it saith Concessimus Deo hac praesenti charta confirmavimus pro nobis HAEREDIBVS nostris in perpetuum quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit habeat omnia jura sua integra libertates suas illaesas and whereby the British Churches are secured under a Prince of any Religion from Foreign Arbitrary impositions But indeed the Style current in Magna Charta is that our Kings for themselves and their Heirs forever did grant the Customs and Liberties contained in that Charter to our Ancestors and their Heirs for ever Our Ancestors had no occasion to spend time in seeking Knots in a Bull-rush or hidden Sense in the words HEIRS and the King's HEIRS when so anciently as by the Oath of Fealty which every Person above fourteen years old and every Tythingman was obliged to take publickly at the Court-Leet within which he lived they were sworn to the King and his HEIRS and that Oath was taken a fresh every year by all the Subjects under Edward the Confessor and William the first and is thus set down by Pryn in his Concordia Discors viz. I A. B. do swear that FROM THIS DAY FORWARDS I will be Faithful and Loyal to our Lord the King AND HIS HEIRS c. The instances are innumerable of Allegiance anciently Sworn to our Kings and their Heirs and this one for example occureth to me as Sworn in the time of Edward the 4th viz. Sovereign Lord I Henry Percy become your Subject and Leige-man and promit to God and you that hereafter I Faith and Troth shall bear to you as to my Sovereign Leige-Lord and to your Heirs Kings of England of Life and Limb and of Earthly Worship to Live and Die against all Earthly People and to you and to your Commandments I shall be Obeysant as God me help and his Holy Evangâ—lists 27. Oct. 9. Ed. 4. Claus. 9. Ed. 4. m. 13. in dorso Mr. Pryn likewise in that Book of his beforemention'd saith that there was an ancient Oath of Fealty and Allegiance both by the Subjects of England and Kings Bishops Nobles and Subjects of Scotland made to the Kings of England and Their Heirs as Supreme Lords of Scotland in these words viz. Ero fidelis legalis fidemque legalitatem servabo Henrico Regi Angliae haeredibus suis de vitâ membris terreno honore contra omnes qui possunt vivere mori nunquam pro aliquo portabo arma nec ero in consilio vel auxilio contra eum vel Haeredes suos c. which Oath he saith William King of Scots and all his Nobles Swore to King Henry the second haeredibus suis sicut ligio Domino suo and John Balliol John Comyn with all the Nobles of Scotland to King Edward the first and his Heirs He there likewise gives an account how the Nobles of England Swore Fealty to Richard King of England and to his Heirs against all men and how the Citizens of London Swore the like Oath and That if King Richard should die without Issue they would receive Earl John his Brother for their King and Lord juraverunt ei fidelitatem Contra omnes homines salva fidelitate Richardi Regis fratris sui as Hoveden relates And he moreover cites the Record of the Writ issued to all the Sheriffs of England soon after the Birth of Edward the 1 st Son and Heir to King Henry the 3 d. To Summon all Persons above 12 years old to Swear Fealty to him as Heir to the King and to submit themselves faithfully to him as their Liege Lord after his Death This form of the Oath in the Writ is there mention'd to that effect viz. Quod ipsi salvo homagio fidelitate nostrâ quâ nobis tenentur cui in vitâ nostrâ nullo modo renunciare volumus fideles eritis Edwardo filio nostro primogenito ita quod si de nobis humanitus Contigerit eidem tanquam Haeredi nostro domino suo ligio erunt fideliter intendentes eum pro domino suo ligio habentes And he there shews how they were Summon'd and Sworn accordingly and further how in the Parliament of H. 4. The Lords Spiritual and Tempâ—ral and Commons were Sworn to bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King to the Prince and his Issue and to every one of his Sons severally succeeding to the Crown of England And he there mentions more Oaths taken to our Kings and their Heirs of the like Nature The Consideration hereof would make any one wonder at the Confidence of a late Learned Lawyer and positive pretender to Omniscience in our English Antiquities and Records who in his Detestable Book called The Rights of the Kingdom and which contains a farrago of Impious Anti-monarchical Principles and Printed in London 1649. and there to the Scandal of the English and Protestant Name lately Re-printed by some Factious Anti-Papists hath averred That our Allegiance was of old tyed to the Kings Person not unto his Heirs and for the Kings Heirs saith he there I find them not in our Allegiance And he mentions the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance as enjoyn'd in Queen Elizabeth's and King Iames's time respectively to be the first that were made to the Kings Person and his HEIRS and SVCCESSORS But to return to the Cause in hand 'T is sufficient for the Obligation I press that HEIRS and SUCCESORS are so clearly expressed in the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy And tho the Statute of 1 â— Elizabethae in the Clause of the Annexing Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown useth the style of Your Highness your Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm shall have full Power c. as the Statue of the Supremacy 26o. Henry 8th runs in the Style of our Sovereign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realms shall be taken accepted and reputed the only Supreme Head and tho the Oath in the 35 th H. the 8 th Cap. 1. that relates to the bearing Faith Truth and true Allegiance to the Kings Majesty and to his Heirs and Successors c. be further thus expressed viz. And that I shall accept repute and take the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors when they or any of them shall enjoy his place to be the only Supreme Head c. and tho' the old Oath of the Mayor of London and other Cities and Towns throughout England and of Bayliffs or other chief Officers where there are no Mayors runs in the style of Swearing That they shall well and Loyally Serve the King in the Office of Mayor in the City of L. and the same City shall keep surely and safely to the use of our Lord the King of England and of his Heirs Kings of England might give occasion for that great empty and big-sounding Sophism of Sir W. I. in his famous Speech wherein he said That we are Sworn to the King his Heirs and Lawful Successors but not Obliged to any during
it What a diminution was it to the honour of the Age that the Popularity of Sir W. I. a person who in the florid part of his youth appeared but an Entring Clerk or one who entred Judgments for Attorneys and in the greatest Figure he made in Parliament or the Court acquired no fame by various Learning and Skill in the Politicks or by having profoundly studied the great Book of the World should yet as with the Impetus of an Oracle run down the great Characters of this Lord and of your Lordship and the Earl of Hallifax that are known to the World to be so great for Loyalty and Learning and the Comprehensive Knowledge of the present and past State of Christendom and that after that Loyal and Learned Person and undefatigable assertor of our Laws and Religion Sir L. Ienkins had with great Reason and Courage in a Speech in the House of Commons against the Exclusion Bill affirmed that the passing the same would be contrary to the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and Sir W. I. thereupon answering it with the Non est haeres viventis he had somewhat like a general humme of Applause from the House and almost as if his had been the voice of God and and not of Man But on this occasion I should be unjust and too reserved to your Lordship if I should not tell you that a Gentleman of good parts and a great Estate a Member of that Parliament acquainted me that he being then one of the great Admirers and Followers of Sir W. I. and frequently present with him in the most private Cabals did observe him to be full of fears of the Courts being brought to favour the Exclusion-Bill as supposing that the Parliament would be thereby engaged to part with great Sums of Money and that he observed Sir W. I. and others of the Cabal were at a stand in their Politicks as not knowing what steps to make next if that Bill had passed and the Consideration whereof he told me made him not desirous to participate further in their Councils Thus just is it for Heaven sometimes to blind and confound and abandon good men in their Councels when they abandon plain Principles and Dictates of Reason and when they will not do what they know to suffer them not to know what they do and particularly not to know while they were so busily founding Dominion or Empire in Grace that they were riding Post to Rome as fast as ever that Father of the Trent-Council did who was so often employed to the Holy See to bring thence the Holy Ghost in a Cloak-bag It is some Consolation to your Lordship to have fellow sufferers in the Obloquy cast upon you by the Tongue of a young Man in a matter so remote from verisimilitude and not worth the twice naming and whose Person I thought not worthy the naming once however a Loyal Parliament thought his Accusations worthy the Press and in whose reproach that Honourable Person and your Lordships old friend the Earl of Peterborough shared with you But by what I have found to be the judged Character of that Lord among the most Impartial Studiers of Men in the Age I may justly say that the honour of the Age was a fellow sufferer with you both by the publick Countenancing of the dirt by so obscure a hand thrown on a Person of so Noble Descent both from Father and Mother and of so much Courage and Loyalty and Learning and on whom his great knowledge of all History Ancient and Modern hath so much accomplished as a States-man and one who in his Travels in the World abroad left there such impressions of his real value on the most Critical Observers that his Prince thought him to be the most proper Person to employ abroad as Ambassador in negotiating the Marriage between his Royal Highness and the Princess of Modena whereby we may yet hope for an Heir Male to inherit the Crown of England I never heard that any thing but sham could represent this Lord otherwise than a true Son of the Church of England and having once or twice seen him en passant at your Lordships House and observed the lineaments of Honesty and Honour in his looks do think that his very face may serve to confute thousands of such Tongues as that which aspersed him But both his Lordship and yours have likewise in that Persons Accusations and in the greatest Circumstances of improbability been fellow sufferers with the greatest Subject and therefore need not be ashamed of your fate according to what the Famous Historian so well said Post Carthaginem captam vincâ— neminem pudeat Yet having said all this I shall say that perhaps had it been the fortune of that Loyal Parliament to have sate longer it might too have happened that none of your Lordships that I have named would at last â—ave thought it Parliamentum sine misericordia and that I believe you will not find any future one so and that your Lordships who have so eminentâ—y supported the Northern Heresie so called will be like the North Magnetick and attract a general popular love which after all its variations will return again to you But 't is high time for me to take off my hand from this Map of the Future State of England that as a Predicter rather than a Prophet I have here so particularly delineated and as one who according to what is in St. Mathew When it is Evening say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red c. and from Natural Causes have as well as I could discern'd the signs of the times and what it may be a shame for any one that is a piece of a Philosopher to be wholly ignorant of when the inspired Prophet tells us that the Stork knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming and that 't is obvious that the Beasts of the Field as well as Birds of the Air foresee unseasonable weather from the disposition of the Air. Nor is it hard for any Considerer now in relation to some of the Popish and Protestant Recusants to undertake what the Magicians Astrologers and Chaldeans durst not to the King of Babylon I mean to tell them what their Dream was they dreamt to rule us still by a Nation within a Nation as the Mamalukes did Aegypt they dreamt of Offices and like idle Millenaries of Lactantius his golden Age when the Cliffs of the Mountains shall sweat out Honey and the Springs and Rivers shall flow with Milk and Wine and of a pingue solum that shall tire no Husbandmen and of such a Country as Campania the Garden of Italy that shall not be called terra del lavoro But I do predict that the noise of the World and their being necessarily disturbed by the busie in whose way they stand will awaken them and that if they will have any food to raise the vapours that will again
