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
impracticable The Parallell is too apparent to need more words We ought therefore to give our continual Thanks to Almighty God for his great Mercy as well in this as in the other Case that he has plac'd us in a Countrey whose Happy Situation has exempted us so long from falling under any such difficulties Page 6. rather then wilfully to apply these Instances of forbearance in such Cases of Necessity to our careless Negligence and plead the Examples of our Neighbours Miseries in justification of our own Wantoness Before I proceed to the next Paragraph give me leave to Condole with your Lordship the decay of your Memory I Remember in your Enquiry into the Measures of Submission to the Supream Authority about a year ago you tell us 't is unreasonable to Conclude Measures of Submission §. 6. from the Possession of a Supream Power by any Person or Family that it is the Will of God it should be so because this would justifie all Vsurpers when they became successful But to pass this over you will not there allow of any Conclusions to be made with Relation to any particular Government from the Examples either in the Old or New Testaments but say Ibid. §. 8. It is clear that all the Passages in the Old Testament are not to be made use of in this matter of neither side and as for the New Testament all that is in it upon this Subject Ibid. §. 10. imports no more then that all Christians are bound to Acquiesce in the Government and submit to it according to the Constitution that is setled by Law so that no general Considerations from any Passages Ibid. §. 11. either of the Old or New Testaments ought to determine us in this matter But you here forget your own Maxim Examples of this kind I perceive are fashionable Arguments and Passive Obedience is again Orthodox provided always it be Extensive enough and carry'd to reach Vsurpers and Conquerors in prejudice to the Rightful Kings These My Lord are dangerous Passages which an ill-man may improve to such a Scandal as this that you square your Doctrine by the Rule of Convenience and draw a Scheme of Divinity according to a Model of Politiques which may be Vary'd and Chang'd as the Circumstances of publique Affairs and Interest require Accordingly he may urge That when you Writ your Measures of Submission you foresaw it convenient to Explode the Bible because it would be difficult to draw us into the necessary intended Rebellion whilst we had the Word of God to guide us The Scriptures teach us by Example as well as Precept That Kings are God's Vice-Gerents on Earth and therefore to be Honour'd and Obey'd in all things Lawful But that Rebellion in any case is like the sin of Witchcraft but now when the Turn is serv'd and the Case alter'd you here direct us again to them with this necessary Caution That we wholly forget we have still a King and apply all the Instances of Obedience to an Unjust Possessor as if we had been Laps'd into a state of Nature and every man had had an equal Right to Ascend the Vacant Throne If this be not playing with and wresting the Scriptures he prays God it be not to your Destruction he knows not what is All this may be said and more But I will return to your Argument where the only business will be to enquire whether any Example you here produce will reach to the Case of Possession only under our Circumstances In order to this I must remind you of the Restrictions I above Noted under which and such like Possession may be allow'd a Title of Right We must also consider that the Jewish Government was a Theocracy as well as a Monarchy so that in all doubtful Junctures of publique Affairs they might have recourse to God himself for advice by means of the Prophets and of the Vrim and Thummim Whenever therefore we find in that state any Unaccountable Revolutious not reprov'd we may reasonably Conclude that God had fore-signify'd his Approbation of it and this the rather because we generally may Observe that a Priest or a Prophet chiefly promotes it There is this further difference between the Constitution of Our Government and that of the Jews whereby the Examples from them are not conclusive to us That whereas this Crown descends by an Haereditary Right That did not For sometimes the Aged King declar'd his Successor before his Death Thus David gave his Kingdom to Solomon 1 Kings 1.34 2 Chron. 