proposing to or rather imposing upon the Nation What is it they would be at And what are the Ends they are driving on Are they just and good Are they generous and honorable Or are they not rather such as would undermine the Government both in Church and State and reduce us to a state of Nature wherein the People are at Liberty to agree upon any Government or none at all Plainly they would reduce us to the Dutch or some other foreign Measures which how well soever they may agree with that Country where they are setled and confirmed partly by Custom and partly by the peculiar Necessity of their Affairs can never be well received in England till an Act be passed to abolish Monarchy Episcopacy and all the Fundamental Laws establish'd by Magna Charta and all succeeding Parliaments ever since The Enquixy into the Measures of Submission to the Supreme Authority is a Treatise calculated for the times but surely it is not written according to the Principles and Practice of the Church of England in the time of the renowned Queen Elizabeth I am apt to think that some regard was then had to the Passages which we find in the Scriptures especially the Old Testament relating to the Measures of Submission But these Examples weigh nothing with our Author because they are not for his purpose pag. 5 6. I am also apt to suspect that Queen Elizabeth would not have thanked any Politician for vending this as a certain and fundamental Principle That in all Disputes between Power and Liberty Power must always be proved but Liberty proves it self the one being founded only upon a positive Law and the other upon the Law of Nature pag. 4. She I perswade my self on the contrary would have challenged any such States-man to have prov'd his Liberty as for her Power she would have answered it was ready to prove it self against all who should presume to question it But what 's the meaning of Power being founded only on a positive Law and Liberty upon the Law of Nature Is not a Father's Power founded as he grants upon the Law of Nature and is not all Power even of the greatest Princes as far as it is just and honest and for the Benefit of the Subject derived from this Paternal Authority of the Father over his Son Besides doth not the Law of Nature prescribe the Necessity of putting Power into the Hands of one or more for the Benefit of the whole which otherwise would be in danger of destroying it self by intestine Divisions In short If Liberty be founded upon the Law of Nature so is all just and lawful Power since the end of it is only to regulate our Liberty and in truth to make us more free Liberty in general is a right to use our Faculties according to right Reason and the Law in particular tells us which are those Rules of right Reason by which we must govern our selves And what is Law but the Commands of the Supreme Power where-ever it is lodg'd in the hands of the Prince the Senate or the People or of all of them together ordering what we are to do or avoid under the Sanction of particular Penalties I beg the Learned Author's Pardon for questioning his Measures in my Judgment they are not taken from the English Standard and therefore I hope I may without Offence use my Liberty in refusing them a Right which proves it self till he can prove his Power to impose them The Enquiry into the present State of Affairs is a Discourse which seems by its bold strokes to resemble the former I will say no more of it but this If what he there lays down for a certain Truth be really so then all that follows must be granted as reasonable Deductions from this fundamental Principle but if this be false all that he hath said falls to the Ground for want of a firm and solid Foundation to support it Now the Position which like a first Principle in Mathematicks he takes for granted is this It is certain says he pag. 1. that the reciprocal Duties in Civil Societies are Protection and Allegiance and wheresoever the one fails wholly the other falls with it This is his Doctrine which I have mentioned before but shall now consider a little more particularly 'T is indeed most fit and reasonable that Protection and Allegiance should always go together and accompany one another but that they do not do so is but too plain in the present case of England but doth it follow that because the King is not in a Capacity to protect his Subjects therefore he is no longer to be look'd upon as a King And if he be a King doth not this suppose that he hath some Subjects And if so I would gladly know what kind of Subjects they are who owe no Allegiance But let this Question be rul'd by his own Instance The Duty betwixt Father and Son. Suppose my Father to be so destitute that he cannot and so perverse that he will not protect and sustain me suppose him as churlish as Cain and as poor as Iob yet still he is my Father and I am his Son that is he still retains all that Power which by the Law of Nature a Father ought to have over his Child still the Relation holds betwixt us and whilst it doth so the Father's Faults or Necessities cannot evacuate the Duty of a Son which is founded not in the Fathers good Will or Abilities to defend him though it must be confess'd they are chiefly consider'd but in that fix'd and immutable Relation which God and Nature have establish'd betwixt them not to be dissolv'd but by Death So that if this learned Author will yield as he seems to do that Kingly Power is nothing else but the Paternal consign'd by the common consent of the Fathers of Families to one Person upon such and such Conditions specified in the Contract I cannot see how this Relation betwixt King and Subject can any more be utterly dissolved than that betwixt a Father and his Son. I shall say no more to this Discourse and if what I have already said do offend either against the Principles of Reason or the Law of England I am willing to be corrected and acknowledg my Error There is another little Paper which yet gives such a great stroke to the Government that it ought not to be pass'd over without some Animadversion The Sheet which I mean is that which is call'd Advice before it be too late or A Breviate for the Convention This Paper bespeaks its Author to be of the same Complexion and Principles with him who writ the Word to the Wise and the four Questions debated They do all of them suppose that the Government is fallen to its Centre or Root from whence it sprang that is to the People as the Word to the Wise expresses our present case I know not what can be a more effectual Answer to these Pamphlets and take
