with the first Exercise of an Arbitrary Power the Popish Religion began to appear on the Stage and the Monks and Friars enter'd to act in their proper Habits Seminaries were set up in several places and Houses fill'd with those Religious Furies Father Peter a Jesuit was made of the Privy Council and reign'd Chief Minister Thus from the Spring of Imperial i.e. Arbitrary Power an over-flowing Deluge broke forth threatning miserable occasions for the Religious Exercise of that Fatal Duty Passive Obedience King James no sooner altered from what he seem'd to be in his first Speech but the People alter'd from what they were Their Satisfaction in their new King vanish'd and from the hopes of living happy Subjects under him they sank into the Apprehensions of becoming despis'd and ear-boar'd Slaves A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People and even those Clergy-men that were the Tools to Subvert their own Religion and the Civil Rights of their Brethren were afraid that themselves should feel the Thunder with which they had arm'd their Tyrant This brought them quickly to interpret away the grammatical plain mischievous Sense of Passive Obedience and as for the Exercise of it that they were so far from practising being above their own Ordinances that no honest Men were more forward to invite and joyn with a Deliverer than these Shifters The miserable Condition of England at that time did not only move Compassion in our Neighbours but as we have reason to believe put them in mind that the Disease we labour'd under was catching and if it was not timely repell'd by their Assistance it would not be long before they lamented their own Fate They were therefore for our and for their own sakes aiding and assisting to our rightful and lawful King the then Prince of Orange whom God and his own Vertue prompted to attempt our Deliverance The difficulties that threatned this attempt were great and discouraging but he who was incapable of fear despis'd the Dangers Landed some Forces at Torbay and met a Success answerable to the justness of his Cause and the greatness of his Courage But before he set forward to take off all Suspicions that might reasonably arise where an Army came that might pretend to Conquer as well as to relieve he put forth a glorious Declaration Proclaiming that his Expedition was intended for no other end but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled soon as possible to secure to the whole Nation the free enjoyment of their Laws Rights and Liberties to preserve the Protestant Religion and cover such as would live peaceably under the Government as becomes good Subjects from all persecution on the account of Religion Papists themselves not excepted King James was now reduc'd to that wherein he seem'd always to place his greatest trust an Army for the Preachers had forsook him and their own Slavish Doctrines sometime before with the Army then he advanced to Salisbury but found that they were a part of injur'd English Men seeing himself therefore deserted by them as well as by his Chaplains who invested him with his illegal Arbitrary Power and all the honest English he left the Kingdom thus he did as it were Sign and Seal his own Abdication which was grown as full and perfect as obstinate Tyranny could make it And as his Act and Deed the Nation took it then the Lords and the Commons represented in their chosen Trustees settled the Crown and Royal Dignity on King William and Queen Mary the exercise of Regal Power on their glorious Deliverer only Thus did they restore the Old Constitution of redem'd England in King Lords and Commons There was before the settlement of the Crown Feb. 4. 1688. a great Conference between the Lords and Commons chiefly on two Particulars Voted by the Commons 1. That King James had Abdicated the Government 2. That thereby the Throne became vacant The Lords insisted on altering the Word Abdicated and in the place thereof to insert Deserted Also they were not willing to willing to admit those Words The Throne is thereby become vacant The exception against the Word Abdicated was that in the common acceptation of the Civil Law it imports a voluntary express Act of Renuntiation which was not in this case and did not follow from the Premises To this the Commons answer'd that the doing an Act inconsistent with the being and end of a thing about which it is conversant or which shall not answer the end of that thing but go quite contrary That Act shall be construed an Abdication and formal Renunciation of that thing This they exemplified Thus the Government is under a Trust and any acting contrary to that Trust is a Renuntiation of that Trust tho' it be not a Renuntiation thereof by a formal Deed. For Act and Deed is as plain and full a Declaration as a Writing can be He that acts contrary to a Trust is a Disclaimer of that Trust tho' he does not disclaim it by a formal Deed. From all this they drew these just Consequences That King James having Acted contrary to his Trust had Abdicated his Government and that having Abdicated it the Throne is thereby become Vacant But the Lords insisted that the Throne could not be Vacant because there was an Heir and that in a Successive Kingdom an Abdication of the Government by a Tyrannous breach of Trust could be a forfeiture only as to that Person who Tyrannically breaking his Trust does Abdicate the Government but not as to the next Heir so as to put him by and make the Government elective Therefore the Abdication of King James the II. could not prejudice the next Heir and then by consequence the Throne was not vacant The Commons upon this demanded that the Lords would tell them with whom the Throne was fill'd The Lords only answer'd in general that it was sufficient to know that there were Heirs to take by lineal Succession tho' they did not or could not expressly name the particular Person whose right it was to fill the Throne And therefore tho' they could not say who fill'd the Throne yet they had reason to conclude it was not Vacant The Commons then represented to the Lords that their Lordships would neither agree that the Throne was Vacant nor say how it was full and desir'd to know who was King if King James was not or were they to be always in that doubtful Condition For none could be King James his Heir during his Life the Crown could not descend till his Death The Lords replied That tho' the King be not dead Naturally yet if he is so Civilly the next of course ought to come in as by Hereditary Succession The Commons replied That their Lordships held it a difficult thing to go upon the examination who is Heir and demanded if that was not clear whether they were always to remain under the difficulty As for the Commons they were not concern'd what Words were us'd Fill
