being above three Years since we had a Session that enacted any Law Methods have been taken and are daily a taking that render this impossible Parliaments ought to be chosen with an entire Liberty and without either Force or Preingagements whereas if all Men are required before-hand to enter into Engagements how they will vote if they are chosen themselves or how they will give their Voices in the electing of others This is plainly such a preparation to a Parliament as would indeed make it no Parliament but a Cabal if one were chosen after all that Corruption of Persons who had preingaged themselves and after the Threating and Turning out of all Persons out of Imployments who had refused to do it And if there are such daily Regulations made in the Towns that it is plain those who manage them intend at last to put such a number of Men in the Corporations as will certainly choose the Persons who are recommended to them But above all if there are such a number of Sheriffs and Mayors made over England by whom the Elections must be conducted and returned who are now under an Incapacity by Law and so are no legal Officers and by consequence those Elections that pass under their Authority are null and void If I say it is clear that things are brought to this then the Government is dissolved because it is impossible to have a Free and Legal Parliament in this state of things If then both the Authority of the Law and the Constitution of the Parliament are struck at and dissolved here is a plain Subversion of the whole Government But if we enter next into the particular Branches of the Government we will find the like Disorder among them all The Protestant Religion and the Church of England make a great Article of our Government the latter being secured not only of old by Magna Charta but by many special Laws made of late and there are particular Laws made in K. Charles the First and the late King's Time securing them from all Commissions that the King can raise for Judging or Censuring them If then in opposition to this a Court so condemned is erected which proceeds to judg and censure the Clergy and even to disseise them of their Free-holds without so much as the form of a Trial though this is the most indispensible Law of all those that secure the Property of England and if the King pretends that he can require the Clergy to publish all his Arbitrary Declarations and in particular one that strikes at their whole Settlement and has ordered Process to be begun against all that disobey'd this illegal Warrant and has treated so great a number of the Bishops as Criminals only for representing to him the Reasons of their not obeying him If likewise the King is not satisfied to profess his own Religion openly though even that is contrary to Law but has sent Ambassadors to Rome and received Nuncio's from thence which is plainly Treason by Law If likewise many Popish Churches and Chappels have been publickly opened if several Colledges of Jesuits have been set up in divers parts of the Nation and one of the Order has been made a Privy Counsellor and a principal Minister of State And if Papists and even those who turn to that Religion though declared Traitors by Law are brought into all the chief Imployments both Military and Civil then it is plain That all the Rights of the Church of England and the whole Establishment of the Protestant Religion are struck at and design'd to be overturn'd since all these Things as they are notoriously illegal so they evidently demonstrate That the great Design of them all is the rooting out of this Pestilent Heresy in their Stile I mean the Protestant Religion In the next place If in the whole course of Justice it is visible that there is a constant practising upon the Judges that they are turned out upon their varying from the Intentions of the Court and if Men of no Reputation nor Abilities are put in their places If an Army is kept up in time of Peace and Men who withdraw from that illegal Service are hanged up as Criminals without any colour of Law which by consequence are so many Murders and if the Souldiery are connived at and encouraged in the most enormous Crimes that so they may be thereby prepared to commit greater ones and from single Rapes and Murders proceed to a Rape upon all our Liberties and a Destruction of the Nation If I say all these things are true in Fact then it is plain that there is such a Dissolution of the Government made that there is not any one part of it left sound and entire And if all these things are done now it is easy to imagine what may be expected when Arbitrary Power that spares to Man and Popery that spares no Heretick are finally established Then we may look for nothing but Gabelles Tailles Impositions Beneviolences and all sorts of Illegal Taxes as from the other we may expect Burning Massacres and Inquisitions In what is doing in Scotland we may gather what is to be expected in England where if the King has over and over again declared that he is vested with an Absolute Power to which all are bound to obey without reserve and has upon that annulled almost all the Acts of Parliament that passed in K. James I. Minority though they were ratified by himself when he came to be of Age and were confirmed by all the subsequent Kings not excepting the present We must then conclude from thence what is resolved on here in England and what will be put in Execution as soon as it is thought that the Times can bear it When likewise the whole Settlement of Ireland is shaken and the Army that was raised and is maintained by Taxes that were given for an Army of English Protestants to secure them from a new Massacre by the Irish Papists is now all filled with Irish Papists as well as almost all the other Imployments it is plain that not only all the British Protestants inhabiting that Island are in daily danger of being butchered a second time but that the Crown of England is in danger of losing that Island it being now put wholly into the Hands and Power of the Native Irish who as they formerly offered themselves up sometimes to the Crown of Spain sometimes to the Pope and once to the Duke of Lorrain so are they perhaps at this present treating with another Court for the Sale and Surrender of the Island and for the Massacre of the English in it If thus all the several Branches of our Constitution are dissolved it might be at least expected that one part should be left entire and that is the Regal Dignity And yet even that is prostituted when we see a young Child put in the Reversion of it and pretended to be the Prince of Wales concerning whose being born of the Queen there appear
in Mr. Fagel's Letter and how well that was received and how civilly it was answer'd all England saw It is true the Prince is very nearly related to the King but there are other Ties stronger than the Bonds of Flesh and Blood He owes more to the Protestant Religion and to the Nation than can be defaced by any other Relation whatsoever and if the faling in one Relation excuses the other then enough might be said to shew at what pains the Court of England has been to free the Prince from all other Engagements except those of Loving Enemies and doing good to those who despitefully use us for upon this account the Prince lies under all possible Obligations 11. The Reflector thinks that those who left Ireland were driven by a needless Fear but tho' he has no reason to apprehend much from the Irish Papists yet those who saw the last Bloody Massacre may be forgiven if they have no mind to see such another He faintly blames that great Change that was lately made in the whole Government of Ireland but he presently excuses it since it was natural for the King and his Friends to desire to be safe some where till they had fair Quarter in England they must make sure of Ireland but he adds that as soon as that was done the thing must have returned into its old Channel again This ought to be writ only to Irishmen for none of a higher size of Understanding can bear it if it can ever be shewed that Papists have yielded up any thing which they had once wrung out of the Hands of Protestants except when they were forced to it we may believe this and all the other gross things which are here imposed on us The plain Case was the Papists resolved to destroy us and to put themselves in case to do it as soon as was possible So they went about it immediately in Ireland only they have delay'd the giving the Signal for a new Massacre till Matters were ripe for it in England 12. The Reflector has reason to avoid the saying any thing to the Article of Scotland for even his Confidence could not support him in justifying the King's claiming an Absolute Power to which all are bound to obey without reserve and the Repealing of a great many Laws upon that Pretension this is too gross for Humane Nature and the Principles of all Religions whatsoever Our Author avoids speaking to it because he does not know the Extent of the Prerogative of that Crown But no Prerogative can go to an Obedience without Reserve nor can Absolute Power consist with any Legal Government 13. The Declaration had set forth that the Evil Counsellors had represented the Expedient offer'd by the Prince and Princess as offer'd on design to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom upon which the Reflector bestows this kind Remark on the Ministry And did they not say true as it happens Believe me some Folks think many of them are not often guilty of such forelight The Writer is angry that his Side is not uppermost and tho' he includes himself in the Ministry by saying Us when he speaks of them yet here tho' he was to censure the Party that is against him he distinguishes them by saying many of the Counsellors use not to have such foresight But perhaps they can object as much to his foresight and with as much reason But if the King comes up to Mr. Fagel's Letter why was it rejected with so much Scorn and answered with so much Insolence Now perhaps they would hearken to it when they have brought both themselves and the Nation to the brink of Ruin by their mad Councils But they ought to be forgiven since they have been true to the Principles and Dictates of their Religion 14. Our Reflector thinks a Free Parliament a Chimera and indeed he and his Friends have been at a great deal of pains to render it impossible But perhaps he may be quickly cured of his Error and a Free One is the sooner like to be chosen when he and such as he are set at a due distance from the Publick Councils If Members are sometimes chosen by Drinking and other Practices this is bad enough but still it is not so bad as the laying a Force upon the Electors and a Restraint upon the Election Nor is it very much to the King's Honour