falling off of the Nobility and Gentry who avow to have no other End than to prevail with the King to secure their Religion which they saw so much in danger by the Violent Counsels of the Priests who to promote their own Religion did not care to what Dangers they exposed the King I am fully perswaded that the Prince of Orange designs the King's Safety and Preservation and hope all things may be composed without more Bloodshed by the Calling a Parliament God grant a happy End to these Troubles that the King's Reign may be prosperous and that I may shortly meet You in perfect Peace and Safety till when let me beg You to continue the same favourable Opinion that you have hitherto had of Your most Obedient Daughter and Servant ANNE A MEMORIAL OF THE Protestants of the Church of England Presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of ORANGE YOur Royal Highnesses cannot be ignorant that the Protestants of England who continue true to their Religion and the Government established by Law have been many ways troubled and vexed by restless Contrivances and Designs of the Papists under pretence of the Royal Authority and things required of unaccountable before God and Man Ecclesiastical Benefices and Preferments taken from them without any other Reason but the King's Pleasure that they have been summoned and sentenced by Ecclesiastical Commissioners contrary to Law deprived of their Birth-Right in the free Choice of their Magistrates and Representatives divers Corporations dissolved the Legal Security of our Religion and Liberty established and ratified by King and Parliament annull'd and overthrown by a pretended Dispensing Power new and unheard-of Maxims have been preached as if Subjects had no Right but what depends on the King's Will and Pleasure The Militia put into the Hands of Persons not qualified by Law and a Popish Mercenary Army maintained in the Kingdom in Time of Peace absolutely contrary to Law The Execution of the Law against several high Crimes and Misdemenours superceded and prohibited the Statutes against Correspondence with the Court of Rome Papal Jurisdiction and Popish Priests suspended that in Courts of Justice those Judges are displaced who dare acquit them whom the K. would have condemned as happened to Judg Powel and Holloway for acquitting the seven Bishopâ— Liberty of chusing Members of Parliament notwithstanding all the Care taken and Provision made by Law on that behalf wholly taken away by Quo Warranto's served against Corporations and the three known Questions All things carried on in open view for the Propagation and Growth of Popery for which the Courts of England and France have so long jointly laboured with so much Application and Earnestness Endeavours used to perswade your Royal Highnesses to consent to Liberty of Conscience and abrogating the Penal Laws and Tests wherein they fell short of their Aim That they most humbly implore the Protection of your Royal Highnesses as to the suspending and Incroachments made upon the Law for maintenance of the Protestant Religion our Civil and Fundamental Rights and Priviledges and that your Royal Highnesses would be pleased to insist that the Free Parliament of England according to Law may be restored the Laws against Papists Priests Papal Jurisdiction c. put in Execution and the Suspending and Dispensing Power declared null and void the Rights and Priviledges of the City of London the free Choice of their Magistrates and the Liberties as well of that as other Corporations restored and all things returned to their ancient Channel c. THE PRINCE of ORANGE HIS DECLARATION of Novemb. 28. 1688. WE have in the course of our whole Life and more particularly by the apparent Hazards both by Sea and Land to which We have so lately exposed our Person given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion that we are fully confident no true English-man and good Protestant can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution rather to spend our dearest Blood and perish in the Attempt than not carry on the blessed and gloâ—ious Design which by the Favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of those Kingdoms upon such a sure and lasting Foundation that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny Towards the more easy Composing this great Design We have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the Concurrence of the Nobility Gentry and People of England with Us for the Security of their Religion the Restitution of the Laws and Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties Great Numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joined themselves to us and others at great Distances from Us have taken up Arms and declared for Us. And which we cannot but particular mention in that Army which was raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery many by the special Providence of God both Officers and Common Souldiers have been touched with such a feeling Sense of Religion and Honour and of true Affection for their Native Country that they have already deserted the Illegal Service they were ingaged in and have come over to Us and have given Us full Assurance from the rest of the Army that they will certainly follow this Example as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them without the Hazard of being prevented and betray'd To which End and that We may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design We are ingaged in for the Publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations We are resolved with all possible Diligence to advance forward that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King and all Things first settled upon such a Foot according to Law as may give Us and the whole Nation just Reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescentions on his part as will give intire Satisfaction and Security to all and make both King and People once more Happy And that we may effect all this in the way most agreeable to our Desires if it be possible without the Effusion of any Blood except of those execrable Criminâ—als who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion and Subverting the Laws of their Native Country We do think fit to declare that as we will offer no Violence to any but in our own Necessary Defence so we will not suffer any Injury to be done to the Person even of a Papist provided he be found in such Place and in such Condition and Circumstances as the Laws require So we are resolved and do declare that all Papists who shall be found in open Arms or with Arms in their Houses or about their Persons or in any Office or Imployment Civil or Military upon any
Administration of Justice so that it is really a Dissolution of the Government since all Trials Sentences and the Executions of them are become so many unlawful Acts that are null and void of themselves The next Thing in our Constitution which secures to us our Laws and Liberties is a Free and Lawful Parliament Now not to mention the breach of the Law of Triennial Parliaments it being above three Years since we had a Session that enacted any Law Methods have been taken and are daily a taking that render this impossible Parliaments ought to be chosen with an entire Liberty and without either Force or Preingagements whereas if all Men are required before-hand to enter into Engagements how they will vote if they are chosen themselves or how they will give their Voices in the Electing of others This is plainly such a preparation to a Parliament as would indeed make it no Parliament but a Cabal if one were chosen after all that Corruption of Persons who had preingaged themselves and after the Threating and Turning out of all Persons out of Imploiments who had refused to do it And if there are such daily Regulations made in the Towns that it is plain those who manage them intend at last to put such a number of Men in the Corporations as will certainly chuse the Persons who are recommended to them But above all if there are such a number of Sheriffs and Mayors made over England by whom the Elections must be conducted and returned who are now under an Incapacity by Law and so are no legal Officers and by consâ—quence those Elections that pass under their Authority are null and void If I say it is clear that things are brought to this then the Government is dissolved because it is impossible to have a Free and Legal Parliament in this state of things If then both the Authority of the Law and the Constitution of the Parliament are struck at and dissolved here is a plain Subversion of the whole Government But if we enter next into the particular Branches of the Government we will find the like Disorder among them all The Protestant Religion and the Church of England make a great Article of our Government the latter being secured not only of old by Magna Charta but by many special Laws made of late and there are particuâ—ar Laws made in K. Charles the First and the late King's Time securing them from all Commissions that the King can raise for â—udging or Censuring them If then in opposition to this a Court so condemned is ercted which proceeds to Judg and Censure the Clergy and even to disseise them of their Free-holds without so much as the form of a Trial though this is the most indispensable Law of all those that secures the Property of England and if the King pretends that he can require the Clergy to publish all his Arbitrary Declarations and in particular one that strikes at their whole Settlement and has ordered Process to be begun against all that disobey'd this illegal Warrant and has treated so great a number of the Bishops as Criminals only for representing to him the Reasons of their not obeying him If likewise the King is not satisfied to profess his own Religion openly though even that is contrary to Law but has sent Ambassadors to Rome and received Nuncio's from thence which is plainly Treason by Law If likewise many Popish Churches and Chappels have been publickly opened if several Colledges of Iesuits have been set up in divers parts of the Nation and one of the Order has been made a Privy Counsellor and a principal Minister of State And if Papists and even those who turn to that Religion though declared Traitors by Law are brought into all the chief Imploiments both Military and Civil then it is plain That all the Rights of the Church of England and the whole Establishment of the Protestant Religion are struck at and design'd to be overturned since all these Things as they are notoriously illegal so they evidently demonstrate That the great Design of them all is the rooting out of this Pestilent Heresy in their stile I mean the Protestant Religion In the next place If in the whole course of Justice it is visible that there is a constant practising upon the Judges that they are tâ—rned out upon their varying from the Intentions of the Court and if Men of no Reputation nor Abilities are â—ut in their places If an Army is kept up in time of Peace â—â—d Men who withdraw from that illegal Service are hanged up as Criminals without any colour of Law which by consequence are so many Murders and if the Souldiery are connived at and encouraged in the most enormous Crimes that so they may be thereby prepared to commit greater ones and from single Rapes and Murders proceed to a Rape upon all our Liberties and a Destruction of the Nation If I say all these things are true in Fact then it is plain that there is such a Dissolution of the Government made that there is not any one part of it left sound and entire And if all these things are done now it is easie to imagine what may be expected when Arbitrary Power that spares no Man and Popery that spares no Heretick are finally established Then we may look for nothing but Gabelles Tailles Impositions Benevolences and all sorts of Illegal Taxes as from the other we may expect Burnings Massacres and Inquisitions In what is doing in Scotland we may gather what is to be expected in England where if the King has over and over again declared that he is vested with an Absolute Power to which all are bound to obey without reserve and has upon that annulled almost all the Acts of Paâ—liament that passed in K. Iames I. Minority though they were ratified by himself when he came to be of Age and were confirmed by all the subsequent Kings not excepting the present We must then conclude from thence what is resolved on here in England and what will be put in Execution as soon as it is thought that the Times can bear it When likewise the whole Settlement of Ireland is shaken and the Army that was raised and is maintained by Taxes that were given for an Army of English Protestants to secure them from a new Massacre by the Irish Papists is now all filled with Irish Papists as well as almost all the other Imployments it is plain that not only all the British Protestants inhabiting that Island are in daily danger of being butchered a second time but that the Crown of England is in danger of losing that Island it being now put wholly into the Hands and Power of the Native Irish who as they formerly offered themselves up sometimes to the Crown of Spain sometimes to the Pope and once to the Duke of Lorrain so are they perhaps at this present treating with another Court for the Sale and Surrender of the Island and for the
his time than be justly reproach'd and curs'd to the End of the World by all such as love the Protestant Religion and ancient Government of England for appearing too late in their Defence The Example of Henry the Fourth of France may teach us how hard it is for a Protestant Prince to obtain his Right where the Catholick Religion is predominant nor was the new Armour of Popery he put on at last sufficient to defend the old Protestant against the Stab of a Jesuited Novitiate 4. His fourth Reflection acquaints us the Protestant Religion is at once expos'd and hazarded for if the King prevail what can the Prince of Orange's sort of Protestants expect at his Hands which are indeed all sorts of Protestants that I know of for the Presbyterians Independants Phanaticks Church-of-England Men are in his Army 'T is fair warning and I hope God will give the Protestants Grace to make the right use of it As for their changing Masters 't is a Chimera of his own and utterly foreign to the Declaration he pretends to reflect upon Lest we should forget he remindâ— us with that admirable Demonstration of I say that the whole Protestant Religion is at stake for which I heartily thank our worthy Reflector for tho it be very true we had not seen it in Print but for him 5. In his fifth Reflection he tells us that some Laws are better broken than kept which will not be easily granted 't is indeed true that some Laws were better be repealed than continued But then they must be null'd by the same Power they were constituted and not by any part of it in contradiction to the whole His instance is That Christianity could not have been introduc'd had the Pagan Laws been executed by which Parallel he would warrant Popery to be the true Christianity and the Protestant the Heathen Persecutors Laws for Idolatry cannot bind therefore Laws against it cannot a very strange Inference and I allow that a Lawful Authority by exceeding their just Bounds may act unlawfully but the Legislative Power cannot since all over the World the Supream Power ever was absolute be it in one or more He says no Man is obliged to maintain a Religion that is not true be it never so legally established So that it is but saying the Protestant Religion is not true and His Majesty notwithstanding his repeated Ingagements is no longer bound to protect it For in the words of our Reflector 't is an Absurdity and Impiety to do so 6. The sixth thing considerable in our Reflector is his Defence of the Dispensing Power and the use His Majesty seduc'd by his Evil Councellors makes of it which is no other than the setting aside of all our Laws made for the Security of the Protestant Religion but sure such a Prerogative can never be legally vested in the Crown which if admitted were the destruction of all Law. Had those Evil Counsellors only prevailed with his Majesty to have dispensed with the Penalties inflicted on Catholicks and other Dissenters for serving of God according to their particular Consciences though perhaps contrary to Law the matter had never been complained of But to put them into Places of the highest Trust to make one Lieutenant of Ireland another President of the Council a third Lieutenenant General of the Tower a fourth a Judg imploying numbers of them in the Army Court c. is a Transgression of the Law which is certainly very dangerous if not immediately yet inevitable in its Consequences to the Protestant Religion and Government and therefore a Mischief remote only as an Egg is from a Chicken from the worthy Reflector's Malum in se which he acknowledges this Dispensing Power extends not to And the particular Catholicks breaking the Law in these Points are without Excuse For no Man is obliged in Conscience to be a Judg a Priest a Minister a Privy-Councellor a Courtier or a Souldier in time of Peace contrary to the Laws of the Land. Nor do those Laws deprive the King of the Service of any of his Subjects absolutely since all Men if they please may capacitate themselves for Imployment If the High-Commission-Court be at an end Magdalen-Colledge and the Bishop of London restored we may in all appearance thank the Honesty and Caution of some of its worthy Members and the Noise of what our Reflector calls the Prince of Orange's Invasion though some will say a Descent upon England made by a Prince of the Blood Married to the Eldest Daughter of the present King upon the Invitation of many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and of the considerable Gentry Commonalty of all Counties might have deserved a fairer Name Nor ought any Man to complain if his honest Neighbour break violently into his House at a time when his Family cry out Fire or Murther the common Obligation of Humanity and a due care of their own Preservation exact no less of them But this Paper is not intended for a Vindication of the Prince I will therefore return to my Reflector again who undertakes for all good Protestants that they only refus'd to repeal the Test by reason of the Security it affords to their Religion As if they had cast off all care of their Civil Concerns and were only intent upon Religious Affairs so as to consent to give his Majesty a Majority of Papists in the House of Lords by which he might have two Negative Voices upon all Laws to be offer'd and an House of Pears ready to repeal the Habeas Corpus Bill and such Statutes as any ways seem to incumber what Papists think his Majesties Prerogative of which they maintain the Dispensing Power to be an Essential Part and well they may since it is the very Power by which he maintains them in Places and Imployments So that by leave of my worthy Reflector the Considerations of Religion tho they are the principal are not the only Reasons that have determined all good Protestants to a Non-concurrence with his Majesty in the Repeal of the Test. 8. In his eighth Reflection he tells us That Chappels are places of Devotion so are Turks Mosques and the Iews Synagogues yet no good Christian but would be offended to see them multiply'd and encouraged either in his own or his Neighbours Country 9. In his ninth he tells us The King was content the Test should remain I answer These Evil Counsellors were not content the Test should remain but sent their Regulators and other Agents to threaten promise remove and change the Magistrates in all Corporations in order to the procuring Members of Parliament such as were to enter the House under solemn Promises and firm Resolutions to take off the Penal Laws and Test notwithstanding all the weighty nay convincing Arguments they might meet with there to the contrary A desperate sort of Senators and fitter for Catalines Conspiracies than an English Parliament Nor did these Evil Counsellors cease to sollicit even Knights of the Shire till
with Hereticks do watch for all Advantages and Opportunities to destroy them being commanded thereunto by their Councils and the principles of their Church and instigated by their Priests The History of the several Wars of the Barons of England in the Reigns of King Iohn Henry the Third Edward the Second and Richard the Second in Defence of their Liberties and for redressing the many Grievances under which the Kingdom groaâ—'d is a full representation of the Infidelity and Treachery of those Kings and of the Invalidity of Treaties with them how many Grants Amendments and fair Promises had they from those Princes and yet afterwards how many Ambuscades and Snares were laid to destroy those glorious Patriots of Liberty what Violations of Compacts and Agreements and what havock was made upon all Advantages and Opportunities that those false Kings could take Read their Histories in our several Chronicles FINIS A FOURTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The Prince of Orange's first Declaration from the Hague Octob. 10. 1688. With his Highnesses Additional Declaration from the Hague Octob. 24. 88. Corrected by the Original Copy printed there II. The Bishop of Rochester's Letter to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners III. The Prince of Orange's Speech to the Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire coming to joyn his Highness at Exeter Nov. 15. 88. IV. A true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Earl of Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby Nov. 20. 1688. V. An Address of the Mayor c. of Lyn-Regis in Norfolk to the Duke of Norfolk And the Duke's Answer Decemb. 6. 88. VI. A Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the City assembled at Guild hall Decemb. 11. 1688. VII A Paper delivered to the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty VIII The King's Letter to the Earl of Feversham on his Majesties leaving White-hall with the Earl's Answer IX A Declaration of the Prince of Orange to the Commanders in Chief of the Dispersed Regiments Troops and Companies to keep them together in Order X. An Address of the Lieutenancy of London to the Pr. of Orange XI An Address of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of London to the Prince of Orange XII A Speech of Sir G. Treby on delivery of the City Address Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. THE DECLARATION Of His HIGHNESS VVilliam Henry By the Grace of God PRINCE of ORANGE c. Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland IT is both certain and evident to all Men that the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the Lawful Authority in it are openly Transgressed and Annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights Which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs Upon these Grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all Things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible Pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can Suspend and Dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those Laws of no effect Though there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joint concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the Nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be repealed or suspended but by the same Authority For though the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence that the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony Unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are entirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a Power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispense with them Those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring that this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges and procured such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence to be turned out and others to be substituted in their Rooms till by the Changes which were made in the Courts of Judicature they at last obtained that Judgment And they have raised some to those Trusts who made open profession of the Popish Religion though those are by Law rendred incapable of all such Employments It is also manifest and notorious that as his Majesty was upon his coming to the Crown received and acknowledged by all the Subjects of England Scotland and Ireland as their King without the least Opposition though he made then
sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope and admitting as he must unavoidably the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church all his Protestant Subjects being by the Judgment and Sentence of that Church Hereticks do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Hereticks Heresie being the highest degree of High-Treason called therefore by them Laesae Crimen Majestatis Divinae So the English Protestant must be a Traytor and the worst of Traytors and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks Heresie is denounced Infamous and the Heretick must be dealt with as such which is many Penalties in one First Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility Jurisdiction and Dignity and debarred from all Offices and publick Councils Parliaments and others being made uncapable of choosing and being chosen So that it reacheth all sorts of Clergy Laity Noble and Ignoble which is extended to their Children also For they say The Issue of Traytors Civil and Spiritual lose their Nobility And all that owe any Duty to such Infamous Persons are discharged and exempted therefrom as Subjects from their Prince Servants from theâ—r Masters Children from their Parents whom they also may lawfully kill Whereby we may see a little to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us expelling both Nature and Humanity and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority either Safety or Liberty Nobles are sentenced to Peasants and Peasants to Slaves Secondly Another Penalty to which Hereticks are condemned by their Law is Confiscation of Goods and Estate and this they incur ipso jure ipso facto that is immediately as soon as they shew themselves Hereticks before any legal Sentence have passed For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus confiscata We decree the Goods of Hereticks to be confiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation wherein they all agree makes the Severity of the Law apparent viz. First All the Profits made of the Estate from the first day of their Guilt is to be refunded Secondly All Alienations by Gift Sale or otherwise before Sentence are null and void and all Contracts for that purpose rescinded Thirdly Children Heirs of Hereticks are deprived of their Portions yea tho they be Papists Whereby it appears that as soon as the Papacy is admitted all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly who declared That all his Majesty's Territories were his own as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresie of Prince and People Not only Abby-Lands are in danger who ever possess them but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer and legally confiscated All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it whose process follows them beyond their Grave and ruins their Children and Children's Children after them And when they have strip'd the Heretick of his All they provide that no other shall relieve him viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses nor afford him any Help nor shew him any Favour nor give him any Counsel We are here in England zealous for Property and all the reason in the World we should so be But we must bid adieu to this when we once come under the Pope's Authority for as soon as this is admitted all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw viz. by the Laws of that Church which will then be Ours divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own Thirdly Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Hereticks is Death which is the Sentence of the canon-Canon-Law and which is so absolute that no Secular Judg can remit and which is the Judgment of all the Doctors Ita docent omnes Doctores And from which Penalty neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt And the Death they inflict is burning alive No Death more tolerable or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church The Canon saith thus Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur We decree that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor Queen Mary practised upon near three hundred Persons without regard either to Age Sex or Quality the Scripture they urge for it is Iohn 15.6 If any one abide not in me Men gather them and cast them into the Fire and they are burnt So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life Fourthly Where legal Penalties cannot take place by reason of opposite Strength they hold War necessary and lawful to chastise Hereticks For which we might give you divers Authorities but let Cardinal Allen our Country-man suffice who asserts it is not only lawful but necessary His words are these It is clear saith he what People or Persons soever be declared to be opposite to GOD's Church with what Obligation soever either of Kindred Friendship Loyalty or Subjection I be bound unto them I may or rather must take up Arms against them and then must we take them for Hereticks when our lawful Popes adjudg them so to be And which saith Cardinal Pool is a War more holy than that against the Turks Fifthly To destroy them by Massacres is sometimes held more adviseable than to run the hazard of War and which they say is both lawful and meritorious for the rooting out a Pestilent Heresy and the promoting the Roman Interest This set a-foot the Irish Massacre that inhuman bloody Butchery and so much from the Savageness and Cruelty of their Nature as the Doctrines and Principles which directed and encouraged it as also that of Paris than which nothing was more grateful and acceptable to their Popes as their Bulls make manifest and the picturing it in the Pope's Chamber and for which as a most glorious Action Triumphs were made and publick Thanksgivings were returned to God. So in Savoy and elsewhere both in former and latter Times And this was that which the late Conspirators aimed at so fully intending a Massacre Those that escaped a Massacre saith Dugdale must be cut off by the Army And Coleman tells the Internuncio in his Letters That their Design prospered
of all the Judges of England that even the known and undoubted Prerogative of the Iewish Kings do not belong to our Kings and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Iac. Note upon Sunday the Tenth of November in the same Term the King upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft Arch-bishop of Canterbury concerning Prohibitions was informed That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes or any other thing Ecclesiastical or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commisâ—ion or in any other case in which there is not express Authority by Law the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself And the Archâ—bishop said That this was clear in Divinity That such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture To which it was answered by me in the presence and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchiquer That the King in his own Person cannot adjudg any Case either Criminal as Treason Felony c. but this ought to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice according to the Law and Custom of England And always Judgments are given Ideo consideratum est per Curiam so that the Court gives the Judgment And it was greatly marvelled that the Arch-bishop durst inform the King that such Absolute Power and Authority as is aforesaid belonged to the King by the Word of God. CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther or to any other purposes tâ—an the Law has impowered him II. An Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power is so far from bâ—ing the Ordinance of God that it is not the Ordinance of Man. III. Whoever opposes an Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power does not oppose the Ordinance of God but the Violation of that Ordinance IV. The 13 th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours because their Office and Imployment is for the Publick Welfare For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good Verse 4. V. The 13 th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers because they watch for your Souls Verse 17. VI. But the 13 th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner and the Beast of Rome who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies according to that true Character of Popery which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November but Arch-Bishop Laud was wiser than they and in his time blotted it out The Prayer formerly ran thus To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land to cut off these Workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose Practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom VII All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath and by the Duty of their place to disobey all Writs Letters or Commands which are brought to them either under the Little Seal or under the Great Seal to hinder or delay common Right Are the Judges all bound in an Oath and by their Places to break the 13 th of the Romans VIII The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York Iune 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and thirty nine Peers besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks and several others of the Privy-Council was in these words We do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13 th of the Romans IX A Constable represents the King's Person and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13 th of the Romans as all Men grant but in case he so far pervert his Office as to break the Peace and commit Murther Burglary or Robbery on the High-way he may and ought to be resisted X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13 th of the Romans here and in Poland the Law of the Land there XI The 13 th of the Romans is received for Scripture in Poland and yet this is expressed in the Coronation-Oath in that Country Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero Incolae Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur And if I shall violate my Oath the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience XII The Law of the Land according to Bracton is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text for it is Superiour to the King and made him King Lib. iii. cap. xxvi Rex habet Superiorem Deum item Legem per quam factus est Rex item Curiam suam viz. Comites Barones and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place And according to Melancthon It is the Ordinanee of God to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to subject Vol. iii. In his Commentary on the fifth Verse Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake He has these words Neque vero hac tantum pertinent ad Subditos sed etiam ad Magistratum qui cum fiunt Tyranni non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei quam Seditiosi Ideo ipsorum Conscientia fit rea quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei id est Legibus quibus debent parere Ideo Comminationes hic posite etiam ad ipsos pertinent Itaque hujus mandati severitas moveat omnes ne violalationem Politici status putent esse leve peccatum Neither doth this place concern Subjects only but also the Magistrates themselves who when they turn Tyrants do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious and therefore their Consciences too are guilty for not obeying the Ordinance of God that is the Laws which they ought to obey So that the Threatnings in this place do also belong to them wherefore let the Severity of this Command deter all Men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin. Corolary To destroy the Law and-Legal Constitution which is the Ordinance of God by false and Arbitrary Expositions of this Text is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk. CHAP. IV. Of LAWS I. THere is no natural
Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Io. Browne Cleric ' Parl. Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully Accept what you have Offered And as I had no other Intention in coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure That I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Die Veneris 15 Februarii 1688. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses and the Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published And that his Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery Io. Browne Cleric ' Parliamentorum The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Mis-government of King James the Seventh and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary THat King Iames the 7 th had acted irregularly 1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said but also inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to Publick Mass-houses contrair to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass. 2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed by a Gift to a Popish Printer designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold College and Chappel contrair to the Laws 3. By taking the Children of Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen sending them abroad to be bred Papists making great Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges abroad bestowing Pensions on Priests and perverting Protestants from their Religion by Offers of Places Preferments and Pensions 4. By disarming Protestants while at the same time he employed Papists in the Places of greatest Trust Civil and Military such as Chancellour Secretaries Privy Councellors and Lords of Session thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and intrusting the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom in their hands 5. By Imposing Oaths contrair to Law. 6. By giving Gifts and Grants for exacting of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates 7. By Levying and keeping on foot a Standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament which Army did exact Locality free and day Quarters 8. By Employing the Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom and imposing them where there were held Offices and Jurisdictions by whom many of the Leiges were put to Death summarily without legal Tryal Jury or Record 9. By imposing exorbitant Fines to the Value of the Parties Estates exacting extravagant Bail and disposing Fines and Forfaulture before any Process or Conviction 10. By Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to put them to Tryal 11. By causing pursue and forfault several Persons upon stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak pretences upon lame and defective Probations as particularly the late Earl of Argyle to the scandal and reproach of the Justice of the Nation 12. By Subverting the Right of the Royal Boroughs the Third Estate of Parliament imposing upon them not only Magistrates but also the whole Town Council and Clerks contrair to the Liberties and express Charters without the pretence outher of Sentence Surrender or Consent So that the Commissioners to Parliaments being chosen by the Magistrates and Councils the King might in effect alsweel nominate that entire Estate of Parliament many of the said Magigrates put in by him were avowed Papists and the Burghs were forced to pay Mony for the Letters imposing these illegal Magistrates and Council upon them 13. By sending Letters to the Chief Courts of Justice not only ordering the Judges to stop and desist sine die to determine Causes but also ordering and commanding them how to proceed in Cases depending before them contrair to the express Laws And by changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam and giving them Commissions ad bene placitam to dispose them to compliance by Arbitrair Courses and turning them out of their Offices when they did not comply 14. By granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts contrair to Law. All which are utterly and directly contrair to the known Laws Freedoms and Statutes of this Realm Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declare That King Iames the Seventh being a profest Papist did assume the Regal Power and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law and have by advice of Evil and Wicked Counsellors invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a Legal limited Monarchy to an Arbitrair and Despotick Power and hath exercised the same to the subversion of the Protestant Religion and the violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom Inverting all the Ends of Government whereby he hath forfaulted the Right to the Crown and the Throne is become vacant And whereas his Royal Highness William then Prince of Orange now King of England whom it hath pleased the Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of delivering these Kingdoms from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of this Nation at London for the time call the Estates of this Kingdom to meet the Fourteenth of March last in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not be again in danger of being subverted And the said Estates being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation taking to their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid Do in the first place as their Ancestors in the like cases have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That by the Law of this Kingdom no Papist can be King or Queen of the Realm nor bear any Office whatsoever therein nor can any Protestant Successor exercise the Regal Power until he or she swear the Coronation Oath That all Proclamations asserting an Absolute Power to cass annul and disable Laws the erecting Schools and Colledges for Jesuits the inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to publick Mass-houses and the â—llowing Mass to be said are contrair to Law. That the allowing Popish Books
to whom the Irish are compar'd by Historians for their Idleness and Inhumanity tho not for their Wit. The Persecutions of the Protestants in the Vallies of Piedmont are another instance of Popish Immanity and Baseness they were under the common shelter of publick Pactions and Treaties and had been solemnly own'd by the Dukes of Savoy to be the most Loyal and the most Couragious of their Subjects The present Duke who undertook this last Persecution was not content to destroy them with his own Troops but call'd in the French to assist at the Comedy to shoot them off the Rocks to hunt them over the Alps and to sell the strongest of them to the Gallies that the very Turkish Slaves themselves might deride and insult over them Catholicks who have not Power or Opportunity to execute the same things seem to condemn the Conduct in Publick but sing Te Deum in Private and as soon as ever they have got a sufficient Force commit the like Barbarities so essential to their Religion that all the Instinct of Nature cannot separate them The Holy Father at Rome tho he sets up for a moderate and merciful Pontificate order'd Te Dèum to be sung up and down for the extirpation of Heresy out of France and Piedmont and our English Catholicks have given us as their Army and Interest encreas'd several Proofs how well they can juggle and disguise themselves setting up Courts of Inquisition turning Protestants out of all Employs and even out of their Freeholds dispensing with Laws Ravishing Charters packing Corporatione c. and all under a notion of Liberty or a Divine Right they with their Accomplices defended illegal Declarations and set up an Authority above all our Laws under the Cloak of a sham Liberty of Conscience racking at the very same time the Consciences of the Church-of England-men and undermining the Foundation of our State. If Mr. Pen and his Disciples had condemn'd the unlawfulness of the Declarations and the Dispensing Power when they wrote so fast for Liberty of Conscience they had then shew'd a generous Zeal for a just Freedom in Matters of Religion and at the same time a due Veneration to the Legislative Power King Lords and Commons but the secret of the Machine was to maintain and erect a Prerogative above all Acts of Parliament and consequently to introduce upon that bottom Tyranny and Popery yet notwithstanding all this uncontroulable Power and shew of â—randeur an Easterly Wind and a Fleet of Fly-Boats would cancel and undo all again Our Monkish Historians relate of King Iohn that being in some distress he sent Sir Tho. Hardington and Sir Ralph Fitz-Nicholas Ambassadours to Mirammumalim the great Emperor of Morocco with offers of his Kingdom to him upon Condition he would come and aid him and that if he prevail'd he would himself turn Mahometan and renounce Popery I will not insist upon the Violations of Laws and Treaties in the Low Countries or the Spanish Tyranny over them because the Spaniards have got so much by that Persecution and Cruelty that they might be tempted to practise the like again for by forcing the Netherlanders to take up Arms for their Defence and by necessitating Queen Elizabeth to assist and preserve them they have set up a Free and Glorious State as they themselves have call'd them in some Treaties that hath preserv'd the languishing Monarchy of Spain and the Liberty of Christendom The base and cowardly Massacre of that great Hero William Prince of Orange of the Renowned Admiral Coligny and the Prince of Conde the many Bloody Conspiracies for the Extirpation of the whole Race of the House of Orange the Murders of Henry the Second and Henry the Fourth are all Records and everlasting Monuments of Popish Barbarity what incredible Effusions of Blood hath been occasion'd by the frequent Revolts of the Popes against the Emperors by the Image-Worship and the Holy Wars What Treachery in the Bohemian Transactions and Treaties What Inhumanity in burning Ierome of Prague and Iohn Hus when they had the Emperor's Pass and all other publick Securities from the Council it self that put to Death those two good Men. The Reign of Queen Mary is another Scene of the Infidility and Treachery of the Church of Rome what Oaths did she take What Promises and Protestations did she make to the Suffolk Men who had set the Crown upon her Head and yet they were the first that felt the strokes of Persecution from Her Read her History in Fox's Martyrs and Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation The many Conspiracies to destroy Queen Elizabeth and King Iames the Gunpowder-Plot the Counsels carried on in Popish Countries to take off King Charles the First and the many late Popish Plots are a continued Series and Thred carried on by the Church of Rome to break through all Laws both of God and Man to erect an Universal Monarchy of Priest-Craft and to bring the whole World under their Yoke The Swedes have taken an effectual and commendable way to keep Popish Priests and Iesuits those Boutefeus and Disturbers of Societies the declared Enemies to the Welfare of Mankind out of their Countries by Gelding them and consequently rendring them incapable of Sacerdotal Functions tho the Priests have found out a Salvo and will say Mass and Confess if they can procure their Testicles again and carry them in their Pockets either preserv'd or in Powder In Aethiopia China and Iapan the Romish Priests have been so intollerably turbulent and such extravagant Incendiaries that they have been often banished and put to Death so that now they disguise themselves all over the Eastern Nations under the Names and Characters of Mathematicians Mechanicks Physicians c. and dare not own their Mission to propagate a Faith which is grown ridiculous all over Asia The long and dreadful Civil Wars of France the many Massacres and Persecutions and lastly the Siege of Rochel are living Instances how far we may rely upon Engagements and Laws both as to the taking of that Bulwark and the promised Relief from hence The Protestant Defenders of it refusing to rely any longer upon Paper Edicts and the Word of a Most Christian King had this City granted them as a Cautionary Town for their Security for before they had always been deluded out of their Advantages by fair Promises insignificant Treaties and the Word of a King yet Lewis the 13 th following the vitious Examples of Treacherous Princes fell upon this Glorious City which upon the account of their Laws and Privileges made a Resistance and brave Defence having never heard of Passive Obedience amongst their Pastors thinking it more lawful to defend their Rights than it was for Lewis to invade them As for the late and present Reign here in England they are too nice and tender Things for me to touch whether the Transactions of them are consistent with the Coronation Oaths the many Declarations Protestations publick and solemn Promises I am no fit Judg
the Number of Ninety or upwards attended his Highness the Prince of Orange at St. Iames's being introduced by the Earl of Devonshire the Lord Wharton and the Lord Wiltshire Their Sense was represented by one of those Ministers to this effect viz. That they professed their grateful Sense of his Highness's Hazardous and Heroical Expectition which the Favour of Heaven had made so surprizingly prosperous c. That they esteemed it a common Felicity that the worthy Patriots of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom had unanimously concâ—rred unto his Highness's Design by whose most prudent Advice the Administration of Publick Affairs was devolved in this difficult Conjuncture into Hands which the Nation and World knew to be Apt for the greatest Undertakings and so suitable to the present Exigency of our Case That they promised the utmost Endeavour which in their Stations they are capable of affording for the promoting the excellent and most desirable Ends for which his Highness had declared That they added their continual fervent Prayers to the Almighty for the Preservation of his Highness's Person and the Success of his future Endeavours for the Defence and Propagation of the Protestant Interest throughout the Christian World. That they should all most willingly have chosen That for the Season of paying this Duty to his Highness when the Lord Bishop and the Clergy of London attended his Highness for the like purpose which some of them did and which his Lordship was pleased condescendingly to make mention of to his Highness had their notice of that intended Application been so early as to make their more general Attendance possible to them at that time That therefore tho they did now appear in a distinct Company they did it not on a distinct Account but on that only which is common to them and to all Protestants That tho there were some of Eminent Note whom Age or present Infirmities hindred from coming with them yet they concurred in the same grateful Sense of our common Deliverance His Highness was pleased very favourably to receive this Application and to assure them That he came purposely for the Defence of the Protestant Religion and that it was his own Religion wherein he was Born and Bred the Religion of his Country and of his Ancestors That he was resolv'd by the Grace of God always to adhere to it and to do his utmost Endeavours for the Defence of it and the promoting a firm Vnion among all Protestants The Speech of the Recorder of Bristol to his Highness the Prince of Orange Monday January the 7 th 1688. The Mayor Recorder Aldermen and Commons of the Principal Citizens of the City of Bristol waited upon the Prince of Orange being introduced by his Grace the Duke of Ormond their High-Steward and the Earl of Shrewsbury VVhere the Recorder spake to this Effect May it please your Highness THE Restitution of our Religion Laws and Liberties and the Freeing us from that Thraldom which hath rendred us for many Years useless and at last dangerous to the Common Interest of the Protestant World by your Highness's singular Wisdom Courage and Conduct are not only a Stupendious Evidence of the Divine Favour and Providence for our Preservation but will be and ought to be an Everlasting Monument of your Highness's Magnanimity and other the Heroick Vertues which Adorn your Great Soul by whom such a Revolution is wrought in this Nation as is become the Joy and Comfort of the Presenâ— and will be the Wonder of all Succeeding Ages In the Contrivance and Preparation of which Great Work your Highness like the Heavens did shed your propitious Influences upon us whilst we slept and had scarce any prospect from whence we might expect our Redemption But as since your happy Arrival in England we did amongst the first Associate our selves to assist and promote your Highness's most Glorious Design with our Lives and Fortunes so we now think our selves bound in the highest Obligation of Gratitude most humbly to present to your Highness our humble and hearty Thanks for this our Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and likewise for declaring your Gracious Intentions That by the Advice of the Estates of this Kingdom you will Rectifie the late Disorders in the Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil according to the known Laws The due and inviolable Observation of which will in our poor Opinion be the only proper Means to render the Soveraign Secure and both Sovereign and Subject happy To which his Highness returned a most Gracious Answer A Word to the Wise for Settling the Government IT is an Universal Truth That no Nation can subsist without some Government and the Wisdom of this Nation hath framed their Government to consist in a King the Lords and the Commons In these three Conjunct wholly resides the Power of making and altering Laws for the Common Good of the whole and iâ— called the Legislative Power The King alone is entrusted with the due Execution of these Laws for the Preservation Protection and Comfort of the People both in Church and State and this Trust and Power is called the Râ—gal Power If then this Nation being Protestant and under Protestant Laws have a King who shall declare hâ—mself a Zealous Roman Catholick and put himself under the Power and Conduct of the Papal Jurisdiction admitting the Pope's Supremacy Nuntio Bishops Appeals c. And to his power endeavour to Establish the Popish Religion in the Realm Quest I. Whether such a King hath not thereby made himself Incompetent and uncapable to Govern a Protestant Church and a Protestant People by their Protestant Laws and notoriously Abdicated or Renounced the Government II. If a King entrusted with the Regal Power ut supra shall Subvert the Fundamental Laws Dispense with Statutes Destroy Colleges and Corporations Erect High and Illegal Courts Invade the Peoples Freeholds and Free Elections to Parliament put the Ports and Power of the Nation into Enemies hands Protect and Promote Traytors and turn the Protective Power of the Nation to the Ruine and Destruction of the People their Laws and Religion Whether by so doing such a King doth not in Fact declare That he will not Rule the Kingdom by its Laws and Constitutions but by his own Absolute Will and Pleasure III. If a King so entrusted with the Regal Power ut supra shall and do voluntarily depart the Realm with the Signals of Government without any provision for the Publick Administration and so deserting both the People Place and Power Whether such a King hath not Divested himself of that Trust and Regal Power IV. If so and the Lawyers Rule be true Quod non est haeres Viventis Then whether this Regal Power be Descended so long as the King is Living V. If the Regal Power be Fallen and yet not Descended whether of necessity it must not fall to its Center or Root from whence it Sprang which is the whole Nation now consisting in Lords and Commons as