now fain to trim the matter with loose general talk and softning Interpretations But then the Sense of Original Contract runs thro' all our Law-Books the unanswerable Mr. Johnson has cited so many so clear Testimonies of this that I will only mention the Confession of an English Monarch King James I. who tho' he uses not the Word Contract yet he does a Synonimous if Paction signifies the same as Contract In his Speech to the Parliament 1603. he sets down the just Distinction between a King and a Parliament But in his Speech to them 1609. he hath these Words The King binds himself by a double Oath to the Observation of the Fundamental Laws of his Kingdom tacitly as by being King and so bound to protect as well the People as the Laws of his Kingdom and expresly by his Oath at his Coronation So as every just King in a setled Kingdom is bound to observe that Paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto But he that is most a stranger to our Law-books may easily be able to prove that the beginnings of all Forms of Government could not but proceed from the Choice or Consent of the People It is true God is the Fountain of all Power but he does not communicate it immediately to Man at least he has not done so in these later Ages Nay in the Designation of Saul and David which is recorded to have been from God 't is remarkable that after the Divine Unction the People assembled and by their Votes freely chose them and before the Peoples Choice they were not actually Kings of Israel But I will make short of this matter Original Contract there must have been between King and People wherever lawful Power is exercised by a King because Kings are not immediately chose of God But such a thing as a Power to do mischief which ought not to be resisted never could be because 't is against the Nature of God to give such a Power to any Man and that which inclines People to set up a King over them restrains them from giving him such a Power If this be a Digression I beg the Readers pardon but I hope I have fully prov'd that at the time of the Convention when 't is confess'd we were without a setled Form of Government so that the Lords of their own free Motion address'd the Prince of Orange to take upon him the Administration for a while the Government could not have been setled otherways than it was setled viz. by the choice of the Community and if they had not made so wise a Choice as they did in the Person of King William yet his Title would have been Lawful and Rightful because his Person was the free Choice of the Community at that time when they had no King But notwithstanding this plain state of the Case and as I presume to think these unanswerable reasons the Old Tyrannical Doctrine had still a spreading root and tho' the common Sense and Honesty of the Nation long provok'd and almost undone by it was ready to check the incouragements formerly given it and blast its open growth yet now it began to shoot forth its baneful branches under the sheltring distinction of a King DE FACTO and a King DE IVRE Of all the mischievous Doctrines that ever were topt upon a Nation by holy Priestcraft none ever stood more in need of Shelter The Doctrines of Popery commit but slight depredations on the Liberties and Properties of a People but by IMPERIAL LAWS controuling the Political by quiet Submission to illegal Violence they are with a vengeance swept quite and clean away Our comfort is that no Parliament Men can possibly believe that the People have no right to their Liberties because the People chuse Knights and Burgesses to defend their Liberties and Properties and 't were the most disingenuous injustice in the World for Gentlemen to accept such a Trust if they are of opinion that the People are not rightfully possess's of their Liberties and Properties No Parliament Men can possibly believe that King William is only a King DE FACTO because it were the most Infamous Self-contradiction to joyn with a King to make Laws in whom they did not own a right to give them a Sanction Indeed when I look back on the beginning of this King's Reign I call to mind those things which somewhat amaze and puzzle me For who can take notice without some extraordinary emotion that any of the King 's Chief Councellours should urge him not to insist on his Title DE IVRE or that when the owning him rightful and lawful King was started and propos'd in the House of Commons it should be coldly received and rejected For if the King shall not hold his Title to be DE IURE he must be an Enemy to his own quiet Possession and if the Commons shall not own him for their rightful and lawful King they must needs look upon themselves as Slaves not Subjects holding their Honours Estates and Interests precariously For my part I cannot but conceive that when the Lords and Commons in the Grand Convention declared the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of England c. and setled the full and sole exercise of Regal Power on the Prince they made him their Lawful and Rightful King They made him their Lawful and Rightful King or they made him nothing Can any Man think or talk so absurdly as that the Lords and Representatives of the People chose the Prince of Orange to the infamous honour of an Usurper and a Tyrant praying him to play the Tyrant and Administer that Government which he had no right to meddle with or that at one and the same time they own'd King James his right to govern them and would not admit him to exercise that right These are absurd Contradictions which cannot consist with the Honour and Wisdom of English Senators But whatever any Enemy of our Settlement may pretend was meant by the Convention who made choice of the Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England c. and of the Prince alone to exercise the Regal Power this I am sure that the distinction of a King DE IVRE and a King DE FACTO is ill-grounded and mischievous 1. It is ill-grounded This distinction can be trac'd no higher than Edw. the IV. and his first Parliament invented and made use of it not as a Salvo for the justification of any thing done by and under the Kings of the House of Lancaster but in contra-distinction to a King DE IVRE and that Parliament did thereby denote that they held a King in Possession to be a King falsly so call'd only and to have no right to the Allegiance of the People But our Ancient Common Lawyers Bracton Fortescue c. knew nothing of this distinction A DE FACTO KING OF ENGLAND according to their sense of Words is as perfect Nonsense
