very Evil Instances also 'T was the same thing in Military Affairs Raising Armies to take the Air and then Disbanding them abruptly sometimes with the French against the Dutch and then with the Dutch against the French so Unconstant and Variable in his Councels and Himself In truth he did not love to be tied to any thing not even to a Mistress and as very fond as he pretended to be of Parliaments once he found Expedients if they did not present themselves to shake hands with them after that long one that he was almost married to very lightly shook them off as Uneasy Monitors and I believe would have liked a Triennial Wife much better than a Triennial Parliament And 't is almost pity that his first Choice was made by him or rather for him that he had not had an Opportunity of Wedding once more to have tried if he or they could have made a more improper Choice In short his Court and his Camp were a Jest I had almost said his Church too So far on Civil Supposition that he was a Protestant But Sir William Temple in his Memoires scurvily intimates That he was a Papist and had a Design of setting up the same Religion and Government here as that in France and that he had his Pentionary Ministers and Cabals for that purpose c. I 'm sorry if this was the only thing he was serious in If this be true he failed in his Designs and shew'd himself no more a good Politician than a good King For whereas as 't is said he might have given Laws to his Neighbours by a well-grounded Peace or War he was imposed upon to take them from them and was nothing at Home as Gourvile who is said to be the soundest French-Head observed reflecting on him Qu'un Roy d' Angleterre qui veut estre l' homme de son peuple est le plus Grand Roy du Monde mais s'il veut estre quelque chose d'advantage par Dieu il n'est plus rien 'T was boldly expostulated by Sir William Temple and well answered by the King Et je veux estre l'Homme de mon peuple if he could have held to it as well as said it But there was something else behind or within the Curtain However this Matter was it seems the King had managed his Affairs so that he had no more Reputation for his Sincerity Abroad than he had at Home The States of Holland and the Prince of Orange himself had his Ministers and him in suspition and his own Faction or Cabal divided against him as knowing he was not to be depended upon and the Parliament it self also had him in Jealousy What a Figure is such a King like to make when he and his Parliament encounter one another with Contradiction and Tricks And when his taking Liberty of Conscience gave more Offence than his giving of it He was besides thought somewhat too much addicted to Pleasures to apply himself to any thing serious Not that I think those Reliefs are to be disallow'd No man would be a King if he were not to be allowed to soften his Cares with Diversions and to sweeten them with Advantages of Delights but he ought not certainly to suffer them to interfere with the Publick Consultations and Clash with the Considerations of the Welfare of his People And this is said to be his fault He was so much given up to Softness that he abhorr'd Application and Business but perhaps he had other Reasons besides against too much Intenseness of Thought and Reflection He might have the Success of the English Interest as then Constituted no more in his Wishes than his Thoughts Sir William Temple hath an Unhappy Observation this way which I doubt applied it self viz. I have observed from all that I have seen or heard or read in Story That nothing is so fallacious as to Reason upon the Councels or Conduct of Princes or States from what one conceives to be the true Interest of their Countries for there is in all Places an Interest of those that Govern and Another of those that are Governed Hard Saying And therefore I could never find a better way of judging the Resolutions of a State than by the Personal Temper Understanding or Passions or Humours of the Princes or Chief Ministers that were for that time at the head of Affairs 'T is true he gives the King a very handsome Character afterwards but 't is such a one that seems to be restrained to his Private and Natural not his Publick or Politick Capacity as if a very fine Gentleman were spoiled to make a very Indifferent King And certainly he had more Vertues one way than t'other I do not think he was Covetous but I can't commend his Liberality in being Generous at the Expence of others and free of his Subjects Purses Thus he had rather be at the charges of a Pentionary Parliament than at the pains of treating Fairly and Above-board I shall not engage with the Secrets of this Court they are too much a Mystery for me to dive into Only I shall infer this Political Observation That the Affairs of this Nation have never gone well when the Councels of Parliament have been very much an Intrigue They ought to be no more reserv'd than too much expos'd But there is One thing the People always will expect to be made privy to that is the Application of Money given for if it come from them they will always and with Reason know the Occasion and will not endure to see it misapplied Especially as the Circumstances of the Revenue then stood his Income was certainly known though I do not think the state of it was alter'd for the better in all Respects The King had lost some Privileges in parting with those Commanding-Tenures and though his Revenues might be thought ascertain'd yet if it were not precarious 't was somewhat odious and to be improv'd by the Debaucheries and Vices of his People Hence and by the Example of the Court the Nation began to be Lewd Headstrong and Dissolute Laws of Temperance Frugality and Good Manners were let loose and the Execution of them became in a little time a Jest in the Country as Politicks and Morality were at London and Whitehall A new Scheme of Government was to be contriv'd and new Methods of Administration and new Measures of Loyalty set up A Man was not to Consider or Reflect on pain of being accounted a Whigg or Trimmer Names of Distinction of the two Extremes Tory and Whigg were maliciously contriv'd by way of Reproach and what was worse that he might be sure to go with the Court-Tide and Stream the Moderate Character was exposed as the worst of all We were not by any means to reason on Government but 't was required that we should wink or be blind and implicitly submit our Understandings to Patriarchal and Arbitrary Doctrines and Examples to prepare Us for what was to follow Such were our
Temper by a gentle Remove without any Blood without Imprisoning any Person and without inflicting almost any Suffering or Penalty till the Seditious Practices of the Popish Party had provoked the Arm of Justice till the Pope had given away her Kingdom of Ireland as a Heretick and Parsons and Campian Two of his Emissaries had Deposed her at Home in their Doctrines And after all Campian Sherwin and Briant did not suffer as Popish Priests but were Prosecuted on the 25th of Edward the III d for Plotting Destruction of the Queen and Ruin of the Kingdom for Adhering to the Pope the Queen's Enemy and coming into England to Raise Forces against the State And 't was only for these Exorbitances of the Papists that new and strict Laws were Enacted against them in the following Parliaments in the 23d 27 29 35th Years of her Reign Before that there was only the Penalty of Twelvepence a Sunday for Absence from Church and some other necessary provisions concerning the Supremacy Administration of the Sacrament and Form of Common-Prayer which also were very tenderly put in Execution and for above Twenty Years no Body suffered Death for Religion nor till long after the Pope and King of Spain had conspired her Ruin and Gregory the XIIIth held secret Consultations to Invade at once both England and Ireland and longer after that Bloody Massacre of Paris which was a design to Cut off the Protestants as it was Termed or at least to give them a deep Wound and the terrible Slaughters of Protestants through all the Cities of France and the War afterwards declared against the Protestants in the time of Charles the IXth not to reflect on the Chambres Ardentes before against Protestants in Henry the IId's time and after the Attempt which the Duke of Alva on the behalf of the Queen of Scots and the just suspicious she might entertain on her account who was then accounted the great Patroness and only hopes of the Papists and all the other Stratagems and visible Designs of that Party And the second Execution of any Person was in her Twenty fifth Year and upon a just necessity of Self-preservation upon the rash and extravagant Proceedings of Somervill and Others Besides when the Queen was informed even of these Severities as they are call'd tender ones in comparison she grew offended with the Commissioners for Popish Causes Reproved them for their Severity although they declared and protested they Questioned no Man for his Religion but only for dangerous Attempts against her Majesty and the State and the Queen forbad them afterwards to use Tortures as she did the Judges other Punishments And not long after that when Seventy Priests were taken and some of them Condemned and the rest in danger of the Law she only shipp'd them away out of England A Merciful piece of Justice So Merciful she was that it gave her Enemies such Encouragement as her Life was never safe as may appear by the Case of Dr Parry till there was a necessity for an Association to provide for the Queen's safety which was first Voluntary by a Number of her Subjects the Earl of Leicester being foremost thence after of all Ranks and Conditions bound mutually thereunto to each other by their Oaths and Subscriptions to Prosecute all those to the very Death that should Attempt any thing against the Queen which the Year following was in a Parliamentary manner Enacted into a formal Law Notwithstanding which another dangerous Conspiracy of one Savage set on foot by Babington and Others to take away her Life