apostolical Institution Thirdly a Private Opinion contesting with a Solemn and Publike Sanction and Finally the Subject of all this Earnestnesse in their own phrase is but a very Accommodable difference From what I have said I am perswaded that Severity to the Pertinacious Presbyter is the true interest of this Nation allowing yet Indulgence to the Conscientious Well but our Authour tells us that Abolition if possible is perillous and Toleration only an Imaginary Remedy Is not this to intimate that the Party makes less Conscience of a Tumult than of a Ceremony and to argue the necessity of Complying from the danger of Refusing What would these people do if they had Power that are so Bold without it And yet our Politician makes it the Kings Interest to Close with them He means perchance According to the Covenant The Coalition There of all Schisms and Heresies into One Interest was of great Reason and Important Service to the Commune work but we are now advising how to Settle not to Disjoynt a Government and to Incorporate Dis-agreements were to begin upon a Principle of Confusion As the Case stands with us in my weak Judgement Persons should rather be Indulg'd than Parties My Reason is this Some Individuals of that Perswasion have done His Majesty some Service but to the best of my Remembrance the Entire Party never any Yet one Reflexion more Allow these People all their Askings in what concerns their Discipline will they rest Quiet There without a further Hankering after more the Legislative Power perhaps the Militia or some such Trifle I am the more suspitious because I do not well remember where ever That Party was satisfied with less than All. Nor need I look far back for Instances to justifie my Fears But having in some measure hitherto Discovered his Foundation we 'l forward now and see what work he makes upon this Sandy Bottom taking his Title-page in my way for to my thinking he stumbles at the Threshold It runs thus The Interest of England In the Matter of RELIGION Unfolded in the Solution of these three QUESTIONS I. Qu. VVhether the Presbyterian Party should in Justice or Reason of State be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Encouraged II. Qu. VVhether the Presbyterian Party may be Protected and Encouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Disobliged III. Qu. Whether the Upholding of both Parties by a just and equal Accommodation be not in it self more desirable and more agreeable to the State of England Then the absolute Exalting of the one Party and the total Subversion of the other Written by J. C. Observation I would fain know what is meant by The Matter of Religion as it stands here related to Civil Interest Doctrine it cannot be for That were to advise a yielding upon a Principle of Policy in Opposition to a Rule of Conscience subjecting Interest of Religion which is Eternal Happiness to Reason of State which regards but Temporal Convenience If it be Discipline What 's that to the Interest of England Our Settlement depends upon a due Obedience to the Establish'd Law not the Encouraging of froward Humors by an Audacious and Mis-govern'd Zeal under pretext of Conscience to Affront it Let Authority Reform and Private Persons either Obey or Suffer we are to Answer for our own faults not those of the Government And in fine If the Hill will not come to Mahomet let Mahomet go to the Hill After a pleasant Breviate of the Story of our late Troubles handsomely Penn'd indeed in his tenth Page he takes his Biass At length says he a full Tide of Concurring Accidents carries him the Duke of Albemarle then General to a closure with the sober part of the Parliamentary Party who from first to last intended onely a Reformation and due Regulation of things in Church and State but abhorred the thought of destroying the King or changing the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Observation I thought the Act of Pardon and Oblivion had quieted all Animosities and silenc'd all Discourses of this Quality but 't is it seems The Interest of England in the matter of Religion to keep the Quarrel waking and by Asserting the proceedings of the two Houses in the late War to engage this King within the danger of his Fathers President To be as free with the Authour as he is with his Majesty I 'le put his meaning in a little plainer English Beside the Grand Division of the Nation into a Royal and a Popular Party that Party which he here calls Parliamentary is again Split and under this Subdivision are Comprised those which did Actually destroy the King and those which by good Fortune did it not Presbyterians and Independents The Sober part meaning the Presbyterian He justifies from first to last even to their very Intentions I must tread warily for I am here upon a narrow and a slippery path Not to Dispute the Gentlemans Intuitive Knowledge we 'l rather modestly believe that They mistook their way then He their meaning for certainly the Murther of the King was not the onely Unlawful violence Acted upon that Sacred Person and he that stops there does as much as nothing I would not touch upon this Subject were I not bound by Oath and Duty to discharge my Soul in what concerns the Honor and the Safety of my Prince Can the first Cause asserted by both Houses in opposition to his late Majesty be justifi'd and not the King condemn'd And is not the Honor and Safety of his Majesty that now is concern'd in these Indignities upon his Murther'd Father What was Then lawful is so still and he that but implicitly charges the Last King strikes at This. The Text will bear no other sense without a Torture But I shall by-and-by compare him with himself In the mean while we may explain one Presbyterian by another Douglas in 1651. preach'd the Kings Coronation-Sermon Which since his Majesties Return is over and over again Reprinted A King says he abusing his Power to the overthrow
