Brackly was mended by the Addition of the Rich Parsonage of Burton on the Wold in the same County Nor did the Reward of this Service extend only to Sybthorp but slew a Cathedral Height for Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury refusing to License this Sermon to be Printed was soon after Suspended from his Bishoprick and Dr. Laud that did License it being then Bishop of St. Davids was Translated to London and afterwards to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury Nay so strong run the Tide of Preferment then in this Corrupted Channel that few Divines or Common or Civil Lawyers were preferr'd to any considerable Place either in Church or State that did not in the Pulpit and on the Bench vigorously maintain these Novel and Destructive Opinions to the Scandal of their Functions and intended Ruin of the Kingdom To this Doctrine must be ascrib'd the Mischiefs of all former and later Reigns under the Protection of which any King may play the Tyrant without Control tho' it often proves Fatal to him that lays the Train And so it happen'd to Charles the Second for no sooner had his Unlimited Power been so Strenuously Asserted that he was come to give the finishing Stroke but his Death seem'd Necessary and Seasonable to make way for the Duke of York to open the Execution of the Grand Design in a bare-fac'd Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England At the Beginning of the Restoration so great an Opinion was conceiv'd of His Highness the Duke of York that his partial Admirers would suffer no Man to Insinuate his being Reconcil'd to the Church of Rome but set him up under all the Noble Qualities that might render him Acceptable to a Credulous People not only as Merciful in his Temper Just in his Dealings and endu'd with all Gracious Inclination to our Laws and the Rights of the Subject but for one Orthodox in his Religion too and who would prove a Zealous Defender of the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church as Establish'd by Law In this Persuasion they continu'd some Years and tho' he had at length withdrawn himself from all Acts of Fellowship with the Church of England Refus'd the Test injoin'd by Law for distinguishing Papists from Protestants had Resign'd his Office of Lord High Admiral stood Excluded from the House of Lords and that so many Parliaments had eadeavour'd to Exclude him from Succession to the Crown because he had Revolted to the See of Rome and thereby became Dangerous to the Establish'd Religion yet all this would make no Impression upon a Wilfully Deluded and Obstinate Sort of Protestants but in Defiance of all Means of Conviction they would persuade themselves that he was still a Zealot for our Religion and a great Patriot of the Church of England Nor could any thing undeceive them till upon his Brother's Death he openly declar'd himself to be a Papist and afterwards in the Fumes and Raptures of his Victory over the late Duke of Monmouth had discover'd and proclaim'd his Intentions to overthrow both our Religion and Laws Yea so closely had some seal'd up their Eyes against all Beams of Light and harden'd themselves against all Evidences from Reason and Fact that had Success attended the Duke of Monmouth's Arms the late King had gone off the Stage with the Reputation among them of a Prince tender of the Laws of the Kingdom and who notwithstanding his being a Papist would have preserv'd the Reform'd Religion and maintain'd the Church of England in all her Rights and Grandures And tho' his whole Life had been but one continu'd Conspiracy against our Civil Liberties and Privileges he had left the Throne with the Character and under the Esteem of a Prince that in the whole Course of his Government would have regulated himself by the Rules of the Constitution and the Statutes of the Realm Aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides Sen. in Oed. Act. 3. Scen. 1. So Simple Truth does her fair Breast Disarm And gives Base Treachery a Power to Harm King Charles being now Dead the late Duke's Expectations Answer'd and his Ambition gratify'd with a Crown at his first coming to it he endeavour'd to Confirm some and Gain other of his Subjects into a good Opinion of him and their own Happiness under his Government And therefore in his first Speech to the Parliament declar'd so much Tenderness for them and such a Dear Respect for the Preservation of their Liberties that the Cajoll'd Parliament from an Excess of Satisfaction shew'd as much Affection for him as ever Parliament did to a Prince of their own Religion and gave Money till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction It must be granted that the Lives of some Professors are not so bad as the Consequences of their Erroneous Opinions and it was charitably thought by the Parliament that the late King James tho' a Papist would not Govern so Arbitrarily as the Encourag'd Doctrines of the Age gave him Leave to do But when they saw their Errour and perceiv'd that Popery and Arbitrary Power were never to be parted that the Monks and Friars Enter'd to Act in their proper Habits that Seminaries were set up in several Places and Houses fill'd with these Religious Furies that the Laws being in the late Reign betray'd into his Hands he unmercifully Stabb'd and Dispatch'd them and that his Antecedent Oaths and Promises were all come to nothing how it fill'd them with Resentments for his having thus Abus'd their Credulity Deceiv'd their Expectations and Reproach'd their Gloryings and Boastings of him But alas it was then too late to seek a Remedy for those Evils that an Easie Belief and a Fond Compliance with Empty Popish Promises had brought upon us Now we Feel what we would not See and Prevent at a Distance Quid nobis certius ipsis Lucret. Sensimus esse potest quo vera ac falsa notemus And what thing can there be more sure than Sense By which we Truth discern from false Pretence We smarted under our own Rod and had plenty of miserable Occasions for the Religious Exercise of that fatal Duty Passive Obedience Our Satisfactions in our New King were vanish'd and the Hopes of living happy Subjects under him were sunk into Apprehensions of Approaching Slavery A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People and the very Tools that assisted the late King in subverting their own Religion and the Civil Rights of their Brethren were afraid in so Universal a Calamity that themselves should also feel the sad Effects of that Thunder with which they had Arm'd their Tyrant In how happy a Condition was James the Second before he violalated his Oaths and Promises and so might have continu'd if he could have prescrib'd any Limits to his Desires of Reigning more Absolutely than the Laws of the Constitution would allow him He had all things at pleasure to make him Great among his own Subjects
End agree with that of Popery which is to Exterminate Hereticks By the Law of Government we are Objects of Protection by the Law of Popery we are Subjects of Destruction The Prince receives from God and the Society a Power to protect his People but he receives from the Church his Mother an Order to destroy them as Condemn'd Hereticks And which of these two Orders think you shall prevail with a Popish King above the other Why thot in which he is most Concern'd and to which Eternal Recompences are inseparably annex'd And then in what a sad Condition were the Protestants of England in the Reign of the late King Thirdly Against 3. The Law of Royalty to which Popery in the Case suppos'd has an absolute Antipathy as will appear if you consider that all Royalty necessarily contains three Things viz. the Consent of the People engaging to obey the Consent of the King promising to protect and the Manner by which the King and People confirm their Promises which is a Religious Oath Now a Popish Prince that governs a Protestant People will be always wanting on his part of the Contract if he takes the Maxims of his own Religion for the Rule of his Government 'T is a Contradiction to believe he will act against his own Inclination or that he will cancel the Antecedent Obligation which he was under to the Church his Mother in preserving Hereticks that are not a People but a loose sort of Animals doom'd to Destruction Does the Prince break his Faith in not performing the Oath he took when Invested with his Kingly Authority and promis'd to protect his People No say the Directors of his Conscience The Oath was against the Laws of Holy Church therefore sinful and void Besides say they the Prince took the Oath with Intention to break it and the Intention must always govern the Action especially when it falls under the Church's General Rule of not keeping Faith with Hereticks 4. To dismiss this Argument Popery is particularly against the Laws of a Mix'd Monarchy such as England's is because the Prince believes he has a Right to treat Hereticks as he pleases and may lawfully take away their Lives and seize their Estates without doing them any kind of Injustice for being fallen from the Right of Society he can do them no Wrong Besides All Princes that attribute to themselves an Absolute Power think they owe an Account of their Actions to none but God and a Prince under the Circumstances that we have observed will never think he displeases God by destroying Hereticks * Durand a San. Port. quaest 5. utr sint tolerand that as their Writers say are Enemies to GOD and Man So that we see the Advancement of Popery in a Protestant Kingdom is a necessary Introduction of Tyranny and Intails a Law of Misery and Desolation upon all Protestants And such was King James's Design here Let no Man argue the Impossibility of Introducing Popery into this Kingdom because the Number of Papists are but small in respect of the Protestants for that will not render the Design Impracticable but rather make the Execution of it more cruel and barbarous A whole Nation upon the matter must be coâ—rupted from the Faith of the True Religion or be destroy'd You know what Progresses were made towards it by Tying all Preferments to Popery Unarming Protestants putting the whole Strength and Power of the Kingdom into the Hands of Papists and sending over Irish Soldiers to increase a needless and dangerous Army And what this might have grown to in time was easier to foresee than Remedy for an Ordinary Strength Unresisted might Assassinate a whole Nation Fifthly 5. In the Heat of the late King's Zeal and Fury to procure such a Parliament as might set up a Power and Interest agreeable to his Humour and destructive to the Kingdom Quo Warranto's like Bombs were thrown into Cities and Boroughs to destroy the Freedom of Elections which is the Foundation of Government for What will become of the Liberty of Parliaments without the Freedom of Elections And how can England enjoy their Privileges without the Freedom of Parliaments All which were to be violated at once by this Undermining Project and Persons must be imposed upon them for their Representatives in Parliament which were none of their Choice but Press'd by a Popish Court and solely at their King's Devotion Some are pleas'd to express themselves in very harsh Language against that which they call the Pentionary Parliament as more zealous for the Advantage of the Crown than the Welfare of the Kingdom But what dreadful Consequences might be predicted from a Parliament consisting both of Papists and Popish Pensioners if it had been possible for the late King to have accomplish'd his Designs are almost beyond the Power of Melancholy to suggest them in Figures black enough to express their Horrour The Choice of a Parliament that would do whatever he thought fit was the only thing wanting therefore all things were dispos'd and regulated after such a manner as might bring such a sort of Men together at Westminster as might gratifie his Popish Arbitrary Ends and Vote Protestants to be the main Grievance of the Nation 6. Another Intrigue of the late King 's was to Ruin the Kingdom by a Chain of Consequences and as the Destruction of the Liberties of England was the Overthrow of the Protestant Religion so he would make the Subversion of our Religion serve to destroy our Liberties This made him impatiently covet that Papists might be freed from the Penal Laws and Tests which were the Barriers to Defend the Nation from Romish Usurpation And this piece of Tyranny above all the rest is most notorious A Protestant Nation makes Laws to preserve themselves from being Victims of Popish Fury These Laws were necessary at all times but more especially under the Reign of a King that had been pleas'd to declare himself a Papist and yet these are the Laws that the late King would violate and not violate only but utterly * Non tam commutandarum sed evertendarum rerum cupidi Abolish and persecuted those who had a Zeal to preserve them Imprisoning some Destituting others and Threatning all without Exception that dar'd to gain-say it For this End he rais'd an Army kept it up in Time of Peace and put into it as many Irish as he could find of the Posterity of those who committed the Barbarous and Bloody Murthers and Massacres on the Bodies of English Protestants in 1641. and to do the like to us in England or force us to submit to the cruel Yoke of Slavery and Superstition 'T is natural for a Prince to Raise Forces for the Defence of his Dominions when he fears Enemies from abroad But to entertain an Army in Times of Peace only to Rob his People of their Laws and Privileges to Ravage his Universities and to put publick Destroyers into the Govent must surely pass for a manifest Tyranny Our
give cause to suspect it For the Revoking and Imprisoning Sir Bevel Skelton the English Agent in France upon a Supposition that he had talk'd of it and Rewarding him afterwards with the Lieutenancy of the Tower are plain Contradictions and therefore the English and Dutch had reason to believe the League and Insist upon it when the French themselves had discover'd it Now compare all this with Mr. Coleman's Letters and the barbarous persecutions of the French Protestants so tragically carried on in France and which were also going on to be Imitated in England at the same time that the French Memorial was deliver'd and you will have all the Reason in the World to to continue your belief of it for the greater security of England Thus have I given a brief Survey of the late King's Tyranny in Matters of publick Fact as the natural consequence of his Espousing and Advancing the Popish Religion upon the Ruins of the Reformed I must now acquaint you what Course the Nation took to procure their Deliverance Who seeing themselves Involv'd in such deplorable Circumstances Gaul'd under the Yoke of Papistick Tyranny Afflicted at the dismal prospect of being depriv'd of the Exercise of their Establish'd Religion and the loss of their Civil Properties and Privileges After they had ineffectually imploy'd all Dutiful and Obliging Methods to Reclaim the King and waited till England was on the Brink of Destruction before they would assume their Natural Right and Defend themselves God Almighty who from Heaven beheld their approaching Calamities put it into the Hearts of some thoughtful Persons of all Qualities Degrees and Conditions in the Kingdom to make their humble Application to the Illustrious Prince of Orange who as a Soveraign Independant Prince nearly allyed by his own Blood but nearer by his Virtuous Princess to the Crown of England and a Protestant in his Religion had an undoubted Right to interpose between the late King and his injur'd Subjects and according to his own Benignity and the Example of his Illustrious Progenitors Defend and Deliver an oppress'd People Divine Providence having thus prescrib'd the Means of our Deliverance some good Men whose Names ought to be Celebrated with Eternal praises found a way maugre the danger that attended it to Address this magnanimous Prince Lay the Complaints and Dangers of the Kingdom before him and Implore his Gracious Aid and Effectual Assistance to Free a Languishing people from inevitable Ruin promising to Live and Dye with his Highness in so Glorious an Enterprize Animated by his known Piety and Christian Compassion his Native Heroick Bravery and the Prayers and Necessities of a miserably Harrass'd and almost Ruin'd Kingdom he was pleas'd to undertake our Deliverance and to the Goodness of God and this Great Prince's Wise and Valiant Conduct only We owe that Mercy for tho God can work miraculously for the Accomplishment of his