Her Reign to justify the Legality of all that She did even to those things that She confesses She dispens'd withal contrary to Law were we to play like Children at Cross-purposes the greatest non-sence and most insipid Answers would serve pass for the more Ingenious Diversion I told the Dr. what She dispens'd with contrary to the very Parliaments Act. It is Answered of something She did that was rounded upon an Act of Parliament but now because we 'll keep to the purpose we 'll examin this Her power in Ecclesiasticals founded on the First of Her Reign and see how far it makes for our Authors Apology he says this was in a great measure Repeal'd in the Year 1641. the Dr's Excellencies lying more in Chronology than the Statute-book It is a known Act of 17 th Charles the First that does in some measure as he says and I am glad he keeps to any repeal it I will not insist on the occasion of such a Repeal and the juncture of Affairs that forc'd it though I must confess the Reasons of Laws can never be recollected but by Reflection on the State of those Times in which they were made and that makes a sound Historian somewhat of the necessary part of a good Lawyer and from History 't is most deplorably known that this Repeal was procur'd in the Year that this Rebellion commenc'd by a Parliament the defence of which has been made Proemunire and High-Treason by that which enforced the Triennial Parl. into a perpetual one and which was afterward with so much abhorrence and such an ignominious Character repeal'd But all that appears of this Repeal of the 1 st of Elizabeth from the Opinion of the Lawyers and the examining the Act is the power of the Commissioners fining and imprisoning which was look'd upon as oppressive and therefore my Lord Cook in his Argument upon that case who for a time was no great Prerogative Lawyer or would not be so says that this Act was only a restoring to the King His antient Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction which the Commissioners extended so far as injuriously to fine Offenders upon it beyond their Power this usurped Power some people are of opinion is only by that Act repeal'd though I do not doubt but that Parliament would have willingly comprehended in it all the Inherent Antient Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction that ever appertain'd to the King and Crown and even by special Act here under Catholick Princes has been declar'd so so that indeed as the Dr. says it is but in a measure repeal'd and by express Words in the Repeal of Abuses of the Power only prevented so that it could not take away or deprive the Royal Authority from that unquestionable Prerogative of Commissionating any number of Persons in Ecclesiastical Matters that do not exercise such an extensive Iurisdiction and therefore to reflect upon the present Court that is of another nature and a new Creation as put down and repeal'd with that of Queen Elizabeths is no more an Argument than that Queen Elizabeths Commission was reviv'd when but so lately King Charles the Second delegated His Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and Disposal of Preserments to some Persons that are most now living though perhaps some of them the readiest to Dislike their present Proceedings It is plain that the King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters was never meant should be infring'd from that Repeal by this Ratification of it in the Late King's Time whatever the First Factious Legislators in it might intend for as you see this Late King did in a sort make use of it so in this very Ratification as the Dr. calls it is Provided that as it shall not extend to the Iurisdiction of Archbishops Bishops so neither to Vicar-Generals or Persons exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the King's Commission If the Dr. will cavil only because the Word Court of Commission is not expres'd his Cause will hardly be the better for such a peevish Exception since the Constitution of a Vicar-general would be as little Kindness to the Church as it was in the Excesses of its first Establishment under Henry the Eighth which we see His Majesty as excessive as the Dr. would make Him has not hitherto reviv'd but should a Parliament restore the very Court of Queen Elizabeth it would be reckon'd among such men as illegal and only the King's Excesses in the Government I here shall help him to another Set of Excesses since such Prince's Proceedings must be call'd so when they do not quadrate with our Authors Subject and Design which at another time must pass for good Law when they make but the least for His purpose some People perhaps are of opinion That the Two Tests were past after a sort of Excess in the Government the World now knows one of them was made when the Parliament was exceedingly impos'd upon with Falsehoods and Perjuries and as exceedingly transported with a Zeal that look'd too so much like Fury so that if a man consider their origination and the Circumstances of Affairs when these Laws were made instead of keeping them upon the File after the rest are repeal'd there will appear more Reason even from the Doctor 's Excesses for repealing them the First The Conquest of the Kingdom gave a great Latitude to the 1 st William in point of Government which his Arms having acquir'd he found himself the less limited by the Laws though he profess'd to Rule by it and few of his Successors since that by their own Acts have oblig'd themselves but afford us Instances in greater Excesses of Government than any we can now complain of He is said to have invaded the Jurisdictions of the Prelates and seiz'd their Treasures not sparing his own dear Brother Odo William the Second tax'd his Subjects at pleasure by the Power of his Prerogative was as severe upon the Clergy and Westminster-Hall since the Seat of Iustice was look'd upon by the People as built on purpose to countenance his unjust Taxations The Ne exeat Regnum was repin'd at as a Grievance and in that Reign might be said to Commence The making Mutilation and Corporal Punishment Pecuniary in Hen. the First 's Reign the Confiscations and Bishop of Salisbury's Case in King Stephen's were made matter of Excesses in such Authors too Henry the Second resum'd by his own Act Lands that had been sold or given from the Crown by his Predecessors and against this Excess I think His present Majesty has given us good assurance in His last Declaration since the Dr. labours so much upon the absolute Power of the Former Of Richard the First it is Reported That he feign'd his Signet lost and so put out a Proclamation That those who would enjoy the Grants by the former old one must come and have it confirm'd by the New he pawn'd some of his Lands for the Ierusalem Journey and upon his Return would have resum'd them without Pay. The Exactions of King
