not spoken in any such Humour Men of Tender Consciences though under a mistake will conciliate veneration from others The worst I wish them is that God would shew them the evil of their former impositions upon the Consciences of their poor despised Brethren But that which induces me to mention it is I find the Defenders of the Hierarchy confidently assert that there can be but one Bishop in one Church at the same time therefore if the former be not divested of their power I see not how the present Incumbents can have any by their own Rule and so their Ordinations would be Null if the others be still valid The present Bishop of Worcester in his debate with Mr. Clarkson says it was the Inviolable Rule of the Church to have but one Bishop in a City and Church at once and Dr. Morrice labours hard to conquer Mr. Clarksons objection against it which was Def. of the Ans to Dr. St. p. 19. That Alexander was made Bishop of Jerusalem whilst Narcissus lived He says Narcissus took Alexander into the participation of the charge but foreseeing that Mr. C. would reply then here were two Bishops jointly governing one Church contrary to Dr. St's inviolable Rule he adds Alexander was the Bishop Narcissus retained but the Name and Title onely that is was but a Titular not a real Bishop and it seems that was his part of the Charge to have onely the Title and no Charge at all Now whether T.W. thinks the late Bishops are the Titular and the present the Real or on the contrary we will not oblige him to declare onely we guess at his Sentiments by his calling the Late Arch-Bishop the Ruler of Gods People above half a year after he was deprived Perhaps this Gentleman will satisfie himself with saying the late Prelates have the power still but are restrained from the exercise of it But that would be to confront the Act of Parliament which says expressly they are deprived of their Office and distinguishes betwixt being suspended from the exercise of their Office and being deprived of the Office it self if they did not take the Oaths before the first of August 1689. Primo Guliel Mariae they were suspended from the Execution of their Office for six Months and if then they still refused They shall be ipso facto deprived and are hereby judged to be deprived of their Offices Benefices Dignities and Promotions Ecclesiastical What is it then that the Civil Magistrate may not do in the making of an English Prelate I know it will be said he cannot consecrate him and it is the Consecration that gives the Episcopal power but to this I have two things to return 1. According to their own Practice Episcopal Jurisdiction is exercised by persons never so consecrated as by Presbyters and Lay-Chancellors in the cases before mentioned and they have Authority given them to exercise that Jurisdiction and that not by Deputation from the Bishop but by Legal Constitution and what is the Office of a Bishop but Authority to do the work of a Bishop 2. Since the whole Being of Episcopal power is founded upon their Consecration it is very reasonable to demand from them a plain Rule in Scripture for this Consecration of Bishops as distinct from the Ordination of Presbyters If they chuse this Foot to fix their Divine Right upon it is necessary a clear Scripture Canon should be produced for it but it is most certain they may turn over all the Leaves of their Bible all the Days of their Life before they can find any such thing And as the Scripture is altogether silent as to the difference betwixt the Ordination of a Presbyter and Consecration of a Bishop 1 Tit. nay in the Rule for Ordination makes them the same so this Ceremony of Consecration has not been at all times and all cases thought necessary Repertor Canon p. 49. or practised in the making of Bishops Godolphin tells us that antiently according to the Canon Law and where the Popes Spiritual Power and Authority was in force Bishops were not so much by Election as Postulation Sum. Rosel postulat tit si ques Pan. 2. p. 106. and in that case the Elected was a Bishop presently without Confirmation or Consecration onely by the assent of the Superiour And I have recited already the judgment of Mr. Dodwell that every particular Church had a Power to invest its Bishop and that the calling in the assistance of other Bishops was not for want of a right in themselves to do it I hope these Gentlemen will be more cautious how they lay the whole weight of Episcopal Authority upon Consecration which it seems might sometimes be omitted lest thereby they break their Line and the neck of their cause together Upon the whole matter I think it is clear enough that the English Prelaty is a meer Creature of the Civil Magistrate who may make every Parson of a Parish a Bishop if he pleases their whole power as distinct from Presbyters being founded upon the Laws of the Land by the Statute 25 Hen. VIII 19. it is declared That none of the Clergy shall from thenceforth presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or any other Canons Nor shall Enact Promulge or Execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever name or names they shall be called in their Convocations in time coming which shall always be assembled by the Authority of the Kings Writt unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal Assent so to do upon pain of being Fined and Imprisoned at the King's will I need not say how severely the Canons of 40 were damned by the House of Commons where it was resolved That the Clergy in a Synod or Convocation Supplement oâ— Bakers Chron. p. 476. hath no power to make Canons Constitutions or Laws Ecclesiastical to bind either Laity or Clergy without a Parliament and that the Canons are against the Fundamental Laws of this Realm against the King's Prerogative Property of the Subjects Rights of Parliament and tend to Faction and Sedition And the Act of Uniformity has not left the Bishops power to add or change one Ceremony without the Consent of Parliament 4. Lastly We plead that the Civil Power has now left us to our Liberty in the case of Conformity and therefore we are not guilty of Disobedience to Authority in what we do I know it will presently be replied That the Act of Liberty only frees Dissenters from the Penalty of the Law not from the Precept of it and there is a sharp thing written it seems by Mr. Norris to prove that the only Change made by the Toleration as he calls it is that the Penal part of the Law is for the present laid aside Charge of Schism continued as for the Preceptive part that stands where it did and obliges under sin though not under Civil Penalty
to the World as a Bloody Seditious Sect and Traiterous Obstructors of what all the Godly People of the Kingdom do earnestly desire for the establishing of Religion and Peace in that we stick at the Execution of the King while yet we are as they falsly affirm content to have him Convicted and Condemned all which we must and do from our Hearts disclaim before the whole World For when we did first engage with the Parliament which we did not till called thereunto we did it with Loyal Hearts and Affections towards the King and his Posterity not intending the least hurt to his Person but to stop his Party from doing further hurt to the Kingdom not to bring his Majesty to Justice as some now speak but to put him into a better Capacity to do Justice to remove the wicked from before him that his Throne might be established in Righteousness not to Dethrone and Destroy him which we fear is the ready way to the Destruction of all his Kingdoms That which put any of us on at first to appear for the Parliament was the Propositions and Orders of the Lords and Commons in Parliament June 10. 1642. for bringing in of Money and Plate c. Wherein they assured us that whatsoever should be brought in thereupon should be employed upon no other occasion than to maintain The Protestant Religion The Kings Authority and His Person in his Royal Dignity the Free Course of Justice the Laws of the Land the Peace of the Kingdom and the Priviledges of Parliament against any force which shall oppose them As for the present actings at Westminster since the time that so many of the Members were by force secluded divers imprisoned and others thereupon withdrew from the House of Commons and there being not that Conjunction of the two Houses as heretofore we are wholly unsatisfied therein because we conceive them to be so far from being warranted by sufficient Authority as that in our Apprehensions they tend to an actual Alteration if not Subversion of that which the Honourable House of Commons in their Declaration of April 17. 1646. have taught us to call the Fundamental Constitution and Government of this Kingdom which they therein assure us if we understand them they would never alter Yea we hold our selves bound in Duty to God Religion the King Parliament and Kingdom to profess before God Angels and Men That we verily believe that which is so much feared to be now in Agitation the taking away the Life of the King in the present way of Trial is contrary to the Word of God the Principles of the Protestant Religion never yet stained with the least drop of the Blood of a King the Fundamental Constitution and Government of this Kingdom as also to the Oath of Allegiance the Protestation of May 5.1641 and the Solemn League and Covenant from all or any of which Engagements we know not any Power on Earth able to absolve us or others Therefore according to our Covenant we do in the Name of the great God to whom all must give a strict account warn and exhort all who either more immediately belong to our respective Charges or any way depend on our Ministry or to whom we have administred the said Covenant that we may not by our Silence suffer them to run into that provoking Sin of Perjury to keep close to the ways of God and the rules of Religion the Laws and their Vows in their constant maintaining the true Reformed Religion the Fundamental Constitution and Government of this Kingdom as also in preserving the Priviledges of both Houses of Parliament and the Union between the two Nations