End agree with that of Popery which is to Exterminate Hereticks By the Law of Government we are Objects of Protection by the Law of Popery we are Subjects of Destruction The Prince receives from God and the Society a Power to protect his People but he receives from the Church his Mother an Order to destroy them as Condemn'd Hereticks And which of these two Orders think you shall prevail with a Popish King above the other Why thot in which he is most Concern'd and to which Eternal Recompences are inseparably annex'd And then in what a sad Condition were the Protestants of England in the Reign of the late King Thirdly Against 3. The Law of Royalty to which Popery in the Case suppos'd has an absolute Antipathy as will appear if you consider that all Royalty necessarily contains three Things viz. the Consent of the People engaging to obey the Consent of the King promising to protect and the Manner by which the King and People confirm their Promises which is a Religious Oath Now a Popish Prince that governs a Protestant People will be always wanting on his part of the Contract if he takes the Maxims of his own Religion for the Rule of his Government 'T is a Contradiction to believe he will act against his own Inclination or that he will cancel the Antecedent Obligation which he was under to the Church his Mother in preserving Hereticks that are not a People but a loose sort of Animals doom'd to Destruction Does the Prince break his Faith in not performing the Oath he took when Invested with his Kingly Authority and promis'd to protect his People No say the Directors of his Conscience The Oath was against the Laws of Holy Church therefore sinful and void Besides say they the Prince took the Oath with Intention to break it and the Intention must always govern the Action especially when it falls under the Church's General Rule of not keeping Faith with Hereticks 4. To dismiss this Argument Popery is particularly against the Laws of a Mix'd Monarchy such as England's is because the Prince believes he has a Right to treat Hereticks as he pleases and may lawfully take away their Lives and seize their Estates without doing them any kind of Injustice for being fallen from the Right of Society he can do them no Wrong Besides All Princes that attribute to themselves an Absolute Power think they owe an Account of their Actions to none but God and a Prince under the Circumstances that we have observed will never think he displeases God by destroying Hereticks * Durand a San. Port. quaest 5. utr sint tolerand that as their Writers say are Enemies to GOD and Man So that we see the Advancement of Popery in a Protestant Kingdom is a necessary Introduction of Tyranny and Intails a Law of Misery and Desolation upon all Protestants And such was King James's Design here Let no Man argue the Impossibility of Introducing Popery into this Kingdom because the Number of Papists are but small in respect of the Protestants for that will not render the Design Impracticable but rather make the Execution of it more cruel and barbarous A whole Nation upon the matter must be coâ—rupted from the Faith of the True Religion or be destroy'd You know what Progresses were made towards it by Tying all Preferments to Popery Unarming Protestants putting the whole Strength and Power of the Kingdom into the Hands of Papists and sending over Irish Soldiers to increase a needless and dangerous Army And what this might have grown to in time was easier to foresee than Remedy for an Ordinary Strength Unresisted might Assassinate a whole Nation Fifthly 5. In the Heat of the late King's Zeal and Fury to procure such a Parliament as might set up a Power and Interest agreeable to his Humour and destructive to the Kingdom Quo Warranto's like Bombs were thrown into Cities and Boroughs to destroy the Freedom of Elections which is the Foundation of Government for What will become of the Liberty of Parliaments without the Freedom of Elections And how can England enjoy their Privileges without the Freedom of Parliaments All which were to be violated at once by this Undermining Project and Persons must be imposed upon them for their Representatives in Parliament which were none of their Choice but Press'd by a Popish Court and solely at their King's Devotion Some are pleas'd to express themselves in very harsh Language against that which they call the Pentionary Parliament as more zealous for the Advantage of the Crown than the Welfare of the Kingdom But what dreadful Consequences might be predicted from a Parliament consisting both of Papists and Popish Pensioners if it had been possible for the late King to have accomplish'd his Designs are almost beyond the Power of Melancholy to suggest them in Figures black enough to express their Horrour The Choice of a Parliament that would do whatever he thought fit was the only thing wanting therefore all things were dispos'd and regulated after such a manner as might bring such a sort of Men together at Westminster as might gratifie his Popish Arbitrary Ends and Vote Protestants to be the main Grievance of the Nation 6. Another Intrigue of the late King 's was to Ruin the Kingdom by a Chain of Consequences and as the Destruction of the Liberties of England was the Overthrow of the Protestant Religion so he would make the Subversion of our Religion serve to destroy our Liberties This made him impatiently covet that Papists might be freed from the Penal Laws and Tests which were the Barriers to Defend the Nation from Romish Usurpation And this piece of Tyranny above all the rest is most notorious A Protestant Nation makes Laws to preserve themselves from being Victims of Popish Fury These Laws were necessary at all times but more especially under the Reign of a King that had been pleas'd to declare himself a Papist and yet these are the Laws that the late King would violate and not violate only but utterly * Non tam commutandarum sed evertendarum rerum cupidi Abolish and persecuted those who had a Zeal to preserve them Imprisoning some Destituting others and Threatning all without Exception that dar'd to gain-say it For this End he rais'd an Army kept it up in Time of Peace and put into it as many Irish as he could find of the Posterity of those who committed the Barbarous and Bloody Murthers and Massacres on the Bodies of English Protestants in 1641. and to do the like to us in England or force us to submit to the cruel Yoke of Slavery and Superstition 'T is natural for a Prince to Raise Forces for the Defence of his Dominions when he fears Enemies from abroad But to entertain an Army in Times of Peace only to Rob his People of their Laws and Privileges to Ravage his Universities and to put publick Destroyers into the Govent must surely pass for a manifest Tyranny Our
