had been left to their own Inclinations For when the College of Justice in Edenburgh and others in whom remain'd what was left of any Right to Govern after King James quitted England and before any other Establishment was Fram'd took Arms against this murdering Rabble in the Defence of the Episcopal Clergy and Themselves for such an Inundation threatened All a Proclamation came out from the Prince of Orange commanding All to lay down their Arms. This was obey'd by the College of Justice and the rest of the Episcopal Party as thinking it tending towards Peace and Settlement But not at all by the others Saying they knew it was not intended against Them And accordingly made use of it their Enemies being thus Disarm'd to commit more insolent Barbarities against the Clergy than before And in Reward for their Zeal were not only continu'd in Arms but made the Guard of the Convention which soon after met under their Gracious Protection and acted by their Influence Theirs who thought it Merit and the Cause of God to assassinate the Archbishop of St. Andrews on the High-way and declared it their Principle to murther by whatever means every Bishop and every King and Man who took their part Theirs who for Declaring and Acting pursuant to such Diabolical Principles though All the Genuine Effects of their common Mother the Covenant were out of meer Shame disown'd by other their Pharisee Brethren of the Presbyterians for throwing off the Sheeps Cloathing and acting the Wolf so plainly and above Board For Abdicating not only the Simplicity of the Dove but the Prudence of the Serpent of whom they retain'd nothing but the Sting And who could have any other thought than that Episcopacy was Reserved only for Execution when it was placed under such Cameronian Guards And when the most Violent and Bigotted Phanaticks were made the Principal Ministers of State But who was it chose those Ministers That must be the Kings Inclination He chose them according to his own Inclinations and then took their Word for the Inclinations of the People And can we think his Inclinations are different in England otherwise than as Reason of State moves him The Experiment must Begin in Scotland And according to the Success there the Measures are to be taken here And do we not see the same Measures taken here though perhaps in somewhat a slower March Has not a certain great Man of an Interest very contrary to that of the Church one whose Treachery towards it has made him an irreconcilable and inveterate Enemy to it been brought from behind the Curtain where he acted so much Mischief unseen and now in a manner publickly set upon the Stage Has he not acted indeed as one desperate and that knows himself unsafe under any thing but a Fanatick Party established in both Kingdoms as one that can hope for no forgiveness from another Interest which he has so perfidiously treated and where all those that are leading and respected Men know him so well have felt him and are sure neither to be imposed upon by him more nor ever to forget what he has done to the Church and against them as the Patrons of it Have we not seen how things have turn'd since this Was not not the whole Ministry changed to bring in that Gang How had such a Fellow as Jack Trenchard or Somers been hoisted upon a sudden where they now are but meerly on this Accompt that they only were thought deep enough in a Fanatick Interest to caâ—ry on this Design and to support this new Foundation of some great Men who must make good what they are engaged in and secure themselves by thorow work or soon fall and come to that end which they deserve My Lord Nottingham a Man who they offer to reproach with nothing but his Fidelity to our Church and his constant Care of its Interest one of such allow'd Capacity Vigilancy and indefatigable Diligence in his Office and of such known Fidelity to the Crown and this Government such a Man as this we see of a sudden removed and without any reason given but what is thus plainly left for any one to infer thrust out of his Employment disgraced and driven at as one ready to be Impeached which Design it was no great wonder to see carried on under such as could not prevent their being themselves Impeached were the Government as it ought to be or the Church restored to that Place which it ought to have and which one may very justly say it must have unless Monarchy be design'd for Ruin The Justification which the Parliament last Year gave to the Admirals after the most malitious and false Aspersions imaginable did not hinder their being thrown out with all the Disgrace that could be put upon them At least those Two that were the Chief and chiefly noted for their Firmness to the Church were so served What are the rest of the Changes in the Admiralty and every where else What are the Russels and the Whartons that are now in such Credit and have their Friends every where advanced Who knows not the Cabal at Court and that Lord Sh who first went out of Court upon this bottom and is