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A58387 Reflections upon the opinions of some modern divines conerning the nature of government in general, and that of England in particular with an appendix relating to this matter, containing I. the seventy fifth canon of the Council of Toledo II. the original articles in Latin, out of which the Magna charta of King John was framed III. the true Magna charta of King John in French ... / all three Englished. Allix, Pierre, 1641-1717.; Catholic Church. Council of Toledo (4th : 633). Canones. Number 75. English & Latin. 1689 (1689) Wing R733; ESTC R8280 117,111 184

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a Law cannot be valid nor derogate from other Laws except in the said Law express mention be made of the said Derogation with a Notwithstanding to the Reglements set down in other Laws that are in Authority on that Subject De Decimis c. nuper Ought not they also in like manner to have declared and that very precisely too that they dispensed Charles II from keeping his Coronation-Oath and to have set down in very distinct terms that in case the King should think fit to call in an Army of French Dragoons to ravish their Wives and Daughters and to force all his Subjects to change their Religion they do not think it lawful to take up Arms against him or them for to repel their Violence 6ly They are to take notice that Charles II did never conceive that those Acts had changed the Government of the State. Do we not know that he offered to the Parliaments of Westminster and Oxford to impose such Conditions on the D. of York as the Parliament should judg necessary provided only the Succession might be assured to him now could any thing be more ridiculous and extravagant than this Proposition of the King had he believed that the Acts already past in his Favour had given him and his Successors a Right to overturn all without being able to be challenged or opposed by any one for so doing They themselves did suppose the same thing and went upon that Ground what else could be their meaning in Crowning James II if they supposed that he was in full and rightful Possession of the Government by virtue of the Succession without being obliged to take the Oaths by which the Kings of England oblige themselves to keep the Laws of the State. 7ly They ought to take notice that they themselves supposed that the Fundamental Laws of the State were not abolished I don't speak here of those loud Murmurs that were heard every where when James II by an Act of his Council of his own Authority raised the same Sums which had been granted to Charles II which he could not do without the Authority of Parliament nor of the Complaints that were generally made when he turned out my Lord Clarendon from being Lord Deputy of Ireland banish'd several Protestant Lords out of his Council and put Papists into all Offices whether Civil or Military I only take notice here of the Petition presented in the Name of the Clergy by the seven Bishops upon occasion of reading the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience for had they been of another opinion with what pretence of reason could they have complained of James II governing with an Arbitrary Power and his dispensing with the Laws Why in their Petition did they alledg those Acts of Parliament which had condemn'd that Power in 1673 when Charles II published his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience These Acts of theirs upon this Supposal could not be accounted of otherwise than as Acts of Rebellion nor could they be made use of with a good Conscience after they had been convinc'd that the Fundamental Laws being repealed and abolished they were now subject to an arbitrary and unbounded Government Indeed we cannot enough commend the Constancy of the Clergy and those worthy Prelates who refused to read the Declaration of James II for Liberty of Conscience that Declaration being grounded upon the Power he attributed to himself of dispensing with the Laws But on the other Hand neither can we imagine any more convincing Proof to make out that at that Time they did not conceive any more than the whole State who so generally applauded them that they themselves as well as the whole State had cast themselves headlong into Slavery by their Oaths because the Power of the Kings of England was become unbounded and Arbitrary In a Word how ample an extent soever these Gentlemen may give to the Oath they have taken in pursuance of an Act of Parliament in the 13 Year of Charles II they must remember one Thing which is always supposed which is the natural Condition of all Oaths rebus sic stantibus c. ad naturam Things continuing in the same State for indeed as soon as things have changed their Nature or that Circumstances are altered there remains no more Obligation in Cases where exceptions are naturally supposed I am bound to Obey my Father in all Things this being what the Scripture expresly teacheth me but I am not bound to Obey him any farther than he Acts like a Father neither am I oblig'd to keep this Command of obeying him in all Things but only so far as the Things enjoyned by him are just and lawful I am bound to obey the King according to the Laws neither may I lawfully resist Him in his executing of the Laws or upon any pretext whatsoever take up Arms against him but if in stead of governing according to Law he useth his utmost Endeavours to overthrow the Society by destroying the Laws which are the Band of it then all the Oaths I have taken are no longer of any Force 't is my Right to Endeavour to preserve the Society which he goes about to overthrow and to oppose his Violence by taking up Arms against him and to put a stop to the unjust Proceedings of a Prince who declares himself an Enemy to the State by the ways which providence affords me for my Security But if after all these Considerations these Gentlemen will still maintain that they have taken these Oaths in so strait a Sense that nothing is capable of satisfying their Consciences we have great Reason to be Astonished how it was possible that Men of so Tender and Delicate a Conscience could take such Oaths which taken in their Sense do visibly overturn both the State and Religion Indeed there is no need of any ones being a Prophet to make him conceive that they were rather obliged in Conscience to refuse the taking of such Oaths and to fly to the End of the World rather than take them than they are bound to keep them with the hazard of the utter Ruin of their Native Country and their Religion or see them Perish without having any Power to Defend them as they are obliged by the Laws of nature and by all the Duties of the Society and Religion It has already been made out by several Writings that God seeming to spare and wink at the weakness of those who believ'd themselves thus fast bound and tied by their Oaths and destin'd to become Victimes to Popery and Tyranny has been pleas'd happily to deliver them from the trouble wherein they had involed themselves in sending them a Deliverer whose Rights in a War which James II. unjustly wageth against him are above all those Difficulties which seem to be matter of Scruple to them so that it is not needful for me to insist any longer on this Matter CHAP. XVIII A Reflection on some Remarks made out in this Treatise I Am perswaded that every equal Reader cannot but
