this for an Argument God makes Merchants and Lawyers therefore Merchants cannot break nor Lawyers prevaricate I am sure Kings are not made without Means no more than other Conditions of Men All is Providence from the Throne to the Dunghil and we find in Scripture Kings made by the People Nay even Hereditary Kings are made by the People as well as Elective For Crowns at this day are not Intail'd by Messages from Heaven but by Laws made upon Earth and I pray who made these Laws Had the People no Hand in them Historians tell us That the Right Descent of English Kings has been broken now Nine times since K. William the First And the Scriptures tell us That the Lineas Succession of the Kings of Israel and Judah have been Interrupted and cut off sometimes by express Nomination from God by a Prophet and sometimes also Providentially Jehu a Subject was Anointed King by a Prophet Baasha shew Nadab and Succeeded in the Kingdom and Omri was made King by the People without any Divine Appointment So that here is Jus Divinum the Sword and the People each of them setting up their several King And in a word all Kings are made and unmade by Divine Providence which outs down one and sets up another and we quarrel at this and think much that God should Rule the World unless he give us a particular Account of his Ways But suppose they do really design the Subversion of the Government who shall or ought to punish them Barclay says in that Case the King returns to the state of a private Man and the People become Free and Superior This is so cutting a thing especially from one of your own Party that I suppose you durst not so much as touch it But I Answer None ought to punish the King nor to hurt his Person tho' he be fall'n from his Power But I say that when a Government is breaking up and all things at the brink of Ruin and Confusion every Man ought to stand for his Life and to Defend his Family and Posterity the best he can from future Misery other wise they are guilty of Self-Murder and of Betraying their Country provided they be in a Condition to appear in the Field as many Brave Englishmen did at York and in Cheshire and other places of this Kingdom in Nov. 1688. In the mean time the King is to be Counselled to keep within the Sanctuary of the Law or at least to keep his Person out of Danger and not to Head his Party But if he will against all Justice Prudence and Perswasions Join with Wicked Men and Expose himself to Blind Bullets and fall in the Field it is to be lookt upon as an Accidental thing and none can help it God forbid that any one should think of hurting him on purpose and Charge should be given to all to beware as much as possible of so doing For this see further that Nameless but very Learned Book which your self put into my Hands You come next to your Boys Play Give a thing and take a thing where from a certain Maxim of your Learned Politician you infer that the People have wholly and intirely divested themselves of all their Power and Right without any Limitation whatsoever and therefore they can by no means call for it back again I cannot deny at this time of Day that a Free People may make themselves Slaves by Consent There are those among us who not only seem forward to do it but take it ill that the whole Kingdom will not do the like Hitherto I have thought it impossible that any Wise Man should do an Act without having some end in it or should give up his whole Right to the Will of another without any respect back again upon himself But the Jacobites whose Principles are Unaccountable have given us a Demonstration of it and to them only are we Indebted for so Noble a Discovery I could wish they would try the Experiment in France and not trouble us here in England who are under better Circumstances Indeed those that have made an ill Bargain must be content to stand by it till they can be released But we have made a good one and will stand for it not doubting the performance on either part We have Sworn Allegiance to the King and he has Sworn to Rule by Law Allegiance and Protection are Correlatives and will be so while this Kingdom stands Take away the one and the other falls to the Ground But no Scheme of Politicks will please you but that of Holbs or Filmer which teacheth Kings to break through the most Sacred and Solemn Obligations and to Act Leviathan without Controul Your last Argument was Argumentum Puerile taken from Boys Play the next is Argumentum Pestiferum taken from the Common Pests of the Nation as you are pleased to style the poor Bailiffs and thus you express it As to the Power in not being resisted in the Execution of the Laws which you are pleased to allow to Kings if that be all they are Kings for truly I think they are in a far worse state and condition than the Common Pests of the Nation the Rogue Bailiffs But by your Favour I did