own Will yet in Human Reasoning no other Prince but our now Gracious King was qualify'd to undertake it For He is a Prince of a Ripe and Excellent Apprehension of a strong and profound Judgment has a Right Notion in all Ambiguities and is not easily Impos'd upon by the Sentiments of others Able to Determine in all Occurrences by the strength of his own Genius and yet never unwilling to hear the Opinions of his Counsellors Deliberate in his Resolves and Firm in his Purposes Undaunted in Dangers and of a steddy Conduct in Security That knows how to gain Power and how to make it Pleasant and dureable by the Regular use of it as appeared to all the World in the Upright and Discreet management of this Great and almost Miraculous Revolution The States of Holland accommodated the Prince of Orange with Shipping and other Necessaries for this glorious Expedient and meritted our eternal Gratitude but having met with ill Returns * Dutch Design Anatomized from some Mercenary Pens I shall take off the Scandal and Reproach they have thrown upon that Action by shewing it Kind Grateful and Justifiable to all the World There are many Considerations that justify the Interposition of the States of Holland and the first is That 't was to preserve the Peace of Europe for all their Neighbouring Princes perceiving the growing power of France to threaten the Welfare and Quiet of Christendom and that the Obsequious compliance of the late King James in all the Proceedings of that Towering Monarch as well as Monsieur le Comte d'Avaux's Memorial shew'd a dangerous Allyance between those Two Crowns the Princes of Europe and the States of Holland enter'd into a Confederacy to prevent the Conjunction of the Armies of these two Princes and save Europe This memorable Concurrence happening about the same time that the Prince of Orange had promis'd to Assist the People of England in Redressing their Grievances and Restoring them to their Just Rights and Privileges Whilst the Prince of Orange was doing that Good Office in England the other Princes in the League watch'd the the Motions of France and made them uncapable of helping each other and so the Emperor of Germany the Pope himself and the rest of the Confederate Princes as well as the States of Holland were in the same design against the late King James as the only means to preserve the peace of Europe Besides in this Generous Action the States of Holland writ after an English Copy and express'd their Gratitude for the same Good Office the English did them on the like occasion * Hist Belg. p. 203. when the Spaniards threaten'd not to leave a Protestant alive in Holland Those Provinces are of the same Religion with us and when they saw our Prince had form'd Designs to make us all Papists or Destroy us even Humanity oblig'd them to succour us when the whole Nation so apparently wanted it but the best Reason for what they did except those of common Christianity is given by themselves as I find it in an Extract of the Resolutions of the States of Holland upon the 28th of October 1688. where among other Reasons for Assisting the Prince of Orange with a Fleet and an Army this is one The King of France say they hath upon several Occasions shew'd himself disaffected to that State which gave Cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring that State to confusion and if possible quite subject it There is no question but this Wise and Prudent State saw our Ruine would in time prove their own also and Foreseeing and Preventing it will Justify them before God and all the World Now to shew that other Princes were of the same Opinion with the States of Holland and saw the Designs of the F. K. and the late King James threaten'd the Peace and Safety of Europe Let us take a
which they have here Asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembl'd at Westminster do Resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be Declar'd King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them And that the Sole and Full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and Executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their Joint Lives And after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for Default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for Default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do Pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to Accept the same accordingly This Offer being made in due Form and Accepted by the Prince and Princess of Orange now our Gracious King William and the late Queen Mary of Blessed Memory on the 13th Day of February 1688. the Lords and Commons order'd the following Proclamation to be Publish'd and Made WHereas it hath pleas'd Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity and being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange and therein desir'd them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging who are accordingly so to be Own'd Deem'd and Taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to Bless King William and Queen Mary with Long and Happy Years to Reign over us God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Joh. Brown Cler. Parl. These Ample and Affectionate Demonstrations of the Nation 's Gratitude were as Kindly receiv'd by the King and Queen as they were Dutifully offer'd by their Subjects And thus the King was pleas'd to express himself upon the Notice of it to the Lords and Commons My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest Proof of the Trust you have in Us that can be given which is the Thing that makes Us value it the more and We thankfully accept what you have offer'd And as I had no other Intentious in my coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure that I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to do any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in My Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation And now with what Inexpressible Joy and Entire Satisfaction the whole Nation entertain'd Their Majesties Accession to the Throne and seeing those Illustrious Princes that had been hitherto their Hopes and Desires now become their Glory and Crown of Rejoicing is easier to imagin than delineate and therefore I must content the Reader by only saying that nothing was omitted that might express a True and Unfeigned Joy upon that Extraordinary Occasion Thus have I shew'd how by a continual Series of Illegal Actions the late King proceeded to Abdicate and Renounce the Government of these Kingdoms till he compleated it by leaving the Realm And also what an Inevitable Necessity there was at that Conjuncture and as Affairs then stood to supply the Vacancy of the Throne by the Inauguration of that Meritorious Prince that now enjoys it And tho' there needs no other Reasons to satisfie the Scrupulous and command a quiet Submission than that it was done purely for the Welfare of the Nation and was settl'd by Lawful Authority yet because the Enemies of our Peace and Settlement take too great a Liberty to Asperse these Proceedings and Amuse the Unthinking and Unsteady People with contrary Opinions I hope 't will be pardonable to Administer an Antidote against the Infection of Virulent Tongues and Seditious Practices and Reconcile those to Reason and their Duty that have been or still do lie in danger of being perverted by the Sophistry of a Turbulent Faction And this I shall endeavour by shewing that the late King 1. Did Voluntarily Abdicate the Government 2. That the Proceedings of the Convention of the Estates were Just and Necessary That 3. King William's Title to the Crown is Indisputable And 4. The Obedience of his Subjects their Indispensible Duty The late King was under an Obligation by virtue of the Original Contract between the King and People which Compact is Imbody'd in our Constitution Imply'd in our Laws and Runs through all our Histories his Coronation-Oath and the Trust repos'd in him by his People to govern according to the Tenour of our Laws as has been already largely prov'd But on the contrary he broke all the Fundamental Laws fell foul upon the very Essence of the Constitution it self and gave no Quarter to any thing that oppos'd his Arbitrary Usurpation And was not this a publick Declaration that he would not be kept within the Bounds of Law nor hold his Kingly Office upon those Terms The Original Contract made him a Legal King but if he might not act the part of a Tyrant he would be nothing at all He was oblig'd by Law to protect and defend the Protestant Religion but by his unfortunate Persuasion in Religion and his moderate Affectation of Arbitrary Power he thought himself concerned to Suspend the Laws that were the Barriers to secure it and to treat it as the Northern Heresie What was his Actual Suspending and Annulling Laws without Consent of Parliament but a necessary Implication in Common Sense as well as Legal Acceptation that he Renounc'd his Kingly Office
and that in no case whatsoever they might be Resisted to which I shall add no more till I have answer'd the Calumny of the Papists who charge the Revolution upon the Principles of our Religion Pere d'Orleans the Jesuit with design to draw off the Roman Catholick Princes from a * Revolution d'Angleterre Tom 3. p. 395. Confederacy with King William and other Protestant Princes for the preservation of Europe and to perswade them to unite their Arms with those of France and the late King James on whose success as he says depends the Glory and Stability of the Popish Religion after he has scandalously told them that this Confederacy was a Combination against God and his Messias the subtle Missionary would insinuate that the late King was Depos'd merely upon the account of his Religion and that if he had been of no Religion or any thing but a Papist he had never lost his Crown which is a great Calumny and to say no worse a wilful mistake for in Antient times long before the Reformation had footing in England and when the profession of the same Religion ty'd Men in one Communion and Worship and when there could be no Apprehension of Grudges upon the Pretence of Different Persuasions in Religion there were equal Animosities and Struglings between the Antient Britains and their Kings as often as they thought their Laws and Liberties were in danger of being Invaded or Destroy'd by them None that converse with History can be ignorant that the same Innate and Congenial Temper has always sway'd these Northern Climates in all Ages within the Reach of History and was observ'd to be Predominate by Julius Caesar him self in his own Reign here Tacitus has an Instance very applicable to this purpose * Ipsi Britanni selectum tributa injuncta Imperii munera impigre obeunt si Injuriae absint has aegre tolerant jam domiti ut pareant nondum ut serviant Tacit. in Vita Agricolae Sect. 13. The Britains saith he are easily assembl'd pay Taxes freely and execute Offices in the Government chearfully if no Injuries be offer'd them for they are willing Subjects but impatient under Slavery When they were under the Power of the Normans they had often Recourse to their Arms to prevent the Incroachments and abate the Oppressions of that Race of Kings although they were All of the same Religion as is apparent in the Reign of William the First who upon the Opposition he met with relinquish'd his Pretence to Conquest and swore to govern the Kingdom by its Antient Laws William the Second was defeated by many of his Subjects who took part with his Elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy because Rufus had violated the Laws From the same Cause when Duke Robert rais'd an Army against his other Brother Henry the First the greatest part of Henry's Army Revolted to Robert because as Matthew Paris says Henry had already been a Tyrant Another Commotion was rais'd against this Prince and the Party headed by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury King John was brought to Reason by the Resistance he found by the Great Prelates Nobility and Gentry who slighted the Pope's Bull for Abolishing their Great Charter and valu'd neither the King's Arms nor the Pope's Excommunicating of them all when they stood in Competition with their Antient Rights and Privileges What Troubles and Danger did the Barons and Bishops bring upon Henry the Third for Violating their Privileges His Reign gave Birth to the Complaint that fill'd the Subjects Mouths in the Reign of King James viz. That Judgment was committed to the Unjust the Laws to the Lawless Peace to Men of Discord and Justice to the Injurious So that not only the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty but the Bishops of his own Church Warr'd against him threaten'd him with Excommunication and that if he would not be reclaim'd from his Illegal and Arbitrary Proceedings they would conferr with the other Estates of the Realm and as they had done in his Predecessor's Time would chuse a New King And if in so Antient Times when Popery was on the Meridian of Glory and Power not only the Laity but the Prelates of the Church thought it Lawful to Resist their Monarchs who were breaking in upon their Liberties why may not Protestants do the same without Scandal to their Holy Religion when they had greater Reasons and stronger Provocations than former Times could pretend to Their Religion was never in danger by any of those Kings But ours had receiv'd a deadly Wound by James the Second and was almost Expiring till we took shelter under a Prince who is not only able to Protect his own Subjects but to hinder other Nations from being brought under the Yoke of Slavery The Reader I hope will easily perceive that these Instances are not urg'd to flatter the Rage or gratifie the Passions of Seditious Rebels but only to shew that it has always been the Genius of the English Nation under all Forms of Religion to be very Tender of their Privileges and gave greater Proofs of their Zeal for them in Times of Popery than ever they have done since ehe Protestant Religion obtain'd amongst us Which may at once confute the Jesuits and convince the World that we did not resist the late King James because he was a Papist but because he was a Tyrant tho' it has been observ'd in England that Popery was the first Step to Arbitrary Power and the nearer any of our Kings inclin'd to Popery so much the more did our Privileges decline till at last they were almost totally destroy'd by a Prince that openly profess'd it and all our Crime is that we would not be content to be Ruin'd by the late King and his Popish Emmissaries and rather chose to desire Protection Liberty and the Restitution of our Privileges from His Present Majesty than abide in the Condition of the vilest Slaves to the late King James A Crime for which I am very confident no Papist tho' he Rail at us with his Tongue can condemn us in his Conscience And this brings us to the last Plea that our Opponents are pleas'd to enter against the Doctrine of Resistance and securing our Obedience to the late King viz. That we are oblig'd by our Oaths to Obey and not Resist him upon any Pretence whatsoever To which I Answer How large an Extent soever some Men may give to the Oaths they took in pursuance of an Act of Parliament in the 13th of Charles the Second yet they ought to remember what must always be suppos'd as the Natural Condition of every Oath Rebus sic stantibus Things continuing in the same State as they were in at the Time of Taking these Oaths for otherwise the Obligation ceases when Things are so changed that they are Unlawful or impossible to be observ'd When we took these Oaths to the late King we believ'd he would observe and keep his own Oath at his Coronation and protect us in
