Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A65988
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A letter to the author of the late Letter out of the countrey, occasioned by a former Letter to a member of the House of Commons concerning the Bishops lately in the Tower, and now under suspension.
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Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing W211; ESTC R1728
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10,232
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8
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Courage and Constancy I come now to that you call a less pleasing Subject their Refusing the Oaths I will not dispute with you whether they have done well or ill or whether they ought or ought not to take the Oaths But whether you have offer'd any thing considerable to convince them You say you will be so kind to them as to make them Judges in their own causes Well that is a kindness and in consequence of it I pray let their Lordships be ask'd and the matter I suppose will soon be at an end But you do not mean so onely a Paper they set their hands to almost a Twelve-month since If all the Declarations that men have subscribed must be their Judges however the Bishops may escape I am afraid those that are so hot upon this would not be able to stand the Trial themselves of their own Declarations and Subscriptions And yet there is a very great difference between those Subscriptions and this of the Bishops and the other Lords When that Declaration at Guild-hall was made and subscrib'd The times were in the utmost confusion the King was withdrawn the Rabble up in all parts of the Kingdom the Necessities pressing and urgent put all these together and if there had been any need there is reason and ground enough for allowances and however it is very unseasonably urged by those who themselves are so little ty'd to their own solemn and deliberate Declarations and Subscriptions But I pray what is there in This DECLARATION that so warmly affects the Bishops as that they should refuse to be judg'd by it The short of it is That they resolv'd to apply themselves to the P. of O who had undertaken and promis'd by HIS DECLARATION to rescue us by endeavouring to procure A FREE PARLIAMENT That they would assist him in the obtaining such a Parliament wherein our Laws and Liberties may be secur'd the Protestant interest supported to the glory of God the happiness of the Established Government of these Kingdoms And now Sir I pray tell me what contradiction is there in all this to their present or to their former practises Was it that they declared to endeavour for a Free Parliament That very thing THEY had done in their Advices and Petition not long before Or was it that they applyed to the P. of O. and promised to assist him Why they promis'd to assist him but in the obtaining a Free Parliament and such a Free Parliament as might secure the Laws c. to the glory of God and the happiness of the Established Government And what is all this to Swearing how comes there to be such an inseparable connexion between the Oath and the Declaration that the refusing the one is a palpable violation of the other Cannot a man endeavour for a Free Parliament and promise to assist the P. of O. in procuring one but that in his own judgment he must think himself obliged to take the Oath and if he does not he recals his consent and flyes from his subscriptions How you will prove this I cannot tell and I am confident from these Premisses all the skill you have can never draw such a Conclusion The next thing you proceed upon is That Salus populi est suprema lex and upon this Maxim you say you will dispute the matter in cool bloud I am glad of that for hitherto your bloud or your choler has been very hot And to do you right what follows is the coolest thing you have said in all your Letter You say The saying is deriv'd from the old Romans among whom the People with the Senate had the face of the supreme Magistracy So that in our Constitution the King is concern'd in that Maxim and is not to be shut out from his share in it Very well Sir hitherto 't is very cool But say you in admitting a head I would not exclude the Body And so say I too and if you please add that in admitting a Body you would not exclude the Head and then it is as broad as long You proceed with your Argument Altho' 't is possible Kingdoms may have suffer'd by the Peoples encroachments yet to say that a Government can suffer in no other instance would be full as absurd as to say That a man can be mortally wounded no where but in his head but we are sure there are parts in our body as fatal to be touch'd as the Brain and therefore ought to be guarded with equal care That is if the Mouth bites the finger the Teeth are to be pull'd out if the Head sends defluxions upon the Lungs the Head must be cut off because the Lungs are a Vital part and ought to be guarded with equal care Sir It is to be hop'd after such clear Demonstrations that now my Lords the Bishops will be convinc'd and take the Oath You say In those cases we are not ty'd up to the rigor and words of a Law for if the moral Equity and the design of the Commandment is better observ'd by breaking the Letter 't is lawful nay our duty to do it and to make good this you instance in the Sabbath and the Maccabees breaking the letter of the fourth Commandment in which instances the Rule holds good as also in all Ceremonial and positive Institutions But how comes this Rule to be extended to Moral Laws The moral Equity of the fourth Commandment we know but I pray which is the moral Equity of the fifth Commandment or of any other Moral Precept upon the account of which a man may break the Letter and act contrary to it and yet keep the Commandment when you speak plain to this you will find your Account will reach all the Commandments as well as the Fifth and in vertue of it a man may be permitted to take God's name in vain to commit Murder Theft or bear false witness as well as not honour his Father and Mother You are a little pleasant when you talk of being wise Martyrs to the Fifth Commandment But by this you do not only ridicule Passive Obedience but also all the Martyrs and Sufferers for Religion in the Primitive Persecutions for they were just such wise Martyrs and no other For the Rule of breaking the Letter of a Law by the Moral Equity of it is sure full as early and would serve them as well as any body else And these instances of Equity you mention That Kings were made for the people not the people for Kings that the Rights of the Subject ought to be as Sacred as those of the Soveraign That Government was not erected for the aggrandising one single person or family All these were the very same in those days as they are now And I challenge you to name one single instance of Moral Equity which did not equally affect them as any Persons since and might not have been as serviceable to them And therefore 'till you can shew the difference They will be even just such