not say that is all they are Kings for but I said the King in Executing the Law is not to be Resisted not denying him his proper share in the Legislative Power in which none will oppose him But if he should assume the whole Legislative Power as some in Effect have done that would mightily alter the Case But besides all this the King of England has a Royal Prerogative which is not a Dispensing Power or a Power above the Law to do what he pleases but it is a Power Residing in the King partly defin'd and limitted by the Law it self and partly left to the King's Wisdom and Clemency to be exerted for the Benefit of the Subject where the edge of the Law is too sharp which often happens by Casualty or Humane Infirmity For the Law is an Excellent Rule but in many Cases it may be defeated nor can it provide for all future Accidents Infirmity or Knavery in Witnesses may occasion a wrong Sentence And Laws can never be made so compleat but that Summum Jus may happen to be Summa Injuria So that the King's Prerogative is to Relieve the Subject in Extraordinary Cases and being used with Prudence and good Advice is a Glorious Jewel of the Crown Let us now pursue the Comparison between an English Monarch and a Bailiff The one let us View upon a Throne Cloathed with Power and Excellent Majesty Vested with a Noble Prerogative and giving his Royal Assent to Laws made for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well Or let us consider him in the Field giving Laws to Princes Commanding many Thousands Protecting the Innocent Defending the Faith Astonishing his Enemies and for several Years together Defying the Philistine and Desiring Nothing
it seems to me that the Scripture in sundry places speaks after the same manner calling that Rebellion which strictly and properly is not so or which at least is not Rebellion in a Criminal Sense This perhaps may seem strange to some People but let them impartially consider 1 Kings 12.19 where it is said Israel rebelled against the House of David unto this Day And to this Day they were never reproved for it and good reason For this thing is from Me saith the Lord by the Prophet Shemaiah vers 24. Nor can we call this a bare Permission but it was Determined before-hand and a Prophet sent to Jeroboam to give him Notice of it Beheld I will rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give Ten Tribes to thee 1 Kings 11.31 And why should God do this Because says he they have for saken me and worshipped Idols c. So that here is a peremptory Decree for this Defection with the Reason annexed and God ordered seeond Causes so as to bring it about Learned Men may dispute if they please whether the Ten Tribes were free Agents in what they did it is evident from the Text That this Revolt of theirs was the Purpose and Design of God and was approved by him tho' it is called in Scripture Rebellion Another Instance of this kind we have in 2 Kings 18.7 where it is said of Hezekiah That he rebelled against the King of Assria Was Hezekiah an Offender in this No for the Lord was with him Whatever Promises or Covenants had passed between him and the King of Assyria we know not This is certain That King Hezekiah did well in throwing off the Assyrian Yoke tho' it hath the name of Rebellion for he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments So that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him Behold here a Sinless Rebellion which was the thing I aim'd at and now let the Jacobites call us Rebells or what Else they please I shall now proceed to give my Answer when it is time to Rebel having first declared when it is not time It is not to fly to Arms for some few private Injuries done to particular persons whilst Law has its due Course in the Main and the Vital parts of Government remain safe Indeed people are seldom forward to hazard their own Lives and Fortunes to Revenge private wrongs Nor yet ought they to Embroil a Kingdom for some publick Miscarriages of the King when it may be reasonably suppos'd that he hath Us'd his Prerogative for the good of his people to the best of his Judgment tho' in Effect it hath proved Contrary What is well meant and will afford a tollerable reason should be forgiven notwithstanding the ill Consequence when it is not wilfully persisted in There is a time for Prayers as well as for Self-defence and that should be try'd in the first place and so long as any hope remains it is a proper Season for Faith and Patience But when the Kings Illegal Proceedings have Extended one way or other to the Majority of the People and from particular injuries have advanced to an invasion upon all mens Liberties When the Violence that has affected many is of such a Nature and Consequence as to threaten All When High-Commission-Courts are set up to disseiz Men of their Free-holds and Charters call'd in for