Brackly was mended by the Addition of the Rich Parsonage of Burton on the Wold in the same County Nor did the Reward of this Service extend only to Sybthorp but slew a Cathedral Height for Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury refusing to License this Sermon to be Printed was soon after Suspended from his Bishoprick and Dr. Laud that did License it being then Bishop of St. Davids was Translated to London and afterwards to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury Nay so strong run the Tide of Preferment then in this Corrupted Channel that few Divines or Common or Civil Lawyers were preferr'd to any considerable Place either in Church or State that did not in the Pulpit and on the Bench vigorously maintain these Novel and Destructive Opinions to the Scandal of their Functions and intended Ruin of the Kingdom To this Doctrine must be ascrib'd the Mischiefs of all former and later Reigns under the Protection of which any King may play the Tyrant without Control tho' it often proves Fatal to him that lays the Train And so it happen'd to Charles the Second for no sooner had his Unlimited Power been so Strenuously Asserted that he was come to give the finishing Stroke but his Death seem'd Necessary and Seasonable to make way for the Duke of York to open the Execution of the Grand Design in a bare-fac'd Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England At the Beginning of the Restoration so great an Opinion was conceiv'd of His Highness the Duke of York that his partial Admirers would suffer no Man to Insinuate his being Reconcil'd to the Church of Rome but set him up under all the Noble Qualities that might render him Acceptable to a Credulous People not only as Merciful in his Temper Just in his Dealings and endu'd with all Gracious Inclination to our Laws and the Rights of the Subject but for one Orthodox in his Religion too and who would prove a Zealous Defender of the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church as Establish'd by Law In this Persuasion they continu'd some Years and tho' he had at length withdrawn himself from all Acts of Fellowship with the Church of England Refus'd the Test injoin'd by Law for distinguishing Papists from Protestants had Resign'd his Office of Lord High Admiral stood Excluded from the House of Lords and that so many Parliaments had eadeavour'd to Exclude him from Succession to the Crown because he had Revolted to the See of Rome and thereby became Dangerous to the Establish'd Religion yet all this would make no Impression upon a Wilfully Deluded and Obstinate Sort of Protestants but in Defiance of all Means of Conviction they would persuade themselves that he was still a Zealot for our Religion and a great Patriot of the Church of England Nor could any thing undeceive them till upon his Brother's Death he openly declar'd himself to be a Papist and afterwards in the Fumes and Raptures of his Victory over the late Duke of Monmouth had discover'd and proclaim'd his Intentions to overthrow both our Religion and Laws Yea so closely had some seal'd up their Eyes against all Beams of Light and harden'd themselves against all Evidences from Reason and Fact that had Success attended the Duke of Monmouth's Arms the late King had gone off the Stage with the Reputation among them of a Prince tender of the Laws of the Kingdom and who notwithstanding his being a Papist would have preserv'd the Reform'd Religion and maintain'd the Church of England in all her Rights and Grandures And tho' his whole Life had been but one continu'd Conspiracy against our Civil Liberties and Privileges he had left the Throne with the Character and under the Esteem of a Prince that in the whole Course of his Government would have regulated himself by the Rules of the Constitution and the Statutes of the Realm Aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides Sen. in Oed. Act. 3. Scen. 1. So Simple Truth does her fair Breast Disarm And gives Base Treachery a Power to Harm King Charles being now Dead the late Duke's Expectations Answer'd and his Ambition gratify'd with a Crown at his first coming to it he endeavour'd to Confirm some and Gain other of his Subjects into a good Opinion of him and their own Happiness under his Government And therefore in his first Speech to the Parliament declar'd so much Tenderness for them and such a Dear Respect for the Preservation of their Liberties that the Cajoll'd Parliament from an Excess of Satisfaction shew'd as much Affection for him as ever Parliament did to a Prince of their own Religion and gave Money till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction It must be granted that the Lives of some Professors are not so bad as the Consequences of their Erroneous Opinions and it was charitably thought by the Parliament that the late King James tho' a Papist would not Govern so Arbitrarily as the Encourag'd Doctrines of the Age gave him Leave to do But when they saw their Errour and perceiv'd that Popery and Arbitrary Power were never to be parted that the Monks and Friars Enter'd to Act in their proper Habits that Seminaries were set up in several Places and Houses fill'd with these Religious Furies that the Laws being in the late Reign betray'd into his Hands he unmercifully Stabb'd and Dispatch'd them and that his Antecedent Oaths and Promises were all come to nothing how it fill'd them with Resentments for his having thus Abus'd their Credulity Deceiv'd their Expectations and Reproach'd their Gloryings and Boastings of him But alas it was then too late to seek a Remedy for those Evils that an Easie Belief and a Fond Compliance with Empty Popish Promises had brought upon us Now we Feel what we would not See and Prevent at a Distance Quid nobis certius ipsis Lucret. Sensimus esse potest quo vera ac falsa notemus And what thing can there be more sure than Sense By which we Truth discern from false Pretence We smarted under our own Rod and had plenty of miserable Occasions for the Religious Exercise of that fatal Duty Passive Obedience Our Satisfactions in our New King were vanish'd and the Hopes of living happy Subjects under him were sunk into Apprehensions of Approaching Slavery A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People and the very Tools that assisted the late King in subverting their own Religion and the Civil Rights of their Brethren were afraid in so Universal a Calamity that themselves should also feel the sad Effects of that Thunder with which they had Arm'd their Tyrant In how happy a Condition was James the Second before he violalated his Oaths and Promises and so might have continu'd if he could have prescrib'd any Limits to his Desires of Reigning more Absolutely than the Laws of the Constitution would allow him He had all things at pleasure to make him Great among his own Subjects
* By this means the Romans establish'd their Empire in sharing the Advantages of it among the People whose Obedience is secur'd by Acts of Grace and Protection from Danger and truly did not the boundless Ambition of Unwary Monarchs blind the Eyes of their Reason from discerning their True and Lasting Interests they would never run into such Extreams of Arbitrary Sway as render'd their Government Odious and their Persons Hated No King in Europe has more his own Will and lives more happily than He which conforms his Inclinations and Actions to the Sense of the Law and the Love of his People and in this Sense he may be as Absolute as he pleases without Overturning the World to accomplish it He can Desire nothing but what will be freely Granted him nor Do any thing that will be Distasted And what can the greatest Monarch in the World desire more than to have his Wants Liberally Supply'd his Actions Universally Approv'd and Applauded This and no other End is the Design of the Resistance contended for but that a Prince misguided by ill Counsel may without Injury to his Person or Diminution to his Rightful Authority if fair Means can prevail be Reclaim'd from Violating the Rights of his Subjects and brought to a Temper consistent with his Own and his Subjects Happiness And if any Ill-minded Men carry it further we can only say that the Abuse of a Thing does not impeach the Lawful Use of it Let those that offend the Law suffer for the Breach of it Another End of Resistance is the Good