Dr. Burnett's reflections upon a book entituled Parliamentum pacificum. The first part answered by the author.

SECT. IX.

THe Dr. tells us he could carry this view of History much farther, but I think it is carried already a little too far for his Credit; for the Faith of Roman Ca∣tholicks I am afraid in those times will abide a better Test, than the Protestants Loyalty, which is easier to be deplor'd and lamented than disprov'd and deny'd: This Author found himself press'd in the former Trea∣tise with matter of Fact, where the Protestants in Ger∣many, find at present both Faith and Protection under Catholick Princes; but that his malice must impute to their want of Power to do Mischief, and the Circum∣stances of Affairs; this Circumstances of Affairs, I do not see but may serve our turns here too, and hinder their power of doing Mischief, since we have the Kings Word there shall be none done, and the PROTE∣STANT Party so strong a Circumstance to prevent it.

His Propositions, and Expedients of Pension, and Indem∣nity for the Papists are pretty projects; and worthy of such an Vndertaker; but they would thank him more, would he undertake too, that when such Laws shall continue in force, they may not hereafter be put in ex∣ecution with a Non Obstante even to a Statute of Impuni∣ty, and they be told beside with an Insulting Sarcasm, you are rightly serv'd; their Pensions will do them or their posterity but little good; when once they get them again within the praemunire of the Tests; and if the Legisla∣tors chance to have no more Charity for them, than such Reflecters, they may be hang'd by those that are so a∣fraid of burning, ruin'd with interpretation, and most constructively destroy'd, by those that will be too wil∣ling

to void any Law that shall be made for their pre∣servation, (and the Dr. himself does Menace as much in the very next page) an Act of Oblivion, will be made truly so, by being it self forgot; so that the sum of this hardiness of proposals, comes to this handsome, and ea∣sie definition; they are always to continue the con∣demn'd Prisoners to the State, to live upon the Basket, and the favour of a Reprieve.

The Contest for Religion, I confess, is too great; but I can see none that contend so much to prevail, but such who are so contentious as to depress all different perswa∣sions, for fear of Vsurpation; if the Test is the sole se∣curity against the Catholick Religion; The Doctrine of the Church will much suffer in having only such a secu∣lar support from the State, when even that can hardly defend it self for establishing such an unreasonable Law, enacted meerly by the contrivance of such that then sate at the Helm, whose Conduct was condemn'd by All, whose Proceedings by themselves represented as se∣ditious, and that Zeal that animated such unjust under∣takings, found to have no other foundation, but upon Falshood and Perjuries; so that if the Question were im∣partially put, it would come to this, whither these Tests ought sooner be repeal'd, than the rest of the Penal Laws; they being more eminently fram'd from meer malice and mistake; this prevailing Religion, which he would now bring to this very period of time, has been too long a prevailing to have so short an Epoche for its commencement and date, and for almost this hundred and fifty year was never prevalent, and whatever is the Prospect and Face of the State, while the Church still continues in that station she would be (as she has the best of Securities from so Gracious a King) and a Tole∣ration Establisht as well as the Church, this Protestant

Religion will not be so soon prevail'd upon, but must needs be maintain'd in the mighty numbers of the free Professors of it.

The disservice he would insinuate we have done in putting the Iustices in mind of their Oaths, one would think I had superseded the thoughts of, in the same Trea∣tise, where I had appeal'd to himself to make an Essay in the point of the Dispensing Power, where his malice might be manifested in the prosecution, and his revenge frustrated by the Royal Authority's suspending of all the penalty; and this a Resolution of those twelve men in Scarlet, the deepness of whose Crimes he would so ma∣liciously represent by the badge of their Office; if he will perswade the Iustices of the Peace to prosecute Dissen∣ters, notwithstanding His Majesties Gracious Indul∣gence, I am afraid he'll do them no acceptable piece of Service, and give them more perplexity, than the trou∣ble of repealing can create, which doubtless, must take off all Scruple about their execution; the Members of the Coll. he's pleas'd to Caress with their adhering to their Oaths, were perhaps, more true to their Zeal, and an Obstinate Disobedience; a Protestant Prince might have never met with that refractoriness, and a Catholick Founder, I fancy, did never more directly design his Statutes against the Prerogative of a Catholick King; but to shew that a stubborn obstinacy was a great ingre∣dient in this Conscience Plea; Nothing is more plain, than from this late Revolution in the Death of the Presi∣dent; where if there had been but a submissive applica∣cation made to an offended Majesty, and an humble Peti∣tion to be restor'd to favour, if I may be forgiven the boldness of Imagination, as well as the Dr. would be par∣don'd the hardiness of Propositions; I fancy many might have met with as much of the King's mercy, as now they

