Let Incendiaries, Phanatics, and bloody peace-breaking Whigs (fays "another learned Divine) nourish the vip'rous Principles of Treason and "Rebellion, and let them meet the due Reward of their factious Doings in the Refentments of a righteous, but provok'd, Nation: But, God be prais'd, our Mother the Church of England has always brought up her Sons "in an unfpotted Loyalty and Obedience; none have been found lifting up "their Hands against their Sovereign, or poffeffing the Rights of the Anointed of God, &c."

"The very Being and Life, the Original and Principles of the Church "of England, (fays another Thirtieth of January Sermon) is Loyalty and Fidelity to God as the immediate Supream, and to the King as the lively Image of Divine Authority, whofe Power is immediately derived from, "holds of, and is accountable to none but to God himfelf."

To avoid Prolixity of Quotation, the Reader is defired to accept of thefe as fufficient Proofs of what I lay down upon this Condition; nevertheless, that befides the general Appeal which I might make to the Memory of most Men, I oblige myself upon Demand to produce ten Thousand fair Quotations out of the Writings of our late modern Authors fince the Reftoration, wherein the Doctrines, of Non-refiftance of Princes, Paffive Obedience, and the Divine Authority of the Kingly Power, is own'd and declar'd to be an effential Part of the Profeffion and Practice of the Church of England; and upon this Foot, which I hold to be fufficient, I think I cannot be cenfured if I take it for granted.

Now, as this too much divided Nation has always been compofed of two contending Parties, thofe Parties have been diftinguished, as in like Cafes, by Names of Contempt; and tho' they have often chang'd them on either Side, as Cavalier and Roundhead, Royalifts and Rebels, Malignants and Phanatics, Tories and Whigs, yet the Divifion has always been barely the Church and the Diffenter, and there it continues to this Day.

As the Church of England Party have boafted of their own Loyalty, fo they have branded the Diffenter with Rebellion and Faction, not only in their Nature, but in their very Principles; they have laid it down in their Writing and Sermons, and Multitudes of their ignorant Hearers believe it, that the very Doctrine of the Diffenter is made up of Principles, in their own Nature, tending to Confufion and Rebellion; they wont be content that we fhould own there may be Men among all Parties of bad Defigns, and who would, on all Occafions, embroil their Native Country, but it must be woven with the very Articles of Faith, and that 'tis the Religion of a Diffenter to disturb Government, kill Kings, and oppofe Laws.

"The Phanatical Enemies of our King and Church (fays the learned "Dr. P―n) drink in Rebellion as Water; 'tis the very Subftance of "their Schifmatical Doctrine to overwhelm and deftroy; and Common"wealths and Confufions are the Doctrines they preach.'

"He that lays out one Groat with a Diffenter (fays the worthy Sir Roger, "in one of his famous Obfervators) contributes juft fo much as the Profits " of

of that Groat amounts to in Trade towards the Subverfion of the Mo"narchy, and erecting a Commonwealth; for the very Nature and Tendency of their Profeffion is deftructive of Kingly Power, and the Govern"ment of the Nation."

This has been the Opinion of the Church of England, both of themfelves on one Hand, and of the Diffenters on the other Hand. Ifhould be glad if I could only fay, It has been; for we find 'tis ftill too much their Opinion.

Let no Man fay that the Author of thefe Sheets is either widening or keeping unheal'd the Breaches of this Nation; for if I can make it appear that there is really no Occafion of fuch unnatural Divisions, and that neither the extraordinary Opinion of themselves, nor the Contempt of their Neighbours, as to the Matter of Loyalty, is a becoming Principle, no, nor a rational one neither; (for that as to Loyalty, Paffive Obedience, Non-refiftance, &c. there is really no great Difference between one Side or other;) I go as far towards healing the Breach as any Man; for there can be no better Way to end the Strife on both Sides, than to prove that neither Side has any juft Cause to contend.

To examine the Matter on both Sides feems very ufeful at this Time, in order to reconcile Parties, and to fettle the univerfal Character of the Nation.

The Government of England is a limited Monarchy, compofed of King, Lords, and Commons; each have their feveral, their feparate, and their conjunctive Powers; which, acting in Concert, make the Harmony of the Constitution. I fhall not invade the Province of thofe learned Gentlemen, who have undertaken to fet forth the Branches of the Conftitution in all their Powers, Limitations, and Prerogatives: 'Tis enough to fay the Conftitution is known, the Government is confin'd by Laws, the Crown limited by Statutes, and the People's Right confirm'd by the Conceffion of Ages.

