The obligation resulting from the Oath of Supremacy to assist and defend the pre-eminence or prerogative of the dispensative power belonging to the King, his heirs and successors. In the asserting of that power various historical passages occurring in the usurpation after the year 1641. are occasionally mentioned; and an account is given at large of the progress of the power of dispensing as to acts of Parliament about religion since the reformation; and of divers judgments of Parliaments declaring their approbation of the exercise of such power, and particularly in what concerns the punishment of disability, or incapacity.

THE OBLIGATION Resulting from the Oath of Supremacy. To Assist and Defend the Pre-eminence or Prerogative OF THE Dispensative Power, Belonging to the KING, his Heirs, and Successors, &c. (Book 1)

PART I: (Book 1)

A.

IN this Kingdom of England, so naturally of old addicted to Re∣ligion and vehemence in it, as to give a Bishop of Rome cause to complain, he had more trouble given him by Applications from England about it, then from all the World beside; and afterward to make Geneva wonder at the Sabbatarians here ex∣ceeding the Iewish strictness; and to cause Barclay in his Eu∣pho•…•…mio to say of the English, Nec quicqúam in numinis cultu modicum possunt, and that our several Sects thought unos se Coelestium rerum partici∣pes, exortes coeteros omnes esse: did you ever observe, hear or read of the style of Tenderness of Conscience so much used as in the year 41. and some∣time afterward?

B.

I have not. From the Date of King Charles the First's Declaration to all His loving Subjects about that time, wherein he speaks of his Care for Exemption of Tender Consciences, till the Date of King Charles the Second's Declaration from Breda, wherein the Liberty of Tender Con∣sciences is Provided for, the clause of easing Tender Consciences ran through the Messages, Addresses, and Answers that passed between King and Parliament almost as much as the Clause of proponentibus legatis did run through the Councel of Trent.

A.

But were not their Consciences extremely erroneous who thought themselves bound then to advance Religion by War?

B.

A•…•…, and by a Civil War (as you might have added) against a Prince of the tenderest Conscience imaginable: for that Character he had from an

Arch-bishop in his Speech in the Parliament of 40 who said, Our Sovereign is, I will not say above other Princes, but above all Christian men that ever I knew or heard of, a man of most upright, dainty, and scrupulous Conscience, and afraid to look upon some Actions, which other Princes abroad do usually swallow? and he might have added, a Prince the real Tenderness of who•…•…e Conscience had so often favour'd the nominal tenderness of others, who in∣stead of being Tender-hearted Christians, were Stiff-necked Iews; and who might justly apprehend that it was only duritia cordis, instead of Tenderness of Conscience he dispens'd with, and as when God dispens'd with the Iews in Polygamy.

For since Tenderness of Conscience doth necessarily render a man abste∣mious from things lawful, and to be of a gentle submissive temper not only to his Equals, but Inferiors, and to be merciful even to brute Crea∣tures, and not only averse from suing any one about Penal Lawes, but ready to remit somewhat of his Right rather then to go to Law with a Stranger, and much less with ones Father; the Pater Patrioe seeing any men outraging the Lawes, and the quiet of the whole Realm by that wilde brutish thing call'd War, (for ferinum quiddam bellum est) might well judge them utterly devoid of all Tenderness of Conscience. I shall therefore frankly tell you, that no doubt but their Consciences were extremely erroneous, or rather sea•…•…ed.

Our great Writer of Conscience, Bishop Sanderson in his Sermon on Rom. 14. 13. discussing the Causes from which mens doubtfulness of mind may spring, and saying that sometimes it proceeds from Tenderness of Con∣science, which yet is indeed a very blessed and a gracious thing, doth very well add, but yet (as tender things may sooner miscarry) very obnoxious through Satan's diligence and subtlety to be wrought upon to dangerous incon∣veniences.

And if we Consider that a Civil War cannot be lawful on both Sides, however a foreign one may, we may well account that any deluded melan∣choly People who were tempted to raise a Civil War out of a blind Zeal for Religion, and to assault the Thirteenth of the Romans out of the Apocalypse, had hard Spleens instead of tender Consciences, and that they have soft Heads instead of tender Hearts, who try to make Religion a gainer by War.

But indeed the Project of planting Religion and Propagating the Church by War, that is described to be Status humanoe Societatis disso∣lutoe, and that so presently opens to all mens view the horrid Scene of Contempta Religio, Rapta profana, Sacra profanata, is so vain, that the old Proverbial Impiety of such who did castra sequi how victorious soever, hath naturally help'd to make Conquering Nations embrace the very Religion of the Conquered; a thing exemplify'd in the Conquests of the Danes and Sa•…•…ns in England, of the Gothes in Italy and France, and Spain, and of the Moors in Spain, and in the Turks having overcome the Sara∣cens, embracing the Saracens Religion.

And the Vanity of Reforming the World by War, that Profound and Conscientious Statesman Cardinal D'Ossat in his Third Book, 86th Letter and to Villeroy, A. 1597. hath well taught us, and where he mentions how he urged to the Pope the reasonableness of Harry the 4th's, so religiously ob∣serving the great Edict of Pacification, and that the many Wars made again and again by Hereticks, serv'd for nothing but in many places to abolish the Catholick Religion, and in a manner all Ecclesiastical Discipline, Iustice, and Order, and to introduce Atheism with the Sequel of all sorts of Sacri∣leges, Parricides, Rapes, Treasons and Cruelties, and other sorts of wicked∣ness, &c. and afterward that on the making War, all the Malecontents, all

People indebted and ne•…•…ssitous, all Debauchees, and Vagabonds, all Thieves and other Criminals, whose Lives were become forfeited to the Law, of what Religion or Opinion soever they were, were wont to joyn with the Hugonots, and did more harm to the Church, and Religion, and good manners in one day of War, then they could in a hundred days of Peace.

Thus •…•…e who •…•…its in the Heavens had them here in derision, while they in effect thus presumed to transprose Scripture, and to say Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth War, and ill will towards men; and while accor∣ding to that Saying in Arch-bishop L•…•…d's famous Star-Chamber-Speech, viz. No Nation hath ever appear'd more jealous of Religion then the People of England have ever been, they were under such Transports of misguided Zeal, as to adore that their jealousie, and to offer Sacrifices to it with as much Contempt of Heaven and Cruelty to Mankind, as ever were offer'd to the image of Iealousie referr'd to by Ezekiel; and to which the tenderest of their Relations were not thought too costly Victims: and to which their truly Tender-Conscienced King, who like Moses with Tenderness carried them in his Bosome as a Nursing-Father beareth the sucking Child, and who sometimes out of Tenderness to several of his Complaining Children Sacri∣ficed the rigour of his Penal Lawes, and to whom they should have been subject for that Tender thing Conscience sake, was himself at last Sacrificed.

How did that Pious Prince sometimes in relation to his Heterodox Prote∣stant Subjects imitate the Father of the Prodigal, who when his Son was yet afar off, ran to meet him, fell on his neck and kiss'd him, a thing acknow∣ledg'd by an Eminent learned Divine, Mr. Iohn Ley in his Book call'd De∣fensive Doubts, Hopes and Reasons, Printed in the year 1641. and where in p. 123. urging the Bishops to procure the Revocation of a late Canon of the Church, and having said wherein if they appear and prevail, they need not fear any disparagement to their Prudence by withdrawing that they have de∣creed, since the wisest Statesmen and greatest Governors have used many times to comply so far with popular Dispositions, as to vary their own Acts with re∣lation to their liking, as the Pilot doth his Soils to comply with the wind, he addeth, And you cannot have a more authentic Example both to induce you to this, and to defend you in it from all Imputations, then that of our Sacred Sovereign, who rather then he would give any Colour of Complaint for ag∣grievances to his People, was pleas'd to DISPENSE with the five Articles of PERTH's Assembly, and to discharge all Persons from urging the Practice thereof upon any either Laick or Ecclesiastical Person whatsoever, and to free all his Subjects from all Censures and Pains whether Ecclesiastical or Secular, for not urging, practising, and obeying any of them, tho they were es•…•…ablish'd both by a General Assembly, and by Act of Parliament. King Charles his large Declaration of the •…•…umults in Scotland, p 370. & p. 389. And for his OWN Acts (for these Articles of Perth were propounded and ratify'd in the Reign of his Royal Father) he imposed the Service Book, the Book of Canons, and high Commission upon his Subjects in Scotland, and upon their humble Supplication, was content graciously to grant a Discharge from them: passing his Princely Promise that he would neither then nor after∣wards press the Practice of them, nor any thing of that nature, but in such a fair and legal way, as should satisfie all his loving Subjects. The Duplys of the Divines of Aberdene, p. 54. and p. 130, 131. Whereupon Mr. Ley thus goes on, viz. Wherein Wise men who judge of Consultations and Acts by their probable Effects, and not unexpected Events, cannot but highly commend His Majesty's Mildness and Clemency: which we doubt not would condescend to your Requests for a removal of this great aggrievance if you would please to interpose your Mediations to so acceptable a purpose, and upon our hum∣ble

sute, which in all submissive manner we tender to your Lordship (and by you to the rest of your Reverend Order) we hope you will do so, since we have it upon his word (His Royal Majesty's word, which neither in Duty nor Discretion we may distrust) that the Prelates were their greatest Friends (i. e. of his Scottish Subjects) their Councels were always Councels of Peace, and their Solicitations vehement and earnest for granting those unexpected Favours which we were pleas'd to bestow upon our People. The King's large Declaration, p. 420

Thus then the Royal Dispensation with the five Articles of Perth was at the Intercession of the Bishops, tho' they knew the same Establish'd by Act of Parliament, graciously afforded to his Scotish Subjects.

Those Articles of Perth related to various Religionary Matters, viz The introducing of Private Baptism, Communicating of the Sick, Episcopal Con∣firmation, Kneeling at the Communion, and the observing such ancient Festi∣vals as belong'd immediately to Christ: and of which Doctor Heylin in his History of the Presbyterians having spoken saith, That the King's indulging the Scots in Dispensing with the Penal Laws about them, was an Invitation to the Irish Papists to endeavour by armed force to Compass the King's Dis∣pensation.

But how tenderly the Consciences of the Roman Catholics in Ireland were in the Reign of the Royal Martyr THEN Protected under the Wing of the Dispensative Power, contrary to what the Dr. observ'd, any one may see who will Consult my Lord Primate Bramhal's Replication to the Bishop of Chalcedon, where he saith, That the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland did commit much to my hands the Political Regiment of that Church for the space of Eight years. In all that time let him name but one Roman Catholic that suffer'd either Death or Imprisonment, or so much as a pecuniary Mulct of Twelve Pence for his Religion upon any Penal Statute, if he can, as I am sure he cannot, &c.

And such was the acquiescence of the Populace, and of the three Estates in the Penal Lawes there against the Roman Catholics being thus dead or asleep, that in the Printed Articles of Impeachment against the then Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and that Lord Primate th•…•…n Bishop of Derry, and others of His Majesty's Publick Ministers of State exhibited by the Commons to the Lords in the year 1640. there is not a syllable of Complaint against those Lawes being so dispens'd with by Connivence.

Nor yet in the Printed Schedule of Grievances of that Kingdom voted in the House of Lords there to be transmitted to the Committee of the same House, then attending in England to pursue Redresses for the same, is there any representation of such Indulgence being any Gravamen, nor yet of the great Figure the Irish Papists then made in the Government, the Majority of the Parliament, and of the Iudges and Lawyers then being such.

And pursuant to that Prince's Indulgence offer'd to the tender Consciences of his Subjects in the year 41. he was graciously pleas'd in the Treaty at Ux∣bridg•…•… to order his Commissioners who were such renown'd Confessors of the Church of England, to make the first Royal offer there that freedom be left to all Persons of what Opinion soever in Matters of Ceremony, and that all the Pe∣nalties of LAWS and Customs be SUSPENDED.