to remember how the last Parliament was chosen it was indeed a very disgusting Essay in the beginning of a Reign and gave a sad prospect of what might be look'd for but if one Violence was born with when the struggle of another Party seemed to excuse it this does not prove that a course of such Violences when the Design is become both more visible and less excusable ought to be endured If the Members of that Parliament proved Worthy Patriots I do not see why they ought not to be remembred with Honour tho' there is a great deal to be said upon their first elevation to that Character which they maintained indeed nobly so that if the first Conception of the Parliament was Irregular yet its End was Honourable since never a Parliament was dissolv'd upon a more Glorious Account 15. The Reflector sets up all his Sail when he enters upon the Article of the pretended Prince of Wales This was a Point by which he hoped to merit highly and upon that to gain ground on that Party of the Court on whom he had reflected with so much scorn Therefore here must the Prince be attack'd with all the malicious Force to which his Rhetorick could carry him and all those Men of Honour that went over to wait on him at the Hague and to represent to him the bleeding and desperate Condition of the Nation must be stigmatized as a lewd Crew of Renegadoes tho I must tell him that the common acceptation of Renegado is one that changes his Religion and by this he will find some near him to whom that Character belongs more justly He almost blames the King for the low Step he lately made to prove that Birth It was a low one indeed to make so much ado and to bring together such a Solemn Appearance to hear so slight a Proof produced which could have no other Effect but to make the Imposture so much the more visible when the utmost Attempts to support it appear to be now so feeble that as to the main Point of the Queen's bearing the Child there is not so much as a colour of a Proof produc'd And it is certain that if this had been a fair thing the Court would have so managed it that it should not have been in the Power of any Mortal to have called it in question And on the other hand they have so managed it that one must needs see in every step of it broad Marks of an Imposture It will not be half Proofs nor suborned Witnesses that will satisfy the Nation in so great a Point But I will
the Council of Constance that decreed That Princes were not bound to keep their Faith to Hereticks tho' it must be acknowledged that we have extraordinary Memories if we can forget such things and more extraordinary Understandings if we do not make some Inferences from them I will not stand upon such inconsiderable Trifles as the Gunpowder-Plot or the Massacre of Ireland but I will take the liberty to reflect a little on what that Church has done since those Laws were made to give us kinder and softer thoughts of them and to make us the less apprehensive of them We see before our eyes what they have done and are still doing in France and what feeble things Edicts Coronation Oaths Laws and Promises repeated over and over again prove to be where that Religion prevails and Louis le Grand makes not so contemptible a Figure in that Church or in our Court as to make us think that his Example may not be proposed as a Pattern as well as his Aid may be offered for an Encouragement to act the same things in England that he is now doing with so much applause in France and it may be perhaps the rather desired from hence to put him a little in countenance when so great a King as ours is willing to forget himself so far as to copy after him and to depend upon him so that as the Doctrine and Principles of that Church must be still the same in all Ages and Places since its chief pretention is that it is infallible it is no unreasonable thing for us to be afraid of those who will be easily induced to burn us a little here when they are told that such fervent Zeal will save them a more lasting burning hereafter and will perhaps quit all scores so entirely that they may hope scarce to endure a Singing in Purgatory for all their other Sins IV. If the severest Order of the Church of Rome that has breathed out nothing but Fire and Blood since its first formation and that is even decried at Rome it self for its Violence is in such credit here I do not see any inducement from thence to persuade us to look on the Councils that are directed by that Society as such harmless and inoffensive things that we need be no more on our guard against them I know not why we may not apprehend as much from Father Petre as the French have felt from Pere de la Chaise since all the difference that is observed to be between them is that the English Jesuit has much more Fire and Passion and much less Conduct and Judgment than the French has And when Rome has expressed so great a Jealousie of the Interest that that Order had in our Councils that F. Morgan who was thought to influence our Ambassadour was ordered to leave Rome I do not see why England should look so tamely on them No reason can be given why Card. Howard should be shut out of all their Councils unless it be that the Nobleness of his Birth and the Gentleness of his Temper are too hard even for his Religion and his Purple to be mastered by them And it is a Contradiction that nothing but a Belief capable of receiving Transubstantiation can reconcile to see Men pretend to observe Law and yet to find at the same time an Ambassadour from England at Rome when there are so many Laws in our Book of Statutes never yet repealed that have declared over and over again all Commerce with the Court and See of Rome to be High Treason V. The late famous Judgment of our Judges who knowing no other way to make their Names immortal have found an effectual one to preserve them from being ever forgot seems to call for another Method of Proceeding The President they have set must be fatal either to them or us For if twelve Men that get into Scarlet and Furs have an Authority to dissolve all our Laws the English Government is to be hereafter lookt at with as much scorn as it has hitherto drawn admiration That doubtful Words of Laws made so long ago that the Intention of the Lawgivers is not certainly known must be expounded by the Judges is not to be questioned but to infer from thence that the plain Words of a Law so lately made and that was so vigorously asserted by the present Parliament may be made void by a Decision of theirs after so much Practice upon them is just as reasonable a way of arguing as theirs is who because the Church of England acknowledges that the Chuurch has a Power in Matters of Rites and Ceremonies will from thence conclude that this Power must go so far that tho' Christ has said of the Cup Drink ye all of it we must obey the Church when she decrees that we shall not drink of it Our Judges for the greater part were Men that had past their Lives in so much Retirement that from thence one might have hoped that they had studied our Law well since the Bar had called them so seldom from their Studies and if Practice is thought often hurtful to Speculation as that which disorders and hurries the Judgment they who had practised so little in our Law had no byass on their Understandings and if the habit of taking Money as a Lawyer is a dangerous Preparation for one that is to be an incorrupt Judge they should have been incorruptible since it is not thought that the greater part of them got ever so much Money by their Profession as paid for their Furs In short we now see how they have merited their Preferment and they may yet expect a further Exaltation when the Justice and the Laws of England come to be in Hands that will be as careful to preserve them as they have been to destroy them But what an Infamy will it lay upon the Name of an English Parliament if instead of calling those Betrayers of their Country to an account they should go by an after-game to confirm what these Fellows have done VI. The late Conferences with so many Members of both Houses will give such an ill-natured piece of Jealousie against them that of all Persons living that are the most concern'd to take care how they give their Votes the World will believe that Threatnings and Promises had as large a share in those secret Conversations as Reasoning or Persuasion and it must be a more than ordinary degree of Zeal and Courage in them that must take off the Blot of being sent for and spoke to on such a Subject and in such a manner The worthy Behaviour of the Members in the last Session had made the Nation unwilling to remember the Errors committed in the first Election and it is to be hoped that they will not give any cause for the future to call that to mind For if a Parliament that had so many Flaws in its first Conception goes to repeal Laws that we are sure were made by Legal Parliaments it will
shall think fit to bestow on them and only restrains them from invading the Protestant Churches by force so that here a Door is plainly opened for admitting them to the Exercise of their Religion in Protestant Churches so they do not break into them by force and whatsoever may be the sense of the Term Benefice in its ancient and first signification now it stands only for Church Preferments so that when any Churches that are at the King's Gift fall vacant here is a plain intimation that they are to be provided to them and then it is very probable that all the Laws made against such as go not to their Parish-Churches will be severely turned upon those that will not come to Mass XII His Majesty does in the next place in the vertue of his Absolute Power annul a great many Laws as well those that established the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as the late Test enacted by himself in Person while he represented his Brother upon which he gave as strange an Essay to the World of his Absolute Justice in the Attainder of the late Earl of Argile as he does now of his Absolute Power in condemning the Test it self he also repeals his own Confirmation of the Test since he came to the Crown which he offered as the clearest Evidence that he could give of his Resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and by which he gained so much upon that Parliament that he obtained every thing from them that he desired of them till he came to try them in the Matters of Religion This is no extraordinary Evidence to assure his People that his Promises will be like the Laws of the Medes and Persians which alter not nor will the disgrace of the Commissioner that enacted that Law lay this Matter wholly on him for the Letter that he brought the Speech that he made and the Instructions which he got are all too well known to be so soon forgotten