now returned again upon the same is of this Confederacy and both too early and too deeply engaged with this Party to be a Head or a leading Man any where else Our Friends are shifted out apace And now openly and above Board there have been new Regulations of all the Commissions of the Peace and Militia through England of the Lieutenancy of London the Customs c. on purpose to fill all with the Fanatical and Whiggish Tribe who have out-grown us and are too many for us in all Places of Trust and Profit * Either professed and open Dissenters or the more dangerous Church Fanaticks who keep in our Communion no otherways than as Spies who ridicule us and do us all the ill Offices that is in their Power and but watch an Opportunity to destroy us and our Constitution Of such Principles most Iniquous to the Church are the present Attorney and Solicitor General and almost all the King's Council as Wi. Williams Serjeant Tompson Mr. Hawles c. Baron Letchmore Baron Turton that little Baron Tell Clock Mr. Bradbury and others upon the Bench. And with Russel are joyn'd in the Commission of the Admiralty that virulent Whig Col. Austen and Rich and Hublon two rigid Fanaticks Such are Montague and Smith two of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury indefatigable Sticklers for the Whig Party Papillion and Mayne in the Victualling-Office and Hill of the Navy-Office Sir J. Foach Sir Steph. Evans Ed. Clark Tho. Hall J. Danvers the only Son of a Regicide and Foot Onslow in the Excise Parkhurst Murray Vernon and Paschal in the Prize Office Col. Kirby Shepherd and Welwood in that for the Sick and Wounded Ashurst in that of the Hackny Coaches and Franklin in the Post-Office And in the Custom-house
Sir Walter Young Mr. Chedwick Sir Patience Ward Sir Robert Clayton And a long c. in other Offices and Places of Trust through the Kingdom too long to be here inserted The Whig and I know not which to say Natural or Unnatural Libertine the Lord Sidney now Earl of Rumney is made Master of the Ordnance and Governour of the Cinque Ports and Dover Castle c. And Whig Sir Tho. Littleton is under him in the Ordnance Lord Cuts an Atheistical Whig is made Governour of the â—â—le of Wight These and many more are the Men now employ'd Little needy Fellows are put into Employments of greatest Honour and Import so they be but Fanatick enough As Johnston Secretary for Scotland who the other day meerly for Bread travell'd with Sir Rob. Barnard his Condition being then very necessitous though he is now one of the chief Managers in both Kingdoms His only Merit is the new fashion'd Theism grafted upon rigid Fanaticism the last of which he derived from his Father that Arch Rebel Wariston who was Clerk in ordinary to the Presbyterian General Assembly in his time and as furious against the Mitre as the Crown Such another is that Infamous James Stuart an Inveterate Rebel and pardon'd by King James now Knighted forsooth and fills the Place of Lord Advocate which answers to that of Attorny General here but of greater Honour and Interest in the State Castairs a Super-presbyterian that is a Cameronian Preacher attends K. William's Person both at home and abroad like a Jewel in his Ear We make a Show in the Chapel but He Exercises the Office of Confessor in the Closet His Advice is taken in all the Spiritual Promotions of our Church and we feel the Effects of it very sensibly We see among the new made Bishops those who were formerly Fanatical Preachers and those who of all our Number are least Zealous for the Church and most Latitudinarian for a Comprehension of Dissenters and a Dispensation with our Liturgy and Discipline The Archbishop himself has put on a strange Moderation that way The Tide runs strong both in Church and State towards a Fanatical Level And the Pattern of the Scotish Reformation stares us in the Face more Glaringly than in 42. And let us remember That the Covenant now Rampant in Scotland obliges them to carry on the work of that Reformation in England as well as in Scotland as they did before And they have the Impudence to pray publickly for it now in their Churches for our Conversion as they call it from Prelacy which they call Popery and Idolatry that is our Liturgy And yet their Agents there would make us believe That they intend no Alteration of our Constitution in England But are we to be so Deceived now Have we never been Deceived by them in the same manner before How often did they protest to Marquiss Hamilton Commissioner for King Charles the First That they did not intend to abolish Episcopacy Large Declaration 114 115. 