that Door And whereas the Parliament that is now in being recognized Their Present Majesties to be Rightful and Lawful King and Queen of this Realm according to the Laws of the same They ought to have acknowledged him King as being set up by God who is not bound by Humane Laws and the Queen as set up by God-knows who who is not bound by Humane Laws neither and at the same time to have own'd that this Providence of God in setting up the King and this Providence of God-knows-who in setting up the Queen does not take away the Legal Right of the Late King but that he having a Legal Right may assert and vindicate it in opposition to the Providence of God and the Providence of God-knows-who and that all who are not under any obligation to Their Present Majesties may lawfully assist him in order to the recovery of this Legal Right Tho we who are under an obligation to Their Present Majesties are bound to obey them by reason of the Events of the Providence of God and of the Providence of God-knows-who Other Instances of this kind might be added and it were a very easie matter to word some parts of the then Prince's Declaration the Votes of Parliament the Instrument of Government and some few Laws made since the Settlement as they ought to and would have been worded if the Prince the Two Houses and the People of England had proceded upon these Gentlemens Principles But that I forbear because it would seem scurrilous I leave it to be the result of comparing the two Columes of these ensuing Papers In short here 's the Sense of the Legislative Body of the Realm and of the People of England set Cheek by Jowle with the Sense of a few Gentlemen of the Sacred Order who would persuade us that our Government is drop'd out of the Skies like the Image that fell down from Jupiter or as the Egyptian Priests persuaded Alexander the Great that he was the Son of their God being convinced of it themselves I suppose by the Events of Providence and his Success in a War Just or Vnjust God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms AND Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them THE Measures that were taken in the late King's Reign for the introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Power were so open and undisguised That the most purblind amongst us could not but see them and all Protestants that is the whole Body of the People were uneasie under their then present Circumstances and dreadfully apprehensive of their future Instead of enumerating the several Illegal Practices then on foot to subvert the Establish'd Religion and Government I shall insert verbatim the Declaration of his present Majesty then Prince of Orange which gives a true and lively Scheme of the Condition of the People of England under King James his Government and grounds the Lawfulness and Justice of his Arms who had so near a concern in the Succession upon the Obligation he was under for his Princess's his Own and the Nation 's Interest to interpose in order to their deliverance God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms The Declaration of his Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 1. IT is both certain and evident to all men That the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the lawful Authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs 2. Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner 3. Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those laws of no effect tho there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority 4. for tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence That the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are intirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispence with them 5. those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring That this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion
any regard to their Orders 10. They have also invaded the Privileges and seized on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by their Burgesses in Parliament and have procured Surrenders to be made of them by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Privileges to be disposed of at the pleasure of those Evil Counsellors who have thereupon placed new Magistrates in those Towns such as they can most entirely confide in and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law hath put them 11. And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the administration of good and impartial Justice upon which mens Lives Liberties Honours and Estates do depend those Evils Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power In the most important Affairs they have studied to discover before-hand the Opinions of the Judges and have turned out such as they found would not conform themselves to their Intentions and have put others in their places of whom they were more assured without having any regard to their Abilities And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law and that no regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them They have carried this so far as to deprive such Judges who in the common administration of Justice shewed that they were governed by their Consciences and not by the Directions which the others gave them By which it is apparent that they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives Honours and Estates of the Subjects of what rank or dignity soever they may be and that without having any regard either to the Equity of the Cause or to the Consciences of the Judges whom they will have to submit in all things to their own Will and Pleasure hoping by such ways to intimidate those who are yet in Employment as also such others as they shall think fit to put in the rooms of those whom they have turned out and to make them see what they must look for if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good-liking and that no failings of that kind are pardoned in any Persons whatsoever A great deal of Blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors against all the Rules and Forms of Law without so much as suffering the Persons that were accused to plead in their own Defence 12. They have also by putting the Administration of Justice in the hands of Papists brought all the Matters of Civil Justice into great uncertainties with how much Exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all Places of Judicature but have put them under an Incapacity none are bound to acknowledge or to obey their Judgments and all Sentences given by them are null and void of themselves So that all Persons who have been cast in Tryals before such Popish Judges may justly look on their pretended Sentences as having no more force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorised Person whatsoever So deplorable is the Case of the Subjects who are obliged to answer to such Judges that must in all things stick to the Rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors who as they raise them up to those Employments so can turn them out of them at pleasure and who can never be esteemed Lawful Judges so that all their Sentences are in the Construction of the Law of no Force and Efficacy They have likewise disposed of all Military Employments in the same manner For tho the Laws have not only excluded Papists from all such Employments but have in particular provided that they should be disarmed yet they in contempt of these Laws have not only armed the Papists but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trust both by Sea and Land and that Strangers as well as Natives and Irish as well as English that so by those means having rendred themselves Masters both of the Affairs of the Church of the Government of the Nation and of the Courts of Justice and subjected them all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power they might be in a capacity to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by the assistance of the Army and thereby to enslave the Nation 13. The dismal effects of this Subversion of the Established Religion Laws and Liberties in England appear more evidently to us by what we see done in Ireland where the whole Government is put in the Hands of Papists where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power which is set up there which has made great numbers of them leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estates in it remembring well that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the Year 1641. 14. Those Evil Counsellors have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland That he is cloathed with Absolute Power and that all the Subjects are bound to obey him without reserve upon which he has assumed an Arbitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom from all which it is apparent what is to be looked for in England as soon as matters are duly prepared for it 15. Those great and insufferable Oppressions and the open Contempt of all Law together with the Apprehensions of the sad Consequences that must certainly follow upon it have put the Subjects under great and just Fears and have made them look after such lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations yet all has been without effect And those Evil Counsellors have endeavoured to make all Men apprehend the loss of their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates if they should go about to preserve themselves from this Oppression by Petition Representations or other means authorised by Law Thus did they proceed with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops who having offered a most humble Petition to the King in terms full of Respect and not exceeding the number limited by Law in which they set forth in short the Reasons for which they could not obey that Order which by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors was sent them requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read in their Churches the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience were sent to prison and afterwards brought to a Tryal as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime They were not only obliged to defend themselves in that pursuit but to appear before professed Papists who had not taken the Test and by consequence were Men whose Interest led them to condemn them and the Judges that gave their Opinion in their favours were thereupon turned out 16. And yet it cannot be pretended that any Kings how great
