always Differences among them concerning Ecclesiastical Government and Discipline and about Forms and Modes of Divine Worship yet they always accorded in Essentials of Religion and in the Preservation of their Natural and Legal Rights and Privileges as well as in a Common Detestation of Popery and Tyranny and the Sinister Arts of promoting them But when these Fiery Bombs of a Popish Court were by various Hands thrown among Protestants all went to wrack by our fatal Divisions and such an Unlimited Power was thrust into the Hands of Caesar over our Lives Religion Laws Estates and Liberties that if his Amorous Intrigues and Careless Temper had not diverted him he had certainly arriv'd at that Pitch of Absoluteness in Church and State that he aspir'd after and had laid all his Subjects at the Discretion and Will of the Monarch 3. The next Expedient that King Charles employ'd to accomplish his Design was Encouraging and Cherishing Papists upon every Occasion when it might be done without an open Reflexion on himself or Government and yet sometimes he broke through those Maxims also tho' one would have thought their Intolerable Insolencies on every Gleam of Royal Favour might have justly check'd his Clemency Instances of his particular Respects for that People might be easily given but because it will be particularly discours'd in his Successor's Reign I shall give but Two here and those were His Conniving at their Increase and Executing the Laws with greatest Rigour against Protestant-Dissenters giving private Instructions to his Judges to stifle the Execution of the Laws against Popish Recusants tho' directly levell'd against them and but by a forc'd Construction inflicted upon Protestants 4. But the last and most Effectual Stratagem for the Service of this King 's Arbitrary Ends was Tying all his Ecclesiastical Promotions to the Preaching up Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance And in this he succeeded so unluckily that those who refus'd to comply with this Upstart Doctrine were scarce reckon'd among the Number of Christians whilst a little Court-Zealot that had nothing else to recommend him but a Blind Obedience to the Orders of Whitehall in Preaching up this Slavish Doctrine was Dignify'd with the Title of a True Son of the Church and Loaded with Preferments Into what a doleful Condition was this Nation reduc'd when Religion was forc'd to truckle to New-invented Politicks and our Laws were Brib'd into a Conspiracy against themselves Now both Pulpit and Press were Surfeited with such Discourses as these viz. That Monarchy was a Government by Divine Right That it was in the Prince's Power to Rule as he pleases That it was a Grace and Condescention in the King to Govern by Laws That for Parliaments to Direct or Regulate the Succession border'd upon Treason and was an Offence against the Law of Nature and That the only Benefit left to Subjects in case the King will Tyrannize over their Consciences Persons and Estates is tamely to suffer and as they Absurdly express'd it to Exercise Passive Obedience Thus were Minds and Consciences of the Subjects corrupted with such Pestilent and Slavish Notions that at length the whole Nation was betray'd into such a Stupidity and Insensibility of their Religion and Legal Rights that our Limited Monarchy was almost turn'd into an Absolute Tyranny and our Antient Privileges dwindl'd into nothing Under pretence of Preserving the Church too many of the Clergy gave themselves over to an Implicit Serving of the Court and became not only Advocates but Instruments for the Robbing Corporations of their Charters Imposing Sheriffs upon the City of London who were not Legally Elected and of Fining and punishing Men Arbitrarily for no Crime save their having by Modest and Lawful Ways Asserted their Own and the Nations Rights Under pretence of Jealousie of the Fanaticks they became Tools under this King for Justifying the Dissolution of so many Parliaments the Invasion made upon their Privileges the Ridiculing and Stifling Popish Plots the Shamming of Forg'd Conspiracies upon Protestants the Condemning of several Men to Death for High Treason who could be Render'd Guilty by the Transgression of no Known Law and finally for Advancing the Duke of York into the Throne who was engag'd in a Conjuration against Religion and the Civil-Government and whom Three several Parliaments for those Reasons would have Excluded from the Succession But When I say these Enormities were committed by the Clergy I desire not to be understood as if I intended to comprehend all that Sacred Order under the Guilt of such Rash and Inconsiderate Designs for there were many Good Men among them who were so far from Sacrificing our Religion and Laws to Popery and Arbitrary Power that they publickly declar'd their Dis-likes and Abhorrence of such Extravagant Proceeding tho' they wanted Power to stem the Torrent that was overflowing both Church and State and as soon as Providence minister'd an Occasion were the first that put to their Hands to stop the Violence of the Stream and Confine the Power of the Late King within the Bounds of Law and Justice But to return from this Digression This Passive Obedience Doctrine was broach'd by some Modern Divines about the middle of the Reign of King James the First who in Opposition to Buchanan Knox and other Scotch Ministers that gave too great Encouragement to Sedition and Rebellion and to Curry Favour with that Monarch run into contrary Extreams under the Names of Duty and Loyalty So hard and difficult it is to observe the Golden Mean Dr. Harsnet Bishop of Chichester was the first I meet with in that Reign that gave himself the Liberty from these Words Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's to discover New Notions in Politicks as well as Divinity and to Assert publickly That the King had an Absolute Right to all that Subjects were possessed of And for this Service in Betraying his Country he was Translated from the Diocess of Chichester to Norwich and thence to the Archbishoprick of York In the Beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First these Preachments run something higher and Dr. Manwaring holding forth before that King at Whitehall Invested him with an Uncontrollable Authority gave him Power to Raise Taxes or Subsidies without Consent of Parliament and in the Conclusion resign'd all the King's Subjects to the Devil that refus'd to obey it For which he was presented to a Fat Living in Essex and afterwards promoted to the Bishoprick of St Davids which under what sad Constellation or Fate I know not has often been Pester'd with Men of the same Principles The Promotion of these Temporizers encourag'd Dr. Sybthorp a Confident and Kinsman to Dr. Lamb to attempt the Mending his Circumstances by Tracing their Steps And in an Assize-Sermon at Northampton on Rom. 13.7 he laid our All at the King's Feet and left poor Subjects nothing but Tears for their Loss and Prayers to be supply'd in their Wants Thus bating Preferments Sybthorp soon obtain'd his Ends and his Vicaridge of
being such that where one Party does not perform his Covenant the other are absolv'd from theirs Which Advice being approv'd the Lords and Great Men of the Kingdom Assemble at Soissons Depose Childeric and Elect Pepin to be their King But above all I am amaz'd to hear the * Advice de Refugies p. 60. French Missionaries and other Writers so openly and scandalously Declaim against Dethroning Kings when the very Monarch that now enjoys the Crown of France wears the Crown in Consequence and by Right of such Depositions Nay It would be no hard matter to prove that almost all the Governments in the World owe their Settlements to Conventions of Estates Assembl'd and Authoriz'd by a Necessity of providing for the Publick Safety So that the Conventional Parliament of England in Deposing James the Second made no Incroachment upon the Rights of Kings nor Violation of the Law of God of Nature or the Law of Nations but agreeably to all these Laws Asserted their own Rights in taking more Care for the Safety of a whole Kingdom than the Pretentions of a Single Person who endeavour'd to destroy it And in this they did but follow the Practice of former Ages in their own Country as will appear by and by in the following Examples God has invested Kings with a Power to do Justice but not to commit Violences and therefore when they wilfully convert their Authority into a Power of Destruction as James the Second did Subjects have a Right by the Law of Nature to Repel Force by Force for the Necessity of Publick Safety is a Law so Sacred that it Abolisheth all others that oppose it and Justifies all the Revolutions and Settlements in the World that are built upon that Foundation It is the First and greatest Obligation of Mankind to procure and promote the Welfare of the Body whereof they are Members which if every one would think himself oblig'd to do there would be a Circulation of Safety and Prosperity through the whole * Eâque lege notus sis ut ea habeas principia naturae quibus parere quae semper sequi debeas ut utilitas tua communis utilitas sit vicissimque communis utilitas tua sit Cicero lib. 3. expresseth this to the Life in saying That we are born under a Law and instructed by the Principles of Nature that oblige us to prefer the Common Good before our own so that at length the Common Good may be our own Advantage also With a single Respect to this Common and Mutual Good the Light of Reason shining in Wiser Heathens which yet shines brighter in Christians exalted by Revelation dictated the Necessity of Government as an Instrument without which it could not possibly be attain'd Fair Useful Just and Equal Rules of Conversation were by Common Consent agreed on and some One or More Persons Renown'd for Wisdom Probity and Courage were Intrusted and Impower'd to Inforce as Occasion should require the Community to observe them Which Ruler was bound by Mutual Compact to govern by the Rules agreed on and under that Condition the People gave their Oaths to obey him So that those People that think themselves bound by their Oaths to an Absolute Obedience to