and though they desire Ease and Liberty they are not willing to have it with such apparent hazard of Church and State I am sure that tho' we were never so desirous that they might have their Liberty and when there is opportunity of shewing our inclinations without danger they may find that we are not such Persecutors as we are represented yet we cannot consent that they should have it this way which they will find the dearest Liberty that ever was granted This Sir is our Case in short the Difficulties are great on both sides and therefore now if ever we ought to besiege Heaven with our Prayers for Wisdom and Counsel and Courage that God would protect his Church and Reformed Christianity against all the devices of their Enemies Which is the daily and hearty Prayer of May 22. 1688. SIR Your Friend and Brother Though this Petition was presented with all humble Submission and how reasonable soever the Refusing to publish the Declaration was it was so aggravated by Father Petre and others of the Romish Perswasion that the Bishops were sent for to the Council and there charged with publishing a false malicious and seditious Libel and by a Warrant of the Council committed to the Tower on which there followed at least in the hopes and expectations of the Papists such a Scene of Persecution as never was seen under Queen Mary The Seven Bishops were by Habias Corpus brought to the King's-Bench Bar where was the Chief Justice and an Ignoramus Papist Allebone whom one of his Brethren openly exposed for his false Quotations Justice Holloway and Justice Powel after all the pleadings of Councel on each side the Chief Justice gave this direction to the Jury That if they believed the Petition presented by the Bishops to the King was the same that was produced in Court then the Publication was sufficiently proved if not the Bishops were not guilty of the Publication And secondly That any thing tending to disturb the Government was Libellus Famosus and therefore he judged it to be a Libel Justice Holloway said That the intention of an action ought to be considered that the Bishops delivered the Petition with all humility and decency imaginable and were not Men of evil lives and it being the Right of every Subject to Petition such a delivery could be no fault especially it being done to save themselves harmless by shewing their Reasons of not obeying the King's Command Justice Powel declared plainly That he saw nothing of Sedition or other Crime fixed on the Bishops nothing being offered by the King's Counsel to make the Petition false or malicious and desired the Jury to consider That the Bishops apprehended the Declaration to be illegal being founded on a Dispensing Power and he did never remember in any Case that there was such a Power in the King which if true the Petition could be no Libel And lastly That such a Power would amount to an abrogation of all the Laws and so there would be no need of Parliaments but the whole Legislative Power would be in the King which said he to the Jury is worth your consideration The Jury accordingly considered the Case all Night and in the Morning gave their Verdict for the Bishops Not Guilty which caused such Acclamations in the Court as were ecchoed through the Nation And this Deliverance of the Bishops was esteemed the Freedom of the whole Nation from Popery and Slavery and on it the Revolution of our Affairs began This Scene of Persecution being so happily broken we may have leisure to take a view of that other of the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs which was such an Engine as Archimedes fancied he had contrived that if he had found a place whereon to fix it it would have unhinged the Globe of the Earth but as it happened there was no such place to be found But this was so contrived as to make the Church a Felo de se and to fall by its own hands for the Commissioners first named were some of those that were intended to fall by it the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Durham and Rochester the Lord Treasurer and Sunderland and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert and the Lord Chancellor who was the Dominus Factotum in conjunction with whom any Two might act and such Three might take Cognisance of any Case that was under the Ecclesiastical Laws they might Visit both the Universities the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Parish-Churches Schools and Hospitals they might abrogate Old and make New Laws with a Non Obstante to any Right or ancient Constitution and all their Acts were to be confirmed by a New Seal having this Inscription Sigillum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas But the Commission was so unwarrantable and ill designed that the most considerable Men refused to act by it in whose room other confiding Men are named viz. the Bishop of Chester the Lord Chief Justice Wright and Baron Jenner so that the Chancellor could never want Two of his own Distemper to act with him The R. R. the Bishop of London was a Person of such extraordinary merit that he was pitcht on as the first that was fit to suffer by this new sort of Ostracisme but finding no pretence for an Accusation in him from any act of his own he must suffer for another's sin imputed to him or rather for a wicked invention of their own for thus it was Dr. Sharp of the Diocess of