pious works as he thought fit Vide Bullar Ludg. Vol. Ult. Fol. 220. Secondly When this very Pope was attended with the English Ambassadors that came to his Confirmation the Pope found fault with them That the Church-yards were not restored saying that it was by no means to be tolerated and that it was necessary to render all even to a Farthing because the things that belong to God can never be apply'd to humane uses and he that withholdeth the least part of them is in a continual state of Damnation that if he had power to grant them he would do it most readily but his authority was not so large as that he might prophane the things that are dedicated to God andlet England be assur'd that this would be an Anathema c. F. Pauls H. of the Council of Trent p. 392. SleidaniCom P. 779. And all this was said by the Pope within four Months of the pretended Confirmation Thirdly The private Bull to Sir W. Peters bears date within two Months after the pretended Confirmation vide Sir W. Dugdales Eccl. Col. Fol. 207. the Title of which Bull is this The Bull of Paul the Fourth Bishop of Rome in which he confirms to Sir W. Peters all and singular the Sales of several Mannors c. sometimes belonging to Monasteries which the said Sir W. Peters is ready to assign and demise to spiritual uses Then follows the Bull it self which saith That this Confirmation was humbly desired from us and that there were reasonable Causes to perswade it viz. a Petition exhibited by the said Sir W. Peters that the Mannors c. belonging to certain Monasteries and sold to him by King Henry the Eighth which he is ready to assign and demise to spiritual uses may be approved and confirmed to him wherefore the said Pope doth acquit and absolve him being inclined by the said supplications c. By which Bull Sir W. Peters had no power given him to keep those Lands or dispose of them to his Heirs but only to distribute them to such religious uses as he thought best Now it is a most implorable thing that Sir W. Peters should petition the Pope for a limited Dispensation if the whole Nation as is pretended had been absolutely dispenc'd with but two Months before without any limitation at all So that either there was no such General Confirmation or else it was limited with the same restrictions as that to Sir W. Peters viz. to bestow them upon spiritual Uses Aud this is the only probable Reason why in England this Bull is wholly suppress'd and lost In confirmation of this it may be observed that Cardinal Pool notwithstanding his Dispensation earnestly exhorted all Persons by the Bowels of Christ Jesus that not being unmindful of their Salvation they would at least out of their Ecclesiastical Goods take care to encrease the Endowments of Parsonages and Vicarages that the Incumbents may be commodiously and honestly maintain'd according to their Quality and Estate whereby they may laudibly exercise the cure of Souls and support the incumbent Burthens and farther urg'd the Judgments that fell upon Balthazar for converting the holy Vessels to prophane uses Fourthly Queen Mary who best understood what had been done after the time of this pretended Confirmation from the Pope restored all the Church-Lands that were then in the Crown saying That they were taken away contrary to the Law of God and of the Church and therefore her Conscience did not suffer her to detain them c. When she gave them to the Pope and his Legate to dispose of to the Honour of God c. she said She did it because she set more by the. Salvation of her Soul than ten such Kingdoms Heylins H. Ref. p. 235. And to this Act of Restitution she was vehemently press'd by the Pope and his Legate F. Paul's H. of the C. of Trent p. 393. Dudithius in vita poli p. 32. And these things thus restored by the Queen were disposed of by the Legate to several Churches Dudithius ib. From all which it 's evident that neither the Pope nor his Legate nor Queen Mary knew of any such Confirmations of these Alienations as would quiet the Conscience without restoring them to spiritual uses Fifthly Queen Mary not only did so her self but press'd it vehemently upon her Nobles and Parliament that they would make full Restitution Heylin p. 237. Sleidan p. 791. and several of them as Sir Thomas Pope Sir William Peters c. who had swallowed the largest morsels of those Lands did make some sort of Restitution tho' not to the Abbies themselves yet to Colledges and Religious Uses Sixthly This very Pope Paul the Fourth published a Bull in which he threaten'd Excommunication to all manner of Persons as kept any Church Lands to themselves and to all Princes Noblemen and Magistrates that did not forthwith put the same in Execution Heylin's Hist. Ref. p. 238. So that by a new Decree he retrieved all those Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues which had been alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the Second Rycaut's Contin p. 112. So improbable a story is it that this Pope confirm'd these Alienations in England And whereas Dr. Johnston p. 173. hath these words Mr. Fox saith the Pope published a Bull in print against the restoring of Abby-Lands which Dr. Burnet affirms also Ap. Fol. 403. It is notoriously false they both asserting the contrary Dr. Burnet's Words in that very place are these The Pope in plain terms refused to ratifie what the Cardinal had done and soon after set out a severe Bull cursing and condemning all that held any Church-Lands Seventhly and lastly The succeeding Popes have been clearly of this opinion Pope Pius the Fourch who immediately succeeded this Paul confirm'd the Council of Trent and therein damned all the detainers of Church-Lands and tho' he was much importun'd to confirm some Alienations made by the King of France to pay the debts of the Crown yet he absolutely refus'd â—… F. Paul's H. C. Trent p. 713. Pope Innocent the Tenth first protested against the Alienations of Church Lands in Germany that were made at the great Treaty of Munster and Osnaburg A. D. 1648. and when that would not do by his Bull Nov. 26. in the very same Year damns all those that should dare to retain the Church-Lands and declares the Treaty void Instrumentum pacis c. Innocentii 10 me declaratio nullitatis Artic. c. and all their late Popes in the Bulla caenae do very solemnly Damn and Excommunicate all those who usurp any Jurisdiction Fruits Revenues and Emoluments belonging to any Ecclesiastical Person upon account of any Churches Monasteries or other Ecclesiastical Benefices or who upon any occasion or cause Sequester the said Revenues without the express leave of the Bishop of Rome or others having lawful power to do it c. And tho' upon Good-Friday there is published a general Absolution yet out of that are expresly excluded all
