GOD's WAYS OF Disposing Kingdoms AND Some CLERGY-MEN'S Ways c. Vtrum horum OR GOD's WAYS OF Disposing of KINGDOMS AND Some CLERGY-MEN's Ways OF Disposing of THEM Who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger that I sent Isa 42.19 The Prophets prophesie lies in my name neither have I commanded them neither spake unto them They prophesie unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart Jer. 14.14 O ye hypocrites ye can discern the face of the sky and can ye not discern the signs of the times Matth. 16.3 LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxfords-Arms Inn Warwick-Lane MDCXCI TO THE READER IT is the General sense of Mankind That Discourses upon any Particular Government ought to be grounded upon the Laws and Constitution of that Government And it is a Position so clear in it self that applied to any other thing whatsoever the contrary will appear ridiculous No man that were to build a Ship would consult the Commentators upon the Book of Genesis for the Fabrick and Dimensions of Noah's Ark. Nor is Solomon's Temple made the Pattern of our Churches Nor are the Laws of the Jews observ'd by any Christian Kingdom or State And yet some late Divines in their Discourses upon our Present Government and the Settlement of the Nation under Their Majesties and the Revolution that brought it about do not confine themselves to our Laws and Ancient Government but broach Opinions of their own or other Mens Invention pretended to be grounded upon Scripture or Reason to justify what has been done and to persuade the People of England that 't is their duty to submit and to plight their Allegiance to Their Majesties or at least that it is lawful for them so to do Whether the Grounds they proceed upon are consonant to right Reason the Laws of God and of this Realm or are not is far from the Design of these following Papers to dispute That which is aim'd at being no more than to present the Reader with the Sense and Judgment of those who acted in the Revolution and who contributed their Endeavours to settle the Nation after the Late King's withdrawing himself with the Sense and Principles of some few Divines amongst us concerning these Matters If the latter run wide from the former then it is to be feared that those Gentlemen who would seem to espouse the Interest of the Government by putting Pen to Paper in Defence or at least in excuse of it do it more disservice than if they had forborn the venting their Opinions For it cannot but weaken a well-establish'd Government to persuade the People under it that it stands upon another Foundation than really it does especially when that Foundation is not only contrary to the Sentiments of the Nation express'd as will appear hereafter but is really a Fiction of speculative Heads and no better than the building of a Castle in the Air. The Opposition will appear in a great measure by considering these few Particulars His Highness the then Prince of Orange declared That his Expedition was intended for no other Design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled for doing all things which the Two Houses should find necessary for the Peace Honour and Safety of the Nation To which Parliament he referred all things relating to the Succession and promised to concur in every thing that a Free and Lawful Parliament should determine They tell us of Sovereign Princes Successes in Just Wars and Appeals to God Whereas the Prince of Orange was not actually a Sovereign Prince being dispossess'd of his Principality Nor made war upon the Nation or so much as upon King James but came over with an Army to enforce the sitting of a Free Parliament to which Parliament he made his Appeal and not to God though as a Pious and Christian Prince he relied on the blessing of God for the success of his Undertaking in which he placed his whole and only Confidence His Highness invited and required all Persons whatsoever All the Peers of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal All Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenant and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in order to the executing of his said Design against all such as should endeavour to oppose him And accordingly great numbers actually did and many more nay the body of the Nation would if there had been occasion And when the Government was setled Their Majesties with the concurrence of both Houses of Parliament Enacted That the Oath appointed by the Statute of 13 Car. II. Entituled An Act for ordering the Forces of the several Counties of this Kingdom And also so much of a Declaration prescribed in another Act made in the same year Entituled An Act for the Uniformity of Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments c. as is expressed in these words viz. I A. B. declare That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Trayterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him Should not from henceforth be required or enjoined But these Gentlemen tell us That notwithstanding the unreasonable Cavils of Gainsaying Men Hickman Passive Obedience always was and they hope always will be the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England That Kings are the only Persons upon Earth unto whom God has given an immediate delegation of his Authority whom to obey is to obey his Ordinance and whom to resist is to resist his Power They tell us That the Church of England has been very careful to instruct her Children to obey their Princes Laws Sherlock and submit to their Power and not to resist tho very injuriously opprest and that those who renounce these Principles renounce the Doctrine of the Church of England That whatever Prince is setled in the Throne is to be obeyed and reverenced as God's Minister and not to be resisted That the Church of England condemns all those wicked means by which Changes of Government are made That Subjects have no right to make war without the leave of their Princes for that St. Asaph as God has given to Princes the Power of the Sword so he has forbid it to Subjects under a great penalty They that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword When the Lords and Commons met at Westminster they grounded the Vacancy of the Throne upon the Late King 's having subverted the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and since withdrawn himself Whereas according to these Gentlemens Notions they ought not to have gone upon a Vacancy but have recognized the Prince of Orange's Title to the Crown as being already chosen thereunto by God who had given him success in a Just War against King James Tho it would have been a hard task for them to have brought the Queen in at
Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended Power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd and Returned and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do Resolve That WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oarhs of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abbor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Prcheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentor The same day this Declaration bears date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such occasions The 13th of February the Lords and Commons ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the great and eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange and therein desired Them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full consent publish and proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland wit all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be owned deemed and taken by all the people of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from hence-forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings reign to Bless King VVilliam and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to reign over us God save
the consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such a one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And in this Consideration we doubt not of all honest Mens assistance and humbly hope for and implore the Great God's Protection that turneth the hearts of his People as pleaseth him best it having been observed that People can never be of one mind without his Inspiration which hath in all Ages confirmed that Observation Vox populi est vox Dei The present restoring the Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen-College Fellows is plain are but to still the People like Plumbs to Children by deceiving them for a while But if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present Storm that threatens the Papists be past as soon as they shall be re-setled the former Oppressions will be put on with greater vigour but we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds For first The Papists old Rule is that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresie And secondly Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk Men that help'd her to her Throne And above all thirdly the Pope's dispensing with the Breach of Oaths Treaties or Promises at his pleasure when it makes for the Service of Holy Church as they term it These we say are such convincing Reasons to hinder us from giving credit to the aforesaid Mock-shews of Redress that we think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no security that shall not be approved by a freely-elected Parliament To whom under GOD we refer our Cause 3. The King having marched his Army as far as Salisbury to meet the Prince published a Proclamation of Pardon to all such of his Subjects as had taken up Arms and sided with the Prince provided they deserted the Enemy within 20 days and promising Pardon and protection to such Foreigners as would come into his Service and freedom of passage to others to return into their respective Countries But this Proclamation was not at all regarded 4. When the King was at Salisbury the Popish Party seeing their Affairs grow every day more desperate began to employ all their Politicks to invent some Remedy for them and then first formed the Design of the King's with-drawing which they grounded upon this Supposition and Expectation That within two years or less the Nation would be in such Confusion that he might return and have his Ends of it 5. In the mean time the King being unmoveably fixed in a Resolution not to call a Parliament part of the Army revolted and went over to the Prince and the rest either discouraged by the desertion of them that went or by the averseness they found in the body of the People from making any opposition to the Prince's Arms or out of a sense that in fighting against him they should fight against their own Religion and native Country appeared so lukewarm in the Cause that the King did not think fit to hazard a Battel 6. Prince George of Denmark the Duke of Grafton the Lord Churchill and many others of the Protestant Nobility left the King and went over to the Prince of Orange then at Sherborne and on the 25th of November in the night Princess Ann the King 's Second Daughter withdrew privately from White-hall with the Lady Churchill 7. The going off of these Great Men struck the King with terror and the Army being before much in disorder became thereby so full of fear and suspicion that a false Alarm being made whether by design or accident the King and the whole Army left Salisbury the Army retreating to Reading and the King to Andover and on Monday the 26th of November he returned in the Evening to London 8. The first thing the King did being at London was to remove Sir Edward Hales from being Lieutenant of the Tower and to put Sir Bevill Skelton a Protestant in his room Sir Edward had displeased the whole City to the utmost by planting several Mortar-pieces on the Walls towards the City which tho designed only to awe it had more enraged than afrighted them So that his Majesty thought he was not safe at White-hall so long as Sir Edward was Master of the Tower 9. On the 28th His Majesty ordered in Privy Council the Lord Chancellor to issue Writs for the sitting of a Parliament at VVestminster the 15th of January following But it was now too late and the Nation in such a ferment that it was not regarded what the Court said or