and if Princes will give their Subjects reason to think that they forget their Promises as soon as the Turn is served for which they were made this will be too prevailing a Temptation to the Subjects to mind the Princes Promise as little as it seems he himself does and will force them to conclude that the Truth of the Prince is not so Absolute as it seems he fancies his Power to be XIII Here is not only a Repealing of a great many Laws and established Oaths and Tests but by the exercise of the Absolute Power a new Oath is imposed which was never pretended to by the Crown in any former time and as the Oath is created by this Absolute Power so it seems the Absolute Power must be supported by this Oath since one Branch of it is an Obligation to maintain his Majesty and his lawful Successors in the exercise of this their Absolute Power and Authority against all Deadly which I suppose is Scotch for Mortals Now to impose so hard a Yoke as this Absolute Power on the Subjects seems no small stretch but it is a wonderful Exercise of it to oblige the Subjects to defend this it had been more modest if they had been only bound to bear it and submit to it but it is a terrible thing so far to extinguish all the Remnants of Natural Liberty or of a Legal Government as to oblige the Subjects by Oath to maintain the Exercise of this which plainly must destroy themselves For the short Execution by the Bow-strings of Turkey or by sending Orders to Men to return in their Heads being an Exercise of this Absolute Power it is a little hard to make Men swear to maintain the King in it and if that Kingdom has suffered so much by the many Oaths that have been in use among them as is marked in this Proclamation I am afraid this new Oath will not much mend the matter XIV Yet after all there is some Comfort his Majesty assures them he will use no Violence nor Force nor any Invincible Necessity to any Man upon the account of his Persuasion It were too great a want of Respect to fancy that a time may come in which even this may be remembred full as well as the Promises that were made to the Parliament after His Majesty came to the Crown I do not I confess apprehend that for I see here to great a Caution used in the choice of these Words that it is plain very great Severities may very well consist with them It is clear that the general Words of Violence and Force are to be determined by these last of Invincible Necessity so that the King does only promise to lay no Invincible Necessity on his Subjects but for all Necessities that are not Invincible it seems they must expect to bear a large share of them Disgraces want of Employments Fines and Imprisonments and even Death it self are all Vincible things to a Man of firmness of Mind so that the Violences of Torture the Furies of Dragoons and some of the Methods now practised in France perhaps may be included within this Promise since these seem almost Invincible to Humane Nature if it is not fortified with an extraordinary measure of Grace but as to all other things His Majesty binds himself up from no part of the Exercise of his Absolute Power by this Promise XV. His Majesty orders this to go immediately to the Great Seal without passing thro' the other Seals Now since this is counter-signed by the Secretary in whose Hands the Signet is there was no other step to be made but thro' the Privy Seal so I must own I have a great curiosity of knowing his Character in whose Hands the Privy Seal is at present for it seems his Conscience is not so very supple as the Chancellor's and the Secretaries are but it is very likely if he does not quickly change his Mind the Privy Seal at least will very quickly change its Keeper and I am sorry to hear that the Lord Chancellor and the Secretary have not another Brother to fill this Post that so the Guilt of the Ruine of that Nation may lie on one single Family and that there may be no others involved in it XVI Upon the whole matter many smaller things being waved it being extream unpleasant to find fault where one has all possible dispositions to pay all Respect we here in England see what we must look for A Parliament in Scotland was tried but it proved a little stubborn and now Absolute Power comes to set all right so when the Closetting has gone round so that Noses are counted we may perhaps see a Parliament here but if it chances to be untoward and not to obey without Reserve then our Reverend Judges will copy from Scotland and will not only tell us of the King 's Imperial Power but will discover to us this new Mystery of Absolute Power to which we are all bound to obey without Reserve These Reflections refer in so many Places
I A. B. do acknowledge testifie and declare that JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c is rightful King and Supream Governour of these Realms and over all Persons therein and that it is unlawful for Subjects on any pretence or for any cause whatsoever to rise in Arms against Him or any Commissionated by Him and that I shall never so rise in Arms nor assist any who shall so do and that I shall never resist His Power or Authority nor ever oppose his Authority to his Person as I shall answer to God but shall to the utmost of my Power Assist Defend and Maintain Him His Heirs and lawful Successors in the exercise of their ABSOLUTE POWER and Authority against all Deadly So help me God. And seeing many of Our good Subjects have before Our Pleasure in these Matters was made publick incurred the Guilt appointed by the Acts of Parliament above mentioned or others We by Our Authority and Absolute Power and Prerogative Royal above-mentioned of Our certain Knowledge and innate Mercy Give Our ample and full Indemnity to all those of the Roman Catholick or Popish Religion for all things by them done contrary to Our Laws or Acts of Parliament made in any time past relating to their Religion the Worship and Exercise thereof or for being Papists Jesuits or Traffickers for hearing or saying of Mass concealing of Priests or Jesuits breeding their Children Catholicks at home or abroad or any other thing Rite or Doctrine said performed or maintained by them or any of them And likewise for holding or taking of Places Employments or Offices contrary to any Law or Constitution Advices given to Us or Our Council Actions done or generally any thing performed or said against the known Laws of that Our Ancient Kingdom Excepting always from this Our Royal Indemnity all Murders Assassinations Thefts and such like other Crimes which never used to be comprehended in Our General Acts of Indemnity And we command and require all Our Judges or others concerned to explain this in the most Ample Sense and Meaning Acts of Indemnity at any time have contained Declaring this shall be as good to every one concerned as if they had Our Royal Pardon and Remission under Our Great Seal of that Kingdom And likewise indemnifying Our Protestant Subjects from all Pains and Penalties due for hearing or Preaching in Houses Providing there be no Treasonable Speeches uttered in the said Conventicles by them in which case the Law is only to take place against the Guilty and none other present Providing also that they Reveal to any of our Gouncil the Guilt so committed As also excepting all Fines or Effects of Sentences already given And likewise indemnifying fully and freely all Quakers for their Meetings and Worship in all time past preceding the Publication of these Presents And we doubt not but Our Protestant Subjects will give their Assistance and Concourse hereunto on all occasions in their respective Capacities In consideration whereof and the ease those of Our Religion and others may have hereby and for the Encouragement of Our Protestant Bishops and the Regular Clergy and such as have hitherto lived orderly We think fit to declare that it never was Our Principle nor will We ever suffer violence to be offered to any Mans Conscience nor will We use force or Invincible Necessity against any Man on the Account of his Perswasion nor the Protestant Religion but will protect Our Bishops and other Ministers in their Functions Rights and Properties and all Our Protestant Subjects in the free Exercise of their Protestant Religion in the Churches And that We will and hereby Promise on Our Royal Word to maintain the Possessors of Church Lands formerly belonging to Abbeys or other Churches of the Catholick Religion in their full and free Possession and Right according to Our Laws and Acts of Parliament in that behalf in all time coming And We will employ indifferently all our Subjects of all Perswasions so as none shall meet with any Discouragement on the account of his Religion but be advanced and esteemed by Us according to their several Capacities and Qualifications so long as we find Charity and Unity maintained And if any Animosities shall arise as We hope in God there will not We will shew the severest Effects of Our Royal Displeasure against the Beginners or Fomenters thereof seeing thereby Our Subjects may be deprived of this general Ease and Satisfaction We intend to all of them whose Happiness Prosperity Wealth and Safety is so much Our Royal Care that we will leave nothing undone which may procure these Blessings for them And lastly to the End all Our good Subjects may have Notice of this Our Royal Will and Pleasure we do hereby command Our Lyon King at Arms and his Brethren Heraulds Macers Pursevants and Messengers at Arms to make Proclamation thereof at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh And besides the Printing and Publishing of this Our Royal Proclamation it is Our express Will and Pleasure that the same be past under the great Seal of that Our Kingdom per saltum ☞ without passing any other Seal or Register In Order whereunto this shall be to the Directors of Our Chancellary and their Deputies for writing the same and to Our Chancellor for causing Our Great Seal aforesaid to be appended thereunto a sufficient Warrand Given at Our Court at Whitehal the twelfth day of Febr. 1686 / 7. And of Our Reign the third year By His Majesties Command MELFORT GOD SAVE THE KING A LETTER Containing some REFLECTIONS On His MAJESTY's DECLARATION FOR LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE Dated the Fourth of April 1687. SIR I. I Thank you for the Favour of sending me the late Declaration that His Majesty has granted for Liberty of Conscience I confess I longed for it with great Impatience and was surprised to find it so different from the Scotch Pattern for I imagined that it was to be set to the Second Part of the same Tune nor can I see why the Penners of this have sunk so much in their Style for I suppose the same Men penned both I expected to have seen the Imperial Language of Absolute Power to which all the Subjects are to obey without Reserve and of the cassing annulling the stopping and disabling of Laws set forth in the Preamble and Body of this Declaration whereas those dreadful Words are not to be found here for in stead of repealing the Laws His Majesty pretends by this only to suspend them and tho' in effect this amounts to a Repeal yet it must be confessed that the Words are softer Now since the Absolute Power to which His Majesty pretends in Scotland is not founded on such poor things as Law for that would look as if it were the Gift of the People but on the Divine Authority which is supposed to be delegated to His Majesty this may be as well claimed in England as it