of Henry I. and partly were gathered out of the Old Laws of King Edward The Historian speaketh of these very Articles here Printed 5. 'T is observable That in these Articles there is no care taken for the Liberties of the Church The reason of which I conceive to be this The Church-men mostly then held with the King. And the Hand of the King was most heavy upon the Laity who framed these Articles without the Clergy 6. These Articles provide nothing concerning the Summons and holding of the Common Council of the Realm The reason whereof probably was this The Barons of that time had introduced a Practice of themselves to appoint the Time and Place of the Meeting of the Common Council of the Nation At the granting of these very Articles King John sent to the Barons Vt diem locum providerent congruum ad haec omnia prosequenda That they the Barons would appoint Time and Place for the concluding that matter In the time of Henry III. in whose Charter the Article de communi concilio habendo was omitted and in whose time the Barons begun again to War we find that the Lords came unto the King and said He must ordain and see for the Welfare of the Realm and then set the King a Day to meet at Oxenford and there to hold a Parliament So the English Chronicle However this grand Affair as also that of the Church were provided for in the Magna Charta of King John. Whereby it further appears That these Articles were but the Rudiments of that Charter after further enlarged upon further deliberation I COME now in the second place to say a few things concerning the Perfect and Compleat Magna Charta of King John here printed in French. 1. It was the Custom of old Times to make three several Copies of Publick Acts and Charters Of the Magna Charta we have one in Latin in Matthew Paris This in French or old Norman Language was kept in the Records of France and thence Published some years past by Luke Dachery in his Spicilegium That in English was sent into all Counties but as yet no Copy in this Language appeareth Thus also the Laws of Canute and the Provisions of Oxford to mention no more made in the time of Hen. III. were Publisht in three Languages 2. The very same Charter Publisht in Latin by Matthew Paris is also extant in the History of Rad. Niger almost word for word and also in two several Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library where also about twenty years past the very Original was to be seen 3. The Magna Charta of King John is not extant in any Record in the Tower or elsewhere as several affirm nor the Magna Charta of H. III. but only by Inspeximus in the time of Edw. I. A thing much to be wondered at Rudburne writeth of the Charters of Hen. I. Sublatae sunt omnes variis fallaciis exceptis tribus All but three were embezel'd 4. The Magna Charta of King John and that of Hen. III. are said to be the very same where as they do exceedingly differ as Mr. Selden in his Epinomis hath partly observed and may further appear to any that will compare them Matthew Paris pag. 323. The Tenor of these Charters is fully set down above where our History treateth of King John So as the Charters of King John and Hen. III. are not found to differ in any thing These words are not the words of Matthew Paris but of Roger VVendover whom Matthew Paris often transcribeth very hastily in whose History the Charter entred as King John's is exactly the same with that Charter of Henry the Third 5. As to that remarkable Article Et ad habendum commune concilium Regni And to the holding the Commune Council of the Realm c. I shall briefly say 1. That it hath been left out of all the Charters after King John's time but is found in several Copys very Authentick and particularly in the French Copy now here printed 2. That this Article doth not as some have written give the Original to our Parliaments for such Parliaments or communia concilia were held before this time King Richard the First after his return from the Holy VVar summon'd a Common Council or Parliament at London of the Clergy and Laity where he demanded Council about his making War upon the King of France Earl Roger answered for the whole Parliament The Earls Barons and Knights will aid you O King with their Swords the Archbishops Bishops Citizens Burgesses and Ecclesiastick Persons will aid you with Money Abbates Priors and such others will aid you with their Prayers So the English Chron. And to omit others an Instance of such a Parliament is found in the Annales of Burton pag. 263. compared with page 265. King John call'd to Northampton all the Earls and Barons of England it followeth Pandulfus spake at the same time to the Earls Barons and Knights O that you c. The Clergy indeed are not here mentioned but were certainly present because the occasion of that Council was to restore Peace to the Church and Kingdom as Matthew Paris or as the Annalist of Waverly wordeth it betwixt the King and the Archbishop 3. I conceive the chief end of adding this Article was to prevent the taking of Aids commonly called Talliage or Escuage by surprize or by the consent only of a few which King John had lately done For the summoning of the Commune concilium here is plainly limited to the Sessing of Aids and Escuage But the Mirror giveth another account of the meeting of Parliaments worthy of Consideration page 225. where the Author refers us to higher times There is yet one Article more in this Charter of King John which deserveth our regards the rather because it being lately alledged in the Pastoral Letter hath much scandalized some with its suprising Novelty The words are Barones cum communia totius terrae gravabunt nos The Barons with the Community of the Land shall aggrieve or distress us c. But why should this sound uncouth to any who have with Reflection perused the Histories of this or the Neighbouring Kingdoms wherein the same Practice is frequently found Andrew King of Hungary allowed the same Liberty to his People as may be seen at large in the Decrees of the Kings of Hungary in the end of Bonfinius Like Examples occur in the French Annales and in the Annales of Waverly in the time of Hen. the Third pag. 217. If any will yet suspect that Matthew Paris in this Point hath not writ fairly or that the Articles produced by the Bishop of Salisbury are not to be relied on and some such dissatisfied People there are then let them if they can be believed desirous of satisfaction repair to the Red Book of Exchequer where fol. 234. they may find the very same VVords and Liberty granted as before Which Record cannot well be suspected of being corrupted because it