the Malitious Addresses of his furious Mistress as Testimonies of her passionate Fondness for him and so gave her that dominion over himself which he resolv'd to have over the Swedes He found the Pulse of the Church beat as high as his own they were even impatient to make their King their Tyrant supposing that their share in the Ecclesiastical part would be as Flourishing as his in the Civil and the violent Arch-Bishop of Vpsal fancied he should not be much the lesser Monarch of the two Christiern ill enough dispos'd of himself and always animated to mischief by his Hellish Erinnys quickly came to a resolution of destroying all the Senatours and Principal Noblemen that had been or were like to be Enemies of his Imperial Arbitrary Authority To facilitate the fatal Execution he put on a better countenance than the Withered Hagg his Spightful Favourite wore no cloud sate on his Royal Brow but all was clear and calm there proper as could be to perswade them to trust who once suspected him With this show of Gentleness and Affection then he invites the Lords to a Magnificent Feast at Sockholm Two Days they were highly treated and on the Third Massacred Yet was not the Imperial Tyrannick Thirst of Christiern satisfied for the Great Gustavus with some few Illustrious Patriots escap'd the Slaughter wherefore he sends fresh bloody Orders to his Troops who presently put the whole Town to the Sword sparing none except the Old and Ugly but them perhaps in Complement to Sigebrite Nay so utterly averse did this Tyrant then show himself to all Humanity that when a Swedish Gentleman could not restrain his Grief beholding such a Scene of Horrour he had him fastned to a Gibbet and his Bowels torn forth because of his tenderness and compassion This surprizing Bloody Start from a King to a Tyrant terrified the People so extreamly that it dispos'd them to do their parts to free themselves from their deplorable Condition Slavery may be the misfortune of a People but to submit to it can never be their Duty And I much question whether in the like Case our Advocates of Imperial absolute Sovereignty would not have been of the same mind with the Swedes and not by their Passive Obedience have acknowledg'd their ruine for their Religion Well! in a short time what the Swedes long'd for a Deliverer appear'd He was the injur'd Gustavus Ericson descended from the Ancient Kings of Sweden and Nephew to King Canutson Christiern had now not only Abdicated his Government by his Tyranny in the utter subversion of the Laws Rights and Properties of the People but being generally Hated Beaten and Forsaken he Consumated his Abdication by Flight and Gustavus the Generous Deliverer was by a Convention of the Estates with the Joy of the People chosen King of Sweden which he govern'd happily all the days of his Life A Philosopher being ask'd which was the most dangerous of all Beasts Answer'd of Wild Ones a Tyrant of Tame Ones a Flatterer These Tame Ones hunt the Game like Jacalls and with their plaguy yelping excite and guide the Wild Ones to the Prey and this they do in hopes that when their Lawless Masters are cloy'd they may satisfie their own Appetites with Reliques of that Destruction in which they had been instrumental This Jacall yalping in England was never more Fierce Eager and Loud than in the Reign of King Charles II. and it was a proper time for the Enemies of England and the Protestant Religion with the advantage of the shelter which he gave them to make preparation for the Triumphant Entrance of Popery and Slavery And at that time they did not neglect the opportunity witness the Dover Treaty The Popish Plot discover'd by Doctor Oates and many a bantering Sham that could not be brought to pass upon the People but then something that could make its one way came on Quo Warranto's like Bombs were thrown into Corporations which miserably destroy'd their Antient Charters Dispensing Judges were advanc'd Proper Sheriffs chosen and all unjust Arts used to dispose things for the easier plundering the Nation of their Liberties Properties and Religion These unrighteous Proceedings would hardly have been ventur'd on but for the Countenance that was giv'n them by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience a Doctrine not reveal'd by Jesus Christ nor recorded in his Gospel but stamp'd by latter Creation under the protection of which any King may play the Christiern or the Lewis safely and without controul This Creation stamped Doctrine grew in such Credit and Esteem that not a Man who did not give his Assent and Consent to the same could be allow'd to be a true Son of the Church scarcely to be a Christian. The unlimited Power of a King having been so strenuously asserted and so sucessfully in the Proceedings of those Times seem'd to make the death of King Charles very seasonable for the opening the Execution of the Grand Design in a barefac'd Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England King James at his first coming to the Crown seem'd to endeavour to take away the Apprehension and Terrour that was justly imagin'd to fill the Minds of People And in his first Speech declar'd so much tenderness for them and such a respect for the preservation of their Liberties and Properties that the cajol'd Parliament from an excess of Satisfaction shew I may safely say more Affection to him than ever Parliament did to a Protestant Prince and gave Money till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction It must be granted that the lives of some Professors are not so bad as the consequences of their erroneous Opinions And it was charitably thought by the Parliament that King James tho' a Papist would not Govern so Arbitrary as the encourag'd Doctrines of the Age gave him leave but they quickly perceiv'd their Error and found to their Sorrow that Popery and Arbitrary Power could no more be seperated than the double Monster that was shown in London of two Brothers one growing out of the side of the other who were so intimately conjoyn'd that the Life Decay or Death of the one was equally the Concern and Fate of the other For now he began to put his Imperial Laws in Execution and by dispensing with fairly abrogated all the Political which should have secur'd the Rights of the People but alas they were betray'd into his hands and he without Mercy dispatch'd them To me it seems almost impossible but that the Spiritual Defenders of the Absolute Power of an English King who deliver'd that Power to be Gospel and the Slavish Judges who declar'd it to be Law should have deplor'd the Wounds they have given to the Religion and Laws of their Country unless the hopes of a share in the Spoiles had prevail'd above all honest Considerations and unless they had been themselves as ready to embrace the Popish Religion as they had been instrumental to set it up Together
