minster, H. London, R. Ferrers, Pou- Die Lunæ, 20 Martii, 1710. The House, pursuant to the orders of Saturday last, adjourned into Westminster-hall.— And being there, the House was resumed, and the Lord Chancellor declared, That the Lords had agreed upon a question to be put to each lord severally. Then his lordship put the question, beginning at the junior baron first, as follows: Is Dr. Henry Sacheverell guilty of High Crimes, and Misdemeanors, charged upon him by the Impeachment of the House of Commons? And having asked every lord present, and they having declared, Guilty, or, Not Guilty, his lordship having cast up the Votes, declared him Guilty. THE TRIAL. FIRST DAY.-February 27. ABOUT eleven of the clock the Lords came from their own House into the Court erected in Westminster-hall, for the Trial of Henry Sacheverell, Doctor of Divinity, in the manner following: The Lord Chancellor's gentlemen-attendants, two and two.-The Clerks of the House of Lords, with the two Clerks of the Crown in the Courts of Chancery and King's Bench.The Masters in Chancery, two and two.-Then the Judges.-The Peers eldest Sons, and Peers Minors, two and two.-The yeoman-usher of the House.-The gentleman-usher of the black rod. Then the Peers two and two, beginning with the youngest barons.-The Serjeant at Arms, with his mace. Then one of the heralds.-Then the Lord Chancellor alone. The Lords being seated in the place for that Dissentient, Sussex, Thanet, Nottingham, Commons in a committee of the whole House purpose prepared in Westminster-hall, and the Craven, Northesk, North and Grey, being in the seats prepared for them, and the Leigh, Jersey, Hamilton, Beaufort, Managers for the House being at their lordWeston, Ormond, Berkshire, N. Du-ships' bar, the serjeant at arms made proclamaresme, Shrewsbury, Scarborough, tions as follow: Leeds, Yarmouth, Jo. Ebor, Leominster, Northampton, Willoughby, Br., Abingdon, Poulett, H. London, Guernsey, Geo, Bath and Wells, Say and Sele, Osborne, Plymouth, Chandos, W. Cestriens. Buckingham, Rochester, Mar, Weymouth, Guilford, Conway, Anglesea, Scarsdale, Dartmouth, Denbigh, Howard, Tho. Roffen, Berkeley, Str., Stawell, Lexington. Die Martis, 21 Martii, 1710. Ordered, That the Judgment to be passed in the Case of Dr. Henry Sacheverell shall be, That he be enjoined not to preach during the term of three years next ensuing: That his two printed Sermons, referred to by the Impeachment of the House of Commons, shall be burnt before the Royal Exchange in London, between the hours of day of , by the hands of the common hangman, in the presence of the lord mayor, and the two sheriffs of London and Middlesex. on the and Dissentient, Jo. Ebor, Scarsdale, Northampton, Craven, Howard, North and Grey, Scarborough, N. Duresme, Weymouth, Geo. Bath and Wells, Guilford, Buck ingham, Berkshire, Abingdon, Conway, Yarmouth, H. London, Plymouth, Tho. Roffen, Guernsey, Leominster, Denbigh, Nottingham, Thanet, Osborne, Beaufort, Anglesea, Sussex, R. Fer. rers, Leigh, Poulett, Ashburnham. Serjeant at Arms. O yes! Our sovereign lady the queen doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons to keep silence, upon pain of imprisonment. rell, Doctor in Divinity, come forth, save thee Serjeant at Arms. O yes! Henry Sacheveand thy bail, or thou forfeitest thy recognizance. Then Dr. Henry Sacheverell came to the bar and kneeled; his Counsel, viz. sir Simon Harcourt, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Dee, and Dr. Henchman, standing near him at the bar; and rising again by direction of the Lord Chancellor, the serjeant at arms again made proclamation as follows: Serjeant at Arms. O yes! Whereas a Charge of High Crimes and Misdemeanors has been exhibited by the House of Commons, in the name of themselves and all the Commons of Great Britain, against Henry Sacheverell, Doctor in Divinity; all persons concerned are to take notice that he now stands upon his Trial, and they may come forth, in order to make good the said Charge. Lord Chancellor. (Lord Cowper.) Dr. Sations concerning your behaviour during the cheverell, it is needless to give you any directime of your Trial, or the ordering your Defence, because the Lords have not only allowed, but assigned you the Counsel you desired, some both of the civil and common law, who will be able to direct and advise you, not only in the substance, but form of your Defence. The Lords have also made an Order for summoning all such Witnesses as you have propounded to appear for you. And that you might be the better able to provide for your Defence, you have had your liberty on the first application for it, and giving security for your appearance; you have also had all the time you thought fit to desire, in order to prepare for your Defence: so that you ought ever to remember, that their lordships have used towards you all the indulgence you could reasonably expect. Then the Clerk, by direction of the Lord Chancellor, read the Articles of Impeachment, Doctor Sacheverell's Answer, and the Replication of the House of Commons, as follows: ARTICLES liament assembled, did, by their Address of the 17th of December, in the year of our Lord 1705, lay before her majesty the following Vote or Resolution, viz. "That the Church of England, as by law established, which was rescued from the extremest danger by king William the third of glorious memory, is now, by God's blessing, under the happy reign of her