into Anarchy and confusion it wheel'd about again to it's first form and yet even there the unsteady course of humane affairs permits it no longer to continue then till the unequal courage and vertues of the Successors make way for the incroachments of the Ambitious or the folly and madness of the giddy multitude to give it fresh rounds and turns So that if a man would examine things strictly he would find more reason to give to every of the Governments of the World rather the name of a fluctuating Oligarchy than that by which they are commonly called for upon exact scrutiny it would perhaps be found that even the most absolute Monarchs admit some He or She Privadoes or Copartners into the managment of their Scepters In the beginning the burden of a Crown was not so heavy nor the cares so many as to need Advisers or Supporters then Integrity was so great in Prince and People that his will was their undisputed law the emergent Dictates of his pleasure no written constitutions silenc'd all their controversies Populus nullis legibus tenebatur arbitria Principum pro legibus erant But after upon great increase and spreading of mankind the Princes found it necessary as Jethro Moses Father in law had done in the case of the Jews to distribute some part of their power but with dependence upon themselves among the Elders chief and wisest of their people and to consult with them at their pleasure in all the weighty Affairs of state Hence came the Egyptians Magi not Conjurers as is commonly received but Astronomers and Counsellors of State the best Judges of meum and tuum in a Country where those boundaries were often interrupted by the overflowings of Nilus to this likewise are owing the Eastern Monarchs Sophies Colledges of wise and disinteressed Philosophers and studying and employ'd in the good of their Countreys as well those of China Indostan or the great Mogul the Tartars and the Persiâ—ns as of others After whose Examâ—…s the Turks instituted their Divans practiced by the Emperours of Fez and Morocco and by all the rest of Africa The same reasons gave the Ethiopian Priests and the Druids of the Gauls and Brittians originally the same people their power and to the Jews their Sanhedrim to the Germans their Dyets and to the Romans their Senate to the Pope as a temporal Prince his Colledge of Cardinals to the Saxons our immediate Ancestors not to instance in more their Wittena Gemot or great Council since the Norman conquest alter'd in Name and other circumstances though not in the foundation to that of our present Parliaments In all which 't is very observable that the Priests the Flamens and Archflamens for such there were among the most barbarous who had their glimmerings of a future life always held the first form and were in the management even of State Affairs of greatest credit But to pass by the rest and come to our own in which we are most immediatly concern'd we shall find that upon the Roman Empires going to wrack and their Colonies with many of the Natives being hence drained to support it's tottering State there arose a contention between the Bâ—…tiains and the Picts for the dominion of this Island they were both originally the same people but the Picts contemning the vassalage and the Customs of the Romans to which the other had submitted fled into the extremest parts called Scotland from the Irish Inhabitants who were anciently known by no other Name and now returning with assistance were too hard for the Brittains Hereupon they were forced to intreat the help of the Saxons a Warlike people of Germany The motion being communicated by Hengist to whom it was first made they embraced it conditionally they might have the continuance of their own Laws and Custom and the conquer'd Country equall ydivided among the Adventurers for they undertook not the voyage so much with design of assistance to others as of advantage to themselves Hengist surmising this to the Leaders they soon assembled and drew together 9000 men besides Wowen and Children On the confines of the River Elbe as their Neighbours the Franks had done before on the Banks of Sala and as these did here so did they thre enact by mutual agreement the performance of those Artcles appointing that Hengist and his line should be their Leaders and their Kings reserving to themselves the power of choosing a new Monarch only upon the failure of his issue Accordingly they set sail and soon arriving in England had first the Isle of Thanet and after Kent â—…signed for their Province after many bickerings fresh supplies and inundations of their own People they at last not only drive out the Picts and Scots but even the Brittains forcing â—hem into the remote part of Wales and Cornwall the certain consequence of unnatural civil Wars and dissentions where the contending Parties ever become loosers making way for some stranger or third Person to snatch a way the prize Policy would have taught the Brittains that Leagues with an overpowerful State always prove destructive to the weaker and that they could not reasonably have expected from forreign assistance any other fate than that of the Lamb in the fable who calling for the Lyons aid against the Woâ—… had only the pleasure of seeing him first chased away and himself immediately after devoured or then that of the Mouse and the Frog who while striving with each other for the mastery gave the Kite an opportunity of sweeping away both Not to instance more remotely it was this that soon after upon the Saxon divisions encouraged the invasion of the Danes and gave England to the Normans and Ireland to the English And not long since while King and Parliament