of all the Judges of England that even the known and undoubted Prerogative of the Iewish Kings do not belong to our Kings and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Iac. Note upon Sunday the Tenth of November in the same Term the King upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft Arch-bishop of Canterbury concerning Prohibitions was informed That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes or any other thing Ecclesiastical or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commisâ—ion or in any other case in which there is not express Authority by Law the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself And the Archâ—bishop said That this was clear in Divinity That such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture To which it was answered by me in the presence and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchiquer That the King in his own Person cannot adjudg any Case either Criminal as Treason Felony c. but this ought to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice according to the Law and Custom of England And always Judgments are given Ideo consideratum est per Curiam so that the Court gives the Judgment And it was greatly marvelled that the Arch-bishop durst inform the King that such Absolute Power and Authority as is aforesaid belonged to the King by the Word of God. CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther or to any other purposes tâ—an the Law has impowered him II. An Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power is so far from bâ—ing the Ordinance of God that it is not the Ordinance of Man. III. Whoever opposes an Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power does not oppose the Ordinance of God but the Violation of that Ordinance IV. The 13 th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours because their Office and Imployment is for the Publick Welfare For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good Verse 4. V. The 13 th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers because they watch for your Souls Verse 17. VI. But the 13 th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner and the Beast of Rome who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies according to that true Character of Popery which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November but Arch-Bishop Laud was wiser than they and in his time blotted it out The Prayer formerly ran thus To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land to cut off these Workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose Practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom VII All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath and by the Duty of their place to disobey all Writs Letters or Commands which are brought to them either under the Little Seal or under the Great Seal to hinder or delay common Right Are the Judges all bound in an Oath and by their Places to break the 13 th of the Romans VIII The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York Iune 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and thirty nine Peers besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks and several others of the Privy-Council was in these words We do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13 th of the Romans IX A Constable represents the King's Person and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13 th of the Romans as all Men grant but in case he so far pervert his Office as to break the Peace and commit Murther Burglary or Robbery on the High-way he may and ought to be resisted X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13 th of the Romans here and in Poland the Law of the Land there XI The 13 th of the Romans is received for Scripture in Poland and yet this is expressed in the Coronation-Oath in that Country Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero Incolae Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur And if I shall violate my Oath the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience XII The Law of the Land according to Bracton is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text for it is Superiour to the King and made him King Lib. iii. cap. xxvi Rex habet Superiorem Deum item Legem per quam factus est Rex item Curiam suam viz. Comites Barones and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place And according to Melancthon It is the Ordinanee of God to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to subject Vol. iii. In his Commentary on the fifth Verse Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake He has these words Neque vero hac tantum pertinent ad Subditos sed etiam ad Magistratum qui cum fiunt Tyranni non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei quam Seditiosi Ideo ipsorum Conscientia fit rea quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei id est Legibus quibus debent parere Ideo Comminationes hic posite etiam ad ipsos pertinent Itaque hujus mandati severitas moveat omnes ne violalationem Politici status putent esse leve peccatum Neither doth this place concern Subjects only but also the Magistrates themselves who when they turn Tyrants do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious and therefore their Consciences too are guilty for not obeying the Ordinance of God that is the Laws which they ought to obey So that the Threatnings in this place do also belong to them wherefore let the Severity of this Command deter all Men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin. Corolary To destroy the Law and-Legal Constitution which is the Ordinance of God by false and Arbitrary Expositions of this Text is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk. CHAP. IV. Of LAWS I. THere is no natural
