and deceitful in matters of Policy hath not just cause to suspect that it may be so also in matters of Religion and thereupon now at his Leisure to retire into some convenient place of Freedom and there to take a farther and impartial Examination whether it be not so indeed This may possibly be done effectually by well weighing but of two Considerations of great Importance and yet of no great Intricacy the one concerning the Head of their Church the other concerning the Body of their Religion and the nature and Tendency of it compared with the nature and Tendency of the Genuine Christian Religion First Whether all that special Authority and Power which the Bishops of Rome have so long claimed and exercised as peculiar to themselves and derived from Christ by St. Peter be not a gross Imposture As it needs must be if either no special Authority was ever either given or promised by Christ to St. Peter or exercised or claimed by him more than what was given by Christ to all his Apostles John 20.19 23. Mark 16.15 or exercised by them or no special Authority was ever conveyed by St. Peter to the Church or Bishops of Rome more than to any other Church or Bishop which he Founded and Instituted And besides their defect of Proof which lyeth upon them to make out in the one from the Scripture and in the other from good Authority there are two things of great weight against them First That the ancient Bishops of Rome claimed no special Authority peculiar to themselves but by other and inferiour Title and what was much less than they now claim Secondly That there was very gross Imposture and Forgery used for the introducing and promoting of this pretended Authority And if this Pillar of their Church fall the other their pretended Infallibility must by consequence fall with it And of this Subject may be Read Dr. Barrow of the Supremacy with Dr. Cave of the ancient Government of the Church Secondly Whether all that which is properly called Popery be not such another Corruption of the genuine Christian Religion by humane inventions influenced by the subtilty of Satan as was that of the Law of Moses by the Scribes and Pharisees at the time of the coming of our Saviour and directly tending to oppose enervate and affront the same This may easily be perceived by comparing the essential parts of the Christian Religion with the opposite Corruptions of Popery and the Tendency of each As 1. The Example of the Heads Christ and his Apostles with that of the Pope and his Cardinals 2. The Doctrine 3. The Worship 4. The Discipline 5. The Means of Propagation c. And to this purpose may be read Dr. Moor's Mystery of Iniquity and a little Tract call'd the Mystery of Iniquity Unvailed Written by Mr. Allen but Printed without his Name 2. Whether if upon such farther Examination it should please God to open his Eyes and give him a clear sight of his Errors and of the Evils he hath committed as well as those he hath brought upon himself it will not be his Duty and his Wisdom immediately thereupon to apply himself to do the part of a true Penitent indeed to humble himself give Glory to God by Confessing and Lamenting his Sins acknowledging the Justice of his Judgments and accepting his Punishment be content with a retired penitent Life and thereby as a part of Restitution endeavour the Peace of these Nations which he hath so much disturbed not giving any farther disturbance himself or encouraging any discontented erson but abandoning all Colour and pretence for any such Matter This would certainly prove his direct way to Happiness hereafter and possibly to greater Happiness even here than he could ever have enjoyed amidst the Distractions of the Government of three Kingdoms And all real Happiness I heartily wish him both here and hereafter 3. Whether it may not be fit notwithstanding he may not be further trusted with the Government of these Nations upon the Consideration of Humanity to treat him with Pity Civility and Respect and a Competent Annual Allowance yet such as may not by good Husbandry become in time a means of New Disturbance and upon Condition that he do peaceably retire to some remote parts as Italy or the like and continue there or at that distance without further trouble to these Nations or himself FINIS
indefinitely entred into the Service of the King are not to be presumed to have acted therein as rational men and to have intended a reasonable and legal Service to their King and Country for the preservation of the legal Government Laws and Liberties thereof and not a slavish Service to the will of a Tyrant and Enemy of their Country and therefore in deserting the King and revolting to the Prince and his Associates when this came to be disputed did not do an act of greater Generosity Loyalty end Fidelity to the Government and their Country than if they had continued in his Service and brutishly or upon a vain and mistaken principle of Honour assisted to the subversion of the Government the destruction of their Country-men and the suppression and extirpation of the Religion which they themselves do profess The common abuse of the term Loyalty to impose upon the Nation makes it necessary to explain the genuine Notion of it Which is nothing else when attributed to Persons but either the state of a Free-man or Jus civitatis or a conformity of the Will and Actions to the Laws of the Land and the Government by Law Established But that vulgar notion of Loyalty whereby many well meaning Men have by the Sophistry of Jesuits and ill designing Disloyal Men been imposed upon taken for an Active Compliance with or at least passive Submission to the Will and Pleasure of the Prince whether conformable to the Laws and Established Government or not is in these designing men plainly Knavery Sycophantry and Treachery against both King and Government and hath betrayed a whole race of Kings into great Mischiefs and Destructions 7. Whether upon due consideration of the precedent Questions all the rest of the Protestants of these Nations ought not in Prudence Justice and