were disputing for the Supremacy Liberty and Prerogative made the way for others to destroy both and instead of an excellent well temper'd Government to set up an intolerable and most arbitary Tyranny I hope the sense of the unexpressible calamities under which the Nation then groan'd will teach us to avoid such miseries for the future another civil War being like without a miracle to enslave us to a Tyrant of another Nation which like the Devils entring in a second time wou'd make our latter condition seven fold worse than the former from which in all appearance nothing but Providence and a Spirit of moderation and concord can defend our Country The Saxons having at length gain'd the Victory pursued their resolutions even during the Heptarchy as far as the frequent and almost continued Wars would permit after the stronger had swallowed up the rest they centured into a single Monarchie and in the person of Alfred Collected into one body the substance of their Laws attempted before in part by K. Ina and yet to be met with in Lambert The execution of these by the after incursions of the Danes being interrupted they were at last methodiz'd by the Confessor by whose death the Normans possessed the Crown
they were rejected the usages of their own Countrey and the effects of their Princes will in their stead imposed upon the people who Stomaching their being thus enslaved after long grumblings and often calling to be ruled by the Laws of holy Edward they had by firs the restoration of them in great measure especially in the first Harry's days the better to secure his Usurpation But that not continuing at length a Rebellion broke forth produced the confirmation of them in the great Charter or Magna Charta which in the main as the best Lawyers will tel you is nothing else but the repetition or examplification of their old Ordinances and ever since have been the foundation of all our Statutes According to these the people were to be Governed Liberty and Property secured against the incroachments of invaders and Justice to be distributed in the several Shares or Shires of England as in Germany where Tacitus tells us Jura per pagos reddebant For to make their conditions most easie the controversies were to be determined in their own Voisinage by the Hundreder or Lord of the Mannor from whom they might appeal to the Comes or Lord of the Countie who with the assistance of several Aldermanni or Hundreders pronounced sentence Upon this Custom is founded our Judges of Assizes and the several Justices of the Peace their Assessors From this Countie Court the last final Appeal was to the Great Council after the Conquest called by the name of Parliament and composed of the great Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled in the presence of the King when and where he was pleased to summon them To this general meeting came from all the parts of the Kingdom as manie as were aggrieved either by themselves or their Attorneys or Lawyers And hence it is that we so often find it mentioned not only in Spelman but in Hoveden Malmsbury Marthew Paris and the rest of the Monkish Writers that to this Curia Magna did resort the Princes Lords and Chief men and Causidici ab omni parte Regni From whence arose the mistake in after Ages as if those Lawyers who were only the Attournies and Pleaders of their Clients Causes made any part of the great Council unto which the Commons whatsoever Mr. Bacon Petit or any former Writers can say of their Jurisdiction were not admitted till the latter end of Henrie 3. raign when he observing the difficulties under which his Father had long struggled wisely allow'd them such a constitution and particular Priviledges of their own as might serve to Counterballance the Power of the Lords grown so exorbitant that without due poising and equal Liberation no otherwise to be done It must of necessity endanger the overthrow of the Monarchie and the disturbance of the whole Nation He is therefore to be accounted the first Author of our present Parliamentary usages and after his prescript they to this day receive their Summons and their beeing and yet if we narrowly look into the matter we shall finde they are more altered in Fashion than in substance notwithstanding their often gaining both upon the Crown and the Lords by the Kings first allowance of their management of the purse-string of the Kingdom for the Lords House alone was made and still continues the Court of Judicature the ultimate decider of Appeals where according to their first institution no original Cause was to take place to the house of Commons he has left the first motions of Grants Aids or Subsidies who represent the People now as the Lawyers did before and cannot in Propriety of speech as well as of Justice be called by other name nor allowed greater Power than of Attorneys The write sayes plainly The Lords are to advise and deliberate with the King upon certain weighty affairs of state the Commons to consent do what in such cases the King shal thereupon enact whence it clearly follows that their Power depends wholly upon the Princes pleasure and reaches ex instituto no further than to the matters by him propounded and therefore could not intermeddle with any thing else without his Permission The Commons then were called together to represent the peoples grievances to pray and receive redress as the King with the advice of the Lords should ordain and to signifie so much to the several places for which they serve Printing not being then found out and promulgation being of absolute necessitie to the obligation of all positive constitution To this Council the people flock'd