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A47635 The transproser rehears'd, or, The fifth act of Mr. Bayes's play being a postscript to the animadversions on the preface to Bishop Bramhall's vindication, &c. : shewing what grounds there are of fears and jealousies of popery. Leigh, Richard 1649 or 50-1728. 1673 (1673) Wing L1020; ESTC R20370 60,432 152

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Preach the Desolation and downfall of the Man of Sin Ah many a good Book of Mr. Bs. and I. O's have these Bawlers cry'd the Project will take wonderfully with your Street-Auditory the Rabble Then they may sing the Fall of Antichristian Magistrates and Laws you have plentifully provided them with Canting for that purpose for from Pag. 243. to Pag. 250. you have carried on the Cause I will point to some of it Pag. 249. Pag. 250. Princes consider that God has Instated them in the Government of Mankind with that incumbrance if it may so be call'd of Reason and that incumbrance upon Reason of Conscience That he might have given them as large an extent of ground and other kind of Cattle for their Subjects but it had been a melancholy Empire to have been only Supream Grasiers and Soveraign Shepheards And therefore though the laziness of that brutal magistracy might have been more secure yet the difficulty of this does make it more honourable That men therefore are to be dealt with reasonably and Conscientious men by Conscience That even Law is force and the execution of that Law a greater Violence and therefore with rational Creatures not to be us'd but upon the utmost extremity That the Body is in the power of the mind so that corporal Punishments do never reach the offender but the innocent suffers for the guilty That the Mind is in the hand of God and cannot correct those perswasions which upon the best of its natural capacity it has collected So that it too though erroneous is so far innocent That the Prince therefore by how much God hath indued him with a clearer reason by consequence with a more inlightned judgment ought the rather to take heed lest by punishing Conscience he violate not only his own but the Divine Majesty So that if any Prince will hold his Kingdom by Mr. Animadve●ters Tenure he is fully Instated in the Melancholy Empire of all his Parks and Chases and next and immediately under Conscience over all Persons their Bodies only reserv'd in the power of their minds and their minds in the hand of God and all other kind of his said Majesties Cattle within his rational or irrational Realms and Dominions Supreme Head and Governour This indeed is the most full and comprehensive Inventory of the Goods and Chattels of Monarchy if I may so speak that eve● was heard of Instating Princes not only in the Government of irrational Cattle a Right which all successively have claim'd from Adam Brutal Magi●tracy being a Flower of his Crown and a Prerogative of his Melancholy Empire transmitted from him to the Patriarchs and all the Supreme Grasiers and Soveraign Shepherds but assigning also other kind of Cattle for their Government as their rational Subjects Ay and such Cattle as Conscientious Men. Which Right as it was at first deriv'd as some fancy from the Original Consent of the People so is the Exercise of it confirm'd by a like Consent of their Heirs or rather of their Consciences Now these tamer Subjects the Brutes are to be govern'd by force that is in our Authors words by Law for Hunters though they have an absolute Power of Life and Death over those we call the Ferae Naturae yet give Law even unto them but the Conscientious Drove are not so easily yok'd as the horn'd Subjects of the Wood and therefore Law is not to be us'd with them but upon the utmost extremity For which reason our Autho●tels us that Brutal Magistracy is more secure and the latter more difficult which confirms an opinion of the Malmsbury Philosophers that Horses had they Laws amongst them would prove more generous Subjects them Men. 'T is true the Animadverter says that God might have given Princes as large as extent of Ground and other kind of Cattle for their Subjects Subjects are one kind of Cattle it seems but it had been a melancholy Empire to have been only Supream Grasiers and Soveraign Shepherds And yet as Melancholy an Empire as that would have been he has instated them in one far more unpleasant and uncomfortable over Subjects from whom they must expect no greater security for Obedience then their own good Nature for punish them they must not if disloyal and unjust for fear of disobliging their Consciences for though he says that Laws should not be put in Execution but upon the utmost extremity 't is plain he intends they should not be Executed at all for in the very next words he affirms that the Body is in the power of the Mind so that Corporal Punishment do never reach the Offender but the Innocent suffers for the Guilty Admirable Stoick but say that the infamy of a Gibbet cannot shame the Generous Mind nor the Severities of the Rack and Wheel awe the most Servile say further that Corporal Punishments cannot reach the Principal Offender the Mind must therefore the Accessary and subordinate Instrument the Body scape unpunisht But the Mind it seems is not only out of the reach but Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate For it is in the hand of God and cannot correct those perswasions which upon the best of its natural capacity it has collec●ed So that if too though erroneous is so far innocent That the Prince therefore by how much God hath endued him with a c●earer reason and by consequence with a more enlightned iudgment ought the rather to take heed lest by punishing the Conscience he violate not only his own but the Divine Majesty So now let any of the most desperate Patrons of Fatal Necessity come out and speak any more Truly this is a pretty way not only of excusing but hallowing all the Villany in the World by dedicating it I dread to speak it to the Deity This is the Syntagm of Calvin's Divinity and System of our Authors Policy Bishop Bramhall as was before noted accus'd the Scotch Disciplinarians for making Kings but Kings of the Bodies and not of the Souls of their Subjects but this Gentleman is so courteous as to release them from the charge of both for the Bodies of their Subjects are exempt from their Jurisdiction as being in the Power of their Minds and their Minds are in the hand of God and so Monarchs had best take heed least by punishing the Consciences of their Subjects they violate with their own the Divine Majesty And now shut up the Church doors there is no use of Altars for the Guilty they need run no farther then to their own Consciences for Sanctuary and be safe Cut in pieces the Whipping Posts and Pillories make Bonfires of the Gallowses set open all the Prisons and let there be a general Goal-delivery for Corporal Punishments are all unjust and reach not the Guilty but the Innocent and what is more they are manifest infringments on our Libertys and the Magna Charia of Conscience Sheath the Sword of Justice mure up Westminster-Hall and set Bills on the Courts for Laws are force and the