did 10. Scotland was by this time almost in as bad a Condition as England and some of the Nobility and Gentry were sent up with a Petition for a Free Parliament The Popish Chappels at Bristol York Glocester Worcester Shrewsbury Stafford Wolverhampton Bromingham Cambridge and St. Edmundsbury were about this time demolished and where-ever the Lords in Arms came the Papists were disarmed And in Norfolk the Duke of Norfolk their Lord Lieutenant had a great appearance of the Gentry with him where he and they declared for a Free Parliament and the Protection of the Protestant Religion This Meeting was at Norwich the first of December and after that the same Declaration was renewed at Yarmouth and Lyn and the Suffolk-Men approved of it but wanted a Lord Lieutenant to assemble and head them in order to the shewing their concurrence with safety 11. Bristol was seized by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John Guise the Lord Lovelace who had been seized as he was going to join the Prince was by the Gentry of Glocester-shire delivered out of the Castle of Glocester where till then he had been imprisoned The Lords Molineux and Ashton in the mean time seized Chester for the King being Roman Catholicks and Berwick stood firm to him but Newcastle received the Lord Lumly and declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion York was in the hands of the Associated Lords and the Garison of Hull seized the Lord Langdale their Governour a Papist and the Lord Mountgomery and disarmed some Popish Forces newly sent thither and then declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion And Plimouth had long before submitted to the Prince of Orange 12. The Popish Party was grown so contemptible that on Thursday the 6th of December there was a Hue and Cry after Father Peters publickly cried and sold in the Streets of London And about the same time came out a Third Declaration in the Prince's name but not emitted by him which very much alarm'd the Popish Party and as it is thought contributed very much to the fixing and hastning the King's Resolution of leaving the Nation It was read in many Towns throughout England at the Market-cross the People universally believing till some time after
the Princes coming to Town that it was really publish'd by his Order and no Counterfeit 13. On Sunday the 9th of December Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from VVhite-hall and the next morning the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Graves-end where they embarked for France It 's supposed she carried the Seal from VVhite-hall and caus'd it to be thrown into the Thames for on the 3d of May afterwards it was found in the bottom of the River by a Fisher-man in a Red-bag between Lambeth and Faux-hall and presented to the King Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THE King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth That in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or any that have come to Us or declared for Us be re-called and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if His Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned Us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Littlecot Decemb 9. 1688. This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the 10th of December by an Express which when he received he gave this Just Character of the Prince's Proposals That they were fairer than he could or did expect So that he had no reason then to be afraid of his Person but might have continued securely in his Palace and taken care of the Government and called such a Parliament as both himself and the Prince desired which might quietly and effectually have setled this Nation and prevented all ill Consequences to his Person or Affairs Yet he resolved to leave the Nation and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time ordered the Earl of Feversham to disband the Army and dismiss the Soldiers 15. On December the 11th about Three of the Clock in the Morning the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The Principal Officers of the Army thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at White-hall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Soldiers to enter into his Service 16. The same day the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town the then Bishop of Canterbury Ely and Peterborough being of the number came to Guild-hall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply our selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will without utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties
Ark of God they must be handled with Ceremony and tho we approach them with never so much respect yet by an unskilful touch we may easily offend and 't is a trespass upon Majesty to come too near it The 15th of February the Lords and Commons ordered That His Majesties most gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be enroll'd in Parliament and Chancery which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Us that can be given which is the thing that maketh Us value it the more and We thankfully accept what you have offered And as I had no other intention in my coming hither than to preserve Your Religion Laws and Liberties So you may be sure that I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Thus ended that stupendious Revolution in England which we have so lately seen to the great Joy of the Generality of the Protestants of Europe and of many of the Catholick Princes and States who were at last convinced that the attempting to force England to return under the Obedience of the See of Rome in the present conjuncture of Affairs would certainly end in the Ruin of this potent Kingdom and whilst it was doing the present French King would possess himself of the Remainder of the Spanish Netherlands and the Palatinate and perhaps of the Electorates of Cologne Mentz and Triers a great part of which he hath actually seized whilst the Prince of Orange was thus gloriously asserting the English Liberty The Convention having declared the King and Queen as aforesaid proceeded to Declare