the said Mather caused a Petition from the Town of Cambridge in New-England to be humbly presented to His Mâ—jesâ—y which because it doth express the Deplorable Condition of thaâ— People it shall be here inserted To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Petition and Address of John Gibson aged about 87 and George Willow aged about 86 Years as also on the behalf of their Neighbours the Inhabitants of Cambridge in New-England In most humble wise sheweth THat Your Majesty's good Subjects with much hard Labour and great Disbursements have subdued a Wilderness built our Houses and planted Orchards being incouraged by our indubitable Right to the Soil by the Royal Charter granted unto the First Planters together with our Purchase of the Natives as also by sundry Letters and Declarations sent to the late Governour and Company from His late Majesty Your Royal Brother assuring us of the full enjoyment of our Properties and Possessions as is more especially contained in the Declaration sent when the Quo Warranto was issued out against our Charter But we are necessitated to make this our Moan and Complaint to Your Excellent Majesty for that our Title is now questioned to our Lands by us quietly possessed for near sixty Years and without which we cannot subsist Our humble Address to our Governour Sir Edmond Andross shewing our just Title long and peaceable possession together with our Claim of the benefit of Your Majesty's Letters and Declarations assuring all Your good Subjects that they shall not be molested in their Properties and Possessions not availing Royal Sir We are a poor People and have no way to procure Money to defend our Cause in the Law nor know we of Friends at Court and therefore unto Your Royal Majesty as the publick Father of all your Subjects do we make this our humble Address for â—elief beseeching Your Majesty graciously to pass Your Royal Act for the Confirmation of Your Majesty's Subjects here in our Poâ—sessions to us derived from our late Governour and Company of this Your Majesty's Colony We now humbly cast our selves and distressed Condition of our Wives and Children at Your Majesty's Feet and conclude with the saying of Queen Esther If we Perish we Perish Thus that Petition Besides this Mr. Inc. Mather with two New-England Gentlemen presented a Petition and humble Proposals to the King wherein they prayed that the Right which they had in their Estates before the Government was changed might be confirmed And that no Laws might be made or Moneys raised without an Assembly with sundry other particulars which the King referred to a Committee for Foreign Plantations who ordered them into the Hands of the Attorney-General to make his Report The Clerk William Blathwait sent to the Attorney-General a Copy wherein the Essential Proposal of an Assembly was wholly left out And being spoke to about it he said the Earl of Sunderland blotted out that with his own Hand likewise a Soliciter in this Cause related that the said Earl of Sunderland affirmed to him that it was by his Advice that the King had given a Commission to Sir Edmond Andross to raise Moneys without an Assembly and that he knew the King would never consent to an Alteration nor would he propose it to His Majesty When of late all Charters were restored to England it was highly rational for New-England to expect the like for if it be an illegal and unjust thing to deprive good Subjects here of their Antient Rights and Liberties it cannot be consistent with Justice and Equity to deal so with those that are afar off Applications therefore were made to the King and to some Ministers of State. It was urged that if a Foreign Prince or State should during the present Troubles send a Frigate to New-England and promise to protect them as under their former Government it would be an unconquerable temptation yet no Restoration of Charters would be granted to New-England which has opened the Eyes of some thinking Men. Thus hath New-England been dealt with This hath been and still is the bleeding state of that Country They cannot but hope that England will send them speedy Relief especially considering that through the ill Conduct of their present Rulers the French Indians are as the last Vessels from thence inform beginning their cruel Butcheries amongst the English in those parts And many have fears that there is a design to deliver that Country into the Hands of the French King except his Highness the Prince of Orange whom a Divine Hand has raised up to deliver the Oâ—pressed shall happily and speedily prevent it FINIS A SEVENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. Proposals humbly offered in behalf of the Princess of Orange II. The Heads of an Expedient proposed by the Court-Party to the Parliament at Oxford in lieu of the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York III. An Account of the Irregular Actions of the Papists in the Raign of King Iames the Second with a Method proposed to rid the the Nation of them IV. The Present Convention a Parliament V. A Letter to a Member of the Convention VI. An Answer to the Author of the Letter to a Member of the Convention Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in queen's-head-Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. Proposals humbly offered in behalf of the Princess of Orange Jan. 28. IT is a Maxim of the Law of England concerning the Government That there is no Interregnum Of necessity there must be a Change in the Person yet there is a Continuation of the Government Which shews the Prudence and Perfection of the Constitution in preventing that which of all things is most Deplorable a Failure of Government This Rule is therefore of that Importance as not to be given up upon the trivial Saying of Nemo est haeres viventis 'T is true the common and ordinary cause of a Change in the Person that is invested with the Royal Authority is Death But we are now in a rare and extraordinary Case where the King is living and yet may be said to be divested of the Royal Office as having by his Encroachments upon the Peoples Rights provoked them to resort to Arms and being vanquished by that Force followed with a total Defection from him and his Relinquiâ—hing the Kingdom thereupon without providing any ways for the Administration of the Government This seems to be a Cesser of this Government and may in Civil and Politick Construction amount to as much as if he had died But because this is a Cess of that nature that requires a Judgment to be made upon it it seems necessary to have a Convention of the Estates of the Nation to make a Declaration thereupon for 't is not for private Persons to determine in the Cases aforesaid how or when the King has lost his Government and till such Authoritative Declaration made the King may be supposed in
Law as I protest that if it were in my Hand to chuse a new Law for this Kingdom I would not only prefer it before any other National Law but even before the very Judicial Law of Moses for conveniency to this Kingdom at this Time tho in another respect I must say both our Law and all Laws else are very inferiour to that Judicial Law of God for no Book nor Law is perfect nor free from Corruption except only the Book and Law of God. And therefore I could wish that some Corruptions might be purged and cleared in the Common Law but always by the Advice of Parliaments for the King with his Parliament here are Absolute in making or forming any sort of Laws First I could wish that it were written in our Vulgar Language for now it is an old mixt corrupt Language only understood by Lawyers Whereas every Subject ought to understand the Law under which he lives since it is our Plea against the Papists that the Language in God's Service ought not to be in an Unknown Tongue according to the Rule in the Law of Moses That the Law should be written in the Fringes of the Priests Garment and should be publickly read in the Ears of all the People so me thinks ought our Law to be made as plain as can be to the People that the excuse of Ignorance may be taken from them for conforming themselves thereunto Next our Common Law hath not a settled Text being chiefly grounded upon old Customs which you call Responsa Prudentum I could wish that some more certain were set down in this case by Parliament for since the Reports themselves are not are not always so binding but that divers times Judges do disclaim them and recede from the Judgment of their Predecessors It were good that upon a mature deliberation the Exposition of the Law were set down by Act of Parliament and such Reports therein confirmed as were thought fit to serve for Law in all times hereafter and so the People should not depend upon the bare Opinions of Judges and uncertain Reports And lastly there be in the Law contrary Reports and Precedents and this Corruption doth likewise concern the Statutes and Acts of Parliament in respect there are divers cross and cuffing Statutes and some so penn'd as they may be taken in divers yea contrary Sences And therefore could I wish both those Statutes and Reports as well in the Parliament as Common Law to be once materially reviewed and reconciled And that not only Contrarieties should be scraped out of our Books but that even such Penal Statutes as were made but for the use of the time for breach whereof no Man can be free which do not now agree with the condition of this our time might likewise be left out of our Books which under a tyrannous and avaricious King could not be endured And this Reformation might we think be made a worthy Work and well deserves a Parliament to be set of purpose for it c. And as to the Point of Grievances tells them That there are two special Causes of the Peoples presenting Grievances to their King in time of Parliament First For that the King cannot at other times be so well informed of all the Grievances of his People as in time of Parliament which is the Representative Body of the whole Realm Secondly The Parliament is the highest Court of Justice and therefore the fittest place where divers Natures of Grievances may have their proper Remedy by the establishment of good and wholsome Laws Wherein he addresses himself especially to the Lower House who as representing the Body of the People may as it were both Opportunè Inopportunè in Season and out of Season I mean either in Parliament as a Body or out of Parliament as private Men present your Grievances unto me I am not to find fault that you inform your selves of the particular Grievances of the People Nay I must tell you ye can neither be just nor faithful to me or to your Countries that trust and employ you if you do not for true Plaints proceed not from the Persons employed but from the Body represented which is the People And it may very well be that many Directions and Commissions justly given forth by me may be abused in the execution thereof upon the People and yet I never receive Information except it come by your means at such a time as this is Proposals to this present Convention for the perpetual Security of the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subjects of England Humbly Offer'd by the Author of the BREVIATE AFter the Great Blessings that seem designed for the whole Nation from the happy Agreement between the Two Houses in that great Point before them the Vacanâ—y of the Throne I cannot but crave Pardon and leave to put the Representatives of the Nation in remembrance that though this Vacating of the Throne opens so large a Door to our Great and many Deliverances yet our lasting Security is not intirely compleated here and that thâ—refore they baulk not the next Point which is as stoutly to be asserted viz That the Power now of setling the Government and filling the Vacancy is reverted to the Community whereof they are the Representatives This is an opportunity we are like never to have again in the World and a Precedent ought to be made for the Ages to come It is not to be thought after an Agreement on the first Point but that this Convention is willing to invest the Prince of Orange with the Government during his Life for they say both the Princesses are willing it should be so and no prejudice to either But how this can be orderly done until the Power be asserted let the Wisdom of the Nation consider and lay it well to Heart There is One main objection If the Convention chooâ—e a King and Queen at this Time then will the Government be for ever Elective But this is a great Mistake for we must know it is the Constitution of a Government which makes it Elective or Hereditary and not One Actual Choice or single Precedent This being note that well by a Convention not a Parliament whilst in the present Juncture that Vacancy in the Throne which may never happen again to the End of the World leaves us no other Expedient of reestablishing our Government then by Electing Our Governour When an Hereditary Kingdom is set up that was none before the Person on Necessity must be by Election at first though at the same time the Compact of Obedience to the Person so Elected and to his Heirs in Succession after him may be such that what at first was in the peoples Power and Right to give after submission payed will never lie in their Power to resume back The Case is the same here And if we understand then when it is resolved that the Throne is vacant or Government dissolved which is all one the meaning is not
those the Opportunity to retrieve the Credit they have lost by other Mens Faults We were also very apprehensive of the ill Consequences of the dispensing Power especially in the case of Sr. Edward Hales but it seems the Common Council of London are forbid to take the usual Oaths and yet required to act which is an unqualified Capacity We were in hopes we had lost a rude Army but we have found a ruder twenty places cry out of them and Kingstone certainly with great Justice that in two Nights time was two hundred Pounds the worse for them And for Closseting we have got Questioning that they that won't enter into Associations to protect the Prince of Orange without one of our King is to have no Imployment so that if the Prince should take the Crown I am bound to defend him against my own King and my sworn Allegiance though he come in the right of his Crown Believe me my Lords it is the boldest bid that ever Men made I see Forty one was a Fool to Eighty eight and that we Church of England Protestants shall cancel all the Merits of our Fathers overthrow the Ground and Consequence of their most exemplary Loyalty to King Charles the first and second render their Death the Death of Fools trample their Memories and Blood under our Feet subject our selves to the just Reproach of the Phanaticks whose Principles and Practices we have outdone even to that King that we forced upon them and by our Example had brought them to live well withal God help us this my Lords makes me say that either we must turn from being Church-of England-Men or steer another course for it is but too plain that Presbytery is leading us out of our ancient way and whether we believe it or no our Church sinks and will more for that is the Interest that suits best with a Dutch Humour and Conjunction and be sure if we are so base to leave our King God will be so just as to leave us and here my Lords I shall leave you with this humble motion that we make an humble Address to his Majesty to return home to us that we may act securely and not go out of the good old way which may intail Misery upon us and our Posterity I should think we have had enough of sending our Princes abroad in that much of the Inconveniency we have lain under since their Restoration has been chiefly owing to it We have driven him where we would not have him go and do what we can to provoke that League we have been afraid of and made a great part of the reason of this strange Alteration in the Kingdom Some tell us it is too late but I cannot comprehend the good sence of such an Objection Is it at any time too late for a King and his People to agree after bloody Battels it has not been thought so in all times and Nations and why it may not be without them I never heard a good reason yet If his going was unreasonable it has hurt him more than us since we may thence hope for the better terms if it was not a Fault to go it will be a great one in us if we can have him home upon good terms and will not for if I may with leave speak it his return is as much our Conveniency as his Advantage The offensive part of Him is gone that is to say the Power of Popery and what remains is our great Interest to keep and improve to our own Benefit and Safety I mean my Lords His undoubted Title and Kingship And whatever some hot Men say that are more governed by private Avarice and Revenge then the publick Good of these Kingdoms I cannot but renew my motion to your Lordships that we may send a Duke an Earl a Viscount and a Baron and two Spiritual Lords to invite his Majesty home upon the Constitution of the Government And my Lords forgive me if I say that if we can but get our Iuries Sheriffs Iudges High Courts of Chancery and Parliaments setled as they ought to be the Army at least reduced the Militia better regulated and a due Liberty of Conscience established to all Protestant Dissenters and so far to Papists only as the Law against Conventicles does admit we may yet be happy and upon these terms my Lords and no other will his Highness the Prince of Orange become truly meritorious with the English Nation Reflections on a Paper called a LORD'S Speech without Doors THIS Noble Lord would have done ingenuously in letting the World know his Name and whether he be a Lord or not for one cannot gather it from his Liberality of casting in a mite at this time when mean People such as Trades-men have more generosity and effectually contributed to the publick Peace and Honour of the Nation And as to his dissenting to some leading Lords on the account of Conscience we are in the dark as to what sort of Conscience his is whether Papist or Phanatick Conscience or indeed whether it be any Conscience at all which makes him differ from some leading Lords for the making of Speeches within or without Doors is no infallible Mark of either But he says He cannot forbear thinking that a greater Reproach can hardly come upon a People than is like to fall on us Protestants Ah good Soul what 's the matter Are the Protestants at length found to be the Firers of â—heir own City or Sr. Edm-B Godfrey and the Earl of Essex's Murtherers c. Why no O it s this unpresidented Vsage of our poor King. A good tender-hearted Jesuit I 'le warrant thee that has entred with Campian into an Holy League and Covenant to destroy all Protestant Kings and Princes unless they become as bigotted to the Society as the poor King was But let me take the Boldness to ask your Honour one Question Is there no time when compassion is due to the Country Religion is the Pretence but some fear a new Master is the thing And is it any wonder if a new Master be desired when the old one will not let me serve him but will destroy me and perhaps himself too this being a clear case and evident to all Orders and Degrees of Men among us We see how feeble a thing Popery is in England and it is I do not doubt your Lordships great Grief that your old Master may not be let in again to strengthen and revive her drooping and almost decayed Spirits But why did not the Prince stop when he heard a Free-Parliament was calling by the Kings Writs where all matters especially of the Prince of Wales might have been considered c. As to a Free-Parliament is it not evident to all the World that the King could not bear it Besides who told his Lordship that his old Master would abide by the Decisions of a Free-Parliament touching the Legitimacy or Spuriousness of his Prince of Wales The Kings Guards were changed and at
as the Discusser imposes upon the World. Besides the many Instances in History of several Princes who have forfeited their Succession and consequently their Title to the Crown for revolting from the Establish'd Religion of the Realm But says the Discusser for I look upon his Friend and Him to be all one and that he does but put the Question with one side of his Mouth and answer it with the other I had thought our Laws as well as our Religion had been against the Deposing Doctrine That 's not the Question but whether a Prince may commit those Miscarriages in Government whether he may not so far peccare in Leges Rempublicam as to incur the Forfeiture of his Regal Power and whether a Prince may be allow'd to subvert the ancient Constitutions and Religion of a Nation and yet be said to be the Lawful King of that Realm These are the Questions For theâ— it is not the Law that deposes him nor the Religion that justifies it But it is He that deposes Himself 't is the bad Advice of Evil Counsellors to which he Listens and which he follows to the ruin of the Kingdom contrary to the Original Contract between Princes and People grounded upon the Foundations of all Original Government I say 't is that Adhering to Evil Counsel which deposes a Prince by degrading him from a Lawful King to an Unlawful Tyrant and renders him Liable to the Animadversion of the Law and the impeachments of the oppress'd and injur'd People To assert otherwise were to deprive all National Law and Religion of their self Defence which is against all the Law and Religion in the World. I am apt to believe that Christ himself had no very good Opinion of the lawfulness of Herod's Regality when he sent him that Message Go tell that Fox Herod Which I look upon as a Deposal and Degrading of that Arbitrary Prince by the Founder of our Religion in his own Breast and Judgment though he forbore the Execution of his Celestial Power And therefore it is not the Error of Religion but the Fault of those that do not well distinguish that Religion suffers in her Doctrines For only he who governs according to Law is a King he that endeavours to subvert the Law is none Nor is every rambling and precipitate Brain to be Judg of this neither but the Solid Law and fundamental Constitutions of the Realm So that the Country Gentleman was mistaken in his Thoughts both of our Laws and our Religion However the pretended Scrupulous Country-Gentleman desires the Discusser to expound the State-Riddle of the Vacancy and to give him the Ground of the late extraordinary Revolution To which the Discusser gives no direct answer at present but desires his Friend to take notice That the Gentlemen of the Convention who declar'd a Vacancy in the Government lay'd the main Stress of their opinion upon the King's withdrawing himself For that since the Story of the French League and the Business of the Prince of Wales were pass'd over in silence most Men believed that the pretended Breach of that which they called the Original Contract was no more then a popular Flourish All which is such an imperfect peice of Incoherence that none but a madman would have thrust in by Head and Shoulders as the Discusser has done For how can it be inferr'd that the Breach of the Original Contract should be a Popular Flourish because the Clandestin League and the False Birth are hitherto pass'd over in silence As for the surreptitious Birth one would think it was sufficiently dilated upon in the Declaration of the Lords and why it is not farther brought upon the Stage there may be several Reasons given and among the rest because it may be thought that the Imposture will vanish of it self and so there will be no need of casting an Eternal Blot upon the memory of them that contriv'd and own'd it Then for the Clandestin League it Suffices that there is apparent Proof of it in Bank. But to call the Breach of the Original Contract pretended and a Popular Flourish is a yerk of Malitious Reflection which only serves to expose the Discusser to Publick censure For as there is nothing more certain then that there is an Original Contract between the King and People of England the Breach of which has cost the Effusion of so much Blood so is it as certain that that Original Contract was never so infallibly broken then it was of late Which as it is allow'd by all the Laws of God and Man to be a sufficient ground to seek a Remedy so was nothing more vigorously urg'd by the Convention Which might have convinc'd the Discusser that they did not pretend it for a popular Flourish But now lest the Country Gentleman should be shogg'd by seeing the Votes of so considerable a Meeting debated by a private Hand the Discusser reminds him That a Parliament and a Convention are two different Things The latter for want of the King's Writs and Concurrence having no share in the Legislative Power But the Discusser forgets that it was only a Convention of Lords that sent to Richard the Second to meet them at Westminster which the King at first promis'd to do but upon altering his Mind sent him another peremptory Message that if he would not come according to his Promise they would chuse another King and then proceeding farther according to that Power they had expell'd against the King's Will several of his chiefest Favourites from the Court constrain'd others to put in Sureties to appear at the next Parliament and caus'd several others to be arrested and committed to several Prisons If a Convention could do this where the King was present what signifi'd the Writs and Concurrence of an absent Prince Nor did they contend for Legislative Power but only met in a kind of embodied Dictatorship to take care of the present Necessity of Affairs But this says the Discusser was not justifiable for that the Nenessity which they pretended was either of their own making or of their own submitting to which is the same Thing But this is all Nonsence For if the Necessity was of their own making then were the Lords and Commons the Authors of all the Miscarriages which they laid to the late King's Charge If of their own submitting to then would they never have call'd out for succour and crav'd Relief from their Oppressions No They were those crying Grievances sum'd up in the Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembl'd at Westmister presented to their Present Majesties upon the Twelfth of February Last which when the late King could not justify them by force of Arms but fled for it not being able to answer his endeavours to subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom put them to that necessity of assembling after an Unusual Manner to provide for the Common Safety How ever the Discusser will have it a
plain that there are no Rules given in it neither for the Forms of Government in general nor for the degrees of any one Form in particular but the general Rules of Justice Order and Peace being established in it upon higher Motives and more binding Considerations than ever they were in any other Religion whatsoever we are most strictly bound by it to observe the Constitution in which we are and it is plain that the Rules set us in the Gospel can be carried no further It is indeed clear from the New Testament that the Christian Religion as such gives us no grounds to defend or propagate it by force It is a Doctrine of the Cross and of Faith and Patience under it And if by the order of Divine Providence and of any Constitution of Government under which we are born we are brought under Sufferings for our professing of it we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Country if we can but if that is denied us we must then according to this Religion submit to those Sufferings under which we may be brought considering that God will be glorified by us in so doinâ— and that he will both support us under our Sufferings and gloâ—iously reward us for them This was the State of the Christian Religion during the three first Centuries under Heathen Emperors and a Constitution in which Paganism was establish'd by Law. But if by the Laws of any Government the Christian Religion or any Form of it is become a part of the Subjects Property it then falls undâ—â—â—â—other Consideration not as it is a Religion but as it is become one of the principal Rights of the Subjects to believe and profess it and then we must judg of the Invasions made on that as we do of any other Invasion that is made on our other Rights X. All the Passages in the New Testament that relate to Civil Government are to be expounded as they were truly meant in opposition to that false Notion of the Iews who believed themselves to be so immediately under the Divine Authority that they could not become the Subjects of any other Power particularly of one that was not of their Nation or of their Religion therefore they thought they could not be under the Roman Yoke nor bound to pay Tribute to Cesar but judged that they were only subject out of Fear by reason of the force that lay on them but not for Conscience sake And so in all their Dispersion both at Rome and elsewhere they thought they were God's Freemen and made use of this pretended Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness In opposition to all which since in a course of many Years they had asked the Protection of the Roman Yoke and were come under their Authority our Saviour ordered them to continue in that by his saying Render to Cesar that which is Cesar 's and both St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and St. Peter in his general Epistle have very positively condemned that pernicious Maxim but without any formal Declarations made of the Rules or Measures of Government And since both the People and Senate of Rome had acknowledged the Power that Augustus had indeed violently usurped it became Legal when it was thus submitted to and confirmed both by the Senate and People and it was established in his Family by a long Prescription when those Epistles were writ So that upon the whole Matter all that is in the New Testament upon this Subject imports no more but that all Christians are bound to acquiesce in the Government and submit to it according to the Constitution that is setled by Law. XI We are then at last brought to the Constitution of our English Government so that no general Considerations from Speculations about Sovereign Power nor from any Passages either of the Old and New Testament ought to determine us in this Matter which must be fixed from the Laws and Regulations that have been made among us It is then certain that with Relation to the Executive part of the Government the Law has lodged that singly in the King so that the whole administration of it is in him but the Legislative Power is lodged between the King and the two Houses of Parliament so that the Power of making and repealing Laws is not singly in the King but only so far as the two Houses concur with him It is also clear that the King has such a determined extent of Prerogative beyond which he has no Authority As for Instance If he levies Mony of his People without a Law impowring him to it he goes beyond the Limits of his Power and asks that to which he has no Right So that there lies no Obligation on the Subject to grant it and if any in his Name use Violence for the obtaining it they are to be looked on as so many Robbers that invade our Property and they being violent Aggressors the Principle of Self-Presâ—rvation seems here to take place and to warrant as violent a Resistance XII There is nothing more evident than that England is a Free Nation that has its Liberties and Properties reserved to it by many positive and express Laws If then we have a Right to our Property we must likewise be supposed to have a Right to preserve it for those Rights are by the Law secured aginst the Invasions of the Prerogative and by consequence we must have a Right to preserve them against those Invasions It is also evidently declared by our Law that all Orders and Warrants that are issued out in opposition to them are null of themselves and by consequence any that pretend to have Commissions from the King for those Ends are to be considered as if they had none at all since those Commissions being void of themselves are indeed no Commissions in the Construction of the Law and therefore those who act in vertue of them are still to be considered as private Persons who come to invade and disturb us It is also to be observed that there are some Points that are justly disputable and doubtful and others that are so manifest that it is plain that any Objections that can be made to them are rather forced Pretences than so much as plausible Colours It is true if the Case is doubtful the Interest of the publick Peace and Order ought to carry it but the Case is quite different when the Invasions that are made upon Liberty and Property are plain and visible to all that consider them XIII The main and great Difficulty here is that though our Government does indeed assert the Liberty of the Subject yet there are many express Laws made that lodg the Militia singly in the King that make it plainly unlawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King or any Commissioned by him And these Laws have been put in the Form of an Oath which all that have born any Employment either in Church or State have sworn and therefore those
Laws for the assuring our Liberties do indeed bind the King's Conscience and may affect his Ministers yet since it is a Maxime of our Law that the King can do no wrong these cannot be carried so far as to justify our taking Arms against him be the Transgressions of Law ever so many and so manifest And since this has been the constant Doctrine of the Church of England it will be a very heavy Imputation on us if it appears that though we held those Opinions as long as the Court and Crown have favoured us yet as soon as the Court turns against us We change our Principles XIV Here is the true Difficulty of this whole Matter and therefore it ought to be exactly considered First All general Words how large soever are still supposed to have a tacit Exception and reserve in them if the Matter seems to require it Children are commanded to obey their Parents in all things Wives are declared by the Scripture to be subject to their Husbands in all things as the Church is unto Christ And yet how comprehensive soever these words may seem to be there is still a reserve to be understood in them and though by our Form of Marriage the Parties swear to one another till Death them do part yet few doubt but that this Bond is dissolved by Adultery though it is not named for odious things ought not to be suspected and therefore not named upon such occasions But when they fall out they carry still their own force with them 2. When there seems to be a Contradiction between two Articles in the Constitution we ought to examin which of the two is the most Evident and the most Important and so we ought to fix upon it and then we must give such an accommodating sense to that which seems to contradict it that so we may reconcile those together Here then are two seeming Contradictions in our Constitution The one is the Publick Liberty of the Nation the other is the Renouncing of all Resistance in case that were invaded It is plain that our Liberty is only a thing that we enjoy at the King's Discretion and during his Pleasure if the other against all Resistance is to be understood according to the utmost extent of the Words Therefore since the chief Design of our whole Law and of all the several Rules of our Constitution is to secure and maiâ—tain our Liberty we ought to lay that down for a Conclusion that it is both the most plain and the most important of the two And therefore the other Article against Resistance ought to be so softned as that it do not destroy us 3. Since it is by a Law that Resistance is condemned we ought to understand it in such a sense as that it does not destroy all other Laws And therefore the intent of this Law must only relate to the Executive Power which is in the King and not to the Legislative in which we cannot suppose that our Legislators who mâ—de that Law intended to give up that which we plainly see they resolved still to preserve entire according to the Ancient Constitution So then the not resisting the King can only be applied to the Executive Power that so upon no pretence of ill Administrations in the Execution of the Law it should be lawful to resist him but this cannot with any reason be extended to an Invasion of the Legislative Power or to a total Subversion of the Government For it being plain that the Law did not design to lodg that Power in the King it is also plain that it did not intend to secure him in it in case he should set about it 4. The Law mentioning the King or those Commissioned by him shews plainly that it only designed to secure the King in the Executive Power for the word Commission necessarily imports this since if it is not according to Law it is no Commission and by Consâ—quence those who act in virtue of it are not Commissionated by the King in the Sense of the Law. The King likewise imports a Prince cloâ—hed by Law with the Regal Prerogative but if he goes to subvert the whole Foundation of the Government he subverts that by which he himself has his Power and by consequence he annâ—ls his own Power and then he ceases to be King having endeavoured to destroy that upon which his own Authority is founded XV. It is acknowledged by the greatest Assertors of Monarchial Power that in some Cases a King may fall from his Power and in other Cases that he may fall from the Exercise of it His Deserting his People his going about to enslave or sell them to any other or a furious going about to destroy them are in the opinion of the most Monarchial Lawyers such Abuses that they naturally divest those that are guilty of them of their whole Authority Infancy or Phrenzy do also put them under the Guardianship of others All the Crowned Heads of Europe have at least secretly approved of the putting the late King of Portugal under a Guardianship and the keeping him still a Prisoner for a few Acts of Rage that had been fatal to a very few Persons And even our Court gave the first countenance to it though of all others the late King had the least reason to have done it at least last of all since it justified a younger Brother's supplanting the Elder yet the Evidence of the Thing carried it even against Interest Therefore if a King goes about to subvert the Government and to overturn the whole Constitution he by this must be supposed either to fall from his Power or at least from the Exercise of it so far as that he ought to be put under Guardians and according to the Case of Portugal the next Heir falls naturally to be the Guardian XVI The next Thing to be considered is to see in Fact whether the Foundations of this Government have been struck at and whether those Errors that have been perhaps committed are only such Maleversations as ought to be imputed only to human Frailty and to the Ignorance Inadvertencies or Passions to which all Princes may be subject as well as other Men. But this will best appear if we consider what are the Fundamental Points of our Government and the chief Securities that we may have for our Liberties The Authority of the Law is indeed all in one word so that if the King pretends to a Power to dispense with Laws there is nothing left upon which the Subject can depend and yet as if the Dispensing Power were not enough if Laws are wholly suspended for all Time coming this is plainly a repealing of them when likewise the Men in whose Hands the Administration of Justice is put by Law such as Judges and Sheriffs are allowed to tread all Laws under-foot even those that infer an Incapacity on themselves if they violate them this is such a breaking of the whole Constitution that we can no more have the
the general Indignation their Proposals met with together with the Noise of the Prince of Orange's Preparations frightned them from a further prosecution of their enormous Attempts He ingenuously confesses the seizing of Charters to have been a fault so there is no Contest between us on that Point but he adds That the Prince of Orange has nothing to do with it now others think him highly concern'd in it for if according to Sir Thomas Moore Rex Potest Iuriper Parta mentem potest destrui or according to the Opinion of latter Times a Parliament may make a Bill of Exclusion a Prince that has so near a Relation to the Crown of England ought not to suffer any foul play in the calling together such an Assembly as may null his Title or preclude him of his Right to the Crown in time to come 'T is true the Counsel for seizing Charters was given in the last King's Reign and most of them then seized but no Man can deny but some have been condemned and seized in the Reign of his present Majesty and restored not till the Apprehension of the aforesaid Invasion so that we are promised a Free Parliament only because they cannot put one of their own framing upon us 10. His tenth Paragraph needs no answer 11. In his eleventh he tells us there were but two Papist Judges as if the Laws were not broken unless the Judges were all Papists or that Judges sitting contrary to Law could give a Legal Sentence Both these defects he supposes supplied by the Dispensing Power a Power sufficiently baffled by those Gentlemen of the long Robe of Counsel for the Bishops and not defended by either Judges or Counsel on the other side for which two of the Judges Iones and Holloway lost their places on the Bench. 12 13. His twelfth and thirteenth concern Ireland and Scotland and therefore I will leave them untouch'd to the Gentlemen of those Nations who best understand and are most sensible of the Oppressions they are under 14. In his fourteenth he pleads the Validity of the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience tho' that pretended Prerogative has been discuss'd and baffled in Parliament within these few years and deserted as such by His late Majesty he affirms that the King as Head of the Church might oblige the Bishops to cause the Declaration to be read in the Churches which if they had complied with in the Opinion of many good Protestants they had precluded themselves of their Votes in Parliament against it for with what Forehead could they Vote against the Declaration when they caused it to be read in their Churches An Act amounting to no less than maintaining or owning the Dispensing Power 15. In his fifteenth he allows the Prince and Princess of Orange have in terms full of respect signified to the King their deep regret which all these things have given them and their Thoughts abour Repealing the Test and Penal Laws as an Expedient of Peace but blames him it seems for doing all this so respectfully and privately and would rather had it done by a Manifesto that some of the Prince's Friends might be imprisoned for delivering it as Captain Lenham is for bringing over the Declaration He tells us next the King has come up almost to Fagel's Letter which was the Declaration of their Minds viz. The Church-of England-Test and Laws of Supremacy to remain then urging the King's Concessions which may be observ'd to bear date only from the report of the Prince's Preparations for England 16. He tells us in his sixteenth That the Prince thinks a Free Parliament to be the last and great Remedy for these Evils but complains these Wicked Counsellors are against it for fear of being called to Account that they had preingaged Voices to take off the Penal Laws and the Test and regulated Corporations and Burroughs that so they might assure themselves of the Members of Parliament He allows the Charge but says What has all this to do with the King No Man says it has and the Prince only requires the removal and punishment of those Evil Counsellors in a Free Parliament 17. Next our Reflector tells That there never was a Parliament absolutely Free but that Drink Mony and other Evil Arts have had a great sway in Elections This is true but no reason that we should consent to a General or Fundamental Corruption of our Elections because we cannot avoid some few and casual Ones Then he would have had the Prince have desired the King to have laid aside those Evil Counsellors as if it were not Notorious that the Princes dislike of some Men has been their ready way to Preferment in our Court and Embassadors for Holland have been of late chosen out of those he has most aversion for as if these Wicked Counsellors feared nothing so much as a good Understanding between His Majesty and the Prince of Orange 19. In the nineteenth he tells The Prince and Princess of Orange's Question concerning the Birth of the Prince of Wales saying That during the Queen's pretended Bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed there have appear'd so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion that not only the Prince himself but all good Subjects in England do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born of the Queen 20. Next our Reflector tells us That the Prince ought to have writ to the King for a private satisfaction in this Matter which the King would no doubt have given in the manner that all reasonable Men do when they are examined against themselves All Men allow the imputation of such an Imposture to be a great Reflection on their present Majesties But some think they have in a great measure drawn it upon themselves by omitting to have those Witnesses by and those Methods observed that our Laws require to prove the Birth of a Legitimate Prince of Wales 'T is not perhaps enough to say that there were as many Witnesses and as good Proof of it as the Law exacts still the Question returns Why not the same Persons a Legal Proof admits of no Equivolent Our Reflector will not deny but that there has been common Fame all over Europe that this Prince of Wales was not Born of the Body of her Majesty and common belief of it among Protestants this of it self were enough to make the next Heir to the Crown look about and move every Stone that the Matter might be examined by impartial Methods in a Free Parliament which is all that the Prince and Princess of Orange aims at for their Proofs to the contrary 't is not to expected they should acquaint the World with them before the Trial. 22. In his two and twentieth Reflection on the eighteenth Paragraph where the Prince says He was invited to this Expedition by many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and many Gentlemen and Subjects of all Ranks Our Reflector is pleased to tell him he is
mistaken as Monmouth was Notwithstanding those eminent Peers Gentry and Commonalty of all sorts that are already in his Camp and such as are going daily as well Souldiers as others nor considering the great number of the Nobility that are in the Country and have not been examin'd and that such as were examin'd here in Town did no more than answer Not Guilty to the Charge of High-Treason So that there are more Nobility and Gentry with him than with his Majesty In his three and twentieth Reflection on the 19 th and 20 th Paragraph where the Prince refers all to a free Parliament our Reflector says it belongs not to him to refer other Mens business as if the Prince had no relation to the Crown Then tells us we are already in possession of what the Prince promises us as if the Catholicks were all out of imployment the Dispensing power given up no standing Army no apprehensions of Popery and Arbitrary Power and a Free Parliament for redressing of Grievances of all kinds in being 24. In the twenty fourth Reflection on the three last Paragraphs of the Princes Declaration he tells us The Prince has a manifest design upon the-Crown because he summons the Nobility Gentry and People of England to his Standard And if so who must stay with the King To that may be answered All such as believe the Prince of Orange has brought this Army and intends to make War upon England to subdue it to his meer will and pleasure trample all Laws both Divine and Humane under his Fleet dethrone his present Majesty and make himself King they will stay and fight for him or at least to the best of their power in some other manner assist and help him On the contrary part such as believe the Prince means nothing of all this but brought over his Army only the better to assist the Nobility Gentry and People of England upon their earnest desires and frequent solliciations and reiterated complaints in the recovering of the old Legal way of choosing Members for Parliament which by Illegal new Charters on pretended Forfeitures was in a ready way to be for ever lost in rescuing all the Laws of England from the devouring Jaws of a Dispensing Power in reducing Popery within those bounds the Law has prescribed it which like an Inundation had so over-flowed its Banks that our Religion and Government were in peril to be swallowed up by it and finally to redress these and all other grievances if for these and no other ends or concerns Men think the Prince has landed here such Men will take his part espouse his quarrel and contribute to his success and in these cases every Man will judg for himself as they did in our late Civil Wars Again he charges the Prince with a design of Conquest which not only the Prince himself disclaims throughout his Declaration and will hereafter disown in all his Manifesto's but the States of Holland who have so vigorously assisted and engaged themselves with all their Power and Credit to maintain him in this Attempt have assur'd us he left Holland under high and solemn Protestations to the contrary All this is I hope sufficient to dash the strain'd inferences of an inconsiderable Reflector As for that impudent Calumny of Perjury he endeavours to fix upon the Prince it needs no other refutation than a serious consideration of the Charge it self his Words are The Prince of Orange swore to the States of Holland never to be their State-holder tho' it were offered him and yet is now that very State-holder he swore never to be on any terms Now let any reasonable Man consider whether it be possible a Wise State should by an Oath given him disable the Prince of Orange from being their State-holder tho' Circumstances and times should so change that their immediate preservation and very existence of their State should require him to accept and execute that Office. For his personal Reflections towards the latter end I think very Impertinent and only fit to be buried in Contempt Thus having followed my tedious Reflector through his twenty four Reflections I take my leave of him reserving the Princes farther Vindication to some time when I shall be more at leisure to write and people willinger to read than they can be under the present surprize hourly expectation and continual anxiety for the event of this Heroick Enterprise Admiral HERBERT's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Sea-men in His Majesty's Fleet. Gentlemen I Have little to add to what his Highness has express'd in general Terms besides laying before you the dangerous Way you are at the present in where Ruin or Infamy must inevitably attend you if you don't join with the Prince in the Common Cause for the Defence of your Religion and Liberties for should it please God for the Sins of the English Nation to suffer your Arms to prevail to what can your Victory serve you but to enslave you deeper and overthrow the True Religion in which you have liv'd and your Fathers dy'd Of which I beg you as a Friend to consider the Consequences and to reflect on the Blot and Infamy it will bring on you not only now but in all After-Ages That by Your means the Protestant Religion was destroy'd and your Country depriv'd of its Ancient Liberties And if it pleases God to bless the Prince's Endeavours with Success as I don't doubt but he will consider then what their Condition will be that oppose him in this so good a Design where the greatest Favour they can hope for is their being suffer'd to end their Days in Misery and Want detested and despised by all good Men. It is therefore and for many more Reasons too long to insert here that I as a true English-man and your Friend exhort you to join your Arms to the Prince for the Defence of the Common Cause the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of your Country It is what I am well assured the major and best part of the Army as well as the Nation will do so soon as convenience is offered Prevent them in so good an Action whilst it is in your Power and make it appear That as the Kingdom hath always depended on the Navy for its Defence so you will yet go further by making it as much as in you lies the Protection of her Religion and Liberties and then you may assuâ—â— your selves of all Marks of Favour and Honour suitable to the Merits of so great and glorious an Action After this I ought not add so inconsiderable a thing as that it will for ever engage me to be in a most particular manner Your faithful Friend and humble Servant AR. HERBERT Abord the Leyden in the Gooree AN ENGAGEMENT OF THE Noble-men Knights and Gentlemen at EXETER to Assist the Prince of ORANGE in the defence of the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties of the People of England Scotland and Ireland WE do ingage to Almighty God and to