wise Martyrs ignorant of Moral Equity and the advantages they might have had by that to release themselves from the rigor and words of a Law Of all the men I ever met with you have a peculiar Talent in vilifying the greatest and most honourable Actions And my Lords the Bishops have reason to take it kindly for you allow that they did their duty and that is more than you will allow the Martyrs For says your Rule if the Moral Equity and which was the same to the Martyrs as to any since is better observ'd by breaking the Letter 't is lawful nay our Duty to do it and then the suffering Martyrs either did not understand or else neglected their Duty when they possessed their Souls in Patience and chose rather to suffer than by Virtue of a Moral Equity to break the Letter of God's or man's Law Your friend Mr. Johnson who loves Passive Obedience as little as you do can tell you Answ to Jovian p. 160. that the Primitive Christians suffered patiently because the Laws were against them i.e. the Letter of the Laws For Moral Equity was as much on their side before as after the Laws were made in their behalf That indeed gave them a Title to the Letter but they had before the Equity I have now done with your Arguments A Province I had much rather be imployed in than in considering Reproaches and Scandals but that cannot be avoided in your Letter For after you have said all you can to convince them the next thing is to say all you can to defame them And I defie any man to say more or with Truth and Honesty half so much You have the strange confidence to charge these Reverend and Excellent Bishops with having been the occasion of the expence of so much Treasure and Blood And you instance in Ireland This is a very heavy charge but it is as ridiculous as it is scandalous I wonder when your hand was in that you did not charge them for having been the occasion of all that mortality in the Navy the last Summer or that the Pendennis was cast away or to come a little nearer the matter and because you talk of Ireland that they were the occasion of an unfortunate Gentleman's drowning himself All this you might have charged upon them and a great deal more and with the same truth and justice You have forgot what you said a little before That they had no Partners no body pretends to share with them and they must stand or fall by themselves and how does this account and the present charge agree Can men that are so few and inconsiderable do such mighty things as to stop Armies and prevent the relief of Ireland A man would be tempted to call these contradictions but perhaps you that can joyn veneration and reviling may reconcile it in the mean time I pray Sir Did they hinder the City from lending Moneys on that occasion or did they hinder the raising of Men or was they any impediment to the Parliament to promise assistance for the Reduction of Ireland or finally did they hinder the Wind and Tides Sir the House of Commons is now inquiring into the miscarriages concerning Ireland and if you have any thing to say against the Bishops it is very proper to apply your self to the Committee and they have voted you shall have liberty of access and be heard But if you can say no more than you do in your Letter give me leave to tell you It is a high act of villany to charge any Man and especially Men of their station honour and worth with having been the occasion of spilling Protestant blood and yet have not one wise word to say in proof of it And what is this to their refusing the Oath which was not 'till after the Protestants of Ireland were come over and Derry was besieged and reliev'd I do not know what placing things in a true light may do but in the old way of reasoning the occasion cannot be after the fact And I desire you would please to shew how the Bishops refusing the Oath in July was the occasion that Succors were not sent to Ireland the February or March before In the last place I shall address my self to you upon the end and design of the first Letter which is to recommend to the Parliament the mitigating or releasing the rigor of the Oath Act in favour of these excellent Bishops This you say you must approve of and for the truth of it appeal to your Correspondent But you do not approve of the method proposed Well Sir Methods are not much to me And if your method is better you shall have my vote if you please we will compare them The first Letter in pursuit of this end recommends them as Men who are the chief for merits as well as Authority in our Church That their unparallet'd zeal for the Protestant Religion and for the priviledges and liberty of the subject deserv'd another kind of acknowledgment and return from the Nation That the zeal and courage they made appear cannot be so soon forgot That it would be a wonder and astonishment that these Prelates who had escaped the fury of Papists and made so glorious a confession for Protestant Religion and English Liberties should in so short a time be disgrac'd and depos'd by Protestants and when others that attempted to enslave the Nation and even the Prosecutors of the Bishops are received into favour The chief Champions of the Protestant Religion and Liberty are the onely men that are ruin'd c. Sir in my judgment this is a pretty good method and now if you please let us see what yours is Instead of this you tell us they did but their duty and need not be so extremely magnified that they are men of such a temper that neither God nor man can do any thing for them you charge them with faction and schism with the blood of Ireland with preferring their humour before serving God and to carry the matter home you tell us that the People would not be concerned for their Deprivation and there are many others as good as they to fill their places Now Sir what your end is in this you best know but if it be to procure favour to the Bishops you have taken the strangest Method that ever was heard on Suppose a friend of yours should undertake to recommend you to the favour of a third Person and in order to it should mention your usefulness and vertues and former services which in your own case I suppose you would think might be done without tempting you to boast Suppose another pretending the same should say I approve the design and of any thing that sounds in his favour but I do not like the Method For Sir This man did but his duty he need not be so magnified nor was he singular in those services and not content thus to diminish you should vilifie asperse and bely you besides I pray when there is another true light to be put out give me your opinion what you would think of such an advocate or of his method There is one thing more you and the Author differ upon in point of Method The Author recommends it to the Parliament and thus far you seem to like it well enough but you would have the Bishops first petition Now Sir I am not Critic enough in these matters to know which is best But this I know that favours the more free and unconstrain'd they are are always the greater and more generous and if I mistake not the favours to the Dissenters and to the Quakers were enacted and made into a Law without any previous Petition from either of them And why favours should come harder to those of the Church of England and to such eminent Lights of that Church as I do not undertake to determine so I leave it to them whose immediate concern it is to consider I am SIR Your humble Servant FINIS