would compare its Condition with what it is now from the most thriving and flourishing Country of Europe from a place of the briskest Trade and best paid Rents in Christendom it is fallen in one Year and a half 's time to Ruine and Desoration in the most frequent Cities empty Houses and melancholy Countenances in the best Peopl'd Counties unmanur'd neglected Fields and Solitariness Such a one I say might justly exclaim Heu Quantum mutatus ab illo But it would be impertinent to insist any longer on this I must now prove That 't is the advantage of the very Natives themselves who have long been uneasie under the English Government and often endeavour'd to shake it off to be Rul'd and Guided by that Nation they hate so much They are beholding to us for reducing them from a state of Barbarity which left but little difference between them and Brutes We taught them to Live to Eat Drink and Lodge like humane Creatures if they esteem this any advantage and do not really prefer their Native Wildness to all the Benefits of Civil Society Trade Agriculture Merchandizing Learning c. and if the gentleness of the English Government could have had any influence on them they had no reason to be discontented at it They had the equal Protection of the Laws in relation to their Estates and Persons they bore but their just proportion in all Taxes and Cesses Their Lands improv'd in value by the means of their British Neighbours and their Rents were much better paid than formerly whil'st themselves were Masters of the whole Island They had a large connivance for the exercise of their Religion and were even allowed to hold a National Synod of their own Clergy in Dublin Anno 1666. The poor Natives were not oppressed when their severe Land-lords the Irish Gentry by their cruel Extortions Casherings Duties and Days Labour ruin'd them who as soon as the English Manners prevailed among them as they were introduced with difficulty enough there was need of the Authority of Acts of Parliament to constrain them for their own good lived plentifully and in convenient Houses had their share of the current Coyn and proportion of all other Necessaries to the life and well-being of Man which now they want insomuch that several of them have been heard to Curse my Lord Tyrconnel for to his Government they attribute their Misery and acknowledge they never liv'd so well as under the Direction of the English Rulers nor expected to do so again till they were restored to the Helm See the force of Truth which compels a consession of it even from the mouths of its Adversaries One may easily perceive by our Author's manner of arguing where the Shooe pinches he is really concern'd that Ireland is not altogether an independent Kingdom and in the hands of its own Natives he longs till the day when the English Yoak of Bondage shall be thrown off Of this he gives us broad hints when he tells us that England is the only Nation in the World that impedes their Trade That a man of English interest will never Club with them as he phrases it or Project any thing which may tend to their advantage that will be the least bar or prejudice to the Trade of England Now why a man of English interest unless he will allow none of that Nation to be an able and just Minister to his Prince should be partial to ruine one Kingdom to avoid the least inconveniency of the other contrary to the positive Commands of his King I cannot imagine For since it is the Governour 's Duty to Rule by Law and such Orders as he shall receive from His Majesty I know no grounds for our Author 's Arraigning the whole English Nation in saying That no one man among them of what Perswasion soever will be true either to the Laws or his Majesty's positive Orders which shall seem repugnant to the smallest Conveniencies of England This is a glory reserv'd only as it seemes for his Hero my Lord Tyrconnel The Imbargo upon the West-India Trade and the Prohibition of Irish Cattel are the two Instances given It were to be wished indeed for the good of that Kingdom that both were taken off and I question not but to see a day wherein it shall seem proper to the King and an English Parliament to Repeal those Laws a day wherein they will consider us as their own Flesh and Bloud a Colony of their Kindred and Relations and take care of our Advantages with as little grudging and repining I am sure they have the same and no stronger Reason as Cornwall does at Yorkshire There are instances in several Islands in the East-Indies as far distant as Ireland is from England that make up but one Kingdom and Govern'd by the same Laws but the Wisdom of England will not judge it time sitting to do this till we of Ireland be one Man's Children either in Reality or Affection we wish the latter and have made many steps and advances towards it if the Natives will not meet us half way we cannot help it let the Event lie at their own Doors But after all I see not how those Instances have any manner of relation to the English Chief Governours in Ireland they were neither the Causes Contrivers nor Promoters of those Acts. The King and an English Parliament did it without consulting them if they had 't is sorty to one My Lord of Ormond and the Council whose stake is so great in Ireland would have hindred it as much as possible Our Author's Argument proves indeed That 't is detrimental to Ireland to be a subordinate Kingdom to England and 't is plain 't is that he drives at let him disguise it as much as he will but the Conclusion he would prove cannot at all be deduced from it Shortly I expect he will speak plainer and in down-right terms propose That the two Kingdoms may be governed by different Kings Matters seem to grow ripe for such a â—… Proposition â—… Acts and not the subjection to an â—… â—… were the Grievances they would be so â—… British there as well as to the Natives but though we wish them Repealed we do not repine in the mean time if the British who are the most considerable Trading part of that Nation and consequently seel the ill effects of those Acts more sensibly can be contented why the Natives should not acquiesce in it unless it be for the forementioned Reasons I cannot see Our Author allows that there are different ways of obeying the King 't is a Point gained for us and proves there may be such a partiality exercised in executing His Majesty's Commands as may destroy the very intent of them and yet taking the matter strictly the King is obeyed but a good Minister will consider his Masters Intention and not make use of a word that may have a double sence to the ruine of a Kingdom nor of a latitude of power
