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A52764 A Letter from Oxford concerning Mr. Samuel Johnson's late book N. N. 1693 (1693) Wing N40; ESTC R4251 12,066 31

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to practise what he tells us the best Teachers of Christianity did viz. They never meddled with Crowns and Scepters but left Mankind under those Forms and Rules of Civil Government in which they found them What greater and better Argument can be given against Church-mens introducing Religion or Christianity into the Forms and Rules of Civil Government than what this Gentleman acknowledges viz. that our Saviour and his Apostles meddled not with it They left the several Civil Governments to depend upon their own Laws Policies and Constitutions and there and no where else are we to seek for a Rule and Guide to our Consciences in Matters relating to Allegiance and Protection the Power of the Prince and the Duty of Subjects I am not here professedly taking upon me to maintain either of Mr. Iohnson's Positions which no Man is better able to make good than himself though there is no great need of his undertaking it neither unless some or other should have the Impudence to contradict him But I must beg leave to observe that heretofore under the Reigns of Princes whose Accession to the Throne was occasion'd by the Removal of their Predecessors the Doctrine contain'd in Mr. Iohnson's second Position was never look'd upon as dangerous to Princes but countenanced and openly a vowed In the first Year of King Edward the Third there are these observable Words in a Stature of that King viz. Whereas it was necessary for our Soveraign Lord the King that now is and the Queen his Mother seeing the Destructions Damage Oppressions and Disherisons which were notoriously done in the Realm of England upon Holy Church Prelates Earls Barons and other Great Men and the Comminalty by the said Hugh and Hugh Robert and Edmund Arundel by the incroaching of such Royal Power to them to take as good Counsel therein as they might And seeing they might not remedy the same unless they came into England with an Army of Men of War and by the Grace of God and with such Puissance and with the Help of Great Men and Commons of the Realm they have vanquished and destroyed the said Hugh and Hugh Robert and Edmund Wherefore our Soveraign Lord the King that now is at his Parliament holden at Westminster c. hath provided ordained and established That no Great Man nor other of what Estate Dignity or Condition he be that came with the said King that now is with the Queen his Mother into the Realm of England nor none other then dwelling in England that came with the said King that now is and the Queen in Aid of them to pursue their said Enemies IN WHICH PURSUIT THE KING HIS FATHER WAS TAKEN AND PUT IN WARD AND YET REMAINETH IN WARD shall not be impeached molested nor grieved in Person nor in Goods in the King's Court nor other Court FOR THE PURSUIT OF THE SAID KING TAKING AND WITHHOLDING OF HIS BODY nor Pursuit of any other nor taking of their Persons Goods c. This same Parliament reversed the Attainders of several Persons who had assisted Thomas Duke of Lancaster towards the Removal of the Spencers Father and Son from the Presence and Councils of King Edward the Second and particularly the Attainder of Thomas Duke of Lancaster himself who as Lord High Steward of England had betaken himself to Arms to drive the Spencers out of the Realmor to bring them to Justice and had given the King Battel And they not only reverse his Attainder but in a Letter to the Pope give an Account of his Worth of the Justice of his Cause that he died a Martyr that Almighty God had been pleased to give a Testimony of his Innocence c. by permitting several Miracles to be wrought at his Tomb which they desire the Pope to issue a Commission to enquire whether they were real or not and to canonize him for a Saint The Reversal of his Attainder and this Letter are yet extant upon Record Nor could I ever meet in any of our Histories or Monuments that give any Account of that Revolution that King Edward the Third claimed the Crown either by Conquest though he came from beyond Sea with a Force too and routed and dispersed those evil Counsellors who had got the King into their Interest or by Right of Inheritance though he was indeed the next Heir but could have no Title by Descent as long as his Father was alive or that any other Hypothesis was invented to colour his Accession to the Crown than what was really true in Fact which was no other than his being set up by the States of the Realm who had deposed his Father for his Misgovernment upon formal Articles of Impeachment which are yet to be seen in Adam Orleton's Apology at the end of Henry Knighton's Chronicle Much less would that King have endured such as should charge him to his Face with Usurpation and that he was a King de facto only but not de jure We know how his Successor King Henry the 4th treated a couple of Prelates that opposed his Title which was the same with that of his Grandfather the Victorious King Edward