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But notwithstanding that, no reasonable Man can believe they could ever have pafs'd this Bill fo tack'd.

The Houfe of Lords is an undoubted Part of the Legislature: This House, upon folemn Debates before, thought this Bill not fit to be pass'd; and if the Commons, notwithstanding that, could have forc'd them into pafling this Bill, by this Method, they must never have pretended to have rejected any Bill more. We fee, by a thoufand Inftances, that fuch a Right once ven up is never to be retreiv'd: And then they had not only parted with their Right of debating for ever, but they had, by that, broken the English Conftitution, and overthrown thofe fundamental Rights of Legislature, by which this Kingdom has flourish'd fo long.

In the fecond Place, they had fix'd an indelible Mark of Infamy upon their own Perfons, if they had fuffer'd themselves to be forc'd into the doing a Thing, that upon a folemn Deliberation they had refolv'd, nay, most of them had protested under their Hands, they would never confent to do.

But, fays Mr. B, if the Lords fhould refuse the Bill fo tack'd, Matters were not yet so bad; for it was but only proroguing the Parliament for a few Days, and the Commons might have pass'd the Land-Tax without the Tack.

I am forry to see Gentlemen purfue a bad Cause, till they are reduc'd to fuch wretched Evafions as thefe. Tho' I think there was no Sort of Reason for tacking this Bill, yet if it had been once tack'd, there might have been feveral Reasons for not receding from it. How little Pretence foever there may be for the Commons Rights of tacking, yet there are feveral worthy Members, who would not have car'd to have given those Pretences entirely up; which must have been the Cafe, if they had departed from the Tack, after having once infifted upon it.

'Tis indeed ridiculous to imagine that any one Man, who had voted for the Tack, would have given it up afterwards. However, if we could fuppofe a Houfe of Commons fo childish, yet there muft neceffarily, by Parliamentary Forms, have been fo much Time loft, and fo great Delays in all publick Bufinefs, as would have been very near as fatal as the granting no Supplies at all.

The Duke of Savoy was fo prefs'd, that nothing but a conftant Supply of Money from hence, and a firm Expectation of a sudden Succour, could have made him fupport the Caufe with that Zeal and Bravery that he did. Any Stop of his Supplies from hence, any Fear of his early Succours (both which our Delays muft inevitably have occafioned) had forced him into a feparate Peace; and then the French Army in Italy had march'd immediately into Germany, and fallen upon the Confederate Forces there.

The King of Pruffia was newly and heartily entered into the League, and had agreed to fend a confiderable Body of Men to the Relief of the Duke of Savoy. But as they were firft to receive Supplies from hence, what Hopes could there be of their marching without thofe Supplies, or indeed

of

of that Prince's continuing in the Confederacy, when that very Nation that had perfuaded him into it, was fo little likely to fupport him in it.

Portugal had been so soften'd by a long Peace, that there was no Thoughts of their continuing the War, but by their Hopes of conftant Succours from hence, and by the Succefs we had met at Gibraltar. This Town was

thought fo confiderable by the Spaniards, that they had exerted their utmost Force against it. What a Damp the Lofs of that had put upon our Affairs, one may eafily guefs, by the Endeavours of the Enemy to regain it? And yet the Lofs of that must have been the neceffary Confequence of any Stop in our Supplies at Home.

The Succefs of the Confederate Forces had been fo great in Bavaria, that they had agreed to deliver up all their Garrifons to them: But what Likelihood was there of their performing that Agreement, if they had a Prospect of a fudden Succour from Italy? Or how fhould our Army have fupported themselves without any Hopes of Supplies from hence.

All the Confederates were then in Confultation how to carry on the War the next Year; and what Influence fuch a Miscarriage here would have had upon all their Proceedings, I almoft tremble to think.

The French King found fuch Difficulties in raising Supplies for the enfuing Campaign, that he was in a Manner obliged to declare himself Bankrupt. But fuch an Encouragement from hence as the Tack had been, would have fet his Matters right again, and one fuch Vote from our Parliament, had made him fufficient Amends for all the Prejudices our Armies had done him.

I cannot conclude this Paper better, than with the Words of her Majesty's moft Gracious Speech to the Parliament at parting.

We have, by the Blessing of God, a fair Profpect of this great and defirable End, (of a lafting Peace and Security) if we do not disappoint it by our own unreasonable Humours and Animofity; the fatal Effects of which we have fo narrowly escaped in this Seffion, that it ought to be a fufficient Warning against any dangerous Experiments for the future.