suffer under the effects of his Iustice, and might have hinder'd a Society from returning to its Primitive Institu∣tion; where some that possess it now, may upon ano∣ther score, be too ready to observe, that in the beginning it was not so.

The Dr. tells us we are to be govern'd by Law, and not by the Excesses of Government; but if he can tell me from any Reign since the Conquest of the Normans, that there were not greater Excesses of Government complain'd of, and greater us'd, (as in a particular Treatise I have prov'd:) I'll grant him the Dispensing Power to be the greatest Grievance; Discontents, and Jealousies, under any Revolution of State, do only shift sides, and are never wanting in a Government where the People can but make a Party; had those Presidents of Excesses, which I cited from our former Reigns, but made for the Doctors purpose, that had been Law, which is now Excess, and a Dispensation for the great Out-ra∣ges that were committed upon the Church in Edw. 6th's Reign, before any Parliament had authoriz'd it, it seems was truly Law; which as it was a power to save Men from being hang'd for Sacrilege; so many will tell us too it was a sort of destroying the Government.

The R. Cath. I am confident, will be glad to hear, that the Severities, by which they have so unreasonably suffer'd, and that so long, have been only the result of the Protestants fears, and not so much their deserved Punishments for any perpetrated Crimes: When the Elector Palatine had mov'd the King of France, that he would tolerate all the Hugonots, to Preach in Paris, he return'd him the like motion, that all the Catholicks might be allow'd to say Publick Mass in his Capital City; if we must exclude them from all employment, because of the dan∣gerous Consequence under a Catholick King; must not

they think themselves as much beset with dangers, when they shall have none but their Enemies in Office under a Protestant Successor? and if they then should move to be the only persons employ'd; would it not be as strange a Request as what is made now, that none but Protestants must be so? neither will this Establishment, and Consti∣tution of the State, make any great disparity in the Pa∣rallel, unless it be to the disadvantage of those that would make the difference; for if Protestants will plead their Penal Laws, their Tests, their prescription of an hundred and fifty years possession and enjoyment; in bar to their Pretensions, it will put Papists upon the retrospect; how they came to be thus excluded, and discover that they had for above five hundred years before, all the Laws of Church and State on their side, and none others heard of, or admitted into Office and Employment; and therefore, when the Doctor tells us, that in Holland the Government is wholly in the hands of Protestants; Papists will be apt to return, they know how it comes to be so; that both Holland and Zealand, sided with those of Flanders at first in the Pacification of Gaunt, to leave the governing part both of Church and State in the hands of the Ca∣tholicks, but that when they came to Reform farther, and grew more powerful, nothing less would serve the turn than the Vnion of Utrecht, by which they were to be left to govern themselves as they pleas'd, and when their famous City of Amsterdam that now priviledges all Subjects as well as all Religions, to its immortal honor made the stoutest resistance for the sake of their old Laws and Religion(and its neighbour Harlem never resisted their King so stoutly, as this fought for him) for it was Be∣sieg'd by Sea and Land, and at last yielded only upon these honourable Terms: That their former faith should continue establisht, their Magistrates confirm'd, yet were forc't to admit against their Capitulation, a Garri∣son,

against their Articles of War, new Articles of Faith, and for their old Magistrates of the Peace to be govern'd by the standing Officers of the Army; so it is not fit it should be known how the Government came to be wholly there in the hands of Protestants, for fear it should re∣flect too much upon Promises too, that were not well kept, and that the same should become the seat and refuge for all sort of Sectaries, that was once such a Celebrated Ci∣ty for being at Vnity with it self.