To this Government, all Diftinction of Names fet apart, I am of Opinion all Parties have, in their Turns, been equally loyal; I was going to fay equally disloyal: And if I were to use the Language of late Times, it would be a very proper Way of fpeaking.

Affirming without demonftrating is an abfurd Way of arguing, and therefore it will be needful to come to Particulars, and to examine the feveral Acts and Deeds of both Parties, when the Kingly Prerogative has fhock'd or clafh'd with the People.

In order to this 'tis needful to examine the Date of the Difference, and fo to enter a little into Hiftory.

Our first Reformation from Popery was in the Days of King Edward VI. I call it the firft, becaufe 'twas under him that the whole Nation and the Government embraced the Proteftant Reform'd Religion; this Proteftant Religion was established by that zealous King, and by his Parlament back'd with the Force of Laws, and confirm'd by all the Sanction of Authority it was capable of; and here it began to be called the Church of England.

Some enquiring Christians were for making farther Steps, and carrying on the Reformation to a higher Degree; and if that good reforming King had liv'd, his Zeal and Integrity was fuch, that there was no doubt he would have gone on to perfect every thing he had begun, as new Light or more Knowledge had encreased; but the Return of Popery under Queen Mary put a Stop to the Work in general, and went very far towards overturning the whole Structure of the Reformation.

Queen Elizabeth reftor'd it again; but as fhe was a zealous Proteftant Queen, yet he was not for fubjećting the Reformation to any Amendment. Not that the believ'd it perfect; but he was a politick Princefs, furrounded with Enemies that were not to be dallied with, and fhe was loth to fuppofe fuch Defects in the Reformation as were alledg'd, becaufe 'twas to leffen the Reputation of it, and confequently her Intereft in the World.

Those who infifted upon the further Reformation were then call'd Puritans, because they set up for a greater Purity of Worship, and they feparated themselves from the establish'd Church, becaufe, as they faid, their Consciences inform'd them they could ferve God more agreeable to his Will.

I fhall not meddle with the Arguments made ufe of on both Sides, either to defend or expofe this Principle; 'tis fufficient to acquaint my Reader that this is the true Original of Diffenters: We are now to examine a little farther back. Before this Reformation there was no fuch Thing as Church of England; it was then the Church of Rome that was the establifh'd national Church,

The Proteftants, under the Titles of Lollards, Wickliffians, Huffites, &c. what did they do? Did they, as our modern People fay every Body fhould, conform to what the Government commanded? No, the prefent Church of England Party were the Diffenters, the Schifmaticks and Phanaticks, in the Days of King Henry VIII. were perfecuted for not coming to Church; many of them put to Death, and always treated with Scorn and Contempt, as Enemies to the Government, Broachers of new Opinions, and Contemners of Authority; as in the Cafe of that famous Proto-Martyr of Christ's Church, John Lambert, and others.

In the next Ages thefe came to have the Power in their Hands, and forgetting that they had found it righteous in the Sight of God to obey God rather than Man, they treat thofe whofe Confciences oblige them to diffent from them with the fame Contempt which themselves had received from the Roman Go

-vernment.

Thus far they are upon even Terms, as to Obedience to their Superiors. The Diffenters have the firft Occafion after this to fhew their Submiffion under extraordinary Preffures. Queen Elizabeth discountenanced them continually; and as good a Queen as he was, put fome of them to Death. King James I. hunted them quite out of the Kingdom, made Thousands of them fly into Holland and Germany, and at laft to New-England.

During the long Reign of these two Princes we find no Charge of Treafon or Rebellion upon them; they bore the Difpleasure of their Princes with Pa

tience

tience and Paffive Obedience, if I may be allowed that ridiculous Phrafe; being perfecuted in one City, they fled to another; they bore illegal Profecutions, and Things contrary to their Right, as Englishmen, but never took up Arms against their Prince.

r

Under the Reign of King Charles I. the Cafe alter'd, the King and Parliament fell out about Matters of Civil Right, and Invafion of the Liberty and Properties of the People, the Puritans or Diffenters, call them what we pleafe, fell in unanimously with the Parliament.

And here 'tis worthy Remark, that the first Difference between the King and the English Parliament did not refpect Religion, but Civil Property; nor were the Majority of the House Puritans, but true Church Proteftants, and Englishmen; who ftood upon the Rights of the People as Englishmen ; and none were more zealous in the first Difputes than the Lord Digby, Sir Thomas Wentworth, and fuch as were afterwards deep Sufferers for the King.