THE HAPPY Future State of England OR A DISCOURSE by way of LETTER to the late EARL of ANGLESEY Vindicating Him from the Reflections of an AFFIDAVIT Published by the HOUSE of COMMONS Ao 1680. by occasion whereof Observations are made concerning Infamous WITNESSES The said Discourse likewise contains various Political Remarks and CALCULATIONS referring to many Parts of Christendom with Observations of the Number of the People of ENGLAND and of its Growth in Populousness and Trade The Vanity of the late Fears and Iealousies being shewn the Author doth on Grounds of Nature Predict the Happy future State of the Realm At the End of the Discourse There is a Casuistical Discussion of the Obligation of the KING His Heirs and Successors wherein many of the Moral Offices of Absolute and Vnconditional Loyalty are Asserted Before the Discourse is A large PREFACE giving an Account of the whole WORK with an Index of the Principal Matters ALSO The Obligation resulting from the Oath of SUPREMACY to Assist and Defend the Preheminence or Prerogative OF THE Dispensative Power Belonging to the KING His Heirs and Successors In the Asserting of that Power various Historical Passages occurring in the Vsurpation after the Year 1641. are mentioned and an Account is given of the Progress of the Power of Dispensing as to Acts of Parliament about Religion since the Reformation and of diverse Judgments of Parliaments declaring their Approbation of the Exercise of such Power and particularly in what concerns Punishment by Disability or Incapacity LONDON Printed MDCLXXXVIII To the Right Honorable the Earl of Sunderland Lord President of His Majesty's most Honorable Privy-Council and Principal Secretary of State and Knight of the most Noble Order of the GARTER MY LORD FOR one who is sensible how little he knows of things past or present to Dedicate a Discourse of the future State of his Country to your Lordship who are by the Age allow'd to be as Critical a Iudge of Men and Things as any it affords may seem to have in it somewhat of Presumption But when your Lordship shall have had leisure to consider the plain Grounds of Nature on which my Prediction in the following Papers hath gone I will not so much hope that what I have attempted may appear to have been no Presuming as I will expect that your Censure will cast the Presumption on the other side namely on such who were Predictors with a continuando of the Unhappy State of their Country and especially on the account of the Religion of our most Gracious Prince And were I now to have my Iudgment tryed only by that of the Mobile who measure all things by the Events I account I should be out of the Gunshot of Censure since the course of Providence after my writing of the following Work having Conducted His Majesty to fill the Throne of his Ancestors with so many Royal Virtues it has been Conspicuous to them that the Glories of his Reign have transcended the highest flights of my mentioned Expectation And indeed as I remember to have long ago heard one of the Fathers cited for a Passage to this purpose namely that on a Supposal that God recounting to him the Perfections of the Creation should ask him what he could name wanting and that he could wish he would answer Unum Laudatorem Domine so it might till of late be said that in this new Creation or Restoration of England under His Majesty's Reign the only thing we had with anxiety to wish and desire from God next to the ennabling us to Praise his divine Goodness was one whose Talent of noble thoughts and words might be adequate to the celebrating the many Talents of our Prince and their successful Improvement both for the Honour and Security and Ease of his People But neither is such one Praiser now wanting for he who shall read the many late Loyal Addresses from all Parts of the Kingdom will find the People of England to be the Unus Laudator My Lord as I in the following Discourse almost wholly Printed long ago in the last Reign during the freedom of the Press adventured on Grounds of Nature to predict such a growth of Loyalty as would make all England become one sober Party of Mankind and that the more ingenious sort of Iesuits would by natural Instinct throw off those Principles condemned in this Pope's Decree and with Iustice then acknowledged a Sober Party in that order and have at large in p. 322. particularly shew'd my Abhorrence of charging the belief or practice of those Principles on all Persons in that Order So I have likewise in p. 238. given my Iudgment that all Seditious Principles own'd by any who call'd themselves Protestants must naturally decay and have at large in my Preface opposed my measures of futurity to those of a late Father of the Church of England concerning the two Plots that he thought the Papists and Dissenters would be ever carrying on and without his Lordships excepting the Loyal in those religionary Parties But having said this I must likewise say that these happy births of Fate having been but as it were the Births of a Day under the Powerful Influences of His Majesty's Government or as I may say a Nation 's being thus born in a Day are beyond what I did expect and I did little think that with the suddenness of the motion of Lightning when it melts the Sword and spares the Scabbard His Majesty's Declaration of Indulgence to Dissenters would at the same time melt so many hearts and all hostile Principles of the Doctrine of Resistance wrapp'd therein as it spared the Persons of the deluded Opiners I account that any indifferent Observer of the extraordinary sweetness of the way of painting their Loyalty in their Addresses and which resembleth the way of Corregio and is as excellent in its kind as that of the Sons of the Church of England after the way of the bolder touches of Titian in their former Addresses with the Style of LIVES AND FORTUNES was in its must be very hard-hearted if he likewise be not melted into a new kind of Compassion toward such his Brethren and into a noble sense of a great and good Prince having made his Subjects of all Religionary Perswasions Lachrymists for Joy and turned all their hearts to invoke Heaven in wishing for him according to that old Style a long Life a secure Kingdom a safe House valiant Armies a faithful Senate loyal Subjects the world at Peace c. The comparatively narrow Idea's of Charity and Beneficence that Subjects Minds are capable of toward one another do incline them to think chiefly of particular Toleration and such as we call Dispensation and that too with the nicety of Caution and upon Persons making the notification of their Principles and their particular disclaiming of all Disloyal ones previous to their Toleration and beyond this pitch the flights of my poor thoughts have not gone in the following Work. But His Majesty having
part of its Patrimony Queen Elizabeth alienated to secure the Protestant Religion ib. The fears of Popery further Censured p. 198. Ridly and Latimer Prophesied at the Stake that Protestancy would never be extinguished in England p. 198. Roger Holland prophesied at the Stake at Smithfield that he should be the last that should there suffer Martyrdom ib. Observations on the Natural Prophesying of dying men and its effects p. 199. The Vanity of Mens troubling the World by Suppositions ib. and p. 200. 'T is a degree of madness to trouble it by putting wanton impossible cases p. 200. The Author without any thing of the Fire of Prophecy and only by the light of reason presageth that the excessive fear of Popery as weâ—l as its danger will here be exterminated ib. The justice of the Claim of King Charles the first to the Title of Martyr asserted p. 201 202 203. The Author judgeth that some vile Nominal Protestants by the publication of many Seditious Pamphlets have given the Government a just Alarm of their designs against it p. 203. Of Papists and Protestants being Antagonists in Shamms p. 204. Mr. Nye cited for representing the Dissenters acted by the Jesuites in thinking it unlawful to hear the Sermons of the Divines of the Church of England p. 204. False Witnesses among the Jews allowed against false Prophets p. 205. The Earl of Anglesy's Courage and Iustice asserted in the professing in the House of Lords his disbelief of such an Irish Plot as was sworn by the Witnesses tho the belief of the reallity of such a Plot had obtained the Vote of every one else in both Houses ib. Above 2000 Irish Papists in the Barony of Enishoan demean'd themselves civilly to the English during the whole Course of the Rebellion ib. Several eminent ingenious Papists in England and Foreign parts celebrated for their avowed Candour to Protestants p. 206 207 208 c. D' Ossat's acquainting the Pope That if his Holyness were King of France he would show the same kindness to the Huguenots that Harry the 4th did p. 208. Cromwel being necessitated to keep the Interest of the Kingdom divided was likewise necessitated to keep up all Religions according to the Politicks of Julian p. 211. Of the Papists calling King James Julian ib. The Author inveigheth against the Calumny of any Protestants who call any one Apostate for the alteration of his Iudgment in some controvertible points of Faith between Papists and Protestants ib. The Author's Reason why 't is foolish to fear that any Rightful Prince of the Roman Catholick perswasion that can come here will follow the Politicks of Julian ib. 'T is shewn that any Protestant Vsurper here must act à la Julian ib. The Vsurper Cromwel shewn to be a Fautor of Priests and Jesuites by the Attestations of Mr. Prynn and the Lord Hollis p. 212 213. The danger of Popery that would have ensued Lambert's Vsurpation p. 213 214. How true soever any Vsurpers Religion is he must be false to the Interest of the Kingdom p. 214. Observed that the Kings long Parliament by the Act for the Test did enjoyn the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to be taken ib. Those Oaths lay on the Takers an Obligation to the Kings Heirs and Successors without any distinction of the Religion true or pretended of such Heirs and Successors ib. Mr. Prynn's Book called Concordia discors printed Anno 1659 to prove the Obligation by those Oâ—hs to the King's Heirs and Successors commended ib. The Author mentions the Reasons that induced him to write Casuistically concerning such Obligation and promiseth to send that his Writing to his Lordship ib. The Author judgeth that he ought not to be severe to any Papist before he hath a Moral certainty of such Papists having imbibed any of the Principles imputable to Pâ—pery that is unmoral or inhumane ib. The Author observes that few or no Writers of the Church of Rome have lately thought fit by their Pens to assert the Inheritable Right of Princes without respect to any Religionary Tenets they may hold p. 215. The Author thinks that for a Protestant at this time to write for the devesting any Roman Catholick Prince of his Property and Right of Succession when few or no Writers of the Church of Rome either do or dare for fear of offending the Pope employ their Pens for the preservation of such his property and right without respect to to any Religionary Tenets he may hold is like drawing against a naked man ib. D' Ossat affirms That the Pope and the whole Court of Rome hold it lawful to deprive a Prince of any Country to preserve it from Heresie ib. An Animadversion on a late Pamphlet concerning the Succession ib. Reflections on the House of Commons Proceedings in the Exclusion Bill ib. and p. 216. The Author gives an explanatory account of the tempus acceptabile he in p. 25 mentions p. 216. His Majesty's constant contending for the Protestant Faith celebrated and likewise his Iustice in preserving the property of the Succession in the Legal Course by all his Messages to the Parliament p. 217. The unhappy State of that Prince who shall for fear of the Populace do any Act of the Iustice whereof he doubts and much more of the injustice whereof he is fully convinced p. 217. at large The Caution to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia applied to such a Prince viz. Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take away thy Crown ib. at large 'T is not only Popery but Atheism in Masquerade to do an unjust Act to support Religion p. 218. King James disavowed the Act of his Son-in Laws accepting the Title of King of Bohemia ib. An Observation that in the Common-Prayer in King Charles the 1 sts time relating to the Royal Family the Prayer runneth for Frederick Prince Palatâ—ine Elector of the Rhine and the Lady Elizabeth his Wife ib. The Author observes that in the Assembly's Directory the Lady Elizabeth is styled Queen of Bohemia p. 219. An Account of the Governments avowed sence in King James's time that any of the Princes of England ought not by becoming Roman Catholick to be prejudiced in their Right of Succession to the Crown ib. The same sense of the Government in the time of King Charles the 1 st ib. The Parliament during the Civil War projected not any prejudice to the right of Succession on the account of any Religionary Tenets p. 220. Mention of somewhat more to confirm the claim of King Charles the 1 st to the Title of Martyr beside his Adhesion to Episcopacy and its Revenue ib. An account of the Protestation of the Nonconforming Ministers in the year 1605 relating to the King's Supremacy wherein they assert the Royal Authority inseparably fixt to the true Line whatever Religion any Prince thereof may profess p. 221. The Author peâ—stringeth the Protestant would be 's and new Statists of the Age that would for Religionary Tenets barr any of the