Allowed to be Published this 13 th day of Iuly 1688. Dr. Burnett's REFLECTIONS Upon a Book Entituled Parliamentum Pacificum The First Part ANSWERED By the Author LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Matthew Turner At the Lamb in Holborn 1688. Dr. Burnet's REFLECTIONS Answered c. SECT I. IT could not be expected but that Dr. B. would bestir himself to Reflect and Revy upon a piece that so nearly touch't his Person 'T is natural for men when they are prest to be uneasy and since the Dr. will not put himself upon his Tryal and our English Law cannot reach him for standing mute 't is Argument alone that must press him to yield up his Cause or submit it to the Decision of Sense and Reason and the Judgment of Persons impartial and unprovok'd For my own part I must avow to the World That no Prejudices or Provocations conceiv'd against his Religion or receiv'd from his Person prevail'd with me to pass upon him those just Animadversions nothing but that Duty I owe to the Best of PRINCES libell'd and defam'd and as ill as he makes mine that his Crimes may be the more illustrious I will not say by the worst of Pens This innocent Impartiality he does utterly disown and declares himself under hand an a vow'd Enemy to the Perswasion of his PRINCE and His Person too this I hope with men of sober and sedate Judgment or men of common Sense and Reason will have this weight that I deal more fairly with the Dr than he does with his own Soveraign that my Reasonings must be more the Result of the Merit of the Cause and that besides his highest Misdemeanor against His Majesty his greatest Insolency to the Soveraign Authority and what perhaps we may prove not only from the Municipal Laws of Scotland but those of most Nations his High Treason I have nothing against him and desire no more of Resentment Prejudice or Provocation For his Revenge and Reflections on my Work were it not for the Affront Scandals and Indignities that none but he and those that were ever fam'd for it the Defenders of him and as he will have it of his Faith too do continually cast upon the KING I would have sav'd the Pains of a Revy my former Reasons should have stood by their Weight or have fallen with it too And let the Reflecter to return him his affected Air acquired from his most accomplisht Travels have retain'd his Opiniatre applauded his own Works and Originals and commended this his most elaborate Cavil for a solid Answer and Confutation which how far it is from it from every Paragraph every Particular shall appear His contentious Spirit and most implacable Zeal sets up here indeed for the Doctrine of Resistance had he not given us Evidence before in the Fate of a Lord that fell by it too as also in some of his Papers penn'd for that purpose since Such an Antipathy appears in him against Peace that according to the Philosophical Definition of that unaccountable Passion there is no Cause to be given for it such an Aversion that he must needs quarrel at the very Word that his Enemies contended for War when the Royal Psalmist labour'd for Peace was the Complaint too even of a King after GOD's own heart and if this be His Majesty's Case thus to suffer His Piety on which the Dr. so prophanely drolls with that Primitive Pattern may be as much admir'd as well as all such Originals of Sedition and Disturbance detected and abhorr'd It has been so far our Authors Task to verify the Application that he has taken the most pernicious Pains been industrious even to Sedition to apply it At Our Anointed he has shot his Arrows even bitter Words he has encompas't him with Words of Hatred and would have us fight against Him too without a Cause If these are his best Expedients for Peace our Nation has just as much occasion to thank Him as he says some of their neighbouring Countries have his New Masters for their Management of that of Nimmeguen I cannot see why we should not have as good a Notion of Peace here in England as the Dr. has in a Country that has been so much the Seat of War and if Implicit Faith if Absolute Slavery be the only Peace he is so much afraid of they are but ill coupl'd with an Apoplexy too that being a Disease sudden and unforeseen when the former Maladies even from the Dr's Confession have been invading us this Hundred Years and if we believe him ever since the Reformation No to all impartial People the Peace we aim'd at will appear still the same however he would disfigure and disguise it the Tranquility of the State the Quiet of a Nation compos'd by the gracious Favour of an indulgent Monarch and confirm'd by the reciprocal Happiness of a grateful and obedient People SECT II. IN the next place it will as plainly appear how vainly he cavils at the Constitution of that Parliament which was Assembled for the Comming in of the KING I am sure he had once a better Opinion of it when he and Mr. Baxter were better acquainted and he then had milder Thoughts of these moderate Presbyterians but now that Gentleman is become his Enemy and perhaps only for telling the Truth for offering to be an Evidence against the Dr. in High Treason The Restoration of His Late Majesty was by this Dr. in his moderate days imputed to these moderate Presbyterians whom he will not now allow to be moderate at all no not in his own Kirk of Scotland these sort of People for the most part compos'd that Convention which we must not now call a Parliament and of which he once had a much better Opinion I believe he could now wish too from his kindness to that KING's Memory that there had been no such Convention at all for the calling of him and such is the Contrariety of some Mens unsetled Sentiments and Thoughts that are subjected to the prevalency of Passion Prejudice that there is a Proverbial saying which for Civility sake I will not tell him in terminis That the sound of the Bell does sometimes solely depend upon some Peoples Thoughts and Preconceptions But the Dr. is very much deceiv'd when he thinks his Author did not consider the defect that according to the ancient constitution of Parliaments attended the Convention if he will call it so of that assembled State. He I 'le assure him sufficiently foresaw it ponder'd upon it when he put Pen to Paper but could never foresee or imagin that even the Dr. could have been so improvidently peevish as in such a point to have made it an objection why for GOD's sake does it follow from a necessitated imperfection in nice Law that unavoidably attended that Session that therefore now none of its sober debates or wholesome constitutions can be recommended to posterity for imitation and when His
some and I think now is so to all My self knew and still do many of those Members most falsly to suffer under that malitious Imputation whom the Dr. has no reason to reproach for the Selling of their Country and betraying their Trust when they truly serv'd both that and the King but sure it is but a bad Return he makes them when I am sure it was all the same Peers if not the same Parliament that Complemented Him for His Mighty Performances which perhaps they might have omitted had they known what Amends He would have made them or thought him so good at Commending of Himself but this is a Kindness He kept in Reserve and a Sublime acquir'd since his Travels and Accomplishments I can't call this a Controversy with the Dr. when he gives up the Cause when he seems to take pains to appear on my side He shews us how the Late King was continually inclin'd to a Liberty of Conscience he declares the Act of Vniformity a severe Thing the Terms of Conforming Rigidity and those that required it Angry Men Was the Dr. alway of this mind Why then it seems he only Conform'd fell in with the Church for the sake of her Benefices for officiating at the Rolls just as he fell out with the State because he lost it but this cannot credit much the Reputation and Integrity of such a Celebrated Writer and the Church of Englands Chief Men are just as much oblig'd to him for his Characters as the Loyal Members of the long Parliament he has sufficiently attainted their honesty and so most modestly taxes the Indiscretion of all his Clergy that so the State both Civil and Ecclesiastical may more handsomely make up that excellent Composition of Knave and Fool 'T is