Charity to their Country to unite and join with the said Lords Gentlemen and others who have associated for the end aforesaid and unanimously agree to commit the Government Crown and Dignity thereof to the next undoubted Heir of the Royal Family who is duly qualified for the same or by mutual agreement of all parties to such of the Royal Family as is best qualified for the Management thereof in the present Circumstances lest otherwise by their unnecessary over-cautious scrupulous forbearance they give occasion and incouragement to discontented Persons to involve all in such new Troubles Factions Insurrections and Disturbance of the Publick Peace and Settlement as by their more generous Unanimity might easily be prevented And because here may arise some Scruples from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy these things as to that may be considered 1. Whether the Duty of the Subject be not proportionable to the Right of the King and extends no further 2. Whether the word Heirs ought not to be intended first of legal and undoubted Heirs secondly of such as are duly qualified for the Discharge of such a Publick Trust and Office and not of any such as are non compos mentis or which is worse do cum ratione insanire and would confound and destroy all 3. Whether in the case of Succession both the Practice of Antient Times and an Antient Formality used at the Coronation be not Evidence of a Right of judging and choice upon a special occasion of a fit Person of the Royal Family to succeed remaining in the Lords and Commons of this Nation 8. Whether these Nations professing themselves Christians ought not in Duty to God and Prudence to themselves to acknowledge with all Reverence and Devotion his Admirable Wise Powerful and Gracious Providence in these late extraordinary Revolutions and great and seasonable Deliverance from so many and great both incumbent Evils and impendent Dangers over them and to express their sense thereof both by Solemn Thanksgivings by a speedy and effectual Reformation of that Torrent of Debauchery introduced and designed for their Ruine and by all dutiful Concurrence with the Indications of his Will thereby intimated to us 9. Whether it be not reasonable for a Christian Nation to believe That the said King James having Unhappily by the delusions of the Papists deserted the true Religion wherein he was Educated and revolted to the Superstitions and false Religion which they profess may not by the special Providence and Righteous Judgment of God for the same and other sins be deserted and left to the Delusion also of their unsound and deceitful Policies and thereupon to be deserted by his People and the Army in which he trusted as was Rehoboam by the ten Tribes 10. Whether the Special Providence of God so visible and apparent in this case may not justly be looked upon by all serious Protestants as a Manuduction and Indication of his Will that these Nations should concur therewith in a cause so just and necessary to the Exclusion of the said King James from the Government thereof and to commit the same to some other more proper Person of the Royal Family and whether all who shall obstinately refuse to concur therein have not some reason to fear that they may also in some degree partake of the same Divine Judgments 11. Whether it be not also a Christian Duty incumbent upon these Nations upon this occasion to take into their serious Consideration all those other Actions of the King besides his revolt to the Romish Superstitions and Abuses which may reasonably be believed to have contributed as well through the Judgments of God as by their natural Efficacy to the bringing of all this Evil upon him and thereupon speedily to make all such effectual Provision as may be necessary for the prevention or removal of the same and the like occasions of mischief from the Nation it self 12. And whether among such actions may not justly be reckoned as Notorious first Uncharitable fomenting and promoting of Dissentions and Distractions between Christian Nations and People Secondly Discountenancing the serious profession and practice of the Reform'd Religion and Irreligious encouraging Profaneness and Debauchery both by Example and by Impunity and Connivance Thirdly Unjust Violation of the Laws and established Government contrary to the Coronation Oath and endeavouring to make it arbitrary by various illegal Practices both upon the ordinary Courts of Justice by making the Judges Patents to be only durante bene placito and then displacing such as would not contrary to their Conscience and Duty comply with his pleasure and Designs and upon the High Court of Parliament it self by perverting and interrupting the Legal Freedom of Elections both in the Corporations and in the Counties and tampering with the Members themselves c. For which and the like Evils speedy proper and effectual Remedies ought to be provided Questions of Prudence Religion and Humiliation upon the late Revolutions and present State of the KING 1. WHether the King having by sad Experience found the so much admired Knowledg and Subtilty of the Jesuits especially and other Emissaries of the Church of Rome so perniciously erroneous