as their business or their humour led them in confus'd multitudes representing by petition their grievances the Lords appointing a Select number of their own first to consider whither they were fit to be propounded to the rest the ground of our present Committees The Commons attending bare-headed for the Resolutions consented to them as do Plaintiffs and Defendants to the Judges decisions in the Courts of Westminster-Hall Hen. 3. as was said before to lessen the power of the Lords and bring a confused Assembly to a Regular meeting ordained everie Shire City and Burrough to send two Knights and two Burgesses as Attorneys for the others yet till sometime after they had no constant Speaker nor those priviledges of which length of time and concessions of Kings have given them possession But as neither nor both Houses have any original Right or Power but as all Creatures do upon the Almighty so their Lives depend upon the Breath of the Princes Nostrils and with his Call or Command come into or go out of the World so has the King on the other side condescended and promised That he will not without their Consents and Approbations repeal old nor make any new Statutes but more particularly in thirty three Parliaments he has confirmed the Foundation of all Magna Charta the boundaries of their Libertie and his Prerogative and in three declar'd it so much unalterable that any Act of Parliament or Judgement made or given contrary to it shall be and is hereby made ipso facto null and void And that with good reason for this being the Summary of all ancient Laws and Customs and the exact Rule and Measure of Right and Wrong as well between the King and his Subjects as between one another made or confirmed anew by the unanimous consent of every individual Person of full years at the first coming into the Kingdom and submitting to the Government of Hengist and his Successors and conformable to the Laws of Nature of Nations Quod tibi non vis fieri alteri non feceris ought without dispute to remain sacred and inviolable and to be imprinted in the minds of all free-born Subjects and carried about with them in their understandings as the Phylacteries of old in the Garments of the Jews By all which 't is plain that as the Kings Image and Inscription makes the Coin so his Approbation or Fiat makes the Laws current and consequently the supreme Legislative Power is solely vested in him
running into the inconveniency we would now avoid Popery and Arbitrary Government otherwise not only an uncertain but an imaginary Fear Though this should not happen in the person of the D. yet his exclusion may otherwise occasion it For let it be considered that to keep him out an Army must be maintained which will encrease our Charge another great evil and that Army must have a General and who can be assured that either the then King or the General or both shall not hereafter turn Papists and changing with their Religion their Tempers by the assistance of that Army settle an absolute and Despotick power enslave us and exercise an uncontroulable Tyranny over our Minds our Bodies and Estates Remember what our late revolution did produce and forget not the Rump noâ— Oliver whose publick Taxes were Mountains compared with those Mole-Hills under which we now seem so much to suffer and be buried If the Rider gives his Horse the Reins he knows not whither an unbridled Fury may at last carry him 'T is not impossible but the putting by the D. may end in a deposing the present possessor For if the late King was not only reputed a papist but executed for designing the Introduction of popery though all the World knows he was a stiff asserter of and a Martyr for the protestant Religion and if now a presumed papist be declared unfit to succeed how much more unfit must a papist be declared to Govern And how can we be assured that Caracter shall not hereafter be fixt upon our King when we know one of the Brethren was not long since Indicted for saying The D. was a Papist and the K. little better and that already every Member of the Church of England the very Bishops all but Two not excepted are called papists in Masquerade Success makes men bold against God and Man and we arrive not at the heighth of Insolence but by degrees nemo repente fit turpissimus Read the Pamphlets and observe not the Whispers but the loud Discourses and then tell me whether you can call this a groundless Surmise If the King cannot pardon the Earl of Danby or any Criminal which that Noble-man no more is upon the account of his pardon than all his predecessors who have shewn him the way then indeed he is no longer the Supreme and may well enough be concluded already depos'd more than in Effigie And yet this Doctrine is maintain'd by the Loyal Considerer of the great and wighty Considerations touching the Succession and publickly sold in the Court of Requests and another position no less pernicious held by him and many of the same principles That there can be Treason against the State against the people against the Government excluding the Kings person for whose security alone the Satutes have provided against Treasons not finding it agreeable to Reason or our own Positive Laws to exalt above the King 's the Majesty of the People If such Doctrines be openly avow'd witness that Pamphlet and the Modest Answerer of the King's Declaration about his Marriage 't is no wonder the King should depend upon other Guards for his Safety than the Affections of at least such loyal Subjects King Charles the First had many Promises of being made great and glorious provided he would part with his most faithful Friends and Counsellors then stiled