RIGHT ought to be Our Soveraign Lord and Lady in and to whose Princely Persons the Royal State Crown and Dignity with all Honours Titles Prerogatives c. are most FULLY and RIGHTFULLY Invested So that in their Opinion they are King and Queen de jure and therefore Allegiance is payable to them in as large a degree as to any other whosoever of the Rightful Kings their Predecessors and as I remember thus that it should signifie no more than a Peaceable Behaviour â—…d an Acquiescence under the present Establishment But this Motion was rejected because it would thus give so great a Latitude to all Mens Consciences that it would oblige to and therefore signifie just nothing This is an express Declaration against our bold Interpretations of these Oaths to our selves And for the Truth of the Fact I Appeal to that House Take therefore Allegiance in your own Sense to be an Obedience according to Law Page 6. or to express it more fully All that Obedience and all that Duty which the Laws of the Land and the Constitution of this Government require from Subjects to our Kings take Allegiance I say in this sense which is that I always understood by it and it is impossible to be paid to the present Government under the Circumstances in your Argument supposed of Possession not of Right For Kings are like God in this respect that they are Supream which necessarily implies Vnity So that whatever Duty is proper to the Supreme and only so must be entire it must be whole and undivided Thus the Prophet Elijah tells us We must not halt between two Opinions 1 Kings 18.21 if the Lord be God we must follow him but if Baal him And a greater than he has said We cannot serve two Masters Mat. 6.24 nor can we for the same Reason pay the Duty of Allegiance to two Supremes or Soveraigns at the same time If then it appear that King James has still the Right of Soveraignty and this you here suppose we cannot without Robbery and a kind of Idolatry give this Worship much less Swear it to any other But I will bring this Matter home to our Case It is well known and declared by two Acts of Parliament under King Henry the Seventh to be the Natural Duty of All Subjects to Defend the Persons of their Kings to Fight their Battels The Words of the Statutes are these Subjects by reason of their Duty of ALLEGIANCE are bound to serve the Prince in his Wars in defence of HIM and the Land against EVERY Rebellion POWER and MIGHT Rear'd against Him 11 H. 7. c. 1. Again EVERY SUBJECT by the Duty of his ALLEGIANCE is bound to Serve and Assist his Prince c. at ALL SEASONS when need shall require and to Defend his Royal Person c. against his Rebels and ENEMIES for the SUBDUING of them 11 H. 7. c. 18. to Destroy ALL their Enemies and to do this at ALL Times as oft as occasion shall so require So that if this Duty of Allegiance be own'd as due and Sworn to an Usurperer Pardon the Expression All Possessors without Right are such and this is here in your Argument supposed Whenever the King shall attempt to Return to be restor'd to his own and shall demand our Assistance in order to it we must notwithstanding this Natural Allegiance confirm'd by our former Oaths to him Defend the unjust Possessor of his Throne against him And if occasion so requires as inevitably it must in some of our Cases even Sacrifice the King to the Interest of the Intruder and imbrue our hands in his Royal Blood to prevent the breach of those Oaths to one who has no right to exact them from us An Assertion so audauciously Impious that nothing can be suppos'd to surpass it but that alone which must justifie these daily Acts of the Clergy when in their Prayers where they should be sedate and well assur'd the Petitions they there offer to God are agreeable to his Will they dare be so hardy to call aloud for Vengeance upon the Head of the King whom they are expresly forbid to Curse even in their Hearts They do therefore little less than Blaspheme God as well as the King when they pray the Usurper may overcome ALL his Enemies even him But let them have a care least thâ—… 〈◊〉 return into their own Bosomes I tremble to think that this Consequence is unavoidable That he may vanquish and overcome All his Enemies Prayer for the King We beseech thee c. to give him Victory over All his Enemies Lit. Save and deliver us that is the whole Government as now Established from the hands of our ENEMIES who so much an ENEMY to an Usurper as the Rightful King Abate their Pride Asswage their Malice and CONFOVND their Devices Prayer in time of War and Tumults The Solemn Recognitions too are not easie to be overlook'd where the King de facto is called our most Religious and Gracious King Prayer for the Parliament and own'd as God's chosen Servant and having his Authority from Him Coll. after the Com. Lastly in that most solemn part of all our Devotion the Communion we pray for a continuance of the Usurpation when we beseech God to save and defend in an especial manner above all other Christian Kings and Princes our Possessing King that under him we may continue to be Govern'd Prayer for the whole state of Christs Church Had the Prayers for the Fast been Publisht when these Papers were writ they had deserv'd a Paragraph by themselves since they are so warily