of England and Scotland to mourn bitterly for their own Sins the Sins of the City Army People and Kingdom and the miscarriages of the King himself which we cannot but acknowledge to be many and great in his Government that have cost the Kingdoms so dear and cast him down from his Excellency into a horrid pit of Misery almost beyond Example and to pray that God would give him effectual Repentance and sanctifie that bitter Cup of Divine displeasure that Divine Providence hath put into his hand and also that God would restrain the Violence of men that they may not dare to draw upon themselves and the Kingdom the Blood of their Soveraign c. This was back't with a Letter to the General and his Council of War to the same effect and yet all this has not been sufficient to defend them from the malicious slanders of men that either were then unborn or had not the Courage to run those hazards for the sake of their unfortunate Prince as they did The deplorable Death of this King has been made great use of in the Late Reigns to run down Dissenters and to justifie those unmerciful Laws that have been made and executed against them and to make it the better serve such designs they have made the highest Panegyricks upon that Prince and his extraordinary Piety and Devotion in which they have commonly taken their Text out of ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ a Book which next to the Bible excell'd all others in pure Seraphick strains but alas the grave Cheat is at length discovered and though some men are very angry there is no remedy for heat and ill Language will never retrieve its blasted Reputation only the best on 't is there is another of the same kind pourtraying his Unhappy Son in his Solitudes and Sufferings too and those that regret the Disparagement of the former may try whether they can support the Credit of the latter but the World I hope grows too wise to be enamoured of such Pageantry The Vindicator affirmed That it was by the Address and Interest of the Party called Presbyterian under God That King Charles the Second was restored and he adds the solemn Promises fair Words and great Assurances that were given them by the Church and Court Party upon the Treaty of Restoration are very well known and the speedy and bare-faced Violation of all is not to be parallell'd in Story which T. W. misreports as if the Vindicator had said that King Charles the Second was not to be parallell'd in Story tho' afterwards having cleared his Eyes he confesses these things are charged upon the Church and Court Party and how will be bring them off he says All is Fiction and Forgery for the King referr'd all to the Parliament and they re-established and Confirmed all things to the satisfaction of the Nation in General Well if we cannot prove these things to be true we will own the Forgery and submit to all the Reproaches this Gentleman can heap upon us I would feign know where the Fiction lies Were there no Promises made by the Court and Church Party or were they not broken It is strange we should be obliged to prove that such Promises were made when the Kings Declaration speaks it so plainly in these Words We do declare a Liberty to tender Consciences and
from London to the Presbytery of Edenburgh Calder p. 474. after it was Revised by the King 's own Hand The words are Beloved Brethren after my hearty Commendations these Presents are to shew you that I received Two of your Letters One directed to His Majesty the other to my Self for my Perusal the same I read closed and three days before the Conference delivered into His Majesties Hand and received it back again after some short Speeches upon those words in your Letter the Gross Corruptions of this Church which were then expounded and I was assured all Corruptions dissonant from the Word of God or contrary thereunto should be amended The Twelfth of January was the day of Meeting at which time the Bishops were call'd upon and gravely desired to advise upon all the Corruptions of this Church in Doctrine Ceremonies and Discipline and as they would answer it to God in Conscience and to His Majesty upon their Obedience that they should return the Third day after which was Saturday Accordingly they returned to His Majesty and when the Matter was propounded to them as before they answered All was Well And when His Majesty with great fervency brought instances to the contrary they upon their Knees with great earnestness craved that nothing should be altered lest the Popish Recusants punished for Disobedience and the Puritans punished by Deprivation ab officio beneficio for Nonconformity should say they had just Cause to insult upon them as Men who had endeavoured to bind them to that which by their own Mouths now was confess'd to be Erroneous After five Hours Dispute had by His Majesty against them and his resolution for Reformation intimated to them they were dismissed for that day c. but it appears by the result their importunity overcame him at last Dr. Fuller observes That whereas before this Conference it was