A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England c. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army Published by Mr. Johnson in the Year 1686. IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia V. A Discourse of Magistracy of Prerogative by Divine Right of Obedience and of the Laws VI. The Definition of a Tyrant by Abr. Cowley With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers VII A Letter to the King inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion VIII Ten Seasonable Queries proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be fold by Rich. Janeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope and admitting as he must unavoidably the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church all his Protestant Subjects being by the Judgment and Sentence of that Church Hereticks (a) Distinct 19. cap. a Caus 25. q. 1. cap. 11. do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Hereticks Heresie (b) Cap. Vergent de Hotticis being the highest degree of High-Treason called therefore by them Laesae Crimen Majestaetis Divinae So the English Protestant must be a Traytor and the worst of Traytors and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks Heresie (c) Cap. Infam 6. q. 1. p. 297. is denounced Infamous and the Heretick must be dealt with as such which is many Penalties in one First Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility Jurisdiction and Dignity and debarred from all Offices and publick Councils Parliaments and others being made uncapable of choosing and being chosen So that it reacheth all sorts (d) Suar. de Fide disp 12. §. 9. r. 5. l. 2. c. 29. of Clergy Laity Noble and Ignoble which is extended to their Children also For they say The Issue of Traytors Civil and Spiritual lose their Nobility And all that owe any Duty to such Infamous Persons are discharged and exempted therefrom as Subjects (e) Cap. de Haer. from their Prince Servants (f) Aaâ—oâ— Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7. from their Masters Children (g) Cap. 2. Sect. fin de Haer. in 6. from their Parents whom they also may lawfully kill Whereby we may see a little to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us expelling both Nature and Humanity and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority either Safety or Liberty Nobles are sentenced to Peasants and Peasants to Slaves Secondly Another Penalty to which Hereticks are condemned by their Law is Confiscation of Goods and Estate and this they incur ipso jure ipso facto that is immediately as soon as they shew themselves Hereticks before any legal Sentence have passed For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law (h) Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus consiscata We decree the Goods of Hereticks to be consiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation wherein they all agree makes the Severity of the Law apparent viz. First All the Prosits made of the Estate from the first day of their Guilt is to be (i) Vasq in Suar. disp 22. S. 4. n. 11. refunded Secondly All Alienations (k) S. 1. n. 5. by Gist Sale or otherwise before Sentence are null and void and all Contracts for that purpose (l) Cap. Vergent de Haer. rescinded Thirdly Children Heirs of Hereticks are deprived of their Portions yea tho they be Papists Whereby it appears that as soon as the Papacy is admitted all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly who declared That all his Majesty's Territories were his own as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresie of Prince and People Not only Abby-Lands are in danger who ever possess them but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer and legally confiscated All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it whose process follows them beyond their Grave and ruins their Children and Children's Children after them And when they have strip'd the Heretick of his All they provide that no other shall relieve him viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses nor afford him any Help nor shew him any Favour nor give him any Counsel We are here in England zealous for Property and all the reason in the World we should so be But we must bid adieu to this when we once come under the Pope's Authority for as soon as this is admitted all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw viz. by the Laws of that Church which will then be Ours divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own Thirdly Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Hereticks is Death (m) Cap. ad abolendum de Haer. Suar. Dis 23. Bul. Vrb 4. Inno. 4. which is the Sentence of the Canon-Law and which is so absolute that no Secular Judg can remit and which is the Judgment of all the Doctors Ita docent omnes Doctores And from which Penalty neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt And the Death they inflict is burning alive No Death more tolerable or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church The Canon saith thus Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur We decree that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor Queen Mary practised upon near three hundred Persons without regard either to Age Sex or Quality the Scripture they urge for it is John 15.6 (n) Jac. de Gra. decis l. 2. c. 9. n. 2. If any one abide not in me men gather them and cast them into the Fire and they are burnt So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life Fourthly Where legal Penalties cannot take place by reason of opposite Strength they hold War necessary and lawful to chastise