The Cafe of the Epifcopal Clergy of Scotland truly reprefented. 1707.

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N the Month of December 1688, a fudden and furprizing Report was fpread all over Scotland, that ten thoufand Papifts were landed from Ireland, with ftrange Inftruments of Death for difpatching Proteftants. Concerning which, a Letter was writ from the Mayor of the City of Glasgow to the Magiftrates of the Town of Hamilton, bearing, that they had already burnt down the Town of Kirkubright, and were come within two and twenty

Miles of Hamilton, in Order to use them at the fame Rate. This Letter came to Hand upon Friday Night immediately before Christmas, and all the Night after, the Citizens Wives were running about with their Children in their Arms, with hideous Cries, What should become of them and their poor young ones! Upon Saturday, the Contrivance being fpeedily and warmly managed, against Eleven o'Clock there were got together, in Douglas-Moor, fome fix thousand Prefbyterians, well arm'd, upon Pretence of defending the Country from thefe Invaders. But their Defign was quickly discovered; for, by Three o' Clock in the Afternoon, they were all divided into fmall Detachments, of two or three Hundred in Company, whofe Business it was to difarm all that were difaffected to their Caufe, and which actually they did.

These Companies of armed Men, to whatsoever Parish they came, if the Minister was at Home, and not fo fecurely protected by his Parishioners, as that they were afraid to attack him, they carried him out to the MarketPlace of the Town or Village where he refided, or to the most publik Place of the Parish, if it had no Town in it; and there, giving him Names in Abundance, pull'd his Gown over his Ears, and tore it in many Pieces, diflodging his Family, and throwing the Furniture out of his Houfe, and threatening him with Death, if ever he should return to the Place to preach any more. Some of them they drove through Rivers, in a deep Storm of Snow, which then happened, the Rivers not being quite frozen over, and in fuch deep Places, as that the Water reach'd up to their Necks. One of thefe Minifters, fo ufed, came, in his wet Cloaths, thro' the deep Snow, to his Brother Minifter of Straven's Houfe, within feven or eight Miles of Glasgow.

Thefe, and fuch like Ufages, go under the Name of Rabbling, the various Inftances of which were too tedious here to infert: Some were cruelly beaten and wounded; fome of their Wives, when they came to refcue them, big with Child, were fo violently pufh'd with the Club-End of their Mufkets, that they immediately miscarried; as particularly, the Minifter of Kilbride's Wife, a Gentlewoman of a very good Family, was fo us'd. The Parish lies within seven Miles of Glasgow. By thefe, and fuch like Usages, fome two hundred and fixty Minifters in the Weft of Scotland were expell'd their Livings. Thefe Violences were done all Scotland over, in fuch Places where the Prefbyterians were abfolute Masters, but with beft Success upon the South Side of the River of Forth. The Minifter of Kirknewtown, within fix Miles of Edinburgh, was more than once, I am fure twice, if not thrice, thus rabbled, and had his Goods thrown out of his Windows. All these Things were done when Epifcopacy was yet the established Government of

that national Church.

But a little after, to the juft Surprize of all, these very Violences came to bear, in plain Conftruction of Law; for, in the very first Parliament after the Revolution, in the A&t entitul'd, An Act ratifying the Confeffion of Faith, and fettling Prefbyterian Church Government, bearing Date the Seventh Day

of

of June, 1690, not full a Year and. an Half after thefe Violences were done, fome three hundred Minifters, or thereabouts, who were thus rabbled, had their Churches declar'd vacant from this very Deed, without having any Offer made them, or any other Sentence pronounc'd against them. The Word made ufe of in that Act which comprehendeth rabbling, is being remov'd; to which are added thofe other two, of deferting, or being depriv'd. That this was the Meaning of the Word is plain, from the Reafonings which the late Duke of Hamilton made against thofe Violences us'd, and why they fhould not be patroniz'd, nor fo much as pointed at, in any Act of Parliament; and to prevent its being fo done, mov'd to have the Vote ftated, Approve the Deed of the Rabble, or no? But the Majority rejecting that rough Word, stated, Approve the Article, or no? And carrying it in the Affirmative, the Duke immediately rofe from his Seat in great Refentment, with feveral others of the Nobility, who fol- See the Act,

lowed him.

No. 1.