and Contradiction as ever was made use of to illustrate the Romish Anti-evangelical Mysteries of Priestcraft A KING DE FACTO is just as much as a Rightful and Lawful Usurper or a Mild and Gracious Tyrant Our honest Ancient Lawyers were not wont to flatter Ambitious Princes with such odd and wickedly devis'd Distinctions at the expence of their Countries Honour and Safety A King with them was but of one sort Viz. The Creature of the Law The Ordinance of the People The King says Bracton has a Superiour God also the Law by which he is made King A King is made and ordain'd says Fortescue for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth power of his People Let Kings therefore it is the monition of Bracton temper their power by the Law which is the Bridle of Power These Famous and Learned Lawyers would certainly have thought it very ridiculous that the Title of a KING should be deriv'd only from the Notion of a Fact and the Exercise of his Kingship made to consist in the Execution of the Imperial Law of his Will Between such a King as this and a People there can never be a good Understanding but they will be eternally at variance for their Interests are distinct and separate and cannot but often happen to be directly contrary to one another I wish the Clergy Advocates of Imperial Power would but well weigh the reasoning of the Reverend Mr. Hooker a justly celebrated Writer and I hope they will take his Word for more than a Ceremony I will Transcribe a Passage they that like it not let them answer it He says That for any Prince or Potentate on Earth of what kind soever to exercise Government and not either by express Commission immediately and personally receiv'd from God or else by the Authority deriv'd at first from the consent of the People upon whom he imposes Laws is no better than meer Tyranny for Laws they are not which Poitical Approbation hath not made so but approbation they only give who personally declare their consent or by others in their Names by right originally deriv'd from them as in Parliaments c. But all of this Learned Wise and Good Man's order are not of his excellent true Christian Spirit some of them among those that best understand this matter in spight of Reason and common use of Speaking will set themselves up for such imperious Dictators of Words that the word King must needs signifie an Absolute Monarch But what if it should be admitted to signifie so sometimes in some Countries yet this is plain and undeniable it does not signifie so always nor so at all in England The bare Word or Title KING does not distinstly inform us what Power belongs to him that must be known by examining the Constitution of the State wherein he presides Perhaps some may object that if a King has not an Absolute Power he is dignified with a name which does not belong to him But this is like all the rest a positive stroke of Arbitrary Philosophy Words signifie as custom and common consent make them there is nothing in the nature of Words themselves but that TYRANT might have signified a Just a Gracious Prince a Father of his Country and KING a faithless cruel Tyrant a Lewis or a James The Gibberish of a KING DE FACTO and the Cant of an IMPERIAL LAW are of the same nature and design levell'd at the two Northern equal and equally hated Heresies the Protestant Religion and Monarchy limited by Law Mr. Johnson observing how long and how troublesomely the Nation had been haunted with the Word DE FACTO out of pure kindness to his Countrymen try'd to lay the Goblin but tho' he had exercis'd many a stubborn Devil in his time nay once not only rescued and restor'd some possess'd Creatures but thrown the very Devil himself into flames yet has he not been able to lay this DE FACTO Goblin Perhaps I ought not to pretend to more powerful Charmes than he however I will repeat the Exorcism there may be something in that And who knows but 't is towards day-break with the Common People if they once begin to discern the Priestcraft and State-craft of the distinction a little matter will rid all King WILLIAM's Dominions of the Mischeivous Phantom The plain English of a KING DE FACTO is of or from Fact or Deed. A KING DE FACTO must denote one that by the means of some Fact or Deed is denominated a KING DE FACTO in contradistinction to DE IVRE implies an unrighteous forcible an illegal violent Act. A KING DE FACTO then is a false King a wrong King a King who carries Usurpation and Tyranny in his very Title A King so far remov'd from Rightful and Lawful that he has not no not a right by Law unless the Law of his Sword a King that has no right to govern the People but the People a very good one to take away his DE FACTOSHIP from him But there is nothing in this false and dishonourable Title of a King DE FACTO that can be affix'd to King WILLIAM without the most impudent and malicious injustice tho more of it than the Advocates of the late King are well aware of really agrees to their Abdicatour If they who administred the Coronation Oath to the late King left out the Provision in the Ancient Oath for the Peoples enjoying St. Edward's Laws and added a special clause in favour of the Clergy's Canonical Priviledges if they Clogg'd the promise of securing the Civil Rights of the Nation with a Salvo for Kingly Prerogative then we may safely say that the late King was no more than a King DE FACTO from the very first and all the Oaths that were made to him are of no Obligation he not being the Person he was taken for But supposing that the late King did oblige himself by solemn Oath to Govern according to Law without any unrighteous Omission Addition or Salvo yet when he notoriously violated that sacred Oath by claiming an imperial arbitrary Power above and contrary to Law and by exercising the same in very many and those the most dangerous Instances that could be then he disclaimed all the Legal Title he could ever be supposed to have had tho' he continued indeed but too long afterwards a King De Facto a King in Possession doing all the despight he could to our Old English Constitution and our Holy Reform'd Religion But this false and dishonourable Title of a King de facto as I said just now cannot be affix'd to King William without the most impudent and malicious Injustice for he came over upon the earnest Sollicitation of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Subjects of all Ranks to deliver the Nation from Popery and Slavery To this purpose he declar'd himself in Words the Truth of which was clear enough from matter of fact for
because it lessens the Honour of the King it draws King WILLIAM's Picture too like that of King James there 's Difference enough let but an ordinary Painter have the Shadowing it between a Tyrant that will not be limited by Law and a Rightful King who pretends to no Power but what the Law gives him Between the sternness of the one awing the Poor Scholars of Maudlin and the Martial heat of the other forcing proud Boufflers out of Namur It ought not to be forgot that this DE FACTO injury to King WILLIAM's Honour is an instance of unparalell'd ingratitude for he ventur'd Life and Fortunes for the Deliverance of our enthrall'd Nation and that upon the humble requests of the Chief of those very Men who now requite him with this Wicked Shameful and Ingrateful Distinction One would think it was not politickly done of them as it is plain was not done honestly for who would serve their interest another time if this be their way of Testifying their Sense of the Obligation They are a Generation difficult and hard to be pleas'd and possibly it were easier to teach them their Duty and make them Subscribe to RIGHTFUL AND LAWFUL KING than to gratifie all their Pretensions for whether they know it or no the honest