Reformed catholique, or, The true protestant

The Reformed Catholique , or the True Protestant .

THIS Paper should have come into the World under the form of a Letter ( as most Pamphlets of quality do of late ) if the Author had not made a Conscience of covering the Simplicity of his purpose under any sort of Disguise ; so that without so much as a single How do ye to usher it in , he comes point blank to the Business in the very Title . It may be look'd upon , I know , as a thing of Ill Omen , to begin with an Alias : But there 's neither Priest nor Highway-man in our Case ; and yet there be cause enough perhaps for a kind of Hue and Cry too ; for 't is a matter of great moment that every man should both go , and be known by his right Name ; and ( peradventure ) never more necessary than in this juncture , and in this particular : and so to my Text.

A Reformed Catholique ( properly so called ) is an Apostolieal Christian , or a Son of the Church of England : a true Protestant may be so to ; nay , and many times he is so ; and many a Loyal , Orthodox , Reformed Catholique calls himself so ; and ( according to the stile of the Age ) he may be well enough said and accounted so to be . But all this is only by Adoption , and without any colour for it in the original of his Denomination . Now a Protestant , in strictness of speaking is a Lutheran , which this Church does not in all points pretend to be , and then the Characteristical Note of a Christian is Catholique ; so that the Appellation is too narrow for the Principle , and draws on the very same Implication in a Protestant-Catholique , which we make sport with in a Roman-Catholique , that is to say , the Soloecism of a particular Vniversality .

Here is enough already ( I suppose ) to furnish an Extract of as much Popery out of it , as may recommend some hungry Informer to a Mornings-draught ; for we have a sort of people now a days , that will read a mans Heart through his Ribs , though they can hardly see his Nose on 's face ; and that give more Credit to their Ears than to their Eyes . Now to ease the Reader in two or three peevish Points , if he should chance to be over-critical and imperious , I will tell him before-hand , in a few words , what he is to trust to .

To the first Question or Objection fairly supposed ; the Author is no disguised or concealed Papist , but of the Communion of the Church of England , train'd up in the strictest way of it , and standing firm to it against all sorts of Provocation , Discouragement , Temptation , and Argument ; and without warping to the Jesuits , either on the right hand , or on the left .

To the Second : He is not set on to write this Discourse , either directly or indirectly ; by any Hint , Desire , or Appointment whatsoever ; nor by any other Motive than the sense of what he owes to the Publique , and to his Conscience , and the Consideration of some small Present from the Book-seller , if there be any thing got by 't . ( A piece of Good Husbandry that he has learnt of his Superiors . ) He has no design upon any Place at Court in 't , nor upon any Church-Lease ; no not so much as a Reversion : And all this is true , by the Faith of a poor Gentleman , that has worn his Doublet out at elbows in his Majesties Service . It might be added , that he 's grown old and Careless , and that even Malice it self were lost upon him . Now under these Circumstances , I hope he may securely advance to tell you a little more of his mind :

So ●a● as Catholique and Protestant serve only as two several Names , intending the self-same thing , ( though the one by Protriety , and the oth●● but b● Translation ) is all one to me whether of the two any man calls me ; all the danger is , the countenancing of an ill Thing under a good Name .

The word Protestancy falls under a double acceptation ; the one , as it denotes the Reformed Religion ; the other , as it is taken for the Genus Generalissimum of all Dissenters from the Church of ●ome . The former I do heartily embrace , as transmitted to us from our Fore-fathers , and Signed by the Blood of Martyrs ; authorized by the Holy Gospel , and by the Law of the Land ; the common Bond of our Civil Peace , and ( by Gods Blessing ) the Hopes and Means of our Eternal Salvation .

Now to the latter Acceptation , I am not at all satisfied with it , and I have both Reason and Experience to warrant me in that d●slike . As to my Reason ; First , It is an Agreement upon an Opposition ; and next , it is an Agreement of several parties disagreeing among themselves , which carries the face rather of a Confederacy , than a Religion : For it is not the Opposing of Error , but the asserting of a Truth , that mast do the work . One Error may be opposed by another , even in a single person ; as one man robs his Neighbour , and a third robs him . Here 's one Injustice opposed by another : So that as it is an Agreement in Opposition , 't is a hundred to one there will be Error in 't : But the Opposers themselves being subdivided , 't is impossible it should be Right ; for the very Essence and Soul of Religion are here wanting ; that is to say , Charity and Vnity . And for the proof of this , beyond all Contradiction ; let but any man look back into the late Troubles , and see , when the Factions had destroyed the King and the Church ( which they called the Common Enemy ) how they fell presently to worrying of one another ; when the Presbyterians , Independents , Anabaptists , Quakers , Seekers , Ranters , Antinomians , and twenty other wild sorts of Sectaries , under the title of Protestants , and under the pretence of opposing Popery , destroyed the very Cause they covenanted to assert ; a Protestant-Church , a Protestant Prince , and a Protestant-People , filled the Land with Confusion , Sacriledge , and Herefie ; made the English Nation a Reproach and a Scandal to the Christian World : And so soon as they had possessed themselves of the Power and Revenue of the Kingdom , every mans hand was against his Brother for the Booty .

To proceed now to the matter of Experience : I would fain see any one Instance from the ve●y Reformation it self , to this day , when ever there was a Clamour advanced upon this Point , of a Conjunct Opposition of Popery , that the Church of England was not struck at in the Confederacy ; and that too , not by blind Inferences and tacit Presumption , but by Overt Acts , and a Notoriety of Practice : That is to say , the Men that stickled under this Notion , did positively declare the Government by Bishops , to be Antichristian ; and the Discipline and Common Prayers of the Church , to be Popery and Superstition ; yes , and the Civil Administration it self also to be downright Tyranny . They did just like the Fellows in Hatton-Garden , that stole Money and Plate under the pretence of Searching for Priests ; and for the Credit of the Exploit , they rob'd in Red Coats too , that they might the better pass for some of his Majesties Guards . The Similitude runs upon all Four , for it was the very case of our pretended Protestants , under colour of hunting for Priests , they seized Money and Plate , and committed Robberies in the very Livery of the Government .

This they did in Scotland under the Queen Regent , and King James ; and in England , under Queen Elizabeth ; and twice in Scotland again , under the late King ; and after that , in England : Two actual Rebellions more in Scotland , under this present King , and now God bless us from another at home ; and all this from that sort of people that stil'd themselves Protestants . The Principles , the Methods , and the Pretences the very same , from one end to the other .

