Government before he obtained it And Ethelwolf a Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet Elected King because they could not find a fitter Person for the Crown Edwin by his Miscarriage turn'd his Subjects Hearts and the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and swore Fealty to his Younger Brother Edgar The Danish Kings were approved by the Lords during their short time of Reign here Edward the Confessor by general Consent was admitted King Harold chose himself and ravish'd a Crown and he fared accordingly for his Intrusion without the Consent of the People All that is intended by this short Account is only to shew That Succession was not always esteemed so Sacred and that Non-Resistance hath not been so stanch'd a Doctrine always as some now would pretend To come nearer to our present Case Let 's see the Opinion of Councels and Divines and perhaps we shall not need to be much out of Countenance for assisting the Prince of Orange in the Vindication of our Civil Rights and Religion and I believe the Church of England will stand by Us And Divines of great Reputation gave their Judgment for Subjects defending themselves against their Princes in Cases not near so strong as Ours Queen Elizabeth gave Countenance and Aid to the Revolt of the Low-Countries or Rebellion as it is call'd against the King of Spain and did it by Advice of Learned and Religious Divines as Dr. Bancroft c. And 't was for the sake of Religion Queen Elizabeth also assisted the Protestants in Scotland against the French Faction Cambden says she had a Consultation about that Matter and although it was urged That it was of Ill Example to patronise another Prince's Subjects in Commotion yet it seem'd to be an Impious thing to be wanting to them of the same Religion Bishop Bilson justifies the Defence which the French and Dutch made on supposition that it was for the Maintenance of the Laws If we look into the Affair of the King of Bohemia or Prince Palatine we find tho King James was backward i. e. fearful and had not Courage when the War broke out in Germany the Sense of the Archbishop in his Letter to Sir Robert Naunton Secretary of State when he advised the King to send Aid against the Emperor's Attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power he encourages the Prince Palatine as King of Bohemia by Election in the matter for propagation of the Gospel and to protect the Oppress'd and declares for his own part He did not dare but give Advice to follow where God leads apprehending the Work of God in This and That of Hungary and that he was satisfied in Conscience that the Bohemians had a Just Cause c. King Charles the First who appeared to be of as Scrupulous a Judgment in the Point as any By the Advice of Archbishop Laud not only assisted the King of Denmark who assisted others against the House of Austria to keep the King of Spain from overrunning the Western part of Christendom and sent Forces and Supplies for the Cause of Religion as his Reasons are emphatically express'd in the Declaration But also some time after published a Declaration of War against France chiefly on Account of that King's Protestant Subjects for Violation of Edicts and Breach of Articles and Contracts with them Whereas Contracts and Articles at other times with Us have by some been pronounced Prophane Absurdities c. The Revolt of Catalonia hath had its due Representation here as well as elsewhere The only Reason for their taking up Arms was in plain Terms to rid themselves of their Oppressors which the Nobility said was their Duty and to preserve their Ancient Form of Government from the Encroachments of the King of Spain who Oppress'd Rich and Poor by Arbitrary Taxations Religion was no Ingredient in their Rebellion Their Acclamations were Long live the new King D'Juan de Braganza and let them dye that govern ill His Accession to the Crown of Portugal was Congratulated and Countenanced by all the Kingdoms and States in Europe upon the Return of his Manifesto's only the Emperor whose Interest it was condemn'd it the Pope himself did not Resent it And they congratulated him upon the Merits as well as Success of the Attempt Where then is this Ambitious Prince Where is that Wicked and Ungodly People as they call Us We have done no more than what hath been done upon a Godly Consideration in like Cases nay not so much and our Case goes farther for these had only Edicts and Acts of Grace to maintain We defend our Religion Establish'd by the Laws of the Land This Family of the Nassaus have the hardest Measure under the Sun To be stiled Daring and Ambitious Spirits and to have Damnation thus Entailed upon them only for undertaking the Cause of the Oppress'd and Rescuing Abus'd Innocence from the Tyranny of Arbitrary and Barbarous Power Why then are the Gentlemen of the Church of England so resty upon this Revolution There is scarce any Reason to be imagined unless it be for those which they bring themselves such as the Convocation-Settlement Conquest c. If we should enquire into their Opinions and variety of Principles I doubt we shall find them so Un-uniform that we shall never ground any fixt Authority upon them in this Point or any other Tho it seems but an Ungrateful Task to expose their Contradictions and Contrarieties in all Ages But if they have differ'd amongst themselves in their Doctrines and Notions of Obedience or Resistance and the Settlement of Crowns I hope they will give Us leave in Equal Authorities to chuse which we will follow In truth he who will be at the pains to examine their Writings i. e. their General Councels themselves even from the first Four to the Last I 'm sorry to say it will I believe find but a Sandy Foundation to fix his Conscience or Judgment in Articles of Faith What have they been doing with the Trinity of late What have they not been doing to get the Government into the Church-Conusance by way of Success and Providence Tho I would have this Government setled to satisfy and please every one in their own way if it were possible for Men have different Ideas of things Yet I'am unwilling the Government should be trick'd and impos'd upon And that Men should advance their own Stations and Interest by publishing and mis-applying Notions which expose the Church and King both I must confess I think Dr. S Reasons for the Government have been the greatest against it with all Men of Reason and Honour and have hindred many from coming into it What stuff have we produced in a Convocation-Book the greatest Affront to a King and People that was ever offer'd with a salvo to the Church It is said Providence may actually and God will when he sees fit and can serve the Ends of his Providence set up Kings without any Regard to Legal Right or Human Laws and when they are thus set
Exhorters The Practice of the World runs otherwise and the Prospect is too Melancholy where there is no Sunshine in the Landscape If then neither the Historical part of the Old Testament nor the Doctrinal parts of the New nor the certain Authority of Councils or Convocations nor the Extrajudicial Opinions of Divines do unanimously evince our Duty of blind Obedience or Non-resistance under a total subversion of a Constitution in Church and State and the Practice of the Christian World in all places is counter to it Why are these Gentlemen so severe upon us and so resty themselves Lay the Scene in Holland Germany France where a Holy League is no News or Portugal c. Resistance is an Orthodox Doctrine but put the Case at Home it must be Heretical and no less than Damnation Why must English-men be the only Cullyes of Europe and have their hands ti'd Although the Church of England does not pretend to follow the Doctrines of the Church of Rome yet I verily believe they never thought to betray their own Church to that by setting up a contrary Doctrine Suarez de Legibus acquaints us with the Popish Doctrine expresly in this Case viz. That Heathen Kings can't be depriv'd of their power by War unless they abuse it to the Injury of Christian Religion or the Destruction of the Faithful that are under them as is the constant Opinion of Divines meaning of the Church of Rome And again If Infidels have the Faithful for their Subjects and would turn them from the Faith or Obedience of the Church then the Church hath just cause of War against them But for Heretick Princes he says the Church hath Direct power over them and may deprive them in punishment of their Infidelity or Heresy This we saw verified in Queen Elizabeth and she by Advice of her Divines in preservation of Church turn'd the Tables upon them I do not believe any of our Divines are so passive to betray their Church and yield to the Pope or any one commission'd by him their Dignities and Revenues though they Deliver over the Nobility and Gentry to Damnation for preserving them in possession of them I mean they who have taken the Oaths to the Government as a King de facto for I believe the Others who are not come in are more charitable for I confess I have an Honourable pity for them and value them never the less for sticking to something though they are unfortunate and differ from me in Judgment But besides the Business of Religion the Papists ought not to be angry with us for Deposing or Removing a King they are uneasy as soon as others and do not take the Passive Doctrine to be any Restraint upon them even in the ill Administration of a Popish King Witness that Story of the King of Spain in Portugal and the Advance of the Duke of Braganza And here at home to look back and instance only in Edward the II d who as the History says being govern'd by Gaveston and the Spencers murder'd his Uncle Thomas Earl of Lancaster and numbers of Great men The People the Popish People rose against him Imprison'd him and a full Repesentative of the Nation in a solemn manner renounced their Allegiance to him but told him withal they would suffer his Son Edward to succeed which was a favour it seems in those Times Therefore I think the Papists whether they consider their Doctrine or their Practice can't hit us in the Teeth justly Their only Grievance is That the Person is mistaken and doth not prove for their turn And I do not doubt notwithstanding Dr. Sherlock's Settlement they would endeavour to remove King William for King James or any other Popish King again And I can't blame them for it for 't is their Principle but as Gentlemen they ought to give us leave to enjoy our fancy too And so to look into our own Church-men who would seem to mince the matter either in their Principles or Practice They tell us a Story of Licinius and Constantine and endeavour to parallel the first with King James II d and justify the latter for making War upon him by whom they intimate King William but they manage it so scurvily on and off that one knows not where to have them they would and they would not as if they were asham'd of their Passive Doctrine and yet asham'd to quit it The Bishop of A. allows a Foreign Prince to make War upon Another who prosecutes his Subjects for Religion if the Religion be his that makes War for that reason and what is this more than hath been said before But Puffendorf speaks boldly and allows also Subjects to use an Absolute Prince as an Enemy if he discovers an Hostile Mind towards them We keep a Clutter withour filial Obedience to the Patriarchal Power c. But Puffendorf grounds even the Paternal Power over Children upon their presum'd Consent and says 't is admitted Sons may when they come of Age chuse whether they will be under their Father's Government or not And here by way of Parenthesis a Man might raise an unlucky Dispute Whether there be any Government Legal and Rightful but what is only obtain'd by Consent For if this be true it will go a great way in the Argument even of their Patriarchal Power which for this reason cannot be Absolute and no Other way can give any Right at all for Conquest is but an overgrown Trespass upon the Possession and Right of another And if there be no Government but by Consent of the Governed whether the People's Consent will carry a Government farther without a subsequent and continued Approbation And the Consequence of that when we Swear Allegiance to a King be not that it is to be understood no farther than he governs by Law and that our Allegiance is due to Law not to the person of a King Whether these Considerations may not be offer'd with as good a Colour as some others have been Whether Kings do not mean this when the consent of the People is ask'd Or whether they mean nothing Whether 't is not understood by the consent c. We might also enquire how our Gentlemen came to be wiser and more scrupulous in their Allegiance than their Forefathers And what Titles William the II d Henry I st K. John K. Stephen Henry IVth Vth VIth and VIIth had if not by Consent We might farther ask them If this Patriarchal Despotick Absolute Power be the Right of Kings and Non-Resistance is not Lawful upon any occasion whatsoever Why they are not Unanimous in their Doctrine And what Lay-men are to do when there is a Schism in the Church But these may be thought invidious Queries But what if these Passive-Gentlemen are not consistent with themselves 'T is plain our Divines here were not so stiff to the first Motions of the Prince's Attempts for our Rescue He himself tells us that Several of the Lords Spiritual as as Temporal were in the