the Third The Bishop of Carlisle was proceeded against in Parliament and sentenced to Death though the King was pleased to remit that But for the Archbishop of York the more virulent and bitter Adversary of the two he made no more ado but chopp'd his Head off Queen Elizabeth's Title to the Crown was by virtue of a Remainder settled upon her by Act of Parliament other she had none nor ever pretended to any for she stood Illegitimated by an Ecclesiastical Sentence confirmed by Act of Parliament And so sure a Title she took this to be and was so little ashamed to own it that it was made Higk-Treason during her Reign to deny that the Succession of the Crown might be altered by Act of Parliament and a Praemunire for ever I mention these things because we hear to our Astonishment that Mr. Iohnson's Book is not well receiv'd at Court where of all other places in our poor Opinions it ought to meet with the kindest Entertainment because it justifies his Majesty's Proceedings which were previous to the Revolution and represents him as the Truth is to be a King who has a Just and a Legal Right to the Crown by the Laws of this Realm By what Logick it can be made ill Doctrine to assert the Lawfulness of removing bad Princes under the Government of good Ones and those such as upon a supposition of the Unlawfulness of removing bad Ones can have no good Title to the Crown themselves is what we cannot easily comprehend But I have ever thought that Courtiers see farther into a Mill-stone than other Men and that their way of Reasoning differs from that of the rest of Mankind since I saw King Charles the Second heal I took notice that when the King put the Gold about their Necks that came to be Touch'd the Bishop repeated over and over these
A LETTER FROM OXFORD CONCERNING MR. SAMVEL IOHNSON's Late BOOK 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OXFORD Printed in the Year MDCXCIII A Letter from Oxford concerning Mr. SAMUEL JOHNSON's late Book ACcording to your Desire I am very willing to give you not only my own Judgment upon Mr. Iohnson's late Book but that of others who are much more able than I am my self to pass a Judgment of it You know I live in a Place where Men of his Principles have been almost universally cry'd down as Enemies to the English Monarchy and consequently to the Church of England though neither you nor I are very clear in that Consequence if there were any Foundation of Truth in the Premises and where every thing that bears his Name or that of any other Person who is under the same Prejudice here was like to find but cold Entertainment and yet I can assure you that this Book has made some Converts amongst us such I mean who were not our Enemies out of pure Malice has stagger'd others who were less settled upon their Lees and has hardned others in their Impenitency whose Eyes the God of this World has blinded that they cannot believe nor understand It is observed in the Acts of the Apostles and inserted into Holy Writ by the immediate Inspiration of God's Holy Spirit as a most notorious Instance of the Prevalency of the everlasting Gospel of Christ that a great Company of the Priests were obedient to the Faith as if they of all Men were the most obdurate and hardest to be wrought upon For such is the Infirmity of Mankind that we must have Men to instruct us in our Duty and the Veneration we naturally have for a Deity carries us sometimes insensibly and unawares into an implicite blindfold Awe and Respect for the Persons of those Men who officiate at his Altar preach his Word to us and instruct us out of it in our Duty to him and our Neighbours But since God has put this Treasure in earthen Vessels as St. Paul informs us though perhaps that Expression if it were not in Holy Scripture might seem needless for daily Experience taught us before he was born and will do to the End of the World that so it is these Dispensers of his holy Word and Sacraments being Men of like Passions with us have been apt to take Advantage of the Credulity of Mankind and to inculcate things into us in the Name of the Lord which the Lord hath not said neither came they into his Heart And having once taught us in the Name of the Lord Doctrines which really are and which sometimes they themselves know to be but Traditions of Men for I cannot have that Charity for them all as to believe that they believe themselves they are then obliged for the maintaining of their Credit and by a spiritual Pride which is very incident to earthen Vessels not to retract those Doctrines which indeed they cannot do without giving God or themselves the Lie and without betraying the Interest to which they think those Doctrines subservient And hence it comes to pass that Clergy-men of all others are hardest to be reclaimed from any Errors that they have once imbarqued in Their Interest for the most part lies at stake their Reputation as Men of Learning and Judgment and above all as Men intrusted with the Oracles of God Accordingly we find by History both Sacred and Profane that in all Nations and in all Ages the Clergy whether Pagan Iewish Mahometan Popish