considering that Popery was so long professed in this Nation To that a short Answer will serve That the Pope's Authority was never establish'd here by Law altho' he was allowed many things by reason of the Superstition and Blindness that then overspread this Island yet the King and Parliament could never agree to give him any power by Law nay when he grew immodest in his Encroachments upon the Church they made Laws to restrain him but the Truth is it was the Resolution of the Parliament and especially of the Lords that protected the Nation against the Pope but if Popery should now come in we should have it to all intents and purposes for it would possess both Church and State it must have all Q. Marys days are a sufficient Warning what we must expect from a Popish Successor and how far their Promises are to be relyed on for by the assistance of the Men of Norfolk and Suffolk it was that she did her business and what Promises did she make to them not to make any alteration in Religion and said many other fine things yet as soon as she was setled on the Throne the first thing she did was to alter Religion with the greatest violence and effusion of Blood that was possible and these Men of Suffolk and Norfolk felt the first stroke of her Hand and perhaps the greatest heat of her Fury But I have too far digressed from my first Argument which is That if Protection from the King is not given to his Subjects or Obedience in the Subjects is not paid to the King then if one side fail the other is discharged and the Condition being broken the Obligation is void And this was the reason why Vortigern the Saxon King was deposed by his Lords for he was grown too friendly to Heugist the Dane and the Lords perceiving that he intended to betray the Land to him they to prevent the Common Destruction and because by this practice he had absolved them of their Allegiance therefore they deposed him and set up his Son Vortimer because he was a true lover of his Country There are several other Instances of the like nature which would be needless to be cited because I should rather amuse than satisfie you of the Truth should I recount them all In the next place I do conceive that the King until he be Crowned is not so much King to all intents and purposes as he is after he is Crowned for if the crowning of the King be but a meer Ceremony or Compliment of State and not essential in giving him a Right to the Allegiance of the Subject then certainly no King of England would be troubled with the Ceremony of being formally crowned because then there will lye no Obligation upon him to take the Coronation Oath and so he may be more at liberty to act according to his Will because his Conscience will not be clogged with the weight of so solemn an Oath and then with less Infamy and Reflection he may suspend or pervert the Laws and therefore with submission to better Judgments I am not convinced that the King whilst he is uncrowned has that Right in our Allegiance as he has after that the Crown is set upon his Head in the same way that it ought to be done for before the Crown is set upon his Head by the Archbishop or other person appointed to do it the Nobility and People are asked if they will do their Homage and Service to him which by the way implies that the People are at liberty in the thing and that if he be Crowned it is by their Leave and Election then if the People consent the King takes the Coronation Oath which is to preserve the Church our Laws Liberties and Properties and to administer Justice indifferently and thus when he has Sworn to us the Crown is immediately put upon his Head and then the Nobility and People do their Homage to him and according to this has been the Practice ever since there were Kings in England And I believe there is scarcely an Instance where the People ever swore to the King before be had taken his Oath to them If there be any such President it is to be look'd upon as irregular and not to be a Direction to us for it is not impossible but such a thing may happen but however is it reasonable that one or two Instances shall be sufficient to invalid a Practice of several hundred years to the contrary And is it not a piece of nonsence that we should adventure our Religion and Properties and all we have in the Hand of him that for ought we know has an Obligation on him to ruine or give us up to a Foreigner and not in the first place to take Security from him that he will defend and do us right before we repose so great a Trust in him for otherwise such Confusion and such Contradictions would follow that the Wit of Man cannot invent how to salve them But I acknowledge there are some Instances where the People have sworn to the Succession in the life-time of the Father and thence some do inferr that the King is entitled to our Allegiance before the Crown is set on his Head but this under correction will not hold for it does not appear but that the intended Successor swore to them also at the same time and it is very probable he did yet if he did not it cannot thence be concluded that the King has Right to our Allegiance before he is Crowned for whenever it happen'd that the Successor was sworn to in the life-time of his Father if afterwards he came to the Crown he took the Coronation Oath before the People swore Allegiance to him And therefore it is very plain that an Oath taken to the Successor in the life-time of his Father is nothing more but a declaring the good liking they have of the Successor and that if in case he will promise to defend them and their Properties when his Father or Predecessor dies they will elect him for their King as possibly it might now fall out if in case the Duke of Monmouth were legitimate Don't you think that the People would be very inclinable to swear to his Succession next after the King And I believe you will never find it done but when the King had the Hearts of the People or out of the hopes they had in the Successor for English Men if the King pleases them he may have all they have even to their Skins as a wise man said If an English King will be kind to the People he can never want their Heads Hands and Purses and therefore it is that in the most peaceable and tranquil times that ever the Land saw when King and People had a mutual Confidence of each other we find things done by the King that are more irregular in those times of agreement than was done in times of greater confusion and the reason is because
most noise and bustle about some other People for nothing can give them so great Security and Certinty to execute any Plot or Design as when they amuse the Government with the Fear and Danger of other People and accordingly have they acted all-along The Parisian Massacre was performed with the greater Certainty by pretending that the Hugonots had a design to seize the King In all the Attempts that were made upon Queen Elizabeth if any of them had taken effect it was to have been charged upon the Puritans as they were called The Gun-powder Plot if it had succeeded the Protestants were to have born the odium of it And if their present Conspiracy had not been prevented by an opportune discovery it must have been cast upon the Dissenters and thence the Papists would have taken occasion to murder Thousands of Protestants And though they were defeated at that time yet they quickly after attempted it again in Mrs. Celier's Meal-tub Plot and though that had no better success than the former yet I hope it is no breach of Charity to conclude that this noise of a Presbyterian Plot is a Contrivance of the Papists to cover their own Bloody Design till they have put it in execution It is a Plot of a large extent and what the Reformed in France endure at present is an Effect of it and the reason why they are not quite destroy'd is because the Work is not done here but if they could ever carry their Business here not only the Protestants in this King's Dominions and those in France but all the Protestants in Christendome must undergo the utmost Cruelties that Hell and Rome can invent And since nothing will suffice but our utter Destruction if they get the upper hand it is high time to unite our selves to oppose so dreadful an Enemy And for my part I do believe that I should incut the Censure of a Mad-man if my House were beset by People who had resolved if they could get in to spoil my Goods and cut the Throats of me and my Family if some of my Servants had offended me I should chuse rather at that time to correct them for their Offence than to pass by their Fault and encourage them to assist me against those who were attempting to break into my House And in my opinion there is the same reason to be at this time a little tender so far as by Law we can towards those who differ from us only in Circumstantials till the Common Enemy is subdued and then we may with greater Safety and Security use proper ways to make them more conformable I must confess that I am not very inclinable to persecute People barely on the score of Religion and I think His Majesty has declared himself to the same purpose and till the discovery of the Plot there was no man who found less fault with the Papists than I did but by it I am convinc'd that no Peace is to be had with them who without any provocation for they were tenderly used should frame and be ready to execute so black a Design as not to leave one Protestant alive Therefore if the danger to the King our Laws and Religion does not arise from the Papists I cannot imagine what else we need to fear but every man may sit safely under his Vine and Fig-tree I am very sensible that there are some who watch my Words and Actions very narrowly and from this present Discourse will take occasion to call me Fanatick or Presbyterian or if they could think of any term of greater Reproach would not stick to lay it upon me but such Revilings don 't disturb me for the Mischief they design to me by it will fall upon their own Pates for their Accusations are false they cannot charge me with the wilful breach of any Law or in what Particular I don't conform to the Church I am sure they cannot convict me of any enormous Crime if any day be appointed by the Government whether for Fasting or Thanksgiving they cannot say that I failed in my Duty they cannot say that upon the 30th of January or any other day of Humiliation that at night when I should have been in my Bed or else in my Closet to lament the Sins of the Nation and to bewail my own Offences that either at my own House or any adjacent Alehouse I sate drinking and tippling till three or four a clock in the morning till I had made my self and the rest of the Company drunk If any man be guilty of such things he highly deserves the Severest Punishment that can be inflicted upon him for this is such grand Hypocrisie and so plain a bidding of defiance to God that they are dangerous to any Civil Society Such People as these who fast only to prepare their Bodies for the Nights debauch are the Informers upon Penal Statutes who to gain something to themselves put their Neighbours to a treble charge these make no Conscience of an Oath and are inclinable rather to swear too much than too little yes neglect their manifest Duty to God that they may be able to accuse their Neighbours of a smaller Offence Men of such Principles and Practises as these are they who beget an ill understanding betwixt the King and his People by Informations and Suggestions which if they were but made publick they would be ashamed to own by these they endeavour to create in His Majesty a dislike of others who are better than themselves in every respect and hence it occasions that our domestick affairs are pry'd into I will not take upon me to say how legal these things are or how far these Proceedings are warranted by Law but I will leave it to every man to consider whether he is not safer any where than at his own House whether his Table may not become a Snare to him and his own Servants shall be the means to cut his Throat But if Informers would acquaint themselves with the Laws concerning Informations and Suggestions they would not be so hasty in accusing others for the Law does not seem to favour them at all but rather discourages such Proceedings for it gives the Party injur'd very good Reparation and severely punishes the Informer if his Accusation prove false as you will find by these Statutes 5 Ed. III. 9. It is enacted That no Man from henceforth shall be attacked by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods or Chattels seized into the King's Hands against the form of the great Charter and the Law of the Land 37 Ed. III. 18. Though it be contained in the great Charter That no Man be taken or imprisoned not put out of his Freehold without process of Law nevertheless divers People make false Suggestions to the King himself as well for Malice as otherwise whereof the King is often grieved and divers of the Realm put in damage against the form of the same Charter Wherefore it 's