21.3 and Jehoshaphat to Jehoram But more usually the Jews Elected that Person to be their King whom God by his Prophets had destin'd to that High Office pursuant to His Express Command by Moses Deut. 17.15 that they shall in any wise set him King over them whom the Lord their God shall Choose Accordingly in the first great Rupture in the Government Pag. 8. where the ten Tribes wholly Revolt from Judah the Prophet Ahijah gives ten of the twelve pieces of his new Garment to Jeroboam with this assurance that the LORD would rend the Kingdom from Solomon 1 Kings 11.31 tho not in his yet in his Son's Reign and give ten Tribes to him and thus when Rehoboam took violent Counsel and Answer'd the People of Israel roughly 1 Kings 12.13,15 we are told that the Cause thereof was from the LORD in performance of his word by this Prophet and afterwards he expresly forbids the Subjects of Rehoboam to fight against their Brethren the Children of Israel 1 Kings 12.24 because this thing was from HIM The like is remarkable in other Instances So that in all the Revolutions that happen'd there Possession without doubt might be presum'd to give a just Right And indeed this is not only true in Relation to the Jews but is in it self Universally so as appears from the Nature and Reason of the thing for wherever a Monarchy is Elective if the Throne be fill'd whether by Force or Cunning Allegiance may be due because tho some of the Community may be said to be injur'd by the Usurpation yet none is dispossess'd of a Preceding Right where none is Dethron'd Where therefore none had a preceding Right to Allegiance it is payable to any but to whom so properly as to him who has given the greatest Evidence at least of the Majority of Electors since they had strength and Interest enough to Seat him in the Throne beyond the Reach of his Opposers But all this is nothing to our Case we know the Person who is Dispossess'd to whom our Allegiance as is confess'd by all was once due and that he is still in being and calls upon us for the performance of this Duty the only Objection you here offer against him is that he is unfortunately Dispossess'd by the force of a violent Intruder but who was ever yet adjudg'd punishable for a meer Misfortune These Considerations alone well apply'd would be
and even by those the Dispensing wherewith was so warmly urg'd against the King For in the Fifth of Eliz. It is Enacted That every Person which hereafter shall be Elected or Appointed a Knight Citizen or Burgess or Baron for any of the five Ports for any Parliament or Parliaments hereafter to be holden shall from henceforth before he shall Enter into the Parliament House or have any Voice there openly receive and pronounce the said Oath of Supremacy before the Lord Steward c. and that he which shall Enter into the Parliament House without taking the said Oath shall be deemed no Knight Citizen or Burgess c. nor shall have any Voice but shall be to all Intents Constructions and Purposes as if he had never been Returned or Elected c. And shall suffer such Pains and Penalties as if he had presumed to sit in the same without any Election Return or Authority But this Oath appearing ineffectual to exclude the Presbyterians and other Dissenters The present Synod well knowing that there are other Sects which endeavour the Subversion both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England NO LEâ—S THEN PAPISTS DO although by another day Syn. Lond. 1640. can 5. the Seditious Sectaries c. do at their MEETINGS contrive INSURRECTIONS as late EXPERIENCE hath shewed 16 C. 2. c. 4. §. â— who by woful Experience have been since found equally dangerous to the Government both of Church and State * 25 C. 2. c. 2 it was of late further Enacted that All and every Person or Persons as well Peers as Commoners that shall bear any Office or Offices Civil or Military c. or shall have Command or Place of Trust c. shall take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance c. and receive the Sacrament and that those who shall Refuse or Neglect the same shall be ipso facto adjuged uncapable and disabled in Law to enjoy the said Office c. And every such Office c. shall be void But if this will not be admitted to extend to all the Members of Parliament as such tho' I think the greatest Trusts of the Kingdom are reposed in them however by another Parliament it is more fully Enacted 30 Car. 2. that Every Peer and every Commoner shall take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and shall make subscribe and audibly Repeat this Declaration against Transubstantiation c. Before he take his Place in the House c. And where any Member of the House of Commons shall c. by the Neglect hereof be Disabled to Sit c. the Place or Places for which they c. were Elected is hereby Declared Void c. as if such Members were Naturally Dead All which Laws being interpreted according to the Reasons and Occasions of them reach a Convention as well as a Parliament For undoubtedly where any great Care is necessary to preserve the Superstructure it is much more