settlement of the same proving Abortive in several Parliaments ib. The French King in the last War did forbid the Importation of Sail-Cloath to England ib. A presage of the future happy State of England and the Authors Idea thereof at large ib. and p. 252. An account of the Rough Hemp and Flax and Sail-cloth and all other Manufactures of Hemp and Flax yearly brought into England and from what Countries deduced out of the Custom-house Books p. 254. All the Hemp and Flax sown in England is observed to be bought up by the years end p. 257. Almost as much Hemp and Flax yearly brought into Amsterdam as into the whole Kingdom of England ib. The Authors judgment of the effects of the necessity that will drive us on to the Linen Manufacture ib. An Account of the fine Linen lately made by the French Protestants at Ipswich and of the Flax by them sown ib. The Author's Censure of the excessive Complaints of the danger of Popery ib. His belief that the future State of England will make men ashamed of their pass'd fears of Popery ib. The Vote of the House of Commons for the recalling the Declaration of Indulgence carried by the Party of the Nonconformists p. 258. Most of the Papists of England in the Year 1610 computed to be under the guidance of the Jesuites p. 260. Many Popish Writers have inveighed against Gratian the Compiler of the Decrets of the Canon Law ib. That Law never in gross received in England ib. Binds not English Papists in the Court of Conscience ib. A Tenet ridiculously and falsly in the Canon Law founded on Cyprian ib. Gratian's founding it on Cyprian gives it only the weight it could have in Cyprian's Works p. 261. Pere Veron's Book of the Rule of Catholick Faith cited for Gratian's Decrees and the gloss claiming nothing of Faith and Bellarmine's acknowledging errors therein ib. One definition in the Canon Law and gloss held by all Papists ridiculous ib. The Author thinks he has said as much to throw off the Obligation on any Papists to obey the Pope's Canon Law as they would wish said ib. He thinks himself morally obliged in any Theological Enquiry to say all that the matter will fairly bear on both sides ib. Heylin and Maimbourg cited about the firing of Heretical Villages in France p. 262. Parsons and Bellarmine cited by Donne for rendring some things obligatory that are said by Gratian p. 263. The Author expects that the growing populousness of England will have the effect of rendriâ—g men less censorious of any supposed Political Errors in the Ministers of our Princes p. 265. Mr. Fox cited for his Observation of many Excellent men falsly accused and judged in Parliament and his advice to Parliaments to be more circumspect ib. The Author minded by that passage out of Fox to reflect on the severity in a late Parliament in their Votes against the King's Ministers ib. The injustice of the Vote against the Earl of Hallifax p. 266. The Earl of Radnor occasionally mentioned with honour ib. The Constancy of the Earl of Anglesy to the Protestant Religion further asserted p. 267. Mention of his Lordships being injuriously reflected on in a Speech of Sir W. J. ib. The unreasonableness of the Reflections on the Lord Chief Justice North for advising and assisting in the drawing up and passing a Proclamation against Tumultuous Petitions ib. The great deserved Character of that Lord Chief Justice p. 268. throughout A reflection on the popularity of Sir W. J. and on the â—â—â—essive Applause he had from the House of Commons after his Speech for the Exclusion-Bill p. 269. Sir Leolin Jenkins mentioned with honour ib. The Cabal of Sir W. J. observed to be full of fears of the Exclusion-Bill passing and their not knowing what steps in Politicks to make next ib. The Earl of Peterborough at large mentioned with honour ib. and p. 270. A further Account of the Authors prediction of England's future happy State ib. and p. 271. The Author observes that the most remarkable late Seditious Writers have published it in Print That they feared the next Heir to the Crown only as Chief Favourite to his Prince and that they judged that the Laws would sufficiently secure them from fears of his power if he should come to the Crown p. 271. An Assertion of his never having advised his Prince to incommode any one illegally and of his not having used his own power to any such purpose ib. The Author judgeth such Persons to write but in jest who amuse the People about being Lachrymists by that Princes Succession ib. The Author reflects on our Counterfeit Lachrymists for not affecting as quick a prevention of any future growth of Popery as was 〈◊〉 care of in Scotland p. 272. He observes that few or none in Scotland fear that Popery can ever in any Course of time there gain much ground ib. The Papists in that Kingdom estimated to be but 1000 ib. The Author believes that the fears of Poperies growth will be daily abated in England and in time be extinguished ib. More Popish Ecclesiasticks observed to be in Holland then Ministers in France and that yet none in Holland pretend to fear the Papists ib. The Authors judgment of the Dissenters Sayings being usefully published ib. Some Notes on the Geneva Bible seditious ib. The same Tenet of firing Heretical Cities that is in the Popes Canon Law founded on the 13 th of Deuteronomy is chargeable on our late Presbyterians ib. The Assemblies Annotations cited to that purpose ib. The Church of England illuminates us with better Doctrine p. 274. Bishop Sanderson cited for that purpose ib. Calvin as to this point did blunder as shamefully as our Assembly-men p. 274. Several of the Calvinistick and Lutheran Divines imbibed the error of Hereticidium from the same mistaken Principle of Monk Gratians ib. The Presbyterians here fired the Church and State with a Civil War ib. The Authors belief that there will never be any new Presbyterian Synod in England nor General Council beyond Sea ib. The Popes Pensions in the Council of Trent that sate for 18 years came to 750 l. Sterling per Month â—b The Author predicts the extermination of all Mercenary Loyalty in England ib. The reason of such his Prediction p. 275. The Lord Hyde first Commissioner of the Treasury mentioned with honour ib. What the new Heaven and the new Earth is that the Author expects in England ib. The reason that induced false Prophets to foretel evil rather than good to States and Kingdoms p. 276. at large The same applied to our Augurs who by enlarging our fears and jealousies and their own fortunes thereby rendred the Genius of England less august ib. The Authors measures of the future State of England are taken only from Natural Causes and Natures Constancy to it self p. 277. A short account of several great Religionary Doctrines having naturally pierced through the sides and roots of one another p. 279. The
is for Arbitrary Power they will say a Papist And in cases where the people do not think fit to begin with Execution Common Fame goes for proof against such a Minister and the political whispers of other Great Men who inspire them goe for demonstrations and they think knocking down Arbitrary Power with Arbitrary proof is a good baculiâ—um argumentum ad hominem or rather a Monster of power for as such they look on one of the People who is so by the head higher then themselves I know none to have observed the constitution and customes of the Government of Venice better then your Lordship and there any one that is but Arbitrarily affected as our term is here Popishly affected is taken volly before he comes to the ground or at furthest at his first rebound and his head made a Tennis Ball before he comes to be bandi'd among the people I mean he is first Sumonarily dispatcht or made away and his plenary process is dispatcht or made up afterward Your Lordship hath in the course of your travels been there in person but my eyes have only beheld it as a traveller in Mapps and Authors one of whom namely Boccaline in his Raggnagli di Parnasse Speaking of Venice saith that the dreadful Tribunal of the Councel of ten and the Supream Magistracy of the State-Inquisition could with three ballotting balls easily bury alive any Caesar or Pompey who began to discover himself in that well governed State. And according to the Lawes of that Country any aspirer of the first rate so sunk by the shot of the ballotting balls may be said to be kill'd very fairly though there was no more Citation in the case then in that of the Martyrdom of Sir Edmond Godfrey who yet according to the principles of the Canon Law was likewise killed very fairly I here allude to the Style of the brothers of the blade who when sworn at a Tryal about one murthered in a Duel usually depose that he was killed very fairly And indeed I have by a Neighbour of mine who is a Civilian been shewn it in a Civil Law Book called the Second Tome of the Common Opinions in folio Book 9. p. 462. Printed at Lions that Rebellis impunè occidi possit tunc demum probari declarari quod erat rebellis And the Canonists do as I am informed by him all agree that valet argumentum à crimine laesae Majestatis seâ— rebellionis ad heresim and with good reason according to the Popish hypothesis for that he that is a heretic is a Rebell or Traytor to the Pope and therefore a Heretic by that Law may be destroyed before his Process is made But the Kings of England like those of Israel are merciful Kings and in the Laws of England Iustice and Mercy are still saluting each other and with as much kindness as they can possibly shew without embracing each other to death and the meanest Commoners Life in England becomes not a forfeit to the Law but after a Tryal by his equals and in this our Law agrees with that gentleness and equity inculcated by Grotius de Iure Belli Pacis Book 3. Chap. 14. Temperamentum circa captos § 3. where he saith Cato Censorius narrante Plutarcho si quis servus Capital admisisse videretur de eo supplicium non sumebat nisi postquam damnatus esset etiam Conservorum judicio Quicum conferenda verba Iob. 31. 13. I must confess I was very much shock't with one expression used in a long Speech by one of the managers of the House of Commons in the Trial of the Earl of Strafford wherein the saying That Beasts of Prey are to have no Law was applyed to the Earl. I am sure that Wolfs and Boars are Beasts of the Forrest as well as Harts and Hinds and in the Kings Forrests where they are in his protection they are to have Law and so likewise Foxes To this Metaphor of hunting of men in Parliament there is an allusion in the printed Letter of Mr. Alured in Rushworths Collections 4 o. Caroli where 't is said That Sir Edward Cooke in the House protested that the Author and cause of all their miseries was the Duke of Buckingham which was entertain'd and answered with a cheerful acclamation of the House as when one good Hound recovers the scent the rest come in with a full cry So they pursued it and every one came on home and layed the blame where they thought the fault was But yet by this saying of Alured it seems they thought they were to give him Law and 't is a brutish thing to suppose that wild predatory Beasts have in the Kings Forrests more protection and more exemption from being arbitrarily hunted down than his Liege people to whom he is sworn have in the whole Realm in general and in his Courts of Justice in particular That time seemed not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But your Lordships knowledg in the Laws of the Land and in the Laws of Nations is so universal and profound that you can come to no Court in the World but will either find Law there or bring it and your great knowledg of the Parliamentary Transactions in all past Ages cannot but secure you against any apprehensions of not finding Law. For it hath been rarely seen that a House of Commons has gone to hunt any man down tho with the Law that was not a Nimrod a Mighty hunter of our Laws themselves and never was the House of Peers thought a Court of Rigor and Cruelty and as the Tribunal of Cassius was for its dire severity called Scopulus Reorum In the end of the famous Tryal of the Earl of Strafford the House of Commons foresaw that the Lords would acquit him and therefore they broke up the Judicial prosecution against him and proceeded by Bill of Attainder and shortly after broke in pieces on his Grave the Rule and Standard of Treason they proceeded by as Heralds break their Staffs at the Funerals of Illustrious Persons and cast them into their Tombes Had I been one of that Lords Judges I should have consented that after he had been hunted so long by the Prosecution for Treason and was not Judicially convicted of it he should have had the priviledg of a Hart-Royal proclaimed of which Manwood in his Forrest Law speaking saith That if the King doth hunt a Stag he is called a Hart-Royal and that if he doth hunt a Hart in the Forrest which by chacing is driven out and the King gives him over as either being weary or for that he cannot recover him then because such a Hart hath shewn the King pastime and is also Cervus eximius and that therefore the King would have him preserved he causeth Proclamation to be made in the adjacent Villages that none shall kill hunt hurt or chace him and hinder him from his return to the Forrest and ever after such a Hart is called a Hart-Royal proclaimed But
only attacked and whereby you have that fastness where one-a-brest can keep down a Multitude is power Your affability and good Nature that endear you to so many is power and makes the hearts of men to be your Pyramids And all these sorts of power in you which make every party wish you to be theirs make up so bright a beauty in your mind as may well cause jealousie in that party that by loving you think they have Right to be again beloved by you I mean the English Protestants who court you and to whom you have so long engaged your self and especially when they shall find their Rivals boast of the kindness you have for them and that too at such a time as this when the Protestants seem to have the concern of one that is playing his last stake and which only can make him fetch back all he has lost a time when any one who pretends to a cold harmless neutrality doth really intend an exulcerated hatred a time wherein he that is not with us is against us however it may have hapned that in some lazy conjunctures when Papists and Protestants were half asleep both here and in the Neighbouring Continent that then he that was not against us was with us a time cum non de terminis sed de totâ possessione agitur A time wherein as in that of the tempest that happen'd to the Ship that carried Iona among the heathen Mariners we see almost all namely the Papists calling on their God and the Church of England likewise and the dissenters in the several persuasions on theirs with this difference that no man is now asleep but all in it are waking some at work to save the Ship and others to bore holes in it as if they were concerned to have it cast away as being not owners in it and as if they had secured their own merchandize in it which they purchased by the money they took up at Bottomry from Rome or its agents and knew how to secure themselves in the Cock-boat We have had dull and lazy conjunctures of timeâ—heretofore insomuch that many years ago a Divine seemed to begin a Sermon on the Gun-powder Treason day before a great Academick audience as it were yawning and in his sleep with these words Conspiracies if not prevented are rather dangerous then otherwise And thus the ingenious Comedy tells us of a Hero that as he was in the height of his passion with the