Important QUESTIONS Of State Law Justice and Prudence Both Civil and Religious UPON THE Late Revolutions AND PRESENT STATE OF THESE NATIONS Consistere simul non possunt Voluntas Imperandi Voluntas Perdendi Grot. 1. de Juri Belle. c. 4. § 11. Regi in partem non suam involanti vis justa opponi potest quia eatinus Imperium non habet Grot. ibm § 13. Quisquis Imperii Summi partem habet non potest non jus habere eam partem tuendi Quod ubi fit potest Rex etiam suam Imperii partem Belli Jure amittere Grot. ibm By Socrates Christianus LONDON Printed in the Year 1689. ADVERTISEMENT THe Design of this Paper is not what some might imagine by the Title to raise Doubts and Questions but the contrary to prevent and resolve them Certain it is that many Difficulties are and may be better and with more Ease Brevity and Satisfaction resolved meerly by well stating the Question than by long Arguments and Discourses And the old Socratick way of convincing and instructing by Questions hath been thought by some Wise Men of latter Ages not less useful or satisfactory than that of Syllogistical Disputations The present State of the Nation WHERE 's King James the Second being long since Seduced from the Reformed Religion wherein he was Educated to the Superstitions and Abominations of the Romish Religion out of his great Zeal for the same and through the Evil Counsels and Instigations of the Jesuits and of other Persons of the same or the like wicked Principles and Perswasions hath ever since with great earnestness and by various means endeavoured the Re-establishment thereof and the suppression and utter extirpation of the genuine Christian Religion reformed from the Superstitions and Abominations of the Roman and publickly professed under the protection of the Laws in these and divers other Nations as of a Pernicious Heresie and under the Notion and Name of the Northern Heresie And for that end during the Reign of the late King Charles the Second held divers secret Counsels and Conspiracies both with notorious Enemies of the Reformed Religion beyond the Seas and at home with Persons notoriously guilty by the Laws of High Treason And in pursuance of those Counsels and Conspiracies is generally believed to have been a Principal Author and Promoter of Wars Bloodshed and other great Mischiefs among the Professors of the Reformed Religion that being weakened by their own hands they might the more easily be Destroyed and Subjugated by those of his party And whereas the said King James since his access to the Throne in further prosecution of the same Designs Counsels and Conspiracies not to mention any secret Practices which may possibly be made more manifest in due time hath notoriously contrary to the true Constitution of the Government of this Nation contrary to divers express Statutes contrary to his own repeated Word and Solemn Promises and contrary to the very form of the usual Coronation Oath which he is presumed to have taken assumed to himself a Power to Suspend and Dispense with the Laws which is an Essential part of the Legislative Authority which belongs not to the King alone and under pretence thereof keeping up a great Army in time of Peace hath not only Armed great numbers of Papists but put and continued in Offices both in the Army and in the Navy many Papists and others Persons not qualified by Law And that the Administration of Justice might be also in the hands of Papists and such as were believed would comply with his Designs hath in the Counties chosen divers Papists for Sheriffs displac'd and put out of Office most of the Protestant Justices of the Peace and in their Room hath put and continued professed Papists and other Persons not qualified by Law insomuch that generally throughout the Nation in the Counties there is not a legal Justice of the Peace to be found in many miles distance whatever occasion should happen In Corporations hath by his Letters of Mandamus caused professed Papists to be chosen for Mayors Aldermen and Sheriffs And in the Courts of Justice at Westminster hath placed and displaced Judges till he had furnished the same with such as were believed would most perfectly comply with his Pleasure without much regard to the Laws And for the promotion of those Designs in the Church as well as State hath granted to divers Persons of whose compliance therein he was well assured a Commission in the nature of the High Commission which with all other of like nature at any time to be granted hath by express Acts of Parliament been utterly abolished and made void by which he hath caused the present Lord Bishop of London most unjustly and contrary to all Law and Equity to be Suspended from his Office the President of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge and the President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford contrary to Law to be put out of their Free-holds and by the same proceedings might as may reasonably be believed was designed have turned out all the Clergy of England who would not have complyed with whatever he should have pleased to command And for the more direct restauration of the Papal Authority and Religion in England which to endeavour or attempt is High Treason by the Statutes hath sent his Ambassador to the Bishop of Rome and admitted and entertained a Legate from him hath permitted Popish Bishops to be consecrated in England and to hold their Visitations a Jesuit to be of his Privy Council Jesuit Schools and Convents for Fryers to be erected and Popish Chapels for Publick Mass in divers places and hath placed and permitted known Papists to hold considerable places and Employments in the Church and in the Universities And that the things thus designed and promoted might have been confirmed with the Formalities of a legal Establishment hath used divers indirect Means and imployed divers Agents to have such Persons only chosen to serve in Parliament as he could be assured would comply with his Pleasure therein a practice which strikes at the very root of our Government and tends directly as the most immediate means to the subversion thereof And to compleat all that they might be so Established and Secured for the future from danger of being defeated by a Protestant Sucessor hath by the arts of those Subtile Agents been so far transported in his Passion for that Painted Rotten Religion as to comply with them in an * Though it be in truth Unnatural yet it may not seem so or to be unreasonable to one who reputes them to be obstinate Hereticks and for that Cause deserving to be disinherited unnatural intrigue to adopt or set up a Supposititious Child as is by most Persons in the Nation of all Ranks and Qualities firmly believed notwithstanding the Extrajudicial Depositions In-rolled and Published in Print for his own Son and the Rightful Prince of Wales though to the disinheriting of the true heiress apparent and