The Story of these Phanatical Conspiracies is almost as nauseous as the thing it self is detestable ; only this last in Scotland methinks seems to crown the Infamy of all the rest : For a Party that calls it self Protestant ; a Party in full Cry upon the scent of Popery ; a Popish Plot upon Oath too , at the same time upon the Life of the King , upon our Religion and Government ; and that Plot at that instant , under a strict Examination ; the same party at the same time also pressing for Justice upon the Conspirators , nay , and complaining of the remissness of the Prosecution , notwithstanding the most exemplary Rigor in the Case that ever was known in this Nation : For this Party , ( I say ) under these circumstances , to fly in the face of the Government , let the World judge if ever there was a more consemmated piece of Wickedness . They raise a Rebellion , and make Religion the Ground of it , they declare a War against the King , and the Church , and yet write themselves Loyal Subjects and Protestants . They cry out of the Danger of Popery , and yet in the same breath , draw their Swords upon their Prince , in the very attempt of Crushing it ; and all these Aggravations complicated in one act . Is it not high time then ; after an Imposture that has cost this Nation so dear , to learn at last to distinguish betwixt a Religion and a Faction ? Betwixt what men are , and what they call themselves ? Is a Renegado ever the less a Turk for putting out English Colours ? Are the Blessed Spirits ever the less pure for the Devils transforming himself into an Angel of Light ? Is the Kings Broad Seal one jot the less valuable for being counterfeited ? So neither is our Profession . And he that dishonours Religion , or invades Authority under the Name of a Protestant , is no more to any sober man , than a Goth or a Vandal . Judas his Betraying of his Master was a most ungrateful and abominable Sin , but the doing of it with a Kiss , made it by many degrees the more execrable : And it was the height of the Prophet Davids Affliction , the Circumstance of a Familiar Friend . Where 's the harm now of saying , Have a care of False Protestants : The Author and the Finisher of our Faith , is ( I hope ) of Authority sufficient to justifie that Caution . Does not our Saviour himself tell us that there shall arise False Christs and False Prophets ? and why not False Protestants : And does he not bid us take heed that no man deceive us ; for many ( says he ) shall come in my Name , saying I am Christ , and shall deceive many ? Does he not bid us beware of Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing ? And in his description of the Scribes and Pharisees , give us the very Picture of our Impostors .

We have it upon the Credit of Dr. Tongue and Dr. Oates , that the Sedition of 1641. was totally contrived and caryed on by Popish Counsels ; and that not only the Conventicles in that bloody Revolution , but all our Separate Meetings to this day , and particularly the Scottish Commotions were and are influenced by Priests and Jesuits , under the Masque of Professors of those several Perswasions . Have we not reason then to use all possible circumspection , that we may not be imposed upon by such as these for Protestants ? No man has a greater veneration for the memory of those Protestants that suffered Martyrdom for their Faith : no man a greater horrour for the Irish , the Parisian , & several other Massacres ; no man a higher esteem or a more ardent affection for Protestancy it self , ( so far as the Profession of the Church of England is intended by it ) than I have . But for those turbulent Spirits that lay about them as if Heaven were to be taken by actual Violence , whose Zeal outstrips Christianity it self , imposing upon the world their own corrupt and impetuous passions , instead of the healing and pacifique motions of the Holy Ghost : These are a dangerous sort of people , and their ways are not only a Contradiction to the undeniable Principles of our Institution , but to the common Interests of Mankind , as well Individuals as Communities : for if it be true , that Charity is the great Lesson of the Gospel : If it be true that , Vnity in Faith , and Vnanimity in the the things of Civil Government would make up the most perfected Blessing that reasonable Nature is capable of in this Tabernac●e of Flesh ; then must it necessarily follow , that the nearer we approach to that Agreement , the better Christians we are , and the happier Men ; and the further we depart from it the more wicked & the more miserable we are . This is either true or false : If the former , there 's no Treason in 't ; if the latter , we may burn our Bibles .

Before I wade any further into this Controversie , it may do well , I think , to give some Reason , why upon this Subject & at this Time ; that the World may not take that for the Leaven of an unquiet Humour , which in great truth , is only an act of Conscience in the discharge of a sober and a seasonable duty to my Prince and Country .

To the undertaking of this Office , I have been induced , by the audacious Liberties of the Press , in the matter of Religion and Government , endeavouring to possess the Multitude with false and pernicious Principles and Opinions , and by artificial Hints and Scandals to dispose them ( now toward the meeting of this next Parliament ) to a partial and a factious Choice : So that my Business is only to encounter and lay open the Vanity and Weakness of those Libels , and without confining my self to any one in particular , to sum up the Malice of them all , for so much as concerns our present purpose , and to submit my self to the Reader in a fair and short Reply .

It is a Note worthy of consideration , that all the Papers here in question , ( even to a single Sheet ) are the Work of Men exceedingly byassed against the established Government , as Republicans , Anabaptists , and other sorts of Dissenters from the Church ; for the Publishers of these Papers are known every one of them , and most of the Authors . Now what advice toward the Honour and Safety of the Government , these people are likely to give , who are united in common Principles of defaming , discomp●sing , and even of dissolving it , let Heaven and Earth be the Judges : And what work such a House of Commons would make , as these forward Undertakers would have , if they were to direct and influence the Election .

Now if these be the Counsellours , let us see next if the Matter of their Writings be not answerable to the Character of the Men ; and if it be not most evident that it is their very scope and design ( so far from endeavouring the Peace and Settlement of the Nation ) to poison the people with seditious Maxims ; to create Jelousies betwixt the King and his Subjects , and to undermine the very Foundation of the Government .

They support themselves with the Multitude , upon two general and popular pretensions , Religion and Liberty : What Religion , or what Liberty they do not say ; but only fill the peoples ●eads with a confused Notion of things , and wild apprehensions of Popery and Tyranny : And ●hen their next work is under colour of dating the Priviledges of King and People , to erect ●editious Positions ; and after all , to prescribe Remedies infinitely worse than the Disease . We ●hall now make it appear that the Religion they talk of , leads to all sorts of Impiety ; and that ●heir pretended Liberty is the ready way to slavery . First , of Religion .

As to what concerns Religion , they do all of them sing the same Song in their Queries and ●opesals to the Freeholders and Electors of England , and unanimously agree in the same me●hod of Advice to the people , how they are to govern themselves in their next Choice .

Their first Caution is , To pursue the Discovery and Punishment of the Plot , ( the Trojan Horse ●ith an Army in the Belly of it . ) To secure us from Popery ; and that no Papist may be allowed to well in the Land ; Nor any man chosen into the House , that shall dare to open his mouth for a Popish ●uccessor : And all this attended with a dreadful Enumeration of the Massacres , Fires , Trea●●s , and Devastations that have been wrought by the Popish party .

To this first Point , the Replicant most willingly subscribes , so far as stands with Christian ●harity , and the Law of the Land ; But then he cannot forget on the other hand , that the ●ounterfeit Protestant Horse of 1641. had an Army in the Belly of him , as well as the Trojan ; and ●e that would be safe , must look both ways at once .

Another Caution is , not to choose any man that is Popishly affected ; ( as another hath it ) affected . But a third proceeds a little more warily , and recommends the chusing only of ●ere Protestants , and not disguised Papists , who are ready to pull of their Mosque , when time serves , ●d may be known by their laughing at the Plot , disgracing the Evidence , admiring the Tray●rs Constancy , &c.