as being Excommunicated was discovered and about Fourteen were justly Executed for Treason Upon which last Treason hung the Fate of the Queen of Scots the Justice whereof has been so much Controverted and Debated Rules of Policy and Self-preservation must cashier all Principles of good Nature or Honour Yet however Execution was not done upon her till the French Ambassador and others were again discovered to take off the Queen by way of prevention And the Circumstances suggested to the Queen at least of the Spanish Navy being come to Milford Haven the Scots into England and that the Duke of Guise was Landed at Sussex c. may extenuate if not excuse the Severity of her Execution with any but Papists and the manner of doing it at last shews it was Extorted from her upon inevitable Considerations and Symptoms of a relucting necessity Her often Countermanding it demonstrates it was not an Act of her Inclination and at last perhaps as far as it appears it was obtained of her by Surprise and without her Authorising Hand to the finishing Stroke If there were any thing in it of Barbarity 't was the denying her a Catholick Priest or Confessor and the Manner of her Execution Which yet is no more than Papists deny Protestants on all occasions and I know not why we should not vouch the dying Honour of our Religion as they do of theirs But enough has been said of this Tragedy on all Hands only it may be fit to Remark That even the French Historians give a more favourable Account of it than our own and particularly Mezeray is softer in his Expressions than Baker The first says The Indiscretion of her Friends was no less the Cause of her Misfortune than the Wickedness of her Enemies as the First sought with violent passion after some plausible pretence to Ruin her the Other furnished them with divers by contriving every Hour some odd Design and even Conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth so that they made her Perish by their over-much Care and Endeavours to Save her The Later gives a slim trimming Account which was worse Although 't is true the taking off the Queen of Scots did not break the Neck of the Popish Designs for who can restrain the Malice of Jesuits for Men must have some ingredient of Modesty to be convinc'd and silenc'd and kept within the bounds of natural Virtue yet it stopp'd their Hands for some time And when afterwards they began again upon the Example and Encouragement of the Holy League in France of which the Duke of Guise was Head and in virtue of which they had taken off their own King Henry the III d by the Hands of James Clement a Monk though Guise himself was first Assassinated and they had taken new heart upon the King of Spain's Founding a Seminary of English at Validolid and new Plots were contrived against the Queen It put them somewhat out of the way and they were at a loss where to find a Successor to the Crown for their purpose when Lopez and Patrick Cullen c. were to have Killed the Queen And they were forc'd to hunt after far-fetch'd Titles in the Infanta of Spain and farther for the Earl of Essex at Home the Son of the Queen of Scots being a Protestant and even at last they made but little of it The Queen remained in Peace and Safety and their Pretender Essex was himself Executed for Treason The
Pharamond for introducing the Salique Law nor the Nobless of the Country for encouraging it for the Commandment says Honour thy Mother also I hope Sir Robert Filmer had no Gavelkind Land the Custom of Tanestry and Borough English must also be abominable in his sight which to other Men seem to be built upon good natural Principles of Reason But seriously what indifferent Person if there can be any such in the World will without indignation digest such sort of Debates After the same fashion Sir Robert Filmer gives us farther to understand He cannot learn That either the Hebrew Greek or Latin have any proper Original Word for a Tyrant or Slave it seems these are of late invention and taken up in Disgrace of Monarchical Government Why not more Charitably as well as more truly from the Experience of the Abuses in the Exercise of such Monarchical or Absolute Powers And he himself had given the reason but just before viz. That the Greek and Latin Authors liv'd in Popular Governments For which reason no doubt there was no occasion for such Monstrous and Barbarous Terms But he could not be in earnest in this Observation I must appeal from his Sincerity to his Judgment He does well to bar all other Schemes but his own He forbids us to rely on Aristotle the Grand Master of Politicks or the Greek or Latin Historians who liv'd in Popular Times Though Monsieur Rapin allows Aristole c. to be us'd in Divinity and says St. Thomas and other Divines have us'd him with good success But others and they Divines and Bishops too have lately told us That we are not to rely on Scripture in such Cases In what a condition is poor Subject Man And what was all this to the purpose when Scripture it self doth not peremptorily conclude us but leaves us at large to the Laws and Usages of Countries to the Ordinances of Man as Sir Robert himself confesses though with a lamentable strain upon St. Paul and St. Peter Every one saw what was aim'd at and offer'd by way of deduction from those Topicks of Doctrinal Government But because Sir Robert sends us to France to School to be inform'd in our Constitution and very much affects French Policy for he wrote in a time when the French Air was predominant let us see whether the Kings of France themselves did always talk in this Language Whether they have been continually so uniform in this Fancy of Absolute Power for the disposing of themselves and their Kingdoms Francis the First who was Contemporary with our Henry the Eighth and as Haughty a Prince and was attended with the Flattery of Courtiers too when he was taken Prisoner at the Battel of Pavia afterwards for Answer to the Proposals sent him by the Emperor for his Release amongst other things says That they were not in his power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was subjected c. After he was at liberty having call'd an Assembly of the most Notable Persons of the Three Estates of the Kingdom for their Advice touching the delivery of his Children and himself proffering to return to Prison if they thought fit Their Orders all answer'd separately That his Person was the Kingdom 's not his and as touching the restoring of Burgundy That it was a Member of the Crown whereof he was but Usufructuary That therefore he could not dispose of the one or t'other But withal they offer'd him Two Millions of Gold for the Ransom of his Children and assur'd him That if it must come to a War they would neither spare their Lives nor Fortunes I 'm Mez. Chron. 587. sorry no Precedent will serve for our Imitation but only that of the present French King and his Ally the Great Turk In the sense of these Authors theirs must be the only Apostolick Orthodox Institution We are told also That there is a Place where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their Hands to receive it And another Nation where the most Eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth And other People where no Subject speaks to the King but through a Trunk and there are no doubt several other such like Fantastick Customs of Submission and Idolatrous Reverence What then Every Land is still nevertheless to be guided by its own Customs and Laws And I wish some of these Absolute Arbitrary-Power-Sparks liv'd in one of the last mention'd Places In earnest Flattery is a most sordid and pernicious Vice and we were lately very near drawing down Judgments on our selves for it and had like to have suffer'd for pretending to offer Sacrifices which were never meant This Stuff of Passive Submission to Arbitrary Tyrannical Powers could never be offer'd to sale in a true Light The Doctrine would stink in the Nostrils of a Good King who had any thing of Virtue Piety or good Nature A King who to use the words of King James the First Acknowledges himself ordain'd for his People having received from God a Burthen of Government whereof he must be Accountable and a good King thinketh his highest Honour to consist in the due Discharge of his Calling and employeth all his study and pains to procure and maintain by the making and executing of Good Laws the Welfare and Peace of his People and as the Natural Father and kindly Master thinketh his greatest Contentment standeth in their Prosperity and his greatest Surety in having their Hearts This as to the Political and Moral part of Government And as to the matter of Religion What is it but to inspire a King with Persecution What must this come to when Kings have different Educations and different Tutors to catechize them if the Civil Establishment be not our Standard and the Law our Protection in Church as well as State As to the Case where the King and the Laws are of the same persuasion If Recusants and Dissenters are so unfortunate as to fall under a Prosecution for their particular Opinions be it at the peril of the King's Conscience and those who advise him but here and here only is the true Notion of being Passive and I must confess I can't tell how to help them Here I think they must suffer and not resist but fly to another City if they do not like that where the Government legally sits upon their Skirts Though I know some don't allow the Legislative Power to intermeddle with Religion as having too much a Lay mixture for the Pallet of the Church Yet for my part I do not see how otherwise we could maintain any Establishment in it For though since the Reformation the King as Head hath the Supremacy devolv'd on him and 't is consented that he may make Canons to bind the Clergy even without a Convocation yet as the Church does not allow him to speak with his own Mouth or Act with his own Hands in the Administration of Essentials of Religion
