the Popish Match and Popery was at the bottom For though it be said the Puritans had a Design to throw him out of the Saddle right or wrong and that nothing of Concessions should ever satisfy them and this perhaps may be true of some very sower Zealots and extravagant Pretenders yet 't is improbable and what they could never have hoped for and the greater part of the Presbyterians were drawn in by Surprise who did not foresee the end and withdrew afterwards when 't is true 't was too late But after all the design was carried on in other Nations besides our own and by other Councels beyond ours And Popish Priests had not only their Heads but Hands also in the Business not only in Peace but War likewise as you may read in Mentet who would not lie in that Affair 't is a pretty scarce Book and therefore I will give you his Words he says speaking of the Battel of Edge-Hill Ce que surprit le plus tout le Monde ce fut qu' on trouua quelques Prestres parmi les Morts du Costé des Estates Car Encore que Dans leurs Manifestes ils appellassent l' Armeé du Roy l' Armeé des Papistes pour le rendre Odieux au Peuple ils avoient neamoins deux Compagnies de Wallons d'autres Catholiques dans leur Armeé Outre qu' ils avoient rien oublié pour tascher d' engager en leur Partie le Chevalier Arthur Aston Colonel Catholique de grand Reputation And he says before That the King published an Edict at Stonely afore that wherein he tells them He did not mean that any Papist should come to serve in his Army that he might not give Discontent or Jealousy to his Protestant Subjects but then 't was too late for such like Overtures of Honour or Professions of Sincerity But to go on with Mentet Il est vray que le Roy avoit aussi sou e rt dans son Armeé quelques Officiers Catholiques Homes de grand suffisance les bien intentionées pour le bien de l' Estat ainsi les appella't ' il dans la declaration qu' il ' fit publier apres le Battail à quoy les Estates n' oublierent pas de repondre par autant des Contredits Il temoigne qu' encore que les Estates eussent sans Comparison plus grand Nombre des Catholiques que luy dans leur Armeé qu' ils eussent tasché par toutes sortes de moyens de gaigner tous ceux du Royaume leur ayant fait promettre sous main que moyennant qu' ils voulussent prendre partie avec eux On abrogeroit toutes les Ordinances faites à leur prejudice Il ne pouvoit toute fois se resoudre d'appeller les Catholiques à son secours n'y de revoquer son Edit por le quel il leur avoit fait des defenses de s'y presenter Il asseure de plus tous les bons sujets que bien qu' il eust regard aux personnes des Catholiques qui l'avoient secouru dans sa Necessité qu' il eust bonne Memoire de leur Services il ne feroit pourtant jamais rien en faveur de leur Religion c. All this came too late for our purpose yet if this and his Manifesto at the beginning of the English and Scotch Presbytery if his Letters to the Queen taken at Naseby wherein he protests to differ in nothing from her but Religion if his other Conferences with the Marquess of Worcester c. and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Dying Speech will not satisfy Men that he was no Papist they seem to be as Cruel to his Memory as they were to his Person Though after all his Articles of Mariage were too Frank for a Church-of-England-Man who was not in Love at the same time And the Spanish Match if either might probably have had somewhat a better Success for this Reason only That the King of Spain was going down the wind whereas the French King was advancing and I must repeat it the Observation of what his Brother of France Lewis the XIIIth was doing but just on t'other side of the Water increas'd our Jealousies on this and gave an incurable Wound to the King's Reputation This made the People with some colour of Reason by way of prevention endeavour to wrest the Sword out of the King's Hands and attempt to get the Militia into their own upon this pretence the Parliament were forward to put a false Construction upon his Raising of Forces and turn'd it to a Levying of War on the People in order as they call'd it to subvert the Laws and introduce an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government whereas we have the King's Word for it That he took up Arms only to Defend the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and in his Dying-Speech he tells the World He did never intend to incroach upon the Privileges of the People and that he desired their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whatsoever and that he died a Martyr of the People meaning I suppose for them And after all these Proceedings are so unaccountable that they can't be reconciled to any Rules of Political Observation there seems to be somewhat of Fate in them which will not be confined to our little narrow ways of Reasoning nor to the more enlarged deep Politicks of Statesmen The Event exceeded the Scheme laid by Richlieu and the Expectations of his Successor Mazarine who at first being surpriz'd did prosecute the King's Death with some Resentment though after like a true Politician he kept Correspondence with Cromwell It seems their design was only to Embroil England whilst France carried on its Designs elsewhere not to Establish any setled Power not a Commonwealth certainly Their Business was but to Embarass our Councels that they might be at liberty to followitheirs without Interruption Not to Establish any Religion not even Popery for even Religion was not their Business if it could have procured Peace and Prosperity to the Kingdom But only to Counterpoise the two Extremes of Popery and Fanaticism after the manner of King James for a while and to set the Fanaticks themselves by the Ears at last Thus their Correspondents their Agents and their Money was employed on all Hands to confound us in England as well as the Jesuits had done all Europe by their Intriegues before and we must fatally run into their Noose But there yet farther seems to be some extraordinary Hand in the Turn of these Affairs above the Common Councels or Actions of Man though not to be adjusted to Human Measures of Comprehension Who knows what to say to the Prophecy of Nostredamus setting aside the Scotch Predictions and those nearer home viz. The Senate of London shall put their King to Death 'T is so very peculiar though Printed almost an Hundred Years before that it must intimate something and even
Affairs of the Church were so prudently managed in her time with relation to Puritans as well as Papists that she left it in a Condition to stand upon its own Legs and maintain it self without Danger from Opposition had it been preserv'd with the same continuance of Zeal and unshaken Fidelity by her Successors As to her Civil Administration the Heathen and Mahumetans the Persians and Idolaters the Ethiopians and Muscovites name her with Reverence And Bossac in one of his Letters to Cecil saith He that Excommunicated her spoke of her with Honour She chose her self a Wise Councel and shewed her own Wisdom in being Advised by them She had a hard Game to play with Philip of Spain as well as her own Popish Subjects yet she managed both softly and by degrees and at last by Parliament fix'd and secured the general Alteration in Religion which she could never have done by her self First-Fruits and Tenths were Restored to the Crown and the Supremacy Confirmed to the Queen She avoided Matrimony whether upon any Consideration besides Prudence I shall not enquire by doing so she preserv'd her self Head of the Church and State and Mistress of her self as well as her Subjects and Oblig'd and Silenc'd the Parliament by soft Answers of denial when they Remonstrated to her for that purpose and put an unanswerable Compliment upon them by telling them She had placed her Affections upon her People in General But in matters of Religion she was no Courtier after she had once declared her self a Protestant though some pretend she Dissembled in her Sister's Days she did not look back towards the Pope did not shuffle in her Religion but refused all Communication with him and also generously declined all the Overtures of Advantage made by Pius the IVth She equally despised his Threats and Temptations Afterwards she readily and sincerely Assisted the Distressed Protestants her Neighbours on all Occasions She provided every thing for the Strength and Honour of the English Nation and saw it maintain'd in its True Glory both at Home and Abroad Would not be wheadled nor huff'd to betray it but carry'd its Reputation farther Abroad than any of her Predecessors had or Successors hitherto have done She shew'd it the way to overcome even the Invincible Armada of Spain which the Spaniards with all their Force and Fraud had provided to Invade us and basely to Attack us by Surprize when they were at the same time in a Treacherous Treaty of a Peace And all this she did without oppressing her Subjects well knowing as she her self declared when she remitted a Fourth Subsidy that the Money was as sure in her Subjects Coffers as her Own 'T is said of her Never Prince ruled with more Justice and with her Justice mingled more of Mercy She was term'd St. Elizabeth by some at Venice for her Merciful returning home certain Italians which were taken Prisoners in the Invasion of 1588. And 't is said some told the Lord Carleton being then Ambassador That though they were Papists yet they would never pray to any other Saint a Compliment at that distance may be laid hold of at home for an acknowledgment of a just Character But her Truest Character we may take from her own Behaviour and from her own Mouth because it seems to have nothing of Vanity in it In her Speech to her last Parliament 1601. she thus expresseth her self To be a King and to wear a Crown is a thing more Glorious to them that see it than it is Pleasant to them who bear it Though you may have had and may have many Mightier and Wiser Princes sitting in this Seat yet you never had nor shall have Any that will love you better Du Serres says of the Reign of Henry the Fourth of France her Contemporary It is a Sign of a Happy Reign when the Subject rejoyceth to see their Prince 'T is probable he might mean it as well of Queen Elizabeth Or we may apply it for him as it was verified of her For it was observ'd in her short Progresses that People of all sorts would flock to see her And not only that for I have known other Kings attended through Curiosity but also what hearty Acclamations did they utter As God save Queen Elizabeth c. and she would Reply God bless you my People all Few Princes miscarry who have the Affections of the better part of their People 'T was for this Reason I suppose that the Mother of the Duke of Guise her professed Enemy said Elizabeth of England was the most Glorious and Happy Woman that ever swayed Scepter And Henry the Fourth of France in a Letter to Monsieur de Rosny commends her with an implicit sort of Emulation She had such a Character even with the Turks for Morality and Natural Honour That at her Instance he countenanced the English Trading there and thence came as is said our Turky Company and every one knows the Benefit of it to England Also the Duke of Russia for her sake as is said who yet is so jealous of Strangers gave Civil Reception to the English In short That Kingdom which she found in Troubles and unsetled she left Establish'd in True Religion Peace and Plenty at Home and Reputation Abroad JAMES I. I Dare not Encounter this King so rudely as some have done 't is said upon good Experience Nor would I be thought to offer Undecent Reflections at a King who came Ushered into our Throne with such a Reputation for Wisdom of his own and such Advantages of a Councel left him fam'd for it Yet in my own Opinion and poor Observation I can't for my Soul pay that mighty Veneration to his Character and Memory which the World would seem to demand He seems to me to have stumbled at the Threshold in our Kingdom and to have done a thing not very Honourable or Prudent Who after he had so poorly quitted the Resentments of his Mother's Death before by a sort of Reflex Malice yet in pious Memory of her Sufferings and to revive the Reasons of them here and as it were to Countenance and Abet the Norfolk Family upon the same Foundations forthwith calls the Lord Thomas and Henry Howard two Papists to the Council thereby intimating as it were hopes to the Papists c. which they were apt enough no doubt to conceive Nor will his Pretended Apprehension of the Pope's Briefs to the Catholicks excuse him Tho Sir Richard Baker who was bribed by a Knighthood at his first coming over represents him in the front to have done it only upon Prudential Motives that is Fear Thus he at first dash disobliged all Parties And who knows but this first Cast of Favour to them and to the Earl of Southampton whose Father 't is true was a great Friend to Mary Queen of Scots but a greater to Popery and his partial aukward Behaviour towards other Gentlemen might be the Foundation of that complicated Treason by the Lord Cobham Sir Walter