majesty, in a most safe and flourishing condition; and that whoever goes about to suggest or insinuate that the Church is in Danger under her maEXHIBITED BY THE KNIGHTS, CITIZENS, jesty's administration, is an enemy to the AND BURGESSES, IN PARLIAMENT ASqueen, the Church, and the kingdom :" And by their said Address did humbly beseech her maSEMBLED, IN THE NAME OF THEM-jesty to take effectual measures for making the SELVES AND OF ALL THE COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN, AGAINST HENRY SACHEVERELL, DOCTOR IN DIVINITY, IN MAINTENANCE OF THEIR IMPEACHMENT AGAINST HIM FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. Whereas his late majesty king William the third, then Prince of Orange, did with an armed force undertake a glorious enterprize for delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power; and divers subjects of this realm, well affected to their country, joined with, and assisted his late majesty in the said enterprize: and it having pleased Almighty God to crown the same with success, the late happy Revolution did take effect, and was established. And whereas the said glorious enterprize is approved by several acts of parliament, and amongst others, by an act made in the first year of the reign of king William and queen Mary, intituled, An Act, declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the Succession of the Crown: And also, by one other act made in the same year, intituled, 'An Act for preventing vexatious Suits against such as acted in order to the bringing in their Majesties, or for their service;' and also by One other act made in the same year, intituled, An Act for appropriating certain Duties for paying the States-General of the United Provinces their Charges for his Majesty's Expedition into this Kingdom, and for other uses: and the actings of the said well-affected subjeets, in aid and pursuance of the said enterprize,' are also declared to have been necessary, and that the same ought to be justified. And whereas the happy and blessed consequences of the said Revolution are, the enjoyment of the light of God's true religion established among us, and of the laws and liberties of the kingdom; the uniting her majesty's Protestant subjects in interest and affection, by legal indulgence or toleration granted to Dissenters; the preservation of her majesty's sacred person; the many and continual benefits arising from her majesty's wise and glorious administration, and the prospect of happiness for future ages, by the settlement of the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant line, and the Union of the two Kingdoms. And whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Par said Vote or Resolution public, and also for punishing the authors and spreaders of such seditious and scandalous reports; and on the 20th day of the said December, her majesty was pleased to issue her royal Proclamation accordingly. Yet, nevertheless, the said Henry Sacheverell preached a Sermon at the assizes held at Derby, August the 15th, in the year of our Lord 1709, and afterwards published the same in print, with a Dedication thereof; and the said Henry Sacheverell also preached a Sermon at the cathedral church of St. Paul, before the lord mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London, on the 5th day of November last, being the anniversary thanksgiving to Almighty God for the deliverance from the GunpowderTreason, and for beginning the late happy Relution, by giving his late majesty a safe arrival here, and for completing the same, by making all opposition fall before him, till he became our king and governor; which said Sermon he the said Henry Sacheverell likewise published in print, with a Dedication thereof to sir Samuel Gerrard, baronet, lord mayor of the city of London; and with a wicked, malicious, and seditious intention to undermine and subvert her majesty's government and the Protestant Succession as by law established; to defame her majesty's administration; to asperse the memory of his late majesty; to traduce and condemn the late happy Revolution; to contradict and arraign the resolutions of both Houses of Parliament; to create jealousies and divisions amongst her majesty's subjects; and to incite them to sedition and rebellion. ARTICLE I. He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermon preached at St. Paul's, doth suggest and maintain, That the necessary means used to bring about the said happy Revolution, were odious and unjustifiable: That his late majesty, in his Declaration, disclaimed the least imputation of Resistance: And that to impute Resistance to the said Revolution, is to cast black and odious colours upon his late majesty and the said Revolution. ARTICLE II. He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermon preached at St. Paul's, doth suggest and maintain, That the foresaid Toleration granted by law is unreasonable, and the allowance of it unwarrantable: And asserts, That he is a false brother with relation to God, religion, or the Church, who defends Toleration and Liberty of Conscience: That queen Elizabeth was deluded by archbishop Grindall, whom he scurrilously calls a False Son of the Church, and a Perfidious Prelate, to the toleration of the Genevian, discipline: And that it is the duty of superior pastors to thunder out their ecclesiastical anathemas against persons intitled to the benefit of the said Toleration; and