or Protestant have muster'd all their Force from time to time to oppose any Innovations whatsoever either in Doctrine or Discipline that have had the least Colour of being Alterations for the better The Iewish Clergy crucified our Saviour and persecuted his Apostles and Disciples where they had any part of the Civil Power in their own Hands and where they had not they stirred up the Pagan Magistrates to do their Drudgery in persecuting the Christians as appears by the Acts of the Apostles The Pagan Clergy opposed Christianity because if our Saviour's Doctrine of One only God were received their multiplicity of Gods and consequently their several Temples Altars Victims Priesthoods Profits Perquisites Advantages and Emoluments whatsoever thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining would become utterly void and of none effect to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever How the Popish Clergy opposed the Reformation and with what weak Arguments but under how potent Inducements of another kind we all know who have looked but a hundred and fifty or two hundred Years backward into the History of this part of Christendom Examples of our Protestant Clergy I forbear to mention because I would not be invidious and because we live in an Age in which Wounds ought rather to be indeavoured to be healed than to be ripp'd into and made wider But this hint is sufficient to inform us how great Prejudices the Clergy of what kind soever labour under with Respect to the maintaining what they have once espoused and taught and consequently how great a Credit accrues to any Truth by conquering their Prejudices and gaining them to a Reception and Entertainment of it Which that this Book of Mr. Iohnson's has done in a great Measure in this University I can and do assure you and I will give you an Account by what Methods their Conviction proceeded before I give you my own or any Bodies Censure of the Work it self They had their Education under the Reign of the late King Charles the Second in whose times all the several Maxims and Principles of Tyranny were set on foot and improved to the uttermost the Government of this Nation represented as an absolute Monarchy and that sort of Government indeavoured to be proved the only Government that had any Foundation in Nature or Scripture Hence proceeded the several Branches of Slavery viz. that the Legislature was vested in the Person of the Prince only and the two Houses of Parliament that of the Commons especially as in considerable as they are represented in the Beginning of Mr. Iohnson's Preface the unalterable Right of Succession the Irresistibility of Princes and their darling new-coin'd Doctrine of Passive Obedience the Characteristical Mark of the Church of England to use the Words of a late Prelate when he was about to give up the Ghost These Principles were then so far countenanced at Court that the asserting of them in the Pulpit and in the Press was then the only way to Preferment in the Church and Interest striking in with Education the poor Gentlemen were tied Hand and Foot Their Education was such as had deprived them of Opportunities to be rightly informed and their Interest going hand in hand with their Ignorance they did not seek after Information That which contributed to their Blindness of Mind was that some Men not merely Speculative and Notional as Clergy-men generally are the subject Matter of whose Studies and Enquiries is for the most part wrapp'd up
in the Clouds were set at work by the Court to perswade the Nation that what the Clergy taught us as the Law of God was really and truly the Law of this Realm likewise Our Gentlemen here have not used to trouble their Heads much with humane Laws which they are apt to look down upon with Contempt and account of them as a Knack only by which one sort of Men amongst us pick Money out of other Mens Pockets but they had heard at a Distance of Fundamental Laws and were very ready to believe such Men as Brady Iohnson Filmer c. who told them as from History Records and the utmost Antiquity that our Government was the same by our Law that it was or ought to be by their Divinity Thus they were lull'd asleep till the Consequences of their Principles came to stare them in the Face in King Iames his time Slavery they could digest for that was what they had professedly own'd preach'd and printed But they were not aware that Slavery would bring in Popery or whatever the Soveraign had a mind to till they saw by Experience that a Slave is a Dog that must leap over a Stick and back again as his Master bids him Being thus at a stand and having no Remedy left them but their Prayers and Tears it pleased God to stir them up a Deliverer whom indeed they accepted at first with open Arms tho some of them thought afterward he delivered them more than he needed however neither the Providence of God nor the Authority of the States of the Realm nor the Vox Populi would be limited and restrained by the Dreams of our Men of Theory The Revolution being thorowly wrought they were glad to find themselves in the Condition they were