given by Bracton and Britton and Fortescue's foolish Etimology There must be a Prerogative somewhere in all Places There is a Prerogative in Kings by the Law of Nations and the Use of it is to shew Mercy to reward Virtue 'T is the Law that punisheth not Kings and because there is no written Equity in Criminal or Capital Matters therefore the Seat of Mercy is placed by the Fountain of Justice This is no doubt properly and truly to be God's Vicegerent Thus with us Potest Rex ei lege suâ Dignitatis Spelman Gloss Praerogativa Regis Condonare si velit Mortem promeritam Spoken of Edward the Confessor Though there is a sort of Equity by the Letter of our Law in the Case of Manslaughter making an allowance for the Passions of Men and the King's Pardon of Murder hath been question'd it looks like a Dispensing with the Positive Law of God It is certain he can't change the Punishment There are several Prerogatives and Flowers of the Crown some of Use some for Ornament but founded also upon Reason The King hath all Mines of Gold and Silver Treasure Trove Escheats of all Cities May take his Creditors into Protection till he be satisfied with Preference May take Body Lands and Goods of Debtor c. because the King's Treasure is supposed to be for the publick Benefit May make any Foreign Coin lawful Money of England by Proclamation for Exigencies may require it The King may dig in the Subjects House not Mansion-House or Barn for Salt-petre being for the Defence of the Nation Kings only can have Parks and Chaces and not Subjects without his License So Swans in Royal Rivers because they are stately Creatures and Royal Game and become the Honour of a King The King shall be said to be Founder though another join in the Foundation c. because 't is for his Honour The King shall have Ward though the Lands were held of him by Posteriority because the King's Title shall be preferr'd and not put in Competition with the Subject So he shall not be Tenant in common i. e. He shall have all because a Subject ought not to be equal with him in any thing There are also several other Franchises which by the Policy of our Law belong to the Crown And we say in our Law That the King's Prerogative is part of the Law of England and comprehended within the same We say also That the King hath no Prerogative but that which the Law of the Land allows him And 't is certain he is restrained in several respects by our Law as in a Politick Capacity Letting pass those Distinctions and Cant in Coke's 7th Rep. Calvin's Case of the King's Prerogative As he hath Advantages so he hath his Disadvantages also at least Kings or others for them are apt to call them so Thus he can't by Testament dispose of the Jewels of the Crown 't is doubted whether he may legally pawn them though it be said he may give them by his Letters-Patents 't is against the Honour of the Crown The Law is so jealous of the King's Honour that it hath preferr'd it before his Profit He hath no Prerogative against Magna Charta cannot take or prejudice the Inheritance of any Can 't send any man out of the Realm against his Will because he hath the Command of the Service of the Subjects only for Defence of the Realm Can 't lay any new Impost on Merchandises Can take none but usual and Ancient Aids and Taxes Can 't dispense with Statutes made for Publick Good or against Nusances or Mala in se Can do no Wrong Can 't alter the Law Common or Ecclesiastical Nor Statute-Law or Custom of the Realm by Proclamation or otherwise Nor create any Offence thereby which was not an Offence before Can 't grant a Corporation any new Jurisdiction to proceed by Civil Law because it may deprive Subjects hereby of Privilege of Trial. The King can't put off the Offices of Justice of a King is not suppos'd to be ill-affected but deceiv'd and impos'd upon and abus'd Eadem presumitur mens Regis quae est juris c. But the late Sticklers for Arbitrary Power have found out a Plea for the Absoluteness of Kings which as they think carries some Face of an Objection against the fettering their Prerogative Say they At this rate a King can never exert himself as he ought to do any Glorious Action or as King James the II d phras'd it to Carry the Reputation of a Kingdom high in the World He cannot extend his Conquests c. No matter whether he can or not Neither can he oppress his Subjects It is sufficient for Kings especially for a King of Great Britain to be on the Defensive by Land neither do I believe any of our Kings ever got any thing by extending their Dominions 'T is no Argument to us in our Situation if the matter were so But this Notion is a Mistake For never did any King do extraordinary Feats where he made War and carried it on against the Inclinations or without the Consent of his People The Fights with the Dutch at Sea in the Reign of King Charles the II d is a sufficient Instance of this Nature We fought against the Grain and without an Enemy as Sir William Temple observes Nor shall we find in History that any King hath continued his enlarged Bounds where he carried on Imposts and Taxes by Violence at Home to the Impoverishing of his People Let the End of this present French King be observ'd who seems to stand an Exception at present but he stands a very ticklish one Besides the true Interest and Advantage of our Island lies another way To maintain the Sovereignty of the Seas to promote Trade and Traffick c. And to this purpose the King hath the highest Prerogative in this Element He may press Men for this Service which he cannot for any Foreign Expedition by Land He hath Customs Tunnage and Poundage c. Yet not these without Consent in Parliament and some of our Kings have made but a scurvy Experiment in attempting to take them without it Whence then doth come this Title to Arbitrary Absolute Power It must be the Child of Conquest or some other Paramount Inherent Right And to this purpose it is objected That by our Laws we acknowledge several Rights and Privileges of the Subject to be Concessions from Kings and we yield the Lands to be holden immediately or mediately of the Crown c. This is pretended to sound in Conquest rather than Compact or to be founded on the Patriarchal Right And Sir Robert Filmer especially is pleasant upon Sir Edward Coke for this He says If the first Kings were chosen by the People as many think they were then surely our Forefathers were a very bountiful if not prodigal People to give all the Lands of the whole Kingdom to their Kings with liberty to them to keep what they pleas'd and to
give the Remainder to their Subjects clogg'd and incumbred with a Condition to defend the Realm This is but an ill sign of a Limited Monarchy by Original Constitution or Contract At this rate a Man who writes with the Fancy of a Government may expose any thing even himself But why doth this necessarily follow May not several Privileges and Powers be lodged in the Crown for Conformity and Dignity of Government by Consent And so May not Estates or the Lands of a Kingdom be divided by Contract with the acknowledgment of the Tenure and to express the Service How come Lands to Escheat to the Crown for they are forfeited for Treason I mean of Cities but that there is no Heir How comes the King to have the Year Day and Waste of Lands which Escheat to the Lord By what Law if not of Contract To say they moved from the King and were Limitations of his Bounty is as much suppos'd on the other hand and gratis dictum If he had virtually all Lands Why not all Goods c. too No man will say that If he had I confess there would be then no use of Parliaments But to proceed the King by his Prerogative may Call and Prorogue and Dissolve Parliaments By what Law had he this Prerogative If not by Law of Compact and Consent of Necessity to avoid Confusion for if he could Command his Subjects Purses c. there could not otherwise be any Original use of them He might and would no doubt have call'd and made use of only a Privy or Cabinet Council or Cabal for after this way of Inference no King would certainly have Clogg'd himself with the impertinent Formalities of a Parliament their Predecessors were very Weak or Prodigal to Clip their own Wings and give their Subjects a share in the Legislative Power This is but an ill sign of an Original Absolute Arbitrary Power And 't was upon this pretence though those Gentlemen don't care to own it That they would have endeavoured to Disengage their King from the use of Parliaments and would conclude That the King might chuse whether he would ever call any or not at least in this Form Thus they would beg the Question and presume the Consequence on their side because equally absurd The King may Proclaim War c. Does it follow therefore that he may make it without other Heads and Hands Thus they confound the Executive and Legislative Authority They say Scribling is a sign of a Licentious Age and some think of a Decaying State too Ought not some Creaturs to be Muzled There were many odd sort of extravagant Books published on Subjects of this Nature in the Reign of King Charles the II d not without Reason as we may suppose But all these violent pursuits in both Extremes are suspitious and where all Parties mean nothing but the Publick Good there 's nothing of this nature worth contending for And whoever will reflect on the Circumstances and Occasions or Times of such Publications and the advancing these high-flown Notions with a little pains of Comparison will easily see through the Mystery of their Policy It is very extraordinary That Subjects make Kings Conquerors in spight of their Teeths and against their own Professions and Declarations on purpose to make themselves Slaves by their own Consequence though this really is neither the true Signification nor Import as Mr Spelman makes appear in his Glossary let them take it in their own sense but we may assure our selves they did not intend to inslave themselves They tell us That William the I st was a Conqueror and therefore we were all Slaves c. though at other times Force and Success will make no Right Yet afterwards they also tell us when we come to insist on our Rights as Subjects That Magna Charta was obtained by Force c. What then So had the Crown been before it seems by them Either the People of England had some Legal Rights before the Conquest or not If they had as is confess'd 't was time to endeavour the Restoring of them If William the I st were an Intruder and came in by Force of Arms only he was but a Successful Usurper and the People being under a Force could not lose their Rights If he came in with pretence of Title Title continued them in their Rights and either way was justifiable I am engaged in this matter before I am aware and beyond my first intention and I shall meet with these Gentlemen anon But not to forestal you in the History I can't avoid a Hint upon those times being upon Magna Charta and that being by that Act declared to be Declaratory of the Fundamental Rights and Common Laws of the Realm To shew the Arts of Debauching Kings and the end of such Attempts in one previous Instance Hubert de Burgo as you may see in Sir Edward Coke's Preface to Magna Charta c. meaning to make his step to Ambition which ever Rideth without Reins persuaded and humoured that King That he might avoid that Charter of his Father King John by Duress and his own great Charter and Charta de Foresta also for that he was within Age whereupon the King got one of the great Charters and that of the Forest into his Hands and by his Councel unjustly Cancell'd both the said Charters though this Hubert de Burgo was Primier Witness of all the Temporal Lords to both the said Charters whereupon he became in high Favour with the King c. But soon after for Flattery and Flatterers have no sure Foundation he fell into the King's heavy Indignation and after many fearful and miserable Troubles he was Justly and according to Law Sentenc'd by his Peers in open Parliament and as justly Degraded of the Dignity which he had unjustly obtained c. So that other Notion of Paternal Right is as Extraordinary This takes a short way and makes Mankind Rebels from the Creation or from the Flood Who could have imagined That this Paternal Dominion from Adam could have been inferr'd from that Expression of the Psalmist The earth hath he given to the children of men Which Sir Robert Filmer learnedly says Doth shew that the Title of Government comes from Fatherhood Methinks it seems a more plausible and literal Argument to Exclude Fathers or to lay them aside as they do in some Countries at such an Age Why have not this Party a scruple of Conscience about all other Variations of Government even by God himself At this rate they ought to procure Masses for the Souls of their Progenitors who lived in the Heptarchy It is certain no body living under any Commonwealth can hope to be Saved as remaining in a continued state of Rebellion Thus they create a double Obligation on Men and harrass their very Souls between their Natural and Political Parents in virtue of the Fifth Commandment But as much a Frenchman as he seems to be I know not how he will excuse