themselves a Parliament to settle the Coronation-Oath to Repeal that Clause in an Oath and Declaration That it is unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to Take up Arms against the King or those Commissioned by him To revive the Administration of the Law which had been interrupted and therein they particularly Enact That Indictments c. for Offences committed betwixt the 11th of December and the 13th of Feb. 1688 should run Contra Pacem Regni And by the First Act of this present Parliament The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did Recognize and Acknowledge That their Majesties were and of Kight ought to be by the Laws of this Realm their Sovereign Liege Lord and Lady King and Queen of England c. And by the same Act it was enacted That all and singular the Acts made and Enacted by the last Parliament were and are the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom and as such ought to be reputed taken and obeyed by all the people of the same God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY FINIS BOOKS Printed for Richard Baldwin TRuth brought to light by Time or the most remarkable Transactions of the first fourteen Years of King James's Reign The second Edition with Additions A New Plain Short and Compleat French and English Grammer whereby the Learned may attain in few Months to Speak and Write French Correctly as they do now in the Court of France And wherein all that is Dark Superfluous and deficient in other Grammers is Plain Short and Methodically Supplied Also very useful to strangers that are desirons to learn the English Tongue For whose sake is addded a Short but very Exact English Grammer The Second Edition By Peter Berault The Devout Christian's Preparation for holy Dying Consisting of Ejaculations Prayers Meditations and Hymns adopted to the several States and Conditions of this Life And on the four last things viz. Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Victoriae Anglicanae being an Historical Collection of all the Memorable and Stupendious Victories obtain'd by the English against the French both by Sea and Land since the Norman Conquest viz. The Battle 1. Between K. Henry II. and Robert of Normandy 2. At Morleis 3. At the Rescue of Calice 4. At Poicters 5. At Cressey 6. At Agincourt 7. At the mouth of the River Seine 8. At Vernoil 9. At Cravant 10. At the Relief of Orleance with the great Actions of the Lord Salisbury and Talbot 11. Of Spurrs Dedicated to all the Commission'd Officers of the Maritime and Land Forces Price stitcht 6 d. Mathematical Magick Or the Wonders that may be Performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning mechanical Powers Motions Being one of the most Easie Pleasant Useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks Not before treated of in this Language By J. Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester The Fourth Edition The Memoirs of Monsieur Deagant Containing the most Secret Transactions and Affairs of France from the Death of Henry IV. till the beginning of the Ministry of the Cardinal de Richlieu To which is added a particular Relation of the Archbishop of Embrun's Voyage into England and of his Negotiation for the advancement of the Roman-Catholick Religion here together with the Duke of Buckingham's Letters to the said Archbishop about the Progress of that Affair Which happen'd the last Years of King James I. his Reign Faithfully translated out of the French Original A True Relation of the Cruelties and Barbarities of the French upon the English Prisoners of War being a Journal of their Travels from Dinant in Britany to Thoulon in Provence and back again With a Description of the Scituation and Fortifications of all the Eminent Towns upon the Road and their Distance c. Faithfully and impartially Performed by Richard Strutton being an Eye-witness and a Fellow-Sufferer The State of Savoy In which a full and distinct Account is given of the Persecution of the Protestants in the Valleys of Piedmont by means of the French Councils As also of the Unreasonable Conditions and Demands that the French King would have put on the Duke of Savoy And of the just Causes and Motives that induced that Duke to break off from the French Interest and join with the Confederates Together with the most memorable Occurrences that have since hapned there As also the true Copies of all the Letters and Dispatches that have passed between them
that Door And whereas the Parliament that is now in being recognized Their Present Majesties to be Rightful and Lawful King and Queen of this Realm according to the Laws of the same They ought to have acknowledged him King as being set up by God who is not bound by Humane Laws and the Queen as set up by God-knows who who is not bound by Humane Laws neither and at the same time to have own'd that this Providence of God in setting up the King and this Providence of God-knows-who in setting up the Queen does not take away the Legal Right of the Late King but that he having a Legal Right may assert and vindicate it in opposition to the Providence of God and the Providence of God-knows-who and that all who are not under any obligation to Their Present Majesties may lawfully assist him in order to the recovery of this Legal Right Tho we who are under an obligation to Their Present Majesties are bound to obey them by reason of the Events of the Providence of God and of the Providence of God-knows-who Other Instances of this kind might be added and it were a very easie matter to word some parts of the then Prince's Declaration the Votes of Parliament the Instrument of Government and some few Laws made since the Settlement as they ought to and would have been worded if the Prince the Two Houses and the People of England had proceded upon these Gentlemens Principles But that I forbear because it would seem scurrilous I leave it to be the result of comparing the two Columes of these ensuing Papers In short here 's the Sense of the Legislative Body of the Realm and of the People of England set Cheek by Jowle with the Sense of a few Gentlemen of the Sacred Order who would persuade