Hereticks For which we might give you divers Authorities (o) Bonacina Diano Castro Molanus c. Car. Allen. ad mon. to Nobl. Peop. p. 41. but let Cardinal Allen our Country-man suffice who asserts it is not only lawful but necessary His words are these It is clear saith he what People or Persons soever be declared to be opposite to GOD's Church with what Obligation soever either of Kindred Friendship Loyalty or Subjection I be bound unto them I may or rather must take up Arms against them and then must we take them for Hereticks when our lawful Popes adjudg them so to be And which saith Cardinal Pool is a War more holy than that against the Turks Fifthly To destroy them by Massacres is sometimes held more adviseable than to run the hazard of War and which they say is both lawful and meritorious for the rooting out a Pestilent Heresy and the promoting the Roman Interest This set a-foot the Iirish Massacre that inhuman bloody Butchery and so much from the Savageness and Cruelty of their Nature as the Doctrines and Principles which directed and encouraged it as also that of Paris than which nothing was more grateful and acceptable to their Popes as their (p) Eriess of P.G. 13. Clem. 8. Bulls make manifest and the picturing it in the Pope's Chamber and for which as a most glorious Action Triumphs were made and publick Thanksgivings were returned to God. So in Savoy and elsewhere both in former and latter Times And this was that which the late Conspirators aimed at so fully intending a Massacre Those that escaped a Massacre saith (q) 5. Jes Trial p. 28. Dugdale must be cut off by the Army And (r) Col. Lr. to the Internuncio Coleman tells the Internuncio in his Letters That their Design prospered so well that he doubted not in a little time their Business would be managed to the utter Ruin of the Protestant Party The effecting where of was so desirable and meritorious that if he had a Sea of Flood and an hundred Lives he would lose them all to carry on the Design And if to effect this it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretical Kings he would do it (s) Prance 's Nar. p. 4. Singleton the Priest affirmed That he would make no more to stab forty Parliament-Men than to eat his Dinner Gerard and Kelley to encourage Pranëe to kill Sir E. B. G. told him It was no Murther no Sin and that to kill twenty of them was nothing in that case which was both a charitable and meritorious Act. And (t) Caus Ep. p. 189. Grant one of the Massacring Gun-powder Traitors said upon his Execution te one that urged him to repent of that wicked Enterprize That he was so far from counting it a Sin that on the contrary he was confident that that noble Design had so much of Merit in it as would be abundantly enough to make Satisfaction for all the Sins of his whole Life See Everard Digby speaking to the same purpose also the Provincial Garnet did teach the Conspirators the same Catholick Doctrine viz. That the King Nobility Clergy and whole Commonalty of the Realm of England Papists excepted were Hereticks and That all Hereticks were accursed and excommunicated and That no Heretick could be a King but that it was lawful and meritorious to kill him and all other Hereticks within this Realm of England for the advancement and inlargement of the Authority and Jurisdiction of the Pope and for the restoring of the Romish Religion This was that Garnet whom the Papists here honoured as a Pope and kissed his Feer and reverenced his Judgment as an Oracle and since his Death given him the Honour of Saintship and Martyrdom (u) Five Jes Trinis p. 25. Dugdale deposed That after they had dispatched the King a Massäcre was to follow But surely it may be supposed that the Temper of such a Prince or his Interest would oblige him to forbid or restrain such violent Executions in England Yea but what if his Temper be to comply with such Courses Or his Temper be better What if it be over-rul'd What if he be perswaded as other Catholicks are that he must in Conscience proceed thus What if he cannot do otherwise without hazard of his Crown and Life For he is not to hold the Reins of Government alone he will not be allowed to be much more than the Pope's POSTILLION and must look to be dismounted if he act not according to Order The Law (x) Caput Officiâ—m tells us That it is not in the Power of any Civil Magistrate to remit the Penalty or abate the Rigour of the Law. Nay if the Prince should plight his Faith by Oath that he would not suffer their Bloody LAWS to be executed upon his Dissenting Subjects this would signify