have been so artificially debated and the Laws of God and Nature the Law of Reason and that of Nations so partially and slily as well as learnedly confounded that the true Idea of our own Government and Law was perplex'd and lost So that no wonder if Mistaken Principles sometimes misled King and People where they might mean well enough both and at other times either King or People might have a latitude of construing them perversely when they did not so Now though 't is confess'd we cannot arrive at any degree of Perfection in Government nor any thing else here in this troublesome uncertain World Yet Experience convinceth us That some Times have been better than others and that this Nation hath been happier under some Princes than Others i. e. happier under those whose Conduct and Government have agreed best with the Laws and Constitutions The only Design of these passing-Observations and Reflections is to point out the Errors and set a Mark on the Rocks that we may avoid them To shew Kings and People the Principles and Practises by which they Miscarried or Succeeded upon Rational Grounds and Natural Consequences so that Measures may be taken which may more probably secure the Peace and Welfare of this Nation for the future I go no farther back than the Conquest or Descent here by King William the First That being as I think enough for our Instruction enough to Inform without confounding our Memories and Judgments WILLIAM I. NOT to play the Grammarian on Words nor to repeat Old Stories though I can scarce pass by Mr. Spelman's Definition of him Conquestor dicitur qui Angliam conquisivit i. e. acquisivit purchas'd non quod subegit But to take William the Conqueror as they call him in the usual Acceptation there can be but little Observable during the Transactions of his Reign to ground Remarks of Civil Policy As he trimmed between Conquest and Title by Gift from Ed. the Confessor he was also Kin by his Mother's side so he divided his Government between Acts of Justice and Wrong not to mention the old Story of Warren the Norman and Sharnborn an Englishman It is plain the Kentishmen had their Laws Confirm'd to them by Treaty and were never Conquered He granted to the City of London their Charters as they had them in the Time of Saint Edward 'T is true he Alter'd the Laws and introduced the French Language but the Alteration seems to be for the better and he was generally Just to the Laws which were made He alter'd Pastimes also and 't was of course for Englishmen are ever fond of New things The worst thing he did was Depopulating so many Towns and overthrowing so many Churches for Thirty Miles round to make a Chase or New Forest in Hampshire and the Execution of severe Laws against Destroyers of Deer or Game by putting out their Eyes c. for which for ought I know his Two Sons and Nephew might come to untimely Ends in the same place But in the main he was modest enough for a Prince who came in with his Sword in his Hand And at last after all his Bustle he was forced as it were to come to a Parly with the English Nobility and before they laid down their Arms this mighty Conqueror engaged for Peace and after in the presence of Archbishop Lanfrank and others took a Solemn Oath upon the Evangelists and all the Relicks of the Church of St. Albans from thenceforth to Observe and Keep the Good and Ancient Laws of the Realm which the Noble Kings of England his Predecessors had before Made and Ordained but especially those of Saint Edward which as is said were suppos'd of all others to be the most Equal and Indifferent for the general Good of the People If the Churchmen can Forgive him for he Repented of it the taking them down somewhat in their Temporal Power and calling in the Jews they may forget his Ransacking the Monasteries if thep please also because he spared the Profits of Vacant Abbies and Bishopricks His Life ended in a Circle and as he pretended to take the Crown by Gift so he disposed of it and left it by Gift also WILLIAM II. DURING this King's Time the Government and Laws seem to be in a continued Ferment and State of War As he was attack'd on all Hands and put to great Charges so he spared neither Church nor State for Taxations but pillaged both in an unreasonable extravagant manner It is said he doubted of some Points of Religion but one would rather believe he doubted of it all by his Life and Expression to the Jews and the Management of Churchmen and their Benefices and Religious Houses He Died so suddenly that he had not time to tell his Opinion at his Death If he did not keep his Word so devoutly as he ought if he was trifling in things appertaining to Religion and profanely free with the Patrimony of the Church the Historians of that Age have assign'd him the Judgments of God in the End and I shall leave him to the Pope's Mercy for with-holding Peter Pence In this King's Reign we find the first Exercise of a Prerogative which seems reasonable and natural enough in forbidding his Subjects by Proclamation to go out of the Land without License if it had been grounded on a good Design but being introduced only first to make his Subjects uneasy at Home and after to get Money out of them for a License to go Abroad the Occasion disgraceth the Thing which otherwise had been justifiable on a true foundation viz. To require the Service of the Subject at Home for the Command of the Aid of the Persons of his People is as much an inherent Right in the Crown as any can be in his own Dominions though not so to Command them out of them on his Service Abroad He also kept his Money from going to Rome and I suppose we ought not to be Angry with any King for keeping his Men and his Money at Home HENRY I. THEY who Write this King's Life do so vary in his Character that it is somewhat difficult to Adjust it But we always ought to speak the best of Kings if the matter will any ways bear it Whether he came to the Crown with a just Title or not he came with a just degree of Understanding and Inclinations to do Justice He was Born of a King in England and Queen of Royal English Blood as Sir John Hayward says though I know not how he makes it out well and is said therefore to have raised the Depressed English Nation again unto Honour and Credit and took off their Badges of Slavery and seems truly Endowed with Kingly Principles though Cambden will have it That he was Just even to a Fault Pray God That were the only Fault of Kings Whatever hath been said to his Disadvantage he appears for the most part to have Governed by the Laws of the Land And as he gave a Measure to
There are particular Histories of the Reformation enow and fresh in every one's Memory having had an occasion not long since to review them and consider them afresh There are Plays and Novels also of the other to gratify the Female Politicians who whether they ought to be severe upon him or not I know not and leave to them to determine This is besides my Design as being out of all Ordinary Rules of Civil Policy Therefore waving all Enquiry into the Reasons or Provocations of one or t'other though I know some are assign'd and remark'd to his Disadvantage others to his Advantage I shall dismiss my self with this general Remark upon the Qualities of a Man or King That when Either have once broke through the first Obligations of Justice or Virtue he makes but little difficulty in the proceeding upon Attempts of the same Nature Though after all to speak impartially and without Reflection I am not satisfied but the first Occasion of Divorce and Reformation too was in its self justifiable though the Circumstances inducing it are suspected and it was concluded a Reason sought not offer'd But certainly Sir Walter Raleigh's Character of him is not to be justified who says That if all the Pictures and Paterns of a Merciless Prince were lost in the World they might all again be painted to the life out of the Story of this King And that of Sir Robert Naunton is as ill-natur'd viz. Having a Design to marry within the Degrees Unlawful he set his Learned Men at work to prove it lawful and after a while being cloy'd and desiring Change set them again on work to prove it unlawful He never spared Man in his Anger or Woman in his Lust This is Satyrically said but not truly For he had no mind to marry at first where he did but did it in Obedience to his Father's Will and against the Grain with himself And he liv'd with this first Wife Twenty Years and never took notice of the Unlawfulness of that Marriage till it was objected against him again and the President of Paris started and moved it on the Proposal of Marriage between the Lady Mary his Daughter by Katherine and the Duke of Orleance the second Son to the French King And as to the Cruelty towards Men the Death of the Lord Cromwell and that of the Duke of Norfolk's Son Henry Earl of Surry sound most of Severity yet as to the first he had rais'd him from a Smith's Son he was Cardinal Woolsey's Pupil and trod in his Steps He was Attainted by Parliament and the Record says for Crimes of Heresy and Treason perhaps the Advice of the Match with the Lady Ann of Cleve but I think it doth not argue Cruelty in the King neither towards him or her He dismiss'd her with a gentle Farewel after her Marriage was declared Unlawful by the Convocation and adjudged so in Parliament and she lived sixteen Years after and died in the Fourth Year of Queen Mary As to the other It is plain it was not to gratify his Personal Cruelty For being no Lord of Parliament he was Arraigned at Guildhall before a Special Commission and found guilty by a Jury the Charge of bearing Arms which belonged to the King and Prince may seem somewhat slight yet it is always dangerous to play with Edged Tools and the Ragion di stato may in part excuse it In the main he appears a King of a great deal of Honour not without a Good-natur'd Generosity He was careful also to maintain the Civil Constitution and devout to the Privileges of Parliament He carried it fair with his Subjects in the general and was never Ill-natur'd or Froward as far as I can perceive without some