Late King being so true a Judge of Wit could not but be much taken with the best Satyr of our Time saw that Bays's Wit when measured with anothers was of a piece with his Virtues and therefore judged in favour of the Rebearsal Transpros'd this went deep and though it gave occasion to the single piece of Modesty with which he can be charged of withdrawing from the Town and not importuning the Press more for some years since even a Face of Brass must grow red when it is so burnt as his was then yet his Malice against the Elder Brother was never extinguished but with his Life But now a strange Conjuncture has brought him again on the Stage and Bays will be Bays still He begins his Prologue with the only soft word in the whole piece I humbly Conceive but he quickly repents him of that Debonarity and so makes Thunder and Lightning speak the rest as if his Designs were to Insult over the two Houses and not to convince them He who is one of the Punies of his Order and is certainly one of its justest Reproaches tells us pag. 8. That to the Shame of the Bishops this Law was consented to by them in the House of Lords But what Shame is due to him who has treated that Venerable Bench and in particular his Metropolitan in so scurrilous a manner The Order has much more cause to be ashamed of such a Member though if there are two or three such as he is among the twenty Six they may Comfort themselves with this that a dozen of much better Men had one among them that I confess was not much worse if it was not for this that he let the Price of his Treachery fall much lower than Sa. Oxon does who is still true to his old Maxim that he delivered in Answer to one who asked him What was the best Body of Divinity which was That that which could help a man to keep a Coach and Six Horses was certainly the best But now I come to Examine his Reasons for abrogating the Test. The first is That it is contrary to the Natural Rights of Peerage and turns the Birth-Right of the English Nobility into a Precarious Title which is at the mercy of every Faction and Passion in Parliament and that therefore how useful soever the TEST might have been in its Season it some time must prove a very ill President against the Right of Peerage and upon this he tells a Story of a Protestation made in the House of Lords against the TEST that was brought in in 1675. together with the Resolution of the House against that Penalty upon the Peers of losing their Votes in case of a Refusal be represents this as a Test or Oath of Loyalty against the Lamfulness of taking Arms upon any pretence whatsoever against the King. But in Answer to all this one would gladly know what are the Natural Rights of Peerage and in what Chapter of the Law of Nature they are to be found for if those Rights have no other Warrant but the Constitution of this Government then they are still subject to the Legislative Authority and may be regulated by it The Right of Peerage is still in the Family only as the exercise of it is limited by the Law to such an Age so it may be suspended as ost as the Publick Safety comes to require it even the indelible Character it self may be brought under a total Suspension of which our Author may perhaps afford an instance at some time or other 2. Votes in either House of Parliament are never to be put in Ballance with Establish'd Laws These are the Opinions of one House and are changeable 3. But if the TEST might have been useful in its Season one would gladly see how it should be so soon out of Season for its chief Use being to secure the Protestant Religion in 1678. it does not appear That now in 1688. the Dangers are so quite dissipated that there is no more need of securing it In one sence we are in a safer Condition than we were then for some false Brethren have shewed themselves and have lost that little Credit which some unhappy Accidents had procured them 4. It was not the Loyalty in the TEST of the Year 1675 that raised the greatest Opposition to it but another part of it That they should never Endeavour any Alteration in the Government either in the Church or State. Now it seemed to be an unreasonable Limitation on the Legislative Body to have the yenbers engaged to make no Alteration And it is that which would not have much pleased those For whose satisfaction this Book is published The second Reason was already hinted at of its dishonourable Birth and Original p. 10. which according to the decency of his stile he calls the first Sacrament of the Otesian Villany p 9. This he aggravates as such a Monstrous and Inhuman piece of Barbarity as could never have entred into the thoughts of any Man but the infamous Author of it This piece of Elegance though it belongs to this Reason comes in again in his Fourth Reason page 6. and to let the House of Lords see their Fate if they will not yield to his Reasons he tells them that this will be not only an Eternal National Reproach but such a blot upon the Peers that no length of time could wear away nothing but the Universal Constagration could destroy which are the aprest Expressions that I know to mark how deeply the many blots with which he is stigmatized are rooted in his Nature The wanton man in his Drawcansir humour thinks that Parliaments and a House of Peers are to be treated by Him with as much Seorn as is justly due to himself But to set this matter in its true Light it is to be remembred that in 1678. there were besides the Evidences of the Witnesses a great many other Discoveries made of Letters and Negotiations in Forreign Pares chiefly in the Courts of France and Rome for Extirpating the Protestant Religion upon which the Party that was most united to the Court set on this Law for the Test as that which was both in itself a just and necessary Security for the Establish'd Religion and that would probably lay the fermentation which was then in the Nation and the Act was so little acceptable to him whom he calls its Author that he spake of it then with Contempt as a Trick of the Court to lay the Nation too soon asleep The Negotiations beyond Sea were too evidently proved to be denied and which is not yet generally known Mr. Coleman when Examined by the Committe of the House of Commons said plain enough to them that the Late King was concerned in them but the Committee would not look into that Matter and so Mr. Sacheverill that was their Chairman did not report it yet the thing was not so secret but that one to whom it was trusted gave the Late King an
Account of it who said That he had not heard of it any other way and was so fully convinced that the Nuion had cause given them to be jealous that he himself set forward the Act and the rather because he saw that the E. of S. did not much like it The Parliament as long as it was known that the Religion was safe in the King 's Negative had not taken any great Care of its own Constitution but it seemed the best Expedient that could be found for laying the Jealousies of his Late Majesty and the Apprehensions of the Successor to take so much Care of the Two Houses that so the Dangers with which Men were then allarm'd might seem the less formidable upon so effectual a Security And thus all the stir that he keeps with Perjury and Imposture ought to make no other impression but the wantonness of his own temper that meddles so boldly with things of which he knew so little the true Secret. For here was a Law passed of which all made great use that opposed the Bill of Exclusion to demonstrate to the Nation that there could be no danger of Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that Season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-establishment of that Religion This is but one hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made to shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave rise to the other Discoveries and a fair opportunity to those who knew the Secret of the late