greatest zeal making Love instantly dropt down into a deep sleep but 't is no time for yawning when the Earth begins to yawn under us And tho times have been heretofore influencing the Protestant cause like the Sun in March that could only raise the vapors of Popery in the body of the Nation and not dissipate them 't is now supposed to be otherwise and as I have heard that the Earl of Hallifax in his Speech in the house of Lords having spoken of his hatred to Popery excellently well added somewhat to this effect And we may now exterminate it if we will. And therefore with that now I think the ecce nunc tempus acceptabile festina salvare may be applyed to the Kingdom And if as the School-men tell us Angels may dance upon the point of a Needle we may imagine many both good and bad ones dancing on this point of time 't is on this moment the Nations eternity depends Every one now is as good a Conjurer as Friar Bacon and can make a Brazen head say time is by which words I believe the learned Roger Bacon meant only that in the vessel of Brass wherein the exquisite chymical preparations for the birth of gold were laboured the nick of opportunity was to be watched under pain of the loss of all the fire and Materials and art and labour according to that of Petrus Bongus Ibi est operis perfectio aut annihilatio quoniam ipsa die immò horâ oriuntur elementa simplicia depurata quae egent statim compositione antequam volent abigne as I find him cited by Brown for it in his vulgar errors where he further saith Now letting slip this critical opportunity he missed the intended Treasure which had he obtained he might have made out the tradition of making a brazen wall about England that is the most powerful defence and strongest fortification which Gold could have effected My Lord my opinion was askt in a letter from a very honest Gentleman and much your Lordships Servant Whether you should not do your self and your Religion a greatdeal of Right by printing in this juncture some of the excellent and large discourses you have formerly writ against Popery and the substance of the answer I gave him was to this effect That tho I would not diswade your Lordships now publishing any thing relating to the tenets of that pretended Religion that might import Protestants to understand more cleerly then they did in which way they have been advantaged by the Bishop of Lincoln's Book against Popery yet that I thought the great bulk of Popery could no more be destroyed by notions and arguments then a capital Ship could be sunk with bullets for that supposing they did all light between wind and water the Papists have thousands of Plugs ready to be clapt in there and thousands of men in that great vessel ready to apply them and tho I thought there was a time for writing of Books it was when there was a time for reading them that is when people had time to read them but that now the most curious works of Whiteakers and Iewels and Rainoldses would be no more regarded then attempts of shewing the longitude would be to Navigators while under the attack of a Fire-ship as I said or while they were making their way through the body of an Enemies Fleet. I know that 't is said to be an old Sybilline Prophecy that Antichrist shall be destroyed by paper viz. Antichristum lino periturum but alas that way is now as insignificant in the case as to think that the dominion of the Sea can be built up by Seldens Mare Clausum or destroyed by Grotius his Mare Liberum or any way but by thundring Legions in powerful fleers Indeed our paper pellets that the press since its licence hath shot against Popery I mean the innumerable little sheet-pamphlets that have come out against it may find time to be read and to give us diversion but the Papists looking on their Church as a great First-Rate Mann'd with Popes and Emperors and Princes and Fathers and Councels and innumerable Souls there embarqued in the Sea of time for the great Voyage of Eternity do account our little Protestant honest Sheet-authors firing at them daily to be only like the Yacht-Fan Fan's attacking De Ruyter But my Lord there is another Reason why a person of your Lordships great Power and Abilities should not at this time embarrase your self with writing No not those defences of your
flatter a Prince with Insinuations of the Greatness and Extent of his Power is not more unusual then for Mendicant Poets to over-act their part in Panegyricks or for the Celebrators of any particular bright beauty in Verse to represent her as the Empress of all Hearts and thus the Famous Campanella after he had made his Present of the Universal Monarchy to Spain sent it too a Begging into France as appears out of Arch-Bishop Laud's Book against Fisher pag. 210. where he saith that lately Friar Companella hath set out an Eclogue on the Birth of the Dauphin and that permissu Superiorum in which he saith that all the Princes are now more affraid of France then ever for that there is provided for it Regnum Universale the Vniversal Kingdom or Monarchy The words there are in the Margin Quum Gallia alat 20000000 hominum ex Singulis Centenis sumendo unum collegit 200000 strenuorum militum stipendiatorum commode perpetuoque propterea omnes terrae Principes metuunt nunc magis a Gallia quam unquam ab aliis Paratur enim illi Regnum Vniversale F. Thoâ—ae Companellae ecloga in Principis Galliarum Delphini Nativitatem cum annot discip Parisiis 1639. Cum permissu Superiorum Yet with a Non obstante to the Politicks of Campanella and his pittyful great Flatteries I shall venture to pronounce the Great French Monarch who is certainly as great a Prince in the Intellectual World as in the other and is truly by the bright Sun of Reason non pluribus impar no Designer of taking the Dimensions of the whole Globe of the Earth with Chains and do think the most Christian King out of his Royal Prudence less inclined to favour the servile Flatterers who would set him up to be King of Christendom then was formerly the Catholick Monarch to encourage those who render'd him aspiring to be the Vniversal one a Title which according to the excellent saying of Mr. Cowly in his Brutus None can deserve but he who would refuse the offer Nor do I doubt but that if ever the greatest Prince in Christendom should be abandoned to the Vanity of attempting the particular Conquest of Great Britain and Ireland his Power in the Ballance of the VVorld would as soon and as sensibly grow insignificant thereby as did the King of Spains ' by the Design of 88. And as the Fate of the great temporary Disturbers of Mankind hath been their constant Augmentation of their own Expences which was a just pecuniary mulct from Heaven on their Ambition for their encrease of the charge of divers Nations in the posture of Defence so is it likely to be more and more to the end of Time And it was sufficiently exemplified in the Result of the Pope's and King of Spain's Politicks in 88 which reduced them to attempt the Remedying of the Prosuâ—ion of their Treasure by sending as I may say Canonical Waste-Paper to the West-Indies and the loss too of their Cargo of that as appears by Malynes in his Lex Mercatoria where he saith pag. 126. That in the year 1561 Pope Sixtus Quintus caused two Ships to be Laden out of Spain for the West-Indies with a 100. Buts of Sackâ— 1400 little Chests containing each of them three ordinary small Barrels of Quick-Silver weighing 50 l. apiece to refine the Silver withal in the VVest-Indies and a great number of Packs of Printed Bulls and Pardons granted at that time to make Provision against Hereticks because the year 1588 had so much exhausted the Treasure of Spain These two Ships were met with at Sea by Captain VVhite who was Laden and Bound for Barbary and brought into England by him where the Commodities were Sold But the Popes Merchandise being out of request and remaining a long time in Ware-Houses at the disposal of Queen Elizabeth at the last at the request of her Physician Doctor Lopez she gave all that great quantity of Bulls to him amounting to many thousands in number And he and another sent those Bulls into the VVest-Indies where they were no sooner Arrived but the Popes Contractors for that Commodity did Seise on all the said Bulls and caus'd an Information to be given against them that they were Infected as having been taken by Hereticks T was alledged that they were Miraculously saved but they were lost and Confiscated Malynes further mentions That he was employed to appraise the Lading of those Prizes and to certifie what it cost and what it might have been worth in the VVest-Indies according to the rate of every Bull tax'd at two Rials of Plate and some four and some eight Rials according to their Limitation every one being but one sheet of Paper and by Computation the Lading did not cost 50000 l. and would have yielded above 600000 l. He had before said That every Reasonable Soul of the Popish Religion in America must have one of these Bulls yearly and that these Bulls contained a Mandate that their Beds should be sold who would not take off one of them It seems by the way that all that Treasure of Indulgences bestowed by Queen Elizabeth on Doctor Lopez could not oblige him from designing afterward to take away her Life by Poyson But this was the result of the Trage-Comedy or rather Farce of 88. and Broyl on the Coast when Spains Invincible Fleet that had in it but 8350. Seamen proved the sport of Fortune and of the VVinds and the fatal VVrack of its Treasure insomuch that it could never since if then aw the world by the Number of Mariners Men who love not to be paid with Tickets even in this VVorld and much less to receive them as payable in another the which is the true Notion of Paper-Indulgences It is agreed on by all Writers that the Spanish Armada consisting of 130 Ships then had in it but the Number of Seamen before-mention'd and of those too a great part borrowed from diverse Countries and 19290 Land Soldiers which Naturally clogg'd its Sea Service for the Antipathy between those and Seamen in Ships is such that unless the Seamen are the Major part there they are apt to look on those as intruders and as such who stand in their way and in their light But in a Remonstrance to the Earl of Nottingham Lord High Admiral from the Trinity House Anno 1602. Extant in Sir Iulius Caesar's Collections 't is mention'd that in 88. The Queen had at Sea 150. Sail of Ships whereof 40 only were her own and 110 were of her Subjects and that in the same year there were English Ships employed in Trading Voyages into all Parts and Countries to the Number likewise of 150 Sail of about 150 Tunn one with another and that all those 300 Ships were Manned with 30000 Seamen that is the Queens Forty with 12000 and the 110 with 12000 and that in the other 150 were 6000 Seamen But it is not unworthy to be remark'd that notwithstanding the Concurrence of Providence with the Gallantry and Numbers
swarming of the Iesuites then in England and transforming themselves into several shapes among the divided Sects here and saith What liberty the Priests and Iesuites take how far they prevail on the People what Countenance they receive from this Government is apparent enough by not proceeding against them in Iustice as if no Laws were in force for their punishment Your private Negotiations with the Pope and your promises that as soon as you can â—stablish your own greatness you will protect the Catholics and the insinuations that you will countenance them much further are sufficiently known and understood and of their dependance upon and devotion to you there needs no Evidence beyond the Book lately written by Mr. White a Romish Priest and dedicated to your Favourite Sir Kenelm Digby Entitled the Grounds of Obedience and Government in which he justifies all the Grounds and Maximes in your Declaration and determines positively that you ought to be so far from performing any promise or observing any Oath that you have taken if you know that it is for the good of the People that you break it albeit they foreseeing all that you now see did therefore bind you by Oath not to do it and that you offend both against your Oath and Fidelity to the People if you maintain those limitations you 〈◊〉 sworn to and sure what you do must be supported by such Casuists And afterwards speaks how Cromwel in distrust of the whole English Nation was Treating to bring over a Body of Swiss to serve him as the Ianisaries do the Turk The Declaration here referred to was Cromwels Declaration of October 31 Anno 1655 and which was supposed to have been worded by his Lord Keeper Fiennes wherein all the measures of Justice toward the Cavaliers and particularly the Public Faith of the Parliament for the punctual and exact performance of Articles with them after the vast gain that had accrued to the Parliament by their Compositions and an Act of Grace and Oblivion afterward granted to the Royal Party are avowedly broken and in p. 36. of that Declaration 't is said If the Supreme Magistrate were tyed up to the ordinary Rules and had not liberty to proceed upon the illustrations of reason against those who are continually suspected there would be wanting in such a State the means of Common Safety c. and before in p. 12 and 13. the Iesuites are out-done as to the keeping of no faith with Heretics by the asserting in effect in general that nulla fides est servanda and the humour of Pope Paul the 4th is Repeated who as the Author of the History of the Council of Trent tells us declared it in the Consistory That 't was Heresie to say the Pope can bind himself And we are assured out of Mr. Peter Walsh his History and Vindication of the Irish Remonstrance that Edmund Reilly the titular Popish Primate of Ireland who at a public Dinner boasted that he never had been friend or well wisher to the King and his two Brothers and the Duke of Ormond did yet write Precepts under his Seal to all the Province of Armagh to pray for the Health Establishment and Prosperity of Cromwell Protector and his Government More need not be said of the