and thereby they are confirmed in their Wickedness and all honest and deserving Men discouraged When a King calls such Persons near him as ought for ever to be banisht his presence every Man else that is more deserving will withdraw themselves because not consistant with their Honour to herd with any who are unworthy the places they hold and so in a short time the King will be left destitute of Council or any to defend him and exposed to his Enemies both at home and abroad and his own People so prepared that when any fair occasion offers it self to cry out Nolumus hunc regn are and thereby from a Potent King may become a Nominal Prince and no more Upon the whole matter then May not that Prince be judged to be born under an untoward Constellation who goes out of his way when it Iyes so open and directly before him or that splits upon a Rock which he may more easily avoid than fall upon it For that which is necessary to make him as happy as a King can be is not more difficult than what was required of the Syrian General to cure his Leprosie the one was bid to wash and be clean and the other to keep fair with his People and what they desire is reasonable and just in relation to themselves and honourable and safe for him and is the thing in the World that can add most to the Excellency of His Majesty and the Might of His Power When a Prince mistakes his way for want of experience or a true representation of the State of Affairs this is an Error on the right hand and there remains hopes of his return but when it proceeds from his own inclinations and it is the dictates of his own breast then it is an evil that threatens the Land during his Life because nothing but some very pressing necessity can make him alter his course How great a Blessing or a Burden then is a King to the Land and how ought a good one to be valued and a bad one to be dreaded since there is no Medium betwixt those two and since so much of the good or evil depends upon the advices that are given him how careful does it behove him to be in the choice of his Council and then how highly ought he and the Nation to value such who set light by any Imployment when it stands in Competition with their Duty That King then who is inform'd of and sees his mistake and does not rectifie it will leave no good Character behind him but he that finds he is out of his way and returns to the right path is both Wise and Just and he that always keeps in the right road is a fortunate Prince But to say that his administration was unblameable and yet from the first resolved that if he did slip aside he could not sooner discover his Error than he would set things to right is the greatest Character of a King REASONS why King JAMES Ran away from Salisbury In a Letter to a Friend SIR ACcording to my promise when we were last together I send you my further thoughts upon what we then discoursed The first thing as I remember that we had under our consideration was an Inquiry into the true and real cause of King James's running away from Salisbury I then was and am still of opinion that he was acted by Fear more than by any thing else from the first Notice that he had of the Prince of Orange his design to the Moment that he got into France Nothing but fear could make him neglect what is so expedient upon such occasions That is to clap up every Man of Quality or Interest that he suspected but he was so far from laying hold of any man that he courted and even humbled himself to those very people whom before he would not admit into his presence and with so much abjectedness made an offer of their Charter and Franchises to the City of London and other Corporations What else but Fear could put him upon so unpolitick a thing as to send for so very many Irish For not to insist upon their insufficiency to help him at a dead lift had he consulted his reason he must have foreseen the discontents and divisions that it would create in his English Forces for it shewed that he reposed a confidence in the Irish even to a distrust in the fidelity and sufficiency of the rest of his Army and a distrust at any time much more at that would be felt very sensibly though toucht never so lightly and therefore if he could not be confident of his Army before he might expect that this would dispose them to a Revolt upon the first occasion that they should meet with Could any thing but Fear dispose him to those methods which he took to oppose the Prince at his first landing For as upon a Fright all the Blood retires to the Heart so he drew all his Army together and reckoned himself so much the safer by how much less distance any part of his Forces were from him thereby neglecting the advantage that he had against the Prince of Orange whom he was certain must land either in the West or North and eight or ten thousand men sent down to each of those places to receive him at his landing might either have destroyed his Army or else have broke it so much that a small supply of Fresh men in a few days would have made an end of that Matter if withal he had dispersed a few of his Forces conveniently up and down the rest of England which would either have wholly prevented or hindred any considerable Assistance from coming into the Prince for the Nation had been rid so long that little of the old English Spirit was left and most who declared for the Prince of Orange proceeded with so much caution that they shewed more Cunning than Courage as I will shew you by and by and besides those Forces thus placed to prevent any that should appear for the Prince could in a few days joyn that Body that was to attack the Prince when he landed and have made up a Force considerable enough to ingage his that did not exceed 12 or 13000 having lost most of their best Horses and the Men much weakned and disheartned by the Stormes and lying long on Ship-board or had they come on more equal terms it was doubtful whether they could have kept their ground against an equal number of King James his Army But had King James his first Body been routed yet the remainder of his Forces far exceeded in Number the Princes and would have found him fresh work over and over if King James would have staid with them But this Method so prudent and obvious he refused and as little made use of the other which he took He quartered all his Army in and about London till he heard the Prince was landed when he ordered it to march and followed it in
Person only to expose himself the more and give the clearer evidence of his Cowardice for before he came within 40 Miles of his Enemy away he ran as fast as if his whole Army had been routed his fear so far prevailing upon him that he durst not stay to set the two Armies together by the Ears in so much hast was he to get out of England And being stopt at Feversham and brought back to White-hall where he received the Princes Message to remove how meanly did he consent to it whereas if he had had the least grain of Courage he might easily have secured those that brought the Message and cut in pieces the Forces that came with them To do it he wanted not incouragement by the Bonefires and Huzzahs with which the City received him and if he had it would have struck such a Consternation upon the Princes Forces and so raised the Spirit of his Army and of the Papists who were then very numerous in London that it would have so turned the Tables as to bring the Odds on his side but his Fear would not let him see his advantage and so multiplied every thing that was against him that at any rate he would be gone and save his life though at the Price of his Honour and three Kingdoms So that if all were true that is reported of his former Prowess yet he seems therein to have forct himself and acted a part for it could not be the effect of Courage and Resolution and upon the whole Matter never Man even Nero himself shewed so much Fear in any Case as King James did in that Matter From this we proceeded to consider what it was that set the slavish Passion afloat and we found it was the Concurrance of three things First The Princes Forces Secondly The desertion in his Army Thirdly The declaration of the Nobility and Gentry in several parts of England for the Prince of Orange and then we inquired which of these weighed most and therein first we took into consideration how far the Princes Forces went in the Matter It must be considered that their Numbers could not make them very formidable since they did not exceed 12 or 13000 Men That the condition they were in did not render them very terrible many of their Men being sick and all discouraged by the great Storms and lying long on Shipboard most of their best Horses killed and the rest rendred almost unfit for service And that the Dutch were never esteemed very famous for Land service though they behave themselves very well at Sea King James was not ignorant of any part of this And on the other hand his Army was in great health and alwayes well paid and in Number much Superiour to the Princes Forces by reason of which in probability it must have necessitated the Prince to get four or five Victories before he could secure the Matter and had lost all his labour if King James got the better in any one Battle King James knew he had in his Army of old disciplined Troops Papists and biggoted Tories who in number equalled if not exceeded the Princes Forces and would have found them or any such Body of Men work enough upon more equal terms He very well knew that Englishmen seldom turn their backs and will go as far as their Officers will lead them He had a great number of Papists in his Army and was sensible that they thought it to be their Interest to fight by reason that their all lay at stake and considering how their Priests would push them on to fight it to the last man he might confidently expect if they were ingaged they would sell their Lives at a dear rate rather than loose the day He knew he exceeded the Prince either in Horse or Foot even as to the number or goodness of Horse in which the strength of the Princes Army consisted And though it may be Objected That the Prince had with him the greatest General of the World and a great number of good Officers and that his were old Troops and had been in Service yet the best Officers could not make them more than they were nor put them into a better condition It must also be considered that King James had a great many Men that had been in Service and new ones mixt with them would together do as good Service as if they had all been old Souldiers and besides their all then lying at stake would be sure to make them perform what could be expected from Men despair often answering to numbers and the greatest conduct So that the thought of the Princes Forces could not be the only thing that sent King James away in such haste from Salisbury For even the Prince though he thought as well of his Men as he could do of such a Number yet he did not think them sufficient without other assistance to ingage King James his Army and therefore when he saw so very few to resort to him after he had been ten or fourteen days on shore he began to look towards his Ships and had certainly gone away if the Scene had not changed very much in four or five days This therefore makes it pretty plain that the Princes Forces was not so very much the occasion of putting King James into so great a Fright as something else And therefore in the next place we considered how far the desertion in his Army might contribute to it Never had any Prince in his Army so many Men whom he had personally obliged as King James had in his for whilest he was Duke of York he was industrious to gain People of all Qualities and what he did for any body as well whilest he was Duke of York as when he was King was with so much dispatch and so good a grace that his Favours carried with them a double obligation whereby he got the Character of a steddy Friend though other things gave him that of an irreconcilable Enemy and there was in his Army a vast number whom he had befriended to a great degree whom no Overture could have prevailed with to have deserted him if they had had any sort of gratitude or sence of Honour And no doubt it was a great surprize upon him when he found himself left in the lurch by them who in the opinion of the world could have no other interest than to stand by him to the last with all they had and it must touch him very sensibly considering that the Revolt of a small part of any Army creates a great disorder in the rest and often proves fatal because they are in effect double to the number of any other that come into the assistance of that Side and renders all they leave behind them suspected by their General and therefore the Matter being thus singly considered this may seem to press King James more than any thing else But on the other hand it must be granted that it was quickly discover'd how far this