But I shall pass my bounds too far I 'll borrow one Maxim of the judicious Hooker upon thâ—t subject which shall serve for all Those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at liberty are all subject unto positive Laws of men which Laws for the common benefit abridge particular mens libertie in such things as far as the rules of equity will suffer After the Quality of our Ceremonies the holy man will have one fling at the number of them If the English Ceremonies be warrantably used what hinders the use of divers other Ceremonies used in the Roman Church Is it said their multitude will become burthensome and inconvenient But who can determine the convenient number And however an exchange of one Ceremony for another were not unlawful For what reason may not some other Romish Rites in Baptism be used as well as the Cross seeing they are nothing less significant or inoffensive nay peradventure much more inoffensive because the Papists by giving divine worship to the Cross have abused it to gross Idolatry Observation Beggars must be no choosers Must we use all or none The English Church hath made election of the English Ceremonies what and how many being the proper Judge both in the point of Number and Convenience 'T is not for us to Question the Authority but to Obey it What if the Cross hath been abused So hath the Knee been bent the Hands and Eyes addressed to an Idol Are we because of this mis-application prohibited to worship the true God in the same manner and posture Now to the Liturgy again The Presbyterians are not satisfied in the present Liturgy but desire it may be laid aside or much reformed And what solid reason withstands the Equity of this desire This solid reason does withstand it They beg like sturdy Cripples for Christ's sake with a Cudgel And 't is not safe for Authority to give ground to a Faction Whosoever observes impartially shall find that political prudence was joyn'd with Christian Piety in composing the English Service-Book And the same Prudence is now joyn'd with the same Piety both in the Right and Interest of preserving it His next grief is a heavy one Canonical Subscription lately impos'd is a yoke of bondage Now mark him to be considered by all those that have a true regard to such Liberty in Religion as Equity and Necessity pleads for Observation Either this passage is seditious and to enflame the people against Authority or I am no Englishman The Canon says he requires a subscribing to the thirty nine Articles to the Common-Prayer-Book to the Book of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons that all these contain in them nothing contrary to the Word of God This is unreasonable unprofitable and unnecessary Nay let us take in the third Article too To wit That the nine and thirty Articles are agreeable to the Word of God And now the form of Subscription viz. I do willingly and ex animo subscribe to these three Articles above mentioned and to all things that are contained in them This is the Yoke of Bondage which our Reverend Libertine complains of First to the unreasonableness of this subscription Touching the King's Supremacy asserted in the first Article he is silent and I suppose he would be thought consenting As to the rest what Reason is there that any man should be admitted into the Ministery without subscribing to the Constitution of that Church into which he seeks admitance If he cannot subscribe in Conscience he cannot be admitted in Prudence and if he refuses in point of stomach that man is not of a Gospel-temper In fine he that holds a fair opinion of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England may very reasonably set his hand to his opinion and he that does not may as reasonably be rejected because of such disagreement So much for unreasonable Neither is it unprofitable for such as have any spark either of Honor or Shame will in regard to such a Testimony be tender of giving themselves the Lye whatever they would do otherwise His third Cavil is that it is unnecessary so are his Exceptions Let any man consider when all these Bars and Limits are too little to restrain turbulent and sacrilegious spirits from dangerous and irreverent attempts what Seas of Schism and Heresie would break in upon us were but these Banks demolish'd But he hath found out an expedient how Unity in Doctrine and Uniformity in practise may be as well attain'd and far more kindly without