insolently dares, or defies any power on earth to reverse such sentences. ARTICLE III. He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermon preached at St. Paul's, doth falsly and seditiously suggest and assert, That the Church of England is in a condition of great peril and adversity under her majesty's administration; and in order to arraign and blacken the said Vote or Resolution of both Houses of Parliament, approved by her majesty as aforesaid, he, in opposition thereto, doth suggest the Church to be in Danger; and, as a parallel, mentions a vote, That the person of king Charles the first was voted to be out of danger, at the same time that his murderers were conspiring his death; thereby wickedly and malicously insinuating, that the members of both Houses, who passed the said vote, were then conspiring the ruin of the Church. Books aforesaid, did abuse his holy function, and hath most grievously offended against the the rights and liberties of the subject, the laws peace of her majesty, her crown and dignity, and statutes of this kingdom, and the prosperity and good government of the same. said Commons, by protestation, saving to themAnd the selves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Article or Impeachment against the said Henry Sacheverell; and also of replying to his Answers, or any of them, and of offering proofs of all the premisses, or any of them, and of any other Article or Impeachment that shall be exhibited by them, as the case, according to course of parliament, shall everell be put to answer to all and every the require, do pray that the said Henry Sachpremisses; and that such proceeding, examination, trial, judgment, and exemplary punishment, may be thereupon had and executed, as is agreeable to law and justice. OF HENRY SACHEVERELL, DOCTOR IN He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermons and Books, doth falsly and mali- self all advantages of exception to the said arThe said Henry Sacheverell, saving to himciously suggest, That her majesty's adminis- ticles for the generality, uncertainty, and intration, both in ecclesiastical and civil affairs, sufficiency thereof, and of not being prejudiced tends to the destruction of the constitution: And by any words or want of form in this his that there are men of characters and stations Answer, admits, that at the request of George in Church and state who are False Brethren, Sacheverell, esq. high sheriff of the county of and do themselves weaken, undermine and be- Derby, he preached a Sermon at the assizes tray, and do encourage, and put it in the power held for that county, on the 15th day of Auof others, who are professed enemies, to over-gust 1709; and that at the desire of the right turn and destroy the constitution and establishment; and chargeth her majesty, and those in authority uuder her, both in Church and state, with a general mal-administration: And, as a public incendiary, he persuades her majesty's subjects to keep up a distinction of factions and parties; instils groundless jealousies, foments destructive divisions among them, and excites and stirs them up to arms and violence: And that his said malicious and seditious suggestions may make the stronger impression upon the minds of her majesty's subjects, he the said Henry Sacheverell doth wickedly wrest and pervert divers texts and passages of Holy Scripture. hon. sir Samuel Gerrard, baronet, lord mayor of the city of London, he also preached a Sermon at the cathedral church of St. Paul, before the said lord mayor, and the aldermen and citizens of London, on the 5th day of November last; and that he caused the said Sermons to be printed: But denies that he preached, or caused the same to be printed or published with any such wicked, malicious, or seditious intent, as in the preamble of the said Articles is affirmed; the said Henry Sacheverell having been induced to print the Sermon he preached at Derby, at the request of the gentlemen of the grand jury for that county, All which Crimes and Misdemeanors the same, as the most public acknowledgment he to whom he humbly presumed to dedicate the Commons are ready to prove, not only by the was capable of making, for the peculiar hogeneral scope of the same Sermons or Books,nour he had received by their public approbabut likewise by several clauses, sentences and expressions in the said Sermons or Books contained; and that he the said Henry Sacheverell, by preaching the Sermons, and publishing the tion of that Sermon. And the said lord mayor having been pleased to express his good liking of the said Sermon preached at St. Paul's, the said Henry Sacheverell, at his request, caused the same to be printed, with a Dedication | majesty and the said Revolution." The perthereof to him. And for Answer to the said Arucles, humbly saith, ANSWER TO FIRST ARTICLE. To the first part of the First Article, the said Henry Sacheverell denies, that, in his said Sermon preached at St. Paul's, he doth suggest and maintain, that the necessary means used to bring about the happy Revolution were odious and unjustifiable." Nor doth he in any part of that Sermon affirm any thing concerning the necessary means used to bring about the happy Revolution. The said Henry Sacheverell is so far from reflecting on his late majesty, or the happy Revolution, that he endeavours, in that Sermon, to clear the Revolution, and his late majesty, from the black and