done Oh but a Peace being Concluded at Nimeguen this Army that was got together by one Sessions of Parliament was hardly got dissolv'd by two And all things rightly examined was not that One Sessions too soon for presently after the Disbanding of that Army 't is very memorable and observable what Rebellion broke out in Scotland and how it was tim'd and as for the many Papists which he would insinuate were thrust into that Army it is a most notorious Lye for those Papists that were in it were only some few Officers that came home upon the King's Proclamation with the Duke of Monmouth's Regiment out of France and they too were cashier'd their Commands long before the Peace made or the Disbanding of the Army was thought of and how this Army as he suggests was probably to be made use of in carrying on of the Popish Plot may be gather'd if I mistake not from an Information Oates once gave in That the Officers of it were all to be Murdered in a Night by the Popish Party to render the Army useless for any Service against them Then besides this Open Force sayes he there was Listed under-hand a greater of which Oates 's Narrative acquaints us with the chief Officers So the Noble Dr. did with Commissions too but the Devil a one was ever yet produced for us to see nor as I have been told did the Dr. himself know one of these principal Officers he has made bold to mention viz. My Lord Arundel of Warder when he very lately did see him but that worthy Divine is something apt to be troubled with dimness of sight when over-strain'd with swearing as some Privy Councellors in being can bear him witness In the next place to his Malicious and Impudent Suggestion That the succeeding Parliament after the Long Parliament were by their sudden Dissolution prevented from bringing those to their Tryals which the Former had committed I answer and the whole Kingdom must testify with me It is most scandalously false For had they so intended they sate time enough to have brought six times the Number to their Tryal No the face of things began to look then another way The Popish Plott seem'd like a Card turn'd up Trumps only to be play'd upon a hard Push when any Trick they aim'd at was like to be lost As for Example When the King would not give up the E. of D. to be torn in pieces trump with the Popish Plot that will fetch it or nothing immediately New Dangers of Popery are Apprehended and there is a Young Plot in the Belly of the Old One But at last when that Lord had rendered up himself and desired a speedy Tryal difficulties and perplexities were started about Joyning Issue then immediately there arises a squobble about Priviledges An Endless confus'd Riddle which no body e're yet could tell the meaning of but not a grain of Justice weigh'd out all this while but the course of it stopt and the Nation kept in suspence terror and perplexity with almost every man's hand at his Neighbours Throat and all for a punctilio Justice I doubt was not what the prevailing Faction at that time Aim'd at For as I promised before I will speak Truth A prevailing and a dangerous Faction were in that Parliament and will be in every Parliament 't is to be feared so long as Schismaticks and Make-bates are tolerated in their Insolencies by Wilful blindness or scarfulness of Magistrates that should suppress them and enabled to carry so great a sway in Elections as to return frequently so many Old Rebels against the last King to sit in the House of Commons only to raile and bandy Factions for the Ruin of this No the Popish Lords in the Tower were to be well husbanded and that Parliament was Dissolv'd not that they should not bring those Lords to Tryal but because they would not Having shot this Bolt Now he runs on his Story to several Worthy Peers Petitioning for the Sitting of a Third Parliament whereof by the way let us take notice the E. of Hunt was One who having since discover'd the foulness of the main design at the bottom has avoided the Infection return'd home into the Favour and Service of his King and Safety of his Honour And as that Petition was followed by Others of a more tumultuous nature so the reflections our Author makes upon 'em are to deal plainly as Impertinent as they were for he sayes That his Majesty was possest by some about him that such Petitioning was tumultuous and that at the same time little Emissaries were ordered to discourage it amongst the rest Sir George Jeoffries here in the City Prithee Brother Pamphletteer why little Emissaries Sir George Jeoffries is a Gentleman and was at that time Recorder of London and as I conceive under that character not so very unproper to advise the City how far in Loyalty Obedience to the Law and good Manners they ought to preserve their Duty Respect and Deference to their Sovereign and his Commands and for all that quoted scrap of the Parliaments Address against him wherein they accuse him for Informing the City of London that such manner of Proceedings might hazard the Forfeiture of their Charter I suppose it had been never the Worse for that Wise City to have taken his Counsel and have sav'd perhaps the trouble which a small Instrument Entituled Quo Warranto lately got amongst them may put them to But it is the way of hireling Scriblers for that Party now-a-dayes to Quote Votes Resolves and Addresses of the House of Commons for Lawes forsooth as if we were no longer to respect the Statutes of the Realm for our Guide but buy a pennyworth of Votes every day and consult out of them how far we are to yield Obedience to Edicts of so great an Authority as a Kings who is over us in all Causes next under God the Supreme Head and Governour For he is at the same rate again as to the Anti-Petitions as he calls emor Abhorrencies that were by many of the Loyal part of the Kingdom presented to his Majesty in a just resentment and detestation of the former Undutiful and Irreverent Proceedings of their fellow Subjects which as it was at that time the most seasonable and honestest course that good Subjects could take to clear and signalize their Respect and Fidelity to a Prince nos'd and affronted by the Insolent and Vile behaviour of a dangerous and unruly Faction So I cannot but with Horrour remember the Tyrannical and Oppressive Authority which the House of Commons durst usurp afterwards over their fellow-Subjects how many of us were persecuted by their Ban-dogs and Pursuivants how many that knew not so well the Charter of their Liberty were forced to yield obedience to their Unwarrantable and Peremptory Votes Led in Captivity shamefully several Miles through their Native Countries up to London committed to Illegal and Chargeable Prisons harrass'd with Arbitrary Fines or Censures brought on
