Account of it who said That he had not heard of it any other way and was so fully convinced that the Nuion had cause given them to be jealous that he himself set forward the Act and the rather because he saw that the E. of S. did not much like it The Parliament as long as it was known that the Religion was safe in the King 's Negative had not taken any great Care of its own Constitution but it seemed the best Expedient that could be found for laying the Jealousies of his Late Majesty and the Apprehensions of the Successor to take so much Care of the Two Houses that so the Dangers with which Men were then allarm'd might seem the less formidable upon so effectual a Security And thus all the stir that he keeps with Perjury and Imposture ought to make no other impression but the wantonness of his own temper that meddles so boldly with things of which he knew so little the true Secret. For here was a Law passed of which all made great use that opposed the Bill of Exclusion to demonstrate to the Nation that there could be no danger of Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that Season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-establishment of that Religion This is but one hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made to shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave rise to the other Discoveries and a fair opportunity to those who knew the Secret of the late Kings Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The Third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the Incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for it was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here he stretches out his Wings to a top-flight and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from his Throne the disowning neglecting and assronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this Sacred Prerogative of his holy Catholick Church and then that he might have occasion to seed his Spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous Objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that he might shew his respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis That to their shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no Shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation desined them both for above an Age before In the 28th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transabstantiation or the change of the substance of bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same Body of Articles since in the Article 35. the Homilies are declared To contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the people And the second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign them must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it her self A man must be of Bay's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points had been already determined and were a part of our Doctrines enacted by Law all that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he can make out of this or how he can justifie the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order As if they had as much in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betrayed the Rights of the Church of England as by Law established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8 9. All this shews to whom he hath pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour is he has any lest When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were not worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in Figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus succeeded to Marcus Aurelius I do not find a more incongruous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His Fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falshood of the matters contained in the Declaration itself pag. 9. For our Comedian maintains his Character still and scorns to speak of Establish'd Laws with any Decency here he puts in a Paragraph as was formerly marked which belonged to his Second Reason but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself thought he had not said enough on that head and therefore to save blottings he put it in here After that he tells the Gentry That Transubstantiation was a Notion belonging to the Schoolmen and Metaphysicians And that he may bespeak their Favour he tells them in very soft words That their Learning was more polite and practicable in the Civil Affairs of Human Life to understand the
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
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
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
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
from the Bishops than that they have in part retained in their Government and Ceremonies the Exteriors of that Religion should now themselves joyn to bring it intirely in But above all Who could have believed that the French Ministers who after having experimented all the Fury of Popery in France were at last banished rather than that they would subscribe to its Errors and Abuses And for this very cause fled into England that they might there more freely profess the Protestant Religion should now contribute to re-establish Popery in their new Country where they had been received by their Brethren with so singular a Charity Would you indeed Gentlemen see England once more submitted to the Tyranny of the Pope whose Yoke it so happily threw off in the last Age Would you there see all those monstrous Doctrines all those Superstitions and that horrible Idolatry which reigned there before the Reformation domineer once more in it Would you that the People should again hear the Pulpits and the Churches sounding out the Doctrins of Purgatory of Indulgences of the Sacrifice of the Mass c. and see the Image and Reliques of the Saints carried solemnly in Procession with a God formed by the hand of Man. And that in sine they should again publickly adore those vain Idols We are confident there is not â—… good Protestant in the World that would not startle â—… at the thought of it But this is not yet all The Declaration of which we speak does not only re-establish Popery with all its abominations but does moreover tend to the Ruine of the Reformation in England A Man need not to have any great Sagacity to be convinced of this And that as much as it seems to establish for ever the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom it does on the contrary destroy the very Foundations of it The ground upon which the Reformation is founded in England are the Laws which have been made at several times for the settlement of it and to abolish either the Tyranny of the Pope or the Popish Religion altogether And as these Laws have been made by the King and Parliament together so that the King has not the power to Repeal them without a Parliament they secure the Protestant Religion against the Enterprizes of such Kings as should ever think to Destroy it But now if this Declaration be executed we are no more to make any account of those Solemn Laws which have been passed in favour of the Reformation they become of no value and the Protestant Religion is intirely lest to the King's Pleasure This is what will clearly appear from what we are about to say The King not having been able to obtain of the last Parliament to consent to a Repeal of the Laws which had been made against the Nonconformists dissolved the Parliament it self Not long after without attending a new one he did that alone by his Declaration which the Parliament would not do conjunctly with him He granted a all Liberty of Conscience to the Nonconformists he freed them from the Penalties which had been appointed against them and dispensed with the Oaths to which the Laws obliged all those who were admitted to any Charges whether in the souldiery or in administration of Justice or of the Government In pursuance of these Declarations he threw the Protestants out of all Places of any great Importance to clap in Papists in their room and goes on without ceasing to the intire establishment of Popery Who does not see that if the Protestants approve these Declarations and themselves authorize such Enterprises the King will not stop here but that this will be only one step to carry him much further What can be did when he shall do the same thing with reference to those Laws which exclude the Papists out of the Parliament that he has done to those which shut them out of all Charges and Imploys and forbad them the Exercise of their Religion Does not the approbation of such Declarations as it overthrows these last carry with it before-hand the approbation of those which shall one day overthrow the former And if the King shall once give himself the Authority to bring Papists into the Parliament who shall hinder him from using Solicitations Promises Threatnings and a thousand other the like means to make up a Popish Parliament And who shall hinder him with the concurrence of that Parliament to repeal all the ancient Laws that had been passed against Popery and make new ones against the Protestants These are without doubt the natural Consequences of what the King at this time aims at These are the fruits which one ought to expect from it if instead of approving as some have done his Enterprises against the Laws they do not on the contrary with all imaginable Vigor oppose them Reflect a little on what we have here said and you will confess that we have reason to commend the Conduct of the Bishops who refused to publish the Declaration and to condemn those Dissentèrs who have made their Addresses of Thanks for it It is true that the Dissenters are to be pitied and that they have been treated hardly enough and we do not think it at all strange that they so earnestly sigh after Liberty of Conscience It is natural for Men under Oppression to seek for Relief and Liberty of Conscience considered only in it self is it may be the Thing of all the World the most precious and most desirable Would to God we were able to procure it for them by any lawful means and without such ill Consequences tho' it were at the peril of our Lives But we conjure them to consider how pernicious that Liberty of Conscience is which is offer'd to them as we have just now shewn On the one side it is inseparably linked with the Establishment of Popery and on the other it cannot be accepted without approving a terrible Breach which his Majesty thereby makes upon the Laws and which would be the ruine of the Reformation in his Kingdoms were not some Remedy brought to it And where is the Protestant who would buy Liberty of Conscience at so dear a rate and not rather chuse to continue deprived of it all his Life Should the private Interest of our Brechren the Dissenters blind them in such a manner that they have no regard to the general Interest of the Church Should they for enjoying a Liberty of Conscience so ill assured shut their Eyes to all other Considerations How much better would it be for them to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline but especially at this time when their Conduct ought to have entirely defaced those unjust Suspicions which they had conceived against them But if they could not so readily dispose themselves to such a Re-union would it not be better for them to resolve still to continue without Liberty of Conscience and expect some more favourable time when they may by lawful