English Men who were enough to carry it for the Election of King WILLIAM to supply the vacant Throne are enough to defend his Right and establish his Throne maugre all their restless endeavours to supplant him II. As their malevolent distinction lessens the honour of the King so it weakens the Government Unto a King DE FACTO only there is no esteem no Thanks no Allegiance due We may admire a difficult and great Atchievment but it must be a Vertuous Honest and Beneficent which wins our Esteem and Love we must be the better for it if it deserves our thanks we must have paid our thanks in giving the Hero the Right of a King or he can have no just claim to our Allegiance Some Men teach and pretend the Authority of the Church of England for it but therein they wrong their holy Mother that Allegiance is due to successful Usurpers and that Providence together with success grants them that Authority which the People ought to obey for Conscience sake When an unhappy interest with-holds us from professing our assent to an evident Truth we are many times tempted to profess and defend an evident and shameful untruth So it is in the case before us The De facto Men refusing to own the rightful and lawful Title of King WILLIAM are forc'd to say that Allegiance is due to Usurpers for well they know should they pursue their Principle as far as it would carry them they could have no pretence at all to his protection besides open and declar'd enmity against the Government under King WILLIAM's Administration was too much in all conscience to be endur'd Hence they found it requisite to labour to perswade the King that they were oblig'd to obey him tho' he had no right to govern them 'T was a strange Paradox this so very strange that had they not been endued with the uncommon wit and bouldness of guilding and varnishing it at the expence of the honour of God Almighty they had made bold with the honour of the King to very little purpose But it is my business to wash off the guilt and varnish and show the odd Paradox naked that no Consciencious weak mind be cheated thereby hereafter They would perswade the King that they were oblig'd to obey him tho' he had no right to govern them This is pretended first to have been the Opinion of some of the best Lawyers of former days and Instance is offer'd in Sir Edw. Coke the Judges in Baggett's Case the Lord Chief Justice Hales and the Lord Chief Baron Bridgman But the Lord Chief Justice Hales for what he says quotes Sir Ed. Coke only against Sir Edw. Coke's Authority many things are obvious besides that it stands singly on Baggett's Case the Parliament Roll recited in that Case is pointed directly against what Sir Edw. Coke is suppos'd to have asserted Lord Chief Baron Bridgman has said nothing in favour but much against the Paradox For a fair and full illustration of these particulars I refer to the Review of Dr. Sherlock 's Case of Allegiance Printed in the Year 1691. As our Law is not chargeable with so foolish and unrighteous an injunction as that which requires obedience to Kings in possession Kings falsely so call'd who have no right to govern so much less is it to be defended from the words of Holy Scripture But as it sometimes happens in other Cases so in this where Men have the least reason for it there they put the greatest trust There is not a Text in the Bible which commands Obedience to Tyrants or Usurpers The Scope of the places and the evident reason of things all along evinces that the Kings Magistrates and other Superiours whom we are commanded to obey have a lawful Authority to govern Yet by artifice and dextrous shifting the Sails our De facto Men hope to weather the point Their method is to refer all events to the over-ruling disposals of Providence so as if Providence left nothing to the free will of Man Indeed if it were the positive Will of God that Ambitious Men should grasp Sceptres and Arbitrarily Lord it over cheated or conquer'd People then we ought to obey Tyrants and Usurpers for Conscience-sake but then the Argument would prove too much for such Ambitious Men being the Ministers of God's Providence and executing only what he would have them they ought not to be called Tyrants and Usurpers they have according to this reasoning from Providence a lawful Tittle But the Sophistry in this way of arguing from Providence is plainly discover'd and refuted by distinguishing between the Will and the Permission of God Almighty When those things that ought to be done and which are just and good are done then the Will of God is complied with when contrary things are done then the Will of God is resisted and oppos'd for as Dr. Sherlock has excellently observ'd We are to learn our duty from the law of God not from his Providence the Providence of God will never justify any action which his Law forbids Let me add nor can we without the highest impiety ascribe an unlawful action to his over-ruling influence he does not so much as give leave to the attempts of Ambitious Men he is not pleas'd with Usurpation and Tyranny and therefore it is impossible for him to require that Obedience be paid to Usurpers and Tyrants God for many wise Reasons permits the Affairs of the World to go on as they are mov'd by the force of Natural Causes thence it comes to pass that Craft and Cruelty often prevail over Right and Innocence But God has not made the misfortunes of honest Men their Duty neither Reason nor Revelation forecloses them from
earnestly that an Erroneous Conscience does not oblige a Man to follow it in proof of their Negative they muster many Zealous and some Witty Pleadings proper to amuse and entertain one sort of Readers but no Man can be convinc'd by them For God gave us Conscience to be our Guide and Nature will have us to follow it whether in the doing good or evil I prove it by this plain Reason if we are not oblig'd to obey an Erroneous Conscience then we are not oblig'd to obey a right and well perswaded Conscience for the Erroneous Conscience thinks it self in the right as well as the Conscience that both thinks so and is so A Man who is Erroneously perswaded in Moral Matters cannot but sin he sins in following his Erroneous Conscience when it prompts him to an Immoral Action because by the Word of God and Right Reason he might have inform'd his Conscience better He sins most audaciously when he acts against his Conscience because he thinks it his Duty to obey it Bishop Taylor teaches That it is a greater sin to do a good Action against our Conscience than to do an evil Action in obedience to it The Example he brings answers exactly but to one part of his Rule but comes near the other and leads to our purpose Fryar Clement the Jacobine thinks Erroneously that it is lawful to kill his King The poor Damosel Faucette thinks it unlawful to spit in the Church but it happen'd that one day she did it against her Conscience and the Fryar one day with his Conscience and a long Knife kill'd the King If the Question be here