constituted by God himself But that cannot be so for it would follow that God is unjust which he cannot be There neither is nor was any Government of that sort but only that of the Jews the rest of the World were left to themselves to frame such a Government as suited best to their Inclinations and to make such Rules and Laws as they could best obey and be governed by Ours is compounded of an absolute Monarchy and a Common-wealth and the original of it we have from the Saxons But be it what it will or whence it will it is without question that the first original of our Kings was that the people found it for their advantage to set one over them because of his Wisdom Valour and Justice and therefore they gave him several Prerogatives above the rest of the People that he might be the better able to govern and defend them for there is none of the Kings Prerogatives but are for the good of the Nation if rightly imployed But it will be a strange conclusion to suppose that the People obliged themselves to submit to the Posterity of that Man whom they first chose for their King because of his extraordinary Endowments let them be what they would and never so unfit for the Government For the next of blood may be incapable of governing in several respects suppose a Fool or Lunatick by his Principles if he aim at Arbitrary Power by his Religion if he be a Papist or a Heathen or by his practises before he comes to the Crown to destroy the Religion and Government by Law Establisht Now this I do not say to argue that the Election of the King is in the People though I think much might be said in that case neither is it now the question but that which I speak for is to prove that the next of blood has not so absolute an Inherent Right to the Crown but that he may for the good of the Nation be set aside There is yet another Inconvenience to allow the next of blood to have so absolute a Right to the Crown because the Possession of the Crown takes away all disabilities but only such as are by Act of Parliament which being so every King must thank his Successor for every moment that he lives if he kill him himself he cannot be questioned for it because as soon as the one is dead the other is King for here the King never dies If therefore the next of blood has so absolute a Right the King is very unsafe For though the D. be not inclined to shorten his Brothers days nay though he be averse to it yet in obedience to the Pope and his Priests it must be done either by himself or some other hand and then how long we expect his Majesties life If Kings were good Men an absolute Monarchy were the best Government but we see that they are subject to the same Infirmities with other Men and therefore it is necessary to bound their Power And by reason that they are flesh and blood and the Nation is so apt to be bad by their Example I believe was that wherefore God was averse to let the Jews have a King till they had Kings they never revolted so wholly from him when their Kings were good they were obedient to him but when they were idolatrous then the People went mad of Idols I hope it is no Regis ad exemplum that makes our Nation so lewd and wicked at this day A SPEECH AGAINST Arbitrary and Illegal IMPRISONMENTS BY THE Privy Councill THere is not any thing that an Englishman can claim as his Right that we value more than Freedom and Liberty I mean that of the Body because Imprisonment is a sort of Death and less tolerable to some than Death it self For by it we are deprived of all our Earthly Comforts What is a Man the better for having never so great an Estate never so great Honour or what else is desirable in this World if he is restrained of his Liberty Now there are several sorts of Restraints or Imprisonments and they are all forbidden by our Law unless the cause be very just and reasonable not for bare surmises or vain stories that a Man shall be imprisoned and hurried from his aboad but only for such cause as shall prove that it is for the good of the Government and the support of it that this or that Man is imprisoned or restrained Although the Law has taken very good care yet the Subject is often abused in his Liberty sometimes by the Courts in West-Hall sometimes by other Courts and particular Magistrates But the greatest cause of complaint proceeds from the Privy Council The Privy Council that is though they have been much to blame in this particular yet it is not a new thing that they practice but this Itch of sending for and imprisoning the Subject upon vain pretences has descended from one Privy Council to another like an Infirmity that runs in a Blood for no sooner is a Man made a Privy Councellor but this Spirit rests upon him This Mischief was early espied even in Henry III's time and several Lawes have been made to restrain the Privy Council By the 9. H. 3. Chap. 29. it 's declared that No Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his Free-hold or Liberties or Free Customes or be out-lawed or any other way destroyed nor we will not pass upon him nor condemn him but by Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land By the 5. Edw. III. 9. It is Enacted That no Man from thenceforth shall be attacht by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods nor Chattels seized into the Kings Hands against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land By 25. Edw. III. Chap. 4. It is declared That from thenceforth none shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion made to our Lord the King or to his Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of his good and lawful people of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ original at the Common Law Nor that none be out of his Franchises nor of his Free-holds unless he be duly brought in answer and fore-judged of the same by the Course of the Law And if any thing be done against the same it shall be redressed and holden for none By 28. Edw. III. Chap. 3. It is Establisht That no Man of what Estate or Condition that he be shall be put out of Land or Tenement nor taken nor imprisoned nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought in answer by due process of Law And by 37. Edw. III. Chap. 18. It says Tho' it be contained in the Great Charter That no Man be taken nor imprisoned nor put out of his Freehold without process of the Law nevertheless divers people make false Suggestions to the King himself
gave him the Crown and he soon perceived that there was no Rest for the Sole of his Foot till he had taken the Coronation Oath and had sworn to maintain their Laws and Properties Some little Irregularities must be admitted in a time when things are unsettled but it will scarcely be found that any man was disceased of his Freehold but only such whose Demerits render'd them unworthy of them and from his time the Norman Government proceeded upon the Saxon Principles for King William by the Advice of his Nobles caused a select number of Men out of every County to be summoned who were to set down their Laws what they were in Edward the Confessor's time for it was he who had collected the Laws which at this day is called the Common Law Then after him William II. and Hen. I. succeeded each other and their Title was by Election of the People for Robert their elder Brother was alive and saw them both preferred to the Crown and he never enjoy'd it for he died a Prisoner at Cardiff Castle in the time of Hen. I. The next was K. Stephen who was second Son to Adela Daughter to William the Conqueror he was chosen by the People for he had an elder Brother whose Name was Theobald and there was Maud the Empress Daughter to Henry I. and both these were nearer by descent than he After him came Hen. II. he came in by Compact between K. Stephen himself and the Nobles and the good liking of the People for Maud his Mother was alive and by descent it belonged to her Then Richard I. was elected in his Father's Life-time and received Homage from the Peers King John was chosen by the People or else Arthur his elder Brother's Son who was then living would have succeeded Richard I. Henry III. came in by Election for Lewis the French Prince pretended to the Crown several of the Nobility having called him into their aid against King John and had sworn to him but the Fall of Pembrook who had married Henry's Aunt stuck to him and got him crowned by the consent of the Nobles and People after that he had taken the Coronation Oath and made other promises to the People Edward I. being out of the Land when his Father died was chosen by the consent of the Lords and Commons and I find that the Nation was sworn to the Succession of Edward I. before he went to the Holy Land Edward II. being mis-led by his Favourites was deposed and his Son Edward III. was declared King in his Life-time Richard II. Son to Edward the Black Prince was deposed for his Evil Government Henry IV. came in by Election of the People and though upon occasion sometimes he might pretend to several other Titles yet he found them unstable and to make sure he got the Crown entailed by Act of Parliament and so came in Henry V. and then his Son Henry VI. but he being found unmeet for Government enclining too much to the Counsels of his Wife who was a Foreigner and neglecting the Advices of his Parliament he was deposed and Edward IV. who was E. of March whose Father the D. of York by Act of Parliament was declared Heir apparent to the Crown and afterwards slain in the Battel at Wakefield He I say was Elected and afterwards Henry was restored and Edward set aside but at last Edward was setled and dies and the Crown came to his Son Edward V. who lived no longer than to be put into the Catalogue of our English Kings and then Richard III. was confirmed King by Act of Parliament for Elizabeth Daughter to Edw. IV. was living who afterwards was married to Henry VII and by right of descent the Crown belonged to her and he had no Title but what the People gave him Henry VII came in by Election for his Wives Title preceded his and there was also Edward Plantaginet Son to George D. of Clarence had an unquestionable Right before him if Descent might take place but to clear all doubts he got the Crown setled by Act of Parliament upon him and the Heirs of his Body successively for ever and upon that came in Henry VIII and in his time the Crown was limited three several times by Act of Parliament and there succeeded upon those limitations first Edward VI. then his Sister Queen Mary by Katherine Widow to Prince Arthur and then Q. Elizabeth by Ann Daughter to Sir Thomas Bullen and in the thirteenth year of her Reign a Law was made whereby it is made penal if any say that the Parliament cannot limit the Succession And now Sir I have given