London a Divine of known Integrity and Loyalty as well as of Parts and Prudence was represented to the King as one that had preached Seditiously and endeavoured to alienate the Affections of His Majesty's Subjects from him whereof the Doctor being advised endeavours by all means to clear himself and by good Advice draws up a Petition to His Majesty declaring How faithfully he had served Him and his Brother and had studiously endeavoured to suppress all Doctrines and Practices tending to Sedition c. But the Doctor could never find opportunity to present his Petition for the Scene was otherwise laid and thus it opened A Letter was procured from the King to the Bishop of London importing That his Majesty being fully satisfied that Dr. John Sharp Rector of St. Giles's had reflected on his Majesty and on his Government he commanded the Bishop forthwith right or wrong to suspend him The Bishop returned an Answer to the Earl of Sunderland to this effect That his Majesty's Command could not be complied with being contrary to Law because no Judges as he was could condemn any Man before he was heard what he could say for himself So that he was to suffer for what in Justice he could not do On the Fourth of August he appears before the Commissioners and the Chancellor asks him the Reason Why he suspended not Dr. Sharp according to the King's Order The Bishop answered That he had received such an Order and if he had done contrary to his Duty it was his ignorance
and not a wilful neglect The Chancellor replies That his Lordship ought to have known the Law and however that the King ought to be obeyed To which the Bishop replied That if a Prince required a Judge to execute a Command not agreeable to Law it was his Duty Rescribere reclamare principi which he did by the Lord President and that he had done in effect what the King commanded advising the Doctor to forbear Preaching in his Diocess After this with some difficulty his Councel were admitted to plead who justified the Bishop's Answer and then the Bishop offered That if through mistake he had erred in any Circumstance he was ready to beg his Majesty's Pardon and to make any reparation he was able But in short at his next appearing he had his Sentence read viz. That Henry Lord Bishop of London being conven'd before the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs for his Disobedience and other Contempts and being fully heard was by them declared deemed and pronounced Suspended from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office. In this one Noble Bishop the whole Hierarchy of England were struck at and his Sentence but a Prologue to the Tragedy intended the next Scene of which was this On the Ninth of February Dr. Peachel Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge receiv'd a Mandate under the King's Signet Manual to admit one Father Francis a Benedictine Monk Master of Arts without taking the usual Oaths which the Vice-Chancellor by the unanimous Consent of the University refused perceiving their Priviledges and Properties to be in danger and upon their offering the Oaths to Father Francis and his refusing to take them they denied him that Degree whereupon the Vice-Chancellor was summoned by a Messenger to appear before the Commissioners in person and the Senate by their Deputies Upon their appearance the Vice-Chancellor was asked Why he had not obeyed the King's Command in admitting Father Francis To which they gave their Answer in Writing Shewing That by several Acts of Parliament viz. 1º 5º Eliz. by which it was ordained No Man should be promoted to any Degree without taking an Oath to acknowledge the King's Supremacy c. And 3º 9º Jacobi primi it was enacted That the Oath of Allegiance should be taken and administred by the Vice-Chancellor and all the Principals of Houses and by every Person that should be promoted to any Degree for the preservation of the Doctrine of the Church of England and the King's Prerogative which Oaths the said Francis refused And they pleaded also That the admission to a Degree was not of Ecclesiastical but Temporal Cognizance And that by a Statute 16 Charles II. No Court should be erected having like Power Jurisdiction and Authority as the High Commission Court had but should be utterly void After some Debate the Chancellor pronounced the Vice-Chancellor deprived of his Office and suspended ab Officio Beneficio of his Headship of Magdalen Colledge and forbid him to meddle with any publick business in the University This is another instance of the King 's good will to the Church of England and his unalterable observing his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience And now the other Sister the University of Oxford must partake of the same favour where Dr. Walker a professed Papist is made Head of University Colledge and one Massey a Popish Proselite Dean of Christ-Church and Dr. Clerk President of Magdalen Colledge being dead one Mr. Farmer procured the King's Mandate to succeed him against whom they petitioned his Majesty as being a scandalous person and not qualified as their Statutes required and they proceeded in a regular way to Elect Dr. Hough their President who being presented to their Visitor was sworn and admitted but being told of the King's displeasure they complained of their Unhappiness to the Duke of Ormond their Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor that they were reduced to a necessity either of disobeying the King or wronging their Consciences And that after his Majesty's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience but Gallio cared for none of these things the Commissioners cite the Fellows or their Delegates to appear before them Their Delegates were Dr. Aldworth Dr. Fairfax Dr. Smith Mr. Hammond Mr. Dobson and Mr. Fairer who gave in their Plea to this effect That they were bound by their Oaths not to admit any to that Office but such as were Fellows of that or New-Colledge which Mr. Farmer was not That they were not to admit any but such did first swear to observe the Statutes of the Colledge That they were sworn not to admit any Dispensations by any Authority whatsoever and that they had Elected Dr. Hough who was qualified as the Statutes required Mr. Farmer on proofs of his Incapacity was laid aside and another Mandate sent for admission of the Bishop of Oxford And shortly after the King coming to Oxford ordered the Fellows to attend him at Christ-Church and then told them He had known them to be a stubborn and turbulent Colledge for Twenty Six Years taxed them with their Church of England Loyalty and bid them go home and know that he was their King and would be obeyed and such as refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford should feel the weight of his Displeasure But without dread of these Menaces and the intended Persecution they persisted to refuse the Bishop of Oxon against whom they had the like Objections as against Mr. Farmer the Bishop having Judas-like betrayed his Master that had preferred him to that Honour which he resolv'd to rise to viz. a Coach and Six Horses which was the Religion he resolv'd to adhere to but for these causes they were all expelled and made uncapable of any Preferment and all to make way for a Seminary of Papists For these breaches being made in the Walls and Towers of our Sion and there being an Army of Locusts in the Land which waited an opportunity to storm kill and take possession there being at the same time a Nuntio from Rome who was publickly feasted at the Guild-Hall London and an Ambassador at Rome a numerous Spawn of Jesuits and Fryars who were seen in their several Habits Schools Publick Houses appointed for them and Four Bishops appointed to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ireland being secured in the hands of Papists Scotland over-awed by an Army and the Fleet and Tower of London in confiding hands the Popish Lords being the Cabinet Council and Peters the Jesuit chief Minister of State. What could be expected but a total overthrow of the Church and that the King's Age and Infirmities being considered that they should with all violence push on for our Destruction But God infatuated the Counsels of all these Achitophels and what they designed for our Ruine was by his gracious and wise Providence turned to our preservation For whereas the King to secure the Popish Interest and to establish his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience to which the Prince and Princess of Orange could by
call them to it and in the mean time return good for evil Upon Munday being Feb. 2. 1684 Charles II. was seized by a violent Fit supposed to be an Appoplexy whereof he died on the Thursday following and that Afternoon K. James II. was proclaimed who sitting in his Privy Council then assembled declared That since it pleased Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother he thought fit to declare That he would endeavour to follow his Example and more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People That he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power though that had not been the only story which had been made of him That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewn themselves Good and Loyal Subjects and therefore he should always take care to defend and support them And that he likewise knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish and therefore as he should never depart from the just Rights and Priviledges of the Crown so he would never invade any Man's Property Which Declaration was then ordered in Council to be Published and the same was repeated at the Coronation and then confirmed by his Oath for which Addresses of Thanks were sent the King from all parts of the Nation assuring him of their Loyalty and Resolutions to maintain his Rights and defend his Person with their Lives and Fortunes These Declarations were repeated to the Parliament which met May 22. 