their Prince without Reserve forget that the Rulers Office is merely Relative to their People's Welfare and they also forget their first Obligation to seek the Good of the Community If a Ruler act contrary to his Trust by setting aside the Laws of the Constitution made and agreed on by Prince and People as necessary for the Conservation of every Individual Person and by excercising an Arbitrary Power of his Own Erecting evidently seeks the Ruin of that Body he ought to preserve the Necessary Defence of themselves is no Offence against the Nature of Government which was Originally Instituted for the Preservation and not for the Destruction of the Society and therefore cannot be looked upon as Criminal The Judgment of the great Melancton concerning Government in his Exposition on the Fifth Commandment will clear this Point In regard saith he something will go amiss in every Society for the Love of Peace we must bear with many Faults of our Princes and so long as they design well in the main tho' they fall into Mistakes we ought to bear them with Patience and hide their Frailties as much as possibly we can But of a Tyrant he says a few Lines before * Nec praetextu operis Divini excusanda aut tuenda sunt vitia nec propter loci dignitatem tolerandae sunt manifestae Atroces injuriae impietates flagitiosae libidines Tyrannorum sine fine grassantium sed reliqua politia cui Deus gladium dedit recte facit cum Caligulas Nerones similia portenta removent a Gubernatione That the Pretence of a Divine Right can neither excuse or justifie his Crimes nor the Dignity of his Office tolerate him to exercise a Wicked and Wilful Tyranny but when his Impieties and Injuries to his People are evident and unsufferable the Powers to whom God hath in such an Extremity committed the Sword to protect and deliver an Oppress'd Nation may remove him from the Government as the Romans did Caligula Nero and other Monsters of Cruelty who were not only Enemies to the Commonwealth but to all Mankind Indeed when an Absolute Government hath for the Sins of the People taken firm Rooting which Thanks be to God was not England's Case I deny not but such as were born under it ought to be content with their Servile Condition till Heaven is prevail'd with by their Prayers and Piety to release them from Thraldom But in a Free Estate the Case stands as is before rehears'd Polanus in proposing the Question whether we ought to obey an Absolute and Tyrannical Prince exactly answers the Case of England under the Reign of the late King James saying We must distinguish between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy in the former it must be born with because the Prince does but exercise his own Authority like Nebuchadnezzar But Sed si Rex seu Princeps habeat limitatum adstrictum certis conditionibus in quas juravit seu quas se promisit servaturum Penes Status aut Primores Regni seu Principatus est coercere Regis seu Principis Tyrannidem immanitatem Syntag. lib. 10. cap. 62. if the King or Prince governs in a Limited Monarchy where he receives his Crown on certain Conditions which he promises and swears to observe but instead of it breaks his Oath and sets up a Despotick Power unknown to the Constitution and Inconsistent with the Safety of it the Estates of the Kingdom may depose him from his Royal Dignity And this is Melancton's meaning also as may be collected from his Words already cited cui Deus gladium dedit to whom God hath given the Authority The Case thus stated makes England unconcern'd in the Deep Submissions of the Primitive Christians who tho'
but the Almighty power that gave them If an Inferior Magistrate Governor of a Province or City Rebels against the King from whom he received his Authority in order to deprive him of his Crown and Dignity none will scruple to resist him in defence of the King who is Supreme Lord both of him and us And by the same Reason may a Sovereign Prince be Resisted that Usurps upon the Rights of God for no Prince is more Superior to his Subalterns than God Almighty is to all the Kings and Potentates of the whole Earth Reason and Religion command and commend a dutiful submission to Authority but neither Reason Nature nor Religion obliges us to comply with the Sovereignty of the Creature to the prejudice of the Creator or subscribe to such orders of an Arbitrary Prince as manifestly oppose the Rights of God unless we are fond of Inheriting the Title of being Cruel to our selves Unnatural to our Children and profess'd Enemies of our Country for tho' slavery may be the misfortune of good People to submit to it can never be their Duty Another great Engine wherewith our Adversaries serve themselves to batter down the Doctrine of Resistance is the Law of the Land and particularly the Act of Parliament made in the 13th of King Charles the Second which seems in their apprehensions to extirpate this Principal Root and Branch tho' I believe 't will fail them when we have consider'd the Occasion of that Law and the Intention of the Ligislators And this I hope to do with a Modesty suitable to the great Veneration and Esteem that is due to those August Assemblies Acts of Parliament in my opinion being only subject to the Censure of those that have a Right and Power to make them And yet I hope with submission 't will not be indecent to say that Laws made in extraordinary Heats are not Regular Obligations nor ought to let Loose the Kings Hands and Tie up the Subjects England had been long Harrass'd Enslav'd and almost Ruin'd by an Unnatural War Scandaliz'd by the Murther of a King under Forms of Law and Justice Oppress'd by the Tyranny of their Fellow-Subjects and wearied out with changes of Governments and variety of afflictions Sometimes a Common-Wealth the Keepers of the Liberties of England a Rump Parliament then two successive Protectors a Council of Officers a Committee of Safety the Rump restor'd another Committee of Officers the Fag end again the Secluded Members a Junto that brought in King Charles the Second and deliver'd England out of Cruel Servitude that was so sick with changing Masters that when King Charles was Inthron'd and call'd a Parliament which chiefly consisted of Sufferers under the late Mock-Governments or the Persons Sons or Relations of such as had been in actual War against the Parliament or Sufferers for Charles the first the Excess of Joy that attended their Deliverance and a Resolution to prevent such Commotions and troubles for the future so transported them that they thought they could never do enough to Greaten their Monarch or discountenance the late Republicans and therefore in the heat of their Zeal tho' they aim'd well might overshoot the mark and stretch the Prerogative of the King and the Obedience of the Subject beyond their ordinary Limits and like Fond Bridegrooms give away more Authority in a Week than they could Redeem in their whole Lives which has been too often practis'd in England in former times in hopes to oblige their Monarchs tho' as often attended with Sorrow and Repentance and these or at leastwise some of these things might be the occasion of that Law For it could never be the Intention of a Parliament to make the most Violent and Illegal Actions of Arbitrary power wholly Irresistable or pull down the excellent structure of a Limited Monarchy and set up an Absolute Despotick Tyranny where the King and those commission'd by him might do what they pleas'd with our Religion Lives and Estates and make it Treason to resist in any case whatsoever Was not this to give away their own share in the Legislative Power and contradict the Preamble of every Act of Parliament which says all Laws are made by the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons assembled in Parliament and by the Authority of the same never failing to insert those Words And that this would have been the inevitable consequence of such an Unlimited obligation upon the People is plain for what makes a King Absolute but that his Subjects are under a necessity of Obeying him without reserve i. e. never to oppose his commands in any case whatsoever And to confirm my self that they never intended such a breach in our constitution is because the extravagancy of the Act with such a design would have accus'd both their prudence and Fidelity Judge Cook in his Institutes says that Laws made against Right Reason and the Law of Nature are void in themselves and then there 's no necessity of obeying them longer than till we are in a capacity to deny or dispute it what Man of Common Sense can believe that so many Wise Men how good an opinion soever they might have of the King then in the Throne would Arm all his Successors with a power as Despotick and Absolute as the great Turk who may have the Heads and Estates of his Subjects as often as he pleases to command them The last Argument I shall use to shew that that Parliament did not Intend to couch the People under such an Intire and Universal Submission as is maintain'd by our Adversaries is because they had no Power to do it for no Power can reach beyond the Reason of its Institution which is to preserve the Lives and Priviledges of the People and not make 'em Slaves and Vassals to a Delegated Authority Who can believe that the Nation ever Intrusted any sort of Men with a Power to destroy them or to Surrender their All into the Hands of a Cruel Tyrant As Representatives of the People they could have no more Power than the People could give them nor could it be extended beyond theirs from whom it was derived or that is allow'd by the Law of Nature Nam quodcunque suis mutatum sinibus exit * Lucrit l. â— Continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante Since what doth its limits pass By change quite perishes from what it was because it was not in their power to grant it No Man can licence another to kill him because the consent is Unnatural and Null and Void in it self so no Community can give any persons power to destroy them either directly or by consequence for 't is preposterous in Nature that the Means should be destructive in the End and that those that were substituted for our Preservation should be the Instruments of our Ruin which must necessarily follow if they Intended by that Law to Invest all our Princes with a Power to do whatever they please