I need not take much pains to show why my Presi∣dents from the reign of Edward 3d. might be recom∣mended to the practise of this; since he gives no reason why they should not, unless his Authority be such in History, as some Dogmatists are said to have had in the Schools; a Dixit, and indisputable; if I mistake not our British Annals, cannot boast of a more Glorious and Auspicious Reign; both for our Foreign Expeditions, and victorious returns, two Neighbouring Kings a sort of Pri∣soners to our own; two Kingdoms but little better than our Tributarys; the Misfortunes of Scotland, the Fate of France will furnish us with too much matter to make those times for ever fam'd, and his present Majesties most Heroick mind, and military disposition may tell us too, that they can be imitated; I cant discover why the latter end of this King's Life may not be recommended as much for imitation; the recovering of the Kingdom of Castile, for its lawful Lord, and another expedition into France, were both such Actions of the renowned Prince his Son, by which the Nation cannot suffer much in the Consummation of his reign: but if any thing may make the latter end not to be imitated; it may by some people be thought to be the Disturbances in the Discipline of the Church, which was like to have made as great a Commotion in the affairs of the state, for it

was in this latter end, that Wicklift divulg'd his new doctrines, drew in a great many Proselites among the Common People; and made a Party among some of the greatest Nobility too; which terminated in this unhappy issue, to shew us too soon the dangers and disturbances that always must attend any Innovation in Religion: for the suppressing of this, Gregory the XI. wrote the Arch-Bishop, and Bishop of London; who cite Wickliff to ap∣pear at Pauls, whither he comes well attended with the Duke of Lancaster, and Piercy Lord Marshal; where they were no sooner come, but the Spiritual Lords fell out with the Temporal, the Temporal with the Spiritual; all about Wickliff's sitting down before his Ordinary, which the Reforming Lords in contempt to the Bishops contended for, and the Proselited Duke was so Zealous as to tell the Prelate he would pull down the Pride of him, and all the Bishops in England, pull him out of the Church by the Hair of the Head; I think fit to recite this, for fear the Dr. should find fault with me, as well as Varillas, for not telling him the occasion the Bishops found to leave the Court, and I think 'twas time for them to be gone. If the Doctor remembers, this seems some∣what of those Sparks that afterward sate both Bohemia, and Hungary in a Flame; to one of which places, if (I mistake not) this very person here cited, did in his Ba∣nishment repair, and to its missfortunes perhaps con∣tribute, and as I think upon occasions like this, might be said to be begun that long War of Germany; and I do most professedly avow, that upon serious Reflection up∣on those miseries that attended the Reformation, which the Doctor has given me too much, and too sad occasion to consider and consult; I look upon this Juncture of the latter end of this Reign, very near that unfortunate Crisis of falling into all the Desolation and Calamities

that afterward befel those miserable Countries, Bohemia, Hungary, Germany, France, and Flanders, but tho' fate for a while suspended our misfortunes, or the Military King that Reign'd then, supprest those more early divi∣sions; yet alas, the Diversities of Religion did too soon lay us waste, and not long since made us as sad a Specta∣cle to our Neighbours, as they had been to us in the same Civil Wars: A Body would have thought Dr. B. might have sooner found fault with the beginnings of this King's Reign, than his latter end; for I must confess it began in the deposition of his Father, or at best, but a necessitated resignation; he being a Prince as ambitious of a Crown, as well as one that truly deserv'd to wear it; but this is a President that cannot but please him, the transferring Allegiance is such a singular piece of Politicks, in the Opinion of this Statesman, and helps so mightily to the constituting of some States, that he may be very desirous it should be much imitated.