disaffected and evil Ministers and by granting some such small Requests he gave encouragement for asking and left himself no room for denying greater And indeed he was made great and extraordinarily exalted from an Earthly to a Heavenly Throne from a King to be a Martyr Who can be ignorant that however to demolish a strong Fort or a Tower well built it be necessary to labour long about the Out-works and the Walls with Cannon and with Pick-ax yet one only puff though but weak of a Princes Folly or a Private mans Ambition who has good store of Followers Money and Wit is able to make the strongest Empire totter and fall before the Ruine be expected Athelstan the great Saxon King out of jealousie of State was perswaded to expose to the mercy of the Seas his Brother Elwyn and thereby endanger'd the loss of his Dominion of which when he was put in mind by his Cup-bearer's saying upon recovering with one Foot the slip of the other See how one Brother helps another he cryed out Ah Traytor livest thou to upbraid me of that Folly of which your self was the Author and thereupon caused him to be immediatly executed Henry the Sixth had scap'd Deposition and Murder had he not consented to his Uncle the Good Duke of Glocester's destruction who living kept him safe and dying threw him down After the same method did the Earl of Northumberland bring about the Ruine of the Protector in Edward the Sixth's time perswading him to remove his Brother the Admiral his only Bulwark and Support of which Contrivance though too late be died not insensible leaving to Posterity a Caution to avoid the Rock on which he split The extraordinary Caresses of a reconcil'd Enemy are ever to be distrusted and always to be accounted dangerous and he may well apprehend a Design that finds such or any man more than himself sollicitous for his Safety The Wolves pretending kindness to the Sheep offer'd to make a League with them but not till they first had banish'd away their Dogs this they no sooner did than they paid with the forseiture of their Necks the price of their credulity and their folly Nor is the Fathers Legacy to his Sons of a Bundle of Twigs less instructive these which single may with ease cannot with difficulty whilst united he bent or broken Divide Impera is more useful for the Aspirers to than the Possessors of a Crown and he that suffers himself to be impos'd upon in one lays himself open to all Instances and will quickly perceive the more he grants the less he is able to refuse When a Prince finds his Subjects insist upon things unreasonable or unnecessary much more proceed contrary to his positive Commands as in the Case of Succession 't is time to look about him and suspect they intend somewhat more than yet they discover The surest way to compasse ones purpose is to pretend the contrary and if you will be with success a Sinner and exquisitly wicked you must pretend to be a Saint and extraordinarily devout You may with more safety eat your Chestnuts if Monkey-like you make use of the Cats Claws to pull them out of the Fire You cannot hope to enslave your Country but under the specious Names of Reformation and Liberty The people may be gull'd and drawn to bite if the Hook be baited with a fitting Fly If you will set up Presbytery you must pretend at first only to run down Popery when the Popish Lords are outed it will be easie after to exclude the Bishops That here has been a long time and still is a carrying on a design
of Nations forbid nay make it inconsistent with Society to hang a Man first and convict him after or to punish any one 〈◊〉 post facto My Lord Strafford's Case was never to be brought into president and if that were not sufficient the whole proceedings by Act of Parliament since his Majesties Restauration were condemn'd as illegal and contrary to all Morality And would not the D's Case have been just the same Do you but make it your own and you will be of that Opinion Whence I conclude that the Reasons on which the late House of Commons proceeded against the D. were insufficient because not only not warranted but contrary to the Laws in being as well as to those of Nature and all Societies under Heaven And now I come to your third Question what dangers the Nation may be under in case the Crown descends upon a Popish Successor or more particularly upon his R. H For answer to which we must consider that dangers to any Country are Forraign or Domestick Invasions from abroad or Encroachments a home Against the former every Kingdom is in danger be the Prince of any or no Religion and therefore the People are obliged to be always on their Guard Against the latter the hazard lies in the Princes neglect or breaking of the bounds of his Subjects Liberty Property and Religion and since the safety of all Princes depends upon the contrary why a Popish one should offer it more then another I cannot comprehend and more particularly why his R. H. should design it is not at all likely if we examine either the influence Popery can have over the Government or consider impartially the D's Character Government was first framed for the good of Mankind in this Life without any regard to another and depended upon a due and equal administration of justice in the Governour and Obedience in the governed This was long observed in the World before Religion entered especially Christianity which all allow neither did nor could alter the Laws of the City or Common-wealth Evangelium non abolet politias is every where an allowed Maxim drawn from our Saviour's own Words Friend who made me a Ruler or judge among you The Law is open and by that the controversies between you and your Brother