Colour of Justice I know not whether I can justify him in his Politicks so well in his contradicting by the Will the Disposition of the Crown and its Succession which he had before Established in Parliament especially to bring in Queen Mary after his Subjects had sworn to the Parliamentary Succession of his Daughter Elizabeth Besides That this was subsequently by Implication to affirm the Legitimacy of his Mariage with Katharine of Spain which was with so much Solemnity laboured and declared Unlawful All that can be said is That he might in respect to the Mother be unwilling to suffer the Daughter to be Bastardised And we always ought to construe the Actions of Princes in mitiori sensu and to take them by the best part of the Handle in History To speak well of them if we can any ways justify it and to be silent in Doubtful Characters if we cannot Commend EDWARD VI. I Am at a loss in speaking to the Short Reign of Edward the Sixth He seems born and design'd for the Advancement of Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity and to be snatched away to the Disappointment of Human Expectations to intimate That there is no Establishment of Happiness to be relied on here below However that Government which might have come to something in himself was Unfortunate in the Administration of the Councel which his Father with so much Care had assign'd him and impertinently enough shuffled between the Aspiring Conduct of the Great Men and the Foolish Ambition of Pretending Women These interrupted the Wisdom of Councels though the Protector did his part well enough at first till he came to pull down a Church and two Bishops Houses in the Strand to make him a Mansion-House c. For after the Disturbances of the Nation on the Account of Religion and the Inclosures at Home and with relation to the French and Scots Abroad had been managed with Prudence and Honour and the Kingdom began to appear with a Face of Peace and Satisfaction How vain are Mortal Considerations Behold the whole Oeconomy is on a sudden Discomposed and the Frame of Government Subverted And a Frivolous Pretence of Place between two Women Unhinges the Constitution and first exposes and then destroys and ruins the Husbands by vertue of the False Designs of a Third Person behind the Curtain who grafted Villany artificially upon their Follies and at last as was suspected brought in the King himself whose Death also is laid at the same Door What the Sense of our Neighbours was concerning it you may read in Mezeray France and England held pretty good Correspondence when Death cut the Thread of Young King Edward's Days It was believ'd to proceed from a slow Poyson and John Dudley Duke of Northumberland was suspected guilty of the Crime he having suggested to him to Institute Jane of Suffolk for Heiress to the Crown However it were it prov'd a Fatal Policy to the poor Lady Jane and himself too I confess I cannot see why Edward the Sixth might not make bold with Mary as well as his Father had done before him and dispose of the Crown by Will as he did especially for the Propagating and Establishing the Infant Reformation if that Age had been serious and well agreed in the
Business of Religion For we shall find I doubt in History notwithstanding all Observation to the contrary That if Religion be not supported by State-props it will not stand long and that That which hath only for its Ingredients Mercy and Honour will be in short time overrun and go to the Walls whilst the Religion of Violence and Blood will propagate it self by Inquisitions and the Artifices of its own pretended Zeal And that notwithstanding all Innocent Precautions 't is too true That a Prince of Matchiavell's Composition will at present and for once prevail over one of a Sincere Vertue and open Honour This I say upon the appearing Reason of the thing That our Nation in particular may not be imposed upon over and over again with the same Appearances and only that we should stand upon our Guard against all Popish Representations how innocently soever colour'd and against all Foreign Overtures how well soever baited Queen MARY ONE would have thought that the Reign of this Queen might have satisfied a Nation of any Capacity of Thinking in the Professions of a Papist and what weight the Promises of the Church of Rome to Hereticks ought to have with Protestants The Principles and Practices of Papists were well enough known even in those times in our Neighbouring Country of France under Henry the II d by the Execution of so great a Number of Protestants who were Burn'd in the Greve the common Place of Execution but the manner of it was not Common They were Haled up by a Pully and Iron Chain then suffered to fall down in the midst of a great Fire which was repeated several times And 't is said the King himself would needs feed his own Eyes with this Tragical and Melancholy Spectacle and that the Horrible and Mournful Shreiks of one of those poor Wretches left so lively an Impression in his Imagination that all his Life long he had from time to time a very frightful and terrible Remembrance of those dreadful Groans However it were it is certain that the Smell of those Carcasses then Roasted got into the Brains of a great many People who on the one hand beholding the false Constancy as Mezeray calls it and on the other hand the scandalous dissolute Living named this Justice as he terms it a Persecution and their Punishment a Martyrdom This is the tender Account given of it by a Popish Historian And he says Faggots were then lighted every where against the Protestants Queen Mary made her passage to the Throne through her Promises to the Norfolk and Suffolk Gentlemen that she would make no Alterations in Religion but before she was warm in it she shewed how she dissembled her false Favours and removed the Protestant Bishops and sent Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury and Latimer and others to the Tower and passed Judgment on them to Dye All this before her Coronation And as Mezeray tells us When she was once Absolute Mistress she Cemented the Throne with the Blood of the Lady Jane her Husband her Father and almost all her Kindred and after that she spilt much more to Restore the Catholick Religion which brought the State into such Convulsions as had like to have proved Mortal and all for the Advantage of a short Duration Thus Mezeray still a French and Popish Writer And in truth the Lady Elizabeth escaped very narrowly for Gardiner that special Bishop of Winchester had procured her to be sent to Prison and had framed a Warrant under certain Councellors Hands to put her to Death but that Mr. Bridges Lieutenant of the Tower pitying her Case went to the Queen to know her Pleasure who utterly denied that she knew any thing of it or was then ashamed at least to Own it by which means her Life was preserved This Good-natur'd Merciful Bishop and Popish Priest was not contented to Lop off Boughs and Branches as he phras'd it at the Council-Board but was for plucking up the Reformation by the Root meaning Queen Elizabeth and to do the Spaniards Justice 't is said they interceded for her perhaps it was only in Policy that their Master might have Two Strings to his Bow as it appeared by the sequel for he Courted Queen Elizabeth after the Death of Queen Mary 'T was evident farther how Queen Mary intended to keep her Word as to Religion by her Match with Spain No doubt she had a mind to put it out of her Power and cast the Odium of Persecution off from her self But we ought not to Reflect on her for Marrying one of her own Religion since our Protestant Kings on this side the Reformation have had a good knack ever since of providing for the Security of the Protestant Religion by Popish Matches for though King James the First did not actually Wed he did not dare to have attempted it in Scotland a Papist yet he was more to blame in advising and pursuing One so hotly for his Son than his Son who finished a Popish Match at last This by the bye The Rebellion of Wyat was an ill tim'd Attempt begun too early as another late One since but had he let it alone a little longer till Queen Mary shewed her self more fully in her proper Colours when the Pope's Primacy came to be proposed and laboured to be Restored and Cardinal Pool came over it might have had another Effect and proved a generous Effort for the Rescuing the Infant Reformation from the Jaws of Popish Tyranny For the Pope had just Taught the People the way of being Absolved from their Allegiance and they might infer if he could do it or it were to be done for the sake of Religion That they might Absolve themselves from their Allegiance for the good of Religion also But when once a first Undertaking miscarries through an ill-tim'd and rash Precipitation a Second seldom or never comes to Maturity in the same Shape and Nature Her Five Years Reign passed in a Hurry of Religion Love Persecution Mariage c. with some Lunatick Intervals of Mercy It is said her Reign was polluted with Blood of Martyrs Unfortunate by frequent Insurrections and Inglorious by the Loss of Callis It is said also she was a Lady of Good Nature and Merciful Disposition in her self What then can we expect from the Reign of any Popish Prince where the Barbarous Zeal and Unhuman Authority of that Church can so far Impose upon and Over-rule even a Merciful Prince that Dr Heylin calls her's the greatest Persecution since Dioclesian's time and which raged most terribly 'T is truly and absolutely impossible for any thing of Honour Virtue or Good Nature to have any place in a Sovereign under such a Sovereignty Queen ELIZABETH IN rhe Reign of Queen Elizabeth we may observe the difference in a method of Protestant and Popish Reformation or Alteration of Religion The Popish under Queen Mary was begun and carried on by Imprisonments Fire and Blood The Protestants by this Queen with a true Christian