this enforced Subscription that is If no Minister be suffered to Preach or Write any thing contrary to the establish'd Doctrine Worship or Discipline nor ordinarily for the main to neglect the establish'd Rule Observation This last passage appears to me most spitefully pleasant Not ordinarily for the main that is Always sometimes he would neglect the establish'd Rule If the Laws already in force against Revolters had been duly executed 't is likely the Interest of England in the matter of Religion had not been now the Question But still this supposition does not imply an absolute sufficiency of that strictness to all intents and purposes of Order and Agreement 'T is what we Think not what we Say the harmony of Souls more then of Forms which God regards without that sacred and entire consent of Judgment and Affections the rest is but a flat and cold formality Not to act contrary to prescribed Rules where we are bound up by a Penalty is but a Negative and Passive Obedience a compliance rather with Convenience than Duty unless joyn'd with a prone and full assent both to the truth and equity of those determinations For these and many reasons more Canonical subscription seems to me exceeding necessary But for those people to decline it upon pretence forsooth of Conscience that upon pain of Freedom and Estates nay and of Hell it self enforced the Covenant is most unequal A Presbyterian Preacher refused to pray for Sir William Nesbett late Provost of Edenburgh when he was lying upon his Death-bed onely because he had not subscribed the Covenant Let me be pardoned if I understand not this incongruous Holiness As for the Decrees and Canons of the Church what rightful Authority doth make them as the Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not Observation Surely his Reverence over-shoots himself What rightful Authority The Kings and by a less Authority they cannot be discharged By that Authority that Licenses the Excommunication of the Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church of England the Opposers also of the Government by Arch-bishops Bishops c. By that Authority to which this Gentleman hath forfeited the Head he wears Well but he tells us The publick state of these differences is such that the Prelatists may and ought to descend to the Presbyterians in the proposed moderate way but the Presbyterians cannot come
In 87. The Discipline was received and put in practise in Northampton-shire In 88. A Classical Assembly at Coventry In 89. A general Meeting in Cambridge and another at Ipswitch In 1590. Vpon the detection of the Premises they refused to answer upon Oath Being thus Associated they appropriate to their Meetings the name of the Church and use the style The Offices of the Lord Arch-bishops and Bishops c. says Martin Junior are condemn'd by the Doctrin of the Church of England By these degrees the Schismaticks advanced to a dangerous heighth and Boldness and of this temper and extraction are our Presbyterians After the aforemention'd discovery a stricter eye and hand was kept upon them divers of the Ring-leaders were imprison'd and the Covy broken Upon the coming in of King James they began to stir again but he knew them too well either to Trust or Suffer them How they behaved themselves towards the late King is to the eternal Infamy not onely of the Faction but of the Nation too notorious What they design toward the present Government That 's the Question And now I come to enquire Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged Before I fall upon the Question once again I explain my self By PRESBYTERIAN I intend a Faction that under colour of setling a Reform'd DISCIPLINE seeks to dissolve the frame of an establish'd Government And first I am to prove that Party so distinguish'd such a Faction which both from their own Practises Positions and from Common Observation and Authority I think I shall make good and that their last aim is to exercise that Tyranny themselves which they pretend to punish We 'l first examine how they treat the Civil Power If Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are freed from their Oaths of Obedience Kings Princes and Governors have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Ministers ought not to obey the Prince when he prescribes Ceremonies and a Fashion of Apparel Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be deposed Andrew Melvil being cited to answer for Treason delivered in a Sermon declined the judgment of the King affirming That what was spoken in Pulpit ought first to be tried and judged by the Presbytery and that neither the King nor Counsel might in primâ instantiâ meddle therewith although the speeches were Treasonable Strike the Basilique vein nothing but this will cure the Plurisie of our State Let us never give over till we have the King in our power and then he shall see how good Subjects we are Delivered in a Sermon It is lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination without the King But to come nearer Home to shew that the whole Gang is of the same Leaven Worse than all this was daily printed against the late King even by those Persons