an enquiry into the reasons for abrogating the test imposed on all members of parliament offered by sa. oxon. burnet, gilbert, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an enquiry into the reasons for abrogating the test imposed on all members of parliament offered by sa. oxon. burnet, gilbert, - . p. s.n., [london : ] written by gilbert burnet. cf. wing. a reply to samuel parker's reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament. caption title. place and date of publication from wing. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng parker, samuel, - . -- reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament. test act ( ) - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an enquiry into the reasons for abrogating the test imposed on all members of parliament . offered by sa. oxon. when the cardinals in rome go abroad without fiocco's on their horses heads , it is unstood that they will be then incognito , and they expect nothing of that respect which is payed them on other occasions . so since there is no fiocco at the head of this discourse , no name nor designation , it seems the writer offers himself to be examined without those nice regards , that may be due to the dignity he bears : and indeed when a man forgets what he is himself , it is very natural for others to do it likewise . it is no wonder to see those of the roman communion be stir themselves , so much as they do , to be delivered from the test , and every thing else that is uneasie to them : and tho othres may find it very reasonable to oppose themselves , in all the just and legal ways that agree with our constitution , to this design , yet it is so natural to all that are under any pressure , to desire to get free from it , that at the same time that we cannot forbear to withstand them , we cannot much condemn them : but it raises nature a little , to see a man that has been so long fatned with the spoils of our church , and who has now got up to a degree so disproportioned to his merit , to turn so treacherously upon it . if he is already weary of his comfortable importance , and will here give her into the bargain , and declare himself , no body will be surprised at the change of his masque , since he has taken much pains to convince the world , that his religion goes no deeper than his habit : yet tho his confidence is of a piece with all his other vertues , few thought it could have carried him so far ; i confess i am not surprized , but rather wonder to see that others should be so ; for he has given sufficient warning of what he is capable of ; he has told the world what is the worst thing that dr. burnet can do . p. . but i am sure the dr. cannot be quit with him , to tell what is the worst thing that he can do ; it must needs be a very fruitful fancy that can find out all the degrees of wickedness to which he can go : and tho' this pamphlet is a good essay of his talent that way , yet that terra incognita is boundless . in the title page it is said that this was first writ for the author 's own satisfaction , and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern . but the words are certainly wrong placed ; for the truth of the matter is , that it was written for the author 's own benefit , and that it is now published for the satisfaction of all others whom it may concern : in some sense perhaps it was written for the author 's own satisfaction ; for so petulant and so depraved a mind as his , is capable of being delighted with his treachery and a poor bishoprick with the addition of : presidentship , being too low a prize for his ambition and avarice . he resolved to assure himseif of the first great bishoprick that falls ; the liege letter let us see how far the iesuits were assured of him , and how much courted by him : and that he said , that none but athiests supported the protestant religion now in england ; yet how many soever of these may be among us , he is upon the point of lessening their number , by one at least : and he takes care to justifie the hopes which these father 's conceived of him. they are severe masters , and will not be put off with secret civilities , lewd jests , entertainments , and healths drank to their good success ; so now the price of the ●residen●ship is to be pay'd , so good a morsel as this deserved that dr. stillingfleet , dr. tillotson , dr. burnet , and some other divines should be ill used , and he to preserve the character of drawcansir , which is as due to him as th●t of bays , falls upon the articles of the church , and upon both houses of parliament . it is reproach enough to the house of lords , that he is of it ; but it is somewhat new , and a character becoming sa. oxon , to arraign that house , with all the insolence to which he can raise his wanton pen. laws that are in being are treated with respect , even by those who move for their repeal ; but our draw●ansir scorns that modest strain , he is not contented to arraign the law , but calls it barbarous , and says , that nothing can be more barbarous and prophane than to make the renouncing of a mystery , so unanimously received , a state test ; pag. . pag. . but he ought to have avoided the word prophane , since it leads men to remember , that he had taxed the praying for the king , as under god and christ , as crude , not to say prophane : when in the prospect he had then [ ] of a bishoprick he raised the king above christ , but now another prospect , will make him sink him beneath the pope , who is but at best christs vicar . but this is not all , there comes another flower that is worthy of him , he tells us , that the test was the first-born of oats 's plot , and brought forth on purpose to give credit and reputation to the perjury , pag. . and because this went in common between the two houses , he bestows a more particular mark of his favour on the house of lords : and tells them that this was a monument erected by themselves in honour of so gross an imposture . ( ibid. ) but after all , the royal assent was added ; and here no doubt it itched somewhere , for if it had not been for the manner of the late king's death , and the papers published since his death , he would have wreaked his malice upon his memory , for he will never forgive his not advancing him : and the late king being so true a judg● of wit , could not but be much taken with the best satyr of our time ; and saw that bays's wit , when measured with anothers , was of a piece with hi● vertues , and therefore judged in favour of the rehearsal transpros'd : this went deep , and though it gave occasion to the single piece of modesty , with which he can be charged , of withdrawing from the town , and not importuning the press more for some years , since even a face of brass must grow red , when it is so burnt as his was then ; yet his malice against the elder brother was never extinguished but with his life : but now a strange conjuncture has brought him again on the stage , and bays will be bays still . he begins his prologue with the only soft word in the whole piece , i humbly conceive , but he quickly repents him of that debonarity , and so makes thunder and lightning speak the rest , as if his designs were to insult over the two houses , and not to convince them . he who is one of the punies of his order ▪ and is certainly one of its justest reproaches , tells us pag. . that to the shame of the bishops , this law was consented to by them in the house of lords : but what shame is due to him , who has treated that venerable bench , and in particular his metropolitan , in so scurrilous a manner . the order has much more cause to be ashamed of such a member : tho if there are two or three such as he is among the twenty six , they may comfort themselves with this , that a dozen of much berter men , had one among them , that i confess was not much worse , if it was not for this , that he let the price of his treachery fall much lower than sa. oxon does , who is still true to his old maxim , that he delivered in answer to one who asked him what was the best body of divinity ? which was , that that which could help a man to keep a coach and six horses , was certainly the best , but now i come to examine his reasons for abrogating the test . the first is , that it is con●rary to the natural rights of peerage , and turns the birth-right of the english nobility , into a precarious title : which is at the mercy of every faction and passion in parliament , and that therefore , how useful soever the test might have been in its season , it sometime must prove a very ill president against the right of peerage : and upon this he tells a story of a protestation made in the house of lords , against the test , that was brought in , in , together with the resolution of the house against that penalty upon the peers , of loosing their votes in case of a refusal : he represents this , as a test or oath of loyalty , against the lawfulness of taking arms upon any pretence whatsoever against the king. but in answer to all this , one would gladly know what are the natural rights of peerage , and in what chapter of the law of nature they are to be found , for if those rights have no other warrant , but the constitution of this government , then they are still subject to the legislative authority , and may be regulated by it . the right of peerage is still in the family , only as the exercise of it is limited by the law to such an age , so it may be suspended as oft as the publick safety comes to require it : even the indelible character it self , may be brought under a total suspension , of which our author may , perhaps , afford an instance at some time or other . . votes in either house of parliament , are never to be put in ballance with establish'd laws : these are but the opinions of one house , and are changeable . . but if the test might have been useful in its season , one would gladly see how it should be so soon out of season : for its chief use being to secure the protestant religion in . it does not appear , that now in . the dangers are so quite dissipated , that there is no more need of securing it . in one sense we are in a safer condition than we were then : for some false brethren have shewed themselves , and have lost that little credit which some unhappy accidents had procured them . . it was not the loyalty in the test of the year . that raised the greatest opposition to it : but another part of it , that they should never endeavour any alteration in the government , either in the church or state. now it seemed to be an unreasonable limitation on the legislative body , to have the members engaged to make no alteration : and it is that which would not have much pleased those , for whose satisfaction this book is published . the second reason was already hinted at , of its dishonourable birth and original ; pag. . which according to the decency of his stile he calls the first sacrament of the otesian villany , pag. . this he aggravates as such a monstrous and inhuman piece of barbarity as could never have entred into the thoughts of any man but the infamous author of it ; this piece of elegance , tho it belongs to this reason , comes in again in his fourth reason , pag. . and to let the house of lords see their fate , if they will not yield to his reasons , he tells them that this will be not only an eternal national reproach , but such a blot upon the peers , that no length of time could wear away , nothing but the universal conoagration could destroy , which are the aptest expressions that i know to mark how deeply , the many blots with which he is stigmatized are rooted in his nature . the wanton man in his drawcansir humor thinks that parliaments and a house of peers are to be treated by him with as much scorn as is justly due to himself . but to set this matter in its true light , it is to be remembred that in . there were besides the evidences of the witnesses , a great many other discoveries made of letters and negotiations in forreign parts , chiefly in the courts of france and rome , for extirpating the protestant religion ; upon which the parts that was most united to the court , set on this law , for the test , as that which was both in it self a just and necessary security for the establish'd religion , and that would probably lay the fermentation which was then in the nation : and the act was so little acceptable to him , whom he calls its author , that he spake of it then with contempt , as a trick of the court to lay the nation too soon asleep . the negotiations beyond sea were too evidently proved to be denied ; and ( which is not yet generally known ) mr. coleman when examined by the committee of the house of commons , said plain enough to them , that the late king was concerned in them ; but the committee would not look into that matter , and so mr. sacheverill , that was their chair-man , did not report it ; yet the thing was not so secret but that one to whom it was trusted , gave the late king an account of it ; who said , that he had not heard of it any other way , and was so fully convinced that the nation had cause given them to be jealous , that he himself set forward the act , and the rather because he saw that the e. of s. did not much like it . the parliament as long as it was known that the religion was safe in the kings negative , had not taken any great care of its own constitution , but it seemed the best expedient that could be found , for laying the jealousies of his late majesty , and the apprehensions of the successor , to take so much care of the two houses , that so the dangers with which men were than allarm'd , might seem the less formidable , upon so effectual a security : and thus all the stir that he keeps with perjury and imposture , ought to make no other impression , but to shew the wantonness of his own temper , that meddles so boldly with things of which he knew so little the true secret : for here was a law passed of which all made great use that opposed the bill of exclusion , to demonstrate to the nation that there could be no danger of popery , even under a prince of that religion ; but as he would turn the matter , it amounts to this , that that law might be of good use in that season , to lay the jealousies of the nation , till there were a prince on the throne of that communion , and then when the turn is served , it must be thrown away , to open the only door that is now shut upon the re-establishment of that religion . this is but one hint among a great many more of the state of affairs at the time that this act of the test was made , shew that the evidence given by the witnesses , had no other share in that matter , but that it gave a rise to the other discoveries ; and a fair opportunity to those who knew the secret of the late king's religion , and the negotiation at dover , to provide such an effectual security , as might both save the crown , and secure the religion : and this i am sure some of the bishops knew , who ( to their honour ) were faithful to both . the third reason he gives for repealing the act , is the incompetent authority of those who enacted it ; for i● was of an ecclesiastical nature : and here he stretches out his wings to a top flig●t , and charges it with nothing less than the deposing of christ from his throne , the disowning , neglecting and a●fronting his commission to his catholick church , and entrenching upon this sacred prerogative of his holy catholick church : and then that he might have occasion to feed his spleen with railing at the whole order , he makes a ridiculous objection of the bishops being present in the house of lords , that he might shew his respect to them , by telling in a parenthesis that ( to their shame ) they had consented to it . but has this scaramuchio no shame left him ? did the parliament pretend by this act to make any decision in those two points of transubstantiation and idolatry ? had not the convocation defined them both for above an age before ? in the th article of our church these words are to be found : transubstantiatien ( or the change of the substance of bread and wine ) in the supper of the lord , cannot be proved by holy writ ; but it is repugnant to the plain words of scripture , overthrows the nature of a sacrament , and hath given occasion to many superstitions ; and for the idolatry of the church of rome that was also declared very expresly in the same body of articles : since in the article the homiliys are declared to contain a godly and wholesome doctrine necessary for those times : and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the churches by the ministers , diligently and distinctly , that they may be understood of the people . and the second of these , which is against the peril of idolatry , aggravates the idolatry of that church in so many particulars , and with such severe expressions , that those who at first made those articles , and all those who do now sign them , or oblige others to sign 'em , must either believe the church of rome to be guilty of idolatry , or that the church of england is the impudentest society that ever assumed the name of a church , if she proposes such homilies to the people , in which this charge is given so home , and yet does not believe it her self . a man must be of bays's pitch to rise up to this degree of impudence . upon the whole matter then , these points had been already determined , and were a part of our doctrine enacted by law : all that the parliament did , was only to take these out of a great many more that by this test it might appear whether they who came into either house were of that religion or not , and now let our reasoner try what he ●an make out of this : or how he can justifie the scandal that he so boldly throws upon his order , as if they had as much as in them lay destroyed the very being of a christian church , and had profanely pawned the bishop to the lord : and betraied the rights of the church of england as by law established in particular , as well as of the church catholick in general . p. . . all this shews to whom he was pawned both the bishop and the lord , and something else too , which is both conscience and honour , if he has any left . when one reflects on two of the bishops , that were of that venerable body , while this act passed , whose memory will be blessed in the present and following ages , those two great and good men that filled the sees of chester and oxford , he must conclude , that as the world was not worthy of them , so certainly their sees were not worthy of them , since they have been plagued with such successors ; that because bays delights in figures taken from the roman empire , i must tell him , that since commodus suceeded to marcus aurelius , i do not find a more incongrous succession in history . with what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the gravity , the piety , the generosity , and charity , of the late bishop of oxford , look look on , when they see such a harleguin in his room . his fourth reason is taken from the uncertainty and falsehood of the matters contained in the declaration it self , pag. . for our comedian maintains his character still , and scorns to speak of establish'd laws with any decency ; here he puts in a paragraph , as was formerly marked , which belonged to his second reason , but it seems some of those to whom he has pawn'd himself , thought he had not said enough on that head , and therefore to save blottings , he put it in here . after that , he tells the genty , that transubstantiation was a notion belonging to the school-men and metaphysitians , and that he may bespeak their favour , he tells them in very soft words , that their learning was more polite and practicable in the civil affairs of human life , to understand the rules of honour , and the laws of their countrey , the practice of martial discipline , and the examples of great men in former ages , and by them to square their actions in their re●●●●tive station● , and the life . but ●ine the bishop is here without his fiocco , yet at least for decencys sake he should have named religion and virtue among the p●oper studies of the gentry : and if he dares not trust them with the reading the scriptures , yet at least they might read the articles of our church , and hearken to the homilies , for tho it has been long one of the first maxims that he has infused into all the clergy that come near him , that the people ought to be brought into an 〈…〉 ance in matters of religion , that prea●●ing ought to be laid aside , for a preaching church could not stand , that in sermons no points of doctrine ought to be explained , and that only the rules of human life ought to be told the people , yet after all , they may read the short articles : and tho they were as blindly implicit as he would wish them to be , yet they would without more enquiry , find transubstantiation to be condemned in them . next he triumphs over the renouncing of it , pag. . as too bold and too prophane an affront to almighty god : when men abjure a thing which it is morally impossible for them to understand . and he appeals to the members of both houses ( whom in a fit of respect he calls honourable , after he had reproach'd them all he could ) if they have any distinct idea or notion in their minds , of the thing they here so solemnly renounce . i do verily believe none of them have any distinct notion of transubstantiation , and that it is not only morally , but phisically impossible for them to understand it : but one would think thet this is enough for declaring that they do not believe it , since the test contains no declaration concerning transubstantiation it self , whether it is a true or a false doctrine : but only concerning the belief of him that takes it . and if one can have no distinct notion of it , so that it is morally impossible for him to understand it , he may very well declare that he does not believe it . after a far●e of a ●light story , he concludes , that there seems to be nothing but a prophane levity in the whole mat●er : and a shameless abuse put upon god and religion , to carry on the wicked designs of a rebel-faction . for he cannot for his heart , abate an ace of his insolence , even when he makes the king , lords , and commons , the subject of his sco●● . certainly whatever his character is , it ought not to be expected that a man who attacks all that is sacred under god and christ , should not be treated as he deserves : it were a feeble weakness , to have so great a regard to a character that is so prostituted by him . he tells us ▪ pag. . that all parties agree in the thing and that they differ only in the word and m●nner ▪ and here he makes a long excursion to shew his learning , in tacking a great many things together , which passes with ignorant readers as a mark of his great reading : whereas in this , as well as in all his other books , in which any shews of learning appear , those who have searched into the fountains , see that he doe● nothing but gather from the collection of others : onl● he spoils them with the levities of his bu●●o●n-stile , and which is worse , with his dis-ingenuity . i leave all these matters to be exa●ined , by those who have leisure for it , and ●hat think him worth their pains ▪ but asfor tra●substantiation , the words that i have cited from out of our articles , shew plainly that it is rejected in our church , so that he is bound either to renounce it , or to renounce our church : therefore all that shew he makes with our history , comes to nothing , since whatever he may say with relation to edwar● the sixth's reign , it cannot be denied , but they were enacted by the convocation in the beginning of queen elizabeth's reign , and t●ey have been ever since , the doctrine of our church : so that without going further , this is now our doctrine , and since sa. oxon carries the authority of the convocation so high , he will find the original record of these arti●les in corpus-christi college in cambridge , subscribed by the members of both houses , in which there is a much more positive decision then is in the prints , not only against transub●tantiation , but against any corporal or real pre●●●ce of the body and blood of christ in the sacra●●●● : and if he will give himself scope ▪ to rail at those who suppressed this , i leave him to his liberty . but here is the formal decision of this church , and the pretending that there was no evidence of cranmer's opinion , but in an unknown manuscript , or a famous invisible manuscript , p. , . when there are two books writ on this matter by cranme● himself , and when all the disputes in queen mary's time , besides those that were both in oxford , and cambridge , in king edward's time , shew so clearly , that this was his doctrine , is a strain becoming his since●ity , that gives this among many other essays of the trust that is due to him . but it seems he thought that dr. tillotson , dr. stillingfleet , and dr. burnet , besides some others w●om he does not name , had not reputation enough in the world , and therefore he intended to raise it , by using them ill : which is all the effect that his malice can have . he had set on one of his poor under-workmen , some years ago , to decry the manuscript which dr. stillingfleet had in his keeping for above twenty yea●s , and which d● . burnet had in his hands , for many months , and which ●hey shewed to as many as desired to see it , but th●t had turned so much to his shame that first vented the calumny , that it seems he summoned sa. oxon to appear his second in the slander : and he whose brow is of so peculiar a composition ▪ will needs bring it here , tho ever so impertinently . but i forgive the hatred that he bears both to that manúscript , and to those doctors , since nothing could be less to the satisf●ction of those for whom he published his book , then to see the mature and regular methods in which the reformation was advanced , for the bishops and divines were appointed , to examine all points with much care , and to bring every man his opinion in writing , all which were compared very faithfully , and upon these the decisions were made . there are many other papers yet extant , which by comparing the hands shew these to be originals : and they were in the salisbury family probably ever since they were at first brought together . their ancestor the lord burghly who was secretary of state in edward the sixth's time , gathered them up ; and as appears in a letter ●nder his own hand yet extant , he had or vol●mes of them , of which dr. stilling fleet had only two , but dr. burnet saw two more of these volumes . the history of the reformation sells still so well , that i do not believe mr. chiswell the printer of it has made any present to this reasoner , to raise its price : for to attack it with so much malice , and yet not to offer one reason to lessen its credit , is as effectual a recommendation , as this author can give it . he pretends that dr. burnets design was , to make cranmer appear a meer sacrame●tarian as to doctrine , as he had made him appear an erastian , as to discipline : and he thinks the vain man was flattered into all the pains he took , that he might give reputatio● to the errours of his patrons , and that those two grand forgeries are the grand singularities of his history : and the main things that gave it popular vogue and reputation with his party . so that were these two blind stories , and the reasons depending upon them retrenched , it would be like the shaving off samsons hair , and destroy all the strength peculiar to the history . but to all this stuff i shall only say , . that the charge of forgery falls back on the reasoner , since as to cranmers opinion of the sacrament , his own books , and his dispute at oxford are such plain evidences , that none but bays could have questioned it : and for his being an erastian , dr. burnet had clearly proved that he had changed his opinion in that point , so that tho he shewed that he had been indeed once engaged in those opinions , yet he proved that he had forsaken them : let the reader judge to whom the charge of forgery belongs . . dr. burnet has indeed some temptations to vanity now , since he is ill used b● bays ; and put in such company ▪ but i dare say if he goes to give him his character he will never mention so slight a one as vanity , in which how excessive so ever he may be , yet it is the smallest of all his faults . . these two particulars here mentioned , bear so inconsiderable a share in that history , and have been so little minded , that i dare say of an hundred that are pleased with that work , there is not one that will assign these as their motives . he censures dr. burnet for saying he had often heard it said that the articles of our church were framed by cranmer and ridley ; as if it were the meanest trade of an historian to stoop to hear says . p. . but the best of all the roman historians ( salust . in ●ello catil . ) does it , and in this dr. burnet maintains the character of a sincere historian to say not●ing that was not well grounded : and since it has been often said by many wr●ters that these two bishops prepared our articles , he finding no particular evidence of that , delivers it with its own doubtfulness . it is very like sa. oxon would have been more positive upon half the grounds , that dr. bu●net had , but the other chose to write exactly : yet h● adds , tha● it is probable that they penned them : a●● if either the dignity of their sees , or of their persons be considered , the thing will appear reasonable enough . but i do not wonder to see any thing that looks like a modesty of stile offend our author . he is next so kind to dr. b●r●et as to offer him some counsel , ( p. . ) that he would be well advised to imploy his pen in writing lampoons upon the present princes of christendom ( especially his own ) which he delights in most ; because i● is the worst thing that himself can do , then collecting the records of former times : for the first will require time and postage , to pursue his malice : but the second is easily traced in the chimney corner . one would think that this period was writ by mr. louth , it is so obscure and ill expres●ed , that nothing is plain , but the malice of it : but he of all men should be the furthest from reproaching any for writing lampoons , who has now given so rude a one , on the late king and the lords and commons ; if bold railing without either wit or decency , deserves that name . i will only say this further , that if one had the ill nature to write a lampoon on the government , one of the severest articles in it , would be . that it seems writers are hard to be found , when such a baboon is made use of . it is lampoon enough upon the age , that he is ● bishop : but it is downright reproach that he is made the champion of a cause , which if ●t is bad of it self , must suffer extreamly by beïng in such hands . and thus i think enough is said in answer to his impertinent digression upon transubstantiation , let him renounce the article of our church , and all that he possesses in consequence to his having signed it , and then we will argue all the rest with him upon the square : but as long as he owns that , he is bound likewise to own the first branch of the test , which is the renouncing of transubstantiation . in this discourse he makes his old hatred to calvin and the calvinists return so often , that ít appears very conspicuously . i believe it is stronger now than ever , and that for a particular reason : when the prince and prircess of orange were married , he was perhaps the only man in england that expressed his uneasiness at that happy conjunction , in so clownish a manner , that when their highnesses past thro canterbury he would not go with the rest of that body , to which he was so long a blemish , to pay his duty to them , and when he was asked the reason , he said , he could have no regard to a calvinist prince . now this calvinist prince has declared his mind so openly and fully against the repeal of the test , that no doubt this has encreased bays's distemper , and heightned his choler against the whole party . the second branch of the test is the declaration made of the idolatry committed in the roman church : upon which he tells us , pag. . . that idolatry is a stabbing and cut-throat word , a●d that it is an inviting and warranting the rabble whenever opportunity favours to destroy the roman catholicks ; and here bays will outdo himself , since this was a master-piece of service , therefore he makes the taxing the church of rome with idolatry , a piece of inh●manity that outdoes the savages of the canibals themselves ; and damns at once both body and soul. he charges dr. stillingfleet as the great founder of this , and all other anti-catholick and antichristian and uncharitable principles among us , and that the test is the swearing to the truth of his unlearned and fanatick nation of idolatry . pag. . . and the result of all is , that idolatry made the plot , and then the plot made idolatry , and that the ●ame persons made both . he has also troubled the reader with a second impertinence to shew his second hand reading again upon the notion of idolatry . but all this falls off with a very short answer , if he is of the church of england , and believes that the homilies contain a godly and wholsome doctrine , all this clamour against idolatry , turns against himself , for he will find the church of rome charged with this , almost an age before dr. sti●lingfleet was born ; and tho perhaps none has ever defended the charge , with so much learning as he has done , yet no malice less impudent than his is , eould make him the author of the accu●ation . it will be another strain of our authors modesty , if he will pretend that our church is not bound to own the doctrine that is contained in h●r homilies , he must by this maxe our church as treacherous to her members , as sa. oxon is to her , or to deliver this doctrine to the people , if we believe it not our selves , is to be as impudent as he himself can pretend to be . a church may believe a doctrine which she does not think necessary to propose to all her members ; but she were indeed a society fit for such pastors as he is , if she could propose to the people a doctrine , chiefly one of so great consequence as this is , without she believed it her self . so then he must either renounce our church and her articles , or he must answer all his own plea for clearing that church of this imputation : which is so slight , that it will be no hard matter even for such a trifling writer as himself is , to do it : as for what he says of stabbing and cut-throat words , he may charge us with such words , if he will , but we know who we may charge with the deeds . i would gladly see the list of all that have been murdered by these words , to try if they can be put in the ballance , either with the massacre of ireland , or that of paris ; upon which i must take notice of his slight way of mentioning coligny , and faction , and telling us in plain words , pag. . " that they were rebells , this is perhaps another instance of his kindness to the calvinist prince , that is descended from that great man. if idolatry made our plot , it was not the first that is made ; but his malignity is still like himself , his charging dr. stillingfleet , who he says is the author of the imputation of idolatry , as if he had suborned the evidence in our plot. i should congratulate to the dr. the honour that is done him by the malice of one who must needs be the object of the hatred of all good men , if i did not look upon him as so contemptible a person , that his love and his hatred are equally insignificant . if he thinks our church worse than canibals , i wish he would be at the pains to go and make a trial , and see whether these salvages will use him as we have done . i dare say they would not eat him , for they would find so much gall and choler in him , that the first bit would quite disgust them . finis a proclamation anent pedagogues, chaplains and others england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : or : ) a proclamation anent pedagogues, chaplains and others england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) charles ii, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson ... ; reprinted by george croom, edinbvrgh : [london] : . broadside. "per actum dominorum secreti concilij. wil. paterson, cls. sti. concilij." reproductions of original in bodleian library. item at reel : identified as wing c a (number cancelled). created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng test act ( ) broadsides -- england -- london -- th century - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms a proclamation anent pedagogues , chaplains and others . charles , by the grace of god , king of great-britain . france and ireland , defender of the faith , to macers or messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally specially constitute , greeting : forasmuch as in the whole course of our government , we have manifested our pious and princely care , and zeal to maintain and promote the sacred interests of the established religion , together with the order and unity of the church ; and considering the danger arising to the church , to religion , and to our government , by the undutiful practises of some of our subjects , in intertaining disaffected , and irregular persons in the offices of chaplains , pedagogues , and school-masters , who are apt to corrupt and poyson the families wherein they serve , and the children whom they teach and instruct , with the principles of schism , sedition and rebellion , instilling into the minds of our people ( under the specious colour of piety ) sinful prejudices against the setled religion , and begetting in them a disloyal aversiion from our authority and government : notwithstanding that by the th . act of the second session of our first : parliament , it is statuted , that none be allowed to teach any schooles , or to be pedagogues to children , or chaplains in any family , without a licence from the respective ordinaries : and that by the th . act. of our third and current parliament , all such pedagogues , school-masters and chaplains , are appointed to swear and sign the test , under the certification therein contained : as also , by our royal proclamation , of the date at edinburgh , the first of march . we did require and command , that none thereafter should intertain any school : master , pedagogue or chaplain , or person for performing family-worship , who have not a licence for that effect , under the hand of the bishop of the respective diocesse under the penalties therein exprest . and now being informed , that some to elude the laws , and proclamations foresaids , do intertain disaffected and irregular persons , for teaching their children , and overseeing of their learning , manners and education , or exercising family-worship in their houses , under other names and designations , as of physicians , factors , chamberlains , attendants , or ordinary servants , whose influence in corrupting the youth , and debauching of families from their duty to god , and to us , is most apparent , and of very pernicious consequence : we do therefore , with advise of our privy council , strictly prohibite and discharge all our subjects , of what quality soever , to intertain any person or persous , to be chaplains in their families , or to be governours , teachers or instructors of their children , or pupils , or minors , under their tutory or curatory , or to be school-masters within their lands or jurisdictions : or who shall perform the duties and offices of teaching , and instructing their children , or pupils , or minors , under their tutory or curatory , by overseeing them in their learning . manners and education : or who shall exercise religious-worship in their families , or shall perform the duties belonging to the places or offices of pedagogues or chaplains , under the names and designations foresaid , or under whatsoever other colour , name , title , or designation , except such only as shall swear and subscribe the test foresaid , before this respective ordinaries : and who shall be allowed by licences , under the hands of their respective bishops , for performing and exercising of these offices , certifying all those who shall contemn , or contraveen this our royal will and proclamotion : that every nobleman so offending , shall be fined in three thousand merks , every gentleman in twelve hundreth merks : and each burgesse or other subjects in six hundreth merks , toties quoties , as they shall he found guilty conform to the certification contained in our said proclamation dated the said first of march . and shall also be esteemed persons disaffected to the established religion , and to our royal government ; and the magistrates of all burghs , of royalty and regality , are discharged to permit any school-masters to teach schollers in their burghs , except they be qualisified as aforesaid , under the penalty of being pursued and punished before the council , as their contempt and neglect shall deserve . and to the effect , our royal will and pleasure in the premisses may be publickly known ; our will is , and we charge you straitly and command , that incontinent , these our letters seen , ye passe to the mercat cross of edinburgh , and other places needful , and thereat , in our name and authority , by open proclamation , make publication of the premisses , and that none pretend ignorance . the which to do we commit to you , conjunctly and severally , our full power , by these our letters , delivering them by you , duly execute , and indorsed again to the bearer . given under our signet , at hallyrudhouse , the fourth day of june , one thousand six hundred eighty and three : and of our reign , the thirtieth fifth year . per actum dominorum secreti concilij . wil. paterson , cls. sti. concilij . god save the king . edinbvrgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , printer to his most sacred majesty , anno. dom. . reprinted by george croom , in thames-street , over against baynard's castle , . a letter from a gentleman of the romish religion, to his brother, a person of quality of the same religion, perswading him to go to church, and take those oaths the law directs proving the lawfulness thereof by arguments not disagreeable to doctrines of the roman church. gentleman of the romish religion. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing l estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a letter from a gentleman of the romish religion, to his brother, a person of quality of the same religion, perswading him to go to church, and take those oaths the law directs proving the lawfulness thereof by arguments not disagreeable to doctrines of the roman church. gentleman of the romish religion. p. printed for john starkey ..., london : . reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng test act ( ) - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - elspeth healey sampled and proofread - elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter from a gentleman of the romish religion , to his brother a person of quality of the same religion ; perswading him to go to church , and take those oaths the law directs , proving the lawfulness thereof by arguments not disagreeable to doctrines of the roman church . london , printed for john starkey , at the mitre within temple-bar . mdclxxiv . dear brother , the business of your pleasant letter i can no ways judge could be the motive of its jocular style : is conviction for recusancy so slight a matter , that it is only to be laught at , or is it that you have a mind to give his majesty two of your three thousand a year ? i fear not but it may be then you have been reading mr. cowley's verses out of hesiod lately . vnhappy they to whom god han't reveal'd by a strong light , which must their sense controul , that half a great estate 's more than the whole ; vnhappy from whom still conceal'd does lye of roots and herbs the wholesom luxury . but truly , brother , believe me , if these verses were canonical scripture , yet would they be too little to keep body and soul together , when the seisure is made by the sheriff . yet is not a year worth inquiring after , at least to know some small reason for parting with it ? methinks it should be so ; i 'm sure , if it was mine , i should cry two words to a bargain before i parted with a souse of it , except some body would secure me terra firma in heaven for reprisals . and for your sake i am resolved to argue the point with our holy father the pope , a little to know why we his poor despised children in england are bound to do some things at his commands , he no ways expects from his more indulged ones in other nations ; and such things too that practised produce our utter ruines . now good honest friend mr. jesuit , mind not me , but follow your more necessary imployments of answering the doctors stilling fleet , tilleson , and floyd , with the rest of the papist-grinders : for i am no ways denying the popes infallibility , but will give him fair play , and allow him to be a more considerable person of honour than consists with the posture of the times , or my present affairs . nay , if it will do him any service , i will grant him at present to be not only supreme bishop , chief ruler , universal head , or sole head of the universal church ; but let him be as great , magnificent , and powerful as his most flattering courtiers would have him , that is , as great indeed , as the devil himself pretended , when he proffered the whole earth , and consequently universal monarchy to our saviour for a little worship . let him be all this at present , if he pleases , say i , yet i hope to prove that an english roman catholick , and consequently you , brother , may go to church as the law directs , nay ought to do it notwithstanding any commands or pretended commands from him or his holy predecessors to the contrary . for let us consider , that this omnipotency of his power , be it more or less , must needs terminate in this , that he has no power where he will have no power , and cannot command where he will not command : nay , i may safely conclude , that a good catholick may believe he does not command where he plainly , openly , and solemnly says , he will not command , till he unsays that saying . this in plain terms is the popes fate now in england ; they have long since by an unrepeal'd publick act of their authority , excommunicated in the highest manner this whole nation ; interdicting to the very ground that feeds us , and the air we breath , any spiritual blessings or benefits . now this solemn excommunication not only casts out of the fatherly protection and care of the pope , those who fall under it ; but deprives them of the use of sacraments , masses , indulgences , churches , succession of bishops , priests , and holy orders , and all other christian rights and priviledges whatsoever , as plainly appears from the very form used in doing it ; as likewise in the practice of this kingdom in king john's time , as is proved by our histories , when for six years this kingdom remained under it ; and lately in venice , when the jesuits left that state rather than obey the senate , in performing holy offices contrary to his holinesses intention , which act of theirs they to this day justifie . i might instance many more examples , to prove the sad condition of countries excommunicated , if the exalters of the popes authority were infallible , heavenly oracles : but i having nothing to do in that point , shall only glance at those things necessary to my present purpose , which is , to save your estate , brother , and therefore shall still allow the pope his most extended infallibility , since that makes not at all against me in this argument . for 't is not material to me that father paul , author of the history of the council of trent , does in his defence of the state of venice , against the proceedings of pope paul the seventh , prove , that excommunication is a spiritual punishment , which implies there ought to be an offence , and that except there be , the censure cannot reach the person against whom it was intended . i say , though this be reasonable , nay , may be unanswerable as to the thing then pleaded for ; yet it will be no ways satisfactory to the point now in hand , which is , whether the pope has any authority left in england or no , for that is plain he has not ; for though at first it may be all our grandfathers did not justly incur so rigorous a sentence , as to be wholly lopt off from the catholick church : yet that pope that excommunicated them , and those ever since , have absolutely refused to have any spiritual care of them , and consequently command over them ; renouncing it then , and annually renewing that renunciation ever since ; so that there has been no continuation of bishops in this kingdom , nor cannot be according to the institutions of the roman catholick church , till that solemn excommunication be taken off . in this condition is england and scotland put by the pope , whilst ireland our neighbour and fellow subject kingdom still continuing in his holinesses good grace , enjoys all the priviledges from him of the most catholick country . so that i conclude , the pope's infallibility will certainly reach this , at least ; that he has power to refuse to govern , command , or protect all he pleases , and wheresoever he pleases : amongst which places , i take england to be ; since he , and all his predecessors since pius quintus's time , have solemnly declared it to be so . then , good father clement , since you will have nothing to do , i desire you will still stand by , and let us shift for our selves as well as we can . as for the gentlemen missionaries you have sent to convert us , i hope we shall be able to deal with them well enough , for all we go to church ; which i am about to prove to you , dear brother , we may lawfully do . first , the thing in it self is by all casuists in the world allowed to be no sin , but wholly indifferent ; as is plain from the practice in france , and all other nations . but this is such a truth , that should i bring arguments to prove it so , it would appear as impertinent in me , as a long harangue would be to prove there are such things as penal laws against recusancy in england : which , i suppose , to you , brother , would be very needless . now this granted , that it is not malum in se ; how then can it be a sin ? certainly it must be against some express command to the contrary ; and so it will fall under that head of malum prohibitum . now if i prove it not under this last , then it can be no sin at all : and this will be no hard task to perform . for , dear brother , do but bestow a very little thinking ( half as much as a meditation before a mass , will serve ) of that authority which the pope has left himself in england ; and you will find , that all bulls formerly sent , or hereafter to come from rome , during the continuance of this excommunication are to be lookt on here as fraudulent , false , and forged ones , no ways binding the most zealous of his holinesses children , nay rather as things that in a most abusive manner give the lye to the solemnest discipline and rights of holy church . for in no action can his holiness so clearly express his intention and power as in those of solemn excommunications against nations , they being the most visible and publick demonstrations of his pretended omnipotency in governing the earth . now is it not more than schismatical insolence to affirm , that his holinesses empire and the church is so divided in it self , as that one personal act of his should positively contradict and give the lye to another , as it must plainly do , if he after the solemn excommunication of a nation , shall , during that censure , send any bull of direction to guide the people thereof in their journey to heaven , whither he openly declares they never shall arrive , having as much as in him lies , sealed up the gates of glory to them ? for to this purpose or none tend all excommunications , which are pursuant to the promise of binding and loosing . therefore from this reason i gather that several things done and taught by the jesuits and missionary priests here , not only fall under protestant laws of treason and catholick national laws of praemunire ; but are also contrary to the fundamental rules and practices of the roman catholick church it self . for an instance , indulgences given by his holiness to the catholick church in general , these are often published at mass and in sermons by missionaries here , and the means to obtain the benefits of them zealously pursued and performed by catholicks . now allowing the utmost benefit to be really in them that ever pardon-seller in spain pretended , yet to english roman catholicks they can be nothing worth ; for by that infallible power resides in the church best exprest in lawful general councils , of which sort we all say the council of trent was . i say by this infallible power and in that council is taught , that the intention of the agent is absolutely necessary to the performance or end of any religious action , or the benefits to arise thereby . insomuch that the intention of the priest , directed to the contrary , shall null or rather make absent the sacrament of baptism or any other rite , notwithstanding all ceremonies necessary were performed . now if this be truly so , as you and i , nay all roman catholicks are bound to believe , how much more will it operate in this trick of indulgences , which flow only from the fountain of the popes good pleasure , and can certainly operate no farther than he intends them , which cannot be to england , or any english man , they being put wholly out of his fatherly care and protection by his grand interdiction , the best discovery of his intention that can be , except when he expresses himself in a general council ? pardon this short digression concerning indulgences , it being only to illustrate this infallible truth , that these indulgences or any other bull in general or directed in particular to this kingdom , cannot be supposed to flow from the popes intention , since they so palpably are against his more solemn declared pleasure , which he annually renews . nor ought any roman catholick here look on them but as the tricks of private missionaries for their own advantage , since they perfectly contradict , not only the laws of the nation , but the fundamental laws of the romish church it self . we may indeed speak of popes bulls , brother , as of letters patents obtained from princes of course , which though , when according to law , are binding , not only to subjects , but against themselves and successors ; yet when they proceed contrary to the fundamentals of their government , then are they of no value , but in themselves void , mankind always in such cases supposing the prince to be deceived in his grant : so stands the case here . till his holiness takes off the excommunication of this nation , which is an effect of his plenitude of power , and accords with the fundamentals of his regiment ; no bull sent hither ought to be taken notice of , they being in themselves apparently void , as well as contrary to the laws of the nation , made in catholick times , near two hundred years before the pope cast off it , or it the pope : bringing in a bull to this kingdom without the kings leave , being then made praemunire , which law was for all that time complied with by very many , and as we say , good popes . to sum up all , it comes to this : things in themselves no sins , cannot become such , but by some lawful prohibition . going to church in it self is no sin , nor can it become so by the popes command to a country in which he renounces all power : england is such a country ; therefore till he or his successors take off the excommunication , no catholick is obliged to take notice of that , or any other pretended command sent from him hither , but perfectly ( è contrà ) therefore going to church is lawful in england for roman catholicks . but not to leave the point thus : i begin to doubt extremely , whether we are not obliged in conscience to go to church as the law directs , or at least when we omit it , freely to pay the penalty . for it is granted on all hands , that a thing not malum in se may become malum prohibitum , if commanded by lawful authority , which i hope none of us will deny the government in england to be : i 'm sure he that should , would deserve the severest execution provided by the most sanguinary law. now the government of england requires all the subjects thereof to meet together at such a time and such a place , no matter where , suppose it salisbury plain ; doth any man think he would deserve the protection thereof that should obstinately , without lawful excuse , refuse to come thither ? no certainly he would not , only incur deservedly the penalty provided ; but speaking like christians , who are directed to obey for conscience sake , he would commit a grievous sin against god. now what excuse can we make for our obstinacy , in refusing to go to the churches at times commanded ? the popes pretended commands will not do ; for were they more binding than the laws of a nation , which certainly they are not , yet can we have none such from him , having no bishops or spiritual superiours left , whom we might or ought to trust for the truth of them when they came , and we have his too too solemn promise , that he will have nothing to do with us . this being so , i am afraid the private discourses and false pretences of private mercenary jesuits and missionaries will not be a sufficient basis to rely upon before the last tribunal for such obstinate resistance against lawful authority in things in themselves wholly indifferent . now , brother , i know mr. politick the jesuit , if you shew him this , will presently bless himself with the sign of the cross , desire all to joyn in a pater noster and ave maria against the infection , and then dogmatically affirm i am turned a rank , nay dangerous heretick . your daughters must be desired to visit me no more , for fear of perversion ; nay you will be perswaded to double my annuity , on condition i never see your face again . well , if these afflictions should happen , i cannot help it ; but for the mind i am in , it must be stronger arguments shall hinder me from avoiding conviction , as long as with a safe conscience i can . and i think there are none such ; for i have considered all i ever hitherto have heard , and to me they appear weak and impertinent . but that i may not be thought only to affirm this , i will sum up all i know any thing to the purpose . to begin first then with scandal , which is one argument mainly urged , i suppose it can never be intended , that if a weak brother , id est , perhaps a fool , shall be troubled in mind that i have six dishes of meat at my table , and himself and many better christians than i , have , it may be , scarce half a one ; that i must therefore , for fear of being an eye-sore to him , retrench my self to his fragments . and yet s. paul , as to his own practice , seemed to resolve this , since he says , he would never eat meat whilst he lived , rather than offend the weak brethren : so i suppose , and reasonably , that his doctrines of scandals were calculated for the use of christian teachers , and those that sought to be rulers in the church . for had he intended them for all christians , i am afraid they would have proved heavier burdens on believers than ever were imposed on the primitive observers of the mosaical law , and would have but ill accorded with the great argument for conversion , which was christian liberty from duties which they and their forefathers were not able to undergo . nor is it reasonable to think i am bound to part with two thirds of my estate , because some fool my neighbour may think me an heretick by my going to church ; no , let him think on , the sin is his , not mine , who do nothing but what in it self is lawful , and what becomes my duty by the laws commanding it . but he judges amiss of my interiour faith by my outward actions , though lawful , and therefore sins in want of charity . thus much i believe may serve for scandal , though much more might be said . the next objection proceeds from this , that it is made the sign of faith , and therefore he that complies in it , owns the church of englands doctrine : but this must be by all rational men positively denied , if they will consider these following circumstances . first , when going to church was commanded in england by a penal statute , it was designed rather for opportunity to instruct people , educated roman catholicks , in the principles of the protestants , than as an act of general uniformity in faith , which could not so suddenly be expected . next , it would have been a vain way of trying the faith of papists by a thing they might lawfully , according to their own religion , do : nor can we believe the people of england assembled in parliament could be so ignorant , had they been minded then to have known the hearts of persons , as to have fallen upon so impertinent a test . for to my sorrow we find , when they intended , that they knew a ready and infallible way to do it . but suppose the worst , that the law designed it as a tryal of faith , and a discovery of persons popishly inclined ( permitting still the thing in it self to be no sin ) that can no ways oblige you to the refusal of it ; for i would desire mr. jesuit to tell me , why you are more obliged openly to declare your self a catholick , than he is to owne himself a priest ? fear of death i am sure should not deter him , since , if he dyes , his faith calls it martyrdom , which gains a crown of glory , a temptation sufficient , and much beyond what any of them will secure you for your estate . but if he , like s. paul , thinks it lawful to get down in a basket , you may as advisedly come to christ by night . for is it reasonable , that because the law says , every popish recusant shall be convicted , that therefore i should be bound presently to run and confess my self a papist at the next sessions ? for 't is as rational to affirm that , as to say i am bound , when the law prescribes a thing to be done for tryal of my faith , which i may in conscience do , presently to cry out against it , and refuse it for that cause only . if that were so , then it would be no hard matter , by another trick , to banish us all the realm , by declaring , whosoever should be within this kingdom on the of march next , should be esteemed to all intents and purposes no roman catholicks , but good sons of the church of england , whether they communicated in it or no. now i am afraid , brother , if such a sign of faith as this were by the law made , yet mr. jesuit would find many excuses for staying after that time . but if he would not , i wish with all my heart the parliament would make such a statute , that we might be rid of them . but they know better their principles , than to hope so fair a riddance by so easie a way ; no , these are but weak arguments to lead the too believing laity by the noses , it must be stronger toyls that shall catch their elephant understandings . therefore , good brother , let you and i be no longer held by them . for 't is plain , neither scandal nor signum fide ought to be a hindrance to me from doing a thing in it self indifferent , and which becomes my duty by the law 's commanding it . the next material objection i have from some of our spiritual misleaders met with , is , that as faith comes by hearing , so does heresie ; therefore we ought to avoid the place where it is taught , lest we should be misguided into it . if you answer this , by saying the argument would hold all the world over , and so make it a sin as well in france as here , then they reply , that in catholick countries , though you hear heresie in a protestant sermon , yet you have a catholick sermon presently clears the point , and makes it indubitable on the churches side . now this by the prohibition of religion is prevented in england , and therefore the case very different . one would think this a very subtile argument , so notably put together , that there would be no possibility of answering it , if one did but very much stand in awe of the magisterial mountebank , that it may be with a world of rhetorical flourishes , and grave quotations out of scotus , doth positively affirm this to be the opinion of all school-men , nay the catholick church it elf . but heaven knows , examine it a little , and you will find it a meer rope of sand , as solidly compacted as their ridiculous , though politick doctrine of probabilities , and no better . for will not they , or any observing man confess , that the romanists of england , take them one with another , are ten for one more learned and confirmed in the principles of their religion , than those of france , or any catholick country indeed are ? he that considers that most of the natives of this kingdom , who are of that faith , be either persons of quality , who have had great advantages by education , or converts from the protestants , will easily believe there must be a great disparity between such and the general herd of vulgars , bred in countries under a religion no ways famous for making the common people too knowing . but suppose it is not so , and that those who have so long strugled under difficulties in their fortunes for conscience sake , have done it more out of ignorance , the mother , as some say , of popish devotion , than of understanding ; yet will the former argument wash away in that part which says , those in catholick countries have more opportunity of being untaught what they might prejudicially have suckt in . for none will deny , but more doctrine is collected from rational discourses pro and con , than from such set speeches as sermons are . therefore considering there are few gentlemen in england of the romish religion , who have l. per ann. but keep a priest in their houshold ; how is it likely , if good arguments be to be found against every thing the protestants teach contrary to the romish faith , but that they should presently , upon inquiry , have their new-raised scruples at church by such sooner and stronger wip't off , than a person that it may be in a catholick country may go to church both sunday and other holy-day a year before he hears any sermon , casually to glance upon that point , whereon such doubt of his arose ? and i dare affirm , so sweet is the profit the jesuits and missionaries find in england , that there resides , and is like to do constantly so many here , that few papists need to be a day from speaking with one of them , and that is an advantage equal to the most catholick nations . but suppose all here said nothing to the purpose , but that 't is likely many would be changed in time , and become protestants ; what is that to you or i , brother , or indeed to any rational lay catholick in england ? for he whose case it should be , need not much repine that his conscience should lead him into a more advantageous religion as to this world : and for the other , he would no doubt be as confident of a good place there , if he acted purely upon the score of faith , as ever he was whilst he remained papist . but i confess many such accidents as those would shrewdly inconvenience the priests , and in time lessen their number : but still what is that to you or i , brother ? i find no canon of any general council commanding you to give two thousand pound a year to increase the number of priests , or to maintain those that be . nor can i believe christian religion ever obliged its professors to such remote considerations . no , all men were not bound , like s. paul , to love to that extremity , as to wish damnation for their country-mens sakes . they that can , let them ; but still say i , brother , keep your money , you 'l repent it else one day , take my word for it . another argument i have heard started , which is , that if catholicks should go to church , yet the parliament would at last find out something like the late test for imployments , by which they would be found out , and so consequently be no ways the better , but suffer equally to what they should do by recusancy . to this i answer , that i ought as a christian to obey the government , as far as i can in conscience , and that for conscience sake , and to trust the divine providence , in whose hands are the hearts of princes and rulers , for any thing by them for the future to be commanded ; which if i cannot then comply with , i must either follow the direction of flying in persecution from city to city , or patiently suffer for my sins what god shall please by the law to impose upon me . but this supposition , how well grounded soever it may seem , ought not to hinder me from complying , as far as i am able at the present ; such test , when , if ever , it comes , will then with its penalties be time enough to submit to . but i am of the opinion , and not without some colour of reason , that such a test may never be , especially if catholicks would leave off recusancy . the grounds for my conceptions are these . the people of england boast of this priviledge beyond most european nations , if not all , that no person is bound by torture or oath to accuse himself of any thing , which by the law is penal ; but that proof ought to come of matter of fact before he suffer . now this so rational a priviledge , which frees us from the slavish subjection of those governed by the civil law , all english parliaments hitherto have been extremely tender of , as appears by those laws provided for security of religion since the reformation . for every person knows , they who incur punishment by not complying in forms of worship , or matters of faith , do it out of tenderness of conscience , though it may be misguided . now such persons one may well believe would scruple above all things a false oath : therefore if our law-makers had not been very careful of this english free-mans priviledge , they might have quickly left a latitude to judges , and other inferiour magistrates by interrogatories upon oath to have found out all persons , that had through conscience offended against any ecclesiastical law ; as , whether have you heard mass within a year or no ? have you asserted or taught the popes supremacy , or brought in crosses , beads , or images , &c. but we find no such method allowed ; which can spring from nothing but the care of this sacred english priviledge , always firmly rooted in the breasts of the compilers of english statutes . for i should think , if ever they would have strained the point , it would have been in detection of jesuits and roman priests , a people they have long strove wholly to extirpate , as appears by the punishment provided for them , which is not only made capital , but of the highest nature any english law has yet prescribed ; yet they never went so far as to force them that were suspected upon oath to purge themselves : which had they done , none could have been left alive in the nation . for i have this opinion of them , not one would , upon such examination , deny himself , except he intended to desert his faith : and this the makers of those statutes as well knew as the late usurpers over all the laws , rights , and priviledges of this nation did , when they took that never-failing method of examining them upon oath ; and detected , though not executed , all they tryed that way . but the lawful princes and parliaments of this kingdom have always avoided opening so dangerous a gap to perfect slavery ; for it would be less unreasonable for men on corporal oath to declare whether they were guilty of treason , murder , theft , forgery , adultery , or any other notorious crime against the law of nature and the nation , than that they should be forced to discover thoughts , which if not reduced into practice , could concern the good or ill of no person but themselves , and yet when known , should bring them under heavier penalties than some of the other crimes . for this reason , till i see it , i may justly believe there will never be such a way appointed in our law for searching mens soles , whatsoever probability there hath been of it lately . as for the late test , that can no ways be brought in objection against me , since nations may prescribe what gates they please , through which any person is to arrive at preferment in it . and it is not at all unnatural or unpracticable , that a proper oath be provided for any one that takes an imployment ; nay , it hath always been the law and custom of this nation , since christianity , if not before , for every person to submit to some sort of oath before he entred upon any trust in the common wealth ; insomuch that the kings themselves are not wholly exempted from it . now it is not at all more unreasonable , that one general form over and above such particular ones , should be prescribed by the law-makers at their directions , for all such as seek preferments to comply with , or not be capable of them ; for what i receive , but of grace cannot be called a penalty , if i want : and under that head fall all imployments in a kingdom that are either of profit or honour . for i suppose the being hindred from those of trouble will by no person be esteemed a grievance . so the imposition of the late test cannot be called a purgation of men by their personal oaths , to bring them under legal penalties . nor can indeed the oaths of allegiance and supremacy , it having been the method of all common-wealths to prescribe some form to the subject , whereby to own the government ; and that is in themselves discretion all . nor ought we to suppose a government can be malicious to its members , or that it would lay snares for them , but rather that whatever they prescribe , proceeds from the desire of general security , they still framing their oaths so , that they know all good subjects may take them : if any cannot or will not , it lies upon such to quit the protection of that state , and no ways obliges the state to comply with their obstinacy : and this last word for ought i know , doth too much belong to those that first brought up the custom amongst catholicks , of refusing the two aforesaid oaths , of which more hereafter . in the mean time i only affirm , that we ought not to omit doing our duty to the laws , as far as they now bind us , because there may come such as we may no ways be able to comply with . but it is an hundred to one too , that may never happen from the reason aforesaid ; and it would be more unlikely , if there was a general compliance in the mean time to those things all rational men know roman catholicks might do , nay which many known , wise , and devout men of them have in former times , and do at this present practise , as i could instance beyond all controversie , if i pleased , in this thing at present treated of , which is going to church . but , brother , i know it would be needless to you , as well as prejudicial to them , and therefore i shall forbear names in a thing so notorious ; only be you as wise , and do not be led by the nose to infallible ruine , by the bold , nay sawcy assertions of fellows , whose business is to secure themselves , command over your conscience no ways belonging to them , that they may thereby be masters of such part of your remaining estate , as shall be necessary to their plenty or prodigality ; which if they , contrary to their duty and function , sought not , why should they study false positions , and impose them on you meerly to insnare your estate ? they ought surely to open the narrow way to heaven at least as wide as it might be , and not lay stumbling-blocks in our ways , never found out but in this miserable nook of the world , nor no where taught or thought on , but by our missionaries from rome , and our traiterous fugitives , that on religions first alteration fled thither . for such being guilty of hainous treasons against our princes , sought first to justifie their villanies by pretences of religion , having by their pernicious , false , and damnable doctrines and positions , not only done vast hurt to the honest professors of that , but have placed upon it scandals not to be wip't off but with the end of time it self . and these wretches being grown desperate with the ill success of their damnable designs , daring not to return into that kingdom , against which they had so traiterously practised , sought to involve all the moderate party , which stayed behind , into ruine , in revenge of their not unanimous joyning with them in their black attempts on the persons of our lawful princes and governours . these were the persons that suggested to the popes motives , for those idle bulls so sent in contradiction of their more solemn declared intention , if any such did come , which we are now ways obliged to believe , did or could ; but if they had or did , 't is not at all material , they being no more significant in england , than a letter mandatory from the grand signior would be . and indeed some of these pretended bulls contained such commands to their beloved catholick children here ( as they were pleased to call them in contradiction to their excommunication ) that they should unanimously have petitioned the king , that both the original and all the copies of them might have been solemnly burnt by the common hangman . nay , any person that knew him , ought upon pain of damnable sin , to have discovered the bringer of them ; in that if a priest , he might have received the well-merited death of a traitor ; or if a lay-man , all the law has in that case too easily provided . i need not instance which bulls i mean , they are so often brought against the catholick religion it self by protestant writers , and sufficiently to the shame , though not of the popish religion , yet of those popes who granted them , and of those papists that adhere to , or defend such roman court doctrines . but from such catterpillers of the christian faith as those , did arise , amongst many more dangerous new positions , this of being not lawful for roman catholicks to go to church , as the law requires in england and for the sakes and on the wise authority of such desperate casuists , have many of our foolish forefathers lost two thirds of their estates , rendred themselves suspected to the people , and incapable of serving , as they ought to do , their lawful prince in his extraordinary occasions ; which when they have attempted to do , this their open unnecessary dissention has cast an odium unjustly both on himself and his actions for imploying them . now if it be inquired by you or your confessaries , what arguments could move pope pius quintus , or his immediate successor , to send a bull of prohibition to the catholicks in england for going to church , the thing being in it self no fault , and as i affirm so positively against the rules and practices of their predecessors , nay against the fundamentals of their government : to this i must answer , there were divers motives in policy , as they observed things of this island in rome , though none in religion . first , they were perswaded by such traitors as fled hence thither , that almost the whole nation remained catholicks , notwithstanding the queen had altered the government . and that they would find them such ignorant ones too , as their holy predecessors had known them , when they made this nation the pack-horse to their pride , and a perpetual fountain of money to their treasuries , which some of them with admiration boasted could never be exhausted . upon these suppositions they were made to believe , that such a bull would cause this mighty party to be visible , not only to their enemies , but themselves , to the terrour of one , and incouragement to the uniting of the other party . this was one , and it may be the grand motive of that proceeding , so contrary to all president . the next , and in all likelihood not the least motive might be the perswasion of those traitors , that there would be found in england many as desperate as themselves to bandy together , take arms against , or assasinate the queen , when they saw their party so considerable as this would prove it , besides the blessing , must needs attends such pious endeavours , warranted by his holinesses care and direction . but all these policies and practices did by the wisdom of that queen and her council , only tend to the discovering such desperates , as being of the like principles , thereon took arms , and were for it deservedly executed , or forced to increase the numbers of those fugitives in voluntary banishment . but notwithstanding this might , like a message from heaven , sufficiently have warned the catholicks of england from hearkening any more after news from rome , at least till the popes should have been so charitable to re-admit them into the congregation of the faithful , by taking off the excommunication from them ; yet have the private missionaries ( being all sent into the nation under the title of traitors by the law ) so adhered to the tenets of the court , as well as church of rome which sends them , that they have by degrees instilled into the laity here many principles of adherence to the pope , that would be laught at in france , and some few other rational catholick kingdoms . amongst which , this of thinking the popes commands can make that a sin , which in it self is none , ought to be accounted one . upon which ground alone they refuse to obey the law in the thing now in debate ; for which i think they are but justly punisht with the loss of their estates . but , brother , be you wiser , study the catholick doctrine , as it is taught by fathers and councils , and not as it would fain be made by the novel positions of ignatius's followers , between whom and you there is a vast difference ; both in the duty you owe to the king and his laws , as likewise in those you stand obliged in to rome . for first , they and all other missionaries , being the hour they set foot here , become traitors , and so consequently in all the business they come about , not only out of the protection , but under the severest censure of the law ; no wonder they have not the same respect for it other subjects ought to have , but dare practise lesser contradictions that offend in the greater . nay it may be against their going to church scandal would prove a good argument , since they pretend to be ready always to lay down their lives for the increase of their faith ; but this is no ways your or any other lay catholicks case , the law , if you obey in some particulars prescribed , giving you equal protection with others of the national principles . another thing to be considered , is , that the hour they receive holy orders , they take an oath of subjection to the pope , and so by the same act become renouncers of their allegiance to the king , and subject to his holiness . now how far this may be consonant to christian religion , i will not examine here ; but i am sure it puts them in a very different posture , as to the popes designs , to what any other catholicks are in : they being , according to their vow , upon the least summons to leave the country , and to go where his holinesses good pleasure appoints them ; which i hope none of them will be so impudent to say you are obliged to do , brother , except it be such as hold the mad doctrine of popes having power to depose princes . for though the other doth not sound so ill , yet is it in effect the same ; for to be able to command a princes subjects out of his dominions , doth imply a power of leaving him none there , which would produce an effectual deposing of him in the end . another considerable difference between lay catholicks and missionary priests in this kingdom , arises from the ones having estates , and the other none . for no body can blame the last sort of gentlemen to desire their power over the consciences of the other should be as far extended as might be , if one consult , as most of mankind does , their private interest . alas , what is it to mr. politick your ghostly father , that you shall lose by your conviction l. a year ? his allowance will be never the less , he knows , but his power will be much more . for in the first place , that is a sure sign you are as firmly resolved to live and die a catholick , as if he saw you at the stake to receive martyrdom for it . do you think after that he will not take upon him to direct you what servants it is proper you keep , how many horses , and when you may use them for recreation , and when not ? at what hour mass shall be , and what is the critical minute for dinner , supper , and bed-time in a well ordered house ? if i had not seen the domineering domine's extend their spiritual dominion in a devout family , much beyond these small matters , i would have been silent ; but heaven knows , and so do you , brother , that in such popish families , where the hen crows , these are but the least of their insolencies : for such women as are very ill-natur'd to their husbands , and perhaps something ugly , have little to imploy their time in but masses , litanies . rosaries , jesus psalters , and juniper-lectures ; and these are generally great friends of the priests , with whom they share the dominion of the hen-peckt gentleman , till poor man he is glad to make the confessaries an advocate to his devout bed fellow for a play-day , that he may have leave to meet some few neighbours to dust a stand of ale , which he wishes may prove bottomless , that he might not be forc't to return again to keep company by stealth with his fellow-servant the steward in his own cellar , where he bribes the butler with a stollen tester to keep counsel . now in this condition , dear brother , on my next visit i expect to find you . by that time i suppose all things will be put in due discipline in your houshold , where , no doubt , i shall be welcom'd with friday-fares , and new appointed fasting-days for my conversion , or at least driving me out of doors again ; but be it as it will , i cannot for bear telling you , that the priests , who have nothing to lose , will animate you by false pretences to incur the sequestration that will suddenly succeed your late conviction , whereby they will confirm their yet doubtful tyranny over your conscience , and then see what will follow . besides the loss of that goes into the exchequer , you will find a strange growing charge for indulgences , masses for your grandfathers , fathers , brothers , sisters , and all your departed relations souls . nay , if i should be so unkind to you as to die too , 't is not twice my annuity would pay for all the conditional masses they would say were absolutely necessary for my terribly to be doubted soul. alas , brother , you cannot consider what a chargeable thing devotion in our religion is , if it be accompanied with visible ignorance , and that the priest once know the blind side , all goes , and there is no sign of it neither , the jesuits having a bottomless bag , into which they throw all they ever have or shall get from the foolish penitents of their order . i could , nay would , and if provoked , will name several particular cheats acted by the fathers of the society on devout catholicks that were their penitents , and had good estates , but were almost undone by them in these late times . but i am as loth to scandalize them , as i am sure they will think me by this paper willing to do it : and therefore i shall omit mentioning any of them particularly , especially to you who i know are sensible of some of them your self . but leaving all these particulars , or any thing else that may too much reflect , i will return to the matter in hand , which is the lawfulness of going to church , whatsoever they or any of their predecessors have , or can say to the contrary . i think i have made it plain , that neither the popes commands , scandal , sign of faith , want of opportunity to be satisfied in the scruples sermons might raise , nor the fear of some future test , can oblige any lay catholick to disobey the law by recusancy : but rather notwithstanding these priestly inventions , they are all obliged in conscience to go to church , as long as the magistrates , who gives vigour to the law , requires it . now i will a little touch upon those things that the law farther requires to be done by lay persons , not seeking imployments , and so leave you afterterwards , brother , to your prayers and tears , that god would turn the hearts of the rulers , if you shall still obstinately persist in your resolution of rather suffering in a crowd without reason , than save your self by it . first then , let us consider the oath of allegiance , against the taking of which there want not numbers of jesuits and priests that do exclaim , nor many catholicks that thereupon fear to take it , though as king james well observed in the compiling it , there was particular care taken as well by himself as others , that there might not be one word in it , which might raise a scruple in a person willing to obey the civil magistrate . yet notwithstanding , this is so certainly true , that i never yet could meet with one rational argument against any sentence , word , or syllable in it ( except such as were grounded on that , not only heretical , but diabolical doctrine of the popes having power to depose princes ) notwithstanding this , i say , yet had and have the missionaries such full dependence on the court of rome , that a great part of them , but especially the jesuits and their devotes did always both then and lately strive to raise scruples in the consciences of the more confiding sort of lay papists , to hinder them from taking it ; by that means striving as much as in them lay , to keep some ready for the execution of any desperate attempt they might have opportunity to design upon the state. now , brother , i desire you would not take me to be too uncharitable in this assertion of mine . for to what purpose else should they strive to deter men from taking an oath , the refusal whereof is of the direst consequence , both to life and estate , and yet wherein there is not the least thing contrary to religion , except the renouncing all rebellious designs be such ? i wish with all my heart i could frame some other less reflecting excuse , both for those persons of quality and lesser persons sake , that have formerly and very lately by their insinuations , not only scrupled , but too notoriously refused giving the kingdom that small satisfaction of their future loyalty by taking it ; but i fear it is impossible . now what in the name of wonder can the meaning be , that when the law , religion , reason it self , and the example of many noble , many wise , many devout , many , nay most zealous catholicks of the kingdom 's readiness to take it , should concur to perswade all to do it , yet that there should be still a party so led away by the dogmatical authority of the jesuits , that without shewing a reason , dare boldly affirm it not lawful , it may be , as a strong argument , adding a forc't sigh , with a miserere for those that do take it ? i say that there should be still such a party amongst us , that on no better grounds have , and do refuse so justifiable and necessary an oath , is not only a great wonder , but a terrible scandal to all those of a contrary religion . they no doubt ( and it may be not without justice ) do believe there wants only opportunity for catholicks to renew all those bloody stratagems against the state the predecessors of the refusers of that oath did unsuccessfully attempt , though we in our private discourses do never so much pretend to abhor them . for when they reflect , that few or none of us but hold the pope can absolve us from any oath we have or can take , and that many of us resolve not to stand in need of that , but to refuse all oaths that should oblige us to the performance of our duty to the king ; how can such , not having any violent propensity of love to us , but believe that there is some damnable design lockt up in the breasts of such refusers , in which the others may close when it is ripe , there being no more hold of them than of a wet eel by the tail , since an absolving bull upon the gates , or for a need on the ruines of pauls , makes the government and us as much strangers , as if we never had seen one the other ? now i protest , when i have seriously reflected on ancient popish plots , on some sorts of tenets , which we almost think catholick , as this of the popes power of absolving from oaths , which protestants believe , nay and some catholicks too , means from allegiance , and on the obstinacy of us to refuse the commands of the law in things indifferent ; i say , when i have reflected on these things without the prejudice given me by my education , i have wondred the laws against us have not been more severe than they are , nay that they almost suffered a people , of whom they could have no more certainty in state-affairs , and so apparently declared humble servants to a foreign authority , to live at all amongst them . now , brother , i will not at all dispute the lawfulness in religion to take the oath of allegiance , since i know you have taken it , and are not yet so absolutely bigotted to the obedience of the spiritual commands of your ghostly tyrant , but that you be ready on requiring to do it again ; so that a discourse of that nature would be needless to you . but for all that , i will a little glance on that proposition so generally accepted of , the popes having power to absolve at pleasure any person from an oath he hath taken . now that he has undertook to do this , is beyond contradiction , and that several changes and revolutions in affairs of the world , both private and publick , have thereupon happened , is as plain . but by what authority he at first assumed that power , i believe is not , and may be worth a rational catholicks inquiring after , that he may the better know how with a good conscience ( that will hold test before the popes superiour at the last tryal ) to demean himself in a country , whose magistrates are of another religion . now as a step towards this matter , i will beg leave of his holiness to believe there were men in the world , and governments too , before there were popes ; and that there were too amongst them certain moral rules , by which they began , continued , and increased in the world. now no doubt amongst many others there were solemn compacts confirmed by overt acts , which they accounted sacred ; and whosoever , after having entred into such holy obligations , did violently break them , were by the rest of mankind either extirpated , if dangerous , or despised , and never more trusted , if weakly so perjur'd . now it will as certainly follow , that new accidents and revolutions in common-wealths or families , might make it morally necessary , that the obligations lying upon one or many persons therein , by such sacred tyes , ought to be broke for the safety it is possible of the whole . an observation of which mankind soon found out methods to distinguish persons so necessarily acting against those sacred tyes which we call oaths , from such as wilfully despised them ; that the first sort , though breaking their vows literally , might be kept from the scandal and punishment of covenant-breakers , whilst the last should remain still under the lash of the law , or contempt of their fellow creatures . humane nature falling necessarily under these circumstances , it was requisite to appoint or agree upon some judgment , which should be absolute in the point of determining when men were perjur'd by breaking their vows , and when not , to which persons naturally would have recourse before they attempted the doing of it . now these compacts , oaths , or vows were usually either in temples , with the assistance of the sacred ministers made , or at least sworn by the deity or deities , to which such people were devoted ; and therefore consultations concerning the necessity of altering those resolutions , were usually had with the chiefest of those heavenly officers : and for this reason amongst some , other princes of large kingdoms did in ancient time keep the chief celestial character united to the regal . for experience shewed , that men naturally seeking liberty , began to pervert that obligation which nature taught , of omitting the performance of vows , extremely prejudicial to society , into a belief , that there resided a power in these spiritual judges of the necessity absolutely to absolve at their discretion any person they pleased : so quickly the one through ambition of having such an authority , and the other finding a convenience to satisfie their loose appetites , if they bribed the possessors of this divine good pleasure , did almost acquiesce in this unreasonable belief , that there was a power delegated from heaven to certain men , which made them gods below : and that such persons had a power to make that at their good pleasure no sin , which in it self , if there be any good thing or bad , must naturally be so . this indeed was the general practice of the ancient world before christianity ; insomuch that moses the most divine law-giver amongst them , did take it to himself , though he is far from being commended for it by our saviour , when he speaks of the jewish priviledge or general dispensation from one natural oath , which is marriage , that moses was pleased , by virtue of this authority he assumed to himself , to leave to that whole nation . for our saviour plainly says , this power did not come from god , but was assumed by moses for the hardness of their hearts , and that all that dispensation notwithstanding to put away a wife , except for the case of adultery ( which seems a natural dissolution of the compact ) was a sin . so that i conclude : our saviour who had almost as much authority as the pope , never did pretend to any like that of making things in their own natures sinful , to become none ; but taught , that it was not in the power of moses , nor any man else to do it . then let us descend to times succeeding that fulness of it which produced the redemption of mankind . s. paul teaches sufficiently the necessity of keeping vows ; and i do not find his holinesses predecessor s peter very frequent with his dispensations . but leaving them , and hastening to those ages , in which through the piety of christian emperours , the popes had arrived to a competency of temporal , as well as plentitude of spiritual authority in the world ; we do not find for some ages after , that though several emperours turned arrian , any pope pretended to an authority of dispensing their subjects from the oaths of fidelity they had taken to them . but it is possible some may , and not impertinently , answer , there was then scarce such a thing in the world as an oath of allegiance ; therefore dispensations from what were not in being , could not be expected . to this i assent , and do well know christian religion in its primitive innocency taught obedience from the laws of nature , which some called conscience , and did not suppose any persons truly toucht with its divine doctrines , could need any other obligation to perform their duties either to god or their neighbour , than what their sacred initiating vow of baptism laid upon them . and so far i believe the quakers , not without a true hint , that they needed one amongst another no other affirmations but yea and nay , and that they guided their conversations by the true rule nature had taught them , which the quakers call the light within them . but when religion became national , and that many wicked people took the name of christianity more for worldly than heavenly advantage , then were they forced to have recourse to new sort of solemn oaths , taken either in publick churches , where kings did likewise condescend to take new invented coronation oaths , and the people oaths of subjection in return . in the management of which ceremony , the bishops were the chief officers , which by degrees hankt a great respect to them , and they not a little ambitious of more , taught the dependency of subjects and princes one upon the other , not to be from the laws of nature , but from these compacts , which their authority and nothing else could make sacred . these dangerous tenets princes not only at first connived at , but made use of . for the greatest part of the world being then shifting subjection from the roman empire to native or more neighbouring dominions , was shatter'd into petty regencies ; so that the bishops , who preserved a kind of unity of their distinct authorities in that of the roman sees , had a greater power over the common peoples minds , than those kings of counties had . so that indeed dominion was often transferred from lawful princes that durst stomach these spiritual usurpations , to usurpers that would truckle to the clergy for their good word to prefer them . thus all things becoming again as in the first corruruption of humane nature , where every body were forced to secure themselves from violence and oppression by obligations , they believed most sacred oaths invented or formed by popes and other bishops became the method ; which when there was a necessity of breaking , then they were consulted with as persons best able to judge of that necessity , and above all of them the pope , as the most eminent , and then thought most disinterested bishop , he being well provided for in temporalties , and very much eased from such entire subjection to the civil magistrate , as other bishops in particular still remained under ; so from an unprejudiced assistant to conscience , he by frequency of addresses became at length an umpire , then in a manner sole judge of what oaths or compacts remained sacred , and what by contingencies ceased to be obligatory . so by degrees , as naturally all men aspire after power , he took upon him to give , and the world accepted from him of course dispensations from any vows were troublesom either to their affairs or appetites ; and it may be , if he could have stopt here , the world and most princes in it would have been contented still to have made use of this impossible power he had assumed ; but at last they flew to such practices , as disturbed , nay destroyed their own soveraign , the emperours that opposed their insolencies , and attempted no less against most christian kingdoms : nay to such a height were they arrived , that few kingdoms but must owne they did at one time or other receive a new race of kings from their appointment . and though several of them , as particularly this kingdom , have by gods providence received again their natural princes , yet was it long first , and perhaps not truly in this nation , till king james's assuming the crown . but this excess , as well in their extention , as execution of their usurp't authority , alarm'd the world , and put that upon new consultations for its safety against a power which pretended to the deposing of princes , and alteration of governments , without so fair a warning as the beat of drum. this produced our statute of praemunire against any person that should bring a bull from rome , and that as early as richard the second's days , wherein it is likewise provided , that if any nuntio , legate , &c. should presume to set foot in this nation on a message from the pope , without having first procured the kings licence , he should be proceeded against as an enemy to the state. this and many other laws of the like kind made both in this nation and other kingdoms about those times , sufficiently shew how weary and afraid the catholick world were grown of the popes pride and usurpations . but to return to the matter : if we will be so foolish to allow all things may lawfully be done , that have successfully been so , then the popes have not only a power to absolve all persons from their oaths and compacts , but likewise to alter the government of nations , and dispense to subjects their natural obediences to their lawful soveraigns , which are tenets few roman catholicks in the world do hold to the full , and such as do , it is pity should be suffered to breathe any air in safety but that of s. john's de lateran , or the vatican . but not to leave the matter fully as i found it upon doubtful suppositions , whether they have any authority or no to dispense with any sort of vows whatsoever , i will proceed to divide all sorts of oaths in the world under these three several kinds . first , oaths to declare ones assent , or to strengthen ones duty in performance of such things as the law imprinted in every rational soul does require , should however be done . secondly , oaths of compact between prince and prince , state and state , or private person and private person , &c. thirdly , voluntary vows or oaths to perform some religious exercise or function , &c. under these three heads i conceive all oaths that have ever seemed to need or require dispensation , do fall . as from oaths in evidence , those come not under our consideration . now in the first kind , neither the pope , nor any power that is , or ever was visible on earth , could or can dispense ; for that implies an authority to give leave to commit things malas in se , and under this head does clearly fall obedience of subjects to their princes , children to their parents , &c. things that , if there never had been religion , would have no sooner lost their respect , but humane nature would have lost its being by running into perfect confusion , which would quickly have produced its perfect extirpation . so that oaths of this kind were not invented to create , but to keep in memory our duty : and where , upon great confusions in , and alterations of a common-wealth , they have seemed to be otherways , in such cases they will fall under the next head. which are compacts ratified by oath for mutual convenience . these no power on earth , neither ever could or had authority to dispense with , except by consent of all parties to the bargain or agreement ; for to affirm the contrary , would imply some one person still remaining in mr. hobbs state of nature , presiding over all his leviathans , who should not only have ▪ a right to every thing in the world , but to break and dissolve all the government of it at his pleasure , and indeed to annihilate humane nature it self . but though no single person simply can have this power of dispensing the performance of compacts , yet have the compactors themselves the undoubted right of releasing one the other without consultation of any person unconcerned in the world. yet have popes not only in the first , but likewise in the last , often put in their fingers , as particularly in the hungarians fatal breach of solemn faith , to the which punishment visibly showr'd from heaven on the perjur'd army , owned by many catholick divines almost as miraculous , has sufficiently evidenced to the world what little confirmation above is of such impious and destructive dispensations . but when the compactors themselves dispense one the other , no body bogles or starts at the breach of the oath , as we see lately in holland , where the states general dispensed the prince of orange , themselves and the country of an oath taken against state-holders , which i have not yet heard of any man so say was not lawful for them by mutual consent to do . though i know , had it been a popish country , there would have been some fees expected at the apostolick chamber for his holinesses unnecessary dispensation . thus we see , that oaths in themselves dispensable , are easily by the proper persons dispensed , without the authority of a heavenly delegate , who can never arrive to a greater dominion rightfully in the matter , than as a person whose discretion is proper to advise with , and can only be that too to such as are pleased freely to think him so . but as for the last branch of religious vows , the author or prescriber of the form and fashion of the thing to which they swear , may have power to absolve at discretion from the performance of it ; and i will not say but in our church this may be the popes province , which if he pleases to keep within , he may ; but if he will be still medling , without being called , with other mens concerns , let him for me ; but i fear it will be but to very little purpose ; kings and governours being now wiser than to be over aw'd too much by his pragmatical censures . dear brother , think not i have treated thus long upon vows and dispensations to inform you or any man else in this age , who are wise enough without my help to know that all this boasted power of the popes to dispense men from oaths or their allegiance , has no foundation in reason or religion , and is only bolster'd up with examples of the success of some former bishops of rome in their insolencies ; which way of arguing is just of the same authority , as if i should , to prove the piety of high-way robbing , tell you the story of the late famous hind , who living many years on that profession , yet had the honour to dye for his loyalty to his prince , and not as a thief . but passing all these things over , i do conclude , it is not only lawful to take the oath of allegiance , but to keep it when we have done , nay that we are obliged to do the last under pain of eternal damnation , let the pope say or dispense the contrary how he please . and further i do affirm , no rational man can prove the contrary sufficiently of the other oath , notwithstanding its bugbear name of supremacy . nay now he 's quite gone beyond recovery i am afraid you your self will say notwithstanding all brotherly affection , and then you 'll go on in crying there was some hopes of recovering me to the catholick religion , whilst i only pleaded for going to church and the oath of allegiance , but to say it is lawful to take that horrible terrible oath of supremacy , shews me a confirmed heretick , ready to take the test on the first opportunity for an imployment . but , brother , i desire you to suspend your censure of damnation against me , lest you prove as rash in it , as the pope was that first excommunicated this whole nation in queen elizabeth's time . for no doubt he and several of his successors since have in their minds secretly repented so inconsiderate an act , though they will not acknowledge it , by taking off that censure , till some previous action of the nation requires it , which i am not like to live to see . my reason for this supposition is one of the motives of my asserting the lawfulness for us of taking the oath of supremacy . for what reason can there be for our refusing to do so , since he refuses all spiritual superiority over us , and the king accepts it , and in these two points consists the whole scope of this oath ? it requires me to swear the pope has no authority over this kingdom . and if ▪ i will take his own honest word , he has not , nor will not have . what can be better than his own most solemn excommunication to prove it ? the next point i am to swear , is , that the king is head of all persons and affairs as well ecclesiastical as civil in these his dominions , which no person that hath his right wits i think can deny , as the case now stands . for if ever the popes were heads or supreme in ecclesiastical affairs within this nation , they have long since , by an act of their own as well as of the nations , ceased to be so . therefore if any be , it must be the king , since the law says so ; though it be worth inquiring as to this point , how the law means him head of ecclesiastical matters . first , i suppose it means head of that church and the ecclesiastical affairs therein that is established by law. for it cannot mean any other , since we see a power of dispensation contrary to law for the most minute dissenters , to meet in another form of serving god , has been controverted . not to say more of the point therefore : if there must be but one religion established , and no other tolerated , then the law only intends him head of that , which the pope himself will not deny him to be . so i suppose i may lawfully swear him that , which no other person ever did or can pretend to besides . now this matter having been excellently well treated of and handled in former times by some learned casuists , when the intention of the law , in the point which commands the oath , was not so plain as the law-makers by late passages seem to make it ; i say , since many good catholick casuist priests have writ in defence of the taking it in former times , i will omit to press that further , which to me appears plain ; resolving however , if you shall send me your doubts , of this or any other point discussed herein , that i will readily answer them to the best of my skill , being satisfied in my conscience , that i have said nothing herein scandalous to catholick religion it self , nor to any one but such that make that the sheeps raiment for wolvish designs . so , brother , once again i desire you to take into your serious consideration , what it is to lose a good estate , not for conscience , but ignorance , to make your self uncapable of doing service to your prince , when there may be occasion ; but above all , what scandal you stamp on the ▪ religion you profess , if you obstinately and without reason shall persist in disobedience to every thing the law appoints the subjects of this nation to do . as for your expectation of assistance from the king , it is one of the most unreasonable things , examine it rightly , that can enter into the heads of men , whether you take it quadrate to his personal or rational interest . for alas , to say the catholicks of this nation were all loyal , or rather truly not disloyal to his father and him , is but to make a history of a very short age. for all the world knows , that it is as possible for catholicks to be rebels , if it consists with their interests , as any other men ; for he that should deny this , might as well affirm we had no such thing as rebellions in england before henry the eighth's time , which i suppose , if he would consider how king johns charter of priviledges was extorted from him , he would by no means assert . but alas , let us say what we will on this side the water , our brethren in ireland , we know too well , led the dance to all the late mischiess , except now i reflect on it , they were out-posted by the covenanters of scotland . but indeed it is a folly to expect that any religion , being once become an art , will refuse to have recourse to the sword against being opprest , and i am afraid it is much for want of numbers proportionable , the best of them are quiet in such circumstances . but however supposing the best , that all catholicks were loyal , and that their principles made them so , is that an argument sufficient to make the king provoke all his other subjects to be otherways by his indulgence to them , who are not as one man to a hundred of the nation ? which is most reasonable , that you , dear brother , should strive as far as you can by the rules of your religion to comply with the law for your own advantage , or that the king should be forced to stop the course of it to his own prejudice to comply with your nice obstinacy , meerly because he has your bare word , that you will be very serviceable to him ? if another rebellion shall on that account arise , i am confident the case thus stated , as certainly it does at present stand , all rational men , nay the pope himself , would conclude , that the king in not medling , but letting the law and you tug for it , is much in the right . nor could he himself , were he a subject of any catholick country , expect more friendship or favour . so for whose sake this happens to you is not material , so it is , and is like to be . therefore let me once again advise you , go to mass at seven , to church at nine , and if mr. politick scruples giving you absolution for your sins , except you confess that for one , send to me , i 'le find you one shall venture his neck in the point to serve you for twenty pounds a year , which you may easily save out of the two thousand that is demitia except you follow my counsel , and deal with none but honest catholick priests , not roman courtiers , men that aspire to be provincials , nay perhaps general of their orders for their sturdy tricks in opposition to our laws . these things i have said are great truths , that you will thank me for one day , if you follow the advice ; if not , you will repent your self , when you shall be ashamed not to persist contrary to reason in what you so unreasonably began . i could , brother , have said much more to the point , which it may be i will add as i find you relish this ; till when i shall remain , saying paters and aves for the opening of your understanding to your own good : so farewel . finis . reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament, anno , octob. in these words, i a.b. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of god, profess, testifie, and declare, that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ, at, or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the virgin mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of rome, are superstitious and idolatrous : first written for the author's own satisfaction, and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern. parker, samuel, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament, anno , octob. in these words, i a.b. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of god, profess, testifie, and declare, that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ, at, or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the virgin mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of rome, are superstitious and idolatrous : first written for the author's own satisfaction, and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern. parker, samuel, - . [ ], p. printed for henry bonwicke ..., london : . marginal notes. signed: sa. oxon. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng england and wales. -- parliament. test act ( ) great britain -- politics and government -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - rina kor sampled and proofread - rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion let this be printed , whitehall , decemb. . . sunderland p. reasons for abrogating the test , imposed upon all members of parliament anno . octob. . in these words , i a. b. do solemnly and sincerely , in the presence of god , profess , testifie , and declare , that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ , at , or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever ; and that the invocation or adoration of the uirgin mary , or any other saint , and the sacrifice of the mass , as they are now used in the church of rome , are superstitious and idolatrous . first written for the author 's own satisfaction ; and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern . london : printed for henry bonwicke at the red lyon in st. paul's church-yard , mdclxxxviii . reasons for abrogating the test . the test imposed upon all members of parliament , october . . ought ( i humbly conceive ) to be repeal'd for these reasons ; first , because it doth not only diminish , but utterly destroy the natural rights of peerage , and turns the birth-right of the english nobility into a precarious title : so that what was in all former ages only forfeited by treason , is now at the mercy of every faction or every passion in parliament . and therefore how useful soever the test might have been in its season , it some time must prove a very ill precedent against the rights of peerage ; for if it may be allow'd in any case , there is no case in which it may not be imposed . and therefore i remember that in the first transubstantiation-test , anno dom. , the rights of peerage are [ indeed according to constant custom ] secur'd by proviso . provided always , that neither this act , nor anything therein contained , shall extend , be judged , or interpreted any ways to hurt or prejudice the peérage of any péer of this realm , or to take away any right , power , privilege or profit , which any person [ being a péer of this realm ] hath or ought to enjoy by reason of his péerage , either in time of parliament or otherwise . and in the year . when this test or oath of loyalty was brought into the house of peers , that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up arms against the king , and by his authority against his person , it was vehemently protested against as a breach of privilege . no body could except against the matter of the test it self , much less the nobility , who had generally taken it upon the account of their several trusts in the militia . so that the only debate was , whether the very proposal of it , as a qualification for a right to sit in parliament , were not a breach of the fundamental right of peerage ? and after some debates upon the point of peerage it was , without ever entring into the merits of the cause it self , thrown out by an unanimous vote of the house , april . . before the putting of the question , this protestation is entred . a bill to prevent the dangers which may arise from persons disaffected to the government . the house resolv'd into a committee to consider of it , and being resum'd , the question was put , whether this bill does so far intrench upon the privileges of this house , as it ought therefore to be cast out ? it was at first resolved in the negative with this memorandum , that before the putting the abovesaid question , these lords following desired leave to enter their dissents , if the question was carried in the negative , and accordingly did enter their dissents , as followeth . we , whose names are underwritten , being peers of this realm , do according to our rights , and the ancient usage of parliaments , declare , that the question having been put , whether the bill , entituled an act to prevent the dangers which may arise from persons disaffected to the government , does so far entrench upon the privileges of this house , that it ought therefore to be cast out , it being resolved in the negative , we do humbly conceive , that any bill which imposeth an oath upon the peers with a penalty , as this doth , that upon the refusal of that oath they shall be made uncapable of sitting and voting in this house : as it is a thing unpresidented in former times , so is it in our humble opinion the highest invasion of the liberties and privileges of the peerage that possibly may be , and most destructive of the freedom which they ought to enjoy as members of parliament . because the privilege of sitting and voting in parliament is an honour they have by birth ; and a right so inherent in 'em , and inseparable from 'em , as that nothing can take it away , but what by the law of the land must withal take away their lives , and corrupt their blood ; upon which ground , we do here enter our dissent from that vote and our protestation against it . qvaere , how many of those noble lords voted for the test in . and then , whether if they have preserved their rights of peerage , they have preserv'd its honour too ? but the debate was kept up many days , till at last , april . . it came to this issue . it was at last resolved , that no oath shall by this bill be imposed ; and pass'd into a general order by the whole house , nemine contradicente , as followeth . order'd by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled , that no oath shall be imposed by any bill or otherwise , upon the peers with a penalty in case of refusal to lose their places and votes in parliament , or liberty of debates therein ; and that this order be added to the standing orders of this house . secondly , it ought to be repealed , because of its dishonourable birth and original ; it being the first-born of oats's plot , and brought forth on purpose to give credit and reputation to the perjury . now i should think that when the villainy of that is so fully laid open to the world , it should not a little concern the honour of the nation , but very much concern the honour and wisdom of the house of peers , to deface so great a monument erected by themselves in honour of so gross an imposture . it is shame enough to the present age to have given any publick credit to so enormous a cheat , and the greatest kindness it can do it self , is to destroy , as much as may be , all the records of acts done by the government to abett it . what will posterity judge of the present nobility , to see such an unpresidented law , not only enacted upon so foul an occasion ; but after the discovery of the cheat , asserted with heat and zeal , though to the subversion of their own fundamental rights and privileges ? besides , the roman catholick peers have suffered severely enough already by their own honourable house's giving credit to so dull an imposture : and i think it is the least compensation that they can in honour make them , only to restore 'em to their natural rights . what will foreign nations and future ages think of the injustice and barbarity of the present peerage , to suffer english noblemen to be stript of the greatest privilege of their birth-right by so unheard of a villainy ? and when it is in their power to see their injur'd peers redressed , that they should not only suffer 'em to be so basely robb'd of their peerage , but should for ever establish and ratify the fraud by authority and force of law. this wou'd be an eternal national reproach , and such a blot upon the house of peers , that no length of time cou'd wear away ; nothing but the universal conflagration could destroy . thirdly , it ought to be repealed , because of the incompetent authority by which the law was enacted : it is a law of an ecclesiastical nature , made without the authority of the church , contrary to the practice of the christian world in all ages , and indeed to our saviours own commission , who setled all power of government , and especially the legislative ( which is the highest act of it ) upon the officers of his own kingdom ; so that for any other order of men , to assume the exercise of any such authority to themselves , is no less than to depose him from his throne , by disowning , neglecting , and affronting his commission to his catholick church . this power of making decrees concerning divine verities , is the very foundation upon which the whole fabrick of the christian church hath hitherto stood , and is to stand to the end of the world. for if it be once taken away , as here it is , there is no peculiar government left to the church it self , and without government there can be no society , or band of union ; and without that , there remains nothing but confusion : so dangerous a trespass is it for the temporal powers to entrench upon this sacred prerogative of the holy catholick church . the civil power may restrain the exercise of it , as they shall judge meet for the ends of peace , and the interest of the common-wealth , and punish it too , at their own discretion , if it shall any way presume to entrench upon the power of the state. but tho' it may prevent or correct abuses , yet it cannot usurp the power it self without manifest sacrilege and blasphemy ; in short , this is such a daring invasion of our saviour's own kingdom , that nothing more imports christian kings and governours , than to be wary and cautious how they lay hands upon it . neither can it be pleaded this law was consented to by the bishops ( to their shame ) in the house of lords . for first , it being an ecclesiastical law , it ought to have been antecedently enacted by them , without any lay-concurrence ; and when they had first decreed it by their own proper authority , then , and not before then , was it lawful for the parliament to take it into their consideration , and as they judged fit , to abett it with temporal penalties . which practice ( as i have before mentioned ) was ever most religiously observed by all christian kings and princes , and never before violated , but by apostates and rebel parliaments . but then secondly , the bishops sit not in the house of lords as bishops , but as temporal barons , and so act not there by virtue of any power derived from our blessed saviour , but from the meer grace and favour of the king ; and if they themselves should pretend to exercise any ecclesiastical authority in that place , they would most scandalously betray , and as much as in 'em lyes , destroy the very being of a christian church , and profanely pawn the bishop to the lord : besides , that lastly by the law of england the ecclesiastical power is setled in convocation ; so that to enact any thing of that nature without their consent , is to betray the rights of the church of england as by law established in particular , as well as of the church catholick in general . fourthly , it ought to be repealed because of the uncertainty and falshood of the matters contained in the declaration it self ; as , first , that there is no transubstantiation in the sacrament of our saviour's body and blood. and secondly , that the invocation of saints and the mother of god is idolatry : both which propositions are by this law to be solemnly and sincerely in the presence of god professed , testifyed , and declared , which in conscience is the same thing with a formal oath , whatever it is in law. now to oblige the whole nobility of a nation , to swear to the truth of such abstruse and uncertain propositions , which they neither do nor can , nor indeed ought to understand , and this upon penalty of forfeiting the privileges of their birth-right , is such a monstrous and inhumane piece of barbarity as could never have enter'd into the thoughts of any man , but the infamous author of it , neither into his ( as malicious as his nature was ) but in his fierce pursuit of princely blood ; for that was the only design of all his actions after the starting of the otesian villainy ( of which this test was the first sacrament ) to pursue and hunt down the heir of the crown , which all the world knows , and is now satisfied , he sought by numberless perjuries , tho' by nothing more than this test , by which he stript his royal highness of the guards of his most faithful friends ; and when he was left alone , it was an easy matter to come to his person , and in him to the monarchy ; so that the very next thing that followed immediately upon it , was the black bill of exclusion : and next to that it was the very master-piece of little achitophel's wickedness . but to return to my argument . what is meant by transubstantiation is a thing altogether unknown and uncertain , especially to the persons chiefly concerned , the nobility and gentry of the kingdom : it is a word and a notion chiefly handled by the schoolmen and metaphysicians skill , in whose writings is the least part of a gentlemans education , their learning is more polite and practicable in the civil affairs of humane life , to understand the rules of honour and the laws of their country , the practice of martial discipline , and the examples of great men in former ages , and by them to square their own actions in their respective stations , and the like ; but for the wars between scotus and thomas aquinas , the nominalists and the realists , and the several common-wealths in the metaphysical world , they are not more beyond than they are below their knowledge , and yet these numberless sects of disputers do not quarrel and differ more about any one thing , than the notion of transubstantiation . how unreasonable a thing then is it , to impose it upon the nobility and gentry of a whole nation under forfeiture of all their share in the government , to abjure a thing that is morally impossible for them to understand ? this seems too bold and profane an affront to almighty god , in whose presence the protestation is made ; and only declares that men will swear any thing , they know not what , before the great searcher of hearts , rather than lose any worldly interest : and i dare appeal to the honourable members of both houses , if ( when they consider seriously with themselves ) they have any distinct idea or notion in their minds of the thing they here so solemnly renounce . i fansie if every man were obliged to give his own account of it , whatever transubstantiation may be , it would certainly be babel . the two fathers or rather mid-wifes of the first transubstantiation test , in the year . were the two famous burgesses of oxon , who brought it forth without so much as consulting their learned vniversity . how much the gentleman burgess understood , i can only guess ; but i am very apt to believe , that his brother , the alderman , ( if the tryal were made ) cannot so much as pronounce the word , much less hammer out the notion . in short , there seems to be but a prophane levity in the whole matter , and a shameless abuse put upon god and religion , to carry on the wicked designs of a rebel faction , as the event hath proved . but for the true state of this matter , i find my self obliged to give a brief historical account of the rise and progress of this controversie of transubstantiation ; which when i have done , the result and summ of the account will be , that there is no one thing in which christendom more both agrees and disagrees . all parties consent in the thing , and differ in the manner . and here the history will branch it self into two parts : i. as the matter is stated in the church of rome . ii. as it hath been determined in the protestant churches . where the first part will sub-divide it self into two other branches . st . the ecclesiastical account of the thing ; that is , the authoritative definitions and determinations of the church about it . and , ly . the scholastical account , or the various disputes of the school-men among themselves in their cells and cloysters , none of which were ever vouched by the authority of the church : and when i have represented the whole matter of fact , i may safely leave it to the honour and wisdom of the nation to judge , whether of all things in the world transubstantiation be not the unfittest thing in it to set up for a state test ? in the first place then it is evident to all men , that are but ordinarily conversant in ecclesiastical learning , that the ancient fathers , from age to age asserted the real and substantial presence in very high and expressive terms . the greeks stiled it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and the latins agreeable with the greeks , conversion , transmutation , transformation , transfiguration , transelementation , and at length , transubstantiation : by all which they expressed nothing more nor less than the real and substantial presence in the eucharist . but to represent their assertions at large , would require much too long a discourse for this short essay . and therefore i shall only give an account of it from the time that it first became a controversie . and the first man that made it a publick dispute , was berengarius , archdeacon of anger 's , in the eleventh century , about the year , who pleaded in his own behalf , the authority of a learned man , iohannes scotus erigena , who passed without censure in the ninth century ; but , to pass him by , it is certain , that berengarius publickly denyed the doctrine of the real and substantial presence of the body and blood of christ , and resolved the whole mystery into a mere type and figure ; for this he is condemned of heresie in the year , in a council at rome , under leo the ninth ; and in the same year , in a synod at verselles , and another at paris ; and afterwards by victor the second , in the year . upon which berengarius , in a council held at tours , in the same year , submitted , and solemnly recanted his opinion . but soon relapsing , pope nicholas the second , summons a council at rome , of bishops , in the year , where berengarius abjures his opinion in this form , viz. that he anathematizes that opinion , that asserts , that the bread and wine , after the consecration upon the altar , is only a sacrament , and not the true body and blood of our lord iesus christ ; and that it is not sensibly handled , and broke by the priest's hands , and so eaten by the communicants . and this declaration he seals with an oath to the blessed trinity upon the evangelists . but upon the death of pope nicholas , or rather of king henry the first of france , a vehement enemy of berengarius his doctrine , ( who therefore had summoned the fore-mentioned several french councils against him ) berengarius returns to his old principles , and publickly justifies them , in writing , to the world. for which he is censured by several provincial councils . but then gregory the seventh , succeeding in the apostolick see , calls a council at rome in the year , in which berengarius abjures again , much after the same form with the former abjuration . but pope gregory ( not satisfied with the same general confession , of the substantial presence , that he had already eluded ) in a second council , held the year following , he imposes this from of recantation upon him . i berengarius believe in my heart , and confess with my mouth , that the things upon the altar , by virtue of prayer and consecration , are changed into the true and proper flesh and blood of christ , and are the true body of christ , that was born of a virgin , and sacrificed upon the cross , for the salvation of the world , and that sits at the right hand of the father ; and the true blood of christ that was shed out of his side , not only as a sacramental sign , but in propriety of nature , and reality of substance . this is indeed a pretty bold assertion of the substantial presence ; but as to the modus of it , it is evident , that he durst not venture to desine it , as himself declares in his commentaries upon the gospels , where after having recited several opinions about it , he concludes , but these several surmises i shall not pursue , it is enough that the substance of the bread and wine are converted into the substance of the body and blood of christ ; but as to the modus of the conversion , i am not ashamed to confess my ignorance . and so ended this controversie at that time ; berengarius ever after living peaceably ; and about eight years after dying in the communion of the church . but about this time aristotle's philosophy was brought into europe , out of arabia , as it was translated into the arabick tongue by averroes , avicenna and others , and out of them translated into latin ; for the greek language was at that time utterly lost in those western parts of the world. this being then a mighty novelty , the school-men , that were the only pretenders to learning at that time , embraced it with a greedy and implicit faith , supposing it the very gospel of all philosophick knowledge ; and therefore set themselves to mix and blend it with the doctrines of the christian schools ; and by its rules and maxims to explain all the articles of the christian faith. among the rest , he had one very odd notion , singular to himself , from all the other philosophers of greece , viz. that every substance was compounded of matter and form ; and that these two were really distinct from one another ; and then that the quantity of every body was really distinct from the substance of it , and so distinct as to be separable from it : and lastly , that all other qualities , accidents , and predicaments were founded not in the substance , but in the quantity ; and therefore in all change of affairs ever fol'owed its fortunes . now the catholick church having in all ages asserted the real and substantial presence ; oh , say they ( to shew their deep new learning ) that is to be understood in the aristotelian way , by separating the form of the bread from the matter ; but chiefly by separating the inward substance of bread , from its outward quantity , and its retinue of qualities . this was the rise of philosophick or scholastick transubstantiation , that the quantity and accidents of the bread are pared off from all the substance , and shaped and moulded a-new , so as to cover an humane body : and after this they run into an infinite variety of disputes and hypotheses among themselves ; so that till the last age , it hath been the chief entertainment of all pretenders to philosophy in christendom . rupertus abbot of dentsch , a village upon the rhine , lying on the other side of the river , against the city of cologne , a man of great reputation for learning in that age , makes out the philosophy of the thing , by the vnion of the word , or divine nature , that is omnipresent with the bread and wine ; and it is that vnity ( he says ) that makes it one body with that in heaven : and withal , that it is as easie for our saviour to assume , or unite himself to one as the other ; and when that is done , they are both one body ; because they are both his body . this was fine and curious , but not aristotelian enough for that age ; in which that philosophy was set up as the standard of humane wisdom , by the beaux esprits : among these , petrus abelardus gain'd a mighty name and reputation for his skill in these new found philosophick curiosities , tho' otherwise a man versed ( much beyond the genius of that age ) in polite learning ; but being of a proud and assuming nature , he soon drew upon himself the envy of the less learned monks ; which cost him a long scene of troubles , as he hath elegantly described them , in his book of his own persecutions . but among many other singularities to maintain the separation of the matter from the form , and the substance from the accidents in the sacrament of the altar he is forced to make use of this shift , that upon the separation of the substance , the accidents that cannot subsist of themselves , are supported by the air. but then comes peter lombard , anno . grand master of the sentences , and father of the next race of school-men , who indeed proves the real and substantial presence out of the ancients ; particularly st. austin and st. ambrose ; but when he comes to explain the manner of it , whether it be a formal or material change ; whether the substance of the bread and wine be reduced into its first matter , or into nothing , and the like , his conclusion is , definire non sufficio : i presume not to determine ; and therefore quitting these uncertain things , this i certainly know from authorities , viz. that the substance of the bread and wine , are converted into the substance of the body and blood of christ ; but as for the manner of the conversion , we are not ashamed to confess our ignorance . but if you inquire in what subject the accidents subsist , he answers problematically ( mihi videtur ) that they subsist without any subject at all . but it was agreed in all schools , that whatever became of the substance the accidents remained : and that all outward operations terminated there ; and that only they were broken and eaten . but as for the substance of the bread and wine , some were for its permanency with the substance of the body and blood , some for its annihilation , some for physical conversion . but then these curiosites were kept in the schools , where witty men , for want of more useful imployment entertained and amused themselves , with these fine subtleties of thought : but then they were confined within the schools and never admitted so much as to ask the authority of the church . in the next age comes that young and active pope , innocent the third , who succeeded to the see , anno . in the thirty seventh year of of his age , having been made cardinal in the twenty ninth . in the eighteenth year of his reign he summoned the famous fourth , or great council of lateran , at which were present above bishops , metropolitans and patriarchs , besides embassadors from all princes in christendom , for recovery of the holy land , extirpation of heresies , and for reformation of the church . in this council the word transubstantiate is first used in a decree of the church , to express the real or substantial presence of the body and blood of christ in the sacrament , under the species of bread and wine : where , in the decree against the heresie of the albigenses , who denied the real presence , it is enacted , that the body and blood of christ , are really contained under the species of bread and wine : the bread being transubstantiated into the body , and the wine into the blood , by the power of god. but though the council used the word to express the mystery , they did not so much as define its signification , much less the nature of the thing . it was a word that at that time ( it seems ) was in fashion , having been made use of by some of the more polite writers of the age. some give the honour of the invention to paschasius radbertus , some to petrus blesensis , and some to others ; but being a word in vogue among learned men , the council made use of it as a term of art , instead of the old word , transelementation , that had hitherto kept its possession among both greeks and latins . it is pity the greek copy of this canon is lost , whereas all the rest are preserved : for if we had the greek word that answered to the latin , it might have given us some more light into the thing . however , this was all that was defined by innocent the third , or by the council of lateran ; for it is much disputed by learned men , who was the author of those canons , many contending that they were drawn up after the council , because they often quote , and appeal to its decrees . this is the chief argument of the learned and the loyal william barclay , and others against them . but if these learned men had considered a little further , and looked back to the third council of lateran , they would have found all the canons cited in this extant in that : so that only some canons of the third council , are revived and ratified in this fourth : and after the clearing of this objection , i can see no other material exception against them . but to proceed ; this word having gain'd the authority of so great a council , and being put into the decretals of the church , by gregory the ninth , in honor of his uncle innocent the third , it soon gained universal usage among the latins , and was adopted into the catalogue of school terms ; and was there hammer'd into a thousand shapes and forms , by those masters of subtlety : and upon it st. thomas of aquin erects a new kingdom of his own , against the old lombardian empire ; but long he had not reigned , when scotus , our subtle country-man , set up against him . and whatever st. thomas of aquin asserted , for that reason only , he contradicted him ; so that they two became the very caesar and pompey of the schools , almost all the great masters of disputation from that time , fighting under one of their commands ; and what intelligible philosophy both parties vented about the substantial o● transubstantial presence , upon supposition of the real difference between matter and form , substance and accidents , would be both too nice and too tedious to recite ; only in general the thomists maintain the transmutation of the elements ; the scotists , the annihilation ; and they proceed to abstract so long , till they could not only separate the matter and form , and accidents of the bread from one another , but the paneity or breadishness it self from them all , and founded a new vtopian world of metaphysick and specifick entities and abstracts . thus far i have , as briefly as i can , represented the scholastick history of this argument ; in which the authority of the church is not at all concerned ; having gone no farther than to assign or appropriate a word to signifie such a thing ; but all along declaring the thing it self to be beyond the compass of a definition . i know 't is commonly said , that the council of trent hath presumed to define the modus ; and learned men ( i know not by what fatal over-sight ) take it up on trust one from another ; and the definition is generally given in these terms : that , transubstantiation is wrought by the annihilation of the substance of the bread and wine , the accidents remaining : to the which annihilation succeeds the body and blood of christ , under the accidents of bread and wine . so the bishops of durham and winchester represent it ; so mr. alix , and the writers of his church , and not only so but contrary to the sence of all other churches , they confound the real presence with transubstantiation , as this learned man hath done through his whole disputation upon it , using the very words promiscuously ( as indeed all the modern followers of calvin do ) and charging the same absurdities upon both , and imputing the first invention of the real presence to nicolas the second , and gregory the seventh , in their decrees against berengarius . but i cannot but wonder how so many learned men should with so much assurance fansie to themselves such a definition in the trent council , of the modus of transubstantiation , by the annihilation of the substance , and the permanency of the accidents , when the fathers of that council were so far from any such design , that they design'd nothing more carefully , than to avoid all scholastick definitions . the subtil disputes about the modus existendi ( as they termed it ) between the dominicans and franciscans in that council are described at large by father paolo himself in the fourth book of his history . but withal , he says , they were extreamly displeasing and offensive to the fathers , but most of all to the nuncio himself ; and therefore it was resolved in a general congregation to determine the matter in as few and general terms as possible , to offend neither party , and avoid contentions ; and when , notwithstanding this decree , they fell into new disputes , they are check'd by the famous bishop of bitunto , who was one of the chief compilers of the canons , telling them they came thither to condemn heresies , not to define scholastick niceties . and accordingly in the very first chapter of the th . session , in which this article was defined , when they determined the real presence ; they at the same time declare the existendi ratio to be ineffable ; and in the th . chapter , where transubstantiation is decreed , the canon runs thus : that , by the consecration of the bread and wine , there is a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of christ , and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood , which conversion is fitly and properly called by the holy catholick church ; transubstantiation . in all which the council only appropriates the word transubstantiation to express the real presence , which it had before determined in the first chapter , not to be after a natural way of existence , as christ sits at the right hand of god , but sacramental , after an ineffable manner . tho here some peevishly object , the inconsistence of the council with it self , when it declares , that the thing is inexpressible and yet appropriates a word to express it : whereas all christendom knows that the procession of the eternal word from the father is ineffable , and yet is expressed by the word generation ; and that the vnion of the divine and humane nature is ineffable , and yet is called the hypostatical vnion ; and that the vnity in the trinity is ineffable , and yet is expressed by the word consubstantial : so that this council seems to have defin'd no more than the council of nice did in the doctrine of the blessed trinity , in expressing the unity of the three persons by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the distinction , by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which amounted to no more than this , that as it is certain from the holy scriptures that in the unity of the god-head there is a trinity , so the holy fathers to avoid the niceties of contentious men , such as arius was , determine that for the time to come the mystery shall be expressed by the terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; but as for any philosophical notion of the mystery , the church never presum'd to define it , and this is the definition of the council of trent , of the real presence , that there is a conversion of the substances under the species or appearances of bread and wine , which the church hath thought convenient to express by the word transubstantiation . and yet tho the council approve the word , yet it does not impose it , it only declares it to be convenient , but no where says 't is necessary . and as for the term conversion , it is much older than the word transubstantiation , familiarly used by the ancient fathers ; and so is the word species : i know indeed it is usual with school-men and protestant writers to translate the words under species of bread and wine , by these words , under the accidents of bread and wine , as particularly the late bishops of durham and winchester have done . but this is to impose philosophick niceties upon the decrees of the church . and tho perhaps all the fathers of the council believed the reality of the new substantial presence under the old accidents , yet they had more temper and discretion than to authorise it by conciliar determination , and therefore use only the word species ( and no other word is used by nicolas ii , gregory vii , and innocent iii , that are thought the three great innovators in the argument of the real presence ) that properly signifies appearance , but nothing of physical or natural reality , so that tho the presence under the species be real , yet as the council hath defined it , it is not natural but sacramental , which sacramental real presence they express by the word transubstantiation , and recommend the propriety of the word to the acceptance of christendom . this is the short history of the real presence in the church of rome , where , as far as i can discern , the thing it self hath been owned in all ages of the church , the modus of it never defined , but in the schools , and tho they have fansied thousand definitions to themselves , their metaphysicks were never admitted into the church . and so i proceed to give an account of it , as it hath been defin'd in the protestant churches , where we shall find much the same harmony of faith and discord of philosophy as in the church of rome . and first we must begin with the famous confession of ausburg , that was drawn up by melancthon , and in the year presented to charles the fifth , by several princes of germany , as a declaration of the faith of the first reformers , and as the only true standard of the ancient protestant religion . the confesion consists of two parts . i. what doctrines themselves taught . ii. what abuses they desired to be reformed . as to the later , the emperor undertook to procure a general council . as to the former , particularly this article of the presence in the sacrament , they have published it in two several forms : in the latin edition it is worded thus : concerning the lords supper , we teach , that the body and blood of christ are there present indeed , and are distributed to the receivers at the lords supper ; and condemn those that teach otherwise . in the german edition it is worded thus : concerning the lords supper we teach , that the true body and blood of christ are truly present in the supper , under the species of bread and wine , and are there distributed and received . and in an apology written by the same hand , and published the year following , it is thus expressed : we believe , that in the supper of our lord , the body and blood of christ are really and substantially present , and are exhibited indeed with those things , that are seen , the bread and wine . this belief our divines constantly maintain , and we find , not only the church of rome hath asserted the corporeal presence , but that the greek church hath anciently , as well as at this time , asserted the same ; as appears by their canon missae . the same author explains himself more at large in his epistle to fredericus myconius . i send you ( says he ) the passages out of the ancients , concerning the lord's supper , to prove , that they held the same with us ; namely , that the body and blood of our lord are there present indeed . and after divers citations he concludes , that seeing this is the express doctrine of the scriptures , and constant tradition of the church , i cannot conceive how , by the name of the body of christ , should only be understood the sign of an absent body ; for though the word of god frequently makes use of metaphors , yet there is a great difference to be made between historical relations , and divine institutions . in the first , matters transacted among men , and visible to the sence are related ; and here we are allow'd , and often forced to speak figuratively : but if in divine precepts , or revelations , concerning the nature or the will of god , we should take the same liberty , wise men cannot but fore-see the mischiefs that would unavoidably follow . there would be no certainty of any article of faith. and he gives an instance in the precept of circumcision to abraham : that upon those terms the good patriarch might have argued with himself , that god never intended to impose a thing so seemingly absurd , as the words sound ; and that therefore the precept is to be understood only of a figurative or metaphorical circumcision ; the circumcision of our lusts. so far this learned reformer . now the authority of melancthon weighs more with us of the church of england , ( as the learned dr. st. very well observes ) that in the settlement of our reformation , there was no such regard had to luther or calvin , as to erasmus and melancthon , whose learning and moderation were in greater esteem here , than the fiery spirits of the other ; and yet few writers have asserted the substantial and corporeal presence in higher terms than this moderate reformer ; and though he may sometimes have varied in forms of speech , he continued constant and immovable in the substance of the same doctrine . for in the confession of the saxon churches ( at the compiling of which he was chief assistant ) drawn up in the year , to have been presented to the council of trent ; a true and substantial presence is asserted , during the time of ministration . we teach ( say they ) that sacraments are divine institutions ; and that the things themselves out of the use desing'd are no sacraments ; but in the use , christ is verily and substantially present ; and the body and blood of christ are indeed taken by the receivers . there seems to have been one singular notion in this confession , that the real and substantial presence lasts no longer than the ministration ; but that is nothing to our argument , as long as a substantial presence is asserted . in the year an assembly of the divines of the ausburg confession on one side , and the divines of vpper germany on the other , conven'd at wirtemberg , by the procurement and mediation of bucer , who undertook to moderate between both parties ; where they agreed in this form of confession . we believe according to the words of irenaeus , that the eucharist consists of two things , one earthly the other heavenly ; and therefore believe and teach , that the body and blood of christ are truly and substantially exhibited and received with the bread and wine . this is subscribed by the chief divines of both parties , and approved by the helvetian ministers themselves . the bohemian waldenses in their confession of faith presented to ferdinand , king of the romans and bohemia , declare expressly , that the bread and wine , are the very body and blood of christ ; and that christ is in the sacrament with his natural body , but by another way of existence than at the right-hand of god. in the greek form of consecration , this prayer was used : make this bread the precious body of thy christ ; and that which is in this cup , the precious blood of thy christ , changing them by thy holy spirit ; which words are taken out of the liturgies of st. chrysostom and st. basil. and ieremias the learned patriarch of constantinople , in his declaration of the faith of the greek church in answer to the lutheran divines , affirms that the catholick church believes , that after the consecration the bread is changed into the very body of christ , and the wine into the very blood , by the holy spirit . in the year . was held a council in poland of the divines of the ausburg , the helvetian , and the bohemian confessions , in which they agreed in this declaration . as to that unhappy controversie of the supper of our lord , we agree in the sence of the words , as they are rightly understood by the fathers , particularly by irenaeus , who affirms that the mystery consists of two things , one earthly , and another heavenly . neither do we affirm , that the elements and signs are meer naked and empty things signified to believers . but to speak more clearly and distinctly , we agree that we believe and confess the substantial presence of christ is not only signified to believers , but is really held forth , distributed and exhibited , the symbols being joined with the thing it self , and not meerly naked , according to the nature of sacraments . this confession was confirmed at several times , by several following synods in the same kingdom , at cracow . at peterkaw . at walhoff . the first man that opposed the real and substantial presence was carolostadius , archdeacon of wirtenberg , of whom the candid and ingenious melancthon gives this character : that he was a furious man , void both of wit , learning , and common sence , not capable of any act of civility or good manners ; so far from any appearances of piety , that there are most manifest footsteps of his wickedness . he condemns all the civil laws of the heathen nations , as unlawful , and would now have all nations governed by the judicial law of moses , and embrac'd the whole doctrine of the anabaptists . he sets up the controversie about the sacraments against luther , meerly out of envy and emulation , not out of any sence of religion , and much more to the same purpose : the truth of all which ( he says ) a great part of germany both can and will attest . tho the greatest proof of his levity is his own writing , when all that disorder and schism that he made in the church , of which he profess'd himself a member , was founded upon no better bottom than this slender nicety , that when our saviour said this is my body , he pointed not to the bread but to himself . but in this he is vehemently opposed by his master luther , in behalf of a true corporeal presence , especially in his book contra coelestes prophetas seu fanaticos ; wherein he lays down this assertion , that by the demonstrative pronoun hoc , christ is declared to be truly and carnally present with his body in the supper , and that the communication of the body of christ , of which st. paul speaks , is to eat the body of christ in the bread , neither is that communication spiritual only but corporeal , as it is in the personal vnion of christ : so we are to conceive of the sacrament , in which the bread and the body make up one thing , and after an incomprehensible manner , which no reason can fathom , become one essence or mass , from whence , as man becomes god , so the bread becomes the body . and in a sermon preached by him the same year at wirtemberg , against the sacramentarian hereticks , as he calls them : the devil opposes us by his fanatick emissaries in the blaspheming the supper of our lord , that dream the bread and wine are there only given as a sign or symbol of our christian profession , nor will allow that the body and blood of christ are there present themselves , tho the words are express and perspicuous : take , eat , this is my body . in this controversie he was engaged all his life , against carolostadius , and other apostates from the ausburg confession , giving them no better titles than of fanaticks , hereticks , betrayers of christ , blasphemers of the holy ghost , and seducers of the world. and in his last book against the divines of lovain in the year , the year before his death , he makes this solemn declaration . we seriously believe the zuinglians , and all sacramentarians , that deny the body and blood of christ to be received ore carnali , in the blessed sacrament , to be hereticks , and no members of the church of christ : so that hitherto it is evident , that the whole body of the true old protestants , both in their publick confessions and private writings , unanimously asserted the corporeal and substantial presence , as they use the words promiscuously . as for the calvinian churches , grotius hath observed very truly , that the calvinists express themselves in a quite different language , in their confessions , from what they do in their disputations , where they declare themselves more frankly . in their confessions they tell you , that the body and blood of christ , are taken really , substantially , essentially ; but when you come to discourse'em closer , the whole business is spiritual , without substance , only with a signifying mystery ; and all the reality is turned into a receiving by faith ; which , says he , is a perfect contradiction to the doctrine of the whole catholick church . so they declare in the conference at presburg with the lutherans , that in the sacrament , christ indeed gives the substance of his body and blood by the working of the holy ghost . and when luther signify'd to bucer , his jealously of the divines of strasburgh and bazil , as if they believed nothing to be present in the sacrament , but the bread and wine . bucer returns this answer , in the name , and with the consent of all his brethren ; this is their faith and doctrine concerning the sacrament , that in it , by the institution and power of our ▪ lord , his true body and his true blood are indeed exhibited , given and taken , together with the visible signs of bread and wine ( as his own words declare . ) this is the doctrine not only of zuinglius , and oecolampadius , but the divines of upper germany have declared the same , in their publick confessions and writings . so that the difference is rather about the manner of the absence and presence , than about the presence or absence themselves . and the reformed french church in the year . declare themselves much after the same manner , to a synod of reform'd german divines , held at wormes . we confess that in the supper of our lord , not only all the benefits of christ , but the very substance of the son of man , the very flesh , and the very blood that he shed for us , to be there not meerly signify'd , or symbolically , typically , or figuratively , as a memorial of a thing absent , but truly held forth , exhibited and offered to be received , together with the symbols , that are by no means to be thought naked , which by virtue of god's promise , always have the thing it self truly and certainly conjoin'd with them , whether they are given to the good or to the bad . but what need of more witnesses , when calvin himself , the very vrim and thummim of the calvinian churches , declares his sence in these express words . i affirm that christ is indeed given by the symbols of bread and wine , and by consequence his body and blood , in which he fulfilled all righteousness for our iustification , and as by that , we were ingrafted into his body , so by this are we made partakers of his substance , by virtue of it we feel the communication of all good things to our selves . but as to the modus , if any man inquire of me , i am not ashamed to confess that the mystery is too sublime for my wit to comprehend , or to express ; and to speak freely , i rather feel than understand it , and therefore here without controversie i embrace the truth of god , in which i am sure i may safely acquisce . he affirms that his flesh is the food of my soul , and his blood the drink . it is to these aliments that i offer my soul to be nourished . he commands me in his holy supper , under the symbols of bread and wine to take , eat , and drink , his body and blood , and therefore i doubt not but he gives it . here , besides the express words themselves , if there be so much mystery in the thing as he affirms , there is much more than meer figure . and in another passage he thus expresses himself . that god doth not trifle in vain signs , but does in good earnest perform what is represented by the symbols , viz. the communication of his body and blood , and that the figure conjoined with the reality , is represented by the bread , and the body of christ is offered and exhibited with it , the true substance is given us , the reality conjoined with the sign , so that we are made partakers of the substance of the body and blood. this is express enough . but yet in his book de coena domini , he declares his sence much more fully . if notwithstanding ( saith he ) it be enquired whether the bread be the body , and the wine the blood of christ ; i answer , that the bread and wine are the visible signs that represent the body and blood , and that the name of the body and blood is given to them , because they are the instruments by which our lord iesus christ is given to us . this form of speech is very agreeable to the thing it self , for seeing the communion that we have in the body of christ is not to be seen with our eyes , nor comprehended by our vnderstandings , yet 't is there manifestly exposed to our eye-sight ; of which we have a very proper example in the same case : when it pleased god that the holy ghost should appear at the baptism of christ he was pleased to represent it under the appearance of a dove ; and john the baptist , giving an account of the transaction , only relates that he saw the holy ghost descending ; so that if we consider rightly we shall find that he saw nothing but the dove , for the essence of the holy ghost is invisible : but he knowing the vision not to be a vain apparition , but a certain sign of the presence of the holy ghost represented to him in that manner , that he was able to bear the representation . the same thing is to be said in the communion of our saviour's body and blood , that it is a spiritual mystery , neither to be beheld with eyes , nor comprehended with humane understanding , and therefore is represented by figures and sings , that ( as the weakness of our nature requires ) fall under our senses , so as 't is not a bare and simple figure , but conjoin'd with its reality and substance : therefore the bread is properly called the body , when it doth not only represent it , but also brings it to us . and therefore we will readily grant , that the name of the body of christ may be transferr'd to the bread , because it is the sacrament and emblem of it ; but then we must add , that the sacrament is by no means to be separated from the substance and reality . and that they might not be confounded , it is not only convenient , but altogether necessary , to distinguish between them , but intolerably absurd to divide one from the other . wherefore when we see the visible sign what it represents , we ought to reflect from whom it is given us , for the bread is given as a representation of the body of christ , and we are commanded to eat it . it is given , i say , by god , who is infallible truth , and then if god cannot deceive nor lye , it follows that he in reality gives whatever is there represented : and therefore it is necessary that we really receive the body and blood of christ , seeing the communion of both is represented to us . for to what purpose should he command us to eat the bread and drink the wine , as signifying his body and blood , if without some spiritual reality we only received the bread and wine ? would he not vainly and absurdly have instituted this mystery , and as we frenchmen say , by false representations ? therefore we must acknowledge that if god gives us a true representation in the supper , that the invisible substance of the sacrament is joined with the visible signs , and as the bread is distributed by hand , so the body of christ is communicated to us to be partakers of it . this certainly , if there were nothing else , ought abundantly to satisfy us , when by it we understand , that in the supper of our lord , christ gives us the true and proper substance of his body and blood. thus far calvin : and i think it is as high a declaration of the real and substantial presence , as i have met with in any author whatsoever . and if in any other passages the great dictator may have been pleased to contradict himself , that is , the old dictatorian prerogative of that sect , as well as the old romans , that whatever decrees they made , however inconsistent , they were always authentick . neither doth beza at all fall short of his adored master in the point of substantial presence : in his book against westfalus a sacramentarian , de coena domini . he declares freely that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or grammatical sence of our saviour's words , this is my body , cannot be preserved without transubstantiation , and that there is no medium between transubstantiantion and a meer figure : and yet the whole design of the book is to prove the real presence in the sacrament , in opposition to the figurative . and in the year , the protestant churches of france held a synod at rochel , and the year following at nimes , in both which beza sat as president , where the substantial presence was maintain'd , and defin'd with great vehemence against the innovators ( as they were then esteemed ; ) for when morellus mov'd to have the word substance taken out of their confession of faith , beza and the synod , not without some indignation , decree against them . this decree beza declares in his epistle to the ministers of zurick , dated may the th . , to extend to the protestants of france only , least they who were zuinglians should take offence at it as a censure particularly designed against themselves . but the highest declaration of the french protestants is that sent by their embassadors to the german divines assembled at wormes anno . in which business beza was chief manager . we confess , say they , that in the supper of our lord , not only all the benefits of christ , but the very substance of the son of man , the very real flesh , the very blood that he shed for us , not only to be signified or symbolically , typically , or figuratively to be proposed as the memorial of a thing absent , but to be truly represented , exhibited and offered to be received ; the symbols by no means to be thought naked , being annexed , which because of the promise and engagement of god , always have the thing it self truly and certainly conjoin'd , whether given to the good or to the bad. but these civilities and condescentions were made in their low ebbs of fortune : for whenever they could flatter themselves with any advantage of interest , no accommodations would serve their turn . thus at the famous conference at poissy , before charles the ninth , anno , where they supposed themselves warm , and powerful enough , by the favour of the queen-mother ( who supported them for her own ends of state ) and some great ministers of state , who ( by the way ) soon after proved rebels , i mean coligny and his faction ; beza , who was the chief manager in behalf of the protestants , runs high in his demands . as to the eucharist , says he , the body of christ is as far distant from it , as the highest heaven from the earth : for our selves and the sacraments are upon the earth , but christ's flesh is in heaven so glorified , that it hath not lost the nature , but the infirmity of a body . so that we are partakers of his body and blood only after a spiritual way , or by faith. this boldness highly offended the queen ; and therefore he afterwards endeavoured to excuse himself by palliations and softning expressions , but after all , to avoid farther equivocation , he is hardly pressed to it by the cardinal of lorrain , whether they would stand to the confession of ausburg . beza demurs and consults calvin ; calvin defies it , and commands him to protest against it . upon which occasion osiander , a plain protestant , in his history makes this remark upon the calvinian honesty . heretofore ( says he ) when peace was granted to the protestants in germany , the calvinists put in their claim to their share in it , because they own'd the ausburg confession ( and it was subscrib'd by calvin himself ) notwithstanding that at the same time they held contradictory opinions . but in the conference at poissy , when they presumed that they had strength and force enough to defend their own doctrines , they openly rejected the ausburg confession , when it was offered them by the cardinal of lorrain , to subscribe as the only article of pacification . and yet after this , when they had not obtained their ends , they again in affront to their own consciences , cry up the ausburg confession as their only standard of faith , not that they approved it , but under that false guise to impose calvinism upon the plain meaning lutherans . so far the historian , though the matter of fact is its own best proof . this is the short account of this controversie in all foreign churches . all parties of christendom agree in the substance of the doctrine , even the calvinists themselves , who , tho they sometimes attempted to deny it , had not confidence enought to be steady to their own opinion , but were often forced to submit it to the consent of christendom . from all these premises it is evident , that no one thing in the world is more unfit to be set up for a test than transubstantiation , seeing all parties agree in the thing , tho not in the word , and yet tho they do , they again disagree in numberless speculations about it , and when they have done , all parties unanimously agree that the modus is a thing utterly unknown and incomprehensible . so that take it one way ( i. e. ) as to the thing it self , or the real presence , the test is a defiance to all christendom ; take it the other way , as to the modus , it is nothing at all but only imposing an unintelligible thing upon the wisdom and honour of a nation under the severest penalties . as for the church of england , she agrees with the tradition of the catholick church both roman and reformed , in asserting the certainty of the real presence , and the vncertainty of the manner of it ; tho the true account of it hath been miserably perplexed , and disturbed by the oblique practices of the sacramentarians . the first account we have of it is in our celebrated church-historian out of dr. stillingfleet's famous invisible manuscript , whereby as he had before made archibishop cranmer a meer erastian as to discipline , so now here he makes him a meer sacramentarian as to doctrine . a committee of selected bishops and divines being appointed in the first year of king edward , for examining and reforming the offices of the church . the first , because most material point , was the eucharist , concerning which all things were put into certain quaeries , to which every commissioner gave in his answer in writing . and to the question concerning the eucharist , what is the oblation and sacrifice of christ in the mass ? cranmer's answer is , the oblation and sacrifice of christ in the mass is not so called , because christ indeed is there offered and sacrificed by the priest and the people , ( for that was done but once by himself upon the cross ) but it so call'd , because it is a memory and representation of that very true sacrifice and immolation , which before was made upon the cross. this is pure zuinglianism , and in opposition to it , it is asserted by six bishops in a body . i think it is the presentation of the very body and blood of christ , being really present in the sacrament , which presentation the priest makes at the mass in the name of the church , unto god the father , and in memory of christ's passion , and death upon the cross , with thanksgiving therefore , and devout prayer , that all christian people , and namely they who spiritually join with the priest in the said oblation , and of whom he makes special remembrance , may attain the benefit of the said passion . and to these agree the several answers of carlisle , and coventry , and litchfield , by which ( as the historian well observes ) the reader will perceive how generally the bishops were addicted to the old superstition , and how few did agree in all things with cranmer . now this old superstition that he finds in this passage , is nothing but the true old protestant doctrine of the real presence , in opposition to meer figure and representation , which is all that is here asserted by the bishops . but this is the bold practice of this bold writer , to make cranmer the standard of the reformation ; and this unknown manuscript the standard of cranmer's opinions ; and these two grand forgeries concerning no church government ; and the meer commemorative presence in the eucharist , are the two grand singularities of his history ; and the main things that gave it popular vogue and reputation with his party ; and were these two blind stories , and the reasons depending upon them retrench'd , it would be like the shaving of samson's hair , and destroy all the strength peculiar to the history . the design was apparently laid before the work was undertaken , that industriously warps all things into irenical and erastian principles , and the vain man seems to have been flattered by his patrons into all that pains to give reputation to their errors . and here lay the fondness for the stillingsteetian manuscript , that it so frankly and openly asserted erastian and sacramentarian principles as the bottom of the reformation . but if such an unprov'd and unwarrantable piece of paper , without any certain conveyance or tradition , without any notice of so publick a transaction in any contemporary writer , without any other evidence of its being genuine , than that it was put providentially into the hands of dr. st. when he wrote his irenicum , must be set up for undoubted record , against all the records of the churches , our great historian would be well advis'd to employ his pains in writing lampoons upon the present princes of christendom ( especially his own ) which he delights in most , because it is the worst thing that himself can do , than collecting the records of former times . for the first will require time and postage to pursue his malice , but the second is easily trac'd in the chimney corner . and therefore i would desire these gentlemen either to give a better account of the descent and genealogy of the paper , than that it came to dr. st. by miracle ; or else to give it less authority . but to proceed , a new office for the communion-service was drawn up in the same year by the bishops , in compiling of which cranmer had the chief hand , and by his great power over-ruled the rest at pleasure ; in this service he retains the old form of words used in the ancient missals , when there was no zuinglianism or doctrine of figurative presence in the christian world , and the real presence was universally believed as appears by the very words of distribution . the body of our lord iesus christ which was given for thée , preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life . and the blood of our lord iesus christ which was shed for thée , &c. this was the form prescribed in the first liturgy of edward the th . and agreeable to this are the king 's own injunctions published at the same time , where the eucharist is call'd the communion of the very body and blood of christ , by which form of words they then expressed the real presence as oppos'd to zuinglianism . this liturgy being thus established , and withal abetted by act of parliament , for some time kept up its authority in the church against all opposition ; though it was soon encountred with enemies enough both at home and abroad out of the calvinian quarters . at the end of the year ensuing peter martyr , a rank sacramentarian , came over , and after much conversation with cranmer , he was plac'd regius professor in oxford , where he soon raised tumults about the zuinglian and sacramentarian doctrines . but bucer , that prudent and moderate reformer , came not till some time after , though invited at the same time : and so either came too late or departed too soon ; for as he came over in iune so he dy'd in ianuary , so that tho he were a great assertor of the real presence ( as our church-historian himself often observes ) he had not a season to sow his doctrine , and martyr reigning alone , and being a furious bigott in his principles , it is no wonder if zuinglianism spread with so much authority . but the most fatal blow to the reformation of the church of england was given by calvin's correspondence with the protector , and afterwards with dudley , taking upon him to censure , expunge , reform , impose , at his own pleasure ; the malignity of whose influence first discovered it self in the ceremonial war against a cap and a tippet , but soon wrought into the vitals of the reformation , especially , as to the liturgy and the eucharist ; both which must be removed to give way to the zuinglian errors . this alteration was made in the th . year of the kings reign , tho precisely when , and by what persons , is utterly unknown , only it is remark'd by our church-historian to have followed immediately after the consecration of hooper . when ( as he observes ) the bishops being generally addicted to the purity of religion , spent most of this year in preparing articles which should contain the doctrine of the church of england . among which the th . condemns the real presence , as the new liturgy , to which they are annexed , had before almost run it up to the charge of idolatry . for they were not content to abolish the old missal form of distribution . the body of our lord iesus christ which was given for thee , preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life . take and eat this , &c. but instead of it appoint this zuinglian form , take and eat this ( without any mention of the body and blood of christ ) in remembrance that christ died for thée . &c. neither were these innovators ( whoever they were ) satisfied with the alteration of the old form ; but add a fierce declaration to bar the