contriv'd that there is no room left for any tolerable Evasion The Composer of them being resolv'd that whoever made use of that Form of Prayer should level them particularly against him which is here suppos'd the King de Jure and that we are by this means reduced to such straights that we must either absent our selves from the Publick Prayers of the Church or become hearers if not partakers of such bitter Curses against the Lord 's Anointed The force of all this is little abated by bringing in the Examples of those Miserable Wretches who live in the Frontiers upon the Continent What Allowances God will make to invincible Necessity in their Case I dare not determine But I think all Casuists agree that not only the Necessity must be apparently invincible but the means which lead to it must be unavoidable before we can lay hold of this Excuse or venture to do a thing otherwise unlawful and call upon Necessity to plead our Innocence Your Lordship would account it a very frivolous Argument against the Divine Institution of your Holy Order and would certainly laugh at a Conclusion against Episcopal Ordination where it may be had drawn from the Practice of the Reformed Gallic Churches whose Ordinations by the Presbytery alone are allow'd Good by some amongst us Page 6. §. 4 tho disputed by others where a fatal Necessity renders it
Sacramentum facerent inquiri quae fuerunt libertates in Angliae tempore Regis Henrici Avi sui Rot. Claus 7. H. 3 m. 9. but in use in the time of K. Henry his Grandfather And according to the Returns made upon these Writs Mag. Chart. 9. H. 3. c. 15. 16 35 37. the Great Charter in the Ninth Year of this King's Reign in a more Regular Form of Law then before was a fourth time Granted This is the Magna Charta in the front of the Statute Book which is look'd upon as the Measure and Foundation of all our Laws And 't is this not that of K. John which is again Ratify'd and Perpetuated by K. Edward 1. his Son and Successor These are strong Presumptions â—… E. 1. that the first Grants of these Liberties were very defective in something Essential to the Being of a Law For if not what can mean so many Confirmations in so little time 2. Another inducement to this Opinion is the Profuse Returns of the Parliaments to King Henry III. for his Confirmations For I find from the passage cited by the Collector of these Records out of the MS. above mentioned that the Parliament for his Donation and Concession of the Charters in the beginning of the second Year of this Reign Pro hac autem donatione Concessione Libertatum istarum Aliarum Contentarum in Charta Nostra de Libertatibus Arc. Episc Ep. Ab. Pri. Com. Bar. c. dederunt nobis Quindecimam Partem omnium bonorum suorum Mobilium c. Dat. 6. Nov. An. Reg. Nost 2. Ex Ant MS. Supradict gave him a fifteenth Part of all their Moveables A Tax so Considerable that it was thought a sufficient supply in the Ninth Year of his Reign to carry on the War with France and was then again given him for his Fourth Grant Rot. Stat. 25. E. 1. m. 38. Mag. Ch. 9. H. 3. c 37. as appears by the Inspeximus of King Edward I. But this was not all for in Consideration of the Third Grant before mentioned the Parliament gave him Two Shillings upon every Plough Land through England Fox ubi sup Concesserunt Nobis c. de qualibet Caruca duos solidos Rot. Claus 4 H. 3. m. 5. We must here consider which will heighten the Wonder that the intrinsick value of money in those times if laid out in exchange for the necessaries of Life was at least ten times the value of the same money now For if we may make the Estimate from the Price of Corn and that I think is the best Standard in England we may readily perceive by the Assise of Bread in this Reign St. 51. H. 3. Assisa Panis c that the common price of Wheat was then 3 s. and 3 s. 4 d. the Quarter as it is now 30 s. and 35 s. We must also remember that between these two last mentioned supplys a Poll was given for the King of Jerusalem whereby every Earl was Oblig'd to pay 3 Marks Rot. Claus. 6. H. 3. m. 1â— dor 7 H. 3. m. â—… dor a Baron 1 m. a Knight 12 d. and every Freeholder if not every Housholder 1 d. which still made the Subjects less able to support the others These things being duly considered the great Condescensions of those Parliaments is unaccountable when they lay such heavy Taxes upon themselves as would now almost be intolerable and Bribe the King at this vast Expence to be Graciously Pleased to Revive a Law if this Charter of King John was such which was made at furthest not above Ten years before and consequently impossible to have yet been Obsolete and which was Enacted as all Laws are by the Supream Authority and therefore could not receive any Additional Force But they are abundantly more Unconceiveable if that be true which your Lordship would so strongly from hence inferr that there was then no such Irresistable Authority in our Kings Page 28. but that they were Accountable to their Parliaments for the willful Breach of those Fundamental Laws 3. These Exceptions may be further made to the Validity of this Charter tho not altogether so Conclusive When King Henry III. Invites Hugh de Lacy and others to come in to him and Promimises Iâ— they do to RESTORE All their