And the truth is, since the Christian Religion did in its first settlement so rationally provide for its Propagation in the World, and its bespeaking the favour of Princes by its enjoyning Subjection and Obedience to their Lawes, not only for Wrath, but Conscience sake; and since that Principle of humane Lawes binding the Conscience (which was so often and so publickly avow'd by that Prince and Arch-bishop Laud, and Bishop Sanderson and the Divines

of the Church of England in General) is the surest guard to Princes Thrones and their Tribunals; and that therefore 'tis the Interest of the Prince and People. to be more watchful in preserving that Principle then all the Iewels of the Crown, or Walls of the Kingdom: that Prince did therefore necessa∣rily take Care to preserve and to perpetuate in some of his tender-Consci∣enced Subjects, a continued Tenderness for his Lawes by his lawful Dispen∣sative Power (as particularly in the Case of his Scottish Subjects) in taking off the Obligation of Obedience, and of Conforming themselves to the Esta∣blish'd Lawes; for such Dispensation intrinsecally notes the taking off such Obligation from the Persons dispens'd with. And it is indeed a Solecism for any one to ask Indulgence from a Prince who owns the Law of the Land, binding him in Conscience; if he doth not think such Prince per∣swaded that his Power of granting it is a part of that LAW.

He was not ignorant of his Father's Aversion against the Penal Lawes in general, and on which Account my Lord Bacon celebrating him, saith, As for Penal Lawes which lie as snares upon the Subjects, and which were as a Nemo scit to King Henry 7. it yields a Revenue which will scarce pay for the Parchment of the King's Records at Westminster. And religionary Penal Lawes requiring the greatest tenderness, as he found when he came to the Government, that the two most famous Puritan Divines, Mr. Hilder∣sham and Mr. Dod, Men of great Probity and Learning, had often been in his Father's time Pursuant to the Act for Uniformity disabled from Preach∣ing, and been re-inabled to it by particular Indulgence (and as likewise Fuller tells us in his Church History, that Bishop Williams when he was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, procured a Licence from King Iames under the Great Seal for Mr. Cotton the famous Independent to Preach notwithstanding his Non-Conformity) so he in the same manner that his Royal Father did, held the Reins of the Law loose in his hands as to those two other Non-Conformists beforemention'd.

The History of Mr. Hildersham's Life, mentions that he was silenced in Iune, A▪ 1590, and restored again in Ianuary, A. 1591. Again he was deprived and silenced, April 24 A. 1605. for refusal of Subscription and Conformity, and after some time again restored: and was again Silenced in November, A. 1611. by the King's particular Command; and on April 23. A. 1613. he was judicially admonished by the High Commission, that saving the Catechizing of his own Family only, he should not afterward Preach, Cate∣chize, or use any of the Offices or Function of a Minister publickly or privately 〈◊〉〈◊〉 he should be lawfully restored and releas'd of his said Suspension. But shortly after the beginning of the Reign of the Royal Martyr, he was again restored; and was afterward again silenced, and so continued till August 2. A. 1631. and then he was again restored. And Mr. Dod's Life represents his Case as parallel with this before-mention'd. He was in King Iames his time suspended and restored, and again by the King's particular Command disabled from Preaching, and was by King Charles the First re-ennabled or restored.

Thus as fortis fortem amat, one tender Conscienced man too loves ano∣ther such; and the Executive Power of the Law in re-ennabling after temporary Disability, was tenderly administred by these our Princes to these Conscientious Men, with respect to their real Capacity of Favour to be shew'd them.

A.

You have here given me a taste en passant of part of the Dispensative Power, as exercised in the three Realms during some Conjunctures in the Reign of King Charles the First, and for which I thank you, and particular∣ly for what you told me of the Act of Parliament dispens'd with in Scotland,

of which I never heard before; and am apt to suppose a thing of that Na∣ture was never done before in that Realm.

B.

I can assure you, to those who know the Publick Transactions of that Kingdom, the thing will not in the least seem new. I can tell you that on the 26th of November, A. 1593. King Iames the 6th of Scotland made an Act of State in favour of three Roman-Catholick Earls, Huntly, Arroll and An∣gus, by which Act he allow'd them several Priviledges, contrary to Acts of Parliament made against Roman-Catholicks. And His Majesty in his Act of State expresly dispenseth with those Acts of Parliament: and which Dispensation tho Queen Elizabeth importuned him to revoke (and for that purpose sent the Lord Zouch as her Embassador to him) he still adhered to the Act of State he had made, and continued his Dispensation.

A.

Have you this Matter of Fact out of any of the Records in England or Scotland?

B.

I have it out of the Original Papers under the hand of Queen Eliza∣beth and her great Minister Burghly, and the Original Instructions of the Lord Zouch when sent by her to expostulate with the King about it, that were lately in my Custody, and by me sent to our gracious Sovereign: and I shall some other time give you a more particular account of that Dispensation.

A.

But (I beseech you) did not the Protestant Divines of the Church of Scotland then cry out of the unlawfulness or inexpedience of that Dis∣pensation?

B.

I have read it in a learned Book of Dr. Maxwell a Scotch-man, Printed A. 1644. (and who was then Bishop of Killally in Ireland, and had formerly been Bishop of Rosse) that Mr. Robert Bruce one of the Ministers of Edenburgh, and who had a great sway in the Church of Scotland, was pleas'd with the King's extending his Favour to Angus and Arroll, but out of a factious Complyance with the Earl of Arguile, was displeas'd at its being shewn to Huntly. But that Loyal Bishop there acquiesceth in the reason of State, that inclined the King to Pardon the three Earls, and his there∣by hindering the growth of Faction in Scotland, and providing for his more easie and secure access to the Throne of England on the Death of Queen Elizabeth.

And so you may easily guess what sort of men in Scotland look'd with an evil eye on that Act of the Royal goodness, and who did not. The Bi∣shop there had applauded the great depth of the King's Wisdom, and his transcendent Goodness in the Pardoning the three Earls, and mention'd that there was nothing of Religion in the Case of Bruce's Aversion against the Par∣don of Huntly, for that Angus and Arroll were as bigot Papists, if not more then Huntly.

I can likewise direct you to my Lord Primate Bramhal's celebrated Book call'd A Fair warning to take heed of the Scotish Discipline, where in Chap. 6. thus entituled, viz. That it robs the Magistrate of his Dispensative Power; he saith by way of instance, When the Popish Earls of Angus, Hunt∣ly, and Arroll, were excommunicated by the Church, and forfeited for Trea∣sonable Practices against the King, it is admirable to read with what Wisdom, Charity, and Sweetness his Majesty did seek from time to time to reclaim them from their Errors, &c. and on the other side to see with what bitterness and radicated Malice they were prosecuted by the Presbyteries and their Commissioners, &c. sometimes threatning that they were resolv'd to pursue them to the uttermost, tho it should be with the loss of all their Lives in one day, &c. sometimes pressing to have their Estates confiscated, &c. He refers there in his Margin to Ass. Edinb. 1594.

But any one who shall consult D'Ossat's Letters, and there in the Second Book carefully read over the 37th Letter that was writ to Villeroy in the year 1596, and three years after the Date of King Iames his Act of State, and observe what that great Sagacious Cardinal there refers to concerning the Circumstances of those three Earls, and how all the Prudence that could be shewn by man, was but little enough for the Conduct of that King in that Conjuncture, in order to his removing what Impediments either from Rome or Spain, or his Native Country might obstruct his Succession to the Crown of England; will not wonder at his having dispens'd and continued his Dispensation as aforesaid.

A.

I have not yet ask'd you whether the Divines of the Church of Eng∣land, did not lift up their voices like a Trumpet against the Dispensative Power thus exercised by their Prince, as you have mention'd?

B.

They discharged their Duties in Preaching occasionally against all growing Errors: but they wanted none to mind them of the Saying, Im∣pium esse qui Regi dixerit, Inique agis. The Pious and Learned Author of Certain Considerations tending to Peace, &c. mentions how the Bishop of St. Davids in King Iames's Reign, A. 1604. did in a set Speech in Convo∣cation shew, that Ministers were not in the late Archbishop's time disabled from their Ministry on the Account of Non-conformity to the Ceremonies by Law enjoyn'd; and concluded his Speech with the motion of Petitioning the King, That if the removal of some of the Ceremonies enjoyn'd could not be ob∣tain'd, nor yet a Coleration for them of more stay'd and temperate Car∣riage, yet at least there might be procured a mitigation of the Pe∣nalty, &c.

And as the Suspension or Disabling of Hildersham and Dod from their Ministerial Functions, so the Restoring of them to the same without all such things done by them as the strictness of the Lawes required, was in both those Princes Reigns executed by the Bishops.

Nor do I remember to have read of any Divine of the Church of England to have in the least look'd with an evil eye on the goodness of the Dispensa∣tive Power in the Reign of King Charles the First being extended to par∣ticular Persons; but the hated Sibthorpe, who in his Sermon of Apostolick Obedience (as he call'd it) doth speak of Mens being bound to observe the Lawes of the Land where they live, except they will suffer as busie bodies, or except they will have that inconvenience granted, that the general Lawes or Government of a Nation must be dispens's withal, according to the par∣ticular Conceit and Apprehension of every private Person: whereout what Coleration of Heresy, what Connivence at Errors, what danger of Schisms in the Church and Factions in the State, must necessarily follow, &c. and ha∣ving mentioned the Liberty of a few erroneous Consciences bringing the Bon∣dage of many regulated Commands, he saith, We must prefer the general before the particular, and not let every one be loose to their List and Affection, but all must be kept within the Lists of their Duty and Subjection.

And I but just now told you of that Prince's avowing▪ that the Bishops advised him to the tenderness he shewed in dispensing with his Lawes, to gratifie the pretended tenderness of the Consciences of some of his Scotish Subjects in that Conjunct•…•…▪ •…•…eand by which Dispensing one would have thought they might have been sufficiently antidoted against the strong Delusions of entring into War for Religion.

Oh that such thoughts had been then impress'd on their Minds, as are contain'd in the General Demands of the Ministers and Professors of Aber∣dene, p. 29. as I find them cited in the Book of Mr. Ley before-mention'd,

viz. There be other means more effectual for holding out of Popery (and so of any unlawful innovation) in which we ought to Confide more then in all the Vowes and Promises of Men, yea, also more then in all the United Forces of all the Subjects of this Land, to wit, diligent Preaching and Tea∣ching of the Word, frequent Prayer to God, humbling of our selves before him; and Amendment of our Lives and Conversations, and Arming our selves against our Adversaries by diligent searching of the Scriptures, whereby we may encrease in the knowledge of the Truth, and in ability to defend it against the Enemies of it.

Oh that the Demagogues of those times had caus'd such words then to have been writ in our Churches, or I might rather wish that those Heads of Parties had had themselves then hearts of flesh, and that such tender words had been like a Law written there.

But the Urgentia imperii fata were upon us; and that delicate use of Conscience that is in 2. Cor. 13. 5. call'd examen vel probatio nostrum ipso∣rum, and whereby it resembled the best property of a beam in Scales, namely its tenderness, and turning with the least part of a grain, was among the great Actors in that Rebellion quite laid aside, and all the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 i. e. the weightier Matters of the Law did not stir their Consciences: and the great Obligation of their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy signify'd no more then the dust of the balance.

Tho they pretended to so nice a Tenderness about any thing that look'd like an Oath in familiar discourse and was not one, as at the Saying in faith, or in troth, and so would seem to come under Solomon's Character of him that feareth an Oath, (but as to which words of in faith, or by my faith, our Judicious Sanderson de Iuramento makes them amount to no more then a meer Asseveration, or at the most an Obtestation; and saith, that the ge∣nuine interpretation of the words, by my faith, whether in an assertory or pro∣missory matter is this, I speak from my heart, I pawn my faith to you that the thing is so). yet they at the same time would ridicule or seize on any one who had told them of what they were Sworn to in the Oath of Alle∣giance, and of the recognition they made there, as the words of that Oath are, heartily, willingly and truly upon the true faith of a Christian.

A.

There was a Solemn League and Covenant afterward took by those who had so apparently outraged the Oath of Allegiance, and it was taken gene∣rally by all the Layety and Clergy of the Parliaments Party; and was there not a general Tenderness of Conscience express'd then in the observance of that Covenant?

B.