packing of Parliaments When honest Magistrates are every where turn'd out and sworn Enemies to the Establish'd Government fill their places When we are threatned like the Israelites to be Chastized with Scorpions and Foreign Cut-throats like to be let in among us When Religion and Property Life and Posterity are almost within the Jaws of a Gaping Monster When all the Foundations and the whole Frame of Government are so shaken that Dissolution must ensue When there is no hope left nor any Counsel can be heard but Jesuites and bigotted Papists And to compleat all when all Men are sensible and three quarters at least of the Nation are perswaded in their Consciences that all this is really so If ever Men will stand up for Self-Defence and to save Posterity This is the Time When Matters are brought to this pass to talk of Passive Obedience is the greatest Nonsense in the World and to tell the People of being subject to Authority when there is no Authority but Illegal Force and all the Rules and Measures of Government broken is to talk to the Wind and perswade Men to be tamely Murder'd in Obedience to Illegal Violence Rebellion in this Case as they please to call it becomes a Duty and to be Passive is to Betray the Nation And then for the other part of the Question about a Judge there is none upon Earth to determine this Matter but the Sword Every Man will Judge for himself and Consult as he can for his own Safety But there lies no Appeal but only to the Court of Heaven for the Success of the Cause and that Court God be praised has determin'd the Matter by sending us a King that Maintains our Laws and Ancient Government PART II. A DEFENCE OF THE Foregoing DISCOURSE AGAINST Certain Exceptions Communicated in Writing SIR I Received your Paper of Exceptions against what I have been saying hitherto in behalf of the present Government and in Defence of the late Happy Revolution But I am sorry you should trouble your self and me with so many trite and common things which have had full and sufficient Answers usque ad Nauseam However since you seem to expect it I shall go thro' them all and doubt not to satisfie any indifferent Person But such as are or seem to be under Judicial Blindness and Infatuation may seek for Conviction by Miracle if they please and 't is a question whether that would do it For they do not appear to be capable of any Satisfaction till they find it in the smart of the Misery and Slavery which they have long been Courting and Admiring and are now grown Impatient of Delay But of you I hoped better things and shall be sorry to find my self mistaken The first thing I meet with is this But what I pray if Kings misdemean themselves in their Government must they presently cease to be Kings You put this Question as if you had not read what you are pretending to Answer without taking any notice of what I quoted you from K. James and Mr. Barclay and so you go on as if nothing at all had been said in this Matter Therefore I proceed to The next thing God Almighty made them Kings and how can less Authority Dethrone them This is no better than pure Sophistry as if Kings were not of Hunane Race but made in Heaven and sent down upon Earth to devour Mortals like so many Frogs to be eaten up by a Stork without any hopes of Deliverance What would you think if I should advance
Exception lies Yet you urge that Maxim of the Law That the King can do no wrong as if it were on your side which makes altogether as much against you for these two Expressions are of the same importance it being all one in effect to say he is King by Law and to say He can do no wrong For what 's the reason that the King being but a Man can do no wrong It is not because he does not do amiss in granting illegal Commissions for no doubt he sins in it and does that which is Morally Evil But the reason is because he can act nothing qua Rex but by or according to Law So that unless the Law be wrong the King can do none From whence it naturally follows that whatsoever the King does beside or Contrary to the Law is not the Act of a King but of a private person Suppose for Example a King at one time Corrects a Servant moderately for a real Fault at another time he beats him severely without a Cause and the third time he kills him without any provocation These are none of them Regal Acts for the First he does as Master of a Family the Second as a Man in Passion the Third as a Tyrant Yet I do not say that this Tyrannical Act Vnkings him For one Act makes not a Habit and 't is possible he may repent of it and lay it so to heart as to become a better Man and a better King ever after But this I do say That a constant Course of Arbitrary Proceeding so far as to lay aside the Laws and actually Change the Government does Vnking him and the reason is because he destroys that by which he has his being It is