that were in pay to the Presbyterian Faction and yet at last those outrages are justifi'd against the Father by such as would be thought Loyal to the Son If Parliaments think to scape better they are deceived If the Brethren cannot obtain their will by suit nor dispute the Multitude and People must do the Feat One preached That though there were never so many Acts of Parliament against the Covenant yet it ought to be maintain'd against them all The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but onely ratifie what the Church decrees and after it hath ratifi'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall prohibite it and repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharged from yielding obedience to that Act of Parliament An Assembly may abrogate Acts of Parliament if they any way reflect upon business of the Church Reformation of Religion belongs to the Commonalty Of the Parliament in the 24 year of the Queen says the Supplication if the desired Reformation be not granted There shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper be a Parliament man or bear Rule in England any more Concerning Laws established They Fall in Consequence with the Power that makes them Presbyterians opinion of Bishops Let us see now with what modesty they treat the Church and first the Bishops They are Ordinances of the Devil Proud Popish presumptuous prophane paltry pestilent pernicious Prelates and Vsurpers Robbers Wolves Simoniacks Persecutors Sowers of Sedition Dragons and so to the end of the Chapter Their Clergy an Antichristian Swinish Rabble The Ministers are neither Proved Elected Called nor Ordained according to Gods Word The Ceremonies Carnal Beggerly Antichristian Pomps Presbyterian Reformation Hitherto the Faults of Governors and Government now their Proposals of Amendment and Reformation by what Rules and by what Means we may be Governed Better Thus then Let the whole Government of the Church be committed to Ministers Elders and Deacons Very good and to whom the Government of the State Why to Them too For the Church wherein any Magistrate King or Emperor is a Member is divided into some that are to Govern viz. Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to obey viz. Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Question is next about the Extent of the Ecclesiastical Power and in what manner that Assumption hooks in all Civil Actions within their Cognisance In Ordine ad Spiritualia Forsooth by which rule nothing scapes them 'T is the desire of the Admonitor That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates as Justices and others and from their Inditings and Finings The Eldership shall suffer no leud customs to remain in their Parishes either Games or otherwise And further The Office of the Church-Governors is to decide Controversies in Doctrine and Manners so far as pertaineth to Conscience and the Church-censures Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a man's neighbour or to the hindrance of the glory of God is to be examined and dealt in by the Orders of the holy Church Nay Knox goes further yet The bare Suspition of Avarice or of Pride Superfluity or Riotousness in Chear or Rayment Even this Nicety falls within their Censure Now would I know what need of a Civil Magistrate when even our private thoughts are subjected to the Scrutiny of a Presbytery But will some say What signifies the intemperance of Particular tongues as to the General of the Party I am challenged by the Author of the Interest of England to produce their Actions and That 's my next immediate Business The Presbyter has now the Chair see how he manages his Greatness None of that Tyranny ye found in Bishops I warrant ye no groaning now under the Yoke of Antichrist the intolerable burthen of canonical Subscription the Imposition of
Impostors and after all our wandrings brought once again into the Channel We have our Prince our Laws our Freedoms our Interest lies before us and certainly we cannot be so mad as now to dash a second time upon the same Rock Yet they shall lose nothing for want of offering at it The Arguments of 1641. are set on foot again The very same with Cartwright's that Consistorian Patriarch as Bancroft terms him nay they are advanc'd already beyond pleading of their Cause to pressing of it by sawcy Importunities and peremptory threatnings From what I have deliver'd it cannot be deny'd but their Positions are destructive to all Civil Government And for their Practices the story is written in Blood This might suffice to end the Controversie concerning Reason of State for certainly a Faction so Principled cannot with safety to the Publick be incorporated into any Politick Constitution But I shall add some further Reasons why by no means they are to be admitted 1. They 'r a Party never to be gain'd by Obligations and this is manifest from their proceedings toward the late King whose most unhappy Tenderness of Nature rost him his Life And at this instant that irreclaimable ingratitude is yet more clear toward his Majesty in beeing whose unexampled Mercy so much as lies in them is converted to his Dishonor and Destruction 