to secure the Foundation If therefore such caution be necessary to prevent Corruption in a part of the Legislative Body surely it is no less necessary to prevent it in that which takes upon it to Constitute the Legislature it self Yet for all this no Member of either House as such had any regard to these Statutes 2. There is neither Authority in Law nor approvâ—d Precedent in History for such an Assembly 1. That it has no Authority in Law is evident for that so strictly requires the Royal Summons to all such like Assemblies that the greatest Exigencies of Publick Affairs do not excuse the neglect thereof And your Lordship has formerly own'd that the want of the Kings Writ was such an Essential Nullity Reflections on Parliamentum Pacificum §. 1 that no subsequent Ratification could take it away Thus the Second Parliament of King Charles II. found it necessary to confirm all the useful Laws of the former for this very Reason because they wanted a due Summons tho' they had the Royal Assent to Legitimate their Meeting and further declare that the Manner of the said Assembling c. is not to be drawn into Example Nay sometimes they will not allow it even the Name of a Parliament but call it only a late Assembly 13 C. 2. c. 15. 2. It has no Approv'd Precedent in History For the Memory of that of Richard 3. which has a great resemblance to this in many Particulars is too black to be insisted on And all the Transactions of the several Parliaments or rather Conventions during the Vsurpations against the Royal Martyr and his Son were adjudg'd by all Lawyers as well as a Parliament to have been in themselves Null and Void Yet I think they had as good Foundation 13 C. 2. c. â—… §. 3. and as much Law for what they did as our late Convention can pretend to 3. They had no Power to Transact such Matters or make such Decisions as they have undertaken except it be made out that a larger Power was delegated to them then to a Parliament This more extensive Authority if any such they had they must of necessity derive either from those they represent or from him who Summon'd them But from neither of these could they derive it Not from the former because the Electors were the very same as to a Parliament and they always impower'd their Representatives with as large a Deputation as they could give to Consult about the great and weighty Concerns of the Publick and to give Assent accordingly in their Names nor from the later because if so the Prince of Orange had a greater Power devolv'd on him by those few Lords and Commons who desir'd him to take upon himself the Administration of Publick Affairs then he afterwards receiv'd from the Convention when they presented him the Crown and Regal Authority which is down-right Nonsence Besides my Lord there is no greater power imply'd by the word Convention For every Convention of the two Houses of Parliament is a true Convention of the three Estates This is fully declar'd to Q. Elizabeth thus We Your most Humble 1 Eliz. c. 3. Faithful and Obedient Subjects the Lords SPIRITUAL and TEMPORAL and COMMONS in Parliament Assembled c. Representing the THREE ESTATES of your Realm c. Humbly beseech c. So that I think we may from hence conclude that the late Convention had at most no more than an Equal Authority with the two Houses of Parliament without the King who is not to be included by the Three Estates It only remains then in the next place to show you that such a Parliament hath no such Power This is sufficiently declar'd by the Parliaments themselves When they call those that Proceeded against the Life of King Charles I. a TRAYTEROUS ASSEMBLY and the most Detestable Traytors that ever were they therefore Renounce 12 C. 2. c. 11. 14 C. 2. c. 29. 12 C. 2. c. 30. Abominate and Protest against that Impious Fact that Execrable Murther and
Vnnatural to his Father to his Brother to his Princess and to his Sister To his Father since by this Conquest he has turn'd Him out to Perish in the Inhospitable wide World to his Brother I must have leave and am bound in Charity to believe him such till something of Evidence besides a Common Fame be offer'd to the contrary whose tender Age made him uncapable of doing Him any Injury an Excuse allow'd for K. Henry 3. by the Rebels themselves who sought to Depose his Father Licet vero bonae Memoriae Jo. Pater Noster in aliquo erga voâ— deliquerit ipsuit dâ—licti debemus esse immunes nec Delictum suum aliquate nus Nobis dâ—…bit imputari Rot. Pat. 1. â—… 3. m. 16. and who was naturally unable to support the Fatigue of a Winter Flight to his Princess and to his Sister who never gave him any occasion of complaining yet this Conquest is injurious to all these For it deprives them of a Right in