But to come to another Instance of his Excesses, in which he does so exceedingly delight himself, and that is, those of Richard the 2d's Reign. I confess, 'tis ano∣ther President of Allegiance transferr'd, but that with good Subjects does not presently prove Excesses; nei∣ther warrant their Disloyalty if they were prov'd; if the Proceedings of his Reign must not be mention'd be∣cause of its Tragical Conclusion, we shall be at a great loss for any Argument that may be drawn from the more Lamented Misfortunes of King Charles the First; I suppose the Doctor will say too, it was Excesses produc'd that Tragedy, (and some People will say the Excesses of Conformity;) but yet, I hope there might be good Laws made in his Reign, and what was there call'd Excesses, has been since found, but so much Invasion of the Prero∣gative; and perhaps, an Impartial Account of this

King Richard's Reign will make that appear so too; I had obviated this Objection before upon the very place, in observing that the tumultuous proceeding of the Re∣bellious Barons, (for I hope, by his leave, we may be so bold at home) and the ambition of the designing Duke of Glocester, could no more criminate that King's Reign, than excuse them from being Rebels.

But since he will not be contented, let us examine what some Authors as honest as himself say of these Ex∣cesses, when the Parliament, or rather the Party of the Duke of Lancaster was assembled at his deposition, Exces∣ses indeed were alledg'd, and so will ever be by those that prevail; but even among those there, some that thought them far from being so; the Loyal and Lear∣ned Bishop of Carlisle, made such a bold Speech in his defence, that his very deposers were silenc'd, and no∣thing but each mans private prospect of some publick favour, hinder'd their Conviction; the new King him∣self was very cool in the prosecution of the grave old Pre∣late, and could hardly be said to be warm in his acquir'd Government; but for all this, they thought fit to con∣fine the Loyal Bishop for the Liberty that he took, his Crime being only a bold Indiscretion, for shewing them so soon the badness of their Cause: This King as exceed∣ing criminal, as the Doctor would make him, had so strong a Party, tho' depos'd, that they thought fit to deprive him of his Life too, and to send him to his E∣ternal Crown, for fear he should take up again his Tem∣poral; these are no good Arguments of his Excesses, or ill administration: Hollinshead that has somewhat of Renown for an Historian, tho' he does not in his work exalt his own Reputation with our Authors; he tells us, this poor Prince was most unthankfully us'd by his Subjects, in no King's days were the Commons in greater Wealth, or

the Nobility more cherisht, and as these Tragical Conclu∣sions were not imputed to Excesses by most of his Sub∣jects at home, so it was as ill resented by Princes abroad; the King of France was so provokt with these Injurious Proceedings, that he acquainted his Lords with his Re∣solution of Revenge, and they shewed themselves as rea∣dy to take it too, but were too soon prevented by their taking away his Life, and then it was as much too lateto serve him after his death. I am afraid the Doctor will be found to be exceedingly out here in his Excesses; but as Excess must serve his turn in one Reign, so it seems defect must do it in another. Henry the 6th's feeble Reign must support his Arguments against what he calls Excesses of Government in Richard the 2d. I am glad to see he has no stronger ones, and 'tis but a tacit giving up the Cause, to have recourse to such Subterfuges: H. the 6th. I hope, as weak as he was, was to govern ac∣cording to Law, and for that, the more concern'd so to govern; so that the force of the Prerogative in such a feeble Reign, is but an Argument a fortiori.

The Excesses in H. the 8. time indeed were such, (since he's resolv'd to call them so) and came somewhat near that absolute Power, with which he so much affrightens and alarms us in his Libels; but I hope he will allow and think the Protestant Religion very much oblig'd to his Excesses, since they made the fairest Step to the Reformation, and were as well followed in the Reign that came after; some Writers will say, that those Parliaments that confirm'd his Excesses, were so far from free ones, that they were hardly allow'd the Li∣berty of Debate, much less to stand up for the antient Establishment of the Church: It was Criminal then to deny the Court, even in an House of Commons, and tho' King CHARLES the First coming to the House,