others he himself made the Laws a Measure of his Prerogative It will not be worth Enquiry Whether he first Instituted a Parliament in the Form it now stands He raised Money in a Parliamentary way we find in his First Parliament at Salisbury he obtained Three Shillings upon every Hide of Land towards the Marriage of his Daughter with the Emperor although 't is said there these Aids were due by Common Law from the King's Tenants by Knight's Service viz. Aid to Ransom the King's Person Aid to make the King 's Eldest Son a Knight and Aid to Marry the King 's Eldest Daughter once And although this matter was ascertain'd afterwards by King John's Charter at Running-Mead yet following Kings have not been so tender and reserv'd in this Point If he may be said to be Cruel to his Brother Robert I 'm sure he was very Honourable towards Lewis of France when in England whither he came on his own Head notwithstanding he was Solicited and Tempted to make him away As to his Personal Virtues or Vices they were to himself If he fail'd in the Oeconomicks he had Troubles in his own House and whether his Misfortunes of this kind were occasioned by Judgments or the Follies of himself or Wife it is certain he had his share of them but he took so much care that the Nation knew but very few troubles during his Reign And as he obtained a Kingdom by a sort of Artifice so he used his Prerogative with Discretion STEPHEN THIS King's Reign was almost one entire Scene of Military Actions without any mixture of Civil Policy he did not live a Year to Enjoy or Manage Peace after his Agreement with Henry II. the Son of Maud And there was never any formal Meeting of the Body of the Estates in his time The Expences of his War were occasioned by a troubled Title and he maintained them by Confiscations and although he had continued Charges that way yet he required few or no Tributes from the People 'T is said he had another way of getting Money viz by causing Men to be Impleaded and Fined for Hunting in his Forests after he had given them Liberty to Hunt there For thus far at least the Kings Exercised an Absolute Prerogative only over the Beasts of the Forest Which is a Prerogative I confess they ought to Enjoy Indisputably HENRY II. THOUGH this King came to the Crown by the most Absolute Title and Clearest Right yet in Four and thirty Years time we do not find that he pretended to impose upon his People any Arbitrary Power but by Success and Policy he added to the Crown of England Scotland Ireland the Isles of Orcades Britain Poytiers Guyen and other Provinces of France And for all this he had only one Tax of Escuage towards his War with France His causing the Castles to be Demolished was a justifiable piece of Policy for the reason given as being Nurseries of Rebellion In the beginning of his Reign he refined and reformed the Laws and 't is said made them more Tolerable and Profitable to his People than they were before and what is better Governed himself by them We do not find the Punishments of Capital Offences or others were certain but variable and distinguished in the same Crime according to the degrees of Aggravation The Church-Chroniclers bestow a Judgment upon him for refusing to take the Protection of the Distressed Christians in Jerusalem offered to him by Heraclius the Patriarch and assign his Troubles at Home to that Cause but they might be mistaken and he might as he apprehended have had greater from his own Sons if he had gone Abroad upon that Errand And if the Church will forgive him the Story of Thomas Becket for he was otherwise very Civil to it the State had no reason to complain of him for he suffered neither his Wars nor his Pleasures to be Chargeable to the Nation nor his Concubines to be Spungers on the People RICHARD I. THERE is but little Observable in the Reign of this King with relation to the Subject at Home he being the greater part of it out of the Land If his Artifices of Raising Money were not Justifiable the occasion may at least Excuse him He obtained a Subsidy towards his necessary Charges of War what was properly called Taxation was by Parliament or by the Subjects own Contribution and Method of Charging themselves with as the Money raised for his Ransom If he may be charged with some slips in Justice he made it up in Courtesy which by the by goes a great way with Englishmen for 't is observed they may be Led tho' they will not well Drive And upon his return Home from the Holy Land we find the first thing he did was to give his Lords and People Thanks for their Faithfulness to him in his Absence and for their readiness to Supply him for his Ransom JOHN MOntaigne says in one of his Essays and he speaks it upon Observation of History That Women Children and Mad-men have had the Fortune to govern Great Kingdoms equally well with the Wifest Princes And Thucydides That the Stupid more frequently do it than those of better Understanding Whether this be an Argument of a Providential Disposing and Governing of Kingdoms I leave to those that are conversant that way Some Men perhaps may be apt to think it reflects Disgrace on Dignities if this be true Some Kings are involv'd in such a Cloud of Circumstances of Difficulty and Intrigues that there is no looking into them nor making any Judgment of their Actions Speed guesses of King John That if his Reign had not fallen out in the time of so Turbulent a Pope such Ambitious Neighbour Princes and such Disloyal Subjects nor his Story into the Hands of Exasperated Writers he had appear'd a King of as great Renown as Misfortunes This is civilly and gently said This is certain This King as all others when once they have broke through their Coronation-Oath presently became as it were infatuated and deaf to all good Counsel stoop't to every thing that was mean and base and having once laid aside his Native Honour run into all Dishonourable Sordid Actions The History represents him pursuing his Profit and even his Pleasures by all manner of Injustice He prosecuted his Brother Geoffry Archbishop of York and took from him all he had only for doing the Duty of a Wise and Faithful Councellor Hence his Lords grew Resty and refused to follow him into France unless he would restore to them their Rights and Liberties which he had invaded And when he shuffled with them in the Grant of their Demands What Wars what Miseries did not follow Wars at Home Foreiners call'd in the Nation plunder'd and spoil'd Money procured by Base poor-spirited Tricks He on one Side forc'd to truckle to the Pope and as is said to submit to somebody worse his Subjects on the other hand calling in to their Relief as they thought a Foreiner fetch
't in Lewis the Son of Philip the French King the People in general not living like Men nor dying like Christians nor having Chrstian Burial the whole Nation one dismal Scene of Horrid Misfortunes Behold the Effect of Violated Faith and Arbitrary Oppression But it is no great Credit to Prerogative That this King who had no very good Title unless it were Election was the first Vindicator of it in a violent manner And asserted the Right to Absolute Power with the same Justice as he did That to the Crown in the time of Arthur his Nephew who was the Undoubted Heir By these means he brought himself and People into Troubles which never ended but with his Life HENRY III. HERE we may perceive as also in another Reign or two hereafter how the Irregularities of a Father or Predecessor involve the Son and Successor in a Remainder of Troubles and the Nation also in their intail'd Misfortunes For although those Lords as Sir Richard Baker tells us who had been constant to the Father notwithstanding his Faults were also more tender of the Son who was Innocent and so stuck to him That by the Interest chiefly of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke who married his Aunt they prevail'd so that Young Henry was Crown'd King yet he could not come to the Crown upon the square but was forc'd to do Homage to Pope Innocent for his Kingdom of England and Ireland when he took his Coronation-Oath and to take an Oath to pay the Church of Rome the Thousand Marks which his Father had granted And though after his Coronation most of the Lords maintain'd him in his Throne preferring their Natural Allegiance to Henry before their Artificial Obligations to Lewis and Beat or Compounded the latter out of the Kingdom yet this King Henry so soon as he was got out of Protection and came to Administer the Government himself immediately in gratitude Cancels and Annuls the Charters which he had granted on pretence forsooth of Minority altho' he had taken an Oath as well as the Legate Guallo and the Protector to restore unto the Barons of the Realm and other his Subjects All their Rights and Privileges for which the Discord began between the Late King and his People These Rights and Privileges were several times enquired into and ascertain'd by the Returns of the Knights who were charged to examine them were what were enjoy'd in the time of the Saxon Kings and especially under Edward the Confessor and what the Charters of King John and his own express'd For 't is ridiculous to imagine That William II. Henry I. Stephen and King John should pretend to an Arbitrary Power virtually who all came in by the Consent if not Election of the People We may see how a Favourite can Absolve a King in Law and Conscience too And what a pretty Creature a King is when Prerogative and Humour are Synonimous and he Acts by Advice of a single Person or Party counter to that of his Parliament Hence as the Historians say grew Storms and Tumults no quietness to the Subject or to himself nothing but Grievances all the long time of his Reign He displaceth his English Officers to make room for Foreiners and all the Chief Councellors Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom are removed as distrusted that is for giving him Good Counsel and only Strangers preferred to their Places and Honors and Castles the King's House and Treasury committed to their Care and Government These Indignities put upon the Lords put them also upon Confederating to reduce the King to the sense of his former Obligations but to their Petitions he returns Dilatory and Frivolous Answers and to requite their Favours sends for whole Legions of Poictavins to Enslave the Nation and to crown the matter marries himself without Advice to a Daughter of the Earl of Provence by which he brought nothing but Poverty into this Kingdom Afterwards in the Long Story of this King we hear of nothing but Grievance upon Grievance Confederacy upon Confederacy Parliament upon Parliament and Christmas upon Christmas were kept here now there in as many Places as he call'd his Parliaments and to as much purpose Bickerings upon Bickerings and Battle upon Battle till it grew to that height That the Lords threaten'd to Expel him and his New Councels out of the Land and to create a New King and the Bishops threaten'd him with Excommunication whilst through a various Scene of Confusion and Hurly-Burly sometimes one Party being too peremptory sometimes t'other with an Interchangeable undecent Shuffling on the King's Side