nothing For they would soon tell him That (y) Bonâ—â—iâ—a de print pâ—aâ— Disp 3. q. 2. Contracts made against the Common Law are invalid though confirmed by Oath And That he is not bound to stand to his Promise though he had sworn to it And That Faith is no more to be kept with Hereticks than the Council of Constance would have it So that Protestants are to be burnt as Jo. Huss and Jerom of Prague were by that Council though the Emperor had given them his safe Conduct in that Solemn manner which could secure them only as they said from the Civil but not Church-Process which was the greatest For 't is their General Rule That Faith is either not to be given or not kept with Hereticks Therefore saith Simanca That Faith ingaged to Hereticks though confirmed by Oath is in no wise to be performed For saith he if Faith is not to be kept with Tyrants and Pirats and others who kill the Body much less with Hereticks who kill the Souls And that the Oath in favour of them is but Vinculum Iniquitatis A Bond of Iniquity Though Popish Princes the better to promote their Interest and to insnare the Protestant Subjects to get advantage upon them to their Ruin have made large Promises and plighted their Faith to them when they did not intend to keep it As the Emperor to John Huss and Jerom Charles the Ninth of France to his Protestant Subjects before the Massacre the Duke of Savoy to his Protestant Subjects before their designed Ruin and Queen Mary before her burning of them But if there were neither Law nor Conscience to hinder yet in point of Interest he must not shew favour to Hereticks without apparent hazard both (z) Parson ' s Philop. p. 109. of Crown and Life for he forfeits both if he doth The Pope every Year doth not only curse Hereticks but every Favourer of them from which none but himself can absolve (a) Becan Cont. Aug. p. 131 132. In Fowlis p. 60. Becanus very elegantly tells us If a Prince be a dull Cur and fly not upon Hereticks he is to
be beaten out and a keener Deg must be got in his stead Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth were both Assassinated upon this Account because they were suspected to favour Hereticks And are we not told by the Discoverers (b) Oats 's Nar. p. 4. N. 5 c. of the Popish Plot That after they had dispatch'd the King they would depose his Brother also that was to succeed him if he did not answer their Expectations for rooting out the Protestant Religion But may not Parliaments secure us by Laws and Provisions restraining the Power which endangers us Not possible if once they secure and settle the Throne for Popery For First They can avoid Parliaments as long as they please and a Government that is more Arbitrary and Violent is more agreeable to their Designs and Principles It being apparent that the English Papists have lost the Spirit of their Ancestors who so well asserted the English Liberties being so generally now fix'd for the Pope's Universal Monarchy sacrificing all to that Roman Moloch being much more his Subjects than the King 's and though Natives by Birth yet are Foreigners as to Government Principle Interest Affection and Design and therefore no Friends to Parliaments as our Experience hath told us But Secondly if their Necessity should require a Parliament there is no question but they may get such a one as will serve their turns For so have every of our former Princes in all the Changes of Religion that have been amongst us As Henry the 8th when he was both for and against Popery Edward the 6th when he was wholly Protestant Queen Mary when she was for Burning Alive and Queen Elizabeth when she ran so Counter to her Sister And the Reason is clear that he who has the making of the publick Officers and the Keys of Preferment and Profit influenceth and swayeth Elections and Votes as he pleaseth And by how much the Throne comes to be fix'd in Popery the Protestants must expect to be excluded from both Houses as they have excluded the Papists For as Hereticks and Traitors they as ignominous Persons c. you have heard forfeit all Right either to chuse or be chosen in any Publick Councils And then all Laws which have been made for the Protestants and against the Popish Religion will be null and void as being enacted by an incompetent Authority as being the Acts of Hereticks Kings Lords and Commons who had forfeited all their Rights and Priviledges But Thirdly suppose our Laws were valid as enacted by competent Authority and such good and wholsome Provisions as were those Statutes made by our Popish Ancestors in those Statutes of Provisoes in Edward the I. Edward the III. Time and that of Praemunire in Richard the II. and Henry the IV. for Relief against Papal Incroachments and Oppressions Yet being against the Laws and Canons of Holy Church the Sovereign Authority they will be all superseded For so they determine That when the Canon and the Civil Laws clash one requiring what the other allows not the Church-Law must have the observance and that of the State neglected And Constitutions they say made against the Canons and Decrees of the Roman Bishops are of