who sinn'd most the disparity is next to infinite the poor Woman was to be chidden for doing against her Conscience and the other to be hang'd for doing according to his Thus say I those Assasines deserve to be hang'd who attempt to kill and those also who consult and labour to disposses our Rightful and Lawful King WILLIAM but while with an Erroneous Conscience they believe him to be only King DE FACTO i.e. a false King but a real Usurper I do not see how they can avoid Treason and the danger of the Gallows Now bless us and deliver us Some Friends of the Party may say from so barbarous Doctrine as this What! Hang Men for obeying their Consciences and doing what in their Circumstances they could not avoid But to abate their Wonder and let them into the cruel Mystery I reply it is but a Just Reasonable and Necessary Doctrine for why should their Consciences disturb our Settlement and endanger the Life of our King They should labour to inform their Consciences better or carry them to some other Country where our Government and the Life of our King may be as safe from the treacherous practices of their Consciences as their Consciences from the Just and but too slow Vengeance of the Government For as Mr. Johnson told them long agoe He ought not to live under any Government who refuses to give it the customary and legal caution They shall put you out of the Synagogues said Christ to his Apostles yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that be doth God good service Friend and Perkins and their Fellow Assassines thought themselves oblig'd in Conscience to take off King WILLIAM because they look'd upon him only as a King DE FACTO a meer Usurper In Conscience they held themselves oblig'd to endeavour the Restoration of the late King because they look'd on him as King DE IVRE And rather than not effect these Purposes they engage to promote a French Invasion which would have made bloody Work among us but what car'd they for that as long as it was to reinstate the right Heir A more Mischievous Distinction cannot be imagin'd than this of a King DE IVRE and DE FACTO the former being applied to the late King the latter to King WILLIAM but I will descend to some particular Instances This wicked Distinction thus Mischievously applied long encourag'd troublesom Commotions in Scotland but more fatally delay'd the Reduction of Ireland It famish'd some Thousands in London-Derry kept a gallant Army from Action One Summer for Six Weeks that was till the Season for Action was over so that the Victory of the next Year cost the King some of his own Blood and the Life of his brave General It betray'd our Councils and brought the French Fleet into our Channel prevented the pushing on our Successes so that our dishonour is not yet reveng'd as it ought and perhaps might be it expos'd our Merchants and ruin'd our Trade it hatch'd many a Hellish Plot in Ireland in Flanders in England against the Life of King WILLIAM and Queen MART against the Liberties of this Nation and the Lives of all honest Protestants it hinder'd the due Examination of discover'd Plots and rescued Traytors convict without obliging them to Confession This Wicked and Mischievously applied distinction contriv'd the last Hellish Conspiracy laid it deep and spread it wide urg'd it on with a steddy Zeal and unwearied Application under the Auspices of an exil'd Tyrant and at the vast expence of his proud Protector watch'd all opportunities to begin the Bloody Execution conceal'd it obstinately pursued it after disappointments and we have reason to believe that we are not got so far into the horrid Secret but they have their hopes to retrieve it However blessed be God who has brought so much of it to light that we shall not perish that we shall not perish unless it be our own fault if we please the Sun may be let in upon it the Law may effectually spppress it and then and not till then we shall be safe both we and our King The undantedly honest Mr. Johnson and one or two more out of dry love to their Country some Years ago oppos'd this Wretched Mischievous and Misapplied Distinction with Learning Wit and Reason but the Friends of the late King James could endure that Opposition and reply little while they met with no Penal Opposition from the Government But when one or two of the Conspirators averse to so horrid a Villany as was in agitation among them reveal'd the design to the King and the King laid it before the House of Commons of a sudden the Spirits of that Honourable Body the Representatives of the People of England were rouz'd from the confus'd Lethargy of a doubtful Opinion into a clear discerning Sense of the danger into which the Sacred Life of KING WILLIAM and all the dearest Interest of all true Englishmen were betray'd by the distinction of a King DE IVRE and a King DE FACTO Immediately therefore to repair their Errour with a just warmth they declar'd the right of their King that so they might on a stable Rock build their own defence which had been vilely shaken by the rotten Foundation of an Usurper daub'd over with the empty name only of a King A very great Majority of that
hop'd for the other suspected and fear'd such a new dismal Scene of Affairs And for ought I know the Establishment and Security of the Government under King WILLIAM may be owing more to what has been done against it than to what has been done for it Perîssem nisi perîssem I think it was the Saying of the brave Themistocles by which I suppose he design'd to declare that it was his Opinion he had not arriv'd at that Heighth of Greatness if he had not been ruffled oppos'd and banish'd and I am very fully satisfied that if it had not been for this last devillish Invasion and Assassination-Plot we had not in haste declar'd King WILLIAM our Rightful and Lawful King nor associated for the Preservation of his Life by threatning to revenge his violent Death There is a difference between those that were to have had their part in the Assassination and those that were concern'd only in the Invasion The Assassines are not able to devise any the least colour to take off from the Heinousness of their intended Villany Perkins was a little asham'd of this infamous Design but as for the Promoters of the Invasion their Treason was but Consonant to their old mischievous Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure Some of the Assassines have met their deserv'd Fate but the simple Invaders have hardly been scar'd yet if they shall not be call'd to an Account also who bid fair for slaying Ten Thousands of the People and so making up in Numbers a Sacrifice equal to that of their King they will not only be confirm'd that they have distinguish'd well but prompted more vigorously to pursue the fatal end and purpose of their threatning Distinction And this indeed is enough and enough to cool the Zeal and to discourage the Endeavours of them that are otherwise very well dispos'd to serve the Interests of King WILLIAM their Country