69. and 173. And they used to perswade the Scrupulous That they might take the Covenant without prejudice to Episcopacy In their Answer to the Fourth Reply of the Doctors of Aberdeen they say You will have all the Covenanters against their Intention and whether they will or not to Disallow and Condemn the Articles of Perth and Episcopal Government But it is known to many Hundreds that the Words were purposely conceived for Satisfaction of such as were of your Judgment that we might all joyn in one Heart and Covenant They had Lower and Higher Senses of this Oath Any thing to get you once within their Circle and though they press the Obligation of it upon all alike like the Artifice of some of the Romish Emissaries who to a Person tenacious of the Reformed Doctrins represent the Church of Rome as little or nothing differing from us in Fundamentals as they call them and will let him keep all the Opinions they can't perswade him from only be reconciled to the Church to avoid Schism But when he is once in then there is no stop they can Drive him to the utmost They bring in many Hundreds of their private Doctors for the lower Sense of their General Councils as their Spawn of the Covenant do leave their many Hundreds of private Persons who they at first pretended knew their Minds in wording of the Covenant to be much lower than the Letter of the Oath seemed to import But yet they would never afterwards allow any such private Interpretations as the true and natural Sense of the Oath But boldly charged them of Perjury who in the least Tittle departed from them And how many Oaths and Protestations had we from our English Parliament in 42. That they never intended the Abolition either of Episcopacy or the Liturgy But on the contrary they expressed a great Zeal for Both till they had got a Set of Fanatical Ministers in the State and They then soon introduced Ministers of the same Kidney into the Church And did not they then set up the Inclinations of the People on their side And did not they carry it And yet they had not half the Pretence as now For before that Rebellion England had been long in the quiet Possession of Episcopacy without almost any Grumbling against it and that but of so small and inconsiderable a Party as did not seem worth notice These Monsters were Bred and Grew up in the Storm But since the Over-flowing of that Schismatical Rebellion our Land has been Fertile of as many Heterogenious Productions as the Mud of Nilus leaves upon Egypt There are almost as many various Sects and Armies of Dissenters now as there were single Mutineers at that time And oh the Difference England had a King then who was Bred from his Childhood in the Episcopal Communion and zealous for it even to Martyrdom But our present King had the Misfortune to himself and to us to be Educated under the Geneva Model made Erastian in Holland And it cannot be imagined That the Alteration of his present Circumstances have wrought as great a Change in his Principles That would be if not a Miracle to suppose him to be wholy Latitudinarian and indifferent to all Religions at least as to Church Government which is the Point We are concern'd for But alass the Measures he has taken in Scotland and here too as fast as it can go has sadly undeceived us and given Demonstration That he is as zealous for his Religion as any other King at least In short it is evident That King James never took more Pains to place such Ministers in the State and Bishops in the Church as were if not Popishly affected yet least Inclin'd against it than K. William has done by the same Method in Favour of Presbytery And there is yet a farther Reason for him to put himself Intirely into their hands as soon as he possibly can and that is That he can never Trust to Us. He sees we cannot
do But if we call that an Error then we own that our Church has been all along before this Revolution a false Guide and that the Dissenters have taught the Truth in this point of Doctrine And then the People themselves make the Application that it is safer trusting to Them than to Us in other Doctrines For say they the Dissenters never went over to you in any of their Doctrines but you have gone over to them in This which you Formerly pressed as Possitively and Zealously as any other Doctrine of the Gospel nay more than most others and as Indispensibly necessary to Salvation And will a People thus prejudiced against us be zealous for us Zealous against the Dissenters to whom we have at last submitted in our so long boasted Characteristical Discrimination of Passive Obedience How shall we retract all the hard Words we have given them for opposing that Doctrine which we now profess For using those same Distinctions which we now set up And what Argument can we find to perswade the People that we may not Deceive them in other Doctrines as well as in this Why they should Adhere to us against the Dissenters who have kept their Ground and not contradicted their own Doctrines Indeed our Case here is very difficult It is needless now to Blame the Preaching of Passive Obedience so high in the former Reigns The Fault is committed we cannot deny it and we must suffer under the Shame of it And we have lost exceedingly in the Hearts and Inclinations of the People now towards us upon that account They look upon us Inconstant and Time-serving And that Character to a Clergy-man must forfeit all Mens Value and