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A50102 The case of allegiance in our present circumstances consider'd in a letter from a minister in the city to a minister in the country. Masters, Samuel, 1645 or 6-1693. 1689 (1689) Wing M1067; ESTC R7622 29,404 42

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all Civil Cases decided by their proper Judges my Conscience ought to acquiesce and if I may be thereby misled into any Error it will be without Guilt before God. And I am also inform'd that by a Statute made 11 Hen. 7. we are legally indemnified in paying our Allegiance to the King in being it we continue faithful therein however infirm his Title may afterwards appear and therefore I cannot see what Danger can affright us from our Allegiance or with what Safety we can refuse it Thirdly I have now given you my Resolution of the chief Difficulties in the Case propounded and the Reasons on which it is built and I can think of nothing more requisite to your Satisfaction except to shew how this Resolution doth consist with all the Obligations which may affect a good Conscience in the present Case which are I suppose chiefly these three viz. the Prescriptions of that Holy Religion we profess the Solemn Oaths we have taken or the Declaration we have subscribed and the avowed Principles and Doctrines of this Church in whose Communion we live 1. As to the first The Rule of our Religion being the Holy Scriptures nothing can be inconsistent with one which is not repugnant to the other and according to the best of my Understanding the principles I have proceeded upon do not disagree with any Sacred Text rightly interpreted The first King of Israel we meet with in the Old Testament is Saul who was advanc'd to the Throne as well by God's Institution as the Peoples Election and who was according to the Peoples desire an absolute Monarch like the other Kings in those Eastern Countries But this thanks be to God is not our Case who live under a mixt Government and a Monarchy limited by the fundamental Constitutions of this Realm And yet I cannot but observe how David who is usually prescribed as an eminent Pattern of Loyalty thought it lawful to raise a band of Souldiers for a defensive Resistance against the unjust Persecutions of Saul tho an absolute Prince and surely we may conclude a minori ad majus that such a defensive Resistance cannot be less lawful when apparently necessary to preserve a whole People from imminent Ruine I remember our Lord's determination that his Kingdom is not of this World and as I think We rightly infer from thence that there is no secular Force belonging to his Kingdom for inlarging it's Borders or securing its Intereslts so I can see nothing in these words to hinder but that when any of the Kingdoms of this World is become the Kingdom of Christ by incorporating his Religion among its civil Constitutions then we may use any Expedients for the defence of our Religion which we might use in defending any other Privilodges of our Civil Establishment Our Lord hath taught us to render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar 's and his Apostle that we must render to all Men their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear and Honour to whom Honour but they have lest us to the Constitutions of our Country to determine what the things of Cesar are what Custom and Tribute is due and when to be paid I have already had occasion to consider the Doctrine of St. Paul and St. Peter concerning our duty of Submission to the Supreme Authority and to those who administer it And upon the general review of the whole he seems to me to do the part of a good Christian as well as of a good Englishman who hath on his Mind an awful regard for the Supreme Authority which is op divine Institution who will not refuse an Active Obedience to the Laws of our Legislators if consistent with the Laws of God who can readily submit to the King and to those that are commission'd by him in the Execution of those Laws who pays the highest Civil Honour to the King as the Supreme Magistrate of the Kingdom who makes the most candid and honourable Constructions he can of all his Princes Actions who can quietly submit to any acts of Government tho they seem very unjust and grievous to his private Interestes and who never thinks a defensive Resistance lawful but when apparently necessary to save a Kingdom from utter Ruin. He that can do all this is a good Proficient in his Religion for he will find it not very easy to Flesh and Blood to go so far But they who are not content with any Notion of Religion which will not expose to ruin the Kingdom that embraceth it do but traduces our holy Religion and expose it to the Contempt and Hatred of the World. 2. Let us next consider how the Resolution I have given will consist with the Oaths we have taken and the Declaration we have Subscribed You will here give me leave to premise that the Forms we have sworn or subscrib'd are not to be taken carelesly according to the meer sound of words but are to be understood according to the Sense which they plainly express and which appears to be intended by our Superiors in impasing them And if we consider our Oaths and Declaration according to this Rule we shall discover that they have brought upon us no new degree of Allegiance or Subjection which was not always due according to the ancient Fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom that we have hereby lost none of our English Rights and Liberties nor the King inlarg'd his Prerogative beyond what it always was and ought to be and therefore if according to the ancient Constitutions of this Kingdom the Government is mixt and the Monarchy limited so it continues If the Freemen of England were before these Oaths bound to no Active or Passive Obedience beyond what the Law of the Land prescribes they arc bound to no more since and if it was formerly lawful for the People of England in an extreme necessity to remove a King whose Government was became inconsistent with the Publick-Weal and to set up another by whom the publick Interest may be secur'd it is as lawful still notwithstanding these Oaths we have taken or the Declaration we have subscribed And to evince this more satisfactorily let us descend to Particulars 1. The Oath of Supremacy prescribed 1 Eliz. doth plainly appear from the Preamble and Body of the Act and from all the parts of the Oath it self to be intended only for asserting to the Queen a Supremacy over Ecclesiastical Persons and in Ecclesiastical Causes in opposition to the pretentions of the Pope and Court of Rome When therefore it speaks of bearing Faith and true Allegiance to the Queen and her Heirs and lawful Sucessors it is in oppolition to all Foreign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities and when it speaks of our assisting and defending her Jurisdiction Preheminencies and Authorities it is only of such as have been granted or belonging or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And that no new Power was hereby given to