Reversion precedent to his But Lastly This Plea was never mov'd by the Prince himself or any of his Friends in either House of the Convention nor since he was Proclaim'd by any Authority that appears deriv'd from him So that methinks 't is much more proper to leave such Pretensions to those who gave the Crown and all the Power depending on it and who therefore ought and possibly may in good time inspect into the Original and weight of them rather then to acknowledge the Right of Conquest and that Glorious Appendage Absolute Power at the very Name whereof we have been so long frighted out of our Wits in one who never Claim'd it and whose accepting of the Crown as a Gift from the People is a Perpetual Bar to any such Claim But my Lord tho' this is the first time we have heard the Right of Conquest Pleaded yet there were some Persons in the World who even at the time of the Prince's first Landing notwithstanding his fair Declarations to the contrary suspected that his chief Aim was to Depose his Father and Usurp the Crown For all Men who had ever heard of Dr. Burnet knew how far he was engag'd in the Prince's Councels and that Father Petre had never a greater Ascendant over the King then he had over Him they knew too that the Genius of the Countrey wherein he was born and the Advantage of his Natural Wit and Education were so far predominant in him that as the latter would not suffer him to write an unwise thing so the former never let him be guilty of an uncunning or undesigning thing So that the suspicious part of the World were from hence easily induced to believe as soon as his Enquiry into the Measures of Submission appear'd then which never any Paper chalk'd out fairer and easier steps for an Vsurper to Ascend a Throne or at least laid a surer Foundation for a continued Series of Rebellions and Ruining of Kings that Measures and Designs were there drawn for the Prince And indeed the whole Event has show'd that the Suspicion was not groundless For let any man strictly reflect upon this Paper particularly upon that instance of Desertion which he there among other things produces Measures of Sub. §. 15. Vid. Sup. p. 20. and compare it with the Arts and Rudeness which were used to fright or force the King to something which might be wrested into that Name And after this if he does not find a sufficient occasion to suspect that the late Revolution was foreseen and design'd when that Paper was writ let the World Judge I am sure if it was not so design'd it was an unlucky Preparative for what follow'd I hope your Lordship will pardon this Excursion and take occasion from hence to clear those Passages wherein I have been mistaken and thereby remove some Hard Thoughts that are entertain'd of your Lordship upon this Account For if all this were true and the Design so laid the whole Revolution instead of giving a Right of Conquest which must be founded upon a Just War would appear the greatest Cheat and basest Treachery was ever Acted P. 19. §. 11. But to return to your Argument You do not prove that the Prince of Orange had a Just Cause of War Or if he had how can that Acquisition be Lawful which is disproportion'd to the Damages sustain'd For tho an Heir in Remainder at Common Law may have a Verdict against his Father upon account of Wastes Page 20. yet I never heard of a Total Ejectment in that Case Besides it is well known that none but the next Heir can bring that Action So that till the Evidence for the Reality of a Prince of Wales be Invalidated neither He nor his Princess could Commence this Suit against the King their Father were He a Subject As to the Matters of Fact in your Instances of Wastes and of the Irregularities in the Government tho' I my self can give very sufficient Testimony if either declining Offers of Advantage or even in some measure suffering for such neglect that I might avoid all Obligations of Gratitude to do any thing prejudicial to the Interest of my Religion will convince your Lordship that I am a Protestant yet I always call'd the Facts you mention here Page 20. in Question For if by subjecting this Independant Kingdom to a forreign Jurisdiction you mean to the Pope You would do well to let us know of what nature that Subjection was For if it was only in Ecclesiastical Matters 't is no more than all Popish Princes allow as Essential to that Persuasion And we of the Church of England ought least of any to complain of this since the Duke of York 's Religion and the Principles thereof were well enough known to us at that very time when we so industriously defeated the Bill of Exclusion So that if his Religion was no Bar to his Succession it will expose a strange kind of Levity in us to urge it against him as an