his Highness the Prince of Orange and with one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in the Defence of it and never to depart from it until our Religion Laws and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free Parliament that we shall be no more in danger of falling under Popery and Slavery And whereas We are ingaged in the Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which means his Person may be exposed to Danger and to the desperate and cursed Designs of Papists and other Bloody Men We do therefore solmnly ingage to God and to one another That if any such Attempts be made upon Him We will pursue not only those that made them but all their Adherents and all we find in Arms against Us with the utmost Seveâ—â—ty of just Revenge in their Ruine and Destruction and that the executing any such Attempt which God of his Infinite Mercy forbid shall not deprive us from pursuing this Cause which we do now undertake but that it shall encourage Us to carry it on with all the Vigor that so barbarous Approach shall deserve The Declaration of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty at the Rendezvous at Nottingham Nov. 22. 1688. WE the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of these Northern Counties assembled together at Nottingham for the defence of the Laws Religion and Properties according to those free-born Liberties and Priviledges descended to us from our Ancestors as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious dress they can put upon us do here unanimously think it our Duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant Fellow-Subjects the Grounds of our present Undertaking We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible that the very Fundamentals of our Religion Liberties and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy-Council as hath been of late too apparent 1. By the King's dispensing with all the Establish'd Laws at his pleasure 2. By displacing all Officers out of all Offices of Trust and Advantage and placing others in their room that are known Papists deservedly made incâ—pable by the Establish'd Laws of our Land. 3. By destroying the Charters of most Corporations in the Land. 4. By discouraging all persons that are not Papists preferring such as turn to Popery 5. By displacing all honest and conscientious Judges unless they would contrary to their Consciences declare that to be Law which was meerly arbitrary 6. By branding all Men with the name of Rebels that but offered to justify the Laws in a legal Course against the arbitrary proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects 8. By discountenancing the Establish'd Reformed Religion 9. By forbiding the Subjects the benefit of Petitioning and construing them Libellers so rendring the Laws a Nose of Wax to serve their Arbitrary Ends. And many more such like too long here to enumerate We being thus made sadly sensible of the Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Counsels coming upon us do unanimously declare That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a condition of Popery and Slavery as the aforesaid Oppressions inevitably threaten we will to the utmost of our Power oppose the same by joining with the Prince of Orange whom we hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid will use our utmost Endeavours for the recovery of our almost ruin'd Laws Liberties and Religion and herein we hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us and not be bugbear'd with the opprobrious Terms of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpations for we assure our selves that no rational and unbyassed Person will judg it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have sworn at their Coronations Which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have the consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such an one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence and in this Consideration we doubt not of all honest Mens Assistance and humbly hope for and implore the great God's Protection that turneth the Hearts of his People as pleaseth him best it having been observed That People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration which hath in all Ages confirmed that Observation Vox Populi est Vox Dei. The pesent restoring of Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen Colledge Fellows is plain are but to still the people like Plums to Children by deceiving them for a while but if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present storm that threatens the Papists be past assoon as they shall be resetled the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour but we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds For 1. The Papists old Rule is That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho' the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresy And 2. Queen Mary's so ill observing her promises to the Suffolk-men that help'd her to her Throne And above all 3. the Popes dispensing with the breach of Oaths Treaties or Promises at his pleasure when it makes for the service of Holy Church as they term it These we say are such convincing Reasons to hinder us from giving Credit to the aforesaid Mock-Shews of Redress that we think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no Security that shall not be approved by a freely Elected Parliament to whom under God we refer our Cause His Grace the Duke of NORFOLK's Speech to the Mayor of NORWICH on the First of December in the Market-place of Norwich Mr. MAYOR NOT doubting but you and the rest of your Body as well as the whole City and Country may be allarmed by the great Concourse of Gentry with the numerous Appearance of their Friends and Servants as well as of your own Militia here this Morning I have thought this the most proper place as being the most publick one to give you an account of our Intentions Out of the deep sense we had that in the present unhappy Juncture of Affairs nothing we could think of was possible to secure the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion but a Free Parliament WE ARE HERE MET TO DECLARE that we will do our utmost to defend the same by declaring for such a Free Parliament And since His Majesty hath been pleased by the News we hear this day to order Writs for a
Parliament to sit the 15 th of Ianuary next Iâ— can only add in the Name of my Self and all these Gentlemen and others here met That we will ever be ready to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion And so GOD SAVE THE KING To this the Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the Corporation and a numerous Assembly did concur with his Grace and the rest of the Gentry His Grace at his lighting from his Horse perceiving great numbers of Common People gathering together called them to him and told them He desired they would not take any occasion to commit any Disorder or Outrage but go quietly to their Homes and acquainted them that the King had ordered a Free Parliament to be called TO THE KING's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of GEORGE Lord DARTMOUTH Admiral of Your Majesties Fleet for the present Expedition and the Commanders of Your Majesties Ships of War now actually at the Spitehead in Your Majesties Service under his Lordships Command Most Dread Sovereign THE deep sense we have had of the great Dangers your Majesties Sacred Person has been in and the great Effusion of Christian Blood that threatned this your Majesties Kingdoms and in probability would have been shed unless God of his infinite Mercy had put it into your Majesties Heart to call a Parliament the only means in our opinion under the Almighty left to quiet the Minds of your People We do give your Majesty our most humble and hearty Thanks for your gracious Condescension beseeching God to give your Majesty all immaginable Happiness and Prosperity and grant that such Counsels and Resolutions may be promoted as conduce to your Majesties Honor and Safety and tend to the Peace and Settlement of this Realm both in Church and State according to the Establish'd Laws of the Kingdom Dartmouth Berkley Ro. Strickland I. Berry Io. Beverley Iohn Leake George S. Lo. Iohn Lacon Fr. Wicell Will. Davis Iohn Munden Tho. Legg Tho. Leighton St. Akerman W. Cornwal W. Ienning Ioh. Clements Io. Ashby Rob. Wiseman Iohn Ieniper Will. Booth Tho. Coale R. D'Lavall Tho. Iohnson M. Aylmer Fr. Frowde Tho. Skelton Ab. Potter A. Hastings Io. Montgomery M. Tennant Clo. Shovell E. Dover R. Weston W. Botham I. Tyrrel St. Fairborne Henr. Botler William Pooley Io. Fraseby Ba. Wild. On board the Resolution at Spitehead Decemb. 1. 1688. FINIS A THIRD Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The Expedition of the Prince of Orange for England giving an Account of the most Remarkable Passages thereof from the Day of his setting Sail from Holland to the first Day of this Instant December II. A further Account of the Prince's Army in a Letter from Exon Novemb. 24. III. Three Letters 1. A Letter from a Jesuit of Leige to a Jesuit at Friburg giving an Account of the happy Progress of Religion in England 2. A Letter from Father Petre to Father La Cheese 3. The Answer of Father La Cheese to Father Petre. IV. Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of Orange's Camp. Addressed to all Members in the next Parliament Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. THE EXPEDITION Of His HIGHNESS the Prince of ORANGE For ENGLAND Giving an Account of the most remarkable Passages thereof from the Day of his setting Sail from Holland to the first Day of this instant December 1688. HIS Highness the Prince of Orange set Sail from Holland with 51 Men of War 18 Fire-ships and about 330 Tenders being Ships hired of Merchants for the carriage of Horse and Foot Arms Ammunition c. The Fleet stood out at Sea to the Norward which met with horrid Storms for two Days and two Nights together in which bad Weather there were lost above 500 Horse and a Vessel parted from the Fleet wherein were 400 Foot supposed to be lost but now known to be arrived safe at the Texel but grievously shatter'd and torn by the Storms two of the Prince's principal Men of War were forced to new Rigg at Helversluse The Prince immediately on his return back inform'd the States of the condition of the Fleet which was not so damnified as was represented by the Vulgar and Ignorant who thereupon to lull a great Man asleep the States or some one employed by them order'd That the Harlem and Amsterdam Courantier should make a dismal Story of it by representing to the World that the Prince returned with his Fleet miserably shatter'd and torn having lost nine Men of War and divers others of less Concern 1000 Horse ruin'd a Calenture among the Sea-men the loss of Dr. Burnet and the chief Ministers under the Prince the ill Opinion the States had of the Expedition In short that a 100000 l. would not repair the Dammage sustained and almost next to an impossibility that the Prince should be in a condition to pursue his Design till the Spring And yet at the same time all hands were at work to repair the damaged Ships which were inconfiderable so that in eight days time they were all re-fitted The Signal being given by the discharge of a Gun all the Fleet immediately weigh'd Anchor and stood out at Sea steering their Course Norward all that Night next day upon Tide of Ebb they made a Stretch and made a Watch above a League and then stood Westward and lay all Night in the same posture not making two Leagues of Watch. In the middle of the Night an Advice-Boat brought us an Account that the English Fleet consisting of 33 Sail lay to the Westward of ours Upon which the Prince fired a Gun which caused a great Consternation in the whole Fleet we having a brisk Easterly Wind concluded themselves to be all ruin'd But the small Advice-Boats crusing for a more certain Account of the English brought us back word That instead of the English Fleet which the former Advice had alarm'd us with it was Admiral Herbert with part of our Fleet which had been separated some hours from the Body of the Fleet Upon whose arrival great rejoicing was among us all and a Signal of Joy was given for it by the Prince In the Morning about Eight the Prince gave a Signal that the Admirals should come aboard him Immediately after the whole Fleet was got into the North-foreland upon which the Prince gave the usual Sign of Danger according to the printed Book and ordered that the Fleet should all come up in a Body some fifteen or sixteen deep his Higness leading the Van in the Ship Brill in English Spectacles His Flag was English Colours the Motto impailed thereon is THE PROTESTANT RELIGION AND LIBERTIES OF ENGLAND and underneath instead of Diu Mon Droit AND I WILL MAINTAIN IT The Council of War from aboard the Prince sent three small Frigats into the
Theologian and will seem to be a good Bishop and to have a great care of his Diocess and would heretofore seem a great Preacher I have hinted in my last the Reasons why I cannot altogether like him which are needless to repeat The Arch-bishop of Paris is always the same I mean a gallant Man whose present Conversation is charming and loves his Pleasures but cannot bear any thing that grieves or gives trouble though he is always a great Enemy of the Iansenists which he lately intimated to Cardinal Camus He is always with me in the Council of Conscience and agrees very well with our Society laying mostly to Heart the Conversion of the Protestants of the three Kingdoms He also makes very good Observations and Designs to give some Advice to your Reverence which I shall convey to you I do sometimes impart to him what you write to me My Lord Kingston has embrac'd our good Party I was present when he Abjur'd in the Church of St. Denis I will give you the Circumstances some other time You promised to send me the Names of all Heretick Officers who are in his Majesty's Troops that much imports me and you shall not want good Catholick Officers to fill up their places I have drawn a List of them who are to pass into England and his most Christian Majesty approves thereof Pray observe what I hinted to you in my last on the Subject of the Visits which our Fathers must give to the Chief Lords Members of the next Parliament those Reverend Fathers who are to perform that Duty must be middle-aged with a lively Countâ—nance and fit to perswade I also advised you in some of my other Letters how the Bishop of Oxford ought to behave himself by writing incessantly and to insinuate into the People the putting down the Test and at the same time calm the Storm which the Letter of Pentionary Fagel has raised And his Majesty must continue to make vigorous Prohibitions to all Booksellers in London not to print any Answers as well to put a stop to the Insolency of Heretick Authors as also to hinder the People from reading them In short you intimate to me That his Majesty will follow our Advice It 's the quickest way and I cannot find a better or fitter to dispossess his Subjects from such Impressions as they have received His Majesty must also by the same Declaration profess in Conscience that if complied with he will not only keep his Word to maintain and protect the Church of England but will also confirm his Promises by such Laws as the Protestants shall be contented with This is the true Politick way for by his granting all they cannot but consent to something His most Christian Majesty has with great success experienced this Maxim And though he had not to struggle with Penal Laws and Tests yet he found it convenient to make large Promises by many Declarations for since we must dissemble you must endeavour all you can to perswade the King it is the only Method to effect his Design I did also in my last give you a hint of its Importance as well as the ways you must take to insinuate your selves dexterously with the King to gain his good Will. I know not whether you have observed what passed in England some Years since I will recite it because Examples instruct much One of our Assisting Fathers of that Kingdom which was Father Parsons having written a Book against the Succession of the King of Scots to the Realm of England Father Creighton who was also of our Society and upheld by many of our Party defended the Cause of that King in a Book Intituled The Reasons of the King of Scots against the Book of Father Parsons And though they seem'd divided yet they understood one another very well this being practised by order of our General to the end that if the House of Scotland were Excluded they might shew him who had the Government the Book of Father Parsons and on the other Hand if the King happened to be restored to the Throne they might obtain his good Will by shewing him the Works of Father Chreighton So that which way soever the Medal turn'd it still prov'd to the advantage of our Society Not to digress from our Subject I must desire you to read the English Book of Father Parsons Intituled The Reform of England where after his blaming of Cardinal Pool and made some observations of Faults in the Council of Trent he finally concludes That suppose England should return as we hope to the Catholick Faith in this Reign he would reduce it to the State of the Primitive Church And to that end all the Ecclesiastical Revenue ought to be used in common and the Management thereof committed to the care of Seven Wise Men drawn out of our Society to be disposed of by them as they should think fit Moreover he would have all the Religious Orders forbidden on Religious Penalties not to return into the Three Kingdoms without leave of those Seven Wise Men to the end it might be granted only to such as live on Alms. These Reflections seem to me very judicious and very suitable to the present State of England The same Father Parsons adds That when England is reduced to the True Faith the Pope must not expect at least for Five Years to reap any benefit of the Ecclesiastical Revenue but must leave the whole in the hands of those Seven Wise Men who will manage the same to the Benefit and Advancement of the Church The Court goes this day for Marli to take the Divertisements which are there prepared I hope to accompany the King and will entertain him about all Business and accordingly as he likes what you hint to me in your Letter I shall give you notice I have acquainted him with his Britannick Majesty's Design of building a Citadel near Whitehal Monsieur Vauban our Engineer was present After some Discourse on the Importance of the Subject his Majesty told Monsieur Vauban that he thought it convenient he should make a Model of the Design and that he should on purpose go over into England to see the Ground I have done all I could to suspend the Designs of our Great Monarch who is always angry against the Holy Father both Parties are stubborn the King 's natural Inclination is to have all yield to him and the Pope's Resolution is unalterable All our Fathers most humbly salute your Reverence Father Roine Ville acts wonderfully about Nismes amongst the New Converts who still meet notwithstanding the Danger they expose themselves to I daily expect News from the Frontiers of the Empire which I shall impart to your Reverence and am with the greatest Respect Yours c. Paris March 7. 1688. Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGE's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament THE Credulity and Superstition of
open profession of the Popish Religion so he did then promise and solemnly swear at his Coronation That he would maintain his Subjects in the free enjoiment of their Laws and Liberties and in particular that he would maintain the Church of England as it was established by Law It is likewise certain that there have been at divers and sundry times several Laws enacted for the preservation of those Rights and Liberties and of the Protestant Religion And among other Securites it has been enacted that all Persons whatsoever that are advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity or to bear Office in either University as likewise all other that should be put in any Imploiment Civil or Military should declare that they were not Papists but were of the Protestant Religion and that by their taking of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test yet these Evil Counsellors have in effect annulled and abolished all those Laws both with relation to Ecclesiastical and Civil Emploiments In order to Ecclesiastical Dignities and Offices they have not only without any colour of Law but against most express Laws to the contrary set up a Commission of a certain Number of Persons to whom they have committed the Cognizance and Direction of all Ecclesiastical Matters In the which Commission there has been and still is one of his Majesty's Ministers of State who makes now publick profession of the Popish Religion and who at the time of his first professing it declared That for a great while before he had believed that to be the only true Religion By all this the deplorable State to which the Protestant Religion is reduced is apparent since the Affairs of the Church of England are now put into the Hands of Persons who have accepted of a Commission that is manifestly Illegal and who have executed it contrary to all Law and that now one of their chief Members has abjured â—he Proâ—estant Religion and declared himself a Papist by which he is become incapable of holding any Publick Emploiment The said Commissioners have hitherto given such proof of their submission to the Directions given them that there is no reason to doubt but they will still continue to promote all such Designs as will be most agreeable to them And those Evil Counsellors take care to raise none to any Ecclesiastical Dignities but Persons that have no Zeal for the Protestant Religion and that now hide their unconcernedness for it under the specious pretence of Moderation The said Commissioners have suspended the Bishop of London only because he refused to obey an Order that was sent him to suspend a Worthy Divine without so much as citing him before him to make his own Defence or observing the common Forms of Process They have turned out a President chosen by the Fellows of Magdalâ—ne Colledg and afterwards all the Fellows of that Colledg without so much as citing them before any Court that could take legal cognizance of that Affair or obtaining any Sentence against them by a competent Judg. And the only Reason that was given for turning them out was their refusing to chuse for their President a Person that was recommended to them by the iâ—â—â—igation of those Evil Counsellors Though the right of a free Election belonged undoubtedly to them But they were turned out of their Freeholds contrary to Law and to that express Provision in Magna Charta That no Man shall lose Life or Goods but by the Law of the Land. And now these Evil Counsellors have put the said Colledg wholly into the Hands of Papists though as is above said they are incapable of all such Imploiments both by the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the Colledg These Commissioners have also cited before them all the Chancellors and Arch-deacons of England requiring them to certify to them the Names of all such Clergy-men as have read the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and of such as have not read it without considering that the reading of it was not enjoined the Clergy by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries The illegality and incompetency of the said Court of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners was so notoriously known and it did so evidently appear that it tended to the subversion of the Protestant Relâ—â—ion that the most Reverend Father in God William Arch-bishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England seeing that it was raised for no other end but to oppress such Persons as were of eminent Virtue Learning and Piety refused to sit or concur in it And though there are many express Laws against all Churches or Chappels for the exercise of the Popish Religion and also against all Monasteries and Convents and more particularly against the Order of the Jesuits yet those Evil Counsellors have procured Orders for the building of several Churches and Chappels for the Exercise of that Religion They have also procured divers Monasteries to be erected and in contempt of the Law they have not only set up several Colledges of Iesuits in divers places for the corrupting of the Youth but have raised up one of the Order to be a Privy Counsellor and a Minister of State. By all which they do evidently shew that they are restrained by no Rules or Law whatsoever but that they have subjected the Honours and Estates of the Subjects and the Establish'd Religion to a Despotick Power and to Arbitrary Government In all which they are served and seconded by those Ecclesiastical Commissioners They have also followed the same Methods with Relation to Civil Affairs For they have procured Orders to examine all Lords-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Sheriffs Justices of Peace and all others that were in any Publick Employment if they would concur with the King in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and all such whose Consciences did not suffer them to comply with their Designs were turned out and others were put in their places who they believe would be more compliant to them in their Designs of defeating the Intent and Execution of those Laws which had been made with so much Care and Caution for the Security of the Protestant Religion And in many of these places they have put professed Papists though the Law has disabled them and warranted the Subjects not to have any regard to their Orders They have also invaded the Priviledges and seized on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by â—heir Burgesses in Parliament and have procured Surrenders to be made of them by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Priviledges to be disposed of at the pleasure of those Evil Counsellors who have thereupon placed new Magistrates in those Towns such as they can most entirely confide in and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law has put them And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the Administration of good and impartial Justice upon which Mens Lives
Liberties Honours and Estates do depend those Evil Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power In the most important Affairs they have studied to discover before-hand the Opinions of the Judges and hâ—ve turned out such as they found would not conform themselves to their Intentions and have put others in their places of whom they were more assured without having any regard to their Abilities And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law and that no Regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them They have carried this so far as to deprive such Judges who in the common Administration of Justice shewed that they were governed by their Consciences and not by the Directions which the others gave them By which it is apparent they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives Honours and Estates of the Subjects of what Rank or Dignity soever they may be and that without having any regard either to the Equity of the Cause or to the Conscience of the Judges whom they will have to submit in all things to their own will and Pleasure hoping by such ways to intimidate those who are yet in Imployment as also such others as they shall think fit to put in the rooms of those whom they have turned out and to make them see what they must look for if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good liking and that no failings of that kind are pardoned in any Persons whatsoever A great deal of Blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors against all the Rules and Forms of Law without so much as suffering the Persons that were accused to plead in their own Defence They have also by putting the Administration of Justice into the hands of Papists brought all the matters of Civil Justice into great uncertainties with how much Exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all places of Judicature but have put them under an Incapacity none are bound to acknowledg or to obey their Judgments and all Sentences given by them are null and void of themselves so that all Persons who have been cast in Trials before such Popish Judges may justly look on their pretended Sentences as having no more force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorized Person whatsoever So deplorable is the Case of the Subjects who are obliged to answer to such Judges that must in all things stick to the Rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors who as they raised them up to those Imployments so can turn them out of them at pleasure and who can never be esteemed lawful Judges so that all their Sentences are in the Construction of the Law of no Force and Efficacy They have likewise disposed of all Military Imployments in the same manner for tho the Laws have not only excluded Papists from all such Imployments but have in particular provided that they should be disarmed yet they in Contempt of these Laws have not only armed the Papists but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land and that Strangers as well as Natives and Irish as well as English that so by those means having rendred themselves Masters both of the Affairs of the Church of the Government of the Nation and of the course of Justice and subjected them all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power they might be in a Capacity to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by the assistance of the Army and thereby to enslave the Nation The dismal Effects of this Subversion of the established Religion Laws and Liberties in England appear more evident to us by what we see done in Ireland Where the whole Government is put into the Hands of Papists and where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily Fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power which is set up there which has made great numbers of them leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estates in it remembring well that cruel and bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the Year 1641. Those Evil Counsellous have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland that he is clothed with Absolute Power and that all the Subjects are bound to obey him without Reserve upon which he has assumed an Arbitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom from all which it is apparent what is to be looked for in England as soon as matters are duly prepared for it Those great and insufferable Oppressions and the open Contempt of all Law together with the apprehensions of the sad Consequences that must certainly follow upon it have put the Subjâ—â—ts under great and just Fears and have made them look after such lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations yet all has been without Effect And those Evil Counsellours have endeavoured to make all Men apprehend the loss of their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates if they should go about to preserve themselves from this Oppression by Petitions Representations or other means authorised by Law. Thus did they proceed with the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops who having offer'd a most humble Petition to the King in terms full of Respect and not exceeding the number limited by Law in which they set forth in short the Reasons for which they could not obey that Order which by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors was sent them requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read in their Churches the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience were sent to Prison and afterwards brought to a Trial as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime They were not only obliged to defend themselves in that pursuit but to appear before professed Papists who had not taken the Test and by Consequence were Men whose Interest led them to condemn them and the Judges that gave their Opinion in their Favours were thereupon turned out And yet it cannot be pretended that any Kings how great soever their Power has been and how Arbitrary and Despotick soever they have been in the exercise of it have ever reckoned a Crime for their Subjects to come in all Submission and Respect and in a due Number not exceeding the Limits of the Law and represent to them the Reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their Orders Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal only because he said that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace tho it is evident that they being by Law rendred incapable of all such Trusts no regard is due to their Orders This being the Security which the People have by the Law for their Lives Liberties Honours and
Estates that they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists that are contrary to Law put into any Employments Civil or Military Both We our selves and our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess have endeavoured to signify in terms full of Respect to the King the just and deep Regret which all these Proceedings have given us and in Compliance with his Majesties Desires signified to us We declared both by word of Mouth to his Envoy and in writing what our Thoughts were touching the repealing of the Test and Penal Laws which we did in such a manner that we hoped we had proposed an Expedient by which the Peace of those Kingdoms and a happy Agreement among the Subjects of all Perswasions might have been settled but those Evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good Intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if We had designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom The last and great Remedy for all those Evils is the calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors but this could not be yet compassed nor can it easily be brought about For those Men apprehending that a lawful Parliament being once assembled they would be brought to an account for all their open Violations of Law and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience first to sow Divisions among Protestants between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters The Design being laid to engage Protestants that are all equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into mutual Quarellings that so by these some Advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament and afterwards in the Parliament it self For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a mutual good Understanding one with another and concur together in the preserving of their Religion it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England that either were in any Imployment or were in any considerable Esteem to declare before-hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it Such as would not thus preingage themselves were turned out of all Imployments and others who entred into those Engagements were put into their places many of them being Papists And contrary to the Charters and Priviledges of those Buroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament they have ordered such Regulations to be made as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved tho it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves so that no Parliament can be lawful for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such hands it is impossible to have any lawful Parliament And tho according to the Constitution of the English Government and immemorial Custom all Elections of Parliament-Men ought to be made with an entire Liberty without any sort of Force or the requiring the Electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them and the Persons thus freely elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all matters that are brought before them having the Good of the Nation ever before their Eyes and following in all things the Dictates of their Consciences yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a free Parliament legally called and chosen But they may perhaps see one called in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force and which will be composed of such Persons of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation Which may appear evidently from this that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament to gain them to consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not neither by Promises nor Threatnings prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Designs But to crown all There are great and violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those Evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on of their ill Designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son tho there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion that not only We our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess and likewise We our Selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown Since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded in a most unjust War use their uttermost Endeavours to put an end to that War and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they run the hazard of losing both the Favour of the Court and their Imployments And since the English Nation has â—ver testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our Dearest Consort the Princess and to Our Selves We cannot excuse our selves from espousing their Interests in a Matter of such high Consequence and from contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over to England and to carry over
with us a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors And We being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood have for this end prepared this Declaration in which as We have hitherto given a true Account of the Reasons inducing us to it so we now think fit to declare that this our Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as possible and that in order to this all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limited contrary to the Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no force and likewise all Magistrates who have been injustly turned out shall forthwith resume their former Imployments as well as all the Buroughs of England shall return again to their Ancient Prescriptions and Charters And more particularly that the Ancient Charter of the great and famous City of London shall again be in force and that the Writs for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to the proper Officers according to Law and Custom That also none be suffered to choose or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law and that the Members of Parliament being thus lawfully chosen they shall meet and sit in full Freedom that so the two Houses may concur in the preparing such Laws as they upon full and free debate shall judg necessary and convenient both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test and such other Laws as are necessary for the Security and Maintenance of the Protestant Religion as likewise for making such Laws as may establish a good Agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters as also for the covering and securing of all such who will live peaceably under the Government as becomes good Subjects from all Persecution upon the account of their Religion even Papists themselves not excepted and for the doing of all other things which the two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace Honour and Safety of the Nation so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbitrary Government To this Parliament we will also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession And We for our part will concur in every thing that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine since We have nothing before our Eyes in this our Undertaking but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the covering of all Men from Persecution for their Consciences and the securing to the whole Nation the free Enjoyment of all their Laws Rights and Liberties under a just and legal Government This is the Design that We have proposed to our Selves in appearing upon this occasion in Arms In the Conduct of which We will keep the Forces under our Command under all the strictness of Martial Discipline and take a special care that the People of the Countries through which we must march shall not suffer by their means and as soon as the State of the Nation will admit of it We promise that We will send back all those Foreign Forces that we have brought along with us We do therefore hope that all People will judg rightly of us and approve of these our Pâ—oceedings but We chiefly relie on the Blessing of God for the Success of this our Undertaking in which We place our whole and only Confidence We do in the last place invite and require all Persons whatsoever all the Peers of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal all Lords-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist us in order to the executing of this our Design against all such as shall endeavour to oppose us that so we may prevent all those Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redressed in a FREE AND LEGAL PARLIAMENT And We do likewise resolve that as soon as the Nations are brought to a State of Quiet We will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland for the restoring the Ancient Constitution of that Kingdom and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a Settlement that the People may live easie and happy and for putting an end to all the injust Violences that have been in a course of so many Years committed there We will also study to bring the Kingdom of Ireland to such a State that the Settlement there may be religiously observed and that the Protestant and British Interest there may be secured And we will endeavour by all possible means to procure such an Establishment in all the three Kingdoms that they may all live in a happy Union and Correspondence together and that the Protestant Religion and the Peace Honour and Happiness of those Nations may be established upon lasting Foundations Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague the Tenth day of October in the Year 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By His Highnesses special Command C. HUYGENS. His Highnesses Additional Declaration AFter We had prepared and printed this our Declaration we have understood that the Subverters of the Religion and Laws of those Kingdoms hearing of our Preparations to assist the People against them have begun to retract some of the Arbitrary and Despotick Powers that they had assumed and to vacate some of their unjust Judgments and Decrees The sense of their Guilt and the distrust of their Force have induced them to offer to the City of London some seeming Relief from their great Oppressions hoping thereby to quiet the People and to divert them from demanding a Secure Reestablishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of our Arms. They do also give out that we intend to Conquer and Enslave the Nation and therefore it is that we have thought fit to add a few words to our Declaration We are confident that no Persons can have such hard Thoughts of us as to imagine that we have any other Design in this Undertaking than to procure a Settlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a Foundation that there may be no danger of the Nation 's relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter And as the Forces we have brought along with us are utterly disproportioned to that wicked Design of Conquering the Nation if we were capable of intending it so the great Numbers of the principal Nobility and Gentry that are Men of Eminent Quality and Estates and Persons of known Integrity and Zeal both for the Religion and Government of England many of them
the proceeding of a Parliament But if to the great Misfortune and Ruine of these Kingdoms it should prove otherwise We further Declare That We will to our utmost defend the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Kingdom and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject A Letter from a Gentleman at Kings-Lyn Decemb 7. 1688. to his Friend in London SIR THE Duke of Norfolk came to Town on Wednesday Night with many of the chiefest of the County and yesterday in the Market-place received the Address following which was presented by the Mayor attended by the Body and many hundreds of the Inhabitants To his Grace the most Noble HENRY Duke of Norfolk Lord Marshal of England My Lord THE daily Allarums we receive as well from Foreign as Domestick Enemies give us just Apprehensions of the approaching Danger which we conceive we are in and to apply with all earnestness to your Grace as our great Patron in all humble Confidence to succeed in our Expectations That we may be put into such a posture by your Grace's Directions and Conduct as may make us appear as zealous as any in the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Laws and Ancient Government of this Kingdom Being the desire of many hundreds who most humbly challenge a Right of your Grace's Protection His Grace's Answer Mr. Mayor I Am very much obliged to you and the rest of your Body and those here present for your good Opinion of me and the Confidence you have that I will do what in me lies to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion in which I will never deceive you And since the coming of the Prince of Orange hath given us an opportunity to declare for the defence of them I can only assure you that no Man will venture his Life and Fortune more freely for the Defence of the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion than I will do and with all these Gentlemen here present and many more will unanimously concur therein and you shall see that all possible Care shall be taken that such a Defence shall be made as you require AFter which the Duke was with his Retinue received at the Mayor's House at Dinner with great Acclamations and his Proceedings therein have put our County into a Condition of Defence of which you shall hear further in a little time our Militia being ordered to be raised throughout the County Our Tradesmen Seamen and Mobile have this morning generally put Orange Ribbon on their Hats Ecchoing Huzza's to the Prince of Orange and Duke of Norfolk All are in a hot Ferment God send us a good issue of it Lyn-Regis Decemb. 10. 1688. SIR BY mine of the 7 th Instant I gave you an Account of the Address of this Corporation to hiâ— Grace the Duke of Norfolk and of his Grace's Answer thereto Since which his Grace has sent for the Militia Troops and put them in a posture of Defence as appears by the ensuing Speech The Duke of Norfolk's Second Speech at Lynn I Hope you see I have endeavoured to put you in the posture you desired by sending both for Horse and Foot of the Militia and am very glad to see such an Appearance of this Town in so good a Condition And I do again renew my former Assurances to you that I will ever stand by you to defend the Laws Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to procure a Settlement in Church and State in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And so God save the King. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guildhal Dec. 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this Great and Dangerous Conjuncture We are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And We did reasonably hope that the King having Issued His Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament We might have rested Secure under the Expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn Himself and as We apprehend in order to His Departure out of this Kingdom by the Pernicious Counsels of Persons ill Affected to Our Nation and Religion We cannot without being wanting to Our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore Unanimously resolve to apply Our Selves to His Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much hazard to his own Person hath Undertaken by endeavouring to Procure a Free Parliament to rescue Us with as little Effusion as possible of Christian Blood from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And We do hereby Declare That We will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein Our Laws Our Liberties and Properties may be Secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest ovâ—r the whole World may be Supported and Encouraged to the Glory of God the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time We will Endeavour to Preserve as much as in Us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminister and the Parts Adjacent by taking Care to Disarm all Papists and Secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests who are in or about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us for promoting His Higness's Generous Intentions for the Publick Good We shall be ready to do it as occasion shall Require W. Cant. Tho Ebor. Pembroke Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Berkeley Rochester Newport Weymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph Fran. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Petribtrg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandos Montague T. Iermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crewe Osulston WHereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are Subscribed being assembled at Guild-hall in London having Agreed upon and Signed a Declaration Entituled The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminister Assembled at Guild-hall 11 Decemb. 1688. Do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same time acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at that Meeting Dated at Guild-hall the 11 th of December 1688. A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by
Orange and present to His Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning By the Commissioners Command Geo. Evans Cl. Lieut. London To His Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sence we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts That Your Highness has exposed Your Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we have not had any seasonable Opportunity to give Your Highness and the World a real Testimony that it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is Dear to Us to attain those Glorious Ends which Your Highness has proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness our just and due Acknowledgments for the Happy Relief You have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a Posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's Happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which Your Highness has so happily begun to the general Joy and Satisfaction of us all December the 17 th 1688. THE said Committee this day made Report to the Lieutenancy that they had presented the said Address to the Prince of Orange and that His Highness received them very kindly December the 17 th 1688. By the Lieutenancy Ordered That the said Order and Address be forthwith Printed Geo. Evans To His Highness the Prince of ORANGE The Humble ADDRESS of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled May it please Your Highness WE taking into Consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many and hazardous Enterprizes which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success We render our deepest Thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same And beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your Glorious Design to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some Remedy for these Oppressions and Imminent Dangers We together with Our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from His Majesty's Concessions and Concurrences with Your Highness's Just and Pious purposes expressed in Your Gracious Declarations But herein finding Our Selves finally disappointed by His Majesty's withdrawing Himself We presume to make Your Highness Our Refuge And do in the Name of this Capital CITY implore Your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech Your Highness to vouchsafe to repair to this CITY where Your Highness will be received with Universal Joy and Satisfaction The Speech of Sir GEORGE TREBY Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Dec. 20. 1688. May it please your Highness THE Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom deputed to Congratulate your Highness upon this great and glorious Occasion In which labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State over-run by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the Point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all Times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind To have the Title of Sovereign Prince Stadtholder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are among their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Souldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon your appearing GREAT SIR When we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and Fullness of our present Deliverance astonish'd we think it miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and called by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity restor'd Our Laws which are our ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can We make to your Highness Our Thoughts are full-charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all Good Men amongst us And late Posterity will celebrate your ever-glorious Name till Time shall be no more Chapman Mayor Cur ' special ' tent ' die Iovis xx die Decemb ' 1688. Annoque R R. Iacobi Secundi Angl ' c. quarto THis Court doth desire Mr. Recorder to print his Speech this day made to the Prince of Orange at the time of this Court 's attending his Highness with the Deputies of the several Wards and other Members of the Common-Council Wagstaffe FINIS A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England c. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army Published by Mr. Iohnson in the Year 1686. IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia V. A Discourse of Magistracy of Prerogative by Divine Right of Obedience and of the Laws VI. The Definition of a Tyrant by Abr. Cowley With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers VII A Letter to the King inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion VIII Ten Seasonable Queries proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be