Kings Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The Third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the Incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for it was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here he stretches out his Wings to a top-flight and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from his Throne the disowning neglecting and assronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this Sacred Prerogative of his holy Catholick Church and then that he might have occasion to seed his Spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous Objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that he might shew his respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis That to their shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no Shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation desined them both for above an Age before In the 28th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transabstantiation or the change of the substance of bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same Body of Articles since in the Article 35. the Homilies are declared To contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the people And the second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign them must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it her self A man must be of Bay's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points had been already determined and were a part of our Doctrines enacted by Law all that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he can make out of this or how he can justifie the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order As if they had as much in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betrayed the Rights of the Church of England as by Law established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8 9. All this shews to whom he hath pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour is he has any lest When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were not worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in Figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus succeeded to Marcus Aurelius I do not find a more incongruous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His Fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falshood of the matters contained in the Declaration itself pag. 9. For our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a Paragraph as was formerly marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Gentry That Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the Schoolmen and Metaphysicians And that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the
two more of these Volumes The History of the Reformation sells still so well that I do not believe Mr. Chiswell the Printer of it has made any Present to this Reasoner to raise its Price for to attack it with so much Malice and yet not to offer one Reason to lessen its Credit is as effectual a Recommendation as this Author can give it He pretends that Dr. Burnet's Design was to make Cranmer appear a meer Sacramentarian as to Doctrine as he had made him appear an Erastian as to Discipline and he thinks the vain Man was flattered into all the Pains he took that he might give Reputation to the Errors of his Patrons and that those two grand Forgeries are the grand Singularities of his History and the main things that gave it Popular Vogue and Reputation with his Party So that were these two blind Stories and the Reasons depending upon them retrenched it would be like the Shaving off Sampson's hair and destroy all the Strength peculiar to the History But to all this Stuff I shall only say 1. That the Charge of Forgery falls back on the Reasoner since as to Cranmer's Opinion of the Sacrament his own Books and his Dispute at Oxford are such plain Evidences that none but Bays could have questioned it and for his being an Erastian Dr. Burnet had clearly proved that he had changed his Opinion in that point so that though he shewed that he had been indeed once engaged in those Opinions yet he proved that he had forsaken them Let the Reader judge to whom the charge of Forgery belongs 2. Dr. Burnet has indeed some Temptations to Vanity now since he is ill used by Bays and put in such Company but I dare say if he goes to give him his Character he will never mention so slight a one as Vanity in which how excessive soever he may be yet it is the smallest of all his Faults 3. These two Particulars here mentioned bear so inconsiderable a share in that History and have been so little minded that I dare say of an hundred that are pleased with that Work there is not one that will assign these as their Motives He censures Dr. Burnet for saying he had often head it said that the Articles of our Church were framed by Cranmer and Ridly as if it were the meanest Trade of an Historian to stoop to bear-say p. 55. But the best of all the Roman Historians Salust in bello Katil does it and in this Dr. Burnet maintains the Character of a sincere Historian to say nothing that was not well grounded and since it has been often said by many Writers that these two Bishops prepared our Articles he finding no particular Evidence of that delivers it with its own doubtfulness It is very like Sa. Oxan would have been more positive upon half the Grounds that Dr. Burnet had but the other chose to write exactly yet he adds That it is probable that they penned them and if either the Dignity of their Sees or of their Persons be considered the thing will appear reasonable enough But I do not wonder to see any thing that looks like a modesty of Stile offend our Author he is next so kind to Dr. Burnet as to offer him some Counsel p. 50. That he would be well advised to imploy his Pain in writing Lampoons upon the present Princes of Christendom especially his own which he delights in most because it is the worst thing that himself can do then collecting the Records of former times for the first will require Time and Postage to pursue his Malice but the second is easily traced in the Chimney corner One would think that this period was Writ by Mr. Louth it is so obscure and ill expressed that nothing is plain but the malice of it but he of all men should be the furthest from reproaching any for Writing Lampoons who has now given so rude a one on the Late King and the Lords and Commons if bold Railing without either Wit or Decency deserves that Name I will only say this further that if one had the ill Nature to write a Lampoon on the Government one of the severest Articles in it would be That it seems Writers are hard to be found when such a Baboon is made use of It is Lampoon enough upon the Age that he is a Bishop but it is downright Reproach that he is made the Champion of a Cause which if it is bad of it self must suffer extreamly by being in such hands And thus I think enough is said in answer to his impertinent digression upon Transubstantiation let him renounce the Article of our Church and all that he possesses