with Hereticks do watch for all Advantages and Opportunities to destroy them being commanded thereunto by their Councils and the principles of their Church and instigated by their Priests The History of the several Wars of the Barons of England in the Reigns of King Iohn Henry the Third Edward the Second and Richard the Second in Defence of their Liberties and for redressing the many Grievances under which the Kingdom groaâ—'d is a full representation of the Infidelity and Treachery of those Kings and of the Invalidity of Treaties with them how many Grants Amendments and fair Promises had they from those Princes and yet afterwards how many Ambuscades and Snares were laid to destroy those glorious Patriots of Liberty what Violations of Compacts and Agreements and what havock was made upon all Advantages and Opportunities that those false Kings could take Read their Histories in our several Chronicles FINIS A FOURTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The Prince of Orange's first Declaration from the Hague Octob. 10. 1688. With his Highnesses Additional Declaration from the Hague Octob. 24. 88. Corrected by the Original Copy printed there II. The Bishop of Rochester's Letter to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners III. The Prince of Orange's Speech to the Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire coming to joyn his Highness at Exeter Nov. 15. 88. IV. A true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Earl of Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby Nov. 20. 1688. V. An Address of the Mayor c. of Lyn-Regis in Norfolk to the Duke of Norfolk And the Duke's Answer Decemb. 6. 88. VI. A Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the City assembled at Guild hall Decemb. 11. 1688. VII A Paper delivered to the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty VIII The King's Letter to the Earl of Feversham on his Majesties leaving White-hall with the Earl's Answer IX A Declaration of the Prince of Orange to the Commanders in Chief of the Dispersed Regiments Troops and Companies to keep them together in Order X. An Address of the Lieutenancy of London to the Pr. of Orange XI An Address of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of London to the Prince of Orange XII A Speech of Sir G. Treby on delivery of the City Address Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. THE DECLARATION Of His HIGHNESS VVilliam Henry By the Grace of God PRINCE of ORANGE c. Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland IT is both certain and evident to all Men that the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the Lawful Authority in it are openly Transgressed and Annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights Which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs Upon these Grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all Things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible Pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can Suspend and Dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those Laws of no effect Though there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joint concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the Nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be repealed or suspended but by the same Authority For though the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence that the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony Unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are entirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a Power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispense with them Those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring that this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges and procured such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence to be turned out and others to be substituted in their Rooms till by the Changes which were made in the Courts of Judicature they at last obtained that Judgment And they have raised some to those Trusts who made open profession of the Popish Religion though those are by Law rendred incapable of all such Employments It is also manifest and notorious that as his Majesty was upon his coming to the Crown received and acknowledged by all the Subjects of England Scotland and Ireland as their King without the least Opposition though he made then
