Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A41868
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Great and weighty considerations relating to the D[uke of York] or successor of the crown humbly offer'd to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty and both Houses of Parliament / by a true patriot.
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True patriot.; Hunt, Thomas, 1627?-1688.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing G1660; ESTC R5871
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12,981
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12
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Littleton p. 8. And hence in their new Machiavilian Logick will inforce that to dis-inherit his Royal Highness is not against the Oath of Allegiance which speaketh only of Heirs not of Heirs Apparent A ridiculous shift and a most silly evasion first because we profess to take the Oath not in any by-sense of the Law but in the plain and common sense of the words as all men do usually understand them Wherefore although the Law by Heirs had understood such as succeed to their deceased Ancestors yet fince this is not the plain and common sense of the word and men do not generally understand it so it can never excuse us from a perjurious violation of our Oath 2dly Because by Cokes leave this his observation is most fallacious and impertinent For it is a manifest contradiction for one to be Heir Apparent and not be Heir as it is to be a Learned man and to be no man it being an undoubted maxime Prius est esse quam esse â—alc And the fallacy consists herein that the word Heir in its full and proper notion signifies either an Heir Apparent who is such during the life of his Ancestor of aâ— Heir by right actually inheriting which always presupposeth his Ancestors death or at least his resignation But Coke most improperly restrains it to the latter contrary to the common and usual manner of speaking not only of most men in general but of God himself in his holy Scriptures where Heirs Apparent are absolutely and most commonly called Heirs as appeareth Gen. 15.3 and 2 Sam. 14.7 Mat. 21.38 Mark 12.7 Luk 20.14 and Gal. 4.1 Since therefore it appeareth by so many passages of holy Scripture that the word Heir in its plain and common sense signifieth an Heir Apparent and that we profess before God and the World to take the Oath of Allegiance in the plain and common sense of the words upon what grounds can we understand here an Heir actually inheriting more than an Heir Apparent Nay since the words of the Oath do signify as well an Heir Apparent as an Heir actually inheriting what a Sophistical Equivocation it is to understand it of the one exclusively of the otâ—er Surely it is no better than if a Jesuit had Sworn before a Magistrate to be true and Loyal to the Government of this Kingdom he in the interim meaning the Government not of the King or Parliament but of his own Jesuitical Assemblies Let us not therefore flatter our selves or foolishly think that after so solemn an Oath either or both Houses of Parâ—iament can authorize us before God to deprive our Prince of his undoubted right And truely I admire if they who so much insist upon the liberties of free-born English Subjects will ever acknowledge the Parliament or any person whatsoever to have this arbitrary and despotical power whereby the Axe is laid to the very root of their greatest priviledges For if it be lawful for a prevailing faction in Parliament to deprive their Prince of his undoubted Birthright how can mean Subjects have any security either of property or liberty And besides since it is an undoubted maxime in Moral Affairs Illud tantum possumus quod de jure possumus and as St. Austine saith Quod non potest juste non potest justus Upon what grounds should the House of Commons nay the whole Parliament Claim this absolute power I cannot find For its evident that both Houses can challenge no other authority but what they derive from their Soveraign and the diffusive body of the Subjects whom they represent And no less manifest it is that no King of England hitherto did nor in my Opinion could give his Parliament any power to depose or dis-inherit himself or his Heir Apparent And if your Majesty intends to grant them any such thing at present which I hope your Princely wisdom will never do I remember your Royal Father gave the long Parliament greater power than he was aware of which they soon after used or rather abused against himself his Crown and Dignity And therefore I say Foelix quem faciunt paterna pericula cautum As for the diffusive Body of the Subjects 't is clear they neither would nor could grant the Parliament this extravagant Jurisdiction First they would not do it for who can be so credulous as to believe that any man so desirous of his liberty as English Subjects ever have been would grant the Parliament this Despotical power uncontroulably to dispose of his own much less of his Princes Life or Estate Secondly How could the Subjects grant the Parliament any power to deprive their Prince of his Birth-right against all the Laws of God and Nature since of God alone and not of the Subjects the Prince deriveth his whole Right and Authority For there is no power but of God Rom. 13.1 By whâ—m Kings do Reign and Princes decree justice Prov. 8.15 How then can the People deprive their Prince of that which they have no power to give As for my own particular I must confess I could never understand that the Imperial Crown of England was disposable by Act of Parliament I always thought the Liberties of English Subjects to be grounded on surer Principles and that no power in this Kingdom could lawfully deprive us of our Priviledges or enthrall us to any servitude whereas it 's evident that if an Act of Parliament can thus transfer the Crown upon whom they please we can have no security and may according to such Maxims first or last be brought under the Tyranny of the French King or any other Forreign Prince if ever the corruption or mercinariness of a Parliament should induce them to comply with a King that should have a mind to sell the Succession of the Crown to a Foreigner upon the security of an Act of Parliament which according to the Tenets of these Politicians can give a just Title But if we consult God's Divine Oracles the Holy Scriptures which undoubtedly should be the chief Rule of all Humane actions we shall never find any Example or President to warrant these unparallel'd proceedings against his Royal Highness but may find several passages clearly against it There we find how King Ahab though absolute Monarch of Israel and consequently needed no Parliament but had himself alone as much power and authority over the Ten Tribes of Israel as your Majesty and Parliament together can claim de jure over the Natives of England and though this Monarch passionately coveted his Subject Naboth's Vineyard and was of himself little inclined to Justice yet he knew that by the Laws of God and Nature it was altogether unlawful for him to deprive Naboth of his Vineyard but if he could not deprive him of a small Vineyard surely he could not rob him of his Birth-right and whole Estate And if such an absolute Monarch could not do this to a mean Subject by what colour of Justice can the House of Commons nay the whole Parliament do