in Consequence to his having signed it and then we will argue all the rest with him upon the square but as long as he owns that he is bound likewise to own the first Branch of the Test which is the renouncing of Transubstantiation In this Discourse he makes his old Hatred to Calvin and the Calvinists return so often that it appears very Conspicuously I believe it is stronger now than ever and that for a particular reason When the Prince and Princess of Orange were Married he was perhaps the only Man in England that expressed his Uneasiness at that happy Conjunction in so clownish a manner that when their Highnesses past through Canterbury he would not go with the rest of that Body to which he was so long a Blemish to pay his Duty to them and when he was asked the Reason he said He could have no regard to a Calvinist Prince Now this Calvinist Prince has declared his mind so openly and fully against the Repeal of the Test that no doubt this has encreased Bays's Distemper and heightned his Choler against the whole Party The second Branch of the Test is the Declaration made of the Idolatry committed in the Roman Church upon which he tells us p. 71 72. That Idolatry is a Stabbing and Cut-throat Word and that it is an Inviting and Warranting the Rabble whenever Opportunity favours to destroy the Roman Catholicks and here Bays will out do himself since this was a Master-piece of Service therefore he makes the taxing the Church of Rome with Idolatry a piece of Inhumanity that outdoes the Savages of the Canibals themselves and damns at once both Body and Soul. He charges Dr. Stillingfleet as the great Founder of this and all other Anti-catholick and Anti-christian and Uncharitable Principles among us and that the Test is the Swearing to the Truth of his unlearned and Phanatick Notion of Idolatry p. 130. 135. and the result of all is That Idolatry made the Plot and then the Plot made Idolatry and that the same persons made both He has also troubled the Reader with a second Impertinence to shew his second-hand Reading again upon the Notion of Idolatry But all this falls off with a very short answer if he is of the Church of England and believes that the Homilies contain a
Money in the payment of his Debt by which though he paid but half or less he might pretend according to the letter to have made good the contract The The power of interpreting a Promise intirely taketh away the virtue of it A Merchant who should once assume that priviledge would save himself the trouble of making any more Bargains It is still worse if this Jurisdiction over a Man's Promise should be lodg'd in hands that have Power to support such an extraordinary Claim and if in other Cases forbearing to deal upon those terms is advisable in this it becometh absolutely necessary XXVII There must in all respects be a full liberty to claim a Promise to make it reasonable to take it in any part of payment else it would be like agreeing for a Rent and at the same time making it Criminal to demand it A superiority of Dignity or Power in the Party promising maketh it a more tender thing for the other party to treat upon that security The first maketh it a nice thing to claim the latter maketh it a difficult thing to obtain In some cases a Promise is in the nature of a Covenant and then between equal parties the breach of it will bear a Suit but where the greatness of the Promiser is very much raised above the Level of equality there is no Forseiture to be taken It is so far from the party grieved his being able to sue or recover Damages that he will not be allow'd to explain or expostulate and instead of his being relieved against the breach of Promise he will run the hazard of being punished for breach of Good Manners Such a difficulty is putting all or part of the Payment in the Fire where Men must burn their Fingers before they can come at it That cannot properly be called good payment which the party to whom it is due may not receive with ease and safety It was a King's Brother of England who refused to lend the Pope mony for this reason That he would never take the Bond of one upon whom he could not distrain The Argument is still stronger against the Validity of a Promise when the Contract is made between a Prince and a Subject The very offering a King's Word in Mortgage is rather a threatning in case of Refusal than an inducing Argument to accept it it is unfair at first and by that giveth greater cause to be cautious especially if a thing of that value and dignity as a King's Word ought to be should be put into the hands of State-brokers to strike up a Bargain with it XXVIII When God Almighty maketh Covenants with Mankind His Promise is a sufficient Security notwithstanding his Superiority and his Power because first he can neither err nor do injustice It is the only Exception to his Omnipotence that by the Perfection of his being he is incapacitated to do wrong Secondly at the instant of His Promise by the extent of his Foresight which cannot fail there is no room left for the possibility of any thing to intervene which might change his mind Lastly he is above the receiving either Benefit or Inconvenience and therefore can have no Interest or Temptation to vary from his Word when once he hath granted it Now though Princes are God's Vicegerents yet their Commission not being so large as that these Qualifications are devolved to them it is quite another case and since the offering a Security implyeth it to be examined by the party to whom it is proposed it must not be taken ill that Objections are made to it even though the Prince himself should be the immediate Proposer Let a familiar Case be put Suppose a Prince tempted by a Passion too strong for him to resist should descend so as to promise Marriage to one of his Subjects and as Men are naturally in great haste upon such occasions should press to take possession before the necessary Forms could be complyed with would the poor Ladies Scruples be called Criminal for not taking the Security of the Royal Word Or would her Allegiance be tainted by her resisting the sacred Person of her Soveraign because he was impatient of delay Courtesie in this case might perswade her to accept it if she was so disposed but sure the just exercise of Power can never claim it XXIX There is one Case where it is more particularly a Duty to use very great occasion in accepting the security of a Promise and that is when Men are authorized and trusted by others to act for them This putteth them under much greater restraints than those who are at liberty to treat for themselves It is lawful though it is not prudent for any man to make an ill Bargain for himself but it is neither the one nor the other where the party contracting treateth on behalf of another by whom he is intrrsted Men who will unwarily accept an ill security if it is for themselves forfeit their own discretion and undergo the Penalty but they are not responsible to any body else They lie under the Mortification and the loss of committing the error by which though they may expose their Judgment to some censure yet