given by Bracton and Britton and Fortescue's foolish Etimology There must be a Prerogative somewhere in all Places There is a Prerogative in Kings by the Law of Nations and the Use of it is to shew Mercy to reward Virtue 'T is the Law that punisheth not Kings and because there is no written Equity in Criminal or Capital Matters therefore the Seat of Mercy is placed by the Fountain of Justice This is no doubt properly and truly to be God's Vicegerent Thus with us Potest Rex ei lege suâ Dignitatis Spelman Gloss Praerogativa Regis Condonare si velit Mortem promeritam Spoken of Edward the Confessor Though there is a sort of Equity by the Letter of our Law in the Case of Manslaughter making an allowance for the Passions of Men and the King's Pardon of Murder hath been question'd it looks like a Dispensing with the Positive Law of God It is certain he can't change the Punishment There are several Prerogatives and Flowers of the Crown some of Use some for Ornament but founded also upon Reason The King hath all Mines of Gold and Silver Treasure Trove Escheats of all Cities May take his Creditors into Protection till he be satisfied with Preference May take Body Lands and Goods of Debtor c. because the King's Treasure is supposed to be for the publick Benefit May make any Foreign Coin lawful Money of England by Proclamation for Exigencies may require it The King may dig in the Subjects House not Mansion-House or Barn for Salt-petre being for the Defence of the Nation Kings only can have Parks and Chaces and not Subjects without his License So Swans in Royal Rivers because they are stately Creatures and Royal Game and become the Honour of a King The King shall be said to be Founder though another join in the Foundation c. because 't is for his Honour The King shall have Ward though the Lands were held of him by Posteriority because the King's Title shall be preferr'd and not put in Competition with the Subject So he shall not be Tenant in common i. e. He shall have all because a Subject ought not to be equal with him in any thing There are also several other Franchises which by the Policy of our Law belong to the Crown And we say in our Law That the King's Prerogative is part of the Law of England and comprehended within the same We say also That the King hath no Prerogative but that which the Law of the Land allows him And 't is certain he is restrained in several respects by our Law as in a Politick Capacity Letting pass those Distinctions and Cant in Coke's 7th Rep. Calvin's Case of the King's Prerogative As he hath Advantages so he hath his Disadvantages also at least Kings or others for them are apt to call them so Thus he can't by Testament dispose of the Jewels of the Crown 't is doubted whether he may legally pawn them though it be said he may give them by his Letters-Patents 't is against the Honour of the Crown The Law is so jealous of the King's Honour that it hath preferr'd it before his Profit He hath no Prerogative against Magna Charta cannot take or prejudice the Inheritance of any Can 't send any man out of the Realm against his Will because he hath the Command of the Service of the Subjects only for Defence of the Realm Can 't lay any new Impost on Merchandises Can take none but usual and Ancient Aids and Taxes Can 't dispense with Statutes made for Publick Good or against Nusances or Mala in se Can do no Wrong Can 't alter the Law Common or Ecclesiastical Nor Statute-Law or Custom of the Realm by Proclamation or otherwise Nor create any Offence thereby which was not an Offence before Can 't grant a Corporation any new Jurisdiction to proceed by Civil Law because it may deprive Subjects hereby of Privilege of Trial. The King can't put off the Offices of Justice of a King is not suppos'd to be ill-affected but deceiv'd and impos'd upon and abus'd Eadem presumitur mens Regis quae est juris c. But the late Sticklers for Arbitrary Power have found out a Plea for the Absoluteness of Kings which as they think carries some Face of an Objection against the fettering their Prerogative Say they At this rate a King can never exert himself as he ought to do any Glorious Action or as King James the II d phras'd it to Carry the Reputation of a Kingdom high in the World He cannot extend his Conquests c. No matter whether he can or not Neither can he oppress his Subjects It is sufficient for Kings especially for a King of Great Britain to be on the Defensive by Land neither do I believe any of our Kings ever got any thing by extending their Dominions 'T is no Argument to us in our Situation if the matter were so But this Notion is a Mistake For never did any King do extraordinary Feats where he made War and carried it on against the Inclinations or without the Consent of his People The Fights with the Dutch at Sea in the Reign of King Charles the II d is a sufficient Instance of this Nature We fought against the Grain and without an Enemy as Sir William Temple observes Nor shall we find in History that any King hath continued his enlarged Bounds where he carried on Imposts and Taxes by Violence at Home to the Impoverishing of his People Let the End of this present French King be observ'd who seems to stand an Exception at present but he stands a very ticklish one Besides the true Interest and Advantage of our Island lies another way To maintain the Sovereignty of the Seas to promote Trade and Traffick c. And to this purpose the King hath the highest Prerogative in this Element He may press Men for this Service which he cannot for any Foreign Expedition by Land He hath Customs Tunnage and Poundage c. Yet not these without Consent in Parliament and some of our Kings have made but a scurvy Experiment in attempting to take them without it Whence then doth come this Title to Arbitrary Absolute Power It must be the Child of Conquest or some other Paramount Inherent Right And to this purpose it is objected That by our Laws we acknowledge several Rights and Privileges of the Subject to be Concessions from Kings and we yield the Lands to be holden immediately or mediately of the Crown c. This is pretended to sound in Conquest rather than Compact or to be founded on the Patriarchal Right And Sir Robert Filmer especially is pleasant upon Sir Edward Coke for this He says If the first Kings were chosen by the People as many think they were then surely our Forefathers were a very bountiful if not prodigal People to give all the Lands of the whole Kingdom to their Kings with liberty to them to keep what they pleas'd and to
so the State doth not in the Alterations of them So that he is not Absolute or Independent either in his Ecclesiastical or Civil Capacity of Policy And therefore the whole Constitution and Three Estates must necessarily be call'd in on all Occasions of Change in Discipline or Innovation of Rites as well as in the alteration and repealing of other Old Laws or introducing and declaring New ones This by way of Parenthesis But I was speaking of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarchal Power and the Extravagancies he infers from thence grounded as he pretends from Scripture Therefore I would only ask him one Question more Was there no such proper Word in the Hebrew Greek or Latin for Tyrant or Slave Pray how then came the Words and Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience into the Greek It must be only taken up of late by some such Authors in disgrace of Monarchical Government according to Law and to put Obedience as Legal out of countenance To bring People to submit blindly to Arbitrary Power There is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which signifies at least King or Prince But is there any one doubts that there has been such a thing as a Harsh Unreasonable and Unnatural Father or King It must follow then that the Obedience intended by the Apostles who wrote in Greek was only to the Laws and the Legal Exercise of them according to the Usage of their respective Places which made them Legal Or to Kings as not being a terror to the Good but only to the Evil But it would tire even Patience it self to follow these sort of Gentlemen in all their Confused By-ways Therefore to return more immediately to my Subject and to my Friend Seigneur de Montaigne whom I am not asham'd to own let the Grave and Wise say what they will for I must ever have a greater Respect for an Author who talks judiciously of Trifling Matters if they be so than for One who talks triflingly on Judicious Subjects He tells us These Great and Tedious Debates about the best Form of Society and the most Commodious Rules to bind us are Debates only proper for the Exercise of our Wits and all the Descriptions of Policies feign'd by Art are found to be ridiculous and unfit to be put in practice And in another place Not according to Opinion but in Truth and Reality The best and most Excellent Government for every Nation is that under which it is maintain'd This Montaigne says who express'd and practis'd as great Loyalty as ever any Man of Sense and Honour did and I agree with him That all Reverence and Submission is due to Kings except that of the Understanding This as a Gentleman and as a Christian he farther adds Christian Religion hath all the Marks of utmost Utility and Justice but none more manifest than the severe Injunction it lays indifferently upon all to yield absolute Obedience to the Civil Magistracy and to maintain and defend the Laws i. e. in English To submit according to Law And all Policy as well as Religion enforces Obedience to the Administrators of Right and Justice And if it be permitted to argue from Etymologies which is surer than from Examples the Grecians tell us the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Vbi homines versantur vel potius a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certis legibus juncti And we may assure our selves That People would not build Houses c. till the Possession and Enjoyment of them was establish'd by certain Laws But we shall never have done never come to any settlement if the Forms of Government and Laws are not admitted but suffer'd to be disputed at this time of day We are therefore to take Laws as we find them and as they stand in use and practice by a continued Establishment It can't be material therefore to look back how the Figure of our Legislative Power stood a Thousand Years ago or from a much shorter date of Time How the Form of Writs issued to the Commons was heretofore though no doubt the best Authority is with them and it is confest they were always a Constituent part of the Legislative Power as 't is idle and impertinent to say The Supreme or Legislative Power must be ever Arbitrary this is an absurd Affirmation when all Parties in a Nation agree by their Representatives to the Enaction of Laws By the Laws of God and Man Our Constitution ought now to rest in Peace in an Inviolable Establishment Kings swear as our Saviour preach'd in the Mount to the Multitude A King's Coronation-Oath must be interpreted ad Captum Populi and to ordinary Intendment That so there may be some certain Rule of Governing and true Measures of Obeying whereby the whole Community may be preserv'd in Peace and Order which is the End of all Government We in England seem to value our selves more peculiarly on the Polity of our Constitution There hath been enough said in praise of our Laws No doubt they are very good if well observ'd so good at least That I never heard that any King of England ever pretended to except against them when he was ask't the Question at his Coronation Whether he would Observe the Laws and so Good That the Subject as far as I perceive desires only the Confirmation and Continuance of them And I will be bold to say for the Honour of the English Nation and People notwithstanding the ill Name some are pleas'd to give us at home and abroad at present That there was never any War in England from the Barons War to the late Civil War setting aside the Dispute between the H. of Y. and L. but what was occasion'd and begun on Colour of the King 's imposing an Arbitrary Power over the Rights and Privileges of the People and after Complaint and Application for Redress of Grievances and Restitution of their Rights and Privileges and all other Nations have done the same where they could I speak of the beginning of Wars I do not always justify the End of them And must aver That the People of England in general have notwithstanding the Proverb which is Exotick been always Good-natur'd Subjects Easy enough to be impos'd upon and cajoled out of their Money and their Lives for the Service of the Crown And as I think so Modest that they have never assum'd as Men to stand in competition with Majesty nor have ever pretended to be so much as Kings till Kings were persuaded to think themselves more than Men Hence as you will perceive in these short following Remarks have for the most part sprung those Jealousies which divided King and People and disjointed the United Common Interest of Both. Ambitious and Designing Men have rais'd Fantoms of Powers and Laws which had being only in the Clouds at least had none amongst us And Imaginary Constructions have been put upon those which were plain and obvious The Terms of Power and Subjection
