Crime if it had been found about him written by another hand and I could name one or two Persons who as they were able enough to Compose such Papers so had power enough over his Spirit to engage him to Copy them and to put themselves out of danger by restoring the Original You ought to address your self to the Learned Divines of our Church for answer to such things in them as puzzle you and not to one that has not the honour to be of that Body and that has now carried a Sword for some time and imploys the leasure that at any time he enjoys rather in Philosophical and Mathematical Enquiries than in matters of Controversie There is indeed one Consideration that determined me more easily to comply with your desires which is my having had the honour to discourse copiously of those matters with the late King himself and he having proposed to me some of the particulars that I find in those Papers and I having said several things to him in answer to those Heads which he offered to me only as Objections with which he seemed fully satisfied I am the more willing to communicate to you that which I took the liberty to lay before His late Majesty on several occasions the particulars on which he insisted in discourse with me were the uselessness of a Law without a Judge and the necessity of an infallible Tribunal to determine Controversies to which he added the many Sects that were in England which seemed to be a necessary consequence of the Liberty that every one took to interpret the Scriptures and he often repeated that of the Church of Englands arguing from the obligation to obey the Church against the Sectaries which he thought was of no force unless they allowed more Authority to the Church then they seemed willing to admit in their Disputes with this Church of Rome But upon the whole Matter I will offer you some Reflections that will I hope be of as great weight with you as they are with my self I. All Arguments that prove upon such general Considerations that there ought to be an Infallible Judge named by Christ and cloathed with his Authority signify nothing unless it can be shewed us in what Texts of Scripture that nomination is to be found and till that is shewed they are only Arguments brought to prove that Christ ought to have done somewhat that he has not done So these are in effect so many Arguments against Christ unless it appears that he has Authorised such a Judge therefore the right way to end this Dispute is to shew where such a Constitution is Authorised So that the most that can be made of this is that it amounts to a favourable presumption II. It is a very unreasonable thing for us to form Presumptions of what is or ought to be from Inconveniences that do arise in case that such things are not for we may carry this so far that it will not be easie to stop it It seems more suitable to the infinite Goodness of God to communicate the knowledge of himself to all Mankind and to furnish every Man with such assistances as will certainly prevail over him It seems also reasonable to think that so perfect a Saviour as Jesus Christ was should have shewed us a certain way and yet consistent with the free Use of our Faculties of avoiding all sin nor is it very easie to imagine that it should be a reproach on his Gospel if there is not an Infallible Preservative against Errour when it is acknowledged that there is no infallible Preservative against sin for it is certain that the one Damns us more Infallibly than the other III. Since presumptions are so much insisted on to prove what things must be appointed by Christ it is to be considered that it is also a reasonable Presumption that if such a Court was appointed by him it must be done in such plain terms that there can be no room to question the meaning of them and since this is the hinge upon which all other matters turn it ought to be expressed so particularly in whom it is vested that there should be no occasion given to dispute whether it is in one Man or in a Body and if in a Body whether in the Majority or in the two thirds or in the whole Body unanimously agreeing in short the Chief thing in all Governments being the Nature and Power of the Judges those are always distinctly specified and therefore if these things are not specified in the Scriptures it is at least a strong Presumption that Christ did not intend to authorise such Judges IV. There were several Controversies raised among the Churches to which the Apostles writ as appears by the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians and Colossians yet the Apostles never make use of those passages that are pretended for this Authority to put an end to those Controversies which is a shrew'd Presumption that they did not understand them in that sense in which the Church of Rome does now take them Nor does St. Paul in the Directions that he gives to the Church-men in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus reckon this of submitting to the directions of the Church for one which he could not have omitted if this be the true meaning of those disputed passages and yet he has not one word sounding that way which is very different from the directions which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have given V. There are some things very expresly taught in the New Testament such as the Rules of a good Life the Vse of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace thro' the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly reveal'd as others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a Presumption for particular Persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests and other Guides in Sacred Matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the Mouths of the Jews against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the Prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the
had received from Christ they were the Judges even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not And if they had this power then I desire to know how they came to lose it and by what Authority men separate themselves from that Church The only pretence I ever heard of was because the Church has fail'd in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true sence and meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by God's word I do desire to know who is to be Judge of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof has continued to this day without interruption or particular men who have raised Schims for their own advantage This is a true Copy of a Paper I found in the late King my Brothers Strong Box written in his own Hand JAMES R. The Second Paper IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation Every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and 't is no wonder that it should be so since that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against the other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves and confuted by their own Arguments The Church of England as 't is call'd would fain have it thought that they are the Judges in matters Spiritual and yet dare not say positively that there is no Appeal from them for either they must say that they are Infallible which they cannot pretend to or confess that what they decide in matters of Conscience is no further to be followed then it agrees with every mans private Judgment If Christ did leave a Church here upon Earth and we were all once of that Church how and by what Authority did we separate from that Church If the power of Interpreting of Scripture be in every mans brain what need have we of a Church or Church-men To what purpose then did our Saviour after he had given his Apostles power to Bind and Loose in Heaven and Earth add to it that he would be with them even to the