are to be decided He came not to disturb but to enlarge and confirm the peace of the City and his Laws considered a-part are as consistent with those of a Kingdom as the by-Laws of any Corporation within a greater State He declared his Kingdom was not of this World and therefore could not design to alter the grounds of Government and Obedience which are one and the same in all Countries whether Christian or Pagan founded upon self-interest and preservation and continued by mutual Relation of Love and Duty Protection and Obedience things that truly considered can never be altered by the super-induction or change of any new or old Religion If then Christianity make no alteration 't is impossible the sub-divisions or particular Sects should So that whatever Opinion either King or Subject be in point of Religion Popish or Protestant Lutheran or Calvinist Presbyterian or Episcopal the ends of Government peace and quiet Liberty and Property may be secured and enjoy'd and the end of Religion too eternal Salvation this depending on moral Duties and Conformity to the Laws of the Land our Saviour having threatned Damnation to those who resist the higher Powers the greatest of punishments being appointed both by the Jewish and Christian Law to Rebellion called by the first the Sin of Witchraft and in the last a fighting against God himself Now all Laws that concern our temporal estate being made in the times of Popery I cannot find why they should be changed by a Popish Monarch nor how without a change or violation the Subjects can suffer As for the Laws that established the Protestant and abolished the Popish Religion they cannot be otherwise altered but by an equal power with that from whence they had their Being King and Parliament who agreeing can by a change no more prejudice the publick in order to Heaven than they did before that being only accidental and extrinsecal to the Substance of Religion by which alone and not by Forms or Ceremonies Men are to be saved every Country making differences in such things according to the several interest of States or humours of the people as in England the Common-wealth is tempered by the King 's holding the Ballance between the power of Lords and Commons and that upon the taking away of either the Government must be destroyed so the Religion of England or indeed of any Kingdom where there are several Sects seem only to be preserved by fixing a Ballance which taken away must be the ruine of the whole and therefore undeniable policy will tell us that the Episcopal legal Government is no otherwise to be preserved but by equally indulging the Non-Conformists and the Papists for to suppress both is now impracticable and to suppresse one alone will be found impolitick A Truth grounded upon the present State of Europe where while England kept the Ballance between France and Spain the universal Monarchy was a Dream or groundlesse Fancie but that being removed 't is impossible if two or three Martial and prudent Princes happen successively to govern France but that before imaginary Empire will really fall to the Lot of that Nation unlesse all the other States joyn against it and give our Country the power it enjoyed when Spain was an equal Match in the Contention For my own part I see nothing to be dreaded in case of a Popish Successor because he alone cannot alter the Laws nor the Religion nor can he the execution since that is out of his and in the hands of such as are not only sworn to it but upon failure lyable to great Penalties and Forfeiture not only to the Prince who possibly might but to the Informer who cannot be supposed to remit his proportion And considering that the Laws in being have entrusted the executive power of the Militia by Sea and Land and of distributive Justice in Courts and all Offices of Trust as well in the Country as about the Princes Person and the power of making and altering Laws in the Hands of Men of Anti-popish Principles I cannot apprehend why we should conceive any danger from a Princes enjoying to himself any Heterodox Opinion whatever For to think he would impose them upon his Subjects is to conclude him not only imprudent but distracted since it would be to create himself disturbance without the least prospect of advantage for what does he get or loose by their being of this or that Perswasion His Good his Wealth his Glory his Honour and Security consists in their conformity to the established Government and for their future Happinesse he cannot as a Prince be solitcious 't is out of his Province and now out of Fashion for Kings to be Priests and
Prophets This then would be folly and to pursue it would be madness because it would be to oppose his single strength for in this case he would stand alone to the united force of Lords and Commons and the whole Body of the People And who knows not that in this Sense Dominium fundatur in voluntatibus hominum For without an Army and a very great one he could not compasse his impertinent project this Army he could not raise without a vast Treasure this Treasure he cannot have but from his own people in Parliament who will not give it to their prejudice For out of Parliament he cannot have enough even for his ordinary Expence much lesse for the defence of the Kingdom against forraign Attempts because upon the death of the present the following Successor will find so much fallen off that there will not be left one third of the present insufficient Revenue for all necessary Uses of the Crown An Argument that alone may convince the sober and unbyass'd that be he of what perswasion soever he must of necessity comply with his Parliament who can't