This same Popishly and ill affected , lies open to several Exceptions ; for one Man is made ●dge of the Thoughts of another , which is only the Prerogative of Almighty God . I have ●ard of a man that was indicted for Whistling ; but never , till now , of any Man that was incapa●ated to serve in the House of Commons , for Thinking . Beside the unreasonable Latitude , ●d the horrible iniquity of the Judgment ; for if this be admitted , no man living can be se●●e : It involves the Innocent with the Guilty , and puts a man out of all possibility to a●●it himself . And them forward ; It is but turning the Tables , and the Blot is hit on the ●●●side : For why should not I be as well allowed to pronounce another man a disguised Protestant , as he to judge me a disguised Papist , and the same liberty of marking him too ? You shall know him by his Shiboleth , ; for the old Covenant sticks in his Teeth still , and the whole mystery of his profession is wrapt up in that Oracle of the Priviledges of Parliament ; the Kings Iust Power and Greatness ; the Protestant Religion against Popery , and Popish Innovations ; the first point being wholly incomprehensible , and the other two , like Jugglers Knots , fast or loose at pleasure .

This equal Freedom being granted on all sides , takes away all Faith , Confidence , and Correspondence in humane Society . I know no difference in the world betwixt one mans Infallibility and anothers ; nor any ( but in Terms ) betwixt a private mans infallibile Light , and the Popes infallible Sentence : Nor is there any one Usurpation in Popery , that is either grievous to the Conscience or dangerous to the Government ; but a man may shew very near an equivalent of it in Schism .

As to the Marks of distinction betwixt a sincere Protestant and a disguised Papist ; the Immorality of Laughing at the Plot , favours more in my opinion , of an unmannerly Fool , than of a disguised Papist ; though for my own part , I am so far from Laughing at it , that it wounds my soul , the very thought on 't . Disgracing of the Evidence were something indeed ; but to ●ake a man a Papist fo● admiring the Traytors Constancy , that , methinks is very hard , and not answerable to what one would expect from an Advocate for Liberty of Conscience . It is much easier to relinquish an Opinion , tha● for a man to devest himself of natural Affection ; and more unreasonable to claim a freedom in th● one , than to refuse it in the other . I must confess , I do admire that Constancy , and if I were to dye fo● so doing , I could not but admire it still : And these Impressions are humane , and not to be resisted ▪

We fall now into the old Track of the whole party : They call for Toleration ; complain o● persecution ; cast all their Sufferings upon their worshipping according to their Consciences ; and the● this lamentable condition of theirs must be remonstrated to the whole Nation . Of these four point● in order .

In the handling of their plea for Protestant Dissenters , there are many things to be taken into co●sideration . First , Is it in matters of conscience , or only of phansie , wherein they desire to be i●dulg'd ? If the latter , the upholding of a Law is certainly of much greater concern , than the gra●fying of a Caprice . Now on the other side , if they demand it upon an exigen● of Conscience : Fir● why plurally , for Dissenters ? When one man cannot honestly undertake for another mans Conscienc● Besides that ( Secondly ) they a●k an Indulgence for several parties , of divided Consciences and Opinion And in short , they would have the Magistrate favour all the Consciences , that will not endure ●● anothers . Again ; They should do well to explain what they mean by Protestant Dissenters , up●● points of Conscience ; whether all in general , or only such and such parties : If all in general , Heathe● must be tolerated as well as Christians , for they have Consciences as well as we : Or if it be restrai●● to Christianity , it opens a door to Heresies , more detestable then Paganism it self . So that an Vniv● sal Toleration is utterly unlawful ; & a partial Toleration on the other hand , is as ineffectual ; for up●● a plea of Conscince they may all claim alike : So that it is an Act of Vniformity still , to those that exclud●d ; and it is not fair , in the Government , to favour one ●alf , and exasperate another , wher● may as well be taken in , as any ▪ Beside , upon the supposal of a limited Toleration , who shall ju●● which are fit to be admitted , and which not ? If the People , every man justifies himself , and t● we are upon an universal Toleration again . They tell us stories of sound Faith , good Life , an● distinguishing betwixt Fundamentals and not Fundamentals ; which is only treading of the s● Ring still ; for it may be every bodies plea as well as any mans : That which the Magistrate judges one ●● the people shall determine another ; and one mans fundamental Truth shall be anothers funda●●●tal Error , which will introduce as many Religions as phansies ; bring Factions into Families as● as into Governments , and ●ake the people both parties and Judges : And it is not to say tha● Word of God shall be the Judge ; for that 's only a Rule by which we are to judge ; and by erro● judgments it is made the foundation of all Heresies ; For when every man may make his own Other 's nothing so impious , but he 'l shew you a Text for 't . Moreover , the very pretence of Lib● Conscience is f●ivolous ; for Conscience is out of the reach of humane power ; and the freedom of th● no Law can either punish or take away .

But it is the liberty of acting , as well as of thinking , that they insist upon , which upon the whole matter , is neither more nor less than a Licence to do what they please . The League in Flanders , under Maximilian : the holy League under Henry the 3d of France ; Muncers Outrages in Germany ; the Murtherers of Henry the 4●h . and the P. of Orange ; and all the Villanies of the late times here at home , were acted under the Masque of Religion . It is not for the restraining of Opinions that Laws are provided ; but for the preventing of Overt deeds of Violence , and they are punished for Action , not for Conscience . Neither have we any means of distinguishing betwixt Faction and Religion , if every mans word shall be taken for his own Conscience ; and then it is a dangerous way of dividing a Kingdom against it self .

Take notice all this while , that they urge a Toleration , no body knows for whom , or for what . Where are their Arcicles ? where is the Model of their Accommodation ? or how is it possible to contrive any common Expedient to gratifie them ? For nothing less than a total Liberty of doing what they list , will please them , which must inevitably produce the Dissolution of the Government . If they would have the wilder and more extravagant Sects excluded , why do they plead for All in general , and not rather particularise the Opinions and Parties that they would have indulg'd ? But they dare not do this , for fear of disobliging the rest , their business being to unite all Factions in the quarrel ; when yet you may as soon bring Heaven and Hell together , as reconcile them in Religion ; so that either they ask an impious thing , in the allowance of all , or a impracticable thing in propounding any Limitation , upon a Plea of Conscience . But the truth is ●o more than this : They ask a thing which can neither be granted , nor so much as understood ; and the people are transported with the sound of Loyalty and Religon , to the desire of things wholly inconsistent with either Piety or Government .

We should do well to take notice , that against this plea for Liberty , there is one on the one side , the Authority of Law , and the solemn Judgment of the Church for the Equity of it ; and on the other , the Kings personal and political Conscience for the Execution of it . There is also the Duty of a Subject for the Obeying of it ; and the same reason that authorizes an Invasion of this Law , may as well invalidate all the rest . Now the Counterpoize to all this weight , is ( at best ) only the naked Conscience of some private persons . The peoples Consciences call for Liberty ; and the Governors Conscience requires Order : Their Consciences will not down with this Law , nor this Law with such Consciences : Which of the two now shall yield to the other ?