2. They ground their claim upon the Equity of their Cause which if allow'd by the same reason they may serve this King as they did his Father 3. Their Demands are Endless as well as Groundless and it is not prudential to grant any thing to a Faction that will be satisfi'd with nothing It is but Giving them a power to Take the rest 4. They Expostulate and what they get upon those Terms they look upon rather as a Submission than a Concession The very manner of their Address has a spice of Mutiny in it and they will hardly make an honest use of what they compass by dishonest means 5. It is not advisable to encourage Tumultuary combinations by Rewarding them 6. The Dispute is not so much what their Consciences will Bear as what their Importunities can Obtain and to feel the Pulse of the Supreme Authority In fine It is a contest betwixt the Law and a Faction and a fair step toward a New Rebellion So much for Reason of State Now to the Justice of their pretences The Quaere is Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouaged 'T is one thing what the King may do in point of Justice and another thing what the Presbyterians may demand upon that score There is a Justice of Conscience Honor and of Prudence By the First His Majesty is ty'd up in common with the meanest of his Subjects That is if the King find himself in Conscience bound to maintain Episcopacy in the state he found it Legally settled he is not free to alter it In point of Honor There 's more Liberty and whatever the King does in that particular is well done But his Majesty not having as yet declar'd himself what do we know how far even upon That Point he may concern himself to reject the Presbyterian's Demands Partly out of Reverence to his Royal Father In part out of a Princely Strictness to His own Dignity and partly out of a Generous tenderness toward his Ruin'd Party First as to what may seem relating to His Majesty's Father That which these people urge is what the late King chose rather to Die than Grant which in His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is intimated in these words In these two points the preservation of establish'd Religion and Laws I may without vanity turn the reproach of my sufferings as to the worlds censure into the honor of a kind of Martyrdom as to the testimony of My own conscience the troublers of My Kingdoms having nothing to object against me but this that I prefer Religion and Laws established before these alterations they propounded Every word hath its weight which fell from the Pen of that pious and judicious Prince Nor can I over-pass a Caution of his learned Father's when I consider the sum of their Proposals which in effect is but a condemnation of the late King in the bold needless justification of Themselves These are the words As for offences against your own Person and Authority since the fault concerneth your self I remit to your own choice to punish or pardon therein as your heart serveth you and according to the circumstances of the turn and the quality of the Committer Here would I also eike another Crime to be unpardonable if I should not be thought partial But the Fatherly love I bear you will make me break the bounds of shame in opening it unto you It is then the false and unreverent writing or speaking of malicious men against your Parents and Predecessors And a little further It is a thing monstrous to see a Man love the Child and hate the Parents as on the other part the infaming and making â—dious of the Parents is the ready way to bring the Son into contempt And for conclusion of this point I may also alledge my own experience for besides the judgments of God that with mine eyes I have seen fall upon all them that were chief Traitors to my Parents I may justly affirm I never found yet a constant biding by me in all my straits by any that were of perfect ☞ age in my Parents days but onely by such as constantly bode by them I mean specially by them that served the Queen my Mother for so that I discharge my Conscience to you my Son in revealing to you the truth I care not what any Traitor or Treason-allower think of it Thus far his Majesty may find himself concern'd in Honour to his Fathers Ashes now to his dying Counsels Take heed of abetting any factions or applying to any publick Discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your judgement and the Church well setled I cannot yet learn that lesson nor I hope ever will you that it is safe for a King to gratifie any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the publick Interest and the good of the Community What in effect do these people now desire but that his Majesty would rather take their Counsel than his Fathers In the next Page the King expresses a more than ordinary earnestness in these words My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my troubles that you may avoid them Herein his Majesty is tacitly conjured against them it being a most notorious Certainty That The late King lost both his Crown and Life by Over-granting The now-pretended cause of the quarrel was not mentioned till after the War was begun The colour of raising an Army being to