you a just account how the Crown has been disposed and if I should say no more I think that this of it self might convince any impartial man that the Crown till King James was in the Peoples dispose But that I may leave no place for doubt I will say something to those things which are so frequently objected and I will begin with that which says as follows Although there be many Instances where the Crown has leaped over the right Heir by descent and has lit upon the Head of another yet say they there are several Instances both before the Conquest and since where the Son has succeeded to the Father and that these are chiefly to be regarded because most agreeable to the Word of God which tells us That by me Kings reign c. and that the presidents that are otherwise are no better than Usurpation and not to be esteemed as legal but to be forgotten as Errors in the Government I acknowledge there is such a Text of Scripture but I must deny that it is to be taken in the literal sence for otherwise the King must be look'd upon to receive his Soveraign Power immediately from God without any regard had to our Laws and Constitutions and then he is King Jure divino and no Bounds or Limits of Humane Contrivance can be set to his Will but we are wholly at his Mercy and Pleasure and Magna Charta and the Petition of Right are waste Paper nay it not only destroys our Government but it puts an end to all other Constitutions in the World But the true meaning of the Words are That Kings are to be obeyed and that they are to govern under God according to the Laws of that Government and that they are to administer the Laws and Justice according to the Rules and Directions of that Constitution and not that Kings hereby shall have a Warrant to be unjust or govern arbitrarily But because there are some Instances where the Son has succeeded to the Father that therefore the Crown comes by descent I cannot grant for this Island has seldom been free from War and then the People are not at leisure to regard every Particular of their Right but are willing to have it at an end upon any terms and are not then so regardful under whom they enjoy their Liberties and Properties as that they
in every thing that half the Effect is lost before they are put in Execution As in bestowing Imployments or other Favours the Party does for the most part attend so long till thereby the thing receives so great an allay and comes with so ill a Grace that half the obligation is lost before it is given And the delatoriness in all other Matters looses much of the advantage that might have been had by a quicker dispatch and often creates a necessity to supply by a second Act what was lost by the delay in the first and though at last the point may be gain'd yet being forc't to do that at twice which might have bin done at once is no great reputation to such Methods Dispatch being the life of Execution as steddiness is of Council And this slow progress is almost unavoidable for these Persons who have hemmed the King in will not loose the advantage that is to be had in disposing of Imployments they will keep the Candidates as long as they can in suspence to see who will bid highest whereas a greater dispatch in the disposing of them would be the loss of several Visions of Angels which else they may hope to see and much more haste cannot well be expected in other things by reason that the proceedings are in a new way more uncertain and round about and so very much depending upon every step It s no wonder if there be so much Caution and Jealousie as to make the resolutions and execution far slower than if they had been managed in the Old Track What has bin said does not argue against a due Care and Circumspection so as not to prevent all precipitancy rashness or indiscreet haste and yet the Caution that goes further than so is needless and that which turns to the prejudice of it is in no sort to be justified And though by an unusual slowness a point may have bin gain'd yet there is no more reason for the future to take that Method in other Cases than to make use of a desperate remedy in all Cases because it once had good success and there is as little reason to observe the same Rules and Methods in all Governments for that Prince who does so it argues his insufficiency to govern But the most fatal consequence of a Cabinet Council is that in a short time it disposes the King to be weary and uneasie with Men of Interest and Desert their Room being more welcome to him than their Company and then he lays hold on every occasion to put slights upon them and to shuffle them out of their Imployments for his Appetite being depraved by those of the Cabinet he cannot rellish those wholesome Advicee which the others think they are bound in duty to offer him but when the King makes himself strange to such Men the People won't believe that he has any good meaning to them They may suspect that their Properties are in danger when those that have bin the great Defenders of them are in no credit with him No Man ever got the good Opinion of the Nation till by the whole Course of his Actions he had made it evident that he preserved the Publick good to his own private Advantage and therefore if the King does account the Publick Good and his Interest to be the same thing who ought he then so much to esteem as those who are in the good liking of the Nation who ought he so much to incourage or on whom so much to depend as they For their Advice will be faithful and he may be sure as none are so able to serve him as they so none will be more ready and forward When he imploys none but such as these and values every Man according to the rate that the Nation sets upon him he then at once bows the hearts of all the People as one Man and thereby becomes as safe and great both at home and abroad as the Wisdom Blood and Treasure of the Land can make him it makes every Man believe that it is more his Interest to preserve the Kings Life than to secure his own and that it is his duty to make the King easie in every respect rather than to increase the Wealth and Prosperity of his own Family that which used to be so tedious and uneasie to other Kings will be laid upon the shoulders of the whole Nation for every Man will make it his business that no detriment shall befal the Kings Affairs Informations for Libels and Reflections upon the Government will then be useless for neither his Name nor Administration will never be mention'd but with all respect and beseeming expressions and those hours which those at Court used to spend in undermining each other will be wholly imploy'd in his Service and in short he may be gratified in every thing that his heart can desire But if he lay such Men aside then as Naturally as Corruption suceeds Death their rooms must be supply'd by others who have neither Interest Principle nor Morality but are Compounded of Knave and Fool the very Scum of the Land and will do any thing without asking a question provided they be well paid and the result of all their Advice will be to estrange his Heart from his People But when the Nation shall perceive him to be thus encompassed they will not be so prone to trust him as to observe his proceedings for under such Circumstances his aspect must be very Malevolent what good can be hoped for when he accounts them the fittest to serve him and the properest object of his favour whom the People may justly repute their Enemies but well may they be alarum'd when such are imploy'd as were obnoxious in the time of his Predecessor for it 's a certain argument either of the unskilfulness or foulness of a Gamester when he desires to play with marked Cards so necessary it is for Kings to consider well who they imploy because the People Judge of the King according to the Complexion of those that are about him Wisely therefore did H. IV. upon an address of the Commons remove several Persons that he was very tender of saying he did it not that he could accuse them of any thing but because the People had an ill Opinion of them for he knew that they were competent Judges in the case And as Politick was it of H. VIII to give up Empson and Dudley to Justice who might have done as much for him as they had done for his Father but he considered that to part with the hearts of the People for all the Wealth they could procure him would be a very ill bargain for he understood he might command all that was his Subjects so long as he and they were upon good terms and that King is not much disposed to be well with his People when he is fond of a few Men who cannot pretend to any great merit But when the King shall once in good earnest take Men of
his Will and Pleasure For Principle is the great Director of all Mans Actions and every Man is either better or worse esteemed according to the Opinion that the World has of his Principles In the worst and most corrupt of times there has not wanted such as have been more solicitous about the well-fair of their Country than for themselves and if a King does not so much depend upon those that by the current of their Actions have made it evident they prefer the Publick Good to their own private Advantage as upon some other sort of Men it 's as clear as the Sun that he aims at something beside the Publick Weal or else that God has a quarrel to him and will not let him see his Interest For what greater pledge can be given of a Mans Integrity than when voluntarily and without Compulsion he dedicates himself and all that he has to the Publick service any other security being inconsiderable in comparison of it And therefore when a King knows such Men and yet imploys others rather than they it 's a clear Demonstration that his Designs and Affections are alienated from the good of his People and the Land is then in as ill a condition as when their King is a Child As to the third it will be no less extraordinary to see the King under equal Obligations to all Parties for it can only be for this reason because every Party shall have approved themselves equally serviceable or useless faithful or negligent steddy or inconstant to him which would be very wonderful though he dropt out of the Skies because there are so very many occasions in which a King needs the service of his People that if one Party acquit themselves better than others he will in a little time find who deserves best and it will be so plain and obvious that he must see it unless he be very unfortunate And till all Men have the same Complexion are of the same Stature and proportion of Body and Temper of Mind there will be distinctions of Men and Parties and therefore it will be the most remarkable thing that ever happen'd that notwithstanding their differences in other matters yet they should all concur to have the same Principle and Inclination to the King and Government But that Prince is very unfortunate who cannot depend upon one Party more than another nor has obligations to one more than another since it is an ill effect of a bad cause For the reason wherefore he cannot depend upon one more than another is because he has used and treated all alike And this Method as it will never make his Enemies to become his Friends so in a short time it will make his Friends so cold and indifferent towards him that they will serve him at the rate that others do and hereby his Obligations won't be greater to one more than to another So the Service that is done him will not be the effect of Duty and Affection but only according to the rate that he pays them But when a King cannot depend upon one more than another and is under equal obligations to all the most usual and truest reason of all is because he has so far disoblig'd all Parties that he has more cause to be afraid of than to trust any of them therefore till Men are of the same mind in every thing else it cannot be expected that these things or any of them can ever happen If then should a King act as if they were and the Case prove to be otherwise the consequence of it would be fatal to him For though it may be objected that by a distribution of his favours and imployments equally on all Parties he thereby gives incouragement to all to stand by him and makes none desperate yet on the other hand