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
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
wherewith he is intrusted to the destruction of the most considerable Party in it Far be it from us to think it was His Majesties Intentions to depopulate a flourishing Country to undo multitudes of laborious thriving Families in it to diminish and destroy his own Revenue to put the Sword into Mad-mens hands who are sworn Enemies to the British No! His Majesty who is willing that liberty of Trade as well as Conscience should equally flourish in all parts of his Dominions that recommends himself to his Subjects by his impartiality in distributing Offices of Trust and from that practice raises his greatest Argument to move his people to Repeal the Penal Laws never intended that some general Commands of his should be perverted to the destruction of that people his intention is to protect His Majesty Great as he is cannot have two Consciences one calculated for the Latitude of England another for Ireland We ought therefore to conclude in respect to the King. that His Commands have been ill understood and worse executed and this may be done as our Author confesses and the King undoubtedly obeyed but such an Obedience is no better than a Sacrifice of the best Subjects the King has in this Kingdom Our Author has given very good Reasons why the Natives may be well content with their present Governour but I cannot forbear laughing at those he has found out to satisfie the poor British with My Lord Tyrconnel's most Excellent Charitable English Lady His high sounding Name â—… in great Letters a Name that no less frightens â—… Poor English in Ireland then it once â—…â—… French a Name which because he is in possession of I will not dispute his Title to but I have been credibly informed that he has no relation to the most Noble Family of Shrewsbury though â—… Lord Tyrconnel presumes to bear the same Cost â—… Arms a Name in short which I hope in â—… â—… â—…â—… A Second Reason is drawn from his Education We have heard and it has never yet been contradicted that my Lord Tyrconnel from his Youth â—… has constantly born Arms against the British If our Author will assure us of the contrary I â—… apt to believe his Excellency will give him no â—… who lays the foundation of his Merit upon the â—… of his constant adherence to the Irish Party â—… use of Consolation can be drawn from this head â—… the British is beyond my skill to comprehend A third Reason is drawn from his Stake in England the Author would do well to shew us in what Country this lies that we may know where to find Reprisals hereafter for since he offers this for our Security 't is fit to enquire into the Title and Value of the Land before we give so valuable a Consideration Thus this great heap of substantial Reasons together with a large Panegyrick upon his Excellency's fair Face and good Shapes telling us by the by now he was not kill'd at Drogheda because he run away is enough and more than enough to demonstrate that the British have not the least cause to be dejected because they are sufficiently secure But I will agree with the Author in this That he seems to have been reserved by Heaven against the most critical occasion that should happen in this Age reserv'd as one of the Vials of God's Wrath to plague the People 'T is well known Self-preservation is allowed by God and Man and sines he tells us we are â—… People of a contrary Inurest he gives us right to provide for our selves and our Families as well as we may t is like a generous Aggressor first he declares who are his Enemies then gives them warning to put themselves into a posture of Defence We are beholding to him soo this hint and â—… hope shall make the right use of it 'T is below â—… to take notice of the â—… of the Expression of an honest Man's losing his Head in a â—… and the nonscence of the other The most men bite at the stone c. Dogs indeed â—… to do so with us but this is only to let the World know what Country man our Author is â—… it may be 't is the custom here for these Men to â—… these more rational Creatures Our Author seems sensible that many hard things â—… been done which occasioned Clamours â—… the present Governour though I think our Grievances how intolerable soever have been â—… more silently then any Peoples since the Creation since I do not remember any one Pamphlet â—… hitherto come out to represent them ours â—… of that nature as â—… as and takes away â—… use of the Tongue and Pen Cura lives â—… â—… stupent I say he is not willing this â—… of Calumny should rest on my Lord Tyrconnel â—… casts it all on His Majesty imagining that the â—… we beat and justly to our King ought â—… tender us â—…-â—… in relation to the Male-â—… of his Minister But I have â—… shewn how the King's Orders may be stretch'd â—… perverted The very best and most cautiously â—… Laws have a double edge and if the Executive Power be lodg'd in ill Hands have the worst Effect even to the Punishment of Well-doers and the Encouragement of them that do Ill and I question not in the least but this is our Case and as little doubt that our Grievances would be redress'd did not one of His Majesties most Eminent Virtues interpose between us and His Grace I mean his Constancy to his old Servants and our