have heard forfeit all Right either to chuse or be chosen in any Publick Councils And then all Laws which have been made for the Protestants and against the Popish Religion will be null and void as being enacted by an incompetent Authority as being the Acts of Hereticks Kings Lords and Commons who had forfeited all their Rights and Priviledges But Thirdly suppose our Laws were valid as enacted by competent Authority and such good and wholsome Provisions as were those Statutes made by our Popish Ancestors in those Statutes of Provisoes in Edward the I. Edward the III. Time and that of Praemunire in Richard the II. and Henry the IV. for Relief against Papal Incroachments and Oppressions Yet being against the Laws and Canons of Holy Church the Sovereign Authority they will be all superseded For so they determine That when the Canon and the Civil Laws clash one requiring what the other allows not the Church-Law must have the observance and that of the State neglected And Constitutions they say made against the Canons and Decrees of the Roman Biâ—hops are of no moment Their best Authors are positive of it And our own Experience and Histories testify the Truth thereof For how were those good Laws before-mention'd defeated by the Pope's Authority so that there was no effectual Execution thereof till Henry the 8 th's Time as Dr. Burnet tells us And how have the good Laws to suppress and prevent Popery been very much obstructed in their Execution by Popish Influence An Answer to a late Pamphlet Intituled A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England c. THE World may very justly wonder at several Passages in this ill-designed and as ill-writ Pamphlet which the Author has taken the pains to collect from some petty Grubstreet Chronicle Henry II. is call'd an Usurper pag. 4. because he accepted of the Crown of England in his Mothers Life-time tho' by her not opposing his Claim it may very reasonably be concluded that she freely consented to his Promotion as the most effectual means to secure the Crown to her Posterity But we are told That a Crown is no Estate to be made over in Trust If our Author's meaning is that a Crown is an Estate which the Possessor cannot divest himself of by a voluntary Resignation both Reason and a multitulde of Examples in several Ages and â—ations prove that the Principle our Author has laid down is founded on a gross Mistake Therefore if our Author designs to publish any more Schemes of Usurpation let him first inform us what it is and how far it extends lest the World should accuse him of having as notoriously usurped to himself the Title of a Writer as any of our Princes ever did the Crown of England He would perswade his Readers to believe that God punish'd King Edward III. and King Henry V. for their Usurpations with frequent and unexpected Victories in the acquisition of which tho' there was some English Blood shed as it was impossible it should be otherwise yet the Enemies paid an excessive Price for it after the defeat of their great Armies and the Imprisonment of their King they being forced to buy their Peace upon such Terms as our conquering Usurpers pleased to impose Nor did ever any well-wisher to the English Nation deny that these Two Princes were the Glory of their Age and of our British History If I should reckon up all the evident Mistakes and false Inferences in this Libel it would be too tedious since a careless Eye cannot easily overlook them If the Pamphlet finds so undeserved a Reception in the World as to need a Second Impression the Author is desired to add to it this Postscript which being founded on the Principles asserted by him will shew the World that he hath wilfully and perhaps partially forborn to speak of as notorious an Usurper as any that are mentioned in his Scheme Queen Mary the Off-spring of an Incestuous Marriage had no other unquestionable Divine Right to the Crown of England than what was given her by an Act of Parliament made in her Father's Reign and the common Consent of the Nobility and People after the Death of her Brother King Edward VI. whose disposal of the Crown by Letters Patents under the Great Seal being directly contrary to the former Entail of it limited by a higher Authority His Sister the Lady Mary was acknowledged Queen Therefore according to our Author 's abstruse Notions She as well as her Grand-father Henry VII must be reckoned among the Usurpers of the Crown of England Let us now see what success attended her and whether the Nation was happy under her Government As soon as She saw her self fixed in the Throne She imprisoned and deprived several of the Protestant Bishopâ— contrary to the then Establish'd Laws of the Realm She intruded Popish Bishops into the Sees thus declared vacant the small remainder of the Protestant Bishops who had beâ—n called to Parliament by Writ were nevertheless violently thrust out of the Parliament-House for refusing to worship the Mass. The Members of the House of Commons in her First Parliament were chosen by force and threats the Free-holders were hindred by violence from exercising their Right of chusing Representatives false Returns were made and those who were for the Reformed Religion tho' duly elected were by force expelled the House So that we cannot wonder at the Statues made in this pretended Free Parliament which was in every Thing influenced by the Court-Party Shortly after her Marriage with the haughty jealous Spaniard of which She her self felt the ill Consequences was justly disliked by the Nobility and Commonalty Her base Design of setting up a Supposititious Child for Heir to the Crown was not only happily defeated but deservedly exposed to the Censure of the Nation Her Design to erect the Spanish Inquisition in England was disappointed Calais after having belonged to the Crown of Englâ—nd about two hundred and eleven Years and which was gained with great difficulty after eleven Months Siege was in the depth of Winter lost in a Weeks time And quickly after all the English Territories were with small difficulty recovered by the French. We must not forget how exactly She put in practice the base treacherous and destructive Principles of the pretended Catholick Religion in these remarkable Particulars She barbarously used her only Sister the Lady Elizabeth and designed to have taken away her Life for no other Cause but her firm adherence to the Protestant Religion She imprisoned and burnt Arch-Bishop Cranmer who had formerly sheltered her from her Father's Fury She deprived and imprisoned Judg Hales who alone resolutely opposed King Edward the Sixth's Will and preferred Judg Bromley to be Lord Chief Justice though he had without any reluctancy prepared the Letters-Patents for her Exclusion The Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk who were the first that took up Arms for her upon her Promise to permit them the Exercise of their Religion
one of them is not the other for he may be any one of these who is none of the rest IV. This distinction proceeds from the different Reasons upon which these Relations are founded V. The Reason or Foundation from whence arises the Relation of a Father is from having begotten his Son who may as properly call every old Man he meets his Father as any other Person whatsoever excepting him only who begat him VI. The Relation of an Husband and Wife is founded in Weâ—lock whereby they mutually consent to become one Fleâ—h VII The Relation of a Maâ—ter is founded in that Right and Title which he has to the Possession or Service of his Slave or Servant VIII In these Relations the Names of Father Husband and Master imply Soveraignty and Superiority which varies notwithstanding and is more or less absolute according to the Foundation of these several Relations IX The Superiority of a Father is founded in that Power Priority and Dignity of Nature which a Cause hath over its Effect X. The distance is not so great in Wedlock but the Superiority of the Husband over the Wife is like that of the Right-Hand over the Left in the same Body XI The Superiority of a Master is an absolute Dominion over his Slave a limited and conditionate Command over his Servant XII The Titles of Pater Patriae and Sponsus Regni Father of the Country and Husband of the Realm are Metaphors and improper Speeches For no Prince ever begat a whole Country of Subjects nor can a Kingdom more propâ—rly be said to be married than the City of Venice is to be Adriatick Gulph XIII And to shew further that Magistracy is not Paternal Authority nor Monarchy founded in Fatherhood it is undeniably plain that a Son may be the Natural Soveraign Lord of his own Father as Henry the Second had been of Ieffeâ—y Plantagenet if he had been an English-man which they say Henry the Seventh did not love to think of when his Sons grew up to Years And this Case alone is an eternal Confutation of the Patriarchate XIV Neither is Magistracy a Marital Power for the Husband may be the obedient Subject of his own Wife as Philip was of Queen Maâ—y XV. Nor is it that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave for then a Prince might lawfully sell all hiâ— Subjects like so many Head of Cattel and make Mony of his whole Stock when ever he pleases as a Patron of Algiers does XVI Neither is the Relation of Prince and Subject the same with that of a Master and hired Servant for he does not hire them but as St. Paul saith They pay him Tribute in consideration of his continual Attendance and Imployment for the Publick Good. XVII That Publick Office and Imployment is the Foundation of the Relation of King and Subject as many other Relations are likewise founded upon other Functions and Administrations Such as Guardian and Ward c. XVIII The Office of a King is set down at large in the 17 th Chapter of the Laws of King Edward the Confessor to which the succeeding Kings have been sworn at their Coronation And it is affirmed in the Preambles of the Statutes of Malbridg and of the Statute of Quo Warranto made at Glocester That the calling of Parliaments to make Laws for the better Estate of the Realm and the more full Administration of Justice belongeth to the Office of a King. But the fullest account of it in few words is in Chancellor Fortescue Chap. XIII which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case Coke VII Rep. Fol. 5. Ad Tutelam namque Legis Subditorum ac eorum Corporum bonorum Rex hujusmodi erectus est ad hanc potestatem à populo effluxam ipse habet quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari For such a King that is of every Political Kingdom as this is is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth Power of his People so that he cannot govern his People by any other Power Corolary A Bargain 's a Bargain CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation if it were then those Nations that wanted Scripture must have been without Government whereas Scripture it self says that Government is the Ordinance of Man and of Human Extraction And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular That it was moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the Peoplâ— Answ. to XIX Prop. II. All just Governments are highly beneficial to Mankind and are of God the Author of all Good they are his his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn is absâ—luely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa. 28. from 23 d to 29 th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have Strength by me Kings reign and Princes decree Iustice By me Prinees rule and Nobles even all the Iudges of the Earth Prov. 13.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plow-man saith His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him Isa. 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but leaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Mens Lands to be already butted and bounded when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same word being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution
Obligation whereby one Man is bound to yield Obedience to another but what is founded in Paternal or Patriarchal Authority II. All the Subjects of a Patriarchal Monarch are Princes of the Blood. III. All the People of England are not Princes of the Blood. IV. No Man who is naturally free can be bound but by his own Act and Deed. V. Publick Laws are made by Publick Consent and they therefore bind every Man because every Man's Consent is involved in them VI. Nothing but the same Authority and Consent which made the Laws can repeal alter or explain them VII To judg and determine Causes against Law without Law or where the Law is obscure and uncertain is to assume Legislative Power VIII Power assumed without a Man's Consent cannot bind him as his own Act and Deed. IX The Law of the Land is all of a piece and the same Authority which made one Law made all the rest and intended to have them all impartially executed X. Law on one side is the Back-Sword of Justice XI The best things when corrupted are the worst and the wild Justice of a State of Nature is much more desirable than Law perverted and over-ruled into Hemlock and Oppression This Discourse of Magistracy c. and the former Reasons were written by the foresaid Mr. S. Iohnson The Definition of a TYRANT by the Learned and Loyal Abraham Cowley published by the present Lord Bishop of Rochester in his Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwel I Call him a Tyrant who either intrudes himself forcibly into the Government of his Fellow-Citizens without any Legal Authority over them or who having a just Title to the Government of a People abuses it to the destruction or tormenting of them So that all Tyrants are at the same time Usurpers either of the whole or at least of a part of that Power which they assume to themselves and no less are they to be accounted Rebels since no Man can usurp Authority over others but by rebelling against them who had it before or at least against those Laws which were his Superiours Several Queries proposed to the Sages of the Law who have studied to Advance the Publick equally with if not more than their own private Interest Q. I. WHether the Legislative Power be in the King only as in his Politick Capacity or in the King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled If in the latter then Q. II. If the King grants a Charter and thereby great Franchises and Priviledges and afterwards the Grantees obtain an Act of Parliament for the Confirmation hereof is this the Grant of the King or of the Parliament If the latter as it seems to be because it is done by the whole and every part of the Legislative Power then Q. III. To whom can these Grantees forfeit this Charter And who shall take Advantage of the Forfeiture If the King then an Act of Parliament may be destroyed without an Act of Parliament If the Parliament only can call them to an Account then Q. IV. Of what Validity is a Iudgment pronounced under a colour of Law in B. R. against a Charter granted by Parliament If it be of any force then the King's Bench is Superior to the Legislative Power of the Kingdom If not then Q. V. What Reason can be assigned why it is not as safe to Act pursuant to an Act of Parliament notwithstanding a Iudgment entred in the King's Bench as it was to Act against an Act of Parliament before the Iudgment was entred And then Q. VI. Whether they that did the latter were not downright Knaves and whether they that refuse to do the former be not more nice than wise A LETTER TO THE KING When DUKE of YORK Perswading him to return to the Protestant Religion wherein the chief Errors of the Papists are exposed and the Tendency of their Doctrines to promote Arbitrary Government proved By an Old Cavalier and Faithful Son of the Church of England as Establish'd by Law. Illustrious Sir WHEN I look up to the Greatness of your Quality and down on my own meanness I cannot but tremble to make this Address so liable to be censur'd as presumptuous and obnoxious to variety of Misconstruction But since my Pen is guided by an Heart fill'd with profound Loyalty and Veneration towards all the Royal Family and a sincere respect and most passionate desires for the particular Prosperity Temporal and Eternal of your Royal Highness I cannot refrain discharging what I apprehended my Duty and therefore with good Esther finding not only my Country but your Highness also in such apparent I wish it may not prove inevitable hazard of Ruin am resolved to adventure forth and cast my poor weak Sentiments at your feet and If they perish they perish 'T is generally reported That you are long since turn'd Papist and so far believ'd That every day many hundred thousand Protestants are melted into Tears and Horror meerly on that Consideration and lament the same as one of the greatest Calamities that has happened in our Age. I must do my self so much Justice as to declaâ—e That I am none of those fanatical Spirits that either raise or lightly credit Rumours to the prejudice of my Superiors But besides what has been sworn by Persons whose Evidence none have hitherto been able to invalidate by any substantial Reasons or Incoherence in their Depositions your Highnesses Conduct and Deportment for many years past your absenting from the publick Worship of our Church Refusing legal Oaths and Tests your countenancing retaining an inâ—imate Correspondency with Roman Catholicks and many other Reasons not fit at least unnecessary here to be mention'd do all loudly speak it And for those who would go about to deny it as some wretched Pamphlet-scriblers and unthinking Health-drinkers have done besides the folly of the attempt they unwarily cast a greater load of Ignominy and Dishonour on your Highness whilst they pretend to vindicate you For is it imaginable That a Prince of your Generosity and Prudence would so far suffer the Affairs of your Royal Brother to be imbroil'd His Councils discompos'd all the Protestants in the World swallowed up with Astonishment and almost despair your own Honour fullied your Interest impaired and these Three Kingdoms put into a deplorable Distraction meerly upon a false supposition without rectifying in all this time their mistake by some real Demonstrations to the contrary If such a Capricio should sway with your Highness what were it but to render you the worst Subject the most unkind Brother the most Impolitick Prince and the maddest or most monstrous Man in the World I shall therefore take it for granted and consequently must tho' with all Humility and a Sorrow inexpressible direct my Discourse to your Highness as an Apostate from the Protestant Faith and if I am mistaken 't is your Highness has led not only me but almost all the World into that Error I am not insensible of my own weakness and
tugging and strugling to regain them whence continual disturbance will ensue and a standing Army must be kept on foot to support this ill acquired Grandâ—ur For those Subjects that contended with King Iohn and King Henry the Third c. tho' they were Papists and of the same Religion with those Princes could not brook it to be Slaves to their Arbitrary Pleasures in their Civil Rights Besides what a waking dream is it for any King that is free from the Roman Yoke to think to make himself more Absolute by involving himself and his Kingdoms in Thraldom to the Church of Rome wherein not only the Pope pretends a Right to domineer over him but every Ecclesiastick esteems himself wholly exempt from his Jurisdiction and all his People will be but half his Subjects viz. in Temporals for in Spirituals and in ordine ad spiritualia a monstrous draw net that may include almost all the Actions of Humane Life they are wholly to be Conducted by his Holiness and his Subordinate Ministers How therefore can your Highness if a Roman Catholick complain of the late successive Houses of Commons for pressing a Bill to exclude you Is it any Disloyalty to endeavour to preserve the Imperial Crown of England from a truckling and shameful Servitude to a Foreign Usurper's Power Or is it any such unheard of thing to debarr a Prince from a Throne that hath obstinately disabled himself Certainly above all Men the Roman Catholicks ought not to murmur at this for did not the Pope issue forth a Bull to exclude your Grandfather King Iames unless he would turn Papist And did not the Romanists though they acknowledged the Title of your other Grandfather Henry the Great to the French Diadem yet refuse to pay him any Obedience because a Protestant and on that only score fought against him as long as he continued so and thought it no Rebellion Your Highness perhaps will say What though they did so true Protestants and the Church of England do not own such Principles Well then if the Protestant Principles be better than those of the Church of Rome what Madness is it in your Highness to abandon the first and chuse the latter I am a dutiful and hearty Lover of Monarchy and when establish'd on such an Equi-pois'd Basis of Wisdom as ours is shall ever assert it to be the best Form of Government in the World and most agreeable to the Genius of English-men But that lineal descent is so sacred a thing that the Heir presumptive can for no default or crime whatsoever be debarr'd from the Crown by an Act of Parliament or publick Decree of State I do not understand For I am sure the practice in all Ages both at home and abroad in almost every Nation in the Earth hath run contrary And as to Right those that pretend such Succession in all Cases to be Iure Divino would do well to shew in what Texts of Scripture the same is prescribed till then they do but talk not argue and if a Candidate to the Crown for any Reasons whatsoever may without offence to the Law of God or Nature be Excluded by an Act of King Lords and Commons Then the Iune-divino-ship vanishes and nothing is left to be considered But whether such next Heir have done such Acts or is so qualified that in Prudence it be necessary for the Tranquillity of the Publick to Exclude him Now I believe there are but few of the Church of England but if the Bill had passed the Lords and his Majesty had given his Royal Assent to it would have acquiesc'd therein and consequently they do not believe the Exclusion to be simply unlawful by the Law of God or Nature for against either of them no Humane Ordinances ought to prevail But all true Loyalists do not despair but your Highness may yet prevent all Occasions of such Disputes by opening your eyes or rather that God in whose hands are the Hearts of Princes may irradiate your Royal Understanding and let you see the horrid Blackness of those Men who have endeavour'd to seduce you and of those Principles to which they would have inveigled you on purpose to have made your Highness a Property to their Ambition and Avarice and that under the shadow of your Illustrious Name they might one day Tyrannize at Pleasure over these Three Kingdoms If Heaven shall be pleased to work such an happy Inclination in your Highness you shall presently see the whole British Empire echoing with Praises and Acclamations and instead of murmurs of Seclusion every good Subject shall erect you a Throne in his heart But the grand difficulty will be to satisfie the prejudiced World of your sincerity herein for if your Highness which God forbid should declare your self a Protestant only to serve a present turn and use the Sacred Name of our Religion but as an Engine to advance the design of our bloody Enemies you would act at once the most dishonourably and in the end most prejudicially to your own Interest in the world and must certainly expect the blasts of Heaven and curses of Earth on all your future proceedings for Hypocrisie is odious to God and Man nor is there any Monster so abominable to serious Men of both sides as a Church-Papist Your Royal Highness I hope will excuse our fears for we are not ignorant of the Arts and Craft of Rome that she esteems no means unlawful to obtain her ends How shall any Oaths be sufficient Tests when a private dispensation may at once allow the taking and warrant the breaking of them Or what signifies the participation of our Sacraments to one that is taught We have no true Ministers of Christ if so no consecration consequently nothing but an ordinary Breakfast of common Brâ—ad and Wine and who shall lose the hopes of three Crowns rather than not taste such harmless viands Not that I dare imagine your Highnesses Understanding would suffer you to believe the lawfulness or your Princely Generosity permit you to practise these lewd dissimulations yet since such Doctrines are daily taught in the Roman Church how shall Protestants be assured they have no Influence on your Conduct I must therefore with all humble freedom assure your Highness that after so general an Opinion of your Highnesses having been a Roman Catholick though you should go never so duly to Church receive the Sacrament a thousand times and take Oaths all the way from Holy-rood House to St. Iames's yet the People would scarce believe the reality of your Conversion unless withal they see it accompanied with some other Demonstrations For as Faith without works is dead so Profession of a Religion without agreeable endeavours to advance it will be vain If his Royal Highness will the People say be a good Protestant he will undoubtedly discourage all Papists the sworn inveterate Enemies of our Religion he will not suffer a Popish Priest to approach his Person or Palace If he have had any intimation of
any ill designs if any have been tampering to reconcile him to Popery which is no less than Treason he will presently detect those mischievous Instruments that they may be brought to condign Punishment and applaud the Iustice that has been done on Coleman the five Jesuits Godfrey's Murderers c. thereby stopping the Mouths of that brazen Tribe who would make the World believe they died innocently He will declare 〈◊〉 all Arbitrary Designs detest those who by sneaking flatteries would unâ—â—ngâ— the ancient and most wise Constitution of our Government He will heartily recommend Parliaments to his Sacred Brother as the wisest and safest Councils and even thank the late Houses of Commons for their zeal against him whilst they apprehended him as an Enemy to his King and the Religion and safety of the Kingdom He will vigorously by his Counsels and Interests oppose the growing greatness of the French which at this day threatens all Europe with Chains and immediately tends not only to the decay of Great Britains Trade and Glory but also to the diminution oppression and if it lay in humane Power utter subversion of the Reformed Religion throughout the World. These and the like Noble Fruits will the People not unreasonably expect from your R. H. when ever you shall please to declare your self a Protestant which that you may speedily do not Politickly or Superficially but with that sincerity as so serious a matter of infinite more value than the Three Crowns you are Presumptive Heir to is the Prayer of all good Men and particularly of Your Royal Highness 's Most Humble and Faithful Servant Philanax Verax LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway 1688. Ten Seasonable QUERIES Proposed by an English Gentleman in Amsterdam to his Friends in England a little before the Prince of Orange came over I. WHether any Real and Zealous Papist was ever for Liberty of Conscience it being a fundamental Principle of their Religion That all Christians that do not believe as They do are Hereticks and ought to be destroyed II. Whether the King be a Real and Zealous Papist If he be Whether he can be truly for Liberty of Conscience III. Whether this King in his Brother's Reign did not cause the Persecution against Dissenters to be more violent than otherwise it would have been IV. Whether he doth not now make use of the Dissenters to pull down the Church of England as he did of the Church of England to ruin the Dissenters that the Papists may be the better enabled in a short time to destroy them both V. Whether any ought to believe he will be for Liberty any longer than it serves his Turn and whether his great eagerness to have the Penal Laws and Test repealed be only in order to the easie establishing of Popery VI. Whether if these Penal Laws and Test were repealed there would not many turn Papists that now dare not VII Whether the forcing of all that are in Offices of Profit or Trust in the Nation to lose their Places or declare they will be for Repealing the Penal Laws and Test be not Violating his own Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and a new Test upon the People VIII Whether the suspending the Bishop of London the Dispossessing of the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge of their Freeholds the Imprisoning and Prosecuting the Seven Bishops for Reasoning according to Law are not sufficient instances how well the King intend to keep his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience wherein he promiseth to protect and maintain all his Bishops and Clergy and all other his Subjects of the Church of England in quiet and full enjoyment of all their Possessions with any molestation or disturbance whatsoever IX Whether the Usage of the Protestants in France and Savoy for these three years past be not a sufficient Warning not to trust to the Declaration Promises or Oaths in matters of Religion of any Papist whatsoever X. Whether any Equivalent whatsoever under a Popish King that hath a standing Army and pretends to a Dispensing Power can be as equal Security as the Penal Laws and Test as affairs now stand in England FINIS A SIXTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. Five Letters from Scotland giving Account of expelling Popery from thence II. The Prince of Orange's Speech to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen met at St. Iames's With their Advice to the Prince to take upon him the Administration of the Affairs of Scotland With his Highness's Answer III. A Letter to a Friend advising in this Extraordiry Juncture how to Free the Nation from Slavery IV. The Application of the Bishop and Clergy of London to the Prince of Orange Sept. 21. 1688. V. An Address of the Nonconformist Ministers of London to the Prince of Orange VI. The Address of the City of Bristol to the Prince of Orange VII A Word to the Wise for Setling the Government VIII A Modest Proposal to the present Convention IX An Historical Account touching the Succession of the Crown X. A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England by reason of an Arbitrary Government erected there Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. Advertisement VVHereas there is a sixth and seventh Collection of old Papers with new Title-Pages remote from the present Juncture of Affairs published by R. Baldwin The Reader is desired to take notice that the Person that collected the first five Parts will continue them from time to time as often as matter occurs in which he will take care not to impose any thing but what is new and genuine and worth the Reader 's Money To be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-Head Court in Pater-Noster-Row who sells the former five and so all that shall follow Five LETTERS From a Gentleman in Scotland to his Friend in LONDON Being a True Account of what Remarkable Passages have happened since the Prince's Landing The manner of the taking of the Chancellor and his Lady in Man's Apparel The burning of the Pope Demolishing of the Popish Chappels c. with the total overthrow of the Roman Catholicks Edinburgh Decemb. 3. 1688. THE Students of the University here designed some time ago to burn the Pope's Effigies but that was not more zealously desired to be prevented by some than to be done by others Notwithstanding all the imaginable Care taken to prevent it yet it was done about Ten Days ago after day-light gone at the Cross and blown up with Art that seems to have been beyond their Invention above four Stories high Two Days thereafter they went to the Parliament-House at mid-day passing by the Guards crying No Pope No Papist And being got into the Parliament-House after they had required the Guards to be present at the Sentence and having got upon the Bench they Arraigned his Holiness before his Judges and gave the Jury their Commission who brought him in
who can tell what Contests there may be about the Right of the Crown The Deposed Prince is alive and his Right by Sword will be disputed c. If the Government be dissolved the Power devolves on the People no one can claim the Crown the Royal Family is as it were extinct the People may set up what Government they please either the old or a new A Monarchy absolute or limited or an Aristocracy or Democracy If a Monarchy limited supposing it mostly suited to the temper of the English they may choose what Family they please to sit in the Throne They may settle it on the Princess of Orange Princess Ann the Prince of Orange and for want of Issue on whom else they think meet These hold not by virtue of an old Right but by reason of the People's placing it upon them and the Monarchy may be thus de Novo made Hereditary and the King and Prince of Wales gone having lost their Right by the Dissolution of the Government The Iura Majestatis the Militia the Power of War and Peace or the Power of the Sword with the Power of making Judges Sheriffs c. may be lodged where now the Power of Legislation is viz. in King Lords and Commons which will necessitate frequent Parliaments and make it impossible for the Monarch to enslave us There are but two ways by which Slavery can be brought on us viz. Force or Injustice The Militia or Power of the Sword being in the People we are secured from the mischief of Force The Power of making Judges and all the Ministers of Justice being also in the People they cannot be ruin'd by Injustice But we must do no Evil â—hat Good may come of it Is our Government dissolved or is it not If there be a Dissolution Is it of the Constitution or only of the Form of Administration I confess my self not States-man enough to be acquainted with the Fineness of the Politicks but am apt to run the old Road and please my self with an old Distinction All Power is Originally or Fundamentally in the People Formally in the Parliament which is one Corporation made up of three Constituent Essentiating Parts King Lords and Commons so it was with us in England When this Corporation is broken when any one Essentiating Part is lost or gone there is a Dissolution of the Corporation The Formal Seat of Power and that Power devolves on the People When it 's impossible to have a Parliament the Power returns to them with whom it was originally Is it possible to have a Parliament It 's not possible The Government therefore is dissolv'd If what is essential to our Constitution be invaded or ravished from us the Constitution is broken I will instance in two things essential to the Constitution That the People choose their own Representatives And that their Representatives have such an Interest in the Legislation that no Laws be made or abrogated without their Consent The destroying one or both of these subverts the Foundation of our Government The Government being dissolved what must the People do Câ—re must be taken that the Government to be erected by such as will perfectly secure us from Slavery and be a Fence inviolable to the Liberty and Property of the People And the Rights of Majesty must be therefore lodged with the Parliament this will be grateful to the People The way of doing it must be Great Awful and August that none may be able to quarrel it A National Convention made up of the Representatives of the Community That the Convention may be truly National and represent the Community it must be larger than a House of Commons ordinarily is It 's this Convention that sets up what kind of Government they please If they 'l have a Parliament made up of King Lords and Commons it 's sufficient that this Convention is so pleased The Power of this Convention must be absolute and uncontroulable accountable to none but God. It gives Laws to Kings yea to the whole Parliament and sets bounds unto it it shall go so far and no further No Act of Parliament can be strong enough to move the Foundation laid by this Convention The Convention therefore as it has more Power than a Parliament and is it's Creator it must have a larger Body What think you therefore if the first thing done by the approaching Convention be the increasing their Number What if they double it Whether by ordering every Market-Town to send up their Representatives or every Hundred Wapentake c. or by some other way according to the proportion of People and publick Payments as the wise Men of this Convention shall judg most practicable that it may be the Grand Council of the Nation I have unburdened my self and am Your Humble Servant Ian. 5. 1688. Some Account of the Humble Application of the Pious and Noble Prelate Henry Lord Bishop of London with the Reverend Clergy of the City and some of the Dissenting Ministers in it To the Illustrious Prince William Henry the Prince of Orange on Friday September 21. 1688. HE declared in Excellent Words That they came to pay him their Humble Duties and most Grateful Respects for his very great and most hazardous Undertakings for their Deliverance and the Preservation of the Protestant Religion with the Ancient Laws and Liberties of this Nation He addeth That they gave up daily many Thanksgivings to Almighty God who had hitherto been graciously pleased so wonderfully to preserve his Person and prospeâ— and favour his good Design And they promised the continuance of their ferventest Prayers to the same God and all Concurrent Endeavours in their Circumstances for the promoting yet further that Work which was so happily begun and also for the perfecting of it not only in this Kingdom but in other Christian Kingdoms He likewise suggested to the Good Prince That some of the Dissenting Ministers and their Brethren were there present who having the same sense of his Coming hither with themselves had joyned themselves with them by him to render Him their Humblest and most Grateful Resentments His Highness was pleased to declare That he thanked them for their Attendance and acquainted them very briefly with the chiefest Ends of his Difficult and Chargeable Expedition That indeed it was to Preserve and Secure the Protestant Religion his own Religion and their Religion and assuring them he should not think any thing not Life it self too dear to hazard in promoting and perfecting so good a Work. Also he offered up with great Devotion his solemnest Acknowledgments to Almighty God for his Presence with him and Blessing upon his Endeavours and Arms hitherto and asked the Continuance of all their Prayers to God for him The Address of the Nonconformist Ministers in and about the City of London to his Highness the Prince of ORANGE WEdnesday Ianuary 2â—â— divers of the Dissenting Ministers in and about London that go under the Denominations of Presbyterial and Congregational to
it must have fallen if the King had died without Heir VI. If the Regality then be not Descended but thus Laps'd to the People and that this most Excellent Government is therein become Defective whether it be not of necessity that this defect be supplied by a speedy Constituting some Person to that Office Power and Trust to compleat the Government VII If that be so Then what Person in this present Juncture of Affairs is most proper to be therewith Invested Whetheâ— one who at the Nations charge at all Times and upon all Occasiâ—ns and to the utmost Extremities hath given undeniable Evidence to the World of his constant Resolution and endeavours to Subvert the Religion Laws and Liberties of his People Or one who at his own Charge and at the peril of his own Honour Life and Fortune hath Rescued and Delivered the Nation from that deploâ—able Condition and Danger and whose Wisdom Vertue Courage and Conduct is an Honour to the Age the Joy of all good Men and the Fear of Bad both here and abroad and who must adorn that People over whom he shall preside VIII If then the Crown be thus fallen and must be placed de novo Whether it was ever more necessary than now to settle and limit the Succession thereof as it hath been often done by Parliament in regard there are but Three Persons of the Protestant Religion anâ— oâ— the Royal Blood viz. his Highness and the Two Princesses not much different in Age beyond whom the Descendants are many and all Roman Catholicks IX Whether then it may not be adviseable it be limited to the Prince for Life the Remainder to his Princess and the Heirs of her Body the Remainder to the Princess Ann and the Heirs of her Body the Remainder to the Prince and the Heirs of his Body In Default of such Issue to such Person and Persons as the Lords and Commons then last sitting in Parliament shall Declare and Appoint X. Whether such Limitation will not avoid all Questions which may at present or hereafter arise touching the Title of the Crown either near or remote and settle and preserve the Peace of the Nation for ever XI Whether so doing will not prevent any scruple her Highness may have of accepting the Crown in her Father's Life-time as did arâ—se in the Son of King Edward the Second XII Whether thereby the Nation will not in some measure express its Duty and Gratitude to his Highness who under God hath â—redeemed and Delivered it from Popery and Slavery and raised his own Merit above the level of a Subject XIII Whether this Great Prince whom God hath advanced for the Conduct and Safety of the Protestant World will not be the steer to accomplish those Glorious Ends XIV Whether the Two Royal Daughters consâ—dering such his Highness's securing their Right and Succession to the Crown of these Realms against all Popish Endeavours to hinder the same will not see just Cause to promote the Limitations aforesaid XV. And lastly Whether the Wisdom and Interest of the Nation doth not oblige all good Men to concur with his Highness and his most Noble Declaration and Gracious Designs To Establish their Religion their Liberties and Properties beyond all Humane Power of Violation or Subversion for the Time to come A Modest PROPOSAL to the present CONVENTION THE thing that ofiers it self in this great Conjuncture is to have a Grand Committee of Lords and Commons Forty at least from each House to be as a Privy Council or Council of State or Governing Senate It were to be wished that Twenty of each Forty might be for Life and the other Twenty Biennial Ten going off every Year Or half might be changed Annually Each Senator or Counsellor to have for his Salary or Maintenance a Thousand Pounds a Year This would be such an Advancement to the Nobility and Gentry as England never saw And the Charge is a Trifle There is more spâ—nt in some Monarchies upon Hawks Hounds and Whores The Prince to preside in this Council or Senate or such Person as he shall appoint in his stead and to have Ten Votes at least He must also be General and Admiral and must have such further Powers and such a Maintenance or Revenue as his Great Merits require But withal such as are consistent with the Government he designs for us The Prince's Maintenance should equal or exceed that of all the Senators put together All that are of this Council and all that hope to be that is all the Considerable Men of the Nation will by this means be firm to the Prince And so will those others who have the great Priviledge of Choosing them whereby they may have Confidence in their Administration And this one thing will give the Prince so strong an Interest that he needs fear no Pretension that can be against him It will be better than a Standing Army The necessity whereof nothing can prevent but such a Standing Council The Parliament to be Chosen Triermially and to meet Annually It is believed that such a Constitution as this would effectually Secure us according to the Princes good Intentions from Popery and Tyranny And the Prince will be the glorious Author of the Britannick Liberty as his Great Grand-Father was of the Belgick The Genoeses to this day adore the Memory of Andrew Doria who chose rather to make them a Free State than to be their Prince Barely to change our Master would but revive the Feuds of York and Lancaster and involve us in the like Calamities These things to continue but during the Life of the King and not to prejudice a Protestant Successor A Short Historical Account touching the Succession of the CROWN IN the Heptarchy there was no sixt Hereditary Right one King tripping up the Heels of another as he had Power till one got all Afterward no sixt Hereditary Right for Althestan the Great King was a Bastard and so were several others why by then Courage and Policy got the Crown so that a Law was made under the Saxon Monarchy de Ordinatione Regnam that directed the Election of Kings prohibiting Bastards to be Elected Edward the Confessor was not King Iure Haereditario William the First called the Conqueror had no Right buâ— from the Peoples Election William Ruffus was Elected against the Right of his Elder Bâ—othâ—â— Henry the First came in by the same way King Stephen was Elected a Clero Populo and Confirmeâ— by the Popo Henry the Second came in by Consent yet he had no Hereditary Right for his Mother was living Richard the First was charged before God and Men by the Arch-Bishop upon his Coronation that he should not presume to take the Crown unless he resolved faithfully to observe the Laws King Iohn his Brother because his Elder Brother's Son was a Foreigner was Elected a Clero Populo and being Divorced from his Wife by his new Queen he had Henry the Third Henry the Third was Confirmed
and Setled in the Kingdom by the General Election of the People and in his Life-time the Nation was Sworn to the Succession of Edward the First before he went to the Holy Land. Edward the First being out of England by the Consent of Lords and Commons was declared King. Edward the Second being misled and relying too much upon his Favourites was Deposed and his Son was declared King in his Life-time Richard the Second for his evil Government had the Fate of the Second Edward Henry the Fourth came in by Election of the People to whom Succeeded Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth in whose time Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown and an Act of Parliament was made that Henry the Sixth should enjoy the Crown for his Life and the said Duke after him after which King Henry raises an Army by Assistance of the Queen and Prince and at Wakefield in Battel kills the Duke for which 1 Ed. 4. they were all by Act of Parliament Attainted of Treason and one principal Reason thereof was for that the Duke being declared Heir to the Crown after Henry by Act of Parliament they had killed him Edward the Fourth enters the Stage and leaves Ed. 5. to Succeed to whom Succeeds Richard the Third Confirmed King by Act of Parliament upon Two Reasons First That by reason of a Precontract of Edward the Fourth Edward the Fifth his Eldest Son and all his other Children were Bastards Secondly For that the Son of the Duke of Clarence second Brother to Edward the Fourth had no Right because the Duke was Attainted of Treason by a Parliament of Ed. the 4 th Henry the Seventh comes in but had no Title First Because Edward the Fourth's Daughter was then living Secondly His own Mother the Countess of Richmond was then living After him Henry the Eighth wore the Crown who could have no Title by the Father in his time the Succession of the Crown was Limitted several times and the whole Nation Sworn to the Observance Sir Thomas Moor declared That the Parliament had a Power to bind the Succession which was declared to be Law by 13 Eliz. cap. 1. and made a Praemunire to hold the contrary Edward the Sixth succeeded but his Mother was married to King Henry while Ann of Cleve his Wife was living Queen Mary was declared a Bastard and by Vertue of an Act of Parliament of Henry the Eighth she Succeeded which Act being Repealed in the First of her Reign and the Crown being Limitted otherwise by Parliament all the Limitations of the Crown in King Henry the Eighth's Reign were avoided so that Queen Elizabeth who was declared a Bastard by Act of Parliament in Henry the Eighth's time and limitted to Succeed in another Act in his time and that Act repealed by Queen Mary became Queen in the force of her own Act of Parliament which declares her Lawful Queen The Crown was Entail'd in Richard the Second's time again in the time of Henry the Fourth again in the time of Henry the Sixth again in the time of Edward the Fourth again in the time of Richard the Third again in the time of Henry the Seventh Thrice in the time of Henry the Eighth And upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain both the Crowns of England and Spain were Entailed whereby it was provided that of the several Children to be Begotten upon the Queen one was to have the Crown of England another Spain another the Low-Countries the Articles of Marriage to this purpose were Confirmed by Act of Parliament and the Pope's Bull. So that it was agreed by the States of both Kingdoms and the Low-Countries and therefore probably the Universal Opinion of the Great Men of that Age That Kings and Sovereign Princes with the Consent of their States had a Power to Alter and Bind the Succession of the Crown and never denied to be Law till the Reign of King Charles the Second True it is that this Doctrine doth not go down well with those that do pretend to Prerogative added as they say by the Act of Recognition made to King Iames and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which do make so much talk conceâ—ning Inheritance and Heirs But let these Gentlemen consider that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future nor doth the same cross the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the Course of the Common-Law for after-Ages Nor do the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy hold forth any such Obligation unto Heiâ—s otherwise than as supposing them to be Successors and in that Relation only And therefore was no such Allegiance due to Edward the Sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth until they were actually possest of the Crown as may appear by the Oath forced by the Statute of H. 8. touching their Succession Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Ed. 6. Queen Mary or Queen Eliz. until these Heirs were actually possest of the Crown and so were Kings and Queens as by the express words in the several Statutes do appear Nor did the Recognition by the Parliament made to Queen Elizabeth declare any engagement to the People to assist and defend Her and the Heirs of Her Body otherwise than with this Limitation being Kings and Queens of this Realm as by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear Moreover had these Oaths been otherwise understood the Crown had by virtue of them been preingaged so as it could never have Descended to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth or King Iames but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the Sixth for ever A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England by reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there THat a Colony so considerable as New-England is should be discouraged is not for the Honour and Interest of the English Nation in as much as the People there are generally Sober Industrious Well-Disciplin'd and apt for Martial Affairs so that he that is Sovereign of New-England may by means thereof when he pleaseth be Emperor of America Nevertheless the whole English Interest in that Territory has been of late in apparent danger of being lost and ruined and the Miseries of that People by an Arbitrary Government erected amongst them have been beyond Expression great The original of all which has been the Quo Warranto's issued out against their Charâ—ers by means whereof they have been deprived of their ancient Rights and Priviledges As for the Massachusets Colony whose Patent beareth date from the Year 1628. There was in the Year 1683 a Quo Warranto and after that in the Year 1684 a Writ of Scire Facias against them and they were required to make their appearance at Westminster in October which they knew nothing of till the month before so that it was impossible for them to answer at the time appointed yet Judgment was entred against them Plimouth Colony
