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of N-ftle, the E-ls of Cd-n, Ld, A. C. rth, E-ter and St-- rd, and the Lords Grn, 1684. Stl, Crs, and a great many others, retir'd into the Country upon various Pretences. but really because they were unwilling to own the prefent Government. All thefe Peers were, at feveral repeated times, fummon'd to attend the Houfe, all Excufes fet apart; but nevertheless most of them ftill continued abfent.

Act.

This Difaffection of fo many Peers and Bifhops, gave no fmall uneafinefs to the King, and inclin'd him more and more to favour the Presbyterians : Therefore his Majefty being come to the Parliament, March 16 to pass the Act whereby he was Empowr'd to At to fu apprehend and detain fuch Perfons, as He fhould perfede the find just Caufe to fufpect were Confpiring against Habeas the Government: He told both Houfes, That he Corpus would put them in mind of one Thing which would conduce much to their Settlement, as that would to the dif appointment of their Enemics. That he was, with all the Expedition he could, filling up the Vacancies that were in Offices and Places of Trust by the late Revolution. That he knew they were fenfible, that there was a Neceffity of fome Law to fettle the Oaths, to be taken by all Perfons to be admitted to fuch Places: That he did recommend it to their Care to make a speedy Provifion for it; And as he doubted not but they would fufficiently provide against Papists, fo he hop'd they would leave room for the Admiffion of all Proteftants, that were willing and able to Serve; which Conjunction in his Service would tend to the better Uniting them among themselves, and the strengthening them against their common Adverfaries.

This Admiffion of all Proteftants indifferently into Imployments, tho' earneftly prefs'd by the Courtiers, was vigorously oppos'd by the Church March 14 Party, who look'd upon it as a means to introduce Bill to ab. a Common-Wealth, or at least, to let the Diffenters rogate the into places of Truft. 'Tis true, according to the Oaths of King's defire, fignified in Council, a Bill was pre- Allegiance fented in the Houfe of Lords on the 14th of March, and Supri for Abrogating the former Oaths of Supremacy and Alle-macy and to appoine giance, and appointing other Oaths in their ftead, others,

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A. C. which being read a fecond time, a felect Committee 168% of the Houfe was order'd to draw two Clauses; the one to explain the Abrogating the faid Oaths, and the other to take away the Neceflity of Receiving the Sacrament, to make a Man capable of having an Office.

This laft Claufe being drawn up accordingly, and Reported to the Houfe, was rejected by a great Majority, tho' the Lords Delamere, Stamford, North and Grey, Chesterfield, VVharton, Lovelace and Vaughan infifted: "That a hearty Union among "Proteftants, was a greater Security to the Church "and State, than any Teft that could be invented: "That this Obligation to receive the Sacrament, "was a Teft on the Pretestants, rather than on the "Papifts: That as long as it was continued, there

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could not be that hearty and thorough Union aMarch 21" mong Proteftants, as had always been wifh'd, and was at this time indifpenfably neceffary. And, "laftly, that a greater Caution ought not to be requir'd, from fuch as were admitted into Offices, "than from the Members of the two Houfes of Par❝liament, who are not oblig'd to receive the Sacrament, to enable them to fit in either Houfe.

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The Court Party having loft this Point, they made another Attempt in favour of the Presbyterians,which was by inferting a Claufe in the faid Bill, to prevent the receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, upon any other Account than in Obedience to the Holy Inftitution thereof, and by freeing Perfons to be admitted into any Office, or Imployment, from the neceflity of Receiving the faid Sacrament, in fuch a manner as is appointed by an Act made the 25th of King Charles II. that is, according to the Church of England; provided a Certificate were deliver'd of the faid Perfons having receiv'd the Sacrament, under the Hands of a Minifter, and two other credible Perfons: But this Claufe was likewife rejected, notwithstanding the warm Oppofition of feveral Peers, particularly of the Lords Orford, Mordant, Lovelace, Montague, VVharton and Paget, who alledg'd: "That it gives great part March 23 of the Proteftant Freemen of England Reafon to "com.

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1683.

complain of Inequality, and hard Ufage, when A. C. they are Excluded from publick Imployments by a Law; and alfo that it depriv'd the King and Kingdom of divers Men fit and capable to ferve "the Publick in feveral Cafes; and that for a meer "Scruple of Confcience which could by no means "render them Sufpected, much lefs Difaffected to "the Government. That his Majefty, as the common indulgent Father of his People, having ex

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prefs d an earnest defire of Liberty to tender Con"fciences. and to his Proteftant Subjects and the "Bishops having, divers of them, on feveral occa"fions profefs d an Inclination to, and owned the "Reafonablenefs of fuch a Chriftian Temper, they "apprehended it would raife Sufpicions in Men's "Minds, of fomething different from the Cafe of "Religion or the Publick, or a Defign to heal our Breaches, when they fhould find that by confin

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ing Secular Imployments to Ecclefiaftical Confor"mity, thof were ftruck out from Civil Affairs, "whofe Doctrin and Worship might be tolerated "by Authority of Parliament, there being a Bill be"fore them, by Order of the Houfe, to that purpofe; efpecially when without this Exclufive ri