doctrine of real and essential presence . whereas it is ordered in this office of the administration of the lord's supper , that the communicants should receive the same kneeling ( which order is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of christ therein , given to all worthy receivers , and for avoiding such prophanation and disorder in the holy communion , as might otherwise ensue . ) yet least the same kneeling should by any persons , either out of ignorance and infirmity , or out of malice and obstinacy be misconstrued and deprav'd , it is here declared that no adoration is intended , or ought to be done unto any real or essential presence of christ's natural flesh and blood , for the sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural substances , and therefore may not be ador'd , ( for that were idolatry to be abhorr'd by all faithful christians ) and the natural body and blood of our saviour christ are in heaven , and not here . it being against the truth of christ's natural body , to be at one time in more places than one . and whereas a body of articles was composed at the same time , it is declared in the th . article , that since the very being of humane nature doth require , that the body of one and the same man , cannot be at one and the same time in many places , but of necessity must be in some certain and determinate place ; therefore the body of christ cannot be present in many different places at the same time . and since as the holy scriptures testifie christ hath been taken up into heaven , and there is to abide till the end of the world , it becomes not any of the faithful to believe or profess , that there is a real or corporeal presence ( as they phrase it ) of the body and blood of christ in the holy eucharist . this declaration , though it seem'd to be aim'd with a particular malice against the lutherans , and their peculiar manner of asserting and explaining the real presence , yet it strikes at the general doctrine it self , held in all churches . and as these were the great alterations made at that time ; so who were the authors and contrivers of 'em is so utterly unknown to historians , that they are not so much as able to conjecture . doctor heylin would ascribe it either to the convocation it self , or some committee appointed by it . but this is the officious kindness of the good man to help out the poor oppressed church at that time , at a dead lift , having no record or authority for his assertion . doctor burnet has often heard it said , that the articles were fram'd by cranmer and ridley . but whoever told him so , knew no more than himself ; i am sure it is the meanest trade in an historian to stoop to hear-says . all that can be conjectured of it , is , that it was done at that unhappy time when dudley governed all , who when he form'd his great and ambitious designs , first ( as the historian remarks ) endeavoured to make himself popular ; and to this end , among other arts , he made himself head and patron of the calvinian faction , and entertain'd the establish'd church with neglect and contempt ; and therefore i find not ecclesiastical matters referr'd to the advice of the regular ecclesiastical order , but were either transacted by himself , and his agents in private , or some incompetent lay-authority . as to this matter of the new liturgy and articles , there is no record but an act of parliament , by which they are impos'd and authoriz'd . whereas there hath been a very godly order set forth by the authority of parliament for common-prayer , and administration of the holy sacraments , to be used in the mother tongue within this church of england , agreeable to the word of god , and the primitive church , very comfortable to all good people , desiring to live in christian conversation , and most profitable to the estate of this realm ; upon the which , the mercy , favour , and blessing of almighty god is in no wise so readily and plenteously pour'd , as by common-prayers , due using of the sacraments , and often preaching of the gospel with the devotion of the hearers ; and yet this notwithstanding a great number of people in divers parts of this realm , following their own sensuality , and living either without knowledge , or due fear of god , do willfully and damnation before almighty god , abstain and refuse to come to their parish churches , and other places where common-prayer , and administration of the sacraments , and preaching of the word of god , is used upon sundays and other days , ordain'd to be holy-days . ii. for reformation hereof be it enacted by the king our sovereign lord , with the assent of the lords and commons in this present parliament assembled , and by the authority of the same , that from and after the feast of all-saints next coming , all and every person and persons inhabiting within this realm , or any other the king's majesty's dommions , shall diligently and faithfully ( having no lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent ) endeavour themselves to resort to their parish church or chapel accustomed , or upon reasonable let thereof , to some usual place , where common-prayer , and such service of god shall be used in such time of let , upon every sunday , and other days ordained and used to be kept as holy-days , and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the common-prayer , preachings , or other service of god there to be us'd and ministred , upon pain of punishment by the censures of the church . iii. and for the due execution hereof , the king 's most excellent majesty , the lords temporal , and all the commons in this present parliament assembled , doth in god's name earnestly require and charge all archbishops , bishops , and their ordinaries , that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their knowledges , that the due and true execution thereof may be had throughout their diocesses and charges , as they will answer before god for such evils and plagues , wherewith almighty god may justly punish his people , for neglecting this good and wholesom law. iv. and for their authority in this behalf , be it further likewise enacted by the authority aforesaid , that all and singular the same archbishops , bishops , and all other their officers , exercising ecclesiastical iurisdiction , as well in place exempt , as not exempt , within their diocesses , shall have full power and authority by this act , to reform , correct , and punish by censures of the church all and singular persons which shall offend within any their iurisdictions or diocesses , after the said feast of all-saints next coming , against this act and statute ; any other law , statute , privilege , liberty , or provision heretofore made , had , or suffered to the contrary notwithstanding . v. and because there is risen in the use and exercise of the aforesaid common service in the church , heretofore set forth , divers doubts for the fashion or manner of the ministration of the same , rather by the curiosity of the minister and mistakers , than of any other worthy cause ; therefore , as well for the more plain and manifest explanation thereof , as for the more perfection of the said order or common service , in some places , where it is necessary to make the same prayer and fashion of service , more earnest and fit to stir christian people to the true honouring of almighty god , the king 's most excellent majesty , with the assent of the lords and commons of this present parliament assembled , and by the authority of the same , hath caused the aforesaid order , or common service , intituled , the book of common-prayer , to be faithfully and godly perused , explained , and made fully perfect , and by the aforesaid authority hath annexed and joined it , so explained and perfected , to this present statute , &c. in this new office , beside the forementioned alterations in the liturgy it self , there was order'd in the rubrick , the abolition of copes and hoods ; neither is it altogether unobservable , that at this time hopkins his psalms broke in upon the service of the church . but in the beginning of queen elizabeth's reign , when the reformation was setled in that state , in which it ever after continued , that new declaration of the second liturgy of king edward was rejected , together with the th . article , and the first old form of distribution was restored . and that 's a clear declaration of the sence of this church for a real and essential presence , when it was so particularly concern'd to have all bars against it remov'd . and from that time forward , the most eminent divines in it , were successively from age to age the most assertors of it . it were in vain to recite the numberless passages to that purpose , it having been so often done by other hands . a list of the names of the principal authors may be seen in the late bishop of durham's historia transubstantiationis , iohn poinet , bishop of winchester , who wrote a very learned book upon the argument , entituled diallacticon , to explain the sence of the church of england about it ; iohn iewel , bishop of salisbury , the learned bishops andrews and bilson , isaac casaubon in the name and by the command of king iames the first , in his answer to cardinal perron ; mr. hooker ; iohn , bishop of rochester ; montague , bishop of norwich ; iames , primate of armagh ; francis , bishop of ely ; archbishop laud ; bishop overal , and the archbishop of spalato . to this catalogue variety of other writers might be added , but either here are witnesses enough , or there never can be . neither need i produce their testimonies , when they are so vugarly known , and have been so frequently recited . i shall content my self with the two principal , the most learned and reverend prelates poinet and andrews . the first wrote his diallacticon concerning the truth , nature and substance of the body and blood of christ in the eucharist . a book much approved and often commended by grotius , ( tho he knew not the author ) as the best discourse upon the argument , and the most proper method to restore the peace of the christian church in that point , which he further says was for that purpose translated into french by a reformed divine , by the advice of his brethren . i have not the book by me , but the design and fundamental assertion is to prove ( as dr. cosins recites it ) that the eucharist is not only a figure of the body of our lord , but contains in it the verity , nature and substance ; and therefore that these terms ought not to be exploded , because the ancients generally used them in their discourses upon this argument . but bishop andrews his passage , though grown vulgar and thread-bare , by being so continually quoted , best deserves our observation , because by that means it is made not only a declaration of his own sence , but of all that followed him in it , and that is of almost all the learned men of the church of england , that have succeeded from that time . the passage is in his answer to bellarmine in these words . the cardinal is not ignorant , except wilfully , that christ hath said , this is my body . now about the object we are both agreed ; all the controversy is about the modus . we firmly believe that it is the body of christ , but after what manner it is made to be so , there is not a word extant in the gospel , and therefore we reject it from being a matter of faith. we will , if you please , place it among the decrees of the schools ; but by no means among the articles of religion . what durandus said of old , we approve of . we hear the word , feel the effect , know not the manner , believe the presence . and so we believe the presence too , and that real no less than your selves : only we define nothing rashly of its modus , neither do we curiously inquire into it ; no more than how the blood of christ cleanseth us in our baptism ; no more than how in the incarnation of christ the humane nature is united to the divine . we rank it in the order of mysteries ( and indeed the whole eucharist it self is nothing but mystery ) what remains beside , ought to be consumed by fire , that is as the fathers elegantly express it , to be ador'd by faith , not examined by reason . this was his state of the controversie , that was then perus'd and approv'd of by king iames , and ever after retained by the divines of the church of england down to the rebellion and subversion of church and state , and then it was carried into banishment with its confessors . for whilst his late majesty resided at cologn , it was there commonly objected , in his own presence , by the roman divines against the church of england , that all its members were meer zuinglians and sacramentarians , that believed only an imaginary presence . upon this dr. cosins , who was then dean of the chapel royal , by his majesties command writes a discourse to vindicate the church of england from that calumny , and to give an account of its sence concerning the true and real presence ; in which he declares himself to the same purpose with all the forementioned authors , all along vehemently asserting the true reality of the presence , and still declaring the modus to be ineffable , unsearchable , above our senses , and above our reason . so that still all parties are agreed in the thing it self , were it not for that one mistaken supposition , that the church of rome hath not only defin'd the matter , but the manner , which she is so far from pretending to attempt , that before she proceeded to decree any thing about it , she declar'd that it was so incomprehensible , that it was not capable of being defin'd , as we see all christendom hath done beside . now after all this i leave it to the common sence and ingenuity of mankind , whether any thing can be more barbarous and profane than to make the renouncing of a mystery , so unanimously receiv'd , a state test . and that is my present concernment about it , not as a point of divinity , but as turned into a point of state. thus far proceeded the old church of england , which as it was banished , so it was restored with the crown . but by reason of the long interval of twenty years between the rebellion and restitution , there arose a new generation of divines that knew not joseph . these men underhand deserted and undermined the old church , as it stood upon divine right , and catholick principles , and instead of it crected a new church of their own contrivance , consisting partly of independency , partly of erastianism , with the independent , leaving no standing authority in the christian church over private christians , but leaving every man to the arbitrary choice of his own communion ; with erastus allowing no jurisdiction to the christian church , but what is derived from the civil magistrate . these principles being pleasing to the wantonness of the people , these men soon grew popular , and soon had the confidence to call themselves the church of england : but the principal object of their zeal was the destruction of popery , and the only measure of truth , with them , was opposition to the church of rome . and therefore they assum'd to themselves the management of that great and glorious war. and as they managed it upon new principles , or indeed , none at all ( never writing for our church , but only against that church ) so they advanced new arguments to represent the church of rome as odious as possible , to the people . among these the two most frightful topicks , were transubstantiation and idolatry . one was a very hard word , and the other a very ugly one . these two words , they made the two great kettle-drums to the protestant guards . they were continually beating upon them with all their force , and whenever they found themselves at any disadvantage with an enemy ( as they often were by pressing too far , for they never thought they did enough in the cause ) by making a noise upon these two loud engines , they could at pleasure drown the dispute . now , ever since this alteration of the state of the war between the two churches , we hear little or nothing at all of the real presence in the cause , but it is become as great a stranger to the ( i.e. their ) church of england as transubstantiation it self , but the whole matter is resolved into a meer sacramental figure and representation , and a participation only of the benefits of the body and blood of christ by faith. i know not any one writer of that party of men that hath ever own'd any higher mystery , but on the contrary they state all the disputes about the eucharist upon sacramentarian principles , and with them to assert the true reality of the presence of our saviour's body and blood in the sacrament , as naturally resolves it self into transubstantiation , as that does into idolatry . and the main argument insisted upon by them , is the natural impossibility of the thing it self to the divine omnipotence , which beside the prophane boldness of prescribing measures to god's attributes in a mystery that they do not comprehend ; 't is , as appears by the premises , a defiance to the practice of all churches , who have ever acknowledged an incomprehensible mystery , not subject to the examination of humane reason , but to be imbraced purely upon the authority of a divine revelation . and therefore that ought to be the only matter of dispute . for if it be a divine revelation ( as all christendom hath hitherto believed ) that determines the case without any further enquiry ; and if any man will not be satisfied with that authority , he makes very bold with his maker . and men of those principles would no doubt , make admirable work with the definitions of articles of faith by the four first general councils . but to let their new way of arguing pass , it is these men that first set up sacramentarian principles in this church , and then blew them into the parliament house , raising there , every session , continual tumults about religion , and it is to their caballing with the members that we owe these new and unpresidented tests . perhaps to have their own decrees and writings established by law , and imposed upon the whole nation as gospel . in short , if they own a real presence , we see from the premises how little the controversie is between that and transubstantiation , as it is truly and ingeniously understood by all reformed churches . if they do not , they disown the doctrine both of the church of england and the church catholick , and then if they own only a figurative presence ▪ ( and it is plain they own no other ) they stand condemned of heresie by almost all churches in the christian world ; and if this be the thing intended to be set up ( as it certainly is by the authors and contrivers of it ) by renouncing transubstantiation , then the result and bottom of the law is under this pretence to bring a new heresy by law into the church of england . and yet upon this foot i find the controversie stands at this present day between the bishop of rome , or the bishop of condom on one part , and little iulian in the back-shop with his dragoons on the other part : the bishop establishes the real presence in opposition to the figurative ; his answerer turns the whole mystery into meer type and figure , by seting up a figurative interpretation of the words of institution , and yet confesses it at the same time to be somewhat more than a figure . to this it is reply'd , i would gladly know what that is , which is not the thing it self , but yet is more than a meer figure of it : to this it is answered , that the presence is spiritual , but yet real ; but how a corporeal substance should have a real spiritual presence , is a thing that requires more philosophy to clear it up than transubstantiation , or in the words of the author himself : we suppose it to be a plain contradiction that body should have any existence , but what alone is proper to a body that is corporeal . this is their last resolution of this controversie , that a true real presence is a contradiction ; and so i think is a real spiritual presence of a bodily substance . this scent the whole chace follows , and unanimously agree in this cry , that there is no presence , but either meerly figurative , and that shuts out all reality , and is universally condemned by all the reformation ; or meerly spiritual , ( i.e. ) the present effects and benefits of the absent body and blood of christ , which hath been all along equally cashiered by all other reformed churches , as the other grand scandal of zuinglianism . thus the london answerer to the oxford discourses : there can be no real presence , but either figuratively in the elements , or spiritually in the souls of those who worthily receive them . so dr. st. all which the doctrine of our church implies by this phrase , is only a real presence of christ's invisible power and grace , so in and with the elements , as by the faithful receiving of them to convey real and spiritual effects to the souls of men. the oxford answerer to the oxford discourses allows no other real presence but the virtual presence , that is the meer effect . so the popular author of the discourse against transubstantiation , makes no medium between the meer figurative presence and transubstantiation , so that all other presence , that is not meerly figurative , comes under the notion of transubstantiation . now the gentlest character he is pleased to give of this monsieur , is this , that the business of transubstantiation is not a controversie of scripture against scripture , or of reason against reason , but of downright impudence against the plain meaning of the scripture , and all the sence and reason of all mankind . but besides the intolerable rudeness of the charge against all the learned men of the church of rome , as the worst of sots and ideots , if there be no middle real presence between transubstantiation and the figure , he hath cast all the protestant churches into the same condemnation of sots and fools . but howsoever rash and preposterous it may be for presons that believe the real presence to abjure the word transubstantiation , ye to determine any part of divine worship in the christian church to be in its own nature idolatry , is inhumane and barbarous . idolatry is a stabbing and cut-throat word , its least punishment is the greatest that can be , both death and damnation ; and good reason too , when the crime is no less than renouncing the true god that made heaven and earth . thus exod. . . he that sacrificeth unto any god , save unto the lord or iehovah only , he shall be utterly destroyed . deut. . . if thy brother the son of thy mother , or thy son , or thy daughter , or the wife of thy bosom , or thy friend which is as thine own soul , entice thee secretly , saying , let us go and serve other gods ( which thou hast not known , thou nor thy fathers ) namely of the gods of the people which are round about you , nigh unto thee , or far off from thee , from the one end of the earth unto the other : thou shalt not consent unto him , nor hearken unto him : neither shall thine eye pity him , neither shalt thou spare , neither shalt thou conceal him . but thou shalt surely kill him ; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death , and afterward the hand of all the people . and thou shalt stone him with stones , that he die : because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the lord thy god which brought thee out of the land of egypt , from the house of bondage . this was the crime , and this the punishment of idolatry , and the sentence was so severely executed , that for the setting up the golden calf , or symbol of the sun , that the aegyptians worship'd , as the supreme deity , as will appear in its proper place , three thousand of the ring-leaders , were put to the sword by the command of moses , exod. . . and for this reason it pleased god to destroy the canaanites from off the face of the earth , ( i.e. ) for giving divine worship to false and created deities in defiance to the eternal creator of it . so black a crime as this , that is no less than renouncing god is not lightly to be charged upon any party of christians , not only because of the foulness of the calumny , but the barbarous consequences that may follow upon it , to invite and warrant the rabble , when ever opportunity favours , to destroy the roman catholicks and their images , as the israelites were commanded to destroy the canaanites and their idols . but before so bloody an indictment be preferr'd against the greatest part of christendom , the nature of the thing ought to be very well understood . the charge is too big for a scolding word . and how inconsistent soever idolatry may be with salvation , i fear so uncharitable a calumny ( if it prove one ) can be of no less damnable consequence . it is a piece of inhumanity , that out-does the salvageness of the canibals themselves , and damns at once both body and soul. and yet after all , we have no other ground for the bold conceit , than the crude and rash assertions of some popular divines , who have no other measures of truth or zeal , but hatred to popery ; and therefore never spare for hard words against that church , and run up all objections against it into nothing less than atheism and blasphemy , of which idolatry is the greatest instance . but if they would lay aside their indecent heats , and soberly enquire into the nature and original of idolatry ; they would be as much ashamed of the ignorance of their accusations , as they ought to be of its malice . and therefore i shall set down a plain and brief account of that argument , that when we understand the easie , obvious , and natural notion of idolatry , it will for ever expose the vanity of these men's fanatique pretences . i pray god there be nothing worse at bottom , seeing it has ever been set up as the standard against monarchy . it is a subject that hath entertained the most able pens in the world , but i shall not presume or pretend to be so learned , but shall confine all my knowledge to the word of god , chiefly to the mosaick writings , for there it is fully and clearly stated , the mosaick law being enacted purely in opposition to idolatry . now nothing can be more obvious , than that the notion of it there is neither more nor less than this : the worship of the heavenly bodies , the sun , the moon , and the stars , or any other visible and corporeal deity , as the supreme god , so as to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible godhead . this evidently appears both by the almighties several revelations that he made of himself to the children of israel to preserve them from it , and from the several characters and descriptions , that himself hath upon numberless occasions made of it . most learned men would trace its original from before the flood , but they follow their chase without any scent , as generally all antiquaries do , when they pursue into the first source and original of things . the iewish robbies ( that are of too late a standing to pretend to any authority in such antient matters ; for as they lived not above six ages before us , so they had no other records than what we have , the writings of moses and the prophets ) derive its original from the age of enos ; but as their conjecture is founded upon an ambiguous word , so it is contradicted by the state of the world at that time ; for by reason of the long lives of the patriarchs from the creation to the flood , it is not easie to conceive , that the memory and tradition of the late creation of the world should be worn out in so short a time , enos being adams's granchild , and living in the same age with him for some hundred years . but the plain demonstration that there was no such impiety before the flood , is , that moses , when he reckons up the causes that provok'd god to bring that judgment upon the world , makes no mention of the sin of idolatry , of which , if they had been guilty , as it is a sin of the first magnitude , so it would have held the first place in the indictment . others make cham the father of this monster , as they do of all other crimes , but for no other reason beside his ill name . others derive it from the tower of babel , which they will have to have been built for an altar to the sun , after the custom of after-times , when they worshiped him upon high towers for altars . maimonides , and his followers , find deep footsteps in the time of abraham , who was born in ur of the chaldees that is , say they , the country of the antient zabii , the founders of idolatry ; and for that reason he was commanded out of his own country to the worship of the true god. but this dream of the zabii is so modern , and so void of the authority of any antient record , that it proves it self a fond imposture . tho in abraham's time ( and that was many centuries after the flood ) we meet with the first traces of this apostacy : for that extraordinary discovery that god was pleased to make of himself as supreme lord of all things , was made to abraham in opposition to the idolatry of his own country , i.e. chaldea , who seemed to have been the first founders of it , and for that reason god commanded him to leave his country , his kindred , and his fathers house , and sojourn in the land of canaan , where the tradition of the knowledge of the true god seems to have been much better preserved . so that tho there were some decays from the true old religion , yet they were as yet very far from an universal apostacy . that the plague was then broke out in chaldea , is evident from the words of ioshua , ( . . ) your fathers dwelt on the other side the river in old time , even terah the father of abraham , and the father of nachor , and they serv'd strange gods. but when abraham came into canaan ; i find no records that the customs of his country had pass'd the river , but on the contrary evident instances of their knowledge of the true god , as creator of heaven and earth . what can be more plain than the story of melchisedeck , priest of the most high god ( a term appropriate in scripture to the supreme deity ) in his blessing abraham . blessed be abraham of the most high god , creator of heaven and earth . and when god consumed sodom and gomorrah with fire from heaven , idolatry is no where reckoned among the causes and provocations of that severe and unusual judgment ; and had it been one of their crying sins , it would have been the loudest , and so never have been omitted by the sacred historian . and when isaac was forced by famine into the country of the philistines , abimelech their king entred into a solemn and religious covenant with him of mutual defence and offence , upon this inducement , that he was the blessed of the lord , or the peculiar favourite of iehovah ; so that as long as himself and isaac were of a side , the supreme gods immediate mediate providence would be engaged in his protection . the first plain intimation we find of it in palestine is in the history of iacob , after his conversation with the shechemites , where , upon his departure from that city by god's especial command , he builds an altar at bethel to god , and commands his family to put away their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or strange gods. and from this time we read of nothing of this nature till the deliverance of the children of israel out of egypt , after they had been deteined there four hundred and thirty years , according to the hebrew , or two hundred and fifteen according to the seventy , the greatest part of which time was spent in slavery and bondage . but at , and after their deliverance , we hear of nothing else but cautions against idolatry or worship of strange gods , as if in that long tract of time and misery , they had lost the tradition of the god of their ancestors , and by long conversation with the egyptians , had taken up their masters religion together with their burdens ; and it was scarce possible to be otherwise for men in their poor condition , after so long a tract of time , than to take up the religion in publick practice . long custom and conversation naturally inures men to the manners of the country , but slavery breaks men to them : and what could be expected from miserable people , who spent all their days in carrying of clay , gathering straw , making bricks , and all offices of servility , than that they should serve their masters gods , as well as their masters themselves ? and that this was their case , is evident from the whole series of the story . the first discovery that the almighty made of himself , was to moses , in the burning bush , where he tells us , i am the god of thy fathers , the god of abraham , the god of isaac , and the god of jacob : but this seems to be a new language to moses ; for he replys , when i come unto the children of israel , and shall say unto them , the god of your fathers hath sent me unto you , and they shall say to me , what is his name ( or what god is he ) what shall i say unto them ? to this he is commanded to answer , i am that i am hath sent you ; that is , the only self existent being , that is , the only supreme deity , and god of your fathers : and for the truth and demonstration of this , he refers both him and them to the following miracles . and when moses was discouraged by the complaints of the people , because of their severe usage , the almighty gives him encouragement upon this powerful motive , i am jehovah , or i am the lord , who will deliver you with a strong hand , or stretched out arm , i.e. i am that omnipotent , self-existent being ; and that shall be the proof of it , the great miracles that i will work for your delivery . and at the time of their deliveranee he immediately institutes the passover , not only as a memorial of the thing , but as i shall prove afterwards , the strongest bar against idolatry . but as soon as they sat down at the foot of mount sinah , which was their first place of rest , god's first care was to make further provision against idolatry , where after a fearful and glorious representation of his presence , he gives the ten commandments , whereof the four first are directly levell'd against idolatry . first , he enjoyns the worship of himself , who by his almighty power had delivered them from their egyptian bondage . in the next place , he forbids them the worship of all idols , i. e. as himself describes them , the likeness , or similitude , of any thing that is in heaven above , or in the earth beneath , or in the water under the earth . a plain and indeed logical definition this , that idolatry is giving the worship of the supreme god , to any created corporeal or visible deity , or any thing that can be represented by an image , which nothing but coporeal beings can , and to suppose such a being the supreme deity , is the only true and proper idolatry . and tho there may seem to be two sorts of it : first , either to worship a material and created being as the supreme deity : or secondly , to ascribe any corporeal form or shape to the divine nature ; yet in the result , both are but one ; for to ascribe unto the supreme god any corporeal form , is the same thing as to worship a created being , for so is every corporeal substance . this is , i say , the true and only notion of idolatry : and all the strange gods mentioned in the scripture , are only some most glorious pieces of the visible creation , as i shall prove at large from undeniable testimonies . and for this reason it was , that the very angels , by whom this affair was immediately transacted , never made any appearance in any visible shape , but only in a cloud , or in a glory , to prevent the very peril of idolatry ; and therefore moses in his dying and farewel speech , reminds them over and over , that at horeb they heard the voice of god , but saw no similitude , with this application to them , lest you corrupt your selves , i. e. by believing that there can be any similitude of the supreme godhead . and as this is the literal and plain sense of the two first commandments , so it seems to be the only design of the third and fourth : for the english of the third , if it were rightly translated , runs thus ; thou shalt not give the name of the lord thy god to a vanity or idol ; and so the septuagint ▪ render it : for the word vanity and idol are synonomous in scripture , because an idol is a vain and empty thing that represents nothing ; for when it is set up as the symbol and image of a deity that is no deity , it is the image of nothing , as st. paul defines it . so that it is not the meer image it self that is the idol , but the image as representing a false god , tho it be only a symbol , and not a picture of him , as most of the heathen images were , of the sun , as the calf , and the ram. these are the vanities or representations of false gods in use , at that time , among the neighbour nations , that seem to be here properly interdicted in this commandment . as for the fourth commandment , it is the very sacrament of the worship of the true god , the creator of heaven and earth , in opposition to idolatry , or the worship of his creatures , and therefore is prescribed , as it were , as the holy day of the creation , continually to mind the iews , that the god that they worship , was the god that made the world , and all the gods that their neighbours worshiped , particularly the sun , moon , and stars , his creatures . this then being set up as the great festival , of the creator of heaven and earth , from hence it was that the precept of not worshiping of idols , and keeping the sabbath , are so frequently coupled together in scripture ; and that the breach of the sabbath is punished in the same manner as idolatry it self . but i shall treat of this more largely when i come to a review . at present i have only given a narrow prospect of the whole matter , but upon a full and open view of the mosaick history , it will appear in full and undeniable evidence , by these two considerations . first , if we consider the great propensity of the israelites to renounce the worship of the one true invisible god , and to return to their accustomed worship of idol gods. secondly , if we consider that these gods were nothing else but the heavenly bodies , and that the sun was worshiped as the supreme deity . as to the first , their continual revolts , and rebellions against that almighty god , of whose power they had had so much experience , could proceed from nothing less than the most inveterate and invincible prejudices . their whole history from their first deliverance to their last captivity , is nothing but a perpetual series of disloyalty against the god of israel , to play the harlot ( as the scripture expresses it ) or commit fornication with the idols of the gentiles . psal. . we have an acurate epitome of this whole history , the miracles that god wrought for them in egypt , in the wilderness , in the land of canaan , notwithstanding all which , as they made continual attempts of rebellion , so they at last sunk into an universal apostacy , v. . provoking him to anger with their high places , and moving him to iealousie with their graven images ; so that at length he gave them up into the hands of their enemies : and first the ten tribes were lead away captive , and not long after the tribe of iudah , as it immediately follows in the same psalm , god was wroth , and greatly abhorred israel , so that he forsook the tabernacle of shiloh , the tent which he placed among men , and delivered his strength into captivity , and his glory ( that was the symbol of his divine presence ) into the enemies hand . but to trace a few particulars . the first opportunity they could gain in the wilderness , after the miraculous deliverance out of egypt , by the absence of moses , they set up and worshiped the golden calf , a form of worship they were accustomed to in egypt : what this idol was , is variously disputed by learned men ; some will have it to have been made in imitation of the cherubin , when as yet god had made no description of them . others , and almost all the learn'd , will have it to have been the idol of apis , or serapis , or osyris , whom the egyptians worshiped by that symbol ; and that it was the same idol , is certain ; but i take it to be much more antient , for as yet we find not any footsteps of divine worship given to men and women . that folly is of a much younger date , and seems to have been brought in purely by the grecian vanity , to derive the originals of all nations from themselves , and to people heaven with their own country-men . thus they tell us , that this apis was king of the argives , natural son to king iupiter by niobe , who marrying isis , left his kingdom , and went into egypt , who teaching the barbarous people civility , and the art of dressing vines and agriculture , he was by common consent chosen their king ; and after he had reign'd with extraordinary wisdom and mercy , to the great improvement of the nation , when he dyed , they deify'd him , and worshiped him under the image of a calf or ox , all which is pure grecian fable . for egypt had been a famous nation many hundred ages , before any of the grecian deities were born : it was a flourishing kingdom in the days of abraham : i am sure they knew how to dress their vines , and plow their fields , before there was any such nation as greece , or any of its cantons known by any records : there was no news of them till the trojan war , and that is the thing objected by all writers to the greeks both before and since christianity , that their remotest antiquity is meer novelty in comparison of the egyptians , and is confest , by their own best and most antient writers ; at least in these antient times , there were no men nor women deities , gods or goddesses . but when the greeks had stollen their religion from the eastern nations , in requital they furnished them with gods of their own , and clapt the heads of one of their own country-men upon every antient idol , thereby gaining reputation of antiquity , both to their nation and religion , as if they had been as antient as the egyptian and oriental idolatry . thus they fasten this old idol of the golden calf upon king apis , whereas if there ever were any such man ( for the greeks have neither faith nor knowledge enough to be believ'd one word in any matter of antiquity , either of their own , or other nations ) he was born many ages after this idol had been famous in the world : and in that unknown interval of which there are no historical records , and therefore the whole story of him , as well as of all the other grecian gods , is nothing but fable . and much more probable it is , that the greeks were so far from bringing a god apis into egypt , that they carried the very word thence : apis being the hebrew and egyptian word to signifie a calf , or a bullock , and so it is rendred by the septuagint . ieremiah . . in the prophetick burthen against egypt , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . why did your apis fly , or that your beloved calf desert you , because the lord did drive him ? tho we render it in the english translation , why are thy valiant men swept away ? so that the calf can be nothing else than an old egyptian idol , or symbol of some deity , that they had been accustomed to worship . and therefore thinking themselves betray'd or deserted by moses after forty days absence , ( as for this moses , the man that brought us up out of the land of egypt , we wot not what is become of him ) they force aaron to restore to them the symbols of their old gods to go before them , instead of this new god , that now seem'd to have deserted them , and to those they ascribe their deliverance out of egypt ; and this is the first chearful act of devotion , that they seem to have perform'd since their deliverance . for as for all their worship of the true god , especially at the delivery of the law , it seems to be forc'd and uneasie , to which they were rather over-aw'd by dreadful appearances , than inclin'd by their own choice . and the solemn sacrifice that was made immediately after , was the act of moses , rather than the people , who rather seem'd spectators , than actors ; and therefore as soon as they thought themselves quit of him ( which was immediately after ) they set up their idol , and were transported in their devotions towards it , to a degree of madness they rose up early in the morning , and offered burnt-offerings , and brought peace-offerings , and the people sat down to eat and drink , and rose up to play . this solemnity had been endear'd to them by custom and education , and there could be no other ground of their great joy , than that they were restored to the exercise of their former religion , and the worship of their old gods , of which the calf was one of the most eminent symbols , so that when they say that was the god that deliver'd them out of egypt , their meaning is , the god of which that was the symbol or representation , according to the language of those times , and indeed of the whole old testament , to give the name of the deity to the idol . now at that time we find no other mention of any other deities , than the sun and heavenly bodies ; so that this calf could be the symbol of no other gods than the sun , and therefore was ever reckoned among their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their holy animals , as the egyptian priest and antiquary manetho informs us , of which aries and taurus were the chiefest , and both of them consecrated in honour of the sun , being the two first signs in the heavens ; but the festival of aries was the most solemn , when the sun entring into that sign , began the joyful new year . in opposition to which the israelites were commanded to cut the throat of the paschal ram upon that very day , with all the ceremonies of contempt , as shall appear more afterward . this invincible obstinacy in their old religion , notwithstanding the mighty works god had wrought for their deliverance , is severely upbraided to them long after by god himself to his prophet amos , have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years , o house of israel ? but ye have born the tabernacle of your moloch , and the star of your god remphan , and their images which ye made to your selves . this is a plain description of their great averseness to the worship of the true god in the wilderness , when god declares , that in reality they never worshiped him at all , but stuck close to their old god moloch , which is but a synonymous word for the god baal , i. e. the sun , and therefore they are promiscuously us'd in scripture to express one and the same deity . thus ieremy , . . they have built the high places of baal to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings unto baal . but chapter the . v. . the same crime is thus express , they built the high places of baal to cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire unto moloch ; by which it is undeniably evident , that they were but synonymous terms for one and the same god ; and indeed they are words of the same signification , denoting supreme or kingly power , and so were appropriated by them to the sun , as sovereign lord of the universe . this strange inclination of the israelites to idolatry , or the worship of baal and moloch , is so vehemently upbraided to them in the scripture , as shews it to have been inveterate and impetuous beyond example : so god himself upbraids it to them , that when he did such mighty things for them in their deliverance from egypt , and only required them to renounce the idols of egypt , yet they rebelled against me , and would not hearken to me ; they cast not away the abomination of their eyes , nor the idols of egypt . and when ioshua had setled them in the holy land , he forewarns them to serve the true god sincerely , and to put away the gods which their fathers served on the other side the flood , and in egypt . by which it appears , they had not yet parted with their old gods : but the next generation made a total revolt ; and the children of israel did evil in the sight of the lord , and served baalim , and they forsook the lord god of their fathers , which brought them out of the land of egypt , and followed other gods , of the gods of the people that are round about them , and bowed themselves unto them , and provoked the lord to anger , and they forsook the lord , and serv'd baal and ashteroth . this whole book is nothing else but a narrative of their sin by idolatry , their punishment by captivity , their repentance by imploring of the mercy of the god of israel , till at last after so many relapses , they are thus answered by god in their addresses and supplications unto him : and the children of israel cryed unto the lord , saying ; we have sinned against thee , both because we have forsaken our god , and also served baalim : and the lord said unto the children of israel , did not i deliver you from the egyptians , from the ammorites , from the children of ammon , from the philistins ? also the zidonians and the amalekites and maonites did oppress you , and you cry'd to me , and i delivered you out of their hand , yet you have forsaken me , and served other gods , wherefore i will deliver you no more : go and cry unto the gods that ye have chosen , let them deliver you in the time of your tribulations . but upon their reformation they are delivered , and as soon relapse , of which a train of instances are to be seen in that book . here it may be observ'd all along that the scripture notion of idolatry is renouncing and forsaking the true god , to worship other gods , or baalim , that is , idols of the sun , whom they commonly call'd the king of heaven . and so they sin on , till god suffered his own ark ( the symbol of his own presence ) to be carried into captivity : they apply themselves to samuel to intercede for them ; samuel returns them the old answer that god himself had often made , if ye return unto the lord with all your hearts , then put away the strange gods , and ashteroth from among you , and prepare your hearts unto the lord , and serve him only , and he will deliver you out of the hands of the philistins : then the children of israel put away baal and ashteroth , and served the lord only . and samuel at the resigning of his government , upon the election of saul , upbraids them with their continual ingratitude against the lord their god , from their first deliverance out of egypt to that very day , in for saking the lord to serve baalim . so plain is the practical notion of idolatry through the whole sacred history . under the pious reigns of david and solomon the sin of idolatry was competently well retrench'd , till the dotage of solomon , when his wives and concubines turn'd away his heart after other gods , so that solomon went after ashteroth the goddess of the zidonians , and after milcom the abomination of the ammonites . but the great revolt was made by ieroboam , upon the division of the kingdom , tho rather upon a political than religious account . ieroboam said in his heart , now shall the kingdom return to the house of david , if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the lord at ierusalem ; whereupon he makes two calves of gold , and said to the people , it is too much for you to go up to ierusalem , behold thy gods , o israel , which brought thee up out of the land of egypt . it was only an artifice to oblige the people to himself by restoring to them their old egyptian idolatry . some will have these calves to have been set up in imitation of solomon 's cherubin , but this is fully confuted by the learned visorius . if ieroboam , saith he , by his calves design'd to imitate the establish'd religion of his country , i pray you when he took these counterfeit cherubs , why not also the ark , the propitiatory , the seat of god , where the divine majesty appear'd most conspicuously in giving of oracles , the tabernacle and the temple ? why if they were made only in imitation of the cherubs , why did he not call them by their own name , by which they were known to the people , when that would have been a more easie way to deceive them ? why did he not take the priests of the family of aaron , why did he banish them out of his kingdom , why did not the people comply for three whole years , if it had been an imitation of their old religion under david and solomon ? why if they were nothing but cherubins , are they so often in scripture styled other gods ? why should he sacrifice to them , when in the law of moses no sacrifices were offered to the cherubim ? so that it is plain that these calves were set up by him as idols or symbols of a new or separate religion from the tribe of iudah ; and tho he took up the old egyptian idol for his foundation , yet he seem'd to have erected a motley religion upon it , like that of the samaritans of old , partly to invite the people of all nations into his kingdom , where every man worshiped his own god ; and partly by diversity of religion , more effectually to divide his own kingdom from that of the line of solomon . tho not long after rehoboam and the tribe of iudah revolt from the worship of the true god ( as the scripture aggravates it ) above all that their fathers had done . and from this time idolatry , or the worship of baal , was the prevailing religion in both kingdoms , tho sometimes check'd by the piety of reforming princes . but it spread so fast , that elijah thought himself left alone , tho for his comfort god informed him , that he had the small remainder of in israel , all the knees which have not bowed unto baal . but the infection soon became universal , and tho god almighty sent his prophets from time to time to reclaim them , yet all in vain , they still continued to worship the host of heaven , and serve baal , till finding them irreclaimable , he first delivered the ten tribes into the hands of shalmaneser , king of assyria , where they continue in captivity to this day , and are a lost nation . but the piety of hezekiah at that time for a while repriev'd the tribe of iudah : but his son manasseh built up again the high places , which hezekiah his father had destroyed , and he rear'd up altars for baal , and worshiped all the host of heaven , and served them : upon this god by his prophets denounces their destruction . because , saith he , they have ever done that which was evil in my sight , and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of egypt , unto this day ; or because they have forsaken me , and burnt incense unto other gods , that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands ; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against them , and shall not be quenched . but the execution of the sentence is suspended during the pious reign of his son iosiah ; but as soon as he is gathered to his fathers , ierusalem and the temple are destroyed by nebuchadnezzar , and king zedekiah with all his people are carried captive into babylon . this is a compendious history of the old jewish idolatry , and i think a sufficient proof both of their strange inclination to it , to the highest degree of madness , and wherein it plainly consisted , their forsaking the true invisible god , to worship created deities ; than which nothing is more evident through the whole series of scripture . to this evidence i might add a more ample proof out of the writings of the prophets , that are almost wholly imployed upon this subject . but i must not be too tedious , and therefore i shall only observe , that they generally express the greatness of this folly under the figure of ungovernable lust. thus ezekiel the d . god describes it to the prophet under this scheme . son of man , there were two women , the daughters of one mother , and they committed whoredoms in egypt , they committed whoredoms in their youth ; there were their breasts pressed , and there they bruised the teats of their virginity ; and the names of them were ahola the elder , and aholibah her sister , and they were mine , and they bare sons and daughters ; samaria is ahola , and jerusalem aholibah ; and ahola played the harlot when she was mine , and she doted ( or run mad ) for her lovers , the assyrians her neighbours , with all their idols she defiled her self , neither left she her whoredoms brought from egypt ; for in her youth ( 't is in the hebrew ) before she was ripe of age , they lay with her , and they bruis'd the breasts of her virginity , and poured their whoredom upon her ; wherefore i have delivered her into the hand of her lovers , into the hand of the assyrians , upon whom she doted , and after whom she ran mad . the same is repeated of her sister aholibah , who for her incorrigible adulteries is delivered into the hands of the babylonians ; nothing can be expressed with greater vehemence than this , that is compared to the utmost lewdness of female lust ; and nothing more evident , than that this lewdness consisted in deserting the true invisible god , to worship the false deities of their neighbours , particularly the gods of the egyptians , assyrians and chaldeans . and that is my second head of discourse , that the gods that they worshiped at that time were nothing but the heavenly bodies , or the sun , as the supreme deity . this is evident enough from what hath already been discoursed , idolatry in general being every where described in scripture by the worship of the host of heaven , or heavenly bodies . thus deut. . . lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven , and when thou seest the sun and the moon , and the stars , even all the host of heaven , shouldst be driven ( tempted ) to worship them , which the lord thy god created for the use and benefit of all nations under the whole heaven . so chap. . v. , . if there be found any among you that have wrought wickedness in the sight of the lord your god in transgressing his covenant , and hath gone and served other gods , and worshiped them , either the sun , or moon , or any of the host of heaven , ye shall stone him to death , king. . . they left all the commandments of the lord their god , and made them molten images , two calves , and made a grove , and worshiped all the host of heaven , and served baal . so manasseh erected altars to ball , and worshiped the host of heaven , chap. . . so iosiah , when he destroyed idolatry , brought out the vessels of the host of heaven . and the jews , when after their return from captivity , they would enter their solemn protestation against idolatry , they do it in this form — thou even thou art lord alone , thou hast made heaven , the heaven of heavens , with all their host , &c. nehemiah . . so jeremiah . . ierusalem and iudah shall be destroyed because they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven , and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. so zephaniah . . god threatens to destroy the worshipers of baal , and of the host of heaven : and lastly , st. stephen in his last speech upbraiding the jews with their idolatry , says , that god gave them up to worship the host of heaven . so evident is the practical notion of idolatry , through the whole series of scripture , that it was the worshiping the heavenly bodies as the supreme deities , or as iob emphatically expresses it , chap. . ver . . if i beheld the sun when it shin'd , or the moon walking in brightness , and my heart hath been secretly enticed , or my mouth hath kissed my hand , this also were an iniquity to be punished by the iudge , for i should have denyed the most high god. what can be more plain than this definition of idolatry , that it is the worship of the sun and moon , because it would have excluded the worship due only to the most high god ? and the very word , that we commonly translate images in general , signifies properly images of the sun. thus leviticus . . god threatens them i will destroy your images , as we translate it ; but in the hebrew your chamanim , i.e. images of the sun. so the second of chronicles , chap. . v. . and so it is set sometimes in the margent even in the english translation [ or sun images ] as isaiah . . ezek. . . and so all learned men of all nations , all religions , ever understood the old notion of idolatry , till this last age , when folly and passion cast it at any thing that peevish men were angry with . so rabbi maimon , the most learned and judicious of the jewish doctors , discourses at large , that the antient idolatry was nothing but the religion of the eastern nations , who acnowledge no other deities but the stars , among whom the sun was supreme , in opposition to which false principle , he says , god enacted the law of moses . this was the sense of all the other old heathen nations , as may be seen at large in eusebius's collections of their several opinions in his first and third book of the preparation of the gospel , where he proves , that the antient heathens worshiped only the stars , without any notion of heroes and demons . the same is attested by all the historians ; by diodorus siculus of the egyptians , by herodotus of the persians and chaldeans , by strabo and iustin of the arabians , by caesar of the germans ; so macrobius , in his first book saturnal , proves it of all the antient idolaters , that it was the worship of the sun as the supreme deity . so in the antient hymn to iupiter ascribed to orpheus , it is the sun only that is all along adored . in short , so all learned men interpret all the several idols that we read of in the holy scriptures ; particularly those two learned protestants , mr. selden , in his learned book de diis syris ; and gerard vossius , de idololatria , proves all the idols mentioned in scripture to have been only so many several appellations of the sun , whom the antient idolaters believ'd to have been the supreme god and creator of the world , as baal , baal peor , bel , moloch , dagon , baalzebub mythras , &c. in a word , the whole nation of the critiques , that agree in nothing else , are unanimous here ; tho indeed the thing is so evident in all the accounts , histories and descriptions of the antient idolatry , that it is to me the greatest astonishment in the world , that men should apply it to any other purpose . i know there was another sort of idolatry introduced afterward , the worship of men and women , but i find no such practice in the scriptures , but take it to have been much more modern , and a meer invention of the vain and lying greeks ; but whensoever it came in , it was grafted upon the old stock , of giving the worship of the supreme god , not only to created , but to mortal beings . here it were easie to wander into a large field of mythologick mystery ; but besides that , i take all mythology to be much more fable than the literal fable it self : i have resolved to confine my self to the information of the holy scriptures , from whence , as we have the most infallible testimony that can be had , so in this case we can have no other , all other writings whatsoever being by some thousands of years too modern to give any account from their own knowledge of those antient times . and for a more acurate account of this , i shall refer the reader to that admirable book of dr. spencers , concerning the jewish laws and the reasons of them , in which he proves every minute circumstance of the ritual and ceremonial law to have been enacted only for the prevention of idolatry or sun-worship . there any gentleman that delights in antient learning , may have his glut of pleasure and satisfaction ; for beside the great compass and variety of polite literature , he hath brought wit , sense , reason and ingenuity into the synagogue . i will only exemplifie the thing in some few particulars . the first is the institution of some rites peculiar to god's own worship , both as a bar to preserve them from any other worship , in which those rites were not us'd , and as an obligation to bind them the faster to their duty to himself ; among these the chiefest are circumcision and the sabbath , which he instituted , as it were , the two sacraments of the jewish religion , or the worship of the creator of heaven and earth , to distinguish them from their neighbour nations , who worship only his creatures . with circumcision god sign'd his covenant with abraham , which was the first revelation of himself against idolatry , and the foundation of the whole mosaick law , which was seal'd to , by this sacred rite of circumcision ; so that without it , they were esteemed no better than idolaters , and an uncircumcised man signifies no less than an heathen . this reason is expresly given by god himself at the first institution of it in his covenant with abraham : i will establish my covenant between thee and me , and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant , to be a god unto thee , and to thy seed after thee . this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee , every male child among you shall be circumcised . and you shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin , and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt you and me ; and therefore the uncircumcised shall be cut off from his people , as having broken my covenant , i.e. renounced the true religion , which is , as grotius observes , not reasonably to be understood of infants , but of men grown to years of understanding , whose parents had neglected that office in their infancy , and therefore if they did not supply that defect , when they came to age , it was looked upon as renouncing the worship of the true god , of which this was the first sacrament or ceremony of admission into the jewish church , which alone profess'd it , and that is the reason of st. paul's assertion , every man that is circumcised , is a debtor to do the whole law , i.e. he that willingly and knowingly undergoes this initiating ceremony , by vertue of that he obliges himself to the observation of the whole mosaick law , and all things commanded in it . and for this reason no proselyte was admitted to the paschal festival , the most sacred solemnity of the jewish religion , without circumcision . when a stranger shall sojourn with thee , and will keep the passover to the lord , let all his males be circumcised , and then let him come near , and keep it , and he shall be as one that is born in the land ; for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof . this seems to be the meaning of that passage , ioshua . . when god commanded ioshua to circumcise all the people , that were born in the wilderness , and that indeed is all then living ; for those that came out of egypt were dead , and when ioshua had done it , god tells him , this day have i rolled away the reproach of egypt from off you ; the reproach of egypt was their idolatry , which they had now renounced by the sacrament of circumcision . and accordingly in the persecution of antiochus epiphanes to abolish the jewish religion , and establish idolatry , the jews are commanded to leave their children uncircumcis'd ; and the apostates endeavoured to blot out the marks of their circumcisioni ; and certain women that had taken care to circumcise their children , were put to death , and the infants hanged about their necks . that was the distinctive mark through all ages between a worshiper of the true god and an idolater . so that it was the same thing , not to be circumcised , and to apostatise to idolatry . the second , and indeed the greatest bar of all against idolatry , was the institution of the sabbath in memory of gods creation of the whole visible world , and for that reason this doctrine of the sabbath , was reputed as fundamental an article in the jewish church , as the doctrine of the cross in the christian , because all other articles of their religion depended upon the belief of their god's creation of the world. and therefore when god had given moses a compleat body of laws for his own worship , he ratifies , and as it were comprises them all in a vehement and reiterated pressing that one law of the sabbath , exod. . v. . to the end of the chapter . and after the children of israel had committed idolatry in worshiping the golden calf , for which god had for some time cast them off , he is at last prevailed upon by moses to renew his covenant with them upon a new contract . first , that they worship none of the gods of the heathen nations , nor ever use any of their rites and ceremonies . and then that they be more careful to observe the passover and the sabbath , exod. . . and the observation of the sabbath is again enforced in the very beginning of the next chapter , as the bond and epitome of the whole law , and moses gathered all the congregation of the children of israel together , and said unto them , these are the words which the lord hath commanded that ye should do them , six days shall work be done , but on the seventh day , there shall be to you a holy day , a sabbath of rest to the lord , whosoever doth work therein shall be put to death ; as if the sabbath alone were the whole law , according to that saying of the talmud , whosoever denies the sabbath , denies the whole law. because that 's an acknowledgment of the creator of the world , as the author of the mosaick law. and for that reason the almighty upon all occasions styles himself in scripture , creator of heaven and earth , which we ( improperly enough ) translate possessor of heaven and earth ; and indeed the history of the creation it self , and the whole pentateuch , seem to have been written on purpose to prevent idolatry , or the worship of created beings ; and therefore moses doth not set down the creation of the universe in gross , but of every part by it self , particularly of the sun , moon , and stars . and that is in it self a sufficient security against giving them that were meer creatures , the worship that is only due to the creator . and this seems to be the reason of the particular form of words in the fourth commandment , remember the sabbath day to keep it holy , for in six days the lord made heaven and earth , and rested the seventh day ; as if he had said , be sure that you be particularly mindful of this commandment of the sabbath above all others , for it is a day dedicated to the eternal memory of the creation , and therefore enjoyn'd to be observ'd every seventh day , that it may continually bring to mind that great work , and never suffer it to decay out of thy memory . and from hence it is that the precepts of not worshiping idols , and observing the sabbath , are so frequently coupled together in the scriptures , as if they were inseparable . exod. . , . six days thou shalt do thy work , and on the seventh day thou shalt rest , and make no mention of the names of other gods , neither let them be heard out of thy mouth . levit. . . ye shall keep my sabbaths , i am iehovah your god ; turn ye not unto idols , nor make to your selves molten gods : i am the lord your god. levit. . , . ye shall make ye no idols , ye shall keep my sabbaths . ezek. . , . walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers , nor defile your selves with your idols , and hollow my sabbaths that are for a sign between you and me , that you may know that i am iehovah your god ; for their hearts went after their idols : so v. . they polluted my sabbaths . and as these commands are so frequently joyned together , so is the violation of them , as if they could not be parted , ezek. . . they polluted my sabbaths , and their eyes were after their fathers idols . and king ahaz , when he set up idolatry , he in contempt turn'd the covert for the sabbath out of the house of the lord. mac. . . and many of the people consented to the command of the king , and sacrificed to idols , and prophaned the sabbath . so necessary was it for the observation of the sabbath , and the worship of the true god , to run the same fate , or stand and fall together ; because the sabbath was instituted in memory of the creation of the world by the true god ; and therefore the belief and observation of it , was an open defyance to all idolatry , as the psalmist joyns them together , all the gods of the heathens are idols : but the lord made the heavens . and this is the distinctive character that god hath given between himself , the only true god , and the heathen idols or vanities ; the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth , and from under the heavens . the lord hath made the earth by his power , he hath framed the universe by his wisdom , and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion . now the observation of the sabbath , as instituted in honour of the invisible creator of the visible or material world , being the fundamental article of faith in the jewish church , in opposition to idolatry , or giving the worship of the supreme deity to created beings , it is for that reason more frequently recited than any other law , and its breach as severely punished as idolatry it self ; the recital of this command is almost half of the law and the prophets , and the violation of it certain death , as a crime of the same nature with idolatry it self . so evident is it through the whole series of sacred history that the sabbath was instituted in opposition to idolatry , and that the idolatry it was opposed to , was the worship of created beings as the supreme uncreated deity . to conclude this argument , tho i designed to confine my self to the testimony of holy scripture , that is the only competent witness in the case ; yet i find such a pregnant passage cited out of st. cyril of alexandria to the same purpose with the premises , from his own observation of the train of scripture history , that it were great pity to rob the reader of so fair an authority , after the israelites , ( says he ) left their own country to sojourn in egypt , in process of time they lost all memory of their ancestors , and descent from the line of abraham ; so that their antient customs being worn out by degrees , and the religion of their forefathers disus'd , they were at length debauched by conversation with the egyptians to idolatry , and gave the worship of the supreme god to the sun , and under him to the heavens , earth , moon , stars . and therefore when god delivered them out of their egyptian bondage , to bring them to the promised land , he peremptorily commands them to discard all their egyptian errors ; but because there was need of an evident sign , by which they should , as it were , be forced to confess , that heaven was made by his almighty power ; and that the sun , moon , and stars , and all other beings , were the works of his hands , he commands the festival of the sabbath as a memorial and imitation of himself and his work ; and therefore they that devote themselves to rest as their creator rested , by that acknowledge , that all other things were the product of his power ; and that is the natural design of the sabbath rest , to affect them with a sense of the supreme deity , or creator of all things . in the second place , a very great and considerable part of the mosaick law was enacted , purely in opposition to the old heathen rites and customs . here i omit the idolatry of the zabii , so much of late insisted upon by learned men , because i find no antient footsteps of any such people in the world. the mahometan arabic writers are the first that make any mention of them , and their divinity ( as the arabians describe it ) is a meer fanatick rhapsody of chaldaism , or astrologick idolatry , iudaism , or the history of the patriarchs turned into fables ; gnosticism , or the worship of demons and angels ; pythagorism , or turning all things into allegories , and therefore must be of a much younger date than christianity . the first time we read of them , is in the alchoran , and mahomet gives them that name of zabii , because they lay eastward from arabia , for so the word signifies easterlings : or more probably from a fanatick imitation of the old testament , that frequently and commonly styles the heathen idolaters by the title of the men of the east , i.e. the chaldeans , who were situated eastward of iudea . after him we have no account of any such nation as the zabii , till about eight hundred years since . for the prophet and his barbarous followers , as they conquered , destroyed all monuments of learning , till being setled in peace and empire , ( as is the manner of all barbarians ) they betook themselves to the humour of learning , and translated books out of other languages , not only greek and latin , but of their neighbour nations into their own tongue . this is the most antient account , after all the noise that has been made of their extreme antiquity , that we have of any zabian writers ; so that setting that modern nation aside , the mosaick rites were instituted in opposition to the more antient idolatry of their neighbour nations , particularly the egyptians and the canaanites , of whom there was most danger by reason of their late conversation with the one , and their new conversation with the other . and therefore against these god arms them with a special caution , after the doings of the land of egypt , wherein ye dwelt shall ye not do ; and after the doings of the land of canaan , whether i bring you , shall ye not do ; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances . this contrariety of the jews to the laws and customs of all other nations is made use of by haman to king ahasuerus to procure their destruction ; esther . . and haman said unto king ahasuerus , there is a certain people scattered abroad , and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom , and their laws are divers from all people , neither keep they the kings laws ; and therefore it is not for the king's interest to suffer them . if it please the king , let it be written that they may be destroyed . this is perpetually objected by manetho the egyptian priest against the jews , that they aimed at nothing so much in the rites of their religion , as to affront and reflect defiance upon the egyptian devotion . and so tacitus his account of them is this ; moses ut sibi in posterum iudaeorum gentem firmaret , novos ritus contrariosque caeteris mortalibus indidit ; prophana illis omnia , quae apud nos sacra ; rursum concessa apud illos , quae nobis incesta . moses , that he might the better confirm the iewish nation to himself , instituted new rites , contrary to the customs of the rest of mankind ; what is most sacred with us , is most prophane with them ; and what with us is esteemed most abominable , is allowed to them as lawful and innocent . this is the certain ground of that known universal contempt and hatred of all other nations against the jews : and so that passage in ieremiah , cap. . ver . . is applyed by grotius to the jews , mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird ; the birds round about her are against her : mine inheritance is become like a strange bird , and is pursued by all the birds of the field ; as when a bird of a strange colour , happens to consort with other birds , it is natural for them all to set upon it ; and this was the case of the jews in reference to all their neighbour nations . it were an endless work to recite all the rites peculiar to the jews , and instituted in contradiction to the customs of their neighbours , when it is the only reason that runs through almost all their law , even to the boiling of a kid or lamb in its dams milk ; to the sowing of divers seeds together ; plowing with an ox and an ass ; wearing linsey woolsey , &c. and therefore i shall only instance in two remarkable particulars . the institution of the passover ; and the law against sacrificing in high places , both which are enjoyn'd as most effectual remedies against idolatry . the passover was the first law instituted by god , at , or upon their deliverance out of egypt . in the tenth day of this month , they shall take to them every man a lamb , a male of the first year , according to the house of their fathers . in the observation of this great solemnity , as it is there prescribed , every the most minute circumstance is an express defiance to the egyptian follies . first , the paschal lamb must be a male a year old , that is , a young ram ; and that was the greatest affront that could be put upon the egyptians , that held a ram not only in religious esteem , but the most sacred of all their holy animals in more antient times , as the symbol of the sun entring the sign aries , and beginning the new year : and afterwards of iupiter ammon , whom the greeks planted upon the stock of the old egyptian idol of the sun. now upon the account of the sacredness of these animals , they never offered any of their species in sacrifice . and hence when pharoah bid moses go sacrifice to the lord in the land of egypt , moses answers , that they dare not , because it would be an abomination to the egyptians , so that they would stone them ; that is , it would be a prophaneness and open affront to the religion of the egyptians if they should offer in sacrifice ( according to the custom of their fore-fathers ) those very animals that the egyptians had consecrated to the honour of their gods. and for the same reason they are commanded to sacrifice the passover with a young bullock , as well as a young ram , out of the flock , or out of the herd , as the scripture expresses it . and when king iosiah kept , after a long intermission , a most solemn passover , besides lambs and kids , he gave to the people bullocks . now next to a ram the bullock was the most sacred of all the holy animals , and therefore made the second sign in the zodiack . and therefore when the greeks , or later egyptians , gave the first symbol to iupiter ammon , their supreme god , they gave the second to osyris , by them commonly called apis ( not understanding that that word only signifyed the image , not the deity ) so that here tacitus his malice is not much in the wrong ; caeso ariete velut in contumeliam ammonis , bos quoque immolatur , quem egyptii apim vocant . they sacrifice a ram in affront to ammon , and a bullock in affront to osyris . beside , it must be a male , not a female , because the egyptians and heathens ( who indeed generally followed the egyptian customs , especially the greeks ) used only females in their sacrifices . but the most observable circumstance in this whole solemnity , is the time of its celebration ; the lamb was to be solemnly set apart for the sacrifice on the tenth day of the month , till the fourteenth , because on the tenth day , on which the sun entred the sign aries , began the great festival of aries , or the new year ; so that beginning the jewish passover at the same time , it was a manifest triumph over the egyptian deity , by cutting the throat of the poor beast , with as much solemnity as the egyptians at that very time worship'd it . and for the same reason a cow that was sacred to isis , or rather to some more antient deity , i suppose the moon , was commanded to be driven out of the camp , and burnt as an unclean beast ; and so because the egyptians addressed their worship to a goat , as the symbol of some deity , probably the sun in that sign , god commanded the jews to make use chiefly of goats in their expiatory sacrifices , and particularly the scape goat , laden with all the sins , and all the curses of the people ; and hence the israelites were strictly forbidden to sacrifice to goats , which we translate devils : and they shall no more offer sacrifice to devils , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) to goats , after whom they have gone a whoring . this shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations . but to return to the paschal ram , all the circumstances of the institution carry a remarkable significancy in them : thus when they are commanded to besmear the side-posts , and upper door-posts or lintal of every house : what could have been a more publick contempt of the egyptian religion , when by it they declared , that the almighty power that had prov'd it self by so many miracles and judgments , especially this last in the death of the first-born , commanded to put all manner of contempt upon those creatures that were consecrated to the worship of their gods , and to leave those bloody posts to the egyptians , as monuments of their baffled deities ? and tho i have no reverence to the authority of the jewish rabbies in the account of antient times , being not only very trifling , but very modern writers ; yet there is cited an excellent passage out of r. abraham seba , that i cannot omit to recite , not for its authors sake , but it s own . the egyptians began the computation of their months from the time that the sun entred aries ; and this whole month was celebrated with extraordinary festival solemnity , and was more sacred than all the months of the year beside . god therefore designing to set his people at as great a distance as could be from the customs of the heathens , commanded them to begin the year , not from the full moon , as the egyptians did , but from the first day of the month ; and whereas the egyptians spared their cattle , and durst not so much as eat rams flesh , therefore they are commanded to kill , roast , and eat it ; so that whereas they offer incense to it , and perform their solemn devotions before it , these are commanded in contempt to sprinkle the blood of this most holy animal upon the very threshold of their houses . so far the doctor . so again they are commanded not to eat the paschal ram raw , in opposition to the customs of the antient and barbarous heathen nations , who eat all their sacrifices raw , especially at their signing of covenants and treaties of peace ; and that is the original reason of the command to abstain from blood. then it is to be eaten in one house , not to be eaten abroad in solemn pomp and procession , as the heathen priests did their raw sacrifices . nor a bone of it to be broken , because the heathen priests in their pretended holy rage were wont to tear their sacrifices in pieces with their teeth . the head with the legs and purtenance to be eaten , because the heathens only eat the viscera , or inwards , nothing of it to remain till the morning , lest it should be abus'd to superstitious uses , as the heathens did the relicks of their sacrifices , who sold them to the people as a charm against diseases and ill luck . all which circumstances are most particularly remarkable in the bacchanalia , or great festival of bacchus , that the greeks stole out of egypt , as well as all their other superstitions , as the most learned of them confess : and concerning the bacchanalia in particular , herodotus tells us by whom they were first brought out of egypt into greece , viz. the famous physitian melampus . lastly , the passover was not to be sodden in water , becaue the egyptians and syrians always boil their sacrifices , especially to horus or the sun ; and for that reason it is , that this little circumstance is so often urged , and so strictly observ'd . and this is particularly objected by manetho the egyptian against the jews , that they were not content only to destroy their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their consecrated animals , but consumed them by fire , as it were burning their gods in effigie . these are the great reasons , why the divine law-giver laid so much stress upon this solemnity , and all the circumstances belonging to it , when it was the grand diagnostick , or distinguishing character between the worshipers of the true god , and of created deities . and therefore upon all apostasies of the people from their religion , it was the custom of their pious princes to recall them , by reviewing and renewing the laws of the paschal festival . so iosiah , when he set himself to abolish all relicks of idolatry , and establish the worship of the true god for ever : he commanded all the people , saying , keep the passover unto the lord your god , as it is written in the book of the covenant . surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the iudges that iudged israel , nor of the kings of iudea . that was an undenyable proof of their complete reformation . the second law enjoyn'd in opposition to egyptian idolatry , is that against sacrificing upon high places , which were egyptian altars built in the form of high towers , that they might make nearer approaches to the sun in their devotions . and therefore god , on the contrary , commands the israelites to sacrifice to himself upon a low altar of earth , exod. . , . without steps or stairs ; which laws were given either with , or immediately after the ten commandments , as it seems of equal weight with them . so that to offer sacrifices upon high places , is always represented in scripture as a very high act of idolatry ; and to destroy the high places in scripture as an eminent act of reformation , which must be understood of towers , not of mountains , that are not so easily demolished . so levit. . . i will destroy your high places , and cut down your images , [ or chamanim ] and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols , and my soul shall abhor you . so numbers . . balack took balaam and brought him up into the high places , or pillars , as the septuagint always render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of baal , that thence he might see the utmost part of the people . so numb . . . ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you , destroy all their pictures and molten images , and pluck down all their high places . in the historical and prophetick writings , idolatry is almost every where exprest by sacrificing or worshiping in high places . the idol priests are styled priests of the high places . this , says herodotus , was the received custom of the antient nations , and of this nature were the egyptian pyramids ; and that which is still standing is built in the form of an altar , i.e. a four square plane , ten cubits broad on every side , ( not as it is vulgarly suppos'd , a point or spire ) to which the priest advanced by ascents , which herodotus , that viewed them above years ago , says , were so many lesser altars . but that the pyramids were supposed in the more polite times , to have been antient altars , is evident from that known verse of luca● . votaque pyramidum celsas solvuntur ad aras. there are monuments of this antient custom still remaining in the west indies . gage in his survey , describes such a tower in the middle of the great temple at mexico , of an ascents , where their priests offered all their sacrifices . in short , the people of israel were so fond of these high altars , that some princes , who would have demolisht them as pieces of idolatry , were forced to persist for fear of popular tumults and seditions . so asa in his reformation , when he burnt their idols , could not remove their high places . so iehoash could do every thing , but remove the high places . so amaziah was forced to leave them behind him : so his son azariah : and when they were demolished by hezekiah , and some of the more pious princes , they were ever first restored at the peoples return to idolatry . and agreeable to what is here represented is the reason annexed to the divine law , lest ye discover your nakedness ; which words , tho they may be literally taken , yet according to the language of scripture in this matter , they have a much higher meaning , i.e. lest you commit idolatry or adultery with other gods , and expose your shame and nakedness by playing the harlot upon your high places : these two things , idolatry and adultery being so frequently joyned together in scripture , as the same crime . thus far , to mention no more , it pleased god to provide against idolatry , by enacting special laws in direct opposition to the heathen rites . when god had casher'd the more rank and notorious acts of heathen worship , he retained some of their more innocent rites , especially those that were derived from the antient patriarchs , before the later corruptions were crept in , lest if god had given a law altogether new , and abolished all their old customs , people that are always fond of the usages of their fore-fathers , should rather have revolted to the heathen idolatry , than submit themselves to such a new and uncouth religion ; and therefore out of condescention to their rudeness and weakness , god permitted them to retain several of their former rites and ceremonies in his new worship , that by that indulgence he might win them more easily to embrace his new institution . and this seems to be the grammatical sense of st. paul's expression , that god suffered their manners in the wilderness forty years , where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffered , is taken from the use or language of mothers or nurses , that are forced to humour and comply with the little follies of their children by any way to please them . in allusion to this word , god was pleased to express his treatment of the children of israel , who knowing the weakness of their rude and childish understandings , permitted and indulged them to enjoy not a few of their former conceits together with his own divine law. and so moses lets them know in his farewel speech , that the lord had all along born with them , as a father doth with his child . and so grotius paraphrases that passage of st. paul , when we were children , we were in bondage under the elements of the world , i. e. says he , we were under subjection to those rites and usages that were common to us with the rest of the world , as temples , altars , sacrifices , new moons , to which he might have added , oblations of first fruits , purifications , festival solemnities , tabernacles , dedication of tenths , the ark ; the cherubim or teraphim ( for they are promiscuously used in scripture , and are of very antient use : ) these , and the like old customs were enjoyned the people of israel , lest for want of them they should relapse to idolatry . and because these customs were common to the jews with the rest of the world , therefore they are call'd the elements of the world , and weak and beggarly elements , and carnal ordinances , that were impos'd and born with till the time of reformation , in the apostolical writings , when they would beat down the value of the mosaick law. but to omit the rest , i shall only insist upon the cherubim , that god commanded to be placed over the ark , and all divine worship to be directed towards them , and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold , of beaten work shalt thou make them , in the two ends of the mercy seat , &c. that they were statues or images is out of doubt by their description , but of what particular form is matter of controversie among learned men ; tho what ever they were , i am not concerned ; it is enough that they were images used in the worship of god , and then the use of images is not in it self idolatry . that the word originally and properly signifies an ox , is evident from ezekiel , who uses the words promiscuously , chap. . . as for the likeness of their faces , they four had the face of a man , and the face of a lyon on the right side , and they four had the face of an ox on the left side , they four also had the face of an eagle : but chap. . . the same things are thus described , and every one had four faces ; the first face was the face of a cherub , the second the face of a man , the third of a lyon , and the fourth of an eagle and as an ox or a cherub was used by the antients as a symbol of strength or power , so thence came they to signifie the thing it self ; so god tells the king of tyre , that he was his anointed cherub , i. e. that he had made him great and powerful . hence whenever god in scripture is said to sit upon , or dwell between the cherubims , it is when his power particularly is represented . thus when the israelites were defeated by the philistins , they agree at a council of war to send for the ark of god to save them out of the hands of their enemies . so the people sent to shiloh , that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the lord of hosts , who dwelleth between the cherubims . so king hezekiah in his distress calling upon the divine protection and deliverance from his enemy ; and hezekiah prayed before the lord , and said , o lord god of israel , that dwellest between the cherubims , thou alone art god of all the kingdoms of the earth . so psal. . . the lord reigneth , let the people tremble ; he sitteth between the cherubims , let the earth be moved . and for this reason were these sacred images placed over the ark , as the symbols or hieroglyphicks , to represent the presence of the divine majesty ; so that as the ark is styled god's footstool , the cherubims are called his throne : and so when the ark and cherubims were brought into the temple , this anthem was sung : lift up your heads , o ye gates , and be ye lifted up , ye everlasting doors , and the king of glory shall come in : who is this king of glory ? the lord of hosts , the lord strong and mighty , the lord mighty in battle . in short , these images were the most sacred things in all the jewish religion ; what they were , i will not determine ; some will have them to have been statues of beautiful youths ( as they are now vulgarly represented : ) others , the statue of a young bullock , from the synonymous signification of the words : but the * most learned conclude them , as they suppose with good authority from the scriptures , not to have been any one certain form , but mixt of several forms , in which that of a bullock had the biggest share ; but compounded of these four shapes , a man's face , an eagles wings , a lyons back , an oxes or bullocks thighs and feet . as they are described in the fore cited chapters of ezekiel , . & . and to this no doubt st. iohn alludes in his vision of the four beasts , rev. . , . round about the throne were four beasts ; and the first beast was like a lyon , and the second like a calf , and the third had a face as a man , and the fourth was like a flying eagle . and they rest not day and night , saying , holy , holy , holy , lord god almighty , which was , and is , and is to come . in allusion , 't is no doubt , to the representation of the immediate divine presence in the ark by the cherubims , that were made up of these four beasts , that were probably pitcht upon , because of that great preheminence that they hold above all other orders of creatures . a man for understanding , an eagle for swiftness , a lyon and a bull for strength . but what ever they were , they were sacred , images set up by god himself in the place of his own worship ; and he was so far from forbidding the use of images in it , that he would not be worshiped without them . this is the true account of idolatry , as it is stated in the scripture from the grand design of the mosaick law , to restore the worship of the true invisible god , the creator of heaven and earth , in opposition to the idols , or created deities of the heathen world , and by all wise arts and methods to keep them loyal to himself : and this gives us the true rationale of the mosaick law , in which every particular rite had some regard to idolatry . so that the breach of any one ceremonial law was a degree of it ; and to boil a kid in its mothers milk was idolatry , as well as to offer sacrifice to the sun , because the heathens used that form of ceremony in the worship of that god. god did not think it sufficient for their security to forbid them the worship of this false god , but every minute circumstance that belonged to it , lest by degrees they might be reconciled to it . and therefore god calls himself upon all occasions a jealous god , and oftentimes a jealous husband , to let them know , that they must not only avoid idolatry it self , but all the least appearances and suspicions of it by heathen compliances . now if we compare this antient idolatry of the jews , with that of late charged by some men upon all christians of the roman communion , i know not which will appear greatest , the malice or the folly of the charge . it consists of these three heads . i. the worship of images . ii. adoration of the host. iii. invocation of saints . all which are represented to the people as crimes of the same nature with the old egyptian idolatry . but as to the first , the use of images in the worship of god , i cannot but admire at the confidence of these men , to make so bold a charge against them in general , when the images of the cherubim were commanded by god himself . they were the most solemn and sacred part of the jewish religion ; and therefore , tho images , so far from idolatry , that god made them the seat of his presence , and from between them delivered his oracles ; so that something more is required to make idolatry , than the use of images . this instance is so plain and obvious to every reader , there being nothing more remarkable in all the old testament , than the honour done to the cherubim , that 't is a much greater wonder to me , that those men , who advance the objection of idolatry so groundlesly , can so slightly rid themselves of so pregnant a proof against it . it is objected , i remember , by a learned adversary , to the great founder of this , and all other anticatholique , and antichristian , and uncharitable principles among us ; but he turns it off so carelesly , as if it were not worth his notice . first , that they only directed their worship towards the images . yea , they did so , as the symbols of god's presence , and that is to worship god by images , or to give the same signs of reverence to his representations , as to himself . and therefore when david exhorts the people to give honour to the ark , he says , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , bow down to , or worship his footstool , for it , or he , is holy . and if so much outward worship may be given to images , as symbols of the divine presence , it is enough to justifie it . but however the thing stands , the case of all images is the same , and a roman catholique may make the same plea for his church , as this author does for the jews ; and if he accept it in one case , he cannot refuse it in another ; or if he does , he will give but little proof of his integrity . at least god was not so nice and metaphysical in enacting his laws , by distinguishing between bowing to , and towards ; or if these gentlemen say , he was , they must shew us where : but what authority do these men assume to themselves , when by the precarious use of these two little particles , they think to make the same act the whitest , and the blackest thing in the world , towards an image , 't is innocent ; to it , idolatry ? but let them take which they please ( for they are their own carvers in all their own controversies ) if it be no idolatry to worship towards an image , after all their frights , they fairly give up the cause to the church of rome , that requires no more . but the second reply is much more curious and metaphysical , that the cherubims were not seen by the people , and adored but once a year by the high priest : here then we distinguish between the idolatry of the sight and the mind ; an image seen is idolatry , but if covered , 't is none . so that to adore the host exposed , is idolatry ; but in a pix , 't is none . what rubbish is here to stuff out so weighty an argument ! but if they did not see their images in the ark , they knew them to be there , and of what form they were , being described to them by god himself in their law. upon these terms it seems a blind man can never be an idolater ; and if all the romanists would shut their eyes at convenient times , they would quit themselves of this black accusation . but the high priest used this solemnity only once a year . if it were idolatry , it was as unlawful once a year , as if done every day ; and if lawfully done but once a year , it was no idolatry : it s being seldom or frequent , makes no difference ; it is either always idolatry , or it is never so . and yet these little pretences are the last result of this great argument ; and when we have loaded the greatest part of christendom with the foulest crime in the world , we think to make good the accusation by such shameless shifts and pretences as these ; for in these trifles , the dispute , as to the cherubim images , ended ; and yet the clamour of idolatry is kept up as high as ever to this very day . but what images do the roman catholiques worship ? do they worship any image or symbols of false gods , as the supreuse deities ? if they do not , then they are innocent of the worst part of idolatry . or do they attempt to make a similitude of the true god , or uncreated divine nature ? that is the other part of idolatry , and the scripture knows no more ; therefore however superstitious they may be in their use of images , yet they cannot be guilty of idolatry , but upon one of these two accounts , which no man was ever yet so hardy as to charge upon that church . till therefore it be proved that they worship images of false gods as the supreme deities , or that they worship the true god by corporeal images and representations of his divine nature , there is no footing for idolatry in christendom . as for the adoration of the host , when they can prove 't is given to it either as a symbol of a false god , or the picture of the true one , howsoever faulty it may be otherwise , it can be no idolatry . and as for the invocation of saints , unless they worship them as the supreme god , the charge of idolatry is an idle word , and the adoration it self that is given to them as saints , is a direct protestation against idolatry , because it supposes a superiour deity , and that supposition cuts off the very being of idolatry . but to give an account of their precarious notions of idolatry , and their more precarious ways of proving it , would swell to volumes ; and therefore at present i shall dismiss the argument , and shall only observe what a barbarous thing it is to make the lives , fortunes and liberties of the english nobility and gentry to depend upon such trifles and crudities , by remarking the unheard of and unparallel'd penalties that are annexed to so slender a law , viz. that every offender shall be deemed and adjudged a popish recusant convict to all intents and purposes whatsoever , and shall forfeit and suffer as a popish recusant convict , and shall be disabled to hold and office or place of trust or profit , civil or military , in any of his majesties realms or foreign plantations ; and shall be disabled from thenceforth to sit or uote in either house of parliament , or make a proxy in the house of peers , or to sue , or use any action , bill , plaint or information in course of law ; or to prosecute any suit in any court of equity , or to be guardian of any child , or executor or administrator of any person , or capable of any legacy or deed of gift ; and lastly , shall forfeit for every wilful offence the sum of five hundred pounds . here are all the punishments that can be inflicted upon a living man. convict recusancy it self , one would think , is punishment more than enough for any one crime : abjuration of the realm ; returning without leave , felony without clergy ; upon refusing to abjure , forfeiture of all goods , chattels and lands for liofe . forfeiture of sixty pounds per annum , banishment from the kings court under forfeiture of an hundred pounds , and from london on the same penalty , forfeiture of right of patronage , disabled from any practice or office in law , and finally disabled to be guardian , executor or administrator , and legatee . this was thought the utmost severity in the zealous days of queen elizabeth ; but alass ! our modern zeal will not be confined to the gentle moderation of our fore-fathers ; but now we must suffer all those , with many more , to the loss of our birth-rights , and all benefits of law , for no higher act of recusancy , than not swearing to the truth of dr. st's unlearned and fanatique notion of idolatry ; for that in reality is the bottom of all this mischief and madness . and as it is advanced among us into so bloody a charge ; i cannot but declare my utter abhorrence both of that , and its abetters , as sworn enemies to the peace of christendom ; and in the result of all , i find , that idolatry made the plot , and that the plot made idolatry , and that the same persons made both . thus begging allowance for humane infirmities , lesser errors and mistakes , which in so much variety of argument and citation will escape the greatest care , i have declared my present judgment of this unhappy law , as i will answer for my integrity to god and the world. sa . oxon . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e the names of the protesting peers to the number of . are to be seen in the journal book . lib. . dist . . conference , p. . institut . book . cap. . sect. . sect. . pag. . anno to . & to . edw. ti . animad . cass. artic. . in animad . riveti . votum pro pace art. . rivet . apol ▪ dicuss . answer to t. c. dialogue , p. . gen. . . exod. . . ver. . chap. . bochart . dr. hammond . dr. spencer . kircher . exod. . . gen. . . chap. , . ezek. . , . josh. . . judg. . . ch. . . sam. . , . cap. . king. . , . king. . . vide dr. spencer , p. . king. . . king. . , . king. . ver. . cap. . . king. . more nevoch . lib. . gen. . , . gal. . . exod. . . mac. . v. , , . king. . . psal. . . jer. . , . hom. . de fest . pasch. lev. . . hist. l. . exod. . . exod. . . deut. . . chron. . . exod. . num. . levit. . . king. . . king. . . king. . . chap. . . chap. . . act. . . deut. . . gal. . . exod. . . ezek. . . sam. . , . king. . . psal. . . * grotius . dr. spencer . villalpandus bochartus . exod. . . dr. st. of the idolatry of the church of rome . eliz. ca. . jacob. ca. . a letter form [sic] a gentleman in the country to his friends in london upon the subject of the penal laws and tests penn, william, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a letter form [sic] a gentleman in the country to his friends in london upon the subject of the penal laws and tests penn, william, - . p. s.n.], [london : . attributed to penn by wing and nuc pre- imprints. place of publication suggested by wing and nuc pre- imprints. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng test act ( ) dissenters, religious -- legal status, laws, etc. -- england. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter form a gentleman in the country , to his friends in london , upon the subject of the penal laws and tests . quod tibi non vis fieri , alteri non feceris . printed in the year . gentlemen , i wonder mightily at the news you send me , that so many of the town are averse to the repeal of the penal statutes ; surely you mean the clergy of the present church , and those that are zealous for their dignity and power : for what part of the kingdom has felt the smart of them more , and at all times , and on all occasions represented their mischeif to the trade , peace , plenty and wealth of the kingdom , so freely as the town has always done ? but you unfold the riddle to me , when you tell me , 't is for fear of popery , tho i own to you , i cannot comprehend it , any more then you do transubstantiation : for that we should be afraid of popery for the sake of liberty , and then afraid of it because of persecution , seems to me absurd , as it is , that liberty should be thought the high way to persecution . but because they are upon their fears , pray let me tell you mine , and take them among the rest in good part . if the romanists seek ease by law , 't is an argument to me they desire to turn good countrymen , and take the law for their security , with the rest of their neighbours ; and a greater complement they cannot put upon our english constitution , nor give a better pledge of their desires to be at peace with us . but if we are so tenacious as we will keep on foot the greatest blemish of our reformation , viz. our hanging , qua tering , plunder banishing laws ; is it not turning them out of this quiet course , and telling them if they will have ease , they must get it as they can , for we will never conceed it ? and pray tell me if this be not thrusting them upon the methods we fear they will take , at the same time that we give that , for the reason why we do so . if law can secure us , which is the plea that is made , we may doubtless find an expedient in that which may repeal these , if the danger be not of liberty it self , but of our loosing it by them at last ; for there is no michief the wit of man can invent , that the wit of man cannot avoid . but that which i confess makes me melancholy , is , that methinks we never made more haste to be cous●ned ; no not in the business of the declaration of indulgence , when in the name of property that was actually damn'd , which at least reprieved it ; and the price the church of england gave for it , viz. her promise of a legal case , actually failed us : for instead of saving our selves from popery , we are by these partialities provoking it every day , and methinks foolishly for our own safety ; because there can be no other end in doing so , then securing that party which calls it self the church of england , that is in her constitution none of the best friends to property ; for mens liberties and estates are by her laws made forfeitable for non-conformity to her : and i challenge the records of all time since popery got the chair in england , to produce an eight part of the laws , to ruin men for conscience , that have been made since the other has been the national religion , which is , i say , a scandal to the reformation . she says , she is afraid of popery , because of its violence , and yet uses force to compel it ; is not this resisting popery with popery ? which we call loving the treason but ha●ing the traytor : she would have power to fo●ce or destroy others , but they should not have power to force or destroy her , no not to save themselves : shift the hand never so often , this weapon is still the same . 't were happy therefore that all parties were disarm'd of this sword , and that it were put where it ought only to be , in the civil magistrates hand , to terifie evil doers , and cherish those that do well , remember●ng st peter's saying ( in cornelius's case ) for an example , i perceive now of a truth that god is no respecter of persons , but those that fear him , and work righteousness in all nations shall be accepted : else what security does the church of england give to the great body of her dissenters , that she will not do what she fears from popery , when she has a prince of her own religion upon the throne , that has made so fair a progress these last six and twenty years in ruining families , for non-conformity under princes of an other perswasion . come , interest will not lye , she fears liberty , as much as popery : since those that want , and plead for the one , are an hundred times more in number then the friends of the other , and all of her side , that popery should not mount the chair : so that she would get more then she would lose by the repeal , if an equal desire to subject both popish and protestant dissenters to her power and government be not the principle she walks by in her present aversion . and to shew you that this is the case , and that her aversion to popery is a sham to the liberty desired , the dissenters are of no use to her , while the penal laws are on foot ; for by them they are put in the power of a prince of the religion of the church she fears ; but the moment they are repealed , so far as concerns the preventing popery to be national , the dissenters are equally interested with the church of england against it . but then here is the mischief ; this liberty takes the rod out of her hand ; she can no more whip people into her churches , and she perhaps may modestly suspect her own vertue and ability to preach them thither . in short , if she were in earnest against popery , more then in love with her own power and grandure ; that is , if the world were not in the way , she would rejoyce to deliver men of her own religion , that are so much more numerous then the papists , that they might ballance against her fears of their prevailing : but to cry she is for liberty to protestant dissenters , and make the demonstration of it , her keeping up the laws that ruin them , and then say it is for fear of the religion the prince owns , and yet force them into his hands by doing so , is , i must confess , something incomprehensible . besides , properly and naturally speaking , the church of england is the people of england , and when it s apply'd to a party , 't is a faction to the whole ; and that title has no more truth in it , then 't is sence to say the roman catholick church , which in english , is a particular universal church : and pray is there no room left to consider this hard case of the kingdom ? i hope the civil magistrate will , who is the supream pastor of this civil church on earth . is she then no more then a party ? no certainly . and how great a one , a true liberty of conscience would best tell us , and that is the true reason , and not popery , that she is tender in the point . i conclude then , that whilst those of that religion only desire to be upon the level with others ; i mean upon native rights , the great charter , what we all of us call , our birth-right , let us not refuse it , lest god suffer them to prevail to curb our partiallity . there are laws enough to punish offenders against the state , if these were repealed , and not condemn people by anticipation . that law which catches a protestant , will catch a papish traytor , riotor or seditious person . again , let us reflect , that we have a prince of age , and more honour ; the prospect of three excellent princes of the protestant religion , the paucity of the papists , the number of the enemies of their commnion , their unity in that aversion : what greater security can we have in the world ? policy , honour , religion , number , vnity , ●ay , necessity too , conspire to make us safe : for all these are concerned in the means of our preservation ; unless our fears and our follies should prevail : which i confess i apprehend most ; for they will be deserted of god , that forsake him and themselves too ; who dare do a certain evil that a supposed good may come of it , contradict their own principles deny what they expect , sow what they would not reap , do to others what they would not that others should do to them : but there is a god in heaven , and he is just : he will meet to us what we measure to one another , and his judgment is inevitable . i therefore advise the church of england to be as ready in her christian complyances as is possible : first , because it is impious to keep up distroying laws for religion , when her saviour tells her upon this very question , that he came not to destroy mens lives but to save them . secondly , because by this she will wipe off rhe reproach she throws by continuing them , upon her own apologies for liberty of conscience , when under the wheel of power . thirdly , because liberty to the papists by law , is bringing them into the legal interest of the kingdom , and will prevent the force , they may else be driven to , by being made and left desperate : for ' its not to be thought they will willingly pay the reckoning in another reign , if by any means they can prevent it ; and keeping up the penal laws can be no security to the church of england from such attempts , though they may provoke them upon her . fourthly , she hereby saves her dissenters ; and if it be really her inclination to do so , she has no other way , and this unites them to her in affection and interest , if not in worship . but if on the contrary she persists obstinately to refuse this national paciffick ; the dissenters , i hope , will consider their honest interest , conscience and property , and imbrace those oppertunities to secure them , that god in his all-wise providence is pleased to yield them in this conjuncture . thus gentlemen , you have my thoughts upon your news , pray communicate them to our acquantance , and believe that i am , yours , &c. post-script . for the tests that are so much discoursed of , i shall only say , that 't is , an other mystery of the times to me , how the church of england , that was against the exclusion , can be for them that were design'd for a preamble to it ; since in so doing , she is for that which was contrived to introduce the exclusion she was so zealously against . i confess i never understood her very well , and she grows more and more unintelligible ; but this i know , that she must either be sorry for what she has done , or she did not know what she did . the first reflects upon her loyalty , the last upon her understanding ; and because i think that the least , and likeliest evil , i conclude she is no infallible guide upon the question . another thing you tell me , that gives great offence , is , his majesties turning out protestants , and putting in people of his religion . this i conceive a fault , that the church of england is only answerable for . other princes have been so unhappy as to suffer tests and marks of distinction that have broken and disorder'd their kingdoms , by depriving those of their temporal comforts , that would not receive them ; and this people esteemed a mighty grievance ; and were frequent and elegant in their complaints about it . we have a king now , that would remove these marks of distinction , and secure all men upon their native right and bottom , that all parties might sit safely under their own vine , and under their own fig-tree ; so that now , who is for liberty ? becomes the test . are they then fit to be trusted that are out of his interest , and against the liberty he is for , and the nation wants and craves ? or is it good sense , that he ( who is mortal as well as other men ) should leave the power in those hands , that to his face show their aversion to the friends of his communion tho he offers to maintain her still ? she had the offer to keep them , upon that principle that must heal and save the kingdom liberty of conscience : which shows the king was willing to be served by her sons to chuse , if upon the same general principle with himself : wherefore 't is the gentlemen of the church of england that turn themselves out of power , rather then endure liberty of conscience to others ; and shall this vice be their vertue . they must be heartily in love with persecution that can sacrifice their places to the upholding of penal laws for religion , because they would not let others , not only , not come in , but not live at their own charges : a fine thing to suffer for . their ancestors were martyers by penal laws , but these for them . the cause is chang'd whatever they think , and i am afraid they are chang'd too for want of thinking . i profess i pitty them with all my heart and wish them more wit , and better consciences against next time , if ever they have it , for these , if they will believe me , will hardly ever make so good a bargin for them , as they have lost by them . more of this , if you like it , next time , and till then , adieu . finis . an answer to the bishop of oxford's reasons for abrogating the test impos'd on all members of parliament anno , octob. in these words, i, a.b., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of god, profess, testifie, and declare, that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ at, or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation of adoration of the virgin mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the dais, as they are now used in the church of rome, are superstitious and idolatrous / by a person of quality. lloyd, william, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing l estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an answer to the bishop of oxford's reasons for abrogating the test impos'd on all members of parliament anno , octob. in these words, i, a.b., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of god, profess, testifie, and declare, that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ at, or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation of adoration of the virgin mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the dais, as they are now used in the church of rome, are superstitious and idolatrous / by a person of quality. lloyd, william, - . [ ], , p. [s.n.], london : . preface signed: drawdereve rofmada. signed, p. : dra. locnil. attributed to william lloyd, d.d. cf. halkett & laing. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng parker, samuel, - . -- reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament. test act ( ) - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - andrew kuster sampled and proofread - andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an answer to the bishop of oxford's reasons for abrogating the test , impos'd on all members of parliament anno . octob. . in these words , i a. b. do solemnly and sincerely , in the presence of god , profess , testifie , and declare , that i do believe that in the sacrament of the lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of christ , at , or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever ; and that the invocation , or adoration of the uirgin mary , or any other saint , and the sacrifice of the mass , as they are now used in the church of rome , are superstitious and idolatrous . by a person of quality . london , printed in the year . to the kingdom in general . his majesty , having with a grace exemplary not onely to all his subjects of this naiion , but to all christian princes and states , ( however they may be themselves of the roman persuasion ) design'd it , as the avowed glory and stability of his reign , to settle such a liberty , that there may be free discourses , and debates concerning the truths of christian religion , and the dissents of christians in them , as from the pulpit , so proportionably from the press ; as therefore the ministers and fautors of that church ( which would be known by the name of catholick ) have always ( and will be while they are ) always active with their pens to the utmost in their sphaer . and as we see they have publick freedom , so is it not to be doubted of the princely so vniversal grace , but that he intends a freedom on the other side to answer ; that there may be no inequality in holding the beam , but that it may alike incline to all in this matter , specially now that he is making credence of those his royal favours to all his protestant subjects , who cannot but be deeply concern'd at such a time as this ; because of the great advantages , the interests of the counter-scale hope for from a sovereign of their own sentiments . but in no case is this liberty more desirable , than when an amphibious-ambidextrous bishop , who assumes , like that angel of the revelation , to set one foot on the sea , and the other on the earth : one foot on the protestant church , ( which he calls one as if his self were of it ) and the other on the roman : in favour of which he so openly appeareth ( to speak the most honourably of him ) to conciliate toward it , at lest a cassandrian temperament : which , as it will never be yielded by the protestant , so would it not be accepted , if it were offer'd , by the papist . for he hath published ( with what intentions is best known to god , and his own conscience ) a palliation of the most irreconciliable points of the popish religion , transubstantiation , the sacrifice of the mass , the invocation and adoration of the virgin mary swoln to such a monstrosity in that religion , together with other saints , and all with images too ; points wherein the wisedom of the nation thought fit to fix the test , as the security of protestancy ; and that of images of so great infamy in sacred writ , and all these with a multitude of rampant words ; now rather than a multitude of such words should not be answered , or a man of lips be justified , even the very stones would speak : such lies and sophistry will not suffer men to hold their peace , and while he seems rather to mock than argue , should not every one endeavour to make him ashamed ? for , certainly , his ways of discourse are like those of the whorish woman in the proverbs , so moveable , one cannot know them , he comes out in this time , that he esteems a twilight , and with a prostituted subtilty he treats of sacred things : he is loud and stubborn ; his feet abide not in the house of his own church , as he his self styles it ; but now he is in the streets of the strange religion , and layeth wait in every corner with a new sort of ecclesiastical polity , or in a new edition , and his great temptation is , i have , saith ●e● peace-offerings with me , that carry at the same time reconciliableness to rome , and likewise a blessing himself in a design'd indulgence to his own genius , and caressing himself in the thoughts of his comfortable magdalen importances , and though at a high water of papacy he would be burnt for a heretick , if he did not speak more out , which without doubt he is prepar'd to do on congruous occasions , yet so much , at this seeming return of the water , is enough to beatifie and then canonize him in that present kalender , where , i doubt not , he stands markt with a red letter , and it may be a just reason to all sincere protestants to spue him out of their mouths : the observation of his double dealing and appearing more like the atheist than the learned and ingenuous , though mispersuaded , papist , sowetimes transports my style beyond its own intention and resolution , when i first essaid to consider onely the rational part of discourse in those matters ; and i am much the bolder , because i hear from all , his book hath much disserv'd his majesties gratious purpose , and created in all minds a nausaea ; specially observing his odd aspersions on so eminent a person , as dr. st. who in the thoughts of all the world is incomparably ( and beyond all possibility of being nam'd together , ) ten thousand times more , the apostolick bishop . if i have offered too largely to a just indignation here , i having the treatise it self mostly applied my self to the rational part , and minded chiefly to possess the reader with the true sense of things : i have therefore wav'd the persuit of his history of transubstantiation in the several stages of it , leaving it to more learned persons , who , i doubt not , may observe in their usual walks and dail-y paths , through the whole course of ecclesiastick times many of his erratick motions : but however the main point of truth , or falshood on that head , or article rests in this little room whether it is possible to believe such sublime spirituality ( as our lord alway breath'd ) so little of kin to sense , to matter , to flesh , should in his holy dying institution , forsake him so , that he should , intend to engage his blessed body , that was so suddenly to become a spiritual glorious body , and to asscend far above all heavens , to so inglorious , insipid , inefficacious a desscent , as onely to dispossess a small roll os bread , or wafer of its whole substance , and as by a trick to leave its accidents still intire to fool and baffle all the sense and reason in the world : and yet to so little effect as to suffer the bodies and the souls too , of the greatest number of the eaters to be without any evidences of good , as notorious and certain , as the miracle is supposed to be stupendous ; whoever can believe this , need not go to visit the dark and too oft impure cells where so strange a docrine was conceiv'd and foster'd , he hath a bulimy of faith without more ado of search and inquiry to devour all the absurdities that the name of a church can offer him . and so to the points os idolatry , abating from things pious and learned , ( to which let the utmost allowances of deference and honour be yielded , and paid ) the notions he would imprint of it on the minds of his readers , are an audacious affront ( as he speaks in a more innocent case ) to god the creator of heaven and earth in his word , who therein abhorrs all distributions and parcellings out of any the least particles of the glory of the one god , or mediator to any of the most seraphick of his creatures , angels , or saints , or the mother of god , as he speaks without precedent from scripture , and hardly allowable in a discourse of idolatry although tolerated in the case of the nestorian heresie : even so all address of any beings besides that god and the mediator , his word doth de test specially invisible beings , to whom we can make not the least application , but under the peril of idolatry as communicating them , in any semblances of worship , with those incommunicable attributes and properties of omniscience and omnipresence : he hath indeed allowed and commanded mutuous respects in the lower humane world for the settlement of the order of religious , and civil offices ; but all the figments of men's own brains concerning worship of himself , or of the mediator through the mediation of any of his creatures , and most notoriously , by graven images , or any kind of similitudes comprehending other figments , he declares to be abomination . it is a grand audaciousness therefore to offer such an insolent piece of falshood to christian minds as that the cherub were by his appointment to be worshipped , or to have worship directed to them , because their resemblances were placed as waiting at that throne that was empty of any presence to sit upon it ; but an invisible glory and grace had promised favour to those who , according to his word , praid toward that place , which he having fill'd with a visible sign of his presence of glory he after placed his name there : with as much sense therefore it might have been said that every stone in the building of the temple , or whatever was in the temple , or specially in the holy of holies , was to be worshipped as to say the cherubim were to be worshipped , of god in , through , or by them . a parallell essrontery it is to load the sun and host of heaven , the scripture with all the idolatries brands , and so contrary to the very letter of it , that the visional representation of the jewish idolatries to ezekiel , ch. . distinguisheth that of the sun from all the rest , i stand therefore in perfect amaze and astonish what the christian , much more the protestant , bishop should mean , and yet make so open and publick an appeal for his integrity , god and the world in the close . as to what concerns the test and the peerage , i humbly submit the reason of it to the higher judges in these things ; begging pardon of any errors in so great matters , as likewise taking example in that , i beg of all men allowance for mistakes of humane infirmity in so critical a point and in so critical a time . drawdereve rofmada . an answer to the bishop of oxford's reasons for abrogating the test impos'd on all members of parliament . ann. . octob. . in undertaking to give an answer to these reasons , i shall choose , as my particular province , to insist onely upon the most substantial principles of reason , and that may most concern , ( as we usually speak ) the merits of the cause , with all due regard to the character of dignity , the laws of this nation , and the constitution of the government thereof ( both civil and ecclesiastick ) have imprinted upon the authour ; as also remembring the admonition the apostle jude gives from the example of the arch-angel , who disputing with the devil about the body of moses , most probably in the cause of idolatry , did not adventure to bring against him a railing accusation , but said , the lord rebuke thee . nor will i assume to make the least reflexion upon the insufficiencies of the discourse , as to its particular frame and menage , or upon the air , meen , or spirit of it , relating to either the roman , or the protestant religion , or to the names of greatest honour , authority and reverence , who have acted , or written in defence of the reformation : but leaving all this part to those , who have both talents , and authority to support them in their just censures of such a manner of treaty of what deserves our highest value and veneration , i will content my self with debating upon the principal matters , taking them in the utmost extent of the offensive , or defensive arguments upon them . the heads therefore according to which this discourse is to be modell'd , must be those reasons , the bishop gives for the abrogating of the test : the firstof which is ; that it doth not onely diminish , but utterly destroy the natural rights of peerage , and turns the birth-right of the english nobility into a precarious title . now in the first place in answer to this , i must observe ; that in the very thought of utterly destroying this right , the episcopal authour does somewhat relent , and recoyl from the height of his expression , and abates it into a turning that birth-right into a precarious title : taking therefore advantage from that so natural , and even necessary recess , or condescension , if not to be thought , as it very much seems a check upon impetuousness of style from a consciousness of its excess ; i shall take the boldness more freely to assert , that the natural rights of peerage are not at all destroyed , but own'd , upheld , and more solemnly acknowledg'd by the test-act . secondly , that the birth-right of the english nobility is no way turn'd into a precarious title by it . and because this is indeed the onely argument for the removing the test-act , that is of true strength , and merit in the whole contexture ; it deserves the more attent consideration . for whatever shall attempt to shake such a main pillar , and fundamental principle of our english government , ought to be both suspected , and feared ; and if it indeed prove to do so , to be surpriz'd and foreclos'd from its effect : but the invalidity of this charge will thus appear . . it is most evident the right of peerage in the general stands firm , notwithstanding the test : seeing this principle of government is not onely still , but with strongest confirmations even from this very test-act on all sides preserv'd most firm and undoubted , that there is a most just right that every peer hath to all the privileges of english peerage : accordingly the very act is founded upon that acknowledgment , and supposition , viz. that every peer hath such right to all the honours of peerage , and to that right most unquestionable in it self , for else the very ground of the law were taken away . . all and every peer submitting to that law takes that right , and enjoys it without any diminution , and holds it not onely for himself , but for that whole estate : the whole being acknowledg'd in every member : and particularly sitting , and voting in the higher house of parliament , ( which is therefore with honour to that estate call'd the house of lords ) is acknowledged to be the just right of peerage without any infraction upon the right it self . . even those noble lords , who do refuse , or do not actually submit to the taking the test , have yet their right of birth , blood , or other title preserv'd undisputed , and inviolate , as it is such a right and on such a claim ; and therefore whenever they please to accept it on that condition , there is no demur upon their right . but untill they so accept , their right is in a kind of abeyance , and custody of law for them ; and never dyes , or is extinguisht . . the suspension in the mean time amounts no higher to the defalcation of the priviledge , ( nor indeed so high ) than the minority of such noble persons , which cause 's a suspension of that priviledge of voting in parliament , till they are of age , which is not at their pleasure , but requires the natural course of time to advance them to it ; whereas in this case , they may in construction of law every day remove the obstruction and enjoy their right , seeing the claim is always allow'd , and own'd , and the law takes no notice of the reasons of their refusal . . this is made most evident ; in that all other natural rights of their peerage , are notwithstanding the suspension of this particular branch continued to them . . it is most undeniable ; their right of blood , or other claim to the priviledge of parliament is unmoved ; because not their taking the test , but that precedent , and still continuing just right , gives them a perfect enjoyment of that particular priviledge whenever they take the test. which is , i hope , a full vindication of the natural rights of peerage from being utterly destroyed ; seeing it is onely one branch , that is in question , and that is onely suspended , or rather deposited in trust with the house of peers , and no way destroy'd , or extinguish'd . . i come therefore to make good in the second place , that the birth-right os the english nobility is not turn'd into a precarious title , nor that which in former ages was forfeited onely by treason is now at the mercy of every faction , or every passion in parliament . for that can never be precarious , nor at such mercy , which subsists , and rests upon the common base of the whole world for its security , and that is the law of self-preservation . for when a parliament consists of two houses , and the vpper house of two estates , each estate a convention ( as is to be always presumed ) of the wisest , and most honourable persons of a whole nation , the lower house hath always upon all their proposals , or offers at any bill , the curb and restraint ; that this is to pass the vpper house , or house of lords , and therefore cannot rationally so much , as essay them with any law , that would destroy the rights of their peerage . but suppose the house of commons should make so unreasonable an attempt , it can never be imagin'd , so intelligent a body always provident , and watchfull , so naturally sensible of honour , and of their own interest , should either be impos'd upon , or drawn by whatsoever motives to consent to the destruction of their very constitution , there being no stronger passion , or more binding cement , than that of self-preservation . and yet the preparation of the two houses for the bringing forth a law , does but form the materials , that they may be presented to the royal assent to to give them the form and life ; who as the common father of the countrey will judg ▪ of all bills , whether they are the products of passion , or faction , and so they either live , or are still-born . when all laws are therefore thus winnow'd , and sifted through these several explorations of persons suppos'd to have all manner of talents for judging , and the quickest resentments of their own interest , and concernment whether as the lower , or higher body of a nation , whether civil , or ecclesiastick , and then shall all meet in the common head , who sees , and feels for the whole , it is very adventurous to impute such enactions to the faction , or passion of a parliament . seeing this must needs be the firmest foundation humane affairs can be entrusted to in this world , viz. the law of self preservation ballanc'd by king , lords , and commons , e're any thing becomes a law. and although , it is true , the influence of the supreme prince , the genius , and temper of an age , or particular inclination of times , the configuration of various co-incidents may preponderate to the worse , in some laws , yet there must be submission to suffering , even when conscience , or reason countersways that which we call active obedience to such laws ; or all government must be unhinged , and fall . and seeing it is acknowledg'd there may be a forfeiture by treason of the rights of peerage , and that it hath been in the power of parliaments to declare the nature and kinds of treason , there is , nor can be greater danger to the peerage in trusting themselves with the suspension of one branch of their right than , in trusting themselves with the whole of those rights : and it is very rare , that humane nature ( specially such sapient and honourable part of it ) conspire with a faction , or passion against themselves , or receive a precedent srom a partial infringment of their rights to destruction of the whole ; seeing , if so great an estate hath overseen in a lesser concern , it is to be concluded , it will be the more jealous after , and where the whole is in danger ; and so there is no more consequence from the precedent of the test-law ( which is either unawares , or by the sorce of truth , or of meer grace , it being unlike the rest of this discourse , granted by the reverend authour to have been usefull in its season ) than from a necessary and prudent opening a vein to conclude the person that consents to the one , will therefore consent to the letting out the whole mass of blood. and lastly after all that hath been said ; the instances this authour gives of the first transubstantiation-test , and the protestation , or test of loyalty in which the priviledge of peerage was so carefully provided for against injury by either of those tests , do rather strengthen than weaken what hath been insisted on ; for it confirms , how quick of apprehension the house of peers have always been in that point , and therefore they would not suffer their own peerage to fall under any eclipse , sooner than they found absolute necessity , and such a good arising , as would compensate any so much , as parenthesis of the full beams of that glory on any of their members , and so that it should be no more than a parenthesis ; till such members mov'd themselves to such a position , that no part of their orb of honour should be unenlighten'd . but in the other test they seeing no reason sor the shortest suspension on accounts of loyalty , sufficiently otherwise secur'd , lest there should arise a custom of trapaning peers out of their rights , some noble personages resolv'd to stem that tide ; even as in the wise administration of what pertains to health , extraordinary methods may be resolv'd against ; but when indeed formidable symptoms appear , such resolutions may be rescinded ; and so without any dishonour but great honour , the peers who entred protestations against such superfluous tests , as were projected to ensnare and obtein upon them standing orders of the house against any such tests , and yet might upon pressing vehement urgencies , see it necessary for the safety of the whole body of the peerage to have such a test as might bring some of their members under a suspension , till they gave hostages of their not sufsering such persuasions to have the ascendent of them , as might be destructive to a protestant nobility in all appearance much the major part ; whereas in the case of the designed protestation , the lesser part were probably understood to have design'd by degrees to have disinherison'd through such artificesthe greater number , of which some lords more sagacious , being aware , entred their protestation to awaken others equally concern'd , though not so foreseeing , and whose foresight gain'd upon the rest . and seeing no such protestation was entred in the case of the last transubstantiation-test , it assures the evidence of the reasonableness of it , overweigh'd the very attempt : and so i take leave of the first reason , which i have more diligently attended in all its moments of appearance , because it is urg'd not only by this authour , but by the generality of the zealous for removing the test-act . and it issues into this most equitable maxim of government ; that the major part of each particular body politick in a nation must judg , even as particular persons do , what is best for the whole . and the house of peers being judg for it self , and most tender of it self ; and the king , the father and fountain of honour , having advised with them , and given life to a law for the suspension of the rights of those peers who neglect to take the test ; this law can by no means shake the general rights of peerage , or so much as destroy , but onely suspends the right of particular peers , till they yield obedience to that law , which acknowledging their right expects it from them , and hastens them to a compliance with it self . and this will proportionably flow down upon all parts , and persons concern'd in the test-act . if the major part of each distinct body of men in a nation shall not by their representatives freely chosen , or by the whole body it self summon'd to parliament upon the right of their peerage , conclude the whole , by their most duely weigh'd , and considered acts , presented to the supreme power , and impress'd by him , there can be no possible rest , quiet , or determination of humane affairs in any rational way , or method : and all this being of that nature , and so cautiously suspending , or preseerving , as in abeyance , and not extinguishing any right , it can never be said to destroy , nor so much as to submit to a precarious title , faction , or passion of parliament , * any right , much less the right of peerage , as being a right of blood and of inheritance . i come therefore to the bishops second reason . secondly it ought to be repealed , because of its dishonourable birth , and original ; it being the first born of oates his plot , and brought forth on purpose to give credit and reputation to the perjury . how far the wisedom of the nation in parliament shall concern it self for the honour of both the nation , and its parliaments to give reputation to the cross wounds it may seem to have receiv'd in that unhappy assair , i will not be so bold as to pry ; it being an ark of state that hath its secrets , and sacred retirements , nor at all wade in so invidious a matter ; but wholly wave the paragraph , in which it is handled ; onely i will consider how far a dishonourable occasion may give birth to a law , and the law it self still remain in honour ; and then remark upon the little interest the ( as the bishop calls it ) otesian plot may have in the test-act . as to the test , all laws have this dishonour in their original ( if we might allow things of that class , or rank to be originals ; ) to have such respect to the degeneracy of humane nature , that the apostle hath said ; the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless ; and it is a known maxime ; ex malis moribus bonae nascuntur leges . out of such manners as cou'd ne'r be said to have been good , good laws have yet been made : sic verè vertit — for grant the birth be base ; don't comets rise from fogs and vapours , 'fore they shine in skies ? and acts amazing by a pesant's son , as by a prince's , ha ve they not been done ? if so , sa . oxon is ( sai not the test is ) gone . — sic justè judicat ehmamp artnocas . aliàs drawde reverofmada . laws therefore are to be weigh'd by the serviceableness , and use they are of to the main ends of vertue , righteous ness and peace , and not by the foulness of their occasional originals . and therefore they have indeed a much higher original , if wise , vertuous and good laws ; and claim their descent from the exemplar-wisedom a nd goodness , and that eternal law of reason , truth and equity , which can never be stain'd , or embas'd by the particular occasions , upon which they are enacted , which give being to them no otherwise , than as those divine emanations exert and direct themselves against those contrary evils and vices which they forbid and punish : so that the birth , or original of this law is not to be inquir'd into ( suppose it oats's plot ) so low as oats's plot , but as the peace and safety of a community is provided for by it ; which is as the arteria magna , in that universal law of righteousness , as it concerns humane affairs , and as it is calculated for the support and security of the national religion , against the vsurpation of a foreign jurisdiction , a nobler part , than that any thing else can come in competition with it . it is then a very petty thing to weigh the goodness of a law by the next occasion of it ; and a manifest blunder upon a non cause for the true cause , to confound an occasion and an original together . let us then consider in the next place , what interest the ( so styl'd ) otesian plot hath in this law : for if in effect it should prove the first-born of that plot , the beginning , and excellence of its strength , and that it hath not a more excellent soul , and spirit , descending from above ; it might be in danger to be condemn'd to the same fate . but whoever considers the test it self , will not find the least cognation , or relation it hath to that plot , nor that any lineaments , or strokes of it enter into its composition : so that however it might receive occasion from it , yet the essentials of it are such sentiments , as the nation hath had for above the last hundred of years , and that it hath upon greatest judgment , reason and experience confirm'd it self in : and according to several emergencies added to its securities by law upon law , against the regurgitations of that usurpation upon it ; not barely because of such emergencies , but because of that grand reason , the very essence of popery hath given it : whether therefore the particular emergent hath had dimensions long and broad enough for the particular laws and constitutions which have been made , was not so much consider'd : but the whole nature of the evil fear'd , and provided against , being large enough to support such acts , it hath given reason to all such provisions ; and that was the danger of the roman religion resettling and re-instating it self in a protestant nation , as the english nation is and hath been for so great a space . thus this last act for the test , setting before it only that so full and comprehensive consideration of the increase and danger of popery in this nation , to which the former good laws had proved ineffectual , does therefore so enact as that act expresses . in all which there is not the least reference to the so much infam'd plot , nor any line looking toward it : till therefore there be a change in the very essential nature of popery , and a perfect nullity of all the fears arising from it made evident , there must be this , or that particular accidental cause quickning the legislative power of the nation to branch out it self into more and more , and further and further particular laws , that may more effectually reach the intended point , and be new in the particulars ; observing where former provisions were deficient and inefficacious : which new laws are not to be charged upon the lesser accidental causes , but on the irreconcileableness of popery , and its growth to the peace and welfare of a protestant nation . and so i have finished what i think necessary upon the bishop's second reason , to shew how inconcluding it is for the abrogating of the test. i proceed now to the third reason . the test ought to be repeal'd , because of the incompetent authority , by which it was enacted , for it is a law of an ecclesiastick nature , made without the authority of the church , contrary to the practice of the christian world in all ages , &c. . this reason rests upon these two principal pillars , that the power of making decrees concerning divine verities , is a legislative power , given as the highest act of government by christ's commission , to the officers of his own kingdom , upon which the whole fabrick of the christian church hath hitherto stood , and is to stand to the end of the world , and without which , it must run into confusion ; and that to entrench upon this prerogative of the holy catholick church , is to depose christ from his throne , by disowning , neglecting , and affronting his commission to his catholick church ; so that this power cannot be usurped without sacriledge , and blasphemy , and such a daring invasion of christ's kingdom , as that nothing more imports christian kings and governours , than to be wary and cautious , how they lay hands upon it . . that the bishops sitting in the house of lords , and ( to their shame ) consenting to this law , is not sufficient to make this law an act of church authority ; because it ought to have been first decreed by their own proper authority , without any lay concurrence and then to have come into parliament , and as they judged sit , to have been abetted with temporal penalties , a practice never violated , but by aposlates , and rebel parliaments . and lastly because particular bishops sit not in parliament by power deriv'd from our blessed saviour , but by the meer grace and favour of the king , so that the exercising any ecclesiastical authority in that place is scandalously to betray , as much as in them lies , the very being of a christian church , and profanely to pawn the bishop to the lord ; and lastly because the ecclesiastical power is by the law of england setled in convocation , and therefore to enact any thing of an ecclesiastical nature without their consent is to betray the rights of the church of england , as by law established in particular , as well as of the church catholick in general . but as a check and limitation to all this , the episcopal authour interposes ; the civil power may restrain the exercise of this ecclesiastical prerogative , as they shall judge meet for the ends of peace , and the interest of the common wealth , and punish it too at their own discretion , if it shall at any time entrench upon the power of the state , and it may prevent , or correct abuses . i have thus collected the strength of this whole reason without omitting any thing , i could think material ; i have also subjoyn'd the limitation , that it may be of the use the authour design'd it , and may also be consider'd in its place to our purpose . there are three expressions , i desire in modesty and reverence to this r. r. authour to draw a veil over . . that parenthetic ( to their shame ) viz. the bishop's shame , who consented to the test-law , because it seems so much to confine on speaking evil of dignities ; and for the same reason , ly . upon that , ( except by apostates , and rebel-parliaments , ) as also because i would not know the direct meaning of those words , but go backward to cast a covering over them . . on those words , i draw the curtain ; ( profanely pawn the bishop to the lord ) lest they seem rather , fit to be retyr'd among the bishops ludicra . but to the main purport , and stress of the argument i shall undertake to rejoyn these assertions . . that there is no such legislative power given by commission from christ to his church , or made the foundation of it . . that all such pretensions of church-power drawn from the practice of the christian church , are very invalid . . that the law of the test is not a law of an ecclesiastick nature . . and if it were , the church of england hath done enough in convocation , and other church-acts to support it . . that the presence of the bishops in parliament not protesting against it , are sufficient proof of the two last assertions . . that according to the bishop's own limitation of church-power ; it must remain a good , and necessary law , and for which the parliament had competent authority . i begin with the first . . that there is no such legislative power , given by commission from christ to his church , or made the foundation of it , which may be demonstrated in this manner . this legislative power of the church is most contrary to that holy book , from whence we derive our christian sacred religion , and to the soundest reason guided by that ; for by that there is , nor can be any legislative power in matters of divine verity but what is immediately from heaven , either by voice from thence , or by the ministery of angels , or by immediate inspiration given to holy men , prophets and apostles , and consigned by them into the holy writings we call scriptures . all which after - revelations are to be tryed , and tested by their compare with , and agreement to former revelations , as is most manifest in all parts of scripture ; and by the constant , and continual appeal of the old testament to the new : so that this prerogativ'd , legislative church , that is pleaded into so high and rampant a power , that all-seeming wavings of its authority must be an invasion of christ's kingdom , a deposing of him , an affronting his commission , smells strong of the pride , and ambition of that city , which , first , as a city , and then as a church hath always aspir'd , to have a kingdom over the kings of the earth ; as also of the luciferian ascent of the beast ; that carries it , with and upon which , i doubt not , the sacriledge , and blasphemy will be found : who exalts himself above all that is called god , or worshipped , who sitteth in the temple of god , shewing himself that he is god. but to us , there is but one law-giver , who is able to save and to destroy . one father , who is in heaven ; one master , who is christ , and all we are brethren ; one legislative-lord ; and the chiefest in his church are servants , ministring his word in the scriptures , the onely law of divine verities . and therefore in this prerogative-sense , dare not receive the title of masters , or fathers ; nor can those who receive the law of christ , made evident from the scriptures to be his law , by their ministry , upon such ministration yield them therefore the names of masters , or fathers in a legislative sense . for they know , they ought to preach christ the lord ; and themselves onely servants for christ's sake , that they have no dominion over the faith of christians , ( who are however called the laity , yet are christ's clerus , ) but only are ensamples of the flock who attends the motion of the chief shepherd , the lamb , christ jesus , whithersoever he goes , and will not follow strangers . princes , and states by light offer'd them by the ministerial labours , and services of the bishops , and elders of the church , who labour in the word , and doctrine are to direct their power according to that light they receive by such ministrations , but together , and not without their own search , into scriptures , and constant meditation therein . and the people are to obey in agreement with that law , and word of christ ; which they are to know for themselves in that light diffus'd by the preaching of the word to them in season and out of season , which , i say , they are to know for themselves , and not others for them , by the deep research of their own minds into scripture , to see whether those things are so , or not . for wisedom hath written to them , even to them , as may be seen by all the epistles of the apostles ; that they might know the certainty of the words of truth , and have their trust in the lord , and not an implicit faith in men , and might be able by apologies for the hope that is in them , to answer the words of truth to those , who send to them either in a way of advice , or challenge . whatever is contrary to this undoubted evidence of the word of god , and sound reason , seeing every one must give an account of himself to god , as well as those , who are set over them , who by faithfull offers of truth discharge themselves , whatever , i say , is so propos'd , as by a catholick church , and its prerogative , i affirm savours of that intoxicating cup of abominations in the hand of that sorceress , that calls her self the mistress of churches , and would sit the lady of the christian world , and of the power that bears it , who under pretence of the kingdom of christ undermines it , and hath , in the unsearchable judgment of god delay'd , thus long its appearance to all the world ; and is the baalam lofty prophet of that romish pergamus . . the pretended practice of the church of god in all ages , can give no presidency in this case , beyond what is thus asserted ; for in the times of the old testament , religious princes , did by the general advice , and doctrine of the prophets , and of those priests who kept their faith to the law of god , themselves govern , and reform according to that of which each king was to have a copy written by himself , which was to be with him , and he was to read it all the days of his life . that he might learn to fear the lord his god , and to keep his laws . and whereas in that precedent law , enquiry of the priest in the place god should choose , was commended ; it plainly insinuates , the divine responses , god gave at that time by the vrim , and thummim , immediately from himself were intended , but yet all was to be founded in the written law , there all was to be shown , and from thence to be learnt , or not to be receiv'd , no not under a power of seeming miiracles , deut. . in the first times of christianity , for three hundred years , there were no christian magistrates , who would wait for the churches oracle's . but for the determination of the church without a lay-concurrence , it is most apparently opposite to that grand instance of the first council , wherein the people ( if any ) distinguishingly styl'd the church ; and who made most manifestly one of the estates , ( if i may so express it ) in the whole conciliary management ; the apostles , the elders , the brethren ; and the whole consultation , and determination mov'd upon the poles of express scripture , as will be most visible to any enquirer into those conciliary acts ; for he that runs may read , acts . in the days of that first and most religious emperour constantine , although he , as all pious princes , and christians would , receiv'd light from the ministers of sacred truth , yet so that he us'd his own judgment together with it ; deploring the weaknesses he observ'd among these who seem'd to be pillars of light , but yet it must be acknowledg'd , that that apostasie , the mystery of iniquity , that began to work in the apostles days was well grown up , and advanc'd , and a legislative church was towring up its power in the christian world at that very time . but it is undoubted , there is nothing so ancient , as divine truth in the law , and in the testimony , consenting with that law of reason engraven in man's heart , and to these we must goe ; fot whatsoever speaks not according to these , there is no morning to it , nor from it ; but a night , even to a midnight , ensues upon it , what antiquity soever it pretends to . . that i may yet give a more direct answer to this reason , the test-act is not a law of an ecclesiastick nature ; for it is onely an exploration , and touch upon persons , whether they are romanists , or not : it is no canonical determination of the point of transubstantiation , it binds no decree with a spiritual , or ecclesiastick anathema , or excommunication ; which are of the essence of ecclesiastick laws , as they have been always solemniz'd , and ratified in the christian-antichristianizing world upon light occasions . but this test presumes two things , suppos'd before to be sufficiently certain . . that no romanist will deny his transubstantiation , nor consent , that his invocation of the virgin mary , and of other saints , and that the sacrifice of the mass is superstitious , and idolatrous . the test does not determine , nor pretend canonically to define of these things : it onely proposes this , as a certain discovery of the votaries of a foreign church ; nor does it mind to decide the truth of those matters : it is enough to it , to know , who do , or who do not assent to their presumed truth , and thereby to discover men , not to decree points of faith. . nor is it ecclesiastick , but purely civil , and pertaining to the state onely , whom it will judg safe to commit the affairs of this nation unto , and into what hands to entrust its interests ; and having by more than a hundred years experience , deemed it not safe for a protestant nation to be overgrown by a papal power , it hath thus resolved , and enacted ; not at that time enquiring after the truth of the things , concern'd in the test : but satisfied with the assurance , that a roman catholick ( as he is call'd ) will not assent to them , as they are there laid . which are here onely taken notice of , as matters of state ; and their doctrinal truth it supposes elsewhere to have been sufficiently ascertain'd , as shall be afterward consider'd . . for indeed the church of england hath both in convocation , in continual printed manifestations of its sense , in daily preachings , and ministrations of the truth of the word of god , abundantly , and beyond all controversie open'd , explained , and asserted concerning these things out of and according to scripture , so that not in a humane light , or determination , but in the very beams of scripture , and divine truth , which are plainly to be seen streaming from the fountain of light the word of god , there is warranty enough without any invasion upon christ's kingdom , or the rights of the officers of it , ( supposing them what we can suppose rhem ) for a parliament safely to proceed as it did ; supported by as many assurances , as it could desire ; that if the lips of the ministry of the church of england preserv'd knowledge , and that the law was to be enquired at its mouth ; the resolution of that church , in all those cases , was sufficiently known , and no injury could be done to it . . of this the presence of the bishops in parliament , not remonstrating , nor protesting against this law , his consenting ( however the author judges it to their shame ) are security enough : that they understood the test-law to be no invasion of the rights of the church , but according to the whole doctrine and government of it , as by law established . for seeing , as hath been before argued , every body , nor estate of men in parliament knew so quick and feelingly for themselves , and specially such a body as the episcopacy of a nation ; it can never be suppos'd they would , as by a common conspiracy , agree to betray their own rights and priviledges , having at hand always that freedom of entring their protestations of dissent . so that although it is acknowledg'd , they sit in parliament by the grace of the king , and by the constitution of english parliaments , and not by power deriv'd from christ , nor as a convocation according to the laws of england in that case ; yet it is always to be forethought that they sit with their understandings , with their consciences , with their senses , with their sentiments of self-preservation about them : and that therefore they would not be felones de se , by consenting to the destruction of their noblest rights ; and on account of which , they are judg'd worthy to sit as an estate , and to vote in parliament , viz. as bishops of the church of jesus christ. . but lastly , it can never be understood , but that according to the bishops own limitation , ( if that be the standard ) of church-power and praerogative , or his setting up another power and praerogative to mute it , the parliament have well done in this test-law . for seeing the civil power may restrain the exer●ise of ecclesiastical praerogative , as they shall judg meet for the ends of peace , and the interest of the commonwealth , and may punish it too , at their own discretion , if it shall at any time intrench upon the prerogative of the state , and that it may praevent or correct abuses ; who can determine , whether the states have not done according to what they might and ought to do , in preventing and correcting abuses : for if they may prevent and correct abuses , they must be able to judg of them ; they must determine when they ly , they must judge also of the best means to prevent them . and what more lyable to such judgment of abuses , and to undergo the best and most effectual methods of praevention , than the things to be declar'd against in the test ; as shall be manifestly prov'd in the following reason . and seeing that upon these very accounts it is notorious , that even in this nation church power and prerogative hath swoln beyond all bounds , and entrench'd with a vengeance upon the power of the state , why then may not the state continue the correction and punishment of it by after - acts ( seeing the bishop allows these punishments at their own discretion ) and restrain and lock down men ? certainly all the avenues to such an exercise and notions again of that power , that they hav found in all ages so destructive to the peace and interest of the commonwealth . and here i cannot but reflect upon the strange irreconcileableness of the bishop's church-prerogative , and of the civil power , as he hath stated it . for that such a seeing judging prerogative and legislative power , that can alter , make decrees concerning divine verities , should not know how to keep within its own bounds , nor so to learn its power , but that it must be restrain'd for the ends of peace , and the interest of the commonwealth , and be punish'd too at discretion for its aptness to praesume , and to intrench upon the power of the state ; nay , and beyond all this , to be so extravagant , that its abuses may have need to be praevented and corrected . who can imagine , jesus christ should be so nearly concern'd in such a prerogative and legislative power , as to be disown'd , neglected , affronted , if that he be christ risen , and that the usurpation of it should lie so near sacriledge and blasphemy , as that his kingdom should be invaded , and himself deposed ? and on such an account , that it should be such a seeing and holy catholick church ; and yet that this civil power that is suppos'd to know so little in divine verities , may bind its hands , punish , praevent , correct its abuses . what must christ , so closely importuned in it , suffer in the mean time ? what kind of kingdom and power is here allow'd in the mean time ? what governour would accept such a power as this of christ's ? or how can the king of kings , lord of lords , prince of the kings of the earth , be such an underling ? certainly this is is a precarious power , with a witness : surely in this state of things , there must be a most profane pawning the bishop indeed to the lord , or how can ever one firmament bear two such suns , or the consciences of man ever be at rest between them both ? or serv two such masters ? they must adhaere to one , and despise the other ; but since the bishop must be reverenced as a man of sense and reason , certenly it cannot be the roman holy catholic church , that may be thus treated by the civil power ; nor is it any protestant civil prince , or state that hath these powers , but only a caesar , or state of the roman character , image , and superscription hath this power , and only on protestant churches under their dominion . and so i pass with the fatigue of this confounding , perplexing reason , and com to the last but longest reason , which i shall yet but in brief consider . the fourth reason for which the test-act ought to be repealed , is , because of the uncertainty and falshood of the matters contained in the declaration it self , as , first , that there is no transubstantiation in the sacrament of our saviour's body and blood. and secondly , that the invocation of saints , and of the mother of god , is idolatrie . this reason so plainly divided by the bishop into its two parts , that of transubstantiation , and that of invocation of saints , and of the mother of god , must be distinctly considered . but before i proceed upon either of them , i must needs object , that this test is not fairly quoted , for in so great a concern every word ought to have its due place , and no pretence of keeping the substance , will justifie the variation of an iota from the very letter , except my apprehension exceedingly deceive me : the sence is much more injured , than the letter is varied : indeed the author hath been so fair , as to prefix the text of the act , that his unfair repetition may be convinced by it ; but the unwary , or unthinking reader , may easily slide into errour by it , one being in the title-page , where it may miss being considered , the other in the body of the book . observ then the difference betwixt the text of the test and the bishop's quotation ; the test runs thus : i believe there is no , &c. the bishop quotes as a proposition , there is no ▪ &c. it may be a much more uncertain proposition , and more liable to falshood , to asfirm , there is no transubstantiation in the sacrament of our saviour's body and blood , than so say , i do believe , there is none ; and so proportionably , i believe , is to be supplied to the second member of the declaration , viz. and i believe , that the invocation or adoration of , &c. now although , i make no doubt , that every christian ought to be fully assured of the propositions themselves , to be declared in the test ; yet , plain and down-right doctrinal propositions are not the proper subjects of solemn sincere profession , testification , and declaration in the presence of god. but such solemn sincere professions , testifications , and declarations , properly fall upon the belief of a man's mind ; which he knows , and hath judgment of , as a rational man , becaus they are within him ; for the apostle tells us , the spirit of a man knows the things that are within him . so that a man's belief , that is within him , may be wel declared and testified , even as all matters of sence and of trust ? and becaus they are within him ▪ known onely to himself ; there are therefore many just occasions to declare and testifie it to others : of which the denial of lawful authority , as a qualification for places of trust and power , are justly to be accounted among the principal . and this very observation , ( as it is plain , and grounded on undeniable evidence by a compute of the words of the test , set down by the bishop himself , in the title-page , and fourth reason , page . ) does indeed make vain , frivolous , and of no possible avail , or so much as significancie . all that follows , as to the test , which is the thing in quaestion , and under debate , and brings it into this narrow compass , whether persons so devoted to the faith of the church of rome , may for the ends of peace , and the interest of a protestant common-wealth , be secluded from power , and trust by the consent of the major part of their own particular bodies , and of each other body , or estate of the nation , and the supreme prince assenting , in so considerable and solemn an act , as an act of parliament must needs be ; which hath been already discours'd . for which soever side of the propositions should be true , yet stil , what a man within himself believes , he truly knows , and truly may declare and testifie : and the business of the test is not to determine , as hath been said , which part of either of the proposions is true ; but what belief each person admitted to trust , and power is of ; that so the nation , as protestant , may consult its own safety against the growth of popery into a national strength and interest , and further confirms all that hath been said , that it is no ecclesiastic act , but a pure perfect magistratic act , as the administring an oath in all other cases concerning the trust of matters of faith is . so that the affirming , that those two propositions are by this law to be solemnly and sincerely in the praesence of god , protested , testified and declared , is a down-right unfaithfulness ( not to say , out of reverence to the author , falshood ) in the very sight of the sun , in the sight , if i may so speak , of the frontispiece of the book ; which title-page gives of necessity the lye to this ninth page ; and is enough to discredit , and to call into just suspicion , the badness of the whole cause , that is so insincerely handled by a person of such a character of dignity , and sacredness of office , as a christian bishop , who ought to do so much otherwise . but this is not all the unfaithfulness of the episcopal author , in recounting the test , he is arguing against ; for whereas the declaration in the act runs thus : i believe , that in the sacrament of the lord's supper , there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of the bread and wine into the body and blood of christ , &c. the bishop represents his proposition thus : that there is no transubstantiation in the sacraments of our saviour's body and blood. now it is easie for every person , that does but in the lest apply his mind to it , to perceive , that the test leaves it free to every person to frame any mystical , spiritual , analogical , figurative sense in his own thoughts concerning transubstantiation ; and which may sufficiently satisfie and exhaust the sense of more than most words of the greek fathers import , for it is observabl , they have no word strictly greek , for transubstantion . and onely foreprize's that so monstrous contradiction to all our faculties , is the transubstantiation of the elements into the body and blood of christ. and whereas the test runs thus : and that the invocation and adoration of the virgin marie , or any other saint , and the sacrifice of the mass , as they are now used in the church of rome , are superstitious and idolatrouus . the bishop thus : that the invocation of the mother of god , and of saints , is idolatrous . leaving out adoration , and as in the church of rome , and for superstitious and idolatrous , putting in the word , is idolatrous . but although greater exactness in this proposition , had been more becoming ; yet , i must confess in my own sense , the amount is the same . these things being thus adjusted , how empty of sound sense and reason must that tragical harangue , that follows , be in ; of the monstrousness , and inhumaneness of the barbarity , that could never have entred into the thoughts of any man , but the infamous author , to oblige the whole nobility of a nation , to swear to the truth of such abstruse and uncertain propositions , which they neither do , nor can , nor ought to understand ; and this upon the penalty of forfeiting the priviledges of their birth-right . of the same nature is , that which comes after , for what immediately follows , i will be , as uncertain in , as the argument it self is , as also in the two famous burgesses of oxon. but those words , ( viz. what is meant by transubstantiation is altogether unknown to the nobility , and gentry of the nation , being onely the wars between school-men , who have quarrelled about nothing more , than the notion of transubstantiation : and that therefore , it is more uncapable to impose upon the nobility , and gentry of the nation , to abjure a thing that is morally impossibl for them to understand ; and therefore it must be a profane affront to almighty god in whose presence they swear , and shews men will swear to any thing before the searcher of hearts , rather than lose any worldly interest ) are to be cast into the main heap . together with all this , an appeal is subjoyn'd to the honourable members of both houses , whether they have any distinct idea , or notion in their minds , about what they renounce ; and that if every man gave his own account of transubstantiation , it would be a babel ▪ this is what is declaim'd with relation to the first proposition , on which fallacie the historical account of transubstantiation , design'd certainly on purpose to amuse , for it doth not add one cubit to the stature of the argument , above , and beyond what is here summ'd up . taking therefore the words of the test , as they stand in the test it self ; i will sum up the answer in these two heads . i. that all the abstruseness , darkness , and difficultie in the notion of transubstantiation , and this bishop's amusing historie of it , doth not in the lest prejudice the reasonableness of the test , but make it more reasonable . ii. that the very point of transubstantiation is the most reasonabl of all others , to settle the test upon , and the more reasonable , because of the difficultie of that notion . . let the first be consider'd with relation to the most unknowing , and uninquiring men of all , who can be suppos'd to be concern'd in the taking the test. and after the word made common english to them , which very ordinary use does to most men in the nation , much more to any likely to be concern'd , whether they can sound the word , or hammer the notion or not , is not material ; for still , what is more easy then to declare their belief according to their senses ; and that the bread and wine that they see before the words of consecration , and in which they are agreedly not mistaken , are the same bread , and wine after consecration . who would be afraid to declare , and profess , they believe it so ? and that it is unchang'd , vntransubstantiated into the flesh , and bloud of a human body . let a man be unprejudic'd , unprepossess'd , and what the least shade of doubt could fall upon him in this matter ? call in thousands together , to observe the progress from the beginning to the end of the celebration ; and would they not consent upon oath , that they fully believed there was no such transubstantiation ? let but their minds be free , undisturb'd , unperplex'd , and the whole world of touch , of taste , of sight , of smell , of hearing ( so far as hearing can have interest in the trial ) would be at perfect agreement concerning it , their minds and understandings judging by the senses alike in all . let such persons hear there are many disputes , and much variety of opinions concerning it ; and how little would it affect them , except with wonder at the folly and madness of any difference ? and let them know , some of the wisest and most learned men in the world , are of their opinion , or rather of their knowledge , by their senses , although there are others of a contrary opinion , men of name too for knowledg and learning ; and it is easie to know whose minds they would be of , viz. of theirs whose learning and senses go together . thus let the thing be brought within the verge of scripture-judgment , and upon that so very controverted ; this is my body , and discussed before the most plain and inartificial apprehensions ; and let the general manner of scripture expressing it self oft in familiar figures be laid before them : they would easily conclude on the side of their senses , and that scripture intended no violence on their faith , against their senses , on the side of so incredible a change of the elements into a humane body . nothing but the charms or inchantments rather of a false religion , and the sorcery of it , which are the things to be discover'd by the test , the slavery of an implicit faith , ( except under the terror of a severe persecution , for a contrary perswasion ) can endanger any mans falling into such an unaccountable , wilful , professed blindness . the test therefore requires not onely the easiest , most unperplexed assent , belief , and declaration , but that which all mankind with violence runs into ( if not bewitcht with superstition ) upon the lest motive of apprehension about the matter . . if sense goes thus far with the plainest and most unthinking men , how much more doth reason and rational faith assure the thinking and intelligent ? who not onely by sense determine the bread is bread , and the wine wine ; but know , it can be no other , and the whole circle of absurds , that crowd in upon the change into the body and blood of christ , that have been so often arang'd against such a figment , encompass them , that with highest reason and assurance , they can declare their belief , as the law of the test requires them to do . whatever then may be the various shapes this proteus , or camelion of transubstantiation hath put on throughout the long historie of the metamorphos'd notion , whatever dress of representation , the eloquence of the fathers , the canon of the ecclesiastics , or the difficiles nugae or the vain curiosities and subtilties of the school-men have attyr'd it in ; the sincere honest mind , and the intelligent christian , leaving all the cramping difficulties of transubstantiation to its slaves , can declare freely with the test , there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine , in the lord's supper , into the body and blood of christ. whatever spiritual communion there may be between christ in his death , and the true believer , is most humbly in the mean time owned and prayed for : which is the first thing that was to be shewn . the second head is , that the very point of transubstantiation , is of all others the most reasonable to settle the test upon , and the more reasonable in all regards , because of the so exceeding difficulty of the notion . . what can a civil power have greater indignation against , or be more willing to settle upon , as an exclusive test of all from places of honour , trust , and power ; than the being vassals to such an imposture as destroys all the truth and certainty that is in the world ? who can be believ'd upon oath , ( which the apostle says is the end of all strife ) if there be no more credit to sense , then that bread may be a humane body , and wine blood , though it hath all the evidences to sense possible , it is what it judges it to be , and that is bread ? and what more heed can be given to reason , if its main foundations can be thus overturn'd , so that all the principles of government , and humane converse , are overthrown ? what may not such bigots be screwed into , who leave themselves naked of the defences of sense and reason , at the command of a tyrannic church , and pope , and become meer tools in such hands ? who can concredit to them the interest of their country , who couch down like asses under such a burden , and especially for a notion so dark and slippery , that no one knows where to have it ? and what would become of humane commerce , if such things multiplied ? . upon transubstantiation , the test-act doth most deservedly fall ; because , when the foundations of general reason , and common sense are laid , religion , and the reason , and honour of that , as it is national , comes next to be consider'd ? that it may bear up it self , and invite both the people of the nation , and even the nations round about , to a just veneration of it : but transubstantiation being made the great , and most tremendous mystery of the roman religion , yet carrieth in the very judgment of sense , the countenance , mean , and appearance of the most notorious cheat , and juggle , that the name of religion ever offered to the world ; for there being a most contemptible , poor , and low outside onely , without the least of power , or puissance , or any the thinnest resemblance of a miracle ; demands a belief of the highest , and most constant miracle , daily to be performed by the most profligate oftentimes , and most ignorant of mankind , and depending upon their intention too , which may defeat the miracle . all this dishonours the very name of christian religion , and is so heavy , and intollerable a gabel , excise , and tax upon the religious sense of mankind , as must needs eat out the whole life , power , and reverence of it . and therefore it is worthy the notice , prevention and correction of so grand an assembly , as the king , the lords , spiritual and temporal , and commons of the nation met in parliament ; and the seclusion of all persons from so sage and awful a convention , who are under so great a slavery , as not to renounce it : for as moses testifies , the wife laws of a nation in religion give it an estimation of a wise , great , and honourable nation . if therefore a parliament secures the rights and properties of the nation , from any impositions upon their estates , but with their own consent : how justly may it doe the same against any illegal impositions upon their faith ? and whereas this transubstantitaion is attempted to be brought into parallel , and placed in the rank of other great mysteries of the christian religion , as of the blessed father , son , and spirit , one god , of the hypostatical vnion , and incarnation of jesus christ , besides the intrinsick difference of the one , and of the other : there is this vast distance , that those supreme revelations are heavenly , divine , retir'd in meditation , holy rational discourse , and spiritual adorations . but this of transubstantiation , while it does nothing , offers nothing to sense ▪ to reason , or so much as to faith from divine revelation , but by gross letter , a figurative , spiritual proposition into condensating , pressing , and incrassating , it pretends to a real operation , or conversion of bread into the body without any such thing . but yet , as if such a thing were seen to be indeed done ; mercenary priests play all the tricks of gesture , posture , elevation , geniculation , with the whole train of attendant frauds , too many to be mention'd , upon the score of a dull coarse cheat even in handicraft , and legerdemain in mechanicks . all which imposture is indeed , not onely morally , but naturally impossible ever to be understood . . it ought above all other points in popery , to be the subject of a test-act , because it hath above all other points of popish falshood , been made the test of vassalage and slavery , and as it were that very mark of the beast joyn'd with the idolatrie of adoration , and image-worship ; and of the receiving his name , and worshipping his image , which all must receiv , or be kill'd ; and none must buy or sell , that the psuedo spiritual excommunication may be pursued with secular anathema's upon all who will not bear this cognisance of the bestian usurpation . in short , this hath been the central point , from which , and into which have flowed all the cruelties , persecutions , massacres , deluges of bloud that have been pour'd out : bloud of men , women , and children , sacrific'd at this altar , that have made it indeed an altar of bloud , an altar where real flesh and bloud have been offered , and to say , the bread and wine have been so transubstantiated into the body and bloud of martyrs , were much nearer truth . here have been the so-much unheard-of barbarities and inhumanities , that would make a historie of transubstantiation truth , indeed , could it be had , worth th' having , to justifie the test , and such a one , that certainly could never upon the account of so blessed a religion , and of a sacrifice of such infinite grace , as that of jesus christs offering himself once for all for mankind , have entred into the heart of any man ; were it not that such a very detestable bestial power , that bears at this very time , and hath long born a citie , or false church , in which wil be found the bloud of prophets , and apostles , and that is drunk with the bloud of saints , and of the martyrs of jesus , is made known unto us in the revelation . now all this is matter of known historie , and of evident fact ; how justly therefore is power , and trust , endeavour'd to be surprized by a protestant parliament , from such hands that dare not disown principles so doub le dyed in bloud , on the account of which such butcheries , and burnings of men alive , have been committed ; that the so mis-stil'd barbaritie and inhumanitie of the test-act compared herewith , is not only mercie andhonor to the persons concerned , but a monument of greatest equitie and philanthropie or love to humane nature , to endeavour to extinguish out of the nation the very principles of so much bloud-guiltiness , and bloud-thirst , of the greater heinousness , becaus if the bishop be to be credited in the case , it was for not believing a transubstantiation , which it was morally impossible for those martyrs to know , and such abstrusities which they neither did , nor could , nor indeed ought to understand . . to press and force a litteral sense upon the holy scriptures free familiar condescension to our weakness , in expressing things of a high spiritual nature in such language , as we in humane bodies most easily take things into our minds by , as in the sacrament , the real spiritual union , and communication of the value , vertue , and efficacy of the sacrifice of christ himself , and in the union of , and communion , and communication of his spirit to us , is express'd by eating his body , and drinking his bloud : now i say , to force , a litteral sense upon this , is such a piece of rudeness , barbaritie , and ingratitude , that if the same measure were meeted to all other parts of scripture , would even in the judgment of those very men , who are either atheists or bigots in this matter , not only turn it into horrible , and abominable burlesque , but even martyr and murther those two witnesses , as some have expounded them * . to vindicate therefore , those sacred volumes , the pandects of our most holy religion , from having to do with so mid-night , and sphingian a riddle , in so plain , and merciful an institution , so humble , and even domestic ( in a spiritual sense ) as the lord's supper is ; a riddle , set on work to so much cruelty and bloud-shed , is worthy the spirit of a truely christian , and nobly english senate , and to set the danger of its return into use , at the utmost impossibility , humane providence could attain , without the expectation of miracle . for what is meant by transubstantiation , the bishop himself says , is altogether unknown and uncertain , especially to the persons chiesly concern'd , viz. the nobility and gentry of the nation ; and which they neither do , can , nor ought to know : what obligation can they then have to believe it , except with such a blind faith as all religion and reason abhors ? however , if they have no faith concerning so fugitive a thing , that like a shadow , cannot be catch'd , or like the phantom of a body that hath no flesh and bones to be seen and felt , as all bodies have , and as christ , as it were prophetically , expos'd his body to the experiment of , when it was really there , that no such imposture concerning it should be palm'd upon the world : i say , if the nobility and gentry have no faith of such a thing , why may they not profess and declare , they do not believe it ? for the bishop seems either not to be awake , or to dissemble a slumber , that his discourse of mens swearing to any thing , his burlesque on the famous burgesses of oxon , and his appeal to the honourable members concerning their idea's of transubstantiation , and the babel thence arising , [ the whole notion is indeed a babalism , or pertaining to babylon the great ] had been very good , if the test had requir'd them to declare their belief of such a transubstantiation . but now his arguments hunt counter , and impeach the roman tyranny of horrid murthers upon persons , for not believing what they neither do , can , nor ought to know , what they can so hardly pronounce the sound of , much less hammer the sturdy sullen notion it self : for who can know what there is no knowledge of ? but what more innocent than to declare , when lawfully requir'd , though before the searcher of hearts , a man does not believe what he cannot nor ought to know , nor so much as anvil a notion of ? if it were never so true , real , knowable , and worthy to be believed , any one might , without guilt , ( when justly demanded to do so ) declare he did not believe it , while he knew it not so as to find reason to believe it ; it were double hypocrisie to do otherwise : and all the bishop's arguing and storying , can never make it otherwise . indeed the whole recoyles upon himself , and dashes out the brains of all he hath writ upon it ; which , sure , he crasly oversaw , or thought all his readers were such fools as to be couzen'd with the gloss . for if the infidelitie were ever so culpable , it were a dutie , when adjur'd by a law to declare it ; but how can the infidelitie be blam'd , when after the bishop's hunting down the notion through the whole historie of the controversie , he hath prey'd only upon a ghost , miss'd of all comprehension , and he pronounces the summ , and result of all to be what is meant by that transubstantiation is a thing altogether uncertain and unknown ; and there is no one thing in which christendom more both agrees and differs ; all parties agree in the thing , and differ in the manner . now it so happens , the test was so sagaciously compos'd , though it might lawfully have done much more , that it modestly leaves the thing free , and requires only to declare a belief of such manner of transubstantiation , as of the elements of bread and wine , into the bodie and bloud of christ ; and requires the declarers own belief alone , and nothing of censure upon any others belief in this branch of the test ; which surely any man may lawfully make , that makes it truly : and seeing the whole issue of the notion is scepticism , the bishop himself being judg , ( and what can the man do that comes after the ishop ? ) may not every man then say , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i do not comprehend it , therefore i do not believe it . indeed if there were revelation for it , like what there is concerning the father , word , and spirit , one god ; concerning the incarnation and hypostatic vnion of the eternal word with humane nature , leaning not on figurative expression , but plain assertion , wrought into all the discourse , and whole argument of scripture , all disputes were silenc'd . but when there is no pretext of revelation , but such a manner of speaking , as if it were press'd alike into a literal sense , through the whole book of god , it must overthrow all theologie . to refuse then a figure there where it is so absolutely necessary , that else christ must eat his own flesh , while it remain'd entire before the apostles , and drink his own bloud , while it was circulating in his veins , and no amaze nor so much as question upon it , is such a setting the scripture to be broken upon the wheel , such a barbarity , as exceeds a thousandfold all the barbarities and inhumanities spoken of throughout the bishop's whole book : especially when our lord declares in a like manner of speaking , and doubts upon it ; his words were spirit and life , and the flesh profited nothing . why then should men bring the scripture to the engine , to torture it into the confession of what ( as god speaks ) never came into his heart ? and so i may fairly dismiss the bishop's longsom historie of transubstantiation , seeing the mouth of his canon turns upon himself for what he can ; and what should a man be shie of in declaring his non-belief of what is against all the sense and reason of mankind , what hath no ground in revelation , and what all the wits and subtilties the canonists and school-men , yea the very councils of the roman vassalage can , when set upon the utmost stretch , make nothing of , but a meer babel , if we may believe the bishop , in what he determines upon the whole search in favour of it . not like solomon's conclusion of the matter into the whole of man , but like the conclusion of babel , all was jargon , nonsense , confusion , and rubbish ; and worse than that , the conclusion will be like that of babylon the great , a perpetual desolation and burning . they therefore who have like slaves bor'd their ears to this spiritual egyptian slavery , and under the plague of its darkness to be even felt , how just is it to disengage them from taking the rights of their prince and country into their trust , whether their contented slavery rise from some weak part , or a worse depravedness , which inclines their always bowed down backs , and their eyes laden with slumber under such a monstrous bigottism . i come therefore to consider of the second proposition , which , however it runs in the bishop's text , is thus express'd in the test : and that the invocation or adoration of the virgin mary , or any other saint , and the sacrifice of the mass , as they are now used in the church of rome , are superstitious and idolatrous . in which , although i confess in my own judgment , the very extremity , as of sense , that the words can reach , are supported by the demerit of the things declared against : yet , because it is a test , publickly offered , the refusal of which suspends so great an interest , as all share in government , as the bishop expresses it . it will not be unfit to observe all the lenitives , that are by the prudence of the composers , ( whoever they were , it makes no matter ) contriv'd into it . . therfore , i do believe is prefix'd to the whole test , by common equity of construction to be supplyed . i do believe the first proposition , that in the sacrament , &c. and in the second , i do believe , that the invocation , &c. now it is evident , a man may swear to his own belief , if he knows he does really so believe , although he be mistaken in the grounds of his belief , because it is onely matter of fact within himself . . there is a limitation , as these things are us'd , and now us'd in the church of rome , whether by express command , or by approbation , or connivence ; so that the very grossness and stupidity of the most dull and ignorant , who stick in the very thick matter , and are able to extricate themselves , as the finer wits pretend to do , are to be taken into that vsage , and that most meritoriously , seeing if the church of rome leads such unwary , and unapprehensive persons in obedience to it , to the very brink of the precipice into so deep , and impure a mud , and that so unnecessarily ; it is to be chang'd with the vsages , as in it self . and then those words of the test , as it is now used ; signifies the first beginnings of these things were not so fresh , as now they are arriv'd to be . . in that , the word superstitious is first set , as the lesser , and most undoubted , and then not the downright full-out word idolatry , but idolatrous . it takes off the full blow of the censures , for idolatry imports a great danger , suspicion , and nearness to idolatry , but not absolute idolatry it self . and this the bishop ought in all candid dealing to have taken notice of , and to have allowed the caution , with which the test is worded ; for the stabbing , and cut-throat word idolatry is not used , and so the piquancy of that his remark false . but letting slip all things that do not enter into the substance of the matter , it is first to be observed , that absolutely and in earnest , all that dreadful representation of the punishment of idolatry in this world , is disown'd by all sober christians : and those rigid laws , or any such zelotic spirit of elias , as among the jews on the account of idolatry , are reversed under the milder temper , and more moderate climate of christian religion , and the compassionate spirit of it , as repeated by our saviour expresly in those words to the disciples , that were for demanding fire from heaven upon the samaritans , luke . . to which our lord rejoyned , ye know not what spirit ye are of : the son of man came not to destroy mens lives , but to save them ▪ we disown all such torrid enthusiasm where-ever it is found , upon this authority , and such ravagings upon the lives of men meerly for their ( notwithstanding so great ) delusions in so plain a point of divine worship , are not so much as thought of in the test : cruelties and inhumanities of that kind , are left as the proper inheritance of the idolatrous , who indeed cut throats , and cause innocent persons to pass through the fire alive , in the rage of their moloch-sacrafice : and i am fully perswaded the principal end of the test-act was to secure the lives and fortunes of a protestant nation from the fury and blood-thirstiness of that name of religion , by which it is as much known ( as the scarlet and purple it is arraied in ) and that in the historie of some ages past , and so cannot but be still suspected . the prevention indeed of such , the public practise of those superstitions and idolatrousnesses , is worthy the care of a protestant magistracy to prevent , and to take care the contagion may not spread , much less that a protestant kingdom should come under the girdle of its ministerial government , ( although with all loyalty , it owns their soveraign , according to the christian law , and of the nation ) and then for to set such bounds to it , as may most indemnifie it self . but for the securities of divine justice upon idolatry , whenever they com to be manifested ; they wil be just , and bring their conviction along with them ; which may be speedier than men are aware , the measure of iniquity growing now full , as of more then one god , is idolatry , so of more than one mediator is a parallell idolatry . and as letting fall any glances of respect upon any creature , person , or thing , angel , or diamon , sun , moon , or stars , or the inferiour creatures , as partial gods conveying the benifits of the supreme god to us , is foul idolatry : so any partial or inferiour mediators , are alike idolatry , under the gospel . and as the making to our selves any likeness either in heaven above , or the earth beneath , &c. as a medium to worship god by : so the making to our selves any likeness of the mediator ; ( for though we had known him after the flesh , yet ( saith the apostle ) we know him so no more . ) are alike idolatrous . how certainly then are the invocations of the virgin , of saints idolatrous , as giving them a share of the incommunicable mercy , omnisciency , omnipresence , seeing they are not visible to us , we cannot speak with them at certain times or places , we know them not , we know not they know us ; there are no kinds of communion between us ; a vail of thick darkness is spread betwixt us , which nothing but infinity can pierce . the infinity of the father , the infinity of the mediator , god-man : men indeed whom we see , whom we converse with , to whom we can make our selves and our condition known , we are allowed by god to address , to give and receive mutual religious respects , and of civility and kindness , according to the stations of honour and subordination we stand in one to another . but how both senseless , and idolatrous , would it be with hope of good to pray to any person upon earth , at great , or even at the smallest distance one from another , where no communication passes by word , messages , and letters , as in our private closets , and thoughts ; this were to make them , as god omniscient , omnipresent . and to pray to saints or angels , as mediators , is idolatry committed against the mediator , as if he had not that whole sum of mediatorial mercy , grace , priviledges in himself . how certainly then are their invocations continually us'd at rome , not only superstitious , but idolatrous : and indeed all superstition is idolatry , against the second commandment ; devising an image , a likeness to go to god by them . how certainly are those abundance of images , pictures , statues , representations , us'd at rome : their incensing , bowing , kneeling , uncovering the head , to images and pictures , us'd at rome , idolatrous ? for even job's mouth kissing his hand , was an indication sufficient of an enticed heart . their elevation , adoration , geniflexian , given to the bread , as the body of christ , are of the same guilt , seeing christ was never worshipped bodily on earth , when his apostles were daily with him , but in the emanations of his divinity , how much more ( now we are to know him no more after the flesh ) therefore are we not to worship him bodily , not in an imaginary transubstantiation of the elements ) into flesh : doth not he abhor such a worship ? for whatever we do in pretence of worship to god and christ , that is not either the pure issues of that law of the mind , or of the natural conscience it self , or is revealed to us in his word : the worship ( call it how you will , dulia , or an inferiour worship ) not so warranted , passes before god for no other , but superstition and idolatry . even the worship of the man christ jesus onely , as united to the eternal word , is justified by divine revelation : so tender and severe a thing is the worship of the holy jealous god , who as he is separated from all creatures in his purity and perfection , so in his worship , and tne manner of his worship appointed only by himself . and so holy , holy , holy , and infinitely separate from all creatures is iehovath the mediator , with whom none can be named ; even as none can know but by the revelation of the father . all worship therefore given to creature-mediators , all worship given to him not according to his word , is but superstitious and idolatrous in his account . how near therefore is it to the blasphemy , of which the author confesses , idolatry is a principal instance ; when he speaks of the cherubins being worshipp'd ; who indeed , had by god's immediate command , a place of attendance , by the mercy-seat : this type of christ , over which god filling the tabernacle , and so the temple after with his glory , that none could enter , and so only gave a remaining symbol of his presence there ; but likewise of god to be seen ; but the people are warn'd over and over , to take notice they saw no likeness or similitude of god ; nor is there the least shadow of any direction of worship to those cherubins ; but to that god , who was pleas'd to promise his presence there , where his glory had appear'd , in christ the propitiation ; so that by pure spiritual acts , they might pray towards that place , call'd by his name , without any prophaning god by sense : from which he is always in an infinite retirement , for sense is the foundation of idolatry . and agreeably what was in the holy of holies , not being seen , was a warning to retire all into a spirituality , and a sense of the incomprehensibleness of god , the enjoyment of him being in pure spirituality . and as false it is , that the scripture speaks onely of the idolatry of worshipping the heavenly body . for from the heights above , to what is most below , the changing of the glory of the incorruptible god , with any corruptile image , or the worship directed by the mediation of any image , is abomination to him , as in numberless places of scripture ( besides the second commandment ) particularly duet . . . rom. . . for that i can hardly believe my eyes in reading the bishop's definition of idolatry , and so it is as to the redeemer , or one mediator , who is not to be worshipped , by any image of his humanity , nor by so despicable a thing as bread , which he made only the element of a spiritual communication of himself , as a most familiar emblem , without the least design of worship to it , most abhorred by him . most false it is , therefore , that there is no idolatry if men do not worship images of false gods , or make corporeal images of his divine nature : for angels , thô his servants , and saints departed , become false gods , and names of blasphemy , when worshipped with any sort of worship , as the apocaliptick angel testifies , chap. . v. . and the host so worshipped , is the symbol of a false god , as turn'd into a likeness , and image , before the jealous god , and mediator , who will have all pure spirituality in the worship of them . and yet in the mean time , i must acknowledge that the bishop hath rightly observed concerning that idolatry , which he is willing to allow to be idolatry , viz. the worship of the heavenly bodies ( and i am sure it will follow of all other idolatry , that it is to be proportionably admeasur'd to ) it is an iniquity to be punished by a judge , viz. by the civil magistrate . and this determination concerning idolatry , is recorded in that admirable book of natural religion , the book of job . now the laws of natural religion are irreversible , and unchangeable ; so that were it not that in the great degeneracie of humane nature , the generality of the nations of the world were early drench'd , and even plung'd in this great evil , natures laws had always so prevail'd : whereas , alas , too too soon that government grew to weak too establish it self ; and were that government , the government of the law , written in mans heart restor'd , it must proceed with all efficacy to the extirpating this evil ; and where it was so much restored , as among the jews , and enforced with further positive and ceremonial sharpness of laws , the rigors on offenders were so great , as the bishop has recounted : but yet the mercy of the gospel , and of christian religion , is such , that although in governments able and equal for it , there ought to be no abatement of severity against the sin it self , yet there is by christ , a relaxation , as to persons lives , where the most guilty circumstances of presumption , obstinacy , danger of bad example , do not inflame the account of the evil : all means of conversion and reformation being first used ; which is a great justification of the lawfulness , and necessity of the test , in a protestant government . nevertheless , the generality of the sin , hath been at no time too big for divine vengeance ; but that it hath appeared from heaven upon idolatrous powers , and nations , when he saw good ; and the time is approaching , when a better state of the renewed world growing on , will , by degrees , but with signal vials powred out upon the whole race of idolaters and their idolatries , make way for the perfection of that renovation , and such a thing as idolatry will not in one single example be endured . for satan , that old serpent , that hath deceiv'd the nations into it so long , will be seal'd up into his own abyss at the same time . but this hath been by way of digression . it is time to return now to the just remarks , that are to be made upon the bishop's discourse upon idolatry ; so contriv'd , as to lead the unthinking , yea , the not closely observant reader , thorough a variety of matter , far off from suspecting the roman worship of idolatries , where yet scripture-prophesie hath settled it upon its own base , in that land that is spiritually called shinar , or mystical babylon : his discourse , indeed , is blended sometimes with better , that it may convey more artificially the intollerably bad , sometimes with things doubtful and uncertain , that the notoriously false may hope to skulk among them . i cannot , according to the brevity i have resolv'd , retail to the reader , so ambagious , or tedious an account of idolatry . there are two things among his own notions , that if he had taken his measures by , they would have steerd him much better , viz. first , the observation of the great care god took by all his dealings with his people , descendants from abraham , to secure them by the mosaick mediatorship in the acknowledgment of the one god , creator of heaven and earth , the universal and most natural standard against idolatry , together with those particular assurances of himself to them ; by his covenant with abraham , by bringing them out of the land of egypt , speaking to them out of the cloud , and fire on mount sinai , by his filling the tabernacle with his glory , which is especially to be remark'd , both in moses's tabernacle , and solomon's temple , as being the true reason of the worship toward the holy of holies . and secondly , the observation of the sabbath , as a peculiar commemoration of the creation , as also of the further manifestation of the same true god , creator of heaven and earth , who was so particularly the god of abraham's posterity . had these two observations , together with the types , which the episcopal author , with dr. spencer , and other learned men , not without reason , make fences between israel and the idolatrous nations , and their idolatries ; or , as the apostle calls it , partition-wall ; these would have led to the one mediator jesus christ , who is that very propitiation and mercy-seat , of which , that in the holy of holies was but the type , and for which type sake the shecinah , or glory once came , and sate in its filling the temple ; as between the cherubims , or attendant angels , simbolycally represented in an adoring posture , stooping down , and prying upon the mercy-seat , as that type of christ , as the apostle peter alludes , pet. . . worshipping ; but the spirits , whom they resemble , would have abhor'd to be worshipped ; as he most injuriously to truth , would bear his readers in hand , if they would be deceived by him . now , as redemption parallell's creation ; so the one mediator , the one god ; as our lord himself teacheth . this is life eternal , to know thee the onely true god , and whom thou hast sent , jesus christ , and so the apostle tells us : there are gods many , and lords many in the world , counterfeits of the one god , and one mediator . as the heathenish gods , and baalim , or daimons , who were esteem'd a middle region of gods , or mediators ▪ but to us , saith he , there is but one god , the father of whom are all things , and we in , or for , or unto him ; and one lord jesus christ , by whom are all things , and we by him . so to timothy , there is one god , and one mediator , between god and man , the man christ jesus , which one god is now known to us , as the god and father of our lord jesus christ , which title drinks up , as the antitype doth the type of the former titles , of the god of abraham , &c. of the god that brought from egypt , that sits between the cherubins : that title , indeed , of creator , lord of heaven and earth , is not in the least ececlips'd , but shines together upon , and with , and in the redeemer , the lord jesus christ. and as a testimony and standing plea of all this ▪ the sabbath of creation , is remov'd from the seventh , into an union with the first day , the sabbath of redemption , or lord's day . thus there is , as the apostle john speaks , the true god , and eternal life , in the very mention of which , as foreseeing the great antichristian idolatry coming upon the christian world in other mediators , ( the same thing with other gods ) he makes the conclusion and farewel of his epistle , little children , keep your selves from idols : and seal's it with a passionate , amen . now this one god , and this one mediator , we are to worship , and only to know , and only to serv , all introducing other mediators , either of man , or of other creatures , as in honour to god , to worship him , or jesus christ by them , join'd with some ceremonies of a service , as kneeling , bowing , incensing , invoking , &c. is idolatrous . and now to draw the whole matter of idolatry to a conclusion ; i confess , it seems necessary , that whoever takes the test , being , as the bishop truly observes , of the alloy of an oath , it is necessary he should take it in judgment , as well as in righteousness , and in truth . that any one may so do it , he must carry about him a gauge , or certain notion of idolatry , and some general knowledge of the usages of rome , as to the invocation of the virgin , of saints , the adoration of them in their images , with the sacrifice of the mass ; which by a little enquiry will be easily known , if it can be at all unknown to any persons , who can be suppos'd to have possible obligation to take the test : for the roman church does not hide its sin ; but carries the title on its forehead , the title its idolatrous fornications ; and its papal prince carries his names of blasphemy , idolatry , on her heads ; and it is to be earnestly prayed , these things may not be more vulgerly known among us , against which the test is one great security . to give then in the second place , a very short , and portable gauge of idolatry , i should chuse to do it best , by all i have said ; as encas'd , or ench●s'd , in the very words , superstition and idolatry , truly explain'd . the first of which imports any religious act ▪ either to persons dead , as if they were now alive , and conversant with us , though above , as the virgin mary , or saints departed or else and ( as may most agree ) super statutum , above the rule and law of all religious actions , viz. the very law and light of nature , teaching us natural religion , which consists only in the religion of the mind , and expressed only in the most necessary rational latria , or service of our bodies ; or else which best explains all religion to us : the word of god ; seeing , there we find nothing of such invocation , or adoration , so much as in any dark line of either of these laws ; but much written , as with a sun-beam against them , who even knows , and believes the word of god , may boldly call the usages of rome superstitious . and as to idolatry , it is the service to an apparition of a god , to our dark and foolish imagination , for the one god , that made heaven , and earth ; or the apparition of a mediator , besides jesus christ , the one mediator , who redeem'd us by his death : both which are against the first commandement , for idolatry is a worship of any thing whatever that is believ'd to be god , and christ , from the highest heavens to the lowestcentre , by any image , or sensible representation , ( as against the second commandement . ) now he may be sure of this idolatry , whoever considers the romish church , ( falsely so call'd ) the spiritual babylon , the city made of graven images ; so certainly that headed babylon , that in the days of john's receiving the revelation , reign'd over the kings of the earth , and was then ( five of its governments so notorious in history , being fallen , or gone off from their principality ) under its sixth king , the heathen emperor ; and for a little space under the christian emperor its seventh king , but no head , and hath been under its eighth king , that was of those seven kings , who were ever heads , ever since the expiration of augustulus's line , the late emperor , an. dom. . for till rome be utterly destroy'd , and sink like a milstone into the sea ▪ that eighth king , the beast , or pope ▪ shall not be utterly destroyed ; but rome , and its eighth king ▪ shall fall within few years , from its ten-king'd principalities ▪ all which may be thus demonstrated , the bounds of the prophesies stand eminent and unmoveable , even to demonstration , viz. the heathen empire therein being at one end , and the final ruin of rome at the other ; in the middle just as the short liv'd christian empire expiring , run forty two prophetic months , or times of the moon , amounting to prophetic years , which accounted from , must end . now this rome , and it s so call'd church , is mysteries of idolatries ▪ and the pope its balam , or high priest , or prophet carrying it , and so describ'd in the revelation , and the thing there prophecied , so fulfill'd in all eyes , and ears , in the blasphemies of god , and of all that dwell in heaven , by these idolatries ; that then can be no hazard , if there was liberty to demonstrate the thing , as it may be demonstrated : it would put transubstantiation , the worship of the virgin , of saints , and the adoration of the mass , and its sacrifice out of all dispute , although the things may be otherwise set , enough beyond controversy , yet not so suddenly or surely , as by this prophecy is well explain'd . in the mean time , to say all in a word , i cannot but make great doubt , whether the bishop with so great pretence , and yet such thin sophisms in the room of reason , and with those unepiscopal , unchristian , ungentile , as well as highly senseless reflections upon a person of so great learning , gravity and piety in the eyes of the whole nation , ( as dr. st. ) did indeed design any more , than to ridicule what he would seem to favor , things so false , so fallacious , so inconclusive , could never else have been so laid together , and to carry , as it were a fresh remembrance . at the last he concludes his book under a transparent tiffany , with a downright falshood , viz. as if the not taking the test , did wrap up the refusers in a conviction of recusancy ; to which purpose he foist's in a part of the test-act , leaving out what would have convicted him of sensless fraudulency : for he well knows , not the refusal of the test , but the refusal , and yet invading offices contrary to the test , brings any one under that conviction : whether therefore he was in earnest , or in a sathanic fanaticism , when he writ all this , i much doubt ; but if he were , indeed , in earnest , he deserves the character of the weakest of men , in a disguise of a man of parts and learning ; if not , of the most infidelious and dishonest sophister in the lawn of a protestant bishop . but without any railing accusation against him , or any such , i pray as i begun , the lord rebuke them . dra . locnil . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e reas. . * ( words most injurious to the very nature of parliaments . ) reas. . reas. . assert . . deut. . * rev. . a second letter from a gentleman in the country to his friends in london upon the subject of the penal laws and tests. penn, william, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a second letter from a gentleman in the country to his friends in london upon the subject of the penal laws and tests. penn, william, - . p. printed for j.s. and t.s. and to be had of most booksellers in london and westminster, london : . attributed to penn by wing and nuc pre- imprints. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng test act ( ) dissenters, religious -- legal status, laws, etc. -- england. religious tolerance -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a second letter from a gentleman in the country , to his friends in london , upon the subject of the penal laws and tests . licensed , april the th . london , printed , for j.h. and t.s. and to be had of most booksellers in london and westminster . . gentlemen , i am not much lifted up , or cast down at the news you send me , for that my letter should be liked by some , and as ill taken by others , is but the fate of all things offer'd to publick censure ; tho without vanity , the reasons are unequal . but before i enter upon that , you 'l give me leave to observe the humor of the party in the proverbs you sent me , that methinks looks so much like a green ribband , that it hardly becomes the fall of the leaf , they conceit they are under . you say , the usual answer to the letter is this ; there is a snake in the grass ; all is well that ends well , that a more moderate sort , allow it both witt and truth , but ill timed , considering the melancholy circumstances the church of england is under . to all this , you have here my answer , which i beseech you to communicate with that cander ; that you know has alwayes been the companion of my life . and for the proverbs , i must say first , that a wise sentence , may be sillily apply'd ; and next , i am apt to think that these are so ; for pray what is the snake , and where doe's it lie . a snake without a sting hurts no body , let it lie where it will ; and a snake with a sting is dangerous every where . now to find out who is the snake , let 's consider what 's the sting , the penal laws certainly ; and you are not ignorant who 's tayle they belong to . but to be sure they sting all that won't come to church , and that every where . for a man can't walk in his own land , mow his own grass , enjoy his own shop , barn , chamber , closet , chest or cubbard ; no not his pot , pan or skillet , but the snake will get into it , and when it has swept his fields and house clean with its tayle , by the teeth it draws him to its dark holes and dungeons for a further prey . the history of this snake out-does all the giants of the old world , and it had been happy it had perish't with it : wherefore liberty of conscience is so far from being the snake in the grass , that there is in it neither snake , teeth , sting , or grass to hide them . on the contrary , it spies out the snake , cuts the grass , ketches it , and pulls out the sting , that it may do no more mischief : 't is upon this principle that one party cannot hurt ' tother . and for the other proverb , 't is certain , all 's well that ends well , but for that reason all will end ill that begins so , without repentance . and such beginnings i call penal laws for religion , let who will make them , or use them . and i beseech god to touch the hearts of the church of england with a sence of this ; for his justice we can't corrupt . all parties as well as private persons will meet with their own from him ; 't is a decree as old as the world , stamp't in our natures , and prov'd by the records of all time , and god knows but too plainly in ours . but since these gentlemen are upon their proverbs , with their leave i will oppose a couple to them , and i hope a little better suited . let every tub stand upon its own bottom ; and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush . these are the texts , i 'le now give you the comment . by the first , i mean , that the government should stand upon its own legs , and the church upon hers . the legs of the civil government , is the civil interest of the government , which is that of all the people under it , so that the government is obleiged to secure all , because all are for their own interest bound to secure it : for the church in question , of which all the people are not members , nor yet the greatest part , is a thing of another nature , and relates to another world , and christ has provided her another bottom , if she really makes his law the rule of her actions and authority . let every one walk as he is perswaded , was divine doctrine in st paul's time , and our glo●ying was to be in our selves , and not in another ; and we were to stand and fall to our own masters , and not judge , much less persecute others , no , not tares , for they were to grow with the wheat , ( tho never like to change their nature ) till the harvest , which our saviour interprets , the end of the world : and the apostle tells us , every one must appear before god , and give an account for the deeds done in the body ; so that you see the proverb is true , that every tub ought to stand upon its own bottom . for the other , 't is as obvious & reasonable in this case ; for why should it be taken ill that the poor fanaticks accept the liberty the church of england refus'd , and has driven them to such extreamities for . she would have them to stay till she can give what she would not when she had power to do it . nay , she has it still , & yet will not for a reason that exposes them more then before . but which way can she ensure it to them ? first , can they with honour or conscience refuse what they have sought , or reject that by declaration the church of england will not allow by law ? secondly , how are they assurd , while the church of england is by law secured , that by those very laws they shall not be ruin'd in the mean time ? is it not natural enough to expect at the hand of the king , that they will not , shall not have liberty of conscience ? and that at any rate , they shall conform thorowly , that will not at an other time conform at all , when they do it now only to bob the goverment ? but what is faction if this be not ? if conform , why just now ? if now , why not before ? if not before , why then now ? if things are the same , why are not they ? and if they are , that is , if their opinion of the discipline and ceremonies of the church be what it was , they can't be honest men and conform : they may set up for men of art , and managers , that have given by their own consciences such a proof of their skill ; but i should lament extreamly any dissenter in england should have so little wit or truth . and to be free , it would not look candid in the church of england , that gives her fear of poperies having the power to destroy others , for the reason of her keeping the penal laws on foot , if she takes it ill , that the dissenters are for the same reason for their repeal ; for she can't but think that popery actually has that power over them , by the oppertunity of the laws she will manintain to secure herself . so that light and darkness are not more opposite then the safety of the dissenters , and the reason the church of england gives for the keeping up the penal laws for her own . to remove this difficulty , and to make the methods of their security meet , has , god knows , been my only drift , that so false notions of preservation might not destroy us , when the means of our common safety are so obvious to us . the general and deep prejudices men entertain against popery will hardly suffer them to diliberate for their own benefit . if a ship be near a rock , i think the danger should not frighten away the masters wits , when he has most need of them for a common safety . i beg the gentlemen of the church of england but to think , and i am sure they will find me less criminal in my other letter to you : for is any thing truer then that the papists court a legal ease ? need they this , if they design force ? or were it worth their labouring ? again , cannot a law be made to fix liberty of conscience , that they shall as uneasily violate , as these the church calls her bulwark ? if the laws in question were defensive only , god forbid that i should attempt to lessen her security , i declare in the presence of god i would not ; but when they are offensive and destroying to other people , and those of the most peaceable principles , who have neither interest nor arts to defend them , she must pardon me if i oppose my self to their teeth and sting . it is also as true that her dissenters are of no use to her unless these shackles are taken off ; that if she does not fear liberty more then popery , she must yeild the point desired for their sake , because her own . that for every enemy she releases by it , she has an hundred friends to secure her against him. that she must remember she is but a part of the whole , and should not flatter her self with numbers not of her communion ; especially while they sleep with naked swords hanging by hairs over their heads , and so are made uncapable to serve her . again , pray , can she think that force becomes a gospel church ? that it is not using against popery what she accuses it for , and by it condemns her self ? is it not taking sanctuary in human strength instead of divine truth , that is al-sufficient to its own support ? that the laws that remain , secure the state , and if any be wanting , they may be added without keeping up the ball of vengeance by partial provisions , directed by one party , of the same people , against an other , under one and the same government ; for this is puzling , not serving government : nor can any be great , easie or successful where the heads and hands , that should make it so , are zealously disabled from that duty and service . it seems a day wherein god is pleased to make use of the necessities of men to effect what vertue and wisdom should have taught us long ago to have done ; agree i mean upon our civil common interest . and now we have a king , who has so gracious a regard to liberty , ( and that chuses to recommend himself by so honest , so tender and so equal a principle , and whose own party , tho they may want it most hereafter , do least need it now , and are the most feeble in number to make the use of it dangerous to the rest ) let us by no means loose the oppertunity of our own happiness . nor can the church of england refuse me my petition to her , but upon this single account , the insincerity of the king ; that must be her snake in the grass , that popery's at the bottom ; mark the end of this liberty ; all 's well that ends well : but this plainly implies my arguments to be good , and that if the king holds as he begins , we shall all be happy . le ts see then why he should not do so , tho it looks very ill in the high sons of the church to blow upon that honour they have so often and so highly recommended for our security . first , the king has given her his word to maintain her at his coming to the crown , and has now repeated it to her for the whole time of his reign , in the most solemn manner that was possible out of parliament , secondly , if he be willing , to turn this promise into a law at the repeal of those he would abolish when they meet , and that to be sure he is ready to do , there can be no room to doubt his sincerity . thirdly , he is compell'd to be sincere , for popery without him is but a name in england , and lives by him , and must otherwise expect to expire with him . so that if it were possible for the people of his communion to prevail with him to force his religion upon the kingdom , tho i think it as impracticable , as to set westminster-abby upon bow-steeple ; he must leave them to make satisfaction for the attempt in the next reign ; or conclude , he never intends his lawful heirs to succeed him : and they must take him for the worst of men to be guilty of an injustice and irreligion he has so often and solemnly , and earnestly spoken against . but if that were no security to us , yet the ruin of those that in all probability must follow that attempt , for whose sakes we suppose him to endanger us , would obliege him to the soft & obleiging methods he now takes . so that we have his honour , conscience , nature , and the security of his own party for ours . come , 't is disingenious to call liberty of conscience the snake in the grass , that like the balm of gillead cures the gaps and sores that time and private interests have made . and since he offers to confirm it by law , he only changes the secvrity , he does not destroy it ; and which is more she is a gainer by it : for whereas she is now the national religion by compulsion she will then keep her station by consent ; both extreams yeilding a preferrence to her , and so she is neither hated nor envied by them . i would have her further reflect , that the keeping the penal laws on foot will not answer the end she does it for , since she believes they will be suspended during the time she fears most , and of the next reign , she has no apprehension , and in the mean time she and the protestant dissenters have the hands . so that the only reason for maintaining them , is the awe they ought to give the papists in this kings time , and yet if what she suggests be true , that the papists aim at all , pray , how far will those laws awe them , that for that reason should rather aim at all . i say , what good will that do her , that must be the greatest argument of the force she fears they will use against her ? and if they have no such design , there is no reason to keep them in awe , but much to soften and engage them , that we may all meet upon our common civil bottom , and as one people with one heart fear god , after our own perswasion ; honour the king , according to our allegiance ; and love and serve one another as becomes the members of the great civil family of this kingdom . but some , you tell me , think it had been better the laws where repealed in a pro●estant king's reign , then in this ; but can any shew it is not fit in this ; for that 's the question . let us suppose ours were a protestant , and they were repealed accordingly . how could we assure our selves our next heir would not turn ; ay , the prince in possession ? and unless the principles of exclusion prevail'd , 't is clear the delemma would be the same , because the security upon that notion is uncertain . i confess it had been better for us , it had been done before his coming to the crown , but since he forgives us that deficiency , and offers to supply it , in ways the most assuring , why it should not be good to do it now i cannot imagine : it is to say , it is not fit to be done , when it is most fit to make us best with him . we will have him trust us , but we will not trust him , where his interest secures us . well , but you add , that it is generally agreed , the penal laws should he repeal'd , but not the tests . i must tell you , i do not agree with you in that fact ; for i hear there are divers schisms in the church about it : some for their repeal , and keeping of the tests : some for repealing neither : some for their repeal to papists only : some for dissenters only ; and a few for a general repeal of both ; so that the church is yet unresolved what to do : but i will attend the great question . for the penal laws , no matter if they go ; but if the tests be repealed too , the government is lost to the romanists ; for they may pack a parliament of their own religion , that in all probability will make it national ; and so liberty of conscience will not serve them , nor save us . you see i am fair in the objection , i le give you my answer as freely . i cannot imagine the councils that engage them to take a fair way , can lead them to be foul in it ; for that 's giving a pail of milk , and kicking it down with their foot . if they had number to chuse , or could be returned without it , they must naturally search the most durable means of their safety : now , that connot be making their religion national , both because they are not the two hundred and fiftieth man , and that the attempt would eternally ruin them with the kingdom , whose kindness , in a future raign , their discreeter conduct in this must secure . nor could any thing be so odious , faithless and immoral , then for them to attempt it ; for if ever they should teach the nation that arithmatick , that thirteen is more then three and twenty , they will make true prophets of those they have taken pains to prove false witnesses . but besides their discretion and interest , the kings faith is given us , for his whole raign , in his great and gratious declaration , that he will not exceed the bounds of liberty of conscience . by this , every party is secured with his in their religion and property ; and this tyes him against any concurrance with the people representatively , contrary to this made to them universally : we may assure our selves , he is not like to break it in either of those respects , since we don't think that will so easily become the religion of the kingdom , or that whilest the people are of another , they will chuse a representative of the roman communion . lastly , the law that shall repeal these laws , may be so drawn , as to make it impracticable to return a parliament that is not chosen ; as well as i dare say , it is below the glory of our king , to use ways so unlike the rest of his open and generous principles . my former argument was ad homenem , for , what ever the church of england men think , 't is certain , the answer they gave for a popish successor , we must trust god and do our duty , is still cogent . for if providence was strong enough to secure us then against our fears of such a successor , can an act of parliament , be a better defence to us now . i fear such are fallen from their faith , and change their devotion , for carnal securities . let us be all of a piece ▪ not hot and then cold ; one while for relying on providence , and another time jealous to death , and beating our brains for safety , as if there were no such thing as god in the world. the question is not about the king 's imposing his religion upon us ; for so i should have almost ador'd the gentlemen that left their imployments ; but whether we will not impose our religion upon the friends of his communion ; and this shows no bigottry in the king , that he gives all parties liberty to muster & exercise themselves according to their own principles , that he knows to be so very contrary to his : an odd way of advancing popery , especially by foul play . i wish any thing would satifie us . and yet after so gratious a declaration , both to church and dissenters , and that has so decent a regard to the concurrance of a parliament too , who can be displeased ? have we been hunting , hawking gaming , and marrying with roman catholicks these six and twenty years ! and did they engage on the same side for the king's father , help to support the king abroad , and labour the restoration of the royal family to their inheritance ; and are we now afraid of them for the religion they had then , or that they should have a few offices with us , in the reign of a prince of their own way , that were the companions of our sufferings and pleasures ? methinks it looks ill natur'd at all times , and indiscreet at this ; since 't is certain we may roundly and securely tell them , you are upon your good behaviour : be moderate at your perril : you are but a morfel of men ; and therefore as little feared as loved : 't is in your own power to be well with the kingdom : know when you have enough ; and let us see you aim at no more then securing your civil property and interest in that of the nation , from any violence , on the score of religion , and that meer matters of faith and worship of god shall disable no man of his birth-right . this bottom is broad enough for all the interests of this kingdom to meet upon ; and till god from heaven send us with miracles an higher principle of union ; let us not neglect this lower , but sure means of our peace and happiness . to conclude , let us have a care of the snake every where ; in the grass , in the square , in the coffee-house , in the church , ay , and in the meeting-house too ; for 't is ill company at all times , and in all places . let us remember that not only the four , but the seven last raigns have prov'd penal laws an enemy to the peace and wealth of the kingdom , and the strictest tests no security to the government of it against the weight of its own miscarriages . let us forgive one another , and look forward . i am for having the church of england keep the chair , but let the rest subsist . to fix government upon any mode of religion , convulses it as often as that changes , at least hazards it . that which takes in all interests is the best foundation for any government , because it is least exposed to state contingencies . let us then bend our thoughts towards such an expedient as may secure property to all , the first reason of civil government , and that which every party for its own interest must close with . three things strictly speaking make an english man ownership , consent in parliament , and right of juries . we all know what laws have been made , and by whom to destroy these several capacities , that frame an english man ; amongst which , pray let not that against conventicles go for the least ! let us see then what it is that divests us of these native priviledges , and like true english men , & christians , let us remove it ; that in the raign , of a king so ready to disapoint the enemies of his glory , by repairing the breaches of his people , and of the old true civil government of his kingdom , we may not be wanting to our selves and our posterity , in another great charter , to bury all our prejudices , and establish a lasting civil union among the inhabitants of this ancient and famous kingdom . yours more then my own . finis . miscellanies by the right noble lord, the late lord marquess of halifax works. selections. halifax, george savile, marquis of, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing h estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) miscellanies by the right noble lord, the late lord marquess of halifax works. selections. halifax, george savile, marquis of, - . settle, elkanah, - . sacellum appollinare. [ ], , , , , , , , , [ ] p. printed for matt. gilliflower ..., london : . first edition. reproduction of original in huntington library. sacellum appollinare, a funeral poem to the memory of that great patriot and statesman george late marquiss of hallifax -- the lady's new-year's gift, or, advice to a daughter -- the character of a trimmer, his opinion ... -- the anatomy of an equivalent -- a letter to a dissenter, upon his majesties late gracious declaration of consideration of those who are to chuse members to serve in the ensuing parliament -- a rough draught of a new model at sea, -- maxims of state -- a letter sent by his lordship to charles cotton, esq. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng halifax, george savile, -- marquis of, - -- poetry. england and wales. -- parliament. test act ( ) young women -- life skills guides -- early works to . great britain -- history -- restoration, - . great britain -- history -- revolution of . great britain -- politics and government -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion miscellanies by the right noble lord , the late lord marquess of halifax . viz. i. advice to a daughter . ii. the character of a trimmer . iii. the anatomy of an equivalent . iv. a letter to a dissenter . v. cautions for choice of parliament men. vi. a rough draught of a new model at sea. vii . maxims of state , &c. london : printed for matt. gillyflower at the spread-eagle in westminster-hall . . sacellum appollinare . a funeral poem to the memory of that great patriot and statesman , george , late marquiss of hallifax . as heaven it self 's on empire's axis roll'd , ( for god-head's but dominion uncontrould ; ) so the crown'd head , the sublunary jove , does , in his loyal orb of glory , move ; with all his bolts of fate , in his high-post of sovereign pow'r , the weilded thunder boast . but , in the highest tow'ring flight of kings , 't is the great statesman plumes their eagles wings ; they move the great machine ▪ he sets the springs . and thus , whilst pregnant empire's labouring head with some vast off-spring teems ; the statesman's aid , to bring the fair divine minerva forth , is call'd the great lucina to the birth . wisdom and counsel ! 't is their min'string ray , those bright crown - genij , cheer th' imperial sway : the harmony of worlds is only theirs ; empire but guides , 't is they that tune the sphere : counsel , in church or state , the warmth , by whom aaron's and moses's budding wands both bloom : thus monarchy , what , tho' she reigns alone , 't is by her argus-eyes she guards her throne : her lights an hundred , tho' her hand 's but one. of those rich lights , great hallifax shin'd there ; in pow'rs whole constellation , none more fair : in calms or storms , in every varying gale , the furl'd , the hoysted , or the slacken'd sail ; the helm to manage , or the mates to cheer , no pilot-hand cou'd ever worthier steer : trust , the magnetick load-star of his soul ; and faith , and zeal , his needles to the pole. the studied world was his long theam , and all the politick movements of the mighty ball : yes , the old world he had fathom'd o're and o're ; nay , had there been yet vnknown globe's t' explore , to give that head , that reach , those depths , their due , he had stood a fair columbus , for the new. in senates , there , with all his brightest beams , not michael , to th' embattl'd seraphims , a mightier leading chief : oraculous sense ! victorious right ! amazing eloquence ! all from that clearest organ sweetly sung : from that bold english cicero's silver tongue , well might great truth , and genuine justice flow ; for he lookt vpward , when he talkt below : up to astraea , heav'ns translated pride , her righteous ballance his great standard guide . in redress'd wrongs , and succour'd rights appeal , no hand , in the judiciary scale , more weigh'd and pois'd , than hallifax alone ; ev'n half the great tribunal , was his own. but , in that more exalted patriot-cause , the moulding of those stamps imperial , laws ; then , when the whole divinity of pow'r , in her collective strength , that lab'ring hour , in her all-wise consulting providence , sits , some new fair creations to commence ; in that high work , for the great fiat fixt , no hand like his , the sovereign elements mixt . this fam'd gamaliel in the great state-schools , thus by unerring prudence sacred rules , no wonder , on that card'nal hinge he mov'd ; in pow'r-craft skill'd , that bold arts-master prov'd : the great performing part he had study'd thro' , and no less learnt the greater duty too . the publick spirit , and the active soul , more lively warmth , than e're prometheus stole , those champions both of earth and heav'n's just right , bound by their great indenture tripatite , their equally divided faith must bring , betwixt their god , their country , and their king. in pow'r and trust , thro' his whole life's long scene , never did honour wear a hand more clean : he from the israel prophet's copy drew ; the suppliant naaman for his grace might sue . distress , 't is true , his succour ne'r cou'd lack — but then her laded chariots must go back . no syrian bribe was on his shoulders worn ; that tainted robe such truth and virtue scorn . thus , like the eden pair , why is truth drawn a naked beauty , in transparent lawn ? yes , 'till her innocence , for imp'ious gold , that tempting , false hesperian apple , sold ; 't is from that fall , original blushes came ; 't was then she wanted fig-leaves for her sh●me . a bribe ! that most loath'd thought ! ev'n his whole roof , his humblest menials , that temptation-proof , ( so fair their leading lord's example stands ) oblige with frank full hearts , but empty hands . his favours in that generous current run , as providence vouchsafes her rain and sun. his favours cheaper ev'n than heav'n's conferr'd : for , though , like heav'n , th' imploring pray'r he heard ; yet no thanksgiving offrings return'd : to his kind grace , no gumms nor incense burn'd . ay , and 't was nobly brave ! what can more high , than an vnmercinary greatness fly ? if ought his obligations must defray , he rather chose that heav'n , than man should pay : yes , with a fair ambition , just disdain , scorn'd less than jove , his golden show'rs shou'd rain ▪ and well so high , that fair ambition tow'r'd ; for hallifax so scorn'd and jove , so show'r'd : whil'st that vast affluence warm'd his fruitful soyl , 'till his rich glebe , and loaded harvest pile , with that increase ▪ that milky canaan flow'd : prosperity thus reap'd , where virtue sow'd . nature and fortune , here , both rivals join'd , which to their darling hallifax , more kind , should heap the ampler mass : nature her more refin'd , and fortune in her cours●r oar. the world but smil'd , where heav'n had smil'd before . great blessings , when by greater merit shar'd , ( not providence's gift , but her reward , ) are all heav'n's fairest blazon ▪ noblest pride ; th' eternal dispensation justifi'd . the righteous distribution ought no less : so great 't is to deserve , and then possess . nor in proud courts , nor states alone , that great dictator ! ev'n in the despotic seat ▪ in his own narrower domestic sway , his houshold sweat penates deckt so gay ; to vice , like hannabal to rome , that sworn eternal foe ; and virtue 's champion born : to his own filial nursery , so kind a father , with those leading lights , he shin'd : honovr , so lovely by that pencil drawn , the early phosphor to their morning dawn : so fam'd his equally paternal care ▪ t' instruct the great , and to adorn the fair. thus beauty's toilet spread so all divine , her cabinet jems so furnisht from that mine ; the virgin , and the bridal coronet , were , by kind hallifax , so richly set ; virtue and innocence at that full view , as ev'n th' original eden lanschape drew : all her whole hierarchy of graces ; not one least enamell'd heav'nly spark forgot ; each star in the whole feminine renown , from , cassiopaea's chair , to ariadne's crown . in the rich furniture of that fair mind , those dazling intellectual graces shin'd , to draw the love and homage of mankind ; nothing cou'd more than his firm friendship charm : cheerful , as bridal-songs ; as south-suns , warm ; and fixt , as northern-stars : when e're he daign'd the solemn honour of his plighted hand , he stood a more than second pylades ; vnshaken , as immutable decrees . but whilst these vast perfections i recount , the heights to which those soaring glories mount : my muse thus rapt into that cheerful sphear ; is this her wailing dirge ? her funeral tear ? for his sad death , to draw his glorious life ! paint lights for shades , and ecstocies for grief ! are these the melancholy rites she brings , fit ayrs to tune the mournful theme she sings ! yes , the true mouruer's in th' historian play'd : what 's present grief , but past delight display'd ? counting what once was ours , we need no more : to sum th' enjoyment , does the loss deplore . besides , what all our sable cavalcade , to the great dead , our darkest funeral shade ? t' illustrious virtue , grief 's an easy debt ; her glorious amulet but cheaply set : she finds the diamond , and we the jet . when learning , wisdom , eloquence , expire , and the great souls , ( sparks of celestial fire ) back to their elemental sourse retire : to such rich dust , in vain we pyramids rear ; for mausoloeum's are but pageants there . what 's a poor short-liv'd pile of crumbling earth , a mould'ring tomb , t' apollinary worth ? worth , that so far from such a narrow bound , spreads a large field ! moves th' vniversal round ! fills every tongue ! thus what no vrn contains , the world 's the casket to those great remains . nor let poetick vanity rehearse her boasted dreams , her miracles of verse : think , in some poor recorded epitaph , that shallow page of brass , or marble leaf ; or in some more voluminous folio pile , a davideis , or arthur's sweating toil , some sacred worthy's deathless fame t' enstal ; rais'd by her lyres , like the old theban wall. no ; when great names ne'r dye that work alone , is all a fair creation of their own. true glory shines by her own lighted beam : 't is not the muses's song , but muse's theam : when in great hallifax , wit 's pantheon fell , and death now husht that silenc'd oracle ; from fair eliza's hallowed helicon-walls , methinks , i hear a fatal summon calls : when , lo ! the delphick seer , that reverend bard of sacred literature's rich fount , prepar'd th' expiring hallifax , in death to wait . — no less attendant on his funeral state , fate to that ever honour'd head cou'd owe : learning it self must shake , at such a blow . but , tho' with all this mine of learning stor'd ; he liv'd , and dy'd , no niggard of that hoard : witness his own long pious founded piles , where nurtur'd arts , by his auspicious smiles , tune their young voices to the muse's song , nerv'd by his hand to books , and virtue , strong . thus , as th' old israel patriarch , to his once illustrious twelve ▪ he to his hundred sons ▪ his fruitful charity 's adopted race , ( with all his tenderest diffusive grace , ) doals , with a true paternal glory crown'd , his living and his dying blessing round . yes , from that hand , the scatter'd bread must fall ; he furnishes those numerous pencils , all to copy from his great original : resolv'd , if possible , resolv'd t' inspire , to this young nursery , his cherisht choire , his own rich soul , their transmigated fire . but , why ( if 't is not a too bold offence , to dare expostulate with omnipotence , ) why should prodigious worth , from th' orb it warm'd , snatch'd from the soyl it cherisht , eyes it charm'd from its deserted charge , unkindly fly , quit th' earth it blest , impoverish worlds , and dye ? no , the kind heav'ns , in mercy , to rebate that mighty loss , the too keen edge of fate , have circled virtue in a fence so high , as stands so safe , it knows not how to die ; but founds its own proud immortality . for , as some lofty ceder , long had stood the land-mark of the plain , and glory of the wood ; till the dread voice of fate , heav'n's angry blast , the bolt of the destroying thunder cast , all the tall pride lies fal'n . — yet still some shoot , some tender scyen from the sacred root , by it's nutrimental parent - succours fed , springs , grows , spreads , flourishes ; till th' uprear'd head , do's t' all its great original heights improve , a second pearch for the fair bird of jove . so may great hallifax himself survive ; thus fall , and thus his deathless virtues live : live in his fair succession , ever blest ; whil'st honour builds it own rich phaenix nest . the lady's new-year's-gift : or , advice to a daughter . dear daughter , i find , that even our most pleasing thoughts will be unquiet ; they will be in motion ; and the mind can have no rest whilst it is possess'd by a darling passion . you are at present the chief object of my care , as well as of my kindness , which sometimes throweth me into visions of your being happy in the world , that are better suited to my partial wishes , than , to my reasonable hopes for you . at other times , when my fears prevail , i shrink as if i was struck , at the prospect of danger , to which a young woman must be expos'd . by how much the more lively , so much the more liable you are to be hurt ; as the finest plants are the soonest nipped by the frost . whilst you are playing full of innocence , the spitefull world will bite , except you are guarded by your caution . want of care therefore , my dear child , is never to be excus'd ; since , as to this world , it hath the same effect as want of vertue . such an early sprouting wit requireth so much the more to be sheltred by some rules , like something strew'd on tender flowers to preserve them from being blasted . you must take it well to be prun'd by so kind a hand as that of a father . there may be some bitterness in meer obedience : the natural love of liberty may help to make the commands of a parent harder to go down : some inward resistance there will be , where power and not choice maketh us move . but when a father layeth aside his authority , and persuadeth only by his kindness , you will never answer it to good nature , if it hath not weight with you . a great part of what is said in the following discourse may be above the present growth of your understanding ; but that becoming every day taller , will in a little time reach up to it , so as to make it easie to you . i am willing to begin with you before your mind is quite form'd , that being the time in which it is most capable of receiving a colour that will last when it is mix'd with it . few things are well learnt , but by early precepts : those well infus'd , make them natural ; and we are never sure of retaining what is valuable , till by a continued habit we have made it a piece of us . whether my skill can draw the picture of a fine woman , may be a question : but it can be none , that i have drawn that of a kind father : if you will take an exact copy , i will so far presume upon my workmanship , as to undertake you shall not make an ill figure . give me so much credit as to try , and i am sure that neither your wishes nor mine shall be disappointed by it . religion . the first thing to be confidered , is religion . it must be the chief object of your thoughts , since it would be a vain thing to direct your behaviour in the world , and forget that which you are to have towards him who made it . in a strict sense , it is the only thing necessary : you must take it into your mind , and from thence throw it into your heart , where you are to embrace it so close as never to lose the possession of it . but then it is necessary to distinguish between the reality and the pretence . religion doth not consist in believing the legend of the nursery , where children with their milk are fed with the tales of witches , hobgoblings , prophecies , and miracles . we suck in so greedily these early mistakes , that our riper vnderstanding hath much ado to cleanse our minds from this kind of trash : the stories are so entertaining , that we do not only believe them , but relate them ; which makes the discovery of the truth somewhat grievous , when it makes us lose such a field of impertinence , where we might have diverted our selves , besides the throwing some shame upon us for having ever received them . this is making the world a jest , and imputing to god almighty , that the province he assigneth to the devil , is to play at blindmans-busf , and shew tricks with mankind ; and is so far from being religion , that it is not sense , and hath right only to be call'd that kind of devotion , of which ignorance is the undoubted mother , without competition or dispute . these mistakes are therefore to be left off with your hanging sleeves ; and you ought to be as much out of countenance to be found with them about you , as to be seen playing with babies at an age when other things are expected from you . the next thing to be observ'd to you , is , that religion doth as little consist in loud answers and devout convulsions at church , or praying in an extraordinary manner . some ladies are so extream stirring at church , that one would swear the worm in their conscience made them so unquiet . others will have such a divided face between a devout goggle and an inviting glance , that the unnatural mixture maketh even the best looks to be at that time ridiculous . these affected appearances are ever suspected , like very strong perfumes , which are generally thought no very good symptoms in those that make use of them . let your earnestness therefore be reserv'd for your closet , where you may have god almighty to your self : in publick be still and calm , neither undecently careless , nor affected in the other extream . it is not true devotion , to put on an angry zeal against those who may be of a differing persuasion . partiality to our selves makes us often mistake it for a duty , to fall hard upon others in that case ; and being push'd on by self-conceit , we strike without mercy , believing that the wounds we give are meritorious , and that we are fighting god almighty's quarrel ; when the truth is , we are only setting out our selves . our devotion too often breaketh out into that shape which most agreeth with our particular temper . the cholerick grow into a hardned severity against all who dissent from them ; snatch at all the texts of scripture that suit with their complexion ; and because god's wrath was some time kindled , they conclude , that anger is a divine vertue ; and are so far ●rom imagining their ill natur'd zeal requireth an apology , that they value themselves upon it , and triumph in it . others , whose nature is more credulous than ordinary , admit no bounds or measure to it ; they grow as proud of extending their faith , as princes are of enlarging their dominions ; not considering that our faith , like our stomach , is capable of being over-charg'd ; and that as the last is destroy'd by taking in more than it can digest , so our reason may be extinguish'd by oppressing it with the weight of too many strange things ; especially if we are forbidden to chew what we are commanded to swallow . the melancholy and the sullen are apt to place a great part of their religion in dejected or ill-humour'd looks , putting on an unsociable face , and declaiming against the innocent entertainments of life , with as much sharpness as they could bestow upon the greatest crimes . this generally is only a vizard , there is seldom any thing real in it . no other thing is the better for being sowre ; and it would be hard that religion should be so , which is the best of things . in the mean time it may be said with truth , that this surly kind of devotion hath perhaps done little less hurt in the world , by frighting , than the most scandalous examples have done by infecting it . having told you , in these few instances , to which many more might be added , what is not true religion ; it is time to describe to you , what is so . the ordinary definitions of it are no more like it , than the common sign-posts are like the princes they would represent . the unskilful dawbers in all ages have generally laid on such ill colours , and drawn such harsh lines , that the beauty of it is not easily to be discerned : they have put in all the forbiddng features that can be thought of ; and in the first place , have made it an irreconcilable enemy to nature ; when , in reality , they are not only friends , but twins , born together at the same time ; and it is doing violence to them both , to go about to have them separated . nothing is so kind and so inviting as true and unsophisticated religion : instead of imposing unnecessary burdens upon our nature , it easeth us of the greater weight of our passions and mistakes : instead of subduing us with rigour , it redeemeth us from the slavery we are in to our selves , who are the most severe masters , whilst we are under the usurpation of our appetites let loose and not restrain'd . religion is a chearful thing , so far from being always at cuffs with good humour , that it is inseparably united to it . nothing unpleasant belongs to it , though the spiritual cooks have done their unskilful part to give an ill relish to it . a wise epicure would be religious for the sake of pleasure ; good sense is the foundation of both ; and he is a bungler who aimeth at true luxury , but where they are join'd . religion is exalted reason , refin'd and sisted from the grosser parts of it : it dwelleth in the upper region of the mind , where there are fewest clouds or mists to darken or offend it : it is both the foundation and the crown of all vertues : it is morality improv'd and rais'd to its height , by being carried nearer heaven , the only place where perfection resideth . it cleanseth the vnderstanding , and brusheth off the earth that hangeth about our souls . it doth not want the hopes and the terrors which are made use of to support it ; neither ought it to descend to the borrowing any argument out of it self , since there we may find every thing that should invite us . if we were to be hired to religion , it is able to out-bid the corrupted world , with all it can offer to us , being so much the richer of the two , in every thing where reason is admitted to be a judge of the value . since this is so , it is worth your pains to make religion your choice , and not make use of it only as a refuge . there are ladies , who finding by the too visible decay of their good looks , that they can shine no more by that light , put on the varnish of an affected devotion , to keep up some kind of figure in the world. they take sanctuary in the church , when they are pursued by growing contempt which will not be stopt , but followeth them to the altar . such late penitence is only a disguise for the tormenting grief of being no more handsome . that is the killing thought which draweth the sighs and tears , that appear outwardly to be applied to a better end . there are many who have an aguish devotion , hot and cold fits , long intermissions , and violent raptures . this unevenness is by all means to be avoided . let your method be a steady course of good life , that may run like a smooth stream , and be a perpetual spring to furnish to the continued exercise of vertue . your devotion may be earnest , but it must be unconstrained ; and like other duties , you must make it your pleasure too , or else it will have very little efficacy . by this rule you may best judge of your own heart . whilst those duties are joys , it is an evidence of their being sincere ; but when they are a penance , it is a sign that your nature maketh some resistance ; and whilst that lasteth , you can never be entirely secure of your self . if you are often unquiet , and too nearly touch'd by the cross accidents of life , your devotion is not of the right standard there is too much allay in it . that which is right and unmixt , taketh away the sting of every thing that would trouble you : it is like a healing balm , that extinguisheth the sharpness of the bloud ; so this softeneth and dissolveth the anguish of the mind . a devout mind hath the privilege of being free from passions , as some climates are from all venomous kind of creatures . it will raise you above the little vexations to which others for want of it , will be expos'd , and bring you to a temper , not of stupid indifference , but of such a wise resignation , that you may live in the world , so as it may hang about you like a loose garment , and not tied too close to you . take heed of running into that common error , of applying god's judgments upon particular occasions . our weights and measures are not competent to make the distribution either of his mercy or his justice : he hath thrown a veil over these things , which makes it not only an impertinence , but a kind of sacrilege , for us to give sentence in them without his commission . as to your particular faith , keep to the religion that is grown up with you , both as it is the bed in it self , and that the reason of staying in it upon that ground is somewhat stronger for your sex , than it will perhaps be allow'd to be for ours ; in respect that the voluminous enquiries into the truth , by reading , are less expected from you . the best of books will be direction enough to you not to change ; and whilst you are fix'd and sufficiently confirm'd in your own mind , you will do best to keep vain doubts and scruples at such a distance that they may give you no disquiet . let me recommend to you a method of being rightly inform'd , which can never fail : it is in short this . get vnderstanding , and practise vertue and if you are ●o blessed as to have those for your share , it is not surer that there is a god , than it is , that by him all necessary truths will be revealed to you . hvsband . that which challengeth the place in your thoughts , is how to live with a husband . and though that is so large a word , that few rules can be fix'd to it which are unchangeable , the methods being as various as the several tempers of men to which they must be suited ; yet i cannot omit some general observations , which , with the help of your own may the better direct you in the part of your life upon which your happiness most dependeth . it is one of the disadvantages belonging to your sex , that young women are seldom permitted to make their own choice ; their friends care and experience are thought safer guides to them , than their own fancies ; and their modesty often forbiddeth them to refuse when their parents recommend , though their inward consent may not entirely go along with it . in this case there remaineth nothing for them to do , but to endeavour to make that easie which falleth to their lot , and by a wise use of every thing they may dislike in a husband ▪ turn that by degrees to be very supportable , which , if neglected , might in time beget an aversion . you must first lay it down for a foundation in general ▪ that there is inequality in the sexes , and that for the better oeconomy of the world , the men , who were to be the law-givers , had the larger share of reason bestow'd upon them ; by which means your sex is the better prepar'd for the compliance that is necessary for the better performance of those duties which teem to be most properly assign'd to it . this looks a little uncourtly at the first appearance ; but upon examination it will be found , that nature is so far from being unjust to you , that she is partial on our side . she hath made you such large amends by other advantages , for the seeming injustice of the first distribution , that the right of complaining is come over to our sex. you have it in your power not only to free your selves , but to subdue your masters , and without violence throw both their natural and legal authority . at your feet . we are made of differing tempers , that our defects may the better be mutually supplied : your sex wanteth our reason for your conduct , and our strength for your protection : ours wanteth your gentleness to soften , and to entertain us . the first part of our life is a good deal subjected to you in the nursery , where you reign without competition , and by that means have the advantage of giving the first impressions . afterwards you have stronger influences , which , well manag'd , have more force in your behalf , than all our privileges and jurisdictions can pre●end to have against you . you have more strength in your looks , than we have in our laws , and more power by your tears , than we have by our arguments . it is true , that the laws of marriage , run in a harsher stile towards your sex. obey is an ungenteel word , and less easie to be digested , by making such an unkind distinction in the words of the contract , and so very unsuitable to the excess of good manners , which generally goes before it . besides , the universality of the rule seemeth to be a grievance , and it appeareth reasonable , that there might be an exemption for extraordinary women , from ordinary rules , to take away the just exception that lieth against the false measure of general equality . it may be alledged by the counsel retained by your sex , that as there is in all other laws , an appeal from the letter to the equity , in cases that require it ▪ it is as reasonable , that some court of a larger . jurisdiction might be erected , where some wives might resort and plead specially . and in such instances where nature is so kind , as to raise them above the level of their own sex , they might have relief , and obtain a mitigation in their own particular , of a sentence which was given generally against woman kind . the causes of separation are now so very course , that few are confident enough to buy their liberty at the price of having their modesty so exposed . and for disparity of minds , which above all other things requireth a remedy , the laws have made no provision ; so little refin'd are numbers of men , by whom they are compil'd . this and a great deal more might be said to give a colour to the complaint . but the answer to it , in short is , that the institution of marriage is too sacred to admit a liberty of objecting to it ; that the supposition of yours being the weaker sex , having without all doubt a good foundation , maketh it reasonable to subject it to the masculine dominion ; that no rule can be so perfect , as not to admit some exceptions ; but the law presumeth there would be so few found in this case , who would have a sufficient right to such a privilege , that it is safer some injustice should be conniv'd at in a very few instances , than to break into an establishment , upon which the order of humane society doth so much depend . you are therefore to make your best of what is settled by law and custom , and not vainly imagine , that it will be changed for your sake . but that you may not be discouraged , as if you lay under the weight of an incurable grievance , you are to know , that by a wise and dexterous conduct , it will be in your power to relieve your self from any thing that looketh like a disadvantage in it . for your better direction , i will give a hint of the most ordinary causes of dissatisfaction between man and wife , that you may be able by such a warning to live so upon your guard , that when you shall be married , you may know how to cure your husband 's mistakes , and to prevent your own . first then , you are to consider , you live in a time which hath rendred some kind of frailties so habitual , that they lay claim to large grains of allowance . the world in this is somewhat unequal , and our sex seemeth to play the tyrant in distinguishing partially for our selves , by making that in the utmost degree criminal in the woman , which in a man passeth under a much gentler censure . the root and the excuse of this injustice is the preservation of families from any mixture which may bring a blemish to them : and whilst the point of honour continues to be so plac'd , it seems unavoidable to give your sex , the greater share of the penalty . but if in this it lieth under any disadvantage , you are more than recompens'd , by having the honour of families in your keeping . the consideration so great a trust must give you , maketh full amends ; and this power the world hath lodged in you , can hardly fail to restrain the severity of an ill husband , and to improve the kindness and esteem of a good one . this being so , remember , that next to the danger , of committing the fault your self , the greatest is that of seeing it in your husband . do not seem to look or hear that way : if he is a man of sense , he will reclaim himself ; the folly of it , is of it self sufficient to cure him : if he is not so , he will be provok'd , but not reform'd . to expostulate in these cases , looketh like declaring war , and preparing reprisals ; which to a thinking husband would be a dangerous reflexion . besides , it is so course a reason which will be assign'd for a lady 's too great warmth upon such an occasion , that modesty no less than prudence ought to restrain her ; since such an undecent complaint makes a wife much more ridiculous , than the injury that provoketh her to it . but it is yet worse , and more unskilful , to blaze it in the world , expecting it should rise up in arms to take her part : whereas she will find , it can have no other effect , than that she will be served up in all companies , as the reigning jest at that time ; and will continue to be the common entertainment , till she is rescu'd by some newer folly that cometh upon the stage , and driveth her away from it . the impertinence of such methods is so plain , that it doth not deserve the pains of being laid open . be assur'd , that in these cases your discretion and silence will be the most prevailing reproof . an affected ignorance , which is seldom a vertue , is a great one here : and when your husband seeth how unwill●ng you are to be uneasie , there is no stronger argument to perswade him not to be unjust to you . besides , it will naturally make him more yielding in other things : and whether it be to cover or redeem his offence , you may have the good effects of it whilst it lasteth , and all that while have the most reasonable ground that can be , of presuming , such a behaviour will at last entirely convert him . there is nothing so glorious to a wife , as a victory so gain'd : a man so reclaim'd , is for ever after subjected to her vertue ; and her bearing for a time , is more than rewarded by a triumph that will continue as long as her life . the next thing i will suppose , is , that your husband may love wine more than is convenient . it will be granted , that though there are vices of a deeper dye , there are none that have greater deformity than this , when it is not restrain'd : but with all this , the same custom which is the more to be lamented for its being so general , should make it less uneasie to every one in particular who is to suffer by the effects of it : so that in the first place , it will be no new thing if you should have a drunkard for your husband ; and there is by too frequent examples evidence enough , that such a thing may happen , and yet a wife may live too without being miserable . self-love dictateth aggravating words to every thing we feel ; ruine and misery are the terms we apply to whatever we do not like , forgetting the mixture allotted to us by the condition of human life , by which it is not intended we should be quite exempt from trouble . it is fair , if we can escape such a degree of it as would oppress us , and enjoy so much of the pleasant part as may lessen the ill taste of such things as are unwelcome to us . every thing hath two sides , and for our own ease we ought to direct our thoughts to that which may be least liable to exception . to sall upon the worst side of a drunkard , giveth so unpleasant a prospect , that it is not possible to dwell upon it . let us pass then to the more favourable part , as far as a wife is concern'd in it . i am tempted to say ( if the irregularity of the expression could in strictness be justified ) that a wife is to thank god her husband hath faults . mark the seeming paradox my dear , for your own instruction , it being intended no further . a husband without faults is a dangerous observer ; he hath an eye so piercing , and seeth every thing so plain , that it is expos'd to his full censure . and though i will not doubt but that your vertue will disappoint the sharpest enquiries ; yet few women can bear the having all they say or do represented in the clear glass of an understanding without faults . nothing softneth the arrogance of our nature , like a mixture of some frailties . it is by them we are best told , that we must not strike too hard upon others , because we our selves do so often deserve blows : they pull our rage by the sleeve , and whisper gentleness to us in our censures , even when they are rightly applied . the faults and passions of husbands bring them down to you , and make them content to live upon less unequal terms , than faultless men would be willing to stoop to ; so haughty is mankind till humbled by common weaknesses and defects , which in our corrupted state contribute more towards the reconciling us to one another , than all the precepts of the philosophers and divines . so that where the errors of our nature make amends for the disadvantages of yours it is more your part to make use of the benefit , than to quarrel at the fault . thus in case a drunken husband should fall to your share , if you will be wise and patient , his wine shall be of your side ; it will throw a veil over your mistakes , and will set out and improve every thing you do , that he is pleased with . others will like him less , and by that means he may perhaps like you the more . when after having dined too well , he is received at home without a storm , or so much as a reproaching look , the wine will naturally work out all in kindeness , which a wife must encourage , let it be wrapped up in never so much impertinence . on the other side it would boil up into rage , if the mistaken wife should treat him roughly , like a certain thing called a kind shrew , than which the world , with all its plenty , cannot shew a more senseless , ill-bred , forbidding creature . consider , that where the man will give such frequent intermissions of the use of his reason , the wife insensibly getteth a right of governing in the vacancy , and that raiseth her character and credit in the family , to a higher pitch than perhaps could be done under a sober husband , who never putteth himself into an incapacity of holding the reins . if these are not intire consolations , at least they are remedies to some degree . they cannot make drunkenness a vertue , nor a husband given to it a felicity ; but you will do your self no ill office in the endeavouring , by these means , to make the best of such a lot , in case it should happen to be yours , and by the help of a wise observation , to make that very supportable , which would otherwise be a load that would oppress you . the next case i will put is that your husband may be cholerick or ill-humour'd . to this it may be said , that passionate men generally make amends at the foot of the account . such a man , if he is angry one day without any sense , will the next day be as kind without any reason . so that by marking how the wheels of such a man's head are used to move , you may easily bring over all his passion to your party . instead of being struck down by his thunder , you shall direct it where and upon whom you shall think it best applied . thus are the strongest poisons turn'd to the best remedies ; but then there must be art in it , and a skilful hand , else the least bungling maketh it mortal . there is a great deal of nice care requisite to deal with a man of this complexion . choler proceedeth from pride , and maketh a man so partial to himself that he swelleth against contradiction ; and thinketh he is lessened if he is opposed . you must in this case take heed of increasing the storm by an unwary word , or kindling the fire whilst the wind is in a corner which may blow it in your face : you are dextrously to yield every thing till he beginneth to cool , and then by slow degrees you may rise and gain upon him : your gentleness well timed , will , like a charm , dispel his anger ill placed ; a kind smile will reclaim , when a shrill pettish answer would provoke him ; rather than fail upon such occasions , when other remedies are too weak , a little flattery may be admitted , which by being necessary , will cease to be criminal . if ill. humour and sullenness , and not open and sudden heat is his disease , there is a way of treating that too , so as to make it a grievance to be endured . in order to if , you are first to know , that naturally good sense hath a mixture of surly in it : and there being so much folly in the world , and for the most part so triumphant , it giveth frequent temptations to raise the spleen of men who think right . therefore that which may generally be call'd ill-humour , is not always a fault ; it becometh one when either it is wrong applied , or that it is continued too long , when it is not so : for this reason you must not too hastily fix an ill name upon that which may perhaps not deserve it ; and though the case should be , that your husband might too sowerly resent any thing he disliketh , it may so happen , that more blame shall belong to your mistake , than to his ill-humour . if a husband behaveth himself sometimes with an indifference that a wife may think offensive , she is in the wrong to put the worst sence upon it , if by any means it will admit a better . some wives will call it ill-humour if their husbands change their style from that which they used whilst they made their first addresses to them : others will allow no intermission or abatement in the expressions of kindness to them , not enough distinguishing times , and forgetting that it is impossible for men to keep themselves up all their lives to the height of some extravagant moments . a man may at some times be less careful in little things , without any cold or disobliging reason for it ; as a wife may be too expecting in smaller matters , without drawing upon her-self the inference of being unkind . and if your husband should be really sullen , and have such frequent fits , as might take away the excuse of it , it concerneth you to have an eye prepared to discern the first appearances of cloudy weather , and to watch when the fit goeth off , which seldom lasteth long if it is let alone . but whilst the mind is sore , every thing galleth it , and that maketh it necessary to let the black humour begin to spend it self ▪ before you come in and venture to undertake it . if in the lottery of the world you should draw a covetous husband , i confess it will not make you proud of your good luck ; yet even such a one may be endured too , though there are few passions more untractable than that of avarice . you must first take care that your definition of avarice may not be a mistake . you are to examine every circumstance of your husband's fortune , and weigh the reason of every thing you expect from him before you have right to pronounce that sentence . the complaint is now so general against all husbands , that it giveth great suspicion of its being often ill-grounded ; it is impossible they should all deserve that censure , and therefore it is certain , that it is many times misapplied . he that spareth in every thing is an inexcusable niggard ; he that spareth in nothing is as inexcusable a madman . the mean is , to spare in what is least necessary , to lay out more liberally in what is most required in our several circumstances . yet this will not always satisfie . there are wives who are impatient of the rules of oecomomy , and are apt to call their husband's kindness in question , if any other measure is put to their expence than that of their own fancy . be sure to avoid this dangerous error , such a partiality to your self ▪ which is so offensive to an understanding man , that he will very ill bear a wife's giving her self such an injurious preference to all the family , and whatever belongeth to it . but to admit the worst , and that your husband is really a close-handed wretch , you must in this , as in other cases , endeavour to make it less afflicting to you ; and first you must observe seasonable hours of speaking . when you offer any thing in opposition to this reigning humour , a third hand and a wise friend , may often prevail more than you will be allowed to do in your own cause . sometimes you are dexterously to go along with him in things , where you see that the niggardly part of his mind is most predominant , by which you will have the better opportunity of perswading him in things where he may be more indifferent . our passions are very unequal , and are apt to be raised or lessened , according as they work upon different objects ; they are not to be stopped or restrained in those things where our mind is more particularly engaged . in other matters they are more tractable , and will sometimes give reason a hearing , and admit a fair dispute . more than that , there are few men , even in this instance of ava●ice , so intirely abandoned to it , that at some hours , and upon some occasions , will not forget their natures , and for that time turn prodigal . the same man who will grudge himself what is necessary , let his pride be raised and he shall be profuse ; at another time his anger shall have the same effect ; a fit of vanity , ambition , and sometimes of kindness , shall open and inlarge his narrow mind ; a dose of wine will work upon this tough humor , and for the time dissolve it . your busness must be , if this case happeneth , to watch these critical moments , and not let one of them slip without making your advantage of it ; and a wife may be said to want skill , if by these means she is not able to secure her self in a good measure against the inconveniences this scurvy quality in a husband might bring upon her , except he should be such an incurable monster , as i hope will never fall to your share . the last supposition i will make , is , that your husband should be weak and incompetent to make use of the privileges that belong to him . it will be yielded , that such a one leaveth room for a great many objections . but god almighty seldom sendeth a grievance without a remedy , or at least such a mitigation as taketh away a great part of the sting , and the smart of it . to make such a misfortune less heavy you are first to bring to your observation , that a wife very often maketh better figure , for her husband 's making no great one : and there seemeth to be little reason , why the same lady that chuseth a waiting-woman with worse looks , may not be content with a husband with less wit ; the argument being equal from the advantage of the comparison . if you will be more ashamed in some cases , of such a husband , you will be less afraid than you would perhaps be of a wise one . his vnseasonable weakness may no doubt sometimes grieve you , but then set against this , that it giveth you the dominion , i● you will make the right use of it . it is next to his being dead , in which case the wife hath right to administer ; therefore be sure , if you have such an idiot , that none , except your self , may have the benefit of the forfeiture ; such a fool is a dangerous beast , if others have the keeping of him ; and you must be very undexterous if when your husband shall resolve to be an ass , you do not take care he may be your ass . but you must go skilfully about it and above all things , take heed of distinguishing in publick , what kind of husband he is : your inward thoughts must not hinder the outward payment of the consideration that is due to him : your slighting him in company , besides that it would , to a discerning by stander , give too great encouragement for the making nearer applications to you , is in it self such an undecent way of assuming , that it may provoke the tame creature to break loose , and to shew his dominion for his credit , which he was content to forget for his ease . in short , the surest and the most approved method will be to do like a wise minister to an easie prince ; first give him the orders you afterwards receive from him . with all this , that which you are to pray for , is a wise husband , one that by knowing how to be a master , for that very reason will not let you feel the weight of it ; one whose authority is so soften'd by his kindness , that it giveth you ease without abridging your liberty ; one that will return so much tenderness for your just esteem of him , that you will never want power , though you will seldom care to use it . such a husband is as much above all the other kinds of them , as a rational subjection to a prince , great in himself , is to be preferr'd before the disquiet and uneasiness of vnlimited liberty . before i leave this head , i must add a little concerning your behaviour to your husband's friends , which requireth the most refined part of your understanding to acquit your self well of it . you are to study how to live with them with more care than you are to apply to any other part of your life ; especially at first , that you may not stumble at the first setting out . the family into which you are grafted will generally be apt to expect , that like a stranger in a foreign country , you should conform to their methods , and not bring in a new model by your own authority the friends in such a case are tempted to rise up in arms as against an unlawful invasion , so that you are with the utmost caution to avoid the least appearances of any thing of this kind . and that you may with less difficulty afterwards give your directions , be sure at first to receive them from your husband's friends . gain them to you by early applying to them , and they will be so satisfied , that as nothing is more thankful than pride , when it is complied with , they will strive which of them shall most recommend you ; and when they have helped you to take root in your husband 's good opinion , you will have less dependence upon theirs , though you must not neglect any reasonable means of preserving it . you are to consider , that a man govern'd by his friends , is very easily inflamed by them ; and that one who is not so , will yet for his own sake expect to have them consider'd . it is easily improved to a point of honour in a husband , not to have his relations neglected ; and nothing is more dangerous , than to raise an objection , which is grounded upon pride : it is the most stubborn and lasting passion we are subject to , and where it is the first cause of the war , it is very hard to make a secure peace . your caution in this is of the last importance to you . and that you may the better succeed in it , carry a strict eye upon the impertinence of your servants ; take heed that their ill-humour may not engage you to take exceptions , or their too much assuming i● small matters , raise consequences which may bring you under great disadvantage . remember that in the case of a royal bride , those about her are generally so far suspected to bring in a foreign interest , that in most countries they are insensibly reduced to a very small number , and those of so low a figure , that it doth not admit the being jealous of them . in little and in the proportion , this may be the case of every new married woman , and therefore it may be more adviseable for you , to gain the servants you find in a family , than to tie your self too fast to those you carry into it . you are not to overlook these small reflections , because they may appear low and inconsiderable ; for it may be said , that as the greatest streams are made up of the small drops at the head of the springs from whence they are derived , so the greater circumstances of your life , will be in some degree directed by these seeming trifles , which having the advantage of being the first acts of it , have a greater effect than singly in their own nature they could pretend to . i will conclude this article with my advice , that you would , as much as nature will give you leave , endeavour to forget the great indulgence you have found at home . after such a gentle discipline as you have been under , every thing you dislike will seem the harsher to you . the tenderness we have had for you , my dear , is of another nature , peculiar to kind parents , and differing from that which you will meet wi●h first in any family into which you shall be transplanted ; and yet they may be very kind too , and afford no justifiable reason to you to complain . you must not be frighted with the first appearances of a differing scene ; for when you are used to it , you may like the house you go to , better than that you left ; and your husband's kindness will have so much advantage of ours , that we shall yield 〈◊〉 all competition , and as well as we love you , be very well contented to surrender to such a rival . hovse , family , and children . you must lay before you , my dear ▪ there are degrees of care to recommend your self to the world in the several parts of your life . in many things , though the doing them well may raise your credit and esteem , yet the omission of them would draw no immediate reproach upon you : in others , where your duty is more particularly applyed , the neglect of them is amongst those faults which are not forgiven , and will bring you under a censure , which will be much a heavier thing than the trouble you would avoid . of this kind is the government of your house , family , and children , which ●ince it is the province allotted to your sex , and that the discharging it well , will for that reason be expected from you , if you either desert it out of laziness , or manage it ill for want of skill , instead of a help you will be an incumbrance to the family where you are placed . i must tell you , that no respect is lasting , but that which is produced by our being in some degree useful to those that pay it . where that faileth , the homage and the reverence go along with it , and fly to others where something may be expected in exchange for them . and upon this principle the respects even of the children and the servants will not stay with one that doth not think them worth their care , and the old house-keeper shall make a better figure in the family , than the lady with all her fine cloaths , if she wilfully relinquishes her title to the government . therefore take heed of carrying your good breeding to such a height , as to be good for nothing , and to be proud of it . some think it hath a great air to be above troubling their thoughts with such ordinary things as their house and family ; others dare not admit cares for fear they should hasten wrinkles ? mistaken pride maketh some think they must keep themselves up , and not descend to these duties , which do not seem enough refined for great ladies to be imploy'd in ; forgetting all this while , that it is more than the greatest princes can do , at once to preserve respect , and to neglect their business . no age ever erected altars to insignificant gods ; they had all some quality applied to them to draw worship from mankind ; this maketh it the more unreasonable for a lady to expect to be consider'd , and at the same time resolve not to deserve it . good looks alone will not do ; they are not such a lasting tenure , as to be relied upon ; and if they should stay longer than they usually do , it will by no means be safe to depend upon them : for when time hath abated the violence of the first liking , and that the napp is a little worn off , though still a good degree of kindness may remain , men recover their sight which before might be dazell'd , and allow themselves to object as well as to admire . in such a case , when a husband seeth an empty airy thing sail up and down the house to no kind of purpose , and look as if she came thither only to make a visit . when he findeth that after her emptiness hath been extreme busie about some very senseless thing ▪ she eats her breakfast half an hour before dinner , to be at greater liberty to afflict the company with her discourse ; then calleth for her coach , that she may trouble her acquaintance , who are already cloy'd with her : and having some proper dialogues ready to display her foolish eloquence at the top of the stairs , she setteth out like a ship out of the harbour , laden with trifles and cometh back with them : at her return she repeateth to her faithful waiting woman , the triumphs of that day's impertinence ; then wrap'd up in flattery and clean linen , goeth to bed so satisfied , that it throweth her into pleasant dreams of her own felicity . such a one is seldom serious but with her taylor ; her children and family may now and then have a random thought , but she never taketh aim but at something very impertinent . i say , when a husband , whose province is without doors , and to whom the oeconomy of the house would be in some degree indecent , findeth no order nor quiet in his family , meeteth with complaints of all kinds springing from this root ; the mistaken lady , who thinketh to make amends for all this , by having a well-chosen petty coat , will at last be convinced of her error , and with grief be forced to undergo the penalties that belong to those who are willfully insignificant . when this scurvy hour cometh upon her , she first groweth angry ; then when the time of it is past , would perhaps grow wiser , not remembring that we can no more have wisdom than grace , whenever we think fit to call for it . there are times and periods fix'd for both ; and when they are too long neglected , the punishment is , that they are irrecoverable , and nothing remaineth but an useless grief for the folly of having thrown them out of our power . you are to think what a mean figure a woman maketh , when she is so degraded by her own fault ; whereas there is nothing in those duties which are expected from you , that can be a lessening to you , except your want of conduct makes it so . you may love your children without living in the nursery , and you may have a competent and discreet care of them , with out letting it ▪ break out upon the company , or exposing your self by turning your discourse that way , which is a kind of laying children to the parish , and it can hardly be done any where , that those who hear it will be so forgiving , as not to think they are overcharged with them . a woman's tenderness to her children is one of the least deceitful evidences of the vertue ; but yet the way of expressing it , must be subject to the rules of good breeding : and though a woman of quality ought not to be less kind to them , than mothers of the meanest rank are to theirs , yet she may distinguish her self in the manner , and avoid the course methods , which in women of a lower size might be more excusable . you must begin early to make them love you , that they may obey you . this mixture is no where more necessary than in children . and i must tell you , that you are not to expect returns of kindness from yours , if ever you have any , without grains of allowance ; and yet it is not so much a defect in their good nature , as a shortness of thought in them . their first insufficiency maketh them lean so entirely upon their parents for what is necessary , that the habit of it maketh them continue the same expectations for what is unreasonable ; and as often as they are denied , so often they think they are injured : and whilst their desires are strong , and their reasons yet in the cradle , their anger looketh no farther than the thing they long for and cannot have ; and to be displeased for their own good , is a maxim they are very ●low to understand : so that you may conclude , the first thoughts of your children will have no small mixture of mutiny ; which being so natural , you must not be angry , except you would increase it . you must deny them as seldom as you can , and when there is no avoiding it , you must do it gently ; you must flatter away their ill humour , and take the next opportunity of pleasing them in some other thing , before they either ask or look for it : this will strengthen your authority , by making it soft to them ; and confirm their obedience , by making it their interest . you are to have as strict a guard upon your self amongst your children , as if you were amongst your enemies . they are apt to make wrong inferences , to take encouragement from half words , and misapply what you may say or do , so as either to lessen their duty , or to extend their liberty farther than is convenient . let them be more in awe of your kindness than of your power . and above all , take heed of supporting a favourite child in its impertinence , which will give right to the rest of claiming the same privilege . if you have a divided number , leave the boys to the father 's more peculiar care , that you may with the greater justice pretend to a more immediate jurisdiction over those of your own sex. you are to live so with them , that they may never chuse to avoid you , except when they have offended ; and then let them tremble , that they may distinguish : but their penance must not continue so long as to grow too sowre upon their stomachs , that it may not harden in stead of correcting them : the kind and severe part must have their several turns seasonably applied ; but your indulgence is to have the broader mixture , that love , rather than fear , may be the root of their obedience . your servants are in the next place to be considered ; and you must remember not to fall into the mistake of thinking , that because they receive wages , and are so much inferiour to you , therefore they are below your care to know how to manage them . it would be as good reason for ▪ a master workman to despise the wheels of his engines , because they are made of wood. these are the wheels of your family ; and let your directions be never so faultless , yet if these engines stop or move wrong , the whole order of your house is either at a stand , or discomposed . besides , the inequality which is between you , must not make you forget , that nature maketh no such distinction , but that servants may be looked upon as humble friends , and that returns of kindness and good vsage are as much due to such of them as deserve it , as their service is due to us when we require it . a foolish haughtiness in the style of speaking , or in the manner of commanding them , is in it self very undecent ; besides that it begetteth an aversion in them , of which the least ill effect to be expected , is , that they will be slow and careless in all that is injoyned them : and you will find it true by your experience , that you will be so much the more obeyed as you are less imperious . be not too hasty in giving your orders , not too angry when they are not altogether observed ; much less are you to be loud , and too much disturbed : an evenness in distinguishing when they do well or ill , is that which will make your family move by a rule , and without noise , and will the better set out your skill in conducting it with ease and silence , that it may be like a well disciplin'd army ; which knoweth how to anticipate the orders that are fit to be given them . you are never to neglect the duty of the present hour , to do another thing , which though it may be better in it self , is not to be unseasonably preferred . allot well chosen hours for the inspection of your family , which may be so distinguished from the rest of your time , that the necessary cares may come in their proper place , without any influence upon your good humour , or interruption to other things . by these methods you will put your self in possession of being valued by your servants , and then their obedience will naturally follow . i must not forget one of the greatest articles belonging to a family , which is the expence . it must not be such , as by failing either in the time or measure of it , may rather draw censure than gain applause . if it was well examined , there is more money given to be laughed at , than for any one thing in the world , though the purchasers do not think so . a well-stated rule is like the line , when that is once pass'd we are under another pole ; so the first straying from a rule , is a step towards making that which was before a vertue , to change its nature , and to grow either into a vice , or at least an impertinence . the art of laying out money wise'y , is not attained to without a great deal of thought ; and it is yet more difficult in the case of a wife , who is accountable to her husband for her mistakes in it . it is not only his money , his credit too is at stake , if what lyeth under the wife's care is managed , either with undecent thrift , or too loose profusion . you are therefore to keep the mean between these two extremes , and it being hardly possible to hold the balance exactly even , let it rather incline towards the laberal side as more suitable to your quality , and less subject to reproach . of the two a little money mispent is sooner recovered , than the credit which is lost by having it unhandsomely saved ; and a wise husband will less forgive a shameful piece of parcimony , than a little extravagance , if it be not too often repeated . his mind in this must be your chief direction ; and his temper , when once known , will in great measure , justifie your part in the management , if he is pleased with it . in your clothes avoid too much gaudy ; do not value your self upon an imbroidered gown ; and remember , that a reasonable word , or an obliging look , will gain you more respect , than all your fine trappings . this is not said to restrain you from a decent compliance with the world , provided you take the wiser , and not the foolisher part of your sex for your pattern . some distinctions are to be allowed , whilst they are well suited to your quality and fortune , and in the distribution of the expence , it seemeth to me that a full attendance , and well chosen ornaments for your house , will make you a better figure ▪ than too much glittering in what you wear , which may with more ease be imitated by those that are below you . yet this must not tempt you to starve every thing but your own appartment ; or in order to more abundance there , give just cause to the least servant you have , to complain of the want of what is necessary . above all , fix it in your thoughts , as an unchangeable maxim , that nothing is truly fine but what is fit , and that just so much as is proper for your circumstances of their several kinds , is much finer than all you can add to it . when you once break through these bounds , you launch into a wide sea of extravagance . every thing will become necessary , because you have a mind to it ; and you have a mind to it , not because it is fit for you , but because some body else hath it . this lady's logick fetteth reason upon its head , by carrying the rule from things to persons ; and appealing from what is right to every fool that is in the wrong . the word necessary is miserably applyed , it disordereth families , and overturneth governments by being so abused . remember that children and fools want every thing because they want wit to distinguish : and therefore there is no stronger evidence of a crazy vnderstanding , than the making too large a catalogue of things necessary , when in truth there are so very few things that have a right to be placed in it . try every thing first in your judgment , before you allow it a place in your desire ; else your husband may think it as necessary for him to deny , as it is for you to have whatever is unreasonable : and if you shall too often give him that advantage , the habit of refusing may perhaps reach to things that are not unfit for you . there are unthinking ladies , who do not enough consider , how little their own figure agreeth with the fine things they are so proud of . others when they have them will hardly allow them to be visible ; they cannot be seen without light , and that is many times so sawcy and so prying , that like a too forward gallant it is to be forbid the chamber . some , when you are ushered into their dark ruelle , it is with such solemnity , that a man would swear there was something in it , till the vnskilful lady breaketh silence , and beginneth a chat , which discovereth it is a puppet play with magnificent scenes . many esteem things rather as they are hard to be gotten , than that they are worth getting : this looketh as if they had an interest to pursue that maxim , because a great part of their own value dependeth upon it . truth in these cases would be often unmannerly , and might derogate from the prerogative , great ladies would assume to them selves , of being distinct creatures from those of their sex , which are inferiour , and of less difficult access . in other things too , your condition must give the rule to you , and therefore it is not a wife's part to aim at more than a bounded liberality ; the farther extent of that quality ( otherwise to be commended ) belongeth to the husband , who hath better means for it . generosity wrong placed becometh a vice. it is no more a vertue when it groweth into an inconvenience , vertues must be inlarged or restrained according to differing circumstances . a princely mind will undo a private family : therefore things must be suited , or else they will not deserve to be commended , let them in themselves be never so valuable : and the expectations of the world are best answered when we acquit our selves in that manner which seemeth to be prescribed to our several conditions , without usurping upon those duties , which do not so particularly belong to us . i will close the consideration of this article of expence , with this short word . do not fetter your self with such a restraint in it as may make you remarkable ; but remember that vertue is the greatest ornament , and good sence the best equipage . behaviour and conversation . it is time now to lead you out of your house into the world. a dangerous step ; where your vertue alone will not secure you , except it is attended with a great deal of prudence . you must have both for your guard , and not stir without them . the enemy is abroad , and you are sure to be taken , if you are found stragling . your behaviour is therefore to incline strongly towards the reserved part ; your character is to be immoveably fixed upon that bottom , not excluding a mixture of greater freedom , as far as it may be innocent and well timed . the extravagancies of the age have made caution more necessary ; and by the same reason that the too great licence of ill men hath by consequence in many things restrained the lawful liberty of those who did not abuse it , the unjustifiable freedoms of some of your sex have involved the rest in the penalty of being reduced . and though this cannot so alter the nature of things , as to make that criminal , which in it self is indifferent ; yet if it maketh it dangerous , that alone is sufficient to justifie the restraint . a close behaviour is the fittest to receive vertue for its constant guest , because there , and there only , it can be secure . proper reserves are the outworks , and must never be deserted by those who intend to keep the place ; they keep off the possibilities not only of being taken , but of being attempted ; and if a woman seeth danger tho at never so remote a distance , she is for that time to shorten her line of liberty . she who will allow her self to go to the utmost extent of every thing that is lawful , is so very near going farther , that those who lie at watch , will begin to count upon her . mankind , from the double temptation of vanity and desire , is apt to turn every thing a woman doth to the hopeful side ; and there are few who dare make an impudent application , till they discern something which they are willing to take for an encouragement . it is safer therefore to prevent such forwardness , than to go about to cure it . it gathereth strength by the first allowances , and claimeth a right from having been at any time suffered with impunity . therefore nothing is with more care to be avoided , than such a kind of civility as may be mistaken for invitation ; and it will not be enough for you to keep your self free from any criminal engagements ; for if you do that which either raiseth hopes or createth discourse , there is a spot thrown upon your good name ; and those kind of stains are the harder to be taken out , being dropped upon you by the man's vanity , as well as by the woman's malice . most men are in one sence platonick lovers , though they are not willing to own that character . they are so far philosophers , as to allow , that the greatest part of pleasure lieth in the mind ; and in pursuance of that maxim , there are few who do not place the felicity more in the opinion of the world , of their being prosperous lovers , than in the blessing it self , how much soever they appear to value it . the being so , you must be very cautious not to gratifie these cameleons at the price of bringing a cloud upon your reputation ▪ which may be deeply wounded , tho your conscience is unconcerned . your own sex too will not fail to help the least appearance that giveth a handle ▪ to be ill-turned . the best of them will not be displeased to improve their own value , by laying others under a disadvantage , when there is a fair occasion give for it . it distinguisheth them still the more their own credit is more exalted , and , like a picture set off with shades , shineth more when a lady , either less innocent , or le● discreet is set near , to make them appear so much the brighter . if these lend thei● breath to blast such as are so unwary as to give them this advantage , you may be sure there will be a stronger gale from those , who , besides malice or emulation have an interest too , to strike hard upon a vertuous woman . it seemeth to them , tha● their load of infamy is lessened , by throwing part , of it upon others : so that they will not only improve when it lieth in thei● way , but take pains to find out the least mistake an innocent woman committeth , i● revenge of the injury she doth in leading a life which is a reproach to them . with these you must be extreme wary , and neither provoke them to be angry , nor invite them to be intimate . to the men you are to have a behaviour which may secure you , without offending them . no ill-bred affected shyness , nor a roughness , unsuitable to your sex , and unnecessary to your vertue ; but a way of living that may prevent all course railleries or unmannerly freedoms ; looks that forbid without rudeness , and oblige without invitation , or leaving room for the sawcy inferences men's vanity suggesteth to them upon the least encouragements . this is so very nice , that it must engage you to have a perpetual watch upon your eyes , and to remember , that one careless glance giveth more advantage than a hundred words not enough considered ; the language of the eyes being very much the most significant , and the most observed . your civility , which is always to be preserved , must not be carried to a compliance , which may betray you into irrecoverable mistakes . this french ambiguous word complaisance hath led your sex into more blame , than all other things put together . it carrieth them by degrees into a certain thing called a good kind of woman , an easie idle creature , that doth neither good nor ill but by chance , hath no choice , but leaveth that to the company she keepeth ▪ time , which by degrees addeth to the signification of words , hath made her , according to the modern stile , little better than one who thinketh it a rudeness to deny when civilly required , either her service in person , or her friendly assistance , to those who would have a meeting , or want a confident . she is a certain thing always at hand , an easie companion , who hath ever great compassion for distressed lovers : she censureth nothing but rigor , and is never without a plaister for a wounded reputation , in which chiefly lieth her skill in chirurgery ; she seldom hath the propriety of any particular gallant , but liveth upon brokage , and waiteth for the scraps her friends are content to leave her . there is another character not quite so criminal , yet not less ridiculous ; which is that of a good-humour'd woman , one who thinketh she must always be in a laugh , or a broad smile , because good-humour is an obliging quality ; thinketh it less ill-manners to talk impertinently , than to be silent in company . when such a prating engine rideth admiral , and carrieth the lantern , in a circle of fools , a cheerful concomb coming in for a recruit , the chattering of monkeys is a better noise than such a concert of senceless merriment . if she is applauded in it , she is so encouraged , that , like a ballad singer , who if commanded , breaketh his lungs , she letteth her self loose , and overfloweth upon the company . she conceiveth that mirth is to have no intermission , and therefore she will carry it about with her , though it be to a funeral ; and if a man should put a familiar question , she doth not know very well how to be angry , for then she would be no more that pretty thing called a good humour'd woman . this necessity of appearing at all times to be so infinitely pleased is a grievous mistake ; since in a handsom woman that invitation is unnecessary ; and in one who is not so , ridiculous . it is not intended by this , that you should forswear laughing ; but remember , that fools being always painted in that posture , it may fright those who are wise from doing it too frequently , and going too near a copy which is so little inviting , and much more from doing it loud , which is an unnatural sound and looketh so much like another sex , that few things are more offensive . that boilterous kind of jollity is as contrary to wit and good manners , as it is to modesty and vertue . besides , it is a course kind of quality , that throweth a woman into a lower form , and degradeth her from the rank of those who are more refined . some ladies speak loud and make a noise to be the more minded , which looketh as if they beat their drums for volunteers , and if by misfortune none come in to them , they may , not without reason , be a good deal out of countenance . there is one thing , yet more to be avoided , which is the example of those who intend nothing farther than the vanity of conquest , and think themselves secure of not having their honour tainted by it . some are apt to believe their vertue is too obscure , and not enough known , except it is exposed to a broader light , and set out to its best advantage , by some publick trials . these are dangerous experiments , and generally fail , being built upon so weak a foundation , as that of a too great confidence in our selves . it is as safe to play with fire , as to daily with gallantry . love is a passion that hath friends in the garrison , and for that reason must by a woman be kept at such a distance , that she may not be within the danger of doing the most usual thing in the world which is conspiring against her self : else the humble gallant , who is only admitted as a trophy , very often becometh the conquerour ; he putteth on the style of victory , and from an admirer groweth into a master , for so he may be called from the moment he is in possession . the first resolutions of stopping at good opinion and esteem , grow weaker by degrees against the charms of courtship skilfully applied . a lady is apt to think a man speaketh so much reason whilst he is commending her , that she hath much ado to believe him in the wrong when he is making love to her : and when besides the natural inducements your sex hath to be merciful , she is bribed by well chosen flattery , the poor creature is in danger of being caught like a bird listening to the whilstle of one that hath a snare for it . conquest is so tempting a thing , that it often maketh women mistake men's submissions ; which with all their fair appearance , have generally less , respect than art in them . you are to remember , that men who say extreme fine things , many times say them most for their own sakes ; and that the vain gallant is often as well pleased with his own compliments , as he could be with the kindest answer . where there is not that ostentation you are to suspect there is design , and as strong perfumes are seldom used but where they are necessary to smother an unwelcome scent ; so excessive good words leave room to believe they are strewed to cover something , which is to gain admittance under a disguise . you must therefore be upon your guard , and consider , that of the two , respect is more dangerous than anger . it puts even the best understandings out of their place for the time , till their second thoughts restore them ; it stealeth upon us insensibly , throweth down our defences , and maketh it too late to resist , after we have given it that advantage . whereas railing goeth away in sound ; it hath so much noise in it , that by giving warning it bespeaketh caution . respect is a slow and a sure poison , and like poison swelleth us within our selves . where it prevaileth too much , it groweth to be a kind of apoplexie in the mind , turneth it quite round , and after it hath once seized the understanding , becometh mortal to it . for these reasons , the safest way is to treat it like a sly enemy , and to be perpetually upon the watch against it . i will add one advice to conclude this head , which is that you will let every seven years make some alteration in you towards the graver side , and not be like the girls of fifty , who resolve to be always young , whatever time with his iron teeth hath determined to the contrary . unnatural things carry a deformity in them never to be disguised ; the liveliness of youth in a riper age , looketh like a new patch upon an old gown ; so that a gay matron , a cheerful old fool may be reasonably put into the list of the tamer kind of monsters . there is a certain creature call'd a grave hobby-horse , a kind of a she numps , that pretendeth to be pulled to a play , and must needs go to bartholomew-fair , to look after the young folks , whom she only seemeth to make her care , in reality she taketh them for her excuse . such an old butterfly is of all creatures , the most ridiculous , and the soonest found out . it is good to be early in your caution , to avoid any thing that cometh within distance of such despicable patterns , and not like some ladies , who defer their conversion , till they have been so long in possession of being laughed at , that the world doth not know how to change their style , even when they are reclaimed from that which gave the first occasion for it . the advantages of being reserved are too many to be set down , i will only say , that it is a guard to a good woman , and a disguise to an ill one . it is of so much use to both , that those ought to use it as an artifice , who refuse to practise it as a vertue . friendships . i must in a particular manner recommend to you a strict care in the choice of your friendships . perhaps the best are not without their objections , but however , be sure that yours may not stray from the rules which the wiser part of the world hath set to them . the leagues offensive and defensive , seldom hold in politicks , and much less in friendships . the violent intimacies , when once broken , of which they scarce ever fail , make such a noise ; the bag of secrets untied , they fly about like birds let loose from a cage , and become the entertainment of the town . besides , these great dearnesses by degrees grow injurious to the rest of your acquaintance , and throw them off from you . there is such an offensive distinction when the dear friend cometh into the room , that it is flinging stones at the company , who are not ape to forgive it . do not lay out your friendship too lavishly at first , since it will , like other things , be so much the sooner spent ; neither let it be of too sudden a growth ; for as the plants which shoot up too fast are not of that continuance , as those which take more time for it ; so too swift a progress in pouring out your kindness , is a certain sign that by the course of nature it will not be long-lived . you will be responsible to the world , if you pitch upon such friends as at the time are under the weight of any criminal objection . in that case you will bring your self under the disadvantages of their character , and must bear your part of it . chusing implieth approving ; and if you fix upon a lady for your friend against whom the world shall have given judgment , 't is not so well natur'd as to believe you are altogether averse to her way of living , since it doth not discourage you from admitting her into your kindness . and resemblance of inclinations being thought none of the least inducements to friendship , you will be looked upon at least as a well-wisher if not a partner with her in her faults . if you can forgive them in another , it may be presumed you will not be less gentle to your self ; and therefore you must not take it ill , if you are reckoned a croupiere , and condemned to pay an equal share with such a friend of the reputation she hath lost . if it happeneth that your friend should fall from the state of innocence after your kindness was engaged to her , you may be slow in your belief in the beginning of the discovery : but as soon as you are convinced by a rational evidence , you must , without breaking too roughly , make a far and a quick retreat from such a mistaken acquaintance : else by moving too slowly from one that is so tainted , the contagion may reach you so far as to give you part of the scandal , though not of the guilt . this matter is so nice , that as you must not be too hasty to joyn in the censure upon your friend when she is accused , so you are not on the other side to defend her with too much warmth ; for if she should happen to deserve the report of common fame , besides the vexation that belongeth to such a mistake , you will draw an ill appearance upon your self , and it will be thought you pleaded for her not without some consideration of your self . the anger which must be put on to vindicate the reputation of an injured friend , may incline the company to suspect you would not be so zealous , if there was not a possibility that the case might be your own . for this reason you are not to carry your dearness so far , as absolutely to lose your sight where your friend is concerned . because malice , is too quick sighted , it doth not follow , that friendship must be blind : there is to be a mean between these two extremes , else your excess of good nature may betray you into a very ridiculous figure , and by degrees who may be preferr'd to such offices as you will not be proud of . your ignorance may lessen the guilt , but will improve the jest upon you , who shall be kindly sollicitous to procure a meeting , and innocently contribute to the ills you would avoid : whilest the contriving lovers , when they are alone , shall make you the subject of their mirth , and perhaps ( with respect to the goddess of love be it spoken ) it is not the worst part of their entertainment , at least it is the most lasting , to laugh at the believing friend , who was so easily deluded . let the good sence of your friends be a chief ingredient in your choice of them ; else let your reputation be never so clear , it may be clouded by their impertinence . it is like our houses being in the power of a drunken or a careless neighbour ; only so much worse , as that there will be no insurance here to make you amends , as there is in the case of fire . to conclude this paragraph ; if formality is to be allowed in any instance , it is to be put on to resist the invasion of such forward women as shall press themselves into your friendship , where if admitted , they will either be a snare or an incumbrance . censvre . i will come next to the consideration , how you are to manage your censure ; in which both care and skill will be a good deal required . to distinguish is not only natural but necessary ; and the effect of it is , that we cannot avoid giving judgment in our minds , either to absolve or to condemn as the case requireth . the difficulty is , to know when and where it is fit to proclaim the sentence . an aversion to what is criminal , a contempt of what is ridiculous , are the inseparable companions of understanding and vertue ; but die letting them go farther than our own thoughts , hath so much danger in it , that though it is neither possible nor fit to suppress them intirely , yet it is necessary they should be kept under very great restraints . an unlimited liberty of this kind is little less than sending a herald and proclaiming war to the world , which is an angry beast when so provoked . the contest will be unequal ; though you are never so much in the right ; and if you begin against such an adversary , it will tear you in pieces , with this justification , that it is done in its own defence . you must therefore take heed of laughing , except in company that is very sure . it is throwing snow-balls against bullets ; and it is the disadvantage of a woman , that the malice of the world will help the brutality of those who will throw a slovenly vntruth upon her . you are for this reason to suppress your impatience for fools ; who besides that they are too strong a party to be unnecessarily provoked , are of all others , the most dangerous in this case . a blockhead in his rage will return a dull jest that will lie heavy , though there is not a grain of wit in it . others will do it with more art , and you must not think your self secure because your reputation may perhaps be out of the reach of ill will ; for if it findeth that part guarded , it will seek one which is more exposed . it flieth , like a corrupt humour in the body , to the weakest part. if you have a tender side , the world will be sure to find it , and to put the worst colour upon all you say or do , give an aggravation to every thing that may lessen you , and a spiteful turn to every thing that might recommend you . anger laieth open those defects which friendship would not see , and civility might be willing to forget . malice needeth no such invitation to encourage it , neither are any pains more superfluous than those we take to be ill spoken of . if envy , which never dyeth , and seldom sleepeth , is content sometimes to be in a slumber , it is very unskilful to make a noise to awake it . besides , your wit will be misapplied if it is wholly directed to discern the faults of others , when it is so necessary to be often used to mend and prevent your own . the sending our thoughts too much abroad , hath the same effect , as when a family never stayeth at home ; neglect and disorder naturally followeth ; as it must do within our selves , if we do not frequently turn our eyes inwards , to see what is amiss with us , where it is a sign we have an unwelcome prospect , when we do not care to look upon it , but rather seek our consolations in the faults of those we converse with . avoid being the first in fixing a hard censure , let it be confirmed by the general voice , before you give into it ; neither are you then to give sentence like a magistrate , or as if you had a special authority to bestow a good or ill name at your discretion . do not dwell too long upon a weak side , touch and go away ; take pleasure to stay longer where you can commend , like bees that fix only upon those herbs out of which they may extract the juice of which their honey is composed . a vertue stuck with bristles is too rough for this age ; it must be adorned with some flowers , or else it will be unwillingly entertained ; so that even where it may be fit to strike , do it like a lady , gently ; and assure your self , that where you care to do it , you will wound others more , and hurt your self less , by soft strokes , than by being harsh or violent . the triumph of wit is to make your good . nature subdue your censure ; to be quick in seeing faults , and slow in exposing them . you are to consider , that the invisible thing called a good name , is made up of the breath of numbers that speak well of you ; so that if by a disobliging word you silence the meanest , the gale will be less strong which is to bear up your esteem . and though nothing is so vain as the eager pursuit of empty applause , yet to be well thought of , and to be kindly used by the world , is like a glory about a womans head ; 't is a perfume she carrieth about with her , and leaveth where-ever she goeth ; 't is a charm against ill-will . malice may empty her quiver , but cannot wound ; the dirt will not stick , the jests will not take ; without the consent of the world a scandal doth not go deep ; it is only a slight stroak upon the injured party and returneth with the greater force upon those that gave it . vanity and affectation . i must with more than ordinary earnestness give you caution against vanity , it being the fault to which your sex seemeth to be the most inclined ; and since affectation for the most part attendeth it , i do not know how to divide them . i will not call them twins , because more properly vanity is the mother , and affectation is the darling daughter ; vanity is the sin , and affectation is the punishment ; the first may be called the root of self-love , the other the fruit. vanity is never at its full growth till it spreadeth into affectation , and then it is compleat . not to dwell any longer upon the definition of them , i will pass to the means and motives to avoid them . in order to it , you are to consider , that the world challengeth the right of distributing esteem and applause ; so that where any assume by their single authority to be their own carvers , it groweth angry , and never faileth to seek revenge . and if we may measure a fault by the greatness of the penalty , there are few of a higher size than vanity , as there is scarce a punishment which can be heavier than that of being laughed at . vanity maketh a woman tainted with it , so top full of her self , that she spilleth it upon the company . and because her own thoughts are intirely imployed in self-contemplation ; she endeavoureth , by a cruel mistake , to confine her acquaintance to the same narrow circle of that which only concerneth her ladiship , forgetting that she is not of half that importance to the world , that she is to her self , so mistaken she is in her value , by being her own appraiser . she will fetch such a compass in discourse to bring in her beloved self , and rather than fail , her fine petty-coat , that there can hardly be a better scene than such a tryal of ridiculous ingenuity . it is a pleasure to see her angle for commendations , and rise so dissatisfied with the ill-bread company , if they will not bite . to observe her throwing her eyes about to fetch in prisoners , arid go about cruizing like a privateer , and so out or countenance , if she return without booty , is no ill piece of comedy . she is so eager to draw respect , that the always misseth it , yet thinketh it so much her due , that when she faileth she groweth waspish , not considering , that it is impossible to commit a rape upon the will ; that it must be fairly gained , and will not be taken by storm ; and that in this case , the tax ever riseth highest by a benevolence . if the world instead of admiring her imaginary excellencies , taketh the liberty to laugh at them , she appealeth from it to her self , for whom she giveth sentence , and proclaimeth it in all companies . on the other side , if incouraged by a civil word , she is so obliging , that she will give thanks for being laughed at in good language . she taketh a compliment for a demonstration , and setteth it up as an evidence , even against her looking-glass . but the good lady being all this while in a most profound ignorance of her self , forgetteth that men would not let her talk upon them , and throw so many senseless words at their head , if they did not intend to put her person to fine and ransom , for her impertinence . good words of any other lady , are so many stones thrown at her , she can by no means bear them , they make her so uneasie , that she cannot keep her seat , but up she riseth and goeth home half burst with anger and strait-lacing . if by great chance she saith any thing that hath sence in it , she expecteth such an excessive rate of commendations , that to her thinking the company ever riseth in her debt . she looketh upon rules as things made for the common people , and not for persons of her rank ; and this opinion sometimes tempteth her to extend her prerogative to the dispencing with the commandments . if by great fortune she happeneth , in spite of her vanity , to be honest , she is so troublesome with it , that as far as in her lieth , she maketh a scurvy thing of it . her bragging of her vertue , looketh as if it cost her so much pains to get the better of her self , that the inferences are very ridiculous . her good humour is generally applied to the laughing at good sense . it would do one good to see how heartily she despiseth any thing that is fit for her to do . the greatest part of her fancy is laid out in chusing her gown , as her discretion is chiefly imploy'd in not paying for it . she is faithful to the fashion , to which not only her opinion , but her senses are wholly resigned : so obsequious she is to it , that she would be ready to be reconciled even to vertue with all its faults , if she had her dancing master's word that it was practis'd at court. to a woman so compos'd when affectation cometh in to improve her character , it is then raised to the highest perfection . she first setteth up for a fine thing , and for that reason will distinguish her self , right or wrong , in every thing she doth . she would have it thought that she is made of so much the finer clay , and so much more sifted than ordinary , that she hath no common earth about her . to this end she must neither move nor speak like other women , because it would be vulgar ; and therefore must have a language of her own , since ordinary english is too course for her . the looking-gloss in the morning dictateth to her all the motions of the day , which by how much the more studied , are so much the more mistaken . she cometh into a room as if her limbs were set on with ill-made screws , which maketh the company fear the pretty thing should leave some of its artificial person upon the floor . she doth not like her self as god almighty made her , but will have some of her own workmanship ; which is so far from making her a better thing than a woman , that it turneth her into a worse creature than a monkey . she falleth out with nature , against which she maketh war without admitting a truce , those moments excepted in which her gallant may reconcile her to it . when she hath a mind to be soft and languishing , there is somthing so unnatural in that affected easiness , that her frowns could not be by many degrees so forbidden . when she would appear unreasonably humble , one may see she is so excessively proud , that there is no enduring it . there is such an impertinent smile , such a satisfied simper , when she faintly disowneth some fulsom commendation a man hapneth to bestow upon her against his conscience , that her thanks for it are more visible under such a thin disguise , than they could be if she should print them . if a handsomer woman taketh any liberty of dressing out of the ordinary rules the mistaken lady followeth , without distinguishing the unequal pattern , and maketh her self uglier by an example misplaced ; either forgetting the privilege of good looks in another , or presuming , without sufficient reason upon her own . her discourse is a senseless chime of empty words , a heap of compliments so equally applied to differing persons , that they are neither valu'd nor believ'd . her eyes keep pace with her tongue , and are therefore always in motion . one may discern that they generally incline to the compassionate side , and that , notwithstanding her pretence to vertue , she is gentle to distressed lovers , and ladies that are merciful . she will repeat the tender part of a play so feelingly , that the company may guess , without injustice , she was not altogether a disinteressed spectator . she thinketh that paint and sin are concealed by railing at them . upon the latter she is less hard , and being divided between the two opposite prides of her beauty and her vertue , she is often tempted to give broad hints that some body is dying for her ; and of the two she is less unwilling to let the world think she may be sometimes profan'd , than that she is never worshipped . very great beauty may perhaps so dazle for a time , that men may not so clearly see the deformity of these affectations ; but when the brightness goeth off , and that the lover's eyes are by that means set at liberty to see things as they are , he will naturally return to his senses , and recover the mistake into which the lady 's good looks had at first engaged him . and being once undeceived , ceaseth to worship that as a goddess , which he seeth is only an artificial shrine moved by wheels and springs , to delude him . such women please only like the first opening of a scene , that hath nothing to recommend it but the being new . they may be compared to flies , that have pretty shining wings for two or three hot months , but the first cold weather maketh an end of them ; so the latter season of these fluttering creatures is dismal : from their nearest friends they receive a very faint respect ; from the rest of the world , the utmost degree of contempt . let this picture supply the place of any other rules which might be given to prevent your resemblance to it , the deformity of it , well considered , is instruction enough ; from the same reason , that the sight of a drunkard is a better sermon against that vice , than the best that was ever preach'd upon that subject . pride . after having said this against vanity , i do not intend to apply the same censure to pride , well placed , and rightly defined . it is an ambiguous word ; one kind of it is as much a vertue , as the other is a vice : but we are naturally so apt to chuse the worst , that it is become dangerous to commend the best side of it . a woman is not to be proud of her fine gown ; nor when she hath less wit than her neighbours , to comfort her self that she hath more lace . some ladies put so much weight upon ornaments , that if one could see into their hearts , it would be found , that even the thought of death is made less heavy to them by the contemplation of their being laid out in state , and honourably attended to the grave . one may come a good deal short of such an extream , and yet still be sufficiently impertinent , by setting a wrong value upon things , which ought to be used with more indifference . a lady must not appear sollicitous to ingross respect to her self , but be content with a reasonable distribution , and allow it to others , that she may have it returned to her . she is not to be troublesomly nice , nor distinguish her self by being too delicate , as if ordinary things were too course for her ; this is an unmannerly and an offensive pride , and where it is practised , deserveth to be mortified , of which it seldom faileth . she is not to lean too much upon her quality , much less to despise those who are below it . some make quality an idol , and then their reason must fall down and worship it . they would have the world think , that no amends can ever be made for the want of a great title , or an ancient coat of arms : they imagine , that with these advantages they stand upon the higher ground , which maketh them look down upon merit and vertue , as things inferiour to them . this mistake is not only senseless , but criminal too , in putting a greater price upon that which is a piece of good luck , than upon things which are valuable in themselves . laughing is not enough for such a folly ; it must be severely whipped , as it justly deserves . it will be confessed , there are frequent temptations given by pert vpstarts to be angry , and by that to have our judgments corrupted in these cases : but they are to be resisted ; and the utmost that is to be allowed , is , when those of a new edition will forget themselves , so as either to brag of their weak side , or to endeavour to hide their meanness by their insolence , to cure them by a little seasonable raillery , a little sharpness well placed , without dwelling too long upon it . these and many other kinds of pride are to be avoided . that which is to be recommended to you , is an emulation to raise your self to a character , by which you may be distinguished ; an eagerness for precedence in vertue , and all such other things as may gain you a greater share of the good opinion of the world. esteem to vertue is like a cherishing air to plants and flowers , which maketh them blow and prosper ; and for that reason it may be allowed to be in some degree the cause as well as the reward of it . that pride which leadeth to a good end , cannot be a vice , since it is the beginning of a vertue ; and to be pleased with just applause , is so far from a fault , that it would be an ill symptom in a woman , who should not place the greatest part of her satisfaction in it . humility is no doubt a great vertue ; but it ceaseth to be so , when it is afraid to scorn an ill thing . against vice and folly it is becoming your sex to be haughty ; but you must not carry the contempt of things to arrogance towards persons , and it must be done with fitting distinctions , else it may be inconvenient by being unseasonable . a pride that raiseth a little anger to be out-done in any thing that is good , will have so good an effect , that it is very hard to allow it to be a fault . it is no easie matter to carry even between these differing kinds so described ; but remember that it is safer for a woman to be thought too proud , than too familiar . diversions . the last thing i shall recommend to you , is a wise and a safe method of using diversions . to be too eager in the pursuit of pleasure whilst you are young , is dangerous ; to catch at it in riper years , is grasping a shadow ; it will not be held . besides that by being less natural it groweth to be indecent . diversions are the most properly applied , to ease and relieve those who are oppressed , by being too much imployed . those that are idle have no need of them , and yet they , above all others , give themselves up to them . to unbend our thoughts , when they are too much stretched by our cares , is not more natural than it is necessary , but to turn our whole life into a holy day , is not only ridiculous , but destroyeth pleasure instead of promoting it . the mind like the body is tired by being always in one posture , too serious breaketh , and too diverting looseneth it : it is variety that giveth the relish ; so that diversions too frequently repeated , grow first to be indifferent , and at last tedious . whilst they are well chosen and well timed , they are never to be blamed ; but when they are used to an excess , though very innocent at first , they often grow to be criminal , and never fail to be impertinent . some ladies are bespoken for merry meetings , as bessus was for duels . they are ingaged in a circle of idleness , where they turn round for the whole year , without the interruption of a serious hour , they know all the players names , and are intimately acquainted with all the booths in bartholomew-fair . no soldier is more obedient to the sound of his captain 's trumpet , than they are to that which summoneth them to a puppet-play or a monster . the spring that bringeth out flies , and fools , maketh them inhabitants in hide-park ; in the winter they are an incumbrance to the play house , and the ballast of the drawing-room . the streets all this while are so weary of these daily faces , that men's eyes are over-laid with them . the sight is glutted with fine things , as the stomach with sweet ones ; and when a fair lady will give too much of her self to the world , she groweth luscious , and oppresseth instead of pleasing . these jolly ladies do so continually seek diversion , that in a little time they grow into a jest , yet are unwilling to remember , that if they were seldomer seen they would not be so often laughed at . besides they make themselves cheap , than which there cannot be an unkinder word bestowed upon your sex. to play sometimes , to entertain company , or to divert your self , is not to be disallowed , but to do it so often as to be called a gamester , is to be avoided , next to the things that are most criminal . it hath consequences of several kinds not to be endured ; it will ingage you into a habit of idleness and ill hours , draw you into ill mixed company , make you neglect your civilities abroad , and your business at home , and impose into your acquaintance such as will do you no credit . to deep play there will be yet greater objections . it will give occasion to the world to ask spiteful questions . how you dare venture to lose , and what means you have to pay such great summs ? if you pay exactly , it will be enquired from whence the money cometh ? if you owe , and especially to a man , you must be so very civil to him for his forbearance , that it layeth a ground of having it farther improved ; if the gentleman is so disposed ; who will be thought no unfair creditor , if where the estate saileth he seizeth upon the person . besides if a lady could see her own face upon an ill game , at a deep stake , she would certainly forswear any thing that could put her looks under such a disadvantage . to dance sometimes will not be imputed to you as a fault ; but remember that the end of your learning it , was , that you might the better know how to move gracefully . it is only an advantage so far . when it goeth beyond it , one may call it excelling in a mistake , which is no very great commendation . it is better for a woman never to dance , because she hath no skill . in it , that to do it too often , because she doth it well . the easiest as well as the safest method of doing it , is in private companies , amongst particular friends , and then carelesly , like a diversion , rather than with solemnity , as if it was a business , or had any thing in it to deserve a month's preparation by serious conference with a dancing-master . much more might be said to all these heads , and many more might be added to them . but i must restrain my thoughts , which are full of my dear child , and would overflow into a volume , which would not be fit for a new-years-gift . i will conclude with my warmest wishes for all that is good to you . that you may live so as to be an ornament to your family , and a pattern to your sex. that you may be blessed with a husband that may value , and with children that may inherit your vertue ; that you may shine in the world by a true light , and silence envy by deserving to be esteemed ; that wit and vertue may both conspire to make you a great figure . when they are separated , the first is so empty , and the other so saint , that they scarce have right to be commended . may they therefore meet and never part ; let them be your guardian angels , and be sure never to stray out of the distance of their joint protection . may you so raise your character , that you may help to make the next age a better thing , and leave posterity in your debt for the advantage it shall receive by your example let me conjure you , my dearest , to comply with this kind ambition of a father , whose thoughts are so ingaged in your behalf , that he reckoneth your happiness to be the greatest part of his own . the character of a trimmer his opinion of i. the laws and government . ii. protestant religion . iii. the papists . iv. foreign affairs . corrected and amended . london , printed in the year , . the preface . it must be more than an ordinary provocation that can tempt a man to write in an age over-run with scribblers , as egypt was with flies and locusts : that worst vermin of small authors has given the world such a surfeit , that instead of desiring to write , a man would be more inclin'd to wish , for his own ease , that he could not read ; but there are some things which do so raise our passions , that our reason can make no resistance ; and when madmen , in two extreams , shall agree to make common sense treason , and joyn to fix an ill character upon the only men in the nation who deserve a good one ; i am no longer master of my better resolution to let the world alone , and must break loose from my more reasonable thoughts , to expose these false coyners , who would make their copper wares pass upon us for good payment . amongst all the engines of dissention , there has been none more powerful in all times , than the fixing names upon one another of contumely and reproach , and the reason is plain , in respect of the people , who tho' generally they are uncapable of making a syllogism or forming an argument , yet they can pronounce a word ; and that serves their turn to throw it with their dull malice at the head of those they do not like ; such things ever begin in jest , and end in blood , and the same word which at first makes the company merry , grows in time to a military signal to cut one anothers throats . these mistakes are to be lamented , tho' not easily cured , being suitable enough to the corrupted nature of mankind ; but 't is hard , that men will not only invent ill names , but they will wrest and misinterpret good ones ; so afraid some are even of a reconciling sound , that they raise another noise to keep it from being heard , lest it should set up and encourage a dangerous sort of men , who prefer peace and agreement , before violence and confusion . were it not for this , why , after we have played the fool with throwing whig and tory at one another , as boys do snow-balls , do we grow angry at a new name , which by its true signification might do as much to put us into our wits , as the other has done to put us out of them ? this innocent word trimmer signifies no more than this , that if men are together in a boat , and one part of the company would weigh it down on one side , another would make it lean as much to the contrary ; it happens there is a third opinion of those , who conceive it would do as well , if the boat went even , without endangering the passengers ; now 't is hard to imagin by what figure in language , or by what rule in sense this comes to be a fault , and it is much more a wonder it should be thought a heresy . but so it happens , that the poor trimmer has now all the powder spent upon him alone , while the whig is a forgotten , or at least a neglected enemy ; there is no danger now to the state ( if some men may he believed ) but from the beast called a trimmer , take heed of him , he is the instrument that must destroy church and state ; a new kind of monster , whose deformity is so expos'd , that , were it a true picture that is made of him , it would be enough to fright children , and make women miscarry at the sight of it . but it may be worth the examining , whether he is such a beast as he is painted . i am not of that opinion , and am so far from thinking him an infidel either in church or state , that i am neither afraid to expose the articles of his faith in relation to government , nor to say that i prefer them before any other political creed , that either our angry divines , or our refined states-men would impose upon as . i have therefore in the following discourse endeavour'd to explain the trimmer's principles and opinions , and then leave it to all discerning and impartial judges , whether he can with justice be so arraign'd , and whether those who deliberately pervert a good name , do not very justly deserve the worst that can be put upon themselves . the trimmer's opinion . of the laws and government . our trimmer , as he has a great veneration for laws in general , so he has more particular for our own , he looks upon them as the chains that tye up our unruly passions , which else , like wild beasts let loose , would reduce the world into its first state of barbarism and hostility ; the good things we injoy , we owe to them ; and all the ill things we are freed from is by their protection . god himself thought it not enough to be a creator , without being a lawgiver , and his goodness had been defective towards mankind in making them , if he had not prescribed rules to make them happy too . all laws flow from that of nature , and where that is not the foundation , they may be legally impos'd , but they will be lamely obeyed : by this nature is not meant that , which fools and madmen misquote to justify their excesses ; it is innocent and uncorrupted nature , that which dispose● men to chuse vertue , without its being prescribed , and which is so far from inspiring ill thoughts into us , that we take pains to suppress the good ones it infuses . the civilized world has ever paid t● willing subjection to laws , even conquerors have done homage to them ; as the romans , who took patterns of good laws even from those they had subdued ; and at the same time that they triumph'd over an enslav'd people , the very laws of that place did not only remain safe , but became victorious ; their new masters , instead of suppressing them , paid them more respect than they had from those who first made them : and by this wise method they arrived to such an admirable constitution of laws , that to this day they reign by them ; this excellency of them triumphs still , and the world pays now an acknowledgment of their obedience to that mighty empire , though so many ages after it is dissolved ; and by a later instance , the kings of france , who , in practice use their laws pretty familiarly , yet think their picture is drawn with most advantage upon their seals , when they are placed in the seat of justice ; and tho' the hieroglyphick is not there of so much use to the people as they would wish , yet it shews that no prince is so great , as not to think fit , for his own credit at least , to give an outward , when he refuses a real worship to the laws . they are to mankind that which the sun is to plants , whilst it cherishes and preserves ' em . where they have their force and are not clouded or supprest , every thing smiles and flourishes ; but where they are darkened , and not suffered to shine out , it makes every thing to wither and decay . they secure men not only against one another , but against themselves too ; they are a sanctuary to which the crown has occasion to resort as often as the people , so that it is an interest as well as a duty to preserve them . there would be no end of making a panegyrick of laws ; let it be enough to add , that without laws the world would become a wilderness , and men little less than beasts ; but with all this , the best things may come to be the worst , if they are not in good hands ; and if it be tr●● that the wisest men generally make the laws , it is as true , that the strongest do often interpret them : and as rivers belong as much to the channel where they run , as to the spring from whence they first rise , so the laws depend as much upon the pipes thro' which they are to pass , as upon the fountain from whence they flow . the authority of a king who is head of the law , as well as the dignity of publick justice , is debased , when the clear stream of the law is puddled and disturbed by bunglers , or convey'd by unclean instruments to the people . our trimmer would have them app●●● in their full lustre , and would be grieved to see the day , when , instead of speaking with authority from the seats of justice , they should speak out of a grate , with a lamenting voice like prisoners that desle to be rescu'd . he wishes that the bench may have a natural as well as a legal superiority to the bar ; he thinks mens ab●lities very much misplac'd , when the reason of him that pleads is visibly too strong for those who judge and give sentence . when those from the bar seem to dictate to their superiours upon the bench , their furrs will look scurvily about them , and the respect of the world will leave the bare character of a judge , to follow the essential knowledge of a lawyer , who may be greater in himself , than the other can be with all his trappings . an uncontested superiority in any calling , will have the better of any distinct name that authority can put upon it , and therefore if ever such an unnatural method should be introduc'd , it is then that westminster-hall might be said to stand upon its head , and though justice it self can never be so , yet the administration of it would be rendred ridiculous . a judge has such power lodg'd in him , that the king will never be thought to have chosen well , where the voice of mankind has not before-hand recommended the man to his station ; when men are made judges of what they do not understand , the world censures such a choice , not out of ill will to the men , but fear to themselves . if the king had the sole power of chusing physicians , men would tremble to see bunglers preferred , yet the necessity of taking physick from a doctor , is generally not so great as that of receiving justice from a judge ; and yet the inferences will be very severe in such cases , for either it will be thought that such men bought what they were not able to deserve , or which is as bad , that obedience shall be look'd upon as a better qualification in a judge , than skill or integrity , when such sacred things as the laws are not only touch'd , but guided by prophane hands ; men will fear that out of the tree of the law , from whence we expect shade and shelter , such workmen