Condition is so much the more deplorable that His Majesty cannot be a Father of His Country without seeming to desert His Minister but 't is to be hoped that at long running the Groans of a distressed Nation will prevail over all private Considerations Whether the Employment His Majesty has given my Lord Tyrconnel has not prov'd the occasion of the Augmentation of his Fortune as our Author insinuates it has not shall neither prove the subject of this Discourse nor object of our Envy I shall only say if the report be true that my Lord owes all his Estate to the King's bounty 't is ungratefully done to rob His Majesty of the Honour and Thanks due to him by denying it much less is it our business to find fault with the advancement of five Relations In this point Authors differ for some speak 55 at least If there had not been the greatest Partiality in the World shewed we should never have open'd our mouths if in an Army of about 9000 English Officers and Souldiers there be not 200 left in a Country where the English have so much cause to fear and those turn'd out for the most part without any cause assign'd after the most ignominious disgraceful manner imaginable stript naked in the Field their Horses Boots Buff-coats c. taken from them giving them Bills to receive so much Money in Dublin as â—…â—… half the value of their Equipage and â—… without Charge and Attendance have â—… reason to fear
sell his Kingdom to a foreign Prince as that any number of Men who are intrusted with the Supreme Power or any part of it should have a right to impose such shackles upon the Liberty of those who are to succeed them in the same Trust. The ground of that Trust is that every Man who is chosen into such an Assembly is to do all that in him lieth for the good of those who chose him The English of such a Clause would be that he is not to do his best for those that chose him because though he should be convinc'd that it might be very fatal to continue that Law and therefore very necessary to repeal it yet he must not repeal it because it is made a Crime and attended with a Penalty But secondly to shew the emptiness as well as injustice of such a Clause it is clear that although such an Invasion of Right should be imposed it will never be obeyed There will only be Deformity in the Monster it will neither sting nor bite Such Lawgivers would only have the honour of attempting a contradiction which can never have any success for as such a Law in it self would be a madness so the Penalty would be a Jest which may be thus made out XXII A Law that carrieth in it self Reason enough to support it is so far from wanting the protection of such a Clause or from needing to take such an extraordinary receipt for long Life that the admitting it must certainly be the likeliest and the shortest way to destroy it such a Clause in a Law must imply an opinion that the greatest part of mankind is against it since it is impossible such an exorbitance should be done for its own sake the end of it must be to force Men by a Penalty to that which they could not be perswaded to whilst their Reason is left at liberty This Position being granted which I think can hardly be denied put the case that a Law should be made with this imaginary Clause of Immortality after which another Assembly is chosen and if the majority of the Electors shall be against this Law the greater part of the Elected must be so too if the choice is fair and regular which must be presumed since the supposition of the contrary is not to come within this Argument When these Men shall meet the Majority will be visible before-hand of those who are against such a Law so that there will be no hazard to any single Man in proposing the Repeal of it when he cannot be punished but by the Majority and he hath such a kind of assurance as cometh near a Demonstration that the greater Number will be of his mind and consequently that for their own sakes they will secure him from any danger For these Reasons where-ever in order to the making a Bargain a Proposition is advanc'd to make a new Law which is to tye up those who neither can nor will be bound by it it may be a good Jest but it will never be a good Equivalent XXIII In the last place let it be examined how far a Promise ought to be taken for a Security in a Bargain There is a great variety of Methods for the Security of those that deal according to their Dispositions and Interests some are binding others inducing circumstances and are to be so distinguished First Ready Payment is without exception so of that there can be no dispute in default of that the good Opinion Men may have of one another is a great ingredient to supply the want of immediate Performances Where the Trust is grounded upon Inclination only the Generosity is not always return'd but where it springeth from a long Experience it is a better foundation and yet that is not always secure In ordinary dealing one Promise may be an Equivalent to another but it is not so for a thing actually granted or conveyed especially if the thing required in exchange for it is of great value either in it self or in its consequences A bare Promise as a single Security in such a case is not an equal proposal if it is offered by way of addition it generally giveth cause to doubt the Title is