and a Rude Jealousy on the Lords and various Turns of Arbitrary Fraud and Obstinate Disputes for above Forty Years wherein Prerogative and Liberty grew Extravagant and Mad by turns till the Nation was brought to the last Gasp at length the King in the Fifty second Year of his Reign in most solemn manner confirms the Charters That Magna Charta which was granted in the Ninth Year and pretended to be avoided by reason of Infancy and the Statute of Marlebridge which he had granted upon his Second Coronation in the Twentieth Year Wherein Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta were confirm'd with this Clause Quod contravenientes graviter puniantur Upon which as is said Peace and Tranquillity ensued And these Charters have never since been Impugn'd or Question'd but Confirm'd Establish'd and commanded to be put in Execution by Thirty two several Acts of Parliament And from the Authority whereof no Man ought to be permitted to recede even in his Writing to flatter any King whatever and Sir Robert Filmer Dr. Brady and Mr. Bohun c. perhaps deserv'd as severe a Correction as Collonel Sidney for writing Books and Papers only for I do not think he deserv'd Hanging if not greater for their's were dispers'd by an ill-tim'd-publication whereas t'others lay still only in his Study We date our Non Obstantes from this King which Matthew Paris calls an Odious and Detestable Clause and Roger de Thursby with a sigh said it was a Stream deriv'd from the Sulphurious Fountain of the Clergy EDWARD I. I Know not whether this King may come up to the Character which some of our Historians give of him in all Respects yet without doubt he stands an Instance and Example of Princely Qualities and Virtues fit to be imitated and at least as he is stiled the Second Ornament of Great Britain And as a Wise Just and Fortunate because Wise and Just Prince who in regard of his Noble Accomplishments and Heroical and Generous Mind deserves to be ranged amongst the Principal and Best Kings that ever were as Walsingham and Cambden Polyd. Virgil and Others relate Baker divides his Acts into five Parts 1. His Acts with his Temporal Lords 2. His Acts with his Clergy 3. With Wales 4. With Scotland And lastly With France And First He gave his Lords good Contentment in the beginning of his Reign by granting them Easier Laws and particularly in the
Statute of Westminster which consists of Fifty one Chapters and is well worth perusing Sir Edward Coke says This and all other Statutes made in the Reign of this King may be stiled by the Name of Establishments because they are more Constant Standing and Durable Laws than have been made ever since and Sir William Herle then Chief Justice of the Common Pleas says Fuit le plus Sage Roy que Vnques fuit And though these Laws were said to be Pour le Commun profit de seint Eglise del Realm yet he thought it expedient to clip the Wings of his Clergy observing as is said their Power too predominant and afterwards by the Statute of Mortmain kept them from ingrossing Lands and increasing their Temporal Possessions and when his Prelates prest him to repeal this Statute he gave them for Answer That it was a Statute made by the whole Body of the Realm and therefore not in his Power who was but one Member of that Body not like some of his Successors who have pretended to dispense with all Acts of Parliaments He united Wales to the Crown of England partly by Force and partly by Policy As to his War in Scotland if it were managed with the same Policy it had not nevertheless the like success at least Scotland was so unfortunate to him that he died there His War with France was but a Trifle and soon ended in a Truce His last Misunderstanding with his Lords was the Effect of Unadvised Obstinacy on both hands for he ought not to have insisted on sending or their going to the Wars in Gascoin without his going himself in Person and they ought not to have refused going with him in Person though in or out of France or Scotland but yet he made up the Breach by his subsequent Prudence and soft Demeanour The worst Action of his Reign to me seems to be Bribing the Pope to absolve him from the Covenant made with his Subjects concerning their Charters which he had confirm'd with an Oath but the other good Laws which he made and observed shall with me excuse one Act of Frailty or Passion And if he be censured for his Taxes he is in part justified by his well bestowing them to his own Honour and Good of his Kingdom EDWARD II. WE are not to expect much good from a King who begins his Reign with the breach of his Father's Admonitions and the Obligations he lay under by him in matters of Duty Commands which his Father gave him in charge with his last Words on pain of a Curse for his Disobedience as Stow says And here it may be observed how wretched and contemptible a Creature pardon the Expression even a King as well as another Man is when he hath once broke loose from the Principles of Honour and Morality when the Natural Bonds of Modesty are unhinged and broken How he wavers and shuffles and is driven about by every Wind that he cannot be steady to himself or any one else When Men have once forsaken the Path of Vertue they walk in an endless Maze they can't rely on themselves and therefore are impos'd upon and misled by every one For when a Man cannot justify himself to himself he can never do it to another and Kings generally stand so much upon the Prerogative of being like Gods that they scorn to be thought to be in the wrong like Men. Here we may see how fatal 't is to prefer a private Person before the Publick and for a Prince to espouse the Interest of a Favourite so far as to put him in competition with all his other Subjects and to oppose his Welfare to theirs The whole Reign of this Poor King is but one Farce of Folly and Misfortune contemn'd by his Subjects and even by his own Wife who revenged upon him the violation of a double Tye of Obedience This was the immediate as well as natural Consequence of relying upon the Opinion and Advice of single Persons contrary to the Counsels and against the Advice of the Wisdom of the Nation After Troubles on the behalf of Gaveston Troubles in Scotland with a faint ill-managed War Troubles on account of the Spencers Troubles in his own Family for he was no wiser in his Oeconomicks than his Politicks with his Wife c. he was at last shamefully Deposed barbarously Used and villanously Murther'd A Person in his Natural Capacity certainly to be lamented as having some Virtues and Good Qualities Fit to make an Accomplish't Gentleman though not a Good King Kingly Government did not seem to be his Talent for he lived as if born for himself not for others and there is certainly a difference in the Quality of governing a Man's self and others between governing and being govern'd To this purpose I must bring in Montaign who seems to have a good Notion of the Thing Doubtless says he it can be no easy Task to Rule others when we find it so hard a matter to govern our selves And as to the Thing Dominion which seems so charming the Frailty of Human Wisdom and the Difficulty in Choice of Things that are New and Doubtful to us consider'd I 'm very much of Opinion That it is far more pleasant to follow than to lead and that it is a great Settlement and Satisfaction of Mind to have only one Path to walk in and to have none to answer for but a Man's self For without doubt says he there is a great and painful Duty incumbent upon a Good King How much doth it import Kings to have a Good Advice of Counsel For I doubt we shall find but few Kings whether of God Almighty's making or our own i. e. whether by Inheritance Solus Deus facit haeredes or Election of Cyrus's Qualifications who says That no Man is fit to Rule but he who in his own Worth is of greater value than all those he is to govern EDWARD III. THE Reign of Edward the Third was more a School of Arms than Civil Polity For having in the beginning patch'd up an Indifferent Peace with Scotland he is immediately embroil'd in a War with France with which and some few Matters in Scotland he was engaged all his Life-time It is true in his Parliament at Westminster Supply and Grievances were pretty warmly Debated And he has his weak Side in the Business of Alice Peirce his Concubine but I let this pass as a Failing And who is without some But when he was at leisure he made Good Laws and particularly in the Affair of Purveying He caus'd all Pleas to be in English that the Subjects might understand the Laws Ordain'd Sumptuary Laws c. and in the general was a Great and Good Prince as Walsingham Fuerat nempe Rex iste inter omnes Reges Orbis Principes Gloriosus Benignus Clemens Magnificus Belliger fuit insignis fortunatus qui de Cunctis Congressibus in Terra Mare semper triumphali gloriâ Victoriam Reportavit I
can only attribute this to the Character Stow gives of him viz. That he advanced Persons to Dignities for Merit only and who did excel others in Innocency of Life RICHARD II. SOME Princes have Erred upon a mistaken Consideration some through a wilful and rash Inconsideration some have taken Measures by Advice of Friends as they thought and have been deceived by Misrepresentations these may be pittied Others have Miscarried by hearkening only to Minions and Favourites are head-strong and resolvedly deaf and obstinate against Advice But the Actions and Conduct of this King are so Unaccountable that it would puzzle a Matchiavel to assign him a Character or to fix him in any Rule or Principle of Government Good or Bad. The Rebellion of John or Wat Tyler ought not to be laid at his Door it is called an Accident though it had some dismal Effects in it but the occasion which appears was the Abuse of a Collector who gathered the Poll-Money yet it may teach Kings that it is a ticklish and dangerous Experiment to let out a Revenue or Tax to Farm so that it may be scrued up into what may be called in the Country Oppression This King's first Misunderstanding in earnest or Misdemeanor if I may so speak after his coming to Age was imposed upon him by way of Surprise and Artificial Insinuation of Favourites it might be the result of a hot Indiscretion not of a premeditated Violence or Invasion of Ill-natur'd Policy And if the Duke of Ireland Michael de la Pool the Chancellor or the Archbishop of York were in fault on the one side neither was the Duke of Gloucester the Bishop of Ely c. to be altogether excused on the other and the Parliament imposing on the King Thirteen Lords to have oversight under the King as they called it was an unsufferable Encroachment on the Spirit of a Young Prince And he had reason to have recourse to the Judges for their Opinions and Directions touching what had passed in that Parliament as to their Participation of the Government with him whose Opinion though they had the misfortune to suffer for it was not so Illegal but Justifiable by the Laws saving only in Two or Three of the Questions to which they gave their Answers But Law is not always measured by its own Rule it stands or falls according to the Circumstance of Times A Man may at some time sooner and better Steal a Horse as they say than look on at others This first Affront so put upon the King gave him a prejudice to Parliaments ever after and consequently put him upon indirect Means and Practices to Debauch the Constitution and we may be sure Kings will never want Tools fit for their purpose Hence were conceived those prejudices also against the Duke of Glocester and the other Lords the King had Reason to be out of Tuition when he came to be of full Age 'T is true the Attempting of the Duke of Glocester's Life in that Treacherous manner was not to be excused neither was his Behaviour to be pardoned towards the King he reproached him too severely on all Occasions for though he was the King's Uncle he was not always to be his Governor they were both in Fault no doubt and both equally Unfortunate in their End 'T was an unhappy Reign divided between too haughty Subjects and Ill-designing Favourites too powerful for a Young Inconsiderate King to Manage with Prudence and equal Power Whether Chief Justice Tresilian did according to Law or not 't is certain his Death was not according to Law and as the Duke of Glocester had taken his Life so his own was soon after taken away without Trial also in an Arbitrary manner And the Earl of Arundel had the same Measure he meeted to Calvery one of the Queens