can only attribute this to the Character Stow gives of him viz. That he advanced Persons to Dignities for Merit only and who did excel others in Innocency of Life RICHARD II. SOME Princes have Erred upon a mistaken Consideration some through a wilful and rash Inconsideration some have taken Measures by Advice of Friends as they thought and have been deceived by Misrepresentations these may be pittied Others have Miscarried by hearkening only to Minions and Favourites are head-strong and resolvedly deaf and obstinate against Advice But the Actions and Conduct of this King are so Unaccountable that it would puzzle a Matchiavel to assign him a Character or to fix him in any Rule or Principle of Government Good or Bad. The Rebellion of John or Wat Tyler ought not to be laid at his Door it is called an Accident though it had some dismal Effects in it but the occasion which appears was the Abuse of a Collector who gathered the Poll-Money yet it may teach Kings that it is a ticklish and dangerous Experiment to let out a Revenue or Tax to Farm so that it may be scrued up into what may be called in the Country Oppression This King's first Misunderstanding in earnest or Misdemeanor if I may so speak after his coming to Age was imposed upon him by way of Surprise and Artificial Insinuation of Favourites it might be the result of a hot Indiscretion not of a premeditated Violence or Invasion of Ill-natur'd Policy And if the Duke of Ireland Michael de la Pool the Chancellor or the Archbishop of York were in fault on the one side neither was the Duke of Gloucester the Bishop of Ely c. to be altogether excused on the other and the Parliament imposing on the King Thirteen Lords to have oversight under the King as they called it was an unsufferable Encroachment on the Spirit of a Young Prince And he had reason to have recourse to the Judges for their Opinions and Directions touching what had passed in that Parliament as to their Participation of the Government with him whose Opinion though they had the misfortune to suffer for it was not so Illegal but Justifiable by the Laws saving only in Two or Three of the Questions to which they gave their Answers But Law is not always measured by its own Rule it stands or falls according to the Circumstance of Times A Man may at some time sooner and better Steal a Horse as they say than look on at others This first Affront so put upon the King gave him a prejudice to Parliaments ever after and consequently put him upon indirect Means and Practices to Debauch the Constitution and we may be sure Kings will never want Tools fit for their purpose Hence were conceived those prejudices also against the Duke of Glocester and the other Lords the King had Reason to be out of Tuition when he came to be of full Age 'T is true the Attempting of the Duke of Glocester's Life in that Treacherous manner was not to be excused neither was his Behaviour to be pardoned towards the King he reproached him too severely on all Occasions for though he was the King's Uncle he was not always to be his Governor they were both in Fault no doubt and both equally Unfortunate in their End 'T was an unhappy Reign divided between too haughty Subjects and Ill-designing Favourites too powerful for a Young Inconsiderate King to Manage with Prudence and equal Power Whether Chief Justice Tresilian did according to Law or not 't is certain his Death was not according to Law and as the Duke of Glocester had taken his Life so his own was soon after taken away without Trial also in an Arbitrary manner And the Earl of Arundel had the same Measure he meeted to Calvery one of the Queens Esquires The Banishing the Duke of Norfolk and Hereford and the Archbishop of Canterbury was rather a fault in the Politicks of those times for it seems it was the Custom then to Punish the Faults of Great Men only with Banishment but an ill-advised Custom than want of Consideration in the King Sir John Bushy the Speaker of Parliament was the most in fault in attributing Vain and almost Blasphemous Titles to the King Titles fitter as is observed for the Majesty of God and putting him upon a piece of Omnipotence in Recalling his Pardons which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Adjudged in the Affirmative That the King might Revoke but the Lawyers and Judges having been burnt before designed to give Judgment t'other way and had no mind to Determine of Transactions in Parliament any more nor of the Kings Prerogative in such Ticklish Times Though at the next Parliament at Chester the Judges were drawn in to give another Extraordinary Judgment viz. That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament that if other Articles are handled before those are determined it is Treason in them that do it What was there Extravagant that was not done in this Parliament He brought it about as the History says That he obtained the whole Power of the Parliament to be Conferred upon certain few Persons who proceeded to Conclude upon many things which concerned generally the things of the whole Parliament to the great Prejudice of the State and dangerous Example in time to come What could we expect from a King who was Taught That the Laws of the Realm were in his Head and his Breast By reason of which fantastical Opinion he Destroyed Noblemen and Impoverished the Commons which was one of the Articles against him and which was much such a worthy fancy as Wat Tyler had who putting his Hand to his Lips said Before Four Days come to an End all the Laws of England should proceed from his Mouth But I am weary of the Medley of this King's Story In short if we survey him in his Taxations in his Laws and Ordinances after all and in the Station of a Christian and Man as well as King we shall with a little Charity or good Nature conclude him Blameable rather by Accident than natural Temper And as to his Conditions That they were more the Fault of his Education than Inclination and at the bottom those Failings that were in him retained the tincture of the light Inconstancy of his Mother He is another unfortunate Instance of the Instability and Misery of a King when he leaves the Track of Law and Justice for the Ways of Humour and Passion Sir Robert Cotton Observes That Bushy's Contrivance of Compounding with Delinquents wrought such Distaste in the Affections of the People that it grew the Death of the One and Deposition of the Other HENRY IV. IN the next Six Reigns during the Divisions of the Houses of York and Lancaster the Kingdom was scarce ever cool enough for Observations of Civil Polity and Administration The Thirteen Years of this King were divided between Conspiracies and Wars And as he came to the Crown without a Title with
Goodliest Personage yet I doubt he was not the Wisest and he might well affirm that his Master Lewis of France exceeded Edward the IVth in Sense and Wisdom How idle and vitious was his Consideration upon that imagined Prophecy That G. should Disposse is his Children of the Crown to suffer it to influence him so far as to consent to the Murther as 't is said of G. Duke of Clarence on supposition foreign enough that That G. was intended him whereas it fell out to be Glocester to whose Tyranny he left them by this Foolish and Ungodly Fancy and such a prophane extravagant Application of Sorceries to which in truth that Age was every where too much addicted And 't was not his jealous practices with the Duke of Britaign against Henry Earl of Richmond could secure the Crown to his Children when he overlook'd the more immediate Danger EDWARD V. ONE would have thought Edward IV. might have without Sorcery or Prophecy foreseen what would become of the committing the Care of Edward the Vth to his Brother the Duke of Glocester who had before Killed Henry the VIth with his own Hand in all probability without Commandment or Knowledge of his Brother and his Son in his own presence and was suspected also to have a hand in the Death of his other Brother the Duke of Clarence besides the symptom of an ill-contrived Soul and Body Without taking notice of all the villanous popular Harangues Insinuations and Artifices used by the Duke of Glocester to get the King's Person into his Power out of the Hands of the Queen and her Friends In short this poor Prince was an Unhappy instance of a misplaced Guardianship and an Unnatural Uncle's Care A Youth made a Jest of Sovereignty for Ten Weeks and Sacrificed to Ambition at Eleven Years of Age and an instance of the fatal Credulity of a Woman too apt to be deceived as well as to deceive He and his poor Brother were Murthered in the Tower Betrayed by an Uncle and too easily delivered up by a Mother A Reign a fit Subject only for Poetry ' Twin-Brethren by their Death What had they done Aleyn Hist of Hen. VII Oh Richard sees a Fault that they were in It is not Actual but a Mortal One They Princes were 't was their Original Sin Why should so sweet a Pair of Princes lack Their Innocents Day i' th' English Almanack RICHARD III. THIS was so great a Monster in all Respects that he ought not for the Honour of England to have place amongst the Catalogue of Kings There ought to be nothing Recorded of him but only this That he died in the Field with his Sword in his Hand 'T is said he made Good Laws but I know of none Extraordinary but only One which is rather a Popular Declaration of what was so before and that was That the Subjects of this Realm shall not be charged by any Benevolence or such like Charge but it shall be damn'd and annull'd for ever Let his Laws be transferr'd to another Reign let us not acknowledge Mercy from the Hands of Blood Sir Francis Bacon saith That his Good Laws were but the Brocage of an Usurper thereby to win the hearts of the People as being Conscious to himself that the true Obligations of Sovereignty in him failed And if he had lived no doubt would have proved such a One as King James the First describes a Tyrant to be HENRY VII IT behoved Henry the Seventh having in himself but a slim sort of distant Title to support himself by Policy And here will appear what Single Prudence can do This maintain'd his Crown whilst he trim'd between Conquest Military Election Parliamentary Birth Donation and Marriage Though he did not care to be beholding to the Last and to take a precarious Right from a Wife Sir Walter Rawleigh says He was a Politick Prince who by the Engine of his Wisdom beat down and overturn'd as many Strong Oppositions both before and after he wore the Crown as ever King of Enggland did And Cambden Through whose Care Vigilancy and Policy and Forecasting Wisdom for times to come the State and Commonwealth of England hath to this day stood Establish'd and Invincible Henricus noster Septimus cum omnes Regni rectè Administrandi Artes calleret sic his Ornamentis Instructus venit ut cum Pacem Exulantem Exul exterremque Extorris concomitatus esset reducem quoque Redux aportaret Win. Com. de rebus Brit. But perhaps the Tyranny of his Predecessor might make his first Steps more easy However I take Henry the