of the People for when all other Means to reduce the Prince into a right Temper has with all due Respect and Submission been us'd but effected nothing then and not before Resistance is necessary for our Privileges are granted by the same Laws by which the Prince has his Authority and makes an Universal Defection or Resistance lawful when all would be Ruin'd without it for the Doctrine of Non-Resistance is not of Constant and Eternal Obligation in all Circumstances Calling to Account are Acts of Authority but Resistance for Self-Defence is a Right of Nature and Inalienable In every Province and Kingdom of the Universe we may find Instances where Subjects have been necessitated to secure Themselves their Religion and Liberties by Resisting their Prince whose repeated Acts of Tyranny did visibly threaten their Ruin and this was always look'd upon as a sufficient Reason to dispence with their Allegiance especially when the Necessity was not pretended or Created by themselves but apparently forc'd on them by their Prince who was oblig'd to preserve them When our Saviour was walking in the Garden and expected the Jews to come and Seize him by Violence he was pleas'd to command that he which had a Sword should take it and being told there were Two Swords he said it was Enough How Enough Not to encounter the Arm'd Multitude that came along with Judas he could not think so But they were Enough to let his Disciples know that upon such Occasions they had a Right to defend themselves In Extream Dangers we are allow'd to make use of Extream Remedies Former Ages it seems were Strangers to the Doctrine of Non-Resistance for Resistance has been allow'd by Kings themselves Henry the Second allow'd it by causing his * Barons to Swear â—russel's History of 〈…〉 that if he should not perform the Covenants between himself the King of France and Richard Earl of Poictou his Son they should renounce him and join with the King of France and Earl Richard against him Richard the First when he went to War in the Holy Land substituted William Bishop of Ely and Lord Chancellor of England to Govern in his Absence who abusing his Authority the Bishops Earls and Barons having Routed his Party they Depos'd and Banish'd him and these Proceedings were approv'd and confirm'd by the King himself at his Return So that in those Early Days the Nobility Clergy and People had no Apprehensions of an Irresistible Power in Kings and those Commission'd by them when they found their Power grew Tyrannical and Unsupportable King John attempting to destroy the Liberties and Privileges of his Subjects granted by Magna Charta the Bishops Barons and Great Men of the Kingdom of all Degrees and Conditions took up Arms against him and never laid them down till the King and the Prince his Son had sworn upon the Holy Evangelists to maintain the Subjects Privileges and if they should break them that it should be lawful for his Subjects to Renounce their King and to gain them by Force And this was never accounted Rebellion for the Pardon that follow'd it was mutual not only for those that adher'd to the Earl of Gloucester but for those also that took part with the King In the Reign of Edward the Second this Doctrine of Resistance was asserted upon several Occasions and so gross were the Enormities of this Prince that in an Act of Indempnity in the First of Edward the Third the particular Illegal Acts of the King his Father are recited and all that Resisted him are Pardon'd without loading their Memories with Reproachful Epithets Henry Duke of Gloucester oppos'd the Tyranny of Richard the Second and had the Crown for his pains and those that came over with him were pardon'd in decent Language without calling them Rebels or Traytors So that it seems the Parliaments of Edward the Third and Henry the Fourth that Pass'd these Acts of Indempnity had no ill Opinion of the Doctrine of Resistance in Cases of Extream Necessity To which give me Leave to add the Opinion of a Learned Man on this Subject and I shall ease the Reader of further Trouble 'T is * Opusc advers Adulat consid 7. Gerson the famous Chancellor of the University of Paris who says 'T is an Errour to assert that an Earthly Prince as long as his Dominion lasts is not engag'd to his Subjects in any thing for according to the Divine Law Natural Equity and the true End of Power as Subjects owe their Prince Fidelity Subsidy and Obedience so their Prince owes them Fidelity and Protection and in case he does Publickly Obstinately and Imperiously oppress them their Natural Right takes place and makes it Lawful for them to Repel Force by Force So that the late King James has no Reason to complain of Hard Measure from his late Subjects For if the King of England be a Limited Prince as certainly he is and bound by Oath to Govern according to Law and that his Authority depends upon the Right Exercise of it and can claim no Allegiance but upon those Conditions they are not to blame for they did not Desert or Resist him till he had Renounc'd to be their King according to the Constitution by avowing to Govern by a Despotick Power unknown to the Constitution and Inconsistent with it The Breach was first made on his part by Renouncing to be their King according to the Law that made
give cause to suspect it For the Revoking and Imprisoning Sir Bevel Skelton the English Agent in France upon a Supposition that he had talk'd of it and Rewarding him afterwards with the Lieutenancy of the Tower are plain Contradictions and therefore the English and Dutch had reason to believe the League and Insist upon it when the French themselves had discover'd it Now compare all this with Mr. Coleman's Letters and the barbarous persecutions of the French Protestants so tragically carried on in France and which were also going on to be Imitated in England at the same time that the French Memorial was deliver'd and you will have all the Reason in the World to to continue your belief of it for the greater security of England Thus have I given a brief Survey of the late King's Tyranny in Matters of publick Fact as the natural consequence of his Espousing and Advancing the Popish Religion upon the Ruins of the Reformed I must now acquaint you what Course the Nation took to procure their Deliverance Who seeing themselves Involv'd in such deplorable Circumstances Gaul'd under the Yoke of Papistick Tyranny Afflicted at the dismal prospect of being depriv'd of the Exercise of their Establish'd Religion and the loss of their Civil Properties and Privileges After they had ineffectually imploy'd all Dutiful and Obliging Methods to Reclaim the King and waited till England was on the Brink of Destruction before they would assume their Natural Right and Defend themselves God Almighty who from Heaven beheld their approaching Calamities put it into the Hearts of some thoughtful Persons of all Qualities Degrees and Conditions in the Kingdom to make their humble Application to the Illustrious Prince of Orange who as a Soveraign Independant Prince nearly allyed by his own Blood but nearer by his Virtuous Princess to the Crown of England and a Protestant in his Religion had an undoubted Right to interpose between the late King and his injur'd Subjects and according to his own Benignity and the Example of his Illustrious Progenitors Defend and Deliver an oppress'd People Divine Providence having thus prescrib'd the Means of our Deliverance some good Men whose Names ought to be Celebrated with Eternal praises found a way maugre the danger that attended it to Address this magnanimous