Rights and Liberties Entire to them SI ad nos venire volueritiâ— Jurâ— vestra Libertates vestras peâ— Concilium Dilectorum Fideliuâ— Nostrorum R. Com. Cestriae Wâ— Com. de Ferarijs aliorum Fidelium Nostrorum integre Vobâ—… RESTITUEMUS Rot. Pat. 1 H. 3. m. 16. He makes their Obedience the Condition of this Restitution This were a great Impropriety of Speech had the Charter of King John which was granted not full two years before Confirm'd then by the Force and Authority of a Law for a Law is the best Advised and most deliberate Act of the Supream Power and therefore if an Absolute Power was not lodg'd with Him which I suppose your Lordship will not allow He could neither Revoke it nor give any Additional Sanction to it How then could he speak Conditionally about it Or since he had Sworn at his Coronation to Observe All their Laws if they could not acquiesce on such a Solemn General Promise where was the Inducement to Regard his Letter Again when he concluded a Peace with the Dauphin he Swore to restore to the Barons all their Rights and Liberties so long desir'd But they being already granted by this Charter of King John if that had the real Force of a Law his Oath amounted to no more then this That he would Observe his Coronation Oath This would be a very Extraordinary Promise to any Forreign Prince as an Article of Peace 4. This whole Charter was Damn'd almost as soon as made For one Brewer a Councellor disputed the Legality even in those days Besides Mag. Chart. 9. H. 3. c. 15. 16 35. 37. we find in the Great Charter it self of King Henry III. four references to the Reign of King Henry his Grand-Father but not the least hint of any former Charters either by himself or King John his Father which tacitly implies the Nullity thereof And when King Edwaed I. would Revive and Confirm the Rights and Liberties of his Subjects to them he does it by the Confirmation of this not that of King John as appears by the Print But the Confirmation in the Record is more full for there the King Grants that the Grand Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forrest Les quelles feurent FAITES per COMUNE ASSENT de Tut le Royaume en TEMPS le Roy perhaps du Roy HENRY Nostre Pere c. Rot. Stat. 23. perhaps it should be 25 E. 1. m. 38. which were MADE by the COMMON ASSENT of the whole Realm in the TIME of K. HENRY his Father shall be Observed c. This seems Naturally to Imply that they were THEN FIRST MADE by the Common Assent of the
Master before his Death or swore the Military Oath to an Vsurper against Him Yet this is the Circumstance which alone concludes in favour of the Opinion here in question But the truth is my Lord St. Paul's Doctrine of Obedience to Caligula notwithstanding his black Vsurpations and Tyranny Page 1◠and his Attemtps upon all the remaining Freedoms of Rome as also the practice thereof by the Primitive Christians under many Emperours not only Tyrants and Vsurpers but even Apostates too are unanswerable Arguments for Non-Resistance to the Supream Magistrate And if so the Guilt of Treason and all those threats which God has denounc'd against it lye hard upon those who Rebell'd against their undoubted Rightful Soveraign and Advised and Procur'd this unparallell'd Revolution I shall only add for Conclusion to this whole Argument that if Rebellion be as the Sin of Witchcraft Rom. 13.2 and to Resist the Supream Magistrate without Repentance be to receive Damnation surely all such as have been Instrumentall in the unjust Exclusion of King James are bound in Conscience as they love themselves and their Eternal Happyness to return to their forsaken Allegiance and to make Restitution the one great part and instance of true Repentance in the Case of Injuries to the Injur'd King by Endeavouring to Restore him to the Possession of his own These returning Penitents if they would Unanimously Return joyn'd with those who were always ready to serve him as a KING tho not as a PAPIST would be of such force that a Forreign Army of Dutch and others should not be able to support the Usurpation against him alone without the further Assistance of French or Irish Page 14. § 9. The Succession to the High-Priesthood your Lordship owns to be Forreign to this matter but if not it Concludes very little for your Assertion For there was not an Absolute Necessity that the Eldest Son should Succeed his Father tho most usually he did since the Succession might be Interrupted by the King's Prerogative 1 Kings 2.27 Thus Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being Priest unto the Lord and although he had a Son 2 Sam. 15.36 1 Kings 2.35 yet the King put Zadok into his room * Atque ita Summum sacerdotium a familia Ithamaris ad familiam Eleazari rediit Usser An. ad an 2990. Page 16. §. 