danger of Popery and Arbitrary Power to the Nation if God and man had not hindered Lamberts Usurpation over it I have mention'd how some of the Plot-Winesses have deposed somewhat thereof and some of his Countrymen have in discourse affirm'd his having been there a Fautor of Papists and my self observing it to a worthy Gentleman of Yorkshire that one of the Popish Lords in the Tower did in February 1662 pass a Grant from the Crown of several Mannors in Yorkshire forfeited by the Attainder of Iohn Lambert he averr'd to me that Lamberts Son enjoys that Estate at this day It had been just for the Almighty to have punished the extravagance of the Fears and Jealousies that Reigned in the time of the Royal Martyr about his not being a Protestant a Character of Religion he had constantly own'd in the view of the World both by his publick Devotions and Alliances and particularly that with Holland which chiefly his Zeal for that Religion made him to ensure by the Marriage of his Daughter with the Prince of Orange in the time that the War between the Crown of Spain and the States was depending by permitting a private Gentleman whose name perhaps had not come to public knowledg but for the figure he made in illegal Arms so far to march with his Religion undiscern'd through the Quarters of all the gathered Churches and the Classical ones too that he deceived in that point so many that called themselves the very Elect and who were as well vers'd in the business of all Religions as Iews are in Coines and in the way of adulterating them and who after that Religion had always been the Staple Commodity of England as much as Wooll did almost nothing else but Weave and Dye and Tenter the same with all subtilty of Art possible to them and as the Israelites marched out of Egypt without the farewel of a Dogs barking at them we were then near the point of being driven back to Egypt to Civil and Spiritual Slavery without the least â—arm given us by any of our best and deep mouth'd Dogs against Popery But the extreme danger to Protestancy from that intended Usurpation hath been long since over nor do I expect that any fatality of that kind can ever happen to it from any Prince of the Right Line how much a Papist soever he may be that is to say from one who was swathed with the Laws in his Cradle and will be Circumscribed with them in his Crown According to that great severe truth I observed before of the fate of the ten Tribes after they had made a defection from the Line of David that they were punished with a Succession of 10 Kings and not one ' good one in the whole Pack and their falling at last as a Prey to Forraigners it was the Lot of England justly to suffer what has been here described from various Governments and Governors for its defection from the Royal Line and the experience of our disastrous past Calamities must needs convince all men of serious thought and sense that we can have no Usurper how true a Religion soever he may own but will be false to the Interest of the Nation and that particularly by diving it and thereby as much depretiating it in the view of all Christendom as a great Diamond would be if cut in two for tho Diamonds or Pearles be equal and like in their Figures Waters Colours and Evenness yet if they differ in their Weights and Magnitudes those are the Roots of their Prices and a Diamond of Decuple weight is of Centuple value I therefore think the Kings Loyal long Parliament did consult the public Security when in the great Act of the Test they enjoyn'd
the taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and thereby the laying on the takers an Obligation to the Kings Heirs and Successors that was to outlast the Life of the King and without any distinction of the Religion true or pretended of such Heirs and Successors Of the Obligation to the Kings Heirs and Successors arising from those Oaths Mr. Pryn in his Concordia Discors Printed in the Year 1659. hath writ usefully but because since the time of the late fermentation many Pamphlets have been writ pro and câ—n of the Political part of the Question relating to a Popish Successor and none that I have heard of has professedly writ of the Casuistical Part thereof and particularly with relation to those Oaths and because I have heard that in some discourse about the same in some good Company where the Obligation by those Oaths to the Kings Heirs in point of Conscience hath been asserted some good men have been blundered but of their apprehending the same by mistaking the saying in the Civil-Law that nemo est haeres viventis and likewise some things obvious in the Common-Law and I did fear that it might thence grow a common and vulgar error that there is no such Obligation resulting from those Oaths and that as a Supine neglect of the use of means to find the true sence of the same would be very culpable so that a serious and dispassionate representing the same would to all men that regard the weight of an Oath be very acceptable I have with as much recollection of thâ—ught as I could faiâ—ly and impartially writ my opinion thereof Casuistically and shall very shortly send it your Lordship for your perusal And indeed as I should not think I dealt candidly with any person of the Popish perswasion if I should be severe to him before I had a Moral Certainty of his having imbibed any of the Principles imputable to Popery that may be called unmoral or inhumane so it would especially seem to me somewhat like the drawing on a naked man for a Protestant at this time to write for the devesting any Popish Prince of his legal Property when few or no Writers of the Church of Rome either do or dare for fear of offending the Pope draw their pens for the preservation of such his property without respect to any Religionary Tenets he may hold What the Pope did to obstruct King Iames's Succession I have mentioned and what favour any Protestant Prince can hope for from the Holy See may appear out of D' Ossat's Letter to Villeroy in the Year 1598. Book 4th where having spoke of the Artifices used to the Pope to make him believe that if Harry the 4th recovered the Marquisate of Salusium it would be Commanded by Hugonots he thereupon adviseth the King to declare the Contrary to the Pope and adds I would not interpose to write this to you if I did not know that the Pope and all this Court hold that to maintain the Catholic Religion in a Country and to preserve it from Heresie his Holyness may and ought to deprive the true Lord and Possessor of it and give it away to any other who hath no property therein and who shall be more able and willing there to preserve the Catholic Faith. I met with some passages lately in a Pamphlet that concerned the Succession where the Author having liberally descanted on the words Heirs and Successors in the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy saith as I will not take up Arms without the Kings Commission nor enter into any Association to commence in his life time against his Consent c. so any one by whom or for whom any resignation of his Majesties Power shall be extorted shall not reign over me and there was another very course expression there applyed to a very fine Person and one so every way truly great that every Age doth not produce viz. That the House of Commons conned little thanks to George Earl of Hallifax c. but according to the licence of Speech used by that Author I shall venture to declare that where ever I have a Suffrage in the Choice of a Parliament-man if any Candidate shall tell me that he served in the place before and was for an Exclusion Bill rather then the Kings Offers and without advising with his Country would have any one of the Royal Line Secluded from his Title to the Throne on the account of any Religionary Tenet for our English Antiquities afford Footsteps of Parliament-men on some weighty matters consulting their Towns or Counties that chose them such a one if I can help it shall never represent me and moreover he who doth not with acknowledgments of Honour and Gratitude to the Earl of Hallifax mention that Bill that he brought into the House of Lords in order to the extermination of Popery that I spake of before and with it lodged in our Statute Book that man if I can help it shall never represent me I am not so rash in my efforts against Future time as perhaps that Author was and can cite a great Name for the reasonableness of Representatives advising with those they represent in matters of great moment to the State and to this purpose the Lord Viscount Falâ—land Secretary of State in a Printed Draught of a Speech concerning Episcopacy c. saith p. 4. Mr. Speaker Tho we are trusted by those that sent us in Cases wherein their opinions were unknown yet truely if I knew the opinion of the Major part of my Town I doubt whether 't were the intention of those that trusted me that I should follow my own opinion against theirs and thereupon his Lordship advised the House of Commons not to do any thing against Episcopacy and at least to stay till the next Session and consult more particularly with their Electors about it And if according to the example of that great man any of our Contenders against Popery had thought fit to consult with those they represented about the meeting those Royal and Frank offers with hearty embraces they would perhaps have found the generality of those they represented zealous for their so doing and if they that perhaps with a well intended Gallantry of Courage and scorn of Popery threw out the Bills that came from the Lords in the Year 1677 should ask those they represented if they do not now wish those Bills had then passed into Laws I believe they would say they did and if they were asked whether that Bill I mentioned before that was brought in by the Earl of Hallifax had not likewise passed into a Law I believe they would wish it had I presume not to inveigh against any of our late Loyal Parliaments whatever slips in Politics were by any there made or Arbitrary Votes there passed against particular Persons and am as impatient when I hear any inveigh against our Representatives who in the contention of Popery exerted all the strength of the faculties of their minds what
water and the Sea and like that they are apt to be eating towards the Roots of the Powers of Soveraigns but while the Mountains of their Power are bottom'd on Natural Justice all the preying of the Sea of the People there makes but the promontory more surely guarded and appear more majestic as well as be more inaccessible And of this Sea of the Peoples as I would wish every Prince in the just observance of the Municipal Laws of his Country to espouse the Interest as much as the Duke of Venice doth his Adriatic yet should I see one for fear of Popular Envy or Obloquy forbearing to administer Iustice and to follow the real last Dictates of his practical understanding rightly informed and servily giving up himself to obey any mens pretended ones I should think it to be as extravagant a Madness as Hydrophoby or fear of water on the biting of a Mad Dog and while a Sovereign observes the immutable Principles of Justice he may acquiesce in the results of Providence and expect that the troubling of the waters may be like that of the Angel before the time of healing or a Conjuncture of the Peoples being possessed of healing Principles and in fine a King when he finds the Waters of Popular Discontent more tumultuous by Religionary Parties as two Seas meeting as for example Papists and Presbyterians he may depend on his being near Land that being always near where two Seas meet and let every Prince be assured that 't is not only Popery but Atheisme in Masquerade to do an unjust Act to support Religion I know that it hath been incident to some good men to strain pretences beyond the nature of things for justice Causes of War abroad in the World to advance the Protestant Religion And thus in the last Age the Crown and Populace of England being clutter'd with the Affair of the Palatinate the Prince Palatine had here many well-wishers to his Title for the Bohemian Crown and Rushworth tells us in his 1st Vol. Ann. 1619. That he being Elected King of Bohemia craved Advice of his Father in Law the King of Great Brittain touching the acceptation of that Royal Dignity and that when this Affair was debated in the Kings Council Arch-Bishop Abbot whose infirmity would not suffer him to be present at the Consultation wrote his mind to Sir R. Nauton the Kings Secretary viz. That God had set up this Prince his Majesties Son in Law as a Mark of Honour throughout all Christendome to propagate the Gospel and protect the Oppressed That for his own part he dares not but give advice to follow where God leads apprehending the work of God in this and that of Hungary that by the Pâ—ece and Peece the Kings of the Earth that gave their power to the Beast shall leave the Whore and make her desolate that he was satisfied in Conscience that the Bohemians had just Cause to reject that Proud and Bloody Man who had taken a Course to make that Kingdom not Elective in taking it by Donation of another c. And concludes Let all our Spirits be gathered up to animate this Business that the World may take notice that we are awake when God calls Rushworth saith that King Iames disavowed the Act of his accepting that Crown and would never grace his Son in Law with the Style of his new Dignity And in King Charles the Firsts time in the Common-Prayer relating to the Royal Family the Prayer runs for Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine and the Lady Elizabeth his Wife yet in the Assemblies Directory afterward as to the Prayer for the Royal Family that Lady Elizabeth is Styled Queen of Bohemia But our Princes not being satisfied it seems that the Palatine of the Rhine had a just Title to the Bohemian Crown thought it not just for them to assert it However that Arch-Bishop Abbot the Achilles of the Protestants here in his Generation thought that the English Crown ought to descend in its true Line of Succession whatever profession of Religion any Member