But what benefit might we now expect from this Indulgence here , if it were granted ? Or rather , in ●he first place , what colour of Conscience or of reason is there in the very demand it self ( all the afore●aid Exceptions over and above ? ) Is it first reasonable for them to ask what they themselves think unreasonable to grant ? Or to claim such an allowance to themselves , as a point of Conscience , which they themselves , upon a point of Conscience refuse to others ? For there is not any one party ●n the whole mass of Dissenters , that does not deny the same freedom to others which they do joyntly challenge to themselves : Nay , in their very Propositions to his Majesty in the Isle of Wight , Mar. 1647. ●hey excepted the Use of the Common Prayer , when they gave Liberty to all other sorts of Worship . ( To which Concession they were then compell'd by the Circumstances of that juncture . ) Their Refusal must proceed either upon the Right of the thing , or upon Reason of State . If they did not like our way , neither do we approve of theirs : Or if if they excluded us out of a respect to the publik peace , the Government hath still the same reason against them .

But we shall better understand the Party , from their own words , wherein we shall first take a short view of their Opinions in matter of Fatith and Religion . Secondly , How they stand affected , one party to another : And thirdly , Their positions and practises , with Relation to the Civil Government .

As to their Opinions , first , see some Extravagances of the Sectaries , Cited by a Presbyterian , out of their own Writings , in Edwards's Gangrena , from p. 18. to 27.

They say that the Scriptures are insufficient and uncertain . God the Author of Sin , even of the ●●●●ness it self ▪ That the Magistrate ought not to punish any man for denying of a God , if his Conscience ●● so perswaded . That every Creature is God , an Efflux only from God , and shall return to him : That there is but O●e Person in the Divine Nature . That the least Truth is of more worth than Jesus Christ himself . That the Doctrine of Repentance is a Soul-destroying Doctrine . That 't is as possible for Christ himself to Sin , as for a Child of God to Sin . That the Moral Law is of no use at all to Beli●vers . That Pe●ers trouble , after the denyal of his M●ster ; issued only from the weakness of his Faith . That Infants rise not again . Nay , he speaks of a Sectary pleading for a Toleration of W●tches , with s●veral abominable Instances . And he charges the Nursery and Encrease of them upon the Presbyterians ; and that it was their Indulgence , not Episcopal connivance that wrought our Mischief in that kind . They agree ( says he ) with J●lian the Apostate , Libertines , Athiests , Unclean , Incestuous , Drunk●rds , Sabbath-breakers , Lyers , Jugglers , Slanderers , proud and boasting , insolent , outrageous , Hypocritical , false .

The S●ctaries on the other hand call the Assembly , Antichristian , Romish , Bloody , Plagues and Pests the Kingdom , Baals Priests , Southsayers : The Pre●byterian Government a Limb of Antichrist , Tyrannical , Lordly , an Aegyptian Bondage . An Anabaptist said , He hoped to see Heaven and Earth on fire , before Presbytery should be settled ; and to see it trodden under foot , as the Bishops . Ster●y himself says , The Seed of God hath two Capital Enemies , Romish Papacy , and the Scotch Presbytery . See what the Presbyterians say now to Toleration .

It is much ( says the London Ministers Letter to the Assembly , ) Jan. 1. 45. that our Brethren should separate from the Church , but that they should endeavour to get a Warrant to authorize their Separation from it ; and to have Liberty ( by drawing Members out of it ) to weaken and diminish it , till ( so far as lies in them ) they have brought it to nothing . This we think to be plainly unlawful .

And then the Harmony of the Lancashire Ministers , p. 12. Toleration would be the putting the Sword in a mad mans hand , a proclaiming Liberty to the Wolves , to come into Christs Flock , to prey upon his Lambs .

Toleration m●kes the Scripture a Nose of Wax ; a Rule of Faith to all Religions . And this is the great Rabby of the party . Rutherfords free Disp. p. 360.

Liberty of Conscience , and Toleration of all , or any Religion , is so prodigious an Impiety , that this Religious Parliament cannot but abhor the very naming of it . Baileys Disswasive Epist. Ded. 1645.

It is unreasonable ( says the Defender of the London Ministers Letter to the Assembly , Anti-toleration , p. 16 ) that Indep●ndents should desire that Toleration of Presbyters , which they would not give to Presbyters .

Let it be observed from hence , that these people do first demand of the Government that Liberty which they deny to one another . And Secondly , That they pretend to do it upon Conscience , and yet hold the thing it self to be absolutely unlawful ; so that they justifie the Conscience of our denying it to them , by the Conscience of their refusing it to others . And the only way to evade this , is to discover all by confessing , that though they now beg a Toleration from the Government , yet if they get power in their hands , they 'l make a Conscience again ( as they did before ) of allowing any freedom to the Government .

It is a nlear case , that their demands are unwarrantable , impracticable , unreasonable , and not grounded upon Conscience , but directly in opposition to it ; as we have it under their own hands .

Let us try now if we can discover what the design is , since it appears manifestly what it is not ; and that , not only from the reason of the thing , but from their own deeds and writings ; and those matters also , and positions , expounded by practise .

One thing remarkable is this ; That they have been still fishing in troubled Waters , and taking advantage of all D●stresses , and necessities of the Government . Did not Cartwright , Coppinger , Arthington and Hacket , take their time for that exeerable Conspiracy against Q. Elizabeth , when she was just upon the very point of securing the reformed Religion against the Power and Church of Rome ? Did not the Sectaries in 1641. take the same advantage against the late King , when his thoughts were wholly taken up about suppressing the Irish Rebellion ? And did not the latter Scotch Tumults take the same advantage of his Majesties being under many troublesome Circumstances about the Plot ; and when the peoples minds were prepared to take ill Impressions in the matter of Government ? So that the very timeing of this revived Clamour for Liberty of Conscience , looks suspiciously ; and the more , because their Meetings here have of late been very little interrupted .

To run through those pestilent principles , which the Heads of the Sectaries have publish'd in their own names , were endless , Wherefore I shall content my self with some of their general positions , and refer the Reader to Husbands Collections , or the Authors themselves for the rest ; as Milton , Goodwin , Rutherford , and a hundred more .

They make the Lords and Commons the supream Power ; nay , the people themselves in some cases ; Princes , they say , may be deposed and put to death : They distinguish betwixt the Kings person and his authority , the Letter of the Law , and the Equity of it ; and appeal from the written Law to the Law of Nature ; and according to these maxims they govern their proceedings .

But will you see now the price of all our Blood , and Confusion ?

Upon their Petition to his Majesty for a Reformation of the Liturgy , the King most graciously issued out a Commission for a Review of the Book of Common Prayer : An equal number of learned Divines , both Episcopal and Presbyterian were appointed to meet about it , and to agree upon such Alterations as should be thought most necessary . His Majesty earnestly desiring that the Ministers would not totally lay aside the Book of Common Prayer , but read those parts against which there could be no Exception . Now instead of most necessary Alterations , and those to be agreed upon by both Parties , they published a new Liturgy of their own , under the Title of the Reformation of the Liturgy , ( which is indeed the Abolition of it . ) I 'le give ye only a tast of some of their important scruples that are cast into the ballance , against the Vnity of the Church , and the Peace of the Kingdom : They turn Wedded Wife into Marryed : Dost thou Believe into Do you Believe ; and all this I stedfastly Believe , into this I do unfeignedly Believe .