will make cudgels to beat us with , or rather that they will turn the canon upon our properties , that were intrusted with them for their defence . to see the laws mangled , disguised , speak quite another language than their own , to see them thrown from the dignity of protecting mankind , to the disgraceful office of destroying them ; and notwithstanding their innocence in themselves , to be made the worst instruments that the most refined villany can make use of , will raise mens anger above the power of laying it down again , and tempt them to follow the evil examples given them of judging without hearing , when so-provoked by their desire of revenge . our trimmer therefore , as he thinks the laws are jewels , so he believes they are no better set , than in the constitution of our english government , if rightly understood , and carefully preserved . it would be too great partiality to say they are perfect or liable to no objection ; such things are not of this world ; but if they have more excellencies and fewer faults than any other we know , it is enough to recommend them to one esteem . the dispute , which is a greater beauty , a monarchy or a common-wealth , has lasted long between their contending lovers , and ( they have behav'd themselves so like lovers , who in good manners must be out of their wits , ) who used such figures to exalt their own idols on either side , . and such angry aggravations , to reproach one another in the contest , that moderate men have in all times smil'd upon this eagerness , and thought it differ'd very little from a downright frenzy : we in england , by a happy use of the controversie , conclude them both in the wrong , and reject them from being our pattern , not taking the words in the utmost extent , which is a thing , that monarchy , leaves men no liberty , and a common-wealth such a one , as allows them no quiet . we think that a wise mean , between these barbarous extreams , is that which self-preservation ought to dictate , to our wishes ; and we may say we have attained to this mean in a greater measure , than any nation now in being , or perhaps any we have read of ; tho never so much celebrated for the wisdom or felicity of their constitutions : we take from one the too great power of doing hurt , and yet leave enough to govern and protect us ; we take from the other , the confusion , the parity , the animosities , and the license , and yet reserve a due care of such a liberty , as may consist with mens allegiance ; but it being hard , if not impossible , to be exactly even , our government has much the stronger biass towards monarchy , which by the general consent and practise of mankind , seems to have advantage in dispute against a common-wealth ; the rule of a common-wealth are too hard for the bulk of mankind to come up to ; that form of government requires such a spirit to carry it on , as do's not dwell in great numbers , but is restrained to so very few especially in this age , that let the method appear never so much reasonably in paper they must fail in practice , which will eve● be suited more to mens nature as it is than as it should be . monarchy is lik'd by the people , for the bells and the tinsel , the outward pomp and gilding , and there must be milk for babes , since the greatest part of mankind are , and ever will be included in that list ; and it is approv'd by wise and thinking men , ( all circumstances and objections impartially consider'd ) that it has so great an advantage above all other forms , when the administration of that power falls in good hands ; that all other governments look out of countenance , when they are set in competition with it . lycurgus might have sav'd himself the trouble of making laws , if either he had been immortal , or that he could have secur'd to posterity , a succeeding race of princes like himself ; his own example was a better law , than he could with all his skill tell how to make ; such a prince is a living law , that dictates to his subjects , whose thoughts in that case never rise above their obedience , the confidence they have in the vertue and knowledge of the master , preventing the scruples and apprehensions to which men are naturally inclin'd , in relation to those that govern them ; such a magistrate is the life and soul of justice , whereas the law is but a body and a dead one too , without his influence to give it warmth and vigour , and by the irresistible power of his virtue , he do's so reconcile dominion and allegiance , that all disputes between them are silenced and subdued , and indeed no monarchy can be perfect and absolute without exception , but where the prince is superior by his vertue , as well as by his character and his power ; so that to screw out precedents and unlimited power , is a plain diminution to a prince that nature has made great , and who had better make himself a glorious example to posterity , than borrow an authority from dark records , raised out of the grave , which besides their non-usage , have always in them matter of controversie and debate , and it may be ; affirmed , that the instances are very rare of princes having the worst in the dispute with their people , if they were eminent for justice in time of peace , or conduct in time of war , such advantage the crown giveth to those who adorn it by their own personal vertues . but since for the greater honour of good and wise princes , and the better to set off their character by the comparison , heaven has decreed there must be a mixture , and that such as are perverse and insufficient , or at least both , are perhaps to have their equal turns in the government of the world , and besides , that the will of man is so various , and so unbounded a thing , and so fatal too when joined with power misapply'd ; it is no wonder if those who are to be govern'd , are unwilling to have so dangerous as well as so uncertain a standard of their obedience . there must be therefore rules and laws : for want of which , or at least the observation of them , it was as capital for a man to say that nero did not play well upon the lute , as to commit treason , or blaspheme the gods. and even vespasian himself had like to have lost his life , for sleeping whilst he should have attended and admir'd that emperours impertinence upon the stage . there is a wantonness in great power that men are generally too apt to be corrupted with , and for that reason , a wise prince , to prevent the temptation arising from common frailty , would choose to govern by rules for his own sake , as well as for his peoples , since it only secures him from errors , and does not lessen the real authority , that a good magistrate would care to be possess'd of ; for if the will of a prince is contrary either to reason it self , or to the universal opinion of his subjects , the law by a kind restraint rescues him from a disease that would undo him ; if his will on the other side is reasonable or well directed , that will immediately becomes a law , and he is arbitrary by an easie and natural consequence , without taking pains , or overturning the world for it . if princes consider laws as things impos'd on them , they have the appearance of fetters of iron , but to such as would make them their choice as well as their practice , they are chains of gold ; and in that respect are ornaments , as in others they are a defence to them , and by a comparison , not improper for god's vicegerents upon earth ; as our maker never commands our obedience to any thing , that as reasonable creatures we ought not to make our own election ; so a good and wise governour , tho' all laws were abolish'd , would by the voluntary direction of his own reason , do without restraint the very same things that they would have enjoyned . our trimmer thinks that the king and kingdom ought to be one creature , not to be separated in their political capacity ; and when either of them undertake to act a part , it is like the crawling of worms after they are cut in pieces , which cannot be a lasting motion , the whole creature not stirring at a time . if the body has a dead palsie , the head cannot make it move ; and god hath not yet delegated such a healing power to princes , as that they can in a moment say to a languishing people oppress'd and in despair , take up your beds and walk . the figure of a king , is so comprehensive and exalted a thing , that it is a kind of degrading him to lodge that power separately in his own natural person , which can never be safely or naturally great , but where the people are so united to him as to be flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bone ; for when he is reduc'd to the single definition of a man , he sinks into so low a character , that it is a temptation upon mens allegiance , and an impairing that veneration which is necessary to preserve their duty to him ; whereas a prince who is so joined to his people that they seem to be his limbs , rather than his subjects , cloathed with mercy and justice rightly apply'd in their several places , his throne supported by love as well as by power , and the warm wishes of his devoted subjects , like never-failing incense , still ascending towards him , looks so like the best image we can frame to our selves of god almighty , that men would have much ado not to fall down and worship him ; and would be much more tempted to the sin of idolatry , than to that of disobedience . our trimmer is of opinion , that there must be so much dignity inseparably annexed to the royal function , as may be sufficient to secure it from insolence and contempt ; and there must be condescensions from the throne , like kind showers from heaven , that the prince may look so much the more like god almighty's deputy upon earth ; for power without love hath a terrifying aspect , and the worship which is paid to it is like that which the indians give out of fear to wild beasts and devils : he that fears god only because there is an hell , must wish there were no god ; and he who fears the king , only because he can punish , must wish there were no king ; so that without a principle of love , there can be no true allegiance , and there must remain perpetual seeds of resistance against a power that is built upon such an unnatural foundation , as that of fear and terrour . all force is a kind of soul-play , and whosoever aims at it himself , does by implication allow it to those he plays with ; so that there will be ever matter prepared in the minds of people when they are provoked , and the prince , to secure himself must live in the midst of his own subjects , as if he were in a conquer'd country , raise arms as if he were immediately to meet or resist an invasion , and all this while sleep as unquietly from the fear of the remedies , as he did before from that of the disease ; it being hard for him to forget , that more princes have been destroyed by their guards than by their people ; and that even at the time when the rule was quod principi placuit lex esto : the armies and praetorian bands which were the instruments of that unruly power , were frequently the means made use of to destroy them who had it . there will ever be this difference between god and his vicegeren●s , that god is still above the instruments he uses , and out of the danger of receiving hurt from them ; but princes can never lodge power in any hands , which may not at some time turn it back upon them ; for tho' it is possible enough for a king to have power to satisfy his ambition ; yet no kingdom has money enough to satisfie the avarice of under-work-men , who learn from that prince who will exact more than belongs to him , to expect from him much more than they deserve , and growing angry upon the first disappointment , they are the devils which grow terrible to the conjurers themselves who brought them up , and can't send them down again ; and besides that there can be no lasting radical security , but where the governed are satisfied with the governours . it must be a dominion very unpleasant to a prince of an elevated mind , to impose an abject and sordid servility , instead of receiving the willing sacrifice of duty and obedience . the bravest princes in all times , who were uncapable of any other kind of fear , have fear'd to grieve their own people ; such a fear is a glory , and in this sense 't is an infamy not to be a coward : so that the mistaken heroes who are void of this generous kind of fear , need no other aggravation to compleat their ill characters . when a despotick prince has bruised all his subjects with a slavish obedience , all the force he can use cannot subdue his own fears ; enemies of his own creation , to which he can never be reconciled , it being impossible to do injustice and not to fear revenge : there is no cure for this fear , but the not deserving to be hurt , and therefore a prince who does not allow his thoughts to stray beyond the rules of justice , has always the blessing of an inward quiet and assurance , as a natural effect of his good meaning to his people , and tho he will not neglect due precautions to secure himself in all events , yet he is uncapable of entertaining vain and remote suspicions of those , of whom he resolves never to deserve ill . it is very hard for a prince to fear rebellion , who neither does , nor intends to do any thing to provoke it ; therefore too great a diligence in the governours , to raise and improve dangers and fears from the people , is no very good symptom , and naturally begets an inference that they have thoughts of putting their subjects allegiance to a tryal ; and therefore not without some reason fear before hand , that the irregularities they intend , may raise men to a resistance . our trimmer thinks it no advantage to a government , to endeavour the suppressing all kind of right which may remain in the body of the people , or to employ small authors in it , whose officiousness or want of money may encourage them to write , tho' it is not very easie to have abilities equal to such a subject ; they forget that in their too high strained arguments for the rights of princes , they very often plead against humane nature , which will always give a biass to those reasons which seem of her side ; it is the people that reads those books , and it is the people that must judge of them ; and therefore no maxims should be laid down for the right of government , to which there can be any reasonable objection ; for the world has an interest , and for that reason is more than ordinary discerning to find out the weak sides of such arguments as are intended to do them hurt ; and it is a diminution to a government , to promote or countenance such well affected mistakes which are turned upon it with disadvantage , whenever they are detected and expos'd ; and naturally the too earnest endeavours to take from men the right they have , tempt them , by the example to claim that which they have not . in power , as in most other things , the way for princes to keep it , is not to grasp more than their arms can well hold ; the nice and unnecessary enquiring into these things , or the licensing some books , and suppressing some others without sufficient reason to justifie the doing either , is so far from being an advantage to a government , that it exposes it to the censure of being partial and to the suspicion , of having some hidden designs to be carried on by these unusual methods . when all is said , there is a natural reason of state , and undefinable thing , grounded upon the common good of mankind ▪ which is immortal , and in all changes and revolutions , still preserves its original right of saving a nation , when the letter of the law perhaps would destroy it ; and by whatsoever means it moves , carrieth a power with it , that admits of no opposition , being supported by nature , which inspires an immediate consent at some critical times into every individual member , to that which visibly tendeth to preservation of the whole ; and this being so , a wise prince instead of controverting the right of this reason of state , will by all means endeavour it may be of his side , and then he will be secure . our trimmer cannot conceive that the power of any prince can be lasting , but where 't is built upon the foundation of his own unborrowed vertue , he must not only be the first mover and the fountain , from whence the great acts of state originally flow , but he must be thought so to his people that they may preserve their veneration for him ; he must be jealous of his power , and not impart so much of it to any about him , as that he may suffer an eclipse by it . he cannot take too much care to keep himself up , for when a prince is thought to be led by those , with whom he should onely advise , and that the commands he gives are transmitted through him , and are not of his own growth ; the world will look upon him as a bird adorned with feathers that are not his own , or consider him rather as an engine than a living creature ; besides , 't would be a contradiction for a prince to fear a common-wealth , and at the same time create one himself , be delegating such a power to any number of men near him , as is inconsistent with the figure of a monarch : it is the worst kind of co-ordination the crown can submit to ; for it is the exercise of power that draws the respect along with it , and when that is parted with , the bare character of a king is not sufficient to keep it up ; but tho' it is a diminution to a prince , to parcel out so liberally his power amongst his favourites , it 's worse to divide with any other man , and to bring himself in competition with a single rival ; a partner in government is so unnatural a thing , that it is a squint-ey'd allegiance that must be paid to such a double bottom'd monarchy . the two czars of muscovy are an example that the more civiliz'd part of the world will not be proud to follow , whatsoever gloss may be put upon this method , by those to whom it may be of some use , the prince will do well to remember , and reflect upon the story of certain men who had set up a statue in honour of the sun , yet in a very little time they turned their backs to the sun , and their faces to the statue . these mystical unions are better plac'd in the other world , than they are in this , and we shall have much ado to find , that in a monarchy gods vicegerency is delegated to more heads than that which is anointed . princes may lend some of their light to make another shine , but they must still preserve the superiority of being the brighter planet , and when it happens that the reversion is in mens eyes , there is more care necessary to keep up the dignity of possessions , that men may not forget who is king , either out of their hopes or fears who shall be . if the sun shou'd part with all his light to any of the stars , the indians would not know where to find their god , after he had so deposed himself , and would make the light ( where-ever it went ) the object of their worship . all usurpation is alike upon soveraignty , it s no matter from what hand it comes ; and crowned heads are to be the more circumspect , in respect mens thoughts are naturally apt to ramble beyond what is present , they love to work at a distance , and in their greedy expectations ; which their minds may be fill'd with of a new master , the old one may be left to look a little out of countenance . our trimmer owns a passion for liberty , yet so restrained , that it does not in the least impair or taint his allegiance , he thinks it hard for a soul that does not love liberty , ever to raise it self to another world he takes it to be the foundation of all vertue , and the only seasoning that gives a relish to life , and tho' the laziness of a slavish subjection , has its charms for the more gross and earthly part of mankind , yet to men made of a better sort of clay , all that the world can give without liberty has no taste ; it is true , nothing is sold so cheap by unthinking men , but that does no more lessen the real value of it , than a country fellows ignorance does that of a diamond , in selling it for a pot of ale. liberty is the mistress of mankind , she has powerful charms which do so dazzle us , that we find beauties in her which perhaps are not there , as we do in other mistresses ; yet if she was not a beauty , the world would not run mad for her ; therefore since the reasonable desire of it ought not to be restrain'd , and that even the unreasonable desire of it cannot be entirely suppress'd , those who would take it away from a people possessed of it , are likely to fail in the attempting , or be very unquiet in the keeping of it . our trimmer admires our blessed constitutions , in which dominion and liberty are so well reconciled ; it gives to the prince the glorious power of commanding freemen , and to the subject , the satisfaction of seeing the power so lodged , as that their liberties are secure ; it do's not allow the crown such a ruining power , as that no grass can grow where e're it treads , but a cherishing and protecting power ; such a one as hath a grim aspect only to the offending subjects , but is the joy and the pride of all the good ones ; their own interest being so bound up in it , as to engage them to defend and support it ; and tho in some instances the king is restrain'd yet nothing in the government can move without him ; our laws make a distinction between vassalage and obedience ; between devouring prerogatives , and a licentious ungovernable freedom : and as of all the orders of building , the composite is the best , so ours by a happy mixture and a wise choice of what is best in others , is brought into a form that is our felicity who live under it , and the envy of our neighbour that cannot imitate it . the crown has power sufficient to protect our liberties . the people have so much liberty as is necessary to make them useful to the crown . our government is in a just proportion , no tympany , no unnatural swelling either of power or liberty ; and whereas in all overgrown monarchies , reason , learning , and enquiry are hang'd in effigy for mutineers ; here they are encouraged and cherished as the surest friends to a government establish'd upon the foundation of law and justice . when all is done , those who look for perfection in this world , may look as the jews have for their messias , and therefore our trimmer is not so unreasonably partial as to free our governments ; and from all objections , no doubt there have been fatal instances of its sickness , and more than that , of its mortality , for sometime , tho' by a miracle , it hath been reviv'd again : but till we have another race of mankind , in all constitutions that are bounded , there will ever be some matter of strife , and contention , and rather than want pretensions , mens passions and interests will raise them from the most inconsiderable causes . our government is like our climate ▪ there are winds which are sometimes loud and unquiet , and yet with all the trouble they give us , we owe , great part of our health unto them , they clear the air , which else would be like a standing pool , and in stead of refreshment would be a disease unto us . there may be fresh gales of asserting liberty , without turning into such storms of hurricane , as that the state should run any hazard of being cast away by them ; these struglings which are natural to all mixed governments , while they are kept from growing in convulsions , do by a mutual agitation from the several parts , rather support and strengthen , than weaken or maim the constitution ; and the whole frame , instead of being torn or disjointed , comes to be the better and closer knit by being thus exercised ; but what ever faults our government may have , or a discerning critick may find in it , when he looks upon it alone ; let any other be set against it , and then it shews its comparative beauty ; let us look upon the most glittering outside of unbounded authority , and upon a nearer enquiry , we shall find nothing but poor and miserable deformity within ; let us imagine a prince living in his kingdom , as if in a great gally , his subjects tugging at the oar , laden with chains , and reduced to real rags , that they may gain him imaginary lawrels ; let us represent him gazing among his flatterers , and receiving their false worship , like a child never contradicted , and therefore always cozen'd● or like a lady complemented only to be abused , condemned never to hear truth ▪ and consequently never to do justice , w●llowing in the soft bed of wanton and unbridled greatness , not less odious to the instruments themselves , than to the objects of his tyranny ; blown up into an ambitious dropsy , never to be satisfied by the conquest of other people , or by the oppression of his own ; by aiming to be more than a man , he falls lower than the meanest of 'em , a mistaken creature , swelled with panegyricks , and flattered out of his senses , and not only an incumbrance , but a nuisance to mankind , a hardened and unrelenting soul , and like some creatures that grow fat with poisons , he grows great by other mens miseries ; an ambitious ap● of the divine greatness , an unruly gyant that would storm even heaven it self , but that his scaling ladders are not long enough ; in short , a wild and devouring creature in rich trappings , and with all his pride no more than a whip in god almighty's hand , to be thrown into the fire when the world has been sufficiently scourged with it : this picture laid in right colours would not incite men to wish for such a government , but rather to acknowledge the happiness of our own , under which we enjoy all the privilege reasonable men can desire , and avoid all the miserie 's many others are subject to ; so that our trimmer would keep it with all its faults , and does as little forgive those who give the occasion of breaking it , as he does those that take it . our trimmer is a friend to parliaments , notwithstanding all their faults , and excesses , which of late have given such matter of objection to them ; he thinks that tho' they may at sometimes be troublesome to authority , yet they add the greatest strength to it under a wise administration ; he believes no government is perfect except a kind of omnipotence reside in it , to exercise upon great occasions : now this cannot be obtained by force alone upon people , let it be never so great , there must be their consent too , or else a nation moves only by being driven , a sluggish and constrained motion , void of that life and vigour which is necessary to produce great things , whereas the virtual consent of the whole being included in their representatives , and the king giving the sanction to the united sense of the people , every act done by such an authority , seems to be an effect of their choice as well as a part of their duty ; and they do with an eagerness , of which men are uncapable whilst under a force , execute whatsoever is so enjoyned as their own wills , better explained by parliament , rather than from the terrour of incurring the penalty of the law for omiting it , and by means of this political omnipotence , what ever sap or juice there is in a nation , may be to the last drop produc'd , whilst it rises naturally from the root ; whereas all power exercis'd without consent , is like the giving wounds and gashes , and tapping a tree at unseasonable times , for the present occasion , which in a very little time must needs destroy it . our trimmer believes , that by the advantage of our situation , there can hardly any such sudden disease come upon us , but that the king may have time enough left to consult with his physicians in parliament ; pretences indeed may be made , but a real necessity so pressing , that no delay is to be admitted , is hardly to be imagin'd , and it will be neither easie to give an instance of any such thing for the time past , or reasonable to presume it will ever happen for the time to come : but if that strange thing should fall out , our trimmer is not so streight-lac'd , as to let a nation die , or to be stifled , rather than it should be help'd by any but the proper officers . the cases themselves will bring the remedies along with them ; and he is not afraid to allow that in order to its preservation , there is a hidden power in government , which would be lost if it was designed , a certain mystery , by virtue of which a nation may at some critical times be secur'd from ruine , but then it must be kept as a mystery ; it is rendred useless when touch'd by unskilfull hands : and no government ever had , or deserv'd to have that power , which was so unwary as to anticipate their claim to it : our trimmer cannot help thinking it had been better , if the triennial act had been observ'd ; because 't is the law , and he would not have the crown , by such an example , teach the nation to break it ; all irregularity is catching , it has a contagion in it , especially in an age , so much enclin'd to follow ill patterns than good ones . he would have a parliament , because 't is an essential part of the constitution , even without the law , it being the only provision in extraordinary cases , in which there would be otherwise no remedy , and there can be no greater solecism in government , than a failure of justice . he would have had one , because nothing else can unite and heal us , all other means are meer shifts and projects , houses of cards , to be blown down with the least breath , and cannot resist the difficulties which are ever presum'd in things of this kind ; and he would have had one , because it might have done the king good , and could not possibly have done him hurt , without his consent , which in that case is not to be supposed , and theresore for him to fear it , is so strange and so little to be comprehended , that the reasons can never be presum'd to grow in our soyl , or to thrive in it when transplanted from any other country ; and no doubt there are such irresistible arguments for calling a parliament , and tho it might , be deny'd to the unmannerly mutinous petitions of men , that are malicious and diaffected , it will be granted to the soft and obsequious murmurs of his majesty's best subjects , and there will be such retorick in their silent grief , that it will at last prevail against the artifices of those , who either out of guilt or interest , are afraid to throw themselves upon their country , knowing how scurvily they have used it ; that day of judgment will come , tho we know neither the day nor the hour . and our trimmer would live so as to be prepared for it , with full assurance in the mean time , that the lamenting voice of a nation cannot long be resisted , and that a prince who could so easily forgive his people when they had been in the wrong , cannot fail to hear them when they are in the right . the trimmer's opinion concerning the protestant religion . religion has such a superiority above other things , and that indispensable influence upon all mankind , that it is as necessary to our living happy in this world , as it is to our being sav'd in the next , without it man is an abandon'd creature , one of the worst beasts nature hath produc'd , and fit ònly for the society of wolves and bears ; therefore in all ages it has been the foundation of government : and tho' false gods have been impos'd upon the credulous part of the world , yet they were gods still in their opinion , and the awe and reverence men had to them and their oracles , kept them within bounds towards one another , which the laws with all their authority could never have effected without the help of religion ; the laws would not be able to subdue the perverseness of mens wills , which are wild beasts , and require a double chain to keep them down ; for this reason 't is said , that it is not a sufficient ground to make war upon a neighbouring state , because they are of another religion , let it be never so differing : yet if they worship'd nor acknowledg'd any deity at all , they may be invaded as publick enemies of mankind , because they reject the only thing that can bind them to live well with one another ; the consideration of religion is so twisted with that of government , that it is never to be separated , and tho the foundations of it ought to be eternal and unchangeable , yet the terms and circumstances of discipline , are to be suited to the several climates and constitutions , so that they may keep men in a willing acquiescence unto them , without discomposing the world by nice disputes , which can never be of equal moment with the publick peace . our religion here in england seems to be distinguished by a peculiar effect of god almighty's goodness , in permiting it to be introduc'd , or rather restored , by a more regular method than the circumstances of most other reformed churches , would allow them to do , in relation to the government ; and the dignity with which it has supported it self since , and the great men our church hath produced , ought to recommend it to the esteem of all protestants at least : our trimmer is very partial to it , for these reasons , and many more , and desires that it may preserve its due jurisdiction and authority ? so far he is from wishing it oppressed by the unreasonable and malicious cavils of those who take pains to raise objections against it . the questions will then be , how and by what methods this church shall best support it self ( the present circumstances consider'd ) in relation to dissenters of all sorts : i will first lay this for a ground , that as there can be no true religion without charity , so there can be no true humane prudence without bearing and condescension : this principle does not extend to oblige the church always to yield to those who are disposed to contest with her , the expediency of doing it is to be considered and determined according to the occasion , and this leads me to lay open the thoughts of our trimmer , in reference first , to the protestants , and then to the popish recusants . what has lately hapned among us , makes an apology necessary for saying any thing that looks like favour towards a sort of men who have brought themselves under such a disadvantage . the late conspiracy hath such broad symptoms of the disaffection of the whole party , that upon the first reflections , while our thoughts are warm , it would almost perswade us to put them out of the protection of our good nature , and to think that the christian indulgence with our compassion for other mens sufferings , cannot easily deny , seems not only to be forfeited by the ill appearances that are against them , but even becomes a crime when it is so misapplied ; yet for all this , upon second and cooler thoughts , moderate men will not be so ready to involve a whole party in the guilt of a few , and to admit inferences and presumptions to be evidence in a case , where the sentence must be so heavy , as it ought to be against all those who have a fixed resolution against the government established ? besides● men who act by a principle grounded upon moral vertue , can never let it be clearly extinguished by the most repeated provocations ; if a right thing agreeable to nature and good sense takes root in the heart of a man , that is impartial and unbyass'd , no outward . circumstances can ever destroy it ; it 's true , the degrees of a mans zeal for the prosecution of it may be differing , faults of other men , the consideration of the publick , and the seasonable prudence by which wise men will ever be directed , may give great allays ; they may lessen and for a time perhaps suppress the exercise of that , which in general proposition may be reasonable , but still whatever is so will inevitably grow and spring up again , having a foundation in nature , which is never to be destroy'd . our trimmer therefore endeavours to separate the detestation of those who had either a hand or a thought in the late plot , from the principle of prudential as well as christian charity towards mankind , and for that reason would fain use the means of reclaiming such of the dissenters as are not incurable , and even bearing to a degree those that are as far as may consist with the publick interest and security ; he is far from justifying an affected separation from the communion of the church , and even in those that mean well , and are mistaken , he looks upon it as a disease that has seized upon their minds , very troublesome as well as dangerous , by the consequence it may produce : he does not go about to excuse their making it an indispensable duty , to meet in numbers to say their prayers , such meetings may prove mischievous to the state at least ; the laws which are the best judges , have determined that there is danger in them : he has good nature enough to lament that the perversness of a part should have drawn rigorous laws upon the whole body of the dissenters , but when they are once made no private opinion must stand in opposition to them ; if they are in themselves reasonable , they are in that respect to be regarded , even without being enjoyned , if by the change of time and circumstances they should become less reasonable than when they were first made , even then they are to be obey'd too , because they are laws , till they are mended or repealed by the same authority that enacted them . he has too much deference to the constitution of our government , to wish for more prerogative declarations in favour of scrupulous men , or to dispence with penal laws in such manner , or to such an end , that suspecting men might with some reason pretend , that so hated a thing as persecution could never make way for it self with any hopes of success , otherwise than by preparing the deluded world by a false prospect of liberty and indulgence . the inward springs and wheels whereby the engine moved , are now so fully laid open and expos'd that it is not supposable that such a baffled experiment should ever be tryed again , the effect it had at the time , and the spirit it raised , will not easily be forgotten , and it may be presum'd the remembrance of it may secure us from any more attempts of that nature for the future ; we must no more break a law to give men ease , than we are to rifle an house with a devout intention of giving the plunder to the poor ; in this case , our compassion would be as ill directed , as our charity in the other . in short , the veneration due to the laws is never to be thrown off , let the pretences be never so specious ; yet with all this he cannot bring himself to think , that an extraordinary diligence to take the uttermost penalty of laws , upon the poor offending neighbour , is of it self such an all sufficient vertue , that without any thing else to recommend men , it should entitle them to all kind of preferments and rewards ; he would not detract from the merits of those who execute the laws , yet he cannot think such a piece of service as this , can entirely change the man , and either make him a better divine , or a more knowing magistrate than he was before , especially if it be done with a partial and unequal hand in reverence to greater and more dangerous offenders . our trimmer would have those mistaken men ready to throw themselves into the arms of the church , and he would have those arms as ready to receive them that shall come to us ; he would have no supercilious look to fright those strayed sheep from coming into the fold again ; no ill-natur'd maxims of an eternal suspicion , or a belief that those who have once been in the wrong can never be in the right again ; but a visible preparation of mind to receive with joy all the proselytes that come amongst us , and much greater earnestness to reclaim than punish them : it is to be confessed , there is a great deal to forgive , a hard task enough for the charity of a church so provoked ; but that must not cut off all hopes of being reconciled , yet if there must be some anger left still , let it break out into a christian revenge , and by being kinder to the children of disobedience than they deserve , let the injur'd church triumph , by throwing shame and confusion of face upon them ; there should not always be storms and thunder , a clear sky would sometime make the church look more like heaven , and would do more towards the reclaiming those wanderers , than a perpetual terrour , which seemed to have no intermission ; for there is in many , and particularly in english men , a mistaken pleasure , in resisting the dictates of rigorous authority ; a stomach that riseth , against a hard imposition , nay , in some , raise even a lust in suffering from a wrong point of honour , which does not want the applause , from the greater part of mankind , who have not learnt to distinguish ; constancy will be thought a virtue even where it is a mistake ; and the ill judging world will be apt to think that opinion most right , which produces the greatest number of those who are willing to suffer for it ; all this is prevented , and falls to the ground , by using well-timed indulgence ; and the stubborn adversary who values himself upon his resistance whilst he is oppress'd , yields insensibly to kind methods , when they are apply'd to him , and the same man naturally melts into conformity , who perhaps would never have been beaten into it . we may be taught by the compassion that attendeth the most criminal men when they are condemned , that faults are much more natural things than punishments , and that even the most necessary acts of severity do some kind of violence to our nature , whose indulgence will not be confined within the strait bounds of inexorable justice ; so that this should be an argument for gentleness , besides that it is the likeliest way to make these men asham'd of their separation , whilst the pressing them too hard , tends rather to make them proud of it . our trimmer would have the clergy supported in their lawful rights , and in all the power and dignity that belongs to them , and yet he thinks that possibly there may be in some of them a too great eagerness to extend the ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; which tho it may be well intended , yet the straining of it too high has an appearance of ambition that raises mens objections to it , and is far unlike the apostolick zeal , which was quite otherwise employ'd , that the world draws inferences from it , which do the church no service . he is troubled to see men of all sides sick of a calenture of a mistaken devotion , and it seems to him that the devout fire of mistaken charity with which the primitive christians were inflam'd , is long since extinguish'd , and instead of it a devouring fire of anger and persecution breaks out in the world ; we wrangle now one with another about religion till the blood comes , whilst the ten commandments have no more authority with us , than if they were so many obsolete laws or proclamations out of date ; he thinks that a nation will hardly be mended by principles of religion , where morality is made a heresy ; and therefore as he believes-devotion misplaced when it gets into a conventicle , he concludes that loyalty is so too , when lodg'd in a drunken club ; those vertues deserve a better seat of empire , and they are degraded , when such men undertake their defence , as have too great need of an apology themselves . our trimmer wishes that some knowledge may go along with the zeal on the right side , and that those who are in possession of the pulpit , would quote ▪ at least so often the authority of the scriptures as they do that of the state ; there are many who borrow too often arguments from the government ; to use against their adversaries , and neglect those that are more proper , and would be more powerful ; a divine grows less , and puts a diminution on his own character , when he quoteth any law but that of god almighty , to get the better of those who contest with him ; and it is a sign of a decay'd constitution , when nature with good diet cannot expel noxious humours without calling foreign drugs to her assistance ; so it looks , like want of health in a church , when instead of depending upon the power of that truth which it holds , and the good examples of them that teach it , to support it self , and to suppress errors , it should have a perpetual recourse to the secular authority , and even upon the slightest occasions . our trimmer has his objections to the too busy diligence , and to the overdoing of some of the dissenting clergy , and he does as little approve of those of our church , who wear god almighty's liveries , as some old warders in the tower do the king 's , who do nothing in their place but receive their wages for it ; he thinks that the liberty of the late times gave men so much light , and diffused it so universally amongst the people , that they are not now to be dealt with , as they might have been in ages of less enquiry ; and therefore in some well chosen and dearly beloved auditories , good resolute nonsence back'd with authority may prevail , yet generally men are become so good judges of what they hear , that the clergy ought to be very wary how they go about to impose upon their understandings , which are grown less humble than they were in former times , when the men in black had made learning such a sin in the laity , that for fear of offending , they made a conscience of being able to read ; but now the world is grown sawcy , and expects reasons , and good ones too , before they give up their own opinions to other mens dictates , tho never so magisterially deliver'd to them . our trimmer is far from approving the hypocrisie , which seems to be the reigning vice amongst some of the dissenting clergy , he thinks it the most provoking sin men can be guilty of , in relation to heaven , and yet ( which may seem strange ) that very sin which shall destroy the soul of the man who preaches , may help to save those of the company that hear him , and even those who are cheated by the false ostentation of his strictness of life , may by that pattern be encouraged to the real practice of those christian vertues which he does so deceitfully profess ; so that the detestation , of this fault may possibly be carry'd on too far by our own orthodox divines , if they think it cannot be enough express'd without bending the stick another way ; a dangerous method , and a worse extream for men of that character , who by going to the outmost line of christian liberty , will certainly encourage others to go beyond it : no man does less approve the ill-bred methods of some of the dissenters , in rebuking authority , who behave themselves as if they thought ill manners necessary to salvation ; yet he cannot but distinguish and desire a mean between the sawcyness of some of the scotch apostles , and the undecent courtship of some of the silken divines , who , one would think , do practice to bow at the altar , only to learn to make the better legs at court. our trimmer approves the principles of our church , that dominion is not founded in grace , and that our obedience is to be given to a popish king in other things , at the same time that our compliance with him in his religion is to be deny'd ; yet he cannot but think it a very extraordinary thing if a protestant church should by a voluntary election , chuse a papist for their guardian , and receive directions for supporting their religion , from one who must believe it a mortal sin not to endeavour to destroy it ; such a refined piece of breeding would not seem to be very well plac'd in the clergy , who will hardly find precedents to justify such an extravagant piece of courtship , and which is so unlike the primitive methods , which ought to be our pattern ; he hath no such unreasonable tenderness for any sorts of men , as to expect their faults should not be impartially laid open as often as they give occasion for it ; and yet he cannot but smile to see that the same man , who sets up all the sails of his rhetorick , to fall upon dissenters ; when popery is to be handled , he does it so gingerly , that he looketh like an ass mumbling of thistles , so afraid he is of letting himself loose where he may be in danger of letting his duty get the better of his discretion . our trimmer is far from relishing the impertinent wandrings of those who pour out long prayers upon the congregation , and all from their own stock , which god knows , for the most part is a barren soil , which produces weeds instead of flowers , and by this means they expose religion it self , rather than promote mens devotions : on the other side , there may be too great restraint put upon men , whom god and nature hath distinguished from their fellow labourers , by blessing them with a happier talent , and by giving them not only good sense , but a powerful utterance too , has enabled them to gush out upon the attentive auditory , with a mighty stream of devout and unaffected eloquence ; when a man so qualified , endued with learning too , and above all , adorn'd with a good life , breaks out into a warm and well deliver'd prayer before his sermon , it has the appearance of a divine rapture , he raises and leads the hearts of the assembly in another manner , than the most compos'd or best studied form of set words can ever do ; and the pray-wees , who serve up all their sermons with the same garnishing , would look like so many statues , or men of straw in the pulpit , compar'd with those who speak with such a powerful zeal , that men are tempted at the moment to believe heaven it self has dictated their words to ' em . our trimmer is not so unreasonably indulgent to the dissenters , as to excuse the irregularities of their complaints , and to approve their threatning stiles , which are so ill-suited to their circumstances as well as their duty ; he would have them to shew their grief , and not their anger to the government , and by such a submission to authority , as becomes them , if they cannot acquiesce in what is imposed ; let them deserve a legislative remedy to their sufferings , there being no other way to give them perfect redress ; and either to seek it , or pretend to give it by any other method , would not only be vain , but criminal too in those that go about it ; yet with all this , there may in the mean time be a prudential latitude left , as to the manner of preventing the laws now in force against them : the government is in some degree answerable for such an administration of them , as may be free from the censure of impartial judges ; and in order to that , it would be necessary that one of these methods be pursued , either to let loose the laws to their utmost extent , without any moderation or restraint , in which at least the equality of the government would be without objection , the penalties being exacted without remission from the dissenters of all kinds ; or if that will not be done ( and indeed there is no reason it should ) there is a necessity of some connivance to the protestant dissenters to execute that which in humanity must be allowed to the papists , even without any leaning towards them , which must be supposed in those who are or shall be in the administration of publick business ; and it will follow that , according to our circumstances , the distribution of such connivance must be made in such a manner , that the greatest part of it may fall on the protestant side , or else the objections will be so strong , and the inferences so clear , that the friends , as well as the enemies of the crown , will be sure to take hold of them . it will not be sufficient to say that the papists may be conniv'd at , because they are good subjects and that the protestant dissenters , must suffer because they are ill ones ; these general maxims will not convince discerning men , neither will any late instances make them forget what passed at other times in the world ; both sides have had their turns in being good and ill subjects . and therefore 't is easie to imagine what suspicions would arise in the present conjuncture , if such a partial argument as this should be impos'd upon us ; the truth is , this matter speaks so much of it self , that it is not only unnecessary , but it may be mannnerly to say any more of it . our trimmer therefore could wish , that since notwithstanding the laws which deny churches to say mass in ; even not only the exercise , but also the ostentation of popery is as well or better performed in the chappels of so many foreign ministers , where the english openly resort in spight of proclamations and orders of council , which are grown to be as harmless things to them , as the popes bulls and excommunications are to hereticks who are out of his reach ; i say he could wish that by a seasonable as well as an equal piece of justice , there might be so much consideration had of the protestant dissenters , as that there might be at sometimes , and at some places , a● veil thrown over an innocent and retired conventicle , and that such an indulgence might be practis'd with less prejudice to the church , or diminution to the laws ; it might be done so as to look rather like a kind omission to enquire more strictly , than an allow'd toleration of that which is against the rule established . such a skilful hand as this is very necessary in our circumstances , and the government by making no sort of men entirely desperate , does not only secure it self from villainous attempts , but lay such a foundation for healing and uniting laws , when ever a parliament shall meet , that the seeds of differences and animosities between the several contending sides may ( heaven consenting ) be for ever destroy'd . the trimmer's opinion concerning the papists . to speak of popery leads me into such a sea of matter , that it is not easie to forbear launching into it , being invited by such a fruitful theme , and by a variety never to be exhausted ; but to confine it to the present subject , i will only say a short word of the religion it self ; of its influences here at this time ; and of our trimmer's opinion in relation to our manner of living with them . if a man would speak maliciously of this religion , one may say it is like those diseases , where as long as one drop of the infection remains , there is still danger of having the whole mass of blood corrupted by it . in swedeland there was an absolute cure , and nothing of popery heard of , till queen christina , ( whether mov'd by arguments of this or the other world , may not be good manners to enquire ) thought fit to change her religion and country , and to live at rome , where she might find better judges of her virtues , and less ungentle censures of those princely liberties , to which she was sometimes disposed , than she left at stockholme ; where the good breeding is as much inferior to that of rome in general , as the civility of the religion . the cardinals having rescued the church from those clownish methods the fishermen had first introduc'd , and mended that pattern so effectually , that a man of that age , if he should now come into the world , would not possibly know it . in denmark the reformation was entire ; in some states of germany , as well as geneva , the cure was universal ; but in the rest of the world where the protestant religion took place , the popish humour was too tough to be totally expell'd , and so it was in england ; tho' the change was made with àll the advantage imaginable to the reformation , it being countenanc'd and introduc'd by legal authority , and by that means , might have been perhaps as perfect as in any other place , if the short reign of edward the th , and the succession of a popish queen had not given such advantage to that religion , that it has subsisted ever since under all the hardships that have been put upon it ; it has been a strong compact body , and made the more so by these sufferings ; it was not strong enough to prevail , but it was able , with the help of foreign support , to carry on an interest which gave the crown trouble , and to make a considerable ( not to say dangerous ) figure in the nation ; so much as this could not have been done without some hopes , nor these hopes kept up without some reasonable grounds : in queen elizabeth's time , the spanish zeal for their religion , and the revenge for , gave warmth to the papists here , and above all the right of the queen of scots to succeed , was while she lived sufficient to give them a better prospect of their affairs : in king james's time their hopes were supported by the treaty of the spanish match , and his gentleness towards them , which they were ready to interpret more in their own favour , than was either reasonable or became them , so little tenderness they have , even where it is most due , if the interest of their religion comes in competition with it . as for the late king , tho he gave the most glorious evidence that ever man did of his being a protestant , yet , by the more than ordinary influence the queen was thought to have over him , and it so happening that the greatest part of his anger was directed against the puritans , there was such an advantage to men dispos'd to suspect , that they were ready to interpret it a leaning towards popery , without which handle it was morally impossible , that the ill-affected part of the nation could ever have seduc'd the rest into a rebellion . that which help'd to confirm many well meaning men in their misapprehensions of the king , was the long and unusual intermission of parliaments ; so that every year that passed without one , made up a new argument to increase their suspicion , and made them presume that the papists had a principal hand in keeping them off ; this raised such heats in mens minds , to think that men who were obnoxious to the laws , instead of being punished , should have credit enough to serve themselves ; even at the price of destroying the fundamental constitution ; that it broke out into a flame , which before it could be quenched , had almost reduc'd the nation to ashes . amongst the miserable effects of that unnatural war , none hath been more fatal to us , than the forcing our princes to breathe in another air , and to receive the early impressions of a foreign education ; the barbarity of the english , towards the king and the royal family , mighty very well tempt him to think the better of every thing he found abroad , and might-naturally produce more gentleness , at least , towards a religion by which he was hospitably received , at the same time that he was thrown off and persecuted by the protestants , ( tho' his own subjects ) to aggravate the offence . the queen mother , ( as generally ladies do with age ) grew most devout and earnest in her religion ; and besides , the temporal rewards of getting larger subsidies from the french clergy , she had motives of another kind , to perswade her to shew her zeal ; and since by the roman dispensatory , a soul converted to the church is a soveraign remedy , and lays up a mighty stock of merit , she was solicitous to secure her self in all events , and therefore first set upon the duke of glocester , who depended so much upon her good will , that she might for that reason have been induc'd to believe , the conquest would not be difficult ; but it so fell out , that he either from his own constancy , or that he had those near him by whom he was otherways advis'd , chose rather to run away from her importunity , than by staying to bear the continual weight of it : it is believ'd she had better success with another of her sons , who , if he was not quite brought off from our religion , at least such beginnings were made , as made them very easie to be finish'd ; his being of a generous and aspiring nature , and in that respect , less patient in the drudgery of arguing , might probably help to recommend a church to him , that exempts the laity from the vexation of enquiring ; perhaps he might ( tho by mistake ) look upon that religion as more favourable to the enlarged power of kings , a consideration which might have its weight with a young prince in his warm blood , and that was brought up in arms. i cannot hinder my self from a small digression , to consider with admiration , that the old lady of rome , with all her wrinkles , should yet have charms , able to subdue great princes ; so far from handsome , and yet so imperious ; so painted , and yet so pretending ; after having abus'd , depos'd , and murther'd so many of her lovers , she still finds others glad and proud of their now chains ; a thing so strange ) to indifferent judges , that those who will allow no other miracles in the church of rome , must needs grant that this is one not to be contested ; she sits in her shop , and sells at dear rates her rattles and her hobby-horses , whilst the deluded world still continues to furnish her with customers . but whither am i carried with this contemplation ? it is high time to return to my text , and to consider the wonderful manner of the kings coming home again , led by the hand of heaven , and called by the voice of his own people , who receiv'd him , if possible , with joys equal to the blessing of peace and union which his restauration brought along with it ; by this there was an end put to the hopes some might have abroad , of making use of 〈◊〉 less happy circumstances , to throw him into foreign interests and opinions , which had been wholly inconsistent with our religion , our laws , and all other things that are dear to us ; yet for all this some of those tinctures and impressions might so far remain , as tho' they were very innocent in him , yet they might have ill effects here , by softning the animosity which seems necessary to the defender of the protestant faith , in opposition to such a powerful and irreconcilable an enemy . you may be sure , that among all the sorts of men who apply'd themselves to the king at his first coming home , for his protection , the papists were not the last , no● as they fain would have flatter'd themselves , the least welcome ; having their past sufferings , as well as their present professions to recommend them ; and there was something that look'd like a particular consideration of them , since it so happened , that the indulgence promised to dissenters at breda , was carried , on in such a manner , that the papists were to divide with them , and tho' the parliament , notwithstanding its resignation to the crown in all things , rejected with scorn and anger a declaration fram'd for this purpose , yet the birth and steps of it gave such an alarm , that mens suspicions once raised , were not easily laid asleep again . to omit other things , the breach of the tripple league , and the dutch war with its appurtenances , carried jealousies to the highest pitch imaginable , and fed the hopes of one party , and the fears of the other to such a degree , that some critical revolutions were generally expected , when the ill success of that war , and the sacrifice france thought fit to make of the papists here , to their own interest abroad , gave them another check ; and the act of enjoyning the test to all in offices , was thought to be no ill bargain to the nation , tho' bought at the price of pound , and the money apply'd to continue the war against the dutch , than which nothing could be more unpopular or less approved . notwithstanding the discouragements , popery is a plant that may be mowed down , but the root will still remain , and in spite of the laws , it will sprout up and grow again ; especially if it should happen that there should be men in power , who in weeding it out of our garden , will take care to cherish and keep it alive ; and tho' the law for excluding them from places of trust was tolerably kept as to their outward form , yet there were many circumstances , which being improved by the quick-sighted malice of ill affected men , did help to keep up the world in their suspicions , and to blow up jealousies to such a height both in and out of parliament , that the remembrance of them is very unpleasant , and the example so extravagant , that it is to be hop'd nothing in our age like it will be re-attempted ; but to come closer to the case in question in this condition we stand with the papists , what shall now be done according to our trimmer's opinion , in order to the better bearing this grievance , since as i have said before , there is no hopes of being entirely free from it ; papists we must have among us , and if their religion keep them from bringing honey to the hive , let the government try at least by gentle means to take away the sting from them . the first foundation to be laid is , that a distinct consideration is to be had of the popish clergy , who have such an eternal interest against all accommodation , that it is a hopeless thing to propose any thing to them less than all ; their stomachs have been set for it ever since the reformation , they have pinned themselves to a principal that admits no mean : they believe protestants will be damn'd , and therefore by an extraordinary effect of christian charity , they would destroy one half of england that the other might be saved ; then for this world , they must be in possession for god almighty , to receive his rents for him , not to accompt till the day of judgment , which is a good kind of tenure , and ye cannot well blame the good men , that will stir up the laity to run any hazard in order to the getting them restor'd . what is it to the priest , if the deluded zealot undoes himself in the attempt ? he sings masses as jollily , and with as good a voice at rome or st. omers as ever he did ; is a single man , and can have no wants but such as may be easily supply'd , yet that he may not seem altogether insensible , or ungrateful to those that are his martyrs , he is ready to assure their executors , and if they please , will procure a grant sub annulo piscatoris , that the good man by being changed , has got a good bargain , and sav'd the singing of some hundred of years , which he would else have had in purgatory . there 's no cure for this order of men , no expedient to be propos'd , so that tho the utmost severity of the laws against them , may in some sort be mitigated , yet no treaty can be made with men who in this case have left themselves no free will , but are so muffled by zeal , tyed by vows , and kept up by such unchangeable maxims of the priesthood , that they are to be left as desperate patients , and look'd upon as men that will continue in an eternal state of hostility , till the nation is entirely subdued to them . it is then only the lay papists that are capable of being treated with , and we are to examine of what temper they are , and what arguments are the most likely to prevail upon them , and how far 't is adviseable for the government to be indulgent to them ; the lay papists generally keep their religion , rather because they will not break company with those of their party , than out of any settled zeal that hath root in them ; most of them do by the mediation of the priests marry amongst one another , to keep up an ignorant position by hearing only one side ; others by a mistake look upon it as the escutcheo●s of the more antient religion of the two ; and as some men of a good pedigree , wi●● despise meaner men , tho' never so 〈◊〉 superior to them by nature , so these under● value reformation as an upstart , and think there is more honour in supporting an old errour , than in embracing what seems to them to be a new truth ; the laws have made them men of pleasure , by excluding them from publick business , and it happen● well they are so , since they will the more easily be perswaded by arguments of ease and conveniency to them ; they have not put off the man in general , nor the englishman in particular , those who in the la●e storm against them went into other countries , tho they had all the advantage that might recommend them to a good reception , yet in a little time they chose to steal over again , and live here with hazard , rather than abroad with security . there is a smell in our native earth , better than all the perfumes in the east ; there is something in a mother , tho never so angry , that the children will more naturally trust her , than the studied civilities of strangers , let them be never so hospitable ; therefore 't is not adviseable nor agreeing with the rules of governing prudence , to provoke men by hardships to forget that nature , which else is sure to be of our side . when these men by fair usage are put again into their right senses , they will have quite differing reflections from those which rigour and persecution had raised in them : a lay papist will first consider his abby-lands , which notwithstanding whatever has or can be alledged , must sink considerably in the value , the moment that popery prevails ; and it being a disputable matter , whether zeal might not in a little time get the better of the law in that case ; a considering man will admit that as an argument to perswade him , to be content with things as they are , rather than run this or any other hazard by change , in which perhaps he may have no other advantage , than that his new humble confessor may be rais'd to a bishoprick , and from thence look down superciliously upon his patron , or which is worse , run to take possession for god almighty of his abby , in such a manner as the usurping landlord ( as he will then be called ) shall hardly be admitted to be so much as a tenant to his own land's , lest his title should prejudge that of the church , which will then be the language ; he will think what disadvantage 't is to be looked upon as a separate creature , depending upon a foreign interest and authority , and for that reason , expos'd to the jealousie and suspicion of his country-men ; he will reflect what incumbrance it is to have his house a pasture for hungry priests to graze in , which have such a never-failing influence upon the foolish , which is the greatest part of every man's family , that a man's dominion , even over his own children , is mangled , and divided , if not totally undermin'd by them ; then to be subject to what arbitrary taxes the popish convocation shall impose upon them for the carrying on the common interest of that religion , under penalty of being mark'd out for half hereticks by the rest of the party ; to have no share in business , no opportunity of shewing his own value to the world ; to live at the best an useless , and by others to be thought a dangerous member of the nation where he is born , is a burthen to a generous mind that cannot be taken off by all the pleasure of a lazy unmanly life , or by the nauseous enjoyment of a dull plenty , that produceth no good for the mind , which will be considered in the first place by a man that has a soul ; when he shall think , that if his religion , after his wading through a sea of blood , come at last to prevail , it would infinitely lessen , if not entirely destroy the glory , riches , strength and liberty of his own country . and what a sacrifice is this to make to rome , where they are wise enough to wonder there should be such fools in the world , as to venture , struggle , and contend , nay even die martyrs for that which , should it succeed , would prove a judgment instead of a blessing to them ; he will conclude that the advantages of throwing some of their children back again to god almighty when they have too many of them , are not equal to the inconveniencies they may either feel or fear , by continuing their separation from the religion established . temporal things will have their weight in the world , and tho zeal may prevail for a time , and get the better in a skirmish , yet the war ends generally on the side of flesh and blood , and will do so till mankind is another thing than it is at present : and therefore a wise papist in cold blood , considering these and many other circumstances , which 't will be worth his pains to see if he can unmuffle himself from the mask of infallibility , will think it reasonable to set his imprison'd senses at liberty , and that he has a right to see with his own eyes , hear with his own ears , and judge by his own reason ; the consequence of which might probably be , that weighing things in a right scale , and seeing them in their true colours , he would distinguish between the merit of suffering for a good cause , and the foolish ostentation of drawing inconveniences upon himself ; and therefore will not be unwilling to be convinc'd that our protestant creed may make him 〈◊〉 in the other world , and the 〈…〉 this . a few of such wise proselytes would by their example draw so many after them , that the party would insensibly melt away , and in a little time , without any angry word , we should come to an union , that all good men would have reason to rejoyce at ; but we are not to presume upon these conversions , without preparing men for them by kind and reconciling arguments ; nothing is so against our nature , as to believe those can be in the right who are too hard upon us ; there is a deformity in every thing that doth us hurt , it will look scurvily in our eye while the smart continues , and a man must have an extraordinary measure of grace , to think well of a religion that reduces him and his family to misery ; in this respect our trimmer would consent to the mitigation of such laws as were made , ( as it 's said king henry viii . got queen elizabeth ) in a heat against rome : it may be said that even states as well as private men are subject to passion ; a just indignation of a villainous attempt produces at the same time such remedies , as perhaps are not without some mixture of revenge , and therefore tho time cannot repeal a law , it may by a natural effect soften the execution of it ; there is less danger to rouse a lyon when at rest , than to awake laws that were intended to have their time of sleeping , nay more than that , in some cases their natural periods of life , dying of themselves without the solemnity of being revok'd , any otherwise than by the common consent of mankind , who do cease to execute , when the reasons in great measure fail that first created and justify'd the rigour of such unusual penalties . our trimmer is not eager to pick out some places in history against this or any other party ; quite contrary , is very sollicitous to find out any thing that may be healing , and tend to an agreement ; but to prescribe the means of this gentleness so as to make it effectual , must come from the only place that can furnish remedies for this cure , viz. a parliament ; in the mean time , it is to be wished there may be such a mutual calmness of mind , as that the protestants might not be so jealous , as still to smell the match that was to blow up the king and both houses in the gun-powder treason , or to start at every appearance of popery , as if it were just taking possession . on the other side , let not the papists suffer themselves to be led by any hopes , tho never so flattering , to a confidence or ostentation which must provoke men to be less kind to them ; let them use modesty on their sides , and the protestants indulgence on theirs ; and by this means there will be an overlooking of all venial faults , a tacit connivence at all things that do not carry scandal with them , and would amount to a kind of natural dispensation with the severe laws , since there would be no more accusers to be found , when the occasions of anger and animosity are once remov'd ; let the papists in the mean time remember , that there is a respect due from all lesser numbers to greater , a deference to be paid by an opinion that is exploded , to one that is established ; such a thought well digested will have an influence upon their behaviour , and produce such a temper as must win the most eager adversaries out of their ill humour to them , and give them a title to all the favour that may be consistent with the publick peace and security . the trimmer's opinion in relation to things abroad . the world is so compos'd , that it is hard , if not impossible , for a nation not to be a great deal involv'd in the fate of their neighbours , and tho by the felicity of our situation , we are more independant than any other people , yet we have in all ages been concern'd for our own sakes in the revolutions abroad . there was a time when england was the over-balancing power of christendom , and that either by inheritance or conquest , the better part of france receiv'd laws from us ; after that we being reduc'd into our own limits , france and spain became the rivals for the universal monarchy , and our third power , tho in it self less than either of the other , hapned to be superiour to any of them , by that choice we had of throwing the scales on that side to which we gave our friendship . i do not know whether this figure did not make us as great as our former conquest , to be a perpetual umpire of two great contending powers , who gave us all their courtship , and offer'd all their incense at our altar , whilst the fate of either prince seemed to depend upon the oracles we delivered ; for the king of england to sit on his throne , as in the supream court of justice , to which the two great monarchs appeal , pleading their cause , and expecting their sentence ▪ declaring which side was in the right , or at least if we pleas'd which side should have the better of it , was a piece of greatness which was peculiar to us , and no wonder if we endeavour to preserve it , as we did for a considerable time , it being our safety , as well as glory , to maintain it ; but by a fatality upon our councils , or by the refin'd policy of this latter age , we have thought fit to use industry to destroy this mighty power , which we have so long enjoyed ; and that equality between the two monarchs , which we might for ever have preserved , has been chiefly broken by us , whose interest it was above all others to maintain it ; when one of them , like the overflowing of the sea , had gained more upon the other than our convenience , or indeed our safety , would allow ; instead of mending the banks , or making new ones , we our selves with our own hands helpt to cut them , to invite and make way for a farther inundation . france and spain have had their several turns in making use of our mistakes , and we have been formerly as deaf to the instances of the then weaker part of the world to help them against the house of austria , as we can now be to the earnestness of spain , that we would assist them against the power of france . gondamar was as sawey , and as powerful too in king james his court , as any french ambassadour can have been at any time since , when men talk as wrong then on the spanish side , and made their court by it , as well as any can have done since by talking as much for the french ; so that from that time , instead of weighing in a wise balance the power of either crown , it looks as if we had learnt only to weigh the pensions , and take the heaviest . it would be tedious , as well as unwelcome , to recapitulate all our wrong steps , so that i will go no farther than the king's restauration , at which time the balance was on the side of france , and that by the means of cromwell , who for a separate interest of his own had sacrificed that of the nation , by joining with the stronger side , to suppress the power of spain , which he ought to have supported . such a method was natural enough to an usurper , and shew'd he was not the lawful father of the people , by his having so little care of them ; and the example coming from that hand , one would think should , for that reason , be less likely to be follow'd . but to go on , home comes the king , followed with courtships from all nations abroad , of which some did it not only to make them forget how familiarly they had us'd him when he was in other circumstances , but to bespeak the friendship of a prince , who besides his other greatness , was yet more considerable by being re-established by the love of his people . france had an interest either to dispose us to so much good will , or at least to put us into such a condition , that we might give no opposition to their designs ; and flanders being a perpetual object in their eye , a lasting beauty for which they have an incurable passion , and not being kind enough to consent to them , they meditated to commit a rape upon her , which they thought would not be easie to do , while england and holland were agreed to rescue her , when-ever they should hear her cry out for help to them ; to this end they put in practice seasonable and artificial whispers , to widen things between us , and the states . amboyna and the fishery must be talk'd of here ; the freedom of the seas , and the preservation of track must be insinuated there ; and there being combustible matter on both sides , in ● little time it took fire , which gave those that kindled it , sufficient cause to smile and hug themselves , to see us both fall into the net they had laid for us . and it is observable and of good example to us , if we wil● take it , that their design being to set 〈◊〉 together at cuffs to weaken us , they kept themselves lookers on till our victori●● began to break the balance ; then the king of france , like a wise prince , was resolved to support the beaten side , and would no more let the power of the sea , than we ought to suffer the monarchy of europe , to fall into one hand : in pursuance to this he took part with the dutch , and in a little time made himself umpire of the peace between us ; some time after , upon pretence of his queen's title to part of flanders● by right of devolution , he falls into i● with a mighty force , for which the spaniard was so little prepared , that he made a very swift progress , and had such a torrent of undisputed victory , that england and holland , tho the wounds they had given one another were yet green ; being struck with the apprehension of so near a danger to them , thought it necessary , for their own defence , to make up a sudden league , into which sweden was taken to interpose for a peace between the two crowns . this had so good an effect , that france was stopt in its career , and the peace of aix le chapelle was a little after concluded . 't was a forc'd put ; and tho france wisely dissembled their inward dissatisfaction , yet from the very moment they resolv'd to unty the triple knot , whatever it cost them ; for his christian majesty , after his conquering meals , ever rises with a stomach , and he lik'd the pattern so well , that it gave him a longing desire to have the whole piece . amongst the other means used for the attaining this end , the sending over the dutchess of orleans , was not the least powerful ; she was a very welcome guest here , and her own charms and dexterity joined with other advantages , that might help her perswasions , gave her such an ascendant , that she should hardly fail of success . one of the preliminaries of her treaty , tho a trivial thing in it self , yet was considerable in the consequence , as very small circumstances often are in relation to the government of the world. about this time a general humour , in opposition to france , had made us throw off their fashion , and put on vests , that we might look more like a distinct people , and not be under the servility of imitation , which ever pays a greater deference to the original ; than is consistent with the equality all independent nations should pretend to ; france did not like this small beginning of ill humours , at least of emulation , and wisely considering that it is a natural introduction first to make the world their apes , that they may be afterwards their slaves . it was thought that one of the instructions madam brought along with her , was to laugh us out of these vests , which she performed so effectually , that in a moment , like so many footmen who had quitted their masters livery , we all took it again , and returned to our old service ; so that the very time of doing it gave a very critical advantage to france ; since it lookt like an evidence of our returning to their interest , as well as to their fashion , and would give such a distrust of us to our new allies , that it might facilitate the dissolution of the knot , which tied them so within their bounds , that they were very impatient till they were freed from the re●●●aint . but the lady had a more extended commission than this and without doubt we double-laid the foundation of a new strict alliance , quite contrary to the other , in which we had been so lately engag'd . and of this there were such early appearances , that the world began to look upon us as falling into apostacy from the common interest . notwithstanding all this , france did not neglect at the same time to give good words to the dutch , and even to feed them with hopes of supporting them against us , when on a sudden , that never to be forgotten declaration of war against them comes out , only to vindicate his own glory , and to revenge the injuries done to his brother in england , by which he became our second in this duel ; so humble can this prince be , when at the same time he does more honour than we deserve , he lays a greater share of the blame upon our shoulders , than did naturally belong to us ; the particulars of that war , our part in it while we staid in it , and when we were out of breath , our leaving the french to make an end of it , are things too well known to make it necessary , and too unwelcome in themselves to incite me to repeat them ; only the wisdom of france is in this to be observ'd , that when we had made a separate peace , which left them single to oppose the united force of the confederates , they were so far from being angry , that they would not shew so much as the least coldness , hoping to get as much by our mediation for a peace , as they would have expected from our assistance in the war , our circumstances at that time considered ; this seasonable piece of indulgence in not reproaching us , but rather allowing those necessities of state which we gave for our excuse , was such an engaging method , that it went a great way to keep us still in their chains , when , to the eye of the world , we had absolutely broke loose from them : and what pass'd afterwards at nimeguen , tho the king's neutrality gave him the outward figure of a mediator , it appear'd that his interposition was extremely suspected of partiality by the confederates , who upon that ground did both at and before the conclusion of that treaty , treat his ministers there with a great deal of neglect in his peace as well as that in the pyrenean and aix le chapelle , the king of france , at the moment of making it , had the thought of breaking it ; for a very little time after he broach'd his pretensions upon alost , which were things that if they had been offer'd by a less formidable hand , would have been smiled at ; but ill arguments being seconded by good armies , carry such a power with them , that naked sense is a very unequal adversary . it was thought that these aiery claims were chiefly rais'd with the prospect of getting luxenburg for the equivalent ; and this opinion was confirm'd by the blocking it up afterwards , pretending to the country of chimay , that it might be entirely surrounded by the french dominions , and it was so pressed that it might have fallen in a little time , if the king of france had not sent orders to his troops to retire , and his christian generosity which was assign'd for the reason of it , made the world smile , since it is seen how differently his devout zeal works in hungary : that specious reason was in many respects ill-tim'd , and france it self gave it so faintly , that at the very time it look'd out of countenance ; the true ground of his retiring is worth our observation ; for at the instance of the confederates , offices were done , and memorials given , but all ineffectual till the word parliament was put into them ; that powerful word had such an effect , that even at that distance it rais'd the seige , which may convince us of what efficacy the king of england's words are , when he will give them their full weight , and threaten with his parliament ; it is then that he appears that great figure we ought to represent him in our minds , the nation his body , he the head , and joined with that harmony , that every word he pronounces is the word of a kingdom : such words , as appears by this example , are as effectual as fleets and armies , because they can create them , and without this his word sounds abroad like a faint whisper , that is either not heard , or ( which is worse ) not minded . but tho france had made this step of forced compliance , it did not mean to leave off the pursuit of their pretensions ; and therefore immediately proposed the arbitration to the king ; but it appear'd , that notwithstanding his merit towards the confederates , in saving luxenburg , the remembrances of what had passed before , had left such an ill taste in their mouths , that they could not relish our being put into a condition to dispose of their interests , and therefore declin'd it by insisting upon a general treaty , to which france has ever since continued to be averse ; our great earnestness also to perswade the confederates to consent to it , was so unusual , and so suspicious a method , that it might naturally make them believe , that france spake to them by our mouth , and for that reason , if there has been no other , might hinder the accepting it ; and so little care hath been taken to cure this , or other jealousies the confederates may have entertain'd , that quite contrary , their ministers here every day take fresh alarms , from what they observe in small , as well as in greater circumstances ; and they being apt both to take and improve apprehensions of this kind , draw such inferences from them , as make them entirely despair of us . thus we now stand , far from being innocent spectators of our neighbours ruine , and by a fatal mistake forgetting what a certain fore-runner it is to our own ▪ and now it 's time our trimmer should tell something of his opinion , upon this present state of things abroad , he first professes to have no biass , either for or against france , and that his thoughts are wholly directed by the interest of his own country ; he allows , and has read that spain used the same methods , when it was in its heighth , as france doth now , and therefore it is not partiality that moves him ; but the just fear which all reasonable men must be possess'd with , of an over-growing power ; ambition is a devouring beast , when it hath swallow'd one province , instead of being cloyed , it has so much the greater stomach to another , and being fed , becomes still the more hungry ; so that for the confederates to expect a security from any thing but their own united strength , is a most miserable fallacy ; and if they cannot resist the incroachments of france by their arms , it is in vain for them to dream of any other means of preservation ; it would have the better grace , besides the saving so much blood and ruin , to give up all at once ; make a present of themselves , to appease this haughty monarch , rather than be whisper'd , flatter'd , or cozened out of their liberty . nothing is so soft as the first applications of a greater prince , to engage a weaker , but that smiling countenance is but a vizard , it is not the true face ; for as soon as their turn is serv'd , the courtship flies to some other prince or state , where the same part is to be acted over again , leaves the old mistaken friend , to neglect and contempt , and like an insolent lover to cast off mistress , reproaches her with that infamy , of which he himself was the author , sweden , bavaria , palatine , &c. may by their fresh examples , teach other princes what they are reasonably to expect , and what snakes are hid under the flowers the court of france so liberally throws upon them , whilst they can be useful . the various methods and deep intrigues , with the differing notes in several countries , do not only give suspicion , but assurance that every thing is put in practice , by which universal monarchy may be obtain'd . who can reconcile the withdrawing of his troops from luxenburg , in consideration of the war in hungary , which was not then declared , and presently after encouraging the turk to take vienna , and consequently to destroy the empire ? or who can think that the persecution of the poor protestants of france , will be accepted of god , as an atonement for hazarding the loss of the whole christian faith ? can he be thought in earnest , when he seem'd to be afraid of the spaniards , and for that reason must have luxenburg , and that he cannot be safe from germany , unless he is in possession of strasburg ? all injustice and violence must in it self be grievous , but the aggravations of supporting 'em by false arguments , and insulting reasons , has something in it yet more provoking than the injuries themselves ; and the world has ground enough to apprehend , from such a method of arguing , that even their senses are to be subdu'd as well as their liberties . then the variety of arguments used by france in several countries is very observable : in england and denmark , nothing insisted on but the greatness and authority of the crown ; on the other side , the great men in poland are commended , who differ in opinion with the king , and they argue like friends to the privilege of dyet , against the separate power of the crown : in sweden they are troubled that the king should have chang'd something there of late , by his single authority , from the antient and settled authority and constitutions : at ratis bone , the most christian majesty taketh the liberties of all the electors , and free states , into his protection , and tells them the emperour is a dangerous man , an aspiring hero , that would infallibly devour them , if he was not at hand to resist him on their behalf ; but above all in holland , he has the most obliging tenderness for the common-wealth , and is in such disquiets , lest it should be invaded by the prince of orange , that they can do no less in gratitude , than undo themselves when he bids them , to show how sensible they are of his excessive good nature ; yet in spight of all these contradictions , there are in the world such refin'd states-men , as will upon their credit affirm the following paradoxes to he real truth ; first that france alone is sincere and keeps its faith , and consequently that it is the only friend we can rely upon ; that the king of france , of all men living , has the least mind to be a conqueror ; that he is a sleepy , tame creature , void of all ambition , a poor kind of a man , that has no farther thoughts than to be quiet ; that he is charm'd by his friendship to us , that it is impossible he should ever do us hurt , and therefore tho flanders was lost , it would not in the least concern us ; that he would fain help the crown of england to be absolute , which would be to take pains to put it into a condition to oppose him , as it is , and must be our interest , as long as he continues in such an overballancing power and greatness . such a creed as this , if once receiv'd , might prepare our belief for greater things , and as he that taught men to eat a dagger , began first with a pen knife ; so if we can be prevail'd with to digest the smaller mistakes , we may at last make our stomachs strong enough for that of transubstantiation . our trimmer cannot easily be converted out of his senses by these state sophisters , and yet he has no such peevish obstinacy as to reject all correspondence with france , because we ought to be apprehensive of the too great power of it ; he would not have the kings friendship to the confederates extended to the involving him in any unreasonable or dangerous engagements , neither would he have him lay aside the consideration of his better establishment at home , out of his excessive zeal to secure his allies abroad ; but sure there might be a mean between these two opposite extreams , and it may be wish'd that our friendship with france should at least be so bounded , that it may consist with the humour as well as the interest of england . there is no woman but has the fears of contraictng too near an intimacy with a much greater beauty , because it exposes her too often to a comparison that is not advantageous to her ; and sure it may become a prince to be as jealous of his dignity , as a lady can be of her good looks , and to be as much out of countenance , to be thought an humble companion to so much a greater power ; to be always seen in an ill light , to be so darkned by the brightness of a greater star , is somewhat mortifying ; and when england might ride admiral at the head of the confederates , to look like the kitching-yatch to the grand louis , is but a scurvy figure for us to make in the map of christendom ; it would rise up in our trimmer's stomach ▪ if ever ( which god forbid ) the power of calling and intermitting parliaments here , should be transferred to the crown of france , and that all the opportunities of our own settlements at home should give way to their projects abroad ; and that our interests should be so far sacrific'd to our compliance , that all the omnipotence of france can never make us full amends for it in the mean time , he shrinks at the dismal prospect he can by no means drive away from his thoughts , that when france has gather'd all the fruit arising from our mistakes , and that we can bear no more with them , they will cut down the tree and throw it into the fire ; for all this while , some superfine states-men , to comfort us , would sain perswade the world that this or that accident may save us , and for all that is or ought to be dear to us , would have us to rely wholly upon chance , not considering that fortune is wisdoms creature , and that god almighty loves to be on the wisest as well as the strongest side ; therefore this is such a miserable shift , such a shameful evasion , that they would be laught to death for it , if the ruining consequence of this mistake did not more dispose men to rage , and a detestation of it . our trimmer is far from idolatry in other things , in one thing only he comes near it , his country is in some degree his idol ; he does not worship the sun , because 't is not peculiar to us , it rambles about the world , and is less kind to us than others ; but for the earth of england , tho perhaps inferior to that of many places abroad , to him there is divinity in it , and he would rather dye , than see a piece of english glass trampled down by a foreign trespasser : he thinks there are a great many of his mind , for all plants are apt to taste of the soyl in which they grow , and we that grow here , have a root that produces in us a stalk of english juice , which is not to be changed by grafting or foreign infusion and i do not know whether any thing less will prevail , than the modern experiment , by which the blood of one creature is transmitted into another ; according to which , before the french can be let into our bodies , every drop of our own must be drawn out of them . our trimmer cannot but lament , that by a sacrifice too great for one nation to another , we should be like a rich mine , made useless only for want of being wrought , and that the life and vigour which should move us against our enemies is miserably apply'd to tear our own bowels ; that being made by our happy situation , not only safer , but if we please greater too , than other countries which far exceed us in extent ; that having courage by nature , learning by industry , and riches by trade , we should corrupt all these advantages , so as to make them insignificant , and by a fatality which seems peculiar to us , misplace our active rage one against another , whilst we are turn'd into statues on that side where lies our greatest danger ; to be unconcern'd not only at our neighbours ruine but our own , and let our island lie like a great hulk in the sea , without rudder or sail , all the men cast away in her , or as if we were all children in a great cradle , and rockt asleep to a foreign tune . i say when our trimmer representeth to his mind , our roses blasted and discolour'd , whilst the lilies triumph and grow insolent , upon the comparison ; when he considers our own once flourishing lawrel , now withered and dying , and nothing left us but a remembrance of a better part in history , than we shall make in the next age : which will be no more to us than an escutcheon hung upon our door when we are dead ; when he foresees from hence , growing infamy from abroad , confusion at home , and all this without the possibility of a cure , in respect of the voluntary fetters good men put upon themselves by their allegiance without a good measure of preventing grace , he would be tempted to go out of the world like a roman philosopher , rather than endure the burthen of life under such a discouraging prospect . but mistakes , as all other things , have their periods , and many times the nearest way to cure , is not to oppose them , but stay till they are crusht with their own weight : for nature will not allow any thing to continue long that is violent ; violence is a wound , and as a wound , must be curable in a little time , or else 't is mortal ; but a nation , comes near to be immortal , therefore the wound will one time or another be cured , tho perhaps by such rough methods , if too long forborn , as may even make the best remedies we can prepare , to be at the same time a melancholy contemplation to us ; there is but one thing ( god almighties providence excepted ) to support a man from sinking under these afflicting thoughts , and that is the hopes we draw singly from the king himself ▪ without the mixture of any other consideration . tho the nation was lavish of their kindness to him at his first coming , yet there remains still a stock of warmth in mens hearts for him . besides the good influences of his happy planet are not yet all spent , and tho the stars of men past their youth are generally declining , and have less force like the eyes of decaying beauties , yet by a blessing peculiar to himself , we may yet hope to be sav'd by his autumnal fortune ; he has something about him that will draw down 〈◊〉 healing miracle for his and our deliverance ; a prince which seems fitted for such in offending age , in which mens crimes have been so general , that the not forgiving his people has been the destroying of them , whose gentleness gives him a natural dominion that hath no bounds , with such a noble mixture of greatness and condescention , an engaging look , that disarms men of their ill humors , and their resentments ; something in him that wanteth a name , and can be no more defined than it can be resisted ; a gift of heaven , of its last finishing , where it will be peculiarly kind ; the only prince in the world that dares be familiar , or that has right to triumph over those forms which were first invented to give awe to those who could not judge , and to hide defects from those that could ; a prince that has exhausted himself by his liberality , and endanger'd himself by his mercy ; who out-shines by his own light and natural virtues all the varnish of studied acquisitions ; his faults are like shades to a good picture , or like allay to gold , to make it the more useful , he may have some , but for any man to see them through so many reconciling virtues , is a sacrilegious piece of ill nature , of which no generous mind can be guilty ; a prince that deserves to be lov'd for his own sake , even without the help of a comparison ; our love , our duty , and our danger , all join to cement our obedience to him ; in short whatever , he can do , it is no more possible for us to be angry with him , than with a bank that secures us from the raging sea , the kind shade that hides us from the scorching sun , the welcome hand that reaches us a reprieve , or with the guardian angel , that rescues our souls from the devouring jaws of wretched eternity . conclusion to conclude , our trimmer is so fully satisfy'd of the truth of these principles , by which he is directed , in reference to the publick , that he will neither be hectored and threatned , laught , nor drunk out of them ; and instead of being converted by the arguments of his adversaries to their opinions , he is very much confirmed in his own by them ; he professes solemnly that were it in his power to chuse , he would rather have his ambition bounded by the commands of a great and wise master , than let it range with a popular licence , tho' crown'd with success ; yet he cannot commit such a sin against the glorious thing call'd liberty , nor let his soul stoop so much below it self , as to be content without repining to have his reason wholly subdu'd , or the privilege of acting like a sensible creature , torn from him by the imperious dictates of unlimited authority , in what hand soever it happens to be plac'd . what is there in this that is so criminal , as to deserve the penalty of that most singular apophthegm , a trimmer is worse than a rebel ? what do angry men ail to rail so against moderation , do's it not look as if they were going to some very scurvy extreme , that is too strong to be digested by the more considering part of mankind ? these arbitrary methods , besides the injustice of them , are ( god be thanked ) very unskillful too , for they fright the birds , by talking so loud , from coming into the nets that are laid for them ; and when men agree to rifle a house , they seldom give warning , or blow a trumpet ; but there are some small states-men , who are so full charg'd with their own expectations , that they cannot contain . and kind heaven by sending such a seasonable curse upon their undertakings , has made their ignorance an antidote against their malice ; some of these cannot treat peaceably , yielding will not satisfy them , they will have men by storm ; there are others , that must have plots , to make their service more necessary , and have an interest to keep them alive , since they are to live upon them ; and perswade the king to retrench his own greatness , so as to shrink into the head of a party , which is the betraying him into such a unprincely mistake , and to such a wilful diminution of himself , that they are the last enemies he ought to allow himself to forgive ; such men , if they could , would prevail with the sun to shine only upon them and their friends , and to leave all the rest of the world in the dark ; this is a very unusual monopoly , and may come within the equity of the law , which makes it treason to imprison the king , when such unfitting bounds are put to his favour , and he confin'd to the narrow limits of a particular set of men , that would inclose him ; these honest and only loyal gentlemen , if they may be allow'd to bear witness for themselves , make a king their engine , and degrade him into a property at the very time that their flattery would make him believe they paid divine worship to him ; besides these there is a flying squadron on both sides , that are afraid the world should agree , small dabblers in conjuring , that raise angry apparitions to keep men from being reconcil'd , like wasps that fly up and down , buz and sting to keep men unquiet ; but these infects are commonly short-liv'd creatures , and no doubt in a little time mankind will be rid of them ; they were gyants at least who fought once against heaven , but for such pigmies as these to contend against it , is such a provoking folly , that the insolent bunglers ought to be laught and hist our of the world for it ; they should consder there is a soul in that great body of the people , which may for a time be drowzy and unactive , but when the leviathan is rouz'd , it moves like an angry creature , and will neither be convinc'd nor resisted : the people can never agree to shew their united powers , till they are extremely tempted and provoked to it , so that to apply cupping-glasses to a great beast naturally dispos'd to sleep , and to force the tame thing whether it will or no to be valiant , must be learnt out of some other book than machiavil , who would never have prescrib'd such a preposterous method . it is to be remembred , that if princes have law and authority on their sides , the people on theirs may have nature , which is a ●ormidable adversary ; duty , justice , religion , nay , even humane prudence too , bids the people suffer any thing rather than resist ; but uncorrected nature , where e're it feels the smart will run to the nearest remedy , mens passions in this case are to be consider'd as well as their duty , let it be never so strongly enforc'd , for if their passions are provok'd , they being as much a part of us as our limbs , they lead men into a short way of arguing , that admits no distinction , and from the foundation of self-defence , they will draw inferences , that will have miserable effects upon the quiet of a government . our trimmer therefore dreads a general discontent , because he thinks it differs , from a rebellion , only as a spotted fever does from the plague , the same species under a lower degree of malignity ; it works several ways ; sometimes like a slow poyson that has its effects at a great distance from the time it was given , sometimes like dry flax prepared to catch at the first fire , or like seed in the ground ready to sprout upon the first shower ; in every shape 't is fatal , and our trimmer thinks no pains or precaution can be so great as to prevent it . in short he thinks himself in the right , grounding his opinion upon that truth , which equally hates to be under the oppressions of wrangling sophistry of the one hand , or the short dictates of mistaken authority on the other . our trimmer adores the goddess truth , tho' in all ages she has been scurvily used , as well as those that worshipped her ; 't is of late become such a ruining virtue , that mankind seems to be agreed to command and avoid it ; yet the want of practice which repeals the other laws , has no influence upon the law of truth , because it has root in heaven , and an intrinsick value in it self , that can never be impaired ; she shews her greatness in this , that her enemies even when they are successful are asham'd to own it ; nothing but power full of truth has the prerogative of triumphing , not only after victories , but inspite of them , and to put conquest her self out of countenance ; she may be kept under and supprest , but her dignity still remains with her , even when she is in chains ; falshood with all her impudence , has not enough to speak ill of her before her face , such majesty she carries about her , that her most prosperous enemies are fain to whisper their treason ; all the power upon earth can never extinguish her ; she has liv'd in all ages ; and let the mistaken zeal of prevailing authority , christen any opposition to it , with what name they please , she makes it not only an ugly and unmannerly , but a dangerous thing to persist ; she has lived very retired indeed , nay sometime so buried , that only some few of the discerning part of mankind could have a glimpse of her ; with all that she has eternity in her , she knows not how to die , and from the darkest clouds that shade and cover her , she breaks from time to time with triumph for her friends , and terrour to her enemies . our trimmer therefore inspired by this divine virtue , thinks fit to conclude with these assertions , that our climate is a trimmer , between that part of the world where men are roasted , and the other where they are frozen ; that our church is a trimmer between the phrenzy of platonick visions , and the lethargick ignorance of popish dreams ; that our laws are trimmers , between the excess of unbounded power , and the extravagance of liberty not enough restrained ; that true virtue has ever been thought a trimmer , and to have its dwelling in the middle between the two extreams ; that even god almighty himself is divided between his two great attributes , his mercy and his justice . in such company , our trimmer is not asham'd of his name , and willingly leaves to the bold champions of either extream , the honour of contending with no less adversaries , than nature , religion , liberty , prudence , humanity and common sense . the anatomy of an equivalent . i. the world hath of late years never been without some extraordinary word to furnish the coffee-houses and fill the pamphlets . sometimes it is a new one invented , and sometimes an old one revived . they are usually fitted to some present purpose , with intentions as differing as the various designs several parties may have , either to delude the people , or to expose their adversaries : they are not of long continuance , but after they have passed a little while , and that they are grown nauseous by being so often repeated , they give place to something that is newer . thus after whig , tory , and trimmer have had their time , now they are dead and forgotten , being supplanted by the word equivalent , which reigneth in their stead . the birth of it is in short this : after many repeated essayes to dispose men to the repeal of oaths and tests , made for the security of the protestant religion , the general aversion to comply in it was found to be so great , that it was thought adviseable to try another manner of attempting it , and to see whether by putting the same thing into another mould , and softning an harsh proposition by a plausible term , they might not have better success . to this end , instead of an absolute quitting of these laws , without any condition ; which was the first proposal ; now it is put into gentler language , and runneth thus ; if you will take away the oaths and tests , you shall have as good a thing for them . this put into the fashionable word , is now called an equivalent . ii. so much to the word it self . i will now endeavour in short to examine and explain , in order to the having it fully understood , first , what is the nature of a true equivalent ; and in the next place , what things are not to be admitted under that denomination . i shall treat these as general propositions , and though i cannot undertake how far they may be convincing , i may safely do it that they are impartial ; of which there can be no greater evidence than that i make neither inference nor application , but leave that part entirely to the reader , according as his own thoughts shall direct and dispose him . iii. i will first take notice , that this word , by the application which hath been made of it in some modern instances lieth under some disadvantage , not to say some scandal . it is transmitted hither from france ; and if as in most other things that we take from them , we carry them beyond the pattern , it should prove so in this , we should get into a more partial stile than the principles of english justice will i hope ever allow us to be guilty of . the french king's equivalents in flanders are very extraordinary bargains ; his manner of proposing and obtaining them is very differing from the usual methods of equal dealing . in a later instance , denmark , by the encouragement as well as by the example of france , hath propos'd things to the duke of holstein , which are called equivalents , but that they are so , the world is not yet sufficiently convinc'd , and probably the parties concern'd do not think them to be so , and consequently do not appear to be at all disposed to accept them . princes enjoyn and prescribe such things when they have strength and power to supply the want of arguments ; and according to practice in these cases , the weaker are never thought to have an ill bargain , if they have any thing left them . so that the first qualification of an equivalent , must be , that the appraisers be indifferent , else it is only a sound , there can be nothing real in it : for , where the same party that proposeth a bargain , claimeth a right to set the value ; or which is worse , hath power too to make it good , the other may be forced to submit to the conditions , but he can by no means ever be perswaded to treat upon them . iv. the next thing to be consider'd is that to make an equivalent in reality an equal thing in the proposer , it must be a better thing than that which is required by him ; just as good is subject to the hazard of not being quite so good : it is not easie to have such an even hand as to make the value exactly equal ; besides , according to the maxim in law , melior conditio possidentis ▪ the offer is not fair , except the thing offered is better in value than the thing demanded . there must be allowance for removing what is fixed , and there must be something that may be a justification for changing . the value of things very often dependeth more upon other circumstances , than upon what is meerly intrinsick to them ; therefore the calculation must be made upon that foot , perhaps in most cases ; and particularly the want which one of the parties may have of the thing he requireth , maketh it more valuable to him than it is in it self . if the party proposing doth not want the thing he would have in exchange , his requiring it is impertinent : if he doth , his want of it must go into the appraisement , and by consequence every proposer of an equivalent must offer a better thing , or else he must not take it unkindly to be refused , except the other party hath an equal want of the same thing , which is very improbable , since naturally he that vanteth most will speak first . v. another thing necessary to the making a fair bargain is , that let the parties who treat , be they never so unequal in themselves , yet as to the particular thing proposed , there must be an exact equality , as far as it relateth to the full liber●y of taking or refusing , concurring or objecting , without any consequence of revenge , or so much as dissatisfaction ; for it is impossible to treat where it is an affront to dliffer ; in that case there is no mean between the two extreams , either an open quarrel or an intire submission ; the way of bargaining must be equal ▪ else the bargain it self cannot be so : for example , the proposer is not only to use equal terms as to the matter , but fair ones in the manner too . there must be no intimations of anger in case of refusal , much less any open threatning . such a stile is so ill suited to the usual way of treating , that it looketh more like a breach of the peace , than the making a bargain . it would be yet more improper and less agreeing with the nature of an equivalent , if whilst two men are chaffering about the price , one of them should actually take the thing in question at his own rate , and afterwards desire to have his possession confirmed by a formal agreement ; such a proceeding would not only destroy that particular contract , but make it impossible to have any other , with the party that could be guilty of such a practice . vi. violence preceding destroyeth all contract , and even thô the party that offereth it should have a right to the thing he so taketh , yet it is to be obtained by legal means , else it may be forfeited by his irregularity in the pursuit of it : the law is such an enemy to violence , and so little to be reconciled to it , that in the case of a rape , the punishment is not taken off though the party injured afterwards consenteth . the justice of the law hath its eye upon the first act , and the maxim of volenti non fit injurial , doth not in this case help the offender , it being a plea subsequent to the crime , which maketh it to be rejected as a thing wrong dated and out of time . in taking away goods or money it is the same thing . the party robbed , by giving them afterwards to the taker , does not exempt him from the punishment of the violence : quite contrary , the man from whom they were taken is punishable , if he doth not prosecute . if the case should be , that a man thus taking away a thing without price , claimeth a right to take it , then whether it is well or ill founded is not the question ; but sure , the party from whom it is so taken , whilst he is treating to sell or exchange it , can never make a bargain with so orbitrary a chapman , there being no room left after that to talk of the value . vii . to make an equal bargain there must be a liberty of differing , not only in every thing that is really essential , but in every thing that is thought so by either party , and most especially by him who is in possession of the thing demanded : his opinion must be a rule to him , and even his mistake in the value , though it may not convince the man he hath to deal with , yet he will be justified for not accepting what is offered , till that mistake is fairly rectified and over-ruled . when a security is desired to be changed , that side which desireth it must not pretend to impose upon the other , so as to dictate to them , and tell them without debate , that they are safe in what is proposed , since of that the counsel on the other side must certainly be the most competent judges . the hand it cometh from is a great circumstance , either to invite or discourage in all matters of contract : the qualifications of the party offering must sute with the proposition it self , else let it be never so fair , there is ground for suspicion . viii . when men are of a temper , that they think they have wrong done them , if they have not always the better side of a bargain : if they happen to be such as by experience have been found to have an ill memory for their word . if the character they bear , doth not recommend their justice , where-ever their interest is concern'd . in these cases , thinking men will avoid dealing , not only to prevent surprize , but to cut off the occasions of difficulty or dispute . it is yet more discouraging , when there are , either a precedent practice , or standing maxims of gross partiality , in assuming a privilege of exemption from the usual methods of equal dealing . to illustrate this by an instance ▪ suppose that in any case , the church of rome should have an interest to promote a bargain ; let her way of dealing be a little examin'd , which will direct those with whom she treateth , how far they are to rely upon what she proposeth to them . we may begin with the quality in the world , the least consisting with equal dealing , viz. an incurable partiality to herself ; which , that it may arrive to its full perfection , is crowned with infallibility . at the first setting out , she maketh her self uncapable of dealing upon terms of equality , by the power she claimeth of binding and loosing , which hath been so often applyed to treaties , as well as to sins . if the definition of justice is to deal equally , she cannot be guilty of it without betraying her prerogative , and according to her principles , she giveth up the superiority derived to her by apostolical succession , if she degradeth her self so as to be judged by the rules of common right , especially of the bargain should be with hereticks , who in her opinion have forfeited the claim they might otherwise have had to it . ix . besides , her taste hath been so spoiled by unreasonable bargains , that she can never bring down her palate to any thing that is fair or equal . she hath not only judg'd it an equivalent , but a great bargain for the other side , to give them absolutions and indulgence for the real payment of great sums , for which she hath drawn bills to have them repayed with interest in purgatory . this spiritual bank hath carried on such a trade upon these advantageous terms , that it can never submit to the small profits an ordinary bargain would produce . the several popes have in exchange for the peter-pence , and all their other rents and fines out of england , sent sanctified roses , reliques , and other such wonder-working trifles . and by virtue of their character of holy fathers , have used princes like children , by sending them such rattles to play with , which they made them buy at extravagant rates ; besides which , they were to be thankful too , in to the bargain . a chip of the cross , a piece of st. laurence's grid-iron , a hair of st. peter , have been thought equivalents , for much more substantial things . the popes being masters of the jewel-house , have set the rates upon them , and they have passed ; though the whole shop would not take up the value of a bodkin in lombardstreet upon the credit of them . they are unconscionable purchasers , for they get all the money from the living by praying for them when they are dead . and it is observable , that the northern part of christendom , which best understandeth trade , were the first that refused to make any more bargains with them ; so that it looketh as if the chief quarrel to the hereticks was not as they were ill christians , but as they were unkind merchants , in so discourteously rejecting the commodities of the growth of rome . to conclude this head , there is no bartering with infallibility , it being so much above equality , that it cannot bear the indignity of a true equivalent . x. in all bargains there is a necessity of looking back , and reflecting how far a present proposal is reconcilable with former practice ; for example , if at any time a thing is offered , quite differing from the arguments used by the proposer , and inconsistent with the maxims held out by him at other times . or in a publick case , if the same men who promote and press a thing with the utmost violence , do in a little time after with as much violence press the contrary , and profess a detestation of the very thing , for which they had before imployed all their interest and authority . or if in the case of a law already made , there should be a privilege claimed to exempt those from the obligation of observing it , who yet should afterwards desire and press to have a new law made in exchange for the old one , by which they would not be bound ; and that they should propose a security by a thing of the very same nature as that which they did not allow to be any before . these incoherences must naturally have the effect of raising suspicion , or rather they are a certain proof , that in such circumstances it is irrational for men to expect an effectual equivalent . xi . if whatsoever is more than ordinary is suspicious , every thing that is unnatural is more so : it is only unnecessary but unnatural too to perswade with violence what it is folly to refuse ; to push men with eagerness into a good bargain for themselves , is a stile very much unsuitable to the nature of the thing . but it goeth further and is yet more absurd , to grow angry with men for not receiving proposal that is for their advantage ; men ought to be content with the generosity of offering good bargains , and should give their compassion to those who do not understand them : but by carrying their good nature so far as to be cholerick in such a case , they would follow the example of the church of rome , where the definition of charity is very extraordinary . in her language , the writ de haeretico comburendo is a love letter , and burning men for differing with them in opinion , howsoever miscalled cruelty , is as they understand it , the perfection of flaming charity . when anger in these cases lasteth long , it is most probable that it is for our own sakes ; good nature for others is one of those diseases that is cured by time , and especially where it is offered and rejected ; but for our selves it never faileth , and cannot be exstinguished but with our life . it is fair if men can believe that their friends love them next to themselves , to love them better is too much ; the expression is so unnatural that it is cloying , and men must have no sense , who in this case have no suspicion . xii ▪ another circumstance necessary to a fair bargain is , that there must be openness and freedom allowed , as the effect of that equality which is the foundation of contracting . there must be full liberty of objecting , and making doubts and scr●ples : if they are such as can be answered , the party convinced is so much the more confirmed and incouraged to deal , instead of being hindred by them ; but if instead of an answer to satisfy , there is nothing but anger for a reply , it is impossible not to conclude that there is never a good one to give ; so that the objection remaining without being fully confuted , there is an absolute bar put to any further treaty . there can be no dealing where one side assumeth a privilege to impose , so as to make an offer and not bear the examination of it , this is giving judgment not making a bargain . where it is called unmannerly to object , or criminal to refuse , the surest way is for men to stay where they are , rather than treat upon such disadvantage . if it should happen to be in any country where the governing power should allow men liberty of conscience in the choice of their religion , it would be strange to deny them liberty of speech in making a bargain . such a contradiction would be so discouraging , that they must be unreasonably sanguine , who in that case can entertain the hopes of a fair equivalent . xiii . and equal bargain must not be a mystery nor a secret. the purchaser or proposer is to tell directly and plainly , what it is he intendeth to give in exchange for that which he requireth . it must be viewed and considered by the other party , that he may judge of the value ; for without knowing what it is , he cannot determine whether he shall take or leave it . an assertion in general , that it shall be as good or a better things , is not in this a sufficient excuse for the mistake of dealing upon such uncertain terms . in all things that are dark and not enough explained , suspicion naturally followeth : a secret generally implieth a defect or a deceit ; and if a false light is an objection , no light at all is yet a greater . to pretend to give a better thing , and to refuse to shew it , is very near saying it is not so good a one ; at least so it will be taken in common construction . a mystery is yet a more discouraging thing to a protestant ; especially if the proposition should come from a papist ; it being one of his great objections to that church , that there are so many of them invisible and impossible , which are so violently thrust upon their understandings , that they are overlaid with them . they think that rational creatures are to be convinced only by reason , and that reason must be visible and freely exposed ; else they will think themselves used with contempt instead of equality , and will never allow such a suspected secrecy to be a fit preface to a real equivalent . xiv . in matters of contract not only the present value , but the contingences and consequences , as far as they can be fairly supposed , are to be considered . for example , if there should be possibility , that one of the parties may be ruined by accepting , and the other only disappointed by his refusing ; the consequences are so extreamly unequal , that it is not imaginable , a man should take that for an equivalent , which hath such a fatal possibility at the heels of it . if it should happen in a publick case , that such a proposal should come from the minor part of an assembly or nation , to the greater ; it is very just , that the hazard of such a possibility should more or less likely fall upon the lesser part , rather than upon the greater ; for whose sake and advantage things are and must be calculated in all publick constitutions . suppose in any mixed government , the chief magistrate should propose upon a condition , in the senate , diet , or other supreme assembly , either to enact or abrogate one or more laws , by which a possibility might be let in of destroying their religion and property , which in other language signifieth no less than soul and body ; where could be the equivalent in the case , not only for the real loss , but even for the fear of losing them ? men can fall no lower than to lose all , and if losing all destroyeth them , the venturing all must fright them . in an instance when men are secure ; that how far soever they may be over-run by violence , yet they can never be undone by law , except they give their assistance to make it possible , though it should neither be likely nor intended , still the consequence which may happen is too big for any present thing to make amends for it . whilst the world possible remaineth , it must forbid the bargain . where-ever it falleth out therefore , that in an example of a public nature , the chan●ing , enacting , or repealing a law , may naturally tend to the misplacing the legislative power in the hands of those who have a separate interest from the body of a people , there can be no treating , till it is demonstrably made out , that such a consequence shall be absolutely impossible ; for if that shall be denied by those who make the proposal , if it is because they cannot do it , the motion at first was very unfair . if they can and will not , it would be yet less reasonable to expect that such partial dealers would ever give an equivalent fit to be accepted . xv. it is necessary in all dealing to be assured in the first place , that the party proposing is in a condition to make good his offer ; that he is neither under any former obligations or pretended claims , which may render him uncapable of performing it ; else he is so far in the condition of a minor , that whatever he disposeth by sale or exchange may be afterwards resumed , and the contract becometh void , being originall● defective , for want of a sufficient legal power in him that made it . in the case of a strict settlement , where the party is only tenant for life , there is no possibility of treating which one under such fetters ; no purchase or exchange of lands or any thing else can be good , where there is such an incapacity of making out a title ; the interest vested in him being so limited , that he can do little more than pronounce the words of a contract , he can by no means perform the effect of it . in more publick instances , the impossibility is yet more express ; as suppose in any kingdom , where the people have so much liberty left them , as that they may make contracts with the crown , there should be some peculiar rights claimed to be so fixed to the royal function , that no king for the time being could have power to part with them , being so fundamentally tied to the office , that they can never be separated . such rights can upon no occasion he received in exchange for any thing the crown may desire from the people : that can never be taken in payment , which cannot lawfully be given , so that if they should part with that which is required upon those terms , it must be a gift , it cannot be a bargain . there is not in the whole dictionary a more untractable word than inherent , and less to be reconciled to the word equivalent . the party that will contract in spight of such a claim , is content to take what is impossible to grant , and if he complaineth of his disappointment , he neither can have remedy , nor deserveth it . if a right so claimed hapneth to be of so comprehensive a nature , as that by a clear inference it may extend to every thing else , as well as to the particular matter in question , as often as the supream magistrate shall be so disposed , there can in that case be no treating with prerogative that swalloweth all the right the people can pretend to ; and if they have no right to any thing of which they are possessed , it is a jest and not a bargain , to observe any formality in parting with it . a claim may be so stated , that by the power and advantage of interpreting , it shall have such a murthering eye , that if it looketh upon a law , like a basilisk , it shall strike it dead : where is the possibility of treating , where such a right is assumed ▪ nay , let it be supposed that such a claim is not well founded in law , and that upon a free disquisition it could not be made out ; yet even in this case , none that are well advised will conclude a bargain , till it is fully stated and cleared , or indeed , so much as engage in a treaty , till by way of preliminary all possibility shall be remov'd of any trouble or dispute . xvi . there is a collateral circumstance in making a contract , which yet deserveth to be considered , as much as any thing that belongeth to it ; and that is the character and figure of the parties contracting ; if they treat onely by themselves , and if by others , the qualifications of the instruments they employ . the proposer especially , must not be so low as to want credit . nor so raised as to carry him above the reach of ordinary dealing . in the first , there is scandal , in the other danger . there is no rule without some exception , but generally speaking the means should be suited to the end , and since all men who treat , pretend an equal bargain , it is desirable that there may be equality in the persons as well as in the thing . the manner of doing things hath such an influence upon the matter , that men may guess at the end by the instruments that are used to obtain it , who are a very good direction how far to rely upon or suspect the sincerity of that which is proposed . an absurdity in the way of carrying on a treaty , in any one circumstance , if it is very gross , is enough to perswade a thinking man to break off , and take warning from such an ill appearance . some things are so glaring that it is impossible not to see , and consequently not to suspect them ; as suppose in a private case , there should be a treaty of marriage between two honourable families , and the proposing side should think fit to send a woman that had been carted , to perswade the young lady to an approbation and consent ; the unfitness of the messenger must naturally dispose the other party to distrust the message , and to resist the temptation of the best match that could be offered , when conveyed by that hand , and ushered in by such a discouraging preliminary . in a publick instance the suspicion arising from unfit mediators , still groweth more reasonable in proportion , as the consequence is much greater of being deceived . if a jew should be employed to sollicite all sorts , of christians to unite and agree ; the contrariety of his profession , would not allow men to stay till they heard his arguments , they would conclude from his religion , that either the man himself was mad , or that he thought those to be so , whom he had the impudence to endeavour to perswade . or suppose an adamite should be very sollicitous and active , in all places , and with all sorts of persons , to settle the church of england in particular , and a fair liberty of conscience for all dissenters ; though nothing in the world has more to be said for it than naked truth , yet if such a man should run up and down without cloaths , let his arguments be never so good , or his commission never so authentick , his figure would be such a contradiction to his business , that how serious soever that might be in it self , his interposition would make a jest of it . though it should not go so far as this , yet if men have contrarieties in their way of living not to be reconciled ; as if they should pretend infinite zeal for liberty , and at that time be in great favour and imployed by those who will not endure it . if they are affectedly singular , and conform to the generality of the world in no one thing , but in playing the knave . if demonstration is a familiar word with them , most especially where the thing is ●mpossible . if they quote authority to supply their want of sense , and justifie the value of their arguments , not by reason , but by their being paid for them , ( in which , by the way , those who pay them have probably a very melancholy equivalent . ) if they brandish a prince's word like a sword in a crowd , to make way for their own impertinence ; and in dispute , as criminals formerly fled to the statue of the prince for sanctuary ; if they should now , when baffled , creep under the protection of a kings name , where out of respect they are no farther to be pursued . in these cases ; though the propositions should be really good , they will be corrupted by passing through such conduits ▪ and it would be a sufficient mistake to enter into a treaty ; but it would be little less than madness from such hands to expect an equivalent . xvii . having touched upon these particulars as necessary in order to the stating the nature of an equal bargain , and the circumstances belonging to it , let it now be examined in two or three instances ▪ what things are not to be admitted by way of contract , to pass under the name of an equivalent . first , though it will be allowed , that in the general corruption of mankind , which will not admit justice alone to be a sufficient tie to make good a contract , that a punishment added for the breach of it , is a fitting or rather a necessary circumstance ; yet it does not follow , that in all cases , a great penalty upon the party offending is an absolute and an entire security . it must be considered in every particular case , how far the circumstances may rationally lead a man to rely more or less upon it . in a private instance , the penalty inflicted upon the breach of contract must be first , such a one as the party injured can enforce , and secondly , such a one as he will enforce , when it is in his power . if the offending party is in a capacity of hindring the other from bringing the vengeance of the law upon him . if he hath strength or privilege sufficient to over rule the letter of the contract ; in that case , a penalty is but a word , there is no consequence belonging to it . secondly , the forfeiture or punishment must be such as the man aggrieved will take ; for example , if upon a bargain , one of the parties shall stipulate to subject himself , in case of his failure to have his ears cut , or his nose slit by the other , with security given , that he shall not be prosecuted for executing this part of the agreement ; the penalty is no doubt heavy enough to discourage a man from breaking his contract ; but on the other side it is of such a kind , that the other how much soever he may be provoked , will not in cold blood care to inflict it . such an extravagant clause would seem to be made only for shew and found , and no man would think himself safer by a thing which one way or other is sure to prove ineffectual . in a publick case , suppose in a government so constituted that a law may be made in the nature of a bargain , it is in it self no more than a dead letter , the life is given to it by the execution of what it containeth ; so that let it in it self be never so perfect , it dependeth upon those who are intrusted with seeing it observed . if it is in any country , where the chief magistrate chuseth the judges , and the judges interpret the laws ; a penalty in any one particular law can have no effect but what is precarious . it may have a loud voice to threaten , but it has not an hand to give a blow ; for as long as the governing power is in possession of this prerogative , let who will chuse the meat , if they chuse the cooks , it is they that will give the tast to it . so that it is clear that the rigour of a penalty will not in all cases fix a bargain , neither is it universally a true position , that the increase of punishment for the breach of a new law , is an equivalent for the consent to part with an old one . xviii . in most bargains there is a reference to the time to come , which is therefore to be considered as well as that which cometh within the compass of the present valuation . where the party contracting , hath not a full power to dispose what belongeth to him or them in reversion , who shall succeed after him in his right ; he cannot make any part of what is so limited , to be the condition of the contract . further , he cannot enjoyn the heir or successor to forbear the exercise of any right that is inherent to him , as he is a man ; neither can he restrain him without his own consent , from doing any act which in it self is lawful , and liable to no objection . for example , a father cannot stipulate with any other man , that in consideration of such a thing done , or to be done , his son shall never marry ; because marriage is an institution established by the laws of god , and man , and therefore no body can be so restrained by any power from doing such an act , when he thinketh fit , being warranted by an authority that is not to be controuled . xix . now as there are rights inherent in mens persons in their single capacities , there are rights as much fixed to the body politick , which is a creature that never dieth . for instance , there can be no government without a supreme power , that power is not always in the same hands , it is in different shapes and dresses , but still where-ever it is lodged , it must be unlimited : it hath a jurisdiction over every thing else , but it cannot have it above it self . supreme power can no more be limited than infinity can be measured ; because it ceaseth to be the thing ; it s very being is dissolved , when any bounds can be put to it . where this supreme power is mixed , or divided , the shape only differeth , the argument is still the same . the present state of venice cannot restrain those who succeed them in the same power , from having an entire and unlimited sovereignty ; they may indeed make present laws which shall retrench their present power , if they are so disposed , and those laws if not repealed by the same authority that enacted them , are to be observed by the succeeding senate till they think sit to abrogate them , and no longer ; for if the supreme power shall still reside in the senate , perhaps composed of other men , or of other minds ( which will be sufficient ) the necessary consequence is , that one senate must have as mach right to alter such a law , as another could have to make it . xx. suppose the supreme power in any state should make a law , to enjoyn all subsequent law-makers to take an oath never to alter it , it would produce these following absurdities . first , all supreme power being instituted to promote the safety and benefit , and to prevent the prejudice and danger which may fall upon those who live under the protection of it ; the consequence of such an oath would be , that all men who are so trusted , shall take god to witness , that such a law once made , being judged at the time to be advantageous for the publick , though afterwards by the vicissitude of times , or the variety of accidents or interests , it should plainly appear to them to be destructive , they will suffer it to have its course , and will never repeal it . secondly , if there could in any nation be found a set of men , who having a part in the supreme legislative power , should as much as in them lieth , betray their country by such a criminal engagement , so directly opposite to the nature of their power , and to the trust reposed in them . if these men have their power only for life , when they are dead such an oath can operate no farther ; and tho that would be too long a lease for the life of such a monster as an oath so composed , yet it must then certainly give up the ghost . it could bind none but the first makers of it , another generation would never be tied up by it . thirdly , in those countries where the supreme assemblies are not constant standing courts , but called together upon occasions , and composed of such as the people chuse for that time only , with a trust and character that remaineth no longer with them than till that assembly is regularly dissolved , such an oath taken by the members of a senate , diet , or other assembly to chosen , can have very little effect , because at the next meeting there may be quite another set of men who will be under no obligation of that kind . the eternity intended to that law by those that made it , will be cut off by new men who shall succeed them in their power , if they have a differing taste , or another interest . xxi . to put it yet farther , suppose a clause in such a law , that it shall be criminal in the last degree for any man chosen in a subsequent assembly , to propose the repealing of it ; and since nothing can be enacted which is not first proposed , by this means it seemeth as if a law might be created which should never die . but let this be examined . first , such a clause would be so destructive to the being of such a constitution , as that it would be as reasonable to say , that a king had right to give or sell his kingdom to a foreign prince , as that any number of men who are entrusted with the supreme power , or any part of it , should have a right to impose such shackles ▪ upon the liberty of those who are to succeed them in the same trust . the ground of that trust is , that every man who is chosen into such an assembly , is to do all that in him lieth for the good of those who chose him : the english of such a clause would be , that he is not to do his best for those that chose him , because though he should be convinc'd that it might be very fatal to continue that law , and therefore very necessary to repeal it , yet he must not repeal it , because it is made a crime , and attended with a penalty . but secondly , to shew the emptiness as well as injustice of such a clause , it is clear , that although such an invasion of right should be imposed , it will never be obeyed : there will only be deformity , in the monster , it will neither sting nor bite . such law-givers would only have the honour of attempting a contradiction which can never have any success ; for as such a law in it self would be a madness , so the penalty would be a jest ; which may be thus made out . xxii . a law that carrieth in it self reason enough to support it , is so far from wanting the protection of such a clause , or from needing to take such an extraordinary receipt for long life , that the admitting it must certainly be the likeliest and the shortest way to destroy it ; such a clause in a law must imply an opinion that the greatest part of mankind is against it , since it is impossible such an exorbitance should be done for its own sake ; the end of it must be to force men by a penalty , to that which they could not be perswaded to , whilst their reason is left at liberty . this position being granted , which i think can hardly be denied , put the case that a law should be made with this imaginary clause of immortality , after which another assembly is chosen , and if the majority of the electors shall be against this law , the greater part of the elected must be so too , if the choice is fair and regular ; which must be presumed , since the supposition of the contrary is not to come within this argument . when these men shall meet , the majority will be visible beforehand of those who are against such a law , so that there will be no hazard to any single man in proposing the repeal of it , when he cannot be punished but by the majority , and he hath such a kind of assurance as cometh near a demonstration , that the greater number will be of his mind , and consequently , that for their own sakes they will secure him from any danger . for these reasons , where-ever in order to the making a bargain , a proposition is advanc'd to make a new law , which is to ●ye up those who neither can nor will be bound by it , it may be a good jest , but it will never be a good equivalent . xxiii . in the last place , let it be examined how far a promise ought to be taken far a security in a bargain . there is great variety of methods for the security of those that deal , according to their dispositions and interests ; some are binding , others inducing circumstances , and are to be so distinguished . first , ready payment is without exception , so of that there can be no dispute ; in default of that , the good opinion men may have of one another is a great ingredient to supply the want of immediate performances . where the trust is grounded upon inclination only , the generosity is not always return'd ; but where it springeth from a long experience it is a better foundation , and yet that is not always secure . in ordinary dealing , one promise may be an equivalent to another , but it is not so for a thing actually granted or conveyed ; especially if the thing required in exchange for it , is of great value , either in it self or in its consequences . a bare promise as a single security in such a case is not an equal proposal ; if it is offered by way of addition , it generally giveth cause to doubt the title is crazy , where so slender a thing is brought in to be a supplement . xxiv . the earnest of making good a promise , must be such a behaviour preceding ; as may encourage the party to whom it is made to depend upon it : where instead of that , there hath been want of kindness ; and which is worse an invasion of right , a promise hath no perswading force ; and till the objection to such a proceeding is forgotten , ( which can only be the work of time ) and the skin is a little grown over the tender part , the wound must not be touch'd . there must be some intermission at least to abate the smart of unkind usage , or else a promise in the eye of the party injur'd is so far from strengthening a security , that it raiseth more doubts , and giveth more justifiable cause suspect it . a word is not like a bone , that being broken and well set again , is said to be sometimes stronger in that very part : it is far from being so in a word given and not made good . every single act either weakeneth or improveth our credit with other men ; and as an habit of being just to our word will confirm , so an habit of too freely dispensing with it must necessarily destroy it . a promise hath its effect to perswade a man to lay some weight upon it , where the promiser hath not only the power , but may reasonably be supposed to have the will of performing it ; and further , that there be no visible interest of the party promising to excuse himself from it , or to evade it . all obligations are comparative , and where they seem to be opposite , or between the greater and the lesser , which of them ought to have precedence in all respects every man is apt to be his own judge . xxv . if it should fall out that the promiser with full intent at the time to perform , might by the interposition of new arguments , or differing advice think himself oblig'd to turn the matter of conscience on the other side , and should look upon it to be much a greater fault to keep his word than to break it ; such a belief will untye the strictest promise that can be made , and though the party thus absolving himself should do it without the mixture or temptation of private interest , being moved to it meerly by his conscience , as then informed ; yet how far soever that might diminish the fault in him , it would in no degree lessen the inconveniences to the party who is disappointed , by the breach of an engagement upon which he relyed . xxvi . a promise is to be understood in the plain and natural sense of the words , and to be sure not in his who made it , if it was given as part of a bargain . that would be like giving a man power to raise the value of his money in the payment of his debt , by which , tho he paid but half or less , be might pretend according to the letter to have made good the contract . the power of interpreting a promise intirely taketh away the virtue of it . a merchant who should once assume that privilege , would save himself the trouble of making any more bargains . it is still worse if this jurisdiction over a man's promise , should be lodg'd in hands that have power to support such an extraordinary claim ; and if in other cases , forbearing to deal upon those terms is advisable , in this it becometh absolutely necessary . xxvii . there must in all respects be a full liberty to claim a promise , to make it reasonable to take it in any part of payment ; else it would be like agreeing for a rent , and at the same time making if criminal to demand it . a superiority of dignity or power in the party promising maketh it a more tender thing for the other party to treat upon that security . the first maketh it a nice thing to claim , the latter maketh it a difficult thing to obtain . in some cases , a promise is in the nature of a covenant , and then between equal parties the breach of it will bear a suit ; but where the greatness of the promiser is very much raised above the level of equality , there is no forfeiture to be taken . it is so far from the party grieved his being able to sue or recover damages , that he will not be allowed to explain or expostulate , and instead of his being relieved against the breach of promise , he will run the hazard of being punished for breach of good manners ▪ such a difficulty is putting all or part of the payment in the fire , where men must burn their fingers before they can come at it . that cannot properly be called good payment , which the party to whom it is due may not receive with ease and safety . it was a kings brother of england who refused to lend the pope money , for this reason , that he would never take the bond of one , upon whom he could not distrain . the argument is still stronger against the validity of a promise , when the contract is made between a prince and a subject . the very offering a kings word in mortgage is rather a threatning in case of refusal , than an inducing argument to accept it ; it is unfair at first , and by that giveth greater cause to be cautious , especially if a thing of that value and dignity as a kings word ought to be , should be put into the hands of state brokers to strike up a bargain with it . xxviii . when god almighty maketh covenants with mankind , his promise is a sufficient security , notwithstanding his superiority and his power ; because first , he can neither erre nor do injustice . it is the only exception to his omnipotence , that by the perfection of his being he is incapacitated to do wrong . secondly , at the instant of his promise , by the extent of his foresight , which cannot fail , there is no room left for the possibility of any thing to intervene , which might change his mind . lastly , he is above the receiving either benefit or inconvenience , and therefore can have no interest or temptation to vary from his word , when once he hath granted it . now though princes are god's vicegerents , yet their commission not being so large , as that these qualifications are devolved to them , it is quite another case , and since the offering a security implyeth it to be examined by the party to whom it is proposed , it must not be taken ill that objections are made to it , even though the prince himself should be the immediate proposer . let a familiar case be put ; suppose a ●rince , tempted by a passion too strong ●or him to resist , should descend so as to ●romise marriage to one of his subjects , ●nd as men are naturally in great haste ●pon such occasions , should press to take possession before the necessary forms could ●e complyed with ; would the poor ladies scruples be called criminal for not taking 〈◊〉 security of the royal word ? or ●ould her allegiance be tainted by her re●●●●ing the sacred person of her sovereign , because he was impatient of delay ? courte●●● in this case might perswade her to accept it , if she was so disposed , but sure the 〈◊〉 exercise of power can never claim it . xxix . there is one case where it is more particularly a duty to use very great ●●●tion in accepting the security of a pro●●● , and that is , when men are authorized and trusted by others to act for them . this ●●tteth them under much greater restraints , than those who are at liberty to treat for themselves . it is lawful , though it is not ●rudent for any man to make an ill bargain for himself , but it is neither the one nor ●he other , where the party contracting ●reateth on behalf of another , by whom he 〈◊〉 intrusted . men who will unwarily ac●ept an ill security , if it is for themselves , forfeit their own discretion , and undergo the penalty , but they are not responsible to any body else . they lie under the mortification and the loss of committing the error , by which though they may expose their judgment to some censure , yet their morality suffers no reproach by it . but those who are deputed by others to treat for them , upon terms of best advantage , though the confidence placed in them should prevent the putting any limits to their power in their commission , yet the condition implied if not expressed , is that the persons so trusted shall neither make an ill bargain , nor accept a slight security . the obligation is yet more binding when the trust is of a publick nature . the aggravation of disappointing a body of men that rely upon them , carrieth the faul● as high as it can go , and perhaps no crim● of any kind can outdo such a deliberate breach of trust , or would more justly mak● men forfeit the protection of humane society . xxx . i will add one thing more upon this , head , which is , that it is not alway● a true proposition , that 't is safe to rely upo● a promise , if at the time of making it , i● is the interest of the promiser to make i● good . this , though many times it is a good inducement , yet it hath these excep●ions to it . first , if the proposer hath at ●●●er times gone plainly against his visible ●nterest , the argument will turn the other ●ay , and his former mistakes are so many warnings to others , not to come within the danger of any more : let the inducements to those mistakes be never so great and generous , that does not alter the nature , they are mistakes still . interest is an uncertain thing , it goeth and cometh , and varieth according to times and circumstances ; as good build upon a quicksand , as upon a presumption that interest shall not alter . where are the men so distinguished from the rest of mankind , that it is impossible for them to ●istake their interest ? who are they that ●●ve such an exemption from humane ●eailty , as that it can never happen to them not to see their interest for want of underderstanding , or not to leap over it by excess of zeal . above all , princes are the most liable to mistake ; not out of any defect in their nature , which might put them under such an unfortunate distinction ; quite contrary , the blood they derive from wise and great ancestors , does rather distinguish them on the better side ; besides that their great character and office of governing giveth a noble exercise to their reason , which 〈◊〉 very hardly fail to raise and improve 〈◊〉 but there is one circumstance annexed their glorious calling , which in this respect is sufficient to outweigh all those advantages ; it is that mankind , divided in most things else , agree in this , to conspire in their endeavors to deceive and mislea●● them ; which maketh it above the power of humane understanding , to be so exactly guarded as never to admit a surprise , and the highest applause that could ever yet be given to the greatest men that ever wore a crown , is that they were no oftner deceived . thus i have ventur'd to lay down my thoughts of the nature of a bargain , and the due circumstances belonging to an equivalent , and will now conclude with thi● short word . where distrusting may be the cause of provoking anger , and trusting may be the cause of bringing ruin the choice is too easie to need the being explained . a letter to a dissenter , upon occasion of his majesties late gracious declaration of indulgence . london : printed in the year . a letter to a dissenter , upon occasion of his majesties late gracious declaration of indulgence . sir , since addresses are in fashion , give me leave to make one to you . this is neither the effect of fear , interest , or resentment ; therefore on may be sure it is sincere : and for that reason it may expect : to be kindly received . whether it will have power enough 〈◊〉 convince , dependeth upon the reason 〈◊〉 of which you are to judge ; and upon your preparation of mind , to be perswaded by truth , whenever it appeareth to you . it ought not to be the less welcome , for coming from a friendly hand , one whose kindness to you is not lessened by difference of opinion , and who will not let h●● thoughts for the publick be so tied or confined to this or that sub-division of protestants , as to stifle the charity , which , besides all other arguments , 〈◊〉 at this time become necessary to serve us . i am neither surprized nor provoked● 〈◊〉 see that in the condition you were 〈◊〉 into by the laws , and the ill circumstance● you lay under , by having the exclus●●● and rebellion laid to your charge , you were desirous to make your selves less uneasy and obnoxious to authority . me● who are sore , run to the nearest reme●● with too much hast to consider all the consequences : grains of allowance are to 〈◊〉 given , where nature giveth such strong influences . when to men under sufferings it offereth ease , the present pain will ●●●rdly allow time to examine the reme●●●s ; and the strongest reason can hardly gain a fair audience from our mind , whilst so possessed , till the smart : is a little ●●layed . i do not know whether the warmth tha● naturally belongeth to new friendships , may not make it a harder task for me to perswade you . it is like telling lovers , in the beginning of their joys , th●● they will in a little time have an 〈◊〉 . such an unwelcome stile doth not ●●●ly find credit : but i will suppose you 〈◊〉 not so far gone in your new passion , but that you will hear still ; and therefore i am under the less discouragement , 〈◊〉 i offer to your consideration two ●●●gs . the first is , the cause you have 〈◊〉 suspect your new friends . the second , ●●e duty incumbent upon you , in christianity and prudence , not to hazard the publick safety , neither by desire of ease , ●or of revenge . to the first : consider that notwithstanding the smooth language which is now put on to engage you , these new friends did not make you their choice , but their refuge : they have ever made their first courtships to the church of england , and when they were rejected there they made their application to you in the second place . the instances of this might be given in all times . i do not repeat them , because whatsoever is unnecessary , must be tedious , the truth of this assertion being so plain , as not to admit a dispute . you cannot therefore reasonably flatter your selves , that there is any inclination to you . they never pretended to allow you any quarter , but to usher in liberty for themselves under that shelter ▪ i refer you to mr. coleman's letters , and to the journals of parliament , where you may be convinced , if you can be so mistaken , as to doubt ; nay , at this very hour , they can hardly forbear , in the height of their courtship , to let fall hard words of you . so little is nature to be restrained ; it will start out sometimes , disdaining to submit to the usurpation of art and interest . this alliance , between liberty and infallibility , is bringing together the two most contrary things that are in the world. the church of rome doth not only dislike the allowing liberty , but by its principles it cannot do it . wine is not more expresly forbid to the mahometans , than giving hereticks liberty to the papists : they are no more able to make good their vows to you , than men married before , and their wife alive , can confirm their contract with another . the continuance of their kindness , would be a habit of sin , of which they are to repent , and their absolution is to be had upon no other terms , than their promise to destroy you . you are therefore to be hugged now , only that you may be the better squeezed it another time . there must be something extraordinary , when the church of rome setteth up bills , and offereth plaisters , for tender consciences : by all that hath hitherto appeared , her skill in chirurgery lieth chiefly in a quick hand , to cut off limbs ; but she is the worst at healing , of any that ever pretended to it . to come so quick from another extream , is such an unnatural motion , that you ought to be upon your guard ; the other day you were sons of belial : now , you are angels of light. this is a violent change , and it will be fit for you to pause upon it , before you believe it : if your features are not altered , neither is their opinion of you , what ever may be pretended . do you believe less than you did , that there is idolatry in the church of rome ? sure you do not . see then , how they treat both in words and writing , those who entertain that opinion . conclude from hence , how inconsistent their favour is with this single article , except they give you a dispensation for this too , and by a non obstante , secure you that they will not think the worse of you . think a little how dangerous it is to build upon a foundation of paradoxes . popery now is the only friend to liberty ; and the known enemy to persecution : the men of taunton and tiverton , are above all other eminent for loyalty . the quakers from being declared by the papists not to be christians , are now made favourites , and taken into their particular protection ; they are on a sudden grown the most accomplished men of the kingdom , in good breeding , and give thanks with the best grace , in double refined language . so that i should not wonder , though a man of that perswasion , inspite of his hat , should be master of the ceremonies . not to say harsher words , these are such very new things , that it is impossible not to suspend our belief , till by a little more experience we may be inform'd whether they are realities or apparitions : we have been under shameful mistakes if these opinions are true ; but for the present , we are apt to be incredulous ; except we could be convinced , that the priests words in this case too , are able to make such a sudden and effectual change ; and that their power is not limited to the sacrament , but that it extendeth to alter the nature of all other things , as often as they are so desposed . let me now speak of the instruments of your friendship , and then leave you to judge , whether they do not afford matter of suspition . no sharpness is to be mingled where healing only is intended ; so nothing will be said to expose particular men , how strong soever the temptation may be , or how clear the proofs to make it out . a word or two in general , for you better caution , shall suffice : suppose then , for argument's sake , that the mediators of this new alliance , should be such as have been formerly imployed in treaties of the same kind , and there detected to have acted by order , and to have been impower'd to give encouragements and rewards . would not this be an argument to suspect them ? if they should plainly be under engagements to one side , their arguments to the other ought to be received accordingly ; their fair pretences are to be looked upon as part of their commission , which may not improbably give them a dispensation in the case of truth , when it may bring a prejudice upon the service of those by whom they are imployed . if there should be men who having formerly had means and authority to perswade by secular arguments , have in pursuance of that power , sprinkled money amongst the dissenting ministers ; and if those very men should now have the same authority , practice the same methods , and disburse , where they cannot otherwise perswade : it seemeth to me to be rather an evidence than a presumption of the deceit . if there should be ministers amongst you , who by having ●allen under temptations of this kind , are in some sort engaged to continue their frailty , by the awe they are in lest it should be exposed : the perswasions of these unfortunate men must sure have the less force , and their arguments , though never so specious , are to be suspected , when they come from men who have mortgaged themselves to severe creditors , that expect a rigorous observation of the contract , let it be never so unwarrantable . if these , or any others , should at this time preach up anger and vengeance against the church of england ; may it not without injustice be suspected , that a thing so plainly out of season , sprinketh rather from corruption than mistake ; and that those who act this cholerick part , do not believe themselves , but only pursue higher directions , and endeavour to make good that part of their contract which obligeth them , upon a forfeiture , to make use of their inflaming eloquence ? they might apprehend their wages would be retrenched if they should be moderate : and therefore whilst violence is their interest , those who have not the same arguments , have no reason to follow such a partial example . if there should be men , who by the load of their crimes against the government , have been bowed down to comply with it against their conscience ; who by incurring the want of a pardon , have drawn upon themselves a necessity of an entire resignation : such men are to be lamented , but not to be believed . nay , they themselves when they have discharged their unwelcom task , will be inwardly glad that their forced endeavours do not succeed , and are pleased when men resist their insinuations ; which are far from being voluntary or sincere , but are squeezed out of them by the weight of their being so obnoxious . if in the heighth of this great dearness by comparing things , it should happen , that at this instant , there is much surer friendship with those who are so far from allowing liberty , that they allow no living to a protestant under them . let the scene lie in what part of the world it will , the argument will come home , and sure it will afford sufficient ground to suspect . apparent contradictions must strike us ; neither nature nor reason can digest them : self-flattery , and the desire to deceive our selves , to gratifie present appetite , with all their power , which is great , cannot get the better of such broad conviction , as some things carry along with them . will you call these vain and empty suspitions ? have you been at all times so void of fears and jealousies as to justifie your being so unreasonably valiant in having none upon this occasion ? such an extraordinary courage at this unseasonable time , to say no more , is too dangerous a virtue to be commended . if then for these and a thousand other reasons , there is cause to suspect , sure your new friends are not to dictate to you , or advise you ; for instance , the addresses that fly abroad every week , and murther us with another to the same ; the first draughts are made by those who are not very proper to be secretaries to the protestant religion : and it is your part only to write them our fairer again . strange ! that you who have been formerly so much against set forms , should now be content the priests should indite for you . the nature of thanks is an unavoidable consequence of being pleased or obliged ; they grow in the heart , and from thence shew themselves either in looks , speech , writing , or action : no man was ever thankful because he was bid to be so , but because he had , or thought he had some reason for it . if then there is cause in this case to pay such extravagant acknowledgments , they will flow naturally , without taking such pains to procure them ; and it is unkindly done to tire all the post-horses with carrying circular letters to solicite that which would be done without any trouble or constraint : if it is really in it self such a favour , what needeth so much pressing men to be thankful , and with such eager circumstances , that where perswasions cannot delude ▪ threatnings are employed to fright them into a compliance . thanks must be volantary , not only unconstrained , but unsolicited , else they are either trifles or snares , that either signifie nothing , or a great deal more than is intended by those that give them . if an inference should be made , that whosoever thanketh the king for his declaration , is by that ingaged to justifie it in point of law ; it is a greater stride than , i presume , all those care to make who are perswaded to address : if it shall be supposed , that all the thankers will be repealers of the test , whenever a parliament shall meet . such an expectation is better prevented before , then disappointed afterwards ; and the surest way to avoid the lying under such a scandal , is not to do any thing that may give a colour to the mistake : these bespoken thanks are little less improper than love letters that were solicited by the lady to whom they are to be directed : so , that besides the little ground there is to give them , the manner of getting them doth extreamly lessen their value . it might be wished that you would have suppressed your impatience , and have been content for the sake of religion , to enjoy it within your selves without the liberty of a publick exercise , till a parliament had allowed it ; but since that could not be , and that the artifices of some amongst you have made use of the well-meant zeal of the generality to draw them into this mistake ; i am so far from blaming you with that sharpness which perhaps , the matter in strictness would bear , that i am ready to err on the side of the more gentle construction . there is a great difference between enjoying quietly the advantages of an act irregularly done by others , and the going about to support it against the laws in being : the law is so sacred , that no trespass against it is to be defended ; yet frailties may in some measure be excused , when they cannot be justified . the desire of enjoying a liberty from which men have been so long restrained , may be a temptation that their reason is not at all times able to resist . it in such a case , some objections are leapt over , indifferent men will be more inclined to lament the occasion , than to fall too hard upon the fault , whilst it is covered with the apology of a good intention ; but where to rescue your selves from the severity of one law , you give a blow to all the laws , by which your religion and liberty are to be protected ; and instead of silently receiving the benefit of this indulgence , you set up for advocates to support it , you become voluntary aggressors , and look like counsel retained by the prerogative against your old friend magna charta , who hath done nothing to deserve her falling thus under your displeasure . if the case then should be , that the price expected from you for this liberty , is giving up your right in the laws , sure you will think twice , before you go any further in such a losing bargain . after giving thanks for the breach of one law , you lose the right of complaining of the breach of all the rest ; you will not very well know how to defend your selves when you are pressed ; and having given up the question when it was for your advantage , you cannot re-call it when it shall be to your prejudice . if you will set up at one time a power to help you , which at another time , by parity of reason , shall be made use of to destroy you , you will neither be pitied , nor relieved against a mischief you draw upon your selves , by being so unreasonably thankful . it is like calling in auxiliaries to help , who are strong enough to subdue you : in such a case your complaints will come too late to be heard , and your sufferings will raise mirth instead of compassion . if you think , for your excuse , to expound your thanks , so as to restrain them to this particular case , others , for their ends , will extend them further : and in these differing interpretations , that which is back'd by authority will be the most likely to prevail ; especially when by the advantage you have given them , they have in truth the better of the argument , and that the inferences from your own concessions are very strong , and express against you . this is so far from being a groundless supposition , that there was a late instance of it , the last session of parliament , in the house of lords , where the first thanks , though things of course , were interpreted to be the approbation of the kings whole speech , and a restraint from the further examination of any part of it , though never so much disliked ; and it was with difficulty obtained , not to be excluded from the liberty of objecting to this mighty prerogative of dispensing , meerly by this innocent and usual piece of good manners , by which no such thing could possibly be intended . this sheweth , that some bounds are to be put to your good breeding , and that the constitution of england is too valuable a thing to be ventured upon a complement . now that you have for some time enjoyed the benefit of the end , it is time for you to look into the danger of the means : the same reason that made you desirous to get liberty , must make your sollicitous to preserve it ; so that the next thought will naturally be not to engage your self beyond retreat , and to agree so far with the principles of all religion , as not to rely upon a death-bed repentance . there are certain periods of time , which being once past , make all cautions ineffectual , and all remedies desperate . our understandings are apt to be hurried on by the first heats , which , if not restrained in time , do not give us leave to look back , till it is too late . consider this in the case of your anger against the church of england , and take warning by their mistake in the same kind , when after the late king's restauration , they preserved so long the bitter taste of your rough usage to them in other times , that it made them forget their interest , and sacrifice it to their revenge . either you will blame this proceeding in them , and for that reason not follow it , or if you allow it , you have no reason to be offended with them ; so that you must either dismiss your anger , or lose your excuse ; except you should argue more partially than will be supposed of men of your morality and understanding . if you had now to do with those rigid prelates , who made it a matter of conscience to give you the least indulgence , but kept you at an uncharitable distance , and even to your most reasonable scruples continued stiff and inexorable , the argument might be fairer on your side : but since the common danger hath so laid open that mistake , that all the former haughtiness towards you is for ever extinguished , and that it hath turned the spirit of persecution into a spirit of peace , charity , and condescension ; shall this happy change only affect the church of england ? and are you so in love with separation , as not to be mov'd by this example ? it ought to be followed , were there no other reson than that it is vertue ; but when besides that , it is become necessary to your preservation , it is impossible to fail the having its effect upon you . if it should be said , that the church of england is never humble but when she is out of power , and therefore loseth the right of being believed when she pretended to it : the answer is , first , it would be an uncharitable objection , and very much mis-timed ; an unseasonable triumph , not only ungenerous , but unsafe : so that in these respects it cannot be urged , without scandal , even though it could be said with truth . secondly , this is not so in fact , and the argument must fall , being built upon a false foundation ; for whatever may be told you at this very hour , and in the heat and glare of your present sun-shine , the church of england can in a moment bring clouds again ; and turn the royal thunder upon your heads , blow you off the stage with a breath , if she would give but a smile or a king word ; the least glimpse of her compliance would throw you back into the state or suffering , and draw upon you all the arrears of severity , which have accrued during the time of this kindness to you , and yet the church of england , with all her faults , will not allow her self to be rescued by such unjustifiable means , but chuseth to bear the weight of power , rather than ●e under the burthen of being criminal . it cannot be said , that she is unprovoked ; books and letters come out every day , to call for answers , yet she will not be stirred . from the supposed authors , and the stile , one would swear they were undertakers , and had made a contract to fall out with the church of england . there are lashes in every address , challenges to draw the pen in every pamphlet : in short , the fairest occasions in the world given to quarrel ; but she wisely distinguisheth between the body of dissenters , whom she will suppose to act as they do , with no ill intent ; and these small skirmishers , pickt and sent out to picqueer , and to begin a fray amongst the protestants , for the entertainment as well as the advantage of the church of rome . this conduct is so good , that it will be scandalous not to applaud it . it is not equal dealing to blame our adversaries for doing ill , and not commend them when they do well . to hate them because they persecuted , and not to be reconciled to them when they are ready to suffer , rather than receive all the advantages that can be gained by a criminal complyance , is a principle no sort of christians can own , since it would give an objection to them never to be answered . think a little who they were that promoted your former persecutions , and then consider how it will look to be angry with the instruments , and at the same time to make a league with the authors of your sufferings . have you enough considered what will be expected from you ? are you ready to stand in every borough by vertue of a conge d'eslire , and instead of election , be satisfied if you are returned ? will you in parliament justifie the dispensing power , with all its consequences , and repeal the test , by which you will make way for the repeal of all the laws , that were made to preserve your religion , and to enact others that shall destroy it ? are you disposed to change the liberty of debate into the merit of obedience ; and to be made instruments to repeal or enact laws , when the roman consistory are lords of the articles ? are you so linked with your new friends , as to reject any indulgence a parliament shall offer you , if it shall not be so comprehensive as to include the papists in it ? consider , that the implyed conditions of your new treaty are no less , than that you are to do every thing you are desired , without examining , and that for this pretended liberty of conscience , your real freedom is to be sacrificed : your former faults hang like chains still about you , you are let loose only upon bayl ; the first