Affairs of the Church were so prudently managed in her time with relation to Puritans as well as Papists that she left it in a Condition to stand upon its own Legs and maintain it self without Danger from Opposition had it been preserv'd with the same continuance of Zeal and unshaken Fidelity by her Successors As to her Civil Administration the Heathen and Mahumetans the Persians and Idolaters the Ethiopians and Muscovites name her with Reverence And Bossac in one of his Letters to Cecil saith He that Excommunicated her spoke of her with Honour She chose her self a Wise Councel and shewed her own Wisdom in being Advised by them She had a hard Game to play with Philip of Spain as well as her own Popish Subjects yet she managed both softly and by degrees and at last by Parliament fix'd and secured the general Alteration in Religion which she could never have done by her self First-Fruits and Tenths were Restored to the Crown and the Supremacy Confirmed to the Queen She avoided Matrimony whether upon any Consideration besides Prudence I shall not enquire by doing so she preserv'd her self Head of the Church and State and Mistress of her self as well as her Subjects and Oblig'd and Silenc'd the Parliament by soft Answers of denial when they Remonstrated to her for that purpose and put an unanswerable Compliment upon them by telling them She had placed her Affections upon her People in General But in matters of Religion she was no Courtier after she had once declared her self a Protestant though some pretend she Dissembled in her Sister's Days she did not look back towards the Pope did not shuffle in her Religion but refused all Communication with him and also generously declined all the Overtures of Advantage made by Pius the IVth She equally despised his Threats and Temptations Afterwards she readily and sincerely Assisted the Distressed Protestants her Neighbours on all Occasions She provided every thing for the Strength and Honour of the English Nation and saw it maintain'd in its True Glory both at Home and Abroad Would not be wheadled nor huff'd to betray it but carry'd its Reputation farther Abroad than any of her Predecessors had or Successors hitherto have done She shew'd it the way to overcome even the Invincible Armada of Spain which the Spaniards with all their Force and Fraud had provided to Invade us and basely to Attack us by Surprize when they were at the same time in a Treacherous Treaty of a Peace And all this she did without oppressing her Subjects well knowing as she her self declared when she remitted a Fourth Subsidy that the Money was as sure in her Subjects Coffers as her Own 'T is said of her Never Prince ruled with more Justice and with her Justice mingled more of Mercy She was term'd St. Elizabeth by some at Venice for her Merciful returning home certain Italians which were taken Prisoners in the Invasion of 1588. And 't is said some told the Lord Carleton being then Ambassador That though they were Papists yet they would never pray to any other Saint a Compliment at that distance may be laid hold of at home for an acknowledgment of a just Character But her Truest Character we may take from her own Behaviour and from her own Mouth because it seems to have nothing of Vanity in it In her Speech to her last Parliament 1601. she thus expresseth her self To be a King and to wear a Crown is a thing more Glorious to them that see it than it is Pleasant to them who bear it Though you may have had and may have many Mightier and Wiser Princes sitting in this Seat yet you never had nor shall have Any that will love you better Du Serres says of the Reign of Henry the Fourth of France her Contemporary It is a Sign of a Happy Reign when the Subject rejoyceth to see their Prince 'T is probable he might mean it as well of Queen Elizabeth Or we may apply it for him as it was verified of her For it was observ'd in her short Progresses that People of all sorts would flock to see her And not only that for I have known other Kings attended through Curiosity but also what hearty Acclamations did they utter As God save Queen Elizabeth c. and she would Reply God bless you my People all Few Princes miscarry who have the Affections of the better part of their People 'T was for this Reason I suppose that the Mother of the Duke of Guise her professed Enemy said Elizabeth of England was the most Glorious and Happy Woman that ever swayed Scepter And Henry the Fourth of France in a Letter to Monsieur de Rosny commends her with an implicit sort of Emulation She had such a Character even with the Turks for Morality and Natural Honour That at her Instance he countenanced the English Trading there and thence came as is said our Turky Company and every one knows the Benefit of it to England Also the Duke of Russia for her sake as is said who yet is so jealous of Strangers gave Civil Reception to the English In short That Kingdom which she found in Troubles and unsetled she left Establish'd in True Religion Peace and Plenty at Home and Reputation Abroad JAMES I. I Dare not Encounter this King so rudely as some have done 't is said upon good Experience Nor would I be thought to offer Undecent Reflections at a King who came Ushered into our Throne with such a Reputation for Wisdom of his own and such Advantages of a Councel left him fam'd for it Yet in my own Opinion and poor Observation I can't for my Soul pay that mighty Veneration to his Character and Memory which the World would seem to demand He seems to me to have stumbled at the Threshold in our Kingdom and to have done a thing not very Honourable or Prudent Who after he had so poorly quitted the Resentments of his Mother's Death before by a sort of Reflex Malice yet in pious Memory of her Sufferings and to revive the Reasons of them here and as it were to Countenance and Abet the Norfolk Family upon the same Foundations forthwith calls the Lord Thomas and Henry Howard two Papists to the Council thereby intimating as it were hopes to the Papists c. which they were apt enough no doubt to conceive Nor will his Pretended Apprehension of the Pope's Briefs to the Catholicks excuse him Tho Sir Richard Baker who was bribed by a Knighthood at his first coming over represents him in the front to have done it only upon Prudential Motives that is Fear Thus he at first dash disobliged all Parties And who knows but this first Cast of Favour to them and to the Earl of Southampton whose Father 't is true was a great Friend to Mary Queen of Scots but a greater to Popery and his partial aukward Behaviour towards other Gentlemen might be the Foundation of that complicated Treason by the Lord Cobham Sir Walter
Rawleigh and others Protestants and Papists amongst whom were two Priests and for which there was no other apparent Occasion only that he provok'd all Parties whilst he sought to win One by Fawning to shew something like good Inclinations to the See of Rome as the Pope expected though they well knew he did not mean that neither whilst he received others coldly for Reasons neither he nor they knew So that they agreed only in this to lay him aside who as they concluded by his Behaviour would answer the Expectations of neither There was no necessity of adding Papists as Spies upon his Councels he might in prudence been contented to have taken it at present as left him with the Addition only of his Scotchmen to the Number And 't is plain it gave no satisfaction to the Papists by the Powder-Plot which followed His Next Step of Unaccountable Wisdom was dissolving the Parliament for Reasons known to no body besides himself 't is said because they did not comply with his Designs but what those Designs were do not appear Above-board The Third Action of Moment out of common Forms was the sacrificing Sir Walter Rawleigh to the Importunities of Gondomar for neither his Justice nor Mercy was to be relied on that is giving up the Interest of England to the Spanish Satisfaction And his Conduct with relation to Spain is admirable throughout Queen Elizabeth had pretty well humbled that Potent Monarch and as Sir Robert Cotton observes forced him in his after-Reign that is after his Unsuccessful Tricks with her to that Extremity that he was driven to break all Faith with those Princes that trusted him and paid for One Year's Interest above Twenty five thousand Millions of Crowns Hear Sir Robert Cotton who speaks to the Person of King James and therefore we may assure our selves modestly and gently So low and desperate in Fortunes your Highness found him when you took this Crown Thus from the abundant Goodness of your Peaceable Nature this is the way of Banter if Kings would see it you were pleas'd to begin your Happy Reign with General Quiet and with Spain first which should have wrought in Noble Natures a more Grateful Recompence than after followed For long it was not before Tyrone was hearten'd to Rebel against your Highness and flying had a Pension at Rome paid him from the Spanish Agent His Son Odonel Tyrconnel and others your Chiefest Rebels retain'd ever since in Grace and Pay with the Arch-Duchess at Spain's Devotion So soon as your Eldest Son of holy Memory now with God was fit for Mariage they began these Old Designs by which before they had thriven so well c. Thus Sir R. C. in that Stile And thus they led him on their Dance whilst he Deserted or what was worse so meanly Vindicated the Interest of his Son-in-Law the Prince Palatine He must take his Measures from Gondomar and instead of assisting him with a Powerful Army he is treating with this Spanish Agent and must take his Advice and Matters are to be made up with him by a Match for his Son the Prince of Wales with the Infanta of Spain and then suffers himself to be imposed upon by Idle Representations which this Ambassador carried on only in Disguise to serve his Master's Ends whilst in the mean time the Poor Palatine is swallowed up by a Confederacy between the Emperor and King of Spain and all this without calling a Parliament that being forsooth an Affront to his Wisdom then sends his Son to Spain when he was told by Sir John Digby c. who advised him not to