Prince Lay the Complaints and Dangers of the Kingdom before him and Implore his Gracious Aid and Effectual Assistance to Free a Languishing people from inevitable Ruin promising to Live and Dye with his Highness in so Glorious an Enterprize Animated by his known Piety and Christian Compassion his Native Heroick Bravery and the Prayers and Necessities of a miserably Harrass'd and almost Ruin'd Kingdom he was pleas'd to undertake our Deliverance and to the Goodness of God and this Great Prince's Wise and Valiant Conduct only We owe that Mercy for tho God can work miraculously for the Accomplishment of his own Will yet in Human Reasoning no other Prince but our now Gracious King was qualify'd to undertake it For He is a Prince of a Ripe and Excellent Apprehension of a strong and profound Judgment has a Right Notion in all Ambiguities and is not easily Impos'd upon by the Sentiments of others Able to Determine in all Occurrences by the strength of his own Genius and yet never unwilling to hear the Opinions of his Counsellors Deliberate in his Resolves and Firm in his Purposes Undaunted in Dangers and of a steddy Conduct in Security That knows how to gain Power and how to make it Pleasant and dureable by the Regular use of it as appeared to all the World in the Upright and Discreet management of this Great and almost Miraculous Revolution The States of Holland accommodated the Prince of Orange with Shipping and other Necessaries for this glorious Expedient and meritted our eternal Gratitude but having met with ill Returns * Dutch Design Anatomized from some Mercenary Pens I shall take off the Scandal and Reproach they have thrown upon that Action by shewing it Kind Grateful and Justifiable to all the World There are many Considerations that justify the Interposition of the States of Holland and the first is That 't was to preserve the Peace of Europe for all their Neighbouring Princes perceiving the growing power of France to threaten the Welfare and Quiet of Christendom and that the Obsequious compliance of the late King James in all the Proceedings of that Towering Monarch as well as Monsieur le Comte d'Avaux's Memorial shew'd a dangerous Allyance between those Two Crowns the Princes of Europe and the States of Holland enter'd into a Confederacy to prevent the Conjunction of the Armies of these two Princes and save Europe This memorable Concurrence happening about the same time that the Prince of Orange had promis'd to Assist the People of England in Redressing their Grievances and Restoring them to their Just Rights and Privileges Whilst the Prince of Orange was doing that Good Office in England the other Princes in the League watch'd the the Motions of France and made them uncapable of helping each other and so the Emperor of Germany the Pope himself and the rest of the Confederate Princes as well as the States of Holland were in the same design against the late King James as the only means to preserve the peace of Europe Besides in this Generous Action the States of Holland writ after an English Copy and express'd their Gratitude for the same Good Office the English did them on the like occasion * Hist Belg. p. 203. when the Spaniards threaten'd not to leave a Protestant alive in Holland Those Provinces are of the same Religion with us and when they saw our Prince had form'd Designs to make us all Papists or Destroy us even Humanity oblig'd them to succour us when the whole Nation so apparently wanted it but the best Reason for what they did except those of common Christianity is given by themselves as I find it in an Extract of the Resolutions of the States of Holland upon the 28th of October 1688. where among other Reasons for Assisting the Prince of Orange with a Fleet and an Army this is one The King of France say they hath upon several Occasions shew'd himself disaffected to that State which gave Cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring that State to confusion and if possible quite subject it There is no question but this Wise and Prudent State saw our Ruine would in time prove their own also and Foreseeing and Preventing it will Justify them before God and all the World Now to shew that other Princes were of the same Opinion with the States of Holland and saw the Designs of the F. K. and the late King James threaten'd the Peace and Safety of Europe Let us take a
particular account of the Prince his successful and prosperous Expedition where there were so many Eye-Witnesses of that great and miraculous Providence that was visible in the progress thereof which was such as shew'd the undertaking to be acceptable to Almighty God who prospers the endeavours of Good Men but taketh the wicked in the Nets which they spread for the Innocent I shall therefore only tell the Reader that His Highness the Prince of Orange being happily and safely arriv'd in England He was Saluted and Welcom'd with all the demonstrations and transports of Joy and Gladness that an ill us'd Nation were able to Express under a sense of their Calamity and a hopeful prospect of Deliverance from a cruel Tyranny This Joy and Satisfaction daily increas'd as his Highness's Declaration was spread through the Kingdom For the Jesuits having loaded this Pious and Noble Expedition with all the Odium of Virulent Pens and Tongues his Highness's Declaration which shew'd the End of his coming was not with any design upon the Person of the late King Aspiring at his Crown or with any intention to subdue the Kingdom as had been maliciously suggested but purely that the Abuses and Grievances of the People Pathetically and Truly Enumerated in his Highness's Declaration might be Redress'd by a Parliament free in all its circumstances all Fears and Jealousies vanish'd and Men of all Qualities hasten'd to put themselves under the Auspicious Conduct of this Illustrious Prince that God in the Eternal Counsel of his Wisdom had Appointed to be the Glorious Deliverer of England Now let all Men judge of the Equity of his Highness's Demands and the Justice of his Proceedings His Own and his Princess's Right to the Succession of the Crown was like to be supplanted by a supposititious Child and a flourishing Kingdom in danger of Destruction and both evidently plainly and certainly so And can any Man think he ought to Renounce his Own and his Princess's Right and frustrate the Expectation of a whole Kingdom to which he was Allied by Blood Nature and all the sacred Obligations of Religion rather than disturb the progress of a Jesuitick Tyranny cover'd under Royal Authority Sure none in the World can think so Had this Illustrious Prince conceiv'd any Prejudice against this Unfortunate Monarch James II. Turn'd his Eye toward the Crown or would have seen England's Misery before the Oppress'd Subjects themselves Represented it to him and pray'd his Relief His Highness was not without an earlier * Defence de la Nation Britanique p. â—â— knowledge of it and Solicitations to do what at last Necessity compell'd him to For there are many yet alive in Germany Holland and England that very well remember how much his Highness was Importun'd at James the 2d's first coming to the Crown to make a Descent into England with a Force able to Redress the Affairs of that Country and prevent the inevitable Ruin which so openly threaten'd it This was known immediately after the Death of Charles the Second when one of the most powerful Princes of Europe having represented to his Highness that All was going to Ruin and would be utterly lost in England if a sudden Interposition of the Prince