act of non-compliance , sendeth you to jayl again . you may see that the papists themselves do not relie upon the legality of this power , which you are to justifie , since the being so very earnest to get it established by a law , and the doing such very hard things in order , as they think , to obtain it , is a clear evidence , that they do not think that the single power of the crown is in this case a good foundation ; especially when this is done under a prince , so very tender of all the rights of sovereignty , that he would think it a diminution to his prerogative , where he conceiveth it strong enough to go alone , to call in the legislative help to strengthen and support it . you have formerly blamed the church of england , and not without reason , for going so far as they did in their compliance ; and yet as soon as they stopped , you see they are not only deserted , but prosecuted : conclude then from this example , that you must either break off your friendship , or resolve to have no bounds in it . if they do not succeed in their design , they will leave you first ; if they do , you must either leave them , when it will be too late for your safety , or else after the squeaziness of starting at a surplice , you must be forced to swallow transubstantiation : remember that the other day those of the church of england were trimmers for enduring you , and now by a sudden turn , you are become the favourites ; do not deceive your selves , it is not the nature of lasting plants thus to shoot up in a night ; you may look gay and green for a little time , but you want a root to give you a continuance . it is not so long since , as to be forgotten , that the maxim was , it is impossible for a dissenter not to be a rebel . consider at this time in france , even the new converts are so far from being imployed , that they are disarmed ; their sudden change maketh them still to be distrusted , notwithstanding that they are reconciled : what are you to expect then from your dear friends , to whom , when ever they shall think fit to throw you off again , you have in other times given such arguments for their excuse ? besides all this , you act very unskilfully against your visible interest , if you throw away the advantages , of which you can hardly fail in the next probable revolution . things tend naturally to what you would have , if you would let them alone , and not by an unseasonable activity lose the influences of your good star , which promiseth you every thing that is prosperous . the church of england convinced of its error in being severe to you ; the parliament , when-ever it meeteth , sure to be gentle to you ; the next heir bred in the country which you have so often quoted for a pattern of indulgence ; a general agreement of all thinking men , that we must no more cut our selves off from the protestants abroad , but rather inlarge the foundations upon which we are to build our defences against the common enemy ; so that in truth , all things seem to conspire to give you ease and satisfaction , if by too much haste to anticipate your good fortune , you do not destroy it . the protestants have but one article of humane strength , to oppose the power which is now against them , and that is , not to lose the advantage of their numbers , by being so unwary as to let themselves be divided . we all agree in our duty to our prince ; our objections to his belief do not hinder us from seeing his vertues ; and our not complying with his religion , hath no effect upon our allegiance ; we are not to be laughed out of our passive-obedience , and the doctrine of non-resistance ; though even those who perhaps owe the best part of their security to that principle , are apt to make a jest of it . so that if we give no advantage by the fatal mistake of misapplying our anger , by the natural course of things , this danger will pass away like a shower of hail ; fair weather will succeed , as lowering as the sky now looketh , and all this by plain and easie receipt ; let us be still , quiet , and undivided , firm at the same time to our religion , our loyalty , and our laws ; and so long as we continue this method , it is next to impossible , that the odds of to one should lose the bett ; except the church of rome , which hath been so long barren of miracles , should now in her declining age , be brought to bed of one that would out-do the best she can brag of in her legend . to conclude , the short question will be , whether you will join with those who must in the end run the same fate with you ? if protestants of all sorts , in their behaviour to one another , have been to blame , they are upon the more equal terms , and for that very reason it is fitter for them now to be reconciled . our dis-union is not only a reproach , but a danger to us ; those who believe in modern miracles , have more right , or at least more excuse , to neglect all secular cautions ; but for us , it is as justifiable to have no religion , as wilfully to throw away the humane means of preserving it . i am , dear sir , your most affectionate humble servant , t. w. some cautions offered to the consideration of those who are to chuse members to serve in the ensuing parliament . london , printed in the year , . some cautions offered to the consideration of those who are to chuse members to serve for the ensuing parliament . i will make no other introduction , than that it is hoped the counties and boroughs will remember in general , that besides other consequences , they will have the credit of a good choice , or the scandal that belongeth to an ill one . the creators will be thought like their creatures ; and therefore an ill choice will either be a disparagement of their understanding , or their morals . there cannot be a fuller approbation of a thing , than the chusing of it ; so that the fault of the members chosen , if known before-hand , will be judged to be of the growth of that county or borough , after such a solemn approbation of them . in short , those who send up their representatives to westminster , should take care they may be such as will do them right , and their countrey honour . now to the particulars . i. a very extraordinary earnestness to be chosen , is no very good symptom : a desire to serve the nation in parliament , is an english man's ambition : always to be encouraged , and never to be disapproved . a man may not only be willing to stand , but he may declare that willingness to his friends , that they may assist him , and by all the means becoming a modest and prudent man , he may endeavour to succeed , and prevent the being disappointed in it . but there is a wide difference between this and the raising a king of petty war in the county or corporation ; entring the lists rather for a combat than an election ; throwing fire-balls to put men into heat , and omitting to spread no reports , whether true or false , which may give an advantage by laying a blemish upon a competitor . these methods will ever be suspicious ; it will never be thought a natural thing for men to take such extravagant pains for the meer sake of doing good to others . to be content to suffer something for a good end , is that which many would do without any great repugnance : but where a man can honestly propose nothing to himself , except troubles , charge , and loss , by absence from his own affairs , to be so violent in the pursuit of so ill a bargain , is not at all suited to the languishing virtue of mankind so corrupted . such a self-denying zeal in such a self-seeking age , is so little to be imagin'd , that it may without injury be suspected . therefore when these blustring pretenders come upon the stage , their natural temper and other circumstances ought to be very well consider'd , before men trust them with the disposal of their money , or their liberty . and i am apt to believe , there could hardly be found one single man whose other qualifications would over-balance the objections that lie against such importunate suitors . ii. recommending letters ought to have no effect upon elections . in this i must distinguish ; for tho in strictness perhaps there should be no exception ; yet in compliance with long practice , and out of an indulgence that is necessary in a time when mankind is too much loosened from severe rules , to be kept close up to them , letters sent only from equal men , doing good men right by giving evidence in their behalf , offering them as fitly qualified , when they really are so , and freeing them from unjust aspersions , may be still allowed . the letters i mean , are from men of power , where it may be beneficial to comply , and inconvenient to oppose . choice must not only be free from force , but from influence , which is a degree of force : there must be no difficulty , no apprehension that a refusal will be ill taken , or resented . the freeholders must be freemen too ; they are to have no shackles upon their votes in a election : and the men who stand , should carry their own letters of recommendation about them , which are there good character and behaviour in the world , without borrowing evidence , especially when it comes from suspected hands . those who make use of these epistles , ought to have no more advantage from them , that the muscovites have from the letters put into their hands , when they are buried , to recommend them to st. nicholas . the first should as little get admittance . for men into the parliament , as these letters can introduce the bearers into heaven . the scandal of such letters lieth first in the arrogant imposing of those that write them , and next in the wretched meanness of those that need them . men must be fallen very low in their credit , who upon such an occasion have a recourse to power to support it : their enemies could not give stronger evidence of their not being fit for that which they pretend to . and if the electors judge otherwise , they will be pretty sure in a little time to see their mistake , and to repent it . iii. non-attendance in former parliaments ought to be a bar against the choice of men who have been guilty of it . it is one of the worst kinds of non-residence , and the least to be excused : it is very hard that men should despise a duty , which perhaps is the only ground of the respect that is paid to them . it is such a piece of sawciness for any one to press for the honour of serving in parliament , and then to be careless in attending it , that in a house where there were so many officers , the penalty had not been improper to have cashier'd them for not appearing at the general muster . if men forbear to come out of laziness , let them be gratified by taking their ease at home without interruption ; if out of small cunning to avoid difficulties , and to escape from the inconvenience of voting in critical cases , let them enjoy that despicable pitch of wisdom , and never pretend to make a figure where the publick is to be served . if it would not be thought advisable to trust a man immediately after he hath been drawn out of a gaol , it may be as reasonable to look upon one who for his non-attendance in the house hath been sent for in custody , as a king of bankrupt , which putteth him upon unequal terms with those who have been assiduous in the discharge of their duty . they who thought fit in one session to neglect the publick business , may be justly suspected , by their standing , in the next to intend their own . besides these more deliberate offenders , there are some who do not attend even when they are in the house : absent in their thoughts for want of comprehending the business that is doing , and therefore diverted from it by any thing that is trivial . such men are nusances to a serious assembly ; and when they are numerous , it amounteth almost to a dissolution ; it being scarce possible for good sence to be heard , whilst a noise is made by the buzzing of these horse flies . the roman censors who degraded a senator for yawning whilst there was a debate , would have much more abundant matter here upon which they might exercise their jurisdiction . to conclude this head , there are so few that ever mended in these cases , that after the first experiment it is not at all reasonable to take them upon a new tryal . iv. men who are unquiet and busy in their natures , are to give more than ordinary proofs of their integrity , before the electing them into a publick trust can be justified . as a hot summer breedeth greater swarms of flies , so an active time breedeth a greater number of these shining gentlemen . it is pretty sure , that men who cannot allow themselves to be at rest , will let no body else be at quiet . such a perpetual activity is apt by degrees to be applied to the pursuit of their private interest . and their thoughts being in a continual motion , they have not time to dwell long enough upon any thing to entertain a scruple . so that they are generally at full liberty to do what is most convenient for them , without being fettered by any restraints . nay further ; whenever it hapneth that there is an impunity for cheating , these nimble gentlemen are apt to think it a disparagement to their understandings not to go into it . i doubt it is not a wrong to the present age , to say , that a knave is a less unpopular calling than it hath been in former times . and to say truth , it would be ingratitude in some men to turn honest , when they owe all they have to their knavery . the people are in this respect unhappy ; they are too many to do their own business ; their numbers , which make their strength , are at the same time the cause of their weakness ; they are too unweildy to move ; and for this reason nothing can ever redeem them from this incurable impotency : so that they must have solicitors to pursue and look after their interests : who are too often disposed to dispense with the fidelity they owe to those that trust them ; especially if the government will pay their bills without abatement . it is better these gentlement's dexterity should be employed any where than in parliament , where the ill consequence of their being members is too much diffused , and not restrained to the county or borough who shall be so unwary as to chuse them . v. great drinkers are less fit to serve in parliament than is apprehended . men's virtue , as well as their understanding , is apt to be tainted by it . the appearance of it is sociable and well-natur'd , but it is by no means to be rely'd upon . nothing is more frail than a man too far engaged in wet popularity . the habit of it maketh men careless of their business , and that naturally leadeth them into circumstances , that make them liable to temptation . it is seldom seen , that any principles have such a root , as that they can be proof against the continual droppings of a bottle . as to the faculties of the mind , there is not less objection ; the vapours of wine may sometimes throw out sparks of wit , but they are like scattered pieces of ore , there is no vein to work upon . such wit , even the best of it , is like paying great fines ; in which case there must of necessity be an abatement of the constant rent . nothing sure is a greater enemy to the brain , than too much moisture ; it can the least of any thing bear the being continually steeped : and it may be said , that thought may be resembled to some creatures which can live only in a dry country . yet so arrogant are some men , as to think they are so much masters of business , as that they can play with it ; they imagine they can drown their reason once a day , and that it shall not be the worse for it ; forgetting , that by too often diving the understanding at last groweth too weak to rise up again . i will suppose this fault was less frequent when solon made it one of his laws , that it was lawful to kill a magistrate if he was found d●unk . such a liberty taken in this age , either in the parliament or out of it , would do terrible execution . i cannot but mention a petition in the year , from the county of devon , to the house of commons , against the undue election of burgesses , who are strong in wine and weak in wisdom . the cause of such petitions is to be prevented by chusing such as shall not give handle for them . vi. wanting-men give such cause of suspicion where ever they deal , that surely the chusers will be upon their guard , as often as such dangerous pretenders make their application to them . let the behaviour of such men be never so plausible and untainted , yet they who are to pitch upon those they are to trust with all they have , may be excused , if they do not only consider what they are but what they may be . as we pray our selves we may not be led , into temptation , we ought not by any means to thrust others into it ; even though our own interest was not concerned ; and sure when it is , the argument hath not less force . if a man hath a small estate , and a numerous family ; where it happeneth that a man hath as many children as he hath tenants , it is not a recommending circumstance for his election . when it cometh to be the question with such a man , whether he shall be just to the publick , or cruel to his family ? it is very possible the decision may be on the side of corrupted nature . it is a complement to this age , which it doth not deserve , to suppose men are so ty'd up to morality , as that they cannot be pinched out of it : especially now when it is called starving not to be embroidered , or served in plate . the men chosen to serve their country , should not be loaden with suits that may tempt them to assume privileges ; much less under such necessities as may more immediately prepare them for corruption . men who need a parliament for their own particular interest , have more reason to offer their service than others have to accept of it . and though i do not doubt , but there may be some whose virtue would triumph over their wants , let them be never so pressing ; yet to expose the publick to the hazard of being deceived , is that which can never be justifi'd by those that chuse . and tho it must be allow'd possible for a wanting-man to be honest , yet it is impossible for a man to be wise that will depend upon it . vii . there is a sort of men that have a tinsel-wit , which make them shine among those who cannot judge . club and coffee-house gentlemen , petty merchants of small conceits , who have an empty habit of prating without meaning ; they always aim at wit and generally make false fire . their business is less to learn , than to set themselves out ; which makes them chuse to be with such as can only be witnesses of their small ingenuity , rather than with such as might improve it . there is a subordinate wit , as much inferior to a wit of business , as a fidler at a wake is to the lofty sound of an organ . men of this size are in no degree suited to the business of redressing grievances , and making laws . there is a parliament wit to be distinguish'd from all other kinds ; those who have it , do not stuff their heads only with cavils and objections . they have a deliberate and an observing wit , a head turned to publick things ; men who place a greater pleasure in mending a fault than in finding it out . their understanding directeth them to object in the right place , and not like those who go by no other rule , than to conclude , that must be the best counsel which was not taken . these whole-sale judges shew such a gross and peevish ignorance , that it appeareth so openly in all they say or do , that they give loud warning to all considering men , not to chuse them . viii . the dislike of slight airy men must not go so far , as to recommend heaviness in opposition to it , especially where men are convicted of it by experience in former sessions . as a lively coxcomb will seldom fail to lay in his claim for wit ; so a blockhead is apt to pretend , that his heaviness is a proof of his judgment . some have an universal lethargy spread upon their understanding without exception ; others have an insufficiency 〈◊〉 hoc , as in some cases men have 〈◊〉 hanc ; these last can never so 〈…〉 thoughts to publick business , as to give the attention that is necessary to comprehend it . there are those who have such a thick shell upon their brains , that their ignorance is impenetrable , and maketh such astout resistance against common sense , that it will never be subdued by it : true heart of oak , ignorance that will neveryield , let reason beat never so hard upon it ; and though their kind neighbours have at several elections sent them up to school again , they have still return'd the same incurable dunces . there is a false gravity that is a very ill symptom ; and it may be said , that as rivers , which run very slowly , have always the most mud at the bottom ; so a solid stiffness in the constant course of a man's life , is a sign of a thick bed of mud at the bottom of his brain . a dull man is so near a dead man , that he is hardly to be ranked in the list of the living ; and as he is not to be buri'd whilst he is half alive , so he is as little to be imploy'd whilst : he is half dead . parliaments are now grown to be quite other things than they were formerly . in ancient times they were little more than great assizes ; a roll of grievances ; magna charta confirmed ; privileges of holy church preserved ; so many sacks of wool given , and away . now there are traps and gins laid for the well-meaning country-gentleman ; he is to grapple with the cunning of men in town , which is not a little improv'd by being rewarded and encourag'd . so that men whose good intentions are not seconded and supported by some degree of ability , are as much the more dangerous , as they are less criminal than cunning knaves . their honest mistakes , for want of distinguishing , either give a countenance to , or at least lessen the scandal of the injurious things that are done to the publick : and with leave ask'd for so odd an expression , their innocent guilt is as mischievous to the laws and liberties , as the most deliberate malice of those that would destroy them . ix . there is an abuse which daily increaseth , of sending such to parliament , as are scarce old enough to be sent to the university . i would not in this restrain the definition of these boys to the age of twenty one : if my opinion might take place , i should wish that none might be chosen into the house of commons under thirty ; and to make some equality , i should from the same motives , think it convenient , that no lord should have a vote in judicature under that age. but to leave this digression ; i cannot see why the chusers should not at least make it a rule among themselves , not to send any man to represent them under the age of twenty five , which is the time of majority in most other places of the world . surely it is not that we are earlier plants than our neighbours . such supposition could neither be justifi'd by our climate , nor by the degree of latitude in which we are placed ; i must therefore attribute it to the haste our ancestors had ( and not without reason ) to free themselves from the severity of wardships . but whether this , or any thing else , was the cause of our earlier stepping into man's estate ; so it is now , that according to our laws , twenty one is the age of discretion ; and the young man is then vested with a legal , how defective soever he may be in his natural understanding . with all this , there ought to be a difference made between coming out of pupilage , and leaping into legislatorship . it is perhaps inconvenient enough that a man should be so soon let loose to destroy his own estate ; but it is yet worse , that he should then have a power of giving away other men's . the law must make general rules , to which there always will be some objections . if there were tryers appointed to judge when leading-strings should be left off , many would wear them a very great while , and some perhaps with their gray hairs ; there being no small number of old boys in all times and especially in this . it is necessary therefore to make exceptions to this general rule , where the case so much requireth it , as it doth in the matter in question . the ground of sending these minors to parliament ought not to recommend the continuance of it to those who are lovers of liberty ; since it was by the authority and influence of great men , that their stripling sons were first receiv'd by the humble depending boroughs , or the complying counties . they called it , as many do still , the best school for young men. now experience hath shew'd us , that it is like a school only in this respect , that these youngsters when they are admitted , deserve to be whipp'd in it . if the house of commons is a school , it must be for men of riper age ; these are too young to learn there , and being elevated by a mistaken smattering in small politicks , they grow too supercilious to learn any where else ; so that instead of improving young promising plants , they are destroy'd by being misplac'd . if then they do themselves hurt by it , it is surer yet that they do the house no good by coming into it . they were not green geese that are said to have sav'd the capitol ; they were certainly of full age , or else their cackling could not have been heard , so as to give warning . indeed it look'd of late , when the fashion was to have long continu'd parliaments , as if we might plant a boy in the house with a prospect that he might continue there till he had gray hairs : and that the same sapling might have such a root , as that he might grow up to be timber without being remov'd . if these young men had skill enough to pitch upon some body in the house , to whom they might resign their opinion , and upon whose judgment they might lean without reserve , there might be less objection . but to speak truth , they know as little how to chuse , as those did who elected them : so that there is no other expedient left , than the letting them alone . one may say , generally speaking , that a young man being too soon qualifi'd for the serious business of parliaments , would really be no good symptom . it is a sign of too much phlegm , and too little fire in the beginning of age , if men have not a little more heat than is convenient ; for as they grow older they will run a hazard of not having so much as is necessary . the truth is , the vigour of youth is soften'd and misapply'd , when it is not spent either in war or close studies ; all other courses have an idle mixture that cometh to nothing , and maketh them like trees , which for want of pruning run up to wood , and seldom or never bear any fruit. to conclude this head , it must be own'd , that there is no age of our life which doth not carry arguments along with it to humble us : and therefore it would be well for the business of the world , if young men would stay longer before they went into it , and old men not so long before they went out of it . x. next to these may be rank'd a sort of superfine gentlemen , carpet-knights , men whose heads may be said to be only appurtenances to their perukes , which intirely ingross all their care and application . there understanding is so strictly appropriated to their dress ; that no part of it is upon pain of their utmost displeasure to be diverted to any other use . it is not by this intended to recommend an affected clown , or to make it a necessary qualification for a member of parliament , that he must renounce clean linen or good manners ; but surely a too earnest application to make every thing sit right about them , striketh too deep into their small stock of thoughts to allow it furniture for any thing else . to do right to these fine-spun gentlemen , business is too course a thing for them , which maketh it an unreasonable hardship upon them to oppress them with it ; so that in tenderness to them , no less than out of care to the publick , it is best to leave them to their taylors with whom they will live in much better correspondence , when the danger is prevented of their falling out about privileges . xi . men of injustice and violence , in their private dealings , are not to be trusted by the people with a commission to treat for them in parliament . in the th of edw. . the king commandeth in his writs not to chuse any knights who had been guilty of crime , or maintenance . these warm men seldom fail to run into maintenance , taken in a larger extent . it is an unnatural sound to come from a man that is arbitrary in his neighbourhood , to talk of laws and liberties at westminster ; he is not a proper vehicle for such words , which ought never to be prophaned . an habitual breaker of the laws , to be made one of the law-makers , is as if the benches in westminster-hall should be filled with men out of newgate . those who are of this temper cannot change their nature out of respect to their countrey . quite contrary ; they will less scruple to do wrong to a nation where no body taketh it to himself , than to particular men to whose resentments they are more immediately exposed . in short they lie under such strong objections , that the over-balance of better men cannot altogether purify an assembly where these unclean beasts are admitted . xii . excessive spenders and unreasonable savers are to be excluded , being both greedy from differing causes . they are both of them diseases of infection , and for that reason are not to be admitted into publick assemblies . a prodigal man must be , greedy because he thinketh he can never spend enough . the wretch must be so , because he will never think he can hoard enough . the world first admireth men's wisdom for getting money , and then raileth at them if they do not throw it away ? so that the prodigal man is only the less unpopular extreme ; he is every jot as well prepared as the miser to fall out with his morals , when once a good temptation is offered him to lay them aside . on the other side , some rich men are as eager to overtake those that are richer , as a running horse is to get to the race-post , before the other that contendeth with him . men often desire to heap , rather because others have more , than that they know what to do with that which they covet with so much impatience . so that it is plain , the fancy hath as great a share in this imaginary pleasure of gathering as it hath in love , ambition , or any other passion . it is pretty sure , that as no man was ever the richer for having a good estate , if he did not look after it ; so neither will he be the honester if he hath never so much . want of care will always create want of money ; so that whether a man is a begger because he never had any money , or because he can never keep any , it is all one to those who are to trust him . upon this head of prodigality , it may be no unreasonable caution to be afraid of those who in former service have , been extravagantly liberal of the publick money . trusting is so hazardous a thing , that it should never be done but where it is necessary ; so that when trustees are found upon tryal to be very lavish , even without examining into the causes of it , ( which are generally very suspicious ) it is a reasonable part of preventing wit to change hands , or else the chusers will pay the penalty that belongeth to good nature so misplaced , and the consequences will be attended with the aggravation of their not being made wiser by such a severe and costly warning . xiii . it would be of very great use to take a general resolution throughout the kingdom , that none should be chosen for a county but such as have either in possession , or reversion , a considerable estate in it ; nor for a burrough , except he be resiant , or that he hath some estate in the county , in present or expectancy . there have been eminent men of law who were of opinion , that in the case of a burgess of a town not resiant , the court is to give judgment according to the statute , notwithstanding custom to the contrary . but not to insist now upon that , the prudential part is argument enough to set up a rule to abrogate an ill custom . there is not , perhaps , a greater cause of the corruption of parliaments , than by adopting members , who may be said to have no title by their births . the juries are by the law to be exvicineto ; and shall there be less care that the representatives of the people be so too ? sure the interest of the county is best placed in the hands of such as have some share in it . the outliers are not so easily kept within the pale of the laws . they are often chosen without being known , which is more like chusing valentines , than members of parliament . the motive of their standing is more justly to be supposed , that they may redress their own grievances which they know , than those of the countrey , to which they are strangers . they are chosen at london to serve in cornwall , &c. and are often parties , before they come to be representatives : one would think the reproach it is for a county not to have men within their own circle to serve them in parliament , should be argument enough to reject these trespassers , without urging the ill consequences in other respects of their being admitted . xiv . as in some cases it is advisable to give a total exclusion to men not fitly qualified ; so in others it is more proper to lay down a general rule of caution , with allowance of some exceptions , where men have given such proofs of themselves , as create a right for them to be distinguished . of this nature is that which i shall say concerning lawyers , who , by the same reason that they may be useful , may be also very dangerous . the negligence , and want of application in gentlemen , hath made them to be thought more necessary than naturally they are in parliament . they have not only ingrossed the chair of the speaker , but that of a committee is hardly thought to be well filled , except it be by a man of the robe . this maketh it worthy of the more serious reflection of all gentlemen , that it may be an argument to them to quailfy themselves in parliamentary learning , in such a manner , as that they may rely upon their own abilities , in order to the serving their countrey . but to come to the point in question ; it is not without precedent , that practising-lawyers have been excluded from serving in parliament ; and , without following those patterns strictly , i cannot but think it reasonable , that whilst a parliament sitteth , no member of parliament should plead at any bar. the reason of it is in many respects strong in it self , and is grown much stronger by the long sitting of parliaments of late ; but i will not dwell upon this : the matter now in question being concerning lawyers being elected , which i conceive should be done with so much circumspection , that probably it would not often happen . if lawyers have great practice , that ought to take them up ; if not , it is no great sign of their ability ; and at the same time giveth a suspicion , that they may be more liable to be tempted . if it should be so in fact , that no king ever wanted judges to soften the stiffness of the laws that were made , so as to make them suit better with the reason of state , and the convenience of the government ; it is no injury now to suppose it possible for lawyers in the house of commons , so to behave themselves in the making of new laws , as the better to make way for the having their robes lined with fur. they are men used to argue on both sides of a question ; and if ordinary fees can inspire them with very good reasons in a very ill cause , that faculty exercised in parliaments , where it may be better encouraged , may prove very inconvenient to those that chuse them . and therefore , without arraigning a profession , that it would be scandalous for a man not to honour ; one may , by a suspicion , which is the more excusable when it is in the behalf of the people , imagine that the habit of taking money for their opinion , may create in some such a forgetfulness to distinguish , that they may take it for their vote . they are generally men who by a laborious study hope to be advanced : they have it in their eye as a reward for the toil they undergo . this maketh them generally very slow , and ill disposed ( let the occasion never so much require it ) to wrestle with that soil where preferment groweth . now if the supposition be in its self not unreasonable , and that it should happen to be strengthen'd and confirm'd by experience it will be very unnecessary to say any more upon this article , but leave it to the electors to consider of it . xv. i cannot forbear to put in a caveat against men ty'd to a party . there must in every body be a leaning to that sort of men who profess some principles , more than to others who go upon a different foundation ; but when a man is drowned in a party , plunged in it beyond his depth , he runneth a great hazard of being upon ill terms with good sense , or morality , if not with both of them . such a man can hardly be called a free-agent and for that reason is very unfit to be trusted with the peoples liberty , after he hath given up his own . it is said , that in some part of the indies they do so affect little feet , that they keep them squeezed while they are children , so that they stay at that small size after they are grown men. one may say something like this of men lock'd up in a party ; they put their thoughts into such a narrow mould , that they can never be enlarged nor released from their first confinements . men in a party have liberty only for their motto ; in reality they are greater slaves than any body else would care to make them . a party , even in times of peace , ( tho against the original contract , and the bill of rights ) sets up and continues the exercise of martial law : once inrolled , the man that quitteth , if they had their will , would be hanged for a deserter . they communicate anger to one another by contagion : and it may be said , that if too much light dazzleth the eye-sight , too much heat doth not less weaken the judgment . heat reigneth in the fancy ; and reason , which is a colder faculty of the brain , taketh more time to be heard , than the other will allow . the heat of a party is like the burning of a fever ; and not a natural warmth , evenly distributed to give life and vigor . there was a time indeed when anger shew'd a good sign of honesty ; but that evidence is very much weakned by instances we have seen since the days of yore : and the publick spirited choler hath been thrown off within time of memory , and lost almost all its credit with some people , since they found what governments thought fit to make their so doing a step to their preferment . a strong blustring wind seldom continues long in one corner . some men knock loud only to be let in ; the bustle they make is animated by their private interest . the outward blaze only is for religion and liberty : the true lasting fire , like that of the vestals which never went out , is an eagerness to get somewhat for themselves . a house of commons composed of such men , would be more properly so many merchants incorporated in a regular company , to make their particular adventures , than men sent from the people to serve and represent them . there are some splenetick gentlemen who confine their favourable opinion within so narrow a compass , that they will not allow it to any man that was not hanged in the late reigns . now by that rule one might expect they should rescue themselves from the disadvantage of being now alive ; and by abdicating a world so little worthy of them , get a great name to themselves , with the general satisfaction of all those they would leave behind them . amongst the many other ill consequences of a stated party , it is none of the least , that it tempteth low and insignificant men to come upon the stage , to expose themselves , and to spoil business . it turneth a cypher into a figure , such a one as it is : a man in a party is able to make a noise , let it be never so empty a sound . a weak man is easily blown out of his small senses , by being muster'd into a party ; he is flatter'd till he liketh himself so well , that he taketh it extremely ill if he hath not an employment . nothing is more in fashion , than for men to desire good places , and i doubt nothing is less so than to deserve them . from nobody to somebody is such a violent stride , that nature , which hath the negative voice , will not give its royal assent to it : so that when insufficient men aim at being in business , the worst of their enemies might out of malice to them , pray for their preferment . there could be no end , if one did not stop till this theme had no more matter to furnish . i will only say , nothing is more evident , than that the good of the nation hath been sacrificed to the animosities of the several contending parties ; and without entring into the dispute which of them are more or less in the right , it is pretty sure , that whilst these opposite sets of angry men are playing at foot-ball , they will break all the windows , and do more hurt than their pretended zeal for the nation will ever make amends for . in short , a man so engaged is retained before the people take him for their council ; he hath such a reverse for his party , that it is not adviseable for those who would chuse him , to depend upon his professions . all parties assuming such a dispensing power , that by their sovereign authority they cancel and dissolve any act or promise that they do not afterwards approve . these things considered , those who will chuse such men deserve whatever followeth . xvi . pretenders to exorbitant merit in the late revolution , are not without objections against them , when they stand to serve in parliament . it would not only be a low , but a criminal kind of envy , to deny a distinguishing justice to men who have been instrumental and active , when the service of their countrey requir'd it . but there ought to be moderation in men's claims , or else it is out of the power of our poor island to satisfy them . it is true , service of all kinds is grown much dearer , like labourer's wages , which formerly occasioned several statutes to regulate them . but now the men who only carried mortar to the building , when it is finished , think they are ill dealt with if they are not made master-workmen . they presently cry out , the original contract is broken , if their merit is not rewarded , at their own rate too . some will think there never ought to be an end of their rewards ; when indifferent judges would perhaps be puzzled to find out the beginning of their merit . they bring in such large bills , that they must be examin'd : some bounds must be put to men's pretensions ; else the nation , which is to pay the reckoning , will every way think it a scurvy thing to be undone , whether it be by being over-run by our enemies , or by the being , exhausted by our friends . there ought therefore to be deductions where they are reasonable , the better to justifie the paying what remaineth . for example , if any of these passionate lovers of the protestant religion should not think fit , in their manner of living , to give the least evidence of their morality , their claims upon that head might sure be struck off without any injustice to them . if there are any who set down great sums as a reward due to their zeal for rescuing property from the jaws of arbitrary power ; their pretensions may fairly be rejected , if now they are so far from shewing a care and tenderness of the laws , that they look rather like councel retained on the other side . it is no less strange , than i doubt it is true , that some men should be so in love with their dear mistress , old england , with all her wrinkles , as out of an heroick passion to swim over to rescue her from being ravish'd ; and when they have done the feat , the first thing after enjoyment is , that they go about to strangle her . for the sake of true love , it is not sit that such ungentile gallants should be too much encourag'd ; and their arrogance for having done well at first , will have no right to be excused , if their so doing ill at last doth not make them a little more modest . true merit , like a river , the deeper it is the less noise it makes . these loud proclaimers of their own deserts , are not only to be suspected for their truth , but the electors are to consider that such meritorious men lay an assessment upon those that chuse them . the publick taxes are already heavy enough without the addition of these private reckonings . it is therefore the safer way not to employ men , who will expect more for their wages , than the mistaken borough that sendeth them up to parliament could be sold for . xvii . with all due regard to the noblest of callings , military officers are out of their true element when they are misplaced in a house of commons . things in this world ought to be well suited . there are some appearances so unnatural , that men are convinc'd by them without any other argument . the very habit in some cases , recommendeth or giveth offence . if the judges upon the bench should , instead of their furrs , which signifie gravity , and bespeak respect , be cloathed like the jockeys at new-market , or wear jack-boots and steenkirks ; they would not in reality have less law , but mankind would be so struck with this unusual object , that it would be a great while before they could think it possible to receive justice from men so accouter'd . it is to some degree the same thing in this case ; such martial habits , blue-coats , red stockings , &c. make them look very unlike grave senators . one would almost swear they were creatures apart , and of a differing species from the rest of the body . in former times , when only the resiant shopkeeper was to represent his corporation ( which by the way is the law still at this day ) the military looks of one of these sons of mars , would have stared the quaking member down again to his burrough . now the number of them is so encreased , that the peaceable part of the house may lawfully swear they are in fear of their lives , from such an awful appearance of men of war. it maketh the room look like a guard-house by such an ill-suited mixture . but this is only the out-side , the bark of the argument ; the root goeth yet deeper against chusing such men , whose talents ought to be otherwise applied . their two capacities are so inconsistent , that mens undertaking to serve both the cures , will be the cause in a little time , that we shall neither have men of war , nor men of business , good in their several kinds . an officer is to give up his liberty to obey orders ; and it is necessarily incident to his calling that he should do so . a member of parliament is originally to be tender of his own liberty , that other men may the better trust him with theirs . an officer is to enable himself by his courage , improved by skill and experience , to support the laws ( if invaded ) when they are made ; but he is not supposed to be at leisure enough to understand how they should be made . a member of parliament is to fill his thoughts with what may best conduce to the civil administration ; which is enough to take up the whole man , let him be never so much raised above the ordinary level . these two opposite qualifications , being placed in one man , make him such an ambiguous divided creature , that he doth not know how to move . it is best to keep men within their proper sphere ; few men have understanding enough exactly to fill even one narrow circle , fewer are able to fill two ; especially when they are both of so great compass , and that they are so contrary in their own natures . the wages he hath as a member , and those he receiveth as an officer , are paid for services that are very differing ; and in the doubt which of them should be preferrably performed , it is likely the greater salary may direct him , without the further inducements of complying most , where he may expect most advantage by it . in short , if his dependance is not very great , it will make him a scurvy officer ; if it is great , it will make him a scurvier member . xviii . men under the scandal of being thought private pensioners , are too fair a mark to escape being consider'd , in reference to the point in question . in case of plain evidence , it is not to be suppos'd possible , that men convicted of such a crime should ever again be elected . the difficulty is in determining what is to be done in case of suspicion . there are suspicions so well grounded , that they may pretend to have the force of proofs , provided the penalty goeth only to the forbearing to trust , but not extending it so far as to punish . there must be some things plain and express to justify the latter , but circumstances may be sufficient for the former : as where men have had such sudden cures of their ill humours , and opposition to the court , that it is out of the way of ordinary methods of recovery from such distempers , which have a much slower progress ; it must naturally be imputed to some specifick that maketh such a quick alteration of the whole mass of blood. where men have raised their way of living , without any visible means to support them in it , a suspicion is justified , even by the example of the law , which in cases of this kind , though of an inferior nature , doth upon this foundation not only raise inferences , but inflict punishments . where men are immoral , and scandalous in their lives , and dispense familiarly with the rules by which the world is govern'd , for the better preserving the bonds of human society ; it must be a confidence very ill placed , to conclude it impossible for such men to yield to a temptation well offer'd and pursu'd ; when , the truth is the habit of such bons vivants , which is the fashionable word , maketh a suspicion so likely , that it is very hard not to believe it to be true . if there should be nothing but the general report , even that is not to be neglected . common fame is the only lyar that deserveth to have some respect still reserv'd to it ; tho she telleth many an untruth , she often hits right , and most especially when she speaketh ill of men . her credit hath sometimes been carried too far , when it hath gone to the divesting men of any thing of which they were possess'd , without more express evidence to justify such a proceeding . if there was a doubt whether there ever was any corruption of this kind it would alter the question ; but sure that will not bear the being controverted . we are told ; that charles the fifth sent over into england crowns to be distributed amongst the leading men , to encourage them to carry on elections . here was the protestant religion to be bought out for a valuable consideration according to law , though not according to gospel , which exalteth it above any price that can be set upon it . now , except we had reason to believe that the vertue of the world is improv'd since that time , we can as little doubt that such temptations may be offered , as that they may be receiv'd . it will be owed , that there is to be a great tenderness in suspecting ; but it must be allow'd at the same time , that there ought not to be lest in trusting , where the people are so much concern'd ; especially , when the penalty upon the party suspected goeth no further than a suspension of that confidence , which it is necessary to have in those who are to represent the nation in parliament . i cannot omit the giving a caution against admitting men to be chosen , who have places of any value . there needeth the less to be said upon this article , the truth of the proposition being supported by such plain argumen●s . sure no man hath such a plentiful spring of thought , as that all that floweth from it is too much to be appled to the business of parliament . it is not less sure , that a member of parliament , of all others , ought not to be exempted from the rule , that no man should serve two masters . it doth so split a man's thoughts , that no man can know how to make a fitting distribution of them to two such differing capacities . it exposeth men to be suspected , and tempted , more than is convenient for the publick service , or for the mutual good opinion of one another , which their ought to be in such an assembly . it either giveth a real dependance upon the government , which is inconsistent with the necessity there is , that a member of parliament should be disengaged , or at least it hath the appearance of it , which maketh them not look like freemen , though they should have virtue enough to be be so . more reasons would lessen the weight of this last , which is , that a bill to this effect , commonly called the self-denying bill , pass'd even this last house of commons . a greater demonstration of the irresistible strength of truth cannot possibly be given ; so that a copy of that bill in every county or burrough , would hardly fail of discouraging such pretenders from standing , or at least it would prevent their success if their own modesty should not restrain them from attempting it . xx. if distinctions may be made upon upon particular men , or remarks fix'd upon their votes in parliament , they must be allow'd in relation to those gentlemen , who for reasons best known to themselves thought fit to be against the triennial bill . the liberty of opinion is the thing in the world that ought least to be controll'd , and especially in parliament . but as that is an undoubted assertion , it is not less so , that when men sin against their own light , give a vote against their own thought , they must not plead privilege of parliament against the being arraigned for it by others , after they are convicted of it by themselves . there cannot be a man ▪ who in his definition of a house of commons , will state it to be an assembly , that for the better redressing of grievances the people feel , and for the better furnishing such supplies as they can bear , is to continue , if the king so pleaseth , for his whole reign . this could be as little intended , as to throw all into one hand , and to renounce the claim to any liberty , but so much as the sovereign authority would allow . it destroyeth the end of parliaments , it maketh use of the letter of the law to extinguish the life of it . it is , in truth , some kind of disparagement to so plain a thing , that so much has been said and written upon it ; and one may say , it is such an affront to these gentlemens understandings to censure this vote only as a mistake , that , as the age goeth , it is less discredit to them to call it by its right name ; and if that is rightly understood by those who are to chuse them , i suppose they will let them exercise their liberty of conscience at home , and not make men their trustees , who in this solemn instance have such an unwillingness to surrender . it must be own'd , that this bill hath met with very hard fortune , and yet that doth not in the least diminish the value of it . it had in it such a root of life , that it might be said , it was not dead but sleeped ; and we see that the last session , it was revived and animated by the royal assent , when once fully inform'd of the consequences , as well as of the justice of it . in the mean time , after having told my opinion , who ought not to be chosen : if i should be ask'd , who ought to be , my answer must be , chuse englishmen ; and when i have said that , to deal honestly , i will not undertake that they are easy to be found . a rough draught of a new model at sea , . london : printed in the year . a rough draught of a new model at sea , . i will make no other introduction to the following discourse , than that as the importance of our being strong at sea , was ever very great , so in our present circumstances it is grown to be much greater ; because , as formerly our force of shipping contributed greatly to our trade and safety . so , now it is become indispensibly necessary to our very being . it may be said now to england , martha , martha , thou art busy about many things , but one thing is necessary to the question , what shall we do to be saved in this world ? there is no other answer but this , look to your moate . the first article of an english-mans political creed must be , that he believeth in the sea , &c. without that there needed no general council to pronounce him capable of salvation here . we are in an island confin'd to it by god almighty , not as a penalty but a grace , and one of the greatest that can be given to mankind . happy confinement that has made us free , rich , and quiet ; a fair portion in this world , and very well worth the preserving , a figure that ever hath been envied , and could never be imitated by our neighbours . our situation hath made greatness abroad by land conquests unnatural things to us . it is true , we made excursions , and glorious ones too , which make our names great in history , but they did not last . admit the english to be giants in courage , yet they must not hope to succeed in making war against heaven , which seemeth to have enjoyned them to acquiesce in being happy within their own circle . it is no paradox to say , that england hath its root in the sea , and a deep one too , from whence it sendeth its branches into both the indies . we may say further in our present case , that if allegiance is due to protection , ours to the sea is due from that rule , since by that , and by that alone , we are to be protected ; and if we have of late suffered usurpation of other methods , contrary to the homage we owe to that which must preserve us . it is time now to restore the sea to its right ; and as there is no repentance effectual without amendment , so there is not a moment to be lost in their going about it . it is not pretended to launch into such a voluminous treatise , as to set down every thing to which so comprehensive a subject might lead me ; for as the sea hath little less variety in it than the land ; so the naval force of england extendeth it self into a great many branches , each of which are important enough to require a discourse apart , and peculiarly applied to it : but there must be preference to some consideration above others , when the weight of them is so visibly superior that it cannot be contested . it is there , first , that the foundations are to be laid of our naval oeconomy ; amongst these , there is one article which in its own nature must be allowed to be the corner-stone of the building . the choice of officers , with the discipline and encouragement belonging to them . upon this head only , i shall then take the liberty to venture my opinion into the world , with a real submission to those , who may offer any think better for the advantage of the publick . the first question then will be , out of what sort of men the officers of the fleet are to be chosen ; and this immediately leadeth us to the present controversy between the gentlemen and the tarpaulins . the usual objection on both sides are too general to be relied upon . partiality and common prejudices direct most mens opinions , without entring into the particular reasons which ought to be the ground of it . there is so much ease in aquiescing in generals , that the ignorance of those who cannot distinguish , and the largeness of those who will not , maketh men very apt to decline the trouble of stricter enquiries , which they think too great a price for being in the right , let it be never so valuable . this maketh them judge in the lump , and either let their opinions swim along with the stream of the world , or give them up wholly to be directed by success . the effect of this is , that they change their minds upon every present uneasiness , wanting a steady foundation upon which their judgment should be formed . this is a pearching upon the twigs of things , and not going to the root . but sure the matter in question deserveth to be examined in another manner , since so much dependeth upon it . to state the thing impartially , it must be owned that it seemeth to lye fairest for the tarpaulin : it giveth an impression that must have so much weight as to make a man's opinion lean very much on that side , it carrieth so much authority with it , it seemeth to be so unquestionable , that those are fittest to command at sea , who have not only made it their calling , but their element ; that there must naturally be a prejudice to any thing then can be said against it . there must therefore be some reason extraordinary to support the argument on the other side , or else the gentlemen could never enter the lists against such a violent objection , which seemeth not to be resisted . i will introduce my argument with an assertion , which as i take to be true almost in all cases , so it is necessary to be explained and inforced in this . the assertion is , that there is hardly a single proposition to be made , which is not deceitful , and the tying our reason too close to it , may in many cases be destructive . circumstances must come in , and are to be made a part of the matter of which we are to judge ; positive decisions are always dangerous , more especially in politicks . a man , who will be master of an argument , must do like a skilful general , who sendeth scouts on all sides , to see whether there may not be an enemy . so he must look round to see what objections can be made , and not go on in a streight line , which in the ready way to lead him into a mistake . before then , that we conclude what sort of men are fittest to command at sea , a principle is to be laid down , that there is a differing consideration to be had of such a subject-matter , as is in it self distinct and independent , and of such a one as being a limb of a body , or a wheel of a frame , there is a necessity of suiting it to the rest , and preserving the harmony of the whole . a man must not in that case restrain himself to the seperate consideration of that single part , but must take care it may fall in and agree with the shape of the whole creature , of which it is a member . according to this proposition , which i take to be indisputable , it will not i hope appear an affectation , or an extravagant fit of unseasonable politicks , if , before i enter into the particular state of the present question , i say something of the government of england , and make that the ground-work of what sort of men are most proper to be made use of to command at sea. the forms of government to which england must be subjected , are either absolute monarchy , a commonwealth , or a mixt monarchy , as it is now ; with those natural alterations that the exegency of affairs may from time to time suggest . as to absolute monarchy i will not allow my self to be transported into such invectives , as are generally made . against it ; neither am i ready to enter into the aggrevating stile of calling every thing slavery , that restraineth men in any part of their freedom : one may discern in this , as in most other things , the good and bad of it . we see by too near an istance , what fra●●e doth by it ; it doth not only struggle with the rest of christendom ; but is in a fair way of giving law to it . this is owing in great measure to a despotick and undivided power ; the uncontroulable authority of the directive councils maketh every thing move without disorder or opposition , which must give an advantage , that is plain enough of it self , without being proved by the melancholly experience we have of it at this time . i see and admire this ; yet i consider at the same time , that all things of this kind are comparative : that as on one side , without government men cannot enjoy what belongeth to them in particular , nor can a nation be secure , or preserve it self in general : so on the other side , the end of government being , that mankind should live in some competent state of freedom , it is very unnatural to have the end destroyed by the means that were originally made use of to attain it . in this respect something is to be ventured , rather than submit to such a precarious state of life , as would make it a burthen to a reasonable creature ; and therefore , after i have owned the advantages in some kind of an unlimitted government ; yet , while they are attended with so many other discouraging circumstances , i cannot think but that they may be bought too dear ; and if it should be so , that it is not possible for a state to be great and glorious , unless the subjects are wretchedly miserable . i am ashamed to own my low-spirited frailty in preferring such a model of government , as may agree with the reasonable enjoyment of a free people , before such a one , by which empire is to be extended at such an unnatural price . besides whatever mens opinions may be one way or another , in the general question , there is an argument in our case that shutteth the door to any answer to it . ( viz. ) we cannot subsist under a despotick power , our very being would be destroyed by it ; for we are to consider , we are a very little spot in the map of the world , and make a great figure only by trade , which is the creature of liberty ; one destroyed , the other falleth to the ground by a natural consequence , that will not admit a dispute . if we would be measured by our acres , we are poor inconsiderable people ; we are exalted above our natural bounds , by our good laws , and our excellent constitution . by this we are not only happy at home , but considerable abroad . our situation , our humour , our trade , do all concur to strengthen this argument . so that all other reasons must give place to such a one as maketh it out , that there is no mean between a free nation and no nation . we are no more a people , nor england can no longer keep its name from the moment that our liberties are extinguish'd ; the vital strength that should support us being withdrawn , we should then be no more than the carcass of a nation , with no other security than that of contempt ; and to subsist upon no other tenure , than that we should be below the giving temptation to our stronger neighbours to devour us . in my judgment , therefore , there is such a. short decision to be made upon this subject , that in relation to england , an absolute monarchy is as an unreasonable thing to be wished , as i hope it will be impossible to be obtained . it must be considered in the next place , whether england likely is to be turn'd into a commonwealth . it is hard at any time to determine what will be the shape of the next revolution , much more at this time would it be inexcusably arrogant to undertake it . who can foresee whether it will be from without , or from within , or from both ? whether with or without the concurrence of the people ? whether regularly produced , or violently imposed ? i shall not therefore magisterially declare it impossible that a commonwealth should be settled here ; but i may give my humble opinion , that according to all appearances , it is very improbable . i will first lay it down for a principle , that it is not a sound way of arguing , to say , that if it can be made out , that the form of a commonwealth will best suit with the interest of the nation , it must for that reason of necessity prevail . i will not deny but that interest will not lie , is a right maxim , where-ever it is sure to be understood ; else one had as good affirm , that no man in particular , nor mankind in general , can ever be mistaken . a nation is a great while before they can see , and generally they must feel first before their sight is quite cleared . this maketh it so long before they can see their interest ; that for the most part it is too late for them to pursue it : if men must be supposed always to follow their true interest , it must be meant of a new manufactory of mankind by god almighty ; there must be some new clay , the old stuff never yet made any such infallible creature . this being premis'd , it is to be inquired , whether instead of inclination , or a leaning towards a commonwealth , there is not in england a general dislike to it ; if this be so as i take it to be , by a very great disparity in numbers ; it will be in vain to dispute the reason , whilst humour is against it , allowing the weight that is due to the argument , which may be alledged for it ; yet , if the herd is against it , the going about to convince them , would have no other effect than to shew that nothing can be more impertinent than good reasons , when they are misplaced or ill-timed . i must observe , that there must be some previous dispositions in all great changes to facilitate and to make way for them : i think it not at all absur'd , i affirm that such resolutions are seldem made at all , except by the general preparations of mens minds they are half made before , and it is plainly visible , that men go about them . though it seemeth to me that the argument alone maketh all others unnecessary , yet i must take notice that ▪ besides what hath been said upon this subject , there are certain preliminaries to the first building a commonwealth . some materials absolutely necessary for the carrying on such a fabick , which at present are wanting amongst us , i mean virtue , morality , diligence , or at least hypocrisy . now this age is so plain dealing , as not to dissemble so far as to an outward ▪ pretence of qualities which seem at present so vnfashionable , and under so much discountenance . from hence we may draw a plain and natural inference , that a commonwealth is not fit for us , because we are not fit for a commonwealth . this being granted , the supposition of this form of government of england , with all its consequences as to the present question , must be excluded ; and absolute monarchy having been so too by the reasons at once alledged , it will without further examination fall to a mixt government , as we now are . i will not say , that there is never to be any alteration ; the constitution of the several parts that concur to make up the frame of the present government , may be altered in many things , in some for the better , and in others , perhaps for the worse , according as circumstances shall arise to induce a change ; and as passion and interest shall have more or less influence upon the publick councils ; but still , if it remaineth in the whole so far a a mixt monarchy , that there shall be a restraint upon the prince , as to the exercise of a despotick power , it is enough to make it a groundwork for the present question . it appeareth then that a bounded monarchy is that kind of government which will most probably prevail and continue in england ; from whence it must follow ( as hath been hinted before ) that every considerable part ought to be so composed , as the better to conduce to the preserving the harmony of the whole constitution . the navy is of so great importance , that it would be disparaged by calling it less than the life and soul of government . therefore to apply the argument to the subject we are upon ; in case the officers be all tarpaulins , it would be in reality too great a tendency to a common-wealth ; such a part of the constitution being democratically disposed may be suspected to endeavour to bring it into that shape ; where the influence must be so strong , and the supposition will be the more justifiable . in short , if the maritim force , which is the only thing that can defend us , should be wholly directed by the lower sort of men , with an intire exclusion of the nobility and gentry ; it will not be easy to answer the arguments supported by so great a probability , that such a scheme would not only lean toward a domocracy , but directly lead us into it . let us now examine the contrary proposition , ( viz. ) that all officers should be gentlemen . here the objection lierh so fair of its introducing an arbitrary government , that it as little to be answered in that respect , as the former is in the other . gentlemen in a general definition , will be suspected to lie more than other men , under the temptations of being made instruments of unlimitted power ; their relations , their way of living , their tast of the entertainments of the court , inspire an ambition that generally draweth their inclinations toward it , besides the gratifying of their interests . men of quality are often taken with the ornaments of government , the splendor dazleth them so , as that their judgments are surprized by it ; and there will be always some that have so little remorse for invading other mens liberties , that it maketh them less solicitous to preserve their own . these things throw them naturally into such a dependance as might give a dangerous biass ; if they alone were in command at sea , it would make that great wheel turn by an irregular motion , and instead of being the chief means of preserving the whole frame , might come to be the chief instruments to discompose and dissolve it . the two further exclusive propositions being necessarily to be excluded in this question , there remaineth no other expedient ; neither can any other conclusion be drawn from the argument as it hath been stated , than that there must be a mixture in the navy of gentlemen and tarpaulins , as there is in the constition of the government , of power and liberty . this mixture is not to be so rigorously defined , as to set down the exact proportion there is to be of each ; the greater or lesser number must be directed by circumstances , of which the government is to judge , and which makes it improper to set such rounds , as that upon no occasion it shall on either side be lessened or enlarged . it is possible the men of wapping may think they are injured , by giving them any partners in the dominion of the sea ; they may take it unkindly to be jostled in their own element by men of such a different education , that they may be said to be of another species ; they will be apt to think it an usurpation upon them , and notwithstanding the instances that are against them , and which give a kind of prescription on the other side , they will not easily acquiesce in what they conceive to be a hardship to them . but i shall in a good measure reconcile my self to them by what follows ; ( viz. ) the gentlemen shall not be capable of bearing office at sea , except they be tarpaulins to ; that is to say , except they are so trained up by a continued habit of living at sea , that they may have a right to be admitted free denizens of wapping upon this dependeth the whole matter ; and indeed here lieth the difficulty , because the gentlemen brought up under the connivance of a looser discipline , and of an easier admittance , will take it heavily to be reduced within the fetters of such a new model ; and i conclude , they will be extreamly averse to that which they call an unreasonable yoke upon them , that their original consent is never to be expected . but if it appeareth to be convenient , and which is more , that it is necessary for the preservation of the whole , that it should be so ; the government must be call'd in aid to suppress these first boilings of discontent ; the rules must be imposed with such authority , and the execution of them must be so well supported , that by degrees their impatience will be subdued , and they will concu● in an establishment to which they will every day be more reconciled . they will find it will take away the objections which are now thrown upon them , of setting up for masters , without having even been apprentices ; or at least , without having served out their time. mankind naturally swelleth against favour and partiality ; their belief of their own merit maketh men object them to a prosperous competitor , even when there is no pretence for it ; but when there is the least handle offered , to be sure it will be taken . so , in this case , when a gentleman is preferr'd at sea , the tarpaulin is very apt to impute it to friend or favour : but if that gentleman hath before his preferment passed through all the steps which lead to it , that he smelleth as much of pitch and tar , as those that were swadled in sail-cloath ; his having an escutcheon will be so far from doing him harm , that it will set him upon the advantage ground : it will draw a real respect to his quality when so supported , and give him an influence , and and authority infinitely superior to that which the meer sea men can ever pretend to . when a gentleman hath learned how to obey , he will grow very much fitter to command ; his own memory will advise him not to inflict too rigorous punishments . he will better resist the temptations of authority ( which are great ) when he reflecteth how much he hath at other times wished it might be gently exercised , when he was liable to the rigour of it . when the undistinguish'd discipline of a ship hath tamed the young mastership , which is apt to arise from a gentleman's , birth and education . he then groweth proud in the right place , and valueth himself first upon knowing his duty , and then upon doing it . in plain english , men of quality in their several degrees must either restore themselves to a better opinion , both for morality and diligence , or else quality it self will be in danger of being extinguished . the original gentleman is almost lost in strictness , when posterity doth not still further adorn by their virtue . the escutcheon their ancestors first got for them by their merit , they deserve the penalty of being deprived of it . to expect that quality alone should waft men up into places and imployments , is as unreasonable , as to think that a ship , because it is carved and gilded , should be fit to go to sea without sails or tackling . but when a gentleman maketh no other use of his quality , than to incite him the more to his duty , it will give such a true and settled superiority , as must destroy all competition from those that are below him . it is time now to go to the probationary qualifications of an officer at sea : and i have some to offer , which i have digested in my thoughts , i hope impartially , that they may not be speculative notions , but things easy and practicable , if the directing powers will give due countenance and incouragement to the execution of them : but whilst i am going about to set them down , though this little essay was made to no other end , than to introduce them , i am upon better recollection , induced to put a restraint upon my self , and rather retract the promise i made at the beginning , than by advising the particular methods , by which i conceive the good end that is aimed at may be obtained , to incur the imputation of the thing of the world , of which i would least be guilty , which is of anticipating , by my private opinion , the judgment of the parliament , or seeming out of my slender stock of reason to dictate to the supream wisdom of the nation . they will , no doubt , consider the present establishments for discipline at sea , which are many of them very good , and if well executed , might go a great way in the present question . but i will not say they are so perfect , but that other may be added to make them more effectual , and that some more supplemental expedients may be necessary to compleat what is yet defective : and whenever the parliament shall think fit to take this matter into their consideration , i am sure they will not want for their direction , the auxiliary reasons of any man without doors , muchless of one , whose thoughts are so intirely and unaffectedly resigned to whatever they shall determine in this , or any thing else relating to the publick . maxims of state . by a late person of honour . london : printed in the year . maxlms of state . . that a prince who falleth out with laws , breaketh with his best friends . . that the exalting his own authority above his laws , is like letting in his enemy to surprize his guards : the laws are the only guards he can be sure will never run away from him . . a prince that will say he can do no good , except he may do every thing ; teacheth the people to say , they are slaves , if they must not do whatever they have a mind to . . that power and liberty are like heat and moisture ; where they are well mixt ▪ every thing prospers ; where the are single , they are destructive . . that arbitrary power is like most other things , that are very hard , they are also very apt to break . . that the profit of places should be measured as they are more or less conducing to the publick service ; and if business is more necessary than splendor , the , instrument of it ought in proportion to be better paid ; that the contrary method is as impertinent , as it would be to let the. carving of a ship cost more than all the rest of it . . that where the least useful part of the people have the most credit with the prince , men will conclude , that the way to get every thing , is to be good for nothing . . that an extravagant gift to one man , raiseth the market to every body else ; so that in consequence , the unlimitted bounty of an unthinking prince maketh him a beggar , let him have never so much money . . that if ordinary beggars are whip'd , the daily beggars in fine cloaths ( out of a proportionable respect to their quality ) ought to be hanged . . that pride is as loud a beggar as want , and a great deal more sawcy . . that a prince , who will give more to importunity than merit , had as good set out a proclamation to all his loving subjects , forbidding them to do well , upon the penalty of being undone by it . . that a wise prince will not oblige his courtiers , who are birds of prey , so as to disoblige his people , who are beast of burthen . . that it is safer for a prince to judge of men by what they do to one another , than that they do to him . . that it is a gross mistake to think , that a knave between man and man , can be honest to a king , whom of all other men generally they make the least scruple to deceive . . that a prince who can ever trust the man that hath once deceived him , loseth the right of being faithfully dealt with by any other person . . that it is not possible for a prince to find out such an honest knave , as will let no body else cheat him . . that if a prince does not shew an aversion to knaves , there will be an inference that will be very natural , let it be never so unmannerly . . that a prince who followeth his own opinion to soon , is in danger of repenting it too late . . that it is less dangerous for a prince to mind too much what the people say , than too little . . that a prince is to take care that the greater part of the people may not be angry at the same time ; for though the first beginning of their ill humour should be against one another , yet if not stopt , it will naturally end in anger against him . . that if princes would reflect how much they are in the power of their ministers , they would be more circumspect in the choice of them . . that a wise prince will support good servants against mens anger , and not support ill ones against their complaint . . that parties in a state generally , like freebooters , hang out false colours ; the pretence is the publick good ; the real business is , to catch prizes ; like the tartars , where-ever they succeed , instead of improving their victory , they presently fall upon the baggage . . that a prince may play so long between two parties , that they may in time join together , and be in earnest with him . . that there is more dignity in open violence , than in the unskilful cunning of a prince , who goeth about to impose upon the people . . that the people will ever suspect the remedies for the diseases of the state , where they are wholly excluded from seeing how they are prepared . . that changing hands without changing measures , is as if a drunkard in a dropsey should change his doctors , and not his dyet . . that a prince is to watch that his reason may not be so subdued by his nature , as not to be so much a man of peace , as to be just in an army ; nor so much a man of war , as to be out of his element in his counsel . . that a man who cannot mind his own business , is not to be trusted with the king 's . . that quality alone should only serve to make a shew in the embroidered part of the government ; but that ignorance , though never so well born , should never be admitted to spoil the publick business . . that he who thinks his place below him , will certainly be below his place . . that when princes examples ceaseth to have the force of a law , it is a sure sign that his power is wasting , and that there is but little distance between men's neglecting to imitate , and their refusing 〈◊〉 obey . . that a people may let a king fall , yet still remain a people ; but if a king let his people slip from him ▪ he is no longer king. advertisement . since the death of the ingenious translator of these essays , an imperfect transcript of the following letter was intended for the press , but having the good fortune to meet with a more correct copy , i thought my self under a necessity of publishing it with this third edition , not only to do justice to his memory , but to the great person he chose for his patron . m. g. a letter sent by his lordship to charles cotton , esq upon his new translation and dedication of montaigne's essays . sir . i have too long delay'd my thanks to you for giving me such an obliging evidence of your remembrance : that alone would have been a welcome present , but when join'd with the book in the world i am the best entertain'd with , it raiseth a strong desire in me to be better known , where i am sure to be so much pleased . i have till now thought wit could not be translated , and do still retain so much of that opinion , that i believe it impossible , except by one whose genius cometh up to that of the author . you have so kept the original strength of his thought , that it almost tempts a man to believe the transmigration of souls , and that his being us'd to hills , is come into the moore-lands to reward us here in england , for doing him more right than his country will afford him . he hath by your means mended his first edition : to transplant and make him ours , is not only a valuable acquisition to us , but a just censure of the critical impertinence of those french scribblers who have taken pains to make little cavils and exceptions , to lessen the reputation of this great man , whom nature hath made too big to confine himself to the exactness of a studied stile . he let his mind have its full flight , and sheweth by a generous kind of negligence that he did not write for praise , but to give to the world a true picture of himself and of mankind . he scorned affected periods , or to please the mistaken reader with an empty chime of words . he hath no affectation to set himself out , and dependeth wholly upon the natural force of what is his own , and the excellent application of what he borroweth . you see , sir , i have kindness enough for monsieur de montaigne to be your rival , but no body can pretend to be in equal competition with you : i do willingly yield which is no small matter for a man to do to a more prosperous lover ; and if you will repay this piece of justice with another , pray believe , that he who can translate such an author without doing him wrong must not only make me glad but proud of being his very humble servant , halli●ax . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e his advice to a daughter . westminster-school . dr. busby , who the same same day . his free-school foundations . the case of the earl of argyle, or, an exact and full account of his trial, escape, and sentence wherein are insert the act of parliament injoining the test, the confession of faith, the old act of the king's oath to be given at his coronation : with several other old acts, made for establishing the protestant religion : as also several explications made of the test by the conformed clergy : with the secret councils explanation thereof : together with several papers of objections against the test, all framed and emitted by conformists : with the bishop of edinburgh's vindication of the test, in answer thereunto : as likewise a relation of several matters of fact for better clearing of the said case : whereunto is added an appendix in answer to a late pamphlet called a vindication of his majestie's government and judicatories in scotland, especially with relation to the earl of argyle's process, in so far as concerns the earl's trial. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : or : ) the case of the earl of argyle, or, an exact and full account of his trial, escape, and sentence wherein are insert the act of parliament injoining the test, the confession of faith, the old act of the king's oath to be given at his coronation : with several other old acts, made for establishing the protestant religion : as also several explications made of the test by the conformed clergy : with the secret councils explanation thereof : together with several papers of objections against the test, all framed and emitted by conformists : with the bishop of edinburgh's vindication of the test, in answer thereunto : as likewise a relation of several matters of fact for better clearing of the said case : whereunto is added an appendix in answer to a late pamphlet called a vindication of his majestie's government and judicatories in scotland, especially with relation to the earl of argyle's process, in so far as concerns the earl's trial. stewart, james, sir, - . mackenzie, george, sir, - . vindication of his majesties government, and judicatories in scotland. [ ], p. s.n.], [s.l. : . sometimes attributed to james steuart--cf. nuc pre- imprints. errata: p. [ ]. this item appears on reels : and : . reproduction of originals in the edinburgh university library and the british library. entry cancelled for a a in wing ( nd ed.) created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of 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true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng argyll, archibald campbell, -- earl of, - . test act ( ) scotland -- history -- - . scotland -- history -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - amanda watson sampled and proofread - amanda watson text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the case of the earl of argyle . or an exact and full account of his trial , escape , and sentence : wherein are insert the act of parliament injoining the test , the confession of faith , the old act of the king's oath to be given at his coronation : with several other old acts , made for establishing the protestant religion . as also several explications made of the test by the conformed clergy : with the secret councils explanation thereof . together with several papers of objections against the test ; all framed and emitted by conformists : with the bishop of edinburgh's vindication of the test in answer thereto . as likewise a relation of several matters of fact , for better clearing of the said case . whereunto is added an appendix , in answer to a late pamphlet called , a vindication of his majestie 's government , and judicatories , in scotland , — especially with relation to the earl of argyle's process . in so far as concerns the earl's trial , printed in the year m. d. c. lxxxiii . the publisher to the reader . having received the ensuing narrative of the case and trial of the earl of argyle , under the caution you may find in the close of it , not to hasten the publication , but rather to vvait for a more convenient season , it 's like i had continued to comply ( as i have done hitherto ) vvith the earl's inclination , if not excited to the contrary by a paper called , a vindication of his majestie 's government , and judicatories , in scotland — especially with relation to the late earl of argyle's process , printed at edinburgh , and reprinted at london , vvith the appearance of a publick allovvance : for , albeit all wise and sober men , not only in scotland , but also in the vvorld , vvho have heard this affair , do , at this day , sufficiently understand its rise , procedure , issue , and tendency , vvith all the just consideration , that either oppressed innocence , abused justice , or impotent and ill contrived malice , do deserve ; yet seeing these concerned have had the confidence to subject their res judicata to an unexpected review ; and vvithall , the equitie to leave their advantages , and sist themselves on even ground , vvith an open defiance to all contradictors , and fair submission to the common sense and reason of mankind : i thought , i could not be vvanting to such an happy opportunity , vvithout disappointing so generous an offer , deserting my good friend the author of the mist , and failing of the second , and principal part of my trust : and therefore resolved , vvithout further delay , to give the follovving sheets their long desired licence : purposing to subjoyn , as an appendix , any further animadversions that the above-mentioned pamphlet may seem to deserve . errata . pag. . l. . acts , r. oaths . p. . l. . tursday , r. thursday . p. . i. . peased , r. pleased . l. . and , r. but. p. . l. . prositive , r. positive . p. . l. . . r. . p. . l. . ther , r , the. p. . l. . king , r. kingdom . p. . l. ▪ the earl's hand , r. the earl of glencairn ( first chancellour after his majesties return ) his hand . p. . l. . is not , r. as not . p. . l. . yet , r. et . p. . l. . governour , r. deputy governour . p. . l. . i have considered , r. i have not considered . edinburgh ; . may , . sir the case of the late earl of argyl , which , even before the process led against him , you was earnest to know , was at first . i thought , so plain , that i needed not , and grew afterwards so exceedingly mysterious , that i could not , for some time , give you so perfect ane accompt of it , as i wished : but this time being still no less proper , the exactness of mynarrative will , i hope , excuse all delays . the design against him being now so clear , and the grounds founded on so slender , that to satisfie all unbyassed persons of his integrity , there needs no more , but barely to represent matter of fact ; i should think shame to spend so many words , either on arguments , or relation , were it not lest to strangers some mystery might still be suspected to remain concealed : and therefore to make plain what they can hardly believe , though we clearly see it . at his royal highness arrival in scotland , the earl was one of the first to wait upon him , and until the meeting of our last parliament , the world believed , the earl was as much in his highness favour , as any intrusted in his majestie 's affairs , in this kingdom . when it was resolved , and his majestie moved to call the parliament , the earl was in the countrey , and at the opening of it , he appeared as forward as any in his majestie 's , and his highness service , but it had not fat many dayes when a change was noticed in his highness , and the earl observed to decline in his highness favour . in the beginning of the parliament , the earl was appointed one of the lords of the articles , to prepare matters for the parliament , and named by his highness to be one of a committee of the articles for religion , which , by the custom of all scots parliaments , and his majestie 's instructions to his commissioner , at this time , was the first thing treated of : in this committee there was ane act prepared for securing the protestant religion ; which act did ratify the act approving the confession of faith , and also the act containing the coronation oath , appointed , by several standing acts of parliament , to be taken by all our kings , & regents , before their entrie to the exercise of the government . this act was drawn somewhat less binding upon the successor , as to his own profession ; but full as strictly tying him to maintain the protestant religion , in the publick profession thereof , and to put the laws concerning it in execution , and also appointing a further test , beside the former , to exclude papists from places of publick trust : and because the fines of such as should act , without taking the test , appeared no better then discharged , if falling in the hands of a popish successor , and some accounting any limitation worse then ane exclusion , and all being con●ent to put no limitation on the crown , so it might consist with the safety and security of the protestant religion , it was ordained , that all such fines , and forfaultures should appertain the one half to the informers , and the other half should be bestowed on pious uses , according to certain rules expressed in the act. but this act , being no wise pleasing to some , it was laid aside , and the committee discharged any more to meet , and instead of this act , there was brought in to the parliament , at the same time , with the act of succession , a short act , ratifying all former acts made for the securitie of the protestant religion , which is the first of the printed acts of this parliament . at the passing of this act the earl proposed that these words , and all acts against poperie , might be added , which was opposed by the advocat , and some of the clergie , as unnecessary , but the motion being seconded by sir george lockhart , and the then president of the session , now turned out , it was yeelded to , and added without a vote , and this act being still not thought sufficient ; and several members desiring other additions , and other acts , a promise was made by his royal highness , in open parliament , that time , and opportunity should be given , to bring in any other act , which should be thought necessary for further securing the protestant religion : but though several persons , both befor and after passing the act for the test ( here subjoyned ) did give in memorials , and overtures , yet they were never suffered to be read , either in articles , or parliament , but in place of all , this act for the test was still obtruded , and nothing of that nature suffered to be heard , after once that act past , though even at passing it the promise was renewed . as for the test , it was first brought into the parliament without mentioning the confession of faith , and , after several hours debate , for adding the confession of faith , and many other additions , and alterations , it was past at the first presenting , albeit it was earnestly prest , by near half the parliament , that it might be delayed till nixt morning , the draught being so much changed and interlined , that many , even of the most engaged in the debate , did not sufficiently understand it , and though they took notes knew not precisely how it stood . and this was indeed the earls case in particular , and the cause why , in voting , he did forbear either to approve or disapprove . his part in the debate was , that , in the entrie of it , he said , that he thought , as few oaths should be required , as could be , and these as short and clear as possible : that it was his humble opi●ion , that a very small alteration in these acts , which had been used , these twentie years , might serve , for it was manifest , and he attested the whole parliament upon it , that the oath of allegiance , and declaration had effectually debarred all fanaticks from getting into places of trust , all that time : it was true some papists had swallowed the oath of allegiance , and therefore a word or two only of addition , to guard against them , was all he judged necessary . and there after where in the close of the act , the kings sons , & brothers , were intended to be dispensed with from taking the test , he opposed the exception , & said , it was our happiness that king , & people were of one religion , and that they were so by law : that he hoped the parliament would doe nothing to loose what was fast , nor open a gap for the royal family , to differ in religion , their example was of great consequence , one of them was as a thousand , and would draw the more followers , if once it appeared to the people , that it were honourable , and a priviledge to be of an other religion : and therefor he wished , if any exception vvere , it might be particular for his royal h s ; but his h s himselfe opposing this , the earl concluded vvith his fear , that if this exception did pass it vvould doe more hurt to the protestant religion then all the rest of that act , and many other acts could doe good . whilst these acts , about religion , were in agitation , his h s told the earl one day in privat , to beware of himselfe , for the earl of erroll ▪ and others were to give in a bill to the parliament , to get him made liable to some debts they pretended to be cautioners in for his father , and that those that were most forward in his majesties service must be had a care of : the earl said he knew there was no ground for any such bill , and he hoped neither the earl of errol , nor any other should have any advantage of him , upon any head relating to his majesties service . his highness told others likewise , he had given the earl good advice . but shortly after the above mentioned debates , there were two bills given in to the meeting of the articles , against the earl , one by the earl of errol , the other by his majesties advocat , who alledged he did it by command , for otherwise he acknowledged it was without his line . the earl of erroll's clame was , that the earl of argyl might be declared liable to releeve him , and others , of a debt , wherein , they alleadged , they stood bound as cautioners , for the late marques of argyll , the earl's father , to which the earl answered , that he had not got his fathers whole estate , but only a part of it , and that expresly burdened with all the debts , he was liable to pay , whereof this pretended debt was none , and that the marquess of huntlie , who at that time was owing to the marquess of argyl . l. s●erl . had got l. sterl . of yearly rent , out of the marques of argyll's forsaulture , without the burden of any debt ; so that both by law , and equity , the earl could not be liable , the marquess of huntlie , and not he , having got that which should bear this releefe , and which should indeed have payed the far greatest part of the marques of argyll's debt , the same having been undertaken for huntlie by argyll , either as cautioner for huntlie , or to raise money to pay his debt ; besides that the earl of erroll can never make it appear , that he , or his predecessors were bound , for the marques of argyll in the third part of the summes he acclaimes : yet some were much inclined to beleive erroll on his bare assertion . his majestie 's advocat's clame was , to take from the earl his heritable offices of sheriffe &c. especially that of justice general of argyll-shire , the ●sles , and other places , which last is nevertheless only a part of the generall justitiarie of all scotland , granted to his predecessors , some hundred of years agoe , for honourable , and onerous causes , and constantly enjoyed by them until expresly surrendered , in his late majesties hands , for a new grant of the above mentioned justitiary of argyl &c : and this new grant was also confirmed by many acts of parliament , and particularly by his majesties royall father , of blissed memorie , in the parliament holden by him anno . as likewise by his majestie that now is ( whom god long preserve ) his new gift and chartour , after several debates before him in anno . and . which new gifts and chartours were again ratified by a special instruction from his majestie in the parliament . so that albeit several late gifts of regalitie granted to the marqueis of athol , marqueis of queensberrie , and others , may be questioned , because granted since the acts of parliament discharging all such gifts in time coming , yet the earl of argyl's rights are good , as being both of a far different nature , and granted long before the said acts of parliament , and in effect the earl his rights are rather confirmed by these prohibitive acts , because both anterior to , and excepted from them , as appears by the act salvo iure . wherein the earls rights are particularly and fully excepted in the body of the printed act. when these things appeared so plain as not to be answered . it was alledged that upon the fo●faulture of the late marqueis of argyl , his estate was annexed to the croun , and so could not be gifted to the earl by his majestie , ( wherein they soon discovered a design to forfault him , if any pretence could be found ) but the act of forfaulture being read , and containing no such thing , but on the contrary a clear power left to his majestie to dispose of the whole , and the earl telling them plainly , that these that were most active to have his father forfaulted , were very far from desiring his estate to be annexed to the croun , seeing it was in expectation of gifts out of it they were so diligent , that pretence of the annexation was past from , but yet the designe was nowise given over , for there was a proposition made , and a vote caried in the articles , that a committee should be appointed , with parliamentary power , to meet in the intervals of parliament , to determine all controversies could be moved against any of the earls rights ; which was a very extraordinary device , and plainly caried by extraordinary influences . upon this the earl applyed to the parliament , where this vote was to be brought , and having informed the members of his right , and the consequences of such a new judicature , he had good hope to get the vote ranversed , when his royal h s on second thoughts judged it fit to put a stop to it , and excused himselfe , saying , it was his not being acquaint , and but lately in affairs , had made him go along with it , for he found it did plainly impugn his majesties prerogative , and might be of ill consequence , and indeed it is plain enough . it would have exposed the marqueis of huntli'es gift , which proceeded on the same forfaulture , as well as the earl of argyls , to the same , and far greater hazard , as some came to be sensible , when they heard all . you see here at what rate the earl was pursued , and on what grounds , before his taking of the test came in hand . after the parliament was adjurned , there was a new design to apply to his majestie for a commission , of the same nature , for reviewing all the earls rights , and to deprive him of his heritable offices , and , if possible , to burden him with more debts then his estate was worth . upon which , the earl waited on his highness , and informed him more particularly , offering to make it appear , by unquestionable rights and evidences , that his estate was not subject to any such review , as was intended , and that it might breed the earle great trouble , but could have no effect in law. to which his highness answered , that a review could do no hurt : the earl said , if a commission for a review were granted , some thing must be intended , and some thing must be done , and it was very like that some of these put into such a commission would be his enemies , at least small friends , and therefore intreated that if any intended to quarrel his rights , they and he and all their debates might be remitted to the ordinary iudicatories : and indeed he had reason , to desire , it might be so , the ordinary iudicatories being established by the ancient laws of the kingdom , not in order , or with respect to particular causes , and persons , but for the general , equal and impartial administration of justice to all , whereas the granting particular commissions , for trying and judging such and such cases , and persons , cannot but expose to the just contrary inconveniences , there being certainly a vast difference betwixt a mans finding a judge indifferently constitut , and his having one expresly and particularly appointed , for his single affair , who might possibly think himself commissionat , rather to serve a turn , in ane arbitrary way , then to administer fair justice : but all this prevailed not , only his highness said , the commission should not be expede untill the earl knew the names of the persons insert in it : whereunto the earl answered , that their might be many persons , against whom he could make no legal exception , whom yet he might have very good reason to decline to be his particular judges , and to have his rights taken from the ordinary judges , and committed to their examination , and all he might possibly gain by excepting would be to irritat : adding that as to his heritable offices , he had undoubtedly right to them , and they were rather honourable , then of advantage , that his family had them for faithful services to the crown ; and because they had served more faithfully then their neighbours , and been more useful then others , in keeping the countrey in peace , from thieves and robbers , therefore all the broken men and their patrons , were enemies to him , and his family , and desirous to have these offices out of his hands , but he resolved to doe as he had alwise done , to put himself in his majest ▪ will , and if his majest . were resolved to have back all heritable offices , and should think fit after hearing him to have back his , his majestie should have them , either freely , or for a just value : for though , they rendered the earl no free yearly rent , as the earl used them , yet he might be a sufferer in the want of them , if the country were left open to thieves and robbers , which he hoped his majestie would repair . his rights ( as he had said in parliament ) were unquestionable , and oftentimes confirmed ; yet he was willing to surrender them all on his knee to his majestie , but was not willing to have them ●orn from him with ane affront by any other . upon this his highness was pleased , to allow the earl a time , to go to the country , to bring his papers , and he was put in hopes no commission should passe till his return , which was indeed observed . in the mean time , the earl did write to the earl of murray , his majest . secretary , that he might have leave , to wait upon his majesty , which his majesty did graciously and readily grant ; the earl purposing , at his return to edinburgh , to beg the same favour of his highness : but he found this motion more fatal to him then he could have at first expected so innocent a design could prove : for it was at first told him , he could not have access to kiss his majesty's hand without taking the test ; then it dropt out that it was ill taken , his majesty was at all addressed to , for leeve to kiss his hand : and at length it became plain that takeing the test would not clear the way . as the earl was on his return to edinburgh , to wait upon his highness , and come the length of glasgow , he got the news , that the late president of the session , and he , were both turned out of it , and at his arrival at edinburgh , several meetings of council were appointed only to occasion his takeing of the test : but the earl having gone some miles out of town , was not present . at last a meeting of the council was appointed expresly , and one of the clerks ordered to warn the earl particularly to be present ; whereof the earl being advertised before the clerk came to him , he waited on his highness , and had the honour of ane opportunity after supper to speak to his royall highness , in his bed chamber : the earl told his highness , he was now returned , to make good his word , and to shew those writts and rights he had promised : but sir ( said the earl ) i haveheard by the way of alterations , and that i am turn'd out of the session : his highness said , it was so : the earl asked what nixt ? his highness said , he knew no more . the earl said he had never sought that , nor any place , and he knew that place was at his maj. dispose , and it might soon be better filled : but said the earl , if it be to express a frown , it is the first i have had from his majesty , thir thirty years ; i know i have enemies , but they shall never make me alter my duetie , and resolution to serve his majesty ; i have served his majesty in armes , and in his judicatures , when i knew i had enemies on my right hand , and on my left , and i will doe so still , but if any have power , to render his majesty or your highness jealous of me , it will make my service the more useless to both , and the less comfortable to my selfe : his highness said he knew no more then what he had said ; the earl then said , it was late , and he would wait on his highnesse , some other time , about these matters : but the thing that at present presses ( sayes the earle ) is , that i hear one of the clerks of council is appointed to tell me to be at the council , to morrow , i conceave , to take the test ; pray , what is the haste ? may not i , with your highnesses favour , have the time allowed by the act of parliament ? his highnesse said , no. the earl urged it again , but in vain : and all the delay , he could obtain , was till tursday the third of november , the nixt council day in course . the earl said he was the less fond of the test , that he found , that some that refused it were still in favour , and others that had taken it turned out , as the register , at which his highnesse only laught : but sir , [ said the earl , ] how comes your highnesse to press the test so hastily ? sure there are some things in it your highnesse doth not over much like : then said his highnesse , angrily , and in a passion most true , that test was brought into the parliament , without the confession of faith : but the late president caused put in the confession , which makes it such as no honest man can take it : the earl said he had the more reason to advise : whereby you may see , whether his highness then thought , the confession was to be sworn to in the test , ●or not . after this the earl waited several times on his highness , and made new attempts for the favour of a delay , but with no successe : what passed in privat , shall not be repeated , except so far as is absolutly necessary to evince the earl his innocency , and to shew that in what he did he had no ill design , nor did , in the least prevaricat , or give any offence willingly , but was ready to comply , as far as he could , with a good conscience : it was in this interval , that the earl spoke with the bishop of edinburgh , & saw his vindication of the test , and all the explanations i here send yow , only the councils explanation was not yet thought on : and that all the bishop did then urge the earl with , beyond what is in his vindication , was to have a care of a noble family , and to tell him , that the opposing the exception of the kings sons , and brothers , from taking the test , had fired the kiln . at the last upon wednesday , the second of november , late , the earl waited on his highness , and did in the most humble , and easie expressions he could devise , decline the present taking of the test ; but if h 〈…〉 h● would needs have a present answer , he beg'd his favour , that he would accept of his refusing it in privat , which was denied again : then , he said , if his highness would allow him time , to goe home , and consider , he would , either give satisfaction , or the time prescribed by the act of parliament would elapse , and so he would go off in course , and without noise : but this also his highness absolutly refused : upon which the earl asked what good his appearing in council , to refuse there , would doe ? his highness was pleased to answer , that he needed not appear , but to imploy some friend , to speak for him ; and his highness himselfe named one ; this the earl yielded to , as the best of a bad choice , and said , he should either use the person named by his highness , or some other relation that were a councellor , and in toun : and , in compliance with his highness pleasure ▪ the nixt morning , the earl drew a letter , for a warrand to the same person his h● had named , for declaring his mind in council ; wherein he exprest his constant resolution to continue a true protestant , and loyal subject , which were the true ends of the test ; but the letter concluding on a delay of taking the oath , and his highness having given some indication , how litle pleasing that office was to him , neither that friend , nor any other would , by any means , accept of it . upon this the earl drew a second , and shorter letter , to any that should that day preside in council ; but after much discourse , it being suggested , that an explanation would be allowed , and the shorter the better , the earl first drew one , suitable to his own thoughts ; and it being thought too long , did instantly shorten it , and put it into his pocket , but withall said he would not offer it , till he knew his highness pleasure , lest his highness might take it ill that any had prevailed more with him , then himselfe ; and therefore the earl did refuse to go to the council , or out of his chamber , till he had his approbation . a litle after a coatch was sent for the earl , and it was told him , in the room without the council chamber , that the bishop of edinburgh had spoke to his highness , and signified to him , that the earl was willing to take the test , with an explanation , and that the bishop said , it would be very kindly accepted : these were the express words , and then ( and not till then ) the earl went in to the council , and delivered ( that is pronounced ) his explanation closs by his highness , and directly towards him ; so loud , and audible , that some in the furthest corner of the room acknowledged they heard it : whereupon the oath was administred , and the earl took it ; and his highness with a well satisfied countenance , and the honour of a smile , commanded him to take his place : and while he sat by his highness ( which was his honour to do that day ) his highness spake several times privatly to him , and alwise very pleasantly . and the earl hath since protested to his freinds , that he thinks his highness was , at the time , well peased , though some others , that wisht the earl out of the council , appeared surprised , and in some confusion . the first thing came to be treated of in council , after the earl had taken his seat , was the concils explanation , at that time intended , and resolved to be allowed to the clergie only , and no other , and withall not to be printed : to which the earl refused to vote , which was afterwards made a ground of challenge : a little after , it being the post night , the earl slept out , and went to his lodging , and though he acknowledges , he did not decline to give some friends ane accompt of what had past , vet he was so far from spreading copies of his explanation , at takeing the oath ; that he flatly refused to give a kind , and discreet friend , then in his chamber , a copie of it , lest it might go abroad : and the words being few , and publictly spoke , it is not strange they might be , almost perfectly , repeated , as , it s known , the clerks pretended to do , but the kings advocat having past from the accusation of spreading , this is only mentioned to evidence howsingly studious the earl was to satisfie his own conscience , and how tender of giving offence , for i can say truly for him , he was never heard to disswade any to take the test , nor to disparage it , after it past in an act ; only he refused to take it himselfe , without ane explanation , which to stretch to a crime is beyond all example : i confess , he never cry'd it up as superexcellent , or divine , as some have done that can alter their toon , and decry it as much , when ever there shall be occasion . nixt morning the earl waited on his highness , expecting yesternights countenance , and indeed nothing lesse then what he met with ; for begining to speak with his highness in privat , his highness interrupted him , and said he was not pleased with his explanation : the earl said , he did not presume to give it till his highness allowed him : his highness acknowledged , that the bishop of edinburgh had told him , that the earl intended ane explanation : but ( sayes his highness ) i thought it had been some short one , like earl queesburries : the earl answered that his highness heard what he said : his highness said , he did , but he was surprised : then the earl said , he had said the same thing , in privat , to his highness , wherewith he , at that time , appeared satisfied : and the earl being about to say more , in his own vindication , his highness interrupting him said , well it is past with yow , but it shall pass so with no other , which words , the earl thought , did both confirm the councils acceptance , and his explanation , and sufficiently clear him of all offence , if he had incurred any . and whatever hath been his highness resolution , or the earl's misfortune since , the earl is perswaded , that his highness was resolved , then , to presse the affair no further : for though some had still the same animosities , and prejudices , against the earl , yet hitherto , they had not adventured , to undertake , to extract , and forge such crimes , out of his words as afterwards they did : and it was not , till privat suggestions were made , that advocats were asked ( as they were ) if these words could be stretched to treason ; and that ( when the ablest denyed ) the kings advocat complyed , and was ordered to draw the inditement , and some judges were engaged , and secured about it , as will appear , when ever his majesty thinks it his interest , to take ane exact triall of that whole affair . the earl did think ( as i just now said , ) his highness saying , it was past as to him , was enough ; and he was resolved to say no more for justifying himselfe ; but seing he is so hardly pressed , and his life , and honour at the stake , it is hoped his highness will not disown what the earl hath hitherto so respectfully concealed ; and is now no less necessary to be spoke out , for his vindication . and that is , that besids that his highness did allow the earl to explain , and did hear his explanation , in council , and approve it : the earl did twice in privat , once before , and once after his oath in council , repeat , to his highness , the same words , that the treason is now founded on : ( viz. ) that the earl meant not to bind up himself , to wish , and endeavour , in a lawfulway , and in his station any alteration , he thought to the advantage of church , and state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and his loyalty : and that his highness was so far from charging them with treason , that he said , plainly , both times , the earl's scruples were unnecessary , and that the test did not bind him up , as he imagined : adding further , the last time , that the earl had cheated himself , for notwithstanding the explanation , he had taken the test. to which the earl only answered , that then his highness should be satisfied . now , after all this , that treason should be so earnestly searched for , and so groundlesly found , in those words , is it not strange beyond all example ? could it be treason , for the earl to say , he wil not bind up himself where his highness sayes so oft , and so plainly , it was not intended , that he , or any man , should be bound up ? what past , the nixt day , after the earl had taken the test , and was receaved by the council , is also proper for you to know . the earl , being to take it as one of the commissioners of the treasury , it was commonly thought , that he , and the other commissioners were to take it in the exchequer : but after ten of the clock , about two hours after the earl had parted from his highness , one told him , there was a design upon him , to make him swear once more befor the council : and accordingly , at twelve , there was an extraordinary council called in the abbay , and there it was found , that the commissioners of treasury , as officers of the croun , were to take the test , before the council ; and it was told the earl , that the exchequer could not , that day , sit without him ; and , to make the matter more solemn , it was resolved , that the council should meet that after noon , and that his highness should be present : so as soon as they were mett , the oath was tendered , and the earl offering to take it , and saying only these words , as before , the earl of roxburgh , never heard to speak in council till then , stood up behind his highness chair , and with clamour , asked what was said : to whom his highness was pleased to turn , and inform him : upon which roxburgh , prepared for the purpose , desired , that what the earl of argyll had said , the day before , might be repeated : which the earl , seing a design upon him , did at first decline ; till he was peremptorily put to it by his highness , and he being ingenuous , and thinking no course more proper to prevent mistakes of words . he said , he had a note of what he had said , in his pocket , which his highness called for , very earnestly , and commanded him to produce , which being done , and the paper read , so secure was the earl of his innocency , that he was willing , upon the first motion , to sign it : but the , then , new president of the session , now chancellour , and the new register , could not agree , whither it was fit , or not , the treason not yet appearing , when read in council , as when they had talked of it , in privat : so the earl was removed , and then called in , and after these two had wheted , and adjusted their inventions , he was desired positivly to sign the paper , he had given in . to which he answered , he meant well , and truely did see no ill in the paper , why he might not , and if the words did please them then , as they did when they were first pronounced , he would do it : but , if they found the least matter of displeasure in them he would forbear : whereupon being again removed , and called in , he was told . he had not given the satisfaction required by the act of parliament , in taking the test : and so could not sit in the council , and somewhat more was added , as if the matter drew deeper , but the particular words i doe not know : to which the earl said , that he judged , all the parliament meant was to exclud refusers of the test from places of trust : and if he were judged a refuser , he submitted , but could conceave no greater danger in the matter , for he had served his majesty faithfully within doors , and was resolved to doe so without doors , and so he made his obeisance , and went out . nixt morning , being saturday november . the earl waited on his royall highness , and , amongst other things , told his highness , he was strangely surprised , that the saying he could not bind up himself in his station , and in a lawful way &c. as was contained in that paper , was lookt on as a crime , ●eing he had said the same words to his highness formerly , in privat , without any offence , to which his highness gave no answer , but held his peace , which made the earl make bold , to put him to remember his own words , and to ask him , what he had said , when the earl formerly spoke to him : then his highness was pleased to say , he had forgot what he had said : to which the earl answered , the worse indeed for me ; but sir , here are the same words , i formerly said , without offence , what sayes your highness now ? what ill is in them ? let me know & i will vindicat my selfe . and all his highness at this second time said , was , what hath been above remarked , that they were unnecessary words , that the earl scrupled needlesly , that he was not tyed up , by that oath , as he imagined ; and after a pause added , as i have already told you ; well , you have cheated your self , you have taken the test : to which the earl replyed , he hoped then his highness was satisfied , ( as above ) his highness then began to complain , that the earl , the litle while he sat in council , after he had taken the oath , had not gone along , to approve the councils explanation : the earl said he had not heard the debate : and therefore , it was reasonable , to excuse him from voting . his highness returned , a litle warmly , that the earl knew the case will enough ( which indeed was not unlike , and yet not at all strange , that the earl could not vote , for that explanation , seing he could not but know , the parliament did intend the confession should be sworn : and that he himselfe had taken it in that sense , as all others had done , before that explanation past in councill ) but the earl replying nothing , his highness continued , that the earl , and others , had designed to bring trouble upon an handfull of poor catholicks , that would live peaceably , however they were used , but it should light upon others . a litle after , his highness commanded the earl not to go out of town , till he waited on him , which the earl said he should obey : but notwithstanding thereof , one of the clerks of the council was sent to the earl , that same night , late , to intimat to him , not to go out of town , till the council should sit , upon the tuesday thereafter . upon moonday , the seventh of november , the earle waited on his highness again , and told him , he was surprised to get such a message from the council , after his highness had laid his own commands upon him , and asked what the councils meaning could be : his highness was pleased to say , he knew nothing , but referred all to themselves , at their meeting . upon tuesday , the . of november , when the council met , without ever calling the earl , ane order was sent to him , by one of their clerks , to enter himself prisoner in the castle of edinburgh , before twelve of the clock , the nixt day , with a warrant to the deputie governour , to keep him prisoner , wherein the word sure - firmance was struk out , which appeared to have been fairly writ : this order the earl receaved , and obeyed it , with great submission , entering all alone in ane haikny coatch : and when some of his relations , and persons of quality , offered to go along with him , he refused , saying , that if he were pursued at the instance of any other , he would accept of their civility , but seing he was pursued , at the instance of his majesties advocat , he would go , in the most humble way that he could think on , and have no body concerned but himself . but all this did not hinder the council , to write to his majesty the letter hereafter insert , giving judgment , before trial , without any hearing , and s●eking leeve to proceed to a process , which they likewise proceeded in , before any return came ; as likewise , about the very date of this letter , they emitted their explanation of the test : albeit in their letter , they assert , that they had been very careful not to suffer any to take the test with glosses and explanations . the earl , some dayes after his entering prisoner into the castle of edinburgh , did write a letter to his royal highness , telling him , that he had obeyed his highness , and the councils order , in entering prisoner in that place ; that he had not written sooner , lest he might be thought too impatient of his punishment , which appeared to be the effects of an high displeasure , which , he hoped , he nowise deserved ; that he was resolved to continue in all duty , and obedience to his majesty , and his r. highness , and never to fail in any profession thereof , he had made ; and begged to know , what satisfaction was expected , and where , and how , he might live with his highness favour . this letter , at first , seemed to please , and , the earl heard , it did , but the only answer , directly returned , was summonds charging the earl , with leasing making , and depraving of laws , before any return from his majestie : and after a return came , an other sumonds , with sound of trumpet , containing perjury , and treason , added to the former crimes : notwithstanding all which , fair weather was made , and it was given out , and likewise intimat to the earl , by a particular message , from one of the club , that no more was designed , but to humble the earl , and to take his heritable , and other offices from him , and his family : and when his highness was told it was hard measure , by such a process , and on such pretensions , to thereaten life , and fortune , his highness said , life , and fortune ? god forbid . what happened after these things , and how the processe was carried on , followes now in order : and for your more clear , and distinct information , i have sent you , several , very necessary and useful papers , with indexes on the margin , pointing at such passages , as more remarkably concern this affair : and the papers are . i. act char. . p. . c. , aug. . . anent religion , and the test. ii. act i. . p. . c. . anno . anent the annulling of the acts of parliament made against god's word , and for maintainance of idolatry , in any times by past . iii. act i. . p. . c. . anno . the confession of the faith , and doctrine , &c. iv. act i. . p. c. . anno . anent the kings oath to be given at his coronation . v. act i . p. . c. . no person may be judge , procurator , notar , nor member of court who professeth not the religion , &c. vi. part of the act i. . p. . c. . anno . entituled , act against jesuits , seminary priests , sayers , or hearers of messe , papists , and receptors of them . vii . act i : . p : . c. . anno . adversaries of the true religion are not subjects to the king. of apostats . viii . act char. . p. . c . nov. . act asserting his majesties supremacy , over all persons , and in all causes ecclesiastical . ix . the bishop of aberdeens explication of the test. x. the explication of the test by the synod , and clergie of perth . xi . paraphrase on the test : xii . grounds wherupon some of the conform ministers scruple to take the test. xiii . sederunt of the council . september . xiv : the earl of queensberries explanation . xv. sederunt : october . xvi . the bishop of edinburgh's paper , and vindication of the test. xvii . sederunt november . xviii . privy councils explanation . xix . sederunt . nov. . xx. the earl of argyl's explication of the test. xxi . the explanation of his explication . xxii , the councils letter to the king. xxiii . the kings answer . xxiv , the inditement . xxv . abstract of the acts of parliament , whereupon the inditment is founded . xxvi . the earl of argyl's first petition for advocats . xxvii . the councils answer . xxviii . the earl of argyl's second petition . xxix . the councils answer . xxx . the earl of argyl's letter of atturney . xxxi . instrument thereon . xxxii . opinion of lawyers of the earl's case . which papers may give you much light in this whole matter . an● act for securing the protestant religion , and enjoyning a test. our soveraign lord , with his estates of parliament considering , that albeit by many good , and wholsom laws , made by his royal grandfather , and father , of glorious memory , and by himself , in this , and the other parliaments , since his happy restauration , the protestant religion is carefully asserted , established , and secured against popery , and fanaticisme ; yet the restless adversaries of our religion , do not cease to propagate their errors , and to seduce his majesties subjects from their duty to god , and loyalty to his vicegerent ; and to overturn the established religion , by introducing their superstitions , and delusions into this church and kingdom . and knowing , that nothing can more encrease the numbers , and confidence of papists , and schismatical dissenters from the established church , then the supine neglect of putting in execution the good laws provided against them , together with their hopes to insinuate themselves into offices , and places of trust ; and publick employment : therefore his majesty , from his princely , and pious zeal , to maintain , and preserve the true protestant religion , contained in the confession of faith , recorded in the first parliament of king james the vi. which is founded on , and agreeable to the written word of god. doeth with advice , and consent of his estates of parliament , require and command all his officers , judges , and magistrates , to put the laws made against popery , and papists , priests , jesuits , and all persons of any other order , in the popish church ; especially against all sayers , and hearers of messe , venters , and dispensers of forbidden books , and resetters of popish priests , and excommunicat papists ; as also against all fanitical separatists from this national church , against preachers at house , or field conventicles , and the resetters , and harbourers of preachers who are intercommuned ; against disorderly baptisms , and marriages , and irregular ordinations , and all other schismatical disorders , to full ▪ and vigorous execution , according to the tenor of the respective acts of parliament thereanent provided . and that his majesties princely care , to have these laws put in execution , against these enemies of the protestant religion , may the more clearly appear , he doth with aduice and consent foresaid , statute and ordain , that the ministers of each parish give up in october yearly , to their respective ordinaries , true and compleat lists of all papists , and schismatical with-drawers from the publick worship , in their respective parishes , which lists are to be subscribed by them : and that the bishops give in a double of the said lists , subscribed by them , to the respective sheriffs , steuards , bayliffs of royalty and regality , and magistrates of burghs , to the effect , the said judges may proceed against them , according to law : as also the sheriffs , and other magistrats foresaid , are hereby ordained to give an accompt to his majesties privy - council , in december , yearly , of their prooceedings against those papists and fanatical separatists , as they will be answerable at their highest peril . and that the diligence done by the sheriffs , baylies of regalities , and other magistrates foresaid , may be the better enquired into by the council , the bishops of the respective diocesses , are to send exact doubles of the lists of the papists , and fanatiks , to the clerk of the privy - council , whereby the diligence of the sheriffs , and other iudges of courts may be comptrolled , and examined . and to cut off all hopes from papists , and fanatiks , of their being imployed in offices , and places of publick trust , it is hereby statute , and ordained , that the following oath shall be taken by all persons in offices , and places of publick trust , civil , ecclesiastical , and military ; especially by all members of parliament , and all electors of members of parliament ; all privy-councellors , lords of session , members of the exchequer , lords of justitiary , and all other members of these courts , all officers of the crown and state , all archbishops , and bishops , and all preachers , and ministers of the gospel whatsoever , all persons of this kingdom , named or to be named , commissioners of the borders , all members of the commission for church affaires , all sheriffs , steuards , baylies of of royalties and regalities , iustices of peace , officers of the mint , commisaries and their deputies , their clerks , and fiscals , all advocats , and procurators before any of these courts , all writers to the signet , all publick notars , and other persons imployed in writing , and agenting , the lyon king at arms , heraulds , pursevants , messengers at arms , all collectors , sub ▪ collectors , and fermers of his majesties customes , and excise , all magistrats , deans of gild , councellors and clerks of boroughs royal & regality , all deacons of trades and de●con-conveeners in the said burghs , all masters and doctors in universities , colledges or schools , all chaplans in families , pedagogues to children , and all officers , and soldiers in armies , forts or militia , and all other persons in any publick trust or office within this kingdom , who shall publickly swear , and subscribe the said oath , as follows : viz. archbishops , chief commanders of the forces , and officers of the crown and state , and councellors , before the secret council : all the lords of session , and all members of the colledg of justice , and others depending upon them , before the lords of session : the lords of lustitiary , and all these depending upon that court , in the iustice-court : the lords , and other members of the exchequer , before the exchequer ; all bishops before the archibishops , all the inferior clergy , commisaries , masters , & doctors of universities & schools , chaiplans , & pedagogues , before the bishops of the respective diocesses ; sheriffs , stewards , baylies of royalty and regality , and these depending on these iurisdictions , before their respective courts ; all provosts , baylies , and others of the boroughs , before the town-council ; all collectors and fermers of the kings customs and excise , before the exchequer , the commissioners of the borders before the privy-council : all iustices of the peace before the conveeners , and the officers of the mint before the general of the mint ; and the officers of the forces before the commander in chief , and common soldiers before their respective officers : the lyon before the privy council , and heraulds , pursevants and messengers at arms , before the lyon. and his majesty , with consent foresaid , statutes and ordains , that all these who presently possess and enjoy any of the foresaid offices , publick trusts , and imployments , shall take and subscribe the following oath in one of the foresaid offices in manner before prescribed betwixt — and the first of january next , which is to be recorded in the registers of the respective courts , and extracts thereof under the clerks hand , to be reported to his majesties privy-council betwixt — and the first of march . and hereafter in any other courts whereof they are iudges or members , the first time they shall sit or exercise in any of these respective courts ; and ordains , that all who shall hereafter be promoted to , or imployed in any of the foresaid offices , trusts or imployments , shall at their entry into , and before their exercising thereof , take and subscribe the said oath in manner foresaid , to be recorded in the registers of their respective courts , and reported to his majesties privy council , within the space of fourty days , after their taking of the same . and if any shall presume to exercise any of the faid offices or imployments , or any publick office or trust within this kingdom ( the kings brothers and sons only excepted ) until they take the oath foresaid , and subscribe the same to be recorded in the registers of the respective courts , they shall be declared incapable of all publick trust thereafter , and be further punished with the loss of their moveables and liferent-escheats the one half whereof is to be given to the informer , and the other half to belong to his majesty ; and his majesty with advice foresaid recommends to his privy-council to see this act put to due and vigorous execution . the test . containing the oath to be taken by all persons in publick trust. i solemnly swear , in the presence of the eternal god , whom i invoke as judge , and witnesse of the sincere intention of this my oath , that i own and sincerely profess the true protestant religion , contained in the confession of faith / recorded in the first parliament of king james the vi , and that i believe the same to be founded on , and agreeable to the written word of god. and i promise and swear , that i shall adhere thereunto , during all the dayes of my life-time ; and shall endeavour to educate my children therein ; and shall never consent to any change or alteration contrary thereto , and that i disoun and renounce all such principles , doctrines , or practices , whether popish , or fanatical which are contrare unto , and inconsistent with the said protestant religion , and confession of faith. and for testification of my obedience ●o my most gracious soveraign , charles the ii. i do affirm , and swear by this my solemn oath , that the kings majesty is the only supreme governour of this realm , over all persons , and in all causes , as well ecclesiastical as civil : and that no forreign prince , person , pope , prelate , state or potentate , hath , or ought to have any jurisdiction , power , superiority , preheminency , or authority , ecclesiastical or civil , within this realm . and therefore i do utterly renounce , and forsake all foreign jurisdictions , powers , superiorities , and authorities : and do promise , that from henceforth i shall bear faith , and true allegiance to the kings majesty , his heirs and lawful successors ; and to my power shall assist and defend all rights , jurisdictions , prerogatives , priviledges , preferments , and authorities belonging to the kings majesty , his heirs and lawful successors . and i further affirm and swear by this my solemn oath , that i judge it unlawful for subjects , upon pretence of reformation , or any other pretence whatsoever , to enter into covenants or leagues , or to convocar , conveen , or assemble in any councils , conventions or assemblies , to treat , consult or determine in any matter of state , civil or ecclesiastick , without his majesties special command , or express licence had thereto ; or to take up arms against the king , or these commissionate by him . and that i shall never so rise in arms , or enter into such covenants or assemblies : and that there lies no obligation on me from the national covenant , or the solemn league and covenant ( commonly so called ) or any other manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour any change or alteration in the government , either in church or state , as it is now established by the laws of this kingdom . and i promise and swear , that i shall , with my utmost power , defend , assist and maintain his majesties jurisdiction foresaid against all deadly . and i shall never decline his majesties power and jurisdiction , as i shall answer to god. and finally , i affirm and swear , that this my solemn oath is given in the plain genuine sense , and meaning of the words , without any equivocation , mental reservation , or any manner of evasion whatsoever ; and that i shall not accept or use any dispensation from any creature whatsoever ; so help me god. act j. . p. . c. . anno . anent the annulling of the acts of parliament , made against god his word , and for maintainance of idolatrie , in any tymes bypast . item , our soveraigne lord , with advice of his dearest regent , and three estates of this present parliament , ratifies and approves the act under-written , made in the parliament holden at edinburgh , the . day of august , the year of god an● thousand five hundred threescore years . and of new in this present parliament , statutes and ordains the said act , to be as a perpetual law to all our soveraigne lords leiges in all times coming . of the quhilk the tenour followes . the quhilk day , for same●●le as there has been divers and sundrie acts of parliament , made in king james the i. ii. iii. iv. and v's times , kings of scotland for the time , and also in our soveraigne ladies time , not agreeing with gods holy word , and by them divers persons take occasion to maintaine idolatrie , and superstition , within the kirk of god , and rep●esse such persons as were professors of the said word , wherethrow divers innocents did suffer . and for escheving such inconveniences in time coming , the three estates of parliament has annulled , and declared all such acts made in tymes bypast , not agreeing with god his word , and now contrary to the confession of faith , according to the said word , published in this parliament , to be of none availe , force nor effect . and decerns the said acts and every ane of them , to have no effect nor strength ; in time to come : but the same to be abolished and extinguished for ever in so far as any of the foresaid acts are repugnant , and contrary to the confession of faith , and word of god foresaid , ratified and approved by the estates in this present parliament . and therefore decerns and ordains , the contraveeners of the famine act in any time hereafter to be punished , according to the lawes . of the quhilk confession of the faith the ●●nour follows . the confession of the faith , and doctrine , believed , and professed by the protestants of scotland , exhibited to the estates of the same in parliament , and by their publick vots authorized , as a doctrine grounded upon the infallible word of god. as the same confession stands recorded . ja. . p. . c : . anno . i. of god. we confesse , and acknowledge ane onely god , to whom onely we must cleave , whom onely we must serve , whom only we must worship , and in whom onely we must put our trust , who is eternal , infinit , unmeasurable , incomprehensible , omnipotent , invisible , ane in substance , and yet distinct in three persons , the father , the sonne , and the holie ghost . by whom we confesse and believe all things in heaven and earth , aswel visible as invisible ; to have been created , to be retained in their being , and to be ruled , and guided by his inscrutable providence , to sik end , as his eternal wisdome , goodness , and justice has appointed them , to the manifestation of his own glorie . ii. of the creation of man. we confess and acknowledge , this our god to have created man , to wit , our first father adam , in his own image and similitude , to whom he gave wisedome , lordship , iustice , free will , and clear knowledge of himself , so that in the hail nature of man there could be noted no imperfection . fra quhilk honour and perfection , man and woman did both fall , the woman being deceived be the serpent , and man obeying the voyce of the woman , both conspiring against the soveraign majestie of god , who in expresse words had before threatned death , if they presumed to eat of the forbidden tree . iii. of original sinne. be quhilk transgression , commonlie called original sinne , was the image of god utterlie defaced in man , and he and his posteritie of nature became enemies to god , slaves to sathan , and servants unto sin , in samiekle that death everlasting has had ; and shall have power and dominion , over all that have not been , are not , or shall not be regenerated from above , quhilk regeneration is wrought by the power of the holie ghost working in the hearts of the elect of god ane assured faith in the promise of god , revealed to us in his word , be quilk faith we apprehend christ jesus with the graces , and benefits promised in him . iv. of the revelation of the promise . for this we constantlie believe , that god after the fearful and horrible defection of man fra his obedience , did seek adam again , call upon him , rebuke his sin , convict him of the same , and in the end made unto him ane most joyful promise , to wit , that the seed of the woman should break down the serpents head , that is , he should destroy the works of the devil ; quhilk promise , as it was repeated , and made mair cleare from time to time ; so was it embraced with joy , and maist constantly received of all the faithful from adam to noah , from noah to abraham , from abraham to david , and so forth to the incarnation of christ jesus , all ( we mean the faithful fathers under the law ) did see the joyful day of christ jesus , and did rejoyce . v. of the continuance , increase , and preservation of the kirk . we maist constantly believe that god preserved , instructed , multiplyed , honoured , decored , and from death called to life , his ki●k , in all ages , fra adam till the coming of christ jesus in the flesh : for abraham he called from his fathers countrey , him he instructed , his seedhe multiplyed , the same he marvelously preserved , and mair marvelously delivered from the bondage and tyranny of pharaoh ; to them he gave his laws , constitutions and ceremonies , them he possessed in the land of canaan , to them after iudges , and after saul , he gave david to be king , to whom he made promise , that of the fruit of his ioynes should ane sit for ever upon his regnall seat : to this same people , from time to time , he sent prophets to reduce them to the right way of their god , from the quhilk oftentimes they declined , by idolatry : and albeit that for their stubborn contempt of justice , he was compelled to give them into the hands of their enemies , as before was threatned by the mouth of moses , in sameikle that the hally city was destroyed , the temple burnt with fire , and the haile land left desolate , the space of lxx years , yet of mercy did he reduce them again to jerusalem , where the city , and temple were reedified , and they , against all temptations and assaults of sathan , did abide till the messias came , according to the promise . vi. of the incarnation of christ jesus . when the fulness of time came , god sent his son , his eternal wisdome , the substance of his own glory , into this world , who took the nature of man-head of the substance of woman , to wit of a virgin , and that by operation of the holy ghost , and so was born the just seed of ●avid , the angel of th● great counsell of god , the very messias promised , whom we confess and acknowledge emmanuel , very god and very man , two perfect natures united , and joyned in one person . by quhilk our confession we condemn the damnable , and pestilent herefies of arrius , marchion , eutiches , nest●rius , and sik others , as either did deny the eternity of his god-head , or the verity of his human nature , or confounded them , or yet divided them . vii . why it behoved the mediator to be very god , and very man. we acknowledge , and confess , that this maist wonderous conjunction betwixt the god-head , and the man-head in christ jesus , did proceed from the eternal and immutable decree of god , from quhilk all our salvation springs , and depends . viii . of election . for that same eternal god and father , who of meer grace elected us in christ jesus his son , before the foundation of the world was laid , appointed him to be our head , our brother , our pastor , and great bishop of our souls : but because that the enmity betwixt the justice of god and our sins was sik , that no flesh by it self could , or might have attained unto god , it behoved that the son of god should descend unto us , and take to himself a bodie of our bodie , flesh of our flesh , and bone of our bones , and so become the mediator betwixt god and man , giving power to so many as believe in him to be the sons of god , as himself does witness . i passe up to my father , and to your father , to my god , and to your god : be quhilk maist haly fraternity whatsoever we have tynt in adam is restored unto us again : and for this cause we are not afraid to call god our father , not sameikle because he has created us quhilk we have common with the reprobate ) as for that , that he has given to us his only son , to be our brother , and given unto us grace to acknowledge and imbrace him for our only mediator as before is said ; it behoved farther the messias and redeemer to be very god and very man , because he was to underly the punishment due for our transgressions , and to prefent himself in the presence of his fathers iudgement , as in our person , to suffer for our transgression , and inobedience , by death to overcome him that was author of death . but because the onely god-head could not fuffer death , neither yet could the onely man-head overcome the samine , he joyned both together in one person , that the imbecillity of the ane should suffer , and be subject to death ( quilk we had deserved ) and the infinite and invincible power of the other , to wit , of the goodhead should triumph , and purchase to us life , liberty , and perpetual victory : and so we confess , and maist undoubtedly believe . ix . of christs death , passion , and burial . that our lord iesus offered himself a voluntary sacrifice unto his father for us , that he suffered contradiction of sinners , that he was wounded , and plagued for our transgressions , that he being the clean innocent lamb of god , was damned in the presence of ane earthly iudg , that we should be absolved before the tribunal seat of our god , that he suffered not only the cruel death of the cross [ quhilk was accursed by the sentence of god , ] but also that he suffered for a season the wrath of his father , quhilk sinners had deserved . but yet we avow , that he remained the only well-beloved and blessed son of his father , even in the midst of his anguish , and torment , quhilk he suffered in body and soul , to make the full satisfaction for the sins of his people . after the quhilk , we confess , and avow that there remains no other sacrifice for sin , quhilk if any affirm , we nothing doubt to avow , that they are blasphemous against christs death , and the everlasting purgation , and satisfaction purchased to us by the same . x. of his resurrection . we undoubtedly believe , that in samiekle as it was impossible that the dolours of death should retain in bondage the author of life , that our lord jesus crucified , dead , and buried , who descended into hell , did rise again , for our justification , and destroying him who was the author of death , brought life again to us that were subject to death , and to the bondage of the same . we know , that his resurrection was confirmed by the testimony of his very enemies , by the resurrection of the dead , whose sepulchres did open , and they did rise , and appeared to many , within the city jerusalem . it was also confirmed by the testimony of his angels , and by the senses , and judgments of his apostles , and of others , who had conversation , and did eat and drink with him , after his resurrection . xi . of his ascension , we nothing doubt , but the self-same body , quhilk was born of the virgin , was crucifyed , dead , and buried , and quhilk did rise again , did ascend into the heavens , for the accomplishment of all things , where , in our names , and for our comfort , he has received all power in heaven , and earth , where he sits at the right hand of the father , inaugurate ‑ in his kingdom , advocate and onely mediator for us . quhilk glory , honour and prerogative , he alone among the brethren sall possess , till that all his enemies be made his fotostool , as that we undoubtedly believe they sall be in the finall judgement : to the execution whereof we certainly beleive , that the same our lord iesus sall as visibly return , as that he was seen to ascend . and then we firmly believe , that the time of refreshing and restitution of all things sall come , in samiekle that they that fra the beginning have suffered violence , injury and wrong , for righteousness sake , sall inherit that blessed immortality promised fra the beginning . but contrariwise , the stubborn , inobedient , cruell oppressours , filthy persons , idolaters , and all such sorts of unfaithfull , sall be cast into the dungeon of utter darkness , where the worm sall not die , neither yet their fire sall be extinguished . the remembrance of quhilk day , and of the judgement to be executed in the same , is not onely to us a bridle , whereby our carnal lusts are refrained , but also such inesteemabe comfort , that neither may the threatning of worldly princes , neither yet the fear of temporal death , and present danger , move us to renounce and forsake that blessed society which we the members have with our head and only mediator , christ iesus , whom we confess and avow to be the messias promised , the only head of his kirk , our just lawgiver , our only high priest , advocate and mediator : in which honours and offices , if manor angel presume to intrude themselves , we utterly detest and abhor them , as blasphemous to our soveraign and supreme governour , christ iesus . xii . of faith in the holy ghost . this our faith , and the assurance of the same , proceeds not from flesh and blood ; that is to say , from no natural powers within us , but is the inspiration of the holy ghost : whom we confess god equal with the father , and with the son , who sanctifies us , and brings us in all verity , by his own operation , without whom we should remain for ever enemies to god , and ignorant of his son christ jesus : for of nature we are so dead , so blind , and so perverse , that neither can we feel when we are pricked , see the light when it shines , nor assent to the will of god when it is revealed , unless the spirit of the lord jesus quicken that which is dead , remove the darkness from our minds , and bow our stubborn hearts to the obedience of his blessed will. and so as we confess , that god the father created us , when we were not : as his son , our lord iesus , redeemed us , when we were enemies to him ; so also do we confess , that the holy ghost doth sanctifie , and regenerate us , without all respect of any merit proceeding from us ; be it before , or be it after our regeneration . to speak this one thing yet in more plain words : as we willingly spoil our selves of all honour , and glory of our own creation , and redemption ; so do we also of our regeneration , and sanctification : for of our selves we are not sufficient to think one good thought , but he who has begun the work in us is only he that continues us in the same , to the praise and glory of his undeserved grace . xiii . of the cause of good works . so that the cause of good works , we confess to be not our free will , but the spirit of the lord iesus , who dwelling in our hearts by true faith , brings forth such works as god has prepared for us to walk in . for this we most boldly affirm , that blasphemy it is to say , that christ abides in the hearts of such as in whom there is no spirit of sanctification . and therefore we fear not to affirm , that murtherers , oppressors , cruel persecutors , adulterers ; whoremongers , filthy persons , idolaters , drunkards , thieves , and all workers of iniquity , have neither true faith , neither any portion of the spirit of the lord iesus , so long as obstinately they continue in their wickedness . for how soon that ever the spirit of the lord iesus [ which gods elect children receive by true faith ] takes possession in the heart of any man , so soon does he regenerate , and renew the same man. so that he begins to hate that which before he loved , and begins to love that which before he hated , and from thence comes that continual battel which is betwixt the flesh , and the spirit in gods children ; still the flesh and natural man , according to its own corruption , lusts for things pleasant and delectable unto it self , and grudges in adversity , is lifted up in prosperity , and at every moment is prone and ready to offend the majesty of god. but the spirit of god , which gives witnessing to our spirit , that we are the sons of god , makes us to resist filthy pleasures , and to groan in gods presence , for deliverance from this bondage of corruption . and finally , to triumph over sin , that it reign not in our mortal bodies . this battel hath not the carnal man , being destitute of gods spirit , but does follow , and obey sin with greediness , and without repentance , even as the devil , and their corrupt lusts do prick them . but the sons of god , as before was said , do fight against sin , do sob and mourn , when they perceive themselves tempted in iniquity : and if they fall , they rise again with earnest and unfeigned repentance , and these things they do not by their own power , but by the power of the lord iesus , without whom they were able to do nothing . xiv . what works are reputed good before god. we confess and acknowledg , that god has given to man his holy law , in which not only are forbidden all such work as displease , and offend his godly majesty , but also are commanded all such as please him , and as he has promised to reward . and these works be of two sorts . the one is done to the honour of god , the other to the profit of our nighbours : and both have the revealed will of god for their assurance . to have one god , to worship , and honour him , to call upon him in all our troubles , to reverence his holy name , to hear his word , to beleeve the same , to communicate with his holy sacraments , are the works of the first table . to honour father , mother , princes , rulers , and superior powers : to love them , to support them , yea to obey their charges ( not repugning to the commandment of god ) to save the lives of innocents , to repress tyranny , to defend the oppressed , to keep our bodies clean and holie , to live in soberness , and temperance , to deal justly with all men both in word and deed : and finally , to repress all appetite of our neighbours hurt , are the good works of the second table , which are most pleasing and acceptable unto god , as those works that are commanded by himself : the contrary whereof is sin most odious , which always displeases him , and provokes him to anger ; as not to call upon him alone , when we have need , nor to hear his word with reverence , to contemn and despise it , to have or to worship idols , to maintain , & defend idolatry , lightly to esteem the reverend name of god , to prophane , abuse , or contemn the sacraments of christ jesus , to disobey or resist any that god has placed in authority [ while they pass not over the bounds of their office ] to murther ; or to consent thereto , to bear hatred , or to let innocent blood be shed , if we may withstand it . and finally , the trangression of any other commandment in the first or second table , we confess and affirm to be sin , by the which gods anger and displeasure is kindled against the proud unthankful world . so that good works we affirm to be those only , that are done in faith , and at gods commandment , who in his law has expressed what the things be that please him . and evil works we affirm to be not only those that expresly are done against gods commandment ; but those also that in matters of religion , and worshipping of god , has no other assurance but the invention and opinion of man : which god from the beginning has ever rejected , as by the prophet esay , and by our master christ jesus , we are taught in these words , invain do they worship me , teaching for doctrines the precepts of men . xv. of the perfection of the law , and the imperfection of man. the law of god we confesse , and acknowledge most just , most equal , most holy , and most perfect , commanding those things which being wrought in perfection , were able to give life , and able to bring man to eternal felicity . but our nature is so corrupt , so weak , and so imperfect , that we are never able to fulfil the works of the law in perfection . yea , if we say we have no sin , even after we are regenerated , we deceive our selves , and the verity of god is not in us . and therefore it behoves us to apprehend christ jesus , with his justice , and satisfaction , who is the end , and accomplishment of the law , by whom we are set at this liberty , that the curse , and malediction of god fall not upon us , albeit we fulfil not the same in all points . for god the father beholding us in the body of his son christ jesus , accepts our imperfect obedience , as it were perfect , and covers our works , which are defiled with many spots , with the justice of his son. we do not mean , that we are so let at liberty , that we owe no obedience to the law ( for that before we have plainly confessed , ) but this we affirm , that no man in earth ( christ jesus only except ) has given , gives , or shall give in work , that obedience to the law , which the law requires . but when we have done all things , we must fall down , and unfeignedly confess , that we are unprofitable servants . and therefore whosoever boasts themselves of the merits of their own works , or put their trust in the works of supererogation , boast themselves in that which is naught , and put their trust in damnable idolatry . xvi . of the kirk . as we believe in one god , father , son , and holy ghost ; so do we most constantly believe , that from the beginning there has been , and now is , and to the end of the world shall be , one kirk ; that is to say , one company and multitude of men chosen of god , who rightly worship , and embrace him by true faith in christ jesus , who is the only head of the same kirk , which also is the body , and spouse of christ jesus , which kirk is catholick , that is , universal , because it contains the elect of all ages , of all realms , nations , and tongues , be they of the jews , or be they of the gentiles , who have communion , and society with god the father , and with his son christ jesus , through the sanctification of his holy spirit ; and therefore it is called the communion , not of prophane persons , but of saints , who as citizens of the heavenly jerusalem , have the fruition of the most inestimable benefits , to wit , of one god , one lord jesus , one faith , and one baptism : out of the which kirk there is no other life , nor eternal felicity . and therefore we utterly abhor the blasphemy of them that affirm , that men which live according to equity , and justice shall be saved , what religion that ever they have professed : for as without christ jesus there is no other life nor salvation ; so shall there none be participant thereof , but such as the father has given unto his son christ jesus , and they that in time come unto him , avow his doctrine , and believe into him ( we comprehend the children with the faithful parents . ) this kirk is invisible , known only to god , who alone knows whom he has chosen , and comprehends as well ( as said is ) the elect that be departed ▪ commonly called the kirk triumphant , as those that yet live , and fight against sin , and satan , and shall live hereafter . xvii . of the immortality of the soul. the elect departed are in peace , and rest from their labours : not that they sleep , and come to a certain oblivion , as some phantasticks do affirm : but that they are delivered from all fear , and torment , and all temptation , to which we , and all god's elect are subject in this life ; and therefere do bear the name of the kirk-militant : as contrary wise , the reprobate , and unfaithful departed , have anguish , torment , and pain , that cannot be expressed : so that neither are the one nor the other in such sleep , that they feel not their happiness nor torment , as the parable of christ jesus in the . of luke , his words to the thief , and these words of the souls crying under the altar : o lord , thou that art righteous , and just , how long shalt thou not revenge our blood upon these that dwell in the earth ? does declare . xviii . of the notes by the which the true kirk is discerned from the false , and who shall be iudge of the doctrine . because that sathan from the beginning has laboured to deck his pestilent synagogue with the title of the kirk of god , and has inflammed the hearts of cruel murtherers , to persecute , trouble , and molest the true kirk , and members thereof , as cain did ab●l , ishmael isaac , esau jacob , and the whole priesthood of the jews , christ jesus himself , and his apostles after him . it is one thing most requisite , that the true kirk be discerned from the filthy synagogues , by clear , and perfect notes , lest we being deceived , receive and embrace to our own condemnation , the one for the other . the notes , signs , and assured tokens , whereby the immaculate spouse of christ jesus is known from the horrible harlot , the kirk malignant , we affirm , are neither antiquity , title usurped , lineal descent , place appointed , nor multitude of men approving ane error : cain in age and title was preferred to abel and seth : jerusalem had prerogative above all places of the earth , where also were the priests lineally descended from aaron . and greater numbers followed the scribes , pharisees , and priests , than unfeignedly believed and approved christ jesus , and his doctrine : and yet as we suppose , no man of sound judgment will grant , that any of the forenamed were the kirk of god. the notes therefore of the true kirk of god , we believe , confess , and avow to be , first , the true preaching of the word of god , in the which god has revealed himself unto us , as the writings of the prophets and apostles do declare . secondly , the right administration of the sacraments of christ iesus , which must be annexed unto the word , and promise of god , to seal , and confirm the same in our hearts . lastly , ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministred , as god's word prescribes , whereby vice is repressed , and vertue nourished . wheresoever then these former notes are seen , and of any time continue ( be the number never so few , about two or three ) there without all doubt is the true kirk of christ , who according unto his promise , is in the midst of them : not that universal , of which we have before spoken , but particular , such as was in corintbus , galatia , ephesus , and other places , in which the ministry was planted by paul , and were of himself named the kirks of god : and such kirks we the inhabitants of the realm of scotland , professors of christ jesus , profess our selves to have in our cities , towns , and places reformed : for the doctrine taught in our kirks is contained in the written word of godto wit , in the books of the old & new testament , in those books , we mean , which of the ancients have been reputed canonical . in the which we affirm , that all things necessary to be believed , for the salvation of mankind , is sufficiently expressed . the interpretation whereof , we confess , neither appertains to private nor publick persons , neither yet to any kirk ▪ for any preheminence , or prerogative , personally and locally , which one has above another , but appertains to the spirit of god , by the which also the scripture was written . when controversie then happens , for the right understanding of any place , or sentence of scripture , or for the reformation of any abuse within the kirk of god , we ought not so much to look what men before us have said or done , as unto that which the h. ghost uniformly speaks , within the body of the scriptures , and unto that which christ iesus himself did , and commanded to be done . for this is one thing universally granted , that the spirit of god , which is the spirit of unity , is in nothing contrarious unto himself . if then the interpretation , determination , or sentence of any doctor , kirk or council , repugne to the plain word of god , written in any other place of the scripture , it is a thing most certain , that there is not the true understanding & meaning of the holy ghost , altho that coun cils , realms and nations have approved , and received the same : for we dare not receive nor admit any interpretation , which repugnes to any principal point of our faith , or to any other plain text of scripture , or yet unto the rule of charity . xix . of the authority of the scriptures . as we believe , and confess the scriptures of god sufficient to instruct , and make the man of god perfect ; so do we affirm , and avow the authority of the same , to be of god , and neither to depend on men , nor angels . we affirm therefore , that such as alledg the scripture , to have no other authority , but that which it has received from the kirk , to be blasphemous against god , and ●njurious to the true kirk , which always hears , and obeys the voice of her own spouse , and pastor , but takes not upon her to be mistres over the same . xx. of general councils , of their power , authority , and cause of their convention . as we do not rashly damn that which godly men assembled together in general council , lawfully gathered , have proponed unto us ; so without just examination , dare we not receive whatsoever is obtruded unto men under the name of general councils : for plain it is , as they were men , so have some of them manifestly erred , and that in matters of great weight and importance . so far then as the council proves the determination , and commandment that it gives , by the plain word of god , so soon do we reverence and embrace the same . but if men under the name of a council , pretend to forge unto us new articles of our faith , or to make constitutions repugning to the word of god , then utterly we must refuse the same , as the doctrine of devils , which draws our souls from the voice of our only god , to follow the doctrines and constitutions of men . the cause then why that general councils conveened , was neither to make any perpetual law , which god before had not made , neither yet to forge new articles of our belief , nor to give the word of god authority , much less to make that to be his word , or yet the true interpretation of the same , which was not before , by his holy will , expressed in his word : but the cause of councils ( we mean of such as merit the name of councils ) was partly for confutation of heresies , and for giving publick confession of their faith to posterity following , which both they did by the authority of gods written word , and not by any opinion or prerogative , that they could not erre , by reason of their general assembly-and this we judg to have been the chief cause of general councils . the other was for good policy , and order to be constitute , and observed in the kirk , in which ( as in the house of god ) it becomes , all things to be done decently , and in order . not that we think , that any policy , and order in ceremonies , can be appointed for all ages , times , and places : for as ceremonies , such as men have devised , are but temporal , so may , and ought they to be changed , when they rather foster superstition , than that they edifie the kirk , using the same . xxi . of the sacraments . as the fathers under the law , besides the verity of the sacrifices , had two chief sacraments , to wit , circumcision and the passeover , the despisers and contemners whereof were not reputed of gods people ; so do we acknowledg and confess , that we now in the time of the evangel , have two chief sacraments only instituted by the lord jesus , and commanded to be used of all these that will be re●uted members of his body ; to wit , baptism , and the supper or table of the lord jesus , called the communion of his body and blood. and these sacraments as well of old , as new testament , were instituted of god , not only to make a visible difference betwixt his people , and these that were without his league ; but also to exercise the faith of his children , and by participation of the same sacraments to seal in their hearts the assurance of his promise , and of that most blessed conjunction , union and society , which the elect have with their , head christ jesus . and thus we utterly damn the vanity of them , that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs . no , we assuredly believe , that by baptism we are ingrafted in christ jesus , to be made pertakers of his justice , by which our sins are covered and remitted . and also that in the supper rightly used , christ jesus is so joyned with us , that he becomes very nourishment , and food of our souls . not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread into christs natural body , & of wine into his natural blood , as the papists have perniciously taught , and damnably believed ; but this union and conjunction which we have with the body and blood of christ iesus , in the right use of the sacraments , is wrought by the operation of the holy ghost , who by true faith carries us above all things that are visible , carnal , and earthly , and makes us to feed upon the body and blood of christ iesus , which was once broken and shed for us ; who now is in heaven , and appears in the presence of his father for us : and yet notwithstanding the far distance of place which is betwixt his body now glorified in heaven , and us now mortal in this earth ; yet we most assuredly believe , that the bread which we break , is the communion of christs body , and the cup which we bless , is the communion of his blood. so that we confess , and undoubtedly believe that the faithful in the right use of the lords table , do so eat the body and drink the blood of the lord iesus , that he remains in them , and they in him . yea , they are so made flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bones , that as the eternal godhead has given to the flesh of christ iesus ( which of its own condition and nature , was mortal and corruptible ) life and immortality ; so does christ iesus his flesh and blood eaten and drunken by us , give unto us the same prerogatives . which albeit we confess are neither given unto us at that time only , neither yet by the proper power and virtue of the sacrament only ; yet we affirm that the faithful in the right use of the lords table has such conjunction with christ iesus , as the natural man cannot apprehend . yea , and further we affirm , that albeit the faithful oppressed by negligence , and manly infirmity , does not profit , so much as they would , in the very instant action of the supper ; yet shall it after bring fruit forth , as lively seed sown in good ground . for the holy spirit which can never be divided from the right institution of the lord iesus , will not frustrate the faithful of the fruit of that mystical action ; but all this , we say , comes of true faith , which apprehends christ iesus , who only makes this sacrament effectual unto us . and therefore whosoever slanders us , as that we affirm or believe sacraments to be naked and bare signs , do injury unto us , and speak against the manifest truth . but this liberally and frankly we consess , that we make a distinction betwixt christ iesus in his eternal substance , and betwixt the elements in the sacramental signs ; so that we will neither worship the signs in the place of that which is signified by them ; neither yet do we despise and interpret them as junprofitable and vain , but do use them with all reverence , examining our selves diligently , before that so we do ; because we are assured by the mouth of the apostle , that such as eat of that bread , and drink of that cup unworthily , are guilty of the body , and blood of christ iesus . xxii . of the right administration of the sacraments . that sacraments be rightly ministred , we judge two things requisite : the one , that they be ministred by lawful ministers , whom we affirm to be only these that are appointed to the preaching of the word , into whose mouths god has put some sermon of exhortation , they being men lawfully chosen thereto by some kirk . the other , that they be ministred in such elements , and in such sort as god has appointed , else we affirm that they cease to be the right sacraments of christ jesus . and therefore it is , that we fly the doctrine of the papistical kirk in participation of their sacraments . first , because their ministers are no ministers of christ jesus ; yea ( which is more horrible ) they suffer women , whom the holy ghost will not suffer to teach in the congregation , to baptize . and secondly , because they have so adulterated both the one sacrament , and the other , with their own inventions , that no part of christs action abides in the original purity : for oyl , salt , spitle , and such like in baptism , are but mens inventions ; adoration , veneration , bearing throw streets and towns , and keeping of bread in boxes , are prophanation of christs sacraments , and no use of the same . for christ jesus said , take , eat , &c. do ye this in rememberance of me : by which words and charge he sanctified bread and wine to the sacrament of his holy body and blood , to the end that the one should be eaten , and that all should drink of the other , and not that they should be keeped to be worshipped , and honoured as god , as the papists have done heretofore , who also commited sacriledg , stealing from the people the one part of the sacrament , to wit , the blessed cup. moreover , that the sacraments be rightly used , it is required , that the end , and cause why the sacraments were institute , be understood and observed , as well of the ministers as the receivers : for if the opinion be changed in the receiver , the right use ceases , which is most evident by the rejection of the sacrifice ; as also if the teacher plainly teach false doctrines , which were odious and abominable before god ( albeit they were his own ordinance ) because that wicked men use them to another end than god has ordained : the same affirm we of the sacraments in the papistical kirk ; in which we affirm the whole action of the lord iesus to be adulterated , as well in the external form , as in the end and opinion . what christ iesus did , and commanded to be done , is evident by the evangelists , and by saint paul : what the priest does at his altar we need not to rehearse . the end and cause of christs institution , and why the selfsame should be used , is expressed in these words , do ye this in rememberance of me ; as oft as ye shall eat of this bread , and drink of this cup , ye shall shew forth , that is , extol , preach , magnifie and praise the lords death , till he come . but to what end , and in what opinion , the priests say their mass , let the words of the same , their own doctors ; and writings witness : to wit , that they , as mediators betwixt christ and his kirk , do offer unto god the father , a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the quick and the dead ; which doctrine as blasphemous to christ jesus , and making derogation to the sufficiency of his only sacrifice , once oftered for purgation of all these that shall be sanctified , we utterly abhor , detest , and renounce . xxiii . to whom sacraments appertain we confess and acknowledg , that baptism appertains as well to the infants of the faithful , as unto them that be of age , and discretion ; and so we damn the error of the anabaptists , who deny baptism to appertain to children , before that they have faith , and understanding : but the supper of the lord , we confess to appertain to such only as be of the houshold of faith , and can try and examine themselves , as well in their faith , as in their duty towards their neighbours . such as eat , and drink at that holy table , without faith , or being at dissension , and division with their brethren , do eat unworthily . and therefore it is , that in our kirk , our ministers take publick , and particular examination of the knowledg , and conversation of such as are to be admitted to the table of the lord jesus . xxiv . of the civil magistrate . we confess and acknowledg , empires , kingdoms , dominions and cities , to be distincted , and ordained by god : the