forgotten among the rest for there is a scurvy Paragraph in it concerning Self-preservation that is capable of very unacceptable Glosses It is hard to tell what Section of the Law of Nature has mark'd out either such a Form of Government or such a Family for it And if his Majesty renounces his Pretensions to our Allegiance as founded on the Laws of England and betakes himself to this Law of Nature he will perhaps find the Counsel was a little too rash But to make the most of this that can be the Law of Nations or Nature does indeed allow the Governours of all Societies a Power to serve themselves of every Member of it in the cases of extream Danger but no Law of Nature that has been yet heard of will conclude that if by special Laws a sort of Men have been disabled from all Imployments that a Prince who at his Coronation swore to maintain those Laws may at his pleasure extinguish all these Disabilities X. At the end of the Declaration as in a Postscript His Majesty assures his Subjects that he will maintain them in their Properties as well in Church and Abby-Lands as other Lands But the Chief of all their Properties being the share that they have by their Representatives in the Legislative Power this Declaration which breaks thro' that is no great Evidence that the rest will be maintained And to speak plainly when a Coronation Oath is so little remembred other Promises must have a proportioned degree of Credit given to them As for the Abbey-Lands the keeping them from the Church is according to the Principles of that Religion Sacriledge and that is a Mortal Sin and there can no Absolution be given to any who continue in it And so this Promise being an Obligation to maintain men in a Mortal-Sin is null and void of it is self Church-Lands are also according to the Doctrine of their Canonists so immediately Gods Right that the Pope himself is only the Administrator and Dispenser but is not the Master of them he can indeed make a truck for God or let them so low that God shall be an easie Landlord but he cannot alter God's Property nor translate the Right that is in him to Sacrilegious Laymen and Hereticks XI One of the Effects of this Declaration will be the setting on foot a new run of Addresses over the Nation For there is nothing how impudent and base soever of which the abject Flattery of a slavish Spirit is not capable It must be confest to the Reproach of the Age that all those strains of Flattery among the Romans that Tacitus sets forth with so much just Scorn are modest things compared to what this Nation has produced within these seven Years only if our Flattery has come short of the Refinedness of the Romans it has exceeded theirs as much in its loathed Fulsomness The late King set out a Declaration in which he gave the most solemn Assurances possible of his adhering to the Church of England and to the Religion established by Law and of his Resolution to have frequent Parliaments upon which the whole Nation fell as it were into Raptures of Joy and Flattery But tho' he lived four Years after that he called no Parliament notwithstanding the Law for Triennial Parliaments and the manner of his Death and the Papers printed after his Death in his Name have sufficiently shewed that he was equally sincere in both those Assurances that he gave as well in that relating to Religion as in that other relating to frequent Parliaments yet upon his Death a new set of Addresses appeared in which all that Flattery could invent was brought forth in the Commendations of a Prince to whose Memory the greatest kindness can be done is to forget him And because his present Majesty upon his coming to the Throne gave some very general Promise of Maintaining the Church of England this was magnified in so extravagant a strain as if it had been a security greater than any that the Law could give tho' by the regard that the King has both to it and to the Laws it appears that he is resolved to maintain both equally Since then the Nation has already made it self sufficiently ridiculous both to the present and to all succeeding Ages it is time that at last men should grow weary and become ashamed of their Folly. XII The Nonconformists are now invited to set an Example to the rest and they who have valued themselves hitherto upon their Opposition to Popery and that have quarrelled with the Church of England for some small Approaches to it in a few Ceremonies are now sollicited to rejoyce because the Laws that secure us against it are all plucked up since they enjoy at present and during pleasure leave to meet together It is natural for all men to love to be set at ease especially in the matters of their Consciences but it is visible that those who allow them this favour do it with no other design but that under a pretence of a General Toleration they may introduce a Religion which must persecute all equally It is likewise apparent how much they are hated and how much they have been persecuted by the Instigation of those who now court them and who have now no Game that is more promising than the engaging them and the Church of England into new Quarrels And as for the Promises now made to them it cannot be supposed that they will be more lasting than those that were made some time ago to the Church of England who had both a better Title in Law and greater Merit upon the Crown to assure them that they should be well used than these can pretend to The Nation has scarce forgiven some of the Church of England the Persecution into which they have suffered themselves to be cousened tho' now that they see Popery barefac'd the Stand that they have made and the vigorous opposition that they have given to it is that which makes all men willing to forget what is past and raises again the Glory of a Church that was not a little stained by the Indiscretion and Weakness of those that were too apt to believe and hope and so suffered themselves to be made a Property to those who would now make them a Sacrifice The Sufferings of the Nonconformists and the Fury that the Popish Party expressed against them had recommended them so much to the Compassions of the Nation and had given them so just a Pretension to favour in a better time that it will look like a Curse of God upon them if a few men whom the Court has gained to betray them can have such an ill Influence upon them as to make them throw away all that Merit and those Compassions which their Sufferings have procured them and to go and court those who are only seemingly kind to them that they may destroy both them and us They must remember that as the Church of England is the only
a due Liberty of Conscience where She has so long lived that there is no reason to make any fansie that She will either keep up our Differences or bear down the Dissenters with Rigour But because you hope for nothing from Her own Inclinations you would have her terrified with the strong Argument of Numbers which you fansie will certainly secure them from Her recalling the Favour But of what side soever that Argument may be strong sure it is not of theirs who make but One to Two hundred and I suppose you scarce expect that the Dissenters will rebel that you may have your Masses and how their Numbers will secure them unless it be by enabling them to Rebel I cannot imagine This is indeed a squinting at the Next Heir with a witness when you would already muster up the Troops that must rise against Her. But let me tell you that you know both Her Character and the Princes very ill that fansie they are only to be wrought on by Fear They are known to your great grief to be above that and it must be to their own merciful Inclinations that you must owe all that you can expect under them but neither to their Fear nor to your own Numbers As for the Hatred and Contempt even to the degree of being more ridiculous than the Mass under which you say Her way of Worship is in Holland this is one of those Figures of Speech that shew how exactly you have studied the Jesuits Morals All that come from Holland assure us that She is so universally beloved and esteemed there that every thing that she does is the better thought of even because She does it Upon the whole matter all that you say of the Next Heir proves too truly that you are that for which you reproach the Church of England a Disciple of the Crown only for the Loaves for if you had that respect which you pretend for the King you would have shewed it more upon this occasion Nor am I so much in love with your Style as to imitate it therefore I will not do you so great a pleasure as to say the least thing that may reflect on that Authority which the Church of England has taught me to reverence even after all the Disgraces that She has received from it and if She were not insuperably restrained by Her Principles in stead of the Thin Muster with which you reproach Her She could soon make so Thick a one as would make the Thinness of yours very visible upon so unequal a Division of the Nation But She will neither be threatned nor laughed out of Her Religion and Her Loyalty tho' such Insultings as She meets with that almost pass all Humane Patience would tempt Men that had a less fixed Principle of Submission to make their Enemies feel to their cost that they owe all the Triumphs they make more to our Principles than to their own Force Their laughing at our Doctrine of Non resistance lets us see that it would be none of theirs under the Next Heir at whom you squint if the strong Argument of Numbers made you not apprehend that Two hundred to One would prove an Unequal Match As for your Memorandums I shall answer them as short as you give them 1. It will be hard to persuade People that a Decision in favour of the Dispensing Power flowing from Judges that are both made and paid and that may be removed at pleasure will amount to the recognizing of that Right by Law. 2. It will be hard to perswade the World that the King 's adhering to his Promises and his Coronation-Oath and to the known Laws of the Land would make him Felo de se The following of different