But the Parliament finding the Puritan Party stuck clofe to their Cause, they also came over to them when Things came to a Rupture, and fo the War begun on the Score of Right, Invafion of Liberty, Breach of the Laws, private Leagues, and Male Adminstration; a Game we have seen play'd over again by the very fame Church of England that have exclaim'd fo much against it, fo damn'd it, and fo damn'd themselves, by Oaths, Declarations, Tefts, and God knows what, againft it.

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'Tis allow'd here the Puritan broke thro' his Loyalty, and his former Obedience, and fought his Way to the Liberty he demanded. Well, the War ended to his Advantage, he fubdued his Sovereign, and brought him to the Block, to the Aftonifhment of the whole World.

I wont difpute here which or which Party did or did not do it; but to give the Enemy all just Advantage, I am willing to grant it in the largest Sense, that the Diffenters, or Phanaticks, or Whigs, call them as you pleafe, did embrue their Hands in the Blood of the Lord's Anointed, put to Death that bleffed Martyr, King Charles I. whom a learned Divine, in a Sermon on the 30th of January, before the Parliament, compares both in the Manner of his Sufferings, and the People by whom, to our Saviour and the Jews, and boldly runs on in the blafphemous Parallel, to fhew that the Indignities and Sufferings of King Charles exceed thofe of Jefus Chrift.

I think I have granted as largely as a fair Adversary can defire; for I have yielded for Peace-fake to feveral Things which I could fairly difprove.

`Nor fhall I return to a Repetition of the ill Ufage the Diffenters have received from the contrary Party on this Account for above thirty Years; the conftant Reproaches they and their Children after them have met with from thofe Gentlemen, who on all Occafions have (as I hinted before) particularly taken Care to extol their own unshaken Fidelity to their Prince, till at laft an Occafion presents to touch them in the fame most sensible Part, their Right and Property; and alas! their Loyalty, what became of it? Truly the faithful, paffively obedient, unshaken loyal Church, returned to the original Na

ture

ture of their Neighbours, and did the fame Thing exactly which the Whigs, the factious rebellious Whigs, had done before.

"No, that's falfe, (fays a Difciple of Dr. Sherlock's) we did not kill our "King, we did not dip our Hands in Royal Blood, nor hurt the Lord's "Anointed."

No, that's true; but the Lord's Anointed may thank himself for that; for my Part I think the Difference only lies here; the Whigs in 41 to 48, took up Arms against their King, and having conquered him, and taken him Prifoner, cut off his Head, because they had him: The Church of England took Arms against their King in 88, and did not cut off his Head, because they had him not. King Charles loft his Life because he did not run away; and his Son, King James, fav'd his Life because he did run away.

'Tis fuch a Jeft, fuch a Banter, to fay we did take up Arms, but we did not kill him: Bless us, kill our King! we wou'd not have hurt a Hair of his Head! Why, every Bullet fhot at the Battle of the Boyne was a killing the King; for if you did not, 'twas because you could not hit him.

If a Highwaymen fires at you upon the Road, when he is taken, and brought upon his Trial, our learned Recorder, before he pronounces Sentence of Death, harangues him in this Manner: "And befides all this, Sir, you "are plainly guilty of Murder; for you not only affaulted this honest Man, "in Order to take away his Money, but you endeavoured to murder him; "for you shot at him in Order to kill him; and the Intention of Murder is equally criminal in the Eyes of God with the Act itself."

Now who did we fhoot at at the Boyne? 'Tis true, King James generally Stood out of the Way; but who did we fhoot at? What! was our Orders to fight against both small and great, and not against the King of lfrael? Had your Bullets Commiffion to fhew their Loyalty, and not to touch the Lord's Anointed? If he had charg'd in the firft Squadrons of his Horse, had you not kill'd him if you could? I think this needs no further Proof.

Nay, if Arguments may be allowed to have equal Weight on both Sides, the Whigs have been the honefter of the two; for they never profefs'd any fuch blind, abfolute, and undifputed Obedience to Princes as the others have done.

It has always been their Opinion, that Government was originally contrived by the Confent, and for the mutual Benefit of the Parties govern'd, that the People have an original Native Right to their Property, the Liberty of their Perfons and Poffeffions, unless forefaulted to the Laws; that they cannot be divefted of this Right, but by their own Confent; and that all Invasion of this Right is deftructive of the Conftitution, and diffolves the Compact of Government and Obedience.

They have always declared, that they understand their Allegiance to their Governors to be, fuppofing they govern them according to the Laws of the Land; and that if Princes break this Bond of Government, the Nature of it is inverted, and the Constitution ceafes of Course.

Buchanan,