short view how these Princes carried it one towards the other None are Ignorant that the F. K. as soon as he apprehended that a pretended Zeal for Religion was the only way to advance his Ends and humor his Ambition but that he trumpt it up in all Courts where the same Religion was profess'd Religion was a Cloak to his Designs when he made an Incursion into the Spanish Netherlands and in the last Dutch War * Anno 1671. from whence We may date all our Misfortunes He in Conjunction with the King of Great Britain to destroy the States of Holland Intimated by his Ambassadors to the Pope to the Emperor of Germany and all other Princes whom he had a mind to deter from lending Assistance to the Dutch that they were a Nation fallen into Abominable Heresies and therefore all Christians were oblig'd in Conscience to War against them and rend in pieces that flourishing Republick and this furnish'd King James with the same Religious pretences against his own People At the very beginning of the late King's Reign the F. K. set him a Pattern at home and broke the inviolable Edict of Nants * Vid. Ed. Nants 1685. and King James in imitation of so pious an Example set up his dispencing Power in England violated his Oaths and Promises to his People and both under pretence of Zeal for Religion but all the Roman Catholick Princes were sensible to what eminent dangers that boasted Zeal had reduc'd them to for what Reverence what Veneration could they think those Princes had for the Name of Christian that made no Conscience of their Oaths that broke their Faith with Christians and leagu'd with Infidels who prefer'd the Crescent of Mahomet before the Cross of Christ and brib'd the Turks to begin a War against the Emperor * 1683. and Ruin that Capital City Vienna which is the Bulwork of Christendom against the Incursions of the Barbarians Who can think that Spiritual Things ever imploy'd the thoughts of that Monarch unless in order to Temporals that reflects with what violence he makes ostentation of his Zeal at home and at the same time espouses the Cause of the Protestants in Germany and Hungary perswading them to follow the Fortune of Count Teckeley and to joyn with the Turk to demand satisfaction for the violence offer'd to their Religion And this deceitful Artifice and Chichanery was the Cause that the Pope for some time resolutely refus'd to elect Fourbin into the Coledge of Cardinals As this affected Devotion of the F K. was subservient to his Ambition so James IId's Biggotry was early suspected to rise from the same Cause as the Earl of Shaftsbury declar'd before King Charles II. in a Speech * Shaftsbury's Speech State tracts Part 1. p. 463. in the House of Lords that the Duke of York had quitted his Religion that he might gain a powerful party to his Faction And this agrees with a Letter written about the same time and Recorded in the fifth Book of Collections wherein the Author tells the Duke of York that 't is the opinion of all Men that he Apostatiz'd from his Old and embrac'd a New Religon not as Charm'd by its Perfections but allur'd by the promises of an Absolute Monarchy and the blandishments of a Despotick Power which by this means would one time or other fall into his Hands Afterwards the same Letter admonishes the Duke to beware lest being dazled with the splendour of the French Monarchy he should endeavour to overthrow the best Government in the World since he seem'd to imitate King John who offer'd to turn Mahometan if the Emperor of Morocco would assist him with a Force to Revenge the Insolency of the Barons who vindicated their Liberties against the Encroachments of their King The Successes of France in War the intimate correspondence between the Duke of York and that King who manag'd England by the Politicks of Cardinal Richlieu and Mazarine at length induc'd the Duke of York to publish himself a Papist and knowing that thereby he hazarded the loss of the Church of England party he cajoll'd the Dissenters and heap'd his Favours upon them that they might be the Tools of his Ambition and also caress'd the Romanists both at home and abroad that they might be inclin'd for Religion sake to assist him But the Catholick Princes fathomed his design which was staged under the mask of Piety and joyn'd with the Interest of France and therefore Pope Innocent XI was not only incens'd with the French King and when he was drawing his last breath recommended his Emnity to the Cardinals that stood about him but also deliver'd it as his Judgment * Vindic. Gov. p. 44. that the designs of the late King James tended only to his own Ambition and his Brother 's of France and therefore did not receive the Earl of Castlemain his Ambassador with so much Honour as was due to such a magnificent and sumptuous appearance for his Holiness knew how all things were so manag'd by the Jesuits that every thing should be a Sacrifice to the Ambition of France and therefore as the Pope Complimented the late King James with a coolness of affection so he allways suspected him sometimes discover'd his Animosity and received the News * Vid. representat of Dangers in pol. tract par 2. p. 398. of his Abdication with transports of Joy and Gladness 'T is manifested the Emperor of Germany concurr'd in opinion with the Pope for after the late King's Abdication when he beg'd the Emperor's assistance in his misfortunes * Tracts of pol. col 12. vid. the Emp. of Ger. Letter and made use of his affection to the Romish Religion as a motive to encline him the Emperor return'd this Answer That the late King James 's Affairs had been now in a prosperous condition if he had hearkn'd to the advice of his Ambassador * Comitis de Kaknuits and not to the perfidy and flattery of the F King and had hindred by his Authority and Arms the F from violating the League and Peace whereof he was made Guarrantee by the Treaty of Nimeguen Now says the Emperor How can I assist you who must be forc'd to oppose the Forces of F and the Turk who did not doubt of the Fidelity and Assistance of England for the greatest injury that can be offer'd to our Religion is done by the F who is Confederated with the Turk the inveterate Enemy of Christianty So that the Jesuits that perswade the Roman Catholick Princes for their Religion sake to desert the Friendship of our Potent Monarch who has restor'd us to our Dying Liberties is just as if they should perswade the Confederate Princes to declare for those two Kings who not only design'd to enslave all Europe but also cherish'd the cause of the Infidels against the Christians and this brings me again into England And here it would be vain and impertinent in me to attempt to give a
Unanimous Vote and Universal Election of the People Confirm'd and Recogniz'd by the same Authority and Law of England by which all his Royal Predecessors enjoy'd the Imperial Crowns of these Kingdoms besides the Undoubted Right of his Excellent Princess and his own Right of Blood and that the Submission of the People and Determination of the Estates of the Kingdom grounded not only upon the Supream Law of Publick Good but also upon the Known and Declar'd Positive Laws and Constitutions of this Government as there has been Occasion in all Ages from the first Foundation of this Limited Monarchy and that this is Conclusive to all Private Subjects Yet because we ought to Resolve Cases here that may stand with the Reason of Mankind when they are debated abroad and that some that have writ on the Behalf of the Government by their weak and precarious Arguments have set up divers Titles that make it look like a Fanciful Chimera or built upon a Sandy or Fictitious Bottom and have more disparag'd the Revolution by their Impertinencies than all that have exercis'd their Pens or Spleens against it I crave Leave to be a little more particular upon it The Crown of England as placed on the Head of our Dread Sovereign William the Third stands Firm and Immoveable there on the Right of the Case and the Reason of the Thing without the Props of Art Oratory or Learning to support it Shuffling between Providential Settlement Conquest and Topping Protections of Power scandalize the King 's Legal Title and mis-lead his Subjects Let but the Matter express it self plainly and it will carry an Entire Conviction and Satisfaction with it in its own Genuine Phrase and Designment 'T is truly and plainly stated in the Prince of Orange's Declaration and is neither more nor less than what briefly follows James the Second directly contrary to his Coronation-Oath breaks through all the Establish'd Laws of the Land Invades and Subverts the Religious and Civil Rights Liberties Privileges and Properties of his Subjects which he solemnly Swore to Protect and Defend and in an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Manner Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State by Usurping a Power unknown to the Constitution and as Inconsistent with it as Light with Darkness His Subjects perceiving All going to Ruin having first us'd all Means to Reclaim him but to no purpose Assume their Natural Right in Defence of their Laws their Lives their Religion and to preserve them Entire oppose the Violent and Arbitrary Methods of the late King and apply themselves to the Prince of Orange our now Gracious King who had a Just Expectation of a Right to the Crown and humbly pray His Highness to assist them in Recovering and Defending their Legal Rights together with his own Title to the Succession both apparently Invaded and endeavouring to be Destroy'd by Clandestine Methods This Illustrious Prince gives the People Assistance and by the Blessing of God and the Mutual Appearance of the Nation for their Self-Defence and Preservation James the Second Conscious of his own Guilt in endeavouring to subvert the Constitution and breaking the Original Contract between King and People and that by the Advice of Jesuits and other Wicked People he had Violated the Fundamental Laws and thereby Abdicated the Government he leaves the Kingdom Upon which Vacancy of the Throne His Highness the Prince of Orange together with his Royal Consort of ever Blessed Memory the next Indisputable Heir to the Crown in a Full and Free Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declar'd and Constituted King and Queen of England c. Now since 't is visible that the late King James was fled and that it was absolutely necessary the Government should be supply'd and some other King plac'd in the Throne who accepting the Crown upon the Conditions tender'd with it would give Assurance of Governing by the Laws of the Constitution and secure our Happiness under him there can remain no reasonable Objection against his Title Besides His Sacred Majesty King William the Third in a more especial manner is God's King as being appointed by his Providence by whom Kings Reign assisted by his Almighty Power and the Glorious Instrument in his Hand to Enterprize and Accomplish such a Deliverance as in common Gratitude without Respect to other Right in all Nations of the World has been constantly Rewarded with a Crown and more particularly in England upon that Respect Alone has justly meritted the Sovereignty His present Majesty is also God's King as being the Wise and Valiant Champion of all the Reformed Churches in Europe and who with his Sword his Head and Heart fights for Christ's Religion and to rescue the Professors of it from mighty Combinations to destroy them Root and Branch In which Great and Glorious Work God Almighty has signally own'd him as his Anointed King in preserving his Sacred Person in the Open Dangers of Wars and from the many Close and Barbarous Conspiracies of Ingrateful Regicides He is also the People's King as being their Voluntary Choice when they had no King and Establish'd by those Laws that were of their own making and the Precedents of their Fore-Fathers on the like Occasions For to rise no higher than the Norman Race William the Second Henry the First King John King Stephen Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth Henry the Sixth and Henry the Seventh had no other Title but the Consent Election of the People and a Parliamentary Recognition of their Rights But King William the Third 's Right is not only Recogniz'd by a Statute-Law but his Person and Right is Guarded by an Act of Assotiation wherein all his Subjects have oblig'd themselves to Defend him with their Lives and Fortunes and to Revenge the Injury of his Person upon all the Agressors And what could be more done to declare his Right and engage our Obedience 'T is the Rarity of these Things happening and a general Ignorance in the History of Precedent Times that makes such Proceedings seem strange and unaccountable to those who have been Nurs'd up in Slavish Notions and apprehend not the Necessity of those Overtures against King James the Second and Supplying the Throne by the Coronation of William the Third For Our present King William came into as Empty a Throne as the late King James himself did a Civil Death in the Eye of the Law making as effectual a Vacancy as a Natural Death and therefore King William had the same Forms of Investiture as if his Abdicated Predecessor had left the World as well as his Native Country Why then should Men create themselves Trouble or disquiet their own and other Men's Consciences by Vexatious Disputes against the Divine Will Positive Laws and the Concurrence of a whole Nation Solomon was not David's Heir and yet he Reigned and was Obey'd with good Conscience Joram was Ahab's Son but Jehu succeeded King Joram had a Right from Ahab but Jehu from God
TYRANNY DETECTED AND THE Late Revolution Justify'd BY THE LAW of GOD the LAW of NATURE AND THE PRACTICE of All NATIONS BEING A History of the Late King JAMES's Reign and a Discovery of His Arts and Actions for Introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power and the Intended Subversion of the Protestant Interest in the Three Kingdoms AND How that Design affected all EUROPE WHEREIN All the Arguments against the REVOLUTION are fairly Propounded and Candidly Answer'd the Pretended Reasons against the Present SETTLEMENT Recited and Modestly Refuted and Obedience to King WILLIAM and his Government Legally and Religiously Asserted By RIC. KINGSTON LONDON Printed for John Nutt near Stationers Hall MDCXCIX To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Portland Viscount Woodstock in the County of Oxon Baron of Cirencester in the County of Gloucester Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter One of the Lieutenant-Generals of His Majesty's Forces Groom of the Stole First Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber One of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please your Lordship MY vast Obligations to your Lordship's Goodness exceeding all possibility of Retaliation and a private Acknowledgment being too faint a Testimony of the Gratitude of my Mind I have presum'd on this Method to make my Thankfulness extend beyond the Limits of my Life and acquaint the World that His Majesty's Bounty and your Lordship's Favours have not been thrown away upon an Ungrateful Person but bestow'd upon a Dutiful Subject who hath hitherto and as long as God affords him Life will express his Duty to your Lordship in the Sincerity of his Service to His Majesty's Government and that I know will be more acceptable to your Lordship than tedious Harangues or elegant Expressions where the greatest I can make is the least that I acknowledge to be due to your Lordship from me The following Discourse my Lord shews the Lawfulness of our late happy Revolution and might justly command my Obliging the World with an Account of your Lordship's extraordinary Merits in that and all other Occasions for England's Safety But when I consider your Lordship is better pleas'd in deserving than hearing an excellent Character and that your Lordship being one of those Pillars that under His Sacred Majesty support the Weight of Publick Transactions I cannot hope the Great Affairs of your Eminent Station should afford you Time to Read a longer Dedication and therefore dare not give my self the Liberty of writing so much as a short Elogy upon a Subject that is able to justifie the largest Panegyrick Now That your Lordship may enjoy a long and happy Life exalted in your Prince's Favour and prosperous in all your Negotiations to the Encouragement of true Piety Loyalty and Vertue shall be the Incessant Prayers of My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Entirely Devoted Servant RIC. KINGSTON The PREFACE Reader THis small Treatise that now salutes your Hands and is submitted to your Censure is the Tenth I have Writ and Publish'd on the Government 's Behalf since the happy Revolution and for some Reasons being forc'd to conceal my Name some of the Scribling Tribe have been pleas'd to call themselves the Authors of them and have stolen Rewards from Publick Hands for what were only my Productions therefore seeing most of those Books are Sold off and as soon as a Work of another Nature is Compleated that has been long under hand I shall Collect them all into one entire Volume Publish it with my Name to it and leave the Usurpers to prove their Titles to what they have so unjustly claim'd In relation to the Subsequent Discourse I must acknowledge the Path has been already