and that in no case whatsoever they might be Resisted to which I shall add no more till I have answer'd the Calumny of the Papists who charge the Revolution upon the Principles of our Religion Pere d'Orleans the Jesuit with design to draw off the Roman Catholick Princes from a * Revolution d'Angleterre Tom 3. p. 395. Confederacy with King William and other Protestant Princes for the preservation of Europe and to perswade them to unite their Arms with those of France and the late King James on whose success as he says depends the Glory and Stability of the Popish Religion after he has scandalously told them that this Confederacy was a Combination against God and his Messias the subtle Missionary would insinuate that the late King was Depos'd merely upon the account of his Religion and that if he had been of no Religion or any thing but a Papist he had never lost his Crown which is a great Calumny and to say no worse a wilful mistake for in Antient times long before the Reformation had footing in England and when the profession of the same Religion ty'd Men in one Communion and Worship and when there could be no Apprehension of Grudges upon the Pretence of Different Persuasions in Religion there were equal Animosities and Struglings between the Antient Britains and their Kings as often as they thought their Laws and Liberties were in danger of being Invaded or Destroy'd by them None that converse with History can be ignorant that the same Innate and Congenial Temper has always sway'd these Northern Climates in all Ages within the Reach of History and was observ'd to be Predominate by Julius Caesar him self in his own Reign here Tacitus has an Instance very applicable to this purpose * Ipsi Britanni selectum tributa injuncta Imperii munera impigre obeunt si Injuriae absint has aegre tolerant jam domiti ut pareant nondum ut serviant Tacit. in Vita Agricolae Sect. 13. The Britains saith he are easily assembl'd pay Taxes freely and execute Offices in the Government chearfully if no Injuries be offer'd them for they are willing Subjects but impatient under Slavery When they were under the Power of the Normans they had often Recourse to their Arms to prevent the Incroachments and abate the Oppressions of that Race of Kings although they were All of the same Religion as is apparent in the Reign of William the First who upon the Opposition he met with relinquish'd his Pretence to Conquest and swore to govern the Kingdom by its Antient Laws William the Second was defeated by many of his Subjects who took part with his Elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy because Rufus had violated the Laws From the same Cause when Duke Robert rais'd an Army against his other Brother Henry the First the greatest part of Henry's Army Revolted to Robert because as Matthew Paris says Henry had already been a Tyrant Another Commotion was rais'd against this Prince and the Party headed by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury King John was brought to Reason by the Resistance he found by the Great Prelates Nobility and Gentry who slighted the Pope's Bull for Abolishing their Great Charter and valu'd neither the King's Arms nor the Pope's Excommunicating of them all when they stood in Competition with their Antient Rights and Privileges What Troubles and Danger did the Barons and Bishops bring upon Henry the Third for Violating their Privileges His Reign gave Birth to the Complaint that fill'd the Subjects Mouths in the Reign of King James viz. That Judgment was committed to the Unjust the Laws to the Lawless Peace to Men of Discord and Justice to the Injurious So that not only the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty but the Bishops of his own Church Warr'd against him threaten'd him with Excommunication and that if he would not be reclaim'd from his Illegal and Arbitrary Proceedings they would conferr with the other Estates of the Realm and as they had done in his Predecessor's Time would chuse a New King And if in so Antient Times when Popery was on the Meridian of Glory and Power not only the Laity but the Prelates of the Church thought it Lawful to Resist their Monarchs who were breaking in upon their Liberties why may not Protestants do the same without Scandal to their Holy Religion when they had greater Reasons and stronger Provocations than former Times could pretend to Their Religion was never in danger by any of those Kings But ours had receiv'd a deadly Wound by James the Second and was almost Expiring till we took shelter under a Prince who is not only able to Protect his own Subjects but to hinder other Nations from being brought under the Yoke of Slavery The Reader I hope will easily perceive that these Instances are not urg'd to flatter the Rage or gratifie the Passions of Seditious Rebels but only to shew that it has always been the Genius of the English Nation under all Forms of Religion to be very Tender of their Privileges and gave greater Proofs of their Zeal for them in Times of Popery than ever they have done since ehe Protestant Religion obtain'd amongst us Which may at once confute the Jesuits and convince the World that we did not resist the late King James because he was a Papist but because he was a Tyrant tho' it has been observ'd in England that Popery was the first Step to Arbitrary Power and the nearer any of our Kings inclin'd to Popery so much the more did our Privileges decline till at last they were almost totally destroy'd by a Prince that openly profess'd it and all our Crime is that we would not be content to be Ruin'd by the late King and his Popish Emmissaries and rather chose to desire Protection Liberty and the Restitution of our Privileges from His Present Majesty than abide in the Condition of the vilest Slaves to the late King James A Crime for which I am very confident no Papist tho' he Rail at us with his Tongue can condemn us in his Conscience And this brings us to the last Plea that our Opponents are pleas'd to enter against the Doctrine of Resistance and securing our Obedience to the late King viz. That we are oblig'd by our Oaths to Obey and not Resist him upon any Pretence whatsoever To which I Answer How large an Extent soever some Men may give to the Oaths they took in pursuance of an Act of Parliament in the 13th of Charles the Second yet they ought to remember what must always be suppos'd as the Natural Condition of every Oath Rebus sic stantibus Things continuing in the same State as they were in at the Time of Taking these Oaths for otherwise the Obligation ceases when Things are so changed that they are Unlawful or impossible to be observ'd When we took these Oaths to the late King we believ'd he would observe and keep his own Oath at his Coronation and protect us in
Laws do not only totally exclude Papists from Military Offices but injoin them to be Disarm'd also Notwithstanding James the Second did not only Arm them but put them into the First Employments of the Army and all other Stations And was so fond of them that no Consideration either of Quality Loyalty or Merit except he was a Papist could Recommend any Man to this King's Favour or give him Title to the common Kindness of a Civil Reception but all were Smil'd or Frown'd on as they were distinguish'd by their Religious Principles Men may live happily under a Government and yet be excluded from having any Office or exercising any Authority under it and therefore the late King's Fondness and the Papists Forwardness to thrust themselves into Employments gave a great Suspition that it was for no good End that he put Wise and Experienc'd Men out to make room for a sort of Raw Papists who being not us'd to Publick Business were not capacitated for it No Man can imagin that the late King made this bold Adventure in Employing Papists for nothing or that he would disoblige the Body of his People for their sakes only without designing some other Advantage to himself by it He must have some peculiar Service for these Unqualify'd Favourites to do in which the rest of the Nation would not inter-meddle The Contest was between the King 's Absolute Power on the one side and our Laws and Religion on the other And therefore to know what Work their King had for them to do and to what End he would have employ'd these Services here is but to see Vide State of Ireland under the Reign of the late King James what Use he put them to in Ireland and how they demean'd themselves towards Protestants where the Scene was open'd and all manner of Violences committed upon Protestants by his Authority He also corrupted the Exercise of Justice on which depends the Safety of the Nation and the Stability of the Throne The Judges were Tamper'd with and Admitted upon Condition of favouring and promoting the late King 's Arbitrary Power and the Popish Interest Those Judges were Depos'd who were fix'd in their Religion and Resolutely defended the True Interest of their Country and others put into their Places of no Honour Integrity or Capacity but known Temporizers or Papists who were excluded by the Laws of their Country Upon this follow'd very Arbitrary and Illegal Proceedings in the Courts of Judicature A Prosecution was carry'd on against Seven Reverend Prelates for Petitioning the King to Redress their Grievances and giving their Reasons why they could not obey his Arbitrary Commands Causes were Try'd in the Court of King's Bench that were only Cognizable in Parliament Partial Corrupt and Unqualify'd Persons were Return'd and Serv'd on Juries in Cases of High Treason that were not Free-Holders Great Bail requir'd of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes Excessive Fines Impos'd for small Offences Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted without Example or Law to warrant them And for a finishing Stroke The late King was also pleas'd to Grant and Seal a Commission to several Unqualify'd Persons to Examine the Revenues and Search into the Foundations of all the Hospitals in the Kingdom and see to what Uses they were first given by their Benefactors And into the Estates that some time ago belong'd to Monks Friars and other Religious Orders of the Romish Church with Intent to Restore them to the Papists who complain'd to the late King that they were Wrongfully Depriv'd of them In brief Never any Prince in so short a time committed so many Irregularities and made such Inroads upon our All as James the Second did by his Dispencing Power in England his Absolute Power without Reserve in Scotland and his Actual and Absolute Destruction of the Liberties and Religion of the Protestants in Ireland To which if we add the more than seeming Probability of the late King 's Leaguing with France for the Extirpation of the Northern Heresie 't will compleat his Design and make the intended Ruin of England unavoidable for more Hands would have made lighter Work and Experienc'd Artists would have finish'd it sooner I will not urge this League as a plain and positive Truth tho' I am strongly inclin'd to believe it and therefore shall only produce my Reasons and leave them with the Reader to judge as he pleases Mr. Coleman who must be presum'd to know much of his Master's Mind being in the same Interest and the Tool he work'd with in all his Secret Practices gives great Suspicion of the Truth of this Combination in a Letter to Sir William Throgmorton Feb. 1. 