he thereby makes every Party Jealous of him and none to trust him For when he inlarges his hand to any Party it is to the regret and envy of the rest that were not then also consider'd which he cannot repair but by conferring greater things on them and then this turns to the dissatisfaction of the other Party as much as if nothing had been done for them So that thence it will follow that when ever his bounty moves every one must have a share for if any Party is omitted he will lose more on one hand than he gains on the other and what Prince ever found that his bounty turn'd to account where the Persons that were the objects of it had not something of affection or duty for him because all that he can do in that way will ingage them no longer than till they can make a better bargain or could he winn them by it yet the case of that Prince is much to be lamented who has none to depend on but such as he has gained by his liberality But could he gain any by such a Method which is very uncertain yet for one that he so makes his Friend he thereby looses a hundred who are such upon principle and that Prince gives himself very little leasure to think who does not know that one who is a Friend upon Principle is worth many who are made such by bounty preferments may be out-bid but Principles are permanent Every Prince will find himself out in his reckoning when he perceives what construction the People do put upon such a Method for they will be apt to conclude That it is the effect of Fear want of understanding or that his heart is not right towards them and its a dangerous thing to suffer such Notions to get into their heads it being very difficult to remove them if once they are fixt there Those that wisht him well will grow cold and indifferent towards him when they find that others who don 't deserve it are treated as well as themselves and it will discourage the honest endeavours of others for the future when neither they nor the Nation is much the better for their service and at last they will despise him and such as had no great good will for him will be sure to follow their blow as soon as they find his blind side and improve to their utmost advantage though to the ruine of him and the Nation all Parties will slight him undervalue all his Actions put the worst construction upon every thing and ascribe to chance whatever is well done When obnoxious Men are made use of it is too evident a sign that the same work is to be done because the same Tools come into play and hereby the King in a great measure becomes Particeps criminis of former ill councels and practices in allowing such to suck the fat of the Government who ought to be squeazed if not crushed to satisfie and vindicate the publick Justice and then well may such wipe their mouths and say What evil have I done when in stead of answering at the Bar their Treatment is more like a Reward for what they have done
and here 's the short and long of the case And therefore the Parliament must never yield that the Bishops shall Vote in case of Blood for the consequence of it will be to alter the very Frame of our Government and cursed be he that removes his Neighbours Landmark A SPEECH AGAINST THE PENSIONERS IN K. Charles II. Reign WIthout doubt the last Parliament had great Matters in agitation and the inquiry they made about the Pensioners of the preceding Parliament was no small one but rather one of the chief things they had in hand for had they been permitted to have perfected that it had been a good recompence for the disappointment which the Nation sustain'd in their other expectations by the suddain Prorogation And without all question nothing is fitter for the thoughts of a Parliament than to take into consideration how to punish them that had proved the Pest and had almost if not altogether ruin'd the Nation and how to prevent the like mischief for the future The Name of a Pensioner is very distastful to every English Spirit and all those who were Pensioners I think are sufficiently despised by their Country-men And therefore I will mention only two or three things that will lye at their doors before I offer my advice what is to be done Breach of Trust is accounted the most infamous thing in the World and this these Men were guilty of to the highest degree Robbery and Stealing our Law punishes with Death and what deserve they who beggar and take away all that the Nation has under the Protection of disposing of the Peoples Money for the honour and good of the King and Kingdom And if there were nothing more than this to be said without doubt they deserve a high censure Besides the giving away such vast Sums without any colour or reasonable pretence There is this great mischief will follow upon it Every man very well knows that it has put the King into an extraordinary way of expence And therefore when he has not such great supplyes it must of necessity bring the King into great want and need And shall not only give him an ill opinion of all Parliaments that do not supply him so extravagantly but perhaps put him to think of ways to get Money that otherwise would never have entred into his thoughts so that whatever ill may happen of this sort these Pensioners are answerable for it Furthermore they have layd us open to all our Enemies whoever will invade may not doubt to subdue us For they have taken from us the Sinews of War that is Money and Courage all our Money is gone and they have exhausted the Treasure of the Nation and when People are poor their Spirits are low so that we are left without a defence and who must we thank for bringing us into this despicable condition but these Gentlemen who notwithstanding this had the face to style themselves the Kings Friends and all those who opposed their practices were Factious and Seditious They had brought it to that pass that Debates could not be free if a Gentlemans Tongue happen to lye a little awry in his Mouth presently he must be called to the Bar or if that would not do whensoever any Gentleman that had a true English Spirit happen'd to say any thing that was bold presently away to seek the King and tell him of it and often times more than the Truth And thus they indeavoured to get an ill Opinion in the King of his best Subjects And their practice was the more abominable because their Words and Actions gave the occasion to force those smart Expressions from the Gentlemen that spoke them for their honest hearts were fired with true Zeal to their King and Countrey when they beheld the impudence and falseness of those Pensioners It 's true we find that in or about the 10th year of Richard II. it was indeavoured to get a Corrupt Parliament for our English Story says that the King sent for the Justices and Sheriffs and enjoyn'd them to do their best that none should be chosen Knights and Burgesses but such as the King and his Council should name but we find it could not be effected The next that occurs to my thoughts is that in the 4th year of Henry IV. the Parliament that was called at Coventry named the Lay-mens Parliament for the Sheriffs were appointed that none should be chosen Knights or Burgesses that had any skill in the Laws of the Land The next that I remember is that in Henry VI. time in the year 1449 or 50 when the Duke of Suffolk was Accused by the Commons and Committed to the Tower the King Dissolved that Parliament not far unlike our case of my Lord D but it differs in this that Suffolk was Committed to the Tower as of right he ought but we were deny'd that Justice against D only Henry VI. made the cases thus far even that he set Suffolk at liberty after he had Dissolv'd that Parliament Soon after a Parliament was called wherein great care was taken in choosing of Parliament Men that should favour Suffolk But they so far failed of their purpose that his appearance at the Parliament gave great distaste to the House of Commons and they were so far incensed that they began the Parliament with a fresh Accusation against him and others So that you may see that it was not in the power of the Court to corrupt the House of Commons In the time of Henry VIII about the 20th year of his Reign when the Parliament was active against Pluralities and Non-Residence there was an Act passed to release to the King all such Sums of Money as he had borrowed at the Loan in the 15th year of his Reign it 's said that it was much opposed but the reason that is given why it passed is because the House was mostly the Kings Servants but it gave great disturbance to the Nation And this is the only case that I can remember that comes any thing near to our Pensioners but we cannot find that they or any Parliament took Money to Vote So that we must conclude that there was never any Pensioners in Parliament till this Pack of Blades were got together Therefore Sir what will you do Shall these Men escape shall they go free with their Booty Shall not the Nation have Vengeance on them who had almost given up the Government It was they who had perverted the ends of Parliaments Parliaments have been and are the great Refuge of the Nation that which cures all its Diseases and heals it Soars But the Men had made it a Snare to the Nation and at best had brought it to be an Engine to give Money If therefore these go away unpunisht we countenance what they have done and make way to have Pensioners in every Parliament but far be any such thought from any Man that sits within these Walls And having said this I will in the next place humbly offer
without the Law but that he might imploy his power to an ill end and those then that incourage arbitrary inclinations in their Prince are guilty of all the Oppression and Violence that he shall commit The Law is the best hold both of King and people for it 's their mutual and only interest which soever of them lets it go will have much ado to preserve themselves for never did any stand long that parted with it when the King forsakes the Law he ceases to be King and makes room for another that is more righteous than himself and therefore because he endeavoured to set his will above the Law was the late King James set aside and I am perswaded with all the Justice in the World Thus I have indeavoured in a few words to detect the unreasonableness of this arbitrary Doctrine and indeed the great Asserters of it at last discovered what was the true principle that guided them they had very honestly prescribed a rule for others which they could not practice themselves like the Pharisees who were reproved by our Saviour for laying heavy burdens upon others that they would not touch themselves Our Loyal men were very well pleased with arbitrary power whilst they might be imployed and lord it over their neighbours they little dreamt that the wheel might go round for no sooner did they see that this power was like to be exercised upon themselves but they changed their note all their encomiums upon King James were turned into the most bitter invectives that their wit could invent and their threatnings which they used to breath out against the Dissenters were turned into words of Vnity and Reconciliation I will not affirm that the mercenary principle of preferment made them so zealous for Prerogative but this is most certain their zeal never abated till they saw that other people were like to come into play and then they were as forward as any to explode the Doctrine of Non-resistance and to wish success to the Prince of Orange But since King William does not think fit to employ them nothing will serve their turn but King James And because they cannot for shame talk any more of their unshaken Loyalty they have wholly laid aside that word and now their mouths are filled with nothing but the Church and considering that they refuse the Oaths and indeavour to throw all the contempt they can upon this Government therefore in their sense the Church and this Government are two distinct interests and King James a profest bigotted Papist is more likely to support the Church than King William who is a Protestant and thus they demonstrate their care for the Church and if it be not because King William won't put them into imployment I can't imagine why they should be so averse to him unless