1685. That they might be assured that he spake them not by chance and that they might more firmly rely on a Promise so solemnly made But how this Promise was performed may appear by the following Events During the sitting of this Parliament News was brought of the Landing of Argyle in Scotland and shortly after of the Landing of the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England whereupon the Parliament readily declared to stand by the King with their Lives and Fortunes for the suppressing of those Rebellions desiring him to take more than ordinary care of his Person And though the Rebellions were suppressed chiefly by the voluntary Assistance of such as were of the Communion of the Church of England among whom the R. R. the Bishop of Winchester was a great Instrument and the Scholars of Oxford cheerfully ingaged themselves And the Militia raised in the West caused Monmouth to turn East-ward in the Mouth of the King's Army Yet in October following the King took occasion to complain how useless the Militia was on such occasions and to tell them That nothing but a good Force of well disciplined Troops in constant pay was sufficient to defend them from such as might disturb them at home or from abroad And here was a Foundation laid for a Standing Army such as the King intended in a due time by a French General and Irish Souldiers to over-awe the Nation and make the Instruments of accomplishing his Designs and there needed but a few more soft steps till the Church be surprized and awakened out of that Security wherein her own Innocence and the King 's frequent and solemn Promises had brought her but first the State of Ireland must be altered the Earl of Clarendon is called home to make way for Tyrconnel Scotland is secured by an Army which was raised for the suppressing of Argyle the Duke of Albemarle that was too popular is sent to Jamaica and whatever or whosoever might be thought able to withstand any violence that should be offered to the Church and the Religion that was Established is removed and the Power put into such hands as the King could confide in for the destruction of the same And because the Protestant Dissenters were a considerable Party and their Eyes began to be so far opened as to perceive that they should perish in the Ruine of the Church which made them more inclinable to a Union with it for prevention of their common destruction the old Stratagem of a Toleration and Liberty of Conscience which Coleman declared to be an effectual means to destroy the Established Church is now made use of This bold and fatal stroke was made immediately at the Root of the Religion and Laws established in Scotland but seconded by the same Arm against the Establishment in England as will evidently appear upon these considerations The Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience in Scotland dated Feb. 12. 1687. In which consider first the Foundation of it in these words We have thought fit to grant and by our Soveraign Authority Prerogative Royal and Absolute Power which all our Subjects are to obey without reserve do hereby grant our Royal Toleration c. Which words do assert a Power in the King to command what he pleaseth and an Obligation in the Subject to obey whatever he commands 2. This Absolute Power is not grounded on any Law lest it should seem to be derived from the People but on a Soveraign Authority inherent in the King's Person Jure Divino which may be exercised on that ground as well in England as Scotland as the event shews it was 3. This Absolute Power is to be obeyed by all the Subjects without reserve i. e. not only by a passive submission to the Power but by an active compliance with it so that when the King shall declare it to be his Will and Pleasure That all his Subjects renounce the Protestant Religion and turn Roman Catholicks to which his Religion binds him and as he hopes for Salvation and under the Penalty of being deposed by the Pope they are bound to be of the King's Religion 4. That the Subjects that will partake of the benefit of this Toleration must swear To the utmost of their power to assist defend and maintain the King and his Successors in the exercise of this Absolute Power against all deadly i. e. all Mortals So that the Subjects were to make a very dear purchase of this intolerable Toleration for which they were to pawn their Souls and submit all they had to an Absolute Power without reserve Let us consider therefore the intrinsick value of this Toleration which says We do give and grant our Royal Toleration to the several Professors of the Christian Religion after-named Where the word Royal looks like a stamp on base Metal mixt of Popery and Quakerism expressed in the Proclamation and is so general that as never any Christian Prince granted the like so the King as a Roman Catholick could not grant to any of those mentioned viz. either of the Church of Scotland then established under Episcopacy or to the Presbyterians or Quakers whom the Church of Rome accounts Hereticks But then it is to be considered that this Toleration of the Protestant Subjects is granted under the several Conditions Restrictions and Limitations
mentioned As first None are to be tolerated but such as accept of the Toleration i. e. acknowledge the Lawfulness of the Absolute Power and swear to maintain it 2. That nothing be said or done in their Meetings that is contrary to the Weal and Peace of our Reign Seditious or Treasonable and that they only exercise in private Houses But what would be interpreted to be Seditious the most cautious Preacher could hardly discern But that all Scotland might know for whose sake the Toleration was granted and who alone would in time reap the benefit of it after a large commendation of the Papists as good Christians and dutiful Subjects it follows We by our Absolute Power suspend stop and disable all Laws or Acts of Parliament made against Roman Catholicks So that they shall be as free in all respects as any of our Protestant Subjects not only as to the exercise of their Religion but to enjoy all Offices Benefices and others which we