amongst and towards one another to maintain and defend it resolve to stand by and preserve the Laws that support it from the annoyance both of its right and left-hand Enemies let us resolve this and be Quiet and if we do so we shall be Quiet to the Confusion of our Author and those mischievous creeping Caterpillars his Party Nay since there are good Laws for the protecting of our Religion against its Enemies the Schismatical Phanaticks as well as Papists and Others the best way certainly of protecting it is by putting those good Lawes in Execution nay to the utmost Extent and improvement of them if possible and for this too to give our Author one Quotation for his whole Book-ful let Bracton be my security Nay the very place too where Mr. Deacon is pleased to Quote him himself upon this occasion viz. Libro 1. Cap. 2. in these words Leges cum fuerint approbatae consensu utentium et Sacramento Regum Confirmatae Mutari non possunt nec destrui sine communi consensu consilio eorum omnia Quorum Consilio consensu fuerunt promulgatae That is to say that since the Laws have been approved by the consent of those for whose use and benefit they were made and Confirmed by our Kings They cannot be changed nor destroyed without the Common consent and advice of all those by whose Advice and Consent they were first set forth So far our Author But had he pleased to have carried his Eye a line farther he might have found this added Quod in meliùs tamen converti possunt etiam sine eorum Consensu Quia non destruitur quod in melius Commutatur i. e. That for all this nevertheless they may be improved at the discretion of the Prince even without such Consent since nothing can be said to be destroyed which is changed for the better Which all makes good my aforementioned Assertion That for the preservation of our Religion the Laws ought to be put in Execution with the utmost Rigor and when the King shall think fitting in so good a Cause they ought if possible to be stretched and improved too For Laws being the Instruments put into the hands and power of aâ—…ing wherewith to Govern and Protect his People those Instruments are to be used at his own discretion certainly And a good Father of his Country cannot but think himself obliged to give them their utmost and severest reach for the suppressing and reducing of Contumacious stubborn impudent Mutineers and Rebels as well as sometimes in Goodness to abate their Rigor when he finds an object that may deserve his Mercy Our Author might have found out this as well as I now But I suppose he may be one of those that are for clipping the King's Prerogative and for that end would serve all those Authors so too that defend and assert it And indeed I observe in all their Writings that it is much the practice of the Advocates for that Party whenever they have an Occasion to shew their Reading Quote a poor Author that never intended them any Kindness to snip pare and shave him down just to their purpose so clap him upon the Margent of their Pamphlet in hopes to Cobble up their false Arguments with defaced and mangled truth and make them pass for Veritable Doctrine And indeed I cannot tell all along what to make of this giddy-headed Author I am to handle He turns and shifts and dodges and never keeps one Course He pretends to treat of passive Obedience but never tells us what passive Obedience is discourses from no principle in the world nor gives us any definition of his Theam and indeed upon due consideration it were unreasonable to expect it of him for had he ever read Ethicks he would have learned more honesty then to have published such a Book He first tells us in a word That we are secured so well by our Page the 75th Laws that passive Obedience must except by our own treachery be for ever unpracticable amongst us yet wasts Twenty or Thirty Pages more to scare us with the dangers of its doctrine which he sayes 'T is true can never Page the 78th discover its malignity under his Majesties gracious Reign which God prolong and prosper who has been pleased to give the Nation the security of his Coronation Oath c. But in case we should fall under a Popish Successor then this Bloody Doctrine will have the Opportunity to shew its self in its own Colours and we may then see and it may be feel the sting of it Now here really it is very hard to forbear laughing most outragiously at this Fellow and his Canting but that I correct and keep my spleen under in a pure principle of charity for fear lest I mistake his frenzy for his folly The King has been pleased to give us the security of his Coronation Oath Quotha but in case we should fall under a Popish Successor Well what then Must not he give us the Security of his Coronation Oath too Yes my dear Author that he must and I believe Thou mayst be satisfied it will be his Interest to keep it too except thou canst think him so blind to his own good as to hazard the involving of his Nation in blood shaking and endangering of his Throne for ever and all for the great advantage he may propose to himself of bringing in the Power of a Tyrannical Clergy to Impoverish his People lessen his Revenues and weaken his Authority Oh but says our Author I suppose that a Popish Successor being in possession and so a lawful Magistrate will persecute Protestants Page the 79th To which I answer I desire to know which way he will persecute Protestants will he persecute them with the Laws No. They are of the Protestant side If he will raise a Popish Army and bring in Popery with Drum and Trumpet I humbly desire to know where he will beat up his Drums for them and how the Popish Officers will make their Interests in the Countrey when they are to raise them or what Popish Towns will give 'em Quarters till they come to their Rendezvous Or which way this Popish Successor will get a Popish Parliament to give him Protestant Money to pay this Popish Army all these things will be necessary For let the Romish Religion be never so much in the matter your Musqueteers and Pikemen will have a certain Protestant principle of point d' Argent point de Swisse Though after all it would be a damnable surprise at last if our Author should have a Project at the end of all this to conceal his Politicks till this Popish Successor Comes and so prefer himself to his Privy Council by a trick he has in the bottom of his Budget for the bringing in Popery in a peaceable way and enslaving the Nation without a farthings Cost or a moments trouble that I must confess would be something new and not unpretty Marry but