us that our Government is drop'd out of the Skies like the Image that fell down from Jupiter or as the Egyptian Priests persuaded Alexander the Great that he was the Son of their God being convinced of it themselves I suppose by the Events of Providence and his Success in a War Just or Vnjust God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms AND Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them THE Measures that were taken in the late King's Reign for the introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Power were so open and undisguised That the most purblind amongst us could not but see them and all Protestants that is the whole Body of the People were uneasie under their then present Circumstances and dreadfully apprehensive of their future Instead of enumerating the several Illegal Practices then on foot to subvert the Establish'd Religion and Government I shall insert verbatim the Declaration of his present Majesty then Prince of Orange which gives a true and lively Scheme of the Condition of the People of England under King James his Government and grounds the Lawfulness and Justice of his Arms who had so near a concern in the Succession upon the Obligation he was under for his Princess's his Own and the Nation 's Interest to interpose in order to their deliverance God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms The Declaration of his Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 1. IT is both certain and evident to all men That the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the lawful Authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs 2. Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner 3. Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those laws of no effect tho there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority 4. for tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence That the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are intirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispence with them 5. those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring That this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion
soever their Power has been and how Arbitrary and Despotick soever they have been in the exercise of it have ever reckoned it a Crime for their Subjects to come in all Submission and Respect and in a due number not exceeding the limits of the Law and represent to them the Reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their Orders Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal only because he said That the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace though it is evident that they being by Law rendred incapable of all such Trusts no regard is due to their Order This being the security which the People have by the Law for their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates That they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists that are contrary to Law put into any Employment Civil or Military 17. Both We our selves and our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess have endeavoured to signify in terms full of respect to the King the just and deep Regret which all these Proceedings have given us and in Compliance with his Majesty's De\sires signified to us We declared both by Word of Mouth to his Envoy and in Writing what our Thoughts were touching the Repealing of the Test and Penal Laws which we did in such a manner that we hoped we had proposed an Expedient by which the Peace of those Kingdoms and a happy Agreement among the Subjects of all Persuasions might have been setled but those Evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good Intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if We had designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom 18. The last and great Remedy for all those Evils is the calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors But this could not be yet compassed nor can it be easily brought about For those Men apprehending that a Lawful Parliament being once assembled they would be brought to an account for all their open Violations of Law and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subject they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience first to sow Divisions among Protestants between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters The design being laid to engage Protestants that are ail equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into mutual Quarrellings that so by these some Advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament and afterwards in the Parliament it self For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a mutual good understanding one with another and concur together in the preserving of their Religion it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England that either were in any Employment or were in any considerable Esteem to declare before-hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it such as would not thus preingage themselves were turned out of all Employments And others who entred into those Engagements were put into their places many of them being Papists And contrary to the Charters and Privileges of those Burroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament they have ordered such Regulations to be made as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved tho it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves So that no Parliament can be Lawful for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such hands it is not possible to have any Lawful Parliament And tho according to the Constitution of the English Government and Immemorial Custom all Elections of Parliament-men ought to be made with an entire Liberty without any sort of Force or the requiring the electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them and the Persons thus freely elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all Matters that are brought before them having the good of the Nation ever before their eyes and following in all things the Dictates of their