thereof should own appears out of Mr. Pryns Introduction to the History of the Arch Bishop of Canterburies Tryal where having in p. 3. mentioned the Articles sent by King Iames to his Embassador in Spain in order to the Match with the Infanta and that one was That the Children of this Marriage shall no way be compelled or constrained in point of Conscience of Religion wherefore there is no doubt that their Title shall be prejudiced in case it should please God that they should prove Catholicks and in p. 6. Cited the same in Latin out of the French Mercury Tom. 9. as offered from England Quod liberi ex hoc matrimonio oriundi non cogentur neque compellentur in causâ religionis vel conscientiae neque leges contra Catholicos attingent illos in casu siquis eorum fuerit Catholicus non ob hoc perdet jus successionis in Regna Dominia Magnae Britanniae and afterward in p. 7. mentioned it as an Additional Article offer'd from England That the King of Great Brittain and Prince of Wales should bind themselves by Oath for the observance of the Articles and that the Privy Council should Sign the same under their hands c. He in p. 43. mentions Arch-Bishop Abbots among other Privy-Counsellers accordingly Signing those Articles and further in p. 46. mentions the Oath of the Privy-Council for the observance of those Articles as far as lay in them and had before given an account not only of Arch-Bishop Abbots but of other magna nomina of the Clergy and Layety in the Council that Signed the same and particularly of John Bishop of Lincoln Keeper of the Great Seal Lionel Earl of Middlesex Lord High Treasurer of England Henry Viscount Mandevile Lord President of the Council Edward Earl of Worcester Lord Privy-Seal Lewis Duke of Richmond and Lennox Lord High Steward of the Houshold James Marquess of Hamilton James Earl of Carlile Lancelot Bishop of Winchester Oliver Viscount Grandison Arthur Baron Chichester of Belfast Lord Treasurer of Ireland Sir Thomas Edmonds Kt. Treasurer of the Houshold Sir John Suckling Comptroller of the Houshold Sir George Calvert and Sir Edward Conway Principal Secretaries of State Sir Richard Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls who had done the same Mr. Pryn afterward in p. 69. having mentioned the Dissolution of the Spanish Match gives an account of the bringing on the Marriage with France and saith It was concluded in the life of King James the Articles concerning Religion being the same almost Verbatim with those formerly agreed on in the Spanish Treaty and so easily condescended to without much Debate and referreth there to the Rot. tractationis ratificationis matrimonii inter Dom. Carolum Regem Dom. Henrettam Mariam sororem Regis Franc. 1 Car. in the Rolls The Demagogues of the old long Parliament who made such loud Out-cries of the danger of Popery
in p. 702 and in the following Pages viz. Whether the Turk or the Pope is the greater Antichrist and at last saith p. 710. In comparing the Turk with the Pope if a Question be asked whether of them is the truer or greater Antichrist it were easie to see and judge that the Turk is the more open and manifest Enemy against Christ and the Church But if it be asked whether of them two hath been the more bloody and pernicious Adversary to Christ and his Members or whether of them hath Consumed and Spilt more Christian Blood he with Sword or this with Fire and Sword together neitheer is it a light matter to discern neither is it my part here to discuss who do only write the History and Acts of them both And I then telling the Nonconformist that the Iews for many obvious reasons did prefer the Doctrine of Mahumetanisme to that of Popery some Papists beforemention'd had prefer'd it to Protestancy and as he the Nonconformist had preferred it to Popery he mention'd his fears that a sort of Enthusiasts among us called Seekers might hereby be in great danger of stumbling on the Religion of Mahumetanisme accordingly as of old when one went to demand of the Philosophers of the several Sects which was the best of them every one named his own Sect or Party in the first place but all of them in the second place granted Plato to be the most eminent that is the next best whereupon those Seekers preferred Plato because setting aside prejudicate Affection and Self-Love Plato's Philosophy had thus carried the Garland I then took occasion to tell the Company that I thought 't was extremely unjust to prefer Mahumetanisme with the many ridiculous and senseless things it comprehends to Christianity in Papists blended with many erroneous Tenets which yet are capable of the name of Religion and such as those great pious Papists beforementioned viz. Father Paul Thuanus D'Ossat Erasmus Peiresk perhaps own'd the belief of as many thousands of others may still likewise do but frankly interposed my opinion that I thought that Popery complicated with the real belief of the Iesuites Morals and their vile Casuistical Tenets branded by the present Pope was as unworthy of God and Humane Nature as any Hypothesis of Religion could be and I as frankly told the Nonconformist whom I looked on as one who would not outrage the Law of the Land to advance the Gospel that tho some erroneous points relating to Nonconformity might without absurdity assume the name of Religion yet among whomsoever those Tenets should be incorporated with the real belief and practice of the lawfulness of the Doctrine of Resistance and of any persons Reforming the World by Arms without Warrant from the Municipal Laws so to do yet such a Faith would be Faction and such a Nominal Religion would be a real Rebellion and much worse then Mahumetanisme I farther acquainted the Company that according to the discreet Motto of the House of Ormond Commâ— je trouve and the Mode of the Age to take the measures of knowledge by experiment the usage that the better sort of Christians have found under Turcisme hath been by very many degrees milder then under Popery Erasmus indeed was of a contrary opinion for in his Vtilissima Consultatio de â—ello Turcis inferendo printed in the Year 1530 he saith that Exaudiuntur interim 〈◊〉 voces abominandae qui jactant esse tolerabilius agere sub imperio Turcâ—â—orâ—â—â— quam sub Christianis Principibus ac sub Pontifice Romano and there he goes on at large to prove the inconvenience of living under the Turkish Government but the order of the Iesuites was not then invented and after a hundred years observation since Protestants have judged as they did in Erasmus his time And in a Popish Book called the Right of the Prelate and the Prince I find Luther de soecul potestat cited p. 55. for saying that the Turk is decies probior prudentiorque nostris principibus And I think it may seem greater wisdom in him to sell such Heterodox People for slaves that he takes by force than to burn them But in the Year before that Book of Erasmus was printed I find in Magerus his Advocatia Armata Laurent Surius in Comment rer in orbe gestar ad annum 1529 cited for the Hungarians throwing themselves on the protection of the Turk rather then they would be deprived of their Right to chuse their King and it seems under Popery in that Kingdom they had a greater kindness for the Turk then the Emperor of Germany And the great Observer Thuanus on the Year 1597 in his 3 d Tome discoursing how the Germans being under apprehensions of the Power of the Turk and of Spain at the same time were thoughtfully weighing their danger Et Comparatione Alchorani cum inquiâ—itione Hispaniensi factâ an potius cum Orientali quam occidentali Turco sibi rem esse velint thereupon saith si quidem res merito suo ac semoto omni affectu privato aestimetur haud dubium esse quin optione datâ— orientalem eligant quippe ut viribus praepollentem sic victis tolerabiliorem faturum c. Dr. Heylin likewise seems to favour that opinion for in his Geoghraphy in Folio he saith The Turks compel no man to abjure the faith in which he was born I have heard many say that 't is better for a man that would enjoy Liberty of Conscience to live in the Countries professing Mahumetanism than Papistry And I think I have read it in the Author of the Zealanders Choice that if he were to lay the Scene of his life any where with respect chiefly to the freedom of owning any Religious Sentiments it should be either in Amsterdam or Constantinople As I was reading the other day in an old Canonists Tractate of Heresy I found this Position asserted there that 't is unlawful for a Master of Requests to deliver a Petition for Mercy to be shown to a Heretic but then I occasionally thought of a more manly and god-like temper shining in part of the Alcoran as Mr. Gregory relates it in his Opusc. where he saith The Mahumetans have another Lords Prayer called by them the Prayer of Jesus the Son of Mary and that endeth thus And let not such an one bear rule over me that will have no mercy on me for thy mercies sake O thou most merciful He who separates Mercy from Justice is unjust to the very name of Justice and robbeth it of the better half of its signification leaving its Teeth and Claws and taking away its Heart and Bowels Iarchas the Indian and chief of the Brachmans in Philostratus is brought in finding fault with Apollonius Tyaneus and others of the Greeks for that they confined and applied the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those only who do no wrong to one another and telling them that they were in an error for saith he among the chiefest Offices of Iustice 〈◊〉
mens judgments or fancies to appropriate so much the meaning of that word to fleshly Lusts. The Devil is called an unclean Spirit in the New Testament though not supposeable to use bodily Lusts or to confine his temptations to them The filthiness of sin is mentioned by St. Paul to Timothy and St. Iames 1. 21. commands the laying aside all filthiness c. A Sentence obtain'd from a Judge that was given by Bribery is said to be lata per sordes and for the turpitude of such a judgment a Judge was long since brought to a shameful end in this Realm and in his Enditement for Bribery 't was said that he did violare sacramentum Domini Regis and the reason thereof was that the Oath of our Kings relating to the doing of Justice to their People such corrupt Judges did by their injustice do violence to that Oath of our Monarchs and in like manner all Kings generally being by their Coronation Oaths bound to protect and defend their People I ask what King on earth can do it if either an outragious Pope or the General of the Jesuites shall secretly cause men to be killed by their Emissaries and what Subject can any were enjoy the benefit of the Tacit Paction between him and the Law to the effect of fac hoc vives if he must hold his life by the Tenure of a Jesuites Caprice This Orders sicarious Principles must therefore be naturally as fatal to it as those of their Calumny beforementioned and indeed this their affected Arbitrary Power over Hereticks lives is liable to the Battery of fear and shame from the other Papists for if such believing the Justice of the Pope's Decree shall speak ill of the Iesuites Contumacy and on that account render that Society disobedient to Holy Church and scandalous to the same will not Tenet the 30 th condemned by the Pope viz. It is lawful for a Person of Honour to kill a man that intends to calumniate him if there is no other way to avoid that Reproach render the lives of such Papists forfeitable to the Jesuites Assassins and again will it not render the Jesuites lives forfeitable by their own Principles to such Papists and thus our Popish Layety and the Iesuites be in a State of War instead of such Layety being amicable Disciples and bountiful Patrons to them Neither the Law of God or the Land do trust the punishment of Malefactors to private persons but as Tolosanus de Repub. tells us l. 13. c. 132. Processum fuit judicialiter sententiâ excommunicationis contra vermes radices segetum edentes in diocesi Curiensi constantiensi and he there sets down such a Sentence of Excommunication pronounced against those animalcula so much more ought such Locusts tho now as to the Pope they have no King I allude to Solomon's words The Locusts have no Kings yet go they forth in Bands and tho their Principles would eradicate the Lives of our Hereditary Kings and their Subjects to have the legal benefit of Judicial Proceedings but the turpitude of such Principles and Practices as pollutes the Land with Blood and may bring a Curse upon it is likely to bring them many an extrajudicial Curse from the Popish and Protestant Populace and if as Tully tells us in his Offices that there was a Law at Athens that ordered publick Execrations against all that did viam erranti non monstrare such Confessors as by insinuations put people out of the right way by vile irreligionary casuistical Principles so fatal to Souls and Bodies must naturally be anathematized by them Thus likewise by shame and fear in our populous English World must all Bloody and Rebellious Principles own'd by any Persons that assume the the name of Protestants be naturally hated and if any are not ashamed or afraid togive just occasion of Jealousie concerning such Hostile Principles being secretly harboured in their minds others will be ashamed and afraid to keep them Company and as if there were some speedy Judgment impending on those who conversed with them according to that Proverb of the Jews Migrandum est ex eo loco in quo Rex non timetur The last prefatory Paragraph before the Bishops Survey is that the Heads and Preachers of the several Factions are such as had a great share in the late Rebellion Such men tho like the Trumpeter in Alciat they made part of the fighters and had been fairly dealt with by the Amnesty if they had not been permitted any more in their profession to have lifted up their voices like Trumpets again or trusted to make any harangues to the People in publick yet at the time of that Survey were very few and are now generally as silent in the Region of the Dead as Meroz was when they curs'd him and themselves are