one of them is not the other for he may be any one of these who is none of the rest IV. This distinction proceeds from the different Reasons upon which these Relations are founded V. The Reason or Foundation from whence arises the Relation of a Father is from having begotten his Son who may as properly call every old Man he meets his Father as any other Person whatsoever excepting him only who begat him VI. The Relation of an Husband and Wife is founded in Weâ—lock whereby they mutually consent to become one Fleâ—h VII The Relation of a Maâ—ter is founded in that Right and Title which he has to the Possession or Service of his Slave or Servant VIII In these Relations the Names of Father Husband and Master imply Soveraignty and Superiority which varies notwithstanding and is more or less absolute according to the Foundation of these several Relations IX The Superiority of a Father is founded in that Power Priority and Dignity of Nature which a Cause hath over its Effect X. The distance is not so great in Wedlock but the Superiority of the Husband over the Wife is like that of the Right-Hand over the Left in the same Body XI The Superiority of a Master is an absolute Dominion over his Slave a limited and conditionate Command over his Servant XII The Titles of Pater Patriae and Sponsus Regni Father of the Country and Husband of the Realm are Metaphors and improper Speeches For no Prince ever begat a whole Country of Subjects nor can a Kingdom more propâ—rly be said to be married than the City of Venice is to be Adriatick Gulph XIII And to shew further that Magistracy is not Paternal Authority nor Monarchy founded in Fatherhood it is undeniably plain that a Son may be the Natural Soveraign Lord of his own Father as Henry the Second had been of Ieffeâ—y Plantagenet if he had been an English-man which they say Henry the Seventh did not love to think of when his Sons grew up to Years And this Case alone is an eternal Confutation of the Patriarchate XIV Neither is Magistracy a Marital Power for the Husband may be the obedient Subject of his own Wife as Philip was of Queen Maâ—y XV. Nor is it that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave for then a Prince might lawfully sell all hiâ— Subjects like so many Head of Cattel and make Mony of his whole Stock when ever he pleases as a Patron of Algiers does XVI Neither is the Relation of Prince and Subject the same with that of a Master and hired Servant for he does not hire them but as St. Paul saith They pay him Tribute in consideration of his continual Attendance and Imployment for the Publick Good. XVII That Publick Office and Imployment is the Foundation of the Relation of King and Subject as many other Relations are likewise founded upon other Functions and Administrations Such as Guardian and Ward c. XVIII The Office of a King is set down at large in the 17 th Chapter of the Laws of King Edward the Confessor to which the succeeding Kings have been sworn at their Coronation And it is affirmed in the Preambles of the Statutes of Malbridg and of the Statute of Quo Warranto made at Glocester That the calling of Parliaments to make Laws for the better Estate of the Realm and the more full Administration of Justice belongeth to the Office of a King. But the fullest account of it in few words is in Chancellor Fortescue Chap. XIII which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case Coke VII Rep. Fol. 5. Ad Tutelam namque Legis Subditorum ac eorum Corporum bonorum Rex hujusmodi erectus est ad hanc potestatem à populo effluxam ipse habet quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari For such a King that is of every Political Kingdom as this is is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth Power of his People so that he cannot govern his People by any other Power Corolary A Bargain 's a Bargain CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation if it were then those Nations that wanted Scripture must have been without Government whereas Scripture it self says that Government is the Ordinance of Man and of Human Extraction And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular That it was moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the Peoplâ— Answ. to XIX Prop. II. All just Governments are highly beneficial to Mankind and are of God the Author of all Good they are his his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn is absâ—luely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa. 28. from 23 d to 29 th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have Strength by me Kings reign and Princes decree Iustice By me Prinees rule and Nobles even all the Iudges of the Earth Prov. 13.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plow-man saith His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him Isa. 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but leaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Mens Lands to be already butted and bounded when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same word being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution
of the Constitution The Constitution and Laws thereof being agreed upon and it being impossible for Humane Prudence to foresee all Accidents which must be provided for therefore as they arise the Administration necessarily must lie in these two Things The making farther Laws subordinate still to those fore-priz'd as occasion requires and seeing them executed that is in Legislation and Judgment The One is the Business of the Supreme Authority the Other of the Inferior Magistrates or Officers and Executioners of the same according to that Fundamental Agreement made by the People Our Government now as constituted in order to this Administration is we know a mixt Government A Government is known to be pure or mixt by the placing the Supreme Authority If the People place it singly in the King or singly in the Nobles or singly in the People then it is a pure Monarchy Aristocracy or Democracy But when it is placed in all Three it is a mixt Government as Ours is where there are no Laws in the Administration made but by King Lords and Commons These Things I pursue only so far as is necessary to the reaching my main Purpose and the leading me to a right discernment of the present Condition