Esquires The Banishing the Duke of Norfolk and Hereford and the Archbishop of Canterbury was rather a fault in the Politicks of those times for it seems it was the Custom then to Punish the Faults of Great Men only with Banishment but an ill-advised Custom than want of Consideration in the King Sir John Bushy the Speaker of Parliament was the most in fault in attributing Vain and almost Blasphemous Titles to the King Titles fitter as is observed for the Majesty of God and putting him upon a piece of Omnipotence in Recalling his Pardons which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Adjudged in the Affirmative That the King might Revoke but the Lawyers and Judges having been burnt before designed to give Judgment t'other way and had no mind to Determine of Transactions in Parliament any more nor of the Kings Prerogative in such Ticklish Times Though at the next Parliament at Chester the Judges were drawn in to give another Extraordinary Judgment viz. That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament that if other Articles are handled before those are determined it is Treason in them that do it What was there Extravagant that was not done in this Parliament He brought it about as the History says That he obtained the whole Power of the Parliament to be Conferred upon certain few Persons who proceeded to Conclude upon many things which concerned generally the things of the whole Parliament to the great Prejudice of the State and dangerous Example in time to come What could we expect from a King who was Taught That the Laws of the Realm were in his Head and his Breast By reason of which fantastical Opinion he Destroyed Noblemen and Impoverished the Commons which was one of the Articles against him and which was much such a worthy fancy as Wat Tyler had who putting his Hand to his Lips said Before Four Days come to an End all the Laws of England should proceed from his Mouth But I am weary of the Medley of this King's Story In short if we survey him in his Taxations in his Laws and Ordinances after all and in the Station of a Christian and Man as well as King we shall with a little Charity or good Nature conclude him Blameable rather by Accident than natural Temper And as to his Conditions That they were more the Fault of his Education than Inclination and at the bottom those Failings that were in him retained the tincture of the light Inconstancy of his Mother He is another unfortunate Instance of the Instability and Misery of a King when he leaves the Track of Law and Justice for the Ways of Humour and Passion Sir Robert Cotton Observes That Bushy's Contrivance of Compounding with Delinquents wrought such Distaste in the Affections of the People that it grew the Death of the One and Deposition of the Other HENRY IV. IN the next Six Reigns during the Divisions of the Houses of York and Lancaster the Kingdom was scarce ever cool enough for Observations of Civil Polity and Administration The Thirteen Years of this King were divided between Conspiracies and Wars And as he came to the Crown without a Title with
respect to Richard II. or the Earl of Marsh who had the Undoubted Right as being of the Eldest House without any Title unless what he had from the People or as Stow says was Ordained King more by Force than lawful Succession or Election so he held it in continued Trouble and Confusion saving only the last Year And 't is said he was well pleased that there were always Troubles that there might be no Calm or Interval for Reflection He was so jealous of his Crown that in his Sickness he would have it laid by him upon his Bolster for fear some body should Dispossess him of it as he had Richard the II d and his Son as readily took it up for fear of some other Interposition Though he had not leisure for Politicks yet he made a very useful Observation fit to be thought on by Kings viz. That of Englishmen so long as they have Wealth so long shalt thou have Obeysance but when they are Poor they are always ready to make Insurrection at every motion Here we have also a great Example of a King's Son submitting to the Laws and of a King protecting and countenancing a Judge in a due Execution of them and also of a Judge with a steady Gravity and Resolution puting the Ancient Laws of the Realm in Execution without Favour or Partiality HENRY V. THE Reign of this King was wholly taken up with the Wars in France and here may be seen what an English Prince can do when he himself is Brave and Generous and stands well in the Opinion of his Subjects they paid him Homage before he was Crown'd and voluntarily granted him a Subsidy without asking and he on the other hand ask'd but few By which it appears as Sir Richard Baker observes what great matters a moderate Prince may do and yet not grieve his Subjects with Taxations Under this King who was of English true Honour the Honour of the Nation was at the highest Character for in a Councel holden at Constance it was Decreed That England should have the Title of the English Nation and should be accounted one of the Five Principal Nations in Rank before Spain which often before had been moved but never till then Granted HENRY VI. I Know not what to say to the Reign of this unfortunate King only that it is an instance of the Impertinence of Fortune and of the Unsteadiness of Human Affairs although Philip de Comines says he was a very Silly Man and almost an Innocent yet this silly Innocence seems to be what we call Simplicity in the modest acceptation of the word and the Effect rather of Choice or Observation than Defect 'T is true he had a sort of Passive Understanding but he had Judgment enough to distinguish Good and Bad between Virtue and Vice Success and Misfortune to resent these as a Man but overlook them as a Christian and what Sir Francis Bacon reports of him upon the account of his being to be Canonized That the Pope who was jealous of his Honour and of the Dignity of the See of Rome knowing that Henry the VIth was reputed in the World abroad but for a Simple Man was afraid it would but diminish the Estimation of that kind of Honour if there were not a distance kept between Innocents and Saints seems to be brought in rather for the sake of the Jingle or Jest than Truth His greatest symptom of Weakness was suffering a Wife to be imposed upon him and then being ever after imposed upon by that Wife but I doubt this may have been the condition of some Wise Men and the Earl of Suffolk plaid the fool in the Match not the King any otherwise than by taking the Advice of a single Person without and contrary to the Counsel of his Other Peers c. And what have Wiser Kings done beset with a Favourite or a Wife Whereas he had both which shews that 't is not so much a King 's personal and private Wisdom as That of the General Council of a Nation is to be relied on The Ill-advised Tragedy of the Duke of Glocester made Room and open'd way for That of the King 's by letting in the Duke of York's pretensions to the Crown and soon ended in the Death of the Duke of Suffolk himself So unsafe is it for any Favourite how Great soever to presume on his Own strength against the Interest and Policy of the Commonwealth The Other Affairs of this Reign seem transacted upon a stage of Fortune or Fate rather than Prudence or Policy trod between a Headstrong People Ambitious Nobles and a Queen too apt to Rule and a King too easy and apt to Suffer If we may learn any thing from this Reign 't is only this That Virtue and Goodness without Policy and Justice nor Policy without Virtue and Resolution can Establish a Throne But after all Fate it self seems to weigh down the Scale his Father's Prophecy is said was not to be avoided which I leave in the Words of Howard's Defensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophesies viz. What Prophet could have picked out of Mars and Saturn the manifold Mishaps which befel the Prince of Blessed Memory King Henry the VIth sometimes Sleeping in a Port of Honour sometimes Floating in the Surges of Mishap sometimes Possessing Foreign Crowns sometimes Spoiled and Deprived of his Own sometimes a Prince sometimes a Prisoner sometimes in plight to give Succour to the Miserable sometimes a Fugitive amongst the Desperate Habington in his History of Edward the IVth says That this poor King in so many Turns and Vicissitudes never met with one fully to his Advantage And Cambden says He was Four times taken Prisoner and in the End Despoiled both of his Kingdom and Life EDWARD IV. THE first Twelve Years of this King's Reign if I may so call it who came to the Kingdom as Biondi says not by Power or Justice but by the People's Inclination were passed in a ferment of Blood and the better part of his Two and twenty if I may so say were taken up in Wars and Executions not so much occasioned by Henry the VIth as by the Earl of Warwick so dangerous a thing it is to put an Affront upon a powerful Subject But especially King Edward shewed a very weak part in this Management who came to the Crown chiefly by the Earl of Warwick's Interest and with a confessed Election of his People when he had Married a Subject of no great Parentage or Interest to disoblige such a Subject Dishonourably who had so great a Stroke and made such a Figure in the Nation But all Rules of Policy they say must submit to Love therefore to pass that Oversight for which there is an Excuse made Certainly the Confidence and Trust afterwards by him repos'd in the Duke of Glocester was a manifest Infatuation not to be supported with any pretence of common Consideration or colour of Reason And though Philip de Comines says he was the
giving the Pope a Lifting-hand and rais'd his drooping Head here so early after the Reformation and when at the same time the Protestants in Germany France and the Low-Countries were groaning under a Persecution Which made Du Plessis complain Que Sa Majestie D'Angleterre trop arreste à quelques petits dissensions entre les Siens n'evoit pas assez de soin de la guerison de plus profondes playes qui sont en l'Eglise and which made the House of Commons Petition and Remonstrate in the Force of Fourteen Reasons and Ten Remedies in the XIXth Year of his Reign which had only this Effect to make him fly to his old Refuge of Prerogative with a Huff And that the Mariage of his Children Peace and War c. were Matters of State and Government above their Considerations And Speeching it backwards and forwards which he took great Delight in till his Son-in-Law was despoiled of his Ancient Patrimony which he at last ingenuously confess'd was through his Default Here 's the Effect of Prerogative These Proceedings I suppose put Sir Robert Cotton upon Enquiry what the Kings of England had done in the like Cases And after great pains in the search of Records he informs us That the Kings of this Nation ever since the Conquest so soon as they were cool enough for Councels have usually consulted with their Peers in the great Council and Commons in Parliament of Mariage Peace and War He might have said before the Conquest also for Harold who had promised William Duke of Normandy to take one of his Daughters to Wife Answers That he should be very injurious to his own Nobility if he should without their Consent and Advice take a Stranger to Wife If we look into our Neighbour Kingdoms Mezeray will tell us That the French during the two first Races and part of the third had a Right to intermeddle and controul the Mariages of their Kings and neither could the King make War without the Lords In earnest I know not whether Kings in Reason ought to be permitted to Converse with Ambassadors on t'other side of Forms upon their own Heads without a Quorum of their Councils For Nations generally send the sharpest Men on such Errands and sometimes Kings are not a Match in Politicks for them as it plainly appeared by this Story this King was not for Gondomar who outwitted him who pretended to be the wisest But King James came over to us Tinctur'd with his Scotch Notions of Monarchical and Sovereign Absolute Power without vouchsafing ever after to consider the English Constitution and he lets us see what Opinion he had of Parliaments in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he Advises his Son to hold no Parliaments but for Necessity of new Laws which would be but seldom Not it seems for the State Matters of War Mariage c. No not for raising Money neither so long as he could get it by Privy-Seals and