suffer his Resolutions to be interrupted by that Overture of the False Appearances and Insincerities of the Spaniards which the Letters from the King of Spain to Olivares and his Answer would have convinced any one of besides himself and after that his making so many and ample Concessions in favour of Popery during the Treaty And in truth Treating of any Popish Match are no great Arguments of Wisdom Fatherly Care or indeed of Religion The English Navy must be neglected on pretence intimated by Gondomar that the furnishing of it would breed suspicion in the King his Master and the Cautionary Towns must be rendred up being the Keys of the Low-Countries to oblige his Friend Gondomar too His People of England must be Check'd Disgrac'd and Silenced for opposing this Popish Match with their Speeches Counsels Wishes and even Prayers 't is said Gondomar could Dissolve Parliaments also The Protestant Interest on his Son's Account in Bohemia slighted though Archbishop Abbot represented the Circumstances and Call of Religion to Engage him besides Honour Though his Ambassador Cottington inform'd how Matters went and though every body besides himself saw through the Designs of Spain as well in the Complimenting him in the Match as Mediatorship to keep him Neuter and hold him in Suspence And though he himself saw it turn to a War of Religion and would be the Overthrow of the Protestants or Evangelicks and though the Emperor had proscribed the Prince Palatine yet King James's Eyes would not be open'd nor would be persuaded to take the Alarm These are no great Master-strokes of Policy no more than of Conscience or Honour And to War at last when all was lost against his own avow'd Principles was an Incomprehensible Mystery of Judgment and Wisdom Besides these of which he discharged himself thus learnedly there was no Matter of Moment did or could Occur during his Reign to exercise any Extraordinary Talent As for the Governing his People 't is plain he had King-Craft as his Friend Sir Richard Baker calls it as is pretty Evident by his Parliamentary Speeches and his Ways of getting Money He could also Dissemble and sometimes Huff but 't was only his own Subjects and that with no good Grace neither He had Priest-Craft too as Heylin observes who tells us 'T was his usual Practice in the whole Course of his Government to Balance one extreme by the other Countenancing the Papists against the Puritans and the Puritans sometimes against the Papists Thus he was Devout for the Church of England at Home and for Popery Abroad making Canons for their Conformity here and submitting our Orders to Truckle to the Popish Match against all the Remonstrances of Parliament Church and People What could he expect from this Popish Match from any Popish Match but the Consequences all the World expected That it would let in Popery once more into Hopes of Success at least to gain Breath by a suspension of the Laws against them What could be expected but that this must create Jealousies and Misunderstandings between him and his Subjects And 't was not sending a Synod of Divines to Dort or having a Convocation at Home of which Dr. Overal his Dean of Paul's has given a special Account for the Edification of his Successor the present Dean could likely settle the Affairs of the Church in Europe when he at the same time was
Kings such our Ministers and such were the People to be But all these Kings of the Scotch Line seem to have differ'd in their Ideas and Methods of Government King James the First Philosophised upon it Charles the First Reason'd on it with too much Opiniatretie and King Charles the Second Banter'd it and I 'm sure King James the Second did not Moralize upon it JAMES II. IF what Sir William Temple says of King Charles the II d be true and he gives good Authority for it viz. That the Prince of Orange upon Discourse c. said to him That the King Charles II d was as he had reason to be confident in his Heart a Roman Catholick though he durst not profess it It will go a great way towards the justification of those Gentlemen and their Conduct in the Oxford Parliament c. in relation to the past King and much more the Behaviour of the Nation towards King James of whom there was no doubt of being one and who dar'd own it at last though he very meanly prosecuted One upon a Scandalum Magnatum for having said so once For no doubt they both came over as much Papists as they ever were and if the first dyed such I can't but believe he had lived one for Thirty Years at least and they will both stand in need of a very great Dispensation somewhere else for their Hypocrisy so many Years If King Charles believ'd nothing of the Popish Plot as is said I know not whether it will diminish the Credit of it But 't is certain his Successor King James abundantly confirm'd its Credibility even so much as to give a Reputation to the intended Bill of Exclusion though the Loyalty of the People then ran so high that they were not willing to part with him without Experience nor then neither it seems by some vainly imagining that the Honour of a Popish King could supersede and take place of his Religion The Books and Pamphlets of that Season have sufficiently exposed or demonstrated the Character of this King and the Principles of that Religion And 't was as Evident to any body that would see what he had been doing in his Brother's Reign as what he did in his own Whether we conclude his Practice from his Principles or his Principles from his Practice there 's enough to convince for the past and to caution for the time to come If Declarations repeated with so much Solemnity and broke through with so much Ease and a Coronation-Oath Discharged and Violated so plainly though with an impertinent Distinction of the Judges to keep up a feeble Countenance of Law For what will not Judges in Commission during pleasure say or do For our Judges are not Sworn as those Judges whom the Kings of Egypt made solemnly to take an Oath that they would not do any thing contrary to their Conscience though commanded to it by themselves If the Business of the Irish at Portsmouth If the sending the Lord Castlemain to Rome and receiving a Nuntio here which was never suffer'd in a Protestant Country nor at Treaties where Protestant Ministers have been If the Letters from Liege to the Jesuits at Friburg If sending the Lord Preston to France which sufficiently implies a French League to mention no other Evidence of it nor the Story of sending out the Fleet Half-Mann'd If these or any of these did not unvail the Designs of that King we shall ever be in the Dark and nothing on this side of Dragooning could have open'd their Eyes they must also be persuaded That the Pope King Lewis and King James were all well-wishers to the Protestant Religion and to the Heretick Prosperity of England as by Law Establish'd That inviduous little Management of Magdalen-College Affair with Huffing a parcel of poor naked Fellows of a College for not swallowing Perjury without a Dispensation shews his good Nature equally with his Policy and sets forth in Epitome his Devout Observation of an Allowance to Church-of-England Consciences The prosecuting the Bishops so Barbarously First One for refusing to do what was not in his power by Law and then the rest for humbly begging to be allowed to have Souls The turning all the Nobility and Gentry out of all Commissions Offices and Places for pretending to Honour and refusing to concur in Dissolving the Reformation was a Master-stroke that we might be subdued and over-run with Jesuits Councels and Irish Courage and Conduct Some of his Friends are so Hardy to fancy and pretend to say He could not have introduced Popery if he had endeavoured it they should have put in Arbitrary Power too For what cannot a King do over a passive People Disarm'd in Power and Defective in Notion and Thought Cependant les Anglois se doivent souvenir le Massacre D'Ireland c. says a late French Author but I forbear to give you any Account from the French Refugees 'T is true he could not subdue our Understandings but he might exercise a fatal Tyranny over our Wills Besides King James never tried fair means which would have went a great way he went the false way to work upon Englishmen I doubt we are not so much Temptation-proof And it might for ought I know have been a dangerous Experiment to have trusted the Church with it self so long in an Enemy's Quarter We see King James hath lived a great many Years enow to have gone a great way with us with the Assistance of French and Irish and such Subjects as were inclinable to be of the King's Religion at Home and he must have gone as far as he could No doubt the Nation had been as easily supplied as Magdalen-College But it happen'd very luckily for England that King James discover'd his Temper of Spirit a little too soon We all knew of what force Edicts-had been in Hungary and France the Copies whereof our Kings had been so apt to follow and what the Duke of Savoy had been doing in the Valleys of Piedmont but we would not believe King James was Cruel was a Persecutor scarce that he was a Papist because he had the Art to Conceal and Disguise himself a little before it was in his power to use the Rod. But presently Father Petre shew'd that he would do as much in England as la Chaise had done in France and the first was observ'd to be the hottest of the two And not to aggravate or mince Matters They must all have done what lay in their power in Obedience to what their Councils Decree towards the Extirpation of Hereticks But God be thanked King James did not shew himself that Prince of Resolution at least he fail'd them in one Character as they would have had him deceiv'd us by another He was pleased for some Considerations whether of Fear or Guilt to leave us abruptly and we have taken that Advantage of parting with him fairly And I wish him all the Happiness that is consistent with the Welfare of England Only let us as