10 Since therefore the King had this Power to Depose the High-Priest and to change the Succession what could be objected against Caiaphas when call'd to the Priest-Hood by that Power which alone pretended to be the Supream 2. I have now My Lord gone through all the Arguments Your Lordship has produc'd for Possession only without Right And I think I have sufficiently Evinc'd that there is nothing therein Conclusive to us This Your Lordship seems to be sensible of when you advance the State of the Question a little further and throw it upon the Decision of a Convention which you say are the only proper Judges But here also I can find no Satisfaction for allowing your Difference to be good between all Speculative points of Opinion and all Questions that relate to matters of Fact Allowing also that in all Bodies who make Decisions the Minority is concluded by the Majority as if they had been Actually consenting to the Decision yet for all this there still remains insuperable difficulties in the present Case 1. You permit us to retain our former Opinions Page 18. Declaration to be Subscrib'd by all the Clergy 14 Car. 2. c. 4. to be sworn by all Mayors Aldermen c. St. 2. 13 C. 2. c. 1. 3,4 and by all Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants c. 14 C. 2. c. 3. and therefore you give us leave to adhere to our Subscriptions that It is not Lawful to take up Arms against the King upon any pretence whatsoever even not upon the account of Religion and that the contrary Position is Trayterous How then can we who have Subscrib'd this Declaration and who are all of this Opinion or at least have profest our selves to be of it own those to be our Lawful Superiors who have been Instrumental contrary to this Declaration in Deposing the King till they are Absolv'd from their Treasonable Injustice against him by his most Gracious Pardon or have made him Restitution by endeavouring his Restauration much less as far as in us lies Aid and Support them in this which according to our declar'd Opinions is the highest Injury and Affront to Majesty yet these are the Chief and most considerable part of the Nation who are now set over us both in the Civil and Military State 2. But tho' the Business of Succession be allow'd a Matter of Fact as also the King 's Original Power Page 18. yet the late pretended Convention of Estates were not the Proper much less the Only competent Judges of it 1. Because most of the Members in both Houses were uncapable and unqualifi'd to sit there For 25 E. 3. c. 2. 1. It is Declar'd Treason to levy War against our Lord the King in his Realms or to be Adherent to the Kings Enemies giving to them Aid and Comfort in the Realm or Elsewhere It was also further Adjudg'd High Treason by the Lords in Parliament under K. Richard 2. To surrender from the King Homage and Allegiance and to PVRPOSE to Depose him Cott. Rec. p. 376 377 c. And as if to preclude that groundless Evasion hereof on the pretence of a Defensive War against the King a late Parliament has Declar'd 13. C. 2. c. 6. and 14 C. 2. c. 3. that The sole Supreme Government Command and Disposition of the Militia and of all Forces by Sea and Land and of All Forts and Places of Strength is and by the Laws of England Ever Was the Vndoubted Right of His Majesty c. and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament Cannot nor ought to Pretend to the same nor Can nor Lawfully may Raise or Levy any War Offensive or Defensive against His Majesty So that it is evident from hence that many of the Members in the late Convention were formally TRAYTORS Every Offendor shall lose and forfeit to the King c. all such Lands c. which any Offendor shall have c. at the TIME of any such Treason committed 5 6 Ed. 6. c. 11. 3 Eliz. c. 1. It may be urg'd indeed in their Defence that they were not legally Convict But since Treason ipso facto forfeits all Estates it is very reasonable to conclude that it also forfeits all other Rights and Priviledges of Free Subjects and since the matter of Fact was so Publick and Notorious it is a just Exception to the Legality of their whole Proceedings that such Members were suffer'd to Sit and Vote there For it is Ridiculous that those Men should Judge and Depose the King who had before forfeited their own Lives to him 2. They were incapacitated by express Acts of Parliament
but Eternal Ruin So that I hope we shall agree in this Conclusion that as the apparent Blessings to be enjoy'd and the frightful Dangers to be avoided are sufficient Inducements to Swear Allegiance to the present Government if this Oath shall appear to be Lawful so if otherwise the Curse from God against wilful Sin is a reasonabl Consideration to deter us from it and that we must not be warp'd with the Alurements of Prosperity or the Fears of Adversity 't is an ill Cause a Good Man will be afraid to suffer for but that we must impartially consider the true state of the Controversie which I take to be this viz. Whether the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Lawful as they are now imposed on the Clergy at the Peril of Suspension ab Officio Beneficio Censures by the way not generally own'd within the Power of Temporal Judges under these our present Circumstances viz. Of knowing that King James the Second is our Rightful King till it be otherwise made appear that he has ceased to be King that he is endeavouring to be Restor'd to his Throne and Kingdoms and that he expects our Allegiance and is soliciting Assistance in order to it This is the true state of the Question And till the Affirmative be well prov'd all that can be said besides is only raising of a dust and as your Lordship well expresses it Page 4. a Pathetical aggravating of the matter This your Lordship has undertaken and accordngly offer'd these three Arguments drawn Page 4. S. 2. Page 16. S. 10. Page 19. S. 11. 