In the course of my Observation of Men and Things, some things have more particularly occurred to me to shew you that the great Takers and imposers of that Covenant did as plainly and without any seeming re∣morfe outrage their Oath in that Covenant, as they did their Oaths of Alle∣giance and Supremacy. For after they had first sworn to endeavour to pre∣serve the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government, and then sworn to endeavour to reform Reli∣gion in these Kingdoms of England and Ireland in all Points, according to the Examples of the best Reformed Churches; and so were bound to reform us according to the Pattern of Scotland, (for that Church must necessarily pass for the best Reform'd Church, that stands in need of no Resormation, being to be preserv'd by them in the State it was) the Parliament instead of set∣ling in England the Presbyterian Government which then in Scotland, had within its Verge four Judicatories, and all pretended to be founded on Divine Right. 1. A Parochial Session. 2. A Presbyterian Consistory. 3. A Provin∣cial Synod. 4. A General Assembly, as they were bound to, did in effect settle

ERASTIANISM (a Tenet, or hypothesis of Church-Government that the Scotch and English Presbyterian Divines avowed as great an ha∣tred of as of Popery it self; Erastianism giving the Supreme Power in Eccle∣siasticals to the Civil Magistrate) and in their Printed Votes and Orders reproved the Presbyterian Divines for challenging an Arbitrary Power, and which they would not grant, nor set up ten Thousand Iudicatories within the Kingdom, as the Parliaments words were: referring to the Scots Parechial Session, where a competent number of Lay-Elders (whom they call Presbyteri non docentes) and Deacons proportionable to the Pre∣cinct and Extent of the Parish are conjoyn'd, and which associate Body thus compacted is the Spiritual Parochial Sanhedrim.

But this very first Point of that Church-Government, the Parliament hin∣der'd Presbytery from gaining here, and opposed its moving in that lowest Sphere of the Parochial Session of setling so many Thousand Ecclesiastical Courts of Pye-Powder in England, and whereby it could never hope to climb up to the Primum mobile of a General Assembly, which in reality was the Sphere the Parliament it self moved in.

Mr. Prynne who was one of the greatest Champions for that Covenant, was yet an Eminent profess'd Erastian, and Mr. Coleman a Member of the Assembly of Divines, another of those Champions for the Covenant, was likewise a declared Erastian, and a great Favourite of the Parliaments, and whose frequent Sermons before them for Erastianism were Printed by their Order; and which Sermons of his,▪ and likewise his Books writ for it were with great heat impugned in Print by Mr. Gillespy a Divine of Scot∣land, and one of the Commissioners in England for that Kingdom: and who in a Printed Sermon of his Preach'd before the House of Lords, doth call Erastus the great Adversary; and in one of his Pamphlets against Mr. Cole∣man, call'd Nihil Respondes, mentions how the Presbyterians and Inde∣pendents were both equally interessed against the Erastian Principles.

And as to the greatness of the number of the Covenanters out of Parlia∣ment that rejected the Iure-divinity of the Scots ruling Elders, Mr. Cole∣man gives us his Judgment in p. 12. of his Reply to Nihil Respondes, viz. that 9/10 of the Assembly, and 900/1000 of the Kingdom denyed a Ruling Elder to be an instituted Officer jure divino.

But Heylin having told us in his History of Presbytery, That Presbytery did never setle its Lay-Eldership in any one Parish in England: we may easily thence suppose the National Violation of that National Covenant, without any apparent regret of Conscience on that account.

How all the Independent Clergy and Layety who had took the Covenant did in a manner simul & semel most notoriously violate it, in setting up the model of their Church-Government is not unknown.

But indeed, as the very sagacious Author of the Book call'd, The main Points of Church-Government, &c. Printed in London, A. 1649. hath ob∣serv'd, The known sense of the Scotish Nation which framed the Covenant, and for whose Satisfaction the Covenant was here taken, doth include Inde∣pendency under the name of Schism, or at least under those words contrary to sound Doctrine; and our Independent Divines could not but know this to be their sense of it, and yet we know of none that did protest against it, or explain themselves otherwise at the first taking of the Covenant, if they have done it since.

And I might further tell you, that after the Engagement was set up of being true and faithful to the Common-wealth of England as it is now Esta∣blish'd without a King or House of Lords; tho several of the Presbyterian

Divines out of a sense of their Oaths and Allegiance, and their Covenant were so Loyal as to refuse it, I have not heard of any of those Independent ones who did.

But such was the Inundation of Practical Atheism in the Kingdom that our Civil Wars had caus'd, that when the Engagement was set up, almost the whole Body of the Lawyers in England took it rather then they would lose their Practice. These men knew the meaning of the Acts of Parliament con∣taining the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and yet were abandon'd by a disloyal Sophistical Principle of the want of Power in a lawful Sovereign to protect them, absolving them from their Obedience, to cancel their Oaths in the Court of Conscience.

And in a word further to shew you how the tender Regard of publick Promises was here grown one of Pancirol's lost things, I shall tell you, that tho in the Parliament of Richard Cromwell, none was allowed to sit but he who had first took a Recognition of engaging to be true and faithful to the Lord Protector, &c. and not to propose or give any Consent to alter the Go∣vernment as 'tis setled in one single Person and a Parliament, yet the Repub∣licans in that Parliament were not in the least diverted by that Recognition from endeavouring there to alter the Government, and it was there avowed by them, that a Promise or Oath took without Doors, did not bind within.

And at last to bring up the Rear of mens Perjury, after all the Oaths legal and illegal had been so much confounded, when the late King's Re∣stauration was almost in sight on the then General Monk with his Army coming to London, a new Oath of Abjuration of the Royal Line was at that time set on foot in Councel, and which some there would have had impo∣sed on the General himself.

A.

Good God! What a Concatenation of Perjuries was our Land so long enslaved with? you have referr'd to the Solemn League and Covenant for extirpating Popery and Superstition, and while a General Assembly, and Parliaments were planting here the Doctrine of the Council of Lateran, namely the Absolving Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance.

B.

And while they were planting a Discipline, that Archbishop Whit∣gift in his Reply to T. C. p. 299. 559. and Bishop Hall in his Book of Episcopacy, Part 3. p. 34. and Bishop Downham in his Defence of his Sermon, l. 1. c. 8. p. 139. And Archbishop Bramhal in his Fair warning to take heed of the Scotish Discipline almost throughout, do charge with POPERY; and where the last Archbishop doth represent the Covenant with the terms of Baal, Baal berith and Baalims, and saith, It were worth the enquiring whether the marks of Anti-Christ do not agree as eminently to the Assem∣bly general of Scotland, as either to the Pope or to the Turk. This we see plainly that they spring out of the Ruines of the Civil Magistrate: they sit upon the Temple of God, and they advance themselves above those whom the Scripture calls Gods.

A.

That Archbishop's saying, It were worth the enquiring thus concerning that general Assembly as then used, is the only thing wherein I differ from him, for I think there is no doubt in the case.

B.

To this you may add the thoughts of their being associated against Superstition, while they were planting the grossest Superstition that any Age hath known, if we may take our measures of Superstition from that definition of it in the Reformatio legum Ecclesiasticarum, viz. Superstitio cultus est ad Deum relatus, immenso quodam proficiscens humano Studio, vel animi certâ propensione quam vulgò bonam intentionem vocant, &c.

Let any one consider, how after the beginning of the Parliament of Forty, they had obtain'd in the very Act that took away the Ship-money, that all the Particulars prayed or desired in the Petition of Right should be enacted; one whereof was, That no Oath should be imposed on the Subjects that was not establish'd by Act of Parliament, and how in despite of that Law, they without any such Act, out of a blind Zeal for Religion, imposed this dread∣ful Oath on the People: Let any one but read over The Covenant with a Narrative, and the Speeches of Mr. Nye and Mr. Hendersham at the time of the Solemn Reading, Swearing and Subscribing of the Covenant by the House of Commons, and Assembly of Divines in St. Margaret's Church▪ and observe in Mr. Nye's Speech, his Saying, that ASSOCIATION is of Divine offspring, and his resembling of this Covenant to the Covenant of Grace, and the matter of it there represented by him as worthy to be sworn by all the Kingdoms of the World, as a giving up of all those Kingdoms to Christ; and where it followeth, yea, we find this very thing in the utmost accom∣plishment of it, to have been the Oath of the greatest Angel that ever was, who setting his feet on two of Gods Kingdoms, the one upon the Sea, the other upon the Earth, lifting up his hand to Heaven, as you are to do this day, and so Swearing, Rev. 10. &c. and consider how he there makes this Oath to be the most effectual means for the ruining Popery and Prelacy, and leaves it to be consider'd, whether, seeing the preservation of Popery hath been by Leagues and Covenants, God may not make a League and Cove∣nant to be its Destruction, after he had before-mention'd the Associations of the Religious Orders and Fraternities, and the Combination by the la Sainte Ligue for the muniting of Popery, as incentives to this League; and how he doth again go to the Magazine of the Apocalypse for some Weapons for this Covenant, and hath other artillery for it from the Iewish State, citing the words of the Prophet, Let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten, & how according to the ratio nominis of Superstition, viz. of mens over-importunate Prayers that their Children might out-live them, he concludes with a devout Prayer, that this Cove∣nant may out-live their Childrens Children; and let any one behold in Mr. Henderson's Speech the like flame of Enthusiastick Zeal (or of the Su∣perstition quam vulgo bonam intentionem vocant) against Superstition and Idolatry in Worship, &c. and concluding it with his belief, that the weight of that Covenant would cast the balance in our English Wars; I say let any one consider all this, and tell me if ever he saw a more pompous Scene of Superstition, and more magnificent Procession bestow'd on it, and contrived as Bishop Sanderson's words are in his Lecture, De bonâ intentione (and ha∣ving his eye on that Covenant) viz. Obtentu gloriae Dei, reformandae Reli∣gionis, propagandi Evangelii, extirpandae superstitionis, exaltandi regni Domini nostri Iesu Christi; and if ever he saw what the Bishop in that Lecture calls The Iesuites Theology, viz. Omnia metiri ex Commodo San∣ctae matris Ecclesiae, more strongly asserted then in the Contexture and Imposition of that Covenant.

But those two Divines lived to recover their Allegiance, and a due sense of their Oaths for it, and to see that foetus of their Brain, that at its solemn Christning they wish'd immortality to, renounced publickly as a spurious Birth; and to the Scandal of that Age, a race of other Oaths in England as infamously born, intercept its inheritance.

Nay, let me tell you, that in the Nation of Scotland▪ Loyalty hath been a growing Plant of Renown since the year 1660. and the Idol of their former Covenanted Presbytery been by the Loyal Nobility and Gentry and Populace there generally abhorr'd. And tho Sir George Wharton in his

Gesta Britannorum relates it as a strange thing that on the 21st of August, A. 1663. the Parliament of Scotland Pass•…•…d an Act for a National Synod, the first that ever was in that Kingdom under the Government of Bishops; yet I can tell you of an Act of Parliament that pass'd there afterward, that decla∣red the right of the Crown to dispense in the external Government of the Church.

I shall entertain you with it out of the Scotch Statutes, viz.

In the first Session of the Second Parliament of King Charles the Second, there pass'd an Act asserting His Majesty▪s Supremacy over all Per∣sons, and in all Causes Ecclesiastical.

Edenburgh, November 16^th 1669.

THe Estates of Parliament having seriously considered, how neces∣sary it is, for the Good and Peace of the Church and State, That His Majesty's Power and Authority, in relation to Matters and Persons Ecclesiastical, be more clearly asserted by an Act of Parlia∣ment; Have therefore thought fit it be Enacted, Asserted and Decla∣red, Like as his Majesty, with Advice and Consent of his Estates of Parliament, doth hereby Enact, Assert and Declare, That his Majesty hath the Supreme Authority and Supremacy over all Persons, and in all Causes Ecclesiastical within this his Kingdom; and that by virtue thereof, the Ordering and Disposal of the External Government and Policy of the Church doth properly belong to his Majesty and his Suc∣cessors, as an inherent Right to 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 employed in the same, and concerning all Ecclesiastical Meetings and Matters 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 duly published, are to be observed and obeyed by all his Majesty's Subjects, any Law, Act, or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding. Like as his Majesty, with Advice and Consent aforesaid, doth Rescind and Annul all Laws, Acts and Clauses thereof, and all Customs and Constitutions, Civil or Ecclesiastick, which are contrary to, or inconsi∣stent with, his Majesty's Supremacy, as it is hereby asserted, and de∣clares the same void and null in all time coming.

A.

You told me before how the King dispens'd with the five Articles of Perth, setled by Act of Parliament; but this Act yields so great a terri∣tory to the Dispensative Power, that my thoughts cannot suddenly travel through it. It acknowledgeth in the Crown a more sublime Power then of dispensing with Presbyterians or Independents, or of suspending the Penal Laws against them, namely of abolishing Episcopacy, and of making Presby∣tery or Independency the National Church-Government.