Edify As to what relates to the Justification of this Government it may be thought this comes out but poorly at this Time of Day and is a sort of barbarous Triumph over the Silenc'd and Oppress'd But those who know how early I was engaged in this Revolution another Way as early almost as any Gentleman on this Side of the Water cannot entertain such Thoughts of me I can only say I have not advanc'd one Expression upon that Consideration and the Occasion given me now was only Reading over some Books which had been on both Sides Published but not with Satisfactory Arguments to me and not in so clear a Method on the Side of the Revolution as I wish'd and besides I do not find that Men are less apt to Talk against the Government now than they were Seven or Eight Years ago and therefore I suppose this Publication may not be unseasonable even under so Long and Prosperous a Success of this Establishment which can never be made too Secure in the Hearts and Affections of the People Your Humble Servant W. P. A Summary Review OF THE KINGS and GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND c. ' T IS somewhat wonderful and I know not by what Fate it comes to pass That those Nations which by Nature seem design'd to enjoy the most retired Repose and Tranquility as not being by Situation involv'd in the common Hurly-burly of the World should yet notwithstanding deny themselves that Happiness as it seems and run into equal Confusion and Trouble with the large Continents of Men. Whether it be that we ascribe too much or too little to the Powers above and assume to our selves too far in the Conduct of Human Affairs Or whether in truth we are not permitted to establish that settled Peace and Pleasure here below which Mortals in their Wisdom would fancy and pretend to prescribe to themselves Be it how it will Is it not certain that all States Civil and Ecclesiastical too when they have arriv'd to the Top of Grandeur by a sort of Necessity as it were dissolve into Luxury and by an unaccountable Weakness and Vanity dwindle into Disreputation lose their Edge and are disarm'd till another Encroachment steps up and takes the place Not that all New Establishments and Reformations have been always for the better but only to shew that all sublunary things are subject to change However That Government and some Form of Polity is necessary cannot be disputed though it may what sort is But admitting Monarchy to be the best constitution and with all the Compliments of Comparison and Advantages that the Church will have for that doth not pretend that it is the Only Form approved by God with exclusion to others yet we see the best Scheme of this whether Absolute Limited or Mixt Hereditary or Elective hath never yet been capable to establish and secure it in Peace and Prosperity long as it were to intimate That even the wisest Scheme if any such be of Policy will have its Defects and all Foundations of Government are planted in a changeable Soil and are transform'd even in Notion either through the Perverseness or Inconsideration of the Prince or People or both Nay when we have pray'd in Aid of Religion and taken that into our support what wretched work has Religion it self made in States and unhinged them as Learning has Religion Those very Means that should compose and settle have subverted and do still disorder the World What Mischiefs have not those two words Prerogative and Liberty introduced both in Law and Gospel Construction and those two Epithets of Obedience Active and Passive are sacrific'd to Forms more than Force and have been abus'd almost as much by Government as Anarchy In our best Form of Government as we call it when the Constitution comes to clash the sole Question is Which is to be preferred the Person and Will of a Prince or the Law of the Land Which is most sacred the Power or the Ordonnance Which is to be obey'd and maintain'd the King who invades the Law and Religion Establish'd for 't is certain such a Case hath happen'd or Religion and Law which establish'd them Whether Religion or the Humour of a King be to be obey'd even for the sake of Religion This it seems hath been made a Doubt and hath been a Theme more than sufficiently handled of late Years especially and managed with Artifice enough to say no worse on both sides Indeed if we were now under a Theocracy the extravagance of the Dispute would be on t'other hand and if God at this day could be suppos'd to govern our Governors as in the Jewish Oeconomy when Rulers Captains Priests Judges and Kings were immediately inspired and led by the Almighty to keep them from stumbling or swerving before that Kings were given for a Curse and when not made such Implicit Faith and Obedience must be then due But when God himself leaves us to the Rules of Human Laws as he plainly intimates and is confest by the most Learned Divines who are impartial 't is otherwise And I must confess in my poor Opinion God forgive me if I err and I err in good Company under the Gospel God seems not so much concern'd in Human Powers otherwise than Human Laws And our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount hath not one word about Kingdoms only of another World After which the Texts of the Apostles are not to be taken in a general extended Sense for our Saviour himself who is and must be suppos'd to comprehend all necessary Instructions for a Christian when he insists on superlative Directions would no doubt have vouchsafed some Guide in obedience to the Powers on Earth if he had not concluded them by the Measures of their respective Constitutions and his Expression of rendring unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's c. sufficiently implies the force of that Argument and the Exempt reservation of Property c. No doubt the meaning of the Apostles has been strain'd too far by some Divines and besides it infers but little to us forasmuch as they do not nor ever did agree in their Interpretations 't will be to little purpose that the Apostles were inspired if we are not inspired also with an adequate degree of Apprehension But this only by the by This is not my Province and I shall have occasion to resume this Argument hereafter All that I shall say at present is That Arbitrary Power and Legal Right are Contradictions and cannot consist in Human Understandings Therefore I shall make bold to take Power in that sense which may consist with Reason and Rejecting the first tack the word Legal to it and shall wave or post-pone the Premisses from the absurdity of the Conclusion For if it be allow'd or may be suppos'd That a King can with his own breath blow away the Laws of the State or at second-hand remove the Land-mark or is to be told by any Metaphysical Pedant That no Law can
Business of Religion For we shall find I doubt in History notwithstanding all Observation to the contrary That if Religion be not supported by State-props it will not stand long and that That which hath only for its Ingredients Mercy and Honour will be in short time overrun and go to the Walls whilst the Religion of Violence and Blood will propagate it self by Inquisitions and the Artifices of its own pretended Zeal And that notwithstanding all Innocent Precautions 't is too true That a Prince of Matchiavell's Composition will at present and for once prevail over one of a Sincere Vertue and open Honour This I say upon the appearing Reason of the thing That our Nation in particular may not be imposed upon over and over again with the same Appearances and only that we should stand upon our Guard against all Popish Representations how innocently soever colour'd and against all Foreign Overtures how well soever baited Queen MARY ONE would have thought that the Reign of this Queen might have satisfied a Nation of any Capacity of Thinking in the Professions of a Papist and what weight the Promises of the Church of Rome to Hereticks ought to have with Protestants The Principles and Practices of Papists were well enough known even in those times in our Neighbouring Country of France under Henry the II d by the Execution of so great a Number of Protestants who were Burn'd in the Greve the common Place of Execution but the manner of it was not Common They were Haled up by a Pully and Iron Chain then suffered to fall down in the midst of a great Fire which was repeated several times And 't is said the King himself would needs feed his own Eyes with this Tragical and Melancholy Spectacle and that the Horrible and Mournful Shreiks of one of those poor Wretches left so lively an Impression in his Imagination that all his Life long he had from time to time a very frightful and terrible Remembrance of those dreadful Groans However it were it is certain that the Smell of those Carcasses then Roasted got into the Brains of a great many People who on the one hand beholding the false Constancy as Mezeray calls it and on the other hand the scandalous dissolute Living named this Justice as he terms it a Persecution and their Punishment a Martyrdom This is the tender Account given of it by a Popish Historian And he says Faggots were then lighted every where against the Protestants Queen Mary made her passage to the Throne through her Promises to the Norfolk and Suffolk Gentlemen that she would make no Alterations in Religion but before she was warm in it she shewed how she dissembled her false Favours and removed the Protestant Bishops and sent Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury and Latimer and others to the Tower and passed Judgment on them to Dye All this before her Coronation And as Mezeray tells us When she was once Absolute Mistress she Cemented the Throne with the Blood of the Lady Jane her Husband her Father and almost all her Kindred and after that she spilt much more to Restore the Catholick Religion which brought the State into such Convulsions as had like to have proved Mortal and all for the Advantage of a short Duration Thus Mezeray still a French and Popish Writer And in truth the Lady Elizabeth escaped very narrowly for Gardiner that special Bishop of Winchester had procured her to be sent to Prison and had framed a Warrant under certain Councellors Hands to put her to Death but that Mr. Bridges Lieutenant of the Tower pitying her Case went to the Queen to know her Pleasure who utterly denied that she knew any thing of it or was then ashamed at least to Own it by which means her Life was preserved This Good-natur'd Merciful Bishop and Popish Priest was not contented to Lop off Boughs and Branches as he phras'd it at the Council-Board but was for plucking up the Reformation by the Root meaning Queen Elizabeth and to do the Spaniards Justice 't is said they interceded for her perhaps it was only in Policy that their Master might have Two Strings to his Bow as it appeared by the sequel for he Courted Queen Elizabeth after the Death of Queen Mary 'T was evident farther how Queen Mary intended to keep her Word as to Religion by her Match with Spain No doubt she had a mind to put it out of her Power and cast the Odium of Persecution off from her self But we ought not to Reflect on her for Marrying one of her own Religion since our Protestant Kings on this side the Reformation have had a good knack ever since of providing for the Security of the Protestant Religion by Popish Matches for though King James the First did not actually Wed he did not dare to have attempted it in Scotland a Papist yet he was more to blame in advising and pursuing One so hotly for his Son than his Son who finished a Popish Match at last This by the bye The Rebellion of Wyat was an ill tim'd Attempt begun too early as another late One since but had he let it alone a little longer till Queen Mary shewed her self more fully in her proper Colours when the Pope's Primacy came to be proposed and laboured to be Restored and Cardinal Pool came over it might have had another Effect and proved a generous Effort for the Rescuing the Infant Reformation from the Jaws of Popish Tyranny For the Pope had just Taught the People the way of being Absolved from their Allegiance and they might infer if he could do it or it were to be done for the sake of Religion That they might Absolve themselves from their Allegiance for the good of Religion also But when once a first Undertaking miscarries through an ill-tim'd and rash Precipitation a Second seldom or never comes to Maturity in the same Shape and Nature Her Five Years Reign passed in a Hurry of Religion Love Persecution Mariage c. with some Lunatick Intervals of Mercy It is said her Reign was polluted with Blood of Martyrs Unfortunate by frequent Insurrections and Inglorious by the Loss of Callis It is said also she was a Lady of Good Nature and Merciful Disposition in her self What then can we expect from the Reign of any Popish Prince where the Barbarous Zeal and Unhuman Authority of that Church can so far Impose upon and Over-rule even a Merciful Prince that Dr Heylin calls her's the greatest Persecution since Dioclesian's time and which raged most terribly 'T is truly and absolutely impossible for any thing of Honour Virtue or Good Nature to have any place in a Sovereign under such a Sovereignty Queen ELIZABETH IN rhe Reign of Queen Elizabeth we may observe the difference in a method of Protestant and Popish Reformation or Alteration of Religion The Popish under Queen Mary was begun and carried on by Imprisonments Fire and Blood The Protestants by this Queen with a true Christian