no moment Their best Authors are positive of it And our own Experience and Histories testify the Truth thereof For how were those good Laws before-mention'd defeated by the Pope's Authority so that there was no effectual Execution thereof till Henry the 8th's Time as Dr. Burnet (c) Hist Ref. p. 110. tells us And how have the good Laws to suppress and prevent Popery been very much obstructed in their Execution by Popish Influence An Answer to a late Pamphlet Intituled A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England c. THE World may very justly wonder at several Passages in this ill-designed and as ill-writ Pamphlet which the Author has taken the pains to collect from some perty Grubstreet Chronicle Henry II. is call'd an Usurper pag. 4. because he accepted of the Crown of England in his Mothers Life-time tho' by her not opposing his Claim it may very reasonably be concluded that she freely consented to his Promotion as the most essectual means to secure the Crown to her Posterity But we are told That a Crown is no Estate to be made over in Trust If our Author's meaning is that a Crown is an Estate which the Possessor cannot divest himself of by a voluntary Resignation both Reason and a multituide of Examples in several Ages and Nations prove that the Principle our Author has laid down is founded on a gross Mistake Therefore if our Author designs to publish any more Schemes of Usurpation let him first inform us what it is and how far it extends lest the World should accuse him of having as notoriously usurped to himself the Title of a Writer as any of our Princes ever did the Crown of England He would perswade his Readers to believe that God punish'd King Edward III. and King Henry V. for their Usurpations with frequent and unexpected Victories in the acquisition of which tho' there was some English Blood shed as it was impossible it should be otherwise yet the Enemies paid an excessive Price for it after the defeat of their great Armies and the Imprisonment of their King they being forced to buy their Peace upon such Terms as our conquering Usurpers pleased to impose Nor did ever any well-wisher to the English Nation deny that these Two Princes were the Glory of their Age and of our British History If I should reckon up all the evident Mistakes and salfe Inferences in this Libel it would be too tedious since a careless Eye cannot easily overlook them If the Pamphlet finds so undeserved a Reception in the World as to need a Second Impression the Author is desired to add to it this Postscript which being founded on the Principles asserted by him will shew the World that he hath wilfully and perhaps partially forborn to speak of as notorious an Usurper as any that are mentioned in his Scheme Queen Mary the Off-spring of an Incestuous Marriage had no other unquestionable Divine Right to the Crown of England than what was given her by an Act of Parliament made in her Father's Reign and the common Consent of the Nobility and People after the Death of her Brother King Edward VI. whose disposal of the Crown by Letters Patents under the Great Seal being directly contrary to the former Entail of it limited by a higher Authority His Sister the Lady Mary was acknowledge Queen Therefore according to our Author 's abstruse Notions She as well as her Grand-father Henry VII must be reckoned among the Usurpers of the Crown of England Let us now see what success attended her and whether the Nation was happy under her Government As soon as She saw her self fixed in the Throne She imprisoned and deprived several of the Protestant Bishops contrary to the then Establish'd Laws of the Realm
all Good they are his his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn is absoluely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa 28. from 23d to 29th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have Strength by me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice By me Prinees rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth Prov. 13.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plow-man faith His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him Isa 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but Ieaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Men Lands to be already butted and bounded when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same word being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution of all the Judges of England that even the known and undoubted Perogative of the Jewish Kings do not belong to our Kings and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Jac. Note Give us a King to judg us 1 Sam. 8.5 6 20. upon Sunday the Tenth of November in the same Term the King upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft Arch-bishop of Canterbury concerning Prohibitions was informed That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes or any other thing Ecclesiastical or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commission or in any other case in which there is not express Authority by Law