trod by others but whether in Brevity and Perspicuity they have made the Way so plain to every Understanding your self not I must now determine However since large Volumes neither correspond with the Purses nor Leisure of the Generality of English Readers and that our Enemies talk this Subject as leudly now as at the Beginning of the Revolution I have accommodated our Friends with an Antidote against that Infection at a Price and in a Volume that will neither burthen the Reader 's Memory waste his Time nor disoblige his Pocket and yet furnish him with Reasons to answer all Objections in favour of James the Second or those advanc'd against our Legal Establishment Vale. Tyranny Detected AND THE Late REVOLUTION JUSTIFIED c. WHoever has an Inclination to satisfie himself or others that the Attempt of the late King in Subverting the Protestant Religion and Introducing and Establishing Popery in these Kingdoms was no Design of a late Invention nor only owing to the Caprichio of his own Bigotry in the Romish Persuasion to go no further backward must take his Aera from the Restoration of Charles the Second who was Imbark'd in the same Enterprize tho' for fear of Travelling again as he was pleas'd to phrase it he was unwilling to divulge it till he was leaving the World and thought it Inconsistent with his future Estate any longer to conceal the Secret To the Banishment of the Royal Family and their sitting loose in the Principles of that truly Catholick Religion in which they were Educated must be ascrib'd this fatal Change Their Exile and other Inconveniencies laid 'em open to many Temptations The Allurements and Promises of those Popish Princes on whom they must necessarily have some kind of Dependance smooth'd the Way and the Caresses and Incessant Importunities of their Mother assisted by the Crafts and Treachery of Priests and Jesuits who know how to improve every Advantage at length prevail'd upon the Unsteady Royal Brothers to Abjure the Protestant and Espouse the Popish Religion Their Example Influenc'd many that had either Dependance on them or Expectation from them to Write after * Quicquid Principes faciunt praecipere videntur Quint. â—la 4. their Copy and so the King and Duke were early furnish'd with a Sett of Men Ready Prepar'd to execute what was subservient to the Great Design of Subjecting England's Obedience to the Triple Crown Nor can any Rational Man at this time of day doubt but that Charles the Second Liv'd and Dy'd a Papist who hath either heard what he both Said and Did when under the Prospect of approaching Death and past hope of Acting a Part any longer or who have Read the two Papers left in his Strong Box publish'd to the World and Attested by the late King James to be Genuine No less have we Reason to doubt but Setting up Popery and Arbitrary Power was his Darling-Project since the whole Course of his Reign was but one Entire Confirmation of those Destructive Machinations And tho' with the Highest Asseverations and Dreadful Imprecations he often deny'd both making us believe what he was not by Inveighing against what he really was yet the Actions of Princes that speak louder and convince more effectually than feign'd Declarations or Proclamations Evidently shew'd he did but
bubble and delude the Nation till Insensibly to us and with Security to himself he might appear in his own Likeness and do here what in France he had promis'd His Engaging in an Expensive and Bloody War against the States of Holland could have no other Design but to weaken the Protestant Interest both in that Commonwealth and in his own Kingdom Provocations they had given him none nor could he assign any Reason of State on his own part unless he fetch'd it from the Romish Alcoran that says we must have no Peace with Hereticks and allows all Acts of Injury and Violence to Protestants His stifling the Popish Plot and delivering the Papists as much as in him lay from the Danger into which it had cast them His being the Author or at least the Great Encourager of Sham-Plots charg'd upon Protestants His continued Confederacies with the Known Enemy to the Disobliging of his own People His Betraying of Europe by false and flattering Promises when he might have prescrib'd what Terms of the Peace he pleas'd during the whole Course of his Mediation at Nimeguen or in Conjunction with the Dutch and other Allyes have continued the War against France to the greatest Advantage that ever was put into the Hands of the Confederates is a manifest Proof how he stood affected And tho' he made great Shews as if he had been in earnest all was but Deceit and Colour for at length contrary to all the Rules of Policy and without Ground or Pretext for such Proceedings a Peace was clap'd up * Sir W. Temple's Memoirs in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber by the Intervention and Pursuit of Monsieur Barillon to the great Amazement and general Prejudice of all Christendom His then Majesty's neglecting to Assist the French Protestants under great Persecutions for their Religion was more than a Tacit Consent to their Utter Extirpation His Intailing the Duke of York upon the Nation contrary to the Desires and Endeavours of Three Parliaments and that not out of Love to his Person but Affection to Popery which he knew that Prince was engag'd by Solemn Oath to establish are Sufficient Evidences of Charles the Second's Religion and his being engag'd in the Design of Subverting ours which I think no Man will question that was not concerned with him in it 'T was by a strange Providence as well as great Oversight in the Conduct of the late King that we arriv'd at this Discovery for so many good Men that believ'd the Tremendous Oaths his Majesty Charles the Second had swallow'd and thought it impossible he should prevaricate in so solemn a Matter were so fix'd in their Opinions of King Charles's being a Protestant and so Outragious against them that durst but whisper the contrary that had it not been for his Receiving Absolution and Extream Unction from a Popish Priest a little before his Death and for what he left in Writing under his own Hand he would still have pass'd for a True Protestant and the Nation in favour of that Monarch would have still been kept under their former Delusions And Tho' at the same time it gives us but an Indifferent Character of this Prince who for the Lucre of a Crown thus notoriously dissembled with God and Man and that in all his Declarations and Speeches to the Parliament and in Complying in the Offices and in Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Church of England he wore the Vizor of a Protestant when he was a Member of the Church of Rome and was by Oath when he chang'd his Religion at St. Germains in France oblig'd to set up Popery Yet it gives us an Everlasting Abhorrence of Romish Principles which for the Sordid Interest of that Idolatrous Church did not only Dispence with but Indulge such Crimes as the worst of Heathens and Pagans would blush at the Thoughts of And here tho' the Series of the Narration will hardly allow it I will draw a Veil before the Picture of this Unhappy Prince and without Exposing his Intricate and Bifarious Actions to a more Open View and Censure content my self by telling the Reader he Liv'd in a Cloud he Dy'd in a Storm But by what means he came to his End God knows tho' the Suddenness and Meanness of his Interment Rais'd many Suspicions Neque Sepulchrum quo recipiat habet portum corporis Ubi remissa humana vita corporis requiescat a malis He had no Tomb nor with a Port was blest Where after Death his Corps in Peace might rest I am not unsensible that some Judicious Enquirers into these Affairs will think I ought to have begun the Designs of Advancing Popery and Arbitrary Power with the Reign of the Family of the Stewarts in this Kingdom But since I cannot with Justice think the first two Kings design'd to bring in Popery and having Occasion to take notice of every of their particular Efforts for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power in their several Reigns in the subsequent Discourse I thought it excusable that I began no Earlier than the Restoration of Charles the Second and therefore proceed to shew what Methods were taken by him to Erect those Idols and subvert our Religion and Laws and they were principally Four First 1. By Abusing the Credulity of the Nation with the fond Hopes of such Privileges and Immunities as were never intended them Of this kind was his Declaration from Breda which promis'd Indulgence and Liberty of Conscience to all Protestants that would live peaceably under the Civil Government But if we had look'd before us and not suffer'd our Prejudices against the many late Mock-Governments the Tyranny of our Fellow-Subjects and the Transports of being deliver'd from them in the Accession of the Rightful King to his Throne to have blinded our Eyes we might easily have perceiv'd that it was never in his Thoughts to perform it For the Previous Obligations he was under to the Church of Rome had a Virtue to Supersede and Annul his Engagements to English Hereticks So that all he Intended by that Declaration was to Tye up the Hands and Lull those into a Tameness of Admitting his Return into his Dominions whom a Jealousie of being afterwards persecuted for their Consciences might have awaken'd to withstand and dispute it 'till they had better Security And so it came to pass for he was no sooner seated in the Throne of his Ancestors and saw himself secure but he discharg'd himself from every thing that the Royal Word and Faith of a Prince had oblig'd him to perform Secondly 2. By Sowing Discord Dividing Protestants Alienating their Affections and Imbittering their Minds one against another that being so Divided and Enrag'd they might contribute to each other's Destruction or by weakning their Interest become an easie Prey to the Fury of Papists And truly nothing but an Early Prospect of this Method could have Embolden'd King Charles to enterprize upon our English Liberties and the Reform'd Religion For tho' there have been
and Formidable to his Enemies The Parliament gave him more Money for the Time than to any of his Predecessors The Nobility rais'd him Forces to subdue a Popular Invader Addressors offer'd him their Lives and Fortunes and vy'd with each other in the Demonstrations of their Loyalty What related to the private Satisfaction of the late King's Humour was chearfully comply'd with But when it was apparent that the whole Kingdom was design'd a Sacrifice to his Lawless Ambition and Frentick Zeal his Subjects began to search into the Measures of their Submission and to enquire how far they were oblig'd to obey an Arbitrary Prince and from thence began to take new Measures insomuch that the late King no sooner alter'd from what he seem'd to be in his first Speech but the People chang'd from what they were and took up Resolutions to Embrace the First Opportunity and Means of Deliverance But because Precipitation and Immaturity in Action Ruin the best laid Enterprizes in the World they resolv'd to Suffer till Patience should Ripen the Design and render the Execution of it Easie and Effectual To this purpose the Great and Wise Men of the Kingdom having abandon'd the Court as an Infectious Palace and retir'd into the Country they debated on this Subject and all agreeing in an Acknowledgment of their own Weakness in so manifestly exposing themselves and their Country to the Capricious Humours of a Tyrannical Prince tho' they heartily wish'd him all Happiness yet they thought their Duty was stretch'd too far when by a blind Submission to his Irregular Commands they were oblig'd to forego the Natural Principles of Self-Preservation and that by seeking officiously to add to their Loyalty they must Detract from their Judgments Consciences and Honesty and therefore apyly'd themselves to find out a Remedy that might either Recover or Disarm him and yet deprive him of nothing but the Liberty of doing Wrong And Who can blame those Wise and Prudent Patriots for laying hold on the first Advantage for their own and the Nation 's Preservation when all Hopes of the late King's Reformation were so utterly Extinguish'd that every Moment produc'd new Projects of our Ruin He now Glory'd in being thought a Zealous Papist and gave up himself Entirely to the Conduct of Infamous Jesuits They were the Governors and Directors of his Conscience they Influenc'd all his Counsels And he seem'd to have no other Sentiments either in Religion or Politicks but what was breath'd into him by that wretched Society He parted with a Flower of his Crown in Abolishing the Act of Supremacy and divested himself of all Power in Spiritual Affairs to gratifie the Pope's Ambition and from being Supream in his own Dominions was reduc'd to be an Under-Officer to the See of Rome having left himself no Power but to Execute such Orders in Extirpating Hereticks as that Church thought fit to impose upon him See into what a Subjection and Vassalage he had brought himself He that would observe no Laws at home laid himself under the Penalty of those at Rome who would allow him no Room for Mercy to his Subjects without bringing a severe Judgment upon himself For * Tho. Acqu Sescind par Surâ—mae â—â—aest 50. Art 3. if he neglected to destroy Hereticks after he was admonish'd by that Church to do it he forfeited his Crown to the Pope his Subjects were discharg'd of their Allegiance himself Depos'd and his Kingdom must be given to another Severe Sentences for not being a Murtherer But there is a Worse behind his Eternal Damnation must follow his Temporary Losses and Deprivation in case of Disobedience Under these Circumstances what Hopes had England of any Good from James the Second For after all this to pretend he would support our Religion and Civil Constitutions which are as opposite to Popery as Light to Darkness is mere Nonsense or think he would run any of these Hazards or blot his Name in the Roman Calendar to preserve a Poison'd Nation a Generation of Obstinate Hereticks Enemies and Traytors to God and Man for with these Epithets Bellarmin adorns our Characters is to persuade the World that our Reason's grow downward and that by imbibing this contradiction we were preparing to swallow Transubstantion also Suetonius in the Life of Tiberius says that Emperor could never have made such Inrodes upon the antient Priviledges of the Roman Empire if he had not been assisted in it by Time servers and flatterers nor could James the second so easily have fallen into the Desire and Exercises of a Dispotic power if his own Inclinations had not been assisted by the concurrence of Ill men and the prevailing opinions of the age that made way for it among which this was one viz. that Monarchy and Hereditary Succession was by Divine Right and Inalienable A pleasing doctrine to Princes that are grasping at Arbitrary Power as giving them liberty to be as Tyrannical as they please because no Man can be said to offend that acts * Nemine injuriam facit qui jure suo utitur from a principle of Divine and Inherent Right for that never dies nor can be Abolish'd and therefore since this Doctrine has been of fatal consequence both to Kings and Subjects Give me leave to offer something against its spreading farther by asking these modest Questions When and to whom was this Charter granted If they say it had the same original with the Creation and was confer'd on Adam by God Almighty their Proof ought to be taken and with certainty too from the Sacred Records before they can hope to gain credit to their Assertion Now that Adam had a Paternal Authority none will deny but that he had a Monarchical Jurisdiction and that it was perpetual and extended beyond the bounds of his own Family or that his Sons when out of their Fathers Jurisdiction had not the same Authority in their own Families as Adam had in his is no where to be found in Scripture granted either before or after the Universal Deluge to Noah's posterity for besides the absurdity of the Notion in making all other Forms of Government in the World Tyrannical and Unlawful 't is unreasonable in respect of Kings themselves For unless they can prove themselves the immediate Heirs of Adam which is impossible to do they have no right to the Crowns they claim by Human Constitutions but are all Usurpers and when the late King makes such a Proof he will say something to the purpose till then I think it improperly urg'd on his behalf that the Divine Right of Monarchy began in Adam because there was such an early breach in the Succession as might spoyl all pretences to it for the future I wish the case be not too parrellel For Cain having murther'd his Brother and Fled his Country he made a forfeiture of his Right and by his Abdicating the Government after the Decease of Adam it must devolve upon Seth which was an Interruption in the Succession in