their Morality suffers â—… reproach by it But those who are deputed by others to treat for them upon terms of best advantage though the Confidence placed in them should prevent the putting any limits to their Power in their Commission yet the Condition implied if not expressed is that the Persons so trusted shall neither make an ill Bargain nor accept a slight Security The Obligation is yet more binding when the Trust is of a Publick Nature The aggravation of disappointing a Body of Men that rely upon them carrieth the Fault as high as it can go and perhaps no Crime of any kind can outdo such a deliberate breach of Trust or would more justly make Men forfeit the protection of humane Society XXX I will add one thing more upon this Head which is that it is not always a true Proposition that 't is safe to rely upon a Promise if at the time of making it it is the Interest of the Promiser to make it good This though many times it is a good Inducement yet it hath these Exceptions to it First if the Proposer hath at other times gone plainly against his Visible Interest the Argument will turn the other way and his former Mistakes are so many Warnings to others not to come within the danger any more let the Inducements to those Mistakes be never so great and generous that does not alter the Nature they are Mistakes still Interest is an uncertain thing It goeth and cometh and varieth according to times and circumstances as good build upon a Quicksand as upon a presumption that Interest shall not alter Where are the Men so distinguished from the rest of Mankind that it is impossible for them to mistake their Interest Who are they that have such an exemption from human Frailty as that it can never
and so continued to be in a great measure in Henry III's time and so would in all likelihood have continued had not the wise Edward I. opposed the Pope's Usurpation and made â—… Statute of Mortmain But that which chiefly â—… the Neck of this was That after the Pope and Clergy had endeavoured in Ed. II's time and the beginning of Ed. III. to usurp again Ed. 3. â—… resist the Usurpation and made the Statutes of Provisors 25 Ed. 3. and 27 Ed. 3. And Richard II. â—… those Acts with 16 Rich. 2. ca. 5. and kept â—… Power in the Crown by them Laws which being interrupted by Queen Mary a bloody Bigot the Church of Rome during her Reign there was an Act made in 1 Eliz. ca. 1. which is intituled An Act to restore to the Crown the ancient Jurisdiction over the Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and abolishing foreign Powers repugnant to the same From which Title I collect three things 1st That the â—… had anciently a Jurisdiction over the Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual 2ly That that Jurisdiction had for some time been at least suspended and the Crown had not exercised it 3ly That â—… Law did not introduce a new Jurisdiction but restored the Old but with restoring the old Jurisdiction to the Crown gave a Power of Delegating the Exercise of it And as a Consequence from the whole that all Jurisdiction that is lodged the Crown is subject nevertheless to the Legislative Power in the Kingdom I shall now consider what Power this Act of 1 â—… 1. declares to have been anciently in the â—… and that appears from Sect. 16 17 18. of the same Act. Section 16. Abolisheth all Foreign Authority in â—… Spiritual and Temporal in these words And the intent that all the Usurped and Foreign Power and Authority Spiritual and Temporal may for ever clearly extinguished and never to be used or obeyed within this Realm or any other Your Majesties Dominions or Countries 2. May it please Your Highness that it may be further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate â—… or Potentate Spiritual or Temporal shall at any â—… after the last day of this Session of Parliament â—… enjoy or exercise any manner of Power Jurisdiction Superiority Authority Preheminence or Priviledge Spiritual or Ecclesiastical within this Realm or within any other Your Majesties Dominions or Countries that now be or hereafter shall be but from â—… the same shall be clearly Abolished out of this â—… and all other Your Highness's Dominions for â—… any Statute Ordinance Custom Constitutions â—… any other matter or cause whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And after the said Act hath abolished all Foreign Authority in the very next Section Sect 17. It annexeth all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown in these words And that also it may likewise please Your Highness That it may be Established and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That such Jurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised or used for the Visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for Reformation Order and Correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities shall for ever by Authority of this present Parliament be United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm From these words That such Jurisdiction c. as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority had then-to-fore been exercised or used were annexed to the Crown I observe That the Four things aforesaid wherein the Pope had incroached were all restored to the Crown and likewise all other Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that had been exercised or used in this Kingdom and did thereby become absolutely vested in the Crown Then Section 18. gives a Power to the Crown to assign Commissioners to exercise this Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in these words And that Your Highness Your Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm shall have full Power and Authority by Vertue of this Act by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England to Assign Name and Authorize when and as often as Your Highness Your Heirs or Successors shall think meet and convenient and for such and so long time as shall please Your Highness Your Heirs or Successors such Person or Persons being natural horn Subjects to Your Highness Your Heirs or Successors as Your Majesty Your Heirs or Successors shall think meet to exercise use occupy and execute under Your Highness Your Heirs and Successors all manner of Jurisdictions Priviledges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within these Your Realms of England and Ireland or any other Your Highness's Dominions and Countries 2. and to Visit Reform Redress Order Correct and Amend all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction can or may lawfully be Reformed Ordered Redressed Corrected Restrained or Amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Vertue and the conservation of the Peace and Unity of this Realm 3 And that such person or persons so to be named assigned authorised and appointed by your Highness your Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as is aforesaid shall have full Power and Authority by vertue of this Act and of the said Letters Patents under your Highness your Heirs and Successors to exercise use and execute all the premisses according