disputable whether the North where he long lived or the South whither he lately came would prevail most on the King's Judgment in Church Government now this Question was clearly decided I hope now the Vindicator may be allowed to have some Grains of Shame and Modesty common to Humane Nature though he ventured to say That the English Prelates flattered King James into an ill Opinion of the Puritans and the thing is not so plain or known a Contradiction as the Citizen pretends and for him to tell the World at this time a day of the famous Piety and Virtue of that Prince is ridiculous enough Alas the History of his Reign is too well known his Contending with Parliaments his Encouraging of Papists his Secret Articles upon the Treaties with Spain and France his greedy Desire of Arbitrary Power his Prostituting the Honours and Wasting the Treasures of the Nation after a most inglorious manner produced those ill Effects under which these Kingdoms have laboured and languished ever since till by the late happy Revolution our Antient Rights and privileges were raised out of the Grave recognised and settled upon their true Basis once more The Unhappy Government of K. Charles the First is now sufficiently Unveiled especially by Rushworth's Impartial Collections The Vindicator briefly hinted at those Irregular and Arbitrary Practices that forced the Parliament to take up Arms for the Defence of their Liberties and for rescuing the King out of the hands of those Councellors that had so fatally misled him T. W. calls this Notorious Calumny and says he could answer all the Instances particularly but he refers to the Rolls and Acts of Parliament The Vindicator is willing to joyn issue with him here and appeals to the several Petitions Remonstrances and Speeches made in Parliament as they stand upon Record in the Journals of both Houses and they are now made so publick that no Man but one who has no Reputation to lose would have offered to deny that which all the Nation that can read Books know to be true And I will also tell him that there is not one passage mentioned by the Vindicator concerning the Male Administration of that King but what he may find in the Supplement to Baker 's Chronicle a History never suspected for Disloyalty but evidently partial the other way The Vindicator renew'd the Challenge to Name four Persons in that Parliament Dr. Burnet tells us the Duke of Hamilton was dissatisfied with the Courses some of the Bishops had followed before the Troubles began and could not but impute their first rise to the Provocations that had been given by them Memoirs p. 408. that were not in full Communion with the Church of England when the War began It is true many of them that were for Episcopacy were highly offended at the Behaviour of some of the Bishops as appears by the Speeches of the Lords Falkland and Digby both great Royalists and for my part I desire no other Evidence of the intolerable Usurpations of the Laudensian Party than what those Noble Lords have given us which being now in so many Hands by the Publishing the third part of Rushworths Collections I will not transcribe The Nonconformists indeed generally joyned with the Parliament in that Cause which was doubtless as just and necessary when first undertaken as ever was carried upon the Point of a Sword But that it was without the least design upon the Kings Person their Solemn League and Covenant plainly proves and the many Declarations and Remonstrances which they afterwards made when they saw new designs laid and pursued In the Year 1648. When the Republican Faction was at the highest the Ministers called Presbyterian in and about London fearing that which afterwards happened boldly Published a Vindication of themselves and Exhortation to the People part of which I shall here Transcribe to let the World see how shamefully they have been abused about the Death of that King their Words are these To this Vindication we are compell'd at this time Vindicat. of the Minist Printed for T. Underhil Ann. 1648. Subscribed by C. Burgess D. D. W. Gouge D. D. E. Stanton D. D. T. Temple D. D. G. Walker E. Calamy B. D. J. Whitaker D. Câ—wdrey W. Spurstow L. Seaman D. D. Sim. Ashe T. Case N. Proffect T. Thorowgood E. Corbet H. Roborough A. Jackson J. Nalton T. Cawton C. Offspring Sa. Clark Io. Wall F. Roberts M. Haviland J. Sheffield W. Harrison W. Jenkin J. Viner E. Blackwel J. Cross J. Fuller W. Taylor P. Witham Fra. Peek Ch. 〈◊〉 J. Wallis T. Watson T. Bedford W. Wickins T. Manton D. D. Tho. Gouge W. Blackmore R. Mercer R. Robinson J. Glascock T. Whately J. Lloyde J. Wells B. Needler N. Staniforth S. Watkins J. Tice J. Stileman Jos Ball. J. Devereux P. Russel J. Kirby A. Barham because there are many who very confidently yet most unjustly charge us to have been formerly instrumental toward the taking away the Life of the King and because also there are others who in their Scurrilous Pasquils and Libels as well as with their Virulent Tongues represent us