Benevolences Besides after all he did not come hither without some Prejudices to the English People though he had none to the Crown of England Thus there may seem to be some inconveniences in a Learn'd Crown'd Head This King thought himself too Wise and too Knowing He was above Advice or Instruction because as he thought he was capable of giving it He was too wise in himself to be taught by others and yet not wise enough always to follow those Rules of Wisdom which he had given As is evident by the Observation of his Theory and Practice and by his inconsistent Directions to his Sons Henry and Charles He was a little too much addicted to the Pedantry of a Scholar and affected with Polemical Controversies in Words which he dreaded in Action Was more for determining Quarrels by the Pen than the Sword And perhaps might have made a better Bishop than a King a better Father of a Family than Country as being better seen in the Oeconomicks than Political Government of a Nation CHARLES I. MOntaign whom I confess I delight to bring in as often as I can though I know the Philosophers are angry with him for I do not pretend to be a better Politician or any thing else than he was The Grave have Gravity in them but I know not what besides says That about a Month since he read over two Scotch Authors of which he who stands for the People makes Kings to be in a worse condition than a Carter and he who writes for Monarchy places him some Degrees above God Almighty in Power and Sovereignty I 'm sorry there is no Medium and I know no Necessity for Either Who those two Scotch Authors were ev'ry one knows King James complain'd of one of them and advanc'd t'other as it always happens to them who stretch for Kings Such have been the Notions of Government in both Extremes and both were unhappily experimented in this Reign This King flush'd I doubt with such Authors as the last and perhaps withal observing what was done in France under Lewis the XIth who boasted that he had mis le Royaum hors du Page as he calls it and who as Mezeray observes had even Government without Council and most commonly without Justice and Reason Who thought it the finest Policy to go out of that great and beaten Road of his Predecessors to change ev'ry thing were it from better to worse that he might be fear'd His Judgment which was very clear but too subtle and refin'd as was that of King James was the greatest Enemy to his own and his Kingdom 's quiet having as it seems taken pleasure in putting things into disorder and throwing the most Obedient into Rebellion Who rather lov'd to follow the bent of his own irregular fancies than the wise Laws of the Land and made his Grandeur consist in the Oppression of his People c. And also in the Reign of Henry the IVth who gave the last stroke to Parliamentary Formalities and Huff'd the People into a new Law that from thenceforth the King's Edicts should be ratified on sight without those formal triflings of Dispute by Virtue of Living and Ruling always with his Sword in his Hand might conceive some such great Hopes These Reflections might perhaps inspire King Charles with the French Ayre of Grandeur but a People is sometimes quick-sighted too And hence on a sudden grew an impertinent as it then seem'd Jealousy between King and People One pretending to too much after one Author and t'other yielding too little by the other Whilst the former might be Nibbling at Arbitrary Power in an Extended Prerogative and the latter enlarging their Liberties somewhat beyond a modest bound and there were Courtiers in those Days also such as Philip de Comines observ'd in Court Language to Complement a King call'd it Rebellion to mention a Parliament and Lewis also was a superstitious Friend to the Church whilst he was assaulting and oppress'd the State In these and such like Circumstances of Notional
this or nothing This and those which Mezeray reports to have preceded the Death of Henry the IVth of France particularly that Ticket which a Priest found upon an Altar at Montargis giving notice that the King would be Assassinated his Horoscopes which determined the Year of his Life and even the Queen 's own Dream that the King was Stabbing with a Knife to pass by all others relating to this and other Occasions must import this at least to use Mezeray's own Words who I believe was no more Superstitious this way than my self That there is a Sovereign Power which Disposes of Futurity since it so certainly Knows and Foretels it But this Subject is not my Part. Nevertheless in truth there appears to have been some extraordinary Conjunctions of the Planets or something more Extraordinary which gave that extravagant Turn to Powers here below not only in Europe but other remote parts of the World and put sublunary Motions in such a Ferment about these Times as was evident in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Spain Germany France Portugal and Naples and the Hurly-burlies and Revolutions there and in several other Parts but also between the Tartars and Chineses and in the Empire of the Great Mogul between Cha-gehan and his Four Sons especially Aureng-zeb the Story whereof is Famous and you may Read it at large in Tavernier Which Aureng-zeb Sir William Temple calls a Fanatick and compares to Cromwell as if all such strains of Empire were Enthusiastical like that of the Great Turk But to return to take my leave of King Charles Morally speaking I think the Queen was the Chief Occasion of all those Misfortunes which attended Him and the Nation for there is no reason the Welfare of a Kingdom should hang at a King's Codpiece The King 's Marrying a Papist gave the suspicion of Popery and the suspicion brought in Popery in Earnest CHARLES II. AS to the first Twelve Years of the Nominal Reign of this King 't was such a Farce of Policy and Government that it Libels the Chronicle and I believe he had been sooner in his Throne if he had never made a Step to help himself by the Disturbance of those who usurp'd his Place I wish for his Honour in the beginning he had not intermedled with the Action of Montross during the Treaty with the Scots it reflected some Aspersion upon his Sincerity and he only sacrificed one Friend's Life and the Reputation of others and thereby prejudiced his own Interest for the present But I know that Business hath also another Face and therefore I pass by that and some other Occurrences to proceed to his own Administration after he was Crowned in England Which I shall touch but very slightly neither as slightly as he did the Interests of the Nation the History of these Times being fresh in every one's Memory I am very much at a loss considering the different Opinions of him and his Inconsistency with himself with what Character to introduce this King to his Government If he was a Protestant when he came over to Us as all his fine Declarations c. import surely the Devil ow'd Us a shame pardon the Expression that we should blunder on a Popish Match again at first dash Here was a loose given to the Papist and Fanatick to play their Old Game over again and he put himself under a necessity of Suspition with his People once more For let a Prince make what Gracious Speeches he pleases his Actions will be always more significant and speak plainer than his Declarations Hence this Dilemma became entailed either he doth answer the Expectations of the Papists or not If he doth and gives them any Assurances c. his own People are upon his Skirts If not then he is attack'd by the Indefatigable Plots and Attempts of the Jesuits and that Party In the mean time in what a blessed Condition of Settlement is a Nation It can never be at quiet I shall not pretend to dive into the Mysteries of one Plot or t'other let them stand on their own Bottom in the validity of the Records No doubt there always hath been a Popish Plot of one sort or other more or less as our Kings have given them a helping hand ever since the Reformation and I believe ever will be so long at least as our Kings manage Affairs as they did for the Four last Reigns And for ought I know too there may have been a Fanatick Plot ever since Calvin's time and will continue as long as Kingly Government and Church-Hierarchy are in fashion Neither shall I trouble my self to enquire which Plot was the Agressor which Plaintiff which Defendant which the Original and which the Counter-plot But between them both this King had reduced himself to a pretty Condition of Trouble if any thing could be so to him by his Trimming a Quality which was scouted in the Subject For in the Popish Plot he was to be taken off for not being a Papist or at least for not coming up to their Expectations of him and by the Fanatick Plot he was to be Blunderbuss'd and destroy'd for being a Papist and favouring their Designs too much But to determine the precedence of these Plots I think the Popish Plot first appeared upon the Stage against him and it is thought attended him at his Exit though he died of their own Persuasion I mean the Popish was the first Plot of Quality for I take no notice of such little Things as the Extravagant Matter of Venner or that in the North which was but a Fag-end of that in Ireland and scarce then setled nor of any thing of that nature which happen'd before the Year 1670. I do not find any Plot of Consequence till after the Acts of Parliament against Dissenters not taking notice of the Act of Vniformity or that against Quakers but not till after that against Dissenting Preachers in Corporations that against Conventicles which came after the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and as far as I can see without any great provocation which Acts as they themselves speak were grounded chiefly on Surmise and Suspition Thus was he fain to shuffle on sometimes in the form of Persecution against Dissenters sometimes in that of Toleration and Indulgence to them and their Tender Consciences so that Religion grew a meer State-Weather Cock as Circumstances happen'd and turn'd as Court Cabals mov'd now one way now another Whereas if he had come over a True Church-of-England Man as he pretended to profess himself he might have reduced the Church easily enough to some degree of Uniformity and modell'd the Civil Government and Ecclesiastical State to a good Temper having the Military Power in his own hands by the Militia Acts. But I suppose that was not his Business And he discover'd the same Unsteadiness in Civil Matters shifting Ministers and Officers Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments without apparent Reasons and 't is said for very bad Ones sometimes and at