Seventh's Master-piece of Wisdom to be That he used That of other Mens also He call'd his Parliament and consulted with it upon all Occasions especially when he had any Provocations to War from France or Scotland Not insisting on but ever waving that impertinent piece of Prerogative of Declaring War upon a King 's own Head This Method open'd his Subjects Purses This procured even a Benevolence as odious as it had been heretofore and Great Sums of Money were soon collected by it The Commotions which happen'd in the North and West upon gathering the Subsidies were but slight Exceptions taken on the Occasion of the Extravagancies and Passions of particular Persons And the Business of Lambert Simnell and the greater Attempt of Perkin Warbeck were but the Effect of a Woman's Malice and promoted by the Dutchess of Burgundy who was an Avowed Enemy to the House of Lancaster Sir Francis Bacon tells us His Time did excel for Good Commonwealth Laws so that he may be justly celebrated for the Best Law-giver to this Nation after King Edward the First For his Laws whoso marks them well are deep and not Vulgar not made upon the Spur of a particular Occasion for the present but out of providence for the future to make the State of his People still more and more happy after the manner of the Legislators in Ancient and Heroical Times I suppose he means the State-Laws against Retainers and Riots these seem more properly to be made on his own Account and that no Person assisting a King de Facto should be attainted therefore by course of Law or Act of Parliament and that if any such Act should be made it should be void which seems also calculated for a particular purpose though it hath since made so much noise in the World as the Act to take away the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo was in King Charles the Second's Time And this de Facto Act seems to have no foundation at that time unless it were for fear of the Earl of Warwick who was the last Heir-Male of the Plantagenets for the King and People most certainly knew that Richard the Younger Brother of Edward the Fifth was Dead and Safe whom Perkin pretended to represent And methinks after all this Act seems to have but a Weak and Dishonourabble Foundation and leaves an ill Savour and will cast a Reflection some-where For Fears and Jealousies
the Popish Match and Popery was at the bottom For though it be said the Puritans had a Design to throw him out of the Saddle right or wrong and that nothing of Concessions should ever satisfy them and this perhaps may be true of some very sower Zealots and extravagant Pretenders yet 't is improbable and what they could never have hoped for and the greater part of the Presbyterians were drawn in by Surprise who did not foresee the end and withdrew afterwards when 't is true 't was too late But after all the design was carried on in other Nations besides our own and by other Councels beyond ours And Popish Priests had not only their Heads but Hands also in the Business not only in Peace but War likewise as you may read in Mentet who would not lie in that Affair 't is a pretty scarce Book and therefore I will give you his Words he says speaking of the Battel of Edge-Hill Ce que surprit le plus tout le Monde ce fut qu' on trouua quelques Prestres parmi les Morts du Costé des Estates Car Encore que Dans leurs Manifestes ils appellassent l' Armeé du Roy l' Armeé des Papistes pour le rendre Odieux au Peuple ils avoient neamoins deux Compagnies de Wallons d'autres Catholiques dans leur Armeé Outre qu' ils avoient rien oublié pour tascher d' engager en leur Partie le Chevalier Arthur Aston Colonel Catholique de grand Reputation And he says before That the King published an Edict at Stonely afore that wherein he tells them He did not mean that any Papist should come to serve in his Army that he might not give Discontent or Jealousy to his Protestant Subjects but then 't was too late for such like Overtures of Honour or Professions of Sincerity But to go on with Mentet Il est vray que le Roy avoit aussi sou e rt dans son Armeé quelques Officiers Catholiques Homes de grand suffisance les bien intentionées pour le bien de l' Estat ainsi les appella't ' il dans la declaration qu' il ' fit publier apres le Battail à quoy les Estates n' oublierent pas de repondre par autant des Contredits Il temoigne qu' encore que les Estates eussent sans Comparison plus grand Nombre des Catholiques que luy dans leur Armeé qu' ils eussent tasché par toutes sortes de moyens de gaigner tous ceux du Royaume leur ayant fait promettre sous main que moyennant qu' ils voulussent prendre partie avec eux On abrogeroit toutes les Ordinances faites à leur prejudice Il ne pouvoit toute fois se resoudre d'appeller les Catholiques à son secours n'y de revoquer son Edit por le quel il leur avoit fait des defenses de s'y presenter Il asseure de plus tous les bons sujets que bien qu' il eust regard aux personnes des Catholiques qui l'avoient secouru dans sa Necessité qu' il eust bonne Memoire de leur Services il ne feroit pourtant jamais rien en faveur de leur Religion c. All this came too late for our purpose yet if this and his Manifesto at the beginning of the English and Scotch Presbytery if his Letters to the Queen taken at Naseby wherein he protests to differ in nothing from her but Religion if his other Conferences with the Marquess of Worcester c. and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Dying Speech will not satisfy Men that he was no Papist they seem to be as Cruel to his Memory as they were to his Person Though after all his Articles of Mariage were too Frank for a Church-of-England-Man who was not in Love at the same time And the Spanish Match if either might probably have had somewhat a better Success for this Reason only That the King of Spain was going down the wind whereas the French King was advancing and I must repeat it the Observation of what his Brother of France Lewis the XIIIth was doing but just on t'other side of the Water increas'd our Jealousies on this and gave an incurable Wound to the King's Reputation This made the People with some colour of Reason by way of prevention endeavour to wrest the Sword out of the King's Hands and attempt to get the Militia into their own upon this pretence the Parliament were forward to put a false Construction upon his Raising of Forces and turn'd it to a Levying of War on the People in order as they call'd it to subvert the Laws and introduce an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government whereas we have the King's Word for it That he took up Arms only to Defend the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and in his Dying-Speech he tells the World He did never intend to incroach upon the Privileges of the People and that he desired their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whatsoever and that he died a Martyr of the People meaning I suppose for them And after all these Proceedings are so unaccountable that they can't be reconciled to any Rules of Political Observation there seems to be somewhat of Fate in them which will not be confined to our little narrow ways of Reasoning nor to the more enlarged deep Politicks of Statesmen The Event exceeded the Scheme laid by Richlieu and the Expectations of his Successor Mazarine who at first being surpriz'd did prosecute the King's Death with some Resentment though after like a true Politician he kept Correspondence with Cromwell It seems their design was only to Embroil England whilst France carried on its Designs elsewhere not to Establish any setled Power not a Commonwealth certainly Their Business was but to Embarass our Councels that they might be at liberty to followitheirs without Interruption Not to Establish any Religion not even Popery for even Religion was not their Business if it could have procured Peace and Prosperity to the Kingdom But only to Counterpoise the two Extremes of Popery and Fanaticism after the manner of King James for a while and to set the Fanaticks themselves by the Ears at last Thus their Correspondents their Agents and their Money was employed on all Hands to confound us in England as well as the Jesuits had done all Europe by their Intriegues before and we must fatally run into their Noose But there yet farther seems to be some extraordinary Hand in the Turn of these Affairs above the Common Councels or Actions of Man though not to be adjusted to Human Measures of Comprehension Who knows what to say to the Prophecy of Nostredamus setting aside the Scotch Predictions and those nearer home viz. The Senate of London shall put their King to Death 'T is so very peculiar though Printed almost an Hundred Years before that it must intimate something and even
Kings such our Ministers and such were the People to be But all these Kings of the Scotch Line seem to have differ'd in their Ideas and Methods of Government King James the First Philosophised upon it Charles the First Reason'd on it with too much Opiniatretie and King Charles the Second Banter'd it and I 'm sure King James the Second did not Moralize upon it JAMES II. IF what Sir William Temple says of King Charles the II d be true and he gives good Authority for it viz. That the Prince of Orange upon Discourse c. said to him That the King Charles II d was as he had reason to be confident in his Heart a Roman Catholick though he durst not profess it It will go a great way towards the justification of those Gentlemen and their Conduct in the Oxford Parliament c. in relation to the past King and much more the Behaviour of the Nation towards King James of whom there was no doubt of being one and who dar'd own it at last though he very meanly prosecuted One upon a Scandalum Magnatum for having said so once For no doubt they both came over as much Papists as they ever were and if the first dyed such I can't but believe he had lived one for Thirty Years at least and they will both stand in need of a very great Dispensation somewhere else for their Hypocrisy so many Years If King Charles believ'd nothing of the Popish Plot as is said I know not whether it will diminish the Credit of it But 't is certain his Successor King James abundantly confirm'd its Credibility even so much as to give a Reputation to the intended Bill of Exclusion though the Loyalty of the People then ran so high that they were not willing to part with him without Experience nor then neither it seems by some vainly imagining that the Honour of a Popish King could supersede and take place of his Religion The Books and Pamphlets of that Season have sufficiently exposed or demonstrated the Character of this King and the Principles of that Religion And 't was as Evident to any body that would see what he had been doing in his Brother's Reign as what he did in his own Whether we conclude his Practice from his Principles or his Principles from his Practice there 's enough to convince for the past and to caution for the time to come If Declarations repeated with so much Solemnity and broke through with so much Ease and a Coronation-Oath Discharged and Violated so plainly though with an impertinent Distinction of the Judges to keep up a feeble Countenance of Law For what will not Judges in Commission during pleasure say or do For our Judges are not Sworn as those Judges whom the Kings of Egypt made solemnly to take an Oath that they would not do any thing contrary to their Conscience though commanded to it by themselves If the Business of the Irish at Portsmouth If the sending the Lord Castlemain to Rome and receiving a Nuntio here which was never suffer'd in a Protestant Country nor at Treaties where Protestant Ministers have been If the Letters from Liege to the Jesuits at Friburg If sending the Lord Preston to France which sufficiently implies a French League to mention no other Evidence of it nor the Story of sending out the Fleet Half-Mann'd If these or any of these did not unvail the Designs of that King we shall ever be in the Dark and nothing on this side of Dragooning could have open'd their Eyes they must also be persuaded That the Pope King Lewis and King James were