Esteem for him And consequently for All that Clergy or Church of whom they have conceived such an Opinion And tho you and I can vindicate our selves as to the Preaching of Passive Obedience in former Times What is this to all that Generality of the Clergy who were never Weary nor would give over upon that Subject Who found it in every Text they could meet with And pressed it oftener and more pathetically than any Article of the Creed And though we did not preach for it yet we did not preach against it We let it go Which the People think we should not have done if we thought it to be an Errour and so Fatal a one as it must be if it can be an Errour They call this Time-serving in us then as much as in the others now And then our Subscriptions to the Homilies and Reading the Declaration of its not being Lawful upon any Pretence to take Arms c. are thrown in our Dish And it is needless here to insist upon our Defences for the Enquiry we are now making is not the truth or untruth of the Case but only as to the Inclinations of the Peopleâ— that is How They take it not how it is in it self Thus far we have observed concerning the People in General and in London But let us now come nearer and observe their Countenance in the Great Representative of the People The Parliament And Here like drawing near to an ill Daub'd Landskip the Strokes appear more Gross and Disproportion'd What a contemptible Figure do our Bishops now make in the House of Lords It was never so known before No! Never They are obliged either to quit their Seats in that House or to bear the Railery of the lay-Lay-Lords every Day who think them a Dead Weight amongst the Peers of whom the greatest part would be glad to be rid of them not only out of their House but out of the Nation And it may here be noted That Episcopacy was in greater Perfection and more primitive Independency in Scotland than with us here in England and likewise as much fortified by the Civil Law and set higher in the State than since the Reformation in England The Clergy there are a Distinct Estate by themselves and preferr'd in all things to the Temporal Nobility For not only the two Archbishops as in England but every one of the Bishops do Sign before all the whole Temporal Lords as may be seen in the Act above-mention 16th of March 1688 where all the Convention subscribed their Names and the Seven Bishops who was there did subscribe before Duke Hamilton though then President of the Convention and all the Lay-Lords And their Subscriptions are thus Indorsed in the said Act The Clergy and Nobility subscribed thus When the Rolls in Parliament are called over the Bishops are all first called The Bishops chuse Lords of the Articles out of the Temporal Estate of the Lay Lords In all things the Bishops there are distinguished more plainly as a Separate Estate and the First of the Three Estates than with us But they have a yet much greater Advantage above our Bishops in their Ecclesiastiacal Authority They have no Prohibitions from the Secular Courts to hang up their Excommunications or intermeddle in their Spiritual Censures The Bishops there are Absolute Judges of the Fitness of Clerks presented to them for Livings Nor give any Account hereof to the Secular Courts Nay more they can Transplant any Priest in their Diocese from one Parish to another as they shall judge their Labours to be more profitable in one Place than another and there lies no Remedy for the Priest so Transplanted from the Secular Courts of which I have been told Instances The Civil Law has made no such Inrodes upon the Episcopal Authority in Scotland as in England and therefore our Bishops can plead no Exemption more than they from being cast out of the Church whenever a House of Commons shall please to have it so There is as St. Cyprian says but one Episcopate in the whole World of which every Bishop partakes Severally yet in Common Episcopatus unus est cujus a singulus in solidum pars tenetur Cyp. de unit Eccles Therefore the Case of Scotland at present is not only proximus Utalegon to us but 't is our own very Case upon the common Bottom of Christianity For if we give up the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy in Scotland we must yield it also as to England And then we are wholy Precarious And if in the Church much less let us think that Bishops are so essential to Parliaments but that as in England in 42. and now in Scotland they may be Dispenc'd with And the House of Commons as well as of the Lords have upon several Occasions minded them of their Frailty And that what has been done may be done as well in this as in other Things But more than all this both Houses of Commons and Lords have shewn their Love to us and high Regard of our Constitution in that they have divested us of all our Authority over the People by their unlimited Act of Indulgence to all Sorts and Sizes of Dissenters and commanding that the Ecclesiastical Courts shall have no Power to proceed against any of them And giving Power