Englishmen remember That we now have an Act of Parliament of our side which Asserts the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and hath Establish'd the Settlement of the Crown and which incapacitates any Papist or Person Marrying a Papist from having and enjoying it which Act is only Defective in this That it is not Order'd to be Read in the Churches twice at least every Year and upon Penalty of Deprivation If such a Law had been made in Edward the VIth's Time it might have sav'd some Blood and Trouble since the Reformation WILLIAM III. THE Lord Chancellor Notttingham in the Case of the Duke of Norfolk and Charles Howard Esquire c. hath in my Mind a notable Expression viz. Pray let us so Resolve Cases here that they may stand with the Reason of Mankind when they are Debated abroad Shall that be Reason here that is not Reason in any part of the World besides In truth we are apt to be peculiarly Artificial in our Thoughts and way of Argument and our Reasonings are too Municipal Thus every little Pedant can Settle and Establish the Affairs of Religion and Government and can Resolve all the great Mysteries of Church and State as he thinks in his narrow Study But if a Man looks Abroad and takes a general survey of the World and reflects upon the Universal Notions and Customs of Mankind his Soul will become more enlarged and will not determine so Magisterially upon the Principles of any particular Sect or Society The Case of King WILLIAM in it self is perhaps the most Glorious and Generous Cause that hath appeared upon the Stage of Human Actions yet hath been sullied by dire Representations by poor-spirited and precarious Arguments which have been brought in for its support His Title to the Crown of Great Britain stands Firm and is justifiable upon Natural and Sound foundations of Reason without Props But hath been so oddly maintained by the manner of its Defence that it hath been the Justification only that hath Disgrac'd the Revolution Doctrina facit Difficultatem We have been running out of the way to fetch in Aids from Art and Learning whilst Nature presents us with obvious and undefiled Principles of Reason Thus the King's Accession to the Throne hath been introduced by shuffling between Providential Settlement Conquest Desertion Abdication and topping Protections of Power whilst Men of Honour and People of Honest Plain Understandings stand Amazed instead of being Convinced and hang back when Allegiance comes to be explained and a Recognition demanded an Association proposed frights us as a thing strange and impious which shews our Allegiance was not rightly founded but looks like a thing of Fancy built upon a forc'd and fictitious bottom All these ungrateful Terms have been ingeniously exposed by Mr Johnson except only Abdication which with submission is also too Artificial a Word not to be found in the Alphabet of Spelman a Civil Law Term used almost in Fifty several Senses and therefore an uncouth Expression of the Common Laws of this Realm to speak in The Word Forfaulture seems to have a plainer Signification to our common Understanding This as Forisfacere Forisfactum Forisfactura and Forfacere Forfactum Forfactura c. we find in Spelman and it signifies Rem suam ex delicto amittere sibi quasi extraneum facere Rem culpâ abdicere alterique Puta Regi Magistratui Domino abjudicare Forisfacere pro Delinquere peccare transgredi Injuriam inferre LL. Edw. Confess cap. 32. ut Codex noster MS. legit Aliqui stulti improbi gratis nimis consuetè erga vicinos suos foris facebant This agrees with the Sense of King James the I st his Speech to his Parliament viz. A settled King is bound to observe the Paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto And a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off Governing according to the Laws In which Case the King's Conscience may speak to him as the Poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Law aut ne sis Rex And if a Subject's Conscience may not speak the same thing King James's Words signify nothing The other Words carry an Odious or suspected Construction in them the First in the Convocationstyle implies Guilt and at best creates but a Transylvanian Allegiance the Second is a Jest and false in Fact besides 't is what the King himself disowns the Third is an idle Sham as stated and the Fourth is also a little strain'd as I concieve and we might for ought I see as well have call'd it a Cession especially if King James was a Spiritual Person of the Society of Jesuits as hath been said But what need we any Term of Art Let the matter express it self by Periphrasis in its own genuine Phrase It is fairly stated in the Prince's Declaration And our Case is no more nor less than this A King contrary to his Coronation-Oath dispenses with and breaks through all the Established Laws of the Land Invades and Subverts the Rights Liberties and Properties of the People which he Swore to maintain inviolably and Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State in an Arbitrary Tyrannical manner the People therefore in Defence of their Laws Rights and Religion and the necessary Preservation of them Oppose the violent proceedings of such a Prince I put the Case at the worst and also apply themselves to a Neighbouring Prince who hath an Expectation of a Right to the Crown and pray in Aid of him to assist them in the Maintaining and Defending their Legal Rights together with his own Title to the Succession who in his own Words makes Preparation to Assist the People against the Subverters of their Religion and Laws and also Invites and Requires all Persons whatsoever All the Peers of the Realm Spiritual and Temporal and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in order to the Execution of this Design against all such as shall endeavour to Oppose them to prevent all those Miseries which must needs fall upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturn'd the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully Redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament to secure the Nation from relapsing into the Miseries of Arbitrary Government any more Upon which appearance of mutual Defence for Self-preservation the Conscious King Retires first leaves his Army which no Man I will be bold to say would do without Guilt or Cowardice and I 'm sure a Prince that had been Brave or acted upon Principles of Honour would have Fought it out with but Ten Regiments or with One at his Heels which was Richard the IIId's Case in the first sence though not in the later and after leaves the Realm for Reasons best known to
himself whether Frighted or not is not material upon which the Prince together with his Consort the next Heir Indisputable to the Crown in a full and due Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declared and Appointed King and Queen Now let us see what we have done upon the whole matter to deserve that harsh Language of the Convocation-Book produced by Dr Sherlock Whether we have done more or so much as all other Nations have done in a Case any thing like Ours Whether we have done more than becomes Good Christians or Men of Honour And what it is that stands in our way to hinder or bar such an Attempt and Action First Setting aside at present those Texts of St. Paul and St. Peter which are the only discouraging Impediments and which have been sufficiently as I think answered and avoided by several Pens Upon the Law of Nature no Man I believe can pretend to say here is any Natural Injustice or Moral Injury done Certainly Nature and Reason prompt us to Defend Injuries and to Repel Force Nature will preserve it self in its Being No Man will say a King of England hath power of Life and Death over his Subjects We say he hath no Power other than by the Law of the Land the Moral as well as Legal Consequence must be That we may Defend our Lives against all Assaults 't is the same of Liberty and Property for there is a Meum and Tuum in all Christian Commonwealths as Archbishop Abbot said before subject only to the Laws of the Place therefore I can't defend my self or House against the King Arm'd with Legal Power as upon a Cap. Vtlagatum or upon a Duty due to him c. but I may where I am out of the compass of a Legal Prosecution If the consequence of Self-defence and Preservation be denied it 's vain trifling to talk of Laws and to value our selves upon Living in a Country where the Measures of Right are ascertain'd and the Limits of Government and Subjection the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and the Bow String will be the same if Laws are only a simple Direction for Information and not an Obligation We must owe our Lives c. at this rate to Fortune not to Justice But since the Restoration it 's said we are under another Tie not to take up Arms by the Extravagant Compliment to King Charles the II d and the Declaration pursuant to that Act. Be it so though all Laws made in Extraordinary Heats are not a regular Obligation but let them take that State-Artificial Obligation into the Bargain the King Swears too and this was not designed to let loose the King's Hands and tie the Subjects for all Obligations whether Natural or Artificial are Reciprocal and Mutual and always so taken and understood in common Intendment There can be no other Notion of Justice Natural Moral or Political and whatever Preference and Advantage is allowed to One above the Other 't is an Authority upon Supposition of Care Protection and for Order and centers in the Good of the Community And I think the Lacedemonians had a Law to Punish Parents who did not their Duty towards their Children Let us therefore take in the highest Instance of Obedience and Duty from Children to Parents No Man I suppose will pretend now that a Father may Castrate Sell or Kill a Child the Inference must be That in any Case of such open Violence a Son may Resist a Father in his own necessary Defence and Self-preservation without offering Reproach Injury or Vindictive Force So in the Case of Lunacy in a Parent or any fatal Extravagance no doubt a Son may lay Hands on a Father by way of Restraint and must take a continued Commanding Care over him in case of Relapse c. This is agreed on all hands to be the severest Tie of Obedience and therefore Kings are endeavoured to be brought within the Fifth Commandment to make our Chains the faster not in the mean time considering that they make them looser by putting an inconsistent double Duty upon us Thus we are told Religion stands positively in our way and fetters us with an Absolute Obedience to Kings without Reserve c. It seems hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in Defence of it self and force our Obedience and Submission to Laws and Absolute Power in the same breath For where there is Absolute Power there is no Law and where there are Laws there is no Absolute Power But Scripture is to be our Guide I agree it But what Authority shall I rely on Where shall I apply my self for an Interpreter 'T is manifest our own Church cannot settle me that is divided against it self Some bring Instances from the Old Testament Others tell us That is nothing to the purpose those Kings being by God's Designation c. Some tell us these Texts of St. Peter and St. Paul oblige us to Passive Obedience on peril of Damnation And Others as boldly and magisterially inform us That the New Testament gives no Rules for Submission to Forms of Government but only Rules of Justice Order and Peace That those Texts are nothing to Our purpose for the Apostles spoke to those under Heathen Emperors where Paganism was Established by a Law and that those Texts are to be only Expounded against the Jews who still believed themselves under the Divine Authority and thought they could not become the Subjects of any other Power As to the Scripture-Examples we are Taught by a very great Divine and Bishop not to rely on them and he says Those who place the Obligatory Nature of these Examples from Scripture must either produce the Moral Nature of those Examples or else a Rule binding us to follow those Examples especially when these Examples are brought to found a New positive Law Obliging all Christians Some say in general the Bible is a Miscellaneous Book where Dishonest and Time-serving Men may ever in their loose way find a Text for their purpose Sir Robert Filmer upon the Dispute of the Form of Powers for these Texts are sometimes applied to the Form and sometimes to the Quality of Power takes Power only in the Singular Number Powers in the Plural is a damnable Sin and he will have all Governments but the Patriarchal to be Illegal and Abominable but this is so Extravagant that I think none of our Divines pretend to justify him in it and therefore Others on the contrary are of Opinion That Submit to all Powers infers That all Forms of Government are admitted to be good and do not allow that Power in the Singular is to be taken restrictive and so there is no Authority if not of God and the Authorities which are of God's Institution are ordered under God Sir Robert Filmer Dr Hicks c. will have the Legislative Power to be in the King alone And the First says all Legislative Powers are Arbitrary But where is the necessity for