1678. You well know saith he that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs i. e. to be King of England the King of France will have Reason to promise himself All things that he can desire And in a Letter to Father Le Chaise Confessor to the French King he says That His Royal Highness was convinc'd that His Interest and the King of France 's were the same And whether he ever thought fit to change his Mind since his Accession to the Crown his own Actions will better declare than any Gloss of mine In this State of Amity Things continu'd between the French King and the Duke of York till he was King And when the Prince of Orange's Fleet was preparing for his Noble Expedition into England they seem'd to rest on the same Foot for Monsieur le Comte d' Avaux the French King's Ambassador at the Hague in a Memorial to the States General acquaints them That his Master knowing the great Preparations for War that their Lordships were making both by Sea and Land was not without some Design form'd answuerable to the greatness of those preparations and his Master believing that it threaten'd England he had Commanded him to declare on his part that the Bands of Friendship and Allyance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him not only to assist him but also to look upon the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops or your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown To this Memorial the States of Holland gave Answer That they Arm'd after the Example of their Neighbours to be ready upon Occasion 'T is true the French Ambassador does not mention the League in express words yet he gives very shrewd Hints that there was some such thing as a League or an Equivilent between the two Crowns and so the States of Holland took it For in their Answer to the English * The Marquiss d'Arbaville Ambassadors's Memorial their Lordships tell him That they were long since fully convinc'd of the Allyance which the King his Master had treated with France and which has been mention'd by Mr. Le Comte d'Avaux in his Memorial The Industry and Care that has been us'd to stifle this League does also
As for his Departure out of the Kingdom tho' I have already prov'd it was a Plot of his own laying in hopes to Involve the Nation in greater Confusions than his own Conduct had already reduc'd it to yet in this Case 't is not material whether it was Voluntary or Involuntary since his Withdrawing himself was but a Continuation of his former Actings wherein he declar'd he would not govern by those Laws that made him King of England and was an express Renunciation of his Regal Authority To say that Abdication implies a Formal Renunciation by Deed is to mistake the Case for in the Common Law of England and in the Civil Law and in Common Acceptation there are Express Acts of Renunciation that are not by Deeds * Debate between Lords and Commons pag. 35 36. The Government and Magistracy are under a Trust and Acting contrary to that Trust is a Renunciation of that Trust tho' it be not a Renouncing by a Formanl Deed for it is a plain Declaration by Act and Deed tho' not in Writing that he who hath the Trust and acting contrary is a Disclaimer of the Trust especially if the Actings be such as are Inconsistent with and Subversive of this Trust For how can a Man in Reason or Sense express a greater Renunciation of a Trust than by the constant Declarations of his Actions to be quite contrary to that Trust and therefore must be constru'd an Abdication and Formal Resignation of it That a King may Renounce his Kingship may be made out by Law and Fact as well as any other Renunciation And that it may and hath been will be no Difficulty to to make out by Instances in all Countries not only where the Crown is or was Elective but also where it was Hereditary and Successive * Debate aforesaid p. 76. If a King will Resign or Renounce he may do so as particularly Charles the First did 'T is an Act of the Will and consequently in his Power to do as he thinks fit And the late King gave manifest Declarations of his Resolutions to do it in several Instances as has been particularly shew'd already Grotius and all other Authors that treat of this Matter and the Nature of it do agree That if there be any Word or Action that does sufficiently manifest the Intention of the Mind and Will to part with his Office that will amount to an Abdication or Renouncing Now had King James the Second came into †Idem p. â—7 â—8 an Assembly of Lords and Commons in Parliament and expressed himself in Writing or Words to this purpose I was born an Heir to the Crown of England which is a Government limited by Laws made in full Parliament by King Nobles and Commonalty and upon the Death of my last Predecessor I am in Possession of the Throne and now I find I cannot make Laws without the Consent of the Lords and Representatives of the Commons in Parliament I cannot suspend Laws that have been so made without the Consent of my People This indeed is the Title of Kingship I hold by Original Contract and the Fundamental Constitution of the Government and my Succession to and Possession of the Crown on these Terms is part of that Contract This part of the Contract I am Weary of I do Renounce it I will not be oblig'd to observe it I will not execute the Laws that have been made nor suffer others to be made as my People shall desire for their Security in Religion Liberty and Property which are the two main Parts of the Kingly Office in this Nation I say suppose he had so express'd himself doubtless this had been a plain Renouncing of that Legal Regular Title which came to him by Descent If then he by particular Acts such as are enumerated in the Vote of the Convention of the 27th of January he has declar'd as much or more than these Words can amount to then he has thereby Declar'd his Will to Renounce the Government He has by the Acts before-mention'd manifestly declar'd that he will not govern according to the Laws made nay he cannot do so for he is under a strict Obligation yea the strictest and Superiour to that of the Original Compact between King and People to Act contrary to the Laws or to Suspend them This did amount to a manifest Declaration of his Will that he would no longer retain the Exercise of his Kingly Power as it was Limited and Restrain'd and sufficiently declar'd his Renouncing the very Office And his Actings declar'd quo Animo that he went away because he could no longer pursue nor accomplish what he design'd and was so strongly oblig'd to that the Splendour of three Crowns could never divert him from it It was an Abdication in the highest Instances Not a particular Law was violated but he fell upon the whole Constitution in the very Foundation of the Legislature Not only particular Persons were injur'd but the whole Frame of the Kingdom the Protestant Religion and our Laws and Liberties were all in danger of being Subverted And which aggravates the Circumstances the late King himself who had the Administration Intrusted to him was the Author and Agent in it And when he cold no longer afflict us himself went away with Design to obtain Foreign Forces to compel our Submission to his Arbitrary Power Now because the late King had thus Violated the Constitution by which the Law stood as the Rule both of the King's Government and the People's Obedience therefore it was judg'd an Abdication to all Intents and Purposes and that by his Abdication the Throne became Vacant Nothing less than Things grown to such Extremities could warrant these Proceedings for God forbid every Violation of the Law or Deviation from it should be accounted an Abdication of the Government The Thoughts of such a Severity upon * Debate between the Lords and Common pag. 86. Crown'd Heads is abhorr'd by all Good Men. For when a King breaks the Laws in some few particular Instances it is sufficient to take an Account of it from those Ill Ministers that were Instrumental in it Why such a thing was done contrary to Law Why such a Law was not put in Execution by them whose Duty it was to see it done In Ordinary Cases of Breaking the Laws you have Remedy in Ordinary Courts of Justice and in Extraordinary Cases in the Extraordinary Court of Parliamentary Proceedings But in our Case where we were left without Redress the Malefactor being both a Party and Judge of his own Breaches of Law made Extream Remedies absolutely necessary and has been always practis'd upon the like Emergencies For The Great Council or Assembly of the Estates of this Kingdom from the first Institution of the Government had an Inherent Right to Assemble themselves in all Cases of Necessity such as Abdications Depositions Disputable Titles to the Crown Setling the Successions and to supply the Vacancy of the Throne as the