of Orange did not prevent its impending Destruction and therefore Offer'd him what Assistance was requisite for such a Noble and Pious Enterprize but that Puissant Prince receiv'd no other Answer but that his Highness was in hopes that God and that King 's own Interest would possess him with better Sentiments and therefore his Highness would Attempt nothing in that kind against the late King till he was forc'd to it by the last Extremity but if his hopes were disappointed and there was no other Remedy he would not be wanting in his Duty And God be prais'd his Highness at length in due time perform'd his Promise and Silenc'd all that declaim against it It cannot be imagin'd that his Highness was pleas'd to see the Efforts of the late King in abolishing the Penal Laws against Papists which were so essentially necessary to our Preservation nor can his Highness be thought easy at the sight of the late King 's climbing up a Precipice from which he must necessarily fall or by an Artificial and Politick Silence incourage K. James's Ministers to carry all things to such Extremities as might render his Conduct Odious for the Letter of Mr. Fagell upon this Subject will be an Eternal Monument of the Free and Sincere proceedings of his Highness with the late King in this whole Matter Much less can our Adversary deny that his Highness was Requested by the People to Defend their Religion Rights and Privileges for God Almighty to the eternal Confusion of our Enemies suffer'd themselves to declare it in a Memorial they publish'd to all the Confederate Princes with design to break the League they were so much afraid of for after they had in that paper undecently treated his Highness and menac'd him with I know not how many Tragical Stories they yet acknowledge that He was Invited by the Nation Nor could his Highness hinder the Lords and other Persons of the best Quality in England from shewing their Grievances and Imploring his Gracious Succor when the Extremities they were under compell'd them to it and also told Him that if his Highness refus'd them they would enter into their Natural Right and Defend themselves by their own strength against a Power which was become as they declar'd to his Highness in their Memorial a Power of Destruction Let our Adversaries now tell us if the Case was not very Important and whether the Prince of Orange ought to have contemn'd the just Fears of the English and all the Protestants of Europe who are imbark'd in the same Interest and Danger and have slighted all the Princes that either by themselves or by their Ministers perswaded his Highness to enter upon an Action on which depended the Common Safety of Europe I don't believe they dare say after all the Facts we have enumerated that his Highness ought to contemn the Publick or dispute Matters of so great Notoriety but if the English Fears were well grounded and their Oppressions True and Real and that if his Highness could not perswade himself from being of the same Opinion with the rest of the World that he could refuse to assist those that requested it in such a pressing necessity and on an Occasion where Providence appear'd so expresly for our Deliverance and which if neglected perhaps could never be Retriev'd Now let the French Missionaries or their English Pupils produce their Fine Reasons and tell us if his Highness ought to forget his God his Religion the Rights of his Princess his Own the Liberty of England and of Holland which must Infallibly share in the Misfortunes and Depredations of England the Protestant Religion breathing its last and all Europe in danger of losing its Liberty Let them also tell us if they can whether the Respects due to a Father
came to Redress the Grievances of the Nation by Calling a Free Parliament so he would abide by their Determination in what concern'd his own Person and not by any Rash or Precipitate Action seem to cross the End of his Coming which was to have all Things settl'd according to Law and therefore he left that and all other our Affairs to be settl'd by the approaching Parliament In the mean time the Prince Advis'd with the Lords how to pursue the Ends of his Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion Restoring the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and Settling them so firmly that they might not lie in danger of being again Subverted To Answer this Great End in Setling the Nation by a Parliamentary Proceeding the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembl'd in their House at * Decemb. 22 Westminster and being agreed on the Particulars Humbly desire †Decemb. 25. His Highness the Prince of Orange to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of the Religion Laws Liberties and Properties and the Peace of the Nation And that His Highness would take into his particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Means to prevent the Dangers threatning that Kingdom All which their Lordships requested His Highness to undertake and exercise till the Meeting of the intended Convention on the 22th of January ensuing and presented it to His Highness with their Proposals about Calling a Parliament at St. James's December the 25th 1688. To which His Highness was pleased to return this Answer to the Peers assembl'd at the same place on December the 28th following My LORDS I Have consider'd of your Advice and as far as I am able I will endeavour to secure the Peace of the Nation until the Meeting of the Convention in January next for the Meeting whereof I will forthwith issue out Letters according to your Desire I will also take care to apply the Publick Revenue to the most proper Uses that the present Affairs require and likewise endeavour to put Ireland into such a Condition that the Protestant Religion may be maintain'd in that Kingdom And I assure you that as I came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom so I shall always be ready to expose my self to any Hazard for the Defence of the same His Highness's Letters being dispers'd the Election of Members for the Convention was carry'd on with all the Expedition and Freedom imaginable and the Temper of the Nation fully discover'd in the Choice they made The 22th of January 1688. both Houses met again and having chosen their Speakers the following Letter from His Highness the Prince of Orange was Read in both Houses My LORDS I Have endeavour'd to the utmost of my Power to perform what was desir'd from me in order to the publick Peace and Safety and I do not know that any thing hath been omitted which might have tended to the Preservation of them since the Administration of Affairs was put into my Hands It now lies upon you to lay the Foundations of a firm Security for your Religion your Laws and your Liberties I do not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as is now met the Ends of my Declaration will be attain'd And since it hath pleas'd God hitherto to bless my good Intentions with so great Success I trust in him that he will compleat his own Work by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence your Counsels that no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement The dangerous Condition of the Protestants in Ireland require a large and speedy Succour And the present State of Things Abroad oblige me to tell you that next to the Danger of Unseasonable Divisions amongst your selves nothing can be so fatal as too great Delay in your Consultations The States by whom I have been enabl'd to rescue this Nation may suddenly feel the ill Effects of it both by being too