Methods were the likelier way to it if it were not for the Loyalty of the Church of England 3. It will be very easie to see the Use of continuing the Test by Law since all those that break thro' it as well as the Judges who have authorized their Crimes are still liable for all they do and after all your huffing with the Dispensing Power we do not doubt but the apprehension of an after-reckoning sticks deep somewhere You say It may be supposed that the aversion of a Protestant King to the Popish Party will sufficiently exclude them even without the Test But it must be confessed that you take all possible care to confirm that Aversion so far as to put it beyond an It may be supposed And it seems you understand Christ's Prerogative as well as the Judges did the King's that fansie the Test is against it it is so sutable to the nature of all Governments to take Assurances of those who are admitted to Places of Trust that you do very ill to appeal to an Impartial Consideration for you are sure to lose it there Few Englishmen will believe you in earnest when you seem zealous for Publick Liberty or the Magna Charta or that you are so very apprehensive of Slavery And your Friends must have very much changed both their Natures and their Principles if their Conduct does not give cause to renew the like Statutes against them even tho' they should be repealed in this Reign notwithstanding all your confidence to the contrary I will still believe that the strong Argument of Numbers will be always the powerfullest of all others with you which as long as it has its Force and no longer we may hope to be at quiet I concur heartily with you in your Prayers for the King tho perhaps I differ from you in my Notions both of His Glory and of the Felicity of his People And as for your own Particular I wish you would either not at all employ your Pen or learn to write to better purpose But tho I cannot admire your Letter yet I am Your Humble Servant T. T. AN ANSWER TO A PAPER Printed with Allowance Entitled A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty I. THE Accusing the Church of England of Want of Loyalty or the putting it to a new Test after so fresh a one with relation to His Majesty argues a high degree of Confidence in him who undertakes it She knew well what were the Doctrines and Practices of those of the Roman Church with relation to Hereticks and yet She was so true to her Loyalty that She shut her Eyes on all the Temptations that so just a fear could raise in her And She set her self to support His Majesties Right of Succession with so much Zeal that She thereby not only put her self in the power of her Enemies but She has also exposed her self to the Scorn of those who insult over her in her Misfortune She lost the Affections even of many of her own Children who thought that her Zeal for an Interest which was then so much decry'd was a little too servent And all those who judged severely of the Proceedings thought that the Opposition which She made to the side that then went so
now to treat the Men of the Church of England with the same Brutal Excesses that he bestowed so lately and so liberally on the Dissenters as if his Design were to render himself equally odious to all Mankind III. The Church of England may justly expostulate when she is treated as Seditious after she has rendred the highest Services to the Civil Authority that any Church now on Earth has done She has beaten down all the Principles of Rebellion with more Force and Learning than any Body of men has ever yet done and has run the hazard of enraging her Enemies and losing her Friends even for those from whom the more Learned of her Members knew well what they might expect And since our Author likes the figure of a Snake in ones Bosome so well I could tell him that according to the Apologue we took up and sheltered an Interest that was almost dead and by that warmth gave it life which yet now with the Snake in the Bosome is like to bite us to death We do not say we are the only Church that has Principles of Loyalty but this we may say That we are the Church in the World that carries them the highest as we know a Church that of all others sinks them them the lowest We do not pretend that we are Inerrable in this Point but acknowledge that some of our Clergy miscarried in it upon King Edward's Death Yet at the same time others of our Communion adhered more steadily to their Loyalty in favour of Queen Mary than She did to the Promises that she made to them Upon this Subject our Author by his false Quotation of History forces me to set the Reader right which if it proves to the disadvantage of his Cause his Friends may thank him for it I will not enter into so tedious a Digression as the justifying Queen Elizabeth's being Legitimate and the throwing the Bastardy on Queen Mary must carry me to this I will only say That it was made out that according to the best sort of Arguments used by the Church of Rome I mean the constant Tradition of all Ages King Henry the VIII marrying with Queen Katherine was Incestuous and by Consequence Queen Mary was the Bastard and Queen Elizabeth was the Legitimate Issue But our Author not satisfied with defaming Queen Elizabeth tells us that the Church of England was no sooner set up by her than She Enacted those Bloody Cannibal Laws to Hang Draw and Quarter the Priests of the living God. But since these Laws disturb him so much What does he think of the Laws of Burning the poor Servants of the living God because they cannot give Divine Worship to that which they believe to be only a Piece of Bread The Representation he gives of this part of our History is so false that tho' upon Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Crown there were many Complaints exhibited of the illegal Violences that Bonner and other Butchers had committed yet all these were stifled and no Penal Laws were enacted against those of that Religion The Popish Clergy were indeed turned out but they were well used and had Pensions assigned them so ready was the Queen and our Church to forgive what was past and to shew all Gentleness for the future During the first thirteen years of her Reign matters went on calmly without any sort of Severity on the account of Religion But then the restless Spirit of that Party began to throw the Nation into violent Convulsions The Pope deposed the Queen and and one of the Party had the Impudence to post up the Bull in London upon this followed several Rebellions both in England and Ireland and the Papists of both Kingdoms entred into Confederacies with the King of Spain and the Court of Rome The Priests disposed all the People that depended on them to submit to the Pope's Authority in that Deposition and to reject the Queen's These Endeavours besides open Rebellions produced many secret Practices against her Life All these things gave the rise to the severe Laws which began not to be enacted before the twentieth year of her Reign A War was formed by the Bull of Deposition between the Queen and the Court of Rome so it was a necessary piece of Precaution to declare all those to be Traitors who were the Missionaries of that Authority which had stript the Queen of hers Yet those Laws were not executed upon some Secular Priests who had the Honesty to condemn the Deposing Doctrine As for the Unhappy Death of the Queen of Scotland it was brought on by the wicked Practices of her own Party who fatally involved her in some of them She was but a Subject here in England and if the Queen took a more violent way than was decent for her own Security here was no Disloyalty nor Rebellion in the Church of England which owed her no sort of Allegiance IV. I do not pretend that the Church of England has any great cause to value her self upon her Fidelity to King Charles the First tho' our Author would have it pass for the only thing of which She can boast for I confess the cause of the Church was so twisted with the King 's that Interest and Duty went together tho' I will not go so far as our Author who says that the Law of Nature dictates to every Individual to fight in his own Defence This is too bold a thing to be delivered so crudely at this time The Laws of Nature are perpetual and can never be cancelled by any special Law So if these Gentlemen own so freely that this is a Law of Nature they had best take care not to provoke Nature too much lest She fly to the Relief that this Law may give her unless she is restrained by the Loyalty of our Church Our Author values his Party much upon their Loyalty to King Charles the First But I must take the liberty to ask him of what Religion were the Irish Rebels and what sort of Loyalty was it that they shewed either in the first Massacre or in the Progress of that Rebellion Their Messages to the Pope to the Court of France and to the Duke of Lorrain offering themselves to any of these that would have undertaken to protect them are Acts of Loyalty which the Church of England is no way inclined to follow and the authentical Proofs of these things are ready to be produced Nor need I add to this the hard terms they offered to the King and their ill usage of those whom he imployed I could likewise repress the Insolence of this Writer by telling him of the slavish Submissions that their Party made to Cromwel both Father and Son. As for their adhering to King Charles the First there is a peculiar boldness in our Author's Assertion who says That they had no Hope nor Interest in that cause The State of that Court is not so quite forgot but that we do well remember what Credit the Queen had