crazy where so slender a thing is brought in to be a suppliment XXIV The Eearnest of making good a Promise must be such a behaviour preceding as may encourage the party to whom it is made to depend upon it Where instead of that there hath been want of Kindness and which is worse an Invasion of Right a Promise hath no perswading force and till the Objection to such a Proceeding is forgotten which can only be the work of time and the skin is a little grown over the tender part the wound must not be touch'd There must be some Intermission at least to abare the smart of unkind usage or else a Promise in the eye of the party injur'd is so far from strenthening a Security that it raiseth more doubts and giveth more justifiable cause to suspect it A Word is not like a Bone that being broken and well set again is said to be sometimes stronger in that very part It is far from being so in a Word given and not made good Every single Act either weakeneth or improveth our Credit with other men and as an habit of being just to our Word will confirm so an habit of too freely dispensing with it must necessarily destroy it A Promise hath its effect to perswade a man to lay some weight upon it where the Promiser hath not only the power but may reasonably be supposed to have the will of performing it and further that there be no visible Interest of the party promising to excuse himself from it or to evade it All Obligations are comparative and wher they seem to be opposite or between the greater and the lesser which of them ought to have precedence in all respects every man is apt to be his own Judge XXV If it should fall out that the Promiser with full intent at the time to perform might by the interposition of new Arguments or differing Advice think himself oblig'd to turn the matter of Conscience on the other side and should look upon it to be much a greater fault to keep his word than to break it such a Belief will untye the strictest Promise that can be made and though the Party thus absolving himself should do it without the mixture or temptation of private Interest being moved to it meerly by his Conscience as then informed yet how far soever that might diminish the Fault in him it would in no degree lessen the inconveniences to the party who is disappointed by the breach of an engagement upon which he relyed XXVI A Promise is to be understood in the plain and natural sense of the words and to be sure not in his who made it if it was given as part of a Bargain That would be like giving a Man power to raise the value of his
happen to them not to see their Interest for want of Understanding or not to leap over it by excess of Zeal Above all Princes are most liable to Mistake not out of any defect in their Nature which might put them under such an unfortunate distinction quite contrary the blood they derive from wise and great Ancestors does rather distinguish them on the better side besides that their great Character and Office of Governing giveth a noble Exercise to their Reason which can very hardly fail to raise and improve it But there is one Circumstance annexed to their Glorious Calling which in this respect is sufficient to outweigh all those advantages it is that Mankind divided in most things else agree in this to conspire in their endeavours to deceive and mislead them which maketh it above the power of human understanding to be so exactly guarded as never to admit a surprize and the highest applause that could ever yet be given to the greatest Men that ever wore a Crown is that they were no oftner deceived Thus I have ventur'd to lay down my thoughts of the Nature of a Bargain and the due Circumstances belonging to an Equivalent and will now conclude with this short word Where Distrusting may be the cause of provoking Anger and Trusting may be the cause of bringing Ruin the Choice is too easie to need the being explained A LETTER from a Clergy-man in the City To his Friend in the Country Containing his REASONS for not Reading the DECLARATION SIR I Do not wonder at your concern for finding an Order of Council published in the Gazette for Reading the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in all Churches and Chappels in this Kingdom You desire to know my Thoughts about it and I shall freely tell them for this is not a time to be reserved Our Enemies who have given our Gracious King this Counsel against us have taken the most effectual way not only to ruin us but to make us appear the Instruments of our own Ruine that what course soever we take we shall be undone and one side or other will conclude that we have undone our selves and fall like Fools To lose our Livings and Preferments nay our Liberties and Lives in a plain and direct opposition to Popery as suppose for refusing to read Mass in our Churches or to swear to the Trent-Creed is an honourable way of falling and has the divine Comforts of suffering for Christ and his Religion and I hope there is none of us but can chearfully submit to the Will of God in it But this is not our present Case to read the Declaration is not to read the Mass nor to prosess the Romish Faith and therefore some will judge that there is no hurt in reading it and that to suffer for such a Refusal is not to fall like Confessors but to suffer as Criminals for