powers and authority in the same , be it of emperors in their empires , of kings in their realms , dukes and princes in their dominions , and of other magistrates in the cities , to be gods holy ordinance , ordained for manifestation of his own glory , and for the singular profit , and commodity of mankind : so that whosoever goeth about to take away , or to confound the whole state of civil policies , now long established , we affirm the same men , not only to be enemies to mankind , but also wickedly to fight against god's express will. we farther confess and acknowledg , that such persons as are placed in authority are to be loved , honoured , feared , and holden in most reverent estimation ; because that they are the lieutenants of god , in whose sessions god himself does sit and judg : yea , even the iudges and princes themselves , to whom by god is given the sword , to the praise and defence of good men , and to revenge and punish all open malefactors . moreover to kings , princes , rulers and magistrates , we affirm , that chiefly and most principally the conservation and purgation of the religion appertains ; so that not only they are appointed for civil policy , but also for maintenance of the true religion , and for suppressing of idolatry and superstition whatsoever , as in david , iehosaphat ezechias , i●sias , and others highly commended for their zeal , in that case , may be espied . and therefore we confess and avow , that such as resist the supreme power , doing that thing which appertains to his charge do resist gods ordinance : and therefore cannot be guiltless . and farther we affirm , that whosoever denies unto them their aid , counsel and comfort , whist the princes and rulers vigilantly travel in execution of their office , that the same men deny their help , support , and counsel to god , who by the presence of his lieutenant does crave it of them . xxv . of the gifts , freely given to the kirk . albeit the word of god truly preached , and the sacraments rightly ministred , and discipline executed , according to the word of god , be the certain and infallible signs of the true kirk ; we mean not , that every particular person joyned with such company , be an elect member of christ iesus : for we acknowledg and confess , that dornel , cockle and chaff , may be sown , grow , and in great abundancely in the midst of the wheat ; that is , the reprobate may be joyned in the society of the elect , and may externally use with them the benefits of the word and sacraments : but such being but temporal professors , in mouth , but not in heart , do fall back , and continue not to the end : and therefore have they no fruit of christs death , resurrection , nor ascension : but such as with heart unfeignedly believe , & with mouth boldly confess the lord iesus , as before we have said , shall most assuredly receive these gifts . first , in this life , remission of sins , and that by only faith in christs blood , in so much , that albeit sin remains , and continually abides in these our mortal bodies , yet it is not imputed unto us , but is remitted , and covered with christs justice . secondly , in the general judgment there shall be given , to everyman , and woman , resurrection of the flesh : for the sea shall give her dead ; the earth these that therein be inclosed : yea , the eternal god shall stretch out his hand on the dust , and the dead shall arise uncorruptible , and that in the substance of the self-same flesh that every man now bears , to receive according to their works , glory , or punishment : for such as now delight in vanity , cruelty , filthiness , superstition or idolatry , shall be adjudged to the fire unquenchable , in which they shall be tormented for ever , as well in their bodies as in their souls , which now they give to serve the devil in all abomination . but such as continue in well-doing to the end , boldly professing the lord jesus , we constantly believe , that they shall receive glory , honour and immortality , to reign for ever in life everlasting with christ iesus , to whose glorified body all his elect shall be made like , when he shall appear again in iudgment , & shall render up the kingdom to god his father , who then shall be , and ever shall remain , in all things , god blessed for ever : to whom , with the son , and with the holy ghost , se all honour and glory now and ever . so be it . arise o lord , and let thine enemies be confounded , let them flee from thy presence that hate thy godly name . give thy servants strength to speak thy vvord in boldness● ; and let all nations cleave to thy true knowledge amen . thir acts , and articles , were read in the face of parliament , and ratified by the three estates , at edinburgh , the . day of august , the year of god . years . act i. . p. . c. . anno . anent the kings aith to be given at his coronation . item , because that the increase of vertue , & suppressing of idolatrie , craves , that the prince , and the people be of ane perfite religion , quhilk of gods mercie is now presently professed , within this realm : therefore it is statute , and ordained , be our soveraign lord , my lord regent , and the three estates of this present parliament , that all kings , and princes , or magistrats whatsoever , holding their place , quhilk hereafter in any time sall happen to reigne , and bear rule over this realm , at the time of their coronation , and receipt of their princely authoritie , make their faithfull promise be aith , in presence of the eternal god , that during the haill course of their lives , they sall serve the samin eternall god , to the uttermost of their power , according as he hes required in his maist haly word ▪ revieled and contained in the new , and auld testaments : and , according to the samin word , sall maintaine the trew religion of christ iesus , the preaching of his halie word , and due and right ministration of the sacraments , now received , and preached within this realme . and sall abolish , and gainstand all false religion , contrare to the samin : and sall rule the people committed to their charge , according to the will , and command of god , revealed in his foresaid word , and according to the laudable lawes , and constitutions , received in this realme , nawise repugnant to the said word of the eternal god : and sall procure to the uttermaist of their power , to the kirk of god , and haill christian people , trew and perfite peace , in all time cumming : the rights , and rents , with all just priviledges of the croun of scotland , to preserve , and keep inviolated nouther sall they transfer , nor alienate the samin : they sall forbid , and represse , in all estates , and degrees reife , oppression , and all kinde of wrang . in all judgements , they sall command , and procure that justice , and equitie de keeped to all creatures , without exception , as the lord and father of all mercies be mereyful to them . and out of their lands , and empyre , they sall be carefull to root out all heretikes , and enemies to the trew worship of god , that shall be convict be the trew kirk of god , of the foresaid crymes ; and that they fall faithfullie affirme the things above written be their solemn aith . act. j. . p. . c. . anno . no person may be judge , procurator , notar , nor member of court , quha professis not the religion . item , the kings grace , with advice of my lord regent , and the three estates of this present parliament , statutes and ordains , that no manner of person , nor persons , be received , in any times hereafter , to bear publick office removabill of judgment , within this realm , but sik as profess the puritie of religion and doctrine , now presently established . and that nane be permitted to procure , nor admitted notar , or created a m●mber of court , in any time coming , without he in likewise professe the evangel , and religion foresaid . providing alwayes , that this act be on no - wise extended to any manner of person , or persons , havand their offices heritable or in life-rent , but that they may use the samin , conforme to their infeftments , and dispositions granted to them thereof : which act was thereafter anno . explained and extended in this manner . part of the act i. . p. . c. . anno . intituled &c. and that the act made in his highness first parliament , bearing that nane that professe not the true religion , presently professed , within this realm , may be judge , procurator or member of court , be extended to all and whatsomever offices , without any exception , or restriction , in all time coming . act. j. . p. . c. . anno . adversaries of the true religion are not subjects of the king. of apostats . item , forsameikle as there hes been great rebellion , and disobedience against our soveraign lords authoritie , in time bypast , and seeing the cause of gods true religion , and his highness authoritie foresaid , are so joyned , as the hurt of the ane is common to baith . it is therefore declared , statute , and ordained , by our soveraign lord , with advice and consent of his regents grace , with the three estates , and hail bodie of this present parliament : that nane shall be repute as loyal , and faithful subjects to our said soveraign lord , or his authority , but be punishable , as rebellars , and gainstanders of the samine , quhilk shall not give their confession , and make their profession of the said true religion : and that all sik as makes profession thereof , and yet hes made defection fra their dew obedience ought to our soveraign lord , shall be admonished be the pastors , and ministers of the kirk , to acknowledge their offence , and turn to their dutieful obedience : and , if they failzie therein , to be excommunicat , and secluded from the society of the kirk , as rebellious , and corrupt members , betwixt and the first of jun : nixt to come ; and that alwayes before sik persons as hes made defection be received to our soveraign lords mercie , and favour , they shall give the confession of their faith , of new , and promise to continue in the confession of the true religion , in time coming , and maintaine our soveraign lords authoritie , and that they shall at the utmost of their power , fortifie , assist and maintaine , the true preachers , and professors of christs religion , against whatsomever enemies , and gainstanders of the same ; and namely , against all sik of whatsomever nation , estate , or degree they be of , that hes joyned , and bound themselves , or hes assisted , or assist to set forward , and execut the cruel decreits of the councel of trent , ( quhilk most injuriously is called by the adversaries of gods truth , the halie league ) contrary the preachers , and true professors of the word of god. many other acts , and these most peremptory , and strict , against the popish religion , as idolatrie , and very pernicious to the kingdom , might here be added ; but these are set down as most apposite to the purpose , and the rest may be seen at length in the printed acts of parliament . act ch. . p. . c. . anno . act asserting his majesties supremacy over all persons , and in all causes ecclesiastik . the estates of parliament having seriously considered , how necessary it is , for the good , and peace of church and state , that his majesties power , and authoritie , in relation to maters , and persons ecclesiastical , be more clearly asserted , by ane act of parliament : have therefore thought fit it be enacted , asserted , and declared : likeas , his majestie , with advice , and consent of his estates of parliament , doth hereby enact ; assert , and declare , that his majesty hath the supreme authority , and supremacie over all persons , and in all causes ecclesiastical within this his kingdom : and that by vertue thereof , the ordering , and disposal of the external government , and policie of the church , doth properly belong to his majestie , and his successors , as ane inherent right of the crown , and that his majesty , and his successors , may setle , enact , and emit such constitutions , acts , and orders , concerning the administration of the external government of the church , and the persons imployed in the same , and concerning all ecclesiastical meetings , and maters , to be proposed , and determined therein , as they , in their royal wisdom shall think fit . which acts , orders , and constitutions , being recorded in the books of councel , and duelie published , are to be observed , and obeyed by all his majesties subjects , any law , act , or custom , to the contrary , notwithstanding : likeas , his majesty , with advice , and consent foresaid , doth rescind , and annull all lawes . acts , and clauses thereof , and all customs , and constitions , civil , or ecclesiastick , which are contrary to , or inconsistent with his majesties supremacy , as it is hereby asserted , and declares the same void , and null , in all time coming . the bishop of aberdeen , and the synods explanation of the test. i. we do not hereby swear to all the particular assertions and expressions of the confession of faith ; mentioned in the test , but only to the uniform doctrine of the reformed churches contained therein . ii. we do not hereby prejudg the church's right to , and power of making any alteration in the said confession , as to the ambiguity and obscure expressions thereof , or of making a more unexceptionable frame . iii. when we swear , that the king is supreme governour over all persons , and in all causes , as well ecclesiastick as civil : and when we swear to assert and defend all his majesties rights and prerogatives ; this is reserving always the intrinsick unalterable power of the church , immediately derived from jesus christ , to wit the power of the keys , consisting in the preaching of the word , administration of the sacraments , ordaining of pastors , exercise of discipline , and the holding of such assemblies as are necessary for preservation of peace and unity , truth and purity in the church : and withal we do not hereby think , that the king has a power to alter the government of the church at his pleasure . iv. when we swear , that it is unlawful for subjects to meet or conveen , to treat or consult , &c. about matters of state , civil , and ecclesiastick ; this is excepting meetings for ordination , publick worship and discipline , and such meetings as are necessary for the conservation of the church and true protestant religion . v. when we swear , there lyes no obligation on us , &c. to endeavour any change or alteration in government , either in church or state , we mean by arms , or any seditious way . vi. when we swear , that we take the test in the plain and genuine sense of the words , &c. we understand it only in so far as it does not contradict these exceptions . the explanation of the test , by the synode and clergy of perth . because our consciences require the publishing and declaring of that express meaning we have in taking the test , that we be not mis-interpreted to swear it in these glosses which men uncharitable to it , and enemies to us , are apt to put upon it : and because some men , ill affected to the government , who are daily broachers of odious and calumnious slanders against our persons and ministry , are apt to deduce inferences and conclusions from the alledged ambiguity of some propositions of the test , that we charitably and firmly do believe were never intended by the imposers , nor received by the takers : therefore to satisfie our consciences , and to save our credit from these unjust imputations , we expresly declare , that we swear the test in this following meaning . i. by taking the test , we do not swear to every proposition and clause contained in the confession of faith , but only to the true protestant religion , founded upon the word of god , contained in that confession , as it is opposed to popery and fanaticism . ii. by swearing the ecclesiastick supremacy , we swear it as we have done formerly , without any reference to the assertory act : we also reserve intire unto the church it s own intrinsick and unalterable power of the keys , as it was exercised by the apostles , and the pure primitive church , for the first three centuries . iii. by swearing , that it is unlawful to convocate , conveen or assemble in any councils , conventions or assemblies , to treat , consult , &c. in any matter of state , civil or ecclesiastick , as we do not evacuate our natural liberty , whereby we are in freedom , innocently without reflection upon , or derogation to authority , or persons intrusted with it , to discourse in any occasional meeting of these things ; so we exclude not those other meetings which are necessary for the well-being and discipline of the church . iv. by our swearing it unlawful to endeavour any change or alteration in the government , either of church or state , we mean , that it is unlawfal for us to endeavour the alteration of the specifick government of monarchy in the true and lineal descent , and episcopacy . v. when we swear in the genuine and literal sense , &c. we understand it so far as it is not opposite or contradictory to the foresaid exceptions . they were allowed to insert after the oath , before their subscriptions , these words , or to this purpose . we under-written do take this oath according to the explanation made by the council , approved by his majesties letter : and we declare , we are no further bound by this oath . a paraphrase on the test emitted by one of the conformed clergy . i a. b. solemnly swear , in presence of the eternal god , whom i invocate as judge , and witness of my sincere intention of this my oath . that i a. b. being fully assured , without the least doubt or hesitation of the truth of all that i am now to assert , and of the lawfulness of all that i am now to promise ; do in the most solemn manner , swear in the sight , and presence of the eternal god , whom i here call upon to witness against me in the great day , and to pass sentence of condemnation upon me , if i affirm any thing , by this my oath , of the certainty whereof i am not fully assured , or promise any thing of the lawfulness whereof i have any scruples , and which i am not sincerely resolved to perform , viz. that i own , and sincerely profess the true protestant religion , contained in the confession of faith recorded in the first parliament of james the vi &c. that i cordially own , & without any dissimulation , profess the true protestant religion : and because there are many doctrines , and opinions that pass under that name , that it may be known what i do mean by the true protestant religion , i declare , that i own that confession of faith , which is recorded in the first parliament of king james the vi. as the true test , and standard thereof : and that i believe the same to be founded on , and agreeable to the written word of god. and because it would not be a just standard , if some part of it were taken , and others left , unless these parts , that are to be sworn to , were expresly condescended on by the same authority whereby it is imposed : for if it were left arbitrary , for every one to pitch on these parts of it he pleases , as the measure of his faith , it would be useless for the end for which it is adduced : therefore i embrace the whole confession , and do swear by the same solemn oath , that i believe every article , and every proposition therein to be true , as being evidently founded on , and agreeable to the word of god. as for instance , art. . i swear by this my solemn oath , that adam's transgression is commonly called original sin. and art. . that men have as little hand in their regeneration and sanctification , as they have in their creation and redemption . and art. . that to suppress tyranny , is one of the good works of the second table , most pleasing , and acceptable to god , and commanded by himself ; the contrary whereof is 〈◊〉 sin most odious , which always displeaseth , and provokes him to anger : that is , when the civil mastrate comes to act arbitrarily , and against law , when he invades the established religion , the priviledges of parliament , or the liberties , and properties of subjects , he is to be opposed and resisted . or when our ecclesiastical superiors usurp a dominion over the inferior clergy , or behave themselves as lords over gods heritage , or require absolute obedience to their dictates , and determinations , they are to be withstood , and born down . and as it is in the same article , i swear , that i believe , our resistance of these whom god hath placed in authority over us , is a sin , when they do not pass over the bounds of their office , but if they pass over these bounds , it is a duty to resist them ; which is evident being compared with the former proposition , and the practices of them who composed the confession . and in the same article i swear , and believe all these to be evil works in matters of religion , and the worship of god , which have no other assurance but the invention , and opinion of men . so that whatsoever our superiors determine in this matter , tho only for decency , if they cannot shew it to be clearly founded on the word of god , it is to be looked on as an evil work ; and i swear , i shall so reckon it . art. . i swear , that i think it blasphemy to affirm , that men who live acording to natural light , and moral equity , shall be saved ; unless they profess the christian religion : and that out of the true church there is neither life , nor eternal felicity . so that i not only condemn all pagans and papists to hell fire , but i declare upon oath , that i think it blasphemy to affirm the contrary . and art. . i believe , that ecclesiastical discipline , rightly administred , as gods word prescribeth , is as essential a note of the true church , as the right administration of the word , and sacraments ; so that the church of england , or any other church , that has not discipline rightly administred , tho they have the word , and sacraments pure , and uncorrupted , wants an essential note of a true a church . and art. . i declare , that i perfectly understand this proposition , and do solemnly swear , that it 's true , that the faithful , in the right use of the lords table , are so made flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bone , that as the eternal godhead has given to the flesh of iesus christ ( which of its own condition and nature , was mortal , and corruptible ) life , and immortality , so does christ iesus his flesh , and blood , eaten ▪ and drunken by us , give unto us the same prerogatives . and art. . i declare , and swear by this my solemn oath , that the ministers of the church of rome are not ministers of iesus christ , and that they have no true sacraments ; so that our first reformers having both their baptism , and ordination from them , we have neither among us truly baptized persons , nor rightly ordained ministers and art i believe , that the resisting the supreme power doing that which appertains to his charge is to resist the ordinance of god. so that to resist , when he goes beyond his charge , is not to resist the ordinance of god , but to repress tyranny , according to art. and i promise and swear , that i shall adhere thereto , during all the days of my life , & shall endeavour to educate my children therein , & shall never consent to any change contrary thereto : and that i disown all such doctrines , whether popish or fanatical , which are contrary to & inconsistent with the true protestant religion , & this confession of faith all these propositions , and every thing contained therein , i firmly believe , and embrace , and i promise , and swear , that i shall adhere to them , so long as i live , without ever changing my opinion about them , and that i shall carefully educate my children according to them ; i. e. i shall teach them to repress tyranny , and if the authority should make any alteration in the said confession , or any of the propositions therein , i swear , that i shall neuer consent thereto : and i swear also , that i shall renounce all principles , doctrines and practices , whether popish or fanatical which are contrary to any article , or proposition of the foresaid confession of faith. and for testification of my obedience to my most gracious soveraign , charles the second , i do affirm , and swear , by this my solemn oath , that the kings majesty is the only supreme governour over this realm , over all persons , and causes , as well ecclesiastick , as civil ; and that no foreign prince , &c. as i have declared my faith toward god , so now to testifie , that i am a good subject to the king , i affirm , and swear by this my solemn oath , that the kings majesty is the onely supreme governour over all persons , not only civil , but also ecclesiastical : by which i understand that ecclesiastical supremacy which the parliament by act , nov. . has declared to belong to him , as an inherent right of the crown : by vertue whereof , his majesty , and successors , may dispose of the external governement , and policy of the church , as they please ; i. e. of all church-government , there being no other government exercised in the church by men , but that which is external : and that they may settle , enact , and emit any constitutions , acts or orders , concerning the government , or persons employed therein , and concerning all ecclesiastical meetings , and matters to be proposed , and determined therein , as they shall think fit : so that i affirm , that his majesty , and successors , may alter , change , or abolish the form of church-government , now established by law : that he may commit it into the hands of persons of a different religion , from what is presently professed in this realm : that he may discharge all meetings of synods , presbyteries , and sessions for ever : or if he shall please to continue them , that he may chuse one delegated , or deputed by himself , to propose , and determine all-matters therein , as he thinks ●it : that he may by vertue of his supreme power , iuhibit church-officers to meet , or meddle in any matter , eisher doctrine , or discipline , without his special order : to persue , or process any delinquent , or to consider of means to prevent any change , or alteration in religion , tho it should be in never so great hazard , except only as he shall determine , and appoint therein : all which he may do by himself , and his councill without any new law , or act of parliament : and i affirm , & swear , that tho any of his majesties successors shall happen to be of another religion ( as god forbid , ) yet all this ecclesiastical power does belong to him , it being declared to be an inherent right in the crown , and so not to belong to him as a christian , or protestant magistrate , but as a magistrate precisely . and to my power i shall defend all rights . jurisdictions , prerogatives , priviledges , preheminencies belonging to his majesty , and lawful successors . and also i swear by this my solemn oath , that so far as i am able , i shall assist , and defend his majesties rights , and prerogatives , which because i do not know , therefore whatsoever the king , and parliament , or king , and council , shall declare to belong to him , as a right , jurisdiction , and prerogative , either in civil or ecclesiastical affairs , either concerning religion , liberty , or property , by ecclesiastical supremacy , i swear , i shall own , and approve , assist , and defend the same , as far as possibly i can . and further i affirm , and swear by this my solemn oath , that i judge it unlawful for subjects , upon pretext of reformation , or any other pretence whatsoever , to enter into covenants , or leagues , or to convocate , conveene , or assemble in any council , convocation , or assembly , to treat , consult or determine in any matter of state , civil , or ecclesiastick , without his majesties special licence , or express warrant had thereto ; or to take up arms against the king , or those commissionated by him : and that i shall never so rise in arms , nor enter into such covenants or assemblies , &c and i further swear , that i think it utterly unlawful for any subject , of whatsoever quality , or condition , many or few , for whatsoever cause , not only to make any covenants , but not so much as to meet together in any kind of meeting , to hear , see , or consult about any matter belonging to the civil , or ecclesiastical estate , without his majesties special command , and express licence : so that whatsoever corruption , or abuse may be in the civil government , through the fault of the king. or council ; or whatsoever hazard or danger the true religion , and church of god , within this land , may be in , i judg it unlawful for any subject , whether pastors , or others , to meet together , that they may consider what way to remedy , or prevent the same ; tho it were only by humble addresses , and petitions : and i s●ear . that there can never fall out a case wherein subjects may rise in arms against their king , or any commissionated by him , even though it were meerly to defend themselves , tho never so cruelly persecuted , and invaded by any who pretend his name , and authority : and i promise and swear ; that if any shall rise in arms or meet together , in a peaceable way , for the ends foresaid , that i shall never joyn with them . and that there lies no obligation on me from the national covenant , or the solemn league and covenant , so commonly called , or any manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour any change , or alteration in the government , either in church , or state , as it is now established by the laws of this kingdom , &c. and i also affirm , and swear by this oath , that there lies no obligation on me , either by the national , or solemn league and covenant , or any other way imaginable whatsoever , to endeavour the least change , or alteration in the government , either in church , or state , as they are now established : so that i am never to endeavour any alteration , not only in the civil government , but also in the govern. of the church , as it is now established among us , though it should be found never so prejudicial to religion , to his majesties service , or to the good of the countrey . yea , whatever corruptions may come to be in either of the govern. i swear , that i am obliged never to endeavour the least alteration of them . and particularly , . as to the ecclesiastical govern. it being established by the civil magistrate , i am never to endeavour that it may be setled by the consent of the church . . the bishops , by the act of restitution , art. . ses. . par. . char ▪ . being allowed to inflict censures , and to exercise all other discipline , only with advice , and consent of such of the clergy , as shall be found to be of known loyalty and prudence : yet tho they should utterly neglect synods , and presbyteries , and call only such ministers as they please , tho it were but two , or three ; and let them make canons concerning doctrine , and worship , suspend , and depose ministers , inflict the highest censures , either upon church-men , or laicks , i am not to endeavour an alteration of these things . . there being no obligation on them by that law which gives them their legal establishment , either to reside in their diocesses , or to visit their churches , or to hold but one benefice , i am to use no endeavour that this may be helped . . they being by the same act only accountable to his majesty , i am not to endeavour that they may be accountable to the church , tho they be convicted in a national synod , for any of their administrations . . whereas by the act establishing a national synod , act . ses. . par. . char. . the moderators of every presbytery , who are nominated to that office by the bishop , are appointed to be of the commissioners , for the national synod , and the moderators , declared to have a negative voice for the chusing of the other commissioners : and so the whole asse●bly is nominated by the bishops . and it being further enacted , that nothing is to be debated and considered in the said assembly , but as it is proposed by his majesty , and successors : and that the archbishop of st. andrews , as president of the assembly , is declared to have a negative voice , not only in the whole synod , but even on his majesty himself : so that whatever should be agreed on by all the rest of the bishops , and clergy , his majesty consenting thereto , yet it cannot be concluded , and emitted , without consent of the president : yet i am to affirm , and swear , that i am not to endeavour the alteration of any of these things : and that there lies no obligation on me , either from respect to religion , or duty to my prince , and native countrey , or any regard to episcopacy , or any other manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour the least change of any of these fore-mentioned . and i promise and swear , that i shall from henceforth , with my utmost power , defend , assist , and maintain his majesties jurisdiction foresaid , against all deadly , &c. and i shall never decline his majesties jurisdiction , as i shall answer to god , &c. and finally , i affirm and swear by this , &c. that i shall not only submit unto , but that i shall own , and approve his majesties jurisdiction ; i e. all ●is rig●ts , and prerogatives , especially his ecclesiastical supremacy : yea , that i shall with my utmost power , both of body , and mind , defend , and maintain the same , against all creatures whatsoever : and tho his majesty should by himself , or any laick deputed by him , inflict a church-censure , or an excommunication it self , yet i shall never decline this his power and jurisdiction , as i shall answer to god , at the great day . and finally , i affirm and swear , that this my solemn oath is given in the plain genuine meaning of t●e words , without any equivocation , mental reservation , or any manner of evasion whatsoever , and that i shall not accept , or use any dispensation from any creature whatsoever . so help me god , &c. and lastly , i affirm and swear , that i have sworn all these things , in the pla●● sense and meaning of the words , not only without equivocation , or mental reservation , bu● without any manner of evasion whatsoever , so that i renounce all senses , and glosses and explications whatsoever , which seem any way disagreeable to the plain sense of the words of this oath , as they are commonly understood by me● . and that as i shall not accept , or use any dispensation from any creature whatsoever ▪ so i shall never make use , orrely upon such glosses , as explications to help me out ▪ or set me free from perj●ry . wherefore being fully perswaded of the truth ▪ and lawfulness of all that i have now sworn , and as sincerely resolved to perform it , in every ar●icle thereof , i do confidently pray to god to help me to this grace to do so : and i wish he may make me so speed , here and hereafter , as i am perswaded and resolved . . an oath being considered b● all men who have any sense of a deity , as a most sacred bond , and of the straitest obligation ; it 's to be presumed , that no man who truely fears god , will rashly adventure on it : for if i affirm any thing upon oath , of the truth whereof i am not certain ; or if i promise any thing , of the justice , or lawfulness whereof i have any doubt , or which i am not fully resolved to perform , i make my self guilty of perjury ; which even the most barbarous nations have ever looked on as the foulest of crimes ; for it 's both the greatest affront that can be put on god , in calling him to be judge , and witness to a lye ; and one of the greatest injuries that can be done to men , in overthrowing the best security , and chiefest ground of trust that they have : it were therefore to be wished , that oaths were never imposed , except in cases of absolute necessity : for it is certain , that the most part of ●en being acted ●ore by interest then by conscience , will be too easily perswaded to swallow them ▪ , that they may shun a present inconveniency , whatever da●ger or damage it m●y import to them in the life to come : and it has been always observed , that these w●o have been most forward to take oaths , are most forward to break them , . but all who truely fear the lord , who prefer the peace of their conscience to their worldly interest ▪ and who look more to the things ▪ that are not seen , then to the things that are seen , will think themselves obliged to advise well before they adventure on an oath , that if they swear at all ▪ they may do it as the lord himself requires ▪ jer. , . in truth , in judgment , and in righteousness ; i e. that they know what they affirm to be true , and what they promise to be just , and righteous ; and that in neither of these they be rash or inconsiderate , but have their judgments truly informed , and sufficiently instructed in both : if a man be uncertain or doubtful in any of these , he is by no means to adventure on an oath , but rather to suffer the loss of all things than to take it . . now if an oath containing one single proposition ▪ and contrived in the plainest , and easiest terms , ought to be diligently weighed , and pondered before it can be taken , how much more such an oath as this , which consists of so many different , and various matters : some of which are not only doubtful , and uncertain in themselves ( to say no worse ) but in the judgment of wise , and sober men ▪ inconsistent one with another . . it 's granted by all , that this oath cannot be taken , without several glosses , and explications . and these which are commonly offered , cannot be admitted for divers reasons . . because they seem to overthrow the genuine sense , and meaning of the oath . . because in the oath , we swear , that we take it in the plain genuine sense , and meaning of the words , without any equivocation , mental reservation , or evasion whatsoever : so that altho these glosses should be conceived in the plainest terms , and we suffered to write them down under our hands ; and so cannot come under the notion of equivocation or mental reservation ; yet that cannot but be considered as evasions , it being only by the help of them that we pretend to escape the fearful crime of perjury . there is no authority that can give us explications , but the same who has imposed the oath , that is the king , and parliament . for tho the king , and lords of council , and session , be considered as interpreters and explainers of the laws , yet that is only in matters of right , or wrong , to which men ought to submit : but it 's another thing in matter of an oath : for that is always to be taken only in the sense of the imposers : and we being required not to submit to it but to swear to it , no explication given by any other , but by him , or them who gives us the oath , can secure or quiet our consciences . . these explications , tho given by the same authority who imposed the oath , seem both useless , and unsafe , unless published , and recorded as the oath it self ; otherways the explication will soon be forgotten , whereas the oath stands still as it was . . it must be also considered , that tho men take this test , it seems it will not secure them in their places : for why may not the same alterations be made in the church which are made in the state , the supreme power , and prerogative being alike over both ? and tho this argument will be of small force unto some , yet it may have its own weight unto others . if it be said , that divers articles , and parts of the test , are asserted , and enacted by former laws , as partly , that against meeting , conveening , or assembling to treat , consult , &c. which is in the very same terms discharged and forbidden , not only by act. . sess . par. , char. . but also by an old law , act. . par. . james . it is answered , that there is this considerable difference therein in those acts , viz. that the ordinary judgments are excepted : and it is not without reason , that this clause is left out here , and it is one thing to submit to a law , another to swear it . . but some may say , that we have already sworn the oath of supremacy ; to which they who took it before the year . had little , or no ground of scruple , but by the act assertory , the supremacy being declared to be quite another thing than ever it was understood before , there are many conscientious men , and the best friends to episcopacy , who cannot take that oath now , though that alone should be made the test : as for others of the clergy who have ta●en it since that act of parliament , they were told by the bishop that administred it to them , that the assertory act had no relation to the oath ; and therefore they gave it them only in the old sense , whereby they were perswaded to take it : but now the matter is put beyond all doubt : for the kings ecclesiastical supremacy ▪ as it is explained in the act , being declared to be an inherent right of the crown ; and we swearing in the test , to maintain , and defend all his majesties rights and prer●gatives , we do clearly swear to own and maintain the supremacy , as itis there asserted and declared . . but we are told , we should not oppose our sentiments to the wisdom of the nation : and if the meaning of this be , that we ought to reverence our superiours , submit to their laws , and live peaceably under their government , it is willingly granted : but if the meaning of the test be , that we are to believe whatsoever they say , blindly swear whatever they bid us , this is to erect an infallible chair in the state , in the stead of the church , which is a new unheard of piece of popery . but if we stand out , and refuse the test , how shall the credit and honour of authority be saved ? it were to be wished it did consult its own credit more , before the making of any laws , and edicts ; for there cannot be too great deliberation used , in enacting such things as are to oblige the whole nation at present , and their posterity for the time to come : and much more heed ought to be had in appointing an oath to be sworn by the most considerable part thereof . if our ecclesiastik superiors had been so kind , and just to themselves , and their clergy , as to have consulted the wisest of their presbyters within the kingdom , it 's like it might have prevented much of this inconveniency : but now that it 's done , all who can take this oath with a clear conscience let them take it , and much good may it do them : but as for these who cannot take it , let them suffer patiently the penaltly inflicted by the law ; and let them behave themselves orderly , and peaceably , without making any rent in the state , or schism in the church , and without reflecting on their governours : ye● , that it may be seen by all men they are acted by principles of conscience : and this seems to be the best way that is now left for salving the credit of authority : and yet many wise men think , that it would be no reflection on authority , if his majesty , out of his goodness , finding how great a grievance the urging of the test is like to prove to his best and most loyal subjects , which could not be so well known till it was tryed , should suspend the execution of the law till further advice . it obligeth us to swear , that we believe the confession recorded in the . par. james . is founded on , and agreeable to the written word of god : now if there be but one single proposition in that confession , either false , or dubious , not exprest in , or clearly deduced from the scriptures , can we swea● it with a good conscience ? surely whoever reads it with understanding , will find many things doubtful , and uncertain at least . but it deserves to be particularly remarked , that it contains doctrines which manifestly cross the many ends of the test : this was certainly designed to guard and engage men against fanatical principles , and yet for all that , it obliges all that swear it to own the most capital , and fundamental principles of those who are called fanatiks . they maintain , that our obedience to the supreme magistrate is to be limited ; and that if he be an enemy to the truth , and cause of god , subjects may take up arms against him . . they maintain , that nothing is to be allowed in the worship of god , but what is prescribed in his word : were not these the principles that embroiled these kingdoms , that raised a combustion , and that turned all things upside down , both in church and state ? and are not these principles plainly taught in this confession ? it is reckoned , art. ▪ a duty to repress tyranny ; and to disobey , and resist kings , is a sin , with this caution and limitation ( while they pass not over the bounds of their office , or do that thing which appertains to their charge . ) and in like manner , the assistance we ow them is cautioned , and limited , [ while they vigilantly travel in the execution of their office ] . is not this the very doctrine of the solemn league and covenant by which they bind themselves to defend the kings majesty's person and authority , in the preservation , and defence of the true religion , and liberties of the kingdom ? let any but read spotswood's history of the resormation , anno , , . among others ; how subjects did bind themselves by oaths , and subscriptions , to assist one another for advancing the cause of religion ; how by the advice of the ministers , they deprived the queen regent of her government , and this very year this confession was compiled , and ratified in parliament . and i am sure there can remain no doubt about the sense of the confession in this point . but to render the matter beyond exception , it is declared rebellious , and treasonable by act of parliament , for subjects to put limitations on their due obedience , and allegiance . and for the other principles about divine worship , the confession affirms these to be evil works , that in matters of religion , and worship of god , have no other assurance , but the invention , and opinion men . in this principle they condemn very ancient and laudable customs of churches , as singing the doxology , and the most innocent , and indifferent ceremonies for decency , and helps for devotion , calling them by the odious titles of superstition , and will-worship . but be these principles true or false in themselves certainly they are utterly inconsistent with these other clauses in the test , that assert it unlawful , on any pretence whatsoever , to take arms against the king , and invest him with such a supremacy as impowers him to erect such constitutions , and orders about ecclesiastical matters , as his majesty thinks fit . and in this also there is a palpable contradiction , that the test binds us not to consent to any change contrary to the confession , and by and by enjoyns to swear what is flatly contradictory to it : we cannot take this test , unless with the same breath we swear , and forswear , under oath protest onething , and forthwith under oath protest the quite contrary . it obliges us to swear , we shall with our utmost power , defend , assist , and maintain all the kings rights . and is not this to swear we know not what ? or is it not to swear , we shall maintain , and defend , with the greatest zeal and concernedness , whatsoever the king challenges , or the parliament votes to belong to him ? and may not a prince come to claim a right to act arbitrarily ? and may not iniquity happen to be established by law ? nay ▪ doth not the king , de facto , challenge , and has not the parliament declared supremacy to be an inherent right of the crown ; by which his majesty may settle and emit such acts and orders as he pleases , about ecclesiastical matters ? and are not articles of faith ecclesiastical maters ? and what is this , but to avow , we hold our selves obliged to believe as the king believes ? and so ere long the rights , jurisdictions , prerogatives ▪ priviledges , preeminences and authorities that may be v ted to belong to our prince ; may come to swallow up religion , liberty , property , and all our priviledges . we do not see how any man of sense , and conscience , can swear this clause , in so great a latitude , and so illimited terms . it obliges us to swear ▪ that we acknowledg it unlawful , without the kings special command , to convocate , conveen or assemble in any council , convention , or assembly , to treat , consult , or determine , in any matter of state , civil , or ecclesiastik . the clause ( excepting ordinary judgments ) which was added in all such convocating , conveening , and assembling , which were declared unlawful , anno . . par. char. . act . being left out here , we have reason to think , that all such sessions , presbyteries , and synods are discharged , there being no special command , or express for them that we know of : and these meetings being of great use , for curbing of vice , and prophanesse , and for setling , and entertaining peace , and good order in the church , we cannot swear to forbear holding of them , tho we have not an express license from the king. we acknowledg princes have power , and authority , to inhibit their subjects to meet as they see cause , but we cannot bind our selves to obey them , against such liberty which christ hath conferred on his church : this is a priviledg the church ever enjoyed , since it was founded , and erected by our saviour , and , in all ages , used as the state of affairs required ; so we cannot devoid our selves of it , without proving betrayers of our trust , and condemning the conduct of the primitive christians , who without special command , nay , contrary to the express edict of princes , did convocate , conveen or assemble in councils , and conventions , to treat , consult , and determine about ecclesiastical matters ; and yet for all that , have been no less commended , and admired for loyalty , and peaceableness , than for piety , and zeal . and seeing that in the present juncture its notour that there are cabals , and engines formed , and carried on , to undermine the protestant religion , and to bereave us of the truth which our lord has committed to us as so many depositaries , can we , without the most horrid guilt , and the blackest infamy , swear , that we shall not so much as meet two or three of us together , till we have the kings warrant , ( perhaps never ) to consult about the welfare of the church , and the salvation of our own , and other mens souls ? it obliges us to swear ▪ there is no obligation on us , any manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour any change , or alteration in the government , either in church , or state. is not this to swear what no man living can assuredly know ? and are there not indeed many tyes on us as men , as christians , as pastors , to procure , as far as in us lyes , the happiness of the church , and state ? now if we discern , and it be acknowledged by wise ; and good men , that the government may be bettered by enacting wholsome new laws , and abrogating corrupt old ones , might we not , ought we not , in our stations endeavour such an alteration ? the constitution of a national synod , e. g. gives the archbishop of st. andrew's a negative , when the whole clergy is contrary , so that were all our bishops , and other members of the synod , men of apostolick sanctity , and zeal , yet nothing could be done for reforming the church , if one man , who may happen to be an enemy both to truth , and vertue , shall dissent . and how can honest conscientious church-men swear , they shall never endeavour to have this helped ? by the same act ▪ no matter is to be debated , consulted , or concluded , but what shall be allowed by his majesty : what now if the prince come to be popish , or altogether unconcerned about religion , shall we , can we , in conscience , bind our selves to propose , treat , and conclude nothing but what he pleases ? by the explicatory act , itis put in the kings power to cut , and carve in the external government of the church , at his pleasure : and so he may without consent of parliament , or clergy , restore presbytery ; he may turn out all the bishops , and pastors , and plant in their room men of his own persuasion , whatever it be , he may casheer all our spiritual fathers , and substitute noble-men , gentle-men , lawyers , or any other kind of laiks , to be superintendents of the church , or his commissioners in ecclesiastical affairs : and shall we oblige our selves by an oath , to endeavour no rectification of so unreasonable a statute ? if we see , and it cannot be denied , that episcopal government might contribute more to maintain truth , and advance piety , and peace , than hitherto it has done , might we not , ought we not to use our utmost endeavours , to procure such laws , and canons to be enacted as should oblige bishops to manage their power , and authority to such noble , and excellent ends , and not put off the respect to the souls committed to their charge ? we are to endeavour such a change , which might conduce mightily for changing , and reforming them : out of the veneration we bear to episcopacy , we cannot but pray , and with for such a change , and do our best to effectuate it , because otherways episcopal government would come to be despised ; and derided , not only as useless , but pernicious : unless then we would intirely abandon episcopacy , unless we would express no regard for ▪ or concern our selves with the flourishing of piety , unless we would sit down contented , and satisfied , without ever complaining of , and opposing the corruptions of the church , we can by no means swear this clause of the test : but we would with a very good conscience testifie by our solemn oath , if we were put to it , that we judge our selvès obliged to endeavour a change , both of the government , and governors of the church . there are several other things that beget in our minds an utter dislike of the act anent religion : we shall touch two or three things more . it commands us to become a kind of sycophants , delators and informers against dissenters : hardly could our mortal enemies fall upon a course more likely to blast our ministry , and expose us to hatred and obloquy . had it been designed we should give an account of schismatical withdrawers , that our spiritual fathers might bear with them in the spirit of meekness , and charity , for clearing their prejudices , we would have most readily , and joyfully served them in so worthy an enterprise : but to delate them , that they may be fined , and imprisoned , or banished , or sustain any bodily , or temporal damages , is a thing we abhor : we judg it more eligible to be no pastors than to be on such terms . . it weakens the protestant interest , by dividing protestants , and treating sober dissenters with as great severity as papists , or wildest fanatiks . . it leaves a wide postern for popery , for it exempts from the test such as should have been first of all put to it , and so provides most effectually for perpetuating popery in the royal family : and what could have been contrived more grateful , and advantageous to the church of rome , and what more grievous and fatal to the reformed ? grounds wherupon some of the conformed ministers scruple to take the test. first , passing by the danger of oaths , when pressed so generally , ( men of the least tenderness ordinarily swallow them easily and make small conscience of observing them , while they that fear oaths are hardly induced to take them , and by their strict observance make themselves a prey ) we think it strange that this oath should be injoyned to us , who cannot be suspected rationally to incline either to fanaticism or popery , since by our subscriptions to the oath of supremacy , and canonical obedience , we have sufficiently purged our selves of the first , and by our refuting popish errors daily in our pulpits , do shew an utter abhorrence of the other , and further , since meerly our owning of episcopal government has begot , and still increases in the minds of our people , such an aversion from and dislike of us , we would have expected that our spiritual fathers would not have exposed us to greater loathing , and contempt , by such engagements ; which although it should be granted to be causeless and unjust , yet we think our selves bound to shun it , that our ministry may be the more taking with them , since the thing pressed upon us , is neither absolutely necessarie , nor yet so evident in what is asserted for truth as may incourage us for to underlie their prejudice conceived thereupon : and finallie , since it is known that abjuring the covenant did hinder many ministers to conform , and people to joyn in ordinances dispensed by conformists , and our parliaments had hitherto shewed such civil moderation as to free us from the declaration , we cannot look at it but as bad and fatal that our church should be dashed on this rock , which may occasion its splitting , and instead of quenching this former evil create new flames . secondly , as we wish for the suppressing of the growth of popery a more particular way had been made use of , even for the discovering of such as are of no publick trust , so we cannot but regret that this test has been so framed as to divide the sound sober presbyterians amongst themselves , whereby our common enemies are gratify'd , and the true faith indangered , we being perswaded that there are many presbyterians in the kingdom , gentlemen , ministers , and others , who cannot in conscience take this test , who yet do dayly come , and are ready to joyne with us in ordinances . we think it had been fitter to have condescended something for gaining of such , then to have put such a brand upon them , which may more alienate them , and weaken us . thirdly , that confession of faith recorded in the first parliament of king james the th , has some things in it which may scarre the swearing to it without limitation , as . section th . it asserts those to be evil works which are done not only contra , but praeter verbum dei. dly , section th . it asserts , such as resist the supreme power , doing that which pertains to his charge , and while he vigilantly travels in his office , doe resist the ordinance of god , which clauses may bear an exclusive sense , especially when in the th section , it is reckoned among good works to suppress tyranny , dly section th ; jesus christ is asserted to be the only head , and law-giver of his kirk , and it is counted blasphemy for angels , or men to intrude themselves into the said honor , and office ; th section the th on the sacraments . popish baptism is denyed as to its validity , and popish priests denyed to be true ministers , which expressions if narrowly scanned , will be found of dangerous consequence , and contradictory to other positions in the confession it self . fourthly , we fear that our people may look on us rather as countenancers and incouragers , then suppressors of popery , seeing by the act we are obliged to delate yearly in october such as withdraw from our ministry , that they may be punished by the civil magistrats , and yet by the same act , the kings lawful brother , and sons in perpetuum are exempt from taking the test , and consequently left at liberty to be papists , or protestants , and what bad influence their example may have on inferior people may easily be apprehended , and our taking the test will be reputed an approving of that exemption , which will be more stumbling . that all former acts against papists were made without any exemption , and they all declared to be disloyal who embraced not the reformed religion , particularly in the th act of the third parliament of james the v i. and the th act of the i. parliament of charles the ii. fifthly , we are to swear that there lyes no obligation on us by vertue of the late covenants , or any other manner of way to endeavour the change of the government , either in church , or state , as it is established by law , where we suppose we are sworn not only to maintain monarchy , but also , as our law tyes us , in the present line , and in the nearest in kin to our present king , altho they should be papists , altho we judge the coronation oath in the eight act of the first parliament of james the vi. to be contradictory , which yet is a standing unrepealed law , since this currant parliament hath ratified , and confirmed all acts made in savour of the protestant religion , whereof this is one , so that we swear contradictions . sixthly , as for the church government , as it is now establisht by law , there hath not been , nor are yet wanting sound protestants who assert the jus divinum of episcopacy , such could not in conscience take this oath , seeing the king by vertue of his prerogative , and supremacy is impowered by law to dispose of the external government , and policy of the church , as he pleases , as for such as look upon episcopal government as indifferent in it self , notwithstanding the submission that we give to it , or have ingaged for , they can as litle swear on these terms : for why should they swear never to endeavor to alter that which in it self they look upon as alterable , there being no indifferent thing which in tract of time , through the corruption of men , may not prove hurtful ? and why might not men in their station endeavor the redressing ( by fair means ) of any such evil , and advise his majesty , if he be willing , to exert the power setled on him by the law , for freeing the church from any inconveniency ? and altho we have engaged to obey bishops , yet we ever did wish that they may be setled a●ongst us in a way more suitable to the primitive times viz. that their number might be more encreased , that they might by called by the church allenarly to that office , and that they might be made liable to the censure of the church for their doctrine , life , and diligence , that they might not be such pragmatical medlers in civil affairs , and that synods , and presbyteries might have more power then is assigned them by the act of restitution ; from the seeking a remedy in any of which things this oath doth tye us up . seventhly , the power given to the king by the present laws , if he should be popish , should be very prejudicial to the protestant interest , for by the first act of the d parliament of charles the d he may not only dispose of the external policy of the church , but may emit such acts ▪ concerning the persons imployed therein ; & all ecclesiastical meetings , and matters to be treated upon therein , as he shall think fit , and this act only published is to oblige all his subjects , and by the act for a national synod no doctrinal matter may be proposed , debated , or concluded without his express allowance ; in the foresaid case it is easie to divine , what advantage the enemies of our religion will have for the overturning of all . hoc ●thacusvelit , & magno mercentur atrid● edenburgh , the sederunt of the council . sederunt vigesimo secundo die septembris , . his royal highness , &c. montrose , errall , marshall , marr , glencarne , winton , linlithgow , perth , strathmore , roxburgh , queensberry , airley , kintore , breadalbane , lorne , levingston , bishop of edenburgh , elphinston , rosse , dalziel , treasurer deputy praeses , advocate justice clerk , collintoun , tarbet , haddo , lundie . this day the test was subscribed by the above-written privy councellors , and by the earl of queensberry , who coming in after the rest had taken it declared that he took it with the explication following , the earl of queensberrie's explanation of the test when he took it . his lordship declared that by that part of the test , that there lyes no obligation — to endeavour any change , or alteration in the government , &c. he did not understand himself to be oblidged against alterations , in case it should please his majestie to make alterations of of the government of church or state. halyrudehouse sederunt vigesimo primo die octobris . his royal highness , &c. winton , perth , strathmore , queensberry , ancram , airley , lorne , levingston , bishop of edenburgh , treasurer deputy praeses , register , advocate , collintoun . this day , the bishop of edenburgh having drawn up a long explication of the test , to satisfie the many objections , and scruples moved against it , especially by the conformed clergie , presented it to the council for their lp's approbation , which was ordered to be read : but the paper proving prolixe , and tedious , his highness , after reading of a few leaves , interrupted , saying very wittyly , and pertinently , that the first chapter of john with a stone will chase away a dog , and so brake it off . yet the bishop was afterward allowed to print it , if he pleased , and here you have it . the bishop of edenburgh's explanatory vindication of the test. the last session of this currant parliament considering the interest of the true protestant religion to be the most sacred and important of all others ; doth by the first act , revive , ratifie , and confirm all acts and statutes , made in our former parliaments , establishing the same in this kingdom : which acts being made by our wise ancestors when the protestant religion was in greatest danger , not only from the great number of popish subjects in this kingdom , many whereof were persons of greatest interest , power , and influence therein , but from the power of france , as well as of the pope , both which were zealously bent to re-establish , and confirm the setlement of popery in its jurisdictions , and superstitions amongst us , were judged by all , both in articles and parliament , and that after long and strenuous application and endeavour in contriving ane new act for these ends , not only sufficient , but the best security for our religion , against all hazards and contingencies , in which the best and wisest part of the parliament acquiesced , till the importunity and repeated clamours of some , who needs would appear more warmly concerned in this mater than others , they offering new overtures to the articles , for the securing of the protestant religion , of which they often received an account in open parliament , did awaken a more narrow inspection into this more concerning affair : and therefore for the farther security of religion , from the danger of popery on the one hand , and of principles and practices of rebellion , and fanatical schism on the other , did judg it necessary , that ane act should be past , disabling papists , and fanaticks from any power , or capacity , to subvert or overthrow it ; which in their deep wisdom they found could never be so effectually done as by keeping all such out of places of publik trust and employment , civil , ecclesiastik , or military : and in regard that the good and wholesom laws , and the steady , and vigorus execution thereof , are the best and most firm human security of religion : therefore such wise provisions were piously made by that act , as might bar all disaffected to the protestant religion , from electing , or being elected members of parliament , wherein the law - making power is lodged , or from creeping into any office or trust , whereby the execution of the law is managed : so that our established religion might never be endangered , or subverted by evil or corrupt laws , or by the remiss and negligent execution of good ones . notwithstanding such is the fate of the best of human constitutions that nothing can be so piously intended , or prudently contrived , but either through ignorance or malice , misprision or mistake , it may be misrepresented , misconstrued , and many groundless , and unaccountable jealousies , by scruples and prejudices entertained against it , as is but too clearly instanced in the matter of the present oath , and test , which the wisdom of our governours hath enacted , and appointed to be taken by all persons employed in offices of publik trust , as the best fence of the church , and security of the protestant religion against the invasion and encroachments they stand in danger of from the restless adversaries . some of the regular and orthodox clergy , and other well-meaning subjects , having entertained some jealousies which far exceed their causes , and vented some scruples and objections against it , which are most part founded on mistakes , and unnecessary , not to say uncharitable stretching and extending the meaning thereof far beyond either the genuine sense of the words , or design and intention of the parliament , in framing and enjoyning that test , tenderness and compassion towards these conform and loyal persons , who may either be imposed upon by the malice and craft of the church's adversaries , to stumble at , or by their own fears , and misapprehensions , may be led into mistakes of the meaning , and design of this excellent mean for securing our church and religion , hath prevailed with us to endeavour a short essay , for vindicating this oath and test from all mistakes and scruples , by answering , and satisfying the objections which are commonly moved against it ; and that thereby the plain and genuine sense , in which this oath is required by authority to be taken by all persons in trust , may be clear and apparent . pursuant to this , it will be fit to read and consider the oath or test it self , as it is contained in the sixth act of the last session of this currant parliament . in the next place , it will not be amiss to rank up the doubts and objections moved against it , in their several heads and classes , and to resolve and answer them accordingly , in their respective place and order . of these scruples and objections some are founded upon the consession of faith , contained in the foresaid oath : others arise from the oath of allegiance and supremacy , and the asserting therein of the kings prerogative : some are taken from that part of the test , wherein the unlawfulness of assembling in any councils or conventions , to treat , consult or determine in any mater of state , civil or ecclesiastik , without the kings special command and license had thereto , is asserted and sworn : and finally others arise from the clause , asserting , that no obligation lyes from the late covenants , or any other manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour any change or alteration in the government , either in church or state , as the same is now established by the laws of this kingdom . it is beyond all peradventure that as conscience is the most tender thing in the soul of man , so oaths are of the strictest force and obligation , and are to be taken in truth righteousness and iudgment : which is the doctrine of all sound casuists , juramenti obligatio est stricti juris ; yet this strictum jus is not so to be understood , as if it did exclude all sensing and interpreting of it , the interpretation thereof amounting to no more than meerly to make clear and plain any word or sentence therein , which may seem to be dark , doubtful and ambiguous . it is excellently said by that judicious casuist , doctor sandersone , prel . . de juramenti obligatione , p. . de lege charitatis aliena dicta , & facta , praesertim principum , parentum , aliorumque rectorum sunt benignae interpretationis . juxta id quod dici solet , dubia esse interpretanda in meliorem partem . that is , by the law of charity the words and deeds of others , especially of our princes , parents , and other governours , are to be moderated by a favourable interpretation , according to the usual maxim , that things doubtful are to be interpreted to the best sense . this being premised , the objections of the first classis arising upon the confession of faith are to be first considered ; and in order to this it must be remembered , that this confession is not to be lookt upon as fully comprehensive of all the protestant doctrine in opposition to all the errors , and superstition of the romish church , and other heresies ; nor is there any one amongst the harmony of the confessions of the reformed churches , which can challenge this perfection to it self : nor is it to be thought strange , that in many things it should be defective , if we consider , that it was hastily compiled in the short space of four days , by a select number of barons , and ministers , in the very infancy of our reformation as the history of the reformation of the church of scotland , commonly ascribed to john knox , printed at london , in the year in fol. p. . doth inform : nor are the authors of the foresaid confession so prositive , as to look upon all therein contained as infallible , or to be received as articles of faith , as appears from the preface prefixed thereto , as it is set down in the history of the reformation foresaid , p. . wherein they promise upon their honours and fidelity , reformation of any article or sentence therein , which shall be proved to be amisle , or erroneous , so that it is not to be considered as the compleat standard of the protestant faith and doctrine , in which nothing is wanting , but is inserted in the body of this oath as being the only protestant confession in this church , which is stamped with the impress of lawful authority , it being ratified by the first parliament , james the vi anno . and is the most ancient , being received for six score years , without any contradiction in this kingdom ; and is only used in this oath , designotive , to express that , as a particular systeme , wherein the main substantials of the protestant religion , sworn unto , are contained . if it be asked , what , or where is the protestant religion ? the answer is plain , that it is the true christian religion , as it is reformed from the errors and superstitions of the popish church , and is contained in the harmony of the protestant church's confessions , which agree in the chief and principal substantials , tho they may differ in lesser maters , and opinions disputable ; among which this our confession is recorded . but tho we are under no obligation to justifie every sentence or article thereof , yet it deserves so much reverence from us , as to justifie it , so far as we may , from any charge of error or , heterodoxy ; and the rather that , upon due tryal and examination , there seemeth nothing to be contained in it which is not agreeable to the charitable analogy of faith , and may not admit of a very fair , true and orthodox sense and interpretation , as the following answers to the scruples and objections arising upon it , will sufficiently evince . it is objected by some then , . that in the third ar● . of original sin it is said , that by it the image of god was utterly defaced in man ; which seems to run cross to the stream of the protestant doctrine , which aslerts , that the remains of the divine image still abide in the soul , notwithstanding of mans fall . the answer is easie , if we shall carefully distinguish betwixt defacing of the image of god , which imports no more than a darkning or maiming thereof , and utter destroying of that image , which implies the total subversion or abolition of it ; and that the former is allowed by all sound protestants . it is objected , . that art. . it is said , that it is blasphemy to affirm , that men who live according to equity and justice , shall be saved , whatsoever religion they professe , since without christ jesus there is neither life nor salvation ; which some think a very uncharitable doctrine , barring all the ancient philosophers , and moralists , such as plato , seneca , socrates , plutarch , &c. from eternal life and salvation . answer . that clause is but a consequence drawn from the th article , rather than any essential part of its doctrine , as will appear upon the perusal . . it is most infallibly true , that there is no name under heaven by which salvation can be obtained , but the name of jesus ; which imports at least a sense of sin , and of the necessity of expiating the same , and of propitiating god toward the sinner in every one that shall be saved ; which by some is termed an implicite knowledg of christ jesus , who alone is the grand propitiation , and such a knowledg as the moral gentiles , and even the jews had before the revelation and exhibition of the person of the messiah , in the fulness of time ; and how far an implicite knowledg of jesus christ in his doctrine and offices , before his exhibition in time , is necessary to salvation , is not of easie determination . and therefore , . this clause must be supposed to respect the gospel oeconomy , and evangelical dispensation , and to extend to such as are blessed with the manifestation of the gospel , and clear revelation of jesus christ thereby ; and in this sense it is beyond all doubt , that none come to age , and the clear exercise of reason , in an ordinary way , shall be saved , but such only as believe in him , own his doctrine , and sincerely obey his holy precepts . it is objected , . that from the th article , the interpretation of the sacred scripture appertaineth to the spirit of god , by which the scripture was dictate and written , and no● to any person , or church , for any preheminence or prerogative ; personal or local ; which seems to cut off all power of interpreting scriptures from the ancient fathers , or general councils . answ. the harmonious doctrine of the protestant church is , that the spirit of god speaking in the scriptures is as the best judg , so the only best and infallible interpreter of scripture , whereby , tho the primary and authoritative interpretation of the scripture is ascribed to that blessed spirit yet thereby is not denied to the fathers and councils a ministerial and declaratory power , in expounding the sacred word , which is of great weight and authority with all christians ; who needs must believe these holy persons and assemblies to be ordinarily assisted by the light and conduct of his holy spirit , who promised to be with his church to the end of the world . it is objected , . that article . the right administration of the sacraments is one of the notes of the true church of god. and art. . requires to the right administration of the sacraments , that they be ministred in such elements , and in such sort as god hath appointed ; whence some would infer , that all such churches as use circumstances in the administration thereof which are not appointed by god , as the mixing of water with wine in the holy eucharist , or of oyl with water in baptism , must be by this doctrine unchurched . ans. when the d. article requireth to a true church , that the sacraments be administred in such sort as god has appointed , it mainly relateth to the words of consecration , and to the institution , which indeed are essentially requisite to the very being of the sacraments , these being null which are celebrated without them , and not according to the institution . as for the elements , tho these be necessary , at least in ordinary cases , yet the mixtures and superadditions to these appointed elements do not absolutely nullifie , tho they do corrupt the sacraments . and that this is the meaning of the d article appears clear from the words immediately following , viz. else we affirm ; that they cease to be the right sacraments of christ jesus , where they are not denied simply to be sacraments , but are charged as sacraments not rightly and duely administred , as these are which are not vitiated and adulterated by superstitious mixtures . it is objected . from that same article . that to the being of lawful ministers it is required , that they be men lawfully chosen thereto by some kirk ; which seems to import the necessity of popular elections , and to cancel the rights of patronages , and to unminister such as are presented by them . answ. all ministers presented by patrons are elected by the churh , in as much as edicts are served , whereby the peoples consent is legally obtained before the person presented be collated or inducted to the particular flock or congregation ; and that by this article laik patronages are not annulled appears evident by the seventh act of the parliament , . wherein the same confession of faith , and all its articles are authorised , and therefor cannot be supposed , by any article of the foresaid confession , to have been intended to be cast and overturned . it is objected , . that in the . article amongst works which are reputed to be good before god to repress tyranny is enumerate for one , which seems to encourage resistance and rebellion against the supreme civil powers . answ. besides what may be said concerning tyranny in inferior judges , magistrates , and other subordinate superiors , the repression whereof is certainly a good work ; if we consider tyranny in the supreme magistrate , it can only be said repressable by fair , just and lawful means : for i● possumus quod jure possumus : to suppress tyranny by resistance or rebellion were to do evill that good may come of it , contrary to the apostolical rule and injunction ; but to suppress tyranny by a regular assisting to make good laws , by devout prayers , and pious instructions and exhortations , may well be reckoned among good works . it is objected , . that in the . article the popish ministers are no ministers of jesus christ , which is contrary both to the doctrine , and practice of all sound protestant churches . answ. . that assertion is not contained in the doctrinal part of that article . but is a corollary illogically deduced from the first part thereof ; and we are not concerned in the ill consequences and paralogisms , which may be found in any of these articles . . all protestant churches do acknowledg the bishops , priests , and deacons in the romish church to be real and ordained ministers of the catholick church , owning the ordination of their ministers to be derived in its succession from them : so that without unchurching themselves they must needs believe these to be really ministers ; and the practice of protestants doth universally demonstrate this : inso much that when a romish priest comes over from them , and reconciles himself to the protestant church , he is allowed to exercise all the parts , and functions of the holy ministry , without any new ordination : so that the meaning must be , either . that many are reputed ministers in the romish church which indeed ●●o no ministers of jesus christ , viz deacons , acolyths , and exorcists , &c. and as follows in the article , even women among them are allowed to baptize , who sure are none of christs ministers . or . that they are no pious and faithful ministers , nor such as christ will own to be his , as is insinuate in the foresaid history of reformation of the church of scotland , p. . where it calls all popish ministers then in this kingdom , thieves , murderers , rebels , traitors , &c or . that they were not duely elected ministers , as is asserted ibid. or in fine , that they are not sound or incorrupted ministers . for according to the harmony of the protestant confessions , among which this confession of ours is inserted , the ministers of the popish church are owned to be true and real ministers , in the same sense wherein that church is acknowledg'd to be a true , and real church , tho not a sound and pure one ; even as we say , that a leprous or paralitik man is a true and real man , tho not a healthful and sound man : as this same confession , article . calls the church at jerusalem , consisting of priests , scribes , pharisees , &c. no church of god , by reason of the corruptions thereof , wherein must be meaned no sound or incorrupt church of god , as appears from the title , viz. of the notes by which , &c. many other particulars may perhaps be excepted against , which are contained in that confession , besides these which are here considered , and which we are not concerned much to notice , or to dip upon the authority enacting , or authorising that confession at the first forming thereof , since it is inserted in the test only designative , as pointing to that ancient system , wherein the substantials of the protestant religion are to be found , ( as was declared openly in parliament , when some more zealous than considerate , would needs press the mentioning of it in this oath ) which must be presumed to be the alone use of that confession in this test , since upon this account the articles thereof were refused so much as to be read in parliament , as being no part of our oath , and formerly ratified by law , at the passing of the act , enjoy●ing the same : for if the words of the oath be seriously weighed , we shall find , that by this test we swear to own , prosess , and believe not every article , or every proposition , or every consequence in that confession ; but only the true protestant religion contained therein , and which religion we believe to be founded on , and agreeable to he written word of god ; to the which religion we bind our selves to adhere all the days of our life , and to educate our children therein &c so that if there be any article , or proposition , or consequence contained in that consession , which is contrary , or repugnant to the true protestant ●eligion to be found in the harmony of confessions ; we do not swear to own o● believe it . if it be replied , that by that oath and test , we swear to disown and renounce all principles , doctrines , and practices , which are contrary to , and inconsistent with the said protestant religion , and confession of faith , and that therefore we are bound to own and believe all principles and doctrines which are contained in the confession foresaid . ans . the confession of faith repeated in this clause cannot be supposed to be understood otherways than as it is taken in the former , which is only designative , and denoting the system where the protestant doctrine is to be found , ut supra . : the words of the oath do sufficiently clear up this seeming difficulty , which are , that i disown and renounce all such doctrines , principles and practices , popish or fanatical , which are contrary to , &c. so that unless there be errors , or heterodox doctrines , which are neither popish nor fanatical , discovered to be contained in the confession foresaid , no shadow of scruple can be rationally entertained upon this account ; and tho there were , yet it is apparent , that the intention of the parliament , in inserting that confession into this oath , was only so far as it stands in opposition to popery and fanticism , and no further : so that if there be any doctrines which oppose any part or article of that confession , which are neither popish nor fanatical , we are not bound by this part of the oath to renounce them : and no sound loyal protestant will scruple to renounce all such doctrines and principles which are either popish or fanatical , which are repugnant to this confession foresaid to close up this head of objections drawn from the confession foresaid , it is to be considered , that the famous and ●earned doctors of aberdeen , anno . in their demands and duplys , do in demand . declare and take god to witness , that they , and other people , were willing to subscribe this very confession of faith. and : duply , they assert , that they are ready , not only to subscribe , but to swear this national confession of faith , ( so they call it ) ratified , and registred in parliament . to which declaration they add the oath sworn by them , when they received the degree of doctorat in theology , which oath they solemnly again renew in the . duply . and this they judged necessary for them to do , to satisfie the world , that they were no favourers of popery , which , as then , so now , is the engine whereby to calumniate loyal subjects , and soundest protestants , as papists in masquerade . by which we understand , that these learned loyal divines , and orthodox , ( the glory of the reformed church in their age ) who well understood the protestant doctrine , the unlawfulness of resisting the supreme magistrate upon any pretence whatsoever , the intrinsik power of the church , together with the interests and rights of episcopal government , did not scruple to subscribe and swear this confession of faith , and that as a test against popish errors and supersition . so that they who shall now refuse to swear to own and believe the true protestant religion , reformed from popery , contained in this confession , do occasion too much umbrage of suspicion and jealousie that they are not sound nor solid protestants . as to the second head or classis of objections , drawn from the oath of allegiance and supremacy , which , together with the maintenance of the kings prerogative , is asserted and sworn in the test , the great stress of the objections founded thereupon lies in these two particulars : that the kings supremacy , as it is asserted by the act of parliament , viz anno . seems to deprive and devest the church of all its intrinsick power ; as if all ecclesiastical authority were derived not from jesus christ , the alone prince , and vital head of his church , but from secular princes and magistrates . and . that by the foresaid act there seems to be a power lodged in the king , to alter and change the established episcopal government of the church , at his royal pleasure , which they can never swear to maintain as a prerogative of the crown who believe episcopacy to be of divine right , and apostolical institution , and by consequence , an oecumenick and unalterable government by any power on earth . for the more clear satisfaction of these objections , it will be convenient to read and consider that act of parliament , november the th . : ( in which , upon due perusal and examination , nothing new or dangerous to the setlement of our national church , will be found comprehended . our saviour was very unconcerned to regulate the bounds of soveraign powers : he doth not examine pilate's power to judg of blasphemy or treason , but acknowledgeth and submits unto it : and so his apostles neither enquire into the rights of the roman emperors , nor limit the exercise of their power , but seriously recommend to all good subjects , as their duty , submission and obedience to the higher powers : and they leave the secular powers of the world in possession of whatever authority , either over persons or matters , they found them invested with . the magistrate doth not intitle himself to the spiritual function , in preaching the word , administring the sacraments , exercising the power of ordination , or the keys , &c. our gracious king never challenged these spiritual powers , which indeed belong to the bishops and other ministers of the church . the holiest and best kings of israel and judah , are famous for abolishing false worship , asserting and setling of the truth : many excellent ordinances concerning religion were made by moses , ioshua , david , solomon , asa , iosiab , &c. which are recorded and applauded by the spirit of god in the scriptures . these ordered and regulated divine worship , sacraments , and covenants with god ; they erected altars , temples , and tabernacles , and dedicated them to god : they destroyed idolatry , reformed abuses in gods house and service , and both setled the standing worship , and ordained thanksgivings , and humiliations ; so that the ordering of matters of religion was not exempted from the supreme secular power under the law ; nor did the emperors and sovereign princes of the earth by imbracing christianity lose their power injoyed by all their predecessors , which if they had , they should have been thereby inevitably exposed to the disturbances of their government by seditions and rebellions upon every frantick eruption of religious melancholy . if constantine had not interposed his authority for suppressing the arrian heresie , what had become either of government or religion ? the drawing up of canons for regulating religion our lord committed to the apostles and their successors the bishops with other ecclesiastical persons : but that these canons should be inforced as laws by temporal sanctions and penalties , this flowed from the authority of the civil power : and accordingly in the second oecumenical council , the bishops and fathers assembled at constantinople beseech theodosius the elder to ratifie the decrees of that synod . justinian established the main canon or cod●x of the universal church , consisting of the canons of the first general and five ancient provincial councils , commanding them to be keept as laws . as matters of religion have not been exempted from the cognizance and regulation of the supreme civil powers , much less can the exemption of ecclesiastical persons be pretended . under the law , we find solomon judging an high priest offending , viz. abiathar , whom he turned out , and placed zadock in his room and office , king. . , . and as single persons , so if we consider church-officers in their ecclesiastical meetings and assemblies , we find the calling thereof lodged in the supreme magistrate ; for moses , not aaron , david , not abiathar , solomon , not zadock , summoned the priests and levites to the meetings , so under the gospel , in the pure and primitive times , we find no councils , nor synods called by the bishop of rome , nor by any other bishop , or by any other ministers forming themselves into classical and synodical meetings , against , or without the consent of the christan prince or magistrate . to any who will be at the pains to consult antiquty or ecclesiastical history , it will evidently appear , that the indiction of times and places , the convocating of persons , the precedency , the ordering of debates , the dismission of assemblies , the confirmation of canons so as to enforce them as laws in the general or provincial councils , were all performed by the supreme magistrate . st. paul himself appealed to caesar , when arraigned and called in question for his religion ; and athanasius appealed from the synod at tyre to constantine , to whom were two appeals made in the case of cassianus and donatus , besides many other instances of the like nature . and it were heartily to be wished , that all church-men and ministers whatsoever were throughly convinced of the doctrine and duty of their obedience to the supreme powers , otherways as they grow popular they become dangerous : sacerdoces eo quidem sunt ingenio , ut ni pareant territent st. chrysostom comments excellently on rom. , v. . . let every soul be subject , saying , whether he be an apostle or evangelist , a prophet , &c. let him be subject to the higher powers . our blessed saviour and the apostles were the most eminent ecclesiastical persons , yet did not think themselves exempted from the authority and jurisdiction of the civil powers ; and if the th . article of the confession of faith , mentioned in the test , be considered , it will be found to grant as much to the civil magistrate as here is asserted and yeelded . yet all this power belonging to the supreme magistrate over religious persons and matters doth not interfer with , nor suppress the intrinsik and essential power , and authority of the church ; for the church's power is internal and spiritual , and the power of the supreme magistrate is external , coercive and temporal ; which , when duely weighed in a just balance , will be found not only to be poised of just different kinds and natures , but so far from interfering with or destroying one another , that if duely and rightly managed , they do mutually assist and support each other . beside , the sense of the oath of supremacy asserted in a speech delivered by b. james usher then bishop of meath , and afterwards primate of ireland , at dublin , novemb. . . for which he received the thinks of king james the sixth , the solomon of his age , by a letter from his majesty , dated the . day of january . is so clear and plain , that it leaves no place for any manner of scruple concerning the intrinsick power of the church , as if it were invaded and incroached upon by the foresaid oath ; where it is said , that the kings supremacy reacheth the outward man only , but the spiritual and intrinsick power of the church reacheth to the inward ; this binding or loosing the soul , that laying hold only on the body , and things belonging thereto : yea , there is an act of the parliament of england , . eliz. declaring , that by the supreme government given to the prince is understood that kind of government only which is exercised with the civil sword. so that there is nothing can be more evident than that by the kings supremacy , as asserted by the act november . . no incroachment or invasion is made upon the spiritual intrinsick power of the church . besides , by the very express words of that assertory act , no more is declared to belong to the king , save the ordering and disposal of the external government and policy of the church . and again , the administration of the external government of the church ; where not a syllable can be found touching upon the internal , spiritual , and essential power and iurisdiction thereof and as to the word , matters , contained in that act , & the kings emitting orders concerning religious matters as well as persons , it needs stumble no thinking person , as if our religion were thereby exposed to dangers at the pleasure of the prince , if we consider the following words , viz. matters to be proposed and determined in ecclesiastical meetings or assemblies , which reserves the power of determining matters of religion still in the hands of that meeting or assembly : so that tho the king , may , by vertue of his royalsupremacy , propose any matter of religion to a national as● . yet it is not to pass unto an act , till first it be determined by the deliberate and free consent , vote and suffrage of the major part of that ecclesiastical meeting . and now let the impartial judg , if any so great security for the true protestant religion can be devised as to have all bishops , ministers , and members of a national synod ( to whom the determining of matters of religion by law belongs ) , solemnly sworn and bound by this oath and test , to adhere to the same protestant religion all the days of their lives , and never to consent to any alteration or change thereof . as for the other objection of these who think that by this assertory act , . there is a power declared to be vested in the king , to alter , and change the established episcopal government of this national church , which these who believe episcopacy to be of divine right , and apostolical institution , and by consequence , unalterable by any humane authority , can never swear to belong to the crown , as an inherent right and prerogative thereof . for answer : tho this point of the divine right of episcopacy is tenderly to be touched , the phrase of jus divinum being in terms subject to misconstruction ; yet it must be acknowledged , that no form of church - government was ever yet modelled , or set up , which hath not claimed to a jus divinum , as well as episcopacy , tho every one of them , with far more noise , but with far less reason than this hath done , for the papists ground the popes oecumenical supremacy upon christs commands , to st. peter , to execute it , and to all the flock of christ , soveraign princes as well as others , to submit to him , as to their universal pastor . the presbyterians cry up their model of government , tho of a very late edition , as the very scepter of christs kingdom , to which all kings are bound to submit theirs , making it also unalterable , and as inevitably necessary to the being of a church , as the word and sacraments . the independents assert , that any single confederate congregation is , jure divino , free and absolute within it self , to govern it self by such rules as shall be consented to by its members ; without dependance from any , except jesus christ alone , or subjection to any prince , bishop , or any other person , or consistory whatsoever : so that all these other flatly deny the kings supremacy , and claim a power and jurisdiction over him , the presbyterians agreeing with the papists in this branch of antichristianism , and claiming to their consistories as full and absolute jurisdiction over princes , even to the highest censure by excommunication , as the romanists challenge to belong to the pope ; or pleading , at least , a priviledg of exemption from the kings authority and jurisdiction , the independents exempting their congregations from all ecclesiastical subjection to christian kings , in asample manner as ther papists do their clergy : whereas the protestant bishop , and regular ministers , as becometh good christians , and dutiful subjects , do neither pretend to any jurisdiction over the king , nor withdraw their subjection from him , but humbly acknowledg his majesty to have soveraign power over them , as well as over his other subjects , and that in all matters , ecclesiastical as well as temporal . but for a more closse answer to this objection , they who believe the indifferency of the forms and models of church-goverment cannot have any scruple on this head , in regard of the present church-government . for should it be changed by authority , then are they not obliged by this oath any longer to own it : cessante enim materia juramenti , cessat ejusdem obligatio : radice obligationis sublata , tollitur ●●â pullulans inde obligatio . according to all casuists . juramentum sequitur naturam & conditionem actus cui adjungitur , id est , materiae circa quam versatur , sicut accessorium sequitur naturam sui principalis , accessorium extinguitur cum principale cadit , d. sandersone . these who believe episcopacy to be of divine right , have no cause to fear that ever the king will alter this specifick form of church-government , neither inclination , nor interest moving him to it : the aphorism so usual with his majesties royal grandfather , no bishop no king , cannot but make deep impression on his majesty , and must be considered not only as a sentence full of present truth when it was uttered , but a sad prophecy of the tragical events which after ensued : and as the greatest and most politick underminers of the monarchy did of late , so their successors continue still to make their oblique and first assaults upon it , by raising their batteries against the setled episcopacy . : if the words of that assertory act be sedately weighed , they will not be found to bear the weight of this objection , for the odds are vast betwixt them , a power to order , and dispose the external government , and policy of the church , together with the ordering of the administration of the external government of the church , which are the words of that act , and the power of altering and changing the specifick and essential government of the church ; the former relating to the ecclesiastical ordering of ecclesiastical persons , matters and meetings as the act it self expresly bears . the king may , and ought to have the ordering , and disposing , and administration of the external government of the church , without claiming a power to alter or change the very species , body , and essence of it . nor may we in charity presume , that our gracious king challenges any such power to himself , by vertue of that act assertory ; nor doth it hinder any to believe episcopal government to be institute of god , that , in the exercise and external administration thereof , it is subject to the orders and authority of the prince : for the same power may be said to be from heaven , and to be of men under different notions , and respects ; to be from heaven , and of god , in respect of the substance of the thing in general , and to be of men , in respect of the determination of sundry particulars requisite to the lawful and laudable exercise thereof : tho the ministerial power be of god , yet are the ministers , in executing the acts proper to their ministerial functions , regulated and ordered by ecclesiastical laws , canons of the church , or acts of general assemblies : nor doth the derivation of any power from god necessarily infer the non-subjection of the persons in whom that power is vested to any others , as to the managing and exercise thereof : for the power which fathers have over their children , husbands over their wives , masters over their servants , is from heaven , of god , and not of men ; yet are parents , husbands , masters , in the exercise of their several respective powers , subject to the powers , jurisdictions , and laws of the lawful soveraigns . it will prove a very difficult task for any man to find out a clear and satisfying reason of difference , in this present case , betwixt the ecclesiastical power & oeconomical , why the one , because it claimeth to be of divine right , should be therefore exempted from the regulation of it , in its exercise , by humane laws , and not the other , which flows from heaven , and is equally of divine right with the former . . in fine , all such who have sworn the oath of allegiance and supremacy , since the assertory act was made , anno ▪ can have no pretence to scruple the taking of this test , upon account of any thing contained in the act of supremacy , already sworn by them , in as much as they must be understood to have taken that oath in the sense of the lawgivers who framed that act. before we come to the third classis of objections , it will be necessary to say something for satisfaction of the doubts of some who apprehend contradictions betwixt some expressions in the consession of faith , and others in the same consession ; and betwixt some assertions therein , and others in the test : so that they think by taking this oath they shall he ensnared to swear to contradictory propositions . two are instanced , that in the article concerning the immortality of souls , it is said , that the elect departed this life are delivered from all torment ; and yet in the same article it is asserted , that neither the elect nor reprobate are in such sleep after death that they feel no torment . to this seeming contradiction it is answered , . that this flows from the mistake and error of the printer alone , and not from any fault in the confession : for in that history of the reformation of the kirk of scotland , of the foresaid edition , the later part of the article runs thus : so that neither the one nor the other are in such sleep that they feel nothing ; which clearly takes off all shadow of contradiction , as well as the error of those against whom that article seemsto be levelled . but finally , the latin paraphrase of it , in the harmony of confessions , takes off all difficultly : for there the words run thus , adeo ut neque hi neque illi ita dormiant ut non sentiant in qua conditione versentur . another seeming contradiction , is betwixt the confession and the test , viz. art. . it is said , that they who resist the supreme powers ( doing that which belongs to their charge ) resist gods ordinance , and they who deny to them their aid , counsel , comfort , &c ( while the prince● and rulers vigilantly travel in the execution of their office , ) these deny their help and support to god : which words seem to disallow the resisting of the supreme magistrate , only conditionally , and in a limited and restricted sense . again the oath and test assert , that it is unlawful , upon any pretence whatsoever , to take up arms against the king , or these commissionate by him ; which doth declare the resisting of the soveraign power to be simply and absolutely unlawful , without any restriction or limitation . ans. here is no contradiction , if the logical rules be observed : for , to resist the supreme powers doing that which pertains to their charge is to resist gods ordinance , and not to resist the supreme powers , doing that which pertains to their charge , is to resist gods ordinance , were indeed a contradiction : but to resist the supreme powers doing that which appertains to their charge , is to resist gods ordinance : and to resist the supreme powers , upon whatsoever pretence , is to resist gods ordinance , imports no manner of contradiction . and so of the other proposition , to deny aid , counsel , &c. while princes and rulers vigilantly travel , &c. in the execution of their office , and not to deny aid , counsel , &c. while , &c are contradictions : but to deny aid , counsel , &c. while princes and rulers vigilantly travel : and to deny aid , counsel &c. to princes and rulers , upon no pretence whatsoever , implies nothing of a contradiction . . when it is told . that at the very time of the framing and enacting of the test , this confession was represented to be wanting and defective in the doctrine of the absolute unlawfulness of resisting the soveraign magistrate : and that therefore it was necessary , that agreeably to the peaceable and loyal protestant doctrine , something might be inserted in the test to make that point more clear , full , and perspicuous , which accordingly was done : and whatever bad use might be made of the clause in the th article , the scruple it self not being exempted from the wresting of unlearned and perverse men , for serving ill designs and purposes , by some bus●ie and seditious spirits , to introduce the doctrine of conditional allegiance , which was openly advanced by the late covenant , and solemn league ; yet the assertion contained in the words of that article is undoubtedly true and certain . vi● that the lawful magistrate is not to be resisted , while he does what pertains to his charge , and travels vigilantly in the execution of his office : tho it be not full enough , or sufficiently extensive , but is more clearly and fully supplied and asserted in the oath or test it self : so that the doctrine of the unlawfulness of resistance , asserted in the test , is more comprehensive and full , but no way contrary , or contradictory thereto . and indeed it were most impious uncharitableness for any to suppose that the same persons and authority which asserteth and determineth the absolute unlawfulness of resisting in one branch of an oath , should in another branch of the same oath , allow of conditional resistance , especially while they proceed gravely and deliberately , after a plain representation of the defects of the confession , in this very point of doctrine . so that the oath being to be taken according to the sense and meaning of the framers and imposers thereof . it is clear as light , that the late session of parliament , which injoins this oath , understood the doctrine concerning the unlawfulness of resistance , in the simple and absolute sense supplied and exprest in the later part of the ●est , that thereby the protestant doctrine might be vindicated from all imputations of disloyalty , in seeming to countenance any pretence of resisting and rebelling against the lawful power which god in his providence had set over them . the d. head or classis of objections is drawn from that of asserting the unlawfulness of convocating or assembling in any councils , conventions , &c. to consult or determine , in any matter of state , &c. whence some object and say , that this cuts off intrinsick power from the church of holding religious assemblies , and church courts , for giving ordination , and for spiritual censures , &c. to which it is sufficiently replied already by shewing that the spiritual and intrinsick power of the church , as to this matter , is no ways hurt and damnified , by making church meetings , as to their external and coercive power , depend upon the supreme magistrate his allowance and regulation . the words of the oath and test do sufficiently clear up this mistake , which do not bar christian subjects from godly communications or quiet and peaceable meetings for religious worship , in preaching the word , administration of the sacraments , and the internal exercises of the power of the keys by ordination and spiritual jurisdiction , censuring offenders , and absolving penitents as the apostles and the primitive christians used in ancient times of infidelity and persecution , but only obliges not to hold meetings or assemblies for treating , consulting and determining in any matter of state , civil or ecclesiastical , &c. which in the plain sense and meaning relates to the external policy of the church , and peace , order , and government of the world , viz. that they shall not meet nor form themselves in judicatories to make laws , or to invade or overturn the setled estate and government of the church , or kingdom , without the kings express warrant or consent , which every sound and loyal protestant must needs acknowledg he is bound not to endeavour , unless he should conclude that the sons of peace are by the most peaceful institutions of the word obliged to turn sons of thunder , to disturb , and inflame the tranquillity of mankind . . when we assert the unlawfulness of meetings and conventions , it is understood ( except in ordinary judgments . ) which clause is expresly inserted in the th act , sess. . par. char. d , whereby his majesties royal prerogative is recognized , and which prerogative is sworn in the test to be maintained and defended . the holding of green tables and church assemblies in the beginning of the late fatal rebellion against our late blessed king , and martyr , without and against his majesties warrant and licence , doth sufficiently discover the dangers , as well as the sinfulness of church convocations and illegal meetings , so that unless a man discover himself too forward to commence new tumults and insurrections , he will beware to entertain such principles which tend so openly to advance and promote them the . and last classis of objections , which militate against the oath and test , is drawn from that clause , which asserts . that there lies no obligation from the covenants , or solemn league or covenant , or any other manner of way whatsoever , to endeavour any change or alteration in the government , either in church or state , as it is now established by the laws of this kingdom : whence some object and say , that no policy or government in the world is so perfect as not in something to need correction and amendment , which every one that is entrusted with the management thereof , ought to endeavour , and in his proper station , to reform and better it , and therefore it seems unlawful to swear never to endeavour any alteration in the government , civil or ecclesiastik . and seeing endeavour here may refer to the forementioned means of leagues , covenants , councils , conventions and assemblies , relating to state-affairs ecelesiastik or civil , or of taking up of arms , [ which no pious or loyal subject will decline to renounce ] without the kings express licence : it is obvious , that by change or alteration in the government , nothing else can be reasonably understood , but the subversion of the specifik established government , or of the fundamental constitution thereof ; and not of every circumstance , or unnecessary part thereof , as is cleared beyond doubt , by the same parliament which formed and enjoyned this oath and test. wherein many excellent acts are made for bettering and securing the government , both in church and state : so that it cannot be supposed , that by this clause , any regular endeavour to rectifie or better the established government of both , is renounced ; but only such impious and irregular endeavours and attempts as intend to shake or subvert the substance , species , and body of the monarchy and episcopacy or the fundamental laws and constitutions thereof . hence it appears a meer quible , to cavil upon the particle , ( as ) it is established ; which some think had been better expressed by , ( which ) is established by law , since by what is said , the particle ( as ) is not to be taken reduplicative , but specificative , relating to the species , and substance of the government . and it is a cavil , no less f●ivoious , which is made upon the particle ( in ) ●he government ; which they say had been been better expressed , of the government , since that particle ( in , ) must neither relate to the substance , species , and fundamentals of these governments , to endeavour the alteration or change whereof is entirely unlawful by this oath ; or it must be interpreted by the parricle ( of ) , by which the sinfulness of any subjects endeavouring the change or subversion of the setled monarchy , and episcopacy , is sworn and asserted . the last clause in the test ●●e●●ing it to be taken in the plain and genuine sense and meaning of the words , without any equivocation or men tal reservation . &c doth not exclude the sensing and interpreting the same by the common rules of speech , as well as of iustice and equity . this interpretation imports no more than singly to make clear and plain any word or sentence therein , which may seem to any to be dark or dubious , which serves only to disco ver the genuine sense of the oath , and the true design and meaning of the imposers thereof ; which is all that by this essay is undertaken and endeavoured . and if a man may swear to believe the articles of the apostolik creed , or the several petitions of the lords prayer , or the doctrine contained in the ten commands of the moral law , without any equivocation , mental reservation , or evasion , &c. which yet he cannot do , without an interpretation put upon some articles of the creed , viz. of the descent into hell , and upon some petitions in the lords prayer ; as give us this day our dayly bread , and on some of the ten commandments , as the fifth , and the words of the fourth commandment : then may we also swear this oath , th● some words , or phrases in it need a sense or illustration to be put on them . must a christian abstain therefore from saying the lords prayer ? no. neither for this need we to admit any ambiguity or equivocation : the word certainly hath but one true sense and signification ; but divers persons understand them according to the different measures of their light . these are the most ordinary and popular scruples of greatest seeming force , which are commonly offered against this oath and test , and upon the issue they appear to be founded upon mistakes of the true sense and meaning of some words and clauses therein ; and misconstructing of the design authority had in framing and imposing the same . and now we having been in duty so tender and compassionate toward the loyaland regular protestant subjects , ( this vindication being intended for the satisfaction neither of papists nor fanatiks ) , as to endeavour by this short essay to clear these doubts and scruples which might arise in their minds upon the oath , that thereby they may perceive the genuine sense of the same , whereby it clearly appears , that we are not sworn by it to maintain or believe every article , assertion , or clause in the confession of faith therein mentioned , but only the true christian protestant religion , as it is reformed from the errours and superstitions of the romish church and other heresies ; and that by it no power is asserted to belong to the prince which is inconsistent with , or destructive of the specifik established government of the church , or the intrinsik or spiritual jurisdiction thereof ; it may be fairly hoped that all good & peaceable subjects with their ministers & others will meekly receive the satisfaction here offered unto them , and compose their minds to a chearful acquiescence in the wisdom of their governours , who have judged this oath so necessary for defeating the pretended obligations of many former unlawful and treasonable oaths , and the best mean and expedient for securing the church and protestant religion , together with the monarchy , from all danger of subversion from the papists on the one hand , and the fanatiks on the other . it cannot but be lookt on as a fatal thing , if any conformist ministers or truly loyal protestants , for whose interest , peace and security , this oath was chiefly formed and injoyned , should not only , after what is said , continue to entertain peevish scruples themselves , but undutifully to fill the minds of the populacie with prejudices as unjust as uncharitable against it , contrary to the rules of our most peaceable religion , and therein following the steps of these incendiaries who fatally fired the kingdom in the late age , by instilling prejudices into the unwary mobile from the pulpits , or other ways , branding the actions of the k. and par. as imposing things sinful and unlawful . this sure will prove the greatest advantage the promoters of the romish interest will propose to themselves against our church and religion , in as much as every schism and breach amongst us , and concussion in the ancient government of our church , doth visibly hazard the dissolution of the whole fabrick of our religion . and if things still go on at this rate , the explanation that some in our late distractions and rebellion made of that passage , st. john . v. . venient romani & capient gentem nostram , will prove too true a prophecy , and popery will overturn all at last . it is a wonder indeed to see how the fanatical adversaries of this poor church have in so short a time been so strangely multiplied in their number , and divided and subdivided into so many special opinions and principles , crumbled into factions and fractions , biting and ready to devour one another : and if loyal protestants also fall in pieces and by the ears among themselves , upon most unseasonable and uncharitable scruples , may it not be feared , that the vigilant adversary , who is intent upon all manner of advantages , will , when he spieth his time , over-master all with the more ease and less resistance . it cannot in charity be doubted , but the love of the church's peace and unity , loyalty to the best of monarchs , pious care for preserving and securing our excellent religion from popery , disloyalty , and enthusiasm , with the zeal of loyal and regular ministers for the benefit and education of christian schools , under their spiritual conduct , and the dutiful regard and deference men owe to their spiritual and temporal governours will prevail with humble , meek and teachable minds , by interpreting all the actions of authority in the best and most favourable sense , to resolve and overcome all scruples , that stand in the way of their duty , and frankly and readily to embrace what the most transcendent authority of this nation hath , from sincere and pious intentions , enjoyned and imposed , for so pious and excellent ends . if this small apology be read without gall or prejudice , the reader will not catch at particles or syllables , but studying the peace of this church and kingdom , will receive without peevishnesse , prejudice or partiality , the satisfaction which herein is with so much affection and charity endeavoured and tendered , then the pains herein taken shall be thought well placed and imployed . edenburgh , sederunt tertio die novembris . his royal highness , &c. athol praeses , montrose , argyle , winton , linlithgow , perth , strathmore , roxburgh , ancram , airley , balcarres , lorn , levingston , bishop of edenburgh , elphinston , rosse , dalziel , president of session ; treasurer deputy , register , advocate , justice clerk , collintoun , lundie . this day the earl of argyll having first openly declared his sense ▪ as you have it hereafter set down in his explication , took the test , as a privy councellor , and after he was called to , and had taken his place , the councils explication , which i have already mentioned , having been formerly read and debated , was put to the vote , and passed , the earl not voting thereto , as hath been remarked . edenburgh , the d day of november , . the privy councils explanation of the test. forasmuch as some have entertained jealousies , and prejudices aganst the oath and test appointed to be taken by all persons in publik trust. civil , ecclesiastical , or military , in this kingdom , by the sixth act of his maje 〈…〉 ies third parliament ; as if thereby they were to swear to every proposition or clause of the confession of faith therein mentioned , or that invasion were made by it upon the intrinsik spiritual power of the church , or power of the keys , or as if the present episcopal government of this national church , by law established were thereby exposed to the hazard of alteration , or subversion : all which are far from the intention , or design of the parliament's imposing this oath , and from the genuine sense and meaning thereof : therefore his royal highness ▪ his majesties high commissioner , and lords of privy-council , do allow , authorise , and impower the archbishops and bishops to administer this oath and test to the ministers , in their respective diocesses , in this express sense : ( . ) that tho the confession of faith , ratified in parliament . was framed in the infancy of reformation , and deserves its due praise yet by the test we do not swear to every proposition , or clause therein contained , but only to the true protestant religion , founded on the word of god , contained in that confession as it as opposed to popery and fanaticism . ( . ) that by the test , or any clause therein contained , no invasion or encroatchment is made or intended upon the intrinsik spiritual power of the church , or power of the keys , as it was exercised by the apostles ; and the most pure and primitive church , in the first three centuries after christ , and which is still reserved intirely to the church . ( . ) that the oath and test is without any prejudice to the episcopal government of this national church , which is declared by the first act of the second session of his majesties first parliament , to be most agreeable to the word of god , and most suitable to monarchy , and which upon all occasions his majesty hath declared he will inviolably and unalterably preserve . and appoint the archbishops , and bishops to require the ministers in their respective diocesses , with their first conveniency , to obey the law in swearing and subscribing the foresaid oath and test with certification , that the refusers shall be esteemed persons disaffected to the protestant religion , and to his majesties government ; and that the punishment appointed by the foresaid sixth act of his majesties third parliament shall be impartially , and without delay inflicted upon them . by me . pet. menzeis . sederunt quarto die novembris , . his royal highness , &c. montrose praeses , perth , ancram , levingston , president of session , advocate , winton , strathmore , airley , bishop of edenburgh , treasurer deputy , lundie . linlithgow , roxburgh , balcaras , elphynstoun , register , this day the earl of argyle being about to take the test , as a commissioner of the treasury , and having uponcommand produced a paper bearing the sense in which he took the test , the preceeding day , and in which he would take the same , as a commissioner of the treasury ; upon consideration thereof , it was resolved , that he cannot sit in council , not having taken the test , in thesense and meaning of the act of parliament , and therefore was removed . the earl of argyle's explication of the test vvhen he took it i have considered the test , and i am very desirous to give obedience as far as i can . i 'm confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths : therefore i think no man can explain it but for himself . accordingly i take it , as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion . and i do declare that i mean not to bind up my self in my station , and in a lawful way , to wish and endeavour any alteration i think to the advantage of church or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion and my loyalty . and this i understand as a part of my oath . but the earl finding , as hath been narrated , this his explication , though accepted , and approven by his highness and council , the day before , to be this day carped and offended at , and advantages thereupon sought and designed against him , did immediatlie draw up the following explanation of his explication , and for his own vindication did first communicat it to some privatlie , and thereafter intended to have offered it at his trial for clearing of his defences . the explanation of his explication . i have delayed hitherto to take the oath , appointed by the pa 〈…〉 ent to be taken , betwixt and the first of january nixt : but now being required , 〈◊〉 two moneths sooner to take it , this day peremptourly or to refuse . i have considered the test , and have seen several objections moved against it , especially by many of the orthodox clergy , notwithstanding whereof , i have endeavoured to satisfie my self with a just explanation which i here offer , that i may both satisfie my conscience , and obey your highness , and your lordships commands in taking the test ; though the act of parliament do not simply command the thing , but only under a certification , which i could easily submit to , if it were with your highness favour , and might be without offence , but i love not to be singular , and i am very desirous to give obedience in this and everything as far as i can , and that which clears me is that i am confident whatever any man may think , or say to the prejudice of this oath , the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; and because their sense , ( they being the framers and imposers ) is the true sense , and that this test injoyned is of no privat interpretation , nor are the kings statuts to be interpreted but as they ●ear , and to the intent they are made , therefor i 〈…〉 nk no man , that is , no privat person , can explain it for another , to amuse or trouble ●im with ( it may be ) mistaken glosses . but every man as he is to take it , so is to ex 〈…〉 ain it for himself and to endeavour to understand it , ( notwithstanding all these exce 〈…〉 on s ) in the parliaments , which is its true , and genuine sense . i take it therefore notwithstanding any scruple made by any as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion which is wholly in the parliaments sense , and their true meaning ; which [ being present ] i am sure , was owned by all to be the securing of the protestant religion , founded on the word of god , and contained in the confession of faith recorded i. p. . c. . and not out of scruple as if any thing in the test did import the contrary , but to clear my self from all cavils ; as if thereby i were bound up further then the true meaning of the oath . i doe declare that by that part of the test , that there lyes no obligation on me &c. i mean not to bind up my self , in my station , and in a lawfull way , still disclaming all unlawful endeavours , to wish , and endeavour any alteration i think , according to my conscience , to the advantage of church , or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and my loyalty and by my loyalty , i understand no other thing then the words plainly bear , to wit the duty and allegiance of all loyal subjects and this explanation i understand as a part not of the test or act of parliament , but as a qualifying part of my oath that i am to swear , and with it i am willing to take the test , if your royal highness , and your lordships allow me , or otherwise , in submission to your highness , and the councils pleasure , i am content to be held as a refuser at present . the councils letter to his majesty , concerning their having committed the earl of argyle . may it please your sacred majesty , the last parliament having made so many and so advantageous acts , for securing the protestant religion , the imperial crown of this kingdom , and your majesties sacred person ( whom god almighty long preserve ) and having , for the last , and as the best way for securing all these , appointed a test to be taken by all who should be entrusted with the government ; which bears expresly , that the same should be taken in the plain and genuine sense and meaning of the words ; we were very careful , not to suffer any to take the said oath or test , with their own glosses or explications : but the earl of argyle having , after some delays , come to council , to take the said oath , as a privy-councellor , spoke some things which were not then heard , nor adverted to , and when his lordship at his next offering to take it in co●ncil , as one of the commissioners of your majesties tresury , was commanded to take it simply , he refused to do so ; but gave in a paper , shewing the only sense in which he would take it , which paper we all considered , as that which had in it gross and scandalous reflections upon that excellent act of parliament , making it to contain things contradictory and inconsistent ; and thereby depraving your majesties laws , misrepresenting your parliament , and teaching your subjects to evacuate and disappoint all laws and securities that can be enacted for the preservation of the government ; suitable to which his lordship declares in that paper , that he means not to bind up himself from making any alterations he shall think fit , for the advantage of church or state ; and which paper he desires may be looked upon as a part of his oath , as if he were the legislator , and able to add a part to the act of parliament . upon serious perusal of which paper we found our selves obliged to send the said earl to the castle of edenburgh , and to to transmit the paper to your majesty , being expresly obliged to both these by your majesties express laws . and we have commanded your majesties advocate to raise a pursuit against the said earl , forbeing author , and having given in the said paper : and for the further prosecution of all relating to this affair , we expect your majesties commands , which shall be most humbly and faithfully obeyed by your majesties most humble , most faithful , and most obedient subjects and servants edenburgh , nov. . . sic subscribitur , glencairne , winton , linlithgow , perth , roxburgh , ancram , airlie , levingstoun , io. edinburgen : ross , geo. gordoun , ch. maitland , g. m ckenzie , ja. foulis , i. drumond . the kings answer to the councils letter . c. r. novemb. . . most dear , &c. having in one of your letters directed unto us , of the . instant , received a particular account of the earl of argyle's refusing to take the test simply , and of your proceedings against him , upon the occasion of his giving in a paper , shewing the only sense in which he will take it , which had in it gross and scandalous reflections upon that excellent late act of our parliament there , by which the said test was enjoyned to be taken ; we have now thought fit to let you know , that as we do hereby approve these your proceedings , particularly your sending the said earl to our castle of edenburgh ; and your commanding our advocate to raise a pursuit against him , for being author of , and having given in the said paper ; so we do also authorize you to do all things that may concern the further prosecution of all relating to this affair . nevertheless , it is our express will and pleasure . that before any sentence shall be pronounced against him , at the conclusion of the process , you send us a particular account of what he shall be found guilty of , to the end that , after our being fully informed thereof , we may signifie our further pleasure in this matter . for doing whereof , &c. but as notwithstanding the councils demanding by their letter his majestie 's allowance for prosecuting the earl , they before any return caused his majestie 's advocat exhibit ane indictment against him , upon the points of slandering and depraving , as hath been already remarked so after having receaved his majestie 's answer , the design growes , and they thought fit to order a new indictment containing beside the former points the crimes of treason and perjury , which accordingly was exhibit , and is here subjoyned , the difference betwixt the tvvo indictments being only in the particulars above noted . the copy of the indictment against the earl of argyle . archibald earl of argyle , you are indicted and accused , that albeit by the common law of all well-govern'd nations , and by the municipal law and acts of parliament of this kingdom ; and particularly , by the , and by the d act , par. james . and by the d act , par. . james . and by the th act par. . james . and the th act , par james . and the th act , par. . james . all leasing-makers , and tellers of them , are punishable with tinsel of life and goods ; like as by the th act. par. . james ▪ it is statuted , that no man interpret the kings statutes otherwise than the statute bears , and to the intent and effect that they were made for , and as the makers of them understood ; and whoso does in the contrary to be punished at the kings will : and by the th act , par. . james . it is statuted that none of his majesties subjects presume or take upon him publikly to declare , or privately to speak or write any purpose of reproach or slander of his majesties person , estate or government , or to deprave his laws , or acts of parliament , or mistconstrue his proceedings , whereby any mistaking may be moved betwixt his highness , his nobility , and loving subjects , in time coming , under pain of death ; certifying them that does in the contrary , they shall be reputed as seditious and wicked instruments , enemies to his highness , and to the commonwealth of this realm : and the said pain of death shall be executed against them with all rigour , to the example of others : and by the second act , ses. . par. char. . it is statuted , that whosoever shall by writing , libelling , remonstrating , express , publish , or declare any words or sentences , to stir up the people to the dislike of his majesties prerogative and supremacy , in causes ecclesiastik , or of the government of the church by archbishops and bishops , as it is now setled by law , is under the pain of being declared incapable to exercise any office civil , ecclesiastik , or military , within this kingdom , in any time coming . like as by the fundamental laws of this nation , by the th act , par . james . it is declared , that none of his majesties subjects presume to impugn the dignity or authority of the three estates , or to procure innovation or diminution of their power and authority , under the pain of treason . and that it is much more treason in any of his majesties subjects , to presume to alter laws already made , or to make new laws , or to add any part to any law by their own authority , that being to assume the legislative power to themselves , with his majesties highest , and most incommunicable prerogative . yet true it is , that albeit his sacred majesty did not only bestow on you the said archibald earl of argyle those vast lands , jurisdictons and superiorities justly for faulted to his majesty by the crimes of your deceased father ; preferring your family to those who had served his majesty against it , in the late rebellion , but also pardoned and remitted to you the crimes of leasing making and misconstruing his majesties and his parliaments proceedings against the very laws above written , whereof you were found guilty , and condemned to die therefore , by the high court of parliament , the . of august , . and raised you to the title and dignity of an earl , and being a member of all his majesties judicatures . notwithstanding of all these , and many other favours , you the said archibald earl of argyle , being put by the lords of his majesties privy-council to take the test , appointed by the act of the last parliament to be taken by all persons in publik trust , you , insteed of taking the said test , and swearing the same in the plain genuine sense and meaning of the words , without any equivocation , mental reservation , or evasion whatsoever , you did declare against , and defame the said act ; and having , to the end you might corrupt others by your pernicious sense , drawn the same in a libel , of which libel you dispersed and gave abroad copies , whereby ill impressions were given of the king and parliaments proceedings at a time especially when his majesties subjects were expecting what submission should be given to the said test ; and being desired the next day to take the same , as one of the commissioners of his majesties treasury , you did give in to the lords of his majesties privy-council and owned twice , in plain judgment before them , the said defamatory libel against the said test and act of parliament ; declaring , that you had considered the said ●est , and was desirous to give obedience as far as you could : whereby you clearly insinuated , that you was not able to give full obedience : in the second article of which libel you declare , that you were confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; thereby to abuse the people with a belief , that the parliament had been so impious as really and actually to have imposed contradictory oaths ; and so ridiculous , as to have made an act of parliament ( which should be most deliberate of all humane actions ) quite contrary to their own intentions : after which you subsumed contrary to the nature of all oaths , and to the acts of parliament above-cited that every man must explain it for himself , and take it in his own sense ; by which not only that excellent law , and the oath therein specified , which is intended to be a fence to the government both of church and state , but all other oaths and laws shall be rendered altogether uselesse to the government . if every man take the oaths imposed by law in his own sense , then the oath imposed is to no purpose : for the legislator cannot be sure that the oath imposed by him will bind the takers according to the design and intent for which he appointed it : and the legislative power is taken from the imposers : and setled in the taker of the oath : and so he is allowed to be the legislator , which is not only an open and violent depraving of his majesties laws and acts of parliament , but is likewise a setling of the legistative power on private subjects , who are to take such oaths . in the third article of that paper you declare , that you take the test in so far only as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion ; by which you maliciously intimate to the people ; that the said oath is inconsistent with it self and with the protestant religion , which is not only a down-right depraving of the said act of parliament , but is likewise a misconstruing of his majesties and the parliaments proceedings , and misrepresenting them to the people in the highest degree , & in the tenderest points they can be concerned ; and implying , that the king and the parliament have done things inconsistent with the protestant religion , for securing of which that test was particularly intended . in the fourth article you do expresly declare , that you mean not by taking the said test , to bind up your self from wishing and endeavouring any alteration in a lawful way that you shall think fit , for advancing of church and state ; whereby also it was designed by the said act of parliament and oath , that no man should make any alteration in the government of church and state , as it is now established ; and that it is the duty of all good subjects , in humble and quiet manner , to obey the present government : yet you not only declare your self , but by your example you invite others to think themselves ●oosed from that obligation ; and that it is free for them to make any alteration in either , as they shall think fit , concluding your whole paper with these words ( and this i understand as a part of my oath ) ; which is a treasonable invasion upon the royal legislative power as if it were lawful for you to make to your self an act of parliament ; since he who can make any part of an act may make the whole , the power and authority in both being the same . of the which crimes above-mentioned you the said archibald earl of argyle are actor , art and part ; which being found by the assize , you ought to be punished with the pains of death , for faulture and escheat of lands and goods , to the terror of others to commit the like hereafter . an abstract of the several acts of parliament upon which the indictment against the earl of argyle was grounded . concerning raisers of rumors betwixt the king and his people , chap . . statutes of king robert . it is defended and forbidden , that no man be a conspirator or inventer of narrations or rumors , by the which occasion of discord may arise betwixt the king and his people . and if any such man shall be found , and attainted thereof , incontinent he shall be taken and put in prison , and there shall be surely keeped up , ay and while the king declare his will anent him . act . of par. . king james . march . . leasing-makers for fault life and goods . item , it is ordained by the king and whole parliament , that all leasing makers , and tellers of them , which may engender discord betwixt the king and his people , wherever they may be gotten , shall be challenged by them that power has , and tyne life and goods to the king. act . par , . james . dec. . . of leasing-makers . item , touching the article of leasing-makers to the kings grace , of his barons , great-men and leidges , and for punishment to be put to them therefore , the kings grace , with advice of his three estates , ratifies and approves the acts and statutes made thereupon before , and ordains the same to be put in execution in all points ; and also statutes and ordains , that if any manner of person makes any evil information of his highness to his barons and leidges , that they shall be punished in such manner , and by the same punishment as they that make leasings to his grace of his lords , barons , and leidges . act . par. : james . may . . anent slandereres of the king , his progenitors , estate and realm . forasmuch as it is understood to our soveraign lord , and his three estates assembled in this present parliament , what great harm and inconveniency has fallen in this realm , chiefly since the beginning of the civil troubles occurred in the time of his highness minority , through the wicked and licentious , publik and private speeches , and untrue calumnies of divers of his subjects , to the disdain , contempt and reproach of his majesty , his council and proceedings , and to the dishonour and prejudice of his highness , his parents , progenitors and estate , stirring up his highness's subjects thereby to misliking , sedition , unquietness , and to cast off their due obedience to his majesty , to their evident peril , tinsil and destruction ; his highness continuing always in love and clemency toward all his good subjects , and most willing to seek the safety and preservation of them all , which wilfully , needlesly , and upon plain malice , after his highness's mercy and pardon oft-times afore granted , has procured themselves , by their treasonable deeds , to be cut off , as corrupt members of this commonwealth . therefore it is statut and ordained by our soveraign lord , and his three estates in this present parliament , that none of his subjects of whatsoever function , degree or quality , in time coming shall presume , or take upon hand , privately or publikly , in sermons , declamations , and familiar conferences , to utter any false , slanderous , or untrue speeches , to the disdain , reproach and contempt of his majesty , his council and proceedings , or to the dishonour , hurt or prejudice of his highness , his parents and progenitors , or to meddle in the affairs of his highness , and his estate present , by-gone , and in time coming , under the pains contained in the acts of parliament anent makers and tellers of leesings , certifying them that shall be tryed contraveeners thereof , or that hear such slanderous speeches , and reports not the same with diligence , the said pain shall be executed against them with all rigour , in example of others . act . par. king james . june . . anent leasing-makers , and authors of slanders . our soveraign lord , with advice of his estates in this present parliament , ratifies , approves , and for his highness and successors , perpetually confirms the act made by his noble progenitors , king james the first , of worthy memory , against leasing-makers , the act made by king james the second , entituled against leasing-makers , and tellers of them ; the act made by king ▪ james the fifth , entituled , of leasing-makers ; and the act made by his highness's self , with advice of his estates in parliament ; upon the day of may , . entituled , for the punishment of the authors of slanders and untrue calumnies against the kings majesty , his council and proceedings , to the dishonour and prejudice of his highness , his parents , progenitors , crown and estate ; as also the act made in his highness's parliament holden at linlithgow , upon the of december , . entituled ▪ against the authors of slanderous speeches or writs ; and statutes and ordains all the said acts to be published of new , and to be put in execution in time coming , with this addition , that whoever hears the said leasings , calumnies or slanderous speeches or writs to be made , and apprehends not the authors thereof , if it lyes in his power , and reveals not the same to his highness , or one of his privy-council or to the sheriff , steward or bayliff of the shire stewards in regality or royalty , or to the provost , or any of the bayliffs within burgh , by whom the same may come to the knowledg of his highness , or his said privy-council , wherethrough the said leasing-makers , and authors of slanderous speeches may be called , tryed and punished according to the said acts : the hearer , and not apprehender , [ if it lye in his power ] and concealer , and not revealer of the said leasing-makers , and authors of the said slanderous speeches or writs , shall incur the like pain and punishment as the principal offender . act . par. . king james . march . . that none interpret the kings statutes wrongously . item , the king by deliverance of council , by manner of statute , forbids , that no man interpret his statutes otherwise than the statutes bear , and to the intent and effect that they were made for and as the maker of them understood : and whoso does in the contrary , shall be punished at the kings will. act . par . king james . dec. . . authors of slanderous speeches or writs should be punished to the death . it is statuted and ordained by our soveraign lord and three estates , that all his highness's subjects content themselves in quietness and dutiful obedience to his highness and his authority ; and that none of them presume , or take upon hand publikly to declaim , or privately to speak or write any purpose of reproach or slander of his majesties person , estate or government , or to deprave his laws and acts of parliament , or misconstrue his proceedings , whereby any misliking may be moved betwixt his highness and his nobility , and loving subjects in time coming , under the pain of death ; certifying them that do in the contrary they shall be reputed as seditious and wicked instruments , enemies to his highness and the commonwealth of this realm : and the said pain of death shall be executed upon them with all rigour , in example of others . act for preservation of his majesties person , authority , and government , may ● . — and further it is by his majesty and estates of parliament declared , statuted and enacted that if any person or persons shall by writing , printing , praying , preaching , libelling , remonstrating , or by any malicious or advised speaking , express , publish or declare any words or sentences , to stir up the people to the hatred or dislike of his majesties royal prerogative and supremacy , in causes ecclesiastical , or of the government of the church by archbishops and bishops , as it is now setled by law — that every such person or persons so offending , and being legally convicted thereof are hereby declared incapable to enjoy or exercise any place or employment , civil , ecclesiastik , or military , within this church and kingdom , and shall be liable to such further pains as are due by the law in such cases . act . par. . james . may . anent the authority of the three estates of parliament . the kings majesty considering the honour and the authority of his supreme court of parliament , continued past all memory of man unto their days , as constitut upon the free votes of the three estates of this ancient kingdom , by whom the same , under god , has ever been upholden , rebellious and traiterous subjects punished , the good and faithful preserved and maintained , and the laws and acts of parliament ( by which all men are governed ) made and established . and finding the power , dignity and authority , of the said court of parliament , of late years , called in some doubt , at least , some curiously travelling to have introduced some innovation thereanent ; his majesties firm will and mind always being as it is yet , that the honour , authority , and dignity of his said three estates shall stand and continue in their own integrity , according to the ancient and laudable custom by-gone , without any alteration or diminution : therefore it is statuted and ordained by our said soveraign lord , and his said three estates in this present parliament , that none of his leidges or subjects presume , or take upon hand to impugn the dignity and authority of the said three estates , or to seek or procure the innovation or diminution of the power and authority of the same three estates , or any of them , in time coming , under the pain of treason . the earl of argyle's first petition for advocats , or council to be allovved him . to his royal highness , his majesties high commissioner , and to the right honourable the lords of his majesties privy-council . the humble petition of archibald earl of argyle . sheweth , that your petitioner being criminally indicted before the lords commissioners of ustitiary , at the instance of his majesties advocate , for crimes of an high nature . and whereas in this case no advocate will readily plead for the petitioner , unless they have your royal hig●ness's , and ●ordships special licence and warrant to that effect , which is usual in the like cases it is therefore humbly desired , that your royal highness , and lordships , would give special order and warrant to sir george lockhart ▪ his ordinary advocate ▪ to cons●lt and plead for him in the foresaid criminal process , without incurring ●ny hazard upon that account and your petitioner shall ever pray . edenburgh , novemb. . . the councils answer to the earl of argyl's first petition , about his having advocates allowed him . his royal highness , his majesties high commissioner , and lords of privy-council , do refuse the desire of the above-written bill , but allows any lawyers the petitioners shall employ , to consult and plead for him in the processof treason , and other crimes , to be pursued against him at the instance of his majesties advocate . extr. by me , will. paterson . the earl of argyl's second petition for council to be allovved him . to his royal highness , his majesties high commissioner , and to the right honourable the lords of his majesties privy-council : the humble petition of archibald earl of argyle . sheweth . that your petitioner having given in a former petition , humbly representing , that he being criminally indicted before the lords commissioners of justitiary , at the instance of his majesties advocate , for crimes of an high nature : and therefore desiring that your royal highness , and lordships , would give special warrant to sir george lockhart , to consult and plead for him : whereupon your royal highness , and lordships , did allow the petitioner to make use of such advocates as he should think fit to call . accordingly your petitioner having desired sir george lockhart to consult and plead for him , he hath as yet refused your petitioner . and by the . parliament of king james the vi. cap. . as it is the undeniable priviledg of all subjects , accused for any crimes , to have liberty to provide themselves of advocates , to defend their lives , honour , and lands , against whatsoever accusation ; so the same priviledg is not only by parliament . king james the vi. cap. . farther asserted and confirmed , but also it is declared , that in case the advocates refuse the judges are to compel them , lest the party accused should be prejudged : and this being an affair of great importance to your petitioner , and sir george lockhart having been not only still his ordinary advocate , but also by his constant converse with him is best known to your petitioners principles ; and of whose eminent abilities and fidelity your petitioner ( as many others have ) hath had special proof all along in his concerns , and hath such singular confidence in him that he is most necessary to your petitioner at this occasion . may it therefore please your royal highness and lordships to interpose your authority , by giving a special order and warrant to the said sir george lockhart , to consult and plead for him in the said criminal process , conform to the tenor of the said acts of parliament , and constant known practice in the like cases , which was never refused to any subject of the meanest quality , even to the greatest criminals . and your royal highness's , and lordships answer is humbly craved . edenburgh , novemb. . . the councils answer to the earl of argyle's second petition . his royal highness , his majesties high commissioner , and lords of privy council , having considered the foresaid petition , do adhere to their former order , allowing advocates to appear for the petitioner in the process foresaid . extr. by me , will. paterson . the earl of argyle's letter of attorney , constituting alexander dunbar his procurator , for requiring sir george lockhart to plead for him . we archibald earl of argyle do hereby substitute , constitute and ordain alexander dunbar , our servitor , to be our procurator , to pass and require sir george lockhart advocate to consult , and plead for us in the criminal process intended against us , at the instance of his majesties advocate ; and to compear with us , before the lords commissioners of justitiary , upon the th of december next , conform to an act of council , dated the d of novemb. instant , allowing any lawyers that we should employ , to consult and plead for us in the said process , and to another act of council of the th of novemb. instant , relative to the former , and conform to the acts of parliament . in witness whereof , we have subscribed these presents , at edenburgh-castle , nov . . before these witnesses , duncan campbell servitor to james glen stationer in edenburgh , and john thom , merchant in the said burgh . argyle . duncan campbell , iohn thom , witnesses . an instrument whereby the earl of argyle required sir george lockhart to appear and plead for him . apud edenburgum vigesimo sexto die mensis novembris , anno domini millesimo sexcentesimo octuagesimo primo , & anno regni car. . regis trigesimo tertio . the which day , in presence of me notar publik , and witnesses under-subscribed , compeared personally alexander dunbar , servitor to a noble earl , archibald earl of argyle , as procurator , and in name of the said earl , conform to a procuration subscribed by the said earl at the castle of edenburgh , upon the twenty first day of november , . making and constituting the said alexander dunbar his procurator , to the effect under-written ; and past to the personal presence of sir george lockhart advocate , in his own lodging in edenburgh , having and holding in his hands an act of his majesties privy council , of the date the of november , . instant , proceeding upon a petition given in by the said earl of argyle , to the said lords , shewing , that he being criminally indicted before the lords commissioners of justitiary , at the instance of his majesties advocate , for crimes of an high nature , and whereas in that case no advocates would readily plead for the said earl , unless they had his royal highness's , and their lordships special licence and warrant to that effect , which is usual in the like cases : and by the said petition humbly supplicated , that his highness , and the council would give special order and command to the said sir george lockhart , the said earl's ordinary advocate , to consult and plead for him in the foresaid criminal process , without incurring any hazard upon that account . his royal highness , and lords of the said privy-council , did refuse the desire of the said petition but allowed any lawyers the petitioner should employ , to consult and plead for him in the process of treason , and other crimes to be pursued against him , at the instance of his majesties advocate . and also the said alexander dunbar having and holding in his hands another act of the said lords of privy-council , of the date the th of the said moneth , relative to , and nar rating the foresaid first act , and proceeding upon another supplication given in by the said earl , to the said-lords , craving , that his royal highness , and the said lords , would inter●ose their authority , by giving a positive and special order and warrant to the said sir george lockhart , to consult and plead with him in the foresaid criminal process , conform to the tenor of the acts of parliament mentioned and particularized in the said petition , and frequent and known practice in the like cases , which was never refused to any subjects of the meanest quality . his royal highness , and lords of privy-council , having considered the foresaid petition , did by the said act adhere to their former order , allowing advocates to appear for the said earl in the process foresaid , as the said acts bear ; and produced the said acts and procuratory foresaid to the said sir george lockhart , who took the same in his hands , and read them over successive ; and after reading thereof , the said alexander dunbar procurator , and in name and behalf foresaid , solemnly required the said sir george lockhart , as the said noble earl's ordinary advocate , and as a lawyer and advocate , upon the said earl's reasonable expence , to consult and advise the said earl's said processe at any time and place the said sir george should appoint to meet thereupon , conform to the foresaid two acts of council , and acts of parliament therein mentioned , appointing advocates to consult in such matters : which the said sir george lockhart altogether refused : whereupon the said alexander dunbar , as procurator , and in name foresaid , asked and took instruments , one or more , in the hands of me notary publik undersubscribed . and these things were done within the said sir george lockhart's lodging , on the south side of the street of edenburgh , in the lane-mercat , within the dining-room of the said lodging , betwixt four and five hours in the afternoon , day , moneth , year , place , and of his majesties reign , respective foresaid , before robert dicksone , and john lesly , servitors to john campbell , writer to his majesties signet , and do●gall ma● . alester , messenger in edenburgh , with divers others , called and required to the premisses ita esse ego johannes broun , notarius publicui , in praemissis requisitus , attestor testantibus his meis signe & subscriptione manualibus solitis & consuetis . broun . witnesses . robert dicksone , dowgall , mac. alester , iohn lesly , decemb. . . the opinion of divers lawyers concerning the case of the earl of argyle . we have considered the criminal letters , raised at the instance of his majesties advocate , against the earl of argyle , with the acts of parliament contained and narrated in the same criminal letters , and have compared the same with a paper , or explication , which is libelled to have been given in by the earl to the lords of his majesties privy-council , and owned by him , as the sense and explication in which he did take the oath imposed by the late act of parliament . which paper is of this tenor : i have considered the test ; and am very desirous to give obedience as far as i can , &c. and having likewise considered that the earl after he had taken the oath with the explication and sense then put upon it , it was acquiesced to by the lords of privy-council , and he allowed to take his place , and to sit and vote . and that , before the earl's taking of the oath , there were several papers spread abroad , containing objections , and alledging inconsistencies and contradictions in the oath , and some thereof were presented by synods and presbyteries of the orthodox clergy , to some of the bishops of the church . it is our humble opinion , that seeing the earls design and meaning in offering the said explication was allenarly for the clearing of his own conscience , and upon no factious or seditious design ; and that the matter and import of the said paper is no contradiction of the laws and acts of parliament , it doth not at all import any of the crimes libelled against him , viz. treason , leasing-making depraving of his majesties laws , or the crime of perjury ; but that the glosses and inferences put by the libel upon the said paper are altogether strained and unwarrantable , and inconsistent with the earle true design , and the sincerity of his meaning and intention , in making of the said explication . wednesday the . of december , the day of compearance assigned to the earl , being novv come , he was brought by a guard of souldiers from the castle to the place appointed for the trial , and the justice court being met and fenced , the earl , now marques , of queensberry , then justice general , the lords nairn , collingtoun , forret , newtoun and hirkhouse , the lords of justitiary sitting in judgment , and the other formalities also performed , the indictment above set down num . was read , and the earl spoke as followes . the earl of argyle's speech to the lord justice general , and the lords of the justitiary , after he had been arraigned , and his indictment read . my lord iustice general , &c. i look upon it as the undeniable priviledg of the meanest subject to explain his own words in the most benign sense : and even when persons are under an ill character , the misconstruction of words in themselves not ill can only reach a presumption or aggravation but not any more . but it is strange to alledg , as well as , i hope , impossible , to make any that know me believe , that i could intend any thing but what was honest and honourable , suitable to the principles of my religion and loyalty , tho i did not explain my self at all . my lord , i pray you be not offended that i take up a little of your time , to tell you , i have from my youth made it my business to serve his majesty faithfully , and have constantly , to my power , appeared in his service ; especially in all times of difficulty , and have never joyned , nor complyed with any interest or party , contrary to his majesties authority , and have all along served him in his own way , without a frown from his majesty these thirty years . as soon as i passed the schools and colledges , i went to travel to france and italy , and was abroad , , and till the end of . my first appearance in the world was to serve his majesty as collonel of his foot-guards . and tho at that time all the commissions were given by the then parliament , yet i would not serve without a commission from his majesty , which i have still the honour to have by me . after the misfortune of worcester , i continued in arms for his majesties service , when scotland was over-run with the usurpers , and was alone with some of my friends in arms in the year . and did then keep up some appearance of opposition to them : and general major dean coming to argyleshire , and planting several garisons he no sooner went away but we fell upon the garisons he had left , and in one day took two of them , and cut off a considerable part of a third , and carried away in all about three hundred prisoners : and in the end of that year , i sent captain shaw to his majesty , with my humble opinion , how the war might be carried on ; who returned to me with instructions and orders which i have yet lying by me . after which , i joyned with those his majesty did commissionate , and stood out till the last , that the earl of middleton , his majesties lieutenant general , gave me orders to capitulate , vvhich i did vvithout any other engagements to the rebels but allovving persons to give bale for my living peaceably : and did a● my capitulating relieve several prisoners by exchange , vvhereof my lord granard , out of the castle of edenburgh , vvas one . it is notarly knovvn , that i vvas forefaulted by the usurpers , vvho vvere so jealous of me that , contrary to their faith , vvithin eight moneths after my capitulation , upon pretence i keep'd horses above the value , they seased on me , and keeped me in one prison after another , till his majesties happy restauration , and this only because i vvould not engage not to serve his majesty , tho there vvas no oath required . i do with all gratitude acknowledg his majesties goodness , bounty and royal favours to me , when i was pursued before the parliament in the year . his majesty was graciously pleased not to send me here in any opprobrious way , but upon a bare verbal paroll . upon which i came down poste , and presented my self a fourthnight before the day . notwithstanding whereof i was immediately clapt up in the castle , but having satisfied his majesty , at that time , of my entire loyalty , i did not offer to plead by advocates . and his majesty was not only pleased to pardon my life , and to restore me to a title and fortune , but to put me in trust in his service , in the most eminent judicatories of this kingdom , and to heap favours upon me , far beyond what ever i did or can deserve : tho i hope his majesty hath always found me faithful and thankful , and ready to bestow all i have , or can have , for his service . and i hope never hath had nor ever shall have ground to repent any favour he hath done me . and if i were now really guilty of the crimes libelled , i should think my self a great villain . the next occasion i had to shew my particular zeal to his majesties service was in anno . when the insurrection was made that was represt at pentland-hills . at the very first , the intercourse betwixt this place and me was stopt , so that i had neither intelligence nor orders from the council , nor from the general ; but upon a letter from the now archbishop of st. andrews , telling me there was a rebellion like to be in the three kingdoms , and bidding me beware of ireland and kintyre , i brought together about two thousand men : i seased all the gentlemen in kintyre that had not taken the declaration , tho i found them peaceable . and i sent a gentleman to general dalziel , to receive his orders , who came to him just as they were going to the action at pentland , and vvas with him in it ; and i keept my men together till his return . and when i met with considerable trouble from my neighbours , rebelliously in arms , and had commissions both on publik , and private accounts , have i not carried dutifully to his majesty , and done what was commanded with a just moderation , which i can prove under the hands of my enemies , and by many infallible demonstrations ? pardon me a few words : did i not in this present parliament shew my readiness to serve his majesty and the royal family , in asserting vigorously ●●e lineal legal succession of the crown , and had a care to have it exprest in the commissions of the shires and burghs i had interest in ? was i not for offering proper supplies to his majesty and his successor ? and did i not concur to bind the landlords for their tenants , altho i was mainly concerned ? and have i not always keept my tenants in obedience to his majesty ? i say all this , not to arrogate any thing for doing what was my honour and duty to his majesty ; but if after all this , upon no other ground but words that were spoken in absolute innocence , and without the least design , except for clearing my own conscience , and that are not capable of the ill sense wrested from them by the libel , i should be further troubled , what assurance can any of the greatest quality , trust , or innocence , have that they are secure ? especially considering , that so many scruples have been started , as all know , not only by many of the orthodox clergy , but by whole presbyteries , synods , and some bishops , which were thought so considerable , that an eminent bishop took the pains to write a treatise , that was read over in council , and allovved to be printed , and a copy given to me , vvhich contains all the expressions i am charged for , and many more that may be stretched to a vvorse sense . have i not shewed my zeal to all the ends of the test ? how then can it be imagined that i have any sinister design in any thing that i have said ? if i had done any thing contrary to it all the course of my life , which i hope shall not be found , yet one act might pretend to be excused by a habit . but nothing being questioned but the sense of words misconstrued to the greatest height , and stretched to imaginary insinuations , quite contrary to my scope and design , and so far contrary , not only to my sense , but my principles , interest , and duty , that i hope my lord advocate will think he hath gone too far on in this process , and say plainly what he knows to be truth by his acquaintance with me , both in publik and private ; viz. that i am neither papist nor fanatik , but truly loyal in my principles and practices . the hearing of this libel would trouble me beyond most of the sufferings of my life if my innocence did not support me , and the hopes of being vindicated of this and other calumnies before this publik and noble auditory . i leave my defences to these gentlemen that plead for me , they know my innocence , and how groundless that libel is . i shall only say , as my life hath most of it been spent in serving and suffering for his majesty , so whatever be the event of this process , i resolve , while i breath , to be loyal and faithful to his majesty . and whether i live publikly or in obscurity , my head , my heart nor my hand , shall never be wanting where i can be useful to his majesties service . and while i live , and when i die , i shall pray , that god almighty would bless his majesty with a long , happy , and prosperous reign ; and that the lineal legal successors of the crown may continue monarchs of all his majesties dominions , and be defenders of the true primitive , christian , apostolik , catholik , protestant religion , while sun and moon endure . god save the king. the kings own letter to this nobleman when he was lord lorn . collogne , december . . my lord lorn , i am very glad to hear from middleton , what affection and zeal you show to my service , how constantly you adhere to him in all his distresses , and what good service you have performed upon the rebels . i assure you , you shall find me very just , and kind to you , in rewarding what you have done and suffered for me ; and i hope you will have more credit and power with those of your kindred , and dependants upon your family , to engage them with you for me , than any body else can have to seduce them against me ; and i shall look upon all those who shall refuse to follow you as unworthy of any protection hereafter from me , which you will let them know . this honest bearer , m — will form you of my condition and purposes , to vvhom you will give credit ; and he will tell you , that i am very much . your very affectionate friend , c. r. general middleton's order to the earl of argyle , who vvas then lord lorn , for capitulating vvith the english , vvherein he largely expresseth his worth and loyalty . john middleton , lieutenant general , next and immediate under his majesty , and commander in chief of all the forces raised , and to be raised , vvithin the king of scotland . seeing the lord lorn hath given so singular proofs of clear and perfect loalty to the kings majesty , and of pure and constant affection to the good of his majesties affairs , as never hitherto to have any ways complyed with the enemy , and to have been principally instrumental in the enlivening of this late war , and one of the chief and first movers in it , and hath readily , chearfully , and gallantly engaged , and resolutly and constantly continued active in it , notwithstanding the many powerful disswasions , discouragements , and oppositions he hath met withal from divers hands , and hath in the carrying on of the service shown such signal fidelity , integrity , generosity , prudence , courage , and conduct , and such high vertue , industry , and ability , as are suitable to the dignity of his noble family , and the trust his majesty reposed in him ; and hath not only stood out against all temptations and enticements , but hath most nobly crossed and repressed designs and attempts of deserting the service , and persisted loyally and firmly in it to the very last , through excessive ●oil and many great difficulties , misregarding all personal inconveniences , and chusing the loss of friends , fortune , and all private concernments , and to endure the utmost extremities , rather than to swerve in the least from his duty ; or taint his reputation with the meanest shadow of disloyalty and dishonour . i do therefore hereby testify and declare , that i am perfectly satisfied with his whole deportments , in relation to the enemy , and this late war ; and do highly approve them , as being not only above all i can express of their worth , but almost beyond all parallel . and i do withall hereby both allow , and most earnestly desire , and wish him , to lose no time in taking such course for his safety and preservation by treaty & agreement , or capitulation , as he shall judg most fit and expedient for the good of his person , family , and estate , since inevitable and invincible necessity hath forced us to lay aside this war. and i can now no other way express my respects to him , nor contribute my endeavour to do him honour and service . in testimony whereof i have signed and sealed these presents at dunveagave , the last day of march , . iohn middleton . another letter from the earl of middleton , to the same purpose . paris , april . . my noble lord , i am hopeful , that the bearer of this letter will be found one who has been a most faithful servant to your lordship , and my kind friend , and a sharer in my troubles . indeed i have been strengthned by him to support and overcome many difficulties . he will acquaint you with what hath past , which truly was strange to both of us , but your own re-encounters will lessen them . my lord , i shall be faithful in giving you that character which your worth and merit may justly challenge . i profess it is , next to the ruine of the service , one of my chiefest regrets that i could not possibly wait upon you before my going from scotland , that i might have setled a way of correspondence with you , and that your lordship might have understood me better than yet you do ; i should have been plain in every thing , and indeed have made your lordship my confessor : and i am hopeful the bearer will say somewhat for me , and i doubt not but your lordship will trust him . if it shall please god to bring me safe from beyond sea , your lordship shall hear from me by a sure hand sir ro m. will tell you a way of corresponding . so that i shall say no more at present , but that i am without possibility of change , my noble lord , your lordships most faithful , and most humble servant , jo. middleton . a letter from the earl of glencairn , testifying his esteem for this noble person ; and the sense he had of his loyalty to the king , vvhen fevv had the courage to ovvn him my lord , lest it may be my misfortune , in all these great revolutions , to be misrepresented to your lordship , as a person unworthy of your favourable opinion ( an artifice very frequent in these times ) i did take occasion to call for a friend and servant of yours , the laird of spanie , on whose discretion i did adventure to lay forth my hearts desire , to obviate in the bud any of these misunderstandings . your lordships true worth and zeal to your countries happiness , being so well known to me 〈◊〉 and confirmed by our late suffering acquaintance : and now finding how much it may conduce to these great ends we all wish that a perfect unity may be amongst all good and honest - hearted scotchmen , tho there be few more insignificant than my self ; yet my zeal for those ends obligesme to say , that if your lordships health and affairs could have permitted you to have been at edenburgh in these late times , you would have seen a great inclination and desire amongst all here of a perfect unity , and of a mutual respect to your person , as of chief eminence and worth . and i here shall set it under my hand , to witness against all my informers , that none did with more passion , nor shall with more continued zeal , witness themselves to be true honourers of you than he who desires infinitely to be esteemed . my lord , your most humble servant , glencairn . what i cannot vvell vvrit e i hope this discreet gentleman vvill tell you in my name : and i shall only beg leave to say , that i am your most noble ladies humble servant . after the reading of which order and letters , which yet the court refused to record , the earl's advocator council sir george lockhart said in his defence as follovves . sir george lockhart's argument and plea for the earl of argyle . sir george lockhart for the earl of argyle alledgeth , that the libel is not relevant , and whereupon he ought to be put to the knowledg of an inquest . for , it is alledged in the general , that all criminal libels , whereupon any persons life , estate , and reputation , can be drawn in question , should be founded upon clear , positive , and express acts of parliament , and the matter of fact , which is libelled to be the contravention of those laws , should be plain , clear , and direct contraventions of the same , and not argued by way of implications and inferences . whereas in this case , neither the acts of parliament , founded upon , and libelled , can be in the least the foundation of this libel : nor is the explication which is pretended to be made by the pannel at the time of the taking of his oath ( if considered , ) any contravention of those laws ; which being premised , and the pannel denying the libel , as to the whole articles and points therein contained ; it is alledged in special : that the libel , in so far as it is founded upon the st chap. stat. . robert . and upon d act ; par. 