whole Royal Family shall be extinct and there be no Lineal Heirs to the Crown if the right Heir be dubious or there be a reasonable ground to believe a suppositious Child put in the place of the right Heir In these and such like Cases there is no ordinary Provision made by our Law nor indeed can there well or possibly be in all of them but when they do happen the plain Necessity and Reason of the thing must direct to some provision or other and it is very unreasonable to quarrel with that because it is not in every thing agreeable with ordinary and standing Rules and the exact Measures that the Laws do at other times require but cannot then be observed This Sir answers all that is objected in the latter part of your Letter which is the most considerable thing in it concerning the Convention and House of Commons whither they had as you say any Authority to Act as an House of Parliament in imposing these Oaths pag. 4. Let. Because First Our Law owns no Parliaments but what are called by the Kings Writs Secondly Nor doth it know any Member of the lower House but who are chosen for a Parliament Thirdly Nor doth it give right to any to Act in the House till they have taken the Test Fourthly And if any one enter and take their place there before they have taken the Oath of Supremacy their Place is void and they are not at Liberty to take it afterwards new Election is to be made 5 Eliz. cap. 1. Fifthly and Lastly The former Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy have bin so imposed by divers Statutes and are so expresly required of all Members of Parliament that none could possibly have a power of Substituting others in their stead till they had taken those and had swore if not that they believed King James yet at least that they believed King William to be rightful King of this Land i. e. The Members of Parliament were before their Sitting to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to the King Now because this is true in all ordinary Cases must it be so in all extraordinary ones too Were all these things observed by the Convention in 1660 which brought in King Charles the Second And are we therefore to be dissatisfied about the Laws they made and the proceedings done by them because some of you may think that by our Constitution a Convention hath no power at all in Law And because they observed not all the ordinary Rules required at other times by our Laws If we do we shall call in question the Legality at least of that Revolution and that Convention as well as of this The Truth is Positive Laws cannot always be observed but must give way to the greater Law of Necessity and of notorious greater good and even the Laws of God himself have often done so as we find in Scripture When therefore you urge on your side some particular Laws of the Kingdom which you cannot wholly reconcile with the present Government and this I believe is the great Difficulty that sticks with you we on the other side think it such an extraordinary Case as dispenses with those and that the plainness and notoriety of the thing may satisfie any mans Conscience about it and did so when the Prince of Orange came even these who now dissent not only wisht well to the Prince and went over to him in their Hearts and Affections but denied their Assistance to King James and did several other things which the Law would not warrant them in had it not bin an extraordinary Case and most if not all of you have to my knowledge owned you did go in with the Prince so far as his Declaration which was not altogether strictly Legal I suppose by any of our Laws in bringing a King by such a manner to good Terms so that we must leave God to judge whither it was not in the whole such an extraordinary and extralegal Case as justifies whatever was done though not altogether according to express Laws and whither we have not acted sincerely in thinking so all along and you unreasonably and perversly in thinking otherwise at one time though not at another As to what you urge out of the Statute of 1. James 1. which declares the Right to the Monarchy to have lineally descended to the Prince and by Proximity of Blood and that hereupon he was recognized and submitted to by the whole Nation and not upon any Choice or Election of the People Who will not own this to be a common and rightful way of coming to the Crown in such an Hereditary Monarchy as ours is But does that Statute say that no other King of England who-ever came to the Crown or ever should without such a Lineal Descent and Proximity of Bloud was rightful King Or does it say that King and Parliament have not a power to limit and settle the descent of the Crown according to the Thirteenth of Elizabeth Does it take away that Act by express Words without which I think our Lawyers say no former Act is nulled or abrogated What is it then to the purpose Have not King William and Queen Mary a right of Blood and Lineal Descent if King James his Right be ceased Do they or the Kingdom ever own or declare that they hold the Crown by the Choice or Election of the People Have not half of the Kings of England before the Conquest and after bin as much or more chosen by the people according to all our Historians Is there not a great difference between the Peoples Choosing and Electing of a King and the States and Representatives of a Kingdom Recognizing and Declaring them to be King and Queen by whatever unnamed Right When you have satisfied me in these Questions you will fully satisfie your self about that Matter You tell me there is another Statute of the same King that enjoyns the Oath of Allegiance to him as the true and Rightful King and which deserves well to be considered makes it Treason to go about to perswade one to take the Oath to any else Now is it any wonder or does it deserve any mighty Consideration that the Law should make it Treason to go about to perswade one to take the Oath of Allegiance to him that is not King this sure if any thing tends to the Kings Disherison and Destruction and Parsons I suppose and some of the Popish Party in the beginning of King James I. Reign had such a design against which that Statute is levelled but that which you bring it for is upon the account of the Rightful King so that you would have it meant against those who are for a King de facto only that is not Rightful Now though this does not in the least concern me but those who are of that Opinion to answer yet I believe this Statute had no Eye to any such thing nor is any way concerned about it nor does it