disobeying the Lawful Commands of our Prince but yet we judge and we have the concurring Opinions of all the Nobility and Gentry with us who have already suffered in this Cause that to take away the Test and Penal Laws at this time is but one step from the introducing of Popery and therefore to read such a Declaration in our Churches though it do not immediately bring Popery in yet it sets open our Church doors for it and then it will take its own time to enter So that should we comply with this Order all good Protestants would despise and hate us and then we may be easily crushed and shall soon fall with great dishonour and without any Pity This is the difficulty of our Case we shall be censured on both sides but with this difference We shall fall a little sooner by not reading the Declaration if our Gracious Prince resent this as an act of an Obstinate and peevish or sactious Disobedience as our Enemies will be sure to represent it to him We shall as certainly fall and not long after if we do read it and then we shall fall unpitied and despised and it may be with the Curses of the Nation whom we have ruined by our Compliance and this is the way never to rise more And may I suffer all that can be suffered in this World rather than contribute to the final Ruine of the best Church in the World. Let us then examine this matter impartially as those who have no mind either to ruine themselves or to ruine the Church I suppose no Minister of the Church of England can give his consent to the Declaration Let us then consider whether reading the Declaration in our Churches be not an interpretative Consent and will not with great reason be interpreted to be so For First By our Law all Ministerial Officers are accountable for their Actions The Authority of Superiours though of the King himself cannot justifie inferiour Officers much less the Ministers of State if they should execute any illegal Commands which shews that our Law does not look upon the Ministers of Church or State to be meer Machines and Tools to be managed wholly by the Will of Superiours without exercising any Act of judgment or Reason themselves for then inferiour Ministers were no more punishable than the Horses are which draw an innocent Man to Tyburn and if inferiour Ministers are punishable then our Laws suppose that what we do in obedience to Superiours we make our own Act by doing it and I suppose that signifies our Consent in the eye of the Law to what we do It is a Maxime in our Law That the King can do no wrong and therefore if any wrong be done the Crime and Guilt is the Minister's who does it for the Laws are the King 's publick Will and therefore he is never supposed to command any thing contrary to Law nor is any Minister who does an illegal Action allowed to pretend the King's Command and Authority for it and yet this is the only Reason I know why we must not obey a Prince against the Laws of the Land or the Laws of God because what we do let the Authority be what it will that commands it becomes our own Act and we are responsible for it and then as I observed be fore it must imply our own consent Secondly The Ministers of Religion have a greater tye and obligation than this because they have the care and conduct of Mens Souls and therefore are bound to take care that what they publish in their Churches be neither contrary to the Laws of the Land nor to the good of the Church For the Ministers of Religion are not look'd upon as common Cryers but what they Read they are supposed to recommend too tho' they do no more than Read it and therefore to read any thing in the Church which I do not consent to and approve nay which I think prejudicial to Religion and the Church of God as well as contrary to the Laws of the Land is to Mis-guide my People and to Dissemble with God and
be overstrained And yet it is such a Complement as they need not For we see they are qualified by the Dispensing Power without the Repeal of the Test which hath made me often wonder why they are so zealous to have it repealed Do they still question the Kings Dispensing Power And desire some better security Let them say so then and give up that point and then we 'll talk with them about repealing the Test but there is no need of repealing this Law since the King it seems hath power to dispense with it in his Reign and they are very sanguine men if they hope to have any occasion for it in another And if after all their boasts of a Dispensing Power the Law still keeps them in awe can it be the interest of Protestants to take off these restraints Are they not insolent enough already while these threatning Laws hang over their heads Or do we hope that their modesty and good Nature will increase with their Power For my part I desire that all men whom I fear may lie under a legal incapacity for though their Force and Power may be the same yet there is some difference in point of Authority and Self-defence II. There are many things which would make a wise man suspect that there is some farther Design than Liberty of Conscience in all this zeal for repealing the Penal Laws and Test. For it would be very surprising to find a Roman Catholick Prince whose Conscience is directed by a Jesuit to be really zealous for Liberty of Conscience to see so many Popish Pens imploy'd in