all well-wishers to the Protestant Religion and to the Heretick Prosperity of England as by Law Establish'd That inviduous little Management of Magdalen-College Affair with Huffing a parcel of poor naked Fellows of a College for not swallowing Perjury without a Dispensation shews his good Nature equally with his Policy and sets forth in Epitome his Devout Observation of an Allowance to church-of-Church-of-England Consciences The prosecuting the Bishops so Barbarously First One for refusing to do what was not in his power by Law and then the rest for humbly begging to be allowed to have Souls The turning all the Nobility and Gentry out of all Commissions Offices and Places for pretending to Honour and refusing to concur in Dissolving the Reformation was a Master-stroke that we might be subdued and over-run with Jesuits Councels and Irish Courage and Conduct Some of his Friends are so Hardy to fancy and pretend to say He could not have introduced Popery if he had endeavoured it they should have put in Arbitrary Power too For what cannot a King do over a passive People Disarm'd in Power and Defective in Notion and Thought Cependant les Anglois se doivent souvenir le Massacre D'Ireland c. says a late French Author but I forbear to give you any Account from the French Refugees 'T is true he could not subdue our Understandings but he might exercise a fatal Tyranny over our Wills Besides King James never tried fair means which would have went a great way he went the false way to work upon Englishmen I doubt we are not so much Temptation-proof And it might for ought I know have been a dangerous Experiment to have trusted the Church with it self so long in an Enemy's Quarter We see King James hath lived a great many Years enow to have gone a great way with us with the Assistance of French and Irish and such Subjects as were inclinable to be of the King's Religion at Home and he must have gone as far as he could No doubt the Nation had been as easily supplied as Magdalen-College But it happen'd very luckily for England that King James discover'd his Temper of Spirit a little too soon We all knew of what force Edicts-had been in Hungary and France the Copies whereof our Kings had been so apt to follow and what the Duke of Savoy had been doing in the Valleys of Piedmont but we would not believe King James was Cruel was a Persecutor scarce that he was a Papist because he had the Art to Conceal and Disguise himself a little before it was in his power to use the Rod. But presently Father Petre shew'd that he would do as much in England as la Chaise had done in France and the first was observ'd to be the hottest of the two And not to aggravate or mince Matters They must all have done what lay in their power in Obedience to what their Councils Decree towards the Extirpation of Hereticks But God be thanked King James did not shew himself that Prince of Resolution at least he fail'd them in one Character as they would have had him deceiv'd us by another He was pleased for some Considerations whether of Fear or Guilt to leave us abruptly and we have taken that Advantage of parting with him fairly And I wish him all the Happiness that is consistent with the Welfare of England Only let us as
Englishmen remember That we now have an Act of Parliament of our side which Asserts the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and hath Establish'd the Settlement of the Crown and which incapacitates any Papist or Person Marrying a Papist from having and enjoying it which Act is only Defective in this That it is not Order'd to be Read in the Churches twice at least every Year and upon Penalty of Deprivation If such a Law had been made in Edward the VIth's Time it might have sav'd some Blood and Trouble since the Reformation WILLIAM III. THE Lord Chancellor Notttingham in the Case of the Duke of Norfolk and Charles Howard Esquire c. hath in my Mind a notable Expression viz. Pray let us so Resolve Cases here that they may stand with the Reason of Mankind when they are Debated abroad Shall that be Reason here that is not Reason in any part of the World besides In truth we are apt to be peculiarly Artificial in our Thoughts and way of Argument and our Reasonings are too Municipal Thus every little Pedant can Settle and Establish the Affairs of Religion and Government and can Resolve all the great Mysteries of Church and State as he thinks in his narrow Study But if a Man looks Abroad and takes a general survey of the World and reflects upon the Universal Notions and Customs of Mankind his Soul will become more enlarged and will not determine so Magisterially upon the Principles of any particular Sect or Society The Case of King WILLIAM in it self is perhaps the most Glorious and Generous Cause that hath appeared upon the Stage of Human Actions yet hath been sullied by dire Representations by poor-spirited and precarious Arguments which have been brought in for its support His Title to the Crown of Great Britain stands Firm and is justifiable upon Natural and Sound foundations of Reason without Props But hath been so oddly maintained by the manner of its Defence that it hath been the Justification only that hath Disgrac'd the Revolution Doctrina facit Difficultatem We have been running out of the way to fetch in Aids from Art and Learning whilst Nature presents us with obvious and undefiled Principles of Reason Thus the King's Accession to the Throne hath been introduced by shuffling between Providential Settlement Conquest Desertion Abdication and topping Protections of Power whilst Men of Honour and People of Honest Plain Understandings stand Amazed instead of being Convinced and hang back when Allegiance comes to be explained and a Recognition demanded an Association proposed frights us as a thing strange and impious which shews our Allegiance was not rightly founded but looks like a thing of Fancy built upon a forc'd and fictitious bottom All these ungrateful Terms have been ingeniously exposed by Mr Johnson except only Abdication which with submission is also too Artificial a Word not to be found in the Alphabet of Spelman a Civil Law Term used almost in Fifty several Senses and therefore an uncouth Expression of the Common Laws of this Realm to speak in The Word Forfaulture seems to have a plainer Signification to our common Understanding This as Forisfacere Forisfactum Forisfactura and Forfacere Forfactum Forfactura c. we find in Spelman and it signifies Rem suam ex delicto amittere sibi quasi extraneum facere Rem culpâ abdicere alterique Puta Regi Magistratui Domino abjudicare Forisfacere pro Delinquere peccare transgredi Injuriam inferre LL. Edw. Confess cap. 32. ut Codex noster MS. legit Aliqui stulti improbi gratis nimis consuetè erga vicinos suos foris facebant This agrees with the Sense of King James the I st his Speech to his Parliament viz. A settled King is bound to observe the Paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto And a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off Governing according to the Laws In which Case the King's Conscience may speak to him as the Poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Law aut ne sis Rex And if a Subject's Conscience may not speak the same thing King James's Words signify nothing The other Words carry an Odious or suspected Construction in them the First in the Convocationstyle implies Guilt and at best creates but a Transylvanian Allegiance the Second is a Jest and false in Fact besides 't is what the King himself disowns the Third is an idle Sham as stated and the Fourth is also a little strain'd as I concieve and we might for ought I see as well have call'd it a Cession especially if King James was a Spiritual Person of the Society of Jesuits as hath been said But what need we any Term of Art Let the matter express it self by Periphrasis in its own genuine Phrase It is fairly stated in the Prince's Declaration And our Case is no more nor less than this A King contrary to his Coronation-Oath dispenses with and breaks through all the Established Laws of the Land Invades and Subverts the Rights Liberties and Properties of the People which he Swore to maintain inviolably and Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State in an Arbitrary Tyrannical manner the People therefore in Defence of their Laws Rights and Religion and the necessary Preservation of them Oppose the violent proceedings of such a Prince I put the Case at the worst and also apply themselves to a Neighbouring Prince who hath an Expectation of a Right to the Crown and pray in Aid of him to assist them in the Maintaining and Defending their Legal Rights together with his own Title to the Succession who in his own Words makes Preparation to Assist the People against the Subverters of their Religion and Laws and also Invites and Requires all Persons whatsoever All the Peers of the Realm Spiritual and Temporal and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in order to the Execution of this Design against all such as shall endeavour to Oppose them to prevent all those Miseries which must needs fall upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturn'd the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully Redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament to secure the Nation from relapsing into the Miseries of Arbitrary Government any more Upon which appearance of mutual Defence for Self-preservation the Conscious King Retires first leaves his Army which no Man I will be bold to say would do without Guilt or Cowardice and I 'm sure a Prince that had been Brave or acted upon Principles of Honour would have Fought it out with but Ten Regiments or with One at his Heels which was Richard the IIId's Case in the first sence though not in the later and after leaves the Realm for Reasons best known to
himself whether Frighted or not is not material upon which the Prince together with his Consort the next Heir Indisputable to the Crown in a full and due Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declared and Appointed King and Queen Now let us see what we have done upon the whole matter to deserve that harsh Language of the Convocation-Book produced by Dr Sherlock Whether we have done more or so much as all other Nations have done in a Case any thing like Ours Whether we have done more than becomes Good Christians or Men of Honour And what it is that stands in our way to hinder or bar such an Attempt and Action First Setting aside at present those Texts of St. Paul and St. Peter which are the only discouraging Impediments and which have been sufficiently as I think answered and avoided by several Pens Upon the Law of Nature no Man I believe can pretend to say here is any Natural Injustice or Moral Injury done Certainly Nature and Reason prompt us to Defend Injuries and to Repel Force Nature will preserve it self in its Being No Man will say a King of England hath power of Life and Death over his Subjects We say he hath no Power other than by the Law of the Land the Moral as well as Legal Consequence must be That we may Defend our Lives against all Assaults 't is the same of Liberty and Property for there is a Meum and Tuum in all Christian Commonwealths as Archbishop Abbot said before subject only to the Laws of the Place therefore I can't defend my self or House against the King Arm'd with Legal Power as upon a Cap. Vtlagatum or upon a Duty due to him c. but I may where I am out of the compass of a Legal Prosecution If the consequence of Self-defence and Preservation be denied it 's vain trifling to talk of Laws and to value our selves upon Living in a Country where the Measures of Right are ascertain'd and the Limits of Government and Subjection the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and the Bow String will be the same if Laws are only a simple Direction for Information and not an Obligation We must owe our Lives c. at this rate to Fortune not to Justice But since the Restoration it 's said we are under another Tie not to take up Arms by the Extravagant Compliment to King Charles the II d and the Declaration pursuant to that Act. Be