the Law makes him a King which being removed and laid aside he has no Foundation to stand upon This I said before and by your Favour it is not Gratis Dictum as you are pleased to say but you have Answered my paper without reading it or at least without regarding what you Read Nor is this a Parallel Case with that which you put of whipping your Boy too Severely and thereupon ceasing to be his Father There is a wide difference between the Dissolution of a Government and the Correction of a Child the one is Destroyed and the other Improved But if you destroy your Child that is kill him by Correcting him this will bring the Comparison nearer home For as a King Ceases to be a King when he has destroyed his Kingdom So a Father ceases to be a Father when he has no Child So that your own Comparison with a little improvement makes altogether against you Besides there is a manifest difference between a Natural and a Political Relation The one can never be dissolved while the parties are in being but the other may A good King may happen to lose his Kingdom and remain in Exile that I know you 'l readily grant But he that Succeeds him in the Administration of Sovereign power is King at least de Facto and the Law requires Allegiance to be paid him so that the former relation Ceases But this puts me in mind to recommend to you Sr. Ro. Filmers Political Babel whereof this is the Corner Stone that we are all born Slaves and that a Son a Subject a Servant and a Slave are all one without any Difference If you are not yet acquainted with that worthy Author its great pity you should not for I believe you would greatly admire him You tell me next To bring the Authority of K. James the First is all over Jargon with a great deal more to the same purpose where you make Reflections upon that Learned King so shameful and so false that it will be a kindness to you to suppress them I shall only hint at Two Things and pass on First You suppose that these imprudent Sayings as you imprudently call them were spoken to Court the People at his coming to the Crown and you will find them in the Ninth Year of his Reign Secondly This is the first time that I have heard the Cause of our Civil Wars and the Crime of K. Charles's Munder laid at his Door I rather think with submission to better Judgments that if his Cautions had been observed it might have been a means to prevent the Evils following You approve it seems of those Determinations made in Parliament at several times namely under Q. Elizabeth K. James the First and K. Charles the First with the Judgment of Archbishop Laud according as I set it down before for you say you cannot but grant it very Lawful And I tell you once more you have intirely given up your Cause for I cannot understand how any thing can go higher in Defence of the Late Revolution But you go on with the greatest Confidence in the World saying It was to suppress a Rebellion begun by the Subjects Cujus contrarium verum est it was to stop the Incroachments of Princes upon their Subjects But this it is to write before you read the words are these When a Prince breaks in upon the Religion and Liberties of his People they ought to stand up in their own Defence and may also Call in a Neighbour to their Assistance This you may find upon Record and taken notice of by several Learned Men of late See especially the Protestant Mask supposed to be written by Dr. C. In the next place you falsifie my words to make me speak what I was not thinking of and you jumble together a deal of Nonsense and would have me to own it concluding with your usual Confidence This you 'l say your self I suppose needs no Confutation So indeed I do and with very good Reason for 't is your own Stuff and none of mine And thus it follows You cannot but Wonder that a Man of my parts c. Should make no Difference betwine a people Rebelling against their Lawful King and a people Rebelling against God when there is no such passage to be found nor any thing like it My words are these So long as a King remains a King and Maintains the Laws he is a Rebel that opposes him But when he falls from that he is a Rebel himself For this I quoted the place as may be seen 1 Sam. 15.32 where Samuel Charges Saul with Rebellion And I now add that a King of England is as much obliged to Govern by Law as the King of Isfrael was to observe God's Commands As for the Story of Anâ—â—â—eck It is only toucht upon to bring in Samuel's severe Reproof and Davids taking Arms against him But say you Saul was at that Instant rejected from his Kingdom What trifling is this He was King so long as he liv'd and David was his Subject never pretending to the Crown in his lise time yet he took Arms to defend himself And his behaviour towards Saul is a good Example both ways Namely of Dutiful respect towards the King in sparing his Person and giving