shall think fit to bestow upon them And to this end it follows We do by our Royal Authority aforesaid i.e. the Absolute Power stop disable and dispense with all Laws injoyning any Oaths or Tests c. And whereas the Toleration for Protestants was clogg'd with several Conditions c. this for Papists is amplified in these words We command all our Judges and others concerned to explain this in the most ample sense and meaning c. for their Indemnity I have repeated the heads of this Proclamation more largely that the Reader may see what little reason the Protestants Subjects of Scotland had to return those slavish Addresses which would be too nauseous to repeat It is no great wonder that the Scottish Mobilie should return their Thanks when the Privy Council declared They would assert his Prerogative with the hazard of their Lives and that whoever were employed by him were sufficiently secured by his Authority But that the English Subjects should dance after the Scottish Pipe upon such Winds as blow hot and cold in the same breath is an indelible Reproach of ignorance and of obstinacy against what is their True Interest the support of the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties Yet when the like Declaration for Liberty of Conscience dated April 4. 1687 came forth for England tho' the pretences were That it ever had been his Majesty's Opinion that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion and that the perfect enjoyment of their Property had never been in any Case invaded by him when it was known that the rigour used against Dissenters was urged by the Court and many Outrages committed by a Standing Army against the Subjects Property And the suspending of Laws did strike at the very Foundation of Government and Destruction of the Subjects by placing Papists who were not qualified by Law into Offices and Places of Trust Civil and Military it is a wonder how any Faction in England could address their Thanks and promise to stand by the King as a Return of Gratitude for such a Toleration as gave liberty to Turks Jews and Athiests but was particularly designed for the establishing of that Religion which should persecute and devour all the rest and yet there wanted not Addresses of Thanks from all parts of the Nation for this Liberty of Conscience as it is called but really of Confusion The Addresses are so many and fulsome that I shall not surcharge the Reader with them only observe that they were offered by a Generation who succeeded those that petitioned for the Death of the Royal Martyr that addressed Oliver Cromwel and his Son Richard with the like odious Flatteries but that they should address their Thanks for taking off those Laws that kept out Popery and Slavery is more I suppose that their Forefathers would have done only it is evident that it was done on a design to ruine the Church of England though every ordinary person might perceive it had been in the power of the those Addressers Popery and Slavery would have been entailed on them and their Posterity by a Law. And though the Church of England had better Assurances both by the Laws and by their constant adhering to the Crown than the Promises in that Proclamation yet because they refused to return their Thanks they were charged with the brand of Abhorrers by the opposite Factions who might well conclude that since the King failed so much in his most solemn and deserved Promises to that Church which was by Law Established and was the Body of the Nation those scattered Parties which had not deserved any Favour from the Crown could not expect a performance of those Promises But by this we see what slender opportunities some Men are ready to lay hold on to vent their Malice against the Church thô their own Ruine be involved in it And what was the import of such Addresses but to thank the King for dispensing with those Laws and as much as in him lay abrogating and dissolving them which were made as a Fence to the Protestant Religion and for opening a wide gap for Popery and Slavery to come in and triumph over us In April 1688 the King declares That he was encouraged by the multitude of Addresses received from his Subjects to endeavour to establish Liberty of Conscience on such Foundations as should be unalterable And desires his Subjects to consider that for the Three Years last past he was not such a Prince as he had been represented by his Enemies i. e. an Oppressor but a Father of his People And now the Church of England which had merited so many Solemn Promises for their Protection were to have an experiment how well he would perform them for he makes an Order in Council That his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience should be read in all Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom Against the Publishing whereof the Seven Bishops who were then on the spot in behalf of themselves and their absent Brethren and their Clergy humbly presented the following Petition To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty Humbly shewing THat the Great Aversions they find in themselves to the Distributing and Publishing in all their Churches Your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any want of Duty and Obedience to Your Majesty our Holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more then once publickly acknowledged to be so by Your gracious Majesty nor yet from any want of due tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they are willing to come to such a temper as shall be thought fit when that matter shall be considered and setled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other considerations from this especially because that Declaration is founded on such a Dispensing Power as hath been often declared illegal in Parliament particularly in 1662 and 1672 and in the