1. From Possession of the Throne 2. From the Decision and Declaration of the Convention 3. From Conquest All which seem to me ineffectual Page 4. S. 2. 1. Possession of the Throne is indeed a sufficient Title to our Allegiance under these and such like Restrictions where 1. The Title of Right is disputable or 2. The Rightful Prince declines his Claim of Right or 3. Where the Throne is Vacant in an Hereditary Kingdom by the total failure of the Royal Line The Reasons whereof are plain 1. Because for the sake of Peace and Order we may be excus'd from paying Allegiance to the Rightful Prince if disputably such by a commendable Ignorance and Incuriousness of inquiring too nicely into those things that are so far above us 2. But tho the Rightful Prince be known if he declines or absolutely refuses to undertake the Government we are excus'd by this universally received Maxim that Volenti non fit injuria or rather by an impossibility of paying it to one who will not be brought to admit of it 3. Where the Throne is vacant by a total Failure of the Royal Line this Law of Nature is our Guide viz. That Possession gives a Right where none is dispossess'd of a preceeding Right And upon this Law it is that the original Right to all our Estates and Possessions is founded For every part of the World remaining under the Dispensation of the Laws of Nature is common to all all have an equal Right to it But when any Man takes the pains to possess it she allots it to him excluding all others for a Reward to his Industry Under these then and some other like Restrictions I may allow your Argument to be good But none of these Instances will reach us We know the Rightful King and we are assur'd notwithstanding all those Monstrous Insinuations to the contrary that he Claims his Right that he expects our actual Allegiance be paid him and is endeavouring to return to us to give us an opportunity for the performance of this Duty to him But if he were dead the Succession does not terminate in him We know he has Heirs and we know those Heirs Besides this Assertion taken at large as your Lordship delivers it lays a Foundation for this unavoidable Consequence as Mean and Ungenerous as it is Absurd that we at least thus far must turn Persians always to Worship the Rising Sun we must swim safely down the stream always adhere to those that are Fortunately however Unjustly uppermost and pay our Allegiance to all Prosperous Rebels and Usurpers This is indeed so harsh to any Man of Honour or Integrity that it needs to be supported by far better Arguments than those you have here produced For the next Paragraph is so weak that I much wonder how it could fall from your Lordship's Pen. You first suppose that all allow it Lawful to Obey a Possessing King without taking notice of any Restrictions and then you confound the words and make Allegiance and Obedience to be the same thing 'T is true Self-preservation and common Prudence as well as a Duty in all to study Peaee may be granted does oblige us to such an Obedience as we owe to Foreign Princes whilst we Travail or otherwise remain not Naturalized in their Dominions That is All such Obedience as is consistent with that which is by Nature indispensibly due to our own Soveraign And I think no Man of Sense who makes a difficulty of Swearing the required Oaths can ever be thought to allow any other For my own part I profess if nothing more than such an Obedience as this be meant by the Obeence which is expected and the True Faith and Allegiance we are to Swear so soon as this Interpretation shall receive the sufficient Approbation of Publick Authority I will satisfie all my other Scruples without further Assistance But your Lordship must not take it ill if I add withal that should this Explanation be given by you it would be of very small moment with me Because all Laws are only to be Interpreted by the Legislators or such as are appointed by them to do it And all Oaths according to the common Acceptation of the Words and the known meaning of the Imposers Your Lordship therefore has no Right to do it Since you were not then a Bishop and had no share in the framing of them I do not say this with any disrespect to your Ability or Integrity Nor do I think you will ever enter upon this Province My design is hereby to shut the door against such Fallacies of a Temporary Allegiance to be revok'd at pleasure as I find the generality of Men that they may secure their Interest are tempted to admit Whereby they cheat themselves into great straits to their Consciences and Swear with Reservation they know not what I have this Exception further to make against this wandering Interpretation of the Words I was told by one of the Right Reverend the Bishops at the time when the Oaths were brought into the Convention of Lords and therefore while the Debates were fresh in Memory that it was moved among other things to have the word Allegiance Explain'd N. B. Since the writing of these Papers the Parliament hath put this Matter beyond Dispute For in their late Act of Recognition they declare King William and Queen Mary are and of