however take away the Act of Henry the Seventh about those who adhere to the King in Possession but what you add to it is very Considerable and the greatest though shortest thing in your whole Letter for as to the business of Non-Resistance I take that to be very impertinent to the Clergy's taking the Oaths and to concern only a very few others which is this So long as Allegiance is thus due to the Rightful King you would be very kind if you would shew those that are dissatisfied that they may transfer it to any other without Sin Now Sir in answer to this I must own that I know not how Allegiance can be due to two Kings at once to a King de jure and a King de facto no one can actually serve two such Masters but if our Law allow such a distinction which I am not at present to dispute then it must by requiring Allegiance to the King de facto discharge us at that time from the Allegiance due to the King de jure and transfer it to the other if there be such a Law and Constitution of the Kingdom for the sake of Publick Peace and the security of private Persons I would know what Law of God there is against it And then whether a Man may not without sin submit to it and take the benefit of it But I think Allegiance to a Rightful King ceases by his ceasing to be King and then it may be easily known know it comes to be transfer'd to another As to the 12 Carol. 2. c. 30. That neither the Peers of this Land nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament or out of Parliament nor the People Collectively or Representatively nor any other persons whatsoever have any Coercive power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm This will be readily owned you know by me who do not think that our Government is such as that of the Lacedemonians under their Kings and Ephori and by all but those who are of the mind of the Judges of Charles the First had those who were chiefly concerned in the late revolution bin of another Opinion K. James had bin stopt from going either to France or to Ireland Our Peers and Commons in Parliament did not use any Coercive power over King James nor give any proper judicial Sentence against him to exclude him the Government as having any Superiority or Sovereignty over him but only declared the throne Vacant of him for many Reasons and that William and Mary were King and Queen of this Realm and this they did not as formal Judges but as Arbitrators made so by the necessity of the Circumstances we were then in and however you may dislike their award and Arbitrement for which they alone are answerable yet if as private Persons you may not submit to it you must break up the World and disband the Society of Mankind and necessarily run into a state of War and Confusion and we shall be hardly able to live under any Government whatsoever However you do not think I suppose that a Foreign Prince is tyed up and obliged by that Statute against making War upon a King of England when he supposes him to have done him an otherwise irreparable injury nor are the Nation hindered hereby from going over to the just side or bound to assist their Prince in an unjust Cause especially when they know it would have bin to their own certain Destruction Thus I think the Matter might be stated without touching upon any of those Statutes you mention or the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience which lye far enough out of the way from hindering our taking the Oathes or coming into the Government though you think fit to throw them in as Rubs to keep you from both but you desire me not to shift of the matter to a Conquest which is neither owned by King nor People and yet may be true enough in point of Conscience though not insisted on in point of Prudence Nor to a Vacancy by a voluntary Desertion which is a falsity in matter of Fact and yet if it be well considered it will amount to as much as if he had bin brought to a Resignation under his hand and may as well satisfie any Mans Conscience for that might with as much reason be supposed to be as little Voluntary and not without a design of returning to his Government again if he could but this I dare assure you is true in matter of Fact that King James rather chose to go away than to tarry and call a Parliament and give thereby a reasonable Security to the Nation against Popery and Destruction and this was not only Voluntary but Deliberate too and upon the Advice of his Popish Counsellors and so far it was a Voluntary Desertion As to the Case of Non-Resistance what I have ever taught from the Press or the Pulpit in neither of which Chair I pretend to be Infallible or have in a solemn manner professed that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up arms against the King or any Commissioned by him I did it as you hope and God is my Witness in the sincerity of my heart for the good of the World and Peace of Mankind as I thought it agreeable to the Law of God and the Law of the Land and I do not think that either this or any other Wise Government will think it a dangerous Opinion or oblige any Divine to Renounce or Recant it and if any unseen and extraordinary Case should ever happen to be an exception against it I am clearly of the mind 't is much better to let it alone to provide for it self when it comes then to mention it in a Sermon or Practical Discourse and fill Peoples Heads with a Nicety they may be too apt to abuse As to give you a plain Case if you were to Preach against Stealing and taking away another mans Goods without his consent and were showing the great Mischief and Unlawfulness of it in all Cases and how contrary it was both to the good of the World and to the Laws of God and of Man you would not I suppose think it Necessary or Prudent to acquaint your Auditory with that extraordinary Case of a Mans Stealing for the support of his Life when he must otherwise starve though you with Thomas Aquinas and other Divines thought it lawful to do so in such a Case of Necessity The Case of Non-Resistance however high it was carried in all the likely and practical Cases to stop most of the Holes at which Treason and Rebellion might be then apt to break out or at least through which Factious Spirits might as they pleased creep out of that ordinary Duty and Obedience they owed to the Government and have too many others to follow them and so embroil and disturb the World by disobeying and resisting as they thought fit so that if we would speak to any purpose it was