it so though all Laws made in Extraordinary Heats are not a regular Obligation but let them take that State-Artificial Obligation into the Bargain the King Swears too and this was not designed to let loose the King's Hands and tie the Subjects for all Obligations whether Natural or Artificial are Reciprocal and Mutual and always so taken and understood in common Intendment There can be no other Notion of Justice Natural Moral or Political and whatever Preference and Advantage is allowed to One above the Other 't is an Authority upon Supposition of Care Protection and for Order and centers in the Good of the Community And I think the Lacedemonians had a Law to Punish Parents who did not their Duty towards their Children Let us therefore take in the highest Instance of Obedience and Duty from Children to Parents No Man I suppose will pretend now that a Father may Castrate Sell or Kill a Child the Inference must be That in any Case of such open Violence a Son may Resist a Father in his own necessary Defence and Self-preservation without offering Reproach Injury or Vindictive Force So in the Case of Lunacy in a Parent or any fatal Extravagance no doubt a Son may lay Hands on a Father by way of Restraint and must take a continued Commanding Care over him in case of Relapse c. This is agreed on all hands to be the severest Tie of Obedience and therefore Kings are endeavoured to be brought within the Fifth Commandment to make our Chains the faster not in the mean time considering that they make them looser by putting an inconsistent double Duty upon us Thus we are told Religion stands positively in our way and fetters us with an Absolute Obedience to Kings without Reserve c. It seems hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in Defence of it self and force our Obedience and Submission to Laws and Absolute Power in the same breath For where there is Absolute Power there is no Law and where there are Laws there is no Absolute Power But Scripture is to be our Guide I agree it But what Authority shall I rely on Where shall I apply my self for an Interpreter 'T is manifest our own Church cannot settle me that is divided against it self Some bring Instances from the Old Testament Others tell us That is nothing to the purpose those Kings being by God's Designation c. Some tell us these Texts of St. Peter and St. Paul oblige us to Passive Obedience on peril of Damnation And Others as boldly and magisterially inform us That the New Testament gives no Rules for Submission to Forms of Government but only Rules of Justice Order and Peace That those Texts are nothing to Our purpose for the Apostles spoke to those under Heathen Emperors where Paganism was Established by a Law and that those Texts are to be only Expounded against the Jews who still believed themselves under the Divine Authority and thought they could not become the Subjects of any other Power As to the Scripture-Examples we are Taught by a very great Divine and Bishop not to rely on them and he says Those who place the Obligatory Nature of these Examples from Scripture must either produce the Moral Nature of those Examples or else a Rule binding us to follow those Examples especially when these Examples are brought to found a New positive Law Obliging all Christians Some say in general the Bible is a Miscellaneous Book where Dishonest and Time-serving Men may ever in their loose way find a Text for their purpose Sir Robert Filmer upon the Dispute of the Form of Powers for these Texts are sometimes applied to the Form and sometimes to the Quality of Power takes Power only in the Singular Number Powers in the Plural is a damnable Sin and he will have all Governments but the Patriarchal to be Illegal and Abominable but this is so Extravagant that I think none of our Divines pretend to justify him in it and therefore Others on the contrary are of Opinion That Submit to all Powers infers That all Forms of Government are admitted to be good and do not allow that Power in the Singular is to be taken restrictive and so there is no Authority if not of God and the Authorities which are of God's Institution are ordered under God Sir Robert Filmer Dr Hicks c. will have the Legislative Power to be in the King alone And the First says all Legislative Powers are Arbitrary But where is the necessity for
Inviting of him over and the Dissenting Archbishop who thought fit to draw back afterwards was pleased to Countenance his coming to London and to assist with his Counsels He was willing to be in the Sanhedrim upon the Vacancy which by his favour was as far from being Passive as Harnessing and Equipping c. and several Noblemen with their Chaplains at their Elbows agreed upon the first Overtures against King James who only differ'd after in the Form of Administration and supplying the Power There were those who would have been contented and satisfied with a Regency which by the by was as much against the late Notions of Loyalty and 't was once taught that it was as Damnable to put any Restraint upon a King or Fetter his Prerogative or to limit the Measures of our Obedience as to cancel and throw them off If then there be no steady Obstruction in our way no Irrefragable Arguments but what are Overturn'd or Embarrass'd Why may we not throw off the Mask and declare our selves frankly and sincerely And talk as becomes Gentlemen or Free-born Creatures of Reason and tell the World That King James was no longer fit to be entrusted with the Government That he could give no Adequate Security for his Administration That it was no more in his Power than his Will to Rule according to Law That it could not be therefore safe to Re-admit him on any Terms because he would not be restrain'd by any Qualifications In short That King Jamess Character and Administration are inconsistent and incompatible with the Laws of this Realm and that therefore it was necessary absolutely necessary That the Government should be supplied and some Other Person admitted and placed in the Throne from and by whom might be assur'd he would Observe and Maintain the Constitution in Church and State And that for these Reasons we have admitted King William to the Crown allow'd him to take the Government as King of England and consented to transfer our Allegiance to him and have Recognized Acknowledged and Declared His Majesty he having accepted the Crown and Royal Dignity To be of Right and by the Laws of this Realm our Sovereign Lord and King of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging c. If our Principles are just the Consequence must be so too If the Premises be true the Conclusion is warrantable Montaign says Authority is not given in favour of the Magistrate but of the People And 't is the general Opinion That Government was made for them whether originally it were made by them or not All the respective Schemes of it are contrived to provide for the Welfare of the Community and the Laws and Constitutions of Power are the Measures of Submission to it Thus the Notions of Providence and Human Right may be understood and consist in Human Understanding Kings and Subjects may know their Duties Kings may preserve their Rights so long as they continue to be Rational Men and Man may preserve his Native Honour in the Character of his first Creation as he was made after God's Image also Thus I hope this Present King may at last rest in Peace being setled by such a Recognition and guarded by an Association in Parliament Though 't is hard to imagine how the Voluntary one came to be boggled at after such a Declared Right in Parliament before and Oaths of Allegiance taken to it And long may He live to Assert the Rights of the People To administer Justice and to retrieve the Honour of Great Britain by vindicating it from the Encroachments suffer'd not to say consented to in the late Reigns FINIS CORRIGENDA PAge 3. Line 16. read we are p. 6. l. 2. r. off p. 8. l. penult for affecting r. offering at p. 18. l. 17. r. Sir Henry Spelman p. 22. l. 8. r. Aristotle p. 31. l. 15. r. Government p. 35. l. 4. r. they p. 116. l. 8. r. to make War p. 118. l. 5. r. n' avoit p. 123. l. 6. r. ever governed p. 137. l. penult r. souffert p. 152. l. 27. r. Revenue p. 153. l. 29. r. Opiniatreté p. 160. l. 5. r. Noble id l. 24. r. and he p. 161. l. 5. r. dimm p. 180. l. 28. for i e r and even
Edify As to what relates to the Justification of this Government it may be thought this comes out but poorly at this Time of Day and is a sort of barbarous Triumph over the Silenc'd and Oppress'd But those who know how early I was engaged in this Revolution another Way as early almost as any Gentleman on this Side of the Water cannot entertain such Thoughts of me I can only say I have not advanc'd one Expression upon that Consideration and the Occasion given me now was only Reading over some Books which had been on both Sides Published but not with Satisfactory Arguments to me and not in so clear a Method on the Side of the Revolution as I wish'd and besides I do not find that Men are less apt to Talk against the Government now than they were Seven or Eight Years ago and therefore I suppose this Publication may not be unseasonable even under so Long and Prosperous a Success of this Establishment which can never be made too Secure in the Hearts and Affections of the People Your Humble Servant W. P. A Summary Review OF THE KINGS and GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND c. ' T IS somewhat wonderful and I know not by what Fate it comes to pass That those Nations which by Nature seem design'd to enjoy the most retired Repose and Tranquility as not being by Situation involv'd in the common Hurly-burly of the World should yet notwithstanding deny themselves that Happiness as it seems and run into equal Confusion and Trouble with the large Continents of Men. Whether it be that we ascribe too much or too little to the Powers above and assume to our selves too far in the Conduct of Human Affairs Or whether in truth we are not permitted to establish that settled Peace and Pleasure here below which Mortals in their Wisdom would fancy and pretend to prescribe to themselves Be it how it will Is it not certain that all States Civil and Ecclesiastical too when they have arriv'd to the Top of Grandeur by a sort of Necessity as it were dissolve into Luxury and by an unaccountable Weakness and Vanity dwindle into Disreputation lose their Edge and are disarm'd till another Encroachment steps up and takes the place Not that all New Establishments and Reformations have been always for the better but only to shew that all sublunary things are subject to change However That Government and some Form of Polity is necessary cannot be disputed though it may what sort is But admitting Monarchy to be the best constitution and with all the Compliments of Comparison and Advantages that the Church will have for that doth not pretend that it is the Only Form approved by God with exclusion to others yet we see the best Scheme of this whether Absolute Limited or Mixt Hereditary or Elective hath never yet been capable to establish and secure it in Peace and Prosperity long as it were to intimate That even the wisest Scheme if any such be of Policy will have its Defects and all Foundations of Government are planted in a changeable Soil and are transform'd even in Notion either through the Perverseness or Inconsideration of the Prince or People or both Nay when we have pray'd in Aid of Religion and taken that into our support what wretched work has Religion it self made in States and unhinged them as Learning has Religion Those very Means that should compose and settle have subverted and do still disorder the World What Mischiefs have not those two words Prerogative and Liberty introduced both in Law and Gospel Construction and those two Epithets of Obedience Active and Passive are sacrific'd to Forms more than Force and have been abus'd almost as much by Government as Anarchy In our best Form of Government as we call it when the Constitution comes to clash the sole Question is Which is to be preferred the Person and Will of a Prince or the Law of the Land