he writ on that occasion But finding that the Prince had already declared himself in those Matters he resolved to insist no further yet his Friend insinuating that he had still hopes to get a more distinct and satisfying Answer from a better hand though without naming the Person he attended the Issue and about the beginning of November almost three moneths after his first writing he received the Pensioner's Letter though he had not writ to him which is repeated again and again and in it an account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts about the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws which he had not desired upon which he took some care to prevent the publishing of it But when he saw it in print he clearly perceived that it was printed in Holland and so wonders how the Pensioner could say that it was printed in England which he found in his printed Letter to Mr. d' Albeville He knows not upon what Provocation the Pensioner writ that Letter but in it he finds that he writ that he was desired by himself to give him an account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts and that these pressing Desires were made to him by His Majestie 's Knowledg and Allowance this being so different from the Letters he had writ of which he is sure that the account he has given is true in every point he was forced to vindicate the King's Honour and his own Duty He writ not out of any curiosity to know their Highnesses Thoughts which were already known they having been signified to the Marquis of Albeville and therefore he had no Orders from the King for writing on that Subject but only a Permission to use his little Endeavors for the advancing of his Service but it was never moved to him to write either in the King's Name or in the Name of any of his Secretaries This is Mr. Stewart's Account in the first nine Pages of his Letter and is set down in his own words Now in opposition to all this it will appear from the following Extracts that Mr. Stewart writ to his Friend as the most proper Interpreter for addressing himself to the Pensioner that he repeated his Proposition frequently finding his Friend unwilling to engage in so Critical a matter He gives great Assurances of His Majesties Resolutions never to alter the Succession which is plainly the Language of a Treaty he presses over and over again to know the Prince's Mind whose concurrence in the Matter would be the best Guarentee of the Liberty He by Name desires his Letters may be shewed to the Prince and Princess of Orange though he says he only ordered them to be shewed to Friends at the Hague so it seems he has the modesty to reckon them among the number of his Friends but it is a question whether their Highnesses do so or not he says in one Letter That what he writ was from his Majesty himself and enlarges more fully on this in two other Letters and he desires that the Princes Answers with his Reasons might be understood which very probably gave the occasion to all the reasoning part of the Pensioner's Letter and it appears by that Letter that the Return to all this was expected by the King and in almost every Letter he presses for a Return And in Conclusion upon his receiving the Pensioner's Letter he expresses likewise a great sense of the Honour done him in it that he had so far complied with his Insignificant Endeavours he mentions his acquainting both the King and the Earls of Sunderland and Melfort with it and in another Letter after new Thanks for the Pensioner's Letter he laments that it was so long delayed But all these things will appear more evident to the Reader from the Passages drawn out of Mr. Stewart's own Letters which follow Mr. Stewart seems not to know upon what provocation the Pensioner writ to Mr. d' Albeville and yet the Pensioner had set that forth in the Letter it self for the Pamphlet entituled Parliamentum Pacificum that was licensed by the Earl of Sunderland contained such Reflections on his Letter to Mr. Stewart either as a Forgery or as a thing done without the Princess of Orange's knowledg that the Pensioner judged himself bound in honour to do himself right As for Mr. Stewart's criticalness in knowing that the Pensioner's Letter was first printed in Holland and his Reflection on the Pensioner for insinuating that the Letter was first printed in England it is very like that Mr. Stewart after so long a practice in Libels knows how to distinguish between the Prints of the several Nations better than the Pensioner whose course of Life has raised him above all such Practices But it is certain that wheresoever it was first printed the Pensioner writ sincerely and believed really that it was first printed in England This is all that seemed necessary to be said for an Introduction to the following Extracts July 12 1687. AND I assure you by all I can find here the Establishment of this equal Liberty is his Majesty's utmost Design I wish your People at the Hague do not mistake too far both his Majesty and the Dissenters for as I have already told you his Majesty's utmost Design and have ground to belive that his Majesty will preserve and observe the true Right of Succession as a thing most sacred so I must entreat you to remark that the Offence that some of the Church-of-England-Men take at Addressing seems to me unaccountable and is apprehended by the Dissenters to proceed so certainly from their former and wonted Spirit that they begin to think themselves in large more hazard from the Church of England's Re-exaltation than all the Papists their Advantages And next that the Prince is thought to be abused by some there to a too great Mislike of that which can never wrong him but will in probability in the Event be wholly in his own Power I hope you will consider and make your best use of these things I expect an account of this per first I mean an Answer to this Letter and pray improve it to the best Advantage The Second Letter without a Date THat it is a thing most certain that his Majesty is resolved to observe the Succession to the Crown as a thing most Sacred and is far from all thoughts of altering the same and that his Majesty is very desirous to have the Prince and Princess of Orange to consent to concur with him in establishing this Liberty So that upon the whole it may be feared that if the Prince continue obstinate in refusing his Majesty he may fall under suspitions of the greatest part of England and of all Scotland to be too great a Favourer of the Church of England and consequently a Person whom they have reason to dread And many think that this Compliance in the Prince might be further a wise part both as to the conciliating of his Majesty's greater Favour and
to be not only no certain Proofs but there are all the Presumptions that can possibly be imagined to the contrary No Proofs were ever given either to the Princess of Denmark or to any other Protestant Ladies in whom we ought to repose any Confidence that the Queen was ever with Child that whole Matter being managed with so much Mysteriousness that there were violent and publick Suspicions of it before the Birth But the whole Contrivance of the Birth the sending away the Princess of Denmark the sudden shortning of the Reckoning the Queen 's sudden going to St. James's her no less sudden pretended Delivery the hurrying the Child into another Room without shewing it to those present and without their hearing it cry and the mysterious Conduct of all since that time no Satisfaction being given to the Princess of Denmark upon her Return from the Bath nor to any other Protestant Ladies of the Queen's having been really brought to Bed. These are all such evident Indications of a base Imposture in this Matter that as the Nation has the justest Reason in the World to doubt of it so they have all possible Reason to be at no quiet till they see a Legal and Free Parliament assembled which may impartially and without either Fear or Corruption examine that whole Matter If all these Matters are true in Fact then I suppose no Man will doubt that the whole Foundations of this Government and all the most sacred Parts of it are overturned And as to the Truth of all these Suppositions that is left to every English-man's Judgment and Sense A REVIEW of the REFLECTIONS ON THE Prince of ORANGE's DECLARATION 1. THE Prince's unwillingness to charge the Gowernment with any thing but what was evident and undeniable affords the Reflection with which this Paper begins That all the noise of a secret League with France has been only a feigned Danger and a false Fear since it is not so much as mentioned in the Prince's Declaration It is certain that the French Ambassador asserted it in a publick Audience and in a Memorial given in to the States General at the Hague and all the World has clearly seen through the Grimmace that the Court of England made upon it to Mr. Skelton for it is not to be supposed that the Court of France would have published this Alliance unless it had been made or that they would have made it unless they had seen full Powers for it in Mr. Skelton's hands But after all as the Articles of it are secret so the Court of England having disown'd it the Prince's exactness in not mentioning a doubtful thing deserved rather a Reflection in his Favour 2. The Reflector is offended at the Prince's using the Stile of We and Us for it seems Thou and Thee are so dear to him that he cannot hear any thing out of that Cant. But though by the Connivance of our Court France has robb'd the Prince of his Principality yet the Rights and Dignity of a Soveraign Prince remain still with him which will justify his speaking in the plural number And the other terms of Authority that are in his Declaration being the usual Stile of all that command Armies his using them imports no more than that he is resolved to use Force for the restoring of our Liberty and if the Stile is a little high it is their fault who would not hearken to softer and humbler Representations and that had made it a Crime so much as to Petition 3. There is nothing works more on weak People than the fastning an ill Name even on the best Actions and therefore Invasion being a Term that naturally gives Horror the Reflector fastens that upon the Prince's Attempt to save the Nation but things appear now too broad to be disguised and therefore the wise and worthy part of the Nation esteems that to be a Deliverance which is here called an Invasion It is true the Prince promises to send back his Forces which imports that he intends to stay behind for he having engaged to see a Free Parliament called and assembled must stay after his Army is sent away since no Parliament can be chosen with Freedom while the Nation is over-awed by a Military Power but when that is laid down of all hands then the Prince will be obliged to see the Promise that he has made to the Nation for a Free Parliament executed So that all the malicious Insinuations of his aspiring to be King which return so often in the Reflections are thrown out only to create an unjust Jealousie of His Highness's Intentions 4. The Security which the Reflector promises to the Nation and the Religion by the Concurrence of Protestants to save the Court is now a little too late the same Cheat will hardly pass twice This had once a great effect in bringing the Nation off from the design of the Exclusion and Men in the simplicity of their Heart believed it But the Court has taken so much pains to convince them of their Error and has succeeded so effectually in it that it is too great an imposing upon us to fancy that we can be so soon deluded again in the same manner We know now by sad expererience what all the Promises and Oaths that a Papist can make to Protestants do signify and we see how little is to be built even on the Honour of a Prince when a Jesuit has the keeping of his Conscience Nor can it be any Reproach on our Religion if the Nation comes under the Protection of a Prince that has so near an Interest in the Succession to the Crown to preserve it self and the Establish'd Religion from the Conspiracies of those who intend to destroy both and had made a great way in it and would have probably brought their Designs to a full Ripeness this Winter if the Prince's coming had not check'd them The Reflector thinks the Prince ought to have turned his Arms rather on France and allows that he has a just Right to do it But England had a greater Title to his Protection and ought to have been first taken care of by him and when that is once done the Proposition here made with relation to France may be more seasonable 5. Great Exceptions are taken because the Prince founds the Invasions that are made on the Protestant Religion on this that it is the Religion establish'd by Law since our Reflector tells us that it is the Truth and not the Legality of a Religion that is its Warrant and that otherwise Paganism and Judaism had been still the Establish'd Religion But the Reflector confounds things of different Natures If we consider Religion as it gives us a Title to the Favour of God and to Eternal Happiness we ought to have no regard but to the Truth of it But when Religion is considered as the first of all Civil Rights then the Legal Establishment is the Foundation of its Title And if Legislators had not changed Laws