that no man shall be disquieted or called in Question for differences in Opinion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that we shall be ready to Consent to such Acts of Parliament as upon Mature Deliberation shall be of fered to us for the full granting that Indulgence And in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Oct. 25. 1660. he saith When We were in Holland we were attended by many Grave and Learned Ministers from hence who were look't upon as the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions and to our great satisfaction we found them Persons full of Affection towards us of Zeal for the Peace of the Church and State and neither Enemies to Episcopacy nor Liturgy but modestly to desire such Alterations in either as without shaking the Foundations might best allay the present Distempers which the Indispositions of the times and tenderness of some mens Consciences had contracted for the better doing whereof we did intend to call a Synod and in the mean time We published in our Declaration from Breda a Liberty to tender Consciences We need not profess the high Affection and Esteem which We have for the Church of England as it is established by Law nor do we think that Reverence in the least diminished by our Condescentions not peremptorily to insist upon some particulars of Ceremony which however intruduced by the Piety and Devotion and Order of the former times may not be so agreeable to the present but may even lessen that Piety and Devotion for the improvement whereof they might be happily first introduced and consequently may be well dispens'd with And We have not the least doubt but the Bishops will think the Concessions now made by us just and reasonable and will cheerfully conform themselves thereunto that Kneeling at the Sacrament shall not be imposed nor the Cross nor Surplice nor any compelled to the Subscription or Oath of Canonical Obedience c. Behold the Promises that were made I hope he would not have us prove that they were not performed But it seems the King left all to the Parliament and they re-established matters to satisfaction but this will not prove that these Promises were not broken but only that they should not have been made The King at that time seemed willing to have kept his Promise and he had some honest Counsellors about him that advised him to it and in Order thereunto by his Commission He authorized divers Learned Persons of both Perswasions to consult together and agree on such Alterations in the Liturgy as were necessary to tender Consciences The Presbyterian Divines not one Dissenting offered to submit to Arch-Bishop Usher's Primitive Form of Episcopacy and to a stated Liturgy and drew up a most excellent One for that purpose which for aptness and gravity of Expression excellent Coherence and Method and suitableness to all the Emergencies of humane Life was incomparably beyond the old one And when that would not be received offered some amendments of the old one and would have complied with it but the Bishops treated them after a disdainful imperious manner and would yield to nothing for accommodation the Truth of this cannot be doubted by any that have seen the Proposals to the King the Petition for Peace and Account of the Proceedings of the Commissioners at the Savoy which an ingenious Conformist having lately read confessed to me that was a brave Opportunity for Comprehension and he was fully satisfied that the after Schism lay at the Bishops door And indeed it is no wonder that Consultation was so unsuccessful when it appears the leading men amongst the Bishops were so far from intending any such thing as Comprehension that their great design in Treating with the other Party was to know what they would stick at that so they might be sure to shut them out and it is credibly reported that Arch-Bishop Sheldon should say now we know their Minds we 'll make them all Knaves if they Conform and it was a remarkable saying of a Reverend Dean T. W. has often heard of when a sober Gentleman shewed some regret that the door was so strait that many sober Ministers could not have Admission replyed it was no Pitty at all if we thought so many of them would have Conformed we would have made it straiter The Act of Uniformity which they got in 1661. is justly esteemed the Source and Spring of all that Discord Persecution and Distraction the Nation has groaned under for many years and indeed no better Fruits could be expected from it if we consider the scandalous Arts that were used for the obtaining of it and though I am weary of Transcribing yet I will insert that remarkable Story that Captain Yarranton tells us in His full discovery of the first Presbyterian Sham-Plot Printed at London for Francis Smith near the Royal Exchange 1681. Where speaking of the Kings Gracious Declaration touching Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1660. part of which I have already recited he says If the Parliament had pass'd it into an Act it had probably cemented the greatest part of the Protestants throughout the Nation but some both of the Clergy and Laity