after they had enjoyed their first Government above threescore years without so much as a preâ—ence of Misgovernment alledged had all their Priviledges at once taken from them There was a Quo Warranto against Conecticot Colony whose Charter was granted to them by King Charles the Second only Letters were sent to them in the King's Name signifying that in case they did resign their Charter they should take their choice of being under New-York or Boston Several of the Magistrates there returned a most humble and supplicatory Answer praying That their former Government might still continue but that if it must be taken from them they had rather be under Boston than New-York This was by some at Court interpreted a Resignation of their Charter and a Commission sent to Sir Edmond Andross who went with some armed Attendants to Hartford their principal Town and declared their Charter and former Government to be void As for Road-Island they submitted themselves to His Majesties pleasure Before these Changes happened New-England was of all the Foreign Plantations their Enemies themselves being Judges the most flourishing and deâ—irable But their Charters being all one way or other declared to be void and insignificant it was an easy matter to erect a French Government in that part of the King's Dominions no doubt intended by the Evil Counsellors as a Specimen of what was designed to be here in England as soon as the times would bear it Accordingly Sir Edmond Andross a Gernsey-man was pitched on as a fit Instrument to be made use of and a most Illegal Commission given him bearing date Iune 3 1686 by which he with four of his Council perhaps all of them his absolute Devotees are impower'd to make Laws and raise Moneys on the Kings Subjects without any Parliament Assembly or Consent of the People It was thought by Wise Men that the Remembrance of Dudley and Empson who were in the days of King Henry the Eighth executed for acting by a like Commission would have deterred them from doing so But it did not for Laws are made by a few of them and indeed what they please nor are they printed as was the Custom in the former Governments so that the People are at a great loss to know what is Law and what not Only one Law they are sensible of which doth prohibit all Town-Meetings excepting on a certain Day once a Year whereas the Inhabitants have occasion to meet once a Month sometimes every Week for relief of the Poor or other Town-Affairs But it is easy to penetrate into the Design of this Law which was no Question to keep them in every Town from complaining to England of the Oppression they are under And as Laws have been Established so Moneys have been Raised by the Government in a most Illegal and Arbitrary way without any consent of the People Sir Edmond Andross caused a Tax to be leavied of a Penny in a Pound on all the Towns then under his Government And when at Ipswich and other places the Select Men as they are there stiled voted That inasmuch as it was against the Common Priviledges of English Subjects to have Money raised without their own Consent in an Assembly or Parliament That therefore they would petition the King for liberty of an Assembly before they made any Rates the said Sir Edmond Andross caused them to be Imprisoned and Fined some 20 l. some 30 l. and some 50 l. as the Judges by him instructed should see meet to determine Yea and several Gentlemen in the Country were Imprisoned and bound to their Good Behaviour upon meer suspicion that they did incourage their Neighbours not to comply with these Arbitrary Proceedings And that so they might be sure to effect their Pernicious Designs they have caused Juries to be pick'd of Men who are not of the Vicinity and some of them meer Strangers in the Country and no Freeholders which actings are highly Illegal One of the former Magistrates was committed to Prison without any Crimes laid to his Charge and there kept half a Year without any Fault and tho he petitioned for a Habeas Corpus it was denied him Also inferiour Officers have extorted what Fees they please to demand contrary to all Rules of Reason and Justice They make poor Widows and Fatherless pay 50 s. for the Probate of a Will which under the former easy Government would not have been a Tenth part so much Six Persons who had been illegally imprisoned were forced to give the Officers 117 l. whenas upon Computation they found that here in England their Fees would not have amounted to 10 l. in all And yet these things tho bad enough are but a very small part of the Misery which that poor People have been groaning under since they have been governed by a Dispotick and Absolute Power For their new Masters tell them that their Charter being gone their Title to their Lands and Estates is gone therewith and that All is the Kings and that They represent the King and that therefore all Persons must take Patents from them and give what they see meet to impose that so they may enjoy the Houses which their own Hands have built and the Lands which at vast Charges in subduing a Wilderness they have for many Years had a rightful possession of as ever any People in the World had or can have Accordingly the Governor ordered the Lands belonging to some in Charles-Town to be measured out given to his Creatures and Writs of Intrusion to be issued out against others And the Commons belonging to several Towns have been given to some of the Governours Council who begged them to the impoverishing if not utter ruining of whole Townships And when an Island belonging to the Town of Plimouth was petitioned away from them by one Nathaniel Clark whom Sir Edmond Andross made his Property because the Agents of the said Town obtained a voluntary Subscription to maintain their Title at Law they were compelled to come not only out of their own Country but Colony to Boston to answer there as Criâ—inals at the next Assizes and bound to their good Behaviour The Officers in the mean time extorting 3 l. per Man for Fees. These were the miserable Effects of New-England's being deprived of their Charters and with them of their English Liberties They have not been altogether negligent as to endeavours to obtain some relief in their sorrowful Bondage for several Gentlemen desired Increase Mather the Rector of the Colledge at Cambridge in New-England to undertake a Voyage for England to see what might be done for his distressed Country which Motion he complied with and in Iune the 1 st 1688 he had the favour to wait on the King and privately to acquaint him with the enslaved and perishing Eâ—tate of his Subjects in New-England The King was very gracious and kind in his Expressions then and often after promising to give them ease as to their Complaints and Fears Amongst other things
sometimes even very anciently when upon extraordinary Occasions they met out of Course a Precept an Edict or Sanction is mentioned to have issued from the King But the times and the very place of their ordinary Meeting having been certain and determined in the very first and eldest times that we meet with any mention of such Assemblies which times are as ancient as any Memory of the Nation it self hence I infer that no Summons from the King can be thought to have been necessary in those Days because it was altogether needless Secondly The Succession to the Crown did not in those Days nor till of late Years run in a course of lineal Succession by right of Inheritance But upon the Death of a Prince those Persons of the Realm that composed the then Parliament assembled in order to the choosing of another That the Kingdom was then Elective though one or other of the Royal Blood was always chosen but the next in lineal Succession very seldom is evident from the Genealogies of the Saxon Kings from an old Law made at Calchuyth appointing how and by whom Kings shall be chosen and from many express and particular Accounts given by our old Historians of such Assemblies held for electing of Kings Now such Assemblies could not be summon'd by any King and yet in Conjunction with the King that themselves set up they made Laws binding the King and all the Realm Thirdly After the Death of King William Rufus Robert his elder Brother being then in the Holy Land Henry the youngest Son of King William the first procur'd an Assembly of the Clergy and People of England to whom he made large Promises of his good Government in case they would accept of him for their King and they agreeing that if he would restore to them the Laws of King Edward the Confessor then they would consent to make him their King He swore that he would do so and also free them from some Oppressions which the Nation had groan'd under in his Brothers and his Fathers time Hereupon they chose him King and the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of York set the Crown upon his Head which being done a Confirmation of the English Liberties pass'd the Royal Assent in that Assembly the same in Substance though not so large as King Iohn's and King Henry the thirds Magna Charta's afterwards were Fourthly After that King's Death in such another Parliament King Stephen was elected and Mawd the Express put by though not without some Stain of Perfidiousness upon all those and Stephen himself especially who had sworn in her Father's Life-time to acknowledg her for their Sovereign after his Decease Fifthly In King Richard the firsts time the King being absent in the Holy Land and the Bishop of Ely then his Chancellor being Regent of the Kingdom in his Absence whose Government was intolerable to the People for his Insolence and manifold Oppressions a Parliament was convened at London at the Instance of Earl Iohn the King's Brother to treat of the great and weighty Affairs of the King and Kingdom in which Parliament this same Regent was depos'd from his Government and another set up viz. the Arch-Bishop of Roan in his stead This Assembly was not conven'd by the King who was then in Palestine nor by any Authority deriv'd from him for then the Regent and Chancellor must have call'd them together but they met as the Historian says expresly at the Instance of Earl Iohn And yet in the Kings Absence they took upon them to settle the publick Affairs of the Nation without him Sixthly When King Henry the 3 d. died his eldest Son Prince Edward was then in the Holy Land and came not home till within the third Year of his Reign yet immediately upon the Father's Death all the Prelates and Nobles and four Knights for every Shire and four Burgesses for every Borough assembled together in a great Council and setled the Government till the King should return made a new Seal and a Chancellor c. I infer from what has been said that Writs of Summons are not so essential to the being of Parliaments but that the People of England especially at a time when they cannot be had may by Law and according to our old Constitution assemble together in a Parliamentary way without them to treat of and settle the publick Affairs of the Nation And that if such Assemblies so conven'd find the Throne vacant they may proceed not only to set up a Prince but with the Assent and Concurrence of such Prince to transact all publick Business whatsoever without a new Election they having as great Authority as the People of England can delegate to their Representative II. The Acts of Parliaments not formal nor legal in all their Circumstances are yet binding to the Nation so long as they continue in force and not liable to be questioned as to the Validity of them but in subsequent Parliaments First The two Spencers Temp. Edvardi Secundi were banished by Act of Parliament and that Act of Parliament repealed by Dures Force yet was the Act of Repeal a good Law till it was annull'd 1 Ed. 3. Secondly Some Statutes of 11 Rich. 2. and Attainders thereupon were repealed in a Parliament held Anno 21. of that King which Parliament was procur'd by forc'd Elections and yet the Repeal stood good till such time as in 1 Henry 4. the Statutes of 11 Rich. 2. were revived and appointed to be firmly held and kept Thirdly The Parliament of 1 Hen. 4. consisted of the same Knights Citizens and Burgesses that had served in the then last dissolved Parliament and those Persons were by the King's Writs to the Sheriffs commanded to be returned and yet they passed Acts and their Acts tho never confirmed continue to be Laws at this Day Fourthly Queen Mary's Parliament that restored the Pope's Supremacy was notoriously known to be pack'd insomuch that it was debated in Queen Elizabeth's time whether or no to declare all their Acts void by Act of Parliament That course was then upon some prudential Considerations declined and therefore the Acts of that Parliament not since repealed continue binding Laws to this Day The Reason of all this is Because no inferior Courts have Authority to judg of the Validity or Invalidity of the Acts of such Assemblies as have but so much as a Colour of Parliamentary Authority The Acts of such Assemblies being entred upon the Parliament-Roll and certified before the Judges of Westminster-Hall as Acts of Parliament are conclusive and binding to them because Parliaments are the only Judges of the Imperfections Invalidities Illeâ—â—lities c. of one another The Parliament that call'd in King Charles the second was not assembled by the King 's Writ and yet they made Acts and the Royal Assent was had to them many of which indeed were afterwards confirmed but not all and those that had no Confirmation are undoubted Acts of Parliament without it and have ever
since obtained as such Hence I infer that the present Convention may if they please assume to themselves a Parliamentary Power and in Conjunction with such King or Queen as they shall declare may give Laws to the Kingdom as a legal Parliament A LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION SIR I Hear you are elected a Member of this next Convention and therefore expect to see you very suddenly in Town but I caâ— tell you my mind more freely in Writing and you may think better of it when you see it before you and therefore I have rather chose to give you the trouble of this Paper than to leave all to a personal Conference at our next Meeting I will not dispuâ—e with you about what is past or what is to come it is too late to do the first and as for the second whatever becomes of other Arguments Interest is most apt to prevail and therefore all that I beg of you is to take care that you do not mistake your own and the Nations Interest in a matter of such high Concernment There is no less Affair before you than the Fate of Princes and of three Kingdoms which requires the most calm mature and deliberate Advice and yet when you come to London you will find such Distractions and Divisions in Mens Counsels that all the threatning Dangers of Popery were not a more formidable prospect to Considering Men all old Animosities are revived and new ones fomented every day some are visibly acted by Ambition others by Revenge the Dissenter is very busie to undermine the Church and the Commonwealths Man to subvert Monarchy and the Lord have Mercy upon us all I doubt not but you will readily confess that it is the common Interest to have things settled upon such a bottom as is most like to last and then I am sure you must consult both Law and Conscience in the matter and keep to your old Establishment as near as you can for when there are so many Distempers in Mens Minds and such contrary Interests it is no time to innovate it is no time to lay new Foundations when there are frequent Earthquakes which will not give them time to settle The Revolutions of State have been so quick and sudden of late that all prudent Men will be cautions how they try Experiments which are commonly dangerous and uncertain but especially in matters of Government which depend on the good liking of free and moral Agents and when so many Hundred Thousands are to be satisfied you can never guess at the prevailing Opinion by the major Vote of a Convention Let us then consider what is most likely to give the most general satisfaction to the Nation for that I am sure is most likely to be lasting and because you may be a Stranger to these Matters yet I will give you an Account of the different Projects now on foot as well as I can learn them Some are for sending to the King and Treating with him to return to his Government under such Legal Restraints as shall give security to the most jealous Persons for the preservation of their Liberties Laws and Religion and if he will not consent to this to make the next Heir Regent Others are for declaring the Crown forfeited or demised and proclaiming the Princess of Orange Others will have the Government dissolved and begin all de novo and make the Prince of Orange King or Crown him and the Princess together and postpone the Title of the Princess Ann till after the Prince's Death if he survive the Princess I shall not pretend to tell you which of these I should prefer were it Res integra for the Question is not which you and I should like best but which will be the firmest Foundation for the Peace and Settlement of these Kingdoms 1. As for the first though it be horribly decried and such Men foolishly exposed as Friends to Popery and Arbitrary Power yet I could never meet with any Man yet who had the face to reject all Treaty with the King upon any other pretence but that it was in vain that it is impossible he should give any Security to the Nation that he would Govern by Law which is so ridiculous a pretence that it will satisfy no Body but those who are resolved that he shall never return For as little as I am versed in this matter I could frame such Laws as should put it utterly out of the King's Power to invade our Liberties or Religion However I am sure we should have thought our selves very secure would the King have called a Free Parliament and given them liberty to have made what Laws they pleaseâ— and that which would have given such general satisfaction before had it been granted I suspect should it be now granted and refused that would give as general dissatisfaction nay the very refusal to Treat will be thought such a scandalous neglect of our Duty to a Sovereign Prince and give such Jealousies to People that those who oppose it are only afraid that the King should comply as will be the foundation of universal Discontents which will shew themselves upon the first occasion It is certain would the Convention Treat with the King either they would agree or they would not agree if they could not agree upon the proposal of reasonable Securities this would satisfie Multitudes of People that they had tried if they did agree this would give universal satisfaction and there were an happy end of all our Troubles But now let us suppose that part of the Convention should prevail which is against Treating with the King and for deposing or setting him aside without more ado let us consider what is like to be the most probable Consequence of this Iâ— is certain this fundamental Change in the Government cannot be made by any Legal Authority for the Convention will not pretend to any such Legal Power and there can be no Parliament without a King and a King whose whole Authority depends upon a Convention that has no such Authority is but in a weak state as to Civil Right No Man will think himself bound in Conscience to obey him and when every Mans Conscience is free let such a Prince beware of Epidemical Discontents And let you and I calmly consider what Discontents may probably arise upon such a Juncture 1. First then All those who think themselves bound by their Oath of Allegiance to defend the King's Person Crown and Dignity who wonder at Men of Law who talk of a Forfeiture or Demise of the Crown while the King lives and flies out of his Kingdoms only for the safety of his Person and because he will not trust himself in the power of his Enemies I say all such Persons will be greatly discontented at Deposing the King and will never own any other King while their own King to whom they have sworn Allegiance lives and tho you should suppose such Conscientious Men to be very few
yet if these few should happen to be Persons of Character of known Prudence and Abilities Integrity and Honesty in Church or State their Examples would give a terrible Shock to such a new tottering Government tho they were never so Tame and Peaceable void of Faction and Sedition themselves And yâ—t lâ—t me tell you you must not judge of the Numbers of â—hese Men by the late general defection The whole Nation I confess was very unanimous for the Prince great numbers of Gentlemen nay of the King 's own Soldiers went over to him very few but Papisâ—s offered their Service to the King but the reason of this was very evident not that they were willing to part with the King and set up another in his room but because they were horribly afraid of Pâ—pery and very desirous to see the Laws and Religion of the Nation settled upon the old Foundations by a Free Parliament which was all the Prince declared for but many who were Well-wishers to this Design will not renounce their Allegiance to their King and now they see what is like to come of iâ— are ashamed of what they have done and ask God's pardon for it and are ready to undo it as far as they can 2. Besides a thousand occasions of Discontent which may happen in such a Change of Government as this which no Body can possibly foresee and yet may have very fatal Consequences there are some very visible occasions for it besides the sense of Loyalty and Conscience How many Discontents think you may arise between the Nobility and Gentry who attend the new Court Every Man will think he has some Merit and expect some marks of Favour to have his share of Honour and Power and Profit and yet a great many more must miss than those who speed and many of those who are Rewarded may think they han't their Deserts and be disconternted to see others preferred before them and those whose expectations are disappointed are disobliged too and that is a dangerous thing when there is another and a righful King to oblige for Duty and Discontent together to be revenged if a new King and to be reconciled to an old One will shake a Throne which has so sandy a Foundation The like may be said of the Soldiery who are generally Men of Honour and Resentment and have the greater and sharper Resentments now because they are sensible of their mistake when it is too late yet as they ought not to have Fought for Popery nor against the Laws and Liberties of their Country fo neither ought they to have deserted the defence of the King's Person and Crown but have brought the Prince to Terms as well as the King. Thus you easily foresee what a heavy Tax must be laid upon the Nation to defray the Charge of this Expedition and I believe the Country would have paid it very chearfully and thankfully had the Prince resâ—ored to them their Laws and Liberties and Religion together with their King but you know Men are apt to complain of every thing when Money is to be paid and it may be it will be thought hard to lose their King and to pay so deaâ— for it too And tho what the Convention does is none of the Prince's fault no more than it was his design yet angry People don't use to distiâ—guish so nicely But there is a greater Difficulty still than all this There are no Contentions so fierce as those about Religion this gave Life and Spirit to the Prince's Design and had the main stroke in this late Revolution And though Popery were a hated Religion yet most Men are as zealous for their own Religion as they are against Popery Those of the Church of England are very glad to get rid of Popery but they will not be contented to part with their Church into the Bargain for this would be as bad as they could have suffered under Popery The several Sects of Dissenters are glad to get rid of Popery also but now they expect glorious Days for themselves and what they expect God Almighty knows for I am confident they don't know themselves Now consider how difficult it will be for any Prince who has but a crazy Title to the immediate possession of the Crown to adjust this matter so as neither to disgust the Church of England nor the Dissenters and if either of them be disobliged there is a formidable Party made against them This being the Case should the King be deposed and any other ascend the Throne it will be necessary for them to keep up a standing Army to quell such Discontents for where there are and will be Discontents without any tye of Conscience to restrain Men there can be no defence but only in Power and this will raise and encrease new Discontents for it alters the frame of our Constitution from a Civil to a Military Government which is one of the great Grievances we have complained of and I believe English People will not be better pleased with Dutch or German or any foreign Souldiers than they were with their own Country-Men and I believe English Souldiers will not be extreamly pleased to see themselves disbanded or sent into other Countries to hazard their Lives while their Places are taken up by Foreigners who live in ease plenty and sasety And when things are come to this pass which is so likely that I cannot â—ee how all the Wit of Man can prevent it I will suppose but one thing more which you will say is not unlikely that the King return with a foreign Force to recover his Kingdoms how ready will the Men of Conscience and the Men of Discontent be to join him nay to invite him Home again and if he returns as a Conqueror you will wish when it is too late that you had treated with him and brought him back upon safe and honourable Terms Secondly Let us suppose now that all this should be over-voted for I am sure it can never be answered and the Convention should resolve to proclaim the next Heir 1. You must be sure to examine well who is the next Heir that is you must throughly examine the Pretences of the Prince of Wales and yet if you have not good Proofs of the Imposture you had better let it alone For tho the Nation has had general presumptions of it yet a Male Heir of the Crown is mightily desired and People would be very fond of him if they had one and seem to expect some better Proofs than meer Presumptions against him because common Fame has promised a great deal more and if you should either say nothing to it or not what is expected it would be a very plausible pretence for discontented People to quarrel 2. Suppose the Princess of Orange should aâ—pear to be the next Heir what if a Lady of her eminent Vertue should scruple to sit upon her Father's Throne while he lives Or what if she should scruple it hereafter and
place her Father in his Throne again This is not impossible for Vertue is greater than a Throne For my part I think you will put a very hard thing upon so excellent a Lady and I pray God give her Grace to resist the Temptation A Regency is more tolerable because a Nation must be governed and none so proper to govern it as the next Heir but I should think none who expect to wear a Crown should countenance Subjects in deposing their King nor accept of a Crown upon such Terms as to take it off of a Father's Head It is a dangerous thing for a Prince who has a Title to the Crown to own that the Crown may be forfeited or demised by such a withdrawing if this be not so the Princess has no Right to the possession of the Crown yet and if it be so her Crown is worth a great deal less than formerly it was especially if she own this Secret by accepting the Crown which her Ancestors always concealed and which the best Subjects of England would not believe before what they may do after this I know not Thirdly The next Design I verily believe without the knowledg or thought of the Prince who has too great a Mind to think of any thing which in the opinion of any wise Man could stain and fully his Glory is to give the Crown to the Prince of Orange for it must be a Gift if any thing for he has no immediate Title to it that I know of This is upon a pretence that the Government is dissolved and therefore we must begin de novo which is very ridiculous when the King is still alive and the Laws in as full force as ever only the Regular Administration of Government at present interrupted by the King's absence but this is not the worst of it for it is a dangerous pretence too especially to Men of Quality and Esâ—â—tes as you are for if the Government be dissolved our Laws are dissolved and Honour and Property dissolved with them and then I doubt the Mobile will come in for their share in the new Division of the Lands and set up for Men of as good Quality as any for if our Laws are gone we return to a state of Nature in which all Men are equal and all things common this I believe you will not be for for the Reason above-mentioned If then the Laws continue the Government is not dissolved and the Crown is not a Gift but an Inheritance still as much as your Estate is and then the Prince of Orange cannot have it in his own Right because his own Princess and the Princess Anne are before him consider then what the consequence of this Project would be 1. This alters the essential Constitution of the English Government by changing an Hereditary into an Elective Monarchy a thing which I know some Men are very fond of for then the next occasion they can find to quarrel with their Prince they may with as much ease turn it into a Common-Wealth for when the Crown is at the Peoples disposal they may if they please keep it to themselves 2. This will entangle all Men of Conscience in new Difficulties for the Oath of Allegiance does not only bind us to the King but to his Heirs and Successors which must be understood of the next lineal Heir where there is no Authority to alter it and whatever a Parliament may be thought to have with the Authority and Consent of the King no Man pretends that a Convention of the Estates has any Legal Authority to do it I should be as heartily glad as any Man to see the Prince of Orange legally seated on the English Throne but these are Difficulties I cannot break through Thus I have given you my hasty Thoughts and pray God to direct you I am Yours POSTSCRIPT THere is one thing more I would beg of you that the Story of French League to cut Protestants Throats in England maâ— be wâ—ll examined for this did more to drive the King out of the Nation than the Prince's Army and if this should prove a Sham as some who pretend to know say it is it seems at least to be half an Argument to invite the King back again In short remember you are a Convention not a Parliament and therefore nothing can give Authority to what you do but the good liking of the People and as Necessity only can justify your meeting without the King's Writs so I hope you will take care to do nothing but what will justify it self to God the King and your Country An ANSWER to the Author of the LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION Reverend Sir YOur Name your Quality your Religion and your Design in Publishing this Letter are wholly unknown to me but the confident Assertion pag. 3.6.16 That you are sure it can never be Answered sounds so like a Son or rather a Father of the Infallible Church that it has provoked me if not to answer yet at least to reflect upon some Passages in this Magisterial Composure § 2. Whatever becomes of other Arguments Interest is most likely to prevail You Sir suppose your Parliament-Man in these words to be one who will regard no Arguments from Justice Reason Religion or the Laws of God or Man Interest is the only thing which is likely to prevail an excellent Complement to a Parliament-Man but it goes higher yet and takes in the Majority of the States for no one Man shall ever determine these great things § 3. You tell him That All the threatning Dangers of Popery were not a more formidable Prospect to considering Men than the present Distractions and Divisionâ— Now surely this is a very bold and daring stroke but that I am certain these pensive thoughtful Men are not either very numerous or very considerable otherwise the few of the Church of England that are over-thoughtful in this Point deserve much Compassion because they disquiet themselves and others out of pure tenderness of Conscience and an over-great Loyalty but then there is no danger to be apprehended from them and they will in time satisfy their own Scruples and in the interim I doubt not infinitely more Men dread the Dangers of Popery even to this Day than all the Common-wealth-Men Dissenters ambitious and revengeful Wretches which you have so artfully mustered up to fright the Country Esquire with can over-ballance Strange it is in the mean time that the Dangers of Popery which last October appeared so formidable should in so short a time vanish or rather dwindle into nothing But God by the Ministry of the Prince of Orange and his Friends has brought this about In the rest of that Section I agree with you and approve of it The two next Sections being only a representation of the different Parties of Men now upon the Stage I leave as I find them § 6. Though the Opinion of those who are for sending to the King and treating with him
to return to his Government under such legal Restraints as shall give security to the most jealous Persons for the preservation of their Laws Liberties and Religion iâ— horribly decryed c. yet the only Reason against it is because it is vain Now Sir that Reason is so very good that it may perhaps justily that dreadful Consequence you so shrink at for though I do not doubt but you are a wonderful Legislator yet if Twenty wiser Men than you were joined with you to frame these new Laws yet let but a Popish Prince have the Supreme Executive Power and the Legal Prerogatives and he will break through all your Restrictions with wonderful Facility as we have seen by Experience But then if you leave him the Name and take away the Power of a King you set up a Common-wealth immediately which will not end with your Popish Prince but there will be stickling to keep all things in the same State in the following Reign of what Religion soever the Prince is which was the Reason why the Limitations offered by Charles II. in 1679 were rejected And let it be remember'd also how well that Prince that was supposed to be a Protestant kept his Word and the Solemn League and Covenant which he solemnly with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven swore to observe in Scotland c. Well but we would have thought our selves very secure if the King would hâ—ve called a Free Parliament Yes Sir if he would have call'd it Freely so that it had been the production of his Will without Force but Sir it is notorious he was resolved the Parliament should either not be free or not meet and if your Memory will not serve you to recall the virulent Reflection on the humble Petition presented by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal the 17th of November last in which the Author tells us That the summoning a Parliament 〈◊〉 is so far from being the only way to preseâ—ve His Majesty and the Kingdom that it will be one of the principal causes of much Misery to the Kingdom c. and nothing would do then but driving the Prince of Orange out of the Kingdom with Force and Arms. Now I say Sir If you cannot remember this you shall never be trusted to frame Laws if I can help it There is another and a better Reason to refuse a Treaty than the fearing the King should comply Suppose that he should grant all that you can ask bating White-Hall the Reveâ—â—e the Title of King and the Right of calling Parliaments and making Peace and War What Security have we that he will acquiesce in this low restrained Estate Oaths Laws and Promises we had before but what did they signify Who shall be Guarantee what shall we do if he break out again In short quis eustodiet Custodes So that the many who desire a Treaty are desired to read the Enquiry into the presenâ— State of Affairs that they may not come into the Discipline of the severe Lady who has taught the Protestants in France and Piedmont a Lesson which England too must have gone through with if God and H. W. P. O. had not saved us But if the Convention should refuse to treat and Depose the King it would act without a Legal Power § 8. Why Sir here is no occasion to talk of a Deposition the King is gone of his own accord freely and they are only to consider whether we shall perish in a State of Anarchy reâ—al him and suffer over again all that is past and all that was intended but prevented or whether they shall recognize the next immediate Heir and enquire who that is Well but the next Heir it seems shall have small joy of it his whole Authority depending on a Convention that has no Authority In good time Will the Authority of this Prince when acknowledged depend on the Authority of the Convention Did Queen Elizabeth or King Iames I owe all their Authority to the Parliaments which recognized their respective Rights But no Man will think himself bound in Conscience to obey this Heir Have you Sir the keeping of all Mens Consciences or the knowledg of their Thoughts I can assure you mine is not in your custody § 9. All those who think themselves bound still by their Oath of Allegiance to defend the King's Person his Crown and Dignity c. will be greatly discontented Why Sir then they may go over into France and be admitted into his Guards and perhaps the generous Allowance given him by the French King will maintain them if their Heresie do not over-ballance their Loyalty and turn it into a Crime as it happened to the Hâ—gonots Well but they will never own any other whilst their own King lives Assuredly this is a wonderful Man if he could but as certainly inform us of the number as he can of the Thoughts and future Actions of these Loyalist's Well but if they should happen to be Persons of known Prudence Abilities Integrity Honesty though they were never so few and never so tame it would give a terrible stroke to this Toâ—tâ—ring Government Why Sir all or the greatest part of such Men in the Nation were a dreadful Body tho they were and ever will be few but Sir there must be a considerable Body of such Men first satisfied in the Convention a number without Doors are already satisfied and more will when the States have passed their Resolves and the remainder of the Men of this High Character who will still remain Discontented if they are any thing Peaceable though not over Tame will never be able to shock the most Tâ—â—tering Government in the World by their Examples how well soever he thinks of them Yet § 10. He endeavours to shew the number will not be small because many who joyned with the Prince are ashamed of what they have done and ask God pardon for is and are ready â—o undo it as far as they can Well Sir how many such do you know besides your self A List of these Men were worth the having and may perhaps be easily taken if one knew how to separate them from the rest however I should not fear greatly the terrible Shock of these wonderful Men till I had better information of their Numbers than you can possibly give us They were not willing to part with the King tho they were horribly afraid of Popery Why Sir has the King changed his Religion in France or are those Gentlemen so fond of the King that they would now be contented to suffer all that Popery threatned so lately Or are they become as weary of their Delivery as they were before of Popery Or will they sacrifice their Laws Religion old Foundations and Free Parliaments to their Allegiance to their King If you say Yes I have done if no then you would have what was not to be had and will not be contented with what may be hâ—d and if the Number of these Men is great farewel
to the Liberties Laws Religion and Priviledges of England and its Wealth and Inhabitants too and what is left you may be pleased to divide amongst your Men of Character To all this he assures us § 10. There will be a Thousand Occasions of Discontent Juâ—â— a Thousand neither one more or less besides those springing from the sense of Loyalty and Conscience Strange that these Two should be so troublesome as to equal if not exceed the whole Thousand that went before He that had been before so liberal of his Informatiâ—n now sets us to guess in § 10. How many will be discontented in the new Court for want of Preferment Why Sir If you please to inform me how many days in February shall be clear and how many shall be cloudy I will fall a guessing how many in the new Court shall be pleased and how many shall be dissatisfied but when I have done it will not be worth the while because this ever happens and Courtiers have an old way of keeping these Malecontents in hope till they fall off or gain what they desire and so if there should happen to be a Thousand of them they will not be able to shock the Government if there is no other cause of Discontent than that Well but here Duty and Discontent will mix because they are sensible of their Mistake when it is too late For as they ought not to have fought for Popery nor against the Laws and Liberties of their Country so neither â—ught they to have deserted the defence of the King's Person and Crown but have brought the Prince to Terms as well as the King Why Sir Nemo tenetur ad impossibilia The King was never brought to Terms nor perhaps never will So that if they 〈◊〉 Fought at all it must have been for Popery and against both our Laws and Liberties Sir shew when and where the King offered us or the Prince any Terms and I will pass my word you shall be employed to frame Laws for the Convention which is certainly a good Employ for one that is so expert at it as you pretend to be Well § 13. A heavy Tax must be laid upon the Nation to defray the Charge of this Expedition Why Sir Are you of the Privy Câ—uncil to the Prince Surely he will be able to find some other Cause or not make the Tax so very heavy But Men will be very sorry to lose their King and pay so dear for it too Yes doubtless a Gracious King is a great Loss but if he will be gone and inâ—olve us in a War too Taxes must be pâ—id yea heavy Taxes to support the Charge of it or Louis will in a short time teach us what the Prince's Expedition was worth whatever it cost But this is not all we must part with our Church too the crazy Title will require the giving the Church to the Dissenters § 14. The Dissenters have or late acted very well and perhaps if a wise Man has the mannaging of them and the Popish Emissaries be carefully looked after we may compound the Quarrel better cheap than the parting with our Church Sir I am well assured a great deal less will for the present content them and the King is not Immortal and whenever he Dies the Crazy Title will be Soâ—â—red again if no Body be to blame for giving it another terrible Shock § 15. Should the King be Deposed or any other ascend the Throne it will be necessary to keep a standing Army to quell such Discontents You may be a good Law-framer for ought I know but I will swear you are no States-Man this whole Section is meer Whimsey borrowed from the Dutch Design Anatomized who had the folly to talk of Governing England by an Army of Dutch and Germans but why God knows except it were because a few were brought over to deliver us and cannot presently be returned back to Holland The Prince is both a wise and a good Prince and knows the Consequence of keeping those Forces long here better than a Thousand such Law-framers Supposâ— the King should return with a Foreign Force to recover his Kingdom how ready will the Men of Conscience be and the Men of Discontent to joyn with them nay to invite him Home again This looks so like a Roman Catholick Zeal that if I were not assured he is a Church of England-Man I could not believe but it was a Disciple of St. Omers But will the Conscientious Men invite the King home again with all his Apostolick Vicars Jesuits Ecclesiasticall Judges Dispensing Power and a round Army of French Dragoons to teach us the French Faith after the French Fashion Are these the Men of Character Prudence Ability Integrity or of Conscience either Would one of the Primitive Christians have talked thus have stood for a Licinius against a Constantine Well if the King comes in a Conqueror we shall wish we had Treated Truly I shall not I had rather be forced than deceived for then I know what I have to trust to and I would not willingly be accessary to my own Ruine Well suppose this unanswerable stuff is over-voted § 17. We are to bring good proof the Prince of Wales is an Imposture or else we hâ—d better let it alone Very good the Negative is to be proved we may guess by this what kind of Laws you Sir would frame Well but if this be not done the Discontented Men will have a plausible pretence to quarrel What the Conscientious Men will do we must guess but in all probability they will not be better qualiâ—ed What if the Princess of Orange be a Lady of that eminent Virtue that she should scruple to sit upon her Father's Throne whilst he lives Well his Majesty has deserted his Throne and Kingdom when he needed not except he had pleased and some Body must sit upon his Throne though he is yet Alive Now if it be her Right after his Death why not now Our Author is at his Prayers that God would give her Grace to resist the Temptation and I at mine That the Author may never be one of her Chaplains till he is better inform'd The rest of that Section is not unanswerable but not worth answering He has all along supposed the Prince of Orange Crown'd yet in the 19th Section he proves he can have no Right to it neither by Descent nor Gift and truly I am of the same mind for many Reasons and especially for the sake of the Three alledged by him Sect. 20 21 22. and for some others too of as great weight which may be found in the Lord Virulam 's History of Henry VII And yet our Case now before us has three Difficulties that had not 1. A King living 2. A Prince of Wales true or false 3. A Nation divided in Religion to which I might perhaps add the Excessive Power of France and the Excessive Zeal of this Generation to preserve the Descent of the Crown in the
Right Line and in the Legal Steps and Degrees And this being done I am persuaded nothing can divide the English Nation or lessen their Zeal and Affection to the Prince of Orange who has deserved the Crown if it were ours to give him The Postscript which is an Huy and Cry after the French League to cut our Throats I leave to the Convention And if I durst be so bold as to ask a Favour of them it should be to enquire what the Ro. Catholick meant by that Threat of theirs so frequently printed and spoken by them If fair means would not obtain the Repeal of our Penal Laws and Tests foul should Now for a Conclusion I would desire you Sir to propose your method of Restoring the King and Securing our Laws and Religion and it shall go hard but I will shew you it is impracticable or impossible that it will never be granted or if it be never observed And if you please to bless the World with a Receipt of an Obligation that will bind the Conscience of any other Roman Catholick so fast that neither Iesuit and Pope can break or untie it I assure you I will joyn with you in a Petition to the Convention for a Treaty forthwith without any other Terms to be proposed than the giving us that Security whatever it is And in the Interim I am SIR YOURS Ian. 24. 1688 9. FINIS The EIGHT Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. Proposals to the present Convention for Setling the Government II. Several Queries relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament III. A Protestant Precedent offer'd for the Exclusion of King Iames the Second IV. Reasons offer'd for placing the Prince of Orange singly in the Throne during his Life V. A Breviate for the Convention represented to the Lords and Commons of England VI. King Iames the First his Opinion of a King and of a Tyrant and of the English Laws Rights and Priviledges VII Proposals to the present Convention for perpetual Security of the Protestant Religion and Liberty of the Subjects of England London printed and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1689. PROPOSALS Humbly offered To the Lords and Commons in the present CONVENTION for Settling of the Government c. My Lords and Gentlemen YOV are Assembled upon Matters of the highest Importance to England and all Christendom and the result of your Thoughts in this Convention will make a numerous Posterity Happy or Miserable If therefore I have met with any Thing that I think worthy of your Consideration I should think my self wanting in that Duty which I owe to my Country and Mankind if I should not lay it before You. If there be as some say certain Lineaments in the Face of Truth with which one cannot be deceiv'd because they are not to be counterfeited I hope the Considerations which I presume to offer You will meet with your Approbation That bringing back our Constitâ—tion to its first and purest Original refining it from some gross Abuses and supplying its Defects You may be the Ioy of the present Age and the Glory of Posterity FIrst 'T is necessary to distinguish between Power it self the Designation of the Persons Governing and the Form of Government For 1. All Power is from God as the Fountain and Original 2. The Designation of the Persons and the Form of Government is eirther First immediately from God as in the Case of Saul and David and the Government of the Ievs or Secondly from the Community chusing some Form of Government and subjecting themselves to it But it must be noted that though Saul and David had a Divine Designation yet the People assembled and in a General Assembly by their Votes freely chose them Which proves that there can be no orderly or lasting Government without Consent of the People Tacit or Express'd and God himself would not put Men under a Governor without their Consent And in case of a Conquest the People may be called Prisoners or Salves which is a State contrary to the Nature of Man but they cannot be properly Subjects till their Wills be brought to submit to the Government So that Conquest may make Way for a Government but it cannot constitute it Secondly There is a Supreme Power in every Community essential to it and inseparable from it by which if it be not limited immediately by God it can form it self into any kind of Government And in some extraordinary Occasions when the Safety and Peace of the Publick necessarily require it can supply the Defects reform the Abuses and re-establish the true Fundamentals of the Government by Purging Refining and bringing Things back to their first Original Which Power may be called The Supreme Power Real Thirdly When the Community has made choice of some Form of Government and subjected themselves to it having invested some Person or Persons with the Supreme Power The Power in those Persons may be called The Supreme Power Personal Fourthly If this Form be a mix'd Government of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy and for the easy Execution of the Laws the Executive Power be lodg'd in a single Person He has A Supreme Power Personal quoad hoc Fifthly The Supreme Power Personal of England is in Kings Lords and Commons and so it was in Effect agreed to by King Charles the First in his Answer to the nineteen Propositions and resolved by the Convention of Lords and Commons in the Year 1660. And note That the Acts of that Convention tho never confirmed by Parliament have been taken for Law and particularly by the Lord Chief Justice Hales Sixthly The Supreme Power Personal of England fails three Ways 1. 'T is Dissolved For two Essential Parts fail 1. A King. 2. A House of Commons which cannot be called according to the Constitution the King being gone and the Freedom of Election being destroyed by the King's Incroachments 2. The King has forfeited his Power several Ways Subjection to the Bishop of Rome is the Subjection against which our Laws cry loudest And even Barclay that Monarchical Politician acknowledges That if a King alienate his Kingdom or subject it to another he forfeits it And Grotius asserts That if a King really attempt to deliver up or subject his Kingdom he may be therein resisted And that if the King have part of the Supreme Power and the People or Senate the other part the King invading that part which is not his a just Force may be opposed and he may lose his Part of the Empire Grotius de Bello c. Cap. 72. But that the King has subjected the Kingdom to the Pope needs no Proof That the has usurp'd an absolute Power superior to all Laws made the Peoples Share in the Legislative Power impertinent and useless and thereby invaded their just Rights none can deny 'T were in vain to multiply Instances of his Forfeitures And if we consider the Power exercis'd
't is for ever lost But I hope your Lordships and all those Gentlemen who compose this August Assembly will proceed with so much Zeal and Harmony that the Result of your present Consultations may be a lasting and grateful Monument to Posterity of your Integrity Courage and Conduct SEVERAL QUERIES Relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament More especially recommended to the Consideration of the BISHOPS I. HOW the House of Commons can answer it to those People whom they Represent if now they have an Opportunity they do not settle the Government upon such a Foundation as will be likely not only to preserve the Nation from Foreign Enemies but also from falling into the like unhappy Circumstances which it is but just now escaped out of and which in a great measure have proceeded from a want of a right Settlement of Publick Affairs at the Restauration of King Charles the Second II. Whether this can be done without altering the Succession since the Birth of the Prince of Wales is not proved supposititious though perhaps no Body doubts but it is so And supposing it proved so Whether it would not be more feasible to make a President now than to try the Experiment first when the next Right of Succession is claimed by the Infanta of Spain or perhaps some Prince her Heir too strong to resist without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange especially if there happen to be such Divisions amongst Us as are at this Time III. Whether it can be immagined to be worth the Prince of Orange's while to leave Holland where he is the chief Man and become a Subject in England nay and have such an uncertain Interest in his stay here that if his Wives Life chance to drop perhaps he may be banished in a Years time and not have a Place as things may happen to put his Head in For his Interest in Holland must necessarily fall into other Hands And no Body knows what fallings out may happen betwixt Us and the Dutch or what other Contingencies may happen that may give cause of Disgust IV. Whether considering the present State of Affairs the Strength of the King of France and the Irish Rebellion to say nothing of the Effects which the Entreaties and subtile Insinuations of a Father must necessarily have upon any one that is good natur'd it be safe to trust the Administration of Affairs to a Woman though never so vertuous And whether we shall be able to protect our selves against all these formidable Enemies and bring things to a due Settlement without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange whose Foreign Alliances are such as we can never hope to obtain if we confer the Crown upon any other V. Whether it would be a greater real Kindness to the Princess of Orange to make her sole Queen after such a manner as she will be likely to be turned out again or to make her and her Husband joint King and Queen during their two Lives I say her Husband who is a Prince not only able to defend her and her Kingdom from all the Dangers that may happen but also to take all the Trouble which may occur in the Administration of Affairs off her Hands so that she will enjoy all the Pleasure of being Queen without any thing of Trouble And we may add to this that if it had not been for him she had never enjoyed the Crown nor the Nation their Freedom VI. Whether the Terms the Parliament shall make with one that can pretend no Right to the Crown but what they give him will not be more likely to be kept by him than by one that pretends a Title and will be flatterâ—d up both by Lawyers and Divines I mean the Scum of them with Notions of a Right jure Divino and a Prerogative which cannot be parted with or abolish'd though by the King's Consent or Act of Parliament VII Whether the House of Commons upon these Considerations and divers others too long to mention will not think it necessary that the Prince and Princess of Orange be crowned King and Queen for their two Lives And whether it can be imagined that the Commons should so far betray their Country as to recede from this Point so necessary for its Preservation notwithstanding all the Disturbances which the Bishops shall make in the House of Lords and though they do not meet with the Concurrence of that House so soon as in reason might be expected VIII Whether the House of Lords will suffer themselves any longer to be imposed upon by the Bishops in a thing that will be so injurious to the Nation as it will be not to comply with the House of Commons in this great Point which must necessarily put such a damp upon Trade that it will certainly be the Ruin of many hundreds of Families in the Nation whose dependance are upon Handy-Craft-Trades to say nothing of the Disadvantages which may accrue by such a Delay to the poor Protestants in Ireland and admitting they should whether the Circumstances of Affairs would not in a little time force them to a compliance with the House of Commons IX Whether the Prince of Orange will not shew himself one of the unkindest Men in the World if he doth not stick by these People till he seeth them secured that have ventured their Lives and Fortunes for Him and their Country in confidence of his Protection and whether he as Head of the Protestant Religion be not obliged to stand by the 48 Protestant Lords and House of Commons that have served their Country so faithfully X. Whether it would not be Prudence in the Bishops supposing their Designs be good as I would hope they are to shew their readiness to assist the Nobility and Gentry in carrying on this great Work whereby they might settle the Church upon the surest Foundation the Laws of God and of the Land and continue themselves in the Affections of the People XI Whether all the Protestant Blood which shall be spilt in Ireland by reason of these long Delays will not be justly laid at the Bishops doors if they proceed after the same manner they have begun And lastly To answer the great Objection that we shall lose the Kingdom of Scotland if we make the King Elective for this Turn Whether the Scots can chuse any body that will be more agreeable to their Interests than the Prince of Orange and supposing they can Whether it be not madness to imagine since they have a different Parliament different Laws and a different Original Contract so that the King may commit a Forfeiture there when he hath committed none here or a Forfeiture here when he hath committed none there that they will not place the Crown upon him without any respect to what is done here whether we make it a Forfeiture or only a bare Demise A Protestant Precedent offer'd to the Bishops for the Exclusion of K. James the Second IF Necessity which is a great Branch