bubble and delude the Nation till Insensibly to us and with Security to himself he might appear in his own Likeness and do here what in France he had promis'd His Engaging in an Expensive and Bloody War against the States of Holland could have no other Design but to weaken the Protestant Interest both in that Commonwealth and in his own Kingdom Provocations they had given him none nor could he assign any Reason of State on his own part unless he fetch'd it from the Romish Alcoran that says we must have no Peace with Hereticks and allows all Acts of Injury and Violence to Protestants His stifling the Popish Plot and delivering the Papists as much as in him lay from the Danger into which it had cast them His being the Author or at least the Great Encourager of Sham-Plots charg'd upon Protestants His continued Confederacies with the Known Enemy to the Disobliging of his own People His Betraying of Europe by false and flattering Promises when he might have prescrib'd what Terms of the Peace he pleas'd during the whole Course of his Mediation at Nimeguen or in Conjunction with the Dutch and other Allyes have continued the War against France to the greatest Advantage that ever was put into the Hands of the Confederates is a manifest Proof how he stood affected And tho' he made great Shews as if he had been in earnest all was but Deceit and Colour for at length contrary to all the Rules of Policy and without Ground or Pretext for such Proceedings a Peace was clap'd up * Sir W. Temple's Memoirs in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber by the Intervention and Pursuit of Monsieur Barillon to the great Amazement and general Prejudice of all Christendom His then Majesty's neglecting to Assist the French Protestants under great Persecutions for their Religion was more than a Tacit Consent to their Utter Extirpation His Intailing the Duke of York upon the Nation contrary to the Desires and Endeavours of Three Parliaments and that not out of Love to his Person but Affection to Popery which he knew that Prince was engag'd by Solemn Oath to establish are Sufficient Evidences of Charles the Second's Religion and his being engag'd in the Design of Subverting ours which I think no Man will question that was not concerned with him in it 'T was by a strange Providence as well as great Oversight in the Conduct of the late King that we arriv'd at this Discovery for so many good Men that believ'd the Tremendous Oaths his Majesty Charles the Second had swallow'd and thought it impossible he should prevaricate in so solemn a Matter were so fix'd in their Opinions of King Charles's being a Protestant and so Outragious against them that durst but whisper the contrary that had it not been for his Receiving Absolution and Extream Unction from a Popish Priest a little before his Death and for what he left in Writing under his own Hand he would still have pass'd for a True Protestant and the Nation in favour of that Monarch would have still been kept under their former Delusions And Tho' at the same time it gives us but an Indifferent Character of this Prince who for the Lucre of a Crown thus notoriously dissembled with God and Man and that in all his Declarations and Speeches to the Parliament and in Complying in the Offices and in Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Church of England he wore the Vizor of a Protestant when he was a Member of the Church of Rome and was by Oath when he chang'd his Religion at St. Germains in France oblig'd to set up Popery Yet it gives us an Everlasting Abhorrence of Romish Principles which for the Sordid Interest of that Idolatrous Church did not only Dispence with but Indulge such Crimes as the worst of Heathens and Pagans would blush at the Thoughts of And here tho' the Series of the Narration will hardly allow it I will draw a Veil before the Picture of this Unhappy Prince and without Exposing his Intricate and Bifarious Actions to a more Open View and Censure content my self by telling the Reader he Liv'd in a Cloud he Dy'd in a Storm But by what means he came to his End God knows tho' the Suddenness and Meanness of his Interment Rais'd many Suspicions Neque Sepulchrum quo recipiat habet portum corporis Ubi remissa humana vita corporis requiescat a malis He had no Tomb nor with a Port was blest Where after Death his Corps in Peace might rest I am not unsensible that some Judicious Enquirers into these Affairs will think I ought to have begun the Designs of Advancing Popery and Arbitrary Power with the Reign of the Family of the Stewarts in this Kingdom But since I cannot with Justice think the first two Kings design'd to bring in Popery and having Occasion to take notice of every of their particular Efforts for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power in their several Reigns in the subsequent Discourse I thought it excusable that I began no Earlier than the Restoration of Charles the Second and therefore proceed to shew what Methods were taken by him to Erect those Idols and subvert our Religion and Laws and they were principally Four First 1. By Abusing the Credulity of the Nation with the fond Hopes of such Privileges and Immunities as were never intended them Of this kind was his Declaration from Breda which promis'd Indulgence and Liberty of Conscience to all Protestants that would live peaceably under the Civil Government But if we had look'd before us and not suffer'd our Prejudices against the many late Mock-Governments the Tyranny of our Fellow-Subjects and the Transports of being deliver'd from them in the Accession of the Rightful King to his Throne to have blinded our Eyes we might easily have perceiv'd that it was never in his Thoughts to perform it For the Previous Obligations he was under to the Church of Rome had a Virtue to Supersede and Annul his Engagements to English Hereticks So that all he Intended by that Declaration was to Tye up the Hands and Lull those into a Tameness of Admitting his Return into his Dominions whom a Jealousie of being afterwards persecuted for their Consciences might have awaken'd to withstand and dispute it 'till they had better Security And so it came to pass for he was no sooner seated in the Throne of his Ancestors and saw himself secure but he discharg'd himself from every thing that the Royal Word and Faith of a Prince had oblig'd him to perform Secondly 2. By Sowing Discord Dividing Protestants Alienating their Affections and Imbittering their Minds one against another that being so Divided and Enrag'd they might contribute to each other's Destruction or by weakning their Interest become an easie Prey to the Fury of Papists And truly nothing but an Early Prospect of this Method could have Embolden'd King Charles to enterprize upon our English Liberties and the Reform'd Religion For tho' there have been
yet in Cases of Certain Apparent and Extream Necessity such as ours was in the late Reign it may as Reasonably be presum'd to be Excepted out of that General Rule as Works of Mercy and Charity were allow'd upon the Sabbath-day by our Blessed Saviour 'T is the Right of Kings that we Obey them and suffer Private Injuries rather than destroy the Publick Peace But 't is the Right of God that we Disobey them when their Wills oppose his Divine Laws or Common Safety 2. It is dangerous to Kings themselves as it invests them with a Power to do more than they Ought which at one time or other will be turn'd upon themselves for where Fear and Terrour are the only Foundations of Obedience the Seed of Resistance will be growing up Men may bear the Yoke of Servile Subjection for a while with Patience but if it galls their Shoulders by a sharp and long Continuance they will bethink themselves how to throw it off Therefore the Way for Princes to keep their Power is to exercise it with Lenity and to grasp at no more than what tends to the Subject's Ease as well as their own Superiority over them This makes a Prince Supream by his Virtue as well as his Character and so Indears his Subjects Duty that he cannot raise his Thoughts above the Pitch of their Obedience Whereas if he acts like the late King James and Insists upon Obedience without Reserve and will force a Necessary and Reciprocal Duty into Extremity of Slavery it will put his Subjects into the same Humour and learn them by his Example to exceed the Bounds of their Allegiance All Compulsary Methods Indirect Courses and Stretches of Power are a kind of Foul Play and he that uses it himself does by Implication allow it those he plays with as the late King found by a dear-bought Experience Mighty Nations may be upheld by Absolute Power but the Narrow Territories of England must be supported by Justice or the Door will be set open to the Next better Comer For tho' the British Nation generally speaking are great Lovers of Monarchy yet they perfectly hate Tyranny and as they were born Free so they love to continue in that happy Condition as their Right and not upon the Precarious Condescentions of a Superiour Power 3. 