Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A61170
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The Bishop of Rochester's second letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's household
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Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing S5049; ESTC R15013
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15,012
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68
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time at Copthall as much as my Lord of London's and my Memory could Serve us to do it But one thing farther I must observe as very Remarkable in this Affair that if the exact time of this our Address to King Iames at Whitehall shall be compar'd with the Day of the Prince of Orange his present Majesties setting forth his First Declaration in Holland they will both be found to bear very near the same Date For our Address here was form'd at Lambeth on Monday October the First and should have been deliver'd on Tuesday the Second and was actually presented on Wednesday the Third And that Declaration was Sign'd there on the Tenth of October which considering the Two Styles makes little or no Difference And if I might presume to compare Small Things with Great in the Matter of them as well as in the Date I would venture to say that most of the very same Grievances which his Highness insisted on in his Declaration except One or Two that were too high for us Subjects to meddle with were so early represented by us to the King in that Petition as Things necessary to be speedily Redress'd And My Lord I cannot but add that this we did in a time when the King thought of nothing less than Victory when in all Humane probability he was the strongest both by Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious Alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him when the very Winds and Seas seem'd hitherto as much on his Side as they all afterwards turn'd against him After that My Lord as I remember the next Solemn time of our Waiting on King Iames the Second was occasion'd by the Interception of the Prince of Orange's Declaration here in London some short time before his Highness's Landing For upon Reading that Expression in it That the Prince was most earnestly Invited hither by divers Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and Others of all Ranks the King forthwith sent for some of the Bishops who were nearest at hand and required us to Justifie our Selves to the World as to our Part in that Invitation To this end His Majesty fixed a Short Day whereon He obliged us to present him a Paper under our Hands signifying our Abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's intended Invasion My Lord the Day came and great Throngs there were at Court expecting the Issue of that Conference We saw both the Friends and Enemies of the Church of England equally impatient to know what we would do in that difficult Moment The King himself had affirm'd to us He thought his good Success exceedingly depended upon our Ready Compliance with his Command of Abhorring A Declaration was then in the Press against the Prince of Orange the present King and was only stopp'd for our Paper of Abhorrence to be inserted into it And there happen'd to be but Four of our Number my Lord of Canterbury my Lord of London my Lord of Peterborough and my Self who were present upon the Place to endure that terrible Brunt In short as soon as we were come into the King's Presence His Majesty with great Earnestness called for our Paper We with all Submission intreated to be Excused from writing any thing of that Nature and from making a particular Defence to a general Accusation left we should give the First Precedent of that kind against the Privilege of Peers Besides that our Profession being to promote Peace VVe thought it belong'd not to us to declare VVar especially against a Prince so nearly Ally'd to the Crown But the King still more Insisted Argued and Expostulated with us insomuch that if ever in all my Life I saw him more than ordinary vehement in Speech and transported in his Expressions it was at that time However we still made good our humble Refusal in as dutiful Terms as 't was possible Among many Arguments urging chiefly That as we were joyn'd with our Brethren the other Lords Spiritual and with the Lords Temporal and with the Gentry of England in the Accusation so we beseech'd him we might not be separated from them in our Justification Concluding all with an earnest Request to His Majesty that He would be pleased to Condescend to the Calling a Free Parliament Wherein only he could rightly understand what was the General Sense and True Interest of the whole Kingdom At last when neither the King would bearken to our Zealous Motion for a Parliament nor we could be prevailed on to Subscribe an Abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's Design His Majesty parted from us with Indignation And thereupon the Jesuited Party at Court were so violently enraged against us that as we were credibly informed one of the Chief advised in a heat we should all be Imprisoned and the Truth should be extorted from us by Violence I told your Lordship the Conclusion of that our Serious Deâ—â—â—â— with the King was on our Side 〈◊〉 begging him to call a Free Parâ—â—â—ment The truth is a Free Parâ—â—â—ment was the main Point and tâ— last Result of all our Requests to His Majesty from the First Day of his admitting us to give him our honest Advice till the time of his leaving the Kingdom I need not put your Lordship in mind of the Petition we presented him to the same purpose which was Signed by divers of the Spiritual and Temporal Lords and among others by your Self and was afterwards Seconded from several Parts of the Nation especially by the Noblemen and Gentlemen Assembled at York and by the Fleet under the Command of my Lord Dartmouth and by the Lord Bishop and the Clergy and the Citizens of Bristol As it had been also soon followed by the rest of the Kingdom had there been time enough for the doing of it But having mentioned that Petition for a Free aud Regular Parliament I hope it will not be thought Presumption in me if I suggest I had the Honour to have it Considered Agreed on and Sign'd at my house at Westminster And that I was one of the Four Bishops the Two Archbishops and my Lord of Ely being the other Three who ventured to deliver it to the King after we heard he had protested he would take it highly Ill of any Man that should offer him a thing of that Nature Nevertheless we did it and thought our selves bound in Duty to God and Man so to do Your Lordship perceives all that I have said on this last Subject concerns only some few Particulars that pass'd in Three or Four Conferences between King Iames the Second and some of the Bishops who happen'd then to be within Call. Thô we had afterwards the Concurrence of our Absent Brethren And we may now appeal to all the World whether we did not Demean our Selves in those hazardous Occasions with that Zeal against Popery and for the Legal Establishment both in Church and State as became the Station