Let us now suppose these people had their Askings : Let any man but shew me from the Minority of K. James , to this hour , where they were not the more violent and importune upon yielding ( even to the hazard of a downright Rebellion ) & the Author shall give any man his Head , for the President : Did not the Assembly in 1578. impose upon the Parliament in Scotland , fall foul upon the Archbishop of Glasgow , and the whole Order ? pass a Decree against their votes in Parliament , command them to renounce their Temporal Titles , & Civil Jurisdiction , & set their Quarriers at work for the demolishing of Glasgow Cathedral ? ( which had been done too , if the Tradesmen had not by force prevented it . ) And did they not grow bolder and bolder upon the Kings Lenity ; and command the Bishops , upon pain of Excommunication , not to officiate as Pastors , without Licence from the General Assembly ; and likewise order the Patrimony of the Church to be disposed of as they should see meet ? And did they not after that , make a violent and treasonous Seizure of the King at Ruthven , and justifie it when they had done ? And so on by degrees , till his Majesty was forc'd , by a Tumult at Edenbourgh , in 1596. and the Ministers Bond of Confederacy immediately upon it , to a Resolution of rigour and severity ; which ( as Spottswood observes ) gave him more quiet and security for the future .

His Majesty was no sooner enter'd upon the Government of England , but he was assaulted in 1604. with the same sort of people , and at a Conference at Hampton Court , this Qustion was put , How far an Ordinance of the Church was binding , without offence to Christian Liberty ? Whereupon the King gave this short Answer , Let 's have no more of these Questions , but conform at your peril . So that they gave him no further trouble upon that subject . And this was Queen Elizabeth's case too , to the hazard both of her Life and Government ; till by that severe Act against them , of the Thirty fifth of her Reign , she gave her self ease for the remainder of her Life .

What did the late King gain by his Indulgence to the Scots in 1637. but farther Indignities and Contempt ? First , the Service-Book and Canons were their Grievance ; then the Five Articles of Perth , though established both by the General Assembly and , Parliament ; The High Commission next and then the Bishops Session in Civil Judicatories . His Majesty gratifie● them in every point : Insomuch , that they had nothing further to complain of , but that the King would not abolish Episcopacy , and admit the Authority of their Lay-Elders ; upon which point they brake out into an open Rebelion . After this , upon the Interview of the two Armies at Berwick ( when the King had them absolutely at his mercy ) upon their Supplication for a Treaty , he trusted them again , and concluded upon a Pacification ; of which , the Covenanters did not keep so much as one A●ticle .

Upon his Majesties return to London , he passes the Triennial Bill ; abolishes the Star-Chamber and High Commissi●n-Court ; passes an Act for the Continuance of the Parliament ; and in fine , denys them nothing but his Crown and his Blood , and then by virtue of what he had given them already , they took away the rest , and stript him of his Friends , his Authority , his Revenue , and his Life .

They minister great cause of suspicion in their very stile and scruples : Why do they run so much upon ambiguities ? As the settling of Religion in its due latitude ; a due & necessary Reformation ; found Relief ; Principles congruous to a National Settlement ; the Kings Iust Rights ; Importance of Interests ; Stated Order in the Church , &c. What is all this , but a jumbling together of so many Amusements , to pass a colourable pretence upon the people ? And it signifies just nothing , but what Construction they shall think fit to allow it . If they would offer any pertinent , intelligible and practicable Proposition ; and say , what Injunctions they would have abated ; what Parties they would recommend for these qualifications ; where to find them , and who shall judge of them . If they would state their Demands , and say , This is all we ask ; and then rest there : If , 28 they plead for all Dissenters , they would produce some common Instrument , or Commission , to shew that they are auth●riz'd by all to solicite in their Names , and to treat upon such or such Points ; and to go no further , the business might be brought yet to some rational issue .

As their Stile is exceeding dark and mysterious , so are their Scruples of an extraordinary Quality too . They cannot kneel at the Sacrament , but they can hold up their hands at the Covenant ; they can dispense with the Oath of Allegiance , and yet make a scruple of disclaiming the Solemn League : They can swallow a Schism ( or worse ) and yet a Ceremony choaks them . Add to all this ; many of those very persons that promoted our former Troubles , this very way , are now at work again upon the same pretension ; and may , without breach of Charity , be suspected to have the same design , and to remain in a state of impenitency , if they have not manifested their Repentance by some open Recantation : For ( according to the Casuists ) publique sins require publick confessions .

It is an ill sign too , for a man to leap upon the sudden , from matter of Conscience to Reason of State ; and in the same breath , of a petitioner to become a reformer . It would seem a strange thing , for a man to request a special favour from the Master of a Family , and at the same time to put affronts upon his Domesticks , and to tell him that his Servants were all of them a pack of Rascals ; which is not much from the point in hand .

We have had abundance of Advice to the Free-holders of England , toward the Choice of this next Parliament ; as Sober and seasonable Quaeries , Englands great Interest , the Freeholders Choice , and twenty more ; and all of them agreeing in the general Heads one with another : They tell us who are fit to be chosen , and who not .

The former such as will remove and bring to Justice evil Counsellors , corrupt and arbitrary Ministers of State ; detect and punish the Pensioners of the former Parliament in the face of the Kingdom , and they must chuse such as will secure us from Slavery .

The people are directed on the other side , not to chuse a man that has been reputed a Pentioner , no Court-Officer , or whose Employment is durante bene placito ; no ambitious men , or Non-residents , that live here in Town , and seek Honour and preferments above .

This is the Counsel of Englands grand Interest : And methinks , in these Qualifications , there is both too much , and too little . As to the point of Evil Counsellors , corrupt Ministers and Pensioners , he should have done well to have advi'sd them all manner of caution and circumspection , for fear of mistaking their Men. This was the way that brought the Earl of Strafford , and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to their Ends. under the notion of evil Counsellors too , though perhaps the most necessary Instruments that ever this Nation enjoyed , for the Common Good both of King and people . So that as it is a great Service to bring corrupt Ministers to publick Justice , it is yet a lewd method to make the Rabble the Executioners , and to punish Male-Administration by Sedition : For in this case the good and the bad fall indifferently without distinction ; and instead of drawing here and there a piece of rotten Timber toward a Reparation , they fall foul upon the main pillars and supporters of the House ; so that all falls into ruins . And then the mark of a Reputed Pensioner goes a little too far ; for it lies in the power of two or three malevolent Tongues to make any man so . They that made the last King a reputed Papist , shall much more easily make any of his Majesties Subjects pass for reputed Pensioners .

The total Exclusion of all Court-Officers , or Bene-placito-men , is yet worse : For this sets up a direct Opposition betwixt the King and his people ; as who should say , Trust no body that wears any Token of the Kings favour . And the same reason disables him as well to any other Trust whatsoever : So that the Kings Countenance is a kind of Incapacity . And it is the same thing with those he calls Ambitious Men ; as if any Application to his Majesty made a man unfit for the Service of his Country . He should have done well to have warn'd them against the known Enemies of the Government , rather then the suspected Servants of the King .