that bore the greatest sway rejected it and so his Majesties good and peaceable Intentions proved Abortive These men by whose Instigations you may imagine instead of an Act of Union resolve upon an Act of Uniformity which they could not but know would prove the greatest Bâ—ne of Contention that ever was in the Nation and some of the Leading Church-men were heard to say they would have an Act so framed as would reach every Puritan in the Kingdom and that if they thought any of them would so stretch their Consciences as to be comprehended by it they would insert yet other Conditions and Subscriptions so as that they should have no Benefit by it But the King and Parliament they feared were not yet fully prepared for the passing of such an Act thereupon a Contrivement was set on Foot to make a Presbyterian Plot and this was the first they ever took in band and because it was never taken Notice of by some and forgotten by others I shall therefore set it down at large which I can the better do because I was a great sufferer therein and what I relate if occasion be I can prove by Letters and many living Witnesses This Sham-Plot was laid in about thirty six Counties of England but I shall write principally of that part of it which was executed in Worcestershire the Month of November in the Year 1661. Several Letters were drawn up and delivered by Sir John P to one Richard N his Neighbour to carry to one Cole of Martly about four Miles from Worcester who is now living This Cole according to Instructions delivereth a Pacquet of Letters to one Churne of Witchinford who also is or lately was alive and dwelt near Martly This Pacquet of Letters was carried by Cole and Churne unto Sir John P. from whom it came
to him The Marshal only made it his Request that he would not trouble him for holding him so long in Restraint forasmuch as he was a Poor Man and had many Children and did only follow the Orders of his Superiours in what he had done Mr. Yarranton told him He did freely forgive him These dangerous Plotters being now at Liberty they depart every Man to his own Home and were never prosecuted or further questioned about this Matter There was no need of that for the Contrivers had now obtained their End which was to possess the King and Parliament that it was absolutely necessary to make some severe Act against this restless sort of Men who not contented with the King 's Gracious Pardon were always Plotting to disturb the Government Accordingly when the Parliament met together upon the 20th of November 1661. to which time they were Adjourned the King makes a Speech to them wherein are these words My Lords and Gentlemen I Am Sorry to find that the General Temper and Affections of the Nation are not so well Composed as I hoped they would have been after so signal Blessings of God Almighty upon us all and after so great Indulgence and Condescentions from me towards all Interests there are many wicked Instruments still as active as ever who labour Night and Day to disturb the Publick Peace and to make People jealous of each other it may be worthy of your Care and Vigilance to provide proper Remedies for Diseases of that Kind and if you find new Diseases you must find new Remedies c. No sooner was this Parliament in their geers Note this was before the Sham was discovered to Mr. Yarranton but Sir J. P. one of the Knights for Worcestershire with open mouth informs them of a dangerous Presbyterian Plot that was on foot that many of the chief Conspirators were now in Prison at Worcester The like Information was given by some of their Members that Served for Oxfordshire Herefordshire Staffordshire and other places yea this was the general Vogue Some say but by a very few Votes as may appear by the Printed Pamphlets of those times Hereupon a Bill of Uniformity was excogitated and carried on in the Parliament and passed that Sessions I have done with the First Part of this Sham Plot when I have added a Passage or two more concerning Mr. Yarranton As soon as he was Discharged as before he goes up to London and prevails with the Lord of Bristol to acquaint the King with the great wrong he had received and with the wicked Contrivance of some of his Ministers by Sham-Plots to divide the King from his People and his People from one another Hereupon an Order of Council was directed to the Deputy-Lieutenants of Worcestershire that were then in and about London to appear before the Council and to give an Account of this Matter They seemed to clear themselves from being concerned therein and desired such as were in the Country might be consulted The next Post they inform their Brethren in the Country how Matters stood before the Council and that the Lord of Bristol did Patronize Mr. Yarranton upon this Sir J. W. one of the Deputy-Lieutenants hastens up to London and brings with him one Hales an Attorney his Kinsman and Tenant now living in Tenbury which Hales with a Constable of St. Mary Overies and one Halborn a Waterman now living in Pepper-Alley in Southwark Arrested Mr. Yarranton