strange that no party can escape the Fury of his enraged Pen this doughty Wight may make a good Champion for the Truth but will a much better in the Rehearsal The Character of that Hero as high as it is may be more naturally applyed to Dr. B than it is by him to the Late Bishop of Oxford If you consider him elevated to such an Hogen or naturaliz'd for hectoring of KINGS invading of Kingdoms fighting of France combating England defying of Papists Presbyterians Dissenters Church-men and almost all Mankind but if the Loyal Parliament as he calls it in derision were such arrant Knaves for if he is in earnest then their Compliance with their KING is the best Test of their Loyalty and it would be well His Present Majesty had more proof of it and the Chief Men of the Church were such infatuated Fools as he makes them to be wrought upon by the Roman Catholicks for introducing their Religion why here then was a perfect Conspiracy for four and twenty Year of the whole Kingdome some poor supprest Dissenters excepted for bringing us back into Popery and what is more strange could never bring it to pass All our Power Civil and Ecclesiastical was concern'd all our Forces by Sea and Land King and Successor on their side and in his own dreadful Description A Parliament of chosen Creatures all depending upon Himself and this for near Twenty Years together and yet not one step toward Popery unless what appear'd in Andrew Marvels Growth of it but on the contrary in this very Interval of Time the Two severe Tests set up to prevent it and that by this Parliament of Creatures and this Treacherous designing King of his that he makes alwaies to the very last contriving to betray the Protestant Religion from his own meer Motion Marrying that he may see I can use the Word his two Neeces to two Renowned Princes of the Reformed Religion the greatest Security they could desire of his Sincerity to preserve and protect it and if I might add one thing more which I wish as well as the Dr. might be forgotten prevail'd upon from the tumultuous Proceedings of a Parliamentary Power to part with a Brother that had done nothing but to be more dear a palliated Exile that even the necessity of State could not so well excuse and if neither Councells Force Interest Time nor Religion it self could hitherto bring about all this Formidable Revolution I must confess notwithstanding the Discoveries of Dr. B to sober Men and honest this Late King cannot be suspected so false or any Catholicks so designing The Reformations in Henry 8 th Time King Edward Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth were certainly Four as great Changes and Revolutions as any we now fear and as I think somewhat like the same and yet we find they were not working for it under-ground for above Four and Twenty Year together to confine it only to his Reflections on the Late King and if we must credit all such Historians Plot we must add above an Hundred more marching their Invisible Army and Ammunition in the Air on the Sea under Earth PLOTS That Our Selves have blusht at and even judicially baffl'd their Belief But we still saw then that assoon as there was any new Succession to the Throne or any Prince of a different Sentiment that design'd to make any Alterations in the Church or State they were sooner compast with Ease and Expedition certainly these plotting Papists have been a long time very unlucky or very innocent when our happier Protestants had ever better Fortune and could Reform here more easily and openly in some few Years in the face and in the sight of the Sun and this I think is as clear too as some Peoples Designs which even at a season when they need not fly the Light the Dr. says we must still suppose in the dark His secret of the Dissenters having been encourag'd to stand out against Nonconformity even by the Court that pursu'd them with such Rigidity for not Conforming I am perswaded is another peculiar among the many Mysterious Intelligences of the Dr and not much inferiour to his wonderful Discoveries of the Conference at Dover his forreign Negotiations and His Majesty's being so nearly ally'd to the Society when he might so well prove him from the same Evidence A Priest in Orders for the Authority of his Liege Letter lies only at that Authors door who fram'd the other from Father Petre to Pere le Chaise both which will appear to those that have not abandon'd themselves to folly as entire Fictions he ought to discover him for once a Prophet too that having been essential of old to the Kingly Office and then he 'l have the better security for his Religion and may take his Word for an Oracle but the Dissenters will not thank him for thus making out their secret Correspondence with the Court and Iesuites but rather believe that he searcht no other Records for it than the Original Manuscripts of Dr. Oates his Evidence If this Advice to their standing out was only in order to introduce a Toleration how came it to pass that when they had one actually granted that those who
the Guises and get Navar and Conde to be Governors to the KING This Plot was carryed so far that they mutined in most Towns against the Magistrates and the Prince almost had made himself Master of Lyons but his Project being discovered he was made Prisoner at Orleance his process form'd himself condemn'd and had as certainly been executed too had not Francis the Second at the same time dy'd and so altered the Constitutions of the State and the Measures of the Court for the Queen Her self now began to be as much afraid of the growing Greatness of the Guises comes to an Agreement with the King of Navarr that She shou'd be Regent and himself Lieutenant of the Realm that all Prisoners for Religion shou'd be releas'd all Prosecution forborn but these Favours to these Reformers made them more rebellious insomuch that they set upon the CATHOLICKS at their Sacrifices pull'd them out of their Pulpits insomuch that at last the King of Navarr could not find in his heart any longer to defend them and so it was resolv'd in a general Assembly at Paris that their Ministers should be expell'd and none but the Catholick Religion allow'd after this they prevail'd at last at Poissy for a Dispute tho' the Council of Trent was then a foot for deciding any Differences which as fairly as it is represented and perhaps impartially by Father Paul and as fouly by some that were more zealous and concern'd yet certainly was a much better expedient for setling the Disputes in the Church then a private Assembly amongst themselves where the Objection of pact partiality contrivance the Clamours against that Council must needs with Aggravation recoyl upon themselves but the Result of this Divinity Disputation was what usually attends such Polemical Debates like a tryal of Skill both sides boasted they had the best but certain it is the King of Navarr upon seeing the Differences among the Reform'd some favouring the Augustan others the Helvetian Confession was the more confirm'd in the Catholick Faith but the other side by their Boastings growing so popular insomuch that it was thought dangerous almost to disturb them another Edict was granted or forc'd for a Pacification which juncture of Affairs made the cunning Queen fall to favouring of them too that even as the sense of a Protestant Author observes a dignify'd Member in the Church of England this Prosperiny of the Reformation was the Cause of all the Miseries and Misfortunes that befel the Kingdom of FRANCE to the Ruine almost of the Realm their encreasing in strength