only for Members accus'd of High-Treason, was made such a Crime, as the Breach of Priviledge: It was look'd upon here as a Point of Prerogative, to come & command their Votes, or else certainly, such an Assembly suppos'd of the Wisest, as well as the greatest Men in the Nation, could never have been prevail'd on, for passing such Absurdities and Contradictions into Law, for the ma∣king lawful Heirs illegitimate, and then to legitimate again, the self same unlawful Heirs, to make one Daugh∣ter spurious, and then another; and at last, to make them both to be legal Issue with the single Charm of, Be it Enacted. It is said of that Assembly, that it can do every thing but make a Man a Woman; but here I think they went pretty near that too, and made Wo∣men what they pleas'd: In the First Ann's Case, Inconti∣nency was made the Cause to divorce Her; In the Second, the Defect of natural Inclination, and only upon send∣ing down some Lords to the Lower House; what Marriage he pleas'd was declar'd unlawful: It was not the Roman Consistory that was Lords of the Articles then, or else they had hardly parted so soon with the Supre∣macy, though that invidious Reflection on that Ho∣nourable Constitution in Scotland, must come a little un∣kindly from Protestants, since if we believe the Bishop, to those Lords they are much oblig'd for the helping on the Reformation; in short, since the Dr. lays such a mighty Weight upon his getting all warranted, or confirm'd by Parliament, it is but a weak Support for the Confirmation of his Cause, for it will give some People the more occasion to observe, that such was once our KING's Authority over Parliaments, that they could obtain from the Civil Sanctions of the State, to sacrifice the Sacred Authority of the Church, Wives and Children, Women, and Men, to his Lust and

Anger: His Parliamentary Warrant will do him but little Service in such Excesses, since His present Maje∣sty's Proposals, I think are much more reasonable, which he desires only so to be Warranted; and if these Excesses are so ordinary in great Revolutions, some Persons may think this unexpected Indulgence, and Toleration, as great a Turn.

The Dr. very wisely passes by without any Conside∣ration, all the Proceedings of Edw. the Sixths Reign, in which some may think that some Excesses were Committed too, and that even in the very two Points that His Majesty has solemnly declar'd to Defend us in, Property, and Religion: In the very First Year of that Reign, which the Dr. cannot be unacquainted with, it being so of the Reformation too: Did the Prote∣ctor only by his Proclamation order all Enclosures to be laid open, which for some time had been en∣joy'd by the Lords and Gentry, and was partly pos∣sess'd by them, by Vertue of those Abby-Lands they had from the Crown: The Duke knew this would gra∣tify the Common People, and being desirous to be popu∣lar, he issues out this Commission of Absolute Power; (for all the Lords and Gentry look'd upon it as an Invasion of Property, especially when they were in such a Tumultuous manner thrown down): were Ab∣by Lands to be thus invaded now by a Proclamation, we might well complain of Excess. In the same Year were Injunctions sent forth, only the Order of the Coun∣cil Board, over all the Kingdom, for altering all the Old Ceremonies, and way of Worship in the Church of Rome; several for opposing these Commissions and Injunctions, as something like Excesses, were punish'd, or sent to Prison: The Bishop of London was clap'd up in the Fleet, only for scrupling an Obedience, and that,

though he made most solemn submission, which is more, some People will say, than what has been done by some Successor since, upon a milder Test of Obe∣dience, and a Process, less severe: Gardiner was Com∣mitted to the Tower, only for wishing these Proceed∣ings might be delay'd till the King was more capable of the Government; Durham, Rochester, and Chichester for the same Disobedience were so serv'd; all of them dispossess'd of their Bishopricks, and what was worse, the Bishopricks, & Sees themselves dispossess'd, & reform'd from their Revenues: These Excesses could not but create great Disorders in the State, when they saw that what was call'd the King's Proceedings, was allow'd to be Law for the regulating of the Church; the seve∣ral Rebellions of the West and North, that follow'd meerly upon these Excesses of Reformation, had too Tragical Conclusions to relate, and so the Dr. took care lest they should be mentioned; the suppression of which, did not end without a Western and a Northern Cam∣paign, and a great deal of Blood and Severity: Sir Will. Kingston's pleasant Cruelty in the West, his Land∣lords, & the Millers Tragedy, do declare: & Northumber∣land in the North, is so well known, that I'le engage, the Doctor confesses it a thing which help'd to faci∣litate Q. Mary to the Throne. In short, it appears plain from the History, that the Protector saw that Refor∣motion could not be carryed on without Arms, that therefore he made the War in Scotland, a Pretence to take them up, and for this, he brought in Germans, and Walloons, though the coming over of our own Irish now is made a Terror and Astonishment; the Elections of the Bishops was then given to the KING, for the Ends of Reformation, of which 'tis now too late to repent.