long depriv'd of the Service of their Troops which are nowhere and of your Early Assistance against a powerful Enemy who hath Declar'd a War against them And as England is by Treaty already engag'd to help them upon such Exigencies so I am confident that their Chearful Concurrence to preserve this Kingdom with so much Hazard to themselves will meet with all the Returns of Friendship and Assistance which may be expected from you as Protestants and English-men when-ever their Condition shall require it Given at St. James's the 22th of January 1688. Will. H. P. d' Orange The Two Houses under a deep Sense of their Dangers and Deliverance in the first place by mutual Consent express'd their Thankfulness to God by appointing a Day of Publick Thanksgiving throughout the Kingdom and to His Highness as the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power in the following Address which was presented to the Prince of Orange the 22th of January 1688. in these Words Die Martis 22 Jan. 1698. The Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminister in this present Convention to His Highness the Prince of Orange WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembl'd at Westminster being highly sensible of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is next under God owing to your Highness do return our most humble Thanks and Acknowledgments to your Highness as the Glorious Instrument of so great a Blessing We do further acknowledge the great Care your Highness has been pleas'd to take in the Administration of the Publick Affairs of the Kingdom to this time And we do most humbly desire your Highness that you will take upon you the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that your Highness will take into your particular Care the present State of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Means to prevent the Dangers that threaten that Kingdom All which we make our Request to your Highness to undertake and Exercise till further Application shall be made by us which shall be expedited with all convenient Speed And we shall also use our utmost Endeavaurs to give Dispatch to the Matters recommended to us by your Highness's Letter To which Address presented by both Houses at St. James's His Highness the Prince of Orange made this Reply the same Day My Lords and Gentlemen I Am glad that what I have done has pleas'd you And since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs I am willing to accept it I must recommend to you the
As for his Departure out of the Kingdom tho' I have already prov'd it was a Plot of his own laying in hopes to Involve the Nation in greater Confusions than his own Conduct had already reduc'd it to yet in this Case 't is not material whether it was Voluntary or Involuntary since his Withdrawing himself was but a Continuation of his former Actings wherein he declar'd he would not govern by those Laws that made him King of England and was an express Renunciation of his Regal Authority To say that Abdication implies a Formal Renunciation by Deed is to mistake the Case for in the Common Law of England and in the Civil Law and in Common Acceptation there are Express Acts of Renunciation that are not by Deeds * Debate between Lords and Commons pag. 35 36. The Government and Magistracy are under a Trust and Acting contrary to that Trust is a Renunciation of that Trust tho' it be not a Renouncing by a Formanl Deed for it is a plain Declaration by Act and Deed tho' not in Writing that he who hath the Trust and acting contrary is a Disclaimer of the Trust especially if the Actings be such as are Inconsistent with and Subversive of this Trust For how can a Man in Reason or Sense express a greater Renunciation of a Trust than by the constant Declarations of his Actions to be quite contrary to that Trust and therefore must be constru'd an Abdication and Formal Resignation of it That a King may Renounce his Kingship may be made out by Law and Fact as well as any other Renunciation And that it may and hath been will be no Difficulty to to make out by Instances in all Countries not only where the Crown is or was Elective but also where it was Hereditary and Successive * Debate aforesaid p. 76. If a King will Resign or Renounce he may do so as particularly Charles the First did 'T is an Act of the Will and consequently in his Power to do as he thinks fit And the late King gave manifest Declarations of his Resolutions to do it in several Instances as has been particularly shew'd already Grotius and all other Authors that treat of this Matter and the Nature of it do agree That if there be any Word or Action that does sufficiently manifest the Intention of the Mind and Will to part with his Office that will amount to an Abdication or Renouncing Now had King James the Second came into †Idem p. â—7 â—8 an Assembly of Lords and Commons in Parliament and expressed himself in Writing or Words to this purpose I was born an Heir to the Crown of England which is a Government limited by Laws made in full Parliament by King Nobles and Commonalty and upon the Death of my last Predecessor I am in Possession of the Throne and now I find I cannot make Laws without the Consent of the Lords and Representatives of the Commons in Parliament I cannot suspend Laws that have been so made without the Consent of my People This indeed is the Title of Kingship I hold by Original Contract and the Fundamental Constitution of the Government and my Succession to and Possession of the Crown on these Terms is part of that Contract This part of the Contract I am Weary of I do Renounce it I will not be oblig'd to observe it I will not execute the Laws that have been made nor suffer others to be made as my People shall desire for their Security in Religion Liberty and Property which are the two main Parts of the Kingly Office in this Nation I say suppose he had so express'd himself doubtless this had been a plain Renouncing of that Legal Regular Title which came to him by Descent If then he by particular Acts such as are enumerated in the Vote of the Convention of the 27th of January he has declar'd as much or more than these Words can amount to then he has thereby Declar'd his Will to Renounce the Government He has by the Acts before-mention'd manifestly declar'd that he will not govern according to the Laws made nay he cannot do so for he is under a strict Obligation yea the strictest and Superiour to that of the Original Compact between King and People to Act contrary to the Laws or to Suspend them This did amount to a manifest Declaration of his Will that he would no longer retain the Exercise of his Kingly Power as it was Limited and Restrain'd and sufficiently declar'd his Renouncing the very Office And his Actings declar'd quo Animo that he went away because he could no longer pursue nor accomplish what he design'd and was so strongly oblig'd to that the Splendour of three Crowns could never divert him from it It was an Abdication in the highest Instances Not a particular Law was violated but he fell upon the whole Constitution in the very Foundation of the Legislature Not only particular Persons were injur'd but the whole Frame of the Kingdom the Protestant Religion and our Laws and Liberties were all in danger of being Subverted And which aggravates the Circumstances the late King himself who had the Administration Intrusted to him was the Author and Agent in it And when he cold no longer afflict us himself went away with Design to obtain Foreign Forces to compel our Submission to his Arbitrary Power Now