into which we are now brought in regard to this said Government The Supreme Power of the Nation being placed in a Parliament which is a Corporation of King Lords and Commons that is the Supreme Authority residing in King Lords and Commons as One Corporation there does appear at this Conjuncture a Dissolution of the Government A Dissolution manifestly as to the Exercise of it This Appearance does arise from the opening of the last Scene For the King being now gone gone from his People and departing from his Government that One Corporation we speak of is broke so that there remains now no subject for that supreme Authority It being evident that a Parliament wherein an Essential point of our Constitution does consist cannot now be Assembled And the Providence of God it self hath extraordinarily determin'd our Case If a King dies he hath a Successor and the Right devolves upon Him but whilst the King lives he hath no Successor and the Right remaining in Him and no Other and he being divided from his Lords and Commons the Subject of the Supreme Power or this One Corporation whereof the King is a Chief Essential and Constituent Part does perfectly cease and must necessarily cause a Dissolution I choose not to found this upon what does more convince Others which comes to this Account The King by his frequent Malversation in the Government and rooted Design of subverting our Religious and Civil Rights for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power and Popery which being aggravated by such an Endeavour as the destroying that Share in the Government which every Commoner hath that hath Right to choose his Representative in Parliament by his Garbling Corporations and so evacuating this Liberty in effect and by such an endeavour also as the exterminating his Protestant Subjects seeing that Religion which he would have introduced is such as by the Principles of it if it comes into Domination must do so to all Hereticks and thereupon may he be look'd on no longer as Rex but Hostis and Hostis Publicus Besides the subjecting us to a Foreign Jurisdiction and the very changing the Government by that indefinite Dispensing Power over the Laws as was carved to him by his Judges from Regal to Despotical It is judged by them that he is fallen thereupon from his Royal Dignity and that the Universality thereby have Warrant not only to defend themselves against him but by Vertue of that Sanction which is tacitly implyed in the Laws of the Constitution to proceed on to take the Forfeiture He hath made of his Government and Depose Him For it is a fond thing think they to imagine any Laws without a Sanction and impossible there should be any other Sanction in Treaties between Free Nations or between a Free People and the Governour they set over Themselves than Force to be used by the Parties concern'd there being no Third Party on Earth to appeal to in such Cases However this be it being taken for granted That the Government is dissolved and I suppose upon that preceding Account of the One Corporation I say being broke the Supreme Authority that lay before in the Three as united in One does escheat or fall to the Community who must therefore choose a new Subject for that Power and it lies at their Discretion to place it in what Subject they please They may lodg it in the Lords and Commons alone without a King if they think that Government best the matter lies altogether upon their Agreement and Consent I suppose it most likely that they will agree to place it again in a Monarch Lords and Commons the Person only left at Choice and Care had to prevent all Danger of Law in the Case according to the Ancient Constitution Though what Man can know the Mind of a Nation when once come together if he knows his own Mind There is one thing we have now Opportunity to obtain which we can never recover again if it be lost and that is what His Highness the Prince of Orange hath made one of his two Designs The Delivery of the People from Slavery which can never be done effectually and radically but upon this Advantage The delivering us from Popery is contained in the setling our Religion and that being a Work of great length is the business more properly of a Parliament but this is a thing must be done by the Community and consequently by thofe that are the Representatives of it a Convention so called in regard to a higher Capacity hereunto and not a Parliament for that represents the People not as in a Community but as in a Common-wealth where there is pars imperans as well as subdita which now is not A Parliament makes Laws for the Administration but the People as in a Community make Laws for the Constitution I would therefore humbly offer it to the Consideration of those who shall meet as Members of this Convention That in order to the Effect premised they do but agree and pitch upon this one certain Point of good Policy that where they place the Supream Authority they lay also the Rights or Properties of it that is the Iura Majestatis Majestas being Maxima Potestas all together The Rights of Majesty or the Supream Power are mainly these The first is Legislation or making Laws and this undoubtedly lies in a Parliament The next is the Power of raising Arms or Armies or the Militia the Power of making Peace and War or the Power of the Sword which is necessary to maintain those Laws The third is a Power over our Estates or the Purse or raising Mony which must maintain the Sword. A fourth is the Power of choosing Magistrates to rule Us according to these Laws such as Judges and Sheriffs