than my self so all the Discoveries that have been made of late Years have been so far from aspersing me that tho' there has been disposition enough to find fault with me yet there has not been Matter given so much as for an examination It is now thirteen Years since I came out of Scotland and for these last five Years I have not so much as mentioned the commonest News in any Letter I have writ to any in that Kingdom I do not mention Acts of Indemnity because I know that I do not need the benefit of them I went out of England by his Majesty's Approbation and I have stayed out of it because his Majesty expressed his dislike of my returning to it I am now upon the Point of Marrying in this Country and am naturalized by the States of Holland but tho' by this during my stay here my Allegiance is translated from his Majesty to the Soveraignty of this Province yet I will never depart from the profoundest respect to his Sacred Person and Duty to his Government Since my coming into these Parts I have not seen any one Person either of Scotland or England that is Outlaw'd for Treason and when the King took Exceptions at the access I had to the Prince and Princess of Orange there was not any thing of this kind then objected to me So I protest unto your Lordship I do not so much as imagine upon what it is that those Informations which it seems are brought to his Majesty are founded My Lord As I am not ashamed of any thing I have done so I am not affraid of any thing that my Enemies can do to me I can very easily part with a small Estate and with a Life of which I have been long weary and if my Engagements in this Country could dispense with it I would not avoid the coming to stand my Tryal but as this cannot be expected in the state in which I am so I humbly throw my self at His Majestys feet and beg that he may not condemn me so much as in his thoughts till I know what is the Crime that is objected to me that so I may offer a most humble Justification of my self to him I shall be infinitely sorry if any Judgment that may pass on me in Scotland shall oblige me to appear in print in my own Defence for I cannot betray my own Innocence so far as to suffer a thing of this nature to pass upon me without Printing an Apology for my self in which I will be forced to make a recital of all that share that I have had in Affairs these twenty years past and in which I must mention a vast number of particulars that I am affraid will be displeasing to His Majesty and as I will look on this as one of the greatest Misfortunes that can possibly befall me so with all the Duty and Humility in the World I beg I may not be driven to it I will not presume to add one word to your Lordship nor to claim any sort of Favour or Protection from you For I address my self only to your Lordship as you are the Kings Minister for these Provinces My Lord I am with all possible respect May it please your Lordship Your Lordships c. At the Hague May the 10th 1687. The Criminal Letters at the Instance of the Lord Advocate against Dr. Gilbert Burnet JAMES c. To our Lovits c. Herauls Pursevants Macers and Messengers at Arms Our Sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally specially constitute Greeting Forsamikle as it is humbly meaned and complained to Vs be our Right Trustie and Familiar Councellor Sir John Dalrymple the Younger of Stair our Advocat for our Interest Upon Doctor Gilbert Burnet That where notwithstanding by the Laws and Acts of Parliament and constant Practique of this our Kingdom the venting of Sclanderous Treasonable and Advised Speeches and Positions and the Reproaching our Person Estate and Government and the Recepting Supplying Ayding Assisting Intercommoning with and doing Favours to denunced Rebells or forfaulted Traitors are punishable by Forfaulture of Life Land and Goods and particularly by the 134 Act of 8 P. K. Ia. 6. It is Statute Ordained that non of our Subjects of whatsoever Degree Estate or Quality shall presume or take upon hand privatelie or publicklie in Sermons Declamation or Familiar Conferences to utter any False Sclanderous or untrue Speeches to the Disdain Reproach or Contempt of Vs our Council or Proceedings or to the Dishonour Hurt or Prejudice of Vs or to meddle in our Affairs or Estate bygone present or in tyme coming under the Pain of Death and Confiscation of Moveables And be the 10 Act 10 P. K. Ia. 6. It is Statue and Ordained that all our Subjects containe themselves in Quyetness and dutieful Obedience to Vs our Government and Authority and that non of them presume nor take upon hand publicklie to declame or privatelie to speak or write any Purpose of Reproach or Sclander against our Person Estate or Government or to deprave our Laws and Acts of Parliament or misconstrue our Proceedings whereby any Dislike may be moved betwixt Vs our Nobility and Loving Subjects in tyme coming under the Paine of Death and that thes that do in the contrair shall be repute as Seditious and wicked Instruments Enemies to Vs and the Common-weel of this Realm and that the said Paine of Death shall be inflicted upon them with all Rigour in Example of others And be the second Act 2. Sess of the first Parliament of K. Ch. 2. We and our Estates of Parliament do declare that in thes Positions that it is Lawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any other pretence whatsomever to enter into Leagues or Covenants or to take up Arms against Vs or thes Commissionat by Vs or to put Limitations upon their due Obedience and Allegiance are Rebellious and Treasonable and that all Persons who shall by wryting Preaching or other malitious and advysed Speaking Express thes Treasonable Intentions shall be proceeded against and adjudged Traitors and shall suffer forfaulture of Life Lands and Goods lyke as by the third Act 1. P. of K. Ia. 1. and 37. Act of his second Parliament and be the 9. Act of 13. P. K. James 2. and 144. Act 12. P. K. James 6. And Diverse and Sundry other Laws and Acts of Parliament of this our Kingdom It is declared High-Treason for any of our Subjects to Recept Supply or Intercomon with declared or Forfaulted Traitors or give them Meat Drink Hous Harbour or any Relief or Comfort and if they do in the Contrair they are to undergo the same Paines the said Traitors or Rebels ought to have sustained if they had bein apprehended Nevertheless It is of Verity that the said Doctor Gilbert Burnet shaking off all Fear of God Conscience and Sense of Duty Allegeance and Loyalty to Vs his Soveraign and Native Prince upon the Safetie of whose Person and Maintinance of whose Sogeraign
to some Words in the Proclamation that it was thought necessary to set them near one another that the Reader may be able to judge whether he is deceived by any false Quotations or not BY THE KING A PROCLAMATION JAMES R. JAMES the Seventh by the Grace of God King of Scotland England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and sundry our good Subjects whom these Presents do or may concern Greeting We having taken into Our Royal Consideration the many and great Inconveniencies which have hapned to that Our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland of late Years through the different Persuasions in the Christian Religion and the great Heats and Animosities amongst the several Professors thereof to the ruine and decay of Trade wasting of Lands extinguishing of Charity contempt of the Royal Power and converting of true Religion and the Fear of GOD into Animosities Names Factions and sometimes into Sacriledge and Treason And being resolved as much as in us lies to unite the Hearts and Affections of Our Subjects to GOD in Religion to Us in Loyalty and to their Neighbours in Christian Love and Charity Have therefore thought fit to Grant and by Our Sovereign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all Our Subjects are to obey without Reserve do hereby give and grant Our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named with and under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations after mentioned In the first place We allow and tolerate the Moderate Presbyterians to Meet in their Private Houses and there to hear all such Ministers as either have or are willing to accept of Our Indulgence allanerly and none other and that there be not any thing said or done contrary to the Well and Peace of Our Reign Seditious or Treasonable under the highest Pains these Crimes will import nor are they to presume to Build Meeting Houses or to use Out-Houses or Barns but only to exercise in their Private Houses as said is In the mean time it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure that Field-Conventicles and such as Preach or Exercise at them or who shall any ways assist or connive at them shall be prosecuted according to the utmost Severity of our Laws made against them seeing from these Rendezvouses of Rebellion so much Disorder hath proceeded and so much Disturbance to the Government and for which after this Our Royal Indulgence for Tender Consciences there is no Excuse left In like manner We do hereby tolerate Quakers to meet and exercise in their Form in any Place or Places appointed for their Worship And considering the Severe and Cruel Laws made against Roman Catholicks therein called Papists in the Minority of Our Royal Grandfather of Glorious Memory without His Consent ☜ and contrary to the