one Parasite Sycopham or Murderer that knows any more Law for it then he does himself But Rhetorick is a fine thing and a man that has the gift of it can no more stop a Trope when its coming then a Dutchman a belch 't is a great case now and then to a writer and ought to be allowed him But now I must beg leave to be a little more serious with my worthy Author and take him to task with a severe scrutiny What have we here Page the 82d There is no Authority upon Earth above the Law Page the 82d If our Author means by this that the King is subject to the Law I know not what they may amount to and think it were but fit that he should explain himself But to take the words in their bare and unprejudiced signification I say there is an Authority in the King which is an Authority above the Law And I think too it will be easie naturally to prove it For whatsoever derives it's vertue from another Authority is Inferiour to that Authority whence it is derived and therefore the Law being the Kings Creature made and informed with that force which it bears by the Kings proper Fiat and Royal Stamp the Authority of such a Law is but derivative a Child begotten by the parent power natuâ—urally in the King and consequently inferiour and subject to that first power as much as a Child is naturally to a Father Besides the Law being as I said before no other then an Instrument in the hands of the King wherewith he is to govern and protect his people certainly the weapon is not equal to the Arm that weilds it For as a Sword is but a dead thing of its self its edge and point of no use at all but as it is enforced and directed by the hand of him that bears it so equally the Law can exercise no Authority meerly of it self at all but as it is managed and put in motion by the preeminent and superintendent power in the King so that there is certainly an orignal Fountain of Natural Authority in the King above the mechanical instrumental Authority of the Laws Nor will it be sufficient that our Author Quotes Bracton's Opinion in the case to make his Argument irrefragable at all For though Bracton Page the 83d indeed was a very good Lawyer we are not by any means to allow him infallible especially in a case which is evidently false For whereas he sayes indeed as our Author hath cited him that Rex debet esse sub lege Quia lex facit Regem I cannot by any means allow of his Proposition since the Law does not make the King but the King the Laws For if we look back to the original power of our Kings as it is derived from the Norman Conquest we shall find that Conquerour was not made King by the Law but by the Sword nay after he had Vanquished us imposed too his own Norman Laws in a great measure upon us as is sufficiently probable from the absolete French Language which they are to this day written in So that Bracton is in the wrong to say the Law makes the King for the Race of our present Monarch is derived from that very Conquerour who cut out his way to his Throne with his Sword and by that Power set up such Laws as he himself thought sitting and what Laws have passed since have been made Laws by the succeeding Kings after him and not the Kings made by the Laws For our Kings reign and hold their Crowns by the right of that Conquest still which cannot be altered till they themselves willingly resign it and take up a new Royalty upon new Conditions and then indeed as Bracton sayes The Law may make the King and the King ought to be under the Law Yet this does not hinder but that as our Author sayes Page the Page the 84th 84th a Popish Successor can have no Authority to exercise any illegal cruelty upon Protestants And if so certainly there is therefore much the less fear of him By much less therefore ought we wilfully to rend and tear the present happiness we now may live in and be blest withal by seperating our selves into unreasonable Factions for fear of a danger which is but wildly possible and in all consideration of our present condition as we are fenced and defended by the best constituted Laws in the World except our own Treachery or folly destroy them utterly improbable for if as our Author sayes after that bad Princes are hardly ever known to stoop so low as to be Executioners themselves of their own cruelty if we are out of our pain as he sayes as to that difficulty I cannot by Page the 85th any means admit of his second scruple that under a Popish Successor the lives of all Protestants shall lye at the mercy of every Justice of Peace Constable or Tything-man who shall have Catholick Zeal enough to destroy them For this my dear Poll is filthy prevaricating let us still keep our ground and be true to our Laws this of all absurdities is impossible to happen For the Law has provided that no man shall henceforth bear any of those offices but approved and known Protestants such as must take the Sacrament Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test to enable them for their employments and till those good preserving Laws are abrogated by our own Treachery it is in our own choice to be as happy as we would be even under the very reign of a Popish Successor And whereas our Author to shew what a Couragious Author he is rouses himself and setting his Arms a Cymbo cryes Page the 87th That though we cannot hinder Papists from being Idolaters we will endeavour to keep them from being our Murderers I must beg leave to tell him as a friend he might have spared his Breath to cool his Pottage for the Page the 88th Laws will do that business well enough without his help Nor can there be any petty Popish Officers as he does his weak endeavour malitiously to insinuate under a Popish Successor to be absolute Emperors and have the power of life and death for as I observed before the Law has taken care that no Papist shall henceforth bear Office in this Kingdom And this Scribler before he had entangled himself in this Argument should have found out a flaw where our Laws were lyable to be invaded and broken if he intended to have perswaded us we were not safe under their shelter In short I am weary of moyling in the heavy road of his Nonsence long to get rid of him and shake my self clean least by farther endeavouring to answer a Fool according to his folly I become like unto him For he pretends to write History which he is able to bring to no definite Conclusion and strains at a discourse yet lays us down no principles Sometimes indeed he has a great disposition to a jest
