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<DATE>2008-11-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B080913.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="T">669.f.4[49]</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">50811862</BIBNO>
<VID>160671</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 6 -->
<HEAD>TO THE HONOURABLE, THE KNIGHTS, CITIZENS AND BURGESSES OF THE COMMONS HOVSE IN PARLIAMENT NOW ASSEMBLED. Ianuary, 24. 1642.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub"><HI>The humble Petition of the Lay-Catholiques Recu&s;ants of</HI> England.</HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>_THat the chiefe&s;t and mo&s;t glorious Attribute of power, being Mercy, the &s;afe&s;t addre&s;&s;e thereto mu&s;t be Submi&s;&s;ion, which makes us in all humility offer unto the con&s;idera|tion of this Honourable A&s;&s;embly, the great and heavy burthen under which we grone, and though to Lawe; we humbly &s;hall &s;ubmit, yet &s;uch is the weight of &s;ome that lye upon us, that nothing le&s;&s;e then linity can let us live, nor can we any way find our re|liefe, but by applying our &s;elves unto this High Court, whereas Fathers and &s;upreame Judges, you re&s;ide, retaining &s;till full Power to frame, or change, according to the exigency of times, and occa&s;i|ons, and being prudent and mercifull, can afford us patience, and favour in this &s;hort Petition, wherein we &s;hall yeeld our &s;elves fit Subjects for your mercy, or obedient Submittees to your wills and re&s;olutions.</P>
<P>The many penall Lawes in force-again&s;t your humble&s;t Petitioners are to this Honourable A&s;&s;em|bly knowne, as is the ground on which they fir&s;t were made not out of memory, haveing had their Birth but under Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> when partly extraordinary proceedings from the See of <HI>Rome</HI> again&s;t her Per&s;on, and partly the claime our dread Soveraigns Grandmother, wholly devoted to that Religion, layd to the Immediate &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of the Crowne. Occa&s;ioned &s;everall de&s;tractions, and even ca&s;t jealou|&s;ies and &s;u&s;pitions upon all, that in Religion had relation to that See. Whereupon from emer|gent rea&s;on of State. And by way of prudent cautions, and preventing future di&s;obedience (and not to put re&s;traint upon the con&s;cience of the Subject or to puni&s;h contrariety of opinion or beliefe) the&s;e Lawes as we conceive were made, and afterward much aggravated and made more heavie to us all, by occa&s;ion of that ever mo&s;t dete&s;table plot of tho&s;e few decayed, turbulent, and de&s;perately di&s;|contented per&s;ons, indeed Profe&s;&s;ors of the &s;ame Religion, but quite neglecting and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing, and mo&s;t inhumanely therein forgetting all duty and obligation.</P>
<P>If thus (Right Noble Gentlemen) the&s;e Lawes originally were oppropriated to the&s;e times, and no &s;uch rea&s;on now (we hope) appeares, and &s;til the&s;e Lawes overwhelmes us, It is either for the per&s;onal offences of other men, who&s;e wicked facts we (are no way guilty of) with all good Chri&s;tians utter|ly abhorre, or for &s;uppo&s;ed errors of our under&s;tanding and beliefe, which as in it &s;elfe (according to all Divines) is an effect immediate of Grace, and therefore not to be enforced: So in its tenents, there is not any thing forbids, invites, or hinders the profe&s;&s;ors of it, from their due obedience to their Prince, and faithfull pre&s;ervation of their Countries liberties. In pro&s;ecution of which truth, wee here objure as fal&s;e and mo&s;t erronious, both a&s;&s;a&s;ination of Princes, and Faith is not to be kept with all &s;orts of people, and do dete&s;t them both, as mo&s;t oppugnant to humanity, and not to be allowed by any Religion what&s;oever. We al&s;o &s;hall and will be ever ready to maintaine and defend with all our power, lives, and fortunes, all our Countries liberties, the Right and Priviledges of the Parliaments, the Subjects lawfull Rights, liberty and propriety, the peace and unity of his Maje&s;ties three King|domes of <HI>England, Scotland</HI> and <HI>Ireland,</HI> and in all ju&s;t and honourable waies, endeavour the puni&s;h|ment of all that &s;eeke to worke the contrary: as dutifull, obedient, and Loyall Subjects are obliged, and as true borne lovers of their Countries good are bound; All which (under favour) as the Lawes now &s;tand we no waies are permitted, as having neither freedome, or fortunes of our own, for &s;trictly are our actions, Judgements, and our Tongues tyed up.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="petition proper">
<P>But the approaching &s;torme that &s;eemes to threaten her, moves us to take &s;helter under your mer|cies wings, mo&s;t freely &s;pread to comfort all agrieved, where we doe hope for &s;hadow and protection. And humbly are Petitioners, that you will be plea&s;ed to ea&s;e our &s;ufferings, by mitigating the rigor of tho&s;e penall Lawes, that either ruine us and our po&s;terity, or ca&s;t a thraledome on our Con&s;ciences, &s;o as we meekly walking in our forefathers &s;teps, a&s;piring unto nothing but po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing our &s;elve in peace, as people that &s;eeke ea&s;e, not honours, and that the crime of <HI>Catholiques</HI> before this Horourable A&s;&s;embly now appeares, but onely different waies in &s;erving the &s;ame God you &s;erve, the &s;ame Chri&s;t which you beleeve (for who&s;oever in any other &s;ort offends, <HI>qui peccaverit ip&s;e moriatur</HI>) we mo&s;t hum|bly in your prudence and your goodne&s;&s;e tru&s;t, in this publique <HI>Jubilee</HI> (when all's intended to be joy and con&s;olation) we &s;hall not be the onely Subject of &s;orrow and de&s;olation, nor that the Lawes made for offenders in one time, &s;hould lay upon the innocent in another. And therefore humbly beg, you will ca&s;t your eye upon the Schedule of the&s;e Lawes annexed and then your mercifull repeale of what your wi&s;edomes and mercy finde, &s;hall give the Con&s;cience reliefe that is afflicted, and not the minde content that is ambitious, and a thing we thir&s;t not after.</P>
</DIV2>
<CLOSER>And for &s;o great a charity your humble Petitioners &s;hall ever (as in duty bound) pray for Your continuall pro&s;perity and eternall happine&s;&s;e.</CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P>London, Printed for <HI>Geo. Baily,</HI> 1642.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
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