Pharamond for introducing the Salique Law nor the Nobless of the Country for encouraging it for the Commandment says Honour thy Mother also I hope Sir Robert Filmer had no Gavelkind Land the Custom of Tanestry and Borough English must also be abominable in his sight which to other Men seem to be built upon good natural Principles of Reason But seriously what indifferent Person if there can be any such in the World will without indignation digest such sort of Debates After the same fashion Sir Robert Filmer gives us farther to understand He cannot learn That either the Hebrew Greek or Latin have any proper Original Word for a Tyrant or Slave it seems these are of late invention and taken up in Disgrace of Monarchical Government Why not more Charitably as well as more truly from the Experience of the Abuses in the Exercise of such Monarchical or Absolute Powers And he himself had given the reason but just before viz. That the Greek and Latin Authors liv'd in Popular Governments For which reason no doubt there was no occasion for such Monstrous and Barbarous Terms But he could not be in earnest in this Observation I must appeal from his Sincerity to his Judgment He does well to bar all other Schemes but his own He forbids us to rely on Aristotle the Grand Master of Politicks or the Greek or Latin Historians who liv'd in Popular Times Though Monsieur Rapin allows Aristole c. to be us'd in Divinity and says St. Thomas and other Divines have us'd him with good success But others and they Divines and Bishops too have lately told us That we are not to rely on Scripture in such Cases In what a condition is poor Subject Man And what was all this to the purpose when Scripture it self doth not peremptorily conclude us but leaves us at large to the Laws and Usages of Countries to the Ordinances of Man as Sir Robert himself confesses though with a lamentable strain upon St. Paul and St. Peter Every one saw what was aim'd at and offer'd by way of deduction from those Topicks of Doctrinal Government But because Sir Robert sends us to France to School to be inform'd in our Constitution and very much affects French Policy for he wrote in a time when the French Air was predominant let us see whether the Kings of France themselves did always talk in this Language Whether they have been continually so uniform in this Fancy of Absolute Power for the disposing of themselves and their Kingdoms Francis the First who was Contemporary with our Henry the Eighth and as Haughty a Prince and was attended with the Flattery of Courtiers too when he was taken Prisoner at the Battel of Pavia afterwards for Answer to the Proposals sent him by the Emperor for his Release amongst other things says That they were not in his power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was subjected c. After he was at liberty having call'd an Assembly of the most Notable Persons of the Three Estates of the Kingdom for their Advice touching the delivery of his Children and himself proffering to return to Prison if they thought fit Their Orders all answer'd separately That his Person was the Kingdom 's not his and as touching the restoring of Burgundy That it was a Member of the Crown whereof he was but Usufructuary That therefore he could not dispose of the one or t'other But withal they offer'd him Two Millions of Gold for the Ransom of his Children and assur'd him That if it must come to a War they would neither spare their Lives nor Fortunes I 'm Mez. Chron. 587. sorry no Precedent will serve for our Imitation but only that of the present French King and his Ally the Great Turk In the sense of these Authors theirs must be the only Apostolick Orthodox Institution We are told also That there is a Place where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their Hands to receive it And another Nation where the most Eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth And other People where no Subject speaks to the King but through a Trunk and there are no doubt several other such like Fantastick Customs of Submission and Idolatrous Reverence What then Every Land is still nevertheless to be guided by its own Customs and Laws And I wish some of these Absolute Arbitrary-Power-Sparks liv'd in one of the last mention'd Places In earnest Flattery is a most sordid and pernicious Vice and we were lately very near drawing down Judgments on our selves for it and had like to have suffer'd for pretending to offer Sacrifices which were never meant This Stuff of Passive Submission to Arbitrary Tyrannical Powers could never be offer'd to sale in a true Light The Doctrine would stink in the Nostrils of a Good King who had any thing of Virtue Piety or good Nature A King who to use the words of King James the First Acknowledges himself ordain'd for his People having received from God a Burthen of Government whereof he must be Accountable and a good King thinketh his highest Honour to consist in the due Discharge of his Calling and employeth all his study and pains to procure and maintain by the making and executing of Good Laws the Welfare and Peace of his People and as the Natural Father and kindly Master thinketh his greatest Contentment standeth in their Prosperity and his greatest Surety in having their Hearts This as to the Political and Moral part of Government And as to the matter of Religion What is it but to inspire a King with Persecution What must this come to when Kings have different Educations and different Tutors to catechize them if the Civil Establishment be not our Standard and the Law our Protection in Church as well as State As to the Case where the King and the Laws are of the same persuasion If Recusants and Dissenters are so unfortunate as to fall under a Prosecution for their particular Opinions be it at the peril of the King's Conscience and those who advise him but here and here only is the true Notion of being Passive and I must confess I can't tell how to help them Here I think they must suffer and not resist but fly to another City if they do not like that where the Government legally sits upon their Skirts Though I know some don't allow the Legislative Power to intermeddle with Religion as having too much a Lay mixture for the Pallet of the Church Yet for my part I do not see how otherwise we could maintain any Establishment in it For though since the Reformation the King as Head hath the Supremacy devolv'd on him and 't is consented that he may make Canons to bind the Clergy even without a Convocation yet as the Church does not allow him to speak with his own Mouth or Act with his own Hands in the Administration of Essentials of Religion
so the State doth not in the Alterations of them So that he is not Absolute or Independent either in his Ecclesiastical or Civil Capacity of Policy And therefore the whole Constitution and Three Estates must necessarily be call'd in on all Occasions of Change in Discipline or Innovation of Rites as well as in the alteration and repealing of other Old Laws or introducing and declaring New ones This by way of Parenthesis But I was speaking of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarchal Power and the Extravagancies he infers from thence grounded as he pretends from Scripture Therefore I would only ask him one Question more Was there no such proper Word in the Hebrew Greek or Latin for Tyrant or Slave Pray how then came the Words and Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience into the Greek It must be only taken up of late by some such Authors in disgrace of Monarchical Government according to Law and to put Obedience as Legal out of countenance To bring People to submit blindly to Arbitrary Power There is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which signifies at least King or Prince But is there any one doubts that there has been such a thing as a Harsh Unreasonable and Unnatural Father or King It must follow then that the Obedience intended by the Apostles who wrote in Greek was only to the Laws and the Legal Exercise of them according to the Usage of their respective Places which made them Legal Or to Kings as not being a terror to the Good but only to the Evil But it would tire even Patience it self to follow these sort of Gentlemen in all their Confused By-ways Therefore to return more immediately to my Subject and to my Friend Seigneur de Montaigne whom I am not asham'd to own let the Grave and Wise say what they will for I must ever have a greater Respect for an Author who talks judiciously of Trifling Matters if they be so than for One who talks triflingly on Judicious Subjects He tells us These Great and Tedious Debates about the best Form of Society and the most Commodious Rules to bind us are Debates only proper for the Exercise of our Wits and all the Descriptions of Policies feign'd by Art are found to be ridiculous and unfit to be put in practice And in another place Not according to Opinion but in Truth and Reality The best and most Excellent Government for every Nation is that under which it is maintain'd This Montaigne says who express'd and practis'd as great Loyalty as ever any Man of Sense and Honour did and I agree with him That all Reverence and Submission is due to Kings except that of the Understanding This as a Gentleman and as a Christian he farther adds Christian Religion hath all the Marks of utmost Utility and Justice but none more manifest than the severe Injunction it lays indifferently upon all to yield absolute Obedience to the Civil Magistracy and to maintain and defend the Laws i. e. in English To submit according to Law And all Policy as well as Religion enforces Obedience to the Administrators of Right and Justice And if it be permitted to argue from Etymologies which is surer than from Examples the Grecians tell us the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Vbi homines versantur vel potius a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certis legibus juncti And we may assure our selves That People would not build Houses c. till the Possession and Enjoyment of them was establish'd by certain Laws But we shall never have done never come to any settlement if the Forms of Government and Laws are not admitted but suffer'd to be disputed at this time of day We are therefore to take Laws as we find them and as they stand in use and practice by a continued Establishment It can't be material therefore to look back how the Figure of our Legislative Power stood a Thousand Years ago or from a much shorter date of Time How the Form of Writs issued to the Commons was heretofore though no doubt the best Authority is with them and it is confest they were always a Constituent part of the Legislative Power as 't