it is because his Government is more Just and Mild and that he Governs more by the Laws than any of the four last Kings Gentlemen Your inclinations to the Government is not to be question'd yet in regard it has been indeavoured to be so much traduced it may not be improper to say some thing of it Every King of England receiving and holds his Crown upon condition to Govern according to the known and approved Laws of Land for by what means soever he may come to the Crown he can hold it by no other means than by making the Laws the measure of his Power and when he forsakes that good old way he ceases to be King and Male Administration is a forfeiture of his Crown This was the opinion of our forefathers as appears by the many instances of those Kings that have been Deposed for their evil Government And those who have succeeded them have still been acknowledged and obeyed as rightful and lawful tho the other were alive For when the Throne is vacant it naturally comes into the hands of the people because the original dispose and gift of the Crown was from them therefore whoever they place upon the Throne has as good a right to be there as the first King that wore the Crown No Government can want a power to help it self and therefore when the King has set his will above the Laws what other means has the people left but their Arms for nothing can oppose Force but Force Prayers and Tears are our proper applications to God Almighty but signifie but little with an Arbitrary Prince who will be rather confirmed in his purposes when he finds that he is like to meet with no other opposition But this opposing the King with Arms is not justifiable for every wrong step or miscarriage of the Prince save only in cases of extremity when it 's obvious to every man that the King has cast off his affection to the Common Good and sets up his will in the place of the Law and thereby rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter For this reason was King James deposed and therefore is this present Government justified to the last degree by very good reason and the constant practice of our Fore-fathers in the like case For long before King Charles dyed the Nation was very apprehensive of the mischief they should be exsposed to if in case the Duke of York should get into the Throne and he had not long been in possession of the Crown before he convinced the world that those jeers and apprehensions were not groundless for he quickly became so exorbitant in the exercise of his power that the Nation grew very uneasie under him where upon the Duke of Monmouth landed in order to deliver us from that which the Nation had so much cause to fear and it did not please God to give him success Yet I am perswaded it was not by reason of the justness of King James 's Cause that God permitted him to prevail for some years but that he might fill up the Measure of his Iniquities and all the Earth might see how justly he was Deposed To recount the particulars of his Male-Administration would take up too much of your time and therefore I will only say this in short That he had so notoriously broken the Constitution of this Government to set up Popery and Slavery that the Nation was necessitated to rise in Arms and by as good right did they take the Diadem from his Head as he ever had to claim it for he having rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter the Crown thereby fell into the hands of the people and where then could they so well and properly dispose of it as to set it on his Head that so generously and opportunely came in to our assistance at a time when the Nation lay gasping and just ready to expire with the weight of Popery and Arbitrary Power What horrible unthankfulness to God and ingratitude to King William is every man professing the Protestant Religion guilty of who is disatisfied with the present Government For I would ask any of them what else could have been done to bring
the Laws have been more frequently stiled or called the Laws of the Land than the King's Laws and therefore if the Denomination of them declares the right the King will be found to have no very strong Title But if they had constantly been called the King's Laws yet that is a very Sandy Foundation to build a power upon of suspending and dispensing with them at his pleasure Now if they are the King's Laws then he only made them but if the Lords and Commons also had their share in the contriving and making of them then that Advice and Consent of theirs gives them such a Title to an Interest in them that they cannot be changed or altered no more than they could be enacted without their Consent for nothing can destroy a thing but the same Power that made it and therefore unless the King alone be the same power that enacted the Laws they cannot be properly called his Laws so as that at his will and pleasure he may dispense with them But if the Laws were made and enacted by him only yet it does not follow that the King may dispense with the Laws when to him it shall seem meet for there is no King so absolute but may be limited Thus we see the Eastern Kings who were as absolute as any Princes upon Earth yet were limited and restrained by their own Promises and Acts. Even that great King Abasuerus who had Ruled over 127 Provinces when he had made a Decree he could not revoke change or dispense with it for the Writing which is written in the King's Name and sealed with the King's Ring may no man reverse Esth 8.8 no nor the King himself which is clear from that famous case of the Decree to destroy the Jews to reverse or suspend which it 's plain he wanted not Inclination and if ever would then have exerted his full power for he was prick'd on by all the Spurs and Inducements that could be in any case yet all he could do was to give the Jews leave to defend themselves therefore if those Heathen Kings were so bound by their Word and Laws of the Country it 's reasonable to suppose that Christian Princes should be as much tyed up by their Words and the Laws and if the King be bound by his Word and the Laws which he shall not pass then is he under the same obligation as if he had actually given his assent to every Law that is now in force because he has given his Word and taken an Oath to preserve and maintain all the Laws And it seems something strange to hear of a power to dispense with Penal Laws there being so late a Judgment against it the late King in Parliament disclaiming it and the whole Case is very remarkable for during the interval of a Parliament he grants a Declaration of Indulgence and at the meeting of the Parliament tells them Nothing of force or constraint brought him to make that Confession but the Truth was too evident to be denied he had done it and would stand by it and should be very angry with any man that should offer to disswade him against it Yet though he had thus braved the Parliament within ten days openly in Parliament he disclaimed it and confessed that he could not dispense with a General Law and had ordered the Seal to be pulled from the Declaration Surely the Case must be very plain that the King after he had justified the thing so solemnly yet should so suddenly eat his words and confess himself in the wrong and to that Parliament too which had almost unhinged the Government to please him which no doubt would have complied with him in it had it been less than to lift the Government quite off of the Hooks And indeed to say that the King can dispense with Penal Laws is nothing less than to dissolve the Government and resolve all into the King's Will and Pleasure for our Parliaments are then but a piece of Pageantry or Puppet-show because in a word the King can annihilate all that they shall do in many Ages all the Provisions that they shall make for the Good of the Nation are but airy notions and painted shews they are and they are not just as the King pleases Now if the King can do this to what purpose have several things been done what means the Statute de Prerog Regis 17 Ed. II for certainly it 's a thing of a much higher and transcendent nature to have power to dispense with all Penal Laws than to have the Preheminence of the Subjects in some particular cases only That he has it not in all originally is plain from that of Appeals for in case of Murder the Appeal at the suit of the Party was to be tryed before the Indictment which was the King's Suit and this was so till Henry VII's time when it was alter'd by Act of Parliament and this carries in it a great probability that there is something in England that is his Superiour but Bracton and Fleta say That Rex habet superieres in regno nempe Deum Legem Parliamentum Nay the Custom of the Mannor shall bind the King Statutes to prevent Fraud shall bind the King The King cannot give the Penalty of any Statute to any Subject he cannot pardon a common Nusance how manifestly preposterous is it then to suppose that the King can dispense with Penal Laws and is restrain'd in these and multitudes of other things of the like nature It has always been taken for Law that where the Subject has an Interest the King cannot pardon and therefore he cannot pardon one found guilty upon an Appeal at the Suit of the Party But if he can dispense with all Penal Laws he may also pardon where the Subject has an Interest and so consequently dispense with all Laws whatever and then no man's Title to his Estate is good nor can any man settle his Estate securely for Fines and Recoveries being now the means used in Settlements and those being directed by particular Acts of Parliament if therefore the King for some particular necessary Reasons shall think fit to suspend those Laws all the Settlements in England will be strangely confused and of how excellent a use upon occasion it may be to dispense with those Statutes which direct Fines and Recoveries is very easie to comprehend Now this power of dispensing seems to be of a very late date for Fortescue who wrote in Henry VI's time tells us That the Kings of England cannot alter nor change the Laws of his Realm at his pleasure and the reason he gives of it is because he governs his People by Power not only royal but also politick which is by such Laws as they themselves desire and gives a very pregnant Reason why the King cannot alter nor change the Laws because the Laws of Men are holy And he shews likewise That this Restraint is no diminution to his Power but does rather aggrandize him it