Car tel est notre plaisir now for the external Form of Church-Govern∣ment, is allow'd to make the Pattern in the Mount. And 〈◊〉〈◊〉 accordingly as Mr. Baxter in his Book call'd a Search for the Schismaticks, represents Archbishop Bramhal's new way of asserting the Church of England in his Book against him, 1. To abhor Popery. 2. That we all come under a foreign spiritual Iurisdiction, obeying the Pope as the Western Patriarch, and also as the Principium Unitatis to the Universal Church; governing by the

Canons, &c. may not the King by this Act make the external Government of the Church of Scotland Patriarchal, and the Pope Patriarch?

B.

The Act needs no Comment: and if you will tell me that the Scots shew'd themselves Erastians or Latitudinarians when they made it, I shall acquaint you that that Archbishop in his Schism guarded, p. 319. asserts, That a Sovereign Prince hath Power within his own Dominions for the Publick good to change any thing in the external Regiment of the Church, which is not of div•…•…ne Institution, and that he had in p. 4. of that Book, allow'd the Pope his Principium unitatis, and his Preheminence among Patriarchs, as S. Peter had among the Apostles; and that in p. 78. of his Iust Vindication of the Church of England, he takes notice that by the Statute of Carlisle, made in the days of Edward the First, it was declared, That the Holy Church of England was founded in the Estate of Prelacy by the Kings and Peers thereof.

But now further to entertain your thoughts with the great Scene of the New Heaven and the New Earth in that Kingdom, and of Men there walk∣ing at liberty, as the words in the Psalms are (or at large, as 'tis in the Ma•…•…gin, and as in the Latin, indesinenterque ambulabo in ipsa LATI∣TUDINE quia mandata tua quaero) whose measures were before staked down to the Narrow tedder of Presbytery, and whose Souls were once en∣slaved to a blind Zeal for that Church-Government (as what they then fan∣cy'd to be the putting the Scepter into Christ's hand, and the only effica∣cious means to keep out Popery) I shall tell you that they have now put the Scepter into their Prince's hand to rule the Church with what external Go∣vernment he will, who were form•…•…rly so ready to enslave both Kingdoms, by designing to put the Royal Scepter of Scotland into the French King's hands, and to bring a Popish French Army into Scotland to enforce the setlement of Presbytery.

A.

One would hardly think it possible that they should then design any such thing.

B.

As the Civil Law rangeth things that wound mens Piety▪ Reputation, or good Manners, among Impossibles; so one would think those of the Scots then designing a thing of that Nature, to be an Impossibility. And any one would thus think it impossible, who consider'd that the Crown of England, A. 1560. sent Forces into Scotland, whereby the French were driven out of that Kingdom, and that thereupon in the Publick printed Prayer prefixt to the Scots Psalm-Book, it is said, viz. And seeing that when we by our own Power were altogether unable to have freed our selves from the tyranny of Strangers, thou of thine especial goodness didst move the hearts of our Neighbors (of whom we had deserv'd no such favour) to take upon them the common burden with us, and for our deliverance not only to spend the lives of many, but also to hazard the Estate and Tranquillity of their Realm; grant unto us, O Lord, that with such reverence we may remember thy benefits receiv'd that after this, in our default we never enter into hostility against the Realm and Nation of England. Suffer us never, O Lord, to fall to that in∣gratitude and detestable unthankfulness, that we shall seek the Destru∣ction and Death of those whom thou hast made Instruments to deliver us from the tyranny of merciless Strangers, &c. But he who shall read K•…•…ng Charles the First's Declaration concerning his Proceedings with his Subjects of Scotland since the Pacification in the Camp near Berwick, Printed A. 1640. will find this Fact too true: and the Letter there like∣wise Printed, which was under the hands of the Leading men of the Pres∣byterian Faction in Scotland writ to the French King, and wherein his assi∣stance is implored.

A.

But by that Act about the Supremacy in Scotland, A. 1669. that you read to me, I see that the old Leaven of Presbytery is there sufficiently purged out, and that the very mass of Blood in mens Principles relating to the Regal Power is universally sweeten'd.

B.

You have great reason to judge so; and if you had read the Scotch Statutes since the year 1660, you would find the Body of that Nation having the temperamentum ad pondus for Loyalty.

And your having mention'd the old Leaven there purged away, minds me of minding you that that Nation having so nobly discharged its moral offices in that Case, ought to be absolv'd in the thoughts of all the Loyal from the Fact of its former deflection from Loyalty: and that the great measures of Christian Charity ought to extend beyond that Judgment of Seneca, that poenitens est fere innocens, and even as far as S. Paul's gene∣rous discharge of the Corinthians on their having purged out that fer∣ment, viz. For behold what carefulness it wrought in you, what clearing of your selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, &c. In all things ye have approved your selves to be clear in this Matter. Look on their Acts of Parliament in the time of K. Charles the Second, by one of which it is declared, That his Majesty his Heirs and Successors, by Uirtue of the Royal Power which they hold from God Almighty over this Kingdom, shall have the sole Choice and Appointment of Officers of State, and Councellors and Iudges; and by another, That the Estates of Parliament considering that the Kings of this Realm deriving their Power from God Almighty do succeed Li∣neally thereunto. And I can direct you to another, that contains in it so strange a Resignation to the King's measures, as may make you again won∣der at the possibility of such a temper, and not to be equall'd by any thing I have read of▪ but that pang of Zeal wherewith so many once at Cam∣bridge were affected for Edward the Senior, when they swore to will what he willed; I mean that Act of Parliament in Scotland An. 1661. Concern∣ing the League and Covenant, and discharging the renewing thereof without his Majesties Warrant and Approbation. The Act concludes with an Inhibition, That none presume to renew that Covenant or any other League or Covenant without his Majesties special Warrant so to do. Thus then that Covenant tho by them so much nauseated, they shew'd themselves ready again to swallow, if his Majesty for any such reasons of State, as they could not foresee, should enjoyn them so to do.

A.

You do indeed make me wonder at this great example of the ten∣derness and extent of loyal Obedience in Scotland.

B.

I can tell you of another Act of Parliament, viz. the 5th Act of the second Session of the second Parliament of K. Charles the 2d Edenburgh 13. August The Act against Conventicles, where their very Zeal against them is a Wall of Fire to guard the Dispensative Power. The Act runns thus, Forasmuch as the Assembling and Convocating his Majesties Subjects without his Majesties Warrant and Authority is a most dan∣gerous and unlawful Practice, prohibited and discharged by several Laws and Acts of Parliament under high and great Pains, &c. for the sup∣pressing and preventing of which for the time to come, his Majesty with Advice and Consent of his Estates of Parliament, hath thought sit to Statute and Enact, &c. That no outed Ministers who are not LICENSED by the Councel, Persons not Authorized or TOLERATED by the Bishop of the Diocess, presume to Preach, expound Scripture, or pray in any Meeting, &c. and that none be present at any Meeting without the Fa∣mily

to which they belong, where any not licensed, authorized nor tole∣rated, as said is, shall Preach, expound Scripture, or Pray, &c.

A.

The Act for Uniformity here 16 Car. 2. doth justice to the Preroga∣tive of the Crown in dispensing, by taking care that the Penalties in it shall not extend to the Foreigners or Aliens of the forriegn Reform'd Chur∣ches allow'd or to be allow'd by the King's Majesty, his Heirs and Suc∣cessors in England, and which were granted to them with non-obstante's to all Acts of Parliament.

B.

And the Act 22^o Car. 2. entitled, Seditious Conventicles prevented and suppressed, passing in the Parliament of England in the same Year that the Act against Conventicles did in Scotland, and concluding with a Proviso, That nothing therein contained, shall extend to invalidate or avoid his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs, but that his Majesty and his heirs and Successors may from time to time, &c. exercise and enjoy all Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs, &c. any thing in this Act notwithstanding, shewed such a Concordant Sympathy between the two Realms in tenderness for the prerogative of dispensing with the Pe∣nal Laws Ecclesiastical, as is between the Strings of two distant Lutes, on the touching the String but of one of them. But I must tell you, that tho by this Proviso the benefit of the Dispensative Power hath been sufficient∣ly secured to the Churches of Forreigners here, and the King's Ecclesiastical Supremacy justify'd in its power of indulging the Conventicles of all sorts of Recusants, yet as in the Scotch Act the Crown's dispensing with Conventi∣cles hath been more express then in the English Act, so hath the admini∣stration of Prerogative in that kind been more tenderly and signally exer∣cised in Scotland, then I have observ'd it to be in England.

For I find in a Look call'd A Compendious History of the m•…•…st remarka∣ble Passages of the last 14 Years, &c. printed An. 1680. that in p. 205. the Author referring to the Month of Iuly, 1677. saith, that upon a Rebelli∣on in that Kingdom being nipt in the Bud, his Majesty was pleas'd to publish a Proclamation, Commanding the Iudges and all Magistrates to apprehend and punish all such as frequented any Field-Conventi∣cles, &c. according to the Prescript of the Law, as also to prosecute with all Legal Rigour the execrable Murtherers of the late Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews: declaring withal that his Majesty being desirous to reclaim all such as had been mis-lead through Ignorance or blind zeal, had according to the Power reserved to his Majesty by the 5th Act in the 2d Session of the 2d Parliament, suspended the execution of all Laws and Acts against such as frequent house-Conventicles on the south∣side of the River Tay, excepting the Town of Edenburgh, and two Miles round the same, &c.

And the truth is, it must likewise be to the honour of that Nation ac∣knowledged that in the worst of Times, they after their Covenant did not Contract any such guilt of Perjury by a superfetation of enterfering Oaths, as great Numbers of our Land did: and that they were exemplary to Eng∣land in Loyalty, and in propping up the hereditary Monarchy, while so many here in the Plott-Conjuncture were infatuated with the Project of the EXCLUSION, as to give me occasion by a fresher instance, and but of yesterdays occurrence to invite you to behold a Spectacle of the divine Iu∣stice in abandoning such Men here to the guilt of Superstition who used un∣just means to extirpate it.

Such among us who had not took notice of that English and Scotch SAINTE LIGUE, and its being so generally exploded, and who in the late Ferment about Popery would have fortify'd an Exclusion with an Asso∣ciation;

and again set up Association as of Divine-Off-spring, you see how be∣ing wild with excessive Fears and Iealousies of the growth of Popery, they were guilty of the Superstition of founding Dominion in Grace.

A.

Considering how Men here have laughed at the Obligation of their lawful Oaths, and that for unlawful Oaths a Land mourns, methinks 'tis an adventurous thing for a Prince to take possession of his Inheritance of the Empire of such a Land so encumbred with the guilt of Swearing and For∣swearing.

O when may we see that antient general tenderness in point of Oaths here, that flourished among us in the days of our first Reformation: nay even in some times of our Roman Catholick Ancestors!

B.

I believe never, till after all the living here being resolved to dust, and a new Race of Mankind enriching themselves and their Country by the Culture of the Earth and Manufactures, men shall be above Temptations from necessity, to take God's Name in vain; and when the very use of Oaths Assertory or Promissory, will be dispens'd with by Nature.

I am sure the Spectacle of mangled and slaughter'd Bodies covering a Field immediately after a Battle hath not more horror in it, then the sight of the Consciences mai'md and wounded by the inobservance of publick Oaths hath been since the Aera of 41.

And as our Chronicles mention, that they who were born in England the Year after the great Mortality An. 1349. wanted some of their cheek Teeth, I may say that generally they who have been born here the Years after 41. wherein the Plague of Perjury by the outraging those Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy was so epidemical, have seem'd able only to swal∣low those Oaths, but not to •…•…hew upon them in serious and considerate thoughts: no not at the very frequent times of their taking them.

And still tho in speculative Points in England Consulitur de Religione; yet conclamatum est as to a general tender regard to the Religion of those Oaths.

There was (I think) a want of tenderness in some as to their sworn assisting and defending all the Priviledges and Preheminences belonging to the Crown, during the late Ferment about my Lord Danby's Pardon: and I may more sadly reflect on the same Mens want of recollecting their Oath obliging them to the King his Heirs and Successors at the time of the Ferment about the Exclusion.

A.

I think that many who by repentance have been cured of the Epi∣demical Plague of Perjury that reged here in 41. and of such a Plague, and another of Fears and Iealousies since 81, have yet sustain'd more dam∣age thereby, then they who were born the Year after 1349 did in want∣ing some of their Cheek Teeth; and that their case is like that of those who were recover'd of the great Plague at Athens that Thucydides hath de∣scribed, and who tells us, that after their recovery, their Souls had lost the faculty of Memory, and were dozed with an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 about what themselves had done, or what had passed in the World during the horror of that very Plague, or before or since. But after all this said, I am to ask you if you will make all those perjured who having took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, promoted the exclusion?