for the King 's or the Prince's person to be together in one place with their several Guards Whereupon the Guards at White-hall were dislodged by Count Solmes by the Prince's order and the Prince's Guards placed in their room And the King was that same night being the 17th of December desired by a Message from the Prince to remove to some place at a reasonable distance from London and Ham was proposed But the King chose to return into Kent which he did the next day and got away privately from the Guards and embark'd for France The same day that the King withdrew from White-hall the second time the Prince of Orange came to St. James's attended by Monsieur Schomberg and a great number of Nobility and Gentry and was entertain'd with a joy and concourse of the People which appear'd free and unconstrain'd and all the Bells of the City were rung and Bonfires in every Street Thus the body of the People being uneasie under the Late King's Government and not thinking it either their Interest or their Duty to support him in it who had made use of his Authority only to carry on an Interest inconsistent with the welfare of a Protestant Nation and that by all the Illegal Methods that his Evil Counsellors could advise or durst put in execution and who to awe the People from giving any check to his Career had not only Judges at hand that would wrest the Law to serve his Ends without any regard to their Oaths or the trust of their Places but had raised an Army in times of Peace directly against Law and in effect had thereby waged war against his own Subjects The People I say being thus affected either actually join'd with the Prince or openly declared for him or testified by other demonstrations their joy for his arrival and interposing betwixt them and utter ruine Whereupon the King was left to shift for himself and flew for protection to his old Ally the Enemy of God and Man The first thing the Prince did when come to Town after he had received the Congratulations of the City by all the Aldermen and two Common-Council-men for every Ward and taken care about the Army was to desire the Advice of such Lords as were in or about the Town and of such Gentlemen as had served in any Parliament in the Reign of the Late King Charles what course to take for the settlement of the Nation These advised him to take upon himself the Administration of publick Affairs Civil and Military and the disposal of the Publick Revenue and to issue out Circular Letters for the calling a Convention to meet and fit at Westminster on the 22d of January next ensuing Which was done accordingly and the Elections went on with the greatest liberty that could possibly be conceived The Two Houses met the 22d of January and the Upper House chose the Marquess of Halifax for their Speaker and the Commons Henry Powle Esq After which a Letter from the Prince of Orange was read to them Exhorting them to unity and speed in their Consultations The Houses ordered the 31st of January to be appointed for a day of Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God for delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power by means of his Highness the Prince of Orange That Day to be observed in London and Westminster and ten miles distance and the 14th of February after throughout the Kingdom On the 28th of January the Commons passed this Vote viz. Resolved That King James the IId having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby become Vacant On the 6th of February the Lords assented to the Vote It will not be material to give a particular Account of the Debates and Conferences that arose and were occasioned by this and other Votes of the Commons I hasten to the Conclusion which was That on the 12th of February the Two Houses fully agreed all things in dispute betwixt them on this manner viz. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembed at Westminster WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to subject and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By assuming and exercising a power of Dispensing with and suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By committing and prosecuting divers worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said Assumed Power By issuing and causing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and imployed contrary to Law By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years partial corrupt and unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Free-holders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the 22d day of January 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their
King VVilliam and Queen Mary John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them A Discourse of God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms c. Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the Judge He putteth down one and setteth up another TWO things the Psalmist shews in the words of this Text. First The true Original of Power This in David's time all men took to be from Heaven but from whom there many knew not The Eastern Nations who were generally given to Astrology took it to come from their Stars and especially from the Sun which was the chief Object of their Worship The Psalmist tells them No. Promotion cometh not that way Neither from the Planets rising nor setting nor from its exaltation in Mid-Heaven That 's the meaning of the words from the East But Wise-men come out of the East tho' Promotion come from the North They are not Country-men nor from the West nor from the South From the North of the Zodiac or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden part under the Horizon they never thought it to come And as some think that 's the reason why that part of Heaven is not mention'd But the Psalmist might have another Reason to himself why he did not think fit to say it comes not from the North. For there as he saith elsewhere on the North-side of Jerusalem was Mount Sion the City of the great King of Heaven and Earth There in David's time was the Tabernacle and afterwards there was the Temple in which the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims was the place of the Symbolical Presence of God p. 2 3. could David say Promotion comes not from thence No he saith the contrary in the following words for God is the Judge plainly shewing that to him Kings owe their Authority But Secondly It is to him as Judge He gives it Judicially And so to him they are to account for it p. 4. 'T is the Prerogative of God by which He acts both in the disposing and also in the transferring of Kingdoms The word God in bringing His Majesty into this Kingdom was truly God's making use of the latter branch of his Prerogative in putting down one and setting up another p. 5. The Powers that be are of God That is the several Kingdoms and States even all that are in the World all have their Authority from God I. This at first was from God we are sure because it was from the beginning of Mankind The first Men that were born into the World were all of Adam's Family p. 7. Noah was the Father of all them that liv'd after the Flood When the Fathers or Heads of some of those Nations made Conquests upon one another as Nimrod did on the Nations about him who was therefore call'd a mighty hunter before the Lord or when they were otherwise incorporated together these made the ancient great Monarchies whereof the Assyrian and Egyptian are famous in Ancient History Other of those Nations or rather great Families continu'd in their ancient way of Patriarchal Government Particularly in that Line out of which God chose his peculiar People Abraham was a mighty Prince in his days But all his Subjects were of his Family out of which proceeded many Nations From his Son Isaac there came two Nations of People one of them by Esau Father of Edom the other by Jacob the Father of Israel who for their times also govern'd those Families or Nations When Jacob and all his Family went down into Egypt there ended their Patriarchal Government After which being Subjects to the King of that Country they were brought into a long and sore Bondage which made their Lives bitter to them for many Generations 2. From this God deliver'd them by the hand of Moses And to shew them how they ought to value this mercy from thence he entitled himself to be their King and dated the beginning of his Reign 3. This Theocracy as we call it continu'd from their coming up out of Egypt till such time as God at his Peoples desire gave them a King to judge them like all the Nations p. 8 9. God was pleas'd so far to grant his Peoples Request that they should be an Hereditary Kingdom But for the first King of the reigning Line I thought the People had chosen him by lot at Mispah God would have the chusing of him himself And accordingly first he chose Saul Then God made choice of David I thought the People had chosen David too a man after his own heart There was no other standing Government in that Nation which God chose to be his peculiar People but what was administred by single Persons And those Persons Title to the Government was either Patriarchal or by Divine nomination Both which ways of coming into Power were so wholly of God that the People had nothing to do but to accept the Choice of God and to submit to it II. In other Nations indeed that did not keep up the Patriarchal Right there the Peoples Consent was required except in the Case of Conquest p. 10 11. And this Consent being merely an humane Act it may seem that the Authority it gives is not as we are here taught from God only But we are to consider by what Motives it is that the People are generally led to chuse any one to rule over them All their Motives may be reduc'd to these two either Merit or Favour If there be any other they are but Compositions of these I. The first Choice of Kings I conceive to have been made on account of Merit the People being led to it by a sense of the Benefits they had receiv'd I judge so from that which having been already shewn I take now for granted that the Earth was peopled at first by great Families Now when those by oppression of powerful Neighbours or by Civil Discord among themselves came to be in great distress such as made them see the necessity of being united in greater Bodies for their own preservation those Heroic Men that shew'd them the way of it and that brought them under Government and Laws these were called the FOUNDERS of the Nations Such was Moses among the People of Israel When he had brought them out of Egypt they own'd this as a Title to Government that he would have had even without Divine Nomination Such was Cecrops among the Athanians and Romulus among the Romans and other first Kings in other Nations p. 11 12. Next to these and something like them were the first Planters of Colonies Such as Cadmus was at Thebes Aeneas in Latium and the like In England such were Hengist and the rest that began the Seven Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy From one of these namely But not in the Right Line Sir under favour from Cerdic King of the West-Saxons the Descent of our Royal Family is unquestionable But the most like to Founders are they