no means be drawn to give their consent the King was prevailed with to own a Suppositious Child as Heir to his Dominions that he might give a new life to the Popish and Fanatick Interests But this and his sense of the Protestant Cause which was then in a decaying condition stirred up the Spirit of our present King to vindicate the Cause of the English Church and his own and his Consort 's Title to the Crown and the Severity used to the Bishops and the Universities and the Affront done to the English Souldiers by bringing some thousands of Irish Cut-Throats and preferring them above the English did stem the Tide and immediately upon the Arrival of the Prince's Army there followed a great Revolt of the Nobility Souldiery and Gentry of the Land who marching towards London became formidable to the King who coming as far as Salisbury intending to fight the Prince found himself so deserted that he returned in great haste to London and considering into what streights his precipitant Counsels had brought him he sends for such Bishops as were in or near London to have their Advice in that critical Juncture which with all possible humility and integrity they did to this effect 1. That it was necessary for him to restore all things to the state wherein he found them when he came to the Crown by committing all Offices and Places of Government to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws and by redressing and removing such Grievances as were generally complained of particularly that his Majesty would dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and promise to his People never to Erect any such Court for the future 2. That he would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations but would call in and cancel all those which since his coming to the Crown had been obtained from him 3. That he would restore the Universities to their Legal State Statutes and Customs and particularly restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge and the ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford to their Properties 4. And that he would not permit any Persons to enjoy any Preferments in either University but such as were qualified by the Statutes and Laws of the Land. 5. That he would suppress the Jesuits Schools opened in London or else-where and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as were against the Laws of the Land and his Majesties true interest 6. That he would send Inhibitions after the Four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars did presume to exercise within this Kingdom such Jurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land invested in the Bishops of the Church of England 7. That he would not suffer any more Quo Warranto's to be sued out against any Corporations but restore to such as had been disturbed their ancient Charters Priviledges and Immunities and condemn all those illegal Regulations that had been made 8. That he would fill up all the vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland with Persons duly qualified and especially consider the See of York whose want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to the whole Province 9. That he would act no more nor insist on the Dispensing Power but leave it to be debated and setled by Act of Parliament 10. That on the Restoration of Corporations he would issue Writs for a Free Parliament for redressing of Grievances in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations and to establish due Liberty of Conscience Lastly and above all That his Majesty would permit some of his Bishops to lay such Motives and Arguments before him as might by the Blessing of God bring back his Majesty to the Communion of the Church of England into whose Catholick Faith he had been Baptized in which he had been Educated and to which it was their earnest Prayer to Almighty God that his Majesty might be re-united Had these sober and pious Counsels been accepted then when the Bishop's Petition was rejected as a false malitious and seditious Libel the King might have been still setled on the Throne but he had past the Rubicon and was resolved to fight out his way for the establishing the Popish Religion against all opposition and being deserted by his English Forces hath resolutely cast himself on the French and Irish and what hath been done against the established Church there cannot amount to less than a Persecution And such a one must we have expected had not God's Almighty Arm bafled their Antichristian Designs Now if the Popish Party have been so hasty and violent in persecuting the Church as soon as they got Power into their hands notwithstanding all that kindness and moderation manifested to them to the great regret of the other Dissenters who thought themselves less gently dealt with I know not what more gentle usage the Church could expect from them who have so