to the tenor and effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding So that I take it that all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was in the Crown by the Common Law of England and declared to be so by the said Act of 1 Eliz. 1. and by that Act a power given to the Crown to assign Commissioners to Exercise this Jurisdiction which was accordingly done by Queen Eliz. and a High Commission Court was by her Erected which late and held Plea of all Causes Spiritual and Ecclesiastical during the Reign of Queen Eliz. King James the first and King Charles the first till the 17 year of his Reign Which leads me to consider the Statute of 17 Car. 1. ca. 11. which Act recites the Title of 1 Eliz ca. 1. and Sect. 18. of the same Act and recites further Section 2. That whereas by colour of some words in the aforesaid branch of the said Act whereby Commissioners are Authorized to execute their Commission acording to the tenor and effect of the Kings Letters Patents and by Letters Patents grounded thereupon the said Commissioners have to the great and insufferable Wrong and Oppression of the Kings Subjects used to Fine and Imprison them and to exercise other Authority not belonging to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction restored by that Art and divers
other great Mischiefs and Inconveniences have also ensuid to the Kings Subjects by occasion of the said Branch and Commissions issued thereupon and the executions thereof Therefore for thr repressirg and preventing of the aforesaid abuses Mischiefs and Inconveniences in time to come by Sect. 3. the said Clause in the said Act 1 E. 1. is Repealed with a Non obstante to the said Act in these words Be it Enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Paliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the aforesaid Branch Clause Article or Sentence contained in the said Act and every word matter and thing contained in that Branch Clause Article or Sentence shall from benceforth be Repealed Annulled Revoked Annihilated and utterly made Void for ever any thing in the said All to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And in Sect 5. of the same Act it is Enacted That from and after the First of August in the said â—… mentioned all such Commissions shall be void in these words And be it further Enacted Toat â—… and after the said First day of August no new Court should be erected ordained or appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall or â—… have the like Power Jurisdiction or Authority as to said High Commission Court now bath or pretendeth â—… have but that all and every such Letters Patents Commissions and Grants made or to be made by â—… Majesty his Heirs or Successors and all Powers and Authorities Granted or pretended or mentioned â—… be granted thereby And all Acts Sentences and Decrees to be made by vertue or colour thereof shall â—… utterly void and of none effect By which Act then the power of Exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Commissioners under the Broad-Seal is so taken away that it provided no such power shall ever for the future be Delagated by the Crown to any Person or Person whatsoever Let us then in the last place consider Whether the Act of 13 Car. 2. ca. 12. hath Restored this Power or not And for this I take it that it is not restored â—… the said Act or any Clause in it and to make that evident I shall first set down the whole Act â—… then consider it in the several Branches of it that relate to this matter The Act is Entituled An Act for Explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the 17th Year of the â—… King Charles Entituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of Statute in primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical The Act it self runs thus Whereas in an Act of Parliament made in the Seventeenth Year of the â—… King Charles Entituled An Act for Repeal of a Branch of a Statute primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical it is amongst other things Enacted That no Arch-bishop bishop nor Vicar-General nor any Chancellor nor â—… of any Arch-bishop Bishop or Vicar-General â—… any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister of Justice nor any other person or persons whatsoever â—… Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction by any Grant Lisence or Commission of the King Majesty His Heirs or Successors or by any Power â—… Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the First Day of August which then should be in the Year of our Lord â—… One thousand six hundred forty one Award Impose or Inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or other Corporal Punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanor Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging â—… Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction 2 Whereupon some doubt hath been made that all ordinary power of Coertion and proceeding in Causes acclesiastical were taken away whereby the ordinary cause of Justice in Causes Ecclesiastical hath been obstructed 3. Be it therefore Declared and Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority thereof That neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained doth or shall take away any ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Arch-bishops Bishops or any other person or persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them Exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may Proceed Determine Sentence Execute and Exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all Cenfures and Coertions appertaining and belonging to the same before any making of the act before recited in all Causes and Matters belonging â—… Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised in this â—… in as ample Manner and Form as they did and might lawfully have done before making of the said Act. Sect. 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the afore recited Act of Decimo â—… Car. and all the Matters and Clauses therein contained excepting what concerns the High-Commission Court or the new Erection of some such like court by Commission shall be and is thereby Repealed to all intents and purposes whatsoever any thing cause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary not withstanding Sect. 3. Provided always and it is hereby Enacted that neither this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to revive or give Force to the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act of Parliament made on the said Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First Year of the Reign of the said Late Queen Elizabeth shall stand and be Repealed â—… such sort as if this Act had never been made Sect. 4. Provided also and it is hereby further Enacted That it shall not be lawful for any Arch-bishop Bishop Vicar-General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to Tender or Administer unto any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex Officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or Administred may be charged or compelled to Confess or Accuse or to purge him or her self of any Criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be liable to Censure or Punishment any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custom or Usage hertofore to the contrary hereof in any wife notwithstanding Sect. 5. Provided always That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Arch-bishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any Power or Authority to Exercise Execute Inflict or determine any Ecclesiastical
