Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A69598
|
An address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation.; Address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation. Part 1
|
Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.
|
1682
(1682)
|
Wing B3445; Wing B3460; Wing B3461; ESTC R23155
|
159,294
|
284
|
God From which two I will infer this Conclusion That who ever shall attempt to alter this Right of Succession without a manifest revelation which is not now to be expected is a Notorious Usurper upon the Right of the Person who is to Succeed be the pretence for it what it will and a Rebel against that Providence which gave him that Right Nor will all the Antient Rebellions Usurpations and Disorders which have hapned in this Kingdom Justify them that shall begin them again Now if it should please God so to order it that the Duke should at his Majesties Death be the Next Heir to his Crown I cannot see how any humane Power shall prevent his Succession to it but by encroaching upon his Right and by rebelling against the Divine Providence that gave it to him So that be the Inconveniences that shall follow upon such a Succession what they will or can be we must submit to them upon pain of Rebellion against both God and his Anointed our Lawful Prince And then let any man be judge whether it is better to fall into the Hands of a Popish Prince or into the Hands of an Angry God who is a Consuming fire and who is not bound by any Act of Parliament from afflicting a Sinful and Rebellious People So tho the Church of England hath all the reason in the world to dread such a Prince yet she will have greater reason to dread a Rebellion against him because it runs her upon the Divine Vengeance and is directly contrary to her Principles and the Practise of the Apostles and Primitive Church and is plain down-right Popery So that I conclude Neither She nor any of her Children will be guilty of it come what will come But this is not all we are already Sworn to Bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highness The Oath of Supremacy His Heirs and Lawful Successors and that to our power we shall assist and defend all Jurisdiction Priviledges Pre-Eminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Lawful Successors or United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm of which that of an hereditary Succession is one of the principal and we are Sworn not onely to his Majesty whom God Long Continue but also to his Lawful Successors with which Oath none but they that have that Right can dispence for this being a promissory Oath made to them as well as him when their Rights shall fall his Majesty cannot remit their Right nor any of them anothers but they have Every of them in their respective degrees and orders an indispensable Right confirmed to them by this Oath Nor would they cease to be Lawful Successors in the Sence of this Oath tho a Law were made to prevent bar or cut off their Succession because all that is meant by the word Lawful in this place is to be understood by the common Rules of Succession Settled by the Common Law of England viz. the Eldest Son or Daughter before a Younger of the same Sex c. Now if his Majesty cannot do it much less can the Lords or Commons do it because they are all within the obligation of this Oath and it is unreasonable that men should dispence with their own promissory Oathes to others for this would destroy all Faith and Confidence amongst men and pull up the very Roots of all Society and Government Nor can any man imagine that this Oath was made in favour of a Protestant Successor only H. 8. being a Popish Prince in whose time it was Settled at first And the same in effect is Sworn by the Oath of Allegiance with this binding Clause I do believe and in my Conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any other Person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I Acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully Ministred unto me And by this Oath we are also bound to bear Faith and true Allegiance not onely to his Majesty but to his Heirs and Successors and Him and Them to Defend to the Utmost of our power c. Which is to be understood according to their several and respective Rights and at such times as they shall grow and accrew to them and every of them And altho this Oath was Introduced by a Protestant Prince yet is not made to him as a Protestant but as Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and who ever is So hath and must have Right to impose it upon us be his Religion what it will So that besides the former Sin of Rebellion against the Providence of God Here is an Apparent and Unavoidable Perjury in this Case to Aggravate the other And surely no good Religious man will run upon these two Hideous Sins deliberately to avoid any temporal affliction whatsoever So that were the Case just such as it is represented by the Author of the Character of a Popish Successor It would not Justify the Excluding of such a Successor as he hath described by Force and Arms against his Right and our Oathes to the Contrary tho we were never so certain to Succeed in the Attempt But then that wicked man has most falsly represented things to us and So as it is impossible they should ever prove in the Event if we do not give occasion for it by an improsperous Rebellion nay I believe I may say if we should First it is agreed by All the World That there are Ten Protestants for one Papist thro all the Dominions of England So that if such a Successor should attempt to Extirpate them the bare refusing to aid or assist him in such an enterprize would render it impossible Secondly All our Laws are in favour of that Religion that is Established which could never be Repealed but in Parliament and it is morally impossible to have a Parliament the major part of which will not be Protestants who will never Consent to ruine themselves Thirdly The Revenue of such a Prince will not bear the Charge of so great an Army as will be necessary to reduce the People to a Religion so generally detested and hated as this is In answer to this there is Two things pretended First That he may have Foraign Ayds And Secondly That he will have means to deter or allure many from the Protestant Religion to his own As to Foraign assistances no Prince will dare to admit so many as shall totally over-power his own People because then they will be able to ruine him as the Saxons did the Brittains and he may be sure they will do it So that this is a ridiculous Supposition in a Prince of our own Nation that hath No other Dominions but these As to any Number of People that he may be able to bring over to his Religion they will be very inconsiderable in proportion to those that will never be brought over tho we suppose the Number greater then it is like to be