whom God raises up to be the Restorers and Delivers of a People when they are either brought low by Tyranny and Oppression or when they are torn in pieces by Factions among themselves p. 12 13. Thus when the Roman State being torn by a long Civil War had even bled it self to death it had certainly expir'd if it had been left to it self Augustus came in and not only bound up the Wounds but put as it were a new Soul into the Body He made it not only live but flourish by his great Care and Wisdom and Industry which so oblig'd the People that they even forc'd him to accept of the Empire These were such Benefits to Mankind as whosoever was enabled to do it was as if God had put a Glory about his Head it so markt him out to the People that they could not go beside him in their Choice No they took him as a successful Tyrant whom they had not power to withstand The Romans did not understand our new-coin'd Choice of God And if our Regency-men had known that the Prince of Orange was chosen of God they would not have voted as they did they took him as one already chosen of God p. 13. In those Kingdoms wherein the Succession is continued by a new Election upon every Vacancy or wherein a new Election is made upon the Extinguishing of the Royal Family the person on whom the Election falls in either case owes his promotion to God from whom it comes the same way to him as it came to his first Predecessor in that Kingdom p. 16. In all sorts of Government as the Sovereign Power in every Countrey or Nation is of God so they that are invested with it whether one or many are in the place of God and have their Promotion from him The Transferring of this Power from one to another is the Act of God And this he does proceeding Judicially as being Judge p. 17. First God does this Secondly He does it Judicially For the first of these God has such an Interest in the disposing of power as none can pretend to but himself Men have their part in setting up what they cannot put down again It is a Woman's Consent makes a Man be her Husband the Fellows of a College chuse one to the their Head a Corporation chuse one to be their Mayor All these do only chuse the person they do not give him the Authority It is the Law that gives that and that Law so binds their hands that they cannot undo what they have done No more can a Nation undo its own Act in chusing Men into Sovereign power I do not say but they may chuse Men into Government expresly with that Condition That they shall be accountable to the people and then the Government remains in the Body of the Nation it is that which we properly call a Commonwealth But for Sovereign Princes and Kings even where they are chosen by the Nation and much more in Hereditary Kingdoms as they have their Authority from God so they are only accountable to him For he is the only Potentate King of king and Lord of lords He alone both makes Kings by his Sovereign Power and by the same he can unmake them when he pleases p. 18 19. Nay more than so He puts down one and sets up another Both the Words imply something of an high place and here they are used of Civil Government or Dominion Of this it is said That God so deprives one of it as that he advances another in his stead This can be understood of nothing else but the Conquest of one Prince over another For what one resigns by a Voluntary Act he is said to lay down or to give it up to another But putting down is the Act of a Superior by which one 's place is taken from him against his Will Now God being the Superior that does this by the Act of his Providence it must be such an Act as gives the Power from one against his Will to another whom God is pleased to set up in his stead Thus in giving one Prince a Conquest over another he thereby puts one in Possession of the other's Dominions he makes the other's Subjects become his Subjects or his Slaves accordingly as they come in upon Conditions or at the Will of the Conqueror In short he giveth him the whole Right and Power of the other Prince p. 18 19 20. When those Kings that living in a settled Kingdom will not govern according to the Laws thereof it is a breach of Faith not only to their people but to God also where they are sworn to the observing of Laws And though they are not therefore to be deposed by the people yet they cannot escape the vengeance of God who ordinarily punishes them with the natural effects of their Sin On the other hand if a Prince will have no law but his Will if he tramples and oppresseth his people their patience will not hold out always they will at one time or other shew themselves to be but Men. At least they will have no heart to fight for their Oppressor So that if a Foreign Enemy breaks in upon him he is gone without remedy unless God interpose But how can that be when God is Judge himself Should the Judge hinder the doing of Justice It is God's Work that Foreigners come to do Howbeit he meaneth not so He means nothing perhaps but the satisfying of his own Lust But though he knoweth it not he is sent in God's Message for which all things being prepared by Natural Causes and God not hindering his own Work but rather hastning it no wonder that it succeeds and that oftentimes very easily p. 24 25. When it happens as it doth sometimes and that especially for the Sins of a Nation that they come to be under weak or wicked Kings even these they must not resist God hath taught them otherwise What then Must they be left to the Wills of these Tyrants Or of them that govern weak Kings which is commonly worse Must they endure all the load of Oppression that these will lay upon them That is For a few Mens pleasure must a Nation be made miserable This is far from God's design in the Institution of Government He makes Kings his Ministers for the good of their People If any will take that Office upon them they must be have themselves accordingly Otherwise if they take it as given them only for themselves it is such a breach of Trust that God cannot but punish them for it But how should he do this so as that the punishment may have its effect in warning others not to transgress in like manner He cannot do this better than by making Men his Instruments in it And therefore it is that God tho he has infinite ways yet commonly chuses to employ Men in this Service He either finds them at home that are not afraid of the Power as they ought to be or
such owe to the most Legal and Rightful Kings but the Convocation asserts due to all Kings whom God hath placed in the Throne by what visible means soever they obtained it as to obey and submit to them not to resist them nor rebel against them to pay all Customs and Taxes to pray for them nay to swear Allegiance to them if it be required p. 7. 2. The only Enquiry then is No it is no part of the Enquiry for who cares what either they meant or you mean what the Convocation means by the Government 's being throughly settled A Prince who is throughly setled in his Throne has God's Authority and must be obeyed but when is his Government throughly setled Now here it is That men may impose upon themselves if they will and if they think it their Interest to do so and may make as little or as much go to a through settlement as they please No they left that to d. Sherlock for the Convocation has not determined the bounds of it p. 9. The submission of the Prince indeed may be thought necessary to transfer a Legal Right but the submission of the people of it self is sufficient to settle a Government and when it is setled then it is the Authority of God whatever the Human Right be All Sovereign Powers whose Power and Government is throughly setled must be obeyed whatever their Legal Right be for they have the Authority of God p. 9. All Civil Power and Authority is from God for he is the Supreme Lord of the World and has the sole Right to govern his Creatures and therefore no man can have any Authority but from God This will be readily acknowledged by all who believe that there is a God and that he made and governs the World That Civil Power and Anthority is no otherwise from God than as he gives this Power and Authority to some particular person or persons But how does God give it him Perhaps as he gave you the Holy Ghost to govern others For Authority belongs to a person and that Power and Authority which any person exercises is not from God which God never gave him If he governs without receiving his Personal Authority from God he governs without God's Authority p. 10. O Sapientia There are but three ways whereby God gives this Power and Authority to any persons Either by Nature or by an express Nomination or by the disposals of Providence p. 11. Providence is God's Government of the world by an invisible influence and power whereby he directs determines over-rules all Events to the accomplishment of his own Will and Counsels p. 12. Nor does it make any difference in this case to distinguish between what God permits and what he does for this distinction does not relate to the Events of things but to the wickedness of men p. 12. When it comes to action he over-rules