in the case of the Lawful Heirs whom every good Englishman and Protestant to their utmost Danger and Peril are ready to defend and maintain to take such Measures for our future Security and lawful Establishment as shall not by any Humane Art or Endeavour be liable to Interruption But as Precedents are least satisfactory or least confronting to obstinate Opposers where they make only for one party A Popish Sigismund deposed for Male-Administration in a Protestant Kingdom may not perhaps be allowed to carry its sufficient Justification with the Romanists and therefore the Tables ought to be turn'd and the Ballance made by Parallels of their own side the most prudent way of combating and securing a Victory in this matter being to lay the Scene of War in the Enemies Country To confute therefore and silence all the Romish Pretensions of Disgust and Murmur against the Injustice of such a Deprivation from Examples of Popish Deposals of Male-administring Protestants we 'll begin with Henry of Navarre afterwards Henry the Fourth of France The famous Holy League enter'd into by the Pope himself and so many potent Allies together with all the Romish Subjects of Franâ—e against that undoubted Heir of the Crown of France and at that time by succession the rightful King is so notoriously known to the World that all the tedious Particulars of the History would be impertinent Let it suffice here was a Prince the unquestion'd Inheritor of the Crown of France actually by all Open and Hostile Means and all such Hostility avowed and abetted and his very Birth-right fore-closed by the Pope himself opposed and denied his Accession to the Throne for no other Unqualifications but be a Hugonot that is of a Perswasion contrary to the Establish'd and Regnant Romish Religion in France being in all other Respects acknowledged a most excellent Prince Insomuch that after all other ineffectual Endeavours of recovering his Birth-right he had no means left to repeal his Exclusion and Debarment from the Throne but by his Abjuration of the Reformed Religion and return to the Romish Worship This Case of Henry the Fourth instead of a Parallel to ours does not come up to half the Justification of the present Measures of England For here was a Soveraign Prince under Deprivation for no other Default but his meer Religion for this Henry the Fourth being then but in his Entrance to the Empire if truly that was consequently yet at least whatever they might fear under no Dilemmas of the least breach of Compact with his People no Forfeitures for Male-Administration or Violation of the Laws of the Land or Rights of his Subjects their Dangers as then being only Apprehensions If therefore the meer private Opinion of a Crowned Head different from the Establish'd Religion of the Land has been of weight enough it self alone in their own Scales to oversway the Birth-Right of Princes and make a Bar to Empire and that too so solemnly confirmed and ratified even by the Sanction Apostolick the Decretals of Rome it self What Objections or Allegations can our Romish Disputants whether Foreign or Domestick make against the like Bar in Empire after so notorious an actual Male-Administration in the present Case of England such too visible Ruptures of the Laws of the Land and in defiance of all Obligations of Engagements Covenant Word Honour or OATHS themselves The next Example I shall point them to is that of the late Portuguese King who by the Ordinance of the States of Portugal ratified by the Pope's Assent was dethroned and his Brother invested with the Soveraignty and not only that but his Queen too taken from him Divorced and by a Dispensation married to his Brother The Grounds of this Deposal being only this that the King was sometimes taken with Delirious Fits. If such a Personal Infirmity was ground sufficient to displace the Crown Have not the Peopâ—e or Community of England in Convention asseâ—bled as much Right on their Side for the Deposal of a King for a far greater Infirmity of the two a more violent Madness his loâ—g tried and radicated Incapacity of being held either by the Bonds or Ties of Honour Laws or Oaths There being this infinite Difference between the Outrages of the one and the other as that a Prince so bigotted resolved for the Introduction right or wrong of his own Religion is the more Dangerous Frantick For his Superstitious Frency may push him to Violences that will hurt whole Nations whereas the Outrages of the other can be only Personal And if the Hands of the Lunatick Portuguese were thought Just to be tied up with no less Shackles than taking both his Kingdom and Queen away from him who shall Arraign the Wisdom of the English for depriving their King of his Kingdom much good may do him with his Queen under an infinite larger Capacity and more dangerous propensity to Mischief And for so doing what Warrant shall they want when the present unforced Desertion of the King and quitting the Helm has put the Power of Decision in that Point into their own Hands and lost him all Right of Appeal against the Alienation I shall venter to add one last Consideration viz. The Bull of Pope Pius Quintus against Queen Elizabeth by which the Pope deprives her of all Title to the Imperial Crown and all Dominion Dignity and Priviledg whatever declaring that all the Nobility Subjects and People of England and all others which have in any sort sworn unto her to be for ever absolved from any such Oath and all manner of Duty of Dominion Allegiance and Obedience c. and all forbidden to obey her or her Motions Mandates or Laws upon pain of Anathema Vide Bishop of Lincoln's Brutum Fulmen p. 6. I recite this unjust Deposal of a Lawful Queen by the pretended Authority of the Pope no other than to let the World know that the Romish Party have the least Reason in Nature to complain of the Deprivation of Princes They whose Infallible Guides can so insolently and arbitrarily place or displace Crown'd Heads not to mention the Illegality of the Pope's Interposition in the Affair in any kind for only acting by Law in Matters of Religious Changes for such were all Ecclesiastick Alterations of that Queen by the unquestion'd Authority of Acts of Parliament can be but ill furnish'd with Arguments against the present Deprivation enacted by the whole Community of England for such violent Measures and Foundations already form'd and begun for the subversion of Church and State against all Law. Reasons humbly offer'd for placing his Highness the Prince of Orange singly in the Throne during his Life I. IT will be a clear Assertion of the Peoples Right Firm Evidence of a Contract Broken and a sure Precedent to all Ages when after a most Solemn Debate the Estates of England Declare That the King having Abdicated the Government and the Throne thereby Legally Vacant They think fit to Fill it again with One who is
of the Constitution The Constitution and Laws thereof being agreed upon and it being impossible for Humane Prudence to foresee all Accidents which must be provided for therefore as they arise the Administration necessarily must lie in these two Things The making farther Laws subordinate still to those fore-priz'd as occasion requires and seeing them executed that is in Legislation and Judgment The One is the Business of the Supreme Authority the Other of the Inferior Magistrates or Officers and Executioners of the same according to that Fundamental Agreement made by the People Our Government now as constituted in order to this Administration is we know a mixt Government A Government is known to be pure or mixt by the placing the Supreme Authority If the People place it singly in the King or singly in the Nobles or singly in the People then it is a pure Monarchy Aristocracy or Democracy But when it is placed in all Three it is a mixt Government as Ours is where there are no Laws in the Administration made but by King Lords and Commons These Things I pursue only so far as is necessary to the reaching my main Purpose and the leading me to a right discernment of the present Condition into which we are now brought in regard to this said Government The Supreme Power of the Nation being placed in a Parliament which is a Corporation of King Lords and Commons that is the Supreme Authority residing in King Lords and Commons as One Corporation there does appear at this Conjuncture a Dissolution of the Government A Dissolution manifestly as to the Exercise of it This Appearance does arise from the opening of the last Scene For the King being now gone gone from his People and departing from his Government that One Corporation we speak of is broke so that there remains now no subject for that supreme Authority It being evident that a Parliament wherein an Essential point of our Constitution does consist cannot now be Assembled And the Providence of God it self hath extraordinarily determin'd our Case If a King dies he hath a Successor and the Right devolves upon Him but whilst the King lives he hath no Successor and the Right remaining in Him and no Other and he being divided from his Lords and Commons the Subject of the Supreme Power or this One Corporation whereof the King is a Chief Essential and Constituent Part does perfectly cease and must necessarily cause a Dissolution I choose not to found this upon what does more convince Others which comes to this Account The King by his frequent Malversation in the Government and rooted Design of subverting our Religious and Civil Rights for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power and Popery which being aggravated by such an Endeavour as the destroying that Share in the Government which every Commoner hath that hath Right to choose his Representative in Parliament by his Garbling Corporations and so evacuating this Liberty in effect and by such an endeavour also as the exterminating his Protestant Subjects seeing that Religion which he would have introduced is such as by the Principles of it if it comes into Domination must do so to all Hereticks and thereupon may he be look'd on no longer as Rex but Hostis and Hostis Publicus Besides the subjecting us to a Foreign Jurisdiction and the very changing the Government by that indefinite Dispensing Power over the Laws as was carved to him by his Judges from Regal to Despotical It is judged by them that he is fallen thereupon from his Royal Dignity and that the Universality thereby have Warrant not only to defend themselves against him but by Vertue of that Sanction which is tacitly implyed in the Laws of the Constitution to proceed on to take the Forfeiture He hath made of his Government and Depose Him For it is a fond thing think they to imagine any Laws without a Sanction and impossible there should be any other Sanction in Treaties between Free Nations or between a Free People and the Governour they set over Themselves than Force to be used by the Parties concern'd there being no Third Party on Earth to appeal to in such Cases However this be it being taken for granted That the Government is dissolved and I suppose upon that preceding Account of the One Corporation I say being broke the Supreme Authority that lay before in the Three as united in One does escheat or fall to the Community who must therefore choose a new Subject for that Power and it lies at their Discretion to place it in what Subject they please They may lodg it in the Lords and Commons alone without a King if they think that Government best the matter lies altogether upon their Agreement and Consent I suppose it most likely that they will agree to place it again in a Monarch Lords and Commons the Person only left at Choice and Care had to prevent all Danger of Law in the Case according to the Ancient Constitution Though what Man can know the Mind of a Nation when once come together if he knows his own Mind There is one thing we have now Opportunity to obtain which we can never recover again if it be lost and that is what His Highness the Prince of Orange hath made one of his two Designs The Delivery of the People from Slavery which can never be done effectually and radically but upon this Advantage The delivering us from Popery is contained in the setling our Religion and that being a Work of great length is the business more properly of a Parliament but this is a thing must be done by the Community and consequently by thofe that are the Representatives of it a Convention so called in regard to a higher Capacity hereunto and not a Parliament for that represents the People not as in a Community but as in a Common-wealth where there is pars imperans as well as subdita which now is not A Parliament makes Laws for the Administration but the People as in a Community make Laws for the Constitution I would therefore humbly offer it to the Consideration of those who shall meet as Members of this Convention That in order to the Effect premised they do but agree and pitch upon this one certain Point of good Policy that where they place the Supream Authority they lay also the Rights or Properties of it that is the Iura Majestatis Majestas being Maxima Potestas all together The Rights of Majesty or the Supream Power are mainly these The first is Legislation or making Laws and this undoubtedly lies in a Parliament The next is the Power of raising Arms or Armies or the Militia the Power of making Peace and War or the Power of the Sword which is necessary to maintain those Laws The third is a Power over our Estates or the Purse or raising Mony which must maintain the Sword. A fourth is the Power of choosing Magistrates to rule Us according to these Laws such as Judges and Sheriffs
to name no other A fifth is the last Appeal Now let but the Power of the Militia and choosing Magistrates be laid where Legislation is and we shall be fundamentally delivered from all Slavery for ever in the Nation If we be enslaved or oppressed by any Prince for the time to come it must be either by Force or by Injustice We cannot be oppressed by Force because no Forces then can be raised by Him but by a Parliament He cannot rule by an Army or by Violence for the Militia is in the Lords and Commons as well as in Him and they will not let him do so We cannot be oppressed with Injustice for the Iudges and Officers entrusted with the Execution of Iustice shall be chosen also by them and they will look to that It is true while no Parliament sits the King by Virtue of the Executive Power lying in him may raise Arms and put in Officers and Magistrates as there iâ— need but both these are to be done under the Controul of the next Parliament which are therefore to sit often by ancient Statutes there being no War to be levied nor Magistrates confirmed without their Approbation Let us remember the State we are in a State that puts the Supream Power in the Hands of the People to place it as they will and therefore to bound and limit it as they see fit for the publick Utility and if they do it not now the Ages to come will have occasion to blame them for ever When the Supream Power is upon the disposing if they do not take this Item as part of their proper Work To bind the Descent of it to a Protestant I shall blame them But I shall do so much more if after the Danger we have been in of Arbitrary Domination and Popery by the King 's raising Arms and putting Judges in and out at his Pleasure they do not take more care of the Supream Power to lay it and its Rights better together Especially seeing nothing can indeed be that in Nature which it is without its Properties This is uniform I must persist to the Nature of Government that where the Supream Authority is there must be its Prerogatives and where the chief or principal Rights of it is there should all the rest which depend upon and belong to it be placed also Where Legislation is lodged there should the Militia there should the Power of making Judges to name nothing more than serves my turn be lodged also It is this hath been the great Declension Fault or Defect of our English Common-Wealth that the People have suffered these Rights of Soveraignty to come to be divided arising we must conceive from the Administration that is Male-Administration as appears for Example in the Militia which upon the fresh coming in of the late King was in two or three hot Acts declared now and ever to have been in the King when both the Assertion was gross Flattery and such Acts void as fundamentally repugnant to the Constitution There is one Difficulty to be thought on and that is the Negative Voice of the Prince in his Parliament The Lords and Commons may agree upon some Law for the publick Benefit and the King alone may refuse to pass it If he be obstinate this is a great Evil and might really make one think it would be better therefore for the preventing this Inconvâ—nience to place the Supream Power in Lords and Commons only without a Controler Unto which may be added the Power of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments at pleasure by virtue whereof our Kings hitherto have pretended a Power predominant over them But forasmuch as these Prerogatives may be disputed and the Negative Voice hath been deny'd by many Judicious Men who have pleaded the Obligation of former Princes to confirm those Laws quas vulgus elegerit it is to be hoped that the Wisdom of the Nation will be able to find out some Expedient or Salve for this Difficulty and for more than that also so long as they have the Golden Opportunity to bring a Crown in one Hand with their Terms or Conditions in the other As for the several Grievances that need Redress and many good Things that are wanting to compleat the Happiness of our Kingdom there may be some Foundation laid happily or Preparations made in order thereunto by this Convention but as belonging to the Administration and being Matters of long Debate they are the Work more properly of an ensuing Parliament Only let not the Members of this present Great Assembly forget that they having so unlimited a Power and the Nation such an Opportunity which as the Secular Games they are never like to see but once they are more strictly therefore bound in Conscience and in Duty to their Country to neglect no kind of thing which they judg absolutely necessary to the publick Good. I care not if I commend three or four such Particulars against the time to Consultation which shall be these A Regulation of Westminster-Hall A Provision against buying or selling of Offices A Register of Estates A Freedom from Persecution by a Bill for Comprehension and Indulgence in the business of Religion A Redemption of the Chimny Mony which bringing the King to be Lord of every Man's House is against Property and an over-Ballance in the Revenue is against the Interest of the Nation THE Breviate bing ended we cannot but reflect upon the King there being so much Concern in the Minds of many about their Allegiance to Him though He be gone But such Persons as these should look a little more to the Bottom That a People is not made for the King but the King for the Peole And though He be greater than them in some Respects yet quoad finem the People are always greater than Him That is If the Good of the one and the other stand in Competition there is no Comparison but a Nation is to be preferr'd before one Man. As appears by the Opinion of King Iames the First hereto annexed If the Being of them be inconsistent one with another there is no doubt but it is better that a King cease than that a whole Nation should perish And upon such a Supposition as this all Obligation as to Duty must cease likewise There are some tacit Conditions in all Oaths as the best Casuists tell us such as Rebus sic stantibus for one that we must steer our Consciences by in these Cases He is the Minister of God for our Good says the Scripture And if any Prince therefore be under those Circumstances as that it cannot be for the Peoples Good that he should rule over them we do look upon such a Ruler to be bound in Conscience to give up his Government as being no Minister of God upon that Account And so having no Authority from God for that Office the Peoples Obligation to be subject to Him is at an end with it If they obey him longer it is for Wrath not for
Conscience sake If his Majesty now of Great Britain out of some deep Sense that he being a Roman Catholick cannot rule and be true to his Religion which he may suppose does oblige him to an Establishment thereof by all the ways and means of his Church though never so destructive to ours but it will be to the Hurt not Good of us who are Protestants hath been pleased to withdraw himself from his Government to make us more quiet and happy We are in all Gratitude to acknowledg his Piety Goodness and Condescention to be so much as very few of his Subjects could ever have suspected But if it be out of another Mind he hath done it We have still more Reason to bless Almighty God who does often serve his Providence by Mens Improvidence and cutting off Mens Ends from their Means he uses their Means to his own Ends when he is pleased to work Deliverance for a People as he hath at this Season so graciously and wonderfully done for Us that there is nothing more needful even to the most scrupulous Conscience than an humble and awful Acquiescence in the Divine Counsel to give Satisfaction in this Matter King IAMES the First his Opinion of a KING of a TYRANT and of the English Laws Rights and Priviledges In two Speeches The First to the Parliament 1603 the Second 1609. In his Speech to the Parliament 1603 he expresseth himself thus I Do acknowledg that the special and greatest Point of difference that is betwixt a Rightful King and an Usurping Tyrant is in this That whereas the proud and ambitious Tyrant doth think his Kingdom and People are only ordained for satisfaction of his Desires and unreasonable Appetites The Righteous and Iust King doth by the contrary acknowledg himself to be Ordained for the procuring of the Wealth and Prosperity of his People and that his great and principal worldly Felicity must consist in their Prosperity If you be Rich I cannot be Poor if you be Happy I cannot but be Fortunate And I protest your Welfare shall ever be my greatest Care and Contentment And that I am a Servant it is most true that as I am Head and Governour of all the People in my Dominion who are my natural Subjects considering them in distinct Ranks So if we will take in the People as one Body then as the Head is ordained for the Body aâ—d not the Body for the Head so must a Righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People and not his People for Him. Wherefore I will never be ashamed to confess it my principal Honour to be the great Servant of the Common-Wealth and ever think the Prosperity thereof to be my greatest Felilicity c. In his Speech to the Parliament March 21. 1609 he expresseth himself thus IN these our Times we are to distinguish betwixt the State of Kings in the first Original and between the State of settled Kings and Monarchs that do at this Time Govern in Civil Kingdoms For even as God during the Time of the Old Testament spake by Oracles and wrought by Miracles yet how soon it pleased him to settle a Church which was Bought and Redeemed by the Blood of his only Son Christ then was there a Cessation of both He ever after governing his Church and People within the Limits of his revealed Will. So in the first Original of Kings whereof some had their beginning by Conquest and some by Election of the People their Wills at that Time served for a Law yet how soon Kingdoms began to be settled in Civility and Policy then did Kings set down their Minds by Laws which are properly made by the King only but at the Rogation of the People the King 's Grant being obtained thereunto and so the King came to be Lex loquens a speaking Law after a sort binding himself by a double Oath to the Observation of the Fundamental Laws of his Kingdom Tacitly as by being a King and so bound to protect as well the People as the Laws of his Kingdom and expresly by his Oath at his Coronation So as every just King in a settled Kingdom is bound to observe that Paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto according to that Paction which God made with Noah after the Deluge Hereafter Seed-time and Harvest Summer and Winter Cold and Heat Day and Night shall not cease so long as the Earth remains And â—herefore a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerâ—tes into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to rule according to his Laws In which Case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Law aut ne Rex â—is or cease to be King and tho no Christian Man ought to allow any Rebellion of People against their Prince yet doth God never leave Kings unpunished when they transgress these Limits For in that same Psalm where God saith to Kings Vos Dii estis Ye are Gods He immediately thereafter conclude But ye shall die like Men The higher we are placed the greater shall our Fall be Vt casus sic dolor as the Fall so the Griâ—f the taller the Trees be the more in danger of the Wind and the Tempest beats sorest upon the highest Mountains Therefore all Kings that are no Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the Limits of their Laws and they that perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Common-Wealth For it is a great difference betwixt a King's Government in a settled Estate and what Kings in their Original Power might do in Individio vago As for my part I thank God I have ever given good proof that I never had Intention to the contrary And I am sure to go to my Grave with that Reputation and Comfort That never King was in all his Time more careful to have his Laws duly observed and himself to govern thereafter than I. That Just Kings will ever be willing to declare what they will do if they will not incur the Curse of God. I will not be content that my Power be disputed upon but I shall ever be willing to make the Reason appear of all my Doings and rule my Actions according to the Laws And afterwards speaking of the Common Law of England which some conceived he contemned saith to this purpose That as a King he had least cause of any Man to dislike the Common Law for no Law can be more favourable or advantageous for a King and extendeth further his Prerogative than it doth and for a King of England to despise the Common Law is to neglect his own Crown It is true that no Kingdom in the World but every one of them hath their own Municipal Laws agreeable to their Customs as this Kingdom hath the Common Law. Nay I am so far from disallowing the Common
therefore to deal ingenuously with you I confess at the beginning of this Revolution I was under a very great Surprize I who have been in Arms for His Majesty a warm stickler for the Church of England puffed up with all the Bravado's and Excesses of an Oxford Loyalty must needs be Alarmed to hear our Nobility and Gentry beating up for the Prince of Orange even in the Bowels of our Country But when I came more seriously to reflect upon the Foundations of our Government as well as those antecedent Obligations which God Almighty has reserved as his own inviolable Prerogative I began to regulate my Zeal by calmer measures And making a more impartial and strict Inquiry into the Opinions of Learned Men concerning the Regal Power I found this most generally agreed upon viz. That the Obedience and Disobedience of Subjects must be measured by the peculiar Constitutions of every Kingdom without respect either to the Jewish Polity where things were determined by God Almighty's special Command or the Behaviour of the Primitive Christians who had few or no Legal Rights to Assert Diss. Ay but you Churchmen flattered the Court so long till our Constitutions were all swallowed up in the Abyss of Prerogative Ch. I must confess while Kings are a Protection to Liberty Property and Religion the World is naturally prone to flatter them neither would it be good Breeding to make too nice Inquiries into the Limits of a Prince while he does not exceed them but when Distress comes impetuously upon a Nation when Life and All that is Sacred to us lies at Stake then the Inquiry is not only just but necessary Diss. What Conditions therefore will you Churchmen at length confine your Prince too Ch. Why I shall present you with a short but impartial view of the Constitutions of this Kingdom as I find them most faithfully and ingenuously represented by the Royal Martyr in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions in these Words viz. There being Three kinds of Government among Men Absolute Monarchy Aristoâ—racy and Demoâ—racy and all these having their particular Conveniences and Inconveniences the Experience and Wisdom of our Ancestors hath so moulded this out of a mixture of these as to give to this Kingdom the Conveniences of all Three without the Inconveniences of any one as long as the Balance hangs even between the Three Estates and they run jointly on in their proper Chanel c. In this Kingdom the Laws are jointly made by a King House of Peers and House of Commons chosen by the People all having free Votes and particular Priviledges c. And in this Kind of Regulated Monarchy that the Prince may not make not use of his Power to the Hurt of those for whose Good he hath it and make use of the Name of Publick Necessity for the Gain of his private Favorites and Followers to the detriment of his People the House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty is solely entrusted with the Levying of Monys and the Impeaching of those who for their own Ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound to protect c. Since therefore the Power Legally placed in both Houses is more than sufficient to Prevent and Restrain the Power of Tyranny c. Our Answer is Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari So far this Royal Author And indeed what could a generous Prince acknowledg or a Priviledg-asserting Subject desire more Therefore upon the whole it appears by the Confession of the best of Men as well as the wisest of Princes that we are under a Government so well appointed for Society and the Exigencies of Humane Kind that nothing but Folly can think of Establishing a better and nothing but a Jesuit disturb it The Scriptures themselves seem to have meant it when they tell us that Caesar's Prerogative must never come in Competition with that of God Almighty and that Governors shall be a Terror to evil Works Here King and People have each their Territories and all the Provision imaginable made against those Distractions which either Interest or Passion should attempt From all which what can be more naturally inferred but that we in this Kingdom are by no means obliged to resign up our selves to Violence and Oppression but that Passive Obedience has its Limits and the Oath of Allegiance its Restrictions A regulated and conditionated Monarch can expect no Obedience from me but what is Conditional too and what an Absurdity does it seem that by a Legal Oath I should swear an absolute Obedience to that Authority which is not Absolute Besides those Subsidies which were granted by the Clergy in several of Queen Elizabeth's Parliaments for the Relief of the French Dutch and Scotch Protestants against their Oppressors plainly shew that it was all along the Opinion of the Church to Resist in case Rights and Religion were Invaded Neither am I perswaded that the learned and unbyass'd Clergy of our present Church ever meant any other Obedience than an active Conformity to the Intent of the Law or a Passive Submiâ—sion to the Penalties of it Therefore â—hough upon the Foundations of our Government an impatient Spirit might with a great shew of Reason establish a very extensive Latitude in asserting the Subjects Right yet in Favour of Monarchy which I Reverence and with Respect to the Present Conjuncture I shall only now trouble you with these four Propositions supposing a mixt Government 1. That Suspicions and Jealousies of a Prince's sinister Designs are no sufficient Grounds for Subjects violently to assert their Rights but in this Case the Event of things muâ—t be left to Providence 2. That though one Man or a greater number of Men receive manifest Injuries by the Abuses of Government yet while they are but an inconsiderable part of the Community they are in Duty bound rather to submit to Oppression than interrupt the common Peace But 3. When Dangers become demonstrable when Religion it self and the very Foundations of Government are so undermined by the Insinuations of an inconsiderable party who have obtained the Ear of their Prince that its unavoidable Ruine must necessarily follow In this Case I cannot see any Reason why Right may not be asâ—erted But 4. When a Foreign Prince with a considerable Army Invades a Nation upon pretence of putting a stop to such violent Proceedings besides perhaps some just Causes of a War I say in this Case That the whole Nation may and ought to rise and put themselves in such a Posture that they may be able to return him Thanks acording to the Merits of his Favours without being jealous of his Greatness And indeed our present Case is so circumstantiated that I Question whether it may be paralle'd in History and let any Man tell me where the Subjects of a Limited Monarchy tired out with the Abuses of Government did by sighting for their King encourage Oppression by the Blood of Thousands
Kings concernment for the unheard of Suffering of the E. of F. I do not wonder at it having ever had so little Affection or rather so great an Antipathy to his English Subjects This will be sufficient to open the Eyes of all our Subjects and let them plainly see what every one of them may expect and what Treatment they shall find from him if at any time it may serve his Purpose from whose Hands a Soveraign Prince an Vncle and a Father could meet with no better Entertainment All wise and good Protestants are so certain of happy times under the Government of this most excellent and incomporable Prince that they have nothing left to fear or desire but that God would preserve him from the Hellish Fury of the Papists And as to all these Relations of a Soveraign Prince an Uncle and a Father The King would have done well to have acquitted himself to the Prince as became all these Relations However the Sense of these Indignities c. And as if we had been capable if supposing a Prince of Wales I believe and know that the Conscience of a Popish Prince wholly under the Conduct of the Jesuits will find no Difficulty in consenting to so pious a Fraud provided it can be carryed on with all prudent Cautions For as on the one hand no change of Fortune shall ever make us forget our selves so far as to condescend to any thing unbecoming that High and Royal Station in which God Almighty by right of Succession has placed us So on the other hand neither the Provocation or Ingratitude of our own Subjects nor any other Considerâ—tion whatsoever shall ever prevail with us to make the least step contrary to the true Interest of the English Nation His Majesty's sincere Friend the French King with whom he now enjoys a nearer Converse will also concur with him in this good Design of promoting the true Interest of England And as to his Majesty's Inclinations to Mercy and passing by Provocations we need mention no other Instances but those in the West where the Cruelties exercised on those unfortunate People cannot be parallel'd in any History of Barbarians Our Will and Pleasure therefore is that you of our Privy Council take the most effectual care to make these our gracious Intentions known to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and to all our Subjects in general and to assure them that we desire nothing more than to return and hold a Free Parliament wherein we may have the best Opportunity of undeceiving our People and shewing the Sincerity of those Protections of preserving especially the Church of England as by Law established A Man wou'd wonder any Prince that overlooks what his Secretary writes should suffer such apparent and palpable Untruths to pass For it is not manifest to all the World That the late King through the Jesuits Counsel did all that was possible to weaken and overturn especially the Church of England as well by open Declarations and Practices as by more secret Ways and Contrivances inciting one part of his Protestant Subjects to destroy the other and then immediately after exposing them for it and encouraging and inspiring these later with a Spirit of Revenge and Retaliation And thus having briefly ran over whatever seems material in this Letter I shall desist from Repetitions and insisting on mere words of Course and Matters of form seeing this would be to tire to Reader 's Patience and a lesning of his Judgment Reasons for Crowning the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly and for placing the Executive Power in the Prince alone WHereas the Grand Convention of the Estates of England have asserted the Peoples Right by declaring That the late King James the Second having endeavoâ—red to Subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People And by Advice of Iesuits and other wicked Persons having Violatâ—d the Fundamental Laws And having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom has Abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby Vacaâ—t For which Misgovernment He has forfeited the Trust of the Regal Inheritance of the Executive Power both in Himself and in His Heirs Lineal and Collateral so that the same is devolved back to the People who have also the Legislative Authority and consequently may of Right Give and Dispose thereof by their Representatives for their future Peace Benefit Security and Government according to their good Will and Pleasure And forasmuch as it is absolutely Necessary that the Government be speedily setled on sure and lasting Foundations and consequently that such Person or Persons be immediately placed in the Throne in whom the Nation has most reason to repose an entire Confidence It therefore now lies upon Us to make so Judicious a Choice that we may in all Humane Probability thereby render Ourselves a Happy People and give Our Posterity cause to Rejoice when they shall read the Proceedings of this Wise and Grand Convention Who is it therefore that has so highly Merited the Love and good Opinion of the People the Honour of Wearing the Crown and Swaying the Scepter of this Land as His Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Expence Hazard Conduct Courage and Generosity has happily Rescued Us from Popery and Slavery and with so much Gallantry Restored Us to Our Ancient Rights Religion Laws Liberties and Properties for which Heroick Action we can do no less in Prudence Honour and Gratitude than Pray Him to Accept Our Crown II. It is better to settle the Exercise of the Government in One who is not immediate in the Line than in One that is 1. Because it is a clear Asserting of a Fundamental Right that manifests the Constitution of the English Government and covers the Subjects from Tyranny and Slavery 2. It cuts off the Dispute of the pretended Prince of Wales 3. The old Succession being legally Dissolved and a new one made the Government is secured from falling into the Hands of a Papist III. The making the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly is the Nation 's Gratitude and Generosity and by re-continuing the Line in Remainder is manifested the inestimable Value the People have for the two Princesses notwithstanding the Male-administration of the Unhappy Father IV. The present State of Europe in General and of these Kingdoms in Particular require a Vigorous and Masculine Administration To recover what 's lost rescue what 's in danger and rectify what 's amiss cannot be effected but by a Prince that is consummate in the Art both of Peace and War. Tho the Prince and Princess be King and Queen jointly and will equally share the Glory of a Crown and we the Happiness of their Auspicious Regin yet the Wisdom of the Grand Convention is manifested First In placing the Executive Power in One of them and not in Both for two Persons equal in Authority may differ in Opinion and consequently in Command and it
this if we come not to a juster temper God defend us and our Children after us from the ill Consequences of what has been done and prevent the rest Had we imbraced the happy Providence of his Majestyes return we might have improved it that the Children unborn should have blessed us Then we had reformed safely for by joyning Title to our Actions we had made them legal This we should have had from his Majesty or a plain denial which would in some measure have excused so rare and unusual an Enterprise Nor can I comprehend which way it is possible to guard the Prince's Honour but by doing his Majesty Rights for your Lordships may please to remember that in the Memorial of the States that was printed among us which they gave to all the publick Ministers at the Hague to justify their lending the Prince their Forces upon this Expedition they do expresly say It was upon condition not to dethrone the King or alter the Succession and in my Opinion we are in the high way to both My Lords we are Protestant Christians as well as Peers of the Realm and are now upon our Religion and Conscience as well as Honour to do right Let us so act as we can answer it to God and Man and not stumble at Straws and leap over Blocks Errors cannot be corrected by committing greater nor one part of the Government be mended by beating out another to do it I need not tell your Lordships that by our Laws Kings cannot err and therefore they are not accountable but their Ministers are without whom a King cannot perform any Act of Government which is the reason of the Maxim and therefore let them be punished that the Law only makes guilty This our wise Ancestors contrived to save the Head of the Government whole and to prevent the Confusion and Disorder that might otherwise be apt to attend the Form of it nor is it indeed a thing that ought to be indured by us Peers to suppose that he that raised us so high could be for any Reason thrown by us so low My Lords Let us limit the King if you please but not renounce Him there is a difference between restraining and destroying Him. What need of such extraordinary Remedies since that which secures the Government under one King will do it under another Popery it self can never come in but over the Bridg of Despotick or Absolute Power and if we can secure our selves from that we are as safe against Opinion as against Ambition and till we are so by an Amendment of our Constitution we are exposed to the meer good Nature of the Prince in Possession whoâ—ver he be And to render what I have said to your Lordâ—hips not unreasonable and what I have to move your Lâ—rdships to in the close of my Speech not ungrateful â— beseech your Lordships that we may cast up our Account â—nd see how our Loss and Gain stands so far as we have gone in our late Change. â—e have lost a lawful King and got an unlawful Protector as our Law stands we have missed a Legal and a Free Parliament and have got a Convention that cannot make Laws nor call a Parliament that can but what will need a Confirmation from a better Authority We have lost the Reputation of keeping our Faith with Hereticks by breaking our solemn Oaths with our King in the time of his Extremity because we thought him such though he gave us leave to lay down our Commissions that we might not have the Temptation or occasion to betray Him But we have got the Reputation of good Protestants by it though I fear not of good Men in that some of us have not only not shown our selves religiously concerned for our Religion but in some respect not honestly that besides a thousand personal Immoralities could press Advance Mony from the King over-night to bear the charges of disserting Him next day against our warm and repeated Vows to take his Fate and dâ—e at his Feet and that any of us should be sainted for this Treachery and numbred among the Heroeâ— for our running away cannot surely be the Lords doing let Dr. Burnet say what he will and yet it is very marvellous in some Mens Eyes for all that These are the Sparks my Lords that hunt the poor Kings Blood though we know they had hardly had any in their Veins but for his Bounty and yet are the Favorites of the Reformation For Christ's sake my Lords let us not at this rate christan Villany and rank Dishonesty among the Graces Popery it self could not have done more and it is certain we are even with the Papists now to all Intents and Purposes This is not all our Loss we have rebelled against the fifth Commandment also Honour thy Father and though we have got that of leaving Father for the sake of Religion we could have but little Religion to do it in such a manner to so affectionate a Father nor did it lessen the Error to have a Church of England Apostle to be Captain of her Life-Guard in his blew Coat and Iack-Boots and an arrant temporaâ— Sword in his Hand to defend natural Affection and passive Obedience This was an odd sort of Compliance with our Saviour's Command to put up his Sword as one of St. Peters Successors My Lords I mâ—st not stop here we thought we had been rid of 〈◊〉 Souldiers but find we have got as many Papists in our Dutch we had in our English Army Now it is plain that either all â—â—pists are not alike and then the Danger we have apprehended from Papists is not universal as we have affirmed but that they are to be lived with since we are to be saved and guarded from the Danger of Popery by them or we have ill luck to think we can be safe from that Religion by those that are of it because they are Dutch-men My Lords I am sorry we can take such Pleasure to see Strangers tread our Courts pray God it does not show the way to other Countries to take their turns But that a Dutch Papist should be so harmless a thing with us that though no Papists could be so shows our Contradictions to a Madness I know not how well our Souldiers like to give way to Dutch-Men that though they had purchased a Preferance to Strangers at a dear rate but it is the justest thing in the World upon them that the Prince should distrust those to guard him that had betrayed their own Master that loved them to a fault they may serve to be sent for Holland to be knookt on the Head in the Dutch-mans quarrel but never to be trusted at home though they have given up their Quarters with their King to Foreigners so that the Proverb is true upon them they have hereby brought their Noble to Nine-pence Yet to be just I must confess it is a Reproach due to their Officers and not all of them neither and time may give
into utter Despair of the Continuance amongst them of the true Religion of Almighty God and of her Majesties Life and of the Safety of all her Subjects and of the Good Estate of this flourishing Commonweale For that she the said Queen of Scots had continually breathed the Overthrow and Suppression of the Protestant Religion being poysoned with Popery from her tender Youth and at her Age joyning in that false termed Holy League and had been ever since and was then a powerful Enemy of the Truth For that she rested wholly upon Popish hopes to be delivered and advanced and was so devoted and doted in that Profession that she would as well for the satisfaction of others as for the feeding her own Humour supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she might which Evil was so much the greater and the more to be avoided for that it slayeth the Soul and would spread it self not only over England and Scotland but also into all Parts beyond the Sea where the Gospel of God is maintained the which cannot but be exceedingly weakned if Defection should be in these two most violent Kingdoms For that if she prevailed she would rather take the Subjects of England for Slaves than for Children For that she had already provided them a Foster-father and a Nurse the Pope and King of Spain into whose hands if it should happen them to fall what would they else look for but Ruin Destruction and utter Extirpation of Goods Lands Lives Honours and all For that as she had already by her poyson'd Baits brought to Destruction more Noble-men and their Houses and a greater multitude of Subjects during her being here than she would have done if she had been in Possession of her own Country and arm'd in the Field against them so would she be still continually the cause of the like spoil to the greater loss and peril of this Estate and therefore this Realm neither could nor might endure her For that her Sectaries both Wrote and Printed that the Protestants would be at their Wits end Worlds end if she should out-live Queen Elizabeth meaning thereby that the end of the Protestant World was the beginning of their own and therefore if she the said Queen of Scots were taken away their World would be at an end before its beginning For that since the sparing of her in the Fourteenth Year of Q. Elizabeths Reign Popish Traitors and Recusants had multiplied exceedingly And if she were now spared again they would grow both innumerable and invincible also And therefore Mercy in that case would prove Cruelty against them all Namâ—st quaedam crudelis mâ—sericordia and therefore to spare her Blood would be to spill all theirs And for God's Vengeance against Saul for sparing the life of Agag and against Ahab for sparing the life of Benhadad was moâ—t apparent for they were both by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms for sparing those wicked Princes whom God had delivered into their Hands And those Magistrates were much conmmended who put to Death those mischeivous and wicked Queens Iezabel and Athaliah And now I would desire our Grumbletonians especially they of the Clergy to consider how extreamly they have degenerated from the good and laudable Principles of their Fore-fathers They may see how urgent the Bishops and others in Queen Elizabeth's days were to have the Queen of Scots removed as above said and how they encouraged the Queen to assist the Dutch against their Soveraign Lord when he attempted them in their Religion and Laws but now they that first opposed One that has broken the Original Contract between King and People and done horrid things contrary to the Laws of God Nature and the Land yet when God out of his merciful Providence and singular favour to us all has inclined him being sensible of his own Guilt to leave the Throne these Very Men that first withstood him as I said begin to pitty him plead for him and extol him and continually both in Pulpit for one of them lately said there That a parcel of Attoms could as soon make a World as a Convention make a King and also in Coffee-houses mutter and grumble against the Proceedings of the great and Honorable Convention of the Kingdom and are busy in sending out and privately scattering their puling Pamphlets under the Titles of Mementoes Speeches and Letters empty of ought else but the spleen of a foolish and frustrated Faction Good God! what inconstancy folly and madness possesses the Breasts of these Men to what a miserable slavery would they lead us and how fond and eager do they seem to have him rule over Us who like the Stork in the Fable has and would make it his greatest delight to devour the best of free-born Subjects But I hope that in a little time they will know the Things that belong to the Kingdom 's Peace and dutifully pray for tho at present there is no uniformity in their Pulpits save in the Dissenters and submit chearfully and thankfully to him whom God has made the Glorious Instrument of our Deliverance from Popery and Slavery God save King William and Queen Mary ADVERTISEMENT ☞ THere is lately published the Trial of Mr. PAPILLON by which it is manifest that the then Lord Chief Justice Iefferies had neither Learning Law nor good manners but more Impudence than ten Carted Whores as was said of him by King CHARLES II. in abusing all those worthy Citizens who voted for Mr. PAPILLON and Mr. DUBOIS calling them a parcel of Factious Pragmatical Sneaking Whining Canting Sniveling Prickear'd Cropear'd Atheistical Fellows Rascals and Scoundrels c. as in p. 29. and other places of the said Trial may be seen Sold by Richard Ianeway and most Booksellers FINIS A TENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings II. Some short Notes on a Pamphlet entituled Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings III. The Scots Grievances or A short Account of the Proceedings of the Scotish Privy-Council Justiciary Court and those commissioned by them c. IV. The late Honourable Convention proved a Legal Parliament V. The Amicable Reconciliation of the Dissenters to the Church of England being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion and bringing in all Parties to her Communion London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-â—oster-Row 1689. Reflections upon our Late and Present Proceedings in England THO no Man wishes better to the Protestant Religion in general and the Church of England in particular than I do yet I cannot prevail with my self to approve all those Methods or follow all those Measures which some Men propose as the only Security both of the one and the other Never perhaps was there a more proper time wherein to secure our Religion together with our Civil Liberties than now offers it self if we have but the