Necessity of their own creating tho never so false For says he if the King had either not bin driven out of his Dominions or invited back upon honourable Terms they needed not have had recourse to such unusual singular Methods of proceeding And thus the Discusser rambles out of one Untruth into another For he fled from offer'd Treaty forsook the defence of his own Forces and left them to be disbanded in Arrears and without Payment slipt from his own Council by Night after he had appointed to meet them in Consultation the next Morning Nor could he justly suspect that any Violence would have been offer'd to Him in particular being so well assur'd as he could not choose but be of the Generous Inclination and profound Respect which the Prince had to his Person But if the Guilt of peculiar Miscarriages hasten'd his Departure or oversway'd him toleave the Heâ—m of Rule without any Form or Face of Goverment That could ne're be call'd an Expulsion out of his Dominions And therefore when a certain Gentleman waiting on him at Feversham besought him to return to London he gave the Person this Reply That he was an honest Gentleman but knew not what he knew And when he had once abandon'd the Kingdom all forlom without either Head or Conduct without Council or any Countenance of Authority then according to the Judgment of the Common-wealth of Venice in reference to the Succession of Henry the 4 th it belong'd to the Nobility and chief Persons of the Land as they are the chief Defence of the Royal Authority to take care of the Publick Safety whether by usual or unusual Methods of proceeding it matters not and they have both the Authority of Law and Necessity to justify their Proceedings As for his being invited back upon Honourable Terms 't is well known how he return'd back and went through the City on the Sunday Night attended by his own Guards and lodg'd in White-Hall and this most certainly in order to an Accommodation Only because the Prince was coming to Town he was sent to and for the avoiding any Disturbance that might be prejudicial to his Person was humbly desir'd to retire to Ham-House with Liberty to make choice of what Persons he thought fit to attend him Which he promised to do but recollecting himself and desiring to know whether he might not return back to Rochester word was sent him the next Morning that he might do as he pleas'd All this while here was no Constraint put upon him so that he could not be said to be driven out of his Dominions but that it was his own Choice to forsake it Notwithstanding all this The Discusser will undertake to prove That the King before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger and therefore it could not be call'd an Abdication But through the whole Pursuit of his Argument the Discusser most wretchedly mistakes the Point quite mistaking the Effects for the Causes For says he Had not the King great Reason to retire to secure his Person and his Honour when he had met with so many unfortunate Disappointments with so many surprising and unparallel'd Accidents When part of the Army was revolted and the Remainder too apparently unserviceable When the People had such fatal and unremoveable Prejudices against his Service When there were such terrible Disorders in the Kingdom and all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire What should a Prince do when he had scarce any thing left him to lose but himself but consult his Safety and give way to the irresisâ—able Evil These are very great Disappointments and evil Accidents indeed to befal a Prince But the Discusser forgets to tell ye That the Prince brought all these Inconveniencies upon himself The Discusser tells ye that part of the Army revolted but he omits to tell ye that it was out of a Generous Principle for that being Protestants they would not embrue their Hands in the Blood of their Fellow-Protestants and Countreymen nor be Instruments to enslave the Nation He tells ye of terrible Disorders in the Kingdom but does not tell ye it was time for the People to be in Disorder when they saw such Incroachments upon their Ancient Franchises such Inundations of Popery flowing in upon their Consciences and such a rapid Violence of French Thraldom tumbling in upon their Necks He complains that all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire but forgets to tell you who were the Incendiaries These therefore with several others of the same Nature being the true Causes that drew the foresaid Inconveniencies upon the King it follows that tho the Secondary Constraint of his withdrawing might be occasion'd by the Effects yet the Primary Cause of his withdrawing proceeded from the First Causes which produced the Effects Consequently such a Retiring was voluntary and not forc'd because he may be justly said to fly from something of dreaded Punishment rather then pursuing Danger from which he was always at a distance â—ar enough off but dubious what would become of him as to the Former The Discusser makes many other grievous Complaints to justify the King's First withdrawing for hitherto he is altogether upon that but when he comes to sum up all In short says he when the Forts and Revenue were thus disposed of when the Papists were to be disbanded and the Protestants not to be trusted when the Nation was under such general and violent Dissatisfactions when the King in case of a Rupture had nothing upon the matter but his single Person to oppose against the Princes Arms and those of his Subjects when his Mortal Enemies were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity if no farther when Affairs were in this tempestuous Condition to say that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might be chosen with the Relation to the King 's Right as well as the People's and that the King had no just visible Cause to apprehend himself in Danger is to out-face the Sun and trample upon the Understandings and almost upon the Senses of the whole Nation As for the Fortified Towns it was but Reason that his then Highness the Prince of Orange who came over to rescue the Nation from Arbitrary Violence and Oppression should demand them to be put into his Power well Knowing them to be then in the Hands of Irish Papists and Cut-Throats of whom the People stood in Perpetual Fear and who were rather a Consternation then Security to the Kingdom And the same reason holds in Relation to the Revenue For all the World knows what Vast Sums had been Squander'd away by the late King when Duke to keep off the sitting of Parliaments and to buy off the Members when they Sate and when that Money was spent so much to the Detriment of the Realm what Sollicitations were made to the French King for more to carry on the Popish Cause and Interest It was as well known how the Revenue had of late