the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself And the Arch bishop said That this was clear in Divinity That such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture To which it was answered by me in the presence and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchequer That the King in his own Person cannot adjudg any Case either Criminal as Treason Felony c. but this ought to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice according to the Law and Custom of England And always Judgments are given Ideo consideratum est per Curiam so that the Court gives the Judgment And it was greatly marvelled that the Arch-bishop durst inform the King that such Absolute Power and Authority as is aforesaid belonged to the King by the Word of God. CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther or to any other purposes than the Law has impowered him II. An Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power is so far from being the Ordinance of God that it is not the Ordinance of Man. III. Whoever opposes an Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power does not oppose the Ordinance of God but the Violation of that Ordinance IV. The 13th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours because their Office and Imployment is for the Publick Welfare For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good Verse 4. V. The 13th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers because they watch for your Souls Verse 17. VI. But the 13th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner and the Beast of Rome who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies according to that true Character of Popery which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November but Arch-Bishop Land was wiser than they and in his time blotted it out The Prayer formerly ran thus To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land to cut off these Workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose Practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom VII All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath and by the Duty of their place to disobey all Writs Letters or Commands which are brought to them 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1 2. either under the Little Seal or under the Great Seal to hinder or delay common Right Are the Judges all bound in an Oath and by their Places to break the 13th of the Romans VIII The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York June 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and thirty nine Peers besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks and several others of the Privy-Council was in these words We do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13th of the Romans IX A Constable represents the King's Person and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13th of the Romans as all Men grant but in case he so far pervert his Office as to break the Peace and commit Murther Burglary or Robbery on the High-way he may and ought to be resisted X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13th of the
Romans here and in Poland the Law of the Land there XI The 13th of the Romans is received for Scripture in Poland and yet this is expressed in the Coronation-Oath in that Country Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero Incolae Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur And if I shall violate my Oath the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience XII The Law of the Land according to Bracton is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text for it is Superiour to the King and made him King Lib. iii. cap. xxvi Rex habet Superiorem Deum item Legem per quam factus est Rex item Curiam suam viz. Comites Barones and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place And according to Melancthon It is the Ordinanee of God to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to subject Vol. iii. In his Commentary on the fifth Verse Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake He has these words Neque vero hac tantum perâ—inent and Subditos sed etiam ad Magistratum qui cum fiunt Tyranni non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei quam Seditiosi Ideo ipsorum Conscientia fit rea quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei id est Legibus quibus debent parere Ideo Comminationes hic positae etiam ad ipses pertinent Itaque hujus mandati severit as moveat omnes 〈◊〉 violalationem Politici status putent esse love peccatum Neither doth this place concern Subjects only but also the Magistrates themselves who when they turn Tyrants do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious and therefore their Consciences too are guilty for not obeying the Ordinance of God that is the Laws which they ought to obey So that the Threatnings in this place do also belong to them wherefore let the Severity of this Command deter all Men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin. Corolary To destroy the Law and Legal Constitution which is the Ordinance