encreas'd so far the Power of the Prince of Conde that his former Partner the King of Navarr made no Figure at all which made him call in the Duke of Guise for his Assistance and the Duke coming up by the way a Fray was commenced by some of his Servants at a Protestant Sermon the Duke coming to interpose and part was wounded by them himself which so enrag'd some of his Souldiers and Followers that about Sixty People were kill'd the rest put to Flight their Ministers being much of Dr. Burnet's Make gave this out as a Design and in all their Representations made it a Massacre and for this occasional Fray the most furious Out-rages must be justifyed Monasteries pull'd down Altars and Images defac'd and the whole Land fill'd and polluted with blood and it may be also observ'd here that this too is made by Meteran a design'd Slaughter and that the Duke came purposely to disperse and destroy them but this Author confessing in his Preface his Prejudice against this most Catholick cause it had been more consistent with our Authors sincerity in these Matters not to have medled with him And now both Parties labour to keep or get the KING into their Power the Prince of Conde took Orleance and the Catholicks the KING and the Protestants in their New Conquest Spoil all the Churches in the Town but upon none more furious than that of St. Cross as if the Badge of their Profession were the Scandal of Christianity then this Religious Violence must be justifyed with a Manifesto criminating the Catholick Lords for detaining the King and Queen when both of them declared they did them no Violence but assisted them with their Service and Duty tho' the forementioned Author in the same place represents the Queen in the name of the young King writing Letters to Conde that they were under Restraint and Confinement and that he should come in and relieve them when it is known too that She exhorted them to come in and return to their Obedience and so far complying they were that the Duke of Guise offer'd himself to a voluntary Exile if they would but return as the Queen desired to their Obedience and for that they had their Pardon offer'd and Favour too but for all this the Reformers go on seise most of the chief Towns sack the Churches for Silver for their Mint and thus defac'd made them fit for their Stables and Magazines insisting upon insolent Demands they were declar'd Traytors if they did not desist by such a day The Queen that had no such abhorrence of them before now detested them and began to think how She might break and dissolve them for this She prevails with the Constable and Duke of Guise to go and retire from the Court they so did and Conde having promised the Queen to return to his Obedience if ever they did so was now as much confounded at their unexpected Retreat advis'd with his Casuists the Calvanist Doctors what to do in the case who honestly told him That he having made himself Head of their Vnion and League no Obligation could bind him to any Promise that Promises were not to kept that did hinder the Preaching of the Truth the Queen not bringing over the King to him as She promis'd he was bound to keep none of his Promises to Her and so could not be said to violate his Faith These I think are Promises too not very well kept or as ill expounded the Dr. might spare us for it some of his Animadversions on the Reserves of the Society and the keeping no Faith with Hereticks for they found out the best expedient of Aequivocation that the Duke might seem to keep his Promise they ordered him to meet the Queen and surrender himself but withal that the Admiral by Ambuscade should be ready and surprise him and so bring him back to the Camp. They resolv'd it too that for the Reformation sake no regard was to be had to their Country and so invited in our English Aid of Queen Elizabeth who had nearly made her self Master of Normandy About this time the Duke of Guise was treacherously murder'd by Poltrot one of the Reformers that had insinuated himself into his Service and Family and after another Edict granted in their Favour they tumult again to come up to the Pacification of Ianuary and so fall again to their seising of Towns and
the United Assistance of some of the Princes of Germany whatever were their pretended hardships before it was no more than what their own Disobedience and Sedition had deserv'd and supposing they had suffer'd injuriously that is by some excess of Iustice it could no more warrant their incursions into their own Country of Flanders Than the Rebellions of Monmouth and Argile could be justify'd by their being obnoxious to the King of Great Brittain before but interest and opportunity are too strong Temptations to come in competition with Loyalty and Allegiance Ludowick invades Friesland Luma seises upon the Brill the Prince with his Germans and other Auxiliaries designing upon Brabant was by the Duke of Alva diverted and forc'd to retire but Flushing following the Fate of the Brill these Sea-port Towns drew after them the Defection of some of the most considerable Towns in Holland this success animated the P. of O. to enter his Country once again and tho' his Army was less his Success was more he possess'd himself of some of the principal Towns of Brabant and because the Dr. delights so much in the dismal Representations of Popish Cruelties so enrag'd were these Reformers that under the Conquest of Luma none suffer'd worse than the poor Priests they did not only make them die but in tortures too as if their lives could not appease their deadly Fury nor their languishing Deaths defeat their Malice it was extended even to their Carkasses too and their mangled Limbs hung up as bloody Trophies of their most triumphant Cruelty and that it may be beyond contradiction that the Severities of Alva were not the sole Cause of their defection after his removal the heat of their fury still continued as well as before his coming the flames of it were broken forth the many misfortunes and Defeats of their German Forces did not cool it they Reform'd so fast till they fell out amongst themselves tyr'd at last with their own Confusions they fell into the Pacification of Gaunt that is they associated to make Peace among themselves without any regard or consideration of their King which they seem'd to salve afterward with an Explanation and so by the name of perpetual Edict was confirm'd by Don Iohn but all this did not quiet them or that Governors easiness Popular Affectation they frame an Oath to renounce all Obedience to him too from thence proceed to the union of Vtrecht tho' the very Contradiction to that of Gaunt and then second it with the deposition of their King declaring he had forfeited his estate interest in the several Provinces so out-did the Drs Commission of their Liberties and Lives This is a Relation that does not lie for a Cause or Religion for God or Man but shews how far the enraged Catholicks were concern'd in the Rebellion upon which the reforming Protestants proceeded to a Revolt entire defection I shall not insist on our AUTHORS malitious Application of the Duke of Alva's Commission to the Terms of Absolute Power express'd in our KING's Declaration 't is such a profess'd Talent of Dr. B's to make the most odious Comparison of the King's Proceedings that People will not be surpriz'd to see him make the Dukes Reign cruel and bloody only to represent his own Prince a more absolute Tyrant The limitation of the Spanish Monarchy is as much the Mark of our Authors popular affectation as the Reflection on our absolute