Duty of good Subjects by His Regents and other Enemies to their Lawful Sovereign Our Royal Great Grandmother Queen Mary of Blessed and Pious Memory wherein under the pretence of Religion they cloathed the worst of Treasons Factions and Usurpations and made these Laws not as against the Enemies of GOD but their own which Laws have still been continued of course without design of executing them or any of them ad terrorem only on Supposition that the Papists relying on an External Power were incapable of Duty and true Allegiance to their Natural Soveraigns and Rightful Monarchs We of Our certain Knowledge and long Experience knowing that the Catholicks as it is their Principle to be Good Christians so it is to be Dutiful Subjects and that they have likewise on all occasions shewn themselves Good and faithful Subjects to Us and Our Royal Predecessors by hazarding and many of them actually losing their Lives and Fortunes in their defence though of another Religion and the Maintenance of their Authority against the Violences and Treasons of the most violent Abettors of these Laws Do therefore with Advice and Consent of Our Privy Council by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power aforesaid suspend stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament Customs or Constitutions made or executed against any of our Roman-Catholick Subjects in any time past to all Intents and Purposes making void all Prohibitions therein mentioned Pains or Penalties therein ordained to be inflicted so that they shall in all things be as free in all Respects as any of Our Protestant Subjects whatsoever not only to exercise their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which we shall think fit to bestow upon them in all time coming Nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure and we do hereby command all Catholicks at their highest pains only to exercise their Religious Worship in Houses or Chappels and that they presume not to Preach in the open Fields or to invade the Protestant Churches by force under the pains aforesaid to be inflicted upon the Offenders respectively nor shall they presume to make Publick Processions in the High-streets of any of Our Royal Burghs under the Pains above-mentioned And whereas the Obedience and Service of Our Good Subjects is due to Us by their Allegiance and Our Soveraignty and that no Law Custom or Constitution Difference in Religion or other Impediment whatsoever can exempt or discharge the Subjects from their Native Obligations and Duty to the Crown or hinder Us from Protecting and Employing them according to their several Capacities and Our Royal Pleasure nor Restrain Us from Conferring Heretable Rights and Priviledges upon them or vacuate or annul these Rights Heretable when they are made or conferred And likewise considering that some Oaths are capable of being wrested by Men of sinistrous Intentions a practice in that Kingdom fatal to Religion as it was to Loyalty Do therefore with Advice and Consent aforesaid cass annull and Discharge all Oaths whatsoever by which any of Our Subjects are incapacitated or disabled from holding Places or Offices in Our said Kingdom or enjoying their Hereditary Rights and Priviledges discharging the same to be taken or given in any time coming without our special Warrant and Consent under the pains due to the Contempt of Our Royal Commands and Authority And to this effect we do by Our Royal Authority aforesaid stop disable and dispense with all Laws enjoyning the said Oaths Tests or any of them particuarly the first Act of the first Session of the first Parliament of King Charles the Second the eleventh Act of the foresaid Session of the foresaid Parliament the sixth Act of the third Parliament of the said King Charles the twenty first and twenty fifth Acts of that Parliament and the thirteenth Act of the first Session of Our late Parliament ☜ in so far allanerly as concerns the taking the Oaths or Tests therein prescribed and all others as well not mentioned as mentioned and that in place of them all Our good Subjects or such of them as We or Our Privy Council shall require so to do shall take and swear the following Oath allanerly
was in Scotland and the pretension to Absolute Power is so great a thing that since His Majesty thought fit once to claim it he is little beholden to those that make him fall so much in his Language especially since both these Declarations have appeared in our Gazettes so that as we see what is done in Scotland we know from hence what is in some Peoples Hearts and what we may expect in England II. His Majesty tells his People that the perfect Enjoyment of their Property has never been in any Case invaded by him since his coming to the Crown This is indeed matter of great Encouragement to all good Subjects for it lets them see that such Invasions as have been made on Property have been done without His Majesty's knowledge so that no doubt the continuing to levy the Customs and the Additional Excise which had been granted only during the late King's Life before the Parliament could meet to renew the Grant was done without His Majesty's knowledge the many Violences committed not only by Soldiers but Officers in all the Parts of England which are severe Invasions on Property have been all without his Majesty's knowledge and since the first Branch of Property is the Right that a Man has to his Life the strange Essay of Mahometan Government that was shewed at Taunton and the no less strange Proceedings of the present Lord Chancellor in his Circuit after the Rebellion which are very justly called His Campagne for it was an open Act of Hostility to all Law and for which and other Services of the like nature it is believed he has had the Reward of the Great Seal and the Executions of those who have left their Colours which being founded on no Law are no other than so many Murders all these I say are as we are sure Invasions on Property But since the King tells us that no such Invasions have been made since he came to the Crown we must conclude that all these things have fallen out without his Privity And if a Standing Army in time of Peace has been ever look'd on by this Nation as an Attempt upon the whole Property of the Nation in gross one must conclude that even this is done without His Majesty's knowledge III. His Majesty expresses his Charity for us in a kind Wish That we were all Members of the Catholick Church In return to which we offer up daily our most earnest Prayers for him That he may become a Member of the truly Catholick Church for Wishes and Prayers do no hurt on no side But His Majesty adds That it has ever been his Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion We are very happy if this continues to be always his Sense but we are sure in this he is no obedient Member of that which he means by the Catholick Church for it has over and over again decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks It encourages Princes to it by the Offer of the Pardon of their Sins it threatens them to it by denouncing to them not only the Judgments of God but that which is more sensible the loss of their Dominions and it seems they intend to make us know that part of their Doctrine even before we come to feel it since tho' some of that Communion would take away the Horror which the Fourth Council of the Lateran gives us in which these things were decreed by denying it to be a General Council and rejecting the Authority of those Canons yea the most learned of all the Apostates that has fallen to them from our Church has so lately given up this Plea and has so formally acknowledged the Authority of that Council and of its Canons that it seems they think they are bound to this piece of fair dealing of warning us before hand of our Danger It is true Bellarmin says The Church does not always execute her Power of Deposing Heretical Princes tho' she always retains it one Reason that he assigns is Because she is not at all times able to put it in execution so the same Reason may perhaps make it appear unadvisable to extirpate Hereticks because that at present it connot be done but the Right remains entire and is put in execution in such an unrelenting manner in all Places where that Religion prevails that it has a very ill Grace to see any Member of that Church speak in this strain and when neither the Policy of France nor the Greatness of their Monarch nor yet the Interests of the Emperour joined to the Gentleness of his own Temper could withstand these Bloody Councils that are indeed parts of that Religion we can see no Reason to induce us to believe that a Toleration of Religion is proposed with any other Design but either to divide us or to lay us asleep till it is time to give the Alarm for destroying us IV. If all the Endeavours that have been used in the last four Reigns for bringing the Subjects of this Kingdom to a Unity in Religion have been ineffectual as His Majesty says we know to whom we owe both the first Beginnings and the Progress of the Divisions among our selves the Gentleness of Queen Elizabeth's Government and the numbers of those that adhered to the Church of Rome made it scarce possible to put an end to that Party during her Reign which has been ever since restless and has had credit enough at Court during the three last Reigns not only to support it self but to distract us and to divert us from apprehending the danger of being swallowed up by them by somenting our own Differences and by setting on either a Toleration or a Persecution as it has hapned to serve their Interests It is not so very long since that nothing was to be heard at Court but the supporting the Church of England and the extirpating all the Nonconformists and it were easie to name the Persons if it were decent that had this ever in their Mouths but now all is turned round again the Church of England is in disgrace and now the Encouragement of Trade the Quiet of the Nation and the Freedom of Conscience are again in vogue that were such odious things but a few years ago that the very mentioning of them was enough to load any Man with Suspicions as backward in the King's Service while such Methods are used and the Government is as in an Ague divided between hot and cold Fits no wonder if Laws so unsteadily executed have failed of their Effect V. There is a good Reserve here left for Severity when the proper Opportunity to set it on presents it self for His Majesty declares himself only against the forcing of Men in Matters of meer Religion so that whensoever Religion and Policy come to be so interwoven that meer Religion is not the Case and that Publick Safety may be pretended then this Declaration is to be no more claimed so that the fastning any thing