be any way serviceable to K. James if he be not This is the great Point which you have not hit but may if you please make it the Subject of the next loving Letter between us All that is in this I have answered with that kindness and openness that becomes a Friend and with that seriousness that becomes a point of Conscience and such as I fear not to be ashamed of at the last day And I am still Sir Yours and Non-Resistances Faithful Friend and Humble Servant W. P. POSTSCRIPT SInce the Writing but before I had the opportunity of sending this to you a few Scrupulous Quaeries came into my Thoughts which seem to me to have more weight in them to incline a Conscientious Man to take the Oaths and come in to the Government then the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance can have to keep him out and make him forbear and therefore with the same Freedom and Civility you have used to me in desiring an Answer to those Scruples on the one side I beg the favour of you to give a fair and plain Resolution of the other First then I would ask whether it be or were a full judgment and perswasion of the downright Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of taking the Oathes or only some doubts and scruples and dissatisfaction in your Minds about it that does or did hinder you I have reason to think it is or was only the latter because several of you have expresly owned this and have therefore judged more charitably of your Brethren than to believe so many ventured upon an action that carried a downright Sinfulness and Unlawfulness in it but if others could satisfie themselves about it and could do it you thought they might and did no way blame or condemn them for it This I am sure was the judgment and the words too of many of you nay the best and greatest of your Dissenting Brethren did not say any thing to their Friends or so much as admonish their young Chaplains and others who were under their immediate care against taking the Oathes when they knew they were inclined and disposed so to do Now if they instead of some lesser doubts and private scruples had made a full judgment about the Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of this how could they be excused for thus suffering sin upon others who were under their Charge and not giving warning as Watchmen to those who belonged to their inspection who dwelt in your houses and were within your gates whose Souls they were to take care of lest their bloud should be required at their hands and their Sin should be charged upon their neglect Nay how could any of the Bishops satisfie themselves in not doing this to their whole Diocesses and immediate Cures whatever Worldly Perils and Inconveniencies they had hereby ran that so at least they might have delivered their own Souls I take it therefore for granted that it was not a full judgment and perswasion of the downright Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of taking the Oaths but only some lesser doubts and private scruples which hindered them and many of you from so doing if any of you have since come to a greater Plerophory and your Convictions have risen with your Resentments God and your own Consciencies must judge of that but whilst ye were only under those Doubts and so thought it safer not to do the thing than do it whilst ye thus doubted about it and had some Scruples concerning it remaining in your Minds I ask whether these doubts and scruples of yours should not have bin over-ruled by the many Reasons on the other side by the great and evident Mischiefs of your standing out both to the Church and Kingdom and the no less great good to the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad by this Revolution And whether it were not or had not bin Lawful in this Case to have Acted even with a Doubting Conscience I am sure we have often told the other Dissenters so in the Case of Church-Conformity and I question not but it is a true Principle that a man may and often ought to act with a doubting Conscience where there are only some scruples and dissatisfactions that he cannot perfectly get rid off on one side and such great Reasons as the Peace and Unity of the Church or Kingdom on the other tho' never against an Erronious one where he has formed a full and complete tho' wrong judgment of the sinfulness and unlawfulness of an Action and here by the way I would recommend to you to consider over again and apply to your selves what ye have formerly said and written against those Dissenters in the matter of Schisme and in the Matter of a Doubting Conscience Secondly I Query Whether most if not all of the Dissenting Clergy were not once well satisfied in their Consciences about the Prince of Orange 's coming over and rejoiced in it as their only Deliverance under God from their Ruin they saw coming upon the Church and Nation when they wish'd well to him and pray'd for him and went over to him with their Hearts and Affections if not more overtly by Addresses and other Applications Why should they then think themselves now so indispensably obliged to King James and so inseparably bound to him by their Oathes of Allegiance which they then thought they were in great measure discharged and released from For who then thought himself bound in Conscience to defend King James in all his Rights Priviledges and Preheminencies whatsoever according to the Oath of Allegiance and to assist him to the utmost of their power against one who seemed and was declared by him to be an open Enemy and Invader What Minister of the Church of England encouraged the Souldiers to Fight against him and did not rather declare it unlawful so to do when it was so plainly fighting against their Religion and their Country which were then thought sufficient Considerations to supersede an otherwise necessary Duty I ask therefore whither the same reasons which then satisfied us all and which ye then thought released you from part of your Oath of Allegiance and from giving King James that Assistance which had bin otherwise due to him had it not manifestly tended to the utter Ruin of your selves and your Religion and the whole Kingdom may not as well and much better discharge you now from that Allegiance which ye pretend is still owing to him and why they who were for taking away his Authority and Dispossessing him of his Government by a Regency during his Life and without his Consent as the only expedient to secure the Church and Nation from Ruin under him should think they were under such a strict and unalterable Obligation to him by their former Oaths and the Laws of the Land Whither those were not more irreconcilable with such a method than with a New King Farther Whether those who sate in the Convention and in the Parliament too when it was made such