Which is most sacred the Power or the Ordonnance Which is to be obey'd and maintain'd the King who invades the Law and Religion Establish'd for 't is certain such a Case hath happen'd or Religion and Law which establish'd them Whether Religion or the Humour of a King be to be obey'd even for the sake of Religion This it seems hath been made a Doubt and hath been a Theme more than sufficiently handled of late Years especially and managed with Artifice enough to say no worse on both sides Indeed if we were now under a Theocracy the extravagance of the Dispute would be on t'other hand and if God at this day could be suppos'd to govern our Governors as in the Jewish Oeconomy when Rulers Captains Priests Judges and Kings were immediately inspired and led by the Almighty to keep them from stumbling or swerving before that Kings were given for a Curse and when not made such Implicit Faith and Obedience must be then due But when God himself leaves us to the Rules of Human Laws as he plainly intimates and is confest by the most Learned Divines who are impartial 't is otherwise And I must confess in my poor Opinion God forgive me if I err and I err in good Company under the Gospel God seems not so much concern'd in Human Powers otherwise than Human Laws And our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount hath not one word about Kingdoms only of another World After which the Texts of the Apostles are not to be taken in a general extended Sense for our Saviour himself who is and must be suppos'd to comprehend all necessary Instructions for a Christian when he insists on superlative Directions would no doubt have vouchsafed some Guide in obedience to the Powers on Earth if he had not concluded them by the Measures of their respective Constitutions and his Expression of rendring unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's c. sufficiently implies the force of that Argument and the Exempt reservation of Property c. No doubt the meaning of the Apostles has been strain'd too far by some Divines and besides it infers but little to us forasmuch as they do not nor ever did agree in their Interpretations 't will be to little purpose that the Apostles were inspired if we are not inspired also with an adequate degree of Apprehension But this only by the by This is not my Province and I shall have occasion to resume this Argument hereafter All that I shall say at present is That Arbitrary Power and Legal Right are Contradictions and cannot consist in Human Understandings Therefore I shall make bold to take Power in that sense which may consist with Reason and Rejecting the first tack the word Legal to it and shall wave or post-pone the Premisses from the absurdity of the Conclusion For if it be allow'd or may be suppos'd That a King can with his own breath blow away the Laws of the State or at second-hand remove the Land-mark or is to be told by any Metaphysical Pedant That no Law can
Pharamond for introducing the Salique Law nor the Nobless of the Country for encouraging it for the Commandment says Honour thy Mother also I hope Sir Robert Filmer had no Gavelkind Land the Custom of Tanestry and Borough English must also be abominable in his sight which to other Men seem to be built upon good natural Principles of Reason But seriously what indifferent Person if there can be any such in the World will without indignation digest such sort of Debates After the same fashion Sir Robert Filmer gives us farther to understand He cannot learn That either the Hebrew Greek or Latin have any proper Original Word for a Tyrant or Slave it seems these are of late invention and taken up in Disgrace of Monarchical Government Why not more Charitably as well as more truly from the Experience of the Abuses in the Exercise of such Monarchical or Absolute Powers And he himself had given the reason but just before viz. That the Greek and Latin Authors liv'd in Popular Governments For which reason no doubt there was no occasion for such Monstrous and Barbarous Terms But he could not be in earnest in this Observation I must appeal from his Sincerity to his Judgment He does well to bar all other Schemes but his own He forbids us to rely on Aristotle the Grand Master of Politicks or the Greek or Latin Historians who liv'd in Popular Times Though Monsieur Rapin allows Aristole c. to be us'd in Divinity and says St. Thomas and other Divines have us'd him with good success But others and they Divines and Bishops too have lately told us That we are not to rely on Scripture in such Cases In what a condition is poor Subject Man And what was all this to the purpose when Scripture it self doth not peremptorily conclude us but leaves us at large to the Laws and Usages of Countries to the Ordinances of Man as Sir Robert himself confesses though with a lamentable strain upon St. Paul and St. Peter Every one saw what was aim'd at and offer'd by way of deduction from those Topicks of Doctrinal Government But because Sir Robert sends us to France to School to be inform'd in our Constitution and very much affects French Policy for he wrote in a time when the French Air was predominant let us see whether the Kings of France themselves did always talk in this Language Whether they have been continually so uniform in this Fancy of Absolute Power for the disposing of themselves and their Kingdoms Francis the First who was Contemporary with our Henry the Eighth and as Haughty a Prince and was attended with the Flattery of Courtiers too when he was taken Prisoner at the Battel of Pavia afterwards for Answer to the Proposals sent him by the Emperor for his Release amongst other things says That they were not in his power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was subjected c. After he was at liberty having call'd an Assembly of the most Notable Persons of the Three Estates of the Kingdom for their Advice touching the delivery of his Children and himself proffering to return to Prison if they thought fit Their Orders all answer'd separately That his Person was the Kingdom 's not his and as touching the restoring of Burgundy That it was a Member of the Crown whereof he was but Usufructuary That therefore he could not dispose of the one or t'other But withal they offer'd him Two Millions of Gold for the Ransom of his Children and assur'd him That if it must come to a War they would neither spare their Lives nor Fortunes I 'm Mez. Chron. 587. sorry no Precedent will serve for our Imitation but only that of the present French King and his Ally the Great Turk In the sense of these Authors theirs must be the only Apostolick Orthodox Institution We are told also That there is a Place where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their Hands to receive it And another Nation where the most Eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth And other People where no Subject speaks to the King but through a Trunk and there are no doubt several other such like Fantastick Customs of Submission and Idolatrous Reverence What then Every Land is still nevertheless to be guided by its own Customs and Laws And I wish some of these Absolute Arbitrary-Power-Sparks liv'd in one of the last mention'd Places In earnest Flattery is a most sordid and pernicious Vice and we were lately very near drawing down Judgments on our selves for it and had like to have suffer'd for pretending to offer Sacrifices which were never meant This Stuff of Passive Submission to Arbitrary Tyrannical Powers could never be offer'd to sale in a true Light The Doctrine would stink in the Nostrils of a Good King who had any thing of Virtue Piety or good Nature A King who to use the words of King James the First Acknowledges himself ordain'd for his People having received from God a Burthen of Government whereof he must be Accountable and a good King thinketh his highest Honour to consist in the due Discharge of his Calling and employeth all his study and pains to procure and maintain by the making and executing of Good Laws the Welfare and Peace of his People and as the Natural Father and kindly Master thinketh his greatest Contentment standeth in their Prosperity and his greatest Surety in having their Hearts This as to the Political and Moral part of Government And as to the matter of Religion What is it but to inspire a King with Persecution What must this come to when Kings have different Educations and different Tutors to catechize them if the Civil Establishment be not our Standard and the Law our Protection in Church as well as State As to the Case where the King and the Laws are of the same persuasion If Recusants and Dissenters are so unfortunate as to fall under a Prosecution for their particular Opinions be it at the peril of the King's Conscience and those who advise him but here and here only is the true Notion of being Passive and I must confess I can't tell how to help them Here I think they must suffer and not resist but fly to another City if they do not like that where the Government legally sits upon their Skirts Though I know some don't allow the Legislative Power to intermeddle with Religion as having too much a Lay mixture for the Pallet of the Church Yet for my part I do not see how otherwise we could maintain any Establishment in it For though since the Reformation the King as Head hath the Supremacy devolv'd on him and 't is consented that he may make Canons to bind the Clergy even without a Convocation yet as the Church does not allow him to speak with his own Mouth or Act with his own Hands in the Administration of Essentials of Religion
Statute of Westminster which consists of Fifty one Chapters and is well worth perusing Sir Edward Coke says This and all other Statutes made in the Reign of this King may be stiled by the Name of Establishments because they are more Constant Standing and Durable Laws than have been made ever since and Sir William Herle then Chief Justice of the Common Pleas says Fuit le plus Sage Roy que Vnques fuit And though these Laws were said to be Pour le Commun profit de seint Eglise del Realm yet he thought it expedient to clip the Wings of his Clergy observing as is said their Power too predominant and afterwards by the Statute of Mortmain kept them from ingrossing Lands and increasing their Temporal Possessions and when his Prelates prest him to repeal this Statute he gave them for Answer That it was a Statute made by the whole Body of the Realm and therefore not in his Power who was but one Member of that Body not like some of his Successors who have pretended to dispense with all Acts of Parliaments He united Wales to the Crown of England partly by Force and partly by Policy As to his War in Scotland if it were managed with the same Policy it had not nevertheless the like success at least Scotland was so unfortunate to him that he died there His War with France was but a Trifle and soon ended in a Truce His last Misunderstanding with his Lords was the Effect of Unadvised Obstinacy on both hands for he ought not to have insisted on sending or their going to the Wars in Gascoin without his going himself in Person and they ought not to have refused going with him in Person though in or out of France or Scotland but yet he made up the Breach by his subsequent Prudence and soft Demeanour The worst Action of his Reign to me seems to be Bribing the Pope to absolve him from the Covenant made with his Subjects concerning their Charters which he had confirm'd with an Oath but the other good Laws which he made and observed shall with me excuse one Act of Frailty or Passion And if he be censured for his Taxes he is in part justified by his well bestowing them to his own Honour and Good of his Kingdom EDWARD II. WE are not to expect much good from a King who begins his Reign with the breach of his Father's Admonitions and the Obligations he lay under by him in matters of Duty Commands which his Father gave him in charge with his last Words on pain of a Curse for his Disobedience as Stow says And here it may be observed how wretched and contemptible a Creature pardon the Expression even a King as well as another Man is when he hath once