Power and indeed he cannot but in common Gratitude be for Courting a Common-Wealth but this express Proviso in their Constitution that if the Prince broke such Limits they might resist him was rather a principle of Democracy that was then zealously contended for the limiting all Monarchies as well as that of Spain publish'd in those pernicious Pieces in those very Times for that very purpose in France in Scotland in Flanders by those very people that made all those Commotions though it proceeds upon the most unjustest Principle of making the same Persons judge and Party against the Rules of common Equity common Law and that of all Nations as in a particular Treatise I 've shewn but I hope it does appear from this impartial Relation that the perfidiousness he would have fixt upon the Promises of the King of Spain had it been prov'd would in a great measure have been excus'd by the Provocations of his most disobedient and rebellious Subjects I cannot help it if History the most impartial Authors and even their own represent it so without respect to any Religion whatsoever Thuanus tells us That it was partly upon that very Account that Arch-duke Matthias deserted them as well as for the Indignities he had receiv'd from those he had without any return of Gratitude so eminently serv'd for when he came to examine their Cause upon which they had put so good a Colour as to procure some compassionate Assistance he soon saw how much their injur'd Soveraign was abus'd and that he could not honestly defend their Defection and Revolt from their Lawful Lord Grotius himself lets us know that they proceeded to the deposition of their Prince upon these old Principles of the Supream Authority being alwaies radically in the People that the King was accountable to them that as he was above any single Subject and individual so he was inferiour to them all in the State Collective and that they could judge and punish him too this was all agreeable to that Democracy they then design'd to raise and the Doctrines of those pernicious Pens that were at that time employ'd as the Dr. is now for the Libelling of all Monarchy and advancing the glorious Cause of a Republick and a Common-wealth The modern Preface to that excellent Author glories in the Dedication of the Book upon that bold Attempt of their Ancestors that could venture upon an Insurrection against the Power of Spain that had been formidable even to Kings and Princes and even his most Admir'd and Authentick Meteran is forc d to confess them to have been extraordinary seditious in their Tumults and Insurrections and gives us a full Relation of all those Reasons and Aphorisms purely Democratical by which they pretended to justify the deposing of their King which are contain'd at length in that Instrument of defection Dated from the Hague the Metropolis of the Constituted State. I hope the Dr. does not now think this is in order to the Courting of the Common-wealth-Party but if it be taken ill I do not make my Court better they must be angry with their own Authors or their Ancestors fall out with the Truth or fall foul upon themselves he is too much a man of integrity to desire though it be for a National Concern that History should be corrupted and the vast Reputation as he tells us his own has got I hope was never acquir'd by any Falsehood or Forgery I could have heartily wish'd he had never brought us these unhappy
the Prelate he would pull down the Pride of him and all the Bishops in England pull him out of the Church by the Hair of the Head I think fit to recite this for fear the Dr. should find fault with me as well as Varillas for not telling him the occasion the Bishops found to leave the Court and I think 't was time for them to be gone If the Doctor remembers this seems somewhat of those Sparks that afterward sate both Bohemia and Hungary in a Flame to one of which places if I mistake not this very person here cited did in his Banishment repair and to its missfortunes perhaps contribute and as I think upon occasions like this might be said to be begun that long War of Germany and I do most professedly avow that upon serious Reflection upon those miseries that attended the Reformation which the Doctor has given me too much and too sad occasion to consider and consult I look upon this Juncture of the latter end of this Reign very near that unfortunate Crisis of falling into all the Desolation and Calamities that afterward befel those miserable Countries Bohemia Hungary Germany France and Flanders but tho' fate for a while suspended our misfortunes or the Military King that Reign'd then supprest those more early divisions yet alas the Diversities of Religion did too soon lay us waste and not long since made us as sad a Spectacle to our Neighbours as they had been to us in the same Civil Wars A Body would have thought Dr. B. might have sooner found fault with the beginnings of this King's Reign than his latter end for I must confess it began in the deposition of his Father or at best but a necessitated resignation he being a Prince as ambitious of a Crown as well as one that truly deserv'd to wear it but this is a President that cannot but please him the transferring Allegiance is such a singular piece of Politicks in the Opinion of this Statesman and helps so mightily to the constituting of some States that he may be very desirous it should be much imitated But to come to another Instance of his Excesses in which he does so exceedingly delight himself and that is those of Richard the 2 d's Reign I confess 't is another President of Allegiance transferr'd but that with good Subjects does not presently prove Excesses neither warrant their Disloyalty if they were prov'd if the Proceedings of his Reign must not be mention'd because of its Tragical Conclusion we shall be at a great loss for any Argument that may be drawn from the more Lamented Misfortunes of King Charles the First I suppose the Doctor will say too it was Excesses produc'd that Tragedy and some People will say the Excesses of Conformity but yet I hope there might be good Laws made in his Reign and what was there call'd Excesses has been since found but so much Invasion of the Prerogative and perhaps an Impartial Account of this King Richard's Reign will make that appear so too I had obviated this Objection before upon the very place in observing that the tumultuous proceeding of the Rebellious Barons for I hope by his leave we may be so bold at home and the ambition of the designing Duke of Glocester could no more criminate that King's Reign than excuse them from being Rebels But since he will not be contented let us examine what some Authors as honest as himself say of these Excesses when the Parliament or rather the Party of the Duke of Lancaster was assembled at his deposition Excesses indeed were alledg'd and so will ever be by those that prevail but even among those there some that thought them far from being so the Loyal and Learned Bishop of Carlisle made such a bold Speech in his defence that his very deposers were silenc'd and nothing but each mans private prospect of some publick favour hinder'd their Conviction the new King himself was very cool in the prosecution of the grave old Prelate and could hardly be said to be warm in his acquir'd Government but for all this they thought fit to confine the Loyal Bishop for the Liberty that he took his Crime being only a bold Indiscretion for shewing them so soon the badness of their Cause This King as exceeding criminal as the Doctor would make him had so strong