Selected quad for the lemma: order_n
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A47866
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The growth of knavery and popery under the mask of presbytery
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L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing L1256; ESTC R12227
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33,537
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104
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they assume to themselves an Arbitrary Rule but whoever refuses Subscription and Obedience to their Acts and Decrees stands Excommunicate without Mercy And Then if he persist follows Out-Lawry Forfeiture of his Goods his Revenue for Life Letters of Caption for the Seizing of his Person and Close Commitment as a Traytour If he does not yet Appear they take out Letters of Intercommuning making it Treason to Receive or hold any Correspondence with him This is Executed by a Warrant to the Civil Iudge from a Commissioner of the Presbytery and upon his Refusal to see the Sentence put in Execution he himself incurrs the same Danger And the same Tyranny was Exercis'd by the Two Houses upon the English Government Whose Orders were Impos'd upon the Nation for Laws and Obedience requir'd to them under Pain of Life Liberty or Estate at Pleasure What a Mockery is it now to talk of Religion Kings Parliaments or Laws where the Dictates of Mechaniques shall Over-rule the Articles of the Apostolique Faith and the Vote of a Seditious Conventicle Dissolve the Order and Authority of a Legal and Establish'd Government The Tyranny of the Presbytery over the Consciences Lives Liberties and Estates of the People ALtho' These Vsurpations upon the King and the Government it self do Naturally Presuppose and Imply an Oppression upon the Subject It will not be amiss yet more particularly to Expose the Inevitable and the Scandalous Slavery of living under That Dominion as well in regard of their Vnlimited Power as of their Inherent Cruelty and Rigour In the Matter of Conscience Life Liberty and Estate Enough is said already in the very Case of their Covenants wherein without any respect to the Lawfulness of the Thing or the Conscience of the Person it was Sequestration and Emprisonment to Refuse them even where it was the Hazzard of Damnation to Take them and being once Engag'd 't was Death to Repent The History of Scotland abounds with Instances upon This Subject but I shall rather bring my Observations Home to the Covenanters of our Own Age and Nation The Early Plunders of Sir Iohn Lucas Sir William Boteler The Lady Rivers with other Persons of Eminent Condition both Lay-men and Divines are to be read at large with the Inhumane Insolences that were Acted upon their Persons and Relations in Mercurius Rusticus but the Out-rages that follow'd were so Great and so Many that These are hardly worth the Mentioning and the Other would be too Tedious to Recite for the Whole Story of the Rebellion was carry'd on with Rapine and Bloud How many Noble-mens Houses were turn'd to Prisons without the Masters knowing either his Accuser or his Offence Several Gentlemen of Quality put on Ship-board and half smother'd in the Heat of the Year where they contracted Diseases and by an Arbitrary Power were to have been Transported nobody knew whither Others were Sold for Slaves into Plantations Near 100 Ministers were brought out of the West and Clapp'd up in Lambeth-house where almost all of them were Destroy'd by a Pestilential Feaver Nay so Profane was their Barbarity that upon Sunday the 5th of March 1642. Dr. Featly Preaching that day at Lambeth-house order was given to dissolve the Congregation and the Reformers took with them some great Guns to do the Work At which time some Mischief was done and there had been more but for a Gentleman who is at present an Eminent Person in the City who snacht away the Linstock just as they were going to give fire upon the Congregation into the Quire of the Chappel This I have upon the Credit of a Man of Worth and Value I could tell you of a Minister in Covent-Garden that refus'd Christian Burial to the Body of a Gentleman that was Quarter'd for his Loyalty One that made it a Moot-Point upon an Anniversary Fast whether or no the Kings Death were a Murther And These People were as well the Masters of our Estates as of our Persons See Scobell's Collection of Acts and Ordinances by their own Power taking upon them to Sequester Delinquents Borrow Money upon the Publique Faith gathering of Other Peoples Rents and Debts Levying of Money Raising of Horse Assessing at Pleasure Sequestring Church and Crown-Lands Gulling the People with Irish Adventures Laying new Imposts Authorizing the Breaking Open of Locks and Examining upon Othe for Discovery of Delinquents Money and Goods Raising Continuing and Enlarging several Excises Borrowing Money for the Scots Taxing the Whole Nation Appropriating the Profits of Tonnage and Poundage to themselves Compounding for Wardships Beside their Impositions of a Weekly Meal their Monthly Assessments and other Impositions upon the People to an Incredible Value and without any Colour of Law As there is no Freedom either of Conscience Person or Estate under their Boundless Dominion so there 's no living under them with either Peace or Reputation If a Man and a Woman Live in such a manner of Conversation that it is Possible for them to be Lewd together in Private the Presbytery shall take it for granted that they are so and without any Evidence require them publiquely the next Lords day perhaps before the Congregation to discharge themselves upon Othe that they are Innocent Which if they do and that they purge themselves of the suspected Crime they shall yet be forc'd to do open Penance for their Misbehaviour But if two Persons shall be Presented under a Suspicion of Incontinence and that being Conven'd and Examin'd there shall appear any strong Presumptions that they are so tho' there be no Proof in the Case they shall yet be made Close Prisoners to feed on Bread and Water and no body to come at them to try if either by Proof or Confession any thing can be made out against them by the next Court-day If not they are Dismiss'd but upon Condition that if ever they be seen together again unless in the Church or in the Market it shall be taken pro Confesso that they are Guilty There was a Husband that confessed to his Wife some Faults that he had committed and She out of Zeal told a Presbyterian Minister the Story for which the Minister very fairly Convented him and made him do Publique Penance This Practice has Parted many Men and their Wives and stirr'd up Feuds never to be Reconcil'd Nay a man shall not Sue for a Debt upon a Bond or a Landlord for his Rent but the Presbytery shall take the Judgment of it to Themselves as a Course Scandalous to the Profession where any of their own Gang is Concern'd They must have an Oar in every Boat In Scotland they interpos'd in the Business of Salt-Pans Salmon-Fishing Fairs and Markets and fell heavily upon some Scottish Merchants in Edinburgh for carrying Wheat to Spain in a time of Dearth But the Trade of Wax thither was Unpardonable as not only feeding Gods Enemies but maintaining their Idolatry To say nothing of the Absurdity in their Constitution of making Tradesmen