+Source.+--_The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest
Period to the Year 1803._ Vol. vi., pp. 806, 809. London, 1810.
P. 806. _Complaint in the Commons of Dr. Sacheverell's Sermons._
Dec. 13. A complaint being made to the House of Commons, of two printed
Books; the one intituled, "The Communication of Sin; a Sermon, preached
at the Assizes, held at Derby, August 15, 1709, by Dr. Henry
Sacheverell;" and the other intituled, "The Perils of false Brethren,
both in Church and State; set forth in a Sermon preached before the
Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London, at the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, on the 5th of November, 1709;" preached
also by the said Dr. Henry Sacheverell; and both printed for Henry
Clements, which Books were delivered in at the clerk's table; where
several paragraphs in the epistle dedicatory, preceding the
first-mentioned Book, and also several paragraphs in the latter Book,
were read:
_Resolution thereon._] Sir Peter King and others having made speeches
against the audaciousness of the Doctor, who had advanced positions
directly opposite to Revolution principles, to the present government,
and to the Protestant Succession, and consequently tending to cherish
factions, and stir up rebellion: those, who favoured the Doctor's cause,
were surprised at this sudden attack, and, no member offering to speak
in his defence, it was resolved, "That the two Sermons were malicious,
scandalous, and seditious libels, highly reflecting on the queen, the
late Revolution, and the Protestant Succession, tending to alienate the
affections of her majesty's subjects, and to create jealousies and
divisions among them."
The Doctor was ordered to attend at the bar of the House the next day,
and, being examined, owned the two Sermons. He likewise told them, what
encouragement he had from the lord-mayor to print "The Perils of False
Brethren." Sir Samuel Garrard, being a member of the House, was asked,
whether the Sermon was printed at his desire or order? if he had owned
it, he would have been expelled the House: but he denied, that he ever
desired, or ordered, or encouraged, the printing thereof. Though the
Doctor offered to prove it, and brought witnesses for that purpose, yet
the House would not enter upon that examination, but it was thought more
decent to seem to give credit to their own member, though few indeed
believed him.
The Doctor standing to what he had said, without expressing the least
consciousness of having done amiss, he was directed to withdraw; and it
was resolved, "That he should be impeached of high crimes and
misdemeanours, and Mr. Dolben was ordered to do it at the bar of the
House of Lords, in the name of all the Commons of Great Britain." At the
same time a Committee was appointed to draw up the Articles against him,
and the Doctor was taken into custody of the Serjeant at Arms.
[The Charge against Sacheverell.]
P. 809. 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.'
II. "He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermon preached at St.
Paul's, doth suggest and maintain, 'That the aforesaid 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 Genevan discipline; and that it is the duty of
superior pastors, to thunder out their ecclesiastical anathemas against
persons entitled to the benefit of the said Toleration;' and insolently
dares or defies any power on earth to reverse such sentences.
III. "He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermon preached at St.
Paul's, doth falsely 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 1st was voted to be out of danger, at the same time
that his murderers were conspiring his death; thereby wickedly and
maliciously insinuating, that the members of both Houses, who passed the
said vote, were then conspiring the ruin of the Church.
IV. "He, the said Henry Sacheverell, in his said Sermons and Books, doth
falsely and maliciously suggest, 'that her majesty's administration both
in ecclesiastical and civil affairs, tends to the destruction of the
constitution; and that there are men of characters and stations, in
church and state, who are false brethren, and do themselves weaken,
undermine, and betray, and do encourage, and put it in the power of
others, who are professed enemies, to overturn and destroy the
constitution and establishment;' and chargeth her majesty, and those in
authority under her, both in church and state, with a general
maladministration: and, as a public incendiary, he persuades her
majesty's subjects to keep up a distinction of faction 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 impressions
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."