〈◊〉 james . the d act , par. . james . and upon the d act , par. . james . and upon th act , par. . james . and upon the th act , par. . james . and upon the d act , par. . ses. . of his sacred majesty ; and inferring thereupon , that the pannel , by the pretended explication given in by him to the lords of his majesties privy-council , as the sense of the oath he had taken , doth commit the crime of leasing-making , and depraving . his majesties laws : the inference and subsumption is most unwarrantable , and the pannel , tho any such thing were acknowledged or proved , can never be found guilty of contraveening these acts of parliament . in respect it is evident , upon perusal and consideration of these acts of parliament , that they only concern the case of leasing-making , tending to sedition , and to beget discord betwixt his majesty and his subjects , and the dislike of his majesties government , and the reproach of the same . and the said laws and acts of parliament were never understood or libelled upon , in any other sense . and all the former acts of parliament , which relate to the crime of leasing-making in general terms , and under the qualification foresaid , as tending to beget discord betwixt his majesty and his subjects , are explained and fully declared , as to what is the true meaning and import thereof , by the th act , par. . james . which relates to the same crime of leasing-making and which is expresly described in these terms , to be wicked and licentious , publik and private speeches , and untrue calumnies to the disdain and contempt of his majesties council and proceedings , and to the dishonour and prejudice of his highness and his estate , stirring up his highness's subjects to misliking , and sedition , and unquietness which being the true sense and import of the acts of parliament made against leasing-makers , there is nothing can be inferred from the pannel's alledged explic●tion , which can be wrested or construed to be a contravention of these laws : in respect , first it is known by the whole tenor of his life , and graciously acknowledged by his sacred majesty , by a letter under his royal hand , that the pannel did ever most zealously , vigotously , and faithfully promote and carry on his majesties service and interest , even in the worst and most difficult times : which is also ackowledged by a pals under the earl of middleton's hand , who had then a special commission from his majesty , for carrying on his majesties service in this kingdom , as lieutenant general under his majesty ; and by a letter under the earl's hand , of the date — both which do contain high expressions of the pannels loyalty , and of the great services he had performed for his majesties interest . and his majesty , as being conscious thereof , and perfectly knowing the pannels loyalty , and his zeal , and faithfulness for his service , did think fit to entrust the pannel in offices and capacities of the greatest trust of the kingdom . and it is a just and rational presumption , which all law makes and infers . that the words and expressions of persons , who by the tenor and course of their lives have expressed their duty and loyalty to his majesties interest , are ever to be interpreted and understood in meliorem partem . and by way of implication and inference , to conclud and infer crimes from the same , which the user of such words and expressions never mean'd nor designed , is both unreasonable and unjust . . as the foresaid acts of parliament made against leasing-makers , and depravers of his majesties laws , only proceed in the terms foresaid , where the words and speeches are plain , tending to beget discord between the king and his subjects , and to the reproach and dislike of his government , and when the same are spoke and vented in a subdolous , pernicious , and fraudulent manner : so they never were , nor can be understood to proceed in the case of a person offering in the presence of a publik udicature ( whereof he had the honour to be a member ) his sincere and plain meaning and apprehension of what he conceived to be the true sense of the act of parliament im●osing and enjoyning the test : there being nothing more opposite to the acts of parliamen● made against leasing-making , and venting and spreading abroad the same upon seditious designs , than the foresaid plain and open declaration of his sense and apprehension , what was the meaning of the said act of parliament . and it is of no import to inter any crime and much less any of the crimes libelled , albeit the pannel had erred and mistaken in his apprehension of the act of parliament . and it were a strange extention of the act of parliament made against leasing makers , requiring the qualifications foresaid & the acts against depraving his majesties laws , to make the pannel , or any other person guilty upon the mistakes and misapprehensions of the sense of the ●aws , wherein men may mistake and differ very much , and even eminent lawyers and judges . so that the acts of parliament against leasing-making , and depraving his majesties lavvs , can only be understood in the express terms and qualifications ●oresaid . like as it neither is libelled , nor can be proven , that the pannel , before he was called and required by the lords of his majesties privy-council to take the oath , did ever , by word or practice , use any reproachful speeches of the said act of parliament , or of his majest●es government : but being required to take the oath , he did humbly , with all submission declare what he apprehended to be the sense of the act of the parliament , enjoyning the test , and in what sense he had freedom to take the same . . the act of parliament enjoyning the test does not enjoyn the same to be taken by all persons whatsoever , but only prescribes it as a qualification without which persons could not assume or continue to act in publik trust : which bein an oath to be taken by so solemn an invocation of the name of almighty god , it is not only allowable by the lavvs and customs of all nations , and the opinion of all divines , ad casuists , popish or protestant , but also commended , that where a party has any scrupulosity , or unclearness in his conscience , as to the matter of the oath , that he should exhibit and declare the sense and meaning in which he is willing and able to take the oath . and it is not at all material whether the scruples of a mans conscience , in the matter of an oath , be in themselves just or groundless , it being a certain maxime , both in law and divinity , that conscientia etiam erronea ligat : and therefore tho the pannel had thought fit , for the clearing and exoneration of his own conscience , in a matter of the highest concern as to his peace and repose , to have exprest and declared t e express sense in which he could take the oath , whether the said sense was consistent with the act of parliament or not , yet it does not in the least import any matter of reproach or reflection upon the justice or prudence of the parliament in imposing the said oath : but alenarly does evince the weakness and scrupulosity of a mans conscience , who neither did , nor ought to have taken the oath but with an explanation that would have saved his conscience to his apprehension . otherwise he had grosly sinned before god , even tho it was conscientia errans . and this is allowed and prescribed by all protestant divines , as indispensibly necessary and was never thought to import any crime , and is also commended even by popish casuists themselves , who tho they allow , in some cases , of mental reservations and equivocations , yet the express declaration of the sense o the party is allowed and commended , as much more ingenuous ▪ and tutius remedium conscientiae ne illaqueetur , as appears by bellarmine de iuramento , and upon the same title de interpretatione iuramenti ; and lessius , that famous casuist , de iustitia & iure , dubitatione , . utrum siquis salvo animo aliquid iuramento promittat obligetur , & quale peccatum hoc sit . and which is the general opinion of all casuists , and all divines , as may appear by amesius , in his treatise de conscientia , sanderson de iuramento , praelectione secunda . and such an express declaration of the sense and meaning of any party , when required to take an oath , for no other end but for the clearing and exoneration of his own conscience , was never in the opinion of any lawyer , or any divine , construed to be the crime of leasing-making , or of defamatory libels , or depraving of publik laws , or reproaching or misconstruing of the government : but on the contrary , by the universal suffrage of all protestant divines , there is expresly required , in cases of a scrupulous conscience , an abhorrence and detestation of all reserved senses , and of all amphibologies and equivocations , which are in themselves unlawful and reprobate , upon that unanswerable reason , that juramentum being the highest act of devotion and religion in eo requiritur maxima simplicitas ; and that a party is obliged , who has any scruples of conscience , publikly and openly to clear and declare the same . . albeit it is not controverted , but that a legislator , imposing an oath , or any publik authority , before whom the oath is taken , may , after hearing of the sense and explication which a person is willing to put upon it , either reject or accept of the same , if it be conceived not to be consistent with the genuine sense of the oath : yet tho it were rejected , it was never heard of or pretended , that the offering of a sense does import a crime , but that notwithstanding thereof , habetur pro recusante , and as if he had not taken the oath , and to be liable to the certification of law , as if he had been a refuser . . the pannel having publikly , and openly declared the sense in which he was free to take the oath , it is offered to be proved that he was allowed , and did accordingly proceed to the taking of the oath , and did thereafter take his place , and sit and vote , during that sederunt of privy ▪ council . so as the pretended sense and explication , which he did then emit and give , can import no crime against him . . it is also offered to be proved , that before the pannel was required to take the oath , or did appear before his royal highness , and lords of privy-council , to take the same , there were a great many papers spread abroad from persons , and ministers of the orthodox clergy ; and as the pannel is informed some thereof presented to the bishops of the church , in the name of synods and presbyteries which did , in downright terms , charge the test and oath withalledged contradictions and inconsistencies . and for satisfaction whereof some of the learned and reverend bishops of the church did write a learned and satisfying answer , called a vindication of the test , for clearing the scruples , difficulties and mistakes that were objected against it . and which vindication and answer was exhibited , and read before the lords of his majesties privy-council , and allowed to be printed : and from which the pannel argues . . that it neither is , nor can be pretended in this libel , that the alledged explication , wherein he did take the oath , does propose the scruples of his conscience in these terms , which were proposed by the authors of these objections which do flatly and positively assert , that the oath and test do contain matters of inconsistency and contradiction , whereas all that is pretended in this libel , with the most absolute violence can be put upon the words , is arguing implications and inferences , which neither the words are capable to bear , nor the sincerity of the earls intention and design , nor the course of his by - past life can possibly admit of . and yet none of the persons who were the authors of such papers were ever judged or reputed criminal or guilty , and to be prosecuted for the odious and infamous crimes libelled , of treason , leasing-making , prejury , and the like . . the pannel does also argue from the said matter of fact , that the alledged explication libelled can neither in his intention and design , nor in the words , infer or import any crime against him , because , before his being required , or appearing to take the oath , there were spread abroad such scruples and objections , by some of the orthodox clergy and others : so that the earl can never in any sense be construed in his explication wherein he took the oath , to have done it animo infamandi , and to declaim against the government : for the scruples and objections that were spread abroad by others were a fair and rational occasion why the earl in any sense or explication which he offered might have said that he was confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; and this is so far from importing the insinuation and inference made by the libel , that thereby the parliament were so impious as to impose contradictory oaths , as on the contrary , considering the circumstances forementioned , that there were papers spread abroad , insinuating . that there were inconsiltencies and contradictions contained therein , the said expression was an high vindication of the honour and justice of the parliament , against the calumnies and mis-representations which were cast upon it , and was also a just rise for the pannel , for the clearing and exonoration of his own conscience , in the various senses and apprehensions which he found were going abroad as to the said test , humbly to offer his sense , in which he was clear and satisfied to take the oath . . to the libel in so far as it is founded upon the act of parliament , viz. act par. james declaring . that none should presume to impugn the dignity or authority of the three estates of parliament or procure any invasion or diminution thereof , under the pain of treason ; as also in so far as it is pretended in the libel . that the pannel by offering the sense and explication libelled , has assumed the legislative power , which is incommunicable , and has made a law , or a part of a law. it is answered . the libel is most groundless and irrelevant , and against which the act of parliament is opponed , which is so plain and evident upon the reading thereof , that it neither is nor can be subject to the least cavillation : and the plain meaning whereof is nothing else but to impugn the authority of parliaments , as if the king and parliament had not a legislative power or were not the highest representative of the kingdom ; or that any of the three estates were not essentially requisit to constitut the parliament . and besides there is nothing more certain , than that the occasion of the said act its being made was in relation to the bishops and clergy : and there is nothing in the pretended explanation that can be wrested to import the least contravention of the said act , or to be an impugning of the three estates of parliament , or a seeking any innovation therein . and it is admired , with what shadow of reason it can be pretended , that the pannel has assumed a legislative power , or made a part of a law , seeing all that is contained in the alledged explication libelled is only a declaration of the earl's sense in which he was satisfied to take the oath , and so respected none but himself , and for the clearing of his own conscience , which justly indeed the word of god calls a law to himself , without any incroaching upon the legislative power . and where was it ever debated , but that a man in the taking of an oath , if as to his apprehensions he thought any thing in it deserved to be cleared , might declare the same , or that his exhibiting , at the time of the taking of the oath , his sense and explication wherein he did take it , was ever reputed or pretended to be the assuming of a legislative power , it being the universal practice of all nations to allow this liberty ; and which sense may be either rejected or accepted , as the legislator shall think fit , importing no more but a parties private sense● for the exoneration of his own conscience ? and as to that member of the libel founded upon act . par. . queen mary , it contains nothing but a declaration of the pain of ●erjury , and there is nothing in the explication libelled , which can in the least be inferred as a contravention of the said act , in respect if it should be proved . that the pannel , at the time of the taking of the oath did take it in the words of the said explication , as his sense of the oath , it is clear that the sense being declared at the time of taking the oath , and allowed as the sense wherein it was taken the pannel can only be understood to have taken it in that sense . and although publik authority may consider whether the sense given by the pannel does satisfie the law or , not yet that can import no more though it was found not to satisfie , but to hold the pannel as a refuser of the oath : but it is absolutely impossible to infer the crimes of perjury upon it , being as is pretended by the libel the pannel did only take it with the declaration of the sense and explication libelled . . as the explication libelled does not at all import all , or any of the crimes contained in the said libel , so by the common principles of all law , where a person does emit words for the clearing and exoneration of his own conscience , altho there were any ambiguity , or unclearness , or involvedness in the tenor or import of the expressions or words , yet they are ever to be interpreted , interpretatione benigna & favorab ili according to the general principles of law and reason . and it never was , nor can be refused to any person to interpret and put a congruous sense upon his own words , especially the pannel being a person of eminent quality , and who hath given great demonstration , and undeniable evidences of his fixt and unalterable loyalty to his majesties interest and service , and , at the time of emiting the said explication , was invested and entrusted in publik capacites . and it is a just and rational interpretation and caution which sanderson , that judicious and eminent casuist , gives , praelect : . that dicta & facta principum , parentum , rectorum , are ever to be looked upon as benignae interpretationis , and that dubia sunt interpretanda in meliorem partem . and there is nothing in the explication libelled which , without detortion and violence , and in the true sense and design of the pannel , is not capable of this benign interpretation and construction , especially respect being had to the circumstances wherein it was emitted and given , after a great many objections , scruples , and alledged inconsistencies , were owned , vented and spread abroad , which was a rise to the earl for using the expressions contained in the pretended declaration libelled . . these words whereby it is pretended the pannel declares , he was ready to give obedience as far as he could , first , do not in the least import that the parliament had imposed any oath which was in it self unlawful : but only the pannel's scrupulosity and unclearness in matter of conscience . and it is hoped it cannot be a crime , because all men cannot go the same length . and if any such thing were argued it might be argued ten times more strongly from a simple refusing of the oath , as if any thing were enjoyned which were so hard that it is not possible to comply with it : and yet such implications are most irrational and inconsequential , and neither in the case of a simple and absolute refusing or the oath , nor in the case of an explication of the parties sense wherein he is willing to take the oath , is there any impeachment of the justice and prudence of the legislator , who imposeth this oath , but singly a declaration of the scrupulosity and weakness of the party , why he cannot take the oath in other terms : and such explications have been allowed by the laws and customs of all nations , and are advised by all divines , of whatsoever principles , for the solace and security of a man's conscience . . as to that point of the explication libelled , that i am confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; it respects the former answer , which , considering the plain and down right objections which were spread abroad , and made against the oath , as containing inconsistencies and contradictions , was an high vindication of the justice and prudence of the parliament . . as to these words , and therefore i think no body can explain it but for himself . the plain and clear meaning is nothing else but that the oath being imposed by act of parliament it was of no private interpretation ; and that therefore every man who was to take it behooved to take it in that sense which he apprehended to be the genuine sense of the parliament . and it is impossible , without impugning common sense , that any man could take it in any other sense , it being as impossible to see with another mans eyes as to see with his private reason . and a mans own private sense and apprehension of the genuine sense was the only proper way wherein any man could rationally take the oath . and as to these words , that he takes it as far as it is consistent with it self and the protestant religion . the pannel neither intended nor exprest more , but that he did take it as a true protestant , and he hopes all men have taken it as such . and as to that clause , wherein the pannel is made to declare , that he does not bind up himself in his station , in a lawful way , to wish and endeavour any alteration he thinks to the advantage of church or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion and his loyalty . it is answered , there is nothing in this expression that can import the least crime , or give the least umbrage for any mistake , for , . it is most certain , it is impossible to elicite any such thing from the oath , but that it was the intention of the parliament , that persons , notwithstanding of the oath , might concur in their stations , and in a lawful way , in any law to the advantage of church and state. and no rational man ever did , or can take the oath in other terms , that being contrary to his allegiance and duty to his sacred majesty and prince . . there is nothing in the said expression which does in the least point at any alteration in the fundamentals of government , either in church or state ; but on the contrary , by the plain and clear words and meaning , rather for its perpetuity , stability and security . the expression being cautioned to the utmost scrupulosity , as that it was to be done in a lawful manner ; that it was to be to the advantage of church or state ; that it was to be consistent with the protestant religion , and with his loyalty , which was no other but the duty and loyalty of all faithful subjects ; and which he has signally and eminently expressed upon all occasions . so that how such an expression can be drawn to import all or any of the crimes libelled passeth all natural understanding . and as to the last words , and this i understand as a part of my oath , which is libelled to be a treasonable invasion , and assuming of the legislative power . it is answered , it is most unwarrantable ; and a parties declaring the sense and meaning in which he was free to take an oath does not at all respect or invade the legislative power , of which the pannel never entertained a thought , but has an absolute abhorrence and detestation of such practices . but the plain and clear meaning is , that the sense and explication was a part of his oath , and not of the law imposing the oath these being as distant as the two poles : and which sense was taken off the earl's hands and he accordingly was allowed to take his place at the council-board , and therefore repeats the former general defences . and to convince the lords of justitiary , that there is nothing in the pretended explication libelled which can be drawn to import any crime , even of the lowest size and degree , and that there is no expression therein contained that can be detorted or wrested to import the same , is evident from that learned vindication published and spread abroad by an eminent bishop , and which was read in the face of the privy-council and does contain expressions of the same nature ; and to the same import contained in the pretended explication libelled as the ground of this indictment libelled against the pannel . and it is positively offered to be proven , that these terms were given in , and read , and allowed to be printed , and ( without taking notice of the whole tenor of the said vindication , which the lords of justiciary are humbly desired to peruse , and consider , and compare the same with the explication libelled ) the same acknowledgeth , that scruples had been raised and spread abroad against the oath ; and also acknowledgeth , that there were expressions therein that were dark and obscure ; and likewise takes notice , that the confession ratified par. james . to which the oath relates , was hastily made , and takes notice of that authority that made it , and acknowledges in plain terms , that the oath does not hinder any regular endeavour to regulate or better the establisht government ; but only prohibits irregular endeavours and attempts to invert the substance or body of the government ; and does likewise explain the act of parliament anent his majesties supremacy , that it does not reach the alteration of the external government of the church . and the pannel and his proctors are far from insinuating in the least , that there is any thing in the said vindication but what is consistent with the exemplary loyalty , piety and learning of the writer of the same . and tho others perhaps may differ in their private opinion , as to this interpretation of the act of parliament anent the kings ●upremacy , yet it were most absurd and irrational to pretend that whether the mistake were upon the interpretation of the writer , or the sense of others , as to that point , that such mistakes or misapprehensions , upon either hand , should import or infer against them the crimes of leasing-making , or depraving his majesties laws : for if such foundations were laid , judges and lawyers had a dangerous employment , there being nothing more ordinar● than to fall into differences and mistakes of the sense and meaning of the laws and acts of parliament . but such crimes cannot be inferred but with and under the qualifications above-mentioned , of malicious and perverse designs , joyned with licentious , wicked and reproachful speeches spread abroad , to move sedition and dislike of the government . and the said laws were never otherwise interpreted , nor extended in any case . and therefore the explication libelled , neither as taken complexly , nor in the several expressions thereof , nor in the design of the ingiver of the same , can in law import against him all or any of the crimes libelled . in like manner the pannel conjoins with the grounds above-mentioned the proclamation issued forth by his majesties privy-council , which acknowledges and proceeds upon a narrative , that scruples and jealousies were raised and spread abroad against the act of parliament enjoyning the test. for clearing and satisfaction whereof the said proclamation was issued forth , and is since approved by his sacred majesty . the kings advocate 's argument and plea against the earl of argyle . his majesties advocate , for the foundation of his debate , does represent , that his majesty , to secure the government from the rebellious principles of the last age , and the unjust pretexts made use of in this , from popery , and other jealousies ; as also to secure the protestant religion , and the crown , called a parliament ; and that the great security resolved on by the parliament was this excellent test , in which , that the old jugling principles of the covenant might not be renewed , wherein they still swore to serve the king in their own way , the parliament did positively ordain , that this oath should be taken in the plain genuine meaning or the words , without any evasion whatsoever . notwithstanding whereof , the earl of argyle , by this paper , does invent a new way , whereby no man is at all bound to it . for how can any person be bound , if every man will only obey it as far as he can , and as far as he conceives it consistent with the protestant religion , and with it self , and reserve to himself , notwithstanding thereof , to make any alteration that he thinks consistent with his loyalty ? and therefore his majesties advocate desires to know to what the earl of argyle , or any man else , can be bound by this test ? what the magistrate can expect , or what way he can punish his perjury ? for if he be bound no farther than he himself can obey , or so far as this oath is consistent with the protestant religion or it self , quomodo constat , to whom or what he is bound ? and who can determine that ? or against what alteration is the government secured , since he is judg of his own alteration ? so that that oath , that was to be taken without any evasion is evaded in every single word or letter ; and the government as insecure as before the act was made , because the taker is no farther bound than he pleases . from which it cannot be denied , but his interpretation destroys not only this act , but all government , since it takes away the security of all government , and makes every mans conscience , under which name there goes ordinarily in this age humour and interest , to be the rule of the takers obedience . nor can it be conceived to what purpole laws , but especially oaths , needed to be made , if this were allowed ; or how this cannot fall under the th act , par. . james . whereby it is statuted , that no man interpret the statutes otherwise than the maker understood . for what can be more contrary to the taking of them in the makers sense , than that every man should obey as far as he can , and be allowed to take them in a general sense , so far as they are consistent with themselves , and the protestant religion , without condescending wherein they do not agree with the protestant religion ? and that they are not bound not to make any alteration which they think good for the states ? for all these make the rule of obedience in the taker , whereas the positiue law makes it to be in the maker . o● how could they be punished for perjury after this oath ? for when he were quarrelled for making alterations against this oath ; and so to be perjured , he might easily ansvver , that he took this oath only in so far as it was consistent with the protestant religion , and with a salvo , that he might make any alteration that he thought consistent with his loyalty . and as to these points , upon which he were to be quarrelled , he might say , he did not think them to be inconsistent with his loyalty , think we what we pleased , and so needed not be perjured , except he pleased to decide against himself : for in these generals he reserves to himself to be still judg. and this were indeed a fine security for any government . and by the same rule that it looses this oath , it shews a way of loosing all oaths and obedience : and consequently strikes at the root of all laws , as well as this : whereas to shun all this , not only this excellent statute . has secured all the rest , but this is common reason : and in the opinion of all divines , as well as lawyers in all nations , verba juramenti intelliguntur secundum ment em & intentionem ejus , cui fit juramentum . which is set down , as the grand position , by sandersone ( whom they cite , ) pag. . and is founded upon that mother-law , leg. . cui interrogatus f. f. de interrogationibus in iure faciendis ; and without which no man can have sense of government in his head , or practise it in any nation . whereas on the other hand there is no danger to any tender conscience , since there was no force upon the earl to take the oath , but he took it for his own advantage , and might have abstained . . it is inferred from the above-written matter of fact , that the earl is clearly guilty of contravention of the . act , parl. . james vi. whereby the liedges are commanded not to write any purpose of reproach of his majesties government , or misconstrue his proceedings , whereby any misliking may be raised betwixt his highness , his nobility , or his people . and who can read this paper , without seeing the king and parliament reproached openly in it ? for who can hear , that the oath is only taken as far as it is consistent with it self and the protestant religion , but must necessarily conclude , that in several things it is inconsistent with it self , and the protestant religion ? for if it were not inconsistent with it self , and the protestant religion , why this clause at all but it might have been simply taken ? for the only reason of hindering it to be taken simply , was because of the inconsistency : ergo there behoved necessarily to be an inconsistency . and if there be any inconsistency with the protestant religion , or any contradiction in the oath it self , can there be any thing a greater reproach on the parliament , or a greater ground of mislike to the people ? and whereas it is pretended , that all laws and subsumptions should be clear , and these are only inferences . it is answered , that there are some things which the law can only forbid in general : and there are many inferences which are as strong and natural , and reproach as soon , or sooner , than the plainest defamations in the world do : for what is openly said of reproach to the king does not wound him so much as many seditious insinuations have done in this age and the last : so that whatever was the earl's design ( albeit it is always conceived to be unkind to the act , against which himself debated in parliament , ) yet certainly the law in such cases is only to consider what essect this may have amongst the people : and therefore the acts of parliament , that were to guard against the misconstruing of his majesties government , do not only speak of what was designed , but where a disliking may be caused , and so judgeth ab effectu : and , consequentially to the same emergent reason , it makes all things tending to the raising of dislike to be punishable by the act . parl. . queen mary ; and the . act. parl. . james vi. so that the law designed to deter all men by these indefinite and comprehensive expressions : and both in this and all the laws of leasing-making , the iudges are to consider what falls under these general and comprehensive words , nor could the law be more special here , since the makers of reproach and slander are so various that they could not be bound up or exprest in any law : but as it evidently appears , that no man can hear the words exprest , if he believe this paper , but he must think the parliament has made a very ridiculous oath , inconsistent with it self and the protestant religion , the words allowing no other sense , and having that natural tendency ; even as if a man would say , i love such a man only in so far as he is an honest man , he behoved certainly to conclude , that the man was not every way honest ; so if your lordships will take measures by other parliaments , or your predecessors , ye will clearly see , that they thought less than this a defaming of the government , and misconstruing his majesties proceedings . for in balmerino's case the justices find an humble supplication made to the king himself to fall under these acts now cited . albeit as that was a supplication so it contained the greatest expressions of loyalty , and offers of life and fortune that could be exprest , yet because it insinuates darkly , that the king in the preceeding parliament had not favoured the protestant religion , and they were sorry he should have taken notes with his own hands of what they said , which seems to be most innocent , yet he was found guilty upon those same very acts. and the parliament . found his lordship himself guilty of leasing - making , tho he had only written a letter to a private friend , which requires no great care nor observation , ( but this paper which was to be a part of his own oath does ) because after he had spoken of the parliament in the first part of this letter , he thereafter added , that the king would know their tricks : which words might be much more applicable to the private persons therein designed , than that the words now insisted on can be capable of any such interpretation . and if either interpretations , upon pretext of exonering of conscience , or otherwise , be allowed , a man may easily defame as much as he pleases : and have we not seen the king most defamed by covenants entered into upon pretence to make him great and glorious , by remonstrances made to take away his brother and best friend , upon pretence of preserving the protestant religion , and his sacred person ? and did not all who rebelled against him in the last age declare , that they thought themselves bound in duty to obey him , but still as far as that could consist with their respect to the protestant religion , and the laws and liberties , which made all the rest ineffectual ? and whereas it is pretended , that by these words , i take the same in as far as it is consistent with it self and the protestant religion , nothing more is meant , but that he takes it as a true protestant : his majesties advocate appeals to your lordships , and all the hearers , if upon hearing this expression they should take it in this sense , and not rather think that there is an inconsistency . for if that were possible to be the sense , what need he say at all , as far as it is consistent with it self ? nor had the other part , as far as it is consistent with the protestant religion , been necessary . for it is either consistent with the protestant religion , or otherwise they were enemies to the protestant religion , that made it . nor are any lawyers or others in danger , by pleading or writing : for these are very different from ; and may be very easily pleaded without defaming a law , and an oath , when they go to take it . but if any lawyer should say , in pleading or writing ; that the test was inconsistent , or , which is all one , that it were not to be taken by any man , but so far as it was consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , no doubt this would be a crime even in pleading , tho pleading has a greater allowance than deliberate swearing has : and as there is nothing wherein there is not some inconveniency , so the inconveniency of defaming the government is much greater than that of any private mans hazard , who needs not err except he please . whereas it is pretended , that before the earl gave in this explication , there were other explications spread abroad , and answers read to them in council , and that the council it self gave an explication . it is answered , that if this paper be leasing-making , or misconstruing his majesties proceedings , and treasonable , as is contended , then a thousand of the like offences cannot excuse it . and when the king accused noblemen , ministers , and others , in the year . for going on in the rebellions of that age , first with the covenanters , and then with the usurpers , it was found no defence , that the nation was over-grown with those crimes , and that they were thought to be duties in those days , yea , this were to invite men to offend in multitudes . and albeit sometimes these : who follow the examples of multitudes may thereby pretend this as an excuse to many , yet this was never a formal defence against guilt , nor was ever the chief of the offenders favourable on that head. and it is to be presumed , that the earl of argyle would rather be followed by others , than that he would follow any example . but his majesties advocate does absolutely decline to debate a point that may defame a constant and standing act of parliament , by leaving upon record a memory of its being opposed . nor were this relevant , except it could be said , the council had allowed such explications which reflected upon the king and the government : for the writing an answer is no allowance , but a condemning : not can the council allow any more than they can remit : and tho it may justly be denied that the council heard even the earl's own explanation , yet the hearing or allowing him to sit is no relevant plea , because they might very justly have taken a time to consider how far it was fit to accuse upon that head. and it is both just and fit for the council to take time ; and by express act of parliament the negligence of the kings officers does not bind them . for if this were allowed , leading men in the council might commit what crimes they pleased in the council , which certainly the king may quarrel many years after . and tho all the council had allowed him that day , any one officer of state might have quarrelled it the next day . as to the opinion of bellarmine , sanderson , and others , it is ever contended , that the principles of the covenant agree very well with those of the iesuits , and both dostill allow equivocations and evasions : but no solid , orthodox divine ever allowed , that a man who was to swear without any evasion should swear so as he is bound to nothing , as it is contended the earl is not , for the reasons represented . and as they still recommend , that when men are not cleare they might abstain , as the earl might have done in this case , so they still conclude . that men should tell in clear terms what the sense is by which they are to be bound to the state : whereas the earl here tels only in the general , and in most ambiguous terms , that he takes it as far as he can obey , and as far as it is consistent with the protestant religion , and that he takes it in his own sense , and that he is not bound by it from making alterations , but as far as he thinks it for the advantage of church or state : which sense is a thousand times more doubtful than the test , and is in effect nothing but what the taker pleases himself . as to the treason founded on , his majesties advocate founds it first upon the fundamental and common laws of this and all nations , whereby it is treason for any man to make any alteration he shall think for the advantage of church or state : which he hopes is a principle cannot be denied in the general . and whereas it is pretended , that this cannot be understood of mean alterations , and of alterations to be made in a lawful way : it is answered , that as the thing it self is treason ; so this treason is not taken off by any of these qualifications ; because he declares , he will wish and endeavour any alteration he thinks fit : and any alteration comprehends all alterations that he thinks fit : nam propositio indefinita aequipollet universali . and the word any is general in its own nature , and is in plain terms a reserving to himself to make alterations , both great and small . and the restriction is not , all alterations that the king shall think fit , or are consistent with the laws and acts of parliament ; but he is still to be judge of this , and his loyalty is to be the standard . nor did the covenanters in the last age , nor do these who are daily executed , decline that they are bound to obey the king , simply , but only that they are bound to obey him no otherwise than as far as his commands are consistent with the law of god , of nature , and of this kingdom , and with the covenant : and their treason lies in this . and when it is asked them , who shall be judge in this , they still make themselves judges . and the reason of all treason being , that the government is not secure ; it is desired to be known , what way the government can be secured after this paper , since the earl is still judge how far he is obliged , and what is his loyalty . and if this had been sufficient , the covenant had been a very excellent paper : for they are there bound to endeavour , in their several stations , to defend the kings person : but when the king challenged them , how they came to make war against him ? their great refuge was , that they were themselves still ludges as to that . and for illustrating this power , the lords of justitiary are desired to consider , quid iuris , if the earl , or any man else should have reserved to himself in this oath a liberty to rise in arms , or to oppose the lineal succession , tho he had added , in a lawful manner : for the thing being in it self unlawful , this is but shamm , and protestatio contraria facto . and if these be unlawful , notwithstanding of such additions , so much more must this general reservation , of making any alterations , likewise be unlawful , notwithstanding of these additions : for he that reserves the general power of making any alteration , does , a fortiori , reserve power to make any alteration , tho never so fundamental . for all particulars are included in the general ; and whatever may be said against the particulars may much more strongly be said against the general . . the . act. par. . james vi. is expresly founded on , because nothing can be a greater diminution of the power of the parliament , than to introduce a way or mean whereby all their acts and oaths shall be made insignificant and ineffectual , as this paper does make them , for the reasons represented . nor are any of the estates of parliament secure at this rate , but that they who reserved a general power to make all alterations , may , under that general , come to alter any of them . . what can be a greater impugning of the dignity and authority of parliaments , than to say , that the parliament has made acts for the security of the kingdom , which are in themselves ridiculous , inconsistent with themselves and the protestant religion ? and as to what is answered against invading the kings prerogative , and the legislative power in parliaments , in adding a part to an oath or act , is not relevantly inferred , since the sense of these words , and this i understand as a part of my oath , is not to be understood as if any thing were to be added to the law , but only to the oath , and to be an interpretation of the oath . it is replied , that after this , no man needs to add a caution to the oath in parliament . but when he comes to take the oath , do the parliament what they please , he will add his own part . nor can this part be looked upon as a sense : for if this were the sense before this paper , he needed not understand it as a part of it , for it wanted not that part . and in general , as every man may add his own part , so the king can be secure of no part . but your lordships of justitiary are desired to consider , how dangerous it would be in this kingdom , and how ill it would sound in any other kingdom , that men should be allowed to reserve to themselves liberty to make any alteration they thought fit in church or state , as to the legality of which , they were themselves to be judges : and how far , from degree to degree , this at last may come to absolute anarchy , and how scandalous a thing , as well as unsecure , this new way may look in an age wherein we are too much tracing the steps of our rebellious progenitors in the last , whose great detection and error was , that they thought themselves , and not the king the authors of reformation in church and state. and no man ever was barred by that , that the way he was upon was not a lawful way : for if it be allowed to every man to take his own way , every man will think his own way to be the lawful way . as to the perjury , it is founded on this , first . that perjury may be committed , not only by breaking an oath , but even in the swearing of it , viz. to swear it with such evasions as make the oath ineffectual : for which sandersone is cited , pag. . alterum perjurii genus est novo aliquo excogitato commento iuramenti vim declinare , aut eludere , & iurans tenetur sub poena perjurii implere secundum intentionem deferentus ; both which are here . for the earl being bound by the very oath , to swear in the genuine meaning , without any evasion , he has sworn so as he has evaded every word , there being not one word to which it can be said particularly he is bound , as is said . and it is undeniable , that he has not sworn in the sense of the makers of the law , but in his own sense , which is perjury , as is said . and consequentially , whatever sense may be allowed in ambiguous cases , yet there can be none where the paper clearly bears generals : and where he declares , that he takes it in his own sense , his majesties advocate declares , he will not burden himself , that copies were disperst , tho it is certain , since the very paper it self by the giving in is chargeable with all that is above charged upon it . sir john dalrymple's defence and plea for the earl of argyle , by way of reply upon the king's advocate . sir john dalrymple replies for the pannel , that since the solid grounds of law adduced in the defences have received no particular answers , in relation to the common consent of all casuists , viz. that a party who takes an oath is bound in conscience to clear and propose the terms and sense in which he does understand the oath ; nor in relation to the several grounds adduced concerning the legal and rational interpretation of dubious clauses . and since these have received no answers , the grounds are not to be repeated : but the proctors for the pannel do farther insist on these defences . . it is not alledged , that any explanation was given in by the pannel to any person , or any copy spread , before the pannel did take the test in council : so that it cannot be pretended , that the many scruples that have been moved concerning the test , did arise from the pannel's explication : but on the contrary , all the objections that are answered , and obviated in the pannel's explication , were not only privately muttered , or were the thoughts of single or illiterate persons , but they were the difficulties proposed by synods and presbyteries , long before the pannel came from home , or was required to take the test : so that the general terms of the acts of parliament founded upon in the libel are not applicable to this case : for as these laws , in relation to leasing makers , are only relative to atrocious wilful insinuations , or misconstructions of his majesties person or government , or the open depraving of his laws , so the restrictive clause , whereby sedition or misconstructions may be moved , raised , or engendered betwixt his majesty and his liedges , cannot be applied to this case , where all these apprehensions and scruples were on foot , and agitated long before the pannel's explanation . as it cannot be pretended , that any new dust was raised by the pannel's explanation , so it is positively offered to be proved , that there is not one word contained in this explanation , but that either these individual words , or much worse , had been publikly proposed , and verbatim read in council , without the least discouragement , or the least objection made by any member of the council . and where a writing , ex proposito read in so high a court , was universally agreed upon , without the alteration of a syllable , how can it be pretended , that any person thereafter using the said in ●ividual terms in any explanation , and far easier terms , that they shall incur the high and infamous crimes libelled ? and the question is not here . whether the council was a proper judicature to have proposed , or imposed a sense , or allowed any explanation of the test to be published ; but that it is impossible that a sense they allowed , or being publikly read be●ore them , and which the kings advocate did not controll , that this should import treason , or any crime : and tho the pannels advocate will not pursue or follow the reply that has been made to this point yet certainly no man of sober sense will think that it is fit to insinuate that so high a judicature might have authorized or acquiescedin such explanations as the liedges thereafter should be entrapped to have used if the pannel had officiously or ultr●neously offered a sense or explanation of his majesties laws , which the laws themselves could not have born , it might justly have been alledged , that he was extraordinem , and medling in a matter he was not concerned in but where the act of council did enjoyn , and he was required and cited to that effect , it could neither be constructed as ostentation , or to move or encourage scruples or resistance but it was absolutely necessary , either for to have refused the test , or else to have declared what he thought to be the true and genuine meaning of it . and there being so many objections publikly moved and known , his explanation was nothing else but to clear , that he did not look upon these scruples and objections moved by others as well founded and rational in themselves ; and therefore he was able to take the test in that sense the council had heard or allowed . and it is not controverted , that the sense of the legislator is the genuine sense both of laws and oaths : and if a person were only interpreting the meaning of either a law or an oath imposed , he should deprave and misconstruct the law and oath , if he rendered it wittingly and willingly in terms inconsistent with the meaning of the imposer : but there is a great difference betwixt taking of oaths , and interpreting oaths ; for when a man comes to take an oath , except his particular sense did agree with the genuine meaning of the imposer , he cannot take that oath , tho he may very well interpret and declare what is the sense of the legislator , which he may know , and yet perhaps not be able to take the oath . and therefore when there is any doubtfulness in an oath , and a party is bound to take it , if then he gives in an explication of the sense which he in his private judgment doth apprehend to be the genuine meaning , if that private sense be disconform to the legislators sense in the oath , then the imposer of the oath , or he that has power to offer it to the party , if he consider the parties sense disconform , he ought to reject the oath , as not fulfilling the intent of the law imposing it . but it is impossible to state that as a crime , that a party should neither believe what is proposed in the oath , nor be able to take it ; and he can run no farther hazard , but the penalty imposed upon the refuser . and therefore in all oaths there must be a concourse both of the sense imposed by authority , and of the private sense , iudgment or conscience of the party . and therefore if a party should take an oath in the sense proposed by authority contrary to his own sense , he were perjured : whereby it is evident that the sense of authority is not sufficient , without the acquiescence and consent of the private person . and therefore it is very strange , why that part of the pannel's explanation should be challenged , that he takes it in his own sense , the posterior words making it as plain as the light , that that sense of his own is not what he pleases to make of the oath , for it bears expresly , that no body can explain it but for himself , and reconcile it as it is genuine , and agrees in its own sense : so that there must be a reconciliation betwixt his own sense and the genuine sense , which upon all hands is acknowledged to be the sense of authority . and if the pannel had been of these lax and debaucht principles , that he might have evaded the meaning and energy of the oath , by imposing upon it what sense he pleased , certainly he would have contented himself in the general refuge of equivocation , or mental reservation , and he would never have exposed his sense to the world , in which he took this oath , whereby he became absolutely fixed and determined to the oath , in that particular sense , and so had no latitude of shuffling off the energy or obligation of the oath . and it is likewise acknowledged , that the cases alledged in the reply are true , viz. that the person is guilty of perjury , si aliquo novo commento he would elude his oath , or who doth not fulfil the oath in the sense of the imposer . but that does not concern this case : for in the foresaid citation , a person , after he has taken an oath , finding out some new conceit to elude it he is perjured : but in this case the pannel did at , and before his taking the test , declare the terms in which he understood it ; so that this was not nov● aliquo commento to elude it . and the other case , where a party takes it in the sense of authority , but has some subterfuge , or concealed explanation , it is acknowledged to be perjury . but in this case there was no concealed explanation , but it was publikly exprest , and an explanation given , which the pannel designed , and understood as the meaning of authority , and had ground to believe he was not mistaken , since upon that explanation he was received and allowed to sit and vote in council . and as to that part of the reply , that explains the treason , there can be no treason in the pannel's case , because the express act of parliament founded upon doth relate only to the constitution of the parliament : and i am sure his majesties advocate cannot subsume in these terms : and therefore in the reply he recurs to the general grounds of the law , that the usurping of his majesties authority , in making a part of the law ; and to make alterations in general , and without the king , are high and treasonable words or designs , and such as the party pleases , and such designs as have been practised in the late times . and that even the adjection of fair and safe words , as in the covenant , does not secure from treasonable designs ; and that it was so found in balmerino's case , tho it bear a fair narrative of an humble supplication . it is replied , that the usurpation of making of laws is undoubtedly treasonable ; but no such thing can be pretended or subsumed in this case : for albeit the pannel declares his explanation to be a part of his oath , yet he never meaned to impose it as a part of the law , or that this explanation should be a thing distinct , or a separate part even of his oath . for his explanation being but exegetik of the several parts of the oath , it is no distinct thing from the oath , but declared to be a part of the oath de natura rei . and it was never pretended , that he that alledged any thing to be de natura rei , did say , that that was distinct and separate , which were a contradiction . and therefore the argument is retorted , the pannel having declared , this explanation was , de natura rei , implied in the oath , he necessarily made this explanation no addition or extention of the oath . so that for all this explanation , the oath is neither broader nor longer than it was . and as to these words , i do not mean to bind up my self in my station , and in a lawful way , to wish and endeavour any alteration i think to the advantage of church or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and my loyalty . it is a strange thing how this clause can be drawn in question , as treasonable , when it may with better reason be alledged , that there is no good subject but is bound to say it . and albeit the words to endeavour in my station , be words contained in the covenant , yet that is no reason , why two words in the covenant may not be made use of in another very good and loyal sense . and there is no man that shall have the honour either to be entrusted by his majesty in his council , or any other judicature , or to be a member of parliament , but he is bound by his loyalty to say the same thing . and there was never a clause more cautiously exprest , for the words run , to endeavour any alteration i shall think to the advantage of church and state. and tho that was sufficient , yet the clause is so cautiously conceived , that it contains another restriction , not repugnant to religion and his loyalty . so that except it could be alledged , that a man by lawful means , to the advantage of church and state , consistent with his religion and loyalty , could make treasonable alterations , and invasions upon the government and monarchy , which are the highest contradictions imaginable , there can be nothing against the pannel . and albeit the clause , any alterations , might , without the restrictions and qualifications foresaid , be generally extended , yet the preceeding words of lawful way , and the rational interpretation of the emission of words especially before a solemn judicatory , leaves no place or shadow to doubt , that these alterations were no fundamental or treasonable alterations , but such as the frailty of humane affairs and constitutions , and vicissitude of things and circumstances , do constantly require in the most exact constitutions under heaven . and the clause does not so much as import , that there is a present necessity of alteration , but it was a necessary and rational prospect , that albeit at present all things under heaven had been done to secure the religion and government , yet there might occur cases that would require new helps , alterations , and remedies . and it is not pretended in this case for the pannel , that he desires to alleviate , or take off words truly treasonable , or having an ill design , by the mixing of fair and safe , dutiful and submissive expressions , which indeed are protestations contrari● facto . for there is nothing in his explanation , that either in his design , or in the words themselves , being rationally and naturally interpreted , can infer the crimes libelled , or any of them . and the pannel's known principles , and known practices , do not only clear that loyalty that he has profest before the lords of justitiary , and instructed by unquestionable documents , but they put him far from the suspicion of these damnable principles related in the reply , of which the whole tract of his life hath been an intire evidence of his abhorrency and detestation . and in the last place , it is thought strange , why that should be represented as an affront or disgrace to the government , that the parliament imposed a test which the pannel is not able to take simply . and it is not pretended , that he hath defamed , written or spoken against the test it self , or for the inconvenience of it ; but only that he hath not been able to see the good ground upon which it may be simply taken . and this were to condemn him for want of sight or sense , when the law hath punished no man for not taking the test , but only turned him out of the government . and it is as strange an inference , that because the pannel declares , he believes the parliament meaned no contradiction and would take the test , in as far as it is consistent , that therefore he said , the parliament imposed contradictions : which is so far from a rational induction , that the contradiction of these subsumptions , in all congruity of language and sense , is necessarily true . and therefore the last part of that clause , in so far as it is consistent , is a consequence inferred upon the former : viz. i believe the parliament designed to impose no contradictions : ergo , i take the test as consistent , and in so far as it must be consistent , if the parliament did not impose contradictions , as certainly they have not ; and to convince the world , that in this sense this explanation is receivable , it was proposed in council , and allowed , and therefore without the highest reflection , it cannot now be quarrelled . sir george lockhart's second plea for the earl of argyle , by way of reply upon the king's advocate . sir george lockhart duplies , that the defender repeats and oppones his former defences , which are no ways elided , nor satisfied by the reply made by his majesties advocate . and altho it be easie for the kings advocate , out of his zeal , to pretend and argue crimes of the highest nature upon inferences and consequences , neither consistent with the pannel's design nor with his words and expressions , yet there cannot be a more dangerous foundation laid , for the security and interest of the government , and the security and protection of the subjects , than that crimes should be inferred but from clear , evident ; and express laws , and plain palpable contravention of these laws , it being both against the laws of god and man , that a man should be made an offender for a word , and especially for expressions which according to sense and reason , and considering the time and place where they were spoken by the pannel , viz. as a member of his majesties privy-council , and in presence of his royal highnes , and the members of council , and when required to take the test , were safe and innocent : and it were against all law and reason , to suppose that the pannel either did , or designed to do any thing which may , or did import the crimes libelled against him . and whereas it is pretended , that the oath required and imposed by act of parliament was for the security of the government ; and that the pannel by his explication does evade the oath , by taking it only so far as it is consistent with the protestant religon , and his own loyalty , whereof he was judge . it is answered , that the pretence is most unwarrantable , and the security of his majesties government is not at all endangered ( as god forbid it should , ) tho the pannel , and a thousand more had simply refused the test , or had taken it in a sense which does not satisfie the law ; it being competent to publik authority to consider , whether the pannels oath , in the terms of the explication wherein he did take it , does satisfie the act of parliament or not ; and if not , there can be no rational consequence inferred thereupon , but that he is holden as a refuser of the oath , and liable to the certification of the act of parliament , of not assuming and continuing in any publik trust : and no more was intended or designed by the act of parliament it self , than strictly to make the oath in the true and genuine sense and meaning of the parliament , an indispensible qualification of persons admitted to publik trust. so that it is not at all material to dispute , whether the pannel's explication can be looked upon as a full satisfaction of the act , which whether it should or not , it can import no crime against him , it not being consistent with sense and reason , that a person who absolutely refuseth the test , upon the scrupulosity of his conscience , albeit he be not capable of publik trust , should be , notwithstanding , looked upon as guilty of no crime : and yet another who was willing to go a greater length , albeit he did demur and scruple as to the full length , that he should be reputed criminal and guilty of a crime . . the pannel repeats and conjoyns with this the grounds above-mentioned , contained in his defences , viz. that neither the crimes libelled , nor any other crime , were ever pretended or made use of against any others , who did spread abroad objections of an high nature , which yet were so favourably looked upon , as to be construed only to proceed from scrupulosity of conscience , as also the satisfaction endeavoured is in such terms , and by such condescensions , as do take in , and justifie the whole terms of the explication libelled . it is of great moment , and whereof the lords of justitiary are desired to take special notice , both for clearing the absolute innocence of the pannel's meaning and intention , and to take off all possible misconstruction that can be wrested or detorted from the tenor and expressions of the libelled explication , that the pannel was put to , and required to take the oath , before the lords of his majesties privy-council did pass and pubish their proclamation explaining the oath , and declaring the genuine sense and meaning thereof , namely . that it did not tye to the whole articles of the confession of faith , ratified by act of parliament , james . and which , as to several articles thereof , had occasioned the scruples , and difficulties , and alledged inconsistency and contradiction betwixt the last part of the oath and the said confession , and betwixt some of these articles , and the currant of the protestant doctrine , received and contained in the syntagma of the protestant confessions . and therefore if the pannel at that time did think fit , for the clearing and exoneration of his own conscience , to use the expressions in the explication libelled , and yet with so much duty and confidence of the parliaments justice , as to their meaning and intention , that the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; and that he did take it so far as it was consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , not knowing then , whether the whole confession was to be reputed a part of the oath , and doubting there-anent ; and which the lords of his majestie 's privy-council & his sacred majesty by his approbation since , have thought a difficulty of so great moment as it was fit to clear the same by a publik proclamation ; how now is it possible , that any judicatory under heaven , which proceeds upon the solid grounds of law and reason , and who ( it cannot be doubted ) will have a just regard to the intrinsik principles of justice , and to all mens security , that they can now believe all , or any of the crimes libelled , should be in the least inferred from all , or any of the expressions contained in the said explication ? but that on the contrary it was a warrantable allowance , and christian practice , condemned by the law and custom of no nation , that having scruples in the matter of an oath which should be taken in truth , iudgment & righteousness , and upon full deliberation , and with a full assurance and sincerity of mind , that he did plainly , openly , and clearly declare the sense in which he was willing to take it ; and if authority did allow it as the genuine sense of the oath , the pannel to be holden as a taker of the oath : and if upon farther consideration , authority think not , that habetur pro recusante , and a refuser of the oath , but no ways to be looked upon as a criminal or guilty person . and the pannel repeats and conjoyns with this point of the reply that point in his defence , whereby he positively offers to prove , . that his explication , and the sense wherein he took the oath , was heard , and publikly given and received in council , and the pannel thereafter allowed to take his place , and sit and vote in that sederunt . . the pannel also offers positively to prove , that the tenor and terms of his sense and explication wherein he did take the oath , is contained in that solid , learned , and pious vindication , written by the bishop of edenburgh , in answer to the objections and alledged inconsistencies and contradictions in the oath , and which vindication was publikly read in council , and so far approved , that it was allowed to be printed and published ; and was accordingly dispersed and spread abroad . and it is not of the least import , that the proclamation of the lords of privy-council , altho it does only allow the same to be taken by the clergy , yet at the same time they expresly declare the genuine sense and meaning of the parliament not to comprehend the whole articles of the confession , which was not cleared before the pannel's taking his oath . and whereas it is pretended , that the acts of parliament libelled upon , against leasing makers , depravers of his majesties laws , do obtain and take place , where-ever there are any words or expressions that have a tendency in themselves , or by a natural consequence , and rational inferences , to reflect upon the government , or misconstrue his majesties prooceedings ; and that the explication libelled is such , and that it was found so in the case of balmerino , albeit it was drawn up by way of humble petition and address to his majesty , and with great protestations and expressions of loyalty . it is answered , the acts of parliament libelled upon are opponed , and the d act , par. . james . and the other acts , making the depraving of his majesties laws to be crimes , do expresly require , that speeches so judged be perverse and licentious speeches , ex natura sua probrosae and reproachful , and spoke animo defamandi , and which could not receive any other rational construction , which cannot in the least be applied to , or subsumed upon the words , or explication given in by the pannel . and law and reason never infers or presumes a crime , where the thing is capable of a fair and rational construction , and where it was done palam and publikly , and in presence of his majesties high commissioner , and lords of his majesties privy-council , whereof the pannel had the honour to be a member , persons commiting and designing to commit crimes making use of times , and places , and companies of another nature , on whom their suggestions and insinuations may prevail . but it is a violence to the common reason of mankind , to pretend , that a person of the pannel's quality , having the honour to serve his majesty in most eminent capacities , and devoted to his majesties interest and service ; beyond the strictest ties of duty and allegiance , by the transcendent favours he had received , that the pannel in those circumstances , and in presence of his royal highness and lords of privy-council , should design to declame , and de facto , declame against , and defame his majesties government : to suppose this is absolutely contradictory to the common principles and practices of law , and common topiks of reason . and as to balmerino's case , it is answered , that the lords of justitiary are humbly desired to call for , and peruse the said petition , and books of adjournal , which was certainly a defamatory libel of his majesties father , of blessed memory , and of the states of parliament in the highest degree , bearing expresly , that there was nothing designed but an innovation of the protestant religion , and the subversion and over-turning the liberties and priviledges of the parliament , and the constitutions of the articles , and other things of that kind , which made certainly of it self a most villanous and execrable libel , containing the highest crimes of treason and perduellion , and was not capable of any good sense or interpretation , but was absolutely pernicious and destructive : so that it is in vain to pretend , that the said libel did contain prefaces and protestations of loyalty , which no law regards , even in simplici injuria & maledicto , tho committed by a private person , cum praefatione , salvo honore , or the like , and which were certainly ridiculous to sustain in a libel concerning crimes of treason . and whereas it is pretended , that tho others were guilty of these crimes , it does not excuse the earl : and that the lords of privy-council cannot remit crimes ; and the negligence of the kings officers cannot prejudg his interest . it is answered , the pannel is very confident , that neither the lords of his majesties privy-council , consisting of persons of eminent loyalty and judgment , nor his majesties officers , were capable of any such escape as is pretended : and if the tenor of the pannels explication did in the least import the high and infamous crimes libelled , as beyond all peradventure it does not , it were strange , how the same being contained in the foresaid vindication , and the whole clauses thereof justified , that this should have been looked on as no crime , and allowed to be published . and the pannel neither does , nor needs to make farther use thereof , but to convince all dis-interested persons , that his explication can import no crime . and whereas it is pretended , that the crime of treason is inferred from the fundamental laws of the kingdom , and from that clause of the pannel's explication , wherereby he declares , he is not bound up by any thing in this oath not to endeavour any alteration in a lawful way : which being an indefinite proposition is equipollent to an univetsal , and is upon the matter coincident with a clause which was rebellious in its consequences , contained in the solemn league and covenant . it is answered , that it is strange , how such a plain and innocent clause , whereby , beyond all question , he does express no more than was naturally imported in the oath it self , whether exprest or not , should be made a foundation to import the crime of treason , which no lawyer ever allowed , except where it was founded upon express law & luce meridiana clari●r : and indeed if such stretches and inferences can make men guilty of treason no man can be secure . and the words in the pannel's declaration are plain and clear ( yet non sunt cavillanda ) and import no more , but that , in his station , and in a lawful way , and consistent with the protestant religion , and his loyalty , he might endeavour any alteration to the advantage of church and state. and was there ever any loyal or rational subject , that does , or can doubt , that this is the natural import of the oath ? and indeed it were a strange oath , if it were capable of another sense , and being designed for the security of the government , should bind up mens hands to concur for its advantage . and how was it possible , that the pannel , or any other in the capacity of a privy-councellor , or a member of the parliament , would have satisfied his duty and allegiance in other terms ? and whereas it is pretended that there was the like case in the pretended league and covenant , it is answered the assertion is evidently a mistake ; and tho it were , the argument is altogether inconsequential : for that league and covenant was treasonable in it self , as being a combination entered into without his majesties authority , and was treasonable in the glosses that were put upon it , and was imposed by absolute violence on the subjects of this kingdom and how can the pannel be in the least supposed to have had any respect to the said league and covenant , when he had so often taken the declaration , disowning and renouncing it , as an unlawful and sinful oath , and concurred in the many excellent laws and acts of parliament made by his majesty , condemning the same as seditious and treasonable ? and whereas it is pretended . that the pannel is guilty of perjury , having taken the oath in another sense than was consistent with the genuine sense of the parliament , and that by the authority cited he doth commento eludere iuramentum , which ought always to be taken in the sense of him that imposeth the oath : it is answered , the pretence is most groundless , and perjury never was , nor can be inferred , but by the commission , or omission of something directly contrary to the oath . and altho it it is true , that where an oath is taken , without any declaration of the express sense of the persons who take it , it obliges sub poena perjurii , in the sense , not of the taker , but of the imposer of the oath , because expressing no sense , law and reason presumes there is a full acquiescence in the sense and meaning of the imposer of the oath : and then if an oath be not so taken , he that takes it is guilty of perjury . yet there was never lawyer nor divine , popish or protestant , but agree in this , that whatever be the tenor of the oath , if before the taking thereof , the party in express terms does publikly & openly declare the sense in which he takes it , it is impossible it can infer the crime of perjury against him in any other sense , this not being commentum excogitatum , after the taking of the oath . and if this were not so , how is it possible in sense and reason ; that ever any explication or sense could solve the scruples of a mans conscience ? for it might be always pretended , that notwithstanding of the express sense wherein he took it , he should be guilty of perjury from another sense . and that this is the irrefragable opinion of all divines , of whatever perswasion , is not only clear from the authority above-mentioned , even those who allow of reserved senses , but more especially by the universal suffrage of all protestant divines , who tho they do abominate all thoughts of subterfuges or evasions , after taking of the oath , yet they do always allow and advise for the safety and security of a doubting and scrupulous conscience , that they should express and declare , before the taking of the oath , the true sense and meaning wherein they have freedom to take it ; and for which sandersone de iuramento is cited , prelect . . sect. . pag. . where his words are , sane ut inter iurandum omnia recte fiant , expedit ut de verborum sensu inter omnes partes quarum interest liquido constet , quod veteribus dictum , liquido iurare . and an oath being one of the highest acts of devotion , containing cultum latriae , there is nothing more consonant to the nature of all oaths , and to that candor , ingenuity , and christian simplicity , which all law and religion requires in such cases . the kings advocate 's third plea against the earl of argyle . his majesties advocate conceives he has nothing to answer as to depraving , leasing-making ; and mis-interpreting , &c. save that this oath was only designed to exclude recusants ; and consequently the pannel may thereby be debarred from his offices , but not made guilty of a crime . to which he triplies , . if ever the earl had simply refused , that had been true , but that did not at all excuse from defaming the law , for a defamer is not punished for refusing , but for defaming . . if he had simply refused the government had been in no more hazard , but if men will both retain their places , and yet take the same in such words as secure not the government , it were strange to think , that the design of the law being to secure against mens possessing who will not obey , that yet it should allow them possession who do not obey . nor is the refuser here in a better case than the earl , and others , who offered to obey , because it is the defaming the law , as ridiculous , and inconsistent with that protestant religion , and leasing-making betwixt the king , the nobility , and the people , the misconstruing , and misrepresenting , as hath been formerly urged , that puts the earl in a worse condition . and all those arguments might be as well urged for any who had uncontrovertedly contraveened these acts , as for the pannel . whereas it is pretended , that the king emitted a proclamation to satisfie dissenters ; it is answered , that the proclamation was designed for none who had been members of parliament , and so should have known the sense ; but it was designed for meer ignorants , not for such as had defamed the law , which is still here charged upon the pannel . as to the article of treason , it is conceived , that it is unanswerably founded upon the common law , discharging all men to make alteration of the government . as to which there needs no express statute , that being the very essence of government , and needing no laws . like as it falls positively under all the laws that discharge the assuming the royal or legislative power ; for to alter the government , is inseparably united to the crown . like as the subsumption is as clear , the express words not bearing , that the earl reserves to himself a power to propose to his majesty any alterations , or to concur to serve his majesty in making alterations ; but owning in most general and arbitrary terms , to wish and endeavour any alteration he should think fit for the advantage of church or state , and not determining any thing that could bind him otherwise than according to his own pleasure : for the word ( lawful ) is still subjected to himself , and has subjoyned to it , as he should think fit , which governs the whole proposition ; and in that sense , and as the words are here set down , the greatest rebel in scotland will subscribe that explanation : for there is no man but will restrict himself to a lawful obedience , providing he be judg of the lawfulness . and seeing all oaths proposed for the security of government require a certain depending upon the legislator , and not upon the taker , it is impossible that that end could be attained by any qualification , how special soever , which is made to depend absolutely upon the taker , and not upon the legislator . and we have often seen , how little security there is in those specious words , the very covenant it self having not only the very words above-repeated , but attesting all the world to be witnesses to their loyalty and sincerity . and as to the former instances , viz. rising in arms , or opposing the lawful successor , there is no covenanter in scotland , but will say , he will do neither , but in a lawful way , and in his station , and in a way consistent with his loyalty , for a man were mad to say otherwise : but yet when they come to explain this , they will only do it as they think fit , and will be judges themselves ; and then will tell us , that defensive arms are lawful ; and that no popish successor should succeed , nor no successor unless he subscribe the covenant . and whereas it is pretended , that no clause in the test does exclude a man from making alterations ; it is answered , that the alterations which the test allows are none at all but in subordination to authority . and as to the two points above-mentioned , it excludes all alterations as to these points . and as to the making fundamental alterations , this reservation allows to make any alteration ; and consequently fundamental alterations ; to preclude which libertinisme this excellent law was invented . whereas it is pretended , that the pannel designs not to add any thing as a part of the law , but as a part of his oath , it is duplied , since the oath is a part of the law , whoever adds to the oath , adds to the law. whereas it is pretended , that the crime of perjury cannot be inferred here , because all divines allow , that the taker of an oath is still allowed to declare in what sense he takes the oath ; and that this is clear from sandersone , pag. . it is triplied , that where there are two dubious senses , lawyers and divines allow , that the taker should clear himself , which of the two he should take ; which is very just , because to which soever of the two he determines himself , the legislator in that case is sure of him . but here it is not pretended , that there are two senses ; nor does the pannel declare in which of the two he takes it , or in what clear sense at all he takes it , which is indeed liquido iurare . but here the pannel neither condescends , what particular clause of the test is unclear ; nor after he has condescended upon the articles , does he condescend upon the sense , but in general mysterious words , where he can neither be followed , nor found out , he only takes it in so far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , reserving the squaring all by his own loyalty , as he did in the beginning declare , that he took it in his own sense , by which general sense , neither is the government secure of any thing it does enjoin , nor could he be punished if he transgressed . nor can it be doubted , but perjury may be inferred by any equivocal or evading sense , inter iurandum , as well as by breaking an oath afterwards : which is very clear from sandersone , pag. . the words whereof are alterum perjurii genus estinter iurandum detorquere verba ; and which is farther clear by the . page ; but above all , from the principles of reason , and the necessity of commerceand government : for if men may adhibit such glosses , even whilst they swear , as may make the oath useless , what way will either government or commerce be maintained ? and he deceives as much that deceives in swearing salvis verbis , as he who after he has sworn , does break the oath ; nay and more too , because the breaking may come rom forgetfulness , or other accidents : but the evading by general clauses , which bind no man , does from the first instance originally make all oaths useless and dangerous , and that this interpretation eludes the oath absolutely is very clear from what hath been formerly debated . for it may be argued , that the earl broke the oath in so far as the first day he swears the oath , which bears to be without any evasion ( and must be so , notwithstanding of whatever he could say ; ) and the next day he gives in this evasion , which is a down-right violation of that oath , and inconsistent with it . nor was this oath forced , but voluntarily emitted , to keep his own places . and it was the greater crime that it was done in the council , because that was to make it the more publik , and consequently the more to misrepresent the government . after this debate , which , according to the custom of the court , was verbatim dictat by the advocats of either side , and written by the clerk , and so took up much time , and the court having sat , at least twelve hours , without intermission , it adjourned till the nixt day being tuesday the . of december , at two of the clock in the afternoon : and then the earl being again brought to the barr , the following interloquutour ( that is judgment and sentence ) of the lords of iustitiary , on the forgoing debate , was read , and pronounced in open court. edenburgh , december . . the interloquutour of the lords of iustitiarie . the lords , justice general , and commissioners of the justitiary , having considered the libel and debate , they sustain the defence proponed for the earl of argyle , the pannel , in relation to the perjury libelled , viz. that he emitted this explanation at , or before his taking the test , first before his royal highness , his majesties high commissioner , and the lords of his majesties privy council , relevant , to elude that article of the libel . the lords sustain the libel , as being founded upon the common law , and explication libelled , and upon act , parl. . james vi. to infer the pain of treason . they likewise sustain the libel , as founded upon the . act , parl. . james vi. to infer the pain of death ; and likewise sustain that part of the libel anent leasing-making , and leasing-telling , to infer the particular pains mentioned in the several acts libelled . and repel the whole other defences , duplies , and quadruplies , and remits the libel , with the defences anent the perjury , to the knowledg of an assize . thereafter the assize , that is the jury , being constitut and sworn , viz. list of the assizers . marquis montross , e. middleton , e. airlie , e. perth , p. c r e. dalhousie , e. roxburgh , p. c r e dumfries , e. linlithgow , p. c r lord lindoors , lord sinclare , lord bruntisland , laird of gosfoord , laird of claverhouse , laird of balnamoon , laird of park gordon . his majesties advocate adduced four witnesses , to prove the points of the indictment , remitted to the knowledge of the assize , viz. iohn drummond of lundie , then governour of the castle of edenburgh , now treasurer-depute , sir william paterson , and mr patrik menzies , clerks of the privy council , and h. stevenson , their under-clerk : who deponed , that on the . of november , the earl did give in an unsubscribed explanation of the test , which he refused to sign ; one of the witnesses also adding , that he heard him make the same explanation , the day before , in council , and that it was there accepted . then his majesties advocate asked , if the earl would make use of his exculpation for eliding the perjury libelled ; to wit , that he had emitted the same explanation , before taking the test , in presence of his royal highness , and the council . to which the earl answered , that , seeing they had sustain'd the libel , as to the alledged treason , he would not trouble them about the perjury : especially the matter of fact , referred by the interloquutour to his probation , being of it selfe so clear and notour . but the truth is , the interloquutour pronounced was so amazing that both the earl , and his advocats , were struk with deep silence : for they plainly perceived that , after such a judgment in the case , all further endeavours would be in vain : it being now manifest , that seeing the earis innocnce had so little availed , as that his plain and honest words , purely uttered for the necessary satisfaction of his own conscience , and clearing of his loyalty , had been construed , and detorted , to infer leasing-making , depraving , and treason ; the tongues of men , and angels ( as some of his advocats also said ) could not do any good : and therefore neither did the earl , nor they object any thing , either against the assizers , or witnesses , though liable to obvious , and unanswerable exceptions : nor did the earl's advocats , say any thing to the assize , as the custom is , and as in this case they might well have done to take off the force of the evidence , and to demonstrat that the depositions instead of proving the indictment did rather prove the earle's defences : but , as i have said , they now plainly saw , that all this had been unnecessary work ; and , in effect , were of opinion , that after so black , and dreadful a sense put upon what the earl had spoke and done , in such fair , and favourable circumstances , there could be nothing said , before such a court , which might not expose themselves to the like hazard , and more easily be made liable to the same misconstruction . but , upon this silence , the advocat , taking instruments , protests ( whether in forme only or from a real fear let others judge ) for an assize of error , in case the assizers should assoil or acquit . whereupon the assize removing vvas inclosed : and , after sometime , returned their verdict , vvhich vvas read in open court of this tenour . the verdict of the assize . the assize having elected , and chosen the marques of montrole to be their chancellor , they all in one voice find the earl of argyle guilty , and culpable of the crimes of treason , leasing-making , and leasing-telling , and find , by plurality of votes , the said earlinnocent and not guilty of perjury . and then the court again adjourned : and the privy-council wrote the following letter to his majestie . the councils letter to the king , desiring leave to pronounce sentence against the earl of argyle . may it please your sacred majesty . halyrudhouse , december . . in obedience to your majesties letter , dated the th of november last ; we ordered your majesties advocat to insist in that process , raised at your instance , against the earl of argyle : and having allowed him a long time for his appearance , and any advocates he pleased to employ , and letters of exculpation , for his defence ; he , after full debate , and clear probation , was found guilty of treason , leasing-making betwixt your majesty , your parliament , and your people , and the reproaching of your laws and acts of parliament . but because of your majesties letter , ordaining us to send your majesty a particular account of what he should be found guilty of , before the pronouncing of any sentence against him , we thought it our duty to send your majesty this account of our , and your iustices proceedings therein ; and to signifie to your majesty , with all submission , that it is usual , and most fit for your majesties service and the advantage of the crown , that a sentence be pronounced , upon the verdict of the assize , without which the process will be still imperfect . after which , your majesty may , as you in your royal prudence , and clemency shall think fit , ordain all farther execution to be sisted , during your maesties pleasure : which shall be dutifully obeyed by . your majesties most humble , most faithful , and most obedient , subjects and servants sic subscribitur , alex. st. and. athol , douglas , montrose , glencairn wintoun linlithgow , perth , roxburgh , dumfries , strathmore , airlie , ancram , livingstoun , io. edinburgens . elphingstoun , dalziell , geo. gordon , ch. maitland , geo mc kenzie , g. mc kenzie , ramsay , i. drummond . the earl , as well as the lords of privy council , waited some dayes for the answer of this letter : but the earl making his escape , a day or two , before it came , i shall take occasion to entertain you , in the mean time , with ane account of some thoughts that the earl had set down in writing , in order to some discourse he intended to have made to the lords of justitiary , before their pronouncing sentence . and then , i shall subjoyn the motives , and arguments , which ( as he hath since informed some of his friends ) did induce him to make his escape : which , with what i have said before , will give you a full account of all matters , till his majesties return came , and the sentence past . and first , he takes notice , that on moonday the twelfth of december , the day of his arraignment , the court adjourned , before he was aware : and it being then late , about nine of the clock , and after a sederunt of twelve houres , he did not imagine , they would have proceeded further , that night ; but only heard afterwards that they sat it out till two or three after midnight : and was surprised the next morning , to understand , that without calling him again , or asking at him , or hearing , or considering his own sense of his own words , they had not only found the libel relevant , but repelled his defences , and with one breath rejected all his most material reasons of exculpation , root and branch . this seemed hard , though the words had been worse , and no way capable of a favourable construction ( which none , no not the judges themselves , can be so void of sense as to think really they were not ) and this was so far beyond all imagination , that , neither the earl , nor his advocats did ever dream it could fall out , though all was not said might have been said , nor what was said so fully enforced as the earls advocats could easily have done , if the case had not been thought so very clear , and the earl his innocence so obvious , and apparent , and they unwilling unnecessarily to irritat many concerned . this great haste , and strange proceeding , did so surprise , and astonish him ( as i have said ) that it caused him , the next day when the sentence was read , to keep deep silence , and suffer the interloquutour to be pronounced , the assizers chosen , and sworn , and the witnesses receaved , and examined , without once offering to say , or object any thing , or so much as inquiring , at either assizers , or witnesses , whether they had not been tampered with , and practised by promises , and threatnings , or whether some of them had not previously , and publikly declared themselves in the case , and others of them had not partially advised , and solicited against him ; which , as they are just , and competent exceptions , so he was able to have proven them , against most of them , instantly , and fully . and indeed as to such of the assizers as were councellors , ( whom for your better information , i have marked in the list of assizers thus p. c. ) and had first ordered his imprisonment , next signed the letter to his majesty , and then ordered the process , and therein manifestly fore-stalled their own judgment ( had they done no more ) it was a wonder , beyond parallel , that , neither their own honour , nor the common decency of justice , nor even his majesties advocat's interest , did prevent their being impannelled on that assize . but the truth is , the earl did so far neglect , and abandon himself , and give way to the court , that he did not so much as open his mouth , to clear himself of the perjury laid to his charge , which yet god almighty was pleased to do , by the plurality of voices of the same assize . who it appeares plainly did bear him little kindness : for whereas assizers do usually return their verdict , proven or not proven rather then guilty or not guilty , and ought alwise to do so , where the relevancie is in dubio , and especially in a case of this nature , in which the alledged treason is no ouvert act , and indeed no act , nor so much as a real ground of offence , but plainly such a subtile , chimerical , and non-sensical consequence , that the finding it doth quite surpass the comprehension of all unbyassed men ; it might have been expected that persons of their quality would have chosen the more moderate form of proven or not proven , and not involved themselves unnecessarily upon oath in adjudging the relevancy of a guilt , which so few are able to imagine , and none will ever make out ; yet you see in their verdict , that all in one voice they did find the earl guilty , in the most positive , and strong form : adding , for superabundance , culpable , for sooth , the better to demonstrate their good will. nor is it unworthy of remark , that when such of the assizers as were present at the council declared the earl innocent of the perjury ( which his majesties advocate did only pretend to infer from the earls alledged silence , or not speaking loud eneugh , the first day , when he signed the test. ) because they heard him , at the same time , pronounce his explanation : yet some other assizers that were no councellors , and knew nothing of that matter of fact , but by hear-say , without all regard to the witnessing of these councellors their fellow assizers , voted him guilty : and so took it formally on their consciences , that he had said nothing , in the council , at his taking the test ; albeit all the council knew the contrary ( by which they are clearly perjured ) nay such was the earnestness of some ( who thought it scarce possible to carry the treason upon words so safe and innocent ) to have the earl found guilty of perjury , that it was particularly recommended to his majesties advocate to get him made guilty of that point , to render him for ever uncapable of publik employment . and the clerk of the assize was so concerned in it that he twice misreckoned the votes , before he would yeeld that the earl was assoyled , or acquit of the perjury and this , among other things , may serve to clear , how that whole matter was influenced , and mannaged : for , as the earl cannot be charged with perjury , the second day , because he swore none at all ; so as little the first day , seeing whether he took the test with an explanation ( as certainly he did , ) or simply without saying any thing , it is equally apparent , there was no perjury in the case : but it appears , thir assizers were of the opinion , that the indictment or libel alone ( as it was indeed the only evidence ) was a sufficient proof of the earl his being guilty of perjury . and indeed for any other rule or reason that occurs , they might as well have sound him guilty of the perjury as of the treason : but the assizers that were councellors being under a particular check , apprehending they might be found perjured themselves , if they had not acknowledged the hearing of the words , that all others present could have attested to have been audibly spoken , and some of themselves had confessed to have heard , before they knew the tenor of the libel ; and , the great crime of treason being sufficient to do the job , it is like they judged it advisable to give this insignificant absolution from perjury , that their verdict of treason might have the greater colour , and shew of candor , and sincerity . however it seems to be without measure hard to be prosecut with such a deadly dilemma of either treason or perjury , for you see , in their account , if the earl swear with an explanation , his life is knockt down by treason , and if without an explanation , his honour , which is dearer to him then his life , is run thorow with perjury . but , to compleat a fancie beyond bedlam , the advocate urges , and several assizers agree , at the same time , to condemn the earl as perjured , for not explaining , and for treason , for explaining : quis talia fando ? in the next place , the earl's papers contain some thoughts , and endeavours , to remove certain mistakes , which , he had good ground to beleeve , did so much prompt , and precipitat the iudges to pronounce so important a sentence against him , upon so weak and sandy foundations , and which were indeed either meer fancies , or so frivolous that though they were true they could never excuse them before men , far less exoner them before god almighty . where , laying down a true ground , that nunquam concluditur in criminalibus , &c. and withall representing , how his advocats were questioned , in so extraordinary a manner , for signing their opinion ( which you have above num. . where you may see how fair , just , and safe it was ) that now they da● no more plead for him , he sayes , he cannot be denyed to plead for himself , as he best may . the first ground of mistake then that he was to represent was that he knew it had been told them , it was very much his majesties interest , and necessary for the support of the government , to devest , and render him uncapable of publik trust : which words had been oft said , and said to himself to perswade him there was no further rigour intended : but as he is very confident , our gracious king will never , upon any such pretence , allow any innocent person to be condemned , far less to be destroyed , in a picque or frolik , where his majesty can reap no advantage ; so he is perswaded , his majesty hath no design to render him miserable , far less to cut him off , without a cause . and therefor concluds , it is only his misfortune , in his present circumstances , never having access to , nor being heard by his majesty , nor the case perfectly understood by him , that hath made his majesty give so much as way to a process to be raised or led , far less to a sentence to be pronounced against him . but in effect , as this affair hath been managed all alongs , and somany engaged , in so extraordinary wayes , to act , and write against him , first and last , nothing should appear strange or surprising : however , as their own consciences , and god almighty , knows how they have been brought to medle , and act , as they have done , so , one day or other , the world may likewise know it : a second ground of mistake , which , he say's may impose upon them , is a confidence of his majesties pardon intended for him , a pretence only given out to render the condemnation more easy ; yet indeed least wished for by those who where readyest to spread the report , and whereof the earl had indeed more confidence then any that talked of it , if his majesty were left to himself , and had the case fully , and truely represented to him : but as his majesty needs not this false occasion to make his clemency appear , which is so well known over all his dominions , by far more true and genuine discoveries , so it were the hight of injustice in their lordships of the justitiary to proceed to sentence against him , upon such apprehensions , in case in their hearts they beleeve him innocent ( as he certainly knowes they doe ) besids , they cannot but see , their acting , upon so unjust a ground , will not only stain their names , and memories , but instead of alleviating rather aggravat their guilt , both in their own consciences when they reflect on it in cold blood , and in the sight of god almighty : and if his majesty , on importunity and a third application , should give way to execution , as he hath already given way , first to the process , and then to the sentence ; or if ( as some may design ) execution shall be adventured on , without the formality of a new order ( as the process was at first commenced , before his majesties return , and so is not impossible ) would not their lordships be as guilty of his blood as if they had cut his throat ? and in effect , these are the grounds and excuses pretended , at this day , in privat , by such of his judges , for their procedour , who are not yet come to have the confidence , at all occasions , to own directly what they have done . a third reason why his exculpation was not allowed , he says , might be , because the sustaining of it might have brought other explanations above board , and discover both these who had made , and those who had accepted them , and perhaps not have left their own bench untoutched . but as this artifice will not keep up the secret ; and as this way of shifting is neither just nor equall , so to all interested it is the meanest of securities ; for his majesties advocate hath already told us , that his majesties officers can never wrong him : and although the lords and he should conceal what others had done , it might make themselves more guilty , but not prove any exoneration to those concerned , without a down-right remission : whereas it is manifest , that if their lordships had admitted the earl's exculpation , upon the sure and evident grounds therein contained , it would not only have answered the justice of his case but vindicated all concerned . and lastly , he was to tell them , that possibly they might be inclined to go on , because they were already so far engaged as they knew not how to retreat with their honour : but , as there can be no true honour where there is manifest wrong , and injustice , so , in the frail and fallible condition of human things , there can be no delusion more dangerous , and pernicious then this , that unum scelus est alio scelere tegendum . and here , the earl thought to lay before them , very plainly and pertinently , some remarkable and excellent rules , whereby l. chief justice hales , a renouned judge of our nighbour nation , tells he did govern himself , in all criminal cases , which ( adds the earl ) if they took a due impression , would certainly give them peace , and joy , when all the vain considerations that now amuse will avail them nothing . the rules are these i. not to be rigid in matters purely consciencions , where all the harm is diversity of judgment . ii. that popular , or court applause , or distaste , have no influence on any thing is to be done , in point of distribution of justice . iii. in a criminal case , if it be a measuring cast , then to incline to mercie and acquital . iv. in criminal things , that consist only of words , where no more harm ensues , moderation is then no injustice . v. to abhor all privat solicitations , of what kynd soever , and by whomsoever . vi. in maters depending , not to be solicitous what men will say or think , so long as the rule of justice is exactly kept . vii . and lastly , never to ingage themselves in the begining of a cause , but reserve themselves un-prejudged , till the whole bussines be heard . then the earl goes on , and makes notes , for additional defences , reducible to these heads . i. the absolute innocence of his explication , in its true , and genuine meaning , from all crime or offence , far more from the horrible crimes libelled . ii. the impertinency , and absurdity of his majesties advocat's arguings , for inferring the crimes libelled from the earl's words . iii. the reasonableness of the exculpation . iv. the earl's answers to the advocat's groundlesse pretences for aggravating of his case . as to the first , the earl , waving what hath been said , from common reason , and humanity it self , and from the whole tenour , and circumstances of his life , comes closs to the point by offering that just , and genuine explanation of his explication which you have above num. . i have delayed hitherto to take the oath appointed by the parliament to be taken , betwixt and the first of january nixt : but now being required , near two moneths sooner , to take it : this day peremptorly , or to refuse : i have considered the test , and have seen several objections moved against it , especially by many of the orthodox clergie , notwithstanding whereof , i have endeavoured to satisfie my self with a just explication , which i ha●e offer , that i may both satisfie my conscience , and obey your highness , and your lordships commands in taking the test , though the act of parliament do not simply command the thing , but only under a certification , which i could easily submit to , if it were with your highness favour , and might be without offence ; but i love not to be singular : and i am very desirous to give obedience in this and every thing , as far as i can , and that which clears me is that i am confident , what ever any man may think or say to the prejudice of this oath , the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths , and because their sense ( they being the framers and imposers ) is the true sense , and that this test , enjoyned , is of no privat interpretation , nor are the kings statuts to be interpreted , but as they bear , and to the intent they are made , therefore i think no man , that is no privat person , can explain it for another , to amuse or trouble him with ( it may be ) mistaken glosses : but every man , as he is to take it , so is to explain it , for himself , and to endeavour to understand i● , notwithstanding all these exceptions , in the parliaments which is its true , and genuine sense ; i take it therefore , notwithstanding any scruple made by any , as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , which is wholly in the parliaments sense and their true meaning ; which ( being present ) . i am sure , was owned by all to be the securing of the protestant religion , founded on the word of god , and contained in the confession of faith recorded i. . p. . c. . and not out of scruple as if any thing in the test did import the contrair : but to clear my self from cavils , as if thereby i were bound up further then the true meaning of the oath ; i doe declare that by that part of the test that there lyes no oblgation on me &c. i mean not to bind up my self in my station , and in a lawfull way ; still disclaiming all unlawfull endeavours , to wish , and endeavour any alteration , i think , according to my conscience , to the advantage of church , or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and my loyalty : and by my loyalty i understand no other thing then the words plainly bear , to wit the duty and allegiance of all loyal subjects ; and this explanation i understand as a part , not of the test or act of parliament , but as a qualifying part of my oath that i am to swear , and with it i am willing to take the test , if your royall highness and your lordships allow me . or otherwise , in submission to your highness and the councils pleasure , i am content to be held as a refuser , at present . which explanation doth manifestly appear to be so just , and true , without violence or straining , so clear & full without the least impertinency , so notour and obvious to common sense , without any commentary , so loyal , and honest , without ambiguity , and lastly so far from all , or any of the crimes libelled that it most evidently evinceth that the words thereby explained are altogether innocent : and therefore it were lost time to use any arguments to enforce it . yet seing this is no trial of wit , but to find out common sense , let us examine the advocats fantastical paraphrase , upon which he bottoms all the alledged crimes , and see whether it agrees , in one jot , with the true and right meaning of the earl's words ; and ( as you may gather from the indictment ) it is plainly thus . i have considered the test ; which ought not to be done , and am very desirous to give obedience , as far as i can , but am not willing to give full obedience ; i am confident , the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; that is , i am confident they did intend to impose contradictory oaths ; and therefor i think no man can explain it but for himself ; that is to say , every man may take it in any sense he pleases to devise , and thereby render this law , and also all other laws , though not at all concerned in this affair , useless : and so make himself a legislator , and usurp the supreme authority : and i take it , in so far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , whereby i suppose that it is not at all consistent with either ; nor was ever intended by the parliament it should be consistent : and i declare that , by taking this test , i mean not to bind up my self , in my station , and in a lawfull way , to wish , or endeavour any alteration , i think , to the advantage of church , or state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and my loyalty : whereby i declare my self , and all others , free from all obligation to the government , either of church , or state , as by law established , and from the duty , and loyalty of good subjects ; resolving of my self to alter all the fundamentals , both of law , and religion , as i shall think fit : and this i understand as a part of my oath : that is as a part of the act of parliament , by which i take upon me , and usurp the royal legislative power . which sense and explanation as it consists of the advocat's own words , and was indeed , every word , necessar to infer these horrible crimes contained in the indictment , so , to speak with all the modesty that truth will allow , i am sure , it is so violent , false , and absurd , that the greatest difficulty must be to beleeve that any such thing was alledged , far more receaved , and sustained in judgment , by men professing only reason , far less religion . but thirdly , if neither the earl's true , genuine , and honest sense , nor this violent , corrupt , and false sense , will satisfy , let us try what transprosing the earl's explanation will do , and see how the just contrary will look . — and it must be thus . i have considered the test , nor am i at all desirous to give obedience , so far as i can ; i am confident the parliament intended to impose contradictory oaths ; and therefor i think , every man can explain it for others , as well as for himself , and take it , without reconciling it , either to it self or his own sense of it : and i doe take it , though it be inconsistent with it self , and the protestant religion : and i declare , that i mean thereby to bind up my self never ( either in my station , or in any lawfull way whatsoever ) to wish ; or endeavour , in the least , any alteration , tho to the advantage of church , or state , and tho never so suitable , and no way repugnant , to the protestant religion , and my loyalty : and , though this be the express quality of my swearing , yet i understand it to be no part of my oath . now whether this contradictory conversion be not treason or highly criminal , at best , i leave all the world to judge ; and to make both s●●es of a contradiction , that is both the affirmative and negative of the same proposition , treason is beyond ordinary logik . escobar finds two contrary wayes may both be probable and safe wayes to go to heaven but neither he nor the devil himself have h●th●rto adventured to declare two contradictory propositions both damnable , and either of them a just cause to take away mens lives , honours , and fortunes . but where the disease is in the will it is lost labour to apply remedies to the understanding ; and must not this be indeed either the oddest treason , or strangest discovery that ever was hear'd of ? the bishop of edinburgh sees it not , witnesse his vindication saying the same , and more , nor many of the orthodox clergie , witness their explanations , nor his royall highness , in privat , nor at first in council nor all the councellors , when together at the council-board , nor the president of the council nor the then president of the session ( now chancellour ) though he rose from his seat , to be sure to hear , nor any of the most learned lawyers , witness their signed opinion , nor the most learned of the judges on the bench , nor the generality of the knowing persons , either in scotland , or england : wonderfull treason one day seen by none , another day seen by so many ! a stander-by hearing the trial , and the sentence , said , he beleeved the earl's words were by popish magik transsubstantiat , for he saw them the same as before ; another answered , that he verily thought it was so , for he was confident , none could see treason in the words that would not , when ever it was a proper time , readily also profess his beleefe of transubstantiation , but he beleeved many that professed both beleeved neither . the second head of the earl's additional defences contains the impertinencies , & absurdities of the advocat's arguings : and here you must not expect any solid debate , for as there is no disputing with those that deny principles , so as litle with those who heap up phantastical , and inconsequential inferences , without all shadow of reason . if a stone be thrown though it may do hurt , yet having some weight it may be thrown back , with equall or more force : but if a man trig up a feather , and fling it , it is in vain to throw it back , and the more strength the less success : it shall therefor serve , by acurso●y discourse , to expose his arguments , which are in effect easier answered then understood ; and , without any serious arguing , which they cannot bear , rather leave him to be wise in his own eyes then by too much empty talk hazard to be like him . he alledges first , that the earl , instead of taking the test in its plain and genuine meaning , as he ought , doth declare against , and defame the act that enjoyned it , which is certainly a great crime : but how ? in as much , sayes the advocate , as he tells us , that he had considered the test : which i have indeed hear'd say was his greatest crime , and that he ought to have taken it , with a profound and devout ignorance , as some of our most inventive politicians boasted they had done . but the earl sayes , that he was desirous to give obedience , as far as he could ; whereby , sayes the advcat , he insinuats that he was not able to give full obedience . this is not the meaning ; but what if it were , and that indeed he coud not ? have not thousands given no obedience yet even in law are guiltlesse ? and ought not that to please his highnesse , and the council , that is accepted of god almighty , and is all any mortal can perform ? but the earl , sayes the advocate , goes on , that he was confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths ; whereby , sayes the advocat , he abuses the people with a beleef that the parliament did intend to impose such . wonderfull reasoning ! all men know that parliaments neither are , nor pretend to be infallible : and in our present case , hundreds of loyall subjects complain of contradictions , and inconsistencies , some way or other , creept into this oath ; and even the council have yeelded , so far , to their exceptions , as to make an alteration upon it , for satisfying those scruples , far beyond any thing the earl said ; and such an alteration , as , i beleeve , few dreamed of , and i am certain , none durst have attempted , without their express command and authority : and yet , in the midst of all this , the farl's charitable , and honest opinion , in behalf of the parliaments good intentions , must be perverted to a direct slander . but , the earl sayes that every man must explain it for himself ; and so , no doubt , he must , if the test be either in it self , or in his apprehension , ambiguous , otherwise how can he swear in iudgment ? but this the advocate will have to be a mans own sense , and thereupon runs out , that hereby this law , and oath , and all laws , and oaths are rendered useless , and to no purpose : and further the legislative power is taken from the imposer , and setled in the taker of the oath , which certainly is a most treasonable presumption . but first , although there be no reason to strain , or mistake the expression , yet the earl did not say , that every man must take the test in his own sense . ii. the council hath now explained the test , for the clergy : might not then the earl , before their explanation was devised , say , by the councils allowance , which he had , that he might explain it for himself ? for if an ambiguous proposition , ( the test for example ) may be reconciled to it self , two different wayes , must not the taker reconcile it , as in his own sense he thinks it doth best agree with the genuine meaning of the words themselves , and with the sense , he conceaves , was intended by the parliament that formed it ; especially before the parliament emitt their own explanation ? and is it not juster to do it so then in any other mans sense , which he thinks agreesless with the words , abeit they may be thought by others to be reconciliable another way ? iii. all this looks like designed mistakes and traps ; for should any man swear , unless he understand ? and where an oath is granted to be ambiguous , can any man understand , unless , in want of the imposers help , he explain it for himself ? iv. was ever a man's explaining an oath for himself , before taking it , far less his bare saying that he must explain it , before he take it , alledged to be , the overturning of all laws , and oaths , and the usurping of the legislative power , and making of new laws ? certainly to offer to answer such things were to disparage common reason . and lastly this is strange doctrine from the advocate , who himself , in council , did allow , not only the earl his explanation , but that explanation to the clergie , contrary , as appeares by their scruples , to what they that took it thought either the parliaments design or the plain words of the test could bear , and certainly different from the sense many had already taken it in , and wherein others were commanded to take it . and whatever the advocate may cavil to insnare the earl , sure he will not allow that by his explaining this oath he himself hath taken on him the legislative power of the parliament . far less , though he should acknowledge it , will any beleeve that he hath , or could thereby make all laws or oaths useless . by this you see what strange stuffe he pleads which deserves no answer . but , sayes the advocate , the earl affirms , he takes the test , only as far as it consists with it self , and with the protestant religion , by which he most maliciously insinuats that it is inconsistent with both . but , first this only is not the earl's but the advocat's addition . ly i would soberly ask the advocate , or any man , whether the test , as it includs the confession in general , and consequently all contained in it , was not either really , or at least might not have been apprehended to be inconsistent with it self ? else what was the use or sense of the councils explanation , wherein it is declared , that men doe not swear to every proposition of the confession , but only to the protestant religion therein contained ? and if it was either inconsistent , or apprehended to be so , how could the earl , or any honest man swear it in other terms , with a safe conscience ? but thirdly . if parliaments be fallible , and this oath , as being ambiguous , needed the councils explanation to clear it from inconsistencies , must the earl's words , when he was to swear , that he took it in so far as it was consistent , be in this case understood as spoken maliciously , and with a criminal intent , when all sense , reason , and religion , made this caution his duty ? and if it be so criminal for one going to swear to suppose a possibility of inconsistencies in it , is it not manifestly more criminal in others plainly to confess , and grant that there are inconsistencies in it , after they have swallowed it in gross , without any explanation whatsoever ? but , sayes the advocate , the earl hath invented a nevv vvay , vvhereby no man is at all bound to the test ; for hovv can any man be bound , if he vvill obey only as far as he can ? and yet , it will be hard even for the advocate , tho hesometimes attempts indeed more then he and all the world with him can do , to tell how a man can obey farther : and i am sure , that in a matter of this kind , viz. the free tender of an oath , all discreet men will judge the earl's offer both frank and obliging . then he asks , to vvhat the earl is bound , if he be bound no further then he himself can obey ? manifest confusion ! and never either spoke by the earl , nor at all pertinent to his case ; besides he freely acknowledges , that all men are bound to more then they can do ) or so far as the test is consistent vvith it self , and the protestant religion ( a strange doubting or ! yet , i dare say , imports as much as his majesty expects of any , and more then the advocate will ever perform ) but , sayes the advocate , vvho can determine to vvhat the earl is bound ? which sayes plainly , that either the test agrees with it self , and the protestant religion in nothing , or that the protestant religion is nothing , both which the earl thinks far from truth . but the advocat's reasoning reflects far more on the councils explanation , where it is plainly said , that the confession is not svvorn to in the test , but only the protestant religion contained in the confession , so that the protestant religion indefinitly is that which is said to be sworn to : now , pray , is it not much worse for a man to say , that by taking the test he svvears only to the confession as it contains or agrees vvith the protestant religion ( which is in effect to set the protestant religion at variance with its own confession , and so to reproach and ranverse the standard , & make void the very security that the parliament intended ) then to say , that he swears the test as it agrees with it self & the protestant religion , which imports no such insinuation ? but from these pleasant principles he jumps in to this fantastik conclusion , that therefore it cannot be denyed but the earl's interpretation destroyes , not only this act , but all government , and makes every mans conscience or humour the rule of his obedience . but first , as to the whole of his arguing , the earl neither invents , sayes , nor does any thing , except that he offered his explanation to the council , which they likewise accepted . ly . what mad inferences are these , you say , you will explain this oath for your self , therefore you overturn all government , and vvhat not ? whereas it is manifest , on the other hand , that if the earl apprehending , as he had reason , the oath to be ambiguous , and in some things inconsistent , had taken it vvithout explaining it for himself , or respect to its inconsistency , it might have been most rationally concluded , that in so doing he was both impious and perjured . ly . it is false , that the earl doth make his conscience , any other way , the rule of his obedience , then as all honest men ought to do : that is , as they say , to be regula regulata , in conformity to the undoubted regula regulans , the eternal rules of truth and righteousness , as is manifest by his plain words . as for what the advocate insinuats of humour insteed of conscience , it is very well known to be the ordinary reproach whereby men that have no conscience endeavour to defame it in others . but the advocate is again at it , and having run himself out of all consequences , he insists and inculcats , that the earl hath sworn nothing . but , it is plain that to swear nothing is none of the crimes libelled . ly . the earl swears positivly to the test as it is consistent vvith it self and the protestant religion , which certainly is something ; unless the advocate prove , as he insinuats , that there is nothing in the test consistent with either . and ly . if the protestant religion , and the earl his reference to it be nothing , then is not only the council sadly reproached , who , in their explanation , declare this to be the only thing sworn to , in the first part of the test , but our religion quite subverted , as far as this test can do it . but next for the treason , the advocate sayes , that the earl expresly declares , he means not by the test to bind up himself , from vvishing , or endeavouring , in his station , and in a lavvful vvay , any alteration he shall think for the advantage of church , or state ; whereby , sayes he , the earl declares himself , and others , loosed from any obligation to the government , and from the duty of all good subjects , and that they may make vvhat alterations they please . a direct contrariety , insteed of a just consequence ; as if to be tyed to lavv , religion , and loyalty , were to be loosed from all three ; can there be a flatter and more ridiculous contradiction ? next the advocate pretends to found upon the fundamental laws of this , and all nations , whereby it is treason for any man to make any alteration he thinks fit for the advantage of church or state. but first , the earl is not , nor cannot be accused of so much as wishing , much less endeavouring or making any alteration , either in church or state , only he reserves to himself the same freedom , for wishing , which he had before his oath , and that all that have taken it do in effect say they still retain . ly . for a man to endeavour , in his station and in a lavvful vvay , such alterations in church , or state , as he conceives to their advantage , not repugnant to religion , and loyalty , is so far from being treason that it is the duty of every subject , and the svvorn duty of all his majesties councellors , and of all members of parliament : but the advocate by fancying , and misapplying lavvs of nations , wresting acts of parliaments , adding , taking away , chopping and changing words , thinks to conclude what he pleases . and thus he proceeds , that the treason of making alterations is not taken off by such qualifications , of making them in a lavvful vvay , in ones station , to the advantage of church , or state , and not repugnant to religion or loyalty . but how then ? here is a strange matter ! hundreds of alterations have been made , within these few years , in our government , & in very material points , & the kings best subjects , and greatest favourits , have both endeavoured , and effectuat them : and yet , because the things were done according to the earl's qualifications , insteed of being accounted treason they have been highly commended & rewarded . the treasury hath been sometimes in the hands of a treasurer , sometimes put into a commission , backward and forward : and the senators of the colledge of iustice ( the right of whose places was thought to be founded on an act of parliament giving his majestie the prerogative onely of presenting ) are now commissioned by a patent under the great seal , both which are considerable alterations in the government , which some have opposed , others have vvished and endeavoured , and yet without all fear of treason , on either hand ; only because they acted according to these qualifications , in a lawful way , and not repugnant to religion and loyalty . but that which the advocate wilfully mistakes ( for it is impossible he could do it ignorantly ) is , that he will have the endeavouring of alteractions in general not to be of it self a thing indifferent , & only determinable to be good or evil by its qualifications ( as all men see it plainly to be ) but to be , forsooth , in this very generality intrinsecally evil ; a notion never to be admitted on earth , in the frail and fallible condition of human affairs . and then he would establish this wise position by an example he adduces , that rising in arms against the king ( for so sure he means , it being otherwise certain that rising in arms in general is also a thing indifferent , and plainly determinable to be either good or evil as done with or against the kings authority ) is treason , and sayes , if the earl had reserved to himself a liberty to rise in arms against the king , though he had added in a lavvful manner , yet it would not have availed , because , ( and he sayes well ) this being in it self unlavvful the qualifications had been but shamms and contrariae facto . but why then doth not his own reason convince him , ●here the difference lyes ? viz. that rising in arms against the king is in itself unlawful , whereas endeavouring alterations is only lawful , or unlawful , as it is qualified ; and , if qualified in the earl's terms , can never be unlawful . but , sayes the advocate , the earl declares himself free to make all alterations , and so he would make men beleeve that the earl is for making all or any , without any reserve , whereas the earl's words are most express , that he is , neither for making all or any , but only for wishing and endeavouring for such as are good , and lawful , and in a lawful way , which no man can disown , without denying common reason , nor no sworn councellour disclaime , without manifest perjury . but the advocat's last conceit is , that the earl's restriction is not as the king shall think fitt , or as is consistent with the law , but that himself is still to be judge of this , and his loyalty to be the standard . but first , the earl's restriction is expresly according to loyalty , which in good sense is the same with according to law , and the very thing that the king is ever supposed to think . secondly , as neither the advocate , nor any other , hitherto , have had reason to distinguish the exercise , and actings of the earl's loyalty from those of his majesties best subjects , so is it not a marvellous thing that the advocate should prosesse to think ( for in reality he cannot think it ) the earl's words , his loyalty , which all men see to to be the same with his duty , and sidelity , or what else can bind him to his prince , capable of any quible , farr more to be a ground of so horrid an accusation ? and whereas the advocate sayes , the earl is still to be judge of this ; it is but an insipid calumny , it being as plain as any thing can be that the earl doth nowise design his thinking to be the rule of right , and wrong , but only mentions it as the necessary application of these excellent , and unerring rules of religion , law , and reason , to which he plainly resers , and subjects , both his thinking and himself , to be judged accordingly . by which it is evident , that the earl's restriction is rather better , and more dutyful then that which the advocate seems to desiderat : and , if the earl's restrictions had not been full eneugh , it was the advocat's part , before administrating the oath , to have craved what more he thought necessary , which the earl , in the case , would not have refused . but it is beleeved , the advocate can yet hardly propose restrictions more full and suitable to duty then the fore-mentioned of religion , law , and reason , which the earl did of himself profer . as for what his majesties advocate add's , that under such professions , and reserves , the late rebellions , and disorders , have all been carried on , and fomented ; it is but meer vapour ; for , no rebellion ever was , or can be , without a breach of one , or other of the earl's qualifications ; which doth sufficiently vindicat that part of the earl's explanation . the advocate insists much , that any is equivalent to all ; and that all comprehends every particular under it ; which he would have to be the deadly poyson in the earl's words : and yet the earl may defy him , and all his detracters , to find out a case of the least undutifulness , much less of rebellion , that a man can be guilty of , while he keeps within the excellent rules , and limitations , wherewith his words are cautioned . i could tell you further , that so imaginary , or rather extravagant , and ridiculous is this pretended treason that there is not a person in scotland , either of these who have refused , or who by the act are not called to take the test , that may not upon the same ground and words be impeach't , viz. that they are not bound ( and so without doubt both may and do sa● it ) by the test , in their station , &c. to wish and endeavour any alteration , &c. nay i desire the advocate to produce the man , among those that have taken the test , that will affirm , that by taking it he hath bound up himself never to wish or endeavour any alteration , &c. according to the earl's qualifications , and i shall name hundreds ( to whom his highness , as you have heard , may be added ) that will say they are not bound up . so that by this conclusion , if it were yeelded , all scotland are equally guilty of treason , the advocate himself , to say nothing of his royal highness , not excepted : or if he still think he is , i wish he would testify under his hand to the world , that , by his oath he is bound up never to wish , nor endeavour any alteration he thinks to the advantage of church or state. in a lavvful way , nor in his station , though neither repugnant to the protestant religion , nor his loyalty . and if this he do , he does as a man , if not of sense , at least of honour ; but if not , i leave a blank for his epithets . but that you may see that this whole affair is a deep mystery , pray , notice what is objected against the last part of the explanation . this i understand as a part of my oath . which , sayes the advocate , is a treasonable invasion upon the royal legislative power , as if the earl could make to himself an act of parliament , since he who can make any part of an act may make the whole . and then , say i , farewell all takers of the test with an explanation , whether the orthodox clergy , or earl queensberry ( tho himself justice generall ) who were allowed by the council so to do : seing that whether they hold their explanation for a part of their oath or not yet others may , and in effect all men of sense doe understand it so : and thus , in the advocat's opinion , they have treasonably invaded the legislative povver , and made an act of parliament to themselves : neither , in that case , can the councils allovvance excuse them , seing not only the earl had it , as well as they , but even the council it self cannot make an act of parliament , either for themselves , or others . but sir , i protest , i am both ashamed , and wearied of this trifling ; and therefore to shut up this head , i shall only give a few remarks . first , you may see , by the acts of parliament upon which the advocate sounds his indictment , that as to leasing-making and depraving laws , all of them run in these plain , and sensible terms ; the inventing of narrations , the making , and telling of lyes , the uttering of wicked , and untrue calumnies , to the slander of king , and government , the depraving of his laws , and misconstruing his proceedings , to the engendering of discord , moving and raising of hatred , and dislike betwixt the king and his people . and , as to treason , in these yet more positive terms ; that none impugne the dignity and authority of the three estats , or seek , or procure the innovation , or diminution thereof . which are things so palpbale , and easily discerned , and withall so infinitly remote both from the earl's words and intentions , or any tolerable construction can be put on either , that i confess , i never read this indictment but i was made to wonder that its forget and maker was not in looking on it deterred by the just apprehensions he might have not only to be sometime accused as a manifest depraver of all law but to be for ever accounted a gross , and most disingenuous perverter of common sense . the earl's words are sober , respectful , and duty fully spoken , for the exoneration of his own conscience , without the least insinuation of either reflection or slander . much less the impugning of the authority of parliament , as the earl may appeal not only to his majesties true and royal sense , but to the most scrupulous , and nyce affecters of the exactest discerning , besids that they were first formally tendered in council , for their approbation , and by them directly allowed ; how then can any man think , that they could be charged with the greatest and vilest of crimes , leasing-making , depraving , perjury , and treason ? but the advocate tells us , that there are some things which the law commonly forbids in general , and that some inferences are as natural , and strong , and reproach as soon or sooner then the plainest defamations . but what of all this ? must therefore such generalls be left to the phantastik application of every wild imagination , to the confounding of the use of speach , and subverting of of humane society , and not rather be still submitted to the judgement of common sense , for their true and right understanding , and the deducing thence these strong and natural inferences talk't of ? of which good sense if the advocate do but allow a grain weight , it is evident that the inferences he here libells against the earl must infallibly be cast , and by all rational unbyassed men be found strange , unnaturall , and monstrous . for s r ly , pray , observe these rational , and sound maxims he sounds his inferences on , and they are manifestly these . first , that he who sayes he will onely obey as far as he can invents a new way whereby no man is at all bound to obey . ly , that he who in the midst of hundreds of exceptions , and contradictions objected against on oath , injoyned by act of parliament , and still unanswered , sayes , that he is confident the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths , reproaches the parliament . ly . that he that sayes he must explain an ambiguous oath for himself , before he take it , renders all laws , and oaths useless and makes himself the legislator . ly , that he that sayes that he takes this oath , as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , swears nothing . ly , that he that declars himself not tyed up by the test from endeavouring , in a lawful way , such alterations as he thinks to the advantage of church , and state , consistent with religion , and loyalty , declares himself , and all others , loosed from the government , and all duty to it , and free to make any , and all alterations that he pleases . and ly that he that takes the test with an explanation , and holds it to be a part of his oath , invads the legislative power , and makes acts of parliament . upon which rare , and excellent propositions , i dar say , the earl is content , according to the best judgment , that you , and all unbyassed men , can make either of their truth , or of my ingenuity in excerping them , to be adjudged guilty or not guilty , without the least fear , or apprehension of the issue . and in the third and last place , i shall only intreat you to try how the advocat's reasoning will proceed in other cases , and what brave work may be wrought by so usefull a tool . suppose then a man refuse the test simply , or falls into any other kind of non-conformity , either civil , or ecclesiastik , or pay's not the kings custom , or other dues , or lastly understands an act otherwise then the advocate thinks he should , is not his indictement already formed , and his process as good as made ? viz. that he reguards not the law , that he thinks it is unjustly , or foolishly enacted , that he will only obey as far as he can , and as he pleases , and thereby renders all laws useless , and so reproaches the king and parliament , and impugns their authority , and assumes to himself the legislative power , and therefore is guilty of leasing-making , depraving his majesties lavvs , and of treason ; of which crimes above mentioned or one or other of them , he is actor art and part : which being found by an assize , he ought to be punished , with the pains of death , forfaulture and escheat of lands and goods , to the terror of others to doe or commit the like hereafter . and , if there be found a convenient judge , the poor man is undoubtedly lost . but , sir , having drawn this parallel , rather to retrive the earl's case , then to make it a precedent , which , i hope , it shall never be , and choosing rather to leave the advocate then follow him in his follies , i forbear to urge it further . these things considered , must it not appear strange , beyond expression , how the earl's explanation , such as it is , did fall under such enormous and grievous misconstructions : for , setting aside the councils allowance , and approbation , ( which comes to be considered under the next head ) suppose the earl , or any other person , called before the council , and there required to take the test , had , in all due humility , said , either that he could not at all take it , or , at least not without an explanation ; because the test did contain such things as , not only he , but many other , and those the best of the loyal and orthodox clergy , did apprehend to be contradictions , and inconsistencies : and thereupon had proponed one or two such as the papers above set down do plainly eneugh hold out , and the bishop in his explanation rather evades then answers ; would it not be hard , beyond all the measures of equity , and charity , to look upon this as a designed reflection , far more a malicious and wicked slander and the blackest treason ? we see the act of parliament doth not absolutly injoyn the taking of the test , but only proposeth it to such as are intrusted in the government , with the ordinary certification , either of losing , or holding their trusts , at their option . we know also , that , in cases of this nature , it is far more suitable both to our christian liberty , and the respect we ow to a christian magistrat , to give a reason of our consciencious non-complyance , with meekness , and fear , then , by a mute compearance , to fall under the censure of a stubborn obstinacy . and lastly , it is certain , and may safely be affirmed , without the least reproach , that parliaments are not infallible , as witness the frequent changes , and abrogations of their own acts , and their altering of oaths imposed by themselves , and even of this oath , after it was presented , which the earl was not for altering , so much as it was done , as i told you before : how then can it be that the earl appearing befor a christian council , and there declaring in terms , at the worst a litle obscure , because too tender , & modest , his scruples at an oath presented to him , either to be freely taken , or refused , should fall under any censure ? if the earl had , in this occasion , said , he could not take the test. unless liberty were given him first to explain himself , as to some contradictions , & inconsistencies , which he conceaved to be in it , though he had said far more then is contained in his contraverted explanation , yet he had said nothing but what christian liberty hath often freely allowed , and christian charity would readily construe for an honest expression of a commendable tenderness , without any imputation of reproach against either king or parliament . how much more then is his part clear and innocent , when , albeit so many thought the contradictions to be undeniable , yet such was his well tempered respect , both to god , and man , to his own conscience , and his majesties authority , that before , and not after , the taking of this oath , to clear himself ( in the midst of the many exceptions , and scruples raised ) of all ambiguities in swearing , he first applies himself , for a satisfying explanation , to the parliament , the prime imposers , their true intentions and genuine meaning , and then gathering it , very rationally , from the oaths consistency with it self , and with the protestant religion , the parliaments aim and scope , and so asserting the king and parliaments truth , and honour , he places the reliefe , and quiet of his own conscience in his taking the test with this explanation , and in declaring its congruity with his oath , and duty of allegiance . the third head of the earl's additional defences is the further clearing , and improving of his grounds of exculpation , above adduced , and repelled : which were , first , that , before the earl did offer his explanation to the council , a great many papers were spread abroad , by some of the orthodox clergy , charging the test with contradictions & inconsistencies . ly . that there was a paper penned by a reverend bishop , and presented and read in council , and by them allowed to be printed , which did contain the same , and far more important things then any can be found in the earl's explanation : and consequently , far more obnoxious to all his majesties advocat's accusations . ly . that the explanation upon which he was indicted was publikly by himself declared in council , and by the council allowed , so that the oath was administrat to him , and he received to sit in council and vote , by his highness , and the rest of the members , with and under this express qualification . but , to all urged for the earl's exculpation the advocate makes one short answer , viz. that if the earl's paper did infer the crimes charged on it , a thousand the like offences cannot excuse it : and his majesty is free to pursue the offenders , when , and in what order , he thinks fit : which answer doth indeed leave the council , and all concerned , in his majesties mercy : but that it doth no way satisfie the earl's plea is manifest : for , the first ground of exculpation , viz. that before the earl did offer his explanation a great many papers , writ by the orthodox clergy , and others , were abroad , charging the test with contradictions , &c. was not alledged by the earl merely to justify his explanation by the multitude of the like papers , and so to provide for an escape in the croud : but , the earl having most rationally pleaded , that his explanation was given in by him , after these many scruples and objections raised by others were abroad , it was a good plea , from a most pregnant circumstance , clearing , both the design , and sense of his words , from the soul aspersions of reproaching , and depraving , thrown upon them : seing the words spoken by him under the motive of such a circumstance , by all fair rules of interpretation , insteed of being judged misconstrueing and depraving , could only be understood as a seasonable asserting of the integrity of the parliaments intentions , and the uprightness of the earl's conscience : which argument being in reason unanswerable , it necessarly follows that the advocat's return to the first ground : was neither sufficient nor pertinent , and that therefore the exculpation was unjustly repelled . but next , the second ground of exculpation is so far from being answered by the advocate that it does not appear it was so much as understood ; for , the earl's argument being , that words allowed & approven by the council can never fall under the accusation , either of leasing-making , or slandering his majeslies proceedings , or depraving laws , and acts of parliament , as is evident in it self , and granted by the advocate , where he say's that an explanation , though reflecting on the king , and goverment ( which the earl's was not ) yet if allowed by the council , is to be sustained . but so it is that the council hath allowed the words contained in this explanation contraverted , both in themselves , and also in their equivalent , and far more important expressions : as for instance , not only by accepting the earl's explanation ( as shall be cleared in the next place ) but by giving warrand for the publication of the bishop of edinburgh his vindication , wherein , first , for obviating the contradictions objected from the confession of faith , he positively asserts , that by the test men do not swear to own every article of that confession ; and yet the test binds expresly to beleeve that confession to be founded on and agreable to the word of god , and never to consent to any alteration contrary thereto , or inconsistent therewith : so that he gives both the test and the parliament the lye. and then , for removing another scruple , he tells us , that by the test men are not bound up from regular endeavours to rectify or better the established government , both of church , and state , which is clearly the same thing , ( but not so well cautioned ) with that which in the earl's case is made a ground of treason : from which it unquestionably followes , that the earl's words , having been allowed , and approven by the council , could never , in law , or reason , be thereafter made a ground of accusation , by any , much less by themselves . now i desire to know where the advocate , in all his plea , doth so much as notice , far less answer , this defence , or what his telling us , a thousand offences of the like nature doth not excuse one , either doth , or can signify ? seeing this argument for the farl , insteed of pleading excuses , doth justify the matter , and for ever purge all shadow of offence or ground of quarrel , which will be yet more apparent , when you shall adde to this the third ground of the earl's exculpation , viz. that the explanation , whereupon the earl was indicted , was publikly by himself declared in council , and by the council allowed and accepted : in so much as , after he had given his explanation as the sense wherein he was free to swear the test , the oath was thereupon administrat to him , and he received to sit , and vote as a councellour . whereby it is evident , that , by this allowance , and acceptance , the earl's explanation became the councils , as much as if , after the earl's pronouncing the words , they had verbatim repeated them , and told him , they were satisfied he should swear the test in these terms : and whether this ought not to be a sufficient exoneration to the earl , let all men judge . the advocate makes a noise , that in the case of an oath required the taker ought to swear it in the sense of the imposer , ( which none doubts ) and then runs out , that the earl in place of taking it in the imposers sense , did unwarrantably intend a sense of his own , to the eluding and frustrating of the obligation of this , and all other oaths . but all this is nothing to the purpose , for waving that in the earl's case it is most impertinent to talk of his obtruding of a sense , to the eluding , and frustrating of the obligation of his oath , seeing his oath was not then given , or at all in being , it is expresly alledged by the earl , and notour that the explanation tendered by him , when called to take the test , was accepted by the council , and the oath thereupon administrated , and so the earl freely joyns issue with the advocate , and acknowledging that the taker of the oath ought to swear in the sense of the imposer , subsumes in terminis , that he himself did swear so , and not otherwise , in as much as he did swear in a sense accepted by the council , before he gave his oath , as is evident . . by their commanding him to sit after he had sworn , and . in that neither the advocate , nor any other , had ever the confidence to quarrel his sitting , as a breach of the law , which no doubt they had done , if not convinced that by taking the oath he had satisfied the act of parliament ; which things , in true dealing and the construction of all honest men , are the same as if the oath had been required of him by the council , in the very sense and words of this explanation . neither is it material whether the explanation offered by the earl doth deserve ( as certainly it doth not ) these many ill names , which the advocate would fix upon it , because though it had been much worse then it is , yet being offered to the council , and submitted to their judgment , and they having accepted it , the thing became quasi res judicata , and cannot be retracted , without subverting the surest rules , both of truth , and government . the advocate indeed tels us , that the council heard not the earl's explanation : but i have already told you they did hear it , and the earl is still ready to prove it : and suppose some say they did not hear it distinctly , ( as what thing spoke in council is distinctly heard and considered by all ? ) yet it being certain that they did all approve it it is sufficient to the earl : and it is only their concern , whether in approving what they did not hear they observed their oath de fideli , &c. or not . his highness , who the earl was most concerned should hear , did certainly hear , as himself afterwards acknowledged . . the advocate sayes , that the hearing and allowing the ●arl to sit is no relevant plea ; yea further though all the council had allowed him that day , yet any of his majesties officers might have quarrelled him the next day . but first , i would gladly know , upon what head ? for if upon obtruding a sense of his own , it is undenyable that whatever the sense was the obtruding of it was purged by the councils acceptation , and it became theirs , and was no more his . butif the advocate doth think , that even the matter of the explanation , though allowed and accepted , may still be quarrelled : then. . i hope , he will consider in what terms he doth it , for if he charge it after it becomes the councils ( as in truth he hath done already ) with the same liberty wherewith he treats it as the earl's , he runs fair to make himself the arrantest defamer and slanderer of the king and council , that ever yet attempted it . but ly , it merits a worse name then i am free to give it to say , that an explanation allowed by the council , in the administrating of an oath proper to be administrat by them , doth not secure the taker as to that sense , both in law and conscience : seeing in effect this quite takes away the best grounds of assurance among men , and turns their greatest security to their greatest snare . and ly , if this be sound doctrine , it is worth the enquiring , what security the clergy , to whom the council , as you have hear'd , did indulge an explanation , have thereby obtained : for as to such laiks as did only at their own hand take hold of , and snatch at this indulgence , not provided for them by the councils act , it is clear their doom is dight . it is not here debated how far that explication of the councils may satisfy , and quiet conscience , let such concerned see to it . some please themselves with a general notion . that if the sense given by the administrator be sound then it is also safe , whether it be agreeable to the plain , and genuine meaning of the oath or not , nay whether it be agreeable to the sense of the first imposers or not : but others , who consider , more rendetly , what it is to swear in truth , and in iudgment , think it rather a prophanation , and a sinful preferring of the credit of men to the glory of the almighty , to offer to smooth an oath by a disagreeable interpretation , when in effect the oath it self ought to be changed : but the thing in question is about the security of life and fortune , for seeing the councils explanation is , at least , to say no worse , lyable enough to the calumnies of an inventive malice , and the advocate telleth us , though all the council had allowed a man to swear with an explanation , yet any of his majesties officers may , the next day , quarrel him , it is evident that this allowance can affoord him no security . it is true the advocate may alledge , and possibly find a difference betwixt the councils emitting and their accepting of an explanation but as in truth there is none , more then betwixt a mandat and a ratihabition , so i am confident , if ever the thing come to be questioned , this pretence will evanish and come to nothing . it is likewise to be remembred , that when the earl , the next day after he took the test ; was questioned for the explanation he had made , and required to exhibit a copie ( which was afterwards made the ground of his indictment ) so soon as he observed that some began to carp , he refused to sign it , demanded it back , and would have destroyed it , as you have heard , which were all clear acts of disowning and retracting , for eviting offence , and of themselves sufficient to have prevented any further enquiry , there being nothing more just and humain then that words , though at the first hearing offensive , yet if instantly retracted when questioned , should be past : but this , as well as other things , must in the earl's case be singular , and whether he plead the councils allowing or his own disowning ( as in effect he doth both ) it is equally to no purpose , the thing determined must be accomplished . you heard before , how that a reverend bishop , and many of the orthodox clergy did take a far greater liberty of explanation then the earl pretended to : you see also that first the council allowes his words , whereupon he rests : and when he finds that they begin to challenge he is willing to disown : and withall it is undeniable , and acknowledged by the council themselves , that the test , as it stands in the act of parliament , is ambiguous , and needs to be explained : and the earl may confidently averr , that of all the explanations that have been offered ( even the councils not excepted ) his is the mostsafe , sound , and least disagreeable to the parliaments true sense and meaning . and yet , when all others escape , he alone must be seased , and for a thing so openly innocent , clearly justifiable , and undeniably allowed , found guilty of the worst of crimes , even leasing-making , leasing-telling , depraving of laws , and treason ; but all these things god almighty sees , and to him the judgment yet belongs . and thus i leave this dscourse shutting it up with the case of archbishop cranmer , plainly parallel to the earl's , to show how much he was more favourably dealt with by the king , and government , in those dayes , then the earl now is , though he live under a much more merciful ; and just prince then that worthy prelate did , for cranmer being called and promoted by henry viii . of england to be archbishop of canterbury , and finding an oath was to be offered to him , which , in his apprehension , would bind him up from what he accounted his duty , he altogether declined the dignity and preferment , unless he were allowed to take the oath with such an explanation as he himself proposed , for salving of his conscience ; and though this oath was no other then the statut , and solemn oath , that all his predecessors in that see , and all the mitered clergy in england had sworn , yet he was admitted to take it , as you see in fuller's church hist : of britain lib : p. and , with this formal protestation . in nomine domini , amen . coramvobis &c. non est , aut erit meae voluntatis , aut intentionis , per hujusmodi juramentum veljuramenta , qualitereunque verba in ipsis posita sonare videbuntur , me obligare ad aliquid , ratione ●orundum , post hac dicendum , faciendum , aut attentandum , quod erit , aut esse videbitur , contra legem dei , vel contra illustrissimum regem nostrum angliae , legesve , aut praerogativas esusdem : et quod non intendo per hujusmodi juramentum , veljurament● , quovis modo me obligare , quo minus libere loqui , consulere , aut consentire valeam ; in omnibus , & singul●s reformationem religionis christianae , gubernationem ecclesiae anglicanae , & praerogativam coronae ejusd●m reipublicae , vel commoditatem earundem , quoquo modo concernentibus ; & e● ubique exequi , & reformare , quae mihi in ecclesia anglicana reformanda videbuntur : et secundum hanc interpretationem , & intellectum hunc , & non aliter , neque alio modo , dictum juramentum me praestiturum protestor , & profiteor . that is to say . in the name of god , amen . before yow &c. it neither is , nor shall be , my will or meaning , by this kind of oath , or oaths , and however the words of themselves shall seem to sound or signify , to bind up my self , by vertue hereof to say , do or endeavour any thing , which shall really be , or appear to be , against the law of god , or against our most illustrious king of england or against his laws and prerogatives : and that i mean not , by this my oath , or oaths any wayes to bind up my self from speaking , consulting , and consenting freely , in all , and every thing in any sort concerning the reformation of the christian religion , the government of the church of england , and the prerogative of the crown of the commonwealth thereof , or their advantage and from executing , and reforming such things as i shall think need to be reformed in the church of england : and according to this explanaton , and sense , and not otherwise nor in any other manner , do i protest , and profess , that i am to take , and perform this oath . nor did that excellent person , sayes mr fuller , smother this privatly in a corner , but publikly interposed it , three severall times , once in the charter-house , before authentik witnesses , again upon his bended knees , befor the high alter , in view and hearing of many people , and bishops beholding him , when he was consecrated , and the third time , when he received the pall , in the same place . now would it not be very strange if the like liberty should not be allowed to the ●arl , under his majesty , in reference to the test , which henry the viii . a prince that stood as much on his prerogative as ever any , did vouchafe to this thomas cranmer , who , as another historian observes acted fairly , and above-board : but there wanted then the high and excellent designs of the great ministers , the rare fidelity of councellors , sound religion and tender piety of bishops , solid law and learning of advocates , incorruptible integrity of judges , and upright honesty of assizers , that now we have , to get archbishop cranmer accused , and condemned , for leasing-making , depraving laws , perjury , and treason , to which accusation his explanation was certainly no less obnoxious then the earl's . but i hasten to the fourth , and last head of the earl's additional defences , viz the removing certain groundless pretences , alledged by the advocate , for aggravating the earl's offence : asi . that the earl , being a peer , and member of parliament , should have known the sense of the parliament , and that neither the scruples of the clergy , nor the councils proclamation , designed for meer ignorants , could any way excuse the earl for offering such an explanation . but , first , the advocate might have remembred , that in another passage he taxes the earl as having debated in parliament against the test , whereby it is easy to gather , that the earl having been in the matter of the test a dissenter , this quality doth rather justify then aggravat the earl's scrupling . ly . if the proclamation was designed for the meer ignorants of the clergy , as the advocate calls them , who knew nothing of what had past in parliament , an explanation was far more necessary for the earl , who knows so little of what the advocate alledges to have past in parliament , viz. that the confession of faith was not to be sworn to as a part of the test , that of necessity ( as i think ) he must know the contrary ; in as much as , first , this is obvious from the express tenor of the test , which binds to own , and profess the true protestant religion , contained in the confession of faith , and to believe the same to be agreable to the word of god ; as also to adhere thereto , and never to consent to any change contrary to , or inconsistent with the said protestant religion , & confession of faith : which to common sense appears as plain , and evident , as can be contrived , or desired . but ly , it is very well known , that it was expresly endeavoured , and carried in parliament , that the confession of faith should be a part of the test and oath : for the confession of faith being designed to be sworn to , by an act , for securing the protestant religion ( which you have heard was prepared in the articles , but afterwards thrown out ) when this act for the test was brought in to the parliament , some dayes after , by the bishop of edinburgh , and others , the confession was designedly left out of it : but it being again debated , that the bare naming of the protestant religion , without condescending on a standard for it , was not sufficient , the confession of faith was of new added : and , after the affirmative clause for owning it , and adhering to it was insert , upon a new motion , the negative , never to consent to any alteration , contrary to , or inconsistent with the said protestant religion , and confession of faith was also subjoyned : but not without a new debate and opposition made against the words , and confession of faith , by the bishop of edinburgh , until at length he also yeelded , all which , it is hoped , was done for some purpose : and if , at that time , any had doubted of the thing , he had certainly been judged most ridiculous : for it was by that addition concluded by all that the confession was to be sworn , and further it appears plainly , by the bishop of edinburgh his vindication , that , when he wrote it , he believed the confession was to be sworn to , for he takes pains to justify it ( though calumniously enough ) alledging , that it was hastily compiled , in the short space of four dayes , by some barrons and ministers , in the infancy of our reformation . ( where , by the by , you see that he makes no reckoning of what the act of parliament , to which the test refers , expresly bears , viz. that that second ratification . which we only have recorded , was no less then seven years after this confession was first exhibited , and approven anno . but moreover , he tells us , that the doctors of aberdeen , who refused the covenant , vvere yet vvilling not only to subscribe , but to svvear this confession of faith. which again , to answer the bishops critik of four dayes , was more then . years after it was universally received . it 's true , that , when the bishop finds himself straitned how to answer objections , he is forced to make use of the new gloss ( i shall not call it of orelans ) whereby the protestant religion is made to be sworn to only as far as every man pleases to interpret , & as far as may be consistent with any new principles of state . but the parliament certainly ( i do not speak ironically ) did intend by this test to swear & assert the true protestant religion , and the said confession of faith , whatever may be now pretended . the earl could not also but very well remember what his highness had said to himself , about the inserting of the confession , and no doubt , the advocate , if ingenuous , knows all this : for the thing was at that time mater of common talk , and indeed , till papers objecting contradictions , and inconsistencies betwixt the confession and the rest of the test began to be so numerous ( which was about the end of october ) that there was no possibility left to answer them , but by alledging . that in the test men do not swear to every article and proposition of the confession , but only to the protestant religion therein contained , this point was never doubted . and whether this answer be true , and a solid vindication , consonant to the words of the test , or a circulating evasion enervating all its force , let others judge . but the advocate sayes , when it was moved in parliament to read the confession it was waved : most true : & the reason given by the bishops for it was that it was notour , they knew it . and it was already insert in the acts of parliament : and , the truth was , the reading of it would have spent more time then was allowed on examining the whole test. it was likewise late , after a long sederunt , and it was resolved to have the act passed that night , & so it went on . but it was likewise moved to read the covenant , seing it was to be disclaimed , and this was flatly refused . and will the advocate thence infer , that by the test the covenant is not abjured , albeit it be most certain , that many in the parliament , at that time , had never read the one or the other ? but to follow the advocat's excursions , and answer them more particularly : the motion for reading the confession being made , on this very occasion , because it was to be insert in the test and sworn to , concluds enough against him : for no body can be so effronted as to say , it was used in parliament as an argument not to read it , because it was not to be sworn to , but ( though it cost a debate ) it was plainly agreed to be sworn to , and therefore insert . ly . can any man doubt , the confession was to be sworn to , when it is notour that severalls who were members of parliament , and , by reason of offices they enjoyed , were called to swear the test , pretending , with reason , tenderness of an oath , did , before swearing , make a fashion at least of reading and studying the confession , to satisfy themselves how far they might swear it . and that this was done by an hundred , i can attest themselves . lastly it is certain that , vvhen , in the end of october , the bishop of edenburgh did quarrel s r george lockhart for causing the confession to be insert in the test , & he answered that without it a turk might sign the test , it vvas not then pretended by the bishop that the confession vvas not to be svvorn to , and therefore he at that time had no reply but this is a debate , i confess , not altogether necessary for my present task , only thereby you may see ground enough for the earl to believe the confession vvas svvorn to : and all that did svvear , before the councils explanation , having svvorn in that sense , and , for ought i knovv , all ( except the clergy ) being by the councils act still bound to do so , it vvas not strange the earl might be of this opinion . and seeing that many of the contradictions vvere alledged to arise hence , and the earl being a dissenter , it vvas yet less strange that the earl did scruple ; nor is it unreasonable that his modest explanation should have a most benign acceptance . the second pretence of aggravation is , that his majesty did not only bestow on the earl his lands , and iurisdictions fallen into his majesties hands by the forfaulture of his father , but also pardon him the crimes of leasing-making and misconstruing , whereof he was found guilty by the parliament . and raised him to the title and dignity of an earl , and to be a member of all his majesties iudicatories . all vvhich the earl , as he hath ever , doth still most thankfully acknovvledge . but seeing the advocate hath no vvarrand to upbraid him vvith his majesties favours , and that these things are novv remembred vvith a manifest design to raise dust , and blind strangers , and to add a very ill thing , ingratitude , to the heap of groundless calumnies cast upon him , i must crave leave to ansvver a little more particularly , and refute this new tout ( as the scots proverb is ) in an old horn . this old leasing-making is then novv brought in seriously after it hath been treated in ridicule for years , by the very actors vvho did never pretend to defend it in cold blood : and , vvere it not to digress too much , i could name the persons , and make them ( if capable ) think shame of their falshood , and prevarications in that point , and of their abusing his majestie , and prostrating justice , but i forbear . the advocate , in his book of pleadings , makes this a stretch , and sayes , his majesty rescinded it . and his majesty himself hath , several times , exprest his sense of the stretches made by some against the earl , at that time . it is well known the family of argyle is both ancient and honourable , and hath been loyal and serviceable to the crown for several hundreds of years : but they must now be destroyed , for having done , and being able , as they say , to doe too much , which others neither can nor will do . neither is the advocate ignorant that the only failing that family hath been charged with , in all that long tract of time , was a complyance of the late marqueis of argyle the earl's father , in the time of the late usurpation , by sitting in the then parliament of england , some years after all the standing forces of the kingdom were broken , his majesty beyond sea , the whole countrey overrun , the usurpers universally acknowledged , and neither probability of resistance , nor possibility of shelter left to any that were most willing to serve his majesty , as the advocate himself hath published in his printed pleadings , in which he likewise layes out the special and extraordinary circumstances whereby the marqueis was necessitate to do what he did . and the compliance charged on him was so epidemik that all others were pardoned for the same , except he alone , though none had such favourable arguments to plead , and though he pleaded the same indemnity that saved others . and seeing he submitted , and delivered up himself , and lost his life , and seeing , at the same time of the compliance that he suffered for , the earl his son was actually serving and suffering for his majesty , as you find in the former part of this letter , the earl's restitution was no less then he and his family might well expect of his majesties goodness and iustice. it is true the earl was again accused and condemned ( which may appear indeed strange to such as know not all particulars ) upon the same old acts of leasing-making , and with as little ground ( if possible ) as now , and was pardoned by his majestie , for which he hath often , and doth alwayes acknowledge that he owes to his majesty both his life and fortune : but upon this occasion , and being baited as he is , he hopes his majesty will not take it ill that he say , that his majesties mercy was in this case determined by justice : and for proof that his majesty did then know him to be innocent , did not his majesty then say , it was impossible to take a mans life upon so smal an account ? tho nevertheless it had been done , if his majesty had not interposed and pardoned him . did not the chancellour clarendoun ( who was patron to the most considerable of the earl's pursuers ) hearing of his condemnation , blesse god , he lived not in a countrey where there were such laws ? ( he should have said such iudges ) and i believe many more will say the same now . did it not plainly appear , at that time , that his principal pursuers were very bitter , malicious , and unjust to him ? for the earl had not only served his majesty in that troublesome and hazardous appearance in the hills , but he had been particularly useful to earl midletoun then his majesties lieutenent general , and had stood by him , when these deserted him , whom notwithstanding he took afterwards by the hand , when he was his majesties commissioner in the year , & then designed new interests and new alliances , whereof some did hold and some never held . and then indeed it was that he and others thought it proper for them to destroy the family of argyle , to make their own fortunes ; but it pleased god and his majesty to dispose otherwise : then it was that the earl was so hotly pursued for his life ; having at that time no fortune , all being in his majesties hands : then was the accusation of treason likewise urged by the samepersons , and must have carried , but it was not found necessary , leasing-making being sufficient to take his life , and , as it falls out when any game is started and the hounds in chase , all the little currs run alongs , so the earl wanted not then many pursuers that are now scarce to be heard of . and further , some of the parties themselves confessed the particulars to the earl afterwards , vvho yet novv return to act their former parts , and that they had then laid dovvn a resolution to intrap him , per fas , aut nefas , but notvvithstanding all this ill humour and violence , all the ground they could get for a quarrell , in tvvo years time , vvas one single letter , among many they intercepted , the occasion and import vvhereof vvas as follows . about a tvvelve-month after the death of the late marqueis of argyle , the earl his son being , by the loss of his estate , and burden of his debts , brought into straits , a friend from edenburgh wrote to him , then at london , to do what he could for himself at court , and the sooner the better ; for he needed neither expect favour nor justice from some in scotland , and , if matters were delayed , his fathers whole estate would be begg'd away in parcels . his friend likewise complained , that the earl did not write to inform his friends in scotland ; and on this he insisted severall post-dayes , which , at last , drew an answer from the earl , that he had been to wait upon his majesty , and had found him both just and kind to him , and doubted not the effects of his royalfavour , that he was sensible of his loss by delay , yet must proceed discreetly , and not press to give his majesty trouble , but must take his majesties method , and wait his time ; that he judged , much of what his friend told him was true , but he must have patience : it was his misfortune that some took pains to make his majesty believe , that the parliament was his enemy , and the parliament to believe , the king was his enemy , and by such informations he was like to be a sufferer , but he hoped in god all should be well . this blast must blow out , and will blow over . the king will see their tricks : and upon this letter , specially those last words , the earl was accused of leasing-making betwixt king and parliament , and that he expected changes , and so had a great deal of the same stuff laid to his charge , as now you have heard : and if the now register will produce the earl's principal letter , and the paper the earl gave in to the parliament , these two would clear all , the case then , and now , as yow may see , mutatis mutandis , being much the same , and some of the same tooles used . but to go on . the earl's words in that letter being clear , and plain viz. that he complained of others that reported lies to king and parliament but did himself report none to either , he acknowledged the letter , which could never have been proven to be his , and as soon as he heard that it was intercepted did render himself to his majesty before he was called for . but , which very much troubled him , had not access : yet his majesty was so gracious that in stead of sending him prisoner to scotland with a guard ( as was much pressed ) he allowed him to go down on a verbal bale : and his majesty was pleased to say , that he saw nothing in the earl's letter against his majesty or the parliament , but believed the earl did design to reflect on the earl of midletoun . the earl came to edinburgh , a fourthnight before the day appointed by his majesty , and thought to have had the liberty of the city , till that day should come , but was sent to the castle , the next day after his arrival : upon which he advertised his majesty of his condition , who would hardly believe they would take his life , till it was told plainly it was designed , and if he died it lay at his majesties door , upon which his majesty was graciously pleased to send immediatly an order to the earl of midletoun not to proceed to execution against him : yet the sentence of death was pronounced , and the day of execution remitted by the parliament to the earl of midletoun : which he accepted of , albeit he had no particular instruction for it from his majesty , which , before a year went about , earl midletoun found could not be justified by him , and some of the earl's chief accusers were declared by his majesty to be themselves leasing-makers ; and then the earl , by his majesties favour , and goodness , was restored to a part of his predecessors estate , and titles , which he took as thankfully as if a new estate , and new and greater honours had been conferred upon him . and though his majesty was pleased , at the granting of these titles , to say he could help them when he pleased , yet his majesty knows , that the earl never troubled him about any such matter , nor solicitedh im now these eighteen years , for any title , office , or imployment ( though he confesses he had of all sorts ) nor hath he been burthensome to his majesties exchequer ( l yearly for or years that the earl served in the treasury being all that ever he touched of his majesties money ) albeit few attended more , and none so much that lived at his distance . he was also twice at london , to kiss his majesties hands , but still on his own charges : which things are not said to lessen his majesties bounty , and goodness , whereof the earl still retaines all just , tender , and dutifull impressions , but to answer the advocate , and to teach others to hold their peace , that cannot say so much . his life is known to have been true , honest , and of a peece , and all alongs he hath walked with that straightness that he can compare his integrity with all that now attacque him . by all which it is apparent , that what the advocate here pretends for an aggravation may well be accounted a second part of the earl's persecutions , but cannot , in the least , impair either his innocence , or his honour . seeing therefore the ground of the earl's present accusation , with all he either designed , said , or did , in this matter , was only that , when called , nay required to take the test , and after leave first obtained from his highness and council , he did in their presence , before the giving of his oath , declare , and propose to them the sense wherein he was willing to take it ; that this his sense neither containes , nor insinuats , the least slander , reproach , or reflection , either upon the king , the parliament , or any person whatsomever , but , on the contrair , is in effect ten fold more agreeable to the words of the test , and meaning of the parliament that framed it , then the explanation emitted by the council ; and was also most certainly , the first day , by them accepted ; and , when the next day challenged , by him offered to be retracted , & refused to be signed : that the whole indictment , & more especially that part of it about the treason , is a meer rapsody of the most irrational , absurd , and pernicious consequences , that ever the sun beheld , not only forcing the common rules of speech , charity , and humanity , but ranversing all the topiks of law , reason , and religion , and threatning no less , in the earl's person , then the ruine of every mans fortune , life , and honour ; that the earl's defences , and grounds of exculpation , were most pregnant , and unanswerable , and either in themselves notour , or offered to be instantly verified . and lastly , that the aggravations pretended against him do either directly make for him , or most evidently discover the restless malice of some of his implacable enemies : shall our gracious king , who not only clearly understands right , and hates oppression , but also , to all his other excellent qualities , hath by his gentleness , and clemency , even towards his enemie , added that great character of goodness , upon vain , and false insinuat ions , and unreasonable , and violent stretches , not only take away the life of an innocent person , but of one who himself , and his family ( be it said without disparagment ) have , for a longer time , and more faithfully , and signally served his majesty and the croun , then any person , or family of his degree and quality , of all his persecuters can pretend to ? shall his numerous family , hopeful children , his friends and creditors , all be destroyed ? shall both former services be forgot , innocence oppressed , and all rules of justice , and laws of society and humanity for his sake overturned ? shall not only the earl be cut off , and his noble and ancient family extinguished , but his blood and memory tainted with as black and horrible a stain as if he had conspired with jacques clement , ravillack , the gun-pouder miscreants , the bloody irish rebells , and all the other most wicked & hainous traitours of that gang . and all this for a meer imaginary crime , whereof it is most certain that no man living hath , or can have , the least reall conviction , and upon such frivolous allegations as all men see to be , at the top , meer moon - shine , and at the bottom , villanie unmixed . after clearing these things , the earl , it seems , intended to have addressed himself to his majesties advocate , in particular , and to have told him , that he had begun very timously in parliament to fall first on his heritable jurisdictions , and then , upon his estate , and that now he was fallen upon his life and honour , whereby it was easy to divine that more was intended , from the beginning , then the simple taking away of his offices : seeing that some of them , on his refusing the test , were taken away by the certification of the act of parliament , and that those that were heritable he offered , in parliament , to present and surrender to his majesty on his knee , if his majesty , after hearing him , should think it fit ; only he was not willing to have them torn from him , as hath been said ; and if that were all were designed , as was at first given out , the advocate needed not have set him o● high as naboth , and accus● him as a blasphemer of god , and the king. then turning his speech to the lords of iustitiary he thought to have desired that they would yet seriously consider his words , in their true sense and circumstances , his own explanation of his explication , and especially the forgoing matter of fact , to have been laid before them , with his defences , and grounds of exculpation ; as also to have told them that they could not but observe how that he was singled out amongst thousands , ( against whom much more then all he is charged with could be alledged ) and that they must of necessity acknowledge ( if they would speak out their own conscience ) that what he had said was spoke in pure innocence , and duty , and only for the exoneration of himself , as a christian , and one honoured to be of his majesties privy council ( where he was bound , by his oath , to speak truth freely ) and not to throw the smallest reproach on either person or thing . adding that he was ●oath to say any thing that lookes like a reflection upon his majesties privy council : but if the council can wrong one of their own number , he thought he might demand if he had not met with hard measure ? for first he was pressed , and perswaded to come to the council , then they receive his explanation , and take his oath , then they complain of him to his majesty , where he had no access to be heard , and by their letter , under their hands , affirm that they had been careful not to suffer any to take the test with their own explanations , albeit they had allowed a thing very like it , first to earl queensberry , then to the clergy ; and the president now chancellour had permitted several members of the colledge of iustice to premise , when they sware the test , some one sense , some another , and some non-sense , as one saying he took it , in sane sensu , another making a speech that no man understood , a third , all the time of the reading , repeating , lord have mercy upon me miserable sinner : nay even an advocate , after being debarred , a few dayes , because albeit no clerk yet he would not take it without the benefit of his clergy , viz. the councils explanation , was yet , thereafter admitted without the warrant of the councils act : but all this in the case of so many other was right and good . further the council expresly declare the earl to be guilty , before he had ever said one word in his own defence . thereafter some of them become his assizers , and others of them witness against him ; and after all , they do of new concern themselves , by a second letter to his majesty ( wherein they assert , that after full debate , and clear probation , he was found guilty of treason &c. ) to have a sentence past against him , and that of so high a nature , and so dreadfull a consequence , as suffers no person to be inconcerned , far less their lordships his iudges , who upon grounds equally just , and , which is more , already predetermined by themselves , may soon meet with the same measure , not only as concealers of treason ; but upon the least pretended disobedience , or non-compliance with any act of parliament : and , after all , must infallibly render an accunt to god almighty . he bids them therefore lay their hands to their hearts , and whatever they shall judge , he is assured that god knows , and he hopes all unbyassed men in the world will or may know , he is neither guilty of treason , nor any of the crimes libelled . he sayes he is glad how many out - do him in asserting the true protestant religion , and their loyalty to his majesty ; only , he addes , if he could justify himself to god as he can to his majesty , he is sure , he might account himself the happiest man alive . but yet , seeing he hath a better hope in the mercy of god through jesus christ , he thereupon rests , whether he find justice here on earth or not . he sayes , he will adde nothing to move them either to tenderness or pity ; he knows that not to be the place , and pretends to neither from them ; he pleads his innocence , and craves justice , leaving it to their lordships to consider not so much his particular case as what a preparative it may be made , and what may be its consequences : and if all he hath said do neither convince , nor perswade them to alter their judgment , yet he desires them to consider , whether the case do not , at least , deserve to be more fully represented , and left to his majesties wisdom and justice , seeing that if once the matter pass upon record for treason , it is undoubted , that hundreds of the best , and who think themselves most innocent , may , by the same methods , fall under the like condemnation , when ever the kings advocate shall be thereto prompted . and thus you have a part of what the earl intended to have said , before pronouncing sentence , if he had not made his escape before the day : yet some things i perceive by his notes are still in his own breast , as only proper to be said to his majesty . i find several quotations out of the advocates printed books , that , it seemes , he was to make some use of , but , seeing it would have been too great an interruption to have applyed them to the places designed , i have subjoyned them together , leaving them to the advocate 's own , and all mens consideration . it was by some remarked , that when the lords of iustitiary , after the ending of the first dayes debate , resolved that same night to give judgment upon it , they sent for the lord nairn , one of their number , an old and infirm man , who being also a lord of the session , is so decayed through age , that he hath not , for a considerable time , been allowed to take his turn , in the outer ▪ house ( as they call it ) where they judgelesser causes alone : but notwithstanding both his age , and infirmity , and that he was gone to bed , he was raised , and brought to the court , to consider a debate , a great deal whereof he had not heard , in full court , and withall , as is informed , while the clerk was reading some of it , fell of new asleep . it was also remarked that the lords of justitiary being , in all , five , viz. the lord nairn above-mentioned , with the lords , collintoun , newtoun , hirkhouse , and forret , the libell was found relevant only by the odds of three to two viz. the lord nairn foresaid , the lord newtoun since made president of the session , and the lord forret , both well enough known , against the lord collintoun , a very ingenuous gentleman , and a true old cavalier , and the lord hirkhouse a learned and upright judge : as for the lord justice general , who was also present , and presided , his vote , according to the constitution of the court , was not asked , yet he is since made a marquies , and lord high treasurer . but to return to my narrative , the earl , as i have already told you , did not think fit , for reasons that you shall hear , to stay till his majesties return came to the councils last letter , but , taking his opportunity , made his escape out of the castle of edinburgh , upon tuesday the twentieth of december , about eight at night , and , in a day or two after , came his majesties answer here subjoyned . the kings answer to the councils letter decemb : . c. r. most dearly &c. having , this day , received your letter , of the . instant , giving an account , that our advocate having been ordered by you to insist in that process raised at our instance against the earl of argyle , he was , after full debate , and clear probation , found guilty of treason , and leasing making , betwixt us , our parliament , and our people ; and the reproaching our laws and acts of parliament : we have now thought fit , notwithstanding of what was ordered by us ▪ in our letter to you of the . of november last , hereby to authorize you to grant a warrand to our iustice general , and the remanent iudges of our iustice court , for proceeding to pronounce a sentence , upon the verdict of the iury , against the said earl ; nevertheless it is our express pleasure , and we do hereby require you , to take care , that all execution of the sentence be stopped , untill we shall think fit to declare our further pleasure in this affair : for doing whereof , &c. which answer being read in council on the thursday , and the court of iustitiary , according to its last adjournment , as shall be told you , being to meet upon the fryday , after a little hesitation in council whether the court of iustitiary could proceed to the sentence of forfaulture against the earl he being absent , it was resolved in the affirmative ; and what were the grounds urged , either of hesitation or resolution , i cannot precisly say , there being nothing on record that i can learn. but that you may have a full , and satisfying account , i shall briefly tell you what was ordinarly discoursed , a part whereof i also find in a petition given in by the countess of argyle to the lords of justitiary , before pronouncing sentence , but without any answer or effect . it was then commonly said , that by the old law , and custom , the court of iustitiary could no more in the case of treason then of any other crime proceed further against a person not compearing , and absent , then to declare him out-law , and fugitive : and that , albeit it be singlar , in the case of treason that the trial may go on , even to a final sentence , tho the partie be absent , yet such trials were only proper , to & alwayes reserved for parliaments : and that so it had been constantly observed untill after the rebellion in the year : but there being severall persones notourly engaged in that rebellion , who had escaped , and thereby withdrawn themselves from justice , it was thought , that the want of a parliament , for the time , ought not to afford them any immunity ; and therefore it was resolved by the council , with advice of the lords of session , that the court of iustitiary should summond , and proceed to trial , and sentence , against these absents , whether they compeared or not , and so it was done : only because the thing was new and indeed an innovation of the old custom , to make all sure , in the first parliament held thereafter , in the year , it was thought fit to confirm these proceedings of the justitiary , in that point , and also to make a perpetual statut , that , in case of open rebellion , and rising in armes against the king , and government , the treason , in all time coming , might by an order from his majestie 's council be tried , and the actors proceeded against by the lords of iustitiary , even to final sentence , whether the traitours compeared or not . this being then the present law , and custom , it is apparent in the first place that the earl's case , not being that of an open rebellion and rising in armes , is not at all comprehended in the act of parliament , so that it is without question that , if in the beginning he had not entered himself prisoner , but absented himself , the lords of iustitiary could not have gone further , then , upon a citation , to have declared him fugitive . but others said that the earl having both entered himself prisoner , and compeared , and after debate having been found guilty , before he made his escape , the case was much altered . and whether the court could , notwithstanding of the earl's interveening escape , yet go on to sentence was still debatable : for it was alledged for the affirmative that seeing the earl had twice compeared , and that , after debate , the court had given judgment , and the assize returned their verdict , so that nothing remained but the pronouncing of sentence , it was absurd to think that it should be in the power of the partie , thus accused , and found guilty , by his escape to frustrate justice , and withdraw himself from the punishment he deserved . but on the other hand it was pleaded for the e●rl ; that first , it was a fundamental rule , that until once the cause were concluded no sentence could be pronounced : nixt that it was a sure maxime in law , that in criminal actions there neither is nor can be any other conclusion of the cause then the parties presence and silence ; so that , after all that had past , the earl had still freedom to adde what he thought fit , in his own defence , before pronouncing sentence , and therefore the lords of iustitiary could no more proceed to sentence against him being escaped then if he had been absent from the beginning , the cause being in both cases equally not concluded , and the principle of law uniformly the same , viz. that in criminals ( except in cases excepted ) no final sentence can be given in absence : for , as the law , in case of absence from the beginning , doth hold that just temper as neither to suffer the contumacious to go altogether unpunished , nor , on the other hand , finally to condemn a partie unheard . and therefore doth only declare him fugitive , and there stops : so in the case of an escape , before sentence , where it cannot be said the partie was fully heard , and the cause concluded , the law doth not distinguish , nor can the parity of reason be refused . admitting then that the cause was so far advanced , against the earl , that he was found guilty ; yet . this is but a declaring of what the law doth as plainly presume against the partie absent from the beginning , and consequently , of it self can operate no further . ly . the finding of a partie guilty is no conclusion of the cause . and ly . as it was never seen , nor heard , that a partie was condemned in absence , ( except in excepted cases ) whereof the earl's is none , so he having escaped and the cause remaining thereby unconcluded , the general rule did still hold , and no sentence could be given against him , it was also remembred that the dyets and dayes of the justice court are peremptour ; and that in that case , even in civil ●ar more in criminal courts and causes , a citation to hear sentence is constantly required : which induced some to think , that at least the earl should have been lawfully cited to hear sentence , before it could be pronounced . but it is like this course , as confessing a difficulty , and occasioning too long a delay , was therefore not made use of . however , upon the whole , it was the general opinion , that seeing the denouncing the earl fugitive would have wrought much more in law then all that was commonly said , at first , to be designed against him : and that his case did appear every way so favourable , that impartial men still wondered how it came to be at all questioned , it had been better to have sisted the process , with his escape , and taken the ordinary course of law , without making any more stretches . but as i have told you , when the fryday came , the lords of iustitiary , without any respect , or answer given to the petition above-mentioned , given in by the countess of argyle to the court for a stop , pronounced sentence , first in the court , and then caused publish the same , with all solemnity , at the mercat cross of edinburgh . for as much as it is found by an assize that archibald earl of argyle is guilty & culpable of the crimes of treason , leasing-making , & leasing-●elling , for which he was detained within the castle of edinburgh , out of which he ●es now since the said verdict made his escape : therefore the lords commissioners of justitiar● decern and adjudge the said archibald earl of argyle to be execute to the death , demained as a traitour , and to underly the paines of treason , & other punishments appointed by the lawes of this kingdom , when he shall be apprehended , at such a time , and place , and in such manner as his majesty in his royall pleasure shall think fit to declare and appoint : and his name memory and honours , to be extinct : and his armes to be riven forth , and delete out of the books of armes , swa that his posterity may never have place nor be able hereafter to bruick or joyse any honour , offices , titles , or dignities , within this realme in time coming and to have for faulted , ●mitted , and tint , all and sundry his lands , tenements , annua-rents . offices , titles dignities , tacks , steedings , rowmes , possessiones , goods , and geere what su●ever pertaining to him , to our soveraign lord , to remain perpetually with his highness in property . which was pronounced for doom — december . after the reading ( and publishing ) whereof , the earl's coat of armes , by order of the court , was also torn , and ranversed , both in the court , and at the mercat cross : albeit some thought that this was rather a part of the execution , which his majesties letter discharges , then a necessary solemnity , in the publication , and the advocate himself sayes . p . of his printed criminals . that it should only be practised in the crime of perduellion but not in other treasons . the reasons and motives of the earl's escape , with the conclusion of the whole narrative the earl's escape was at first a great surprise , both to his friends and unfriends : for , as it is known that his process , in the beginning , did appear , to the less concerned , more like a piece of pageantry then any reality ; and even by the more concerned was accounted but a politik design , to take away his offices , and les●en his power , and interest : so neither did any of his friends fear any greater hazard , no● did most of his unfriends imagine them to be more apprehensive . whereby it fell out , that upon report of his escape , many , and some of his well-wishers , thought he had too lightly abandoned a fair estate , and the probable expectation he might have had of his majesties favour : as also some , that were judged his greatest adversaries , did appear very angry , as if the earl had taken that course , on purpose to load them with the odium of a design against his life . and truly , i am apt to think , it was not only hard and uneasie for others to believe , that a person of the earl's quality , and character , should , upon so slende● a pretence , be destroyed , both as to life , and fortune , but also that he himself was slow enough to receive the impressions necessary to ripen his resolution ; and that if a few accidents , as he sayes himself , happening a little before his escape , had not as it were opened his eyes , and brought back , and presented to him several things past , in a new light , and so made all to operate to his final determination , he had stayed it out to the last . which that you may the better understand you may here consider the several particulars , that , together with what he himself hath since told some frineds , apparently occurred to him in these his second thoughts , in their following order . and first you have heard , in the beginning of this narrative , what was the first occasion of the earl his declining in his highness favour : you may also remember , that his majesties advocate takes notice , that he debated against the act enjoyning the test , in the parliament : and , as i have told you , he was indeed the person that spoke against excepting the king's brothers , and sons , from the oath then intended for securing the protestant religion , and the subjects loyalty , not thinking it fit to complement with a priviledge where all possible caution appears rather to be necessary : and this a reverend bishop told the earl afterwards had downright fired the kil● . what thereafter happened in parliament , and how the earl was alwise ready to have laid all his offices at his majesties feet : and how he was content , in council , to be held a refuser of the test , and thereby incurr an intire deprivation of all publik trust , is above fully declared , and only here remembred , to show what reason the earl had , from his first coming to edinburgh , in the end of october , to think that something else was intended against him then the simple devesting him of his employments and jurisdictions . and yet such was his assurance of his innocence , that when ordered by the council to enter his person in prison under the pain of treason , he entered freely , in an hakney coach , without either hesitation or noise , as you have heard . ly , the same day of the earl's commitment , the council met , and wrote ( as i have told you ) their letter to his majesty , above set down , num. . wherein they expresly charge him with reproaching , and depraving : but yet neither with perjury no● treason ; and a few dayes after , the earl wrote a letter to his highness ; wherein he did endeavour to remove his offence , in termes that , it was said , at first had given satisfaction : but yet the only return the earl had was a criminal summonds containing an indictment , and that before any answer was come from hi● majesty . and then , so soon as his majesties answer came , there was a new summonds sent him , with a new indictment , adding the crimes of treason and ●erjury to these of reproaching and depraving , which were in the first libel , as you have heard above , whereby you may perceive , how early the design against the earl began to grow , and how easily it took encrease , from the least encouragment . ly . when the earl petitioned the council for advocates to plead for him : albeit he petitioned twice , and upon clear acts of parliament , yet he had no be●ter answer then what you have above set down . and when the earl's petition , naming sir george lockhart as his ordinary advocate , was read in council , his highness openly threatned , that in case sir george should undertake for the earl he should never more plead for the king nor him. but the earl taking instruments upon sir george his refusal , and giving out , that he would not answer a word at the bar , seeing ●he benefite of lawyers , according to law , was denyed him ; sir george , and other lawyers , were allowed to assist him , but still with a grudge . likeas afterwards , they were qu●stioned and conveened before the council for having , at the earl's desire , signed their positive opinion of the case . at which time it was also said in council by his highness , that their fault was greater ▪ then the earl's : however we see that as he was the occasion of the anger so he hath only found the smart of it . ly . the whole process , with the judgment of the lords of iustitiary , an● verdict of the assize , whereby the earl was found guilty , as you have seen ( notwithstanding of what hath so plainly appeared and was so strongly plea●ed in his behalf ) of leasing-making , depraving , and treason , is of it self a clear demonstration that either the highest punishment was intended for so high a guilt , or that , at least , it was no smal humilation that some designed for him : it being equally against reason , and prudence , setting aside the interest of justice , to strain things of this nature beyond the ends truly purposed , and which , in effect , are only the more to be suspected the more they are concealed . ly . the process being carried on to the verdict of the assize , and the council being tyed up by his majesties letter , before pronouncing sentence , to send a particular account to his majesty of what the earl should be found guilty of , for his majesties full information : the council doth indeed dispatch away a new letter immediatly , for his majesties leave to proceed ; but in stead of that particular account required by his majesty for his full information , all the information was eve● heard of to be sent by the council was what is contained in the body of the letter , wherein they , briefly , bu● positively , affirm , that after full debate , and clear probation , he was found guilty of treason . which , all men must say , was far better contrived to prompt his majesty to a speedy allowance then to give him that particular information of the case which his majesties letter expresly requires , and the earl expected should have been performed . but further , the council was commanded to sign this letter , not simply in the ordinary form , but by a special command laid on every member , and the clerk appointed to go about , and get their subscriptions , telling them they were commanded , and complaining to the duke when any scrupled to do it . the strictness of which orders is apparent enough from the very subscriptions , where you may not only read the names of bishops subscribing in causa sanguinis , but some of the earl's friends and relations who wanted courage to refuse ; and , in effect , how many of all the members did it willingly is hard to say , seeing generally they excuse the deed in private . ly . about a week or two before the trial , the earl had notice , that at a closs iuncto , where were persons of the greatest eminency , it was remembered by one present , how that anno . the earl had been pardoned by his majestie , after he had been found guilty by the earl of middletoun , and that parliament . and that then it was looked on as an error in the earl of middletoun , that he had not proceeded to execution , albeit his majesty had given command to the contrary , because ( as it was said ) it would have been but the same thing to him . but now , adds this kind remembrancer , the case is much more easie : now his royal highness is on the throne : it might have cost earl middletoun a frown , but now it can signify nothing , but will rather be commended in his royal highness , as acting freely like himself . the stop of the sentence looks like a distrust , but this will vindicate all and secure all : and as the first part of the story the earl remembered well he had hear'd it from the same person , an : , & had reported it to the duke of lawderdale a little after : so the second part being of a very wellknown dialect could not but give the earl the deeper impressions . it was further told the earl , at the same time when the councils letter to obtain his majesties assent to the pronouncing sentence , & leaving all to discretion , was sent , that it was thought fit that nothing should appear but fair weather till the very close . yet was the earl so confident of his own innocence , and his majesties justice , that he did not doubt but his majesty seeing the process would , at least , put a stop to the sentence . but after the councils letter was gone , in such terms as you have seen , to seek liberty from his majesty to proceed to sentence ( without either double , or abbreviat of the process sent with it ) and no doubt smooth insinuations made with it that all designed was to humble the earl , or clip his wings : and that this letter was hasted away by a fleeing packet to prevent the earl's application , which it could not but do ; and so could not but have weight , and prevail with his majesty , ( to whom the earl's petition , as coming too late , was indeed never presented ) then , and not till then , the earl began to have new thoughts . ly the earl's trial having been upon moonday , and twesday the th and th of december : upon the th , the councils letter was dispatched : and upon the th , the earl intreated , by a ●riend , for liberty to speak to his royal highness ; whose answer was , that it was not ordinary to speak to criminals , except with rogues on some plot , where discoveries might be expected : yet his highness said , he would advise upon it . but , upon fryday the . he did refuse it . yet the earl did renew his suit , and urged , that he had sent a petition to his majesty , which was the first he had sent upon that occsiaon , & that , before the return should come , he was desirous to have his highness answer , that he might owe some part of the favour he expected to his highness . but on moonday morning , the . the earl was told , he was not like to have any access , and , in the afternoon , he heard that the return of the councils express was looked for , on thursday the . being the council day . and further , that the justice court ( which according to its custom had sat the same moonday , and , in course , should have adjourned till moonday the of december , or , because of christmas , to the first moonday of january , was , for the earl's sake , adjourned till fryday the . to the end that immediatly upon the kings return they might pronounce sentence . he was moreover informed that his royal highness was heard say , that , if the express returned not timeously , he would take upon himself what was to be done . which being general , and dark , was the more to be suspected . all this , the earl told , made him the same moonday late cast in his thoughts whether it were not fit for him to attempt an escape ; but his doubtings were so many he could resolve nothing , that night , except to put off till wednesday . yet on twesday morning he began to think , if he did at all design to escape , he had best do it that same evening . however he was , even then , not fully resolved , not had he as yet spoke one word of it to any mortal . but about ten of the clock this twesday , his highness absolute refusal to suffer the earl to see him , untill his majesties return came , was confirmed : and about noon the earl heard that some troups and a regiment of foot were come to town : and that , the next day , he was to be brought down from the castle to the common jail ( from which criminals are ordinarily carried to execution ) and then he resolved to make his escape , that very night , and yet did not conclud it throughly till five of the clock in the evening : at which time he gave directions about it , not thinking to essay it , till near ten : but at seven one coming up from the city , and telling him that new orders were privatly given for further securing of him , that the castle guards were doubled , and none suffered to go out without showing their faces , and that some ladies had been already put to do it , and therefore disswading him to attempt any escape , because it was impossible : the earl said , no , then it is full time . and so he made haste , and within half an hour after , by gods blessing , got safe out , questioned pretty warmly by the first sentry , but not at all by the main guard , and then , after the great gate was opened , and the lower guard drawn out double , to make a lane for his company , one of the guard who opened the gate took him by the arm , and viewed him : but it pleased god he was not discerned . when he was out , he was not fully resolved whither to go : home he had judged safest : but he thought it might breed mistakes and trouble that he designed not : so he resolved to go for england , and to take the road ; that by post he might be his majesties first informer of his escape , but , being disappointed of horses that he expected , he found that the notice of his escape was got before him ; and soon after , as he came the length of newcastle , heard that his majesty had given way to pronounce sentence against him , according as he had apprehended from the circumstances and other grounds i have told you , which made him judge , it would be an undiscreet presumption , in that state , to offer himself to his majesty , while he knew none durst address him , and so he rather choosed to shift in the wide world , till his majesty might be at some greater freedom both to understand his case and apply suitable remedies . his majesties clear and excellent understanding , and gracious and benign disposition , do fully assure him , that his majesty doth not , in his thoughts , charge him with the least disloyalty , and that he hath no complacence in his ruine . but if his majesty do , at present , ly under the pressure ofsome unlucky influences , not so easy to his royal inclinations , the earl , it seemes , thinks it reasonable to wait patiently for a better opportunity . it may indeed appear strange , that innocence , & honour , oppressed in his person , almost beyond a parallel , should not , ere now , have constrained him to some publik vindication : especially when to the horrid sentence given against him his adversaries have further prevailed to cause his majesty dispose , not only of his heritable offices , and jurisdictions ( the pretended eye - sore ) but also upon his whole estate , and fortune , with as little consideration of the earl's personal interest as if he had fallen for the blackest treason , and most atrocious perduellion . but , besides that some things are of themselves so absurdly wicked that all palliating pretences do only render them the more hateful , and the very simple hearing doth strike with an horrour , not to be hightned by any representation : next that the earl , being so astonishingly overtaken for words , as fairly and honestly uttered as he could possibly devise , doth , with reason , apprehend that there is nothing he can say in this matter , though with the serenest mind , and in the greatest truth , and sobriety , that may not be construed to flow from a design to lay blame where hitherto he hath been tender to give any ground of offence . i say ( beside these things ) he is withall ( i know ) most firmly perswaded , that , if ever he shall have the happiness to be once heard by his majesty , and in his presence allowed to explain a few particulars , in duty here omitted , his majesties justice , and goodness will quickly dispell all the clouds that now hang over him , and restore him to that favour wherein he hath sometime reckoned himself very happy , and which he will ever be most ready to acknowledge . and therefore all that in the mean time he judged necessary , or would give way to , was that for preserving the remembrance of so odd a transaction , untill a more seasonable juncture , some memorials should be drawn , and deposited in sure keeping : which being grown under my hand unto this narrative , i thought , i could not better observe his order then by transmitting it to your faithful custody . i have carefully there in observed the truth , in point of fact , avouching nothing but upon the best and clearest evidence can possibly be expected : not have i , as to the manner , licenced or indulged my self in any severity of expression , which , i thought , could be justly , in such a case , omitted , without betraying the cause . yet if you now , or any other hereafter , shall judge , that i do sometime exceed , let it not be imputed to him , for , as he did indeed charge me to guard against any more warm or vehement expression then the merit and exigence of the subject do indispensibly require , so i am assured that he silently , and patiently , waits on the lord , committing his way to him , and trusting in him , that he may bring it to passe : and that he shall bring forth his righteousness as the light , and his judgment as the noon-day . postscript . sir , having in this narrative sometimes adduced , as you have seen , the advocate 's own authority , ad hominem , i shall here , as i promised , subjoin such passages out of his printed book as , though they deserved not a place above , may yet make a pertinent postscript . and , omitting what in that book , called the laws and customs of scotland in matters criminal he frequently repeats , from the known grounds of law , of the nature of crimes and the design of criminal laws ; viz. that as there can be no crime without a fraudulent purpose , either apparent or proven ; so it was the design of lawgivers , only to punish such acts as are designedly malicious . i desire you only to consider the particulars following . and pag. 〈◊〉 l. . of his book of criminals , having made the question , whether what tends to a crime , not perfected , doth fall under the statut , or law , by which that crime to which it approaches is punished : he instances in the crime of misconstruing his majesties government , and proceedings , or depraving his laws , which as he sayes , is punishable by death ja. . par. . act . and then further moves , whether papers , as tending to misconstrue his majesties proceedings , and government , or bearing insinuations which may raise in the people jealousy against the government , be punished by that law. which being one of the great crimes pretended and libelled against the earl , i shall here ( omitting his reasons in the affirmative , which have not the least ground in the earl's case , as you have heard ) represent to you how exactly he himself , and others , have acted , for the earl's overthrow , all these dangerous , and pernicious things , from which he argues in the negative . his words then are these . and that such insinuations , and tendencies are not punished criminally , he sayes . . it is the interest of mankind to know expresly what they are to obey , especially where such great certifications are annexed as in crimes . . the law , having taken under its consideration this guilt , hes punished the actual misconstruing , or depraving ; but hes not declared such insinuations or tendencies punishable : et in statutis casus omissus habetur pro omisso . . this would infallibly tend to render all judges arbitrary ; for tendencies and insinuations are in effect the product of conjecture , and papers may seem innocent , or criminall , according to the zeal , or humour , as well as malice of judges ; men being naturally prone to differ in such consequentiall inferences , and too apt to make constructions in such , according to the favour or malice they bear to the person or cause : are not some men apt to construct that to tend to their dishonour which was designed for their honour ; and to think every thing an innovation of law or priviledge which checks their inclination and design ? whereas some judges are so violent in their loyalty as to imagine the meanest mistaks do tend to an opposition against authority ; and thus zeal , iealousie , malice , or interest would become judges . . men are so silly , or may be in such haste , or so confounded , ( and the best are subject to such mistakes ) as that no man could know when he were innocent ; simplicity might oft times become a crime , and the fear of offending might occasion offence , and how uncomfortably would the people live , if they knew not how to be innocent . ly . p : l . of the same book , he sayes , that the th point of treason is to impugn the dignity , and authority of the three estates ; or to seek , and procure the innovat on and diminution of their power , and authority . act . ja. . p. . now this being another of the crimes charged upon the earl , hear how the advocate there understands it . but this ( he adds immediatly ) is to be understood of a ( n. b. ) direct impugning of their authority ; as if it were contended , that parliaments were not necessary , or that one of the three estates might be turned out . which how vastly different from his indirect , forced , and horrible inferences , in the earl's case , is plain and obvious . ly , ibid. p. . l. . after having said , that , according to former laws , no sort of treason was to be persued in absence before the justices ; and urging it to be reasonable , he adds , nor is it imaginable but if it had been safe it had been granted formerly . and l. . he sayes , the justices are never allowed , even by the late act of parliament , to proceed to sentence against absents , but such as are persued for rising in armes against the king the true reason whereof , he tells us , is that the law is not so inhumane as to punish equally presumed and reall guilt : and that it hath been often found , that men have absented themselves rather out of fear of a prevailing faction , or currupt witnesses &c. then out of consciousness of guilt : reasons which albeit neither true nor just , ( seeing that the law punishes nothing , even in case of absence , but either manifest contumacie , or crimes fully proven : and that the only reason why it allowes no other crime save perduellion to be proceeded against in absence is because it judges no other crime tanti ) yet you see how this whole passage quadrats with the earl's case ; who being neither persued for perduellion , nor present at giving sentence , was yet sentenced in absence , as a most desperate traitour . ly . ibid : p. . l. . speaking of the solemnities used in parliament , at the pronouncing sentences for treason ; viz. that the pannel receives his sentence kneeling : and that after the doom of for faulture pronounced against him , the lyon , and his brethren the heraulds , in their formalities come & tear his coat of armes at the throne ; and thereafter hang up his eschucheon ranversed upon the mercat crosse : he adds , but this , i think , should only hold , in the crime of perduellion , and then goes on to add . that the children of the delinquent are declared incapable to bruik any office or estate is another speciality introduced in the punishment of perduellion only . and yet both these terrible solemnities were practised against the earl , even by a court of iustitiary , and not in parliament : albeit he was not accused of perduellion , nor be indeed more guilty of any crime then all the world sees . ly ibid : page l. ult , he sayes , that verbal injuries are these that are committed by unwarrantable expressions , as to call a man a cheat , a woman whore : but because expressions may vary , according to the intention of the speaker ; therefore except the words can allow of no good sense , as whore or thief , or that there be strong presumptions against the speaker , the injuriandi animus , or design of injuring , as well as the injuring words , must be proven : and the speaker will be allowed to purge his guilt by declaring his intention ; and his declaration , without an oath , will be sufficient . ly . the persuer should libell the design , and prove it , except the words clearly inferre it . ly . the persuer is presently to resent the injurie , and if , at first , the words be taken for no injurie they cannot afterward become such . which things , being applied to the earl's words , do evident i , say : that unless his words could allow of no good sense , or that there were strong presumptions against him , or that he could not purge his guilt , by declaring his intention , or that his words did clearly inferre the guilt , there could be no crime of slandering reproaching or depraving , charged against him , except the injuriandi animus , as well as the words , had been both libelled , and proven . but so it is that his words do manifestly a low of a good sense , that there is not the least presumption of injurie can be alledged against him ; that he did most plainly purge himself of all suspicion of guilt , by declaring his sound and upright intention ; and that his words do not inferre , either clearly , or unclearly , the smallest measure of guilt ; and withall neither was the injuriandi animus at all proven ; but on the contrary , the words at first were taken for no injurie ; so that they could not afterward become such , as is above fully cleared : ergo , even the advocate being judge , the earl is no slanderer . ly . if it were necessary , i could further tell you several things that he alledges to be sufficient for purging a man of any criminal intention : as , where he sayes , ibid. p. . l. . that , in matters of fact , persons , even judicious , following the faith of such as understand , are to be excused . and l. . that , if it appear by the meanness of the crime ( he should say the smalness of the deed : and what can be less then the uttering of a few words in the manner that the earl spoke them ? ) that there was no design of transgression ; and that the committer designed not , for so small a matter to committ a crime ( much less such horrid ones as depraving and treason ) in that case , the meanness of the transgression ( or deed ) ought to defend against the relevancy &c. but to give you one instance for all , how much the advocate may , one day or other , be oblidged to plead the innocence of his intentions , to free himself of words downright in themselves slanderous and depraving an act of parliament ; much better nor he understands it , and in fresh , and constant observance . ibid. p : , towards the middle , speaking of the . act. ja. . p. . whereby it is statut : that seeing diverse exceptions , and objections riles upon criminal libells , and parties are frustrate of justice by the alledged irrelevancy thereof . that in time coming all criminal libells shall contain , that the persons complained on are art & part of the crimes libelled ; which shall be relevant to accuse them thereof : swa that no exception , or objection take away that part of the libell in time coming . he sayes , that he finds no act of parliament more unreasonable , for the statutory part of that act , committing the triall of art and part to assizers , seemes most unjust : seeing in committing the greatest questions of the law to the most ignorant of the subjects , it puts a sharp sword in the hands of blind men . and the reason of this act ▪ specified in the narrative is likewise most inept , and no wayes illative &c. what reproaches ! what blasp hemies ! the earl said not one word against any act of parliament : but on the contrary , that he was confident the parliament intended no contradiction , and that he was willing to take the test in the parliaments sense . but here the ad●ocate both sayes and prints it , that an act of parliament is most unreasonable and most unjust , and its reason most inept , and that it puts a sharp sword in the hands of blind men whereof the smallest branch is infinitly more reproachfull then all can be strained out of the earl's words . but sir , speculation is but speculation and if the advocate when his day comes , be as able to purge himself of practical depravations as i am inclined to excuse all his visionarie lapses , notwithstanding of the famous title quod quisque juris in alt●r●m statuerit utipse eodem jure utatur , he shall never be the worse of my censure . finis . appendix in answer to a late pamphlet called , a vindication of his majesties government , and judicatories , in scotland , — especially with a relation to the late earl of argyl's process , in so far as concerns the said process . it now remains that we consider the fore-mentioned paper called a vindication &c. , and though the account you have had in the narrative may abundantly satisfy all rational men as to any thing contained in this vindication , in relation to the earl's process ( my only concern ) yet because the writer of it hath taken liberty to vent many falshoods , known to be such to himself , and the whole kingdom ; and that in such a positive , presuming stile , as , with his insinuat character , seems to be purposely designed to impose upon strangers , and lead them from the mist he pretends to discuss into gross darkness ; i shall here , without giving you the trouble of letter upon letter , transcribe shortly what my friend , who sent me the narrative , hath since given me the occasion to remark upon this vindication , in so far as it refers to it ; without digressing to other things , which no doubt others , more concerned , and better qualified , will not fail to examin . and , after having first wisely projected to disarm all his opponents , by robbing them of the liberty of the press ; that himself may use it , without control , and spread his informations , and vindications without reply , as diurnals writ for regulation of lying to enform the nation . and , in the nixt place , chaffed himself by some rambling reflections on past controversies ( which yet , for all the boast he makes of the present blessed composure of affairs in scotland , if he and his associats still persist to treat them after their manner , will , i fear , never finally end , untill they be reacted , and all former errors for ever corrected ) he comes to notice the earl's process , and a pamphlet called , the scotch mist , that takes pains , as he sayes , to make it appear an unanswerable instance of the arbitraryness of scotch iudges . where having prefaced just as much in their vindication as may be said for all the judges of the world , whereof yet we know that thousands are ignorant , corrupt , and violent : and nixt told us , very discreetly , that earl strafford was murthered by king , lords , and commons , because forsooth that they following the known rule of the civil law , si quam paenam princeps irrogavit nec ad exemplum trahitur , nec per sonam transgreditur , made an act , that none should die by that preparative ; with some other stories of the like nature , backed with a few fables of his own invention . for clearing matter of fact he sayes , first , that the earl of argyl's learned iudges were not a pack't commission , but the ordinary judges of the nation . but what then , if this lessen their tentation , doth it not rather aggravat their injustice ? but ly . not to trouble you with the just and true characters of some of them ( which to persons unacquainted might possibly appear a libel ) is it not well known , that , at the first , and untill sufficient assurances of the bench were obtained , there was a resolution to have given , or pack't ( as our author speaks ) assessors with them ? ly . were they not all judges of the late edition , to wit , no more advitam , or culpam , as of old , but durante beneplacito ? and ly . are not such as were most forward , and active , in the earl's comdemnation , proportionally rewarded ? and as for the earl's jurors or assizers , you have heard a full account of them , in the narrative . ly . our author tells us , that the king , and his ministers were under no tentation , against the earl : that there was no design against his life : that his royal highness , albeit informed of an escape intended , yet gave express order not to keep him strictly , even after he was found guilty ; as also his highness ordered , that advocates should be prest to appear for him : and in fine that the earl was very discreetly , and respectfully used . and. . as to his majesty , he is indeed most freely assoiled of all , either inclination or tentation in this matter , except that of importunity . but ly . for his ministers the contrivers , and actors , their tentations may be guessed at , by what is said in the narrative : and if they also had none , it only sayes that they run without driving , and are the lesse excusable . ly . how forward his highness and the council were to press advocates , in the earl's cause , and to grant his petitions , though founded on clear acts of parliament ; how false it is that his royal highness had any information of the earl's intention to escape , and notwithstanding ordered that he should not be strictly keept ; and whether or not there was a design to take the earl's life ; you have already ( and i hope plainly and satisfyingly ) seen in the narrative : but pray remark the solly of this self-condemned reasoning . for. . if the earl was truly guilty of these worst of crimes , leasing-making , depraving , and treason , why should he not have died ? and if he was not guilty , what wickedness was it to give sentence against both his life and fortune , and since , by disposing on his whole estate , to execut it as far as possible ? and ly . is it not a pleasant conceit to imprison , arraign for treason , and find guilty , and crave leave to sentence , a person of the earl's quality ; and then to take away all his estate ; and yet to tell the world , there was no design against his life ? solomon sayes , as a mad man , who casteth firebrands , arrows , and death , so is the man that deceiveth ( much more condemneth ) his nighbour , and saith , am not i in sport ? and machiavel ( whose politiks , may be , with some are in more request then solomons proverbs ) taxeth it as no less impolitik to take away a man's estate , and yet spare his life . and yet notwithstanding ou● wiser , and more politik author will have us to believe neither . but ly . yet the earl was very respectfully used . and this must go far from such hands : and was he not indeed so , when he was . . summarly imprisoned , without bale , or mainprise ? ly . arraigned before the justice-court , and not reserved to the parliament , as is usual for persons of his rank , especially the parliament being then current , and its next session near approaching ? ly . refused access to , or opportunity to speak with his royal highness , though it was often and much desired ? and ●ly . when by the sentence his blood was tainted , his posterity disabled , and his escucheon and arms thereafter torn , and ranversed , as if he had been the worst of traitors ? i grant , it was observed , that the debate in the process was managed , on both hands , with a more then ordinary coolness : but as something must be imputed , on the one part , to his majesties advocat's secret conviction of these strange impertinencies whereunto the discharge of his office obliged him , and on the other hand , to the earl's advocates their perswasion , that his words were so innocent that hardly any thing could be said that was not equally criminal ; so it is certain that the main cause was , that both the one and the other knew that the design was laid , and the issue inevitable . thirdly . this vindicator sayes , that the earl's jurisdictions and estate could be no tentation ; for the late advocate had given such reasons against his right to these iurisdictions and superiorities as could not be answered ; and that the king got nothing ; for his royal highness procured more of it to his children then belonged to the family , debts being payed : and the remainder was given among the creditors , and the tithes returned to the church . but. i. our author goes on still to disown tentations , which can signify nothing , save to confirm more and more that the earl was overthrown and ruined by pure mal●ce . for if there was no tentation , either against his person , or estate , and yet notwithstanding of his innocence ( which all men see ) the former be subjected to a sentence of death , and the later quite taken from him , must not this strange severity proceed from a very extraordinary good nature ? ly . our author disowns any design against the earl's life : but affirms , that there are reasons unanswerable against his iurisdictions , and estate . and yet instead of making use of these reasons civily , to take away his jurisdictions , and estate , his life is criminally , and principally persued . how are these things consistent ? but that which is crooked cannot be made straight . ly . it is false that ever the late advocate , or any other , represented any reasons , far less unanswerable ones , against the earl's rights , either to his estate ▪ or superiorities . and the whole truth in this matter is that he did indeed offer some reasons to the exchequer , against the earl's right to his jurisdictions , but which , at the same time , were so evidently refelled , by shewing , that the earl's rights were long anterior , and no way touched by all the acts of parliament whereon he founded , that his majesty , after full information , did , first by his letter ( a copy whereof ye will find subjoyned ) expressly order the passing , and confirming of the earl's rights ; and then give a special instruction unto his commissioner , to ratify it , in plene parliament , which was also done . and what the present advocate did , in the last parliament , and how it succeeded , with what else may be needful for clearing of this point , you have already in the narrative . ly . our author , first , confounds the earl's estate and his superiorities , as if one and the same thing : whereas a man's estate includs also his property . but the second mistake , and the greater cheat is , because the word superiority sounds more of power then the word property doth , therefore the earl's enemies do in his case constantly joyn his jurisdictions , and superiorities , as if both of the same nature , and equally amissable , for not taking the test , or any the like cause . and hereby have they so far impressed his majesty as to cause him also speak at the same rate : whereas it is an uncontestable truth , that a superiority in its right , and as to the person that enjoyes it , is plainly property , and is only called superiority because the owner by granting , according to the use of the feudal law , a subaltern right to a vassal , holding , or releving of himself , for certain services , or for a quit-rent , thereby becomes his vassal's superior ; a practice plainly authorized , and much ▪ recommended by old acts of parliament , as the best advancement of policy . which things are not said , as if the earl had not as good a right to his jurisdictions as to his superiorities ; seeing he is fully secured in both , by the laws of the land ; but jurisdictions being of their own nature subject to many laws and regulations that nowise concern superiorities , or property , and the earl's superiorities being in effect a considerable part of his estate , it is very much his interest that they be distinguished , to prevent his adversaries imposings . but ly . that you may the better discover their designs against the earl : here , you see , the world is told , that he hes no right to his jurisdictions , and superiorities : but , in the gift that they have lately moved his majesty to grant of the earl's forfaulture , they make his majesties deed to proceed upon quite different reasons , in these terms viz , that his majesty , in the first place , wills , and declares , that all the earl's iurisaictions , offices , superiorities , &c. shall for ever be consolidat , and remain with the croun , as being necessary for the support of his government , and too dangerous for him , and his people , to be , heritably , in the hand of any of his subjects ; and his majesty never having designed to dispon the same . which considerations , though they might be of some moment in the case of a just forfaulture , yet in the earl's case , wherein it is known that before his trial they were the main reasons pretended to work his overthrow , by this sham-treason , they can nowise be regarded , because it is most certain , . that the earl's superiorities do no more concern the crown , and government , then his property ; and that by the same reasoning , or rather ostracism , any man's estate , whether superiority , or property , as men may phansie them to exceed their arbitrary measures , may be taken from him , on as good pretexts . ly . that the reasons assigned do so little militate against the earl's iurisdictions that these jurisdictions were expressly given to his predecessors , and made heritable in his family , for eminent services peformed to the crown , and upon convincing experience that they could not be better disposed on , for the support of his majesties government , and protection of his people , especially against the savage islanders , and their partakers : however some , because of their popery , and barbarity , think fit at present to patronize them . ly . with what colour can these things be alledged for consolidating with the crown the earl's jurisdictions , and superiorities , when we see jurisdictions , and superiorities , as considerable , that were taken from his family , by his father's forfaulture ( whereof you have a just account in the narrative ) conferred upon the marquess of huntly ; and new regalities , and jurisdictions , of as great import , bestowed upon the marquess of queensberry , and others , against most express acts of parliament . but ly . the truth and ingenuity of all this procedure may be best judged by the last allegiance , wherein they cause his majesty affirm , under his great seal ▪ that he never designed to dispon these superiorities and iurisdictions to the earl : albeit as to the superiorities his majesty never scrupled , and as to the jurisdictions he did not only actually dispon them , but after being fully informed of all the objections could be moved in the contrary he did expresly own , ratify , and confirm the deed , first by his letter , hereafter set down , then by his special instruction to his commissioner , and ly . by his solemn ratification in parliament . but suppose the earl be unjustly spoiled ofall his fortune , yet , sayes our author , the king , by the generous interposition of his royal highness ( for , if you will believe this loyal vindicator , it is still his highness clemency that mitigats his majesties rigours ) hath administrat very honestly , getting nothing to himself ( for as to the earl's iurisdictions and superiorities , though they were just now of that value as to be necessary to the king , for the support of the government , and dangerous in the earl's person to both king and people , yet here they are accounted less then nothing ) but giving more of it to his children then belonged to the family ( debts being payed ) and the rest to the creditors , and the tythes to the church . a short specious account of a world of iniquity ! for though the earl be fully perswaded that his majesty neither desires any thing of his estate , nor expects any advantage by the destruction of his family : yet is it not , in the first place , hard above measure , that the earl should be in the same manner deprived , & divested of all , without the least consideration of his person , as if he had been sentenced for the most hainous perduellion ? ly . notwithstanding all here said , and though it was once given out that the earl's eldest son should have a considerable addition to what he presently enjoyes and that the rest of the children should get their just provisions , yet the eldest is still left lyable to the provisions of his brothers & sisters , and to severall of his father's debts , without any releef ; and hath not yet got one farthing , either in money or security , more then the setlement made upon him by the earl at his marriage , wherein he was , & is , in law secured , beyond the reach of any forfaulture could fall upon his father . and for the rest of the children , not only have they got no sufficient security , but some smal payments , appointed them by his majesty , are said to be restrained unless the earl's rights be delivered up : a thing altogether unusual , & which argues in the demanders a manifest diffidence of the right of forfaulture , and were both inhumane , and is impossible for the children to do . ly . waving the false , and invidious insinuation here made of the earl's debts , take this brief account of the condition whereunto , at present , his estate and creditors are reduced . when his majesty returned , the late marquess of argyle ( as you may read in the narrative ) had undertaken , and stood engaged for debts of the house of huntly , amounting to l sterl : yet upon argyle's forfaulture the marquess of huntly's estate , extending to l ster : yearly rent , whereof argyle was legally possest , for his releef , was taken from argyle , and given to huntly , without any burthen , and all that debt left on the family of argyle . thereafter his majesty thought fit to restore this earl of argyle to a part of his father's old estate , and to appoint the rest of it for payment of creditors , in the order then prescribed ; whereupon the earl , agreeing with as many of the creditors as according to his majesty's assignment acclaimed the remainder , he was setled in what he possesses , with a considerable burthen . and thus his right was then established , though with the heavy prejudice of a great many other creditors , who being truly creditors of the house of huntly became only creditors to the late marquess of argyle , in the manner you have heard , and by the above-mentioned restitution of the marquess of huntly were miserably cut off : but upon the earl's present disaster , what neither material justice nor the merit of the persons could obtain , against the house of huntly , is now by importunity procured , against the earl of argyle , for the more effectual ruine of his family and friends , and these old creditors of huntly , who were no original creditors of argyle , brought in upon argyl's estate , to the exclusion of his proper creditors . and further , least the real securities , by morgages , and otherwise , that some of the earl's creditors have , should avail them , these are also made void , by the act of quinquennial possession , and the other rigours of forfaultures , only accustomed to be practised ( and yet not without some mitigation ) in the case of atrocious , and open rebellion against the king and kingdom . and besides all this , his majesty hath been also moved to give away considerable superiorities , and lands , pertaining to the earl , to several persons , having no other pretension , or merit , saving an unreasonable enmity against the family of argyle . by all which it is evident , that , besides the horrible usage the earl met with , in his trial , and sentence , not only is he himself wholly neglected , and his children little regarded , in this late disposal of his estate , but his proper creditors and friends are also prejudged , and postponed : and in effect his whole estate , fair and opulent enough to have payed all his debts honestly , provided his children competently , and sustained the dignity of his rank honourably , cutted and carved on , before his eyes , at pleasure , and much of it parcelled out , and bestowed upon the worst of his neighbors , and his greatest enemies . but to make a mends for all , our author sayes , the tiends are returned to the church . but seeing the earl possessed all his tithes , by good and lawfull purchases , and undoubted rights from the church , whereof the church neither did , nor could complain , our author should have remembered , that the lord loves iudgment , and hates robbery for burnt offering . yet , in all this , the earl doth not intertain one hard thought of his majesty , knowing certainly that notwithstanding all was prepared for him by his learned iudges and wife councellours , yet he hath not stept one step , in this affair , but by importunity ; even tho all access to represent any thing to him , on the earl's behalf , was way-laid . nor did his majesty yeeld to pass the late signature disposing of the earl's estate ( albeit the earl of middletoun was sent express about it ) until his royal highness arrived from scotland at newmarket , and prevailed . as for the three capital sentences , against the earl's family , which our author mentions , you have a full account of them in the narrative . what return shall we then make to our author 's euge , for a happy kingdom , but , o unhappy happy kingdom ! wherein the fairest words are made the foulest offence , and the smallest offence punished as the greatest treason , where dreames and visions are exhibited for indictments , and judges , and jurors find them to be realities , where right is turned to precarious gift , and then taken , and retaken , at pleasure : and yet all these things gloried in as the greatest marks of its felicity : and , in a word , whose misery is lamented by all , except a few that enrich themselves with its spoyls , and triumph in its ruines ? our author comes , in the next place , to give an account , in what manner the earl gave in his explanation , and took the test : where denying and affirming many things , at random , which are all distinctly set down , and cleared in the narrative , i shall here only briefly remark his own ( as he pretends to do other mens ) mistakes . and first , albeit the earl was not publikly desired to take the test , yet it is most true , that , in private , his royal highness did much press him to it : and , after a meeting of council had been designedly appointed for the earl's taking or resussing , his highness did peremptorily oblidge him to attend the next council-day in course , and plainly refused to give him leave to withdraw , and take the benefite of the two moneths longer time , allowed by the act of parliament . ly . it is false , that the earl had assured both his royal highness and many others that he would not take the test ; that he came in abruptly to the council ; that he spoke with so slow ( or soft ) a voice that none say they hear'd him , that he clapt down on his knees , and took the test. when as . ly . it is certain , that what passed betwixt his royal highness , and the earl , about the test , is faithfully setdown in the narrative , and the earl was not more positive with any other on that subject : that it was with difficulty that the earl got his appearance before the council delayed untill the day he presented hemself : and that that day he was expected , and also spoke to , and treated with by several councellors , before he entred , about the swearing with an explication : that being entred , and a stool set to him , to kneel upon , he first gave in , or ( which is more ) declared openly , and , word by word , directed toward his royal highness the sense and explanation wherein he was content to swear : that his highness heard it , and told the earl so much , the next morning : that the clerks heard it , and repeated it to several persons , and one of them in his witnessing against the earl expresly swears that he heard it , and saw it accepted : that some that sate remotest in the council both heard and repeated the earl's words : that , after the earl had pronounced them , the oath was administrat to , and sworn by him ; which was the most proper , natural , and direct acceptance that could be desired : so that , after this business was thus publikly transacted , for our author to say , either that the earl spoke softly , or that he ( specially being himself a privy councellour ) should first have given in his sense , and petitioned to know if it was acceptable , is a silly pretence . but ly . our author , not only contrary to truth , but , which is more remarkable , in contradiction even to his majesties advocate , and the records of the court , proceeds to affirm . . that the earl dispersed copies of his explanation , albeit his majesties advocate , having libelled the same thing , was necessitat to pass from it , because absolutly false , and destitute of all evidence . and next , that his majesties advocate having allowed the earl to prove , that the council heard and approved it , yet he failed in the probation . whereas it is manifest from the process , that the earl , having alledged , for a defence against the crimes of leasing - making , depraving , and treason , that the council had accepted his explanation , in manner above ▪ declared , and that therefore it could not be made a ground to infer any of these crimes against him : the lords by their judgment interloquutour did expresly repell this defence ; and all they sustained was a defence proponed to elude the perjury , to witt . that the earl emitted his explanation at , or before , his taking of the test : which emitting , as it plainly differs from the point of acceptance , so was the proving of it justly neglected by the earl , because the emission notour , and the charge of perjury ridiculous ; as you have it more fully in the narrative . but these things our author willfully mistakes , that he may the more easily abuse strangers . as for what our author here adds , that the earl's explanation made the oath no oath , and the test no test , and would have evacuated the whole act , as , he sayes , he will prove , shall be noticed , when he comes to his proofs : only where he sayes , the greatest fanatiks in scotland owned they would take the test in the earl's sense , without prejudice to their principles ; it is a groundless assertion , and by all of them utterly denyed . he sayes , the mist puts a strange abuse upon the world , as if the scruples that he sets down were only the scruples of the conformed clergy , whereas many papers , bearing that title , were drawn by the presbyterians . but seeing the paper that the mist sets down was certainly emitted by one of the conformed clergy , and doth fully homologat with the rest above-insert in the narrative ( which without doubt are all of their fabrik ) the pretended abuse is altogether groundless . but now our author comes to make good the earl's indictment , in point of law : and though here we find nothing new , or repeated with any advantage , and though all ▪ be already fully answered , in the narrative , yet , lest he complain of neglect , i shall run over what he alledges , as briefly as i can . and having set down the words of the earl's explanation , the first crime , sayes he , charged upon the earl , from this paper , is that , albeit it be statut , that no man interpret the king's statuts otherways then they bear , and to the intent and effect they were made for : and that the king , and parliament did appoint the test to be taken for securing the protestant religion , and the king's prerogative , without any evasion : yet , notwithstanding thereof , the earl did take the oath , in such a sense as did not only evacuate his own taking but learn others how to do the like , and evacuate all acts of the same nature that can be made . but seeing that in matter of crimes statuts are certainly designed for beacons , land-marks , and the most clear distinctive directions that could be invented , as well to hinder men from transgressing as to guard them against the pains , and therefore are to be understood in the most obvious signification that the words do bear , is it not an odd stretch for our author to think that a man's taking of an oath , enjoined by a statut , in any sense , whether true or false , pertinent or impertinent , if simply offered by him , for expeding of his own conscience , should be look't upon as an interpreting or misinterpreting of the statute , which oftentimes happens to be but to clear , when the oath is confessedly ambiguous ? thus , as to the sense and meaning of the act in hand , viz. that all men , therein comprehended , should take the test , in manner , and under the certification therein contained , the earl never had the least hesitation about it . all his difficulty was to clear himself and his own oath , as to the ambiguities acknowledged even by the council to be in the test , ( though not in the act ) and this he does , by referring explicitly to the parliaments sense , and design , as it stands expressed in the act , without ranversing either the words of the test or meaning of the act , as an other approven explication doth : how is it then possible , that for this he should be thought concern'd in this statute , as a misinterpreter ? and is it not , on the other hand , very evident , that both the advocate , and our author , and their associats , in wresting this statute ( which seems principally to have been made against the misinterpreting and wresting of laws in iudgment ) to so remote and extraneous a case , are themselves the only misinterpreters , and transgressours ? but waving the connexion let us hear how our author proves the subsumption , viz. that the earl did take the test in such a sense as did evacuate his own , and teach others to do the like , and evacuate all other acts of that nature : and ( to repeat as little as possible ) he sayes , that the design of laws , and oaths , is to procure a certainty of obedience , and performance , but the earl's qualified oath everts this design . wonderfull ! the test is in it self granted to be ambiguous , and reaches not this design . the earl , that he may deal more clearly with god and the government , declares explicitly a plain and certain sense , wherein he is willing to take it ; and the council , who might , and ought to have rejected it , if not satisfieing , do accept of it . and yet hereupon he is immediatly by them staged as an everter , depraver , and traitour . and wherefore ? because forsooth the earl promises only to obey the act as far as he can . ( a most absurd and ridiculous pretence ) and tells us not in what he will obey . which ( albeit no crime though true ) is yet a great falshood : for the earl immediatly subjoins a very certain and congruous sense , in which he is willing to take the test , all the obedience here in controversie . ly . because the earl sayes that no body can explain it but for himself , and reconcile it as it is geuuine &c. which , ( adds our author ) implyes that it had no plain genuine sense . but though the council did explain this oath , and in so far grant that it had no plain genuine sense ( for what is already plain without doubt needs no explanation ) yet the earl goes not so far : but all he meant was , that , in the midst of so many objections made against the test , he could only clear it for himself : which also he does most safely and soundly , in referring to its self-consistency , and the parliaments sense , and scope , the best rules of interpretation . ly . because the parliament designed the test as a security for the protestant religion . but , sayes our author , the earl , by saying he did only take it in as far as it is consistent with itself , and with the protestant religion , implyes that in some things it is not consistent . but , . implications , which may be so easily strained , and oftentimes are found to be as the fool thinks , are terrible grounds of crimes . ly . if the parliament designed the test as a security for the protestant religion , and the earl did take it , in so far as it is consistent with the same protestant religion , what can be more agreeable ? and ly . it was neither the earl's words , nor intention , that the parliament had framed a test in some things not consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , but the true sense of his words was , and is , that however many did alledge both yet he took it in as far as it was consistent , which he vvas sure ( as our author sayes ) vvas the parliaments purpose . ly . because the design of this oath being to preclude the takers from reserving a liberty to rise in arms , upon any pretext whatsoever : the earl ( sayes our author ) by his explication , reserves to himself a power to make any alterations that he shall think for the advantage of church and state. but , not to stay you here with what you have so fully cleared in the narrative , dare any man ( even our author not excepted ) say , that he who reserves a liberty to himself , in his station , and in a lawfull way , to wish and endeavour , any alteration , he thinks , to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and his loyalty ( which are the earl's words ) eo ipso , reserves to himself a liberty to rise in arms upon any pretext whatsoever ? certainly to assert this , ( as our author here does ) is not only to deny common sense , but desperatly to affirm , that to rise in arms , upon any pretence whatsoever , is a lavvful thing , advantageous to church and state , and agreeable both to religion , and loyalty ; the most traiterous and irreligious position that can be devised ; and which , one day or other , our author may be more straitned to answer then at present he is to maintain the gros●est absurdities . now whether by all these fyne remarks our author hes concluded , as he alledges , that the earl hes interpret his oath otherwise then it bears ( although this be also a wide , and weak impertinency , as to the inferring of any crime ) let the world judge . but. ly . sayes our author . if the earl's glossing vvere allovvable then there vvere no need to propose doubts in parliament , but oaths might be left to be formed at the takers pleasure . but. . is not this consequence far more clearly deducible from the councils emitting their explanation ? ly . what sense or non-sense could induce our author to dream , that because inadvertency may necessarily occasion explications , therefore men should be still inadvertent ? our author desires to knovv , from any man of sense , if the earl vvould have obtained , from the parliament , at the passing of the test , that everyman should be allovved to take it , as far as it was consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , and with the earl's other qualifications ? and ( if i , in this contest , may pretend to this quality ) i would answer him roundly . that albeit , i think , hardly any man of sense could make a proposition , in thir terms , to that soveraign court , that had full power to change the test , at their pleasure ; yet i am very confident , that had any man suggested the half of the objections that have since been started against it , they would very readyly have endeavoured to obviat all reasonable exceptions of inconsistency ; though neither by our author 's wise expedient , nor yet by reserring them to the councils just and accurate explanation . and for the other qualifications in the earl's words , i am most assured , and have his highness for my voucher , that had the parliament been ask't , whether or not the test did bind up a man , in a lawfull way , and in his station & c ? they would have answered , not , and that therefore , though they might have judged the reservation not necessary , yet , for the greater ease of conscience , they would never have stuck to allow any honest man , in swearing , to express it or not , at his pleasure . ly , our author asks , if a man should by oath oblige himself simply to make me a right to lands . could this sense be consistent with it , i 'le make it as far as i can ? or would a right so qualified satisfy the obligation ? but , if i were to oblige a man simply by his oath to make me a right , and he should answer , i le do all i can to satisfy you ; and then tell me distinctly what he would sweat to do , and what not , ( which is the plain parallel of the earl's case , cleared from our author's inversions , ) i should think my self bound , whether i accepted his offer or not , to judge him a fair plain-dealing man. but if once i accepted , and should afterward call him a cheat , certainly all men would esteem me the greater cheat of the two . ly , ly , and ly , sayes our author , oaths should be so taken as that the taker may be persued for perjury : that the covenanters would not have suffered a man to take the covenant as far as consistent with his loyalty . and are not the enemies of the king's supremacy content to swear in so far as is consistent with the word of god ? so that if the earl's sense were allowed every man should swear upon his own terms , and upon contrary terms . but , . without question , the earl turning either papist or disloyal might have been persued for perjury upon his oath as qualified . ly , albeit the covenanters might have laughed at a man for adjecting a caution which they thought expressed , yet i am sure , at worst , they would never have judged the offer a crime , much less accused the offerer , after having accepted it . ly , it is nothing to the purpose what declarations the enemies of the supremacy make : but , if these our author mentions be criminal ( as he would have us to believe ) i would intreat him to tell us why their makers are not persued : and unless he say , it is because these declarations were not made before , & accepted by the council , i hope he will be so ingenuous as to confess , that it is because , albeit these declarations be judged eversive of the oath , yet they are not accounted crimes , in respect they are only well mean't proposals , which when rejected evanish . and , ly , our author's consequence , if the earl's sense be allowed then every man should swear upon his own terms , as it doth not at all concern the earl , so hath it no connexion , except in so far as it reflects on his majesties council , the alone masters of such allowances . ly . sayes our author , former statuts having discharged conventions , or convocations , and bonds , or leagues , without the kings consent , the covenanters protested , that their covenant was not against these acts ; because they could not be meaned of meetings and bonds for preservation of the king , religion , and laws , and the . act : par : . declares all such glosses false , and disloyal : and therefore the earl's gloss must be so too . but , . the earl's gloss is no such gloss , it doth not at all touch these conventions or bonds said to be discharged ; therefore it must not be so . ly . the earl's explanation is expresly qualified , in a lawful way , and not repugnant to his loyalty : which words plainly respect the act . as well as all other acts made for defining our allegiance , and duty : and therefore it cannot possibly fall under its compass as a contravention . but now , after we have done with our author's critique , which , he sayes , makes his subsumption clear and undeniable , i freely appeal to all men of ordinary ingenuitie , whether he hath proved so much as the first article of it , viz. that the earl took the test in such a sense as did evacuate his own oath , much less the other parts of it ( mere extravagant improvements of a lesed phansy ) viz. that he did thereby teach others to do the like . and evacuate all other acts of that nature . and yet our author , as if he had fully made out his charge , goes on to answer , not the mist in the pertinent contexture of its whole discourse , but a few such objections as he thought fit lamely to excerp out of it . and the first he takes notice of is , where the mist or m r mist ( as this brouillon calls him ) sayes , that if the authority vvhich is to administer the oath accept the takers sense , the taker is only bound in that sense : but so it is the council accepted the earl's sense , and if they had refused it the earl had not taken the oath , nor had his refusal been a crime . which being indeed an unanswerable defence for the earl , and largely insisted on in the narrative , i shall only shortly consider our author's reply : whereof the summe and force is , that the council , not having the povver to pardon crimes , their connivance at the earl's misinterpreting the law cannot exoner him : which he illustrats by putting the case , that a man having many friends in council gives in an explication incontrovertedly treasonable : for example , that he minds not thereby to bind up himself from rising in arms ; yet it would be no defence ( sayes our author ) that the council did not challenge it , for the time . but ( waving the author's confounding of misinterpreting of a law with the missensing of an oath , his lessening the councils acceptance of the earl's explanation into a bare connivance , and lastly his reproaching their lordships with a very palpable insinuation of partiality ) the question is not , if the council have the power of pardoning , as our author goes about to pervert the argument , on purpose that he may presuppose a crime , but plainly , if they have not the authority to administer the oath of the test , by express provision of the act of parliament : which our author cannot deny . now , if the council , by the act of parliament , have the authority to administer , and did really accept the earl's explanation ( and not only connive at it ) which on his part was a mere proposal , and , in effect , by their acceptance became as truly their explanation as if they themselves had emitted it , how is it possible that , in this matter , he should be thought guilty , without overturning all the principles of reason , sense , and common honesty ? i grant , if the earl , or any man else , had , under the pretext of offering an explanation , taken occasion openly to misinterpret the laws , or utter speaches manifestly treasonable , the councils connivance could not fully assoil him but , . what have we to do with such absurd , and incredible suppositions ? and is it not the hight of calumnie to compare the earl's explanation , which both in it self , and in all its circumstances , manifestly appears to be most ingenuously , and dutyfully , by him tendered , for the exoneration of his conscience , and was no less really accepted as such by the council , with imaginary criminal wrestings , and treasonable declamations , which , as proposed , scarce any man , in his right wits , can judge caseable ? ly . the earl , and his words , being charged with misinterpreting , slandering , reproaching , and depraving his majesties statuts , and proceedings : if the lords of council , who represent his majesty by a commission , unaccountable save to his majesty alone , accept his words , is it not the same thing as if his majesty himself had done it ? which certainly is more significant , as to the cutting off of any pretence of injury , then either dissimulation , or remission , which yet all law doth constantly sustain for that end . ly , as to the treason objected , though there were some ground for it , as there is none , yet seeing the earl's explanation was tendered to the council , to be by them authorized , and if by them rejected had indeed evanished as never uttered , it 's yet further evident , that their acceptance could not be made a snare to the earl , without the greatest injustice . but ly , the council being impowered by the parliament to administer , and having accepted the earl's explanation , it is the same thing as if the parliament had accepted it , in which case , even our author must acknowledge that all ground of accusation would have been for ever excluded . but , instead of noticing these things , all that our author sayes is . . that the paper containing the earl's explanation was not given in till the next day after that the earl had sworn the test. but was it therefore not delivered verbally in council the day before ? and was not this delivery enough ? and ly , that tho the judges had allowed the earl to prove that he had emitted these words , at the swearing of the test , yet he failed in the probation . but in what manner , and for what intent , this allowance was given , and how disingenuously it is here obtruded , i have already cleared . in the d . place , our author affirms the mists alledgeance for clearing the earl of the charge of misinterpreting , viz. that the law doth only discharge publik misinterpreting to the abusing of others , to be most false . but , althouh i have already told you , that to extend the law against misinterpreting the king's statuts to a man's missensing of an oath , is a wide stretch , which both papists and fanatiks , who vastly disagree from our author as to the sense of the oath of supremacy , and yet have no difference with him as to the sense of the acts imposing it , may justly call absurd . yet , to assist my friend the mist ( who , tho a stranger , hath yet said things ten times more justly then our author , albeit , apparently , a piece of a scotch aspiring lawyer . ) . i would be content to know , if so be our author think every private misinterpretation of laws to be a transgression of this act of parliament what shall become , not only of thousands of the king 's best subjects , who fall dayly in such mistakes , but also of advocates , and lawyers themselves , who are continually , by the ears about such controversies ? nay even of his majesties advocate , who in his prined criminals , as you may see above in the first pos●script to the narrative , calls an act of parliament , an unreasonable , unjust , murthering , and inept act ? and i am very confident , whatever our author shall think fit to alledge , either from the direction of the intention , or favour of circumstances , for acquitting these misinterpreters , it shall fully quadrate to the earl's case , and with many and clear advantages . ly . when our author jumps from the misinterpreting of lavvs to the missensing of oaths , and thereon tells us , how dangerous and criminal it is to take oaths in wrested senses , contrair to the design of the legislator : he , first , supposes what is already shewed to be false , viz. that the earl's explanation of the test is wrested : and next , he quite forgets that no sense of the test can avail , unless accepted by the council the great administrators . so that , for all his flanting , the government doth still retain its outmost and best security viz. the fidelity of such as it intrusts , without whose allowance all senses and explications are utterly insignificant . in the d. place , our author offends at the mist , for saying , that the legislator is surest of those who give explanations , & plain dealing is alwayes honest dealing : because , sayes our author , if this prove any thing , it vvill prove that any man may adject any quality , and so render all oaths useless , &c. but. . you have just now heard , that the takers adjecting , without the administators accepting , signifies nothing . ly . our author acknowledges , that vvhere the sense is previously offered to , and accepted by the legislator ( or such who are by him authorized to administrate , which certainly in law and sense is the same thing ) it secures the taker . which , notwithstanding of our author 's reasonless denial , is , in terminis , the earl's case . but ly . our author adds , that the earl's saying , he is content to take the test , as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , condescends to nothing . strange ! the parliament in the test expressly make the confession the standard of the protestant religion : the council in their explanation ran verse this , and make the protestant religion the standard of the confession , and the very fixed point of the test. and yet when the earl swears the test , without the least reflection on the confession , as far as it is consistent vvith it self and the protestant religion , all this must be nothing . as to what our author adds , that he is desirous to knovv in vvhat part of europe such qualities vvere ever allovved ? would he allow me the like liberty , i would ask him , . in what part of europe was ever such a test framed ? ly . in what part of it was ever such an explanation as the earl's , after acceptance , made a crime ? and ly . in what part of the whole world was ever such an indictment contrived , and judgment past ? and , in the mean time , he may find in the narrative just such a quality as the earl's allowed in a far plainer oath , by a far severer prince , and in a far more publik manner , to archbishop cranmer , in england . and. . ly . a much more odd one , in the same matter , by the scotch council , to the scotch clergy . our author repeats , — and sayes , it vvere most absurd to think that misinterpreting of laws , and defaming of parliaments should be suffered , because thrown in into explications ; and that adjected qualities are worse then equivocations , and mentall reservations . but there being neither misinterpreting nor defaming in the earl's case , and the quality by him adjected being in itself sound and congruous , and by the council accepted ( notwithstanding our author's foolish pretence , that it was not first offered by vvay of petition ) i cannot stand to refute all impertinencies . and , as to what he adds , about the councils explanation , emitted in favours of the clergy , that it doth not unsecure the legislator , not admitt the takers to be judges ( as he falsly insinuats that the earl's doth ) all these things are already fully examined . the second crime , sayes our author , fixed upon the earl , from his explanation , vvas grounded on the act ja : . par : . c. . made against defaming of king and parliament , and depraving their laws . but this crime , and all that our author sayes for enforcing it , being so largely , and clearly answered , in the narrative , i freely grant , that , defaming , and depraving are great crimes ; that it is one of the principal concerns of governours to have themselves esteemed by their people ; that lavvs for this effect have been consented to by our parliaments , to serve ( as our author loves to speak ) instead of armies ( though yet we have the misfortune to have both ) that even insinuations and inferences if plainly tending to the reproach and slander of rulers , may be in so far criminal as to deserve an extraordinary , though not the ordinary pain . and lastly , that in crimes dolus malus is for the most part presumed from the nature and circumstances of the deed it self . and shall only adde . . that where our author asserts , that the forementioned act of parliament was made against words , and papers , in general , vvhereby misliking might be moved betwixt the king and his subjects ; and that it regards the effect only , vvithout respect to the author's design , the same is false , inconsistent , and dangerous : false , because it is a known maxime of lavv , and reason , that maleficia , voluntas , & propositum delinquentis distinguit l. ff : de furtis . and to think that the lavv punishes any thing , without either apparent , or presumed dole , and malice , is to confound crime and chance , guilt and innocence . . inconsistent , because , albeit our author do here tell us , that the parliament look't only to the effect , yet afterwards , he not only alledges that the earl's malice may be gathered from the nature and strain of the paper , but endeavours to clear it , by several circumstances . and lastly , dangerous , because thereby a man's best security , innocence , and a conscience void of offence , is quite taken away , and the man and his words , and writings , exposed to every perverse inference that madness ▪ prompted by malice may suggest . ly , that , notwithstanding all the evil inferences , and worse consequences , that our author charges upon the earl's words , yet it is impossible for any man , considering without prejudice the circumstances wherein they were emitted , not to acknowledge , that as they were plainly intended by the earl , for the exoneration of his ovvn conscience , so in place of defaming , & depraving , they evidently contain a very seasonable vindication of the parliaments honour , and integrity . if the test had been unanimously concluded in parliament , and universally received by the people , without hesitation , or exception : and if , in that case , a man had idlely and officiously said , that he believed , that the parliament did not intend to impose contradictory oaths , and that he , for his part , could take it as far as it is consistent vvith it self , and the protestant religion : i grant that a nice or malicious hearer might possibly have formalized , and made it a matter of explication : but when it was notour , and offered to be proven , that contradictions in the test were the common discourse : that almost a third of the orthodox clergy did , on this account , scruple at it ; and severall of them had published their scruples in writing ; that the earl , when desirous to absent , was ordered to be called to the council , either to take the test , or refuse it : and that , the very day he appeared before them , they voted their own explanation in favours of the clergy : i appeal to all impartial men , if the earl's asserting publikly his confidence , and willingness , as you have heard , instead of a reflection , was not , in such a juncture , a most just , and fair declaration , as well in behalf of the parliament , as of his ovvn conscience . but our author strains , and insists upon consequences from the precise and abstract words , without regaird to either occasion , time , place , manner , or end , albeit the principal significators , in cases of this nature , and in effect the main hinges of all morality : a logick capable to pervert the best words , and subvert all ingenuity , and honesty , amongst men . for put the case that , to satisfy the apprehensions and doubts that were so frequent of contradictions and inconsistencies in the test , his highness himself , or the president of the council , had said to these scruplers , in these or the like words , that he was confident the parliament had no intention to impose contradictory oaths , it is evident , that by our author 's reasoning , this very apology , how fairly soever intended , in charity to these dissenters , and for the parliaments vindication , might , as well as the earl's words , be urged with all our author's misconstructions , and made a mortall crime . but leaving things so obvious , and already so fully cleared , take a short account of the circumstances wherewith our author doth further charge the earl. and , first . he sayes , that the earl's father , and family had owned eminently the principles against which this oath was taken . but our author cannot deny that they owned yet more eminently the protestant religion , the only subject of this part of the test , and of the earl's explanation now questioned . and for the other principles here named , they owned them no otherwise then the parliaments of both kingdoms did . ly . he says , the earl himself had taken the covenant . and so did — — and many thousands of his good subjects beside . ly . he tells us , the earl had all along opposed the test in parliament : but therefore there was the greater reason that his offer to take it , with an explanation , should have been favourably accepted . ly . our author adds , the earl had positivly told his royal highness , he would not take the test. but this is both false and impertinent . ly . he says , neither the ministers , nor others in the earl's countrey , upon whom he had influence , had taken the test. but ( beside that this is not true absolutly , and that in effect few ministers in scotland had , at that time , taken the test , in respect there were about two moneths of the time allowed by the act of parliament then to run ) how iniquous is it to make the earl accountable for other mens inclinations ? ly . the concern and kindness the fanatiks shew for the earl is also objected , but with the same truth and pertinency as all the rest . and yet our author concluds , all which demonstrate . that he had an aversion from the test. which indeed might very well have been , without this demonstration : but that therefore what he said about it , or ( as our author speaks ) did against it was done dolo malo is just as much as to say that he who , in candid and honest dealing , goes about to explain an ambiguous oath , before he take it , speaks maliciously against it . but our author tells us , that the lords of justitiary had a clear precedent for what they did against the earl , in the like iudgment given in the same court against the lord balmerino ; who for a petition presented to , and accepted , and once read by his late majesty , vvas found guilty , upon far remoter inferences , of misconstruing his majesties proceedings . but this being particularly answered by the earl's lawyers , in the process , i shall only here add . . that balmerino's petition , containing many positive alledgeances reflecting on several passages of the government , in order to a redress , wherein his design might very readily fall under suspicion , holds no parallel with the earl's explanation , on his part a mere proposal made with all due respect to the parliament , and simply tendered for the clearing of his oath and conscience , and not indeed capable of another construction . ly . the king never accepted balmerino's petition by way of approbation , nor was it so much as delivered to him by balmerino . but our author , by this false phrasing of the king 's having seen , and read this petition , would take off the councils formal , and direct acceptance of the earl's explanation . and ly . that albeit balmerino's petition , and the earl's explanation hold no manner of proportion , yet even balmerino's case was generally judged so hard that his jurours themselves divided upon it , and he was only found guilty by eight of them against seven that assoiled him , and immediatly after sentence he was freely pardoned . as to what our author adds of this same earl's being formerly found guilty anno . of the like crime , upon the like ground : it is very true : he was indeed then found guilty of the like crime , and upon the like ground . and not only by the same partie , but by some of the same persons , who & semel & semper are , and will be — in eodem genere . but of this you have already had a large and full account . our author comes to review the mist's justification of the earl's words . to which opposing his former perversions he only repeats , with some new extravagancies , what is already answered . thus , for instance , where the earl , in duty and civility , sayes , by way of preface , that he was desirous to give obedience as far as he could , which clearly refers to the act of parliament , and the councils requisition , whereunto he professes his willingness to give all possible satisfaction : our author , to shew his good breeding , and better sense , tells us , that these words vvere intended by the earl for a quality and part of his oath , as if he had said that though he vvas content to svvear , yet he vvas only minded to keep so as far as he could : whereas it is evident , as the sun-light , that the quality that the earl adjects , and which he would have understood for a part of his oath begins after these words , and therefore i take the test ; and that this quality is both certain , sound , and most genuine . but having already told you that before the earl's appearance the countrey was filled with the noise of contradictions , and inconsistencies , in the test ; so that the earl's words in stead of reproaching were , in effect , a direct and very seasonable vindication of the government , as well as of his own conscience ; and that the security of the government as to oaths is not concerned in the senses that men devise , or propose ( as our author perpetually mistakes ) but in such as it pleaseth the council , the grand administrators , to accept ; i shall not trouble you with further reflections on this head : specially seeing that albeit the importunity of the earl's accuser have occasioned , what in the narrative , and what in this preface , a sensing and resensing of his words , almost ad nauseam . yet the plain truth , and my opinion is , that the earl's words never had , nor can have but two senses , and these most distinct , and constant , the one genuine , just , and honest , which all indifferent men ever did , and do acknowledge , the other most strained , crooked , and calumnious , which yet his adversaries will alwise adhere to . but , sayes our author , these words , i take it in so far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , do so openly import that in some things it is inconsistent that vvhosoever vvould persuade him to the contrary must think him fool or idiote . but. . since the earl doth not say what our author would have openly imported , either positively or designedly , it is impossible he could say it criminally . ly . since his words do manifestly referr to the many exceptions that were abroad against the test ; and that it is no less evident that by his explanation he singlely intended to clear his own conscience , and deal candidly with the government : whosoever would perswade that there is in it any ground of offence or crime , specially after it was accepted by the council , must be really either fool or worse . our author indeed tells us , that the words vvere spoke by the earl to inflame the people : that they reflect upon the prudence and conduct of the parliament , and so prove defaming and depraving unansvverably . and vvhat can be more depraving of a law then to make it pravam legem ? and vvhat law can be more prava or pernicious then that vvhich is inconsistent vvith the protestant religion , and vvhich tyes to svvear things contradictory ? and the having svvorn and dispersed his explications shevves a firm and passionat design to poyson the people vvith a belief of all these ill things of the parliament . but seeing the common and certain understanding of depraving is to wrest by a false and malicious construction to a bad end what was designed for a good : that , for certain , there is no falshood so much as alledged by our author to be in the earl's vvords : and for malice all the circumstances above adduced do undoubtedly purge them of it : that no man in a studied apology can say , the parliament did not intend contradictions , but his vvords by this calumnious logick may be charged with the same train of absurd consequences : that the councils explication is , in every respect , more obnoxious to them then the earl's : that our author knows dispersing neither was nor could be proven : and that in effect the earl's explanation was accepted by , and so became the councils more then his ( as you have fully heard in the narrative ) this groundless violent invective is already answered . but , if i may take a little more liberty then my narrator thought fit to use , dare our author state the controversie upon this issue , whether there be contradictions and inconsistencies in the test or not ? or if they be ( as the council hath implicitly granted , and all men may explicitly see in the paraphrase above set doun ) will he have it a crime for a man to say , he believes the parliament intended no contradictions , and that he is content to take the test in so far as it is consistent ? or would he have us to believe , either that all scotch parliaments , ( or , at least , the last , by reason of an extraordinary assistance ) are infallible ? or if they be fallible , as they confess themselves , thinks he the people either so blockish as not to see their failings , tho never so palpable , and also important to mens salvation , or so brutal as to break all measures , if once they conceive their rulers to be but men ? but though here you may indeed perceive the grounds whereupon all our author's discourses in this pamphlet do proceed , yet seeing they are manifestly calculate to some mens unhappy designes , who on purpose inveigh against the people , as either ignorant or insolent , that they may be arbitrary : and would have all dissenters from their designes to be suspect , and all suspect to be traitors , that they may be uncontrollable : i hope men are not yet brought to that pass either of simplicity or terrour as to be cajolled or cudgelled into a complyance with such pernicious insinuations . the third crime wherewith the earl was charged was treason : a crime now become with us ( and so much the more pity that we live under a prince so quite different ) as it was of old said to be under tiberius , omnium accusationum complementum : and which , sayes our author , was inferred against the earl from these words . i doe declare , i mean not to bind up my self , in my station , and in a lawfull way , to wish , and endeavour any alteration i think to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and my loyalty ; and this i understand as a part of my oath . and this , our author tells us , he will make out , in a plain , familiar , unanswerable way : and , for that effect , gives us this demonstration , in mode and figure . he that reserves to himself the power of reforming church or state , commits treason . but the earl in his explication reserves to himself a povver of reforming . ergo. and not to amuse you with repeating what is already so fully said , in answer to this pretence , equally ridiculous and pernicious ; to this formal argument take this formall answer . he that reserves to himself the povver of reforming , &c. by asserting or assuming to himself the povver of reforming , either proper to the prince alone , or in a way without his line , or without warrant of law , or to the hurt of church , and state , and repugnant to the protestant religion , and his loyalty , commits treason : transeat , be it so . he that reserves to himself the povver of reforming , &c. by declaring he minds not to bind up himself , in his station , and in a lawfull way , to endeavour alterations , he thinks to the advantage of church , and state , not repugnant to the protestant religion , and his loyalty , commits treason . is denyed . nay in effect this is so far from being treason that the thing thus reserved is the indispensible duty of our allegiance : and for a subject , specially a privy councellor , not to wish , and endeavour , in his station , and in a lawfull way , such alterations as he thinks to the advantage of church and state , and not repugnant to the protestant religion , & his loyalty , were a lash disloyalty , and plain perjury . but so it is that the earl in his explication reserves to himself a povver of reforming , in the former sense , is false , and the very thing denyed by his vvords : in the later , and second , sense , it is indeed true , but , in steed of being a crime , a most clear , and certain duty . but , our author sayes , that any is as comprehensive as all : which he gravely proves by several instances : and thence infers , that therefore the earl has reserved to himself to endeavour all alterations . and , sayes he , if that be not treason nothing can be treason . but albeit to endeavour any , or all alterations simply ( as our author sophistically , and calumniously divides the earl's words ) may be treason , dare he affirm , that for a man in his station , and in a lawfull way , to endeavour any or all alterations , to the better , and not repugnant to religion , and loyalty ( which are the earl's words ) is treason ? or can he , or any man , deny , that the doing of this very thing may be the necessary duty of every good subject , much more of one of his majesties svvorn councellors . our author sayes indeed well , but to no purpose . that it is treason l. . § majestatis ff ad l. iuliam majestatis , to attempt against the security of the government . but can he , or any man , in his right senses , conceive , that for a man to endeavour any , or all alterations , as above qualified by the earl , is to attempt against the government ? certainly he may as soon prove that to assist and advance the government , faithfully , and strenuously ( the true , and obvious import of the earl's words ) is to overturn it traiterously . but our author hath a clear statut for him viz. p. . sess : . act. . ch. . whereby it is declared that these positions , that it is lawfull for subjects , upon any pretence , to enter into leagues , or take up arms against the king , or that it is lawfull for subjects , pretending his authority , to take up arms , against his person , or those commissionat by him , or to suspend him from the exercise of his royal government . or to put limitations on their due obedience , and allegiance , are rebellious and treasonable . from vvhich vvords , sayes he , i infer , most clearly , that for a subject to declare , he is not tyed up from wishing any alteration is treason : for , any alteration comprehending all alterations , can any man of sense and ingenuity deny but this is a putting limitations upon his obedience ( why not due obedience ? ) and allegiance ? but , admitting any to be comprehensive of all alterations , can any man of common ingenuity say , that he that declares himself not tyed up from endeavouring , in his station , and in a lawfull way , all alterations to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to religion and loyalty , declares himself not tyed up from endeavouring all simply ? which is a quite different thing : or that he that purposely declares in the former manner , that he may preserve the just latitude of his allegiance , doth put limitations upon his due obedience , and allegiance , when , in effect , he most expressly ampliats and explains it ? but our author coming to see that the deadly thing in the eal's vvords is neither the any , nor the all , addes . for vvhat is a greater limitation then to reserve to himself to be iudge hovv far he is tyed ? but , because the earl , in his sincerity , professes that he minded to endeavour , in his station , and in a lawfull way , such alterations as he should truly think , and not barely alledge , to be to the advantage of church , and state , doth he therefore make himself , or his opinion , the only rule of his oath , and performance , and not rather the lavv , to which he so plainly refers ? or hath our author either so little understanding , or so little honesty as not to acknowledge , that though , de jure , all men be obliged to regard lavv , and reason , as the great directors of duty , yet , de facto , they can only apply them ( providing they would do it ingenuously ) according to their ovvn conceptions ? so that to accuse a man for such an expression is to put off all professions of sincerity , and to subvert the very use of thinking among men , as is more fully above held forth . our author , in the next place , gives us many reasons , why the earl's cautions , in my station , and in a lawfull way , not repugnant to religion and loyalty , cannot salve his reservation ; but still seduced by one and the same foolish and wretched error viz. that because such cautions do not justify the contrarie transgressions therefore all professions so cautioned are a crime . thus he tells us , first , that the covenant ( as criminal as it was ) vvas so qualified . but who ever thought that these qualified professions in the covenant , condescended on by our author , were the covenanters guilt ? sure i am , it is only for the opposite practices , and not at all for these professions , that the act of parliament condemns them . ly . he sayes , these cautions never hindered any man to committ treason . and what then ? have not the best cautions and highest professions in the world been in like manner violate ? whereas the thing our author should have said is , that an endeavour every vvay qualified as the earl professes hath been found treasonable . but knowing this to be certainly false you see how he here declines to averr it . ly . he tells us , that they that rebelled in the , and . professed great love to his majesty . and had they never said , or done more , does our author think they had been found guilty of treason ? ly , he tells us , that the adjecting of such cautions is reckoned by lawyers as protestatio contraria facto . and so indeed they may justly be ( as they only are ) when any fact is committed contrary to them , as for example , when the earl shall turn papist . but was it ever heard , since law was named , or reason understood amongst men , that a man's declaration , that he did not mean to bind up himself in his station , and in a lawfull way , to endeavour alterations he should think to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to religion and loyalty , was judged either protestatio illicita , aut cuivis facto licito contraria ? and ly , our author repeats the statut condemning glosses put upon the laws by the late rebellious parliaments , to the prejudice of their allegiance . but i have already told you , there is no such gloss contained in the earl's words : and i further appeal to all men ( our author not excepted ) whether ever these parliaments , if they had only professed , that in their station , and in a lawfull way , they would endeavour any alteration they thought to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to religion and loyalty , would have incurred his late majesties displeasure , much less the atrocious character of rebellious , here cast upon them ? but , sayes our author , their explanation declaring that what they did was for the preservation of religion , which is the very explanation put by the earl upon this oath , was particularly condemned as false and disloyal . but ( not to tell you that by our author's words a man would think that even to say , the test was made for the preservation of religion , may be found both false , and disloyal ; which i heartily wish may never come to pass ) may not this passage alone convince our author , that it neither was nor could be the parliaments precise professing themselves to be for religion but only their professing and justifying of what they did to be for religion which was judged false and disloyal ? and that because their profession , or protestation , was thought contrary to their deed ; with which the earl's case , qui adeo factorum innocens ut verba ejus arguantur ( as a noble roman said in the like case ) and who is not so much as accused of having done any thing , holds not the least similitude . and yet sayes our author , from all this it clearly follows , that the earl , by reserving a power to himself to endeavour alterations , did committ treason , notwithstanding all his cautions . where , that you may understand the man , and then see how fairly , and justly , he dra●s this conclusion , be pleased to notice , that where the earl declares , in one speach , that he meanes not to bind up himself , in his station , and in a lawfull way , to endeavour alterations , not repugnant to religion , and loyalty , our author ( not to speak of his changing ) first honestly divides the earl's words , whereby he , or any man , may , with the same ease , turn scripture into blasphemy , telling us , that the earl reserves to himself a power to make any alterations : just as if he had said this simply , and no more . then , straining , and affirming these words to be treason , he rejects all the earl's cautions , in the same manner as if they had not been manifest parts of his declaration , uttered with one and the same breath , but adjected , ex post facto , to palliate some high rebellion . according to the candor and justice of which procedure it is obvious , that a man's professing , he would take up arms , at his majesties command , for the advantage of church and state , conform to his allegiance and loyalty , might be equally judged to be traiterous and rebellious . for , rising in arms sounding evidently much worse then the endeavouring of alterations , let our author once divide the words , and affirm , that the first part of them is treason , and then all that followes shall be held for insufficient , cheating , and contrary cautions , and the man irrecoverably cast as guilty of treason : how justly or unjustly let all men judge . but our author proceeds to answer what the mist objects : and. . where the mist sayes : that treason requires a special law , our author denyes it , telling us , that so soon as kings were , and before there was law , it was treason to rise in arms against them ; that treason is the fence of the government , as murder is of private mens lives ( as our author strangely words it ) that law thought it unnecessary to provide against the greatest treasons ; and that traitors vvould easily elude the expressvvords of a statut. which things albeit they be partly true : yet , . i hope , these who in the beginnings of kingdoms died for treason died by lesse then bills of attainder , viz. by bare royall decrees , which i cannot think our author imagines were then drawn in exemplum . ly . it is to be considered , that because in these beginnings of kingdoms some crimes , that are such by the light of reason , were necessarily punished without statut , it will not follow , that therefore crimes may now be made at random , and punished at pleasure . ly . it is without controversy , that whatever , at present , is not treason , jure gentium , ought not to be persued , and punished , as such , without a positive lavv : specially to inferr the pains of for faulture , which , exceeding the prescript of common reason , do certainly in all cases require an express statut. ly . it is most dangerons , and tends visibly to defeate all the providence and security of law , to alledge , that , even in the case of an express statut , traitors may elude its vvords : and that therefore something else ( no doubt the judge's arbitrary arbitriment ) must be necessary . and ly . it is most certain , and evident , that neither by statut , law , reason , nor sense , the earl's words are chargeable with the smallest delinquency , much less the heavy crime of treason . ly . where it is objected , that the earl by his oath as a privy councellour is obliged , in that his station , and in a lawful way , to propone and advise , and so to wish and endeavour any alteration he thinks to the advantage of church and state , not repugnant to religion and loyalty : and that therefore his reservation in these terms was necessary , at least , unde nyably good , and lawful . our author knowing this to be an unanswer able defence against this imaginary treason , first , propones it most lamely , and overly , and then for a reply returns us a full concession ; which that you may the better perceive take the argument for the earl thus . what the earl is certainly bound to , both by his peerage , and oath as a councellour , the reservation of a freedom to do it cannot be treason . but to wish , and endeavour , in his station , and in a lawful way , any alteration he thinks to the advantage of church , and state , not repugnant to religion , and loyalty , is that which the earl is bound to , both by his peerage , and oath as a councellour . therefore the reservation of a freedom to do it cannot be treason . the proposition is founded on clear law , and reason , it being evidently impossible to conceive that the reservation of a freedom to do what is my bound duty , by oath , should fall under the construction of treason . the subsumption is proven thus , the earl is bound by his peerage , and by his oath as a councellour , to assist his majesty with his best advice , and concurrence , in all things . ergo , by his peerage and oath he is bound to wish , and endeavour , in his station , and in a lawful way , any alteration he shall think to the advantage of church , and state , not repugnant to religion , and loyalty . the reason of the connexion is , because , as our author sayes , all comprehends any ; and things , no doubt , includs alterations , and wishes , and endeavours , in a lawful way ; for alterations to seen advantage not only may but must be imported by the advice and assistance sworn to ; when ever his majesties command or undoubted interest shall call for them ; it being undenyable , that , as wishes and endeavours are included in advice and concurrence , so for a sworn member of his majesties privie council not to give his majesty , in such an exigent , his best wishes and advice , and his most heartie endeavour and concurrence , would be manifest perjury and disloyalty . nor does it at all alter the case though we restrict the quality precisely to his majesties pleasure : for , if that be the only lawful and loyal way of wishing , advising , endeavouring , and concurring , it is evident that the earl's words do reserve this alone , and no other way beside . so that there could be nothing more justly said by him for asserting that due liberty which his peerage and oath do indispensibly require , and consequently , his words , being plain duty , and conscience , could never be made treason . now after our author hath shuffled over this defence , and exception , as you may see in his vindication : for an easie answer ( as he calls it ) he tells us frankly , that no oath doth hinder a man from doing what is lawful , and so there needed be no reservation , nor exception , on that consideration : and again that the oath did not exclude any lawful endeavours , at the desire or command of the prince ( which the earl , as i have told you , is here as well content to admit for the qualification of lawfulness as our author ) and so there needed no exception as to these . and thus you see that the earl , for a reservation , even in our author's judgment , neither false nor unlawful , but only judged by him to be needless , is found guilty , & condemned of high treason ; which is as full a concession , in my opinion , as could have been desired . ay but , sayes our author , the former argument still recurs . viz. he that will not bind up himself as to any thing reserves a power as to all things ; which must , at least , be interpret of unlawful things ; for lavvful things need no exception . but ( not to notice our authors christian charity , and far more observable justice , that because lavvful things need not be reserved ( though in all cases dubious it be certainly the more tender part to reserve them ) will therefore have the earl's reservation to be of things unlawful , and treasonable ) the earl's reservation is most expresly of things lawfull ; in so far as he only refuses to bind up himself , in his station , and in a lawfull way , as to things advantageous to church , and state , not repugnant to religion , and loyalty : which is a full and cumulative expression of their lawfulness . and as to what our author subjoyns of the earl's putting limitations on his allegiance ( in so far as what he sayes is intelligible ) it is already answered : it being manifest that the earl's words , in stead of being a limitation , are a designed and ample extension . in the next place our author comes to tell us , that the earl's qualifications take off the whole force of his oath , either as to rising in arms , or any other unlawfull thing : for. . sayes he , he takes the oath only in so far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion : so that if he think the protestant religion shall require rising in arms he is not tyed . but. . i have told you how false it is that the earl resolves the force of his oath upon his own thinking , which here he doth not so much as mention . ly . is it not strange how our author should judge that the protestant religion may not make as certain a qualification in the earl's explanation as it doth in the councils ? where yet , in liew of the confession of faith , the standard appointed by the parliament , it is made the only bar against popery . ly . what a ridiculous conceit it is to think that the earl , by offering to take the test , in as far as it is consistent with it self , and the protestant religion , did reserve to himself a liberty to rise in arms , when by an article of the test , which can neither be taken off , nor eluded by any part of the earl's explanation , he was to swear liquidly , and distinctly , not to rise in arms ? ly . sayes our author , the earl's oath only tyes him as far as he can , which may leave him yet bound by the covenant . but i have already cleared how the earl did only profess his readiness to obey the act of parliament as far as he could , without intending by these words any restriction of his oath ; and that to wrest them as if designed for that end is an absurd and willfull errour . ly . sayes he , the earl takes it only as far as it is consistent with it self . and god and the earl only know how far that is . a noble testimony to the test ! and as plain a declaration that our author neither knows nor ca●es to know how far it is consistent . but having already told you , that the earl did certainly use this expression to vindicate the test , and his own conscience , from other mens exceptions , and scruples ; and that no man , in reason , either ought to take it , or can be bound by it otherwise , i shall not here adde any thing . and lastly , our author repeates the danger of limitations , telling us , that if after the dreadfull effects we have seen produced by them , and that parliaments have condemned them as treason , we should still be secure , and unconcerned , all the vvorld might laugh at our ruine . but seeing it is . . most ridiculous to call a manifest extension an undue limitation . ly . most false that ever the parliament condemned any limitation of the nature of the earl's reservation , or that ever a deed qualified in the earl's terms , was , or can be thought dangerous , far less rebellious . ly . most certain that nothing , in all times , hath so much ruined government , and governours , as the unjust iealousies , and pretended legal , but really violent proceedings of its ministers , i shall not trouble our author with any further remarks . in the close of his discourse , he thinks fit to instigate judges to severity , and to guard them against insolent pity , as he calls it , which truly , after what all men have seen of their frank procedure against the earl , appeared to me , at first reading , a very superfluous caution . but my surprise was only from the want of our author's fore-sight , and was soon intirely discussed : for , just as i am writing , there is come to my hand his majesties gracious proclamation , for compleeting , no doubt , the selicity of our author 's happy kingdom , by ordering the prosecution of all rebells , and their resetters , &c. in the execution whereof , now after the government had , for severall years , connived at many hundreds of these rebells , and out-lavvs , and thereby rendered the people secure and careless ; it is easy to demonstrate , that more then ten thousand of his majesties peaceable subjects may be prosecute , and punished as traitors , and above fourty thousand beside made liable to fining , and imprisonment , at the councils pleasure . a work which , i confess , requires the highest measures of severity that our author could prompt to , & doth indeed leave the far better part of the kingdom without all refuge , or relief , save in his majesties clemency : but where i also hope they shall seasonably , and comfortably find it , notwithstanding all our author 's many sly and mischievous insinuations to the contrair . he vvishes the earl had come in vvill , as if forsooth he had proven him to be guilty : and as falsly insinuats this to be usual , that he may represent him , not only as criminal , but a contemner of his majesties mercy . he likewise tells us , that he doth not admire that this author , and these of his vvay see not this paper to be treason , since they vvill not acknovvledge it to be treason to oppose the succession , and to say , that it can be altered by a parliament : which yet the scotch parliament thought to be treason : nor in the last age thought they it treason to rise in arms against the king , and call parliaments vvithout him : so that , sayes our author , the fault is only in the depraved intellectuals of such as have , by a long custome of hating authority , bred in themselves a hatred of every person and thing that can maintain it . but not to stay here to discuss all the calumny , and envy , wrap't up in this passage , i shall only desire you to consider . . that our author would have it a transcendent wonder , that the author of the mist should say , the succession can be altered by a parliament : and yet he cannot but know that that person lives under an express act of parliament declaring it treason to say the contrary . ly . he sayes , the scotch parliament thought it to be treason to oppose the succession , and to say that it can be altered by parliament . and yet the same scotch parliament judged it proper for them to declare and confirm the succession : and law and reason say that , constituere & destituere sunt ejusdem facultatis . but not to insist upon these things , for a conclusion i shall only take the liberty to protest for my self ( without offering to anticipate the better judgment of others , as our author visibly doth ) that were i as clear for the succession as his royal highness , as dissatisfied with the old statut , and late proceedings of the english parliaments about it , as our author , as zealous for the honour , and infallibility of the last scotch parliament as his majesties advocate , as enraged against former practices as the greatest torry in britain , and yet more tender and respective of authority then my ovvn heart : i could not have imagined , that either misinterpreting , defaming , depraving , or treason , should have been found in the earl's words : and am very apprehensive , that the judgment so given against him may prove a greater bar to the succession , and reflection on scotch parliaments , and judges , then all that our author hath laboured to squeese out of them . coppy of his majesties letter , ordering the passing of his two former signatures for the earl's offices and jurisdictions . at edinburgh , the fifteenth day of january , years , his majesties letter under-vvritten , direct to the lords commissioners of his treasury , and exchequer , vvas presented , and read , and ordained to be recorded , whereof the tenor followeth . sic suprascribitur charles . r. right trusty , and right well beloved cousins and councellors , and right trusty , and well beloved councellors , we greet you well . wee did , upon the fyfteenth day of october , sign a signature , in favours of the earl of argyle , and another , shortly after , for the lands of knoydart : the signatures , we are informed , are not past and in august last , our secretary acquainted us with a letter , which he had received from our advocate , bearing date the thirteenth day of august years , together with an information , containing thirteen reasons , against some heritable offices , comprehended in the said signature : we are also acquainted vvith the earl of argyle's ansvvers . all vvhich vve have taken into our consideration : and , although we are very well satisfied with our advocate , in his doing of his duty , in representing to us what he conceives to be fit for our service in this particular ; as also vvith his fiaelity , and diligence in other things relating to his place ; yet , upon serious consideration of the vvhole matter , it is our gracious pleasure , that the said signatures , vvith these offices , be past our exchequer ; and that , in the terms exprest in our letter , signed by us soon after the signature , any thing in our instructions to the contrary notvvithstanding . for all vvhich this shall be your vvarant . and so we bid you farewel . given at our court at white●al , the seventh day of january , / , and of our reign the year . by his majesties command . sic subscribitur lawderdale . extractum de libris actorum scacarii per me . sic subscribitur tho. murray clericus reg. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e ☜ notes for div a -e ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ notes for div a -e ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ notes for div a -e ☜ ☜ ☜ notes for div a -e ☜ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☞ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ notes for div a -e ☜ ☜ sam. ld. bp. of oxon, his celebrated reasons for abrogating the test and notions of idolatry, answered by samuel, arch-deacon of canterbury. phillips, john, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) sam. ld. bp. of oxon, his celebrated reasons for abrogating the test and notions of idolatry, answered by samuel, arch-deacon of canterbury. phillips, john, - . the third edition. [ ], p. [s.n.], london printed : . "samuel parker was archdeacon of canterbury in when he became bishop of oxford"--nuc pre- imprints. attributed by wing and nuc pre- imprints to phillips. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng parker, samuel, - . -- reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of parliament. test act ( ) great britain -- politics and government -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion sam . l d. b p. of oxon , his celebrated reasons for abrogating the test , and notions of idolatry , answered by samuel , arch-deacon of canterbury . the third edition . it 's better to indulge mens vices and debaucheries , than their consciences . sam. park . eccles. pol. pag. . london , printed in the year , . there is nothing hereby intended to impugn the abrogation of the test : may his majesty's sacred will and pleasure be fulfill'd ; and may the rights of the english peerage remain inviolable . but there seems to have been an absolute necessity , for the author of the reasons for abrogating the test , to have repeal'd his most bitter invectives against the nonconformists , and his tempestuous indignation against dissenters in general ; so diametrically opposite to the serene and pious desires and resolutions of his majesty , to make his subjects happy , and unite them to him as well by inclination , as duty ; and to have shew'd his compliance to his majesty in all his most laudable and generous designs , before he had singl'd out that particular point of the test , meerly to hook in a plea for transubstantiation , and his own new modell'd notions of idolatry . but let others , whom it may concern , dispute those controversies : the present question is , whether his lordship of oxon , have retracted his discouses of ecclesiastical polity , or at least , those passages in them , which run so apparently counter to his majesty's gracious declaration for liberty of conscience ? otherwise he may seem to have calculated his writings for the various meridians of state ; and his arguments will not bear that weight , which ( tho' the same , yet ) coming from another person , they would have done . now , there cannot be a more certain touch-stone of truth of the bishop's , or arch-deacon's ( which you please , for they are both the same person 's ) ecclesiastical polity , than the declaration it self : only , out of his christian charity , the arch-deacon has peopled the kingdom with such a dreadful canaille , ( all but those of the church of england ) that astonishment it self might wonder well , were his unconscionable epithetes to be allow'd , that so gracious , so indulgent , so soft and calm a declaration , should come forth in kindness to such a rabble : for those whom his majesty calls his good subjects , the arch-deacon continually strigmatizes with the foul epithetes of iugglers , dissemblers , wicked rebellious , hypocrites , sons of strife and singularity , and most notorious hereticks . and , upon this supposition , as the foundation of his pile , that the generality of the people of england are such , ( for he excepts none but those of the church of england ) he rears the fabrick of his ecclesiastical polity ; wherein he had only this misfortune , to be of a quite contrary opinion to his prince ; and that his draconicks were not repeal'd , before the declaration came forth . the declaration expresses his majesty's earnest desire to establish his government on such a foundation , as to make his subjects happy , and unite them to him as well by inclination , as duty ; which he thinks can be done by no means so effectually , as by granting them the free exercise of their religion . but the arch-deacon's politicks are of another strain : for , in his preface to his ecclesiastical polity , p. . he say ; that the aim of his discourse is , by representing the palpable inconsistency of phanatick tempers and principles , with the welfare and security of government , to awaken authority to beware of its worst , and most dangerous enemies , and force them to modesty and obedience by severity of laws . pag. . of the same preface : if princes ( says he ) would but consider , how liable mankind are to abuse themselves with serious and conscientious villanies , they would quickly see it to be absolutely necessary to the peace and happiness of their kingdoms , that there be set up a more severe government over men 's consciences , than over their vices and immoralities . pag. . of the same , he boasts his having prov'd , that indulgence and toleration is the most absolute sort of anarchy ; and that princes may with less hazard give liberty to men 's vices and debaucheries , than to their consciences . but the declaration is quite of another temper : vve humhly thank almighty god , it is , and hath of a long time been , our constant sense and opinion , which upon divers occasions vve have declared , that conscience ought not to be constrain'd , nor people forc'd in matters of meer religion . but this will not be admitted by the arch-deacon : for , ( says he , ecclesiast . pol. pag. . ) when men's consciences are so squemish , that they will rise against the customs and injunctions of the church , she must scourge them into order and chastize them for their troublesome peevishness , pag. . ( eccles. polit. ) he pretnnds to have prov'd the vnavoidable danger of toleration , and keeping religious differances , that religion must be govern'd by the same rules , as all other transactions of human life ; and that nothing can do it but severe laws ; nor they neither , unless severely executed . ecclesiast . pol : pag. . if princes ( says he ) will suffer themselves to be checked in their laws spiritual by every systematical theologue , they may as well bare to see themselves affronted in their laws civil by every viliage-attorney . pag. . but to indulge ideots in their folly because they threaten authority to be peevish and , scrupulous , and to infest the government with a sullen , and cross-grain'd godliness , ( an artifice not much unlike the tricks of forward children ) is to suffer ignorance to ride in triumph ; and therefore such humorsom saints must be lash'd out of their sullenness , into compliance , and better manners . this ( as the arch-deacon calls it , preface to brambal 's vindication ) was one his rhapsodies of hasty and huddled thoughts . most divine words , and most seraphick charity ! but the arch-deacon will have tenderness of conscience to be pride ; vanity , and insolence , though all the seven champions should contradict him . pag. . he that pretends conscience to vouch his humour , and his insolence , is a villian , and an hypocrite ; and so far from deserving pity , especially from authority , than no offenders can more need or provoke their severity . this may be true : but , where the supream government , which must of necessity be absolute , uncontroulable , and unlimited , as well in matters of religion , &c. more sagaciously discerns beyond the arch-deacon 's , that same conscience to be neither humouor nor insolence - nor will comprehend it under that notion ; there , it is to be hoped , the man is not a villian , nor an hypocrite , and so not liable to the fury of correction . pag. . and therefore , if princes will be resolute , they may easily make the most stubborn consciences bend to their commands ; but , if they will not , they must subbmit themselves , and their power , to all the follies and passions of their subjects . probatum est . s. p. pag. . governours must look to the publick , and let tender consciences look to themselves . laws must be of an unyielding , and unflexible temper , and not soft and easie things . princes must not be diffident in their maxims of policy ; but , as they must set up some to themselves ; so they must act roundly up to them dii te donent tonsore . — quaere , why this counsel was not taken , since the counsel was given so long before the declaration came forth ? answ. because it was ever contrary to his majesty's inclination , pag. . 't is all one to the concernments of government , whether tenderness of conscience be serious or counterfeit : for whether so or so , 't is directly contrary to the ends and interest of government . better unsaid , than not believed . pag. . and what can be more destructive to all manner of government , than to make all the rules of order and discipline less sacred , than the whimsies of every phanatick zealot ? pray be patient , sir , there 's no such thing done . ibid. when to pick quarrels with the laws , and make scruple of obeying them , shall be made the specifick character of the godly : when giddy and humorous zeal shall not only excuse , but hallow disobedience ; when every one that has fancy enough to fancy himself a child of god , shall have license to dispise authority . who would have been at the trouble of all this rhetorick , had he known what would have followed ? pag. . in brief the only cause of all our troubles and disturbances , is , the inflexible perverseness of about an hundred proud ignorant , and seditious preachers ; against whom , if the severity of the laws were particularly levell'd , how easie would it be to reduce the people to a peacable temper ? there were just three more than his number , and that spoild the project . pag. . what can be more apparently vain , than to talk of accommodations , or to hope for any possibility of quiet or settlement , till authority shall see it necessary to scourge them into better manners , and wiser opinions ? pag. . t is easie possible for well-meaning people , through ignorance or inadvertency , to be betraid into such unhappy errors , as may tend to the publick desturbance ; which , though it be not so much their crime ●as infelecity ; yet is there no remedy , but it must expose them to the correction of the publick rods and axes . surely , rhadamanthus 's own chaplain could not have preached more severe divinity ? pag. . in brief , there is nothing so ungovernable , as a tender conscience ; or so restiff and inflexible , as folly or wickedness , when hardned with religion : and therefore , instead of being comply'd with , they must be restrain'd with a more peremtory and unyielding rigor , than naked and unsanctify'd villany . pag. . nay , so easie it is for men to deserve to be punish'd for their consciences , that there is no nation in the world , ( were government rightly understood , and duly manag'd ) wherein mistakes and abuses in religion , would not supply the galleys with vastly greater numbers , than villany . 't is a comfort , curst cows have now short horns . however , to this the tender declaration makes a reply , declaring one of the reasons of his majesty's indulgence to be , because he finds , that force in matters of meer religion , tends to the depopulating of countries . on the other side , the arch-deacon in opposition to the king 's reason , is for depopulating the land , and peopling the galleys ; and arraigns that government for want of understanding , and due management , that does not observe his method of cruelty . he is for pillories , whipping-posts , rods , axes , scourges , &c. as if no government pleas'd him , but that described by virgil in hell : hinc exaudiri gemitus , & saeva sonare verbera ; tum stridor ferri , tractaeque catenae . — accincta flagella tisiphone quatit insultans , torvosque sinistra intentans angues vocat agmina saeva sororum . this , in the arch-deacon 's ecclesaistical polity ; and to shew , that no other government will content him but this , pag. . i leave it , ( says he ) to governors themselves to judge , whether it does not concern them , with as much vigilance and severity , either to prevent the rise , or suppress the growth , ( of phanaticks he means , that find themselves aggrieved by the penal laws ) as to punish any the foulest crimes of immortality ? and if they would but seriously consider into what exorbitances peevish and nntoward principles about religion improve themselves , they could not but perceive it to be as much their concernment to punish them with the severest inflictions , as any whatsoever principles and rebellions in the state — well! the business is consider'd , and his ecclesiastical polity is found to be deficient . nay , he goes farther , and arraigns all kings and princes for their folly , under the title of governors : for , says he , in the following pag. . this certainly has ever been one of the fatal miscarriages of all governors , in that they have not been aware of this fierce and implacable enemy , ( meaning the phanaticks , who care no more for whips and scourges , than the devil does for holy-water ) but have gone about to govern unruly consciences by more easie and remiss laws than those that are only able to suppress scandalous and confess'd villanies ; and have thought them sufficiently restrain'd , by threatning punishments , without inflicting them . and indeed , in most kingdoms , so little have princes understood their own interests in matters of religion , &c. hearken , o ye princes of europe , and go to school again to the author of the discourses of ecclesiastical ●●lity . but , here is another bold touch : prohibition disobliges dissenters , and that is one evil ; impunity allows them toleration , but that is a greater ; and where governors permit what their laws permit , ( this is not the present case ) there the commonwealth must at once feel all the evils both of restraint and liberty . so that , as they would expect peace and settlement , they must be sure , at first , to bind on their ecclesiastical laws with the streightest knot ; and afterwards keep them in force and countenance , by the severity of the law. their restraint must be proportion'd to their unruliness of the conscience ; and they must be manag'd with so much the greater strictness , than all other principles of disturbance , by how much they are the more dangerous . gratias domine , now princes understand what they have to do . yet a little more of the arch-deacon 's ecclesiastical polity . beloved , in his preface to bishop bra●hal 's vindication , ( for it is not pag'd ) you shall find it thus written : they ( meaning the phanaticks , or complainants against the penal statutes ) have been so long accustom'd to undutiful demeanor , that it is to be fear'd , they are grown too head-strong and incorrigible , to be aw'd into a more modest behaviour by threatnings of severity . therefore , it will be thought necessary to bridle their ungovern'd tongues and spirits with pillories and whipping-posts . and at the bottom of the same page : to this peevishness of their humors , i might add the restlesness of their minds , that is always displeas'd with the settled frame of things , ( innuendo , the settled penal laws ; ) and that no alterations can satisfy . if you condescend to their first demands , you only encourage them to be making new remonstrances : appease all their old complaints , and they are immediately picking new faults to be redress'd . they that at first only request indulgence , will , when strong enough , demand it . in short , give the non-conformists an inch , and they 'll take an ell. but , ( in the same preface ) should it ever so happen hereafter , that any king of england should be prevail'd with to deliver up the church , ( that is to say , to dispence with the penal laws and test ; for the test , notwithstanding the reasons against it , must be included in this long parenthesis , because the church fram'd it ) he had as good , at the same time , resign up his crown . and thus you see the danger of the present government , through the non-conformity to the arch-deacon 's ecclesiastical polity . there is another reason , why his majesty was graciously pleas'd to think , force in matters of meer religion directly contrary to the interest of government ; and that is , spoyling of trade . trade ! cries the arch-deacon : trade ! no. let grass grow about the custom-house , rather than abate one tittle of my ecclesiastical polity : for , ( in his preface to his ecclesiast . pol. pag. . ) 't is notorious , ( says he ) that there is not any sort of people so inclinable to seditious practices , as the trading part of a nation ; and their pride and arrogance naturally increases with the improvement of their stock . and if we reflect upon our late miserable distractions , 't is easie to observe , how the quarrel was hatcht in trade , men's shops , and cherisht by the zeal of prentices : ( by the way , this is plausible nonsense all over . ) but he goes on , pag. . 't is a very odd , and preposterous piece of policy , to design the enriching this sort of people , while their heads are distemper'd with religious lunacies . and , pag. . he is a very silly man , and understands nothing of the follies , passions , and inclinations of human nature , who sees not there is no creature so ungovernable , as a wealthy phanatick . and therefore , ( pag. . ) i confess , i cannot but smile , when i observe how some , that would be thought wonderful grave and solemn statesmen , labour with mighty projects of setting up this and that manufacture , in their several respective towns and corporations ; and how eagerly they pursue these petty attempts , beyond the great affairs of a more publick concernment , ( meaning the dreadful and terrible execution of the penal laws ; ) and how wisely they neglect the settlement of a whole nation , for the benefit of a village or burrough ? very pleasant ecclesiastical polity ! no man must eat or drink , or maintain his family : the grand relation of human necessities , depending one upon another , must stand still , to oblige the arch-deacon 's ecclesiastical polity . here 's a quietus est for above the third part of the nation . none but those that can swallow a surplice , and adore the parochial levite , must weave camlets at norwich , make bays at colchester , spurrs at rippon , nayls at brommigeham , or saddles at burford . for why ? there is not any sort of people so seditious , as the trading part of the nation . so that , supposing the greater part of the trading part of the nation be , as the arch-deacon calls them , phanaticks , and nonconformists , ( that is , men conscientiously scrupuling the ceremonies of the church of england ) they must either be scourg'd into better manners with bryars and thorns ; or else the nation must be laid waste and desolate . for , to tell you true , as good have no people , as those that will not pay tithes ; 't is no matter for the king's duties , nor how the nation may be otherwise weakn'd and expos'd . there is yet behind one more reason urg'd in the declaration , and that is this ; that force in matters of meer religion , never obtain'd the end for which it was imploy'd ; wherein his majesty declares himself the more confirm'd , by the reflections he had made upon the conduct of the four last reigns . now , here 's the utter subversion of the arch-deacon 's ecclesiastical policy ; all meer labour in vain , abundance of ranting , raving , reviling expressions , insomuch , that the arch-angel was more civil to the devil , than the arch-deacon to the dissenters ; and yet all to no purpose . he has been at a great deal of pains in setting up pillories and whipping-posts in all parts and corners of the kingdom ; and now he may e'ne go , and pull 'em down again . what are now become of all his politick let but 's ? in his preface to bishop bramhall 's vindication ; let but the government think it seasonable at any time to reprieve them ( meaning the dissenters ) from the severity of the laws , and they immediately start up into that confidence , as to imagine themselves the only darlings of state. let but the publick rods be removed from their backs , and they are presently full of expectations to have them put into their own hands . if they are not always scourg'd and chastis'd , they will grow sawcy , and must by all means become cronies to kings and princes . many other passages might have been collected out of his several bitter ( if they may not be said to be scurrilous ) invectives against the dissenters ; but here are sufficient to make it apparently manifest , that the author of the ecclesiastical polity , was as great a dissenter from the mild and tender maxims of his majesty's government , and his constant sense and opinion , of a long time professed and declared upon several occasions in matters of religion , as the dissenters were dissatisfied with the rigid severity of the church of england ; or , at least , with the principles of his ecclesiastical polity . which makes it seem questionable , whether a person , who has brandish'd his pen with that virulency , against the dissenters in general , and his majesty's royal opinion , and the mature results of his most serious deliberations , may be a proper champion against the test ? for most certainly , there has been much more said already , and much more to the purpose , than he has produced . on the other side , he has most dogmatically avouch'd , that if ever the boisterous and unreasonable opposition ( as he calls it ) of the nonconformists to the church of england , be re-erected it must be upon its ruins : and that if ever the roman catholicks get any ground , or advantage of the church of england , they will be bound to make their acknowledgments to the puritans , and the strength of their assistance . whence he draws his conclusion , that it would be a pleasant spectacle , ( that is to say , a ridiculous over-sight in government ) to see either the classical or congregational discipline establish'd by authority . moreover , in the . pag. of the vindication of his eccles. pol. he appeals to all men , whether liberty of conscience be any better , than a license for anarchy and confusion ? pag. . he says , that to grant subjects a lawless and uncontroul'd liberty of conscience , in all matters and pretences of religion , is to dissolve one half of the government into perfect anarchy , and yield up the constitution of all publick affairs , to the humor of every wild enthusiast . and pag. . you find it thus written ; so that , seeing an ecclesiastical iurisdiction ( of pillories and whipping-posts , thorns and bryars ) is absolutely necessary to prevent all confusions , arising from unrestrain'd liberty , it is better that mankind should be sometimes exposed to the miseries of tyranny and persecution , than always groan under the intolerable disorders of anarchy , or reluctancy to penal statutes . if then the church of england be establish'd upon such a firm foundation , that nothing can endanger it , but indulgence to the dissenters , 't is to be admir'd , that a man , so knowing in ecclesiastical policy , and so great a friend to th● church of england , would open such a gap as to plead for the abrogation of the test , which the church-men of england fram'd and set-up , as the only bulwark to prevent her dissolution . so that , to use his own words , 't is very hardly credible , that a person , who has lately appear'd so vigorously in her cause , should , notwithstanding all his seeming zeal and earnestness , be really i● good earnest , in his pretences , against the test. for what signifies the abrogating the test , if there be no way to shake the otherwise immovable church of england , but by making two bridge● of dissenters , one between callice and dover , the other between diepe and rye , for popery to return into england : for , when he comes to tha● part of his preface to bishop bramhall 's vindication , where he considers what likelyhood , o● how much danger there is of the return o● popery into this nation : for my own part , says he● i know none , but the nonconformist's boisterous an unreasonable opposition to the church of england ▪ if he think , that the abrogation of the t●●● may be a means to unite the papist , and the di●senter , which he seems to intimate , by saying that the faction of the dissenters may be made use of , ●● instruments ( iourney-men tools ) to dissolve and unravel the establish'd frame of things , and destroy the church of england ; and so make an unobstructed passage for the return of popery in glory and triumph ; then he has left his cause in the lurch , and relinquish'd all his ecclesiastical polity at once . as for the papists , he deals with them after such a rate , that no man living knows where to have him . in his preface to bishop bramhall 's vindication , he seems neither to love nor fear 'em : for that , as long as the church of england stands in power and reputation , it will easily beat back and baffle all the attempts of rome , and its adherents ; their plausible reasons being evidently no more , than little tricks and sophisms , and seem intended by themselves , rather to abuse the simple , than satisfie the wise , their innovations are so undeniable , and the design of the church of england's reformation , so apparently apostolical , that those people must needs argue at a strange wild rate , that will be demonstrating against experience , and ocular inspection . so then , the reformation made by the church of england , in the points of transubstantiation , worship of images , adoration of the host , and invocation of saints , being apostolical ; what must be thought of his reasons against the test ? nay , there is nothing could preserve the papists from being hiss'd out of the pit , but that they are extreamly confident , and most readers sufficiently ignorant : so that the church of england may safely defie all their opposition . she does not stand upon such trembling foundations , as to be thrust down with bull-rush spears , and oral traditions , with labyrinths , and castles in the air. but then his heart misgives him again , and he begins to fear the return of popery into the nation , should the nonconformists joyn with the papists : and therefore , at the end of his preface , he begs the hearty prayers of his friend , for the peace and prosperity of the church of england ; for when that is gone , ( farewel frost ) 't will he hard to find out another , with which any , that are either honest or wise , will be over forward to joyn in communion . notwithstanding all this , upon better consideration , as it were in compassion of the despis'd weakness of the church of rome , and her adherents , he undertakes to furnish them with better arguments of his own , than any they have themselves , to vindicate transubstantiation , and clear them from idolatry : for which he strains an argument deduc'd from the cherubims , that cover'd the ark. and yet , in his defence of his ecclesiastical polity , pag. , . he condemns both turk and pope together in a breath ; the one for giving divine worship to a lewd impostor ; the other , to a senseless piece of matter . and thus , what , by vertue of apparent , apostolical reformation , he call'd ( before ) a senseless piece of matter , he has ( now ) cover'd with the cherubim 's golden wings , and render'd adorable by scripture - warrant : but , bene scribit , qui bene intelligitur ; what he has written , he has written . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e ecclesiast . polit , pag. , , , , . eccles. pol. p. , , , &c. declar. p. . preface to bramhal 's vindication . preface to bishop bramhall's vindicat. a letter writ by mijn heer fagel, pensioner of holland, to mr. james stewart, advocate giving an account of the prince and princess of orange's thoughts concerning the repeal of the test, and penal laws. fagel, gaspar, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing f estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a letter writ by mijn heer fagel, pensioner of holland, to mr. james stewart, advocate giving an account of the prince and princess of orange's thoughts concerning the repeal of the test, and penal laws. fagel, gaspar, - . stewart, james, sir, - . p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng test act ( ) dissenters, religious -- legal status, laws, etc. -- england -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter , writ by mijn heer fagel , pensioner of holland , to mr. james stewart , advocate ; giving an account of the prince and princess of orange's thoughts concerning the repeal of the test , and the penal laws . sir , i am extream sorry , that my ill health hath so long hindred me from answering those letters , in which you so earnestly desired to know of me , what their highnesses thoughts are , concerning the repeal of the penal laws , and more particularly of that concerning the test : i beg you to assure your self , that i will deal very plainly with you in this matter , and without reserve , since you say that your letters were writ by the king's knowledge and allowance . i must then first of all assure you very positively , that their highnesses have often declared , as they did it more particularly to the marquis of albeville , his majesties envoy extraordinary to the states , that it is their opinion , that no christian ought to be persecuted for his conscience , or be ill used because he differs from the publick and established religion ; and therefore , they can consent , that the papists in england , scotland and ireland be suffered to continue in their religion , with as much liberty as is allowed them by the states in these provinces ; in which it cannot be denied , that they enjoy a full liberty of conscience . and as for the dissenters , their highnesses do not only consent , but do heartily approve of their having an entire liberty , for the full exercise of their religion , without any trouble or hindrance ; so that none may be able to give them the least disturbance upon that account . and their highnesses are very ready , in case his majesty shall think fit to desire it , to declare their willingness to concur in the setling and confirming this liberty , and as far as it lies in them , they will protect and defend it , and according to the language of treaties , they will confirm it with their guaranty , of which you made mention in yours . and it his majesty shall think fit further to desire their concurrence in the repealing of the penal laws , they are ready to give it ; provided always that those laws remain still in their full vigour , by which the r. catholicks are shut out of both houses of parliament , and out of all publick employments , ecclesiastical , civil and military : as likewise all those other laws , which confirm the protestant religion and which secures it against all the attempts of the roman catholicks . but their highnesses cannot agree to the repeal of the test , or of those other penal laws last mentioned , that tend to the security of the protestant religion ; since the r. catholicks recieve no other prejudice from these , then the being excluded from parliaments , or from publick employments . and that by them the protestant religion is covered from all the designs of the r. catholicks against it , or against the publick safety ; and neither the test nor these other laws can be said to carry in them any severity against the roman catholicks upon account of their consciences : they are only provisions qualifying men to be members of parliament , or to be capable of bearing office ; by which they must declare before god and men , that they are for the protestant religion . so that indeed , all this amounts to no more than a securing the protestant religion from any prejudices that it may receive from the r. catholicks . their highnesses have thought and do still think , that more than this ought not to be askt , or expected from them : since by this means , the roman catholicks and their posterity will be for ever secured from all trouble in their persons or estates , or in the exercise of their religion ; and that the roman catholicks ought to be satisfied with this , and not to disquiet the kingdom because they cannot be admitted to sit in parliament , or to be in employments ; or because those laws , in which the security of the protestant religion does chiefly consist , are not repealed , by which they may be put in a condition to overturn it . their highnesses do also believe , that the dissenters will be fully satisfied when they shall be for ever covered from all danger of being disturbed , or punished for the free exercise of their religion , upon any sort of pretence whatsoever . their highnesses having declared themselves so positively in these matters , it seems very plain to me , that they are far from being any hinderance to the freeing dissenters from the severity of the penal laws ; since they are ready to use their utmost endeavours for the establishing of it : nor do they at all press the denying to the r. catholicks the exercise of their religion , provided it be managed modestly , & without pomp or ostentation . as for my own part , i ever was and still am very much against all those , who would persecute any christian because he differs from the publick and established religion : and i hope by the grace of god to continue still in the same mind ; for since that light , with which religion illuminates our minds , is according to my sense of things , purely an effect of the mercy of god to us , we ought then , as i think , to render to god all possible thanks for his goodness to us : and to have pity for those who are still shut up in error , even as god has pitied us , and to put up most earnest prayers to god , for bringing those into the way of truth , who stray from it , and to use all gentle and friendly methods for reducing them to it . but i confess , i could never comprehend how any that profess themselves christians , and that may enjoy their religion freely and without any disturbance , can judge it lawful for them to go about to disturb the quiet of any kingdom or state , or to overturn constitutions , that so they themselves may be admitted to employments , and that those laws in which the security and quiet of the established religion consists , should be shaken . it is plain , that the reformed religion is by the grace of god and by the laws of the land , enacted by both king and parliament ; the publick and established riligion , both in england , scotland and ireland ; and that it is provided by those laws , that none can be admitted either to a place in parliament , or to any publick employment except those that do openly declare , that they are of the protestant religion , and not roman catholicks ; and it is also provided by those laws , that the protestant religion shall be in all time coming secured from the designs of the roman catholicks against it : in all which i do not see , that these laws contain any severity , either against the persons or estates of those who cannot take those tests , that are contrary to the roman catholick religion , all the inconveniences that can redound to them from thence , is that their persons , their estates and even the exercise of their religion being assured to them , only they can have no share in the goverement , nor in offices of trust , as long as their consciences do not allow them to take these tests : and they are not suffered to do any thing that is to the prejudice of the reformed religion . since , as i have already told you , their highnesses are ready to concur whith his majesty for the repeal of those penal laws , by which men are made liable to fines or other punishments . so i see there remains no difficulty concerning the repealing the penal laws , but only this , that some would have the roman catholicks render'd capable of all publick trusts and employments , and that by consequence , all those should be repealed that have secured the protestant religion against the designs of the roman catholicks , where others at the same time are not less earnest to have those laws maintained in their full and due vigour ; and think , that the chief security of the established religion consists in the preserving of them sacred and unshaken . it is certain , that there is no kingdom , common-wealth , or any constituted body or assembly whatsoever , in which there are not laws made for the safety thereof ; and that provide against all attempts whatsoever , that disturb their peace , and that prescribe the conditions and qualities that they judg necessary for all that shall bear employments in that kingdom , state or corporation : and no man can pretend , that there is any injury done him , that he is not admitted to imployments when he doth not satisfie the conditions and qualities required . nor can it be denied , that there is a great difference to be observed in the conduct of those of the reformed religion ; and of the roman catholicks towards one another : the roman catholicks not being satisfied to exclude the reformed from all places of profit or of trust , they do absolutely suppress the whole exercise of that religion , and severely persecute all that profess it ; and this they do in all those places where it is safe and without danger , to carry on that rigour . and i am sorry that we have at this present so many deplorable instances of this severity before our eyes , that is at the same time put in practice in so many different places . i would therefore gladly see one single good reason to move a protestant that fears god , and that is concerned for his religion , to consent to the repealing of those laws that have been enacted by the authority of king & parliament , which have no other tendency but to the security of the reformed religion , and to the restraining of the roman catholicks from a capacity of overturning it ; these laws inflict neither fines nor punishments , and do only exclude the r. catholicks from a share in the government who by being in employments must needs study to increase their party , and to gain to it more credit and power , which by what we see every day , we must conclude , will be extreamly dangerous to the reformed religion , and must turn to its great prejudice : since in all places , those that are in publick employments , do naturally favour that religion of which they are , either more or less . and who would go about to perswade me or any man else to endeavour to move their highnesses , whom god hath honoured so far as to make them the protectors of his church , to approve of , or to consent to things so hurtful , both to the reformed religion , and to the publick safety . nor can i , sir , with your good leave , in any way , grant what you apprehend , that no prejudice will thereby redound to the reformed religion . i know it is commonly said , that the number of the roman catholicks in england and scotland is very inconsiderable ; and that they are possessed only of a very small number of the places of trust : tho even as to this , the case is quite different in ireland : yet this you must of necessity grant me , that if their numbers are small , then it is not reasonable that the publick peace should be disturbed on the account of so few persons , especially when so great a favour may be offer'd to them ; such as the free exercise of their religion would be : and if their numbers are greater , then there is so much the more reason to be affraid of them ; i do indeed believe that roman catholicks , as things at present stand , will not be very desirous to be in publick offices and imployments , nor that they will make any attempts upon the reformed religion , both because this is contrary to law , and because of the great inconveniencies that this may bring at some other time both on their persons , and their estates : yet if the restraints of the law were once taken off , you would see them brought into the government , and the chief offices and places of trust would be put in their hands ; nor will it be easy to his majesty to resist them in this , how stedfast soever he may be ; for they will certainly press him hard in it , and they will represent this to the king , as a matter in which his conscience will be concerned ; and when they are possessed of the publick offices , what will be left for the protestants to do , who will find no more the support of the law , and can expect little encouragement from such magistrates ? and on the other hand , the advantages that the roman catholicks would find in being thus set loose from all restraints , are so plain , that it were a loss of time to go about the proving it . i neither can nor will doubt of the sincerity of his majesties intentions , and that he has no other design before him in this matter , but that all his subjects may enjoy in all things the same rights and freedoms . but plain reason , as well as the experience of all ages , the present as well as the past , shews , that it will be impossible for r. catholicks & protestants , when they are mixed together in places of trust and publick employments , to live together peaceably , or to maintain a good correspondence together . they will be certainly always jealous of one another ; for the principles and the maxims of both religions are so opposite to one another , that in my opinion i do not see how it will be in the power of any prince or king whatsoever , to keep down those suspitions and animosities , which will be apt to arise upon all occasions . as for that which you apprehend , that the dissenters shall not be delivered from the penal laws , that are made against them , unless at the same time the test be likewise repealed : this will be indeed a great unhappiness to them ; but the roman catholicks are only to blame for it , who will rather be content that they and their posterity should lie still under the weight of the penal laws , and exposed to the hatred of the whole nation ; than he still restrained from a capacity of attempting any thing against the peace and the security of the protestant religion . and be deprived of that small advantage ( if it is at all to be reckoned one ) of having a share in the government and publick enjoyments ; since in all places of the world this has been always the priviledge of the religion that is established by law ; and indeed these attempts of the roman catholicks ought to be so much the more suspected and guarded against by protestants , in that they see that roman catholicks , even when liable to that severity of penal laws , do yet endeavour to perswade his majesty , to make the protestants , whether they will or not , dissolve the security which they have for their religion : and to clear a way for bringing in the roman catholicks to the government , and to publick employments : in which case there would remain no relief for them but what were to be expected from a roman catholick government . such then will be very unjust to their highnesses , who shall blame them for any inconveniency that may arise from thence ; since they have declared themselves so freely on this subject , and that so much to the advantage even of the roman catholicks . and since the settlements of matters sticks at this single point , that their highnesses cannot be brought to consent to things that are so contrary to laws already in being , and that are so dangerous and so hurtful to the protestant religion , as the admitting of roman catholicks to a share in the government , and to places of trust , and the repealing of those laws , that can have no other effect but the securing of the protestant religion from all the attempts of the roman catholicks against it would be . you write , that the roman catholicks in these provinces are not shut out from employments and places of trust ; but in this you are much mistaken . for our laws are express , excluding them by name from all share in the government , and from all employments either of the policy or justice of our countrey . is it true , i do not know of any express law , that shuts them out of military employments ; that had indeed been hard , since in the first formation of our state they joyned with us in defending our publick liberty , & did us eminent service during the wars ; therefore they were not shut out from those military employments , for the publick safety was no way endanger'd by this , both because their numbers that served in our troops were not great , and because the states could easily prevent any inconvenience that might arise out of that ; which could not have been done so easily , if the roman catholicks had been admitted to a share in the government , and in the policy or justice of our state. i am very certain of this , of which i could give very good proofs , that there is nothing which their highnesses desire so much , as that his majesty may reign happily , and in an intire confidence with his subjects , and that his subjects being perswaded of his majesties fatherly affection to them , may be ready to make him all the returns of duty that are in their power . but their highnesses are convinced in their consciences , that both the protestant religion and the safety of the nation , would be exposed to most certain dangers , if either the tests , or those other penal laws , of which i have made frequent mention , should be repealed ; therefore they cannot consent to this , nor concur with his majesties will ; for they believe they should have much to answer for to god , if the consideration of any present advantages should carry them to consent and concur in things which they believe would be not only dangerous but mischievous to the protestant religion . their highnesses have ever pay'd a most profound duty to his majesty , which they will always continue to do ; for they consider themselves bound to it , both by the laws of god and of nature : but since the matter that is now in hand , relates not to the making of new laws , but to the 〈…〉 those already made both by king and parliament ; they do not see how it can be expected of them , that they should consent to such a repeal , to which they have so just an aversion , as being a thing that is contrary to the laws and customs of all christian states , whether protestants , or papists , who receive none to a share in the governments , or to publick employments , but those who profess the publick and established religion , and that take care to secure it against all attempts whatsoever . i do not think it necessary to demonstrate to you how much their highnesses are devoted to his majesty , of which they have given such real evidences as are beyond all verbal ones ; and they are resolved still to continue in the same duty , and affection ; or rather to encrease it , if that is possible . i am , sir , yours , &c. nov. . . london printed in the year .