odious colours which their greatest enemies has endeavoured to cast upon both. sons whom the said Henry Sacheverell in his Sermon describes, as casting black and odious colours upon his late majesty and the RevoJution, are not those who impute Resistance to the late Revolution, of whom the said Henry Sacheverell affirms nothing, "but those new preachers and new politicians, who teach, in contradiction to both gospel and the laws, that the people have the power vested in them, the fountain and original of it, to cancel their allegiance at their pleasure, and to call their sovereign to account for high-treason against his subjects; nay, and to dethrone and murder him for a criminal, as they did the Royal Martyr by a justiciary sentence; who are maintainers of anti-monarchial schemes, and of such damnable positions as are, by the laws of church and state, condemned for rebellion and high-treason; and who urge the Revolution in defence of such principles." Unless, therefore, those who impute Resistance to the Revolution, be the same with those new preachers and new politicians above specified, the said Henry Sacheverell affirms nothing concerning them. And as to that part of the said Article, whereby the said Henry Sacheverell is charged with "suggesting and maintaining, that his late majesty, in his Declaration, disclaimed the least imputation of Resistance;" the said Henry Sacheverell doth acknowledge himself to have made such suggestion; and declares, The said Henry Sacheverell, upon the that he made it not in dishonour, but in vindi- strictest search into his said Sermon preached cation of his said majesty. The Resistance at St. Paul's, doth not find that he hath given the said Henry Sacheverell represents the late any the least colourable pretence for the accuking to have disclaimed, being such a Re-sation exhibited against him in this first Article, sistance as tended to the conquest of this realm, as plainly appears from that part of his late majesty's Declaration which is referred to, and verbatim set forth at the bottom of the same page, in which he mentions his late majesty's disclaiming any such imputation. Whether the said Henry Sacheverell was mistaken or not, in expressing himself, as if the late king had disclaimed any imputation of Resistance, when he the said Henry Sacheverell meant thereby, that the late king disclaimed the imputation of a design of conquest, he humbly conceives, such a suggestion by him, plainly designed for the honour of the late king, cannot in any reasonable construction be thought a reflection on his said majesty, or deemed any Crime or Misdemeanor. For the further justification of what the said Henry Sacheverell said in reference to his late majesty's having disclaimed any the least imputation of Resistance, the said Henry Sacheverell humbly observes, that in his late majesty's Declaration, the following passages are contained: "We have thought fit to go over to England, and carry over with us a force sufficient, by the blessing of God, to defend ourselves from the violence of evil counsellors. We think fit to declare, that this our expedition is intended for no other design, but to have a free and lawful parliament as sembled." As to the last charge in the said Article, the said Henry Sacheverell denies, "That he doth in bis said Sermon suggest and maintain, that to impate Resistance to the said Revolution, is to cast black and odious colours upon his late but barely by his asserting the utter illegality of Resistance to the supreme power upon any pretence whatsoever; for which assertion he humbly conceives he hath the authority of the Church of England, which in divers passages of her Homilies, too large and too numerous to be here specified, but by the said Henry Sacheverell ready to be produced, hath taught and inculcated this doctrine, as founded on the Word of God; particularly in the second part of the Sermon of Obedience, contained in the former Book of Homilies, set forth in the time of king Edward the 6th, where are these words: "Here, good people, let us all mark diligently: It is not lawful for inferiors and subjects in any case to resist and stand against the superior powers; for St. Paul's words be plain, That whosoever withstandeth, shall get to themselves damnation; for whosoever withstandeth, withstandeth the ordinance of God." Which said Book of Homilies is affirmed in one of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, which concern the Confession of the true Christian Faith, to contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and is ordered to be read in churches, by the ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people. And the said Henry Sacheverell, in further maintenance of the said doctrine and position, contained in the Book of Homilies, and of the authority of those books, saith, That by an act of parliament made in the 13th year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, intituled, An Act for the Ministers of the Church to be of sound Religion," it is enacted, That no person should thereafter be admitted to any bene 66 ANSWER TO THE SECOND ARTICLE. fice with cure, except he should first have sub-serting the doctrine of Non-Resistance of the scribed the said Articles in the presence of the supreme powers. But if this doctrine be deordinary, and publicly read the same in the clared erroneous, and it should please God parish church of that