is idle and impertinent to say The Supreme or Legislative Power must be ever Arbitrary this is an absurd Affirmation when all Parties in a Nation agree by their Representatives to the Enaction of Laws By the Laws of God and Man Our Constitution ought now to rest in Peace in an Inviolable Establishment Kings swear as our Saviour preach'd in the Mount to the Multitude A King's Coronation-Oath must be interpreted ad Captum Populi and to ordinary Intendment That so there may be some certain Rule of Governing and true Measures of Obeying whereby the whole Community may be preserv'd in Peace and Order which is the End of all Government We in England seem to value our selves more peculiarly on the Polity of our Constitution There hath been enough said in praise of our Laws No doubt they are very good if well observ'd so good at least That I never heard that any King of England ever pretended to except against them when he was ask't the Question at his Coronation Whether he would Observe the Laws and so Good That the Subject as far as I perceive desires only the Confirmation and Continuance of them And I will be bold to say for the Honour of the English Nation and People notwithstanding the ill Name some are pleas'd to give us at home and abroad at present That there was never any War in England from the Barons War to the late Civil War setting aside the Dispute between the H. of Y. and L. but what was occasion'd and begun on Colour of the King 's imposing an Arbitrary Power over the Rights and Privileges of the People and after Complaint and Application for Redress of Grievances and Restitution of their Rights and Privileges and all other Nations have done the same where they could I speak of the beginning of Wars I do not always justify the End of them And must aver That the People of England in general have notwithstanding the Proverb which is Exotick been always Good-natur'd Subjects Easy enough to be impos'd upon and cajoled out of their Money and their Lives for the Service of the Crown And as I think so Modest that they have never assum'd as Men to stand in competition with Majesty nor have ever pretended to be so much as Kings till Kings were persuaded to think themselves more than Men Hence as you will perceive in these short following Remarks have for the most part sprung those Jealousies which divided King and People and disjointed the United Common Interest of Both. Ambitious and Designing Men have rais'd Fantoms of Powers and Laws which had being only in the Clouds at least had none amongst us And Imaginary Constructions have been put upon those which were plain and obvious The Terms of Power and Subjection
put Men and Kings too often upon poor spirited Actions But letting this pass Another touch of his over-Wisdom viz. his Disposition to squeeze Money out of his Subjects Purses by Forfeitures on Penal Laws was an Excess of Policy scarce to be excused and as is said without all doubt proved the Blot of his Time and as Sir Robert Cotton observes There is no string will sooner jarr in the Commonwealth than this if it be generally touched This was that which passed for the Disgrace of his Reign though what may pass under the Name of Severe Justice And though he escaped the Violent Consequences of it himself yet the fatal Return overtook Empson and Dudley in the beginning of the next Reign who were both executed for Treason for extending this Summum Jus to Violence and Injury and turning Law and Justice into Rapin Though it will puzzle a Lawer to determine what Species of Treason this is unless it be against the Laws by traiterously betraying the Trust reposed in them But no Government King or Person is without some Failing and Wisdom it self may be overacted HENRY VIII I Am not to determine how it came about yet it may be observable That though this King came to the Crown by an Undoubted Right of Succession as Heir of the House of Lancaster by his Father and of the House of York by his Mother yet upon his Coronation the People were ask'd Whether they would receive him for their King But I know this will be thought a trivial Matter of Form not worth taking notice of It is said his first Years were a Reign by Book having come from the Instruction and Contemplation of Good to Action his Notions stuck by him some Years And not to pretend to single Sufficience at those Years at least That he might know how to perform his Coronation Oath he chose a Wise Councel to direct him in the Observation of the Laws and as they generally do in all New Reigns He redress'd the Grievances of the former by making Examples of the Oppressors in the last He did not enter into the War with France upon his own Head neither upon the Advice of his Privy Council but had it debated in Parliament where it was resolved That Himself with a Royal Army should invade France and then for that purpose an Extraordinary Subsidy was willingly granted towards the Charges thereof These were the beginnings of his Reign and he might have finish'd it with the same Honour and Wisdom if Woolsey had not piously told him He might lay aside the use of his Understanding and his own Consideration no doubt to rely on his That he should not need to trouble himself with frequenting the Council-Table but might take his Pleasure c. Admirable Councel for a Priest And he himself would give him Information c. Thus he ingrossed the King disobliged the King's Friends caus'd the Archbishop of Canterbury Bishop of Winchester Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to withdraw from Court and Topp'd his Prerogative upon the King 's and led him away by the Misdirections of his own False Oracle persuades and puts the King upon Lending the Emperor Money who was poor and Insolvent because forsooth the French King had withheld the Revenue of the Bishop of Tourney that is his Own After he had tired the People with his Civil Justice before he sets up for an Arbitrary Spiritual Power in himself Obtains an Office from the Pope to dispence with Offences against Spiritual Laws and erects a Trade for Sin to make Virtue and Religion Venial and betrays the King into the Restoring or Surrendring Tourney for great Gifts and greater Promises after that he found it did not turn to Account and he could make nothing of it by way of Yearly Income And thus dishonour'd the King and Nation and like a very Godly Prelate dissolv'd the King and Court into all sort of Luxury and the Priesthood it self into Licentiousness and Disorder And so far the Artificial Malice and Villany of this Sawcy and Bloody Butcher's Son went who had neither Honour or Religion That he persuaded the King to sacrifice his Nobility to him and the Duke of Buckingham must be made an Example and Martyr to his Revenge for only pouring a little Water into his Shooes when he had the Impudence to dip his Hands in the Bason whilst the Duke held it to the King to wash He alone could create Misunderstandings between the King Lords and Commons by vertue of his Lies and Misrepresentations of Matters from one to the other altho' he had been caught in them more than once He dissolv'd Convocations by vertue of his Power Legantine which were convok'd by the Archbishop and calls Him and all the Clergy to another Place according to his own Imperious Fancy diverts the Laws of the Land and seeks to raise Money by Commission which the People opposed and the King was afterwards forced to Disclaim On the other hand abuses the King's Grace and takes it upon himself alters the State of the King's House Retrenches the Allowance of his Servants and in short arrogates the Power over Servants and Master also and assumes the Power and Honour of the King and Stiles and Directs Ego Rex meus in his Writings and Letters to Rome and Foreign Parts This could an humble Successor of the Apostles do And by the bye It may be worth observing how far Pride can inspire these Prelatical Sparks with Presumption who pretend to be but the Representatives of the Apostles to exalt themselves above and Lord it over Kings whom yet they themselves acknowledge to represent God I regard not their Distinctions neither before nor since their Compliment of the Supremacy which they would resume if they could without a Pope But it happen'd the Cardinal carried on the Scene and State of Pageantry too far even to his own Ruin and the King's Eyes were open'd at length after that the Cardinal had cut him out a way for the Ruin or Reformation rather of the Church as well as himself and by his Exorbitant Behaviour had open'd the Door to the Parliament to Redress the Grievances and provide for a Remedy against them by restraining and wholsome Laws I am the more particular upon this Prelate because he was the Hinge upon which every thing turn'd and would set a Mark upon him for Kings to know whom to avoid and for what Reasons And would upon all Occasions also remind them how wretched and inconsiderable a Creature a King is when he abdicates his own Reason to submit it to another's and waves the Publick for any private Whispers of Admonition I desire to be excused from medling with the long Story of the King's Quarrel with the Pope and the Occasion and shall pass over the Alterations in Religion in this King's time or what was more considerable the Change and Dissolution of Religious Houses I have nothing to do with his Shifting and Dissolving of Wives neither
Temper by a gentle Remove without any Blood without Imprisoning any Person and without inflicting almost any Suffering or Penalty till the Seditious Practices of the Popish Party had provoked the Arm of Justice till the Pope had given away her Kingdom of Ireland as a Heretick and Parsons and Campian Two of his Emissaries had Deposed her at Home in their Doctrines And after all Campian Sherwin and Briant did not suffer as Popish Priests but were Prosecuted on the 25th of Edward the III d for Plotting Destruction of the Queen and Ruin of the Kingdom for Adhering to the Pope the Queen's Enemy and coming into England to Raise Forces against the State And 't was only for these Exorbitances of the Papists that new and strict Laws were Enacted against them in the following Parliaments in the 23d 27 29 35th Years of her Reign Before that there was only the Penalty of Twelvepence a Sunday for Absence from Church and some other necessary provisions concerning the Supremacy Administration of the Sacrament and Form of Common-Prayer which also were very tenderly put in Execution and for above Twenty Years no Body suffered Death for Religion nor till long after the Pope and King of Spain had conspired her Ruin and Gregory the XIIIth held secret Consultations to Invade at once both England and Ireland and longer after that Bloody Massacre of Paris which was a design to Cut off the Protestants as it was Termed or at least to give them a deep Wound and the terrible Slaughters of Protestants through all the Cities of France and the War afterwards declared against the Protestants in the time of Charles the IXth not to reflect on the Chambres Ardentes before against Protestants in Henry the IId's time and after the Attempt which the Duke of Alva on the behalf of the Queen of Scots and the just suspicious she might entertain on her account who was then accounted the great Patroness and only hopes of the Papists and all the other Stratagems and visible Designs of that Party And the second Execution of any Person was in her Twenty fifth Year and upon a just necessity of Self-preservation upon the rash and extravagant Proceedings of Somervill and Others Besides when the Queen was informed even of these Severities as they are call'd tender ones in comparison she grew offended with the Commissioners for Popish Causes Reproved them for their Severity although they declared and protested they Questioned no Man for his Religion but only for dangerous Attempts against her Majesty and the State and the Queen forbad them afterwards to use Tortures as she did the Judges other Punishments And not long after that when Seventy Priests were taken and some of them Condemned and the rest in danger of the Law she only shipp'd them away out of England A Merciful piece of Justice So Merciful she was that it gave her Enemies such Encouragement as her Life was never safe as may appear by the Case of Dr Parry till there was a necessity for an Association to provide for the Queen's safety which was first Voluntary by a Number of her Subjects the Earl of Leicester being foremost thence after of all Ranks and Conditions bound mutually thereunto to each