and the Protestant Religion Our King himself is not capable of endangering his own just Rights or the Safety of the People of England unless by his singular Mercy and Goodness which like his fearless Valour knows no Bounds as for the Representatives of the People it may be Reasonably presum'd they will at last provide that the De Facto Jacobites shall not have the Temptation of Impunity to attempt to subvert the Liberties of the Nation and to destroy the Lives of all that love their Liberties They have indeed according to the Trust reposed in them honestly endeavour'd and advanc'd some Paces towards such a necessary Provision by their Noble Just and Righteous Association But there remains a great deal more for them to do still lest what they have already done be frustrated and render'd all together ineffectual for their Association is no sooner drawn up subscrib'd by a great Majority and the Session prorogu'd But Ante-Associations are form'd against it by some of the Clergy not indeed in broad Words directly contrary but in cold and empty Flourishes of their own devising and such borrowed Expressions as they imagine capable of an interpretation that will not utterly subvert their Distinction of a KING DE FACTO and DE IVRE Which Distinction while it Reigns unpunish'd KING WILLIAM does not reign secure Several of the Ante-Associations were drawn up so little favouring the Title of His present MAJESTY so little consulting the Security of his Administration that it was scandalously manifest the Subscribers associated only in lewd Hypocisy to avoid the Envy of Non-associating to sham the Authority of the Nation with some deceitful Complements but in Reality and Truth to preserve their dear Distinction Such Associations therefore as these were rejected as they well deserved nor could all the Academic Elegance bestowed upon them help them through the officious Hands of Friends to his Majesty's gracious Acceptance But these Gentlemen carried it highly if his Majesty would not accept such Association as they had drawn up he should have none at all from them This being observ'd by other Persons of the same Order they wisely consider'd what Inconveniences might possibly happen from not Associating at all and therefore determin'd to comply but resolv'd to come off as cheap as they could They would venture to Associate but not with their Parishoners in the Form prescrib'd by the House of Commons except here and there an honest Parson that had no Priestcraft in him wherefore they carefully abstain from declaring it to be their perswasion that His present Majesty King WILLIAM is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms and as for his Violent and untimely death should it happen which God prevent they oblige not themselves to revenge it upon his Enemies and their Adherents But let us see What do they give us in the room of RIGHTFUL AND LAWFUL KING and instead of making it the utmost danger to kill him Why They borrow some words from the Association of the House Lords and insert the same among some empty Flourishes of their own upon which I note that altho' the Form of the Association of the House of Lords be in the Literal Plain and Obvious Sense and in the Sense by them intended Truly Just and Highly Loyal yet when Clergy-men who are represented by the House of Commons and not by the House of Lords shall Associate in the Language of the latter and not of the former it is a manifest sign that they dislike the Association of the House of Commons and that tho' the Association of the Lords tends to the same Just Noble and Necessary Purposes yet in their Opinion it may be interpreted to signifie something less It cannot be imagin'd that any of the Clergy should decline the Association of the House of Commons by whom they are represented if they were perswaded that the same was a Just and Righteous Association it cannot be imagin'd that they should prefer the Phrase of the House of Lords by whom they are not represented if they were firmly perswaded as I declare my self to be that that Phrase did come fully up to the Sense of the House of Commons and could not possibly be interpreted to signifie with a Jacobite abatement something favourable to their mischievously applied distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure Now in this their Practise they do a great injury to both Houses they audaciously slight the one and wickedly traduce the other What reward so high a Misdemeanour may deserve I take not upon me to pronounce but I hope I may have leave to say that these Clergy-Association-Separatists have not that unquestionable fair pretence to His Majesties Special Graces and Favours as the voluntary Subscribers of the Association of the House of Commons indeed they may considering the Wonderful Generosity of the King expect as much Forgiveness as they shall need and more Grace and Favour than they are dispos'd to deserve But it were a Presumption very like Impudence in them to hope that His Majesty King WILLIAM should prefer
forbid it they actually did use all Arts to make the People apprehend the sadness of their case and that the being without Priests was being without God in the World One Morning therefore they celebrated Mass they eat up all their Gods and concluded the Service without blessing the People But the Senate stood firm to their Order and the People were quiet and content to take care of their own Souls which so troubled these Holy Fathers that several alter'd their minds and were content to stay and do their Duties most of the Capuchins in the Territories of Berscia and Bergamo wisely consider'd that they could not live half so well without their Flock as their Flock without them therefore when they saw they could not help it they associated with the Senate and celebrated Divine Service as before notwithstanding the Pope's Interdict I will not say That every thing in this Story which relates to the Senate of Venice and their Clergy runs paralel with the Circumstances between the Government and our Clergy-dissenting-Associators but if any one shall say that there is no manner of Resemblance between the one and the other I must beg his Pardon What may or may not be fitly applied the Reader shall freely judge I will not labour to prepossess him with my Notions yet I will make bold to affix one Note to the Story and That 's this It was not with the Popish Religion nor its Ministers that the Senate had a Difference only this they firmly resolv'd that none should be Ministers of Religion for them that would not own that the Senate had a Rightful and Lawful Authority to govern the Republick by what Decrees they pleas'd without asking leave of the Pope The Readers Trouble shall be over when I have told him it is not the Church of England nor Ministers of the Church of England as such that I have here tax'd for I heartily and sincerely profess a profound Veneration to the Right Reverend Fathers in God my Lords the Archbishops and Bishops