broke loose from the Principles of Honour and Morality when the Natural Bonds of Modesty are unhinged and broken How he wavers and shuffles and is driven about by every Wind that he cannot be steady to himself or any one else When Men have once forsaken the Path of Vertue they walk in an endless Maze they can't rely on themselves and therefore are impos'd upon and misled by every one For when a Man cannot justify himself to himself he can never do it to another and Kings generally stand so much upon the Prerogative of being like Gods that they scorn to be thought to be in the wrong like Men. Here we may see how fatal 't is to prefer a private Person before the Publick and for a Prince to espouse the Interest of a Favourite so far as to put him in competition with all his other Subjects and to oppose his Welfare to theirs The whole Reign of this Poor King is but one Farce of Folly and Misfortune contemn'd by his Subjects and even by his own Wife who revenged upon him the violation of a double Tye of Obedience This was the immediate as well as natural Consequence of relying upon the Opinion and Advice of single Persons contrary to the Counsels and against the Advice of the Wisdom of the Nation After Troubles on the behalf of Gaveston Troubles in Scotland with a faint ill-managed War Troubles on account of the Spencers Troubles in his own Family for he was no wiser in his Oeconomicks than his Politicks with his Wife c. he was at last shamefully Deposed barbarously Used and villanously Murther'd A Person in his Natural Capacity certainly to be lamented as having some Virtues and Good Qualities Fit to make an Accomplish't Gentleman though not a Good King Kingly Government did not seem to be his Talent for he lived as if born for himself not for others and there is certainly a difference in the Quality of governing a Man's self and others between governing and being govern'd To this purpose I must bring in Montaign who seems to have a good Notion of the Thing Doubtless says he it can be no easy Task to Rule others when we find it so hard a matter to govern our selves And as to the Thing Dominion which seems so charming the Frailty of Human Wisdom and the Difficulty in Choice of Things that are New and Doubtful to us consider'd I 'm very much of Opinion That it is far more pleasant to follow than to lead and that it is a great Settlement and Satisfaction of Mind to have only one Path to walk in and to have none to answer for but a Man's self For without doubt says he there is a great and painful Duty incumbent upon a Good King How much doth it import Kings to have a Good Advice of Counsel For I doubt we shall find but few Kings whether of God Almighty's making or our own i. e. whether by Inheritance Solus Deus facit haeredes or Election of Cyrus's Qualifications who says That no Man is fit to Rule but he who in his own Worth is of greater value than all those he is to govern EDWARD III. THE Reign of Edward the Third was more a School of Arms than Civil Polity For having in the beginning patch'd up an Indifferent Peace with Scotland he is immediately embroil'd in a War with France with which and some few Matters in Scotland he was engaged all his Life-time It is true in his Parliament at Westminster Supply and Grievances were pretty warmly Debated And he has his weak Side in the Business of Alice Peirce his Concubine but I let this pass as a Failing And who is without some But when he was at leisure he made Good Laws and particularly in the Affair of Purveying He caus'd all Pleas to be in English that the Subjects might understand the Laws Ordain'd Sumptuary Laws c. and in the general was a Great and Good Prince as Walsingham Fuerat nempe Rex iste inter omnes Reges Orbis Principes Gloriosus Benignus Clemens Magnificus Belliger fuit insignis fortunatus qui de Cunctis Congressibus in Terra Mare semper triumphali gloriâ Victoriam Reportavit I
Temper by a gentle Remove without any Blood without Imprisoning any Person and without inflicting almost any Suffering or Penalty till the Seditious Practices of the Popish Party had provoked the Arm of Justice till the Pope had given away her Kingdom of Ireland as a Heretick and Parsons and Campian Two of his Emissaries had Deposed her at Home in their Doctrines And after all Campian Sherwin and Briant did not suffer as Popish Priests but were Prosecuted on the 25th of Edward the III d for Plotting Destruction of the Queen and Ruin of the Kingdom for Adhering to the Pope the Queen's Enemy and coming into England to Raise Forces against the State And 't was only for these Exorbitances of the Papists that new and strict Laws were Enacted against them in the following Parliaments in the 23d 27 29 35th Years of her Reign Before that there was only the Penalty of Twelvepence a Sunday for Absence from Church and some other necessary provisions concerning the Supremacy Administration of the Sacrament and Form of Common-Prayer which also were very tenderly put in Execution and for above Twenty Years no Body suffered Death for Religion nor till long after the Pope and King of Spain had conspired her Ruin and Gregory the XIIIth held secret Consultations to Invade at once both England and Ireland and longer after that Bloody Massacre of Paris which was a design to Cut off the Protestants as it was Termed or at least to give them a deep Wound and the terrible Slaughters of Protestants through all the Cities of France and the War afterwards declared against the Protestants in the time of Charles the IXth not to reflect on the Chambres Ardentes before against Protestants in Henry the IId's time and after the Attempt which the Duke of Alva on the behalf of the Queen of Scots and the just suspicious she might entertain on her account who was then accounted the great Patroness and only hopes of the Papists and all the other Stratagems and visible Designs of that Party And the second Execution of any Person was in her Twenty fifth Year and upon a just necessity of Self-preservation upon the rash and extravagant Proceedings of Somervill and Others Besides when the Queen was informed even of these Severities as they are call'd tender ones in comparison she grew offended with the Commissioners for Popish Causes Reproved them for their Severity although they declared and protested they Questioned no Man for his Religion but only for dangerous Attempts against her Majesty and the State and the Queen forbad them afterwards to use Tortures as she did the Judges other Punishments And not long after that when Seventy Priests were taken and some of them Condemned and the rest in danger of the Law she only shipp'd them away out of England A Merciful piece of Justice So Merciful she was that it gave her Enemies such Encouragement as her Life was never safe as may appear by the Case of Dr Parry till there was a necessity for an Association to provide for the Queen's safety which was first Voluntary by a Number of her Subjects the Earl of Leicester being foremost thence after of all Ranks and Conditions bound mutually thereunto to each other by their Oaths and Subscriptions to Prosecute all those to the very Death that should Attempt any thing against the Queen which the Year following was in a Parliamentary manner Enacted into a formal Law Notwithstanding which another dangerous Conspiracy of one Savage set on foot by Babington and Others to take away her Life as being Excommunicated was discovered and about Fourteen were justly Executed for Treason Upon which last Treason hung the Fate of the Queen of Scots the Justice whereof has been so much Controverted and Debated Rules of Policy and Self-preservation must cashier all Principles of good Nature or Honour Yet however Execution was not done upon her till the French Ambassador and others were again discovered to take off the Queen by way of prevention And the Circumstances suggested to the Queen at least of the Spanish Navy being come to Milford Haven the Scots into England and that the Duke of Guise was Landed at Sussex c. may extenuate if not excuse the Severity of her Execution with any but Papists and the manner of doing it at last shews it was Extorted from her upon inevitable Considerations and Symptoms of a relucting necessity Her often Countermanding it demonstrates it was not an Act of her Inclination and at last perhaps as far as it appears it was obtained of her by Surprise and without her Authorising Hand to the finishing Stroke If there were any thing in it of Barbarity 't was the denying her a Catholick Priest or Confessor and the Manner of her Execution Which yet is no more than Papists deny Protestants on all occasions and I know not why we should not vouch the dying Honour of our Religion as they do of theirs But enough has been said of this Tragedy on all Hands only it may be fit to Remark That even the French Historians give a more favourable Account of it than our own and particularly Mezeray is softer in his Expressions than Baker The first says The Indiscretion of her Friends was no less the Cause of her Misfortune than the Wickedness of her Enemies as the First sought with violent passion after some plausible pretence to Ruin her the Other furnished them with divers by contriving every Hour some odd Design and even Conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth so that they made her Perish by their over-much Care and Endeavours to Save her The Later gives a slim trimming Account which was worse Although 't is true the taking off the Queen of Scots did not break the Neck of the Popish Designs for who can restrain the Malice of Jesuits for Men must have some ingredient of Modesty to be convinc'd and silenc'd and kept within the bounds of natural Virtue yet it stopp'd their Hands for some time And when afterwards they began again upon the Example and Encouragement of the Holy League in France of which the Duke of Guise was Head and in virtue of which they had taken off their own King Henry the III d by the Hands of James Clement a Monk though Guise himself was first Assassinated and they had taken new heart upon the King of Spain's Founding a Seminary of English at Validolid and new Plots were contrived against the Queen It put them somewhat out of the way and they were at a loss where to find a Successor to the Crown for their purpose when Lopez and Patrick Cullen c. were to have Killed the Queen And they were forc'd to hunt after far-fetch'd Titles in the Infanta of Spain and farther for the Earl of Essex at Home the Son of the Queen of Scots being a Protestant and even at last they made but little of it The Queen remained in Peace and Safety and their Pretender Essex was himself Executed for Treason The