In the next President we are reflected on again, be∣cause Q. Elizabeth's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters was founded on an Act of Parliament, which the Dr. says was in a great measure repeal'd in King Charles the First's time, and that Repeal again in Charles the Se∣cond's ratify'd; this Authors Argument of a Parlia∣mentary power was little to his advantage in his Reign of Hen. 8. not at all for his purpose in the First of Edward the Sixth; for there those great Alterations in Church and State were made before the Parliament was call'd, meerly by Injunctions, Orders of the Pro∣tector, or the Council Table, and that absolute power authorised by the specious Name of the King's Proceed∣ings: This was the Original of that Arbitrary Law; and Queen Mary might well write after such a Copy; but the Dr. does most designedly misapply to our Pre∣sidents in Queen Elizabeth's time this Parliamentary power, as well as he designedly, and wisely omits it in K. Edw. Reign, because he knew he could not apply it; for if he'll but examin one of the Cases I put him in the Queens Reign, about Her dispensing with the Latin Service to be read in Collegiate Chappels, and the Vni∣versities, contrary to an express proviso of an Act of Parliament, for the sake of Reformation; and the applau∣ded Opinion of Moor, that the Queens power of Non Obstante was good, even against the Non Obstante of an Act of Parliament, to that Her Power; he'll find that some of Her Affairs and Proceedings were so far from being founded on Acts of Parliaments, that She acted without them, and upon Resolutions that were given to illude and invalidate their power: so that in short, the Dr. would apply the Case of the Court of Commission, founded by the First of Her Reign, to ju∣stify the Legality of all that She did, even to those

things that She confesses, She dispens'd withal contra∣ry to Law: were we to play like Children at Cross-purposes, the greatest non-sence, and most insipid An∣swers would serve, & pass, for the more Ingenious Diver∣sion; I told the Dr. what She dispens'd with, contrary to the very Parliaments Act. It is Answered of something She did that was rounded upon an Act of Parliament; but now, because we'll keep to the purpose, we'll examin this Her power in Ecclesiasticals, founded on the First of Her Reign, and see how far it makes for our Authors Apology: he says this was in a great measure Re∣peal'd in the Year 1641. the Dr's Excellencies lying more in Chronology, than the Statute-book. It is a known Act of 17th. Charles the First, that does in some measure, as he says, (and I am glad he keeps to any) repeal it; I will not insist on the occasion of such a Repeal, and the juncture of Affairs that forc'd it, though I must confess the Reasons of Laws, can never be recollected, but by Reflection on the State of those Times, in which they were made; and that makes a sound Historian somewhat of the necessary part of a good Lawyer; and from History 'tis most deplorably known, that this Repeal was procur'd in the Year that this Rebellion commenc'd by a Parlia∣ment, the defence of which has been made Proemunire and High-Treason; by that which enforced the Tri∣ennial Parl. into a perpetual one, and which was af∣terward with so much abhorrence, and such an igno∣minious Character repeal'd: But all that appears of this Repeal, of the 1st. of Elizabeth, from the Opinion of the Lawyers, and the examining the Act, is the power of the Commissioners fining and imprisoning, which was look'd upon as oppressive; and therefore my Lord Cook in his Argument upon that case (who