out of it and I hope Hang'd too and all I humbly conceive no breach of Privilege neither But our Noble Author to shew how fit an Advocate he is for his Party will needs be at it and Juggle in his very Preface which should be his Apology None shall be questioned out of Parliament for any thing spoken or transacted in it That is None shall be liable to the Law for what he says in Parliament provided he keep the bounds of Privilege which I humbly conceive is limited notwithstanding the late new started Doctrines That they are the only Judges of it themselves why else do they desire the Continuation of their Privileges every new Sessions by their Speaker The King is the Judge of those Provileges then for how can any Man grant what is fitting that is not suppos'd the Judge what is so Though therefore none be liable to the Law for what he says in Parliament provided he keep the bounds of Priviledge yet I hope any Corporation that sends up a Member to Serve for them in Parliament being sensible that that Member has abus'd or not discharg'd his Trust by proceeding unwarrantably in his Station running into a faction to do nothing the King desires of them to vex him with Bills for Dis-inheriting a dearest Brother with a thousand other Contrivances to perplex the good of the Kingdom and Embroil rather than Settle it I hope such a Corporation in an honest sence how they have been misrepresented by the Servant that they have sent to the King may have liberty to censure the Proceedings of such an unfaithful Servant and to Vindicate themselves too by any humble Address to His Majesty to assert their constant and loyal Adherence to his Government and if need be Abhorrence of any Transactions either of their own Servant or any else that would grow their Master tending to the Disturbance or Dissolution of it Oh But have a care says the Preface a little farther when His Majesty shall say to those dry Bones Live and they shall stand upon their feet they will be the fittest to declare their resentments c. Now do but mark this facetious Gentleman rather than lose his Jest what will he not do Just now he was Pleading the reverence and deference due to the Memory of the Parliament and here he scurrilously calls â—â—m a Company of dry Bones can there be any thing more Prophane than that the dry Bones of a dead Carcass commonly stink in the Nostrils of the living a very civil Metaphor and a great Complement to the Representatives of a Nation truly Oh but look to it they will be fittest to declare their resentments I hope it will never come to that that we of the Country who send up Members to Serve for us in the great Convocation of the Kingdom shall stand in awe of the Power we trust 'em withal I hope they are to sit there for our good and our peace not for our terror But more of this hereafter And now To the first part of his Pamphlet let us see how far he has proved the rise growth and discovery of a Popish Plot Have at it He sayes If the declaration of the common or publick Judgment be not a competent ground for us to settle our belief upon he knowes not what can be suppos'd to be for if ever the King be infallible he would the readiliest expect him to be so when he has the concurrent Advice and Consent of the whole Nation Nay he sayes there is infinitely greater cause for conforming our belief to the Opinion of the King Lords and Commons in a matter of fact throughly examin'd then to obey the Lawes they make To this I answer That King Lords and Commons are not nor can be infallible As they are Men they are liable to errors and may be deceived in matters of Opinion by the imperfections of their humane Nature in matters of fact by the false Informations of Perjur'd and profligate Villains who are to swear for bread and have no longer hopes to eat then their Evidence is useful For could any Government or Authority upon Earth be Infallible one might as well as another and Consequently our Author would make a good Argument for the Church of Rome and the Pope in Cathedrà may with as much reason pretend to be Infallible as any Prince in Christendom in his Senate I hope our Pamphleteer is a better Protestant then this Argument amounts to Granting then that King Lords and Commons are not Infallible he has not yet by his argument prov'd the rise growth and discovery of a Popish Plott But now he comes to supposing well let us see what he supposes Supposing sayes he that the aforesaid Resolves and Proclamations were not made nor issued without the maturest deliberation and fullest assurance of the truth of those Testimonies and Evidence that occasioned them it cannot be reputed too great credulity to believe that Popery was to be introduced by those Means and Methods that the Discoverers of the Plott attested very good Here he supposes that the aforesaid Resolves and Proclamations were not without the fullest assurance of the truth of the Evidence and yet not three lines farther he tells us that as to Scotland and Ireland in which the Design was laid as well as in England Affairs have been so managed that it is still as to us kept in a great manner secret Was then that Vote of the House of Commons that there was a Popish Plott in Ireland as well as here made upon the maturest deliberation and fullest assurance when affairs have been so managed that it is yet a Secret why was this Fellow trusted with Pen and Ink Well but now look too 't now let us look about us He has been but tuning his Instrument all this while now he 's resolv'd to tickle it away indeed as for Example Old sturdy England being as he sayes a Nation alwayes Jealous of their Rights and Liberties it was despaired that she would be wheedled to put on the Roman Yoke and therefore there was no hopes of bringing that about but by force The Author of this Book must be some Jesuited bewhiggify'd and privy to all their Councels he could never give so round an account what they thought else And now sayes he there wanted a plausible pretence to get up an Army Politick Worm and therefore that we may Epitomize his long-winded Impertinent story he tells us there was a Sham War propos'd with the French and the Parliament induc't to comply with the design he makes a very Worthy Parliament of it the mean while For if a Sham-War were to be impos'd upon the Nation he makes the Parliaments as guilty of the Imposture as any Minister of State he would pretend to blacken Then he goes on how An Army of 30000 men was appointed to be raised and a Tax levied for their Pay Well and they were pay'd as far as the Tax would go and what harm