'T is Destructive to the Being and Safety of the People for a Single Arm Unresisted is able to Assassinate a whole Kingdom Passive Obedience has no other Tendency than to Invite Destroyers and without being oblig'd to their own Ill Nature Courts them to exert their Cruelties in our Utter Extirpation and at once destroy all the Laws of the Land I would fain know to what purpose Laws are made in our Defence if we must have no Benefit by them and whether faustering this Principle is not to bind the Subjects Hand and Foot and leave nothing but poor suffering Souls in the whole Kingdom as often as the Sovereign is pleas'd to exercise his Arbitrary Jurisdiction Inventing this Doctrine and giving it a Currency through the whole Land look'd as if the Authors and Promoters of it were fishing for Expedients to Ruin the Kingdom trying Experiments how high their King could provoke and how low and meanly we could submit to his Arbitrary Injunctions They shew'd a Wantonness in their Impositions and a Luxury in abusing the Patience and Quietude of the Nation till Vengeance overtook them 'T is the Scandal of English-Men that they are fond of Novelties and these State-Brokers were willing to keep up the Reproach in the highest Instances But sure they could not in their Lucid Intervals imagine there was any Pleasure in Irish Massacres or think that Wooden-Shooes would sit easie on English Feet and therefore were unkind in Tempting the late King to be Cruel whose Inclinations wanted no Spur to quicken his Zeal for our Destruction But to do these Sticklers all the Right we can and yet silence them for ever their Practices are the best Confutations of their Principles for tho' when other Men smarted they felt no Pain yet when they saw Sacrilegious Hands seize their Preferments and that the Swords of their Artificial Forging were like to pierce their own Bowels they began to Distinguish away this Destructive Doctrine Propose Methods to prevent their Ruin and for the Generality of them were as forward as any to Invite and Join with our Great Deliverer Now since the very Gentlemen that hatch'd and shew'd this Monster in Government have with their own Hands taken down the Cloth they have prov'd my Assertion viz. That the Doctrine of Passive Obedience directed to these Ill Ends is False in its Application Dangerous to Kings Destructive to the People and ought to be reduc'd to its Primitive Standard or as they employ'd it to be banish'd the World Non-Resistance link'd with Passive Obedience is but using more Words to express the same thing and I should have wholly over-look'd it as a Frivolous if not a Ridiculous Addition but that it gives me an Opportunity to confute the whole Design of Inslaving the Kingdom by shewing That in Cases of General Evident and Extream Necessity for the Preservation of a Kingdom such as ours was under the Dominion of the Late King James 't is lawful for Subjects in their own Defence to oppose a King that would destroy them And here I have a very Tender Point to handle lest I should seem to encourage Sedition or humour those that are given to Change which is as far from my Intentions and as contrary to my Inclinations as the two Poles are distant one from another I am endeavouring to beget a good Opinion of our present Settlement to keep Men in a quiet Obedience to the Government to live in Peace and Charity one with another to remove the Prejudices that some have conceiv'd against the Methods that were us'd to remove the late King James and placing King William in the Vacant Throne And to procure these Good Ends I am obligid to shew our Resisting him as Affairs were then Circumstantiated was Lawful and Justifiable both in the Action and Intention and therein am so far from Encouraging Sedition that I have all along restrain'd the Subjects Resistance to Cases of General Evident and Extream Necessity and never to be attempted but upon such Emergencies To every Good King and Lawful Government we have as many Ties of Obedience as there are Christian Vertues and he must Renounce his Christianity that forsakes his Allegiance for Obedience is a Duty which we Religiously owe to God which we Naturally owe to our Parents which we Morally owe to our Laws and which we Religiously Naturally and Legally owe our Sovereign as he is God's Vicegerent Father of his Country and our Liege Lord. This is the Prince's Due and the Subject's Duty and to prevent Mistakes will be further explain'd in the following Character of a True English Subject He is one that Quietly and Contentedly moves in his own Sphere
to withdraw himself and leave it in Confusion Of these Riddles and Self-Contradictions we had continual Experience from his Creatures also who when they were under any Necessity of serving themselves by the Credulity of Protestants flap'd us in the Mouth with their King's Justness to his Word but when the Fish was caught threw away the Net and left the Protestants to repent their Easiness at leisure So that Doctor Cartwright had the only true Notion of a Popish King's Promises when in a Sermon Preach'd at his Deanary of Rippon he told his Auditors that the late King's Promises were Donatives and ought not to be too strictly examin'd or charg'd upon him but that we must leave His Majesty to explain his own Meaning For which and other like Services he was rewarded with the Bishoprick of Chester And the late King did the Doctor the Honour to Copy his Original and suffer'd neither Truth Faith nor Sincerity to accompany any of his Promises made to his good Protestant Subjects Nay if the late King would at any time have kept his Word he could not for by putting himself under the Power of the Roman Church he made it as impossible for him to keep his Faith with Protestants as it was for Sygismond the Emperor to prevent the Burning of Jerome of Prague to whom he had granted Safe Conduct when the Council of Constance had a Mind to Sacrifice him as a Contumacious Heretick Delays being dangerous and the late King 's Tricking evident His Highness the Prince of Orange by the Advice and Consent of the Body of the Nation took up a Resolution of sending out his Circular Letters to all Parts of the Kingdom to chuse Members for a Convention of the Estates of the Kingdom to Meet at Westminster and settle the Affairs of the Nation but before the appointed time of their Session came News was brought That the late King endeavouring to make his Escape was taken in * Decemb. 12. Kent and brought with Sir Edward Hales and Mr. la Baddy to Feversham in that Country Whereupon some Lords by what Politicks I am a Stranger to sent the Lords Feversham Ailesbury Yarmouth and Middleton to desire the late King to return to London which he comply'd with Came to Whitehall on †Decemb. 14 Sunday in the Evening and on * Decemb. 18. Thursday following summon'd a Council And to shew he Return'd with the same Principles and Resolutions that he went away with tho' he had then a lucky Opportunity to Ingratiate himself with his Protestant Subjects by doing some Pleasing and Popular Act in favour of them and their Religion directly on the contrary as if he courted his own Ruin all he did in that Last Act of his Government was shewing his Respect and Zeal for the Popish Interest and as if he had come back for no other End but to serve the Papists made an Order of Council to prohibit Pulling down their Houses and despoiling them of their Goods by the Tumultuous Rabble which tho' it was Good and Commendable in it self yet was needless in respect of the late King because the Committee of Lords had by a Publick Order taken Care in that Matter * Decemb. 14. before his Return to London To this Order in favour of the Papists he added another in Discharging Dr. Leighton a Popish Bishop out of Newgate So that instead of Reforming Abuses at his Return by Shipping off Priests and Jesuits Purging his Council Disclaiming his Arbitrary and Dispencing Power Pulling down Popish Meeting-places Disarming Papists and Encouraging Protestants which under his present Circumstances might have been in Justice and Reason expected from him we found nothing but an Invincible Resolution to persevere in his former Illegal Courses and make the Nation know that as soon as he had Power all things should run in the same Popish Arbitrary Channel as he left them in and that our Chains should be made Heavier by our late Strugling to shake them off A former Testimony of his Resolutions to favour Papists and advance their Religion upon every Smile of Providence was conspicuous in sending the Bishop of Winchester to restore Magdalen-College to the Protestants when he heard the Prince of Orange was coming but hearing a Storm had made it unlikely for His Highness to come that Winter the late King immediately recall'd the Bishop and continu'd the Papists in Possession of the College till the Certainty of the Prince's being Landed return'd the Bishop to compleat that Work which never would have been done if Necessity had not compell'd the late King to do it then in hopes to persuade the Nation he would change his Measures Now almost all the Garrisons Forts and Places of Strength in England were put into the Prince's Hands the Generality of the Nobility and Gentry and City of London had sent the Prince their Submission put themselves under his Conduct and invited him forthwith to come to London and take upon him the Care of the City and Kingdom Which being known by the late King he also Invited the Prince of Orange to come to St. James's and bring with him what Number of Troops he pleased The Prince of Orange communicated the late King's Letter to the Peers then at Windsor who concluded that the Shortness of the Time could admit no better Expedient than that the late King might be desir'd to remove to some Place within a reasonable Distance from London Ham was pitch'd upon as most convenient and Notice was sent of it to the late King by three Noble Peers accordingly But the Lords at Windsor hearing that Whitehall was again crouded with Irish-men Priests Jesuits and Papists did not think it Reasonable the Prince of Orange should accept the late King's Invitation and venture his Person near a Place haunted with such Bloody-minded and Profligate Wretches till the Prince's own Guards had taken Possession of the Posts about Whitehall to prevent that Danger Removing and placing the Guards made it late before the Lords could deliver the Message they brought from Windsor viz. That the late King would Remove to Ham Which at his own Desire and I suppose to facilitate his Purpose of going into France tho' that was a Secret unknown to others was chang'd to Rochester There the late King continu'd a while but resolving to be Nothing unless he might be Absolute like Children that have lost their Favourite Play-thing throw away all the rest in a Fit of Pettishness so he went into France left England very abruptly and the Convention took that Opportunity of parting with him Fairly Thus James the Second Abdicating the Government by other Previous Actions as well as his Flight yielded his vacant Throne to the Pr. of Orange and if His Highness had Ascended it without any other Ceremony as some Kings of this Nation have done before him on the like Occasion none could have blam'd him for making use of the Advantage his Sword had gain'd him But as he