Englishmen remember That we now have an Act of Parliament of our side which Asserts the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and hath Establish'd the Settlement of the Crown and which incapacitates any Papist or Person Marrying a Papist from having and enjoying it which Act is only Defective in this That it is not Order'd to be Read in the Churches twice at least every Year and upon Penalty of Deprivation If such a Law had been made in Edward the VIth's Time it might have sav'd some Blood and Trouble since the Reformation WILLIAM III. THE Lord Chancellor Notttingham in the Case of the Duke of Norfolk and Charles Howard Esquire c. hath in my Mind a notable Expression viz. Pray let us so Resolve Cases here that they may stand with the Reason of Mankind when they are Debated abroad Shall that be Reason here that is not Reason in any part of the World besides In truth we are apt to be peculiarly Artificial in our Thoughts and way of Argument and our Reasonings are too Municipal Thus every little Pedant can Settle and Establish the Affairs of Religion and Government and can Resolve all the great Mysteries of Church and State as he thinks in his narrow Study But if a Man looks Abroad and takes a general survey of the World and reflects upon the Universal Notions and Customs of Mankind his Soul will become more enlarged and will not determine so Magisterially upon the Principles of any particular Sect or Society The Case of King WILLIAM in it self is perhaps the most Glorious and Generous Cause that hath appeared upon the Stage of Human Actions yet hath been sullied by dire Representations by poor-spirited and precarious Arguments which have been brought in for its support His Title to the Crown of Great Britain stands Firm and is justifiable upon Natural and Sound foundations of Reason without Props But hath been so oddly maintained by the manner of its Defence that it hath been the Justification only that hath Disgrac'd the Revolution Doctrina facit Difficultatem We have been running out of the way to fetch in Aids from Art and Learning whilst Nature presents us with obvious and undefiled Principles of Reason Thus the King's Accession to the Throne hath been introduced by shuffling between Providential Settlement Conquest Desertion Abdication and topping Protections of Power whilst Men of Honour and People of Honest Plain Understandings stand Amazed instead of being Convinced and hang back when Allegiance comes to be explained and a Recognition demanded an Association proposed frights us as a thing strange and impious which shews our Allegiance was not rightly founded but looks like a thing of Fancy built upon a forc'd and fictitious bottom All these ungrateful Terms have been ingeniously exposed by Mr Johnson except only Abdication which with submission is also too Artificial a Word not to be found in the Alphabet of Spelman a Civil Law Term used almost in Fifty several Senses and therefore an uncouth Expression of the Common Laws of this Realm to speak in The Word Forfaulture seems to have a plainer Signification to our common Understanding This as Forisfacere Forisfactum Forisfactura and Forfacere Forfactum Forfactura c. we find in Spelman and it signifies Rem suam ex delicto amittere sibi quasi extraneum facere Rem culpâ abdicere alterique Puta Regi Magistratui Domino abjudicare Forisfacere pro Delinquere peccare transgredi Injuriam inferre LL. Edw. Confess cap. 32. ut Codex noster MS. legit Aliqui stulti improbi gratis nimis consuetè erga vicinos suos foris facebant This agrees with the Sense of King James the I st his Speech to his Parliament viz. A settled King is bound to observe the Paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto And a King Governing in a settled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off Governing according to the Laws In which Case the King's Conscience may speak to him as the Poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon Either Govern according to your Law aut ne sis Rex And if a Subject's Conscience may not speak the same thing King James's Words signify nothing The other Words carry an Odious or suspected Construction in them the First in the Convocationstyle implies Guilt and at best creates but a Transylvanian Allegiance the Second is a Jest and false in Fact besides 't is what the King himself disowns the Third is an idle Sham as stated and the Fourth is also a little strain'd as I concieve and we might for ought I see as well have call'd it a Cession especially if King James was a Spiritual Person of the Society of Jesuits as hath been said But what need we any Term of Art Let the matter express it self by Periphrasis in its own genuine Phrase It is fairly stated in the Prince's Declaration And our Case is no more nor less than this A King contrary to his Coronation-Oath dispenses with and breaks through all the Established Laws of the Land Invades and Subverts the Rights Liberties and Properties of the People which he Swore to maintain inviolably and Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State in an Arbitrary Tyrannical manner the People therefore in Defence of their Laws Rights and Religion and the necessary Preservation of them Oppose the violent proceedings of such a Prince I put the Case at the worst and also apply themselves to a Neighbouring Prince who hath an Expectation of a Right to the Crown and pray in Aid of him to assist them in the Maintaining and Defending their Legal Rights together with his own Title to the Succession who in his own Words makes Preparation to Assist the People against the Subverters of their Religion and Laws and also Invites and Requires all Persons whatsoever All the Peers of the Realm Spiritual and Temporal and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in order to the Execution of this Design against all such as shall endeavour to Oppose them to prevent all those Miseries which must needs fall upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturn'd the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully Redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament to secure the Nation from relapsing into the Miseries of Arbitrary Government any more Upon which appearance of mutual Defence for Self-preservation the Conscious King Retires first leaves his Army which no Man I will be bold to say would do without Guilt or Cowardice and I 'm sure a Prince that had been Brave or acted upon Principles of Honour would have Fought it out with but Ten Regiments or with One at his Heels which was Richard the IIId's Case in the first sence though not in the later and after leaves the Realm for Reasons best known to
Government before he obtained it And Ethelwolf a Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet Elected King because they could not find a fitter Person for the Crown Edwin by his Miscarriage turn'd his Subjects Hearts and the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and swore Fealty to his Younger Brother Edgar The Danish Kings were approved by the Lords during their short time of Reign here Edward the Confessor by general Consent was admitted King Harold chose himself and ravish'd a Crown and he fared accordingly for his Intrusion without the Consent of the People All that is intended by this short Account is only to shew That Succession was not always esteemed so Sacred and that Non-Resistance hath not been so stanch'd a Doctrine always as some now would pretend To come nearer to our present Case Let 's see the Opinion of Councels and Divines and perhaps we shall not need to be much out of Countenance for assisting the Prince of Orange in the Vindication of our Civil Rights and Religion and I believe the Church of England will stand by Us And Divines of great Reputation gave their Judgment for Subjects defending themselves against their Princes in Cases not near so strong as Ours Queen Elizabeth gave Countenance and Aid to the Revolt of the Low-Countries or Rebellion as it is call'd against the King of Spain and did it by Advice of Learned and Religious Divines as Dr. Bancroft c. And 't was for the sake of Religion Queen Elizabeth also assisted the Protestants in Scotland against the French Faction Cambden says she had a Consultation about that Matter and although it was urged That it was of Ill Example to patronise another Prince's Subjects in Commotion yet it seem'd to be an Impious thing to be wanting to them of the same Religion Bishop Bilson justifies the Defence which the French and Dutch made on supposition that it was for the Maintenance of the Laws If we look into the Affair of the King of Bohemia or Prince Palatine we find tho King James was backward i. e. fearful and had not Courage when the War broke out in Germany the Sense of the Archbishop in his Letter to Sir Robert Naunton Secretary of State when he advised the King to send Aid against the Emperor's Attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power he encourages the Prince Palatine as King of Bohemia by Election in the matter for propagation of the Gospel and to protect the Oppress'd and declares for his own part He did not dare but give Advice to follow where God leads apprehending the Work of God in This and That of Hungary and that he was satisfied in Conscience that the Bohemians had a Just Cause c. King Charles the First who appeared to be of as Scrupulous a Judgment in the Point as any By the Advice of Archbishop Laud not only assisted the King of Denmark who assisted others against the House of Austria to keep the King of Spain from overrunning the Western part of Christendom and sent Forces and Supplies for the Cause of Religion as his Reasons are emphatically express'd in the Declaration But also some time after published a Declaration of War against France chiefly on Account of that King's Protestant Subjects for Violation of Edicts and Breach of Articles and Contracts with them Whereas Contracts and Articles at other times with Us have by some been pronounced Prophane Absurdities c. The Revolt of Catalonia hath had its due