own Will should prescribe to it By virtue of this Unlimited Power he brought a Jesuit into the Privy-Council made a Profess'd Papist Secretary of State constituted two Popish Judges and fill'd up many of the most Important Offices and Places of Trust and Profit in the Kingdom with Papists such as Sheriffs Justices of the Peace Mayors of Cities and Corporations and Officers in his Army And that he might be able to gain his Point and force those that refus'd to comply voluntarily he put the Tower of London the great Magazin of England and Keeper of the Regalia into the Hands of Sir Edward Hales as Rank and Sowr a Papist as ever our Soil produc'd and fill'd all the Vacant Places of his Army with Popish Officers By the same Authority he granted an Ecclesiastical Commission gave Four Popish Bishops Power to visit several Districts in England plac'd a Society of Jesuits in the Savoy and erected Popish Schools and Mass-Houses in most of our Cities and Corporations And Lastly To annoy his Subjects and force his Way through all Difficulties in Times of Peace kept a Standing Army 'T is needless to tell the Reader that these Proceedings were contrary to the Laws of the Land and wholly Inconsistent with them for there are very few or none but know it already in general Terms I shall therefore apply my self to shew you how it was against Law and what would have been the Consequences of this Unlimited Power if the late King had continu'd longer amongst us And this brings me to shew you his particular Actions To feel the Pulse of England and try how they Resented his Proceedings the late King commonly began the Exercise of his Arbitrary Power in Scotland and from the Measures that were taken there we might take a Prospect of his Tyranny and our own Calamities for tho' he shew'd us his Designs under the Soft Title of Dispencing in Scotland he threw off that Vizor and explained himself in calling it Vide Scotch Declaration Annulling and Disabling Laws And to shew all the World his Arbitrary Ends he gave such a Specimen of his Single Unlimited Power there that he attempted to do more in that Kingdom which as well as ours is a Limited Monarchy than the United Power of King Lords and Commons together were able to do and that was by imposing an Oath on that People contrary to Law in these Words You shall swear to the utmost of your Power to Defend Assist and Maintain the King and his Successors in the Exercise of their Absolute Power And this I take Leave to say the King and Parliament could not impose upon the Subject because it was in it self a Subversion of the Constitution as being an Obligation to support a Power destructive to the whole Frame of the Government This Caprichio of the late King James was the Master-piece of all his Jesuited Counsels and the Finishing Stroke of an Eternal Vassalage for this Oath was created by his Arbitrary Power and his Arbitrary Power was to be supported by this Oath and both must grow together and run in an Endless Circle to the utter Extinction of all the Remains of our Natural Liberty or Legal Government And what was done in Scotland we have Reason to believe in its Course must have been exercis'd in England also the late King having no more or other Authority in one Kingdom than he has in the other and both then govern'd by the same Arbitrary Maxims and Popish Ministers In England the late King assuming a Dispensing power Usurp'd the whole Legislative Authority into his own Hands for to Dispense with Laws is as great a power as to make them and by the exercise of it invested himself with a power as great if not greater than that of King and Parliament together who can joyntly but not severally give any Resolve the Authority of a Law The pretences to justifie this Action was that he might have the assistance of all his Subjects and that the Papists having been equally Loyal to his Progenitors they might not be discourag'd by legal Discriminations This was but a light pretence tho' part of the Intrigue for his dispencing power was chiefly directed to another and more considerable purpose From the latter end of King Charles's Reign the Press was loaden with Pamphlets and City and Country fill'd with invectives against Parliaments as unnecessary Wenns in the Government that were fit to be cut off that the Royal Authority might be without any Legal or Pecuniary Restraint or Limitation Now the Dispencing Power would do this Work effectually for it put the whole Legislative Authority into the King's Hands and made Parliaments Useless and signifie Nothing For this End was it set up And the Employing Papists that were Unqualify'd by Law was for no other End but to support the Dispencing Power till it had accomplish'd what was intended by it Protestants could not be suppos'd to engage in this Design for the Law was made in their Favour and was their Security against Romish Persecutions and Depredations and therefore the late King would bring Papists into the Government to whom the Laws were Enemies that in requital they might be Enemies to to the Laws and stick at nothing to support their King's Power that made them what they were and would only continue them in their Advantageous Stations So that if that King should gain his Point there seem'd a kind of Mutual Necessity for the late King to Introduce Papists and for Papists to execute his Orders or the Power and the Officers would sink into their Original Nothing But the Snare is broken and we are Deliver'd Strong Desires are the Common Temptations to the Use of Ill Means and never did any Man grasp at the Power to do Mischief without the Purpose If ever there have been such mysterious Riddles of Irregular Vertue yet James the Second never gave any Instances of it for it plainly appear'd in him how effectually the Temptation of Unlimited Power work'd in his Ambitious Humour He never thought any thing Enough till he had ingross'd a Power to Ruin All and turn Old England into a Wilderness of New Confusions By this Dispencing Power he at once suspended above Forty Statures relalating to our Religion and the next Week by the same Arbitrary Power might have suspended Forty more that secur'd our Civil Properties likewise for he had no more Right to do the one than the other and so might have gone on to the End of the Chapter till he had Abrogated all the Laws in the Statute-Book and acted here as afterwards Doctor King tells us he did in Ireland * State of Ireland p. 92. Seize Men's Goods for his own Use by a File of Musqueteers or at best by his own Warrant without any kind of Legal Process and to which he had no other Claim but that he wanted them Now if this be not Tyranny nothing in the World can merit that Appellation and therefore
into Scotland with the Lord Seaford without being able to obtain a Pardon for his Life or Estate From this and other Instances that might be given we may see their Popish Juggling for when an Act of Parliament is made against a Papist 't was no less than Treason to question the King 's Pardoning and Dispencing Power but when an Act bears hard on a Protestant and their King as he pretends has a Mind to Ease them then the King has no Power to Dispence he cannot grant a Pardon his Hands are bound up by Law So that the End of Setting up this Dispencing Power was only to shelter Papists from the Law and ruin Protestants for the Papists in their Hearts we see are as much against it as the Protestants To go on The late King declar'd in Council that he would publish such a Proclamation in England as he had done in Scotland and that none should have Employments under him that would not co-operate in taking off the Penal Laws And he began to execute these Resolutions with a Conduct full of Violence and Injustice The Lord Bishop of London was put out of the Privy Council and Suspended from his Episcopal Office because he would not Suspend Doctor Sharp now Archbishop of York without Legal Process The Earl of Rochester was depriv'd of his Office of Lord Treasurer because he would not change his Religion And the Duke of Sommerset lost his Office because he would not violate the Laws of the Kingdom in performing the Honours at the Reception of the Pope's Nuncio as is usual at the Introduction of Ambassadors To say in Excuse of this that James the Second turn'd out Great Officers of State because they would not obey him and concurr with his Intensions is to publish a Truth that ought to have been Conceal'd by his own Party because it was an evident Demonstration that his Intentions were Unjust and level'd against our Laws and Religion In Things Lawful tho' not Expedient he found a Tacit Compliance nay some of them to keep him in Temper perhaps comply'd further with him than the Strictness of the Law would justifie as Men pull down some Houses at a Fire to preserve the whole Town from Burning But to comply in all things had been to forfeit their own Honours to justifie his Illegalities and Tyranny 2. The Second Means that the late King James employ'd for the Destruction of the Religion and Liberties of England was granting an Ecclesiastical Commission directly contrary to Law This declar'd by what Methods he intended to govern for every Step he made was a new Project to assert his Arbitrary Power and acquaint his Subjects that he would make all Laws Useless that all Power should rest in his own Hands and the Administration be Issu'd from no other Source but his own Will and Pleasure for there was no Occasion for such a Commission but only to shew what he would be at and declare his Purpose to ruin the Church of England Therefore the Commissioners were Devoto's of the Court for the Archbishop's Name was put in but to grace the Matter They knew before that he would not Act and therefore to colour the Sham they oblig'd him to ask Leave to be absent To make this Commission more Illegal a Papist is appointed one of the Commissioners and the whole cloathed with as Absolute a Power as the late King himself was aspiring after They had not only Power to Repress and Punish all Abuses punishable by the Ecclesiastical Laws and to proceed against Offenders by Interdiction Suspention Excommunication Perpetual Imprisonment c. but they had also Power to Exercise their Authority in all Parts of England to Visit Cathedral-Churches the Universities Colleges Parishes Schools and Hospitals to Judge in all Causes and make new Laws Rules Orders and Statutes and Abolish the Old ones as the present Necessity requir'd notwithstanding any Privilege Statute Exemption or Prerogative to the contrary Which was such a boundless Stretch of Power as never had nor I hope never will have any other President than it self Thirdly He pursu'd his Arbitrary Methods by 3. Setting up Popery in Opposition to the National Religion to Ruin his Protestant Subjects and force the whole Kingdom under Subjection to the Papal Laws which had already sentenc'd them to Destruction and that nothing less could be the Design of this Unhappy Monarch will evidently appear if we consider how Popery represents us to the World and how Papists think themselves oblig'd to treat us under those Characters The modestest Terms the Popish Writers can afford the English Protestants is That they are a Pack of Sacrilegious Usurpers of their Church's Patrimony and a Nest of Obstinate Hereticks that ought to be Sacrific'd to their Revenge and Rooted out of the World by any Means whatsoever and this say they is always to be attempted by every good Prince according to Bellarmine's Salvo Ne sint fortiores nobis Unless they be too strong to be subdu'd For otherwise even Massacres are never condemned but when they are unsuccessful And how then they would have us'd us if they could have established their Mischiess by Laws as Bloody as their Minds let the Marian Persecution acquaintus And why should we tempt them again whose Religion is Cruelty and smells so much of Fire that the very Smoak makes us tremble The Laws of England always intend the Preservation of the Subject but Popery when Triumphant in respect of Protestants is destructive to all Laws contrary to the Law of Society to the Law of Government to the Law of Empire to the Law of Royalty and especially to the Laws of a Mix'd Monarchy such as England's are and Protestants can never be safe where 't is Regnant First 1. Popery is against the Laws of Society in all Protestant Countries as well as in England for according to the Romish Tradition the Reform'd are all Hereticks and as such are Ipso Facto depriv'd of the Right they had to their Goods their Children their Liberty their Privileges and even of their Country and ought to be regarded only as Robbers * Becan Theol Scol p. 1. cap. 15. quaest 6. Thieves Murtherers Rebels and Traytors condemn'd to Death by the Church and ought to be deliver'd to the Secular Power to be Executed And to compleat the Tragedy that Holy Church appoints prodigious Recompences to Princes that Exterminate them and Anathematize those that refuse it Now whilst a Popish Prince lies under the Persuasion that his Protestant Subjects are such as his Church represents them that they are not a People nor have Right to any thing they possess he lies under so great a Temptation to destroy them that they had no Reason in the World to trust him with their Lives or suffer him to set up a Power that will inevitably destroy them Secondly 2. It is not less Incompatible with the Law of Government for that is design'd to Protect and Defend And how can that
Laws do not only totally exclude Papists from Military Offices but injoin them to be Disarm'd also Notwithstanding James the Second did not only Arm them but put them into the First Employments of the Army and all other Stations And was so fond of them that no Consideration either of Quality Loyalty or Merit except he was a Papist could Recommend any Man to this King's Favour or give him Title to the common Kindness of a Civil Reception but all were Smil'd or Frown'd on as they were distinguish'd by their Religious Principles Men may live happily under a Government and yet be excluded from having any Office or exercising any Authority under it and therefore the late King's Fondness and the Papists Forwardness to thrust themselves into Employments gave a great Suspition that it was for no good End that he put Wise and Experienc'd Men out to make room for a sort of Raw Papists who being not us'd to Publick Business were not capacitated for it No Man can imagin that the late King made this bold Adventure in Employing Papists for nothing or that he would disoblige the Body of his People for their sakes only without designing some other Advantage to himself by it He must have some peculiar Service for these Unqualify'd Favourites to do in which the rest of the Nation would not inter-meddle The Contest was between the King 's Absolute Power on the one side and our Laws and Religion on the other And therefore to know what Work their King had for them to do and to what End he would have employ'd these Services here is but to see Vide State of Ireland under the Reign of the late King James what Use he put them to in Ireland and how they demean'd themselves towards Protestants where the Scene was open'd and all manner of Violences committed upon Protestants by his Authority He also corrupted the Exercise of Justice on which depends the Safety of the Nation and the Stability of the Throne The Judges were Tamper'd with and Admitted upon Condition of favouring and promoting the late King 's Arbitrary Power and the Popish Interest Those Judges were Depos'd who were fix'd in their Religion and Resolutely defended the True Interest of their Country and others put into their Places of no Honour Integrity or Capacity but known Temporizers or Papists who were excluded by the Laws of their Country Upon this follow'd very Arbitrary and Illegal Proceedings in the Courts of Judicature A Prosecution was carry'd on against Seven Reverend Prelates for Petitioning the King to Redress their Grievances and giving their Reasons why they could not obey his Arbitrary Commands Causes were Try'd in the Court of King's Bench that were only Cognizable in Parliament Partial Corrupt and Unqualify'd Persons were Return'd and Serv'd on Juries in Cases of High Treason that were not Free-Holders Great Bail requir'd of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes Excessive Fines Impos'd for small Offences Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted without Example or Law to warrant them And for a finishing Stroke The late King was also pleas'd to Grant and Seal a Commission to several Unqualify'd Persons to Examine the Revenues and Search into the Foundations of all the Hospitals in the Kingdom and see to what Uses they were first given by their Benefactors And into the Estates that some time ago belong'd to Monks Friars and other Religious Orders of the Romish Church with Intent to Restore them to the Papists who complain'd to the late King that they were Wrongfully Depriv'd of them In brief Never any Prince in so short a time committed so many Irregularities and made such Inroads upon our All as James the Second did by his Dispencing Power in England his Absolute Power without Reserve in Scotland and his Actual and Absolute Destruction of the Liberties and Religion of the Protestants in Ireland To which if we add the more than seeming Probability of the late King 's Leaguing with France for the Extirpation of the Northern Heresie 't will compleat his Design and make the intended Ruin of England unavoidable for more Hands would have made lighter Work and Experienc'd Artists would have finish'd it sooner I will not urge this League as a plain and positive Truth tho' I am strongly inclin'd to believe it and therefore shall only produce my Reasons and leave them with the Reader to judge as he pleases Mr. Coleman who must be presum'd to know much of his Master's Mind being in the same Interest and the Tool he work'd with in all his Secret Practices gives great Suspicion of the Truth of this Combination in a Letter to Sir William Throgmorton Feb. 1. 