their Knees forced to undergo the basest forms of Submission unworthy the honor of the English Liberty and all by an Usurping Unwarrantable power whom they had never offended and against whom no offence lay I hope we shall feel the scourge of such a Tyranny no more But to return to our Author who after having recited part of an Address made by the House of Commons against that Honorable Wise and never to be forgotten Patriot the Earl of Hallifax for the Fellow loves a scrap of Parliament bus'ness better then a dull Pedant ends of Latin resolves to come to the Point as he calls it in his Preface And now sayes He the Parliament according to direction of his Majesty Vigorously Prosecute the Plot That 's good News indeed Let us see how Why he tells us First as for themselves they by way of Address declare their Resolution to Preserve and Support the King's Person and Government and the Protestant Religion Well how did they keep their words Why the Author gives us to understand that As to the Plot they appoint a Committee to take an abstract of the Journals of both Houses as to matters relating to it upon which they resolve that the D. of York 's being a Papist c. has given the greatest Encouragement to the present Designs and Conspiracies against the King and Protestant Religion that is according to the King's Directions to prosecute the Plot they resolve to persecute his Brother For methinks it 's but an odd way of proceeding to resolve any Man is a Papist before they know whether it be so or no at this rate they might have resolv'd all the City was blown up though we did see one house tumble for the Cases are parallel and in spight of all Calumnies thrown on that most Illustrious Prince and Dutifullest of Subjects it was never prov'd that he was reconcil'd to the Church of Rome yet nor does the absenting himself from our Church at all evince it for by that Argument he may be as well a Protestant Dissenter for ought they know as any thing else But as to the latter part of their Resolve viz. That the presumption of his being so has given the greatest Encouragement to the present Designs against the King and Protestant Religion I agree with 'em for it is visible enough 't is upon that Basis the Schismatick and Phanatical Party have grounded all their hopes of spoyling the King of his most Essential Prerogatives of destroying the whole Beauty and Order of the Established Church of collecting together a Treasonable and Rebellious Association for fettering up the Power of the King raising an Army to be Commanded by Creatures of their Own and to obey their Authority for the Enslaving the Kingdom rooting out of the Monarchy and setting up Confusion Now let all Reasonable Men observe how far our Scribe has proved the Rise Growth and Discovery of a Popish Plot I will not deny that such a Plot might have been but for all our Sophister's arguments it is at best but a Plot presumptive and no Plot apparent But upon this Resolve our Author is pleas'd to remind us of a Bill of Exclusion brought in which the Lords thought fit to reject upon which sayes he a Committee of the whole House make two more Resolves First That so long as the Papists have any Hopes of the D. of York 's succeeding to the Crown King Religion and all are in an apparent danger of being destroy'd The second That the House for Bringing in a Bill of Association for the King's Defence and for general Safety And for preventing the Duke of York or any Papist from succeeding to the Crown this is call'd prosecuting the Plot. And here by the way it will not be amiss in a word or two to take notice of the latter part of this second Resolve viz. Or any Papist from succeeding to the Crown Whence I observe Either this Resolve was Impertinent or it was necessary If there were no reason after the Exclusion of the Duke to fear any Popish Successor this Resolve was Impertinent If it were necessary there must be reason to apprehend such a Successor Now who could this be The Prince of Orange Is he a Papist No but if need be there may rise up an Evidence or two to swear him one For it is to be proved by very Unquestionable Witnesses That Dr. Oates once upon a time in great freedom of speech and arguing very hotly for the Bill of Exclusion being interrogated If that should pass Who he thought fit to succeed Whether the P. of Orange or not was pleased to express him No he was a Canary-Bird he would have no Orange but if the Duke were once Excluded he had half a Dozen sheets of Paper to present to the Consideration of the Parliament for settling of the Government or to that purpose A very pretty Condition we were at that time running into at this rate his Reverence need but have sworn all the Royal Line out of their Pretensions and the bus'ness had been done Methinks it would not have been Unworthy the Wisdom of a Parliament if once they that had taken the Succession off from one hinge to have sixt it upon another at least and not have left the Door open for all manner of Confusion to have been let in upon us at the discretion of a swearing Salamancha Dr. and as many Disciples as he could have pickt up out of Jayles and Reggary to have born record with him And this granted let us in the next place examine how far our Author hath evinced the Legality Equity and Expediency of a Bill of Exclusion And this I shall do with the strictest yet most sincere and impartial scrutiny that I can As first Our Author sayes For the Legality of it he could never hear of more then two things oppos'd The one That Kings holding their Crowns by right of Primogeniture it is against the Law of Nature to put by the next Heir The other That it is against the Oath of Allegiance To which I answer That I must beg the Gentleman's Pardon if I cannot in this point believe him for I am apt to be perswaded he may have heard that it is against the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom against the express Law and Word of God in his Scripture that it is against the common Pact or Covenant whereby we live in Peace and Unity with one another whereby we Originally consented and mutually obliged our selves to that Excellent Form of Government we are Ruled by and Preserv'd under against that Principal and Sacred Rule by which every Man's Meum Tuum is distinguished I am perswaded our Author may have heard all this and that it is so I am perswaded it will not be very difficult to prove neither For that it is against the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom will appear in that it is against the Publick Safety which I take to be the Fundamental Law and it is