B.

By no means. I have more Humanity and Christian Charity then to do so. I shall here observe to you that Divines in their measures of Mens sinful Actions do often make use of the distinction of materialiter and formaliter. Thus for example, Ames in his Cases of Conscience l. 5. c. 53. Si quis falsum dicit, putans esse verum, mentitur tantum materialiter. Si quis verum dicit, putans esse falsum, mentitur formaliter. And he hav∣ing

before in l. 4 c. 4 viz Of Heresy, made pertinacy a requisite to a man's being formally an Heretick, and said that Pertinax est qui non est paratus Captivare intellectum & rationem suam omnem Sacrae Scripturae, adds, Hae∣reticus igitur potest esse quis materialiter, dum assensum praebet erro•…•…i perni∣cioso, vel ex simplici facilitate out temeritate haereticis or dendi qui sub ho∣nestâ aliquâ specie fallunt, vel ex ignorantiâ qui •…•…ormaliter non est haereticus: cum pertinacia & obstinatio animi deest, at{que} adeo pro simpliciter haeretic•…•… non est babendus. Concordant with these measures of Ames, have I ob∣serv'd those of some ingenuous Roman-Catholick Writers, who have de∣clared that they will not pronounce all Protestants to be Hereticks formaliter.

And it is therefore no wonder that such their Judgment of Charity hath been retaliated by some of the most Renowned Divines of the Church of England, viz. the Lord Primate Bramhal, Bishop Taylor, Dr. Hammond and others, who have deny'd to pronounce the worshipping the Host to be formal Idolatry; that is to say, to be not so at all in reality, since we know that according to the trite Rule, forma dat esse.

And thus that Primate in his Schism Guarded saith very well for that purpose, p. 57. Every one who is involved materially in a Schism is not a for∣mal Schismatick, more then she that Marries after long expectation, believing and having reason to believe that h•…•…r former Husband was dead is a formal Adulteress, or then he who is drawn to give Divine Worship to a Creature by some misapprehension, yet addressing his Devotions to the true God, is a for∣mal Idolater. And having there cited S. Austin of Heresy, He who did not run into his error out of his own over-weening Presumption▪ nor defends it per∣tinaciously, but receiv'd it from his seduced Parents, and is careful to search out the truth, and ready to be Corrected if he find it cut, he is not to be repu∣ted among Hereticks; he saith, it is much more true of Schism, that he who is involv'd in Schism through the error of his Parents or Predecessors, who carefully seeketh after truth, and is prepared in his mind to embrace it when∣soever he finds it, he is not to be reputed a Schismatick.

I know Azorius de Iuramento gives his Judgment well in thesi, That when a Law is changed to which a man is bound by Oath, tho he is thereby materially discharged, yet formally he is bound in respect of his will: for if ever he actually assents to the alteration, he is really perjured. And so leaving it to such who were Men of great Knowledge and Consideration, and had took the Oaths, and were ready to promo'e a new Law for altering the hereditary Monarchy; to think of the danger they incurred of the for∣mal guilt of that Crime, I have more Charity then to conclude all the rash, and the incogitant, and the weak, and the seduced by the fantastick Interpretation of the Oath, to have been perjured.

But as about the year 1164. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was at a Council held at Northampton accused by the King of Perjury, and Condemned as guilty of it, because he had not observ'd those English Customs that he was sworn to (as I find Francisc. Long. de Concil. p. 806. Col. 1. cited for it) so if you have taken the Oath of Supremacy, and Sworn to defend all the Pri∣vileges and Preheminences granted or belonging to the King, his Heirs and Successors, and united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and are of opinion that one of the Privileges of those Heirs and Successors is to succéed to that Crown as it comes to their turn according to Proximity of Blood, and by their inherent Birth-right, and as the Hereditary Succession ju•…•…e Coronae is setled by the Common Law of England, I shall tell you that the Pious and profound•…•…ly Learned Divine Dr. Hicks, who hath study'd this Point as much as any man, hath in his Writings told you that having

taken this Oath, you could not honestly consent to a Bill of Exclusion, which would have deprived the next Heir (and in him virtually the whole royal Fa∣mily) of the chief Privilege and Preheminence that belong'd to him by the Common Law of this Realm, &c.

Your Curiosity (I believe) hath led you to read over his learned Io∣vian, and to observe what he there saith in his Preface, that some Men did pervert the meaning of the word Heirs in the Oaths of Allegiance and Su∣premacy, from its common and usual acceptation to another more special, on purpose to elude the force and Obligation which otherwise they must have had on the Consciences of the Excluders themselves.

But it is not only the Authority of this single great Divine that I can lay before your thoughts for the rendring the Attempt of the Exclusion con∣trary to our Oath: but I can direct you to the censure of the three Estates of a Loyal Nation, and of His late Maj•…•…sty in the case. For the Oaths in Scotland, binding the takers both to the King and his Heirs and Successors as ours do here, I can tell you that in the Third Parliament of King Charles the Second, Aug. 13. 1681. you will find the Act in these words, viz. The Estates of Parliament considering that the Kings of this Realm deriving their Royal Power from God Almighty alone, do succeed lineally thereto, according to the known degrees of Proximity in Blood, which cannot be interrupted, suspended, or diverted by any Act or Statute whatsoever, and that none can attempt to alter or divert the said Succession without involving the Subjects of this Kingdom in Perjury and Rebellion, &c.

I know that during the late turbid interval of the Nation, some Loyal men of the Church of England were so much misguided, as to think that be∣cause de facto Parliaments have heretofore directed and limited the succes∣sion of the Crown in other manner, then in course it would otherwise have gone (as the words in the Printed Exclusion-Bill were) they might therefore of right do so again; notwithstanding they knew that after the Parliament of King Iames to prevent the Right of Succession from fluctuating any more, had justly recognized and declared, That the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and Rights belonging to the same, did by inherent Birth-right and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to him, as being line∣ally, justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm, it did afterward by a New Oath of Obedience or Allegiance, oblige mens Consciences both to the Crown and the hereditary lineal Succession, and notwithstanding they knew that that Parliament had took care of con∣tinuing the Obligation of the Oath of Supremacy for the bearing Faith and true Allegiance to the King, his Heirs and lawful Successors, and to assist and defend all Privileges, and Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King, his Heirs and Successors, &c.

But I doubt not but the Consciences of the Considerate Loyal, now ex∣postulating with them in the cool of the day, whether they did then well in being angry with the Imposers sense of their Oaths, and in not penetrating into the Obligations thereby incurred; and particularly in not weighing whether such who had taken those Oaths, and yet by Projects and Expe∣dients would have banish'd the Heir even after he should come to be Actual Successor from the effects of their Sworn Allegiance, and of their Sworn Assistance and Defence of all Privileges and Preheminences and Authorities granted, or belonging, &c. had not visibly out-ran their Oaths, they will recollect the late dreadful want of tenderness for the observance of the same.

It will be hard for many men on a serious Self-examination to reflect otherwise on themselves, after that Sir W. I. himself (as the Printed Speeches in the Oxford-Parliament have it) call'd an Expedient of that kind Iesuite's Powder, and mentioned that on the Heirs coming to the title of King, the learned Lawyers say, that by 1. H. 7. all Incapacity is taken away by the Possession of the Crown, and after that another learned Lawyer had there said, I owe the Duke Obedience if he be King: but if he be King and have no Power to Govern, he is the King and no King: and had before said, That an Act of Parliament against Common sense is void. To make a man King, and not suffer him to exercise Kingly Power, is a Contradiction.

And I am sure 'tis a Contradiction to nothing more then our Oaths.

I desire not by referring to the breach of those Oaths to touch the tender∣ness of any man's sore place, or to reproach him as to what he hath done for the time past; but to promote the tenderness of his Conscience: and that his Conscience may not reproach him for the time to come, for not assisting and defending all Privileges and Preheminences belonging to the Crown.

When I consider the noble and vigorous Loyalty that your self and others who were mistaken in the Point of the Exclusion, have since shewn in the Service of His gracious Majesty, and the great Care that you and they in the Post where you were▪ took in the Settlement of his Revenue, and of avoiding the Character of those of Israel, who brought their newly anointed King no Presents; and your read•…•…ness at his call to venture your life for the sup∣port of his Crown: and do observe in you and them a fix'd Preparation of mind for the defence of every Privilege, that is made to appear to you as belonging to the Crown, and that your Loyalty like a bone well sett is the firmer for having been broken, I account that the Si non e•…•…rasset, fecerat ille minùs, may be apply'd to you, and that after His Majesty's Pardon and the Series of your Heroical Actions of Loyalty in his Service, you ought by all equal Judges, according to the Instance I mention'd before, to be absolv'd, as who in all things have approved your selves to be clear in this Matter.

And I believe you being one of the Church of England, the Adherents to which do now as generally call themselves The Loyal, as the Indepen∣dents did once vocife•…•…ate themselves to be The Saints, and the Principles of which Church do enjoyn Remorse and Penitence, and rending of the heart, and as much tenderness to any who have disrobed the Crown of any of its Rights and Privileges, as was in David when his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of Saul's Garment, and whose Divines do not only Preach the Doctrine of Non-resistance, but whose Oaths bind to it, and that of Supremacy binding to a positive Assistance of all Privileges, &c. your •…•…nlighten'd Conscience will be your constant Remembrancer against any relapse.

A.

I thank you for thus gently leading me by the hand to such a height of Noble thoughts relating to that Oath, as from whence I am able to look back with grief on my past aberrations through inadvertence, from what my Oath obliged me to in relation to the Support of the hereditary Mo∣narchy (and concerning which Obligation, the Casuistical Discussion you sent me did sufficiently illuminate me) and to take a prospect into my duty that lies before me to assist and defend to my Power all Iurisdictions, Privi∣leges, &c. granted or belonging to the King's Highness, &c. or united and an∣nex'd to the Imperial Crown of this Realm.

I am sensible that as some vain Swearers in common Discourse, will upon their being occasionally reproved for it, be apt to swear that they did not

swear, and that as there are Fools that say in their Souls that there is no God, and that there is no Soul; so there is a sort of careless men who having taken this great Promissory Oath, will yet by their Actions deny their having sworn to assist and defend some of those Privileges, and likewise be apt to say in their hearts they have not invoked God as Witness and Revenger in the case of that Oath, and that they are not absolutely bound by it, or but only by their reserved sense; or as if a man representing his Country, he were only to take a kind of formal Oath in animam Domini, and not to venture his own Soul.

But for my part, I account it as vile to be perjured in a solemn Promis∣sory Oath as in a judicial Assertory one; and shall hereafter think my self as much bound to use all exactness and tenderness in the recollection o•…•… my thoughts after a Promissory Oath, as every Man of Honour doth before an assertory Oath when he is a witness in a Court of Law. And I think that it is only the multitudo peccantium about solemn promissroy Oaths, as for example, about the promised assistance and defence of the Privileges of the Crown in the Oath of Supremacy, that diminisheth the Shame and •…•…gnominy of mens being either through corrupt affections or incogitancy (and the crassa negligentia which the Law makes to be dolus malus) Vacillant or Con∣tradictory in the Series of their actings promised, or through lachesse or subdolcus pretences withholding their performance of part of what they obliged themselves to do; and that keeps the populace from a nauseous look∣ing on them as falsarii, and as much as on Witnesses produced in Courts, who in the things asserted by their Testimony are for want of precaution of thought, varii & vacillantes and contradictory to themselves, and ming∣lers of Falshood with truth, and who conceal part of the whole truth they were to depose.

B.

There is another thing that makes the Moral offices required in an Oath Promissory call for some kind of Consideration, that an Oath Asser∣tory doth not: for we are not to depose o•…•… Matter of Law, but only of Fact: but in the Promissory parts of the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance our thoughts are obliged to have regard to Matters of Right and Law. We are to our Power to assist and defend all Privileges and Preheminences GRANTED or BELONGING to the King, &c. and which ARE united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm.

A.

But by this means, while you would have men keep up the ease of their Consciences by such assistance and defence, will not they be put to it to make their lives uneasy, by buying Law-Books, and being Students of the Crown-Law, and of the extent of the Regal rights; a thing never inten∣ded by the Makers of the Laws for those Oaths, and whereby such who are to assist and defend and Rights of the Crown by Action in Land or Sea∣Service would be hinder'd therein by Speculation?