The Free-holders Choice is a very Martin Mar-Prelate . His Language against the Clergy is too course for an honest man to repeat after him , but he has ranged them in good Company ; for he says that they lay out themselves , to accommodate their Masters with the veriest Villains that can be pick'd up in all the Country ; that so we may fall into the hands again of as treacherous and lewd a Parliament as the Wisdom of God , and Folly of Man has most miraculously freed us from . Methinks some of the Members of that Parliament should concern themselves to call for Justice upon so foul a Scandal .

The Author of the Seasonable Quaeries does not only recommend the same Cautions with the rest , but calls his Majesty himself to Shrift , and puts the Question , whether Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliaments , at such a time as this , does not fill the hearts of Protestant Subjects with evident fears of destruction ?

And Secondly ( says he ) Whether it be not high time for all the Protestants in England , to resolve as one man , that they will it and by , and maintain the Power and Priviledges of Parliament , together with the Power and Iust Rights of the King , according to the Laws of the Kingdom , so as the One may not intrench upon th● Other .

The former Exp●●●●●ation upon the Reason of the Kings Proceedings , would have been more taken notice of perhaps , if it had not been followed with one of the most audacious Challenges that this Licentious season has produced ; for the meaning of it is , to incourage a direct Rising , as if the King and the Parliament were going together by the Ears , ( forgive the Expression ) and the people to interpose , to see fair play .

This is the very Trace of the Old Covenant : They must resolve to maintain no body knows what on the one side ; ( for the Priviledges of Parliament are past finding out : ) But then they are to stand by the King , on the other side , with a Limitati●n ; only in his Iust Rights , and of those Bounds , they themselves are to be the Judges . This Epithete was applyed to the late Kings Case , by those very men that cut off his Head .

The Author of Englands great Interest , having directed the good people what persons to choose for the ensuing Parliament , and what not . His next work is to instruct them in the Know●edge of their Powers , which he divides into three Rights or Fundamentals . The First is Property , that is , a Right and Title to their own Lives , Liberties , and Estates . For the Law ( he says ) is Vmpire between King , Lords , and Common● ; and the Right and Property is one in kind , through all Degrees and Qualities in the Kingdom . Mark that .

Way does he not say that the King is Vmpire betwixt King , Lords and Commons , as wel● a● t●at the Law is so ? For the Law is only the Kings Pleasure made known ; and the whole force and authority of it , is but an Emanation from Soveraign Power . And then for his Three Fundamentals : As I am a Commoner of England my self , I should be loth to lose any Right of an English man ; and yet as I am a loyal subject also , I should be as unwilling to encroach upon the Priviledges of the Crown . I do not know what he means by his one in Kind ; with the emphasis of Mark that upon it . If it be , that the people have as much right to their Lives , Liberties , and Estates , as the King himself has ; though it be true in some sense , it will not hold yet , as he would have it understood . For the people may forfeit their Lives , Liberties and Estates but the King cannot forfeit his : Wherefore Mark that too .

His Second Fundamental is Legislation : Or the Power of making Laws ; for no Law can be made or abrogated ( he says ) in England without them .

It is not candidly done , to call that the very Act of Legislation , which is only consultive and preparative towards it . The making of Laws , is a peculiar and incommunicable Prerogative of Soveraignty ; so that to place the legislative power in the Commons , is to make them Supream ; and to set a King of England once more at the Commons Bar. Beside that , his Inference is as inconsequent , as his Assertion is dangerous . As if a Law must necessarily be made by them , because it cannot be made or abrogated without them . Does he that furnishes the Ingredients , therefore make the Medicine , because the Medicine cannot be made without the Ingredients ? What signifies the form of an Instrument to the passing of an Authority or Obligation , without signing and sealing ? Yet the one cannot be done without the other . Does the Councel that draws the Conveyance pass away the Estate ; because the Act could not have been good without him ? And again , the Law in this case , is no other then a Promise under the Kings Hand past to the people , and partakes of the nature of other promises . It was made by the Promiser , and cannot be discharg'd without the Consent of those to whom it was promised ,

His third Fundamental is Executive , & holds proportion with the other two , in order to compleat both their Freedom and Security ; and that is their share ( as he says ) in the Judicatory Power ; in the Execution and Application of those Laws that they agree to be made .

A Judicatory Power without authority to Minister an Oath , is to me , I must confess , a new thing : And now for the word agree ; though it may be pertinent enough to his purpose ( for there needs no more to the undoing of the most regular Government upon the face of the Earth , then first to turn the peoples hearts against it , and then to possess them that they have a Legal Remedy in their own hands . ) Yet that word ( I say ) in this place , is very improper ? for it is but a Request presented to his Majesty for his Approbation . The Request or Bill is , no doubt , agreed upon ; but it were an unco●th kind of expression for a Petitioner to say , that he does agree that his Petition shall be granted .

The Business is fairly push'd already : but the Publisher of a pretended Speech lately printed carries it a step further . If a Prince ( says he ) be born to a Kingdom , who is either Lunatique , or otherwise disabled to do the Kingdom any good , shall not the Subjects , in this case , proceed to chuse another , who may preserve the Kingdom , when otherwise it must of necessity perish ? as lately in the case of Portugal , they chose another to succeed , because of the Disability of the former .

This is in plain terms a Deposing principle : For if a King may be remov'd , in such case of Disability , the people being made Judges of the Case , it is but their saying that he is not fit to govern , & the work is done .

There is a Sheet printed under the Title of A Plea , &c. that has more brains and art in it than ordinary . He says that a King is not for his own but his Subjects sakes only ; and that we have ▪ in truth , rather Title , &c. to H●m , then He to Us : Adding , that when Kings themselves be ill ones , God not only approves of their removal , but even himself does it : This he supports upon Texts extreamly misapply'd ,

Let it be agreed now that a Prince is rather constituted for the good of the people , then the people for the advantage of the Prince . But let it be granted also on the other side , that Providence has made Order so necessary to the well-being of mankind , that Tyranry it self is yet more tolerable than either Anarchy or Sedition : So that in the matter of Obedience to Superiors , we find our convenience even in our Duty . He seems to infer , that because God himself does many times remove ill Kings , that therefore he approves of our doing so too . But first , we are not to draw Gods extraordinary ways into precedent . By the same Rule , plunder was formerly justified upon a Scriptural Commission for the spoiling of the Egyptians . Secondly , The very admittance , that an ill King may be remov'd , makes way to the destruction of a good one ; for 't is but saying he is so , to make him so , and it leaves him barely at the mercy of the people : And this is not all neither , for it turns up the very root of Government , and casts humane Affairs into a circulation of confusion . The two Houses depos'd the King ; the Commons the Lords ; the Multitude they deposed the Commons ; and all upon the same Charge of Misdemeanour . So that the Trustee being still accomptable to those that entrusted him , the Order of Government is inverted , and the last Appeal lodg'd in the Rabble . It is a strange thing that our Protestant Dissenters should so unanimously agree in their methods of opposing Authority , and yet keep at so grea● a distance in all things else ; for how scrupulous soever they may may seem to be in set forms of Devotion , they are the strictest people in the world , in the observance of a set form of Wrangling with the Government : For an Out-cry of persecution dos as naturally follow a Plea for Liberty , as one foot follows another . Doth not such a day as this ( says our Quaerist ) loudly call for Repentance that Protestants have been persecuting each other ; and for Unity in affection among all protestant Subjects , whether conforming or dissenting in some lesser points ; and that as brethren they unite in such a Combination of conjunction , as was in Q. Elizabeths time , with good success to defend the Crown , Religion and Kingdom , against the common Enemy of Mankind ? Since the persecution of this Age lies so heavy upon him , and that nothing will serve his tu●n , but the uniting of Protestants in such a Combination as was in the days of Q. Elizabeth , it will not be amiss to look a little into the Behaviour of the protestant Dissenters in those days , and the Indulgence which they received fom that Gracious Princess .