that are as faithful to his Majesty King WILLIAM and the Interest of their Country as Paolo Sarpio Veneto better known by the Name of Father Paul was to the Senate of Venice I highly esteem and regard all the inferior Clergy whose Honesty and Loyalty keeps even Paces with the House of Commons the Representatives of the People of England and equals them to those Venetian Ecclesiasticks who prefer'd the Decrees of the Senate their Lawful Governors before the Interdiction of their Holy Medling Spiritual Father the Pope POSTSCRIPT OF the Mischiefs which flow from the seditious Distinction of a King De Facto and De Jure there is no end as oft as I think of it new Instances of its Mischievousness occur to my mind For might not a French Commissioner at a Treaty of Peace from hence take occasion to argue after this manner As it was said in behalf of the Dutch when they first refus'd the Bank of England's Bills Why should they take them when the English among themselves would not So it may be said in behalf of the French King Why should he own King William for Rightful and Lawful King of England c. when so many of the Clergy enjoying their Tythes and Pulpits and not a few of the Laity in publick Office and Imployment will not Might not the Monsieur pursue the Raillery thus When the Government does not think fit to impose the Lawfulness of King William's Title on the Consciences of the Clergy and all other Officers and Magistrates commissionated by his Majesty why should it be impos'd on the Conscience of the French King who is none of King William's Subject but a Crown'd Head as well as himself I know not what could be reply'd to this argumentative Raillery which mingles Reason and Reproach together unless that English Subjects of all Orders and Degrees should be better taught their Duty for the future and then the French King would stand with us for nothing When once those wretched Inventions of Usurpation Conquest and Desertion Branches of the De Facto Doctrine are penally restrain'd as by English Law they might and ought to be there 's not a Clergyman of an hundred but shall justify the choice of the People and speak honourably of the Conventional Parliament there 's not a Lay-Magistrate but shall know under whom and for whom he was created and dare as well be as betray King William or his Country Let Clergy-men and Lay-men be compell'd to Associate in the Form of the House of Commons to defend their Rightful and Lawful King William and to revenge his untimely Death which God prevent and a very little compulsion will doe for the most backward of them are only a little Knavish or so not obstinate and there shall not be a Mercenary Villain found that will be hir'd to lift up a hand against him not a Crown'd nor Decrown'd Head so foolishly wicked as to go about to hire them Note That this should have been inserted among the Arguments which are offer'd against the Non-Associators who scruple the word Revenge A Parliament-Association with the Royal Assent is in all its Parts as Legal as any other Parliamentary Act with the same Royal Assent and if the Supream Authority of a Nation may decree what sort of Punishment they judge most proper to be inflicted on Thieves and Robbers House-breakers and Murderers nothing hinders but that they may decree what Punishments they please to be inflicted on those Treacherous Assassines that shall kill King William And if the Supream Authority of a Nation may lawfully Authorize all and every Person of the Nation to kill a mischievous Out-law where e're they find him no Reason can be giv'n why they may not Authorize all and every Person of the Nation to be reveng'd according to the utmost of their power of the Treacherous Assassines that shall kill King William It is the interest of the Nation that such Treacherous Assassines should not scape Vengeance it is therefore the prudence of the Parliament to Commission every particular Man against them FINIS Some Books sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultery THE Life of the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter Published by Mr. Mathew Sylvester Folio Mr. Lorrimers Apology for the Ministers who Subscribed only to the Stating of Truths and Errors in Mr. William's Book in Answer to Mr. Trail's Letter 4 o Mr. Lorrimer's Remarks upon Mr. Goodwin's Discourse of the Gospel 4 o Dr. Burton's Discourses of Purity Charity Repentance and seeking first the Kingdom of God Published with a Preface by Dr. John Tillotson late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In 8 o Bishop Wilkin's Discourse of Prayer and Preaching Mr. Adday's Stenographia Or the Art of Short-Writing Compleated in a far more Compendious way than any yet Extant 8 o Mr. Addy's Short-Hand Bible The London Dispensatory reduced to the Practice of the London Physitians wherein are contained the Medicines both Galenical and Chymical that are now in use those out of use omitted and those in use not in the Latin Copy here added By John Peachey of the College of Physitians London 12 o Atkin's English Grammer Or the English Tongue reduced to Grammatical Rules Composed for the use of Schools 8 o Cambridge Phrases for the use of Shools 8 o The Dying Man's Assistant Or Short Instructions for those who are concern'd in the Preparing of Sick Persons for Death Being also no less worthy the Consideration of all Good Christians in time of Health As shewing the Importance of an Early Preparation for their Latter End with regard as well to their Temporal as Eternal State 12 o Books sold by R. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane THE History of Religion Written by a Person of Quality 1694. A Twofold Vindication of the late Archbishop of Canterbury and of the Author of The History of Religion The first part defending the said Author against the Defamations of Mr. Fr. Atterbury's Sermon and both those eminent Persons against a Traiterous Libel titled The Charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson consider'd In two Letters to the Honourable Sir R. H. The Second containing Remarks on the said Sermon and a Reply to the same Libel Wherein some Right is done to that great and good Man Dr. Tillotson in the Points of the Original of Sacrifices the Sacrifice of Christ Future Punishments c. and a Word in Defence of the Eminent Bishop of Salisbury By another Hand 1696. Twelve Dissertations out of Monfieur Le Clerk's Genesis Concerning I. The Hebrew Tongue II. The manner of Interpreting the Bible III. The Author of the Pentateuch IV. The Temptation of Eve by the Serpent V. The Flood VI. The Confusion of Languages VII The Original of Circumcision VIII The Divine Appearances in the Old Testament IX The Subversion of Sodom X. The Pillar of Salt XI The coming of Shiloh XII The several obscure Texts in Genesis Explain'd and illustrated Done out of Latin by Mr. Brown To To which is added a Dissertation concerning the Israelites Passage through the Red Sea By another Hand 1696. * Jovian