And that it may not be thought that this might happen thro' Want of due and timely Application by the Epifcopal Minifters, who had been fo barbarously used, a Petition was prefented to the honourable Houfe of Parliament, by them, in the Month of May immediately preceding; which could never obtain fo much as once to be read, notwithstanding of the very importunate and moving Inftances made by the Duke of Hamilton for it, and by Sir Patrick Scot, of Ancrum, who prefented it, until the Act itfelf was once pafs'd, and then there was no Place left for it.

See the Peti

tion, No. 2.

But to come closer to the Bufinefs, feeing it is afferted fo boldly, that the Scots Epifcopal Clergy have a Toleration, or the Equivalent of it, and that there are no Penal Statutes ftanding in Force against them, but, on the contrary, Protection promifed them, if they fhall qualify themfelves in the Terms of the Act of Parliament.

For Anfwer: The Act of Parliament is appealed to, bearing Date June 12, 1693; and here it is defired that the Qualification contained in the Act may be looked into, the Penalty therein threatened, with the Protection promised.

First Ar

And, First, As to the Qualification enjoined by the Act of Parliament, it runs in these Terms, over and above qualifying to ticle. the Government: That they shall fubfcribe to the General Affembly's Confeffion of Faith, (for that is the Confeffion of Faith there to be underfood) declaring that it is the Confeffion of their Faith, and that they own the Doctrine therein contained to be the true Doctrine, which they will constantly. adbere to. This Article, for feveral Things contained in that Confeffion, not do proper to be mentioned here, cannot be fubfcribed. And as to the Second Article, it runs thus:

That they must own and acknowledge Prefbyterian Church Government to be the only Government of that Church; and that they will Second Arfubmit thereto, and concur therewith, and never endeavour, directly

ticle.

or

or indirectly, the Prejudice or Subverfion thereof. To this the Anfwer feems to be very plain and very fhort; that a Man owning in his Confcience Epifcopacy to be the only true, antient, Catholick, and Apoftolick Government of the Church of Chrift, cannot, without a manifeft Contradiction and Violence done to the Truth, fign to that Article.

As to the Third, it maketh the Act in Terminis An Act of UniThird Ar- formity in Worship, and which Worship they must fubfcribe to obticle. ferve, and declare that actually they do obferve it: For these are the Words of the Act. That Worship, which, to the great Scandal of all other Proteftant Churches, hath thrown out that comprehenfive Form of Prayer which our Lord hath taught and commanded us when we pray to fay; with that religious Hymn, fo antiently enjoined, and so constantly used in the Chriftian Church, to the Honour of the Holy Trinity; rejecting alfo the Apoftolick Creed in Baptifm, the great Standard and Summary of the Christian Faith, to which we are to be baptiz'd; and admitting no other Standard of our Interceffions and Prayers to Almighty God, no other Forms of found Words, than the private Conceptions of every Pretender, to be the Mouth of a whole Church-Affembly, or Congregation of God's People: And yet this is the Uniformity of Worship which they must fubfcribe to observe, and declare, that actually they do obferve it; and if in any Ways they diffent from any of thefe, then they incur the Penalties contained in the Act. Is this a Toleration? Nay, a Toleration could never be intended, when we confider that the Committee of the General Affembly, (which usually fitteth in Time of Parliament, and faileth not boldly to prefcribe in Church-Matters, as in their late Address to the Parliament) openly declared, that if any Toleration was granted, it was to establish Iniquity by a Law. But next, as to the Penalties, which are as follows: They must be fufpended tam See Act, ab Officio quam a Beneficio; that is, both from their Offices and Benefices: Firft, from their Offices; and that is, (as interpreted by the fubfequent Act of Privy Council, in whofe Power it hath all along been both to interpret and execute the Law) not to exercise any Part of their Minifterial Function in any Parish within the Kingdom. And is not this a Penal Law? The Penalty, methinks, is heavy enough to be depriv'd of Bread, which the Benefice implies, but yet heavier to be depriv'd of the Exercife of all thefe facred Offices of Religion, to which they were confecrated. But this is not all, nor doth this Negative confummate the Penalty of this Law, for if they continue to exercife any Part of their Ministerial Function, without fubfcribing and declaring as aforefaid, then they must incur Banishment, and be for ever exil'd from their native Country, and exposed to all the Miseries of Poverty and Dittress among Strangers. If this be a Toleration, they have it; and if these be not Penal Laws, where are they to be found? Under all thefe Penalties, Reftraints, and Coercions, lie at present some Hundreds of poor Epifcopal Minifters, depriv'd of Bread, and all Means of earning it, except what proceeds from a free, generous, and Chriftian Charity.

N°. 3.

See the Act of PrivyCouncil,

N°. 4.

Some

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