when he was Bowling in Winchester-Park for High Treason and being further assisted by some of the Horse-Guards then in Southwark conveyed him in Halborn's Boat to White-Hall where he was that Night in Custody but on the Morrow the Earl of Bristol sent the King 's Privy Seal to a Friend of Mr. Yarranton's who brought it to him wherein it was declared That it was the King's Pleasure he should Travel where he pleased and not to be molested by any Person whatsoever without a Special Warrant from the King Mr. Yarranton seeing how Matters went in London resolved to return again into the Country where he prosecuted Major Wild and others for Imprisoning of him wrongfully but within Six Months after a Design is laid by some of the Criminals in the former Sham-Plot to Suborn Persons to Swear against him that he had spoken Treasonable Words against the King and the Government the Witnesses were one Dainty a Mountebank formerly an Apothecary in Derby who afterwards acknowledged that he had Five Pounds for his Pains The other Witness lived in Wales and went by two Names this was done at the Assizes in Worcester the Bill being found by the Grand Jury Twisden then Judge Mr. Yarranton put himself upon his Trial and though he did not except against any one of his Jury yet upon a full Hearing of the Case they presently acquitted him to the great disappointment of the designing Gentlemen This Narrative Mr. Yarranton Published under his own Hand and I never could understand that any Answer was made to it and by mentioning the Names of Persons then living and therein appealing to them it appears to be of undoubted credit and if any shall take upon them to contradict it there are so many of the Persons concerned still alive as are sufficient to make out the truth and certainty of it This Act of Uniformity which was gained by such an Infamous Stratagem Some of the Ejected Ministers had been Sufferers for the King as Mr. Cook Mr. Harrison Mr. Kirby Mr. Seddan sent up Prisoners about Sir Geo. Booth's Attempt Collection of Debates p. 212. obliged all Ministers to Subscribe to the Book of Common-Prayer by Bartholomew-Day upon pain of Deprivation ab officio beneficio which about Two thousand Ministers could not do and were accordingly ejected and it is a wonder that all the Ministers in England were not Silenced by it for it is a known and certain Truth that the Liturgy with its new Alterations to which they assented came not out of the Press till about Bartholomew-Eve so that all those that Conformed excepting perhaps one or two in London Subscribed to they knew not what and thus the Effects of that Edict were as scandalous as the cause and rise of it An honourable Member of the House of Commons observed in Parliament in the Year 1680. If the Laws against Dissenters were projected in favour of the Protestant Religion it is strange they were so promoted as many Members now here that Served in that Parliament do remember by Sir Thomas Clifford Sir Solomon Swale and Sir Roger Strickland who have all since appeared to be Papists When the lamentable Effects of this Act began to appear more visible every day than other and the King was sensible how they had been cheated into it by a pretended Plot the Forgery whereof was now discovered He set forth the very same Year Decem. 26. his Declaration of Indulgence and in February next when the Parliament was met Journal of the House of
and like a good Angel made their fetters fall off and the doors fly open others were forced to abscond from their Families and Employments for fear of the Excommunication Writ and these it rescued from impending ruine and indeed it found them all insulted over scorned and trampled upon by the Bigots of the other Party but this Declaration put a respect upon them and gave them the Opportunity of letting the World see they were neither so few nor so bad nor contemptible as their Adversaries had represented them There are two things for which Dissenters are frequently reproached in the late Reign First Their accepting that Liberty with such Addresses of Thanks Secondly Their writing so few Books against Popery I have something to say in their just Defence upon both Accounts As to the First It had been the greatest Madness in the World for them to have refused the Advantages of that Liberty they thought themselves obliged to Worship God according to the Dictates of their Consciences when they run the Risque of Prisons and Banishment for so doing and to neglect it when they were freed from those hazards would have been such a piece of sullen unaccountable perversness as these Gentlemen would soon have upbraided us with I know it is commonly said that Toleration was promoted in favour of the Papists and I believe few of the Dissenters ever questioned it but they knew very well that when it was granted for them to have sate still and suffer'd the Papists alone to enjoy the Benefits of it would have strengthed Popery much more the Papists would have had never the less Liberty though Dissenters had been silent and when they