every one of us make let us never forget how short and uncertain our Lives are that we know not the number of our days that a time is set which we cannot go beyond and that we are not sure of our lives one moment that as the Tree falls so it lies that as Death overtakes us so Judgment will find us Therefore let us be so prepared for our change that whenever Death comes it may neither surprize us nor be unwelcome Wean our Hearts and Affections from the things of this World and fix them upon those that are more solid and permanent let us see how vain uncertain and unsatisfying they are let us remember that they are only lent and not given us and that when they are taken from us no wrong is done and therefore so long as thou art pleas'd to allow us the enjoyment of them let us thankfully receive them and carefully employ and improve them and when we are depriv'd of any of them let us not repine but in all things learn and practice a Submission to thy good pleasure Good Lord we beseech thee to bless our King and Queen in making them ever mindful for what end they were raised to so high a dignity as to sit on the Throne of these Kingdoms namely to promote thy Glory and the good and welfare of their People let them see that this only is their best Interest and that nothing can make them so great and happy as by being zealous therein Let them with their Eyes drive away from their Throne all those that would draw them aside from thy Glory or the Good of their People and teach them the things that belong to their Peace And be gracious we humbly beg of thee to this poor Land and Nation make it happy in a long and prosperous reign of our King and Queen let all their Subjects conscientiously do their Duties in their several stations uphold every man in his Integrity that seeks thy Glory or wishes the Good of his Country let them not be dismaid when they see things go contrary to what they apprehend or wish they should do let them remember that though there be many Devices in a Man's Heart yet that the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand that God will bring about his own work in his own way and accomplish his pleasure in his appointed time and when that time is come he will not want Instruments to effect his purpose and let us learn that the wisdom of Man is foolishness with God for he can take the Crafty in their own Devices Therefore howsoever publick Affairs may move for the present let every one of us be diligent in our stations as we have opportunity let us patiently stand still and see the Salvation of God and submit to his good pleasure whatever it shall be And let thy Blessing rest upon this Family lift up the light of thy Countenance upon us and love us freely as it is a Family of note and eminency so make it remarkable for sobriety and good order and as it is above others so let it be exemplary for the good Conversation of every Member of it and thereby give occasion to others to glorifie thee our Father which is in Heaven Let us all be disposed to do that which is good and acceptable let those that are to instruct others be careful to walk suitable to the Precepts which they teach and those that are to learn let them be enclined and willing to receive Instruction Let us all do our Duties faithfully and honestly not with Eye-service like Brutes but as Rational Creatures that know how to chuse the good and refuse the evil And visit with thy Mercy we beseech thee all the Sons and Daughters of Affliction relieve them according to their several necessities lay no more upon them than they shall be able to bear sanctifie thy Hand to every one of them and in thy good time put an end to their Sufferings Let thy Correction be that of a loving Father for their amendment but not for their destruction and sanctifie all thy Visitations to us in particular Let us not repine at thy good pleasure if thou with-holds any thing we want or deprive us of any thing we already possess let us still say the Lord is righteous but we are less than and unworthy of the least of his Mercies the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and blessed be the Name of the Lord. Make us of a holy and humble Temper let it be our chief care to glorifie thee knowing that those that love and fear God are sure to want no good thing which he finds to be meet and convenient for them Teach us O Lord to order our Conversation aright Let us daily press after the price of the High Calling that is in Christ Jesus so that at the last we may attain to that blessed place of Rest where we shall have no more Want or Sorrow but to all Eternity sing Praises and Hallelujahs with the Father Son and Holy Ghost to whom for ever be ascrib'd as is most due all Honour Glory Might Excellency and Dominion both now and for evermore Amen OH Eternal Lord God thou art holy just and upright and of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity with the least approbation how then shall we dare to presume to lift up our Eyes or Hands unto thee which are so full of all manner of Defilement and Vncleanness Our ways have been perverse and crooked before thee and the Thoughts and Imaginations of our Hearts have been evil only evil and that continually with the ungrateful Lepers we have neglected and forgotten to return thee praise and thanks for thy Mercies and Benefits which thou with so open and plentiful a hand hast bestowed upon us We have not been careful to improve to thy glory the opportunities and talents that thou hast put into our hands we have forgot our vows and promises of better obedience have dealt deceitfully with thee in thy Covenant and started aside like a broken Bow by all which we have forfeited all the right and title that we might otherwise have laid claim to in thy favour and have rendred our selves the objects of thine eternal wrath and displeasure But thou O Lord who hast declared thy self to be a God pardoning Iniquity and to delight in Mercy not willing that any should be damn'd but that all should come and be saved regard us we beseech thee not as we are dead in Trespasses and Sins but look upon us in and through the Merits of our Saviour Christ Jesus who has paid a sufficient price for the Offences and Transgressions of us and of all the World having redeemed us by his most precious Blood give us such a steddy Faith in him that we may with considence approach the Throne of Grace oh pardon our Sins and do away our Offences for his sake we acknowledge we have offended and done that which is exceeding sinful in
Qualifications but whether King Charles therein follow'd his own Inclinations or was impos'd upon in what he did I will not now enquire further lest I should be thought to take too far into the Ashes of the Dead and therefore I will leave other People to judge whether he that understood all other things so well could be so very grosly impos'd upon in this or that he could be over-reach'd by his Brother whose Intellects were so much inferiour to his Thus by the alurement of Preferment and Employments they did hope to draw in many Protestants to lend their helping hand because without their assistance they could not carry on the Work and though Employments could not be had at any other rate yet the Looseness and Debauchery that had then overspread the Land to which the Example of the King had not a little contributed had prepared a sort of Men to take Preferment on those terms and the more effectually to do the Business they were to carry it on under the disguise of Loyalty and the Church for with these they varnish'd over all those unreasonable things that were impos'd upon us and indeed the Tools work'd very keenly for as their Zeal was without Knowledge so they went on at that furious senseless rate as thereby they quickly gave all thinking Men to understand that the Church and Government that was to be here establish'd the one was to be supported by Persecution and the other by Force But that I may open this matter more clearly I must observe that the force of all their Endeavours seem'd to tend more especially to set up Arbitrary Power and the reason of it was because if they attain'd that they were certain to carry the other and in this they follow'd the method that has ever been taken to introduce Popery for if a People are once made Slaves it 's easie to impose any Religion upon them So that if we can keep our selves Freemen we need not fear the loss of our Religion Now they could not think of any way of raising the Prerogative to so high a pitch unless by aluring some Body of Protestants to go on blindfold with them in their design and to that end they pitch'd upon the High Church Party believing if they were practised in their Revenge upon the Dissenters they would not much examine the consequence of what might be desired by the Court. And accordingly this Traffick betwixt the King and that Party was first transacted in Parliament where for every Severe Law against the Dissenters the Church Party gave the King either a Limb of our Liberties or a good Additional Revenue or a considerable Tax And thus they drove a subtile Trade till the Design grew a little more barefae'd or some of that Party proved more honest than was expected whereby it became impracticable to carry on the matter further in Parliament And so at Oxford the King took his last Farewel of Parliaments Having thus shak'd hands with Parliaments he then tryed what he could do by Rewards and Terrors turning out of all Commissions and Employments such as would not comply and filling up their rooms with Men of a contrary Complexion thereby gratifying the Ambition of some and the Avarice of others by reason of which there sprang up a sort of Men that were distinguished by the Name of Tories whose Principle it was to serve the King without asking a Question which is as much as to say They were oblig'd to do every thing they were commanded These were the Men that brought on Addresses Loyal Tory Clubs and Presentments and were the chief Promoters and Instruments in taking away Charters which struck at the very Heart of the Government And I cannot but with amazement remember how by their Addresses they courted the King to make them Slaves and when they had a New Charter upon the surrender of the Old one with what demonstrations of Joy did they receive it as if it had been their Glory to put on Chains and at the same time reproaching every man as disaffected to the Government who would not consent to give up the Rights of other People or sacrifice the Government The surrender of Charters was quickly followed by Sham-plots against the Protestants and to have the better effect of them new Constructions of Law were invented whereby many worthy Patriots fell Whilst these things were transacted the Penal Laws were violently put in execution against the Dissenters but the Papists went scot-free nay even those very Laws that were made against them were turn'd upon the Dissenters and whenever there was any seeming Prosecution of the Papists it was only to have a fresh Pretence to fall upon the Dissenters for the Papists were by particular Order slipt over Thus the pushing at Dissenters became the Characteristick or Make of a true Son of the Church of England for if a Man were violently bent against them he was a good Son of the Church though his Immorality and Debauchery had made him a Reproach to any Church After all this the Clergy brought up the Rear with their Doctrine of the Divinity of Kings and Non-resistance thereby to give a Sanction to all the rest which reduced the matter into a very narrow compass inferring from thence that the King has as natural a Right to our Allegiance as we have to the Obedience of our Children and that under the pain of Damnation he was not to be disobey'd It 's strange that Doctrines the one so destructive to the Right of Kings and the other so inconsistent with the Nature of Government should obtain so much had not the Higher Powers supported its Credit for that Patriarchal or real Right dethrones all the Kings on the Earth but one and leaves the World at a loss in the rightful Heir of Adam for there can be but one at the same time that can claim as Heir to Adam and consequently all the rest of the Kings are Vsurpers And here they are in a Wood themselves for they can no more tell you who is not the right Heir to Adam than they know who is Now should any one tell me that my Estate was more considerable than I apprehended it to be because I might turn out all my Tenants that held by Lives or Years but that withal it was Five hundred to one that some body else had a better Right to it than I have perhaps I might thank him for his Information but at the same time wish my Estate were less and my Title to it better Even as little are Kings beholden to them who perfwade them to quit the Title that the Government gives them to the Crown to seek for a better as claiming under Adam whereby they may be more at liberty to act by their will for if he thinks his best Title is by Descent then it 's possible that one of his Subjects may have a better Right to the Crown than himself As it fell out with William the Conqueror when