1678. You well know saith he that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs i. e. to be King of England the King of France will have Reason to promise himself All things that he can desire And in a Letter to Father Le Chaise Confessor to the French King he says That His Royal Highness was convinc'd that His Interest and the King of France 's were the same And whether he ever thought fit to change his Mind since his Accession to the Crown his own Actions will better declare than any Gloss of mine In this State of Amity Things continu'd between the French King and the Duke of York till he was King And when the Prince of Orange's Fleet was preparing for his Noble Expedition into England they seem'd to rest on the same Foot for Monsieur le Comte d' Avaux the French King's Ambassador at the Hague in a Memorial to the States General acquaints them That his Master knowing the great Preparations for War that their Lordships were making both by Sea and Land was not without some Design form'd answuerable to the greatness of those preparations and his Master believing that it threaten'd England he had Commanded him to declare on his part that the Bands of Friendship and Allyance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him not only to assist him but also to look upon the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops or your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown To this Memorial the States of Holland gave Answer That they Arm'd after the Example of their Neighbours to be ready upon Occasion 'T is true the French Ambassador does not mention the League in express words yet he gives very shrewd Hints that there was some such thing as a League or an Equivilent between the two Crowns and so the States of Holland took it For in their Answer to the English * The Marquiss d'Arbaville Ambassadors's Memorial their Lordships tell him That they were long since fully convinc'd of the Allyance which the King his Master had treated with France and which has been mention'd by Mr. Le Comte d'Avaux in his Memorial The Industry and Care that has been us'd to stifle this League does also
particular account of the Prince his successful and prosperous Expedition where there were so many Eye-Witnesses of that great and miraculous Providence that was visible in the progress thereof which was such as shew'd the undertaking to be acceptable to Almighty God who prospers the endeavours of Good Men but taketh the wicked in the Nets which they spread for the Innocent I shall therefore only tell the Reader that His Highness the Prince of Orange being happily and safely arriv'd in England He was Saluted and Welcom'd with all the demonstrations and transports of Joy and Gladness that an ill us'd Nation were able to Express under a sense of their Calamity and a hopeful prospect of Deliverance from a cruel Tyranny This Joy and Satisfaction daily increas'd as his Highness's Declaration was spread through the Kingdom For the Jesuits having loaded this Pious and Noble Expedition with all the Odium of Virulent Pens and Tongues his Highness's Declaration which shew'd the End of his coming was not with any design upon the Person of the late King Aspiring at his Crown or with any intention to subdue the Kingdom as had been maliciously suggested but purely that the Abuses and Grievances of the People Pathetically and Truly Enumerated in his Highness's Declaration might be Redress'd by a Parliament free in all its circumstances all Fears and Jealousies vanish'd and Men of all Qualities hasten'd to put themselves under the Auspicious Conduct of this Illustrious Prince that God in the Eternal Counsel of his Wisdom had Appointed to be the Glorious Deliverer of England Now let all Men judge of the Equity of his Highness's Demands and the Justice of his Proceedings His Own and his Princess's Right to the Succession of the Crown was like to be supplanted by a supposititious Child and a flourishing Kingdom in danger of Destruction and both evidently plainly and certainly so And can any Man think he ought to Renounce his Own and his Princess's Right and frustrate the Expectation of a whole Kingdom to which he was Allied by Blood Nature and all the sacred Obligations of Religion rather than disturb the progress of a Jesuitick Tyranny cover'd under Royal Authority Sure none in the World can think so Had this Illustrious Prince conceiv'd any Prejudice against this Unfortunate Monarch James II. Turn'd his Eye toward the Crown or would have seen England's Misery before the Oppress'd Subjects themselves Represented it to him and pray'd his Relief His Highness was not without an earlier * Defence de la Nation Britanique p. â—â— knowledge of it and Solicitations to do what at last Necessity compell'd him to For there are many yet alive in Germany Holland and England that very well remember how much his Highness was Importun'd at James the 2d's first coming to the Crown to make a Descent into England with a Force able to Redress the Affairs of that Country and prevent the inevitable Ruin which so openly threaten'd it This was known immediately after the Death of Charles the Second when one of the most powerful Princes of Europe having represented to his Highness that All was going to Ruin and would be utterly lost in England if a sudden Interposition of the Prince of Orange did not prevent its impending Destruction and therefore Offer'd him what Assistance was requisite for such a Noble and Pious Enterprize but that Puissant Prince receiv'd no other Answer but that his Highness was in hopes that God and that King 's own Interest would possess him with better Sentiments and therefore his Highness would Attempt nothing in that kind against the late King till he was forc'd to it by the last Extremity but if his hopes were disappointed and there was no other Remedy he would not be wanting in his Duty And God be prais'd his Highness at length in due time perform'd his Promise and Silenc'd all that declaim against it It cannot be imagin'd that his Highness was pleas'd to see the Efforts of the late King in abolishing the Penal Laws against Papists which were so essentially necessary to our Preservation nor can his Highness be thought easy at the sight of the late King 's climbing up a Precipice from which he must necessarily fall or by an Artificial and Politick Silence incourage K. James's Ministers to carry all things to such Extremities as might render his Conduct Odious for the Letter of Mr. Fagell upon this Subject will be an Eternal Monument of the Free and Sincere proceedings of his Highness with the late King in this whole Matter Much less can our Adversary deny that his Highness was Requested by the People to Defend their Religion Rights and Privileges for God Almighty to the eternal Confusion of our Enemies suffer'd themselves to declare it in a Memorial they publish'd to all the Confederate Princes with design to break the League they were so much afraid of for after they had in that paper undecently treated his Highness and menac'd him with I know not how many Tragical Stories they yet acknowledge that He was Invited by the Nation Nor could his Highness hinder the Lords and other Persons of the best Quality in England from shewing their Grievances and Imploring his Gracious Succor when the Extremities they were under compell'd them to it and also told Him that if his Highness refus'd them they would enter into their Natural Right and Defend themselves by their own strength against a Power which was become as they declar'd to his Highness in their Memorial a Power of Destruction Let our Adversaries now tell us if the Case was not very Important and whether the Prince of Orange ought to have contemn'd the just Fears of the English and all the Protestants of Europe who are imbark'd in the same Interest and Danger and have slighted all the Princes that either by themselves or by their Ministers perswaded his Highness to enter upon an Action on which depended the Common Safety of Europe I don't believe they dare say after all the Facts we have enumerated that his Highness ought to contemn the Publick or dispute Matters of so great Notoriety but if the English Fears were well grounded and their Oppressions True and Real and that if his Highness could not perswade himself from being of the same Opinion with the rest of the World that he could refuse to assist those that requested it in such a pressing necessity and on an Occasion where Providence appear'd so expresly for our Deliverance and which if neglected perhaps could never be Retriev'd Now let the French Missionaries or their English Pupils produce their Fine Reasons and tell us if his Highness ought to forget his God his Religion the Rights of his Princess his Own the Liberty of England and of Holland which must Infallibly share in the Misfortunes and Depredations of England the Protestant Religion breathing its last and all Europe in danger of losing its Liberty Let them also tell us if they can whether the Respects due to a Father
in-Law could counter-balance so many Great and stupendious Interests or the Sacred and Inviolable Obligations that ingaged him to God and the publick good of so many Millions of Souls that depended on it Every Prince of the Royal Blood of England is in Right of that Blood oblig'd to regard England as his Own Country and to take care of the Inhabitants over whom he has a Right to Reign that the Demeans of the Crown be not Wasted nor the Subjects Injur'd and the nearer he approaches the Succession the greater is his Obligation to Defend them from Violence and his Country from Ruin to which Country next unto his God * Chari sunt parentes chaâ—â—i liberi propinqui familiares sed omnes omnium charitates Patriae una complexa est pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere fi ea sit profituturus 〈…〉 and before all other Relations whatsoever he stands Particularly and Religiously concern'd for its Peace and Preservation His Highness the Prince of Orange could not neglect it now in common Prudence without manifest prejudice to his Right of Succession for the People of England by applying to his Highness had not only Recognized his Right to the Succession but also acqaainted him in their Memorial that if he refused them Succor under their present Ill Circumstances they would Assume their own Right and Free themselves and how far their Resentments of such a Slight might have Transported them is not easy to imagine Now altho the Reasons alledg'd are sufficient to shew the Justice of the Prince's Interposing between the late King and his Subjects yet I shall shew also that it is justified by many Presidents and where the Emergencies were not so considerable as ours nor their Titles to the Government so Incontestable as the Prince of Orange's was to the Crown of England who yet are Celebrated in History for their great Atchievements on such Occasions Constantine's quarrel with Maxentius * Eusebius Eccl. Hist p. 268. had no other ground and that was enough than that Maxentius Tyranniz'd over the Romans for which Constantine Invaded him Slew him and was receiv'd by the Romans as their Deliverer As remarkable was his Raising War against his Brother in Law Licinius because he persecuted the Christians for which when he had overcome the Tyrant the Christians plac'd him on the Throne in Licinius's Room and Historians have Celebrated his Name as a most Holy and Generous Champion in the Cause of Christ and their Country Constantine the Younger Son of Constantine the Great threatned his Brother Constantius with a War and made him desist from persecuting the Catholick Bishops and forc'd him to Restore Athanasius to his Bishoprick of Alexandria The like was done by King Pipin and Charles the Great against the Lomlards and by all the Christian Princes against the Turk in the Holy War To come nearer our own times Queen Elizabeth gave a Powerful Aid to the Hollanders * Vid. English Chron. and Hist of her Life against the Tyranny of the Spaniards King James the First * See his Manifesto 16. and K. C. Declaration on that Subject on the behalf of the Prince Palatine against the Emperour of Germany King Charles the First assisted the Rochellers with a Fleet and an Army against the French King in the cause of Religion and was incouraged to it by several of his Bishops and 't was always look'd upon as a great Blemish on the Reign of King Charles the Second and gave suspicion of his being in the Popish Interest that he suffered the F. K. to proceed so far in destroying his Protestant Subjects without such a seasonable Interposition as might have prevented it or gain'd an Opportunity of making his Reign glorious and his Kingdom easy by a War which in all probality would have brought that Monarch into better Terms for the Advantage of Europe So that from the Reasons aforementioned and the Presidents now alledg'd his Highness's Expedition to Rescue an Injur'd People from the Tyranny of Arbitary Power was one of the most Generous and Pious Enterprizes that any Age has acquainted us with and that the Good of this Nation was the only motive that gave birth to this undertaking see it in the Words of his Highnesses own Declaration Since the English Nation has always testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our Dearest Consort the Princess and to our selves we cannot excuse our selves from Espousing their Interests in matters of such high Consequences and from contributing all that lies in us for maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the securing to them the continual enjoyment of all their just Rights to the doing of which we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over into England and to carry over with us a Force able by the Blessing of God to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors and we being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood declare that this our expedition is intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible and that in order to this all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burguesses are limited contrary to the Antient custom shall be considered as Null and of no Force and likewise all Magistrates who have been unjustly turn'd out shall forthwith Resume their former Imployments as well as all the Boroughs of England shall return again to their ancient prescriptions and Charters and that the Writs for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to their proper Officers according to Law and Custom That also none be suffer'd to choose or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law and that the Members of Parliament shall meet and sit in full freedom that so the two Houses may concur in preparing such Laws as they upon full and free debate shall judge Necessary and Convenient both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test and such other Laws as are necessary and convenient for the security and maintenance of the Protestant Religion c. Thus his Highness was pleas'd to declare his intentions with which the Nation was so Intirely satisfied that they conquer'd all that Read or heard them insomuch that many Persons of Quality and others met his Highness at Exeter put themselves under his Conduct and many other Lords and Great Men who had rais'd Forces in all parts of the Kingdom to strengthen the Prince's Expedition were marching with all speed to joyn his Highness's Troops And now A War being ready to break forth in the Bowells of the Kingdom several Spiritual and Temporal Lords in an humble Petition to the late King advise him in order to Redress the Grievances