with Your Grace and several others of the Bishops who are within a convenient distance of this place His Majesty commands me to acquaint you that he would have you attend him upon Friday next at Ten in the Morning MY LORD I am Your most Faithful c. Sunderland P. Whitehall Sep. 24. 1688. Letters to the same purpose and of the same Date or about that time were sent to the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells Peterborough and Bristol all which but London and Bristol came to Town and all but the Archbishop waited on the King at the time appointed The next day the Bishop of Winchester went out of Town and the day after that the Archbishop waited upon the King alone and by His Appointment on Wednesday Octob. 3. all who remained in Town went together to His Majesty to whom in the Name of the rest the Archbishop spake as followeth May it please Your Sacred Majesty WHen I had lately the Honour to wait upon you you were pleased briefly to acquaint me with what had pass'd two days before between Your Majesty and these my Reverend Brethren By which and by the Account which they themselves gave me I perceived that in truth there pass'd nothing but in very general Terms and Expressions of Your Majesty's Gracious and Favourable Inclinations to the Church of England and of our Reciprocal Duty and Loyalty to Your Majesty Both which were sufficiently understood and declared before and as one of my Brethren then told you would have been in the same State if the Bishops had not stirr'd one foot out of their Dioceses Sir I found it griev'd my Lords the Bishops to have come so far and to have done so little and I am assured they came then prepared to have given Your Majesty some more particular Instances of their Duty and Zeal for your Service had they not apprehended from some Words which fell from your Majesty that you were not then at leisure to receive them It was for this reason that I then besought your Majesty to Command us once more to Attend you All together which your Majesty was pleased Graciously to Allow and Encourage We are therefore here now before you with all Humility to beg your Permission that we may suggest to your Majesty such Advices as we think proper at this Season and conducing to your Service and so leave them to your Princely Consideration Which the King being pleased graciously to permit the Archbishop proceeded as followeth Our First humble Advice is I. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to put the Management of your Government in the several Counties into the Hands of such of the Nobility and Gentry there as are legally qualified for it II. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to Annul your Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that no such Court as that Commission sets up may be Erected for the future III. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly Qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annext to them And in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford IV. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any Persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Public Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly Debated and Argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the Four Foreign Bishops who style themselves Vicars Apostolical from farther Invading the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to fill the Vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with Men of Learning and Piety And in particular which I must own to be my peculiar Boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood Empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very Worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have here now before you a very fair Choice VIII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all farther Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to Restore to them their Ancient Charters Privileges and Franchises as we hear God hath put it into Your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our Principal Requests IX That if it so please Your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the Calling of a Free and Regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be Secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all Your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be Established between Your Majesty and all Your People X. Above all that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit Your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be Effectual to persuade Your Majesty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most Holy Catholick Faith you were Baptized and in which you were Educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be Re-united These Sir are the Humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to Your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to Your Majesty as suitable to the Present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose Hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to Dispose and Govern Yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to Your Own both Temporal and Eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily Concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Io. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath and Wells Tho. Petriburg It is for others Information not for yours My Lord that I have been so Punctual and Minute in the Circumstances of this Business wherewith your Lordship was fully made acquainted just after the very