end of the World These words were not spoken Parabolically or by way of Figure Christ was then ascending into his Glory and left his Power with his Church even to the End of the World We have had these hundred years past the sad effects of denying to the Church that Power in matters Spiritual without an Appeal What Country can subsist in peace or quiet where there is not a Supream Judge from whence there can be no Appeal Can there be any Justice done where the Offenders are their own Judges and equal Interpreters of the Law with those that are appointed to administer Justice This is our Case here in England in matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as 't is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at that present to their fancies which as soon as it shall contradict or vary from they are ready to embrace or joyn with the next Congregation of People whose Discipline and Worship agrees with their Opinion at that time so that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but that which lies in every mans giddy brain I desire to know therefore of every serious Considerer of these things whether the great work of our Salvation ought to depend upon such a Sandy Foundation as this Did Christ ever say to the Civil Magistrate much less to the People that he would be with them to the end of the World Or did he give them the Power to forgive Sins St. Paul tells the Corinthians Ye are Gods Husbandry ye are Gods Building we are Labourers with God This shews who are the Labourers and who are the Husbandry and Building And in this whole Chapter and in the preceeding one St. Paul takes great pains to set forth that they the Clergy have the Spirit of God without which no man searcheth the deep things of God and he concludeth the Chapter with this Verse For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the mind of Christ Now if we do but consider in humane probability and reason the powers Christ leaves to his Church in the Gospel and St. Paul explains so distinctly afterwards we cannot think that our Saviour said all these things to no purpose And pray consider on the other side that those who resist the truth and will not submit to his Church draw their Arguments from Implications and far fetch'd Interpretations at the same time that they deny plain and positive words which is so great a Disingenuity that 't is not almost to be thought that they can believe themselves Is there any other foundation of the Protestant Church but that if the Civil Magistrate please he may call such of the Clergy as he thinks fit for his turn at that time and turn the Church either to Presbytery Independency or indeed what he pleases This was the way of our pretended Reformation here in England and by the same Rule and Authority it may be altered into as many more Shapes and Forms as there are Fancies in mens Heads This is a true Copy of a Paper written by the late King my Brother in his own Hand which I found in his Closet JAMES R. A LETTER Containing some Remarks on the Two Papers writ by His late Majesty King CHARLES the Second Concerning Religion SIR I Thank you for the two Royal Papers that you have sent me I had heard of them before but now we have them so well attested that there is no hazard of being deceived by a false Copy you expect that in return I should let you know what impression they have made upon me I pay all the reverence that is due to a Crowned Head even in Ashes to which I will never be wanting far less am I capable of suspecting the Royal Attestation that accompanies them of the truth of which I take it for granted no man doubts but I must crave leave to tell you that I am confident the late King only copied them and that they are not of his Composing for as they have nothing of that free Air with which he expressed himself so there is a Contexture in them that does not look like a Prince and the beginning of the first shews it was the effect of a Conversation and was to be communicated to another so that I am apt to think they were Composed by another and were so well relished by the late King that he thought fit to keep them in order to his examining them more particularly and that he was prevailed with to Copy them lest a Paper of that nature might have been made a
Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by particular Persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly proved in their Law Deut. 17.8 That when Controversies arose concerning any Cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the Tribe of Levi and to the Judge in those days and that they were to declare what was right and to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of Death So that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorised in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal Testimony on her behalf As for our Saviour's Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his Doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the people Deut. 13.1 That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho' he wrought Miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to Death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his Father brought in the worship of another God might well pretend that he was not oblig'd to yield to the Authority of our Saviour's Miracles without taking cognisance of his Doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the Mouths of the Jews against our Saviour and from hence we see that the Authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Jeremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's days not only many ill-grounded Traditions had got in among them by which the vigor of the Moral Law was much enervated but likewise they were universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascention So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiations of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and Texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force and freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the reconconciling of Differences that of binding and loosing according to the use of those terms among the Jews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church signifies only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish and that of Christ's being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special conduct and protection which the Church may always expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an Infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the Spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine Inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the World which he sets in opposition to the Wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at last be acknowledged that they have not an Evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first the Account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him and in this every man must answer for the sincerity of his Heart in examining Divine Matters and the following what upon the best Enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with relation to this there is no need of a Judge for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the Talents that he had and all will be saved according to their sincerity and with relation to that Judgment there is no need of any other Judge but God A second view of Religion is as it is a Body united together and by consequence brought under some Regulation and as in all States there are subaltern Judges in whose decisions all must at least acquiesce tho' they are not infallible there being still a sort of an Appeal to be made to the Sovereign or the Supream Legislative Body so the Church has a subaltern Jurisdiction but as the Authority oâ— Inferiour Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law so it is not necessary for the preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their Obedience to their Sovereign tho' in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Sovereign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Sovereign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a subaltern Judge if they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular persons may be supposed as competent Judges of that as in civil Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Judges and in that case they are bound still to maintain their Obedience to Jesus Christ In matters indifferent Christians are bound for the preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decisions of the Church and in Matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho' they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Sovereign of the Church I mean Christ the people may put in their Appeal to that great Judge and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the people followed the Rules that I have named with Humility