because the late King had thus Violated the Constitution by which the Law stood as the Rule both of the King's Government and the People's Obedience therefore it was judg'd an Abdication to all Intents and Purposes and that by his Abdication the Throne became Vacant Nothing less than Things grown to such Extremities could warrant these Proceedings for God forbid every Violation of the Law or Deviation from it should be accounted an Abdication of the Government The Thoughts of such a Severity upon * Debate between the Lords and Common pag. 86. Crown'd Heads is abhorr'd by all Good Men. For when a King breaks the Laws in some few particular Instances it is sufficient to take an Account of it from those Ill Ministers that were Instrumental in it Why such a thing was done contrary to Law Why such a Law was not put in Execution by them whose Duty it was to see it done In Ordinary Cases of Breaking the Laws you have Remedy in Ordinary Courts of Justice and in Extraordinary Cases in the Extraordinary Court of Parliamentary Proceedings But in our Case where we were left without Redress the Malefactor being both a Party and Judge of his own Breaches of Law made Extream Remedies absolutely necessary and has been always practis'd upon the like Emergencies For The Great Council or Assembly of the Estates of this Kingdom from the first Institution of the Government had an Inherent Right to Assemble themselves in all Cases of Necessity such as Abdications Depositions Disputable Titles to the Crown Setling the Successions and to supply the Vacancy of the Throne as the
Ishbosheth had Right by Descent from Saul but David was made King And 't was for the sake of Religion that they were thus Plac'd and Displac'd In France Childeric was Depos'd and Egidius or Gillon a mere Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom was Elected in his stead Pepin was Elected King and Thierry Depos'd Pepin Grandson to the former was by Parliament Crown'd King tho' there was of that Marovinian Race in Being Charlemain's and Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was the Choice of the People So that I wonder the French Writers should question the Legality of the late Revolution in England since if we look back into the Original of other Kings and how they came to their Crowns King William's Title to the Crown of England is as good as the best and much better than some now Reigning in Europe for if all the Monarchs and Governments in Europe that have succeeded such Depositions or Abdications have been Unlawful and Usurp'd there is not one Monarch or Government in all Europe nay scarce in the whole World that can say they have a Lawful Authority but must acknowledge according to the Doctrine of D' Orleance that they are all Usurpers Which I wonder he had the Confidence to Assert since he cannot be ignorant that the French Kings enjoy their Crowns in Consequence of the Abdications and Depositions of their Predecessors and the People's Elections which succeeded those Dethronements So that King William 's Title to the Crown of England is as good as King Lewis's to France if not better for their own Historians give great Suspicion of Unfair Dealings and Sly Practices in the Elections of some of the French Kings but neither Envy it self nor the most Inveterate of all our Enemies could ever object it against King William that by any Acts of Force or Arts of Corruption he endeavour'd to work on the Members of either House to labour his own Advancement but that it was the Free Election of the Majority after long Debates and Consultations on other Expedients His Majesty did not like King Harold lay Violent Hands upon a Crown but only Accepted it when it was Offer'd And which shews his Goodness and Justice he receiv'd it too on the Conditions that were offer'd with it which gives us a lasting Assurance of the Regularity of his Government His Vertue and his Merit recommended him to England by their Free Election he was made King and that is the Right he Claims by and being the most Righteous and Lawful that can be without a Miracle it makes out Allegiance and Obedience to him become our Indispencible Duty But That which I but hinted before and now comes to Crown all the rest and put it quite out of Dispute for ever is It was God's Doing the Immediate Hand of Heaven was in it And truly nothing less could have accomplish'd such Miraculous Things We all know what the Nation Felt and Fear'd the Overturning of this Church and the Subverting this Government Now all this being stopp'd our Religion secur'd our Temporalities safe and a Check put to the Spirit of Persecution and all in so short a Time must be ascrib'd to an Almighty Power and Goodness That when the Design of our Deliverance was Form'd and Essaying there should be so extraordinary a Concurrence of all Favourable Accidents and disposing all Men's Minds the same Way That the Precipitation and Folly of our Persecutors in opening their Ill Designs so Early and the Unrelenting Cruelty put in practice in a Neighbouring Kingdom should send us over so many Thousand Witnesses to awaken us and shew us what we were to expect when that Bloody Religion became Triumphant amongst us and what all Oaths Promises and Laws should signifie as soon as they could break through them And that this should happen at the same time when the late King was Suspending Laws in favour of the Papists That our Enemies should go on so fast and Bare-fac'd That they should grasp so much at once and suffer the Hook to be so ill cover'd when the Bait was thrown out And that all their Designs should be blasted by themselves must be ascrib'd to the Eternal who brings to Light the hidden Things of Darkness and suffers the Wicked to be taken in the Snare they prepar'd for others Further That the great Supporter of Persecution should start a Quarrel with the Head of that Mystical Babylon and divert his Force to a New War an unjust one to be sure since he began it And so many great Princes should Unite to Stop his Carier and preserve Europe That so great an Army as the late King had Rais'd from whom our present King might expect a stout Opposition should voluntarily Desert grow Supine and comply with Reason and the Good of the Nation That such a Divided People should so Unanimously Concurr in in Electing the same Person to be their King and that this mighty Deliverance should be perfected without Shedding of Blood agreeable to the Proposals and Intentions of our Great Deliverer the Laws of the Land and the present and future Tranquility of the whole Nation must be the Lord 's Doing and ought to be Commemorated to his Eternal Glory and Accompany'd with a Grateful Retribution and Dutiful Obedience to our Gracious King who hath done such great Things for us Which is the last Particular 'T is doubtless one of the most palpable Signs of a Base Profligate Nature not to be oblig'd by Favours 'T would be an Injury to a Beast to call him Ingrateful That Epithet no Being can deserve but one that is degenerated into something more Vile than the worst of Animals that has broke through all that is Modest Ingenious and Tender and Apprehensive in Humane Nature And for the Noble Creature Man to be guilty of Ingratitude in Offending our Deliverer or Dishonouring our Sovereign by any Rash or Unadvis'd Words or Actions who sav'd us from Ruin who snatch'd us from the Brink of Destruction To return him Evil for Good to requite his Favours with Indignities to Diminish his Power by taking too much upon themselves to Mis-represent his Gratious Intention or Lessen or Detract from his Goodness is to sink below Comprehension and render himself unworthy of the Blackest Thought With what Emotion and Grief of Mind then can we think of those that are already grown so Insensible of their past Dangers and forgetting the Mercy of their Deliverance abuse Modest Ears with Invidious Reflections upon the Supream and Subordinate Authority they ought to obey How is Conversation Sour'd by those Animals that like Tame Ducks are always dabling in Nasty Gutturs that Espy and Publish all Men's Faults but their own and can no more rest from Reproaching their Superiours than a Crow from feeding on Carrion Jealousies like Bull-Rushes grow out of the Mud of their own Brains and their Suspicious and Ungrounded Glances discover more Rancour than direct Contumelies They boast of their Affection and mighty