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gour, the Church is fecured in all its Privileges "and Preferments no Body being hereby let into "them, who is not ftrictly conformab'e. That to fet "Marks of Diftinction and Humiliation on any "Sorts of Men, who have not rendered themselves juftiy Sufpected to the Government as it is at all "times to be avoided, by the making juft and equitable Laws, fo might it be of fo ill Effect to "the Reformed Intereft at Home and Abroad in "this prefent Conjuncture, which stood in need of "the United Hands and Hearts of all Proteftants, a"gainst the open Attempts, and fecret Endea66 vours, of a reftlefs Party, and a potent Neigh"bour, who was more Zealous than Rome it felf, to "plant Popery in thefe Kingdoms; and labour'd, with "his utmost force, to fettle his Tyranny upon the "Ruins of the Reformation all thro' Europe. That "it turn'd the Edge of a Law (they knew not by "what Fate) upon Proteftants, and Friends to the

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A. C. "Government, which was intended against Papists,
168. to exclude them from Places of Truft, as Men
avowedly dangerous to our Religion and Govern-
"men; and the taking the Sacrament, which was
enjoin'd only as a Means,to difcover Papists, was
now made a diftinguishing Duty amongst Prote-
stants, to weaken the whole by cafting out a part
"of them. That Myfteries of Religion and Di-
vine Worship are of Divine Original, and of a
"Nature fo wholly distant from the Secular Affairs
"of politick Society. that they cannot be applied
to thofe ends, and therefore the Church, by the
"Law and the Gofpel, as well as common Pru-
66 dence, ought to take care not to offend either ten-
"der Confciences within it felf, or give Offence
"to thofe without, by mixing their Sacred Myfte-
"ries with Secular Interefts. That they could not
"fee how it could confift with the Law of God,
"common Equity, or the Right of any free-born
Subject, that any one be punifh'd without a Crime.
"That if it be a Crime not to take the Sacrament
according to the Ufage of the Church of England,
every one ought to be punish'd for it, which no
body affirms: And if it be no Crime, thofe who
were capable, and judg'd fit for the King's Service
ought not to be punifhd with a Law of Exclu-
"fion, for not doing that which is no Crime to for-
"bear. And laftly, That if it be urged ftill, as an
"effectual Teft, to discover and keep out Papists,
"the taking of the Sacrament in thefe Proteftant
"Congregations, where they are Members and
"known, would be at leaftas effectual to that
"purpose.
After a long Debate the Bill was read

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the Third time, pafs'd, and fent to the Commons for their Concurrence.

Bill against Another Bufinefs, of much lefs Importance than the Papifls, the Oaths, amus'd both Houses for a confiderable time; and that was the Bill for Removing Papists from the Cities of London and Westminster, and ten Miles diftance from the fame, which having pafs'd March 28, the Houfe of Lords, the Commons added a Provifo to it, by which the Queen Dowager's Articles of Marriage, were confiderably reduced. To this

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Provifo the Peers difagreed, alledging, "That her A. C. "Majefty had for fo many Years, made fuch mo- 1689. "derate ufe of the faid Articles that there had "not been any juft Occafion of Complaint in the

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injoyment of thern; and it might feem to be a "kind of Severity upon her Majefty, to have those "Articles ftill reftrain d by virtue of that A&t, "which was made for the prefervation of the Per"fon of the King her Husband, which Reafon now "ceas'd. That it was evident that in the time of "the late King James, when her Majefty might "have been encourag'd to entertain more Perfons of "her own Religion moft of her Servants, and thofe "of the most confiderable places, were continued, "and alfo others receiv'd into her Family, tho' Protestants. And that it might be of ill confequence, "if her Majelty, by not living eafily here, fhould "be oblig'd to retire into foreign Parts. On the o"ther fide, the Commons* inlifted upon the Provi-* April 8. "fo by them added, 1ft. Because it was no new "Claufe, and therefore impos'd no new Condition

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upon her Majefty, it being the fame that was E"nacted in the 30th of King Charles II. for the more effectual preferving the King's Perfon and Government. 2dly, Becaufe to make an Alteration in "the Law, as it then flood, might look like fome "kind of Countenance to thofe of that Perfuafion, "at a time when the Lords themfelves had judg'd "the Refort of Papifts to London to be of fo dange "rous Confequence to the Government, as to make "this Act to remove them ten Miles from it. And "thirdly, becaufe the Papifts were not at this time "lefs active in their Defigns and Practices to disturb the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom, than they were in the 30th Year of King Charles II. and "therefore the like Reafons which induc'd the Par"liament to make that Statute remain'd at this time,

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to perfwade the Houfe of Commons to keep the "force of it entire. Upon confideration of thefe Reafons, offer'd by the Commons at a full Conference with the Lords, their Lordships agreed to propofe, that the Queen Dowager fhould have thirty Servants of the King's English Subjects, proviCc 4

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