of God by false and Arbitrary Expositions of this Text is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk. CHAP. IV. Of LAWS I. THere is no natural Obligation whereby one Man is bound to yield Obedience to another but what is founded in Paternal or Patriarchal Authority II. All the Subjects of a Patriarchal Monarch are Princes of the Blood. III. All the People of England are not Princes of the Blood. IV. No Man who is naturally free can be bound but by his own Act and Deed. V. Publick Laws are made by Publick Consent and they therefore bind every Man because every Man's Consent is involved in them VI. Nothing but the same Authority and Consent which made the Laws can repeal alter or explain them VII To judg and determine Causes against Law without Law or where the Law is obscure and uncertain is to assume Legislative Power VIII Power assumed without a Man's Consent cannot bind him as his own Act and Deed. IX The Law of the Land is all of a piece and the same Authority which made one Law made all the rest and intended to have them all impartially executed X. Law on one side is the Back-Sword of Justice XI The best things when corrupted are the worst and the wild Justice of a State of Nature is much more desirable than Law perverted and over-ruled into Hemlock and Oppression This Discourse of Magistracy c. and the former Reasons were written by the foresaid Mr. S. Johnson The Definition of a TYRANT by the Learned and Loyal Abraham Cowley published by the present Lord Bishop of Rochester in his Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwel I Call him a Tyrant who either intrudes himself forcibly into the Government of his Fellow-Citizens without any Legal Authority over them or who having a just Title to the Government of a People abuses it to the destruction or tormenting of them So that all Tyrants are at the same time Usurpers either of the whole or at least of a part of that Power which they assume to themselves and no less are they to be accounted Rebels since no Man can usurp Authority over others but by rebelling against them who had it before or at least against those Laws which were his Superiours Several Queries proposed to the Sages of the Law who have studied to Advance the Publick equally with if not more than their own private Interest Q. I WHether the Legislative Power be in the King only as in his Politick Capacity or in the King Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled If in the latter then Q. II If the King grants a Charter and thereby great Franchises and Priviledges and afterwards the Grantees obtain an Act of Parliament for the Confirmation hereof is this the Grant of the King or of the Parliament If the latter as it seems to be because it is done by the whole and every part of the Legislative Power then Q. III To whom can these Grantees forfeit this Charter And who shall take Advantage of the Forfeiture If the King then an Act of Parliament may be destroyed without an Act of Parliament If the Parliament only can call them to an Account then Q. IV Of what Validity is a Judgment pronounced under a colour of Law in B. R. against a Charter granted by Parliament If it be of any force then the King's Bench is Superior to the Legislative Power of the Kingdom If not then Q. V What Reason can be assigned why it is not as safe to Act pursuant to an Act of Parliament notwithstanding a Judgment entred in the King's Bench as it was to Act against an Act of Parliament before the Judgment was entred And then Q. VI Whether they that did the latter were not downright Knaves and whether they that refuse to do the former be not more nice than wise A LETTER TO THE KING When DUKE of YORK Perswading him to return to the Protestant Religion wherein the chief Errors of the Papists are exposed and the Tendency of their Doctrines to promote Arbitrary Government proved By an Old Cavalier and Faithful Son of the Church of England as Establish'd by Law. Illustrious Sir WHEN I look up to the Greatness of your Quality and down on my own meanness I cannot but tremble to make this Address so liable to be censur'd as presumptuous and obnoxious to variety of Misconstruction But since my Pen is guided by an Heart fill'd with profound Loyalty and Veneration towards all the Royal Family and a sincere respect and most passionate desires for the particular Prosperity Temporal and Eternal of your Royal Highness I cannot refrain discharging what I apprehended my Duty and therefore with good Esther finding not only my Country but your Highness also in such apparent I wish