other by their Oaths and Subscriptions to Prosecute all those to the very Death that should Attempt any thing against the Queen which the Year following was in a Parliamentary manner Enacted into a formal Law Notwithstanding which another dangerous Conspiracy of one Savage set on foot by Babington and Others to take away her Life as being Excommunicated was discovered and about Fourteen were justly Executed for Treason Upon which last Treason hung the Fate of the Queen of Scots the Justice whereof has been so much Controverted and Debated Rules of Policy and Self-preservation must cashier all Principles of good Nature or Honour Yet however Execution was not done upon her till the French Ambassador and others were again discovered to take off the Queen by way of prevention And the Circumstances suggested to the Queen at least of the Spanish Navy being come to Milford Haven the Scots into England and that the Duke of Guise was Landed at Sussex c. may extenuate if not excuse the Severity of her Execution with any but Papists and the manner of doing it at last shews it was Extorted from her upon inevitable Considerations and Symptoms of a relucting necessity Her often Countermanding it demonstrates it was not an Act of her Inclination and at last perhaps as far as it appears it was obtained of her by Surprise and without her Authorising Hand to the finishing Stroke If there were any thing in it of Barbarity 't was the denying her a Catholick Priest or Confessor and the Manner of her Execution Which yet is no more than Papists deny Protestants on all occasions and I know not why we should not vouch the dying Honour of our Religion as they do of theirs But enough has been said of this Tragedy on all Hands only it may be fit to Remark That even the French Historians give a more favourable Account of it than our own and particularly Mezeray is softer in his Expressions than Baker The first says The Indiscretion of her Friends was no less the Cause of her Misfortune than the Wickedness of her Enemies as the First sought with violent passion after some plausible pretence to Ruin her the Other furnished them with divers by contriving every Hour some odd Design and even Conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth so that they made her Perish by their over-much Care and Endeavours to Save her The Later gives a slim trimming Account which was worse Although 't is true the taking off the Queen of Scots did not break the Neck of the Popish Designs for who can restrain the Malice of Jesuits for Men must have some ingredient of Modesty to be convinc'd and silenc'd and kept within the bounds of natural Virtue yet it stopp'd their Hands for some time And when afterwards they began again upon the Example and Encouragement of the Holy League in France of which the Duke of Guise was Head and in virtue of which they had taken off their own King Henry the III d by the Hands of James Clement a Monk though Guise himself was first Assassinated and they had taken new heart upon the King of Spain's Founding a Seminary of English at Validolid and new Plots were contrived against the Queen It put them somewhat out of the way and they were at a loss where to find a Successor to the Crown for their purpose when Lopez and Patrick Cullen c. were to have Killed the Queen And they were forc'd to hunt after far-fetch'd Titles in the Infanta of Spain and farther for the Earl of Essex at Home the Son of the Queen of Scots being a Protestant and even at last they made but little of it The Queen remained in Peace and Safety and their Pretender Essex was himself Executed for Treason The
Affairs of the Church were so prudently managed in her time with relation to Puritans as well as Papists that she left it in a Condition to stand upon its own Legs and maintain it self without Danger from Opposition had it been preserv'd with the same continuance of Zeal and unshaken Fidelity by her Successors As to her Civil Administration the Heathen and Mahumetans the Persians and Idolaters the Ethiopians and Muscovites name her with Reverence And Bossac in one of his Letters to Cecil saith He that Excommunicated her spoke of her with Honour She chose her self a Wise Councel and shewed her own Wisdom in being Advised by them She had a hard Game to play with Philip of Spain as well as her own Popish Subjects yet she managed both softly and by degrees and at last by Parliament fix'd and secured the general Alteration in Religion which she could never have done by her self First-Fruits and Tenths were Restored to the Crown and the Supremacy Confirmed to the Queen She avoided Matrimony whether upon any Consideration besides Prudence I shall not enquire by doing so she preserv'd her self Head of the Church and State and Mistress of her self as well as her Subjects and Oblig'd and Silenc'd the Parliament by soft Answers of denial when they Remonstrated to her for that purpose and put an unanswerable Compliment upon them by telling them She had placed her Affections upon her People in General But in matters of Religion she was no Courtier after she had once declared her self a Protestant though some pretend she Dissembled in her Sister's Days she did not look back towards the Pope did not shuffle in her Religion but refused all Communication with him and also generously declined all the Overtures of Advantage made by Pius the IVth She equally despised his Threats and Temptations Afterwards she readily and sincerely Assisted the Distressed Protestants her Neighbours on all Occasions She provided every thing for the Strength and Honour of the English Nation and saw it maintain'd in its True Glory both at Home and Abroad Would not be wheadled nor huff'd to betray it but carry'd its Reputation farther Abroad than any of her Predecessors had or Successors hitherto have done She shew'd it the way to overcome even the Invincible Armada of Spain which the Spaniards with all their Force and Fraud had provided to Invade us and basely to Attack us by Surprize when they were at the same time in a Treacherous Treaty of a Peace And all this she did without oppressing her Subjects well knowing as she her self declared when she remitted a Fourth Subsidy that the Money was as sure in her Subjects Coffers as her Own 'T is said of her Never Prince ruled with more Justice and with her Justice mingled more of Mercy She was term'd St. Elizabeth by some at Venice for her Merciful returning home certain Italians which were taken Prisoners in the Invasion of 1588. And 't is said some told the Lord Carleton being then Ambassador That though they were Papists yet they would never pray to any other Saint a Compliment at that distance may be laid hold of at home for an acknowledgment of a just Character But her Truest Character we may take from her own Behaviour and from her own Mouth because it seems to have nothing of Vanity in it In her Speech to her last Parliament 1601. she thus expresseth her self To be a King and to wear a Crown is a thing more Glorious to them that see it than it is Pleasant to them who bear it Though you may have had and may have many Mightier and Wiser Princes sitting in this Seat yet you never had nor shall have Any that will love you better Du Serres says of the Reign of Henry the Fourth of France her Contemporary It is a Sign of a Happy Reign when the Subject rejoyceth to see their Prince 'T is probable he might mean it as well of Queen Elizabeth Or we may apply it for him as it was verified of her For it was observ'd in her short Progresses that People of all sorts would flock to see her And not only that for I have known other Kings attended through Curiosity but also what hearty Acclamations did they utter As God save Queen Elizabeth c. and she would Reply God bless you my People all Few Princes miscarry who have the Affections of the better part of their People 'T was for this Reason I suppose that the Mother of the Duke of Guise her professed Enemy said Elizabeth of England was the most Glorious and Happy Woman that ever swayed Scepter And Henry the Fourth of France in a Letter to Monsieur de Rosny commends her with an implicit sort of Emulation She had such a Character even with the Turks for Morality and Natural Honour That at her Instance he countenanced the English Trading there and thence came as is said our Turky Company and every one knows the Benefit of it to England Also the Duke of Russia for her sake as is said who yet is so jealous of Strangers gave Civil Reception to the English In short That Kingdom which she found in Troubles and unsetled she left Establish'd in True Religion Peace and Plenty at Home and Reputation Abroad JAMES I. I Dare not Encounter this King so rudely as some have done 't is said upon good Experience Nor would I be thought to offer Undecent Reflections at a King who came Ushered into our Throne with such a Reputation for Wisdom of his own and such Advantages of a Councel left him fam'd for it Yet in my own Opinion and poor Observation I can't for my Soul pay that mighty Veneration to his Character and Memory which the World would seem to demand He seems to me to have stumbled at the Threshold in our Kingdom and to have done a thing not very Honourable or Prudent Who after he had so poorly quitted the Resentments of his Mother's Death before by a sort of Reflex Malice yet in pious Memory of her Sufferings and to revive the Reasons of them here and as it were to Countenance and Abet the Norfolk Family upon the same Foundations forthwith calls the Lord Thomas and Henry Howard two Papists to the Council thereby intimating as it were hopes to the Papists c. which they were apt enough no doubt to conceive Nor will his Pretended Apprehension of the Pope's Briefs to the Catholicks excuse him Tho Sir Richard Baker who was bribed by a Knighthood at his first coming over represents him in the front to have done it only upon Prudential Motives that is Fear Thus he at first dash disobliged all Parties And who knows but this first Cast of Favour to them and to the Earl of Southampton whose Father 't is true was a great Friend to Mary Queen of Scots but a greater to Popery and his partial aukward Behaviour towards other Gentlemen might be the Foundation of that complicated Treason by the Lord Cobham Sir Walter
Rawleigh and others Protestants and Papists amongst whom were two Priests and for which there was no other apparent Occasion only that he provok'd all Parties whilst he sought to win One by Fawning to shew something like good Inclinations to the See of Rome as the Pope expected though they well knew he did not mean that neither whilst he received others coldly for Reasons neither he nor they knew So that they agreed only in this to lay him aside who as they concluded by his Behaviour would answer the Expectations of neither There was no necessity of adding Papists as Spies upon his Councels he might in prudence been contented to have taken it at present as left him with the Addition only of his Scotchmen to the Number And 't is plain it gave no satisfaction to the Papists by the Powder-Plot which followed His Next Step of Unaccountable Wisdom was dissolving the Parliament for Reasons known to no body besides himself 't is said because they did not comply with his Designs but what those Designs were do not appear Above-board The Third Action of Moment out of common Forms was the sacrificing Sir Walter Rawleigh to the Importunities of Gondomar for neither his Justice nor Mercy was to be relied on that is giving up the Interest of England to the Spanish Satisfaction And his Conduct with relation to Spain is admirable throughout Queen Elizabeth had pretty well humbled that Potent Monarch and as Sir Robert Cotton observes forced him in his after-Reign that is after his Unsuccessful Tricks with her to that Extremity that he was driven to break all Faith with those Princes that trusted him and paid for One Year's Interest above Twenty five thousand Millions of Crowns Hear Sir Robert Cotton who speaks to the Person of King James and therefore we may assure our selves modestly and gently So low and desperate in Fortunes your Highness found him when you took this Crown Thus from the abundant Goodness of your Peaceable Nature this is the way of Banter if Kings would see it you were pleas'd to begin your Happy Reign with General Quiet and with Spain first which should have wrought in Noble Natures a more Grateful Recompence than after followed For long it was not before Tyrone was hearten'd to Rebel against your Highness