in and as the Wit of Man is fruitful of Inventions they cast about how to come in to the Interest of this present Government without renouncing what they had formerly so openly avow'd to be the Law of God and according to their several Judgments Wits Apprehensions Fancies Whimsies Fooleries c. one submits to Providence another to an Usurper another to a King de facto another to a Conqueror one says King Iames left us another we turn'd him out another Gallio-like cares for none of these things but submits to the Powers that are Now this Book of Mr. Iohnson's has so effectually even in their own Judgments and by their own Acknowledgments beat them out of all these weak Strong-holds that they begin to be satisfied that what all the rest of Mankind believe is true to wit that there is no safe Rule for Conscience in Civil Affairs but the several Laws of Nations and this makes them see the necessity of enquiring into our Laws if they will be Dogmatical in Matters of this nature or else of submitting their Judgments to the States of the Realm Assembled in Parliament This great Work Mr. Iohnson's Book has done with many here it has convinced them that Law is Law and that heretofore they did not understand the difference betwixt Law and no-Law And this Conviction having put some of them upon bending their Studies towards an Enquiry into the Laws of this Government we may hope to see fulfill'd what was said by the Prophet The Priest's Lips should keep Knowledg and they should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts The two Positions which Mr. Iohnson lays down in the beginning of his short Book at the end of his Preface viz. That the People of England did actually Dethrone King Iames the Second for Misgovernment and promoted the Prince of Orange in his stead And That this Proceeding was according to the English Constitution and prescribed by it Have used to be traduced by our Clergy as Republican Principles and as such are branded by a Reverend Prelate of our Church in a Preface of his to three Treatises concerning the Iesuits Loyalty Where according to the Genius of the Court as it then was he expresseth himself thus viz. It is allowed by all Friends to our King and his Government that the Commonwealth-Principles are destructive to it and that none who own them can give any sufficient Security for their Allegiance All the mischievous Consequences of the Republican Principles do follow upon the Pope's owning the Power of deposing Princes However the Primitive Christians thought it no Flattery to Princes to derive their Power immediately from God and to make them accountable to him alone as being superiour to all below him yet after the Pope's Deposing Power came into Request the Commonwealth-Principles did so too and the Power of Princes was said to be of another Original and that therefore they were accountable to the People These Principles and Practices we of the Church of England profess to detest and abhor The Power of the People and the Deposing Power of the Pope are two fundamental Principles of Rebellion The Commonwealth's-men when they are asked how the People having once parted with their Power come to resume it presently run to an implicit CONTRACT betwixt the Prince and the People by virtue whereof the People have a fundamental Power left in themselves which they are not to exercise but upon Princes Violation of the Trust committed to them Who made Conditional Settlements of Civil Power upon Princes Who keeps the ancient Deeds and Records of them For in all the first Ages of the Christian Church this Conditional Power and Obedience was never heard of Here we see the Foundation upon which this Government stands and under which this Author has accepted Preferment and all the Proceedings of the Lords and Commons and of the People towards the effecting the late Revolution are branded as Republican Principles destructive to the Government such as none who own can give sufficient Security for their Allegiance such as the Church of England professeth to detest and abhor a CONTRACT betwixt Prince and People turn'd into Ridicule and what not Now this Gentleman took another Course in his Politicks than Mr. Iohnson has done A few Years after he wrote this Preface he might perhaps enquire a little into our Antient Laws and Government which it is to be presumed he was in a great measure in the dark concerning when he let fly thus at random against Republican Principles of his own Christning If he had consulted the Examples of our Forefathers and the Provisions made by them from time to time even with the Concurrence and Assent and by the Authority of our Princes themselves for the securing the Laws and Liberties of the People and for a due and impartial Administration of Justice according to settled and established Laws he would hardly have traduced Positions as new upstart Commonwealth-Principles which have so deep a Root in the Legal Government of this Nation and which whoever shall deny does as far as in him lies set this present Government upon a rotten sandy Foundation He would then perhaps have learn'd