give Evidence against her to outface all ancient Truths to foist in Gibionitish Witnesses of their own forging and leaves nothing unattempted against Heaven and Earth that might advance her Faction and disable her innocent and just Accusers This this is the true figure of Popery through whatever false Opticks your Highness may have view'd it This is that for which you are resolv'd to hazard a Crown of Glory and three temporal Diadems to boot and to which you sacrifice both your own Fortunes and the Tranquillity of many Millions of Souls What then can the World that knows the clear light of your Hignesses Elevated Understanding imagine can be the Cause of your Revolt Will they not be apt to conceive that you have not espoused this block Religion purely for its own sake but for some promised Dowry of an Absolute Monarchy or Arbitrary Power which she might pretend to bring one day with her to your Embraces But as this is far below the Justice and Generosity of your Highness so 't is unworthy the thoughts of any considerate Politician For suppose any Prince to whom the British Sceptre may hereafter devolve intoxicated with the Tinsel Glories of the French Monarch's blustering Grandeur should be so vain as to hope to subjugate the English Liberties and destroy the Constitution of the best Establish'd Government on Earth by assuming to himself the whole Legislative Power raising Money and draining his Subjects at Pleasure without their common Consent in Parliament c. and should be so extravagantly enamour'd on this fatal Project fatal I say because for above Five hundred years it has shipwrack'd all that coasted that way as to be content to shift his Religion and exchange his Faith and turn Papist on a presumption that the same might facilitate and accomplish his Enterprize As King John 't is said resolv'd once to embrace Mahumetism rather than not to be reveng'd of his Barons claiming their just Liberties Suppose I say all this should be and that the present Papists to get their Religion publickly establish'd should comply with his Designs yet still is it not most reasonable to believe That having once gain'd their Point therein they or their Posterity will soon recal to mind their Birth rights and Privileges due to them as English-men and will they not then be perpetually tugging and strugling to regain them whence continual disturbance will ensue and a standing Army must be kept on foot to support this ill acquired Grandeur For those Subjects that contended with King John and King Henry the Third c. tho' they were Papists and of the same Religion with those Princes could not brook it to be Slaves to their Arbitrary Pleasures in their Civil Rights Besides what a waking dream is it for any King that is free from the Roman Yoke to think to make himself more Absolute by involving himself and his Kingdoms in Thraldom to the Church of Rome wherein not only the Pope pretends a Right to domineer over him but every Ecclesiastick esteems himself wholly exempt from his Jurisdiction and all his People will be but half his Subjects viz. in Temporals for in Spirituals and in ordine ad spiritualia a monstrous draw net that may include almost all the Actions of Humane Life they are wholly to be Conducted by his Holiness and his Subordinate Ministers How therefore can your Highness if a Roman Catholick complain of the late successive Houses of Commons for pressing a Bill to exclude you Is it any Disloyalty to endeavour to preserve the Imperial Crown of England from a truckling and shameful Servitude to a Foreign Usurper's Power Or is it any such unheard of thing to debarr a Prince from a Throne that hath obstinately disabled himself Certainly above all Men the Roman Catholicks ought not to murmur at this for did not the Pope issue forth a Bull to exclude your Grandfather King James unless he would turn Papist And did not the Romanists though they acknowledged the Title of your other Grandfather Henry the Great to the French Diadem yet refuse to pay him any Obedience because a Protestant and on that only score fought against him as long as he continued so and thought it no Rebellion Your Highness perhaps will say What though they did so true Protestants and the Church of England do not own such Principles Well then if the Protestant Principles be better than those of the Church of Rome what Madness is it in your Highness to abandon the first and chuse the latter I am a dutiful and hearty Lover of Monarchy and when establish'd on such an Equi-pois'd Basis of Wisdom as ours is shall ever assert it to be the best Form of Government in the World and most agreeable to the Genius of English-men But that lineal descent is so sacred a thing that the Heir presumptive can for no default or crime whatsoever be debarr'd from the Crown by an Act of Parliament or publick Decree of State I do not understand For I am sure the practice in all Ages both at home and abroad in almost every Nation in the Earth hath run contrary And as to Right those that pretend such Succession in all Cases to be Jure Divino would do well to shew in what Texts of Scripture the same is prescribed till then they do but talk not argue and if a Candidate to the Crown for any Reasons whatsoever may without offence to the Law of God or Nature be Excluded by an Act of King Lords and Commons Then the June-divino-ship vanishes and nothing is left to be considered But whether such next Heir have done such Acts or is so qualified that in Prudence it be necessary for the Tranquillity of the Publick to Exclude him Now I believe there are but few of the Church of England but if the Bill had passed the