Led them out of the Plains of Moab to the Top of Pisgah where the Lord shewed him all the Land of Gilead unto Dan and all Nepthali and the Land of Ephraim c. And said unto him This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed but Moses was not suffered to go over thither but dyed in the Land of Moab Moses thus dead Joshua by the appointment of God succeeded him as Judge over Israel After Joshua's death we read that they forsook the Lord and served Baal and that the Anger of God was hot against Israel nevertheless the Lord raised up Judges and was with the Judge and delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies but when the Judge was dead they returned to Corruption again till the Lord left them to be proved by the 5. Lords of the Philistims and all the Canaanites c. among whom they dwelt and who were to prove Israel to know whether they would hearken to the Commandments of the Lord but they did Evil and were sold into the hand of the King of Mesopotamia whom they served Eight Years but upon their Cry to God he raised up a Deliverer one Othneil who governed them 40 years to him succeeded Ehud after him was Shamgar till renewing their sins they again were sold to Jabin King of Canaan delivered afterwards and restored by Deborah under whom they had rest 40 years After her God raised up Gideon or Jerubbaal who delivered them from the Midianites after him his Son Abimelech was made by them King Abimelech being dead there rose up to defend Israel Jola after him Jair and in this manner were they governed by Judges till the time of Samuel And he in his age made his Sons Judges over Israel who walked not in his wayes but turned aside after lucre took Bribes and perverted Judgment upon which the Elders gathered together and demanded a King of Samuel to govern them like other Nations This King was Saul Chosen by God himself there was the absolute Command of God for the Anointing him King over Israel Neither was there any Succession cut off for Reuben had no right ever of it and the original of Kingly Power in Israel by Gods appointment began in Saul So that Kingly Power as much a jest as they make of the matter appears plainly by this to be originally Jure Divino Were Power grounded in the People Abimelech's race who before was chosen King by the People must have succeeded but it did not and the first Successive Monarchy that ever was Established in Israel was Jure Divino by God's own Law and confirmed by Promise to David but our Author desires to know How came David afterwards to Reign How came the Crown translated from Benjamin to Judah Why was it not continued in the Tribe Would our Author give himself to read the Scripture sometimes he would write honester Pamphlets and ask more pertinent Questions for the Kingdom was never Established upon Saul for having transgressed the Commandment of God by a prophane Sacrifice Samuel told him he had done foolishly for he had not kept the Commandment of God for God would have established his Kingdom else upon Israel for ever but that now he had sought a man after his own heart which was David So by this it appears that though Saul himself was King the Kingdom was never confirmed or promised to his Seed And therefore the translating of it to David of the Tribe of Judah is no Argument for the cutting off a Succession established for so many Ages as this Ancient Monarchy of England has been But here 's arisen another Question Quest How came David to put Adonijah by the Throne and seat Solomon in it Asnw Why did Adonijah Rebel and usurp the Kingdom from his Father while he was yet alive Did the Duke of York ever Rebel nay did he ever murmur against the King his Brother Have not the King's Commands been always Sacred to him what Dangers has he refus'd what Exile not chosen when the King gave his Decree for it though had it been in his Nature he might like a rebellious Absolom have stood upon terms of Privilege too but while one chose rather to be a stiff-neck't Duke than a beloved Son He chose rather to be a dutiful Brother than a stubborn Subject Neither was the Right of Succession to the Throne of David by any Law settled upon the Elder and besides the Rebellious Usurpation of Adonijah David had before sworn that Solomon should Reign after him and sit upon the Throne in his stead so that in the first place here was no Entail of Succession violated though Rebellion if any thing might have warranted it But in our Law ev'n in case the Heir to the Crown should Rebel though he should be attainted of Treason to incapacitate him of Succession this would not do if his Head stood upon his Shoulders neither for the Descent of the Crown upon that cures even an Attainder But a Bill of Exclusion is a new-sangled thing that never was heard of before inconsistent in it self tending both in Law and Reason to nothing else but embroyling us into general Confusion and utterly exterminating the very foundation of the Monarchy Thus far I hope we have sufficiently overthrown the legality of a Bill of Exclusion insomuch that no such thing can be pass'd in Law without taking the whole frame of the Government to pieces and setting up a new one But the Arguments our Author urges which such a Bill is not against the Oath of Allegiance and the Consequences he deduces from them are indeed very considerable First He tells 't is Nonsence to affirm that any one is a Man's Heir or Successor while himself lives Then I say the Oath of Allegiance is against common sence and by Sir F. W's Argument in the House against Expedients Void therefore in it self and of no force for if an Act of Parliament against common sence be in it self Void certainly any Oath against common sence instituted by Act of Parliament is so too But why is it Nonsence to affirm That any one is a Man's Heir or Successor while himself lives Because says he the Successor Commences such only at his Predecessor's Death which by the way seems to me much the more Nonsence of the two for every Successor to the Crown at the instant of his Predecessor's Death De Jure becomes no longer Successor but very Possessor though not confirm'd so De facto till his Coronation so that to do the Oath of Allegiance Justice it is no Nonsensical Oath for all our Author 's Nonsensical Argument but an Oath that obliges every true Subject to Adhere to the King and his Lawful Successors and whosoever go about by any unlawful Act as we have prov'd one of Exclusion must be to deprive the Duke of York of his Right to Succession does it against the Oath of Allegiance and