and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that as there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho' they are bad enough yet are not equal Effects that ignorant Superstition and Obedient Zeal have produced in the World Witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small Diversion of Opinions and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signifie nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand Years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and than that certainly it is not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say that there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some starts and other long intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first Three Hundred and Twenty years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Council of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperours Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700 years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have Excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a Competent Understanding to satisfie him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said that this Infallibility is to be fought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a study that must cost a Man an Age to go thro' it and many of the Ages thro' which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their Belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing is the more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their Nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued 1000 years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a Thousand Years upon Earth and if those who had Matters at second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater Errors at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Expositions of some passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70 Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Jerome examined this matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more than all the rest it seems plain that the Fathers before the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort inferiour to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they considered these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three men have the same Humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and
Administration of Justice Belongeth to the Office of a King But the fullest account of it in few words is in Chancellor Fortescue Chap. XIII which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case Coke VII Rep. Fol 5. Ad Tutelam namque Legis Subditorum ac eorum Corporum bonorum Rex hujusmodi erectus est ad hanc potestatem a populo effluxam ipse habet quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari For such a King That is of every Political Kingdom as this is is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Law of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth power of his People so that he cannot Govern his People by any other power Corollary 1. A Bargain 's a Bargain 2. A Popish Guardian of Protestant Laws is such an Incongruity and he is as Unfit for that Office as Antichrist is to be Christ's Vicar CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation if it were then those Nations that wanted Scripture must have been without Government whereas Scripture it self says That Government is The Ordinance of Man and of Humane Extraction And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular That it was Moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the People Answ to XIX Prop. II. All just Governments are highly Beneficial to Mankind and are of God the Author of all Good they are his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and Sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread-Corn is absolutely necessary to the subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa 28. from 23. to 29th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have strength By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice By me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth Prov. 8.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plowman saith His God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him Isa 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but leaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture That such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which is none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Mens Lands to be already Butted and Bounded when it forbids removing the antient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam. 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priest's custom of Sacrilegeous Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same wood being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution of all the Judges of England that even the known and undoubted Prerogatives of the Jewish Kings do not belong to our Kings and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Jac. Give us a King to Judge us 1 Sam. 8.5 6 20. Note upon Sunday the Tenth of November in this same Term the King upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury concerning Prohibitions was informed that when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes or any other Thing Ecclesiastical or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High Commission or in any other Case in which there is not express Authority by Law the King himself may decide it in his Royal person and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself And the Archbishop said That this was clear in Divinity That such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture To which it was answered by me in the presence and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchequer That the King in his own person cannot adjudge any Case either Criminal as Treason Felony c. but this ought to be determined and adjusted in some Court of Justice according to the Law and Custom of England And always Judgments are given Ideo consideratum est per Curiam so that the Court gives the Judgment And it was greatly marvelled That the Archbishop durst inform the King that such absolute power and authority as is aforesaid belonged to the King by the Word of God CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him Nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther or to any other purposes than the Law has impowr'd him II. An Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary power is so far from being the Ordinance of God that it is not the Ordinance of Man III. Whoever opposes an Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power does not oppose the Ordinance of God but the Violation of that Ordinance IV. The 13. of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours Verse 4. because their Office and Imployment is for the publick welfare For he is the Minister of God to Thee for Good V. The 13. of the Hebrews commands Obedience to spiritual Rulers Verse 17. Because they watch for your Souls VI. But the 13. of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner and the Beast of Rome who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers and whose practice was murthering of Souls and Bodies according to the true Character of Popery which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November but Archbishop Laud was wiser than they and in his time blotted it out The Prayer formerly run thus To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the