for a time was no great Prerogative Lawyer, or would not be so) says, that this Act was only a restoring to the King, His antient Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction, which the Commissioners extended so far, as injuriously to fine Offenders upon it beyond their Power; this usur∣ped Power some people are of opinion, is only by that Act repeal'd, though I do not doubt but that Parliament would have willingly comprehended in it, all the Inhe∣rent, Antient, Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction, that ever apper∣tain'd to the King and Crown, and even by special Act here, under Catholick Princes has been declar'd so; so that indeed, as the Dr. says, it is but in a measure re∣peal'd; and by express Words in the Repeal, of Abuses of the Power only prevented; so that it could not take away, or deprive the Royal Authority from that un∣questionable Prerogative of Commissionating any number of Persons in Ecclesiastical Matters that do not exercise such an extensive Iurisdiction: and therefore to reflect upon the present Court that is of another nature, and a new Creation, as put down and repeal'd with that of Queen Elizabeths, is no more an Argument, than that Queen Elizabeths Commission was reviv'd, when but so lately King Charles the Second delegated His Ecclesiasti∣cal Iurisdiction, and Disposal of Preserments to some Persons, that are most now living, though perhaps, some of them the readiest to Dislike their present Proceedings: It is plain, that the King's Power in Ec∣clesiastical Matters was never meant should be infring'd from that Repeal by this Ratification of it in the Late King's Time, whatever the First Factious Legislators in it might intend; for as you see this Late King did in a sort make use of it, so in this very Ratification, as the Dr. calls it, is Provided, that as it shall not ex∣tend to the Iurisdiction of Archbishops, Bishops, so nei∣ther

to Vicar-Generals, or Persons exercising Ecclesia∣stical Jurisdiction by the King's Commission: If the Dr. will cavil, only because the Word Court of Commis∣sion is not expres'd, his Cause will hardly be the bet∣ter for such a peevish Exception, since the Constitution of a Vicar-general would be as little Kindness to the Church, as it was in the Excesses of its first Establish∣ment under Henry the Eighth, which we see His Maje∣sty, as excessive as the Dr. would make Him, has not hitherto reviv'd; but should a Parliament restore the very Court of Queen Elizabeth, it would be reckon'd a∣mong such men, as illegal, and only the King's Excesses in the Government.

I here shall help him to another Set of Exces∣ses, since such Prince's Proceedings must be call'd so, when they do not quadrate with our Authors Subject and Design, which at another time must pass for good Law, when they make but the least for His purpose; some People perhaps are of opinion, That the Two Tests were past after a sort of Excess in the Govern¦ment; the World now knows one of them was made, when the Parliament was exceedingly impos'd upon with Falsehoods and Perjuries; and as exceedingly tran∣sported with a Zeal that look'd too, so much like Fu∣ry; so that if a man consider their origination, and the Circumstances of Affairs, when these Laws were made, instead of keeping them upon the File after the rest are repeal'd, there will appear more Reason, even from the Doctor's Excesses, for repealing them the First.

The Conquest of the Kingdom gave a great Latitude to the 1st. William in point of Government, which his Arms having acquir'd, he found himself the less limi∣ted by the Laws, though he profess'd to Rule by it;

and few of his Successors since, that by their own Acts have oblig'd themselves, but afford us Instances in greater Excesses of Government than any we can now complain of. He is said to have invaded the Jurisdi∣ctions of the Prelates, and seiz'd their Treasures, not sparing his own dear Brother Odo. William the Second tax'd his Subjects at pleasure, by the Power of his Pre∣rogative, was as severe upon the Clergy; and Westmin∣ster-Hall, since the Seat of Iustice, was look'd upon by the People, as built on purpose to countenance his un∣just Taxations. The Ne exeat Regnum was repin'd at as a Grievance, and in that Reign might be said to Commence. The making Mutilation, and Corporal Punishment, Pecuniary in Hen. the First's Reign; the Confiscations, and Bishop of Salisbury's Case, in King Stephen's, were made matter of Excesses, in such Au∣thors too. Henry the Second resum'd by his own Act, Lands, that had been sold, or given from the Crown, by his Predecessors; and against this Excess I think His present Majesty has given us good assurance in His last Declaration, since the Dr. labours so much upon the absolute Power of the Former. Of Richard the First it is Reported, That he feign'd his Signet lost, and so put out a Proclamation, That those who would enjoy the Grants by the former old one, must come and have it confirm'd by the New; he pawn'd some of his Lands for the Ierusalem Journey, and upon his Return would have resum'd them without Pay. The Exacti∣ons of King Iohn, and his exercising such a severe Au∣thority over the Church, Fining severely for suppos'd Crimes, I suppose our Author thinks should be least mentioned, because it produc'd the Barons Wars; but no one will say they were the better Subjects, whatever were the King's Excesses. Henry the Third, some say,

was so like his Father, that he succeeded him (if they must be call'd so) in his Excesses too, in resuming ali∣en'd Lands, in Fines, in making advantage of the Va∣cancies of the Church. The Proceedings of Edward the First against his Clergy, putting them out of his Protection, seising upon their Goods; and Edward the Second's Confiscations after the Defeat of the Earl of Lancaster, this Author will call Excesses too; though I cannot see why they may not all have the more mo∣derate Names of the King's Proceedings, as well as when all things were so warranted in the Reign of Edw. 6th.