their wicked designs to accomplish his own Counsels and Decrees and either disappoints what they intended or gives success to them when he can serve the ends of his Providence by their wickedness and herein consists the unsearchable Wisdom of Providence that God brings about his own Counsels by the free Ministries of men He permits men to do wickedly but all Events which are for the good or evil of private men or publick Societies are ordered by him as the Prophet declares Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it p. 12. If the advancement to the Throne invests such a Prince with God's Authority then God gives him the Throne and does not merely permit him to take it for no man can take God's Authority but it must be given p. 13. By what means soever any Prince ascends the Throne he is placed there by God and receives his Authority from him p. 13. Sometimes he suffers an aspiring Prince to invade and conquer a Countrey but he never suffers him to ascend the Throne but when he sees fit to make him King p. 13 14. All Kings are equally rightful with respect to God So are all Clergy-men for those are all rightful Kings who are placed in the Throne by God and it is impossible there should be a wrong King unless a man could make himself King whether God will or no. p. 14. The distinction then between a King de jure The Doctor knows not when that Distinction was born and when it died and a King de facto relates only to Human Laws which bind Subjects but are not the necessary Rules and Measures of the Divine Providence In Hereditary Kingdoms he is a righful King who has by Succession a legal Right to the Crown and he who has possession of the Crown without a legal Right is a King de facto that is is a King but not by Law Now Subjects are so tied up by the Constitutions of the Kingdom that they must not pull down or set up Kings contrary to the Laws of the Land but God is not bound by Humane Laws Qui benè distinguit benè docet but can make whom he please King without regard to legal Rights and when he does so they are true though not legal Kings I challenge the Doctor te quote any good Authority fer the Notion of a True King A True and a False Prophet we knew but a True King is a Novelty if those are true Kings who have God's Authority We can have but one King at a time two rival and opposite Princes cannot at the same time possess the same Throne nor can Subjects be bound to two opposite and contrary Allegiances for no man can Serve two masters and yet Allegiance is due to a King by the Laws of God and to every King whose Subjects we are that if we could have two Kings we must have two Allegiances He is our King who is settled in the Throne in the actual Administration of Sovereign Power for King is the Name of Power and Authority Under derivatur King not of mere Right He who has a legal Right to the Crown but has it not ought by the Laws of the Land to be King but is not But he who is actually setled in the Administration of the Regal Power is King and has God's Authority tho he have not a legal Right Allegiance is due only to the King for Allegiance signifies all that Duty which Subjects owe to their Ring and therefore can be due to none but the King If then he who has the Legal Right may not be our King and he who has not may when any such case happens we must pay our Allegiance to him who is King tho without a Legal Right not to him who is not our King tho it is his Right to be so And the reasor is very plain because Allegiance is due only to God's Authority not to a bare Legal Title without God's Authority and therefore must be paid to him who is invested
Ark of God they must be handled with Ceremony and tho we approach them with never so much respect yet by an unskilful touch we may easily offend and 't is a trespass upon Majesty to come too near it The 15th of February the Lords and Commons ordered That His Majesties most gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be enroll'd in Parliament and Chancery which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Us that can be given which is the thing that maketh Us value it the more and We thankfully accept what you have offered And as I had no other intention in my coming hither than to preserve Your Religion Laws and Liberties So you may be sure that I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Thus ended that stupendious Revolution in England which we have so lately seen to the great Joy of the Generality of the Protestants of Europe and of many of the Catholick Princes and States who were at last convinced that the attempting to force England to return under the Obedience of the See of Rome in the present conjuncture of Affairs would certainly end in the Ruin of this potent Kingdom and whilst it was doing the present French King would possess himself of the Remainder of the Spanish Netherlands and the Palatinate and perhaps of the Electorates of Cologne Mentz and Triers a great part of which he hath actually seized whilst the Prince of Orange was thus gloriously asserting the English Liberty The Convention having declared the King and Queen as aforesaid proceeded to Declare themselves a Parliament to settle the Coronation-Oath to Repeal that Clause in an Oath and Declaration That it is unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to Take up Arms against the King or those Commissioned by him To revive the Administration of the Law which had been interrupted and therein they particularly Enact That Indictments c. for Offences committed betwixt the 11th of December and the 13th of Feb. 1688 should run Contra Pacem Regni And by the First Act of this present Parliament The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did Recognize and Acknowledge That their Majesties were and of Kight ought to be by the Laws of this Realm their Sovereign Liege Lord and Lady King and Queen of England c. And by the same Act it was enacted That all and singular the Acts made and Enacted by the last Parliament were and are the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom and as such ought to be reputed taken and obeyed by all the people of the same God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY FINIS BOOKS Printed for Richard Baldwin TRuth brought to light by Time or the most remarkable Transactions of the first fourteen Years of King James's Reign The second Edition with Additions A New Plain Short and Compleat French and English Grammer whereby the Learned may attain in few Months to Speak and Write French Correctly as they do now in the Court of France And wherein all that is Dark Superfluous and deficient in other Grammers is Plain Short and Methodically Supplied Also very useful to strangers that are desirons to learn the English Tongue For whose sake is addded a Short but very Exact English Grammer The Second Edition By Peter Berault The Devout Christian's Preparation for holy Dying Consisting of Ejaculations Prayers Meditations and Hymns adopted to the several States and Conditions of this Life And on the four last things viz. Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Victoriae Anglicanae being an Historical Collection of all the Memorable and Stupendious Victories obtain'd by the English against the French both by Sea and Land since the Norman Conquest viz. The Battle 1. Between K. Henry II. and Robert of Normandy 2. At Morleis 3. At the Rescue of Calice 4. At Poicters 5. At Cressey 6. At Agincourt 7. At the mouth of the River Seine 8. At Vernoil 9. At Cravant 10. At the Relief of Orleance with the great Actions of the Lord Salisbury and Talbot 11. Of Spurrs Dedicated to all the Commission'd Officers of the Maritime and Land Forces Price stitcht 6 d. Mathematical Magick Or the Wonders that may be Performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning mechanical Powers Motions Being one of the most Easie Pleasant Useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks Not before treated of in this Language By J. Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester The Fourth Edition The Memoirs of Monsieur Deagant Containing the most Secret Transactions and Affairs of France from the Death of Henry IV. till the beginning of the Ministry of the Cardinal de Richlieu To which is added a particular Relation of the Archbishop of Embrun's Voyage into England and of his Negotiation for the advancement of the Roman-Catholick Religion here together with the Duke of Buckingham's Letters to the said Archbishop about the Progress of that Affair Which happen'd the last Years of King James I. his Reign Faithfully translated out of the French Original A True Relation of the Cruelties and Barbarities of the French upon the English Prisoners of War being a Journal of their Travels from Dinant in Britany to Thoulon in Provence and back again With a Description of the Scituation and Fortifications of all the Eminent Towns upon the Road and their Distance c. Faithfully and impartially Performed by Richard Strutton being an Eye-witness and a Fellow-Sufferer The State of Savoy In which a full and distinct Account is given of the Persecution of the Protestants in the Valleys of Piedmont by means of the French Councils As also of the Unreasonable Conditions and Demands that the French King would have put on the Duke of Savoy And of the just Causes and Motives that induced that Duke to break off from the French Interest and join with the Confederates Together with the most memorable Occurrences that have since hapned there As also the true Copies of all the Letters and Dispatches that have passed between them