B.

No man need amuse himself about any such matter. Nor are our Princes, who by their Coronation Oaths oblige themselves to defend all our rightful Laws and Customs, bound thereby to study the Report-Books of the Law concerning the Rights and Properties of their Subjects, and whereby the time of Princes would be taken up from defending them. And I shall tell you, that tho all men are morally bound to frame the best Conceptions, and make the truest representations of the Divine Nature they can, and which by the measures of the Scripture •…•…s comprehended under our Duty of glorifying God; yet not to study the Controversies be∣tween the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants about the absoluteness of the Divine Decrees, and Dominion, or whether God according to his abso∣lute Dominion can torment an innocent Creature.

And thus tho we are bound to honour God's Vice gerents, and to assist and defend their Rights, Privileges, and Preheminences we are not to con∣sume our whole lives in the investigation of Truth in the Moot-Points about the same.

But as to this thing, that great Casuist of the Age, Bishop Sanderson, may help to set us right in his Third Lecture of Oaths, Sect. 17▪ where putting the Case when Subjects are required to take an Oath for Preservation and Defence of Laws and Liberties, Privileges, Prerogatives and Preheminences of some Superior Power, as of a King, a Common-wealth, or Lord Paramount, such as are among us, the Oaths of H•…•…mage, of Royal Supremacy, &c. he saith, No man denies these Oaths to be lawful or obligatory: but in respect of the frequent incertainty of the Laws whereunto they relate, it may very well be do•…•…bted how far they oblige. Doubtless the Subject to his Power is obliged to defend all Rights which appear either by Law or Custom Legitimate, whe∣ther defined by the written Law, or in force through long use of time, or prescription, that is, so far as they are known, or may morally be known. But he is not equally obliged to the observation of all those which are Controverted or doubtful, especially since Powerful men are accustomed to stretch their ted∣ders, and leap over the Land-marks of their Neighbours, not contenting them∣selves within the bounds of their own Right. Nevertheless a Subject ought always to be prepared in Mind so soon as the justness of those things which are doubtful shall appear, to a knowledge and defend them.

It may be hence rationally deduced that such who are call'd to the Helm of State, or are Members of Parliament, if any Matters relating to any Iurisdictions, Privileges, and Authorities granted or belonging to the Crown shall come in question before them, are by virtue of the Oath of Supremacy bound to endeavour to know whether those Jurisdictions, Privi∣leges, and Authorities are granted, or do belong to the Crown, that is, so far as they are known or may morally be known before they refuse to de∣fend and assist them: and much more before they shall do any act of offend∣ing or resisting the same, and before they shall entertain any hard thoughts of their Prince for claiming this or that Privilege. And where the right of any Iurisdictions, Privileges granted or belonging to the Crown is not Con∣troverted or doubtful, that Oath binds them immediately to assist and defend the same, and not so much as to move any thing against them, except in some such case as I shall presently mention.

A.

Did ever any Parliament presume to destroy, or offend or usurp upon any Privilege, or Preheminence, or Authority, of which the Right, as belong∣ing to the Crown, was not controverted?

B.

Yes, the long Parliament of 40 did so. The Power of the Militia was acknowledg'd by the Parliaments Petition at Windsor to be a flower of the Crown. And therefore the Royal Martyr's dying Breath might (one would think) be Thunder to their Consciences, when in his Speech on the Scaffold, he said, I never intended to intrench upon their Privileges. They began upon me. It is the Militia they began upon. They confess'd that the Militia was mine; but they thought fit to have it from me.

No doubt such men intended to entrench on the King's Privileges and Preheminences, and they intended to violate their Oath of Supremacy.

A.

Did they offend any other Uncontroverted Rights of the Crown?

B.

Many more then I have now time to name; but cannot forget the fatal Consequences of their outraging one of those uncontroverted Rights which was at the King's Pleasure to Prorogue or Dissolve Parliaments, by putting such incessant hardships on that Pious King to engage him to pass the Act that that Parliament should continue till both the Houses did con∣sent

to the dissolution of it; and of which Mr. Hobbs in his Behemoth, saith, that it amounted to a total Extinction of the King's Right, in case that such a grant were valid, which I think it is not, unless the Sovereignty it self be in plain terms renounced, which it was not.

And he having said, That the King signed that Bill the same day he signed the Warrant for the Execution of the Earl of Strafford, and having rais'd the Question, Whether the King could not have saved him by a Pardon, and said, that he would have done it if that could have preserv'd him against the Tu∣mults rais'd and countenanced by the Parliament it self, doth mind me of the horror of those days, when they who were Sworn to assist and defend the King's Privilege and Preheminence in Pardoning any one, tho he knew him justly Condemned to dye, did endeavour by Tumults to oppose his Par∣doning one whom he thought not to have deserv'd Death.

That Royal Privilege was in like manner by that Parliament trampled on in the Case of the Pardon of Archbishop Laud.

A.

I shall here by the way ask you if you did not once tell me that the most profound Observers of the Affairs in Ireland; had agreed in it as their firm Judgment, that the Irish Rebellion had never happen'd if the Parliament of 40 here had not meddled in the Case of the Earl of Strafford, and occasion'd his removal from being chief Governour of Ireland.

B.

I shall by the way answer you, that I did tell you so, and that they judged that the Character of that Earl's great Wisdom and Courage, and Activity, and of universality in his Correspondencies, had gain'd such an Ascendant over the Genius of the Irish, that if he had continued Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom in his former Power, they would not have ven∣tured to rebel.

A.

You have instanced in Uncontroverted Privileges of the Crown that that Parliament did offend and resist, by their putting such incessant hard∣ships on their King, as your words are; and it was folly as well as breach of their Oath for them thus to strike at the Pardoning Power of the Crown that is the Privilege both of King and People. Yet let me ask you whe∣ther you account that he who in any case shall endeavour that by the Le∣gislative Power any uncontroverted Iurisdiction, Privilege, Preheminence, or Authority granted or belonging to the Crown may be alter'd or restrain'd in its exercise, breaks his Oath? Did that Parliament do so who made the famous Act for barring the known Privilege of Nullum tempus Occurrit Regi, I mean, that glorious Act of 21^o of King Iames the First, C. 2. of which the Title is, Conceald Lands shall not be Recover'd, unless it may be proved that the King had title to them within 60 years; i. e. 60 years before the 19th of February in the 21st year of King Iames the First, which was the day of the beginning of that Parliament, and on which Statute my Lord Coke hath an excellent Comment in Instit. 3. C. 87. against Concealors (turbidum genus hominum) and all pretences of Concealments whatsoever; and on occasion of which Act it is yet acknowledg'd in the Book call'd, The Court and Character of King James, written by Sir A. W. and Printed A. 1650. that that King loved good Laws, and had many made in his time, and in his l•…•…st Parliament, for the good of his Subjects, and suppress'd Pro∣moters and Progging Fellows, gave way to the Nullum tempus, &c. to be confined to Sixty years, which was more beneficial to the Subjects in respect of their quiets, then all that Parliaments had given him during his whole Reign?

Or did the late Kings Loyal long Parliament do so in their obtaining the Act for the Habeas Corpus, and others that might be named?

B.

Having premised it to you that those words in the Oath of assisting and defending ALL Iurisdictions, ALL Privileges, &c. are operative words, and of strict Interpretation, and whereby we stake our Eternities to assist the King's Temporal Rights, and invoke God so to help or assist us as we shall assist all those Privileges, and that the Prince and the Church being look'd on as Minors, the breach of an Oath to defend the Privileges of the King must appear to common sense as odious as if any Guardian of a Minor did break an Oath to defend his Person and Interest, or did take part with any to destroy the Minor's Rights; I shall yet be so fair as to tell you that I do not so account it: provided that he who shall do so shall have a moral certainty that the Prince being sensible that the alteration or restraint of such Privilege will be very beneficial to the Subjects both in the present and future times, and necessary to the enabling them the better to support the Crown, hath signified his desire of the same, and doth so desire it: or if he knoweth not his Princes so desiring it, believes that the Cogency of the Rea∣sons he hath humbly to offer for such alteration being made, is such as may Incline others to supplicate the Prince to consent to it, and the Prince so to do.

Yet in this latter case, if afterward the Sovereign notifies his desire of the continuance of such known Privilege, I am then by my Oath to assist and defend the same, and am not to the Cogency of my Reasons to add that of Importunity. For there is a par or proportion between importunity and force; whence we see that according to the King's Ecclesiastical Laws, in case of a former will, a latter gain'd by importunoe preces in the time of the Testator's Sickness, is often adjudged void. And as I am not by impor∣tunity when my Princes Affairs are in a Sickly state, or that the Die of War hath ran against him abroad▪ to press and tire him then into a parting with his known Privileges, so neither with a Salvo to my Oath, which binds me to assist and defend them, can I if I find his Judgment or Mind sickly, lay Temptations before him to buy him as it were out of a Privilege that is just and adviseable for him to keep▪ I am neither to starve nor pamper my Prince out of such a Privilege. Nay more, if my Prince did by any Error part with any such Privilege, as not knowing the same to be inhe∣rent in the Crown (as in the Case of an Answer of the Royal Martyr drawn by one of his Ministers not deeply vers'd in the Law, to some of the Parliaments Propositions, by which Answer he is acknowledg'd to be one of the three Estates) I, who know that the Privilege and Preheminence inhe∣rent in his Crown is to be above them all, and have in the Oath of Supre∣macy Sworn that the King is the only Supream Governour, and so none Co-ordinate, or equal to him, I am to take no advantage of that error, but am still to assist and defend such his Preheminence.

And if ever a Prince did by fear part with such Privilege or Preheminence, there being a par between fear and force, according to that Law of the Proetor in the Digests, Quod vi aut metu factum est ratum non habebo (and in which Law, as Baldus saith, the Proetor was inspired by the Spirit of God) I am not only not to take any advantage of such act of the Prince done by fear or force, or to upbraid him therewith, but am still to assist and defend such Privilege so derelinquish'd by him, and am to account the same belonging to him as the word is in my Promissory Oath, and to account him still in Law possess'd of the same, according to the rule of Possessio etiam animo retinetur: and which is justly apply'd in the Case of any one who in a Storm at Sea throws his Goods over-board to lighten the Ship.

His late Majesty therefore did but right to himself, when in his Declara∣tion of the 25th of October, 1660. Concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs, he took

notice how some had caused to be Printed and Publish'd in England a Decla∣ration before Printed in his Name when he was in Scotland, (i. e. referring to the Declaration Printed at Edenburgh, 1650.) and saith thus of it, viz•…•… Of which we shall say no more, then that the Circumstances by which we were enforced to sign that Declaration, are enough known to the World: And that the worthiest and greatest part of that Nation did even then detest and abhor the ill usage of us in that particular when the same tyranny was exercised there by the Power of a few ill men, which at that time had spread it self over this Kingdom, and therefore we had no reason to expect that we should at this season when we are doing all we can to wipe cut the memor▪ of all that hath been done amiss by other men, and we thank God have wiped it out of our own Remembrance, have been our self assaulted with those rep oaches, which we will likewise forget.

And it was goodness worthy the great Soul of a King to forget the Out∣rages of such who did strip their Political Father of his Power, and then reproach him with his nakedness.

I may here likewise tell you (and not mal a propos) how much the patience and long-suffering of the same Prince was exercised in a late Conjuncture that so much eclipsed his Prerogative in the Case of the Earl of Danby's Par∣don, and when the Commons did set up against it somewhat in his Father's Answer to the 19 Propositions before mention'd, that nothing but the tempest of the Age in the Parliament of 40 could have occasion'd, viz. Since there∣fore the Power legally placed in both Houses of Parliament is more then suffi∣cient to restrain the Power of Tyranny, &c. But because a Parliament so perpetuated as that was, did prove more then sufficient to restrain pretended Tyranny, and real just Government, will a considerate man say any such thing now, when the breath of Prerogative can dissolve them in a moment, and in that moment all their thoughts perish, and all the high-flying thoughts that would soare above Imperial Power be found dead in the Nest?