Services done for the Government yet do their utmost to make it Contemptible Some of them carry their Fire in Dark-Lantherns sigh out their Sorrows for Mis-managements deplore the Danger that hangs over us and persuade the World that every thing is out of Order because themselves are out of Office Others Rail outright and carry the Brands Ends open in their Mouths to kindle Combustions and Archimago-like make Variance between the Head and the Body upon no other Ground than Obloquies Suspicions and Fears those Brats of Rotten Fame that have no Father but their own Invention These are A sort of Men Illuminated into a kind of Distraction whom nothing can please and what any thing cannot but displease ever constant to their Old Dislikes and the Beginning of New Wishes and who like the Bay of Biscay are always Rough and Angry let the Wind blow where it will Talk of Loyalty and Obedience you raise their Passion and they call you Tory If you talk Well of all Men they call you a Trimmer Speak of preserving a due Temperament in the State they call you a Whig or Republican And say nothing and they proclaim you a Fool because you are not a Busie-Body What a strange Pass are Things brought to by carrying all Things into Extremities Some Men by Overstraining the Doctrine of Obedience made it Contemptible Must we therefore wholly lay aside that Evangelical Precept Because we are not oblig'd to obey a Tyrant must we therefore dispute away our Duty to the King and make our Submission as Arbitrary as the Power we declaim'd against Because we ought not to submit to a Destroyer must we not obey our Preserver Because a more than ordinary Liberty of Censuring Publick Affairs was assum'd in our late Times of Confusion and Disorder must that Pragmatical Humour be continu'd to create new Jealousies and Disturbances now the State is settl'd a Good King in the Throne and Justice equally Administer'd through the whole Kingdom No! Sure 't is time for these Over-active State-menders to comport themselves with more Modesty and Decency to the Government to bind their Tongues to the Good Behaviour to Restrain Seditious Discourses and Intermedling in Publick Affairs to study to be Quiet and do their own Business to fear God honour and obey the King For whatever they think of it or however it may have been abus'd or mis-apply'd in former Reigns Obedience to Princes is the Doctrine of the Bible and the Indispencible Duty of Subjects to their Sovereign And therefore upon that Head I will here endeavour to settle it You cannot be ignorant what a Character our Enemies give us viz. That we are as Unchangeable as the Wind and as Unconstant and Quarrelsome as the Waves of the Sea that are always Fluctuating and dashing themselves to pieces Fickleness is the Reproach of our Nation abroad and has render'd us Vile and Cheap amongst other Nations Now an Opportunity is put into our Hands to confute those Prejudices by a Stability in our Allegiance to such a King and Subjection to such a Government as all Europe admire and envy us for Now we have an Advantage to shew our Complaints again the late King were True and that the Causes of them were Real and may gain a Reputation of our Conduct when we shew by our Actions that as we had the Prudence to change so much for the better so we have the Wisdom to know when we are well and the Honesty to continue so The Papists reproach our Religion with Disloyalty and therefore after we have struggl'd so hard to keep it we ought to shew it was worth Contending for and wipe off that Aspertion by extolling its Vertue because amongst other Excellencies it obliges us to a Fermety in our Allegiance beyond all other Motives in the World and that upon a Religious Foundation chiefly we build and maintain our Duty to the King and tho' Lower Considerations have sometimes their Place and Value yet that the Grand and Durable Obligations spring from those Sacred Maxims And I the rather press it to you upon this Score because it will justifie you before God make you appear truly Religious and Reasonable before Men and will be thought best Subjects by the King because your Loyalty is the Fruit of your Religion As for Interest it is so Uncertain and Changeable a Thing that it gives a Prince no Security in Relying upon that Topick nor a Subâ—ect can scarce trust himself with it For the same Reasons that now Induce Men to be Loyal may if the Scene should change a better Offer â—e made and a Pardon inclos'd prevail with the same Persons to be Rebels and Traytors Those that follow'd our Blessed Saviour for the Loaves whereof they eat and were fill'd soon forsook him And those that adhere to our King only as Rats and Mice do a Barn because there is Grain in it are in danger of Deserting him as soon as they find their Expectations frustrated Things are but at an Ill pass when Subjects Loyalty continues no longer than while they are Oblig'd by Favours and when every froward Person shall set up against the Court if he be not Advanc'd and Rewarded as his own Ambition and Avarice tells him he ought to be Gratitude and Thankfulness to a Prince are eternally due from his Subjects and is a good Foundation to build our Obedience upon but we have sorrowfully experienc'd that some Men's Loyalty have expir'd with their Shouts and Acclamations or at least but the Loss of an Employment and all the Reason that can be given for it is because their Duty was not grounded upon Religion and Conscience The People of England have been always great Pretenders to both and now if they have not so long wrangl'd about these Things that they have quite lost them and have had God and Conscience so long in their Mouths that their Hearts have almost forgotten there are any such Thing it now concerns them who have seen so many visible Interpositions of Providence in behalf of our King our Church and our Nation those strange and sudden Changes of Things and such a mighty Deliverance effected which nothing but the Right Hand of God could bring to pass it concerns them I say to shew that they have a true Sense of Religion and Conscience in practising an Uninteressed and Undissembled Obedience to their Sovereign Lord King William for this is all the Requital and Compensation they can make to His Majesty for all his Favours and Care of them and would in some measure sweeten and aleviate the Burthen of them Shall I be allow'd to say one thing without Offence or Imputation of Flattery That if ever any King might expect Chearful Obedience from us for his Own sake or claim it for God's sake King William that now Governs us may do it justly His Majesty's Great and Glorious Undertaking His Indefatigable Pains His Toilsom Days His Restless Nights His Anxious Cares in preventing