up they are invested with God's Authority which must be obey'd and this supersedes all Legal Disputes of Right and our old Oaths and our old Allegiance are at an end For when God transfers Kingdoms and hath set over Us a New King and setled him and requires our Obedience to a New King he necessarily transfers our Allegiance c. And the Authority unjustly gotten and wrested from the True and Lawful Possessor being always God's Authority and therefore receiving no Impeachment from the Wickedness of those that have it is ever when any Alterations are truly setled to be obeyed Why all this tho as with a supposing to Us It seems by this That the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation have been bantering God Almighty with Prayers and Praises all this while whereas both Prince and People and All of Us should have been humbling our selves in Sackcloth and Ashes and doing Pennance for our Rebellion and Wickedness I shall not trouble a Serious Thought about this Convocation-Book or the Occasion of it enough hath been said about that and the Doctor already King James I. in his Letter to Dr. Abbot shews his Resentment of the Proceedings of that Convocation Only I will produce another Convocation to shew how the former hath setled the Government The first was in the time of James the First the other in James the Second Now you shall see the Judgment of the Famous University of Oxon They in their Convocation reflecting as they tell Us upon certain Pernicious Books and Damnable Doctrines viz amongst others Proposition 10. That Possession and Strength give a Right to Government and Success in a Cause or Enterprize proclaims it to be Lawful and Just Nota To pursue it Is to comply with the Will of God because it is to follow the Conduct of his Providence Hobbes Owen Baxter Jenkins c. And Proposition 15. If a People who by Oath and Duty are obliged to a Sovereign shall sinfully Dispossess him and contrary to their Covenant chuse and covenant with another they may be obliged by their Latter Covenant notwithstanding their Former Baxter H. C. c. by their Judgment and Decree Ann. 1683. pronounced these amongst many other such like Propositions Heretical and Decreed Judged and Declared them to be False Seditious and Impious Blasphemous and Infamous to Christian Religion and destructive of all Government in Church and State What a Blessed Establishment is here What an Honourable Title hath the King in what a Condition is the Subject Thus we see how unsafe 't is to imply or suppose a Providential Usurper or King de facto which is all one and then to secure him by Arguments out of the Clouds So 't is of a Forcible Usurper or King de facto t'other way to Establish him with a Providential Success as Conqueror without Right As if we come to measure the Mysteries of Providence by our narrow Comprehensions and Rules and tack it to every Success we shall make a very odd Business of it and put Providence upon very Irreverent Offices We know how That and Scripture hath been interpreted upon other Occasions In less than half a Century upon a Certain Revolution One Side said God shewd his Indignation in Thunder and Lightning T'other That he Congraturated the Success with his Guns and Fire-works from above Plato in his time said Lawyers and Physicians were the Pest of a Country Would he not have added Divines also had he lived in some other Ages When these Gentlemen were upon their Providential Disposal and Settlement of Kingdoms They might as justly have brought some Instances from Scripture which would have been for the Honour of the Revolution Where God vouchsaf'd his Assistance to a good Cause for a Blessing to a People as well as always for a Curse to a Bad and Sinful Nation Instances which comply and would have stood with the Ordinary Rules of Morality and Human Justice As the Case of Solomon and his Son between Hezekiah and Josiah and the succeeding Tyrants and Wicked Princes Also in the Case of Rehoboam where God seems to give a Countenance to the Revolt of the Ten Tribes and assist against his Tyranny and Oppression for God says 't was his doing there also David seems to agree with this He sufficiently differences his Expressions according to the Characters of Princes and Rulers as good or bad He tells us the Fate of wicked ones not by executing upon them God's immediate personal Judgments or by the visible Hand of Providence but by Human Mediums of interposing Power to restrain them c. by the Favour of God's Assistance in an Ordinary Course of Providential Justice The Prophets did not preach Passive Obedience to the Idolatrous Kings of Israel and Judah but inveigh'd against them Did not David and his Adherents resist Saul though he spared his Person I do not pretend to plead for a Vindictive Account against the Person of Kings And the Story of Manasses methinks seems something toward ours He Set up Repaired Adorn'd and Furnish'd the Altars Temples and High Places in which the Devil was by the Heathen Worshipp'd forgetting the Piety of his Father and most abominably burnt his Sons for a Sacrifice to the Devil Moloch and shed so much innocent Blood that 't is said Jerusalem was replenish'd therewith And when after all he was reprehended by the Reverend Prophet Esai he caus'd him to be Saw'd asunder with a Wooden Saw Therefore for his Sins the Lord brought upon him the Captains of the Host of the Kings of Ashur who took Manasses and put him in Fetters and bound him in Chains and carried him to Babel where after he had lain Twenty Years as a Captive despoiled of all Honour and Hopes of doing Mischief God inspir'd him with Repentance and afterwards mov'd the Assyrians Heart to deliver him after which he forgot his Impieties and Villanies detested his Idolatry cast down the Idols of his own Erection repaired Jerusalem and at last Dyed in a Religious Peace But 't is not my Province to apply Scripture only to my self And I know not what Commission They have so familiarly to determine the Councils of the Almighty 'T is true as St. Augustin says Nothing is sensibly and visibly done in the World which cometh not from the Interior and Invisible Cabinet of God whether it be commanded or permitted though some will not allow a permissive Providence yet the Psalmist says Oh God! How profound are thy thoughts and how unsearchable to the ignorant and foolish Yet Man must be presently making Inferences Providence is said to take care of the most minute Creatures as well as the greatest And these great Texts and Stories of Prerogative and Supremacy with Complement to each other are only taken notice of whilst Others as positive lye dormant as Resist not evil Turn t'other Cheek and about giving the Cloak also These might do mischief and the Wicked of the World might take Advantage by returning them upon the
Government before he obtained it And Ethelwolf a Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet Elected King because they could not find a fitter Person for the Crown Edwin by his Miscarriage turn'd his Subjects Hearts and the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and swore Fealty to his Younger Brother Edgar The Danish Kings were approved by the Lords during their short time of Reign here Edward the Confessor by general Consent was admitted King Harold chose himself and ravish'd a Crown and he fared accordingly for his Intrusion without the Consent of the People All that is intended by this short Account is only to shew That Succession was not always esteemed so Sacred and that Non-Resistance hath not been so stanch'd a Doctrine always as some now would pretend To come nearer to our present Case Let 's see the Opinion of Councels and Divines and perhaps we shall not need to be much out of Countenance for assisting the Prince of Orange in the Vindication of our Civil Rights and Religion and I believe the Church of England will stand by Us And Divines of great Reputation gave their Judgment for Subjects defending themselves against their Princes in Cases not near so strong as Ours Queen Elizabeth gave Countenance and Aid to the Revolt of the Low-Countries or Rebellion as it is call'd against the King of Spain and did it by Advice of Learned and Religious Divines as Dr. Bancroft c. And 't was for the sake of Religion Queen Elizabeth also assisted the Protestants in Scotland against the French Faction Cambden says she had a Consultation about that Matter and although it was urged That it was of Ill Example to patronise another Prince's Subjects in Commotion yet it seem'd to be an Impious thing to be wanting to them of the same Religion Bishop Bilson justifies the Defence which the French and Dutch made on supposition that it was for the Maintenance of the Laws If we look into the Affair of the King of Bohemia or Prince Palatine we find tho King James was backward i. e. fearful and had not Courage when the War broke out in Germany the Sense of the Archbishop in his Letter to Sir Robert Naunton Secretary of State when he advised the King to send Aid against the Emperor's Attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power he encourages the Prince Palatine as King of Bohemia by Election in the matter for propagation of the Gospel and to protect the Oppress'd and declares for his own part He did not dare but give Advice to follow where God leads apprehending the Work of God in This and That of Hungary and that he was satisfied in Conscience that the Bohemians had a Just Cause c. King Charles the First who appeared to be of as Scrupulous a Judgment in the Point as any By the Advice of Archbishop Laud not only assisted the King of Denmark who assisted others against the House of Austria to keep the King of Spain from overrunning the Western part of Christendom and sent Forces and Supplies for the Cause of Religion as his Reasons are emphatically express'd in the Declaration But also some time after published a Declaration of War against France chiefly on Account of that King's Protestant Subjects for Violation of Edicts and Breach of Articles and Contracts with them Whereas Contracts and Articles at other times with Us have by some been pronounced Prophane Absurdities c. The Revolt of Catalonia hath had its due Representation here as well as elsewhere The only Reason for their taking up Arms was in plain Terms to rid themselves of their Oppressors which the Nobility said was their Duty and to preserve their Ancient Form of Government from the Encroachments of the King of Spain who Oppress'd Rich and Poor by Arbitrary Taxations Religion was no Ingredient in their Rebellion Their Acclamations were Long live the new King D'Juan de Braganza and let them dye that govern ill His Accession to the Crown of Portugal was Congratulated and Countenanced by all the Kingdoms and States in Europe upon the Return of his Manifesto's only the Emperor whose Interest it was condemn'd it the Pope himself did not Resent it And they congratulated him upon the Merits as well as Success of the Attempt Where then is this Ambitious Prince Where is that Wicked and Ungodly People as they call Us We have done no more than what hath been done upon a Godly Consideration in like Cases nay not so much and our Case goes farther for these had only Edicts and Acts of Grace to maintain We defend our Religion Establish'd by the Laws of the Land This Family of the Nassaus have the hardest Measure under the Sun To be stiled Daring and Ambitious Spirits and to have Damnation thus Entailed upon them only for undertaking the Cause of the Oppress'd and Rescuing Abus'd Innocence from the Tyranny of Arbitrary and Barbarous Power Why then are the Gentlemen of the Church of England so resty upon this Revolution There is scarce any Reason to be imagined unless it be for those which they bring themselves such as the Convocation-Settlement Conquest c. If we should enquire into their Opinions and variety of Principles I doubt we shall find them so Un-uniform that we shall never ground any fixt Authority upon them in this Point or any other Tho it seems but an Ungrateful Task to expose their Contradictions and Contrarieties in all Ages But if they have differ'd amongst themselves in their Doctrines and Notions of Obedience or Resistance and the Settlement of Crowns I hope they will give Us leave in Equal Authorities to chuse which we will follow In truth he who will be at the pains to examine their Writings i. e. their General Councels themselves even from the first Four to the Last I 'm sorry to say it will I believe find but a Sandy Foundation to fix his Conscience or Judgment in Articles of Faith What have they been doing with the Trinity of late What have they not been doing to get the Government into the Church-Conusance by way of Success and Providence Tho I would have this Government setled to satisfy and please every one in their own way if it were possible for Men have different Ideas of things Yet I'am unwilling the Government should be trick'd and impos'd upon And that Men should advance their own Stations and Interest by publishing and mis-applying Notions which expose the Church and King both I must confess I think Dr. S Reasons for the Government have been the greatest against it with all Men of Reason and Honour and have hindred many from coming into it What stuff have we produced in a Convocation-Book the greatest Affront to a King and People that was ever offer'd with a salvo to the Church It is said Providence may actually and God will when he sees fit and can serve the Ends of his Providence set up Kings without any Regard to Legal Right or Human Laws and when they are thus set