according to my Calculating Observation turn'd to Earth whose Voices like Air in the wrong place made such Earthquakes in Church and State and both fear and shame might teach them how in bello non bis peccare if their being Experts of the inconveniences of War had not naturally excited in many an aversion to it but with the surviving Experts there doth undoubtedly a reminiscentia which Mr. Hobbs calls a re-conning survive how that the long Parliament had not formerly more fears and jealousies of Popery then of Presbytery and of some of the Divines of that perswasion designing to trouble every Parish with a New Court-Christian after the tremendous example in History of the Inquisition for Heretical Pravity being first committed to the Orders of the Dominican and Franciscan Fryars and without any Tribunal and which by their zeal in preaching they afterward obtain'd with a vengeance and to the Scandal of Humane Nature and how that that Parliament as Fuller observes in his Church-History would not trust the Presbyters to carry the Keys of Excommunication at their Girdle so that the Power thereof was not intrusted to them but ultimately resolved into a Committee of eminent Persons of Parliament in which Thomas Earl of Arundel was first named and moreover how that England was then turned into such a common shore of Heretical Opinions that one of the most Learned of the Presbyterian Divines Mr. Iames Cranford in a Sermon of his called Haereseo-machria preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at S. Pauls on February the 1 st 1645. and printed in the following Year saith there in p. 47. In eighty years there did not arise among us so many horrid opinions and blasphemous Heresies under Episcopacy a Government decryed as Antichristian as have risen in these few years since we have been without a Government He had before in p. 5. said it is lamentable what success errors have had among our selves in these last 3 or 4 years of Ecclesiastical Anarchy and Conâ—â—sion whether we respect the numbers of Errors of the erroneous Amsterdam Poland Transylvania Places most infamous for Heresies are now righteous if compared with England London
heard you say that you have often wondered why none ever moved in the House of Lords that the Proceedings there against Arch-Bishop Laud might be took out of their Iournal as well as those against the Earl of Strafford were which was to me an Indication that you would have consented to such a Motion Mr. Fox in his Boâ—k of Martyrs in one Volume p. 1085. in the Story of the life and death of the Lord Cromwel who was Vice-Gerent to Harry the 8th for Ecclesiastical Affairs brings many instances of the cruel injustice by Acts of Attainder that many Great and Excellent Men suffered and hath these words in the Margent Examples of men falsly Accused and Iudged and â—aith in that p. Not that I here speak or mean against the High Courts of Parliament of this our Realm c. to whom I always attribute their due Reverence and Authority but as it happens sometimes in General Councils which tho they be never so general yet sometimes they may and do erre so they that say Princes and Parliaments may be misinformed sometimes by some Sinister Heads in matters Civil and Politick do not therein derogate or impair the High Estate of Parliaments but rather give wholesome Admonitions to Princes and Parliament Men to be more Circumspect and Vigilant what Council they shall admit and what Witnesses they do Credit This passage out of our pious Martyrologer makes me with a just Compassion to the Merits of several Illustrious Persons to call to mind the severity of the Votes of a Loyal Parliament against them It was with great precaution and solemnity that the Athenian Wisdom fastened the name of Enemy on any one and of which the frequent imposition and on slight occasions and on persons not known to have done any Act of Hostility to the Kingdom would make the word lose the Odium of its signification as many Words and Phrases have done and to import no more stated hatred or enmity in any man to his Country than do the expressions of Course put into Writs of Prohibition or Mandamuses to our Bishops and their Officials viz. Of intending our disherison or machinating against our Crown and Dignity mean any thing of Treason in them which yet the words so expresly import Tully tells us in his Offices that the Original use of the Word Hostis for one who was perduellis came from the lenity of the Romans hostis enim saith he apud majores nostros is dicebatur quem nunc peregrinum dicimus and according to this acception of the Word Enemy for Stranger I shall venture to say that I think they were Strangers to the Earl of Hallifax and persons misinform'd as Mr. Fox his Expression was who in the late Loyal House of Commons did think him to be hostis patriae and whom they who know him do know likewise to bear no Enmity to any part of the Creation of God and to be one that is so far from any inclination to injure his Country for his Prince that either or his Prince or his Country he would not injure the most abject Member of Mankind How shamefully void of sense have I observed some few querulous people here to be who have professed to doubt that a very honourable man hath of late remitted somewhat of his fervour in the defence of our Religion and Laws who hath so long on every occasion in every place been such an unwearied Agonist for both and one who would not fear to be an Athanasius contra mundum whenever he should in his Province be lawfully called to be its Antagonist and that with contempt too even of the Bribe of Popularity and of the continuance of whose confirm'd and obstinate habit of an Heroical Love to his Country they who have long known him have never doubted but have agreed in this point of his perseverance in what Tully calls the pietas in patriam to pronounce as the warier Arminians do concerning Grace viz. that there is a State of Grace attainable in this life from which it is difficult if not impossible to fall away With as little Art and faint Colours as I have here drawn the Picture of this Great Man any one will say it is very like the Earl of Radnor and the truth is considering that this same pietas in patriam and the inflexible observation of Justice have not been so much incarnate in the lives of later Christians as of ancient Heathens nor perhaps so legible in their Writings and therefore as if that Practice of Piety had been too among Pancirols Res deperditae Boccaline held it a proper Advertisement That all the Princes of the World should beseech Apollo that he would insert into their People the love of their Country when I would occasionally in discourse do Justice to this Great Exemplar of it I endeavour to whet my imagination with thoughts out of the Roman Authors and do think of Coâ—tumacy in Vertue according to Pliny's using that word in a good sense and of the inexplebilis virtutis veraeque laudis homo and of the forementioned sooner making Crimen honestum quam turpem Catonem and of the multa terribilia Piso Contemsit dum speciosum mentis suae flecti non vult rigorem and of what is in Valerius Maximus of Scipio Africanus quem Dii immortales nasci voluerunt ut esset in quo se virtus per omnes numeros hominibus efficaciter ostenderet and of Ciceros accounting the pietas in patriam to be the via ad Caelum Some here who Correspond with Sir W. I. asking me if I had not heard that you were prayed for at Mass in Ireland I told them I had and that the Earl of Essex mentioned the same in the House of Lords and that your Lordship replied that if any well meaning Papists in their Mass-house or Iews in their Synagogue or Mahumetans in their Mosc unask'd and unsought to pray'd for you you would be glad to be the better by their Devotion tho yet you believed that none of them did ever yet supplicate Heaven in your behalf I told my friends here that if that thing had been true and tho on the account of what hath been beforementioned I believed it not to be so in the least yet they would soon cease to infer thence that your Lordships love for the Protestant Religion was diminished if they would reflect on the Case of Rawlins White in the Acts and Monuments where it appears that the Bishop of Landaff in the Year 1555. just before he Condemned the said Rawlins to the Fire as an Heretick ordered a Priest to say a Mass for him and as that Bishop in vain Courting him a little before to abandon the Protestant Faith and then asking him how he dâ—d and how he found himself inclined the poor Captive replied Rawlins you lâ—ft me and Rawlins you find me and Rawlins I will continue that thus constant your Lordship will prove to your Religion and your self upon any
same purpose That internal Communion is due always from all Christians to all Christians even to those with whom we cannot communicate externally in many things whether Opinions or Practices But external Communion may sometimes be suspended more or less c. and he doth afterward in p. 18 assert That Christian Communion implies not an Vnity in all Opinions and shews That the Roman and African Churches held good Communion one with another while they differ'd both in Iudgment and Practice about Rebaptisation As for any projected Universal Vnity of Opinions I look on it to be as impracticable as our levelling Republicans EQVAL Division of Lands in the late times by their wild Agrarian Laws for the Birth of the next Child would necessarily break that their Model and the same fate might be expected to happen the same way to this Model of Vnity of Opinions or perhaps by the birth of the next hour But this Internal Communion is a thing most possible and our Duty tho without hope of Unity in all Religionary Opinions to ensue thereby according to the Doctrine of this Great Primate If then we are Morally bound to have this Internal Communion with all Foreign Roman Catholick Princes and their Subjects as before described how can we without horror think of the excluding any Heir to the Crown for fear of his believing the same Religionary Notions that they do from the Catholick Communion and of excluding him from his Birth-right on such an account whom we must always have this Internal Communion with and rejoyce in his good successes and condole with him in his ill and to hold an external Communion with him and any Church he is of in votis in our desires and to endeavour it by all means that are in our Power Did any endeavour it who would by depriving him of his Birth-right on that account and holding the same Tenet with Papists of Dominium fundatur in gratiâ gave him such a just Cause of Scandal as without the Divine Spirit assisting him might endanger his withdrawing from the whole Christian Communion And tho the honest Heathen could tell us That Cavendum est ne poena major sit quam culpa and all Casuists agree That Poena non debet excedere delictum and tho Magna Charta tell us That Ex quantitate poenae cognoscitur quantitas delicti quia poena debet esse commensurabilis delicto yet attempted to punish him by the loss of his Birth-right of the Crown when it could not be certain to us that he had committed any fault at all and when by the judgment of Charity we were bound to believe that he had committed none To many of our Nominal Protestants whose thoughts and Ideas of Christian Communion are too narrow to extend not only to a National Church but to a Parochial one this Notion of the incomparable Primate for whose august Charity one Christian World of Religionary differences was not enough to overcome about internal Communion will I believe seem new Doctrine and Duras Sermo but if they would be true Christians instead of being called true Protestants this Duty of Internal Communion from all Christians to all Christians must be practised by them and if this Duty hath a Divine Right for it as to the Persons of Papists abroad it must be operative as to those here at home He who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen I may ask how can he love either his God or his Brother that he hath not seen The sham-war among any Protestants and Papists must not only be lest off but they must honour the Persons of one another and Protestants are not only to forbear robbing Papists of their Goods on pretence of carrying away their Images and Pictures but are to honour the Image of God shining in the lives of or the Gifts of God dispensed to any Papists Mr. Burroughs in his Irenicum p. 38. saith We accounted it Tyranny and Persecution in the Bishops when they would not suffer such as could not conform to their Church Discipline and Ceremonies to teach Grammar or practise Physick and saith That there was no dependance between their Errors if you will call them so and these things To deny the Church and Commonwealth the benefit of the Gifts and Graces of Men on such a pretence that they will abuse their Liberty we thought it was hard dealing yea no less than a Persecution Suppose a man differs from his Brethren in point of Church Discipline must not this man have a place in an Army therefore Tho he sees not the reason of such a Discipline in the Church yet God hath endued him with a Spirit of Valour and he understands what Military Discipline means c. Ought not then Persons of his Principles to revere the Heroical Endowments of an Heir to the Crown which do much preponderate as to the continuance of the being and well-being of the Kingdom to supposed Orthodoxy in some Mysteries of the Gospel as was shewn out of Mr. Ny King Iames had great Talents in Polemical Divinity to prove by words that the Pope was Anti-Christ but will not these latter Endowments necessarily prevent the Pope's being Anti-Christ in Deeds if he were inclined to hurt us by shewing himself such Ames in his Puritanismus Anglicanus giveth this as the chief Reason why the Puritans hold the Bishop of Rome to be THE Anti-Christ viz. For that he being an Ecclesiastical Ruler doth arrogate and exercise the chief Power over Kings and Princes And doth any one fear that he can exercise such Power over a Prince of these Endowments And I may add have not many Factious and Republican Nominal Protestants here compleated that Figure of Anti-Christ How many Vertues must any indifferent man overlook in this Pope who thinks he would outrage our Civil Government and how many Vices must he wink at in such Persons who thinks they would not do it And by Virtue of our blessed Lords having decided it that he was the better Son who said he would not do the Will of his Father and did it may it not be said That those Papists who say they will not take these Oaths and yet perform their Natural Allegiance are more loyal than such Nominal Protestants who have took the Oaths and observe them not As much an Abhorrer as I am of the Principles of the Iesuites Condemned by this Pope I shall yet think my self bound by the Moral Offices beforementioned out of Ames not to charge the belief or practice of them on all Persons in that Order For when I consider the Devotional Books of some Iesuites writ with such strong and lively expressions of the Practick part of Religion as any Person of Candor will think to be founded on a real deep sense of all Moral Offices lying warm at their hearts I account it impossible for them to have believed some of those Tenets and as I once observing at the Anatomy of a poor Malefactor that his Stomach