Argument for his Deposition But as for any Temporal Jurisdiction I know of none and am very confident his Holiness never exercised any here But if by this you hint at the Bloody French League you must give us leave to remember that there has none such been yet produc'd 'T is true your Lordship has taken some pains to make it probable But it has been so far from being prov'd upon the King that the Prince Himself did not mention it in his Declaration And when some of the Lords in the Convention being violent against him but in general terms were call'd upon to descend to the Proof of Particulars especially of this and the Spurious Birth of the Prince of Wales your next occasion of a Just War they very tamely let the Debate fall and durst not give any Answer to such a Challenge These intimations of his Majesties Crimes without any appearance of Proof to support them puts us further in mind of some others
of like horrid Nature which were no less busily whisper'd through the whole Kingdom and with as great an Assurance of Truth as these your Lordship here insists on But why they should continue to be Secrets now is the greatest Secret Tho' I confess I am strongly enclin'd to believe that they were only invented to blacken the King and to Alienate the Affections of his Subjects from him so that since they have Answer'd the End of their Being in his Ruin there is no reason to publish the useful Malice of those who devis'd and dispers'd them by offering at Evidence where they know there is none The Committee of Noble Peers who made an Attempt towards some New Discoveries into the Unfortunate Death of the late E. of Essex had such ill Luck therein and their Creature the Witness was so shamefully baffled that we are left without all hopes of ever seeing further into those Mighty Mysteries of Iniquity charg'd upon the King But if these Crimes be indeed known to be true why are they not clear'd by some Solemn Testimony of credible Witnesses For if they be not known it can never be answer'd either to God or Man that a King should be thus Scandalously Defamed upon no sufficient Motives even of Credibility much less that the Justice of a War against him should be grounded on the pretence of a Common Fame then which nothing is more False and Malicious and to which I presume your Lordship has no great Temptation to Appeal No sufficient grounds therefore for the Justice of the War appears And if the War be unjust all the Acquisition is so too Page 21. But I will carry it one step further and in that as far as you your self can wish I will suppose the War just and therefore the Acquisition a Lawful Title yet the Prince of Orange is no more concern'd in it then every General in the case of Conquest The Honour is theirs But all the Benefit accrues to those only who had the Right to make the War So that whatever Obedience or Allegiance is due 't is not to the Prince but to the Princess in whose Right the War was begun and the Conquest if any made This is Evident and needs no more words for the confirmation of it Your Lordship I suppose never design'd that this next Fallacy should pass upon the World for an Argument You seem to be in the humour to make a Jest when you urge the King 's Deserting if forc'd as an Evidence of Conquest or if voluntary of a wilful Desertion forfeiting his Crown For was ever King thought to be Conquer'd only because he was Betray'd or lose his Right to his Dominions tho he lost the Possession because his Subjects prov'd Traytors and Deserted him All the Kings Actions and Councils have sufficiently shown that he did no more then what self-preservation and common Prudence oblig'd him to he gave way to a Torrent that would else have overwhelm'd him till he could gain time and strength to make head and Repel it which concludes no more against his Right then his Brothers Flight at Worcester did against His notwithstanding which his Restoring Parliament is said in the Title to be held in the twelfth Year of his Reign But this Reflection is forc'd and Malicious which you make upon his casting the Great Seals into the Thames From this Action which you call the unaccountable part of his withdrawing Page 22. you conclude that he had taken a Resolution of Perpetual Tyranny and that he would no more Govern by the shew of Law Whereas if your Lordship considers that the Broad Seal carries with it the Kings Authority as well as his Image you must own that he had great Reason to keep it from the hands of those who were so insolent to him least thereby they should get an opportunity to employ his Authority against his Person Lastly The Dilemma which your Lordship brings for the Conclusion of the whole is Defective in every part For when the King with-drew