And I may here tell you, that in the Answer of some Nonconformists to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon (an Answer Printed in London in the year 1680. during the ferment about the Plot, and wherein they desire Indulgence) I think their attacquing the Service on the Gun-Powder Treason Plot, in thanking God for Preserving the King and the Three Estates of the Realm assembled, by saying, That the late King made no scruple in his Answer to the 19 Propositions to reckon himself one of the three Estates, was a thing that on recollection they will judge ought not to have been done.

But I am here further to tell you, that though it may be consistent with our Oath in some such case as was mention'd, to endeavour the altering by the Legislative Power some uncontroverted Privileges of the Crown, and in such a way as I have mention'd, I likewise wish you in your thoughts to make a distinction of those Privileges or Preheminences belonging to the Crown, that are absolutely Essential to its Preservation, and to that of the whole Realm, and which are by God and the Law put as a Depositum into the hands of Kings, and the removing of one of which would have the effect of taking a Stone out of an Arched Building, and such as no Sove∣reign Princes can be without; and such as our Princes have in their flou∣rishing Reigns to the great content and happiness of their People always exercised, and Rights (as the late Earl of Shaftsbury said of that of the Flagg) that our Princes cannot part with: and Privileges that are not such: and two of which former sort of Privileges, and which are parts of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, I account we are expresly in the Pro∣missory Clause of that Oath Sworn to defend, and assist, namely of the

lineal Succession to the Crown, and of the King's Prerogative; and of which Prerogative we have this Description in Blount's Law-Dictionary, That the Prerogative of the King is generally that Power, Preheminence, or PRIVILEGE which the King hath over and above other Persons, and above the ordinary Course of the Law, in the Right of his Crown: And then adds, Potest Rex ei, lege suae dignitatis, condonare si velit, etiam mortem prome∣ritam. LL. Edw. Confess. cap. 18. and then saith, that Spelman calls it the L•…•…x Regiae dignitatis.

The Author of the Law-Dictionary had there his eye on the Law of Edward the Confessor, where under the title of Misericordia Regis & Par∣donatio, it is declared, that si quispiam forisfactus (which the Margin inter∣prets rei Capitalis Reus) poposcerit Regiam misericordiam pro forisfacto suo, timidus mortis vel membrorum perdendorum, potest Rex ei, lege suae digni∣tatis, condonare si velit, etiam mortem promeritam; ipse tamen malefactor rectum faciat in •…•…quantumcunque poterit quibus forisfecit, & tradat fide∣jussores de pace & legalitate tenenda, si vero fidejussores defecerint exula bitur à Patria.

And I remember there is a famous Act relating to the old Privileges and Prerogatives of the Crown and to their resumption by the Crown, viz. The Act of 27. H. 8. c. 24. call'd, The Recontinuing of certain Liber∣ties taken from the Crown; and it begins with saying, that whereas di∣vers of the most ancient Prerogatives and Authorities of Iustice apper∣taining to the Imperial Crown of this Realm have been severed and ta∣ken from the same by sundry Gifts of the King's most Noble Progeni∣tors, to the great diminution and detriment of the Royal Estate of the same, and to the hinderance and great delay of Iustice; and thereupon saith, for Reformation whereof be it Enacted by Authority of this present Parliament that no Person or Persons, &c. shall have any Power or Au∣thority to pardon or remit any Treasons, Murders, Man-slaughters, or any kinds of Felonies, nor any Accessaries to any Treasons, Murders, &c. or any Out-laries, for any such Offences aforesaid, committed, perpe∣trated, done, or hereafter to be committed, done, or divulged by or a∣gainst any Person in any part of this Realm, &c. but that the King's Highness, his Heirs, and Successors, shall have the whole and sole Power and Authority thereof, united and knit to the Imperial Crown of this Realm; as of good RIGHT and Equity it appertaineth, &c. and then orders all Writs in a County Palatine to be made in the King's Name, &c.

That Statute doth give you a Prospect of great variety and use in order to the Settlement of your thoughts about some things in your Oath. You there see the Natural recourse of the Royal Rivers of Prerogative to the Oce∣an from whence they came; and when you there find that the Crown could communicate to Subjects the exercise of the Prerogative of Pardoning Murder, however restrain'd by ACT of Parliament, and all the dreadful Disabilities incurr'd by Out-laries for Felony and Treason, you are not to wonder at any ones telling you, that the King himself hath the Privilege of Pardoning a Disability incurr'd by Law for Heterodoxy in Religion: and especially when you shall see the whole and sole Power of Pardoning the same united and knit to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, as of GOOD RIGHT and EQUITT appertaineth. And according to those words in your Oath about your defending all the Rights and Privileges united and annex•…•…d to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, you are to defend that great Royal Power of Pardoning, and which our Ancestors in Harry the 8th's time thought so essential to Publick Justice.

And therefore you will still do well to remember that your sworn defence and assistance of all the Privileges and Preheminences of the Crown doth more particularly bind you in the Case of these fundamental ones to put no hardship on our Princes, nor yet to use any softness of Allurements to tempt them to renounce them. The Countryman, who being by his Physician prescribed some Grains of Laudanum, and desiring a greater quan∣tity of the Apothecary, and saying, Shall I have no more for my Money? and whereby he would have been Poyson'd, was not less Sagacious then such Senators who by Subsidies would engage any Prince to part with so much of his Prerogative as would destroy the Body politick.

Alas; as for several uncontroverted Rights of the Crown of an inferiour Nature, as our Princes have been ready enough in all Ages to part with them for the good of their People, and their own promoted thereby, and have had grateful returns from their Parliaments by Subsidies on such an account, so none need fear but that in all future times succeeding Monarchs will that way be as indulgent as the former ones were; and that as Solomon saith, the King himself is served by the Field, and the Plough having here variously supported the Throne, and particularly by the robust Infantry it hath yielded to serve the Crown in Arms; the keeping up of the Spirits of our Yeomen (and likewise of those who Plough'd the Sea) by the Liberty our Laws allow'd them, and the Crowns being no gravamen to the Body of the People, and only to the Royal Heads that wore it, was and will be always necessary in order to the keeping up the being of the Nation.

There is therefore scope and encouragement enough in England for a man who is a Candidate for a Patriot's place, to carry it by being a Con∣sessor of unmercenary Loyalty, and arriving at honour, or the consentiens laus bonorum by being a Loyal Patriot: and there is as good popular air for any one to feed on who will assert the just Liberties and Privileges of the English Subjects as any Greece or Rome afforded: and there was no need for any one to move for a Statue for the Hero who promoted that old act against old Concealments in King Iames the First's time, or the late one for the Habeas Corpus; for such an one must find his Monument in the Hearts of all the Subjects of England. Nor was there ever Prince more Cordially and Passionately concern'd for the Liberties of the People of England then the Royal Martyr: and who fell reverâ as their Martyr according to his words on the Scaffold, and where he said, If I would have given way to an Arbitrary Power, to have all Laws changed according to the Power of the Sword, I needed not to have come here.

His style could not there recede from that of his Printed Declarations, and in one of which, for Example that in 41. he thus mentions his hopes, viz. That God will yet make us a great and a glorious King over a free and a happy People.

A.

If you had not thus coupled the LOYAL Man and the PATRIOT together in your Discourse, I should have ask'd you whether you would have Men throw up the many good Laws that the Parliament of 40 ob∣tain'd for the ease of the People by partly importuning the King?

B.

I assure you, I shall never give you or any one else cause to think that I have not a high value for some of those Laws: and do now shew you my value of them, by telling you that I do not look on them as the off∣spring of any factious importunity, but as the just and natural issue of the goodness of our Prince: and you will find they were so, if you consult the Declaration I last cited, and where his never to be forgotten words are, viz. That as We have not refused to pass any Bill presented to Us by Our Parliament for redress of those Grievances mentioned in the Remon∣strance,

so We have not had a greater Motive for the passing those Laws then Our own resolution (grounded upon our Observation, and understanding the State of Our Kingdom) to have freed Our Subjects for the future from those Pressures which were grievous to them if those Laws had not been propounded. which therefore We shall as inviolably maintain, as We look to have Our own Rights pre∣served, &c.

And in his Declaration of August 12. 1642. he saith, Would men enjoy the Laws they were born to, the Liberty and Property which makes the Subjection of this Nation famous and honourable, with all Neighbour∣ing Kingdoms? We have done Our part to make a Wall of Brass for the perpetual defence of them, while these ill Men usurp a Power to undermine that Wall, and to shake Foundations which cannot be pulled down, but to the Confusion of Law, Liberty, Property, and the very life and being of Our Subjects.

A.

You have named then two fundamental Privileges or Rights of the Crown, which by the Oath of Supremacy we are bound always to assist and defend. And I am to tell you frankly and without going to hide my Trans∣gression, as did Adam; that though I have often and in several Capacities took that Oath, yet on the very day I last took it, and while the very e∣cho of those words, so help me God, was audible in the air of my mind, and before the Ink was quite dry that recorded my Oath, I without consi∣dering that as 'tis the Privilege of our Prince that his Heirs by the Right of the Crown should succeed him, so it is the great Privilege of those Heirs to succeed; I was yet so far from assisting and defending that Privi∣lege, that I immediately endeavoured to subvert the same, and tho my Prince's Mind was notify'd to me for my not so doing. Nay, further to make you my Confessor, I was so far gone in a Lethargick carelessness of my Oath, that when I saw the excluding the title of the Lawful Successor was not likely to pass into a Law, I was tempted to endeavour by Expedients, as if I had took an Oath and no Oath, to make him a King and no King. And God having given me space to repent of my past incogitancy in relation to that Oath, it being now brought before me in the Course of Providence to assist and defend another of the Preheminences which my Prince tells me is granted and belonging to the Crown, and which you have mention'd as his Prerogative above the ordinary Course of the Law, in the Right of his Crown, and that he first made use of an emergent Necessity, I will through the Divine assistance use all the means I can both of serious sedate and unpre∣judicate Consideration, and of the Consilium Peritorum, and Discourse and Communication with others whom in meekness and lowliness of mind. I am obliged to esteem better then my self, to fix my own Iudgment of Discretion in this matter: and will not deny to assist and defend this Preheminence of my Prince in particular without being morally certain that it is not granted or belongs not to him, and will take the best care I can to effect that by any that by any lachesse or omission of the great Duty of Consideration, I may give no man occasion again to exercise his Charity in not pronouncing me to be formally perjured; and that after my Prince hath pardon'd me my at∣tempted excluding him from the Throne, I may not endeavour the disa∣bling him from any one of his Rights while he is on it (for so the style of the Exclusion▪Bill ran, and it might have been as well call'd the Disabling Bill, according to the words there, shall be Excluded and DISABLED, and is hereby Excluded and Disabled, &c. from all Titles, Rights, Prero∣gatives, &c.) and rights that I have sworn to defend.

The Lord Chief Justice Vaughan, (who was a man of the first-Rate Talents, if you consider both his natural and acquired parts) doth yet in Thomas and Sorrell's Case in his Reports call the King's Power of Dispen∣sing, dark Learning, and saith it seem'd so to him, tho after so many Argu∣ments in the Case. And as that great Man found it dark, so I think he left it such in some measure, however yet so many daring Sciolists (and who never look'd on a Law-Book in their lives) will pretend to O•…•…niscience in the Matter, and perhaps out of a vain Jealousie of the King's Omnipotence being thereby asserted.

But I know your thoughts have travail'd far in this dark Learning, and wherein you confess'd to me once, that you had receiv'd some Illumination from that Iudge's Argument, and as likewise you had from a Manuscript Report of that Case of Thomas and Sorrell, containing an account of the things urged by the other Iudges, and by the Councel concern'd in that Case, and which are not mention'd in Sir I. Vaughan's Report of it, and where he relates little but his own Argument. He was a fair Reasoner and frank Discourser on all occasions, and not byassed by any mercenary hu∣mour: and according to that Candour you have often commended in him, and which I have likewise experimented in your self, let me now again make use of it in your imparting to me your thoughts in order to the Dire∣cting and Setling of mine as to the observance of my Oath in this particular.