soever their Power has been and how Arbitrary and Despotick soever they have been in the exercise of it have ever reckoned it a Crime for their Subjects to come in all Submission and Respect and in a due number not exceeding the limits of the Law and represent to them the Reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their Orders Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal only because he said That the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace though it is evident that they being by Law rendred incapable of all such Trusts no regard is due to their Order This being the security which the People have by the Law for their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates That they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists that are contrary to Law put into any Employment Civil or Military 17. Both We our selves and our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess have endeavoured to signify in terms full of respect to the King the just and deep Regret which all these Proceedings have given us and in Compliance with his Majesty's De\sires signified to us We declared both by Word of Mouth to his Envoy and in Writing what our Thoughts were touching the Repealing of the Test and Penal Laws which we did in such a manner that we hoped we had proposed an Expedient by which the Peace of those Kingdoms and a happy Agreement among the Subjects of all Persuasions might have been setled but those Evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good Intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if We had designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom 18. The last and great Remedy for all those Evils is the calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors But this could not be yet compassed nor can it be easily brought about For those Men apprehending that a Lawful Parliament being once assembled they would be brought to an account for all their open Violations of Law and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subject they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience first to sow Divisions among Protestants between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters The design being laid to engage Protestants that are ail equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into mutual Quarrellings that so by these some Advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament and afterwards in the Parliament it self For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a mutual good understanding one with another and concur together in the preserving of their Religion it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England that either were in any Employment or were in any considerable Esteem to declare before-hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it such as would not thus preingage themselves were turned out of all Employments And others who entred into those Engagements were put into their places many of them being Papists And contrary to the Charters and Privileges of those Burroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament they have ordered such Regulations to be made as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved tho it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves So that no Parliament can be Lawful for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such hands it is not possible to have any Lawful Parliament And tho according to the Constitution of the English Government and Immemorial Custom all Elections of Parliament-men ought to be made with an entire Liberty without any sort of Force or the requiring the electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them and the Persons thus freely elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all Matters that are brought before them having the good of the Nation ever before their eyes and following in all things the Dictates of their Conscience yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a Free Parliament legally called and chosen But they may perhaps see one called in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force and which will be composed of such Persons of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation which may appear evidently from this that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament to gain them to Consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not neither by Promises nor Threatnings prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Designs 19. But to Crown all there are great and violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those Evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on of their ill Designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging of their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have published That the Queen hath brought forth a Son though there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion that not only we our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness and of the birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts 20. And since our Dearest and most Entirely beloved Consort the Princess and likewise We Our Selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown Since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded in a most unjust War use their utmost endeavours to put an end to that War and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they ran
the Princes coming to Town that it was really publish'd by his Order and no Counterfeit 13. On Sunday the 9th of December Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from VVhite-hall and the next morning the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Graves-end where they embarked for France It 's supposed she carried the Seal from VVhite-hall and caus'd it to be thrown into the Thames for on the 3d of May afterwards it was found in the bottom of the River by a Fisher-man in a Red-bag between Lambeth and Faux-hall and presented to the King Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THE King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth That in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or any that have come to Us or declared for Us be re-called and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if His Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned Us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Littlecot Decemb 9. 1688. This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the 10th of December by an Express which when he received he gave this Just Character of the Prince's Proposals That they were fairer than he could or did expect So that he had no reason then to be afraid of his Person but might have continued securely in his Palace and taken care of the Government and called such a Parliament as both himself and the Prince desired which might quietly and effectually have setled this Nation and prevented all ill Consequences to his Person or Affairs Yet he resolved to leave the Nation and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time ordered the Earl of Feversham to disband the Army and dismiss the Soldiers 15. On December the 11th about Three of the Clock in the Morning the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The Principal Officers of the Army thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at White-hall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Soldiers to enter into his Service 16. The same day the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town the then Bishop of Canterbury Ely and Peterborough being of the number came to Guild-hall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply our selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will without utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties
Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended Power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd and Returned and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do Resolve That WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oarhs of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abbor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Prcheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentor The same day this Declaration bears date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such occasions The 13th of February the Lords and Commons ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the great and eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange and therein desired Them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full consent publish and proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland wit all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be owned deemed and taken by all the people of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from hence-forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings reign to Bless King VVilliam and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to reign over us God save
them As it was just and necessary on those former Accounts so this makes it a pious Cause and therefore the more worthy of a true Christian Prince It has been judg'd so by them whose Names we have in great Veneration We have the Examples of our own Princes here in England in the best of Times since the Reformation These the Reader may sind collected to his hand in an excellent Book that hath been lately published But this may as well be shewn in the Example of them whom our Princes chose to follow as their Paterns namely of the Christians in Primitive Times and especially at the time of the first Nicene Council In these times we find that Constantine and Licinius having shar'd the Roman Empire between them had passed a Decree together at Milan for Christianity to be the Established Religion And when afterward Licinius in his part of the Empire would have oppress'd it contrary to Law for that cause Constantine the Great made War upon him and in prosecution of that War thrust him out of his Empire For which he was so far from being blamed by any Christian in those times even by those that had been Licinius's Subjects as most of those Bishops were that sate in the Nicene Council that they all gave him the highest Praises and Encomiums and blessed God that had sent them that happy Deliverance by his means Eusebius was Licinius's Subject and he afterwards writ the Life of Constantine the Great in which they that please may read whole Chapters to this purpose As that is a just War which is made upon just and sufficient Cause so the Effect of such a War being a Conquest is Just Conquest being the way by which a Kingdom or Dominion is taken from a Sovereign Prince against his Will and by which another Prince gets it into his Possession as often as this happens there arises a Question