is no better than perjur'd But now all the Question is says our Scribler whether such a particular man has so unalterable right to such a ones Heir that no crime Can forfeit that Right nor no Power annul it To which I answer as he himself hath taught me Force and Violence and the longest Sword may annul any thing but the Business he would bring in here is the forfeiting Crime which what it is in our present case we should better have known He says If the hasty Dissolution of so many Parliaments and a Noli Prosequi had not hindered and so he proceeds to make a Fiction of Case and indeed it is a Substantial Fiction by his old way of supposing Now let us once more see what he supposes for by this suppose he pretends to resolve the Query what the forfeiting Crime is in our present Case Very good Suppose says he him that expects to be Heir perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion Now out of this Suppose we are if we think fit to suppose agen that he means the Duke of York and then we are to let him know 't is but a malicious at best and no charitable Supposition and till there are better grounds than any the Publick have been inform'd of yet to six it upon I shall grant no such Supposition at all In the next place says he Suppose his Principal Servant and greatest Confident bragging of the apparent likelihood of rooting out this â—estilent Northern Heresie and of the Zeal of his Master in the Cause c. Now we are sure and need not suppose that by this Servant and Confident is signify'd Coleman and therefore I must tell he is pleased to suppose what I believe himself and almost every body else knows to be a false thing for Coleman was none of his Principal Servant or Confident but Cashier'd the Service of his Highness's Family many years since and I have been told the reason why he was discharged the Office of Secretary to the Dutchess was for that he stood suspected even then of being too busie with Matters of an ill kind though they were not particulariz'd or prov'd against him and if so good Mr. Pamphletteer what becomes of your Suppose But to proceed Supposing all this says he We can hardly imagine a Crime to be blacker Then what Then a suspition of designing the Subversion of the Established Religion and in it of the Government A very pretty point our Author has brought his Bus'ness to He has proved the Lawfulness of the Bill of Exclusion because he is pleased to suppose and suspect that the Duke may design the Subversion of the Religion and Government is any man to suffer by the Law of England for Suspition Surely no Then certainly the Excluding the Duke from his Inheritance upon bare Suspition is not altogether so legal as our Author would have the World think it is But the man is a little reasonable for all that for about four Lines afterwards says he Now let us consider introth and I think it is time of all Conscience well but what shall we consider Let us consider says he whether a Parliament have not Power to inflict such a Punishment on such Offences with all my heart It is says he from the Laws Enacted by Parliament that such an Act has such a Punishment awarded to it This as he has express'd it is Nonsense and as he means it is false for no Laws are Enacted by Parliament all Laws are Enacted by the King in Parliament and though he go on to tell us that Felonies are by the Law Punished by Death as well as Murder yet till he show us a Law that any man shall be Hanged for Suspition of Felony or Murder he seems to have considered to very little purpose and his Suppose is in as bad a condition as e'r it was 'T is very well worth any man's observation how the Champions for this Cause manage Matters they write incessantly but such crude and indigested stuff comes daily from as visibly discovers what an unhealthful condition it is in Now is our Author vomiting up a lump of confus'd Notions for the Mobile to lap at and that is forsooth what a Parliament can do and first indeed he is a little civil and will vouchsafe to joyn the King with them and pray let us see to what purpose They says he can Attaint any man or take off the Attainder as they see good I hope though good Mr. Author it must be for sufficient cause shown that they shall proceed to Attaint any Man or else by your leave they violate the Great Charter of England and whatsoever does so is Destructive of the Being of the Government Destructive of Publick Safety Destructive of the general Liberty either let the great Charter be the Rule and Standard our Parliaments are to govern their Votes Acts by or let us burn and cancel it for ever Our Law says It is unalterable and whoever Votes or Consents to any thing against the tenure and holding of that Charter I may presume to say is little better than a betrayer of the Publick Good and an Enemy to the Kingdom The People of England hold their Liberties and Properties by virtue of Magna Charta nothing can alter it and whatsoever does so call it an Act of Parliament or what you please may be impos'd upon our Obedience by Power but it is Void of it self Tyrannical and against the great and Sacred Right delivered us down through so many Ages by our Fathers from one Generation to another It would argue as much impertinence as he is guilty of himself to recount the many absurdities he has urged on this occasion as the instances of Legitimation and Illegitimation of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth both which were made in their turns Illegitimate and yet both were Legitimate when they came to succeed and would not any Body that reads this judge our Author deserved a blew Coat and a Muckinder for urging their Cases as Instances what the Parliament can do in such Cases when neither of the Acts pass'd against those Princesses stood good But what he says afterwards deserves Sugar Plumbs or nothing now we are beholden to him or never for he comes to the Point and says in a word That the two Houses have an absolute Dominion over the Lives Liberties and Estates of any Subject in the Kingdom why now we see what the Gentleman would be at here he speaks home The two Houses abstractedly have an Absolute Dominion c. Tush no matter for the King he is no body God knows when our Author would shew his Law We have had instances sayes he of Queens being Beheaded and who is nearlier related to the King than she that is one with him Oh brave Boys who nearer allied to the Privileges of the Crown than she that has had it set upon her head Why this is hearty now And if such a one says he
