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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A61170 The Bishop of Rochester's second letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's household Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713. 1689 (1689) Wing S5049; ESTC R15013 15,012 68

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I have now given your Lordship any satisfaction touching my fair Dealing in My Part of that Book I doubt not but what follows will give you more when I shall assure you of my having refused to Write a Continuation of the same History For my Lord it was some time after the Duke of Monmouth's Overthrow and Execution that King Iames the Second required me to undertake such another Task and presently to set about a Second Part. To that purpose His Majesty gave me a sight of multitudes of Original Letters and Papers together with the Confessions of several Persons then taken in England and Scotland who did indeed seem all to outvy one another who should reveal most both of Men and Things relating to the old Conspiracy as well as to the Duke of Monmouth's and the Earl of Argyle's Invasion But finding the Innocence of divers Persons of Worth and Honour touched in those Papers and by that time beginning vehemently to suspect things were running apace towards the endangering of our Laws and Religion I must say I never could be induced by all his Majesties reiterated Commands to go on with that Work. Instead of that tho' I had all the Materials for such a Narrative within my Power for above three Years and might easily have finished it in a Month or Six Weeks space yet I chose rather to Suppress and Silence as much as I could all that New Evidence which if openly produced would have blemished the Reputation of some Honourable Persons Give me leave My Lord only to add That I am confident there are several Original Papers still in being which would be more than enough to convince all impartial Men how Moderate and Tender I was in that Cause Next My Lord having mentioned my being concerned in the Commission for the Diocese of London in that I had the good Fortune to be join'd with an excellent Person my Lord Bishop of Peterborough And we can both truly say that as we enter'd into that Commission with my Lord of London's Good Will so we acted nothing in it without the greatest Respect to his Interest It is well known we continued all his Officers in the full Profits and Privileges of their Places We faithfully maintained the Rights of his Bishoprick and once in the Kings own Presence against his Majesties express Inclinations in a Business of no less Concernment than my Lord Mayor's Chapel We never Invaded any of my Lord Bishops Preserments that fell void in that Interval We dipos'd of none but according to his own Directions We used his Clergy with the same affectionate Care and Brotherly Love as He himself had done Who was on that Account as Dear to them as any Bishop in Christendom was to his Diocese And we Appeal to them whether we might not rather expect their Kindness and Thanks than suspect their Ill-will for all our Transactions with them Nor can this be thought a vain Boast to any Man who shall seriously reflect on the terrible Aspect of Things from Court upon the London-Clergy during the whole time of our exercising that Jurisdiction The Remembrance whereof makes me not doubt to affirm that if my Lord Bishop of Peterborough and I had not then stood in the Gap but some other Persons who were prepared to be thrust in upon our leaving that Commission had got it absolutely into their Power 't is possible the most Learned and Pious Clergy in the World had been somewhat otherwise imployed than they were and had been too much taken up in defending themselves from the violent Persecutions of the Popish Party to have leisure to confute and triumph over the Popish Cause as they entirely did in their admirable Writings to the Glory and Establishment of the Church of England My Lord to the truth of what I have here said concerning the Commission of London I have the Bishop of Peterborough ready to attest I should indeed be glad I could claim as just a share in another of his Lordships Meritorious Services to the Public as I may do in this But in that I cannot for 't is Evident the Seven Bishops whereof he was One had such an opportunity put into their Hands by God's Providence for the overthrow of Popery and Arbitrary Power by Their Sufferings for delivering their Sense of King Iames the Second's Declaration as 't is likely never any of the Episcopal Order had before and 't is to be hop'd will never have again This however I will say I had certainly added my self to their Number if I had then understood the Question as well as I did afterwards upon their Tryal where I was present in order to be a Witness in their behalf at the same time your Lordship and many other Noble Lords were there to give Countenance to so Good a Cause There it was My Lord that I was first convinced of the false Foundations and mischievous Consequences of such a Dispensing Power as that on which the Declaration was grounded So that I have ever since been perswaded that from that Petition of those Bishops so defended by the invincible Arguments of their Learned Council on that Day and so justified by the honest Verdict of their Undaunted Jury on the next Day from thence I say we may date the first great successful step that was made towards the rescuing of our Laws and Religion For my Part I must own I was so fully satisfied by the excellent ●leadings of those great Lawyers at that Tryal that I confess I never had till then so clear a Notion what unalterable Bounds the Law has fix'd between the Just Prerogatives of the Crown and the Legal Rights of the Subject And therefore from that very Day I hasten'd to make what Reparations I could for the Errors occasion'd by my former Ignorance and to act for the future what I always intended as became a true English Man. Nor was it long after that I met with a Signal Opportunity to put this my Purpose in practice For perceiving the Rage of the Popish Party against the Church of England was rather heightned than abated by my Lords the Bishops being acquitted and fearing the Ecclesiastical Commission was next to be Employed to wreak the Papists Revenge on the Orthodox Clergy when Westminster-Hall could not do it I presently resolv'd to Desert that Commission from whence I had often before Laboured and Intreated in vain to be fairly Dismiss'd And immediately I sent the Commissioners the following Letter whereof Your Lordship may remember I then presented you with a Copy as knowing how much You would be pleased with my other Friends at my forsaking that Board upon any Terms To the Right Honourable My LORDS His Majesties Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs c. MY LORDS I Most humbly intreat your Lordships favourable Interpretation of what I now write That since your Lordships are resolved to proceed against those who have not comply'd with the King's Commands in Reading His Declaration it is absolutely