_They_ allowed of no appeal from the
ecclesiastical tribunals to the civil magistrate; the parliament empowered
all who thought themselves aggrieved to apply for redress to either of
the two houses.[1] This profane mutilation of the divine right of the
presbyteries excited the alarm and execration of every orthodox believer.
When the ordinance for carrying the new plan into execution was in progress
through the Commons, the ministers generally determined not to act under
its provisions. The citizens of London, who petitioned against it, were
indeed silenced by a vote[a] that they had violated the privileges of the
house; but the Scottish commissioners came to their aid with a demand that
religion should be regulated to the satisfaction of the church; and the
assembly of divines ventured to remonstrate, that they could not
in conscience submit to an imperfect and anti-scriptural form of
ecclesiastical government. To the Scots a civil but unmeaning answer was
returned:[b] to alarm the assembly, it was resolved that the remonstrance
was a breach of privilege, and that nine questions should be proposed to
the divines, respecting the nature and object of the divine right to which
they pretended. These questions had been prepared by the ingenuity of
Selden and Whitelock,
[Footnote 1: Journals, vii.
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