Orange and present to His Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning By the Commissioners Command Geo. Evans Cl. Lieut. London To His Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sence we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts That Your Highness has exposed Your Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we have not had any seasonable Opportunity to give Your Highness and the World a real Testimony that it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is Dear to Us to attain those Glorious Ends which Your Highness has proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness our just and due Acknowledgments for the Happy Relief You have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a Posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's Happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which Your Highness has so happily begun to the general Joy and Satisfaction of us all December the 17 th 1688. THE said Committee this day made Report to the Lieutenancy that they had presented the said Address to the Prince of Orange and that His Highness received them very kindly December the 17 th 1688. By the Lieutenancy Ordered That the said Order and Address be forthwith Printed Geo. Evans To His Highness the Prince of ORANGE The Humble ADDRESS of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled May it please Your Highness WE taking into Consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many and hazardous Enterprizes which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success We render our deepest Thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same And beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your Glorious Design to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some Remedy for these Oppressions and Imminent Dangers We together with Our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from His Majesty's Concessions and Concurrences with Your Highness's Just and Pious purposes expressed in Your Gracious Declarations But herein finding Our Selves finally disappointed by His Majesty's withdrawing Himself We presume to make Your Highness Our Refuge And do in the Name of this Capital CITY implore Your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech Your Highness to vouchsafe to repair to this CITY where Your Highness will be received with Universal Joy and Satisfaction The Speech of Sir GEORGE TREBY Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Dec. 20. 1688. May it please your Highness THE Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom deputed to Congratulate your Highness upon this great and glorious Occasion In which labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State over-run by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the Point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all Times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind To have the Title of Sovereign Prince Stadtholder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are among their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Souldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon your appearing GREAT SIR When we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and Fullness of our present Deliverance astonish'd we think it miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and called by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity restor'd Our Laws which are our ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can We make to your Highness Our Thoughts are full-charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all Good Men amongst us And late Posterity will celebrate your ever-glorious Name till Time shall be no more Chapman Mayor Cur ' special ' tent ' die Iovis xx die Decemb ' 1688. Annoque R R. Iacobi Secundi Angl ' c. quarto THis Court doth desire Mr. Recorder to print his Speech this day made to the Prince of Orange at the time of this Court 's attending his Highness with the Deputies of the several Wards and other Members of the Common-Council Wagstaffe FINIS A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England c. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army Published by Mr. Iohnson in the Year 1686. IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia V. A Discourse of Magistracy of Prerogative by Divine Right of Obedience and of the Laws VI. The Definition of a Tyrant by Abr. Cowley With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers VII A Letter to the King inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion VIII Ten Seasonable Queries proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be
sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope and admitting as he must unavoidably the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church all his Protestant Subjects being by the Judgment and Sentence of that Church Hereticks do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Hereticks Heresie being the highest degree of High-Treason called therefore by them Laesae Crimen Majestatis Divinae So the English Protestant must be a Traytor and the worst of Traytors and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks Heresie is denounced Infamous and the Heretick must be dealt with as such which is many Penalties in one First Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility Jurisdiction and Dignity and debarred from all Offices and publick Councils Parliaments and others being made uncapable of choosing and being chosen So that it reacheth all sorts of Clergy Laity Noble and Ignoble which is extended to their Children also For they say The Issue of Traytors Civil and Spiritual lose their Nobility And all that owe any Duty to such Infamous Persons are discharged and exempted therefrom as Subjects from their Prince Servants from theâ—r Masters Children from their Parents whom they also may lawfully kill Whereby we may see a little to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us expelling both Nature and Humanity and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority either Safety or Liberty Nobles are sentenced to Peasants and Peasants to Slaves Secondly Another Penalty to which Hereticks are condemned by their Law is Confiscation of Goods and Estate and this they incur ipso jure ipso facto that is immediately as soon as they shew themselves Hereticks before any legal Sentence have passed For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus confiscata We decree the Goods of Hereticks to be confiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation wherein they all agree makes the Severity of the Law apparent viz. First All the Profits made of the Estate from the first day of their Guilt is to be refunded Secondly All Alienations by Gift Sale or otherwise before Sentence are null and void and all Contracts for that purpose rescinded Thirdly Children Heirs of Hereticks are deprived of their Portions yea tho they be Papists Whereby it appears that as soon as the Papacy is admitted all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly who declared That all his Majesty's Territories were his own as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresie of Prince and People Not only Abby-Lands are in danger who ever possess them but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer and legally confiscated All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it whose process follows them beyond their Grave and ruins their Children and Children's Children after them And when they have strip'd the Heretick of his All they provide that no other shall relieve him viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses nor afford him any Help nor shew him any Favour nor give him any Counsel We are here in England zealous for Property and all the reason in the World we should so be But we must bid adieu to this when we once come under the Pope's Authority for as soon as this is admitted all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw viz. by the Laws of that Church which will then be Ours divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own Thirdly Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Hereticks is Death which is the Sentence of the Canon-Law and which is so absolute that no Secular Judg can remit and which is the Judgment of all the Doctors Ita docent omnes Doctores And from which Penalty neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt And the Death they inflict is burning alive No Death more tolerable or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church The Canon saith thus Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur We decree that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor Queen Mary practised upon near three hundred Persons without regard either to Age Sex or Quality the Scripture they urge for it is Iohn 15.6 If any one abide not in me Men gather them and cast them into the Fire and they are burnt So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life Fourthly Where legal Penalties cannot take place by reason of opposite Strength they hold War necessary and lawful to chastise Hereticks For which we might give you divers Authorities but let Cardinal Allen our Country-man suffice who asserts it is not only lawful but necessary His words are these It is clear saith he what People or Persons soever be declared to be opposite to GOD's Church with what Obligation soever either of Kindred Friendship Loyalty or Subjection I be bound unto them I may or rather must take up Arms against them and then must we take them for Hereticks when our lawful Popes adjudg them so to be And which saith Cardinal Pool is a War more holy than that against the Turks Fifthly To destroy them by Massacres is sometimes held more adviseable than to run the hazard of War and which they say is both lawful and meritorious for the rooting out a Pestilent Heresy and the promoting the Roman Interest This set a-foot the Irish Massacre that inhuman bloody Butchery and so much from the Savageness and Cruelty of their Nature as the Doctrines and Principles which directed and encouraged it as also that of Paris than which nothing was more grateful and acceptable to their Popes as their Bulls make manifest and the picturing it in the Pope's Chamber and for which as a most glorious Action Triumphs were made and publick Thanksgivings were returned to God. So in Savoy and elsewhere both in former and latter Times And this was that which the late Conspirators aimed at so fully intending a Massacre Those that escaped a Massacre saith Dugdale must be cut off by the Army And Coleman tells the Internuncio in his Letters That their Design prospered