were let loose it was time for all hands to be at work to countermine them and there 's no better weapon to subdue Errour than the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God It is objected this Declaration was founded upon a Dispensing Power and to accept of it was owning such a Power But the Dissenters never by Word or Writing ascribed any such Power unto the King as to Dispense with the Laws that are for the good of the Nation indeed they always esteemed the Laws by which they were excluded to be very unjust and unreasonable Edicts contrary to the Law of God and the common Interest and that they ought not to have been made or ever executed when they were made they never thought them binding in Point of Conscience and though they were forced heretofore to submit to the Penalty yet they were not so forsaken of common Sence as to court the Continuance of that Penalty or cast themselves into Prison when the Magistrate did not think fit to do it But the Clergy of the Church of England had often in the Pulpit and from the Press told the King that he had such a Power as the Author of Vox Cleri pro Rege shews us in abundance of Instances And the Judges who were of the Church of England had given it for Law as the other had declared it for Gospel and all the Magistrates in England thought fit to acquiesce in it which surely they would not have done if they had not thought it a just and reasonable thing for indeed the Kings Declaration would have signified little if the Magistrates had put the Laws in Execution still and if they did not think those Laws were really suspended they were bound by their Oaths to have done it and their forbearance was a plain acknowledgment of such a Power at least as to such kind of Laws as were hereby suspended but the Dissenters only persisted to do that which they thought themselves obliged to as they had opportunity by the Law of God any thing in humane Laws to the Contrary notwithstanding And as to their Addresses of Thanks it least becomes the Churchmen of all others to Reflect upon them not only because it was their Cruelty that made Indulgence so very pleasant and Oppression sometimes makes a wise man mad but also because they fall vastly short of those high flights of Complement which these men themselves took in their Addresses of a far worse Nature and Occasion If it be so Criminal to Thank the King for not suffering Protestants to destroy one another what shall we say of those that in the most Luxuriant manner thank'd him for dissolving one of the best of Parliaments E. of W's Speech and as a Noble Peer lately told them Were so forward in the Surrender of Charters and their fulsom Addresses and Abhorrences making no other claim to their Liberties and Civil Rights but Concessions from the Crown telling the King every one of his Commands was stamp'd with Gods Authority c. Besides I am informed by one of those that joined in an Address of Thanks to the King in Cheshire that the Nonconformists never moved in it till the Churchmen had led them the way these Gentleman therefore are too Imprudent to provoke us to Recriminations that will be so vastly to their own dishonour I am sure the Dissenters thank'd the Late King for nothing but what our present King and Parliament have Confirmed to them as the likeliest way to unite Protestants in Interest and Affection as the Preamble of the Act speaks and if there was any thing in that Liberty that was serviceable to the Papists it must be in the manner of giving it not in the thing it self as far as we are concerned in it and if the Episcopal Party had been so wise as to have promoted a legal Comprehension when it was in their Power they had disabled the Papists from serving themselves of any Liberty of ours As to the Second That Dissenters writ so little against Popery in the Late Reign it may be very easily accounted for They have sufficiently demonstrated their Abhorrence of Popery at all times and their Leading Men as Mr. Baxter Mr. Pool and the Preachers of the Morning Lecture have acquitted themselves very well in the Confutation of it and Malice it self cannot really believe that they are in the least favourable to the Romish Heresie the Crime that has been generally objected against them has been their too great aversation and distance from it As for the late Discourses upon that Subject that are so much boasted of it is observable that most of them were begun upon Personal Engagements The Preface to the Exam. of the Council of Trent by Catholick Tradition as one of the Principal Managers thereof acknowledges There is says he a Train in Controversies as well as in Thoughts one thing still giving start to another Conferences produce Letters Letters Books and one discourse gives occasion for another c. Now in such Cases it would not been have decent for a Third Person to have stept in and invaded another mans Province Besides there was no manner of Necessity for it the Papists in England have been a baffled party for some Ages and their Errors so often exposed that it