as an English House of Commons should not be so Wise too as not suffer any such Name as a Leading Man amongst 'em One would Imagine that in such a high Convention chosen out the whole Kingdom every one should have Wisdom and Reason enough of his own to guide his Opinion by and not run and Baa like a silly Sheep after the Low-Bell of another's Cant. And this arises most commonly from the choosing Men to be our Representatives in Parliament that are hardly of years of Discretion to take care of themselves sending Boyes that have not yet worn the School-brand out of their Buttocks to sit and consult upon the good of the Nation allow Things of 18 or 19 to make Speeches in a Senate-House before they know how to make a Theam what a Shame is this Methinks we ought to choose for the great Convocation of the Kingdom Men qualify'd with the best Brains as well as best Estates among us Men of the best Understanding and Experience and those too fortify'd with Principles of Honour and Virtue not giddy-headed Boyes unable yet to look after their own Estates and therefore very unfit Guardians of the Properties of their Neighbours who when they come into the House for want of Judgment to distinguish betwixt Good and Evil hunt with the loudest Cry add to the Noise and by Noise carry the Bus'ness I mean such Bus'ness as the Leading Men think fit to set on foot and that is commonly Faction Now by the Leading Men I understand either those grey Foxes who are well skill'd in the wayes and Methods that brought on our late Confusions and hope by the same means for their own private ends to Imbroyl us again or discontented Spirits who by the ill Example of others that have gain'd their Point by the same means hope by running against the King and broaching Popular Grievances to be bought off by Preferments These are for the most part Practising Lawyers which in Reason however Custom has prevail'd ought no more to be admitted into Parliaments than Butchers into Juries For Can it be reasonably supposed those should endeavour the making good Laws in the Parliament House that are to live by the breaches of 'em in Westminster-Hall No they will be sure not to work strong in one place for fear of spoiling their Trading in another I would indeed have good Lawyers that is Men who understand the Constitution of the Government sit in the House with all my heart but methinks they should be such as had left off the Practice of Law were to preserve the Estates they had already gotten by compiling sound Laws and not such as were to raise themselves Fortunes by by picking flawes in brittle ones For my part so long as I live I will never give my Voice for the Election of a Practising Lawyer for it is to the sway with such and their Accomplices who aim at Disorder have born in the late Parliaments that we owe for the most part our present Differences and Distempers upon the cursed hopes whereof was raised that never to be forgotten mischief which threatned us I mean a Treasonable Association the form of which was lately found in the E. of Sh. Closet and of which almost the whole Kingdom have Loyally profest their Detestation and Abhorrence As for the censure our silly Pamphletteer has pass'd upon those Abhorrers I think it not worth the wasting of Ink and Paper to remark upon it he having been only very dully Pert upon the occasion recited part of a great many honest Addresses and rail'd most foolishly upon the Tenure of them to as much purpose as if one should expose the beautifullest Picture in the World and ask the Company if they ever saw any thing so ugly would not that be a notable Jest Just such a merry Monster is our Author But as to his qualifying of this above-mentioned horrid Association by comparing it to that Pass't into an Act in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth it is so obvious so notorious a piece of Falshood that it would be a Jest to go about to confute it his being much troubled any one should prefer Ignatius's Doctrine before Calvin's I think indeed reasonable for they are so very much alike they ought never to be distinguish't But having overthrown the Bulk of his Pamphlet I think it not worth my while to rake in the Rubbish but beg leave to make one concluding Observation viz. To what end was there such striving and struggling to get the Bill of Exclusion Is there so very great a disproportion in the Age of the King and his Brother that His Majesty must necessarily dye first I think and I hope not Methinks there arises in Moraâ— Conjecture a very ill-natur'd Consequence upon this that is to say The eager pursuit of a Bill of Exclusion looks not so honestly as 〈◊〉 was pretended to be done For considering a Vote once Pass'd thâ— House That if His Majesty shall come by any Violent Death which Goâ— forbid they will revenge it to the utmost upon the Papist Methinks 〈◊〉 looks as if the Bill had been Pass'd His Majesty might easily haâ— been taken off and the whole Design turned upon the Unfortunaâ—â— Duke which the Multitude would easily have swallowed in Supposition of his being a Papist and he too that way have been made Sacrifice to the general fury in this broyl what Government what Usurpation might not have been broacht And this I observe one of the probable Effects that might have followed a Bill for his Exclusion Secondly That whereas we have heretofore been Alarum'd with mighty Noises of French Pensioners I think it would be very seasonable considering the late vast Returns of Money from France to enquire who those French Pensioners have been or are whether such as have fomented our Differences at home which is certainly the Interest of our Enemies abroad or those that have endeavoured to Preserve the Government and Kingdom in Peace and Tranquillity whether the Party who in all their Intelligences and Pamphlets are now courting the French King for a hopeful true Protestant one likeliest to adhere to him when ever he thinks fit to cast an Eye this way or those who would once have made War upon him and obstructed the Growth of his formidable greatness could Money have been granted for maintaining the Honour and Charges of such a War but this is a Point will most properly be enquired into when the Natural History of our present Divisions shall come to be Written and then too we may give perhaps a guess at what sort of Prince or Government this our Author and his Party desire to be Subjects under whether or no it be our Present Good Gracious Merciful Just Long-suffering King whom Heaven in its Mercy for ever Preserve from the Cursed Bloody Hands of Hypocrites his Enemies Amen FINIS