Injury So that the Inference from these Premisses will utterly overthrow the Objection of our Adversaries in favour of the late King James For if a Patron that out of a Principle of Cruelty exposeth the Life of his Slave makes a Forfeiture of his Property in him much more may a Prince for the same Reason forfeit all his Interest in his Free-born Subjects And if a Natural Father who seeks the Destruction of his Son does therefore lose all just Claim to that Son's Obedience much more may a Prince who is but a Casul Political Father and is invested with that Relation only by Agreement and Compact may a Fortiori for the same Reason make a just Forfeiture and lose all just Claim to the Obedience of his Political Children So that the Convention of the Estates Assembl'd at Westminster in Deposing the late King and conferring the Crown upon our Gracious King William the Third have done nothing against the late King James but what they were necessitated to do and what they are justify'd in doing by the greatest Authorities in the Christian World At the late King 's Going off and making no manner of Provision for the Administration of the Government the Nation seem'd to be in the same Condition they were in when the Original Contract was first made and the same Care was requisite to settle the Distracted Affairs of the Realm under that Confusion wherein he left it as if we never had been bless'd with any Settlement at all and consequently the Convention upon the Vacancy of the Throne had Power to Model Things as the present Circumstances of the Publick exacted without being confin'd to the Presidents of former Ages and yet so great was the Modesty of that Venerable Assembly and their Care to prevent Innovations that they did nothing but what had been already done upon the like Occasion many Hundred Years before How the Clergy the Barons and the Commons deported themselves towards King John five Hundred Years ago and Deposing him and Electing Lewis of France I have already acquainted you and therefore shall say no more here than that the Grounds of their Proceedings were for Re-gaining those Franchises that were notoriously invaded by that Arbitrary Prince and are contain'd in the Great Charter of England King Edward the Second tracing the same Arbitrary Methods the Barons send him word That * Trussell 's Hist p. 2â—6 unless he put away Peirce Gaveston that corrupted his Counsels and squander'd his Revenue and also addicted himself to Govern by the Laws of the Land they would with one Consent Rise in Arms against him as a Perjur'd Person And so they did and Beheaded his Minion Gaveston notwithstanding the King 's earnest Sollicitation for his Life The same Fate attended the Spencers And a Parliament being call'd without his Consent at length himself was Depos'd who confess'd the Sentence of his Deposition was just that he was sorry he had so offended the State as they should utterly Reject him but gave the Parliament Thanks that they were so * Trussell 's Hist p. 218. gracious to him as to Elect his Eldest Son their King King Richard the Second being laps'd into the same Misfortune of Affecting a Tyrannical Government the Lords and Commons declare unto him then at Eltham That †Knighton An. 1386. in case he would not be govern'd by the Laws Statutes and Laudable Customs and Ordinances of the Realm and the Wholsome Advice of the Lords and Peers but in a Head-strong Way would exercise his own Will they would Depose him from his Regal Throne and promote some Kinsman of his of the Royal Family to the Throne of the Kingdom in his stead But this Warning having no Effect at length a Parliament is Call'd without the King's Consent or Approbation by Henry Duke of Lancaster They requir'd him to Resign his Crown which tho' he condescended to and actually perform'd it as directed yet the * Trussell l. 2. p. 43. Parliament then Sitting thinking this Abdication not sufficient to build upon because the Writing might be the Effect of Fear and so not Voluntary and Spontaneous they thereupon proceed to a Formal Deposition in the Names of all the Commons of England upon the Articles Exhibited against him which consisted of Twenty nine Particulars and the greatest part of them relating to the Affairs of that Time in which this Age is not concern'd I have contracted them into a narrower Compass than in the Trussell's Hist Original without omitting any thing that is material and are what follows viz. That King Richard the Second wasted the Treasure of the Realm That he Impeach'd several Great Lords of High Treason that Acted for the Good of the Kingdom by Order of Parliament That he perverted the Course of Justice and took away the Lives and Estates of certain Noble-Men without Form of Law That he affirm'd All Law lay in his Head and Breast and that all the Lives and Estates of his Subjects were in his Hands to dispose of at pleasure That he put out divers Knights and Burgesses Legally Elected and put in others of his own Choice to serve his Turn That he Rais'd Taxes contrary to Law and his own Oath And Banish'd the Archbishop of Canterbury without Just Cause or Legal Judgment pronounc'd against him For these Reasons he was formally Depos'd by Parliament who at the same time Consented that Henry Duke of Lancaster should be Crown'd King tho' the Right of Blood was in Edmund Earl of March because now Henry the Fourth had signaliz'd himself in Delivering the Nation from the Tyranny of Richard the Second And after the same manner tho' with a more Free and Absolute Election proceeded the late Convention of Estates in Deposing James the Second and filling the Vacant Throne with our present Monarch William the Third who under God was the Glorious and Happy Instrument of Freeing England from the Tyranny of the late King These Proceedings I have already prov'd to be consentaneous to all Laws And to confirm it shall only add That amongst all the Unfortunate Princes that have been laid aside by their Subjects none were more justly Dethron'd than James the Second We read of some Princes that were Depos'd because they were Infected with the Leprosie but I think none will pretend that Leprosie under the Law was as Incompatible with the Government as Tyranny and Setting up of Idolatry was at this Juncture for that Disease was not in the power of Oziah to help but Tyranny was the Efflux of the late King 's Arbitrary Will and the Gratification of his Sensual Appetite Besides Leprosie is but a Disease in the Body but Tyranny in the Soul Leprosie was but a Ceremonial Evil but according to this manner of Speaking Tyranny is a Moral Evil. Leprosie does but infect Tyranny destroys King Childeric of France was Depos'd for Slothfulness and neglecting the Affairs of the Kingdom and it it must be acknowledg'd this shameful
Ishbosheth had Right by Descent from Saul but David was made King And 't was for the sake of Religion that they were thus Plac'd and Displac'd In France Childeric was Depos'd and Egidius or Gillon a mere Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom was Elected in his stead Pepin was Elected King and Thierry Depos'd Pepin Grandson to the former was by Parliament Crown'd King tho' there was of that Marovinian Race in Being Charlemain's and Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was the Choice of the People So that I wonder the French Writers should question the Legality of the late Revolution in England since if we look back into the Original of other Kings and how they came to their Crowns King William's Title to the Crown of England is as good as the best and much better than some now Reigning in Europe for if all the Monarchs and Governments in Europe that have succeeded such Depositions or Abdications have been Unlawful and Usurp'd there is not one Monarch or Government in all Europe nay scarce in the whole World that can say they have a Lawful Authority but must acknowledge according to the Doctrine of D' Orleance that they are all Usurpers Which I wonder he had the Confidence to Assert since he cannot be ignorant that the French Kings enjoy their Crowns in Consequence of the Abdications and Depositions of their Predecessors and the People's Elections which succeeded those Dethronements So that King William 's Title to the Crown of England is as good as King Lewis's to France if not better for their own Historians give great Suspicion of Unfair Dealings and Sly Practices in the Elections of some of the French Kings but neither Envy it self nor the most Inveterate of all our Enemies could ever object it against King William that by any Acts of Force or Arts of Corruption he endeavour'd to work on the Members of either House to labour his own Advancement but that it was the Free Election of the Majority after long Debates and Consultations on other Expedients His Majesty did not like King Harold lay Violent Hands upon a Crown but only Accepted it when it was Offer'd And which shews his Goodness and Justice he receiv'd it too on the Conditions that were offer'd with it which gives us a lasting Assurance of the Regularity of his Government His Vertue and his Merit recommended him to England by their Free Election he was made King and that is the Right he Claims by and being the most Righteous and Lawful that can be without a Miracle it makes out Allegiance and Obedience to him become our Indispencible Duty But That which I but hinted before and now comes to Crown all the rest and put it quite out of Dispute for ever is It was God's Doing the Immediate Hand of Heaven was in it And truly nothing less could have accomplish'd such Miraculous Things We all know what the Nation Felt and Fear'd the Overturning of this Church and the Subverting this Government Now all this being stopp'd our Religion secur'd our Temporalities safe and a Check put to the Spirit of Persecution and all in so short a Time must be ascrib'd to an Almighty Power and Goodness That when the Design of our Deliverance was Form'd and Essaying there should be so extraordinary a Concurrence of all Favourable Accidents and disposing all Men's Minds the same Way That the Precipitation and Folly of our Persecutors in opening their Ill Designs