a Party tho' depos'd that they thought fit to deprive him of his Life too and to send him to his Eternal Crown for fear he should take up again his Temporal these are no good Arguments of his Excesses or ill administration Hollinshead that has somewhat of Renown for an Historian tho' he does not in his work exalt his own Reputation with our Authors he tells us this poor Prince was most unthankfully us'd by his Subjects in no King's days were the Commons in greater Wealth or the Nobility more cherisht and as these Tragical Conclusions were not imputed to Excesses by most of his Subjects at home so it was as ill resented by Princes abroad the King of France was so provokt with these Injurious Proceedings that he acquainted his Lords with his Resolution of Revenge and they shewed themselves as ready to take it too but were too soon prevented by their taking away his Life and then it was as much too lateto serve him after his death I am afraid the Doctor will be found to be exceedingly out here in his Excesses but as Excess must serve his turn in one Reign so it seems defect must do it in another Henry the 6 th's feeble Reign must support his Arguments against what he calls Excesses of Government in Richard the 2 d. I am glad to see he has no stronger ones and 't is but a tacit giving up the Cause to have recourse to such Subterfuges H. the 6 th I hope as weak as he was was to govern according to Law and for that the more concern'd so to govern so that the force of the Prerogative in such a feeble Reign is but an Argument a fortiori The Excesses in H. the 8. time indeed were such since he 's resolv'd to call them so and came somewhat near that absolute Power with which he so much affrightens and alarms us in his Libels but I hope he will allow and think the Protestant Religion very much oblig'd to his Excesses since they made the fairest Step to the Reformation and were as well followed in the Reign that came after some Writers will say that those Parliaments that confirm'd his Excesses were so far from free ones that they were hardly allow'd the Liberty of Debate much less to stand up for the antient Establishment of the Church It was Criminal then to deny the Court even in an House of Commons and tho' King CHARLES the First coming to the House only for Members accus'd of High-Treason was made such a Crime as the Breach of Priviledge It was look'd upon here as a Point of Prerogative to
come command their Votes or else certainly such an Assembly suppos'd of the Wisest as well as the greatest Men in the Nation could never have been prevail'd on for passing such Absurdities and Contradictions into Law for the making lawful Heirs illegitimate and then to legitimate again the self same unlawful Heirs to make one Daughter spurious and then another and at last to make them both to be legal Issue with the single Charm of Be it Enacted It is said of that Assembly that it can do every thing but make a Man a Woman but here I think they went pretty near that too and made Women what they pleas'd In the First Ann's Case Incontinency was made the Cause to divorce Her In the Second the Defect of natural Inclination and only upon sending down some Lords to the Lower House what Marriage he pleas'd was declar'd unlawful It was not the Roman Consistory that was Lords of the Articles then or else they had hardly parted so soon with the Supremacy though that invidious Reflection on that Honourable Constitution in Scotland must come a little unkindly from Protestants since if we believe the Bishop to those Lords they are much oblig'd for the helping on the Reformation in short since the Dr. lays such a mighty Weight upon his getting all warranted or confirm'd by Parliament it is but a weak Support for the Confirmation of his Cause for it will give some People the more occasion to observe that such was once our KING's Authority over Parliaments that they could obtain from the Civil Sanctions of the State to sacrifice the Sacred Authority of the Church Wives and Children Women and Men to his Lust and Anger His Parliamentary Warrant will do him but little Service in such Excesses since His present Majesty's Proposals I think are much more reasonable which he desires only so to be Warranted and if these Excesses are so ordinary in great Revolutions some Persons may think this unexpected Indulgence and Toleration as great a Turn The Dr. very wisely passes by without any Consideration all the Proceedings of Edw. the Sixths Reign in which some may think that some Excesses were Committed too and that even in the very two Points that His Majesty has solemnly declar'd to Defend us in Property and Religion In the very First Year of that Reign which the Dr. cannot be unacquainted with it being so of the Reformation too Did the Protector only by his Proclamation order all Enclosures to be laid open which for some time had been enjoy'd by the Lords and Gentry and was partly possess'd by them by Vertue of those Abby-Lands they had from the Crown The Duke knew this would gratify the Common People and being desirous to be popular he issues out this Commission of Absolute Power for all the Lords and Gentry look'd upon it as an Invasion of Property especially when they were in such a Tumultuous manner thrown down were Abby Lands to be thus invaded now by a Proclamation we might well complain of Excess In the same Year were Injunctions sent forth only the Order of the Council Board over all the Kingdom for altering all the Old Ceremonies and way of Worship in the Church of Rome several for opposing these Commissions and Injunctions as something like Excesses were punish'd or sent to Prison The Bishop of London was clap'd up in the Fleet only for scrupling an Obedience and that though he made most solemn submission which is more some People will say than what has been done by some Successor since upon a milder Test of Obedience and a Process less severe Gardiner was Committed to the Tower only for wishing these Proceedings might be delay'd till the King was more capable of the Government Durham Rochester and Chichester for the same Disobedience were so serv'd all of them dispossess'd of their Bishopricks and what was worse the Bishopricks Sees themselves dispossess'd reform'd from their Revenues These Excesses could not but create great Disorders in the State when they saw that what was call'd the King's Proceedings was allow'd to be Law for the regulating of the Church the several Rebellions of the West and North that follow'd meerly upon these Excesses of Reformation had too Tragical Conclusions to relate and so the Dr. took care lest they should be mentioned the suppression of which did not end without a Western and a Northern Campaign and a great deal of Blood and Severity Sir Will. Kingston's pleasant Cruelty in the West his Landlords the Millers Tragedy do declare Northumberland in the North is so well known that I 'le engage the Doctor confesses it a thing which help'd to facilitate Q. Mary to the Throne In short it appears plain from the History that the Protector saw that Reformotion could not be carryed on without Arms that therefore he made the War in Scotland a Pretence to take them up and for this he brought in Germans and Walloons though the coming over of our own Irish now is made a Terror and Astonishment the Elections of the Bishops was then given to the KING for the Ends of Reformation of which 't is now too late to repent In the next President we are reflected on again because Q. Elizabeth's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters was founded on an Act of Parliament which the Dr. says was in a great measure repeal'd in King Charles the First 's time and that Repeal again in Charles the Second's ratify'd this Authors Argument of a Parliamentary power was little to his advantage in his Reign of Hen. 8. not at all for his purpose in the First of Edward the Sixth for there those great Alterations in Church and State were made before the Parliament was call'd meerly by Injunctions Orders of the Protector or the Council Table and that absolute power authorised by the specious Name of the King's Proceedings This was the Original of that Arbitrary Law and Queen Mary might well write after such a Copy but the Dr. does most designedly misapply to our Presidents in Queen Elizabeth's time this Parliamentary power as well as he designedly and wisely omits it in K. Edw. Reign because he knew he could not apply it for if he 'll but examin one of the Cases I put him in the Queens Reign about Her dispensing with the Latin Service to be read in Collegiate Chappels and the Vniversities contrary to an express proviso of an Act of Parliament for the sake of Reformation and the applauded Opinion of Moor that the Queens power of Non Obstante was good even against the Non Obstante of an Act of Parliament to that Her Power he 'll find that some of Her Affairs and Proceedings were so far from being founded on Acts of Parliaments that She acted without them and upon Resolutions that were given to illude and invalidate their power so that in short the Dr. would apply the Case of the Court of Commission founded by the First of
Society to which our Author has such a constant Recourse for his Reflexion Soon after they associated themselves into what they are now so fam'd for the Vnited Provinces by that Vnion of Vtrecht which was made in order to the throwing off all Obedience to the King of Spain which soon followed in Three Years after in that Famous Instrument Dated at the Hague the Substance of which we recited before so that in short the Catholicks foreseeing the designed Revolt took occasion to withdraw as he words it that is to return to their former Obebedience and those ill Inclinations which he says they shew'd and which put them out of the Government was indeed the Jealousie that they had of their Reserves of Loyalty and the Fear that they had that they might spoil this New Formation of the State the Obstinate Resistance of Amsterdam and the foul Usage it met with after it had Compounded shew us how they were put out of the Government and how inclinable some Catholicks were to maintain the poor Remains of the Kings Authority This is what our Author calls a Betraying the Country to the Spanish Tyranny such Aversion there is in a Common-wealth against the Name of Monarchy that our Reflecter must keep it up for to merit and make amends for his Naturalization The Dr. is indeed unlucky in his Old Delenda upon which if he 'le rely as an invidious Instance of the Malice of our English against his New Masters the Dutch it is nothing less than a Libel upon the Late Lord whom not long since they look'd upon as their greatest Friend who lovingly came to ly down his Life in that Carthage which his Rhetorick once did design to demolish That Noble Lord who was a great Instrument for Promoting in the House to help our Author to the Thanks of it the greatest kindness to whose Memory in such Matters would indeed have been to have forgot him And such an Amnesty there was amongst them then of all That Heroes ill Inclination that their study was only how to Endear him with the greatest Demonstrations of Kindness and Courtesy so that our inconsiderate Author falls still upon the most unfortunate Touches such as abuse the very Cause he would so willingly defend and gives us another Occasion to Consider of another Subject to the KING of Great Britain fled for High-Treason Protected from his Iustice by the kindness of the Common-wealth The Inconsistency of Transubstantiation is most unseasonably insisted on at the same time that our Author is taking such Pains to be so inconsiftent with himself for as in this Page he would perswade us how easy the Roman Catholicks are under their Government so in the very next he lets us know intimating their Hardship that 't is they that can best tell us that all Religions are not alike Tolerated 'T is strange that a Man should be so unlucky at Reflexion and yet write so much Mr. Varilla's Copy it seems can transcend the Original We know though the Dr. would disguise it that considering their Services or for fear of their Loyalty the Catholicks there are but hardly dealt with the Pacification of Gaunt was got to be broken by those that form'd afterward this Union of Vtrecht and tho' by both a Liberty of Worship and by the former all civil Offices were reserv'd to them yet by that taking of Amsterdam we saw that Promises were too either kept or broken and by the late Banishing of Priests that this Religion is not to be equally tolerated though it was above all Articled for and Compounded It is a pretty Piece of Prescription to say their KING's Predecessors acknowledg'd them a State almost an Age ago It is not much above an Age that they made themselves so yet such an Acknowledgment I hope will no more warrant the Revolt than the Late King 's taking the Covenant at Skeen could be said to Confirm and Authorize the Rebellion of the Common-wealth of England This forc'd Acknowledgment was made but about Forty Year agon An. 1648. by the Munster Peace and this unfortunate Vindicator falls upon another unlucky Touch this Munster Peace I am afraid will want not only a little Excuse but as much as that of Nimmeghen Spain was drawn in to that Acknowledgment when some People by their separate Treaty betray'd France by their Plenipotentiary Niederhorst his Superiors of Vtretch themselves Condemn'd and of this Peace the Spanish Embassador Le Brun avow'd That in a little time they violated no less than 17 Articles All that know their History too must know That the Priviledges that were pretended were never any Compact with the House of Burgundy and so could not oblige Spain they were united into that House by Marriages and Descent and so descended to that of Austria How the Provinces came first to be United in Philip the Good who under one Government first began them our Authors admir'd Meteran does fully describe but though his peaceable Disposition and the finishing his Quarrel with France gave him no occasion to make use of the Excesses of his Power yet his Son Charles the Hardy that succeded him the same Author lets us know was indeed as his Name imported a little more bold and laid very great Impositions upon them we do not hear then of any Seditions that it occasion'd or any Priviledges that they pleaded to resist When Mary his Daughter was Marryed to Maximilian by which Match they first fell into the Hands of the Austrian Family to which doubtless descended too all the Power and Prerogative that ever was Lodg'd in the House of Burgundy yet their Allegiance you will see did not follow the Translation which ought doubtless as justly to have devolv'd for it was then old Privileges Immunities were first pretended discontent arose which more probably that devolution did promote more than any usurpations of the Prince did warrant or necessitate for it is natural for Subjects to acquiesce more under the Administrations of such Monarchs to whose Government they have by some Discents lineally been accustom'd than with those Princes Sway to which by Collateral Discents and Intervening Marriages they look upon themselves somewhat unfortunately reduc'd and subjected and perhaps this piece of Policy occasion'd that Salique Law in France for which they may better plead this Political Expedient than give us any just Reason for its Original Institution for doubtless the Title to a Crown may be as justly tranferr'd by Marriage and its Issue as the Lawful Discents of common Inheritance with that too be translated all the Power Prerogative that ever was enjoy'd by any of the Predecessors and 't is a Maxim almost of a divine Authority That all things are not Lawful that are Expedient but doubtless this Alienation of the Crown whatever Priviledges were pretended gave occasion to their first Discontents and Seditions in those Provinces in the Reign of Maximilian which Meteran compares