And tho I know we live in a crooked and perverse Generation, wherein so many are at the same time decrying both summum jus and Persecution, and too all relaxation of the Laws; and their Spirits lie like that Haven, Acts 27. 12. toward the Southwest and Northwest, two opposite Points, (and one would scarce think it possible that mens Spirits could be so extremely wind∣ing and crooked, and thus opposite to themselves) and while too they are crying out that any lawful Dispensing with the Laws establish'd, is Contradictio in adjecto: yet that Lord Chief Iustice's Report hath shew'd me the legality of the Dispensative Power in many particulars, so far as to excite in me a desire to know more of it, and to move me to pity the ignorance of my Countrymen, who thus cry out of Contradictio in adjecto, and not knowing what a Dispensation in Law means, will fall under that censure of the Monk, viz. Corrigis magnific•…•…t & nescis quid Significat, and of that Adage in Eras∣mus, Stultior Choraebo, who not being able to reckon in Numbers beyond five, would yet undertake to Compute the numbers of the Waves in the Sea, oras I may say in the words of S. Paul, desiring to be Teachers of the Law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm: yet I assure you the Vogue of the Mobile will no more influence my thoughts about the Motion of the Laws by Dispensation, then it would about the Motion of the Earth, and who would take it very ill if they should be told it moves as fast as a Bullet out of a Canon, because they do not perceive it.

A late great Philosopher of our Country hath told us, That every day it appeareth more and more that years and days are determin'd by Motions of the Earth; and another hath from the Diurnal and Annual Motion of the Earth endeavour'd to salve the Flows and Motions of some Seas, illustra∣ting the same by Waterin a Bowl arising or falling to either side, according to the Motions of the Vessel: but perhaps should a Prince in his Writings inculcate the Philosophy of the Earths motion, the populace would have Fears and Iealousies of the instability of the Foundations of their Houses and Towns, and of the shaking of their Property, and as they have by Dispensations, and they would be apt to quote Scripture against such Mo∣tion:

nay, tho they should be told that such Motion would ennoble the Earth by exalting it into Heaven; and too as Dispensations may be said to do by conducting those to Heaven who believe Humane Laws obliging the Conscience, and yet shall not observe some of them. But as when ever you have heretofore discours'd to me of Copernicus and Galilaeus, and their Hy∣potheses, you always found me an attentive Hearer, you will be sure now much more to find me so while you are speaking of any of my Prin∣ce's Privileges that I am sworn to defend; for I am now concern'd not to salve Phaenomena, but to save my Soul by keeping my Oath. And in the temper I am in, now my whole Soul is overflowed with the sense of my having so lately through incogitancy violated that part of my Oath that so plainly obliged me to assist and defend the Hereditary Monarchy, I shall be as chearfully attentive to you while you acquaint me with any Obligations resulting from my Oath, as I would be to any one who told me how much I owed another, and at the same time enabled me to pay it.

B.

I shall be most ready when we meet next (which I suppose will be very shortly) to afford you lumen de lumine, in any of the few things I know about this dark Learning. In the mean time I shall observe to you on the occasion of your Mentioning the Lord Chief Iustice Vaughan's Re∣port of Thomas and Sorrell's Case, that as it hath through the Divine be∣nignity been the frequent Method of Providence to send into the World unheard of Maladies and Remedies in the same Conjuncture of time, and so likewise to make pestiferous Haeresiarchs and learned Confessors of the truth Contemporary, and further when Heaven had made many of the in∣quisitive curious to thirst after the knowledge of truth in the works of Nature, then to bless the World with the Discourses and Writings of Galilaeus, Tycho-Brahe, my Lord Bacon, Gassend•…•…s and Des Cartes, and Dr. Harvey, who open'd such great Springs of real Learning as refresh'd that noble thirst; so it seems before the Date of His late Majesty's Decla∣ration of Indulgence in the 24th year of his Reign, and of the Act about the Test in the 25th year of it, and both which were likely to produce among the Learned so many Inquiries into the Legality of the Dispensative Power inherent in the Crown (and even among the unlearned an Epidemical Di∣sease of talking about the same) it came to pass in the course of Providence, that by as Learned Iudges as ever sate on the English Bench, and as Learned Councel as ever appear'd at its Bar, the Learning about the Dispensative Power was ventilated and discuss'd in a Series of several years in the Case of Thomas and Sorrell.

For the Cause began in the King's Bench 18. Car. 2. and was there argued by some of the Great Councel of the Kingdom, and there again argued on both sides by other Councel in Michaelmas-Term, in the 19th year of his Reign. And in Hilary-Term in 25. and 26. Car. 2. this Cause for the weight and difficulty of it was adjourn'd out of the King's-Bench into the Exchequer Chamber, and there argued by others of the Greatest Councel of the Kingdom; and many Law-Books quoted. And the Case was afterward argued by all the Iudges of England at six several Days in Easter, Trinity, Michaelmas and Hilary Terms, viz. by two Iudges each day, and the Iudges differ'd in several Points, and even about the definition or meaning of Dispensation. For so that learned Chief Iustice tells you, and saith, That some of his Brothers defined it to be liberatio à poenâ, and others to be Provida re∣laxatio Juris, which (saith he) is defining an ignotum per ignotius, and liberare à poenâ is the effect of a Pardon, not of a Dispensation, &c.

Thus (as I may say) there was a Circumvallation by the Learning which concern'd Dispensing, that encompass'd some time preceding that Declara∣tion

of Indulgence in the 24th year of his Reign, and some time following both it and the Act of the Test. I shall some other time perhaps entertain you with the Learned Manuscript Report of the whole Case: but shall now tell you that during that Series of years, there was no angry motion in the Sea of the Populace occasion'd by any thing said in any of the Arguments that propp'd up the Dispensative Power; no, not by that mention'd in Keeble's Reports about Thomas and Sorrell's Case to have been said in the Exchequer Chamber by Ellis the King's Serjeant (and whose Opinion was as Currant for Sterling-Law as any Mans of the long Robe.) Viz. That the King may SUSPEND an Act of Parliament till next Session.

And now since it hath thus appear'd out of that Chief Iustice his Report, that at least a sixth part of the Sworn Iudges of the Realm (as he thought) were unacquainted with the meaning of Dispensing, I think it may pass for a Miracle if any great number of the mobile did understand it.

But without their troubling their heads with Law-Books, if they would but mind their English Bibles, and there consult the 12th of S. Mathew, they would soon forbear calling the lawful Dispensing with the Laws establish'd a Contradiction. Our learned Ames on the Priests in the Temple Prophaning the Sabbath and being blameless, observes very well in his Cases of Consci∣ence, 1. 3. c. 17. That Praecepta Deiex suâ naturâ nunquam ita Concurrent, at necesse sit alterum eorum propriè violare per peccatum. Quum enim praecep∣tum aliquod minus negligendum est, ut majus observetur, minus illud cessat pro illo tempore obligare (that is to say, is dispens'd with) ita ut qui ex tali oc∣casione illud negligunt, sint planè inculpabiles, id est non peccent. Matth. 12. 5, 7. And as to that in the Chapter of David's entring into the House of God and eating the Shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, &c. the Lord Bishop of London in his Second Letter to his Clergy, Printed A. 1680. in the Paragraph about The half Communion, occasionally thus observes with great Judgment, That a positive Command of God cannot be disobey'd without guilt, unless on some one or more of these grounds, either, 1. That God dispen∣ses with it as he did with Circumcision in the Wilderness. Or, 2. That some Evil greater then the Consequence of the Non-Performance of it will certainly follow: as when David ate the Shew-bread and they that were with him: which depends on that rule of our Saviour, which tho apply'd to the Sabbath, yet ex∣tends to all other positive Commands, that man was not made for them, but they for man: Or lastly, in case of incapacity, as the Children of Israels not going up to Ierusalem in the time of Captivity.

And there are other words in a foregoing Chapter of S. Matthew that are still applicable to the Pharisaical ignorance of such as reproach DISPEN∣SING as unlawful, Go and learn what that means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.

But according to the Example of our Blessed Lord in Having Compassion on the multitude, I think you have taken a just occasion for the pitying so ma∣ny of your Countrymen who in the present Conjuncture presume to exer∣cise themselves in great Matters, or in things too high for them relating to Law and State, and who without enquiring about the modus of Dispensing with the Laws establish'd, wherein Lawyers differ, cry down the thing it self wholly and absolutely as a Contradiction to the lex terrae, and in which not being so all Lawyers agree.

My Lord Primate Bramhal in his Book of A fair Warning to take heed of the Scottish Discipline, shewing in Chap. 6. (that I have before referred to) That it robs the King of his Dispensative Power, doth wish any one averse to that Power no greater Censure then that the Penal Laws might be duly executed on him till he recant his error. And how Penal a thing by the

Laws of Nations, it is to alienate the hearts of People from the Prince's Go∣vernment, all the great Writers of those Laws, and of the Iura Majestatis have enough shewn.

Moreover how Criminal, a thing of that Nature is in the Court of Con∣science, our two great Writers of it, Ames and Sanderson have enough taught us. The Moral offices of Subjects toward their Princes are well set forth in Ames his Cases of Conscience, 1. 5. c. 25. and where he saith. De∣bent ex singulari reverentiâ cavere, ne temerarium judicium ferant de ipso∣rum administrationes Exod. 21. 28. Eccles. 10. 20. 2 Pet. 2. 10. Jud. 8. Fundamentum hujus cautionis est, 1. Candor ille qui cum erga omnes debet adhiberi, tum singulariter erga Superiores. 2. Difficultas explorandi fontes & causas negotiorum Publicorum. 3. Moderatio illa quâ leves infirmitates & offensiones tolerare debemus, & communi tranquillitati condonare.

And Bishop Sanderson in his 11th Sermon, Ad aulam, shewing the incon∣venience of rashly judging things to be unlawful, observes how thereby mens affections are ali•…•…nated from one another: and saith he, our own deceitful hearts must needs tell us, how hardly we think of those Men who do those things, we think unlawful: as for example, if we think dressing of Meat and using any recreations to be profanatious of the Lord's-Day, we must needs judg those men who do so use them, to be prophaners of the Lord's-Day; and he further observes, That Governours thereby come to be robbed of a great deal of that honour that is due to them from their People, both in their affe∣ctions and subjection: and saith, if we have in our thoughts prejudged any of the things commanded by the Magistrate to be unlawful, our hearts will be sowred toward our Governours, and Men will directly, or indirectly and ob∣liquely speak evil of them, &c.

Mr. Hobb's writing of the passions, observes well, That the passion whose violence or continuance maketh madness, is either great vain glory, which is commonly called Pride and Self-conceit, or great dejection of Mind, and that excessive opinion of a Man's own self for divine Inspiration, for Wisdom, Learning, Form and the like becomes distraction and giddiness: the same joyn'd with Envy, Rage, vehement opinion of the truth of any thing contra∣dicted by others, Rage, &c. and if the excesses be madness, there is no doubt but the Passions themselves when they tend to evil are degrees of the same. And therefore when we see so many Mechanical Persons, as to the Point of Dispensation in general, not allowing their own Rule of Cuilibet in suâ arte credendum, so many Men and Women, and such whom the Law terms Infants, so rude in the knowledge of the Law, and yet so transported with Pride and Self-Conceit, and such an excessive opinion of themselves for Wisdom and Knowledge, and for being inspired with new light in this dark Learning, none need wish them greater Punishment then such their Distem∣per; adding thereunto the Pharisaical humour they have been so much abandon'd to, namely, of their own dispensing with Moral and Eternal Du∣ties, and such as I have referr'd to in Ames and Sanderson, and things in their own nature indispensable, and which are the weightier Matters of the Law, while they cry out of the dispensing with Positive Rites and Institu∣tions as illegal.

A.

There is another punishment too that I think we may well agree to leave them to, and that is what Grotius cite, out of Plato, viz. poena erran∣tis est doceri, but we must submit that to time; and when God pleaseth, the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge. And in the mean while, to the noyse of such People who wilfully shut their eyes, we will stop our ears. You may well suppose me, who have read that Report of Sir I. Vaug∣han, lawyer enough to assert and defend according to my oath the Regal

privilege of the Dispensative power in General: but as to the modus of it, and whether according to the lex terrae the Crown can dispense with in∣capacity incurred by Act of Parliament, I am yet to learn: and am so so∣licitous to find out the truth therein, that I shall be glad if at our next meeting you will take the shortest way to my satisfaction therein, tho it may perhaps occasion your for a while striking out of the road of the for∣mer discourse we were in.

B.

You know we had made some entrance into the consideration of the promissory part of the Oath, and of the Dispensative power, as promised to be assisted and defended, and as a Privilege inherent in the Crown. But since you will have me take the shortest way I can out of the words in your Oath, to satisfy you about the dispensing with such incapacity as you have mentioned, I must in compliance with your desire refer you to the Asser∣tory part of the Oath, when we meet again.