Conscience yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a Free Parliament legally called and chosen But they may perhaps see one called in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force and which will be composed of such Persons of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation which may appear evidently from this that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament to gain them to Consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not neither by Promises nor Threatnings prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Designs 19. But to Crown all there are great and violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those Evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on of their ill Designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging of their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have published That the Queen hath brought forth a Son though there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion that not only we our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness and of the birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts 20. And since our Dearest and most Entirely beloved Consort the Princess and likewise We Our Selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown Since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded in a most unjust War use their utmost endeavours to put an end to that War and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they ran
for the King 's or the Prince's person to be together in one place with their several Guards Whereupon the Guards at White-hall were dislodged by Count Solmes by the Prince's order and the Prince's Guards placed in their room And the King was that same night being the 17th of December desired by a Message from the Prince to remove to some place at a reasonable distance from London and Ham was proposed But the King chose to return into Kent which he did the next day and got away privately from the Guards and embark'd for France The same day that the King withdrew from White-hall the second time the Prince of Orange came to St. James's attended by Monsieur Schomberg and a great number of Nobility and Gentry and was entertain'd with a joy and concourse of the People which appear'd free and unconstrain'd and all the Bells of the City were rung and Bonfires in every Street Thus the body of the People being uneasie under the Late King's Government and not thinking it either their Interest or their Duty to support him in it who had made use of his Authority only to carry on an Interest inconsistent with the welfare of a Protestant Nation and that by all the Illegal Methods that his Evil Counsellors could advise or durst put in execution and who to awe the People from giving any check to his Career had not only Judges at hand that would wrest the Law to serve his Ends without any regard to their Oaths or the trust of their Places but had raised an Army in times of Peace directly against Law and in effect had thereby waged war against his own Subjects The People I say being thus affected either actually join'd with the Prince or openly declared for him or testified by other demonstrations their joy for his arrival and interposing betwixt them and utter ruine Whereupon the King was left to shift for himself and flew for protection to his old Ally the Enemy of God and Man The first thing the Prince did when come to Town after he had received the Congratulations of the City by all the Aldermen and two Common-Council-men for every Ward and taken care about the Army was to desire the Advice of such Lords as were in or about the Town and of such Gentlemen as had served in any Parliament in the Reign of the Late King Charles what course to take for the settlement of the Nation These advised him to take upon himself the Administration of publick Affairs Civil and Military and the disposal of the Publick Revenue and to issue out Circular Letters for the calling a Convention to meet and fit at Westminster on the 22d of January next ensuing Which was done accordingly and the Elections went on with the greatest liberty that could possibly be conceived The Two Houses met the 22d of January and the Upper House chose the Marquess of Halifax for their Speaker and the Commons Henry Powle Esq After which a Letter from the Prince of Orange was read to them Exhorting them to unity and speed in their Consultations The Houses ordered the 31st of January to be appointed for a day of Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God for delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power by means of his Highness the Prince of Orange That Day to be observed in London and Westminster and ten miles distance and the 14th of February after throughout the Kingdom On the 28th of January the Commons passed this Vote viz. Resolved That King James the IId having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby become Vacant On the 6th of February the Lords assented to the Vote It will not be material to give a particular Account of the Debates and Conferences that arose and were occasioned by this and other Votes of the Commons I hasten to the Conclusion which was That on the 12th of February the Two Houses fully agreed all things in dispute betwixt them on this manner viz. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembed at Westminster WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to subject and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By assuming and exercising a power of Dispensing with and suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By committing and prosecuting divers worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said Assumed Power By issuing and causing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and imployed contrary to Law By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years partial corrupt and unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Free-holders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the 22d day of January 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their