he that invades the Peoples Rights does no less to the King no man can perswade the King to do a thing more contrary to him and his Interest than to invade the Peoples Rights for if one be hurt the other is hurt also and he that will not do the King Right cannot expect to have Right done to himself No man can come to his Right but by doing the King Right give each its due but have a care how you give either side so much as an inch And therefore I would that People would forbear to preach up such destructive Doctrine both to King and People and not put the King and Parliament to the Trouble to make a Law whereby it shall be Treason in Words as well as Actions to endeavour the least alteration in the Government Petty-Treason For a Wife to kill her Husband or a Servant his or her Master or Mistris 25 Eliz. 3.2 Praemunire It is properly a Writ or Process of Summons awarded against such as brought in Bulls or Citations from the Court of Rome to obtain Ecclesiastical Benefices by way of Provision before they fell void To contribute Money or send Relief to any Jesuite or seminary Priest beyond Sea or any College 27 Eliz. 2. The first time to extol or maintain the Authority and Power of the Bishop of Rome Or The first time to refuse the Oath of Supremacy is a Praemunire 5 Eliz. 1. If any bring over any Agnus Dei Crosses Pictures or Beads hollowed as they call it at Rome to disperse among the People or if any person receive such 13 Eliz. 2. The Penalty in these and the like cases is That the Person offending shall forfeit all his Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels Imprisonment and be put out of the King's Protection 16 Rich. 2.5 Gentlemen you may observe that many of the things I have mentioned are only done by the Papists whose Religion has been the Author of all our Troubles and Mischiefs it was the Papists who took off the late King's Head though they made use of other People to act their part yet they were the Contrivers of all it was they who fired London and Southwark and it 's they who at this time would have brought us into the greatest Confusion that ever had been heard of by a Design which nothing but Hell could be the Contriver of but God in his Mercy brought it to light just when it should have been put in execution It is with Horror when I consider the Cruelty and Bloodshed that must necessarily have ensued had this Plot gone on it was no feigned thing the matter is as clear as any thing can be nothing but the execution of it could make it more clear and yet I hear that there are those who will take upon them to say there is no Plot and argue it how far they are guilty themselves I know not but I must tell them that they render themselves very suspicious to argue against that which every body believes and is satisfied of for my part I must judge them either to be in the Plot or very much enclined to Popery Wisely therefore has the Law provided for us against that from which there is so much danger If Popery be the True Religion God Almighty is not God Almighty for certainly that Religion is very defective whose Foundation must be layed in Blood and Cruelty and certainly God Almighty can propagate his Truth without having recourse to such unnatural means I am sure there is not to be found in Scripture the least evidence or instance to warrant the killing of Men for their Religion Men are to be convinced by Reason and Scripture and not by Force and Fire The Papists think it a hard thing to be required to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which Oaths don't deny them the private use of their Religion only require from them a Security to be true to the Government but don't consider that their Church requires that all must dye who will not change their Religion or if any of them have an Estate held wrongfully from them or is robbed or abused they expect to have the benefit of the Law and Justice of the Government they expect that the Government shall defend them and they will not be bound to maintain it how reasonable this is let any man judge But Gentlemen there 's no reason the Government should defend them that would destroy it though the Penalties are great yet you ought to avoid Tenderness because so much depends upon it as does and besides where any of them comes under a Praemunire the Persons themselves don 't suffer so much as the Common Stock for they have Stocks and Banks for those uses and to buy Poor People to their Religion Popery is not a Religion but an Interest which endeavours our destruction and therefore we ought to shew it no Favour And this will suit very well with Moderation for in all the Laws against the Papists the Penalties are very modest and moderate in comparison to what we have found at their hands and therefore to put the Laws strongly in execution against them cannot be called Severity Misprision of Treason To know any to be guilty of High Treason and not to disclose it If a Bull or Instrument of Absolution or Reconciliation be offered to use or put in use if they do not make it known within six weeks to some of the Privy Council 13 Eliz. 2. In them that shall be aiding maintaining or concealing of such persons as shall withdraw any from their Obedience or Religion and not make it known to some Justice of Peace within twenty days 23 Eliz. 1. The next thing that I am to give you in charge is Felony which is of two sorts against the Person and against the Possession of another Felonies against the Person of another If any commit Homicide that is kill or slay another which if out of precedent Malice either expressed or implied is Murther If upon a sudden Falling-out Manslaughter If in doing a lawful action is called Chance-medley If in his own defence it 's stiled Homicide se defendendo Poysoning Stabbing and Bewitching to Death are Homicides If any commit a Rape have the carnal knowledge of a Woman against her will or with her will if she be under Ten years old If any take away or consent or assist to take away any Maid Widow or Wife against her will she being then interested in Lands or Goods If any marry a second Husband or Wife the first being alive If any commit Buggery or Sodomy If any do willingly and maliciously cut out the Tongue or put out the Eye of another And by a Statute made the 22d and 23d year of K. Ch. it is Felony that by lying in wait purposely or upon Malice forethought to maim or disfigure another If any receive relieve or maintain any Jesuite or Seminary Priest knowing him to be such 27 Eliz. 2. If any incorrigible Rogue judged
the King strove to please the People and they were willing to gratifie him by conniving at his Faults But besides all this the Law of Nature is to be considered and this Law cannot be extinguished by any other Laws whatsoever And this I never heard any man deny The Law of Nature commands Self-preservation and then I would ask whether I am to obey him that will destroy me If we shall have a Prince that plainly declares either by his Words or Actions that he will change our Government and Religion or that he will give us up to a Foreigner or else that he will govern by a standing Army and take away our Properties must I obey him must I not endeavour to rescue my Self and Country from Ruine for in the Saxons time Treason did not relate to any thing but the Government and the general Concern of the Nation and not to the single Person of the King and now though it be Treason to kill the King yet it is only in order to the Publick Good and therefore with the Saxons all Indictments against Legience concluded Feloniae Proditoriae but against the Person of the King only Feloniae But in our days we find things are crept in that is difficult to tell how or when they came in And you shall find in all our ancient Laws that whatever was decreed or enacted was for the Common Good and the King was not concerned otherwise than so far as related to the Common-wealth though I know in our days another Opinion is asserted which I am sure cannot be maintained That all things must give place to the King 's particular Interest For my own part I will obey the King but I think my Obedience is obliged no further than what he commands is for the Common Good Our Government ever since the Conquest has proceeded upon the Saxon Principles and they were grounded upon Self-preservation which I do not find to be repeated by any Act of Parliament for all our Lawyers do agree That it is Treason to subvert the Government and if so without doubt our Allegiance the Laws of God and of Nature command us to defend them I will detain you no longer but only to consider this one thing Whenever we have a Popish King we must expect an alteration at least in our Religion for though he take all the Oaths and Declarations that can be devised yet it ever stands in the way to oppose the Interest of Rome they must all give place and it is meritorious to break those Engagements for that purpose or at worst hand be certainly pardoned if he presume to do it without a Dispensation and it is no more in his power to preserve our Religion than it is for him to work an Impossibility And therefore whether it is better to oppose a Popish Successor seeing we have the practice of our Forefathers to justifie us in it and besides he cannot if he would defend us or else to suffer him to rest in the Throne to destroy all we have and bring in a Religion that will damn Millions of Souls from Generation to Generation And if we may not defend our Religion then we must absolutely depend upon Providence in every thing and not put out our Hand to help our selves up when we are fallen into a Ditch This is the Case and here is an end of all Human Policy but without doubt it is our Duty to do our Endeavours and leave the Success to God Almighty and his Will be done THE CASE OF WILLIAM EARL Of Devonshire ON Sunday the 24th of April 1687. the said Earl meeting on Collonel Culpepper in the Drawing Room in White-hall who had formerly affronted the said Earl in the said King's Palace for which he had not received any satisfaction he spake to the said Collonel to go with him into the next Room who went with him accordingly and when they were there the said Earl required of him to go down Stairs that he might have Satisfaction for the Affront done him as aforesaid which the Collonel refusing to do the said Earl struck him with his Stick as is suppos'd This being made known to the King the said Earl was required by the-Lord Chief Justice Wright by Warrant to appear before him with Sureties accordingly April 27. he did appear and gave Bail in 30000 l. to appear the next day at the King's Bench himself in 10000 l. and his four Suretles in 5000 l. a piece who were the Duke of Somerset Lord Clifford the Earl of Burlington's Son Lord De-la-mere and Tho. Wharton Esq eldest Son to Lord Wharton The Earl appeared accordingly next morning and then the Court told him that his Appearance was recorded and so he had Leave to de part for that time but upon the sixth of May he appear'd there again and being then requir'd to plead to an Information of Misdemeanour for striking the said Collonel in the King's Palace he insisted upon his Priviledge That as he was a Peer of England he could not be tryed for any Misdemeanour during the Priviledge of Parliament and it being then within time of Priviledge he refused to plead the Court took time to consider of it till Monday which was the last day of the Term and the Earl then appeared and delivered in his former Plea in Parchment the Judgment given by the House of Lords in the Case of the Earl of Arundale 3 Car. was urged on the behalf of the Earl viz. That no Lord of Parliament the Parliament then sitting or within the usual times of priviledge of Parliament is to be imprison'd or restrain'd without sentence or order of the House unless it be for Treason or Felony or for refusing to give Surety for the Peace And also that the like Priviledge was about two years before allow'd in the Case of my Lord Lovelace The Court over-rul'd the Earl's Plea and requir'd him to plead to the Information the first day of the next Term and to be a Plea as of this Term and so he had Leave to depart but his Sureties were not called for to see if they would continue as his Bail The next Term he appeared and pleaded guilty to the Information and so the last day of the Term the Court did award That he should pay a Fine of 30000 l. be committed to the King's Bench till it be paid and to find Sureties for the Peace for a year To all which Proceeding and Judgment three notorious Errors may be assign'd I. The over-ruling of the Earl's plea of Priviledge II. The Excessiveness of the Fine III. The Commitment till it be paid 1. The over-ruling the Earl's plea of Priviledge is a thing of that vast consequence that it requires a great deal of time to comprehend it aright and is of so great an extent that more may be said of it than any one man can say The Judgment seems to be very unnatural because an inferiour Court has taken upon it to reverse a Judgment