The Non-conformists that fled in Q. Maries time to Frankfort , and went off from the English reformed Catholiques there to the protestant Dissenters at Geneva , these Non-conformists ( I say ) returned for England upon Q. Elizabeths coming to the Crown , and for the first ten years of her Reign , p●y'd her so hard with Libels , Clamours and seditious Consultations , that betwixt the Papists on the one hand , and the Protestant Dissenters one the other , she had much a do to secure the peace of her Government : And not being in condition to venture upon any course rigor or severity , the Protestant Dissenters in the 14th , year of her Reign , erected a Model of their own : call'd it the Church , libell'd the Queen , Parliament and Lords , and afterward entred into a formal Conspiracy against her Majesty and Council ; which being detected , some were executed , and others imprison'd : So that , at last , by one severe Law of the 35th . of her Reign , she put an end to that Confederacy ,

Here was the Vnity of the Combination our Pamphleter speaks of ; and we 'l give ye now the provision it self that did the business , with the prescribed form of their Submission . The penalties were Imprisonment , without Bail or Main-prize , for being present at unlawful Conventicles . The Offender to be discharg'd if within three months be made his open Submission and Acknowledgment , in the Form by the said Statute appointed . But in case of Recusancy , to conform within that time , he was requir'd to abjure the Realm ; and in case of refusing to abjure , or of not departing , within a limited time , or of returning without Licence , to be proceeded against ●s a Felon , without Benefit of Clergy . Here follows the Form of Submission .

I A. B. do humbly confess and acknowledge that I have grievously offended God , in contemning her Majesties lawful Covernment , and Authority , by absenting my self from Church , and from hearing Divine Service , contrary to the godly Laws and Statutes of this Realm ; and in using and frequenting disorder'd and unlawful Conventicles and Assemblies , under the pretence and colour of Exercise of Religion : And I am heartily sorry for the same , &c.

You see here what Quarter was both given and taken under Q. Elizabeth , which shews that the Quaerist was little read in History , to appeal to the practices of those times , either for the Innocence of the party , or the forbearance of them . But hear what Englands Interest says to this matter .

Oh! lay to heart ( says he ) the grievous Spoils and Ruins that have been laid upon your harmless Neighbours for near these twenty years , Sixty pounds distrain'd for Twelve . Two hundred for Sixty :

The Flocks taken out of the Fold ; the Herd from the Stall : Not a Cow left to give Milk to the Orphans , nor a Bed for the Widow to lie on : Whole Barns of Corn swept away , and not a penny returned . And all this for worshipping God according to their Conscience . If you ( says he to the Free-holders ) will either compel or persecute your selves , or chuse such as do , you hate the Papists , but not Popery .

This is so errant a Cant of Begging , as if the Protestant Dissenters had served their Trade in Moor-fields ; and it runs too , in the very tone and stile of their petitions and admonitions to Q. Elizabeth , and so down by a clear Succession to this instant . There were Citations , Degradings , and Deprivavations ; some in the Marshalseas , some in the White-Lyon , some in the Gatehouse at Westminster , others in the Counter , or in the Clink , or in Bridewell , or in Newgate . How many good mens deaths have the Bishops been the cause of ? How many have they driven to leave their Ministry , and live by Physick ? Men have been miserably handled with Revilings , Imprisonments , Banishments , &c. If this persecution be not provided for , great trouble will come of it .

Under K. James , no man ( they said ) could be assured of his Lands or Life . And under the late King , how were these poor people oppressed by Fines , Imprisonments , Stigmatizings , Deprivations , suspensions , excommunicated , outlaw'd beggar'd , proceeded against with punishments p●cuniary and corporeal ; nay , death it self : And now they are at the same lock again .

But what are these people ( for the love of God ) that are thus miserably us'd all this while ? Why truly ( if we may take their own words for 't under Q. Elizabeth they were Loyal Subjects , and Gods faithful servants ; most worthy , faithful , and painful Ministers , learned and godly , unreproveable before all men ; the Strength of the Land , and the Sinew of her Majesties Government . Under K. James , they were men of Conscience , preservers of the Churches Right , and asserters of the Holy Discipline . Under the late King , they took up the Titles of men of tender Consciences , well-affected ; men that had the power of Godliness , painful , laborious preachers of the Word ; faithful in their Generation , and men zealous in the defence of the Protestant Religion , the Priviledges of Parliament , and of his Majesty in his Iust Rights . And in our days , they call themselves Lovers of God , Ordinances , and enemies of all humane Inventions ; a people zealous of Religion ; sound in the Faith , intelligent , sober , numerous , peaceable , orthodox : The Ceremonies they look upon as an Excess ; they dissent from the outward Order of Worship , ( for the Conscience will interpose in the Dictates and Injunctions of men , in Divine Worship ) all these people agreeing in this common Complaint , that they are persecuted for worshipping according to Co●science . Whether they do well or ill ; whether they speak true or false ; whether they have Reason on their side or not , in these Remonstrances let the Reader judge .

Let it be first observ'd , that the Author dates this persecution from his Majesties Return ; near these 20 years ( he say● ) ●s if there had never been any such thing before ; whereas from the time of Q. Elizabeths Act above-mentioned , to the very Act of Vniformity , ( the late times excepted ) ●he Church was never without a legal provision for the preventing & suppressing of Conventicles ; and the much Law more rigorously put in execution . Beside that , as they were more or less indulged , the N●tion was still more or less at quiet . Observe again , that there 's no notice taken of the Liberty of the late times , or the deplorable Effects of that Licence , though the Presbyterians little F●nger was heavier then the Loyns of the Bishops , in the point of Restraint , as we have shew'd already , from the mouths of the other Sectaries . But they are too prudent to fall foul one upon another , when their business is to joyn in a Consederate party against the Government : so that they are now One and All , and every separate Opinion sticles for all the rest : And then comes on the Cry of the O●phans and Widdows against the cruelty of the Oppressor : Sixty pouunds distrain'd for twelve ; Two hundred for Sixty , &c. Methinks the Plaintiff should have been so ingenuous , as to have reflected upon the persecu●ions that other men suffered even from these people that now complain of a persecution ; & that they suff●red for worshipping according to their Consciences too , and they had not only Religion on their side , but Law also ; whereas the other founded a Rebellion upon a pretended scruple of Religion , and opposed the Rules of Christianity and Civil Authority , both in one : But it is a persecution to them , to be kept from persecuting .