between the two Princes whether of them hath a Right to that Kingdom or Dominion For the deciding of this Question it must be by such a Law as is common to both the Parties whose Rights are to be judg'd by it That cannot be the Law of the Kingdom for tho the Prince that is disseiz'd was obliged by that Law while he was in possession yet now it seems he is not and it never was a Law to the Prince that is now in his place It must therefore be a Superior Law such as is common to all Sovereign Princes in their Affairs with one another and that as hath been already shewn is ordinarily the Law of Nations I say ordinarily because there is yet a Superior Law namely the Law of God whether written in our Hearts which we commonly call the Law of Nature or whether an express Revelation from God such as was sometimes given to Men in Ancient Times either of these may derogate from the Law of Nations For this being made up of Customs observ'd by Princes and States among themselves is always subject to the will of him that is Lord of lords and King of kings But whether or how far this may alter the case will be considered afterwards at present we are only to consider what Judgment can be made of it according to the Law of Nations By this it seems to be plain That the Right should go along with the compleat possession So as that wheresoever this is once settled whether by length of time or even sooner by a general Consent of the people there it ought to be presumed there is a Right at least there ought to be no farther Dispute of it There seems to be the same reason for this that there is for the Law of Nations it self for if that Law was ordained for the peace of mankind this quitting of possession must be a part of it for there can be no end of Wars otherwise p. 45 46 47 to 51. This appears by Jephtha's Speech to the King of Ammon that had Chemosh for his God Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possess So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before as them will we possess p. 51. It is by way of Conquest that God puts down one and sets up another For so the Babylonian Empire was put down by Cyrus who set up the Persian in its stead The Persian Empire was put down in their last King Darius and Alexander set up the Macedon in its stead The Macedon Kingdom was put down in their last King Perseus and the Roman was fet up in its stead All these Kingdoms were changed by Conquests that they made one upon another And so it was by those Conquests that God removed Kings and set up Kings p. 53. I do not say but they would have opposed the making of one of those Conquests namely that of Alexander the Great because King Darius was then living But when they saw they could not Oppose the Conquest being already made then Just or Unjust they submitted to it and having submitted they were subject without any more Controversie Therefore also Just and Religious Kings have reckoned their Conquests among the great things that God wrought by their means and accounted them as much their Subjects whom they had gain'd by the Sword as them that were born in their Dominions Therefore also God hath commanded his people to give Obedience to the Kings that came in by Conquest without any other Title Nay to such as were capable of no other for they were forbidden to set a stranger over them which was not their brother And yet they were Subjects to strangers such as Cushan Eglon and Jabin c. And in Zedekiah's time God commanded them upon pain of death to become the Subjects of Nebuchadnezzar who had made a full Conquest over them and held their lawful King Jeconiab then in Captivity This is plainly the Doctrine of that Convocation which sate in the beginning of King James I. his time and therefore it cannot but be very unjust to charge any Man with Singularity or Novelty that goes in the steps of so many and so great Authors p. 53 54 55. But some Learned and Judicious Men think That whereas an unjust Conquest happens through the Judgment of God for the punishing of a sinful Prince or Nation it doth not appear that he that is the Instrument of this acquires any Right by it more than those Pirates or Robbers who are instrumental likewise in the punishing of inferior Transgressors And if God gives no Right to him whom he sets up then it remains still in him whom he has put down So that he is rightful King still tho he is out of possession and the other is but an Usurper that is in possession In this case if the Usurper has no pretence of Right no prescription of Time no Consent of the people but only an unjust possession how a Subject ought to behave himself towards him even this is a Difficult Question in a most
learned Man's Judgment Who yet judges That even here it may be not only Lawful but a Duty to obey him that is in possession when the Legal King is reduced to that pass that he can no more do the Office of a King to his people For saith he the Kingdom cannot be without Government and if the Usurper preserves the Kingdom a Lover of his Countrey ought not as things are to give any further cause of trouble by his unprofitable Contumacy But then put case the Usurper hath sworn the people to him and doth the Office of a King which it seems in his Judgment doth not take away the duty that is owing to that former King how one can pay his duty to both the expell'd Legal King and to such an Usurper This our Author says is a most difficult Scruple and so it seems both by his and our most Learned Casuist's handling the Question where they shew how far one ought and how far one ought not to comply with such an Usurpation p. 56 57 58. But these Difficulties are only in case the possession is obtained by a War that was certainly unjust for if the cause of the War was but doubtful and a Conquest follows upon it there is no place for these difficulties Much less where the cause of War was certainly Just for if a Conquest follows upon this it gives a Right and then there is no Usurpation It has been commonly judg'd by the Law of Nations That the Right goes along with the Possession Of this we see Examples in every Revolution that happens in this or any other Kingdom When a King is driven out with any colour of Right the Neighbouring Princes and States make no great difficulty of applying themselves to him that comes in his stead wherein though perhaps they too much follow their own Interest yet it cannot be said that what they do is against the Law of Nations But what should Subjects do in this Case Of this we have an Example in the People of God when they pass'd successively under the Yoke of those Four great Monarchs that were formerly mention'd It is likely that each of those Kings that got the Power over them first declar'd the Cause of the War that he made upon the former Lords In that Case though they could not judge of the Cause whether it was Just or Unjust yet no doubt they did well in adhering to him that was in present Possession p. 60 61. To a People that are in such a case it is no small Comfort that whatsoever doubt they may have of the Cause of the War yet there is no doubt at all concerning their Duty There is nothing more certain than this that they ought to preserve themselves if they can do it lawfully But it is lawful for them to forbear fighting when they are unsatisfied of the Cause And if their own prince is not able to protect them it is lawful for them to take protection elsewhere Therefore in case of Invasion for a Cause which is just for ought they know it is lawful for them to live quietly under the Invader nay it is not only lawful but their duty as hath been already shewn to acquiesce in his Government when he cornes to be in Possession But when they are certain that a War is made upon their Prince for just Cause that is when they plainly see he hath drawn it upon himself by making it not only lawful but necessary for another Prince to invade him for his own Preservation What are the People to do in this Case No doubt they ought first to have a care of their Souls and not to endanger them by being Partakers of other mens Sins They cannot but see that by engaging in the War they abet their own Prince in his Injustice though not in his doing the Injury yet in continuing what is done and in his not giving Reparation And therefore they are subject to the same punishment with him Nay their Condition is worse than his For he may shift for himself and leave them and all they have to be a Prey to the Enemy Who by right of War may do with them and theirs what he pleases It is therefore certainly their wisest Course to keep themselves free from all offence both towards God and towards Man That having had no part in the Cause of the War they may not be involv'd in the ill Consequences of it And this they have reason to expect from a Generous Enemy that he will not use the Right of War against them that desire to live peaceably Much more if he hath declar'd he would not hurt them that should not resist him they have reason to trust a just Prince upon his Declaration And if he went so far as to declare That upon their Submission they should enjoy the benefit of their own Laws then although it should come to a Conquest they may reasonably expect to be in no worse condition under the Stranger than they were under their own Prince They have his Faith engaged to them for this But if the Stranger declares he makes War in defence of another King's Subjects as we have shewn he may lawfully do when he finds himself in danger of suffering by that King's Oppression of his own People in this Case they are first to consider whether it is a mere pretence or whether there be a real ground for his Declaration If they find there is a just and sufficient ground for it they see in effect that it is through Them that he is struck at and therefore the War is not so much His as their own It is true according to our Doctrine they are united to their Prince as a Wife to her Husband so that they can no more right themselves by Arms than she can sue her Husband while the Bond of Marriage continues Yet as When her Husband uses her extremely ill she may complain of him to the Judge who if he sees Cause may dissolve the Marriage by his Sentence and after that she is at liberty to sue him as well as any other Man So a People may cry to the Lord by reason of their Oppression and he may raise them up a Deliverer that shall take the Government into his hands a Foreign Prince may lawfully do this as hath been already shewn and then they are not only free to defend themselves but are oblig'd to join with him against their Oppressor p. 62 63 64 65. In this Case if another Prince having a just Cause of War is so far concern'd for such a People as to take them into his Care and to declare that he makes the War for their Deliverance The effect of this War though we may call it a Conquest because it has resemblance of it yet it cannot be properly so in any respect whether we consider the Prince on whom it is made or the People that have their Deliverance by it As to him it is properly an Eviction