some Souldiers for offering to return after his Majesty's Proclamation for it and some Stipulations and Conventions of their own for the permitting it which because it Symbolises so much with our Author's case of transferring Allegiance and themselves have made use of that as an Argument for their Detention we shall transfer it too to another place when we come to consider his particular defence The Right of the Flag it is not our present business to justifie tho' we have matter enough by us to make out the Argument it is sufficient that it was one of the Articles in the Treaty the violation of which the King insisted on in this Declaration that it had been broken by their Commander justify'd at the Hague and ridicul'd by them in forreign Courts and I may add too maintain'd by this Smyrna Fleet so that here was three Solemn Articles very seriously broken and no satisfaction offer'd after several Demands whereas one of them violated and reparation deny'd had been sufficient to have justify'd by the Law of Arms by the Authority of their own Lawyer any Hostile Attempt without a Publick Denunciation so that here besides a private Intelligence was given to Meerman and over and above the Fleet could be attackt for not striking and all these Provocations and absolute Rupture praecedaneous to this Heroical attempt that our Author does reproach us with but that neither he nor any Dutchman may doubt of our Authority I 'll engage I 'll get the States themselves to acknowledge every Tittle of it to be true from their own Memorials the mouths of their own Embassadors from their own Mediators and this I press not to reproach them but to vindicate the Honour of our Nation in this single instance against a Deserter and that from matter of Fact without any eloquence or affectation When in the last Dutch War the Treaty of Cologne was on foot which was another too that his late Majesty complain'd of where separate Alliances were set forward again as in former with the Fr. they sent us by a Trumpeter some Overtures for Peace in which Missive 't is mention'd they had willingly agreed to all what the K. had before askt about his Subjects in Surinam and the business of the Flag they were willing to submit to judgment of the World and that whereas the King had complain'd that their Answer was insufficient they had Commission'd an Ambassador to add any thing that was needful this was enough of confession in the beginning of the War that they had broke those two Articles of Peace tho' by the way this extraordinary Embassador if I mistake not had Credentials of an extraordinary Nature which were that he was come to do nothing To this Missive tho' it was not so full yet sufficient to evidence fully the violation of the Treaty at Breda did the late King send in return a smart Answer to which they reply'd in such a submissive manner as I hope will justifie that they were in the Fault before this attempt upon the Fleet that they were ready fully to renew the Treaty of Breda and to give a clearer Exposition of the Article of the Flag they solemnly promise to repair all wrongs and injuries offer'd since that Treaty to the beginning of the War this was what our Ambassador could never obtain before it was began by this our Authors Heroical Attempt But to prosecute this a little farther for the information of our Reflecter and satisfaction of the World in the Proceedings of the Peace at Cologn they came up so far to confess the justness of the King of England's Cause that they strongly endeavour'd to give us satisfaction and promote an Union above all the rest that it should be referr'd to our own project of the seventeenth of November upon which the King stood I am sure like a King to a Common-Wealth on as high terms and spoke to them in as big words insisting upon all that before had been urg'd without the least Abatement and besides their offers in answer to this as is before related the Spanish Ambassador on behalf of the States Generals had made these Overtures That this point of the Flag which was one of the points that occasion'd this Heroical Attempt should be order'd and adjusted to the full content of his Majesty And that also 800000 Pattacons or 20 Tuns of Gold that is 200000 l. Sterling English should be given him this reparation I suppose had it been sooner made might have hinder'd this Heroical Attempt they refer themselves now wholly to the English Nation to the Judgment of the Parliament making them the full Arbitrators in their own Cause that cause which our Author and Subject has now so scandalously in his Reflections given up and what he was ever good at betray'd Once more to justifie it a little further these tempting offers of the Spanish Embassadors Summs and sure there must be much Honour in the Cause where the Court refuses so much Money and threatnings that he us'd of a Rupture with Spain were refus'd and slighted because the business of Surinam the regulation of Trade in the East Indies were not included the Violation of which Articles were both insisted on for Reparation before this Heroical Attempt was offer'd at And so the King proceeds to prosecute the War which occasion'd presently the Marquis de Fresno Embassador of Spain to present another Missive wherein was Consented to That the striking the Flagg to the least English Man of War which was once in wantonness by some Authors call'd the KING's Pleasure-Boat was just that the Ceremony should be regulated even according to the Project which His Majesty's Plenipotentiaries themselves had sent from the French Army in such a time as their Common wealth was brought into the greatest Encumbrance That Commissioners should be sent to treat of Regulating the Trade in the East Indies according to the same Project and their Propositions at Cologn That as to Surinam they are ready to suffer any of his Subjects to transport themselves and return when they please That by these Articles it was agreed and confess'd that their whole Fleets of Ships of War or Merchants were oblig'd to strike to any single Man of War of ours which was the Case of this Fleet that is contested and which was deny'd us before in the Case of Van Ghent to a single Ship. That their Commissioners for the East Indie Trade were to meet at London which before could never be obtain'd though it was by an unnecessary Condescention and sending of our Embassadors desired That for the Affairs of Surinam they confess'd in their Third Proposition that it was founded upon Krynsen's Fifth Article That our Inhabitants should have Liberty to sell their Estates to return That the Governor should take Care their Transportation was provided for at a moderate Price and that by another Article Krynsen was to give