As we had begun with these Observations on our King's antiently Exercising of an Vnlimited Power, (which in other Treatises I have shewn, and which our Author (if he will) shall call Absolute) from the Reign of Edward 3d. So here the Dr. may observe these Presidents deduc'd down to that Time too; and so cannot but see that such Excesses are inseparable from the Government, and perhaps a Prerogative that Soveraignty cannot well, or will not be without; and if Subjects must be allow'd to Censure and Reflect on their Princes Proceedings, it is morally impossible that they can provide against all their Clamours and Complaints: the Necessities of State will many times force them to some Excesses: and Diversities of Opi∣ons and Parties, and now the too much to be lamen∣ted Divisions in Religion, will ever make those Proceed∣ings seem just to one side, that are look'd upon as inju∣rious by the other. Our Author will oblige the Ro∣man Catholicks very much, if he will justify for Law, all the Proceedings of Queen Eliz.; and I'le engage he shall have the Thanks of the Society, as heartily as he had that of the House; for in the First Year, before any Act of Parliament had past for Alterations, Ima∣ges

were defac'd, and Altars demolish'd; by Her Pro∣clamations She put down all publick Preachers, but such as were Licens'd by Her Authority; the business of the Reformation, and Altering of Religion (if we believe Baker) was Carryed in Parliament but by Six Voices, and will give Catholicks occasion to say, That not∣withstanding the present Clamours about Regulating Elections, great Artifices were us'd then too, to bring it about, and but by Six Votes, at last the Weighty Cause of Religion was over-ballanc'd: 'Tis certain, that Excesses were then Complain'd of too, and it was murmurred about, even in the Lower House it self, that the Parliament was pack'd, that the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel, and Sir William Cecil, for their own Ends had sollicited Votes, and made a Party: These Irregularities may serve to silence some Peoples unrea∣sonable and indiscreet Clamors at present, since they can be so soon retorted, and which I urge only, to shew the Consequence of such ill-manag'd Objections, and not to justify and defend them.

Notes

• Vid. Reflect. Parag. 4.
• Vid. Reflect. Parag. 5.
• Rest. Parag. 6.
• Vid. Six Pa∣pers.
• Ibid. Parag. 6.
• 1566.
• Note, this was but about an 100 years agon.
• Vid. Baker.
• Vid. Reflect. p. 3.
• Vid. Reflect. par. 6. pag. 5.
• Vid. Parliam. Pacif.
• Vid. Daniel and Trussel. Vid. Baker.
• Chron. 3d. vol.
• Vid. Dr. B's. Praeface to the History of the Reformation, where he calls him the Posti∣lion of the Re∣formation, dri∣ving thorough thick & thin.
• Vid. 25, 28, 35. Hen. 8.
• Vid Stow, An∣nals. p. 581.
• Vid. Letter to a Dissenter.
• Spotswood's Hi∣story of the Church.
• Vid. Heyl. Re∣formation Ed. the 6th.
• Vid. Acts and Monuments.
• On Varilla's 3. & 4. Tom. pag▪ 120.
• 17 Car. 1. Vid. Keeble.
• Vid. 12▪13. Car. 2. Vid. Colleges Try∣al.
• 4. Inst.
• 17 Car. 1.
• Vid. Stat. Car∣lisle, &c.
• 13 Car. 2.
• Vid. Bacon's seditious Book of the Govern∣ment os En∣gland.
• Vid. Reflect. Parag. 6.
• Bakers Chron. p. 330.
• Id. p. 331.