Great and Weighty CONSIDERATIONS Relating to the D or Successor of the Crown Humbly offer'd to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty AND Both Houses of Parliament By a True Patriot May it please Your Majesty HE is undoubtedly to be reputed the best Friend to his King and Countrey whom neither the Fear of any Worldly Powers can deter or hinder to speak nor the love of any Temporal advantages can induce to dissemble the Truth especially in such serious and weighty matters as mainly concern the welfare both of Church and State For whosoever lays aside all the alluring Considerations of Self-Interest and chooses rather to expose himself to the displeasure of a prevailing Faction than see the Truth oppress'd by any feign'd pretences though never so specious or plausible he sufficiently demonstrates by the sincerity of his intentions how Faithful he is to God and how Loyal to his Prince This plain and undoubted verity most Gracious Sovereign encourageth me at present to offer unto your most Excellent Majesty this my humble Address briefly comprising such Reasons as perswade me so much to mislike many particulars of our present proceedings whereby most preposterously we endeavour to establish the true Reformed Religion in this Kingdom by overthrowing the chiefest Principle and Maxim thereof which is fulln epitomiz'd in this excellent Precept Give every one his due I cannot indeed but highly extol the rare constancy of our Leading Men in the true Protestant Religion and their fervent zeal to maintain and establish the same for ever as also their extraordinary care and diligence to suppress Popery and all Fanatical Leven But I find their Zeal doth so far transport many of them beyond the limits of Justice and Equity that unless they steer their course more conformably to the Divine Cynosura of all Humane Actions the Word and Will of God I am afraid we shall have ere long as much reason to blame them for the one as praise them for the other To establish firmly the true Protestant Religion is undoubtedly a great and glorious action but to establish it upon the Quicksands of Humane Policy or upon grounds repugnant to the Laws both of God and Nature is a thing whereof neither I nor I hope any faithful Christian will ever approve Hypocrites indeed and some factious Spirits of the Phanatical Leven who make a Cloak of Religion to palliate their black Designs by their seditious Pamphlets do daily labour to perswade the World that nothing can be so Sacred which must not be sacrific'd to their pretended Religion And upon this ground as the Rump-Parliament has Sacrific'd the best of Kings so some fiery Zealots now endeavour to Sacrifice the best of Princes your Majesties onely Brother But the best and most conscientious Protestants do utterly abhor and detest such Antichristian attempts as being wholly repugnant to the Ordnance of God and to the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Neither did they ever approve of that Anarchical Bill lately fram'd by some turbulent Zealots of the House of Commons against his Royal Highness wherein they peremptorily assume to themselves a Sovereign and Despotical Power of Deposing Princes and disposing of Kingdoms as their spirit moves them and withal most impudently affirm that this has been the ancient custom of Parliaments Whereas it's evident to all the World that the Imperial Crown of England has always been Hereditary and never depending on the Votes or Suffrages of the Subject Nay it is undeniable that the succession of the Crown was always hitherto held so Sacred and inviolable that no Crime whatsoever no attainder of Treason could debar the next Heir of Blood from succeeding in the Government as Coke upon Littleton Sect. 8. page 16. testifieth in these words If the right Heir of the Crown be attainted of Treason yet the Crown shall descend to him eo instante without any other reversal the attainder is utterly avoided as it fell out in the Case of Henry the Seventh But these cunning Politicians now will have a new model of Government that so all the world may acknowledge our Omnipotent Parliament i e. themselves to have an Absolute and Independent power not only over mean Subjects but also over the Royal Family nay over the King himself and to have power to degrade or depose them as they please For they are sure that by whatsoever Law Power or pretence the Parliament can dis-inherit or depose the Heir by the same they may likewise depose the Possessor of the Crown as the Rump Parliament de facto has done To what purpose then should any true Protestant or any man of sense that loves either King or Country approve of such an extravagant Bill which Gilded over like poisoned Pills with the specious pretence of establishing the true Protestant Religion is like to destroy the very root and life of our Government Or what in Gods name do we mean by this pretence of Religion Do we intend to out-reach the Divine Providence or do we despair either of the justness of our cause or of the goodness of God Do not we remember how the Apostle tells us that evil is not to be done that good may come of it Or do not we know that whatsoever God affects in goodness he doth effect by good means and doth not want our wickedness to fulfil his holy will Is there no other way of establishing the true Protestant Religion but by robbing those we should honour and obey and depriving them of that which God and Nature has bestowed upon them I mean their Birthright Far be it from the heart of a Christian especially a Protestant to think so ill of the all-seeing Providence of the Almighty For what is this but exactly to follow the footsteps of that monster of ingratitude the wicked Jeroboam who after God of his infinite goodness had raised him from nothing and established him Monarch of the ten Tribes of Israel yet was he so mistrustful of Gods power in preserving his Kingdom for the future that he thought nothing could secure it but his own accursed Policy 1 King 12.26 27. Was not the true Protestant Religion settled in this Nation by the same mighty hand of God that established Jeroboam in the Kingdom of Israel Shall we then like that wicked King so far despair of Gods Providence in preserving the work of his own hands as never to think it secure unless it be establish'd upon the quick-sands of our own wicked inventions Should not we rather be terrified at that dreadful woe pronounced by the Prophet Jeremy Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness or his Chambers by wrong Jer. 22.13 O insensati Galatae as the Apostle speaketh Gal. 3.1 O foolish and timerous Country-men who hath bewitched you that you should be of so little Faith as to believe that a king of England though the most zealous of Papists can ever subvert the true Protestant Religion or the present Government of this Kingdom while we know