and flying had a Pension at Rome paid him from the Spanish Agent His Son Odonel Tyrconnel and others your Chiefest Rebels retain'd ever since in Grace and Pay with the Arch-Duchess at Spain's Devotion So soon as your Eldest Son of holy Memory now with God was fit for Mariage they began these Old Designs by which before they had thriven so well c. Thus Sir R. C. in that Stile And thus they led him on their Dance whilst he Deserted or what was worse so meanly Vindicated the Interest of his Son-in-Law the Prince Palatine He must take his Measures from Gondomar and instead of assisting him with a Powerful Army he is treating with this Spanish Agent and must take his Advice and Matters are to be made up with him by a Match for his Son the Prince of Wales with the Infanta of Spain and then suffers himself to be imposed upon by Idle Representations which this Ambassador carried on only in Disguise to serve his Master's Ends whilst in the mean time the Poor Palatine is swallowed up by a Confederacy between the Emperor and King of Spain and all this without calling a Parliament that being forsooth an Affront to his Wisdom then sends his Son to Spain when he was told by Sir John Digby c. who advised him not to suffer his Resolutions to be interrupted by that Overture of the False Appearances and Insincerities of the Spaniards which the Letters from the King of Spain to Olivares and his Answer would have convinced any one of besides himself and after that his making so many and ample Concessions in favour of Popery during the Treaty And in truth Treating of any Popish Match are no great Arguments of Wisdom Fatherly Care or indeed of Religion The English Navy must be neglected on pretence intimated by Gondomar that the furnishing of it would breed suspicion in the King his Master and the Cautionary Towns must be rendred up being the Keys of the Low-Countries to oblige his Friend Gondomar too His People of England must be Check'd Disgrac'd and Silenced for opposing this Popish Match with their Speeches Counsels Wishes and even Prayers 't is said Gondomar could Dissolve Parliaments also The Protestant Interest on his Son's Account in Bohemia slighted though Archbishop Abbot represented the Circumstances and Call of Religion to Engage him besides Honour Though his Ambassador Cottington inform'd how Matters went and though every body besides himself saw through the Designs of Spain as well in the Complimenting him in the Match as Mediatorship to keep him Neuter and hold him in Suspence And though he himself saw it turn to a War of Religion and would be the Overthrow of the Protestants or Evangelicks and though the Emperor had proscribed the Prince Palatine yet King James's Eyes would not be open'd nor would be persuaded to take the Alarm These are no great Master-strokes of Policy no more than of Conscience or Honour And to War at last when all was lost against his own avow'd Principles was an Incomprehensible Mystery of Judgment and Wisdom Besides these of which he discharged himself thus learnedly there was no Matter of Moment did or could Occur during his Reign to exercise any Extraordinary Talent As for the Governing his People 't is plain he had King-Craft as his Friend Sir Richard Baker calls it as is pretty Evident by his Parliamentary Speeches and his Ways of getting Money He could also Dissemble and sometimes Huff but 't was only his own Subjects and that with no good Grace neither He had Priest-Craft too as Heylin observes who tells us 'T was his usual Practice in the whole Course of his Government to Balance one extreme by the other Countenancing the Papists against the Puritans and the Puritans sometimes against the Papists Thus he was Devout for the Church of England at Home and for Popery Abroad making Canons for their Conformity here and submitting our Orders to Truckle to the Popish Match against all the Remonstrances of Parliament Church and People What could he expect from this Popish Match from any Popish Match but the Consequences all the World expected That it would let in Popery once more into Hopes of Success at least to gain Breath by a suspension of the Laws against them What could be expected but that this must create Jealousies and Misunderstandings between him and his Subjects And 't was not sending a Synod of Divines to Dort or having a Convocation at Home of which Dr. Overal his Dean of Paul's has given a special Account for the Edification of his Successor the present Dean could likely settle the Affairs of the Church in Europe when he at the same time was
Government in such State of picqueering Misunderstanding King James left his Crown to King Charles and in a War for Recovery of the Palatinate without any Money and in a fair way of Quarrel at Home as well as Abroad Besides the People had it in their Memories and Consideration his Complaisant Behaviour in Spain his Letter to and Tampering with the Pope in Order to that Match which rais'd new Jealousies on Account of Religion and his Compleating himself the Match with France with as Frank Articles for Popery as had before been offer'd to Spain in Conjunction with his Father confirm'd them in them These Reasons and Considerations took possession justly enough in the Minds of Men which made them ever after stand upon their guard And setting aside all those Scurrilous Authors on the One hand who have pretended to give us a Narrative of his Actions and also those Fulsome Ones on the Other all those who would Depress or Advance his Character with Art certainly a great many Actions of his Administration are not to be justified in a Court of Honour or Wisdom Such as Dissolving the First Parliament meerly in Complaisance to the Duke of Buckingham A King must necessarily Disoblige and Affront the Community when he Espouseth the Interest of a Single Person against the Publick and it shews a Weakness to put one Man no better than the rest in the Scales in competition with Mankind as it were But especially a King ought to be sure the Subject-matter of such Protection and Preference is good and justifiable otherwise he commits a double Error It will be thought Ill-natur'd to Argue against Favourites but I must Argue against the Argument for them It is a very odd Inference That because our Saviour had his Favourite-Disciple therefore Kings must have their Favourites I suppose No body will pretend there is any parity of Reason To return therefore to the Duke of Buckingham who without Dispute had betrayed the Vantguard c. to the French after the King and he knew both that they were to be employed against the Rochellers this was in it self a great Abuse to the Honour of the English Nation and a manifest Injustice and Injury to the Protestant Religion And 't was from this King's Reign that the French began to Date their Strength at Sea This only Action bred such ill Blood and created so great a Misunderstanding at first between the King and his Subjects as stuck to the Duke of Buckingham till his Death whom Felton kill'd and I doubt till the King 's too His next Proceeding was Extraordinary when he had thus Dissolv'd the First Parliament To Levy Money by Privy Seals which had so ill a savour in his Father's Time and then to call a Parliament presently on the neck of that Miscarriage and to side with the D. of B. against the E. of B. and the denying the latter his Writ to Parliament this lookt inconsiderate and a little mean and the interposing so much on behalf of the former even with passion as well as partiality had but an ill grace I pass by the Business of the Earl of Arundel which also could not but breed ill Blood in the House of Peers By the King's Obstinacy in these Affairs though I do not pretend to justify the House of Commons in theirs instead of preserving one Friend in the mean time he sacrifices all the rest to his Humour For the King of Denmark who at his Instance chiefly had taken up Arms in his Quarrel was beaten and reduced to great Distress for want of Succors from England which the King had thus disabled himself to supply according to his Promise That Necessity put him again upon Indirect Courses for Raising of Money by Commissions of Loan and seising all Duties of Customs Privy-Seals Benevolences c. as if he would shew he design'd if he had prevail'd to live on himself without a Parliament But the Imprisoning the Gentlemen for refusing the Loan and the Suspending and Disgracing Archbishop Abbot for refusing to License Sibthorp's Book were Strains of Arbitrary Power which exposed Religion as well as Law into a Jest and seem to profane the Sacred Title of a King as well as that of an Archbishop as appears especially in that Archbishop's Narrative and Dialogue with the Passages therein express'd if it be true which exposes that whole Transaction as a plain Rhodomontade and Defiance to all Rules of Justice and Reason I will take notice only of the Observation of the Archbishop upon the Fourth Objection to Sibthorp's Sermon by which you may guess at the rest To the Fourth Let the Largeness of those words be well consider'd says the Archbishop yea all Antiquity to be absolutely for Absolute Obedience to Princes in all Civil or Temporal things for such Cases as Naboth's Vineyard may fall within this and if I had allow'd this for Doctrine I had been justly beaten with my own Rod If the King the next day had commanded me to send him all the Money and Goods I had I must by my own Rule have obey'd him And if he had commanded the like to all the Clergy of England by Sibthorp's Proposition and the Archbishop of Canterbury's allowing of the same they must have sent in all and left their Wives and Children in a Miserable Case yea the Words extend so far and are so absolutely deliver'd that by this Divinity If the King should send to the City of London and the Inhabitants thereof commanding them to give unto him all the Wealth they have they were bound to do it There is a Meum Tuum in Christian Commonwealths and according to Laws and Customs Princes may dispose of it That Saying being true Ad Reges Potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos proprietas This was the Sense of the Archbishop on this Matter and yet the King espoused the Fancies of a Sibthorp against him who was not so much as a Batchellour of Arts only for the merit of his Flattering Divinity And in truth the whole Proceeding is apt to turn one's Stomach besides that the King in Exposing the Dignity of a Person of such a Figure in the Church did also make bold with his own Character at second hand who stood but one Remove Higher And what was it but to intimate to the Lay-Gentlemen that neither of them were so sacred or inviolable as was pretended And by the by 't is not safe to make too Light of a Spiritual Person they can't be held too sacred on this side of Infallibility But how like a Prophet did the Archbishop talk How did he Reason like a Statesman concerning the King and Duke of Buckingham How did the Event but too well justify the Predictions What could the King expect from his Next Parliament which he was in a manner forc'd to Call after the Imprisonment of so many Gentlemen and the Poor-spirited Way of Releasing them which lookt almost as bad as the Imprisoning them What could he say