be suppos'd neglectful of the great Concern of Religion And to think that the Papists at home or abroad will give it is Folly or Inconsideration Those at home could not by the sale of all their Fortunes make the Fond that can never be supposed by men in their wits nor indeed can I see why they should contribute at all since their gain by offices of which they are now incapable would be but advantagious to some and why shall the whole be at a losse for the profit of a few that uncertain Besides that party is now more a Gainer by freedom from offices of Charge and Trouble than they could then be by the partial Advantage of Employments The Papists abroad will less find their Accompt for Princes of all Religions and the only present rich and powerful one of That expends his Money for Earthly Glory leaving as he ought the Heavenly to the Spiritual Princes These all are ever were and will be such Lovers of Wealth Pomp and Grandour as not to bestow it in the purchase of Heaven which they know is not to be bought for Silver or for Gold The Pope regaining Peter-pence could not invite him if he had the Sum for if you compute that you will find it a Trifle 6666 reckoning it after the way of the present Chimney-money set for 160 odd thousand pounds at two shillings a Chimney whereas that was only a peny a House not a peny a Chimney as in this Caluclation is allow'd when Houses are much more than in those days And for the First-fruits and Tenths they are no lesse inconsiderable For Indulgences Appeals and the consequent Charges they are trivial and accidental and go not into the Pop's but into particular Officers pockets Besides no one Pope can hope to see such a Design effected and the Nephews and Nieces will prevent their converting their Riches to the advantage of the Successors And as for the Church or Abby-Lands they could not on this accompt be of any moment since if restor'd to the Church which would be uncertain as the effect of War they would fall into the hands of Clergy-men who have nothing before hand to contribute Now considering that the late rais'd Army under 30000 men put the King to the charge of more than a Million how many Millions think you must be requisite for a much greater Army necessary for so great a Design when the Opposition will be strong and lasting the very Lifted Millitia being above 160000 And supposing that all the Papists in the three Kingdoms would become Voluntiers in this extravagant Expedition the whole would be still as disproportionat and as unliklely to prevail as an Army of Pigmies with Spears of Bulrushes mounted on Crans against an Army of Gyants riding on Elephants and every way well appointed for War In the year 1672. and they cannot since be much encreas'd the Papists upon a Survey of them Conformists and Nonconformists severally were found throughout England to be under 27000. Men Women and Children In Scotland the disproportion is greater on the protestant side in Ireland on the Papists Yet by a Medium of all three there would be 203. Protestants to one Papist What then can be dreaded from them though assisted with an Army of profligat Hirelings for none else would fight to destroy Religion and enslave their Country and a Prince of their own Perswasion whose Example could win but on the mean and base the flattering and mercenary Courtiers to hold with him as with other Kings their Necks awry So inconsiderable a Number could not shock the main Body of the People sighting not as the others for Opinion or for Pay but further for Liberty Property Religion and Estate of which being possest though the others were equal in Numbers theirs would be the advantage according to that Rule Milior est conditio possidentis And indeed considering the Athelstical bent and humour of the Nation whose Religion is generally in their Mouths only and not in their Hearts I am apt to conclude the great Heat and Contention is founded upon the apprehension of the loss of Church and Abby-Lands not of protestantism and the rather because it is urged Nullum tempus occurrit Ecolesiae The Maxim is Regi and yet we find though most of the Lordships of England belonged formerly to the King they are now possest by others without danger of reassumption and yet even that has been practised in former Kings Reigns and advised by parliaments who al ways reputed them unalienable And yet why we should now be more sollicitous for fear of the Church than of the King I cannot understand since either prescription or their own Consent lies against both and that even in the infancy of the protestant Religion upon the return of Popery by parliament the Pope did in Q. Mary's Reign by his Legat Cardinal Poole confirm to the Laity the Temporal possessions of the Clergy And can any one imagine that how when a contrary Religion is of so long standing and the professors as far exceeding the Papists in number as they did then the Protestants a parliament would be kinder Earthly Interest will ever weigh more than Heavenly the World being now so much enlightned with Knowledge and Letters beyond its former Experience when not only Salvation but Wisdom hung upon the Lips of the priests it be will be impossible for men to be perswaded even upon their Death-beds to bestow all for the gaining of Heaven The Statute of Mortmain was made in the height of Popery and none but Fools can suffer themselves to be imposed upon that a Statute of Restitution could be possible in the Meridian of a contrary Religion This is well known to the leading and considering men who having Designs upon great Offices and preferments in the State make the Care of the Church a pretence only to their