Disobedience and wilful Rebellion but it is no-where said That where the Right of Sovereignty is transferred by a Successful War there is no Allegiance due to those who possess it p. 2. Ours is only the Case of Just War ☜ Apage nugas which is allowed by all sorts of Casuists who do agree that Allegiance is due to the Party that prevails in it and if it be due to one it cannot be due to another at the same time although he be living and do not discharge Persons from their Oaths for the obligation of Oaths depends on the nature and reason of things and not upon the Pleasure of those to whom they are made But where there is a Right to govern there must be a Duty of Allegiance And that Success in a Just War doth give such a Right What Right do you mean I could produce so many Testimonies of all kinds of Writers as would make the reading of them as tedious as of those in the History of Passive Obedience Nay some go so far as to assert a Right of Sovereignty to be acquired by success even in an Vnjust War So 't is as much as by a Just War But we need none of these Testimonies But doth not all this resolve this whole Controversie into a Right of Conquest 'T is not a pin-matter whether it does or no. which is not so much as pretended in our present Case * It 's a fine thing to be a Schollar I answer That we must distinguish between a Right to the Government and the Manner of Assuming it The Right was founded on the Just Causes of the War and the Success in it But the assuming of it was not by any ways of force or violence but by a Free Consent of the People who by a voluntary Recognition and Their Majesties acceptance of the Government as it is setled by our Laws take away any pretence * But not to an Ecclesiastical Whimsie of an imaginary Right by the Choice of God to a Conquest over the People or a Government by Force The Case of the Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers c. THAT which has perplexed this Controversie is the intermixing the Dispute of Right with the Duty of Obedience or making the Legal Right of Princes to their Thrones the only Reason and Foundation of the Allegiance of Subjects That Allegiance is due only to Right not to Government though it can be paid only to Government It seems to me to be unfit to dispute the Right of Princes a thing which no Government can permit to be a Question among their Subjects p. 1. And therefore I shall not meddle with this Dispute as being both above me and * Then you 'll say nothing to the purpose nothing to my present purpose Subjects have a plain Rule of Duty without understanding Laws and Politicks the Intrigues of Government the Revolutions of States the Disputes of Princes which I am sure is both for the security of Governments and Subjects If then Allegiance be due not for the sake of Legal Right but Government If Allegiance be due not to bare Legal Right but * That is to Glergy-mens Crockets to the Authority of of God If God when he sees fit and can better serve the ends of his Providence by it sets up Kings without any regard to Legal Right or Humane Laws p. 2. If Kings thus set up by God are invested with God's Authority which must be obey'd not only for wrath but also for conscience sake If these Principles be true it is plain That Subjects are bound to obey and to pay and swear Allegiance if it be required to those Princes whom God hath placed and settled in the Throne whatever Disputes there may be about their legal Right when they are invested with God's Authority And then it is plain That our old Allegiance and old Oaths are at an end when God has set over us a new King For when God transfers Kingdoms and requires our Obedience and Allegiance to a new King he necessarily transfers our Allegiance too This Scheme of Government may startle some men at first From you it will startle no man of common sense before they have well considered it p. 2 3. The Church of England has been very careful to instruct Her Children in their Duty to Princes to obey their Laws and submit to their power and not to resist tho very injuriously oppressed and those who renounce these Principles renounce the Doctrine of the Church of England But she has withal taught That all Sovereign Princes receive their Power and Authority from God and therefore every Prince who is setled in the Throne is to be obey'd and reverenced as God's Minister and to be resisted which directs us what to do in all Revolutions of Government when once they come to a Settlement and those who refuse to pay and swear Allegiance to such Princes whom God has placed in the Throne whatever then Legal Right be do as much reject the Doctrine of the Church of England as those who teach the Resistance of Princes For the proof of which I appeal to Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book p. 4. I know not how it was possible for the Convocation to express their sense plainer That all Usurped Powers when throughly settled have God's Authority and must be obey'd So that here are the Two great points determined whereon this whole Controversie turns 1. That those Princes who have no legal right to their Thrones may yet have God's Authority 2. That when they are throughly settled in their Thrones they are invested with God's Authority and must be reverenced and obeyed by all who live within their Territories and Dominions as well Priests as People If these propositions be true it is a plain Resolution of the Case that if it should at any time happen that the rightful Prince should be driven out of his Kingdom and another Prince placed in his Throne and settled in the full Administration of Government Subjects not only may but must for Conscience sake and out of reverence to the Authority of God with which such a Prince is invested pay all the Duty and Allegiance of Subjects to him As for the first the Case is plain That the Convocation speaks of illegal and usurped Powers and yet affirms that the Authority exercised by them is God's Authority and therefore those Princes who have no legal right may have God's Authority p. 5. The Moabites and Aramites never could have a Legal Right to the Government of Israel What not by a Conquest and yet the Convocation asserts That when Israel was in subjection to them they knew that it was not lawful for them of themselves and by their own Authority to take Arms against the Kings whose Subjects they were Prove they were Tyrants tho indeed they were Tyrants The like they teach of the Kings of Egypt and Babylon p. 6 There is no Duty Subjects as
of the Four Monarchies is not yet at an end for under the fourth Monarchy the Kingdom of Christ was to be set up and Antichrist was to appear and the increase and destruction of the Kingdom of Antichrist is to be accomplished by great Changes and Revolutions in Humane Governments and when God has declared that he will change Times and Seasons remove Kings and set up Kings to accomplish his own wise Counsels it justifies our necessary and therefore innocent compliances with such Revolutions as much as if we were expresly commanded to do so as the Jews were by the Prophet Jeremiah This a man may say without Enthusiasm or pretending to understand all the Prophesies of the Revelations and to apply them to their particular events for without that we certainly know that all the great Revolutions of the World are intended by God to serve those great Ends and when God will overturn Kingdoms and Empires remove and set up Kings as he sees will best serve the accomplishment of his own Counsels and Decrees it is very hard if Subjects must not quietly submit to such Revolutions we must not contrary to our sworn Duty and Allegiance promote such Revolutions No tho we be upon the point of losing our Lan's and Liberties upon a pretence of fulfilling Prophesies but when they are made and setled we ought to submit to them We have no direction in Scripture at all about making or unmaking Kings or restoring a dispossessed Prince to his Throne again and all the Commands we have in Scripture about Obedience and Subjection to Government manifestly respects the present Ruling Powers Let God Almighty turn Kingdoms topsie turvie as he pleases the Doctor will always fall upon his feet without any distinction between rightful and Usurped Powers it seems therefore plainly to determin this Question on the side of the present Powers p. 22 23. If the Choice and Consent of the people makes a Prince then no man is a Subject but he who consents to be so for the Major Vote cannot include my consent unless I please that is the effect of Law and Compact or Force not of Nature If Subjects give their Prince Authority they may take it away again if they please there can be no irresistible Authority derived from the people for if the Authority be wholly derived from them who shall hinder them from taking it away when they see fit If a man gives me a pair of Gloves who shall hinder him from taking them away again when he sees fit Upon these Principles there can be no Hereditary Monarchy one Generation can only chuse for themselves their Posterity having as much Right to chose as they had p. 24. I cannot see where to fix the Foundation of Government but in the Providence of God who either by the choice of the major or stronger part of the people or by Conquest or by Submission and the long successive continuance of power or by Human Laws gives a Prince and his Family possession of the Throne which is a good