Neither does this Clamour keep it self within the bounds of spiritual matters , but breaks in upon the Civil Administration , and alarms the multitude with the terrible apprehensions likewise of Tyranny & Slavery . Wherefore we are enforced to oppose the sensible Experiment of an actual Tyranny and slavery to the artificial and imaginary fears of it ; to leave all mortals without excuse , that shall read these plain and well-meaning Papers , if ever they should fall into the same mistakes again .

The taking away of mens Goods and Liberties , the forcing of their Consciences , and tying them up to an implicit Obedience to the Decrees of Government , are terrbile things , I must confess : But yet much worse sure , where they run directly against the Stream of a receiv'd Authority and Vsage , then where the so doing is warranted by known Laws and uninterrupted Practice .

There are several sorts of persecution : A persecution in matter of Conscience , Good Name , Propriety of Goods and Estate ; freedom of person , and that is the most odious aggravation of persecution , when it is set up in defiance of a publick Law , and introduced under a colour of kindness to all these Interests . We will be as short in these particulars as we can , and leave the Reader to say where the Odium of the Persecution lies .

First , to the point of Conscience . It was the judgment of the late Royalists , that they were obliged in conscience and duty , to pay Obedience to the Laws , both civil and ecclesiastical ; and with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes , to endeavour the preservation both of the Church and State . The Protestant Dissenters pretended the same respect for the King and Church , with the Royal party : And when by popular pretexts they had ingra●iated themselves with the multitude , they plaid their Game the contrary way , and took up Arms against the Government , which they swore to defend . Now see at what a rate they treated , not only the Friends of the Government , but the Government it self .

There were a hundred and fifteen Ministers ejected , within the Bills of Mortality ; beside Pauls and Westminster ; and in proportion all the Nation over , for refusing to comply with the Schism ; and they were not so much as suffer'd to take the Employment of either a School-master or a Chaplain , but under heavy penaltie . Several of our Divines were choak'd up , and poison'd in Peter-House , and other Goals , either for worshipping according to their Consciences , or refusing to act against them . No man admitted to compound , or so much as live in the Parliaments Quarters , without swearing . Men were sequester'd for not joyning in the Rebellion ; for assisting the King according to the Law , and for not Covenanting , though in express Contradiction to the Oath of Allegiance . Upon the Abolition of the Common Prayer , severe penalties impos'd upon any man that should use it ; and their own Directory impos'd upon a Forfeiture too ; nay , they would not allow the King himself , in his Distresses , the Comfort of any of his own Chaplains , nor so much as the benefit of a Common-Prayer Book : And at Fife in Scotland , there was an Oath given at the Communion , not to ta●e the Kings Oath , nor any other then their own ▪ — Was all this an Invasion of the Liberty of Conscience or not ?

Touching a persecution now upon the point of Good name : Though the whole course of the History is full of virulent and unchristian Reflections , I will only refer my self to that Diabolical Libel of Whites Centuries of scandalous Ministers ; wherein , without any regard to truth or modesty , they have expos'd so many reverend Names to Infamy and Dishonour . In one word ; After they had represented the King himself for a Tyrant , and an Idolater , it was but Consonant that they should cast Reproaches upon his Party .

Touching the Freedom of our Persons and Estates , the whole course of the late War , was but one continued Usurpation upon our Rights to both : Noble mens Houses turn'd to Prisons , and peo●●e committed , without knowing either their Accusers , or their Offence : Some clap'd on Ship-●ar● to be transported , no body knew whither ; and others sold into Plantations for Slaves . To 〈◊〉 nothing of those that fell by the Sword , in the Defence of their Country ; or otherwise past the hand of the Executioner , in justification of their Religion and Allegiance . There was no taking of Threescore pounds for Twelve , in these days ; nor of Two hundred for Sixty , But they took All for nothing ; and there was no Living among them for any Honest man , that would not prostitute his Conscience . And who are they now , but either the very persons , or men however of these very Principles , that acted these Out-rages upon Vs , and yet now complain of being persecuted themselves ? When they startle the Common people with the Notions of Cruelty and Slavery , as a matter now in prospect ; methinks they should blush at the memory , and upon the Guilt of those real Calamities which we have both seen and felt , wherein our Blessed Soveraign had yet a greater share then any of his Subjects .

They abolished Kingly Government ; sold the Crown Lands ; imprison'd and murther'd the King ; made it Treason to deny the Supremacy of the Commons ; turn'd our Churches into Stables ; burnt our Communion-Tables , and profan'd the very Ashes of the Dead . Let but any man read Scobels Acts , and say , if the English were not in those times , and under these Protestant Dissenters , the most despicable slaves in nature . See their Tax upon the Fifth and Twentieth part , their Excises upon Excise ; their Assessments for the Maintenance of the Army , and their monthly Taxes for the same end . Ninety thousand pounds ; Sixscore thousand pounds , Sixty thousand pounds , Sequestrations , seizing of peoples Rents and Debts , appropriating to themselves the profits of Tonnage and Poundage , and Compositions for Wards , Authorizing the breaking open of Locks , and Examining upon Oath for discovery of Delinquents , Money and Estates . All this is as well known , as the very fact of the War it self ; and if we have a mind to lie down under the same Bondage again , let us believe the Stories of Arbitrary Government and Superstition , that these people tell us of , and they shall just so help us out of it again , as they did before .

There should be something further said to their pretence of being persecuted for Religion ; but I find little to be added to what is already delivered . The Law stands still : They press upon the Law , and yet cry out , that the Law persecutes them . We may lay down this , I think , for a Maxim ; That whosoever tells us that he makes a Conscience of complying with the Discipline of the Church , and yet manifestly makes none at all , of undermining , nay and of blowing up the whole frame of the Government , that man is most undoubtedly an Hypocrite .

To conclude : What 's the meaning of this Remonstrating to the people ? They are no Judges of the Controversie : But they do well however , in a Cause , where Force does a great deal more than Argument , to make their application to the multitude , with whom clamour and pretence are of more value than modesty and reason . It is a most ridiculous contradiction to common sense , to believe these men to be in earnest ; for if they were , they would never defame the Government , at the same time that they beg a Dispensation from it .

Their Demand is unreasonable , the thing it self only notional and impracticable . By Liberty of Conscience , they mean a Freedom of doing what they please , which necessarily implies a total Dissolution of the Laws . They offer it only a● a Decoy to the people ; and when they have gain'd compassion to themselves ( like beggars that move pity by shewing Ulcers of their own making ) their next business is to draw Contempts upon the Government , and after that , to enter without more ado , upon the great Work of Reformation . Let me do this Right however to the Independents : I do not find that party ●o have given the Government any trouble since his Majesties Return ; but that they have kept themselves clear of all these late Broils : And if Authority had the same sense of them , with the Author of this Pamphlet , they would be found both in their Principles and in their Manners , to have the most reasonable Claim of all sorts of Dissenters , to a favourable allowance from the Government . God in his mercy open our Eyes , that we may know our Friends from our Enemies .

THE END .