Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A54796
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A vindication of The character of a popish successor, in a reply to two pretended ansvvers to it by the author of the character.
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Settle, Elkanah, 1648-1724.; Phillips, John, 1631-1706.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing P2114; ESTC R6364
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14,481
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18
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possible he may believe a man deserves to be hanged as much for being accused of burning a House or killing a man and think him as guilty as if he were taken in the fact nay with him a Protestant shall as justly deserve to be damn'd for saying this is a Popish Tenent which they themselves declare to be so as those Papists that believe it and we must have a special care of saying they do any thing ill lest we contribute more to their damning than they themselves And now let us see what this pretended Protestant Champion Mr. Le Strange says to an Oath of a Roman Catholick Prince Take that for granted once that there is no trusting to their Oaths and you cut all the ligaments of Society and Commerce there is an end of all Treaties and Alliunces amicable and mutual Offices betwixt Christian Princes and States nay says he 〈◊〉 but that Maxim and you turn all Europe into a Shambles and put Christendom into a state of War for where there is no trust there is no security Well I allow all this that these Politick Reasons of State may oblige Papist Princes to keep their Oaths with Foreign Princes nay with Heathens when they shall break them with their own subjects to usurp an Arbitrary Power in their own Kingdoms and to establish their own Religion amongst their own people where they can never be called to an account And as the Character says He has Religion to drive the Royal Jehu on Religion that from the beginning of the world through all ages has set all Nations in a flame yet never confessed it self in the wrong Mr. Le Strange says these are strange words to come from the mouth of a pretender to scruples and a Protestant Advocate his quarrel is not now so much to a Popish as a Religious Successor If he had said only the pretext of Religion he might have appealed to the clamours of his Brethren or his own papers Hold there honest Mr. Towzer follow not the scent so close 't is his Religion will drive the Royal Iehu on to our destruction and I am sure blind zeal as well as pretext has at some time or another set almost all Nations in a flame He has told us 'T was the pretended fear of Popery that brought a pious and a Protestant Prince to the block And tho' we all know this to be a sad truth yet that can be no Argument to us now who have the demonstration of evident Plots and an Heir an apparent Roman Catholick to bring in Popery and to establish Tyranny if it shall ever be in his power when that was but a pretence against his Royal Father which they made use of like those Rogues that went and pretended a Commission to search for Priests and Iesuits in Hatton-Garden and under that colour robbed a House and because they were Villains and had none must there be no further search made after those Traytors Must the Authority of all Constables be denied in that case because they came with a villanous cheat And must there be no Plot no danger in a Popish Successor nor no just fear of Popery now because for the late Rebellion they had only that pretence But his design is to divert our eyes from approaching Tyranny by bidding us look another way And tho' I am no Papist in Masquerade yet I must say this for that party he calls so notwithstanding all the Crimes he alledges against them which indeed tho' never so much deluded into or set on by the Papists will bear no excuse yet there is but that one president of horror against that party and we have no reason to suspect they would be at the same game again for being against a Popish Successor's coming to the Crown a Cause so much concerns the Nation To prove that Government was purely Divine he tells us It needs no other support than the authority of the Holy Scriptures By me Kings reign c. That which we call Kingly Government he says was at first Paternal and after that Patriarchal but to prove still that Kings were made for the people by the consent of God himself upon the request of the children of Israel the Chain of Kingly Succession has been broken and the same Divine Right invested in another as we may see in 1 Sam. 8. 1. where Samuels sons as Judges of Israel no doubt had as great a right of Kingly power as either Paternal or Patriarchal Government but they not walking in the ways of their Father c. 8. v. 3. God Almighty to satisfie his troubled complaining people did grant the dispossessing these men of their lawful Birthrights and command the crowning of Saul 1 Sam. 8 22. a man so remote from any pretence to that power that he was of another Tribe and after Saul David was anointed King tho' Saul had many Sons living at the same time yet who dares to say that Saul's or David's was an Usurpation or an unjust Power Now we see by this that the succession of Kingly Government has not been so sacred but upon some occasions it has been changed by Divine as well as lawful Authority and from his own Text of Scripture I have made the man the earth and the beast that are upon the ground and by my outstretched arm have given it to whom it seemed meet into me Jer. 27. 5. there is as much a Divine Right for the unmolested injoyment of five shillings per Annum by a subject as for the inheritance of three Kingdoms And for the Expedient offer'd at Oxford in Parliament in lieu of the Exclusive Bill where 't is proposed that his Children shall wear his Crown shows plainly 't is not malice against his person nor Forty one they aim at but the preservation of peace and safety in these Three Kingdoms And we have great reason to thank God and pray for a blessing on those men that struggle most against a Religion which from the effects of its Bloody Principles we can produce so many Records of Tyranny and Persecution I have been told That a Reply to the first Pamphlet would have sufficiently Answer'd both that and the Papist in Masquerade there being so little difference in the substance of their Arguments However I think I have particularly answered every material part of that and Mr. Le Strange's too FINIS