of his People to prevent Distractions and the effusion of Christian Blood to call a Parliament free in all its circumstances but the late King was pleas'd to Deny their Request till the Prince of Orange had acquitted the Realm * vid. his Answer to the Lord's Petition Several Privy Counsellors before this had advis'd his Majesty to call a Parliament without delay and before his Subjects Ask'd it assuring him that if any attempts were made upon his Royal Person or Authority it would effectually engage many honest Men to stand by him besides no ill consequences could be suspected from it because it would always be in his Power to Prorogue or Dissolve it and then he might at the last Shift trust to his Land and Sea Forces But The Jesuites who had his Ear and Heart entirely open and fix'd to their pernicious Counsels on the other hand represented to him that he would be in Danger to see the great Forces which he had then on foot join with his Parliament against him or at least Discontents and Divisions would arise amongst them But if he stood his Ground and suffer'd no Parliament to meet All would faithfully adhere to him so long as he absolutely rely'd on his Forces And accordingly he took this last and worst Advice and would never be brought off till it ended in his Ruin In order to fight the Prince the late King having sent a great Army before he marches down to Salisbury himself where continuing a while and finding his Army daily Desert and being assur'd by the Lord Feversham and others that he could not Rely upon the remaining part of his Soldiery who unanimously declar'd they would not fight against Protestants nor offend the Prince that Heaven had sent for the Deliverance of the Nation from Popery with a very small Number of Attendants the late King returns again to London and in Council orders the Lord Chancellor Jeoffreys to * vid. the Proclamation dat Nov. 30th 1688. Issue out Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament at Westminster on the 15th Day of January following And To second this plausible Pretence of Gratifying the Prince and the whole Nation in Calling a Parliament the late King by three Noble Peers sets on foot a Treaty with the Prince for the Security of the Parliament's Sitting without Interruption the Accommodating all Differences and Restoring Peace and Tranquility to the Nation The Prince freely accepts it and with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembl'd with him his Highness was pleas'd to send the late King such Proposals as he was pleas'd to say * The Letter to a Bishop q. 14. were Better and Fairer than he could or did expect from him But all this on the late King's part was only a Flourish a Touch of the Jesuits Morals for the late King never intended to perform one Syllable of these Specious Pretences and therefore having sent away the Queen the Child Count Dada the Pope's Nuntio Father Petre and caused the Broad Seal to be thrown into the Thames he only shew'd this Complaisance to Gain Time for his own Departure into France after them What a fair Opportunity was now at the very last put into the late King's Hands to have Redeem'd his Honour Settl'd the Nation and prevented all ill Consequences to his Person and Affairs if he had pursu'd his own propos'd Methods for an Accommodation and kept his Voluntary Promises but he would not So that we can solve these Self-sought Evils no otherwise but by saying What Heaven in the Eternal Council of his own Will has Decreed can never be Revok'd and that for the Accomplishing God's Divine Pleasure Men act directly contrary to their own Interests which has been notorious in the whole Conduct of this Unhappy Prince and has been Jocosely observ'd by others I remember to have seen a Letter written into France from Ireland by a French Commander there giving an Account of the late King James's Management of his Affairs in that Kingdom wherein he expresses himself after this manner That if the late King James had as many Kingdoms to lose as are number'd in Europe his own Conduct would forfeit them all for if he had Twenty Counsellors and Nineteen of them were Men of approv'd Wisdom and Integrety and but one Fool and sensless Person among them he would certainly follow the advice of that blind Bayard in opposition to all the other Sages But Without reflecting upon his Counsellors the late King confirm'd the French Gentleman's Opinion of himself in pursuing the False and Destructive Opinions of those that advised him to withdraw himself against the wholesome Counsels of so many Wise Men that advis'd Calling of a Parliament in order to his own and the Nation 's future Happiness and made it appear a Project so weak and silly that there seems something of a Divine Infatuation in it But he had promis'd the Queen and as some say taken the Sacrament upon it to follow her and thought fit rather to break his Promise with a whole Nation than not humour a pettish Woman Go he must go he will let whatever will be the Consequence of it And therefore to do all the Mischief he could before he went and leave the Realm in all the Confusion was possible He Order'd all those Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be Enter'd against the making use of those that were sent out and about the same time sent Orders to the Earl of Feversham to Disband the Army and Dismiss the Soldiers which was done accordingly And then the late King made his first Attempt to leave the Kingdom How could the Jesuits have done their King a greater Injury than in persuading him to a continual Breach of his Promises which expos'd his Honour and Integrity to common Censure and drew the Contempt of the whole Nation upon him as a Prince never to be trusted At his first Accession to the Throne one of the Things his Favourites magnify'd him for was for being True to his Word but he resolv'd to prove the contrary and break it in every Instance He promis'd to protect the Church of England and maintain the Protestant Religion when his whole Design was to destroy both and declar'd it in every Action He promised to Govern by Law and not Arbitrarily and at the same time was Investing himself and his Ministers with a Power to destroy them He promis'd an equal Distribution of his Favours and that he would serve himself and the Government indifferently with the Use of All his Subects yet set up Papists to crush the Protestants And when driven to the last Extremity when his All was at Stake He promis'd to Call a Parliament when he was resolv'd it should have no Effect and therefore burnt the Writs to hinder their Sitting He promis'd by this Means to secure the Peace and Happiness of the Kingdom when he had resolv'd before-hand
came to Redress the Grievances of the Nation by Calling a Free Parliament so he would abide by their Determination in what concern'd his own Person and not by any Rash or Precipitate Action seem to cross the End of his Coming which was to have all Things settl'd according to Law and therefore he left that and all other our Affairs to be settl'd by the approaching Parliament In the mean time the Prince Advis'd with the Lords how to pursue the Ends of his Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion Restoring the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and Settling them so firmly that they might not lie in danger of being again Subverted To Answer this Great End in Setling the Nation by a Parliamentary Proceeding the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembl'd in their House at * Decemb. 22 Westminster and being agreed on the Particulars Humbly desire †Decemb. 25. His Highness the Prince of Orange to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of the Religion Laws Liberties and Properties and the Peace of the Nation And that His Highness would take into his particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Means to prevent the Dangers threatning that Kingdom All which their Lordships requested His Highness to undertake and exercise till the Meeting of the intended Convention on the 22th of January ensuing and presented it to His Highness with their Proposals about Calling a Parliament at St. James's December the 25th 1688. To which His Highness was pleased to return this Answer to the Peers assembl'd at the same place on December the 28th following My LORDS I Have consider'd of your Advice and as far as I am able I will endeavour to secure the Peace of the Nation until the Meeting of the Convention in January next for the Meeting whereof I will forthwith issue out Letters according to your Desire I will also take care to apply the Publick Revenue to the most proper Uses that the present Affairs require and likewise endeavour to put Ireland into such a Condition that the Protestant Religion may be maintain'd in that Kingdom And I assure you that as I came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom so I shall always be ready to expose my self to any Hazard for the Defence of the same His Highness's Letters being dispers'd the Election of Members for the Convention was carry'd on with all the Expedition and Freedom imaginable and the Temper of the Nation fully discover'd in the Choice they made The 22th of January 1688. both Houses met again and having chosen their Speakers the following Letter from His Highness the Prince of Orange was Read in both Houses My LORDS I Have endeavour'd to the utmost of my Power to perform what was desir'd from me in order to the publick Peace and Safety and I do not know that any thing hath been omitted which might have tended to the Preservation of them since the Administration of Affairs was put into my Hands It now lies upon you to lay the Foundations of a firm Security for your Religion your Laws and your Liberties I do not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as is now met the Ends of my Declaration will be attain'd And since it hath pleas'd God hitherto to bless my good Intentions with so great Success I trust in him that he will compleat his own Work by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence your Counsels that no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement The dangerous Condition of the Protestants in Ireland require a large and speedy Succour And the present State of Things Abroad oblige me to tell you that next to the Danger of Unseasonable Divisions amongst your selves nothing can be so fatal as too great Delay in your Consultations The States by whom I have been enabl'd to rescue this Nation may suddenly feel the ill Effects of it both by being too long depriv'd of the Service of their Troops which are nowhere and of your Early Assistance against a powerful Enemy who hath Declar'd a War against them And as England is by Treaty already engag'd to help them upon such Exigencies so I am confident that their Chearful Concurrence to preserve this Kingdom with so much Hazard to themselves will meet with all the Returns of Friendship and Assistance which may be expected from you as Protestants and English-men when-ever their Condition shall require it Given at St. James's the 22th of January 1688. Will. H. P. d' Orange The Two Houses under a deep Sense of their Dangers and Deliverance in the first place by mutual Consent express'd their Thankfulness to God by appointing a Day of Publick Thanksgiving throughout the Kingdom and to His Highness as the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power in the following Address which was presented to the Prince of Orange the 22th of January 1688. in these Words Die Martis 22 Jan. 1698. The Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminister in this present Convention to His Highness the Prince of Orange WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembl'd at Westminster being highly sensible of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is next under God owing to your Highness do return our most humble Thanks and Acknowledgments to your Highness as the Glorious Instrument of so great a Blessing We do further acknowledge the great Care your Highness has been pleas'd to take in the Administration of the Publick Affairs of the Kingdom to this time And we do most humbly desire your Highness that you will take upon you the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that your Highness will take into your particular Care the present State of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Means to prevent the Dangers that threaten that Kingdom All which we make our Request to your Highness to undertake and Exercise till further Application shall be made by us which shall be expedited with all convenient Speed And we shall also use our utmost Endeavaurs to give Dispatch to the Matters recommended to us by your Highness's Letter To which Address presented by both Houses at St. James's His Highness the Prince of Orange made this Reply the same Day My Lords and Gentlemen I Am glad that what I have done has pleas'd you And since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs I am willing to accept it I must recommend to you the