of the revocableness of Wills if I have lawfully sworn to continue such a man my Heir or Executor of my Will or Legatee therein can I then at my pleasure with a Salvo to Conscience alter it therein And if a Father hath sworn to give his Children such a part of his Estate by his Will as by the Civil Law is due to them out of his Estate when he dies shall he then be allowed in the Court of Conscience to alter such bequest Ad libitum This comes a little home to our Case for we have before hand sworn to pay the King's Heirs at the Descent of the Crown the Allegiance that will be due to them then by inherent Birthright St. Paul writing to the Romans alludes to that Custom of the Roman Laws and which is yet retained in Germany and many other places viz. And if Children then Heirs and makes them certainly Haeredes viventis and when any by the Civil Law were Haeredes ab intestato or Heirs at Law that Law as it made no difference between Land and Goods so neither did it between Eldest and Youngest nor Male and Female but divided the whole Estate real and personal equally among the Children and the Law tying Parents to leave a Quota in their Wills to their Children St. Paul's Consequence was good i. e. if Children then Heirs We know that the Heirs of our Kings are not such as that Law called Haeredes Testamentarii but they succeeding by the right Divine and Inherent Birthright may be said to be Haeredes legitimi and when in the King's Life-time the Law hath enjoyned men by a Liquid Oath to defend all Privileges Preheminences belonging to the King's Heirs and Successors can it be either Law or Sense to say they are now no Heirs and that any who have taken that Oath may actually exclude such Heirs because they are not actual Successors and as if too none could be a Successor but an actual one according to that old Dicterium That no Prince ever put to death his Successor But to shew further how grosly Sir W. I. was mistaken in his interpretation and applying of the saying out of the Civil Law viz. Nemo est haeres viventis I shall refer to Paulus de Castro as Eminent a Commentator on the Civil Law as any one whatsoever who doth on the Digest De liberis Posthumis l. Gallus § etiam n. 3 o 4 to discuss the point of Haeres viventis and where he saith Nota quod filius vel alius descendens in potestate patris qui tenet primum locum dicitur esse suus haeres etiam vivente patre and then objects the saying That Vivens non habet haeredem ergo non suum haeredem and he answers That istud verbum HAERES idem significat quod DOMINVS c. potest sumi duobus modis 1 o propriè prout est Successor in Vniversum jus quod defunctus habuit meaning haeres as the same with an Executor by the Law of England isto modo vivens non potest habere haeredem 2 do Sumitur strictè c. impropriè pro filio vel nepote vel alio descendente qui teneat primum locum in suitate isto modo vivens potest habere haeredem sicut enim filius VIVENTE patre dicitur DOMINVS bonorum paternorum licet impropriè it a potest dici HAERES prout istud verbum sumitur pro Domino He had before spoke of the General Rule That Haeres suus dicitur quem nemo praecedit and he there mentions what likewise all the Books agree in That Haeredes sui necessarii dicuntur liberi qui in familiâ proximum à patre gradem obtinent sui quia haereditatem tanquam suam necessarii quia jure antiquo retinere cogebantur He intends there I suppose by the jus antiquum that Law of the 12 Tables viz. Intestatorum haeredes primò suorum haeredum velint nolintve sunto We find in the New Testament such Heir judged to be Lord of all Gal. 4. 1. And thus Grotius on that place in the Hebrews whom he hath appointed Heir of all things saith That by Heir is meant Lord Nam Latinis Haeres idem quod herus Christus in coelum evectus rerum omnium est Dominus à patre scilicet hoc jure accepto The very Institutes likewise tell us § ult De haered qualit That pro haerede gerere est pro Domino gerere veteres enim haeredes pro Dominis appellabant And such Lords of all then were the Heirs that tho ordinarily they could not have their Legitima pars in their Fathers life-time and so we find it but in the Parable in St. Luke that the Prodigal Son said Father give me the Portion of Goods that falleth to me and he divided unto them his Living yet if the Father were re verâ a Prodigal the Son might by imploring the Office of the Judge obtain in the Fathers life-time somewhat like the legitima to be allowed for his subsistance And moreover Grotius on the other place of Scripture Si autem filii haeredes saith Sententia est conveniens non tantum Israelitico Numerorum 28. sed etiam Gentium juri Nam lex quaedam tacita liberis haereditatem parentum addicit L. Cum initio ff De bonis damnatorum Sed magis est ut jus Hebraeum respexerit Paulus ideóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filii non quod non utrique sexui Christianorum aptari possint quae dicit sed quod jure Mosis filii necessariò haeâ—edes filiae non nisi filiis deficientibus None need therefore wonder at De Castro's having pronounced the Heir to be the same thing with Dominus and at his leaving it out of doubt that direct Descendants are a mans Heirs in his life-time because they are such as are called Heirs at Law. And there is little room for doubting here in England who are Heirs at Law to private Persons for Sir Edward Coke hath to this purpose said that throughout his time viz. Ne duas quidem quaestiones adverti de jure haereditatum but God be thanked there can be no room for any in the Case of the Crown King Iames when he Erected the Monument for his Mother on the Northside of her Grand-father Harry the 7th's Tomb and put these words in the Inscription viz. Coronae Angliae dum vixit certae indubitatae haeredis necessarily implied that there was another Sovereign living while She was thus Heir to the Crown Let any one consider how many real Solecisms Sir. W. I's imagined one must occasion Is it not a Solecism to say I cannot now promise a future lawful thing viz. Allegiance to the King's Heirs at the time of the Descent of the Crown since nothing can be promised but what is Future In the Body of the Civil Law matters of right are sometimes founded on trite
him our Sovâ—reign Lord the King IS lawful and rightful King c. and so the word IS must necessarily hinder any Heirs or Successors forestalling the Market if they should presume before their time to come for our actual Allegiance however sworn to them to be paid in future time Our Law-Book of Oaths mentions a long Promissory Oath made voluntarily to Harry the 6th by 2 Arch-Bishops 16 Bishops 3 Dukes 5 Earls 2 Viscounts 14 Abbots 2 Priors and 7 Barons and but part of which I shall here set down viz. I A. B. knowledge you most High and Mighty and most Christian Prince King Henry 6. to be my most redoubted and rightwise by Succession born to Reign upon me and all your Liege People whereupon I voluntarily without Coercion promise and oblige me by the faith and truth that I owe to God and by the faith truth and ligeance that I owe to you my most redoubted Sovereign Lord that I shall be without any variance true faithful humble and obeysant Subject and Liege man to you my most redoubted Sovereign Lord c. and swear to endeavour to do all that may be to the weal and surety of your most Royal Person c. to the weal surety and preserving of the Person and benign Princess Margaret Queen my Sovereign Lady and of her High most Noble Estate She being your Wife and also the weal surety and honour of the Person of the right High and Mighty Prince Edward my right redoubted Lord the Prince your first begotten Son and of the Right High and Noble Estate and faithfully truly and obeysantly c. First my Allegiance to you my most redoubted Sovereign Lord during your life c. and if God of his infinite Power take you from this Transitory Life me bearing life in this World that I shall then take and accept my said redoubted Lord the Prince Edward your said first born Son for my Sovereign Lord and bear my true Faith and Ligeance to him as by nature born for my Sovereign Lord and after him to his Succession of his Body lawfully begotten c. and in default of his Succession c. unto any other Succession of your Body lawfully coming But the wisdom of any Nation making Laws and especially about Oaths as short as may be I account that those of Supremacy and Allegiance have much better that Multi-loquious one as I may call it provided for the security of our Allegiance to the King Regnant and afterward to his Heirs and Successors by plain and liquid words as far as Humane Prudence could provide for the same And because what is made by Humane Art is in danger of being by Humane Art eluded and for that we see that Nature it self hath been made a Term of Art a word that St. Paul thought plain enough when he said doth not Nature teach us that c. yet of which word a late Lawyer and Kinsman of the Great Grotius hath in his Book De Principiis juris Naturalis told us of seven significations and for that it is as easie for a captious versatil Wit to turn the word Heir or most words into as many or more the Oath of Allegiance was further with deep precaution made to exterminate all cavilling senses and calumnious interpretations and such as that of the haeres viventis by that Final Clause which Crowns that Oath and that which alone as I partly hinted before amounts to an Oath viz. And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon THE TRVE FAITH OF A CHRISTIAN and after which it follows So help me God. That the Faith of a Christian alone amounts to an Oath I shall cite the opinion of Tuldenus the Regius Professor of Law at Lovain when writing De interpretatione Iuramenti he saith Affirmatio perfidem tunc demum jusjurandum est cum additum fuit Christianam Alciat in l. 41. c. De transact I conclude therefore that what Christian soever hath taken this Oath hath by Virtue of the words of The faith of a Christian obliged himself thereby as much as if he had said That Great Privilege of Birth-right belonging to the King's Heirs a Privilege so great that the despising of it as in the Case of Esau is applied in Scripture to mens prophaneness in despising their Inheritance of Bliss by Christianity I do as sincerely promise to defend according to my Oath and without any Fraud or Mental Reservation or the least cavilling capricious or calumnious interpretation as I value the great Privilege that Christianity hath ennobled Humane Nature with in being Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ as St. Pauls words are and of being Heirs according to the Promise and may all the Divine Promises be so Yea and Amen to me and interpreted with not only a plain but a full and fair interpretation and so likewise the very Oath of God mentioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews As I do plainly and fully and fairly and with the exuberant honesty and simplicity enjoyn'd by the Christian Religion and so much transcending the Bona fides of the Heathen Morality perform my Promissory Oath of Allegiance to the King and his Heirs and Successors I shall in the last place take notice of what I have not without horror observed namely that some disloyal Authors have presumed in Print to pretend the lawfulness of Exclusion of Heirs and Successors on the account of their Religion by colour of the punishment of Idolaters according to the Iudicial Law and as to which it will be sufficient here to say that that Law was given only to the Iewish Nation and that it did never bind any else or doth and that the Divine Law natural and positive bind us to the Observation of our Oaths and that Christianity doth not found Dominion in Grace and that the Patriarchs and Ioshua and the Princes of the People of Israel made Leagues with Idolaters and on both sides there was mutual Faith confirmed with solemn Oaths and that an Oath Promissory to pay Allegiance to the Heirs of the Crown at the time of its Descent is much more lawful And I might urge that the Iewish Kings tho often idolatrous yet as the Lord 's Annointed had De jure de facto Obedience payed them without respect to their Religion or Irreligion And by Virtue of the Moral Offices of honouring all men and of the Internal Communion due from all Christians to all Christians I shall without offending the Church I hold External Communion with venture to go as far in my Measures of Charity as some of its great Ornaments Dr. Hammond and Bishop Taylor and likewise Bishop Gunning have done in freeing many Roman Catholicks from the guilt of Formal Idolatry Innumerable Acts of Idolatry may be charged on many Persons of that Communion and particularly on all such as do worship the Cross or Saints and Angels Culâ—â— latriae and on such as in the Eucharist determine the