him too since by his handling both these Arguments with so much convincing art and cunning he has proved good Wits are incident to ill memories But now he says 'T is plain tho' the Triple Mitre be struck at the three Crowns is their aim nor would they be so violent against Popery which they have no reason to fear but that they know 't is the charm to bring in the people to the ruine of Monarchy knowing the multitude to be not unlike Beasts or Cattel in a Ship which in any storm that is raised if they are made apprehensive of the Vessels sinking on the one side run immediately with such a violent panick fear to the other that they overset the Ship and quite overwhelm themselves and it in ruin And all this lyes again at the Parliaments door because they have endeavoured for the good of the Kingdom to disinherit a Popish Successor and have not supplied the King with moneys tho' at the same time they have declared if his Majesty will be graciously pleased to join with them and bar all the pretence of Papists to this English Diadem secure their fears by passing that one Bill against that Prince whose succession is the terror and distraction of this Nation an Act in which consists the peace the safety and the glory of three Kingdoms let him but be removed from all pretensions to this Crown which justly may be done by King and Parliament and they will open their purses so wide to Him give Him that Mass of Wealth as will make Him both fear'd abroad and beloved at home So vast a Treasure will they make Him as none of all His Royal Ancestors nor He Himself was ever Master of But should they have done 't without it would have betrayed the Nation ruin'd their own Priviledges and left all Grievances as unredressable as unredrest and then they might thank themselves for what would follow And next our Scribler thinks it very unreasonable that the Prince alone should not have the benefit of Liberty of Conscience which every subject in his dominions takes very ill to have denied to himself Truly 't is hard indeed but the circumstances of this Nation considered not at all to be wondred at for I believe all men of sense as well as Sir Poll as he calls him will take it for granted that if this Popish Heir comes to the Crown he will by the dictates of that Religion in spight of Vows and Covenants promote the Romish Interest with all the severity injustice and tyranny that most religious Cruelty can invent But whether or no he will condescend to make the least excuse for it as the Characterizer has supposed he might I cannot tell but our Answerer that laughs at the supposition 't is probable knows more of his mind than to think he will be guilty of so much curtesy as to make us an excuse for any thing he does against us If says a Critick in the Character these be the dangers of a Popish King why have we not such strong such potent Laws made before this Popish Heir comes to the Crown that it shall be impossible for him ever to set up Popery tho' he shou'd never so much endeavour it The Character answers To endeavour to do it by Law even with those Laws we have already against it is impossible But it is likewise as impossible for any man of sence to believe that he being a Papist and Vassal to the Pope either will or can put those Laws in execution But then a little after 't is confest he may be totally restrain'd from all power of introducing Popery by the force of such Laws as may be made to tye up his hands and put the execution of those Laws into the hands of the People and consequently those Laws must be such as must ruin his prerogative Well but granting thus much says our Answerer what you infer from this is doubly ridiculous first that no Monarch would thus intail such an effeminacy on a Crown as shall render the Imperial Majesty of England but a pageant a meer puppet upon a wire And what can you make more of a King that has no power no not so much as the meanest subject in his Dominions can have after these Laws are made to tye up his hands he cannot put an Officer in any place throughout his Kingdoms for fear he should be a Papist nor take one servant of that perswasion into his Court they being all liable then to the conviction and persecution of the people and when it is so far from him to defend them that 't is not in his power to favour in any case the dearest of his own party for may not his subjects or rather his Masters inspect into his actions and call him to account for every thing they think a misdemeanor having the Law in their own hands and when his prerogative is thus ruined is not this Prince more like a Pageant born upon mens shoulders than a King which when they are weary of they may throw him down and dash him all to pieces But these Laws says he that bind up a King so strictly suppose him to be a Popish King such only to be restrained this is not therefore an intailed effeminacy but a short eclipsing of the full splendor of a Crown which in the next Protestant Successor is to shine forth with greater luster But how will you assure us that the people after they have been once possest of such a glorious Power will ever give it back again Indeed I doubt it for we have not seen the English men so willing to part with any of their Magna Charta or the least of their Priviledges No I am rather afraid it will rather give them the itch of taking the Name as well as Power upon them and I believe 't is the only expedient to subvert this glorious Monarchy into a Commonwealth But to give us hopes that we may have a very good and merciful Popish King that will neither remember Petitions Protestings nor Association Votes he refers us to the consideration of his Royal Brothers Clemency which indeed has been so great that ingratitude it self cannot but acknowledg it but all this while he was a Protestant Prince and therefore that can be no Argument to make us think a Papist King will be as gracious for were his Nature an Original of Mercy he could not be the man he would be without the forfeiture both of his Conscience Religion and his Kingdoms for if an Emperor or a King says Parsons shows any favour to an Heretick for that he loseth his Kingdom Philopat p. 109. Becanus another of their Authors says If that Kings and Princes are negligent in rooting out of Hereticks they are to be excommunicated and deposed by the Pope Controv. Anglican p. 131. 132. And when the Papists tell us how many Virtues he is Master of and amongst the rest how noble and how strong his friendship is