so Early and the Unrelenting Cruelty put in practice in a Neighbouring Kingdom should send us over so many Thousand Witnesses to awaken us and shew us what we were to expect when that Bloody Religion became Triumphant amongst us and what all Oaths Promises and Laws should signifie as soon as they could break through them And that this should happen at the same time when the late King was Suspending Laws in favour of the Papists That our Enemies should go on so fast and Bare-fac'd That they should grasp so much at once and suffer the Hook to be so ill cover'd when the Bait was thrown out And that all their Designs should be blasted by themselves must be ascrib'd to the Eternal who brings to Light the hidden Things of Darkness and suffers the Wicked to be taken in the Snare they prepar'd for others Further That the great Supporter of Persecution should start a Quarrel with the Head of that Mystical Babylon and divert his Force to a New War an unjust one to be sure since he began it And so many great Princes should Unite to Stop his Carier and preserve Europe That so great an Army as the late King had Rais'd from whom our present King might expect a stout Opposition should voluntarily Desert grow Supine and comply with Reason and the Good of the Nation That such a Divided People should so Unanimously Concurr in in Electing the same Person to be their King and that this mighty Deliverance should be perfected without Shedding of Blood agreeable to the Proposals and Intentions of our Great Deliverer the Laws of the Land and the present and future Tranquility of the whole Nation must be the Lord 's Doing and ought to be Commemorated to his Eternal Glory and Accompany'd with a Grateful Retribution and Dutiful Obedience to our Gracious King who hath done such great Things for us Which is the last Particular 'T is doubtless one of the most palpable Signs of a Base Profligate Nature not to be oblig'd by Favours 'T would be an Injury to a Beast to call him Ingrateful That Epithet no Being can deserve but one that is degenerated into something more Vile than the worst of Animals that has broke through all that is Modest Ingenious and Tender and Apprehensive in Humane Nature And for the Noble Creature Man to be guilty of Ingratitude in Offending our Deliverer or Dishonouring our Sovereign by any Rash or Unadvis'd Words or Actions who sav'd us from Ruin who snatch'd us from the Brink of Destruction To return him Evil for Good to requite his Favours with Indignities to Diminish his Power by taking too much upon themselves to Mis-represent his Gratious Intention or Lessen or Detract from his Goodness is to sink below Comprehension and render himself unworthy of the Blackest Thought With what Emotion and Grief of Mind then can we think of those that are already grown so Insensible of their past Dangers and forgetting the Mercy of their Deliverance abuse Modest Ears with Invidious Reflections upon the Supream and Subordinate Authority they ought to obey How is Conversation Sour'd by those Animals that like Tame Ducks are always dabling in Nasty Gutturs that Espy and Publish all Men's Faults but their own and can no more rest from Reproaching their Superiours than a Crow from feeding on Carrion Jealousies like Bull-Rushes grow out of the Mud of their own Brains and their Suspicious and Ungrounded Glances discover more Rancour than direct Contumelies They boast of their Affection and mighty
Services done for the Government yet do their utmost to make it Contemptible Some of them carry their Fire in Dark-Lantherns sigh out their Sorrows for Mis-managements deplore the Danger that hangs over us and persuade the World that every thing is out of Order because themselves are out of Office Others Rail outright and carry the Brands Ends open in their Mouths to kindle Combustions and Archimago-like make Variance between the Head and the Body upon no other Ground than Obloquies Suspicions and Fears those Brats of Rotten Fame that have no Father but their own Invention These are A sort of Men Illuminated into a kind of Distraction whom nothing can please and what any thing cannot but displease ever constant to their Old Dislikes and the Beginning of New Wishes and who like the Bay of Biscay are always Rough and Angry let the Wind blow where it will Talk of Loyalty and Obedience you raise their Passion and they call you Tory If you talk Well of all Men they call you a Trimmer Speak of preserving a due Temperament in the State they call you a Whig or Republican And say nothing and they proclaim you a Fool because you are not a Busie-Body What a strange Pass are Things brought to by carrying all Things into Extremities Some Men by Overstraining the Doctrine of Obedience made it Contemptible Must we therefore wholly lay aside that Evangelical Precept Because we are not oblig'd to obey a Tyrant must we therefore dispute away our Duty to the King and make our Submission as Arbitrary as the Power we declaim'd against Because we ought not to submit to a Destroyer must we not obey our Preserver Because a more than ordinary Liberty of Censuring Publick Affairs was assum'd in our late Times of Confusion and Disorder must that Pragmatical Humour be continu'd to create new Jealousies and Disturbances now the State is settl'd a Good King in the Throne and Justice equally Administer'd through the whole Kingdom No! Sure 't is time for these Over-active State-menders to comport themselves with more Modesty and Decency to the Government to bind their Tongues to the Good Behaviour to Restrain Seditious Discourses and Intermedling in Publick Affairs to study to be Quiet and do their own Business to fear God honour and obey the King For whatever they think of it or however it may have been abus'd or mis-apply'd in former Reigns Obedience to Princes is the Doctrine of the Bible and the Indispencible Duty of Subjects to their Sovereign And therefore upon that Head I will here endeavour to settle it You cannot be ignorant what a Character our Enemies give us viz. That we are as Unchangeable as the Wind and as Unconstant and Quarrelsome as the Waves of the Sea that are always Fluctuating and dashing themselves to pieces Fickleness is the Reproach of our Nation abroad and has render'd us Vile and Cheap amongst other Nations Now an Opportunity is put into our Hands to confute those Prejudices by a Stability in our Allegiance to such a King and Subjection to such a Government as all Europe admire and envy us for Now we have an Advantage to shew our Complaints again the late King were True and that the Causes of them were Real and may gain a Reputation of our Conduct when we shew by our Actions that as we had the Prudence to change so much for the better so we have the Wisdom to know when we are well and the Honesty to continue so The Papists reproach our Religion with Disloyalty and therefore after we have struggl'd so hard to keep it we ought to shew it was worth Contending for and wipe off that Aspertion by extolling its Vertue because amongst other Excellencies it obliges us to a Fermety in our Allegiance beyond all other Motives in the World and that upon a Religious Foundation chiefly we build and maintain our Duty to the King and tho' Lower Considerations have sometimes their Place and Value yet that the Grand and Durable Obligations spring from those Sacred Maxims And I the rather press it to you upon this Score because it will justifie you before God make you appear truly Religious and Reasonable before Men and will be thought best Subjects by the King because your Loyalty is the Fruit of your Religion As for Interest it is so Uncertain and Changeable a Thing that it gives a Prince no Security in Relying upon that Topick nor a Subâ—ect can scarce trust himself with it For the same Reasons that now Induce Men to be Loyal may if the Scene should change a better Offer â—e made and a Pardon inclos'd prevail with the same Persons to be Rebels and Traytors Those that follow'd our Blessed Saviour for the Loaves whereof they eat and were fill'd soon forsook him And those that adhere to our King only as Rats and Mice do a Barn because there is Grain in it are in danger of Deserting him as soon as they find their Expectations frustrated Things are but at an Ill pass when Subjects Loyalty continues no longer than while they are Oblig'd by Favours and when every froward Person shall set up against the Court if he be not Advanc'd and Rewarded as his own Ambition and Avarice tells him he ought to be Gratitude and Thankfulness to a Prince are eternally due from his Subjects and is a good Foundation to build our Obedience upon but we have sorrowfully experienc'd that some Men's Loyalty have expir'd with their Shouts and Acclamations or at least but the Loss of an Employment and all the Reason that can be given for it is because their Duty was not grounded upon Religion and Conscience The People of England have been always great Pretenders to both and now if they have not so long wrangl'd about these Things that they have quite lost them and have had God and Conscience so long in their Mouths that their Hearts have almost forgotten there are any such Thing it now concerns them who have seen so many visible Interpositions of Providence in behalf of our King our Church and our Nation those strange and sudden Changes of Things and such a mighty Deliverance effected which nothing but the Right Hand of God could bring to pass it concerns them I say to shew that they have a true Sense of Religion and Conscience in practising an Uninteressed and Undissembled Obedience to their Sovereign Lord King William for this is all the Requital and Compensation they can make to His Majesty for all his Favours and Care of them and would in some measure sweeten and aleviate the Burthen of them Shall I be allow'd to say one thing without Offence or Imputation of Flattery That if ever any King might expect Chearful Obedience from us for his Own sake or claim it for God's sake King William that now Governs us may do it justly His Majesty's Great and Glorious Undertaking His Indefatigable Pains His Toilsom Days His Restless Nights His Anxious Cares in preventing