means attain it than to open themselves a Gite to Popery and to concur with it to the Ruine of the Protestant Religion You will it may be tell us that it looks ill in us who so much complain That we have been deprived of Liberty of Concience in France to sind fault with the King of England for granting it to his Subjects And that it is the least that can be allowed to a Soveraign to allow him the Right to permit the exercise of his own Religion in his own Kingdoms and to make use of the Service of such of his Subjects as himself shall think sit by putting them into Charges and Employs You will add That his Majesty does not go about neither to abrogate the ancient Laws nor to make new ones All he does being only to dispence with the Observation of certain Laws in such of his Subjects as he thinks fit and for as long time as he pleases and that the right of dispensing with and suspending of Laws is a Right insepably tied to his Person That for the rest the Protestant Religion does not run the least Risque There are Laws to shut the Papists out of Parliament and these Laws can neither be dispensed with nor suspended So that the Parliament partaking with the King in the Legislative Power and continuing still Protestant there is no cause to fear that any thing should be done contrary to the Protestant Religion Besides What probability is there that a King who appears so great an Enemy to Oppression in matters of Conscience and Religion should ever have a thought tho' he had the Power himself to oppress in this very matter the greatest part of his Subjects and take from them that Liberty of Conscience which he now grants to them and which he promises so â—… to observe for the time to come These are all the Objections that can with â—… appearance of Reason be made against what we have before said They may all be reduced â—… five which we shall examine in their order And we doubt not but we shall easily make it appear that they are all but meer Illusions 1. We do justly complain That they had taken from us our Liberty of Conscience in France because it was done contrary to the Laws And one may as justly complain that the K. of England does labour to re-estalish Popery in his Country because he cannot do it but contrary to the Laws Our Liberties in France were founded us on solemn Laws upon perpetual irrevocable and sacred Edicts and which could not be â—… without violating at once the Publick Faith the Royal Word and the Sacredness of an Oath And Popery has been banished out of England by Laws made by King and Parliament and which cannot be repealed but by the author of King and Parliament together so that the therefore there is just cause to complain that the King should go about to overthrow them himself alone by his Declaration 2. It is not true that a Soveraign has always the right to permit the Exercise of his own Religion in his Dominions and to make use of the â—… of such of his Subjects as he himself shall that fit that is to say by putting of them into â—… and Employs And in particular he has this right when the Laws of his Country contrary thereunto as they are in the â—… before us Every King is obliged to observe the fundamental Laws of his Kingdom And the King of England as well as his Subjects ought to observe the Laws which have been established by King and Parliament together 3. For the third the distinction between abrogation of a Law and the dispensing â—… and suspending of it cannot here be of use whether the King abrogates the Laws which have been made against Popery or whether without saying expressly that he does abrogate them he overthrows them by his Declarations under pretence of dispensing with suspending of them it is still in effect same thing And to what purpose is it the Laws are not abrogated if in the â—… time all sorts of Charges are given to Papists and Popery it self be re-established contrary to the tenor of the Laws The truth is if the King has such a power as this if this be â—… Right necessarily tied to his Person 't is in vain â—… the Parliament does partake with him in the Legislature This Authority of the Parliament is but a meer Name a Shadow a Phan â—… a Chimera and no more The King is still the absolute Master because he can alone and without his Parliament render useless by his Declarations the Laws which the Parliament shall have the most solemnly established together with him We confess the King has right of dispensing in certain Cases as if the concern be what belongs to his private Interest he may without doubt whenever he pleases depart from his own Rights 't is a Liberty which no body will pretend to contest with him But he has not the power to dispense to the Prejudice of the Rights of the people â—… by consequence put the Property the Liberty and the Lives of his Protestant Subjects into the hands of Papists 4. What we have now said in Answer to the third Objection will be more clear from the Answer we are to give to the fourth They should perswade the Protestants that their Religion is in safety because on the one side the King cannot make Laws without the Parliament and that on the other there being Laws which exclude Papists out of the two Houses it must necessarily follow That the Parliament shall continue to be Protestant But if the King has the power to break through the Laws under the pretence of dispensing with and suspending of them what Security shall the Protestants have that he will not dispense with the Papists the Observation of those Laws which do exclude them out of the Parliament as well as â—… has dispensed with those that should have kept them out of Charges and Imployments â—… Security shall they have that he will â—… at any time hereafter suspend the Execution of the former as he has already suspended the Execution of the latter Which being â—… what should hinder us from seeing in a little â—… a Popish Parliament who together with the King shall pass Laws contrary to the Protestant Religion What difference can be shewn between the one and the other of these Laws â—… the one should be liable to be dispensed with and suspended and the other not Were they not both established by the King and Parliament Were not both the one and the other made for the Security of the Protestant Religion and of those who profess it Are not the Rights of the people concerned in the one as well as in the other And whosoever suffers and approves the King in the violation of these Rights in some things does he not thereby authorize him to violate them in all If the King has power to put the Liberty and