Representation here as well as elsewhere The only Reason for their taking up Arms was in plain Terms to rid themselves of their Oppressors which the Nobility said was their Duty and to preserve their Ancient Form of Government from the Encroachments of the King of Spain who Oppress'd Rich and Poor by Arbitrary Taxations Religion was no Ingredient in their Rebellion Their Acclamations were Long live the new King D'Juan de Braganza and let them dye that govern ill His Accession to the Crown of Portugal was Congratulated and Countenanced by all the Kingdoms and States in Europe upon the Return of his Manifesto's only the Emperor whose Interest it was condemn'd it the Pope himself did not Resent it And they congratulated him upon the Merits as well as Success of the Attempt Where then is this Ambitious Prince Where is that Wicked and Ungodly People as they call Us We have done no more than what hath been done upon a Godly Consideration in like Cases nay not so much and our Case goes farther for these had only Edicts and Acts of Grace to maintain We defend our Religion Establish'd by the Laws of the Land This Family of the Nassaus have the hardest Measure under the Sun To be stiled Daring and Ambitious Spirits and to have Damnation thus Entailed upon them only for undertaking the Cause of the Oppress'd and Rescuing Abus'd Innocence from the Tyranny of Arbitrary and Barbarous Power Why then are the Gentlemen of the Church of England so resty upon this Revolution There is scarce any Reason to be imagined unless it be for those which they bring themselves such as the Convocation-Settlement Conquest c. If we should enquire into their Opinions and variety of Principles I doubt we shall find them so Un-uniform that we shall never ground any fixt Authority upon them in this Point or any other Tho it seems but an Ungrateful Task to expose their Contradictions and Contrarieties in all Ages But if they have differ'd amongst themselves in their Doctrines and Notions of Obedience or Resistance and the Settlement of Crowns I hope they will give Us leave in Equal Authorities to chuse which we will follow In truth he who will be at the pains to examine their Writings i. e. their General Councels themselves even from the first Four to the Last I 'm sorry to say it will I believe find but a Sandy Foundation to fix his Conscience or Judgment in Articles of Faith What have they been doing with the Trinity of late What have they not been doing to get the Government into the Church-Conusance by way of Success and Providence Tho I would have this Government setled to satisfy and please every one in their own way if it were possible for Men have different Ideas of things Yet I'am unwilling the Government should be trick'd and impos'd upon And that Men should advance their own Stations and Interest by publishing and mis-applying Notions which expose the Church and King both I must confess I think Dr. S Reasons for the Government have been the greatest against it with all Men of Reason and Honour and have hindred many from coming into it What stuff have we produced in a Convocation-Book the greatest Affront to a King and People that was ever offer'd with a salvo to the Church It is said Providence may actually and God will when he sees fit and can serve the Ends of his Providence set up Kings without any Regard to Legal Right or Human Laws and when they are thus set
Exhorters The Practice of the World runs otherwise and the Prospect is too Melancholy where there is no Sunshine in the Landscape If then neither the Historical part of the Old Testament nor the Doctrinal parts of the New nor the certain Authority of Councils or Convocations nor the Extrajudicial Opinions of Divines do unanimously evince our Duty of blind Obedience or Non-resistance under a total subversion of a Constitution in Church and State and the Practice of the Christian World in all places is counter to it Why are these Gentlemen so severe upon us and so resty themselves Lay the Scene in Holland Germany France where a Holy League is no News or Portugal c. Resistance is an Orthodox Doctrine but put the Case at Home it must be Heretical and no less than Damnation Why must English-men be the only Cullyes of Europe and have their hands ti'd Although the Church of England does not pretend to follow the Doctrines of the Church of Rome yet I verily believe they never thought to betray their own Church to that by setting up a contrary Doctrine Suarez de Legibus acquaints us with the Popish Doctrine expresly in this Case viz. That Heathen Kings can't be depriv'd of their power by War unless they abuse it to the Injury of Christian Religion or the Destruction of the Faithful that are under them as is the constant Opinion of Divines meaning of the Church of Rome And again If Infidels have the Faithful for their Subjects and would turn them from the Faith or Obedience of the Church then the Church hath just cause of War against them But for Heretick Princes he says the Church hath Direct power over them and may deprive them in punishment of their Infidelity or Heresy This we saw verified in Queen Elizabeth and she by Advice of her Divines in preservation of Church turn'd the Tables upon them I do not believe any of our Divines are so passive to betray their Church and yield to the Pope or any one commission'd by him their Dignities and Revenues though they Deliver over the Nobility and Gentry to Damnation for preserving them in possession of them I mean they who have taken the Oaths to the Government as a King de facto for I believe the Others who are not come in are more charitable for I confess I have an Honourable pity for them and value them never the less for sticking to something though they are unfortunate and differ from me in Judgment But besides the Business of Religion the Papists ought not to be angry with us for Deposing or Removing a King they are uneasy as soon as others and do not take the Passive Doctrine to be any Restraint upon them even in the ill Administration of a Popish King Witness that Story of the King of Spain in Portugal and the Advance of the Duke of Braganza And here at home to look back and instance only in Edward the II d who as the History says being govern'd by Gaveston and the Spencers murder'd his Uncle Thomas Earl of Lancaster and numbers of Great men The People the Popish People rose against him Imprison'd him and a full Repesentative of the Nation in a solemn manner renounced their Allegiance to him but told him withal they would suffer his Son Edward to succeed which was a favour it seems in those Times Therefore I think the Papists whether they consider their Doctrine or their Practice can't hit us in the Teeth justly Their only Grievance is That the Person is mistaken and doth not prove for their turn And I do not doubt notwithstanding Dr. Sherlock's Settlement they would endeavour to remove King William for King James or any other Popish King again And I can't blame them for it for 't is their Principle but as Gentlemen they ought to give us leave to enjoy our fancy too And so to look into our own Church-men who would seem to mince the matter either in their Principles or Practice They tell us a Story of Licinius and Constantine and endeavour to parallel the first with King James II d and justify the latter for making War upon him by whom they intimate King William but they manage it so scurvily on and off that one knows not where to have them they would and they would not as if they were asham'd of their Passive Doctrine and yet asham'd to quit it The Bishop of A. allows a Foreign Prince to make War upon Another who prosecutes his Subjects for Religion if the Religion be his that makes War for that reason and what is this more than hath been said before But Puffendorf speaks boldly and allows also Subjects to use an Absolute Prince as an Enemy if he discovers an Hostile Mind towards them We keep a Clutter withour filial Obedience to the Patriarchal Power c. But Puffendorf grounds even the Paternal Power over Children upon their presum'd Consent and says 't is admitted Sons may when they come of Age chuse whether they will be under their Father's Government or not And here by way of Parenthesis a Man might raise an unlucky Dispute Whether there be any Government Legal and Rightful but what is only obtain'd by Consent For if this be true it will go a great way in the Argument even of their Patriarchal Power which for this reason cannot be Absolute and no Other way can give any Right at all for Conquest is but an overgrown Trespass upon the Possession and Right of another And if there be no Government but by Consent of the Governed whether the People's Consent will carry a Government farther without a subsequent and continued Approbation And the Consequence of that when we Swear Allegiance to a King be not that it is to be understood no farther than he governs by Law and that our Allegiance is due to Law not to the person of a King Whether these Considerations may not be offer'd with as good a Colour as some others have been Whether Kings do not mean this when the consent of the People is ask'd Or whether they mean nothing Whether 't is not understood by the consent c. We might also enquire how our Gentlemen came to be wiser and more scrupulous in their Allegiance than their Forefathers And what Titles William the II d Henry I st K. John K. Stephen Henry IVth Vth VIth and VIIth had if not by Consent We might farther ask them If this Patriarchal Despotick Absolute Power be the Right of Kings and Non-Resistance is not Lawful upon any occasion whatsoever Why they are not Unanimous in their Doctrine And what Lay-men are to do when there is a Schism in the Church But these may be thought invidious Queries But what if these Passive-Gentlemen are not consistent with themselves 'T is plain our Divines here were not so stiff to the first Motions of the Prince's Attempts for our Rescue He himself tells us that Several of the Lords Spiritual as as Temporal were in the