he left his Privy-Council who have Power of themselves and he soon after sent a Letter to them with his Directions to issue Orders for the due Administration of the Government All Towns Corporate were Restor'd to their Ancient Rules and Charters and there were Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace in most Counties for the Civil and Lord Lieutenants and their Deputies for the Military State So that we were not and therefore there was no necessity of Continuing in a State of Anarchy Page 22. If these did not Act according to their Commissions in their several Stations the fault was not the King 's but Theirs who so far over-aw'd them that they durst not Besides we must not lay too much stress upon this lest we find an Uparallell'd Neglect in the first beginnings of the Prince's Government For he apply'd no other Remedy to this intollerable Confusion during his Administration of Publique Affairs before he was Proclaim'd and some time after but to remove that Awe and Dread of his Displeasure they then Labour'd under and to give them new Life to Execute that Power they had received from the King by an encouraging Proclamation So that in whatever Anarchy the King Left us the Prince Continu'd us But I confess it was such that very few would have suffer'd by it tho He at the same time had Return'd into Holland The Necessity was not greater of Returning to that Misery Page 22. we so much dreaded a few Months before For our Case was so well amended before the Prince of Orange Landed that could we then have remain'd or now have leave to return to the same Condition we should have no just Cause of complaint or fear However I have above in some measure show'd Page 23. that the present Settlement has no Legall Foundation and therefore cannot likely long secure the Peace and Quiet of the Nation So that the same Misery and Confusion does still threaten us with this Addition that we cannot now have the comfort of suffering Innocently We have Plung'd our selves into the same sin of Faction and Conspiracy which we so Severely I had almost said Vncharitably â—…eigh'd against in others And therefore if the King should Return we must expect to be Chastis'd if not Punish'd but if not tho the Prince may serve himself of our supiness I cannot think he will ever forget or forgive the Treachery Peace of Conscience is all we can hope for and that we shall not find till we have made an Attonement for our Sin Page 23. The next thing Observable chills my Blood An English Bishop dogmatically Affirming that in all Extremities relating to the Government that is always best which is safest and every Resolution which is necessary to the Peace and Happiness of the Nation is upon that very account Just and Good because it is Necessary This had sounded much better in the Schooles of the Jesuits And is far more
as in me lies to support an Establishment whose Foundation is Rebellion I must either be Convinc'd that the Doctrine of these Homilies is not what I have subscrib'd GOOD and WHOLESOME or else I must have this DOCTRINE and these OATHS Reconcil'd 2. The Vniversity of Oxford in a full Convocation have given their Opinion that there cannot be any Power LAWFULLY Exercised within this Kingdom which is not SUBORDINATE to that of the King How then Profiteamur non neutiquam intelligere posse qui possit in hoc regno Potestas aliqua legitime exerceri quae non sit Regiae Potestati Subordinat Jud. Acad. Ox. 1. 1 Jun. 1647. §. viii I beseech your Lordship can the King be accountable to any For to be oblig'd to give an account is the greatest Instance of Subordination Imaginable But the same Vniversity has since given their Judgment more distinctly and definitively and Decreed Judg'd and Declar'd Jud. Acad. Ox. 21. Jul. 1683. all and every of these and some other there mentioned Propositions to be FALSE SEDITIOUS and IMPIOUS and most of them to be also HERETICAL and BLASPHEMOUS INFAMOUS to Christian Religion and Destructive of All Government in CHURCH and STATE viz. Prop. I. All Civil Authority is derived Originally from the People Prop. II. There is a mutual Compact Tacit or Express between a Prince and his Subjects and that if he perform not his Duty they are Discharg'd from theirs Prop. III. That if lawful Governors become Tyrants or govern otherwise then by the â—…aws of God and Man they ought to do they forfeit the Right they had unto their Government Prop. IV. The Soveraignty of England is in the three Estates viz. King Lords and Commons The King has but a co-ordinate Power and may be over ruled by the other two Prop. V. Birthright and Proximity of Blood give no Title to Rule or Government and it is lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession is the Crown Prop. VI. It is lawful for Subjects without the consent and against the Command of the Supreme Magistrate to enter into Leagues Covenants and Associations for Defence of themselves and their Religion Prop. VIII The Doctrine of the Gospel concerning patient suffering of Injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher Powers in case of Persecution for Religion Prop. IX There lies no Obligation upon Christians to Passive Obedience when the Prince commands any thing against the Laws of our Countrey and the Primitive Christians chose rather to die then resist because Christianity was not yet settled by the Laws of the Empire Prop. X. Possession and Strength give a right to Govern and Success in a Cause or Enterprize proclaims it to be lawful and just to pursue it is to comply with the will of God because it is to follow the conduct of his Providence Prop. XV. If a People that by Oath and Duty are oblig'd to a Soveraign shall sinfully dispossess him and contrary to their Covenants chuse and Covenant with another they may be obliged by their latter Covenant notwithstanding their former Prop. XVII An Oath obliges not in the sense of the Imposer but the Takers Prop. XVIII Dominion is founded in Grace Prop. XXVII K. Charles the First made War upon his Parliament and in such a case the King may not only be Resisted but he ceaseth to be King These and some other Democratical Propositions being thus Condemn'd by such Authority and in such Terms I do not envy your Lordship the Honour of maintaining them 3. Lastly The Doctrine of Non-Resistance against our Kings tho' Tyrants and of their Exemption from Account to any Power on Earth is Asserted by a far greater and more Convincing Authority the Injunctions of the King 1 Inj Ed. 6. 1 Inj. Eliz. Bp. Sparrow's Col. P. 2 67. and the Canons and Constitutions of the Church ever since the Reformation In the Injunctions we find that all Ecclesiastics should Preach four times every Year that the King's Power c. is the HIGHEST POWER under God to whom ALL Men by GOD 's LAWS owe MOST Loyalty and Obedience afore and ABOVE ALL Other Powers and Potentates on Earth Cranm. Art ib. P. 23. Rid. Art ib. P. 36. The observance whereof is made an Article of Enquiry by A. B. Cranmer in his Visitations distinct from that about the Popes Supremacy And Bishop Ridley Enquires further whether any Preach that private Persons MAY make Insurrections But if your Lordship will not Acquiesce in the Authority and Decision of these Injunctions and Articles of Enquiry Syn. Lond. An. 1603. can 1. ib. p. 271. I hope you will have some Respect to a Provincial Synod Yet that in the First Year of K. James I. Constitutes and Ordains the same thing with these Injunctions and in the same words The Nine and Thirty Articles of Religion are of a yet greater Authority For they were agreed upon by the Clergy of both Provinces An. 1562 and were afterward Ratify'd and Confirm'd by a Provincial Synod An. 1571. Rat. 39. Art ib p. 107 222 These Articles all we of the Clergy are oblig'd to subscribe and to acknowledge that all and every single Article therein contained is agreeable to the Word of God Syn. Lond. An And so much Care is taken to discover any Change of our Opinion 1603. can 36. ib. p. 287. Ib. can 37. Syn. Lond. An. 1571. can de Ep. ib. p. 223. with Relation to any of them that as oft as we remove from one Diocess to another we are oblig'd to Repeat the same Subscriptions A preceeding Synod is yet stricter for it requires us not only to subscribe our Assent but to give our Solemn Promise that we will Maintain and Defend the Doctrine contained in them as most Agreeable to the Truth of the Divine Word But besides this Particular Obligation us of our Repeated Assent 13 Eliz. c. 12. 14 C. 2. c. 4. two Parliaments have also Confirm'd these Articles After which we are to look upon them as transfer'd from the Ecclesiastical to the Civil State and Incorporated with the Laws and Constitutions of this Government So that every Lawyer as well as Divine is oblig'd to submit to their Authority and to be concluded by them and therefore to own with them Art Rel. An. 1562. n. 37. Spar Col. p. 105. that the Queens Majesty hath the CHIEF POWER in this Realm of England c. unto whom the CHIEF GOVERNMENT of ALL Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth Appertain But to prevent all Exceptions and Evasions hereof and for ever to Silence those Democratical Principles that begun to be Industriously maintained and instill'd into the People about the year 1640 in order to hasten that Wonderful Rebellion which soon after broak out the Church took care to Decree Syn. Lond. An 1640. can 1. ib. p. 346. that the Most High and Sacred