shall not follow your zeal but lead it The Lord Chancellor spoke thus My Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons THat Royal care which his Majesty hath taken for the general quiet and satisfaction of all his Subjects is now more evident by these new and fresh instances of it which I have in command to open to you His Majesty hath considered with himself that it is not enough that your Religion and Liberty is secure during his own Reign but he thinks he owes it to his people to do all that in him lies that these blessings may be transmitted to your posterity and so well secured to them that no succession in after Ages may be able to work the lest alteration And therefore his Majesty who hath often said in this place that he is ready to consent to any Laws of this kind so that the same extend not to alter the descent of the Crown in the Right Line nor to defeat the Succession hath now commanded this to be further explained And to the end it may never be in the power of any Papist if the Crown descend upon him to make any change either in Church or State I am commanded to tell you that his Majesty is willing that provision may be made first to distinguish a Papist from a Protestant Successor then to limit and circumscribe the Authority of a Popish Successor in these cases following that he may be disabled to do any harm first in reference to the Church his Majestie is content that care may be taken that all Ecclesiastical and spiritual Benefices and promotions in the Gift of the Crown may be conferred in such a manner that we may be sure the Incumbents shall always be of the most Pious and learned Protestants And that no Popish Successor while he continues so may have any power to controul such preferments In reference to the State and civil part of the Government as it is already provided that no Papist can sit in either House of Parliament so the King is pleased that it be provided too that there may never want a Parliament when the King shall happen to dy But that the Parliament then in being may continue indissolvable for a compleat time or if there be no Parliament then in being then that the last Parliament which was in being before that time may reassemble and sit a competent time without any new Summons or Elections And as no Papist can by Law hold any place of trust so the King is content that it may be further provided that no Lords or other of the Privy Council no Judges of the common Law nor in Chancery shall at any time during the Reign of any Popish Successor be put in or displaced but by the Authority of Parliament And that care also be taken that none but sincere Protestants may be Justices of the Peace In reference to the Military part the King is willing that no Lord Lieutenant or Deputy Lieutenant nor no Officer in the Navy during the Reign of any Popish Successor be put out or removed but either by Authority of Parliament or of such persons as the Parliament shall intrust with such Authority 'T is hard to invent another restraint to be put upon a Popish Successor considering how much the Revenue of the Successor will depend upon consent of Parliament and how impossible it is to raise mony without such consent But yet if any thing else can occur to the Wisdom of the Parliament which may further secure Religion and liberty against a Popish Successor without defeating the Right of Succession it self his Majesty will most readily consent to it Thus watchful is the King for all your safety and if he could think of any thing else that you do either want or wish to make you happy he would make it his business to effect it for you God Almighty long continue this blessed Union between the King and his Parliament and people The House of Commons returning resolved to Adjourn the consideration of his Majesties Speech till the next Monday Morning And now let any man but seriously consider the Condescention of these proposals and that they were franlly and freely offered before the House of Commons had obliged themselves in point of Honour to stand to any Vote of Exclusion for that was not then made and he must then be amazed to see to what extremities matters have proceeded during that and the two last Parliaments But who can brook the impudence of those men who have notwithstanding this by Tales and Pamphlets endeavoured to represent his sacred Majesty to his people as a favourer of Papists and Popery Some men may possibly say that all this will not infallibly secure us against Popery and I say nothing can make any thing in this lower world steady and unalterable but it is more likely to do it than the exclusion Bill because it disarms a Popish Successor of the tempration and opportunity of enslaving us by force where as the other puts the Sword into his hand and compells him to try his fortune for the whole the event of which is much more uncertain than some pretend who trusting now to force and number will in likelyhood find themselves disappointed by men and punished by God for their distrust of his providence and reliance on the Arm of Flesh if not ruined by their over great confidence in the number of their party which often have deceived men in such occasions But this it not the place of these considerations but that they broke loose here against my will On Thursday the Commons gave leave to bring in a Bill 1. of May. that when any Member of their House is preferred to any Office or place of profit a new Writ should immediately issue out for Electing of a Member to serve in his stead This was to keep the party together and to prevent the Ministers from bying off any of them by preferment Seasonable Address to both Houses p. 10. and it is to be wished it had passed for that would have lessened their Numbers and have taken off all those that hoped to rise by opposition to the Court as they call it but indeed to the King and the Morarchy In the interim it may be a caution to the Country that they take not all these Gentlemen to be what they pretend to be for that apparently some of them were driving a Market for Preferments how much soever they had clamoured their predecessors on that account This day also Dr. John Nalson who had been a long time Imprisoned and put to vast charge for Writing the Letter of Advice from a Jesuite in Paris to his correspondent in London was discharged without assigning any reason or Law for this way of proceeding against him which was never yet used against any of the Writers of the most virulent Libells against the Government and Religion by Law established and they Voted also that an