Consideration of Affairs Abroad which makes it fit for you to expedite your Business not only for making a Settlement at home upon a good Foundation but for the Safety of all Europe The Lords having declar'd by a Vote of that House That Popery was Inconsistent with the Government of England the Commons upon the 28th of January passed the following Vote viz. Resolved THat King James the Second having endeavour'd to Subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other Wicked Persons having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath Abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby Vacant This Vote occasion'd several Conferences between the two Houses of Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber at Westminster the Substance whereof as they are transmitted * 〈◊〉 Debate at large between the House of Lords and House of Câ—â—â—â—â—â— to us will be occasionally produc'd in the Sequel But on the 7th of February the Lords sending a Message to the Commons that they had Agreed to the Vote sent them up on the 28th of January last without any Alterations on the 12th of February following both Houses Unanimously Agreed to Declare as followeth The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster VVHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to Subject and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispencing with and Suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without Consent of Parliament By Committing and Persecuting divers Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excus'd from Concurring to the said Assumed Power By Issuing and Causing to be Executed a Commission under the Broad Seal for Erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the Use of the Crown by Pretence of Prerogative for other Time and in other Manner than the same was Granted by Parliament By Raising and Keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in Time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and Quartering of Soldiers contrary to Law By Causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be Dis-arm'd at the same time when Papists were both Arm'd and Employ'd contrary to Law By Violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to Serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for Matters and Causes Cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years Partial Corrupt and Unqualify'd Persons have been Return'd and Serv'd on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors Serv'd in Trials for High Treason which were not Free-holders And Excessive Bail had been Required of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes to Elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been Impos'd And Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the the Persons upon whom the same were to be Levy'd All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having Abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby Vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleas'd Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers Principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Boroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Choosing such Persons to represent them as were of Right to be sent to Parliament to Meet and Sit at Westminster upon the 22th Day of January 1688. in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted Upon which Letters Elections have been made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now Assembl'd in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most Serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Cases have formerly done for the Vindicating and Asserting their Antient Rights and Liberties Declare That the Pretended Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal That the Pretended Power of Dispencing with Laws or the Exercise of Laws by Regal Authority as has been Assum'd and Practis'd of late is Illegal That the Commission for Erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are Illegal and Pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the Use of the Crown by Pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for a longer Time or in other Manner than the same is or shall be Granted is Illegal That it is the Right of the Subject to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning is Illegal That the Raising or Keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in Time of Peace unless it be by Consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as Allow'd by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be Impeach'd or Question'd in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be Requir'd nor Excessive Fines Impos'd nor Cruel and Unusual Punishments Inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd and Return'd and Jurors which Pass upon Men in Trials for High Treason ought to be Free-Holders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void That for Redress of all Grievances and for the Amending Strengthening and Preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do Claim Demand and Insist upon all and singular the Premisses as their Undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the Prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly Encourag'd by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only Means for Obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an Entire Confidence that His said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanc'd by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights
Example of former Times and their own Prudence should direct them And truly it would be very absurd to imagin that the Legislative Power was so streighten'd that it had no Right to provide against Unforeseen Accidents that might happen or that where the Old Laws seem'd opposite to the publick Good or were wholly silent as not foreseeing every extraordinary Event they could not supply that Defect by making * Quae de novo cinergunt novo indigent auxilio New Ones that might reach the present Circumstances of Affairs or Extend and Explain the Old ones as the Necessity of the State requir'd Laws themselves in time may grow pernitious and tho' well intended at their first Promulgation as Things might after happen would be dangerous to be Retain'd Therefore on all such Occasions the Assembly of Estates have an Indubitable Right to wave the Letter of the Law and explain them or make New ones according to Equity that is according to what the precedent Legislators would have done if they had Foreseen what then had come to pass Private Persons are oblig'd to observe the Letter of the Law but Publick Estates are not under such a Confinement but for the Safety of the Nation must respect the Intention of the Law because the Letter of the Law by Length of Time or a General Corruption of Manners may seem to thwart the Common Interest but the Intention of the Law always respects the publick Good and is never against it This is done every Day in Courts of Equity and ought never to be omitted for the Preservation of a Kingdom where Laws Unrepeal'd and whose Consequences were not dreamt of seem to make Tyranny Lawful And therefore the Convention of Estates in Shutting the Door against James the Second and making it fast after him by an Act of State who had first excluded himself and setling the Government on the Foot it now stands did no more than Assert their own Right and prevent the Mischiefs that have attended the Mis-construction of the Intention of some Laws in Force Now that the Estates of the Kingdom have such a Right is Incontestible in the Opinion of our Adversaries yet they deny that the Convention had such a Power because they were not Conven'd by the late King's Authority A frivolous Objection and returns upon the Head of that deluded Faction For This Defect if it were one was not the Nation 's Fault but lies wholly upon the late King He was Sought to Address'd and Petitioned to Call a Parliament It was the great Importance of the Prince's Declaration He often promis'd it and by Proclamation made a Feint of keeping his Word yet at last burnt the Writs and declar'd positively he would not do it Could the Nation compel him to do what he would not Must the Kingdom be Ruin'd for want of a Formality that was not in their Power to compass Must a Glorious Opportunity of Settling the Kingdom be lost for want of a Punctilio that yet was answer'd in the Intent of it Must the Nation be be blam'd for helping themselves when the late King refus'd it No this would be very loose Reasoning and the Thread is of too course a Spinning to pass upon the Thinking Part of Mankind Had they Objected against the Qualification of the Members the Want of Freedom in their Election or shew'd any Unreasonableness in the Action they had said something worthy of Answer but since they could not I shall go on and prove it Just Necessary and Agreeable to the Practice of All Nations The Laws of God Nature and Nations justifie the Deposing of a Prince whose Arbitrary Government is not only Inconsistent with but Destructive to the Kingdom over which he Presides To name no other Instances in the Old Testament Rehoboam and Jeroboam are Examples of Divine Vengeance for their Tyranny and their Stories are Argumentative The Jews asserted the Lawfulness of Resisting and Dethroning their Kings in many Cases * Joseph l. 4. c. 8. especially in their Wars with Antiochus Epiphanes and the †St. Aug. libr. cont Adem 1.17 Christians follow'd those Examples without thinking their Religion oblig'd them by a Childish Submission to yield up their Natural and Legal Rights and consent to their own Ruin How unreasonable would it be to imagin that a whole Kingdom should deprive it self of the Right of Deposing a Tyrant and preserving themselves since * Principio generi animantium omni est à Natura tributum ut se vita corpúsque tueatur declinétque ea quae noscitura videantur Cicero de Offic. Nature has communicated this Right to all Rational Creatures together with their Being which they can neither give away themselves nor can be justly taken from them by others as I have already prov'd in part and shall do it beyond Contradiction in the following Pages and therefore shall descend to shew you that the Deposing the late King is Warranted by the Practice of other Nations as well as our own in Former Ages The Power of the Emperor of Germany is Limited in many Particulars He cannot alter their Fundamental Laws nor make the Empire Hereditary and the College of the Princes Electors may Depose him for Male Administration as they did Lewis the Good in the Year 833. Which Act was always look'd upon as the Right of the Empire in the Opinion of the German Lawyers and so is transmitted to Posterity be the best of their * Lampadius Diderick Conring Lambert Schafnaburg Aventin l. 7. Annal. Cuspin in Vita Wincesl Carpsor de Leg. Reg. Imperat Germaniae Imperial Capitular Writers One of the Charges against Lewis was that he had broken his Coronation-Oath and Rul'd by Maxims of his own contrary the Establish'd Laws of the Empire The Estates of the Empire also at another time Warr'd against the Emperor Henry the Fourth for the same Cause and at length Depos'd him in a Solemn Assembly A later Instance of the same People was in Deposing Wenceslaus in the Year 1400. And he that will give himself the Satisfaction of Reading the Articles Exhibited against him by the Electors of the Empire will be tempted to think that James the Second had transcrib'd them as the Rules of his Despotick Government they agreed so exactly with it from the Beginning to the fatal End of it The Monarchical Government of Poland being extinct at the Death of †Cromer King Lech it was chang'd by the States into a Government of Twelve Palatins who abusing their Authority were all Depos'd and Lesko Elected King and he withdrawing himself out of the Kingdom to secure himself against the Fury of the Tartars was for that Reason Depos'd and a new King Elected So was Henry the Second Duke of Anjou depos'd by the Poles by the Government of Poland for leaving that Kingdom And the great States-man Bodin tells us 't was expresly inserted as a Condition in that King's Coronation Oath when he was Elected
Inactivity to which the Kings of France were then accustom'd was grown very disadvantageous to the Government But France was not in danger of perishing by his Idleness and England was on the very Moment of being destroy'd by the late King's Tyranny and Subversion of the Laws And so much Difference as there was between doing Nothing and endeavouring to Ruin All so much Difference was there between the Dethronement of Childeric and that of James the Second There have been Kings Depos'd for Involuntary Absence upon certain Occasions but that cannot stand in Competition with the late King 's wilful Renunciation of the Government by refusing to Govern by the Laws of the Constitution and his Voluntary Deserting the Kingdom when no Force compell'd him to it Was there ever any Mention of Introducing another King till the Throne stood empty by the late King 's going away Did ever so Great a People comport themselves with so little Disorder when they were Lawless and without a Government And was it not high time to provide for the Safety of the Nation when he that should have Govern'd it had voluntarily left it and not only so but left it in the greatest Confusion he could possibly reduce it to and went off only to procure a Foreign Army to Conquer and Subdue the whole Nation into Slavery and profest himself an open and Hostile Enemy to the Kingdom Was the Absence of a Prince to be compar'd with these Extravagancies Were they any longer to be submitted to when there was no Hope of Amendment They that assert such Contradictions and Improbabilities might as well affirm that a Fever was a Recipe for Health and the Plague a Medicine for Long Life and would gain Credit as soon to one as they can do to the other Subjects have Renounc'd their Kings for Usurping a Power to treat them as they pleas'd as was the Case of Rehoboam and Jeroboam But what is Arbitrary Power tho' bad enough too when compar'd with an Actual Necessity of Destroying the Nation and that Necessity impos'd upon the Prince by his Conscience under the Expectation of Eternal Rewards in the World to come There may be Hopes of Reclaiming a Prince from the Evil Counsel of Others but there is no dividing a Man from himself In culpa est Animus * Hor. lib. 1. ep 14. qui se non effugit unquam In James the Second's Mind the Fault did lie That never from it self could fly Constantius Copronimus was Deposed for Impiety but that being a Personal Evil affected the Publick only by the Ill Consequences of a Regale Example And Impiety was never the Parent of so many Cruelties as the Superstition we are speaking of has been amongst us Atheism and Infidelity are Sins of the highest nature but never were guilty of Shedding so much Humane Blood as Superstition And therefore Princes have not been thought so Justly to deserve a Deprivation and the Loss of their Crowns and Countries as a Prince Superstitiously devoted to a False Religion who thinks his Actions Pious at the same time that he is * Que est facto pius est sceleratus eodem committing the greatest Wickedness and †Crudelitas nobilitata Religione rendring himself Infamous by Inglorious Cruelties to his Subjects Which we had Cause to dread for * Lucret. l. 5. Saepius olim Religio peperit Scelerosa atque Impia facta In our Fore-Fathers Times Religion did commit the foulest Crimes Some Princes have been Depos'd for Cruelty but their Cruelty not to be compar'd with his for a Transient Cruelty was always thought more tolerable than one that was Durable A particular rather than a publick Mischief A Cruelty hated by all the World as appearing in its own Likeness frightful rather than a Cruelty hidden under the pretext of Piety and Religion A Cruelty which destroys the Body only rather than a Cruelty that destroys both Body and Soul at the same time A tolerable Cruelty and Oppression before a Cruelty advanc'd before we are aware into an Inviolable Law of the Kingdom and may be justly nam'd an * Immortale odium nunquam Sanabile Vulnus Juvenal Sat. 13. Immortal Hatred and an Incurable Wound in the Body Politick that threatens Destruction to the whole Nation Such was the Tyranny of the late King whose Outside was Devotion and In-side Destruction for tho' in the general Representation of Things he seem'd but to take off the Penal Laws against Papists yet in the Distinct Idea he design'd to execute the Penal Decrees of the Church of Rome against Protestants which was visible in setting up Popish Magistrates who think themselves oblig'd to work our Ruin And in these cover'd Designs he exceeded most of the Tyrants that went before him who were contented to abuse their Subjects themselves without endowing their Inferiour Magistrates with a Supream Power for the same Purposes Nero kill'd his Mother and Brother and most of his Honest Courtiers but did not command his Governors of Provinces to follow his wicked Example Astiages gave his Favourite the Head of his Son to eat but did not impose upon his Lieutenants a Necessity of Imitating him in his Barbarous Repasts The Roman Emperors persecuted the Primitive Christians with all manner of Cruelties but we do not find that they were so oblig'd in Conscience to do it that they put it out of their power to shew them any Mercy But that Popery does it is known to Heaven and Earth and they must pull out their Eyes that will not perceive it So that our Adversaries must consent that the Proceedings of the late Convention of Estates in Deposing James the Second were the most Natural Just Necessary and Lawful that ever was or can be on the like Occasion And they have nothing left them to object unless they can prove that the Laws of which we have spoken were not of great Consequence to the Nation or that the late King did not break them since I have already prov'd that no Prince can have such an Absolute Right to a Crown but for the Safety of a Kingdom he may be Dethron'd For By the same Reason that he may Lose it to a Conqueror or Resign it to a Successor he may Abdicate it Otherwise the very End of Government would be lost if the Prince that endeavours to subvert the Kingdom does not at the same time forfeit his own Right to it And therefore the Convention of Estates who bless'd the Nation with the present Settlement had been Justifiable though they had fail'd of Success the late King having long before ceas'd to be a Legal King of England My next Undertaking is to shew that King William the Third now in the Throne of his Ancestors is Rightful and Lawful King of England Scotland France and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging And to prove this beyond all possibility of Dispute tho' I need use no other Argument than that he is King by the