and King James but indeed in the next Reign when Popish and French Councils found admission at our Court then arose together the New Principles of superconformity in the Church and of Super Loyalty in the State which like a preternatural ferment have ever since disturb'd the peace of both and must be again cast out if we ever recover a true English Temper or a peaceful settlement If then we frame our Character of the Church of England from the first and purest half of her Age before she was secretly practis'd upon by the Arts of her subtle Adversary we shall easily discover that her principles of Conformity and Loyalty are far more moderate and intelligible than those which since that time have been most industriously and impetuously recommended under her Venerable Name And I wish that every one who professeth an Honourable and kind regard for our Church would no longer ascribe to her such Principles and Doctrines which she for many years was ignorant of wherewith the Church hath given great advantage to her Enemies and receiv'd nothing but Scorn and Contempts and by which she may oblige the present Government to treat her with less kindness than she might otherwise expect But I forget that I am writing a Letter and how much pardon I already need for running it into so great a length but I thought it better to give you so long a trouble in reading than to leave any trouble on your mind unremoved I beseech you to excuse candidly the mistakes I may have committed and to accept the Services of Reverend Sir London March 1688 / 9 Your Affectionate Brother and Faithful Friend c. Books Lately Printed for RIC. CHISWELL AN Explication of the Catechism of the Church of England Viz. The Creed Lords Prayer Ten Commandements and the Sacraments in IV. Volumes Fol. by Gabr. Towerson D. D. The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted by several Hands with a Table to the whole 4to Reflexions upon the Books of the Holy Scripture in order to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion in Two Parts Oct. By Mr. Alix The TEXTS which the Papists cite out of the Bible for Proof of the Points of their Religion Examined and shew'd to be alledg'd without Ground In twenty five distinct Discourses by several Hands Viz. Popery not founded in Scripture The Introduction TEXTS concerning the Obscurity of Holy Scriptures Of the insufficiency of Scripture and necessity of Tradition Of the Supremacy of St. Peter and the Pope over the whole Church In two parts Of Infallibility Of the Worship of Angels and Saints departed In two Parts Of the Worship of Images and Reliques Of the Seven Sacraments and the Efficacy of them In two Parts Of the Sacrifice of the Mass In two Parts Of Transubstantiation Of Auricular Confession Of Satisfactions In two parts Of Purgatory In two Parts Of Prayer in an unknown Tongue In two Parts Of Coelibacy of Priests and Vows of Continence In two parts Of the Visibility of the Church Of Merit of Good Works Two Tables to the whole will shortly be published A Continuation of the state of the Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a full account of the Books that have been of late written on both sides By William Wake M. A. 4to Dr. Patricks Parable of the Pilgrim The Sixth Edition corrected A Private Prayer to be used in difficult Times 8to Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8to His Sermon before the Prince of Orange 20. January 1688. A Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall March 1. 1688. Books lately Published by Dr. Gilbert Burnet A Collection of Tracts and Discourses written after the Discovery of the Popish Plot from the years 1678 to 1685. To which is added a Letter written to Dr. Burnet giving an Account of Cardinal ●ools Secret Powers The History of the Powder Treason with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuites dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Plot 1679. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England In which is demonstrated that all the Essentials of Ordination according to the Practice of the Primitive and Greek Churches are still retained in our Church Reflexions on the Relation of the English Reformation lately printed at Oxford in two Parts 4to Animadversions on the Reflections upon Dr. BVRNET's Travels 80 Reflexions on a Paper intitled his Majesties Reasons for withdrawing himself from Rochester An Enquiry into the present State of Affairs and imparticular whether we owe Allegiance to the King in these Circumstances And whether we are bound to Treat with Him and call Him back or no A Sermon Preached in St. James's Chappel before the Prince of Orange 23d Decemb 1688. A Sermon Preached before the House of Commons 31 January 1688 being the Thanksgiving day for the deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power His Eighteen Papers relating to the Affairs of Church and State during the the Reign of King James the Second Seventeen whereof were written in Holland and first Printed there the other at Exeter soon after the Prince of Orange's Landing in England A Letter to Mr. Thevenot Containing a Censure of Mr. Le Grand's History of King Henry the Eighth's Divorce To which is added a Censure of Mr. de Meaux●s History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches Together with some further Reflections on Mr. Le Grand 1689. Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria a Christo nato usque ad Saeculum XIV Facili Meth●do digesta Qua de Vita illorum ac Rebus gestis de Secta Dogmatibus Elogio Stylo de Scriptis genuinis dubiis supposititiis ineditis deperditis Fragmentis deque variis Operum Editionibus perspicue agitur Accedunt Scriptores Gentiles Christiane Religionis Oppugnatores cujusvis Saeculi Breviarium Inseruntur suis locis Veterum aliquot Opuscula Fragmenta turn Graeca tum Latina hactenus inedita Praemissa denique Prolegomena quibus plurima ad Antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae studium spectantia traduntur Opus Indicibus necessariis instructum Autore GVILIELMO CAVE SS Theol. Profes Canonico Windesoriensi Accedit ab Alia Manu Appendix ab ineunte Saeculo XIV ad Annum usque MDXVII Fol. 1689. ADVERTISEMENT Whereas a Book Intituled FASCICULUS RERUM EXPETENDARUM ET FUGIENDARUM with a large Additional APPENDIX was promised by Richard Chiswell the Undertaker to be finished in Michaelmas Term last This is to give Notice That by reason of the Sickness of the Printer and some necessary Avocations of the Publisher it has been retarded But for the Satisfaction of Subscribers the Book will be forty or fifty Sheets more than was promised in the Proposals which will cost the Undertaker 100 l. extraordinary yet in Consideration thereof he will not expect one penny above the first Subscription price only craves their patience till the Book can be done which is now going on with all possible speed and so soon as finished Notice shall be given in the Gazette In the mean time there being some few of the Impression not yet subscribed for such Gentlemen as please to take the Benefit thereof may be admitted Subscribers and may have Printed Proposals for sending for at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Chuch-Yard or at most Booksellers Shops in City or Country