Skill and Honesty rightly to improve this critical Opportunity but if we shall either let it slip or abuse it we may in vain hereafter wish that we had been wise in time and have cause to repent of our Error when it will be too late to correct it What we do now will transmit its good or ill Effects to after-Ages and our Children yet unborn will in all probability be happy or miserable as we shall behave our selves in this great Conjuncture They are likely to enjoy their Religion Laws and Liberties according to the old English Standard if we shall now take the right course to secure them But if we do ingage in wrong Counsels and build upon false Foundations instead of a Blessing we may leave a Curse to our Posterity and entail upon them Popery Slavery Arbitrary Power and all the miserable Consequences of a divided Kingdom which as sure as the Word of God is true can never stand Let us not therefore be too hasty but pause a while let us make a stop look about us and consider First What we have done Secondly With what Intent we did it Thirdly What it is that some Men would be at And Fourthly Whether we can in Honour and Conscience join with them in the Designs now in hand I shall confine my self to these Heads But here before I enter upon any of them I shall take it for granted that the Prince of Orange hath done a great thing for us and under God hath wrought such a Deliverance for the Nation as ought never to be forgotten and can never be sufficiently requited He must be mentioned with Honour and Gratitude so long as the Protestant Name shall be remembred He came not as the antient Romans and Saxons to conquer and lead in Triumph after him our Religion and Laws our Lives and Liberties but to defend preserve and secure us in them all To this end he undertook this dangerous and chargeable Expedition which hath hitherto proved as much to our Advantage as it will be to his lasting Reputation What he has done argues that he is moved by an higher Principle than any this World affords and can overlook his own Ease and Security when the Publick Good and the Concerns of Christianity require his seasonable Assistance I could easily make a Panegyrick upon his Vertues and equal him to the most famous Grecian or Roman Captains but I need not set forth his Praises which do so loudly and yet so silently speak for themselves I need not draw any tedious Parallels betwixt his Highness and the Worthies of other Ages since I am I question not herein prevented by all who have read the History of former Times and are Witnesses of what he with so much Courage Mildness and Prudence hath done in this 1. Things prospered so well under his Conduct that all of us were ready to submit our selves to his Direction and come under his Protection as the Tutelar Genius of the Nation The Effects of his Enterprise have been so strange so wonderful and surprising that had we not seen we should scarce have believed them As soon as the Prince was landed with what Joy and universal good Wishes was the News received How forward were all sorts of People to declare for his Highness How willing were they to lend him an helping Hand for the accomplishing his great Work How did we all generally concur and unanimously agree to forget our Obligations to our Sovereign and assist the Prince rather than the King against our selves and his own true Interest Nay the Army it self soon began to go over chusing rather to he under the imputation of Cowardise and Disloyalty which yet a true English-man had rather die than really deserve than to be instrumental in enslaving their Native Country and bringing it again under the Papal Yoke In short all Orders of Men Ecclesiastick Civil and Military had their Eyes fix'd upon the Prince of Orange as their Common Deliverer were resolved to espouse his Cause and accordingly after the King was withdrawn did put the Regal Administration into his Hands 2. So far we have gone this we have done and we hope that the case being extraordinary and Necessity giving a Dispensation the Intent of our proceeding will at least excuse if not justify us if we have not kept our selves within the Common Laws of Action For let every Man lay his Hand upon his Heart and seriously ask himself for what Reason and with what Intent he became a Party in this general Defection Was it utterly to ruin the King and subvert the Government Was it because he was displeas'd with the ancient Constitution and had a mind to mould and fashion it to his liking Was it because he had an Intent to shake off the Government that easy equal and well-poised and never-enough to be commended Government as King CHARLES I. calls it of the English Nation Was it any honest Mans meaning to subvert this Government to make way for his own Dreams of some Poetical Golden-Age or a Fanciful Millenium Was it let me ask again to divest the King of all Power to protect his Subjects and then to pronounce roundly that all the Bonds of Allegiance to him are dissolved Was the end of our uniting together to bind his Hands and then prick this Doctrine upon the points of our Swords Protection and Allegiance are Duties so reciprocal that where the one fails wholly the other falls with it Was it to frighten the King out of his Dominions and then to vote that he hath Abdicated his Government Was this the Intent and were these the Reasons of our Declaring for the Prince of Orange No certainly whatever some obnoxious and ambitious Men might aim at all good Christians and worthy Patriots had other Intentions and were led on by other Motives They were sensibly concerned for the Preservation of their Holy Religion in the first place their Lives their Laws and Liberties in the next After the way which some call Heresy so were they desirous still to worship the God of their Fathers And after that manner which some might say was Rebellion so they thought themselves oblig'd to stand up for the Laws and Liberties of their Forefathers For these Ends and for bringing about these worthy Purposes they withdrew themselves from the Kings personal Service that they might be the better enabled to serve his real Interest They hoped by this means to deliver him from his evil Counsellors and secure both him and his Subjects from the evil and pernicious Practices of some wicked and unreasonable Men. 3. These and such like were the Inducements which prevailed with all well-affected and honest Men to withdraw from his Majesty and suspend the actual Exercise of their Allegiance for the present that they might afterwards exert it according to the fix'd and stated Rules of Law Conscience and right Reason But now how contrary is this to those new Models which some politick Architects are
away the Foundation upon which they argue than that Maxim in our Law received by all honest and learned Lawyers The King of England never dies For if so how is the Government laps'd And if it be not laps'd how can the Throne be said to be vacant And if the Throne be not vacant we are still a Body Politick consisting of Head and Members though much distemper'd and out of order by reason of the Infirmities of the Head. We still live tho we are not in good Health and our Case doth not require the Sexton to make our Grave but calls for the Physician to apply proper Remedies to cure our Disease If the King can dye 't is such a defect in our Government as doth strangely disparage it and further supposes that which hitherto we are all to learn the Crown is not Successive Now if it be successive it cannot be disposed of by the Will of the People but only by the Will of God who in that very moment calls the lawful Heir to the Crown wherein he is pleased to put a Period to the Life of his Predecessor If he be said that the Voice of the People is the Voice of God I believe that should this be granted it will not do their Business for I doubt not but that if the Pole was taken and the Question put to all People who are of Years of Discretion the Answer would be That they have still a King and that they are as willing to keep him as they are desirous to exclude Popery for ever that which hath made both him and them so unhappy This I do not much question would be the Answer if we should appeal to the sense of the People in general who yet if the Government be fallen to them must be allowed to have a right of Suffrage and a Liberty to speak their Minds as freely as other Commoners in this great Convention Further still If the King never dies by our Law how can he be lawfully depos'd For by Deposition the Throne necessarily becomes void for some time There must be some Interstice some space of time before they who depos'd a King can set up another and till the King in Designation be actually invested with the Regal Office there must of Necessity be an Interregnum that is The King contrary to the Mind of our Law may dye The Government of England always supposes a Monarch regulated by Law and therefore 't is presumed that he can do no wrong that is though he may err as well as other Mortals yet the Law of which he is the Guardian brings no Accusation against him but only against his evil Ministers If therefore the King hath err'd as doubtless he hath very much in God's Name let his Ministers be called to an account but why must the Government be dissolved and the King arraign'd condemn'd and depos'd to make way for any new Scheme of Government whatsoever whether French Italian or Dutch Our History indeed affords two Examples since William the First 's time that of Edward the Second and the other of Richard the Second but they did both of them actually resign and besides what they did or was done to them ought to preclude the right of no succeeding Prince These Examples ought no more to be urged than the stabbing King Henry the Fourth of France or the murthering King CHARLES the First of England The Historian in the Life of Richard the Second gives no very good Character of that Parliament which pass'd the Vote for this Deposition The Noblemen says he partly corrupted by Favour partly aw'd by Fear gave their Voices and the Commons commonly are like a Flock of Cranes as the first fly all the Followers do the like Continuat Dan. Hist. p. 46. Let it be here observed that I do not dispute whether the King together with his Parliament may not regulate and entail the Succession as shall by them be thought fit but only whether whilst the King lives whether the Throne can be vacant and the Government be truly said to be laps'd This we deny But however supposing that these things may be so who can make so fair a Claim and so generally satisfactory to the People as the next Heir by Proximity of Blood I mean if the Prince of Wales be proved supposititious that incomparable Lady the Princess of Orange These Reflections I have thought fit to make upon some new Notions of our present States-men by which we guess what they would be at In my Opinion I think it is but too evident that they are taking Advantage of our present Fears and Distractions to run us into those Extremes which the State as well as the Church of England hath always carefully avoided and taken particular care to provide against 4. In this Design can we in Honour and Conscience go along with them whom yet we cannot but highly esteem and value for their Learning and Parts and more especially for their happy and successful Labours in rescuing us from those gross Corruptions of Christian Religion and human Nature Popery and Slavery But shall we run into Popery and perhaps Slavery too when we have been so long striâ—ing against both and are now Thanks be to God in a great measure freed from the Danger of either And is not the Deposing a Popish Doctrine And is it not as Antichristian for any Assembly to put it into Practice as it was for the Council of Lateran at first to establish it And as for Slavery must not a standing Army be necessarily kept up to maintain a Title founded only upon the consent of the fickle and uncertain People granting that the major part of them are willing And in such a case must we not be beholden to the Goodness of the Prince rather than the Protection of our Laws if an Arbitrary and Despotick Power be not again introduced We have as yet no Law which wholly disables and excludes a Popish Successor from the Throne and till we have one which I question not but we shall have soon I do not see how we can disanul the King's Title or vacate his Regal Capacity howsoever his Power may be restrained Innovations without former Precedent are always dangerous especially those of this Nature It will be much more wise as well as safe to bear with some Inconveniencies than bring upon our selves those Mischiefs which such unparallel'd Proceedings may produce The Prince of Orange in his additional Declaration hath these Words We are confident that no Persons can have such hard Thoughts of us as to imagine that we have any other Design in this Undertaking than to procure a Settlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a Foundation that there may be no danger of the Nations relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter How far some Persons may extend this Clause that there may be no Danger of the Nations relapsing into the like Miseries
for the future I cannot tell but for any one to understand it so as if his Highness meant that there could be no Security against the Nations Relapse if the King be not deposed and he himself put into Possession of the Throne is I am sure an Interpretation very disadvantageous to his Honour and looks more like a Jesuitical Equivocation than that Candor and Christian Sincerity which hath brightned and rendered illustrious all the Actions of his Highness both at home and abroad The Answerer also to the Reflecter upon his Highness's Declaration will not permit us to harbour any such Suspicions as if a Crown was the End of this Expedition All such says he pag. 23 24. as believe the Prince of Orange has brought this Army and intends to make War upon England and subdue it to his mere Will and Pleasure trample all Laws both Divine and Human under feet dethrone his present Majesty and make himself King they will stay and fight for him sc. the King or at least to the best of their Power in some manner assist and help him On the contrary such as believe that the Prince's meaning is nothing of all this c. Here you see that this Author who 't is to be supposed was not unacquainted with the Prince's Intentions utterly rejects it as a false Imputation that his Highness came to dethrone his present Majesty and make himself King. Nay he thought himself obliged so fully to declare against this scandalous Report that he seems to have encouraged all those who believed it To stay and fight for the King or at least to the best of their power in some manner assist and help him So far was this Gentleman from entertaining any such thoughts of the Prince's Expedition which some Men nevertheless do now so industriously labor to make the effect of it There is another thing which makes well-meaning Men apt to suspect the present management and with holds them from closing with it so fully as otherwise its probable they might do That Paper which goes under the Title of the Prince's Third Declaration is as I am credibly informed none of his and is disowned by the Prince himself Now this pretended Declaration coming out when the Army was in such a dubious Condition and fluctuating betwixt the King and the Prince did more harm to the King's Affairs than all the other Papers I believe published at that time And if this was no real but a sham Declaration and yet was permitted without Contradiction 't is plain that Sophistry and Tricks are made use of as lawful Polices and that any kind of means are permitted if they will but do the business and serve the present turn This makes plain and honest Men who have no Ends to serve but what are just and are willing to use no kind of Means but what are so This makes them shie and cautious of engaging too far in those Designs which they see carried on by crafty and deceitful Artifices working under a Military Power and Force ready to defend them I might mention the great number of Papists in the Dutch Army as another disswasive from venturing our selves in this bottom We are afraid of Papists of all sorts and of all Countrie German and Dutch as well as French and Irish the Constitutions of the one may be more harmless than of the other but the Principles of both we know are equally destructive and when occasion serves who knows but that the Principle may prevail over the Constitution and the Papist get the better of the Dutch-man 'T is ill trusting Popery in any shape This is a Root which wherever it is planted can bring forth no good Fruit. The Bogs of Holland cannot we think make it less malignant than those of Ireland To come to a conclusion there remain several things to be cleared before we can altogether comply with what is now prosecuted with so much Zeal That the Prince of W. is a supposititious Child That a League was made by our King with the King of France for the Destruction of his Protestant Subjects and rooting out our Religion under the Notion of the Northern Heresy That the late King was poysoned and that the Earl of Essex was murthered These things we desire may be proved and then we cannot but agree that nothing can be too bad for the guilty Authors These are such damnable Villanies such horrid Crimes that both the Principles and Accessories ought to be esteemed and treated no better than Tories and Banditti Men of seared and profligate Consciences forsaken of God and Enemies to Mankind But then seeing these are such heavy Accusations and grievous Charges they ought certainly to be well proved before they be believed and produced as Arguments against the Life Honour and Estate of any Person for si satis esset accusasse c. If it be enough to accuse where should we find an innocent Person If these dreadful things can be made out it would I believe not only confirm Protestants in their deserved Detestation of Popery but create even in the minds of honest Papists themselves an Aversation to their own Religion when they shall see it contriving and executing such cruel and unnatural Works of darkness To see a Father setting up a pretended Son against the Interest of his own undoubted Children to behold a King bargaining for the Destruction of his own Subjects to represent to our Minds one Brother preparing the deadly Cup for the other who yet ventur'd his Crown rather than he would exclude him from the hopes of it in Reversion to look upon the same Royal Person plotting and managing the Assassination of a Captive and helpless Peer These are such dismal Sights and melancholick Scenes so full of Horror and barbarous Cruelty that they must needs make sad Impressions upon the Hearts even of the boldest Spectators insomuch that if they were proved they would most effectually prejudice all Men against the Author of such monstrous Barbarities and go near to extinguish all Obligations of Duty which otherwise they might owe to his Person and Authority We must therefore call again for the Proof of these things or else we cannot because we ought not to believe them upon bare Surmise and Hear-say If these Accusations be cleared once who can reverence the Person guilty of them as the Father of his Country and not rather avoid and fly from him as the worst of Tyrants But if these things be still kept in the Clouds and wrap'd up in uncertain Ambiguities all wise Men will think that it would have been better if they never had been mentioned because this doth but raise the Peoples Zeal for the present which if not kept up by real Evidence will be apt to turn to the other Extream and commiserate the Cause which before it prosecuted with so much violence The higher Mens Resentments are raised by objecting the most notorious Crimes the lower will they fall if Truth and plain
notwithstanding any want of thâ— Kings Writs or Writ of Summons or aâ—y defect whatsoever and as if the King had been present at the beginning of the Parliament this I take to be a full Judgment in full Parliament of the case in question and much stronger than the present case is and this Parliament continued till the 29 th of December next following and made in all thirty seven Acts as aboâ—e mentioned The 13 Caroli 2. chap. 7. a full Parliament called by the Kings Writ recites the other of 12 Caroli 2. and that after his Majesties return they were continued till the 29 th of December and then dissolved and that several Acts passed this is the plain Judgment of another Parliament 1. Because it says they were continued which shews they had a real being capable of being continued for a Confirmation of a void Grant has no effect and Confirmation shews a Grant only voidable so the continuance there shewed it at most but voidable and when the King came and confirm'd it all was good 2. The dissolving it then shews they had a being for as ex nihilo nihil sit so super nihil nil operatur as out of nothing nothing can be made so upon nothing nothing can operate Again the King Lords and Commons make the great Corporation or Body of the Kingdom and the Commons are legally taken for the Free-holders Inst. 4. p. 2. Now the Lords and Commons having Proclaimed the King the defect of this great Corporation is cured and all the Essential parts of this great Body Politique united and made compleat as plainly as when the Mayor of a Corporation dies and another is chosen the Corporation is again perfect and to say that which perfects the great Body Politique should in the same instant destroy it I mean the Parliament is to make contradictions true simul semel the perfection and destruction of this great Body at one instant and by the same Act. Then if necessity of Affairs was a forcible Argument in 1660 a time of great peace not only in England but throughout Europe and almost in all the World certainly 't is of a greater force now when England is scarce delivered from Popery and Slavery when Ireland has a mighty Army of Papists and that Kingdom in hazard of final destruction if not speedily prevented and when France has destroyed most of the Protestants there and threatens the ruin of the Low-Countries from whence God has sent the wonderful Assistance of our Gracious and therefore most Glorious King and England cannot promise safety from that Forreign Power when forty days delay which is the least can be for a new Parliament and considering we can never hope to have one more freely chosen because first it was so free from Court-influence or likelihood of all design that the Letters of Summons issued by him whom the great God in infinite Mercy raised to save us to the hazard of his Life and this done to protect the Protestant Religion and at a time when the people were all concerned for one Common interest of Religion and Liberty it would be vain when we have the best King and Queen the World affords a full house of Lords the most solemnly chosen Commons that ever were in the remembrance of any Man Living to spend Mony and lose time I had almost said to despise Providence and take great pains to destroy our selves If any object Acts of Parliament mentioning Writs and Summons c. I answer the Precedent in 1660 is after all those Acts. In private cases as much has been done in point of necessity a Bishop Provincial dies and sede vacant a Clerk is presented to a Benefice the Presentation to the Dean and Chapter is good in this case of Necessity and if in a Vacancy by the Death of a Bishop a Presentation shall be good to the Dean and Chapter rather than a prejudice should happen by the Church lying void Surely â fortiori Vacancy of the Throne may be supplied without the formality of a Writ and the great Convention turn'd to a Real Parliament A Summons in all points is of the same real force as a Writ for a Summons and a Writ differ no more than in name the thing is the same in all Substantial parts the Writ is Recorded in Chancery so are His Highnesses Letters the proper Officer Endorses the Return so he does here for the Coroner in defect of the Sheriff is the proper Officer the People Choose by virtue of the Writ so they did freely by Virtue of the Letters c. quae re concordant parum differunt they agree in Reality and then what difference is there between the one and the other Object A Writ must be in Actions at Common Law else all Pleadings after will not make it good but Judgment given may be Reversed by a Writ of Error Answ. The case differs first because Actions between party and party are Adversary Actions but Summons to Parliament are not so but are Mediums only to have an Election 2. In Actions at Law the Defendant may plead to the Writ but there is no plea to a Writ for electing Members to serve in Parliament and for this I have Littleton's Argument there never was such Plea therefore none lies Object That they have not taken the Test. Answ. They may take the Test yet and then all which they do will be good for the Test being the distinguishing Mark of a Protestant from a Papist when that is taken the end of the Law is performed Object That the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ought to be taken and that the new ones are not legal Answ. The Convention being the Supream Power have abolish'd the old Oaths and have made new ones and as to the making new Oaths the like was done in Alfreds time when they chose him King vide Mirror of Justice Chap. 1. for the Heptarchy being turn'd to a Monarchy the precedent Oaths of the seven Kings could not be the same King Alfred swore Many Precedents may be cited where Laws have been made in Parliament without the King 's Writ to summon them which for brevity's sake I forbear to mention For a farewel the Objections quarrel at our Happiness fight against our Safety and aim at that which may indanger Destruction The Amicable Reconciliation of the DISSENTERS to the CHURCH of ENGLAND being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion and the Bringing in all Parties to Her Communion Humbly presented to the Consideration of Parliament WHereas there are several parties of Christians in the Nation who must and will ever differ in their Opinions about the Church and Discipline of it in the Question which is of Christ's Institution it is not our Disputes about the Church â—s Particular which are rather to be mutually forborn and every party left herein to their own Perswasion but a common Agreement in what we can agree and that
is in the Church as National must heal our Breaches The Catholicks are for one Universal Organical Church throughout the World whereof the Pope is Head according to some and the Bishops Convened in a General Council according to others That there is a Catholick Church Visible on earth as well as invisible whereof CHRIST is Head who was on Earth and is now Visible in Heaven is past doubt also with Protestants But that this Church is Organical and under the Government of a Monarchy by the Pope or of an Aristocracy by a General Council it seems a thing not possible in nature because neither can any Oeâ—umenical Council ever be Called or any One Man he sufficient to take on him the Concernmenâ—s of the whole World. A Political Church is a Community of Chrisâ—â—ans brought into an Orber of Superiority and Inferiority by an Head and Members organized for the Exercise of that Government which is proper to it but the whole Earth is not capable of any such Order And Councils therefore which are gather'd out of several Countries or of Bishops belonging to more Dominions than of one Supreme Power may behad for mutual Advice and Concord but not for Government A Nation Empire or Kingdom which consists of one Supreme Magistrate and People who are generally Christians are capable of such an Ecclesiastical Polity and a National Church Political in England is to be asserted and maintained The Church of England then is a Political Society of all the Christians in the Land united in the King as Head and organized by the Bishops for the executing those Laws or Government which he chooses for their spiritual Good and the publick Peace There is this difference between a Church National the Church Catholick and Particular Churches The two latter-are of Divine Right and Essential Consideration but the former is and can be only of Humane Institution for it is manifestly Accidental to the Church of Christ that the chief Magistrate and the whole People should be Christian. Distinguish we here of the Government of the Church as Internal belonging to the Spirit and External which belongs to Men And of the External Regiment thereof which is either Formal belonging to the Ministers or Officers of Christ or Objective belonging to the Magistrate the one being only by the Keyes the other by the Sword. Whether the Community now of Christians in England may be accounted a National Church in respect to any Formal Government of it we leave for dispute to others let them judg according to the foregoing Definition of a Political Church But that the main Body of the Nation are or may be constituted a proper Political Church National in respect to that External Objective Regiment which is or should be exercised by the Bishops as the proper Organs thereof under the King is what we hold reasonable and would lay as the Foundation-Stone of Peace in the matter of Religion between all Persons in the Kingdom Let the Parliament therefore we have be heartily for the Publick Good and thriving of England which must and can be only by an entire Liberty of Conscience in opposition to the narrow Spirit of any single Party or Faction and when such a Parliament as this shall set themselves about the Business of Union to purpose a Bill should be brought in Entituled An Act for declaring the Constitution of our Church of England A Parliament is the Representative of the whole Nation and no doubt but by Consent and Agreement they might upon the account mentioned Make a new Constitution and much more may they Declare the Constitution of it It should be declared then in such a Bill or Act that the Church of England consists of the King as the Head or pars Imperans who is to give Laws thereto and all the several Assemblies of Christians which he shall tolerate as the pars subdita or Body Some Discrimination between the Tolerable and Intolerable is indeed never to be gainsaid by any wise and good Man unto whom there is no Liberty can be desirable which is not consistent at least with these three things the Articles of our Creed a Good Life and the Fundamental Government of the Kingdom It is not for any private persons but a Parliament to prescribe the Terms of National Communion But we would have all our Assemblies that are Tolerable to be made Legal by such an Act and thereby parts of the National Church as well as the Parochial Congregations The Church here therefore must come under a double consideration as the Church of Christ and as the Church of England Take the Church as the Church of Christ and there must be as we have said at first endless Controversy about this point who are the true Members of it but take it under the consideration as National and there will be none at all for those must be Membâ—rs whom the Head by a Law does allow to be parts of the Body and the King under this notion only is made Head of the Church by the Stature that is as it is called Ecclesia Aâ—glicana The Protestant Dissenterâ— of all sorts as well as the Conformists will acknowledg the King to be Supreme Coercive Governour over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil throughout his Dominions And will not those who are Roman Catholicks do the like Did they not do so in Henry the Eight's time when they were generally such Again the Dissenters of all sorts even the Congregationalists of every Sect are ready to submit to any power legally derived from the King and upon such an account will admit of a superintendency of the Bishops as Ecclesiastical Magistrates under him when they cannot own any Authority that they have over other Ministers from Iesus Christ and will not Papists also be subject to all Authority that is exercised legally in his Name howsoever they may question the Spiritual Title of the English Clergy and their succession We would have the Bishops then qua Bishops as distinct in Office from Priests declared no other than the King's Officers whose power is but Objectively Ecclesiastical and to act Circa Sacra only by Vertue of his Authority and Commission As Iehoshaphat did comit the Charge incumbent upon him as Supreme Magistrate in regard to all Matters of the Lord unto the care of Amariah being Chief Priest and in regard to the King's Matters unto Zebadiah being as the Chief Iustice of the Realm so should the Diocesian Bishop be in our Ecclesiastical as the Judges are in Civil Matters the Substitutes altogether of His Majesty and execute his Jurisdiction This is indeed at State point which was throughly canvased by Henry the Eight whose Divines did agree on two Orders alone Priest and Deacon to be of Divine Appointment and that the Superiority of a Bishop over a Presbyter or of one Bishop over another was but by the Positive Laws of Men only as appears in that Authentick Book then put out entituled
The Necessary Eruâ—ition And consequently that the Bishop could not have or exert any Jurisdiction over the Subject unless warranted and derived from the King without danger of a Premunire which made Bonner wiâ—h others hold his Bishoprick by Commission Upon this ground if it should please His Majesty to chuse some persons of the Dissenters to this Office authorizing them to it no otherwise than by a like Commission which they should also hold with the Judges quam diâ— se benâ— gesseâ—unâ— As none of them could scruple then the acceptance so must a Union from that day forward commence in England especially if he would not leave filling up the Vacancies that fall with such till they in some measure equal the Conformists We are sensible unto what Distress the Ministers of a Particular Congregation of all sorts may be brought in the exercise of Discipline over some potent turbulent and refractory Members and what relief he might find in such an external Ecclesiastical Officer as this We are sensible how many inconvenices of Congregational Episcopacy may by this means only be saved Their work in general should be to supervise the Churches of all parties in their Diocesses that they walk according to their own principles in due Order agreeable to the Gospel and the peace of one another And more particularly in the observance of all Laws and Limitations Rules or Canons which the King as Supreme Head shall by advice of a Convocation oâ— the consent of his three Estates in Parliament make on purpose and impose upon them with respect both to the publick Emolument and the safety of his own Person Dignity and Dominions For example suppose this to be one Canon or Injunction That no Novice but such as are Grave Men only among the Sects be admitted to be Teachers Another this That the doors be kept open in all Conventiâ—les for any that wilâ— to come in and hear that no Sedition be there hatched or broached There are such and many the like Impositions may be found very fit to be laid on some Persons not needful for others and it is Time and the Trial and Experience which must be the Mother to bring them forth and cultivate them after to their best advantage To the making such Canons we humbly motion a third Clerk for the Convocation to be added to the two in every Diocess and chose out of the Dissenters with indifferent respect to all sorts of them that mutual Satisfaction and Concord my thereby be prosecuted with unanimity of Heart and Good will throughout all the Churcheâ— And the two Provinces of Canterbury and York should unite in this Convocation for the making them one National Church and not two Provincial ones in a diverse Assembly By this means shall one Organ more be added to this great Political Society for deriving an influence from the Head to these parts of the Body as well as others which now seem neglected and to have no care taken of them The more especial business of such an equally Modell'd Convocation should be the revising the Book of Canons for the reversing the main body of them having been fitted to that narrow scantling which is unworthy the Church of England and for the leaving only those and making new as we have exemplified in one or two for instance-sake even now which do and will suit to that larger Constitution thereof intended by this Paper And having now said thus much for Explanation of this Design we must say some little also in favour of it The Design of such an Accommodation as this shall advance not lessen the outward power and honour of the Bishop extending it over those who before had no conscientious regard for their Function while yet it would ease them of the tremendous burden of such a Cura Animarum they take on them otherwise as must be of impossible performance This Design which is suppos'd to find us in our Divisions and not to make any shall by little and little with God's blessing on it cool Animosities and enkindle Charity and Holiness among all parties which now is so much wanting while those that are Catholicks and those that are Protestants and much more those that are Conformists and those that are Nonconfrmists do agree in the substance of one Christianity having the same Scriptures the same Articles of Faith in the three Creeds and the same Rule of Manners in the Decalogue There is one Body one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism They cannot indeed have both Communion in the same External Worship but they can have it in the Internal Adoration of the same blessed Trinity and in One Hope of our calling unto eternal Life through Christ Iesus They must separate into several Congregations but there shall be no Schism in the Body by this means for all that For as while the Supreme Power allows only the Parochial Meetings as established by Law it hath bin accounted Schism to go to Separate Assemblies So if the Scene be altered and these Separate Congregations be also made Legal this Schism or Mens being called Schismaticks in that regard must vanish and be at an end Indeed these divers Congregations will Accuse one another as guilty of Sin and Schism before God for each separating from the others Communion and threaten his Judgment but so long as there is no separating from the Church whereof the King is Head while he tolerates the Meetings of both and makes them parts of it as National there shall be no prosecution of Law against any but all quiet as fellow-Members upon that account Only as to the Roman Catholicks it is not indeed for them to imagine that a Protestant King and Parliament should allow of their Mass in Publick as they do of the Service-Book This were not to tolerate the Papists but to set up Popery whereas the Determining what is to be permitted to one Party and what to another so as no Detriment may be brought to the Church or State and no Sin or Guilt upon the Nation by that permission is a nice thing and the business of this Parliament There is one Motion farther should be added and that is for another Bill also to be brought in to take away Pluralities which is the Pest of our present Conforming Clergy I mean both of Livings and Dignities impartially to this end that the King may have wherewithal to engage those he receives into the Church thus enlarged and consequently restores to their Labours by this Accommodation for that is a thing will make the favour indeed significant to such persons I will conclude with one Argument for what I have proposed There is no power given upon Earth for any Man to command that which he in his Conscience does judg to be Sin. Non datur potestas ad malum But to conform in all things to the present Church according to Law is Sin in the judgment of Dissenters Catholicks and others and the Late King was a
Dissenter of one sort himself The King therefore that was so lately could not really put the Catholicks upon Conformity and if he would appear equal to all his People he could not put â—ny other Dissenters on it neither for the same Cause That which the Law requires was both in his Conscience and in theirs a thing prohibited of God. He could not therefore put the Laws in Execution being against God. And if He could not do it acting only but as an honest Man that abides by his Principles we have no reason to apprehend that so good a King and Queen as we have now should be ever brought to do it maugre all the Enticements of the Church of England or Frowns of the Church of Rome FINIS ADVERTISEMENT A Third Volume of Sermons Preached by the Late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton D.D. In Two Parts The First containing LXVI Sermons on the Eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews With a Treatise of the Life of Faith. The Second containing a Treatise of Self-Denial With Several Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper And other Occasions With an Alphabetical-Table to the Whole Sold by Thomas Parkhurst and Ionathan Robinson ELEVENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland VIZ. I. An Answer to the Desertion Discuss'd being a Defence of the late and present Proceedings II. Satisfaction tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Non-submission to our present Governours and refusing of the New Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance III. Dr. Oates his Petition to the Parliament declaring his barbarous Sufferings by the Papists IV. An Account of the Convention of Scotland V. A Speech made by a Member of the Convention of the Estates in Scotland VI. The Grounds on which the Estates of Scotland declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland Forfaulted and the Throne become Vacant VII The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men justifying the Lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. AN ANSWER TO THE DESERTION DISCUSS'D IF many of our Long-Rob'd Divines pust up with a Conceit of their own Parts would but keep closer to their Texts and their Duties most certainly our Peace and Union would be much firmer and more assured then it is For being sway'd by Interest and Profit they are more afraid of losing the Advantages of Earthly Preferment then the Treasures of Heavenly Felicity Unless they swim in their own Wishes and Desires all Things are out of Order The Church is in danger they cry here are Sharers coming in among Us And by an odd kind of Ecclesiastical Policy seem rather inclinable to return under the Yoke of Popery then to endure the Equality of a Dissenting Protestant rather to be at the check of a Pope's Nuncio then suffer the Fraternity of a Protestant Nonconformist They said nothing to the late King till he began to touch their Copy-holds then they call'd out for Help and now they are angry with their Relief because they are afraid of well they know not what And this is their Misfortune that if all things answer not the full Height of their Expectations they are the first that should be last dissatisfied If all things go not well as they imagine they presently grow moody and waspish and while they insinuate their empty Notions into others who admiring the fluency of their Pulpit Language either out of Ignorance or Laziness allow them a Prerogative over their Understandings the whole Nation must be embroyl'd by their Surmises and Mistrusts Else what had that Gentleman who wrote the Desertion Discuss'd to do to busy his Brains with a Subject neither appertaining to his Function nor proper for his Talent Why should he be setting himself up against the voted Judgment of â—he chiefest and greatest part of the Kingdom A Man of his Profession would have doubtless better employ'd himself in contemplating the Story of the Three Murmurers against Moses and there have learn'd a more sanctifi'd Lesson then to exalt his Sophistry against the Debates of a Solemn Assembly contriving the Publick Preservation For certainly never was a fairer Prospect then now since the many Revolutions under which the British Monarchy has labour'd of its being restor'd to its ancient Grandâ—ur and Renown and of enjoying the Advantages of Peace and Prosperity in a higher measure then ever So that it must be look'd upon as the Effect either of a most pernicious Malice or a strange distraction of Brain for such Discussers as these to be throwing about the Darnel of their nice and froward Conceptions on purpose to choak the Expectations of so glorious a Harvest For they must be Men that want the government of right Reason within themselves as being enslav'd either to vicious Custom or partial Affection or else they would never run themselves and others with so much precipitancy into the shame and ignominy of upholding the subvertors of National Constitutions And all this to blacken and defame the noble Endeavours and prudent Counsels of those renowned Patriots that pursu'd the only means to rescue a languishing Monarchy from impending Thraldom and Ruin. He does not wonder he says that a Man of so much sense and integrity as his Friend is should be surprized at the Thrones being declared Vacant by the Lower House of Convention For how says his Friend can the Seat of the Government be empty while the King who all grant had an unquestionable Title is still living But the Discusser here forgot that it had been the resolv'd Opinion of two Parliaments already That there was no Security for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the establish'd Government of the Kingdom without passing a Bill for disabling the Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and that unless a Bill were pass'd for excluding the Duke of York the House could not give any Supply to the King without Danger to his Person the Hazard of the Protestant Religion and Breach of the Trust in them repos'd by the People Upon which a Bill did pass the Commons and was sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence by which Iames Duke of York was excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm c. and he adjudg'd Guilty of High Treason and to suffer the Pains and Penalties as in Case of High Treason if after such a Time he should claim challenge or attempt to possess or exercise any Authority or Jurisdiction as King c. in any of the said Dominions 'T is true the Lords did not pass this Bill for Reasons well known yet was it such a mutilation to the Duke's Title to be disabled from succeeding in the Kingdom by the whole Body of the Commons who are the Representatives of the Nation that it can never be said that all Men granted his Title unquestionable
Years been Embezl'd to keep up a standing Army of Irish Ragamuffins as if England were now in its Turn to have been conquer'd by Ireland as formerly Ireland had been conquer'd by England From which fears when his present Majesty had delivered the Nation it was but reason that his Army should be pay'd out of the Publick Stock for their happy Toyl and labour For the Publick Revenue of all Kingdoms and States was ever Originally intended for the Preservation and not the Destruction of the People Upon the Disbanding of the Papists the Discusser makes a special Observation That no Test-Acts nor any Others could barr the King from Listing them as Common Souldiers This perhaps may be true that is to say that a Protestant Prince may list Papists and a Popish Prince Protestants to follow him in a lawful War. But when a Popish Prince in a Protestant Nation had made his chiefesâ— Levies of Popish Common Souldiers to over-aw his Protestant Subjects and put his sole Confidence in them for his known and open Designs and manifest Endeavors to introduce Popery into a Protestant Kingdom contrary to the Law 't was time then to think of disbanding such Vermin and ridding them out of the Land. And the reason why the Protestants could not be trusted was as certain For if the King would not trust his Protestants nay disarm'd them when Papists were both arm'd and Employ'd what reason had the Protestants to trust the King. And this was that which among other Things created and foster'd those General and Violent Dissatisfactions in the Nation For Men have naturally a general and violent Antipathy against having their Throats Cut if they can help it And therefore since the Kingdom by a Miraculous Providence had obtain'd its Redemption 't is to be wonder'd the Discusser should imagine 't was ever intended that the late K. should be in a Condition again to oppose either his own or the persons of any others against the Arms of the Prince or those of his own Subjects And whereas he says that the King 's Mortal Enemies were to be the Judges of his Crown and Dignity the Discusser should have done well before he had made his Reflection upon so many Eminent Patriots to have consulted Grotius l. 1. c. 4. Par. 8. and the Example of Pausamias King of Lâ—cedaemon there cited Certainly there was no such Impossibility but that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might have been chosen to deal equally between the King and the People For tho the King perhaps might be conscious that he could not so well rely upon the Kindness of those to whom he had always had such an inveterate Antipathy yet he might have rely'd upon the Justice of so many Great and Worthy Personages So that it is the Discusser himself who out-faces the Sun and tramples upon the Understandings and Senses of the whole Nation who makes these little Rhetorical Flourishes to palliate and obscure the Truth and to insinuate among the People as if Wrong and Injustice had been done where nothing was acted but what was a due debt to Self-Preservation And with the same Brazening the Discusser out-faces the Sun and tramples upon the Senses of the Nation to assert that a Desertion of the Government after such Proposals which were rather Assurances of his Safety was no Desertion He had been safer in the Affection of the People when all his evil Counsellers had been remov'd from about him he had been safer from the Importunities of his Priests and Jesuites He had been more secure from running himself into farther danger and safer in the Enjoyment of his Royal Dignity But he who had so Solemnly sworn to Establish Popery in England or die in the Attempt thought himself no where safe perhapps but where he might be procuring his future Bliss by the Performance of his Vow The Discusser now advances to the King 's second withdrawing and puts the Question what the King had done to incur a forfeiture by his first Retirement Indeed what had he not done If the Discusser â—orgot in his Discussing Heat the Declaration presented to their Present Majesties would have rubb'd up his Memory Among the rest there was one That he had endeavoured to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom by raising and keeping a Standing Army in the Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and quartering Souldiers contrary to Law and by causing sâ—veral of his good Subjects to be Disarm'd at the same time when Papists were both Arm'd and Employ'd Now to what purpose was all this but to Subject the Kingdom to the Tyranny of the Pope In such a case Barclay cited by Grotious l. 1. c. 4. per. 10. gives this for his Opinion Si Rex regnum alienet aut alij Subjiciat amitti ab eo Regnum To which Grotius himself adds Si Rex reipsa tradere regnum aut Subjicere molliatur quin ei resisti in boc posse non dubite Aliud est enim Imperium aliud habendi modus qui nâ— mutetur obstare poâ—est Populus After all this it cannot be imagin'd that the King returned the second time with an intention to govern unless he might govern at his own will and Pleasure as he did before But that would not be suffer'd him for they who had now avoided the Yoke so near putting about their Necks would never endure it should come so near their shoulders again Therefore all the Probality in the World is on this side That the King perceiving that by taking the Government upon him again he should not be able to attain those Ends which he had made the Business of his whole Reign resolv'd to relinquish it altogether At which time being at liberty to go or stay his Departure must of necessity be accounted Voluntary and consequently an Absolute Abdication Lastly it is impossible that the King could be frighted out of his Dominions by the making of two or three Addresses to his then Royal Highness the Prince of Orange for it was no more than rationally he could expect would be done more especially from the City to the Person who next under God had deliver'd them from their Continual fears of Fire and Sword. Nor by the denying him a little Gold to Heal with which looks like an improbable Story of the Discusser's own framing These are Motions so inconsiderable for a King to forsake his Dominions that the Discusser seems to have Conjur'd them up meerly to degrade the Courage of the Absenting Monarch and to mortify his own Discussion But after all the Question may be fairly put whether Withdrawing in the Construction of our Law does not rather imply a Guilt than an Apprehension of Danger unless it be that of being call'd to an Account since the Query always propounded to the Jury is Did he fly for 't Which indeed ought to be the Legal Determination of this Dispute However the Discusser goes on and tells