the Popish Match and Popery was at the bottom For though it be said the Puritans had a Design to throw him out of the Saddle right or wrong and that nothing of Concessions should ever satisfy them and this perhaps may be true of some very sower Zealots and extravagant Pretenders yet 't is improbable and what they could never have hoped for and the greater part of the Presbyterians were drawn in by Surprise who did not foresee the end and withdrew afterwards when 't is true 't was too late But after all the design was carried on in other Nations besides our own and by other Councels beyond ours And Popish Priests had not only their Heads but Hands also in the Business not only in Peace but War likewise as you may read in Mentet who would not lie in that Affair 't is a pretty scarce Book and therefore I will give you his Words he says speaking of the Battel of Edge-Hill Ce que surprit le plus tout le Monde ce fut qu' on trouua quelques Prestres parmi les Morts du Costé des Estates Car Encore que Dans leurs Manifestes ils appellassent l' Armeé du Roy l' Armeé des Papistes pour le rendre Odieux au Peuple ils avoient neamoins deux Compagnies de Wallons d'autres Catholiques dans leur Armeé Outre qu' ils avoient rien oublié pour tascher d' engager en leur Partie le Chevalier Arthur Aston Colonel Catholique de grand Reputation And he says before That the King published an Edict at Stonely afore that wherein he tells them He did not mean that any Papist should come to serve in his Army that he might not give Discontent or Jealousy to his Protestant Subjects but then 't was too late for such like Overtures of Honour or Professions of Sincerity But to go on with Mentet Il est vray que le Roy avoit aussi sou e rt dans son Armeé quelques Officiers Catholiques Homes de grand suffisance les bien intentionées pour le bien de l' Estat ainsi les appella't ' il dans la declaration qu' il ' fit publier apres le Battail à quoy les Estates n' oublierent pas de repondre par autant des Contredits Il temoigne qu' encore que les Estates eussent sans Comparison plus grand Nombre des Catholiques que luy dans leur Armeé qu' ils eussent tasché par toutes sortes de moyens de gaigner tous ceux du Royaume leur ayant fait promettre sous main que moyennant qu' ils voulussent prendre partie avec eux On abrogeroit toutes les Ordinances faites à leur prejudice Il ne pouvoit toute fois se resoudre d'appeller les Catholiques à son secours n'y de revoquer son Edit por le quel il leur avoit fait des defenses de s'y presenter Il asseure de plus tous les bons sujets que bien qu' il eust regard aux personnes des Catholiques qui l'avoient secouru dans sa Necessité qu' il eust bonne Memoire de leur Services il ne feroit pourtant jamais rien en faveur de leur Religion c. All this came too late for our purpose yet if this and his Manifesto at the beginning of the English and Scotch Presbytery if his Letters to the Queen taken at Naseby wherein he protests to differ in nothing from her but Religion if his other Conferences with the Marquess of Worcester c. and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Dying Speech will not satisfy Men that he was no Papist they seem to be as Cruel to his Memory as they were to his Person Though after all his Articles of Mariage were too Frank for a Church-of-England-Man who was not in Love at the same time And the Spanish Match if either might probably have had somewhat a better Success for this Reason only That the King of Spain was going down the wind whereas the French King was advancing and I must repeat it the Observation of what his Brother of France Lewis the XIIIth was doing but just on t'other side of the Water increas'd our Jealousies on this and gave an incurable Wound to the King's Reputation This made the People with some colour of Reason by way of prevention endeavour to wrest the Sword out of the King's Hands and attempt to get the Militia into their own upon this pretence the Parliament were forward to put a false Construction upon his Raising of Forces and turn'd it to a Levying of War on the People in order as they call'd it to subvert the Laws and introduce an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government whereas we have the King's Word for it That he took up Arms only to Defend the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and in his Dying-Speech he tells the World He did never intend to incroach upon the Privileges of the People and that he desired their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whatsoever and that he died a Martyr of the People meaning I suppose for them And after all these Proceedings are so unaccountable that they can't be reconciled to any Rules of Political Observation there seems to be somewhat of Fate in them which will not be confined to our little narrow ways of Reasoning nor to the more enlarged deep Politicks of Statesmen The Event exceeded the Scheme laid by Richlieu and the Expectations of his Successor Mazarine who at first being surpriz'd did prosecute the King's Death with some Resentment though after like a true Politician he kept Correspondence with Cromwell It seems their design was only to Embroil England whilst France carried on its Designs elsewhere not to Establish any setled Power not a Commonwealth certainly Their Business was but to Embarass our Councels that they might be at liberty to followitheirs without Interruption Not to Establish any Religion not even Popery for even Religion was not their Business if it could have procured Peace and Prosperity to the Kingdom But only to Counterpoise the two Extremes of Popery and Fanaticism after the manner of King James for a while and to set the Fanaticks themselves by the Ears at last Thus their Correspondents their Agents and their Money was employed on all Hands to confound us in England as well as the Jesuits had done all Europe by their Intriegues before and we must fatally run into their Noose But there yet farther seems to be some extraordinary Hand in the Turn of these Affairs above the Common Councels or Actions of Man though not to be adjusted to Human Measures of Comprehension Who knows what to say to the Prophecy of Nostredamus setting aside the Scotch Predictions and those nearer home viz. The Senate of London shall put their King to Death 'T is so very peculiar though Printed almost an Hundred Years before that it must intimate something and even
Kings such our Ministers and such were the People to be But all these Kings of the Scotch Line seem to have differ'd in their Ideas and Methods of Government King James the First Philosophised upon it Charles the First Reason'd on it with too much Opiniatretie and King Charles the Second Banter'd it and I 'm sure King James the Second did not Moralize upon it JAMES II. IF what Sir William Temple says of King Charles the II d be true and he gives good Authority for it viz. That the Prince of Orange upon Discourse c. said to him That the King Charles II d was as he had reason to be confident in his Heart a Roman Catholick though he durst not profess it It will go a great way towards the justification of those Gentlemen and their Conduct in the Oxford Parliament c. in relation to the past King and much more the Behaviour of the Nation towards King James of whom there was no doubt of being one and who dar'd own it at last though he very meanly prosecuted One upon a Scandalum Magnatum for having said so once For no doubt they both came over as much Papists as they ever were and if the first dyed such I can't but believe he had lived one for Thirty Years at least and they will both stand in need of a very great Dispensation somewhere else for their Hypocrisy so many Years If King Charles believ'd nothing of the Popish Plot as is said I know not whether it will diminish the Credit of it But 't is certain his Successor King James abundantly confirm'd its Credibility even so much as to give a Reputation to the intended Bill of Exclusion though the Loyalty of the People then ran so high that they were not willing to part with him without Experience nor then neither it seems by some vainly imagining that the Honour of a Popish King could supersede and take place of his Religion The Books and Pamphlets of that Season have sufficiently exposed or demonstrated the Character of this King and the Principles of that Religion And 't was as Evident to any body that would see what he had been doing in his Brother's Reign as what he did in his own Whether we conclude his Practice from his Principles or his Principles from his Practice there 's enough to convince for the past and to caution for the time to come If Declarations repeated with so much Solemnity and broke through with so much Ease and a Coronation-Oath Discharged and Violated so plainly though with an impertinent Distinction of the Judges to keep up a feeble Countenance of Law For what will not Judges in Commission during pleasure say or do For our Judges are not Sworn as those Judges whom the Kings of Egypt made solemnly to take an Oath that they would not do any thing contrary to their Conscience though commanded to it by themselves If the Business of the Irish at Portsmouth If the sending the Lord Castlemain to Rome and receiving a Nuntio here which was never suffer'd in a Protestant Country nor at Treaties where Protestant Ministers have been If the Letters from Liege to the Jesuits at Friburg If sending the Lord Preston to France which sufficiently implies a French League to mention no other Evidence of it nor the Story of sending out the Fleet Half-Mann'd If these or any of these did not unvail the Designs of that King we shall ever be in the Dark and nothing on this side of Dragooning could have open'd their Eyes they must also be persuaded That the Pope King Lewis and King James were all well-wishers to the Protestant Religion and to the Heretick Prosperity of England as by Law Establish'd That inviduous little Management of Magdalen-College Affair with Huffing a parcel of poor naked Fellows of a College for not swallowing Perjury without a Dispensation shews his good Nature equally with his Policy and sets forth in Epitome his Devout Observation of an Allowance to Church-of-England Consciences The prosecuting the Bishops so Barbarously First One for refusing to do what was not in his power by Law and then the rest for humbly begging to be allowed to have Souls The turning all the Nobility and Gentry out of all Commissions Offices and Places for pretending to Honour and refusing to concur in Dissolving the Reformation was a Master-stroke that we might be subdued and over-run with Jesuits Councels and Irish Courage and Conduct Some of his Friends are so Hardy to fancy and pretend to say He could not have introduced Popery if he had endeavoured it they should have put in Arbitrary Power too For what cannot a King do over a passive People Disarm'd in Power and Defective in Notion and Thought Cependant les Anglois se doivent souvenir le Massacre D'Ireland c. says a late French Author but I forbear to give you any Account from the French Refugees 'T is true he could not subdue our Understandings but he might exercise a fatal Tyranny over our Wills Besides King James never tried fair means which would have went a great way he went the false way to work upon Englishmen I doubt we are not so much Temptation-proof And it might for ought I know have been a dangerous Experiment to have trusted the Church with it self so long in an Enemy's Quarter We see King James hath lived a great many Years enow to have gone a great way with us with the Assistance of French and Irish and such Subjects as were inclinable to be of the King's Religion at Home and he must have gone as far as he could No doubt the Nation had been as easily supplied as Magdalen-College But it happen'd very luckily for England that King James discover'd his Temper of Spirit a little too soon We all knew of what force Edicts-had been in Hungary and France the Copies whereof our Kings had been so apt to follow and what the Duke of Savoy had been doing in the Valleys of Piedmont but we would not believe King James was Cruel was a Persecutor scarce that he was a Papist because he had the Art to Conceal and Disguise himself a little before it was in his power to use the Rod. But presently Father Petre shew'd that he would do as much in England as la Chaise had done in France and the first was observ'd to be the hottest of the two And not to aggravate or mince Matters They must all have done what lay in their power in Obedience to what their Councils Decree towards the Extirpation of Hereticks But God be thanked King James did not shew himself that Prince of Resolution at least he fail'd them in one Character as they would have had him deceiv'd us by another He was pleased for some Considerations whether of Fear or Guilt to leave us abruptly and we have taken that Advantage of parting with him fairly And I wish him all the Happiness that is consistent with the Welfare of England Only let us as