benefice, with declaration that he should suffer for asserting it, he trusts of his unfeigned assent to the same. And that God will enable him to shew his steady that by an Act made in the 5th year of her belief of this doctrine, by a meek and patient present majesty's reign, intituled, "An Act for resignation to whatever shall befal him on that securing the Church of England as by Law account. established," it was enacted, That the said Act, made in the said 13th year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, should remain and be in full To that part of the Second Article which force for ever; and be inserted in express charges, that he the said Henry Sacheverell terms in any Act which should be made for ra- doth suggest and maintain, “That the Toletifying the Union of the two kingdoms of Eng-ration granted by law is unreasonable, and the land and Scotland; and therein declared to be an essential and fundamental part thereof. And the said Act was accordingly inserted in express terms, in an Act for the Union of the two Kingdoms; and thereby ratified and declared to be an essential and fundamental part thereof. And the said Henry Sacheverell doth further humbly insist, and is advised, that the aforesaid assertion is agreeable to, and warranted by, the common law of England, and divers acts of parliament now remaining in full force. The said Henry Sacheverell doth with all humility aver the illegality of Resistance, on any pretence whatsoever, to be the doctrine of the Church of England, and to have been the general opinion of our most orthodox and able divines, from the time of the Reformation to this day: this doctrine hath, in the most solemn manner, been taught in that University, whereof he hath been for more than 20 years a member; this hath been often, with public approbation of each House of Parliament, preached and printed; and in terms of greater force than any used by the said Henry Sacheverell, hath by the right reverend Fathers of our Church, dead and living, been avowed and maintained. And the said Henry Sacheverell was the rather induced to preach against the doctrine of Resistance of the supreme power upon the 5th day of November, because on that day the Church commemorates our deliverance from the traitorous attempts of rebellious Papists, and because the lawfulness of resisting the supreme power was originally a Popish doctrine; for which reasons, as he humbly conceives, the Rubric of the Office appointed for that day, by her late majesty queen Mary (of blessed memory) directs, That after the Creed, if there be no Sermon, shall be read one of the six Homilies against Rebellion. Whilst, therefore, the Church of England, as by law established, is in a safe and flourish ing condition under her majesty's happy administration, whilst Popish tenets are by all good Protestants condemned and abhorred, whilst the laws of this realm continue in their full force and vigour, the said Henry Sacheverell humbly hopes, that a dutiful son of that Church, a sincere Protestant, and a faithful subject of her majesty, shall not suffer for as allowance of it unwarrantable ;" the said Henry Sacheverell saith, That, upon the most diligent enquiry, he hath not been able to inform himself, that a Toleration hath been granted by law; but admits, that an Act did pass in the first year of king William and queen Mary, entitled, "An Act for exempting their majesties' Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England, from the Penalties of certain Laws." Which exemption the said Henry Sacheverell doth not any where maintain or suggest to be unreasonable, or that the allowhad prevented any such misapprehension, by ance of it is unwarrantable; but hoped that he declaring his sincere meaning in these words contained in his Sermon preached at St. Paul's ; "I would not be here misunderstood, as if I intended to cast the least invidious reflection upon that indulgence which the government hath condescended to give them, which I am sure all those who wish well to our Church, are ready to grant to consciences truly scrupulous; let them enjoy it in the full limits the law has prescribed them." Toleration, which may seem to carry a dubious If there be any other expressions concerning hopes that they will not be applied to the exsense in any other parts of his Sermon, he agreeably to his avowed approbation of that emption granted by law, but will be interpreted law. as charges, that the said Henry Sacheverell And to such part of the said Second Article asserts, "That he is a false brother with relation to God, religion, or the Church, who defends Toleration and Liberty of Conscience;" he the said Henry Sacheverell saith, That he having so plainly declared himself in favour of the exemption granted by law, when he blames those, who, upon all occasions, defend Toleration and Liberty of Conscience, cannot be thought to reflect on the defenders of that legal proves and defends: he doth indeed suggest it exemption or indulgence which he himself apto be one part of the character of a false brother," upon all occasions to defend Toleration and Liberty of Conscience; and to excuse the separation, lay the fault upon the true sons of the Church, for carrying matters too high.” Which universal defence of Toleration, and the fault of such separation upon the true sons excuse of separation, attended with the laying of the Church, are by him jointly mentioned |