time be safely conducted thither Nor can I avoid pleasing my self with those joyful and hopeful thoughts when I reflect upon the various steps of Divine Providence by which they are brought into that nearness of legally inheriting these Crowns Certainly there is a voice that speaketh loud to this purpose not only in Gods denying a Legitimate Issue to the Late King and in his taking away from time to time all the Lawful Male Off-spring of his present Majesty but in the uniting their Highnesses in Marriage even to the crossing a certain Persons Inclinations whom I forbear to Name as well as to the disgusting of a Neighbouring Monarch and to the defeating the busie endeavours of the Popish Party But I must return to our Author whose Injustice to their Highnesses and his malice against their Honour Interest and Reputation knows neither end nor bounds For upon Monsieur Fagel's having ask'd Who would go about to advise him or any man else to endeavour to perswade their Highnesses whom God has so far honoured as to make them Defenders of his Church to approve and promote things so dangerous and hurtful both to the Reformed Religion and to the publick safety as the Repealing of the Test Laws would be our Author does hereupon with his wonted Friendship Equity and Candor to those Excellent Princes tells us that he hath not met with so bold a Declaration as this of calling them the Protectors of Gods Church and that the ascribing it to them is a detracting from the Honour of Kings and Monarchs who will not Abdicate from themselves to any other so glorious a Title And in pursuance of his rancour towards their Highnesses he runs out in his way of Wit and Learning into a most silly and impertinent Discourse about the Nature of a Church and accuseth the Prince and Princess as if by having this Character conferred upon them they had a design to usurp from his Majesty of Great Brittain the stile of Defenders of the Faith and to challenge to themselves the being the Protectors of the Church of England Surely this Gentleman does by vertue of his Popish Zeal and Irish Understanding believe that no Titles are due to Princes in reference to the Church of God but what are derived from the Papal Chair Whereas I dare say that Monsieur Fagel in bestowing this Title upon Their Highnesses did not dream of the Roman Pontif but had been taught it by God Almighty whom I take to be the Supream and true Fountain of Honour who is pleased to character such Princes as do cherish and favour his Church by the Name of Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers which is the term that the Pensionary useth in reference to their Highnesses And as it is their own merit which according to the Tenor of the Divine Creation hath entitled them to this glorious stile so they are neither to be ridicul'd nor hectored out of that duty of countenancing and supporting the Reformed Religion nor to be deterred by bold and empty words from those compassionate generous and Princely Offices to sincere Orthodox Believers by which they have deserved it And while others glory in the enjoyment of the Titles of most Christian and most Catholick Kings which their Vassalage to the See of Rome their contributing to the Exaltation of the Triple Crown and their being the Popes Executioners in the shedding the Blood of Saints hath procured unto them 't is enough for their Highnesses to be by the Suffrage of all true Protestants and that agreeably to the Doctrine and Authority of the Sacred Scriptures had in esteem and reverenced for Nutritii and Protectors of Gods Church Nor do they appropriate this stile to themselves tho' they account it the brightest among all their Titles but they acknowledge it to belong equally to many others and are afflicted at nothing more than that all Potentates may not justly claim a share in it And as the Pensionary's ascribing it unto their Highnesses was out of no design to usurp upon the King of Englands Title of Defender of the Faith nor to affix any Authority unto them over that Church so it will be no presumption to add that all of the Reformed Religion in that Kingdom how much soever differing in little and circumstantial things among themselves are yet so far sensible of the obligations they are under to Their Highnesses and of the benefits they have all the Assurance to expect from them hereafter that without meaning ill either to the King or to any one else they will unanimously join in stiling them Defenders of the Christian Reformed Faith and Protectors of Gods Church professing the Protestant Religion And they will easily know with whom they are to be angry and against whom to direct their Resentments Mijn Heer Fagel had said that if the Dissenters cannot during his Majesties Reign be eased from the Penal Laws unless the Tests be also abrogated that this will be an unhappiness unto them but for which the Roman Catholicks are only to be blamed who chuse rather to be contented that they and their Posterity should remain still obnoxious to the Penal Laws and exposed to the hatred of the whole Nation than be restrained from a capacity of attempting any thing against the peace and security of the Reformed Religion Our Author whose envy and injustice against Their Highnesses is not yet fully spent doth in his imprudent and indiscreet way obtrude from hence upon the World that the Nonconformists as well as the Roman Catholicks may hereby see where their true Interest stands and that they are extreamly obliged to those in whose Name this advice is given for the Consolation afforded them in the condition under which they are stated by Law Which is as much as if he should harangue the Nonconformists into discontentment against the Prince and Princess by assuring them that they are to hope for no relief against the Penal Laws by any favour of theirs Whereas the Dissenters are not only told that their Highnesses are willing to consent but that they do fully approve that they should have an entire Liberty for the full exercise of their Religion without being obnoxious to receive any prejudice trouble or molestation upon that account So that the heat which our Author would enflame the Dissenters unto against their Highnesses ought to turn and spend it self against the Papists who rather than part with the Tests which the Nonconformists are as much concerned to have maintained as they of the National Communion can be are resolved to keep all the Penal Laws in force and to leave the Dissenters under the dread and apprehension of them But this they may be fully perswaded of that if they can escape the edge of them during this Kings Reign they will be in no danger from them in case the Nation come once to be so happy as to see their Highnesses seated on the Throne For as much as they have not only their word which was hitherto