Lords and his Majesty had given his Royal Assent to it would have acquiesc'd therein and consequently they do not believe the Exclusion to be simply unlawful by the Law of God or Nature for against either of them no Humane Ordinances ought to prevail But all true Loyalists do not despair but your Highness may yet prevent all Occasions of such Disputes by opening your eyes or rather that God in whose hands are the Hearts of Princes may irradiate your Royal Understanding and let you see the horrid Blackness of those Men who have endeavour'd to seduce you and of those Principles to which they would have inveigled you on purpose to have made your Highness a Property to their Ambition and Avarice and that under the shadow of your Illustrious Name they might one day Tyrannize at Pleasure over these Three Kingdoms If Heaven shall be pleased to work such an happy Inclination in your Highness you shall presently see the whole British Empire echoing with Praises and Acclamations and instead of murmurs of Seclusion every good Subject shall erect you a Throne in his heart But the grand difficulty will be
to satisfie the prejudiced World of your sincerity herein for if your Highness which God forbid should declare your self a Protestant only to serve a present turn and use the Sacred Name of our Religion but as an Engine to advance the design of our bloody Enemies you would act at once the most dishonourably and in the end most prejudicially to your own Interest in the world and must certainly expect the blasts of Heaven and curses of Earth on all your future proceedings 〈◊〉 for Hypocrisie is odious to God and Man nor is there any Monster so abominable to serious Men of both sides as a Church-Papist Your Royal Highness I hope will excuse our fears for we are not ignorant of the Arts and Craft of Rome that she esteems no means unlawful to obtain her ends How shall any Oaths be sufficient Tests when a private dispensation may at once allow the taking and warrant the breaking of them Or what signifies the participation of our Sacraments to one that is taught We have no true Ministers of Christ if so no consecration consequently nothing but an ordinary Breakfast of common Broad and Wine and who shall lose the hopes of three Crowns rather than not taste such harmless viands Not that I dare imagine your Highnesses Understanding would suffer you to believe the lawfulness or your Princely Generosity permit you to practise these lewd dissimulations yet since such Doctrines are daily taught in the Roman Church how shall Protestants be assured they have no. Influence on your Conduct I must therefore with all humble freedom assure your Highness that after so general an Opinion of your Highnesses having been a Roman Catholick though you should go never so duly to Church receive the Sacrament a thousand times and take Oaths all the way from Holy-rood House to St. James's yet the People would scarce believe the reality of your Conversion unless withal they see it accompanied with some other Demonstrations For as Faith without works is dead so Profession of a Religion without agreeable endeavours to advance it will be vain If his Royal Highness will the People say be a good Protestant he will undoubtedly discourage all Papists the sworn inveterate Enemies of our Religion he will not suffer a Popish Priest to approach his Person or Palace If he have had any intimation of any ill designs if any have been tampering to reconcile him to Popery which is no less than Treason he will presently detect those mischievous Instruments that they may be brought to condign Punishment and applaud the Justice that has been done on Coleman the five Jesuits Godfrey's Murderers c. thereby stopping the Mouths of that brazen Tribe who would make the World believe they died innocently He will declare against all Arbitrary Designs detest those who by sneaking flatteries would unhinge the ancient and most wise Constitution of our Government He will heartily recommend Parliaments to his Sacred Brother as the wisest and safest Councils and even thank the late Houses of Commons for their zeal against him whilst they apprehended him as an Enemy to his King and the Religion and safety of the Kingdom He will vigorously by his Counsels and Interests oppose the growing greatness of the French which at this day threatens all Europe with Chains and immediately tends not only to the decay of Great Britains Trade and Glory but also to the diminution oppression and if it lay in humane Power utter subversion of the Reformed Religion throughout the World. These and the like Noble Fruits will the People not unreasonably expect from your R. H. when ever you shall please to declare your self a Protestant which that you may speedily do not Politickly or Superficially but with that sincerity as so serious a matter of infinite more value than the Three Crowns you are Presumptive Heir to is the Prayer of all good Men and particularly of Your Royal Highness's Most Humble and Faithful Servant Philanax Verax LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Richard Janeway 1688.