himself whether Frighted or not is not material upon which the Prince together with his Consort the next Heir Indisputable to the Crown in a full and due Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declared and Appointed King and Queen Now let us see what we have done upon the whole matter to deserve that harsh Language of the Convocation-Book produced by Dr Sherlock Whether we have done more or so much as all other Nations have done in a Case any thing like Ours Whether we have done more than becomes Good Christians or Men of Honour And what it is that stands in our way to hinder or bar such an Attempt and Action First Setting aside at present those Texts of St. Paul and St. Peter which are the only discouraging Impediments and which have been sufficiently as I think answered and avoided by several Pens Upon the Law of Nature no Man I believe can pretend to say here is any Natural Injustice or Moral Injury done Certainly Nature and Reason prompt us to Defend Injuries and to Repel Force Nature will preserve it self in its Being No Man will say a King of England hath power of Life and Death over his Subjects We say he hath no Power other than by the Law of the Land the Moral as well as Legal Consequence must be That we may Defend our Lives against all Assaults 't is the same of Liberty and Property for there is a Meum and Tuum in all Christian Commonwealths as Archbishop Abbot said before subject only to the Laws of the Place therefore I can't defend my self or House against the King Arm'd with Legal Power as upon a Cap. Vtlagatum or upon a Duty due to him c. but I may where I am out of the compass of a Legal Prosecution If the consequence of Self-defence and Preservation be denied it 's vain trifling to talk of Laws and to value our selves upon Living in a Country where the Measures of Right are ascertain'd and the Limits of Government and Subjection the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and the Bow String will be the same if Laws are only a simple Direction for Information and not an Obligation We must owe our Lives c. at this rate to Fortune not to Justice But since the Restoration it 's said we are under another Tie not to take up Arms by the Extravagant Compliment to King Charles the II d and the Declaration pursuant to that Act. Be it so though all Laws made in Extraordinary Heats are not a regular Obligation but let them take that State-Artificial Obligation into the Bargain the King Swears too and this was not designed to let loose the King's Hands and tie the Subjects for all Obligations whether Natural or Artificial are Reciprocal and Mutual and always so taken and understood in common Intendment There can be no other Notion of Justice Natural Moral or Political and whatever Preference and Advantage is allowed to One above the Other 't is an Authority upon Supposition of Care Protection and for Order and centers in the Good of the Community And I think the Lacedemonians had a Law to Punish Parents who did not their Duty towards their Children Let us therefore take in the highest Instance of Obedience and Duty from Children to Parents No Man I suppose will pretend now that a Father may Castrate Sell or Kill a Child the Inference must be That in any Case of such open Violence a Son may Resist a Father in his own necessary Defence and Self-preservation without offering Reproach Injury or Vindictive Force So in the Case of Lunacy in a Parent or any fatal Extravagance no doubt a Son may lay Hands on a Father by way of Restraint and must take a continued Commanding Care over him in case of Relapse c. This is agreed on all hands to be the severest Tie of Obedience and therefore Kings are endeavoured to be brought within the Fifth Commandment to make our Chains the faster not in the mean time considering that they make them looser by putting an inconsistent double Duty upon us Thus we are told Religion stands positively in our way and fetters us with an Absolute Obedience to Kings without Reserve c. It seems hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in Defence of it self and force our Obedience and Submission to Laws and Absolute Power in the same breath For where there is Absolute Power there is no Law and where there are Laws there is no Absolute Power But Scripture is to be our Guide I agree it But what Authority shall I rely on Where shall I apply my self for an Interpreter 'T is manifest our own Church cannot settle me that is divided against it self Some bring Instances from the Old Testament Others tell us That is nothing to the purpose those Kings being by God's Designation c. Some tell us these Texts of St. Peter and St. Paul oblige us to Passive Obedience on peril of Damnation And Others as boldly and magisterially inform us That the New Testament gives no Rules for Submission to Forms of Government but only Rules of Justice Order and Peace That those Texts are nothing to Our purpose for the Apostles spoke to those under Heathen Emperors where Paganism was Established by a Law and that those Texts are to be only Expounded against the Jews who still believed themselves under the Divine Authority and thought they could not become the Subjects of any other Power As to the Scripture-Examples we are Taught by a very great Divine and Bishop not to rely on them and he says Those who place the Obligatory Nature of these Examples from Scripture must either produce the Moral Nature of those Examples or else a Rule binding us to follow those Examples especially when these Examples are brought to found a New positive Law Obliging all Christians Some say in general the Bible is a Miscellaneous Book where Dishonest and Time-serving Men may ever in their loose way find a Text for their purpose Sir Robert Filmer upon the Dispute of the Form of Powers for these Texts are sometimes applied to the Form and sometimes to the Quality of Power takes Power only in the Singular Number Powers in the Plural is a damnable Sin and he will have all Governments but the Patriarchal to be Illegal and Abominable but this is so Extravagant that I think none of our Divines pretend to justify him in it and therefore Others on the contrary are of Opinion That Submit to all Powers infers That all Forms of Government are admitted to be good and do not allow that Power in the Singular is to be taken restrictive and so there is no Authority if not of God and the Authorities which are of God's Institution are ordered under God Sir Robert Filmer Dr Hicks c. will have the Legislative Power to be in the King alone And the First says all Legislative Powers are Arbitrary But where is the necessity for
that And Dr Hicks says also Only the Laws of Men are God's Ordinances St. Paul speaking of Authority in general says Ordinance of God St. Peter of the particular Persons administring Authority calls it the Ordinance of Man Sir Robert Filmer upon that Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are God's divides all between God and the King and leaves nothing to the poor Subject which doth not very well consist with our Saviour's Advice to him whom he bid Sell All that he had and give to the poor which grieved the Young Man for he had Great possessions It seems by this our Saviour implies the Subject had Property otherwise he could not have Sold it Thus they make their own Idol We see then by the better Opinions of Divines and Learned Men all Forms of Power are Authentick with respect to the Laws and Constitutions of Places and submit to all Powers imports only Obedience according to Law the Ordinance of Man To render unto Cesar c. implies certainly that something was left in him who rendred It is not said Give all to Cesar So no Man will controvert the submitting to every ordinance with the Context for Rulers are a Terror to the Evil and not to the Good There never was any King in Israel but had some Engagement and Tye upon him Formally with God or by Covenant with Man To keep the Laws to judge righteously to seek the Good of the People c. Besides the Case of the Apostles is wonderfully different in all respects As to Property c. the Government of the Roman Emperors was Absolute taking it at worst and therefore Christians who had no Law on their side could not resist This is said by some tho' our Saviour does not seem to mean it so whereas Ours under our Kings is limited and mixt therefore not the same foundation to apply the Injunctions of Non-resistance from the Apostles As to Religion the Apostles came counter to all Laws and therefore were to submit to them Not to raise Rebellion on account of a new Religion which had no foundation in any Law And the proper Talent and Business of the Apostles was suffering for the sake of the Gospel therefore impertinent as well as prophane and wicked for them to think of resisting any Powers What is this to the maintaining a Religion established by a Law But this Construction imposed upon Us towards Passive Obedience is a Conceit against the Opinion of most Learned Men and also contrary to the Common Practise of the Christian World Grotius Selden c. understand submission to every ordinance to be to the Government and the Laws thereof And so in common construction and intendment those Texts may be taken a Direction from the Apostles to their Missionaries and Correspondents who were to travel through variety of Governments to pay all Duties and Civil Respects to Kings and Magistrates and may be satisfied with that particular application of Obedience They were enjoined not to enquire into the Fundamental Rights of Power but to take them as they found them being only Powers of this World with proper Laws for keeping Mankind in Peace and Order in general according to the Respective Customs and Constitutions I believe besides the Gospel is an Universal Instruction for Obedience to the Laws on the severest punishment of disobedience to them 'T was intended to make them good Subjects but not Slaves 'T is too much to be Passive and Martyrs by whole Nations with the Laws and Religion bleeding by our Sides Let 's look into the Customs and Usages of other Ages and Places and enquire into and examine the Principles and Opinions of Learned Divines on the Occasions of Power and the Exercise or Abuse of it If a man should consult the Histories of the first Kings of France and Spain both before and since those Nations receiv'd the Light of the Gospel and the hudled abrupt Succession besides the very odd Partnerships in Kingdoms he will find matter but of small Veneration for Titles to Crowns of Old Times whatever he may fancy is due to the Present Establishments And I doubt we should discover but a faint blind Track of Active Providence in the transferring Kingdoms as 't is call'd but only rather the Effects of a Ludicrous Fortune Suppose we should be free and tell the World we have Elected Made or Appointed call it what you will King William King of Great Britain instead of King James without the formality of Deposing or taking off his Crown or Head to make a Vacancy or without the Ens Rationis of a Vacancy it would be no more than what may be justified by Precedents of no Bad Times in other Countries and our Own too In France the Instance of Childerick degraded and Aegidius or Gillon Master of the Roman Militia who was a Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom Elected in his stead It is said the French according to their Ancient Rights conferr'd upon Pepin after Thierry was stripp'd of his Royalty the Sovereignty of Austrasia And afterwards Pepin his Grandson Son of Charles Martel and Father of Charlemain by a Parliament assembled was appointed King although there was One of the Marovignian Race remaining but Young Stupid and Witless And for the Honour of the Church Pope Zachary confirm'd him Upon which in another Parliament at Roymes they degraded Childerick and Elected Pepin And the Archbishop of Mentz Boniface declared to them the Validity of the Pope's Answer And after at the Assembly at Carbonnat the Austrasian Lords and Estates acknowledged Charlemain their King They might do says the History this and if he had not had That Right he had been an Usurper for the Children of Charlemain were living Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was Election For Charles Duke of Lorrain was of the Carolovinian Race and Heir but as is said of little merit In Spain the Visigoths about 1200 years since made and unmade their Kings as they pleas'd I suppose 't will not be said They were the worse Christians for being nearer the time of our Saviour and his Apostles So it was in Denmark too till they lately changed from Elective to Hereditary from a Limited to an Absolute Government and so for ought we know it may again when that Arbitrary Power hath had its full swing To look back here at home formerly it was so And I know not why we may not be permitted to go upwards as far as we please since those on t'other side think fit to go backward to Henry the Third for the beginning as they say of our Constitution Egbert the First sole Saxon King upon the Report of the Death of Britric with great speed returned out of France where during the time of his abode he had serv'd with good Commendation in the Wars under Charles the Great by means whereof his Reputation encreasing amongst his own Countrymen he was thought worthy of the