pleading for Liberty of Conscience and declaiming against Sanguinary Laws when all the World knows what Opinion the Church of Rome has about Liberty of Conscience what great friends the Jesuits are to it how they abhor persecuting men for their Religion witness the mild and gentle usage of the French Protestants by a King whose Conscience is directed by a tender-hearted Jesuit And if a Princes zeal for his Religion be much greater than for Liberty of Conscience it would make one suspect that his chief design is to serve his Religion by it and this is no new invention but as old as the days of the Apostate Julian when the same method was taken to reinforce Paganism by Liberty of Conscience This was the last effort of dying Paganism may it be so of Popery too We know there was no talk of Liberty of Conscience till the Nobility and Gentry of the Church of England refused to take off the Test and then there was no other way left but to buy off the Penal Laws and Test with Liberty of Conscience which demonstrates that Liberty of Conscience is not the last End but only a Means in order to some further End and the Means is seldom valued when the End is obtained Men who can offer so much violence to their own Nature and the Principles of their Religion as to grant Liberty of Conscience which of all things they hate to procure a Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws when that is done can easily find some occasion to pretend a forfeiture of this Liberty and to salve their Conscience and Honour together Penal Laws to keep men from damning themselves will be thought more merciful than Liberty of Conscience and the softness and tenderness of Nature must give place to a Bigottry in Religion and then we shall in vain wish for our old Penal Laws and Test again when we feel the more terrible smart of new ones Though it be told us that it hath always been his Majesties Persuasion that Conscience ought not to be forced I think that is no security because though this has always been his Principle yet it hath not always operated We know whose hand was most concern'd both in making and executing Penal Laws in the last Reign and if our Dissenters suffer'd so much then as they now complain of they know what they may suffer again notwithstanding these Principles for Liberty of Conscience for the same Principles obtain'd then as do now Upon the last withdrawing into Scotland notwithstanding those Principles the poor Scotch felt the severity of those Penal Laws with a witness and methinks it is not safe trusiing to such Principles as so often act by way of Antiparistasis and produce Effects quite contrary to their own Natures and however the Church of Rome may indulge such Principles now they are convenient to serve a present turn if the Scene ever alter this private Conscience will be thought as great Heresie as a private Judgment and whosoever now may own it must then be guided by the publick Conscience of the Church as well as by their Faith. There are so many surprising Circumstances in this whole matter as cannot but amaze a thinking Man that so fierce a Zeal should be now kindled for a Liberty of Conscience that a Liberty of Judgment will not be allowed but who ever will not concur in this Opinion must undergo the high displeasure whereas there can be no Liberty of Conscience without Liberty of Judgment And to be mortally angry with every man who is not of my Opinion is no good Preface to granting every Man a Liberty to think and act as he pleases If a Potentate should be so Zealous for Liberty of Conscience as to change all his old Antipathies and Friendships to receive his profess'd Enemies and Rebels into his bosom and cast off his tryed and Experienced Friends that he should forget all injuries and all kindnesses together this would be such an effect of a great passion for Liberty of Conscience as was never known before and when Causes do not work naturally we suspect some preternatural ingredients mixed with them That a Zeal against the Test and Penal Laws should be made a Test to the whole Nation and that not without severe Penalties too viz. The forfeiture of our Princes favour of all Places of Trust and Honour and incapacity to serve in Parliaments if they can prevent it or to be Members of any little Corporation That for the sake of Liberty of Conscience the whole Clergy must be forced to publish the Declaration though they declare it to be against their Consciences That the Archbishop and six of his Suffragans must be sent to the Tower for Petitioning for their own Liberty of Conscience and whither they must have gone next God knows unless they had been rescu'd by an Honest Jury That all those who did not read the Declaration are still threatned with Suspensions and Deprivatious Archdeacons and Chancellors commanded to turn Informers though almost all of them must inform against themselves for not reading or not sending the Declaration and all this while the Laws are on their side It is like to be a very terrible Liberty of Conscience when it is grown up into the Maturity and strength of a Law which like another Hercules can strangle all Laws and Liberties in its Cradle These things make me
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
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