long and loudly cried out of Persecution and for Forty or Fifty Years together covenanted to root out Episcopacy and Liturgy and perpetuated that Obligation to the present Generation so that the bitter Spirit of the Smectymneunans seem to survive still in the present Dissenters who still maintain the Old Cause and if ever the Power should return to their hands as in the time of the Long Parliament would fly as high and fall on the same Game for a Lyon is no less a Lyon while he is restrained within a Den and loaden with Chains but grows usually more raging when let loose and Maledicus à malefico non distat nisi occasione Those ravenons Beasts that do rent a Man in Effigie do manifest what they would do in Corpore as the Donatists who first slew the Orthodox Gladio Oris did as they had opportunity destroy them Ore Gladii I think it will be a difficult Province for a very good Orator to perswade the Church of England that such Dissenters as have all along struck at the Root will be contented if a few Branches were cut off When the Winds and Storms rage the Husband-men will part with the Branches to preserve the Root I may part with a Coat or a Cloak to an importunate Brother but if he to enrich himself by making me poor continues craving till he strips me to the skin and leaves me naked I am not so much charitable to him as cruel to myself Had the Dissenters in 62 asked less they might have had more granted but when they crave all they deserve nothing if the same Leaven do begin to swell and ferment the Spirits of Men now as then we are commanded to be aware of them We had no sooner past a Fiery Tryal in the Twenty Years Persecution by the Dissenters but were under another Twenty Years Tryal under the Papists though it did not appear so visible and successful till of late And if the Papists should be asked who were the Persecutors in the first Twenty Years they must answer the Dissenters if we should ask the Dissenters whether the Papists or the Church of England were the persecuted Party in the last Twenty Years it must be answered the Papists were for though their frequent Attempts to destroy the Church proved abortive as there may be many traiterous Conspiracies against the Life of a Prince though he survive them all and bring the Conspirators to condign punishment as in the Powder-Plot Cain might have been called a Persecutor of Abel though he had not slain him and Ishmael's cruel mocking of his Brother is called a persecuting of him And if the same bitterness of Spirit do reign in the English as hath shewn itself in the Scottish Presbytery the Episcopal Party may well be jealous of them and few I suppose will be of the Opinion of W. J. That the Removal of our Ceremonies will be an equivalent compensation for the shedding of as much Blood and exhausting as much Treasure as was shed and exhausted in the late inhumane Civil War Where the Royal Martyr the Archbishop many Nobles innumerable Gentry and Commons were sacrificed for a Reformation of Ceremonies but I hope such fury will not possess the hearts of any Dissenters in this Age. To Conclude The Church is still through the wonderful Providence of God in the legal possession of her Rights she is neither Popishly affected nor of a persecuting Spirit or Power she hath learnt by her own Suffering for Conscience-sake how to pity such as are truly conscientious but if any man be contentious and will deny her that liberty which they challenge to themselves I shall only say with the Apostle 〈◊〉 hath been to those French Protestants 〈◊〉 have found 〈◊〉 a Sanctuary and do readily joyn in her Worship and Service and I suppose their Judgments are as solid and their 〈◊〉 as tender as any of our Dissenters who yet look on our Church as a â—eth-haven and a House of Bondage FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS 1. A Resolution of Certain Queries concerning Submission to the Present Government The Queries 1. Concerning the Orginal of Government 2. What is the Constitution of the Government of England 3. What Obligation lies on the King by the Coronation-Oath 4. What Obligation lies on the Subject by the Oaths of Supremacy c. 5. Whether if the King Violate his Oath and actually Destroys the Ends of it the Subjects are freed from their Obligation to him 6. Whether the King hath Renounced or Deserted the Government 7. Whether on such Desertion the People to preserve themselves from Confusion may admit another what Method is to be used in such Admission 8. Whether the Settlement now made is a Lawful Establishment and such as with a good Conscience may be Submitted to 2. A full Answer to all the Popular Objections that have yet appear'd for not taking the Oath of Allegiance to their present Majesties particularly offered to the Consideration of all such of the Divines of the Church of England and others as are yet unsatisfied Shewing both from Scripture and the Laws of the Land the Reasonableness thereof and the Ruining Consequences both to the Nation and Themselves if not complied with 3. The Historian Unmask'd Or Some Reflections on the late History of Passive Obedience Wherein the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance is truly Stated and Asserted By a Divine of the Church of England All Three Printed by Freeman Collins and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Bailey 1689.