that And Dr Hicks says also Only the Laws of Men are God's Ordinances St. Paul speaking of Authority in general says Ordinance of God St. Peter of the particular Persons administring Authority calls it the Ordinance of Man Sir Robert Filmer upon that Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are God's divides all between God and the King and leaves nothing to the poor Subject which doth not very well consist with our Saviour's Advice to him whom he bid Sell All that he had and give to the poor which grieved the Young Man for he had Great possessions It seems by this our Saviour implies the Subject had Property otherwise he could not have Sold it Thus they make their own Idol We see then by the better Opinions of Divines and Learned Men all Forms of Power are Authentick with respect to the Laws and Constitutions of Places and submit to all Powers imports only Obedience according to Law the Ordinance of Man To render unto Cesar c. implies certainly that something was left in him who rendred It is not said Give all to Cesar So no Man will controvert the submitting to every ordinance with the Context for Rulers are a Terror to the Evil and not to the Good There never was any King in Israel but had some Engagement and Tye upon him Formally with God or by Covenant with Man To keep the Laws to judge righteously to seek the Good of the People c. Besides the Case of the Apostles is wonderfully different in all respects As to Property c. the Government of the Roman Emperors was Absolute taking it at worst and therefore Christians who had no Law on their side could not resist This is said by some tho' our Saviour does not seem to mean it so whereas Ours under our Kings is limited and mixt therefore not the same foundation to apply the Injunctions of Non-resistance from the Apostles As to Religion the Apostles came counter to all Laws and therefore were to submit to them Not to raise Rebellion on account of a new Religion which had no foundation in any Law And the proper Talent and Business of the Apostles was suffering for the sake of the Gospel therefore impertinent as well as prophane and wicked for them to think of resisting any Powers What is this to the maintaining a Religion established by a Law But this Construction imposed upon Us towards Passive Obedience is a Conceit against the Opinion of most Learned Men and also contrary to the Common Practise of the Christian World Grotius Selden c. understand submission to every ordinance to be to the Government and the Laws thereof And so in common construction and intendment those Texts may be taken a Direction from the Apostles to their Missionaries and Correspondents who were to travel through variety of Governments to pay all Duties and Civil Respects to Kings and Magistrates and may be satisfied with that particular application of Obedience They were enjoined not to enquire into the Fundamental Rights of Power but to take them as they found them being only Powers of this World with proper Laws for keeping Mankind in Peace and Order in general according to the Respective Customs and Constitutions I believe besides the Gospel is an Universal Instruction for Obedience to the Laws on the severest punishment of disobedience to them 'T was intended to make them good Subjects but not Slaves 'T is too much to be Passive and Martyrs by whole Nations with the Laws and Religion bleeding by our Sides Let 's look into the Customs and Usages of other Ages and Places and enquire into and examine the Principles and Opinions of Learned Divines on the Occasions of Power and the Exercise or Abuse of it If a man should consult the Histories of the first Kings of France and Spain both before and since those Nations receiv'd the Light of the Gospel and the hudled abrupt Succession besides the very odd Partnerships in Kingdoms he will find matter but of small Veneration for Titles to Crowns of Old Times whatever he may fancy is due to the Present Establishments And I doubt we should discover but a faint blind Track of Active Providence in the transferring Kingdoms as 't is call'd but only rather the Effects of a Ludicrous Fortune Suppose we should be free and tell the World we have Elected Made or Appointed call it what you will King William King of Great Britain instead of King James without the formality of Deposing or taking off his Crown or Head to make a Vacancy or without the Ens Rationis of a Vacancy it would be no more than what may be justified by Precedents of no Bad Times in other Countries and our Own too In France the Instance of Childerick degraded and Aegidius or Gillon Master of the Roman Militia who was a Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom Elected in his stead It is said the French according to their Ancient Rights conferr'd upon Pepin after Thierry was stripp'd of his Royalty the Sovereignty of Austrasia And afterwards Pepin his Grandson Son of Charles Martel and Father of Charlemain by a Parliament assembled was appointed King although there was One of the Marovignian Race remaining but Young Stupid and Witless And for the Honour of the Church Pope Zachary confirm'd him Upon which in another Parliament at Roymes they degraded Childerick and Elected Pepin And the Archbishop of Mentz Boniface declared to them the Validity of the Pope's Answer And after at the Assembly at Carbonnat the Austrasian Lords and Estates acknowledged Charlemain their King They might do says the History this and if he had not had That Right he had been an Usurper for the Children of Charlemain were living Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was Election For Charles Duke of Lorrain was of the Carolovinian Race and Heir but as is said of little merit In Spain the Visigoths about 1200 years since made and unmade their Kings as they pleas'd I suppose 't will not be said They were the worse Christians for being nearer the time of our Saviour and his Apostles So it was in Denmark too till they lately changed from Elective to Hereditary from a Limited to an Absolute Government and so for ought we know it may again when that Arbitrary Power hath had its full swing To look back here at home formerly it was so And I know not why we may not be permitted to go upwards as far as we please since those on t'other side think fit to go backward to Henry the Third for the beginning as they say of our Constitution Egbert the First sole Saxon King upon the Report of the Death of Britric with great speed returned out of France where during the time of his abode he had serv'd with good Commendation in the Wars under Charles the Great by means whereof his Reputation encreasing amongst his own Countrymen he was thought worthy of the
up they are invested with God's Authority which must be obey'd and this supersedes all Legal Disputes of Right and our old Oaths and our old Allegiance are at an end For when God transfers Kingdoms and hath set over Us a New King and setled him and requires our Obedience to a New King he necessarily transfers our Allegiance c. And the Authority unjustly gotten and wrested from the True and Lawful Possessor being always God's Authority and therefore receiving no Impeachment from the Wickedness of those that have it is ever when any Alterations are truly setled to be obeyed Why all this tho as with a supposing to Us It seems by this That the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation have been bantering God Almighty with Prayers and Praises all this while whereas both Prince and People and All of Us should have been humbling our selves in Sackcloth and Ashes and doing Pennance for our Rebellion and Wickedness I shall not trouble a Serious Thought about this Convocation-Book or the Occasion of it enough hath been said about that and the Doctor already King James I. in his Letter to Dr. Abbot shews his Resentment of the Proceedings of that Convocation Only I will produce another Convocation to shew how the former hath setled the Government The first was in the time of James the First the other in James the Second Now you shall see the Judgment of the Famous University of Oxon They in their Convocation reflecting as they tell Us upon certain Pernicious Books and Damnable Doctrines viz amongst others Proposition 10. That Possession and Strength give a Right to Government and Success in a Cause or Enterprize proclaims it to be Lawful and Just Nota To pursue it Is to comply with the Will of God because it is to follow the Conduct of his Providence Hobbes Owen Baxter Jenkins c. And Proposition 15. If a People who by Oath and Duty are obliged to a Sovereign shall sinfully Dispossess him and contrary to their Covenant chuse and covenant with another they may be obliged by their Latter Covenant notwithstanding their Former Baxter H. C. c. by their Judgment and Decree Ann. 1683. pronounced these amongst many other such like Propositions Heretical and Decreed Judged and Declared them to be False Seditious and Impious Blasphemous and Infamous to Christian Religion and destructive of all Government in Church and State What a Blessed Establishment is here What an Honourable Title hath the King in what a Condition is the Subject Thus we see how unsafe 't is to imply or suppose a Providential Usurper or King de facto which is all one and then to secure him by Arguments out of the Clouds So 't is of a Forcible Usurper or King de facto t'other way to Establish him with a Providential Success as Conqueror without Right As if we come to measure the Mysteries of Providence by our narrow Comprehensions and Rules and tack it to every Success we shall make a very odd Business of it and put Providence upon very Irreverent Offices We know how That and Scripture hath been interpreted upon other Occasions In less than half a Century upon a Certain Revolution One Side said God shewd his Indignation in Thunder and Lightning T'other That he Congraturated the Success with his Guns and Fire-works from above Plato in his time said Lawyers and Physicians were the Pest of a Country Would he not have added Divines also had he lived in some other Ages When these Gentlemen were upon their Providential Disposal and Settlement of Kingdoms They might as justly have brought some Instances from Scripture which would have been for the Honour of the Revolution Where God vouchsaf'd his Assistance to a good Cause for a Blessing to a People as well as always for a Curse to a Bad and Sinful Nation Instances which comply and would have stood with the Ordinary Rules of Morality and Human Justice As the Case of Solomon and his Son between Hezekiah and Josiah and the succeeding Tyrants and Wicked Princes Also in the Case of Rehoboam where God seems to give a Countenance to the Revolt of the Ten Tribes and assist against his Tyranny and Oppression for God says 't was his doing there also David seems to agree with this He sufficiently differences his Expressions according to the Characters of Princes and Rulers as good or bad He tells us the Fate of wicked ones not by executing upon them God's immediate personal Judgments or by the visible Hand of Providence but by Human Mediums of interposing Power to restrain them c. by the Favour of God's Assistance in an Ordinary Course of Providential Justice The Prophets did not preach Passive Obedience to the Idolatrous Kings of Israel and Judah but inveigh'd against them Did not David and his Adherents resist Saul though he spared his Person I do not pretend to plead for a Vindictive Account against the Person of Kings And the Story of Manasses methinks seems something toward ours He Set up Repaired Adorn'd and Furnish'd the Altars Temples and High Places in which the Devil was by the Heathen Worshipp'd forgetting the Piety of his Father and most abominably burnt his Sons for a Sacrifice to the Devil Moloch and shed so much innocent Blood that 't is said Jerusalem was replenish'd therewith And when after all he was reprehended by the Reverend Prophet Esai he caus'd him to be Saw'd asunder with a Wooden Saw Therefore for his Sins the Lord brought upon him the Captains of the Host of the Kings of Ashur who took Manasses and put him in Fetters and bound him in Chains and carried him to Babel where after he had lain Twenty Years as a Captive despoiled of all Honour and Hopes of doing Mischief God inspir'd him with Repentance and afterwards mov'd the Assyrians Heart to deliver him after which he forgot his Impieties and Villanies detested his Idolatry cast down the Idols of his own Erection repaired Jerusalem and at last Dyed in a Religious Peace But 't is not my Province to apply Scripture only to my self And I know not what Commission They have so familiarly to determine the Councils of the Almighty 'T is true as St. Augustin says Nothing is sensibly and visibly done in the World which cometh not from the Interior and Invisible Cabinet of God whether it be commanded or permitted though some will not allow a permissive Providence yet the Psalmist says Oh God! How profound are thy thoughts and how unsearchable to the ignorant and foolish Yet Man must be presently making Inferences Providence is said to take care of the most minute Creatures as well as the greatest And these great Texts and Stories of Prerogative and Supremacy with Complement to each other are only taken notice of whilst Others as positive lye dormant as Resist not evil Turn t'other Cheek and about giving the Cloak also These might do mischief and the Wicked of the World might take Advantage by returning them upon the