Title against all Humane Claims and requires the Obedience and Submission of Subjects as long as God is pleased to continue him and his Family in the Throne but it is no Title against God if he please to advance another Prince p. 24. To say that God sets up no Prince who ascends the Throne without a Humane and Legal Right is to say that some Kings are removed and others set up but not by God which is a direct contradiction to Scripture it is to say That the Four Monarchies were not set up by God because they all began by Violence and Usurpation It is to say That God as well as men is confined by Humane Laws in making Kings It is to say That the Right of Government is not derived from God without the consent of the people for if God can't make a King without the people or against their consent declared by their Laws the Authority must be derived from the people not from God or at least if it be God's Authority yet God can't give it himself without the people nor otherwise than they have directed him by their Laws This is all very absurd So 's all the rest of your Book Sir The Providence of God removes Kings and sets up Kings but alters no Legal Right nor forbids those who are dispossessed of them to recover their Right when they can While such a Prince is in the Throne it is a declaration of God's Will that he shall Reign for some time longer or shorter as God pleases and that is an obligation to Subjects to submit and obey for Submission is owing only to God's Authority but that one Prince is at present placed in the Throne and the other removed out of it does not prove that it is God's Will it should always be so and therefore does not divest the dispossessed Prince to recover his Legal Right A Legal and Successive Right is the ordinary way whereby the Providence of God advances Princes to an Hereditary Throne And this bars all other humane Claims but yet God may give the Throne to another if he pleases and this does not destroy the Legal Right of the dispossessed Prince lindx nor hinder him from claiming it when he finds his opportunity p. 26. It is a great Question Why 't is a Legal Commission but it has not the Authority of God which I am not Lawyer enough to decide Whether a Commission granted by a King out of Possession be a Legal Commission p. 31. Oaths oblige every particular man to do no injury to the King's Person or Crown not to enter into Plots and Conspiracies against him and as for actual defence chearfully to venture his Life and Fortunes with his Fellow-subjects to preserve the King But in case the great Body of the Nation absolve themselves from these Oaths and depose their King and drive him out of his Kingdom and set up another Prince in his room it is worth considering Whether some private men i may be but a little handful are still bound by their Oath to make some weak and dangerous attempts and to fight for their King against their Countrey certainly this was not the intention of the Oath for it is a National not a private Defence we swear and therefore a general revolt of a Nation tho it should be wicked and unjustifiable yet it seems to excuse those who had neither hand nor heart in it from their sworn defence of the King's Person and Crown and to make their compliane with the National Government innocent and necessary For an Oath to fight for the King does not oblige us to fight against our Countrey which is as unnatural as to fight against our King The sum is this God when he sees fit can remove Kings or set up Kings without any regard to humane Right as being the Sovereign Lord of the World who rules in the Kingdoms of Men and
giveth them to whomsoever he will but Subjects in setting up or removing Kings must have regard to Legal Right and if they pull down a rightful King and set up a King without right unless the Constitution of the Government in some cases should allow it greatly sin in it especially when they have sworn the defence of the Legal Right and Legal Succession but the Duty and Allegiance of Subjects does not immediately respect Right but the actual Administration of Government when there is a setled Government in a Nation for that is God's Authority which much be obeyed no man must swear away this no more than any other part of his Duty and no man does swear away this by the Oath of Allegiance as I have already shown p. 31 32. Object But have not Pyrates and Robbers as good a Title to my Purse as an Usurper has to the Crown which he seizes by as manifest force and violence Answ The Outrages of Thieves and Pyrates are very impertinently alledged in this Cause They have force and violence which every man must submit to when he cannot help it but Sovereign Power is God's Authority tho Princes may be advanced to it by no honester means than Thieves take a Purse or break open my House and take my Money or Goods The beginnings of the Four Monarchies were no better and yet their Power was God's p. 34. This Doctrine of Obedience and Allegiance to the present Powers Gen. 49.14 is founded on the same Principle with the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience and therefore both must be true or both false for it is founded on this Principle That God makes Kings and invests them with his Authority which equally proves That all Kings who have received a Sovereign Authority from God and are in the actual administration of it which is the only evidence we have that they have received it from God must be obeyed and must not be resisted Set aside this Principle That all Sovereign Princes receive their Authority from God and I grant that Non-Resistance is Nonsense ☜ for there is no other irresistible Authority but that of God p. 36. These Principles answer all the ends of Government both for the security of the Prince and Subjects and that is a good Argument to believe them true A Prince who is in Possession is secured in Possession by them as far as any Principles can secure him against all Attempts of his Subjects who must reverence God's Authority in him and submit to him without Resistance tho they are ill used They will not indeed serve the Revolutions of Government to remove one King and set up another and if they would Princes might be jealous of them for whatever Service they might do them at one turn they might do them as great Disservice at another The Revolutions of Government are not the Subjects Duty but God's Prerogative and therefore it is not likely that he has prescribed any certain Rules or Methods for the overturning and changing Government which he keeps in his own hands and which when he sees fit to do it he never wants ways and means of doing But when any Prince is setled in the Throne by what means soever it be these Principles put an end to all disputes of Right and Title and bind his Subjects to him by Duty and Conscience and a Reverence of God's Authority which is the fastest hold he can possibly have of them No Interest is the fastest hold in these cases for those whom Religion will not bind nothing but Force can And therefore these are the only principles which in such Revolutions can make Government easie both to Prince and People and if Government must be preserved in all Revolutions those are the best Principles which are most for the ease and safety of it But on the other hand such an immoveable and unalterable Allegiance as is thought due only to a Legal Right and Title and must be paid to none but to a Legal and Rightful Prince serves no ends of Government at all but overturns all Government when such a Prince is dispossessed of his Throne how long soever he continue dispossessed And what long Inter-regnums may this occasion to the dissolution of Human Societies p. 43 44. I cannot indeed think neither do I believe that any body else does that for a King to leave his Crown and Government in a fright is in all cases necessarily to be interpreted such an Abdication as is equivalent to a voluntary Resignation whereby he renounces all future Right and Claim to it But if he have reduced himself to such a state that he is forced for his own preservation to leave his Kingdom and Government it is plain that in some sense he leaves his Throne vacant too that is there is no body in it no body in the actual Administration of the Government Thus far I think Subjects may be very guiltless who do not drive the King away but only suffer him quietly to escape out of his Kingdoms for this is no Rebellion no Resistance but only Non-Assistance which may be very innocent for there are some cases wherein Subjects are not bound to assist their Prince and if ever there were such a Case this was it What then shall Subjects do when the King is gone and the Government Dissolved the people left in the Hands of another Prince without any Reason or any Authority or any formed Power to oppose him The Government must be Administred by some-body unless we can be contented that the Rabble should govern But I shall not meddle with that Interval between the going away of the King and the Prince's coming to the Throne but only consider him as placed in the Throne and setled there And now we can find no alteration in the Ancient government of the Nation but only the exchange of persons and all things concur to make this a very advantageous and acceptable Change excepting such difficulties as usually accompany such Revolutions p. 49 50. Legal Rights must be determined by a Legal Authority and there is no Authority can take cognizance of the Titles and Claims of Princes and the disposal of the Crown but the Estates of the Realm They indeed are obliged to take notice of the legal Descent of the Crown ☜ and if through mistake or any other cause they set the Crown upon a wrong Head they must answer for it but private Subjects who have no legal Cognizance of the matter are bound by no Law that I know of to disown a King whom the Estates have owned though they should think the Right is in another p. 52 53. Hitherto have been displayed the Principles of some of our heavenly Guides with respect to our Present Settlement The Conclusion of the whole matter take in the Words of a Worthy Divine lately delivered in a Sermon before the House of Commons viz. WE may safely conclude from the late Deliverance which we have found and the