accuse him of Capital Crimes but being defeated in that Villanous Attempt they first procured King Charles the Second to withdraw that Protection and Subsistence his Majesty had at the Request of several Parliaments allowed to your Petitioner and then instigated his Royal Highness the Duke of York to prosecute your Petitioner in an Action of Scandalum Magnatum for speaking this notorious Truth viz. That he the said Duke of York was reconciled to the Church of Rome and that It is High Treason to be so reconciled wherein a Verdict and Judgment for one Hundred Thousand Pounds Damages were obtained against your Petitioner and your Petitioner was committed to the King's Bench-Prison After this the same Popish Party obtained leave from King Charles the second to prefer two several Indictments against your Petitioner for two pretended Perjuries in his Evidence concerning the said Conspiracy which they brought on to Tryal in the Reign of King Iames the second and your Petitioner was upon the Evidence of those very Witnesses who had confronted him in three former Tryals and were disbelieved and through the Partial Behahaviour of the Chief Justice Ieffreys in brow-beating his Witnesses and misleading the Juries convicted of the said Pretended Perjuries and received this inhumane and unparallel'd Sentence following viz. To pay two thousand Marks to the King To be devested of his Canonical Habit To be brought into Westminster-Hall with a Paper upon his Head with this Inscription Titus Oates convicted upon full Evidence of two horrid Perjuries To stand in and upon the Pillory two several days for the space of an Hour To be whip'd by the comman Hang-man from Aldgate to Newgate on Wednesday and to be whip'd again on the Friday following from Newgate to Tiburn To stand in and upon the Pillory five times in every Year of his Life and to remain a Prisoner during his Life Which Sentence being intended as your Petitioner hath just reason to believe to murther him was accordingly executed with all the Circumstances of Barbarity he having suffered some thousands of Stripes whereby he was put to unspeakable Tortures and lay ten Weeks under the Surgeons Hands Neither did their Cruelty cease here but because your Petitioner by God's Mercy miraculously supporting him and the extraordinary Skill of a Judicious Chirurgion outlived that Bloody Usage some of them afterwards got into your Petitioner's Chamber whilst he was weak in his Bed and attempted to pull of the Plaisters apply'd to cure his Back and threatned to destroy him And that nothing within their Power or Malice might be wanting to compleat your Petitioner's Misery they procured him to be loaded with Irons of excessive Weight for a whole Year without any Intermission even when his Legs were swoln with the Gout and to be shut up in the Dungeon or Hole of the Prison whereby he became impair'd in his Limbs and contracted Convulsion Fits and other Distempers to the great Hazard of his Life All which illegal Proceedings and barbarous Inhumanities your Petitioner humbly conceives were not only intended as a Revenge upon him but likewise to cast a Reproach upon the Wisdom and Honour of four successive Parliaments who had given him Creâ—it and upon the Publick Justice of the Nation And your Petitioner humbly hopes that since the Papists themselves have verified and confirmed his Evidence by their late open and avowed Violations of our Religion Laws and Liberties this Honourable House will vindicate the Proceedings of former Parliaments and discharge your Petitioner from those Arbitrary and Scandalous Judgments and the unjust Imprisonment he lies under Your Petitioner doth therefore most humbly beseech your Lordships and your Honours to take his deplorable Case into your gâ—nerous and tender Consideration and to give him such Redress â—herein as to your Lordships and your Honours great Wisdom Iustice and Goodness shall seem meet And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. An Account of the Convention of SCOTLAND THE Convention of Scotland met the 14 th of March 168â— in Obedience to the Prince of Orange's Letters They choice the Duke of Hamilton their President after which they had several Debates about the Duke of Gâ—rdon a Papist who keeps the Castle notwithstanding many offers of Surrender does still keep it for King Iames. They read a Letter from the King of England in which he exhorts them to lay aside all Animosities and Factions and mind the Publick Good in securing the Protestant Religion and the ancient Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom on sure and lasting Foundations particularly that they would endeavour a Union between both Kingdoms as one of the best Means for the Happiness of both especially at this time when the common Enemy is restless to procure the ruine of Britain and the Protestant Religion every-where After which a Letter was read from King Iames requiring them to support his Royal Authority by many Threats and Promises which made no Impression on them but after some time they drew up and sent a Letter to King William full of dutiful Respects promising to do that which may be acceptable to him and suitable to the Genius of the Nation After setling the Militia and other State-Matters and having resolved the Power into themselves they appointed a Committee of 24 made up of all the Estates to settle the Government Which Committee have provided for the full Meeting of the Convention Grounds and Reasons on which they have declared the Throne Vacant A SPEECH made by a Member of the Convention of the States in SCOTLAND WE are now called together by his Highness the Prince of Orange to Consult and Deliberate what Methods will be most proper to secure Our Religion Laws and Liberties in order to which the first thing that will fall under our Consideration is the setling the Sovereign Power I take for granted that you are fully convinced that King Iames the Seventh by his many Violations of the Fundamental Laws by his endeavouring to establish a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and introduce Popery tho he himself had confirmed all the Laws that were enacted in Favour of the Protestant Religion has thereby subverted the Constitution and that our Miseries might have no Redress from him has left us in a time when we needed his Protection most The Eyes of all Europe are upon us and it is in our Power to make our Selves and our Posterity either Happy or Miserable by making a choice either to call back the same King Iames and hazard once more all that Men account dear to his Mercy or to settle the Government on some other under whom we may live Quiet and Peaceable Lives without the perpetual Terror of being swallowed up by Popery and Arbitrary Government which all good Men hoped were now banished and yet behold a new Off-spring is sprung up which plead eagerly for both tho under the mistaken Names of Duty and Allegiance It 's strange that any Man can so far degenerate as to prefer Slavery
to Liberty and that they should be so much in love with Chains that when they were fairly shaken off they shouâ—d run furiously to be Fettered again as if the Ottoman and French Government were so charming in our Country that we cannot live without it tho we have so lately groaned under the dismal Burden of it And it might have been supposed that even these who had been Instrumental in Enslaving their Fellow-Brethren and were grown Fat with Sucking the Nations Blood would have taken another Method to Reconcile themselves than by persuading us to purchase their Safety at so vast an Expence as the Ruin of more than three Parts of the Nation will necessarily amount to If we do but a little reflect on the Motives which these Men blinded by Self-Interest make use of to delude the Nation into a Security that wanted very little of proving Fatal to it and compare them with the strong Reasons we have to disswade us from being so imposed on they will be found so Weak and Impertinent that we must judg it next to Impossibility to suffer our selves to be twice Deceived But if the Experience of our former Miseries so lately hanging over our Heads the very Thoughts of renewing which make all good Men to tremble has not made us Wiser and be not of Efficacy enough to deter us from venturing another Shipwrack and exposing all again to the Discretion of Roman Catholicks It 's more than probable that GOD has abandoned us and given us up to believe strong Delusions First Thay will endeavour to perswade us that Kings are eximed from Punishments here on Earth and nothing they do can be quarrelled by their Subjects which indeed might with some Reason be urged among the Turks who reserve nothing from the Power of their Sultans and where it 's Death to dispute his Commands tho never so Arbitrary and Tyrannical But with what Impudence can such Stuff be imposed on us who never admit our Kings to the Government till they swear to rule us according to Law and no otherways The Laws are the only Security we have for our Lives and Properties which if our Sovereign subvert Subjects cannot be blamed for making use of the ordinary means to preserve them and since that cannot be done without withdrawing Obedience from such a Magistrate as goes about to destroy them such an Act cannot properly be said to punish him because we take nothing from him to which he has a just Claim but do only shun the occasion of making our selves miserable The Speculative Doctrine of Passive Obedience has done too much mischief among us and what has befallen the King may be justly imputed to it for the believing that without Opposition he might do what he pleased encouraged him to take such measures as have drawn all these Misfortunes on him Secondly Others are so Fond as to believe that we may be Secure in calling the King back provided they so Limit him that it will not be in his power to hurt us These Men do not consider how small a Complement this is to a Man of the Kings Temper from an an Absolute Prince as he was pleased to fancy himself to content himself with the bare Title of a King and how insupportable the Charge must be if from being Master of all he must force himself to comply with a thousand Masters and see his Throne become his Prison But how airy is it to fancy that any Restrictions of our Contrivance can bind the King For 1 st It 's most certain they can never be Voluntary and what is constrained and done by Force is by Law declared to be Void and Null to whose Assistance the Popes Dispensing Power being joined would quickly blow off these Sampson Cords and the Royal Power would again revive with all its Vigour and Luster Thirdly The King is of a Religion that has in a famous Council decreed That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks much less with Subjects whom he looks upon as so many Rebels and will not miss to treat them as such whenever they give him the Opportunity of doing it for his greatest Admirers do not run to that height Idolatry to imagine him so much Angel as not to take all methods to revenge so great an Affront and secure himself at our Cost from such a Treatment for the future the apprehensions of which Resentments will strike such terrour in Mens minds that nothing will be capable to divert them from offering up All for an Atonement and Popery and Slavery will be thought a good Bargain if they can but save their Lives Then we may lament our Miseries but it will not be in our power to help them for a Prince of Orange is not always ready to rescue us with such vast Expence and so great hazard to his Person and if our Madness hurry us so far we deserve rather is pity than his resentment Fourthly What Arguments has the King given since he left us to persuade us he will be more faithful in observing his Words and Oaths than hitherto he has been Does he not in a Letter lately printed here expresly say he has ruled so as to give no occasion of complaint to any of his Subjects Is not the same Letter signed by one who sacrificed both Conscience and Honour to Interest whoâ—e pernicious and headstrong Counsels has posted him to his Ruine tho' all that has been done cannot make Him sensible of it Sure the re Hereticks to the See of Rome is not less Meritorious than before nor King Iames the Seventh by breathing the French Air become less Bigot It were a Dream to fancy it For so long as the Vatican thunders Excommunications against all such as do not use their utmost endeavours to extirpate Heresie a Roman Catholick must have no Religion at all if they be not terrible to him The fourth Argument they made use of to persuade such as are and shall be chosen Members of the Convention That their Interest to call back the King is That the Peace and Happiness of the Nation cannot be otherwise secured nor Factions or Divisions extinguished But what Factions do you observe but such as they themselves do foment on purpose to disturb our Harmony all which would immediately die if the Government were once setled on those who deserved it best for then if these Fops continued still fond of Popery and Tyranny they would be chastised as Disturbers of the Publick Peace The Argument may very justly be retorted for if the King return we will burst out into a flame and England which has already declared will quickly be on our Top an Enemy too Potent and too Numerous for us tho' we were all united besides the Danger to which such a Procedure will expose us we cut off all hopes of an Union with that Nation and thereby deprive our selves of an unspeakable Advantage which would redound to all sorts of People and would be the only means to
support an impoverish'd and sinking Nation Neither is this the only Inconveniency tho' it be a very great one for if we state our selves in opposition to England by Restoring the King whom they Rejected it is not to be doubted but he will use his uttmost endeavour to recover that Kingdom the loss of which is so considerable Now seeing it were vain to suppose that the Scots alone were able to second his desires he must needs have recourse to the French and Irish whose Religion will procure a more intire Confidence than His Majesty can repose in any others These therefore must be received into our Bosom and because Scotland is the most proper place for Invading England it must be the Scene of all the Blood and Confusion that this melancholly Thought gives us a Prospect of And what treatment can such Sham-Protestants expect from these who otherwise would have become their Friends and Allies And what Figure will they pretend to make when they set up for a separate Interest from all the Confederate Protestants in the World besides The happy Success the PRINCE his Enterprize has met with has made a considerable Alteration in the Affairs of Europe for that great Enemy of the Protestants and even of Christianity it self who had propos'd nothing less to himself than an Universal Monarchy whom the Strictest Leagues and Contracts cannot bind but without regard to GOD or Man threatens all his Neighbours with utter Destruction by the Scene 's being changed among us is so far humbled that from a Proud and Insulting Enemy he is become a Supplicant for Peace well foreseeing that if Britain join with those other Princes whom his Insolence Cruelty and Avarice has so justly Armed against him his Ruine is Inevitable So that if we have not Soul enough to enjoy this great Blessing and can easily part with the Glory of being once more the Arbiters of Europe let us at least have so much Christian Love and Charity for the Neighbouring Nations of our own Perswasion as not to expose them to a necessary Participation of these Plagues which our Common Enemies are preparing for us and which will certainly Terminate in all our Destructions Lastly I beseech you to consider what Persons they are who would Instill this Poyson in you and you will find them of three kinds First those who Postponing the Common Good of the Nation are wholly acted by Self-Interest considering that in a Government where Iustice and Mercy equally Flourish Virtue and Merit not Villany will be rewarded Secondly They who are ignorant of the Nature of Government and were never at the pains to inform themselves what Measures the Law of Nature and Nations have set to mens Obedience but are angry at every thing that thwarts their wild Notions and will admit of nothing tho never so reasonable and convincing if their dull Capacities cannot reach it The third sort are such as have been instrumental in the inslaving their Country and are afraid if they be called to an Account they may be brought to suffer Condign Punishment if such cannot succeed in their Design they at least hope to be overlook'd in a General Confusion so they have nothing unessayed that may tend to their own safety and if Heaven fail them they summon Hell to their Aid not that Love to their Prince but meer Ambition and Interest drives these Criminals to such Attempts neither are they much to blame if they are at such pains to sow Divisions among us But no Person of Wit and Iudgment nor any Good Man that is truly Protestant and minds the good of his Country will suffer himself to be so grosly imposed on by such Firebands who would build their Furture Imaginary Greatness on the Ruine of Our Religion Laws and Country The Grounds upon which the Estates of Scotland Declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland FORFAULTED and the Throne become VACANT I. BBcause King Iames the Seventh is a Professed Papist II. That the said King Iames did assume the Royal Power and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law. III. That he hath by the Council of evil Men invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom and changed it from a limited Monarchy to an Absolute and Despotick Power IV. Which Power he hath imployed to the Subversion of the Protestant Religion and the Violation of the Rights of the Subject And thereby V. Hath inverted all the Ends of Government The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men justifying the lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary I. FIdelity and Allegiance sworn to the King is only a Fidelity and Obedience as it is due to him by the Law of the Lands for were that Faith and Allegiance more than what the Law requires we should swear our selves Slaves and the King Absolute whereas by the Law we are free notwithstanding these Oaths II. When therefore by the Law Fidelity and Allegiance ceaseth then our sworn Allegiance ceaseth for if Allegiance might be due by the Oath to one Person whilst by the Law it ceaseth to him and becomes due to another Person the Oath then would oblige Men to transgress the Law and become Traytors and Rebels whereas the Oath is part of the Law and therefore ought to be so interpreted as may consist with it III. Fidelity and Allegiance are due by the Law to King William and not to King Iames for the Statute of 25 of Edward 3 d which defined all Treasons against the King and is the only Statute to that purpose now that Statute by the King understands not only a King de jure but also a King de facto tho not de jure against whom those Treasons Lie whence the Lord Chief Justice Hales in his Pleas of the Crown p. 12. discoursing of that Statute tells us that a King de facto and not de jure is a King within that Act and that Treason against him is Punishable tho the Right Heir get the Crown and that this hath been the common Sense of the Law Sir R. S. upon application to him about it hath assured us And according to another Statute 11 Hen. 7. ch 1. It is declared Treason to be in Arms against a King de facto such as Richard the 3 d was tho it was in behalf of a King de jure So then by the Law of the Land all things are Treason against King William which have been Treason against former Kings therefore the same Fidelity Obedience and Allegiance which was due to them is due to him and by Consequence may be Sworn to him by the Law of the Land. Allegiance and Protection are always Mutual and therefore when King Iames ceased to Protect us we ceased to owe him Allegiance by the Law of the Land and when King William began to Protect us we began our Allegiance to him These Considerations are in our Opinion sufficient to remove the Grand Scruple about the Oaths
If the dissatisfied Party accuse the Convention for making the Prince of Orange King it is not my Duty to judge those above me therefore I shall only say that if they have done ill Quod fieri non debuit factum valet aâ—d they of the Clergy ought not to censure their Superiours but obey according to the Law and Doctrine of Passive Obedience FINIS The TWELFTH and Last Collection of Papers VOL. I. Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland VIZ. I. The Secret League with France proved II. The Reasons why the late King Iames would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament III. The Reason of the Suddenness of the Change in England IV. The Judgment of the Court of France concerning the Misgovernment of King Iames the Second V. The Emperor of Germany his Account of the late King's Unhappiness in joining with the King of France VI. A full Relation of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London till the Proclaiming him King of England c. VII The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of England concerning their Grievances presented to King William and Queen Mary With their Malesties Answer VIII The Declaration of the States of Scotland concerning their Grievances IX The Manner of Proclaiming King William and Queen Mary at Whitehal and in the City of London Feb. 13. 1688. X. An Account of their Coronation at Westminster Apr. 11. 89. XI The Scots Proclamation declaring William and Mary King and Queen of England to be King and Queen of Scotland XII The manner of their taking the Scotish Coronation Oath at Whitehal May 11. XIII The Coronation Oaths of England and Scotland London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. The Secret League with France proved 1. BY the Treaty managed by the Dutchess of Orleans between Charles II. her Brother and Lewis XIV 1670 published by the Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland with the priviledg of the French King This Treaty expresly tells us That the French King did promise Charles II to subject his Parliament to him and to Establish the Romish Religion in his Kingdom But before this could be done the said Dutchess told him the Haughtiness and Power of the Hollander must be brought down 2. By the Current of the Design throughout all Coleman's Letters which contain nothing else but the Conspiracy of the Duke of York and the Jesuits against the Government and the Protestant Religion For you know says he in his Letter to Sir W. Throgmorton Feb. 1. 1674 5. when the Duke the late King Iames comes to be Master of our Affairs the King of France will have reason to promise himself all things that he can desire c. Both he and the two Royal Brothers being closly joined together to destroy the Northern Heresy as he in his Letter to Monsieur La Cheese assures us 3. Which Friendship with the French Court is further confirmed by a French Author who wrote the Life of Turene in which he brings in the Duke of York lamenting the Death of that great Marshal of France after this manner Alas says the Duke the loss is great to me in that I am greatly disappointed in those great Designs I have been long meditating upon if ever I come to the Crown of England For the sake of which Passage the then Secretary of State of England forbad the printing of that Book which was then translated and prepared for the Press 4. The French Ambassador at the Hague in a Memorial to the States General Sept. 9. 1618 peremptorily declares there was such an Alliance between the King his Master and King Iames II as to oblige him to succour him c. 5. Both King Charles II and King Iames II were so engaged with the great Nimrod of Francâ— that â—hough several Parliaments of England strugled hard to break the Friendship and gave a vast Sum of Mony in order thereunto yet all in vain And King Iames II was so eager to follow the French Measures that after the Defeat of Monmouth he declared to the Parliament that for the time to come he would make use of Popish Officers as well as keep up a standing Army contrary to Law. 6. We have had sufficient Evidences of his Designs by the care he took to fill his Army with Irish Papists at the same time that he disbanded all the Protestants that served him in Ireland that he might always have an Army at hand in that Kingdom ready to promote his Popish Designs in England which could not be done without a Secret League with France and without a very express assurance of being vigorously supported from thence when the nick of time should come 7. His flying to France and secret conspiring with the great Leviâ—tâ—an there and bringing French Aids with him into Ireland are no other than the putting the Secret League into Execution Many more Proofs may be produced but what has been said may convince any rational unprejudiced Protestant As for those Pharisees that wilfully shut their Eyes of whom we may say That seeing they see and do not peeceive because they are resolved not to yield to the most convincing Evidences that this Affair is capable of for the Parties concerned will hide it as much as they can I bewail their Condition and believe they are so obstinate that only the French Dragoons those booted Apostles can convince them when they come with the League in their Hands to put the Popish Penal Laws in Execution on their Backs from Neâ—gaâ—e to Tybâ—â—n The REASONS why the late K. James would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament proposed to those that are fond to have him again WHEN the Prince of Orange now our Gracious King his Glorious Expedition was first made known to the late King he resolved to have a Parliament upon the Belief that he should have been intirely Master of the Lower House by Reason of the Regulations he had made in Corporations in order to his Popish Designs But when he was forced to take other Measures as he told the Dissenters when he sent for them in the time of his Distress in restoring the Charters the Bishop of London the Fellows of Magdalen-Colledg c. He dreaded nothing more than a Parliament on the old Foundations to which the Prince in his Declaration had referred all for he knew several things would have been done by such a Parliament that he chose rather to perish than submit to 1. The first thing is The Examination of the Birth of the Prince of Wales as he is call'd the questioning of which was a Stab at his Heart as appears by his last Letter And the Reflections on the Bishops Petition mentioning That as a Business not fit to be referred then to a Parliament 2. The next thing was That Justice would certainly have been demanded against the Evil
than all other Princes do on the like occasions and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force he was no longer then bound to consider him as one that was but as one that had been King of England and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility how much soever the King complained of it who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage But when all is said that can be said there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Ioab Thou lovest thine Enemies and hatest thy Friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants for this Day I perceive that if Absolom had lived and all we had died this Day then it had pleased thee well Had the Protestant Religion the English Liberties the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours their Scruples and School-niceties and the Prince of Orange perished or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion our Laws and our Civil Rights with our own Swords and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self In truth the Men would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World. The REASONS of the Suddenness of the Change in England THE true Reasons of the Swiftness of this Change may easily be assigned by shewing the Temper and Designs of Iames the Second the Temper of William the Third our Present Soveraign and the Nature of the English Nation and of the Times all concurring with Wonderful Harmony to produce this wonderful Effect For had Iames the Second undertook any thing but the subjecting England to Popery and the Exercise of Arbitrary Power to that end his vast Revenue his great Army and the Reputation he had gained at Home and Abroad by the defeat of the Monmouth-Invasion would have gone near to have effected it and after all this if he had in the beginning of October frankly granted all the Ten Proposals made by the Bishops and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up a considerable Number of his Ministers to Justice and suffered the pretended Prince of Wales his Birth to be freely debated and determin'd in Parliament It would in all probability have prevented or defeated the then intended Invasion But whilst he thought to save the Pretended Succession the Dispensing and Suspending Power and the Ecclesiastical Commission to carry on his former Design with when he had baffl'd the Prince of Orange the Nation saw through the Project and he lost all Had a Prince of less Secresy Prudence Courage and Interest than the Prince of Orange undertaken this business it might probably have miscarriâ—d but as his Cause was better so his Reputation Conduct and Patience infinitely exceeded theirs he would not stir till he saw the French Forces set down before Philipsbourgh and then he was sure France and Germany were irrevocably ingaged in a War and consequently he should have no other opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must at last have determin'd all the things in Controversy except we resolved once for all to give up our Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the will of our King and submit for ever to a French Government A Nation of less sense than the English might have been imposed upon of less bravery and valour might have been frighted of a more servile temper might have neglected its Liberties till it had been too late to have ever recovered them again But none but a parcel of Iesuits bred in a Cloister and unacquainted with our Temper as well as Constitution would ever have hoped to have carried two such things as Popery and Abitrary Power both at once upon so jealous a Nation as the English is which hates them above any other People in the World. The cruel slaughter they had made of the poor wretches they took after the defeat at Bridg-water ought to have made them for ever despair of gaining any credit with the Dissenters who rarely forgive but never forget any ill treatment Yet these little Politico's had so little sense as to build all their hopes on the Gratitude and Insensibility of these Men as if they should for Liberty of Conscience arbitrarily and illegally granted and consequently revocable at the will of the Granter have sold themselves to everlasting Slavery They were equally mistaken in their carriage towards the Church of England party for when some of them had pursued both Clergy and Laity with the utmost obloquy hatred oppression and contempt to the very moment they found the Dutch storm would fall upon them Then all at once they passed to the other extream the Bishops are presently sent for the Government intirely to be put into their hands and all Places Presses and Papers fill'd with the Encomiums of the Church of England's Loyalty and Fidelity who but three days before were Male-contents if not Rebels and Traytors for opposing the Kings Dispensing Power and the Ecclesiastical Commission And which was the height of folly the same Pen which had been hired to defame and blacken the Church of England the Author of the Publick Occurrences truly stated was ordered to magnify its Loyalty By which they gained nothing but the intire and absolute disobliging the whole Protestant party in the Nation so that for the future no Body would serve or trust them To compleat their folly and madness they perswaded the King to throw up the Government and retire into France pretending we would never be able to agree amongst our selveâ— but would in a short time be forced to recal him and yield to all those things we had so violently opposed or if not he might yet at least force us to submit by the Succours he might gain in France without ever considering how possible it was we might agree and how difficult it would be to force us by a French Army which was equally contrary to the Interest of England and all Europe besides and to all intents and purposes destructive of the Interest of that Prince they pretended thus to exalt and re-establish Had France been now in Peace there might yet have been same colour for this but when all Europe was under a necessity to unite against him for its own preservation then to perswade the King of Great Britain to desert his Throne and fly thither for succour upon hopes of recovering his Kingdoms again by the assistance of the French the mortal and hereditary Enemies of the English this was so silly a Project that there seems to have been something of a
without Consent of Parliament By Committing and Prosecuting divers Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be Excused from concurring to the said assumed Power By issuing and causing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court called The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes By Levying Mony for and to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within this Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and Quartering Souldiers contrary to Law. By causing several Good Subjâ—cts being Protestants to be Disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law. By violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings-Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years Partial Corrupt and Unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Freeholders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subjects And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and Cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the said late K. Iames the 2 d having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of Right to be sent to Parliament to Meet and Sit at Westminster upon the 22 d Day of Ianuary in this Year 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted Upon which Letters Elections having been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lord's Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Case have usually done for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties Declare That the pretending Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is Illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like Nature are Illegal and Pernicious That levying of Mony for or to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted is Illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are Illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with Consent of Parliament is against Law. That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as allowed by Law. That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free. That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or Questioned in any Court or place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly empannell'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon Men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void And that for redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only Means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by Him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Surviver of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. I A. B. do swear That I do from my Heart Abhor
to be printed and dispersed is contrair to Law. That the taking the Children of Noblemen Gentlemen and others sending and keeping them abroad to be bred Papists The making Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colledges the bestowing Pensions on Priests and the perverting Protestants from their Religion by offers of Places Preferments and Pensions are contrair to Law. That the disarming of Protestants and imploying Papists in the Places of greatest Trust both Civil and Military the thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and the entrusting Papists with the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom are contrair to Law. That the imposing Oaths without Authority of Parliament is contrair to Law. That the giving Gifts or Grants for raising of Mony without the Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates is contrair to Law. That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom or imposing them where there were several Offices and Jurisdictions and the putting the Leiges to Death summarily and without legal Trial Jury or Record are contrair to Law. That the imposing extraordinary Fines the exacting of exorbitant Bail and the disposing of Fines and Forfaultures before Sentence are contrair to Law. That the Imprisoning Persons without expressing the reason thereof and delaying to put them to Trial are contrair to Law. That the causing pursue and forfault Persons upon Stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak Pretences upon â—ame and defective Probation as particularly the late Earl of Aâ—gyle are contraiâ— to Law. That the nominating and imposing Magistrates Councils and Clerks upon Burgâ—s contrair to the Liberties and express Charters is contrair to Law. That the sending Leâ—ters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to stop or desist from determining Causes or ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them and the changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam unto Commissions Durante bene placito are contrair to Law. That the granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts is contrair to Law. That the forcing the Leiges to depone against themselves in Capital Crimes however the Punishment be restricted is contrair to Law. That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes is contrair to Law. That the â—ending of an Army in a Hostile manner upon any part of the Kingdom in a peaceable time and exacting of Locality and any manner of Free Quarter is contrair to Law. That the charging the Leiges with Law-burroughs at the King's instance and the imposing of Bands without the Authority of Parliament and the suspending the Advocates from their Imployments for not compearing when such Bands were offered were contrair to Law. That the putting of Garisons on private Mens Houses in a time of peace without the consent of the Authority of Parliament is contrair to Law. That the opinion of the Lords of Session in the two Causes following were contrair to Law viz. 1. That the concerting the demand of a Supply for a Forfaulted Person although not given is Treason 2. That Persons refusing to discover what are their private thoughts and Judgments in relation to points of Treason or other Mens actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from the Church was contrair to Law. That Prelacy and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and unsupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrair to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having Reformed from Popery by Presbyters and therefore ought to be abolished That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subjects to protest for remead of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounced by the Lords of Session providing the same do not stop execution of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and that all Imprisonments and Prosecutions for such Petitions are contrair to Law. That for redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and Preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be frequently called and allowed to sit and the freedom of Speech and Debate secured to the Members And they do claim and demand and insist upon all and sundry the Premisses as their undoubted Right and Liberties and that no Declarations Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses ought in any ways to be drawn hereafter in consequence and example but that all Forfaultures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Pursuits Persecutions and Rigorous Executions be considered and the Parties seized be redressed To which demand of the Rights and Redressing of their Grievances they are particularly incouraged by his Majesty the King of England his Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland of the day of October last as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remead therein Having therefore an entire Confidence That his said Majesty the King of England will perfyte the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they have here asserted And from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve That William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland Be and Be Declared King and Queen of Scotland to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Royal Power be only in and exercised by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their joynt Lives And after their deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which sailing to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which also sailing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And they do pray the said King and Queen of England to accept the same accordingly And that the Oath hereafter mentioned be taken by all Protestants of whom the Oath of Allegiance and any other Oaths and Declarations might be required by Law instead thereof And that the said Oath of Allegiance and other Oaths and Declarations may be Abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear True Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. The manner of the Proclaiming of King WILLIAM and Queen MARY at White-hall and in the City of London Feb. 13. 1688 9. ABout half an hour past Ten in the Morning the Lords and Commons came from Westminster to White-hall in their Coaches and alighted at the Gate went up into the Banqueting-House where they presented the Prince and Princess of Orange with an Instrument in Writing for declaring their Highnesses
or his Deputs his Brethren Heraulds Macers and Pursevants and at the Head-Burghs of all the Shires Stewarties Bailliaries and Regalities within the Kingdom by Messengers at Arms. Extracted forth of the Meeting of the Estates by me J A. DALRYMPLE Cls. God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY The Manner of the King and Queen taking the Scotish Coronation Oath May 11. 1689. THis day being appointed for the publick Reception of the Commissioners viz. the Earl of Argyle Sir Iames Montgomery of Skelmerly and Sir Iohn Dalrymple of Stair younger who were sent by the Meeting of the Estates of Scotland with an Offer of the Crown of that Kingdom to Their Majesties they accordingly at 3 of the Clock met at the Council-Chamber and from thence were Conducted by Sir Charles Cotterel Master of the Ceremonies attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom who reside in and about this place to the Banqueting-House where the King and Queen came attended by many Persons of Quality the Sword being carried before them by the Lord Cardrosse and Their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a rich Canopy they first presented a Letter from the Estates to His Majesty then the Instrument of Government Thirdly a Paper containing the Grievances which they desired might be Redressed and Lastly an Address to His Majesty for turning the Meeting of the said Estates into a Parliament All which being Signed by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton as President of the Meeting and read to Their Majesties the King returned to the Commissioners the following Answer When I engaged in this Undertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did emit a Declaration in relation to That as well as to this Kingdom which I intend to make good and effectual to them I take it very kindly that Scotland hath expressed so much Confidence in and Affection to Me They shall find Me willing to assist them in every thing that concerns the Weal and Interest of that Kingdom by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of their Religion Property and Liberty and to ease them of what may be justly grievous to them After which the Coronation-Oath was tendred to Their Majesties which the Earl of Argyle spoke word by word distinctly and the King and Queen repeated it after him holding Their Right Hands up after the manner of taking Oaths in Scotland The Meeting of the Estates of Scotland did Authorize their Commissioners to represent to His Majesty That that Clause in the Oath in relation to the rooting out of Hereticks did not import the destroying of Hereticks And that by the Law of Scotland no Man was to be persecuted for his private Opinion And even Obstinate and Convicted Hereticks were only to be denounced Rebels or Outlawed whereby their Moveable Estates are Confiscated His Majesty at the repeating that Clause in the Oath Did declare that He did not mean by these words That He was under any Obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners made Answer That neither the meaning of the Oath or the Law of Scotland did import it Then the King replyed That He took the Oath in that Sense and called for Witnesses the Commissioners and others present And then both Their Majesties Signed the said Coronation-Oath After which the Commissioners and several of the Scotish Nobility kissed Their Majesties Hands The Coronation-OATH of England The Arch-Bishop or Bishop shall say WIll You solemnly Promise and Swear to Govern the People of this Kingdom of England and the Dominions thereto belonging according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on and the Laws and Customs of the same The King and Queen shall say I solemnly Promise so to do Arch-Bishop or Bishop Will You to Your Power cause Law and Justice in Mercy to be Executed in all Your Judgments King and Queen I Will. Arch-Bishop or Bishop Will You to the utmost of Your Power Maintain the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Religion Established by Law And will You Preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of this Realm and to the Churches committed to their Charge all such Rights and Priviledges as by Law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them King and Queen All this I Promise to do After this the King and Queen laying His and Her Hand upon the Holy Gospels shall say King and Queen The Things which I have here before Promised I will Perform and Keep. So help me God. Then the King and Queen shall kiss the Book The Coronation OATH of Scotland WE William and Mary King and Queen of Scotland Faithfully Promise and Swear by this Our solemn Oath in presence of the Eternal God that during the whole course of Our Life we will serve the same Eternal God to the uttermost of Our Power according as he has required in his most holy Word reveal'd and contain'd in the New and Old Testament and according to the same Word shall maintain the True Religion of Christ Jesus the Preaching of his Holy Word and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments now Received and Preached within the Realm of Scotland and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same and shall Rule the People committed to our Charge according to the Will and Command of God revealed in his aforesaid Word and according to the Landable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no ways repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal God and shall procure to the utmost of Our power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect Peace in all time coming That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents with all just Priviledges of the Crown of Scotland neither shall we transfer nor alienate the same That we shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees Reif Oppression and all kind of wrong And we shall Command and Procure that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be keeped to all Persons without exception as the Lord and Father of all Mercies shall be merciful to uâ— And we shall be careful to root out all Hereticks and Enemies to the true Worship of God that shall be Convicted by the true Kirk of God of the aforesaid Crimes out of Our Lands and Empire of Scotland And we faithfully affirm the things above written by Our Solemn Oath God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY FINIS a a Distinct. 19. cap. a Caus. 25. q. 1. cap. 11. b b Cap. Vergent de Hereticis c c Cap. Infam 6. q. 1. p. 297. d d Suar. de Fide disp 12. §. 9. n. â— l. 2. c. 29. e e Cap. de Haer. f f Aâ—zoâ— Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7. g g Cap. 2. Sect. fin de Haer. in 6. h h Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis i i Vasque in Suar. disp 22. S. 4. n. 11. k k S. 1. n. 5. l l Cap. Vergent de Haer. m m Cap. ad abolendum de Haâ—r Suâ—r Dis. 23. Bul. Vrb. 4. Inno. 4. n n Jac. de Gra. decis l. 2. c. 9. n. 2. o o Bonacina Diano Castro Molanus c. Car. Allen. ad mon. to Nobl. Peop. p. 41. p p â—riess of P. G. 13. Clem. 8. q q 5. Ies. Trial p. 28. r r Col. Lr. â—o the Internâ—ncio s s Prance 's Nar. p. 4. t t Caus. Ep. p. 189. u u Five Ies. Tâ—iâ—ls p. 2â— x x Caput Offiâ—â—â—m y y Bonâ—ciâ—â—a dâ— prinâ— prat Disp. 3. q. 2. z z Parson 's Philop. p. 109. a a Becan Cont. Aug. p. 131 132. In Fowlis p. 60. b b Oats 's Nar. p. 4. N. 5 c. c c Hist. Ref. p. 110. a a Prout Regalis Officii exposcit utilitas b b Sicome le profit de Office Demaunde The Kingly or Regal Office of this Realm Mar. Sess. 3. cap. 1. Give us a King to judg us 1 Sam. 8.5 6 20. 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1 2. 1 Iac. 1. cap. 1. 35 H. 8. cap. 1. 6 E. 6.11.1 2 3. Om. 10. 1 El. 6. 1 El. 3. Church-man
Necessity of their own creating tho never so false For says he if the King had either not bin driven out of his Dominions or invited back upon honourable Terms they needed not have had recourse to such unusual singular Methods of proceeding And thus the Discusser rambles out of one Untruth into another For he fled from offer'd Treaty forsook the defence of his own Forces and left them to be disbanded in Arrears and without Payment slipt from his own Council by Night after he had appointed to meet them in Consultation the next Morning Nor could he justly suspect that any Violence would have been offer'd to Him in particular being so well assur'd as he could not choose but be of the Generous Inclination and profound Respect which the Prince had to his Person But if the Guilt of peculiar Miscarriages hasten'd his Departure or oversway'd him toleave the Heâ—m of Rule without any Form or Face of Goverment That could ne're be call'd an Expulsion out of his Dominions And therefore when a certain Gentleman waiting on him at Feversham besought him to return to London he gave the Person this Reply That he was an honest Gentleman but knew not what he knew And when he had once abandon'd the Kingdom all forlom without either Head or Conduct without Council or any Countenance of Authority then according to the Judgment of the Common-wealth of Venice in reference to the Succession of Henry the 4 th it belong'd to the Nobility and chief Persons of the Land as they are the chief Defence of the Royal Authority to take care of the Publick Safety whether by usual or unusual Methods of proceeding it matters not and they have both the Authority of Law and Necessity to justify their Proceedings As for his being invited back upon Honourable Terms 't is well known how he return'd back and went through the City on the Sunday Night attended by his own Guards and lodg'd in White-Hall and this most certainly in order to an Accommodation Only because the Prince was coming to Town he was sent to and for the avoiding any Disturbance that might be prejudicial to his Person was humbly desir'd to retire to Ham-House with Liberty to make choice of what Persons he thought fit to attend him Which he promised to do but recollecting himself and desiring to know whether he might not return back to Rochester word was sent him the next Morning that he might do as he pleas'd All this while here was no Constraint put upon him so that he could not be said to be driven out of his Dominions but that it was his own Choice to forsake it Notwithstanding all this The Discusser will undertake to prove That the King before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger and therefore it could not be call'd an Abdication But through the whole Pursuit of his Argument the Discusser most wretchedly mistakes the Point quite mistaking the Effects for the Causes For says he Had not the King great Reason to retire to secure his Person and his Honour when he had met with so many unfortunate Disappointments with so many surprising and unparallel'd Accidents When part of the Army was revolted and the Remainder too apparently unserviceable When the People had such fatal and unremoveable Prejudices against his Service When there were such terrible Disorders in the Kingdom and all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire What should a Prince do when he had scarce any thing left him to lose but himself but consult his Safety and give way to the irresisâ—able Evil These are very great Disappointments and evil Accidents indeed to befal a Prince But the Discusser forgets to tell ye That the Prince brought all these Inconveniencies upon himself The Discusser tells ye that part of the Army revolted but he omits to tell ye that it was out of a Generous Principle for that being Protestants they would not embrue their Hands in the Blood of their Fellow-Protestants and Countreymen nor be Instruments to enslave the Nation He tells ye of terrible Disorders in the Kingdom but does not tell ye it was time for the People to be in Disorder when they saw such Incroachments upon their Ancient Franchises such Inundations of Popery flowing in upon their Consciences and such a rapid Violence of French Thraldom tumbling in upon their Necks He complains that all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire but forgets to tell you who were the Incendiaries These therefore with several others of the same Nature being the true Causes that drew the foresaid Inconveniencies upon the King it follows that tho the Secondary Constraint of his withdrawing might be occasion'd by the Effects yet the Primary Cause of his withdrawing proceeded from the First Causes which produced the Effects Consequently such a Retiring was voluntary and not forc'd because he may be justly said to fly from something of dreaded Punishment rather then pursuing Danger from which he was always at a distance â—ar enough off but dubious what would become of him as to the Former The Discusser makes many other grievous Complaints to justify the King's First withdrawing for hitherto he is altogether upon that but when he comes to sum up all In short says he when the Forts and Revenue were thus disposed of when the Papists were to be disbanded and the Protestants not to be trusted when the Nation was under such general and violent Dissatisfactions when the King in case of a Rupture had nothing upon the matter but his single Person to oppose against the Princes Arms and those of his Subjects when his Mortal Enemies were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity if no farther when Affairs were in this tempestuous Condition to say that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might be chosen with the Relation to the King 's Right as well as the People's and that the King had no just visible Cause to apprehend himself in Danger is to out-face the Sun and trample upon the Understandings and almost upon the Senses of the whole Nation As for the Fortified Towns it was but Reason that his then Highness the Prince of Orange who came over to rescue the Nation from Arbitrary Violence and Oppression should demand them to be put into his Power well Knowing them to be then in the Hands of Irish Papists and Cut-Throats of whom the People stood in Perpetual Fear and who were rather a Consternation then Security to the Kingdom And the same reason holds in Relation to the Revenue For all the World knows what Vast Sums had been Squander'd away by the late King when Duke to keep off the sitting of Parliaments and to buy off the Members when they Sate and when that Money was spent so much to the Detriment of the Realm what Sollicitations were made to the French King for more to carry on the Popish Cause and Interest It was as well known how the Revenue had of late